However, on 21 Messidor, An XII (10 July, 1804), the emperor crossed out the lion from the decree instituting his seal and coat of arms and imposed the eagle. The Conseil d’Etat finally went for the cockerel, but Napoleon preferred the lion. Cambacérès preferred bees since France was a republic with a head, like a hive Ségur thought that a lion would be better, stronger than the English leopard Laumond was for the elephant, ” the strongest of animals “ Duroc preferred the oak and Lebrun the fleur de lys, which he felt was the emblem of France and not the Bourbons. Crétet proposed successively an eagle, a lion and an elephant.
The choice of the new symbols so as to make a clean break with the monarchy of the Ancien Régime proved difficult. Proclaimed Emperor of the French on 28 Floréal, An XII (18 May, 1804), Napoleon approached the problem of the emblems of sovereignty on 23 Prairial (12 juin) during a session of the Conseil d’Etat.
