END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
Footnote 1: The misfortunes of that eventful day, and of the remainder of the campaign, were caused by the treachery of the Saxons and the defection of the Princes of the Confederation of the Rhine.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 2: Napoleon, according to the common report, was frequently heard to repeat, after his abdication, "I have been ruined by liberal ideas." I do not think that he ever expressed himself in this manner. I do not intend to doubt the irresistible force which liberal ideas have now acquired; but I do not think, that they contributed to effect the first downfal of the imperial throne. Nobody thought about liberal ideas at that period. France had been trained to the government of Napoleon, and his despotism gave rise to no complaints. She was not free in the manner according to which the nation now wishes to enjoy liberty. But the liberty which France then possessed was enough for the French. Napoleon would often exercise unlimited authority, but the country had only one master, and he was the master of all. If it is true that the French abandoned Napoleon in 1814, it was not because we were tired of Napoleon or discontented with his government, but because the nation was exhausted, discouraged, and demoralized by an uninterrupted succession of calamitous wars. The people would still have been delighted to obey him, but they had neither strength nor soul.
The real causes of the downfal of Napoleon are to be found in his hatred towards England, and in the continental system, which resulted from that hatred. This gigantic system, which oppressed all Europe, could not fail to raise the entire continent against Napoleon and France, and thus to bring on the ruin of both. "Rome," as it is said by Montesquieu, "extended her empire because her wars only followed in succession. Each nation, such was her inconceivable good fortune, waited till another had been conquered, before beginning the attack." Rome fell as soon as all the nations assailed and penetrated on every side.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 3: He arrived at Paris before his august brother, and by these pleasing expressions he replied to the addresses of congratulation presented to him by the municipality of Paris.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 4: Extracted from the Journal des Débats. The principal proprietor and editor of this paper was Monsieur Laborie, one of Talleyrand's creatures, and private secretary to the provisional government.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 5: This expression was one of those of which the ministers made the worst use. If they were told that any magistrate, any officer, any functionary, whom they had turned out, had fulfilled his duties with honour and distinction, that he was loved and regretted by the people, they answered, "he is a dangerous character," and there was an end of the business.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 6: When Dupont capitulated to the Spaniards, the insurgents refused to acknowledge the Emperor. Dupont therefore only took the title of general in the French service.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 7: I speak only of acting and thinking beings. In all countries there is to be found a class of cyphers, who are so careless, stupid, or selfish, that they belong to no party, and indeed to no nation.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 8: The accusation that a spirit of mutiny prevailed amongst them cannot be refuted more effectually than by quoting the expressions used by M. de Montesquiou on the 14th of March. "In the last two months," said he, "not one of the soldiers or officers belonging to the corps of the old guard composing the garrison of Metz, has been once reprimanded."[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 9: The Chouans never allowed the opportunity of committing murder to escape them. They carried their muskets as they walked by the side of the plough, and the furrows which they trod were frequently sprinkled with blood. The priests who had taken the oaths, and the purchasers of national domains, were particularly the objects of the refinements of their cruelty. They seldom entered a town without plundering the inhabitants, and without slaughtering those who had been pointed out to their vengeance.—Lacretelle, Précis de la Revolution.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 10: M.M. David and Falconnet. In order to appease the public indignation, a summons was issued against these writers, it being stated in the process that they had endeavoured to excite civil war. There was no difficulty in guessing that this proceeding was a farce, and that by overcharging the crime it was the intention of the government to favour the acquittal of the accused; and accordingly they were acquitted.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 11: Before the revolution it was customary for "les grands seigneurs" to obtain what were called "lettres de surséance," by means of which they avoided the payment of their debts, and defeated their creditors.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 12: This proposal was not carried into execution.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 13: There are times when a government may attack general principles without danger. But men and their personal interests can never be assailed with impunity. Personal interest is the prime mover of public opinion and feeling; and however degrading the truth may appear, it is not to be disputed. After a great national catastrophe this baleful egotism is particularly evident. Dignified passions become extinct for want of fuel; and the human mind, destitute of external occupation, works inward upon itself, and begets selfishness, the true pestilence of the soul. When this disease affects a nation, the government is lost if it attacks the interests of individuals.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 14: By means of ordonnances the ministers legislated according to their pleasure in matters which ought only to have been regulated by the law, so that the greater part of the bills presented to the chambers "had been already enacted and executed in the shape of ordonnances; and the legislature had no other function except that of giving a legal sanction to the arbitrary decrees of the ministers."—Censeur.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 15: Even in Paris several persons were ill treated and bayoneted, because they refused to pull off their hats and kneel, whilst the processions were passing by.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 16: Under the reign of Napoleon, if a priest had ventured to utter any opinion contrary to the system of government, he would have been immediately removed.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 17: I cannot express their thoughts more forcibly than by copying the passage, which I have quoted in my text, from the View of the Revolution by Lacretelle.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 18: From his early youth, it may be even said from his days of boyhood, Napoleon felt an inward presentiment that he was not destined to live in mediocrity. This persuasion soon taught him to treat others with disdain, and to entertain the highest opinion of himself. Scarcely had he obtained a subaltern command in the artillery, when he considered himself as the superior of his equals, and the equal of his superiors. In his 20th year he was placed at the head of the army of Italy. Without appearing to be in the slightest degree surprised by his elevation, he passed from a secondary station to the chief command. He immediately treated the old generals of the army—they who were so proud of the laurels—with an air of dignity and authority, which placed them in a situation which was probably new to them. But they did not feel humiliated, and their inferiority seemed to result as a matter of course, for the ascendancy exercised by Napoleon was irresistible; and he was thoroughly endued; with that instinct of authority, that talent of ensuring obedience, with those faculties which are usually confined to those who are kings by birth. Napoleon could probably have attained to supreme authority in any country in the world. Nature had formed him for command, and she never creates such men for the purpose of leaving them in obscurity. It seems, according to the remark of a writer whose name I have forgotten, that she is proud of her own work, and that she wishes to offer it to admiration, by placing it at the head of human society.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 19: The continental system induced Napoleon to exercise a real tyranny over Europe. We do not pretend to deny the fact; but we only wish to add, that this exterior despotism always induced a belief amongst foreigners, that Napoleon, who tyrannized so violently over nations which did not belong to him, must necessarily be the tyrant of his own subjects.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 20: The Emperor thus addressed the Spanish Cortes; when assembled at Bayonne.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 21: Napoleon was accused of having aspired to universal monarchy. In all ages, this desire has been imputed to powerful and ambitious sovereigns. Let us confess that no monarch was ever better justified in yielding to the seductions of this brilliant phantom than Napoleon. From the summit of his throne he held the reins which guided the greater part of Europe, whose docile monarchs instantly obeyed any direction which he chose to give them. At the first word, at the slightest signal, their subjects were arrayed beneath the imperial eagle. Their continual intercourse with us, the obligation of obeying Napoleon, an obligation imposed upon them by their own princes, had accustomed them to consider the Emperor as their chieftain. But whatever ambition may have been attributed to Napoleon, his good sense restrained him from aspiring to universal monarchy. He had another plan; he intended to re-establish the eastern and western empires. It would now be useless to reveal the lofty and powerful considerations by which this grand and noble idea was suggested to Napoleon. Then, France might have been allowed to grasp again the sceptre of Charlemagne: but now, we must forget that we have been the masters of the world.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 22: Neither the nature nor the extent of these aids has been well understood out of France. Napoleon revived our industry by the loans, which he never hesitated to grant to any enterprising manufacturer who needed capital; and this assistance was always liberal and well-timed.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 23: Louis XIV., who has been so much praised for his liberality, only distributed 52,300 francs per annum to the literati and artists of France, and 14,000 francs to foreigners.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 24: The soldiers identified the name of Napoleon with their country and their honour. When the accession of Louis XVIII. put an end to the sufferings and captivity of those who were imprisoned in England, they returned to France, cursing the cause of their liberty, and exclaiming, "Vive l'Empereur!" Even in the deserts of Russia, neither threats of ill treatment, nor promises of assistance offered to the French prisoners at the moment when they were starving, could extort a single complaint against Napoleon.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 25: Marshal Soult had just succeeded General Dupont.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 26: M. Comte, one of the acute and courageous editors of the Censor, was chosen by the general as his "counsel." General Fressinet was his advocate. (According to the forms of the French courts of judicature, the counsel assists by his advice, the advocate pleads.) This officer, equally distinguished by his firmness, his talents, and his bravery, was afterwards punished and exiled on account of the generous assistance which he gave on this important occasion to General Excelmans, his fellow soldier and friend.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 27: It has been alleged, but without foundation, that he retained his taste for military exercises. Not one review took place during his residence at Porto Ferrajo; arms seemed to have no attractions for him.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 28: It is well known that there was not a single individual of note in the service, either of his allies or of his enemies, whose strong and weak points were not perfectly understood by Napoleon.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 29: This officer is the person who is named in the declaration made on the 15th of March to the prince of Essling, then governor of the 8th military division, by Monsieur P*****, who landed with Napoleon from the Isle of Elba, and was arrested at Toulon by order of the prefect of the department of the Var.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 30: At Malmaison the Emperor asked me what had become of M. Z***. I answered that he had been killed on Mount St. Jean: "Well," answered the Emperor, "he is happy. But pray did he tell you that he had been at Elba?"—"Yes, Sire; he even entrusted me with the narrative of his voyage, and of the conversations which he had with your Majesty."—"You must give me this narrative: I will take it with me: it will help me in the composition of my memoirs."—"Sire, it is no longer in my possession."—"What have you done with it? you must get it back, and let me have it to-morrow."—"I have deposited it with a friend, who happens to be absent from Paris."—"So the narrative will be handed about at the mercy of the world."—"No, Sire. It is inclosed in an envelope, and deposited in a box of which I keep the key; but if I should not be able to deliver it to your Majesty, before your Majesty's departure, it will yet come to your knowledge, for I intend to publish it according to the last wishes of M. Z***, unless your Majesty forbids me."—"No; I allow you to print it, only leave out whatever may tend to compromise those who have displayed their attachment towards me. If Z*** has made a faithful report of all that passed, the people will know that I sacrificed myself for their good; and that it was not the love of power which brought me again into France, but that I yielded to the desire of restoring to the French those gifts which are dearest to great nations—independence and glory. Take care lest they should get hold of your manuscript—they will falsify it. Send it to England to *****; he will print it; he is devoted to me, and he may be very useful to you. M. *** will give you a letter for him: do you understand me?"—"Yes, Sire."—"But do your utmost to recover your manuscript before my departure. I see that you are anxious to keep it, and I will leave it with you. I only wish to read it." The Emperor read the manuscript, and he returned it to me, saying, "Z*** has told the truth, and nothing but the truth; keep his manuscript for future generations."[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 31: On cherche à plaire même à des matelots quand on a besoin d'eux.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 32: As only six were noted in the "feuille de bord" they took an extra sailor, in order that there might be six on board after my landing, otherwise, on landing, they would have been obliged to account for the sailor whom I represented.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 33: The time required for sailing from one port to another is pretty well ascertained; if this period is exceeded, and no sufficient reason can be assigned for the delay, it is assumed that the vessel may have touched at some infected port; and, by excess of caution, they compel you to undergo the lesser quarantine. The lesser quarantine is also ordered as a punishment when the master of a vessel does not behave with due respect and submission to the health officers.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 34: I had believed, according to the statements in the ministerial journals, that the sea was covered by French and English ships, by which all vessels and passengers, proceeding to the island, were intercepted. I did not meet with a single ship of this description. The ports were placed under a "surveillance," equally brutal and tyrannical, but the sea was free. All vessels went in and out of Porto Ferrajo without experiencing the slightest obstacle.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 35: The corvette commanded by Captain Campbell.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 36: Napoleon usually liked to intimidate and disconcert those who approached him. Sometimes he feigned that he could not hear you, and then he would make you repeat in a very loud tone what he had heard perfectly well before. However, he was really deaf in a slight degree. At other times he would overwhelm you with such rapid and abrupt interrogatories, that you had not time to understand him, and were compelled to give your answers in confusion. He used then to laugh at your embarrassment; and when he had driven you out of your presence of mind and confidence, he amused himself at your expense.—Note of the author of the work.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 37: "Ma gloire est faite à moi. Mon nom vivra autant que celui de Dieu!!!"[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 38: I obtained this information in the course of my voyage.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 39: This narrative evidently shows, that the revolution of the 20th of March was not the effect of a conspiracy, but, strange to say, the work of two men, and a few words.
The share that M. Z*** had in the return of Napoleon will, perhaps, call down upon his head the censures of those who judge events only from their results. Will this opinion be well founded? Are men responsible for the caprice of fate? Is it not to fortune, rather than to M. Z***, that we must impute the disastrous end of this revolution, begun under such happy auspices?
More fortunate than Napoleon, M. Z*** was killed on Mount St. Jean, the moment when our troops penetrated thither amidst the plaudits of the army. He was permitted to draw his last breath on the standards, which the conquerors of Ligny had just snatched from the English; and, far from foreseeing that his visit to the island of Elba would at some future day be a reproach to his memory, he died with the persuasion, that victory had irrevocably fixed his destiny, and that his name, cherished by the French, cherished by the hero whom he had restored to them, would be for ever hallowed by the gratitude of France, become once more the great nation.
I shall not prematurely rob his manes of this consoling illusion; I shall not inform them, that ... no! it will be time enough hereafter to disturb their repose, and I shall await the attack before I begin the defence.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 40: The flotilla of Napoleon consisted of the brig Inconstant, carrying twenty-six guns and four hundred grenadiers, and six other light vessels, on board which were two hundred foot, two hundred Corsican chasseurs, and about a hundred Polish light horse. The feluccas and the brigs had been so fitted up, as to show no signs of the troops, and to have the appearance of mere merchantmen.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 41: People are pretty generally of opinion, that the escape of the Emperor from the Island of Elba was favoured by Captain Campbell. I do not think so: but every thing leads to the belief, that this officer had received orders from his government, not to prevent such a step.—(Note by the author of the Memoirs.)[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 42: The passages between two sets of inverted commas are copied from the official account published on the 22d of March. This account was drawn up by Napoleon, and I thought I could not do better than borrow his words.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 43: They had fled precipitately as far as Basil.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 44: The cockade adopted by Napoleon, as sovereign of the island of Elba, was white and amaranth powdered with bees.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 45: The passages marked with two sets of inverted commas continue to be extracts from the official account.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 46: The public papers, since the second restoration, have not failed to assert, that the troops of the Emperor disgracefully pillaged the communes through which they passed. This imputation, like many others, is a cowardly slander. The Emperor had recommended to his grenadiers, and it is well known that they never disobeyed him, to exact nothing from the inhabitants; and in order to prevent the least irregularity, he took care himself to arrange the means of ascertaining every thing that was furnished, and paying for it. He had given this in charge to an inspector in chief of reviews, M. Boinot, and a commissary at war, M. Ch. Vauthier, for whose zeal and integrity he had the highest esteem. Whatever was furnished was paid for on delivery by the treasurer, M. Peyruse, on an account authenticated by M. Vauthier, and at the prices fixed by the mayors themselves.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 47: This mode of proceeding, worthy of the barbarous ages, was a new infraction of the law of nations, and of the constitutional laws of France, on the part of the ministry. No article of the charter conferred on the monarch the right of life and death over his subjects; and consequently he had no authority to proscribe those who accompanied and assisted Napoleon. If they were considered as robbers, it was the office of the tribunals to judge and to punish them.
Neither was he authorized, to order Napoleon to be murdered. He had preserved the title of Emperor, legally enjoyed the prerogative of sovereignty, and might make war or peace as he pleased.
The title of Emperor of the French, which he arrogated to himself, could not be a title to proscription. George III., previous to the treaty of Amiens, styled himself King of France and Navarre. Had he made a descent in arms on our territory, would any one have had a right, to proclaim him out of the pale of the law, and order the French people to murder him?[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 48: These four generals had agreed, to repair together to Paris. The troops of Count d'Erlon, quartered at Lisle, deceived by supposititious orders, were on their march, when they were met by the Duke de Trévise, who was going to take the command of his government. He interrogated them, perceived the plot, and ordered them back.
Count Lefevre Desnouettes, ignorant of this unlucky circumstance, put in motion his regiment, which was in garrison at Cambrai. When he reached Compiègne, he did not find the troops he expected, and showed some hesitation. The officers of his corps, and particularly Major Lyon, questioned him, and finally abandoned him.
On the other hand, the brothers Lallemand, one of whom was general of artillery, had marched to Fère with a few squadrons, intending to seize the park of artillery. The resistance they met from General d'Aboville disconcerted them, and, after they had attempted in vain to seduce the garrison, they fled, but were shortly after arrested.
It was supposed, that this rising in arms had been concerted with Napoleon; but I know from good authority, that it was solely the result of an evening spent at General ***'s. A few bowls of punch had heated their brains; they complained of their situation; they were indignant, that a handful of cowardly emigrants should prescribe laws to them; they were persuaded it would be easy to displace them; and, proceeding from one step to another, they concluded by agreeing to march to Paris, and compel the King to change his ministry, and banish from France all those whom the public voice denounced as enemies to the charter, and disturbers of the public tranquillity and happiness. Such was their true and only object.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 49: The chancellor, no doubt, had forgotten the proscription, that delivered over to death all those Frenchmen who joined or assisted Bonaparte.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 50: It is asserted, that on this occasion a conference took place, at which M. Lainé, MM. de Broglie, la Fayette, d'Argenson, Flaugergue, Benjamin Constant, &c. were present, where it was decided, that the King should be required in the name of the public safety:
1. To dismiss MM. de Blacas, Montesquiou, Dambray, and Ferrand:
2. To call to the Chamber of Peers forty new members, chosen exclusively from men of the revolution:
3. To confer on M. de la Fayette, the command of the national guard: and
4. To despatch patriotic commissioners, to stimulate the attachment, the zeal, and the fidelity of the troops.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 51: The double sets of inverted commas are still used to distinguish passages extracted from the official account.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 52: He had travelled from Cannes to Grenoble partly on horseback, but chiefly on foot.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 53: It was a great oversight, to send the Count d'Artois to face Napoleon. It was easy to foresee, that, if this prince should fail in a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants against eight hundred men, the business would be decided.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 54: Marshal Macdonald was not so happy. Two hussars, one of whom was drunk, pursued him, and would have arrested him, if he had not been extricated by his aide-de-camp.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 55: Those who have been about Napoleon's person know, that he recommended to his secretaries, and the officers of his household, to take notes of what he said and did on his journeys. A number of notes of this nature must have been found at the Tuileries, most of which contained particulars that were highly interesting. I preserved mine, and from them I have composed, in great measure, the present work.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 56: The Bourbons.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 57: The newspapers of the day asserted, that Napoleon, though he had in his pocket the proclamation of Augereau, filled with reproaches and invectives, had thrown himself into his arms, and heard the cutting reprehensions of the marshal, without saying a word.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 58: He had retired to Switzerland.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 59: The author of a libel entitled Les Quinze Semaines, "The Fifteen Weeks," asserts, that shouts were heard of "Death for ever! Guilt for ever! Down with virtue! Down with God!" Such a charge requires no refutation: I mention it here only to show, to what a point the spirit of party, and the rancorous passions, have misled writers, who call themselves royalists. It has been equally asserted, that the people plundered and destroyed a number of shops and warehouses. This, too, is false: no disorder occurred, except in Bellecour Square, where the people broke the windows and tables of the Bourbon coffee-house, known to be the place where the ultra-royalists assembled; and this disorder was quieted and suppressed immediately.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 60: He attempted to harangue the Chalonese, but they allowed him only time to take to his heels.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 61: I dare not positively affirm it, for in my memorandums I have confounded together Chalons, Avalon, &c.[(Back to main text)]
ORDERS OF THE DAY.
The Marshal Prince of the Moskowa, to the troops of his Government.
Officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers!
The cause of the Bourbons is lost for ever. The legitimate dynasty, which the French nation has adopted, is about to re-ascend the throne: it belongs to the Emperor Napoleon alone, our sovereign, to reign over our fine country. Whether the nobility of the Bourbons take the step of expatriating itself again, or consent to live among us, is no concern of ours. The sacred cause of liberty, and of our independence, will no longer suffer from their fatal influence. They have endeavoured to debase our military glory; but they have found themselves mistaken. This glory is the fruit of labours too noble for us to lose the remembrance of it. Soldiers! those days are no more, when nations were governed by stifling their rights. Liberty is at length triumphant and Napoleon, our august Emperor, is about to confirm it for ever. Henceforth let this lovely cause be ours, and that of all Frenchmen: let all the brave fellows, whom I have the honour to command, be thoroughly imbued with this grand truth.
Soldiers! I have often led you to victory; I am now going to conduct you to that immortal phalanx, which the Emperor Napoleon is conducting to Paris, and which will be there in a few days, and our hopes and our happiness will be for ever realized. Long live the Emperor!
Lons le Saulnier, the 13th of March, 1815.
The marshal of the empire,
Prince of the Moskowa.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 63: He alluded to the installation of the council of state, where the chancellor actually dropped on one knee, to ask and receive the King's orders.
And to the city entertainment, where the prefect, his wife, and the municipal body, waited at table on the King and his suite, consisting of forty ladies of the old court, and only four ladies of the new nobility, two of whom were the wives of the marshals on duty.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 64: M. Gamot, prefect of Auxerre, had married the sister of Madame Ney.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 65: It is indisputable, in fact, that a general insurrection, provoked by the oppressive and senseless conduct of the government, was ready to burst out, at the moment when Napoleon re-appeared.
It is known, that France, wearied, disgusted, and discontented with the new order of things, wished heartily for a new revolution; and people had united and concerted measures for preparing the crisis, and causing it to turn to the advantage of the country.
Some of the malecontents maintained, that the first step should be, to shake off the insupportable yoke, under which they were groaning, and then see what was to be done: the majority formally declared for the immediate recall of the Emperor, and were desirous, that emissaries should be deputed to him, or that vessels should be sent, to take him off from the island of Elba.
The necessity of a change was unanimously agreed upon, and they were endeavouring to settle the rest, when the sudden arrival of Napoleon put an end to the discussion.
After the 20th of March, the Emperor was made acquainted with these projects of insurrection; and knew that certain chiefs hesitated about having any thing to do with him. "The leaders," said he, "wished to take the business into their own hands, and labour for themselves; now they pretend, that they opened the way for me to Paris: I know better; it was the nation, the people, the soldiers, and the sub-lieutenants, who did all. It is to these, and to these only, that I owe every thing."[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 66: A nickname given to the emigrant officers.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 67: He had just been appointed to the command of the advanced guard.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 68: Napoleon had already given similar orders to General Cambronne. The following is his letter, which I reproach myself with not having quoted. "General Cambronne, to you I entrust my noblest campaign: all the French expect me with impatience: every where you will find none but friends: do not fire a single musket; I will not have my crown cost the French a drop of blood."[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 69: Napoleon was a fatalist, and superstitious; and made no secret of it. He believed in lucky and unlucky days. We might be astonished at this weakness, if we did not know, that it was common to the greatest men both of ancient and modern times.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 70: This was Napoleon's favourite compliment. The fonder he was of a person, the more he gave him, and the harder he struck.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 71: The Duke of Vicenza, convinced of the inutility of the efforts Napoleon might make, to establish any diplomatic connexion with foreign powers, refused to accept the post. The Emperor offered it to M. Môlé. M. Môlé objected, that he was an entire stranger to diplomacy, and requested Napoleon, to make another choice. Napoleon and his other ministers were then so pressing with the Duke of Vicenza, that he considered it his duty to yield. He would have preferred the Emperor's giving him a command in the army, where he would at least have found an opportunity of usefully serving his country and the Emperor.
The ministry of the interior, intended at first for M. Costaz, was also offered to M. Môlé, and ultimately given to M. Carnot, at the recommendation of the Duke of Bassano.
The Emperor was not pleased with the obstinate refusals of M. Môlé: he was fond of his name, and valued his talents. He had intended to appoint him governor of the Imperial Prince; and it was to this intention that M. Môlé was chiefly indebted for the high rank, to which he had been so rapidly raised.
Nevertheless M. Môlé solicited and obtained the general superintendance of highways and bridges, a post which he occupied in 1813, before he was appointed minister of justice.[(Back to main text)]
"Make him, nor think his genius check'd,
A herald, or an architect."—Gay.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 73: General Le Tort's address to the King.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 74: "In all ages the poor have suffered for the faults of the great."[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 75: He constantly refused the emoluments and allowances of considerable offices, attached to the rank of major-general of the guards. The appointments of a lieutenant-general and aide-de-camp appeared to him, to pay him more than his services deserved.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 76: I cannot avoid remarking the beauty of this passage.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 77: The king departed with such suddenness, that he had not time to carry away his private papers. In his writing table was found his family port-folio. It contained a great number of letters from Madame the Duchess of Angoulême, and from some of the princes. Napoleon cast his eye over several of them, and gave me the port-folio, with orders, that it should be scrupulously preserved. Napoleon would have respect paid to royal majesty, and to every thing that pertained to the person of kings.
The king habitually used a small table, that he had brought from Hartwell. Napoleon took pleasure in writing on it for a few hours: he afterwards ordered it to be removed, and the greatest care to be taken of it.
The Merlin's chair used by the king, not being suited to Napoleon, whose limbs and health were in full strength and vigour, was banished to the back closet. Some person being found sitting in it, when the Emperor passed through unexpectedly, he gave him an angry look, and the chair was removed.
One of his valets de chambre, thinking to please him, ventured to place over his mantel-piece some insulting caricatures of the Bourbons: these he disdainfully threw into the fire, and severely enjoined the valet, never in future to be guilty of such an impertinence.[(Back to main text)]
"If we sometimes play the fool,
Reason should resume her rule."[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 79: I have been assured, that Napoleon in his youth composed a history of Paoli, and of the war of liberty: may he realize the design of writing the history of his own reign, for the instruction of future ages! This reign is so fertile in extraordinary events, and unforeseen catastrophes, and displays to our view such numerous examples of human vicissitudes, that its history may supply the place of all others, and become itself alone a lesson for kings and people.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 80: This decree, and all those previously dated from the palace of the Tuileries, contained no title but simply that of "Emperor of the French." The "&c. &c.," noticed with anxiety in the proclamations and decrees from Lyons, were suppressed. They had been inserted without reflection, without object, and merely from custom. The Emperor, too, would not have his familiar letters continue to be concluded in the usual form: "On which I pray God, to have you in his holy keeping, &c." "All those antiquated things," said he, "must be laid aside; they are well enough for kings by the grace of God."[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 81: Never, in fact, at any period of the revolution, did writers enjoy such complete liberty and impunity. The seizure of the Censeur Européen, which made such noise, was the work of M. Fouché. The Emperor knew nothing of this infringement of the law, till it had been carried into effect; and he immediately ordered, that the copies seized should be returned to the editors of the Censeur, and that they should be at liberty to circulate them freely.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 82: The audience was to take place at noon; and at nine o'clock his Majesty had not prepared his answers. They were dictated in haste, and we had scarcely time to copy them out fairly.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 83: I am speaking here only of the addresses of bodies corporate, and of certain generals and prefects.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 84: We have no single word in our language answering to this: it implies one who undertakes works of different kinds, including our architect and civil engineer.—Tr.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 85: It was this mission, that became the source of the disgrace, in which the marshal lived, till the day of his being recalled to the army. The Emperor had ordered him, to set off immediately: he answered, that he could not go, till he was paid some twenty thousand francs, which were owing to him. The Emperor, swearing, ordered them to be paid.
The next day General Le Courbe, to whom the Emperor had just entrusted an important command, wrote to him, to demand several favours, and in addition a hundred and fifty thousand francs, as arrears of pay, in order to discharge his debts.
Two other generals, less known, were equally desirous of being paid for their services. He was disgusted at their claims. "Do these men think," said he, "that I throw away my money? I am not inclined to suffer myself to be plundered like Henry IV; if they be not inclined to fight, let them put on petticoats, and go and take an airing."[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 86: I regret, that I did not learn his name.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 87: The fortress in which the garrison was quartered.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 88: She set off in the evening for Pouillac; where, having bidden adieu to the volunteer cavalry, who had escorted her, she went on board an English vessel, and sailed for England on the 2d of April.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 89: Report of General Ernouf.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 90: The diamonds that were sought to be obtained in exchange for the Duke of Angoulême were worth fourteen millions. The Duke of Otranto proposed to the Emperor, to throw M. de Vitrolles into the bargain, if they were restored; to which the Emperor readily consented. The Duke of Otranto opened a negotiation on this point, which had no farther result, than procuring him an opportunity of corresponding more at his ease with Ghent.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 91: It was discovered by the Duke d'Albufera, that this supposed treason was the consequence of the mistake, which I have related above, and the decree was not carried into effect.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 92: A nickname given by Napoleon to his old grenadiers.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 93: The Emperor Alexander, in particular, expressed the most generous indignation.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 94: M. de Vincent set out before this letter was written, and it was entrusted to his secretary. The Emperor of Austria ordered it to be delivered into his hands, and contented himself with informing the Empress Marie, that he had received news of her husband, and that he was well.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 95: It was a laughable singularity, that, of all the double-faced men employed by the Emperor, there was no one, in whom he had more confidence, than he had in M. de Mont**. He had formerly ill-treated, persecuted, and banished him: he knew, that he detested him, and was the most intimate, the most devoted friend of M. de Talleyrand: but he knew also the bent of M. de Mont**'s mind; and he thought, that he would feel an infinite pleasure, in executing his mission well, and humming [rouer] M. de Talleyrand, who flattered himself, that he had never been hummed by any person. I know not whether M. de Mont** found it pleasant, or not, to take in M. de Talleyrand; what I know is, that he justified the expectations of Napoleon, and brought back to him intact the letters, that were delivered to him by M. de Mont**.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 96: I know not whether the fact be true: but, true or false, it had the same effect on the minds of the Italians.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 97: Les marins. Properly, perhaps, the seamen, whom Napoleon took from the ships of war, and converted into soldiers.—Tr.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 98: For the Moniteur, I presume.—Tr.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 99: I cannot avoid here making a comparison. On the 15th of March, the Count d'Artois wished to form a legion from the light infantry and grenadiers of the national guard of Paris. He reviewed the twelve legions, harangued them, and announced, that he would march at the head of the volunteer national guards: a hundred and fifty turned out.
Napoleon from his closet called the national guard to the defence of the imperial cause: 150,000 men took up arms, and hastened to battle.
What must we conclude from this coldness on the one hand, and this enthusiasm on the other? I leave the question to be answered by those, who pretend, that the revolution of the 20th of March obtained the assent only of a handful of factious persons.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 100: The reverses of Napoleon's fortune had been so rapid, that the possessors of great places, and of great preferment, had not had time to retrench their way of living. When the Bourbons were recalled, they were obliged to come to a reckoning with their means, and all these extravagant expenses ceased at once.
On the other hand, the new court, in order to distinguish itself from the imperial court, substituted the most offensive simplicity for the useful pomp of Napoleon. The richest emigrants imitated this pernicious example; and, as Napoleon remarked, the luxury of the table was almost the only kind, on which encouragement was not spared. The result of this economical system was, that the produce of our manufactories remained unemployed, and industry was suddenly paralyzed.
Thus commerce, which had loudly called for peace, was almost totally annihilated by it: and the manufacturers, the mechanics, the merchants (those of the sea-ports excepted), greatly regretted those happy times, when we were at war.
In fact, it must be admitted, that our industry was indebted to the war, and to our conquests, for its progress, and its prodigious increase. The war, by depriving us of the products of the English manufactories, had taught us, to manufacture for ourselves. The continual prohibition of these articles protected our rising manufactures from the danger of competition; and allowed them to engage with safety in the trials and expenses necessary for equalling or surpassing in perfection foreign manufactures. In all parts of the empire were seen manufactories for spinning and weaving cotton; and this branch of trade, almost unknown before, employed three hundred thousand work people, and produced goods to the value of more than two hundred and fifty millions.
The other products of our industry equally received improvements and extension; and France, in spite of the conscription, reckoned in its numerous workshops nearly twelve hundred thousand workpeople.
If this flourishing state of our continental trade were the effect of the enlargement of our territory, and the scope the war had given to our industry, we must say, that it was also the result of the succour, encouragement, and honorary distinctions, which Napoleon knew how to bestow appropriately on our manufacturers; and the return for those enormous sacrifices he made, to create, repair, and keep in order, those superb roads, and those numerous canals, which rendered the communications between France, and the countries subjected to its empire, equally easy, safe, and pleasant.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 101: These words, and several others that I have quoted, prove Napoleon not to have been ignorant of the use he might make of the people. If he did not have recourse to them, no doubt it was because he feared, that the remedy might prove worse than the disease.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 102: Napoleon, during the hundred days, entertained for a moment the design of issuing a demi-official note on the arrest and death of the Duke of Enghien.
The following memorandums are taken from papers, from which the note was to have been compiled.
Reports from the police had informed Napoleon, that there were conspiracies of the royalists beyond the Rhine, and that they were conducted and supported,
1st, by Messrs. Drake and Spencer Smith, the English ministers at Stutgard, and at Munich;
2dly, by the Duke d'Enghien and General Dumourier:
The central point of the former was at Offenbourg; where were some emigrants, some English agents, and the Baroness de Reich, so noted for her political intrigues:
The central point of the latter was given out to be at the castle of Ettenheim, where the Duke d'Enghien, Dumourier, an English colonel, and several agents of the Bourbons, resided.
The hundred and twenty thousand francs given by the minister Drake to the Sieur Rosey, chef de bataillon, to excite an insurrection,
The declarations of Mehée;
And the reports of M. Sh***, prefect of Strasbourg, and brother-in-law of the Duke de Fel....; leave no doubt of the existence of the intrigues at Offenbourg and Ettenheim, to which M. Sh*** ascribes in particular the agitation, and symptoms of discontent, that prevail at Weissembourg, and in several parts of Alsace.
On the other hand, the conspiracy of the 3d of Nivôse had just broken out. The discoveries made by the servant of Georges, and by other individuals, led to the belief, that the Duke d'Enghien had been sent by England to the borders of the Rhine, in order to place himself at the head of the insurrection, as soon as Napoleon was made away with.
The necessity of putting an end to these plots, and strike terror into their instigators by a grand act of reprisal, squared in an incredible degree with the political considerations, that led Napoleon to attempt a bold stroke, in order to give the revolution, and the revolutionists, those guaranties, which circumstances demanded:
Napoleon, named consul for life (I borrow here the language of the Manuscript from St. Helena), felt the weakness of his situation, the ridiculousness of his consulship. It was necessary to establish something solid, to serve as a support to the revolution. The republicans were alarmed at the height, on which circumstances had placed him: they were suspicious of the use he might make of his power: they dreaded his renewing an antiquated royalty by the help of his army. The royalists fomented this rumour, and took a delight in representing him as an ape of the ancient monarchs: other royalists, more adroit, whispered about, that he was enamoured of the part of Monk, and that he would take the pains to restore the power, only to make a present of it to the Bourbons, when it should be in a proper state to be offered them.
Ordinary minds, unacquainted with his powers, credited these reports; they sanctioned the tales of the royalist party, and decried him to the people, and to the army; for they began to suspect him, and his attachment to their cause. He could not allow such an opinion to pass current, because it tended to unhinge every thing. It was necessary, at all events, to undeceive France, the royalists, and Europe at large, in order that they might know, what they had to reckon upon in him. A persecution of reports in detail never produces any thing but a bad effect, for it does not attack the root of the evil.
The death of the Duke d'Enghien would decide the question, that agitated France; it would decide the character of Napoleon beyond return; in fine, it might intimidate and punish the authors of the plots incessantly contriving against his life, and against the state: accordingly he determined on it.
He sent for Marshal Berthier, and this minister directed General Ord**, by an order which the Emperor dictated, and which I have seen, to set off post for Strasbourg; to cause General Lev** to place under his orders fifteen boatmen, three hundred dragoons from the garrison of Schelstadt, and thirty gendarmes; to pass the Rhine at Rheinan, to proceed to Ettenheim, to surround the town, and to carry off the Duke d'Enghien, Dumourier, an English colonel, and all the persons in their suite.
The Duke d'Enghien,
General Thumery,
Colonel de Grunstein,
Lieutenant Schmidt,
Abbé Weinburn, and five other inferior persons, were arrested by a chef d'escadron of the gendarmerie, named Ch**, who was charged with this part of the expedition.
Then, and then only, it became certain, that Dumourier was not at Ettenheim. General Thumery had been mistaken for him. This mistake, occasioned by the similarity of their rank, and some likeness of sound between their names, which the Germans pronounced nearly alike, had heightened the importance and criminality of the pretended plots at Ettenheim in the mind of Napoleon, and had the most fatal influence on his determination.
The Duke d'Enghien was brought from Strasbourg to Paris, and carried before a military commission.
The Empress Josephine, the Princess Hortense, fell at Napoleon's feet in tears, and conjured him to spare the life of the Duke d'Enghien. Prince Cambacérès and the Prince of Neufchâtel strongly remonstrated to him on the horrible inutility of the blow he was about to strike. He appeared to hesitate, when the information was brought him, that the prince was no more.
Napoleon had not expected so speedy a catastrophe. He had even given orders to M. Réal, to repair to Vincennes, to interrogate the Duke d'Enghien: but his trial and execution had been hastened by Murat; who, urged by some regicides, at the head of whom was M. Fou***, thought he should render a service to Napoleon, to his family, and to France, by insuring the death of a Bourbon.
The Prince de T***, whom the Emperor often publicly reproached with having advised the seizure and death of the Duke d'Enghien, was directed to pacify the court of Baden, and to justify the violation of its territory in the eyes of Europe. M. de Caulincourt being at Strasbourg, the Emperor thought him more proper than any other person, to follow up a negotiation, if the turn of affairs should require it; and he was directed to send to the minister of Baden the despatch of the Prince de T***. But there was no need of having recourse to negotiations: the court, far from complaining of the violation of its territory, expressed itself well contented, that the step taken had saved it the disgrace of consenting, or the embarrassment of a refusal.
This is an exact and true recital of the circumstances, that preceded, followed, and accompanied, the carrying off and death of the last of the house of Condé.
The seizure of the Duke d'Enghien was long imputed to M. de Caulincourt, and is still imputed to him by persons uninformed of the truth.
Some assert, that he arrested him with his own hands:
Others, that he gave orders for the seizure of his person: both these imputations are equally false.
He did not arrest the Duke d'Enghien, for his seizure was executed and consummated by chef d'escadron Ch***.
Neither directly, nor indirectly, did he give orders for seizing the prince: for the particular mission, to carry him off, was confided to General Ord**, and this general had no orders to receive from M. de Caulincourt his equal, perhaps even his inferior.
What made it be supposed, at a time when it was not possible to explain the facts, that M. de Caulincourt had been employed to seize the Duke d'Enghien, or cause him to be seized, was, that M. de Caulincourt received, at the same moment as General Ord**, orders to repair to Strasbourg, to cause the emigrants and English agents, who had fixed the seat of their intrigues at Offenbourg, to be carried off. But this mission, for which it would be requisite to take measures in concert with General Ord**, and perhaps even to assist him in case of need; for a simultaneous proceeding was necessary, that one expedition might not cause the failure of the other; this mission, I say, though analogous to that of General Ord**, had no real connexion with it.
Their objects were different:
That of one was to carry off the Duke d'Enghien from Ettenheim;
That of the other, to seize the conspirators at Offenbourg, which was eight or ten leagues distant.
Perhaps it will be objected, that M. de Caulincourt was not ignorant of General Ord**'s being directed, to seize the Duke d'Enghien. Be it so: I cannot perceive the consequence, attempted to be drawn from this. But what I have seen in the cabinet, and what I attest, is, that the order given to M. de Caulincourt said nothing of Ettenheim, and that the name of the Duke d'Enghien was not even mentioned in it: it related solely, in the first place, to the construction of a flotilla, that was preparing on the Rhine; and, secondly, to the expedition of Offenbourg; an expedition that terminated, as no doubt is still remembered, in the laughable flight of the minister Drake and his agents.
I have thought it my duty as a Frenchman and an historian, to enter into these details, and destroy for ever an error, which malevolence and the spirit of party have laid hold of, in order to tarnish the political life of one of the men, who do the greatest honour to the imperial government and to France.
M. de Caulincourt would not have been less irreproachable, had he committed the fatal seizure ascribed to him: he would have done his duty, as General Ord** did his. A soldier is not the judge of the orders he is to execute. The great Condé, covered with the laurels of Rocroy, Fribourg, Norlinguen, and Lenz, was arrested, in spite of the faith pledged to him, in the apartments of the King; yet neither his contemporaries, nor posterity, have charged Marshal d'Albret with this arrest as a crime.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 103: I have been assured, that Georges was three times offered his pardon by Napoleon, if he would promise, not to engage in any conspiracy again; and that it was not till after his third refusal, that his sentence was ordered to be carried into execution.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 104: Marshal Augereau, Duke de Castiglione, was also in this list. His name was struck out at the request of the duchess, and in consideration of the proclamation, which he published on the 23d of March.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 105: These conversations with persons, whose merit and opinion Napoleon esteemed, were always pleasing, instructive, interesting, always marked with strong thoughts, and bold, ingenious, or sublime expressions. With persons indifferent to him, or whose nullity he discerned, his phrases, scarcely begun, were never finished: his ideas turned only on insignificant, common-place matters, which, by way of amusing himself, he was apt to season with biting sarcasm, or jokes more whimsical than witty.
This explains the contradictions between the different opinions given of Napoleon's understanding by foreigners introduced at his court.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 106: Attorney-general to the king, employed on certain occasions, to prosecute political crimes and misdemeanors.[(Back to main text)]
Footnote 107: "Beautiful Marchioness, your beautiful eyes make me die of love; of love make me die, beautiful Marchioness, your beautiful eyes."[(Back to main text)]