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diff --git a/3563.txt b/3563.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eba5906 --- /dev/null +++ b/3563.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2957 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Memoirs of Napoleon--1815, v13 +#13 in our series by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne +#13 in our Napoleon Bonaparte series + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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Phipps +Colonel, Late Royal Artillery + +1891 + + + +CONTENTS: +CHAPTER I. to CHAPTER VI. 1814-1815 + + + +CHAPTER I. + +1814. + + Unalterable determination of the Allies with respect to Napoleon-- + Fontainebleau included in the limits to be occupied by the Allies-- + Alexander's departure from Paris--Napoleon informed of the necessity + of his unconditional abdication--Macdonald and Ney again sent to + Paris--Alleged attempt of Napoleon to poison himself--Farewell + interview between Macdonald and Napoleon--The sabre of Murad Bey-- + Signature of the act of unconditional abdication--Tranquillity of + Paris during the change of Government--Ukase of the Emperor of + Russia relative to the Post-office--Religious ceremony on the Place + Louis XV.--Arrival of the Comte d'Artois--His entrance into Paris-- + Arrival of the Emperor of Austria--Singular assemblage of sovereigns + in France--Visit of the Emperor of Austria to Maria Louisa--Her + interview with the Emperor Alexander--Her departure for Vienna. + +When Marmont left Paris on the receipt of the intelligence from Essonne, +Marshals Macdonald and Ney and the Duke of Vicenza waited upon the +Emperor Alexander to learn his resolution before he could have been +informed of the movement of Marmont's troops. I myself went during the +morning to the hotel of M. de Talleyrand, and it was there I learnt how +what we had hoped for had become fact: the matter was completely decided. +The Emperor Alexander had walked out at six in the morning to the +residence of the King of Prussia in the Rue de Bourbon. The two +sovereigns afterwards proceeded together to M. de Talleyrand's, where +they were when Napoleon's Commissioners arrived. The Commissioners being +introduced to the two sovereigns, the Emperor Alexander, in answer to +their proposition, replied that the Regency was impossible, as +submissions to the Provisional Government were pouring in from all parts, +and that if the army had formed contrary wishes those should have been +sooner made known. "Sire," observed Macdonald, "that--was--impossible, +as none of the Marshals were in Paris, and besides, who could foresee the +turn which affairs have taken? Could we imagine that an unfounded alarm +would have removed from Essonne the corps of the Duke of Ragusa, who has +this moment left us to bring his troops back to order?" These words +produced no change in the determination of the sovereigns, who would hear +of nothing but the unconditional abdication of Napoleon. Before the +Marshals took leave of the Emperor Alexander they solicited an armistice +of forty-eight hours, which time they said was indispensable to negotiate +the act of abdication with Napoleon. This request was granted without +hesitation, and the Emperor Alexander, showing Macdonald a map of the +environs of Paris, courteously presented him with a pencil, saying, +"Here, Marshal, mark yourself the limits to be observed by the two +armies."--"No, Sire," replied Macdonald, "we are the conquered party, and +it is for you to mark the line of demarcation." Alexander determined +that the right bank of the Seine should be occupied by the Allied troops, +and the left bank by the French; but it was observed that this +arrangement would be attended with inconvenience, as it would cut Paris +in two, and it was agreed that the line should turn Paris. I have been +informed that on a map sent to the Austrian staff to acquaint Prince +Schwartzenberg with the limits definitively agreed on, Fontainebleau, the +Emperor's headquarters, was by some artful means included within the +line. The Austrians acted so implicitly on this direction that Marshal +Macdonald was obliged to complain on the subject to Alexander, +who removed all obstacles. + +When, in discussing the question of the abdication conformably with the +instructions he had received, Macdonald observed to the Emperor Alexander +that Napoleon wished for nothing for himself, "Assure him," replied +Alexander, "that a provision shall be made for him worthy of the rank he +has occupied. Tell him that if he wishes to reside in my States he shall +be well received, though he brought desolation there. I shall always +remember the friendship which united us. He shall have the island of +Elba, or something else." After taking leave of the Emperor Alexander, on +the 5th of April, Napoleon's Commissioners returned to Fontainebleau to +render an account of their mission. I saw Alexander that same day, and +it appeared to me that his mind was relieved of a great weight by the +question of the Regency being brought to an end. I was informed that he +intended to quit Paris in a few days, and that he had given full powers +to M. Pozzo-di-Borgo, whom he appointed his Commissioner to the +Provisional Government. + +On the same day, the 5th of April, Napoleon inspected his troops in the +Palace yard of Fontainebleau. He observed some coolness among his +officers, and even among the private soldiers, who had evinced such +enthusiasm when he inspected them on the 2d of April. He was so much +affected by this change of conduct that he remained but a short time on +the parade, and afterwards retired to his apartments. + +About one o'clock on the morning of the 6th of April Ney, Macdonald, and +Caulaincourt arrived at Fontainebleau to acquaint the Emperor with the +issue of their mission, and the sentiments expressed by Alexander when +they took leave of him. Marshal Ney was the first to announce to +Napoleon that the Allies required his complete and unconditional +abdication, unaccompanied by any stipulation, except that of his personal +safety, which should be guaranteed. Marshal Macdonald and the Duke of +Vicenza then spoke to the same effect, but in more gentle terms than +those employed by Ney, who was but little versed in the courtesies of +speech. When Marshal Macdonald had finished speaking Napoleon said with +some emotion, "Marshal, I am sensible of all that you have done for me, +and of the warmth with which you have pleaded the cause of my son. They +wish for my complete and unconditional abdication . . . . Very well. +I again empower you to act on my behalf. You shall go and defend my +interests and those of my family." Then, after a moment's pause, he +added, still addressing Macdonald, "Marshal, where shall I go?" +Macdonald then informed the Emperor what Alexander had mentioned in the +hypothesis of his wishing to reside in Russia. "Sire," added he, "the +Emperor of Russia told me that he destined for you the island of Elba, or +something else."--"Or something else!" repeated Napoleon hastily," and +what is that something else?"--"Sire, I know not."--"Ah! it is doubtless +the island of Corsica, and he refrained from mentioning it to avoid +embarrassment! Marshal, I leave all to you." + +The Marshals returned to Paris as soon as Napoleon furnished them with +new powers; Caulaincourt remained at Fontainebleau. On arriving in Paris +Marshal Ney sent in his adhesion to the Provisional Government, so that +when Macdonald returned to Fontainebleau to convey to Napoleon the +definitive treaty of the Allies, Ney did not accompany him, and the +Emperor expressed surprise and dissatisfaction at his absence. Ney, as +all his friends concur in admitting, expended his whole energy in battle, +and often wanted resolution when out of the field, consequently I was not +surprised to find that he joined us before some other of his comrades. +As to Macdonald, he was one of those generous spirits who may be most +confidently relied on by those who have wronged them. . Napoleon +experienced the truth of this. Macdonald returned alone to +Fontainebleau, and when he entered the Emperor's chamber he found him +seated in a small armchair before the fireplace. He was dressed in a +morning-gown of white dimity, and lie wore his slippers without +stockings. His elbows rested on his knees and his head was supported by +his hands. He was motionless, and seemed absorbed in profound +reflection. Only two persons were in the apartment, the Duke of Bassano; +who was at a little distance from the Emperor, and Caulaincourt, who was +near the fireplace. So profound was Napoleon's reverie that he did not +hear Macdonald enter, and the Duke of Vicenza was obliged to inform him +of the Marshal's presence. "Sire," said Caulaincourt, "the Duke of +Tarantum has brought for your signature the treaty which is to be +ratified to-morrow." The Emperor then, as if roused from a lethargic +slumber, turned to Macdonald, and merely said, "Ah, Marshal! so you are +here!" Napoleon's countenance was so altered that the Marshal, struck +with the change, said, as if it were involuntarily, "Is your Majesty +indisposed?"--"Yes," answered Napoleon, "I have passed a very bad night." + +The Emperor continued seated for a moment, then rising, he took the +treaty, read it without making any observation, signed it, and returned +it to the Marshal, saying; "I am not now rich enough to reward these last +services."--"Sire, interest never guided my conduct."--"I know that, and +I now see how I have been deceived respecting you. I also see the +designs of those who prejudiced me against you."--"Sire, I have already +told you, since 1809 I am devoted to you in life and death."--"I know it. +But since I cannot reward you as I would wish, let a token of +remembrance, inconsiderable though it be, assure you that I shall ever +bear in mind the services you have rendered me." Then turning to +Caulaincourt Napoleon said, "Vicenza, ask for the sabre which was given +me by Murad Bey in Egypt, and which I wore at the battle of Mount +Thabor." Constant having brought the sabre, the Emperor took it from the +hands of Caulaincourt and presented it to the Marshal "Here, my faithful +friend," said he, "is a reward which I believe will gratify you." +Macdonald on receiving the sabre said, "If ever I have a son, Sire, this +will be his most precious inheritance. I will never part with it as long +as I live."--" Give me your hand," said the Emperor, "and embrace me." +At these words Napoleon and Macdonald affectionately rushed into each +other's arms, and parted with tears in their eyes. Such was the last +interview between Macdonald and Napoleon. I had the above particulars +from the Marshal himself in 1814., a few days after he returned to Paris +with the treaty ratified by Napoleon. + +After the clauses of the treaty had been guaranteed Napoleon signed, on +the 11th of April, at Fontainebleau, his act of abdication, which was in +the following terms:-- + + "The Allied powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon is the + only obstacle to the re-establishment of peace in Europe, the + Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces + for himself and his heirs the thrones of France and Italy, and that + there is no personal sacrifice, even that of life, which he is not + ready to make for the interests of France." + +It was not until after Bonaparte had written and signed the above +act that Marshal Macdonald sent to the Provisional Government his +recognition, expressed in the following dignified and simple manner:-- + + "Being released from my allegiance by the abdication of the Emperor + Napoleon, I declare that I conform to the acts of the Senate and the + Provisional Government." + +It is worthy of remark that Napoleon's act of abdication was published in +the 'Moniteur' on the 12th of April, the very day on which the Comte +d'Artois made his entry into Paris with the title of Lieutenant-General +of the Kingdom conferred on him by Louis XVIII. The 12th of April was +also the day on which the Imperial army fought its last battle before +Toulouse, when the French troops, commanded by Soult, made Wellington +purchase so dearly his entrance into the south of France.--[The battle of +Toulouse was fought on the 10th not 12th April D.W.] + +Political revolutions are generally stormy, yet, during the great change +of 1814 Paris was perfectly tranquil, thanks to the excellent discipline +maintained by the commanders of the Allied armies, and thanks also to the +services of the National Guard of Paris, who every night patrolled the +streets. My duties as Director-General of the Post-office had of course +obliged me to resign my captain's epaulette. + +When I first obtained my appointment I had been somewhat alarmed to hear +that all the roads were covered with foreign troops, especially Cossacks, +who even in time of peace are very ready to capture any horses that may +fall in their way. On my application to the Emperor Alexander his +Majesty immediately issued a ukase, severely prohibiting the seizure of +horses or anything belonging to the Post-office department. The ukase +was printed by order of the Czar, and filed up at all the poet-offices, +and it will be seen that after the 20th of March, when I was placed in an +embarrassing situation, one of the postmasters on the Lille road +expressed to me his gratitude for my conduct while I was in the service. + +On the 10th of April a ceremony took place in Paris which has been much +spoken of; and which must have had a very imposing effect on those who +allow themselves to be dazzled by mere spectacle. Early in the morning +some regiments of the Allied troops occupied the north side of the +Boulevard, from the site of the old Bastille to the Place Louis XV., in +the middle of which an altar of square form was erected. Thither the +Allied sovereigns came to witness the celebration of mass according to +the rites of the Greek Church. I went to a window of the hotel of the +Minister of the Marine to see the ceremony. After I had waited from +eight in the morning till near twelve the pageant commenced by the +arrival of half a dozen Greek priests, with long beards, and as richly +dressed as the high priests who figure in the processions of the opera. +About three-quarters of an hour after this first scene the infantry, +followed by the cavalry, entered the place, which, in a few moments was +entirely covered with military. The Allied sovereigns at length +appeared, attended by brilliant staffs. They alighted from their horses +and advanced to the altar. What appeared to me most remarkable was the +profound silence of the vast multitude during the performance of the +mass. The whole spectacle had the effect of a finely-painted panorama. +For my own part, I must confess I was heartily tired of the ceremony, and +was very glad when it was over. I could not admire the foreign uniforms, +which were very inferior to ours. Many of them appeared fanciful, and +even grotesque, and nothing can be more unsoldier-like than to see a man +laced in stays till his figure resembles a wasp. The ceremony which took +place two days after, though less pompous, was much more French. In the +retinue which, on the 12th of April, momentarily increased round the +Comte d'Artos, there were at least recollections for the old, and hopes +for every one. + +When, on the departure of the Commissioners whom Napoleon had sent to +Alexander to treat for the Regency, it was finally determined that the +Allied sovereigns would listen to no proposition from Napoleon and his +family, the Provisional Government thought it time to request that +Monsieur would, by his presence, give a new impulse to the partisans of +the Bourbons. The Abby de Montesquiou wrote to the Prince a letter, +which was carried to him by Viscount Sosthenes de la Rochefoucauld, one +of the individuals who, in these difficult circumstances, most zealously +served the cause of the Bourbons. On the afternoon of the 11th Monsieur +arrived at a country-house belonging to Madame Charles de Dames, where he +passed the night. The news of his arrival spread through Paris with the +rapidity of lightning, and every one wished to solemnise his entrance +into the capital. The National Guard formed a double line from the +barrier of Bondy to Notre Dame, whither the Prince was first to proceed, +in observance of an old custom, which, however, had become very rare in +France during the last twenty years. + +M. de Talleyrand, accompanied by the members of the Provisional +Government, several Marshals and general officers, and the municipal +body, headed by the prefect of the Seine, went in procession beyond the +barrier to receive Monsieur. M. de Talleyrand, in the name of the +Provisional Government, addressed the Prince, who in reply made that +observation which has been so often repeated, "Nothing is changed in +France: there is only one Frenchman more." + + --[These words were never really uttered by the Comte d'Artois, and + we can in this case follow the manufacture of the phrase. The reply + actually made to Talleyrand was, "Sir, and gentlemen, I thank you; I + am too happy. Let us get on; I am too happy." When the day's work + was done, "Let us see," said Talleyrand; "what did Monsieur say? I + did not hear much: be seemed much moved, and desirous of hastening + on, but if what he did say will not suit you (Beugnot), make an + answer for him, . . and I can answer that Monsieur will accept it, + and that so thoroughly that by the end of a couple of days he will + believe he made it, and he will have made it: you will count for + nothing." After repeated attempts, rejected by Talleyraud, Beugnot + at last produced, "No more divisions. Peace and France! At last I + see her once more, and nothing in her is changed, except that here + is one more Frenchman." At last the great critic (Talleyrand) said, + "This time I yield; that is realty Monsieur's speech, and I will + answer for you that he is the man who made it." Monsieur did not + disdain to refer to it in his replies, end the prophecy of M. de + Talleyrand was completely realised (Beugnot, vol. ii, p. 119)]-- + +This remark promised much. The Comte Artois next proceeded on horseback +to the barrier St. Martin. I mingled in the crowd to see the procession +and to observe the sentiments of the spectators. Near me stood an old +knight of St. Louis, who had resumed the insignia of the order, and who +wept for joy at again seeing one of the Bourbons. The procession soon +arrived, preceded by a band playing the air, "Vive Henri Quatre!" I had +never before seen Monsieur, and his appearance had a most pleasing effect +upon me. His open countenance bore the expression of that confidence +which his presence inspired in all who saw him. His staff was very +brilliant, considering it was got together without preparation. The +Prince wore the uniform of the National Guard, with the insignia of the +Order of the Holy Ghost. + +I must candidly state that where I saw Monsieur pass, enthusiasm was +chiefly confined to his own retinue, and to persons who appeared to +belong to a superior class of society. The lower order of people seemed +to be animated by curiosity and astonishment rather than any other +feeling. I must add that it was not without painful surprise I saw a +squadron of Cossacks close the procession; and my surprise was the +greater when I learned from General Sacken that the Emperor Alexander had +wished that on that day the one Frenchman more should be surrounded +only by Frenchmen, and that to prove that the presence of the Bourbons +was the signal of reconciliation his Majesty had ordered 20,000 of the +Allied troops to quit Paris. I know not to what the presence of the +Cossacks is to be attributed, but it was an awkward circumstance at the +time, and one which malevolence did not fail to seize upon. + +Two days only intervened between Monsieur's entrance into Paris and the +arrival of the Emperor of Austria. That monarch was not popular among +the Parisians. The line of conduct he had adopted was almost generally +condemned, for, even among those who lead most ardently wished for the +dethronement of his daughter, through their aversion to the Bonaparte +family, there were many who blamed the Emperor of Austria's behaviour to +Maria Louisa: they would have wished that, for the honour of Francis II., +he had unsuccessfully opposed the downfall of the dynasty, whose alliance +he considered as a safeguard in 1809. This was the opinion which the +mass of the people instinctively formed, for they judged of the Emperor +of Austria in his character of a father and not in his character of a +monarch; and as the rights of misfortune are always sacred in France, +more interest was felt for Maria Louisa when she was known to be forsaken +than when she was in the height of her splendour. Francis II. had not +seen his daughter since the day when she left Vienna to unite her destiny +with that of the master of half of Europe, and I have already stated how +he received the mission with which Maria Louisa entrusted the Duc de +Cadore. + +I was then too intent on what was passing in Paris and at Fontainebleau +to observe with equal interest all the circumstances connected with the +fate of Maria Louisa, but I will present to the reader all the +information I was able to collect respecting that Princess during the +period immediately preceding her departure from France. She constantly +assured the persons about her that she could rely on her father. The +following words, which were faithfully reported to me, were addressed by +her to an officer who was at Blois during the mission of M. de Champagny. +"Even though it should be the intention of the Allied sovereigns to +dethrone the Emperor Napoleon, my father will not suffer it. When he +placed me on the throne of France he repeated to me twenty times his +determination to uphold me on it; and my father is an honest man." I also +know that the Empress, both at Blois and at Orleans, expressed her regret +at not having followed the advice of the members of the Regency, who +wished her to stay in Paris. + +On leaving Orleans Maria Louisa proceeded to Rambouillet; and it was not +one of the least extraordinary circumstances of that eventful period to +see the sovereigns of Europe, the dethroned sovereigns of France, and +those who had come to resume the sceptre, all crowded together within a +circle of fifteen leagues round the capital. There was a Bourbon at the +Tuileries, Bonaparte at Fontainebleau, his wife and son at Rambouillet, +the repudiated Empress at Malmaison three leagues distant, and the +Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia in Paris. + +When all her hopes had vanished Maria Louisa left Rambouillet to return +to Austria with her son. She did not obtain permission to see Napoleon +before her departure, though she had frequently expressed a wish to that +effect. Napoleon himself was aware of the embarrassment which might have +attended such a farewell, or otherwise he would no doubt have made a +parting interview with Maria Louisa one of the clauses of the treaty of +Paris and Fontainebleau, and of his definitive act of abdication. I was +informed at the time that the reason which prevented Maria Louisa's wish +from being acceded to was the fear that, by one of those sudden impulses +common to women, she might have determined to unite herself to Napoleon's +fallen fortune, and accompany him to Elba; and the Emperor of Austria +wished to have his daughter back again. + +Things had arrived at this point, and there was no possibility of +retracting from any of the decisions which had been formed when the +Emperor of Austria went to see his daughter at Rambouillet. I recollect +it was thought extraordinary at the time that the Emperor Alexander +should accompany him on this visit; and, indeed, the sight of the +sovereign, who was regarded as the head and arbiter of the coalition, +could not be agreeable to the dethroned Empress. + + --[ Meneval (tome ii. p. 112), then with Maria Louisa as Secretary, + who gives some details of her interview with the Emperor Francis on + the 16th of April, says nothing about the Czar having been there; a + fact he would have been sure to have remarked upon. It was only on + the 19th of April that Alexander visited her, the King of Prussia + coming in his turn on the 22d; but Bourrienne is right in saying + that Maria Louisa complained bitterly of having to receive + Alexander, and considered that she was forced by her father to do + so. The poor little King of Rome, then only three years old, had + also to be seen by the monarchs. He was not taken with his + grandfather, remarking that he was not handsome. Maria Louisa + seems, according to Meneval, to have been at this time really + anxious to join Napoleon (Meneval, tome ii. p. 94). She left + Rambouillet on the 28d of April stopped one day at Grossbois, + receiving there her father and Berthier, and taking farewell of + several persons who came from Paris for that purpose. On the 25th + of April she started for Vienna, and later for Parma, which state + she received under the treaty of 1814 and 1815. She yielded to the + influence brought to bear on her, became estranged from Napoleon, + and eventually married her chamberlain, the Comte de Neipperg, an + Austrian general.]-- + +The two Emperors set off from Paris shortly after each other. The +Emperor of Austria arrived first at Rambouillet, where he was received +with respect and affection by his daughter. Maria Louisa was happy to +see him, but the many tears she shed were not all tears of joy. After +the first effusion of filial affection she complained of the situation to +which she was reduced. Her father sympathised with her, but could offer +her no consolution, since her misfortunes were irreparable. Alexander +was expected to arrive immediately, and the Emperor of Austria therefore +informed his daughter that the Russian monarch wished to see her. At +first Maria Louisa decidedly refused to receive him, and she persisted +for some time in this resolution. She said to her father, "Would he too +make me a prisoner before your eyes? If he enters here by force I will +retire to my chamber. There, I presume, he will not dare to follow me +while you are here." But there was no time to be lost; Francis II. +heard the equipage of the Emperor of Russia rolling through the courtyard +of Rambouillet, and his entreaties to his daughter became more and more +urgent. At length she yielded, and the Emperor of Austria went himself +to meet his ally and conduct him to the salon where Maria Louisa +remained, in deference to her father. She did not, however, carry her +deference so far as to give a favourable reception to him whom she +regarded as the author of all her misfortunes. She listened with +considerable coldness to the offers and protestations of Alexander, and +merely replied that all she wished for was the liberty of returning to +her family. A few days after this painful interview Maria Louisa and her +son set off for Vienna. + + --[A few days after this visit Alexander paid his respects to + Bonaparte's other wife, Josephine. In this great breaking up of + empires and kingdoms the unfortunate Josephine, who had been + suffering agonies on account of the husband who had abandoned her, + was not forgotten. One of the first things the Emperor of Russia + did on arriving at Paris was to despatch a guard for the protection + of her beautiful little palace at Malmaison. The Allied sovereigns + treated her with delicacy and consideration. + + "As soon as the Emperor Alexander knew that the Empress Josephine + had arrived at Malmaison he hastened to pay her a visit. It is not + possible to be more amiable than he was to her. When in the course + of conversation he spoke of the occupation of Paris by the Allies, + and of the position of the Emperor Napoleon, it was always in + perfectly measured language: he never forgot for a single instant + that be was speaking before one who had been the wife of his + vanquished enemy. On her side the ex-Empress did not conceal the + tender sentiments, the lively affection she still entertained for + Napoleon . . . . Alexander had certainly something elevated and + magnanimous in his character, which would not permit him to say a + single word capable of insulting misfortune; the Empress had only + one prayer to make to him, and that was for her children."]-- + +This visit was soon followed by those of the other Allied Princes. + + "The King of Prussia and the Princes, his sons, came rather + frequently to pay their court to Josephine; they even dined with her + several times at Malmaison; but the Emperor Alexander come much more + frequently. The Queen Hortense was always with her mother when she + received the sovereigns, and assisted her in doing the honours of + the house. The illustrious strangers exceedingly admired Malmaison, + which seemed to them a charming residence. They were particularly + struck with the fine gardens and conservatories." + + From this moment, however, Josephine's health rapidly declined, and + she did not live to see Napoleon's return from Elba. She often said + to her attendant, "I do not know what is the matter with me, but at + times I have fits of melancholy enough to kill me." But on the very + brink of the grave she retained all her amiability, all her love of + dress, and the graces and resources of a drawing-room society. The + immediate cause of her death was a bad cold she caught in taking a + drive in the park of Malmaison on a damp cold day. She expired on + the noon of Sunday, the 26th of May, in the fifty-third year of her + age. Her body was embalmed, and on the sixth day after her death + deposited in a vault in the church of Ruel, close to Malmaison. The + funeral ceremonies were magnificent, but a better tribute to the + memory of Josephine was to be found is the tears with which her + children, her servants, the neighbouring poor, and all that knew her + followed her to the grave. In 1826 a beautiful monument was erected + over her remains by Eugene Beauharnais and his sisters with this + simple inscription: + + TO JOSEPHINE. + + EUGENE. HORTENSE. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +1814. + + Italy and Eugene--Siege of Dantzic-Capitulation concluded but not + ratified-Rapp made prisoner and sent to Kiow--Davoust's refusal to + believe the intelligence from Paris--Projected assassination of one + of the French Princes--Departure of Davoust and General Hogendorff + from Hamburg--The affair of Manbreuil--Arrival of the Commissioners + of the Allied powers at Fontainebleau--Preference shown by Napoleon + to Colonel Campbell--Bonaparte's address to General Kohler--His + farewell to his troops--First day of Napoleon's journey--The + Imperial Guard succeeded by the Cossacks--Interview with Augerean-- + The first white cockades--Napoleon hanged in effigy at Orgon--His + escape in the disguise of a courier--Scene in the inn of La Calade-- + Arrival at Aix--The Princess Pauline--Napoleon embarks for Elba--His + life at Elba. + +I must now direct the attention of the reader to Italy, which was the +cradle of Napoleon's glory, and towards which he transported himself in +imagination from the Palace of Fontainebleau. Eugene had succeeded in +keeping up his means of defence until April, but on the 7th of that +month, being positively informed of the overwhelming reverses of France, +he found himself constrained to accede to the propositions of the Marshal +de Bellegarde to treat for the evacuation of Italy; and on the 10th a +convention was concluded, in which it was stipulated that the French +troops, under the command of Eugene, should return within the limits of +old France. The clauses of this convention were executed on the 19th of +April. + + --[Lord William Bentinck and Sir Edward Pellew had taken Genoa on + the 18th Of April. Murat was in the field with the Austrians + against the French.]-- + +Eugene, thinking that the Senate of Milan was favourably disposed towards +him, solicited that body to use its influence in obtaining the consent of +the Allied powers to his continuance at the head of the Government of +Italy; but this proposition was rejected by the Senate. A feeling of +irritation pervaded the public mind in Italy, and the army had not +proceeded three marches beyond Mantua when an insurrection broke out in +Milan. The Finance Minister, Pizna, was assassinated, and his residence +demolished, and nothing would have saved the Viceroy from a similar fate +had he been in his capital. Amidst this popular excitement, and the +eagerness of the Italians to be released from the dominion of the French, +the friends of Eugene thought him fortunate in being able to join his +father-in-law at Munich almost incognito. + + --[Some time after Eugene visited France and had a long audience of + Louis XVIII. He announced himself to that monarch by his father's + title of Marquis de Beauharnais. The King immediately saluted him + by the title of Monsieur le Marechal, and proposed that he should + reside in France with that rank. But this invitation Eugene + declined, because as a French Prince under the fallen Government he + had commanded the Marshals, and he therefore could not submit to be + the last in rank among those illustrious military chiefs. + Bourrienne.]-- + +Thus, at the expiration of nine years, fell the iron crown which Napoleon +had placed on his head saying, "Dieu me l'a donne; gare a qui la touche." + +I will now take a glance at the affairs of Germany. Rapp was not in +France at the period of the fall of the Empire. He had, with +extraordinary courage and skill, defended himself against a year's siege +at Dantzic. At length, being reduced to the last extremity, and +constrained to surrender, he opened the gates of the city, which +presented nothing but heaps of ruins. Rapp had stipulated that the +garrison of Dantzic should return to France, and the Duke of Wurtemberg, +who commanded the siege, had consented to that condition; but the Emperor +of Russia having refused to ratify it, Rapp, having no means of defence, +was made prisoner with his troops; and conducted to Kiow, whence he +afterwards returned to Paris, where I saw him. + +Hamburg still held out, but at the beginning of April intelligence was +received there of the extraordinary events which had delivered Europe +from her oppressor. Davoust refused to believe this news, which at once +annihilated all his hopes of power and greatness. This blindness was +persisted in for some time at Hamburg. Several hawkers, who were marked +out by the police as having been the circulators of Paris news, were +shot. An agent of the Government publicly announced his design of +assassinating one of the French Princes, in whose service he was said to +have been as a page. He said he would go to his Royal Highness and +solicit to be appointed one of his aides de camp, and that, if the +application were refused, as it probably would be, the refusal would only +confirm him in his purpose. + +At length, when the state of things was beyond the possibility of doubt, +Davoust assembled the troops, acquainted them with the dethronement of +the Emperor, hoisted a flag of truce, and sent his adhesion to the +Provisional Government. All then thought of their personal safety, +without losing sight of their honestly-acquired wealth. Diamonds and +other objects of value and small bulk were hastily collected and packed +up. The Governor of Hamburg, Count Hogendorff, who, in spite of some +signal instances of opposition, had too often co-operated in severe and +vexatious measures, was the first to quit the city. He was, indeed, +hurried off by Davoust; because he had mounted the Orange cockade and +wished to take his Dutch troops away with him. After consigning the +command to General Gerard, Davoust quitted Hamburg, and arrived at Paris +on the 18th of June. + +I have left Napoleon at Fontainebleau. The period of his departure for +Elba was near at hand: it was fixed for the 17th of April. + +On that day Maubreuil, a man who has become unfortunately celebrated, +presented himself at the Post-office, and asked to speak with me. He +showed me some written orders, signed by General Saeken, the Commander of +the Russian troops in Palls, and by Baron Brackenhausen, chief of the +staff. These orders set forth that Maubreuil was entrusted with an +important mission, for the execution of which he was authorised to demand +the assistance of the Russian troops; and the commanders of those men +were enjoined to place at his disposal as many troops as he might apply +for. Maubreuil was also the bearer of similar orders from General +Dupont, the War Minister, and from M. Angles, the Provisional Commissary- +General of the Police, who directed all the other commissaries to obey +the orders they might receive from Maubreuil. On seeing these documents, +of the authenticity of which there was no doubt, I immediately ordered +the different postmasters to provide Maubreuil promptly with any number +of horses he might require. + +Some days after I was informed that the object of Maubreuil's mission was +to assassinate Napoleon. It may readily be imagined what was my +astonishment on hearing this, after I had seen the signature of the +Commander of the Russian forces, and knowing as I did the intentions of +the Emperor Alexander. The fact is, I did not, and never can, believe +that such was the intention of Mabreuil. This man has been accused of +having carried off the jewels of the Queen of Westphalia. + +Napoleon having consented to proceed to the island of Elba, conformably +with the treaty he had ratified on the 13th, requested to be accompanied +to the place of embarkation by a Commissioner from each of the Allied +powers. Count Schouwaloff was appointed by Russia, Colonel Neil Campbell +by England, General Kohler by Austria, and Count Waldbourg-Truchess by +Prussia. On the 16th the four Commissioners came for the first time to +Fontainebleau, where the Emperor, who was still attended by Generals +Drouot and Bertrand, gave to each a private audience on the following +day. + +Though Napoleon received with coldness the Commissioners whom he had +himself solicited, yet that coldness was far from being manifested in an +equal degree to all. He who experienced the best reception was Colonel +Campbell, apparently because his person exhibited traces of wounds. +Napoleon asked him in what battles he had received them, and on what +occasions he had been invested with the orders he wore. He next +questioned him as to the place of his birth, and Colonel Campbell having +answered that he was a Scotchman, Napoleon congratulated him on being the +countryman of Ossian, his favourite author, with whose poetry, however, +he was only acquainted through the medium of wretched translations. +On this first audience Napoleon said to the Colonel, "I have cordially +hated the English. I have made war against you by every possible means, +but I esteem your nation. I am convinced that there is more generosity +in your Government than in any other. I should like to be conveyed from +Toulon to Elba by an English frigate." + +The Austrian and Russian Commissioners were received coolly, but without +any marked indications of displeasure. It was not so with the Prussian +Commissioner, to whom he said duly, "Are there any Prussians in my +escort?"--"No, Sire."--"Then why do you take the trouble to accompany +me?"--"Sire, it is not a trouble, but an honour."--"These are mere words; +you have nothing to do here."--"Sire, I could not possibly decline the +honourable mission with which the King my master has entrusted me." At +these words Napoleon turned his back on Count Truchess. + +The Commissioners expected that Napoleon would be ready to set out +without delay; but they were deceived. He asked for a sight of the +itinerary of his route, and wished to make some alterations in it. +The Commissioners were reluctant to oppose his wish, for they had been +instructed to treat him with all the respect and etiquette due to a +sovereign. They therefore suspended the departure, and, as they could +not take upon themselves to acquiesce in the changes wished for by the +Emperor, they applied for fresh orders. On the night of the 18th of +April they received these orders, authorising them to travel by any road +the Emperor might prefer. The departure was then definitively fixed for +the 20th. + +Accordingly, at ten on the morning of the 20th, the carriages were in +readiness, and the Imperial Guard was drawn up in the grand court of the +Palace of Fontainebleau, called the Cour du Cheval Blanc. All the +population of the town and the neighbouring villages thronged round the +Palace. Napoleon sent for General Kohler, the Austrian Commissioner, and +said to him, "I have reflected on what I ought to do, and I am determined +not to depart. The Allies are not faithful to their engagements with me. +I can, therefore, revoke my abdication, which was only conditional. More +than a thousand addresses were delivered to me last night: I am conjured +to resume the reins of government I renounced my rights to the crown only +to avert the horrors of a civil war, having never had any other abject in +view than the glory and happiness of France. But, seeing as I now do, +the dissatisfaction inspired by the measures of the new Government, I can +explain to my Guard the reasons which induced me to revoke my abdication. +It is true that the number of troops on which I can count will scarcely +exceed 30,000 men, but it will be easy for me to increase their numbers +to 130,000. Know, then, that I can also, without injuring my honour, say +to my Guard, that having nothing but the repose and happiness of the +country at heart, I renounce all my rights, and exhort my troops to +follow my example, and yield to the wish of the nation." + +I heard these words reported by General Kohler himself, after his return +from his mission. He did not disguise the embarrassment which this +unexpected address had occasioned; and I recollect having remarked at the +time that had Bonaparte, at the commencement of the campaign of Paris, +renounced his rights and returned to the rank of citizen, the immense +masses of the Allies must have yielded to the efforts of France. General +Kohler also stated that Napoleon complained of Maria Louisa not being +allowed to accompany him; but at length, yielding to the reasons urged by +those about him, he added, "Well, I prefer remaining faithful to my +promise; but if I have any new ground of complaint, I will free myself +from all my engagements." + +At eleven o'clock Comte de Bussy, one of the Emperor's aides de camp, was +sent by the Grand Marshal (General Bertrand) to announce that all was +ready for departure. "Am I;" said Napoleon, "to regulate my actions by +the Grand Marshal's watch? I will go when I please. Perhaps I may not +go at all. Leave me!" + +All the forms of courtly etiquette which Napoleon loved so much were +observed; and when at length he was pleased to leave his cabinet to enter +the salon, where the Commissioners were waiting; the doors were thrown +open as usual, and "The Emperor" was announced; but no sooner was the +word uttered than he turned back again. However, he soon reappeared, +rapidly crossed the gallery, and descended the staircase, and at twelve +o'clock precisely he stood at the head of his Guard, as if at a review in +the court of the Tuileries in the brilliant days of the Consulate and the +Empire. + +Then took place a really moving scene--Napoleon's farewell to his +soldiers. Of this I may abstain from entering into any details, since +they are known everywhere, and by everybody, but I may subjoin the +Emperor's last address to his old companions-in-arms, because it belongs +to history. This address was pronounced in a voice as firm and sonorous +as that in which Bonaparte used to harangue his troops in the days of his +triumphs. It was as follows: + + "Soldiers of my Old Guard, I bid you farewell. For twenty years I + have constantly accompanied yon on the road to honour and glory. In + these latter times, as in the days of our prosperity, you have + invariably been models of courage and fidelity. With men such as + you our cause could not be lost, but the war would have been + interminable; it would have been civil war, and that would have + entailed deeper misfortunes on France. I have sacrificed all my + interests to those of the country. I go; but you, my friends, will + continue to serve France. Her happiness was my only thought.. It + will still be the object of my wishes. Do not regret my fate: if I + have consented to survive, it is to serve your glory. I intend to + write the history of the great achievements we have performed + together. Adieu, my friends. Would I could press you all to my, + heart!" + +During the first day cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" resounded along the +road, and Napoleon, resorting to his usual dissimulation, censured the +disloyalty of the people to their legitimate sovereign, which he did with +ill disguised irony. The Guard accompanied him as far as Briars. At +that place Napoleon invited Colonel Campbell to breakfast with him. He +conversed on the last war in Spain, and spoke in complimentary terms of +the English nation and the military talents of Wellington. Yet by that +time he must have heard of the battle of Toulouse. + +On the night of the 21st Napoleon slept at Nevers, where he was received +by the acclamations of the people, who here, as in several other towns, +mingled their cries in favour of their late sovereign with imprecations +against the Commissioners of the Allies. He left Nevers at six on the +morning of the 22d. Napoleon was now no longer escorted by the Guards, +who were succeeded by a corps of Cossacks: the cries of "Vive +l'Empereur!" accordingly ceased, and he had the mortification to hear in +its stead, "Vivent les Allies!" However, I have been informed that at +Lyons, through which the Emperor passed on the 23d at eleven at night, +the cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" was still echoed among the groups who +assembled before the post-office during the change of horses. + +Augereau, who was still a Republican, though he accepted the title of +Duke of Castiglione from Napoleon, had always been among the +discontented. On the downfall of the Emperor he was one of that +considerable number of persons who turned Royalists not out of love for +the Bourbons but out of hatred to Bonaparte. He held a command in the +south when he heard of the forfeiture of Napoleon pronounced by the +Senate, and he was one of the first to send his recognition to the +Provisional Government. Augereau, who, like all uneducated men, went to +extremes in everything, had published under his name a proclamation +extravagantly violent and even insulting to the Emperor. Whether +Napoleon was aware of this proclamation I cannot pretend to say, but he +affected ignorance of the matter if he was informed of it, for on the +24th, having met Augereau at a little distance from Valence, he stopped +his carriage and immediately alighted. Augereau did the same, and they +cordially embraced in the presence of the Commissioners. It was remarked +that in saluting Napoleon took off his hat and Augereau kept on his. +"Where are you going?", said the Emperor; "to Court?"--"No, I am going to +Lyons."--"You have behaved very badly to me." Augereau, finding that the +Emperor addressed him in the second person singular, adopted the same +familiarity; so they conversed as they were accustomed to do when they +were both generals in Italy. "Of what do you complain?" said he. +"Has not your insatiable ambition brought us to this? Have you not +sacrificed everything to that ambition, even the happiness of France? +I care no more for the Bourbons than for you. All I care for is the +country." Upon this Napoleon turned sharply away from the Marshal, +lifted his hat to him, and then stepped into his carriage. The +Commissioners, and all the persons in Napoleon's suite, were indignant at +seeing Augereau stand in the road still covered, with his hands behind +his back, and instead of bowing, merely making a contemptuous salutation +to Napoleon with his hand. It was at the Tuileries that these haughty +Republicans should have shown their airs. To have done so on the road to +Elba was a mean insult which recoiled upon themselves. + + --[The following letter, taken from Captain Bingham's recently + published selections from the Correspondence of the first Napoleon, + indicates in emphatic language the Emperor's recent dissatisfaction + with Marshal Augereau when in command at Lyons daring the "death + straggle" of 1814: + + To Marshal Augereau. + + NOGENT, 21st February, 1814, + + ....What! six hours after having received the first troops coming + from Spain you were not in the field! Six hours repose was + sufficient. I won the action of Naugis with a brigade of dragoons + coming from Spain which, since it had left Bayonne, had not + unbridled its horses. The six battalions of the division of Nimes + want clothes, equipment, and drilling, say you? What poor reasons + yon give me there, Augereau! I have destroyed 80,000 enemies with + conscripts having nothing but knapsacks! The National Guards, say + you, are pitiable; I have 4000 here in round hats, without + knapsacks, in wooden shoes, but with good muskets, and I get a great + deal out of them. There is no money, you continue; and where do you + hope to draw money from! You want waggons; take them wherever you + can. You have no magazines; this is too ridiculous. I order you + twelve hours after the reception of this letter to take the field. + If you are still Augereau of Castiglione, keep the command, but if + your sixty years weigh upon you hand over the command to your senior + general. The country is in danger; and can be saved by boldness and + alacrity alone.... + (Signed) NAPOLEON]-- + +At Valence Napoleon, for the first time, saw French soldiers with the +white cockade in their caps. They belonged to Augereau's corps. At +Orange the air resounded with tines of "Vive le Roi!" Here the gaiety, +real or feigned, which Napoleon had hitherto evinced, began to forsake +him. + +Had the Emperor arrived at Avignon three hours later than he did there is +no doubt that he would have been massacred.--[The Royalist mob of Avignon +massacred Marshal Brune in 1816.]-- He did not change horses at Avignon, +through which he passed at five in the morning, but at St. Andiol, where +he arrived at six. The Emperor, who was fatigued with sitting in the +carnage, alighted with Colonel Campbell and General Bertrand, and walked +with them up the first hill. His valet de chambre, who was also walking +a little distance in advance, met one of the mail couriers, who said is +him, "Those are the Emperor's carriages coming this way?"--"No, they are +the equipages of the Allies."--"I say they are the Emperor's carriages. +I am an old soldier. I served in the campaign of Egypt, and I will save +the life of my General."--"I tell you again they are not the Emperor's +carriages."--"Do not attempt to deceive me; I have just passed through +Organ, where the Emperor has been hanged in effigy. The wretches erected +a scaffold and hanged a figure dressed in a French uniform covered with +blood. Perhaps I may get myself into a scrape by this confidence, but no +matter. Do you profit by it." The courier then set off at full gallop. +The valet de chambre took General Drouot apart, and told him what he had +heard. Drouot communicated the circumstance to General Bertrand, who +himself related it to the Emperor in the presence of the Commissioners. +The latter, justly indignant, held a sort of council on the highway, and +it was determined that the Emperor should go forward without his retinue. +The valet de chambre was asked whether he had any clothes in the +carriage. He produced a long blue cloak and a round hat. It was +proposed to put a white cockade in the hat, but to this Napoleon would +not consent. He went forward in the style of a courier, with Amaudru, +one of the two outriders who had escorted his carriage, and dashed +through Orgon. When the Allied Commissioners arrived there the assembled +population were uttering exclamations of "Down with the Corsican! Down +with the brigand!" The mayor of Orgon (the, same man whom I had seen +almost on his knees to General Bonaparte on his return from Egypt) +addressed himself to Pelard, the Emperor's valet de chambre, and said, +"Do you follow that rascal?"--"No," replied Pelard, "I am attached to the +Commisairiers of the Allied powers."--Ah! that is well! I should like +to hang the villain with my own hands. + +"Ah! if you knew, sir, how the scoundrel has deceived us! It was I who +received him on his return from Egypt. We wished to take his horses out +and draw his carriage. I should like to avenge myself now for the +honours I rendered him at that time." + +The crowd augmented, and continued to vociferate with a degree of fury +which may be imagined by those who have heard the inhabitants of the +south manifest, by cries, their joy or their hatred. Some more violent +than the rest wished to force Napoleon's coachman to cry "Vive le Roi!" +He courageously refused, though threatened with a stroke of a sabre, +when, fortunately; the carriage being ready to start, he whipped the +horses and set off at full gallop. The Commissioners would not breakfast +at Orgon; they paid for what had been prepared, and took some +refreshments away with them. The carriages did not overtake the Emperor +until they came to La Calade, where he had arrived a quarter of an hour +before with Amaudru. + +They found him standing by the fire in the kitchen of the inn talking +with the landlady. She had asked him whether the tyrant was soon to pass +that way? "Ah! sir," said she, "it is all nonsense to say we have got +rid of him. I always, have said, and always will say, that we shall +never be sure of being done with him until he be laid at the bottom of a +well, covered over with stones. I wish we had him safe in the well in +our yard. You see, sir, the Directory sent him to Egypt to get rid of +him; but he came back again! And he will come back again, you maybe sure +of that, sir; unless--" Here the good woman, having finished skimming her +pot, looked up and perceived that all the party were standing uncovered +except the individual to whom, she had been speaking. She was +confounded, and the embarrassment she experienced at having spoken so ill +of the Emperor to the Emperor himself banished all her anger, and she +lavished every mark of attention, and respect on Napoleon and his +retinue. A messenger was immediately sent to Aix to purchase ribbons for +making white cockades. All the carriages were brought into the courtyard +of the inn, and the gate was closed; the landlady informed Napoleon that +it would not be prudent for him to venture on passing through Aix, where +a population of more than 20,000 were waiting to stone him. + +Meanwhile dinner was served, and Napoleon sat down to table. He +admirably disguised the agitation which he could not fail to experience, +and I have been assured, by some of the individuals who were present on +that remarkable occasion, that he never made himself more agreeable. His +conversation, which was enriched by the resources of his memory and his +imagination, charmed every one, and he remarked, with an air of +indifference which was perhaps affected, "I believe the new French +Government has a design on my life." + +The Commissioners, informed of what was going on at Aix, proposed sending +to the Mayor an order for closing the gates and adopting measures for +securing the public tranquillity. About fifty individuals had assembled +round the inn, and one among them offered to carry a letter to the Mayor +of Aix The Commissioners accepted his services, and in their letter +informed the Mayor that if the gates of the town were not closed within +an hour they would advance with two regiments of uhlans and six pieces of +artillery, and would fire upon all who might oppose them. This threat +had the desired effect; and the Mayor returned for answer that the gates +should be closed, and that he would take upon himself the responsibility +of everything which might happen. + +The danger which threatened the Emperor at Aix was thus averted; but +there was another to be braved. During the seven or eight hours he +passed at La Calade a considerable number of people had gathered round- +the inn, and manifested every disposition to proceed to some excess. +Most of them had in their hands five-franc pieces, in order to recognise +the Emperor by his likeness on the coin. Napoleon, who had passed two +nights without sleep, was in a little room adjoining the kitchen, where +he had fallen into a slumber, reclining an the shoulder of his valet de +chambre. In a moment of dejection he had said, "I now renounce the +political world forever. I shall henceforth feel no interest about +anything that may happen. At Porto-Ferrajo I may be happy--more happy +than I have ever been! No!--if the crown of Europe were now offered to +me I would not accept it. I will devote myself to science. I was right +never to esteem mankind! But France and the French people--what +ingratitude! I am disgusted with ambition, and I wish to rule no +longer!" + +When the moment for departure arrived it was proposed that he should put +on the greatcoat and fur cap of General Kohler, and that he should go +into the carriage of the Austrian Commissioner. The Emperor, thus +disguised, left the inn of La Calade, passing between two lines of +spectators. On turning the walls of Aix Napoleon had again the +mortification to hear the cries of "Down with the tyrant! Down with +Nicolas!" and these vociferations resounded at the distance of a quarter +of a league from the town. + +Bonaparte, dispirited by these manifestations of hatred, said, in a tone +of mingled grief and contempt, "These Provencals are the same furious +brawlers that they used to be. They committed frightful massacres at the +commencement of the Revolution. Eighteen years ago I came to this part +of the country with some thousand men to deliver two Royalists who were +to be hanged. Their crime was having worn the white cockade. I saved +them; but it was not without difficulty that I rescued them from the +hands of their assailants; and now, you see, they resume the same +excesses against those who refuse to wear the white cockade.". At about +a league from Aix the Emperor and his retinue found horses and an escort +of gendarmerie to conduct them to the chateau of Luc. + +The Princess Pauline was at the country residence of M. Charles, member +of the Legislative Body, near the castle of Luc. On hearing of the +misfortunes of her brother she determined to accompany him to the isle of +Elba, and she proceeded to Frejus to embark with him. At Frejus the +Emperor rejoined Colonel Campbell, who had quitted the convoy on the +road, and had brought into the port the English frigate the 'Undaunted' +which was appointed to convey the Emperor to the place of his +destination. In spite of the wish he had expressed to Colonel Campbell +he manifested considerable reluctance to go on board. However, on the +28th of April he sailed for the island of Elba in the English frigate, in +which it could not then be said that Caesar and his fortune were +embarked. + + [It was on the 3d of May 1814 that Bonaparte arrived within sight of + Porto-Ferrajo, the capital of his miniature empire; but he did not + land till the nest morning. At first he paid a short visit + incognito, being accompanied by a sergeant's party of marines from + the Undaunted. He then returned on board to breakfast, and at about + two o'clock made his public entrance, the 'Undaunted' firing a royal + salute.] + +In every particular of his conduct he paid great attention to the +maintenance of his Imperial dignity. On landing he received the keys of +his city of Porto-Ferrajo, and the devoirs of the Governor, prefect, and +other dignitaries, and he proceeded immediately under a canopy of State +to the parish church, which served as a cathedral. There he heard Te +Deum, and it is stated that his countenance was dark and melancholy, and +that he even shed tears. + +One of Bonaparte's first cares was to select a flag for the Elbese +Empire, and after some hesitation he fixed on "Argent, on a bend gules, +or three bees," as the armorial ensign of his new dominion. It is +strange that neither he nor any of those whom he consulted should have +been aware that Elba had an ancient and peculiar ensign, and it is still +more remarkable that this ensign should be one singularly adapted to +Bonaparte's situation; being no more than "a wheel,--the emblem," says +M. Bernaud, "of the vicissitudes of human life, which the Elbese had +borrowed from the Egyptian mysteries." This is as curious a coincidence +as any we ever recollect to have met; as the medals of Elba with the +emblem of the wheel are well known, we cannot but suppose that Bonaparte +was aware of the circumstance; yet he is represented as having in vain +made several anxious inquiries after the ancient arms of the island. + +During the first months of his residence there his life was, in general, +one of characteristic activity and almost garrulous frankness. He gave +dinners, went to balls, rode all day about his island, planned +fortifications, aqueducts, lazarettos, harbours, and palaces; and the +very second day after he landed fitted out an expedition of a dozen +soldiers to take possession of a little uninhabited island called +Pianosa, which lies a few leagues from Elba; on this occasion he said +good-humouredly, "Toute l'Europe dira que j'ai deja fait une conqute" +(All Europe will say I have already made a conquest). The cause of the +island of Pianosa being left uninhabited was the marauding of the +Corsairs from the coast of Barbary, against whom Bonaparte considered +himself fully protected by the 4th Article of the Treaty of +Fontainebleau. + +The greatest wealth of Elba consists in its iron mines, for which the +island was celebrated in the days of Virgil. Soon after his arrival +Napoleon visited the mines in company with Colonel Campbell, and being +informed that they produced annually about 500,000 francs he exclaimed +joyfully, "These, then, are my own !" One of his followers, however, +reminded him that he had long since disposed of that revenue, having +given it to his order of the Legion of Honour, to furnish pensions, etc. +"Where was my head when I made that grant?" said he, "but I have made +many foolish decrees of that sort!" + +Sir Walter Scott, in telling a curious fact, makes a very curious +mistake. "To dignify his capital," he says, "having discovered that the +ancient name of Porto-Ferrajo was Comopoli (the city of Como), he +commanded it to be called Cosmopoli, or the city of all nations." Now +the old name of Porto-Ferrajo was in reality not Comopoli, but Cosmopoli, +and it obtained that name from the Florentine Cosmo de' Medici, to whose +ducal house Elba belonged, as an integral part of Tuscany. The name +equally signified the city of Cosmo, or the city of all nations, and the +vanity of the Medici had probably been flattered by the double meaning of +the appellation. But Bonaparte certainly revived the old name, and did +not add a letter to it to dignify his little capital. + +The household of Napoleon, though reduced to thirty-five persons, still +represented an Imperial Court. The forms and etiquette of the Tuileries +and St, Cloud were retained on a diminished scale, but the furniture and +internal accommodations of the palace are represented as having been +meaner by far than those of an English gentleman of ordinary rank. The +Bodyguard of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Elba consisted of about +700 infantry and 80 cavalry, and to this handful of troops Napoleon +seemed to pay almost as much attention as he had formerly given to his +Grande Armee. The men were constantly exercised, particularly in +throwing shot and shells, and he soon began to look out for good recruits. + +He early announced that he would hold a Court and receive ladies twice a +week; the first was on the 7th of May, and a great concourse assembled. +Bonaparte at first paid great attention to the women, particularly those +who possessed personal attractions, and asked them, in his rapid way, +whether they were married? how many children they had, and who their +husbands were? To the last question he received one universal answer; it +happened that every lady was married to a merchant, but when it came to +be further explained that they were merchant butchers and merchant +bakers, his Imperial Majesty permitted some expression of his +dissatisfaction to escape him and hastily retired. On the 4th of June +there was a ball on board the British frigate, in honour of the King's +birthday; the whole beauty and fashion of Elba were assembled, and +dancing with great glee, when, about midnight, Bonaparte came in his +barge, unexpectedly, and masked, to join the festivity. He was very +affable, and visited every part of the ship, and all the amusements which +had been prepared for the different classes of persons. On his birthday, +the 15th of August, he ordered the mayor to give a ball, and for this +purpose a temporary building, capable of holding 300 persons, was to be +erected, and the whole entertainment, building and all, were to be at the +expense of the inhabitants themselves. These were bad auspices, and +accordingly the ball completely failed. Madame Mtire, Madame Bertrand, +and the two ladies of honour, attended, but not above thirty of the fair +islanders, and as the author of the IEineraire remarks, "Le bal ful +triste quoique Bonaparte n'y parut pas." + +Having in an excursion reached the summit of one of the highest hills on +the island, where the sea was visible all round him, he shook his head +with affected solemnity, and exclaimed in a bantering tone, "Eh! il faut +avouer que mon ile est bien petite." + +On this mountain one of the party saw a little church in an almost +inaccessible situation, and observed that it was a most inconvenient site +for a church, for surely no congregation could attend it. "It is on that +account the more convenient to the parson," replied Bonaparte, "who may +preach what stuff he pleases without fear of contradiction." + +As they descended the hill and met some peasants with their goats who +asked for charity, Bonaparte told a story which the present circumstances +brought to his recollection, that when he was crossing the Great St. +Bernard, previously to the battle of Marengo, he had met a goatherd, and +entered into conversation with him. The goatherd, not knowing to whom he +was speaking, lamented his own hard lot, and envied the riches of some +persons who actually had cows and cornfields. Bonaparte inquired if some +fairy were to offer to gratify all his wishes what he would ask? The +poor peasant expressed, in his own opinion, some very extravagant +desires, such as a dozen of cows and a good farmhouse. Bonaparte +afterwards recollected the incident, and astonished the goatherd by the +fulfilment of all his wishes. + +But all his thoughts and conversations were not as light and pleasant as +these. Sometimes he would involve himself in an account of the last +campaign, of his own views and hopes, of the defection of his marshals, +of the capture of Paris, and finally of his abdication; on these he would +talk by the hour with great earnestness and almost fury, exhibiting in +very rapid succession traits of eloquence, of military genius, of +indignation; of vanity, and of selfishness. With regard to the audience +to whom he addressed these tirades he was not very particular. + +The chief violence of his rage seemed to be directed against Marshal +Marmont whom, as well as Augereau, he sometimes called by names too gross +for repetition, and charged roundly with treachery. Marmont, when he +could no longer defend Paris by arms, saved it by an honourable +capitulation; he preserved his army for the service of his country and +when everything else was lost stipulated for the safety of Bonaparte. +This last stipulation, however, Bonaparte affected to treat with contempt +and indignation.--[Editor of 1836 edition.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +1814. + + Changes produced by time--Correspondence between the Provisional + Government and Hartwell--Louis XVIII's reception in London-- + His arrival at Calais--Berthier's address to the King at Compiegne-- + My presentation to his Majesty at St. Ouen-Louis--XVIII's entry into + Paris--Unexpected dismissal from my post--M. de Talleyrand's + departure for the Congress of Vienna--Signs of a commotion-- + Impossibility of seeing M. de Blacas--The Abby Fleuriel--Unanswered + letters--My letter to M. de Talleyrand at Vienna. + +No power is so great as that resulting from the changes produced by time. +Wise policy consists in directing that power, but to do so it is +requisite to know the wants of the age. For this reason Louis XVIII. +appeared, in the eyes of all sensible persons, a monarch expressly formed +for the circumstances in which we stood after the fall of Napoleon. + +In the winter of 1813-14 some Royalist proclamations had been circulated +in Paris, and as they contained the germs of those hopes which the +Charter, had it been executed, was calculated to realise, the police +opposed their circulation, and I recollect that, in order to multiply the +number of copies, my family and I daily devoted some hours to +transcribing them. After the definitive declaration of Alexander a very +active correspondence ensued between the Provisional Government and +Hartwell, and Louis XVIII. was even preparing to embark for Bordeaux when +he learned the events of the 31st of March. That news induced the King +to alter his determination, and he soon quitted his retirement to proceed +to London. Louis XVIII. and the Prince Regent of England exchanged the +orders of the Holy Ghost and the Garter, and I believe I may affirm that +this was the first occasion on which any but a Catholic Prince was +invested with the order of the Holy Ghost. + +Louis XVIII. embarked at Dover on board the Royal Sovereign, and landed +at Calais on the 24th of April. I need not enter into any description of +the enthusiasm which his presence excited; that is generally known +through the reports of the journals of the time. It is very certain that +all rational persons saw with satisfaction the Princes of the House of +Bourbon reascend the throne of their ancestors, enlightened by experience +and misfortune, which, as some ancient philosopher observes, are the best +counsellors of kings. + +I had received a letter addressed to me from London by the Duc de Duras, +pointing out the route which Louis XVIII. was to pursue from Calais to +Paris: In this he said, "After the zeal, monsieur, you have shown for the +service of the King, I do not doubt your activity to prevent his +suffering in any way at a moment so happy and interesting for every +Frenchman." The King's wishes on this subject were scrupulously +fulfilled, and I recollect with pleasure the zeal with which my +directions were executed by all the persons in the service of the +Postoffice. His Majesty stopped for a short time at Amiens, and then +proceeded to Compiegne, where the Ministers and Marshals had previously +arrived to present to him their homage and the assurance of their +fidelity. Berthier addressed the King in the name of the Marshals, and +said, among other things, "that France, groaning for five and twenty +years under the weight of the misfortunes that oppressed her, had +anxiously looked forward to the happy day which she now saw dawning." +Berthier might justly have said for "ten years"; but at all events, even +had he spoken the truth, it was ill placed in the mouth of a man whom the +Emperor had constantly loaded with favours: The Emperor Alexander also +went to Compiegne to meet Louis XVIII., and the two monarchs dined +together. + +I did not go to Compiegne because the business which I had constantly to +execute did not permit me to leave Paris for so long an interval as that +journey would have required, but I was at St. Ouen when Louis XVIII. +arrived on the 2d of May. There I had to congratulate myself on being +remembered by a man to whom I was fortunate enough to render some service +at Hamburg. As the King entered the salon through which he had to pass +to go to the dining-room M. Hue recognising me said to his Majesty, +"There is M. de Bourrienne." The King then stepping up to me said, "Ah! +M. de Bourrienne, I am very glad to see you. I am aware of the services +you have rendered me in Hamburg and Paris, and I shall feel much pleasure +in testifying my gratitude." + +At St. Ouen Louis XVIII. promulgated the declaration which preceded the +Charter, and which repeated the sentiments expressed by the King twenty +years before, in the Declaration of Colmar. It was also at St, Ouen that +project of a Constitution was presented to him by the Senate in which +that body, to justify 'in extremis' its title of conservative, stipulated +for the preservation of its revenues and endowments. + +On the 3d of May Louis XVIII. made his solemn entrance into Paris, the +Duchess d'Angouleme being in the carriage with the King. His Majesty +proceeded first to Notre Dame. On arriving at the Pont Neuf he saw the +model of the statue of Henri IV. replaced, on the pedestal of which +appeared the following words: 'Ludovico reduce, Henricus redivivus', +which were suggested by M. de Lally-Tollendal, and were greatly +preferable to the long and prolix inscription composed for the bronze +statue. + +The King's entrance into Paris did not excite so much enthusiasm as the +entrance of Monsieur. In the places through which I passed on the 3d of +May astonishment seemed to be the prevailing feeling among the people. +The abatement of public enthusiasm was more perceptible a short time +after, when Louis XVIII. restored "the red corps" which Louis XVI. had +suppressed long before the Revolution. + +It was not a little extraordinary to see the direction of the Government +consigned to a man who neither had nor could have any knowledge of +France. From the commencement M. de Blacas affected ministerial +omnipotence. When I went on the 11th of May to the Tuileries to present, +as usual, my portfolio to the King, in virtue of my privilege of +transacting business with the sovereign, M. de Blacas wished to take the +portfolio from me, which appeared to me the more surprising as, during +the seven days I had the honour of coming in contact with Louis XVIII., +his Majesty had been pleased to bestow many compliments upon me. I at +first refused to give up the portfolio, but M. de Blacas told me the King +had ordered him to receive it; I then, of course, yielded the point. + +However, it, was not long before I had experience of a courtier's +revenge, for two days after this circumstance, that is to say, on the +13th of May, on entering my cabinet at the usual hour, I mechanically +took up the 'Moniteur', which I found lying on my desk. On glancing +hastily over it what was my astonishment to find that the Comte Ferrand +had been appointed Director of the Post-office in my stead. Such was the +strange mode in which M. de Blacas made me feel the promised gratitude of +the sovereign. Certainly, after my proofs of loyalty, which a year +afterwards procured for me the honour of being outlawed in quite a +special way, I had reason to complain, and I might have said 'Sic vos non +vobis' as justly as Virgil when he alluded to the unmerited favours +lavished by Augustus on the Maevii and Bavii of his time. + +The measures of Government soon excited complaints in every quarter. +The usages of the old system were gradually restored, and ridicule being +mingled with more serious considerations, Paris was speedily inundated +with caricatures and pamphlets. However, tranquillity prevailed until +the month of September, when M. de Talleyrand departed for the Congress +of Vienna. Then all was disorder at the Tuileries. Every one feeling +himself free from restraint, wished to play the statesman, and Heaven +knows how many follies were committed in the absence of the schoolmaster. + +Under a feeble Government there is but one step from discontent to +insurrection, under an imbecile Government like that of France in 1814, +after the departure of M. de Talleyrand, conspiracy has free Scope. +During the summer of 1814 were initiated the events which reached their +climax on the 20th of March 1815. I almost fancy I am dreaming when I +look back on the miraculous incapacity of the persons who were then at +the head of our Government. The emigrants, who, as it has been truly +said, had neither learned nor forgotten anything, came back with all the +absurd pretensions of Coblentz. Their silly vanity reminded one of a +character in one of Voltaire's novels who is continually saying, "Un +homme comme moi!" These people were so engrossed with their pretended +merit that they were blind to everything else. They not only disregarded +the wishes and the wants of France; which in overthrowing the Empire +hoped to regain liberty, but they disregarded every warning they had +received. + +I recollect one circumstance which was well calculated to excite +suspicion. Prince Eugene proposed going to the waters of Plombieres to +join his sister Hortense. The horses, the carriages, and one of the +Prince's aides de camp had already arrived at Plombieres, and his +residence was prepared; but he did not go. Eugene had, no doubt, +received intimation of his sister's intrigues with some of the +individuals of the late Court of Napoleon who were then at the waters, +and as he had determined to reside quietly at the Court of his father-in- +law; without meddling with public affairs, he remained at Munich. This +fact, however, passed off unnoticed. + +At the end of 1814 unequivocal indications of a great catastrophe were +observable. About that time a man, whom I much esteem, and with whom I +have always been on terms of friendship, said to me, "You see how things +are going on: they are committing fault upon fault. You must be +convinced that such a state of things cannot last long. Between +ourselves, I am of opinion that all will be over in the month of March; +that month will repair the disgrace of last March. We shall then, once +for all, be delivered from fanaticism and the emigrants. You see the +intolerable spirit of hypocrisy that prevails, and you know that the +influence of the priests is, of all things, the most hateful to the +nation. We have gone back a long way within the last eight months. I +fear you will repent of having taken too active a part in affairs at the +commencement of the present year. You see we have gone a very different +way from what you expected. However, as I have often told you before, +you had good reason to complain; and after all, you acted to the best of +your judgment." + +I did not attach much importance to this prediction of a change in the +month of March. I deplored, as every one did, the inconceivable errors +of "Ferrand and Company," and I hoped that the Government would gradually +return to those principles which were calculated to conciliate the +feelings of the people. A few days after another of my friends called on +me. He had exercised important functions, and his name had appeared on a +proscription list. He had claims upon the Government, which was by no +means favourably disposed towards him. I asked him how things were going +on, and he replied, "Very well; no opposition is made to my demands. I +have no reason bo complain." This reminded me of the man in the 'Lettres +Persanes', who admired the excellent order of the finances under Colbert +because his pension was promptly paid. I congratulated my friend on the +justice which the Government rendered him, as well as on the justice +which he rendered to the Government, and I remarked that if the same +course were adopted towards every one all parties would speedily be +conciliated. "I do not think so," said my friend. "If the Government +persist in its present course it cannot possibly stand, and we shall have +the Emperor back again."--"That," said I, "would be a very great +misfortune; and even if such were the wish of France, it would be opposed +by Europe. You who are so devotedly attached to France cannot be +indifferent to the danger that would threaten her if the presence of +Bonaparte should bring the foreigners back again. Can you endure to +think of the dismemberment of our country?"--"That they would never dare +to attempt. But you and I can never agree on the question of the Emperor +and your Bourbons. We take a totally different view of the matter. You +had cause to complain of Bonaparte, but I had only reason to be satisfied +with him. But tell me, what would you do if he were to return?"-- +"Bonaparte return!"--"Yes."--"Upon my word, the best thing I could do +would be to set off as speedily as I could, and that is certainly what I +should do. I am thoroughly convinced that he would never pardon me for +the part I have taken in the Restoration, and I candidly confess that I +should not hesitate a moment to save my life by leaving France."--"Well, +you are wrong, for I am convinced that if you would range yourself among +the number of his friends you might have whatever you wished--titles, +honours, riches. Of this I could give you assurance."--"All this, I must +tell you, does not tempt me. I love France as dearly, as you do, and I +am convinced that she can never be happy under Bonaparte. If he should +return I will go and live abroad." + +This is only part of a conversation which lasted a considerable time, +and, as is often the case after a long discussion, my friend retained his +opinion, and I mine. However, this second warning, this hypothesis of +the return of Bonaparte, made me reflect, and I soon received another +hint which gave additional weight to the preceding ones. An individual +with whom I was well acquainted, and whom I knew from his principles and +connections to be entirely devoted to the royal cause, communicated to me +some extraordinary circumstances which he said alarmed him. Among other +things he said, "The day before yesterday I met Charles de Labedoyere, +who, you know, is my intimate friend. I remarked that he had an air of +agitation and abstraction. I invited him to come and dine with me, but +he declined, alleging as an excuse that we should not be alone. He then +asked me to go and dine with him yesterday, as he wanted to talk with me. +I accepted his invitation, and we conversed a long time on political +affair's and the situation of France. You know my sentiments are quite +the reverse of his, so we disputed and wrangled, though we are still very +good friends. But what alarms me is, that at parting Charles pressed my +hand, saying, 'Adieu; to-morrow I set off for Grenoble. In a month you +will hear something of Charles de Labedoyere.'" + +These three successive communications appeared to me very extraordinary. +The two first were made to me by persons interested in the event, and the +third by one who dreaded it. They all presented a striking coincidence +with the intrigues at Plombieres a few months before. In the month of +January I determined to mention the business to M. de Blacas, who then +engrossed all credit and all power, and through whose medium alone +anything could reach the sovereign. I need scarcely add that my +intention was merely to mention to him the facts without naming the +individuals from whom I obtained them. After all, however, M. de Blacas +did not receive me, and I only had the honour of speaking to his +secretary, who, if the fact deserve to be recorded, was an abbe named +Fleuriel. This personage, who was an extraordinary specimen of +impertinence and self-conceit, would have been an admirable study for a +comic poet. He had all the dignity belonging to the great secretary of a +great Minister, and, with an air of indifference, he told me that the +Count was not there; but M. de Blacas was there, and I knew it. + +Devoted as I was to the cause of the Bourbons, I thought it my duty to +write that very day to M. de Blacas to request an interview; I received +no answer. Two days after I wrote a second letter, in which I informed +M. de Blacas that I had something of the greatest importance to +communicate to him; this letter remained unnoticed like the first. +Unable to account for this strange treatment I again repaired to the +Pavilion de Flore, and requested the Abbe Fleuriel to explain to me if he +could the cause of his master's silence. "Sir," said he, "I received +your two letters, and laid them before the Count; I cannot tell why he +has not sent you an answer; but Monsieur le Comte is so much engaged . . +. . Monsieur le Comte is so overwhelmed with business that"--"Monsieur +le Comte may, perhaps, repent of it. Good morning, sir!" + +I thus had personal experience of the truth of what I had often heard +respecting M. de Blacas. That favourite, who succeeded Comte d'Avaray, +enjoyed the full confidence of the King, and concentrated the sovereign +power in his own cabinet. The only means of transmitting any +communication to Louis XVIII. was to get it addressed to M. de Blacas by +one of his most intimate friends. + +Convinced as I was of the danger that threatened France, and unable to +break through the blockade which M. de Blacas had formed round the person +of the King, I determined to write to M. de Talleyrand at Vienna,' and +acquaint him with the communications that had been made to me. M. de +Talleyrand corresponded directly with the King, and I doubt not that my +information at length reached the ears of his Majesty. But when Louis +XVIII. was informed of what was to happen it was too late to avert the +danger. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +1814-1815. + + Escape from Elba--His landing near Cannes--March on Paris. + +About the middle of summer Napoleon was visited by his mother and his +sister the Princess Pauline. Both these ladies had very considerable +talents for political intrigue, and then natural faculties in this way +had not lain dormant or been injured by want of practice. In Pauline +this finesse was partially concealed by a languor and indecision of +manner and an occasional assumption of 'niaiserie'; or almost infantine +simplicity; but this only threw people the more off their guard, and made +her finesse the more sure in its operation. Pauline was handsome too, +uncommonly graceful, and had all that power of fascination which has been +attributed to the Bonaparte family. She could gain hearts with ease, and +those whom her charms enslaved were generally ready to devote themselves +absolutely to her brother. She went and came between Naples and Elba, +and kept her brother-in-law, Murat, in mind of the fact that the lion was +not yet dead nor so much as sleeping, but merely retiring the better to +spring forward on his quarry. + +Having taken this resolution and chosen his time, Napoleon kept the +secret of his expedition until the last moment; and means were found to +privately make the requisite preparations. A portion of the soldiers was +embarked in a brig called the 'Inconstant' and the remainder in six small +craft. It was not till they were all on board that the troops first +conceived a suspicion of the Emperor's purpose: 1000 or 1200 men had +sailed to regain possession of an Empire containing a population of +30,000,000! He commenced his voyage on Sunday the 26th of February 1815, +and the next morning at ten o'clock was not out of sight of the island, +to the great annoyance of the few friends he had left behind. At this +time Colonel Sir Neil Campbell was absent on a tour to Leghorn, but being +informed by the French Consul and by Spanocchi, the Tuscan Governor of +the town, that Napoleon was about to sail for the Continent, he hastened +back, and gave chase to the little squadron in the Partridge sloop of +war, which was cruising in the neighbourhood, but, being delayed by +communicating with a French frigate, reached Antibes too late. + +There were between 400 and 500 men on board the brig (the 'Inconstant') +in which Bonaparte embarked. On the passage they met with a French ship +of war, with which they spoke. The Guards were ordered to pull off their +caps and lie down on the deck or go below while the captain exchanged +some words with the commander of the frigate, whom he afterwards proposed +to pursue and capture. Bonaparte rejected the idea as absurd, and asked +why he should introduce this new episode into his plan. + +As they stood over to the coast of France the Emperor was in the highest +spirits. The die was cast, and he seemed to be quite himself again. He +sat upon the deck and amused the officers collected round him with a +narrative of his campaigns, particularly those of Italy and Egypt. When +he had finished he observed the deck to be encumbered with several large +chests belonging to him. He asked the maitre d'hotel what they +contained. Upon being told they were filled with wine he ordered them to +be immediately broken open, saying, "We will divide the booty." The +Emperor superintended the distribution himself, and presented bottle by +bottle to his comrades, till tired of this occupation he called out to +Bertrand, "Grand Marshal, assist me, if you please. Let us help these +gentlemen. They will help us some day." It was with this species of +bonhomie that he captivated when he chose all around him. The following +day he was employed in various arrangements, and among others in +dictating to Colonel Raoul the proclamations to be issued on his landing +In one of these, after observing, "we must forget that we have given law +to the neighbouring nations," Napoleon stopped. "What have I said?" +Colonel Raoul read the passage. "Stop!" said Napoleon. "Omit the word +'neighbouring;' say simply 'to nations.'" It was thus his pride revealed +itself; and his ambition seemed to rekindle at the very recollections of +his former greatness. + +Napoleon landed without any accident on the 1st of March at Cannes, a +small seaport in the Gulf of St. Juan, not far from Frejus, where he had +disembarked on his return from Egypt sixteen years before, and where he +had embarked the preceding year for Elba. A small party of the Guards +who presented themselves before the neighbouring garrison of Antibes were +made prisoners by General Corsin, the Governor of the place. Some one +hinted that it was not right to proceed till they had released their +comrades, but the Emperor observed that this was poorly to estimate the +magnitude of the undertaking; before them were 30,000,000 men uniting to +be set free! He, however, sent the Commissariat Officer to try what be +could do, calling out after him, "Take care you do not get yourself made +prisoner too!" + +At nightfall the troops bivouacked on the beach. Just before a +postillion, in a splendid livery, had been brought to Napoleon. It +turned out that this man had formerly been a domestic of the Empress +Josephine, and was now in the service of the Prince of Monaco, who +himself had been equerry to the Empress. The postillion, after +expressing his great astonishment at finding the Emperor there, stated, +in answer to the questions that were put to him, that he had just come +from Paris; that all along the road, as far as Avignon, he had heard +nothing but regret for the Emperor's absence; that his name was +constantly echoed from mouth to mouth; and that, when once fairly through +Provence, he would find the whole population ready to rally round him. +The man added that his laced livery had frequently rendered him the +object of odium and insult on the road. This was the testimony of one of +the common class of society: it was very gratifying to the Emperor, as it +entirely corresponded with his expectations. The Prince of Monaco +himself, on being presented to the Emperor, was less explicit. Napoleon +refrained from questioning him on political matters. The conversation +therefore assumed a more lively character, and turned altogether on the +ladies of the former Imperial Court, concerning whom the Emperor was very +particular in his inquiries. + +As soon as the moon had risen, which was about one or two in the morning +of the 2d, the bivouacs were broken up, and Napoleon gave orders for +proceeding to Grasse. There he expected to find a road which he had +planned during the Empire, but in this he was disappointed, the Bourbons +having given up all such expensive works through want of money. +Bonaparte was therefore obliged to pass through narrow defiles filled +with snow, and left behind him in the hands of the municipality his +carriage and two pieces of cannon, which had been brought ashore. This +was termed a capture in the bulletins of the day. The municipality of +Grasse was strongly in favour of the Royalist cause, but the sudden +appearance of the Emperor afforded but little time for hesitation, and +they came to tender their submission to him. Having passed through the +town be halted on a little height some way beyond it, where he +breakfasted. He was soon surrounded by the whole population of the +place; and he heard the same sentiments and the same prayers as before he +quitted France. A multitude of petitions had already been drawn up, and +were presented to him, just as though he had come from Paris and was +making a tour through the departments. One complained that his pension +had not been paid, another that his cross of the Legion of Honour had +been taken from him. Some of the more discontented secretly informed +Napoleon that the authorities of the town were very hostile to him, but +that the mass of the people were devoted to him, and only waited till his +back was turned to rid themselves of the miscreants. He replied, "Be not +too hasty. Let them have the mortification of seeing our triumph without +having anything to reproach us with." The Emperor advanced with all the +rapidity in his power. "Victory," he said, "depended on my speed. To me +France was in Grenoble. That place was a hundred miles distant, but I +and my companions reached it in five days; and with what weather and what +roads! I entered the city just as the Comte d'Artois, warned by the +telegraph, was quitting the Tuileries." + +Napoleon himself was so perfectly convinced of the state of affairs that +he knew his success in no way depended on the force he might bring with +him. A 'piquet' of 'gens d'armes', he said, was all that was necessary. +Everything turned out as he foresaw. At first he owned he was not +without some degree of uncertainty and apprehension. As he advanced, +however, the whole population declared themselves enthusiastically in his +favour: but he saw no soldiers. It was not till he arrived between Mure +and Vizille, within five or six leagues from Grenoble, and on the fifth +day after his landing, that he met a battalion. The commanding officer +refused to hold even a parley. The Emperor, without hesitation, advanced +alone, and 100 grenadiers marched at some distance behind him, with their +arms reversed. The sight of Napoleon, his well-known costume, and his +gray military greatcoat, had a magical effect on the soldiers, and they +stood motionless. Napoleon went straight up to them and baring his +breast said, "Let him that has the heart kill his Emperor!" The soldiers +threw down their arms, their eyes moistened with tears, and cries of +"Vive l'Empereur!" resounded on every side. Napoleon ordered the +battalion to wheel round to the right, and all marched on together. + +At a short distance from Grenoble Colonel Labedoyere, who had been sent +at the head of the 7th regiment to oppose his passage, came to join the +Emperor. The impulse thus given in a manner decided the question. +Labedoyere's superior officer in vain interfered to restrain his +enthusiasm and that of his men. The tri-coloured cockades, which had +been concealed in the hollow of a drum, were eagerly distributed by +Labedoyere among them, and they threw away the white cockade as a badge +of their nation's dishonour. The peasantry of Dauphiny, the cradle of +the Revolution, lined the roadside: they were transported and mad with +joy. The first battalion, which has just been alluded to, had shown some +signs of hesitation, but thousands of the country people crowded round +it, and by their shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" endeavoured to urge the +troops to decision, while others who followed in Napoleon's rear +encouraged his little troop to advance by assuring them that they would +meet with success. Napoleon said he could have taken 2,000,000 of these +peasants with him to Paris, but that then he would have been called "the +King of the Jaequerie." + +Napoleon issued two proclamations on the road. He at first regretted +that he had not had them printed before he left Elba; but this could not +have been done without some risk of betraying his secret designs. He +dictated them on board the vessel, where every man who could write was +employed in copying them. These copies soon became very scarce; many of +them were illegible; and it was of till he arrived at Gap, on the 5th of +March, that he found means to have them printed. They were from that +time circulated and read everywhere with the utmost avidity. + +The address to the army was considered as being still more masterly and +eloquent, and it was certainly well suited to the taste of French +soldiers, who, as Bourrienne remarks, are wonderfully pleased with +grandiloquence, metaphor, and hyperbole, though they do not always +understand what they mean. Even a French author of some distinction +praises this address as something sublime. "The proclamation to the +army," says he, "is full of energy: it could not fail to make all +military imaginations vibrate. That prophetic phrase, 'The eagle, with +the national colours, will fly from church steeple to church steeple, +till it settles on the towers of Notre Dame,' was happy in the extreme." + +These words certainly produced an immense effect on the French soldiery, +who everywhere shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" "Vive le petit Caporal!" +"We will die for our old comrade!" with the most genuine enthusiasm. + +It was some distance in advance of Grenoble that Labedoyere joined, but +he could not make quite sure of the garrison of that city, which was +commanded by General Marchand, a man resolved to be faithful to his +latest master. The shades of night had fallen when Bonaparte arrived in +front of the fortress of Grenoble, where he stood for some minutes in a +painful state of suspense and indecision. + +It was on the 7th of March, at nightfall, that Bonaparte thus stood +before the walls of Grenoble. He found the gates closed, and the +commanding officer refused to open them. The garrison assembled on the +ramparts shouted "Vive l'Empereur!" and shook hands with Napoleon's +followers through the wickets, but they could not be prevailed on to do +more. It was necessary to force the gates, and this was done under the +mouths of ten pieces of artillery, loaded with grapeshot. In none of his +battles did Napoleon ever imagine himself to be in so much danger as at +the entrance into Grenoble. The soldiers seemed to turn upon him with +furious gestures: for a moment it might be supposed that they were going +to tear him to pieces. But these were the suppressed transports of love +and joy. The Emperor and his horse were both borne along by the +multitude, and he had scarcely time to breathe in the inn where he +alighted when an increased tumult was heard without; the inhabitants of +Grenoble came to offer him the broken gates of the city, since they could +not present him with the keys. + +From Grenoble to Paris Napoleon found no further opposition. During the +four days of his stay at Lyons, where he had arrived on the 10th, there +were continually upwards of 20,000 people assembled before his windows; +whose acclamations were unceasing. It would never have been supposed +that the Emperor had even for a moment been absent from the, country. +He issued orders, signed decrees, reviewed the troops, as if nothing had +happened. The military corps, the public bodies, and all classes of +citizens, eagerly came forward to tender their homage and their services. +The Comte d'Artois, who had hastened to Lyons, as the Duc and Duchesse +d'Augouleme had done to Bourdeaux, like them in vain attempted to make a +stand. The Mounted National Guard (who were known Royalists) deserted +him at this crisis, and in his flight only one of them chose to follow +him. Bonaparte refused their services when offered to him, and with a +chivalrous feeling worthy of being recorded sent the decoration of the +Legion of Honour to the single volunteer who had thus shown his fidelity +by following the Duke. + +As soon as the Emperor quitted Lyons he wrote to Ney, who with his army +was at Lons-le-Saulnier, to come and join him. Ney had set off from the +Court with a promise to bring Napoleon, "like a wild beast in a cage, to +Paris." Scott excuses Ney's heart at the expense of his head, and +fancies that the Marshal was rather carried away by circumstances, by +vanity, and by fickleness, than actuated by premeditated treachery, and +it is quite possible that these protestations were sincerely uttered when +Ney left Paris, but, infected by the ardour of his troops, he was unable +to resist a contagion so much in harmony with all his antecedents, and to +attack not only his leader in many a time of peril, but also the +sovereign who had forwarded his career through every grade of the army. + +The facts of the cane were these:-- + +On the 11th of March Ney, being at Besancon, learned that Napoleon was at +Lyons. To those who doubted whether his troops would fight against their +old comrades he said, "They shall fight! I will take a musket from a +grenadier and begin the action myself! I will run my sword to the hilt +in the body of the first man who hesitates to fire." At the same time he +wrote to the Minister of War at Paris that he hoped to see a fortunate +close to this mad enterprise. + +He then advanced to Lons-le-Saulnier, where, on the night between the +13th and 14th of March, not quite three days after his vehement +protestations of fidelity, he received, without hesitation, a letter from +Bonaparte, inviting him, by his old appellation of the "Bravest of the +Brave," to join his standard. With this invitation Ney complied, and +published an order of the day that declared the cause of the Bourbons, +which he had sworn to defend, lost for ever. + +It is pleaded in extenuation of Ney's defection that both his officers +and men were beyond his control, and determined to join their old Master; +but in that case he might have given up his command, and retired in the +same honourable way that Marshals Macdonald and Marmont and several other +generals did. But even among his own officers Ney had an example set +him, for many of them, after remonstrating in vain, threw up their +commands. One of them broke his sword in two and threw the pieces at +Ney's feet, saying, "It is easier for a man of honour to break iron than +to break his word." + +Napoleon, when at St. Helena, gave a very different reading to these +incidents. On this subject he was heard to say, "If I except Labedoyere, +who flew to me with enthusiasm and affection, and another individual, +who, of his own accord, rendered me important services, nearly all the +other generals whom I met on my route evinced hesitation and uncertainty; +they yielded only to the impulse about them, if indeed they did not +manifest a hostile feeling towards me. This was the case with Ney, with +Massena, St. Cyr, Soult, as well as with Macdonald and the Duke of +Belluno, so that if the Bourbons had reason to complain of the complete +desertion of the soldiers and the people, they had no right to reproach +the chiefs of the army with conspiring against them, who had shown +themselves mere children in politics, and would be looked upon as neither +emigrants nor patriots." + +Between Lyons and Fontainebleau Napoleon often travelled several miles +ahead of his army with no other escort than a few Polish lancers. His +advanced guard now generally consisted of the troops (miscalled Royal) +who happened to be before him on the road whither they had been sent to +oppose him, and to whom couriers were sent forward to give notice of the +Emperor's approach, in order that they might be quite ready to join him +with the due military ceremonies. White flags and cockades everywhere +disappeared; the tri-colour resumed its pride of place. It was spring, +and true to its season the violet had reappeared! The joy of the +soldiers and the lower orders was almost frantic, but even among the +industrious poor there were not wanting many who regretted this +precipitate return to the old order of things--to conscription, war, and +bloodshed, while in the superior classes of society there was a pretty +general consternation. The vain, volatile soldiery, however, thought of +nothing but their Emperor, saw nothing before them but the restoration of +all their laurels, the humiliation of England, and the utter defeat of +the Russians, Prussians, and Austrians. + +On the night between the 19th and 20th of March Napoleon reached +Fontainebleau, and again paused, as had formerly been his custom, with +short, quick steps through the antiquated but splendid galleries of that +old palace. What must have been his feelings on revisiting the chamber +in which, the year before, it is said he had attempted suicide! + +Louis XVIII., left the Palace of the Tuileries at nearly the same hour +that Bonaparte entered that of Fontainebleau. + +The most forlorn hope of the Bourbons was now in a considerable army +posted between Fontainebleau and Paris. Meanwhile the two armies +approached each other at Melun; that of the King was commanded by Marshal +Macdonald. On the 20th his troops were drawn up in three lines to +receive the invaders, who were said to be advancing from Fontainebleau. +There was a long pause of suspense, of a nature which seldom fails to +render men more accessible to strong and sudden emotions. The glades of +the forest, and the acclivity which leads to it, were in full view of the +Royal army, but presented the appearance of a deep solitude. All was +silence, except when the regimental bands of music, at the command of the +officers, who remained generally faithful, played the airs of "Vive Henri +Quatre," "O Richard," "La Belle Gabrielle," and other tunes connected +with the cause and family of the Bourbons. The sounds excited no +corresponding sentiments among the soldiers. + +At length, about noon, a galloping of horse was heard. An open carriage +appeared, surrounded by a few hussars, and drawn by four horses. It came +on at full speed, and Napoleon, jumping from the vehicle, was in the +midst of the ranks which had been formed to oppose him. His escort threw +themselves from their horses, mingled with their ancient comrades, and +the effect of their exhortations was instantaneous on men whose minds +were already half made up to the purpose which they now accomplished. +There was a general shout of "Vive Napoleon!" The last army of the +Bourbons passed from their side, and no further obstruction existed +betwixt Napoleon and the capital, which he was once more--but for a brief +space--to inhabit as a sovereign. + +Louis, accompanied only by a few household troops, had scarcely turned +his back on the capital of his ancestors when Lavalette hastened from a +place of concealment and seized on the Post-office in the name of +Napoleon. By this measure all the King's proclamations' were +intercepted, and the restoration of the Emperor was announced to all the +departments. General Excelmans, who had just renewed his oath to Louis, +pulled down with his own hands the white flag that was floating over the +Tuileries, and hoisted the three-coloured banner. + +It was late in the evening of the 20th that Bonaparte entered Paris in an +open carriage, which was driven straight to the gilded gates of the +Tuileries. He received the acclamations of the military and of the lower +classes of the suburbs, but most of the respectable citizens looked on in +silent wonderment. It was quite evident then that he was recalled by a +party--a party, in truth, numerous and powerful, but not by the unanimous +voice of the nation. The enthusiasm of his immediate adherents, however, +made up for the silence and lukewarmness of others. They filled and +crammed the square of the Carrousel, and the courts and avenues of the +Tuileries; they pressed so closely upon him that he was obliged to cry +out, "My friends, you stifle me!" and his aides de camp were compelled to +carry him in their arms up the grand staircase, and thence into the royal +apartments. It was observed, however, that amongst these ardent friends +were many men who had been the first to desert him in 1814, and that +these individuals were the most enthusiastic in their demonstrations, the +loudest in their shouts! + +And thus was Napoleon again at the Tuileries, where, even more than at +Fontainebleau, his mind was flooded by the deep and painful recollections +of the past! A few nights after his return thither he sent for M. Horan, +one of the physicians who had attended Josephine during her last illness. +"So, Monsieur Horan," said he, "you did not leave the Empress during her +malady?"--"No, Sire." + +What was the cause of that malady?"--"Uneasiness of mind . . .grief."-- +"You believe that?" (and Napoleon laid a strong emphasis on the word +believe, looking steadfastly in the doctor's face). He then asked, "Was +she long ill? Did she suffer much?"--"She was ill a week, Sire; her +Majesty suffered little bodily pain."--"Did she see that she was dying? +Did she show courage?"--"A sign her Majesty made when she could no longer +express herself leaves me no doubt that she felt her end approaching; she +seamed to contemplate it without fear."--" Well! . . well!" and then +Napoleon much affected drew close to M. Horan, and added, "You say that +she was in grief; from what did that arise?"--"From passing events, Sire; +from your Majesty's position last year."--" Ah! she used to speak of me +then?"--"Very often." Here Napoleon drew his hand across his eyes, which +seemed filled with tears. He then went on. "Good woman!--Excellent +Josephine! She loved me truly--she--did she not? . . . Ah! She was a +Frenchwoman!"--"Yes, Sire, she loved you, and she would have proved it +had it not been for dread of displeasing you: she had conceived an idea." +--"How? ... What would she have done?" She one day said that as Empress +of the French she would drive through Paris with eight horses to her +coach, and all her household in gala livery, to go and rejoin you at +Fontainebleau, and never quit you mare."--"She would have done it--she +was capable of doing it!" + +Napoleon again betrayed deep emotion, on recovering from which he asked +the physician the most minute questions about the nature of Josephine's +disease, the friends and attendants who were around her at the hour of +her death, and the conduct of her two children, Eugene and Hortense. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +1815. + + Message from the Tuileries--My interview with the King-- + My appointment to the office of Prefect of the Police--Council at + the Tuileries--Order for arrests--Fouches escape--Davoust + unmolested--Conversation with M. de Blacas--The intercepted letter, + and time lost--Evident understanding between Murat and Napoleon-- + Plans laid at Elba--My departure from Paris--The post-master of + Fins--My arrival at Lille--Louis XVIII. detained an hour at the + gates--His majesty obliged to leave France--My departure for + Hamburg--The Duc de Berri at Brussels. + +Those who opposed the execution of the treaty concluded with Napoleon at +the time of his abdication were guilty of a great error, for they +afforded him a fair pretext for leaving the island of Elba. The details +of that extraordinary enterprise are known to every one, and I shall not +repeat what has been told over and over again. For my own part, as soon +as I saw with what rapidity Bonaparte was marching upon Lyons, and the +enthusiasm with which he was received by the troops and the people, I +prepared to retire to Belgium, there to await the denouement of this new +drama. + +Every preparation for my departure was completed on the evening of the +13th of March, and I was ready to depart, to avoid the persecutions of +which I expected I should be the object, when I received a message from +the Tuileries stating that the King desired to see me. I of course lost +no time in proceeding to the Palace, and went straight to M. Hue to +inquire of him why I had been sent for. He occupied the apartments in +which I passed the three most laborious and anxious years of my life. +M. Hue, perceiving that I felt a certain degree of uneasiness at being +summoned to the Tuileries at that hour of the night, hastened to inform +me that the King wished to appoint me Prefect of the Police. He +conducted me to the King's chamber, where his Majesty thus addressed me +kindly, but in an impressive manner, "M. de Bourrienne, can we rely upon +you? I expect much from your zeal and fidelity."--"Your Majesty," +replied I, "shall have no reason to complain of my betraying your +confidence."--" Well, I re-establish the Prefecture of the Police, and I +appoint you Prefect. Do your best, M. de Bourrienne, in the discharge of +your duties; I count upon you." + +By a singular coincidence, on the very day (the 13th of March) when I +received this appointment Napoleon, who was at Lyons, signed the decree +which excluded from the amnesty he had granted thirteen individuals, +among whose names mine was inscribed. This decree confirmed me in the +presentiments I had conceived as soon as I heard of the landing of +Bonaparte. On returning home from the Tuileries after receiving my +appointment a multitude of ideas crowded on my mind. At the first moment +I had been prompted only by the wish to serve the cause of the King, but +I was alarmed when I came to examine the extent of the responsibility I +had taken upon myself. However, I determined to meet with courage the +difficulties that presented themselves, and I must say that I had every +reason to be satisfied with the manner in which I was seconded by M. +Foudras, the Inspector-General of the Police. + +Even now I am filled with astonishment when I think of the Council that +was held at the Tuileries on the evening of the 13th of March in M. de +Blacas' apartments. The ignorance of the members of that Council +respecting our situation, and their confidence in the useless measures +they had adopted against Napoleon, exceed all conception. + +Will it be believed that those great statesmen, who had the control of +the telegraph, the post-office, the police and its agents, money-in +short, everything which constitutes power--asked me to give them +information respecting the advance of Bonaparte? What could I say to +them? I could only repeat the reports which were circulated on the +Exchange, and those which I had collected here and there during the last +twenty-four hours. I did not conceal that the danger was imminent, and +that all their precautions would be of no avail. The question then arose +as to what course should be adapted by the King. It was impossible that +the monarch could remain at the Capital, and yet, where was he to go? +One proposed that he should go to Bordeaux, another to La Vendee, and a +third to Normandy, and a fourth member of the Council was of opinion that +the King should be conducted to Melun. I conceived that if a battle +should take place anywhere it would probably be in the neighbourhood of +that town, but the councillor who made this last suggestion assured us +that the presence of the King in an open carriage and eight horses would +produce a wonderful effect on the minds of the troops. This project was +merely ridiculous; the others appeared to be dangerous and impracticable. +I declared to the Council that, considering the situation of things, it +was necessary to renounce all idea of resistance by force of arms; that +no soldier would fire a musket, and that it was madness to attempt to +take any other view of things. "Defection," said I, "is inevitable. +The soldiers are drinking in their barracks the money which you have been +giving them for some days past to purchase their fidelity. They say +Louis XVIII., is a very decent sort of man, but 'Vive le petit Caporal!'" + +Immediately on the landing of Napoleon the King sent an extraordinary +courier to Marmont, who was at Chatillon whither he had gone to take a +last leave of his dying mother. I saw him one day after he had had an +interview with the King; I think it was on the 6th or 7th of March. +After some conversation on the landing of Napoleon, and the means of +preventing him from reaching Paris, Marmont said to me, "This is what I +dwelt most strongly upon in the interview I have just had with the King. +'Sire,' said I, 'I doubt not Bonaparte's intention of coming to Paris, +and the best way to prevent him doing so would be for your Majesty to +remain here. It is necessary to secure the Palace of the Tuileries +against a surprise, and to prepare it for resisting a siege, in which it +would be indispensable to use cannon. You must shut yourself up in your +palace, with the individuals of your household and the principal public +functionaries, while the Due d'Angoulome should go to Bordeaux, the Duc +de Berri to La Vendee, and Monsieur to, the Franche-Comte; but they must +set off in open day, and announce that they are going to collect +defenders for your Majesty.--[Monsieur, the brother of the King, the +Comte d'Artois later Charles X.] + +". . This is what I said to the King this morning, and I added that I +would answer for everything if my advice were followed. I am now going +to direct my aide de camp, Colonel Fabvier, to draw up the plan of +defence." I did not concur in Marmont's opinion. It is certainly +probable that had Louis XVIII. remained in his palace the numerous +defections which took place before the 20th of March would have been +checked and some persons would not have found so ready an excuse for +breaking their oaths of allegiance. There can be little doubt, too, but +Bonaparte would have reflected well before he attempted the siege of the +Tuileries. + + --[Marmont (tome vii. p. 87) gives the full details of his scheme + for provisioning and garrisoning the Tuileries which the King was to + hold while his family spread themselves throughout the provinces. + The idea had nothing strange in it, for the same advice was given by + General Mathieu Dumas (Souvenirs, tome iii. p. 564), a man not + likely to suggest any rash schemes. Jaucourt, writing to + Talleyrand, obviously believed in the wisdom of the King's + remaining, as did the Czar; see Talleyrand's Correspondence, vol. + ii. pp. 94, 122, 129. Napoleon would certainly have been placed + in a strange difficulty, but a king capable of adopting such a + resolution would never have been required to consider it.]-- + +Marmont supported his opinion by observing that the admiration and +astonishment excited by the extraordinary enterprise of Napoleon and his +rapid march to Paris would be counterbalanced by the interest inspired by +a venerable monarch defying his bold rival and courageously defending his +throne. While I rendered full justice to the good intentions of the Duke +of Ragusa, yet I did not think that his advice could be adopted. I +opposed it as I opposed all the propositions that were made in the +Council relative to the different places to which the King should retire. +I myself suggested Lille as being the nearest, and as presenting the +greatest degree of safety, especially in the first instance. + +It was after midnight when I left the Council of the Tuileries. The +discussion had terminated, and without coming to any precise resolution +it was agreed that the different opinions which had been expressed should +be submitted to Louis XVIII. in order that his Majesty might adopt that +which should appear to him the best. The King adopted my opinion, but it +was not acted upon until five days after. + +My appointment to the Prefecture of the Police was, as will be seen, a +late thought of measure, almost as late indeed as Napoleon's proposition +to send me as his Minister Plenipotentiary to Switzerland. In now +accepting office I was well convinced of the inutility of any effort that +might be made to arrest the progress of the fast approaching and menacing +events. Being introduced into the King's cabinet his Majesty asked me +what I thought of the situation of affairs. "I think, Sire, that +Bonaparte will be here in five or six days."--"What, sir?"--"Yes, Sire." +--"But proper measures are taken, the necessary orders given, and the +Marshals are faithful to me."--"Sire, I suspect no man's fidelity; but I +can assure your Majesty that, as Bonaparte has landed, he will be here +within a week. I know him, and your Majesty cannot know him as well as I +do; but I can venture too assure your Majesty with the same confidence +that he will not be here six months hence. He will be hurried into acts +of folly which will ruin him."--"De Bourrienne, I hope the best from +events, but if misfortune again compel me to leave France, and your +second prediction be fulfilled, you may rely on me." During this short +conversation the King appeared perfectly tranquil and resigned. + +The next day I again visited the Tuileries, whither I had at those +perilous times frequent occasion to repair. On that day I received a +list of twenty-five persons whom I was ordered to arrest. I took the +liberty to observe that such a proceeding was not only useless but likely +to produce a very injurious effect at that critical moment. The reasons +I urged had not all the effect I expected. However, some relaxation as +to twenty-three of the twenty-five was conceded, but it was insisted that +Fouche and Davoust should be arrested without delay. The King repeatedly +said, "I wish you to arrest Fouche."--" Sire, I beseech your Majesty to +consider the inutility of such a measure."--" I am resolved upon Fouches +arrest. But I am sure you will miss him, for Andre could not catch him." + +My nocturnal installation as Prefect of the Police took place some time +after midnight. I had great repugnance to the arrest of Fouche, but the +order having been given, there was no alternative but to obey it. I +communicated the order to M. Foudras, who very coolly observed, "Since we +are to arrest him you need not be afraid, we shall have him fast +tomorrow." + +The next day my agents repaired to the Duke of Otranto's hotel, in the +Rue d'Artois. On showing their warrant Fouche said, "What does this +mean? Your warrant is of no force; it is mere waste-paper. It purports +to come from the Prefect of the Police, but there is no such Prefect." +In my opinion Fouche was right, for my appointment, which took place +during the night, had not been legally announced. Be that as it may, +on his refusal to surrender, one of my agents applied to the staff of the +National Guard, requesting the support, in case of need, of an armed +force. General Dessolles repaired to the Tuileries to take the King's +orders on the subject. Meanwhile Fouche, who never lost his self- +possession, after talking to the police officers who remained with him, +pretended to step aside for some indispensable purpose, but the door +which he opened led into a dark passage through which he slipped, leaving +my unfortunate agents groping about in the obscurity. As for himself, he +speedily gained the Rue Taitbout, where he stepped into a coach, and +drove off. This is the whole history of the notable arrest of Fouche. + +As for Davoust, I felt my hands tied with respect to him. I do not mean +to affect generosity, for I acknowledge the enmity I bore him; but I did +not wish it to be supposed that I was acting towards him from a spirit of +personal vengeance. I therefore merely ordered him to be watched. The +other twenty-three were to me in this matter as if they had never +existed; and some of them, perhaps, will only learn in reading my Memoirs +what dangerous characters they were thought to be. + +On the 15th of March, after the conversation which, as I have already +related, I had with Louis XVIII, I went to M. de Blacas and repeated to +him what I had stated to the King on the certainty of Bonaparte's speedy +arrival in Paris. I told him that I found it necessary to devote the +short time still in our power to prevent a reaction against the +Royalists, and to preserve public tranquillity until the departure of the +Royal family, and that I would protect the departure of all persons who +had reasons for withdrawing themselves from the scene of the great and +perhaps disastrous events that might ensue. "You may readily believe, +Count," added I, "that considering the great interests with which I am +entrusted, I am not inclined to lose valuable time in arresting the +persons of whose names I have received a list. The execution of such a +measure would be useless; it would lead to nothing, or rather it would +serve to irritate public feeling. My conviction of this fact has +banished from me all idea of keeping under restraint for four or five +days persons whose influence, whether real or supposed, is nil, since +Bonaparte is at Auxerre. Mere supervision appears to me sufficient, and +to that I propose confining myself."--"The King," replied M. de Blacas, +"relies on you. He knows that though only forty-eight hours have elapsed +since you entered upon your functions, you have already rendered greater +services than you are perhaps aware of." I then asked M. de Blacas +whether he had not received any intimation of Bonaparte's intended +departure from the island of Elba by letters or by secret agents. "The +only positive information we received," answered the Minister, "was an +intercepted letter, dated Elba, 6th February. It was addressed to +M. -----, near Grenoble. I will show it you." M. de Blacas opened a +drawer of his writing-table and took out the letter, which he gave to me. +The writer thanked his correspondent for the information he had +transmitted to "the inhabitant of Elba." He was informed that everything +was ready for departure, and that the first favourable opportunity would +be seized, but that it would be desirable first to receive answers to +some questions contained in the letter. These questions related to the +regiments which had been sent into the south, and the places of their +cantonment. It was inquired whether the choice of the commanders was +conformable to what had been agreed on in Paris, and whether Labedoyere +was at his post. The letter was rather long and it impressed me by the +way in which the plan of a landing on the coast of Provence was +discussed. Precise answers were requested on all these points. On +returning the letter to M. de Blacas I remarked that the contents of the +letter called for the adoption of some decided measures, and I asked him +what had been done. He answered, "I immediately sent a copy of the +letter to M. d'Andre, that he might give orders for arresting the +individual to whom it was addressed." + +Having had the opportunity of closely observing the machinery of a +vigilant and active Government, I was, I must confess, not a little +amazed at the insufficiency of the measures adopted to defeat this well- +planned conspiracy. When M. de Blacas informed me of all that had been +done, I could not repress an exclamation of surprise. "Well," said he, +"and what would you have done?"--"In the first place I would not have +lost twenty-four hours, which were an age in such a crisis." I then +explained the plan I would have adopted. A quarter of an hour after the +receipt of the letter I would have sent trustworthy men to Grenoble, and +above all things I would have taken care not to let the matter fall into +the hands of the police. Having obtained all information from the +correspondent at Grenoble, I would have made him write a letter to his +correspondent at Elba to quiet the eagerness of Napoleon, telling him +that the movement of troops he spoke of had not been made, that it would +take eight days to carry it out, and that it was necessary to the success +of the enterprise to delay the embarkation for some days. While +Bonaparte was thus delayed I would have sent to the coast of Provence a +sufficient body of men devoted to the Royal cause, sending off in another +direction the regiments whose chiefs were gained over by Napoleon, as the +correspondence should reveal their names. "You are perhaps right, sir," +said M. de Blacas, "but what could I do? I am new here. I had not the +control of the police, and I trusted to M. d'Andre."--" Well," said I, +"Bonaparte will be here on the 20th of March." With these words I parted +from M. de Blacas. I remarked a great change in him. He had already +lost a vast deal of that hauteur of favouritism which made him so much +disliked. + +When I entered upon my duties in the Prefecture of Police the evil was +already past remedy. The incorrigible emigres required another lesson, +and the temporary resurrection of the Empire was inevitable. But, if +Bonaparte was recalled, it was not owing to any attachment to him +personally; it was not from any fidelity to the recollections of the +Empire. It was resolved at any price to get rid of those imbecile +councillors, who thought they might treat France like a country conquered +by the emigrants. The people determined to free themselves from a +Government which seemed resolved to trample on all that was dear to +France. In this state of things some looked upon Bonaparte as a +liberator, but the greater number regarded him as an instrument. In this +last character he was viewed by the old Republicans, and by a new +generation, who thought they caught a glimpse of liberty in promises, and +Who were blind enough to believe that the idol of France would be +restored by Napoleon. + +In February 1815, while everything was preparing at Elba for the +approaching departure of Napoleon, Murat applied to the Court of Vienna +for leave to march through the Austrian Provinces of Upper Italy an army +directed on France. It was on the 26th of the same month that Bonaparte +escaped from Elba. These two facts were necessarily connected together, +for, in spite of Murat's extravagant ideas, he never could have +entertained the expectation of obliging the King of France, by the mere +force of arms, to acknowledge his continued possession of the throne of +Naples. Since the return of Louis XVIII. the Cabinet of the Tuileries +had never regarded Murat in any other light than as a usurper, and I know +from good authority that the French Plenipotentiaries at the Congress of +Vienna were especially instructed to insist that the restoration of the +throne of Naples in favour of the Bourbons of the Two Sicilies should be +a consequence of the restoration of the throne of France. I also know +that the proposition was firmly opposed on the part of Austria, who had +always viewed with jealousy the occupation of three thrones of Europe by +the single House of Bourbon. + +According to information, for the authenticity of which I can vouch, the +following were the plans which Napoleon conceived at Elba. Almost +immediately after his arrival in France he was to order the Marshals on +whom he could best rely to defend to the utmost the entrances to the +French territory and the approaches to Paris, by pivoting on the triple +line of fortresses which gird the north and east of France. Davoust was +'in petto' singled out for the defence of Paris. He, was to arm the +inhabitants of the suburbs, and to have, besides, 20,000 men of the +National Guard at his disposal. Napoleon, not being aware of the +situation of the Allies, never supposed that they could concentrate their +forces and march against him so speedily as they did. He hoped to take +them by surprise, and defeat their projects, by making Murat march upon +Milan, and by stirring up insurrections in Italy. The Po being once +crossed, and Murat approaching the capital of Lombardy, Napoleon with the +corps of Suchet, Brune, Grouchy, and Massena, augmented by troops sent, +by forced marches, to Lyons, was to cross the Alps and revolutionise +Piedmont. There, having recruited his army and joined the Neapolitans in +Milan, he was to proclaim the independence of Italy, unite the whole +country under a single chief, and then march at the head of 100,000 men +on Vienna, by the Julian Alps, across which victory had conducted him in +1797. This was not all: numerous emissaries scattered through Poland and +Hungary were to foment discord and raise the cry of liberty and +independence, to alarm Russia and Austria. It must be confessed it would +have been an extraordinary spectacle to see Napoleon giving liberty to +Europe in revenge for not having succeeded in enslaving her. + +By means of these bold manoeuvres and vast combinations Napoleon +calculated that he would have the advantage of the initiative in military +operations. Perhaps his genius was never more fully developed than in +this vast conception. According to this plan he was to extend his +operations over a line of 500 leagues, from Ostend to Vienna, by the Alps +and Italy, to provide himself with immense resources of every kind, to +prevent the Emperor of Austria from marching his troops against France, +and probably force him to terminate a war from which the hereditary +provinces would have exclusively suffered. Such was the bright prospect +which presented itself to Napoleon when he stepped on board the vessel +which was to convey him from Elba to France. But the mad precipitation +of Murat put Europe on the alert, and the brilliant illusion vanished +like a dream. + +After being assured that all was tranquil, and that the Royal family was +secure against every danger, I myself set out at four o'clock on the +morning of the 20th of March, taking the road to Lille.--Nothing +extraordinary occurred until I arrived at the post-office of Fins, in +front of which were drawn up a great number of carriages, which had +arrived before mine, and the owners of which, like myself, were +impatiently waiting for horses. I soon observed that some one called the +postmaster aside in a way which did not appear entirely devoid of +mystery, and I acknowledge I felt some degree of alarm. I was in the +room in which the travellers were waiting, and my attention was attracted +by a large bill fixed against the wall. It was printed in French and +Russian, and it proved to be the order of the day which I had been +fortunate enough to obtain from the Emperor Alexander to exempt +posthorses, etc., from the requisitions of the Allied troops. + +I was standing looking at the bill when the postmaster came into the room +and advanced towards me. "Sir," said he, "that is an order of the day +which saved me from ruin."--"Then surely you would not harm the man by +whom it is signed?"--"I know you, sir, I recognised you immediately. +I saw you in Paris when you were Director of the Post-office, and you +granted a just claim which I had upon you. I have now come to tell you +that they are harnessing two horses to your calash, and you may set off +at full speed." The worthy man had assigned to my use the only two +horses at his disposal; his son performed the office of postilion, and I +set off to the no small dissatisfaction of some of the travellers who had +arrived before me, and who, perhaps, had as good reasons as I to avoid +the presence of Napoleon. + +We arrived at Lille at eleven o'clock on the night of the 21st. Here I +encountered another vexation, though not of an alarming kind. The gates +of the town were closed, and I was obliged to content myself with a +miserable night's lodging in the suburb. + +I entered Lille on the 22d, and Louis XVIII. arrived on the 23d. His +Majesty also found the gates closed, and more than an hour elapsed before +an order could be obtained for opening them, for the Duke of Orleans, who +commanded the town, was inspecting the troops when his Majesty arrived. +The King was perfectly well received at Lille. There indeed appeared +some symptoms of defection, but it must be acknowledged that the officers +of the old army had been so singularly sacrificed to the promotion of the +returned emigrants that it was very natural the former should hail the +return of the man who had so often led them to victory. I put up at the +Hotel de Grand, certainly without forming any prognostic respecting the +future residence of the King. When I saw his Majesty's retinue I went +down and stood at the door of the hotel, where as soon as Louis XVIII. +perceived me he distinguished me from among all the persons who were +awaiting his arrival, and holding out his hand for me to kiss he said, +"Follow me, M. de Bourrienne." + +On entering the apartments prepared for him the King expressed to me his +approval of my conduct since the Restoration, and especially during the +short interval in which I had discharged the functions of Prefect of the +Police. He did me the honour to invite me to breakfast with him. The +conversation naturally turned on the events of the day, of which every +one present spoke according to his hopes or fears. Observing that Louis +XVIII. concurred in Berthier's discouraging view of affairs, I ventured +to repeat what I had already said at the Tuileries, that, judging from +the disposition of the sovereigns of Europe and the information which I +had received, it appeared very probable that his Majesty would be again +seated on his throne in three months. Berthier bit his nails as he did +when he wanted to leave the army of Egypt and return to Paris to the +object of his adoration. Berthier was not hopeful; he was always one of +those men who have the least confidence and the most depression. I could +perceive that the King regarded my observation as one of those +compliments which he was accustomed to receive, and that he had no great +confidence in the fulfilment of my prediction. However, wishing to seem +to believe it, he said, what he had more than hinted before, "M. de +Bourrienne, as long as I am King you shall be my Prefect of the Police." + +It was the decided intention of Louis XVIII. to remain in France as long +as he could, but the Napoleonic fever, which spread like an epidemic +among the troops, had infected the garrison of Lille. Marshal Mortier, +who commanded at Lille, and the Duke of Orleans, expressed to me their +well-founded fears, and repeatedly recommended me to urge the King to +quit Lille speedily, in order to avoid any fatal occurrence. During the +two days I passed with his Majesty I entreated him to yield to the +imperious circumstances in which he was placed. At length the King, with +deep regret, consented to go, and I left Lille the day before that fixed +for his Majesty's departure. + +In September 1814 the King had appointed me charge d'affaires from France +to Hamburg, but not having received orders to repair to my post I have +not hitherto mentioned this nomination. However, when Louis XVIII. was +on the point of leaving France he thought that my presence in Hamburg +might be useful for the purpose of making him acquainted with all that +might interest him in the north of Germany. But it was not there that +danger was to be apprehended. There were two points to be watched--the +headquarters of Napoleon and the King's Council at Ghent. I, however, +lost no time in repairing to a city where I was sure of finding a great +many friends. On passing through Brussels I alighted at the Hotel de +Bellevue, where the Duc de Berri arrived shortly after me. His Royal +Highness then invited me to breakfast with him, and conversed with me +very confidentially. I afterwards continued my journey. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +1815. + + Message to Madame de Bourrienne on the 20th of March--Napoleon's + nocturnal entrance into Paris--General Becton sent to my family by + Caulaincourt--Recollection of old persecutions--General Driesen-- + Solution of an enigma--Seals placed on my effects--Useless searches + --Persecution of women--Madame de Stael and Madame de Recamier-- + Paris during the Hundred Days--The federates and patriotic songs-- + Declaration of the Plenipotentiaries at Vienna. + +At Lille, and again at Hamburg, I received letters from my family, which +I had looked for with great impatience. They contained particulars of +what had occurred relative to me since Bonaparte's return to Paris. +Two hours after my departure Madame de Bourrienne also left Paris, +accompanied by her children, and proceeded to an asylum which had been +offered her seven leagues from the capital. She left at my house in +Paris her sister, two of her brothers, and her friend the Comtesse de +Neuilly, who had resided with us since her return from the emigration. + +On the very morning of my wife's departure (namely, the 20th of March) a +person, with whom I had always been on terms of friendship, and who was +entirely devoted to Bonaparte, sent to request that Madame de Bourrienne +would call on him, as he wished to speak to her on most important and +urgent business. My sister-in-law informed the messenger that my wife +had left Paris, but, begging a friend to accompany her, she went herself +to the individual, whose name will be probably guessed, though I do not +mention it. The person who came with the message to my house put many +questions to Madame de Bourrienne's sister respecting my absence, and +advised her, above all things, to conjure me not to follow the King, +observing that the cause of Louis XVIII. was utterly lost, and that I +should do well to retire quietly to Burgundy, as there was no doubt of my +obtaining the Emperor's pardon. + +Nothing could be more gloomy than Bonaparte's entrance into Paris. He +arrived at night in the midst of a thick fog. The streets were almost +deserted, and a vague feeling of terror prevailed almost generally in the +capital. + +At nine o'clock on the same evening, the very hour of Bonaparte's arrival +at the Tuileries, a lady, a friend, of my family, and whose son served in +the Young Guard, called and requested to see Madame de Bourrienne. She +refused to enter the house lest she should be seen, and my sister-in-law +went down to the garden to speak to her without a light. This lady's +brother had been on the preceding night to Fontainebleau to see +Bonaparte, and he had directed his sister to desire me to remain in +Paris, and to retain my post in the Prefecture of the Police, as I was +sure of a full and complete pardon. + +On the morning of the 21st General Becton, who has since been the victim +of his mad enterprises, called at my house and requested to speak with me +and Madame de Bourrienne. He was received by my wife's sister and +brothers, and stated that he came from M. de Caulaincourt to renew the +assurances of safety which had already been given to me. I was, I +confess, very sensible of these proofs of friendship when they came to my +knowledge, but I did not for a single moment repent the course I adopted. +I could not forget the intrigues of which I had been the object since +1811, nor the continual threats of arrest which, during that year, had +not left me a moment's quiet; and since I now revert to that time, I may +take the opportunity of explaining how in 1814 I was made acquainted with +the real causes of the persecution to which I had been a prey. A person, +whose name prudence forbids me mentioning, communicated to me the +following letter, the original copy of which is in my possession: + + MONSIEUR LE DUC DE BASSANO--I send you some very important documents + respecting the Sieur Bourrienne, and beg you will make me a + confidential report on this affair. Keep these documents for + yourself alone. This business demands the utmost secrecy. + Everything induces me to believe that Bourrienne has carried a + series of intrigues with London. Bring me the report on Thursday. + I pray God, etc. + (Signed) NAPOLEON + PARIS, 25th December 1811. + + +I could now clearly perceive what to me had hitherto been enveloped in +obscurity; but I was not, as yet, made acquainted with the documents +mentioned in Napoleon's epistle. Still, however, the cause of his +animosity was an enigma which I was unable to guess, but I obtained its +solution some time afterwards. + +General Driesen, who was the Governor of Mittau while Louis XVIII. +resided in that town, came to Paris in 1814. I had been well acquainted +with him in 1810 at Hamburg, where he lived for a considerable time. +While at Mittau he conceived a chivalrous and enthusiastic friendship for +the King of France. We were at first distrustful of each other, but +afterwards the most intimate confidence arose between us. General +Driesen looked forward with certainty to the return of the Bourbons to +France, and in the course of our frequent conversations on his favourite +theme he gradually threw off all reserve, and at length disclosed to me +that he was maintaining a correspondence with the King. + +He told me that he had sent to Hartwell several drafts of proclamations, +with none of which, he said, the King was satisfied. On allowing me the +copy of the last of these drafts I frankly told him that I was quite of +the King's opinion as to its unfitness. I observed that if the King +should one day return to France and act as the general advised he would +not keep possession of his throne six months. Driesen then requested me +to dictate a draft of a proclamation conformably with my ideas. This I +consented to do on one condition, viz. that he would never mention my +name in connection with the business, either in writing or conversation. +General Driesen promised this, and then I dictated to him a draft which I +would now candidly lay before the reader if I had a copy of it. I may +add that in the different proclamations of Louis XVIII. I remarked +several passages precisely corresponding with the draft I had dictated at +Hamburg. + +During the four years which intervened between my return to Paris and the +downfall of the Empire it several times occurred to me that General +Driesen had betrayed my secret, and on his very first visit to me after +the Restoration, our conversation happening to turn on Hamburg, I asked +him whether he had not disclosed what I wished him to conceal? "Well," +said he, "there is no harm in telling the truth now. After you had left +Hamburg the King wrote to me inquiring the name of the author of the last +draft I had sent him, which was very different from all that had preceded +it. I did not answer this question, but the King having repeated it in a +second letter, and having demanded an answer, I was compelled to break my +promise to you, and I put into the post-office of Gothenberg in Sweden a +letter for the King, in which I mentioned your name." + +The mystery was now revealed to me. I clearly saw what had excited in +Napoleon's mind the suspicion that I was carrying on intrigues with +England. I have no doubt as to the way in which the affair came to his +knowledge. The King must have disclosed my name to one of those persons +whose situations placed them above the suspicion of any betrayal of +confidence, and thus the circumstance must have reached the ear of +Bonaparte. This is not a mere hypothesis, for I well know how promptly +and faithfully Napoleon was informed of all that was said and done at +Hartwell. + +Having shown General Drieaen Napoleon's accusatory letter, he begged that +I would entrust him with it for a day or two, saying he would show it to +the King at a private audience. His object was to serve me, and to +excite Louis XVIII.'s interest in my behalf, by briefly relating to him +the whole affair. The general came to me on leaving tile Tuileries, and +assured me that the King after perusing the letter, had the great +kindness to observe that I might think myself very happy in not having +been shot. I know not whether Napoleon was afterwards informed of the +details of this affair, which certainly had no connection with any +intrigues with England, and which, after all, would have been a mere +peccadillo in comparison, with the conduct I thought it my duty to adopt +at the time of the Restoration. + +Meanwhile Madame de Bourrienne informed me by an express that seals were +to be placed on the effects of all the persons included in the decree of +Lyons, and consequently upon mine. As soon as my wife received +information of this she quitted her retreat and repaired to Paris to face +the storm. On the 29th of March, at nine in the evening, the police +agents presented themselves at my house. Madame de Bourrienne +remonstrated against the measure and the inconvenient hour that was +chosen for its execution; but all was in vain, and there was no +alternative but to submit. + +But the matter did not end with the first formalities performed by +Fouche's alguazils. During the month of May seven persons were appointed +to examine, my papers, and among the inquisitorial septemvirate were two +men well known and filling high situations. One of these executed his +commission, but the other, sensible of the odium attached to it, wrote to +say he was unwell, and never came. The number of my inquisitors, 'in +domo', was thus reduced to six. They behaved with great rudeness, and +executed their mission with a rigour and severity exceedingly painful to +my family. They carried their search so far as to rummage the pockets of +my old clothes, and even to unrip the linings. All this was done in the +hope of finding something that would commit me in the eyes of the new +master of France. But I was not to be caught in that way, and before +leaving home I had taken such precautions as to set my mind perfectly at +ease. + +However, those who had declared themselves strongly against Napoleon were +not the only persons who had reason to be alarmed at his return. Women +even, by a system of inquisition unworthy of the Emperor, but +unfortunately quite in unison with his hatred of all liberty, were +condemned to exile, and had cause to apprehend further severity. It is +for the exclusive admirers of the Chief of the Empire to approve of +everything which proceeded from him, even his rigour against a +defenceless sex; it is for them to laugh at the misery of a woman, and a +writer of genius, condemned without any form of trial to the most severe +punishment short of death. For my part, I saw neither justice nor +pleasantry in the exile of Madame de Chevreuse for having had the courage +(and courage was not common then even among men) to say that she was not +made to be the gaoler of the Queen of Spain. On Napoleon's return from. +the isle of Elba, Madame de Stael was in a state of weakness, which +rendered her unable to bear any sudden and violent emotion. This +debilitated state of health had been produced by her flight from Coppet +to Russia immediately after the birth of the son who was the fruit of her +marriage with M. Rocca. In spite of the danger of a journey in such +circumstances she saw greater danger in staying where she was, and she +set out on her new exile. That exile was not of long duration, but +Madame de Stael never recovered from the effect of the alarm and fatigue +it occasioned her. + +The name of the authoress of Corinne, naturally calls to mind that of the +friend who was most faithful to her in misfortune, and who was not +herself screened from the severity of Napoleon by the just and universal +admiration of which she was the object. In 1815 Madame Recamier did not +leave Paris, to which she had returned in 1814, though her exile was not +revoked. I know positively that Hortense assured her of the pleasure she +would feel in receiving her, and that Madame Recamier, as an excuse for +declining the perilous honour, observed that she had determined never +again to appear in the world as long as her friends should be persecuted. +The memorial de Sainte Helene, referring to the origin of the ill-will of +the Chief of the Empire towards the society of Madame de Stael and Madame +Recamier, etc., seems to reproach Madame Recamier, "accustomed," says the +Memorial, "to ask for everything and to obtain everything," for having +claimed nothing less than the complete reinstatement of her father. +Whatever may have been the pretensions of Madame Recamier, Bonaparte, not +a little addicted to the custom he complains of in her, could not have, +with a good grace, made a crime of her ingratitude if he on his side had +not claimed a very different sentiment from gratitude. I was with the +First Consul at the time M. Bernard, the father of Madame Reamier, was +accused, and I have not forgotten on what conditions the re-establishment +would have been granted. + +The frequent interviews between Madame Recamier and Madame de Stael were +not calculated to bring Napoleon to sentiments and measures of +moderation. He became more and more irritated at this friendship between +two women formed for each other's society; and, on the occasion of one of +Madame Recamier's journeys to Coppet he informed her, through the medium +of Fouche, that she was perfectly at liberty to go to Switzerland, but +not to return to Paris. "Ah, Monseigneur! a great man may be pardoned +for the weakness of loving women, but not for fearing them." This was +the only reply of Madame Recamier to Fouche when she set out for Coppet. +I may here observe that the personal prejudices of the Emperor would not +have been of a persevering and violent character if some of the people +who surrounded him had not sought to foment them. I myself fell a victim +to this. Napoleon's affection for me would perhaps have got the upper +hand if his relenting towards me had not been incessantly combated by my +enemies around him. + +I had no opportunity of observing the aspect of Paris during that +memorable period recorded in history by the name of the Hundred Days, +but the letters which I received at the time, together with all that, +I afterwards heard, concurred in assuring me that the capital never +presented so melancholy s picture as: during those three months. No one +felt any confidence in Napoleon's second reign, and it was said, without +any sort of reserve, that Fouche, while serving the cause of usurpation, +would secretly betray it. The future was viewed with alarm, and the +present with dissatisfaction. The sight of the federates who paraded the +faubourgs and the boulevards, vociferating, "The Republic for ever!" and +"Death to the Royalists!" their sanguinary songs, the revolutionary airs +played in our theatres, all tended to produce a fearful torpor in the +public mind, and the issue of the impending events was anxiously awaited. + +One of the circumstances which, at the commencement of the Hundred Days, +most contributed to open the eyes of those who were yet dazzled by the +past glory of Napoleon, was the assurance with which he declared that the +Empress and his son would be restored to him, though nothing warranted +that announcement. It was evident that he could not count on any ally; +and in spite of the prodigious activity with which a new army was raised +those persons must have been blind indeed who could imagine the +possibility of his triumphing over Europe, again armed to oppose him. +I deplored the inevitable disasters which Bonaparte's bold enterprise +would entail, but I had such certain information respecting the +intentions of the Allied powers, and the spirit which animated the +Plenipotentiaries at Vienna, that I could not for a moment doubt the +issue of the conflict: Thus I was not at all surprised when I received at +Hamburg the minutes of the conferences at Vienna in May 1815. + +When the first intelligence of Bonaparte's landing was received at Vienna +it must be confessed that very little had been done at the Congress, for +measures calculated to reconstruct a solid and durable order of things +could only be framed and adopted deliberately, and upon mature +reflection. Louis XVIII. had instructed his Plenipotentiaries to defend +and support the principles of justice and the law of nations, so as to +secure the rights of all parties and avert the chances of a new war. +The Congress was occupied with these important objects when intelligence +was received of Napoleon's departure from Elba and his landing at the +Gulf of Juan. The Plenipotentiaries then signed the protocol of the +conferences to which I have above alluded. + + +[ANNEX TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.] + +The following despatch of Napoleon's to Marshal Davoust (given in Captain +Bingham's Translation, vo1 iii. p. 121), though not strictly bearing +upon the subject of the Duke of Bassano's inquiry (p. 256), may perhaps +find a place here, as indicative of the private feeling of the Emperor +towards Bourrienne. As the reader will remember, it has already been +alluded to earlier in the work: + +To MARSHAL DAVOUST. +COMPIEGNE, 3d September 1811. + +I have received your letter concerning the cheating of Bourrienne at +Hamburg. It will be important to throw light upon what he has done. +Have the Jew, Gumprecht Mares, arrested, seize his papers, and place him +in solitary confinement. Have some of the other principal agents of +Bourrienne arrested, so as to discover his doings at Hamburg, and the +embezzlements he has committed there. + (Signed) NAPOLEON. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Had neither learned nor forgotten anything +Nothing is changed in France: there is only one Frenchman more +Rights of misfortune are always sacred + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Memoirs of Napoleon--1815, V13 +by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne + |