Part 19

"I and my family, whom this great people has raised to the French throne, and maintained on it in spite of vicissitudes and political tempests, will not, ought not, cannot, ever claim any other title to it."

The Count Défermon, father of the presidents of the council of state, delivered to the Emperor the following declaration, tending to prove the nullity of the abdication of Fontainbleau:

"The council of state, in resuming its functions, thinks it necessary to make known the principles, by which its conduct and opinions are guided.

"The sovereignty resides in the people, who are the only legitimate source of power.

"In 1789 the nation recovered its rights, which had long been usurped, or misunderstood.

"The National Assembly abolished the feudal monarchy, and established a constitutional monarchy, and a representative government.

"The resistance of the Bourbons to the wishes of the people occasioned their downfal, and their banishment from the French territories.

"Twice the people sanctioned by its votes the new form of government established by its representatives.

"In the year 8th, Bonaparte, already crowned by victory, found himself raised to the government by the assent of the nation. A constitution created the consular magistracy.

"The senatus consultum of the 16th of Thermidor, year 10, named Bonaparte consul for life.

"The senatus consultum of the 28th of Floréal, year 12, conferred on Napoleon the imperial dignity, and made it hereditary in his family.

"These three solemn acts were laid for acceptance before the people, who sanctioned them by nearly four millions of votes.

"Accordingly, the Bourbons had ceased to reign in France for two and twenty years; they were forgotten there by their contemporaries; strangers to our laws, our institutions, our manners, our glory; and the present generation knew nothing of them.

"In 1814 France was invaded by the armies of the enemy, and the capital occupied. The foreigners created a pretended provisional government. They assembled a minority of the senators, and compelled them, in opposition to their delegated powers and to their will, to destroy the existing establishments, to overturn the imperial throne, and to recall the family of the Bourbons.

"The senate, which had been instituted solely to maintain the constitution of the empire, acknowledged itself, that it had no power to alter it. It decreed, that the scheme of a constitution, which it had prepared, should be submitted to the people for their acceptance, and that Louis Stanislas Xavier should be proclaimed King of the French, as soon as he had accepted the constitution, and sworn to observe it, and cause it to be observed.

"The abdication of the Emperor Napoleon was solely the result of the unfortunate situation, to which France and the Emperor had been reduced by the events of the war, by treason, and by the occupation of the capital. The only object of the abdication was, to avoid a civil war, and the shedding of French blood. Unsanctioned by the will of the people, this act could not annul the solemn contract, that was established between them and the Emperor. And if Napoleon possessed the power of abdicating the throne in his own person, he had none to sacrifice the rights of his son, appointed to reign after him.

"The Emperor, therefore, by re-ascending the throne, to which the people had elevated him, restored the people to their most sacred rights: he only called into execution the decrees of the Representative Assemblies, sanctioned by the nation: he returns to reign on the only legitimate principle, that France acknowledges and has acknowledged for five and twenty years, and to which all the authorities bound themselves by oaths, that they can be released from by the will of the people alone.

"The Emperor is called upon, to guaranty anew, by institutions, as he has engaged to do in his proclamations to the nation and the army, all the principles of liberty: personal freedom, and equality of rights; the freedom of the press, and abolition of the censorship; freedom of religious worship; the voting of laws and contributions by the representatives of the nation lawfully chosen; national property, from whatever source arising; the independence and stability of our tribunals; the responsibility of ministers, and of all the agents of authority.

"The more perfectly to sanction the rights and obligations of the people and the monarch, the national institutions should be revised in a grand assembly of the representatives already announced by the Emperor.

"Previous to the meeting of this grand representative assembly, the Emperor ought to exercise, and cause to be exercised, conformably to the existing laws and constitution, the authority they have delegated to him, which could not be taken from him, which he could not abdicate without the consent of the nation, and which the wishes and general interest of the French people render it his duty to resume."

The Emperor answered:

"Princes are the first citizens of the state: their authority is more or less extensive according to the interests of the nations they govern: the sovereignty itself is hereditary only because the interest of the people requires it. I know nothing of a legitimacy extraneous to these principles.

"I have renounced the idea of that grand empire, of which in the course of fifteen years I had merely laid the foundations: henceforward the happiness and consolidation of the French empire will be the object of all my thoughts."

The court of cassation expressed the same principles and the same sentiments as the council of state.

To this the Emperor answered:

"In the earliest ages of the French monarchy, rude tribes made themselves masters of Gaul. The sovereignty, of course, was not framed for the benefit of the Gauls, who were slaves, or destitute of political rights; but for the benefit of the conquering tribe. It can never have been said with truth, therefore, in any period of history, in any nation, even in the east, that the people exist for kings. Every where it has been established, that kings exist only for the people. A dynasty created under circumstances, that have created so many new interests, being itself interested in the maintenance of the rights and properties of all, can alone be natural and legitimate, and in possession of strength and confidence, the two leading characters in all government."

The court of accounts, and the imperial court, held the same language as the preceding authorities.

To these the Emperor answered:

"What particularly distinguishes the imperial throne is, that it has been raised by the nation, that it is consequently natural, and that it guaranties the interests of all. This is the true character of legitimacy. It is the interest of this throne, to consolidate all that at present exists, and all that has been done in France during the twenty-five years of revolution. It comprises all interests, and particularly that of the national glory, which is not the least among them.

"Whatever has returned with the foreign armies, whatever has been done without consulting the nation, is null. The courts of Grenoble and Lyons, and all the tribunals of the judicial order, which I met with while the success of events was yet uncertain, have shown me, that these principles are engraved on the heart of every Frenchman."

The reception of these public bodies being over, there was a grand audience in the apartments of the palace. The answers of the Emperor, repeated with embellishments, had produced the most profound sensation. The words national glory, liberty, country, so long unknown and proscribed within these walls, resounded on every side. When the emigrants re-appeared, and the most illustrious servants of the state were expelled, to make room for men, who had become strangers to our manners, our institutions, and our triumphs; you would have said, that France existed no longer, that it had passed under the dominion of foreigners. When Napoleon returned, our country appeared to have returned with him: he seemed to have brought it back from exile, and he might then exclaim with just pride: "I am the nation."

The example set by the magistrates of Paris soon found numerous imitators in the departments. The public functionaries, the judicial and administrative authorities, which but a few days before had offered up prayers to Heaven and to the King for the extermination of the Corsican, the tyrant, and the usurper, were eager to congratulate _the Emperor_ on his miraculous return; and to confer on him the titles of hero, deliverer, and more especially of legitimate sovereign.

Napoleon's progress had been so rapid, that many addresses to the King did not reach Paris before the King was gone; and all these were delivered at the same time with the new addresses voted to his successor[83]! I remarked this to the Emperor; who answered me with a smile of pity: "_See what men are_!"

[Footnote 83: I am speaking here only of the addresses of bodies corporate, and of certain generals and prefects.]

The favourites of Apollo did not fail to offer up their obsequious incense to the god of the day. We received from the Countess de G*** some very pretty verses in honour of the violet. Another woman, still more celebrated, the Baroness de S***, took occasion from some flattering words said for her to M. B. C., to write an epistle to the Emperor, which would make a curious figure at the head of her last work.

The most rigid writers and lecturers on the common law, who the evening before, with Cujas and Bartholi in their hands, had formally impleaded Napoleon, were eager to testify their admiration of him, and proclaim him the sovereign of sovereigns.

Thus Napoleon was more honoured and lauded than ever; and it must be confessed, that he conducted himself so as to deserve it: on one hand he caressed the nation, and on the other private interests, which it is much more difficult to conciliate than what is called the public interest.

The decrees of Lyons had sequestrated anew the estates restored to emigrants since 1814. Part of these had been sold by those who had recovered them; and it was necessary, to quiet the apprehensions of the purchasers. The Emperor declared irrevocable all the sales, that had been completed; and confirmed those, that had taken place subsequently to the decree, when it could be proved, that they were not collusive.

On the other hand, the emigrants, who had returned, had purchased property, the price of which might not have been entirely paid: and in order to do justice both to the emigrants and to the sellers, he ordered, that estates recently acquired should not be subject to sequestration, on condition of being re-sold within a certain period.

Another decree from Lyons had indiscriminately abolished all promotions in the legion of honour, and in the army, made since the royal restoration. He subjected to revision the nominations, that appeared to him the result of favour, intrigue, and venality; and confirmed all, that had been the reward of real and meritorious services. He would not even allow men's opinions, to constitute a line of demarcation and directed the minister, to pay regard to ancient services rendered by officers since incorporated in the King's household.

He confirmed also the decorations granted to the national guard; and distributed new ones among the brave pupils of the polytechnical school, whose noble conduct had so much excited the admiration of Paris, and of foreigners, at the time of the occurrences of 1814.

The daughters of the members of the legion of honour had claims to his remembrance, and his consolation, too sacred, not to participate in his favours. He went to visit them. His presence excited inexpressible enthusiasm among these young orphans: they threw themselves at his feet, embraced his knees, and watered them with their tears. He had taken a spoon, to taste their food: after he was gone, as every one wished to have it, they broke it to pieces, and shared it amongst them. Most of them had braided rings of hair, on which were traced patriotic devices, or the ingenious expression of their sentiments for Napoleon. The Emperor having condescended to accept some of these, and place them on his fingers, every one of the orphans was desirous of obtaining the same favour: they rushed on him, seized his hands, and in an instant covered them with these innocent pledges of love and gratitude. The Emperor, moved, enchanted, submitted with kind complaisance to the gentle fetters of these amiable infants. They ingeniously intreated him, not to give away the rings they had presented to him; and he promised to keep them, assuring them, that they would be as valuable in his eyes as the jewels of his crown.

The working class, who had surnamed Napoleon _le grand entrepreneur_[84], also received its share of the imperial favours. The works commenced in his reign, and buried in dust under that of the Bourbons, were resumed with activity. The capital became, as before, a vast workshop: and the Parisians, who had learned from strangers to perceive the beauty of their edifices, saw with a mingled sentiment of gratitude and pride, that new marvels were still more to embellish their majestic city.

[Footnote 84: We have no single word in our language answering to this: it implies one who undertakes works of different kinds, including our architect and civil engineer.--Tr.]

In fine, all classes received testimonies of the solicitude and justice of Napoleon. Must it be said? his old companions in the island of Elba alone were forgotten.

While Napoleon had no throne but his rock, they had shown themselves as disinterested as faithful: when he had recovered his crown, they flattered themselves, that they should be recompensed with generosity.

Some, whom honour alone had attached to Napoleon, enjoyed in prospect the praises, titles, ribands, that would be bestowed on them: others, inspired with less lofty sentiments, expected benefits more solid. The guard and its worthy chiefs were ambitious only of the favour of retaining the glorious title of grenadiers of the island of Elba. Vain illusions! the Emperor's thoughts, entirely absorbed by other cares, were no longer turned to those brave fellows, who had shared his exile and his misfortunes. The moment of forgetfulness, however, had not time to degenerate into ingratitude: it was repaired: promotions, endowments, indemnifications, were bestowed on them; and, if they did not feel themselves completely satisfied with the conduct of Napoleon, they had at least no reason to complain.

The Emperor would have wished from feeling, and perhaps too from ostentation, to have had it in his power, to acknowledge in a manner more worthy of himself their services and attachment: but he was deterred by the fear of being charged with imitating the Bourbons, and of preferring those Frenchmen, who had gone into exile with him, to those who had retained their fidelity in their mother country.

These scruples appear to me unfounded.

The emigrants had sullied their native land with blood, shed either by their own weapons, or in the civil wars they had fomented and cherished; and the indignant nation had long combated them, and pursued them with its maledictions, as the enemies of its happiness and tranquillity.

The Frenchmen who returned from the island of Elba with Napoleon, on the contrary, had spilt their blood in the defence of their country. They were beloved, honoured, respected and the recompenses the Emperor might have bestowed upon them, instead of tending to alienate France, would have fulfilled her wishes. She would have enjoyed it with that feeling of pride and pleasure, which a mother experiences, when she hears the triumphs of her children proclaimed in the lists opened for youth, and sees their heads adorned with the rewards of their success.

Policy, no less than justice, required, that Napoleon should confer, even with prodigality, his favours and benefits on men, who had sacrificed themselves for him. In his situation it would have been better, to have been deemed prodigal than ungrateful: but fortune favoured him so highly, that he might be allowed, in some degree, to neglect the means of securing the feeble support of men.

The re-establishment of the imperial government, which appeared as if it would experience some obstacles, took place on all sides with a promptitude and facility truly extraordinary. Marshal Augereau, who had endeavoured in his proclamation of 1814 to disgrace the Emperor, was eager to make his public recantation in a fresh proclamation.

The Duke of Belluno, and Count Gouvion St. Cyr, after attempting in vain to curb their insurgent troops, were forced to shun their resentment by flight.

The troubles excited in La Vendée and Calvados by a few royal volunteers had been appeased, and the perturbators disarmed.

The military household of the King had submitted to their discharge, and readily surrendered their horses and arms.

In fine, the royal family had evacuated the imperial territory.

The Emperor thought proper, to acquaint his army in person with these happy results. "Thanks to the French people and you," said he, on reviewing the troops on the 27th of March, "the imperial throne is re-established. It is acknowledged throughout the empire, and not a single drop of blood has been spilt. The Count de Lille, the Count d'Artois, the Duke de Berri, the Duke of Orléans, have passed our northern frontier, and sought an asylum among foreigners. The tricoloured flag waves on the towers of Calais, Dunkirk, Lille, Valenciennes, Condé, &c. A few bands of Chouans had attempted to form themselves in Poitou and La Vendée: popular opinion, and the march of a few battalions, were sufficient to disperse them. The Duke of Bourbon, who came to excite disturbances in the provinces, has embarked at Nantes.

"How senseless were they," continued the Emperor, "and how little did they know of the nation, who imagined, that the French would consent to receive a prince from those very hands, that had ravaged our territory, and, aided by treason, had for a moment obscured our laurels!"

The King, who at first took refuge at Lille, had in fact just retired to Ghent. His Majesty had given orders to his household and the princes, to join him in the former city, where it had been apparently his intention, to take up his residence, and convene the chambers. But marshal the Duke of Treviso, governor of that division, declared to him, that he would no longer answer for his troops, if the musketeers, the body guards, &c., entered the place; and advised him to repair to Dunkirk, which, from its geographical position, and the attachment of its inhabitants, afforded him an opportunity of awaiting the issue of events without danger. M. de Blacas and the emigrants with the King remonstrated with him strongly, that he would not be out of danger there; and that he could no longer be safe from the pursuit of Napoleon, except in a foreign country. The Duke of Treviso still insisted on the contrary: and the King, in spite of the alarm and entreaties of the Count de Blacas and the other courtiers, had resolved to follow the advice of the marshal, when some despatches from the Count d'Artois, received in the course of the night, determined him to pass the frontier.

The Emperor thought at first, that the design of Louis XVIII. was to return to England. He was glad of this: and it was not without extreme vexation, that he learned the intention of this Prince, to remain on the Belgic frontiers, observing the course of affairs. But if this resolution, to which perhaps the King was indebted for the recovery of his throne, was displeasing to Napoleon, it never inspired him with the criminal desire, as some wicked writers have pretended, of making any attempts against the lives or liberty of the Bourbons.

The orders given to General Excelmans merely were, to drive the King and the Princes out of France step by step. He was never commanded, "either to secure their persons, or to kill them in case of resistance."

The instructions given at the same time to Marshal Ney, sent on a mission to the frontiers of the North and East, directed him also in express words, "to cause the royal family to be respected, and facilitate its procuring the means of quitting France freely and quietly[85]."

[Footnote 85: It was this mission, that became the source of the disgrace, in which the marshal lived, till the day of his being recalled to the army. The Emperor had ordered him, to set off immediately: he answered, that he could not go, till he was paid some twenty thousand francs, which were owing to him. The Emperor, swearing, ordered them to be paid.

The next day General Le Courbe, to whom the Emperor had just entrusted an important command, wrote to him, to demand several favours, and in addition a hundred and fifty thousand francs, as arrears of pay, in order to discharge his debts.

Two other generals, less known, were equally desirous of being paid for their services. He was disgusted at their claims. "Do these men think," said he, "that I throw away my money? I am not inclined to suffer myself to be plundered like Henry IV; if they be not inclined to fight, let them put on petticoats, and go and take an airing."]

It has been asserted, that the Duke of Bassano, who had the temporary charge of the port-folio of the home department, had sent orders to M. Siméon, then royal prefect at Lille, to arrest the King. The Duke of Bassano, indignant at such an odious charge, would not quit France, without having refuted it. He proposed, to summon M. Siméon to declare the truth; and his declaration would have been made public through the means of the newspapers and the press, if the police had not opposed it.

The King quitted Lille on the 23d of March. The Duke of Orléans, who had attended his Majesty, and whom the King on his departure had invested with the command of that place, did not quit it till twenty-four hours after; when he addressed the following letter to Marshal Mortier.

"I commit entirely to your hands, my dear Marshal, the command which I was so happy as to exercise with you in the department of the North. I am too good a Frenchman, to sacrifice the interests of France, because fresh misfortunes compel me to quit it. I go to bury myself in retirement and oblivion. The King being no longer in France, I cannot issue orders in his name: and nothing remains for me, but to absolve you from all obedience to the orders I have already transmitted to you; requesting you, to do whatever your own excellent judgment, and pure patriotism, shall suggest to you as most conducive to the interests of France, and most agreeable to the duties you have to fulfil."

The Emperor, after having read this letter, turned to the Duke of Bassano, and said: "See what the Duke of Orléans writes to Mortier; this letter does him honour. _His heart was always French._"