Note (Back to main text) — END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

The next day the Emperor, as soon as he perceived him, said: "Embrace me, my dear marshal; I am glad to see you. I want no explanation or justification: I have honoured and esteemed you as the bravest of the brave."—"Sire, the newspapers have told a heap of lies, which I wish to confute: my conduct has ever been that of a good soldier, and a good Frenchman."—"I know it, and accordingly never doubted your attachment."—"You were right, Sire. Your Majesty may always depend upon me, when my country is concerned.... It is for my country I have shed my blood, and for it I would still spill it to the last drop. I love you, Sire, but my country above all! above all."—(The Emperor interrupting him) "It is patriotism too, that brings me to France. I learned, that our country was unhappy, and I am come to deliver it from the emigrants and the Bourbons. I will confer upon it all that it expects from me."—"Your Majesty may be assured, that we will support you: he who acts with justice, may do what he pleases with the French. The Bourbons have ruined themselves, by having wished to act as they thought proper, and thrown aside the army."—"Princes who never saw a naked sword could not honour the army: its glory humbled them, and they were jealous of it."—"Yes, Sire, they incessantly sought to humiliate us. I am still enraged, when I think, that a marshal of France, an old warrior like me, was obliged to kneel down before that ... of a Duke of B..... to receive the cross of St. Louis. It could not last; and, if you had not come to expel them, we should have driven them out ourselves[65]."—"How are your troops disposed?"—"Very well, Sire; I thought they would have stifled me, when I announced to them, that they were about to march to meet your eagles."—"What generals are with you?"—"Le Courbe and Bourmont."—"Are you sure of them?"—"I will answer for Le Courbe, but I am not so sure of Bourmont."—"Why are they not come hither?"—"They showed some hesitation, and I left them."—"Are you not afraid of Bourmont's bestirring himself, and embarrassing you?"—"No, Sire, he will keep himself quiet: besides, he would find nobody to second him. I have expelled from the ranks all the light infantry of Louis XIV.[66], who had been given to us, and all the country is fired with enthusiasm."—"No matter, I shall not leave him any possibility of disturbing us: you will direct him and the royalist officers to be secured till we enter Paris. I shall be there without doubt by the 20th or 25th, and sooner. If we arrive, as I hope, without any obstacle, do you think they will defend themselves"—"I do not think they will, Sire: you know what the Parisians are, more noise than work."—"I have received despatches from Paris this morning: the patriots expect me with impatience, and are on the point of rising. I am afraid of some quarrel taking place between them and the royalists. I would not for the world, that my return should be stained with a single drop of blood. It is easy for you, to hold communication with Paris: write to your friends, write to Maret, that our affairs go on well, that I shall arrive without firing a single musket; and let them all unite, to prevent the spilling of blood. Our triumph should be as pure, as the cause we serve." Generals Bertrand and Labedoyère, who were present, then mixed in the conversation; and after a few minutes the Emperor left them, and retired into his closet.