He is already nearly fully installed in Paris, his person being all that was lacking.

On arriving from Fontainebleau, two hours off, he would find everything belonging to his office; "the papers[5141] of the missions and the archives of Rome were already there." "The Hotel Dieu was entirely given up to the departments of the court of Rome.

The district around Notre Dame and the Ile Saint-Louis was to be the headquarters of Christendom!" Rome, the second center of Christendom, and the second residence of the Pope, is declared[5142] "an imperial and free city, the second city of the empire"; a prince of the empire, or other grand dignitary, is to reside there and "hold the court of the emperor." "After their coronation in the cathedral of Notre Dame at Paris, the emperors" will go to Italy before the tenth year of their reign, and be "crowned in the church of St.Peter at Rome." The heir to the imperial throne "will bear the title and receive the honors of the King of Rome." Observe the substantial features of this chimerical construction.

Napoleon, far more Italian than French, Italian by race, instinct, imagination, and souvenirs, considers in his plan the future of Italy, and, on casting up the final accounts of his reign, we find that the net profit is for Italy and the net loss is for France.
"Napoleon wanted to create the Italian kingdom over again,[5143] combining Piedmont, Tuscany, etc., in one united independent nation, bounded by the Alps and the sea....

This was to be the immortal trophy erected in his honor....