Footnote 89: On the 23d of June, M. Carnot, after having delivered to the chamber of peers Napoleon's act of abdication, entered into some details of the state of the army. Marshal Ney rose, and said ... "What you have just heard is false, entirely false; Marshal Grouchy and the Duke of Dalmatia cannot assemble sixty thousand men.... Marshal Grouchy has been unable to rally more than seven or eight thousand; Marshal Soult could not maintain his post at Rocroy; you have no longer any means of saving the country, but by negotiations." M. Carnot and General Flahaut immediately refuted this imprudent negation. General Drouot completely refuted the marshal in the following sitting.... "I have heard with regret," said he, "what had been said to diminish the glory of our armies, exaggerate our disasters, or depreciate our resources. I will say what I think, what I fear, and what I hope. On my frankness you may depend. My attachment to the Emperor cannot be doubted: but before all things, and above all things, I love my country." The general then gave a true and authenticated account of the battles of Ligny and Mont St. Jean; and, after having justified the Emperor from the faults, indirectly attempted to be imputed to him, continued: "Such are the particulars of this fatal day. It ought to have crowned the glory of the French army, destroyed all the vain hopes of the enemy, and perhaps soon given a peace to France.... But heaven decided otherwise.... Though our losses are considerable, still our situation is not desperate: the resources yet left us are great, if we will employ them with energy ... such a catastrophe should not discourage a nation great and noble like ours.... After the battle of Cannæ, the Roman senate voted thanks to their vanquished general, because he had not despaired of the safety of the republic; and laboured incessantly, to furnish him with the means of repairing the disasters of which he had been the cause.... On an occasion less critical, would the representatives of the nation suffer themselves to be depressed? Or would they forget the dangers of their country, and waste their hours in ill-timed debates, instead of having recourse to a remedy, that should ensure the safety of France?"[Back to Main Text.]
Footnote 90: The plenipotentiaries, who set out from Laon on the 26th of June, arrived on the 1st of July at Hagueneau, the head-quarters of the allied sovereigns.
The sovereigns did not think fit, to give them an audience; and Count Walmoden was appointed on the part of Austria, Count Capo d'Istria on that of Russia, General Knesbeck on that of Prussia, to hear their proposals. The English ambassador, Lord Stewart, having no powers ad hoc, was simply invited, to be present at the conferences.
Lord Stewart did not fail, as was foreseen in the instructions given to the plenipotentiaries, to dispute the legality of the existence of the chambers and of the committee; and asked the French deputies, by what right the nation pretended to expel their King, and choose another sovereign. By the same right, answered M. de la Fayette, as Great Britain had to depose James, and crown William.
This answer stopped the mouth of the English minister.
The plenipotentiaries, warned by this question of the disposition of the allies, exerted themselves less for obtaining Napoleon II., than for rejecting Louis XVIII. They declared, I am told, that France had an insuperable aversion to this sovereign and his family; and that there was no prince, it would not consent to adopt, rather than return under their sway. In fine, they hinted, that the nation might agree to take the Duke of Orleans, or the King of Saxony, if it were impossible for it to retain the throne for the son of Maria Louisa.
The foreign ministers, after some insignificant discourse, politely put an end to the conference; and in the evening the French plenipotentiaries received their dismissal by the following note:
Hagueneau, July the 1st.
"According to the stipulation of the treaty of alliance, which says, that none of the contracting parties shall treat of peace or an armistice, but by common consent, the three courts, that find themselves together, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, declare, that they cannot at present enter into any negotiation. The cabinets will assemble together, as soon as possible.
"The three powers consider it as an essential condition of peace, and of real tranquillity, that Napoleon Bonaparte shall be incapable of disturbing the repose of France, and of Europe, for the future: and in consequence of the events, that occurred in the month of March last, the powers must insist, that Napoleon Bonaparte be placed in their custody.