Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume V

58

The following words were engraven on the blade: "Sabre que portait l'Empereur le jour de la bataille du Mont Thabor." – Bourrienne.

59

"He told M. de Caraman, that he had never had time to study; but that he now should, and meant to write his own memoirs." —Memorable Events, p. 232.

60

General Sir Edward Paget and Lord Louvain, both informed me that Lord Castlereagh told them, that Napoleon had written to him for permission to retire to England, "it being the only country possessing great and liberal ideas." —Memorable Events, p. 232.

61

Memorable Events, p. 326; Bourrienne, tom. x., p. 217.

62

Itineraire de Buonaparte, p. 235. – Augereau was an old republican, and had been ready to oppose Buonaparte on the day he dissolved the Legislative Body. He submitted to him during his reign, but was a severe censurer of his excessive love of conquest. – See ante, vol. iv., p. 256. – S.

63

This, indeed, had been previously arranged, as troops in considerable numbers were posted for his protection at Grenoble, Gap, and Sisteron, being the road by which he was expected to have travelled; but, perhaps with a view to try an experiment on his popularity, he took the route we have detailed. – S.

64

When they came alongside of the Undaunted, Napoleon desired the captain to ascend, and then followed; the officers were on deck to receive him; they mutually bowed, and the Emperor instantly went forward alone among the men, most of whom spoke French, having been on this station for some years. They all kept their hats on; but he so fascinated them by his manner, that in a few minutes they, of their own accord, took them off. Captain Usher was very glad of this, as he was apprehensive the sailors might have thrown him overboard. —Memorable Events, p. 254.

65

The Prussian commissioner wrote an account of their journey, called "Itineraire de Buonaparte, jusqu'à son embarquement à Frejus, Paris, 1815." The facts are amply confirmed by the accounts of his fellow-travellers. Napoleon always reckoned the pamphlet of General Truchsess Waldbourg, together with the account of De Pradt's Embassy to Poland, as the works calculated to do him most injury. Perhaps he was sensible that during this journey he had behaved beneath the character of a hero, or perhaps he disliked the publication of details which inferred his extreme unpopularity in the south of France. – S.

66

Las Cases, tom. iii., p. 92.

67

The honest boatswain, however, could understand and value what was solid in Napoleon's merits. As he had to return thanks in name of the ship's company, for 200 louis with which the Emperor presented them, he wished "his honour good health, and better luck the next time." – S.

68

"One of Napoleon's first cares was to obtain a supply of water for the town of Porto-Ferrajo. Captain Usher accompanied him in a boat round the bay; they sailed every creek, and tasted the different rills. Seeing the English sailors watering, he said, 'Let us go to them; I am sure they will choose the best.' Napoleon made a sailor dip his hat into the water, and hold it for him to drink. 'It is excellent: I knew they would find it out.'" —Memorable Events, p. 259.

69

Napoleon's mother arrived on the 2d of August, and occupied a house on the quay at Porto Ferrajo. Pauline landed in October. She lived in the palace with her brother; who had a room built for her in the garden, in which she gave public balls every Sunday evening.

70

"Our halt at Warsaw, in January 1807, was delightful. The Emperor and all the French officers paid their tribute of admiration to the charms of the fair Poles. There was one whose powerful fascinations made a deep impression on Napoleon's heart. He conceived an ardent affection for her, which she cordially returned. It is needless to name her, when I observe that her attachment remained unshaken amidst every danger, and that, at the period of Napoleon's reverses, she continued his faithful friend." – Savary, tom. iii., p. 16.

71

Buonaparte had particular reason to dread Brulart. This Chouan chief had been one of the numbers who laid down their arms on Napoleon assuming the Consulate, and who had been permitted to reside at Paris. A friend of Brulart, still more obnoxious than himself, was desirous of being permitted to return from England, to which he had emigrated. He applied to Napoleon through Brulart, who was directed by the Emperor to encourage his friend to come over. Immediately on his landing in France, he was seized and executed. Brulart fled to England in grief and rage, at being made the means of decoying his friend to death. In the height of his resentment he wrote to Napoleon, threatening him with death by his hand. The recollection of this menace alarmed Buonaparte, when he found Brulart so near him as Corsica.

72

Even Sir Niel Campbell said to Napoleon, "The newspapers say you are to be sent to St. Helena." – "Nous verrons cela," was the reply. —Memorable Events, p. 268.

73

See Treaty of Paris, Art. III. Parl. Debates, vol. xxviii., p. 178.

74

See Annual Register, vol. lvi., p. 420.

75

See ante, vol. i., p. 255.

76

Savary, tom. iv., p. 235.

77

Annual Register, vol. lvi., p. 51.

78

M. Dumolard. See Moniteur, Nov. 24.

79

Moniteur, Dec. 7 and 10; Montgaillard, tom. viii., p. 84; Annual Register, vol. lvi., p. 63.

80

Moniteur, July 13; Montgaillard, tom. viii., p. 52.

81

"No conqueror, no war, no conscription, no consolidated taxes!" —Proclamation on entering France.

82

Tempest, act i., scene ii.

83

Moniteur, July 6; Annual Register, vol. lxvi., p. 56.

84

Montgaillard, tom. viii., pp. 65, 79; Mad. de Staël, tom. iii., p. 70.

85

"Did you not abandon him in the most cowardly manner, when you saw him in that danger into which you had precipitated him? Was it not your duty to form a rampart round him with your bodies? Was it the business of Republicans to defend with their tongues him whom you had not the courage to defend with your swords?" —Memorial, pp. 11-14.

86

Merchant of Venice, act iv., scene i.

87

The following letter appeared in the Journal des Débats of the 7th October: – "Sir, I have been for more than a month in the country, eleven leagues from Paris. On my return to the capital, I learn that there has been circulated, in my name, a pamphlet, entitled, 'Memorial addressed to the King,' &c. I declare, that the Memorial has become printed without my consent, and contrary to my intention. – Carnot." This statement is gravely repeated in the Edinburgh Review, vol. xxiv., p. 187.

88

Journal des Débats, Oct. 11.

89

Fouché, tom. ii., p. 232.

90

Fouché, tom. ii., p. 235.

91

"Nous le ferons sans vous; nous le ferons malgré vous; nous le ferons pour vous." – S.

92

"A military party made me a proposal of offering the dictatorship to Eugene Beauharnois. I wrote to him, under the impression that the matter had already assumed a substantial form; but I only received a vague answer. In the interim, all the interests of the Revolution congregated round myself and Carnot, whose memorial to the King had produced a general sensation." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 244.

93

See Parliamentary Debates, vol. xxxi., 1815.

94

"At this time there was a very pretty cunning little French actress at Elba. Napoleon pretended to be very angry with her, saying she was a spy of the Bourbons, and ordered her out of the island in twenty-four hours. Captain Adye took her in his vessel to Leghorn: Sir Niel Campbell went at the same time; and during this absence, on Sunday the 26th February, a signal gun was fired at four in the afternoon, the drums beat to arms, the officers tumbled what they could of their effects into flour sacks, the men arranged their knapsacks, the embarkation began, and at eight in the evening they were under weigh." —Memorable Events, p. 271.

95

The Zephyr, Captain Andrieu.

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.

106

"It is impossible not to condemn Ney's conduct. It behoved him to imitate Macdonald and to withdraw. It ought, however, to be added, that Generals Lecourbe and Bourmont were with him when he consented to be led astray. But, after committing this error, he fell into a still greater one. He wrote to Napoleon to acquaint him with what he had done, announcing to him at the same time, that he was about to proceed to Auxerre, where he expected the honour of seeing him." – Savary, tom. iv., p. 252.

107

Sir James Mackintosh. See Debate on Mr. Abercrombie's Motion respecting Buonaparte's Escape from Elba. —Parl. Deb., vol. xxx., p. 738.

108

Napoleon to Grouchy.

109

"The result of the royalist enterprise rather contributed to tranquillise Napoleon. He was astonished by the courage which the Duke d'Angoulême exhibited in La Drôme, and especially Madame at Bourdeaux. He admired the intrepidity of this heroic princess, whom the desertion of an entire army had not been able to dispirit. It was proposed in council to obtain the crown diamonds for the Duke d'Angoulême. I recommended the Emperor to throw M. de Vitrolles into the bargain; but he would not consent." – Fouché, tom. ii., p. 261.

110

Parl. Debates, vol. xxx., p. 373.

111

Parl. Debates, vol. xxx.; Ann. Reg., vol. lvii.

112

Parl. Debates, vol. xxx., p. 378.

113

See debate, May 25, 1815, on the Prince Regent's message relating to France. Parl. Debates, vol. xxxii., p. 424.

114

See Parl. Debates, vol. xxx., p. 726.

115

See Parl. Debates, vol. xxx., p. 338.

116

The contingents of the various powers were as follows: – Austria 300,000 men; Russia 225,000; Prussia 236,000; States of Germany 150,000; Great Britain 50,000; Holland 50,000; in all, 1,011,000 soldiers. – S.

117

Mémoires de Fleury de Chamboullon, tom. i., p. 397.

118

See papers relating to Maréchal Murat. – Parl. Debates, vol. xxxi., pp. 59-153.

119

Commodore Campbell had promised Caroline a free passage to France; but, on the declaration of Lord Exmouth, that the commodore had exceeded his instructions, fresh negotiations were entered into with Austria; the result being that the ex-queen accepted the protection of the Emperor Francis, and has since resided, as Countess of Lipano, in his dominions.

120

Las Cases, tom. ii., p. 355.

121

O'Meara, vol. ii., p. 95.

122

It is well known that Joachim Murat, escaping with difficulty from France, fled to Corsica, and might have obtained permission to reside upon parole in the Austrian territories, safe and unmolested. He nourished a wild idea, however, of recovering his crown, which induced him to reject these terms of safety, and invade the Neapolitan territories at the head of about two hundred men. That his whole expedition might be an accurate parody on that of Buonaparte to Cannes, he published swaggering proclamations, mingled with a proper quantum of falsehood. A storm dispersed his flotilla. He himself, October 8th, landed at a little fishing town near Monte Leone. He was attacked by the country people, fought as he was wont, but was defeated and made prisoner, tried by martial law, and condemned. The Sicilian royal family have shown themselves no forgiving race, otherwise mercy might have been extended to one, who, though now a private person, had been so lately a king, that he might be pardoned for forgetting that he had no longer the power of making peace and war without personal responsibility. Murat met his fate as became Le Beau Sabreur. He fastened his wife's picture on his breast, refused to have his eyes bandaged, or to use a seat, received six balls through his heart, and met the death which he had braved with impunity in the thick of many conflicts, and sought in vain in so many others. – S.

123

Donnez nous nôtre paire de gants, equivalent in pronunciation to nôtre Père de Ghent. – S.

124

The following is an abridgment of its declarations: – The legislative power resides in the Emperor and two Chambers. The Chamber of Peers is hereditary, and the Emperor names them. Their number is unlimited. The Second Chamber is elected by the people, and is to consist of 629 members – none are to be under twenty-five years. The President is appointed by the members, but approved of by the Emperor. Members to be paid at the rate settled by the Constituent Assembly. It is to be renewed every five years. The Emperor may prorogue, adjourn, or dissolve the House of Representatives. Sittings to be public. The Electoral Colleges are maintained. Land-tax and direct taxes to be voted only for a year; indirect may be for several years. No levy of men for the army, nor any exchange of territory, but by a law. Taxes to be proposed by the Chamber of Representatives. Ministers to be responsible. Judges to be irremovable. Juries to be established. Right of petition is established – freedom of worship – inviolability of property. The last article says, that "the French people declare that they do not mean to delegate the power of restoring the Bourbons, or any prince of that family, even in case of the exclusion of the Imperial dynasty." – S.

125

"The word additional disenchanted the friends of liberty. They recognised in it the ill-disguised continuation of the chief institutions created in favour of absolute power. From that moment Napoleon to their view became an incurable despot, and I, for my part, regarded him in the light of a madman delivered, bound hand and foot, to the mercy of Europe." – Fouché, tom. ii., p. 276.

126

Letters from Paris, written during the last reign of Napoleon, vol. i., p. 197 [By John Cam Hobhouse, Esq.; now Sir J. C. Hobhouse.]

127

It was subjected, notwithstanding, with the usual success, to the electoral bodies, whose good-nature never refused a constitution which was recommended by the existing government. The number of those who gave their votes were more than a million; being scarce a tenth part, however, of those who had qualifications.

128

Moniteur, June 2; Savary, tom. iv., p. 34; Fouché, tom. ii., p. 277.

129

The punsters of Paris selected Labédoyère, Drouot, Ney, and L'Allemand, as the Quatre pairs fides (perfides.) while Vandamme and others were termed the Pairs sifflés. – S.

130

See Moniteur, June 6.

131

Moniteur, June 9.

132

The particulars of this intrigue show with what audacity, and at what risk, Fouché waded, swam, or dived, among the troubled waters which were his element. An agent of Prince Metternich had been despatched to Paris, to open a communication with Fouché on the part of the Austrian government. Falling under suspicion, from some banking transaction, this person was denounced to Buonaparte as a suspicious person, and arrested by his interior police, which, as there cannot be too much precaution in a well-managed state, watched, and were spies upon, the general police under Fouché. The agent was brought before Buonaparte, who threatened to cause him be shot to death on the very spot, unless he told him the whole truth. The man then confessed that Metternich sent him to Fouché, to request the latter to send a secure agent to Bâle, to meet with a confidential person on the part of the Austrian minister, whom Fouché's envoy was to recognise by a peculiar sign, which the informer also made known. "Have you fulfilled your commission so far as concerns Fouché?" said the Emperor. – "I have," answered the Austrian agent. – "And has he despatched any one to Bâle?" – "That I cannot tell." The agent was detained in a secret prison. Baron Fleury de Chamboullon, an auditor, was instantly despatched to Bâle, to represent the agent whom Fouché should have sent thither, and fathom the depth and character of the intrigue betwixt the French and Austrian ministers. Fouché soon discovered that the agent sent to him by Metternich was missing, conjectured his fate, and instantly went to seek an audience of the Emperor. Having mentioned other matters, he seemed to recollect himself, and begged pardon, with affected unconcern, for not having previously mentioned an affair of some consequence, which, nevertheless, he had forgotten amid the hurry of business. "An agent had come to him from the Austrian government," he said, "requesting him to send a confidential person to Bâle, to a correspondent of Metternich, and he now came to ask whether it would be his Majesty's pleasure that he should avail himself of the opening, in order to learn the secret purposes of the enemy?" Napoleon was not deceived by this trick. There were several mirrors in the room, by which he could perceive and enjoy his perfidious minister's ill-concealed embarrassment. "Monsieur Fouché," he said, "it may be dangerous to treat me as a fool: I have your agent in safe custody, and penetrate your whole intrigue. Have you sent to Bâle?" – "No, Sire." – "The happier for you: had you done so, you should have died." Fleury was unable to extract any thing of consequence from Werner, the confidant of Metternich, who met him at Bâle. The Austrian seemed to expect communications from Fouché, without being prepared to make them. Fleury touched on the plan of assassinating Buonaparte, which Werner rejected with horror, as a thing not to be thought of by Metternich or the allies. They appointed a second meeting, but in the interim Fouché made the Austrian aware of the discovery, and Baron Fleury, on his second journey to Bâle, found no Mr. Werner to meet him. – See Fleury de Chamboullon, tom. ii., p. 6.

Buonaparte gives almost the same account of this intrigue in his St. Helena Conversations as Fouché in his Memoirs. But Napoleon does not mention Carnot's interposition to prevent Fouché from being put to death without process of law. "You may shoot Fouché to-day," said the old Jacobin, "but to-morrow you will cease to reign. The people of the Revolution permit you to retain the throne only on condition you respect their liberties. They account Fouché one of their strongest guarantees. If he is guilty, he must be legally proceeded against." Buonaparte, therefore, gaining no proof against Fouché by the mission of Fleury, was fain to shut his eyes on what he saw but too well. – S.

133

Las Cases, tom. ii., p. 276.

134

"The madmen! a moment of prosperity has blinded them. The oppression and humiliation of the French people are beyond their power: if they enter France, they will there find their tomb. Soldiers! we have forced marches to make, battles to fight, hazards to run; but, with firmness, victory will be ours: the rights, honour, and happiness of our country will be reconquered. To every Frenchman who has any heart, the moment is arrived – to conquer or to die!" —Moniteur, June 17.

135

The reader will find this statement corrected, on some points, in a note of chap. lxxxix., post.

136

Blucher's Official Report.

137

Blucher's Official Report.

138

Bulletin, Moniteur, June 21. Gourgaud, however, states the actual loss, on the part of the French, to have been 7000.

139

Gourgaud, Campaign de 1815, ou Relation des Opérations, &c.

140

Grouchy, Observations sur la Relation de Gourgaud.

141

Montholon, tom. ii., p. 283.

142

"My intentions were, to attack and to destroy the English. This, I knew, would produce an immediate change of ministry. The indignation against them would have excited such a popular commotion, that they would have been turned out; and peace would have been the result." – Napoleon, Voice, &c., vol. i., p. 176.

143

"All his arrangements having been effected early in the evening of the 17th, the Duke of Wellington rode across the country to Blucher, to inform him personally that he had thus far effected the plan agreed on at Bry, and express his hope to be supported on the morrow by two Prussian divisions. The veteran replied, that he would leave a single corps to hold Grouchy at bay as well as they could, and march himself with the rest of his army upon Waterloo; and Wellington immediately returned to his post. The fact of the duke and Blucher having met between the battles of Ligny and Waterloo, is well known to many of the superior officers then in the Netherlands; but the writer of this compendium has never happened to see it mentioned in print. The horse that carried the Duke of Wellington through this long night's journey, so important to the decisive battle of the 18th, remained till lately – if does not still remain – a free pensioner in the best paddock of Strathfield-saye." —Hist. of Nap. Buonaparte, Family Library, vol. ii., p. 313.