We must take a retrospect of that melancholy period of our disasters in order to form a reasonable judgment of the events about to be accomplished. The hearts of the whole nation were filled with weariness to a most painful degree. Some few soldiers might, perhaps, have been ready to range themselves around the emperor and defend his eagles which, though now abased, had so often led them to victory; but the great mass of the population was no longer desirous of war; a feeling of hatred towards Napoleon had gradually arisen among the republican party and the Royalists, who were in a state of commotion; while, on the other hand, the proclamations of Schwartzenburg, and the promises he had made at the time of his entry into Paris, had inspired hopes of repose and reasonable liberty. Pozzo di Borgo exerted all his influence over the mind of Alexander to lead him towards the liberal system, upon which his resolutions appear to have been formed. The whole idea of the constitutional charter, and all the plans breathing a spirit of liberty, were suggested at the meetings in Talleyrand's house, where the patriots used to assemble to give vent to their dissatisfaction with the conduct of Napoleon. I must here mention a curious circumstance relating to the famous proclamation of Schwartzenburg which first made open mention of the Bourbons. It was the work of Count Pozzo, and Schwartzenburg had not signed it when Alexander said to him in a meeting at the head-quarters of Bondy, "My dear prince, you have written an admirable proclamation—it is perfect; sign it, you will get great credit for it." And the prince, partly through self-love, and partly through respect for the Emperor Alexander, affixed his signature to the document.[20]
General Pozzo di Borgo had kept up his acquaintance with all the patriots of 1789, whose noble and generous principles of independence met with a sympathetic feeling in the breast of Alexander. Napoleon, the representative of a powerful and united system of government, would only be overcome by the principle of liberty. "Europe," said Talleyrand, "was then on the highroad to emancipation; it was with the name of Fatherland, with the enthusiasm for free institutions, that the people had been excited to rise against him, who was termed by the Germans the oppressor of mankind." These ideas prevailed, and Count Pozzo di Borgo was appointed commissioner from the Emperor Alexander to the provisional government.
That government certainly stood in need of the support of the friend of Paoli, who pursued with relentless perseverance the last glimmering ray of Napoleon's fortune. Some of the marshals had just made an attempt to induce the Emperor Alexander to treat with the regency, and, moved by the recollection of his ancient friendship, and by the influence which the noble countenance of Napoleon exercised over his mind, the Czar would, perhaps, have agreed to the proposal, when Pozzo di Borgo was despatched in haste by the provisional government to Alexander, to put a stop to the treaty, and he worked on the mind of the Czar by means of the same considerations he had formerly presented to his view, and of which he had acknowledged the justice. "The regency was still Napoleon, and France no longer desired his rule; to sign a peace with him was merely to expose themselves to a repetition of hostilities; if Europe was desirous of rest, they must have done with the imperial system altogether." The commissioner spent two hours in this conversation, and, by his perseverance, he obtained the important declaration of the allied sovereigns, that they would enter into no treaty with the emperor or his family. Having gained this point, he returned with speed to the provisional government, and gave vent to the picturesque expression of his triumph in his communication to Talleyrand. "My dear prince," said he, "I certainly cannot be said single-handed to have politically killed Buonaparte, but I have cast the last clod of earth upon his head."
Thus was played the drama of life between these two men: Pozzo, formerly proscribed by Buonaparte, now came in his turn to be present at the obsequies of his rival's power! Born within a few months of each other, the one had quitted Ajaccio merely with the rank of a sub-lieutenant, and had ascended the greatest throne under heaven; the other, as an exile, had traversed Europe, to rouse the spirit of war and vengeance against his compatriot, and, after unheard-of efforts, had at last succeeded in realising the plan which had always kept possession of his mind. He had his foot on his enemy's neck, and had him banished to the island of Elba, which he had himself twice sailed past, pursued by the fortune of his rival. General Pozzo never would admit the hypothesis that France and Buonaparte were the same thing; and in this respect he was as good a patriot as Moreau, Lannes, Bernadotte, Massena, Dessoles, and Gouvion St. Cyr.
As soon as the senate had decided upon the restoration of the ancient dynasty, and laid the foundations of the constitution, Pozzo di Borgo was commissioned by the sovereigns to go to London, to meet Louis XVIII. This was not only an honourable mission of congratulation to the new French sovereign; the general's special duty was to explain to Louis the real state of public opinion in France, and the necessity of adopting the constitutional forms and liberal ideas of a charter, to answer the public expectation. He went with all possible speed to London, for the provisional government were well aware that the ardent royalist party would immediately surround the French king, and it was necessary to prevent his being guilty of any imprudence; and this they hoped to effect by means of the salutary intervention of Pozzo di Borgo, especially as his being the confidential servant of the Emperor Alexander would naturally invest him with a considerable degree of influence over the mind of Louis XVIII. When the general arrived at Calais, he engaged a packet-boat for his sole use, and at the moment of his embarkation, an episode occurred, which he often related as a proof of the instability of human opinions. He was standing on the sea-shore, when a stranger accosted him, and requested a passage in his little vessel to enable him to go and meet the king. "Who are you?" asked Pozzo di Borgo. "I am the Duc de la Rochefoucauld Liancourt," replied the stranger; "and I am going to the king to resume my ancient office." One may imagine the amazement of the ambassador; the Duc de Liancourt had not only deeply insulted the Comte de Provence at the Constituent Assembly, but he had afterwards carried his offence still farther, by sending back to him, from the United States, the ribbon of his orders, as a mark of his contempt for what he called the crotchets of the old school: Louis XVIII. could not forget this contemptuous bearing in a man of noble birth.
The ambassador did not refuse a passage to the noble duke; and it was a most curious circumstance that the first step taken by M. de Liancourt when they reached the royal yacht in which Louis had embarked, was to adorn himself with the blue ribbon he had formerly sent back to the king during his sojourn in the land of equality and liberty. It is impossible to describe the despair of the duke when he found he could not be received by Louis XVIII., while Count Pozzo was welcomed in the warmest manner, and the king expressed himself in the most flattering language, with tears in his eyes. The ambassador from the allies explained the orders he had received. "Though the constitution proclaimed by the senate might have fallen into contempt, it was no reason for abandoning the principles of liberty upon which it was founded." Pozzo di Borgo remained with the king during his voyage, and assisted him in preparing the declaration issued at St. Ouen, containing the plan of such a representative system as the liberal party were desirous of establishing in France. Let us imagine that country passing from the military rule of Napoleon into constitutional principles, finding herself free, on emerging from the firm, but despotic government of the emperor, had she not already gained an immense step in securing the advantages of a public representation? The treaty of Paris was based on the diplomatic scheme determined upon at Chaumont and Chatillon: it restrained France within her ancient limits, and placed her under the government of the ancient dynasty, thus offering a pledge of peace and the maintenance of order, so necessary to the tranquillity of Europe.
General Pozzo di Borgo remained in Paris as Russian ambassador to the new French government, until the meeting of the Congress of Vienna, where all the diplomatic chiefs were summoned to attend. I will not recount the events of that period, having related them in a work especially devoted to the history of those times;[21] I will only observe, that had they listened at Vienna to the warnings, derived from the former experience of the friend of Paoli, France would never have suffered the misfortunes inflicted by the reign of the Hundred Days. The corps diplomatique received intelligence that Napoleon was seeking the opportunity of returning from exile, and reappearing in Europe, and General Pozzo, who well knew the energy of his countryman, proposed removing him to a more secure spot,—as, for example, one of the islands of the African Ocean, from whence escape would be impossible, so as to prevent any risk of his again throwing the whole of Europe into a state of danger and revolution.
At Vienna, a coldness took place for the second time between Alexander and his confidential employé, occasioned by the difference of their opinions on the question of Poland. The Czar had taken it into his head that Poland must be formed into a vast kingdom, separated by its constitution from Russia, and even comprehending its ancient provinces within its boundaries, and Pozzo di Borgo was strongly opposed to the whole scheme: he foretold the consequences of such a proceeding in an exceedingly well-written memorial, full of sound judgment, and evincing a deep and extensive consideration of the subject. "The creation of such a kingdom," said he, "would only be encouraging the spirit of rebellion, and this would eventually involve the nobility and people of Poland in a deeper slavery; for if an insurrection were to take place, it would be necessary to repress it with severity."[22] Alas, he spoke but too truly! What has been the ruin of Poland, and caused the dispersion of her generous nobility? Was it not the insane project of an impossible revolution? The Emperor Alexander withdrew for a short time his confidence from General Pozzo, to place it in Count Capo d'Istria, a man of rather a dreamy and visionary cast of mind, and whose opinion exactly coincided with his own, concerning the emancipation of Greece and Poland, under the suzeraineté of the Czar.
But all these occurrences were suddenly interrupted by the landing of Napoleon in the gulf of Juan. It was like the fall of a thunderbolt. Pozzo di Borgo, however, received the intelligence without any appearance of surprise; and when the corps diplomatique sought to remove the fears that had been excited as to the probability of war, he replied, "I well know Buonaparte; since he has landed, he will proceed to Paris, and if so, there must be no delay, no attempt at pacific measures; Europe should march at once against the common enemy." The Emperor Alexander sent for Pozzo di Borgo, to whom he restored his perfect confidence, and then despatched him to Ghent to Louis XVIII., charged with a military mission to the Anglo-Prussian army of the Low Countries. A general cry for war now arose at Vienna, and the allied powers made preparations for a fresh campaign, in spite of all the endeavours of Napoleon to separate Austria and Russia from the coalition. With this view, it is well known that he transmitted to Alexander a copy of the secret treaty concluded in March 1814, between England, France, and Austria, against Russia, relative to the Polish question; and from this point dates the extreme antipathy of Alexander for Talleyrand—an antipathy which more than once stood in the way of diplomatic transactions after the second invasion of France.
General Pozzo arrived in Belgium, now the inevitable theatre of war, as Russian commissary to the Anglo-Prussian army, which formed the advanced guard of the coalition, at the very moment Napoleon made his appearance on the frontier. The Duke of Wellington was informed of the sudden arrival of his terrible adversary, in the midst of a brilliant ball, under the thousand lustres of the palace of Laeken: the English troops were assembled in all haste, and a courier was despatched to Bulow, to desire him to quicken his march, and join the rest of the army. The Prussians, under Blucher, received a check at Ligny, and the English took up their position at Mont St. Jean. Pozzo di Borgo arrived there in a state of considerable anxiety. "How long do you think you can hold out?" said he. "I do not put much faith in the Belgians," replied the Duke of Wellington; "but I have a dozen British regiments with me, and I will engage to maintain my ground all day; but Bulow must come to my assistance before five o'clock in the evening." In the middle of the battle a note arrived from Bulow, promising his arrival in less than three hours; the news flew along the ranks, and the English army, feebly supported by the Belgians, resisted with an obstinate courage, which gained them the victory. At the funereal battle of Waterloo, Count Pozzo di Borgo received rather a serious wound.