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)]