Memoirs of the Private Life, Return, and Reign of Napoleon in 1815 Volume I Part 9

In the evening Napoleon wrote to the Empress and Prince Joseph. He directed him to make known at Rome, at Naples, and at Porto Ferrajo, that his enterprise had every appearance of being crowned with the most speedy and brilliant success. The couriers departed with great noise; and care was taken to make known, that they were carrying to the Empress the news of the Emperor's return, with orders to come immediately, with her son, and join him.

On the 9th the Emperor declared the establishment of the imperial power by three decrees.

The first directed all public acts, and the administration of justice, to be executed in his name from the 15th of March.

The two others organized the national guards of the five departments of the Upper and Lower Alps, la Drome, Mont Blanc, and the Izere, and entrusted to the honour and patriotism of the inhabitants of the seventh division the fortified towns of Briancon, Gren.o.ble, Fort Barreaux, Colmar, &c.

The moment he set off, he addressed to the inhabitants of the department of the Izere the following proclamation:

Citizens,

When in my exile I learned all the misfortunes, that oppressed the nation; that all the rights of the people were disregarded, and that I was reproached with the state of repose in which I lived: I lost not a moment: I embarked on board a slight vessel, crossed the sea in the midst of s.h.i.+ps of war belonging to various nations, landed alone on the sh.o.r.es of our country, and thought of nothing but of arriving with the rapidity of an eagle in this good city of Gren.o.ble, of the patriotism of which, and its personal attachment to me, I was well aware. Men of Dauphiny, you have answered my expectation.

I have endured, not without a wounded heart, but without being dejected, the misfortunes to which for a twelvemonth I have been a prey. The spectacle displayed to my eyes by the people on my journey has inspired me with the most lively emotions. Though a few clouds have altered the high opinion I entertained of the French people, what I have seen has convinced me, that they are still worthy of the name of the Great People, which I gave them twenty years ago.

Men of Dauphiny, about to quit your country, to repair to my good city of Lyons, I could not refrain from expressing to you all the esteem, with which your lofty sentiments have inspired me. My heart is filled with the emotions, that you have excited in it, and I shall never forget them.

The news of the Emperor's landing did not reach Paris till the 5th of March, at night. It transpired on the 6th; and on the 7th a royal proclamation appeared in the Moniteur, convoking the chambers immediately; and a decree, that placed Napoleon, and all who should join or a.s.sist him, out of the protection of the law[47]; without any farther particulars.

[Footnote 47: This mode of proceeding, worthy of the barbarous ages, was a new infraction of the law of nations, and of the const.i.tutional laws of France, on the part of the ministry. No article of the charter conferred on the monarch the right of life and death over his subjects; and consequently he had no authority to proscribe those who accompanied and a.s.sisted Napoleon. If they were considered as robbers, it was the office of the tribunals to judge and to punish them.

Neither was he authorized, to order Napoleon to be murdered. He had preserved the t.i.tle of Emperor, legally enjoyed the prerogative of sovereignty, and might make war or peace as he pleased.

The t.i.tle of Emperor of the French, which he arrogated to himself, could not be a t.i.tle to proscription. George III., previous to the treaty of Amiens, styled himself King of France and Navarre. Had he made a descent in arms on our territory, would any one have had a right, to proclaim him out of the pale of the law, and order the French people to murder him?]

On the 8th the Moniteur and other newspapers announced, that Bonaparte had landed with eleven hundred men, most of whom had already deserted him; that he was wandering in the mountains, accompanied only by a few individuals; that he had been refused provision, was in want of every thing, and, pursued and on the point of being surrounded by the troops sent against him from Toulon, Ma.r.s.eilles, Valence, and Gren.o.ble, he must speedily expiate his rash and criminal enterprise.

This news struck all parties with astonishment, and made different impressions on them, according to their different sentiments and opinions.

The discontented had no doubt of the success of the Emperor, and the ruin of the Bourbons.

The courtiers regretted that there was not sufficient danger in this mad and audacious enterprise, to give at least some value to their attachment.

The emigrants looked at it with pity, turned it into ridicule; and, if they had wanted nothing more than jests, abuse, and swaggering, to beat Napoleon, there could have been no doubt of their victory.

The government itself partic.i.p.ated in their boasting and security.

Fresh despatches soon made known the progress of Napoleon.

The Count d'Artois, the Duke of Orleans, and Marshal Macdonald, set off hastily for Lyons.

The royalists were uneasy, the government removed their fears.

The Count d'Artois, they said, at the head of fifteen thousand national guards, and ten thousand of the troops of the line, must stop him before Lyons.

General Marchand, General Duverney, the Prince of Essling, and the Duke d'Angouleme, were getting into his rear, and would cut off his retreat.

General Le Courbe was manoeuvring on his flanks.

Marshal Oudinot was arriving with his faithful royal grenadiers.

The national guards of Ma.r.s.eilles, and the whole population of the south, were marching from all quarters in pursuit of him; and it was impossible for him to escape.

This was the 10th of March.

The next day an officer of the King's household appeared in the balcony of the Tuileries, and, waving his hat, announced, that the King had just received an official account of the Duke of Orleans, at the head of twenty thousand men of the national guard of Lyons, having attacked Bonaparte on the side towards Bourgoing, and completely beaten him.

The same day information was given, that Generals d'Erlon, Lefevre Desnouettes, and Lallemand, who had attempted to seduce the troops under their orders, had completely failed, and taken flight[48].

[Footnote 48: These four generals had agreed, to repair together to Paris. The troops of Count d'Erlon, quartered at Lisle, deceived by supposit.i.tious orders, were on their march, when they were met by the Duke de Trevise, who was going to take the command of his government. He interrogated them, perceived the plot, and ordered them back.

Count Lefevre Desnouettes, ignorant of this unlucky circ.u.mstance, put in motion his regiment, which was in garrison at Cambrai. When he reached Compiegne, he did not find the troops he expected, and showed some hesitation. The officers of his corps, and particularly Major Lyon, questioned him, and finally abandoned him.

On the other hand, the brothers Lallemand, one of whom was general of artillery, had marched to Fere with a few squadrons, intending to seize the park of artillery. The resistance they met from General d'Aboville disconcerted them, and, after they had attempted in vain to seduce the garrison, they fled, but were shortly after arrested.

It was supposed, that this rising in arms had been concerted with Napoleon; but I know from good authority, that it was solely the result of an evening spent at General ***'s. A few bowls of punch had heated their brains; they complained of their situation; they were indignant, that a handful of cowardly emigrants should prescribe laws to them; they were persuaded it would be easy to displace them; and, proceeding from one step to another, they concluded by agreeing to march to Paris, and compel the King to change his ministry, and banish from France all those whom the public voice denounced as enemies to the charter, and disturbers of the public tranquillity and happiness. Such was their true and only object.]

The malecontents were in doubt: the royalists were intoxicated.

On the 12th, the victory of the Duke of Orleans was contradicted. The official paper announced, that Bonaparte must have slept at Bourgoing; that he was expected to enter Lyons on the evening of the 10th of March; and that it appeared certain, that Gren.o.ble had not yet opened its gates to him.

The Count d'Artois soon arrived, and confirmed by his return the taking of Lyons, and the inutility of his efforts.

The alarm was renewed.

The King, whose countenance was at the same time dignified and affecting, invoked by eloquent proclamations the attachment of the French, and the courage and fidelity of the army.

The army maintained silence. The judicial bodies, the civil authorities, the order of advocates, and a number of individual citizens, answered the King's appeal by addresses testifying their love and fidelity.

The two chambers equally laid at the foot of the throne the expression of their sentiments: but their language differed.

"Sire," said the Chamber of Peers, "hitherto paternal goodness has marked all the acts of your government[49]. If it be necessary that the laws should be rendered more severe, you would no doubt lament it; but the two chambers, animated with the same spirit, would be eager to concur in every measure that the importance of circ.u.mstances, and the safety of the people, may require."

[Footnote 49: The chancellor, no doubt, had forgotten the proscription, that delivered over to death all those Frenchmen who joined or a.s.sisted Bonaparte.]

"Whatever faults may have been committed," said the Chamber of Deputies, "the present is not the moment for inquiring into them. It is the duty of all of us, to unite against the common enemy, and afterwards endeavour, to render this crisis beneficial to the security of the throne and its public liberty."

The King did not stop at empty proclamations. He decreed,

That a new army should be a.s.sembled in front of Paris, under the orders of the Duke of Berri and the command of Marshal Macdonald:

That all the soldiers on furlough, or conditionally discharged, should rejoin their corps:

That all the half-pay officers should be called out:

That the three millions of national guards of the kingdom should take up arms, in order to check the factious and disperse their meetings, _while the army took the field_: