Napoleon fell on my neck and pressed me with vehemence against him for at least two minutes, He embraced me several times, and said to me, pulling my mustachios—
"Come, come, a hero of Egypt and Austerlitz can never forsake me. You shall take the command of the army of the Rhine, while I treat with the Austrians and Russians. I hope that, in a month's time, you will receive my wife and son at Strasburg. It is my pleasure that from this evening you perform the duty of my aide-de-camp. Write to Count Maison to come to embrace me; he is a brave man, I wish to see him."
Napoleon related a part of this conversation to some persons about him. He told them that I had spoken to him with too great liberty, and that he had pulled my ears. Fortune smiled on him. The courtiers came round him in multitudes:—it was enthusiasm, devotion: they boiled with zeal. These protestations had not, however, all the effect they had promised themselves. Many were rejected; one particularly, who persisted in obtruding his services, was repulsed with severity. Loaded with favours, gold, and dignities, he had overwhelmed his unfortunate benefactor with insults; he was treated with loathing and contempt. These gentlemen boast at present of an incorruptible fidelity. They find fault with the indulgence of the King in the saloons of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. They would like to see all those who were employed during the hundred days led to the scaffold. Chance has served them, appearances are for them; let it be so: but the generals, the ministers of Napoleon, the officers attached to his person, know full well what to think of these stoics of the ante-chamber. Sooner or later the royal government will be enlightened: there is wherewithal to supply the place of the red book.
Napoleon sent for me on the 29th of March, and informed me that I must set out for the army of the Rhine. He gave me the grand eagle of the Legion of Honour, which he had destined for me after the siege of Dantzic. He told me that within fifteen days my forces should be raised to 40,000 men, (I had 15,000 at the commencement of hostilities); I observed to him that this was very little in comparison with those that we were going to have on our hands; that the Congress (its declaration was already known) threatened us with a deluge of soldiers. "The declaration you allude to is false," he replied angrily; "it was fabricated at Paris: however, go. Lecourbe will command in Franche Comté; Suchet in the Alps; Clausel on the Garonne. We have great chance of success. Gerard goes to Metz: he has just tormented me to give him that Bourmont, I yielded to him with regret: I never liked that man's countenance."
"The propositions I have made to the Sovereigns have been coldly received. Nevertheless all hopes of arrangement are not destroyed. It is possible that the energy with which opinion is pronounced, may incline them to sentiments of peace. I am going to make another attempt. This is the letter that I write to them:
"Sir, my Brother.
"You will have learnt in the course of the last month, my return to the coasts of France, my entry into Paris, and the departure of the family of the Bourbons. The true nature of these events must already be known to your Majesty. They are the work of an irresistible power, the work of the unanimous wish of a great nation which knows its duties, and its rights. The dynasty, which force restored to the French people, was not made for them. The Bourbons have not consented to link themselves either to their opinions or their manners. France had a right to separate herself from them. Her voice called for a liberator. The hope which prompted me on to the greatest of sacrifices had been deceived. I came, and from the point at which I reached the shore, the love of my people has borne me even to the bosom of my capital. The first wish of my heart is to repay so much kindness by the maintenance of an honourable peace. The reestablishment of the Imperial Throne was necessary for the happiness of the French: my most earnest wish is to render it, at the same time, useful to the consolidation of the repose of Europe. Enough glory has shone by turns around the colours of different nations; the vicissitudes of fortune have often enough made great calamities follow great successes. A finer arena is open to-day to Sovereigns, and I am the first to descend into it: after having presented to the world the spectacle of great combats, it will be more pleasant henceforth to know no other rivalry than that of the advantages of peace; and no other struggle than the holy contest, whose people shall be most happy. France hastens to proclaim with frankness this noble end of her wishes. Jealous of her own independence, the invariable principle of her policy will be the most unbounded respect for the independence of other nations. If, happily, such are, as I trust they are, the personal sentiments of your Majesty, a general calm is secured for a long time, and justice seated on the confines of the different states, will suffice alone to guard their frontiers.
"I am with esteem, &c."
But all overtures were useless. He was above human stature; he secured the supremacy of France; this was the grievance which nothing could counterbalance; I was convinced of it. His destruction was resolved on.