No! The sword by which the Empire had been raised and held in subjection, by which Europe itself had been enthralled and all but conquered, had fallen powerless from his grasp. In him were no longer centred the might and the will of Imperial France. These had been delegated through the Constitution, to the organs of the nation, the elected Representatives of the People. He no longer possessed, in his own person, the Administrative and the Executive; but was under the control of that power which, as before observed, when he quitted Paris to join the Army, he dreaded more than the Enemy he was going to confront—the power of Public Opinion legitimately expressed. If he had so keenly felt its force before his downfall on the battle field; how great, nay, how hopeless, must have appeared to him the task of endeavouring to soothe its excitement, and to obtain its sanction to renewed sacrifices, when suddenly appearing in Paris on the afternoon of the 21st of June—but one short week from the time of his assuming the command of his Army—himself to announce the disastrous result of his enterprise.
The Imperialists in the capital, who had indulged in the most extravagant hopes engendered by the news of the victory at Ligny, had scarcely manifested their exultation when sinister rumours began to spread of some sudden reverses which had befallen the cause of Napoleon; and presently all doubts and suspense were removed by the unexpected appearance of the Emperor himself, which gave rise to the most gloomy anticipations.
Napoleon immediately summoned a Cabinet Council. He frankly explained to his Ministers the critical state of affairs; but, at the same time, with his usual confidence in his own resources, declared his conviction, that if the nation were called upon to rise en masse, the annihilation of the Enemy would follow; but that if, instead of ordering new levies and adopting extraordinary measures, the Chambers were to allow themselves to be drawn into debates, and to waste their time in disputation, all would be lost. "Now that the Enemy is in France," he added, "it is necessary that I should be invested with extraordinary power, that of a temporary Dictatorship. As a measure of safety for the country, I might assume this power; but it would be better and more national that it should be conferred upon me by the Chambers."
The Ministers were too well acquainted with the general views and disposition of the Chamber of Representatives to pronounce a direct approval of this step; but Napoleon, perceiving their hesitation, called upon them to express their opinion upon the measures of public safety required by existing circumstances. Carnot, the Minister of the Interior, conceived it to be essential that the country should be declared in danger; that the Fédérés and National Guards should be called to arms; that Paris should be placed in a stage of siege, and measures adopted for its defence; that at the last extremity the armed force should retire behind the Loire, and take up an intrenched position; that the Army of La Vendée, where the Civil War had nearly terminated, as also the Corps of Observation in the south, should be recalled: and the Enemy checked until sufficient force could be united and organised for the assumption of a vigorous offensive, by which he should be driven out of France. Decrès, the Minister of the Marine, and Regnault de Saint Jean d'Angely, the Secretary of State, supported this opinion; but Fouché, the Minister of Police, and the remaining Ministers, remarked that the safety of the State did not depend upon any particular measure which might thus be proposed, but upon the Chambers; and upon their uniting with the Head of the Government: and that by manifesting towards them confidence and good faith, they would be induced to declare it to be their duty to unite with Napoleon in the adoption of energetic measures for securing the honour and independence of the nation.
This advice on the part of Fouché was an artful piece of dissimulation. No man in France possessed so intimate a knowledge of the secret workings of the public mind; he knew precisely the dispositions and views of the different factions, as also the character and temperament of their Leaders. He knew also that the great Parties in the Chambers, with the exception of the Imperialists, who were in the minority but whom he secretly flattered with the prospect of a Napoleon II., were fully prepared to depose the Emperor, in favour of full Constitutional Freedom and Liberal Institutions. This knowledge, obtained with an adroitness and a precision quite peculiar to this celebrated Minister of Police, he made completely subservient to his own personal views. These had been, from the commencement of Napoleon's second reign, to coquet with the factions in such a manner as to induce each to consider him an indispensable instrument in the realisation of its hopes; and to exert this extraordinary influence either to support or to undermine the power of Napoleon, according as the fortunes of the latter might be in the ascendant or on the decline. The resolute attitude assumed by the Allies soon satisfied him that, although the Emperor might once more dazzle the world with some brilliant feat of arms, he must eventually succumb to the fixed determination of the Sovereigns to crush his usurped authority; and to the overwhelming masses with which Europe was preparing to subjugate the country. He had been, and was still, in secret communication with the Ministers and Advisers of Louis XVIII.; and was consequently in full possession of the general plans and intentions of the Allies.
When, therefore, Napoleon's enterprise had so signally failed, and the reoccupation of Paris appeared to be its necessary consequence: Fouché foresaw clearly, that were the proposed Dictatorship to be assumed by means of a sudden and forced dissolution of the Chambers, implying that the recent reverses had been produced by treachery on the part of the Representatives; and were new levies to be raised en masse, in support of the force that yet remained available; the result would inevitably be anarchy and confusion in the capital, disorder and excesses throughout the whole country, renewed disasters to the nation, together with an awful and useless sacrifice of life. To prevent such a catastrophe, it was necessary to lull Napoleon's suspicions of the intentions of the Chambers; with which, at the same time, Fouché was fully acquainted. Hence it was, that to gain sufficient time for the development of these intentions, Fouché gave to the Council the advice before mentioned.
He strongly expressed his disapproval of the projected Dissolution of the Chambers, and assumption of the Dictatorship; declaring that any measures of that kind would only tend to create distrust, and, not improbably, a general revolt. But, at the same time, his agents were making known throughout Paris the fullest extent of the disasters that had befallen Napoleon, and which had caused his sudden and unexpected return; and the Deputies were assembling in all haste, and in great numbers, to take a bold and decided step in this great national crisis.
In thus dissembling from his Master the real disposition of the great political Parties, and the true state of the public mind, Fouché, no doubt, betrayed the trust reposed in him; but, setting aside the question whether he was really influenced by patriotic motives, or merely acting upon a system of deep duplicity and time serving expediency, there can also be no doubt that, by pursuing the line of conduct which he did on this important occasion, he became the means of preserving his country from the infliction of a still further accumulation of evils.
The Cabinet Council continued in discussion; some supporting, and others disapproving, the propositions of Napoleon: who, at length, yielding to the arguments of Fouché and Carnot, declared he would submit himself to the loyalty of the Chambers, and confer with them as to the measures which the critical position of the country might render necessary.