[96] "He asked how the Emperor did. Napoleon replied through the speaking trumpet, 'Il se porte à merveille.'"—Memorable Events, p. 271.
[97] Lord Castlereagh stated, in the House of Commons, 7th April, 1815, that Napoleon was not considered as a prisoner at Elba, and that if he should leave it the allies had no right to arrest him.—Parl. Deb., vol. xxx., p. 426.
[98] "Soult did not betray Louis, nor was he privy to my return and landing in France. For some days, he thought that I was mad, and that I must certainly be lost. Notwithstanding this, appearances were so much against him, and without intending it, his acts turned out to be so favourable to my projects, that, were I on his jury, and ignorant of what I know, I should condemn him for having betrayed Louis. But he really was not privy to it."—Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. i., p. 343; O'Meara, vol. i., p. 386.
[99] "The Royalists made a mockery of this terror: it was strange to hear them say that this event was the most fortunate thing possible, because we should be relieved from Buonaparte; for the two Chambers would feel the necessity of giving the king absolute power—as if absolute power was a thing to be given."—Mad. de Staël, tom. iii., p. 138. "Yesterday the King received the diplomatic corps. His majesty said to the ambassadors, 'write to your respective courts that I am well, and that the foolish enterprise of that man shall as little disturb the tranquillity of Europe, as it has disturbed mine.'"—Moniteur, March 8.
[100] "I am persuaded that the suspicion of his acting a treacherous part is groundless."—Mad. de Staël, tom. iii., p. 87.
[101] "General Lallemand would have been infallibly shot, had not Napoleon reached Paris with such extraordinary rapidity."—Savary, tom. iv., p. 256.
[102] Fouché, tom. ii., p. 249.
[103] "When the king's ministers desired to know what were the means which I proposed to employ, in order to prevent Napoleon from reaching Paris, I refused to communicate them, being determined to disclose them to no person but the King himself; but I protested that I was sure of success."—Fouché, p. 250.
[104] In the Memoirs of Fouché, it is avowed, that this order of arrest was upon no political ground, but arose from the envy of Savary, who, foreseeing that Fouché would be restored to the situation of minister of police, which he himself desired, on account of the large sums which were placed at the disposal of that functionary, hoped, in this manner, to put his rival out of his road.—S.
[105] "Hortense received me with open arms; and as in a wonderful Arabian tale, I suddenly found myself in the midst of the élite of the Buonapartists, in the headquarters of the party, where I found mirth, and where my presence caused an intoxication of joy."—Fouché, p. 253.