CORNELL 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
 THIS BOOK IS ONE OF 
 A COLLECTION MADE BY 
 
 BENNO LOEWY 
 
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 AND BEQUEATHED TO 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DC 239.W72 
 
 A narrative of the events which have tak 
 
 3 1924 024 320 586 
 
|l Cornell University 
 J Library 
 
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WILLIAMS'S EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
A NARRATIVE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE EVENTS WHICH HAVE TAKEN 
 PLACE IN FRANCE 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 SantJittg of jBtapoleon Bonaparte 
 
 On the First of March, 1815, till the 
 Restoration of Louis XVlll. 
 
 Wiitti an aiccount of tlje State of Societg mts Public 
 ©pinion at tiiat petioU. 
 
 BY 
 
 HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS. 
 
 CLEVELAND: t\)t HButrOtoSf TBVCtljtte 
 
 Company, publishers — m dccc xcv. 
 
&ebm J^untfMli atiT) Jiftg ffioptes reprmteli for tije JSuirofaa 
 JSrotljeta CCoropang ig SoJjn fflSSilgon ant Son, at tlje 
 SantijEtBitg Pmsb, Cantbritise, 1894- 
 
 1S0...TU.\ 
 
NAEHATIYE 
 
 OF 
 
 EVENTS IN FEANCE. 
 
 LETTEE I. 
 
 My Dear Sir, ^^'*'®' ^P'"' ^^^^• 
 
 If in the list of moral maxims anything had 
 been left unsaid upon the evil of procrastination, 
 this would be a fit occasion to add something to 
 the stock of luminous observations made on that 
 subject since the beginning of time. But why 
 have you furnished me with a sad example of the 
 truth of these precepts ? Why, when the Eng- 
 lish hastened in multitudes to Paris, have you de- 
 layed your journey from week to week, till it can 
 no longer be accomplished ? 
 
 Although divided from each other by a geogra- 
 phical space of only a few short leagues, at what 
 an immeasurable distance were the two countries 
 which we inhabit separated by the ascendancy of 
 tha;t Implacable Will which had placed a barrier 
 between the nations more insurmountable than 
 
2 KAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IK FRANCE. 
 
 the wall of China ! You will easily believe that I 
 saw with pleasure the arrival once more of those 
 groups of travellers who speak my native lan- 
 guage, who remind me of the scenes of early life, 
 who conjure up those images of the past which no 
 heart recals without emotion, and which " breathe 
 a second spring." But amidst those successive 
 crowds, why have I not seen the friend of my 
 youth ? , Why have your chariot-wheels tarried, 
 till I can no longer urge you to come, although I 
 believe you would incur no personal danger by so 
 doing ? Our re-installed emperor is extremely mor- 
 tified at the precipitation with which the English 
 visitors fly from his dominion. It may indeed be 
 observed, that in our paroxysms of political mad- 
 ness in this country we have usually imagination 
 enough to blend a little variety in our proceed- 
 ings ; and therefore the English having been once 
 detained, was probably the very reason why they 
 had no such measure again to apprehend, since 
 its folly and impolicy had been amply recognized. 
 The English might, therefore, have applied to 
 themselves the observation made long since by 
 M. de la Fayette to the people, when they wanted 
 the oath of the first federation to be repeated : 
 " Mes amis, le sermentn'est pas une arriette, qu'on 
 joue deux fois." 
 
NARKATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 3 
 
 Fear, however, is very subject to reason amiss ; 
 the English have departed, and you will naturally 
 defer your visit till the end of the present dynasty, 
 which to me excludes not the hope of seeing you, 
 perhaps ere long, in Paris. In the mean time I 
 shall trace, as you desire, in a series of letters, the 
 events which are passing before me, and which 
 you will one day give to the public, if you con- 
 sider my sketches as worthy its attention. I have 
 been often asked by my countrymen of late, why I 
 have so long discontinued to describe the scenes 
 which are passing around me ? I have perhaps 
 done wrong, since I may at least pretend to be 
 qualified for the task, inasmuch as it respects a 
 knowledge of the subject, — I who, during my 
 residence in Paris, have witnessed all the succes- 
 sive phases of its revolutions, who have so long 
 marked the list of its remembrances, its calamities, 
 its triumphs, and its crimes ! 
 
 But the iron hand of despotism has weighed 
 upon my soul, and subdued all intellectual energy. 
 The Chevalier de Boufflers used to call Bonaparte 
 "le cochemare de I'univers," the night-mare of 
 the world ; and indeed the idea of the conse- 
 quences with which those were menaced who ven- 
 tured to collect forbidden materials for history, 
 was sufficient to chill this sort of courage. We 
 
4 KAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FEANCE. 
 
 long believed the tyranny of Bonaparte to be con- 
 firmed, while now, persuaded that his new usurpa- 
 tion will not be durable, I shall no longer hang my 
 harp upon the willows, and despair of the future. 
 
 I shall begin with the second volume of Napo- 
 leon's history, or, to use the words of Madame de 
 Stael, of Bonaparte's adventures, leaving the first 
 volume to a future period, or an abler historian. 
 It would indeed be quite impossible for me, in the 
 present agitation of my mind, to " begin at the 
 beginning." I partake the common feeling ex- 
 perienced by all who have witnessed the French 
 Revolution, that of an insuperable repugnance to 
 returning on the past. When we reflect on all we 
 have seen and suffered in this country, the soul 
 recoils from such a host of fearful recollections, 
 and we experience a moral sentiment which has 
 perhaps some kind of analogy to the physical sen- 
 sation described by Shakspeare, when he says, 
 
 " The very place puts toys of desperation, 
 Without more motive, into every brain." 
 
 Connected with this sentiment, those who have 
 witnessed the Revolution feel also a sort of weari- 
 ness of the memory of what is past. If the suc- 
 cession of time be measured by that of events, we 
 have lived, not years, but ages of revolutionary 
 life, and we are tired of the retrospect. In one 
 
NAKKATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 5 
 
 word, I cannot prevail with myself to go back 
 farther in my narration than the first of March, 
 1815. 
 
 Before I begin, however, let me say a few words 
 of myself; which I shall do with all possible brev- 
 ity, this being, when we talk of ourselves, the first 
 merit with others. You write to me in something 
 like Italics, as if to give force to reproof, " you 
 tvere a Bonapartist." I shall answer this accusa- 
 tion by pleading guilty. Yes, I admired Bona- 
 parte ; I admired also the French revolution. To 
 my then youthful imagination, the day-star of 
 liberty seemed to rise on the vine-covered hills of 
 France only to shed benedictions on humanity. I 
 dreamt of prison-doors thrown open, — of dun- 
 geons visited by the light of day, — of the peas- 
 ant oppressed no longer, — of equal rights, equal 
 laws, a golden age, in which all that lived were to 
 be happy. But how soon did these beautiful illu- 
 sions vanish, and this star of liberty set in blood ! 
 How just was the reflection of Monsieur Gorani at 
 the time of revolutionary horrors, " Je connaissais 
 les grands, mais je ne connaissais pas les petits." 
 You, however, are not of the number of those 
 who deny that liberty was formed to bless and 
 dignify mankind, because she has fallen on " evil 
 days and evil tongues." 
 
6 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 When Bonaparte first appeared on the politi- 
 cal horizon, I was not yet cured of enthusiasm. 
 He presented himself to the world as fighting the 
 battles of liberty — and by what splendid victories 
 did lie maintain her cause in Italy ! What mo- 
 desty in his demeanour, when, at his return, he 
 made his solemn entry into Paris, and was re- 
 ceived at a public audience by the Directory ! As 
 he passed through the crowded streets, he leaned 
 back in his carriage, and seemed to shrink from 
 those acclamations which were then the voluntary 
 offering of the heart, and were such as he has 
 since been unable, with all his power, to purchase. 
 I saw him decline placing himself in the chair of 
 state which had been prepared for him, and seem 
 as if he wished to escape from the general bursts 
 of applause. 
 
 Allow me to observe also, en passant, that I 
 had been assured he was an enthusiastic admirer 
 of Ossian; and when I found that he united to 
 a noble simplicity of character, and a generous 
 disdain of applause, a veneration for Ossian, this 
 circumstance filled up the measure of my admira- 
 tion. I did not then know that Bonaparte valued 
 'Ossian only for his descriptions of battles, like the 
 surgeon who praised Homer only for his skill in 
 anatomy. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 7 
 
 Even the events of the 18th Brumaire, al- 
 though somewhat mysterious, were insufficient to 
 shake my credulity. He had dissolved with vio- 
 lence the national representation, but it was only 
 to repress the Jacobins and prevent the return of 
 terrorism. When he was named First Consul, 
 I believed that liberty was about to flourish fair 
 under his auspices, and that France was hence- 
 forth to be great and happy. It seemed as if, in 
 a better sense, it might be said of him that " the 
 world was ma,de for Caesar." All the circum- 
 stances of the Revolution had combined to effect 
 his elevation. The nation was wearied of the 
 great experiment it had made in politics, and for 
 which it had paid so dear. The cruel abuses of 
 liberty, the horrible outrages of the reign of terror 
 were still present to every memory, and even the 
 republicans themselves despaired of a republic. 
 The nation, conscious, at the same time, of the 
 wrongs it had inflicted on the race of its kings, in 
 despair of impunity, added to its offences a new 
 injustice, and believing that the Bourbons would 
 never forget the past, wished to separate them 
 forever from the future. 
 
 In this situation of things, and in this disposi- 
 tion of the public mind, Bonaparte took possession 
 of the government. He had so noble and so mar- 
 
8 KAKEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 vellous a part to act, that it was difficult to be- 
 lieve he would mar all by his performance. It 
 might have been expected that he would have 
 had the good taste, as well as morality, to avoid 
 the beaten track of vulgar and ordinary ambition ; 
 and that he would seek, by other paths, the prize 
 of purer glory. He soon, however, corrected the 
 defect of discei'nment in those who had thus au- 
 gured of his genius and his virtue. The rapid 
 successive gradations to the consulate for life, and 
 thence to the imperial purple, dispelled all illu- 
 sion, and displayed the undisguised truth. 
 
 " Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all." 
 
 Thus ends my confession : and, passing over the 
 memorable interval of time since the coronation 
 of Napoleon the Great, by Pope Pius the Seventh, 
 in the metropolitan church of Notre Dame, let 
 me lead you towards the little vessel on which 
 Bonaparte lately anchored in the bay of Juan. 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 April, 1815. 
 
 A FEELING of surprize, but a very slight degree 
 of inquietude, was excited at Paris by the intelli- 
 gence that Bonaparte had landed, on the first of 
 March, at the little town of Cannes, on the coast 
 of Provence, attended by a few followers. His 
 arrival was talked of, less as a subject of alarm, 
 than of speculation with respect to the motives 
 of his expedition. It was generally believed that 
 his appearance in France would be very transient, 
 and that he only meant to open to himself a 
 passage through Piedmont into Italy, to join his 
 brother-in-law, Joachim king of Naples. 
 
 It seemed indeed singular that he should have 
 landed in Provence, in order to form a junction 
 with Murat at Rome ; but as no clearer motive 
 suggested itself to the public mind, this intention 
 was generally admitted. In the mean time, Bona- 
 parte hastened to enlighten the inhabitants of the 
 south with respect to the motive of his visit, 
 declaring that the same sentiments of tenderness 
 and humanity which had induced him to lay aside 
 
10 NAREATIYE OF EVENTS IN FKANCE. 
 
 his imperial authority, at the time when the 
 allies were in possession of Paris and masters of 
 France, — and to which abdication he was com- 
 pelled by the hope that peace would be restored 
 to this unhappy and desolated country, — had 
 now operated on him to forego the enjoyment of 
 tranquillity, and forsake the rock in the midst 
 of the waves, on which he had suffered exile, in 
 order to rouse the country to a due sense of its 
 inglorious sufferings, and to avenge its wrongs. 
 He promised to restore to France the boundary 
 of the Rhine, to confirm to the people the chart - 
 they had adopted, and to reform all the errors 
 of which the reigning powers had been guilty, in 
 their misinterpretation of the articles that had 
 been already discussed. 
 
 The tenderness professed by Bonaparte for the 
 people, and his sympathy for their sufferings 
 under the reign of the Bourbons, raised a smile 
 on the lips of the Parisians ; yet there were per- 
 sons who felt their vain-glory awakened by the 
 promises of again extending their frontier to the 
 Ehine, and obliging the Prussians to fall back 
 from the lately ceded territory. The almost uni- 
 versality of France, however, which had groaned 
 so long under the rod of Napoleon, and had 
 blessed its deliverance from his sway, still con- 
 
NAREATIVE OP EVENTS IN FllANCE. 11 
 
 sidered him as the enemy of public and individual 
 repose, and exulted in the hope that this abun- 
 dant excess of tenderness was about to expose 
 him to the punishment so long due to his crimes ; 
 for of his speedy capture there appeared no 
 reasonable cause of doubt. 
 
 Whilst the members of the government encour- 
 aged this belief in the public, they were not less 
 aware that it was no ordinary disturber with 
 whom they had to deal. It was deemed expe- 
 dient to assemble all the authorities, civil as well 
 as military. On the 8th March, the Chambers 
 of Peers and of Deputies, which had been pro- 
 rogued on the last day of the past year to the first 
 of May, were called together for the instant dis- 
 patch of business; and the king issued a royal 
 proclamation, in which Napoleon Bonaparte was 
 declared a traitor and a rebel for having intro- 
 duced himself by force of arms into the depart- 
 ment of the Yai", enjoining all civil and military 
 governors, and even private citizens, to lay hands 
 on him (de lui courir sus), and drag him before a 
 court-martial to identify his person and put the 
 law in force against him. The same punishment 
 was enjoined against the military, and other per- 
 sons of whatever rank, who shall have accompa- 
 nied or followed Bonaparte in his invasion of the 
 
12 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 French territory, unless they submitted within 
 the term of eight days. In this crime were in- 
 cluded by the same proclamation, to be punished 
 as its accomplices and adherents, as tending to 
 change the form of government and provoke civil 
 war, all administrators civil and military, the 
 chiefs as well as those employed in the said 
 administrations, payers and receivers of the pub- 
 lic monies, even such private citizens as should 
 directly or indirectly give aid and assistance to 
 the invader. 
 
 While the government at Paris was thus em- 
 ployed, Bonaparte, who had assumed the modest 
 title of Lieutenant^General in the name of his'son, 
 had trusted but feebly to the eiFects of his own 
 proclamation. Finding that the provincials near 
 the coast, little solicitous about the liberty and 
 equality he promised to introduce, and still less 
 so for the boundary of the Ehine, were not eager 
 to volunteer their services in his cause, he col- 
 lected his small band of six hundred men and be- 
 gan his march towards Lyons, on his well known 
 and favourite system, d' alter en avant. 
 
 Bonaparte's march to Lyons, without cavalry, 
 artillery, and other accessories of martial array, 
 appeared to the Parisians so chimerical, that they 
 judged it as impracticable that he should reach 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 13 
 
 Lyons as that he should march to Paris. They 
 began to wonder that the news of his being 
 taken and destroyed with his small host, of which 
 they were all well assured' by private correspon- 
 dence, was not officially confirmed. The govern- 
 ment, which had received no such conformation, 
 published the assurances of General Marchand, 
 who commanded Grenoble, which was the south- 
 ern military dep8t, of the safety of this great 
 station and the fidelity of the troops. 
 
 The garrison of Grenoble construed the word 
 "fidelity" into a different meaning from that of 
 its commander. Bonaparte presented himself at 
 their gates ; they fraternized immediately, and 
 not only delivered up the depQt, but the general 
 by whom they were commanded. The seventh 
 regiment of the line, commanded by Cplonel La 
 Bedoyere, had marched out and joined Bona- 
 parte on the road between Vizille and Grenoble. 
 Thus M. de la Bedoyere was the first officer who 
 submitted to the invader, and may boast the pre- 
 eminence in treason. Madame de la Bedoyere, of 
 an ancient and honourable family, was so affected 
 by her husband's treachery, that, taking her chil- 
 dren with her, she forsook his house, fled to her 
 relations, and left him to enjoy alone his guilty 
 triumph. 
 
14 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 The division in families is not one of the least 
 evils of civil discord. Its serpents writhe upon 
 the calm bosom of domestic life, and transform all 
 its joys to bitterness. How many near relations 
 have been within this little month thus rudely 
 torn from each other ! There is a point in public 
 dissension and public calamity, when the rankled 
 mind revolts at opposition, and the affections of 
 private life seem light in the great balance of 
 destiny. 
 
 " Pour toi, de qui la main shme ici les forfaits, 
 Et fait naitre la guerre au milieu de la paix ; 
 Ton nom seul parmi nous divise les families, 
 Les epoux, les parens, les mferes, et les filles ; 
 La discorde civile est par-tout sur ta trace. 
 Assemblage inoui de mensonge et d'audace; 
 Tyran de ton pays, est-ce ainsi qu'en ce lieu 
 Tu viens donner la paix ! " &c. ■' 
 
 The Elbean band, which had hitherto since its 
 landing been wandering among the mountains of 
 the Var and the departments of the Lower Alps, 
 was now swelled into the appearance of an army 
 by the junction of the troops at Grenoble. Gen- 
 eral Marchand, invited by Bonaparte to retake 
 his command, answered, that during his reign as 
 Emperor he had served him with fidelity ; that, 
 
 ^ Voltaire: Mahomet. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 15 
 
 released from tbis duty by bis abdication, be bad 
 sworn allegiance to tbe existing government ; and, 
 presenting bis sword, surrendered bimself as a 
 prisoner, declaring tbat be would never be a 
 traitor. " General," said Bonaparte, " I acknowl- 
 edge your services ; I bave always looked on you 
 as a true soldier ; I see your position, and do not 
 wish you to act contrary to your conscience. 
 Take back your sword ; go to Paris, and tell your 
 king tbat I sball soon visit biin in tbe capital, and 
 will treat bim with all tbe consideration due to bis 
 virtues and his rank." 
 
 Tbe defection of tbe garrison of Grenoble 
 roused into exertion tbe government, which had 
 seemed to repose on the terror of its proclama- 
 tions. Monsieur, the king's brother, and the Duke 
 of Orleans, accompanied by Marshal Macdonald, 
 repaired to Lyons in order to put tbat city in a 
 state of resistance. Lyons was garrisoned by 
 about two thousand regular troops, and its great 
 population seemed to offer every means of retard- 
 ing at least tbe progress of the invader; but the 
 only weapons found to arm the inhabitants were 
 three thousand muskets, and these were for the 
 most part unfit for service. The aspect of the 
 city was equivocal with respect to its loyalty, and 
 tbe regular troops were decidedly in favour of tbe 
 
16 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 invader. His appearance before Lyons awakened 
 the cries of "Vive I'Empereur ! " from the sol- 
 diers, in -which they were joined by the populace, 
 and he entered without resistance that capital of 
 the Gauls, The French princes retreated to Cler- 
 mont in Auvergne, and soon after returned to 
 Paris. 
 
 Bonaparte had now traversed the country from 
 the coasts to almost the centre of France, without 
 resistance and without firing a shot ; and, having 
 enthroned himself at Lyons, threw off the humble 
 air of Lieutenant-General of his son, as well as 
 that of tenderness and sympathy for the sufferings 
 of the nation ; and, unable to withstand the saluta- 
 tions of " Vive I'Empereur ! " by the army, began 
 to issue his imperial decrees with the protocole of 
 " Napoleon, by the grace of God and the constitu- 
 tions of the empire, Emperor of the French, &c." 
 
 Several changes having been made during his 
 absence in the persons composing his imperial 
 administration both civil and military, he began 
 by decreeing that in the judiciary bodies of every 
 rank such arbitrary changes were to be regarded 
 as null and void; that all generals and officers 
 who had taken service in the army or navy, and 
 who had been emigrants, should give in their dis- 
 mission and return to their homes ; that the white 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 17 
 
 cockade and the order of St. Louis, of the Holy 
 Ghost, and of St. Michael, should be abolished, 
 and that the national three-coloured flag and cock- 
 ade should only be displayed; that the military 
 establishment of the king should be suppressed ; 
 that the goods and chattels of the princes of the 
 house of Bourbon should be sequestrated ; that 
 the nobility and feudal titles were abolished ; that 
 the emigrants who had entered with the king 
 should quit the French territory ; and that the 
 chamber of peers and deputies were dissolved. 
 
 These imperial dispositions appeared to Bona- 
 parte, no doubt, necessary to reunite the parti- 
 sans of his old government ; but he could not 
 dissemble to himself that, however agreeable his 
 return might be to the citizens who had revelled 
 in the sweets and emoluments of subordinate 
 power, he had not been happy in securing the 
 assent and afiEections of any other classes of his 
 subjects. Of this he had been duly informed 
 during his residence in his island of Elba. Every 
 vessel from France that touched his coast had 
 gone laden with pamphlets, all filled with details 
 of his crimes, arraigning him before the present 
 and future ages, and written as if to console and 
 avenge the nation, of which nothing is more re- 
 markable than its physical courage and its moral 
 
18 NAEKATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 cowardice, for the silence with which it had 
 borne his oppression. Nothing had been left 
 unsaid ; many a terrible truth had been thundered 
 in his ear ; many a foot had trampled upon the 
 sick lion ; and the revolutionary maxim seemed 
 entirely forgotten, "qu'il riy a que les marts qui 
 ne reviennent pas." The times were then past 
 when the philosophers and the literati prophaned 
 history, and the clergy Holy Writ, by their 
 strange and grotesque applications. 
 
 Bonaparte, conscious that his enchanter's rod 
 was now broken, that he was no longer believed 
 to be invincible, and that he was well known to 
 be guilty, had recourse to new arts. He deemed 
 it necessary to propose a voluntary descent from 
 the height of his ancient dictatorship, and to de- 
 clare himself the patron and popular chieftain of 
 a free government. He concluded his decree of 
 the suppression of the legislature, by ordering that 
 the " electoral colleges of the departments of the 
 empire should assemble at Paris in the course of 
 next May, in an extraordinary assembly of the 
 Field of May, in order to take the measures 
 necessary to correct and modify our constitutions 
 according to the interest and will of the nation, 
 and at the same time to be present at the corona- 
 tion of the empress, our very dear and well- 
 
NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN" FEANCE. 19 
 
 beloved spouse, and of our dear and well-beloved 
 son." 
 
 On the news of the possession of Lyons by- 
 Bonaparte and his army, now become formidable 
 by its numbers, consternation began to operate 
 on the Parisian world in the inverse ratio qf its 
 former incredulity. The same magical power 
 which had led this extraordinary personage from 
 his island to the centre of France seemed no less 
 potent to protect his further attempts if it was 
 his intention to wing his way to Paris. There 
 was, however, no supernatural agency in this 
 business ; there was nothing even very aston- 
 ishing in this revolutionary phantasmagoria. 
 
 It was scarcely to be imagined that Bonaparte 
 would have thrown himself with so much rashness 
 and precipitation into the midst of France with a 
 handful of followers, and have attempted to trav- 
 erse a country through which, but a few months 
 before, he had passed to his place of exile loaded 
 with the execrations of its inhabitants, and, even 
 under the protection of his European conquerors, 
 compelled to seek at times his personal safety by 
 assuming the meanest disguises ; it could scarcely 
 be imagined that he would have ventured to trace 
 back his steps through this country as a con- 
 queror, and have seated himself in the capital of 
 
20 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 the south, had he not depended on other forces 
 than those of his followers, and assured to himself 
 other means of success than the riches his Elbean 
 sovereignty afforded. Suspicions arose at Paris 
 that there existed some strange neglect in certain 
 departments of the administrations of govern- 
 ment. It was observed that not only the southern 
 d^p8t of Grenoble had furnished the invader with 
 every implement of war, and that its garrison had 
 shown a singular alacrity in declaring themselves 
 traitors, but that Lyons had been left without 
 defence or the arms necessary for the national 
 guard. It seemed strange, also, that the fleet at 
 Toulon had remained in the harbour, and that, 
 were it merely to exercise the sailors, no cruise 
 had taken place in the space that reaches from 
 the isle of Elba to the shores of Provence. It is 
 certain that the conspiracy had been carried on 
 during some months, with more good fortime than 
 address. The discovery of one part of the plot 
 was accidental, or, to borrow the pious ejacula- 
 tion of the new minister of war, seemed to have 
 been made by the miraculous interposition of 
 Providence. 
 
 Marshal Mortier, Duke of Treviso, who com- 
 manded the troops stationed in the north, had left 
 Paris to return to his headquarters at Lisle, when 
 
KAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FItA.]SrCE. 21 
 
 he met on the indirect road he had taken a body 
 of troops, consisting of about ten thousand men, on 
 their march to Paris. The astonished Marshal 
 demanded where they were going, and found that 
 they had received orders to march upon Paris, to 
 save the city from pillage and rescue the king 
 from the hands of the populace. He examined 
 the orders, saw they were forgeries, and ordered 
 his soldiers to march back instantly to their 
 quarters. 
 
 The town of La Fere, in Picardy, was a north- 
 ern military d^pSt, under the command of M. 
 D'Aboville. The General Lefebre Denouettes 
 had entered this town with troops drawn from 
 the garrison of Cambray, under the command of 
 General Lallemand and his brother, demanding 
 military accommodation for two thousand men. 
 The commander of La Fere observed that there 
 was somewhat singular in this march ; and having 
 soon obtained proofs of the traitorous intentions 
 of these generals, he put his garrison, at an early 
 hour, in order of battle, and answered the invita- 
 tion of joining Bonaparte by the cry of " Vive le 
 Hoi ! " in which he was joined by his troops. 
 The rebel generals sought their safety in flight, 
 but were soon after taken. 
 
 Thus Bonaparte's project was neither rash 
 
22 NAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 nor ill-concerted. While he advanced by rapid 
 marches to Lyons, for which due preparations had 
 been made by the removal of all obstacles, and 
 while the garrison of Grenoble assisted his arrival, 
 his partisans in the north were to furnish him 
 with arms, lead on the troops under their com- 
 mand, and take possession of Paris. The acci- 
 dental meeting of a powerful detachment of the 
 northern army by Marshal Mortier, and the firm- 
 ness of D'Aboville at La Fere, disconcerted this 
 part of the plan, but at the same time convinced 
 the government that the conspiracy was not con- 
 fined to the south and to the troops that accom- 
 panied Bonaparte. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 April, 1815. 
 
 The discovery of a conspiracy before it be con- 
 summated is generally considered as the destruc- 
 tion of the enterprise for which it has been formed ; 
 but the present plot extended too far to be en- 
 dangered by the failure of any single ramification. 
 Bonaparte's triumphant march ceased to be mar- 
 vellous, when it became known that the army was 
 entirely devoted to him ; that he had upon his 
 arrival issued his imperial orders to the French 
 troops in all the various stations in the kingdom ; 
 that everywhere the military obeyed him with 
 alacrity ; and that this army, like a snowball, aug- 
 mented as it rolled on. 
 
 The most considerable part of the French army, 
 and particularly the imperial guard, had never 
 joined in the execrations with which their chief 
 had been loaded by the French nation. His name 
 though proscribed, as well as the imperial eagle, 
 were bound to their minds with indissoluble affec- 
 tion J and as they attributed to themselves a share 
 
24 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FEANCE. 
 
 in his military glory, so they had continued to 
 sympathize in his disgrace. Such were the honour- 
 able feelings of a great number; but the most 
 considerable part, who felt not this sort of eleva- 
 tion, remembered, like the Israelites in the Wilder- 
 ness, the flesh-pots of Egypt, and looked back with 
 regret on those halcyon days when German bur- 
 gomasters and substantial and well-prepared re- 
 pasts awaited their arrival at a town or a village 
 after the march or combat of the day ; and rapine 
 and riot, at the expense of the invaded countries, 
 filled up the intervals of what they styled the 
 career of glory. 
 
 A numerous class of the French army, under 
 the influence of those immoral habits, felt that 
 Bonaparte's banishment had been the death-blow 
 to their hopes and their enjoyments. With fond 
 regret those heroes of the eagle looked back on 
 the auspicious days in which, till interrupted by 
 the return of peace and the Bourbons, plunder 
 and carnage had been the business of their lives. 
 " Their occupation now was gone, — all pomp and 
 circumstance of glorious war ! " The whole of the 
 military were thoroughly imbued with the idea 
 that they alone constituted the nation, that they 
 were the first if not the only order in the state, 
 and that the rest of the population were the Ilotes, 
 
NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 25 
 
 or, in their modern military phraseology, '■'■ 'pe.quins^ ^ 
 These Spartans now found themselves sunk in 
 importance, thrown by as incumbrances, and saw 
 with indignation that their profession was dishon- 
 oured by the peqimis, who under the name of na- 
 tional guards had devoted themselves to the 
 protection of their country as armed citizens. 
 This military civic spirit, encouraged by the gov- 
 ernment, had only served to increase the discon- 
 tent of the regular troops ; so that it required no 
 extraordinary effort in Bonaparte's agents to in- 
 spire them with the hopes of the return of 
 Saturnian times. 
 
 Bonaparte was well apprized of the situation of 
 the army ; and of its obedience to his mandate he 
 was no less assured. The chiefs the most devoted 
 to him were of course the only persons initiated 
 in the secret, and to their discretion was entrusted 
 the care of awakening and fostering in their sol- 
 
 ^ "I am sorry, " said a minister to Marshal L , " that, 
 
 after having long waited for you, we are seated at table 
 before you arrive." "I should have come earlier," replied 
 the Marshal, "but I have been detained by some pequins." 
 " Pequins! " exclaimed the company, " what are pequins ? " 
 "Oh, you know," rejoined the Marshal, "we call pequins 
 all that is not military." " Yes, " said the minister, "comma 
 nous autres nous appellons militaire, tout ce qui n'est pas 
 civil." 
 
26 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 diers the glorious hope of new achievements, new 
 honours, and new spoils. With such auxiliaries it 
 required no great effort of courage in Bonaparte 
 to attempt seizing the reins of empire. Every 
 necessary precaution had been taken to secure his 
 safety, from the place of his landing to Lyons. 
 The national guard, indeed, of a little town into 
 which he had entered on his passage assured the 
 prefect that they could secure him with the great- 
 est ease. The prefect answered that he had re- 
 ceived no orders, and refused the proffered aid. 
 
 This military conspiracy had some auxiliaries in 
 other classes of the community. There still ex- 
 isted the remains of a party in France which had 
 during a short time wielded the sceptre as despoti- 
 cally as Bonaparte himself. This was the faction 
 of the Jacobins, once no less powerful with the 
 insignia of the red-cap than Napoleon with his 
 imperial crown, of whom some one, seeing him 
 pass in pomp through the streets of Paris, ob- 
 served, " C'est Eobespierre h cheval." The Jaco- 
 bins had long been reduced to such death-like 
 silence that the race was deemed extinct. Bona- 
 parte had received the first rudiment of his 
 political knowledge in their school, and been 
 denominated by high authority their child and 
 champion. On his first entrance into power he 
 
NAERATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 27 
 
 adopted the system of fusion, and employed such 
 of the chiefs of the faction as had escaped the 
 scaffold. He was, however, too prudent not to 
 keep the party in proper subjection while he con- 
 tinued to practise their favorite maxim, the secret 
 of all their power, " that of daring" ^ The exile 
 of some of the most turbulent leaders among the 
 populace of the Fauxbourgs, by Bonaparte's or- 
 ders, had reduced the rest to silence ; and though 
 they murmured at his injustice, they dreaded and 
 worshipped his power. 
 
 This class was at present too obscure to excite 
 any apprehension, in the government ; with the 
 exception of a few chiefs, they were to be found 
 only in the poorest of the labouring tribe. They 
 had, however, been useful on some occasions ; 
 and in revolutions no means of power ought to be 
 neglected. Subsidies were necessary to raise these 
 dormant allies into action ; and subsidies were 
 found by the relations and friends of Bonaparte, 
 and largely distributed by their emissaries. 
 
 The tranquil possession of Lyons by Bonaparte, 
 and the increase of his army by deserters from 
 the royal cause, now excited the most serious ap- 
 prehensions in Paris. The government gave as- 
 
 ^ Ose,z was declared by one of the Jacobin coryphees, in a 
 report to the Convention, to be the secret of all revolutions. 
 
28 NAERATIYE OF EVENTS IN FEANCE. 
 
 surances that measures were taken, if Bonaparte 
 should attempt the road of Paris, to cut him off ; 
 and preparations were made to collect a formid- 
 able army at Melun, a town on the Seine, at the 
 distance of ten. leagues from Paris ; and another at 
 Montargis, a few hours' march from Fontaine- 
 bleau. It was asserted that he would soon be 
 placed within two fires, since Marshal Ne_y had 
 already reached Lons le Saulnier, where an army 
 was stationed, amounting to twelve or fifteen 
 thousand men, with which he was about to fall on 
 his rear. This officer, who was called the Prince 
 of Moskwa from the active share he had taken in 
 the combat near that river, had in an effusion of 
 loyalty repaired to the Tuileries, and proffering 
 his services had assured the king, on receiving the 
 command of this important station, that he would 
 bring Bonaparte to Paris in an iron cage. To 
 which the king replied, with mild dignity, that 
 this was not what he required, and that he only 
 desired of the marshal to drive back the invader. 
 The Prince de la Moskwa took his leave of the 
 king, carried with him a million of livres for the 
 pay of the troops, and departed. 
 
 Though it was greatly apprehended that the 
 spirit of disaffection had pervaded the army in 
 general, it was hoped that a part would yet be 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 29 
 
 found " faithful among the faithless." The knowl- 
 edge that armies were placed in front, on the 
 flanks, and in the rear cheered the drooping spirits 
 of the Parisians, who, applauding the loyalty of 
 the national guard rather than confiding in their 
 prowess, saw with satisfaction the departure of 
 the marshals to head the armies, and particularly 
 of the Prince de la Moskwa, whose assurances to 
 the king were cited in his own phraseology, that 
 he would bring the Sovereign of Elba in an iron 
 cage to Paris. 
 
 Bonaparte meanwhile, after haranguing the 
 people of his good city of Lyons, took an affec- 
 tionate leave of the citizens and proceeded on his 
 way to Paris. Traversing Macon, Tournus, and 
 Autun, he reached Auxerre, where he was imme- 
 diately joined by Marshal Ney, with his whole 
 division, and whom he had ordered to hoist the 
 three-coloured flag. A part of this division was 
 well disposed toward the king, and the troops 
 would probably have done their duty had they 
 not been surprized into treason. Marshal Ney 
 issued at Lons le Saulnier the following proclama- 
 tion : — 
 
 " Officers and Soldiers ! the cause of the Bourbons is 
 for ever lost. The lawful dynasty, which the French 
 nation has adopted, is about to ascend the throne. It is 
 
30 NAKEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 to the Emperor Napoleon alone, our sovereign, that be- 
 longs the right of reigning over our fine country, &e. 
 Soldiers, I have often led you to victory, I will now lead 
 you to join that immortal phalanx which the Emperor 
 Napoleon is conducting to Paris, and which will be there 
 in a few days ; and there our hopes and our happiness 
 will be for ever realized. 
 
 " Vive I'Empereur ! 
 (Signed) " The Prince of MCskwa." 
 
 Such have been the vicissitudes of opinion and 
 the changes of the political creed of individuals 
 amidst the various phases of the French Revolu- 
 tion, that considerable allowances may be made 
 for many ; but no morality however lax, no char- 
 ity however lenient, can forbear stigmatizing 
 with eternal ignominy the conduct of certain ac- 
 tors in this turbulent drama : at the head of this 
 black column must be inscribed the name of the 
 Prince of Moskwa. The services of this marshal 
 were not demanded ; they were offered with an 
 exuberance of zeal for the royal cause, and his 
 ardour was repressed rather than excited by the 
 king, to whom he gave with eagerness the sacred 
 pledge of his honour. 
 
 When the tidings of this fatal disaffection 
 reached Paris, when it was known that this great 
 division of the army, on which all the public hope 
 reposed, had gone over to the invader, horror and 
 
KAEKATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 31 
 
 despair filled every bosom. Unavailing execra- 
 tions against such black perfidy as that of Marshal 
 Ney hung upon every lip ; and the red iron, with 
 which he is condemned to be marked in history, 
 seemed a slight compensation for the wrongs of 
 his injured country. 
 
 Napoleon entered Fontainebleau on the 20th 
 March, at four in the morning. He learned that 
 the Bourbons had quitted Paris, and that the capi- 
 tal was free. With his accustomed superstition 
 for particular days, he remembered also that this 
 was the birthday of the King of Rome ; he there- 
 fore departed immediately, determined to enter 
 Paris that evening. 
 
 Thus in the space of three short weeks did this 
 daring soldier transfer the seat of empire from his 
 rocky exile to the palace of the Tuileries. We 
 saw him seated on his throne, and we believed it 
 to be almost a delusion of our senses. The rapid- 
 ity of his march appears a prodigy of which his- 
 tory offers no example ; the enterprise seems un- 
 paralleled in all that is great and daring ; and his 
 pacific triumph bears the stamp of the general 
 assent of the nation. Such conclusions- would, 
 however, be most erroneous. There was nothing 
 miraculous in his journey. He was quietly con- 
 veyed to Paris in his caliche, drawn by four post- 
 
32 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 horses which he found prepared at every relay ; 
 and it required but ordinary courage to advance 
 through a country where all that was hostile to 
 his purpose were defenceless and unarmed, and all 
 that could have opposed his progress hailed him 
 with acclamations of transport. But if the trium- 
 phal march of Napoleon Bonaparte from the coast 
 of Provence to the capital of France presents, when 
 investigated in its details, no marvel to the imagina- 
 tion, it teaches at least a most tremendous lesson 
 to mankind ; it adds a new page of instruction on 
 the danger of military influence ; it shows us that 
 no other ties are so powerful as those which bind 
 the soldier to his chief. What the French army 
 would have called rebellion was resistance to the 
 voice of their general. The military ravagers of 
 other countries can never become the civic defend- 
 ers of their own. Their bosoms beat high with 
 the unextinguishable hope of what mankind, in its 
 hour of madness, has agreed to call by the name 
 of glory. They had acquired under Bonaparte 
 that fatal ascendant which led them to consider 
 even their own country as their conquest. Care- 
 less of its miseries, forming a class apart from their 
 fellow-citizens, like the Janizaries of the east or 
 the Pretorian bands of the Roman empire, they 
 consulted only their own triumph, an d disposed of 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 33 
 
 crowns and sceptres at their will. The land 
 which gave them birth, and which they were 
 destined to defend, they have covered with des- 
 olation, and have opened an abyss to France 
 from which the heart recoils, and where the eye 
 fears to penetrate. 
 
LETTER IV. 
 
 Mat, 1815. 
 
 Gloomily arose the morning of the 20th March 
 on the inhabitants of Paris. It was known that 
 Louis XVIII. had left his capital at midnight, and 
 no heart was unmoved by the affecting detail of 
 Iiis departure. The national guard at the Tuil- 
 eries melted into tears at the sight of their unfor- 
 tunate monarch as he descended the steps of the 
 chateau, knelt as he passed through their ranks, 
 pressed to their lips his hands, even the flaps of 
 his coat, and, conjuring him not to depart, de- 
 clared that they were ready to sacrifice their lives 
 in his defence. The king endeavoured to calm 
 their emotion by expressing his belief that he 
 should again return to the palace of his fathers ; 
 while the Corate d'Artois, deeply dejected, min- 
 gled his tears with those of these faithful citizens. 
 
 During the preceding day the people of Paris 
 had been agitated by doubt, fear, hope, and 
 expectation. But the fatal certainty had ' not 
 reached them. Their king was a fugitive, and 
 the tyrant was hastening to fill the vacant throne. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 35 
 
 He drew nearer every minute ; resistance was 
 forbidden because it was useless, and Paris was 
 once more destined to bend her prostrate head 
 to the dust. Peace, commerce, security, fortune, 
 children, — all that binds the human heart to 
 existence, all that cheers and gives it value, was 
 again to be sacrificed at the shrine of the \isurper. 
 Early in the morning the shopkeepers were busily 
 employed in changing their signs. Everywhere 
 the crested lily disappeared, and the victorious 
 eagle again stretched over the portals his terrific 
 wings. 
 
 The northern boulevard, from the gates of St. 
 Denis and St. Martin to the Barrier, was crowded 
 in the afternoon by Bonaparte's allies, the mob of 
 the eastern fauxbourgs. Many hideous figures 
 had crept from their holes on this triumphant 
 occasion ; and as a refreshing subsidy had been 
 distributed to these new sovereigns, they had 
 qualified themselves by intoxication to share in 
 the benefit of the "joyeuse entree." Paris had not 
 been affrighted by such appearances, male and 
 female, since the days of their former reign in 
 the time of terror, when their ministry had been 
 actively employed and duly rewarded as revolu- 
 tionary committee-men, attendants at the daily 
 assassinations, and what was called " les tricoteuses 
 
36 NAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 de la guillotine" on account of their practice of 
 knitting at the foot of the scaffold while they 
 were waiting for the sad spectacle. 
 
 It required all the vigilance of the national 
 guard of the city to keep the semblance of order ; 
 for the few regular troops who remained in Paris, 
 ashamed of such confederates, disdained the occu- 
 pation. The day closed, and Napoleon had not 
 yet appeared. He was aware of the greetings 
 that awaited him, and lingered on the road till 
 night should screen his entry, and save him the 
 disgrace of such a reception. The mob, or such 
 at least as could yet vociferate Vive I'Empereur! 
 remained at their posts ; while he, traversing 
 other streets than those in which he was expected, 
 arrived at nine in the evening at the palace of 
 the Tuileries. 
 
 No one in this inconstant nation changes with 
 more dexterity than a journalist. He is always 
 prepared for a coup de theatre, a sudden change 
 of scene. Whatever power prevails he instantly 
 respects its authority, and seizes eagerly the per- 
 niission to become its slave. The 21st March, 
 the newspapers bearing the stamp of the eagle 
 proclaimed in pompous style the entry of the 
 Emperor Napoleon on the preceding evening in 
 his capital. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 37 
 
 Tumult and disorder prevailed in the streets, 
 which were soon filled with newly arrived troops, 
 and the soldiers and populace were alike decorated 
 with a bunch of violets. That lovely and earliest 
 flower of spring, the symbol of timid beauty and 
 the soft harbinger of summer, had been trans- 
 formed into the badge of a sanguinary faction. 
 The military, who were initiated in the secret 
 of Bonaparte's intended return in spring, had ap- 
 plied to him the nickname of Le Pere la Violette. 
 Rings of a violet colour had been worn by his 
 party, and the name of the violet was pronounced, 
 with other words of mysterious import, and veiled, 
 like the modest flower itself, from general obser- 
 vation. But on the morning of the 21st March 
 the guilty, the triumphant violet appeared glaring 
 in the button-hole of every Bonapartist's coat, or 
 stuck into his hat with all the ostentation of an 
 order or a cockade. After such a profanation, 
 how many springs must pass over the violet be- 
 fore its character will be retrieved and its purity 
 appear unsullied ! 
 
 It had been the policy of the Bourbons to de- 
 press as far as possible that dangerous spirit which 
 pervaded the soldiery in favour of their old leader. 
 This, which was a wise and necessary policy not 
 only for their own personal repose but that of the 
 
38 NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FKANCE. 
 
 country, served unhappily to increase the hostile 
 dispositions of the military. They beheld not only 
 the whole of their importance vanished as the first 
 body of the state, but saw that all personal confi- 
 dence on the part of the king was withheld from 
 them. Louis XVIII. had formed his military 
 establishment of gardes du corps, mousquetaires, 
 and Swiss regiments, composed of men who had 
 not served in the armies of the late Emperor. 
 This measure was blamed by those who asserted 
 that had the king confided his person to the care 
 of the imperial guard, flattered by such a mark 
 of confidence and called upon by honour to justify 
 it, they would never have betrayed their trust. 
 This might be true of the greater number, but 
 perhaps not of all ; and the chance was scarcely 
 to be risked in a circumstance so important, and 
 where an error of opinion would have been fatal. 
 
 This avowed dissatisfaction of the military was 
 highly favourable to the plans of Bonaparte, and 
 was promoted by his emissaries in almost every 
 corps, who were taught to raise their views to 
 brighter destinies, and who were flattered with 
 the hope that a day of new glories might soon 
 again break on them with renovated splendour. 
 No correspondence had been for a long time more 
 active than that of Paris and Porto Ferrajo. And 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE, 39 
 
 its frequency seemed to pass unnoticed by the 
 government. 
 
 At the review which took place the day after 
 his arrival, Napoleon, addressing the soldiers, told 
 them that he had landed with only six hundred 
 men because he had relied on the affection of his 
 people, and on the remembrance of his old sol- 
 diery; tliat he had not been disappointed; that 
 he thanked them ; and that this new-acquired 
 glory belonged to them and to the people. 
 " Soldiers," added Bonaparte, " the throne of the 
 Bourbons is illegitimate, since it has been erected 
 by foreign hands, proscribed by the voice of the 
 nation expressed in every national assembly, and 
 offering no guarantee except to a small number 
 of arrogant men whose pretensions are hostile to 
 its rights. Soldiers, the imperial throne alone can 
 guarantee the rights of the people, and especially 
 the first of interests, that of our glory. We are 
 going to march to drive from our territory those 
 princes, the auxiliaries of foreigners ; the nation 
 will not only aid us with its vows, but will follow 
 the impulse we shall give it. The French people 
 and myself rely on you. We will not interfere in 
 the affairs of other nations, but woe to those that 
 interfere with our own." 
 
 Such was Bonaparte's first confession of faith at 
 
40 NAREA.TIVB OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 the Tuileries, and which was well suited to such 
 an auditory as his soldiers, who desired to hear of 
 nothing more agreeable than the project to march 
 en avani, and who highly relished the idea of the 
 blessings of a foreign campaign. 
 
 But although in possession of the seat of em- 
 pire, Bonaparte did not dissemble to himself that 
 he had already a formidable foe to combat, which 
 was public opinion ; and though he could not con- 
 firm the first falsehood he had published, — that 
 of the twenty years' truce, which he had brought in 
 his pocket, — he did not hesitate to affirm that he 
 fully expected, on his return, the general acquies- 
 cence of Europe. His partizans proclaimed that 
 Austria, in sending back the empress and the young 
 Napoleon, evidently proved that it was friendly to 
 the cause of the invasion. It was equally clear 
 that the English commissary at the Isle of Elba 
 had connived, by his opportune absence, at the 
 escape of Bonaparte; and that the progress of 
 French manufactures, and other causes of national 
 jealousy, would lead England to foment disturb- 
 ances in France, and would render it very lukewarm 
 in the support of a new coalition ; that the forces 
 of the Russian empire were beyond the Vistula, 
 the finances of that power could not permit any 
 great efforts, and it was also too much occupied 
 
NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 41 
 
 with its internal affairs and new acquisitions to be 
 at all interested in French concerns. The Ger- 
 man princes would follow the example of Austria ; 
 so that the only power that could be earnest in 
 the contention would be Prussia, with whom it 
 would be easy to arbitrate. 
 
 It cannot be supposed that Bonaparte's minis- 
 ters or his council of state were the dupes of these 
 reasonings, or that they gave credit to any of his 
 assertions respecting the friendly dispositions of 
 the princes of Europe. They had been long habi- 
 tuated to his impostures, and were at no pains to 
 conceal their opinion of the flimsiness of the foun- 
 dations on which he built his hopes, the fallacy of 
 his arguments, and the inevitable evils which his 
 precipitancy had brought on himself and the coun- 
 try. One of his ministers, — he whose opinions 
 had the greatest weight both with Bonaparte and 
 with the French of all parties, who knew with the 
 most dexterity how " to strip the gilding off the 
 knave," — far from concealing the truth, in these 
 discussions, always finished by the assertion, " enfin, 
 vous etes un homme perdu." 
 
 While this debate on probabilities was yet car- 
 rying on in the divan of the Tuileries, a decree of 
 the Congress of the 10th March arrived, and put 
 to flight the fairy visions of peace by the intelli- 
 
42 NAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 gence that the empress and her son were detained 
 at Schoenbrunn. Such was the result of the 
 twenty years' truce, of the announced coronation 
 of his wife and son, and of the Austrian alliance ! 
 
 Bonaparte could not parry this stroke. He now 
 stood before his ministers and council convicted of 
 deceit and falsehood. He had committed not only 
 the safety of the army and of France, but what 
 was of some import with these ministers and coun- 
 sellors, their own personal safety and their for- 
 tunes. His blusterings and his rhapsodies were no 
 longer the bursts of thunder; he shrunk at the 
 menacing look and retort of the ministers, and 
 was obliged to solicit advice and pray for counsel, 
 which it was no longer dangerous to give to the 
 chief who had forty legions at his orders. 
 
 In the mean time the people of Paris were filled 
 with consternation at the evils with which they 
 were menaced. The twenty years' truce in Bona- 
 parte's pocket had never been believed an in- 
 stant except by a few of the lowest class ; the 
 royalists wept over the fall of the monarchy, and 
 the republicans felt no great confidence in assur- 
 ances of liberty and rights that were to be guar- 
 anteed only by imperial authority. 
 
 In this hour of calamity one only hope of deliv- 
 erance visited the bosoms of the Parisians ; it was 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 43 
 
 a melancholy hope, and wore something of the 
 sickly hue of despair : this was no other than the 
 determined resistance of the allied powers of 
 Europe to the usurper ! Alas ! to what wretch- 
 edness is that unhappy country reduced which is 
 compelled to wish for the intervention of foreign- 
 ers to avenge its wrongs ! The allied powers de- 
 clared that they would approach as the friends of 
 France, and that they only made war against its 
 tyrant. But it could not be dissembled that a 
 million of friends in arms, with a cortege of bay- 
 onets, cannon, bombs, shells, and Congreve rockets, 
 came at least in questionable shape, and that the 
 visit had a formidable aspect. The character of 
 the generous monarchs who led on these innumer- 
 able hosts was indeed well calculated to inspire 
 security. Their conduct last year had been so 
 highly philanthropic that they had themselves 
 formed a new precedent of generosity, which al- 
 ready belonged to history, and which must be 
 henceforth the rule of future conquerors who 
 would avoid the eternal reproaches of mankind ; 
 but if in the ordinary state of the world there 
 may be perhaps a greater portion of distress than 
 of pity, how could it be hoped that general bene- 
 volence would exclude partial evil in circumstances 
 so extraordinary ? How difl&cult to say to the 
 
44 NAERA.TIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 tempest of war, " Thus far shalt thou go, and no 
 farther ! " 
 
 In the mean time, society in the sahns of Paris 
 avenged itself of the government by the most bit- 
 ter animadversions on all that passed ; and the 
 downfal of the usurper was predicted with cer- 
 tainty in all good company. If Bonaparte could 
 still boast of partizans among the men, it is at 
 least certain that he found few among the women. 
 
 That sex, which in this country has so powerful 
 an influence on the great as well as the little inte- 
 rests of society, had long since declared against 
 him. With the exception of a few ladies of 
 Napoleon's court, which on account of its military 
 composition might have been properly called his 
 camp, and a few of the lowest class, the women of 
 France were unanimously royalists. Every senti- 
 ment of female nature might indeed be naturally 
 supposed to be averse to a system of tyranny and 
 blood ; but these feelings belonged not in this in- 
 stance to a vague, general opinion. The women of 
 France had found tyranny brought home to their 
 very bosoms;^ its "iron had entered into their 
 
 ^ The prefects had secret orders to send lists of the most 
 wealthy young ladies of their respective departments. Their 
 parents then received what was called an invitation, which 
 meant an order, to consent to their marriage with certain 
 
NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 45 
 
 souls." They had felt it poisoning the sweetness 
 of domestic life, shedding bitterness over all its 
 charms, and blasting all its enjoyments. Who 
 had not wept for a brother, an affianced lover, a 
 husband, or a son ? Who had not lamented the 
 years of youth wasted without hope, or those of 
 mature age without consolation ? How many 
 Rachels mourned for their children, and would 
 not be comforted because they were not ? Con- 
 scription — what a terrible word ! How little 
 you can feel or comprehend all its meaning ! Oh, 
 no ! it has drawn no tears from your eyes, it has 
 awakened no anguish in your bosom ! They only 
 understand it well whose children have been ex- 
 posed to its savage grasp. 
 
 You know that I have adopted since their in- 
 fancy my two nephews, the children of my only 
 sister: you have not forgotten Cecilia, who in 
 dying left them to my care. I have educated and 
 loved them, — not with what is called instinctive 
 fondness, which perhaps is an illusion, but with 
 the steadfast affection of long habit, which binds 
 
 military favourites, who possessed nothing but the Iron 
 Crown and the order of the Legion of Honour. Many of 
 these marriages took place ; and the most opulent merchants 
 and bankers of Paris, in giving their daughters, found their 
 strong chests also put in requisition and consigned to the dis- 
 cretion of their sons-in-law. 
 
46 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 US by such endearing ties to the objects we have 
 reared and cherished. If there is something more 
 tender in nature than the sentiment I feel for 
 them, they know it not ; for they can recollect no 
 mother but myself, and therefore they reward my 
 cares with all the feelings of filial attachment. 
 My nephews then are unto me as children. They 
 are the dear relics of her who was born my friend, 
 and whose loss was the more irreparable, since the 
 friends acquired in a foreign country, however 
 valuable, are not those of infancy, not those to 
 whom it can be fondly said, " We grew together." 
 My eldest nephew had attained the fatal age in 
 the beginning of March, 1814, and was forced to 
 draw his lot as a conscript. He was exempted as 
 being a student in theology, in the new protestant 
 college of Montauban ; but this was only a re- 
 prieve, and this year, had not Bonaparte been 
 overthrown, he as well as all the other students 
 would probably have been compelled to leave 
 their college and take up arms. Had the same 
 tyranny continued to prevail, the same fate would 
 have awaited his brother. 
 
 A thousand little mystic inventions, contrivances 
 of the heart, were employed by the women ex- 
 pressive of their opinions and affections, and in 
 which " more was meant than met the ear." 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 47 
 
 Many a sign was given and received, which, like 
 that of the Freemasons, was only known to the 
 initiated. The colour of a flower or a ribbon be- 
 cantie an affair of state ; the perfumes of the violet 
 were held in as much abhorrence as if they had 
 shed the poisons of the Upas ; and not only the 
 devoted lily, but all white flowers being forbidden, 
 the colour generally adopted by the Parisian ladies 
 was blue, the royal colour and the symbol of con- 
 stancy. New royalist songs were every day writ- 
 ten, and adapted to simple well-known airs in 
 which all could join. These songs flew like elec- 
 tric fire through Paris ; how many rosy lips re- 
 peated with fond enthusiasm the favourite close, 
 '■ II reviendra ! " Chamfort long since observed of 
 France that it was " une monarchic absolue, tem- 
 p^r^e par des chansons." 
 
 But it was not in the polite circles only of the 
 Fauxbourg St. Germain (the west-end of the town 
 of Paris) that the women flocked round the white 
 standard of the Bourbons. Les Dames de la 
 Halle, the Covent-Garden of that city, were also 
 the declared adherents of the race of their kings. 
 Daring indeed would have been that man, and 
 fearless of female vengeance, who would have 
 ventured to apostrophize one of those ladies by 
 the opprobrious appellation of " une dame de la 
 
48 NAERATIVE OF EVEISTTS IN" FEANCE. 
 
 violette," the epithet given to the Bonapartists. 
 The women of the Halle recollected, or at least 
 knew by tradition, of many ancient privileges 
 which had belonged to their order, — such as pre- 
 senting themselves on certain days at court, and 
 of offering bouquets to their sovereign on joyous 
 or solemn occasions. They remembered too the 
 halcyon times when sugar and coffee were cheap, 
 and their cups overflowed with that reviving bev- 
 erage. The women of this class also were wives 
 and mothers ; they too had suffered the pang of 
 separation ; they had bid the last farewel to their 
 sons ; they also knew, to use the words of the ora- 
 tor, " what a parent feels when deprived of the 
 hope of dying before her child." 
 
 Les Dames de la Halle, who discussed together 
 the great events that were passing in tones too 
 loud and language too offensive to be tolerated 
 by the government, received an intimation that 
 those who talked politics would lose their places, 
 — which here depend upon the police, the regu- 
 lator of all human affairs in this country ; watching 
 over all, the great and the minute, and surveying 
 alike what passes under the painted roofs of the 
 palace and the umbrella-sheds of the market-place. 
 The ladies of the Halle, however, found a means 
 of declaring their sentiments by singing contin- 
 
NAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 49 
 
 ually a favourite air, in which the burden of the 
 song consisted of a play upon words, and might 
 be read, " Donnez-nous notre pair de gants," or 
 "Donnez-nous notre Pere de gand!" (Ghent.) 
 The police heard in silence this jew de mots, which 
 was beyond the pale of its jurisdiction, and subject 
 to no pains or penalties. 
 
LETTER V. 
 
 May, 1815. 
 
 M. DE BuFFON observes, that the most ferocious 
 wolf, when taken in a snare, becomes the most 
 affrighted and cowardly of animals, and suffers 
 himself to be chained without resistance. Such 
 was now the situation of Bonaparte. His min- 
 isters were the masters of his fate, and would 
 perhaps at this moment have saved their country 
 had they not feared his allies of the fauxbourgs 
 and the army. 
 
 He was, however, made to understand that he 
 must lay aside past illusions ; that the shouts of 
 the soldiery or the mob were no proofs of pop- 
 ularity; that he must be conscious of being re- 
 garded with horror by the generality of the 
 French nation ; and that he could only maintain 
 his power by renouncing the opinions on which 
 he had founded and exercised his authority, and 
 by a speedy return to the original principles of 
 the French revolution. 
 
 The class of politicians who supported these 
 principles was Bonaparte's insurmountable aver- 
 
NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 51 
 
 sion ; they had indeed sxibmitted, like others, to 
 his imperial mandates, but they still fostered re- 
 bellious opinions, and were out of the pale of that 
 principle of unity which was the name he gave to 
 his own despotism. He attributed to these ideo- 
 logues every mishap. Ideology had been the 
 cause of the failure of the attack on Kussia, as he 
 formally declared to the senate on his return from 
 that expedition. His war against ideology was 
 incessant, and his hatred inveterate ; but now, 
 seeing that his own counsellors were become the 
 proselytes of this doctrine, he appeared to capitu- 
 late, upon the condition, that, as the people were 
 to be sovereigns, he should at least retain the title 
 of sovereign over them. 
 
 This new profession of political faith was pro- 
 mulgated to the public a few days after Bona- 
 parte's arrival at the Tuileries, in the form of an 
 extract from the register of the deliberations, 
 declaring " that the Council of State, on resuming 
 its functions, deems it to be its duty to make 
 known the principles which are the rules of its 
 opinions and its conduct." This preamble was 
 judged necessary to instruct the public that the 
 Council of State were free to have principles, and 
 to act accordingly. It was also a kind of respon- 
 sibility, or caution, for Bonaparte's better conduct. 
 
52 NARKATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 Then follows the ideology: "The sovereignty 
 resides in the people ; the people is the only law- 
 ful source of power. In 1789 the people regained 
 its rights, which had been for so long a time 
 usurped or unacknowledged." The extract from 
 the deliberations continued to state that " the 
 feudal monarchy had been abolished by the Na- 
 tional Assembly, and that a constitutional mon- 
 archy and a representative government had taken 
 its place ; that the resistance of the Bourbons to 
 these national decrees had occasioned their fall 
 and banishment ; and that the people, by its 
 votes, had twice consecrated the new form of 
 government established by its representatives." 
 Here ended the history of popular government, 
 and of the constitutional labours of the national 
 assemblies, Bonaparte is then brought on the 
 scene. The council continues to state that in the 
 eighth year of the republic Bonaparte, already 
 crowned by victory, was raised to the government 
 by the assent of the nation, and that a constitu- 
 tion created the consular magistracy ; that in the 
 tenth year he was appointed, by a senatorial 
 decree, consul for life ; and that in the twelfth 
 year another senatorial decree conferred on Napo- 
 leon the imperial dignity, and made it hereditary 
 in his family. These solemn acts were submitted 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 53 
 
 to the acceptation of the people, and consecrated 
 by near four millions of votes. 
 
 Thus ended the Council of State's history of 
 Bonaparte's usurpation, which was glossed over 
 as decently as the circumstances admitted : it was 
 not the moment to confess to the nation that this 
 epocha had marked its utter degradation ; that it 
 had been then despoiled of its sovereignty ; that 
 its consecration of the imperial dignity by its vote 
 was a mockery ; and that the imperial years fol- 
 lowing the usurpations of the fourth and twelfth 
 years had been marked by every turpitude, crime, 
 tyranny, and disgrace that could afflict a country. 
 
 These truths were not indeed withheld in the 
 discussions at the Tuileries, although the respec- 
 tive situation of the parties rendered the promul- 
 gation imprudent. The Council of State con- 
 cluded this historical sketch by animadversions on 
 the Bourbons : — 
 
 "The Bourbons had ceased to reign in France for 
 twenty-two years ; they were forgotten by their contem- 
 poraries, and were strangers to our laws, institutions, 
 manners, and glory ; unknown to the present generation, 
 they were remembered only by the wars they had excited 
 against the country, and the internal discords they had 
 occasioned. 
 
 " France was invaded in 1814, and the capital taken. 
 Foreigners created a provisionary government, assembled 
 
54 NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 tlie minority of the senate, and forced it, against its mis- 
 sion and its will, to destroy the existing constitutions, to 
 overturn the imperial throne, and recal the family of 
 the Bourbons. The senate, having been instituted only 
 for the preservation of the constitutions of the empire, 
 had no power to change them, but it decreed that Louis 
 Stanislas Xavier should be proclaimed King of the 
 French as soon as he should have accepted the constitu- 
 tion, sworn to respect it, and cause it to be respected." 
 
 There was a part of the history, which, however 
 disagreeable to record, it was yet essential to 
 mention : this was the state of affairs when the 
 allies took possession of the capital, and when 
 Bonaparte had been compelled to throw off the 
 imperial robe. " The abdication of the Emperor 
 Napoleon," say these counsellors, " was the result 
 only of the unhappy situation to which France 
 and the Emperor had been reduced by the events 
 of the war, by treasons, and the occupation of the 
 capital. The sole object of the abdication was to 
 avoid civil war and the effusion of blood. This 
 act, not sanctioned by the votes of the people, 
 could not destroy the solemn contract formed be- 
 tween them and the Emperor; and also, though 
 Napoleon might have been able to abdicate the 
 crown personally, he could not sacrifice the rights 
 of his son, called to reign after him." 
 
 This knotty point of the abdication was pre- 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 55 
 
 sumed by these casuists to have been tolerably 
 resolved, and the incident of defeat was as gently 
 glided over as the remembrance of so unfortunate 
 an event could have admitted. The humane 
 motives for the former, — namely, Napoleon's re- 
 pugnance of shedding French blood, the solemn 
 contract between the Emperor and the people, 
 and his abdication not having received the sanc- 
 tion of their votes, — were deemed at first too 
 hazardous to publish. It was, however, at length 
 decided to be as safe to mock the people as to 
 enslave them, and the rhodomontade of tender- 
 ness, solemn contracts, and unsanctioned abdica- 
 tion were suffered to remain. How naturally do 
 these serpentine politics remind one of the re- 
 flection of the celebrated M. : " J'ai un de- 
 gout de I'histoire, quand je pense que, ce que nous 
 faisons aujourd'hui, sera unjour de I'Mstoire." 
 
 " The Emperor," continued these counsellors, 
 " in again ascending the throne to which the 
 people had raised him, re-established their most 
 sacred rights. He is called to sanction anew by 
 institutions (and he has taken the engagement in 
 his proclamations to the nation and the army to 
 do so) all liberal principles, personal liberty, and 
 equality of rights, the freedom of the press, lib- 
 erty of worship, the vote of taxes by the commons, 
 
56 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 national property, the independence of courts of 
 justice, and the responsibility of ministers and of 
 every agent of the executive power. 
 
 " Such are the principles by which the Council 
 of State decides that the nation shall be governed, 
 and such the conditions laid on him whom the 
 people are said to have called to govern them. 
 But," continue these counsellors, " we order, for 
 the more effectual preservation o£ the rights and 
 obligations of the people, that the national institu- 
 tions be renewed in a great assembly already con- 
 voked by the Emperor." 
 
 The council concluded this important delibera- 
 tion by intimating, that, " until the meeting of 
 this great representative assembly, the Emperor 
 ought to exercise, conformably to the constitution 
 and laws existing, the powers which have been 
 delegated to him, which cannot be taken from 
 him, which he could not abdicate without the 
 consent of the nation, and which the desire and 
 general interest of the French people make it his 
 duty to resume." 
 
 To give this declaration the greiiter force, it 
 was signed individually by the Council of State, 
 who seemed to have become the guarantees of 
 Bonaparte's good conduct till the assembly of the 
 Field of May, which was to consist of the electors 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 57 
 
 from every department of the empire, the immedi- 
 ate representatives of the people in primary 
 assemblies, and whose votes were to be regarded 
 as their voice. 
 
 Whatever share of credulity may belong to the 
 French character, scarcely any party yielded faith 
 to the professions of the council or the conversion 
 of their chief. Every gift from his hands was 
 regarded with distrust. The great mass of the 
 citizens of France admitted not the possibility of 
 Bonaparte's reformation, and saw nothing but 
 slavery in the revival of jacobinism and its junc- 
 tion with imperialism. 
 
 The speculative partizans of these different 
 opinions formed but an inconsiderable number in 
 the mass. The proceedings of the Council of 
 State, which were intended to renew the primitive 
 spirit of the Revolution, failed entirely. Their 
 reversion to past principles was scoffed at by all 
 parties, and little heed was given to their charges 
 against the Bourbons. It was not considered, by 
 candid and liberal minds, as a crime in the royal 
 family of France, that, with the feelings common 
 to human nature, they indulged a predilection 
 for those persons who had followed their destinies 
 and shared their misfortunes. Yet it is difficult to 
 believe how small was the number of those true 
 
58 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 followers, "faithful found among the faithless." 
 The great mass of emigrants had long preceded 
 their sovereign in his entry into France ; they had, 
 for the most part, eagerly accepted the amnesty 
 of Napoleon, and some of the most illustrious 
 names of Prance had been for years attached to 
 his service. 
 
 It was, indeed, lamented that the king, with 
 every disposition to diffuse happiness around him, 
 sometimes mistook the means, and viewed the 
 situation of the country through the medium of 
 his ministers, unused to revolutionary politics. A 
 free press, it was observed, was equally the safe- 
 guard of the prerogative of the crown and the 
 rights of the people. The Chart had proclaimed 
 this liberty of the press ; but it was explained, 
 and as it were nibbled away, by ministerial misin- 
 terpretation in the legislative discussion on this 
 subject, and was still more reduced in the execu- 
 tion. No newspaper was published without the 
 imprimatur of a censor named by ministers ; and 
 the king was left ignorant of apprehensions and 
 abuses which his own good understanding would 
 have led him to calm and correct. 
 
 The people in general, while sufficiently indif- 
 ferent to the discussion of abstract opinions, were 
 extremely tenacious of their property ; and the 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 59 
 
 report of the intended spoliation of what was 
 called national property, the re-establish inent of 
 tythes and the restoration of the former ecclesias- 
 tical domains, was a calumny which had been pro- 
 pagated by Bonaparte's partizans with more in- 
 dustry and effect than any other. More than 
 half of the population of France was interested in 
 the disposal of the national property, on account 
 of the various channels through which it had 
 flowed since the first purchasers ; but none would 
 have been more deeply affected by such a meas- 
 ure than the class of the poor among whom the 
 minor domains of the church had been divided. 
 
 In France there is no provision for the poor, 
 except by hospitals in large towns, and what are 
 called Committees of Beneficence, the sparing 
 funds for which arise from the octrois, or taxes on 
 provisions, levied at the gates of towns. These 
 funds were distributed by the minister of the in- 
 terior on the demands of the prefects, but were 
 often converted to the uses of the army by Bona- 
 parte. Before the Kevolution the church had 
 distributed these alms, and its ministers had nec- 
 essarily acquired considerable influence over the 
 numerous class of the poor. On the disposal of 
 church-property by the state in the first years of 
 the Revolution, that which lay in the vicinity 
 
60 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 of small towns and villages was divided among 
 the poorer inhabitants ; so that each family be- 
 came proprietor of half an acre, or an acre, 
 whereon to feed a cow or raise vegatables, the 
 produce of which land, cultivated by the family 
 at leisure hours, bestowed independence, raised 
 it above the humiliation of receiving charity, 
 and rendered poor's-rates useless. The order of 
 the priesthood had lost both its influence and its 
 wealth, and, it must be admitted, had sunk be- 
 low its due rank in society. The prospect of an 
 amelioration under a government the chiefs of 
 which were known to possess a deep sentiment 
 of piety, had led these long-humbled ecclesiastics 
 to the retrospect of more brilliant times; and 
 some had imprudently indulged in prognostica- 
 tions which had alarmed their flocks with the fear 
 of being compelled to render their little pastures 
 and gardens. The priest had become the willing 
 but innocent agent of this calumny invented by 
 the enemies of the Bourbons, whose intentions of 
 restoring tythes and church property were widely 
 and sedulously extended. The doctrine of tythes 
 was proclaimed from some village pulpits, though 
 no instance is recorded where such restitutions 
 were exacted ; but apprehension had the same 
 effect as the actual spoliation, and in the supposed 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 61 
 
 over-weening attachment of the Bourbons to the 
 church for which, in fact, all they had done since 
 their late accession was to have given an example 
 of piety, the peasant was taught to foresee the loss 
 of that little cherished spot which he had culti- 
 vated with the sweat of his brow, and which he 
 regarded with honest pride as the inheritance of 
 his family. 
 
 Were the charges brought against the Bour- 
 bons minutely examined, they would, for the 
 greater part, be found equally devoid of truth 
 with that respecting church-lands and tythes. 
 These calumnies were, nevertheless, productive of 
 serious mischief, as they affected a very numerous 
 class of the people who had no leisure for examin- 
 ation, and fewer means than any other of being 
 undeceived. 
 
 But whatever were the differences of opinion 
 with respect to the proposed regeneration of the 
 French government, there was a most cordial con- 
 currence of sentiment respecting the chief himself. 
 Every one beheld Bonaparte smiling, under his 
 air of penitence, at the toil and trouble of these 
 new constitution-makers, bidding them good speed 
 till they had again confirmed him in the posses- 
 sion of his throne ; and then like another Samp- 
 son whose locks had escaped their sheers, and 
 
62 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 laughing loud at their credulity, he would prob- 
 ably snap at once all the chains of popular sov- 
 ereignty, laws, equality, and rights of man, and 
 brandishing his imperial eagle would rally his 
 troops around him, and perhaps send his Council 
 of State to dig his iron mines at Elba. 
 
LETTER VI. 
 
 Mat, 1815. 
 
 His Imperial Majesty had scarcely passed his 
 probationary week of fraternization at Paris with 
 the majesty of the populace, ere he began to shew 
 dissatisfaction at the familiar tone of this new ac- 
 quaintance, to which, on his conversion, he had 
 been introduced by his ministers. He had hitherto 
 been hailed with flattering vociferation only by his 
 soldiers, who were his immediate dependants, and 
 the only part of the people who had thrown up 
 their caps were those of the lowest class. When 
 they resorted to the Tuileries at the intervals or 
 daily close of their labours, they assembled under 
 Napoleon's apartments and bawled out loudly for 
 his appearance. The Emperor obeyed the sum- 
 mons, but wearied with these demonstrations of 
 fraternity, and viewing through his spying-glass 
 the quality of his greeters, expressed his disgust 
 at the impudence of the canaille, m\cQ he perceived 
 that none above that rank had deigned to salute 
 him. 
 
 The theatres had commonly been the scenes of 
 popular shoutings in the imperial days of former 
 
64 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN PEANCE. 
 
 times', and by the management of the police the 
 hired plaudits had been tolerably successful. It 
 was however thought too hazardous to resort to 
 this expedient in the present circumstances, lest 
 indecent opposition or gloomy silence should mar 
 the exhibition. But scarcely had a fortnight 
 elapsed ere the enthusiasm of the military, as well 
 as that of the populace, had entirely vanished. 
 The former had learned that instead of full pay, 
 and either a twenty years' truce or a summer's 
 promenade through Germany, they should be com- 
 pelled to march against their rebel countrymen in 
 the south or west, or face myriads pouring down 
 from the north with no prospect of pay or plun- 
 der, and with the chance of being exterminated. 
 The populace began now to discover that their 
 work-shops were closed, and that these shouts of 
 " Long life to the Emperor " were likely to shorten 
 their own and that of their families. These allies 
 of imperial power and glory began to waver in 
 then- politics, and meditate on the prospect of 
 starving for want of employment, or of fighting 
 for interests not their own. 
 
 This dissatisfaction was not unobserved by the 
 ministers. It was, however, still necessary to 
 keep up the fever of popularity, and the Field of 
 May was again brought forward. It was publicly 
 
NAERATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 65 
 
 announced that the minister of the interior had 
 issued his instructions to the prefects of the de- 
 partments to prepare the electoral colleges for this 
 extraordinary assembly. It was urged by the 
 minister that this decree for the convocation was 
 an homage rendered to the great and eternal 
 principles which constitute civilized states, and 
 which, though obscured or stifled by feudal anar- 
 chy, had resumed new force and splendour in 
 modern times, and whose long duration was in 
 future assured by the progress of light and knowl- 
 edge. "It was for these principles," adds the 
 minister, " that France raised itself in 1789 ; for 
 these that she fought against all Europe ; and 
 their acquisition is associated with the unparal- 
 leled glory of the French armies. The Emperor ac- 
 knowledges those rights of the people obtained by 
 a war of twenty-five years, and rejects the maxim 
 that the nation is made for the throne, and not 
 the throne for the nation." " What a sublime and 
 glorious spectacle," says the minister, " is that of 
 a hero, the idol of a people which had conquered 
 Europe, declaring that from them and his soldiers 
 he holds his power ; that he will reign only by the 
 laws; and that in concurrence with the deputies 
 of the nation he is going, by vigorous and wise 
 institutions, to lay the foundation of monarchical 
 
 6 
 
66 NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FEANCE. 
 
 power with the independence of a free and en- 
 lightened nation ! " 
 
 This prospect of regeneration was hailed with 
 no raptures by the departments ; the revolution- 
 ary spirit had evaporated ; and the greater part 
 thought more of preservation, and of defence 
 against Bonaparte and his abettors, than of dis- 
 cussing first principles and recommencing the 
 Revolution. The south of France had continued 
 to wear the form of resistance. Marseilles, Val- 
 ence, and others had marshalled a small force to 
 act under the orders of the Duke of Angoul^me ; 
 while Bordeaux, Toulouse, and the countries bor- 
 dering on the Pyrenees shewed their disaffection 
 by remaining in a state of defenceless opposition. 
 It may be observed that since the Revolution 
 partial insurrections have never succeeded against 
 the capital, but have always yielded to seduction 
 or terror. Some hopes had been entertained that 
 the efforts of the Duchess of AngoulSme would 
 have been supported by some aid from the allied 
 powers. A few regiments, it was asserted, headed 
 by an experienced commander, would have rallied 
 the whole of the population which remained un- 
 certain because they had no point of union. The 
 princess herself was the most active of the south- 
 ern chiefs ; she had marshalled the inhabitants of 
 
NAEEATIVE OP EVENTS IN PRANCE. 67 
 
 Bordeaux, and was always the first in the council 
 or the field. 
 
 The Duchess of Angoul^me had not been spared 
 by the Bonapartists amidst the censures heaped 
 upon her family. One of the heaviest charges 
 brought against her was the habitual melancholy 
 of her disposition ; she was found guilty of having 
 no French gaiety in her character. The Parisians 
 remembered not that this princess, at an age when 
 the heart is already susceptible of deep and last- 
 ing impressions, had seen her whole family perish, 
 and had herself been led from the gloomy tower 
 of her prison into an exile which had lasted 
 twenty years ; that on returning to the palace of 
 her fathers it was natural that some melancholy 
 reflections should darken for her the triumphal 
 pomp, and mingle themselves with the exultation 
 of her joy. But sadness was not the sole offence 
 of the Duchess of AngoulSme ; her extreme piety 
 was declared to be fitter for a monastery than a 
 court; and in the caricatures of the royal family 
 which filled the print-shops after their departure 
 she was placed on her knees before a prie-dieu, as 
 if incapable of all other occupations. But no less 
 was the confusion of her adversaries than the tri- 
 umph of her adherents, when it was announced in 
 Paris that this princess, with that energy which 
 
68 NAEEATIVE or EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 in a superior mind is called forth by extraordinary 
 situations, had risen from her knees, and invok- 
 ing in her heart the aid of heaven had mounted 
 on horseback, rid every day through the ranks, 
 and displayed a courage worthy of heroic times. 
 When Bonaparte sent a considerable detachment 
 to march against her, she ordered a general to 
 conduct her to the Chateau de la Trompette. The 
 general hesitated, assuring her that she would be 
 in danger. " I do not ask you, sir," said she, " if 
 there would be danger, I only order you to con- 
 duct me." She rode up to a circle of officers on 
 the esplanade, whom she harangued, exhorting 
 them to fidelity and the renewal of their oaths 
 of allegiance in presence of the enemy. Ob- 
 serving their coldness and hesitation, she ex- 
 claimed, " I see your fears : you are cowards ; I 
 absolve you from your oaths already taken ! " and 
 turning her horse, she left them, and immediately 
 embarked on board an English frigate. The in- 
 habitants of Bordeaux followed her to the sea^ 
 shore with fond enthusiasm, with lamentations and 
 tears. Every one wished to possess something 
 that had belonged to her, something for " thoughts 
 and remembrances ; " something that might be 
 guarded with the same devotion as the votive 
 offering of a saint or the relic of a martyr. She 
 
NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 69 
 
 gave her shawl, her gloves, the feathers of her hat, 
 which were cut into shreds and distributed among 
 her followers. 
 
 If history has bestowed the tribute of applause 
 on Elizabeth at Tilbury-Fort, and on Maria The- 
 resa at Buda, a splendid page is also reserved for 
 the daughter of Louis XVI. at Bordeaux. 
 
 The royalist party in the western departments 
 of La Vendue and Brittany flew to arms, and re- 
 mained masters of the country they inhabited, but 
 were not in sufficient force to march upon Paris. 
 The want of combination rendered all these partial 
 attempts unsuccessful ; and the French, expect- 
 ing little from intestine divisions, turned their 
 eyes with confidence towards the north, and were 
 earnest in calculating the march of the allies, from 
 whom alone they hoped for their deliverance. 
 
 The courage of the adherents to the royal cause 
 was strengthened by the king's proclamations 
 from Ghent and the accoimts of the preparations 
 of the allied armies, which were circulated among 
 the public. These papers no sooner arrived in 
 Paris than they were copied by ten thousand pens. 
 The press also immediately groaned with these 
 forbidden sheets, which were printed in defiance 
 of all authority, and during the night pasted up in 
 the streets in contempt of all danger. 
 
70 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 The government meanwhile redoubled its efforts 
 to raise the public mind to a proper degree of 
 elevation, and perceiving that the intelligence 
 received of the operations beyond the frontiers 
 had effectually belied the fable of the truce of 
 twenty years and the arrival of the empress and 
 the child, felt that it behoved them to give no 
 further countenance to these fictions. They how- 
 ever endeavoured to persuade the nation that 
 these pretended hostilities were the work only of 
 a faction headed by the Bourbons, and that no 
 more danger was to be apprehended from their 
 efforts than had been felt from those of the first 
 emigration. 
 
 The Council of State, in its assembly of the 
 12th April, entered profoundly into this matter. 
 Bonaparte, at a review in the court of the Tuile- 
 ries, had in the vehemence of his harangue to the 
 troops declared, that, should the combined powers 
 send against him six hundred thousand men, he 
 would answer them by two millions. Shortly after, 
 a levy of upwards of that number was ordered to 
 take place throughout the whole of France, con- 
 sisting of every man from the age of twenty to 
 sixty. The council, finding it impossible to con- 
 ceal from the public what passed beyond the fron- 
 tiers, deemed it expedient to avow those impolitic 
 
NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 71 
 
 transactions of the Congress, and to answer its 
 declaration. 
 
 It was asserted by the French government that 
 this declaration, supposed to have been made the 
 13th March at Vienna, was apocryphal, and for 
 divers reasons could not have emanated from the 
 Congress, nor have been really signed by the min- 
 isters whose names appeared to give it sanction. 
 
 This declaration, known at Paris the preceding 
 month, was now published throughout France 
 with the commentaries of the council, pronounced 
 by them to be a forgery and a fabrication of the 
 agents of the Count of Lisle (Louis XVIII.) and 
 an incentive to assassination. 
 
 The object of the minister of police, by whom 
 this answer was published, was probably to signify 
 to the whole of France the determination of the 
 Congress respecting Bonaparte ; and this intelli- 
 gence could not have been more dexterously or 
 generally conveyed. 
 
 After thus establishing the falsehood of the 
 declaration of Congress, a recapitulation was made 
 of the various points in which the allied powers 
 and the Bourbons had violated the treaty made 
 with Bonaparte after his retreat to the Isle of 
 Elba, and which justified his return to France. 
 A comparison was then drawn of the government 
 
72 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 under the administration of the Bourbons, and of 
 its fatal consequences, not forgetting the tythes 
 and the national domains, and the free government 
 which was soon to take place under the benign 
 protection of the laws and the Emperor. This 
 thrice-told tale of the wrongs of the Bourbons and 
 the rights of Bonaparte, which had already been 
 published to satiety, was probably thought by the 
 minister a necessary passport for the intelligence 
 to the whole of the French nation that the time 
 allotted to Bonaparte to withdraw from France 
 was expired, and that the allied armies were on 
 their march towards the frontiers to enforce obedi- 
 ence. This declaration seemed sufficient ; but, 
 as if the caprice of confession had seized the gov- 
 ernment, it was followed by a report of the min- 
 ister of foreign affairs, in which he called the 
 Emperor's attention to the real perilous state of 
 the country on account of the lawless conduct of 
 the sovereigns of Europe, who were now in hos- 
 tile array, who had arrested his messengers and 
 refused to enter into any communication with 
 him ; that equal disrespect had been evinced 
 towards the fraternal applications of his Majesty 
 to the sovereigns, though he had written to each, 
 in his own hand, beginning with the endearing 
 appellation of " Monsieur, mon Frere." " Against 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 73 
 
 whom," says the minister, "are those hostilities 
 directed ? Sire, it is your Majesty that is named, 
 but it is France that is threatened." 
 
 It had been well understood in Paris that Bona- 
 parte's presence in France was the sole cause of 
 the impending calamities ; but here was the sol- 
 emn ministerial confession, published by order of 
 the government. The whole fabric of falsehood 
 was thus swept away by the hand that had raised 
 it. Instead of the twenty years' truce, it was de- 
 creed that every citizen should arm in defence of 
 the frontiers ; and the devastation, if not the sub- 
 jugation, of the country superseded all the fairy 
 dreams of liberty, equality, and the rights of man. 
 
 Notwithstanding the official revelation of these 
 dreadful truths, it was still thought expedient to 
 keep up the semblance of concord and popularity 
 at the Tuileries, although the council-chamber was 
 often the arena of the bitterest contention. Many 
 an angry discussion took place, but no one was so 
 frequently called to order as the Emperor himself. 
 In the heat of debate he sometimes forgot that 
 he was not Emperor at home. But the execution 
 of his threat of ordering a minister to be shot 
 was adjourned by that minister's assurance that 
 the Emperor himself would not survive an hour 
 after. 
 
74 KAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 These controversies in the cabinet of the Tuil- 
 eries were not altogether unknown to the Paris- 
 ians, and were even sometimes rehearsed before 
 the mob hired to cry "Vive I'Empereur!" Ac- 
 clamations were at first purchased at the rate 
 of five hvres a day, but the price was now 
 reduced ; no effort of the lungs was paid higher 
 than thirty or forty sous, and the enthusiasm of the 
 populace diminished in proportion to its current 
 value, and even their respect was measured by 
 their salary. An animated discussion between 
 Bonaparte and his arch-chancellor happening to 
 take place at the window of his apartment in the 
 Tuileries, the Emperor, accustomed to ill-treat his 
 ministers, seized him by the collar. This scene 
 was witnessed by the mob, who related to their 
 fellows the scuflSe between Pere la Violette and 
 his comrade, in the same manner as they would 
 have recounted one of the battles which takes 
 place for their amusement between the puppet- 
 show actors, on the Boulevards. 
 
LETTER VII. 
 
 May, 1815. 
 
 The veil is at length withdrawn ; the comedy 
 is ended. Bonaparte is no longer the humble 
 candidate for public favour, the dependent on the 
 protection of his ministers and council, the peni- 
 tent convert from the errors of his former despot- 
 ism ; he is once more Napoleon, — " Napoleon, 
 by the grace of God and the constitutions of the 
 empire," &c. &c. He has fled from the Tuileries 
 and intrenched himself at the Palais Bourbon, in 
 the Champs-Elysees, surrounded by his faithful 
 Sicaires, leaving the ideologues of his council to 
 arrange what he calls their revolutionary rub- 
 bish, — such as sovereign people, equal rights, &c., 
 — with which they were active in forming a free 
 constitution. 
 
 Few had been the dupes of Bonaparte's pre- 
 tended conversion ; but it was generally supposed 
 that the consideration of the perilous situation in 
 which he had placed himself might have led him 
 to act his part in this comedy of patriotism till he 
 was firmly seated on his throne by the assembly 
 
76 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 of the Field of May. He might then more easily 
 seize the occasion of wielding unrestrained his old 
 imperial sceptre. 
 
 What appeared most extraordinary to the Pa- 
 risians was, not that Bonaparte shovild have acted 
 the hypocrite, that on his landing he should have 
 been the first to proclaim equal rights, equal 
 laws, — falsehood was known to be a constituent 
 part of his character; his remaining a prisoner 
 at the Tuileries, obliged to display himself daily 
 at his windows and return the salutations of the 
 greasy mob who were hired to vociferate " Vive 
 I'Empereur ! " and who on the diminution of their 
 pay had changed their cry to "Vive le Pere la 
 Violette ! " seemed unnecessary degradation. This 
 humiliation, however. Napoleon might perhaps 
 have borne or dissembled ; but to be forced to be 
 present at the discussion of the council-chamber 
 on the formation of a constitution, to find his 
 observations treated with undue irreverence as 
 foreign to the object of debate, to aid in forging 
 the chains which he was destined to wear, — this 
 was beyond all mortal patience. That of Napo- 
 leon had long been exhausted, and he tore away 
 the mask when the first favourable moment of 
 emancipation presented itself. The council had 
 decreed, that until the constitution in discussion 
 
NAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 77 
 
 had received the assent of the electors, the Em- 
 peror should exercise his usual authority. Bona- 
 parte availed himself of this decree. To be really 
 emperor but for a day, an hour, was better than 
 an eternity of bondage at the Tuileries. He 
 therefore resorted once more to his old maxim of 
 daring ; and his imperial Majesty, without taking 
 leave, enthroned himself in full power at the pal- 
 ace called the Elys^e-Bourbon, in the Champs- 
 Elys^es. Bonaparte lost few of his allies by this 
 removal. The soldiers, who had disdained to ap- 
 pear with the mob and hail their Emperor while 
 he was a prisoner at the Tuileries, accepted the 
 fraternization offered at the Champs-Elys^es, 
 where the emperor returned their greetings at 
 his leisure from the gardens of his palace, and 
 occasionally sent them a representative, which 
 was usually one of his family. 
 
 The difficulties which would have attended the 
 formation of a constitution suited for Prance, were 
 at this moment greatly increased by an utter dis- 
 cordance in the views and interest of most of the 
 persons employed in the fabrication. Those min- 
 isters and members of the council, who had been 
 accustomed to constitution-making, were of opin- 
 ion that the French as a free nation should be 
 furnished with a free constitution; that the sov- 
 
78 KAERATIVB OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 ereignty of the people might be exercised on the 
 present occasion; and that on the convocation of 
 the Field of May the body of electors, as the im- 
 mediate representatives of the people, should have 
 the power of changing whatever disposition might 
 be deemed by them imfavourable, and of adopting 
 such measures as they should judge expedient for 
 the interest of their country. Various were the 
 plans for the organization of this crowd of special 
 representatives, amounting to about twenty-five 
 thousand electors. It was at length settled that 
 committees should be named by the electors from 
 their own body, who should propose and discuss 
 such changes, and whose reports should be made 
 to the mass, distributed into sections, so that the 
 opinion of the whole might be almost individually 
 obtained. 
 
 But these organizers might have spared them- 
 selves the labour of such arrangements. Bona- 
 parte had other projects ; and having called to his 
 aid a celebrated publicist, gained the start of the 
 deliberating council at the Tuileries, and published, 
 instead of a constitution, what he styled " An Ad- 
 ditional Act to the Constitutions of the Empire," 
 dated from the palace of the Elys^e the 22d 
 April, 1815. 
 
 Bonaparte, notwithstanding the huzzas of the 
 
NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 79 
 
 military and the mob, now found that not only 
 his popularity was on the dedine, but that even 
 his partizans began to waver. All the hopes of 
 those who had fondly imagined that a national 
 contract was about to be formed which might 
 cement the rights of the people and limit the dif- 
 ferent powers, — all these hopes vanished when 
 Bonaparte, by the sovereign authority vested in 
 him by the constitutions of the empire which he 
 declared had been accepted by the people, or- 
 dered, for various reasons stated in the preamble, 
 that the articles forming an additional Act to 
 these aforesaid constitutions, should also be sub- 
 mitted to the free and solemn acceptance of the 
 citizens throughout the empire. 
 
 Had this string of articles resounded with na- 
 tional sovereignty, equality, and rights of man; 
 and had the Act conferred every kind of liberty, 
 and made all republican concessions, — the mode 
 of its promulgation would too clearly have implied 
 that it was merely an imperial mandate, which, 
 like all others emanating from the same source, 
 could serve only as an instrument to sanction all 
 his past and future tricks of despotism. 
 
 The danger of a deliberating mass of twenty to 
 thirty thousand citizens was too obvious to escape 
 Bonaparte's penetration; but as it had been de- 
 
80 NAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 creed that the assembly of the Champ de Mars 
 should take place, it was impossible to counter- 
 mand the meeting; measures were, however, 
 taken to neutralize its effect. The electors were 
 to receive no pecuniary compensation for their 
 expenses of travelling, or residence in Paris, which 
 was a circumstance favourable to Bonaparte, since 
 no great number were disposed to undertake the 
 journey at their own cost ; and it was intimated to 
 those whom patriotic sentiments and the hope of 
 co-operating in the establishment of a free consti- 
 tution might prompt to such an effort, that, by an 
 imperial decree, the electors were not to discuss 
 the constitutional Act, and that their services 
 would be limited to verifying the registers and 
 counting the votes on the day of their meeting in 
 the Field of May, which was to be held on the 
 26th of that month. 
 
 The operations of the. electors were, of course, 
 reduced to the service of clerks, since assent or 
 disapprobation of the constitutional Act was no 
 more their concern. The same decree enacted 
 the mode of taking those votes on registers 
 opened at the town-houses, at the offices of gov- 
 ernment, and at notaries, where the votes were 
 inscribed. This mode of voting had its precedent 
 in the mockery of Bonaparte's election as em- 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 81 
 
 peror, and it was presumed that the same nefa- 
 rious manoeuvres would be resorted to; but as 
 that election was chiefly confined to Paris, where 
 not only the boasted four millions of signatures 
 but ten millions might have been obtained with 
 equal facility by similar means, it was feared that 
 the agents of government in the departments 
 would construe the title of active citizens in too 
 confined a sense, and admit none to vote but such 
 as had the civic right. 
 
 To avert the inconvenience that might arise 
 from too formal an adherence to the letter of the 
 decree, and lest those in office might harbour some 
 lurking attachment to the cause of the Bourbons 
 or retain some anti-imperial prejudices, it was 
 ordered by Bonaparte that certain good and trusty 
 commissaries should be sent into each military 
 division to expel from office all mayors, municipal 
 officers, members of general councils of depart- 
 ments, sub-prefects, and others bearing authority, 
 and name other sound and trusty men in their 
 place. 
 
 These commissaries sped away from Paris to 
 execute their revolutionary orders, and raised the 
 spirit of the departments to a proper sense of the 
 new imperial condescension of submitting any 
 act whatever to their consideration or choice. 
 
 6 
 
82 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 This mode of enlightening the departments was 
 judged the more expedient, as the constitutional 
 Act emanated from the Elys^e palace had under- 
 gone the sarcasms and reproach of all classes at 
 Paris. The Jacobins, who had triumphed in im- 
 perial conversion, and who attributed this patri- 
 otic change to the conviction of the truth of their 
 system, now lavished on Bonaparte all the dis- 
 graceful and ill-sounding epithets which filled the 
 pages of their vocabulary. The republican party 
 had given very little credit to any conversion 
 whatever ; they had felt that the sacrifice to prin- 
 ciple would be great in placing Bonaparte as chief 
 of the executive power, although bound by fetters 
 which they hoped to rivet on him ; but they had 
 believed that in the present crisis of his fate he 
 might be led to risk some portion of his power to 
 ensure the rest, and that he might, in the perilous 
 circumstances in which he was placed, suffer his 
 interest to outweigh his vanity. 
 
 The royalists alone felt a species of triumph at 
 this patriotic disappointment. Their hopes were 
 fixed on the frontiers ; and they concluded that 
 this rage for constitution-making would be abated 
 by the same means that would reconcile many 
 other differences. All classes, however discord- 
 ant in every other opinion, were now in unison on 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 83 
 
 one point, — that Bonaparte was the most daring 
 of impostors. All were unprepared for this state- 
 mockery, and it filled their minds with uncontrol- 
 lable indignation. Was it not enough, said they, 
 to delude us with the tale of a twenty years' 
 truce and the arrival of his wife and child, as 
 proofs of his new alliance with one of the most 
 formidable of our enemies ; was it not enough that 
 he has brought war and devastation upon us by a 
 second invasion of all the powers of Europe, who 
 will not fail to pour on us all the stores of their 
 vengeance, and punish us as slaves in revolt ? 
 Could he even frame an excuse or justification of 
 these falsehoods, and plead that he had deceived 
 us because he had been himself deceived, this de- 
 ception at least which he now practises is an act of 
 his own will. He had adopted principles which are 
 recognized by the nation ; he assented to a consti- 
 tution framed on those principles, and for the 
 formation of which he convoked the country in 
 the persons of its immediate representatives to 
 discuss and sanction what should be proposed by 
 his ministers and council ; and then, after declar- 
 ing that the people had approved the various acts 
 of despotism which he and the senate had promul- 
 gated at different periods of his tyranny, he enacts, 
 
84 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 of his own authority, another constitution, which 
 he calls on the nation to fall down and worship. 
 
 These murmurs were so general that the Em- 
 peror thought them entitled to some notice ; find- 
 ing a spirit of resistance arising against this second 
 treachery, he deemed it proper to allege some- 
 thing in his defence. This defence consisted 
 chiefly in recrimination. Bonaparte's despotism 
 had been founded on the knowledge he had of 
 the national character, of which the leading fea- 
 ture is vanity, and which had been flattered by 
 the appellation of the Great Nation, which was the 
 result of his military achievements. He now 
 reproached them with their abject meanness by 
 which they had received a constitution without a 
 murmur ; which the king had octroyed to them as a 
 boon ; which he had sent to the municipalities, not 
 to be accepted, but obeyed, and in the preamble 
 of which he declared himself to be in full posses- 
 sion of the authority emanated from God and 
 from his ancestors. Bonaparte compared the 
 French of the present day to the serfs who were 
 freed by one of their former monarchs, Louis le 
 Gros. 
 
 Bonaparte had forgotten, that, although his 
 own senatus consulta had not been " octroyed " 
 
NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 85 
 
 but accepted by the people, they had, in reality, 
 as little to do in their formation as the senate 
 itself, who simply registered the imperial dictate, 
 and often bore with impatience the indignities to 
 which they were compelled to submit. 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 JUITE, 1815. 
 
 It has been said by the moralist, " Never be 
 such a fool as to be a knave ; " but the policy 
 of Napoleon soared far beyond the trite and vul- 
 gar maxims of moral conduct. His principles 
 respecting government, and his own actions, 
 whether public or private, were regulated by no 
 other views than those of his own immediate 
 interests. He had chosen Machiavel for his guide, 
 and applied the politics, maxims, and practices of 
 the Italian states to our own enlightened times, 
 and to France, which, having subdued, he at- 
 tempted to make his instrument of the subjection 
 of Europe. 
 
 His previous studies had led him to believe that 
 not only the territory of France was his property, 
 but its inhabitants also ; he spoke often, with the 
 triumph of a wealthy prodigal, of his ability of 
 spending twenty and thirty thousand men each 
 month, and made no more account of this sort of 
 expenditure than of the millions of gold and silver 
 which he exacted and lavished. His most ardent 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 87 
 
 ambition was that of living in history, provided 
 that it was not such a writer as Tacitus who should 
 convey his name to posterity, and for whom he 
 affected the most profound contempt. In a dis- 
 cussion with the historic class of the Institute, he 
 asserted that Tacitus was the most partial, mis- 
 informed, and ill-advised of all historians ; and that 
 he had libelled a model of wisdom among the 
 Roman emperors, — Tiberius, of whose policy in 
 government he had not the sagacity to form a 
 just opinion. The Institute was compelled to 
 leave Tacitus to defend himself, and Tibei'ius to 
 the honours of his new reputation. 
 
 Bonaparte had signalized himself as a warrior, 
 but he did not too highly deem of descending to 
 posterity with military fame alone. He had ob- 
 served that nothing of the most celebrated de- 
 stroyers of mankind, called warriors, exists but 
 their names, while its great institutors are not 
 merely held in remembrance, but continue to live 
 in their disciples (all that remained of Alexander, 
 of Caesar, of Charles XII. was their names ; but 
 the laws instituted more than four thousand years 
 since by Moses, were yet obeyed throughout the 
 world by the numerous and disseminated posterity 
 of his race) ; — that Zoroaster and Mahomet had 
 subdued by their principles a great portion of the 
 
88 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 earth, and that their names are still invoked with 
 veneration by innumerable followers, while the 
 heroes of Greece and Rome fade on the memory ; 
 that, in modern times, Luther and Calvin had 
 given their names to the most enlightened portion 
 of the people of Europe ; and that he also, Napo- 
 leon the Great, by seizing some favourable epocha 
 for a new kind of warfare against all that he called 
 superstition, might become the founder of some 
 other system of faith, and assume the honours of 
 a teacher or a prophet. Bonaparte had not only 
 meditated on this subject, but had made reforma- 
 tion the secret order of the day in a committee 
 of his Council of State. Without having plunged 
 deeply into religious controversy, or having pro- 
 bably carried his studies beyond the lucubrations 
 of modern infidelity, he had the sagacity to dis- 
 cern that the prevalent religion of his empire held 
 little relation with the primitive doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity, and that the state of knowledge in France 
 was such that reformation would be welcomed. 
 Orders were given at the literary police to permit 
 the publication of all works against popery ; and 
 coercive measures were in meditation against the 
 person of the Pope, who had resisted his anti- 
 canonical measures respecting the institution of 
 bishops. This was a power which interfered too 
 
NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 89 
 
 much with his own, and he wished to annex the 
 title of Head of the Church to that of Emperor of 
 the French. 
 
 Bonaparte had distinguished himself at all 
 times for his principles of toleration, which bene- 
 fited only the dissenters from the Catholic church. 
 These were favoured ; while the episcopal chiefs 
 of the church avoided any open hostilities only by 
 becoming the instruments of his edicts of conscrip- 
 tion or flatterers of his power. Their charges, or 
 mandemens, to the clergy and people of their dio- 
 ceses, were filled with scriptural allusions to Cyrus ; 
 and one bishop so far forgot his allegiance to the 
 Pope as to name Bonaparte the representative of 
 God on earth. The clergy of inferior rank, whose 
 salaries were by no means adequate to their ser- 
 vices, or who had clearer views of Bonaparte's 
 ultimate designs, were unwilling to compliment 
 away their faith, and made scriptural allusions, in 
 their turn, in answer to the mandemens of their 
 bishops. 
 
 History teaches us that arbitrary power and the 
 sword are not always unfitted to promote a reform 
 of ancient errors. Mahomet proposed the great 
 doctrine of the Unity of the Divine Being, and 
 purified the Christian, and what remained of 
 the heathen, world of its polytheistic and idola- 
 
90 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 trous abuses; and Henry VIII. shook off with 
 violence the chains of the papal government. Of 
 these two creeds a warlike nation of the east, the 
 Mahometan Wechabites, appear to have under- 
 taken a further reform. The papal superstition 
 would not, perhaps, have survived Bonaparte's 
 examination. He had found too many points of 
 opposition in the tenets of this church to fashion 
 it to his rule of government, and bring it within 
 the pale of his system of unity. He had, indeed, 
 observed in Egypt the policy of ancient Rome in 
 adopting the religion of the conquered country. 
 " Glory to Allah ! " says he to the chief priests of 
 Cairo. " There is no other God but God ; Maho- 
 met is his prophet, and I am his friend. The 
 divine Koran is the delight of my soul and the 
 object of my meditation." A discussion which he 
 held with those eastern doctors led to some doubts 
 respecting the strength of faith in their proselyte. 
 Bonaparte would not admit that the magnetical 
 needle, the invention of gunpowder, the art of 
 printing, or the Newtonian system of the universe 
 were to be found in the Koran. But whatever 
 might be the doctrines which Bonaparte would 
 have instituted, and for the belief of which all 
 latitude would have been given, the discipline of 
 his church would no doubt have been military. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 91 
 
 He had already rendered the instruction at the 
 Lyceums, and even private schools, as soldier-like 
 as the nature of the lessons permitted, and every 
 movement was ordered by beat of drum. A right 
 reverend bench of generals, well organized staffs of 
 deans and vicars, and a handsomely drilled clergy, 
 with their acolytes, would, in his estimation, have 
 given energy to the church-militant. As a seden- 
 tary guard, or militia, they would have replaced 
 the regular troops stationed in the interior, and 
 with which he could have augmented his ranks 
 for foreign service. The teachers of virtue might 
 thus have become the quellers of sedition, and 
 their eloquent discourses against immorality be 
 accompanied, if necessary, by the stronger argu- 
 ments of military persuasion. As his system had 
 been that of fusion in his secular concerns, so he 
 would have followed the same rule in his eccle- 
 siastical administration, and this he would have 
 called toleration. He had not been able, however, 
 to bring the Pope, when in Paris, into union with 
 the President of the Protestant church, M. Marron, 
 whom he usually addressed at court by the title of 
 " Monsieur le Pape Protestant." Pius VII. de- 
 clared, with some pleasantry, that he had no 
 hopes " de tirer le Maron du feu." But Napo- 
 leon effected what was no less difficult, that of 
 
92 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN" PRANCE. 
 
 engaging the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris and the 
 Protestant president to join in the same religious 
 ceremony, in the presence of the empress and 
 part of the court. It was the celebration of the 
 marriage of a Catholic and a Protestant person of 
 the court ; and the man being a Protestant, the 
 Protestant president, in right of the husband's 
 prerogative, took the lead in the ceremony, and 
 was seated in the place of honour at the right 
 hand of the empress, at the nuptial banquet, and 
 the cardinal was placed on the left. 
 
 It is soothing to observe that toleration in 
 France is not confined to courts, much less did it 
 belong exclusively to his reign, who, in his com- 
 plete indifference for all religion, was a Mussul- 
 man at Cairo and a Catholic at Paris. Louis 
 XVIII., while he adheres with steadfast attach- 
 ment to that religion in which he so long found 
 the solace of his misfortunes, and of which the con- 
 solations blunt the thorns that surround his dia- 
 dem, — Louis XVIII. has never violated the sacred 
 principle of toleration. In testimony of the truth 
 of this assertion, I shall mention the circumstances 
 which took place last winter at an interment some 
 leagues distant from Paris, and at which the 
 President of the Protestant church was invited 
 to officiate. The defunct was a titled English 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 93 
 
 Protestant. The bishop of the diocese had ordered 
 that all due honours should be rendered to the piety 
 and good works of the deceased. The funeral 
 sermon was preached by the Protestant president 
 in the pulpit of a Catholic church, to a numerous 
 Catholic auditory, the Catholic clergy attending 
 the service. The corpse was laid in the tomb 
 with mingled rites, — the lighted tapers and the 
 Catholic dirge, the prayers of the Genevan church 
 and the tears of the mourning peasantry. You 
 have heard of the object of this blended ceremo- 
 nial. She was an English lady of some renown 
 about the middle of the last century. Her mis- 
 fortunes and errors (for which the tears that were 
 shed by the poor over her grave are a proof she 
 had atoned) have been recorded by the celebrated 
 Junius under the name of Miss Ann, or Nancy 
 Parsons. 
 
 Bonaparte was well read in the history of the 
 doubtful authority and genealogy of the papal 
 doctrine ; and a counsellor of state, whom he had 
 entrusted with the project, told me that the 
 Emperor was persuaded that the doctors of the 
 Galilean church would be flexible enough^ to 
 
 1 The decrees which he enforced with the most unrelent- 
 ing severity were those of the conscription. Strict obedience 
 to this murderous mandate was enjoined in the pastoral 
 
94 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 swell the number of their four articles of dissent 
 from papal pretension. Having found that the Pope 
 had become less complaisant than when he was 
 his guest at the Tuileries, he began the execution 
 of his design by putting the Holy Father in dur- 
 ance, and constituting him prisoner in one of the 
 French departments. The intervention of some 
 pressing business, either the projected invasion of 
 England or a predatory expedition on the conti- 
 nent, and which required his presence, interrupted 
 the plan of being the instructor of mankind, and 
 he reassumed his ordinary occupation of being its 
 scourge. In this career he had, at that period, 
 much yet to perform. A new religion could be 
 established, when he thought proper, by a senatus 
 consultus ; and in the mean time he had sacrifices 
 
 letters of bishops to their dioceses. A certain archbishop 
 enforced his argument in favour of this depopulating decree 
 by asserting that Jesus Christ had submitted himself to the 
 conscription. It was thus that the Reverend Father in God 
 translated, by the word conscription, the inscription, or 
 taxation, which took place by order of Augustus when 
 Cyrenius was Governor of Syria, and " when Joseph went 
 up to Bethlehem, with Mary, to be taxed, being great with 
 child." This prelate's zeal for his majesty's service would 
 have enlarged the conscription to females and infants yet 
 unborn, while the French emperor's mandate went no 
 farther than the male sex, and those at the age of eighteen, 
 when they were inhumanly called chair a canon, — " food for 
 powder." 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 95 
 
 to make to his household gods of the family of 
 Teutates. But leaving him to accomplish his 
 great resolve, — 
 
 " On Moscow's towers let Gallic standards fly, 
 And all be mine beneath the polar sky," — 
 
 let us return to the sketch of his later adventures. 
 It was now clearly understood that the loan of 
 a new constitution must be repaid by the sacrifice 
 of the lives and fortunes of all the citizens of 
 Erance. But as few of this number admitted the 
 value of this loan, or were disposed to make the 
 return exacted, Bonaparte had not been negligent 
 in seeking aid from without. Considerable expecta- 
 tions were raised on the diversion to be made by 
 his brother, the King of Naples, who, under pre- 
 tence of giving independence and freedom to 
 Italy, had marched a very numerous and well 
 appointed army to the northern states of that pen- 
 insula, which, in the congressional repartition of 
 European souls, had been attached to the House 
 of Austria. It was no doubt generous in this 
 king, at the time when the other princes of 
 Europe were carving out countries for themselves 
 and each, other, to volunteer his services in the 
 obsolete cause of the rights of man and of the 
 independence of nations. He had succeeded in 
 
96 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 sending the Pope again on his travels, to the great 
 satisfaction of the Romans ; but not satisfied with 
 this easy conquest, when Murat attempted to 
 cope with the Austrian armies, which in their 
 march towards France had stopped to reconnoitre 
 his proceedings, he was vanquished in several 
 successive engagements, compelled to seek his 
 safety in flight, and learnt, on his arrival on the 
 French shore, that his kingdom was departed 
 from him. 
 
 The loss or gain of a crown in this age of revo- 
 lutions excites no great interest, except with the 
 gaining or losing parties. This incident was not, 
 however, unimportant to Europe, since it procured 
 a very considerable additional force to the cause of 
 the allied armies. Murat was naturally regarded 
 by the august members of the European family as 
 unworthy of his station, and fit only to be cast 
 out; while Bonaparte considered him as guilty 
 because he had been unfortunate, although Murat, 
 who had lost his crown by listening to his seduc- 
 tions, might well have answered, — 
 
 "Faults I may have to Heaven, but none to thee." 
 
 Murat had borne his faculties at Naples as 
 meekly as could have been expected from the 
 possessor of a throne so equivocal. He had 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 97 
 
 obtained the good opinion of the country in gen- 
 eral, whose "well-being he seemed to have at 
 heart, and which he had in various instances 
 eflfected. It was hoped that this part of Europe, 
 which had been stained with no ordinary crimes 
 under its old masters, might regain its former 
 prosperity under a milder administration, and 
 that the multiplied depredations made on the 
 property of the noble and the rich might be, in 
 a great measure, retrieved. 
 
 All this was promised by the king, and was 
 believed by those who had suffered most under 
 Sicilian and Bonapartean rulers. The Neapoli- 
 tans were not reserved in the expression of their 
 satisfaction, and appeared to dread no inter- 
 ruption of their tranquillity but such as might 
 arise from the arbiters of the fate of nations at the 
 Congress; though they hoped that the conduct 
 of Murat in the great campaign of Europe, 1814, 
 and the treaties formed with him by the leading 
 powers, would determine that sovereign body to 
 treat him with favour. 
 
 But while the Neapolitans, many of whom are 
 personally known to me, were expressing their 
 apprehensions respecting the final decisions of 
 the Congress, there was an enemy almost at their 
 gates, who, in the vast overthrow of crowned 
 
 7 
 
98 NARRATIVE OF EVEKTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 heads which he was planning in his little island, 
 had comprehended that of the King of Naples. 
 Though Murat might have made a tolerably 
 decent kind of king, he was endowed with no 
 extraordinary intelligence. He had indeed pre- 
 pared for defence, if he were attacked ; his army 
 was respectable, and might have contributed to 
 the preservation of his sovereignty had he con- 
 tinued to act the part which he adopted the last 
 year, and joined his forces with the rest of Europe 
 against its common disturber. But in evil hour he 
 listened to the wily seducer, who, meditating his 
 march from his place of exile to Paris, persuaded 
 this foolish king that the active employment of 
 his troops against their common enemies was the 
 most effectual method of not only securing the 
 possession of his own crown, but of rendering 
 Italy independent. Murat's expedition against 
 the Austrians ended as might reasonably be sup- 
 posed against forces so superior. The liberties 
 and independence of Italy were not to be assured 
 by measures so inadequate. The Italians were 
 too wary to confide their destinies to a general 
 like Murat, or to such a protector of national 
 independence as Bonaparte. 
 
 All hopes of external alliance had now van- 
 ished ; and Austria, instead of coming to Napo- 
 
KARRATIVE OF EVENTS IK PRANCE. 99 
 
 Icon's aid as he had pretended, having crushed 
 his brother-in-law who was active in his cause, he 
 was left to his own resources and to his allies the 
 military, and the sanscuMterie or canaille of Paris. 
 Since the appearance of his Constitutions, the 
 fervour of this last body of active citizens had, 
 however, been considerably abated. Some, who 
 considered him as an apostate from the faith, were 
 become very lukewarm in their alliance ; others, 
 as the subsidies had ceased, misspent their time 
 no longer in vociferation. This turbulent class 
 did not return to their accustomed labour, for all 
 workshops were shut up, as all commerce was at 
 an end. Their residence in Paris was dangerous, 
 and required the strict surveillance of the national 
 guard. A few were engaged by the government 
 to work at the fortifications round Paris, and 
 others engaged themselves as members of the 
 Corps Francs to guard the country round the 
 metropolis. 
 
 The Corps Francs were organized bands of 
 volunteers, hired by some chief commissioned by 
 the police. They had been instituted in the last 
 campaign to protect the rural communes of the 
 departments round Paris from pillage by the 
 scattered Russian Cossacks. The daily papers 
 were filled with doleful accounts of depredation 
 
100 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 and violence committed by these northern bar- 
 barians. All the horrors of war were poured on 
 the inhabitants, and files of municipal certificates 
 were published, with the intention of rousing the 
 citizens of Paris to resistance, lest such also should 
 be their fate. 
 
 This part of the business was ill managed, for it 
 was proved that no Russian Cossacks had entered 
 these departments ; and that all these horrors had 
 been committed by the volunteers of the Corps 
 Francs, or, as they were called, the Cossacks of 
 the Fauxbourgs St. Antoine and St. Marceau, who 
 had assumed the costume of the Russian Cossacks. 
 In a village on the Marne, near Meaux, in the 
 direction of which the allied armies were expected, 
 a Russian general — Rusky Musky, or by some 
 such name was he called — had given orders to 
 his little advanced army of Cossacks to levy con- 
 tributions, and take with them the furniture of 
 the houses in which he had fixed his quarters. 
 Intelligence of this was conveyed tp the proprietor 
 of a villa, and who was a colonel stationed with 
 his regiment of regular troops at Meaux. He 
 advanced privately to reconnoitre the enemy ; he 
 admired the dexterity with which he saw his 
 property packed up and placed on Russian con- 
 veyances. He brought up his regiment, sur- 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 101 
 
 rounded his house, and made General Kusky 
 Musky and all his troops prisoners of war. Soon 
 after, each man of this little Russian army was 
 strung up by the neck on the trees which formed 
 the avenue leading to his house. The general 
 was convicted of being the upholsterer in the 
 Fauxbourg St. Antoine, who had furnished the 
 house the preceding year, and his army was com- 
 posed of the workmen of that quarter of Paris. 
 
 Such were part of the measures then taken 
 by Bonaparte's police to excite the country and 
 Paris to useless resistance against the invading 
 armies. The Cossacks of the north were less 
 dreaded than the Cossacks of Paris. The former, 
 though authorized plunderers. Were often found 
 capable of lenient measures, and sometimes even 
 of sentiment, — a proof of which took place in 
 the environs of Fontainebleau, with which I shall 
 close this rambling letter. 
 
 A Polish regiment, forming part of the ad- 
 vanced guard of the Russian army, after expelling 
 the French from Troyes, marched upon Fontaine- 
 bleau. The troops were foraging in a neighbour- 
 ing village, and were about to commit disorders, 
 which would have caused considerable loss to the 
 proprietors without benefit to themselves, — such 
 as piercing the banks, or forcing the sluices of 
 
102 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 some fish-ponds. While they were thus em- 
 ployed, and their officers looking on, they were 
 astonished to hear the word of command bidding 
 them to cease, pronounced in their own language, 
 by a person in the dress of the upper class of 
 peasants. They ceased their attempt at further 
 spoliation, and drew near the stranger. He rep- 
 resented to the troops the useless mischief they 
 were about to commit, and ordered them to with- 
 draw. The officers coming up were lectured in 
 their turn, and heard with the same astonishment 
 the laws of predatory warfare explained to them. 
 " When I had a command in the army of which 
 your regiment is a part, I punished very severely 
 such acts as you seem to authorize by your pres- 
 ence ; and it is not on those soldiers but on you 
 that punishment would have fallen." To be thus 
 tutored by a French farmer, in their own lan- 
 guage, in such circumstances and in such terms, 
 was almost past endurance. They beheld the 
 peasants at the same time taking off their hats 
 and surrounding the speaker, as if to protect him 
 in case of violence ; while the oldest among their 
 own soldiers, anxiously gazing on the features of 
 the stranger, were seized with a kind of invol- 
 untary trembling. Conjured more peremptorily, 
 though respectfully, to disclose his quality and 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 103 
 
 his name, the peasant, drawing his hand across 
 his eyes to wipe off a starting tear, exclaimed, 
 with a half stifled voice, " I am Kosciusko ! " 
 
 The movement was electric. The soldiers 
 threw down their arms, and falling prostrate on 
 the ground, according to the custom of their 
 country, covered their heads with sand. It was 
 the prostration of the heart. On Kosciusko's 
 return to his house in the neighbourhood of this 
 scene, he found a Russian military post established 
 to protect it. 
 
 The Emperor Alexander, having learnt from M. 
 de la Harpe that Kosciusko resided in the coun- 
 try, ordered for him a guard of honour, and the 
 country around his dwelling escaped all plunder 
 and contribution. 
 
 Kosciusko had withdrawn some years since from 
 the guilty world of Bonaparte to cultivate a little 
 farm, rejecting every offer which was made him 
 by Napoleon, who had learnt to appreciate his 
 worth. Kosciusko knew him well. I called on 
 him one day to bid him farewell, having read in 
 the official paper of the morning his address to 
 the Poles on the subject of recovering their free- 
 dom, being named to the command of the Polish 
 army by Bonaparte. Kosciusko heard me with a 
 smile at my credulity ; but on my shewing him 
 
104 NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 the address with his signature, he exclaimed, 
 " This is all a forgery. Bonaparte knew me too 
 well to insult me with any offer in this predatory 
 expedition ; he has adopted this mode, which I 
 can neither answer nor resent, and which he at- 
 tempts to colour with the pretext of liberty. His 
 notions and mine respecting Poland are at as 
 great a distance as our sentiments on every other 
 subject." 
 
LETTER IX. 
 
 June, 1815. 
 
 BoNAPAETE, on the failure of his ally Murat, 
 was now left to his own resources. Although he 
 was proclaimed Emperor of the French by the 
 complaisance of his Council of State, and for 
 which he had played so foully, he felt that his 
 title even was precarious till it was confirmed by 
 the assembled nation in the Field of May. It is 
 not easy to conceive what could have engaged 
 him to revive the remembrance of this feudal 
 assembly of ancient French history, where the 
 monarch met to deliberate with the great vassals 
 of the crown and the dignified clergy, on the 
 urgent concerns of the state. 
 
 At those early epochas, the Field of May might, 
 with great propriety, be called the assembly of 
 the nation ; for as the property of the lands in the 
 kingdom was almost wholly in the hands of those 
 great personages who were called together on 
 these occasions, they might be said to represent 
 the nation ; the rest, except a few small proprie- 
 tors and inhabitants of towns, being composed of 
 
106 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 serfs attached to the soil. Bonaparte knew, how- 
 ever, that this denomination of the Field of May 
 was calculated to please his subjects by awakening 
 their curiosity. " What is the Field of May ? " 
 exclaimed the Parisians : at once something an- 
 tique and something new ; where much was to be 
 done for their liberties, and, what was not indiffer- 
 ent, an unknown ceremonial would be performed 
 for their amusement. It may be observed, that 
 one effect of twenty-five years' of revolution is to 
 have given the French such restless habits that 
 they require continually something new or 
 strange to occupy their minds and fill up the void 
 of ordinary life. When it " keeps the noiseless 
 tenour of its way," it appears to them a dull dead 
 calm, in which the mind becomes stagnant. It 
 was much in favour of Bonaparte, that, during 
 his reign, he had always something new to pre- 
 sent for the entertainment of the Parisians, — the 
 bulletin of a battle, a victory, the entry into the 
 great capitals of the north ; something, as Bayes 
 expresses it, to " surprize and elevate." The calm 
 tranquillity which had prevailed during the ten 
 months that Louis XVIII. had held the sceptre, 
 although brightening into hope and promising 
 prosperity, might indeed be called happy, but 
 was felt to be dull. In short, all Paris flocked 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 107 
 
 in multitudes to see what was to be seen at the 
 Field of May. 
 
 The Field of May having been recorded in his- 
 tory as a day of national meeting, the French 
 were at least acquainted with the name ; but as 
 the invitation was now given to such as in former 
 times would have been regarded as slaves and 
 serfs, Bonaparte had explained the nature of the 
 business by decreeing from Lyons that it was to 
 be held for the formation of a free constitution, 
 on the basis of the original principles of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 The electors, who had hastened from the de- 
 partments to Paris to be present at this great so- 
 lemnity towards the end of the month, found that 
 this Field of May was delayed till June ; and also 
 that their high destination of framing constitutions 
 had been converted into an aflfair of arithmetic, 
 and that all that was required of them was suffi- 
 cient skill in addition to cast up the votes of their 
 constituents. Bonaparte had spared them all 
 other patriotic labours, by enacting himself the 
 constitution which he deemed the best fitted for 
 them to obey. 
 
 The greater number therefore of the electors, 
 finding that no discussions or changes were to be 
 admitted, and that they were themselves objects 
 
108 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 of imperial contempt, unwilling to become the 
 tame witnesses of this idle pageantry, returned 
 indignantly to their homes, without waiting the 
 holding of this mock assembly. Some less occu- 
 pied, or more curious, forming about a tenth part 
 of the whole body of the electors convoked, whiled 
 away their time at Paris till the day appointed for 
 the assembly, which was held the beginning of 
 June. 
 
 A spacious temporary amphitheatre had been 
 erected for this purpose in the Champ de Mars, 
 connected with the fagade of the Military School, 
 and containing about fifteen thousand persons, 
 seated and covered by an awning; these were 
 the electors and the military deputations. The 
 sloping banks which arise round the Champ de 
 Mars were crowded with people, and its immense 
 plain was filled with cavalry. Here an altar was 
 placed, opposite the throne, which was erected 
 within the amphitheatre. An assembly, com- 
 posed of the electors remaining at Paris, had been 
 held the day preceding that of the Champ de 
 Mai, to hear the result of the registers for and 
 against Napoleon's Additional Act ; the votes 
 were already enumerated by the clerks of the 
 minister of the interior, and the only co-operation 
 of the electors, and by which a judgment may be 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 109 
 
 formed of their quality, was that of loud accla- 
 mations each time the ministerial president's 
 secretary declared the nvimber of votes from a 
 department in favour of Napoleon, He had al- 
 ways boasted that he had been elected emperor 
 by above four millions of votes. The truth of this 
 assertion was never ascertained ; but whatever 
 the numbers were, the measures taken to procure 
 them vitiated the whole ; not only as the validity 
 of the votes was not scrutinized, but as the only 
 qualification requisite was that of being suffi- 
 ciently learned to write a name, which, whether 
 real or fictitious, was of no import, since it was 
 not examined. 
 
 As there was therefore no scrutiny, and the in- 
 terest of the register-holder was to procure the 
 greatest number of votes possible, the voting for 
 the constitution was as defective as tha,t for the 
 emperorship. Although much manoeuvring was 
 exercised by Bonaparte's special agents in the 
 departments, such as changing the constituted 
 authorities, — mayors, sub-prefects, and others 
 whose opinions were not sufficiently pronounced 
 in favour of Napoleon's constitution, Or who might 
 have qualmish feelings respecting their oath to the 
 Constitutional Chart of Louis XVIII., — the num- 
 ber of votes declared at the assembly amounted 
 
110 NAERATIVE of events in FRANCE. 
 
 only to one-fourth of the number that had been 
 announced for the title of emperor. As this im- 
 perial edict, called Additional Act to the constitu- 
 tion already existing, was deemed to be accepted, 
 the Emperor, in his speech from the throne, as- 
 sured the audience — which was of a very mixed 
 quality, from the absence of many electors and 
 the necessity of filling the amphitheatre — that, 
 as " emperor, consul, and soldier, he held all 
 from the people ; and, like the king of Athens, 
 would sacrifice himself for his country." A much 
 less sacrifice was required by the oracle which had 
 pronoimced on his fate at Vienna than from the 
 king of Athens, whose patriotic sacrifice he was in 
 no humour to imitate. 
 
 Napoleon arrived at the Champ de Mars at 
 one o'clock, accompanied by his three brothers, 
 Joseph, Lucien, and Jerome. These principal 
 performers in this pageant appeared upon the 
 foreground of the piece, detached from the sur- 
 rounding figures by their Roman costumes, — the 
 tunic, over which was flung the large manteau, 
 falling in ample folds. The ceremony began with 
 high mass, after which followed a speech from the 
 deputy appointed to harangue the Emperor, and 
 which he pronounced standing on one of the steps of 
 the throne. Then came the declaration of the arch- 
 
NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. Ill 
 
 chancellor, that the new chart was accepted by an 
 almost unanimity of votes. This was succeeded 
 by a discourse of the Emperor, after which he 
 signed the Additional Act, to which he swore, 
 upon the Evangelists, to adhere. It may be 
 observed that Napoleon kept on his hat during 
 the whole solemnity, before the assembled repre- 
 sentatives of the nation, whose heads were un- 
 covered, and even when he took the oath, as if 
 to shew a sort of defiance of earth and of heaven. 
 But in all probability it was from prudence that 
 he kept on his hat, which was always lined with 
 steel and fitted to guard his head from danger. 
 For the rest of his body he had nothing to fear, 
 being always wrapped in a coat of mail. After 
 having taken the oath. Napoleon descended from 
 his throne, threw aside his manteau, and advanc- 
 ing towards the middle of the Champ de Mars, 
 distributed his eagles to the troops of the line and 
 the national guard as they passed before him, 
 and swore to defend their colours. The air was 
 then filled with the sounds ten thousand times 
 repeated, of " Vous jurez," and " Nous jurons ! " 
 The ceremony being ended, the people returned 
 to their homes, having found out what was meant 
 by the Field of May ; but somewhat discontented 
 that the most diverting parts of the spectacle — 
 
112 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 the splendid firework they had been promised in 
 the evening, representing the Isle of Elba, and 
 many other curious and astonishing things — were 
 deferred till the following Sunday, when the 
 Emperor was to go in state to the hall of the 
 legislative body, and to open their sittings by a 
 speech from the throne. 
 
 Thus ended the assembly of the Field of May, 
 which had been contrived in order to deceive the 
 nation, — a purpose that was altogether unful- 
 filled, since nobody was deceived. Some friends 
 of Bonaparte, or rather friends of their country, 
 had, indeed, in privy councils, whispered in his ear 
 that he might convert the pageantry of the Field 
 of May into a scene of real glory ; that he had an 
 act of noble magnanimity to perform, — and this 
 was to sign vohmtarily, in the presence of the 
 assembled empire, his own abdication. He was 
 reminded that all Europe was at his frontiers ; 
 that its tremendous coalition might be at first 
 resisted, but must eventually subdue ; and that 
 his crown and person would be the price of peace. 
 He was called upon by every motive that could 
 be ui'ged to do what, in truth, was only an act 
 of prudent foresight, but which all present and 
 future times would applaud as the generous re- 
 solve of a great and lofty spirit. He had but to 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 113 
 
 declare, that, seeing he was made the pretext of 
 the cruel invasion with which France was men- 
 aced, he relinquished the empire he had regained, 
 and withdrew, in the hope of being followed by 
 the good wishes of the nation and perhaps of 
 deserving its applause. 
 
 Had Bonaparte been capable of such voluntary 
 descent, this would indeed have proved for him a 
 proud day of new and virtuous renown. The 
 merit of the sacrifice would have been admitted 
 to be proportionate to its greatness ; and amidst 
 all the horrors of his devastating ambition, this 
 last scene of his public existence would have 
 shone like a track of unsullied light along a dark 
 and stormy horizon. 
 
 But to return. On the Sunday which followed 
 the ceremony of the Field of May, the Emperor 
 went in his state-carriage, attended by the ladies 
 of his dynasty, and preceded and followed by his 
 numerous guards, in high military pomp, to instal 
 the legislature. He made his speech, in which 
 he talked of independence, the rights of the 
 people, the liberty of the press, and withdrew. 
 
 The evening of this day closed with illumi- 
 nations and the expected pyrotechnic exhibition, 
 which represented Bonaparte in a ship, landing 
 from the Isle of Elba on the shores of Provence, 
 
 8 
 
114 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 and about to re-conquer France. The firework 
 was one of the best-acted scenes in this great 
 comedy ; it amused the Parisians, which " is what 
 they most seek " in revolutions. The mob cried, 
 "Long live the Emperor and fireworks!" and 
 the reign of the Constitutional Monarchy began. 
 
 Meanwhile, the more reflecting citizens of Paris 
 mourned over the evils which menaced their 
 unhappy country. The armies of Europe already 
 begirted its frontiers, and the miseries of civil war 
 desolated its western coasts. Napoleon, however 
 reluctant to depart, saw the necessity of joining 
 his army, and only waited to receive the address 
 of the legislature in answer to his imperial speech 
 at the opening of the session. The framing of 
 this answer presented so many difficulties, so 
 many apprehensions of saying too little or too 
 much, that new models were formed and rejected 
 during several days, before a choice was made. 
 
 The first act of the Chamber of Representatives 
 was the nomination of M. Lanjuinais as president. 
 This choice looked like independence, since they 
 could scarcely have made an election less agree- 
 able to Napoleon. M. Lanjuinais, during his 
 perilous revolutionary career, had acquired the 
 esteem of all parties. His aversion to Bonaparte 
 had never been dissembled. When Napoleon's 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 115 
 
 faction first raised him to the emperorship, M. 
 Lanjuinais, then a member of the Senate, rebuked 
 the servility of his colleagues, in full assembly. 
 " What ! " exclaimed he, " will you submit to give 
 your country a master taken from a race of origin 
 so ignominious that the Eomans disdained to 
 employ them as slaves ? " Several acts of irrever- 
 ence had widened the breach, and it was ex- 
 pected that this nomination would not receive the 
 imperial sanction. But as Napoleon's interest led 
 him at this moment not to be on ill terms with 
 the legislature, he dissembled his resentment and 
 acceded to the choice. He was less reserved, 
 however, with the legislative body itself, when at 
 length they presented their address. " You may 
 meditate," says he, " on the constitution I have 
 given you ; you may prepare organic regulations ; 
 but, beware, touch not the ark itself : you know 
 the danger that awaits such profanation. My 
 ministers will tell you the rest." 
 
 Having placed this monument under the guardi- 
 anship of his houses of commons and of peers, 
 which he had also named, Bonaparte prepared 
 himself to enter the field against the presumptu- 
 ous foes that were about to invade his frontiers. 
 
 He did not dissemble that the glory of the 
 Duke of Wellington had sometimes a little 
 
116 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 eclipsed his own. He had often, in conversation, 
 told his marshals that Wellington was the second 
 general in Europe ; but he had learnt, during his 
 retreat, that the palm of generalship had been 
 contested, and that there were gainsayers per- 
 verse enough to doubt the justice of the rank 
 he had conferred on himself. " Well," said he, 
 rubbing his hands, " I have never had the good 
 fortune to come across him ; Je vais me frotter 
 contre Wellington, and I shall send you a good 
 account of him." With this presentiment he set 
 ofE for the north, exultingly, " pour se frotter contre 
 Wellington^ 
 
 M. Carnot, in his report on the military state of 
 the empire, had raised the troops of the line to 
 half a million, and the numerical amount of the 
 army to eight hundred and fifty thousand men. 
 This statement was greatly exaggerated ; for M. 
 Carnot either counted as being really under arms 
 the number of men exacted from each depart- 
 ment, or the lists sent up by the prefects of the 
 number that had marched from the different 
 districts or arrondissemens. As minister of the 
 interior he might have some grounds for this 
 assertion, but as a soldier he was guilty of mis- 
 statement ; for he could not be ignorant that the 
 citizen, or peasant, who had no means of resisting 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 117 
 
 power in their insulated dwellings, having obeyed 
 the injunction of the prefect or his subordinate 
 authorities to march from home, deemed it un- 
 necessary to make further advances than the 
 boundaries of their departments, and that the 
 greater number found means to wheel to the 
 right or the left, and turning from the fron- 
 tier march back to their respective homes. The 
 first division of four thousand of those volun- 
 teers that had marched from Paris, escorted by 
 the gendarmerie, for Nancy, were met half way 
 near Verdun diminished to five hundred and 
 thirty, the leader asserting to the person who told 
 me that he did not expect to reach Nancy with 
 more than his own company of gendarmes. 
 
 The minister must have been informed of these 
 defections in the sur-numerary two millions of 
 men, which Bonaparte had retorted on the allied 
 powers when they menaced to send a million to dis- 
 possess him of his throne. M. Carnot's report on 
 the state of France was so much the more grate- 
 ful to the ear of Napoleon, as he had not only 
 exaggerated the military force, but had often 
 overstepped the modesty of official detail by 
 courtier-like strokes of the vast superiority of 
 Napoleon's administration over that of the 
 Bourbons. This report consisted of eighteen 
 
118 NARRATIVE OF EVEKTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 sections, such as those of Commerce, Manu- 
 factures, Marine, Finance, &c. &c. ; in each of 
 which the conduct of the king and the Emperor 
 was contrasted, and always in favour of the latter. 
 For instance, in the section on the Imperial 
 Guard, "Europe," says the minister, "is ac- 
 quainted with the courage, the sangfroid, the 
 fidelity of this guard, — an unassailable rampart 
 during war, and the ornament of the capital in 
 time of peace. This noble corps were treated by 
 the Bourbons with hatred and contempt." The 
 hatred for these pretorian bands was not con- 
 fined to the Bourbons ; they were objects of 
 jealousy to the great mass of the army, on ac- 
 count of the distinctions conferred on them by 
 Bonaparte, and of their superiority of pay, and 
 of terror to the citizens in general, who con- 
 sidered them as the rampart of imperial despotism. 
 " The acclamations," says the minister, " which 
 welcomed the Emperor on his return among the 
 French have led him to judge that such a people 
 may be entrusted to govern themselves, and he 
 has therefore given them the liberty of the 
 press." 
 
 Was M. Carnot the only person in Paris igno- 
 rant from what lips issued these acclamations, and 
 the daily price paid pour aUer au cri ? which was the 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 119 
 
 familiar term used by those who were hired to 
 vociferate " Vive I'Empereur ! " under the win- 
 dows of his apartment at the Tuileries. Some 
 persons who pretend to have been in the secret 
 of what passed in Napoleon's retirement at the 
 Elys^e, assert that this report on the state of 
 the nation, which it was considered as highly 
 important to render flattering to the public eye, 
 was not the report of the minister to the Emperor, 
 but that of the Emperor to the minister. 
 
LETTER X. 
 
 June, 1815. 
 
 Bonaparte, having expedited all his civil afikirs, 
 such as the installation of his chambers of com- 
 mons and of peers, informed them that his first 
 duty called him to meet the formidable coalition 
 of emperors and kings that threatened their in- 
 dependence, and that the army and himself would 
 acquit themselves well ; recommending to them 
 the destinies of France, with his own personal 
 safety, and, above all, the liberty of the press. 
 
 When all the ceremonials were completed, 
 Bonaparte, smiling within himself at his re- 
 shackled slaves, set off for the frontiers. The 
 prize which was now to be contested was of no 
 ordinary worth ; the leaders who were about to 
 meet his hostile garb bore names of no vulgar 
 renown, and the world hung in dread attention 
 on the deep tragedy which was about to be repre- 
 sented. The allied armies were now drawing 
 nearer on every side, and war was inevitable, 
 notwithstanding the continued imperial declara- 
 tions to the last that affairs would be amicably 
 
XARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 121 
 
 arranged, and that some parts of the frontiers near 
 the southeast were actually invaded. But as the 
 armies the most dreaded were those hanging on 
 the northern frontier, particularly that under 
 English orders, it was against this part of the 
 allies that every possible force was directed. It 
 was concluded that the overthrow of this army — 
 of which no doubt could be admitted, so im- 
 mense were the preparations against it — would 
 strike a salutary terror into the forces of the other 
 coalised powers, and determine them to a revision 
 of their late precipitate and ill-advised treaties. 
 
 Every exertion was therefore made to assemble 
 such an army as should merit the name of invin- 
 cible. The choicest troops of the various armies, 
 with a most numerous and well stored materiel, 
 headed by the Emperor, had raised the hopes of 
 the Bonapartists to the highest pitch of enthusi- 
 asm, and with whom no doubt was entertained of 
 soon re-viewing their hero, with the captive Eng- 
 lish general to grace his triumph. The king's 
 party were much dismayed in witnessing these 
 vast preparations, and adjudged, with sad reluct- 
 ance, the first victories to Bonaparte, reposing on 
 the congregating forces of Europe, in case of the 
 defeat of the English army, to consummate the 
 object of the treaty of the allies. Napoleon, in 
 
122 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 the confidence of speedy and complete success, 
 flew to head his army of the north; and only 
 a very few days had elapsed, when an hundred 
 and one discharges of artillery awoke the Parisians 
 at an early hour, announcing what all had either 
 hoped or dreaded, — the total defeat of the allies, 
 against whom the Emperor had hurled his thun- 
 ders. The details of this signal victory were 
 waited for with impatience. Every visage was 
 marked with exultation or despair ; but every one 
 expected, from the loud and lengthened morning 
 thunder, that the Vent, vidi, vici, had taken place. 
 The bulletin appeared. It was modest and re- 
 served. It spoke indeed of victory, which the 
 royalists interpreted into at least a drawn battle, 
 but which the Bonapartists were assured was only 
 a gentle preliminary hint that the extermination 
 of the hostile armies would be next announced, as 
 the combat was still raging. The news of the fol- 
 lowing day were awaited with seeming compla- 
 cency by those last, who, hearing no sound of 
 cannon and seeing no bulletin, crowded to the 
 hotel of the war department, where they learnt 
 from official communications made by the minister 
 or the minister's secretaries, that the French had 
 once more immortalized themselves in the plains 
 of Fleurus ; that the enemy had been overthrown 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 123 
 
 on every point ; that Blucher had flown back with 
 his Prussians to Namur, and Wellington with his 
 routed army to Brussels, in extreme confusion and 
 with incalculable loss. The official account stated 
 that the defeat of the Prussians was so complete 
 that there was no expectation of further news of 
 them for some time, and with respect to the Eng- 
 lish, " We shall see, in the course of a day or two, 
 what we shall do with them. The Emperor is 
 there ! " 
 
 The Emperor was there, to repeat the expres- 
 sion of the empty menace ; but in what colours 
 should be painted the rage, the despair, the con- 
 fusion, the exultation, the excessive joy of the 
 various parties, when, on the morning of the 20th 
 June, after two days of painful surmise and trem- 
 bling expectation, it was whispered throughout 
 Paris, " The Emperor is here ! " No one deigned 
 to inquire what was the fate of the army. His 
 presence in Paris was a bulletin too unequivocal 
 of its entire defeat to need further confirmation. 
 This act of cowardice had of late years been ha- 
 bitual to Bonaparte, and his arrival was always the 
 signal of dire distress. A bulletin appeared in the 
 afternoon, giving a long detail of the vatrious com- 
 bats that had taken place in this campaign of three 
 or four days. But though the apprehensions of evil 
 
124 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 had been strongly raised, they attained not the de- 
 tail of the disgrace and horror with which this offi- 
 cial recital was filled. " What ! is such the result 
 of all this dreadful preparation? Is it thus that 
 our high-sounding hero fulfils his lofty promises ? 
 Is this the end of all his bokstings when he flew to 
 the frontier ? His array, he says, was frightened. 
 Is it thus that he attempts to mask his personal 
 cowardice by a calumny on the victims of his 
 madness and want of skill ? His army has per- 
 ished bravely in attacks to which his rashness has 
 exposed them ; and while his noble enemy was 
 hazarding his person to ensure success, he stood 
 aloof from danger to witness his defeat, and fled 
 precipitately from the field to Paris to be the first 
 herald of his own disgrace." 
 
 Such were the avowals and reproaches of the 
 Bonapartean faction. The triumph of the citizens 
 in general was decent and reserved ; they feared 
 the despair of the Emperor's satellites. The tear 
 of joy, the silent embrace, the ejaculatory thanks- 
 giving to heaven, marked their demeanour. " Can 
 it be true, and are we then delivered ? " was re- 
 peated ten thousand times. 
 
 "Soldiers," said Bonaparte, on reviewing his 
 hosts at Avesnes, after enumerating the Saxons, 
 the Hanoverians, the Belgians, the Confederates 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 125 
 
 of the Rhine, and other armies of the coalition, 
 " they have lost their senses, blinded by a moment 
 of prosperity. The oppression and humiliation of 
 the French nation is out of their power ; if they 
 enter France they will only find their graves, for 
 every Frenchman who has courage feels that the 
 moment is arrived either to conquer or perish." 
 This speech was addressed to them after remind- 
 ing them of the fields of Marengo, of Fried- 
 land, of Austerlitz, and Wagram. The march 
 began. The frontiers were passed in spite of the 
 remonstrances of his generals; the retreating 
 movements of the Prussians were described as sig- 
 nal victories. Joy brightened his crest; he was 
 drunk with hope on reconnoitring the English 
 army. A council of war was held in the morning. 
 He reluctantly seemed to yield to the opinions of 
 all his generals that it was prudent to suspend the 
 attack ; but before they rose from a repast to 
 which he had invited them, the noise of the artil- 
 lery told them what account he had made of their 
 advice. In a moment of inspiration he had secretly 
 given the orders, and his generals had only to re- 
 pair to their respective posts. 
 
 " I stood by him," said General to me, 
 
 " on a rising ground, and at a convenient distance. 
 His astonishment at the resistance of the British 
 
126 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 army was extreme. His agitation became violent. 
 He took snuff by handfuls on the repulse of each 
 charge. He exclaimed, ' These English are devils. 
 They ought to have given in two hours since.' 
 Ere the decisive blow was struck, he took me by 
 the arm, ' Come, general, the affair is over ; we 
 have lost the day, let us be off.' " 
 
 Bonaparte, who was not ill read in history, did 
 not recollect a trait of the death of Scipio, the 
 son-in-law of Pompey. When Scipio, after having 
 been worsted in Africa in support of Pompey, set 
 sail for Spain, his fleet was surrounded by that of 
 the enemy in his passage. The crew of his vessel 
 surrendered. As soon as Scipio discovered it, he 
 pierced himself with his sword. When Caesar's 
 soldiers asked where was the general, the general 
 answered, " He is where he ought to be," and 
 then expired. This trait forms a curious contrast 
 with the event of the memorable day of Waterloo. 
 The grenadiers of the imperial guard, who fell 
 with heroic courage on the field, had sworn to 
 conquer or to die. English valour denied them 
 victory, but could not prevent them from fulfilling 
 the alternative of their oath : they died. The for- 
 est of Soignies is their grave. The soldiers are 
 where they ought to be; but where is their 
 general ? 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 127 
 
 I shall not venture to give you a description of 
 this combat, although I have heard it so often 
 detailed both by the victors and the conquered. 
 You will have read the various relations of this 
 destructive day, which is recounted in fifty differ- 
 ent ways by the actors, each describing things 
 from the point of view in which he regarded the 
 scene. " Enfin," said a French general, " I have 
 served twenty years ; I had never yet seen British 
 troops. It is an army of heroes, the first army in 
 Europe. I am yet in astonishment at what I wit- 
 nessed." " And their general," said I, " who was 
 always classed by your Emperor the second in the 
 world ? " " What, Wellington ? Bonaparte is a 
 madman ; he never equalled Wellington. Well- 
 ington is of no class, he is unique." The general 
 fought the battle over again in all its details, 
 which I shall spare you, but which would form a 
 volume. The subject of Wellington's glory was 
 not new to me. The commanders who had served 
 against him in Spain were unvaried in their opin- 
 ion of his military talents. I have heard them 
 often talk familiarly of their campaigns ; had 
 Bonaparte heard them also, he would have found 
 that their opinion and his own, respecting the 
 military rank of Wellington, was not exactly the 
 same. These ofl&cers, accustomed to such a waste 
 
128 NAERATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 of life on the en avant system, were, above all, 
 struck by the avarice of blood which they ob- 
 served in the English general. 
 
 This system of en avani was the great secret of 
 Bonaparte's reputation. It is well known how 
 much his mind is subject to superstition, and how 
 firmly he believes in the influence of his star 
 and his predestined fate, or what he calls his destin. 
 His star sometimes turned pale, and his destin 
 assumed an aspect of mystery ; but he trusted, 
 
 and still believed. I was told by General , 
 
 who was his first inspector of artillery, which 
 answers to our master of ordnance, that the battle 
 of Eylau was at one moment lost. " General," 
 said Bonaparte, " place your pieces so as to pro- 
 tect my retreat ; it is all over ; we are beaten. 
 You see how soon an empire is lost." The 
 artiller}'^ was about to be placed, when four divi- 
 sions of cavalry, that were not expected till the 
 following day, suddenly made their appearance ; 
 the battle recommenced, and Bonaparte exclaimed 
 that his destin had the honours of the day. 
 
 In his successive flights from his army to Paris, 
 Napoleon had always found some reason to allege 
 in his excuse.^ When he returned from Russia he 
 
 ' The exclamation was repeated in Paris of an honest 
 citizen of the Fauxbourg St. Antoine, who, seeing the Em- 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 129 
 
 raised a smile, even in his servile senate, by attrib- 
 uting his disasters, not to the elements or the 
 enemy, the flames of Moscow or the snows of the 
 deserts, but threw the whole fault upon ideology, 
 with which, he said, the senate had been oc- 
 cupied instead of furnishing him with fresh 
 supplies. The loss of his army in Saxony he 
 laid to the charge of some subaltern officer who 
 had followed his orders in destroying a bridge 
 which cut off the retreat of part of his troops. 
 He now published in his bulletin that the panic- 
 terror of the army at Waterloo was the cause of 
 the present defeat. 
 
 Bonaparte arrived in Paris at three in the 
 morning, and assembled his counsellors. It was 
 deemed by him necessary to try some master- 
 stroke, something great and imperial, which 
 should counterbalance the disgrace inflicted on 
 him at Waterloo. After much deliberation, he 
 thought that the evil impression made on the 
 public mind from the disaster occasioned by the 
 pretended panic of the army would be best 
 neutralized by marching upon the assembly, 
 
 peror pass on horseback soon after the disaster of Moscow, 
 said to his neighbour with great simplicity, "Mais I'empe- 
 reur se porte bien — il a bonne mine — pas de tout I'air 
 honteux." 
 
130 NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 and proclaiming himseK dictator. Lucien, his 
 brother, was peremptory also in this opinion ; but 
 there were persons of the council whose minds 
 were not bound up to such a terrible feat against 
 the liberties of their country, and who declared 
 their doubts whether even the instruments could 
 readily be found, either among those called the 
 Jacobins or any part of the military. This dis- 
 cussion was not, however, so secret but that some 
 intimation of the brooding mischief reached a 
 member of the house of representatives, who had 
 been too early skilled in revolutions, and had 
 known Bonaparte too well, not to feel that no 
 time was to be lost. 
 
 M. de la Fayette, gaining further assurance 
 from two of the ministers of the crime that was 
 meditating, hurried to the house, which had as- 
 sembled at an earlier hour than usual, as the news 
 of Bonaparte's arrival had circulated through 
 Paris. He found the president occupied in cor- 
 recting some defects of grammar in the proc^s- 
 verbal of the preceding day. " Leave your 
 erratas," he exclaimed, " there is other matter of 
 discussion ; hasten to open the sitting, and give 
 me the parole." " Representatives," said M. de 
 la Fayette, "it is now twenty-five years since I 
 raised my voice in this tribune of liberty ; the 
 
NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 131 
 
 country is in danger, and can be saved by you 
 alone. The sinister reports which have circulated 
 these two days past are unhappily confirmed. It 
 is you whom it behoves to rally the whole country 
 around the national standard, — the standard of 
 1789, of liberty, equality, and public order ; it is 
 to you to whom it belongs to defend the inde- 
 pendence and the honour of France against the 
 pretensions of the enemy. A veteran in the 
 cause of liberty, a stranger to the spirit of 
 faction, I am come to propose to you the previous 
 measures which the crisis into which the nation 
 is plunged demands; I am assured that all my 
 colleagues will feel their necessity." 
 
 The first of these propositions was to declare 
 that the independence of the country is threat- 
 ened ; the second, that the house shall declare 
 itself permanent; that all attempts to dissolve 
 it are high treason, and that any one who shall 
 be guilty of this crime shall be immediately 
 arraigned as a traitor to his country. The third 
 proposition consisted of thanks to the army and 
 the national guard ; the fourth was an invitation 
 to the minister of the interior to convoke the staff 
 officers of the national guard, and procure arms 
 for every citizen who should be called to serve in 
 it ; the last was an invitation to the ministers to 
 
132 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 repair to the house, and answer all questions that 
 should be made them. 
 
 No explanation was demanded by any member 
 of the cause of these alarming propositions ; it was 
 sufficient that they were made by M. de la 
 Fayette, and that Bonaparte was in Paris. The 
 three first of these motions were immediately 
 converted into laws. The national guard flocked 
 round the assembly without waiting a law ; but 
 the ministers obeyed the summons of the chamber 
 with less alacrity. 
 
 The discussion respecting the dictatorship was 
 yet carried on at the Elys^e palace, when intelli- 
 gence was brought to Napoleon that M. de la 
 Fayette was then at the tribune and haranguing 
 the assembly. Bonaparte was trifling over his 
 cup of coffee ; " La Fayette at the tribune ! " 
 said he. The spoon dropt from his hand ; the 
 plot was discovered, and the discussion was 
 adjourned.^ 
 
 ^ All intercourse between Bonaparte and M. de la Fayette 
 had ceased for several years. M. de la Fayette was greatly 
 indebted to Bonaparte for his intervention at the time of the 
 treaty of Leoben, which rescued him from the dungeons of 
 Olmutz. On his return to France, at the period of the 18th 
 Brumaire, La Fayette, who had other ideas of glory than 
 Bonaparte, believed that the latter meant to establish the 
 liberties of his country. But, after several serious conver- 
 
NAKRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 133 
 
 It is very doubtful whether Bonaparte could 
 have succeeded in his project of becoming dictator, 
 even if his attempt had not been baffled by the 
 timely propositions of General la Fayette ; but 
 the lofty attitude which the assembly had now 
 taken rendered all hopes of success fruitless. Re- 
 course was therefore had to negociation. The 
 ministers, who had loitered in the council of the 
 Elys^e by the Emperor's order, at length ap- 
 peared on a second requisition before the as- 
 sembly, accompanied by Lucien Bonaparte as 
 imperial commissary, who required a committee 
 of the whole house to communicate an imperial 
 message. This message, which began by an 
 elaborate recital of the misfortunes that had be- 
 
 sations with him, M. de la Fayette discovered his error, and 
 refused to take any part in public affairs, though pressed by 
 Bonaparte and his friends to accept the senatorial dignity. 
 His restrictive vote against the consulship for life broke off 
 all further communication between him and Bonaparte, and 
 occasioned that noble letter to the first consul which was 
 found in the papers of Mr. Fox, and published in London, 
 several years since. On the return of Napoleon from the Isle 
 of Elba, his brother Joseph solicited M. de la Fayette to ac- 
 cept the dignity of the peerage, and assured him that the 
 Emperor had placed him the first on the list. M. de la 
 Fayette answered, that if he again appeared on the public 
 scene it must be as representative of the people ; and, having 
 thus escaped being a peer, was named in his own department 
 member of the house of representatives. 
 
134 NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 fallen the army, concluded with the information 
 that the Emperor' had named a commission of 
 three of his ministers to treat for peace with the 
 allies. 
 
 The members, who were led to suppose, from 
 the former part of this message, that Bonaparte's 
 desire of being released from all further cares of 
 government would necessarily follow the avowal 
 of his defeat, were astonished, in their turn, at 
 this most lame and impotent conclusion. They 
 expressed themselves in no measured terms upon 
 the project of the Emperor's treating for peace, 
 when he himself was the only obstacle to its ac- 
 complishment. " Give us," said they, " some idea 
 of your new policy. What are your plans, your 
 combinations ? Europe has declared war against 
 Napoleon alone. Let us have no secrets. Shew 
 us the depth of the abyss, we shall find means to 
 fathom it ; but how can the Emperor pretend to 
 save the country ? " 
 
 Lucien, who on the 18th Brumaire had extri- 
 cated his brother from a mauvais pas with the legis- 
 lative body, was now without success. His 
 invocations to public generosity, to their late 
 oaths of fidelity, his accusations of levity against 
 the French nation, were urged in vain. The in- 
 dignation of the assembly ran high. " We have 
 
NAERATIVE OF EVENTS IK FRANCE. 135 
 
 followed your brother," said M. de la Fayette, 
 " across the sands of Africa, the deserts of Russia ; 
 the bones of our countrymen, that whiten the 
 plains in almost every quarter of Europe, bear 
 witness to our patience and fidelity ; it is our 
 perseverance that we have to regret, and the 
 blood of three millions of Frenchmen. Go, tell 
 your brother that we will trust him no longer ; we 
 will ourselves undertake the salvation of our 
 country." 
 
 Lucien and the ministers had nothing to reply to 
 the gravity of these observations. They had them- 
 selves anticipated the sentiments of the assembly, 
 and returned to conjure the Emperor to send in 
 his resignation. It was resolved, at the same 
 time, to convene this night a great council, at the 
 Tuileries, of all the ministers, of several counsel- 
 lors of state, and of five members of each house of 
 legislature. The president of this council was the 
 Archi-chancelier Cambacer^s. The Emperor was 
 not present. Various propositions were made 
 respecting the modes of defence, and of raising 
 supplies. The principal object of the meeting 
 seemed to be evaded or forgotten, when M. de la 
 Fayette declared, that, in adopting all that had 
 been proposed for the defence of the country, the 
 first object, that of the abdication, had not yet 
 
136 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FEANCE. 
 
 been mentioned ; he then moved that the council, 
 headed by the president, should present itself to 
 the Emperor and make the demand. This motion 
 did not succeed. The council broke up at three 
 in the morning, and the ministers, with the coun- 
 sellors of state and some deputies, repaired to the 
 palace of the Elys^e. The ministers were press- 
 ing for the abdication, and particularly the Duke 
 d'Otrante, M. Constant, and two of the represen- 
 tatives. Napoleon persisted in his refusal till 
 he learnt, by one of his counsellors, that if the 
 abdication was not sent to the chamber within 
 an hour, M. de la Fayette was determined to 
 move for his expulsion. The respite of an hour 
 was given for reflection, and the assembly adjourned 
 for an hour ; at the end of that time it resumed its 
 sitting, and received the formal abdication of the 
 imperial throne. 
 
 It was now that Bonaparte began to feel that 
 the disgrace inflicted on him at Waterloo was 
 about to receive its consummation at Paris, since 
 the only expiation of his unskilfulness as general 
 was the resignation of his crown as emperor. He 
 was at length convinced that he could only pre- 
 vent his expulsion by voluntary abdication. This 
 seeming act of virtue was sent to each of the 
 chambers, as a sacrifice he made to the peace 
 
NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 137 
 
 of France and the hatred of Europe, with the 
 condition that the legislative bodies proclaimed 
 his son, Napoleon the Second, Emperor of the 
 French. 
 
 The assembly, without attending to the article 
 respecting the young Napoleon, accepted solemnly, 
 in the name of the French people, the abdication 
 of Napoleon Bonaparte, and named a deputation, 
 composed of the president, the vice-president, and 
 the secretaries, to offer him the thanks of the 
 chamber. It was an interesting spectacle, said 
 one of the deputation to me, to behold those nine 
 representatives of the people, invested only with 
 the force of public opinion and the decree of the 
 assembly, entering the palace of this man against 
 whom a million of soldiers were in arms, who had 
 given orders to all the sovereigns of the continent, 
 who still commanded the French armies, the guard 
 which surrounded him, and a numerous party in 
 the fauxbourgs, to announce to him that he was 
 no longer emperor, and that the nation resumed 
 the government. He received the deputation, 
 surrounded by all the great officers of his house- 
 hold and those of his guard, with all the pomp 
 suitable to the imperial dignity of which he was 
 about to be deprived. His figure and deportment 
 were calm ; he said that a great disaster had hap- 
 
138 KAKEATIVE OP EVENTS IN FKANCE. 
 
 pened, but that the territory was yet untouched ; 
 he spoke of the sacrifice which he made, at the 
 desire of the chamber, to public circumstances 
 and to his tenderness for his son. The president 
 observed to him, in a respectful tone, that the 
 assembly, whose decree he had just read, had not 
 deliberated on that part of his message, but that 
 he would render an account of his Majesty's 
 observations. " I thought so," said Bonaparte, 
 aside, to his brother, — "I did not suppose they 
 could do it ; " but resuming, he answered, " Tell 
 the assembly that I recommend to it my son." 
 The deputation withdrew, still observing the most 
 respectful ceremonies. 
 
 What a crowd of reflexions present themselves 
 on this memorable interview between Bonaparte, 
 La Fayette, and Lanjuinais ! The deputation, on 
 their return to the assembly, demanded that the 
 liberty and life of Napoleon should be put under 
 the protection of the French nation. It was 
 generally believed that he would depart immedi- 
 ately for the United States. It is certain that, 
 had he lost no time, he might at this moment 
 have escaped on board a small neutral vessel, in 
 which a hiding-place was prepared ; but he must 
 have fled with only one servant. He hesitated, 
 and loitered till it was too late, and, happily for 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN I-RANCE. 139 
 
 the repose of mankind, his destiny led him to 
 the Bellerophon. 
 
 Bonaparte had passed through the scene with 
 the deputation of the legislative body with dignity, 
 and would have left an impression of respect had 
 it not been known that he was still acting a part. 
 He had resigned the place of emperor, but that of 
 dictator still occupied his mind. He had, on his 
 arrival, interrogated on this subject a distinguished 
 person, who was one of his last conquests, as he 
 deemed it, from the popular party. " Can I not 
 march upon the two chambers, and proclaim my- 
 self dictator ? The deputies will do nothing, and 
 there is no time to be lost." " Your Majesty may 
 physically execute at this moment what you inti- 
 mate," replied his counsellor, " but be assured 
 your power will not last three days," — alleging 
 reasons for his opinion which Napoleon found 
 unanswerable. But for some days after his resig- 
 nation the idea of the dictatorship and of the 
 opinions he had heard from his counsellor seemed 
 still to haunt his mind ; and when the cries of 
 the F^der^s of " Vive Napoleon ! " from without 
 the palace, reached his ear, he was heard repeat- 
 ing to himself, "It would be but for three days ! " 
 
 The condition of the direct nomination of Napo- 
 leon's son to the succession was eluded as dexter- 
 
140 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 ously as possible by the deputies, the house pass- 
 ing to the order of the day, as a son naturally 
 succeeded to his father, but stating at the same 
 time by the reporter that the safety of twenty 
 millions could not be put in competition with the 
 fortune of a child. The assembly thought it im- 
 prudent to come to a more open declaration, 
 Bonaparte, though clothed with no legal authority, 
 was still at his palace in the Champs-Elys^es, 
 surrounded by soldiers, mingled with his old allies 
 the mob, who saluted him with their licentious 
 cries of " Vive I'Empereur ! give us arms, we are 
 ready to support our emperor." These effusions 
 of popular sympathy operated on the sensibility 
 of the fallen hero. The ex-Emperor testified his 
 gratitude by humble greetings, and a certain 
 number of arms were distributed to the populace. 
 The assembly meanwhile convoked the chiefs of 
 the legions of the national guard, and these 
 citizen-soldiers formed a formidable and numerous 
 phalanx around them. 
 
 The debates of the upper house, called the 
 Chamber of Peers, were not carried on with the 
 same order and decent observance. An opposi- 
 tion arose from a quarter least expected. The 
 man who was already consigned to infamy for his 
 treason against the king. Marshal Ney, and who 
 
NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 141 
 
 had commanded the right wing of the army at 
 Waterloo, rose in his place, and gave what is 
 called the lie direct to the whole of Carnot's 
 favourable report respecting the state of the 
 army. The ordinary gravity of this house was 
 also interrupted by one of Napoleon's generals, 
 La Bedoyere, the first ofiicer who had joined him 
 on his landing and had delivered up Grenoble. 
 Some hesitation in the hovise had been discerned 
 by him respecting the condition exacted in Napo- 
 leon's act of abdication, that of the nomination of 
 young Napoleon as emperor. " If," said this 
 oflBcer, "you don't acquiesce, the Emperor will 
 draw his sword, and he will yet be unsparing of 
 blood. The nation is unworthy of his alFection 
 towards it." The speech of this raving Seid was 
 answered calmly by Massena, " You are much' too 
 young, M. le G^n^ral." M. Lameth added, " that 
 M. La Bedoyere had forgotten he was no longer 
 in the guard-house." Nothing further was de- 
 cided respecting the succession of Napoleon the 
 Second. 
 
 It being impossible to carry on business without 
 an executive government, and not unlikely that 
 Napoleon might repent of his abdication, five per- 
 sons were named to take the supreme command. 
 These were M. Fouche, Duke d'Otrante, minister 
 
142 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 of the police -; M. Carnot, the minister for home 
 affairs ; M. de Caulincourt, the minister of the for- 
 eign department; the General Grenier, and M. 
 Quinette, members of the upper house. The first 
 operation of this commission was the nomination 
 of five persons to go and demand peace from the 
 allies. No great hopes were entertained of the 
 success of their mission, of the propriety of which, 
 however, no one doubted ; since the allies had de- 
 clared that it was not against France that they 
 had made war, but against Bonaparte only, who 
 was no longer the chief of the empire. 
 
 The legislative assemblies were not yet com- 
 pletely aroused from their stupor, when fear or 
 prudence had led them to admit or pass over 
 Napoleon's nomination of his son for his successor, 
 as the condition of his abdication. They were yet, 
 the great majority at least, much exhilarated 
 with the incident of the imperial resignation ; al- 
 though they still doubted the sincerity of this 
 descent, as they knew how well skilled he was in 
 trick and stratagem. When the news of the 
 death of Commodus was brought to the Roman 
 senate, those Conscript Fathers doubted the truth 
 of the event ; but when assured that the tyrant 
 really existed no longer, they were tumultuous in 
 the expressions of their indignation against him. 
 
NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN PRANCE. 143 
 
 devoting his name to everlasting infamy, and 
 ordering the exposure of his remains on the thea- 
 tre of the gladiators. Commodus was dead, and 
 could not retaliate ; but Bonaparte was still alive, 
 and at his well guarded palace in Paris. The 
 prudent apprehensions of the degraded Roman 
 senate may perhaps form an apology for the 
 French senate, whose tyrant had not yet paid the 
 forfeit of life ; and though he had witnessed 
 the sacrifice of his imperial guard, there yet re- 
 mained a number sufficient of these minions of 
 despotism, added to the stupid fanaticism of some 
 corps of regular troops and the Paris mob, to make 
 him formidable when the caprice of resuming his 
 power should seize him. There were many who 
 longed to treat his memory with as little ceremony 
 as those Romans did their fallen tyrants ; but they 
 prudently pondered on the maxim of Marius, ap- 
 propriated by Barrere, " Qu'il n'y a que les morts 
 qui ne reviennent pas ; '' and felt that it was not 
 impossible that Bonaparte might again start up as 
 emperor. 
 
LETTER XI. 
 
 July, 1815. 
 
 The Parisians had been amused during the two 
 last months in fortifying the heights round Paris. 
 The national guard had been put in requisition for 
 that purpose, each battalion in its turn to lend 
 their aid to this work of fortification. The Bona- 
 partists had not forgotten the ardour with which 
 the Parisians of all ages, and even of each sex, had 
 lent their aid to prepare the Champ de Mars for 
 the first great federation, and they hoped to call 
 forth the same enthusiasm. But all that now 
 passed was a miserable mockery, indeed, of the 
 first bright moments of the Revolution. France 
 was no longer a nation rousing itself like " the 
 strong man from sleep, and shaking his invincible 
 locks ! " All the noble promises of liberty had 
 proved faithless, all its altars had been profaned. 
 
 Many of the national guard refused to share the 
 labours of the spade, and those who went to the 
 barriers, after working a few hours and' partaking 
 together of a convivial repast, usually returned home 
 with their backs strained by this new exercise. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 145 
 
 The services, however, of the national guard 
 claim the eternal gratitude of their fellow-citizens. 
 They have stood in the breach, and rescued us 
 alike from military and popular oppression ; they 
 have nobly earned the civic wreath ; they have 
 been the tutelar guardians of our hearths ; their 
 patriot virtues have acquired the respect even of 
 strangers; conquering armies have chosen them 
 for their auxiliaries in the maintenance of public 
 tranquillity and order ; and their bleeding country, 
 in the hour of danger, has not leaned in vain upon 
 their shield. 
 
 The allied armies now drew near the city. 
 Their approach had been concealed as long as 
 possible ; we had heard of plenipotentiaries, sus- 
 pension of arms, the defection of Austria from the 
 other coalised powers, the arrival of a considerable 
 part of the grand army in good order. But the 
 reign of subterfuge and deception was at an end. 
 The answer to all the eloquent declamations of the 
 Bonapartists was the arrival of crowds of flying 
 peasantry seeking refuge within the walls of the 
 capital. The experience of the foregoing year 
 had taught us what was meant by these sad rustic 
 processions, which in the same manner had pre- 
 ceded the memorable day of battle, — disastrous 
 images of a country in distress, — the long line of 
 
 10 
 
146 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 carts which followed one another in slow succes- 
 sion, each filled with the household wealth of the 
 owner, who himself helped to drag on his wearied 
 horse. On these rustic vehicles were placed not 
 what Belvidera calls " the massy domestic orna- 
 ments," but old family utensils, — worn mattresses 
 and chairs and tables in decay, — and a little 
 store of hay and corn, provision for the horse, and 
 a cow which followed tied behind the cart. 
 
 The fugitives were fewer in number than on the 
 same occasion last year. The country people had 
 learnt that the invading army was that of the 
 English, and they had heard that the English 
 troops are an exception to the general practice 
 of plunder and devastation ; that they never 
 ill-treated the inhabitants ; that they paid liber- 
 ally for what they wanted, and caressed the lit- 
 tle children. The excellent reputation they had 
 acquired last year in the South had flown over 
 France to the North ; and it was well known 
 that wherever the English passed, the unarmed 
 inhabitant had nothing to fear. A friend of mine 
 wrote to me from the South, " Lord Wellington 
 will soon pass near our chateau, but we shall re- 
 main in perfect security, — all is safe where they 
 appear." Many of the peasants who had ventured 
 to remain in their dwellings had suffered cruelly 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 147 
 
 from the merciless rapine of the French, and were 
 perhaps disposed to exclaim, " Save me from my 
 friends ! " They were filled with astonishment 
 when they beheld an armed host, four abreast, 
 pause when about to enter the field of wheat, in 
 crossing the country, and changing their order 
 proceed in Indian files, one by one, along the nar- 
 row beaten path, careful to do no injury by tread- 
 ing on the corn, and avoid " bruising the flowerets 
 of the valley with hostile paces." 
 
 In a little village called Vertu, two leagues 
 from Paris, the English troops on their arrival told 
 the inhabitants they must dislodge immediately ; 
 but, to the great surprize of the peasants, the sol- 
 diers set themselves to work and helped them to 
 remove their little furniture, carefully avoiding to 
 break or injure anything by precipitation. " Comme 
 ils sont bons ! comme ils sont bons ! " was repeated 
 a thousand times by these poor people on their en- 
 tering Paris. What a proud tribute of praise for 
 a conquering general is contained in those simple 
 words issuing from the lips of the vanquished! 
 What an additional lustre does virtue shed over 
 those high achievements which fill so bright a 
 page in the records of military renown, and which 
 have had so signal an influence on the destinies of 
 the world ! The name of Wellington was never 
 
148 NAKEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 pronounced without veneration by his enemies, or 
 the pride of patriotic exultation by his friends, — 
 he who has softened the terror of his arms with 
 such a benignant ray of moral glory, and has 
 taught his victorious bands, amidst the ardour of 
 conquest, the avarice of blood. Others may have 
 deserved the wreaths of courage, but who has ever 
 blended them, like him, with the pure and white 
 palms of philanthropy? Others may claim the 
 praise of able generals, but to Wellington will be 
 ascribed the denomination of the Great Captain. 
 He has exalted valour by an inseparable and sub- 
 lime connection with mercy ; and to the history 
 of his exploits may be applied, what the celebrated 
 Mrs. Montagu observed of the writings of the 
 great English moralist, that " an angel might give 
 the imprimatur." 
 
 What a singular picture did that part of the 
 boulevard present where the fugitives arrived ! 
 The passage of the Porte St. Martin was almost 
 entirely obstructed by the crowd of Parisians, 
 mingled with the peasantry and their cortege of 
 wearied animals. On one side of the boulevard 
 the people were struggling for admission to the 
 celebrated new piece of the " Pie Voleuse," 
 the " Thievish Magpie ; " on the other, a little 
 black horse dragged along the cart, or ambulant 
 
NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FEANCE. 149 
 
 shop, which ever since the departure of Louis 
 XVIII. has been established on the boulevard for 
 the sale of M. Carnot's famous pamphlet on Regi- 
 cide, once sold at six francs, and now offered to 
 the public at the moderate and reduced price of 
 twelve sous a copy. Farther on, a portion of the 
 remains of the imperial guard were marching 
 along, " pride in their port, defiance in their eye," 
 thundering out "Vive I'Empereur!" and one of 
 them striking with his sabre a poor old man who 
 had the imprudence to articulate, in a feeble voice, 
 " Mes amis, criez Vive le Roi ! " Five or six 
 persons on this day fell the victims of this forbid- 
 den exclamation by the hands of those pretorian 
 bands. The small number of them that survived 
 the battle of Waterloo had returned with rage in 
 their bosoms at their defeat, and despair at the 
 abdication of their chief. They well knew that 
 all they had done and suffered found no answer- 
 ing voice of sympathy from the people of Paris, 
 except amongst the lowest multitude. In general, 
 the mass of the Parisians, rankled by calamity, 
 felt far more horror for the tyrant than pity for 
 his voluntary victims; and although no people 
 have more sensibility than the French to the 
 splendour of military achievements, yet now, in 
 the bitterness of their hearts for the evils they 
 
150 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 had undergone and those with which they were 
 menaced, they might well be permitted to ob- 
 serve of the heroical courage of the imperial 
 guard, " Curse on their virtues, they 've undone 
 their country ! " \ 
 
 Bonaparte, after several disagreeable alterca- 
 tions with some of his late ministers, now become 
 his masters, withdrew from Paris to Malmaison. 
 His continuance at Paris had begun to excite con- 
 siderable alarm. " The snake was scotched, not 
 killed." Old Napoleon was yet alive for his son. 
 These apprehensions had been increased by the 
 daily entrance of corps of regular troops into the 
 capital, with the accustomed cries of " Vive I'Em- 
 pereur ! " and of whose concurrence Bonaparte 
 was assured whenever he might think it expedient 
 to exert his imperial energies. Rumours of men- 
 acing tendency were spread abroad ; the means of 
 evil were still in Napoleon's power, and he would 
 not neglect the occasion. The provisionary gov- 
 ernment, who were too highly interested in his 
 movements not to watch them with an attentive 
 eye, invited him, in terms that could not be mis- 
 understood, to withdraw from Paris. During a 
 few days previous to his departure, he appeared 
 meditative and much employed ; it was however 
 on his own personal affairs. His attention was 
 
NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 151 
 
 turned to the new world whither he was going. 
 You may perhaps suppose that the examples of 
 those Roman heroes who could not outlive their 
 honourable defeat on the plain of Philippi might 
 have occurred to his remembrance ; or he of 
 Pontus, who, though out of the reach of Pompey, 
 sought no further refuge than the Cimerian Bos- 
 phorus by the double instrument of poison and 
 the sword. You may imagine that he was reflect- 
 ing on the friendly offers of his faithful Mameluke, 
 who, on his abdication the preceding year at Fon- 
 tainebleau, stood before him with his newly-sharp- 
 ened scimetar, saying that he waited his orders to 
 perform the last duty. The examples of Cato, of 
 Utica, of Hannibal, and of so many other illus- 
 trious personages, you may believe glided through 
 his mind. No ! Bonaparte's thoughts were remote 
 from these heathenish deeds of greatness; his 
 meditations were of a more sober and familiar 
 nature. The preparations with which he was 
 busied at this eventful moment, "big with his 
 fate," were those of perkal and perfumery ; and 
 his discourse was of the cut, size, and quality of 
 various kinds of shirts, and the quantity of poma- 
 tums and perfumes which he judged necessary for 
 his expedition. The inventory of those objects 
 which he has left behind him is not the least 
 
152 NAREA.TIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 curious fragment found among the collection of 
 his state papers. It appears that no detail was 
 omitted or neglected for the voyage he was pre- 
 paring to make towards the new world, in the 
 well-stored cabin of a light frigate ; and as to his 
 return to our hemisphere, he left that affair at 
 present to his destin. He had in the mean time 
 written to the government from his retreat at Mal- 
 maison, and solicited to be named generalissimo 
 of the army to defend Paris and save the country ; 
 but as the government did not think proper to 
 confide either the defence of Paris or the salvation 
 of the country to his exertions, his demand was 
 rejected. 
 
 Relieved from the task of governing the world, 
 Bonaparte cheered the monotony of his retreat by 
 conversations not only with the military, but with 
 some men of letters and artists who visited him at 
 Malmaison, and the chief topic of his discourse with 
 those persons was the errors and abuses of his 
 own government; but in discussing the late 
 events he always spoke in the third person, and 
 as if he himself had no immediate concern in those 
 operations. " The Emperor," said he, " appears 
 to have acted in this instance from such and such 
 motives, and in that to obtain such results ; but 
 he did wrong in both instances. The Emperor 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 153 
 
 trusted to information that was unfounded. He 
 was too precipitate, or too tardy; he made mis- 
 takes which he might easily have avoided, and 
 calculated upon mistakes of his adversaries which 
 they did not commit." 
 
 Bonaparte was in the vein of being commu- 
 nicative ; and happening to overhear a speedy 
 answer given by a professional man to a question of 
 an importunate neighbour respecting the state of 
 his wife, Bonaparte abandoned his critique on the 
 Emperor's errors, and began an harangue of three 
 quarters of an hour, and without discontinuing, on 
 the obstetrical art. Then resuming the tone of 
 the Emperor he declaimed against the present 
 practice, that it was his intention to have pro- 
 posed various ameliorations in the schools, some 
 of which he mentioned. Thus, in imitation of a 
 famous warrior of antiquity ' almost as great a 
 destroyer of the human race as himself, and 
 who had written a treatise on the secret of dis- 
 eases or the art of healing, Bonaparte seemed to 
 have had the project of writing on this profes- 
 sional subject. He might, perhaps, have been no 
 less dangerous to mankind in its embryo state as a 
 surgeon than he had been to adults as a general. 
 
 The distance which the ex-Eraperor had placed 
 between himself and the Parisians was not deemed 
 
 ^ Mithridates. 
 
154 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 sufficient. The government invited him again to 
 quit his Tusculum and repair to his destination at 
 Eochefort, where the frigates awaited him. Na- 
 poleon's departure from Malmaison was an assur- 
 ance to the higher classes of their personal safety, 
 and who had dreaded nothing more than the 
 defence of Paris by him and his army. Their 
 defeat beyond the walls of Paris was too probable, 
 and would have drawn on the destruction of the 
 city, which would have been inevitably pillaged 
 by its defenders if it were spared by the allies. 
 The allegiance of the Parisians was transferred to 
 the Duke of Wellington, as their only protector. 
 The entrance of the English army was anxiously 
 looked for, and it was a subject of murmurs that 
 the commander of Paris delayed their deliverance. 
 The legislature, in the mean time, was earn- 
 estly occupied in fabricating a new constitution, 
 which was to be offered to the acceptance of who- 
 ever should take the sovereign authority ; and this 
 was the standing business, or order of the day. 
 Commissaries were occasionally dispatdhed from 
 the chamber to exchange compliments with the 
 troops without the walls, or, in the old civic 
 language, to fraternize the deputies proclaiming 
 Napoleon the Second, while the troops adhered to 
 Napoleon the First, and cried long live that 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 155 
 
 emperor, with whom only they were acquainted. 
 A few of the imperial guards who had a better 
 comprehension of the affair, understanding that 
 their old emperor no longer commanded them, 
 having abdicated, deemed it wiser to withdraw 
 than fight for they knew not whom. Being repri- 
 manded by their colonel, on the boulevards in. 
 Paris, for their desertion of their post, they 
 answered sternly that they had too much honour 
 to desert, " mais nous avons abdiqu^." 
 
 The French army around Paris, notwithstand- 
 ing the publicity of the imperial abdication, ap- 
 peared to doubt of its truth. They declared that 
 it was some trick of state, and that they knew 
 their emperor too well to believe he would resign. 
 This reminds me of the German, who, when a 
 report was spread through Germany several years 
 since that Bonaparte was dead, exclaimed, " Bona- 
 parte mort ! Vous le connaissez fort peu, — il 
 s'en gardera bien." 
 
 Napoleon had dispatched a farewel letter to 
 the French army under the walls of Paris, dated 
 from Malmaison, the 25th June, 1815. This letter 
 was addressed to the heroes of the army, and no 
 doiibt the lowest drummer fancied he saw his own 
 name on the direction. " Soldiers," said Napoleon, 
 " in yielding to the necessity which separates me 
 
156 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 from the brave French army, I am confident that 
 by its eminent services it will merit that praise 
 from its country which is not refused even by its 
 enemies. Soldiers, I shall follow your steps, 
 though absent. I know every corps, and not one 
 of them will gain any signal advantage without 
 my having kept an account of the bravery it shall 
 have shewn. We have both been calumniated, 
 you and myself. Soldiers, a few more efforts, 
 and the coalition is dissolved. Napoleon will be 
 grateful for the strokes you are aboiit to inflict. 
 Save the honour and the independence of the 
 French. Be to the last the men I have known 
 you for twenty years, and you will be invincible." 
 
 This letter of adieu was distributed to the army. 
 It intimated absence ; but the absent might re- 
 turn, of which himself was the proof. That he 
 would return they believed firmly, and had his 
 death been announced they would probably have 
 expected his resurrection. Even the belief of 
 his absence was by no means general; it was 
 imagined that he was lurking in some shape or 
 other in their ranks, and that he would stand up 
 in his own whenever the great day of general 
 contest should take place. 
 
 The first attack made by the allied armies was 
 to the north of Paris, and was confined to skir- 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 157 
 
 mishes and distant cannonade. At three in the 
 morning, on the 30 th June, I was awakened 
 by the first roar of cannon, not as it is usually 
 heard in popular cities, — the sign of victory, 
 the symbol of public festivity, but the harbinger 
 of woe, the messenger of death. The first cannon 
 was fired from the heights of Belleville, which 
 nearly front my window. I arose immediately. 
 What contrasts the scene presented, and what 
 dissonant sounds struck my ear ! The sky was 
 tinged with the first soft colours of the morning, 
 and the hills and gardens covered with the fresh- 
 est verdure, except where the Butte of Chaumont 
 on the right and the heights of Montmartre on the 
 left presented their formidable artillery, which 
 was at that moment pouring forth its horrible 
 contents ; while, at intervals of silence, the note of 
 earliest birds floated along the air, and seemed to 
 reproach mankind for this disturbance of nature. 
 Strongly impressed with the events of the last 
 year, I was too much alarmed at the probable 
 events of the present. On the 30th March, 1814, 
 I had been awakened also, at the first dawn of 
 day, by the roar of cannon placed on the very 
 same theatre, — that of the hills which overlook 
 my windows. The cannonade on that day was 
 long, loud, and tremendous. The vollies of artil- 
 
158 NAEEATIVE OF EVEKTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 lery were almost incessant during twelve hours. 
 Shells had torn up the gardens around us, and our 
 only refuge was to retire behind the walls of the 
 house, which we hoped were too thick for cannon 
 balls to penetrate. That day had indeed been 
 awful, till, at six in the evening, the capitulation 
 being announced, the tumult of battle gave place 
 to the sounds of music ; and some of the soldiers 
 of the French army, and those of the allies, joined 
 the nymphs of the fauxbourg in the sprightly 
 dance, forgetful, alas ! of their fallen comrades. 
 
 The attack on the 30th June, 1815, was far less 
 formidable. It was chiefly confined to musketry, 
 and slackened very sensibly at six in the morn- 
 ing. Notwithstanding the fortifications on the 
 heights, the city might have been entered on this 
 side, but the slaughter must have been excessive ; 
 and the Duke of Wellington, who knew well the 
 ground around Paris, made himself master of the 
 best positions, and no longer attempting an en- 
 trance on the north, the allied army drew off by 
 the river towards Neuilly and St. Germain. 
 
 The musketry, which had continued in the plain 
 of St. Denis, ceased altogether at about three in 
 the afternoon. I then went on the boulevard ; 
 all the gay shops that enliven that brilliant walk 
 were closely shut up, and what sinister presages 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 159 
 
 might be read in every visage of the crowd ! On 
 examining the hostile passions pourtrayed in 
 every countenance, it seemed as if the assembled 
 multitudes waited only the signal for civil war. 
 We appeared to be treading on a mine ready to 
 receive the spark of explosion. The swarms of 
 the Fauxbourgs St. Antoine and St. Marceau were 
 let loose. They had taken no part in public 
 events since their time of active citizenship in the 
 days of terror ; but their dormant patriotism was 
 now awakened, bribed or whipped up, and they 
 issued from their retreats with the hope of being 
 active in some extraordinary scene. Many " a 
 smith was there, swallowing a taylor's news." 
 Some of the figures in the group were Les Forts 
 de la Halle, — corn and coal-porters. They had 
 formed a part of the federative deputation of the 
 two fauxbourgs to the Emperor, of late styled 
 " I'Empereur de la Canaille," and offered their mili- 
 tary services. The Emperor, on account of their 
 enormous round white and black hats, had pleas- 
 antly named them " Ses mousquetaires noirs et 
 blancs." These groups were composed of women 
 as well as men, for nothing ever passes in Paris, 
 great or minute, without the interference of 
 women ; and some might have claimed the palm 
 from the other sex, in clamour and vociferation. 
 
160 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 The French commander-in-chief, who was the 
 minister of war, had taken his headquarters at La 
 Villette, just without the walls of Paris. From 
 thence, as the military business of the preceding 
 day was of no great importance, a correspondence 
 was established by the minister and his stafE with 
 the Chamber of Deputies, and by himself with the 
 Duke of Wellington. " Representatives of the peo- 
 ple," said the minister, " we are in presence of the 
 enemy. We swear before you and the whole 
 world, that we will defend to our latest breath the 
 cause of our independence and the honour of the 
 nation. They wish to force the Bourbons upon us. 
 The Bourbons give no pledge to the nation, &c." 
 This address was signed by Davoust and fourteen 
 generals. The letter to the Duke of Wellington 
 contained a formal demand of a cessation of hos- 
 tilities, since the object of the war, Napoleon's 
 abdication, was accomplished. The Duke of 
 Wellington's object was not yet accomplished, 
 which was that of the possession of Paris with the 
 least effusion of blood possible. He continued 
 therefore to invest the city by establishing posts at 
 the distance of ten or twelve miles, — at Versailles, 
 St. Germain's, to the west of Paris, — taking suc- 
 cessive possession of the heights to the hills of Meu- 
 don, which overlook the town. These manoeuvres 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 161 
 
 were effectuated, with more or less interruption 
 by the French, during the three days that fol- 
 lowed that of the first attack in the plain of St. 
 Denis. 
 
 While these formidable armies were in contest 
 without the walls for the possession of Paris, 
 various were the alarms and terrors which agi- 
 tated its inhabitants. At length, however, the 
 report was generally circulated that the allies 
 were about to turn the siege into a blockade ; that 
 we had nothing to fear from pillage, and that we 
 should only be starved. The arrival, however, of 
 the accustomed provisions the next day, through 
 the midst of the enemy's camp, led the Parisians 
 to apply to Wellington the well known trait of 
 Henry the Fourth, when he besieged Paris. 
 
 On the 1st July the scene on the boulevard 
 was quite changed since that of yesterday. The 
 Parisians expected that the enemy would have 
 entered on the first attack, and they were tired of 
 the delay. They had heard the cannon at inter- 
 vals during twenty-four hours ; yesterday this 
 was a novelty, but to-day they felt as if accus- 
 tomed to be besieged, and returned to their usual 
 avocations and pleasures. Yesterday the theatres 
 were shut, which was indeed a striking signal of 
 distress in Paris ; to-day, though the great theatres 
 
 11 
 
162 KAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN" FRANCE. 
 
 were closed, the " Thievish Magpie " resumed his 
 triumph at the theatre of the Porte St. Martin; 
 and that of La Gaiete prepared for the public 
 amusement the bombardment of Algiers, a melo- 
 drame fitted to fill up the interval of the great 
 melodrame of national events. The barriers of 
 Paris were prudently shut, and the field of battle 
 without the walls was occupied only by military. 
 Had not the Parisian women been refused egress, 
 curiosity might perhaps have got the better of 
 fear; they would have risked a wound in the 
 hope that it would not disfigure their faces, and 
 the plains of St. Denis might have been strewed, 
 not only with wrecks of cabriolets and pleasure- 
 carts, but with hats, caps, and other articles of 
 millinery baggage. 
 
 In the evening the Italian Boulevard was 
 crowded as usual with the gay tribes who, seated 
 on double rows of chairs with an interval for the 
 walkers, pass the latter part of their summer even- 
 ings inhaling the dust in good company. This 
 evening, the walk as usual had its itinerant band 
 of music, its ices in the adjoining cafes, and all its 
 accustomed attractions. 
 
 It may be observed that the Italian Boulevard, 
 so long the haunt of the fashionable world of 
 Paris, has undergone various changes of name 
 
NAKKATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 163 
 
 during the course of the Revolution. In the first 
 years of that event this boulevard was denomi- 
 nated, or was rather stigmatized, by the appella- 
 tion of Coblentz, on account of its being frequented 
 by that class of society of which a great part had 
 emigrated to that place. On the departure of 
 Louis the Eighteenth and the return of Bonaparte, 
 Coblentz was subdivided into the Boulevard de 
 Gand (Ghent) and the Boulevard de I'ile d'Elbe. 
 The former is at the moment I am writing bril- 
 liant, with a thousand wreaths of fresh-blown lilies 
 twined round every hat, while the latter, that of 
 Elba, is abandoned to the faction of the scarlet 
 pink and the violet. But to return to the evening 
 of the first of July. The amusements of the 
 boulevard were occasionally varied by the march 
 of troops, the beating to arras, the swift pace of 
 couriers, the sound of cannon at intervals ; and 
 sometimes all gaiety was suspended by the sad 
 spectacle of the wounded victims of those skir- 
 mishes, writhing in agony and covered with blood. 
 I heard one young officer, who was borne along 
 on planks by four of his men, and who was mor- 
 tally wounded, exclaim as he passed, "Achevez- 
 moi, mes amis, achevez-moi ! vous voyez que je 
 meurs. Vive la patrie ! " " Finish me, my friends, 
 put an end to my sufferings ; yes, I see I must 
 
164 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 die ; heaven preserve my country ! '' It may be 
 supposed that in the heat of battle such an affect- 
 ing appeal and such a noble exclamation might 
 pass unnoticed; but here at home, amidst his 
 countrymen and even women, to find no sympa- 
 thy, not " as much pity as would fill the eye of a 
 wren," no tender tear from any female spectator, 
 no interest but that of simple curiosity ! Oh, how 
 the spirit of party shuts up every avenue to the 
 heart ! how it blunts every better feeling, how it 
 renders us cruel and almost wicked ! 
 
 Though no one was permitted to go out of 
 Paris, all were suffered to enter ; and we had fre- 
 quent news of what was passing without. I met 
 a sprightly young captain who told me that he 
 had yesterday been prisoner to the English, and 
 then began the praises of our countrymen. " We 
 thrashed the Prussians," said he, " the day before, 
 and we had fixed a party of about a dozen to 
 breakfast together yesterday. We saw presently 
 that we were pursued by a superior number of 
 English officers. We rode hard, having more 
 appetite for breakfast than fighting. I rose in one 
 stirrup to look around at them : they were still in 
 pursuit. My saddle turned round, and I fell to 
 the ground. Me voiU dans une belle position! 
 They came up, and surrounded me. I thought 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 165 
 
 myself a dead man, for we had not spared the 
 Prussians the preceding day. What was my sur- 
 prize when I saw they were occupied in re-sad- 
 dling my horse ! ' Come, get up, sir, if you are 
 not hurt ; we shall take no advantage of the neg- 
 ligence of your groom ! ' " 
 
 The British and Prussian forces had now drawn 
 nearer Paris, and on Monday, the 3d July, the 
 armies were in presence in the plain of Grenelle, 
 to the southwest of the city. The French army 
 was in possession of the plain, directly under the 
 walls ; the allies were ranged on the heights of 
 the vUlages of Issy, Venvres, and Meudon. The 
 morning passed in preparations and mancBuvres 
 for battle. Many persons went in their carriages 
 to the bridge of Jena, which is the passage to the 
 field. As the carriages arrived near the bridge 
 they were immediately put in requisition ; the 
 persons within were desired to alight, and were 
 told that the battle was about to begin, and that 
 their carriages were borrowed to transport the 
 wounded. In vain did some ladies remonstrate 
 against this military mandate ; in vain they ap- 
 pealed to the commander of the guard. They 
 were told with more truth than gallantry that 
 they were well able to walk ; and it was hinted 
 to them that if they did not withdraw, he might 
 
166 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 be obliged to put them also in requisition to 
 attend the wounded. 
 
 The houses of Chailliot within the city walls 
 overlook the whole of this plain and the surround- 
 ing hills. We were informed that the signal of 
 battle was to be given at four in the afternoon. 
 This was indeed an aweful moment, the horror of 
 which was heightened by the circumstance that 
 the great magazine of powder is placed on the 
 plain of Grenelle ; and that not only the combat- 
 ants on either side might become the victims of 
 an explosion, but the city itself might be covered 
 with ruins. Is there no pitying angel hovering 
 on celestial wing to avert this horrible crash ? If 
 the demon of war must rage along those hostile 
 ranks, spare, oh, spare this devoted city ! Paris 
 belongs not to the French alone ; all Europe is 
 interested in its preservation, in its science, its 
 literature, its arts, all that it contains of the 
 accumulated riches of the civilized world ! The 
 destruction of those treasures, the legacy of genius 
 to future ages, would be less a national loss than 
 a calamity to be deplored by mankind, a crime to 
 be arraigned by posterity ! 
 
 Far removed indeed from such barbarous hostil- 
 ity was the mind of that general who had now led 
 on his triumphant army from the immortal field 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 167 
 
 of Waterloo to the gates of Paris. His first care 
 was to prevent superfluous misery, to pour no use- 
 less drop into the cup of bitterness. He wished 
 to avoid the horrors of a battle ; his volume of 
 glory was too amply filled to want one additional 
 page of splendour. He had already snatched 
 kingdoms from the tyrant's grasp ; he had lately 
 achieved a more difficult task, — he had met the 
 vaunting conqueror of Europe at the head of the 
 most formidable armies ; he had laid his renowned 
 legions in the dust; he had torn the imperial 
 crown from his brow, and driven him from his 
 usurped empire, the capital of which he was about 
 to enter. The Duke of Wellington invited the 
 French generals to a conference ; he leads them 
 through his ranks ; he displays his positions, his 
 plans, his resources; he grants them the necessary 
 time for deliberation : the sword is returned to 
 its scabbard, and Paris is spared ! An honour- 
 able capitulation was granted, and the conqueror 
 received the most glorious recompense of his 
 forbearance, — that of the gratitude of the van- 
 quished. 
 
LETTER XII. 
 
 July, 1815. 
 
 AaREEABLT to the terms of the capitulation 
 signed on the 3d July, the French army began, 
 on the following day, its march beyond the Loire, 
 and the allied armies took possession of the posts 
 and villages nearest the walls of Paris, such as 
 St. Denis, St. Ouen, Clichy, Neuilly, &c. On the 
 second day of the surrender Montmartre, now 
 become a citadel, was put into their power, and 
 on the day following the barriers, or gates of 
 Paris. 
 
 Thus, in the short space of fifteen months, was 
 the capital of France twice besieged, and twice 
 compelled to open its gates and receive the law 
 of the conqueror, — Paris, the triumphant city ; 
 Paris, which the revolutionary orator had sur- 
 named the " Chef lieu du globe ! " How are the 
 mighty fallen ! " Tell it not in Gath, publigh it 
 not in Askalon ! " Where are now the invincible 
 armies of France, so long accustomed to go forth 
 led on by Glory ? Where are those irresistible 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 169 
 
 legions that never fought but to conquer ? What 
 is become of those innumerable bands of heroic 
 youths she had called into the field, and whose 
 brows were bound with all the trophies of intrepid 
 valour ? Where are the heroes of Marengo, of 
 Austerlitz, of Jena, of Wagram ? Alas ! they have 
 been swept away "in the pride of their days" by 
 their merciless leader ! Their mothers are child- 
 less, and their wives are widows ! They have 
 perished on the icy banks of the Borysthenes, or 
 fell buried imder the snows of the desert. In 
 vain, as they hastened from the conflagrated capi- 
 tal of the northern world, the wounded soldier, 
 stretched on the earth, implored the retreating 
 hosts as they passed by to aid him in his distress, 
 to stretch out a hand to raise him up ! In vain, 
 with uplifted eyes, did he remind them of the 
 fraternal ties of comrade, so sacred to the soldier's 
 bosom! The frank and open heart was now 
 steeled by its own misery, absorbed by its own 
 dangers, hardened into selfishness by intolerable 
 sufferings, rendered inexorable by its own despe- 
 ration. The appeal of the expiring soldier for 
 mercy was heard by his comrade, and he passed 
 sullenly on. No one paused to listen to the last 
 groan of those unhappy youths, of whom many, 
 torn for the first time from home, repeated in 
 
170 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 dying the dearest, tenderest of names, — the name 
 of mother ! 
 
 The tranquillity of the city was not disturbed 
 by any triumphal entry, as on the last year. The 
 national guard, who kept the barriers, were re- 
 lieved by foreign troops, and observed the same 
 order and good humour as if these soldiers had 
 been their comrades. I saw about a thousand 
 people assembled at the barriers of the Champs- 
 Elys^es to witness the ceremony ; which they did 
 with a careless air, and seemed disposed to receive 
 the allies, as Catherine of M^dicis did the head of 
 Admiral Coligny, — 
 
 " Sans crainte, sans plaisir, maitresse de ses sens, 
 Et comme accoutum^e k de pareils pr^sens." 
 
 The only disappointment they seemed to feel was 
 that of having no grand spectacle, for "Is this 
 all ? " was everywhere repeated when the guard 
 was exchanged. The martial pomp of last year 
 had furnished a sight memorable indeed, — a 
 procession opened by emperors and kings, with 
 crowds of finely accoutred generals, and closed 
 by two hundred thousand men parading along the 
 boulevards. It must also be observed, that one 
 of the most striking circumstances in the march 
 of this conquering army through the streets of 
 the capital was the modest demeanour of those 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 171 
 
 warlike hosts. They displayed no other sign of 
 victory than a branch of laurel which decorated 
 their hats ; and even this slight badge of success 
 was softened by a white scarf tied round the arm 
 of every soldier, as the proffered pledge of amity 
 and peace. The pretended barbarians of the north 
 seemed to have learnt from the generous mon- 
 archs who led them on a sentiment which belongs 
 to the highest state of civilization and refinement, 
 — that of fearing, even by a look, to insult the 
 feelings of the vanquished. 
 
 You will easily believe that the exclamation 
 above-mentioned, "Is this all ?" and the wish for 
 a grand spectacle, was confined to what is called 
 the " people." Every enlightened Frenchman, 
 every liberal mind, every true lover of his coun- 
 try, wept tears of blood at its cruel, its reiterated 
 humiliation. They had not been guilty of the 
 crime of having conquered Europe, but they were 
 doomed to share the punishment and to deplore 
 its intolerable disgrace, — disgrace felt at every 
 moment, and seen in every object. 
 
 But if the surrender of Paris wounded the feel- 
 ings of national pride, no real patriot had wished 
 to see the city defended. A vain and hopeless 
 defence had been deprecated by all, except by the 
 enraged f^d^r^s of the fauxbourgs, who sought 
 
172 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 for a share in spoil and pillage ; and, I miist add 
 also, by a few strangers who had nothing to risk 
 or to lose. One of these, a celebrated historian, 
 was descanting in a society of the great and the 
 opulent upon the duty of resistance and the igno- 
 miny of surrender, when a friend of mine observed, 
 "On voit que Monsieur n'a rien a Paris que son 
 ^critoire," — " It appears that this gentleman has 
 nothing at Paris but his ink-horn." We have, 
 indeed, too often had occasion to observe that 
 strangers seem to arrive in France as they would 
 go to a melodrame, prepared for extraordinary 
 events, and where the deeper the tragedy the 
 better they are entertained. 
 
 It is difficult to imagine anything more calcu- 
 lated to irritate those who suffer than to observe 
 curiosity substituted for sympathy by those around 
 them, unless it be to hear the author of these 
 calamities extolled in the presence of his victims. 
 Nothing surprized the French more, during the 
 reign of Napoleon, than to hear the declamations 
 of some English visitors in his favour. Those 
 strangers could scarcely guess what an effect such 
 panegyric produced on a Parisian circle, neces- 
 sarily composed, in part at least, of persons who 
 had suffered from imperial tyranny. It required 
 the whole stock of French courtesy to suppress on 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 173 
 
 these occasions the feelings of resentment, and 
 which were the more difficult to stifle from the 
 novelty of the provocation. It must be observed 
 that for some years past no person in France ever 
 praised the Emperor except in speeches to the 
 throne. No minister, senator, or counsellor of 
 state would have ventured to outrage the feelings 
 of society by saying one word in his favour in a 
 private sahn. These personages talked of Napo- 
 leon with quite as little ceremony as others, among 
 their friends ; in mixed company they were silent 
 on this subject, which was considered as an eti- 
 quette belonging to their places, and was there- 
 fore admitted ; but it was well understood that no 
 attempt would be made to speak in his defence. 
 Judge then how the French were astounded when 
 they heard some distinguished Englishmen extol- 
 ling Napoleon the Great, which they did in the 
 French language, but sometimes in English phrase- 
 ology ; and the Parisians, who like better to laugh 
 than to be angry, occasionally avenged themselves 
 by citing pleasantly, in different companies, these 
 neologisms in their English idiom. How, indeed, 
 forbear a sickly smile when we hear newly-arrived 
 strangers, after rolling lightly along the high-road 
 in their travelling carriages, having lolled in a box 
 at the Opera, walked through the gallery of the 
 
174 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 Museum, and eat ices at Tortoni's, gravely assert 
 that there is no public misery in France, and that 
 all is well and prosperous ! The French are the 
 same people, in one respect, as in the days of 
 Mazarin, — they will bear everything, but they 
 ioill laugh. At the time of Napoleon's return from 
 Moscow, after the first burst of their indignation 
 had subsided, one of the amusements of society 
 was inventing or imagining caricatures, which no 
 one dared to trace, but which were described in 
 company as if they really existed. I remember 
 one represented the entry of the French army at 
 Moscow. They were seen advancing towards the 
 gate, which was thrown open, and where stood a 
 Cossack to give them admission, as if it had been 
 the door of a spectacle. The Cossack had a label 
 on his breast, on which was written, " Entrez, 
 entrez. Messieurs ! on ne payera qu'en sortant." 
 
 But to return to our narrative. The allies were 
 now in peaceable possession of Paris. An English 
 and Prussian camp were formed close to each other 
 in the Champs-Elys6es, and the white English 
 tents made a very picturesque appearance among 
 the trees. Here I saw, what to others appeared 
 an army of foreigners, my own countrymen, and 
 heard them talking familiarly my own language. 
 I could not resist holding discourse with these 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 175 
 
 Waterloo heroes, and I hope my French friends 
 will forgive me if I felt a little proud of being an 
 Englishwoman. Several Parisian ladies who were 
 parading in the walk spoke to the sentinels in their 
 lisping English, and were sometimes answered by 
 the smiling soldier with " Eh, Ma'am ? " for not 
 one word did he comprehend of his own language 
 pronounced with a foreign accent. 
 
 In the mean time the legislative body continued 
 its labours upon the new constitution and a Bill 
 of Rights, in conformity to the example of the 
 English at the epocha of their revolution. A 
 deputy had some days before been denounced, by 
 one of his colleagues, for having written and dis- 
 tributed a pamphlet in which, said his accuser, 
 "he had the infamy to abandon the cause of 
 liberty, and recommend the return of the Bour- 
 bons." It was proposed to send him to a mad- 
 house, as being the only place fitted for such an 
 excess of alienation. This curious motion was 
 made in a moment of effervescence after hearing 
 the report of the commissaries sent to the army, 
 who appeared to have cried, " Vive Napoleon 
 deux!" 
 
 This cry, which they misnamed the cry of 
 liberty, was re-vociferated by the Jacobins of the 
 assembly ; and in the fanaticism of the moment it 
 
176 NAKKATIVE OF EVENTS IN FKANCE. 
 
 was proposed to send the offending Bourbonist to 
 Charenton, from which, however, he was saved 
 by the inviolability of his character as deputy. 
 
 The debates of the lower chamber had grown 
 more violent in proportion to the approach of 
 danger; and while the cannon of the besiegers 
 were sounding in the ears of these legislators, they 
 decreed that an address should be made to the allied 
 powers declaring that the Bourbons were rejected 
 as the enemies of the French nation, that no propo- 
 sition of peace which should tend to the re-estab- 
 lishment of this family would be either received or 
 listened to, and that the French were resolved to 
 perish rather than submit to such a yoke. This 
 decree of the chamber was ordered to be dis- 
 tributed to the army. 
 
 The French empire, which had for some days 
 past extended only from Ville Juif to St. Cloud 
 (the distance of Kensington from Bow Bridge), 
 and had since been narrowed to the space between 
 La Chapelle and Vaugirard (the distance of Mile 
 End from Hyde Park Corner), was at this critical 
 moment comprized in Paris, and all without the 
 gates became the Kingdom of France. 
 
 The king had issued a proclamation, dated from 
 Cambray the 28th June, in which he had declared 
 his intention to assemble the two chambers imme- 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 177 
 
 diately. The assembly answered this menace by 
 the promulgation of a Bill of Rights and the new 
 constitution. 
 
 The two hostile camps were now those of the 
 legislative body and of St. Denis, near which the 
 king resided. The allies of the legislative body, 
 which had hitherto been the military, were now 
 succeeded by the mob. These citizens of both 
 sexes besieged the barriers on the inside, which 
 were again closed, and molested and ill-treated all 
 passengers who had not divested themselves of 
 the white cockade. Crowds of citizens had gone to 
 St. Denis to gaze on their returning monarch and 
 hail his approach, having their white cockades in 
 their pockets, which they placed in their hats 
 after passing the barrier, and some had neglected^ 
 or were unwilling to divest themselves of this cher- 
 ished symbol at their return. But at the confines 
 of the French empire they were severely punished 
 for their temerity. A family of my acquaintance 
 had visited St. Denis, decorated with white flowers 
 and white cockades; they disdained to conceal 
 them at their return, and the marks of their guilt 
 were glaring. Their carriage was assailed by vol- 
 lies of stones, and their ears by the cry of " Trai- 
 torous royalists ! Hang them up, h la lanterne ! " 
 &c. The gentleman was already dragged from his 
 
 12 
 
178 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN EEANCE. 
 
 carriage, when the national guard interposed and 
 saved him, his trembling wife, and daughter from 
 the further assaults of the populace. 
 
 This was the last day of the authority of the 
 mob, who, fearless of the English or Prussian 
 bayonets, were vociferous in their cries of " No 
 Bourbons ! Vive la representation nationale ! 
 Vivent la liberty et le pain blanc." ' While the 
 king in his proclamation stated that he had re- 
 entered France to make himself the mediator 
 between the allied armies and the French, the as- 
 sembly decreed a commission of four deputies who 
 were to repair to the headquarters of the sov- 
 ereigns with the declaration of the chambers, and 
 solicit these high and mighty powers to become 
 the mediators between the French and Louis 
 XVIII. M. La Fayette, named member of this 
 commission, assured the assembly that in the three 
 conference's held at Haguenau^ the commissaries 
 
 1 "My comrades," said one of the feddr^s, who had been 
 sent as spy to the enemies' camp, " we are ruined and be- 
 trayed! No more white bread; they swear that we shall 
 have nothing but black. I have seen it with my own eyes ; 
 it is also devilishly hard baked. Vive la liberte et le pain 
 blanc! " The terrified fdd^re had seen the accustomed rations 
 for the allied armies. The cry of the populace was thus 
 changed for the better, since liberty and white bread are 
 more reasonable than liberty and the Emperor. 
 
 ' See Appendix I. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 179 
 
 had received repeated assurances that the allies 
 would not mingle themselves with the internal 
 government. This diplomatic contest was how- 
 ever decided at Paris, with nearly as much promp- 
 titude as that of the field of Waterloo ; for whilst 
 the Chamber of Peers was listening to the report 
 of the committee on the declaration of that of the 
 Deputies respecting the Bill of Rights, and this 
 last chamber was pondering on the advantages of 
 an hereditary peerage as a part of the constitu- 
 tion, a message from the provisionary government 
 was announced, which instructed them, that, 
 although the allied sovereigns had hitherto ap- 
 peared undecided in the choice of a prince to take 
 the crown of France, they had on the preceding 
 day made a declaration by their ministers and 
 generals that all the sovereigns were engaged to 
 replace Louis XVIII. on the throne ; that he was 
 to make his immediate entry into the capital, and 
 that the Tuileries were now in possession of the 
 foreign troops. In this state of things " we have 
 nothing to do," add they, " but to ofEer our vows 
 for the country ; and as our deliberations are no 
 longer free, we deem it our duty to separate." 
 
 The Chamber of Peers heard the sentence of 
 the allied sovereigns, and withdrew from the Lux- 
 embourg in respectful silence. The Commons 
 
180 NAERATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 were not so disposed. They were hearing the 
 report of the commission on some part of the con- 
 stitution which they were about to frame, when 
 the message of the commission of government in- 
 terrupted the speaker at the tribune. The debate 
 on the constitution was then resumed, and the 
 orator terminated his speech by citing and ap- 
 plying to themselves the memorable words of 
 Mirabeau in the assembly at Versailles. 
 
 The assembly, finding the capital surrounded, 
 had on the preceding day made a solemn declara- 
 tion, which might be called its testament, to the 
 French nation.^ After a desultory discussion on 
 their personal situation, the assembly adjourned 
 their meeting to the following morning at an early 
 hour. The deputies repaired to the hall at eight 
 in the morning, and found it surrounded by a con- 
 siderable number of troops, who refused them 
 entrance. They repaired to the house of their 
 president, where they made the following protest : 
 
 " Chamber of Repeesentatives, 
 
 " 8th July, 1815, 10 o'clock in the Morning. 
 
 " In yesterday's sittings, on the message by which the 
 
 commission of government gave notice that it had ceased 
 
 its functions, the Chamber of Representatives passed to 
 
 the order of the day. It continued afterwards its delib- 
 
 * See Appendix No. II. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 181 
 
 erations on the dispositions of tlie project of the Consti- 
 tutional Act, tlie framing of which was expressly ordered 
 by the French people ; and when its sittings were sus- 
 pended, it adjourned to this day, the 8th July, at eight in 
 the morning. 
 
 " In consequence of this adjournment, the members 
 of the Chamber of Representatives repaired to the usual 
 place of their assembly. But the gates of the palace 
 being shut, the avenues guarded by a military force, and 
 the officers who commanded it having declared that 
 they had a formal order to refuse the entrance of the 
 palace : 
 
 " The undersigned, members of the Chamber, have 
 assembled at the house of M. Lanjuinais their president, 
 and there they have formed and signed individually the 
 present proc^s-verbal, to authenticate the above facts." 
 
 On the morning of July the 8th Paris was des- 
 tined to be again united to the kingdom of France. 
 The tri-coloured flag, which had hitherto floated 
 on all the towers and monuments of the capital, 
 bidding defiance to the white flag which waved 
 upon the steeples of St. Denis, was now taken 
 down and replaced by the crested lily. 
 
 The entry of the king on this day was an- 
 nounced, but the public were left in uncertainty 
 whether the entrance would take place by the 
 gate of St. Denis or the less frequented road 
 which leads to the barrier of Clichy. All was 
 doubtful but the joy of the great majority of the 
 
182 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 citizens, who now rushed out in multitudes by the 
 re-opened gates to hail their monarch, by whom 
 they were received with tender sensibility. The 
 Comte d'Artois, in his usual manner of saying 
 something agreeable to those who approach him, 
 told them, " Mes amis, vous serez contens de nous." 
 Already a revolution seemed to have taken place 
 in the minds of the turbulent f^d^r^s of the faux- 
 bourgs. They had not yet cried " Vive le Eoi ! " 
 but their vociferations were already tempered by 
 the expressions, " Les Bourbons sont de bonnes 
 gens ; Le roi est un brave homme, — mais, Vive 
 I'Empereur ! " 
 
 Louis XVIIl., attended by the Comte d'Artois, 
 the Duke of Berry, and a numerous and brilliant 
 escort of regular troops and of the national guard, 
 now reached again his capital. I had often wit- 
 nessed imperial processions composed of gay regi- 
 ments of lancers with floating banners, groups of 
 pages, plumed horses, and the imperial figure 
 often vainly soliciting applause. It is true that 
 the journals the following day spoke of acclama- 
 tions that had never been heard, and of trans- 
 ports that had never been felt. The public had 
 also been always prepared by programmes for the 
 order of the ceremony. At the entry of Louis 
 XVIII. there was no programme, for there had 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 183 
 
 been no preparation. The procession was less 
 magnificent, but its accompaniments were far dif- 
 ferent. No ! Bonaparte, in all the pride of his 
 conquests, was never so welcomed ! The people, 
 which, as the poet observes, are always the sight 
 on these occasions, — the people are moral ma- 
 chines, and have feelings which power can neither 
 command nor controul. Here was no " mouth- 
 homage which the poor heart would fain deny, 
 but dares not ; " what passed was the pure effu- 
 sion of real happiness, and nothing is so contagious 
 as the sympathy of a great multitude. It was 
 " the joy of tears ; " the people wept, and their 
 monarch also. As he passed along the boulevards 
 " you would have thought the very windows 
 spoke ; " they were crowded with women dressed 
 in white, and white handkerchiefs floated from 
 thousands of fair hands. 
 
 The evening closed by what with great pro- 
 priety may be called spontaneous illuminations, 
 for nobody had thought of giving any general 
 order to that purpose ; but the people understood 
 one another, and, as if it had been by the touch of 
 some magical wand, all Paris was suddenly hghted 
 up. Its poorest inhabitants had found something 
 to spare for this demonstration of joy ; and while 
 the splendid hStels of the wealthy blazed with a 
 
184 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 profusion of light, the lonely chamber of the indi- 
 gent was cheered also with the luxury of a taper. 
 At night we saw upon the surrounding hills the 
 fires of the English and Prussian camps, where 
 cannon was fired at intervals ; and those com- 
 manding sounds gave something of solemnity to 
 the whole scene, and produced the effect of that 
 instrument whose deep, full base strikes upon the 
 ear at intervals, covering the light strains of the 
 concert. 
 
 The celebration of this triumph was prolonged 
 far beyond the day of the procession ; and nothing 
 was omitted to convince the king with what fond 
 enthusiasm he was welcomed. No people under- 
 stand better the demonstration of happiness than 
 the French. Prolonged calamity has rendered 
 them sometimes serious, sometimes even sorrow- 
 ful ; but their natural position is gaiety. The 
 French manner of manifesting joy is always by 
 dancing, — a practice, by the way, not peculiar to 
 this polished people, but common also to many 
 transatlantic nations. The garden of the Tuileries, 
 which had been entirely abandoned by the higher 
 classes during the king's absence, was now 
 thronged by elegant company. Ladies formed 
 their own sets for country-dances, and bringing 
 their own music with them danced light as 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 185 
 
 nymphs and crowned with lilies before the win- 
 dows of the Chsiteau, where the king stood, some- 
 times gracefully kissing his hand and sometimes 
 wiping his eyes, while he witnessed all these 
 testimonies of enthusiastic affection. 
 
LETTER XIII. 
 
 JULT, 1815. 
 
 While these joys and festivities exhilarated the 
 people of Paris, he who had once more yielded 
 the throne of France to the race of its ancient 
 kings was hastening to seek security in another 
 hemisphere. Two frigates were prepared for him 
 in the river Charente ; but when he arrived at 
 Eochefort, it was blockaded by an English 
 squadron, and therefore no hope of escape pre- 
 sented itself but by seeking, to use the words of 
 Mr. Pitt, " the protection of a tempest." But a 
 long dead calm prevailed. In vain Bonaparte 
 invoked the winds and accused the elements, — 
 there was no storm but in his agitated bosom. 
 It was observed that the spell was now broken by 
 which he was once believed to have some kind of 
 power, divine or infernal, which controuled the 
 natural course of the weather. The times were 
 past when the Parisians had often confidently ex- 
 claimed on a morning of festival, " It rains, and is 
 cloudy ; but the sun will shine when the Emperor 
 appears." 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 187 
 
 At length, however, the gale freshened, and he 
 eagerly inquired of the captain of the frigate if 
 this was the moment to escape ? The captain 
 answered that he was ready to obey his orders 
 and make the attempt, but hinted to him at the 
 same time that it was probable they should go up, 
 or go down, pointing emphatically to the sky and 
 the water ; by which he meant that they should be 
 sunk, or blown up. Bonaparte loves life too well 
 not to shrink from such an alternative. The 
 English had subdued him by land, — with how 
 much reason might he deprecate their power on 
 their own element ! He had tried English valour, 
 and felt its worth ; he now resolved to appeal to 
 English generosity. He opened a conference with 
 the English commander of the station, and soon 
 after, under the shelter of the white flag, steered 
 his course towards the English frigate and sur- 
 rendered himself a prisoner. 
 
 Thus ends the political history of Napoleon Bo- 
 naparte, since on the distant and lonely rock beat 
 by all the waves of a vast ocean, whither he is now 
 steering his course, he is no doubt separated for- 
 ever from public life ; and although he is still 
 condemned to suffer existence, he has bid a last 
 farewel to the present generation, and may be 
 said to belong already to history. 
 
188 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 "He leaves a name at which the world grew pale, 
 To point a moral or adorn a tale.'' 
 
 Yoli desire me to give you a sketch of the 
 character of this extraordinary personage ; but who 
 at present can well acquit theniselves of such a 
 task] We must leave him to posterity. Time 
 will place his figure in the point of view and at 
 the proper distance to become a study for man- 
 kind. At present, and above all in this country, 
 we have seen him too near ; we have felt his 
 influence too powerfully. His portentous shadow 
 has crossed every path of private life, and even 
 the persons whom he has not destroyed he has ap- 
 palled and stunned, — as the wind of a cannon 
 will lay prostrate those whom the ball has never 
 touched. But if we leave to future times to seize 
 the pencil and draw the bold lights and shades of 
 this tremendous picture, we may now sketch some 
 of the minuter, scattered traits of character which 
 mark so memorable a personage, before they fade 
 from the remembrance. 
 
 The great sages of antiquity had each their 
 demon ; Bonaparte's demon was his destin. He 
 acted as if he thought himself under the immediate 
 influence of some sort of superhuman power, and 
 in the commission of the greatest injustice seemed 
 to persuade himself that it was so ordained by 
 
NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 189 
 
 fate. His belief in his own superiority over other 
 mortals was so rooted in his naind that he wel- 
 comed and rewarded the public declaration that 
 the care of this nether world was confided to him, 
 and that " God had created him, and rested from 
 his labours ; " as also the assertion that he was 
 the Vicegerent of the Divinity on earth. He 
 deemed it favourable to his views to encourage 
 all extravagant ideas with respect to himself. 
 Every age has its superstitions. The priests of the 
 Egyptian Jupiter hailed Alexander as the son of 
 that divinity. It was the belief of the dark ages 
 that mankind were subjected to planetary influ- 
 ence ; and one of our poets has good-humouredly 
 framed this apology for one part of the creation, — 
 
 "When poor weak women go astrjiy, 
 Their stars are more in fault than they." 
 
 But the stars have been long since exonerated 
 from those undeserved reproaches; and we are 
 now told by the physiology of the day that being 
 well-born is a much happier incident than it was 
 believed to be by the Romans, although they con- 
 sidered this circumstance as a good cause of re- 
 joicing. When any new enormity of the Emperor 
 became the subject of conversation, I had long 
 observed that one person of my acquaintance 
 shook his head, like Lord Burleigh in the Critic, 
 
190 NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 but said nothing. I was curious to know the 
 opinion of this gentleman, who is by profession a 
 more accurate observer of human heads than 
 others. " When I beheld this man ten years since 
 in Italy," said this celebrated physiologist, " I 
 augured ill of his destiny. His head partakes too 
 much of the organization of the tiger and the pea- 
 cock ; it is cruel and climbing." Was Bonaparte 
 ill-born or unhappily organized, or did the cruel 
 and climbing qualities of his mind contribute to 
 produce this formation ? This point I leave to the 
 metaphysician and the anatomist. Some persons 
 believed that he was in a state of habitual insanity, 
 with a few lucid intervals. It is very complaisant 
 morality that tends to diminish our horror of guilt 
 by attributing its excesses to insanity. If Bona^ 
 parte was mad, there was too much " method in 
 his madness " to exempt him from being classed 
 among great and extraordinary criminals. He 
 indeed occasionally displayed something like minor 
 fits of madness towards his ministers and generals, 
 the former of whom were bound to think him 
 mad when he answered their observations by a 
 kick or a blow, while the latter escaped this im- 
 perial mode of reply because he prudently ob- 
 served that, like himself, they wore a sword. His 
 orders sometimes appeared to issue from the fumes 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 191 
 
 of the tripod, and he was subject to fits of epilepsy 
 The obdurate cruelty with which, after a battle, 
 he would walk over the field and count the 
 number of the slain was too long forgotten by 
 the French in the splendour of his victories ; and 
 the excess of his vanity was too long pardoned 
 because his triumphs were shared by the Great 
 Nation, the country that gave laws to Europe. 
 Bonaparte despised mankind in general, at which 
 mankind has no right to be offended, for he had 
 marked it from a sorry point of view ; but he had 
 the most decided contempt for what is called the 
 people, especially if they were considered as presum- 
 ing to interfere with any part of the government. 
 I remember being told several years since, by 
 some deputies from the Helvetic Republic, that in 
 a conference at the Tuileries he proposed a regu- 
 lation, which they replied that the people would 
 never suffer to be executed. " The people ! " said 
 he. " Who are they ? What do they under- 
 stand ? They are only fit to make shoes," — 
 citing the Latin proverb. 
 
 Although Bonaparte appeared to court the 
 government of the United States, on account of 
 the increasing hostile dispositions between that 
 government and the English, and which he hoped 
 to fan into a flame, his expressions of hatred 
 
192 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 against the United States were occasionally vio- 
 lent and insulting. The ministers of that power 
 happily escaped the smart of his invectives, since 
 most commonly they did not understand the lan- 
 guage of the country to which they were sent as 
 the representatives of their own.' This, however, 
 was not the case with Mr. Barlow, the last min- 
 ister but one. His long residence in France had 
 made him not only acquainted with its language, 
 but with the state-practice of its chief. This min- 
 ister, distinguished as a man of letters, had also 
 been long known for his attachment to the prin- 
 ciples that governed his own country. He was 
 decidedly averse to the war that then menaced 
 America and England, and which it was evident 
 Bonaparte wished to promote. 
 
 The Emperor was alternately flattering and 
 stern. The minister was unbending. The Em- 
 peror was at length made acquainted with the 
 minister's private opinion of his imperial policy. 
 Required with other ministers to follow Napoleon 
 
 ^ "1 have the honour," said an American minister to 
 Bonaparte, " de vous presenter un respectable marchand 
 Americain." The minister meant to introduce a merchant; 
 but the term marcliand denoted a shopkeeper. Bonaparte, 
 extremely offended, made no answer, hut turning to his 
 master of ceremonies, ordered him to inform the American 
 minister that he received no marchands at the Tuileries. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 193 
 
 as far as Wilna, Mr. Barlow was compelled to pass 
 the Polish deserts in the most severe rigour of win- 
 ter, and died at the village of N , the victim of 
 
 what he deemed his diplomatic duty. 
 
 Bonaparte had a great anxiety not only to 
 spread his name throughout the world, but to 
 learn what the world said of him, particularly 
 the English. He did not understand EngHsh, but 
 he had a board of translation, and was regularly 
 served each morning with the daily London 
 papers done into French. He aJBFected to be in- 
 different whether he found praise or invectives. 
 When a paragraph in an English newspaper 
 struck him as being particularly virulent, he sent 
 it to be re-translated by another person ; and if 
 he found it still more poignant than the first 
 translator had made it, and which sometimes 
 happened, he reprimanded the poor wight for his 
 culpable scrupulosity not to wound the imperial 
 feelings, which was the excuse generally offered. 
 The translators learnt at last to give every epithet 
 its due signification, and even to overcharge it. 
 
 Bonaparte considered the English newspapers 
 as good as diplomatic dispatches, and containing 
 more accurate information of the state of Europe 
 than the reports of his emissaries at foreign courts. 
 His translators made such strange blunders in the 
 
 18 
 
194 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 transcript of names that he often himself collated 
 the translation with the original. In one of these 
 surveys my name fell under his notice, prefixed 
 to a few verses I had written on the peace at 
 Amiens. He inquired why they were not trans- 
 lated? The translator, with whom I was ac- 
 quainted, answered that this had been omitted in 
 conformity to his orders to translate nothing of 
 literature or poetry in which his name was not 
 mentioned. But could this be possible ? An Ode 
 on Peace, without any mention of the Great Pa- 
 cificator, — Le Grand Pacificateur ! — words which 
 now resounded throughout all France ; words that 
 were engraved on marble in palaces and stuck up 
 below his bust, placed as a sign-post at the door 
 of every hedge-alehouse on the highway. 
 
 The ode was translated ; and if the First Con- 
 sul was angry at what was omitted, he was far 
 more irritated at what he found : this was the 
 epithet of " subject waves," applied to England — 
 
 " And thou, loved Britain, my parental isle, 
 Secure, encircled by thy subject waves," &c. 
 
 This was touching a jarring string indeed ; this 
 was declaring myself of the faction of sea-despots. 
 It was almost treason ; but I had friends at court, 
 and therefore escaped with a slight punishment, 
 inflicted a few months after by the prefect of 
 
NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 195 
 
 police, who arrested me and my whole family on 
 pretext of examining my papers, — from which 
 ordeal I came out triumphant, having been de- 
 tained a prisoner only twenty-four hours. 
 
 Napoleon considered the police of his own 
 newspapers as a matter of high importance. 
 When he was in Paris, the official paper, before it 
 was struck oflF, underwent his inspection, and in 
 the course of the impression often received impe- 
 rial corrections. He was himself a contributor; 
 his style is very distinguishable, and some of his 
 notes are extremely curious. He affected to 
 protect science and letters. This protection was 
 commonly extended to persons whose mediocrity 
 stood in need of it, — small men of letters, by 
 whom it was repaid with interest. There were, 
 indeed, also a few men of distinguished genius, 
 whose approbation of his measures had led him 
 to name them to eminent posts.^ Bonaparte had 
 once been very intimately acquainted with M. 
 Ducis, the present father of French poetry, and 
 who has introduced Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth, 
 on the French stage. M. Ducis had approved 
 
 ^ He was, however, sometimes tired with excess of ser- 
 vility, and answered one of the literati, who recommended 
 another because he was of an ancient and noble family, by 
 saying peevishly, " Laissez-nous, au moins, la r^publique 
 des lefctres! " — "Leave us, at least, the republic of letters!" 
 
196 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 Bonaparte while he thought him the friend of his 
 country, but refused all further communion with 
 him when he became its oppressor. The Muses 
 in France have as little of the wisdom of this 
 world as in other countries, and understand no 
 better the art of being rich. Bonaparte knew 
 that the fortune of M. Ducis was in " a poetical 
 posture," and he offered him the place of senator, 
 which includes a very considerable salary. Ducis 
 rejected the place as being unfit for a poet. 
 Bonaparte would have decorated him with the 
 Legion of Honour; again Ducis refused. Irri- 
 tated at this obstinacy, the Emperor meditated to 
 avenge the insult, when he was pacified by some 
 of M. Ducis's friends, who excused him on the 
 score of his drooping age. I visited this virtuous 
 old man, the last of the Romans, in his retreat. 
 He was surrounded by his books, and did not 
 appear to regret the wealth and honours he had 
 rejected. He was presented, not long since, to 
 the king, who addressed the poet in a citation 
 from his own works. 
 
 The tragic talents of M. Ducis lead me to the 
 recollection of an anecdote relating to the theatx'e. 
 
 Bonaparte had in the early time of his govern- 
 ment expelled the turbulent tribunate, and re- 
 duced the legislature to a silent vote ; but there 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 197 
 
 was still one authority in the state which his 
 power was unable to controul, a faction which had 
 hitherto mocked his efforts. This was the faction 
 of the tragic poets, Corneille, Racine, Crebillon, 
 &c. The people, amidst the suppression of their 
 political institutions and other violations of inde- 
 pendence, could still repair to the theatre and 
 avenge themselves of Bonaparte in the persons of 
 the Caesars, the Neros, the Phocases, of the French 
 stage. The people had in long tradition, for a 
 hundred years past, applauded certain fine pass- 
 ages filled with horror of tyranny or swelling 
 sentiments of freedom ; but these passages were 
 now waited for and hailed with such excess of 
 applause, such a transport of admiration, that the 
 government felt itself insulted. The actors, who 
 were not displeased at the popular enthusiasm, 
 and who no doubt attributed to themselves some 
 share of the applause, strove to earn it by acquit- 
 ting themselves well of their respective parts, and 
 played the tyrant and usurper most maliciously. 
 It became indispensable to stop this outrage on 
 imperial feelings. The representatives of past 
 despots and of captive princesses were ordered to 
 appear at the prefecture's of police, and were 
 accused of acting the forbidden passages with 
 more emphasis than usual. The accusation was 
 
198 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 a delicate matter, since it implied a certain con- 
 sciousness that there w&s "something rotten in the 
 State of Denmark;" and one of the tragical queens 
 haughtily answered that she wondered how any 
 one dared to hint at such guilty applications, and 
 that she considered them as treason against the Em- 
 peror. The actors refuted the charge of saying 
 more than was set down for them by an appeal to 
 the prompter's book. They were dismissed with 
 orders to "mouth it less," and the poets were 
 found to be the chiefs of the conspiracy. Their 
 persons were beyond the reach of imperial resent- 
 ment ; but they did not escape punishment, being 
 condemned to a revision of the most brilliant 
 passages of their productions. This revision was 
 confided to M. Esmenard, who had too much 
 poetical taste and talent not to tremble at this 
 sacrilegious commission. But the Emperor insisted, 
 and he was compelled to submit. He gave me a 
 ludicrous account of his association and clossetings 
 with Bonaparte, in this murder of the classic poets. 
 Many an important dispatch was laid aside to 
 weigh the value of a hemistich ; and imperial rage 
 against the present sovereigns of Europe was for- 
 gotten in contrivance to justify some Eoman or 
 Asiatic despot who had fallen under the displeasure 
 of Corneille. 
 
NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FEA.KCE. 199 
 
 The public sought in vain to recognize their old 
 acquaintances : — 
 
 "Qui, de simple soldat, a Tempire elev^, 
 !N"e I'a que par le crime acquis, et conserve ; 
 Et comme il n'a semd qu'^pouvante, et qu'horreur, 
 II ne recueille enfin que trouble, et que terreur. 
 
 Tyran, descends du tr8ne, et fais place a. ton maitre! " 
 
 The public deserted for a while the theatre, and 
 waited the return of departed spirits. 
 
 But you tell me that " Napoleon has performed 
 one great act of wide extended charity, which 
 covers many a transgression : he has decreed the 
 abolition of the Slave Trade." And do you really 
 imagine that he would have adhered to this decree 
 longer than he found it expedient to flatter in this 
 manner the people of England, with whom he was 
 assured it would render him popular? Do you 
 seriously believe in his tender compassion towards 
 the African race, and figure him fraternizing with 
 the friends of that oppressed part of our species, 
 associating his power with their humanity, — a 
 compact of philanthropy between Napoleon Bona- 
 parte, Wilberforce, and Clarkson ? I see the first- 
 mentioned of the high contracting parties smiling 
 with pity at his two allies, — their wild theories 
 of universal benevolence, and their insensate prac- 
 tice of living only for others. No, no ! Bonaparte 
 
200 KARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 would soon have dissolved this partnership with 
 virtue. To become the deliverer of one part of 
 mankind would have been too pure a glory for 
 him who had so long oppressed the other. He 
 deserved not the honours of such a triumph. But 
 at the moment in which I am writing, this great 
 work of mercy is accomplished; the Slave Trade 
 is abolished by the French government. That 
 horrible traffic, which seemed an evil too much in 
 the sad catalogue of human miseries, exists no 
 longer; and while European mothers press to 
 their bosoms the children they no longer fear to 
 lose, the poor African mother, to whom nature has 
 given the same instinctive tenderness, will now 
 be spared also the pangs of maternal desperation. 
 
 Bonaparte had at one period so established his 
 power that he, as well as his flatterers, deemed him- 
 self the irresistible, the omnipotent. He had con- 
 quered almost all the nations of Europe ; he had 
 trampled on all institutions that were not his own. 
 There was but one power that resisted him, — 
 one power that rebuked his genius, and baffled all 
 his efforts to obtain universal empire. He learnt 
 that India was the source of this power. " Let us 
 attack England at the source. Think nothing 
 gained," he cries, " while aught remains. The 
 English are masters at sea, but the dry land is 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 201 
 
 ours. If we cannot stab England to the heart at 
 once, we will disable her by cutting off her limbs." 
 The Macedonian conqueror had penetrated to the 
 Indies with only thirty thousand men ; Bonaparte 
 could surely reach the Ganges with at least ten 
 times that number. 
 
 When nothing more was intended than a Euro- 
 pean irruption, Bonaparte had no counsel to take. 
 The continent was to him a high road unin- 
 cumbered by obstacles ; and Munich, Berlin, and 
 Vienna were regular stages of the journey. The 
 sea alone resisted his dominion. He was yet sover- 
 eign only of the dry ground ; and over-land to India 
 was now the secret order of the day. It was yet 
 secret, because the military expeditions to the 
 East had been hitherto profitable only to savans, 
 to the engravers of charts and picturesque views, 
 and to those who were employed at Paris in 
 writing the histories of the victories in Egypt for 
 the magnificent edition of these exploits which 
 was there about to appear. The public were 
 therefore not yet admitted to anticipate this new 
 and glorious enterprize, which was to emancipate 
 Europe and the seas. 
 
 In the prosecution of this plan, difficulties 
 might be expected to occur on the road which 
 Alexander had not encountered. Some changes 
 
202 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 in the weapons of war had taken place since the 
 time of that hero, when the art of bringing armies 
 into the field, in order to stand like machines and 
 be mowed down by artillery, was yet unknown. 
 Cannon was now become the chief instrument of 
 destruction, and must therefore be placed in the 
 first line of offensive apparatus. The mode of its 
 conveyance so many thousand miles presented 
 some difficulties. The master of the ordnance was 
 consulted. I saw daily this respectable old gen- 
 eral, having lived some years in his h6tel. His 
 military and his civic virtues had procured him the 
 esteem of the Emperor, whom he was too honest 
 to flatter or to mislead. I observed him one 
 evening exploring my library with some marks of 
 impatience at not finding what he sought. When 
 his suite of officers were gone, he drew his chair 
 towards the fire, and, as I supposed, to finish a 
 story of the preceding evening. He saw the 
 Emperor every day, and I asked what was pass- 
 ing at the Tuileries ? " The Emperor has given 
 me a new employment," said he ; " he orders me 
 to be a savant. I wish you to lend me what you 
 have of the geography and the manners of the 
 East." Of the manners of the East I had nothing 
 more modern than the Arabian Nights ; with its 
 geography I was better stored. But there was 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 203 
 
 one great obstacle to this imperial adventure 
 which it was essential to remove. Alexander had 
 conquered Thrace, Illyria, and by the ruins of 
 Thebes had secured the silence of Greece before 
 he crossed into Asia. It was necessary for Bona- 
 parte to assure himself of the neutrality at least, if 
 not of the alliance, of the modern Alexander of the 
 polar world. This sovereign had once thought 
 Bonaparte a man of honour, just and tenacious of 
 his word ; he had made peace with him, and 
 treaties. The Emperor of Russia had now learnt 
 the true character of Bonaparte. Alexander could 
 no longer be deceived : he must be subdued. 
 
 The result of this war of passage sickened 
 Napoleon of Indian expeditions, dimmed his star, 
 broke all his spells, destroyed all his witcheries, 
 and brought the Russian armies into his capital. 
 
 This Indian project has eventually led him who 
 was about to style himself, not merely the 
 Emperor of the West, but who probably hoped to 
 be addressed in the language of oriental salutation, 
 as Brother of the Moon or Cousin of the Stars, to 
 that little speck which rises in a distant ocean, 
 where its waves approach the confines of the 
 civilized world. 
 
 " Du midi jusqu'k I'Ours on vantait ce monai-que 
 Qui remplit tout le Nord de tumulte et de sang: 
 
204 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN" FRANCE. 
 
 II fuit; sa gloire tombe, et le Destin lui ma»que 
 Son veritable rang. 
 
 " Ce n'est plus ce h^ros guid6 par la Victoire, 
 Par qui tous les guerriers allaient Itre effaces ; 
 C'est un nouveau Pyrrbus, qui va grossir I'bistoire 
 Des fameux insensds." ■" 
 
 You ask me what will be the fate of France ? 
 I remember being affected by a few simple words 
 in the " Beggar Girl " (a novel, by the way, with 
 which perhaps I was more pleased than I strictly 
 ought to have been, because the scene is laid in 
 Scotland, the country of my mother, and its per- 
 sonages speak in Scotch accents, which are ever 
 music to my ear). I remember the Beggar Girl ex- 
 ultingly exclaims, when she approaches the castle 
 of Dening-Court, " I feel as if at last — at last — I 
 was going home ! " Are the French people, after 
 all the mazy wanderings of the Revolution, are 
 they approaching an asylum like Dening-Court, — 
 are they going home at last ? This is indeed a 
 momentous question. It is not made by me, as 
 perhaps it may be by yourself, in the spirit of 
 speculative investigation ; to me it comprehends 
 all that can awaken solicitude, all that can 
 interest the heart, — all chance of personal 
 tranquillity towards the evening of a stormy life, 
 
 ^ Jean Baptiste Rousseau. Ode X. 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 205 
 
 and all hope of felicity for the objects most dear 
 to me, and to whom life is opening. France is to 
 me also the country of my friends, — of persons 
 endeared to ine by the tie of common suffering. 
 We have passed through the tempest, to use the 
 words of M. de Boufflers, " sous le mSme para- 
 pluie." How should I have lived so many years 
 among the French without loving that amiable 
 people (to apply the term in their own sense) who 
 so well know the art of shedding a peculiar charm 
 over social life ? How much better than others 
 they understand the secret of being happy ! — 
 happy at a cheap rate, and without being too 
 difficult and too disdainful as we are in England 
 about the conditions ; while they bear misfortunes 
 with a cheerful equanimity, which, if it does not 
 deserve the proud name of philosophy, is of far 
 more general use, — the former being common 
 property, belonging to all, and not, like the 
 latter, the partial fortune of an enlightened few. 
 I am persuaded that the experience acquired 
 by the French nation during their long and 
 stormy Revolution will not be lost. Their po- 
 litical vanity and presumption required a tre- 
 mendous lesson. They have passed through 
 many phases, from the wildest anarchy to the 
 most oppressive despotism ; and they now really 
 
206 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 know what is noi freedom. They seek repose ; 
 but it must be repose under the safe shelter of 
 liberty. " They pretend not," to use the language 
 of the Duke d'Otrante, in his letter to the Duke 
 of Wellington, — " they pretend not to more 
 liberty than that of England, but they seek to be 
 as free." You will not, I am sure, answer, as I 
 have heard some of our countrymen, " Liberty for 
 England, but arbitrary government for the con- 
 tinent." England need not fear the rivalship of 
 Prance in its constitutional freedom. It will be 
 some time before the French reach your practical 
 science on this subject. They have indeed already 
 lost some of that vanity of knowledge which is 
 only found in the first steps of its acquirement, 
 because we look back on the time when we knew 
 nothing. The French were too proud of their 
 ABC liberty : they feel now that the alphabet is 
 only the rudiment of science. They have learnt 
 the table of contents of liberal principles, and they 
 will at last comprehend the whole volume. 
 
 The Eevolution, amidst all its abuses and its 
 crimes, has shed a new ray of light upon France ; 
 and it were vain to expect that the French will 
 shut their minds against it, and prefer the dark- 
 ness of ignorance. The eternal principles of 
 liberty are independent of the purposes to 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 207 
 
 which they have been made subservient. What 
 is good in those principles is unperishable, and 
 what has been evil in their application will be 
 transitory. But time has no spunge that can 
 wipe from the memory of the French the great 
 event of the Revolution, and restore prejudices 
 that are swept away, ideas that are eradicated, 
 manners that are changed, and affections that are 
 extinct. The' spirit of constitutional represen- 
 tation is abroad, and will walk the world. Louis 
 XVIII. has no reason to fear its energies, for he 
 will be strong only in its strength. 
 
 " J'aimerais bien," said a man of the Fauxbourg 
 St. Antoine, to a member of the Convention, who 
 was haranguing the people in the time of terror, 
 — "J'aimerais bien, Citoyen Repr^sentant, \me 
 liberty Ubre." Oh, may such liberty belong to 
 France ! May that noble country, which has 
 long been so brilliant abroad and so oppressed at 
 home, so erect and so prostrate, at length revive 
 from the pressure of her unexampled calamities, 
 and take her august place among the nations ! 
 Yes, she will now form new combinations of glory, 
 and seek new objects of activity for her ardent 
 spirit in the cultivation of the fine arts, so well 
 suited to her elegant genius, in the discoveries of 
 science and the researches of truth ; and her 
 
208 NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 energies, no longer wasted on the crusades of 
 ambition, but directed towards intellectual attain- 
 ments in eternal alliance with the first feelings of 
 our nature, will no doubt, from the prevailing 
 influence of such a country as France, have a 
 powerful tendency towards the general ameli- 
 oration of the human race. 
 
LETTER XIV. 
 
 OCTOBBK, 1815. 
 
 You accuse me of having closed my sketch of 
 passing events too rapidly. Is it my fault ? I 
 believed that I had brought you to the conclusion 
 of the eventful drama, — the fall of the usurper, 
 and the return of the exiled monarch to the pal- 
 ace of his ancestors. I knew not that we had only 
 reached the fourth act of the piece, and that the 
 allies had new scenes to perform before they would 
 drop the curtain on the events of war. 
 
 The moderation of the allied powers last year ■ 
 when Europe was in arms at the gates of Paris, 
 with all the feelings of the wrongs it had sus- 
 tained and with all the rights of the conqueror, 
 would, it was believed, serve as a precedent for 
 the conduct of the allies in this second conquest of 
 the capital of France. 
 
 It was fondly imagined by the French that 
 European politics were changed forever ; and that 
 the vulgar ambition of darker ages had given 
 place to that magnanimity worthy of our enlight- 
 ened times, and confirming, all the beautiful sys- 
 
 14 
 
210 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FEANCE. 
 
 terns of human perfectibility. All that had passed 
 the last year had served to establish this opinion. 
 Satisfied with the glory of having overthrown the 
 tyrant of Europe and compelled France to relin- 
 quish the immense territories she had conquered, 
 all further restitution seemed forgotten ; and the 
 only object in Paris that had not been respected 
 was the statue of Napoleon, which was quietly 
 taken down from the column of victory in the 
 Place VendSme, while the monument itself re- 
 mained untouched. Upon the whole, with the 
 exception of a few provinces which the allied 
 armies had traversed, Prance had suffered but lit- 
 tle from their first invasion ; and it was generally 
 believed that, having once more accomplished 
 their great purpose, they would depart in peace. 
 
 This, however, was not precisely the design of 
 at least a part of the allies. The Prussians, since 
 their last visit, had found time to reflect on their 
 adventures. They had indeed regained their old 
 territory, with considerable augmentations; they 
 had nothing farther to apprehend from the con- 
 queror of Jena and Berlijn : but they now re- 
 flected that they had been too moderate in the 
 conditions of the treaty ; that they had in the last 
 visit left the Parisians too many trophies of vic- 
 tory, and also that they had yet to retaliate on 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 211 
 
 them a few of the many enormities which the 
 French had committed in Prussia. 
 
 The first patriotic project of vengeance that 
 occupied Prince Blucher was that of blowing up 
 the bridge of Jena, — the execution of which at- 
 tempt was prevented by the interference of the 
 King of Prussia, whose moderation and mildness 
 of character are well known. The next menace 
 of General Blucher was that of sending a consider- 
 able number of Paris bankers and merchants to 
 Prussian fortresses unless they paid, in twenty- 
 four hours, the fifth part of the hundred millions 
 imposed on the city of Paris. These projects, 
 though not executed, were considered by the 
 troops as intimations that their own excesses or 
 extravagancies would be treated with indulgence. 
 .•'. A great part of these troops were of the land- 
 wehr, or Prussian levy in mass ; they were in gen- 
 eral very poor, and their poverty might excuse 
 pillage : but another part of this army consisted 
 of professors and students, who, with noble de- 
 votedness to the cause of their country, had made 
 this crusade as volunteers. The landwehr com- 
 mitted great acts of violence, but these armed 
 doctors exercised a new kind of vengeance. A 
 Frenchman might be robbed, he might suffer 
 even indignities with patience; but to be com- 
 
212 NAREATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 pelled to listen to the discourses of professors and 
 students who assured him, like the executioners of 
 Don Carlos, that they had come only for his good, 
 who would persuade him of the vast superiority 
 of the German over the French nation, of the pro- 
 priety of detaching from France one or two of its 
 provinces on the Ehine, with other topics of simi- 
 lar import, — this was a refinement in cruelty 
 beyond the rights of war. The bad French and 
 worse logic of those war-doctors were alike insuf- 
 ferable to French ears and French vanity ; the 
 tortured Gaul exclaimed in piteous accents, " Kob 
 me if you please, shoot me if you will ; but spare 
 me your harangues ! '' 
 
 The Prussians were thus become the objects of 
 general hatred. There might, indeed, be some 
 doubt whether they were more detested than the 
 Wirtemberghers, the Badois, and the Bavarians. 
 The causes of this hatred against the Prussians 
 must be placed to the exercise of that spirit of 
 vengeance to which this army too readily aban- 
 doned itself, and which was not always tempered 
 by chiefs to whom we should have attributed 
 more philosophic ideas. We may at the same time 
 observe that those who suffer are usually unjust. 
 Marshal Blucher was often accused unjustly by 
 the French because he was the comraander-in- 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 213 
 
 chief, and perhaps sometimes because he bore the 
 German name which they could most easily articu- 
 late. The Generals Bulow, Zeithen, Tauenzien, 
 and some others, always interposed their authority 
 to prevent the outrages of their troops. 
 
 Order was still preserved in Paris; but the 
 inhabitants without the walls and the country 
 around were left to feel the full vengeance of a 
 licentious soldiery, who by the most wanton spoli- 
 ations taught the French what the Prussians had 
 undergone from the former visits of their country- 
 men. The poor peasant was too often the victim 
 of this vengeance ; the remains of his last year's 
 harvest was devoured. The pleasure that the 
 husbandman feels in watching the alternate descent 
 of the fostering showers and the vivid sun-beams 
 that ripen the fruits of the fields was here lost in 
 the cruel apprehension that in whatever disposi- 
 tion he had sown he should not reap in joy. The 
 soldier eyed askance the corn as it ripened and 
 the grape as it swelled; while the desponding 
 owner, instead of thanking heaven as usual for 
 its bounties, turned no eyes to heaven unless to 
 invoke its vengeance on Prussian soldiery. 
 
 The Parisians themselves received occasional 
 lessons from these invaders. An old countess in 
 the Fauxbourg St. Germain welcomed with polite- 
 
214 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN" FRANCE. 
 
 ness a Prussian officer who was quartered on her 
 house. Invited to dinner at the usual time, he 
 ordered that it might be ready at an earlier hour, 
 having asked some brother officers to dine with 
 him, and throwing himself at the same time with 
 his dirty boots on one of the blue silk canopies. 
 He went out, and returned alone. The dinner was 
 served. He found the first course detestable, and 
 threw the successive plates to which he was helped 
 on the floor. Shewn to his apartments on the 
 second story, he refused to occupy them, and 
 ordered those of the first floor to be prepared for 
 him, though told that they were inhabited by the 
 mistress of the house. After committing a number 
 of other extravagancies, such as smoking in the 
 lady's boudoir, he took possession of her chamber. 
 His servants and dogs having retired to the apart- 
 ments prepared for their master, the lady of the 
 house was obliged to accommodate herself with a 
 room in the attic story. The next morning she 
 was summoned to attend the officer, which she did 
 with trembling, expecting to receive some new 
 insult or humiliation. The countess was astonished 
 at her reception. The Prussian led her gallantly 
 to a seat, and placed himself beside her. " You 
 have no doubt, madam," he said, " been shocked 
 at my behaviour in your house. I marked your 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 215 
 
 astonishment at my insolence in spoiling your silk 
 furniture, scattering fragments of your viands on 
 the floor, smoking in your boudoir, turning you 
 out of your apartments, and other extravagancies. 
 You no doubt thought me a barbarian." The 
 countess did not seem disposed to deny the alle- 
 gation. " Madam, you have a son in Prussia ? " 
 She started, and her eyes filled with tears : " I had 
 a son, sir, but I fear he has perished." " Do you 
 recognize this writing ? " said the officer, shewing 
 her the cover of a letter. " Yes, sir, it is the last 
 letter I wrote to my son. I have received no 
 answer." "Madam, I am no barbarian, I have 
 acted a part and fulfilled a duty enforced on me 
 by filial tenderness. I almost hate myself for 
 having acted it so well. What I have made you 
 suffer for these last few hours, your son inflicted on 
 my palsied mother for several months. I will dis- 
 tress you no longer : your son is alive. In one of 
 the last skirmishes he was wounded dangerously ; 
 I saved him from the fury of our soldiers ; my 
 mother provided for his safety ; you will soon 
 receive him to your arms. Adieu, madam ; I quit 
 your house. I have preserved your son, and I 
 have avenged my mother." 
 
 In the country through which the English were 
 dispersed no complaint was heard. They paid for 
 
216 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 everything they demanded from the cottager; 
 they laboured at the harvest, gathered in the 
 fruits of the orchards, and busied themselves in 
 the occupations of rural industry. " Happy," said 
 the peasants, " the country where the English are 
 quartered !" 
 
 The Austrians and Russians conducted them- 
 selves with a becoming spirit of moderation. The 
 former had not been goaded on to revenge by 
 outrages such as the Prussians had sustained ; and 
 the Emperor of Russia had too liberal a mind to 
 seek retaliation for the flames of Moscow in the 
 destruction of Paris. 
 
 In the mean time, if France in the possession of 
 the allies was no longer at war, it could not be 
 said to be at peace. We heard of nothing but 
 attacks, skirmishes, and sieges. In vain the white 
 flag waved over the ramparts of fortified towns, 
 and in vain the besieged demanded to surrender 
 to their legitimate sovereign the King of France. 
 
 Paris itself, though spared the worst evils of 
 war, wears still the aspect of a conquered city, — 
 guarded by foreign troops at all its gates, foreign 
 troops posted at every bridge, and cannon which 
 seemed as if it were pointed at the palace of the 
 Tuileries. The Bois de Boulogne, the Hyde Park 
 of Paris, may now be termed rather a desert than 
 
NAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 217 
 
 a royal domain. We might almost imagine our- 
 selves in the wilds of America, amidst huts framed 
 of logs and branches, with the ground cleared 
 around them, and nothing left but the stumps of 
 trees marking where they once grew. The walks, 
 formerly crowded with splendid equipages of the 
 gay and great, have lost their shade and their 
 visitors, and are transformed into streets of tents ; 
 here and there a tall withered stalk of a tree 
 remains, and serves, like old Lasune's house,^ as a 
 rubbing-post for the cattle. 
 
 I sometimes take a walk in this wood, and some- 
 times visit the English camp formed at Neuilly, in 
 what was once the park of her who was once the 
 Queen of Naples. Could Madame Murat, in any 
 moment when fancy plays her wildest vagaries, 
 have ever dreamt of so strange a transformation ? 
 Would she have believed any wizard who had 
 whispered in her ear that his magical rod would 
 one day change her beautiful and splendid pavilion 
 into lodgings and eating-rooms for English officers ; 
 and that her charming park, with its teri'asse gently 
 sloping towards the Seine, would be covered with 
 soldiers' tents, — the trees cut down to serve the 
 English for fuel, and the Austrians, who have no 
 tents, for huts; the ground roughened by the 
 ^ Julia de Eoubign^. 
 
218 KAEKATIVE OF EVENTS IN FEANCE. 
 
 wheels of artillery and army waggons ; numerous 
 camp-fires lighted in holes dug in the smooth 
 lawns, and clouds of steam issuing from a thousand 
 boiling black kettles ? 
 
 While I was one day observing the occupa- 
 tions of the busy camp, an epitome of the busy 
 world, I heard at a little distance approaching 
 music : the sounds were slow and solemn. I 
 soon perceived a funeral procession advancing 
 towards us ; it was the burial of a young Scotch 
 soldier. His sword and hat, with a band of 
 Scotch plaid which conjured up many a recol- 
 lection in my mind, were placed upon his coffin, 
 which was borne along by his comrades, of 
 whom a considerable number preceded and fol- 
 lowed their dead companion. The band of the 
 regiment played the music of the hundred and 
 fourth psalm ; and two drums, with a deep, con- 
 tinued rolling sound, formed the base. As the 
 procession passed, the noisy camp became suddenly 
 still ; every soldier uncovered his head, and those 
 on duty at the posts presented their arms. I saw 
 some of those brave fellows wipe their eyes. This 
 was not the moment when the soldier in the fury 
 of battle rushes on death, as if it were some new 
 transport to die, careless of himself, and scorning 
 even to lament his friend ; this was the calm hour 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 219 
 
 of milder emotion, and the heart had leisure to 
 feel ; this was death, but not under the form in 
 which the brave are accustomed to despise it. 
 They were going, in a foreign land, to render the 
 last duties to their comrade, who would see his 
 home no more ! I figured to myself the poor 
 dying young man, recollecting perhaps, in his 
 latest moments, his cottage at the foot of a Scotch 
 mountain, and lamenting that he was going to be 
 laid at such sad distance from what Ossian calls 
 " the rock of his rest." I followed him to his grave 
 in the churchyard of Neuilly, and listened with 
 emotion to the burial service, which was read by 
 the chaplain of the regiment in English. After a 
 long lapse of time passed in a foreign country, 
 who can hear unmoved a religious ceremony per- 
 formed in that langviage in which the first prayer 
 of childhood has been uttered, and the first feel- 
 ing of devotion impressed upon the heart ? 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 October, 1815. 
 
 The period was now arrived when a new storm 
 no less horrible than unforeseen brooded over 
 Paris. It appears that the allied powers, amidst 
 those rapid and brilliant successes which in the 
 year 1814 had rendered them masters of the capi- 
 tal, had not overlooked the chefs-d'oeuvre of art 
 which had been wrested from their respective 
 countries bj the right of conquest. 
 
 The allied sovereigns when they visited the 
 gallery of the Louvre beheld pictures and statues 
 once their own, and saw them noted in the pref- 
 ace of the catalogues, sold at the door, as the 
 fruit of French victories. The Prussians had not 
 failed to observe that pictures which had decorated 
 the bed-chamber of their beautiful and lamented 
 queen were then placed in the royal apartments 
 of the palace of St. Cloud. 
 
 There was also a statue in the Museum which 
 was known by the name of the " Ganymede of 
 Sans Souci." This statue was of bronze, and of 
 the most beautiful workmanship ; it was no less 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 221 
 
 perfect than the Belvidere Apollo, and held that 
 reputation in the north. It was erroneously called 
 a Ganymede, the pose of the arms leading to this 
 mistake ; but it is a Gladiator giving thanks to the 
 gods for a victory just obtained. 
 
 The Prussians demanded, in 1814, the restora- 
 tion of this statue, of two pieces by Corregio, and 
 the pictures of St. Cloud, which had been taken 
 from the apartment of their queen. 
 
 The restitution of these objects became the 
 subject of a most fastidious negociation between 
 M. Blacas and the ministers of Austria and Prus- 
 sia. It had been agreed at the peace of Paris 
 that nothing should be touched that was then 
 exhibited in the Museum, and M. Blacas wished 
 to extend this article to all the paintings in the 
 royal palaces. The negociation failed. Paris 
 preserved its statues and pictures^ and the Prus- 
 sians their regrets at not having regained the 
 trophies stripped from their queen's apartments. 
 
 The allied armies, in 1815, again crowned the 
 hills around Paris, and again a capitulation was 
 asked and granted. The Provisionary Govern- 
 ment demanded that the Museum should remain 
 untouched. The allied generals wrote with a 
 pencil, on the margin of this article, " non ac- 
 corde " (" not granted"). This refusal, it appears. 
 
222 NARKATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 did not arise so much from any decision taken 
 with respect to the Museum by the Duke of Wel- 
 lington, who would not prejudge the question, but 
 because General Blucher, supported by the public 
 opinion of his country, had in his own mind de- 
 termined upon taking. The article on the respect 
 to be paid to public and private property was 
 loosely worded. The Provisionary Government 
 were perhaps not sorry to have left room for mis- 
 interpretation, since the surrender of Paris was 
 imavoidable. The allies assert that their respect 
 for the monuments of the arts could never be 
 justly applied to the retaking of objects which 
 had at first been seized by violence. 
 
 General Blucher, immediately upon his entrance 
 into Paris, sent a letter to M. Denon, the Director 
 of the Museum, demanding not only the objects 
 of the last year's negociation with M. Blacas, but 
 what was also in the Museum. M. Denon an- 
 swered that it was an affair which must be nego- 
 ciated with his government, and that he would 
 not give them up. M. Denon was arrested during 
 the night by twenty men, and was threatened to 
 be sent to the fortress of Graudentz in West 
 Prussia. 
 
 From this argument there was no appeal. The 
 objects demanded were delivered. This surren- 
 
NAKRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FEANCE. 223 
 
 der was made in due order ; and the Gladiator, the 
 two pictures of Corregio, and some valuable pieces 
 of the old German school were carefully packed 
 up by the persons employed at the Museum. 
 This would have been but a trifling loss had not 
 the King of Prussia taken not only what belonged 
 to Potzdam and Berlin, but also to Cologne and 
 Aix la Chapelle, — countries on this side of the 
 Rhine, and therefore not in his possession at that 
 period, — on the pretext that these objects be- 
 longed to the cathedral and the municipality of 
 those towns. 
 
 The public mind again became tranquil ; it was 
 asserted these acts of Prussian violence had nei- 
 ther the assent of the Emperor of Russia nor of 
 the Duke of Wellington, and it was currently 
 believed that they had condemned these measures. 
 
 Two months had now passed, when the gallery 
 of the Louvre was menaced from another quarter. 
 The King of the Belgic Provinces now united to 
 Holland had published a Constitution in the mod- 
 ern style, — that is, on free and liberal principles. 
 It was understood that it had met with a general 
 acceptance, for who would refuse the blessings of 
 liberty? The acceptance, however, was not so 
 cordial as had been generally believed. There 
 was a numerous and respectable class of the in- 
 
224 NAKEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 habitants of those provinces who were not eager 
 to adopt strange doctrines, or suffer them to be 
 adopted by those under their influence. 
 
 The Catholic clergy in that country had dis- 
 played some energy twenty years since, when, 
 threatened with liberal principles, they roused the 
 faithful into insurrection against such innovations 
 by their then lawful sovereign. The Emperor 
 Joseph the Second, who will be ranked in the 
 class of philosophic princes, was studious to intro- 
 duce what he deemed free and liberal principles 
 among his Belgian subjects. But the clergy saw 
 in toleration the destruction of religion, and in 
 liberal principles the subversion of the privileges 
 of the church. They resisted with force of arms 
 those dangerous tenets, and framed for themselves 
 a government exempt from such political heresies. 
 
 A clergy who had thus put themselves into re- 
 bellion for their good old cause against a Catholic 
 prince, might well hesitate in accepting the pres- 
 ent of liberty which was now offered them by 
 their new Protestant sovereign, the King of Hol- 
 land. Like the cautious high-priest of Troy, who 
 proclaimed his " fear of the Greeks and those who 
 were the bearers of gifts," so they considered it as 
 a duty to put themselves on their guard against 
 this Protestant protection of the Catholic Church, 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 225 
 
 and narrowly inspect whether mischief might not 
 lurk beneath a Constitution which was at least 
 suspicious since it bore the name of liberal. 
 
 This was a knotty affair ; it was an easier enter- 
 prize for the allies to overthrow the tyrant of the 
 world, and deliver Europe from its bondage, than 
 for a Protestant Prince to render himself popular 
 to a Belgian Catholic clergy. 
 
 The English government was highly interested 
 iri supporting the authority of his new Belgian 
 Majesty. It was, in fact, a kind of common con- 
 cern. The churches of those provinces had been 
 stript of their principal ornaments, and it was be- 
 lieved that the restoration of the pictures from 
 their bondage in the Museum of Paris would be an 
 homage rendered to the faithful and the church, 
 and would perhaps soften the opposition of its 
 ministers to the acceptance of liberty. 
 
 The public in England seemed at that time to 
 have corresponding sentiments with the govern- 
 ment, and to approve the removal of the paintings 
 in sympathy with the Belgic churches. These 
 two causes led the English minister at Paris to 
 give in a note in their favour to the Congress of 
 the four powers who now govern the world, and 
 who were here assembled. The arrival of M. 
 Canova at Paris at this period led the English min- 
 is 
 
226 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 ister to take the same interest for his Holiness the 
 Pope. He represented that the peace of Tolen- 
 tino could not be the foundation of any right, since 
 the French after taking the objects in question 
 had themselves broken the treaty; and that it 
 was therefore just that the more powerful sov- 
 ereigns should support the cause of the weaker, 
 which was evidently the case with the Pope. Lord 
 Castlereagh furthermore represented the advan- 
 tages which the arts would obtain by being culti- 
 vated at Rome ; and that this idea had been so 
 strongly impressed on the French artists them- 
 selves that MM. Quatremere de Quincy, Denon, 
 David, Giraudet, and forty other artists had signed 
 a petition, before their removal, to the Directory 
 not to displace those objects. 
 
 Those to whom the English minister's observa- 
 tions were known seemed to consider them as 
 made rather in compliance with a feeling of 
 national jealousy than of strict justice ; and, as 
 actions are seldom placed to the account of the 
 principal agents, the ardour of the English cabinet 
 was attributed to the Under Secretary, Mr. Hamil- 
 ton, a gentleman known in the literary world by 
 his " Travels in Greece and Egypt," and highly 
 interested in the progress of the arts. 
 
 But however doubtful might have been the 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 227 
 
 right of the French after the treaty of Tolentino 
 had been broken, this reasoning could not be 
 applied to the anterior treaty made with the Prince 
 of Parma, which was the first treaty in which 
 there was any article respecting paintings. 
 
 In answer to the note of Lord Castlereagh, a 
 note was given in by M. de Nesselrode on the part 
 of the Emperor Alexander. In this note, the jus- 
 tice or the injustice of the measure was less in- 
 sisted on than its expediency. It represented the 
 painful situation in which it placed Louis XVIII. 
 with regard to the public ; and that if the allies 
 forbore retaking the last year what they deemed 
 their property in the Museum, from their respect 
 for the king, this motive ought to operate with 
 double force at the present period. 
 
 It was for a short time believed that the Russian 
 note had produced some effect ; but whether the 
 Emperor Alexander relaxed in the energy of his 
 representations, or because the Russian troops had 
 withdrawn from the capital, this hope proved 
 delusive. 
 
 Further observations were made to the French 
 government by Lord Castlereagh, and some irrita- 
 tion excited at first by the silence which attended 
 them, but still more by a severe note from M. 
 Talleyrand. The dismission of a popular minister 
 
228 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 at this period had not, it was said, contributed to 
 increase the cordiality of the Duke of Wellington 
 with the Tuileries. 
 
 The war of diplomacy now ceased; sentence 
 was passed upon the gallery ; a decree of retalia- 
 tion had gone forth, and the attack on the Museum 
 began. 
 
 The king gave orders to the directors of the 
 Museum to authenticate whatever violence might 
 be offered. The Museum was shut up. It was 
 opened on the requisition of an Enghsh colonel, 
 who demanded, with authority, the surrender of 
 the objects which had belonged to the Belgic 
 provinces. English troops were placed on guard 
 at the Louvre. The king ordered the gates to be 
 opened, but that on no pretence any assistance 
 should be given to the invaders. 
 
 A kind of custom-house was established at the 
 gate to examine what should be taken. Sentinels 
 were posted along the gallery of the Museum at 
 every twenty steps, but this did not entirely pre- 
 vent fraud. The Belgic amateurs, aided by the 
 English soldiery, exercised in alliance their ener- 
 gies. The turn of the Austrians came next, who, 
 though always slow in their operations, never 
 swerve from their purpose. They had appeared 
 to have limited their pretensions to the Horses of 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 229 
 
 Corinth ; but, encouraged by the large and liberal 
 example of the Belgians in taking, they decided 
 on removing the pictures which had come from 
 Parma (such as the St. Jerom of Corregio), those 
 from Milan and Modena, and the Titians from 
 Venice. It was now that the losses of the Museum 
 were swelled into magnitude. 
 
 The report that a strong guard of foreign troops 
 were posted all night at the Louvre was now re- 
 peated from mouth to mouth. The Parisians 
 seemed ready to apostrophize the allies in the 
 same tone of bitter irony with which Achilles ad- 
 dresses Agamemnon in the Iphigenia of Racine : 
 
 "Un bruit assez strange est arriv^ jusqu'a moi, 
 Seigneur, je I'ai jug^ trop peu digne de foi." 
 
 It was sullenly whispered that the allies were 
 going to take away some pictures of the Flemish 
 school. A fearful apprehension, indeed, of some- 
 thing more dreadful dwelt in every mind ; but no 
 one dared to express it. We were in the situation 
 of Madame de Longueville, when she lamented 
 the death of her brother who had fallen in battle, 
 but dared not inquire for her son. To be be- 
 reaved of the Greek chefs-d'oRuvre and of the 
 Italian school was an idea too full of horror to be 
 borne, a sacrilege from which the minds of the 
 Parisians started back aghast. 
 
230 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 But when the direful truth was promulgated, 
 what language can paint the variety and violence 
 of passion which raged in every Frenchman's 
 breast ! Curses, louder and longer than those 
 heaped on the head of Obadiah, were poured out 
 on the allies by the enraged Parisians. They for- 
 got all other miseries ; the project of blowing up 
 bridges, pillage, spoliations, massacres, war-taxes, 
 the dismemberment of empire, — all these they 
 wiped away "from their tablets." No longer 
 were their heads plotting on tyranny, on liberty ; 
 they thought no more of the cession of fortresses 
 and the fate of the Constitutional Chart.; all prin- 
 ciples, feelings, hopes, and fears were absorbed in 
 this one great and horrible humiliation. 
 
 Whatever has been recorded in history of the 
 depredations of the Goths and Vandals seemed 
 light to the public of Paris when weighed in the 
 balance with these outrages of the nineteenth 
 century. They were in vain reminded that these 
 precious objects were the spoils of the vanquished, 
 who had now become the conquerors in their 
 turn ; despair seldom reasons. The artists tore 
 their hair, and even the lower classes of the people 
 partook the general indignation. In the liberal 
 access which in this country is accorded to all 
 objects of art and science, the poor had not been 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 231 
 
 excluded. They too had visited these models of 
 perfection, and felt that all had a right to lament 
 the loss of what all had been permitted to enjoy. 
 
 It may be observed, by the way, that this vio- 
 lence of resentment, this desperate fury at the 
 removal of those masterpieces of art, denote the 
 feelings of a people arrived at a very high degree 
 of civilization. The Parisians, while they had 
 supported with equanimity the most signal calam- 
 ities and endured with cheerfulness the most cruel 
 privations, deplored with sensibility, and goaded 
 almost to madness, the loss of objects which, far 
 from being necessary to the wants of ordinary 
 life, are only fitted to charm and embellish its 
 highest state of refinement. 
 
 While restitution carried on its labours within 
 the galleries, the four Corinthian horses, once 
 destined to be harnessed to the chariot of the 
 sun, placed almost since their birth on triumphal 
 arches by ancient and modern tyrants, — those 
 fiery animals who have pranced from east to west, 
 and from west to east, as symbols of victory, were 
 now to descend from their gilded car at the en- 
 try of the palace of the Tuileries, in order to pro- 
 ceed on their travels towards St. Mark's church at 
 Venice, where they had been till lately stationed. 
 
 It must be observed, in honour of the Austrians, 
 
232 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 that in their attempt on the Corinthian steeds 
 they had at first the moderation to spare the 
 royal feelings at the Tuileries by making their 
 approaches under cover of the night, perhaps £^lso 
 to avoid wounding the public as well as the royal 
 eye. There was some delicacy in this proceeding ; 
 but the gardes du corps on service at the palace, 
 unsuspicious of such a mark of deference, mistook 
 these Austrian dilettanti for robbers, and charged 
 and drove them from their labours. 
 
 The following night, an Austrian piquet sum- 
 moned to its aid a body of the national guard. 
 This was a most unwelcome duty to those citizen- 
 soldiers ; but as the police of the capital always 
 required their presence in any moment of conten- 
 tion between the foreign troops and the inhabi- 
 tants of Paris, they were in the present case 
 forced to become the unwilling spectators, at least, 
 of this act of national humiliation. Peace was 
 thus preserved; but no progress was made in 
 these mighty operations towards the removal of 
 the horses, and after three nights of inefEectual 
 labour those animals on the fourth morning still 
 stood on their arch, pawing the air. 
 
 But it was now deemed useless "to consult feel- 
 ings of any kind, except those of the claimants of 
 the horses; and the operation of making them 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 233 
 
 descend from their heights was continued in open 
 day. The square was, however, disembarrassed 
 of all French spectators, who were very noisy and 
 troublesome in their disapproval of this spoliation. 
 Piquets of Austrians were placed at every avenue 
 leading to the Place of the Carrousel, to prevent 
 the entrance of any French. The palace and the 
 court of the Tuileries were thus put into a state 
 of siege, of which it was not the king, but the 
 bronze horses who were the object. Foreigners 
 alone were admitted ; and the monarch might 
 have seen from his windows an English engineer 
 exercising his industry to unfetter the animals 
 from their pedestal, the Austrians being clumsy 
 artisans, while English ladies placed themselves 
 triumphantly on the car of victory to which the 
 steeds were yet harnessed. 
 
 If in these days of retributive justice due re- 
 spect were to be paid to property, those steeds 
 belonged neither to his Austrian Majesty nor to 
 the municipality of Venice. In a conversation 
 which passed between M. de Tolstoi, the ambassa- 
 dor from Russia, and Bonaparte in his days of tri- 
 umph, on a question respecting the right to the 
 Byzantine dominions towards which Alexander 
 was suspected to turn his thoughts, it was hinted 
 with some pleasantry by the ambassador that if 
 
234 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 Napoleon disputed the pretensions of the Emperor 
 of Russia, it was perhaps in consideration of the 
 claims of Marshal Junot, in right of his wife, who 
 was a Comnene, and really descended from the 
 Paleologues. But in the present circumstances 
 the claims of the House of Comnene in right of 
 their ancestors were laid aside, and those of the 
 House of Hapsburg in favour of the last occupant, 
 the senate of Venice, were admitted. 
 
 The horses at length descended from their airy 
 station with safety. Not such was the fate of the 
 winged lion of St. Mark's Place at Venice, which 
 surmounted the fountain before the H6tel of the 
 Invalids. He was now destined to travel the 
 same road with his antique neighbours, the horses 
 of the sun. He had but a small height to de- 
 scend ; his wings outstretched, as if he would have 
 flown to his old perch or pillar of granite, served 
 him here in no stead, and the operation of his 
 descent was so clumsily performed that he broke 
 his legs as well as the edges of the bason of his 
 fountain ; while the Parisians felt a vindictive joy 
 at the accident which had befallen him, and which 
 indeed is less to be regretted as he is an animal 
 of little worth, a whelp only of the Middle Ages. 
 
 While the allied troops were employed in the 
 removal of the Corinthian horses, all the passes to 
 
NAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 235 
 
 the Place of the Carrousel were guarded by Aus- 
 trian cavalry posted at the avenues of the streets 
 that led to it. The Place of the Carrousel was 
 forbidden ground only to the French ; foreigners 
 had liberty to cross it as often as they pleased. I 
 heard an officer call out to an Austrian guard who 
 hesitated, " I am an Englishman, and have a right 
 to pass." The claim was admitted. 
 
 The gates the most vigilantly guarded during 
 some days against the intrusion of the French 
 were those of the gallery of the Louvre. It was 
 said that this measure was taken from motives 
 of tenderness to those feelings which the scene 
 within must naturally have excited in the French ; 
 but it was rumoured also that exasperation might 
 produce violence, and that the pictures might be 
 defaced or statues mutilated. The troops of each 
 nation took this post by turns. It was that of 
 the Austrians at my last visit. There they stood, 
 defiance in their eye agiiinst all Frenchmen, and 
 fresh green branches stuck in their caps : this is 
 the usual ornament of the Austrian soldier's hat 
 or cap when in campaign ; but these branches 
 appear so much like symbols of victory that 
 they are highly offensive to the French. When 
 foreigners required admittance, the doors were 
 thrown open. The Frenchmen who were refused 
 
236 NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 glanced at the laurelled-cap, bit their lips, mut- 
 tered imprecations, and withdrew. 
 
 Some few had, however, the address to procure 
 entrance ; they were but few. I found some artists 
 pacing the gallery of the paintings ; they had an air 
 of distraction, and were muttering curses, "not loud, 
 but deep." " Que le tonnerre du Ciel ! Oh, 9'en 
 est trop ! 9'en est trop ! " and other exclamations 
 in the same style. A chill sensation came across 
 my heart when I descended to the halls of the 
 sculpture, and saw the vacant pedestal on which 
 had stood " the statue that enchants the world." 
 I gazed on the pedestal ; one of the old liveried 
 attendants of the hall, interpreting my looks, said 
 to me in a sorrowful tone, "Ah, madam, she is 
 gone ! I shall never see her again ! '' " Gone ! " 
 said I. " Yes, madam, she set out this very 
 morning at three o'clock, et sous bonne escorte." 
 The old man seemed to mourn over Venus as if 
 she had been his daughter. 
 
 The adjoining hall presented a few days after a 
 most melancholy spectacle. There lay the Apollo 
 on the floor, in his coffin. The workmen were 
 busied in preparing him for his journey by wedg- 
 ing him in his shell, and an artist was tracing his 
 celestial features when the trowel with its white 
 paste passed across his divine visage ; his arm was 
 
NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 237 
 
 still majestically stretched out. The French ar- 
 tists who were present wept over it ; they pressed 
 his hand to their lips, and bade him a last adieu ! 
 The scene was now closed on that perfect image 
 worthy of almost divine honours. He was going 
 to add a new glory to Eome, and draw new pil- 
 grims to his shrine ; but to Paris he was lost for- 
 ever, and she might well deplore her calamity. 
 She had indeed seized him as her captive, but she 
 had gazed on him with unwearied admiration ; 
 she had hailed him as the most splendid trophy of 
 victory ; and she would have purchased his stay 
 with her treasures, even with her blood, had not 
 resistance been unavailing. 
 
 In the package of these divinities much appre- 
 hension was felt of their sustaining some injury. 
 The necessary aid and tools were wanting. No 
 rewards, no menaces, however, could prevail on 
 the French crocheteurs, porters, and labourers, 
 plying in the streets for employment, to lend 
 their aid. The French of the lowest class were 
 too indignant and mutinous to be the abettors of 
 such spoliation. The ladders of the master of an 
 exhibition of singes savans (learned monkeys), in , 
 the neighbourhood of the Louvre, were at length 
 put in requisition to unhang the pictures. The 
 Pythian divinity of Olympus lay in the streets all 
 
238 NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 night, and might have suffered from any acciden- 
 tal tumult ; and the Venus de Medicis was fated, 
 like an abandoned female, to take up her abode 
 for some hours in a common guard-house. 
 
 In taking down the Transfiguration, this inval- 
 uable picture — the most perfect that exists — 
 was suffered to fall to the ground. A general 
 shudder from the artists around marked this dis- 
 aster. The painting is on wood, and so worm- 
 eaten that in some parts it is not an eighth of an 
 inch thick. The dust from the worm -holes cov- 
 ered the floor round the picture, and excited the 
 most terrible apprehensions. It required some 
 courage to inspect it ; happily it was found not 
 damaged. 
 
 The commissaries of the Duke of Tuscany, liav- 
 ing sent off the Venus, laid their hands on the 
 Madonna della Seggia. This beautiful production 
 of Raphael is one of the few pictures that have 
 suffered from their residence at Paris ; though it 
 is difficult to decide whether this picture was 
 injured because in Italy it was covered with a 
 glass, and the evaporation of the oil could not 
 freely circulate, or if a glacis has been taken off at 
 Paris in cleaning the picture. The seizure of the 
 objects which made part of the price of the treaty 
 of Tolentino consummated the destruction of the 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVEKTS IN FRANCE. 239 
 
 Museum, so that there does not remain above a 
 twentieth part of the pictures. 
 
 The Spaniards claimed their share in this 
 general distribution, and succeeded better than 
 they had done in their purpose of invasion, — of 
 which it appears that the principal motive was 
 that of obtaining new clothes, since they had 
 heard, with some envy, that almost all the troops 
 of Europe had made their toilette at the expense 
 of France. 
 
 In the latter times of Bonaparte, in the year 
 1814, an exhibition had been made of the subjects 
 of the Spanish school, of the Italian before the 
 time of Raphael, and of the German school. 
 Some French marshals, to please their master, 
 had sent their Morellos to swell this exhibition, 
 which pieces had by chance been left during the 
 reign of the Bourbons, the short invasion of Bona- 
 parte, and to the present period. The Spanish 
 ambassador would not have demanded the Mo- 
 rellos had they remained in the houses of those 
 who had taken them ; but as he found them col- 
 lected in an exhibition, he took advantage of the 
 negligence of their fresh owners and sent them 
 back into Spain. 
 
 And lastly presented themselves the commissa- 
 ries of the King of Sardinia. They came at an 
 
240 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 unlucky moment. The Austrian guard at the 
 Museum had been called away to assist in the 
 removal of the horses at the Tuileries ; the guar- 
 dians of the Museum, raised into indignation at the 
 attack of these new commissaries, collected their 
 forces, consisting of numerous workmen, and with 
 brush and broom swept the Sardinians out of the 
 gallery. 
 
 An attack meanwhile was directed against the 
 National Library. Among the manuscripts of the 
 Vatican which were ceded by the peace of Tolen- 
 tino were those which had been pillaged from the 
 library of Heidelberg in the Palatinate, during the 
 Thirty Years war, by the soldiers of General 
 Tilly. These spoils were at that period given to 
 the Pope. The commissaries of the Margrave of 
 Baden laid violent hands on those manuscripts as 
 the original property of their master, now sov- 
 ereign of Heidelberg. These manuscripts, both 
 Greek and Latin, amounted to four thousand, and 
 had been taken from Rome, Venice, and the Am- 
 brosian library at Milan. It would have been 
 happy if all had gone that road, since the Vatican 
 is the grave of manuscripts. Whatever apper- 
 tains to the sciences and literature is there lost to 
 the world ; the arts only may possibly be gainers. 
 On the principle of reclaiming the property of 
 
NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN FRANCE. 241 
 
 past ages, it would be extremely difficult to make 
 out a regular European inventory. 
 
 Madame Junot, being descended from the Paleo- 
 logues, might, on this enlarged plan of retribution, 
 have put in her claim to the Horses of the Sun. 
 A Belgic commissary had a reclamation to make 
 for the town-clock of Troyes in Champagne, which 
 had been taken from Cambray in the time of 
 Charles VI. about four hundred years since. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington may perhaps be taxed 
 with remissness for having overlooked, in this 
 hour of retribution, certain property that belonged 
 to England. When Bonaparte, some years since, 
 was on the point of executing his threatened inva- 
 sion of England, it was deemed expedient to ex- 
 cite the Parisians to a sympathy with such heroic 
 enterprize. Volumes of the history of fifteen or 
 twenty invasions were circulated ; but nobody 
 read or believed them. On the maxim of Hor- 
 ace, that what is seen with the eyes produces 
 much greater effect than what passes through the 
 ear, the walls of the Museum were covered with 
 pictures proving that the measure was not only 
 possible, but had really been executed. The his- 
 tory of this marvellous transaction was impressed 
 on Parisian incredulity by the display of Matilda's 
 tapestry, worked by the queen and her ladies of 
 
 16 
 
242 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 honour, representing, in worsted epic, the heroic 
 feats of her husband, William the Conqueror. 
 Hume, in his History, refers to this tapestry to 
 authenticate some incident of that period. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington, it appears, had made 
 no inquiry after this historical furniture. He had, 
 however, a clearer right to the tapestry than the 
 Belgic commissary to the town-clock of Cambray. 
 The tapestry is evidently the property of the 
 Prince Regent as heir-at-law to William the Con- 
 queror, to whom it originally belonged as the hus- 
 band of Matilda. The duke might, however, from 
 a sentiment of generosity, have left it to adorn the 
 now naked walls of the Museum, and to console 
 the French that their ancestors had once con- 
 quered England and taken London, though it 
 were nearly a thousand years since. 
 
 The French, when their days of mourning and 
 humiliation are past, will reflect with some con- 
 solation on what they still possess. A respectable 
 gallery may yet be formed, when the subjects are 
 duly collected. The Rubens, the Le Seurs, and 
 the Vernets, now composing the collection of the 
 Luxembourg, may be united with the Poussins 
 and the Miguards of the Trianon. There are 
 also some Raphaels, — that of Frances L, the Holy 
 Famil}^, and the St. Michael ; some pieces of Leo- 
 
KAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 243 
 
 nardo da Vinci, of Claude Lorrain, of Champagne, 
 and the battles of Le Brun. 
 
 The collection of sculpture that remains is unri- 
 valled except bj that of Italy. Lord Elgin's collec- 
 tion is thought to be more precious for the learned 
 artist on account of the number of mutilated frag- 
 ments it contains, but can give no pleasure like 
 that produced by the sight of the Apollo or the 
 Laocoon. 
 
 Paris retains the Diana from Versailles, the 
 Pallas de Veletri, which was purchased by Bona- 
 parte, and also the Museum of the Prince Bor- 
 ghese, in which shines the Gladiator, and many 
 other subjects which may be compared with the 
 firstrate pieces of the Vatican. Bonaparte had 
 purchased this collection by the cession of estates 
 in Piedmont to his brother-in-law. His Sardinian 
 Majesty, on his arrival in his domains, confiscated 
 this property. Apprehensions were entertained 
 that this measure would occasion the loss of this 
 precious collection ; but the Congress of the four 
 great powers who deem themselves invested with 
 the high police of Europe, signified to the King of 
 Sardinia that he must repeal his act of confiscation. 
 
 The Paris Museum might also have been en- 
 riched with the collection which had belonged to 
 Prince Giustiniani, in which were the Michel 
 
244 NARKATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 Angelos of Caravaggio, Guides, and Carraccis ; 
 but this collection has been purchased by the 
 King of Prussia for five hundred thousand francs. 
 The collection at Malmaison contained the fine 
 statues of Canova, — the Paris, the Psyche, and 
 the Dancing Girl, — and some pieces of Claude 
 Lorrain which Bonaparte had taken from Cassel. 
 The elector had an intention to claim them, but 
 they have been purchased by the Emperor of 
 Kussia. 
 
 I anticipate all your observations respecting the 
 justice of having stripped the walls of the Museum 
 of their treasures. You will tell me that they 
 had been wrested from their rightful owners, 
 that they never could be considered as French 
 property, and that consequently no principle of 
 justice has been violated by their removal. You 
 will add, no doubt, that these chefs-d'oeuvre ought 
 to belong to the countries who had the genius to 
 create them, though at the same time I presume 
 that you would not wish to send them to modern 
 Corinth or Athens. You will have ten thousand 
 things to say on this subject,"all equally just and 
 reasonable ; but the French are in the paroxysm 
 of despair, when nothing is more irksome than 
 reasoning. 
 
 The Parisians assert that amidst the rapid revo- 
 
NABEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 245 
 
 lutions of our times a possession of some years 
 gives as great a right to property as would have 
 been acquired formerly by the lapse of ages. 
 They remark also, with a kind of spiteful sarcasm, 
 that this justice so vigorously preached and so 
 severely practised by the allied powers in behalf 
 of statues and pictures has been less rigidly ob- 
 served towards human beings; and that while 
 they establish with such grave austerity the rights 
 of inanimate objects, it would have been well if in 
 the treaties of Genoa and Venice, and the reparti- 
 tion of souls, the rulers of the globe had never 
 lost sight of the rights of men. 
 
 But the most candid among the French have 
 less attacked the justice of the retribution at the 
 Museum than the mode of its execution. Instead 
 of a solemn surrender by formal treaty, to which 
 respect would have been paid, it bore the air of 
 seizing spoils by force, and aggravating the loss 
 by the infliction of useless humiliation. 
 
 It may be better for the world that these chefs- 
 d'oeuvre of the arts are disseminated. Paris ought 
 not perhaps to be the spot where all were accu- 
 mulated. There is also an intimate connexion 
 between moveable objects of art and those which 
 are fixed, — such as the great monuments of 
 architecture, and the frescos. There exists per- 
 
246 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 haps a sort of secret sympathy between the 
 Apollo, the Transfiguration, and the Dome of St. 
 Peter's and the School of Athens. 
 
 The French artists reject with horror the accu- 
 sation that they have tampered in any manner 
 with the paintings by restoring draperies. No 
 such profanation has taken place. The only use 
 they have made of the pencil has been confined 
 to the replacing in similar colours small spots, not 
 more than the eighth of a line square, where the 
 original colour had scaled off. The artists declare 
 also that these monuments, though assembled at 
 Paris, were always considered as common Euro- 
 pean property ; that they were here in a centrical 
 situation, where all had an equal access to them ; 
 that they were more carefully preserved in the 
 Museum than in churches, where their position is 
 less favourable to the student ; that the smoke of 
 lamps and torches in the Catholic churches is so 
 injurious to the colouring of pictures that a great 
 number of pieces of Julio Romano, of Titian, and 
 even of Raphael were so obscured that it was 
 only after having been cleaned at Paris that they 
 could be admired in all their parts. 
 
 The artists assert, in reply to the observation 
 that the student feels new energies on the classic 
 ground of Rome, and that Italian skies are more 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 247 
 
 favourable to inspiration than those of northern 
 latitudes, that they have been taught by their 
 own experience that Paris is a fitter abode for the 
 student than Kome; since, unobserved in Paris, 
 he can fly from crowds to that solitude which is 
 so congenial to genius, and where it can best seek 
 ideal perfection. It may be also observed that 
 although the morals of Paris may not be pure, 
 they are still less corrupt than those of Eome, — 
 a consideration of the highest importance when 
 we reflect on the eternal alliance which exists 
 between the progress of taste and virtue. 
 
 Finally, the French artists feel great apprehen- 
 sion respecting the safe conveyance of some of 
 those chefs-d' oeuvre, from the haste and want of 
 skill with which they were packed. M. Canova, 
 whom, when announced to a minister as " M. 
 I'Ambassadeiir du Pape," he had pleasantly called 
 " M. TEmballeur" not having thought proper, from 
 prudential motives, to attend and act in this latter 
 office, — M. Canova has had the precaution to 
 send these monuments of art to Italy, by the Bel- 
 gic and the Pillars of Hercules ; a circumstance 
 which perhaps gave rise to the calumny that they 
 were destined for Carlton House. 
 
 The sacrifice of the Museum was now consum- 
 mated. The Garden of Plants and its cabinet of 
 
248 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 natural history were destined to undergo a visi- 
 tation. This Museum contained many objects which 
 had been taken from the Cabinet of Natural History 
 of the Prince of Orange, in the first period of the 
 French republic. 
 
 Eestitution was here a more difficult task than 
 at the Louvre. Statues and pictures can easily 
 be identified, and being insulated objects may be 
 placed without disadvantage in new situations. 
 But in the chain of natural history, the subjects 
 being linked together according to their respec- 
 tive families, the separation of parts becomes a 
 fatal injury to the whole. 
 
 The cabinet of the Stadtholder was less exten- 
 sive than has generally been thought. It was 
 not so considerable as that of Paris, and the 
 French commissaries had not taken the whole. 
 In the difficulty of distinguishing this kind of 
 property, the professors of the Garden of Plants 
 proposed an expedient, which was that of form- 
 ing a complete duplicate of their magnificent 
 collection for the King of Holland, without 
 distinction of subjects belonging or not to the 
 Stadtholder's collection. This proposition was 
 readily accepted by the minister of the King of 
 Holland. 
 
 Thus ends the long chapter of restitution. The 
 
NAEEATIVE QF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 249 
 
 die is cast, and fears and reasonings, remonstrances 
 and complaints, are alike unavailing. Resent- 
 ment now beats high in the bosom of the French, 
 but time will exert its accustomed power of soft- 
 ening all impressions. Let us hope that France 
 will learn to bear adversity with magnanimity, 
 and the allied powers to use prosperity nobly. 
 They have had much to avenge, but vengeance 
 leads to eternal warfare ; and a great nation, 
 driven to despair, might be apt to say with Ham- 
 let, "I've something in me that's dangerous." 
 
 Every eye is now fixed on our newly assembled 
 legislature. It was observed at the opening of 
 the session, by a witty statesman, that " there 
 were deux chambres hautes, who would talk like 
 deux chambres basses." The truth is that the 
 house of commons is chiefly composed of mar- 
 quisses, counts, and barons. A member of this 
 chamber boasted that the titled parchments and 
 badges of nobility of the lower house far ex- 
 ceed the titles of the house of peers, in which 
 are seated so many senators that were once 
 notorious. 
 
 The king will, no doubt, endeavour to reign in 
 the niost constitutional manner. He wishes to 
 avoid the shock of parties, and had displayed a 
 remarkable proof of this desire by the nomination 
 
250 NARRATIVE OP EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 of the Duke of Otranto to the ministry of the 
 poUce. This nomination had tranquillized the 
 patriot party, which is numerous, and even the 
 jacobin party, which is extremely small; but it 
 irritated the ultra-royalists, those of whom it has 
 been often said that they are more royalist than 
 the king, and who wish to bring back Prance to 
 its state previous to the revolution. 
 
 The first ministry was dissolved. The king has 
 composed another, the president of which is 
 known for his wisdom and his moderation. 
 
 The debates of the chambers have already 
 shewn that the government is more liberal than 
 the majority of these representatives of the nation, 
 — a strange political phenomenon, and highly 
 honourable to the king. His first solicitude, and 
 that of the two chambers, will be, no doubt, to 
 establish perfect tranquillity in France. The dis- 
 orders that have taken place at Nimes and in the 
 department of the Gard shew how dangerous it is 
 to suffer the people to exercise sovereign autho- 
 rity. In that province the Protestants, naturally 
 the most zealous defenders of liberal principles, 
 became the victims of a licentious armed popu- 
 lace, under pretence that they were Bonapartists. 
 This re-action in the south is so much the more 
 to be lamented, that the malignity of faction has 
 
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 251 
 
 sought to injure the royal cause by insinuating 
 that the commissaries of the princes favoured these 
 acts of hostility against the Protestants. It would 
 be an offence to the French government to justify 
 it against such calumnies. 
 
 The king, who it appears has a mind superior 
 to the littleness of vengeance, confined to a very 
 small number the list of state-offenders. The ultra- 
 royalists, or what the other factions term "les 
 jacobins blancs," call aloud for a general epuration. 
 They seem to think, like the ultras in the time of 
 our Charles the Second, that they can never find 
 axes and ropes enough to punish the guilty. If 
 the government did not set bounds to such pre- 
 tensions, a double re-action would take place, — 
 one against the friends of civil liberty, who would 
 be exiled as jacobins and Bonapartists, and an- 
 other composed of the patriots and of all the lower 
 classes of the people against the nobles. Let us 
 hope that all parties will rally round the king 
 and the constitutional government. France would 
 be exposed to great danger if any new disturb- 
 ances arose. An hundred and fifty thousand for- 
 eign troops remain on the territory. The foreign 
 powers would take advantage of such a state of 
 disorder, and perhaps compel France to make ter- 
 ritorial sacrifices. 
 
252 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN PRANCE. 
 
 Those who have begun disturbances would pre- 
 tend that there was a scission among the allies, 
 and that they had at least one of those powers on 
 their side. Credulity will do the rest. The people 
 were made to believe six months since that Aus- 
 tria was about to declare itself in favour of the 
 young Napoleon. 
 
 You interrogate me respecting the permanence 
 of peace, as if I could read the book of futurity. 
 Nations demand guarantees for their tranquillity, 
 and those guarantees, by the outrages committed 
 on the rights of national independence, become 
 new causes of war. We might have hoped that 
 the last war and the peace of Paris would have 
 extingiiished the hatred of the nations of the Ger- 
 man race against Trance. No ! in the north of 
 Germany and in the west, on the banks of the 
 Rhine, it is said on all sides that the sovereigns 
 may in vain make peace ; that the struggle has 
 been that of nations and not of dynasties, and 
 that the Germans will never consider the quarrel 
 with France as terminated till Alsatia and Lor- 
 raine, and all the conquests of Louis the Fou]> 
 teenth be restored and united into a kingdom of 
 Burgundy, governed by a German prince. 
 
 The governments of Europe have been more 
 moderate than the people ; they have not nego- 
 
NAEEATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 253 
 
 ciated for provinces but for fortresses, which the 
 Germans pretend to be points of attack against 
 them. In this negociation the Emperor Alexander 
 has again displayed that noble and generous char- 
 acter by which he has so long acquired the admi- 
 ration of the French. 
 
 Bonaparte is fallen. There is no probability 
 that France can for a long series of years become 
 dangerous as a warlike nation. The purpose, 
 therefore, of the alliance of Chaumont no longer 
 exists ; but the Congress of Vienna, the personal 
 friendship subsisting between the allied sov- 
 ereigns, and the habitude which the several cabi- 
 nets have contracted of transacting affairs together 
 and of being in perfect intelligence with each 
 other, may perpetuate the alliance of the four 
 great powers. Politics have assumed new forms. 
 The expressions, "Europe insists — Europe will 
 not permit," now signifies that such is the will of 
 the cabinets of London, Petersburg, Berlin, and 
 Vienna. In conformity to this diplomatic lan- 
 guage, unknown five years since, Spain and France 
 seem no longer to form a part of Europe, This 
 union of the four great powers gives them an im- 
 mense physical force. Hence the idea of forming 
 the High Police of Europe, — that is, of governing 
 the world according to the interests of those four 
 
254 NARRATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 
 
 cabinets. It has been observed, that, of all the 
 consequences of the French Revolution, this was 
 the most fatal to the liberty of mankind. 
 
 A European congress would be, indeed, a flat- 
 tering dream ; but it may be doubted whether that 
 of Vienna will go down with this brilliant title to 
 posterity. Hitherto absolute governments, for the 
 most part, have deformed the continent of Europe ; 
 but should a real European Areopagus exist, it 
 will become essential that constitutions should be 
 framed for all the states of which Europe is com- 
 posed. Some indications of such happy ameliora- 
 tion already appear. The rulers of the world 
 have, indeed, of late years been compelled to bear 
 so many outrages from lawless power that they 
 are, perhaps, almost as weary of despotism as the 
 people. France has made the expiation which 
 those who bend to tyranny deserve. But she will 
 lift again her prostrate head ! Her natural ten- 
 dency is towards prosperity. Her destiny points 
 to happiness. Possessing all the materials of which 
 public welfare is composed, she will learn the 
 secret of using them well and nobly ; and abhor- 
 ring the madness of conquest, will enjoy, in calmer 
 triumph, the riches of her climate, her population, 
 her industry, and her arts. Upon the whole, let 
 us hope that the political convulsions which have 
 
NAERATIVE OF EVENTS IN FRANCE. 255 
 
 devastated Europe will be succeeded by the bless- , 
 edness of ti'anquillity ; and that moderation, mag- 
 nanimity, and, above all, the long profaned but 
 ever- sacred name of liberty will become the order 
 of the day of the nineteenth century. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 As soon as the avowed object of the war — the gov- 
 ernment of Napoleon and of his brothers — had been 
 overturned, and that the nomination of an Executive 
 Commission had destroyed all plans of a regency, an 
 embassy was immediately sent to the allied powers to 
 stop the march of their armies, and gain information of 
 their intentions relative to peace. 
 
 The plenipotentiaries were General La Payette, M. 
 Le Forest (a veteran in diplomacy, and the friend of 
 M. Talleyrand), General Sebastiani, M. D'Argenson (a 
 descendant of one of the most illustrious families of 
 Prance, and who as administrator had resisted Bona- 
 parte's unjust measures at Antwerp), — these four were 
 members of the Assembly of Deputies, — M. Pontecou- 
 lant (member of the Chamber of Peers of the king, and 
 also of the imperial chamber, where he had resisted with 
 great energy the proposal of a regency, and refused 
 Lucien the title of Prench citizen), and M. Benjamin 
 Constant. 
 
 The plenipotentiaries repaired first to the Prench 
 advanced posts to ask of the Duke of Wellington and 
 
 17 
 
258 APPENDIX. 
 
 General Blucher a suspension of hostilities. Blucher, 
 who was the nearest, charged himself with the answer. 
 He demanded not only that the fortified posts, before 
 and around him, should be given up, but that all those 
 of the Ardennes and in Lorraine should be evacuated. 
 The plenipotentiaries could not accept these conditions ; 
 they wrote to Paris to send other commissaries to the 
 two generals, and, furnished with a passport from Gen- 
 eral Blucher, they reached, athwart many difficulties 
 and delays, the headquarters of the allied sovereigns at 
 Haguenau. The monarchs, and even their first min- 
 isters, were not visible ; but Lord Stewart, the English 
 ambassador. Count Capo d'Istria for Russia, Count 
 Walmoden for Austria, General Konesbeck for Prussia, 
 held conferences with them. The vague observations 
 and reciprocal accusations which passed on political 
 events are matters of no importance ; whatever might 
 have been the instructions of the French, it appears that 
 their conduct was conformable to the interest which 
 they had to leave no pretext to the allies to continue 
 their march. In the conference. General Sebastian! 
 declared that the only object of the war existed no 
 longer ; that Bonaparte, now become a private individual 
 under the care of the government, desired only a pass- 
 port to go to the United States or to England ; that M. 
 Otto was gone to London to ask this permission ; that 
 the brothers of Bonaparte were not of the government ; 
 that the name of young Napoleon, detained at Vienna, 
 was so much the less obnoxious to the allies that a 
 -provisionary government had been named altogether 
 
APPENDIX. 259 
 
 opposed to an imperial regency ; that nothing prevented 
 an immediate suspension of arms, or conference for a 
 peace; that nothing had been prejudged respecting 
 affairs or persons ; that these questions had not been 
 entered on ; that they had come to consult the allies ; 
 that the plenipotentiaries had extensive powers ; and 
 that if the allies proposed any measures that might 
 surpass them, they would immediately refer to the 
 government. Sebastiani's colleagues adhered to his 
 declaration. 
 
 The conduct of the allies seemed to prove that they 
 had a contrary interest, — that of availing themselves 
 of the victory of Waterloo by taking possession of Paris 
 without delay. They declared that the allied powers 
 had mutually engaged not to negociate separately either 
 for a peace or a truce ; and that the negociation could 
 not commence at Haguenau, but must be delayed till all 
 the cabinets should meet, which would take place as 
 soon as possible. The plenipotentiaries were treated 
 with great respect, but were accompanied by two Prus- 
 sian officers ; and the road they were obliged to take 
 was so prolonged that they did not reach Paris till the 
 5th July, two days after the capitulation was signed. 
 I have been assured by generals, that, if MM. de la 
 Payette and Sebastiani had reached Paris in time to be 
 present at the councils of war on the 2d, it is possible 
 that an attack on the Prussian army, which had crossed 
 the Seine, would have taken place on the 3d. 
 
 French commissaries — M. Plausergues, General An- 
 dreossy, and some others — were sent to the Duke of 
 
260 APPENDIX. 
 
 Wellington. It ^appears that the duke at his head- 
 quarters proposed the re-establishment of Louis XVIII. 
 only as an advice ; he added, however, that in case 
 another choice was made the allies would feel them- 
 selves obliged, for their own safety, to make some en- 
 croachments on the territory and keep some strong 
 places on their own account. The allies expressed 
 strongly the wish that Bonaparte should be given up to 
 them. It is said that on this occasion M. de la Payette 
 made the following answer to one of the foreign min- 
 isters : " I am astonished that when you make such a 
 demand of the French people, you address yourself, in 
 preference, to a prisoner of Olmutz'." 
 
 No. II. 
 Declaration of the Chamber of Representatives. 
 
 The troops of the allied powers are about to take 
 possession of the capital. The Chamber of Represen- 
 tatives will not the les^ continue to liold its sittings 
 amidst the inhabitants of Paris, where the express will 
 of the people has convoked its mandataries. 
 
 But in these weiglity circumstances the Chamber of 
 Representatives owes to itself, to Prance, to Europe, a 
 declaration of its sentiments and its principles. 
 
 The Chamber therefore declares that it makes a sol- 
 emn appeal to the fidelity and patriotism of the national 
 guard of Paris, charged with the protection of the na- 
 
APP]^NDIX. 261 
 
 tional representatives. It declares that it relies, with 
 the highest confidence, on the principles of morality, 
 honour, and magnanimity of the allied powers, and on 
 their respect for the independence of the nation so 
 positively expressed in their manifestoes. 
 
 It declares that the government of Prance, whoever 
 may be the chief, ought to unite the votes of the nation, 
 legally emitted, and so co-operate with other govern- 
 ments as to become a tie and guarantee of peace between 
 France and Europe. 
 
 It declares that a monarch can offer no real securi- 
 ties, if he do not swear to observe a constitution framed 
 by the national representation and accepted by the 
 people. Thus every government which should have no 
 other titles than acclamations and the will of a party, 
 or which should be established by force, — any govern- 
 meiit which would not adopt the national colours, and 
 would not guarantee 
 
 The liberty of citizens ; 
 
 The equality of civil and political rights ; 
 
 The liberty of the press ; 
 . The liberty of worship ; 
 
 The representative system ; 
 
 The free consent of levies of men and taxes ; 
 
 The responsibility of the ministers ; 
 
 The irrevocability of the sales of national property of 
 every kind ; 
 
 The inviolability of property ; 
 
 The abolition of tithes, of nobility old and new, heredi- 
 tary and feudal ; 
 
262 APPENDIX. 
 
 The abolition of all confiscation of property ; 
 
 The full oblivion of the opinions and political votes 
 emitted to the present times ; 
 
 The institution of the Legion of Honour ; 
 
 The rewards due to the officers and soldiers ; 
 
 The bounties due to their widows; 
 
 The institution of juries ; 
 
 The permanence of judges ; 
 
 The payment of the public debt — 
 would have but an ephemeral existence, and would 
 secure neither the tranquillity of Prance nor that of 
 Europe. 
 
 That if the principles enumerated in the declaration 
 should be either unacknowledged or violated, the repre- 
 sentatives of the French people, now discharging a sacred 
 duty, protest, in the face of the whole world, against 
 violence and usurpation. They confide the maintenance 
 of the dispositions which they proclaim to all good 
 Frenchmen, to all generous hearts, to all enlightened 
 minds, to all men jealous of their liberty, and, finally, 
 to future generations ! 
 
 Signed by the President and Secretaries. 
 
INDEX. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abotille, M. d', 21, 22. 
 
 Africa, 126, 135. 
 
 Aix la Chapelle, 223. 
 
 Alexander the Great, NapoFeon 
 compares himself to, 87 ; and 
 the Egyptian Jupiter, 189 ; and 
 modern weapons of war, 201 ; 
 conqueror of Thrace, Illyria, 
 etc., 203. 
 
 Alexander I. of Russia, orders 
 guard of honour for Kosciusko, 
 103; Napoleon seeks his alli- 
 ance, 208 ; moderation in 
 France, 216 and 223 ; and 
 Louvre paintings, 227 ; and 
 Byzantine dominions, 233-2.34 ; 
 purchases collection of Mal- 
 maison, 244 ; generous charac- 
 ter, 253. 
 
 Algiers, bombardment of, 162. 
 
 Alsatia and Lorraine, 252. 
 
 Ambrosian library at Milan, 240. 
 
 Amiens, peace of, 194. 
 
 Andreossy, General, 269. 
 
 AngoulSme, Due d', 66. 
 
 Angouleme, Duchesse d', 66-69. 
 
 Ann, Miss, see Parsons, Nancy. 
 
 Antwerp, 257. 
 
 " Apollo, The," 246. 
 
 Ardennes, 258. 
 
 Argenson, M. R. V. de, 257. 
 
 Artois, Comte d', 34, 182. 
 
 Athens, 244. 
 
 Athens, King of, 110. 
 
 Austerlitz, Field of, 125, 169. 
 
 Austria, Napoleon's false claim of 
 allegiance with, 40^2 ; false 
 rumours in Paris, 145, 258. 
 
 Austrians, The, defeat Murat, 
 95-98 ; considerations for the 
 peasants' property, 216-217 ; 
 robbery of the Louvre, 221 and 
 228-240. 
 
 Autun, 29. 
 
 Auvergne, 16. 
 
 Avesnes, 124. 
 
 Baden, Margrave of, 240. 
 
 Badois, The, 212. 
 
 Barlow, Joel, 192-193. 
 
 Barrere, 143. 
 
 Bavarians, The, 212. 
 
 Bayes, 106. 
 
 " Beggar Girl, The," 204. 
 
 Belgians, The, 124 ; robbery of 
 Louvre, 228-229. 
 
 " Bellerophon, The," 139. 
 
 Belleville, 157. 
 
 Belvidera, 146. 
 
 " Belvfdere Apollo, The," 221. 
 
 Berlin, 201 ; conqueror of, 210, 
 223 ; cabinet of, 253. 
 
 Bern", Due de, 182. 
 
 Blacas, M., 221-222. 
 
 Bliicher, General, false rumour of 
 his defeat, 123 ; vengeance on 
 the French, 211-212; despoils 
 the Paris Museum, 222; de- 
 mands evacuation of forts by 
 French, 258. 
 
266 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Bois de Boulogne, 216. 
 
 Bordeaux, 66-68. 
 
 Borghese, Prince, 243. 
 
 Borysthenee, 169. 
 
 Boufflers, Chevalier de, 3, 205. 
 
 Boulevard de Gand, 163. 
 
 Boulevard de I'lle d'Elba, 163. 
 
 Bow Bridge, 176. 
 
 Brittany, 69. 
 
 Brussels, 128. 
 
 Buda, 69. 
 
 Bulow, General, 213. 
 
 Buonaparte, Jerome, 110. 
 
 Buonaparte, Joseph, 110, 133. 
 
 Buonaparte, Lucien, at Champ 
 de Mars, 110 ; advises dictator- 
 ship, 130-135; refused citizen- 
 ship, 257. 
 
 Burgundy, 252. 
 
 Burleigh, Lord, 189. 
 
 Butte of Chaumont, 157. 
 
 Byzantine Dominions, 233. 
 
 Ca)SAB, Augustus, 94. 
 
 Cffisar, Julius, 87, 126. 
 
 Cairo, 90. 
 
 Calvin, 88. 
 
 Cambacerfes, Archi-chancelier, 
 135. 
 
 Cambray, garrison of, 21 ; procla- 
 mation issued at, 176; town- 
 clock of Troyes, 241. 
 
 Cannes, 9. 
 
 Canova, Antonio, favors pillage 
 of the Louvre, 225 ; his statues, 
 244; ambassador of the Pope, 
 247. 
 
 Capo d'Istria, Count, 258. 
 
 Caravaggio, 244. 
 
 Carlton House, 247. 
 
 Carnot, L. N, M., exaggerates nu- 
 merical force of army, 116-119; 
 minister for home aflFairs, 141- 
 142 ; regicide pamphlet, 149. 
 
 Carracci, Lodovico, 244. 
 
 Cassel,^244. , 
 
 Castlereagh, Lord, 225-227. 
 
 Catherine de Medicis, 170. 
 
 Catholic Church, Napoleon's op- 
 position to, 88-94 ; and James 
 IL of Belgium, 223-225. 
 
 Cato, Marcus Porcius, 151. 
 
 Caulincourt, A. A. L. de, 142. 
 
 Chailliot, 166. 
 
 Chamber of Deputies, declare 
 Napoleon a rebel, 11-12 ; Napo- 
 leon dissolves, 17. 
 
 Chamber of Peers, declare Napo- 
 leon a rebel, 11-12; dissolved 
 by Napoleon, 17 ; abdication of 
 Napoleon, 140-141 ; and decision 
 of the allies, 179, 257. 
 
 Chamber of Eepresentatives, 
 Declaration of, 260-262. 
 
 Chamfort, 47. 
 
 Champagne, 243. 
 
 Champs-Elysees, Napoleon in- 
 trenched in, 75-77 and 140; 
 allies at, 170 ; allied camps in, 
 174. • 
 
 Champ de Mars, 108-111, 144. 
 
 Charente River, 186. 
 
 Charenton, 176. 
 
 Charles II. of England, 251. 
 
 Charles VI. of France, 241. 
 
 Charles XII., 87. 
 
 Chaumont, Alliance of, 253. 
 
 Cimerian Bosphorus, 151. 
 
 Clarkson, Thomas, 199. 
 
 Claude Lorrain, 243-244. 
 
 Clermont, 16. 
 
 Clichy, 168, 181. 
 
 Coblentz Boulevard, 163. 
 
 Cologne, 223. 
 
 Committees of Beneficence, 59. 
 
 Commodus, 142-143. 
 
 Comnene, house of, 234. 
 
 Confederates of the Rhine, 124. 
 
 Conscript, the, 45, 93-94. 
 
 " Conscript Fathers, the," 142. 
 
 Constant, Benjamin, 136, 257. 
 
 Corinth, 244. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 267 
 
 Corneille, Pierre, 197, 198. 
 
 Corps Francs, 99-101. 
 
 Corregio, A. A. da, 221, 223. 
 
 Cossacks, Russian, so-called, 100- 
 101 ; caricature on Napoleon, 
 174. 
 
 Council of State, profession of 
 faith, 51-57 ; Napoleon's indif- 
 ference to, 61-62 ; and the free 
 constitution, 70-78, 88; proclaim 
 Napoleon emperor, 105. 
 
 Covent-Garden, 47. 
 
 Crebellon, P. J. de, 197. 
 
 " Critic, The," 189. 
 
 Cyrenius, 94. 
 
 Cyrus, 89. 
 
 " Dame de la Violette," 47-48. 
 David, J. L., 226. 
 Davout, L. N., 160. 
 Denon, Baron, 222; 226. 
 Dening-Court, Castle of, 204. 
 Denouettes, Gen. Lefebre, 21. 
 " Diana from Versailles, The," 
 
 243. 
 Ducis, J. F., 195-196. 
 
 Egtpt, 90, 201. 
 
 Elba, pamphlets sent to, 17 ; Na- 
 poleon's followers in, 20 ; escape 
 from, 40 ; iron mines at, 62 ; 
 treaty with Napoleon after re- 
 treat to, 71 ; fireworks repre- 
 senting, 112-113; 133. 
 
 Elbean Band, the, 14. 
 
 Elgin, Lord, 243. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen of England, 69. 
 
 Elysee-Bourbon Palace, Napoleon 
 in full power at, 77; constitu- 
 tional act issued from, 82 ; Na- 
 poleon's retirement at, 119 ; dis- 
 cussion of dictatorship at, 182- 
 133; deputies demand Napole- 
 on's abdication at, 136. 
 
 England, opposed to Napoleon's 
 
 return, 40 ; Napoleon's projected 
 
 invasion of, 94, 258. 
 English troops, 146-147; army, 
 
 165; camp, 184, 217. 
 Esmenard, M., 198. 
 Eylau, battle of, 128. 
 
 Fauxeourg St. Antoine, Rusky 
 Musky and his followers, 100- 
 101 ; anecdote of, 128-129; dur- 
 ing siege of Paris, 159; views 
 of liberty, 207. 
 
 Fauxbourg St. Marceau, 159. 
 
 Field of May, its pretentions, 56 ; 
 publicly announced, 64; duplic- 
 ity of Napoleon, 76-80; account 
 of the proceedings, etc., 105- 
 114. 
 
 Flausergues, M., 259. 
 
 Fleurus, 122. 
 
 Fontainebleau, army collected 
 near, 28 ; Napoleon's entry into, 
 31 ; Polish depredations near, 
 101, 151. 
 
 Fouch^, Joseph, Due d'Otranto, 
 presses for Napoleon's abdica- 
 tion, 136 ; made minister of po- 
 lice, 141 ; letter to Wellington 
 on freedom, 206. 
 
 Fox, Charles James, 138. 
 
 Frances I. of Raphael, 242. 
 
 Freemasons, 47. 
 
 Friedland, field of, 125. 
 
 Ganges River, 201. 
 
 " Ganymede of Sans Souci," 220. 
 
 Garden of plants, 247-248. 
 
 Genoa, treaty of, 245. 
 
 German, princes, 41 ; hatred of 
 
 French, 252-253. 
 Germany, 64, 155. 
 Ghent, 49, 69. 
 Giraudet, M., 226. 
 Giulio Romano, 246. 
 Giustiniani, Prince, 243. 
 " Gladiator, the," 223, 243. 
 
268 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Gorani, M., 5. 
 
 Goths and Vandals, 220. 
 
 Graudenz fortress, 222. 
 
 Greece, heroes of, 88, 203. 
 
 Grenelle, plain of, 165-166. 
 
 Grenier, General, 142. 
 
 Grenoble, treachery of garrison 
 
 of, 13-14, 20-22, 141. 
 Guides, 244. 
 
 Haguenan, 178, 258-259. 
 Hamilton, Sir William, 226. 
 Hamlet, 249. 
 Han;iibal, 151. 
 Hanorerians, the, 124. 
 Hapsburg, house of, 234. 
 Heidelberg library, 240. 
 Helvetic Republic, the, 191. 
 Henry IV. of France, 161. 
 Henry VIII. of England, 90. 
 " Holy family, the," 242. 
 Homer, 6. 
 Horace, 241. 
 "Horses of Corinth, the," 228- 
 
 234. 
 Hotel of the Invalids, the, 234. 
 Hume, David, 242. 
 Hyde Park Corner, 176. 
 
 Illteia, 203. 
 
 Imperial Guard, the, 118. 
 
 India, 200-201. 
 
 Issy, 166. 
 
 Italy, 9; army of King of Naples 
 
 in, 95-98, 190, 238; sculptures 
 
 in, 243. 
 Italian Boulevard, the, 162-163. 
 
 Jacobins, the, repressed, 7 ; their 
 maxim " daring," 26-27 ; hatred 
 of Napoleon, 82, 130 ; the cry 
 of liberty, 175, 250 ; " Jacobins 
 blancs," 251. 
 
 Janizaries, the, 32. 
 
 Jena, bridge, 165 and 211, 169 ; 
 conqueror of, 210. 
 
 Joachim, King of Naples, 9. 
 
 Joseph II. of Belgium, 223. 
 
 Juan, bay of, 8. 
 
 Junius, 93. 
 
 Junot, Marshal, 234. 
 
 Junot, Madame, 241. 
 
 Kensington, 176. 
 Konesbeck, General, 258. 
 Koran, the, 90. 
 Kosciusko, 102-104. 
 
 La BEDOYi;EE, General, 13, 141. 
 
 La Bedoyere, Madame, 13. 
 
 La Chapelle, 176. 
 
 La Fayette, General, oath of fed- 
 eration, 2 ; address to house of 
 Eepresentatives, 130-138 ; de- 
 puty to allied powers, 178, 257 ; 
 and the allies, 259-260. 
 
 La Fere, C. de, 21-22. 
 
 La Gaiety Theatre, 162. 
 
 La Harpe, M. de, 103. 
 
 Lallemand, General, 21. 
 
 Lameth, M., 141. 
 
 Lanjuinais, Comte de, 114-116, 
 138, 181. 
 
 Lasune's House, 217. 
 
 La Vende'e, 69. 
 
 La Villette, 160. 
 
 Lebrun, Charles, 243. 
 
 Le Forest, M., 257. 
 
 Legion of Honour, 45, 149, 196. 
 
 Leoben, 132. 
 
 Le Seurs, 242. 
 
 Lily, the, emblem of the Bour- 
 bons, 35, 47, 181. 
 
 Lisle, 20. 
 
 Lisle, Count of, see Louis XVIII. 
 
 Loire River, 168. 
 
 London, 242, 253. 
 
 Longueville, Madame de, 229. 
 
 Lons le Saulnier, 28-29. 
 
 Lorraine, 258. 
 
 Louis XIV., 252. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 269 
 
 Louis XVIIL, flees from the 
 Capital, 34; military establish- 
 ment, 38 ; and the Free Press, 
 58; proclamation from Ghent, 
 69, 71; toleration, 92, 106; 
 constitutional chart, 109, 163; 
 proclamation, 176-177 ; sup- 
 ported by the Allies, 178-180; 
 enters Paris, 181-185 ; tlie rob- 
 bery of the Louvre, 227-228 ; 
 nominates Fouche', 250, 260. 
 
 Louvre gallery, pillage of, 220- 
 237. 
 
 Luther, Martin, 88. 
 
 Luxembourg, 179. 
 
 Luxembourg gallery, 242. 
 
 Lyons, captured by Napoleon, 
 12-29, 107. 
 
 Macdonald, Marshal, 15. 
 
 Machiavel, 86. 
 
 Macon, 29. 
 
 " Madonna della Seggia," 238. 
 
 Mahomet, 87-90. 
 
 Mahometan Wechabites, 90. 
 
 Malmaison, 150-152, 155, 244. 
 
 Mameluke, 151. 
 
 Marchand, General, 13-15. 
 
 Marengo, field of, 125 ; heroes of, 
 
 169. 
 Maria Theresa, 69. 
 Marie Louise, 41-42. 
 Marius, Caius, 143. 
 Marne, lOO: 
 Maron, M., 91-92. 
 Marseilles, 66. 
 
 Massena, Due de Eivoli, 141. 
 Matilda's tapestry, 241-242. 
 Mazarin, Jules, 174. 
 Meaux, 100. 
 Melun, 28. 
 Meudon, 160, 165. 
 Michel Angelo, 243-244 
 Miguards, 242. 
 Milan, 229. 
 Mile-End, 176. 
 
 Mirabeau, Comte de, 180. 
 
 Mithridates, 153. 
 
 Modena, 229. 
 
 Montagu, Mrs., 148. 
 
 Moutargis, 28. 
 
 Montauban College, 46. 
 
 Montmartre, 157, 168. 
 
 Mortier, Marshal, 20-22. 
 
 Moscow, 129, 174, 216. 
 
 Moses, 87. 
 
 Moskwa, Prince of, see Ney. 
 
 Munich, 201. 
 
 Murat, King of Naples, 9; van- 
 quished by Austrians, 95-98 ; 
 failure, 105. 
 
 Murat, Madame, 217. 
 
 Namdr, 123. 
 
 Nancy, 117. 
 
 Naples, King of, see Murat. 
 
 Naples, Queen of, see Murat. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, " nightmare 
 of the worW," 3 ; author's admi- 
 ration for, 5-6 ; first consul, 7 ; 
 lands at Cannes, 9; professed 
 interest in the people, 10; de- 
 clared a traitor, 11 ; march to 
 Grenoble and Lyons, 12-16 ; 
 issues imperial decrees and as- 
 sumes emperorship, 16 ; his 
 crimes and artifices, 17-22 ; dis- 
 affection of the military in his 
 favour, 23-26 ; buys the Jaco- 
 bins, 26-27 ; joined by Ney, 29 ; 
 enters Fontainebleau, 31 ; ar- 
 rival at Paris, 36-37 ; address 
 to soldiers, 39 ; impostures and 
 twenty years' truce, 40-43 ; 
 hated by the women, 44-49 ; 
 action of Council of State, 50- 
 67 ; his false pretentions, 61-62 ; 
 dissatisfaction, 63-64 ; harangue 
 to the troops, 70-71 ; treaty 
 with Bourbons violated, 71, 72; 
 retires to the Palais-Bourbon, 
 
270 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 75-77 ; publishes the " Addi- 
 tional Act to th'e Constitution," 
 78-79 ; limits power of the Field 
 of May, 79-85 ; selfishness, 86 ; 
 desire for fame, 87 ; opposes the 
 Catholic Churcli, 88-94 ; his 
 military church, 91 ; and Kos- 
 ciusko, 101-104 ; at Field of 
 May, 105-114 ; and armies of 
 Europe, 114-115 ; opinion on 
 Wellington, 116 ; exaggeration 
 of his army, 117 ; preparation 
 to meet English, 120-122 ; cow- 
 ardice and calumny, 123-124 ; 
 Waterloo, 125-127; belief in 
 his star, 128 ; his account of his 
 defeat, 129; as dictator, 129- 
 130 ; La Fayette spoils his 
 plans, 133-133 ; message to 
 House of Eepresentatives, 133- 
 134; abdicates, 136-138; still 
 clings to dictatorship, 139 ; still 
 surrounded by his soldiers, 140, 
 141, 142; withdraws to Mal- 
 maison, 160 ; preparation to 
 leave France, 151-152; on ob- 
 stetrics, 153, 154 ; farewell letter 
 to his army, 155-156 ; " L'Em- 
 pereur de la Canaille," 169-160, 
 163, 167; extolled by English, 
 172-173; caricatures, 174; sur- 
 renders to English, 186-187 ; 
 "his deslin," 188-189; phren- 
 ology, 190; and the U. S., 191- 
 193 ; the London papers, 193- 
 194; the author, 194-195; and 
 men of letters, 195; objections 
 to the poets and stage, 196-198; 
 abolition of slavery, 199-200 ; 
 projected attack on India, 200- 
 203 ; his great work on Egypt, 
 201 ; removal of statue of, 210 ; 
 the Louvre Gallery and Paris 
 Museum, 233-244, 257, 258, 
 260. 
 Napoleon II., 40; nominated by 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, 137-142, 
 154, 175 ; and the allies, 258. 
 
 National Assembly, the, 52. 
 
 National Guard, the, loyalty to 
 Louis XVIII., 34 ; maintain or- 
 der in Paris, 36 ; usefulness of, 
 145; good feeling towards allies, 
 170 ; preserve order, 177-178 ; 
 assist foreign troops, 232; and 
 declaration of Chamber of Re- 
 presentatives, 260. 
 
 National library, 240. 
 
 Nesselrode, M. de, 227. 
 
 Neuilly, 158, 168, 217, 219. 
 
 Ney, Marshal, 28-31, 140-141. 
 
 Nimes, 250. 
 
 Olmutz, 132, 260. 
 Orange, Prince of, 248. 
 Order of St. Louis, 17. 
 Order of St. Michael, 17. 
 Orleans, Duke of, 15. 
 Ossian, 6, 219. 
 Otto, M., 258. 
 Otranto, Duke of, see Fouche. 
 
 PALAis-BonREON, the, 75. 
 
 " Pallas de Veletri, the," 243. 
 
 Paris, Cardinal Archbishop of, 92. 
 
 Paris Bankers, 45. 
 
 Paris Museum, 221-247. 
 
 Parma, 229. 
 
 Parma, Prince of, 227. 
 
 Parsons, Nancy, 93. 
 
 Philippi, plains of, 151. 
 
 Picardy, 21. 
 
 " Pie Voleuse," see " Thievish 
 
 Magpie." 
 Piedmont, 9, 243. 
 Pitt, William, 186. 
 Pius VII., crowned Napoleon, 8 ; 
 
 opposed by Napoleon, 88-94 ; 
 
 and Murat, 96 ; Canova, 226. 
 Place of the Carrousel, 233, 235. 
 Place Vendome, 210. 
 Poles, the, 101-104. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 271 
 
 Pompey, 126, 151. 
 
 Pontecoulant, M., 257. 
 
 Pontus, 151. 
 
 Porte St. Martin Theatre, 148, 
 162. 
 
 Porto Ferrajo, 38. 
 
 Potzdam, 223. 
 
 Poussin, M., 242. 
 
 Pretorian band, 32. 
 
 Provence, Napoleon lands in, 9 
 and 20 ; Napoleon's march from, 
 32; fireworks of Napoleon's 
 landing in, 113. 
 
 Provisionary Government, the, 
 221-222. 
 
 Prussia, King of, restrains BlU- 
 cher, 211; ransacks the Louvre, 
 223 ; purchases Giustiniani col- 
 lection, 244. 
 
 Prussia, 41, 258. 
 
 Prussians, the, 10; at Waterloo, 
 123-125; besieging Paris, 164^ 
 165; camp, 184; retaliation on 
 the French, 210-216; despoil 
 the Louvre Gallery, 220-223, 
 259. 
 
 QuATREMERE dc Quiucy, 226. 
 Quinette, M., 142. 
 
 Racine, J. B., 197, 229. 
 
 Baphael, Sanzio, paintings of, 238, 
 242, 246. 
 
 Rhine River, 223. 
 
 Rhine boundary, 9-12. 
 
 Robespierre, 26. 
 
 Rochefort, 154, 186. 
 
 Romano, Julio, see Giulio Ro- 
 mano. 
 
 Romans, the, 189. 
 
 Rome, Murat in, 9 ; heroes of, 88 ; 
 ancient, 90; arts in, 226 and 
 237, 240; art comparison with 
 Paris, 246-247. 
 
 Rubens, Peter Paul, 242. 
 
 Rusky Musky, 100-101. 
 
 Russia, Emperor of, see Alex- 
 ander. 
 
 Russia, cause of Napoleon's fail- 
 ure in, 51 and 128 ; deserts of, 
 185 ; representative of, 258. 
 
 Russians, the, unable to oppose 
 Napoleon, 40 ; in Paris, 203 and 
 216. 
 
 St. Cloud, 176, 220-221. 
 
 St. Denis, gates of, 35 ; plain of, 
 
 158-162; village, 168, 177; 
 
 steeples, 181. 
 St. Germain, 158, 160. 
 " St. Jerom of Corregio," 229. 
 St. Martin, gates of, 35, 148. 
 " St. Michael, the," 242. 
 St. Ouen, 168. 
 St. Peter's, 246. 
 St. Petersburg, 253. 
 Sardinia, King of, 239, 243. 
 Saxons, 124. 
 Saxony, 129. 
 Schoenbrunn, 42. 
 Scipio Africanus, Minor, 126. 
 Scotland, 204. 
 Sebastiani, Comte F. H. B. de, 
 
 257-259. 
 Seine River, 28, 217, 259. 
 Shakespeare, William, 4. 
 Slave Trade, the, 199-200. 
 Soignies, forest of, 126. 
 Spain, 126. 
 Spaniards, 239. 
 Stael, Madame de, 4. 
 Stadtholder collection, the, 248. 
 Stage, the, 195-197. 
 Stewart, Lord, 258. 
 
 Tacitus, 87. 
 
 Talleyrand, Prince, 227, 257. 
 
 Tauenzien, General, 213. 
 
 Thebes, ruins of, 203. 
 
 " Thievish Magpie," 148, 162. 
 
 Thirty- Years' War, 240. 
 
 Thrace, 203. 
 
272 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tiberius, 87. 
 
 Tilbury fort, 69. 
 
 Tilly, General, 240. 
 
 Titian, 246. 
 
 Tolentino, peace of, 226-227, 238, 
 240. 
 
 Tolstoi, M. de, 233. 
 
 Tortoni's, 174. 
 
 Toulon, 20. 
 
 Toulouse, 66. 
 
 Tournus, 29. 
 
 " Transfiguration, the," 238, 246. 
 
 Treviso, Duke of, see Mortier. 
 
 Troyes, 101, town-clock of, 241- 
 242. 
 
 Tuileries, the, Ney at, 28 ; Napo- 
 leon at, 31 ; Louis XVIII. quits, 
 34 ; Napoleon's speech to sol- 
 diers at, 40 ; divan of, 41 ; Na- 
 poleon's arrival at, 51 ; the 
 " canaille " at, 63 ; review at, 
 70 ; council chamber, 73-78, 94 ; 
 hired acclamations, 118-119 ; 
 great council at, 135 ; possessed 
 by the allies, 179; gardens of, 
 184 ; conference at, 191 ; events 
 at, 202 ; foreign troops at, 216 ; 
 ransacked, 228-240. 
 
 Tuscany, Duke of, 238. 
 
 United States, expected escape 
 of Napoleon to, 138 ; Napoleon's 
 hatred of, 191-192 ; passport to, 
 268. 
 
 Utica, 151. 
 
 Valence, 66. 
 
 Var, department of the, 11, 14. 
 
 Vatican, the, 240, 243. 
 
 Vaugirard, 176. 
 
 Venice, spoils from the Louvre, 
 
 229-234 ; MSS. from, 240 ; treaty 
 
 of, 245. 
 " Venus de Medicis, the," 238. 
 Venvres, 165. 
 
 Verdun, 117. 
 
 Vernet, 242. 
 
 Versailles, 160, 180. 
 
 Vertu, 147. 
 
 Vienna, declaration at, 71 ; oracle 
 at, 110; on route to India, 201 ; 
 Congress of, 253-254 ; Napo- 
 leon II. detained at, 258. 
 
 Ville Juif, 176. 
 
 Vinci, Leonardo da, 243. 
 
 Violets, emblem of the Bourbons, 
 37, 47. 
 
 Vistula River, 40. 
 
 Vizille, 13. 
 
 Wageam, field of, 125, 169, 206. ' 
 
 Walmoden, Count, 258. 
 
 Waterloo, battle of, 125-129 ;,men- 
 tioned, 136, 149, 179, 259. 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, Napoleon's 
 opinion of, 115-116; false ru- 
 mour of his defeat, 123 ; Napole- 
 on's generals' opinions of, 127- 
 128 ; his mercy to the con- 
 quered, 1 46-148 ; allegiance of 
 Parisians to, 154; attack on 
 Paris, 156-167 ; letter from 
 Otranto to, 206 ; action at pil- 
 lage of Louvre, 222-242 ; pleni- 
 potentiaries to, 267 ; proposes re- 
 establishment of Louis XVIII. 
 260. 
 
 Wilberforce, William, 199. 
 
 William I. of England, 242. 
 
 Williams, H. M., verses on the 
 peace of Amiens, 194-195. 
 
 Wilna, 193. 
 
 Wirtemberghers, the, 212. 
 
 Women, hatred of Napoleon, 44- 
 49 ; interference of, 169. 
 
 Xavier, Louis Stanislas, 54. 
 
 Zeituen, General, 213. 
 Zoroaster, 87