Memoirs of the Private Life, Return, and Reign of Napoleon in 1815 Volume II Part 27

The interior duty of Paris shall continue to be performed by the national guard, and by the corps of munic.i.p.al gendarmerie.

ART. X.

The commanders in chief of the English and Prussian armies _engage to respect, and to make those under them respect, the present authorities, as long as they subsist_.

ART. XI.

_Public property_, except what relates to war, whether it belong to the government, or depend on the munic.i.p.al authority, _shall be respected_, and the allied powers will not interfere in any manner in its management, or in its conduct.

ART. XII.

The persons and property of individuals shall be equally respected: the inhabitants, and all persons in general, who happen to be in the capital, shall continue to enjoy their rights and liberties, _without being molested, or any inquiry being made into the functions they occupy or may have occupied, their conduct, or their political opinions_.

ART. XIII.

The foreign troops shall oppose no obstacle to the supply of the capital with provision; and on the contrary shall protect the arrival and free circulation of articles intended for it.

ART. XIV.

The present convention shall be observed, and serve as a rule for the mutual conduct of the parties, till a peace is concluded.

In case of a rupture, it shall be announced in the usual forms at least ten days beforehand.

ART. XV.

_If any difficulties arise_, respecting the execution of some of the articles of the present convention, _the interpretation shall be in favour of the French army_, and of the city of Paris.

ART. XVI.

The present convention is declared common to all the allied armies, saving the ratification of the powers, to which those armies belong.

ART. XVII.

The ratifications shall be exchanged to-morrow, at six o'clock in the morning, at the bridge of Neuilly.

ART. XVIII.

Commissioners shall be named by the respective parties, to superintend the execution of the present convention.

Done and signed at St. Cloud, in triplicate, by the commissioners undernamed, the day and year above mentioned,

(Signed) Baron BIGNON.

Count GUILLEMINOT.

Count DE BONDY.

Baron DE m.u.f.fLING.

B. HERVEY, Colonel.

Approved and ratified,

(Signed) Marshal Prince ECKMUHL.

The t.i.tle of capitulation was originally given to this treaty: but the Duke of Otranto, aware of the power of words, and dreading the impression this would produce, hastened to recall the copies already distributed, and to subst.i.tute the milder t.i.tle of convention. This precaution, however, fascinated the eyes only of a few friendly deputies. Numerous groups were formed: the government and Prince Eckmuhl were openly charged with having a second time delivered up and sold Paris to the allies and the Bourbons. The patriots, the sharpshooters, the federates, who had offered to defend the city with their lives, were equally indignant, that the city had been given up without firing a single shot. They resolved, to seize on the heights of Montmartre, join the army, and sell dearly to the enemy the last sighs of liberty and of France. But their threatening clamours were not unheard by the government. It called out the national guards; and these at length appeased the malecontents, by opposing to them the example of their own resignation.

The publication of the convention produced an effervescence not less formidable in the camps. The generals a.s.sembled, to protest against this impious act, and oppose its accomplishment. They declared, that the Prince of Eckmuhl, _in whose house they had frequently caught M.

de Vitrolles_, had forfeited the esteem of the army, and was no longer worthy to command it. They repaired to General Vandamme, and offered him the command. But this officer, who had made one of the council of war, which they did not know, and approved its sentiments, refused his consent to their wishes. The soldiers, who had been made to swear by the representatives of the people, that they would never suffer the enemy to penetrate into the capital, spontaneously shared the indignation of their leaders; and declared, like them, that they would never consent, to surrender Paris. Some broke their arms, others brandished them in the air with curses and threats; all swore, to die on the spot, rather than desert it. A general insurrection appeared inevitable and at hand; when the General, alarmed at the calamities it might occasion, harangued the soldiers, and at length calmed their irritation. The imperial guard, yielding to the ascendancy the brave and loyal Drouot possessed over it, gave the first example of submission, and every thing was restored to order.

The government, to justify its conduct, and prevent similar insurrections in the other armies, and in the departments, published the following proclamation, a pompous tissue of eloquent impostures, and of fallacious promises[86].

[Footnote 86: It was the performance of the Duke of Otranto.]

"_The Committee of Government to the French._

"Frenchmen,

"Under the difficult circ.u.mstances, in which the reins of government were entrusted to us, it was not in our power, to master the course of events, and repel every danger: but it was our duty, to protect the interests of the people, and of the army, equally compromised in the cause of a prince, abandoned by fortune and by the national will.

"It was our duty, _to preserve_ to our country the precious remains of those brave legions, whose courage is superior to misfortune, and who have been the victims of a devotion, which their country now claims.

"It was our duty, to save the capital from the horrors of a siege, or the chances of a battle to maintain the public tranquillity amid the tumults and agitations of war, _to support the hopes of the friends of liberty_, amid the fears and anxieties of a suspicious foresight. It was above all our duty, to stop the useless effusion of blood. We had to choose _between a secure national existence_, or run the risk of exposing our country and its citizens to a general convulsion, that would leave behind it neither hope, nor a future.

"_None of the means of defence_, that time and our resources permitted, nothing that the service of the camps or of the city required, have we neglected.

"While the pacification of the West was concluding, plenipotentiaries went to meet the allied powers; and all the papers relative to this negotiation have been laid before our representatives.

"The fate of the capital is regulated by a convention: its inhabitants, whose firmness, courage, and perseverance, are above all praise, will retain the guarding of it. _The declarations of the sovereigns of Europe must inspire too great confidence, their promises have been too solemn, for us to entertain any fears of our liberties, and of our dearest interests, being sacrificed to victory._

"_At length we shall receive guarantees_, that will prevent the alternate and transient triumphs of the factions, by which we have been agitated these five and twenty years; that will terminate our revolutions, and _melt down under one common protection_ all the parties, to which they have given rise, and all those, against which they have contended.

"Those guarantees, which have hitherto existed only in our principles and in our courage, _we shall find_ in our laws, in our const.i.tution, in our representative system. For whatever may be the intelligence, the virtues, the personal qualities of a monarch, these can never suffice, to render the people secure against the oppressions of power, the prejudices of pride, the injustice of courts, and the ambition of courtiers.

"Frenchmen, peace is necessary to your commerce, to your arts, to the improvement of your morals, to the development of the resources remaining to you: be united, _and you are at the end of your calamities_. The repose of Europe is inseparable from yours. Europe is interested in your tranquillity, and in your happiness.

"Given at Paris, July the 5th, 1815.

(Signed) "The president of the committee,

"The Duke of OTRANTO."

By the terms of the convention, the first column of the French was to commence its march on the 4th. The soldiers, still irritated, declared they would not set out, till they received their arrears of pay. The treasury was empty, credit extinguished, the government at bay. The Prince of Eckmuhl proposed, to seize the funds of the bank: but this attempt struck the committee with horror. One resource alone, one only hope, remained: this was to invoke the support of a banker, at that time celebrated for his wealth, now celebrated for his public virtues.

M. Lafitte was applied to: the chances of the future did not deter him; he listened only to the interest of his country; and several millions, distributed by his a.s.sistance through the ranks of the army, disarmed the mutineers, and crushed the seeds of a civil war.

The army began its march. Amid the despair, into which it had been plunged by the capitulation, it had frequently called on Napoleon! The committee, apprehensive that the Emperor, having no longer any measures to keep, would come and put himself in a state of desperation at the head of the patriots and soldiers, sent orders by a courier to General Beker, "to effect the arrival of Napoleon at Rochefort without delay; _and, without departing from the respect due to him, to employ all the means necessary, to get him embarked_; as his stay in France compromised the safety of the state, and was detrimental to the negotiations."

The retreat of the army, the occupation of Paris by the foreigners, and the presence of the King at Arnouville, unveiled the future; and those men who were not blinded by incurable illusions, prepared to fall again under the sway of the Bourbons.