HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION OF THE 20th OF MARCH. (continued 3)

The council of state was re-established on the ancient footing, and composed of nearly the same members.

The Emperor was neither politic nor prudent in ostensibly bestowing his confidence on some of them, who were obnoxious to the public. The usurpations of the imperial power were ascribed to their servile counsels, and their presence near the throne could not but revive recollections and anxieties, which it was of importance to destroy for ever. If their merit and experience rendered them necessary, they should have been consulted in private, but not held up to public view. A government firmly established may sometimes brave opinion, but a rising government ought to respect and submit to it.

This noble refusal will not surprise those, who had an opportunity of knowing and esteeming the patriotism and disinterestedness of that brave and unfortunate young man.

Introduced to society at an early age, he conducted himself at first as those generally do, who have a handsome face, elegance of manners, wit, a name, wealth, and no experience. Soon brought to himself, he felt, that he was not born to lead a life of dissipation; and his conduct became as honourable, as it had been irregular. His mind, turned to serious occupation, engaged in political speculations: his soul, naturally proud and independent, matured and enlarged itself, and expanded to those liberal ideas and noble sentiments, that the love of glory and of our country inspires. Nature, in giving him a lofty, firm, and daring character, unquestionably destined him to act an important part in the world; and if death, and what a death! had not struck him in the flower of his years, he would assuredly have fulfilled his shining destiny, and done honour to France.

The Emperor set several persons to speak to him, and after three days negotiations Labedoyère yielded. Napoleon persisted in recompensing him. In ordinary cases, the Emperor looked with indifference on the endeavours made to please him; never was he known to say, I am pleased; and a person conjectured he had given him satisfaction, when he did not show any marks of discontent. If, on the other hand, the services rendered him made a noise, like those of Labedoyère, he was lavish of his praises and rewards: and in this he had two objects; the one, that of appearing not only just, but generous; the other, that of inspiring emulation. But frequently on the very day, on which he had bestowed on you praises, and proofs of his satisfaction, he would treat you with disdain and harshness, to prevent your attaching too much importance to the service you might have rendered him, or believing, that he had contracted a debt of obligation to you.

The Emperor replaced about his person most of the gentlemen of the bedchamber, equerries, and masters of ceremonies, who were with him in 1814. He had retained his unfortunate predilection for the great lords of former times, and must have them at any price: had he not been surrounded by ancient nobles, he would have fancied himself in a republic.

Most of these (for there were some who were most honourably excepted, as the Prince de Beauveau, Messrs. de Turenne, de Montholon, de Lascases, Forbin de Janson, Perregaux, &c. &c.) had meanly renounced him in 1814, and become the common valets of the Bourbons; but he would not believe a word of it. He had the weakness, common to all princes, of considering his most cringing courtiers as his most devoted subjects.

He would also form an establishment for the Empress, and re-appointed Mesdames de Bassano, de Vicenza, de Rovigo, Duchâtel, and Marmier, ladies of the bedchamber. The Duchess of M*** was not recalled. He heard from Prince Joseph, that after the events of Fontainbleau, she had abused the confidence of the Empress, and betrayed the secret of her correspondence.

It was said, but falsely, that the gracefulness and beauty of the Duchess had formerly obtained the homage of Napoleon; and her disgrace did not fail to be urged as a fresh proof of the inconstancy of men; but I have assigned the true and only cause.

The corruption of courts often sanctions a number of lying suppositions, against which few reputations can stand. This justice however must be done Napoleon; no prince was ever a man of purer manners, or took so much pains to avoid and even check scandal: he was never seen, to be followed to the army by his mistresses, like Louis XIV.; or disguised in the dress of a porter, or of a small-coal man, like Henry IV., to carry disgrace and despair into the houses of his most faithful servants.

As a pretty remarkable contrast, Napoleon, at the moment when he resumed with delight his own upper servants, sent about their business without pity the lacqueys, who had served Louis XVIII. and the princes.

These poor people were left destitute. It has been said and repeated a hundred times, that Napoleon ill-treated and struck all those who came near him, right or wrong. Nothing can be more false. He had his moments of impatience and warmth; and what honest citizen has not? But in general, the officers and even subalterns of his household were in easy circumstances with him, and he was more frequently in a gay than in a serious humour. He very easily became attached to a person; and when he liked any one, he could not do without him; and treated him with a kindness, that frequently degenerated into weakness. It is true, it would have been very difficult for him to find servants more able, or more devotedly attached to him: every one of them had made it his particular study, to become, not what he did wish, but what he might wish.

Tacitus has observed, that voluntary slaves make more tyrants, than tyrants make slaves. When we recollect the officiousness, the meannesses, and the adulation, of certain nobles, who had become the courtiers of Napoleon, we are astonished, that it never entered his head to follow the example of Alexander, and cause himself to be adored as a god.

Counts Drouot and Bertrand were retained in their posts of grand marshal of the palace, and major-general of the guards. It had been imagined, that the Emperor would have conferred on them the titles of Duke of Porto Ferrajo, and Duke of Porto Longone, as memorials of their fidelity. He did no such thing. They were fully recompensed, however, by the veneration, with which Frenchmen and foreigners were inspired for them both. Still, for what reason, I cannot conceive, a higher value was generally set on the devoted attachment of General Bertrand.

When the Emperor had laid down his crown, Count Drouot did not hesitate an instant, to preserve that fidelity to him in adversity, which he had sworn in his prosperity: and this fidelity was not in his eyes a proof of attachment, still less a sacrifice; it appeared to him only the natural fulfilment of a duty imposed on him by the kindnesses and misfortunes of Napoleon.

To follow him, he abandoned all that is most dear to a well-born mind, his family and his country, as well as the military career, in which he had acquired the most glorious renown.

Such was General Drouot; and such also was his worthy rival, Count Bertrand; for there existed no difference in the generosity of their conduct, and none ought to exist in the admiration they deserve.

The Emperor himself was not free from this injustice: he seemed to give the preference to Count Bertrand. This difference proceeded, I believe, from that degree of intimacy, which the functions of the grand Marshal established between the Emperor and him, and perhaps from the suitableness of their characters.

Bertrand, amiable, witty, insinuating, united the agreeable and polished manners of a courtier with an air of distinction. Feeble, irresolute, in the ordinary conduct of life; he yielded to no one in courage and firmness, on occasions of difficulty and danger. A stranger to intrigue, inaccessible to seduction, he was in the camp, as in the palace, a man of honour, a man of probity.

Drouot, simple in his manners, affectionate in his speech, displayed that rare assemblage of virtues, which compel us to love the sages of antiquity, and the heroes of the days of chivalry. He had the wisdom, the prudence of Aristides, the valour, the modesty, the loyalty of Bayard. The favour he enjoyed, the military power with which he was invested, inspired him with no pride: he was not less humble and timid at court, than he was terrible and daring in the field of honour.

Bertrand, when he was consulted, delivered his opinion with the caution and skill of a courtier; Drouot, with the precision and frankness of a soldier: but neither was false to his conscience. Their language, though different in structure, was the same in substance; it was always that of truth and honour.

The Emperor, though greatly fatigued by nocturnal marches, reviews, perpetual harangues, and his labours in the closet, which for the last thirty-six hours had occupied all his moments, would nevertheless review the troops, that previously composed the army of the Duke of Berri.

He caused them to be assembled in the court of the Tuileries; and, to use his own words, "The whole capital was witness to the sentiments of enthusiasm and attachment, by which those brave troops were animated: they seemed to have reconquered their country, and found again in the national colours the remembrance of all those generous sentiments, which have ever distinguished the French nation."

After having gone through the ranks, he made the troops form square battalions, and said to them:

"Soldiers, I came to France with six hundred men, because I reckoned on the love of the people, and the remembrance of the old soldiers. I have not been deceived in my expectations: soldiers, I thank you. The glory of what we have just done belongs wholly to you and to the people, mine is only that of having known you, and judged you rightly.

"Soldiers, the imperial throne only can guarantie the rights of the people, and more especially the first of our interests, that of our glory. Soldiers, we are going to march, to chase from our territories those princes, who are the auxiliaries of foreigners. The nation will not only second us with its good wishes, but will follow our impulse. The French people and myself depend upon you: we will not interfere with the affairs of foreign nations; and wo to the nation, that shall interfere with ours!"

"Treason and unfortunate circumstances had covered them with a funereal veil: but, thanks to the French people and to you, they appear again resplendent with all their glory. Swear, that they shall always be found, wherever the interests of our country call them! that traitors, and those who would invade our territories, shall never stand their appearance."

"We swear it," answered all the soldiers with enthusiasm. They then filed off with shouts of "Long live the Emperor!" and to the sound of military music, playing the favourite tunes of the revolution, and the Marseillese march, so celebrated in the annals of our crimes and our victories.

The Emperor entered his closet habitually before six in the morning, and seldom quitted it till night.

Impatience and vivacity are almost always incompatible with order and precision. Napoleon, destined to be like no other person, added to the fire of genius the methodical habits of cold and little minds. For the most part, he took care to arrange his numerous papers himself. Each of them had its settled place. Here was found whatever related to the war department: there, the budgets, the daily statements of the treasury and finances: farther on, the reports of the police, his secret correspondence with his private agents, &c. He carefully returned every thing to its place, after having used it: compared with him the most methodical clerk would have been but a bungler.

His first business was to read his correspondence, and the despatches that had arrived in the night. He put aside the interesting letters, and threw the rest on the floor: this he called his answered.

He afterwards examined the copies of letters opened at the post office, and burnt them immediately. It seemed, as if he wished to annihilate all traces of the abuse of power, of which he had been guilty.

He finished by casting an eye over the newspapers. Sometimes he said, "That's a good article; whose is it?" He must know every thing.

These several readings ended, he set to work; and it may be said without exaggeration, that he was then as extraordinary, as incomparable, as at the head of his armies.

As he would entrust to nobody the supreme care of the government, he saw every thing himself; and it is easy to conceive, on what a multiplicity of objects he had to fix his eyes. Independently of his ministers, the Duke of Bassano, the commandant of the first division of Paris, the prefect of the police, the inspector general of the gendarmerie, the major-general of guards, the grand marshal of the palace, the great officers of the crown, the aides-de-camp, and the orderly officers (officiers d'ordonnance) on missions, daily sent him circumstantial reports, which he examined, and answered immediately: it being a maxim with him, to put nothing off till to-morrow. And let it not be supposed, that he satisfied himself with a superficial judgment of affairs: he read every report through, and examined every voucher attentively. Frequently the super-human sagacity, with which he was gifted, enabled him to perceive errors and imperfections, that had escaped the scrutinizing eyes of his ministers; and then he corrected their labours. But still more frequently he fashioned them anew from beginning to end; and what was a fortnight's work to a whole ministry, scarcely cost the genius of Napoleon a few minutes.

The Emperor rarely sat down, but dictated as he walked about. He did not like to repeat his words; and if you asked him a word not clearly understood, he answered impatiently, "I said," and went on.

When he had to treat a subject worthy of himself, his style, habitually nervous and concise, rose to the level of his grand conceptions: it became majestic and sublime.

Sometimes, hurried away by the impetuosity of his character, and eager to arrive more quickly at his object, he did not take time to weigh his words, his ideas, his desires. When his orders had been dictated to us in such a fit of hastiness, we were careful, as far as possible, not to present them for signing the same day. The next day, they were almost always modified, softened, or torn. Napoleon was never displeased with us, for endeavouring to guard him against the dangers of precipitancy. They who think, that he never corrected a false step, are mistaken: if under certain circumstances his determinations were inflexible, in a number of others he yielded to remonstrance, and relinquished his projects and resolves without difficulty.

The Emperor seldom wrote with his own hand. Words of many syllables were tedious to him; and, not having patience to write them at length, he mutilated them. This habit, added to the defective formation of his letters, rendered his writing altogether illegible. Frequently, too, from carelessness, or absence of mind, he infringed the laws of orthography; and people have not failed thence to infer, that he was completely ignorant.

Most assuredly the ignorance of Napoleon, were it proved, would detract nothing from his glory and renown. Charlemagne could scarcely sign his own name. Louis XIV., and I quote him by choice, though born on a throne, was unacquainted with the rules of grammar. Yet Charlemagne and Louis were nevertheless great kings. The imputation, however, is as false as it is absurd. Napoleon, educated at the school of Brienne, was distinguished there by that facility of comprehension, that disdain of pleasure, that fondness for study, that enthusiastic regard for models of greatness, which commonly indicate superior minds. Destined for the profession of arms, he would not aspire to become a man of letters, a man of reading, a learned man: his object, for he had an object in his earliest years, was to become some day a distinguished officer, perhaps even a great captain. It was to the military sciences, therefore, he bent his genius ... the universe knows the rest.

But do I say his genius? the detractors of Napoleon also assert, that his mind was too subject to irregularities, for the possession of genius to be granted him: do they not know, or do they pretend to be ignorant, that such irregularities are on the contrary the proof, the distinguishing characteristics, of this precious gift of nature.

"Genius," says one of our philosophers, "rises and stoops by turns; it is often imperfect, because it does not take the trouble to improve itself. It is great in great things, because they are adapted to excite its sublime instinct, and call it into action. It is negligent in ordinary things, because they are beneath it, and have nothing in them to stir it up: if, however, it do turn its attention to them, it fertilizes them, aggrandizes them, and gives them a new and unexpected appearance, that had escaped vulgar eyes."

And with how vast a genius must he have been endowed! he, who, occupied by the torments of ambition, military calculations, political schemes, and the anxieties inspired by the enemies of his crown and of his life, still found sufficient time, sufficient calmness, sufficient power, to command his numerous armies; to govern twenty foreign nations, and forty millions of subjects; to enter solicitously into all the particulars of the administration of his states; to see every thing; to sift every thing to the bottom; to regulate every thing; in fine, to conceive, create, and realize those unexpected improvements, those bold innovations, those noble institutions, and those immortal codes, that raise the civil glory of France to a degree of superiority, which alone can match its military glory. But I know not why I attempt to combat such adversaries: they who are blind to the genius of Napoleon, have never known genius itself, and I ought to give them no answer, but that of Rousseau: "Silence, ye uninitiated!"

This decree, and those that preceded it, were undoubtedly sufficient to testify to the nation the liberal disposition of Napoleon: but no speech from the throne had yet declared with solemnity the positive intentions of the Emperor.

The ministers, the council of state, the court of cassation, the court of accounts, the imperial court, the prefect, and the municipal council of Paris, were admitted to the foot of the throne.

The prince arch-chancellor, speaking in the name of the ministers, said:

"Sire, Providence, that watches over our destiny, has re-opened to your Majesty the road to that throne, to which you had been raised by the free choice of the people, and the national gratitude. Our country raises its majestic brow, and for the second time salutes with the name of deliverer the prince, who destroyed anarchy, and whose existence alone is at present capable of consolidating our liberal institutions.

"The most just of revolutions, that which will restore to men their dignity, and all their political rights, has hurled from the throne the dynasty of the Bourbons. After five and twenty years of war and troubles, all the efforts of foreigners have proved unable, to awaken affections that are extinct, or wholly unknown to the present generation. The struggle of the interests and prejudices of a few against the enlightened state of the age, and the interests of a great nation, is at length terminated.

"Our destinies are accomplished: the only legitimate cause, the cause of the people, has triumphed. Your Majesty has yielded to the wishes of the French; you have seized anew the reins of the state, amid the benedictions of the people and of the army.

"France, Sire, has as a guarantee of it her will, and her dearest interests; she has as a guarantee of it all that your Majesty has said to the population of the different parts of the country, which assembled in crowds on your passage. Your Majesty will keep your word, you will remember only the services rendered your country; you will prove, that in your eyes, and in your heart, whatever the different opinions and exasperations of parties may have been, all citizens are equal, as they are in the eye of the law.

"Your Majesty will also forget, that we have been the masters of the nations around us. Generous idea! that adds another glory to the glory already acquired.

"Already has Your Majesty traced out to your ministers the path they have to pursue: already have you made known to all the people by your proclamations the maxims, by which you would have your empire governed for the future. No war without, unless to repel unjust aggression; no re-action within, no arbitrary proceedings; security of person, security of property, and the free circulation of opinions, are the principles you have sanctioned.

"Happy those, Sire, who are called to cooperate in so many sublime acts! Such benefits will ensure to you from posterity, when the days of adulation are at an end, the name of Father of your country: they will be guarantied to our children by the august heir, whom your Majesty is preparing to crown in the Champ de Mai."

The Emperor answered:

"The sentiments you have expressed to me are mine. 'Every thing agreeably to the sense of the nation, and every thing for France:' such is my motto.

"I and my family, whom this great people has raised to the French throne, and maintained on it in spite of vicissitudes and political tempests, will not, ought not, cannot, ever claim any other title to it."

The Count Défermon, father of the presidents of the council of state, delivered to the Emperor the following declaration, tending to prove the nullity of the abdication of Fontainbleau:

"The council of state, in resuming its functions, thinks it necessary to make known the principles, by which its conduct and opinions are guided.

"The sovereignty resides in the people, who are the only legitimate source of power.

"In 1789 the nation recovered its rights, which had long been usurped, or misunderstood.

"The National Assembly abolished the feudal monarchy, and established a constitutional monarchy, and a representative government.

"The resistance of the Bourbons to the wishes of the people occasioned their downfal, and their banishment from the French territories.

"Twice the people sanctioned by its votes the new form of government established by its representatives.

"In the year 8th, Bonaparte, already crowned by victory, found himself raised to the government by the assent of the nation. A constitution created the consular magistracy.

"The senatus consultum of the 16th of Thermidor, year 10, named Bonaparte consul for life.

"The senatus consultum of the 28th of Floréal, year 12, conferred on Napoleon the imperial dignity, and made it hereditary in his family.

"These three solemn acts were laid for acceptance before the people, who sanctioned them by nearly four millions of votes.

"Accordingly, the Bourbons had ceased to reign in France for two and twenty years; they were forgotten there by their contemporaries; strangers to our laws, our institutions, our manners, our glory; and the present generation knew nothing of them.

"In 1814 France was invaded by the armies of the enemy, and the capital occupied. The foreigners created a pretended provisional government. They assembled a minority of the senators, and compelled them, in opposition to their delegated powers and to their will, to destroy the existing establishments, to overturn the imperial throne, and to recall the family of the Bourbons.

"The senate, which had been instituted solely to maintain the constitution of the empire, acknowledged itself, that it had no power to alter it. It decreed, that the scheme of a constitution, which it had prepared, should be submitted to the people for their acceptance, and that Louis Stanislas Xavier should be proclaimed King of the French, as soon as he had accepted the constitution, and sworn to observe it, and cause it to be observed.

"The abdication of the Emperor Napoleon was solely the result of the unfortunate situation, to which France and the Emperor had been reduced by the events of the war, by treason, and by the occupation of the capital. The only object of the abdication was, to avoid a civil war, and the shedding of French blood. Unsanctioned by the will of the people, this act could not annul the solemn contract, that was established between them and the Emperor. And if Napoleon possessed the power of abdicating the throne in his own person, he had none to sacrifice the rights of his son, appointed to reign after him.

"The Emperor, therefore, by re-ascending the throne, to which the people had elevated him, restored the people to their most sacred rights: he only called into execution the decrees of the Representative Assemblies, sanctioned by the nation: he returns to reign on the only legitimate principle, that France acknowledges and has acknowledged for five and twenty years, and to which all the authorities bound themselves by oaths, that they can be released from by the will of the people alone.

"The Emperor is called upon, to guaranty anew, by institutions, as he has engaged to do in his proclamations to the nation and the army, all the principles of liberty: personal freedom, and equality of rights; the freedom of the press, and abolition of the censorship; freedom of religious worship; the voting of laws and contributions by the representatives of the nation lawfully chosen; national property, from whatever source arising; the independence and stability of our tribunals; the responsibility of ministers, and of all the agents of authority.

"The more perfectly to sanction the rights and obligations of the people and the monarch, the national institutions should be revised in a grand assembly of the representatives already announced by the Emperor.

"Previous to the meeting of this grand representative assembly, the Emperor ought to exercise, and cause to be exercised, conformably to the existing laws and constitution, the authority they have delegated to him, which could not be taken from him, which he could not abdicate without the consent of the nation, and which the wishes and general interest of the French people render it his duty to resume."

The Emperor answered:

"Princes are the first citizens of the state: their authority is more or less extensive according to the interests of the nations they govern: the sovereignty itself is hereditary only because the interest of the people requires it. I know nothing of a legitimacy extraneous to these principles.

"I have renounced the idea of that grand empire, of which in the course of fifteen years I had merely laid the foundations: henceforward the happiness and consolidation of the French empire will be the object of all my thoughts."

The court of cassation expressed the same principles and the same sentiments as the council of state.

To this the Emperor answered:

"In the earliest ages of the French monarchy, rude tribes made themselves masters of Gaul. The sovereignty, of course, was not framed for the benefit of the Gauls, who were slaves, or destitute of political rights; but for the benefit of the conquering tribe. It can never have been said with truth, therefore, in any period of history, in any nation, even in the east, that the people exist for kings. Every where it has been established, that kings exist only for the people. A dynasty created under circumstances, that have created so many new interests, being itself interested in the maintenance of the rights and properties of all, can alone be natural and legitimate, and in possession of strength and confidence, the two leading characters in all government."

The court of accounts, and the imperial court, held the same language as the preceding authorities.

To these the Emperor answered:

"What particularly distinguishes the imperial throne is, that it has been raised by the nation, that it is consequently natural, and that it guaranties the interests of all. This is the true character of legitimacy. It is the interest of this throne, to consolidate all that at present exists, and all that has been done in France during the twenty-five years of revolution. It comprises all interests, and particularly that of the national glory, which is not the least among them.

"Whatever has returned with the foreign armies, whatever has been done without consulting the nation, is null. The courts of Grenoble and Lyons, and all the tribunals of the judicial order, which I met with while the success of events was yet uncertain, have shown me, that these principles are engraved on the heart of every Frenchman."

The reception of these public bodies being over, there was a grand audience in the apartments of the palace. The answers of the Emperor, repeated with embellishments, had produced the most profound sensation. The words national glory, liberty, country, so long unknown and proscribed within these walls, resounded on every side. When the emigrants re-appeared, and the most illustrious servants of the state were expelled, to make room for men, who had become strangers to our manners, our institutions, and our triumphs; you would have said, that France existed no longer, that it had passed under the dominion of foreigners. When Napoleon returned, our country appeared to have returned with him: he seemed to have brought it back from exile, and he might then exclaim with just pride: "I am the nation."

The example set by the magistrates of Paris soon found numerous imitators in the departments. The public functionaries, the judicial and administrative authorities, which but a few days before had offered up prayers to Heaven and to the King for the extermination of the Corsican, the tyrant, and the usurper, were eager to congratulate the Emperor on his miraculous return; and to confer on him the titles of hero, deliverer, and more especially of legitimate sovereign.

The favourites of Apollo did not fail to offer up their obsequious incense to the god of the day. We received from the Countess de G*** some very pretty verses in honour of the violet. Another woman, still more celebrated, the Baroness de S***, took occasion from some flattering words said for her to M. B. C., to write an epistle to the Emperor, which would make a curious figure at the head of her last work.

The most rigid writers and lecturers on the common law, who the evening before, with Cujas and Bartholi in their hands, had formally impleaded Napoleon, were eager to testify their admiration of him, and proclaim him the sovereign of sovereigns.

Thus Napoleon was more honoured and lauded than ever; and it must be confessed, that he conducted himself so as to deserve it: on one hand he caressed the nation, and on the other private interests, which it is much more difficult to conciliate than what is called the public interest.

The decrees of Lyons had sequestrated anew the estates restored to emigrants since 1814. Part of these had been sold by those who had recovered them; and it was necessary, to quiet the apprehensions of the purchasers. The Emperor declared irrevocable all the sales, that had been completed; and confirmed those, that had taken place subsequently to the decree, when it could be proved, that they were not collusive.

On the other hand, the emigrants, who had returned, had purchased property, the price of which might not have been entirely paid: and in order to do justice both to the emigrants and to the sellers, he ordered, that estates recently acquired should not be subject to sequestration, on condition of being re-sold within a certain period.

Another decree from Lyons had indiscriminately abolished all promotions in the legion of honour, and in the army, made since the royal restoration. He subjected to revision the nominations, that appeared to him the result of favour, intrigue, and venality; and confirmed all, that had been the reward of real and meritorious services. He would not even allow men's opinions, to constitute a line of demarcation and directed the minister, to pay regard to ancient services rendered by officers since incorporated in the King's household.

He confirmed also the decorations granted to the national guard; and distributed new ones among the brave pupils of the polytechnical school, whose noble conduct had so much excited the admiration of Paris, and of foreigners, at the time of the occurrences of 1814.

The daughters of the members of the legion of honour had claims to his remembrance, and his consolation, too sacred, not to participate in his favours. He went to visit them. His presence excited inexpressible enthusiasm among these young orphans: they threw themselves at his feet, embraced his knees, and watered them with their tears. He had taken a spoon, to taste their food: after he was gone, as every one wished to have it, they broke it to pieces, and shared it amongst them. Most of them had braided rings of hair, on which were traced patriotic devices, or the ingenious expression of their sentiments for Napoleon. The Emperor having condescended to accept some of these, and place them on his fingers, every one of the orphans was desirous of obtaining the same favour: they rushed on him, seized his hands, and in an instant covered them with these innocent pledges of love and gratitude. The Emperor, moved, enchanted, submitted with kind complaisance to the gentle fetters of these amiable infants. They ingeniously intreated him, not to give away the rings they had presented to him; and he promised to keep them, assuring them, that they would be as valuable in his eyes as the jewels of his crown.

In fine, all classes received testimonies of the solicitude and justice of Napoleon. Must it be said? his old companions in the island of Elba alone were forgotten.

While Napoleon had no throne but his rock, they had shown themselves as disinterested as faithful: when he had recovered his crown, they flattered themselves, that they should be recompensed with generosity.

Some, whom honour alone had attached to Napoleon, enjoyed in prospect the praises, titles, ribands, that would be bestowed on them: others, inspired with less lofty sentiments, expected benefits more solid. The guard and its worthy chiefs were ambitious only of the favour of retaining the glorious title of grenadiers of the island of Elba. Vain illusions! the Emperor's thoughts, entirely absorbed by other cares, were no longer turned to those brave fellows, who had shared his exile and his misfortunes. The moment of forgetfulness, however, had not time to degenerate into ingratitude: it was repaired: promotions, endowments, indemnifications, were bestowed on them; and, if they did not feel themselves completely satisfied with the conduct of Napoleon, they had at least no reason to complain.

The Emperor would have wished from feeling, and perhaps too from ostentation, to have had it in his power, to acknowledge in a manner more worthy of himself their services and attachment: but he was deterred by the fear of being charged with imitating the Bourbons, and of preferring those Frenchmen, who had gone into exile with him, to those who had retained their fidelity in their mother country.

These scruples appear to me unfounded.

The emigrants had sullied their native land with blood, shed either by their own weapons, or in the civil wars they had fomented and cherished; and the indignant nation had long combated them, and pursued them with its maledictions, as the enemies of its happiness and tranquillity.

The Frenchmen who returned from the island of Elba with Napoleon, on the contrary, had spilt their blood in the defence of their country. They were beloved, honoured, respected and the recompenses the Emperor might have bestowed upon them, instead of tending to alienate France, would have fulfilled her wishes. She would have enjoyed it with that feeling of pride and pleasure, which a mother experiences, when she hears the triumphs of her children proclaimed in the lists opened for youth, and sees their heads adorned with the rewards of their success.

Policy, no less than justice, required, that Napoleon should confer, even with prodigality, his favours and benefits on men, who had sacrificed themselves for him. In his situation it would have been better, to have been deemed prodigal than ungrateful: but fortune favoured him so highly, that he might be allowed, in some degree, to neglect the means of securing the feeble support of men.

The re-establishment of the imperial government, which appeared as if it would experience some obstacles, took place on all sides with a promptitude and facility truly extraordinary. Marshal Augereau, who had endeavoured in his proclamation of 1814 to disgrace the Emperor, was eager to make his public recantation in a fresh proclamation.

The Duke of Belluno, and Count Gouvion St. Cyr, after attempting in vain to curb their insurgent troops, were forced to shun their resentment by flight.

The troubles excited in La Vendée and Calvados by a few royal volunteers had been appeased, and the perturbators disarmed.

The military household of the King had submitted to their discharge, and readily surrendered their horses and arms.

In fine, the royal family had evacuated the imperial territory.

The Emperor thought proper, to acquaint his army in person with these happy results. "Thanks to the French people and you," said he, on reviewing the troops on the 27th of March, "the imperial throne is re-established. It is acknowledged throughout the empire, and not a single drop of blood has been spilt. The Count de Lille, the Count d'Artois, the Duke de Berri, the Duke of Orléans, have passed our northern frontier, and sought an asylum among foreigners. The tricoloured flag waves on the towers of Calais, Dunkirk, Lille, Valenciennes, Condé, &c. A few bands of Chouans had attempted to form themselves in Poitou and La Vendée: popular opinion, and the march of a few battalions, were sufficient to disperse them. The Duke of Bourbon, who came to excite disturbances in the provinces, has embarked at Nantes.

"How senseless were they," continued the Emperor, "and how little did they know of the nation, who imagined, that the French would consent to receive a prince from those very hands, that had ravaged our territory, and, aided by treason, had for a moment obscured our laurels!"

The King, who at first took refuge at Lille, had in fact just retired to Ghent. His Majesty had given orders to his household and the princes, to join him in the former city, where it had been apparently his intention, to take up his residence, and convene the chambers. But marshal the Duke of Treviso, governor of that division, declared to him, that he would no longer answer for his troops, if the musketeers, the body guards, &c., entered the place; and advised him to repair to Dunkirk, which, from its geographical position, and the attachment of its inhabitants, afforded him an opportunity of awaiting the issue of events without danger. M. de Blacas and the emigrants with the King remonstrated with him strongly, that he would not be out of danger there; and that he could no longer be safe from the pursuit of Napoleon, except in a foreign country. The Duke of Treviso still insisted on the contrary: and the King, in spite of the alarm and entreaties of the Count de Blacas and the other courtiers, had resolved to follow the advice of the marshal, when some despatches from the Count d'Artois, received in the course of the night, determined him to pass the frontier.

The Emperor thought at first, that the design of Louis XVIII. was to return to England. He was glad of this: and it was not without extreme vexation, that he learned the intention of this Prince, to remain on the Belgic frontiers, observing the course of affairs. But if this resolution, to which perhaps the King was indebted for the recovery of his throne, was displeasing to Napoleon, it never inspired him with the criminal desire, as some wicked writers have pretended, of making any attempts against the lives or liberty of the Bourbons.

The orders given to General Excelmans merely were, to drive the King and the Princes out of France step by step. He was never commanded, "either to secure their persons, or to kill them in case of resistance."

It has been asserted, that the Duke of Bassano, who had the temporary charge of the port-folio of the home department, had sent orders to M. Siméon, then royal prefect at Lille, to arrest the King. The Duke of Bassano, indignant at such an odious charge, would not quit France, without having refuted it. He proposed, to summon M. Siméon to declare the truth; and his declaration would have been made public through the means of the newspapers and the press, if the police had not opposed it.

The King quitted Lille on the 23d of March. The Duke of Orléans, who had attended his Majesty, and whom the King on his departure had invested with the command of that place, did not quit it till twenty-four hours after; when he addressed the following letter to Marshal Mortier.

"I commit entirely to your hands, my dear Marshal, the command which I was so happy as to exercise with you in the department of the North. I am too good a Frenchman, to sacrifice the interests of France, because fresh misfortunes compel me to quit it. I go to bury myself in retirement and oblivion. The King being no longer in France, I cannot issue orders in his name: and nothing remains for me, but to absolve you from all obedience to the orders I have already transmitted to you; requesting you, to do whatever your own excellent judgment, and pure patriotism, shall suggest to you as most conducive to the interests of France, and most agreeable to the duties you have to fulfil."

The Emperor, after having read this letter, turned to the Duke of Bassano, and said: "See what the Duke of Orléans writes to Mortier; this letter does him honour. His heart was always French."

I then informed him, that I had been assured, that the Duke of Orléans, when he parted from his officers, said to one of them, Colonel Athalin: "Go, sir, resume the national cockade: I take a pride in having worn it, and I wish I could wear it still." The Emperor appeared struck with these words, and made no reply. A few minutes after he asked me, if I had not a letter from Madame the Duchess of Orléans. I delivered it to him: he read it, and said: "Let his mother be treated with the regard he merits." And he ordered, that the duchess, whose property had just been sequestrated, should receive annually from the public treasury three hundred thousand francs as an indemnification. At the same time another indemnification of a hundred and fifty thousand francs was granted to the Duchess of Bourbon.

The Duke of Bourbon, though the Emperor had announced his embarkation, did not sail however till several days afterward. His presence and his proclamation had produced a partial rising in the circle of Beaupréau; but convinced by his own eyes, and by the reports of his principal officers, that the great body of the Vendeans would not stir, he yielded to the wishes of Colonel Noirot, commandant of the gendarmerie, expressed in the following letter:

"Monseigneur,

"It will not be in vain, I am persuaded, that I make an appeal to your magnanimity. It is in your power, with a single word, to calm an effervescence, the first results of which may once more stain with blood the fields of the too unhappy Vendée: this word your Highness will pronounce, and every thing will be restored to order. You will be aware likewise, Monseigneur, that a longer stay in the circle of Beaupréau, while it endangers the internal security of the country, will also endanger the personal safety of your Highness.

"Deign then, I conjure you, Monseigneur, to yield to the wishes I entertain for your happiness, and for that of my country. For all the means of safety, which your Highness may desire, to repair to the place of destination you may choose, I will engage."

This letter, which I take a pleasure in quoting, to prove what was the language of the men of the 20th of March, was not without effect. The Duke of Bourbon directed his aide-de-camp to have an interview with Colonel Noirot and it was determined, that his Highness should quit la Vendée, and embark at Nantes for England.

Of all the family of the Bourbons the Duke and Duchess of Angoulême alone persisted in struggling against their ill-fortune.

She was at Bordeaux at the time of the landing. The entrance of Napoleon into Paris, the flight of the King, and the general defection of the army, did not abate her courage. She made the national guard take up arms: she hastened to the barracks, to harangue the soldiers, and remind them of what they owed to their oaths and to their King. Numerous battalions of volunteers were instantly formed, and directed by her orders, to defend the avenues to the city, intercept all communication, and prevent popular commotions.

General Clausel, however, appointed by the Emperor head commandant of the 11th division, had advanced as far as St. André de Cubsac, six leagues from Bordeaux, at the head of about five and twenty gendarmes collected on the road, and of a hundred and fifty men from the garrison of Blayes, who, informed of his arrival by his emissaries, had come to meet him.

On his approach, a battalion of volunteers, posted at Cubsac with two pieces of cannon, retreated hastily to St. Vincent, and there joined some other volunteers, to defend with them the passage of the Dordogne.

The soldiers of General Clausel attempted to seize the flying bridge, and were saluted with several discharges of artillery and small arms, which they received without returning. Their chief, desirous of avoiding a civil war, requested, that some person might be sent, to hold a parley with him. The Bordelese having deputed their commandant, M. de Martignac, for this purpose, he charged this officer, to make known to them, that he had no design of making any attempts against their persons or property; and that he conjured them, in the name of their country, not to spill the blood of Frenchmen to no purpose.

Nevertheless some hostile appearances were continued on both sides; but the royal volunteers were alarmed at the sight of three boats, which they supposed to be filled with troops, and took flight.

General Clausel, thus become master of the Dordogne, was preparing to cross it, when M. de Martignac returned to inform him, that Madame the Duchess of Angoulême consented to retire, and that the city should be delivered up to him in twenty-four hours.

Madame, instead of fulfilling this double promise, allowed herself to yield to the desire and hope of prolonging the defence. She assembled the national guard, and made fresh attempts to bring over the troops of the garrison to the royal party.

The Bordelese, astonished and affrighted, requested a capitulation. General Clausel was eager to grant all their proposals, and the next day they opened the gates of the city to him.

The Emperor was well pleased with the happy issue of this affair. He gave orders, to publish the report of General Clausel immediately: but as this report was a mere military statement, he added to it himself the supplementary particulars below, which he directed to be inserted in the Moniteur under the head of Bordeaux.

The energy and intrepidity, which the granddaughter of Maria Theresa displayed on this occasion, excited the praise of the Emperor, and drew from him the well known phrase: "She is the only man in the family."

He no less admired the firm and respectful demeanour maintained by the regiments of the garrison, amid the provocations and reproaches of the Duchess. "Every thing that passed at Bordeaux," said he, "is truly extraordinary; and I know not which most demands our astonishment, the noble boldness of Madame d'Angoulême, or the magnanimous patience of my soldiers."

The effervescence of the Bordelese having subsided, Provence and Languedoc, where the Duke of Angoulême had excited and maintained the flames of insurrection, still remained to be pacified.

This prince, having heard at Toulouse, that the Emperor had landed in the gulf of Juan, repaired immediately to the principal towns in the South, and made the partisans of the Bourbons and of royalty take up arms.

Three thousand two hundred Marseillese, and three thousand five hundred volunteers from Nismes, Avignon, and Montpelier, ranged themselves under his standards.

The 10th, 53d, and 83d, regiments of the line, containing about nine hundred men each;

The depôts of the 9th and 87th of foot, about five hundred and fifty strong;

Two hundred and fifty chasseurs à cheval of the 14th regiment, a hundred and fifty artillerymen, and three hundred soldiers of the royal regiment of foreigners, were drawn from their respective garrisons; and formed, with the royal volunteers, an army of twelve thousand men; which must necessarily be increased by the levies daily made in the provinces, that continued subject to the royal government, and by the succours, which the Prince had hastened to demand from the King of Sardinia, and from Switzerland, and which he hoped to obtain from them.

The Duke of Angoulême divided his army into two corps.

The first, commanded by General Ernouf, under whose orders were Major-Generals Gardanne and Loverdo, proceeded through Sisteron for Grenoble.

The second, commanded by the Prince in person, and under his orders by Lieutenant-general Monnier, Baron Damas, and Viscount Descars, took the road of Valence.

These two corps, after having reduced the country to submission, and rallied the royalists, were to join at Grenoble, and march together to Lyons.

The advanced guard of the second corps, conducted by M. Descars, met no serious resistance, till it came to pass the Drôme.

General De Belle, at the head of a few hussars of the 4th, a battalion of the 39th, and about eight hundred national guards, had suffered himself to be driven from Loriol, and retired as well as he could behind the Drôme.

The volunteers of Vaucluse, covered by the royal artillery, forded the river, and came and took post on the left flank of the national guards. At the same moment the Prince directed the 10th of the line, to attack the bridge. This manœuvre did not intimidate the national guards; they stood firm; and the 10th, notwithstanding the ardour, with which it was inspired by the example of the Duke of Angoulême, was on the point of giving way; when several of the light infantry, who were at their head, discovered among their antagonists some of their ancient comrades. They began with a mutual cessation of firing, and finished with embracing amid shouts of Long live the Emperor.

During this conversation and embracing, the rest of the 10th regiment recovered ground. The imperials, supposing they were coming to join them, advanced without distrust: a volley undeceived them: the troops of General De Belle were thrown into disorder, he made no attempt to rally them, and the rout became complete. Part of the imperials were made prisoners by the royalists; others took refuge in the mountains, or went to carry the news of their defeat to Grenoble or Valence.

The next day, the 3d of April, the Duke of Angoulême and his victorious army entered Valence, and proceeded without loss of time to Romans on the Isère.

The first corps, after having occupied Sisteron, separated into two columns: one, with General Loverdo at its head, proceeded to Lamure; the other, commanded by General Gardanne, having taken Gap in its way, advanced as far as Travers; where the garrison of Grenoble, and the national guards of Vizille, Lamure, and the surrounding communes, had just taken up a position.

Hitherto every thing had proved favourable to the wishes of the royal army: it marched from one success to another; and the noise of its victories, swelled by fear and rumour, had spread consternation and dismay as far as Grenoble and Lyons.

The Emperor himself was uneasy. On leaving Lyons he had foreseen the possibility of a partial rising in the south; and, relying on the energy and patriotism of the Dauphinese, he had entrusted to them the care of defending their territory and their capital. But, if they were strong enough to repel the aggressions of the royalists, they were not in a condition to resist four thousand soldiers, who had embraced their cause, and fought in their ranks.

General Grouchy had orders, to hasten to Lyons, and raise in mass the national guards of Dauphiny, the Lyonnais, and Burgundy.

At the name of the Emperor and of their country all were in motion: the patriots of la Drôme and the Isère descended from their mountains; the Lyonese quitted their workshops; the Burgundians spontaneously began their march with half-pay officers at their head.

This patriotic burst was so unanimous, that the roads were instantly covered with national guards; and General Corbineau, whom the Emperor had despatched to accelerate their march, was obliged, on the contrary, to retard it. But all these arrangements, sad presages of a civil war, were happily unnecessary.

The troops of General Gardanne, during their stay at Gap, became acquainted with the Emperor's proclamations. These had awakened their remembrances, electrified their minds, and the 58th mounted the tricoloured cockade.

General Loverdo, impatient to give battle, and imagining, that he could dispense with their assistance, attempted to force the defile of Saulces, in advance of Gap, supported only by his royal volunteers: but this attack, as rash as it was useless, did not succeed, and he was forced to fall back to Sisteron.

The second corps, restrained by the presence of the Duke of Angoulême, had lost but a small number of soldiers. The order to advance had just been given, when the Prince received the most disheartening news from all parts at once.

On one hand he was informed of the defection of the regular troops under General Ernouf, and his forced retreat to Sisteron.

On another he heard, that General Grouchy was advancing to meet him with a formidable force.

From a third source of intelligence he learned, that the royal party at Nismes, and at Toulouse, had dispersed without resistance: that M. Vitrolles, the head of the committee of insurrection, had been arrested; and that the patriots, and the troops of the 9th division, united under the orders of General Gilly, having marched to take him in the rear, had retaken the bridge of St. Esprit by assault, and passed the Rhone.

In fine, despatches from Turin announced to him, that he must no longer reckon upon any assistance from the Swiss, or upon the promises of the King of Sardinia.

The Prince in consequence ordered a retreat to be sounded, and retired to Valence.

The Emperor, who, according to custom, took the trouble to compose himself the articles in the Moniteur relative to this little war, gave the following account of the evacuation of Valence.

"Valence, the 7th of April. The Duke of Angoulême has made a sad figure here. The alarm bell sounded throughout Dauphiny, and numerous battalions of the national guards departed for Lyons. The Duke of Angoulême, informed of their arrival, set off helter skelter with the four thousand insurgents, who are under his orders. The troops of the line, informed by our citizens, that we were engaged in the cause of the nation against a few privileged families, of the people against the nobility, and in short of the revolution against the counter-revolution, suddenly changed sides. The army however reckons three traitors, who appear to have taken the part of the enemies of their country: they are Generals Ernouf, Monnier, and D'Aultannie." He forgot General Loverdo.

The Emperor was equally careful, to make public the correspondence, that was intercepted: and as some announced the intention of separating the chaff from the wheat, and throwing it into the fire; others, of hanging all the rebels, without exception, and without mercy; and, in fine, others, invited Spain, Switzerland, and the King of Piedmont, to come and reduce France to reason; they contributed not less powerfully than the success of the imperial army, to detach from the cause of the Bourbons every Frenchman, who was an enemy to treachery, hanging, and foreigners.

General Grouchy, informed of the retreat of the Duke of Angoulême, sent some light troops in pursuit of him. Most of the chasseurs of the 14th, and of the artillerymen, joined the imperialists. The volunteers of the south, who had hitherto set no bounds to their presumptuous hopes, now found none to their fears. As cowardly in adversity, as they were arrogant in prosperity, they abandoned their general at the approach of danger; and all, with the exception of a few hundreds of brave fellows, sought safety in flight.

The Duke of Angoulême, surrounded by the feeble remnants of their battalions, and by the 10th of the line, which still remained faithful, continued his retrograde march night and day; and traversed in silence the places, which his army had made ring with the shouts of victory but a few days before. The mountaineers, who had suffered so much from the exactions and ill treatment of the royal volunteers, now repeated in their turn "Wo to the vanquished!" and did not allow a moment's rest to the Duke of Angoulême and his followers. Pressed on one side by the columns of Grouchy, on the other by the troops of General Gilly; shut in, without hope of succour, between the Drôme, the Rhone, the Durance, and the mountains, the Duke of Angoulême had only two resources: one was, to abandon his army, and get over the mountains to Marseilles or Piedmont; the other, to submit, with his companions in misfortune, to the law of the conqueror.

The Prince would not separate his fate from that of his army. He consented to surrender. Baron de Damas and General Gilly regulated the conditions of the capitulation. It was agreed, that the Prince should disband his army, and have liberty to embark at Cette. As soon as this intelligence was announced by a telegraphic despatch, it was immediately made known to the Emperor by the Duke of Bassano, who prevailed on him, though opposed by several distinguished persons, to return an answer, by the same mode of conveyance, approving of the capitulation. At the same instant a second despatch announced, that General Grouchy refused to sign the treaty, unless he had the consent of the Emperor, and the Duke of Angoulême was deemed a prisoner. Upon this the Duke of Bassano hastened to transmit the first orders of Napoleon, and delayed informing him of the impediment to the ratification, till night rendered any new orders by telegraph impracticable. Being made acquainted with this noble daring of his minister, instead of reprimanding him, the Emperor dictated to him the following letter:

While awaiting the decision of Napoleon, the Duke of Angoulême was strictly watched. He supported this fresh disgrace with firmness and tranquillity. The Marquis de Rivière, informed of his detention, threatened Count Grouchy, if he did not restore him to liberty, to surrender Marseilles to the English, and raise up all Provence. These empty threats had no effect. The fate of the duke did not depend on Count de Grouchy: it was in opposition to his own feelings, that he had ventured to lay a sacrilegious hand on this prince; and he prayed sincerely, that the decision of the Emperor would allow him to break his chains.

As soon as the decision reached him, the general hastened to insure the Duke of Angoulême the means of embarking speedily; and with religious zeal took the necessary measures, for his being treated on the passage with due respect.

The prince, on his arrival at Cette, embarked immediately, and sailed for Cadiz.

His capitulation and departure soon led to the submission of Marseilles: and, thanks to the prudence and firmness of the Prince of Essling, governor of that division, the royal standard was hauled down, and the tricoloured flag hoisted in its stead, without any disturbance or effusion of blood.

By the telegraph the Emperor was informed of the submission of Marseilles, and the entire pacification of the south, just as he was going to review the national guard of Paris. It was always in similar circumstances, that great news reached the Emperor: it seemed as if fortune, attentive to please him, sought to enhance her gifts by bestowing them apropos. Ever since his arrival he had been intending to have this review, but the successive inspections of the troops of the line had prevented him. Some persons did not fail to ascribe this delay, so easily to be accounted for, to his fear of the sentiments and bayonets of the legions of Paris. Meantime some grenadiers of the royal ex-volunteers indulged in threats and imprecations against him. This was enough to terrify some of the alarmists of the court; and they requested Napoleon to mix a few battalions of his guards in the review, by way of precaution. The Emperor rejected their entreaties, and was angry at their fears: nevertheless, they caused him to be attended, without his knowledge, by ten or a dozen grenadiers, who were directed not to lose sight of him for a moment.

After this unexpected scene, the Emperor proceeded with his review: he then caused a circle of officers to be formed, alighted, and addressed them nearly in the following terms:

"Soldiers of the national guard of Paris, I am well pleased to see you. Fifteen months ago I formed you for the preservation of tranquillity in the capital, and for its security. You have fulfilled my expectations. You have shed your blood in defence of Paris; and if hostile troops entered your walls, the blame falls not on you, but on treason, and above all on that fatality, which attaches itself to our affairs under adverse circumstances.

"The royal throne was not adapted to France: it gave the people no security for its most valuable interests; it was imposed upon us by foreigners. I am arrived, equipped with all the strength of the people and of the army, to obliterate this stain, and restore the honour and glory of France to all their lustre.

"Soldiers of the national guard, this very morning the telegraph of Lyons has informed me, that the tricoloured flag is waving at Antibes and at Marseilles. The discharge of a hundred cannon on our frontiers will proclaim to foreign nations, that our civil discords are at an end: I say foreign nations, because we yet know of none that are enemies. If they assemble their troops, we will assemble ours. All our armies are composed of brave men, who have distinguished themselves in various battles, and who will display to foreigners a barrier of iron; while numerous battalions of grenadiers and chasseurs of the national guards will secure our frontiers. I shall not interfere with the affairs of foreign nations: wo to those governments, that shall interfere with ours! Misfortunes have tempered anew the character of the French people: it has resumed that youth, that vigour, which astonished Europe twenty years ago.

"Soldiers, you have been obliged to wear colours proscribed by the nation. But the national colours remained in your hearts: you now swear, to take them always for your rallying signal, and to defend the imperial throne, the only and natural guarantie of our rights; you swear never to suffer foreigners, in whose country we have appeared repeatedly as masters, to interfere with our constitution or government. In fine, you swear, to sacrifice every thing to the honour and independence of France."

This oath was pronounced with enthusiasm. The national guard showed, that it was not afraid of being taken at its word.

Apprehensions had been entertained, that the guards, who had long borne the Parisians a grudge for having surrendered so promptly in 1814, would indulge in some offensive reproaches: but Napoleon had enjoined his grenadiers to maintain silence; and, in order to complete the reconciliation, he caused it to be cemented by a dinner, to which the imperial guards invited the national guard and the garrison of Paris.

Fifteen thousand soldiers of every description assembled at the Champ de Mars under the eyes of the people of Paris: the joyous songs of the soldiers and citizens answered each other by turns, and gave a truly national character to this festival.

When the repast was over, a numerous crowd of soldiers, officers, and national guards, set off for the Tuileries, carrying the bust of Napoleon crowned with laurels. When they arrived before his Majesty's windows, they saluted him with thousands and thousands of acclamations; and then they repaired to la Place Vendôme, where they devoutly deposited at the foot of the monument raised to the glory of our armies the image of the hero, who had led them to victory. The Emperor, as soon as he was informed of it, ordered me to write to the minister of the police, to have the bust removed in the night. "It is not after bacchanalian orgies," said he, proudly, "that my image should be placed on the column."

Every body, in fact, knows, that the statue of Napoleon, by which this monument was formerly surmounted, had been pulled down in the early days of the restoration; and it was not for individual and unauthorized citizens to repair this affront.

The column itself was long offensive to the jealous eyes of the enemies of our glory. They conspired its destruction; and would have accomplished it, had they dared. History, which leaves nothing unpunished, will brand, I trust, these unworthy Frenchmen, these new Vandals, with eternal disgrace. It will inscribe their names, and their sacrilegious wishes, on the foot of the immortal column, which they wanted to overturn. No doubt it will also tell, that the federates, the half-pay officers, and all the partisans of Napoleon, whom some have been pleased to represent as madmen, as robbers, respected during the hundred days the statue of Henry IV.; though this statue, placed within reach of their blows, and constructed of frail materials, would have fallen with the slightest shock.

Napoleon had said to the national guard of Paris, "We yet know of none that are enemies:" and these words were true. It had been remarked, that the foreign troops concentrated themselves on our frontiers, but none of their dispositions appeared hostile, and Napoleon might still reasonably hope, that his care to maintain peace would not be fruitless.

On the very day of his entry into Lyons, he had hastened to commission Prince Joseph, to declare to the Austrian and Russian ministers at the Helvetic diet, that he was ready to ratify the treaty of Paris.

When he arrived in the capital, he found that the foreign ministers, particularly Baron de Vincent, the Austrian minister, and M. Boudiakeen, Russian chargé d'affaire, had not yet quitted it, for want of passports.

He caused the departure of M. de Vincent and M. de Boudiakeen to be delayed; and directed the Duke of Vicenza to see them, and assure them anew of his pacific disposition.

M. de Boudiakeen, after having equally refused the conference proposed by the Duke of Vicenza, finished also with accepting it. It was agreed, that they should meet at the house of Mademoiselle Cauchelet, lady of the bedchamber to the Princess Hortense.

M. de Jaucourt had forgotten to take out of the port-folio of foreign affairs a secret treaty, by which England, Austria, and France, had mutually engaged to oppose, peaceably or by force, the dismemberment of Saxony, which Russia and Prussia openly conspired.

The Emperor thought, that this treaty might perhaps alienate these two powers from the Bourbon interest, and generate distrust and discord between the allies. He directed the Duke of Vicenza, to show it to the Russian minister; and represent it to him as a fresh proof of the ingratitude, with which the court of the Tuileries repaid the numerous benefits of Alexander. The existence of this triple alliance was wholly unknown to M. de Boudiakeen, and appeared to cause him as much surprise as dissatisfaction. But he declared, that he was too well acquainted with the principles of his sovereign, to venture to flatter himself, that the circumstance of this treaty, or any other, could produce a favourable change in his disposition. He promised, however, to make a faithful report to him of the conference he had had with M. de Vicenza; and to express to him the desire, manifested by the Emperor Napoleon, of becoming again the ally and friend of Russia.

The Emperor, in order to give more efficacy to his proposals, directed the Princess Hortense, to confirm them in person to the Emperor Alexander. He also caused letters to be written to Prince Eugene, and to the Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Baden, to request them, to renew the same assurances to that sovereign, and to neglect no means of detaching him from the coalition.

In fine, the Emperor directed overtures to be made to the cabinet of London, by means of a person pointed out by the Duke of Otranto; and in order to gain the suffrage of the parliament, and give the English ministry a pledge of his good intentions beforehand, he abolished the slave trade by a spontaneous decree.

After having taken these indirect steps, Napoleon thought his duty as well as his dignity required him, to give a solemn and authentic character to the manifestation of his pacific intentions.

Accordingly he wrote to the foreign sovereigns a letter couched in the following terms:

"Sire, my brother,

"You will have heard in the course of last month of my return to the French coast, my entering Paris, and the departure of the Bourbon family. The true nature of these events must now be known to your Majesty: they are the work of an irresistible power, the work and the unanimous will of a great nation, who knows its duties and its rights. The dynasty, which force had bestowed on the French people, was not formed for them: the Bourbons would not accommodate themselves either to their sentiments, or to their manners. France could not but separate itself from them. Her voice called for a deliverer: the expectations, that had induced me, to make the greatest of all sacrifices, had been frustrated. I came, and from the spot where I touched the shore I was conducted by the love of my people to the bosom of my capital. The first wish of my heart is, to repay such great affection by the maintenance of an honourable tranquillity. The re-establishment of the imperial throne being necessary to the happiness of the French, nothing can be more pleasing to my thoughts, than to render it at the same time advantageous to the consolidation of the tranquillity of Europe. Sufficient glory had crowned the standards of the different nations by turns; the vicissitudes of fate have occasioned a sufficient succession of great successes and great defeats: a nobler career now opens itself to sovereigns, and I am the first to enter it. After having exhibited to the world the spectacle of great battles, it will be more pleasing, henceforth to know no rivalry but that of the advantages of peace, no strife but the sacred striving after the happiness of nations. France takes a pleasure in frankly proclaiming this noble end of all her wishes. Jealous of her own independence, the invariable principle of her politics will be the most absolute respect for the independence of other nations. If such be the personal sentiments of your Majesty, as I am happy to persuade myself, the general tranquillity is ensured for a long time to come; and justice, sitting on the confines of states, will be sufficient alone to guard their frontiers.

"Paris, the 4th of April."

The Duke of Vicenza received orders, personally to express to the foreign ministers the sentiments, with which the Emperor was animated: but the couriers, who carried his despatches, could not reach the places of their destination; one was arrested at Kehl, another at Mayence; a third, sent off for Italy, could not get beyond Turin; the communications were interrupted. The arrangements of the declaration of the congress of Vienna of the 13th of March were acted upon already.

This declaration, transmitted directly by the emissaries of the King to the prefects of the frontier cities, and distributed by the royalists, was in circulation at Paris. The inferior papers had announced its appearance, and united in asserting, that such an act was unworthy of the allied sovereigns, and could only be the work of calumny and malevolence.

However, when it became impossible to question its legitimacy, it was necessary to come to the resolution of no longer making a mystery of it to the French people; and accordingly the following account was given of it in the Moniteur on the 13th of April.

"Council of Ministers.

"Sitting of the 29th of March.

"The Duke of Otranto, minister of the general police, states, that he is about to read to the council a declaration, dated Vienna the 13th, which is supposed to have been issued by the congress:

"That this declaration, as it contains an incentive to the assassination of the Emperor, appears to him apocryphal: that, if it should prove genuine, it would be unexampled in the history of the world: that the libellous style, in which it is written, gives room to suppose, it ought to be classed among the papers fabricated by party-spirit, and by those pamphleteers, who of late years have foisted themselves uncommissioned into all state affairs: that it pretends to be signed by the English ministers; but it is impossible to suppose, that the ministers of a free nation, and particularly Lord Wellington, could have taken a step inconsistent with the legislation of their country, and with their own characters: that it pretends to be signed by the ministers of Austria; but it is impossible to conceive, whatever political dissensions may subsist between them, that a father could call for the assassination of his son: that, contrary to every principle of religion and morality, it is derogatory to the honourable character of the sovereigns, whose mandates are thus compromised by the libellists: that this declaration has been known several days, but, from the considerations abovementioned, it could not be considered otherwise than as deserving the profoundest contempt: that it was not deemed fit to engage the attention of the ministry, till official reports from Metz and Strasburg made known, that it had been brought into France by couriers from the Prince of Benevento; a fact confirmed by the result of the investigation that took place, and the interrogatories put: in fine, that it is proved, that this paper, which could not have been signed by the ministers of Austria, Russia, and England, was issued by the legation of the Count of Lille at Vienna; which legation had added to the crime of provoking assassination that of falsifying the signature of the members of the congress.

"The pretended declaration of the congress, the reports from Metz and Strasburg, as well as the investigation and interrogatories conducted by order of the minister of the general police, which ascertain, that the said declaration proceeded from the plenipotentiaries of the Count of Lille at Vienna, will be sent to the presidents of the sections of the council.

"Declaration.

"The powers, who signed the treaty of Paris, assembled in Congress at Vienna, being informed of the escape of Napoleon Bonaparte, and of his entering France by force of arms, owe to their own dignity, and to the interests of society, a solemn declaration of the sentiments, with which this event has inspired them.

"By thus infringing the convention, which settled him in the island of Elba, Bonaparte has destroyed the only legal title he had to his situation in life (auquel son existence se trouvait attachée.) By re-appearing in France, with the design of disturbing and subverting it, he has deprived himself of the protection of the laws, and has made manifest to the universe, that there can be neither peace nor truce with him.

"The powers declare in consequence, that Napoleon Bonaparte has thrown himself out of all the relations of civilized society; and that, as an enemy and disturber of the world, he has rendered himself obnoxious to public vengeance.

"At the same time they declare, that, firmly resolved to maintain unbroken the treaty of Paris of the 30th of March, 1814, and the arrangements sanctioned by that treaty, as well as those they have decreed, or may yet decree, for completing and consolidating it; they will employ all their means, and unite all their efforts, to prevent the general peace, the object of the wishes of all Europe, the constant aim of their labours, from being disturbed anew; and to guard it from every attempt, that would threaten to replunge nations into the disorders and calamities of revolutions.

"And though intimately persuaded, that all France, rallying round its legitimate sovereign, will annihilate without delay this last attempt of a criminal and impotent delirium, all the sovereigns of Europe, animated with the same sentiments, and guided by the same principles, declare, that if, contrary to all calculation, any real danger whatever should arise from this event, they will be ready to furnish the King of France and the French nation, or any other government that may be attacked, with the succours necessary to restore the public tranquillity, as soon as they shall be demanded, and to make common cause against all, who may attempt to disturb it.

"The present declaration, inserted in the register of the congress assembled at Vienna, in the sitting of the 13th of March, 1815, shall be made public.

"Done and certified as true by the plenipotentiaries of the eight powers, who signed the Treaty of Paris, at Vienna, the 13th of March, 1815.

Here follow the signatures in the alphabetical order of the courts.

"Austria The Prince de Metternich,

The Baron de Wessemberg.

"Spain (Espagne) P. Gomez Labrador.

France The Prince de Talleyrand,

The Duke D'Alberg,

Latour Dupin,

The Count Alexis de Noailles.

Great Britain Wellington,

Clancarty,

Cathcart,

Stewart.

Portugal The Count Palmela,

Saldanha,

Lobo.

Prussia The Prince de Hardenberg,

The Baron de Humboldt.

Russia The Count de Rasoumowski,

The Count de Stakelberg,

The Count de Nesselrode.

Sweden Lowenhielm."

This declaration, which no doubt will hereafter excite the astonishment of posterity, was commented upon and victoriously refuted by the Emperor himself. Count Boulay, to whom the following report is ascribed, had no farther share in it, than condensing it a little, and softening some of its expressions.

Report of the committee of presidents of the council of state.

"In consequence of the reference made to it, the committee, composed of the presidents of the sections of the council of state, has examined the declaration of the 13th of March, the report of the minister of the general police, and the papers added to them.

"The declaration is in an unusual form, composed in such strange terms, and expresses such anti-social ideas, that the committee was led to consider it as one of those supposititious productions, by means of which despicable men endeavour to impose upon people's minds, and mislead the public opinion.

"But the verification of the examinations taken at Metz, and of the interrogatories of the couriers, admit no doubt, that the declaration was sent by members of the French legation at Vienna; and consequently it must be considered as adopted and signed by them.

"It is under this last point of view, that the committee imagines it ought first to examine this production, which has no precedent in the annals of diplomacy, and in which Frenchmen, men invested with the most respectable of public characters, begin with a sort of outlawry, with a provocation to assassinate the Emperor Napoleon.

"We say with the minister of the police, that this declaration is the work of the French plenipotentiaries: because those of Austria, Prussia, Russia, and England, could not have been capable of signing a paper, which the sovereigns and people, to whom they belong, will be eager to disavow.

"And in the first place these plenipotentiaries, most of them coadjutors in the treaty of Paris, know, that Napoleon was there acknowledged as retaining the title of Emperor, and as sovereign of the island of Elba: they would have mentioned him by these titles, and would not have deviated, either in matter or in manner, from the respect they impose.

"They would have felt, that, agreeably to the laws of nations, a prince, however trifling the extent or population of his state, enjoys, as far as regards his political and civil character, the rights belonging to every sovereign prince in respect to the most powerful monarch; and Napoleon, acknowledged under the title of Emperor, and in quality of a sovereign prince, by all the powers, was no more amenable to the congress of Vienna than any of them.

"The forgetfulness of these principles, impossible to be supposed in plenipotentiaries, who weigh the rights of nations maturely with wisdom and consideration, has nothing astonishing in it when manifested by French ministers, whose conscience reproaches them with more than one act of treason, in whom fear has engendered rage, and whose remorse leads their reason astray.

"Such men as these may have risked the fabrication and the publication of a piece like the pretended declaration of the 13th of March, in the hope of stopping the progress of Napoleon, and misleading the French people with regard to the real sentiments of foreign powers.

"But they cannot judge like these powers of the merits of a nation, which they have misunderstood, betrayed, and delivered up to the arms of foreigners.

"This nation, brave and generous, revolts against every thing that bears the marks of cowardice and oppression: its affections are heightened, when the object of them is threatened or affected by a great injustice; and assassination, which the commencement of the declaration of the 13th of March is intended to excite, will find not a single hand to execute it, either among the twenty-five millions of Frenchmen, the majority of whom attended, guarded, and protected Napoleon from the Mediterranean to the capital; nor among the eighteen millions of Italians, the six millions of Belgians or inhabitants of the banks of the Rhine, and the numerous nations of Germany, who, on this solemn occasion, have not pronounced his name without respectful remembrance; nor a single individual of the indignant English nation, whose honourable sentiments disavow the language, that those men have dared to attribute to the sovereigns.

"The people of Europe are enlightened; they judge the rights of Napoleon, the rights of the allied princes, and those of the Bourbons.

"They know, that the convention of Fontainbleau was a treaty between sovereigns. Its violation, the entrance of Napoleon into the French territory, like any other infraction of a diplomatic act, like any hostile invasion, could only bring on an ordinary war; the result of which can only be, to the person, that of being conqueror or conquered, free or a prisoner of war; to possessions, that of being lost or preserved, diminished or increased; and that every thought, every threat, every attempt, against the life of a prince at war with another, is a thing unheard of in the history of nations, and of the cabinets of Europe.

"In the violence, the rage, the forgetfulness of principle, that characterize the declaration of the 13th of March, we recognize the envoys of the same prince, the organs of the same councils, who, by the ordinance of the 6th of March, also put Napoleon out of the pale of the law, also invoked for him the daggers of assassins, and also promised a reward to whoever would bring his head.

"Yet what has Napoleon done? By his confidence he has honoured the men of all nations, who were insulted by the infamous office to which they were invited: he has shown himself temperate, generous, a protector, even toward those who had devoted his head to destruction.

"When he spoke to General Excelmans, marching toward the column that closely pressed Louis Stanislas Xavier; to General Count Erlon, who was to receive him at Lille; to General Clausel, who was going to Bourdeaux, where the Duchess of Angoulême was; to General Grouchy, who marched to put a stop to the civil disturbances excited by the Duke of Angoulême; every where, in short, orders were given by the Emperor, that their persons should be respected, and sheltered from all attack, from all danger, from all violence, during their progress on the French territories, and to the moment of their quitting them.

"Contemporary nations and posterity will judge, on which side respect has been paid in this grand conjuncture to the rights of nations and of sovereigns, to the laws of war, the principles of civilization, and the maxims of law civil and religious: they will pronounce between Napoleon and the house of Bourbon.

"If, after having examined the pretended declaration of the congress in this first point of view, we discuss it in its relations to diplomatic conventions, to the treaty of Fontainbleau of the 11th of April, ratified by the French government, we shall find, that their violation is imputable only to those very persons who charge it on Napoleon.

"The treaty of Fontainbleau has been violated by the allied powers, and by the house of Bourbon, in what regards the Emperor Napoleon and his family, in what affects the rights and interests of the French nation:

"1st. The Empress Marie Louise and her son were to obtain passports and an escort, to enable them to repair to the Emperor: but, far from performing this promise, the wife was separated by force from her husband, the son from his father, and this under painful circumstances, when the strongest mind finds it necessary to seek consolation and support in the bosom of its family and domestic affections.

"2d. The safety of Napoleon, of the imperial family, and of their suite, was guarantied (Art. 14 of the treaty) by all the powers: yet bands of assassins were organized in France under the eyes of the French government, and even by its orders, as the solemn proceedings against the Sieur de Maubreuil will shortly prove, to attack both the Emperor, his brothers, and their wives: this first branch of the plot failing of the expected success, a tumult was planned at Orgon, on the road taken by the Emperor, in order to make an attempt against his life by the hands of some brigands: one of the cut-throats of Georges, the Sieur Brulart, raised for the purpose to the rank of major-general, known in Brittany, in Anjou, in Normandy, in la Vendée, throughout all England, by the blood he has shed, was sent to Corsica as governor, in order to prepare and insure the crime; and, in fact, several solitary assassins attempted, in the island of Elba, to gain, by the murder of Napoleon, the culpable and disgraceful salary which was promised them.

"3d. The duchies of Parma and Placentia were given in full propriety to Marie Louise, for herself, her son, and his descendants: yet, after long refusal to put them into possession, the injustice was consummated by an absolute spoliation, under the illusory pretext of an exchange without valuation, without proportion, without sovereignty, without consent; and the documents existing in the office of foreign affairs, of which we have had an account presented to us, prove, that it was at the instance and through the intrigues of the Prince of Benevento, that Marie Louise and her son were despoiled.

"4th. A suitable establishment, out of France, had been given to Prince Eugene, the adopted son of Napoleon, who has done honour to France, where he was born, and gained the affection of Italy, where he was naturalized; yet he has obtained nothing.

"5th. The Emperor had stipulated (Art. 3 of the treaty) in favour of his brave soldiers the preservation of their salaries from the Napoleon fund (sur le mont Napoléon); he had reserved out of the extraordinary domain, and the funds remaining of the civil list, the means of recompensing his servants, and of paying the soldiers, that attached themselves to his fate. The whole was taken away and kept back by the ministers of the Bourbons. An agent of the French soldiers went in vain to Vienna, to claim for them the most sacred of all property, the price of their valour and their blood.

"6th. The preservation of the property, movable and immovable, of the Emperor's family, is stipulated by the same treaty (Art. 6); yet it has been despoiled of both: in France, with force of arms, by commissioned brigands; in Italy, by the violence of military commanders; in both countries by seizures and sequestrations solemnly appointed.

"7th. The Emperor Napoleon was to receive two millions of francs a year, and his family two millions and a half, agreeably to the distribution fixed by Art. 6 of the treaty: but the French government has constantly refused to fulfil these engagements, and Napoleon would have soon seen himself reduced to the necessity of dismissing his faithful guard, for want of the means of ensuring its pay, if he had not found in the grateful remembrances of the bankers and merchants of Genoa and Italy the honourable resource of a loan of twelve millions, which was offered him.

"8th. In fine, it was not without a motive, that certain persons were desirous of separating from Napoleon, by any means, the companions of his glory, models of attachment and constancy, unshaken guaranties of his life and safety. The island of Elba was secured to him in full property (Art. 3 of the treaty): yet the resolution to deprive him of it, desired by the Bourbons, and solicited by their agents, had been taken at the Congress.

"And if Providence in its justice had not interposed, Europe would have seen attempts made against the person, the liberty of Napoleon, banished for ever at the mercy of his enemies, far from his family, separated from his servants, either to St. Lucie, or to St. Helena, which was assigned him as a prison.

"And when the allied powers, yielding to the imprudent wishes, or cruel instigations, of the agents of the house of Bourbon, have stooped to violate a solemn contract, on the faith of which Napoleon had absolved the French nation from its oaths; when himself, and all the members of his family, saw themselves menaced and attacked in their persons, in their property, in their affections, in all the rights stipulated in their favour as princes, and even in those secured by the laws to simple citizens; how ought Napoleon to act?

"Ought he, after having endured so many insults, and suffered so many acts of injustice, to consent to the complete violation of the engagements entered into with him; and, resigning himself to the fate prepared for him, abandon also to their fearful destiny, his wife, his son, his relations, and his faithful servants?

"Such a resolution seems to require more than human strength of mind: yet Napoleon was capable of taking it, if the peace and happiness of France could have been purchased by this new sacrifice. He would again have devoted himself for the French people, from whom, as he wishes to declare in the face of all Europe, he makes it his glory to hold every thing, to whom he refers every thing, and to whom alone he will hold himself responsible for his actions and devote his life.

"It was for France alone, and to save her from the calamities of an intestine war, that he abdicated the crown in 1814. He restored to the French people the rights he held from them; he left them free to choose a new master, and to found their liberty and happiness on institutions, that would protect both.

"He hoped, that the nation would preserve all it had acquired by five and twenty years of glorious fighting; and the exercise of its sovereignty in the choice of a dynasty, and in stipulating the conditions, on which it should be called to the throne.

"He expected from the new government respect for the glory of the armies, and for the rights of the brave; the guaranty of all the new interests, interests generated and maintained during a quarter of a century, resulting from all the civil and political laws, observed and revered during that time, because they are identified with the manners, habits, and wants of the nation.

"Far from all this, every idea of the sovereignty of the people has been discarded.

"The principle, on which all public and civil legislation has been founded since the revolution, has been equally discarded.

"France has been treated as a revolted country, reconquered by the armies of its ancient masters, and subjugated anew to a feudal domination.

"A constitutional law has been imposed on France, as easy to be eluded as revoked; and in the form of royal ordinances simply, without consulting the nation, without even hearing those bodies, become illegal, the phantoms of national representation.

"The violation of this charter has been checked only by the timidity of the government; the extent of the abuses of its authority has been limited only by its weakness.

"The disjointing of the army, the dispersion of its officers, the exile of several, the debasement of the soldiers, the suppression of their endowments, the privation of their pay or pensions; the reduction of the pay of the legionaries, the despoiling them of their honours, the pre-eminence given to the decorations of the feudal monarchy, the contempt of the citizens, designated anew under the name of tiers-état (third estate); the spoliation of the purchasers of national property, prepared and already begun, the actual diminution of value of such as was obliged to be sold; the return of the feudal system in its titles, privileges, and useful rights, the re-establishment of tramontane principles, the abolition of the liberties of the Gallican church, the annihilation of the Concordat, the re-establishment of tithes, the reviving intolerance of an exclusive form of worship; the domination of a handful of nobles over a people accustomed to equality: are what the ministers of the Bourbons have done, or wished to do, for the people of France.

"It was under such circumstances, that the Emperor Napoleon quitted the island of Elba: such were the motives of the resolution he took, and not the consideration of his own personal interests, so trivial in his opinion compared with the interests of the nation, to which he has devoted his existence.

"He has not brought war into the bosom of France: on the contrary, he has extinguished the war, which the possessors of national property, constituting four fifths of the landholders throughout France, would have been compelled to make upon their despoilers; the war, which the citizens, oppressed, degraded, humiliated by the nobles, would have been forced to declare against their oppressors; the war, which the Protestants, the Jews, and the people of different sects, would have been obliged to maintain against their persecutors.