Paris under Napoleon Each of the twelve arrondissements had its own mayor, but their power was limited to enforcing the decrees of Napoleon's ministers. After he crowned himself Emperor on December 2, 1804, Napoleon began a series of projects to make Paris into an imperial capital to rival ancient Rome. He built monuments to French military glory, including the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, the column in Place Vendôme, and the future church of the Madeleine, intended as a temple to military heroes; and began the Arc de Triomphe. To improve the circulation of traffic in central Paris, he built a wide new
Napoleon III seats. On 1 March, the newly elected assembly officially declared the removal of the Emperor from power, and placed all the blame for the French defeat squarely on him. When peace was arranged between France and Germany, Bismarck released Napoleon. He decided to go into exile in England. Napoleon had limited funds; he sold properties and jewels, and arrived in England on 20 March 1871. Napoleon, Eugénie, their son and their entourage including the American Colonel Zebulon Howell Benton, settled at Camden Place, a large three-story country house in the village of Chislehurst, Kent, a half-hour by train from London.