The two others organized the national guards of the five departments of the Upper and Lower Alps, la Drôme, Mont Blanc, and the Izère, and entrusted to the honour and patriotism of the inhabitants of the seventh division the fortified towns of Briançon, Grenoble, Fort Barreaux, Colmar, &c.
The moment he set off, he addressed to the inhabitants of the department of the Izère the following proclamation:
Citizens,
When in my exile I learned all the misfortunes, that oppressed the nation; that all the rights of the people were disregarded, and that I was reproached with the state of repose in which I lived: I lost not a moment: I embarked on board a slight vessel, crossed the sea in the midst of ships of war belonging to various nations, landed alone on the shores of our country, and thought of nothing but of arriving with the rapidity of an eagle in this good city of Grenoble, of the patriotism of which, and its personal attachment to me, I was well aware. Men of Dauphiny, you have answered my expectation.
I have endured, not without a wounded heart, but without being dejected, the misfortunes to which for a twelvemonth I have been a prey. The spectacle displayed to my eyes by the people on my journey has inspired me with the most lively emotions. Though a few clouds have altered the high opinion I entertained of the French people, what I have seen has convinced me, that they are still worthy of the name of the Great People, which I gave them twenty years ago.
Men of Dauphiny, about to quit your country, to repair to my good city of Lyons, I could not refrain from expressing to you all the esteem, with which your lofty sentiments have inspired me. My heart is filled with the emotions, that you have excited in it, and I shall never forget them.
The news of the Emperor's landing did not reach Paris till the 5th of March, at night. It transpired on the 6th; and on the 7th a royal proclamation appeared in the Moniteur, convoking the chambers immediately; and a decree, that placed Napoleon, and all who should join or assist him, out of the protection of the law[47]; without any farther particulars.
On the 8th the Moniteur and other newspapers announced, that Bonaparte had landed with eleven hundred men, most of whom had already deserted him; that he was wandering in the mountains, accompanied only by a few individuals; that he had been refused provision, was in want of every thing, and, pursued and on the point of being surrounded by the troops sent against him from Toulon, Marseilles, Valence, and Grenoble, he must speedily expiate his rash and criminal enterprise.
This news struck all parties with astonishment, and made different impressions on them, according to their different sentiments and opinions.
The discontented had no doubt of the success of the Emperor, and the ruin of the Bourbons.