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T1IK REMAINS Of NAPOLEON BROUGHT BACK TO FRANCE. 



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EDITION DE LUXE 



natatory of Wtnntt 

by 

M. Guizot 

and 

Madame Guizot DeWitt 

Translated by Robert Black 




VOLUME VIII. 
ILLUSTRATED 



THE NOTTINGHAM SOCIETY 

New York Philadelphia Chicago 




* ArS 



EDITION DE LUXE 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS— VOL. VIII. 



PAGE 

Chapter XIV. The Decline (1813) 5 

XV. The Fall (1813— 1314) 59 

XVI. The Frst Restoration (1814—1815) 103 

XVII. The Hundred Days (26th February to 15th 

July, 1815) 145 

" XVIII. Parliamentary Government. The restoration 

under King Louis XVIII, (1815—1824) 207 

" XIX. King Charles X. and the Revolution of 1830 

(1824—1830 257 

XX. Parliamentary Government. King Louis Phil- 
ippe (1830—1840) 293 

" XXI. Reform and Revolution (1847—1848 370 



THE HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE DECLINE (1813). 

It was now more than seven months since Napoleon left 
France. He had been living in a distant country, almost with- 
out communication, isolated by the madness of his undertaking, 
and was now returning, condemned by human reason and divine 
justice. The rumor of his defeat had preceded him, though 
without unfolding the extent and gravity of his disaster. 

On reaching Paris the emperor addressed a message to the 
Senate, in reply to their solemn professions of devotion: — 
"Senators, what you tell me affords me great pleasure. I 
have at my heart the glory and power of France, but my first 
thoughts are for all tbat can perpetuate tranquillity at home, 
and place my peoples forever out of danger of the distractions 
of factions and the horrors of anarchy. It is upon those 
enemies of the happiness of nations that, with the will and 
love of the French, I have founded this throne, with which, 
henceforward, the destinies of our country are bound up. 

"Timid and cowardly soldiers ruin the independence of 
nations, but pusillanimous magistrates destroy the empire of 
law, the rights of the throne, and social order itself. When I 
undertook the regeneration of France, I asked from Providence 
a fixed number of years : to destroy is the work of a moment, 
but to rebuild requires the assistance of time. The greatest 
need of the State is that of courageous magistrates. 

"Our fathers had as a rallying cry, 'The king is dead: long 
live the king ! ' These few words contain the principal advan- 
tages of the monarchy. I think I have deeply studied the dis- 
position which my peoples have exhibited during the different 
centuries ; I have reflected upon what was done at the various 
epochs of our history. I shall continue to consider them. 

"The war which I am waging against Russia is a political 
war. I began it without animosity I should have wished to 
spare her the evils she has done to herself. I might have 
armed against her the greater part of her population, by pro- 



6 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

claiming the liberty of the slaves: a large number of villages 
asked me to do so. But when I learned the savage state of 
that numerous class of the Russian people, I opposed that 
measure, which would have devoted many families to death, 
devastation, and the most horrible torture. If my army has 
undergone losses, it is on account of the premature severity of 
the season." 

Napoleon had recently had good reason to lay stress upon the 
advantages of an hereditary monarchy, anciently bound up 
with the memories and traditions of the nation. He was at the 
same time brought to estimate under its value the devotion of 
the magistrates to whom he had in his absence entrusted the 
government of the empire. He was leaving Moscow on fire, 
and beginning the series of battles which was to be concluded 
by his fatal retreat, when Paris, on its awakening, was terror- 
struck by a vague rumor that the emperor was dead. When 
the minds of all were disturbed, and news of a revolution was 
mixed with the general belief of a catastrophe in Eussia, the 
discovery was made of a bold conspiracy, the arrest of the con- 
spirators, and the falseness of the information which had 
alarmed the capital. But a little more and the daring attempt 
of a monomaniac had changed the form of government in 
France. For a moment or two General Malet and his accom- 
plices were masters of the police, and of part of the garrison of 
Paris. 

Claude Frangois de Malet was born at Dole, in 1754. He was 
a man of good family, and had served in the king's armies. 
Becoming a keen partisan of republican principles, he had 
fought with some distinction from 1790 to 1799, and was opposed 
to Napoleon's accession to power. Unsettled, ambitious, and 
daring, he soon became a conspirator ; and after being twice 
arrested, he had been at the prison La Force for several years, 
when he conceived the idea of attacking the imperial power. 
His project was already in progress during the Austrian war 
fof 1809. The police getting a hint of his plot, Malet was separ- 
'ated from his accomplices, Generals Lahorie and Guidal. In 
1812 he succeeded in being transferred to an asylum in the 
faubourg St. Antoine, and there took up the broken thread of 
his conspiracy. When everything was prepared, he, on the 
night of the 22nd October, escaped from the garden of the 
asylum, and putting on his uniform of general officer, went 
immediately to the Popincourt barracks. There, under the 
name of General Lamotte, he announced to Colonel Soulier. 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 7 

who was in command of the 10th cohort of the national guard, 
that the emperor had been killed by a musket-shot at Moscow, 
on the 7th October ; that the Senate having met secretly, had 
decided upon restoring the republic, and had just appointed 
General Malet to the command of the public forces in Paris. 
He was provided with the copy of a " senatus-consulte," and 
his voice and appearance b»ng full of authority, the colonel 
had not the slightest suspicion, and had his troops drawn up 
in battle-order in the barracks' quadrangle. Malet marched 
immediately at their head to the prison La Force, and ordering 
Generals Lahorie and Guidal to be set at liberty, made them 
his aides-de-camp. He then ordered Lahorie to go to the house 
of the minister of police and arrest the Duke of Eovigo, or, if 
necessary, blow out his brains. Lahorie had formerly been 
principal officer in Moreau's .itaff, a man of talent and honor, 
deceived most probably by Malet, but originally a republican, 
and with a strong personal antipathy to Napoleon. He had 
formerly been in the army with Eovigo, whom he found in bed, 
after forcing open the door of his room. ' ' Surrender yourself !" 
said Lahorie. " I like you, and have no intention of harming 
you. The emperor is dead; the empire is abolished, and the 
Senate has restored the republic." Savary protested against 
this, declaring that he had received a letter from the emperor 
on the previous evening ; but Guidal coming to his friend's as- 
sistance," they both conducted to La Force the amazed minis- 
ter, asking himself if it was not all a frightful dream. Pas- 
quier, the prefect of police, was there before him, also arrested 
at daybreak. 

Frochot, prefect of the Seine, had not even been put under 
arrest. More credulous than"Savary, he received the false de- 
crees of the Senate without reserve, and gave orders that the 
Hotel de Yille should be prepared to receive the provisional 
government. A note from one of his assistants, with the words 
"imperator fuit," prepared the way for Malet's daring attempt. 
The colonels of the garrison at the same time received orders 
to guard all the entrances to Paris. 

Malet had himself gone to the house of General Hullin, the 
military governor of the capital, who showed some astonish- 
ment, and asked to see the orders. " In your private room," 
replied Malet. As they entered, he fired a pistol at Hullin, 
breaking his jawbone, and then locking the door of the room, 
ran to the house of Doucet, chief of his staff. He was difficult 
to convince, and understood by a hint from Major Laborde 



8 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

that the visitor was an escaped prisoner. At the moment when 
Malet was making ready to fire upon them, the two officers 
suddenly seized him by the arms, and threw him down. A 
few minutes later, the Duke of Eovigo was at liberty, as well 
as Pasquier. They ran to assist General Hullin ; the accom- 
plices or dupes were everywhere arrested. The victims of the 
daring attempt looked at each other, thunderstruck at the 
event which had just endangered their lives and the emperor's 
government. Paris, now reassured, laughed, and made fun of 
the police. ' ' They have made a grand tour de Force, " said the 
wits. 

The conspirator and his accomplices in this one day's plot 
paid dearly for the anger and alarm of the great functionaries 
whom they had humbled. The Arch-chancellor Cambaceres 
had not been taken in Malet's net, but his customary modera- 
tion could not restrain Savary's vengeance, much less the mili- 
tary indignation of the Duke of Feltre. The three generals, 
the colonels, and their agents, were brought before a court- 
martial, presided over by General Dejean. "Who are your 
accomplices? " asked the judge, of General Malet. " The whole 
of France," replied the accused; "and you also, Dejean, if I 
had succeeded." When put on his defence he said, "A man 
who has imdertaken to be his country's avenger, needs no de- 
fence; he triumphs or he dies." Fourteen prisoners were con- 
demned to death, two only obtaining delay of punishment. 
" I die," exclaimed Malet to the soldiers appointed to shoot him ; 
" but I am not the last of the Romans. I die, but I have made 
the enemy of the republic tremble. " When Napoleon returned 
to Paris, Frochot, the prefect of the Seine, appeared before the 
Council of State, was deprived of his office, and compelled to 
leave Paris. " Frochot is an idiot," said the emperor, ' ' but he 
is not a republican." 

It was with as much annoyance as astonishment that Napo- 
leon, at Dogoborouge, received the news of Malet's conspiracy, 
proving how precarious was the edifice which he had erected. 
" What! " he said, again and again, " did nobody think of my 
son, my wife, or the constitutions of the empire ? " It showed 
him the uncertainty of human affairs, and the gulf ever open 
beneath his feet. Malet had not succeeded, and could not 
succeed; "but," says Eovigo in his memoir, "the emperor 
understood the danger better than any one else — not from 
what Malet had done, but from what had not been done by 
those whom he had invested with his confidence in the dif- 



ch. xiv.] TEE DECLINE. Q 

ferent branches of his administration." His anger and uneasi- 
ness caused by the conspiracy hastened his departure from 
Eussia. " I am wanted in Paris," said he repeatedly. 

It was the fundamental error in that constitution of the 
empire, so wisely combined and powerfully organized from an 
administrative point of view, that the government properly so 
called depended on a single will, and rested on a single person. 
In his immense states, which were strangers to each other in 
origin, interests, and language, Napoleon's presence was neces- 
sary, and his absence was felt by most disastrous results. His 
distance from Paris made Malet's daring attempt possible. 
By leaving his army, at the end of the cruel Russian campaign, 
he had delivered them up to the last extremity of despair. 
The disgust which he felt for the Spanish war, and the neglect 
with which he treated his lieutenants there, while despotically 
imposing his plans upon them, powerfully assisted towards the 
disasters by which we were pursued in that corner of the 
world. Marshal Suchet had indeed reduced Valencia, and 
been victorious at Albuf era ; on the 12th June, 1812, the battle 
which he gained before Tarragona put that important place in 
our power, and finally assured us the possession of Catalonia 
and Aragon. Yet these advantages did not compensate for 
our checks, and in particular they did not give to the com 
mand that unity which was necessary for success. Napoleon 
wished for it, but wished for it in his own hands; and now he 
had set out for Russia, and Lord Wellington was at the head of 
the English in the Peninsula. However displeased with his 
Portuguese and Spanish allies, he still succeeded in imposing 
his plans upon them, and the general direction of the war was 
entrusted to him. He pursued his operations with a steady and 
systematic firmness, which resisted the agitations and changes 
of policy which his country was then undergoing in her govern- 
ment. The English premier, Perceval, had been killed by a pis- 
tol-shot in the lobby of the House of Commons, without the 
motives of the crime having ever been discovered. His suc- 
cessors, less determined upon a warlike policy, had to contend 
against the increasing sufferings of the English population, aa 
well as the well-founded dissatisfaction of the United States. 
War with the United States had just broken out, being 
solemnly declared by President Madison on the 19th May, 
1812, and already some small engagements had taken place, and 
the English minister had quitted the United States, when the 
English cabinet at last agreed to withdraw the orders in 



10 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xrr. 

Council which, by unfairly shackling American trade, had been 
the real cause of hostility between the two countries. The 
burden was heavy for England, and the position of her armies 
in the Peninsula was becoming more difficult and dangerous-, 
but the faults of Napoleon was sufficient to restore the equilib- 
rium. Henceforward, the difficulties of England no longer 
weighed decisively in the balance. From one end of Europe 
to the other the mad enterprises of Napoleon, and the reverses 
naturally resulting from them, stirred up all the sovereigns 
and peoples against the c©Iossus now beginning to totter. 

In January, 1812, Lord Wellington besieged Ciudad Eodrigo, 
resuming the campaign on Spanish territory by an assault 
which speedily gained him the place, and with the place 
important supplies of ammunition and artillery. The English 
at once advanced against Badajos, to the great astonishment of 
King Joseph's staff in Madrid, and of the Emperor Napoleon 
himself, who maintained that as the English general was not a 
madman he was certain to direct his efforts toward Salamanca. 
On the 7th April, after repeated attacks, and at the expense of 
great losses in his best troops, Wellington at last took our last 
fortress on the Portuguese frontier. Marmont's army was 
now isolated and threatened, without the hope of being suc- 
cessfully assisted by the armies of the north, which were 
occupied in guarding the places— or by the army in Andalusia, 
which Marshal Soult made no exertion to bring to the assist- 
ance of his companions in arms. Napoleon replied to Mar- 
mont's complaints: " He grumbles about the distances and the 
difficulty of food ; I shall have, in Russia, very different dis- 
tances to go over, and very different difficulties to overcome 
to feed my soldiers ; well ! we must do as we can." The master's 
difficulties brought no remedy to those of the servant. In spite 
of King Joseph's orders, henceforward appointed by his brother 
to the chief command of the troops, no reinforcement had been 
sent to Marmont. Soult persisted in waiting in Andalusia for 
the attack of the English, even after Wellington, on taking 
Badajos, had brought back his forces to Fuente Guinaldo, in 
the north of Portugal. Generals Dorsenne and Caffarelli, who 
held the command in the north of Spain, plainly refused their 
assistance or made vague promises. General Hill, however, 
had advanced with 15,000 men upon the Tagus, and after 
attacking the works and garrison which Marmont had pre- 
pared to defend the bridge of Almaraz, carried the bridge and 
destroyed the fortifications. Wellington commenced to march 



ch. xiv.] TEE DECLINE. \\ 

towards Agueda, this time seriously threatening the province 
of Salamanca. He justly reckoned upon the discord and 
weakness of the government, and the jealousy which reigned 
among the military leaders. Unity of action in the French 
armies would have made his operation impossible. Yet he 
advanced, and Marmont, unable to resist alone, found himself 
compelled to evacuate Salamanca, leaving a garrison in 
the three fortified convents commanding the town. He 
withdrew first beyond the Tormes, and soon after beyond 
the Douro. The defenders of the convents kept Wel- 
lington for several days before their walls, but at last 
yielded ; and on the 28th June the English occupied Salamanca. 
All Marmont 's efforts were for the purpose of concentrating 
his forces, and Wellington's to prevent him from being as- 
sisted. An Anglo-Sicilian army occupied Marshal Suchet in 
Catalonia; and English squadrons, cruising in the Bay of 
Biscay, threatened the armies of the north with a disembark- 
ation. King Joseph in vain issued orders to Soult ; Marmont 
was obliged to measure himself alone with Wellington, against 
an English army equal to his own, assisted by Spanish and 
Portuguese troops. The marshal was both bold and conceited, 
but being conscious of the danger of his situation, he tried to 
restrain the enemy without joining battle. 

Marmont's first movements were successful. He had re- 
crossed the Douro, and the English general was compelled to 
retire gradually till in his turn he was protected behind the 
Tormes, nearer Salamanca ; while the Marshal became hopeful 
of gaining a victory before the promised assistance could 
arrive. He took up position opposite the hills of Arapiles, 
about a league from Salamanca, fortifying the heights with its 
batteries of artillery. The situation of the English was becom- 
ing critical, when Marmont made a movement to outflank the 
enemy's right, and thus necessarily separated bis left wing from 
the centre of the army. Wellington had left the heights which 
he occupied, and when he saw this movement begin he turned 
to General Alava, who commanded the Spanish auxiliaries, " I 
have them ! My dear Alava, Marmont is lost ! " 

He was indeed lost ; for the whole of the English army, in 
one mass, rushed like a torrent into the gap separating our two 
corps. The centre was keenly attacked, while General Mau- 
cune bravely met the enemy, and drove them back to the 
village of Arapiles. But the battle was engaged in hurriedly, 
without precise orders or general plan. Marmont was severely 



12 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiy 

wounded at the commencement of the battle, and also General 
Bonnet on succeeding him in the command. When General 
Clausel, young and ardent hut endowed with rare self-posses- 
sion, was in his turn called to direct operations, he saw that 
the importance of the advantages to be gained would not 
justify the price they should cost, and ordered the retreat, 
falling back behind the Tormes. The English had suffered heavy 
losses; but the consequences of the battle of Arapiles were 
more serious than had been foreseen by either of the combat- 
ants. Clausel recrossed the Douro and fell back upon Burgos, 
being joined on the way by King Joseph, who was bringing 
him, too late, a body of 13,000 men, the approach of whom he 
had wrongly neglected to announce in time. The campaign 
was finished — unhappily finished. Joseph withdrew towards 
Madrid, but Wellington followed him in this movement. The 
army of the centre, the only resource of the King of Spain, did 
not allow him to defend his capital, and he found himself 
obliged to withdraw towards Valencia. There he sent orders 
to Soult to rejoin him, and abandon Andalusia. A strange 
suspicion had insinuated itself into Soult's distrustful mind as 
to King Joseph's loyalty towards the emperor; and having 
been informed of it by accident, the sovereign's first interviews 
with the great military chief were so stormy as to still further 
increase the difficulty of combining their military plans. 

Meantime, Wellington had taken up his quarters at Madrid, 
where the pride of the English officers, and the violence of the 
Spanish democrats, frequently irritated the popidation. They 
had been accustomed to the kindness and winning ways of 
King Joseph, who had thus almost become popular in his capi- 
tal, and was well received when the English, after failing be- 
fore the citadel of Burgos, were in their turn compelled to fall 
back upon Salamanca. The King of Spain had brought back 
with him the army of the centre and that of Andalusia, and 
effected a junction with the army of Portugal, which had been 
rallied and re-formed by General Clausel. Marshal Jourdan 
urged him to march to Arapiles where Wellington was again 
settled, in order to cut off General Hill's forces, then separated 
from the main army. The want of concord which always 
reigned among the feeble king's advisers delayed that opera- 
tion, and a different movement was attempted too late. The 
English withdrew without opposition, and the concentration 
of the three great armies of Spain remained without any result. 
Madrid was now covered by 24.000 men; but not a single place 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 13 

was left us on the Portuguese frontier, and we had been 
obliged to evacuate Andalusia, and raise the siege of Cadiz. 

In Spain, as well as in Russia, we were beaten. Europe was 
every day becoming emboldened against the conqueror, so long 
irresistible, but now at last beginning to gather the fruits of 
his wrong-doing — fruits which were also bitter for our country, 
successively engaged in senseless enterprises of which she was 
so long to bear the burden ! 

In his real mind, the Emperor Napoleon, as he left Smorgoni, 
wished for peace. He thought it necessary, but impossible to 
obtain without another grand display of his power. He was 
counting upon the remains of his army which were left behind. 
"I have 120,000 men," said he, to Abbe Pradt, as he passed 
through Warsaw incognito ; "I am going to find 300,000 more ; 
I shall lead them in three or four battles on the Oder, and 
in six months I shall be again on the Niemen. After all, I can- 
not prevent it from freezing in Russia !" Every post brought 
him news of a disaster more complete than the preceding. On 
Gener-al York's defection, he wrote as follows to the princes 
of the Rhenish confederation :— 

" I flattered myself that I should have no new efforts to ask 
from my peoples ; but that state of things has just been sud- 
denly changed by the treason of General York, who, with the 
Prussian corps, 20,000 men strong, under his orders, has joined 
the enemy. On this occasion Prussia has given me the strongest 
assurances of her intentions, which I have reason to believe 
sincere, but which do not prevent her troops from being with 
the enemy. The immediate'results of that treason are, that the 
King of Naples has had to retire behind the Vistula, and that 
my losses will be increased by those yet to be made in the hos- 
pitals of Old Prussia. A remote residt may be a war in Ger- 
many. I have used all proper measures to guard the frontiers 
of the confederation ; but all the confederate states ought, on 
their side, to feel the necessity of making efforts proportioned 
to the demands of circumstances. It is not only against a 
foreign enemy that they have to guard themselves ; they have 
a more dangerous one to dread — the spirit of revolt and anarchy. 
The Emperor of Russia has appointed Baron Stein a minister 
of state: he admits him into his most intimate councils — him 
and all those who, aspiring to change the face of Germany, 
have long been trying to succeed by overthrow and revolution. 
I ought to expect that the confederate princes will not neglect 
their own interests and betray their own cause; they would 



14 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. an? 

betray it by not assisting me by every means in their dowot, 
or by not doing all they can to baffle the enemy's plans. They 
would also betray it by not rendering agitators of every kind 
powerless to injure, by allowing the public sheets to lead men 
astray by lying news, or corrupt them by pernicious doctrine? ; 
or by not anxiously watching what is preached, what is taught, 
and whatever can in any way influence the public tranquillity." 

That fermentation of men's minds which in France Napoleon 
termed "ideology," and had violently attacked in a speech re- 
cently addressed to the Council of State, was characterized in 
Germany, and especially in Prussia, by an ardent and patriotic 
enthusiasm. For a long time the evils and humiliations un- 
dergone by Germany had kindled in men's hearts a deeply- 
seated feeling, which secretly increased under the yoke of 
silence. The disasters of the Kussian campaign loosened their 
bonds, and broke the seal which had been placed on every lip. 
An explosion of hatred against France was everywhere mani- 
fested, with enthusiastic trust and admiration, for the Czar, 
though he had not fought, and had only allowed old Kutuzoff, 
with the assistance of the cold, to triumph over an enemy come 
to brave the deserts and formidable climate of his country. 
Alexander hastened to Wilna, intoxicated by his triumph, no 
longer modest and distrustful of himself, but eager to put him- 
self forward as the liberator of Germany, welcoming all who 
had fought against the French power, and laboring to rally 
round him a new coalition. The thoughts of the enemies of 
France were of course mainly directed to the King of Prussia ; 
no one had suffered as he had done by Napoleon's greedy am- 
bition ; no one was conscious amongst his people of a more ar- 
dent passion of vengeance. At Berlin, in spite of the presence 
of our troops, the universal joy insulted our reverses, and 
French soldiers had great difficulty in getting food. The same 
sentiment burst forth throughout all Germany, together with 
that idea of national unity which is easily produced in 
the minds of conquered races by conquests and arbitrary 
power. 

The perplexity of King Frederick William was great. Still 
convinced of Napoleon's preponderating power, he dared not 
yet openly abandon him, but hoped to profit by our misfor- 
tunes so far as to obtain some improvement of his position. He 
eent Hatzfeldt with his instructions to Paris, and backed up 
his demands by increasing his armaments. In case his claims 
vera rejected, the King of Prussia gave it to be understood 



ch. xrv.] THE DECLINE. 15 

that Le should consider himself free from his engagements with 
France. 

Austria was united to Napoleon's fortunes by closer ties, yet 
she also felt the thrill by which Germany generally was stirred. 
The Emperor Francis, as well as Metternich, began to modify 
their policy, hitherto more French than not, suited to the state 
of affairs and public opinion. Austria wished for peace ; but 
while making the independence of Germany its basis, she also 
reckoned upon herself deriving several advantages. War 
preparations were begun in her states as well as in Prussia. 
Metternich, by skilful manoeuvring, disseminated everywhere 
the idea of a German peace, and in France he lsid stress upon 
the necessity for a glorious repose. Bubna was sent to Paris 
to offer for this purpose Austria's intervention with Europe. 

In reply to the ideas thus communicated, Napoleon wrote to 
his brother-in-law, after much discussion in Council, and not 
without hesitation ; at one time he thought of addressing him- 
self to the Czar directly. Eecapitulating the causes of his 
checks, he said, — 

"In such a horrible tempest of cold, bivouacking became 
insupportable. The soldiers sought for houses and shelter in 
vain. That is how the Cossacks captured thousands. It is a 
fact that from the 7th to the 16th November the thermometer 
went down from ten degrees to eighteen, and even to twenty- 
two, and 30,000 of our horses in the artillery and cavalry died. 
I left several thousand artillery, ambulance, and baggage car- 
riages, from the loss of horses. My losses were great, but the 
Russians cannot take any glory from the fact in any shape ; I 
defeated them everywhere. I wished to enter into these de- 
tails, not from military susceptibility, but because it seemed 
necessary in order that your Majesty might form a proper 
opinion of the present situation." This picture of our losses 
was succeeded by another of our resources, intended to impose 
fidelity through fear. "The necessary result of all this is, that 
I shall take no steps towards peace," continued Napoleon, " be- 
cause the last circumstances having turned to the advantage of 
Russia, it belongs to her cabinet to take steps, if they under- 
stand the position of affairs. Nevertheless, I shall not object 
to those made by your Majesty." 

Then, unfolding his plans respecting the projected negotia- 
tions, the emperor declared that he was ready to relax in 
favor of Russia the conditions of the peace of Tilsit, which 
hampered her commercial liberty ; but that he could not yield 



lg HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiV. 

up a single village of the grand duchy of Warsaw. With 
respect to England, he still adhered to the letter which he had 
written to Lord Castlereagh at the commencement of the Rus- 
sian campaign, and which laid down the principle of the uti 
possidetis. He was, moreover, determined to make no conces- 
sion with reference to the countries annexed to the empire by 
" senatus-consulte ;" they henceforth were part of France, 
such as the whole of Italy, Holland, and the Hanseatic 
provinces. Spain was to remain under King Joseph, the 
kingdom of Naples to Murat, and Prussia might obtain some 
increase of territory. Napoleon thought also of offering 
Illyria to Austria. 

The concessions were illusory, and the display of pride im- 
prudent and insolent. Beforehand, and by the conditions 
which he laid down, the emperor's conciliatory advances to 
Austria were useless ; and the Duke of Bassano's bravado, in 
his correspondence with Metternich, aggravated still more his 
master's protestations. Napoleon undertook to put the seal to 
his provocations by his speech at the opening of the Legisla- 
tive Body, on the 14th February, after an absence of more 
than a year from the political world : — 

"Gentlemen — The war again begun in the north of Europe 
presented to the English a favorable opportunity for their 
plans ; but all their hopes have fallen to the ground. Their 
army failed before the citadel of Burgos, and after suffering 
great losses was obliged to evacuate the territory of all the 
Spains. I myself entered Russia. The French armies were 
invariably victorious — at the fields of Ostrowno, Polotsk, 
Mohilev, Smolensk, Moskwa, Malo-Jaroslawetz. Nowhere 
were the Russian armies able to cope with our eagles. Moscow 
fell into our power. 

"When the barriers of Russia were forced, and the power- 
lessness of her arms acknowledged, a swarm of Tartars turned 
their parricidal hands against the fairest provinces of that 
empire which it was their duty to defend. In a few weeks, 
in spite of the tears and despair of the wretched Muscovites, 
they burnt more than 4000 of their finest villages, and more 
than fifty of their most handsome towns, thus glutting their 
ancient hatred under the pretext of delaying our march by 
surrounding us with a desert. We triumphed over every 
obstacle. Even the burning of Moscow, where in four days 
the result of the labor and economy of forty generations was 
annihilated, made no change in the prosperous state of my 



cfi. xiv.] TEE DECLINE. 1*J 

affairs. But the excessive and premature rigor of the winter 
subjected my army to a frightful calamity. In a few nights I 
saw everything changed, and I suffered great losses. They 
would have broken my heart if, at such an important time, I 
had been accessible to other sentiments than the interest, the 
glory, and the future of my peoples. 

' ' In view of the evils which have weighed upon us, the joy 
of England has been great, and her hopes unbounded. She 
offered our fairest provinces as a reward for treason ; she laid 
down as a condition of peace the dismemberment of this beauti- 
ful empire. It was, in other words, a proclamation of per- 
petual warfare. The energy of my peoples on so great an 
occasion, their attachment to the integrity of the empire, trie 
love which they have manifested for me, have dissipated all 
those chimeras, and brought back our enemies to a truer per- 
ception of facts. It is with lively satisfaction that we have 
seen our peoples of the kingdom of Italy, those of old Holland 
and the united departments, rival the ancient French in their 
zeal, and perceive that their only hope, futurity, and happi- 
ness, is in the consolidation and triumph of the great empire. 

"The agents of England are propagating amongst all ovx 
neighbors the spirit of revolt against the sovereigns. England 
wishes to see the whole continent a prey to civil war and all 
the terrors of anarchy ; but Providence has marked herself to 
be the first victim of anarchy and civil war. 

' ' I have myself personally drawn up with the Pope a Con- 
cordat which puts a stop to all the difficulties which had un- 
fortunately arisen in the Church. The French dynasty reigns, 
and will reign in Spain. I am satisfied with the conduct of 
my allies; I will abandon none of them. I shall support 
the integrity of their states. The Russians will go back to 
their frightful climate. 

"I wish for peace; it is necessary for the world. Four 
times since the rupture which followed the treaty of Amiens 
I have offered it in a formal manner. I shall never make any 
peace except an honorable one — one suited to the interests and 
greatness of my empire. My policy is not in any way mysteri- 
ous ; I have declared what sacrifices I could make. So long as 
this murderous war continues, my peoples ought to be ready 
for sacrifices of every kind ; for a bad peace would cause us to 
lose everything, even hope itself; and everything would be 
compromised, even the prosperity of our grandchildren/' 

Europe was not- deceived by the pacific declarations accom< 
VIII.— 2 



18 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

parried by such haughty manifestations ; France was not de- 
ceived by them any more than the rest of Europe. The war- 
like preparations were on a vast scale. "If the great army 
had been drowned to the last man in recrossing the Niemen," 
wrote Bassano to Prince Metternich, "such is our martial 
superiority that we should not be any the less in a situation to 
recommence the campaign in the spring." A levy of 500,000 
men had been decreed by the senatus-consulte of January 11. 
It was composed of the contingent of 1813, already called into 
active service in the month of September, 1812, of the cohorts 
drawn from the first ban of the national guard, of 100,000 
men called out from the four last classes of the conscription, 
and lastly, of the immediate enrolment of the contingent of 
1814. This was not enough, and it was for France to respond 
by national enthusiasm to the impassioned ferment with 
which Germany was stirred up. First the great cities, then the 
departments, pledged themselves to supply the emperor with 
a certain number of cavalry ready mounted and equipped. 
An arbitrary tax was imposed by the prefects on the rich pro- 
prietors. Everywhere horses were requisitioned and well paid 
for; 27,000 fresh horses were in this way procured. Men were 
more difficult to find ; the exigencies of military service had 
drawn from France its last resources. Compulsion was soon 
to be exercised towards families that until now had escaped 
conscription by means of pecuniary sacrifices. In the month 
of April there was a new levy of 80,000 men, from the six last 
classes of the conscription. In the departments an absolute 
authority was conferred on the prefects to call out from the 
gentry and middle class a certain number of young men who 
had hitherto kept aloof from the army through their opinions 
or through parental affection. From these, four select regi- 
ments were to be formed, under the appellation of guards of 
honor. 

Dissatisfied and downcast, the upper classes were not de- 
luded as to the necessity of the armaments which the Em- 
peror Napoleon was preparing for war or for peace. The 
Senate voted without resistance the enormous levies demanded 
of it. The working classes, in the towns and in the country, 
saw themselves deprived of their natural supporters ; anxiety 
grew into irritation. After the Russian campaign, to all 
mothers the death of their children seemed inevitable when 
they saw them called away for military service. Amongst 
the old wounded and invalid soldiers, more than one indig- 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 19 

nantly remembered how Napoleon had abandoned them at 
Smorgoni. "Wait till the emperor himself leads you to the 
army; and whilst you are waiting, stay at home," said they 
to the conscripts. At Paris, the women had more than once 
let their abusive outcries be heard. Outside France — in Hol- 
land, in the grand-duchy of Berg, in the Hanseatic provinces 
— there were outbursts of indignation, and a violent opposi- 
tion to the conscription was manifested. " Vive Orange /" was 
everywhere the cry in the great towns of the Netherlands. 
The energetic repression of these movements was immediately 
commanded. 

Napoleon was making preparations to leave France once 
more. For the purpose of contributing to the expenses of the 
war it was decided to sell a part of the communal domains, 
and to replace them with government annuities. This species 
of confiscation was likely to excite great discontent. The Issue 
of a considerable quantity of paper money, necessary for the 
supply of immediate needs whilst waiting for the sales of the 
landed property to be effected, of course depreciated the bank- 
note currency. Count Mollien, the perpetual minister of the 
Treasury, long resisted the adoption of this measure; he 
yielded at last, much against his will. "The emperor," says 
he, in his memoirs, "was thus retrograding towards the revo- 
lutionary practices which the public Treasury used to indulge 
in at the time of his advent to power, when no scruple was 
felt at substituting mere promises to pay for the real payments 
which had been guaranteed. His method of denning credit 
was this : Credit is a dispensation from paying ready money — 
forgetting that the first condition of credit is a free agreement 
between the borrower and the lender ; and ruling himself by 
his definition, he concluded accordingly that, by the privilege 
of credit, the substitution of a simple promise to pay was, with- 
out any other condition, equivalent to an actual payment." 
Neither France nor the emperor had yet completely learned 
to abandon revolutionary processes ; the transfer of the com- 
mon lands was effected with ease, and without arousing much 
protest. 

Napoleon sought at the same time to arrange other affairs, 
which had produced in his mind a feeling of alarm that does 
credit to his judgment. He was continuing to keep the Pope 
a prisoner, and had provisionally provided for the transmission 
of episcopal authority in his states. He still, however, felt im- 
pressed by the antagonist influence of this old man, so long 



20 HI8TOB7 OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

isolated in a fortress, and whose endurance of oppression 
weighed upon all Catholic consciences. For several months 
past Napoleon had been desirous of bringing Pius VII. nearer 
to the centre of France, and he had had him transferred to that 
palace of Fontainebleau in which he had formerly received 
him, when the Pope crossed the Alps to perform the coronation 
of his devout son. On re-entering the royal residence the Pope 
saw himself again treated with the care and respect of which 
he had long been deprived ; but to all this he appeared indif- 
ferent. He seemed crushed by the weight of his captivity, 
With difficulty could the prelates devoted to Napoleon rouse 
the Pope from his despondency, in order to discuss the eccle- 
siastical questions so closely connected with the repose of the 
Church. The method of canonical institution was taken as 
settled ; Pius VII. appeared disposed to accept Avignon as his 
residence ; he was resolute in refusing any establishment at 
Paris. The subject of the Church lands and bishoprics in the 
environs of Rome, in which the Pope was personally inter- 
ested, still remained an open question. On arriving in France, 
Napoleon wrote to the Pope: — " Most Holy Father, I hasten to 
send to your Holiness an officer of my house, to inform you of 
the satisfaction I have experienced in hearing of your good 
health from the Bishop of Nantes, for during this summer I 
was for one moment much alarmed when I learned that you 
had been seriously indisposed. The new residence of your 
Holiness will enable us to see each other, and it is much on my 
heart to tell you that, in spite of all the events which have 
taken place, I have always preserved the same personal regard 
for you. We shall perhaps succeed in realizing the longed-for 
consummation of putting an end to the differences that exist 
between the State and the Church. As far as I am con- 
cerned, I am strongly disposed towards it ; and it will depend 
entirely upon your Holiness. Most Holy Father, I pray 
God that He may preserve you for many years, in order 
that you may have the glory of re-settling the government 
of the Church, and that you may long enjoy the fruits of your 
labors." 

A few weeks later the emperor suddenly arrived at Fontaine- 
bleau, so agitating the Pope that he could not recover his self- 
possession. "My Father!" cried the conqueror, on entering 
the room of the pontiff. Pius VII., without hesitating, re- 
sponded by the name of son so familiar on the lips of priests; 
he, nevertheless, felt that there was a secret antagonism be* 



ch. xiv.] TEE DECLINE. <%\ 

tween the interests of his august visitor and his own. As soon 
as the conversation turned upon important points, Napoleon 
brought into play all the seductions of his manner and elo- 
quence, in order to induce the pontiff to ratify the ruin of hia 
temporal power. Appealing to the religious sentiment which 
was all-powerful in the mind of Pius VII., he set forth the 
benefits that would result to the faith through a freedom from 
anxiety as to those earthly possessions which had always been 
to the Roman pontiffs a cause of embarrassment, and of dis- 
astrous concessions and transactions. The time was past for 
the material power of the popes as sovereigns to have any 
weight in the balance of European interests. Everything 
around them was changed; religion alone remained un- 
changed ; it was necessary to disentangle it from every chain. 
The Pope, free and independent at Avignon, endowed with a 
revenue of two millions from the property already sold in the 
Roman States, the possessor of all the domains still under se- 
questration, should have reserved to him the appointment of 
cardinals, and of the Roman bishops, whose sees should be re- 
established, and the nomination to ten bishoprics in Italy or in 
France at his choice. The canonical institution of the prelates 
had been settled by the Council, with the consent even of the 
holy father. The situation of the dismissed or disgraced 
bishops should be provided for. The archives of the court of 
Rome should be transported to the palace of the popes of 
Avignon. The emperor did not even require a formal renun- 
ciation of the by-gone power of the Roman Church as regards 
those territories which he had annexed to the empire. He ac- 
cepted the formula which the Pope was willing to sign: "His 
Holiness will exercise the pontificate in France, in the same 
manner, and with the same forms, as his predecessors." The 
question of residence was decided verbally. Pius VII. exacted 
one final clause for the pious satisfaction of his conscience: 
"The holy father submits to the above arrangements in con- 
sideration of the present state of the Church, and in the confi- 
dence with which the emperor has inspired him that his Maj- 
esty will entend his powerful protection to the innumerable 
necessities of the Church in the times in which we live." The 
Concordat was only to be published with the consent of the 
cardinals, still dispersed or prisoners. The solemn deed was, 
however, signed at Fontainebleau, January 25, 1813 — a new 
evidence of the blindness of men. A very few months were 
to pass by before this edifice, so laboriously constructed, at the 



22 HISTOBY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

cost of so many evil actions on one side, and after so much 
conscientious hesitation on the other, was to crumble away. 
Soon was the Pope to re-enter Rome, and the Emperor Napo- 
leon to sign, even at Fontainebleau, the sorrowful act of his 
abdication. No one foresaw the events that were preparing: 
neither the simple faithful, rejoiced at seeing peace re-estab- 
lished in the Church, nor the majority of the counsellors of 
the pontiff, anxious and uneasy at the concessions they had 
granted, and who did not fail soon to excite in the mind of 
Pius VII. the scruples which they themselves experienced. 
Napoleon no longer troubled his mind about the matter; he 
had obtained the result he wished for. Everywhere the cir- 
cumstances were carefully reported, as affording fresh hopes 
of that terrestrial peace perpetually promised to Europe, and 
which, it was maintained, would even now be assured to it by 
new and terrible combats. 

For the first time during eight years, on hearing the news 
of the disasters of the Russian campaign, Louis XVIII., con- 
stantly resident in England in a silent tranquillity that was 
full of dignity, wished to remind Europe of his existence and 
his claims, which seemed as if alike forgotten. He wrote to 
the Emperor Alexander in favor of the 100,000 French pris- 
oners detained in Russia. ' ' Little does it matter under what 
banners they have served," said he. "I see in them only my 
children ; I commend them to your Imperial Majesty. May 
they learn that their conqueror is the friend of their father ! 
Your Majesty could not give me a more touching proof of 
your sentiments for me." 

The royal letter remained without reply. On February 1st, 
Louis XVIII. published from Hartwell a manifesto explanatory 
of his sentiments and his ideas — less liberal in its political sen- 
timents than the declaration promulgated at Mittau in 1804, 
more coaxing and encouraging as regards individuals and 
their titles and dignities. The maintenance of the Code, sul- 
lied by the name of the usurper, was amongst the promises 
lavished upon the nation and the army. In response to the uni- 
versal weariness, Louis XVIII. announced the intention of 
suppressing the military conscription. The manifesto made 
no stir, and the efforts put forth by a few agents of the prince 
produced no result. It remained for the Emperor Napoleon 
himself to replace the Bourbons on the throne, by the force of 
his own faults and disasters. 

Meanwhile, the sixth coalition against France was being 



ch. xivr.] THE DECLINE. 23 

formed. The King of Prussia yielded at last to the irresistible 
movement which drew around him all his people. His propo- 
sitions had been badly received at Paris. When Bubna re- 
turned to Breslau, whither Frederick William had transported 
his court, he found the prince resolved upon henceforth acting 
in concert with Russia, but still hesitating as to the method of 
effecting the transition from one alliance to the other. The 
Emperor Alexander was ready to furnish him with a pretext. 
Knesebeck, the Prussian envoy at bis court, was ostensibly 
sent to ask for explanations from the Czar, with regard to the 
invasion of Silesia, and the authority which the Rus- 
sians assumed over a foreign territory. It was easy to com- 
prehend the secret object of his mission. The Prussians all 
knew it ; their king was one with them in thought and feeling ; 
be prudently waited till circumstances should compel him to 
act. The war-party were victorious at Ecenigsberg over the 
hesitating arguments of Kutuzoff. The Emperor Alexander 
was already at Kalisch; Wittgenstein was advancing upon 
Custrin and Berlin. The Prince of Schwartzenberg, adopting 
the conciliatory attitude of his government, retired towards 
Cracow without fighting. General Reynier had just fallen 
back upon the Elbe. The Viceroy of Italy followed him 
thither, and on March 4th he set out from Berlin towards 
Magdeburg, where he gathered together all the forces still 
scattered in Germany. His army numbered about 80,000 men, 
for the most part fatigued and dissatisfied. The effects of the 
Russian campaign had been disastrous for the morale as well 
as for the military force of the great army. 

The King of Prussia was free ; Berlin was evacuated. The 
joyful acclamations of his subjects recalled their monarch to 
his capital. He still lingered at Breslau, preparing his plans 
for a definite rupture with France, anxious to the very last 
moment, notwithstanding the significant measures he was 
every day taking. Everywhere the gentry, the students, and 
even the artisans, were rushing to enrol themselves in the ser- 
vice of their country. Marshal Blucher had just been called 
to take the supreme command of the armies. General York, 
whose trial had been formally commenced, was acquitted, and 
reinstated in his command. The Emperor Alexander was ap- 
proaching. On March 15th he entered Breslau, accompanied 
by a brilliant staff. Baron Stein preceded his sovereign, happy 
in at length seeing his long- continued labors crowned with 
success, and Europe ready to unite her efforts against the Em- 



24 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

peror Napoleon. At the same time (March 23rd) the Prince 
Royal of Sweden wrote to his former chief: "I know how 
favorably disposed towards peace are both the Emperor Alex- 
ander and the cabinet of St. James. The calamities of the 
continent loudly call for it, and your Majesty ought not to put 
obstacles in the way. Possessor of the grandest monarchy on 
earth, ought you to desire ceaselessly to extend its limits, and 
bequeath to an arm less powerful than your own the inheri- 
tance of never-ending wars? Will not your Majesty apply your- 
self to healing the wounds of a revolution of which there re- 
mains to France nothing but the remembrance of military 
glory, and internal evils that are only too genuine? Sire, the 
teachings of history repel the idea of a universal monarchy : 
the sentiment of independence may be deadened, but cannot 
be effaced from the hearts of nations. May your Majesty 
weigh all these considerations, and truly turn your thoughts 
towards a universal peace, of which the name has been pro- 
fanated for the spilling of so much blood ! I was born, sire, in 
that beautiful France which you govern, and to its glory and 
its prosperity I can never be indifferent ; but, without ceasing 
to indulge in good wishes for its welfare, I shall defend, with 
all the faculties of my soul, both the rights of the people who 
have called me to them, and the honor of the sovereign who 
has deigned to adopt me as his son. In this struggle between 
the freedom of the world and tyranny, I shall say to the 
Swedes : ' I fight for you, and with you ; and the good wishes 
of all free nations will accompany our efforts.' In politics, 
sire, there are neither friendships nor hatreds, there are simply 
duties to be fulfilled towards the peoples whom Providence has 
called upon us to govern. If, in order to succeed therein, one 
is compelled to renounce ancient friendships and family affec- 
tions, no prince who wishes to fulfil his vocation ought to hesi- 
tate as to the part he will take. As far as my personal 
ambition is concerned, I admit that my ideal is a lofty one ; 
for it is to serve the cause of humanity, and insure the inde- 
pendence of the Scandinavian peninsula." 

Bernadotte and Sweden were already bound by the conven- 
tions of Abo to act against the Emperor Napoleon. The King 
of Prussia gave in his adherence to the coalition on the 28th of 
February: on the 17th of March he declared war against 
France. Our charge d'affaires, St. Marsan, quitted Breslau; 
several corps of Cossacks had already been thrown forwards 
upon Hamburg and Lubeck. Prince Eugene found himself 



ch. xrv] THE DECLINE. 25 

compelled to abandon these places in order to protect Dresden. 
Hamburg was evacuated by the French authorities, menaced 
on all sides by the populace. The island of Heliogoland was 
occupied by the English. The King of Saxony, still faithful to 
Napoleon, but anxious and troubled on account of the senti- 
ments prevalent among his subjects, inclined towards the 
mediatorial policy adopted by Austria. He quitted his capi- 
tal, towards which the Russians were already advancing, and 
retreated into Bavaria. Dresden forthwith beheld the enemy 
appear before it. The Saxon troops were cantoned in Thurgau, 
refusing to unite in resistance to the French. Marshal Davout, 
resolute and harsh, immediately blew up the bridges over the 
Elbe, and put the city in a state of defence. Everywhere in 
Europe the conflagration was being ignited; Austria alone still 
sought to extinguish or to moderate it. 

"In what way do you expect me to negotiate with England?" 
said Metternich to Otto, the French minister at Vienna; "your 
emperor proclaims that the French dynasty reigns, and will 
reign in Spain. How would you have me negotiate with 
Russia and Prussia, when you say that constitutional territories 
or dependencies of these allies — that is to say, the Hanseatic 
towns and the grand duchy of Warsaw — must remain inviola- 
bly alienated from them? Never should I be able to obtain the 
consent of Europe to such conditions. Why be so positive on 
points which it is impossible to defend? Peace is necessary 
for us ; it is also necessary for you. For even in gaining vic- 
tories (and you will need to gain many to make Europe what 
you would have it to be) the force of public opinion is not al- 
ways to be resisted, and a consequent reaction is soon experi- 
enced. As for us, we shall merely have to choose: we are 
offered everything — everything. Do you understand? But we 
shall only desire those things which cannot be refused to us. 
We wish for an independent Germany, and for peace. We 
are thirsting for peace, and we wish to give it to the people who 
are demanding it from us." 

The Prince of Schwartzenberg was sent to Paris in order to 
support, by his presence and advice, the sage councils of 
Metternich. He had formerly negotiated the marriage of 
Maria-Louise, that powerful bond by which the Emperor 
Napoleon expected to be able to keep Austoia linked with his 
own fortunes. The Prince of Schwartzenberg was not dis- 
posed to sacrifice for any such cause his country's freedom of 
action. "The marriage! the marriage!" cried he one day, 



26 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xi> 

whilst arguing with Bassano. " Policy brought it about, and. 
policy might undo it !" The Emperer Napoleon sent Narbonne 
to Vienna, for the purpose of sounding the Austrian court on 
the great projects which he was revolving in his mind, but 
which were based on a grave error. He thought Austria desir- 
ous of conquest, and ready to risk much for self-aggrandize- 
ment. The Emperor Francis, and his clever minister, were 
desirous of peace— peace at any price. They were prudently 
paving the way for it, caring little for the spoils of Prussia 
that were offered them, and which had only been for them a 
perpetual source of embarrassment and anxiety. 

Peace was being negotiated at Vienna, whilst war was being 
prepared for at Paris. But every day the attitude of the Em- 
peror Napoleon rendered the task of the mediators more diffi- 
cult. Every day also, and by insensible degrees, Austria and 
the allied powers were becoming more closely united in opposi- 
tion to the all-powerful master of France. The Prince of 
Schwartzenberg did not dare to announce it at Paris, but his 
master had determined not to furnish any troops for the war, 
and his alliance with France was becoming simply an armed 
mediation. The clever manoeuvres of Metternich drew the 
King of Saxony away from Dresden. Under the pretext of 
guaranteeing his safety, this prince was induced to come to 
Prague, and to abandon the grand duchy of Warsaw, the 
disastrous gift of Napoleon to his ally. A secret convention 
was concluded at Kalisch between Austria and Russia. The 
Russian general Sacken was to march against the Austrian 
corps, who should give way before him, abandon Cracow, and 
retreat into Galicia, drawing in his train the Polish corps of 
Poniatowski. The Poles were to cross the States of the 
Emperor Francis without arms, free to resume them after- 
wards for the service of the Emperor Napoleon, wherever 
and however might be most convenient. The news of 
this arrangement reached Narbonne soon after his arrival at 
Vienna. 

Metternich explained to the French envoy the bases upon 
which he believed it possible to establish peace in Europe. 
These were, the re-establishment of the intermediary powers 
in Germany, the evacuation of the Hanseatic towns, the aban- 
donment of the chimera of the grand duchy of Warsaw, and 
tihe reconstitution of Prussia. "We shall have quite enough 
trouble," said he, " in preventing the affairs of Holland, Spain, 
and Italy, from being talked about, England will probably 



ch. xiv.] TEE DECLINE. 27 

speak of them ; and if she gives way as to Holland and Italy, 
she will certainly not give way as to Spain. However, if you 
are reasonable in other respects, possibly we may be able to 
get you through that difficulty." To these propositions Nar- 
bonne, reticent for awhile, soon replied by a proposition that 
Austria should take the principal part in the negotiations. 
She was to menace the allied powers with 100,000 men, and, if 
necessary, push them forward into Silesia. Part of this prov- 
ince was to be assigned to her, whilst the Emperor Napoleon 
undertook to fight and overcome all the allied armies. " And 
if the powers are willing to listen to our peaceful overtures, 
what proposals shall we make to them?" asked Metternich. It 
was the part of the negotiator to bring about war, not peace. 
Narbonne kept silence. "lam not yet acquainted with the 
conditions," he presently replied, " but suppose they were not 
such as you desire . . . ?" The Austrian minister, in his turn, 
was hesitating, not from indecision, but from a repugnance 
to letting his secret too soon escape from him. He dwelt upon 
the good faith he was displaying towards France, and upon 
his admiration of the wisdom of the Emperor Napoleon. 
"But suppose my master thinks otherwise than you," rejoined 
Narbonne; "suppose he prides himself in not yielding the 
territories incorporated with the empire, and that he wishes to 
preserve to France all that he has conquered for it, — what 
would happen then?" "It would happen — it would happen," 
replied Metternich, " that you would be compelled to grant to 
France that which she herself demands of you, that which she 
has a just right to demand of you after so many glorious 
efforts, that is to say, peace— peace with that just greatness 
which she has won with so much blood. Her right to that 
greatness it does not enter into the mind of any one, even of 
England itself, to dispute with her." "But in that case how 
do you understand the role of mediator? Would you turn 
your forces against us?" "Well, yes !" cried at last the minis- 
ter, driven into a corner; "the mediator must be impartial. 
The armed mediator is an arbitrator who has in his hands the 
force necessary to make justice respected, it being well under- 
stood that all the favor this arbitrator can show will incline 
towards France ..." And as Narbonne turned aside with a 
humorous remark the conversation which seemed to bim to 
be getting too animated: "I reckon upon your victories," ex- 
claimed Metternich, "and I shall have need of them, for it 
will take more than one to bring your adversaries to reason ; 



28 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

but do not deceive yourselves, on the morrow of a victory you 
will find us as resolute as to-day." 

Napoleon had at length compelled Austria to declare her- 
self ; and the position taken up by the latter in consequence of 
this premature explosion of her designs was not favorable to 
our policy. In spite of the protestations of firmness on the 
part of Metternich, the opening of the campaign and the first 
successes of Napoleon influenced his decisions, and facilitated 
the pleadings of the mediator in favor of France. Austria 
found herself henceforth relieved, in part, from the necessity 
for reticence. Her military preparations were completed. 
The Poles were called upon to lay down their arms, greatly to 
the wrath of the Emperor Napoleon. " I do not wish to be 
served by men dishonored ! " he cried. Prince Poniatowski 
received orders to throw himself into the grand duchy, " as a 
partisan, in order to make a diversion, and draw multitudes 
of people to him." From the 17th of April Napoleon was at 
Mayence. 

He had set out from Paris on the 15th, after having sol- 
emnly confided the regency to the Empress Marie-Louise, 
with the assistance and counsel of the Arch-chancellor Cam- 
baceres. The latter was growing old ; he felt worn out, and 
dreaded the responsibility ; the emperor exacted from his de- 
votion the acceptance of the task confided to him. Napoleon 
spurned the idea of confiding the care of the empire to one of 
his brothers. The composition of the Council of Regency was 
regulated by a senatus consulte. Napoleon calculated on the 
attachment of the Emperor Francis for his daughter, and on 
the satisfaction he would experience at the tokens of confi- 
dence lavished on her by her husband. It was with evident 
emotion that he separated from her, and from his son. Mean- 
while he was full of confidence as to victory. " I shall fight 
two battles," said he, on quitting St. Cloud, " one upon the 
Elbe the other upon the Oder; I shall raise the blockade of 
my fortresses ; and on reaching the Niemen I shall stay my 
course, for I do not wish for endless war. The peace I shall 
dictate will cost neither more nor less than the independence 
of Poland, and the security of Europe." 

" We have played King of France long enough," said Henri 
IV., when the Spaniards were besieging Amiens ; " let us now 
try King of Navarre." The Emperor Napoleon resolved in the 
same manner to leave behind him all imperial pomp. " It is 
my intention," he gave orders to the marshal of the palace, 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 29 

"to arrange my equipages on an entirely different scale than 
during the last campaign. I wish to have fewer people about 
me, fewer cooks, fewer plates and dishes, no great dressing- 
case — and all this as much for the sake of example as for the 
diminishing of encumbrances. In camp and on march, the 
tables, even my own, shall be served with a soup, a boiled and 
a roast joint, and vegetables, with no dessert; in the great 
cities one may do as one pleases. I wish to take no pages 
with me, they are of no use ; perhaps I may take such of the 
huntsmen as are twenty-four years of age, who, being ac- 
customed to fatigue, may be of use. Diminish in the same 
way the number of canteens ; instead of four beds, only have 
two; instead of four tents, let there be only two, and furniture 
in proportion. We must be lightly equipped," said Napoleon, 
"for we shall have many enemies to fight against; and in 
order to achieve success, we shall have to march quickly." 

On the 26th of April he quitted Mayence. Prince Eugene, 
with 60,000 men, was waiting for him at the confluence of the 
Elbe and Saal. Marshal Ney had pushed forward upon Wei- 
mar with 48,000 men. Marmont was still organizing his forces 
at Hanau, and was ultimately to take up his position, with 
30,000 or 32,000 men, along the Elbe. The guard did not in- 
clude more than 15,000 or 16,000 men. Davout was ordered to 
take and occupy Hamburg. General Bertrand was forming 
an army of reserve in Italy. About 200,000 men were march- 
ing with cries of " Vive l'Empereur!" acclamations that were 
always wrung from the soldiers by the presence of Napoleon, 
whatever might be the spite and anger towards him which 
many of them nursed in secret. Already they were defiling 
the whole length of the Saal, which Prince Eugene ascended, 
whilst the Emperor advanced in the opposite direction. The 
allies had not foreseen this manoeuvre : their forces were not 
yet complete. Many of the German princes, after hesitating 
a long time, decided at last upon furnishing their contingent 
to the French army. Austria remained neutral; the Swedes 
had not yet arrived; the allied powers could not reckon up 
more than 110,000 or 112,000 men under their flags. The Prus- 
sians were as numerous as they were eager. 

On the 1st of May, Napoleon commenced the march forward, 
and Prince Eugene joined him. Marshal Ney repulsed the 
enemy at Weissenfels, happy and proud at the conduct of the 
young troops which he commanded, and who were now under 
fire for the first time, " These boys are heroes," wrote he to 



30 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

the emperor; "I shall achieve with them whatever you wish 
for." Next day, upon the same piece of ground, whilst de- 
bouching into the plain of Lutzen, an engagement of the van- 
guard cost Marshal Bessieres his life. He fell, shot in the 
breast. " Death is very near us!" said the emperor, as he saw 
carried away in his cloak the commander of the cavalry of his 
guard, the faithful companion of his campaigns, who had 
wished upon this very day to follow him more closely. The 
charges of the enemy's cavalry were repulsed, and the night 
was passed at Lutzen. Napoleon visited the monument erected 
by the grateful remembrance of his people to King Gustavus 
Adolphus, who had died on this plain more than 180 years be- 
fore. "I will have a tomb erected here for the Duke of Istria," 
said the emperor. He had already directed the army to move 
towards Leipzig. 

On May 2nd, at two o'clock in the morning, Napoleon quitted 
Lutzen, placing the corps of Marshal Ney in a group of villages 
which was to serve as the pivot of his operations. General 
Maison, who had gone on in advance, attacked Leipzig with a 
vigor which was soon crowned with success. As the emperor 
debouched before the place, he saw it taken by his troops. At 
the same time the cannonade announced that the allies were 
attacking the villages occupied by Ney. The marshal was 
personally accompanying the emperor. "We were going to 
outflank them : they are trying the same manoeuvre. There is 
no harm done; they will find us everywhere ready." Modify- 
ing his plan of battle in a moment, and sending clear and pre- 
cise orders to all his generals, he himself hastened towards the 
midst of the combat. In spite of the division of the command, 
and the recent death of old Kutuzoff , who had at last succumbed 
to his fatigues, the allies had wisely arranged their plans; and 
they profited on the plain of Lutzen by all the advantages that 
were assured to them by the splendid cavalry which they had 
at their disposal. Since the Russian campaign, in spite of the 
energetic efforts of the Emperor Napoleon, our armies had 
been deprived of this precious resource ; Murat and his cavalry 
had disappeared. 

The five villages were fiercely attacked ; the passionate ardor 
of Blucher and the Prussians forced our young divisions to fall 
back. Two successive attacks had dislodged the regiments 
which occupied Gross-Gorschen, Klein-Gorschen, and Rahna. 
The French were entrenched in the villages of Kaja and Star- 
siedel,- Marshal Marmont was coming up with his corps Ney, 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 31 

advancing from Leipzig at a furious gallop, rallied upon his 
route several divisions, whom he immediately led to the as- 
sault of the abandoned villages. They fought with their 
bayonets with equal vigor on both sides. Blucher wished at 
any cost to free his country ; Ney was resolute to defend the 
greatness of France. Fortune had not yet abandoned the 
latter; the young soldiers advanced fearlessly under fire, and 
drove back the Prussians as far as Gross-Gorschen. The 
Emperor Napoleon had just arrived on the field of battle. 

Blucher dashed forward afresh; wounded in the arm, he did 
not the less urge forward the attack. The villages were re- 
taken ; Kaja itself was threatened. On this occasion Napoleon 
did not keep himself aloof from the combat, as at the battle of 
the Moskowa; he himself brought back the trembling con- 
scripts against the enemy. "Young men," said he to them, 
"I have reckoned upon you to save the empire ; and you flee !" 
At the same time Count Lobau drove back the Prussian guard 
from the positions of Kaja. The combat and the carnage 
spread out over the plain for the space of two leagues. 
Blucher sent requests to the Czar and King Frederick William 
to combine in a grand effort upon the centre. The want of 
unity in the command rendered the orders feeble and confused. 
Meanwhile the forces of Wittgenstein and of York were ad- 
vancing to the aid of Blucher. The divisions of Marshal Ney, 
exhausted by a desperate struggle, gave way before this new 
assault. Kaja was once more outflanked by the enemy, who 
pushed forward beyond it to engage the guard. The reserve 
corps at this moment arrived on the theatre of combat. Al- 
ready the columns of attack were directed against Kaja and 
Starsiedel ; the artillery was raking in flank the fines of the 
hostile infantry. The allies fell back in their turn. Blucher 
was still pleading for a final effort ; but the sovereigns dreaded 
to engage their reserves. Ammunition was beginning to fail. 
Prudence carried the day, and the Prussian and Eussian corps 
commenced the retreat. A charge of Blucher against the corps 
of Marmont carried for a moment disorder into our ranks on 
the side of Starsiedel. Meanwhile the enemy disappeared, 
little by little, without the possibility of pursuing them for 
want of cavalry. The French army rested on the field of 
battle, in the midst of the dead and the dying. "We are 
beaten, it may be," said Narbonne, when the first news of the 
battle was inaccurately reported at Vienna. "We shall see 
to-morrow what route is taken, by the conquered and the con- 



32 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

querors." The movements of the two armies soon justified the 
foresight of the former war minister of King Louis XVI. The 
allied sovereigns retired beyond the Elbe ; the Emperor Napo- 
leon advanced upon Dresden, where the Russians did not wait 
for him. The emperor received the keys of the town, sharply 
reprimanding the Saxons, who had been unfaithful as allies, 
and declaring that his clemency to them was only due to the 
affection, virtues, and loyalty of their king. That honorable 
prince, still more terrified than his subjects, had already taken 
measures to obey the emperor's peremptory commands. He 
again took the road to Dresden, accompanied by his court and 
troops. On the 12th May, Napoleon came to meet him, pre- 
tending ignorance of the old king's negotiations with the court 
of Vienna, and the shortcomings of his loyalty. Overwhelmed 
with honors and confidence, the King of Saxony was, without 
a struggle, brought again under Napoleon's authority; the 
latter regaining possession of the Saxon army, while solemnly 
restoring his states to the sovereign who had so recently been 
a fugitive. Babua had just arrived, entrusted with a letter 
from the Emperor Francis, and pacific propositions from 
Austria. 

From his conversation with the King of Saxony, as well as 
by intercepted despatches and Narbonne's reports, Napoleon 
was enabled to understand the diplomacy of Austria, her 
treatment of her enemies, and the fixed resolve of the Emperor 
Francis, as well as his minister, to make peace if possible, but 
in any case not to allow themselves to be drawn into a war in 
the train of France. He was therefore in his secret mind, an- 
noyed and suspicious, with a new inclination towards direct 
relations with Russia, and disposed to grant concessions to the 
Czar and to England which he refused to Austria. Neverthe- 
less, he felt it necessary that that power should take the first 
step towards a congress which should allow him to treat with 
the allies. After giving way to his anger, which Babua al- 
lowed to pass without reply, the emperor seemed to calm down. 
He listened to the propositions of Austria, which were still the 
same, and had reference to the German territories. The title of 
Protector of the Rhenish Confederation, and the question of 
the Hanse towns, alone interested Napoleon personally. He 
insisted upon those two points without violence, and showed 
himself ready to admit the Spanish insurgents to the congress. 
Whilst thus officially agreeing to the congress, and the armis- 
tice rendered necessary by the congress, Napoleon wrote to 



ch. xiv.j THE DECLINE. 33 

his father-in-law:— "I am deeply touched by what your Maj- 
esty tells me in your letter regarding the interest you have in 
me. I deserve it from you by the sincerity of the sentiments 
which I have for you. If your Majesty takes some interest in 
my happiness, I trust you will be careful of my honor. I am 
determined to die, if need be, at the head of the men of gen- 
erous feeling in France, rather than become the laughing-stock 
of the English, and allow my enemies to triumph. May your 
Majesty think of the future, and not destroy the fruits of three 
years' friendship, or revive by -gone plots which should precipi- 
tate Europe into convulsions, and wars with interminable 
issues, or sacrifice to wretched considerations the happiness 
of our generation, of your life, and the true interest of your 
subjects, and (why should I not mention it?) of a member of 
your family, sincerely attachea to you! May your Majesty 
be ever assured of my attachment !" 

Whilst the Emperor Napoleon was thus speaking and writ- 
ing, he commanded Caulaincourt to present himself to the ad- 
vanced posts of the allied sovereigns, in order to institute 
direct negotiations with them regarding the armistice. The 
following were his formal instructions : — 

" The main point is to declare one's self. You will let me 
know, from head-quarters, what has been said. By knowing 
the Emperor Alexander's views we shall at last come to an 
understanding. My intention, moreover, is to make him a 
golden bridge, to save him from Metternich's intrigues. If I 
must make sacrifices, I prefer to do so for the advantage of the 
Emperor Alexander, who is an honorable foe, and the King of 
Prussia, in whom Russia takes an interest, than for that of 
Austria, who has been a false ally, and w r ho, under the title of 
mediator, wishes to arrogate the right of disposing of every- 
thing, after having done what suited herself. By treating now, 
all the honor of the peace will belong to the Emperor Alexander 
alone ; whereas by making use of the mediation of Austria, the 
latter power, whatever be the result of peace or war, should 
seem to have weighed in the balance the fate of all Europe." 

The allied sovereigns refused to negotiate directly, and 
Caulaincourt was politely referred to Stadion, who had been 
appointed to treat the question of a congress in the name of 
the mediating power. " A direct mission to the Russian head- 
quarters would cut the world in two," Napoleon had said. It 
was this rupture of European interests which the allied powers 
were resolved to avoid. 
VIIL— 3 



34 EISTOET OF FRANCE. [cu. xrv. 

Meanwhile every preparation was made for a second and 
terrible battle. Leaving Dresden on the 18th May, Napoleon 
reached Bautzen on the 19th. Prince Eugene had set out for 
Italy in order to organize a new army intended to alarm Aus- 
tria. To these forces 20,000 Neapolitan troops were to be 
added. Napoleon had sent for Murat, who though daring and 
invincible on the battle-field, had proved himself a timid and 
commonplace sovereign, more occupied with preserving his 
throne than in maintaining towards the emperor the fidelity 
which he owed him. Napoleon was well aware of his dis- 
position. It was by his victories that he counted upon rally- 
ing round him all his trembling allies. 

The armies of the allies were grouped round the small town 
Bautzen, which lies at the base of the Bohemian mountains 
covered with gloomy pine forests. The river Spree, in front 
of the place, was strongly defended. The emperor at once 
understood the necessity of a double battle, which should 
probably occupy two days. Engagements had already taken 
place at several points, and on the 20th, about noon, a battle 
began on the banks of the Spree. Marshal Oudinot on the 
right and Marmont on the left crossed the river, driving back 
by main force those who defended the position indicated by 
Napoleon. In the centre, Marshal Macdonald had taken the 
stone bridge leading to Bautzen, and carried the town at the 
point of the bayonet after the artillery had burst open the 
gates. General Bertrand crossed the nearest branches of the 
Spree, at the foot of the heights occupied by Bliicher, but his 
movements had been delayed; the position was strong, and 
well defended. He encamped on the left bank, guarding the 
passage across, and waiting for next day's attack. The em- 
peror entered Bautzen, and encamped under the walls of the 
town. 

The allied armies held nearly all the heights, excepting Tron- 
berg, which had been carried on the previous evening by Mar- 
shal Oudinot. They were also protected by strong redoubts 
and the marshes formed by the river. The attack was there- 
fore certain to be difficult and dangerous. Napoleon deter- 
mined to divide it ; Marshal Ney being ordered to cross the 
Spree at Klix, two leagues from Bautzen, in spite of the re- 
sistance there presented by General Barclay de Tolly, and then 
pass behind the mamelons occupied by Bliicher, in order to 
take him in rear. The emperor intended to wait for Ney's ap- 
proach, which was to be announced by discharges of artillery; 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 35 

before attacking the centre of the enemy's position. At day- 
break on the 21st May, the cannon began to roar along the 
whole line. Muffling, an officer on the Russian staff, had alone 
perceived the danger which threatened Klix. He urged the 
Emperor Alexander to fortify this point; but he was not 
listened to. A keen engagement soon began between Marshal 
Ney and Barclay de Tolly. The village Preititz, held by the 
Russians, was twice taken and retaken. If Ney, in the isola- 
tion of his movements, had not hesitated to advance to inter- 
cept from the enemy the road to Hochkirch, Bliicher's retreat 
would have become a disaster. Threatened in rear, keenly at- 
tacked in front by Marmont and Bertrand, the Prussian gen- 
eral, in spite of his heroic obstinacy, found himself compelled 
to withdraw. He had time to evacuate the mamelons by one 
of the sides, whilst Ney was climbing the other; Marshals 
Marmont and Mortier having at the same time crossed the 
stream which covered the Russian positions. Oudinot, at first 
driven back from Tronberg by Miloradowitch, again assumed 
the offensive. The enemy were everywhere keenly pursued. 
The emperor at once sent Oudinot to march upon Berlin, 
against General Bulow, while he himself advanced upon Bres- 
lau in pursuit of the allies, marching at the head of his army, 
and commanding the attacks of the advanced guard. It was 
thus that in the Reichenbach valley he had a cavalry engage 
ment, which enabled him to ascertain both the warlike enthu- 
siasm of his enemies, who were daily becoming more formida- 
ble, and the relative inferiority of his horse soldiers, who were 
lately formed, indifferently mounted, and less experienced in 
war than his former troops. The ground, however, was free, 
and the emperor, dismounting, was giving orders to have his 
tent pitched, when he was told that General Kirgener was 
killed, General Bruyere having already succumbed in a cav- 
alry charge. "Fortune has certainly a spite against us to- 
day," exclaimed the emperor, and at the same moment some 
one called out that Duroc was dead. ' ' Impossible !" said Na- 
poleon, turning round quickly. ' ' I have just been talking to 
him!" The marshal, however, was then being carried off the 
field, struck in the stomach by a bullet which had glanced 
against a tree : he was already dying, and in great agony. Of 
a serious and sorrowful disposition, he had said to Caulain- 
court a few minutes previously, "You see the emperor, my 
dear fellow, he is to-day gaining victories. After our misfor- 
tunes in Russia, it is now time to take advantage of the lesson; 



36 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiV. 

but he is always the same, insatiable and indefatigable. That 
must all end badly !" On coming near his old friend, Napo- 
leon, full of grief and emotion, said, "This is not the end, 
Duroc. There is another life, where we shall meet again ; per- 
haps soon," he added, as he yielded to the dying man's earnest 
request that he would leave him. His eyes were full of tears, 
and he appeared for a moment to rise above merely temporal 
consolations ; but he allowed no religious ceremonies at the 
obsequies which he ordered in Paris to be celebrated in honor 
of the two friends of whom death had deprived him within a 
few days. Villemain and Victorien Fabre were appointed to 
pronounce a funeral oration over Marshals Bessieres and Duroc. 
" I will have no priests," wrote Napoleon to Cambaceres. 

A partial engagement, following upon a surprise, placed Ney 
and General Maison in danger at Haguenau, whilst at Sprot- 
tau a very large park of artillery fell into General Sebastiani's 
hands. On the 27th the whole of the army had reached the 
Oder, and the French garrison, which had been blockaded for 
five months in Glogau, was set at hberty. The emperor had 
now reached Liegnitz, and was threatening Breslau. 

The position of the allies was become critical. They had be- 
gun the campaign with the disadvantage of a great numerical 
inferiority, which became still greater by the battles of Lutzen, 
Bautzen, and the other smaller engagements which had taken 
place. Barclay de Tolly affirmed that he must withdraw into 
Poland to reform his army ; and the entrenched camp of Bun- 
zelwitz, with which they expected to be able to stop Napoleon, 
had been recently dismantled by the French. The armistice, 
therefore, became an indispensable condition of the very exist- 
ence of the coalition. Nesselrode set out for Vienna with in- 
structions to persuade Austria in favor of this. In case Met- 
ternich should still hesitate, the Emperor Alexander was to re- 
ceive Caulaincourt, and enter upon direct negotiations with 
France. General Kleist, in the name of the Prussians, and Count 
Schouwaloff, in the name of the Russians, went on the 29fch 
May to the French advanced guard. The emperor had eight 
days previously announced that he was ready to treat about 
an armistice. In spite of the recent defeats of their armies, 
the commissioners remained proud, deeply impressed with the 
justice of their cause, and fastidious as to the terms of the con- 
vention. Napoleon at first found himself bound by his prom- 
ises, whatever advantage he might have gained by actively 
pursuing the war and destroying the allied forces before they 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 37 

could be reinforced. He also wished to supplement his re< 
sources, send for the 250,000 men, which were still wanting, 
strengthen his cavalry, and after the hot weather resume the 
series of his triumphs for the purpose of imposing peace upon 
his enemies without the mediation of Austria, which had now 
become hateful to him. With this object, he agreed to an 
armistice which was unnecessary to him, and in principle to 
the congress which he did not really wish for, and laid down 
theoretically the bases of a peace which he was determined not 
to ratify. So much insincerity and falsehood were certain to 
prove fatal to him; and Bliicher and the Prussian patriots 
were seriously in error as to their country's interest when they 
violently insisted upon immediately continuing hostilities. 

The armistice was at last concluded, on the 4th June. Na~ 
poleon had definitely rejected Austria's last conciliatory pro- 
positions, transmitted by Bubna, which put off till the general 
peace the consideration of the Hanse towns and the Rhenish 
Confederation. He agreed to neutralize the territory around 
Breslau, and let the position of the Hanse towns be fixed as 
should have been decided by the fate of war on the 8th June 
at midnight. Marshal Davout was upon the point of entering 
Hamburg, a fact which told in our favor. Including the day 
of declaration, the armistice was to extend to the 26th July. 

Instigated by his pride, the Emperor Napoleon practically 
refused Austria's mediation, which he had accepted in princi- 
ple, and thus surrendered to his adversaries all the advantages 
which had been gained at so great cost since the beginning of 
the campaign. His actual secret intentions were opposed to 
the peace which he pretended to wish for, and he considered 
the rest asked from him, by France as well as Europe, to be 
dishonorable. Yet he was sure of preserving, as the price of 
his long years of warfare, Belgium, the Rhenish provinces, 
Holland, Piedmont, Tuscany, the Roman States. No one ob- 
jected to the vassal kings of France retaining Westphalia, 
Lombardy, and Naples. The possession and redistribution of 
the Spanish territory still remained an open question. The 
sacrifices demanded from us in exchange for the peace were, 
the cession of the grand duchy of Warsaw, and its partition in 
favor of Russia and Austria, the restitution of the free towns of 
Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck, the restoration of Dlyria to 
Austria, and the abolition of the Rhenish Confederation. Such 
was the cost, in 1813, of the general peace. 

The Emperor Napoleon preferred to assemble the congress, 



38 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

in order to gain the time necessary for his military prepara- 
tions. No information of it was yet given in France, and he 
took measures to conceal the proposals which had been made 
to him. The anxiety shown by several of his great function- 
aries with reference to the peace excited his displeasure. On 
the 13th June he thus wrote to General Savary, Duke of 
Rovigo: — " I am dissatisfied with the tone of your communica- 
tions ; you constantly annoy me about the need for peace. I 
know better than you the situation of my empire ; and that 
tendency given to your correspondence produces no favorable 
impression in me. I wish for peac e, and I am more interested 
in it than anybody ; your remarks on the subject are therefore 
useless. But I shall not make a peace which would be dis- 
honorable, or would in six months bring back a more deter- 
mined war. Make no reply to this : these matters are no busi- 
ness of yours; do not interfere in them." 

The desire for peace in opposition to Napoleon's intention, 
and which he in vain sought to evade, was universal. On the 
day after the signing of the armistice at Pleiswitz, Bubna re- 
turned to Dresden, instructed to announce that the allied 
powers accepted Austria's mediation, and to ascertain what 
conditions of peace Napoleon intended submitting to the con- 
gress. The Austrian envoy waited, and when at last the em- 
peror deigned to reply to his urgent application, it was by 
chicanery, discussing technicalities of his mission, and the 
part Austria had taken in the negotiation. The days of the 
armistice were passing away ; Metternich resolved to handle 
this important question himself. In order to provoke Napo- 
leon's jealousy, he set out at first for Oppontschna, where the 
allied sovereigns were. They had just concluded a treaty 
with England as to subsidies. The Austrian minister with 
some difficulty succeeded in making the allies accept the 
bases of the peace as he wished, and as he had several times 
proposed to Napoleon. " The emperor will never grant what 
you ask," declared the Russian and Prussian diplomatists. 
" Should he not consent, the emperor my master will be free 
to join the alliance," replied Metternich. He at once set out 
for Dresden, and, as he expected, Napoleon had already sent 
to summon him for an interview. 

I borrow from Thiers the account of the interview of the 
Emperor Francis's minister with the angry and suspicious 
conqueror: by means of an account written by Metternich 
himself, he has modified the official reports of the imperial 



en. siv.] THE DECLINE. 39 

diplomacy. The truth was already obvious under the reti- 
cences of Bassano and Baron Fain, but in the sad recollections 
of the distinguished diplomatist it assumes an incisive force. 
"Ah! there you are, M. de Metternich!" exclaimed Napoleon, 
as he saw him enter. ' ' You are very late. " Then, recount- 
ing his grievances against Austria, he said, "I have thrice 
restored his throne to the Emperor Francis ; I have even com- 
mitted the fault of marrying his daughter: nothing could 
bring him to a better way of thinking. Last year, reckoning 
upon him, I concluded a treaty of alliance, by which I guar- 
anteed to him his states, and he guaranteed to me mine. Had 
he told me that that treaty did not suit Mm, I should not have 
insisted upon it, nor should I have even engaged in the Russian 
campaign. But he signed it ; andafter a single campaign, which 
the elements rendered unfortunate, you now see him wavering, 
interposing between my enemies and me — to negotiate the 
terms of peace, he tells me ; but in reality to stop me in my 
victories, and rescue from my hands enemies whom I was 
about to destroy. Under the pretext of mediation you have 
been arming ; and then when your armaments are completed, 
or nearly so, you pretend to dictate to me conditions which 
are those of my enemies themselves. Explain yourself: do 
you wish to have a war with me? The Russians and Prus- 
sians, emboldened by the misfortunes of last winter, dared 
to come to meet me; and I have beaten them— thoroughly 
beaten them, although they have told you the contrary. Do 
you therefore wish also to have your turn? Very well, let it 
be so ; you will have it. I make an appointment with you in 
Vienna for October." 

Metternich listened, hurt by this disdainful vanity, without 
wishing to appear so. He dwelt upon the necessity for peace, 
indispensable for France as well as Europe. The emperor 
stopped him after each proposition. " Oh, yes! I understand 
you!" he exclaimed at last. "I know your secret; I know 
what you all really wish ! You Austrians, you wish for the 
whole of Italy ; your friends the Russians wish for Poland, the 
Prussians for Saxony, the English for Holland and Belgium. 
If I give way to-day, to-morrow you will ask me for those 
objects of your desires. But in that case, prepare yourselves 
to raise millions of men, to pour out the blood of several gen- 
erations, and then come to treat at the foot of the heights of 
Montmartre. " 

The emperor walked up and down in his private room, ex 



40 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

cited by his own words. Metternich tried to calm him. " All 
admire the courage of France," said he, "and the ardor which 
she devotes to your service. But, sire, France herself has need 
of rest. I have just passed through your army : your soldiers 
are children. You have raised anticipated levies ; and as soon 
as the present generation, who are scarcely formed into 
armies, are destroyed by the war now waging, whom will you 
call out? Will you again anticipate?" 

Napoleon became pale. No one knew better than himself 
the value of the objection raised by Metternich. He went up 
to his visitor, letting his hat fall, which the Austrian minister 
did not pick up. "You are not a soldier, sir," he exclaimed; 
"you have not, bike me, a soldier's soul; you have not lived 
in camps ; you have not learned to despise the life of another 
man, and your own, when need be. What care I for 200,000 
men?" 

Metternich turned to him, full of emotion in spite of his im- 
passibility as a German and diplomatist. "Let us open the 
doors, sire! open them!" he exclaimed. " And if the doors are 
not sufficient, open the windows ! that the whole of Europe 
may hear you. The cause which I have been defending before 
you will lose nothing by it !" 

Napoleon calmed down, feeling that he was at fault. But 
his unconquerable pride still refused to think for a moment of 
any concession whatever to those sovereigns whose armies he 
had conquered, whose capitals he had occupied, and whose 
empires he had dismembered. "Take no part in this quar- 
rel," said he to Metternich; "you run too many risks; you 
have too little to gain from it: remain neutral. You wish 
for Ulyria ; I cede it to you. The peace which you wish to 
gain for Europe, I shall give to it with certainty and justice. 
But what you propose to me, in the name of a mediation, is an 
imposed peace : they wish to lay down the law to me — to me, 
who have just gained two brilliant victories. If you wish for 
war, you shall have it. Good-bye, till we meet in Vienna!" 

Metternich left. The conversation had been a long one, and 
the courtiers were waiting very anxiously. "Well," asked 
Marshal Berthier, ' ' are you satisfied with the emperor ?" " Yes, 
I am satisfied," replied the Austrian minister, "for from to- 
day my conscience is at rest. I declare to you, marshal, sol- 
emnly, that your master is out of his mind." 

It was Napoleon's custom to show a speedy reaction from 
his fits of passion, and remove the effects by kindness. Wher 



ch. xiv.] TEE DECLINE. 41 

Metternich left Dresden he had arranged with Bassano to pro- 
long the armistice till the 10th August, as the emperor had 
long wished to do ; the question of a conference in common, or 
of the exclusive interference of mediation, being left unde- 
cided. Napoleon showed himself accommodating upon every 
formal point. The negotiator had gained nothing, except a 
profound conviction that in his real heart the emperor wished 
for war, always war, so long as the imposition of peace did not 
He entirely with him. Nevertheless, the plenipotentiaries were 
summoned to meet at Prague on the 12th July, and the Aus- 
trian court had already moved to the suburbs of that town. 

The Emperor Napoleon, on his part, concluded from his in* 
terview with Metternich, that war with Austria must result 
from the attempts to negotiate. He therefore chose his line of 
operations along the Elbe, and employed himself in fortifying 
it in every part with that watchful foresight which had so 
often secured Ms success. The ramparts of Dresden had been 
restored, and the military supplies were collected there in 
great abundance. Works had been ordered at Torgau and 
Wittemberg, provisions collected at Magdeburg, and barracks 
built at Werden. Marshal Davout took up his head-quarters 
at Hamburg, imposing enormous contributions from the 
wealthy merchants, who had recently risen against France, 
and had for a short time taken refuge in Altona. They asked 
leave to return. "If, on the day after your arrival," wrote 
the emperor to Davout, ' ' you had got a few of them shot, it 
would have been well ; it is now too late, and pecuniary pun- 
ishments are better." The war contributions of the Ham- 
burgers served to fortify and provision their town. Davout 
refused to listen to their complaints, and Napoleon would not 
receive them. The fortress of Gluckstadt was entrusted to 
the keeping of the Danes, who had been compelled, by the 
necessities of the coalition, to form a closer union with us. 
Before the expiration of the armistice the emperor counted 
upon having under his flags 400,000 men in active service; he 
kept 80,000 men in Italy, and 20,000 in Bavaria, without count- 
ing the garrisons still kept in the strongholds. The cavalry 
were being daily improved. 

Meantime, however, the news arriving from Spain depressed 
and irritated Napoleon during his constant exercise in the 
suburbs of Dresden and as far as Magdeburg and Torgau. The 
winter had passed without any serious hostilities ; but Well- 
ington, in spite of some onnosition from the Cortes of Cadiz, 



42 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xrv. 

had been named generalissimo of the Spanish army, as he 
was already of the Portuguese army, and had been prepar- 
ing, instructing, and forming his auxiliaries, in the hope of 
crushing the French power in the Peninsula. On the em- 
peror's peremptory order, King Joseph had at last followed 
Marshal Jourdan's advice, abandoning Madrid, and falling 
back upon Valladolid ; the army of Portugal, commanded by 
General Reille, marched from Salamanca to Burgos ; General 
Clausel, with the army of the north, was appointed to destroy 
the bands of guerillas, who interrupted communication in 
every direction; Count Erlon, with the army of the centre, 
covered Valladolid and Madrid ; while the army of Andalusia, 
under the orders of General Gazan, occupied the Douro and 
Tonnes. Marshal Suchet still wisely governed Aragon. The 
best officers and soldiers in Spain had been ordered by the em- 
peror to join the campaign in Saxony. Marshal Soult's depar- 
ture had lessened the difficulties of the command, without ren- 
dering it more prudent or energetic ; Jourdan, now old and 
worn out, saw the faults, without being able to avoid them. 
Wellington began the campaign in May, with 48,000 English 
and 25,000 Spanish, fairly disciplined; and having at once 
crossed the Ezla, he advanced towards Salamanca and Tormes. 
The French forces were scattered, holding extended positions, 
which rendered their concentration difficult, when, on the 24th 
May, they heard of the approach of the enemy. 

Napoleon's real intention was to make use of Spain some 
day as a means of concluding peace with England, by restoring 
Ferdinand to the possession of his hereditary states, except 
the provinces north of the Ebro, which were to be made into 
French departments. With this object, therefore, he had 
ordered the capital to be abandoned, and all our forces to be 
collected in the north. Wellington seemed to have guessed 
this purpose, and the first movements of the campaign of 1813 
appeared only intended to drive us slowly back towards the 
Pyrenees. General Reille fell back before the enemy, cov- 
ering the line of retreat from Valladolid to Burgos. King 
Joseph and his court had already gained the latter town, 
but stayed only a short time, being annoyed by the scarcity 
of food and the advance of the English. On leaving Bur- 
gos, orders were given to blow up the fortress, which had 
recently stopped Wellington himself. After some hesitation, 
Joseph resolved to march towards Vittoria. All detached troops 
were recalled; and the arrival of General Clausel was specially 



ch. xrv.] THE DECLINE. 43 

hoped for — an able soldier, at the head of a considerable army. 
On the evening of the 19th June, after several skirmishes, in 
which the army of Portugal was successful, 54,000 French 
troops, in good condition had collected near Vittoria. General 
Clausel had not arrived being informed only after considerable 
delay, of his danger, as well as of the place of meeting, by 
peasants who were false to us or stopped by the enemy. The 
enormous convoys which accompanied our troops marched 
towards Bayonne. Jourdan who alone was capable of direct- 
ing the military operations, was ill of fever; their positions 
were bad, and the inferiority in number great. On the 21st 
June, Wellington fell upon General Gazan and the army of 
Andalusia, at the moment when that general was ordered to 
occupy the heights of Zuazo. The Spanish had already taken 
possession of the Sierra Andia, and the disconnected attempts 
of the French to dislodge them were at first unsuccessful. In 
spite of Reille's heroic resistance, the English at the same time 
forced a passage over the Zadorra, the bridges not having been 
destroyed. In vain had Marshal Jourdan and King Joseph 
placed a battery of guns at Zuazo ; the artillery was not sup- 
ported. The English everywhere succeeded in taking our posi- 
tions ; and orders for retreat were given, which, with some of 
the forces, became a rout. All who had been left in Vittoria 
took to flight. The horses' traces were cut, to abandon their 
guns and baggage- wagons ; and even the king's carriages and 
papers were lost. Joseph found himself obliged to take refuge 
in the valleys of the Pyrenees, covering the last limits of our 
frontiers, at St. Jean-Pied- du-Port, and Bastan on the Bidassoa. 
General Clausel, arriving too late to prevent the disaster of 
Vittoria, had fallen back upon Saragossa, in order to protect 
Marshal Suchet's rear. Spain was henceforward lost to us ; and 
Soult's last efforts to rally the army, and still check the Eng- 
lish, only served to delay the invasion of France. 

Badly informed by his war minister, and absorbed in the in- 
cessant cares of a decisive campaign, Napoleon did not at all 
weigh the difficulties and impossibilities of the position which 
he had imposed upon his brother; he did not trace to their real 
causes his failures in Spain ; nor did he take into account the 
new ardor with which the Russians had been inspired by the 
misfortunes of his Russian campaign. He let his anger fall 
upon King Joseph, at once replacing him in the command by 
the Duke of Dalmatia ; and to over w helm him with disgrace, 
sent him to his castle of Montefontaine, without allowing him 



44 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

time to visit Paris and see his family— without even granting 
him the right to receive any one. Perpetually haunted by the 
incurable distrust of despotic power, he had now come to fear 
the intrigues of even his brothers, and could not rest unless he 
felt them bending under his hand or crushed beneath the 
weight of his displeasure. 

Meantime the time was passing away during the constantly 
increasing agitation of men's minds. The news of the English 
victory at Vittoria came to revive the hopes of the allied pleni- 
potentiaries, now about to set out for Prague, without inspiring 
Napoleon with any wisdom. He had appointed Narbonne and 
Caulaincourt as his representatives at the congress ; but under 
pretext of some disagreement as to the final date of the armis- 
tice, the second, and principal, of the envoys had not set out. 
Even Narbonne was hampered by his instructions. "I give 
you more nominal power than real influence," were the words 
of the Duke of Bassano to him; " your hands will be tied, but 
your legs and mouth left free to walk about and dine." The 
only thing thought of by Napoleon was gaining time, to com- 
plete his military preparations, and then fall like a thunder- 
storm upon his enemies with much superior forces. Amongst 
those intended to be crushed the principal was Austria, still 
entrusted with a mission of conciliation. 

Scarcely had Narbonne arrived at Prague before being con- 
vinced that Austria would certainly soon join the coalition it 
Napoleon continued to mock her and the general desire for 
peace felt by Europe. The minister of the Emperor Francis 
complained of the delay caused in the meeting of the congress. 
"Let the Emperor Napoleon not deceive himself," said he; 
"the limit of the 10th August having arrived, not another 
word concerning peace will be spoken, and war will be declared. 
We shall not be neutral ; let him not flatter himself as to that. 
After having used all imaginable means to bring him to rea- 
sonable conditions— which did not admit of being changed, 
since they constitute the only situation Europe can endure — 
nothing remains for us, if he refuses to agree to them, but to 
become belligerents ourselves. Should we remain neutral, 
which is what he really desires, the allies would be beaten ; but 
after their turn, ours would come — and we should well deserve 
it. At the present moment, whatever you may be told, we 
are free. I give you my word, and that of my sovereign, that 
we have entered into engagements with nobody. But I give 
you my word also, that at midnight of the 10th August we 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 45 

shall have done so ^yith everybody except you, and that on the 
morning of the 17th 'you will have 300,000 Austrians besides to 
cope with. The emperor my master has not taken this resolu- 
tion lightly, for he is a father and loves his daughter; but we 
prefer everything, even the chance of defeat, to dishonor aud 
slavery. Let no one, therefore, after the event tell us that we 
have deceived you. Till midnight of the 10th August every- 
thing is possible, even at the last hour ; the 10th of August 
once passed, not a day, not a moment ; war ! war ! with every- 
body— even with us." "What?" asked Narbonne, "not even 
if negotiations were begun?" "No," replied Metternich, "un- 
less all the bases of peace are accepted, and nothing remains 
but the arrangement of details." 

The Austrian minister thus anticipated the new expedient 
devised by Napoleon for gaining time without forming any 
serious engagement. A great effort was at this moment being 
made by those about him to induce him to embrace the over- 
tures of peace still presented to his haughty will. For all 
those who had guessed, or who knew the conditions offered, 
the conclusion of the peace had become an object most passion- 
ately desired. His servants who were most compromised and 
least scrupulous, as well as the most honorable and faithful— 
Fouche, Savary, Cambaceres, Caulaincourt — incessantly re- 
peated to him all the reasons which made rest necessary to 
France and glorious to himself. Angry, and ill at ease, he shut 
the mouths of soldiers who took the liberty to criticise his 
operations, and bluntly told his most intimate councillors to 
hold their tongues. He sent Fouche to Illyria, where General 
Junot had recently lost his reason : and at last ordered Cau- 
laincourt to set out for Prague, while at the same time pur- 
posely delaying his journey. Before setting out on the 26th 
July, Napoleon's plenipotentiary, a man of honor and candor, 
conscientiously felt it his duty to write as follows to his mas- 
ter, who had just started for Mayence : — 

"Sire, — I wish to ease my mind, before leaving Dresden, 
that I may carry to Prague nothing but a sense of the duties 
which your Majesty has imposed upon me. It is two o'clock, 
and the only instructions conveyed to me by the Duke of Bas- 
sano are the replies of Neumarkt, and your Majesty's orders 
prevented me receiving them sooner. They are so different 
from the arrangements to which you seemed to agree when 
persuading me to accept this mission, that I should not hesitate 
again to refuse the honoi; of being your plenipotentiary if, after 



46 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

so much time lost, every hour were not counted at Prague, 
while your Majesty is in Mayence, and I am still in Dresden. 
Whatever, therefore, may be my repugnance to negotiations 
so illusory, I resign myself entirely to duty, and obey. But, 
sire, permit your faithful servant's reflections to find a place 
here. The political horizon is still so gloomy, every thing looks 
so serious, that I cannot resist the desire of beseeching your 
Majesty to form, as I trust you will do, a salutary resolution 
before the fatal hmit of time. May you be convinced that time 
is pressing— that the irritation of the Germans is extreme — 
and that by this exasperation of men's minds, still more than 
by the fear of cabinets, events are irresistibly hurried with in- 
creasing speed. Austria is already too much compromised to 
retreat, if the peace of the continent does not reassure her. 
Your Majesty well knows that it is not the cause of that power 
which I have pleaded with you ; it is certainly not her deser- 
tion of us in our reverses that I beg of you to recompense ; it 
is not even her 50,000 bayonets which I wish to remove, 
although that consideration is somewhat important; but it is 
the rising of Germany, which the former ascendancy of that 
power might cause, that I entreat your Majesty, at any cost, 
to avoid." 

The patriotic rising of Germany, which Caulaincourt justly 
dreaded, was already formidable, and everywhere contagious ; 
but Napoleon's haughty obstinacy was more dangerous than 
the warlike excitement of his enemies. I forbear giving in de- 
tail the petty tricks, the systematic delays, the insolent acts or 
childish cunning, which the emperor up to the last moment 
made use of to render the peace negotiations impossible or illu- 
sory. On the 6th August secret proposals, entrusted to Cau- 
laincourt alone, were addressed to Austria, with no other object 
but to hinder that power from entering upon the campaign. 
Metternich replied by stating the indispensable conditions of 
peace, which had from the beginning been laid down with an 
invariable discretion and moderation. Caulaincourt accom- 
panied that communication with the foUowing requests: — 
' ' Sire, this peace may cost something to your self-conceit, but 
nothing to your glory, for it will cost nothing to the real great- 
ness of France. I earnestly beg of you to grant this peace to 
France, to her sufferings, to her noble devotion to you, to the 
imperious circumstances in which you are placed. Take no 
notice of that fever of irritation against you which has taken 
possession of the whole of Europe, and which even the most 



oh. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 47 

decisive victories would excite still more instead of calming. 
I ask it of you not for the empty honor of signing it, but because 
I am certain that you can do nothing more advantageous to 
our country or more worthy of yourself." 

Napoleon did not reply till the 11th, making some fresh pro- 
posals, which were really inadmissible, though they seemed 
to contain some concession. It was too late, Austria having 
signed her adhesion to the European coalition. Metternich 
transmitted the emperors overtures to the allied powers, with 
the declaration, "We are no longer mediators." The Emperor 
Alexander had, in his turn, been seized by the war- fever; and 
there were now nearly 600,000 men ready to take the field in 
the name of the allied powers, who rejected Napoleon's late 
and insulting advances. The latter dared not publish in 
France the conditions of the peace rejected by him. Even 
Cambaeeres was persistently deceived. Napoleon had just 
taken leave of the Empress Marie- Louise, who visited him at 
Mayence, with many tears and alarms. He sent her back to 
France before the breaking up of the armistice, arranging for 
her a journey into Normandy, in order to divert her attention 
at the time when her father and husband were to meet on the 
battle-field. The lot was now cast, and the last struggle was 
beginning which proved fatal to Napoleon, as well as to France, 
in spite of the heroic efforts of the nation, and the incompar- 
able genius of its sovereign. 

On this occasion Napoleon again deceived himself by despis- 
ing the resources and determination of his enemies. The ar- 
mistice and its prolongation were of more use to the allies than 
they could be to him. On the 17th August, 1813, he counted 
about 380,000 men under his flag, and his reserves were not 
equal to those of the allied army. Three armies were advanc- 
ing against him — that of Bohemia, commanded by Prince 
Schwartzenberg; that of Silesia, under the orders of Blucher, 
and that of the north, entrusted to the Prince Royal of 
Sweden. 

Bernadotte had joined the allied sovereigns at their head- 
quarters in Trachenberg, full of pretension, and unreservedly 
claiming to play the part of generalissimo. The Germans had 
a strong antipathy to this intruder, the armies feeling but 
small confidence in him. In their real hearts, Bliicher's officers 
regarded the French general who had become a Swedish prince 
with feelings analogous to that expressed by General Dufresse, 
co mma nder of the French garrison at Stettin, when some shots 



48 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiv. 

were fired from the ramparts at Bernadotte, as he rode under 
the walls. The armistice still existing, the Swedes complained, 
on which the commandant said, ' ' Oh, it's nothing ; the guard 
saw a deserter pass, and fired upon him." 

Bernadotte was not the only one of the military chiefs of our 
great wars who took that oportunity to fight against us. Hav- 
ing become a foreigner by a distinguished adoption, the Swed- 
ish prince had undertaken towards his new country, duties 
which he accomplished without reference to the country to 
which he owed his life and glory. General Moreau, who had 
just arrived in Sweden (20th July, 1813), and at once went to 
the head-quarters of the enemy, had contracted no obligations 
towards our enemies, and was not, like Bernadotte, followed 
by 25,000 brave and well-armed men. Buoyed up by his chi- 
merical hopes, Moreau made use of his military authority, his 
consummate experience, his long knowledge of the theatre of 
war, as well as of soldiers, and of Napoleon himself, to serve a 
deep-seated hatred and personal rancor, justified by the past 
— the lamentable passions of a generous mind, which had been 
embittered by misfortune and injustice. Moreau was received 
at Trachenberg with special attention. He was accompanied 
by General Jomini, of Swedish origin, so skilled in the art of 
war that his opinion even with Napoleon had often been of 
great weight. Badly recompensed, badly treated by Berthier, 
with whom he had often disagreed, dissatisfied with the situa- 
tion of the French army, and invited by the Emperor Alexan- 
der, who knew his merit, Jomini had recently joined the [ser- 
vice of our enemies. "The Czar thinks that the French can 
only be beaten by French generals," muttered Bliicher, angrily. 
The advice of Jomini and Moreau had, in fact, modified the 
plan of campaign of the allies. At first it was proposed to 
march upon Leipsic; now, on the contrary, the troops were 
advancing towards Dresden, the defence of which had been 
entrusted to Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr. 

Napoleon had already marched to Bohemia, and thence to 
Silesia, where Bliicher attacked Ney, almost without waiting 
for the expiration of the armistice. After several well-fought 
engagements, the Prussians were obliged to fall back upon 
Jauer. Macdonald was appointed to keep them behind the 
Bober, and had to intercept communications between Bohemia 
and Prussia, in order to stop the operations which might ham- 
per Marshal Oudinot's movements upon Berlin. Napoleon's 
desire of again occupying that capital by a bold stroke had 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 49 

decided him in extending much too far the lines of his troops. 
Henceforward, it was upon Dresden that his principal efforts 
were to be directed. 

Napoleon's scheme was to take up position on the camp at 
Pirna, after crossing the Elbe at Kcenigstein, intending to de- 
scend thence on the enemy's rear, and push him towards 
Dresden, so that he might be caught between his armies, the 
Elbe, and Marshal St. Cyr. The terror which seized Dresden, 
and the king and court of Saxony, at the approach of the allied 
armies, prevented the emperor from abiding by his first inten- 
tions. General Vandamme, with 40,000 men, was ordered to 
march by Koenigstein and Pirna, while Napoleon himself ad- 
vanced upon Dresden with the main army. He arrived there 
on [the morning of the 26th August, and was welcomed with 
cheers by the population and soldiers. Marshal St. Cyr, after 
gallantly defending his advanced positions, had fallen back 
under the walls of the town. His arrangements already made 
were approved of by the emperor. The enemy still hesitated 
about making the attack, when Napoleon's arrival quickly de- 
cided the question. The battle began at three o'clock, just as 
the clocks of Dresden were striking the hour. The fighting 
was keen, and nearly all the redoubts were attacked at the 
same time; one of the works was already carried, and the 
defence at other points was becoming difficult, when the arri- 
val of the guard changed the face of affairs. The French be- 
gan the offensive, leaving the redoubts to march on the enemy. 
Murat was again at the head of the cavalry. The enemy were 
obliged to withdraw. Our success had cost us little, and the 
joyous confidence of victory animated the troops. "I shall 
see them again, to-morrow," said Napoleon, reviving by his 
courage the depressed heart of the King of Saxony. All the 
orders for the military operations had been given by the em- 
peror before he took rest or food. On the 27th, the fighting 
began at daybreak, under a downpour of rain, which quite 
neutralized the first operations on both sides. Barclay de Tolly 
refused to effect a concentrated movement which had been rec- 
ommended, against Marshal Ney's forces. "The fields are too 
much soaked," said he, " and the canals intersecting the plain 
overflow in all directions. " A movement, which Napoleon had 
the night before ordered Murat and Victor to perform, threw the 
Austrian army into the valley of Plauen, and they were obliged 
to lay down their arms. The left wing of the allies was destroyed. 
In the centre, Napoleon, himself directing the artillery against 
VIII.- 



50 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [cu. xiv. 

the Austrians posted on the heights, "sent forward several 
guns towards Racknitz, where the Emperor Alexander was. 
General Moreau was beside him, and said, "It is rather warm 
here;" when, after the Czar advised him to withdraw, a ball 
struck Moreau on the legs, and overthrew him and his horse to- 
gether. ' ' That Bonaparte is always lucky !" he exclaimed as he 
fell. He was carried dying into a hut, and his dog, bearing a col- 
lar with his name, brought by the soldiers to his master's bed- 
side. The report of the illustrious general's death spread in both 
armies. General Vandamme had left Kcenigstein, and driven 
the Prince of Wurtemburg into the camp of Pirna. The battle 
of Dresden was lost by the allied sovereigns ; they retired, leaving 
us masters of the battle-field, and fell back upon Bohemia by 
different roads. They had undergone considerable loses. 

Napoleon, however, was not deceived by the brilliant victory, 
but wished immediately to follow up his advantage. Advanc- 
ing to Pirna, he despatched General Vandamme in pursuit of 
the Russians. Several checks, undergone by Oudinot in his 
movement towards Berlin, and by Macdonald in opposing 
Bliicher, brought the emperor back to Dresden ; the main army 
pursued the allied columns in all directions. On the morning 
of the 29th, Vandamme defeated the Russian rear-guard, and 
the Emperor Alexander halted opposite Kulm, being resolved 
to fight him. The time was now passed when Napoleon's 
victories inspired his opponents with permanent fear. After a 
terrible struggle, lasting the whole day, the French remained 
in possession of Kulm, which they had carried even in the 
morning, without being able to dislodge the Russians from 
Priesten. General Vandamme asked for assistance, and on 
the 30th still waited in vain. The emperor's return to Dresden, 
the movements which he had ordered, and those which he was 
preparing, and the pursuit of the enemy's columns, all removed 
the forces which might have arrived in time. The allies at 
first limited themselves to restraining Vandamme; and whilst 
he still expected the assistance of Marshals Mortier and Gou- 
vion St. Cyr, some Prussian forces, under General Kleist, who 
were about to retreat, fell upon the rear of Vandamme's army. 
His soldiers had fixed their bayonets on their muskets, deter- 
mined to force a way through ; and the French general himself 
had now no resource but a last desperate effort. He went up 
the Peterswald highway, leaving his artillery, which had been 
doing good execution upon the Russians, when the Emperor 
Alexander's entire army rushed upon him, and in the confu- 



ch. xrr.] TEE DECLINE. 51 

sion of men and horses, the French divisions, crushed by the 
enemy, at last wavered, and a large number of soldiers took to 
flight. Generals Vandamme and Haxo, wounded and taken 
prisoners, were no longer present to rally their troops; the 
army was decimated ; and the allied sovereigns, so soon smiled 
upon by fortune after their defeat before Dresden, again took 
courage and confidence. Henceforward, our very victories 
were without advantage or result. 

The skilful combinations of the Emperor Napoleon had, more- 
over, failed in nearly every quarter under the hands of his 
most able lieutenants. Marshal Oudinot, defeated at Gross 
Beeren by General Tauenzien, had been forced back to Wittem- 
berg by Bernadotte. Macdonald, thrown back upon the Katz- 
bach by Blucher, was now at Bautzen, so vigorously pressed 
that Napoleon himself was obliged to go to his assistance. 
Blucher did not wait for him ; but scarcely had the emperor 
returned to Dresden before Marshal Ney, who had been de- 
tached to assist Oudinot and recommence the movement upon 
Berlin, was in his turn beaten at Dennewitz, by the combined 
army of the Swedes, Eussians, and Prussians. The Saxon 
regiments having disbanded, a large number deserted, accom- 
panied by several Bavarian battalions. The marshal could not 
succeed in re-forming his army till they reached the gates of 
Torgau. For the first time his mind was overwhelmed with 
discouragement, and like Macdonald and Oudinot, he entreated 
the emperor to be relieved from the command. "It is my 
duty," he wrote from Wurtzen, on 10th September, "to de- 
clare to your Majesty that, with the present organization of 
the fourth, seventh, and twelfth army-corps, no good results 
can be expected from them. They are united by duty, but not 
in reality. Each of the generals-in-chief does almost what he 
thinks suitable to his own preservation ; and things are at such 
a pass that I have great difficulty in getting a position. Both 
generals and officers are demoralized ; I should prefer being a 
grenadier. I do not require, I believe, to speak of my devotion. 
I am ready to shed every drop of my blood, but I wish it to be 
done usefully. As things at present are, the emperor's pres- 
ence alone can restore general confidence, because the wills of 
all yield to his genius, and all petty vanity disappears before 
the majesty of the throne. Your Majesty ought to be informed 
that the foreign troops of all nationalities show a very bad dis- 
position, and that it is doubtful if the cavalry which I have 
with me be not more hurtful than useful." 



52 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiy. 

Thus, under the blows of misfortune, was destroyed that 
bundle, painfully composed, of so many inconsistent and dis- 
cordant elements, and till then obstinately kept together by the 
1 grasp of an all-powerful hand. Having had his combinations 
baffled or badly executed, and being ignorant of the plans of 
the enemy, who were now retreating after having a second 
time appeared in the suburbs of Dresden, Napoleon halted at 
Pirna, where he joined Marshal St. Cyr. The latter wished to 
pursue the allies, in order to intercept their advance to the 
Geyserberg, and the emperor agreed to this movement, which 
was in fact begun ; but on the 11th September, being uneasy 
about the increasing difficulties of the march, anxious about 
the position of the Austrian forces, which he had received no 
information about, and afraid of his lieutenants being again 
worsted, Napoleon suddenly resolved to fall back upon Dresden. 
His intention .was to form cantonments there during the win- 
ter ; he had again grouped all his troops on the line of the Elbe, 
and was increasing his military supplies. The perpetual and 
repeated attacks of the enemy, the wide distribution of our 
forces, and the defeats undergone by several armies, had 
seriously diminished our resources, and the numerical dispro- 
portion between our troops and those of the allies became con- 
stantly greater. The minister of war had already been in- 
structed, by a letter in cypher from the Duke of Bassano, to 
put the Rhenish fortresses in a state of defence. ' ' Our army 
is still large, and in good condition," said the minister, who 
constantly shared all his master's secrets, ' ' but the generals and 
officers, wearied with the war, have no longer that action 
which formerly led them to great exploits ; the theatre is too 
extended. The emperor is victorious whenever he can be on 
the spot; but he cannot be everywhere, and the generals who 
command in his absence seldom answer to his expectations. 
You are aware of what happened to General Vandamme ; the 
Duke of Tarento met with some reverses in Silesia; and the 
Prince of the Moskwa has just been beaten in marching upon 
Berlin. I present you with this picture in order that you may 
know all, and take steps accordingly." 

The war, nevertheless, was still prolonged, gradually ex- 
hausting the strength of all ; and the allies at last resolved to 
strike a decisive blow. They had long avoided the Emperor 
Napoleon, attacking his lieutenants, and incessantly harass- 
ing his armies; but being now assured of their crushing superi- 
ority in numbers, and urged on by the ardor of Bliicher's staff, 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 53 

the sovereigns resolved to penetrate into Bohemia, and ad- 
vance by different roads upon Leipsic, after again threatening 
Dresden. Their whole effort was, for a short time, to deceive 
Napoleon ; with the purpose of concentrating the allied forces 
before he could attack the armies apart. Blucher was ap- 
pointed to push on first in advance, to compel Bernadotte to 
cross the Elbe at Roslau. The Germans impatiently blamed 
the backwardness of the prince royal of Sweden. "He dare 
not attack the French," said they. 

Napoleon, also, as well as the allies, wished for a battle. 
Having some idea of the plans of the enemy, he guessed their 
combinations, but counted upon delays which, as it happened, 
they did not make. His first thought was to abandon the Elbe 
and Dresden, and by marching with all his forces towards 
Leipsic, separate the three allied armies from each other. He 
made preparations for this purpose, and allowed the old King 
of Saxony to accompany his armies. Marshal St. Cyr was al- 
ready rejoicing at the thoughts of leaving Dresden, when the 
emperor, on reaching Dresden, became hopeful of beating Ber- 
nadotte and Blucher in rapidity of march, and thus fighting 
the armies of the north and of Silesia, before they could effect 
their junction with the army of Bohemia. For this purpose, 
it was necessary to keep Dresden, in order to recross the Elbe 
there, and the evacuation of the town was deferred. This un- 
fortunate measure deprived us of 30,000 men, and Marshal St. 
Cyr, and was, moreover, useless, as the rapid concentration of 
the enemies round Leipsic soon compelled Napoleon to resume 
his march towards that place. 

I have no intention of narrating, in all their technical de- 
tails, the successive battles then about to be fought under the 
walls of Leipsic, to decide the fate of France and Europe. The 
feeling of the lowest soldiers, as well as of the emperor himself, 
was, that the hour of final struggle was at hand. "Boys!" 
said General Maison, on the morning of the 16th, when joining 
battle, "this is France's last battle, and we must be all dead 
before night." The same gloomy ardor reigned throughout all 
the ranks. Everywhere men hastened to fight, without illu- 
sion, with the courage of wounded lions. "You are long in 
coming, my old Augereau," cried Napoleon to the marshal, as 
he reached the head-quarters ; ' ' you have kept us waiting ; you 
are no longer the Augereau of Castiglione !" "I shall always 
be the Augereau of Castiglione," replied the old soldier of the 
/epublic, "when your Majesty gives me back the soldiers of 



54 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. srr. 

the army of Italy." Those were dead; their sons also were 
dead ; their grandchildren had not had time to grow, and had 
already been mowed down on the field of battle. Napoleon had 
just prepared the decrees for a new levy, calling upon 280,000 
more men to join his flag, 120,000 being from previous contin- 
gents, and 160,000 from the conscription of 1815. On reaching 
Leipsic, on the 15th October, the French army could not 
amount to more than 190,000 men, whereas the united forces of 
the allies reckoned 300,000. Napoleon himself felt the load that 
lay upon his shoulders. "What an intricate problem is all 
this!" said he. "No one but myself can get me well through 
it, and even I shall find it no easy task." 

The exterior difficulties and complications constantly in- 
creased around the emperor, opposing or threatening his mili- 
tary operations. The kingdom of Westphalia, composed of 
heterogeneous elements, and provinces differing in origin and 
interests, had just crumbled to pieces before a charge of Czer- 
nichef 's Cossacks. Arriving, without opposition, at the gates 
of Cassel, they found King Jerome almost deprived of troops. 
The def encejwas but for an instant, the population being every- 
where hostile to him ; the dethroned monarch was obliged to 
withdraw to Coblentz, and his States no longer existed. News 
of another danger was brought. The King of Bavaria had 
asked for reinforcements, having long been displeased to 
see his army, under the orders of General Wrede, exposed 
on the Inn to the attacks of the Austrian s. Marshal Auge- 
reau's departure for Leipsic having rendered assistance hope- 
less, the prince yielded to his personal desires and fears, as 
well as to the enthusiastic wishes of Ins people. On the 8th 
October, Bavaria adhered to the coalition by a treaty secretly 
signed at Munich. Behind us every way of escape was being 
closed. Before us opened the battle-field of Leipsic. 

Napoleon carefully inspected the ground on the 15th, trying 
to form an idea of the position of the enemies, and their plan of 
battle. The army of Bohemia, under Prince Schwartzenberg, 
threatened our positions at Mark-Kleeburg, Wachau, and Lie- 
bert-Wolkwitz. Bliicher with his forces on the Halle road, 
several leagues from Leipsic, was eager to reach the battle- 
field. Bernadotte was still some distance off on the lower 
Saale, two of his divisions being on the march along the right 
bank of the Elbe. Two days' marching would bring the allies 
a reinforcement of 110,000 men. Of the troops at the disposal 
of the French, those of General Eescnier only had not yet 



ch. xiv.] THE DECLINE. ' 55 

reached Leipsic, and they did not amount fco more than 15,- 
000 men, mostly foreigners. The emperor could not delay 
giving battle, which therefore began on the 16th, at nine o'clock 
in the morning. 

The fighting was continued the whole day with the same 
keen determination. When, in the evening, by the last rays 
of twilight, Napoleon rode over the field of the dead, he saw 
that his soldiers had fallen in their ranks, as men of honor; 
but the enemy had shown equal courage. Incessantly taken, 
and retaken, by the opposing tides of combatants, the positions 
were defended, attacked, and turned, without any decisive 
result. Napoleon several times put forth a great effort to reach 
a definite success, which he felt necessary, but a skilful move- 
ment of the enemy constantly hampered his plan. At the 
sheep-farm of Avenhayn, at the village of Gulden-Gossa, at the 
wood of the University, dead bodies were heaped up in vain. 
The cannon in the distance were heard resounding, in reply to 
the thunder of the main battle-field. At Lindenau, General 
Margaron had difficulty in holding his own against Giulay. At 
Mockern, Marshal Mazaron had been stopped in his march to- 
wards Leipsic by the arrival of Bliicher, who was hastening to 
the combat. Alone he had to struggle with the army of Silesia, 
and when at last compelled to fall back upon the Partha, the 
Marshal had lost 6000 men. Nothing now prevented the junc- 
tion of Bliicher and Schwartzenberg. 

Though 20,000 Frenchmen lay strewed over the ground 
at Wachau, we had not lost our positions, or retreated a step. 
The situation, however, was not less terrible and threatening, 
in presence of the enormous masses which were advancing to 
surround us on every side. Napoleon felt this. On the 17th, 
he for a short time thought of retreating. That was to confess 
his defeat, and risk the loss of the excellent troops still shut up 
in the strongholds at Dresden, Hamburg, Dantzic, Glogau, and 
Stettin. The emperor sent for Merveldt, the Austrian general, 
who had been taken prisoner on the evening of the 15th, in a 
skirmish at Dolitz. "Did they know I was here when they 
made the attack ?" he asked. ' ' Yes, sire. " ' ' You wished then, 
this time, to give me battle?" "Yes, sire." Then, after some 
remarks as to the respective numbers of the two armies, " Will 
you attack me to-morrow?" "Yes, sire." "This struggle is 
becoming very serious; should we not put a stop to it?" con- 
tinued the emperor; "will there be no thought of peace?" 
" May God grant it!" exclaimed the Austrian; " that is all wo 



56 HISTORY OF FRANCE. (ch. xiv. 

are fighting for. If your Majesty had agreed to it at Prague !" 
" Let England give me back my colonies, and I will give her 
back Hanover." "She will want more than that." "I will 
restore the Hanse towns, if need be." It was now too late; 
Merveldt spoke of Holland. He at the same time pointed out 
the determination of the allies with regard to the independ- 
ence of Italy. The kingdom of Westphalia no longer existed. 
With reference to an armistice, the emperor said, "I know 
that you maintain it is part of my military policy, yet we 
might in that way avoid much bloodshed. During the nego- 
tiations I should retire as far as the Saale." "The allies would 
never agree to an armistice on these terms," objected Merveldt: 
"they reckon to go to the Rhine this autumn." "To the 
Rhine!" exclaimed Napoleon. " Before I retire as far as the 
Rhine I must lose a battle, and till now I have yet lost none. 
Set out, nevertheless. You know my opinion of your merit ; I 
restore you to liberty on parole. You may repeat what I have 
told you." 

Merveldt's report went to strengthen the allied sovereigns in 
their intention of following up their advantages to the end. 
The emperor, however, had resolved to beat a retreat in a lei- 
surely and dignified manner, through Leipsic, as if merely to 
modify the position of his troops. At two o'clock in the morn- 
ing the whole army was to effect a concentric movement upon 
Leipsic, so that when the circle was completed round the town 
they might reach by the Lindenau bridge the small town 
divided from Leipsic by the Elster ; beyond that extended the 
plain of Lutzen, which General Bertrand was ordered to clear 
of the few troops of the enemy occupying it. General Rogniat 
was to throw bridges over the Saale. They neglected, how- 
ever, to build several over the Elster. 

After having everywhere given his orders personally, the 
emperor was returning to his bivouac at Probstheyda on the 
18th, at daybreak, when he saw three columns of the enemy 
advancing upon his new line of battle. The allies, like Napo- 
leon, had allowed the 17th to pass without a battle, because 
they waited for the arrival of Bernadotte, whom Bliicher had 
compelled to cross the Partha, and advance before Prince 
Schwartzenberg. On every side of the battle-field, the French 
army, who had fallen back within their new positions, now 
found themselves simultaneously attacked. The Austnans 
charged Probstheyda; Poniatowski and Augereau defended 
themselves at Connewitz. Marshal Ney and Marmont, at' 



CH. xiv.] THE DECLINE. 57 

tacked by Bliicher and Bernadotte, had seen General Reynier 
suddenly deserted by the Saxon forces, who passed over to the 
enemy, and turned their guns against Durutte's division, with 
whom they had served for several years. Napoleon hastened 
up with the cavalry and artillery of the guard, to close the 
breach opened in our lines by this defection. The news of it 
quickly spreading in both armies, stimulated still more the 
hopes of one side, and the heroic despair of the other. Prince 
Sehwartzenberg had now given up the attempt to carry Probst- 
heyda, and limited himself to bombarding our works. The 
batteries were still vomiting flames at nightfall, yet the French 
had not modified their positions ; the rows of dead men alone 
showed at what price our lines had been defended, and how 
much our forces had been weakened. 

Henceforward resistance became impossible, with 40,000 
soldiers dead or wounded in our ranks, and the retreat began 
immediately. The emperor had entered Leipsic to issue his 
orders. The wounded had been abandoned on the battle-field, 
but some of the victims of the engagements on the 16th were 
carried off. The ambulance-wagons, and those for baggage 
and artillery, already blocked up the bridge leading to Linde- 
nau, which was very long and narrow, and soon covered with 
a crowded throng of soldiers, prisoners, and camp-followers, 
who were frequently trodden under foot by columns advancing 
in good order. The guns commenced their roar at sunrise, as 
the rear-guard were still fighting in the suburbs. The passion- 
ate anger of our troops lent them new strength against the 
enemies who ventured to pursue them. It was at the point of 
the bayonet that several regiments forced their way towards 
Lindenau. 

These last defenders of the national honor were soon to pay 
dearly for their devotion. The bridge had been mined on the 
Leipsic side, where it crosses the main branch of the Elster, 
and orders were given to set fire to the train when the French 
troops were replaced at the bridge-head by the enemy. This 
frightful duty was entrusted to a simple corporal of the sappers. 
In the confusion of battle, while the remains of the seventh, 
fifth, and eleventh corps were still fighting on the ramparts of 
the town, some of Bliicher's soldiers, mixed with ours, were 
seen through the streets of the suburb Halle. " Set fire to it! 
set fire to it !" immediately shouted those who were already in 
safety, terrified at the thought of pursuit. The corporal, shar- 
ing in the alarm, obeyed, and the bridge was blown up, cover 



58 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xiy. 

ing both banks with its ruins, and condemning to death or cap- 
tivity 20,000 Frenchmen, who were thus deprived of all com- 
munication with the army. A cry of despair arose, and while 
the last ranks of our soldiers still rushed upon the enemy, 
many of the others threw themselves into the river, where the 
majority speedily perished. In that number was Prince Ponia- 
towski, who had been raised on the previous evening to the 
dignity of marshal. Macdonald succeeded in gaining the oppo- 
site bank. The Generals Eeynier and Lauriston fell into the 
hands of the enemy. The Emperor Alexander gave the King 
of Saxony to understand that he must consider himself a 
prisoner of war. A few hours previously, Napoleon had bidden 
adieu to the unhappy sovereign, whom he was drawing on to 
bis ruin. The defection of the Saxons on the field of battle was 
destined to save neither their king nor their country. 

The battle of nations was finished, and the lot of arms had 
decided against us. Napoleon now hastened to reach again 
those limits of the Rhine which he had recently scorned as too 
confined, fortunate in being able to pass freely over the Saale, 
thanks to the energy of Bertrand and Mortier, and hurrying to 
be before the enemy, who were advancing to bar their passage. 
The Austro-Bavarian army came to encamp on the Mein, 
whilst the emperor rested at Erfurt, their object being to inter* 
cept his march to Mayence. The remains of the army, re j 
formed by Napoleon's personal vigilance, at last crossed the 
passes of Thuringia ; but disease, desertion, and disorder daily 
weakened our resources. Of 100,000 men who left Leipsic, 
50,000 at most endured the fatigue and hardships of the march. 
Napoleon had less than 20,000 men under him when he attacked 
the Bavarians at Hanau, on the 30th October, and brilliantly 
forced his way through them. " Poor Wrede !" said the em- 
peror, disdainfully, as he cast a glance over his adversary's 
positions. "I made him a count, but I could not make him a 
general!" The Bavarians were crushed, and the French army 
entered triumphantly into Mayence, though reduced to the 
number of the smallest of the army-corps which had so recently 
passed through that town, one after another, marching to new 
conquests and new victories. The Rhine was not defended, 
and the garrisons which ought to have been protecting it were 
scattered from the Oder to the Vistula, delivered up before- 
hand, in spite of their heroism, to the vengeance of the allies. 
After making his final arrangements for distributing in the 
Rhenish strongholds the troons left him, the emperor set out 



CH. xv.] THE FALL. 59 

from Mayence on the 7th November, and on the 9th reached 
Paris, still proud in spite of his profound dejection. His last 
words at Mayence were a challenge to the German princes who 
had deserted him. ' ' The King of Bavaria and I will meet 
again," said he. " He was a little prince whom I made great; 
and now he is a great prince, whom I shall make little." 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE FALL (1813—1814). 



Immediately after the battle of Dresden, during the depres- 
sion of defeat, the allied powers renewed and gave reasons for 
their alliance, being more than ever resolved to strengthen it 
in their misfortune; and after the battle of Leipsic, after gain- 
ing a brilliant victory which the conquered could not dispute, 
the allies wished to declare to all the world their mutual en- 
gagements and their reasons for continuing the alliance. " The 
allied sovereigns declare, " said they, ' ' that they do not make 
war upon France ; that they desire that she may be strong and 
happy, that her commerce may revive, and the arts again 
nourish ; that her territory may remain more extensive than it 
ever was under her kings — because the French influence, great 
and powerful, is in Europe one of the fundamental bases of the 
social system— because the tranquillity of a great people de- 
pends upon their happiness — because a brave nation does not 
sink lower on account of having in its turn undergone reverses. 
It is upon the emperor alone that they make war; or rather, 
upon that excess of influence which he has too long brought to 
bear upon nations foreign to his own, to the misfortune of 
France and Europe." 

We have in 1870 heard analogous declarations, and been able 
to estimate their value. In 1813 the allied sovereigns were sin- 
cere, as was proved by their conduct in 1814, and France 
understood their declarations to be earnest. She was at once 
annoyed, exhausted, and tired; tired of her past glories now 
vanishing before the present reverses, exhausted by the super- 
natural efforts she had for so many years been exerting, and 
annoyed at seeing a peace which she felt to be honorable and 
practicable scorned by the unconquerable pride of her master. 



60 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

immediately after the victories of Lutzen and Bautzen. All 
the oppressions which had gradually more and more weighed 
down all classes of society, the increasing burdens caused by 
requisitions, the hardships under which commerce groaned on 
account of the ports being closed, and above all the constant 
mowing down of men, and almost boys, in all the battle-fields 
of Europe, with families destroyed, and hopes ruined, such 
were the evils accumulated upon France by fifteen years of 
military despotism, succeeding to ten years of revolution. The 
imperial police were no longer sufficient to smother the com- 
plaints and murmurs. No one now believed in the declarations 
of the official journals ; and tragical rumors exaggerated even 
the facts of our disasters. The cry of the mothers rose to the 
very heavens. 

It was certainly not in favor of the various parties, long 
crushed under a powerful hand, that those elements of disturb- 
ance and fermentation were in agitation. The republicans, 
still numerous, remained silent, or dreamt of an enthusiastic 
stirring up of the country analogous to that of 1792, which 
would drive back the enemy far from our threatened frontiers ; 
the constitutionals seemed to be forgot ; the royalists criticised 
in the drawing-rooms, and ironical smiles again were seen on 
women's lips. Several intriguers were coming and going, 
though no attempt of importance, nor any effective influence, 
had yet resulted from the secret party-meetings. The most 
alarmed of all those whom Napoleon would see or hear on his 
arrival in France, in November, 1813, were amongst his most 
confidential servants. Those most resolved to injure him in 
the future had recently been of service to him, and he had 
assisted in raising them to the brilliant social and moral posi- 
tion which they occupied. In Illyria, Fouche, Duke of Otranto, 
a terrorist and spy, revolutionary and venal ; in Paris, Talley- 
rand, Prince of Benevento and Vice-Grand-Elector — both sus- 
pected by Napoleon, and both removed from any active share 
in his government — were both meditating schemes of ven- 
geance, still only vague, and subordinated to their personal in- 
terest. Talleyrand could reckon upon able and devoted friends 
— the Abbe Louis, formerly clerk to the " Parliament" of Paris; 
the Duke of Dalberg, who had been, like himself, made a coun- 
cillor of state by the emperor, and who still nursed some griev- 
ances against the imperial power. These men both kept up in 
Talleyrand's mind the sense of injury. He, however, still hesi- 
tated, and the emperor had more than once thought of entrust- 



ch. xv.] THE FALL. 61 

ing important missions to him. They both felt themselves on 
the brink of a gulf of unfathomable depth, the opposite side of 
which still remained hid to even the most daring eyes. 

This gulf was constantly becoming greater, and the situation 
from hour to hour became more gloomy, as if the prestige of 
victory, so long attached to our colors by the powerful hand 
of Napoleon, had all at once escaped from his grasp. In Spain, 
Marshal Soult had for a short time tried to force Wellington 
back beyond Pampeluna and St. Sebastian, which he then held 
in a state of siege ; but both places succumbed, and the French 
army after recrossing the frontiers found itself attacked and 
stormed at St. Jean de Luz by the English. Wellington first 
set foot on the soil of France on the 11th November. 1813. 

In Germany the fate which Napoleon had foreseen threat- 
ened the various garrisons, which had been left to themselves, 
isolated in a country which was daily becoming more hostile, 
without mutual communication, without personal attachment 
among the officers in command. The majority still held out, 
though reduced by disease, gallantly resolving to defend them- 
selves and sell their fives dearly. Dresden had just capitu- 
lated. Count Lobau had made an unsuccessful attempt to 
force his way to Torgau, in order to secure a retreat for the 
garrison ; but the effort being too long delayed, and made with 
insufficient resources, had not succeeded, and Marshal St. Cyr, 
dissatisfied and depressed, agreed to an honorable capitulation. 
The 30,000 soldiers shut up in Dresden were to return to France 
upon laying down their arms, without any condition to pre- 
vent them again serving the country, so dear to them, which 
they were about to see again. They were already on the 
march, and leaving Dresden, when General Klenau, who had 
treated with Marshal St. Cyr, suddenly announced that the 
Emperor Alexander, having had no share in the negotiation, 
refused to agree to the capitulation, and that the French 
troops must return to Dresden or acknowledge themselves 
prisoners of war. Most of the works of defence were de- 
stroyed, the provisions consumed, and many of the soldiers ill. 
The alternative was deceptive, and in spite of his indignant 
protestations, the marshal found himself compelled to submit 
to the conqueror's unjust demands. Generals and soldiers 
were reduced to captivity. 

The Emperor Napoloon disliked Marshal St. Cyr. whose in- 
dependence of character often rendered him ill-natured and 
rude ; but on this occasion he did justice emphatically to his 



(32 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

rare merit, in a manner as honorable to himself as to his illus- 
trious lieutenant. " It is not for the 28,000 men of the garri- 
son that the Emperor Alexander and Schwartzenberg have 
done that," said he on being informed of the disloyal rupture 
of the capitulation of Dresden; " it is in order to have Gouvion 
St. Cyr: they are well aware that he is the first man of our 
time for defence; I surpass him in attack." 
It was for defence that the Emperor Napoleon was this time pre- 
paring, the greatly reduced remains of his army no longer sup- 
plied with sufficient forces to repel the invasion which he fore* 
saw. The levy of 280,000 men announced in October had now 
become too weak a resource against the enemy, and a "sena- 
tus-consulte" ordered out 300,000 new combatants upon the 
past conscriptions, which had already been so often subjected 
to fresh calls. On this occasion the order extended back to the 
year 1803. Since July, 30,000 supplementary conscripts had 
been raised in the southern departments for the defence of the 
Spanish frontiers. For the future the interior was to be garri- 
soned by the cohorts of the national guard. 

The effort was something enormous, and to have carried out 
Napoleon's plan was beyond the resources of the exhausted 
country. The emperor knew this to a certain extent, and did 
not reckon upon collecting under his colors all the soldiers 
whom he demanded from the country. He had already 
given orders to delay levying the contingent of 1815, and he 
especially urged calling out the three last conscriptions. He 
counted upon the winter months to complete his military 
preparations. Count Daru had just been appointed minister 
of war, which was an assurance that the utmost pains would 
be bestowed, with skill and energy. General Drouot was 
placed in command of the guard, now largely increased, and 
was appointed to regulate their recruiting as well as their 
equipment. Money was now wanting, because the resources 
formerly supplied by imposing contributions upon the con- 
quered countries had disappeared with victory. On the 17th 
November, Napoleon thus wrote to his minister of finance : 

"M. le Comte Mollien, in times of penury like the present, 
the Treasury cannot be administered on the same principles or 
in the same manner as in times of abundance, such as we have 
had till now. All the orders of the war administration for 
supplies, all those of the war minister for the expenses of 
engineering artillery and the re-arming of strongholds, are not 
paid ; hence most disastrous results to the defence of the State. 




'YOU ARE NO LONGER THE AUGEREAU OF CASTIGUONE.' 



«;h. xv.] TEE FALL. 63 

It is a misfortune that the public debt, thejpensions and salaries 
of Holland, Rome, Piedmont, and even France, are behind- 
hand ; but that misfortune is in no respect to be compared to 
what would residt from the least delay in the payment of the 
orders of the war administration or the war minister. The 
public safety has no law ; these orders ought to be paid before 
the salaries of civilians and the public dividends. In the 
present circumstances there has not been an inch of ground 
stirred anywhere, because the war orders remained everywhere 
unpaid. I have not more than 30,000,000 of silver in the treas- 
ury of the crown, and I give you ten of them, though with a 
strong feeling of repugnance, for I was keeping it against a 
rainy day, and if that money were used in civil expenses it 
would be a sacrifice of the last resource." 

The Emperor Napoleon had at his disposal a resource more 
precious. The Spanish war had for five years absorbed, in 
men and money, a considerable part of the strength and life of 
France. The hopes which Napoleon had conceived as to the 
provinces to the north of the Ebro, vanished with his power. 
The time for annexation was past. Marshal Soult was still de- 
fending the southern frontiers, and Suchet still held Catalonia, 
having garrisoned the strongholds of Aragon: 80,000 men of 
excellent troops could be restored to the country in her neces- 
sity. The emperor resolved to negotiate, and sent Laforest to 
Ferdinand VII. at Valengay. The old king, Charles IV., and 
his wife, always accompained by the Prince de la Paix, had 
left Compiegne, to take up their abode at Marseilles, and after- 
wards at Rome. It was with their son, who alone was popular 
in Spain, and whose name had served as a rallying-cry in the 
National war, that the Emperor Napoleon, wearied and threat- 
ened, at last consented to negotiate. 

An unjust and disloyal policy was legitimately punished by 
meeting at every step with distrust and treacherous compl ica- 
tions. No one in Spain amongst the chiefs of the insurrection 
could trust to the word or advances of the Emperor Napoleon, 
and none of them was inclined even to receive instructions com- 
ing from a captive prince, who might be inspired by his jailers. 
Caulaincourt had recently replaced the Duke of Bassano as 
foreign minister, the emperor being obliged to sacrifice the lat- 
ter to public opinion ; and the new minister's advice was to set 
the King of Spain at liberty, after making a bargain with him 
as to the conditions of his restoration, so that he might plead 
with his subjects his own cause and that of France. Napoleoc 



64 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. rv. 

did not aaopt that idea, being mistrustful, not without reason, 
of the Spanish prince, who was more cunning and deceitful 
than ever in his isolation and captivity. At first Ferdinand 
refused to discuss matters with Laforest, declaring that he 
was ignorant of what was going on in the world and in Spain, 
and that he wished to remain at rest under the emperor's pro- 
tection. A proposal was made to him that his states should 
be completely restored to him, on condition of the with- 
drawal of the English, the freedom of the prisoners, and the 
integrity of the Spanish colonies, none of which were to be 
ceded to Great Britain. A proposal of marrying Ferdinand 
to one of King Joseph's daughters had been considered; 
but Laforest, from diplomatic reticence, reserved that con- 
dition. 

Joseph Bonaparte refused to take part in the negotiation, 
unless assured of some compensation in Italy. Napoleon ex- 
claimed indignantly against this claim. "Joseph blames him- 
self for having committed some military faults; he has no 
thought of such a thing. He is not a soldier; he could not 
commit them ; he has not committed them ! In fact, he has 
lost Spain, and will certainly not recover it. Let him consult 
the lowest of my generals, he will see if it is possible to claim 
a single village beyond the Pyrenees. But if I wished to make 
a treaty with Spain, I should not be even listened to! The first 
condition of any peace with Europe is the restoration, pure 
and simple, of Spain to the Bourbons — happy if at that price I 
can rid myself of the English, and bring back my armies of 
Spain to the Rhine! As to compensations in Italy, where 
are they to be found? Can I turn Murat out of Ins kingdom? 
I have difficulty in keeping him to his duties towards France 
and me. How should I be obeyed if I went to ask him to de- 
scend from his throne in favor of Joseph? As to the Roman 
States, I shall be compelled to give them up to the Pope, and I 
am resolved to do so. As to Tuscany which belongs to Elisa, 
Piedmont which belongs to France, or Lombardy where 
Eugene has so much difficulty in maintaining his position, 
how can I know what they will leave me? To keep France 
with its natural limits, I must gain many victories; but to 
gain anything beyond the Alps, I should have to gain many 
more. And if they leave me some territory in Italy, could I, 
on Joseph's account, take it away from Eugene, that son so 
devoted and brave, who has constantly risked his life for me 
and for France, and never incurred my displeasure? The 



err. xv.] THE FALL. 65 

Spanish and I can very well dispense with King Joseph, and 
replace Ferdinand VII. on the throne of the Spains." 

The Spaniards at the head of the insurrection were not eager 
to see their sovereign very soon, united as he was to the Em- 
peror Napoleon by a treaty. They wished to avenge them- 
selves ; and the English had no wish to lose the fruit of their 
victories. Ferdinand had no liking for the liberal principles 
which ruled the insurgent leaders, and the Cortes disliked ab- 
dicating in his favor. Napoleon, however, sent to Valencay 
the Duke of San Carlos, formerly a special favorite of the 
Prince of the Asturias, and long imprisoned at Lons-le-Saul- 
nier. Canon Esquoiquiz and Jose Palafox were anxious to re- 
gain their liberty and secure the independence of their coun- 
try. On the 13th December, after long negotiations, the duke 
started for Madrid, bearing a treaty, signed on the 11th at 
Valengay, between the Emperor Napoleon and King Ferdinand 
VII. At the same time, and by another road, the illustrious 
defender of Saragossa was carrying into Spain a copy of the 
conventions. Henceforward, Napoleon was anxious to free 
himself from the burden which he had formerly been eager to 
lay upon his shoulders. The justice which reigns supreme 
over human actions rendered this renunciation difficult to him 
at the very time when the thrones which he had raised were 
crumbling to pieces round his own, or escaping from his con- 
trol. Murat had already seemed to waver in his fidelity : the 
intrigues of Austria had influenced the mind of Queen Caro- 
line, who had complete power over her husband. He aimed at 
becoming the head of an independent Italy, and asked Napo- 
leon himself to furnish the means. Such was the advice given 
by Fouche, who had been sent to strengthen his fidelity. Only 
a few months more were to elapse before Murat, thinking he 
should save his throne by treachery, signed with Austria and 
England a treaty of alliance (6th, 11th January, 1814), which 
he was soon after to violate, in order to pay at last with his 
life for the vacillations of a mind which was always unstable 
and weak, unless when face to face with the dangers of the 
battle-field and under the constraint of military honor. 

Time was pressing, and Napoleon began to think that he 
could not make use of the whole winter to complete his war- 
like preparations. Probably even the allied powers would not 
allow him time to recall by his negotiations the troops still 
occupying Spain and those which he wished to bring away 
from the German strongholds. Scarcely 40,000 men of the new 
VIII.— 5 



66 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

levies were yet brought together in the depots; from 50,000 to 
60,000 weary soldiers still occupied the Rhenish frontiers; and 
in Italy Prince Eugene had not collected 40,000. After the 
battle of Leipsic the allies stopped, as if astonished at their 
success, hesitating to pursue him and beard the lion even 
in his den. About the middle of November the sovereigns, 
who had met in Frankfort, had some intention of negotia- 
ting. 

The Prussians were enthusiastic, from the ardor of ven- 
geance, and the necessity of reconstituting their dismembered 
country with some glory. The Russians were fully aware of 
the difficulties of carrying out an enterprise against France to 
the very end : they had been fighting incessantly for eighteen 
months, and were anxious for rest. Their emperor was more 
eager than his generals to pursue his advantages ; he believed 
himself the arbiter of Europe, and wished to efface tho humili- 
ations which Napoleon had recently subjected him to. When 
stepping upon French territory, Lord Wellington addressed to 
his troops that famous proclamation : ' ' Let the officers and 
soldiers of this army not forget, that if the nations are at war 
with France, it is only because the ruler of France will not 
allow them peace, and because he aims at subjecting them to 
his yoke." The English Cabinet had sent as a plenipotentiary 
to the allied sovereigns, Lord Aberdeen, still very young, but 
already remarkable by his calm yet self-reliant disposition. 
Favorable in their real hearts to that restoration of the house 
of Bourbon which England had always considered the surest 
guarantee of lasting peace in France, Lord Castlereagh and his 
ambassador were not disposed to make it a condition. The 
Emperor of Austria and his minister still hoped to obtain trom 
Napoleon the concessions necessary to restore peace : it was 
their wisdom and influence that produced the harmony which 
presided over the resolutions of the allied princes. It was Met- 
ternich who took the initiative at Frankfort in pacific over- 
tures towards the emperor, entrusting with that duty St. 
Aignan, the brother-in-law of Caulaincourt, who had recently 
been French Minister at Weimar. Caulaincourt was asked to 
gain information for negotiations on the baso of the natural 
limits of France — the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees. The 
sovereigns did not aim at the humiliation of their illustrious 
and now defeated enemy, but were resolved upon granting 
nothing beyond what they had already stipulated. Nesselrode 
and Lord Aberdeen spoke to the same effect. The charge, 



ch. xv J TEE FALL. 67 

d'affaires set out for Paris bearing a summary of the conditions 
of the peace. 

It required a great effort to renounce the habits of illimitable 
power, and learn, after fifteen years of indisputable authority, 
to reckon with the various powers abroad and at home. While 
accepting the idea of a negotiation, and specifying no place for 
the future congress, the Emperor Napoleon did not condescend 
in his first reply to touch upon the question of the bases of the 
peace ; and when at last, on the 2nd December, Caulaincourt 
succeeded in obtaining his explicit agreement to the Frankfort 
proposals, it was too late. England claimed a share in the ad- 
vantages of the victory, and Aberdeen's instructions were 
modified. Time had advanced, and events advanced with it. 

Public opinion in France was advancing, together with time 
and events, and the emperor acknowledged it with an angry 
feeling, which he was unable to contain. A month after the 
Legislative Body had been summoned, the session was at last 
opened by the emperor, on the 19th December. The faces of 
all were gloomy, and their hearts full of the anxiety which 
weighed upon every household in France. The partisans of 
the imperial regime exerted themselves in vain calming the 
general uneasiness and imposing silence upon just complaints, 
when Napoleon himself thus addressed his Parliament : — 

" Senators, councillors of State, deputies of the Legislative 
Body,- 

" Brilliant victories have shed lustre upon French arms dur- 
ing the present campaign, but unparalleled defections rendered 
those victories useless, and everything turned against us. 
France herself would be in danger without the energy and 
union of the French. 

"I was never seduced by prosperity, and adversity would 
find me above her assaults. 

"I have several times given peace to the nations when they 
had lost everything. With part of my conquests I raised 
thrones for kings who have deserted me. I conceived and 
executed great schemes for the prosperity and happiness of the 
world. A monarch and a father, I feel what peace adds to the 
security of thrones and of families. Negotiations have been 
begun with the allied powers. I have adhered to the prelim- 
inary bases proposed by them, and was therefore in hopes that 
before the opening of this session the Congress would have as- 
sembled at Mannheim ; but new delays, for which France is 
not blamable, have deferred that event, which all are eagerly 



68 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ca xV. 

awaiting. I have given orders that all the original documents 
of the Department of Foreign Affairs should be laid before you. 
You will receive information of them through a commission, 
and my councillors will acquaint you with my intentions re- 
specting them. There is on my part no opposition to the resto- 
ration of peace. I know and share in all the sentiments of the 
French people. I say the French people, because there is none 
of them who desires peace at the cost of honor." 

" When the emperor laid before the Senate and the Legisla- 
tive Body several of the documents of his negotiations with 
the allied powers," says Guizot, in his Memoirs, " and wished 
for an expression of their sentiments, if he had had a real pur- 
pose of making peace, or of seriously convincing France that if 
peace were not made it was by no means on account of the ob- 
stinacy of his overbearing will, he would certainly have found 
in both houses, however enervated they might be, energetic 
and popular support. I frequently conversed on intimate 
terms with three of the five members of the Commission of the 
Legislative Body, Maine de Biran, Gallois, and Eaynouard, and 
from them knew also the opinions of the remaining two, Laine 
and Flaugergues. Biran was, like Royer-Collard and myself, 
a member of a small philosophical club, where we freely dis 
cussed everything, and kept us well informed of what was 
going on in the Commission and in the Legislative Body itself. 
Though originally a royalist, he was independent of all parties 
and intrigues, conscientious almost to a fault, sometimes even 
timid when his conscience did not absolutely impose courage 
upon him, with little liking for politics, and in any case ever 
averse to the adoption of an extreme resolution or any active 
initiative. Gallois, a man of the world and a student, a mod- 
erate liberal of the philosophical school of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, was more concerned about his library than public notor- 
iety, and wished to perform worthily his duty to his country 
without disturbing the habitual serenity of his life. With 
more energy of manner and language, as a provengal and a 
poet, Raynouard was nevertheless disinclined to rash measures, 
and his complaints, which were said to be severe against the 
tyrannical abuses of the imperial administration, would not 
have prevented him being contented with those moderate re- 
parations which in the meantime save honor, and give hope 
for the future. Flaugergues, an honest republican, who put on 
mourning for the death of Louis XVI. , unyielding in disposi- 
tion and character, was capable of energetic resolution, but he 



CH. xv.] TEE FALL. 69 

could not communicate it to others. He had but small influ- 
ence upon his colleagues, though he spoke a great deal. Laine, 
on the contrary, had a warm and sympathetic heart under a 
downcast manner, and a nobleness of mind without much 
originality or power. He spoke with great point and force 
when his feelings were moved. Formerly a republican, and 
afterwards simply a disinterested partisan of the liberal ideas 
and sentiments, he was at once appointed leader of the com- 
mission, and agreed without hesitation to be its mouthpiece, 
But, unlike his colleagues, he had no premeditated hostility or 
secret engagement against the emperor. They all wished only 
to convey to him the earnest desire of France for a really 
pacific foreign policy, and the respect for the people's rights at 
home with legal exercise of power. 

" With such men, animated with such views, it was easy to 
come to an arrangement ; but Napoleon would not even grant 
them a hearing." He had beforehand chafed the remains of 
self-respect which were rea waking amongst the deputies by ig- 
noring their right to present a list of candidates for the presi- 
dentship. The Duke of Massa (Regnier) formerly one of the 
high judges, minister of justice, and who had just been replaced 
in the cabinet by young Count Mole, was named President of 
the Legislative Body. To explain this transformation, which 
was announced by a senatus-consulte, Mole had recourse to sin- 
gular arguments. "It might happen," said he, " that the can- 
didates presented by the Legislative Body, however honorable 
or distinguished, have never been personally known to the em- 
peror, or that they themselves were unacquainted with the 
forms and ceremonial of the palace. Whereas, on the contrary, 
by the emperor choosing the president directly, the Legislative 
Body will be sure of finding in him a useful intermediary, a 
guide and support." 

Laine's report was keenly discussed by the commissioners of 
the government who were present at the meetings of the five 
deputies. Massa was also there; and on his charging Eay- 
nouard with making unconstitutional claims, the author of 
Les Templiers turned quickly to him and said, "I see nothing 
here that is unconstitutional, but your presence and func- 
tions." 

The Archchancellor Cambaceres obtained several modifica- 
tions in the original form of the report, yet when the document 
was submitted to the emperor, he burst into a violent rage. 
He pretended to see in the terms used by the Commission of 



70 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

the Legislative Body a return to the claims and passions of the 
revolutionary assemblies; and in spite of all that could be 
urged by several of his councillors, more particularly Camba- 
ceres and Rovigo, he determined to suppress the report and ad- 
journ the Legislative Body. The decree appeared in the Moni- 
teur of the 1st January, 1814, and when the deputies appeared 
at the Tuileries to pay their respects on the occasion of the new 
year, the emperor abruptly stopped them, and getting [into a 
passion, [exclaimed, with the most violent gestures and lan- 
guage, such as he sometimes gave way to : " Deputies of the 
Legislative Body, you can do much good, and you have done 
much harm. I summoned you to assist me, and you have 
come to say and do what is necessary to help the foreigner. 
Eleven twelfths of you are good, the rest are factious, and you 
have been their dupes. Your commission has been inspired by 
the spirit of the Girondins. M. Laine, who drew up your re- 
port, is a worthless man. He is sold to England, with whom 
he has communication by means of Deseze, the barrister: I 
shall keep my eye upon him. Two battles lost in Champagne 
would have done less harm than his report. M. Raynouard 
said that Marshal Massena pillaged a citizen's country-house ; 
M. Raynouard is a liar . . . How can you blame me for my 
misfortunes? You say that adversity has given me good ad- 
vice. Is it by reproaches that you propose to restore the glory 
of the throne? I am one of those men who can face death, but 
not disgrace. Besides, what is the throne? Four pieces of 
wood covered with a piece of velvet : everything depends upon 
him whose seat it is. The throne is in the desire of the nation, 
whom I represent ; I cannot be attacked without attacking it. 
Four times have I been called by the nation ; I had the votes of 
5,000,000 of citizens. I have a title, and you have none. You 
are only deputies of the departments. Is tins a time for re- 
monstrance when 200,000 Cossacks are crossing our frontiers? 
Your theorists ask for guarantees of defence against power ; at 
this moment France only asks for those against the enemy. 
You speak of abuses and vexations, which I am as well aware 
of as you ; they are due to the circumstances and misfortunes 
of the times. When before Europe in arms, why speak of our 
domestic quarrels ? One's dirty linen should be washed at 
home. You surely wish to imitate the Constituent Assembly, 
and begin another revolution? I am beyond reach of your dec- 
lamations. In three months we shall have peace, or I shall 
be dead. Our enemies have never conquered us, nor will they 



ch. xv.] THE FALL. 71 

conquer "us. They will be driven away more speedily than 
they came." 

Even when his passionate outbursts were genuine and pain- 
ful, the Emperor Napoleon always considered what effect they 
might produce, and tried to make use of it. Wben communi- 
cating to the commission the documents of the negotiation, he 
forbade the Duke of Vicentia to place amongst them that which 
laid down the conditions on which the allied powers were 
ready to treat, not wishing to agree to any basis of peace. The 
Duke of Rovigo undertook to carry to its utmost extremity the 
indiscretion of his anger. "Your words are very imprudent," 
he said to the members of the commission, " when there is a 
Bourbon in the saddle. " 

"Thus in his great extremity, under the blow of the most 
startling manifestations, human and divine, the despot at bay 
made a display of absolute power; the conquered conqueror 
showed that the negotiations for peace were, so far as he was 
concerned, only a means of waiting till the chances of war 
should again turn in his favor, and the tottering head of the 
new dynasty proclaimed himself that the old dynasty was 
there, ready to take his place." * 

The Senate was more deferential than the Legislative Body, 
and Fontanes in his speech expressed the wish of the nation 
under the form of a panegyric. "Sire," said he, "obtain 
peace by a final effort worthy of yourself and of Frenchmen ; 
and may your hand, so many times victorious, lay its sword 
aside after securing the repose of the world." It was the 
senators whom the emperor appointed to go to the depart- 
ments to stir up patriotic zeal. His last interview with them 
was touching. Like King Louis XIV., on his death-bed hold- 
ing in his arms the little prince who was about to become 
King Louis XV. , he acknowledged the wrong which he had 
done to his people. " I have made too many wars. I formed 
immense projects, and wished to secure to France the empire 
of the world. I counted too much upon my good fortune, and 
must expiate that fault. I shall make peace, and shall do so 
according as the circumstances require ; it will be mortifying 
to no one but me. It is I who have been deceived, and I 
ought to suffer, not France ; she has freely shed her blood for 
me, and spared no sacrifice. Tell the French that I no longer 
claim their efforts for myself and my projects; I ask from 

■ i_i . ■ - ■- — ' *■ ■— ■ . ■ ■ 

•Guizot's M4moirespour servir t Etc., vol. i. 



72 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

them only the means of thrusting back the enemy out of our 
territory. Alsace, Franche-Comte, Navarre, and Beam are 
invaded ; I wish to treat on the frontiers, and not in the bosom 
of our provinces laid waste by a horde of savages. I summon 
the Frenchmen of Paris, Brittany, Normandy, Champagne, 
Burgundy, and the other departments, to the assistance of 
their brothers. To rescue these from the enemy is the only 
point at issue ; there is no longer any question about recover- 
ing the conquests which we formerly made." 

Napoleon still spoke of peace, but he knew well that at that 
moment war alone was preparing for France as well as him, a 
war of fury and desperation. Up to the time of his return 
from the campaign of Saxony, after the defeat of Leipsic, he 
wished to beat down the conditions of peace, but his hesitation 
and falsehood, so much regretted by the allies who were will- 
ing to negotiate, supplied arms to those who were hostile. 
Count Stein, formerly leader of the national rising in Ger- 
many against Napoleon, and now governor of the German 
territories recoverec from France, was openly opposed to any 
pacific overture ; and with the Emperor Alexander, whose in- 
timacy he already shared, Count Pozzo di Borgo displayed 
against the Emperor Napoleon an hereditary hatred, of that 
sort, both persistent and keen, which is frequently called a 
Corsican hatred. Sprung from a family always at feud with 
the Bonapartes, belonging traditionally to the aristocratic 
party, and defeated in Corsica by the French revolution repre- 
sented by General Bonaparte, he had run over Europe inspired 
by his revenge — England, Austria, Russia, Sweden — stirring 
up enemies against us, provoking annoyance and difficulties, 
creating or exciting distrust and suspicion. Singularly suited 
for this task by his political genius, so supple and yet compre- 
hensive, keenly determined to pursue it even to the day when 
the Emperor Napoleon's deposition was pronounced by the 
Senate, Count Pozzo di Borgo was soon after to whisper to a 
lady's ear, when sitting with the diplomatists, "I told you 
that I should kill him !" At the close of the year 1813, during 
the terrible crisis which threatened the power and throne of 
the Emperor Napoleon, he appeared amongst the allies as a 
skilful adviser, anxious to forewarn them against the perfidies 
of their adversary, and inspiring the most complete distrust. 
Henceforth England claimed Antwerp and Flushing. She had 
again conceived the idea of checking France with that strong 
barrier which had formerly been the subject of so many nego' 



on. xv.~\ THE FALL. 73 

tiations at the time of the threatening conquests of Louis 
XIV. She wished to establish a kingdom of the Netherlands, 
which could protect %he coast from the Texel to Antwerp. 
The spontaneous insurrection by which Holland had just re- 
gained her national independence was of the most important 
service to the plans of the English cabinet. 

Holland had docilely submitted to the yoke imposed upon 
her by revolutionary France, assisted by those parties of her 
own citizens who were rending her bosom. She had after- 
wards seen her burden grow heavier and her chains tighten. 
King Louis Bonaparte had reigned with difficulty, and the an- 
nexation to the French Empire was the cause of profound dis- 
satisfaction, which was constantly kept alive by their com- 
mercial grievances and the crushing load of the conscription. 
Partial risings took place, and were severely repressed. When 
fortune seemed to desert the Emperor Napoleon, Holland was 
worked upon by agents of the allied powers who promised to 
support the national movement. The approaches by sea were 
blocked by Admiral Missiessy with the fleet of the Scheldt, 
and Admiral Verhuell with the fleet of the Texel. Bernadotte 
had been appointed to support the Dutch patriots by entering 
their territory on the land side, but had directed his forces 
towards Denmark, in order to secure the possession of Nor- 
way, and was treating with Marshal Davout about the evacua- 
tion of Hamburg. The allied princes were annoyed at his 
selfish delay, and the prince royal of Sweden was obliged to 
detach part of his army against General Molitor, who had a 
very small number of troops at his command. When the 
general advanced upon Utrecht to guard the line from 
Naarden to Gorkum the national insurrection immediately 
burst forth at Amsterdam, with shouts of " Long live Orange !" 
repeated a thousand times. The Amsterdam patricians, stead- 
fast supporters of the old republic of the United Provinces, 
understood that the people ought to rally round the honored 
name of the house of Nassau, twice their liberator from the 
most cruel oppression. They accepted the popular revolution, 
and did not conceal from the Arch-Treasurer Lebrun their 
resolution to support the cause of national independence. 
Thereupon the French authorities, civil and military, found 
themselves no longer able to resist the national movement; 
General Molitor withdrew upon the Waal, and Prince Lebrun 
took the road to France. All the Dutch towns imitated the 
example of Amsterdam. The Prince of Orange did little 



74 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

after his return. An army of 6000 English landed on the 
coast, and the foundation of a kingdom of the Netherlands 
became the most important article in Lord Aberdeen's new- 
instructions. Henceforth the allied powers no longer adhered 
to the propositions of Frankfort, which Napoleon at last 
agreed to accept as base of the negotiations. Following the 
lead of England, the sovereigns now allowed France no other 
limits than those of 1790. 

Nevertheless, after long hesitation and some dissension 
among themselves, which had placed the coalition itself in 
danger, the allied armies violated the Swiss neutrality which 
the Diet had taken care should be acknowledged even by 
Napoleon. The emperor had in fact recalled his troops from 
Ticino, declaring that his title of " Mediator of the Confedera- 
tion" was only intended to recall the services rendered to 
Switzerland by France. Some risings which took place in 
Berne and several other towns in favor of a counter-revolu- 
tion, suited the wishes of Prince Schwartzenberg and the pur- 
poses of the Austrians. On the 21st December, 1813, the 
Austrians and Russians advanced by Berne and Geneva 
towards Besancon and Dole, while the Bavarians marched 
upon Bel fort. The Prussians with Bliicher were between 
Mayence and Coblentz, waiting for the moment to cross the 
Rhine in their turn, when they at once marched towards the 
fortress protecting that river. The allied army amounted to 
about 200,000 men. The emperor had sent as quickly as possi' 
ble his conscripts to Marshals Macdonald, Marmont, and Victor, 
who had been appointed to defend the Rhenish frontiers. He 
was at the same time organizing an army at Lyons for the 
purpose of blocking the roads from Switzerland and Savoy. 
Then entrusting old Marshal Kellermann, Duke of Valmy, 
with the care of organizing an army of reserve before Paris, 
he himself started for Chalons on the 25th January, 1814, after 
tenderly bidding his wife farewell, though he did not know it 
was the last, and leaving her invested with the cares of the 
regency under the direction of the Arch-chancellor Cam- 
baceres. When appointing the council, he openly expressed 
his distrust of Talleyrand, whose presence in it he could not 
dispense with. "I am well aware," said he, "that I have in 
Paris other enemies besides those I am going to fight, and that 
my absence will leave them the field open." He had, how- 
ever, recalled to Paris King Joseph, and recommended the 
empress and his son to his care. Murat had by this time 



ch. xt.] THE FALL. 75 

openly completed his defection. The government of the 
Spanish Cortes had not replied to the communication of the 
treaty concluded with King Ferdinand. Wellington and the 
English still threatened the departments of the south, and the 
army of Spain was therefore not available. Napoleon had 
just sent the Pope to Savona, as a preparation for that restora- 
tion of the Roman States which he seemed now to be resolved 
upon. He had sent Caulaincourt himself to the head-quarters 
of the sovereigns, which was already at Luneville, ordering 
him to demand a reply to the pacific proposals formerly sent 
from Frankfort by St. Aignan. "The emperor having ad- 
hered to the projected bases," wrote his plenipotentiary, " was 
astonished to see negotiation growing languid." 

Napoleon's most faithful servants were not deceived as to the 
uselessness of the last efforts which he was still putting forth 
to defend his tottering power. "We are about to undertake a 
task not only difficult, but very useless," said the Duke of 
Vicentia, as he left Paris; "do what we may, the era of the 
Napoleons is drawing to a close, and that of the Bourbons is 
recommencing. " Napoleon himself fully realized the terrible 
results of that invasion, which he wished to check with ex- 
hausted troops, in a country depopulated by war. One of his 
ministers * asked him for instructions in case communications 
should come to be intercepted between Paris blockaded by the 
enemy and head-quarters. "My dear fellow, " replied he, "if 
the enemy reach the gates of Paris, there is no more empire. " 

" I have still before my eyes the appearance of Paris," says 
Guizot, in his Memoires; "for example, the Rue de Rivoli, 
which was then only partly built. No workmen, no move- 
ment, materials in heaps unused, deserted scaffolding, erec- 
tions abandoned from want of money, hands, and confidence, 
new ruins. Everywhere the population seemed uneasy and 
restlessly idle, like people who are in want both of work and 
rest. On the highways, and in the towns and villages, there 
was the same appearance of inaction and agitation, the same 
visible impoverishment of the country, many more women and 
children than men ; young conscripts, sadly on the march to 
join their corps ; sick and wounded soldiers pouring back to 
the interior ; a nation mutilated and attenuated. Moreover, in 
addition to this physical distress, there was great moral per- 
plexity, the disturbance caused by contrary sentiments ; the 

* Vieil-Castel, Histoire de la Bestauration, vol. i. 



76 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xy 

eager desire for peace, and violent hatred of the foreigner, 
with the alternatives of anger against Napoleon or sympathy 
for him ; at one time cursed as the author of so many woes, at 
another celebrated as defender of the country and avenger of 
her wrongs. There was no enthusiasm in his defence, and but 
small confidence in his success, but no one made any attempt 
to oppose him. There were some hostile conversations, several 
preparatory announcements, some going and coming accord- 
ing to the results anticipated, but nothing more. The emperor 
acted in perfect liberty, and with all the energy to be expected 
from his isolation and the moral and physical exhaustion of the 
country. Never was such public apathy seen in the midst of 
so much national anxiety, or discontents refraining to such an 
extent from all action, or agents so eager to disavow their 
master while remaining so subservient to his purposes. It was 
a nation of harassed onlookers, who had lost all habit of taking 
any share themselves in their own lot, and knew not what de- 
termination they were to desire or to dread for the terrible 
drama in which their liberty and national existence were at 
stake." 

The sudden changes in the drama became daily more urgent. 
Being surprised, with their forces insufficient or badly pre- 
pared, the Marshals Victor, Marmont, and Ney found them- 
selves compelled to abandon their positions, and fall back to 
the river slopes of the Vosges. The departmental administra- 
tions withdrew before the enemy, and thus delivered up with- 
out resistance Alsace, Lorraine, and Franche-Oomte. The 
population, troubled, disarmed, abandoned to their own re- 
sources and suggestions, were divided in their real sentiments 
by different and contradictory opinions. " Among the well-to-, 
do and intelligent classes the desire for peace, disgust with the 
demands and speculations of imperial despotism, the certainty 
of its overthrow, and the near approach of another political 
rule, were evidently the ruling ideas. The people, on the other 
hand, only intermitted their weary depression to give them 
selves up to patriotic rage and revolutionary recollections. No 
moral union in the country, no common thought or feeling, in 
spite of a common experience and misfortune."* The old 
soldiers of Napoleon were still to show prodigies of courage in 
his name and under his orders; but the conscripts grumbled as 
they joined their regiments, and many deserted their colors, 

* Mimoires pour servir a VHistoire de man Temps. 



CH. xy.] THE FALL. 77 

"When Napoleon reached Chalons-sur-Marne, along with the 
shouts of "Long live the Emperor!" he heard ringing in his 
ears, " Down with joint taxes!" As usual, the popular angei 
first showed itself against the taxes. 

" Does your Majesty bring reinforcements?" asked the mar- 
shals as they gathered round Napoleon. ' ' No, " replied he ; and 
he passed in review the forces whom he had at hand, making 
an estimate of those who might soon join them. Victor and 
Marmont had each kept 10,000 men, and Ney reckoned 6000. 
General Gerard and Marshal Mortier together made up more 
than 20,000 soldiers, and General Lefebvre-Desnouttes brought 
from 6000 to 7000. Macdonald was returning from the Ardennes 
with 12,000 men, and Marshals Soult and Suchet had detached 
several divisions of the army of Spain, which were coming up 
with all speed b y the Bordeaux road. Bodies of reserve were 
being prepared at Troyes and on the Seine. At first, in order 
to meet the attack of 220,000 allies, the soldiers about Napoleon 
did not amount to 60,000. There was a large supply of excellent 
artillery, and the emperor revived by his courage all who were 
disheartened. He occupied all the passages over the Marne, 
the Aube, and the Seine, fixing his head-quarters at St. Dizier, 
which he had just recovered from the enemy. Blucher had 
already set out to join Prince Schwartzenberg on the Upper 
Marne; and the allied sovereigns met at Langres where Lord 
Castlereagh had just arrived, the head of the English cabinet, 
having decided to direct personally the important negotiations 
which were in preparation. Chatillon-sur-Seine was desig- 
nated as the seat of the future congress. Caulaincourt had 
hitherto only received evasive replies, and remained at the ad- 
vanced posts of the enemy's army. ' ' We are waiting for Lord 
Castlereagh, " was the reply sent him by Metternich. 

A favorite disciple of Pitt, and passionately engaged, since 
the beginning of his political career, in resisting France, 
whether revolutionary, republican, or absolutist. Lord Castle- 
reagh brought to the congress an influence which was certain 
to become preponderating. His firmness and simplicity of 
mind, and resolution of character, well fitted him to play the 
great part which was reserved for England in the congress of 
nations. For a long time she had sustained, with her pecuni- 
ary resources, a principal share of the burden of the war. She 
alone had persistently remained hostile to Napoleon, and never 
became subject to his yoke. Her adhesion or opposition was 
to decide upon peace or war. and all the powers were disposed 



78 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [cu. xv. 

to grant her great concessions. The foundation of the kingdom 
of the Netherlands, with the possibility of a matrimonial union 
which should bind the new state to the English monarchy, and 
the reduction of France to the frontiers of 1790, were the points 
fixed at the commencement of the negotiations by the head of 
the English cabinet. He did not admit that the question of 
maritime rights should even be discussed ; and, as soon as Ins 
conditions were accepted, he brought the whole weight of his 
influence to bear on the side of moderation, and came to agree- 
ment with Austria as to those views and intentions which 
were not affected by the question of a French dynasty. 
Popular opinion in England was becoming more and more 
favorable to the restoration of the house of Bourbon, that 
being regarded as necessary to the peace. The diplomatists 
assembled at Langres had not yet come to a decision on this 
point, though they all foresaw that the question of maintaining 
the imperial throne would not occasion dissension in the coal- 
ition. The Emperor Francis gave them to understand that he 
should not claim the crown for his grandson, if his son-in-law 
were overthrown. The idea of placing Bernadotte on the 
throne had sometimes occurred to the mind of the Emperor 
Alexander. 

The plenipotentiaries had already been designated for all the 
allied nations: Metternich and Stadion for Austria, Castle- 
reagh and Aberdeen for England, Pozzo di Borgo and Basou- 
moffski for Eussia, Wilhelm Humboldt for Prussia. Metter- 
nich and Schwartzenberg had proposed that the armies should 
remain at Langres to wait for the result of the negotiations ; 
the two first divisions of the work of the coalition being ac- 
complished—the advance to the Ehine and the invasion of 
France — there remained only the march upon Paris to be de- 
cided upon. The Austrians were not eager to hasten it, and 
thus ensure the triumph of Eussia and the passionate venge- 
ance of the Prussians. Blucher baffled those calculations by 
the temerity of his operations. The plenipotentiaries had just 
started for the Chatillon, and Metternich sent to inform 
Caulaincourt, urging him to persuade his master to treat on 
this occasion, whatever sacrifices might be imposed upon him. 
All at once news was brought that Napoleon had come up to 
Blucher when separated from part of his forces, and beaten 
him before Brienne (29th January, 1814), after a keenly -con- 
tested battle. Prince Schwartzenberg immediately set out 
from Langres for the purpose of supporting the Prussians. 



ch. xv.] THE FALL. 79 

On the 1st of February 170,000 allies were collected in the 
suburbs of Rothiere, while the Emperor Napoleon, with 32,000 
or 33,000 men, was supported on one side by the Aube, and on 
the other by the heights of Ajou. The battle recommenced 
with fury, and, in spite of the frightful disproportion of the 
forces, Napoleon held his positions till the evening, falling back 
during the night upon Troyes. He had been obliged to aban- 
don part of his artillery — too important, considering the re- 
sources at his disposal, which were reduced by every engage- 
ment. The first rush of victorious ardor was already diminish- 
ing among the troops, and the population of Champagne made 
no effort to revive their courage. Napoleon was compelled to 
reckon upon the faults and crimes of his adversaries, of which 
he took care to inform Caulaincourt, who had just set out for 
Chatillon. "The enemy's troops behave everywhere in a 
shocking manner," he wrote, on the 2nd February; "all the 
population take refuge in the woods. No peasants can be found 
in the villages The enemy eat up everything, take all the 
horses, all the cattle, all the clothes, even to the peasants' rags. 
They beat everybody, both men and women, and commit 
crimes of every sort. This picture, which I have seen with my 
own eyes, must make you easily understand my great desire 
to extricate my people from this state of misery, and suffering 
so truly horrible. The enemy will also be obliged to reflect, 
for the Frenchman is not long-enduring, and is naturally 
brave ; I expect to see them organize themselves into bands. 
You ought to make an energetic picture of these excesses. 
Towns of 2000 souls like Brienne have not a single inhabitant." 

The proposal of an armistice, made by Caulaincourt, had 
been rejected by Metternich, without being even communicated 
to the congress, to the great indignation of the emperor. "The 
letter which Metternich has addressed to you is quite absurd," 
he wrote on the 4th and 5th February, to Caulaincourt ; ' ' but 
I see in it what I have long known, that he believes he leads 
Europe, while everybody is leading him. It is very natural 
that, at the moment when negotiations are being opened, seve- 
ral days shoidd pass without anything being done, even with- 
out making an armistice on that account. To-day I stay at 
Troyes, expecting to receive news of the congress and confer- 
ences of the 3rd. It seems you have only commenced on the 
4th. If they wish for peace, and this is not a feint to unani- 
mously prolong the hostilities, they ought to finish promptly, 
and be able to come to their decisions in the early conferences: 



80 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

for in fact there will be a general engagement in a few days, 
which will decide everything. I am now going to Nogent to 
meet 20,000 men of the army of Spain, who arrive to-morrow 
and the day after. After that there must be an engagement, to 
cover Paris. Therefore matters must be decided immediately. 
Since the allies have already fixed the bases, you ought to have 
them already. Accept them if they are acceptable ; and in the 
contrary case we run the risk of a battle, and even of the loss 
of Paris, and all that may result therefrom. I have told Bes- 
nardiere all that I think on the present state of France, and 
the necessity of delivering ourselves from these guests, who 
are burning and robbing the country. You ought already to 
know how to decide." 

That was precisely what Caulaincourt did not yet know. The 
most absolute secrecy was kept over the terms which were to 
be offered to France. Our plenipotentiary was unable to learn 
anything even from Lord Aberdeen, the most moderate, and, 
so far as we are concerned, the best-disposed of all the diplo- 
matists met at Chatillon. Urged on all sides by his eager 
councillors, by the fears of the empress, King Joseph, and 
Louis Bonaparte, the emperor had angrily consented to grant 
Caulaincourt full liberty of action. That permission did not 
last long, not having been sincere in Napoleon's mind. A few 
days afterwards, resuming his military operations, he ordered 
his minister not to make any haste. Hope was again springing 
up in that unconquerable soul ; but the Duke of Vicentia was 
unable to share his illusions, as he now knew what were the 
terms of peace, which no one had dared to enunciate before- 
hand, and which were now put in place of the Frankfort pro- 
posals. To be reduced to her frontiers of 1790, deprived of the 
conquest both of the republic and the empire, isolated in Eu- 
rope, and without a vote in the council of the powers about to 
decide the lot of the countries removed from her authority, and 
compelled to give an immediate reply to those insulting pro- 
posals — such was the abdication which the allied sovereigns 
claimed the right of imposing upon France, recently still flat- 
tered by the hope of keeping the Alps and the Rhine ! Caulain- 
court's despair was soon increased by being assured that, 
though he used, in their full extent, the powers which he still 
possessed, he should not obtain the immediate cessation of 
hostilities, which was the only possible chance still left of sav- 
ing Paris. His anger and protestations being in vain, he com- 
municated the sad details of the negotiation to the emperor 



ch. xv.] THE FALL. 81 

The conferences were suspended at the formal request of the 
Emperor Alexander. Napoleon had left Troyes, and was again 
marching against Blucher, watching for the favorable moment 
when some fault would enable him to recover the upper hand. 
"There is a probability," he wrote, on the 2nd February, to the 
Duke of Feltre, "that Blucher's army may advance between 
the Marne and the Aube, towards Vitry and Chalons; accord- 
ing to circumstances, I shall endeavor to delay the movement 
of the column, which is now marching, as I am assured upon 
! Paris by Sens, or to return and delay Blucher's march by 
manoeuvring." 

' ' The day was come when even glory no longer is a repara- 
tion for the faults which she still conceals. The campaign of 
1814, an uninterrupted masterpiece of ability and heroism on 
the part both of the leader and the soldiers, nevertheless bore the 
imprint of the false thought and false situation of the emperor. 
He constantly wavered between the necessity of covering Paris, 
and his passion to reconquer Europe, wishing to save both his 
throne and his ambition, and changing his tactics at every 
moment, according as fatal danger or favorable opportunity 
seemed to be in the ascendant. God was avenging justice and 
reason, by condemning the genius who had so often defied 
them, to succumb in hesitation and doubt under the weight of 
his irreconcilable desires and impossible resolutions." * 

Before falling upon his enemies like a thunderstorm at the 
head of the heroic soldiers whom he had collected around him, 
Napoleon took care to destroy the fatal clogs which had so long 
interfered with his policy. He gave orders to conduct the 
Pope to Eome, as he might be of service to him by hindering 
the King of Naples in his treason. He opened the gates of the 
castle of Valencay to Ferdinand VII. , who promised to remain 
faithful to the treaty recently concluded, the conditions of 
which he alone could impose upon his people. He ordered 
Marshal Suchet to evacuate Catalonia, and forward his troops 
to Lyons; while Prince Eugene was to evacuate Italv, and 
march in the same direction. Thus 50,000 men of the old 
troops would threaten the enemy, and might turn them from 
their march upon Paris. 

It was Paris, in fact, that Napoleon wished at any cost to 
protect, while keenly conscious of the danger with which he was 
threatened. He had given order that, in case of the approach 

* Guizot, Memoires pour servir, vol. i. 
VIIL— 6 



82 HISTORY OF FRANCE, [ch. xv. 

of the enemy, the King of Eome and the empress should he 
conducted towards the Loire. Owing to the increasing alarm 
of the population of the capital, there was some hesitation in 
following this order, which would naturally throw Paris into 
terror. On the 8th February the emperor thus wrote from 
Nogent to his brother King Joseph: — 

"I confess that your letter of the 7th was painful to me, 
because I see no consistency in your ideas, and you are weak 
enough to listen to the silly opinions of a heap of persons who 
do not reflect. Now I will speak to you frankly : if Talleyrand 
for some reason holds that opinion of leaving the empress in 
Paris if our forces evacuate it, it is an act of treason implying 
conspiracy. I repeat to you, have no trust in that man. For 
sixteen years I have had experience of him, and have even 
shown favor for him, but he is certainly the greatest enemy of 
our house, now that fortune has for some time abandoned it. 
Adhere to the advice which I have given you. I know more 
than those people. Should there occur a lost battle and news 
of my death, you will be informed of it before my ministers. 
Cause the empress and the King of Rome to leave for Ram- 
bouillet; order the Senate, the Council of State, and all the 
troops, to assemble on the Loire ; and leave to Paris the pre- 
fect, or an imperial commissary, or a mayor. Never leave the 
empress and the King of Rome to fall into the hands of the 
enemy. Be certain that from that moment Austria would be 
disinterested, and would carry him off to Vienna in state ; and 
under the pretext of seeing the empress happy, the French 
would be persuaded to adopt all that the English Regent and 
Russia might suggest. Thus all our party would find itself 
overthrown by that horrible league between the republicans 
and royalists which would have killed it, instead of having, as 
in the contrary case, an unknown result, on account of the 
national will and the large number who are interested in the 
revolution. Moreover, it is possible that on the enemy near- 
ing Paris I may fight them ; it is also possible that I may make 
peace in a few days. It is clear in any case, from your letter 
of the evening of the 7th, that you have no means for defence. 
To understand my advice to you, I find your judgment always 
at fault. Besides, even the interest of the country is insepa- 
rable from their persons, and since the world began I have 
never heard of a sovereign allowing himself to be taken in 
open towns. The wretched King of Saxony was wrong to let 
himself be taken at Leipsic : he lost his states, and was taken 



en. xv.] THE FALL. £3 

prisoner. In the very difficult circumstances of the present 
crisis one does his duty, and leaves the rest to chance. Now, if 
I live I ought to be obeyed and I have no doubt will be so ; if I 
die, niy son and the empress in regency ought, for the honor 
of the French people, not to allow themselves to be taken, but 
withdraw to the last village with their last soldiers. Eecollect 
what was said by the wife of Philippe V. What in fact would 
they say of the empress? That she had abandoned her son's 
throne and ours. The allies, too, would prefer to make an end 
by conducting them prisoners to Vienna. I am surprised that 
you did not think of that. I see that fear is turning all the 
heads in Paris. As for my opinion, I should prefer that my 
son's throat be cut rather than ever see him brought up at 
Vienna as an Austrian prince ; and my opinion of the empress 
is so good that I believe she is also of the same way of think- 
ing, as far as a wife and mother can be so. I never saw 
. Andromache on the stage without pitying the lot of Astyanax 
in surviving his house, and considering him happy in not sur- 
viving his father. " 

All the edifice which he had erected was now about to be 
overthrown, more completely than he anticipated, without 
that favor being reserved for him of being himself struck by 
the 1 ightning. He had well estimated the misfortune of his 
son and the sad fate awaiting his Astyanax. The Empress 
Marie-Louise was not an Andromache. 

Then began "the great week," as they termed the final 
effort of the Emperor Napoleon and France against the crush- 
ing mass of their enemies — against the woes and humiliations 
of invasion, which they had formerly inflicted upon all the 
peoples now alhed against them. The allied sovereigns resolved 
to force back the emperor towards Paris, by outflanking him, 
now on one wing, now on the other, so that at last they might 
throw themselves all together upon his exhausted troops, and 
destroy him. Bliicher had rallied the reinforcements recently 
arrived, those of York, Langeron, Kleist; and the army of 
Silesia now amounted to 60,000 men. He advanced according 
to arrangement with Schwartzenberg, who kept 130,000 men. 
The Prussians were to operate on the Marne, drive back Mar- 
shal Macdonald, who was covering Paris, and take Napoleon in 
rear in order to hem him in a net of enemies. As the two armies 
were separating to accomplish their movement, Schwartzenberg, 
with the view of defending his left flank against the troops 
which were said to be arriving from Lyons, gradually in- 



84 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

creased the distance between him and Bliicher. Napoleon per* 
ceived this, and rushing like a tiger upon his prey, reached 
Sezanne, after crossing the marshes of St. Gond on the 10th 
February, and fell upon the Russian troops under Olsouvieff, 
then occupying the plateau of Champaubert. They were 
small in number, and were completely destroyed, the general 
and staff being taken prisoners. On the 11th, Napoleon ad- 
vanced upon Montmirail, in pursuit of Sacken, who was march- 
ing along the left bank of the Marne to attack Marshal Mac- 
donald. General York followed the right bank, intending to 
cross the river to support Sacken, but the latter had already 
been beaten between Epine-aux-Bois and Marchais. On the 
12th, York in his turn was attacked at Chateau-Thierry by 
Napoleon's cavalry. The infantry, grouped before the town, 
were broken. The French soldiers and those of the allies 
fought in the streets, and the inhabitants seconded the em- 
peror's efforts, because they had been ill-treated by the Prus- 
sians. The latter had unfortunately destroyed the bridge 
over the Marne, and pursuit was momentarily stopped ; but 
while Napoleon was renewing his communications, Bliicher 
returned towards Montmirail, and Marshal Marmont, to whom 
that district had been entrusted, having too few forces to 
oppose him, fell back upon Vauchamps. The emperor ran 
thither, and on the 14th, after a keenly-fought engagement, 
Bliicher was driven back with great loss. By the four engage- 
ments with the Silesian army, Napoleon gained 18,000 
prisoners, whom he at once sent to Paris, in order to raise the 
depressed spirits of the populace. In that, however, he only 
succeeded imperfectly, for while Bliicher was beaten on the 
Marne, Prince Schwartzenberg advanced up the Seine near 
the capital. The emperor Alexander, excited against Napo- 
leon by a haughty and vindictive passion, pressed forward 
their military movements, and resisted any attempt to reopen 
negotiations ; he had told Bliicher to wait for him before enter- 
ing Paris. Austria and England, however insisted on the 
necessity of conferences; Metternich showed Caulaincourt's 
letter, written at Chatillon, to obtain at least a momentary 
cessation of arms. It was on this base, supposing all the con- 
ditions imposed upon France were accepted, that the prelim- 
inaries of peace were drawn up. The severity of the terms 
was a concession granted to the Emperor Alexander. 

Napoleon had just reached Meaux and Guignes, after rejoin- 
ing Marshals Victor and Oudinot on the Yeres, when he 



en. xv.] THE FALL. §5 

attacked (on the 17th February) Count Wittgenstein's van, 
and after beating it marched towards the bridges over the 
Seine at Nogent, Bray, and Montereau. Some delay in Victor's 
operations hindered this movement, to the emperor's great 
annoyance, and thus a keen engagement, which took place at 
Villeneuve on the 17th under General Gerard's orders, led to 
no result. It was only on the 18th that We bridge of Montereau 
could be taken from the Wirtemburc ors who defended it. 
Count Colleredo had had time to withdraw his Austrians. Napo^ 
leon advanced upon the Seine against Schwartzen berg's main 
body, and our troops were already defiling by Montereau to 
march towards Nogent and Troyes, which were still held by 
the Emperor Francis. 

At the moment he was mounting his horse at Nangis, after 
the battles of Mormant and Villeneuve, the emperor received 
an ill-timed request of an audience from Count Parr, Schwartz- 
enberg's aide-de-camp. He had come with the proposal of a 
suspension of arms, and pleaded the importance of a renewal 
of conferences as likely at least to diminish the hostilities. 
Napoleon deferred his reply and pursued his journey towards 
Montereau, but from this procedure of the allies he derived 
new hopes and illusions. He wrote immediately t Caulain- 
court: — "I gave you carte blanche in order to save Paris, 
and avoid a battle which was the last hope of the nation. The 
battle has taken place, and Providence has blessed our arms. 
I have made from 30,000 to 40,000 prisoners, taken 200 cannon, 
a large number of generals, and destroyed several armies, 
almost without striking a blow. Yesterday I made a com- 
mencement with the army of Prince Schwartzenberg, and I 
expect to destroy it before it recrosses our frontiers. Your 
attitude must remain the same : you should do your best to 
secure peace, but I wish you to sign nothing without my order, 
because I alone know my position. If the allies had received 
your proposals on the 9th, there should have been no battle, 
and I would not have risked my fortune at a moment when 
the slightest failure was the ruin of France; moreover, I 
should not have known the secret of their weakness. It is true 
I have the advantage of the chances which have turned in my 
favor. I wish for peace, but not one that would impose upon 
France more humiliating terms than those of Frankfort. My 
position is certainly more advantageous than at the time when 
the allies were at Frankfort : they could defy me ; I had gained 
no advantage over them, and they were far from my territory. 



86 HISTORY OF FRANCE. ch. art. 

To-day the case is very different. I have had enormous ad- 
vantages over them, advantages to which a military career of 
twenty years and some celebrity presents nothing comparable. 
I am ready to cease hostilities, and allow the enemy to return 
home undisturbed, if they sign the preliminary bases on the 
proposals of Frankfort." 

While thus detailing the favorable turns his luck had taken, 
and reckoning his chances, the great gamester seems to have 
forgot what cards the enemy held in his hand. In his bold 
illusions he transformed strength into weakness, and dwelt 
upon the invasion as an argument fatal to the allies. At Cha- 
tfllon, Caulaincourt bitterly contemplated the reverse of the 
medal. He had received on the 17th the preliminary project, 
as severe as the protocol of the 9th, and still more unfeeling in 
its form, all the sacrifices demanded from France being enu- 
merated at length. According to these terms, hostilities were 
to cease immediately: the only restitution promised to France 
was that of Martinique and Guadaloupe, on condition that 
Sweden should agree to restore that colony, which had been 
left her by England. Caulaincourt sent the plan to the em- 
peror. The plenipotentiary, hopeless and powerless, had 
listened in silence to the proposals which were breaking his 
heart, but his master's rage burst forth, as usual, with a vio- 
lence that shows itself in the following letter written on the 
19th February to Caulaincourt : — 

"I look upon you as under restraint, ignorant of my affairs, 
and influenced by imposters. As soon as I reach Troyes I 
shall send you the counter -project which you have to give. I 
thank heaven that I have that document, for there is not a 
Frenchman whose blood will not boil with indignation at the 
sight of it. I therefore wish to make my ultimatum myself. 
I should a hundred times prefer the loss of Paris to the dis- 
honor and annihiliation of France. I am not pleased that you 
have not formaUy intimated that France, in order to be as 
strong as she was in J 789, must have her natural limits in 
compensation for the partition of Poland, the overthrow of 
the ecclesiastical system in Germany, and the great acquisi- 
tions made by England in Asia. Say that you are awaiting 
orders from your government, and that it is very natural they 
should keep you waiting, since your couriers are obliged to 
make a detour of seventy-two miles, and three of them have 
already not turned up. I have given orders to arrest the 
English couriers. I feel so deeply the infamous proposal 



ch. xv.] THE FALL. 87 

which you send me, that it seems a dishonor even to be sup- 
posed to be in the circumstances assumed in their proposal. I 
shall let you know my intentions at Troyes, but I think I 
should rather lose Paris than see such proposals made to the 
French people. You are always talking of the Bourbons ; I 
should prefer seeing the Bourbons in France, on reasonable 
terms, to accepting the infamous proposals which you send 
me. I repeat to you my command to declare by protocol that 
the natural limits only give France the same power which 
Louis XVI. had." 

While the army was advancing beyond Montereau, the Em- 
peror Napoleon halted in the chateau of Surville, and took 
time to glance over the affairs still under his management in 
various parts of Europe, everywhere threatened by the 
enemy. Prince Eugene had beaten the Austrians on the 
Mincio, and from his delight at this victory the emperor un- 
fortunately determined still to hold Italy in his hands, as a 
pledge of his victories, and as something to fall back upon in 
the negotiations still pending. Marshal Suchet was obliged to 
evacuate Catalonia and withdraw upon Lyons. Soult still 
kept Wellington and the English on the Adour, after being 
compelled to abandon the line of he Bidassoa, and that of the 
Nive. General Maison, with insufficient forces, was defending 
our positions in Belgium. Carnot had offered his services to 
the emperor, and now held Anvers with a garrison which was 
decimated by bombardment. Augereau was at Lyons, exert- 
ing hirnself to organize the recruits and national guards, and 
impatiently waiting for the troops from Spain, that he might 
join in the campaign, and ann / the allies by taking Chalons 
and Besancon. Napoleon thus bitterly reproached him for 
delay : — 

"The Minister of War has placed before me your letter writ- 
ten to him on the 16th, and it has deeply wounded me. What i 
six hours after receiving the first troops arriving from Spain 
you had not yet started the campaign ! A rest of six hours 
was sufficient for them. I gained the battle of Nangis with 
the brigade of dragoons come from Spain, though they had 
not unbridled since leaving Bayonne. You say the six bat- 
talions of the Nimes division are in want of clothes and equip- 
ment and not yet drilled; what a poor excuse to give me, 
Augereau! I destroyed 80,000 of the enemy with battalions 
composed of conscripts, who had no cartridge-boxes and were 
badly clothed ! You say the national guards are in a pitiable 



88 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

condition; I had 4000 of them who came from Angers and 
Brittany with round hats and wooden shoes, without cart- 
ridge-boxes, yet I got good work out of them. There is no 
money, you go on to say; and where do you expect to get 
money from? You can have none till we have forced our 
income from the enemy's hands. You are in want of harness; 
then take it wherever you can find it. You have no stores, 
you say : but it is quite ridiculous. I order you to set out 
within twelve hours after receiving this letter, in order to 
take the campaign. If you are still the Augereau of Castig- 
lione, retain the command; if your sixty years weigh upon 
you, resign it in favor of one of your general officers, accord- 
ing to seniority. You must have a nucleus of more than 6000 
men from the best troops. I have not so many, yet I have 
destroyed three armies, made 40,000 prisoners, taken 200 can- 
non, and thrice saved the capital. The enemy flies from all 
quarters towards Troyes. Be there when the ball begins. 
There is no chance now of doing as in recent years, but we 
must to saddle, with the resolution of '93 \ When Frenchmen 
see your plume at the advanced posts, and see you the first 
to expose yourself to the musket-balls, you can do with them 
what you like '" 

Napoleon nevertheless left Montereau with 70,000 men, 
having never since the campaign opened had so many troops 
at his disposal. He expected to cross the Seine at Mery, 
reach the neighborhood of Troyes before Schwartzenberg, and 
then offer him battle after having re-crossed the river. But 
Bliicher had just appeared on the right bank, after speedily 
rallying all the remains of his forces, and an engagement took 
place on the 22nd, on the half -demolished bridge of Mery; the 
town was burnt, and our soldiers were obliged to withdraw. 
The Emperor took the main road to Troyes, expecting to meet 
the Austrians and join battle; but Prince Schwartzenberg 
prudently refrained, and between Chatres and Troyes, Napo- 
leon received a new proposal of armistice. Being thus con- 
vinced of the embarrassment of the allies, as well as the 
reviving superiority of his arms, he avoided replying to the 
messages of the Austrians and entered Troyes after the re- 
treating rear-guard of the allied princes had left. On the 21st, 
at Nugent-sur-Seine, he had written to the Emperor Francis, 
trying by indirect means to separate him from the coalition, 
by proving how important were the interests both of his 
States and his family. The offers of peace on both sides were 



ch. xv.] THE FALL. 89 

of no effect. One of the Emperor's aides-de-camp, Count 
Flahaut, was sent to the enemy's outposts, and a preliminary 
conference was opened at the village of Lusigny. The single 
point to consider, said the foreign commissioners, was deter- 
mining the line of demarkation between the armies while the 
negotiations lasted. The starting-point and intentions of the 
belligerents being absolutely contradictory, a rupture was in- 
evitable. Meanwhile hostilities were not suspended, and on 
the 26th February, Napoleon again left Troyes to march 
against Bliicher. 

The Prussian general's ardor frequently chafed against his 
sovereign's prudence. He addressed himself to the Emperor 
Alexander, who took share personally in the struggle against 
Napoleon. On the day after the battles which so nearly anni- 
hilated the Silesian army, he asked for the troops of Bulow 
and Wintzingerode to be added to his own. These 50,000 men 
served under the Prince Eoyal of Sweden, who thought of 
nothing but his conquest of Norway, and the allied sovereigns 
were afraid lest Bernadotte should take offence, and therefore 
leave them. He had already shown his annoyance at the pro- 
tection granted by Austria to Denmark, as well as at the re- 
fusal made to admit a Swedish plenipotentiary at the congress. 
The great powers had undertaken to treat for the small states. 
When the council of allied princes was met, Lord Castlereagh 
took upon him the responsibility of obtaining the consent of 
the Prince Eoyal of Sweden. The English subsidies were in- 
dispensable to Bernadotte, and the English prime minister 
had besides entirely at his disposal the army lately formed in 
Holland under the Prince of Orange, the number of which was 
about the same as the detached corps of the army of the North. 
Castlereagh placed under Bernadotte these troops in the Eng- 
lish pay. At the same time, to avoid the disputes which often 
threatened the very existence of the coalition, the English 
plenipotentiary proposed to conclude a treaty between the four 
great powers, which should bind them solemnly to one an- 
other, at first till the conclusion of the existing war, and then 
for twenty years afterwards. So long as peace was not signed 
to the satisfaction of the coalition, each of the contracting 
parties was to furnish a contingent of 150,000 men. After the 
peace, each power was to maintain an army of 60, 000 men for the 
service of those allies who might be attacked by Prance. Eng- 
land, moreover, undertook to furnish, during the whole 
duration of the war, a subsidy of fifty million francs each, 



90 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

yearly, to Russia, Austria, and Prussia. By this bold initia- 
tive Castlereagh secured both to his country and himself an in- 
disputable preponderance in the congress, and in all the 
military or diplomatic resolutions which were taken by the 
allied powers. The treaty was signed on the 1st of March, at 
Chaumont, where the sovereigns then had their headquarters. 
The prolongation of the negotiations at Chatillon was at the 
same time resolved upon, but for a limited time, and the propo- 
sitions addressed to Napoleon remained open for a fortnight 
longer. If he refused to admit them, the powers were to break 
all negotiations with him, and thus declare him an outlaw to 
all Europe. 

The formal summons to fulfil engagements was final and 
complete. Just after the signing of the treaty of Chaumont, 
Napoleon wrote to Caulaincourt to reiterate his resolution to 
accept no base of negotiations except the Frankfort proposals, 
' ' the minute presented by the plenipotentiaries of the allies 
not being a proposal, but a capitulation, which in several 
points is dishonorable to France." He at the same time 
ordered King Joseph to communicate to the council of the 
regency the terms offered by the allies, and the replies which 
he had addressed personally to the Emperor Francis, and 
officially to the congress of Caulaincourt. " I do not ask a 
formal opinion," he wrote, " but I am glad to know the vari» 
ous sentiments of individuals." To Cambaceres he wrote: 
"you will see from what King Joseph communicates how 
moderate these gentlemen are; just like their soldiers, who 
pillage, slaughter, and burn everything." 

Meanwhile, Marshals Mortier and Marmont, who had been 
appointed to keep the Silesian army in check, while the em- 
peror was pursuing Prince Schwartzenberg, had scarcely had 
time to throw themselves into Meaux, while Bliicher, hence- 
forth free in his movements, advanced towards the Marne. 
Napoleon at once conceived the idea of taking him in rear and 
crushing him between two of his army corps, before the rein- 
forcements brought by Bulow and Wintzingerode could effect 
a junction. Leaving Marshals Oudinot and Macdonald to 
guard the Aube, he concealed his march from the enemy, and 
ordering from Paris some bridge apparatus, which he had for 
several days previously asked for in vain, he advanced as far 
as Ferte-sous-Jouarre. Bliicher was not expecting him, and 
after vainly trying to force the line of Ourcq, which was held 
by the marshals, he fell back on the 3rd of March towards the 



ch. xv.] TEE FALL. 91 

Aisne, hoping to join the auxiliary forces. His situation, 
however, was serious. The emperor was about to cross the 
Marne, and the bridge of Soissons, the only outlet by which he 
could cross the Aisne, was in our power, as well as the town. 
The emperor made haste in order to intercept from the enemy 
the Rheims road ; and after crossing the Marne, he advanced 
towards Chateau-Thierry, and then Oulchy; Marmont and 
Mortier having occupied Fere-en-Tardenois. Blucher was 
cantoned in the direction of Soissons, when Napoleon halted, 
on the evening of the 3rd March, at the village of Bezu-St. 
Germain. 

The emperor's soldiers were full of hope, and the 4th was 
waited for with impatience ; but while the army marched to 
meet Blucher, thus entrapped, the news came of the surrender 
of Soissons. Moreau, who was in command of the garrison of 
the town, had lost courage before the threatening and impos- 
ing forces of Bulow and Wintzingerode, united round its weak 
walls, and capitulated without any attempt at resistance. 
Blucher therefore was now able to cross the Aisne, and effect a 
junction with his reinforcements. The indignation of Napo- 
leon equalled the consternation of his troops. "The enemy 
were in the greatest embarrassment," he wrote on the 5th to 
the minister of war; "we were hoping to reap to-day the 
fruit of several days of fatigue, when the treason or idiocy of 
the commandant of Soissons delivered the place up to them. 
On the 3rd, at noon, he marched out with the honors of war, 
taking with him four cannon. Let the wretch be arrested, as 
well as the members of the council of defence; have them 
brought before a court-martial composed of generals, and in 
God's name ! let the result be that they are shot within twenty- 
four hours on the Place de Greve! It is time some ex- 
amples were made. Let the sentence be printed, with the rea- 
sons set forth, posted on the walls and sent everywhere. I am 
now compelled to throw a trestle- bridge over the Aisne, and 
must thus lose thirty -six hours, and encounter difficulties of 
every sort." 

General Nansouty, however, had with his cavalry carried 
the bridge of Berry -au-Bac, which was badly guarded by the 
Russians; and Napoleon being enabled to cross the Aisne, 
marched towards Laon. The enemy held all the plateau of 
Craonne, on the road to that town. The emperor's object then 
was to beat Blucher before ho threw himself back upon 
Schwartzenberg. On the morning of the 6th, the town of Cra- 



92 HISTORY OF FRANCE, [ch. XV. 

onne was attacked and carried ; and on the 7th, after a fight 
lasting till the evening, which cost us a large number of sol- 
diers on account of the strong position of the enemy, and our 
inferiority at the time in artillery, the plateau was taken, and 
Bliicher compelled to withdraw to the plains of Laon. The 
bloody victory, however, was useless unless we succeeded in 
intercepting the enemy's road to Paris ; and Marmont was or- 
dered to effect a diversion by bringing his troops out to the 
plain by the Eheims road, while the emperor led his soldiers 
by the pass between the Etouvelles heights at Chivy. On the 
morning of the 9th, Ney forced the passage. Bliicher had en- 
trenched himself in the town, and on the rocks defending it 
like a natural growth in the midst of the plain. He had deter- 
mined to make a desperate resistance. His forces were twice 
as many as ours, yet the suburbs were twice taken and retaken. 
General Charpentier, with two divisions of the young guard, 
effected a flank movement in order to attack Laon in rear. 
Marshal Marmont did not arrive ; night came before he could 
push beyond Athies, which he had taken from General York. 
He took up position there about evening, in a dangerous situa- 
tion, without proper guard, and being surprised during the 
night, his conscripts were seized by a panic and ran away, the 
artillerymen leaving their guns. When the rout halted on the 
heights of Festieux, the diversion on which the emperor calcu- 
lated had failed ; he wished to attack Laon to carry it, but the 
Russians were already attacking the positions taken on the 
previous evening in our rear. All the emperor's attempts 
upon Laon were useless, so well was it defended by Bliicher, 
and our troops being inferior in number, could not long protect 
the villages which they had taken. Napoleon decided to fall 
back upon Soissons, which the enemy had merely passed 
through. He was dejected, his plan having failed and hia 
situation now rendered dangerous; and a victory gained on 
the Rheims road against a body of 15,000 men commanded by 
a French emigrant, Count St. Priest, was not sufficient to 
raise the dejected spirits of our soldiers. Oudinot and 
Gerard, after gallantly defending the passage of the Aube, had 
fallen back upon the Seine, which was still protected by Mar- 
shal Macdonald. Schwartzenberg again occupied Troyes, and 
threatened the Seine from Nogent to Montereau. The confer- 
ences of Lusigny had been abandoned. 

The Chatillon congress was also soon to be closed. Caulain- 
court had not produced the counter-project asked of him, Na- 



ch. st.] THE FALL. 93 

poleon having forbidden it. "They cannot insist upon us 
offering ourselves the sacrifices which they openly propose to 
force from us, " said he. "If they wish to give us a drubbing, 
the least they can do is not to compel us to give it to ourselves." 
Caulaincourt had, however, been informed that the last hopes 
of peace were certainly doomed if he did not consent to offer 
some proposals. He was made aware by Vitrolles, an agent 
of the princes, of the intriguing pursued by the royalists at 
the headquarters of the allies. On the 15th of March he re- 
solved to detail in a memorandum the sacrifices to which 
France consented: to give up Westphalia, Holland, Ulyria, 
and Spain ; to restore the Pope to Eome, and Ferdinand VII. 
to Madrid. Napoleon claimed an appanage for the Princess 
Baciocchi and Prince Eugene. He gave up Malta to England, 
as well as most of her colonial conquests. 

The foreign diplomatists were never for a moment deceived. 
In other words, the emperor was still obstinate in claiming for 
France her natural limits, the Ehine and the Alps, according 
to the proposals made at Frankfort. The plenipotentiaries 
did not enter upon a useless discussion, but declared that the 
negotiation was broken up. The reply of the sovereigns to 
the counter-project was to be sent to Caulaincourt on the 17th, 
and the congress dissolved on the 18th. Lord Aberdeen ex- 
pressed his intense regret to Caulaincourt; and the latter 
informed the emperor of the result, at Rheims. 

The diplomatic communications addressed to the council of 
the regency in Paris by no means excited the indignation which 
Napoleon anticipated. Pliant for fifteen years under his des- 
potic laws, the emperor's highest servants showed no energy 
at the hour of resistance. They surrendered to him the liberty 
which he granted them, but a secret instinct, nevertheless, in- 
clined them towards a peace of some sort. A messenger was 
despatched to the emperor to inquire if it should be his pleasure 
that the peace so much desired be asked from Tn'm by for- 
mal procedure. Napoleon's mind was more steadfast than that 
of his councillors: he despised their prudent weakness, and 
abused them indignantly in a letter to the Duke of Eovigo : — 

" You tell me nothing of what is done in Paris. They are 
occupied only with clever shifts, the regency, and a thousand 
intrigues as silly as they are absurd. None of those people 
ever think that, like Alexander, I am cutting the Gordian knot. 
Let them be well assured I am the same man I was at Wagram 
and Austerlitz, that I will have no intrigue in the State, that 



94 IIISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

there is no other authority whatever but mine, and that in an 
urgent crisis it is the regent that exclusively possesses my 
confidence. King Joseph is feeble, and allows himself to be 
led into intrigues which might be fatal to the State, and 
especially to himself and his plans, unless he promptly returns 
to the right course of conduct. Mark well, that if they had 
drawn up an address contrary to authority, I should have ar- 
rested the king, my ministers, and all who had signed it. 
They are spoiling the national guard, as well as Paris, through 
their weakness and ignorance of the country. I will have no 
tribune of the people. Let it not be forgotten that I am the 
great tribune. The people will then act always as is suitable 
to their true interests, which are the object of all my 
thoughts." 

At almost the same moment (12th March), as if to prove to 
the very last day the unconquerable pride which sprang up 
more indignantly than ever when surrounded by adversity, 
the emperor wrote to King Joseph: " I am pained to see that 
you have spoken to my wife about the Bourbons, and the op- 
position which might be made by the Emperor of Austria. I 
beg of you to avoid such conversations. I have no wish to be 
protected by my wife. Such a notion would spoil her and 
compromise us. Let her five as she has lived ; say nothing to 
her of what she should know before signing ; and above all 
avoid any conversation which might lead her to think that I 
agree to be protected by her or her father. For four years the 
word Bourbon or Austria has never passed my lips. The Em- 
peror of Austria can do nothing, because he is weak, and led 
by Metternich, who is in the pay of England — that is the secret 
of the whole. . . . You always write as if the peace depended 
upon me, yet I sent you the documents. If the Parisians wish 
to see the Cossacks, they will have cause to repent ; still the 
truth should be told them." 

The agitation in Paris constantly increased, not only on ac- 
count of the rupture of the negotiations for peace, the suc- 
cessive checks to Napoleon's most skilful manoeuvres, but of 
the new arrivals from the south of France. Soult, slowly 
driven by Wellington, had to leave Bayonne, blockaded by the 
enemy, and, after leaving the river at Oleron, fell back upon 
that at Pau, in the suburbs of Orthez, where he was attacked 
by the English on the morning of the 27th February, over a 
long line of defence. Generals Eeille and Clausel kept their 
positions, but the marshal would not risk a second battle with 



oh. xv.] TEE FALL. 95 

the loss of the only French army which still remained com- 
plete. He abandoned the Bordeaux road, which he had been 
ordered to cover, and marched towards Toidouse, hoping to 
draw the enemy in pursuit. Wellington did, in fact, follow 
him, but after detaching General Hill for Bordeaux. The 
English were well informed as to the state of public opinion 
in the south of France, which has always been favorable to 
extreme parties, and was then somewhat influenced by royalist 
agents. The Duke of Angouleme, eldest son of Count d'Artois, 
had not been admitted to the English head-quarters ; but when 
the gates of Bordeaux were opened without resistance to the 
English columns, the prince was at the same time summoned 
by the spontaneous action of the citizens. He hastened to re- 
spond, and the restoration of the Bourbons was proclaimed by 
the mayor, in the midst of shouts of joy from the merchants 
who had been ruined by the continental blockade. There was 
none who misunderstood the official protest of Wellington 
against the Bordeaux manifestation. The example was dan- 
gerous, and the popular excitement increased. The yoke be- 
gan to weigh heavily on the shoulders of all as soon as ever 
the possibility of shaking it off appeared on the horizon. 
Nevertheless, the emperor had no fear of a popular excitement 
in Paris resembling that of Bordeaux ; he was then planning a 
great movement towards the north, which should enable him 
to rally all his garrisons, and intercept the communications of 
the allies with Germany. It was, moreover, necessary to 
withdraw from the capital, now threatened from every quar- 
ter. Napoleon resolved to attempt another blow at Prince 
Schwartzenberg. 

The latter had fallen back upon Troyes, summoning round 
him his scattered forces, which the Czar Alexander thought 
were threatened by Napoleon. This retreating movement con- 
firmed the emperor in his intention of marching eastward in 
the meantime. He therefore went towards Arcis-sur-Aube, 
without waiting to encounter the Bohemian army. Several 
general officers had informed him of Schwartzenberg's concen- 
trations, but he would not believe it. On the the 20th of March, 
between Troyes and Arcis, he found himself face to face with 
the enemy. The first charge of the Russian cavalry threatened 
the emperor's person, and a Polish battalion had scarcely time 
to form in square for his protection. A few minutes after- 
wards a shell fell at his feet, and severely wounded his horse. 
Ney defended the village of Grand-Farcy, and General Friant 



96 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

came up with the old guard. The soldiers, though only one 
against three, fought everywhere with prodigious valor, but 
all their efforts could only succeed in rendering the result 
doubtful. "Your Majesty has no doubt other resources, 
which we are not aware of?" asked General Sebastiani in the 
very midst of the fight. "Nothing more than is before your 
eyes," replied Napoleon. "Then, why does your Majesty not 
think of a general rising?" "Such ideas are purely chimerical, 
my dear Sebastiani, fine recollections of Spain and the French 
revolution ! A general rising in a country where the revolution 
destroyed the nobles and priests, and where I myself have 
destroyed the revolution !" 

The emperor had destroyed the life and strength of the 
revolution, and the national vigor by which the country was 
formerly defended; but he had not extinguished the revolu- 
tionary germs — so much the more full of life that the despotism 
had long diverted France from the real and earnest govern- 
ment of its affairs. He had exhausted the military ardor by 
constant misuse of it, and the wearied country called aloud for 
rest. That is what Caulaincourt tried to make him sensible of, 
when he again met him at St. Dizier, to which Napoleon had 
transferred his head-quarters after the indecisive and useless 
engagement at Arcis-sur-Aube, from a conviction that he coidd 
not at once risk a second battle without absolutely compromis- 
ing his subsequent operations. "You did well to return," said 
the emperor; " if you had accepted the ultimatum of the allies, 
I should have disavowed you. They wish to ruin us, or 
weaken us till we are reduced to nothing. Death is preferable 
to that. We are old enough soldiers to have no fear of death. 
But you are going to see something worth while. The enemy 
are evidently following me. Schwartzenberg has not dared to 
advance upon Paris, because he knows that I threaten his 
communications. As soon as I have rallied the 30,000 or 
40,000 men in the garrisons, I shall burst like a lightning-cloud 
upon whoever is nearest, Blucher or Schwartzenberg, no mat- 
ter which, and crush him, leaving the peasants of Burgundy 
to finish. The coalition is as near its ruin as I am to mine. " 

The most faithful of Napoleon's servants could not be de- 
ceived by such language, whether sincere or pretended ; and 
the allies had not allowed themselves to be so far drawn by 
military considerations as to despise political combinations. 
They knew well that the war could only finish at Paris ; and 
did not anticipate much resistance before its walls. The gen- 



ch. xv.] THE FALL. 97 

eral discontent, the weariness caused by the empire, and the 
crushing load which weighed down men of every class, were 
betrayed by too certain proofs for the Emperor Francis to be 
now deceived as to tbe stability of his daughter's throne. The 
thought of a general march upon Paris gradually rallied men 
of the greatest prudence. Intercepted letters from the empress, 
King Joseph, and the Duke of Rovigo confirmed the sovereigns 
in their convictions as to the moral and political state of the 
capital. The Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia re- 
solved to advance ; the Emperor of Austria remained behind, 
lie could not himself go to the gates of Paris arms in hand. 
Schwartzenberg and Bliicher had effected the junction of their 
armies. Wintzingerode was appointed to watch Napoleon's 
movements with 10,000 horse. On the 25th March, the allied 
armies commenced their march to Paris. 

Marmont and Mortier, left behind to defend the Aisne, had 
been obliged to abandon their positions in presence of superior 
forces. They at first fell back upon Fismes, with the view of 
rejoining the emperor by Chateau-Thierry; but being separ- 
ated by the whole army of the enemy from the eastern road, 
they resolved to advance towards Paris to cover the capital, 
and meantime made an appointment together for Sommessons, 
with the object of retreating as far as Fere-Champenoise. 
The Generals Pacthod and Compans, at the head of detached 
corps, took the same direction. On the 25th, at mid-day, just 
after the two marshals had met, they were suddenly attacked 
by the allied army ; and after bravely defending the position 
which they had taken on the road, between two hollows, found 
themselves obliged to retreat slowly, overwhelmed by the 
enemy's fire and whirlwinds of heavy hail. General Pacthod's 
corps, almost entirely composed of national guards, was sur- 
rounded by the enemy. Before these improvised soldiers 
would agree to surrender, the Emperor Alexander was obliged 
to send them one of his aides-de-camp to stop the fighting. 
The losses of our little army were irreparable. The marshals 
had difficulty in avoiding being taken by the enemy. On the 
29th they arrived under the walls of Paris ; several other corps 
rallied round them, 20,000 or 25,000 men of the regular troops, 
and 10,000 or 12,000 of the national guards. Such were the 
resources to be disposed of for the defence of the capital, then 
without fortifications. We have seen the ramparts of Paris 
prolong the resistance without, however, sufficing to save 
France when invaded, but the Council of the Regency and 
VIII.— 7 



98 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

Napoleon's lieutenants scarcely had ordinary walls; and the 
population of Paris were not disposed to attempt such efforts 
of heroism as they did in recent times. After a stormy and 
long-continued deliberation, the majority of the Council in- 
sisted upon requesting that the empress and King of Rome 
should remain in Paris. Talleyrand strongly pleaded for this. 
King Joseph produced the emperor's formal commands, such 
as that given on the day after the battle of Rheims:— "You 
must under no circumstances allow the empress and the King 
of Rome to fall into the hands of the enemy. Should they ad- 
vance towards Paris with such forces that resistance is impos- 
sible, then the regent empress, my son, the great dignitaries, 
the ministers, the officers of the Senate and presidents of the 
Council of State, the grand officers of the crown and treasury, 
must leave, and go in the direction of the Loire. Do not leave 
my son ; and remember that I should rather know he was at 
the bottom of the Seine than in the hands of the enemies of 
France. The fate of Astyanax as prisoner with the Greeks 
always seemed to me the most unhappy fate in history." 

The Council gave way, and the empress, turning to her 
brother-in-law and her husband's most intimate servants, said, 
"Tell me what I must do, and I shall do it." Nobody dared 
to advise her to disobey Napoleon's wish, so clearly expressed. 
Going out on a last reconnoitring expedition, King Joseph and 
the Duke of Feltre found that Paris was surrounded by the 
armies of the enemy, against which they could only make a 
pretended resistance. The carriages were standing ready, 
with the crowd looking on, silent and gloomy, like people who 
are deserted by those who ought to protect them. The last ex- 
tremity of pain and disgrace could not reach Paris so long as 
her sovereigns made it their residence. Several officers of the 
national guard obtained admission to the empress, and en- 
treated her to stay. She wept, full of hesitation and alarm. 
The King of Rome asked what they wished to do, and refused 
to go into the carriage, clinging to the curtains of the palace 
which he was about to leave forever. The long train of im- 
perial carriages took the road to Rambouillet, escorted by 200 
soldiers of the old guard, whose sorrow was more bitter than 
that of the courtiers, full of consternation at the fall of gran- 
deur. The all-powerful emperor was again become an ad- 
venturer. 

Meanwhile Paris was full of disturbance. The preparations for 
the defence were confused, bandied from General Hullin, gov- 



ch. xv.] THE FALL. 99 

ernor of the city, to Marshal Moncey, who commanded the 
national guard. These again had no muskets, and scarcely 
half of them were armed. Several guns were placed on the 
heights of Montmartre, St. Chaumont, and Charonne, but they 
had not enough of harness for the artillery. No horses were 
requisitioned from private persons, and nowhere were barri- 
cades thought of. A recollection of old times crossed M. Real's 
mind, when he proposed to the Duke of Rovigo that they 
should take up the paving stones from the streets and throw 
them down upon the enemy, at the same time firing at them 
from the windows of the houses. ' ' Why, that is a revolution- 
ary mode of defence," exclaimed General Savary; "I shall 
most certainly not do that. What would the emperor say?" 

The resistance of Paris was to be confined to a battle before 
the octroi- wall, between 29,000 soldiers and 170,000. The result 
was known beforehand, and it was the remains of their honor 
and ours which the two marshals defended. Mortier took his 
station at the foot of the heights of Montmartre, his right rest- 
ing on the Ourcq canal and his left on Clignancourt. Marmont 
was to occupy the plateau of Romainville, and extend as far as 
Pres-St.-Gervais. When he advanced towards the heights, the 
advanced guard of Barclay de Tolly was already posted there, 
but it was driven back, and the marshal's troops deployed 
between Charonne and Vincennes: Montreuil and Bagnolet 
were occupied. The enemy's armies, divided into three col- 
umns under the orders of Barclay, the Prince Royal of Wur- 
temberg, and Bhicher, were to attack on the east, south, and 
north ; Romainville, the Barriere du Trone, and the heights of 
Montmartre being the points threatened. 

It was at the last post that King Joseph had fixed his head- 
quarters. On the morning of the 30th there was already some 
fighting in the east of Paris, and the plateau of Romainville 
was several times taken and retaken. Bliicher and the Prince 
of Wurtemberg had not yet arrived. The generals, however, 
were not deceived with false hopes ; the soldiers said they were 
determined to be killed to the last man, but Paris would cer- 
tainly be compelled to surrender. This news, and the sight of 
the enemy's columns on the horizon, filled up the measure of 
King Joseph's alarm, being fully resolved not to fall into the 
enemy's hands. He deliberated with the ministers who still 
remained with him, and they all advised him to fly, urging 
that the emperor had given that order beforehand. Joseph set 
out, accompanied by the Duke of Feltre, and Paris was now 



100 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

left without government, and its defenders without any politi- 
cal supervision. Only one order was sent to the marshals, in 
these terms: — "If M. le Marshal Duke of Eagusa and M. le 
Marshal Duke of Trevisa cannot hold their ground, they are 
hereby authorized to enter into pourparlers with the Prince of 
Schwartzenberg and the Emperor of Russia now before the 
walls. "Joseph. I 

"Montmartre, 30th March, 1814, at a quarter past twelve, 
noon. — They will withdraw upon the Loire." 

Thus abandoned to themselves, with no hope but that of a 
glorious death, the generals in command everywhere joined 
battle. Bliicher, after approaching Montmartre with caution, 
because he thought this important point was strongly fortified, 
took possession of it without difficulty. The Prince of Wur- 
temberg carried the bridge of Charenton against the national 
guards and the pupils of the Alfort School. Some vigorous 
fighting took place at Pantin, Bagnolet, and Charonne. Ro- 
mainville was on the point of being taken by the enemy, when 
Marshal Marmont made a charge, sword in hand, against the 
enemy's centre, but was driven back, and very nearly made 
prisoner. The defence was concentrated upon Belleville and 
Menilmontant. Mortier still held Villette, and the fighting 
there was keenly contested. The pupils of the Polytechnic 
School had been vigorously attacked at the Barriere du Trone, 
but they succeeded in holding their ground, though many were 
killed by their guns. A rumor ran that the emperor had ar- 
rived, but it was without foundation ; General Dejean alone 
had succeeded in passing the enemy's posts, announcing Na- 
poleon's approach. It was sufficient, he said, to hold out two 
days, for the army to come and back the efforts of the brave 
defenders of Paris ; the emperor was already advancing with 
his staff to the assistance of the capital, hastening across the 
country by relays of horses, and they must make an attempt 
to gain time. The emperor had written to the Emperor Fran- 
cis, proposing to reopen the negotiations ; and Schwartzenberg, 
as soon as he was informed of it, would most certainly grant a 
suspension of arms. Marshal Mortier, having heard this from 
General Dejean, immediately sent an orderly to the prince. 
Marmont had already twice sent messengers, but they had 
been killed before reaching the generals of tbe enemy, and his 
third emissary reached Prince Schwartzenberg at the same 
time as the officer bearing Mortier's request. ' ' I have had no 
information of the renewal of negotiations," said the Austrian 



ch. xv.] THE FALL. 101 

general, "and therefore cannot grant an armistice; but it de- 
pends upon the marshals to put a stop to this butchery, if they 
agree to deliver up Paris to me immediately." Several hours 
previously, when Marmont received the authorization to treat 
which was sent by Joseph, he replied that they were not yet 
come to that. Now, at mid-day, with his back against the 
octroi wall, driving back the enemy, some of whom were al- 
ready advancing into the Rue du Temple, fighting himself like 
a soldier in the ranks, on foot, in the midst of his officers fall- 
ing around him, the marshal had no resource left but capitula- 
tion. An aide-de-camp had reached the chateau of Bondy 
where the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia were. 
" It is not my intention to do the least harm to the town of 
Paris," said the Czar; " it is not upon the French nation that 
we are waging war, but upon Napoleon." "And not upon 
himself, but upon his ambition," added Frederick William. 
The suspension of arms was granted, and the only point at 
issue was the withdrawal of the army and the capitulation of 
Paris. The temis of agreement were drawn up at Villette be- 
tween the marshals, Nesselrode and a few of the enemy's offi- 
cers. The allies at first declared they would insist upon the 
defenders of Paris giving up their arms; they also insisted 
upon their withdrawal to Brittany. These two articles having 
been rejected, the marshals remained at liberty to direct the 
movements of their troops as they pleased. The convention, 
generally termed the " Capitulation of Paris," was confined to 
several articles exclusively military : — 

"The corps of the Marshals the Dukes of Trevisa and Ragusa 
will evacuate the town of Paris on the 31st March, at seven 
oVlock, forenoon. They will take with them their regimental 
property and furniture. Hostilities cannot be resumed till two 
hours after the evacuation of the town, viz., on the 31st March, 
at nine o'clock, forenoon. All the military arsenals, work- 
shops, establishments, and stores will be left in the same state 
as they were in before the present capitulation was discussed. 
The national or city guard is entirely distinct from the troops 
of the line, and will be preserved, disarmed, or disbanded ac- 
cording as the courts appointed by the allies may think proper. 
The municipal gendarmes corps will be treated exactly as the 
national guard. The wounded or marauders who remain in 
Paris after seven o'clock, will be prisoners of war. The town 
of Paris is committed to the generosity of the high allied 
powers." 



102 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv. 

Such was the convention signed on the 30th March, at six 
o'clock, afternoon, by the marshal's aides-de-camp, in a small 
public-house in Villette, in the midst of the disturbance and 
consternation which were reigning in the capital. Her last de- 
fenders were making their preparations to leave; Marshal 
Marmont, his face blackened with gunpowder, and his clothes 
torn by balls, was surrounded by his friends in his house in 
the Rue Paradis-Poissonniere. " And Paris?" they exclaimed, 
when he had announced the conditions of the armistice. ' ' Paris 
is no business of mine ; I am only leader of a corps, and my 
troops have done all that was humanly possible to do. I fall 
back upon Fontainebleau, where the emperor is. A capitula- 
tion will be made for Paris." It was at last decided that the 
two prefects of police and administration should wait upon the 
allied sovereigns, to obtain the treatment to which Paris was 
entitled. These were the only remains in Paris of the imperial 
government. Clear-sighted men could already distinguish the 
aurora of new influences. Talleyrand did not leave Paris along 
with the court. 

Meanwhile the Emperor Napoleon had reached as far as 
Fromenteau, being himself in advance of the whole army. 
Retained for several days in the neighborhood of St. Dizier and 
Vassy, by the vain hope of fighting Schwartzenberg's army, 
which he thought was still following him, he was able to see, 
by a well-fought battle between St. Dizier and Vitry, that the 
only troops behind him were a cavalry-corps. One of the ene- 
my's bulletins, also, which had fallen into his hands, informed 
him of the affair at Fere-Champenoise, from which he inferred 
the movement of the allied armies upon Paris. Napoleon hesi- 
tated, inclined to follow up his plan, so that he might attack 
the enemy when he should have collected some forces ; but the 
troops were seized with excitement, and all asked to march to 
the assistance of Paris. The danger of the capital implied that 
of many families, and threatened the honor of France. The 
emperor was obliged to yield. Always rapid in his resolutions, 
he advanced by forced marches, being conscious, moreover, of 
the imminent danger, and suspecting, not without reason, that 
it was too late to save Paris. He hurried his journey as far as 
Villeneuve-l'Archeveque, where he threw himself into a car- 
riage and flew towards Paris. At Fromenteau, about midnight, 
he was told that a body of cavalry were approaching. ' ' Who 
is there?" he exclaimed. ''General Belliard." Napoleon 
stepped out of the carriage and drew the general to the road 



ch. m] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 103 

side. "Where is the army?" he asked. "Sire, it is coming 
behind." " And the enemy?" " At the gates of Paris." " And 
who holds Paris?" " Nobody, it is evacuated." "What! evac- 
uated? And my son, my wife, the government, where are 
they?" " On the Loire, sire." " On the Loire ! who sent them 
there?" "Sire, it was said to be by your orders." "My orders 
did not imply that. Where is King Joseph, and Clarke, and 
Marmont, and Mortier?" "Sire, we did not see King Joseph 
or the Duke of Feltre ; the marshals did all that it was possible 
for men to do. A defence was made in every part, and the 
national guards fought like soldiers. We had nothing, not even 
cannon! Ah! sire, had you been there, you and your troops!" 
" No doubt, if I had been there, — but I cannot be everywhere. 
Joseph lost Spain, and now he is losing me France ! And Clarke, 
too ; if I had believed that poor Rovigo, who always kept tell- 
ing me that he was a coward and traitor ! But we must go 
there at once ! My carriage, Caulaincourt I" The officers threw 
themselves before the emperor, to stop him as he proceeded to 
walk along the road. "It is impossible, sire! It is too late! 
There is a capitulation ! The infantry is behind us, and will 
presently reach us." Some of the detachments were already 
coming in sight. Napoleon let himself fall by the roadside, 
holding his head in his hands and hiding his face. The on- 
lookers, with heartfelt sorrow, silently stood by him. On that 
solitary road, at the dead of night, the grand empire, founded 
and sustained for fifteen years by the incomparable genius and 
commanding will of one man alone, had now crumbled to 
pieces, even in the opinion of him who had raised it. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FIRST RESTORATION (1814—1815). 

The Bourbons had long been forgot by Europe, even when 
showing some kindness personally to the princes of that illus- 
trious race. England alone had occasionally supported them 
in their attempts, but the support was always insufficient and 
late. The French princes paid little attention to the noble 
effort made by the country gentlemen and peasants in Vendee ; 
when they believed the dying spark could be revived they en- 



104 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xv*. 

couraged the Quiberon expedition, but without resolving to 
share in it themselves. The Count d'Artois had something to 
do with the conspiracy of Georges and Pichegru, and his per- 
sonal friends were engaged in it. The emigrants were divided 
into two classes, the "observers" and the "conspirators," so 
termed during the last days of the monarchy according to their 
bias, one towards Monsieur, the other the Count d'Artois. 
The advisers differed in like proportion; so long as men of 
eager and rash disposition fostered the count's illusions, and 
encouraged him to believe that it was impossible to return to 
the past, Monsieur, or " the king," as the emigrants now called 
him, chose, amongst the most liberal and sensible of the roya- 
lists in Paris, some friends for the purpose of letting him know 
the state of public opinion, and managing his affairs. This 
" royal council" was composed of only four persons, chosen by 
Royer-Collard, one of them being the Abbe Montesquiou. On 
the 18th Brumaire, Clermont-Gallerande, who was also a mem- 
ber, received from Louis XVIII. instructions to lay before the 
first consul certain proposals of alliance. His credentials were 
conceived in the following terms: — "I give to the bearer of 
these presents all necessary power to treat in my name with 
General Bonaparte. I do not instruct him to propose either 
conditions or recompences to that general. The faithful inter- 
preter of my sentiments will give him the assurance that all 
that he may ask for his friends will be granted immediately 
after my restoration. The safety of my people will be the guar- 
antee of my faithfulness in f ulfilhng my promises. " 

At first no reply was sent to the prince's letter. When he 
made a second attempt, Bonaparte's refusal was as peremptory 
as was afterwards that of Louis XVIII. in 1S03, to the propo- 
sal that he should renounce his claim to the throne. " I do 
not confound M. Bonaparte with those who have preceded 
him," replied the king to the President of the Diet of Warsaw, 
who had been entrusted with that commission by the first 
consul. "I owe him thanks for several acts of his adminis- 
tration, because the good clone to my people will always make 
me grateful ; but he is deceived if he thinks to persuade me to 
traffic with my rights: so far from that, he himself by his 
present procedure would strengthen them, if they coidd be- 
come matter of dispute. I know not what may be God's pur- 
poses regarding my race and myself, but I know what are the 
obligations he has laid upon me by the rank to which by His 
will I have been born. A Christian, I shall fulfil those obliga 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 105 

tions till my latest breath ; the son of St. Louis, I should be 
able like him to act worthily even in chains ; the successor of 
Francis I. , I wish to be able at least to say as he did, ' All is 
lost, save honor.' " Royer-Collard in name of the secret Coun- 
cil wrote a long letter to Louis XVIII., approving and com- 
menting on the prince's conduct ; which letter was published 
afterwards, when a serious disagreement broke out between 
the restored Bourbons and their wisest and best servants. 

As the princes of the house of Bourbon had protested against 
the crimes of the revolution, so they protested against the set- 
ting up of a throne which they were not called upon to occupy. 
' ' By taking the title of emperor, " said Louis XVIII. in his 
protest of the 5th June, 1804, ' ' and wishing to render it hered- 
itary in his family, Bonaparte has just put the seal to his 
usurpation. The new act of a revolution in which everything 
from the first has been without legal effect, can certainly not 
weaken my rights ; but accountable for my conduct to all the 
sovereigns, whose rights are not less assailed than mine by the 
principles which the Senate of Paris has dared to put forward, 
I should consider myself a traitor to the common cause by 
keeping silence on this occasion. I therefore declare, in pres- 
ence of all the sovereigns, that far from acknowledging the 
imperial title which Bonaparte has just got bestowed upon 
himself by a body which has not even a legal existence, I pro- 
test against that title, and against all the subsequent acts to 
which it may give place." 

The protest was of no use, as was well enough known by the 
prince who pronounced it. Several months later (2nd Decem- 
ber, 1804), to satisfy the need for action felt by Count d'Artois 
and his friends, he published a declaration promising to up- 
hold all the rights gained by the revolution. ' ' My proclama- 
tion contains everything," he wrote to Mittau. "Is it the 
military question? The soldier's rank and employment are 
retained, promotion according to length of service — all are 
secured. Is it a question of a public man? He will be con- 
tinued in office. Or one of the lower orders? The conscrip- 
tion, that tax of persons, the most burdensome of all, will be 
abolished. Or a new proprietor? I declare myself the protec- 
tor of the rights and interests of all. Or, finally, those who 
are guilty? Prosecutions will be forbidden : a general amnesty 
is announced. Nevertheless everything, in France and with- 
out, since the beginning of the Revolution, turns in a vicious 
circle. Placed between two parties, I cry to both ' You are 



106 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi, 

wrong ! ' But my voice is not heard by the one, or listened to 
by the other." 

Dating from this formal declaration, which he considered 
due to his family and the monarchical traditions, Louis XVIII. 
aimed at nothing more than a quiet and dignified retreat. 
This he long found at Mittau, remaining an entire stranger 
to the intrigues in the midst of which the Count d'Artois was 
actively employed. When the Emperor Alexander, conquered 
and cajoled at the same time by Napoleon, gave the illustrious 
exile to understand that his presence in Courland was trouble- 
some, the prince asked for an asylum in England, the only 
nation in Europe that still refused to acknowledge the all 
subsiding power of the Emperor of the French. It was a char- 
acteristic proof of this power that the English cabinet for a mo- 
ment hesitated to receive Louis XVIII. He was at last allowed 
to reside in England, and had lived there seven years when the 
tottering state of Napoleon's throne again revived the hopes of 
the few friends who remained true to his cause. England 
openly showed her indifference for the royalist cause : — " The 
only opinion I can form," wrote Wellingtonlto Lord Bathurst, 
" is that twenty years having elapsed since the princes of the 
house of Bourbon left France, they are as much, and perhaps 
more unknown there, than the princes of any other royal 
family in Europe ; that the allies should agree amongst them- 
selves to propose to France a sovereign in place of Napoleon, 
who must be got rid of before Europe can ever enjoy peace ; 
but that it matters little whether it be a prince of the house of 
Bourbon or one of any other royal family." The English gen- 
eral wrote this at the time when the Duke d'Angouleme fol- 
lowed his army, without ever being able to obtain an intro- 
duction. The Duke de Berry's stay in Jersey produced no 
rising of the royalists in Vendee or Brittany. Count d'Artois, 
after crossing the eastern frontier along with the allied armies, 
had great difficulty in obtaining permission to pass through 
Vesoul from the Austrian general in command of the place. 
The Russians allowed him to enter Vesoul on condition that 
he came alone, without cockade or decorations, took no politi- 
cal title, and occupied no public building. The allied sov- 
ereigns were on their guard against every manifestation which 
might give a dynastic color to their political or military action. 
They were not disposed to lend an ear to the urgent requests of 
the royalists, nor to place much confidence in their declared 
assurance as to the state of public opinion. " If they were to 



ch. m] TEE FIRST RESTORATION. 107 

give up treating with Bonaparte," said Vitrolles to the Em- 
peror Alexander, "and march upon Paris, determined to 
allow public opinion full liberty, it would declare itself. I 
leave my head in your Majesty's hands, and am willing that 
it sbould fall at the block, if Paris — if public opinion, does not 
declare itself." 

Vitrolles was bold, enterprising, and unscrupulous. His 
supple and subtle mind was weU-suited for intrigue. He had 
risked his liberty, and even his life, by coming to Chatillon to 
sound the secret intentions of the powers with reference to 
the Emperor Napoleon. Two unfortunate gentlemen had dis- 
played the white colors of the royalists at Troyes during the 
stay of the allies in that town, and when Napoleon regained 
possession of it one of them, named Gault, was shot. Vitrolles 
was sent to Chatillon to prove to Stadion, his former friend, 
the identity of the Duke of Dalberg. Around Talleyrand and 
his intimate friends there had already begun a movement in 
favor of the new posture of affairs, and he did not oppose it, 
though he refrained from taking an active share in it. The 
Emperor Napoleon's distrust, and unmistakable weakness of 
his fortune, had, however, determined the quondam bishop, 
afterwards vice-grand-chancellor under the imperial rule. 
The instinct of the race, his personal interest, and a sense of 
the wants of the country, all combined in Talleyrand's mind 
to separate him henceforth from the threatened dynasty. 
When King Joseph left Paris, a few hours after the capital 
was invested by the enemy, Prince Benevento proceeded to 
follow; but the guard stationed at the gates showing some re- 
sistance, he returned to Paris without insisting upon it. Be- 
fore the departure of the marshals for Fontainebleau he had 
an interview with the Duke of Eagusa, and strove by argu- 
ments to weaken his military fidelity to a chief who was no 
longer accompanied by victory. As soon as the allied sov- 
ereigns took possession of Paris, they were careful to request 
Talleyrand to remain. 

On the 30th March, 1814, was seen the first declaration of 
the allies in Paris, signed by Prince Schwartzenberg as gener- 
alissimo. It clearly announced their intention of no more 
treating with the Emperor Napoleon. 

"Inhabitants of Paris," it said, "the allied armies are now 
before your walls. The object of their advance upon the capi- 
tal of France is the hope of a sincere and lasting reconciliation 
with her. For twenty years Europe has been flooded with 



108 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch xvi 

blood and tears. The attempts to put a stop to so much wretch- 
edness have been in vain, because there exists in the very 
power of the government which oppresses you an insurmount- 
able obstacle to peace. Who is the Frenchman that is not con- 
vinced of the truth of this? The allied sovereigns are sincerely 
anxious to find a tutelary authority in France that can cement 
the union of all nations and governments with her. It belongs 
now to the city of Paris, in the present crisis, to hasten the 
peace of the world. Let her declare herself, and immediately 
the army now before her walls becomes the supporter of her 
decisions. Parisians ! you know the situation of your country, 
the conduct of Bordeaux, the occupation of Lyons, the evils 
brought upon France, and the real inclinations of your fellow- 
citizens. You will in these examples see the limit of foreign 
war and civil discord. Make haste to reply to the confidence 
placed by Europe in your love for your country and in your 
good sense." Preparations were already being made for the 
entry next day into Paris of the allied sovereigns. 

We have in our time heard words less sympathizing, and, 
like our fathers, have known the anguish caused by the faults 
and reverses of absolute power. The population of Paris re- 
mained calm and dejected. When, on the 31st, the allied sov- 
ereigns approached the rich quarters, they were hailed with 
the joyful shouts of a band of royalists, who displayed the 
white Bourbon flag, and welcomed with delight Napoleon's 
conquerors. Women gave way to the same enthusiasm. By 
the hope of peace their children were snatched from deadly 
danger ; several of them distributed white cockades. This dis- 
play of different passions, which had long been silently re- 
pressed, was confined to a small number of houses and streets. 
When the Emperor Alexander, who marched in front, and at- 
tracted the looks of all, reached the hotel in the Eue St. Flor- 
entin which Talleyrand had put at his disposal, a large crowd 
gathered round the doors, full of curiosity and adulation. In- 
doors, earnest negotiations had begun. 

It is a characteristic of critical junctures that they bring to 
the front those men who are destined to exercise preponderat- 
ing and decisive influence upon human events. By his fore- 
sight and acuteness Talleyrand prepared beforehand the place 
which he was to take in that formidable crisis of our destinies, 
no one disputing it with him, and the allied sovereigns at once 
acknowledged him as the natural and inevitable plenipotentiary 
of France. Caulaincourt, who had been sent by Napoleon, was 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 109 

received by the Czar at Bondy; but lie obtained nothing but 
courteous expressions, and the sad conviction that his master 
was to be opposed. On his return to Paris for the purpose of 
renewing the attempt, he had secretly resolved to accept, if 
need were, the Chatillon terms of peace. He considered the 
contrary resolutions were emphatically expressed. 

On March 31st, a proclamation from the allied princes was 
everywhere posted up. 

"The armies of the allied powers have occupied the capital 
of France. The allied sovereigns respond to the prayer of the 
French nation. They declare:— 

' ' That whilst material guarantees were necessarily included 
in the terms upon which peace could alone be concluded when 
it was a question of restraining the ambition of Bonaparte, yet 
these terms must be made more favorable when by an inclina* 
tion towards good government France offers assurances of 
tranquillity. 

" The allied sovereigns consequently proclaim that they will 
no longer treat with Napoleon Bonaparte, nor with any mem- 
ber of his family ; that they respect the integrity of ancient 
France, as it existed under its legitimate kings ; they may even 
do more than that, for they acknowledge the principle that for 
the welfare of Europe it is necessary for France to be great and 
strong. 

"That they will recognize and guarantee the Constitution 
which the French Nation shall form for itself. Accordingly 
they invite the Senate to appoint a provisional government 
which may provide for the necessities of administration, and 
prepare such a constitution as may meet the views of the 
French people." 

Such were the results of the conferences which had taken 
place in the morning between the allied sovereigns, Talleyrand, 
and the Duke of Dalberg. Upon one point only were the vic- 
torious allies thoroughly agreed — the downfall of the Emperor 
Napoleon, the author of all the evils that oppressed Europe, 
the insatiable conqueror whom no treaty of peace could bind. 
The regency of the Empress Marie-Louise, Prince Bernadotte, 
even the republic, all seemed to offer certain advantages. The 
preferences of the allies in favor of the house of Bourbon were 
as yet only feeble. Lord Castlereagh was not present to plead 
their cause ; Talleyrand took charge of it. So far as he was 
concerned he had fully made up his mind. A member of the 
Constituent Assembly, a great nobleman and a bishop, he had 



HO HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

been too close an eye witness of the'terrible tragedies resulting 
from revolutionary fury and of the humiliations of the Direc- 
tory to believe in the possibility of the re-establishment of the 
republican regime. His clear judgment rejected the idea of 
government by Marie-Louise in the name of an infant — the im- 
perial dynasty with all its faults, and without its power, under 
the continual menace of a despot banished in vain. He did not 
tolerate for a moment the absurd idea of the elevation of Ber- 
nadotte to supreme power ; the Bourbons alone could assure 
tranquillity to France. France could exact from them guaran- 
tees for its liberties. "The republic is an impossibility; the 
regency, or Bernadotte, means nothing but perpetual intrigue; 
the Bourbons alone represent a principle." Such was the sum 
of the thoughts of Talleyrand, strongly supported by the men 
of intellect who surrounded him, and who were soon admitted 
into the presence of the sovereigns. 

" If we are to believe the enemies of the restoration, it was 
imposed upon France by hostile bayonets, and nobody in 1814, 
either in Europe or in France, cared much about it. Puerile 
blindness of party spirit ! The more it can be proved that no 
general desire, no great force, internal or external, demanded 
and accomplished the restoration, the more do we bring into 
view its own innate force, and that supreme necessity by which 
the issue of events was determined. In the fearful crisis of 
1814 the re-establishment of the house of Bourbon was the only 
natural and serious solution, the only one that was linked with 
principles as independent of mere force as of the caprices of 
human wishes. In accepting this solution anxiety might be 
felt for the new interests of the French people, but under the 
aegis of institutions mutually accepted, there was reason to 
hope for that of which France had the most pressing need, and 
which had been most wanting to it for five-and-twenty years — 
peace and liberty. Thanks to the two-fold hope, not only was 
the restoration accomplished without a struggle, but in spite of 
revolutionary memories it was promptly and easily accepted 
by France. And France was right, for the Restoration in fact 
gave it peace and liberty. 

" Never had peace been more talked about in France than 
during the last twenty-five years. The Constituent Assembly 
proclaimed : No more conquests ! The National Assembly pro- 
claimed the union of peoples. The Emperor Napoleon con- 
cluded in fifteen years more treaties of peace than any other 
king. Never had war so often broken out ; never had peace 



en. xvi.] TEE FIRST RESTORATION. HI 

been so short-lived a lie. Treaties were only truces during 
which new combats were prepared for. It was the same with 
liberty as with peace ; at first enthusiastically celebrated and 
promised, it soon gave place to civil discord, even amidst re- 
newed celebrations and promises. Then in order to put an end 
to discord, liberty also was put an end to. Just as people be- 
came intoxicated with the word without caring to realize the 
thing, so also in order to escape from a fatal intoxication, both 
name and reality became almost equally proscribed and for- 
gotten. 

' ' Real peace and liberty returned with the restoration. For 
the Bourbons, war was not a necessity, neither were they pas- 
sionately fond of it ; they could reign without having recourse 
every day to some new display of force or some new excite- 
ment of the popular imagination. With them foreign govern- 
ments might hope for, and in fact did hope for, a sincere and 
lasting peace. In the same way the liberty that France recov- 
ered in 1814, was not the triumph either of a philosophical 
school or of a political party ; it gave no satisfaction to the law- 
less and unbridled appetites born of turbulent passions, extrav- 
agant theories, and imaginations at once ardent and unoccu- 
pied ; it was truly that social liberty which consists in the prac- 
tical and legal enjoyment of the rights essential to the active 
life of citizens, and to the moral dignity of the nation." * 

The allied sovereigns dimly comprehended these higher 
reasons for the restoration of the Bourbons, whilst simply 
yielding to what appeared to them to be the unanimous wish 
of the chosen men who appeared before them to represent 
France immediately after the capitulation of Paris. The pub- 
he declaration of their intentions was meant to facilitate the 
manoeuvres of Talleyrand in the Senate. The conquerors hav- 
ing resolved not to treat with Napoleon, or with any member 
of his family, the Senate could not hesitate to declare itself in 
favor of the Bourbons. The Corps Legislatif , which had been 
less submissive than the Senate to the imperious will of the 
master, had still stronger reasons for concurring without diffi- 
culty in his overthrow. In vain did Caulaincourt argue with 
Talleyrand in favor of a regency for Marie-Louise. " It is too 
late," said the Prince. " I have done all I could to save them 
by detaining them in Paris ; but a letter from this man, who 
has lost everything, has ruined them in their turn, by leading 

* Guizot: Memoir es pour servir d Vhistoire de mem, temps, vol. i. 



U2 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [en. xvi. 

them to decide on flight. Think of France, and also of your 
own children." The loyal servant of Napoleon, who had so 
long deplored the intoxications of unbridled ambition, hence- 
forth sought in vain to reanimate the courage and fidelity of 
those whom he had formerly seen upon their knees before the 
master of all their destinies. The Senate had already appointed 
the members of the provisional government, carefully chosen 
by Talleyrand. He was assisted in this difficult task by the 
Duke of Dalberg, of German origin, and on friendly terms with 
all the foreign diplomatists; General Beurnonville, formerly 
war minister of the Convention; Jaucourt, a sincere Protes- 
tant, and a gentleman of good family, the descendant of a 
daughter of Duplessis-Mornay, and who had sat on the right 
in the Legislative Assembly; and lastly, the Abbe Montes- 
quiou, one of the wisest friends of King Louis XVIII. , and a 
constant member of his secret council at Paris, witty, amiable, 
and liberal minded. The Senate was ready to stretch its com- 
plaisance yet further. It set about proclaiming the dethrone- 
ment of the Emperor Napoleon, but not without taking care to 
assure itself beforehand of some recompense for its services. 
The following were amongst the fundamental principles [of the 
constitution determined upon by the senators : 1st. That the 
Senate and the Corps Legislatif should be integral parts of the 
projected constitution, admitting such modifications as might 
be necessary in order to assure an unrestricted suffrage and 
freedom of opinion. 2nd. That the army, and all superannu- 
ated officers and soldiers, and the widows of such, should re- 
tain their various grades, honors, and pensions. 3rd. That 
there should be no repudiation of the public debt. 4th. That 
the sales of the national domains should be considered as irre- 
vocable. 5th. That no Frenchman should be brought under 
examination as to any political opinions he might have given 
utterance to. 6th. That freedom of worship and of conscience 
should be maintained and proclaimed, as well as the liberty of 
the press, excepting only the legal repression of abuses of that 
liberty. 

Great were the precautions taken as regards material in- 
terests; and the fundamental guarantees of liberty did f not 
occupy a prominent position in these first foundations of the 
new social system as suggested by the personal motives 
and prejudices of the senators. Talleyrand and his wise asso- 
ciates were, however, specially careful not to let imprudent 
men rush forward, and events be precipitated, before the bases 



ch. xvi.] TEE FIRST RESTORATION. 113 

of a mutual accord could be arranged between tbe legitimate 
sovereign and the nation which recalled him. An untimely 
manifestation by a part of the Municipal Council of Paris, and 
the zeal of Vitrolles, who thought the way for the return of 
the princes was already open, were counterbalanced by the 
repugnance of the national guard to mount the white cockade, 
in spite of the friendly disposition manifested by General Des- 
solle, who had just been appointed its commander. Besides, 
the Emperor Alexander took pleasure in showing how com- 
pletely the French people were left at liberty to regulate their 
internal affairs in accordance with their own will and pleasure. 
Appeased by his victory, and the downfall of his enemy, he 
resumed the natural mildness of his character — he displayed in 
favor of the Parisians that desire to please which had formerly 
led him to show too much partiality towards the all-powerful 
conqueror. The Senate had just voted the dethronement of 
the imperial dynasty, when Talleyrand selected ninety out of 
the 400 senators, and officially presented them to the Emperor 
Alexander. The latter effusively praised them for their patri- 
otic zeal, and said he thought he could do nothing to give 
them greater pleasure than the restoration to liberty of all 
French prisoners detained in Russia. Lambrechts was ap- 
pointed to set forth the grounds for the act of dethronement. 
It was a duty which naturally devolved onone of those rare 
members of the Senate who had remained in opposition ; they 
alone had not participated in the errors and the crimes with 
which every one was now reproaching the fallen regime. I will 
give the text of this Act of Accusation, which fell back like a 
chargeo f cowardice upon the greater number of those who had 
just voted for it. 

" The conservative Senate — considering that in a constitu- 
tional monarchy the monarch only exists by virtue of the con- 
stitution, or the social pact ; that Napoleon Bonaparte during a 
few years of firm and prudent government gave the French 
nation reason to expect in the future acts of wisdom and jus- 
tice, but that subsequently he destroyed the pact which united 
him to the French people, notably by levying imposts and es- 
tablishing taxes otherwise than by legal authority, contrary to 
the express tenor of the oath which he took on his accession to 
the throne ; that he has sought to take away the rights of the 
people, even by adjourning without necessity the Corps Legis- 
latif , and causing to be suppressed as criminal a report of this 
Corps, whose very title and part in the national representation 
VIII.— 8 



114 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [cu. xvi. 

he has contested ; that he has carried on a series of wars in vio- 
lation of the 50th article of the Act of the Constitutions of the 
22nd Frimaire, in the year VIII., which ordains that a declara- 
tion of war be lawfully proposed, discussed, decreed, and pro- 
mulgated ; that he has unconstitutionally issued many decrees 
bearing the penalty of death, seeking to have a war recognized 
as national, when it was only carried on in the interests of his 
unbounded ambition ; that he has violated the constitutional 
laws by his decrees relative to State prisons ; that he has an- 
nihilated the responsibility of ministers, confused the author- 
ity, and destroyed the independence of the judicial bodies ; con- 
sidering that the freedom of the press, established and conse- 
crated as one of the rights of the nation, has been constantly 
subjected to the arbitrary censure of his police, and that at the 
same time he has always made use of the press for flooding 
France and Europe with facts of his own invention, false max- 
ims, and doctrines favorable to despotism and to outrages 
against foreign nations ; considering that instead of reigning, in 
accordance with his oath, solely for the interests, the welfare, 
and the glory of the French people, Napoleon has brought the 
misfortunes of the country to a climax, by refusing to make 
peace on conditions which the nation's interests required him to 
accept, and which did not compromise the honor of France— by 
the bad use he has made of all the men and money entrusted to 
his care — by the abandonment of the wounded without medical 
care, attendance, or even the means of subsistence — by various 
measures resulting in the ruin of the cities, in the depopulation 
of the country districts, in famine and contagious maladies ; 
considering that for all these reasons the Imperial government 
established by the senatus-consultum of the 28th Floreal, in the 
year XII. has ceased to exist, and that the manifest will of all 
the French people calls for a new order of things, of which the 
first result shall be the re-establishment of general peace, and 
which shall be also the epoch of a solemn reconciliation 
amongst all the States of the Great European family — the 
Senate declares and decrees as follows : 

"Napoleon Bonaparte is deposed from the throne, and the 
hereditary rights established in his family are abolished. The 
French people and the army are relieved from the oath of 
fidelity towards Napoleon Bonaparte." 

The cry that rose up from the inmost soul of France van- 
quished, wounded, and bleeding, was more eloquent, as it was 
more simple, than the long exposition of the grounds of action 



ch. xyi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 115 

drawn up by Lambrechts ; the decree of the Corps Legislatif , 
tardily and unwillingly convoked by the Provisional Govern- 
ment, was more dignified in its cold brevity. 

" The Corps Legislatif, having seen the Act of the Senate of 
the 2nd instant, by which it pronounces the deposition of Bon- 
aparte and his family, and declares the French people absolved 
from all civil and military duties towards him ; having seen 
also the decree of the Provisional Government of the same 
date, by which the Corps Legislatif is invited to participate in 
this important operation; considering that Napoleon Bona- 
parte has violated the constitutional pact— the Corps Legislatif, 
concurring in Jthe Act of the Senate, recognizes and declares 
the deposition of Napoleon Bonaparte and the members of his 
family." 

All the constituted bodies hastened to give in their adhesion 
to the declarations of the Senate and the Corps Legislatif. The 
army alone still remained, to all appearance, faithfully 
gathered around the Emperor Napoleon, who remained at Fon- 
tainebleau, where he awaited the results of the mission of Cau- 
laincourt, at the same time concentrating little by little the 
corps that had become scattered, or hindered from assembling. 
Upon the Duke of Vicenza devolved the sorrowful duty of an- 
nouncing the fact of his deposition to the sovereign, to whom 
he had always extended the firmest and wisest counsels. The 
emperor had already collected his old guard in the great court 
of the chateau ; he was on horseback, having just come from 
visiting the cantonments, and he advanced towards the ranks : 
"Officers, subalterns, and soldiers," said he, "the enemy has 
stolen upon us three marches. He has entered Paris. I have 
offered to the Emperor Alexander a peace involving great sac- 
rifices — France with its ancient boundaries, renouncing our 
conquests, and relinquishing all that we have gained since the 
Eevolution. Not only has he refused, he has done still more: 
through the perfidious suggestions of these emigrants, to whom 
I have granted life, and whom I have loaded with benefits, he 
has authorized them to carry the white cockade, and will soon 
desire to substitute it for our national cockade. In a few days 
I am going to attack Paris. I count upon you. Am I right? 
We are about to prove that the French nation knows how to 
be supreme in its own territory, and that if we have long been 
so abroad, we shall not be the less so at home. We will show 
that we are capable of defending our cockade, our independ- 
ence, and the integrity of our territory." 



116 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

The soldiers, with enthusiastic cries, responded to the words 
of the Emperor ; they were still ready to follow him and to 
give him all that was left of their hlood. The officers took a 
sounder view of the situation ; the generals felt that the cause 
was lost, and that resistance would be impossible and murder- 
ous. Some amongst them were not quite clear of selfish mo- 
tives. Many were influenced by the feeling that France was 
weary of fighting, and in evident need of peace. The first to 
feel and express this idea were the most illustrious and most 
heroic of the marshals. Whilst the soldiers were swearing that 
they would march upon Paris, with the emperor, to-morrow, 
Lefebvre, Oudinot, Ney, Macdonald (who had just arrived with 
his corps), entered the room of Napoleon, resolved upon forcing 
him to comprehend the truth. The emperor was very excited, 
already forming a plan for his last battle, reckoning up the 
forces still at his disposal, and the reinforcements that he might 
expect in a few days. " They are scattered in Paris," said he; 
" the people will rise in revolt and deliver them into my hands; 
they are lost. All who flee from Paris I shall hurl back into 
the Rhine, and we shall once more become masters of the situa- 
tion. There is one last effort to be made to reconquer the 
world." 

Napoleon appeared at first absorbed in his own thoughts ; he 
presently addressed himself to the men who surrounded him — 
to those companions of his life who had so often gained battles 
for him, and whom he judged to be still animated with his own 
indomitable ardor. Their countenances remained frigid, and 
their words were embarrassed. They dwelt upon the horrors 
to be expected if the battle took place within the walls of the 
capital. "It is not I who have chosen the place," cried the 
emperor. " I grapple with the enemy wherever I meet him. 
It is my only chance — and your only chance also. How would 
you bring yourself to live under the Bourbons?" All protested 
emphatically against this idea. "The Regency could not last, " 
replied the Emperor, "in a fortnight you would be making 
overtures to the Bourbons . . ." Here the marshals hesitated; 
their thoughts were revealed in their faces. The strong judg- 
ment of their master had forestalled their own. That which he 
deemed impossible they were themselves disposed to attempt ; 
but in order to place the crown upon the head of the King of 
Rome, the abdication of Napoleon was necessary. No one as 
yet dared to pronounce this word. 
Marshal Macdonald held in his hand a letter from General 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 117 

Beuronville, who had long been his friend. The emperor 
asked him what news he had received. "Very bad news," 
said the Marshal. "lam assured that there are 200,000 allies 
in Paris. If we give battle it will be a frightful affair; is it not 
time to bring all this to a close?" The emperor asked from 
whom the letter came. " Beurnonville, sire. I have nothing 
to hide from you; read it." The Duke de Bassano read the 
letter aloud. It conjured Macdonald to abandon the tyrant, 
and take part in restoring peace and liberty to France under 
the rule of the Bourbons. "Your Bourbons won't last long," 
said Napoleon; "instead of pacifying, they will make worse 
confusion everywhere. In a battle of four hours' length we 
could re-establish everything." "Possibly," said Macdonald, 
"by fighting in the midst of the ashes of Paris, and over the 
corpses of our children." All the marshals supported these 
words. "Besides," said they, "we cannot count upon the 
obedience of the soldiers." Napoleon saw that defection and 
opposition were getting too strong for him. With a gesture he 
dismissed his lieutenants, who left him to himself. "I shall 
weigh the matter, gentlemen," said he, "and apprise you of 
my resolutions." 

Napoleon was not deceived by this bitter sign of his fall. 
"Poor fellows!" he said, "they have been persuaded that dur- 
ing the regency they may keep their honors and endowments. 
They don't see that all this is nothing but a dream, and that 
the Bourbons are played out. Ah ! men ! men ! These owe me 
everything." Caulaincourt, always sincere, insisted on the idea 
of abdication in favor of the King of Eome, generally accepted, 
he said, and which might serve as the basis of negotiation. 
The emperor after reflecting a moment said, " In any case we 
shall gain time by it. Caulaincourt, I wish it success. Eeturn 
to Paris ; take with you two or three marshals ; you will relieve 
me of them — that will be something gained. While you are 
negotiating, I shall finish my preparations, and, sword in hand, 
I will fall on Paris and make an end of the matter. Take Mar- 
mont with you— no, I want him at the Essonne ; he will do well 
there with his corps. Take Ney ; he is the bravest of men, but 
I have others who will do as well as he. Take care not to let 
him fall into the hands of the Emperor Alexander, or M. de 
Talleyrand; he is a child, watch over him." It was decided 
that Ney should be accompanied by Macdonald, who was not 
suspected of complacency towards the emperor, and whose 
military talents were appreciated everywhere. Napoleon re* 



118 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

vised himself the act of his conditional abdication, and ordered 
the marshals to enter. " I have reflected," he told them, "and 
I have made up my mind to put the loyalty of the sovereigns 
to the test. They consider me as the only obstacle to the peace 
of the world. I am ready to abdicate in favor of my son, who 
will be placed under the regency of the empress. What do 
you think of it?" And he handed them the paper which he 
had just been writing. 

" The allied powers having proclaimed the Emperor Napoleon 
as the only obstacle to the re-estabhshment of the peace of Eu- 
rope, the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that 
he is ready to abdicate, to leave France, and even to die for the 
good of his country, independent of the rights of his son, of 
those of the regency of the empress, and of the laws of the em- 
pire. Written in our Palace of Fontainebleau, April 4th, 1814." 

Those present applauded, and showed their admiration and 
gratitude. The emperor looked at them sorrowfully, and said, 
"And yet, if we would, we might beat them." Then taking up 
the pen, he signed, and the marshals left. Caulaincourt only 
knew Napoleon's second thoughts, and the hope which he was 
stdl nourishing. The soldiers thought they were carrying 
away the fate of the imperial dynasty. They had obtained the 
authorization to add Marmont to their number, and stopped at 
Essonne for him to join them. 

Marching through France at the head of their corps, even at 
Fontainebleau and in the presence of the emperor, Macdonald 
and Ney had felt the influence of the general emotion ; they 
had felt the weariness and the irresistible need of rest 
which seized the whole of France ; they had spoken and acted 
in the name of the country, of whose misfortunes they well 
knew. The companion-in-arms they were going to visit, the 
brilliant and weak Marmont, had been exposed to more subtle 
and direct temptations. Talleyrand had enveloped him already 
with his seductions and flatteries before he left Paris on ac- 
count of the capitulation; his agents had followed him to' 
Essonne, insisting on the necessity of breaking definitively 
with the emperor, who was drawing France into an abyss of 
calamities. The Duke of Eagusa was able to restore peace to 
his country by joining the temporary government charged to 
negotiate with the allied powers. The fate of France de- 
pended on him ; the honors which he would thus merit from 
the restored dynasty would surpass all the benefits from the 
Emperor Napoleon. The marshal had entertained his generals 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 119 

with these ideas, and he had found them ready to accept them. 
All the instruments of the imperial ambition revolted at once 
against the incessant abuse of their devotedness. Marmont 
had entered into negotiations with the Prince of Schwartzen- 
berg, who had established himself in the Chateau de Petit- 
Bourg ; he had consented to turn his army towards Normandy, 
placing it at the disposal of the temporary government. Only 
one condition had been stipulated in writing in that agreement 
which tarnished his military honor — Marmont claimed for the 
master he was deserting, his life, his liberty, and an establish- 
ment worthy of his dignity. Thus a third of the troops which 
were at Napoleon's disposal for the realization of his hopes, 
were at a stroke placed beyond his reach. 

The arrival of the marshals at Essonne, their importunities, 
their reproaches when they became acquainted with Marmont 's 
meditated act, troubled the latter deeply. Vain and ambitious, 
he had allowed himself to be drawn into a line of action the 
culpability of which he acknowledged ; he consented to accom- 
pany the negotiators to Paris, and even passed by Petit-Bourg 
in order to obtain a release from his promise from the Prince 
of Schwartzenberg. The generals who were implicated in the 
plot had to wait for new orders, or the return of the marshal, 
before being able to accomplish the projected move. The 
plenipotentiaries of the Emperor Napoleon arrived at Paris at 
ten o'clock in the morning of April 5th, and were immediately 
received by the Emperor Alexander. 

There was great uneasiness among the members of the Pro- 
visional Government, and the same feeling animated all those 
who had already boldly broken with the imperial dynasty. 
The Czar's will was dominant over his allies, capricious, and 
subject to sudden impulses. General Dessolle, who was present 
at the interview, tried to mitigate the effect which the words 
of the marshals produced on the Emperor Alexander. Marshal 
Macdonald was the first to state Napoleon's proposals. Cau- 
laincourt, always certain of the Czar's good intentions, did not 
interrupt his colleagues, who were eager to acquit themselves 
of the task for which they had solicited. Their reception was 
neither respectful nor flattering. 

"Agree among yourselves," said the Emperor Alexander; 
"adopt the constitution you desire; choose the chief who is 
best adapted for such a constitution ; and if it is from among 
yourselves, who by your services and glory have acquired so 
many titles, that the new chief of France has to be chosen, we 



120 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

will consent most heartily, and receive him eagerly, provided 
he does not threaten our peace nor our independence." 

The marshals eagerly rejected this suggestion, which could 
only apply to Bernadotte. They agreed also in their resolution 
not to serve any longer the unbounded ambition of Napoleon ; 
but they claimed the right of the army to appoint his son his 
successor, and to remain the support of a throne which he had 
erected himself. 

The Emperor Alexander appeared touched by their reasons, 
so eloquently and ardently unfolded. General Dessolle tried 
in vain to recall the steps already taken, and the interests of 
all those who had committed themselves. The negotiators re- 
tired at last, full of hope. It was now day, and the salons of 
the Emperor Alexander were already filling. Marshal Mac- 
donald shocked by his rude fidelity all those who had too soon 
abandoned the emperor's cause. He repulsed General Beur- 
nonville, who held out his hand to him. "Away ! " he said ; 
" your conduct has effaced a friendship of twenty years ; " and 
to General Dupont, who had just been made minister of war, 
" They have been hard upon you, general, but you have cer- 
tainly chosen a bad time to revenge yourself." The plenipo- 
tentiaries refused to confer with Prince Talleyrand. " We do 
not acknowledge your Provisional Government," said Mac- 
donald, " and therefore we have nothing to say to it." A 
second interview with the Emperor Alexander was fixed for 
the following day. 

It was not at Paris, but at Essonne, where the grave ques- 
tion, which for the moment at least should settle the fate of 
France, was to be decided. The Emperor sent for Marshal 
Marmont, and as he failed to appear, the general officer ap- 
pointed to replace him. This office had been confided to Gen- 
eral Souham, an old servant of the Republic, habitually dis- 
contented, and but little in favor of Napoleon, whom he had 
served well however. Peremptorily called to Fontainebleau, 
he thought that the secret convention concluded with the 
Prince of Schwartzenberg was known, and that the lives of 
the generals engaged in these negotiations were threatened. 
He therefore assembled his comrades, and told them his sus- 
picions. They were all surprised at the non-appearance of 
Marshal Marmont, and resolved not to wait for him, but to 
take without him the course in which they were all agreed. 
Without informing the troops of the object of their march, 
notwithstanding the objections of Colonel Fabvier, Marmont's 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 121 

aide-de-camp, the generals of the 6th corps gave orders to 
leave the quarters of Essonne, and to advance upon Versailles 
on the 5th at four o'clock in the morning. Marshal Marmont 
received this news while with Marshal Ney, in company with 
his colleagues. "I am lost!" he cried; "I am dishonored!" 
He gave vent to his irresolution and weakness in wailings and 
lamentations. The marshals were bewildered when they had 
to return to the Emperor Alexander. The allied sovereigns 
and their representatives were awaiting them ; none of them 
knew of the move of the 6th corps. The plenipotentiaries of 
Napoleon renewed their importunities; the Czar, less hostile 
than his allies to the regency of the Empress Marie-Louise, 
seemed to hesitate, when an aide-de-camp entered, and an- 
nounced quietly the great event of Essonne. "The whole 
corps?" inquired the Czar. "Yes, the whole corps." 

The die was cast. The Czar, after a moment of deliberation 
with the allied princes and their ministers, informed the nego- 
tiators that they must give up the maintenance of the imperial 
dynasty. The army itself being divided, the emperor had no 
longer at his disposal any power with which it was possible to 
treat. Then, leaving the military men under the impression 
that they were receiving the most courteous treatment, he 
drew Caulaincourt aside for a moment, renewed to him his 
assurances concerning Napoleon, insisting on the offer of the 
island of Elba, which he had already formally offered, and 
promised a principality in Italy to Marie-Louise and the King 
of Eome. "Make haste!" he said, "for every hour the situa- 
tion of your master is losing what the Bourbons are gaining; 
you will very soon find it out of your power to treat at all." 

Marshal Marmont had not dared to show himself at the 
hotel in the Eue St. Florentin ; he had just returned from a 
hurried visit to Versailles, where a mutiny had occurred 
among the soldiers, who had discovered the defection of which 
they were the unconscious instruments. The Provisional 
Government had flattered and urged Marmont ; he appeared 
in the midst of his troops, explaining to them the danger 
which threatened them from the side of the enemy, beseech- 
ing them to return to obedience, and to trust him. "They 
knew him," he said; " they knew very well that he would not 
lead them aside from the path of honor." The soldiers were 
appeased ; the allied armies were already advancing to cut off 
the road to Fontainebleau. Marshal Marmont returned to 
Paris, laden with praise and thanks from the royalists— hence- 



122 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvl 

forth dishonored before that tribunal of public opinion which 
rarely takes into consideration the difficulties of the situation, 
and loves to visit on one man the faults and misfortunes of all. 

In time the negotiators had returned to Fontainbleau : Mar- 
shal Ney ardently -resolved to obtain from the emperor an 
abdication pure and simple, which he had imprudently 
promised to Talleyrand. Caulaincourt and Macdonald ex- 
plained in sadness to Napoleon the insurmountable obstacles 
they had to deal with. The emperor was aware of the revolt 
of the 6th corps, and spoke bitterly of Marmont. "I have 
treated him as my own child," he said, " and the wretch has 
ruined me. The others blame him, but they are sorry not to 
have been before him. One hundred and fifty thousand men 
are left to me ; but if I had them all at hand, I could only 
carry the war beyond the Loire, draw the enemy into the 
heart of France, and increase our misfortunes. No, there is 
an end of it. But to leave France in this state ! I wanted her 
to be so great ; and how small she has become ! And to think 
that in a few hours' time I might have been able to raise her 
up. Oh, Caulaincourt, what joy! I have, however, no more 
taste for reigning ; your hearts are tired of me, and eager to 
give themselves to others. I frighten them, and the Bourbons 
must be allowed to come. God knows what will be the result ! 
To-day they are going to reconcile France with Europe ; but 
into what state will they bring her to-morrow? They will 
bring on an internal war. They will not even know how to 
take care of Talleyrand. Never mind, I must surrender; the 
struggle it would be necessary to engage in would entail horri- 
ble calamities. You will see how content they will be to act 
like Marmont without dishonoring themselves." 

Caulaincourt insisted on the material conditions of the 
agreement. The emperor seemed to disdain them, without 
losing sight of the interests of his family. He wanted to 
secure Tuscany for his son ; but the Emperor Alexander, when 
he was sounded on the subject, replied that Austria would not 
consent. "What!" cried Napoleon, "not even Tuscany in 
exchange for the French Empire?" He also made a pretence 
of stipulating advantages for the army ; his faithful negotiator 
delicately hinted that he no longer reigned, and that the great 
national interests were no more at his disposal. He brought 
him back to the cession of the island of Elba, which had 
seemed to satisfy him. " Attend you to that matter," replied 
the emperor; "think of my family, Caulaincourt: such de 



CH. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 123 

tails are hateful to me. Let them allow me an old soldier's 
pension ; I want no more !" 

The last official act of the Duke of Vicentia, and his last 
service to his fallen master, was to carry to Paris the formal 
deed of abdication, expressed in almost the same terms as 
when he had reserved the throne for his son, and the regency 
for his wife. He loftily and unreservedly relinquished that 
power which by transcendant genius he had raised so high — 
which by his faults and overmastering ambition he had under- 
mined and destroyed. Joy burst forth on every side, scarcely 
restrained by shame, or any feeling of remorse. In Paris the 
demonstrations of delight of all parties, monarchical, repub- 
lican, or constitutional, exceeded the bounds both of reason 
and propriety; the most cringing of Napoleon's worshippers 
showed the most eagerness in insulting him. Those who had 
shown self-respect enough to resist his despotism, now forgot 
their dignity in giving full sway to their gratified hatred. 
Chateaubriand published an abusive pamphlet, which he had 
prepared during the last days of the empire. Napoleon's 
statue, which some royalists had in vain attempted to throw 
down from the top of the Vendome column on the day the 
allies entered Paris, had been carefully unscrewed, and now 
rested in a warehouse. "I frequently told you that statues 
were of no use," said Napoleon, on hearing of this insult. He 
tried, when too late, to recall his abdication. " Since I am the 
only difficulty, there is no need at all for a treaty, " said he ; 
' ' a simple arrangement for exchange of prisoners is enough to 
secure my liberty." The sovereigns allied against him wished 
to have other guarantees, though even these were soon to 
prove insufficient to secure them repose. 

The treaty was concluded, securing to the Emperor Napo- 
leon entire sovereignty of the island of Elba, with an income 
of 2,000,000. The same sum was to be every year divided be- 
tween his brothers and sisters. Parma and Placentia became 
the dowry of the empress and the little king of Pome. The 
Empress Josephine kept an income of 1,000,000. With the 
"extraordinary treasure," formerly increased by war-contri- 
butions from conquered nations, the emperor had at his com- 
mand a capital of 2,000,000 to recompense his servants. 
Napoleon's agents defended his interests in so haughty and 
offensive a manner, that but for the Emperor Alexander's de- 
termination to be generous they would have had no support. 
Napoleon accepted everything, not without irritation and 



124 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

painful recollections of the past. " If they had shown courage 
for two hours longer, I might still have saved France," he 
repeated. 

For twenty-five years the men who had successively ruled 
the destinies of France promised her, one after another, to 
save her. They had dragged her through the massacres of the 
Terror, the degradations of the Directory, and the pomp of 
the Empire, from battle-field to battle-field; in the midst of 
glory and bloodshed she had driven back, and then conquered, 
Europe; and after holding in her hands the history of thtf 
world, she was now vanquished and exhausted, calling aloud 
for rest at any price, and for order and liberty. The Emperor 
Napoleon was conquered like her, and more than her, and he 
conceived the idea of escaping from those humiliations and 
griefs which nations can endure with courage, being certain of 
their existence at least. On the night of the 11th he tried to 
poison himself. Long previously, during the extreme dangers 
of the Russian campaign, he had had this remedy prepared 
against the captivity which he dreaded, and kept it ever since. 
The poison acted feebly and imperfectly, and Napoleon did 
not succeed in procuring death. He felt ashamed of his mo- 
mentary cowardice. "God does not allow it," said he, refer- 
ring the result, as he always did at important junctures of his 
life, to that Supreme Will which he often believed was in 
alliance with his own. He signed the treaty on the 11th 
April, while waiting at Fontainebleau for the completion of 
the formalities necessary to put him in possession of the island 
of Elba, and now every day deserted by some of those who 
recently served him on their knees. When Marshal Berthier 
set out for Paris, he promised to return. "I shall see no 
more of him," said Napoleon to Caulaincourt. Berthier did 
not come back. 

I have no wish to dwell upon the painful details. Only a 
few faithful friends, the Duke of Vicentia, the Duke of Bas- 
sano, Generals Drouot and Bertrand, still remained with 
Napoleon when, on the morning of the 20th April, he for the 
last time assembled before him the regiments of the old guard. 
He was visibly affected, and his voice faltered. "Soldiers," 
said he, " my old companions in arms, I now bid you fare- 
well. For twenty years I have constantly found you on the 
road to honor and glory. In these recent days, as well as in 
those of our prosperity, you never ceased to be models of 
valor and fidelity. With men such as you our cause was not 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 125 

lost; but the war was interminable, and would have been a 
civil war, rendering France only more unhappy. I have 
therefore sacrificed all our interests to those of the country. 
I go away; you, my friends, continue to serve France. Its 
happiness was my sole thought, and will always be the object 
of my desires. Be not sorry for my fate; if I have consented 
to survive myself it is in order to assist your glory. I wish to 
write the great deeds we have done together ! Farewell, my 
children ! I wish to press you all to my heart ; at least, let 

( me embrace your general and your flag!" 

' He, at the same time, clasped in his arms the brave General 
Petit, who was bathed in tears, and held the eagle of the old 
guard. Many voices, choking with emotion, replied to the 
voice of the emperor. He cast a parting look over the faith- 
ful companions of his battles and fatigues, who had heroically 
devoted themselves, without personal ambition or secret mo- 
tive, and then rushed into his carriage and drove off, abandon- 
ing the throne and power which he had so misused, and taking 
with him that incomparably brilliant renown which only he 
alone could have tarnished, and was again to tarnish. 

General Drouot agreed to command the small corps of the 
old guard which was to accompany Napoleon to the island of 
Elba. General Bertrand's personal devotion kept him close to 
his master. The commissioner of the allied powers accom- 
panied the great captive to his place of exile. ' ' You will an- 
swer to me for him with your head, " said the Emperor Alex- 
ander to Count Schouvaloff . During the last days of the jour- 
ney, when Napoleon had to cross the southern departments, 
which were violently excited by old royalist passions against 
the man who was to them the representative of revolution, 
oppression, and war, all in one, the protection of the foreign 
commissioners was almost indispensable to Napoleon's per- 
sonal safety. When giving up Lyons, Marshal Augereau had 
issued against him an abusive proclamation. The emperor 
was for a short time compelled to put on the uniform of an 
Austrian officer, in order the more easily to conceal himself in 
the ranks of his own escort. This last stage of bitter disgrace 

. only lasted for a moment, and as they approached the sea the 
people appeared more kind or indifferent. The deposed em- 
peror embarked on the 28th April, in the gulf St. Eaphael, on 
board the English frigate the Undaunted, and on the 3rd May 
cast anchor in the harbor of Porto-Farrajo, with shouts of joy 
from the Elban population, who were proud of the sovereign 



126 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

whom the chances of fortune had just thrown upon their 
shores. His wife and son were at the same time leaving Eam- 
bouillet, where the Emperor Francis had come to fetch his 
daughter. She took the road for Vienna, after sending as- 
surances to her illustrious spouse of her constant attachment, 
and the wish she felt to visit him soon with her son. The 
princes of the imperial house were now scattered, and Napo- 
leon remained alone. 

" Since I have taken any share in the government of men," 
writes Guizot in his Memoires, ' ' I learned to do justice to the 
Emperor Napoleon, a genius of incomparable activity and 
power, to be admired for his horror of disorder, his profound 
instincts of government, and his energy, rapidity, and success, 
as a reconstructor of the social system: a genius, however, 
without bounds or restraint, that would receive neither from 
God nor men any limit to his desires or will, and therefore re- 
mained revolutionary when opposing the revolution ; of supe- 
rior intelligence with regard to the general conditions of society, 
but with only an imperfect, or shall I say coarse? understand- 
ing of the moral wants of human nature, and at one time 
doing them justice with sublime good sense, at another mis- 
understanding and outraging them without impious haughti- 
ness. Who could have believed that the same man who made 
the Concordat and reopened the churches in France, should 
take away the Pope from Rome, and keep him prisoner in 
Fontainebleau? Amongst great men of the same rank, Napo- 
leon was the most necessary to his time, for no one ever with 
such promptitude and success brought order out of anarchy ; 
but he was also the most chimerical in the view of the future, 
for after obtaining possession of France and Europe, he found 
himself driven by Europe from France itself ; and his name 
will remain greater than his works, the most brilliant of 
which, his conquests, immediately and entirely disappeared 
with himself. "While paying homage to his greatness, I am not 
sorry that my appreciation of him was only in his last days, or 
after his removal. Under the empire, in my opinion, there 
was too much arrogance of power, and too much disdain of 
right and justice, too much revolution, and too little liberty. " 

What were henceforth to be the guarantees for liberty, and 
therefore for all the interests which liberty was herself to 
guarantee? By what institutions should the control and in- 
fluence of the country in its government be exercised? That 
was the great problem discussed at Paris while the Emperor 




ABDICATION OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON 



ch. xvi.] THE FIEST RESTORATION. 127 

Napoleon saw gradually disappear around him the last traces 
of his fallen greatness. The Senate had got rid of the prudent 
direction of Talleyrand, and eagerly, though with difficulty, 
pursued a two-fold purpose, that of preserving its influence and 
wealth under the new regime, while at the same time main- 
taining in the new Constitution the revolutionary principles 
and theories. Those who drew up the project mostly belonged 
to the minority in the Senate, derived from the Eepublic. 
They were keenly opposed to the Abbe Montesquiou, who 
passionately defended the royal prerogatives. The executive 
power and the nomination of the High Chamber were con- 
ceded to the sovereign, but his elevation to the throne was ex- 
clusively attributed to the spontaneous motion and free will of 
the nation. Louis Stanislaus Xavier, of France, brother of the 
last king, was only to be proclaimed king of the French after 
having officially accepted the Constitution and promised to re- 
spect it. An additional article secured to the senators then in 
office, that their salaries were to be in perpetuity, and not 
shared by their future colleagues. On the 6th April the Senate 
enthusiastically voted for the new Constitution, and it was at 
once ratified by the Legislative Body. 

" The senators of 1814 have been much and justly blamed for 
the self-conceit with which, when overthrowing the empire, 
they attributed to themselves not only the integrity, but the 
perpetuity, of the material advantages which, owing to the 
empire, they had enjoyed. It was in fact a cynical fault, and 
one of those which are most prejudicial to the powers and the 
minds of a people, for they offend both honorable sentiments 
and envious passions. The Senate committed another, which 
was less glaring, and more conformable to national prejudices, 
but still more serious, both as a political blunder and from its 
consequences. At the moment of proclaiming the return of 
the ancient royal house, they made a display of their claim to 
choose the king, thus misunderstanding the monarchical right 
whose empire they were accepting, and practicing the repub- 
lican right even when restoring the monarchy. This was a 
startling contradiction between their principles and actions, a 
childish boast with respect to the great action to which homage 
was being paid, and a deplorable confusion both of rights and 
ideas. It was obviously from necessity, not from choice, and 
on account of his hereditary title, not as the elect of the day, 
that Louis XVIII. was recalled to the throne of France. There 
was no truth, dignity, nor prudence, but in this procedure 



128 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [cn\ xvi 

alone: to openly acknowledge the monarchical right of the 
house of Bourbon, and ask of it to acknowledge openly in its 
turn the national rights as proclaimed by the state of the coun- 
try and the spirit of the times. This mutual avowal and re- 
spect for mututtl rights constitutes the very essence of free 
government. It is by a steady adherence to that, moreover, 
that monarchy and liberty develop together; and it is by 
frankly returning to it that kings and peoples have put a stop 
to those civil wars called revolutions. Instead of that the 
Senate, being at the time obstinate and timid, while wishing 
to place the restored monarchy under the flag of republican 
election, merely summoned up the despotic principle to oppose 
the revolutionay principle, and excited the rivalry of the 
absolute right of the people and the absolute right of the 
king." * 

For several days the representative of the absolute princi- 
ples of the royalty, in his own mind as well as in public opinion, 
Count D'Artois (soon afterwards termed "Monsieur") had been 
making preparations to return to Paris, through his able agent 
Vitrolles; and on the 12th April he made his entry as the 
king's lieutenant-general, a title soon after confirmed by a vote 
of the Senate. It was with great difficulty that the prince was 
induced to accept this condition of his new power, and the Em- 
peror Alexander had to interpose to persuade Vitrolles that it 
was absolutely necessary for the house of Bourbon to enter 
into the sentiments and ideas of new generations. The Count 
D'Artois insisted on keeping the white cockade, but consented 
to wear the uniform of the national guard. The kind and 
courteous manner which had always characterized the youngest 
brother of Louis XVI. again appeared in the affecting words 
used by the prince as he entered, after so many years, into the 
capital of his ancestors : "Why should I be tired?" said he; 
" it is the first happy day I have had for thirty years." It was 
observed, however, that no engagement was entered into, and 
that no indication of the futur-e intentions of the government 
escaped from the lips of the lieutenant-general of Louis XVIII. 
The Moniteur undertook to fill up the omission by attributing 
to the prince the following short speech, which was composed 
by Count Beugnot after the event:— "Gentlemen of the Pro- 
visional Government, I thank you for all you have done for 
our country. My emotion prevents me from expressing all that 

»T ■ — ill. 

* Guizot's Memories, etc., vol. i. 



CH. xvi.} THE FIRST RESTORATION. 129 

I feel. No more divisions; peace and France; I return to her. 
Nothing is changed, unless it be that there is now one French- 
man more." 

The prince's speech to the senate was more explicit and au- 
thentic. It was composed by Fouche, who had recently re- 
turned from Illyria, and took an active part in the negotiations 
of the Provisional Government with Monsieur's councillors, 
though at the same time without yet presenting himself before 
the latter. ' ' I have received information of the constitutional 
act calling the king, my august brother, to the throne of 
France," said the count. "I have not received from him 
power to accept the Constitution, but I know his sentiments 
and principles, and have no fear of being disavowed when I 
give the assurance in his name that he will accept its bases. 
The king, by declaring that he would maintain the present form 
of government, has acknowledged that the monarchy must be 
counterbalanced by a representative government divided into 
two chambers, viz., the Senate and the Chamber of the Depu- 
ties of Departments ; that taxation will be according to the 
free consent of the representatives of the nation, political and 
individual liberty secured, the liberty of the press respected, 
with the restrictions necessary for the public order and tran- 
quillity, and the liberty of religious worship guaranteed ; that 
property will be inviolable and sacrea, ministers responsible, 
and liable to prosecution by the representatives of the nation ; 
that the judges be appointed for life, tne judicial power inde- 
pendent, none being separable from the courts to which it 
naturally belongs; that the national debt will be guaranteed, 
military pensions, grades, and honors preserved, as well aa 
the old and new nobility, and the legion of honor maintained, 
the king deciding who shall receive the decoration ; that every 
Frenchman will be admissible to civil and military service, 
that no person will be prejudiced by his opinions or votes, and 
"that the sale of national property will be irrevocable. These, 
gentlemen, seem to me to be the bases essential and necessary 
to consecrate all rights, define all duties, secure all existences, 
and guarantee our future." 

The Senate expressed itself satisfied. The Legislative Body, 
showing more cordiality, was received with marked favor. The 
crowds in the streets showed good-will, as well as curiosity 
and astonishment. The involuntary eagerness of Marshal 
Jourdan— who had suppressed the use of the tri-color amongst 
his soldiers from a conviction that the Duke of Eagusa had 
VIII.— 9 



130 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

done the same — quietly disposed of the difficult question of the 
national colors, and by an order of the Provisional Government 
the whole army resumed the white cockade of Bourbon. 

Meantime the congress of sovereigns had just been completed 
by the arrival of the Emperor of Austria and the Prince Royal 
of Sweden, neither very popular, though in different ways and 
for different reasons. Count d'Artois took in hand the manage- 
ment of affairs, and added to the members of the Provisional 
Government Marshals Moncey and Oudinot, and General Des- 
solle. The names of heads of departments were not changed, 
though the prince's confidants, with Vitrolles at their head, re- 
tained full influence with him. There were already frequent 
disputes about nominations, and even the financial resources ; 
Baron Louis, appointed minister of finance, had some difficulty 
in securing the addition to the Treasury of the 5, 000, 000 which 
had been uncivilly taken from the carriages of the Empress 
Marie-Louise, at Orleans. A continuance of the taxes decreed 
by the Emperor Napoleon without consent of the Legislative 
Body was decided upon, and an issue of Treasury bonds 
ordered, the financial difficulties being enormous, as well as the 
burdens left by the empire. The resolution and ability of the 
new minister, however, now began to inspire confidence. The 
only tax suppressed was the war-decime, added to the indirect 
contributions. 

A diplomatic convention preceded (23rd April) the definitive 
treaty which was to determine the position of monarchical 
France in Europe. It secured the evacuation of the territory as 
fixed in the month of January, 1792, and decided what places 
still held by French troops beyond those limits were to be 
restored. All the conquests of the revolution and empire were 
thus taken from us under the head of preliminaries, and with- 
out "affecting the arrangements for the peace." In the very 
midst of the enthusiasm excited among certain classes of soci- 
ety by the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of the monarchy, 
there was felt generally a painful sense of depression. So 
much blood shed to no purpose, so much wealth spent without 
result, constituted fatal charges against the fallen regime, 
which cast their shadow upon the disarmed princes who had 
been unable to defend us against our victorious enemies. 

Meantime, King Louis XVIII. had embarked at Dover. 
When at Hartwell he recently gave a cold reception to La- 
rochefoucauld-Liancourt, whom he disliked personally, and 
whom Talleyrand had stupidly chosen to inform him of what 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 131 

was taking place in Paris. The restored monarch was speedily 
inundated with advice from his brother and friends. The Em- 
peror Alexander had taken care to send Pozzo di Borgo to wait 
upon him. Some unfortunate words addressed to the Prince 
Regent as he was leaving England displeased the royalist lib- 
erals in France as well as the Emperor Alexander. "It is to 
the advice of your Royal Highness," said Louis XVIII., "to 
this illustrious country and the confidence of its inhabitants, 
that I shall always attribute, under divine Providence, the 
restoration of our house to the throne of its ancestors." The 
people, however, everywhere hailed the king's progress with 
shouts of joy, and on the 29th April he reached Compiegne. 
Politicians alone were anxious to know under what title the 
monarch intended resuming his authority. The corporate 
bodies and chief officers of the army hastened to overwhelm 
him with their homage, though it sometimes lacked dignity. 
Marshal Berthier assured Louis XVIII. that his armies would 
be happy to be called upon to second his generous efforts by 
their devotion and fidelity. The king received their eager 
civilities with much kindness and dignity. Leaning on the 
arms of the marshals who were beside him, he said, ' ' Come 
closer, and stand round me; you have always been good 
Frenchmen. I hope France will no longer require your swords ; 
but if we ever are compelled, which God forbid, to draw them, 
as gouty as I am I should march with you." The embarrass- 
ment which some naturally felt in no degree lessened their 
vanity. The deputation of the Legislative Body was received 
with marked distinction. The Senate was not represented. 

Talleyrand undertook to lay before the monarch the new 
Constitution. "We shall have a constitution," he had assured 
the anxious senators, ' ' but our king is a man of culture and 
education, and you must be ready to defend your work." His 
first interview with Louis XVIII. convinced him that he had 
a difficult and useless task before him. He had just rendered 
most eminent services to the House of Bourbon, supporting 
their ^ause with distinction, and preparing beforehand the 
way for the triumphant return of the monarch who now kept 
him waiting in his ante-chamber. On his entering, Louis 
XVIII. at once reminded him of their former discussions, be- 
fore the opening of the Constituent Assembly. "If results 
showed that you were right," he added, "you would say to 
me, ' Let us sit down and talk !' and as I have triumphed I say 
to you, 'Sit down and let us talk together.'" The con versa 



132 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

tion led to no result. The king avoided any positive engage- 
ment as to the terms of the Constitution which he had evi- 
dently resolved to substitute for that projected by the Senate. 

The Emperor Alexander, in his turn, set out for Compiegne. 
Since his overthrow of Napoleon and rejection of the imperial 
dynasty, the Czar openly supported Talleyrand and the liberals, 
even beyond the actual and natural sphere of his influence, and 
believed that by the enormous leverage of the services he had 
rendered Louis XVIII., he should impose upon him the accept- 
ance pure and simple of the Constitution drawn by the Senate. 
He insisted strongly, reminding the king, who had scarcely yet 
again stepped on his native ground, that his return was due to 
foreign arms. "Less is asked from your Majesty than from 
Henry IV.," said he, "yet he conquered his kingdom him- 
self." 

Louis XVIII. acknowledged the necessity for a constitu- 
tional government. He had never liked the violent proposals 
of the emigrants, but kept carefully aloof from them ; yet he 
was profoundly impressed with the greatness of his race and 
the rights which it conferred upon him. To the claims of the 
Senate, the urgent pleading of Talleyrand, the intervention of 
the Czar, he still proved inflexible. He rejected a scheme for 
a royal declaration, which was drawn up by Talleyrand ; and 
instructed his private councillors, Blacas, Maisonfort, and 
Vitrolles, to prepare his preliminary programme of a Constitu- 
tion. The impassioned eagerness and enthusiasm which were 
visibly increasing every day around him, confirmed him in the 
belief that he was free to act as he chose. " What would you 
have me to do?" said the Czar to Lafayette. "My wish was 
that instead of them giving a Constitution, the Bourbons 
should receive one from the nation. I went to Compiegne in 
the hope of getting from the king a renunciation of his nine- 
teen years of reign, and other claims of that sort; but the 
deputation of the Legislative Body had been there before me 
to acknowledge it unconditionally. Against the king and the 
Legislative Body I was powerless." 

It was after advancing to the Chateau St. Ouen, near Paris, 
that Louis XVIII. at last issued the royal declaration which 
afterwards became the "Charter." No copy had been com- 
municated to Talleyrand, when on the 3rd May, before the 
king had left his room, it was posted everywhere : — 

" Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre, 
to all who shall see these presents. 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 133 

"Recalled by the love of our people to the throne of our 
fathers, enlightened by the misfortunes of the nation which 
we are destined to govern, our first thought is to invite that 
mutual confidence so necessary to our power and their hap- 
piness. 

"After giving our careful attention to the plan of a Consti- 
tution proposed by the Senate at its sitting of the 6th ultimo, 
we acknowledge that its bases are good, but that many of its 
articles, bearing the marks of the precipitation with which 
they were drawn up, cannot in their present form become 
fundamental laws of the State. 

" Resolved to adopt a liberal Constitution, and wishing that 
it may be wisely constructed, while unable to accept one 
which necessarily implies correction, we convoke on the 10th 
of the month of June, of this year, the Senate and Legislative 
Body, promising to lay before them the result of our labors 
with a commission chosen from both these chambers, and to 
give as basis of that Constitution the following guarantees :— 

"The representative government will be maintained as it at 
present exists, consisting of two bodies, the Senate and the 
Chamber of Deputies of the Departments. 

"Taxation will be by free consent. 

" Public and personal liberty secured. 

"The liberty of the press respected, with the precautions 
necessary for public tranquillity. 

"The liberty of religious worship guaranteed. 

" Property will be inviolable and sacred; the sale of what 
belonged to the nation irrevocable. 

"Responsible ministers can be prosecuted by one of the 
Legislative Chambers and judged by the other. 

"Judges will be appointed for life, and the judicial power 
independent. 

" The public debt will be guaranteed; and military pensions, 
grades, and honors preserved, as well as the old and new 
orders of nobility. 

"The legion of honor shall be maintained, the decorations 
being at our disposal. 

"Every Frenchman will be eligible for civil and military 
service. 

"Finally, no person will have need to be anxious on account 
of his opinions or his votes." 

As a matter of fact, King Louis XVIII. , while maintaining 
the principle of his sovereign and free will, accepted all the 



134 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

guarantees of liberty claimed by tbe Senate; granting, more- 
over, what was claimed by public opinion, which had no very 
clear notions as to constitutional rights, and was for the 
most part unfavorable to the Senate, despising them for 
their former complaisance and recent defection. The parti- 
sans of absolute power, the very men who afterwards 
ranked as the moderates of their party, with Villele at 
their head, pleaded various arguments against this contriv- 
ance of English importation, foreign to French history, 
ideas, and manners, and which would cost more to establish, 
said they, than our former organization would cost to repair. 

For all parties it is difficult to learn the lesson that a return 
to the past is impossible. The royalists of 1814 could not go 
back to absolute power. ' ' Henceforth with us it can only be- 
long to the revolution and its descendants, they alone can as- 
sure the masses of their interests by refusing them the guaran- 
tees of liberty. With the house of Bourbon and its partisans 
France has need of being free, and she only accepts their 
government when herself sbaring in it. The Charter was al- 
ready written in the experience and mind of the country ; it 
was the natural result of the thoughts of Louis XVIII. return- 
ing from England as well as of the deliberations of the Senate 
when throwing off the yoke of the empire. It was the pro- 
duct of the necessity and reason of the times. Power and 
liberty found in it something to employ themselves upon, or 
defend themselves with success. The workmen were more 
likely to be scarce than tools or work." * 

The Senate accepted, though rather ungraciously, the royal 
declaration, and waited upon the king at St.Ouen, under the 
presidency of Talleyrand, who in his speech took care to dwell 
upon the liberal guarantees. The public satisfaction was gene- 
ral when Louis XVIII. made his entry into Paris, on the 3rd 
May, 1814, at eleven o'clock forenoon. 

Beside the king, in the open carriage drawn by eight white 
horses, was seated one who attracted the looks of all by a natu- 
ral and touching sympathy — the Duchess of Angouleme, for- 
merly the royal princess, who when a child left the Temple, 
after the cruel death of all her family, and had never since left 
her uncle's protection. Her face showed that many tears 
had been shed by those fair eyes, as had long previously been 
said by Madame de Sevigne of Marie d'Este, wife of James II. 

* Guizot's M&moires. etc. 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 135 

Shouts of joy resounded round the royal procession, which 
proceeded at once towards Notre Dame. Only the grenadiers 
of the old guard, lining the street, showed in their looks some 
indications of a past that was still threatening. Motionless and 
stern from their unbending discipline, they seemed cut out of 
marble, each like a terrible image of restrained anger. "If at 
that moment they had been summoned to take revenge," says 
Chateaubriand in his Memoirs, "it would have been necessary 
to exterminate them to the last man or they would have eaten 
everything." On entering the palace of the Tuileries, which 
she last left on the 10th August, 1792, the Duchess of Augouleme 
fainted. 

Meantime neither the allied sovereigns nor their soldiers had 
appeared in the procession of the king now returned to his 
country and capital. Next day they denied before him, as if 
to honor him and say farewell. The negotiations were already 
being arranged for the definitive treaty of peace, which was to 
restore the French frontiers to the limits of 1792, and restore 
our colonies, except the Isle of France, St. Lucia, and Tobago. 
Part of St. Domingo formerly belonging to Spain was again re- 
stored. Some rectifications of territory added about 500,000 
souls to the various eastern departments. The Great Euro- 
pean questions as to the new formation of states lately con- 
quered or dismembered by Napoleon, were mostly referred to 
the congress which was soon to be opened in Vienna. The 
kindness of the Emperor Alexander, with the justice and pru- 
dence of Castlereagh, alone made those conditions acceptable. 
Public opinion in England, and the passion for revenge of the 
Germans, demanded excessive severity. On the 2nd and 3rd 
June the allied sovereigns left Paris, the highways being all 
already crowded with the columns of their soldiers ; and on 
the day when the King opened the Chambers (4th June, 1814), 
the foreign troops had evacuated the capital and immediate 
suburbs. 

The charter had been discussed by a commission chosen in 
the Senate and Legislative Body, including Barbe-Marbois, 
Barthelemy, Boissy d'Anglas, Chabaud-Latour, Fontanes, and 
Laine. The king's commissioners were Ferrand, Count Beug- 
not, and the Abbe Montesquiou, who had recently been ap- 
pointed home minister, and had immediately chosen as 
secretary-general, M. Guizot, still quite young, and recom- 
mended to him by Boyer-Collard. This choice seemed to mod- 
erate men an omen of good. Talleyrand, of course, became 



136 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

foreign minister; and Blacas, the king's friend and private 
secretary since the death of the Duke of Avary, became 
minister of the royal household. 

" I believe it was quite possible, " says Guizot in his memoirs, 
"for a king of energy and steady purpose to employ three 
such men at once, ■whatever difference and inconsistency there 
might be amongst them. None of them aspired to govern the 
State, and each in his sphere could be of service. Talleyrand's 
principal object was to treat with Europe alone ; Montesquiou 
had no desire to rule at court ; and Blacas, calculating, pru- 
dent, and faithful, could be a useful favorite in opposition to 
the claims and intrigues of the princes and courtiers. But 
Louis XVIII. was not qualified to govern his ministers ; as a 
king he had great negative talents, but nothing active or effi- 
cacious. Of an imposing presence, judicious, shrewd, and self- 
possessed, he could restrain, stop, or baffle, but was unable to 
direct, inspire, or convey impulse while holding the reins. He 
had few ideas and no passion, and steady application to work 
scarcely suited him any better than movement. He supported 
well his rank, rights, and power; he guarded himself from 
faults ; but, if only his dignity and prudence were unassailed, 
he was led anywhere or did anything, having too little mental 
and physical energy to govern men and make them assist in 
accomplishing his purposes." 

The Constitutional Charter, promulgated on the 4th June, 
1814, was generally in faithful agreement with the spirit and 
principles of the declaration of St. Ouen. Its preamble was 
drawn up by Beugnot, but so hurriedly that he had not time 
to show it to the king, who was then engaged with the speech 
he was about to make. The new peers of France were invited 
to the sitting, and fifty -five of the senators were excluded from 
the list, twenty -seven as foreigners, and twenty-eight as regi- 
cides or revolutionists. Forty great lords of the old regime, 
and nearly all the marshals of the empire, were added to the 
remaining senators. The Legislative Body was termed the 
Chamber of Deputies, and was to sit for its regular time. 
From the very diversity of its sources, the Chamber of Peers 
was necessarily doomed to be divided and powerless. The 
Chamber of Deputies, however, generally in favor of the 
Restoration, recovered with the regular exercise of its power, a 
confidence and energy never seen under the empire, and it was 
its hands that were to exercise a real and preponderating action 
in a government which was confused and badly assorted, 



ch. xvi.] TEE FIRST RESTORATION. 137 

worked upon from within by different tendencies and inspira- 
tions. Nevertheless, the king's speech at the opening of the 
Chambers, had the good fortune to satisfy nearly all parties. 
The king himself was greatly delighted at his success. 

A statement of the condition of the kingdom, mainly drawn 
up by Montesquiou, and published soon after the opening of 
the session, was deficient in grandeur and display compared 
with the pictures — often false, but always bearing the stamp 
of indisputable power— which Napoleon used to flaunt in the 
eyes of the nations. It left no doubt as to the liberal and 
earnest intentions of King Louis XVIII. , and had the merit of 
making known the state of affairs, and the necessity for rem- 
edying the evil of every kind under which France was labor- 
ing. Baron Louis undertook to lay out in fuller detail the 
state of the finances ; the statement of his method, which was 
of extreme simplicity, depended L upon two things — constitu- 
tional order in the State, and the credit of the Government; 
reckoning, with these two conditions, upon public prosperity 
and public honesty, he was afraid neither at debts to be paid 
nor expenses to be made.* The empire left debts exceeding 
800,000,000; yet the whole of the ministry bravely supported 
the baron, and his budget was passed. 

At one time new burdens seemed about to be laid on the 
State. When proposing to the Chambers that emigrants 
should be re-possessed of their properties which had not been 
sold, Ferrand, the Postmaster-General, who held the rank of a 
minister, and had been appointed to state arguments in favor, 
excited a violent discussion in the Chamber. He threw out 
hopes of still larger restorations in the future, which were im- 
possible in the financial circumstances, and added a eulogium 
upon emigration, which caused universal censure. Thanks to 
the minister's imprudence, the proposal as to the unsold 
property was very nearly lost. The law as to the press was 
also keenly attacked. "In its first and fundamental idea," 
says Guizot, " this project was sensible and sincere. Its object 
was to consecrate by law the liberty of the press, as the gen- 
eral and permanent right of the nation, while at the same time 
imposing on it, immediately after a revolution of long despot- 
ism or at the commencement of a free government, several 
limited and temporary restrictions. The two persons who 
mainly drew up the scheme, Royer-Collardf and myself, had 



* Guizot'sJlf tmoires, etc. t Then " Director of the Press." 



138 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

this double end in view— nothing more and nothing less. But 
that good sense may prevail, there must he frankness and dar- 
ing. The attitude of the government was embarrassed; and 
in presenting the scheme, the real meaning or true intention of 
it was not pointed out. An amendment was necessary in the 
Chamber of Peers to give to the measure that political and 
temporary character which it should have borne at first, and 
which showed its real origin as well as its proper limits. The 
moderate liberals themselves became alarmed and violently 
resisted any return to censure. Thus, through not being pre- 
sented under its proper designation, the measure caused more 
discredit to the government than any security its success 
could have gained. " 

The reorganization of the army and its necessary reduction, 
the payment of arrears of pay, and placing a multitude of offi- 
cers on the reserve list, also caused threatening difficulties, 
which were complicated by the restoration of the old military 
household of the king, for the purpose of supplying employ- 
ment and food to that part of the emigrant and ruined nobility 
towards whom the restored monarch was conscious of great 
obligations. Titles of honor granted in the army to princes of 
the royal family also produced discontent, since it caused 
those generals to whom Napoleon had formerly granted them 
to be deprived. The legion of honor, however, was continued, 
the only modification being that the head of Henry IV. was 
substituted for that of Napoleon, on the cross. Talleyrand 
proposed to place on it that of Louis XVIII. himself, but the 
king refused. The attentions paid to the national guard were 
not successful in rallying them freely. At the first muster of 
the body-guards, they expected to supplant the absent national 
guards. Even amongst the military chiefs, dissatisfaction 
soon displaced their first enthusiasm. Massena had been ex- 
cluded from the Senate as a foreigner. Davout had by his 
long resistance at Hamburg offended the allied sovereigns, and 
on the king refusing to receive him, he at once became the idol 
of the army, and in spite of his military severity, which he 
never relaxed, he was incessantly surrounded by the half -pay 
officers who thronged Paris, and even by those who were 
under orders to join their regiments, thus incurring the cen- 
sure of the Minister of War. The marshal retired to his 
property of Savigny. 

In presence of the general dissatisfaction fermenting in the 
army and amongst the public, the king asked General Dupont 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 139 

to resign, and appointed Marshal Soult to be Minister of War. 
The last of Napoleon's lieutenants, he had had the honor of 
gaining a battle, and for a moment driving back the English, 
before Toulouse (12th April, 1814). At first he had been un- 
justly treated on this account, because he fought during a sus- 
pension of arms, of which he was ignorant, and had even been 
excluded from the Chamber of Peers ; but his great display of 
ardor as a royalist had effaced this fault, and Blacas went him- 
self to announce his promotion. The "direction" of the 
police was at the same time taken from Beugnot, whose tem- 
perate and cautious reports were at variance with the secret 
police of the Count d Artois and his friends. He was appointed 
minister of marine in place of Malonet, who had just died. 
Monsieur wished to appoint to the police the Duke of Otranto, 
who had gained favor with the most fanatical royalists ; but 
the king refused, choosing Andre, who had been a member of 
the Constituent Assembly, an honorable and moderate man, 
yet popular among the emigrants, to whom he had frequently 
been of service. Talleyrand had just set out for Vienna, ap- 
pointing Jancourt as interim foreign minister. The insuffi- 
ciency of the cabinet became daily more obvious, and preju- 
dices became daily more general and serious. 

' ' Scarcely had France entered upon her new regime when 
distrust took possession of her, and became daily worse. This 
regime was liberty, with its doubts, struggles, and dangers ; no 
one was accustomed to liberty, and it satisfied no one. By the 
Restoration, the men of old France had promised themselves 
victory; from the Charter, new France expected security. 
Neither the one nor the other finding satisfaction, they on the 
contrary found themselves face to face with their mutual claims 
and passions. A wretched disappointment for the royalists, to 
see the king victorious without being so themselves ; a stern 
experience for the men of the Revolution, to have to defend 
themselves — they who had so longed ruled. Both were as- 
tonished and annoyed at the situation, as to a wrong done to 
their dignity and rights. In their irritation they both gave 
themselves up to all kinds of chimerical plans and proposals, to 
any passionate longings or alarms. 

" That was only the natural and inevitable result of the very 
novel state suddenly introduced into France by the Charter 
put into practice. During the Revolution men fought, under 
the empire they kept silence ; the Restoration brought liberty 
into the midst of peace. In the general inexperience and 



140 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvt 

susceptibility, the movement and bustle of liberty, it was the 
civil war ready to begin again." * 

To be sufficient for such a crisis, to maintain both peace and 
liberty, no government would have been too strong or too able. 
In their timidity and inexperience, the councillors of King 
Louis XVIII. were constantly committing faults, which they 
tried in vain to correct. The philosophical spirit, sprung from 
the eighteenth century and the revolution, was on its guard 
against the attacks which it feared from the liberty of thought. 
An order of Count Beugnot as to the observation of Sundays 
and holidays, intended to quiet the consciences of Count 
d'Artois and the Duchess of Angouleme, gave offence to the 
liberals, and was not carried out. A request was made to the 
Pope to abolish the Concordat ; and Pius VII. himself , on being 
restored to Rome, claimed the restitution of Avignon and the 
Comtat-Venaissin. Much popular excitement was caused at 
the funeral of the actress Mdlle. Raucourt, because the Church, 
in accordance with its former rides, refused to read the service 
over her body. This common fear and distrust found danger- 
ous interpreters in the newspapers. The Censeur, a liberal 
organ, keenly attacked the faults of the government and the 
procedure of the partisans of absolute power, while declaring 
its devotion to the house of Bourbon ; but its heavy and solemn 
style rendered it already harmless. The pungent jokes of the 
Nam Jaime against the " throne and altar party" struck more 
dangerous blows at the new State, and served the cause of the 
exiled Napoleon. Pamphlets were circulated in great number ; 
and Carnot having conceived the strange idea of addressing to 
the king a defence of regicide, his brochure was soon published. 
It gave expression to the public disappointment and regret : 
"We did not reckon up the sacrifices to recover the son of 
Louis IX. and Henri IV., but the return of the lilies has not 
produced the effect which was expected." Chateaubriand re- 
plied with much talent and moderation to Carnot 's accusations 
and sophisms. 

The government of the king strove in vain to calm the in- 
creasing fermentation. The princes made journeys into the 
provinces, with but little success. The army gave many in- 
dications of annoyance and discontent: General Vandamme 
was reported to have been insulted. General Exelmans had 
written to Murat to offer his sword in defence of Naples, and 

* Guizot's M4moires, etc. 



CH. xvi.] TBE FIRST RESTORATION. 141 

the letter falling into the hands of the police, he was put on 
half -pay, and received orders to report himself at Bar. He 
maintained that, being no longer on active service, the minister 
of war had no right to fix his residence, and remained in con- 
cealment. His wife being near confinement when a forced 
search was made in her house, she addressed to the Chamber 
a protest, which was referred to the government. The Cham- 
ber passed to the order of the day when the general's petition 
came before them, and by a royal order he was sent before the 
court at Lille, where he was unanimously acquitted, and re- 
ceived an ovation from the officers of the garrison. 

The reorganization of the magistracy also supplied grounds 
for serious charges. The reduced "Court of Cassation" saw 
several of its members discharged ; and a bill as to the respec- 
tive duties of the magistrates was so much changed by amend- 
ment, that the government gave up the idea of bringing it be- 
fore the Peers. A plan for reconstituting the University also 
met with much opposition. Fontanes, recently ''Grand Mas- 
ter" of the Imperial University, a post which he occupied with 
distinction, found himself obliged to retire, with a pension of 
30, 000 francs (1200Z.), and the grade of grand officer of the legion 
of honor. Every day the spirit of opposition and distrust was 
more developed in the country as well as the Chambers. Mod- 
erate and honorable, the king's government "held no formida- 
ble designs whatever against the new interests and rights of 
the country ; but it was without initiative or vigor, isolated in 
its own country as if foreign, divided and hampered within, 
weak with its enemies, weak with its friends, its onl y object 
being security, and rest, and daily called upon to treat with a 
restless and daring people, who were passing suddenly from 
the severe shocks of revolution and war to the difficult labors 
of liberty."* 

The Chambers were prorogued on the 30th December. On 
the 21st January, an expiatory ceremony, which was natural 
and legitimate on the occasion of removing the remains of 
Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, awoke painful memories and 
passions, still only half -extinguished. Anxiety and anger were 
mixed in the minds of those who had formerly been com- 
promised in the crimes of the French Revolution. There was 
heard everywhere that wind the forerunner of the tempest 
which Napoleon with clear-sighted malevolence saw, when he 

* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



142 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [en. xvi. 

said, " The Bourbons will put France at peace with Europe, but 
how will they put her at peace with herself?" 

While the horizon, recently serene, was thus becoming 
gloomy at home, Talleyrand's steadfast mind and consummate 
skill was securing for us at the Congress of Vienna a position 
which on account of our recent misfortunes was more honor- 
able than influential. The plenipotentiary of France had from 
the first taken his position as representative of legitimacy, that 
divine right which had just replaced the head of the house of 
Bourbon on the throne of his ancestors ; and it was by the as- 
sistance of this principle that he maintained the national dignity 
in face of the arbitrary claims of the four great allied powers, 
England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, whose ambition was to 
regulate as they pleased the affairs of the world, without 
admitting sovereigns of a lower order to the discussion. 
Nearly all the monarchs of Europe were assembled at Vienna, 
or had sent their most eminent statesmen. The Porte alone 
was not represented in this great congress of nations. The 
Pope had sent a legate. 

Two great questions were laid before the congress, that of 
Poland and that of Saxony. The Emperor Alexander had 
formerly shown himself disposed to reconstitute, himself and 
under his sovereignty, an independent kingdom of Poland, but 
the difficulties and opposition which he encountered in Russia 
removed the desire. He continued, however, well disposed to- 
wards the Poles ; but the national instinct of Russia aimed at 
nothing short of claiming possession of the whole of Poland, 
just as public opinion in Prussia loudly insisted upon the 
annexation of Saxony. Austria was naturally opposed to this 
double ambition, though Metternich's prudence moderated the 
expression of his anxiety. England attached no great import- 
ance to the fate of Saxony, but kept anxious watch upon the 
excessive aggrandizement of Russia, and therefore found it 
necessary to look to the French plenipotentiary for the assist- 
ance which Castlereagh's haughty bluntness was loath to re- 
quest. Talleyrand had instructions to protect the interests of 
the King of Saxony, who was allied to the royal family of 
France, and whose misfortunes moreover were due to his long- 
continued attachment to the French cause. Another import- 
ant part of his duty was to obtain the overthrow of Murat, and 
the restoration of the Bourbons to the throne of Naples, as well 
us an indemnity for the Parma branch, who had been dis- 




SOLDIERS OF THE 5TH DO YOU RECOGNIZE ME?" 



VN>. 



ch. xvi.] THE FIRST RESTORATION. 143 

possessed by the appanage granted to Marie Louise and the 
King of Eome. 

Talleyrand's personal intentions went still further. With a 
painful sense of the disadvantages caused by the isolation of 
France, he resolved to use every effort to break the coalition 
recently formed to fight against us, and the various contradic- 
tory interests discussed at the congress supplied him with both 
opportunity and means. Castlereagh failed in his wish of 
separating Eussia from Prussia, and joined with France in a 
treaty, to which Austria at once adhered. On the 3rd January, 
1815, Talleyrand signed a diplomatic and military alliance with 
these two powers. The secondary states speedily sent in their 
adhesion. France had regained her rank among the great 
states, and her plenipotentiary's joy and pride broke forth in 
his correspondence. "The coalition is broken," he wrote 
Louis XVIII. " Fifty years' negotiations would not have been 
worth so much to France as the federative system which we 
have secured for her." 

Thus all parties were bound together upon the great ques- 
tions of diplomacy, while exteriorly their affairs seemed to 
make no progress. " If the congress does not go on, it dances," 
said the old Prince of Ligne, when attending one of the innu- 
merable evening parties where the sovereigns and ministers 
daily met together. Negotiations still proceeded, however ; and 
the new alliance had a decisive influence upon the resolutions 
of the congress. In March, 1815, the question of Poland, much 
reduced by the abandonment to Prussia of the Grand Duchy 
of Posen, was nearly disposed of. The Emperor Alexander 
kept Warsaw as the centre of his new state ; and Prussia had 
reduced her claims upon Saxony, which was to recover her in- 
dependence and her sovereign at the cost of one third of her 
territory. The kingdom of the Netherlands was formed, con- 
sisting of Belgium and Holland, and receiving Luxemburg and 
Limburg in exchange for the Rhenish provinces, now ceded to 
Prussia. Hanover became a kingdom, with some increase of 
territory. Denmark lost Norway, and in exchange for Swe- 
dish Pomerania — which had been promised her, but excited 
Prussia's cupidity — received the Duchy of Lauenburg, though 
not without a struggle. The territory of Genoa was granted 
to Piedmont, as an additional guarantee against France. The 
negotiations seemed generally rather unfavorable to the 
French project against Murat, some engagements having been 



144 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvi. 

entered into with him ; but Castlereagh had need of Talleyrand 
to obtain from the congress a unanimous adhesion to the noble 
crusade undertaken by England against the slave-trade. The 
Duke of Wellington had just arrived at the congress in order 
to take the place of the English prime minister, who was re- 
called to London by the opening of Parliament : he was well- 
disposed towards the Bourbons, and disliked Murat's presence 
in Italy as being an element of disorder. He was also disposed 
to second Talleyrand in wishing to see Napoleon removed from 
the French coasts to a further distance than Elba. Metternich 
had no objection to transport him to the Azores, but the Czar's 
generosity and loyalty were obstinately opposed to this. He 
rightly considered himself the author of the treaty of the 11th 
April, and peremptorily insisted on its strict fulfilment. He 
even made a claim upon the French government for the pay- 
ment of the sums stipulated in Napoleon's favor. The latter 
had received no money. The Empress Marie-Louise refused 
to leave the Duchy of Parma, which they wished to restore to 
the Queen of Etruria, and the Emperor Alexander supported her. 
When they still kept urging him, he at last lost temper and 
said, "Why, they may some day, very possibly, let loose the 
monster who is so much dreaded by Austria and many 
others !" 

The "monster" was meanwhile fully informed of all that 
took place at the Congress of Vienna. The great negotiations 
were completed, and the sovereigns preparing to separate, en- 
trusting their plenipotentiaries with the duty of drawing up 
the articles, when all at once the news came that the Emperor 
Napoleon had left Elba and landed at the Gulf Juan. Their 
surprise was exceeded by their alarm. The final operations of 
the congress were immediately prorogued. It was no longer a 
time for treating, but for fighting. The bonds of coalition 
i were drawn tighter by the common danger. They waited for 
news from France, all the foreigners believing instinctively 
that Napoleon would march upon Paris. Talleyrand alone 
attempted vainly to persuade himself and others that the em- 
peror was directing his march towards Italy. 

For several months there had been a general persuasion, 
secret or declared, that a new shock was in preparation, and 
that the new government, which was scarcely founded, was to 
be shaken in its insufficient authority. There were numerous 
plots of various kinds. " They plotted openly," says the Duke 
of Eovigo in his Memoirs, "even at the corners of the streets; 



ch. xvn.] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 145 

and everybody, except perhaps the ministers, knew what was 
going on." Generals, such as Davout, Savary, Maret, and 
Lavalette, who remained faithful to Bonaparte, and displeased 
with their treatment at the hands of the Restoration, or who 
had naturally no share in the royal favors on account of having 
so long served Napoleon, plotted simply and purely for Napo- 
leon's return from Elba and his restoration to the throne. 
Other generals, who were formerly attached to the emperor, 
and shared in the illustrious memories of his victories — Lefeb- 
vre-Desnouettes, Drouet d'Erlon, Lallemand — were preparing 
a military movement in the forces under their command, to 
compel King Louis XVIII. to accept the conditions of a more 
liberal government. In case of refusal, these conspirators in- 
tended to conduct the monarch and his family to the frontier, 
and proclaim the regency of the Duke of Orleans, whose opin- 
ions were considered, on good grounds, to be favorable to the 
constitutional party. It was also upon the Duke of Orleans 
that the hopes of those liberals were fixed who determined to 
attempt the work of legal reform by means of the Chambers, 
though some had dreams of a republic. Fouche had a share in 
all these plots with more or less ardor and display ; his connec- 
tion with Elba was unimportant and unf requent. 

It was against the government of the Bourbons, and the ten- 
dencies with which it was charged, that public opinion was 
excited. The majority of the conspirators had no wish for 
Napoleon's return, yet he was hovering over the situation like 
a threatening phantom, and all men felt secretly convinced 
that he had not ended his life. Some pitied him, some dreaded 
him, some hated him, but nobody had yet forgotten him. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE HUNDRED DAYS (26TH FEBRUARY TO 15TH JULY, 1815), 

"The question has been much discussed as to who were tne 
conspirators that on the 20th March, 1815, overthrew the Bour- 
bons and brought back Napoleon. This is a minor point and 
is only interesting as an historical curiosity. The silliness oi 
those who organize plots is boundless, and when results seem 
to prove that they were in the right, they take credit to them 
VIII.— 10 



146 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvil 

selves for what is due to causes much greater and more com- 
plicated than their machinations. It was Napoleon alone who 
in 1815 overthrew the Bourbons, by evoking in person the fana- 
tical devotion of the army and the revolutionary instincts of 
the people. However tottering the recently restored monarchy 
might be, it required this great man and his great strength to 
lay it low. France was stupefied, and allowed the event to be 
accomplished without either resistance or confidence. Napo- 
leon's own opinion of the matter was formed with admirable 
good sense : ' They have allowed me to come, ' said he to Count 
Mollien, ' just as they allowed me to go.' "* 

The Emperor Napoleon never finally abandoned confidence 
in his cause, though it had seemed absolutely ruined on the 
6th April, 1814, when he signed his abdication at Fontainebleau. 
On leaving France to shut himself up in the island of Elba, he 
always cherished the hope of returning. "When apparently 
occupied with securing his position in his narrow kingdom, he 
took care to form a small body of troops, 1100 men strong, most 
of whom belonged to his old guard. With over 3,000,000 francs 
which he had brought with him, he was able to buy four small 
vessels. He carefully read the newspapers, and received some 
private news from France, which kept him informed of the 
state of increasing agitation in the army and the nation. From 
Vienna he was informed that the allied sovereigns proposed to 
remove him from the coasts which he still menaced by his 
presence, and at the same time learned that the negotiations 
were finished and the congress about to break up. This double 
news caused him some alarm, because he had long feared lest 
be should be removed to such a distance as would render his 
proposed enterprise impracticable. The faces of his compan- 
ions told him how utterly weary they were of waiting. ' ' When 
do we set out for France?" they sometimes asked. Several sol- 
diers had already left the island, tired of the first sorrows of 
exile. Napoleon's plans were already becoming less vague, 
and he had secretly begun to prepare to leave, when a young 
man, Fleury de Chaboulon, formerly an " auditor" in the Coun- 
cil of State, landed (22nd February) at Porto-Ferrajo. He 
came from France, and being supplied with a pass-word from 
the Duke of Bassano, received at once the emperor's attention. 
His instructions were to inform the illustrious exile of the 
actual state of affairs in France, and the discontent in the 

* Guizot's Memoires. etc., vol. i. 



ch. xvn.] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 14? 

army. He had himself requested the mission, and now deliv- 
ered his message with enthusiasm. " Then, they still remem- 
ber me?" said the emperor two or three times; "the soldiers 
have not forgot me?" Then, looking keenly at the young man, 
he said, " What are your instructions for me? What do they 
advise me to do?" No one had dared to take the responsibility 
of an opinion, as Fleury declared to the emperor, who on dis- 
missing him had him conveyed to Naples, lest the secret of 
which he had had a glimpse should prove too much for the 
young emissary of his friends. The emperor's mother alone 
knew of her son's determination, having taken up her abode 
with him to console him in his exile. Though generally firm, 
even to impassibility, she was for a moment alarmed at the 
terrible chances of another tragical enterprise. Then summon- 
ing up her strength, she said, " Go ! and may God protect you, 
as He has so many times protected you ! You cannot remain 
here." 

On the 26th February the soldiers of the little army were still 
engaged in some works at the harbor when they received orders 
to go on board. Several days previously Colonel Campbell, 
who had orders from England to keep a secret watch upon 
Napoleon, had gone to Leghorn on duty. A merchantman 
which was seized in the harbor, and two small transport ves- 
sels freighted for Rio, constituted the little fleet. All other 
preparations being completed, no notice was given to the sol- 
diers, but they all knew the object of the voyage. The Prin- 
cess Borghese, who came frequently to Elba to see her brother, 
was present with her mother at the embarkation. For two 
days an embargo had been laid on all vessels, and no news of 
his departure was possible. The Emperor Napoleon put to sea. 

The wind being uncertain, the sailors were doubtful as to 
what course to take. Some ships-of-war were seen out at sea, 
but Napoleon was resolved not to go back. On meeting a brig 
of the French navy he ordered his soldiers to lie down on the 
decks of the small vessels. The Elba flag floated in the breeze 
— white, strewed with bees. The captain of the brig recognized 
the commander of the small imperial fleet, and they hailed 
each other. " Whither bound?" asked Captain Andrieux of 
the royal marine. "Genoa." "We are for Leghorn: how is 
the emperor?" "Very well." The vessels resumed their 
course; and a favorable wind starting up, the small vessels 
cast anchor on the morning of the 1st of March in Gulf Juan, 
the soldiers landing with shouts of " Long live the Emperor!" 



148 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvii. 

The population of Cannes showed neither opposition nor enthu- 
siasm. A sudden attack made upon Antibes had not succeeded, 
but several artillerymen escaped from the town and joined the 
small army. They procured horses and provisions. The em- 
peror ordered a table and chair to be brought, and sat down in 
a wood of olive-trees to examine his maps. He resolved to fol- 
low the road to Dauphine because it was rough and hilly, and 
therefore more suitable for his purpose. Another reason was, 
that the garrisons on that route were weak, and more easily 
gained over than large forces commanded by superior officers. 
It was upon the " nation of camps" that Napoleon calculated 
to exercise the prestige of his presence, the leaders of the armj 
having for the most part escaped from his influence. By fol- 
lowing the road along the coast he would have to meetMassena, 
who was in command at Marseilles ; and besides, the mountain 
road led to Grenoble, a bustling town not well-disposed to th6 
Bourbons, which he might stir up for his cause. At eleven 
o'clock in the evening the bivouac on the coast was raised, and 
the little army was drawn up in marching order, having re- 
sumed the eagles and tricolor almost as soon as they planted 
foot on French soil. After the emperor had ordered them to 
close their ranks, the handful of faithful and devoted men who 
had accompanied him heard him read with a loud voice the 
proclamation, which he thus addressed to the whole of the 
French army : — 

"Soldiers! 

" You have not been conquered! Two men from our 
ranks betrayed our laurels, their prince, their benefactor. 
Those whom for twenty -five years we have seen overrun Eu- 
rope to stir up enemies against us, or who passed their fives 
fighting against us in the ranks of foreign armies, and curs- 
ing our beautiful France — how will they presume to command 
and chain up our eagles, they who never dared look upon them? 
Shall we suffer them to inherit the fruit of our glorious labors, 
to take possession of our honors and property, to slander our 
glory? Should their reign last, all would be lost, even the 
memory of those immortal days. With eagerness do they 
change their natures ! They are trying to poison that which is 
the admiration of the world ; and if there still remain any de- 
fenders of our glory, it is amongst those very enemies with 
whom we fought on the battle-field. 

"Soldiers! In my exile I heard your voices, and am come 



ch xvii.] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 149 

through all obstacles and dangers. Your general, summoned 
to. the throne by the prayer of the people, and raised upon 
your shields, is now restored to you ; come and join him. Tear 
down those colors which were proscribed by the nation, and 
which for twenty -five years all the enemies of France have 
rallied round. Display the tricolor which you carried in our 
great battles. We ought to forget that we were the rulers of 
the nations, but we ought not to permit any one to mix him- 
self in our affairs. Who would pretend to be, who could be, 
our master? Get back those eagles which you had at Ulm, 
Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, Friedland, Tudela, Eckmiihl, Essling, 
Wagram, Smolensk, Moskowa, Lutzen, Wurtchen, and Mont- 
mirail ! Do you think that that handful of Frenchmen, to-day 
so arrogant, could bear the sight of them? They would return 
whence they came, and there, if they wish, they would reign, 
as they pretend to have done for nineteen years. The veterans 
of the armies of the Sambre and Meuse, of the Rhine, Italy, 
Egypt, the West, and the grand army, are humiliated ; their 
honorable scars are mocked at; their successes would be 
crimes ; these brave men would be rebels if, as the enemies of 
the people pretend, their lawful sovereign were in the midst of 
foes. Honors, rewards, their affection, are for those who 
fought for them, against the fatherland and against us. 
Come, soldiers! stand by the banners of your chief! His 
existence is only yours; his rights are only yours and the 
people's ; his interests, his honor, and his glory are only your 
interests, your honor, and your glory. Victory will march 
at the double ; the eagle, with the colors of the nation, will fly 
from steeple to steeple, even to the towers of Notre Dame ! and 
then will you be able to boast of your deeds, then will you be 
the liberators of your country !" 

A second proclamation, conceived in the same spirit, but 
more explicit as to the "treason" of Marmont and D'Augereau, 
was addressed to the French nation. A number of copies of 
these two incentives to civil war had been prepared during the 
voyage, and were immediately printed. Napoleon spoke to 
the nation and the army; the moment had now come for 
action. From Grasse, where he arrived at daybreak, he 
directed his steps towards Sisteron, crossing the snow. The 
population remained curious and indifferent. On his way over 
the mountain, the emperor stopped for a few moments in a 
cottage to warm himself. " Have you any news from Paris," 



150 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvix 

he asked the mistress of the place: " do you know what the 
king is doing?" The old woman shook her head. "The king ! 
the emperor, you mean ; he's always down there. People don't 
know much in these parts." On these heights, life always 
flows smoothly in the same channel of ignorance. Five-and- 
twenty years before this, some mountaineers of the High Alps 
first learned of the French Revolution by going down to the 
plain to buy salt. They had got a good bargain, and it was 
while inquiring the cause of this diminution in price that they 
were informed in the same breath of the abolition of the tax, 
and of the events which turned France and the world upside 
down. On the 4th of March Napoleon arrived at Sisteron, and 
on the 5th at Gap. The country people began to be roused into 
enthusiasm, and the peasants' carts were placed at the disposal 
of the worn-out soldiery. The news of the landing, sent by ex- 
press from Draguignan, began to spread, but the officers still 
remained shut up in the mountain recesses, with much ado to 
restrain their soldiers. Nowhere did Napoleon find any ob- 
stacle to hinder his rapid march. General Mouton-Duvernet, 
who had arrived at Grenoble post-haste from Valencia, placed 
himself in the emperor's way with the view of disputing the 
mountain passes with him ; but he had already overcome these 
difficulties, and the general fell back upon Grenoble, where 
great excitement prevailed. The lower orders were, like the 
peasantry, favorably disposed towards Napoleon, even though 
they had not, like these, acquired any large quantity of the 
national property. The bourgeoisie was divided ; the royalists 
talked big. Generals Marchand and Mouton-Duvernet, and 
the savant Fourier, prefect of the Isere, ordered a general con- 
centration of troops, the regiments stationed at Vienne and 
Chambery being called out. Labedoyere, the colonel of one 
of the latter, was young, of good family, and distinguished 
bravery ; and his influence with the troops was reckoned on to 
keep them to their duty. A detachment of engineers was told 
off to destroy the bridge over the Bonne at Ponthaut. The in- 
habitants opposed this, and the soldiers had no heart in their 
work. They had been reinforced by a battalion of the 5th of 
the line, and a small body of Polish Lancers attached to Napo- 
leon, had just arrived to protect his passage over the river, 
when the men began to mingle and to converse amicably with 
each other. Lessard, the commander of the battalion, fell 
back with his corps upon the mountain passes ; and, almost at 
the same moment, General Cambroime appeared upon the 



ch. xvn.] TEE HUNDRED DAYS. 151 

scene with the grenadiers of the island of Elba, who at once 
proceeded to take possession of the abandoned bridge. The 
emperor himself advanced with the bulk of his following. 
Several scouts had already appeared, announcing the arrival 
of Napoleon, and calling upon the soldiers of the 5th not to 
fire. The lieutenant-colonel ordered them to retire. "They 
won't fire," said some citizens or half -pay officers who bad 
made haste to get near Napoleon, and who knew the temper of 
the men. The emperor approached the soldiers in person. 

"What do you wish me to do?" said the brave Lessard to 
one of General Marchand's aides-de-camp, who happened to be 
near him; "see how they tremble like aspens at the bare 
thought of seeing him." He had ordered the retreat, but 
Napoleon appeared at the same moment. "Soldiers of the 
5th," he cried, "do you recognize me?" "Yes, yes !" exclaimed 
every voice. "What man among you would fire upon his 
emperor?" A unanimous shout of "Long live the emperor!" 
was the immediate response. The lieutenant-colonel, alone 
and dismayed, saw all his soldiers throwing themselves at the 
feet of Napoleon, when the latter advanced towards him. 
"Who made you lieutenant-colonel?" "You, sire." "And 
captain?" "You, sire." "And you wished to fire upon me?" 
"Yes, sire, because it was my duty." So saying, he tendered 
the emperor his sword. The latter took it, and pressed his 
hand. "We shall meet again at Grenoble," he said: then, 
turning to Generals Drouot and Bertrand, "There, that's all 
right ; to-night we shall be in Grenoble, and in ten days in 
Paris." 

In truth, all was over. The irresistible prestige of Napo- 
leon's presence had had its effect on the first body of troops 
which he had encountered, and would, by its swift contagion, 
gain over all those who had not yet beheld him, but who were 
rushing to meet him. Colonel de Labedoyere called out his 
regiment, raised the eagle of the 7th on leaving General 
Marchand's house, and left the town, marching at the head of 
his soldiers to join the emperor. They embraced, and Napo- 
leon thanked the young chief for his ardent devotion. "We 
are tired of seeing France humiliated," said Labedoyere; "but, 
sire, everything is much changed, a new reign must be in- 
augurated." "I know it, and am resolved upon it," was the 
emperor's reply. 

He repeated this to every one who visited him at Grenoble 
during the next few days. At the news of his coming the au- 



152 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvil 

thorities retired; General Marchand went over into the de 
partment of Mont-Blanc, in the hope of assembling some ele- 
ments of resistance about him. The prefect, dreading, on his 
own account, the charm of the presence of Napoleon, whom he 
had accompanied in Egypt, and continued to cherish a great 
liking for him, had directed his steps towards Lyons, not with- 
out apologizing for his departure. The town gates were closed, 
but the peasants on the one side, and the townspeople on the 
other, succeeded by their efforts in breaking them open, and 
soon the little troop of soldiers from the island of Elba was 
saluted by the frantic cheers of the populace, as well as the 
soldiers. The massing of the troops ordered for the defence of 
Grenoble against Napoleon would immediately furnish him 
with a small army, and with enormous resources, both in 
artillery and ammunition. Such guns as had come from the 
island of Elba the emperor had left on board his ships. "It 
is not with cannot-shots that I am going to make this cam- 
paign," he had said. The same enthusiasm spread like wild- 
fire through every regiment. Seven thousand men, ready to 
perish in his cause, set out on the 8th for Lyons. The soldiers 
had all mounted their old cockades with the tricolor, which 
they had carefully kept. ''To-morrow I will be at your head," 
Napoleon told them. The news of the landing of Napoleon in 
the bay of Juan, on the 1st of March, did not reach Paris till 
the 5th. At first, it was kept a close secret, and only troubled 
for a moment the king, Louis XVIII., naturally calm, and a 
little dull of comprehension, by age and infirmities. The first 
thought was to place the princes at the head of the armies 
which were charged with the task of opposing the invader. 
The Comte d'Artois offered to repair to Lyons, and took with 
him the Duke of Orleans, much against his will; the Due 
d'Angouleme was at Bordeaux; the Due de Berry remained 
near the king, while Marshal Ney advanced on Besangon; 
Marshal Macdonald was to join the Due d'Angouleme at Nimes. 
These two commanders had negotiated the abdication of Napo- 
leon, and their fidelity was reckoned on accordingly. Marshal 
Ney displayed the greatest zeal. He is reported to have said, 
in his soldier-like, passionate manner, "Fear nothing, sire; I 
will bring him to you in an iron cage." The public was con- 
firmed in its fears by the convocation of the two chambers. 
An ordinance was promulgated, enjoining all citizens to pursue 
Napoleon, and to seize him alive or dead, in order to deliver 
him over to a military commission. The ministers, particularly 



CH. xvn.] TEE EVNDBED DATS. 153 

Blacas and the Abbe de Montesquiou, were troubled at these 
grave events, without putting any great faith in them ; Mar- 
shal Soult knew better the redoubtable spirit which was about 
to enter the lists, and he meanwhile made a show of necessary- 
zeal. The public was divided; among sensible men, sadness 
and uneasiness reigned supreme over all other sentiments. 
War appeared to all to be inevitable abroad ; it was threaten- 
ing at home; the remembrance even of past oppression and 
suffering was not yet effaced. Meanwhile the towns were 
animated by various interests, and almost everywhere in the 
country districts the return of Napoleon was eagerly wel- 
comed, for those who had acquired national property had 
learnt mistakenly to tremble for the security of their posses- 
sions. The country regarded with apathy the recommence- 
ment of that terrible struggle, of which it was the stake, and 
in which it had not yet learnt to take any important part. 
The army was agitated by the keenest passions. The feeling 
of duty, or, in some cases, personal animosity, caused several 
of the leading military men to incline rather to resistance, 
while the great body of the officers and men yielded to the 
powerful charm which compelled them to follow in the foot- 
steps of their emperor. The Comte d'Artois had been coldly 
received at Lyons, and all the efforts of Marshal Macdonald 
were unavailable in extracting from the troops a single shout 
of "Long live the king!" Napoleon was already approaching 
the city gates, and the princes took their departure in the sad 
conviction that the soldiers were going to break forth into 
cheers at the sight of their old general. Macdonald, once 
more attempting to gain over the army, awaited the arrival of 
Napoleon's advance guard, and placed himself at the head of 
the leading battalions. Meanwhile, the hussars preceding the 
emperor, uttered shouts of triumph, to which the marshal's 
soldiers were not long in responding. These latter now has- 
tened to overthrow the barricades erected on the bridges and 
ran to meet their comrades, making, like them, the air resound 
with the cry of ' ' Long live the emperor !" Macdonald spurred 
his horse to the gallop, accompanied only by his aides-de-camp. 
Some of his troopers insisted on pursuing him, in the hope of 
bringing him back to the emperor, and effecting a reconcilia- 
tion, but the marshal made good his escape from their some- 
what obtrusive zeal. Napoleon was already established at the 
archiepiscopal palace as the guest of his uncle, Cardinal Fesch. 
His language was evidently affected by his triumphal progress; 



154 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvit 

it was less modest upon the necessities of the new government, 
less exclusively preoccupied with the wants and views of the 
people. Yet Napoleon knew what the force was upon which 
he depended for aid, and also that the hidden groundwork of 
revolutionary instincts was still favorable towards him. He 
announced his intention of immediately convoking the electoral 
bodies in Assembly. The coronation of the empress and the 
King of Rome would then be celebrated, and the nation itself 
would preside over the carrying out of such changes in the 
constitution of the empire as might be desirable. This convo- 
cation was announced by decree from Lyons, and other 
measures followed, restoring to office procurators and magis- 
trates who had been dismissed by the Restoration Government. 
Thus Napoleon, at the first blow, and by an act of daring, re- 
gained the power of a master for the moment absent from the 
throne. He nominated, as prefect of Lyons, Fourier, who had 
fled from Grenoble to avoid him, and the illustrious savant 
accepted the post. 

Vengeance occupied the first place in Napoleon's thoughts on 
his return to France. All the emigres who bad not obtained, 
prior to 1814, the regular erasure of their names from the revo- 
lutionary list, were to be forthwith expelled, while those who 
had purchased commissions in the army were degraded. The 
white cockade and all orders before or subsequent to the Legion 
of Honor were abolished ; the decrees of the assembly which 
had reference to the old nobility and titles were re-established ; 
and the goods of the Bourbon princes were confiscated, as also 
were those of Talleyrand, Dalberg, and Vitrolles; and the same 
measure was put in force against the Mayor of Bordeaux and 
Marshals Marmont and Augereau. These latter were to be tried 
impartially. Grand Marshal Bertrand, now the emperor's 
major-general, raised objections to such severities, which he 
thought neither generous nor well-timed. "You will listen to 
nothing," said the emperor, angiily, and postponed the decree 
in the meantime. A fortnight after bis arrival in Paris, he 
ordered Bertrand to countersign it. "Sire," responded his 
faithful servant, "a minister who countersigns an act of the 
sovereign is morally responsible for it. Your Majesty has de- 
clared by your proclamations that you will grant a general 
amnesty ; these I countersigned with all my heart, but I will 
not countersign the decree which revokes them." The decree 
appeared without the countersign. 

Meanwhile the emperor was hastening his march, for he felt 



CH. xvn.] TEE HUNDRED DATS. 155 

around him the pressure of a paramount necessity. The south 
was agitated, passionately excited by royalist tendencies and 
the recollection of long-slighted interests. At Marseilles, the 
populace dreaded the return of the continental blockade which 
caused its ruin, and a column of volunteers was advancing 
upon Grenoble. Marshal Massena did not oppose this ; he re- 
mained sad and motionless in his military command, restrain- 
ing with much ado the fury of the populace and resolved sim- 
ply to do his duty. Marshal Ney was advancing to meet the 
emperor. 

He had faithfully accomplished his task at Besancon, cheer- 
ing the sinking courage of the royalists, making up the de- 
ficiency in military preparations, and strongly convinced that 
Napoleon cherished a personal grudge against him for what he 
had dared to say and do at Fontainebleau at the time of the 
abdication. Generals de Bourmont and Lecourbe were charged 
with the command of the two divisions of his brigade. The one 
was an old royalist and former chief of Vendeans ; the other, 
an old republican of the army of the Bhine who had been dis- 
graced by the emperor. They advanced with the marshal to 
Lons-le-Saulnier. 

i The attitude of the troops began to grow doubtful. Napoleon 
had arrived at Macon amid the mad enthusiasm of the popu- 
lace, both town and country along the route bursting forth into 
transports of rejoicing. The Burgundians, formerly animated 
by the most fervent revolutionary sentiments, bore themselves 
with corresponding delight before the great leader, born of the 
revolution, which he had subdued without forsaking, and which 
required his support in the future. The popular enthusiasm 
spreading, the marshal perceived around him its earliest effects. 
Flying into a passion, he fronted his royalist staff, who ap- 
peared somewhat restless. "Let them go," said he ; "let them 
go ; if they tremble, leave me alone ; I shall know how to seize 
a gun from the hand of a dragoon and fire the first shot. " A 
speech in which he had addressed his officers had left them 
cold and discontented ; and the news received every day of the 
triumphant demonstrations of the people in the emperor's 
presence, increased his anxiety. With anger he heard of the 
evacuation of Lyons, but already Macon had driven out the 
royalist authorities, and Dijon was proceeding to proclaim the 
restoration of the empire. In the department of Ain, the prefect 
had been pursued by the insurgent inhabitants of Bourg. 
Everywhere people told with what dreadful facility the con- 



156 HISTORY OF FRANCE. r CH . xvu 

flagration gained. A letter from Marshal Bertrand was con- 
veyed to his old friend Marshal Ney on the night of the 13th. 
Perhaps a letter from the emperor accompanied that of the 
major-general. The officers entrusted with it commented upon 
these words in the letter, used by Bertrand for the purpose of 
gaining over his comrades in arms to the emperor's cause : — 
"All the requisite measures are taken and success is inevi- 
table." Marshal Ney believed he saw the vast network of 
Bonapartist conspiracies embracing all France, the blow al- 
ready struck at Paris, an understanding established in Europe 
with the Emperor of Austria and the coalition powers: Napo- 
leon, it was said, accepted the treaties and had no further de- 
sire for war. All the rumors floating in the air, eagerly caught 
and magnified by the people, acted on the mobile spirit of the 
illustrious soldier, himself drawn on to his destiny by the al- 
lurement which moved the masses, alike military or rustic. 
Believing himself duped by the government of the king, he 
now suddenly saw in exaggerated proportions all the petty 
injuries inflicted on his amour-propre, all the transient dis- 
satisfactions which he had experienced since the restoration of 
the Bourbons. " My dear," he wrote to his wife, "thou shalt 
cry no more to get away from the Tuileries." He conferred 
with his generals of division, and they both sadly perceived 
the uselessness of resistance. "Thou hadst better not have 
meddled in the affair at all," said Lecourbe, "and left me 
alone in peace." The marshal caused the troops to be assem- 
bled. Some stir had already manifested itself in the barracks. 
Ney advanced in front of the lines. "Officers, sub-officers, 
and soldiers," he exclaimed, "the cause of the Bourbons is 
lost forever. The legitimate dynasty which the French nation 
has adopted is going to remount the throne. To the Emperor 
Napoleon, our sovereign, belongs alone the right to reign over 
our beautiful country ! Whether the Bourbon nobility choose 
to return to exile or consent to live among us, what matters it 
to us? The times are gone when the people were governed by 
suppressing their rights. Liberty triumphs in the end, and Na- 
poleon, our august emperor, comes to confirm it. Soldiers, I 
have often led you to victory ; now I would escort you to join 
this immortal legion which the Emperor Napoleon conducts to 
Paris, and which in a few days shall reach the capital, where 
our hope and our happiness shall forever be realized. Long 
live the emperor I" 
A cheer, loud and unbroken, burst from the lips of all in re- 



ch. xvii. ] THE HUNDRED DATS. 157 

sponse to the marshal's cry; swords leapt from their scab- 
bards, shakos waved on the points of bayonets, the soldiers 
rushed upon their general to kiss his hands and his garments. 
The marshal yielded to the enthusiasm of the men, whom he 
had freed by a single word from a restraint that was insup- 
portable. The officers of his staff alone maintained an ominous 
silence. One of them, an old emigre, broke his sword, saying, 
"You should have warned us, monsieur le marshal, before 
making us be present at such a spectacle." Without exception 
the inferior officers participated in the feelings of the soldiers. 

From Lyons, and as if he had never ceased to reign, Napoleon 
ordered the march of the army corps. On the eve of making 
his submission, Ney was troubled at the thought of again see- 
ing Napoleon. "Tell him that I love him still, and to-morrow 
shall embrace him," said the emperor to Marshal Bertrand, 
when Ney joined him at Auxerre. Next day the marshal 
wished to attempt some explanations; "There is no need," 
said Napoleon. "I have always held you to be the bravest of 
the brave." "You have done well," replied Ney, "to count 
on me for the defence of the fatherland ; it is for France that I 
have shed my blood, and for her I am ready to shed it to the 
last drop! I love you, sire, but the fatherland before all!" 
"It is for the sake of the fatherland that I have returned," 
interrupted the emperor. " I know her to be unhappy, and I 
shall render her all the aid that she expects of me." Four 
divisions were united at Auxerre, and they took the way for 
Fontainebleau. Everywhere the public gave themselves up 
to transports of irresistible excitement. To send troops against 
Napoleon was only to send him reinforcements. 

The agitation was growing in Paris ; and the precautions of 
the police, the indignant protestations of the constituted au- 
thorities, and the false news circulated by the royalist jour- 
nals, were no longer able to conceal the rapid progress of a 
conflagration unexpected and terrible. The royalists, startled 
and exasperated, attacked all those who did not share in their 
indignation, or whom they could suspect of even a, thought of 
defection. They were goaded into measures that were con- 
flicting and badly conceived, promising to the army favors 
which they had but recently refused, re-calling to activity 
officers and non-commissioned officers who had been placed on 
half -pay, invoking the support of the national guard, replac- 
ing the minister of war, Marshal Soult, by the Due de Feltre, 
~nd Andre, the minister of police, by Bourienne. Fouche had 



158 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvn. 

declined the offer of the latter office. "It is weakness that 
has ruined us, " said the newly appointed officers, who were 
resolved to employ force at the moment when power had es 
caped from their hands. 

Meantime, Laine, president of the Chamber of Deputies, and 
Montesquiou, minister of the interior, had formed a better un- 
derstanding of the instincts of the country and the profound 
causes of discontent which delivered the nation over to a mili- 
tary sway. Laine, held in esteem by all, and an eloquent and 
conscientious man, sought to rally around the throne the clear- 
headed and honest men who formed the constitutional opposi- 
tion party. Lafayette and Benjamin Constant seconded bis 
efforts ; they promised liberal measures, they emphasized the 
dangers which liberty ran at the hands of the Emperor Napo- 
leon, they attempted at the same time to obtain from the king 
a change of the ministry, and particularly the removal of Bla- 
cas, who was distrusted by all the constitutional party. But 
these efforts were fruitless ; the friends of the Comte d'Artois, 
and even the confidants of Louis XVIII. , were opposed to the 
concessions. The Bonapartist movement set on foot recently 
in the department of the Nord, by Generals Lallemand and 
Lefebvre-Desnouettes, had miscarried; from this they con- 
ceived the hope that the movement for the defence would here 
be able to find an effectual basis, and they prepared an army 
outside of Paris, which was to be commanded by the Due de 
Berry, with Marshal Macdonald for major-general. The Due 
de Orleans and Marshal Oudinot were charged with the task 
of concentrating the army corps. The king and the princes 
returned to the Chamber for the purpose of renewing their 
alliance with the people. The king had written his own 
speech ; on his entering he was received with loud cheers. 

"Gentlemen," said he, "in this moment of crisis, when the 
public enemy has entered a part of my kingdom, and when he 
menaces the liberty of all the rest, I come into your midst to 
draw closer the bonds, which, in uniting you to me, constitute 
the power of the State. I come, in addressing you, to explain 
to all France my sentiments and views. I have reformed my 
country, and have reconciled it with all the foreign powers, — 
powers which undoubtedly will be faithful to the treaties by 
which we have restored peace. I have labored for the good of 
my people; I have received — I receive every day— the most 
touching marts of their love. Could I, at sixty years of age. 
more fitly end my career than bv dving in their defence? 



CH. xvii.] THE HUNDBEL DATS. 159 

" I fear then nothing for myself, but I fear for France. He 
who comes among us to light the torch of civil war, brings 
also the plague of foreign war; he comes to place our country 
once more under his iron yoke ; he comes, in fine, to destroy 
this constitutional charter which I have given you,— this char- 
ter, my best title in the eyes of posterity— this charter which 
all the French cherish, and which I here swear to maintain. 
Let us then rally round it ! May it be our sacred standard ! 
The descendants of Henri IV. shall be the first to range them- 
selves beneath it, and they will be followed by all good French- 
men. Let the concurrence of both Chambers give all necessary 
support to the authority, and this truly national war shall 
prove by its happy result what a great people are capable of, 
united by the love of their king and the fundamental law of 
the kingdom." 

It was too late to rally by conciliatory words the forces im- 
prudently sundered ; too late to incite an honest and coura- 
geous effort on behalf of constitutional liberty. The enthusi- 
asm, popular and military, had brought back Napoleon with 
an irresistible impulse. Already he had reached Fontainebleau 
(19 March), re-entering with triumph the palace which, almost 
broken-hearted, he had quitted some months before. The next 
march he resolved to direct to the Tuileries. The more san- 
guine supporters of the government wished to advance towards 
the west, there, relying on the one side on Bordeaux, and on 
the other on Vendee, to raise up all this region, supremely roy- 
alist, against the usurper. Others, with the Duke of Orleans 
and Marshal Macdonald at their head, proposed to retire into a 
place in the Nord, Lille or Dunkirk, with a faithful following, 
in order to await on French soil the great duel which would in- 
f allibly take place between the Emperor Napoleon and Europe. 
The personal desire of the king, old and easily fatigued, was to 
abide in Paris as long as possible, and when flight was unavoid- 
able, to pass immediately to England, the only asylum that 
was really safe. The emigres in a body bitterly opposed the 
idea of again quitting France. Departure from Paris, mean- 
time, became necessary, for the enemy was already at the 
gates, and the city was almost surrounded by the army. The 
king resolved to set out secretly, fearing a popular outburst 
and a pursuit. The retreat on Lille was decided, and Marshal 
Macdonald was charged with its protection. On the night of 
the 19th, at eleven o'clock, all the members of the royal family 
then in Paris set out stealthily to drive to St. Denis. The last 



160 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvit 

efforts of Laine, by which, during the day, he attempted to re- 
concile the constitutional party, were useless; Lafayette had 
vainly proposed to put himself at the head of the national 
guard. At the same moment Madame de Stael, like the king, 
prepared to quit Paris. Her drawing-room had been the centre 
of the liberal movement : she fled before the return of the des- 
pot, who had for a long time pursued her with his hatred. 
"Well, he is back again 1" she had exclaimed a little while be- 
fore to La Valette ; "it is no illusion. My God ! liberty is now 
lost! Poor France! after so much suffering, and despite vows 
so ardent and unanimous ! Since he prevails, I go away from, 
this country ! Ah ! if the Bourbons had the power of will— if 
they had listened to us! But no matter; I love them, I sorrow 
for them. They are honest men, and they alone were able to 
give us liberty." 

So fled royalists and liberty, abandoning the game without 
any resistance to the powerful genius who now advanced— 
little caring for engagements contracted, and for the dangers 
which menaced the country from within, or the terrible calam- 
ities of war ready to unloose themselves on us anew. One 
hope still remained to France, overcome in these first move- 
ments by stupor and disquietude ; liberty had not raised her 
head in vain, she had reasserted her proper place, and her 
power over the minds of men. It was in the name of liberty 
henceforth that all parties fought, and even despotism was 
obliged to raise her flag. Napoleon invoked the Ee volution, 
and the Bourbons invoked the Charter; times indeed were 
changed. Already the emperor promised some liberal conces- 
sions. The whisper of an intention to resist all oppression 
passed ere long throughout the whole of France. 

On the 20th March, 1815, Napoleon once more entered Paris, 
having been warned at daybreak of the departure of the royal 
family. ' ' Never was the personal grandeur of a man displayed 
with more tremendous eclat ; never had act more audacious, or 
better calculated in its audacity, struck the imagination of the 
people. And outward force failed not the man who found so 
much of it in himself, and in himself alone. The army clung 
to him with a blind devotion. Among the masses of the people 
the revolutionary spirit and the warlike instincts, the hatred 
of the old regime and the national pride, were stirred up by 
his appearance, and rushed forth at his service. He re-mount- 
ed, with an eager retinue, a throne forsaken at his approach. 
But alongside of all this show of strength, brilliant and strik* 



en. xvii.] THE HUNDRED DATS. 161 

ing, there revealed itself, almost simultaneously, an element of 
remarkable weakness. The man who came to traverse France 
in triumph, carrying all before him by his personality, whether 
friends or enemies, re-entered Paris by night, as Louis XVIII. 
had left it, his carriage surrounded by cavaliers, and encoun- 
tering in his passage only a handful of gloomy-looking people. 
Enthusiasm had accompanied him on his route ; at his destina- 
tion he found coldness, doubt, liberal mistrust, prudent ab- 
stentions, France profoundly disturbed, and Europe irrevoc- 
ably hostile. 

"The journey in the vicinity of Paris had enlightened Na- 
poleon as to the state of feeling in the metropolis. Alighting 
at the foot of the staircase in the Tuileries, he remarked to 
Count Mole, who attended him, ' Well ! I have played a fine 
prank ! '" * 

The king and the royal family had meantime proceeded on 
their way, and further than their best and wisest friends might 
have desired. Once arrived at St. Denis, Louis XVIII. had 
directed his course towards Abbeville, always inclined to draw 
nearer to England. His household troops followed in great dis- 
order; Marshal Macdonald alone preserved discipline in the 
corps. The marshal rejoined the monarch at Abbeville, and 
conjured him to proceed to Lille, where the Duke of Orleans 
had already arrived, with Marshal Mortier. The gates of the 
town were so jealously guarded, that Macdonald had some 
difficulty in reaching the prince, who was able, he said, to as- 
sure to the king the possession of the place for a very short 
time, on condition that he was not accompanied by his house- 
hold troops. The soldiers in the garrison at Lille were not ill- 
disposed, but they were persuaded that the emigres wished t<* 
deliver France over to the English. The royal party then ra$ 
the risk of being received with bullets, and on the other hand 
the town was incapable of defence without considerable forces 
The advice of the Duke of Orleans was that the king shoulfi 
shut himself up in Dunkirk, a small and very strong place, that 
coidd be reached from England by sea, and which consequently 
offered great guarantees for safety. The marshal supported 
this advice, as also did Blacas, who accompanied the king on 
his arrival at Lille. A visit made to the barracks confirmed 
experienced soldiers in this view, and all were of opinion that 
the king should fix his departure for the morrow. 

■ ■ ■ . - _, . , , . — ... i j 

* Me mo ires pour servir a Vhi&toire de mon temps. 

viii.— 11 



162 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [en. xvil 

The will of Louis XVIII., although seldom exhibited, was 
absolutely unchangeable. He was anxious for repose, of which 
he could not be certain except in England. The twenty-five 
leagues, he declared, which separated Dunkirk from Lille pre- 
sented serious dangers, and he preferred to pass at once into 
Belgium, where he would be free to return afterwards to Dun- 
kirk. The arguments of the Duke of Orleans, and Marshals 
Macdonald and Mortier, being exhausted before the resolve of 
the king, the two military chiefs stated that they would escort 
his Majesty to the frontier, but that they were resolved on no 
account to emigrate, their intention being to retire into the 
country. The Duke of Orleans, who had shared the counsel of 
the marshals, did not believe it safe, in his quality of prince of 
the blood, to remain in France. Meanwhile, he himself pro- 
posed to leave the king at the Belgian frontier, the rallying- 
point of hostile troops, and to return to England, to the little 
house at Twickenham, on the banks of the Thames, which he 
had long inhabited under the empire, and which was his own 
property. Only Marshal Berthier, captain of a company of the 
body guards, felt impelled to accompany Louis XVIII. , as he 
had formerly accompanied Napoleon. The household troops 
were disbanded, and only 300 men, under the orders of Marshal 
Marmont, left French soil to join the king, who, with the 
Comte d'Artois and the Due de Berry, directed his course 
towards Ghent. The Duke and Duchess of Angouleme were 
still in the south of France ; the Duke of Bourbon was in Ven- 
dee, and lost no time in embarking at Nantes. The military 
leaders who had attempted to oppose some resistance in the 
north and east, Marshal Victor in Champagne, and Marshal 
Oudinot in Lorraine, had abandoned their commands, finding 
that they could not control their troops. In Alsace, Marshal 
Suchet had hoisted the tricolor; while at Orleans, Marshal 
Gouvion St. Cyr had peremptorily ordered his corps to resume 
the white cockade, and put General Pajol in prison for excit- 
ing the troops in favor of the emperor. But meantime the 
movement had become too violent even for the energetic will 
of Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr; a regiment of cuirassiers revolted, 
and released General Pajol, putting to flight the royalist au- 
thorities, and Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr himself. The south 
alone was seriously agitated by rancorous political and religious 
passions. At Paris, the Emperor Napoleon had recovered the 
reins of government without obstacle. 

The formation of his ministry was his first care. In sur- 



ch. xvn.] TIIE HUNDRED DAYS. 163 

rounding himself with devoted men, it was still important 
that he should avoid names stained by associations of arbitrary 
power; the Duke of Rovigo being inadmissible for the police, 
the gendarmerie was entrusted to him, with instructions ' to 
watch Fouche, who was said to have an understanding with the 
Bourbons. The emperor shrugged his shoulders, having some 
knowledge of the complicated and contradictory intrigues of 
the Duke of Otranto ; still he put him at the head of the police. 
Decres resumed his post as minister of the navy, Count Mollien 
of finance, the Duke of Vicentia of foreign affairs, and Marshal 
Davout of war, though not without some resistance on his part. 
" I had always the misfortune to meet with little sympathy in 
the army, being blamed for severity," said the marshal. 
"That is precisely what I want," replied the emperor. " The 
discipline is loose, and I must have a man of inflexible honor 
and courage, with sufficient talent and resolution to meet with 
me the whole of Europe face to face. " Carnot was appointed 
home minister, his former renown as a republican standing him 
in good stead : his brilliant defence of Angers drew upon him 
the public attention. The command of Paris, as well as of all 
the movable troops, was entrusted to Count Lobau. Thus the 
highest military authority was placed in the heart of France, 
under the direction of men of the greatest ability and energy. 
Replaced upon the throne by an insurrection of the army, 
Napoleon had no intention of leaving the power at their mercy. 
While reconstituting the empire, he resolved to reconstitute 
the army. 

Forces were already in preparation to guard the frontiers ; 
and on the 21st, 25,000 men assembled on the Place Carrousel. 
The emperor was hailed on his arrival with loud and enthusi- 
astic shouts. "Soldiers," said he, "I came with 600 men into 
France, because I depended upon the love of the nation and the 
memory of my veteran soldiers. I have not been deceived in 
my expectation ; and for that, soldiers, I thank you. The glory 
of what we have just accomplished belongs to the people and to 
you; mine merely consists in having known and appreciated 
you. Soldiers, the throne of the Bourbons was illegitimate, 
because it was raised by foreign hands, and had been proscribed 
by the will of the nation, expressed in all our national assem- 
blies ; and also because the only interests it guaranteed were 
those of a small number of arrogant men, whose claims are 
opposed to our rights. Soldiers, the imperial throne can alone 
guarantee the rights of the people, and especially the foremost 



164 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvn 

of our interests, that of our glory. Soldiers, we are going to 
march to drive from our territory those princes, the foreigners' 
auxiliaries. The nation will not only assist us with its wishes, 
but will even follow our impulse. The French people and I 
both depend upon you. We have no wish to meddle in the 
affairs of foreign nations, but woe to him who meddles in ours !" 

It was an unfortunate and irreparable fault of the Emperor 
Napoleon on this occasion to throw upon Europe the blood- 
stained burden of his own unbridled ambition, on account of 
which the affairs of France had become those of the whole 
world by the primitive right of self-defence. Though he had 
long had an accurate knowledge of the various dispositions of 
the allied sovereigns, he was now anxious to test the intention 
of the Emperor Francis. The Austrian ambassador, like those 
of the other powers, had asked for his passports as soon as the 
ministry was constituted ; and by a general order and arrange- 
ment, the couriers despatched by Napoleon to all the courts, to 
announce the emperor's restoration to the throne of France, 
had been everywhere arrested. Flahault, Napoleon's aide-de- 
camp, who had previously been well received at Vienna, was 
now unable to proceed beyond Stuttgart, and the despatches of 
which he was the bearer were taken from him and sent on to 
Vienna. On Fouche's recommendation the emperor gave secret 
instructions to Montrond, a man of the world, a wit, but fond 
of intrigue, and of doubtful character. He was intimate with 
Talleyrand, and was supposed to have considerable influence 
over that diplomatist, the most important of all to be gained 
over. Montrond had been in the army, and when made 
prisoner showed his rare courage even in his transactions 
with the English who detained him on board a man-of-war. 
Admiral Keith, commander of the squadron, was hot-tempered 
and violent, and happening one day to fall into a passion be- 
fore Montrond, he told him that Frenchmen were all rascals 
without any exception ; to which the prisoner immediately re- 
plied, "Englishmen are all well bred, my lord, with only one 
exception." It was this daring and skilful man who succeeded 
in reaching as far as Vienna, with instructions to carry off the 
Empress Marie-Louise on certain conditions, if she seemed 
willing to bring back her son to Paris. Fouche had added some 
instructions to those of the emperor. Montrond was to speak 
of the regency of the empress. 

The course to be followed by the allies was irrevocably taken, 
as Napoleon was well aware, at the very time when he was 



ch. xvn.] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 165 

still trying to negotiate through Montrond at Vienna, as well 
as by Queen Hortense's mediation with the Emperor Alexander. 
The Czar had intimate relations with her, and secured for her 
children the duchy of St. Leu. On the 13th March, at the very 
moment when the emperor was leaving Lyons to advance upon 
Paris, the representatives of the sovereigns assembled at Vienna 
signed a declaration, drawn up by Talleyrand, which was soon 
after published all over Europe : — 

"Napoleon Bonaparte," said the manifesto, "by breaking the 
convention which assigned him a residence in the island of 
Elba, has destroyed the only legal title on which his political 
existence depended. By his reappearance in France, with 
projects of disturbance and revolution, he has voluntarily de- 
prived himself of the protection of the laws, and has proved to 
the eyes of the whole world that peace or truce with him is 
impossible. The powers therefore declare, that Napoleon Bona- 
parte has placed himself without the pale of civil and social re- 
lations ; and that, as an enemy and disturber of the peace of 
the world he has delivered himself up to public vengeance. 
They at the same time declare that they will employ every 
means and combine all their efforts in order to defend Europe 
from any attempt which should threaten again to plunge the 
nations in revolutionary disorder and wretchedness." 

On the 25th March "the attempt" was consummated at 
Paris; the king and royal family were in flight. The allied 
powers renewed with each other the treaty of Chaumont, and 
began to devote their whole energies against the enemy of the 
general peace. They had not in every point fulfilled their en- 
gagements concluded with him on the 11th April, but he on his 
side had so notoriously violated them, that the shortcomings of 
the other contracting parties were entirely overlooked. The 
Emperor Alexander, who had been accused by his allies of be- 
ing weak and fickle on account of his kindness to Napoleon, 
announced openly that he would spend against him his last 
soldier and last penny. Metternich and Wellington, with Tal- 
leyrand's concurrence, used their influence against the unhappy 
King of Saxony, to compel him to agree to his own spoliation. 
The final arrangements were completed, and the allied sov- 
ereigns took the title-deeds of their new States. The Duke of 
Wellington boldly undertook in the name of England to fulfil 
all the engagements comprised in the treaty of the 25th March. 
This procedure excited some stormy discussion in the English 
Parliament, but the opposition was more apparent and theo- 



IQQ HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvil 

retical than earnest and practical. In their real hearts, with 
greater moderation and respect for the national liberty, the 
English wished for Napoleon's overthrow and the restoration 
of the Bourbons, as much as the Austrians, Prussians, and 
Russians. The habitual prudence of the Emperor Francis and 
his minister, as well as a consciousness of what was due to 
family considerations, modified at Vienna the national eager- 
ness of Prussia, the wounded susceptibility of the Czar, and the 
hereditary hate of Pozzo di Borgo. The latter gave vent to his 
passion in his letters to Castlereagh. " We left Louis XVIII. 
face to face with all the elements of revolution," he wrote; 
"and when burdened with the results of our imprudence and 
his own, Bonaparte came upon the scene, the army overthrew 
the throne which they ought to have supported, the people 
were amazed and stupefied. They will applaud still more the 
contrary piece when, as I trust, we shall put it on the stage. 
But, if we wish for repose, we must put the king in a position 
to be able to disband the army and form a new one — to purge 
France of fifty first-class criminals, whose existence is incom- 
patible with peace. The French ought to undertake the execu- 
tion, and the allies ought to provide them with the opportunity 
of keeping their word." 

In presence of such passions as these, in so violent a state of 
excitement, Montrond's mission had no chance of success. 
Talleyrand repulsed it with friendly but firm candor. After 
some short emotion on the first report of her husband's return 
to France, the Empress Marie Louise still adhered as before to 
the resolutions and choice which had been made at Napoleon's 
abdication. She declared she would never return to the em- 
peror, and preferred for her son the duchy of Parma to the 
throne of France. The little King of Home, separated from 
his mother, had already been installed in the imperial palace 
at Vienna, and treated as an archduke of Austria. On the 13th 
April, the Moniteur published in Paris the declaration of the 
powers, which had previously been treated as an apocryphal 
document. A report by Caulamcourt proved the inutility of 
the efforts made with the allied powers to maintain peace. 
" The emperor did not expect any important result from such 
a procedure, and was but little surprised at not finding from 
family ties, and sentiments, some assistance against political 
interests and engagements. Without anger against any one, 
and probably also without blaming himself, he understood and 
accepted the position now forred upon him by his past life^ it 



en. xvii.] THE HUNDRED DATS. 10" 

was that of an unrestrained gambler, completely ruined though 
still standing, who is playing a desperate game against all his 
rivals together, with no chance left but one of those unfore- 
seen strokes of luck which the most consummate skill canuot 
bring about, but which is sometimes granted by fortune to her 
favorites."* 

While Napoleon was thus accepting the challenge of Europe, 
and preparing to meet it, his affairs in France seemed to super- 
ficial observers to proceed still more and more triumphantly. 
The Duke of Bourbon's attempt at an insurrection in Vendee 
had temporarily failed. Vitrolles fixed his headquarters at 
Toulouse, to organize the attempts at resistance in the south. 
The Duchess of Angouleme was at Bordeaux, where the troops 
had recently sworn fidelity to her. She reckoned upon the 
royalist sympathies of the popidation ; but General Clausel was 
advancing to take possession of the town in the emperor's 
name. He had brought no armed force with him, but rallied 
several battalions on his way, and at his approach the Blaye 
garrison displayed the tricolor. On reaching the bridge of 
Cubzac, which had been destroyed, the general held a confer- 
ence with Martignac, the commander of the royal volunteers 
at Bordeaux, and soon after destined to a more illustrious 
career. The moderation of Napoleon's delegate did not con 
ceal his confidence, and the increase of dissension in Bordeaux 
speedily proved it well-founded. The princess was soon in- 
formed by her most faithfid friends of the hesitation shown in 
the regiments, and the personal danger she might incur. Dis- 
regarding all danger, she wished to ascertain personally the 
sentiments of the troops. The left bank of the Dordogne, 
recently held by the royalist outpost, was already abandoned, 
and the right bank also soon after. The duchess wished an 
attack to be made on the detachments seen near the river, 
with tricolor cockade and flag. " Madame, " replied General 
Decaen, " we should certainly be taken between two fires, 
that of Clausel's troops and that of the garrison." 

The duchess went herself to the barracks, and walked up to 
the soldiers, who were drawn up in the court. " Gentlemen," 
said she, ' ' you are aware of the events now taking place ; a 
stranger has just taken possession of the throne of your law- 
ful king ! Bordeaux is threatened by a handful of rebels ; the 
national guard are resolved to defend the town, are you willing 

* Guizofs M6moires, etc. vol. i. 



168 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xyil 

to assist them? I wish you to answer me frankly, yes or no. 
I await your reply." 

Nobody spoke; and the ranks remained silent as death. The 
princess again spoke : " Have you then forgotten already the 
oath you so short a time ago renewed in our presence? If 
there be still among you some men remaining faithful to the 
king's cause, let them show themselves." A small group of 
officers immediately gathered before her ; and the duchess, as 
she looked at them said, "You are a very small number; no 
matter, one knows at least on whom to depend." Some voices 
in the ranks called out, " We shall obey our chiefs in all orders 
given for the service of the country, but we do not wish a 
civil war, and will never fight against our brothers." The 
princess received a similar reply fro m all the regiments which 
she visited with such fearless courage. At the Chateau 
Trompette, which was held by the Angouleme regiment, she 
asked them, "Do you no longer acknowledge me? Do you not 
call me your princess?" Then raising her eyes to heaven, as 
if at the same time declaring her resolution and throwing the 
disgrace of it back upon those who rendered it necessary, she 
exclaimed, " Good God! how hard it is, after twenty years of 
misfortune and exile, to leave one's country again ! Yet I 
never ceased to pray for France, and always do it still, for I 
am a Frenchwomen ; but you ! you are no longer French ! Go !" 

Murmurs of complaint were heard, and the soldiers were 
themselves on the point of provoking that civil war which they 
so justly feared. The Duchess of Angouleme withdrew, assur- 
ing the people of Bordeaux that all she asked from their 
loyalty was calm, and temporary submission. Several quar- 
rels having taken place in the suburbs, General Clausel fired 
some cannon on the right bank of the river. " It is to Madame 
the Duchess of Angouleme that you owe your safety," he said 
next day, on taking possession of Bordeaux. "I never dared 
fire upon the princess while she was writing the fairest page in 
her history." It was only on the 19th April that the Duchess 
of Angouleme reached the coast of England at Plymouth. 

Meanwhile the Duke of Angouleme, after leaving Mont- 
pellier and Nismes, had carried Pont St. Esprit on the 28th 
March. On the 29th he marched to Montelimar, and on the 
2nd April forced the bridge over the Drome, which was de- 
fended by troops sent from Valence by General Debelle ; and 
next day he took possession of Valence. At the same time, 
Vitrolles and his partisans were arrested at Toulouse by an 



CH. rm] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 169 

insurrection of the troops. At Nismes, General Gilly was at 
the head of two regiments who revolted ; they had been left in 
the town by the Duke of Angouleme, and were encouraged by 
the Protestant population to resume the tricolor. Pont St. 
Esprit was retaken from the royalist volunteers, who had 
charge of it. A column marching towards Grenoble, under 
the orders of General Gardanne, also refused to obey, taking 
their officers along with them. General Grouchy arrived from 
Lyons, accompanied by a large number of militia-men, who 
had volunteered their services, and the Duke of Angouleme, 
seeing that he was in danger of being hemmed in, evacuated 
Valence, only to find the Avignon road intercepted by Gilly. 
The prince was surrounded, and compelled to capitulate; he 
sent Damas to wait upon General Gilley, who showed the 
greatest readiness to come to terms, granting to the duke full 
freedom, on condition that the regular troops should enter the 
imperial service, and the volunteers be disbanded. The capitu- 
lation was submitted to Grouchy for ratification, who thought 
it necessary to refer it to the emperor. Napoleon's first 
thoughts were in accordance with his orders to the generals 
ordered to resist the princes, " Push them out." But, on hear- 
ing of the dissatisfaction among the troops, and the excite- 
ment of the revolutionary populations, which was shown by 
great severity against the royalists, the emperor was, for a 
moment tempted to retain the Duke of Angouleme ; the pre- 
vious despatch, however, had been forwarded hurriedly by 
Bassano, and the prince, who had been well-treated during his 
retention at Pont St. Esprit, was conducted to Cette, whence 
he sailed, on the 16th April, for Barcelona. Marshal Massena 
had decided to declare himself in favor of the empire, and on 
threatening Marseilles from Toulon, to which he had retired, 
the municipality did not dare resist, and thus the restoration 
of the empire was proclaimed throughout all the south of 
France. The civil war was smothered ; and on the 16th April 
the emperor assembled the national guard of Paris, and an- 
nounced this happy result. His real object was to show them 
the entire nation submissive to his laws, in order to draw them 
into the same way. 

" Soldiers of the national guard," said he, " this very morn- 
ing the Lyons telegraph has informed me that the tricolor- flag 
floats at Antibes and Marseilles. A salute of a hundred guns, 
fired on our frontiers, will let the foreigners know that our 
civil dissensions are at an end. I say foreigners, because as 



170 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvil 

yet we have no experience of enemies ; should they assemble 
their troops we shall also assemble ours. Our armies are all 
composed of brave men, who have gained distinction in a hun- 
dred battles, and who will present to the foreigner a barrier of 
iron, whilst numerous battalions of grenadiers and chasseurs 
of the national guard are defending our frontiers. Soldiers of 
the national guard, you have been compelled to display colors 
which were rejected by France, but the national colors were 
in your hearts. You swear ever to take them as a signal to 
rally round, and to defend this imperial throne, the only and 
natural guarantee of your rights ! You swear never to suffer 
strangers, over whom we have several times shown our- 
selves masters, to interfere with our government! You swear 
finally to sacrifice everything to the honor and independence 
of France!" 

The emperor spoke to the national guard of what then 
principally filled his mind, that impending struggle with the 
foreigner which had become the supreme question between 
him and France, and was presently to decide the actual pos- 
session of the throne. He had a deep sense, however, of other 
difficulties and dangers which were less obvious and glaring 
than the armies of the enemy, foreboding a threatening future, 
and already beginning to destroy that union of sentiment and 
purpose so indispensable to a people who must defend their 
national independence. Since his return from Elba, Napoleon 
made constant efforts to become or appear liberal. He 
abolished censure of the press, and restored to it perfect 
liberty. " After what has been written about me for a year," 
said he, "they cannot say more against me; whereas there 
are still many charges to lay on my adversaries." He pre- 
pared the "Act Supplementary to the Constitutions of the 
Empire," for the purpose of absolutely modifying their charac- 
ter; and, in spite of Madame de StaeTs departure, it was to 
her friend, Benjamin Constant, that he applied to draw up that 
important document, the latter assenting, either because he 
was gained over, or from submission. Napoleon accepted in 
principle the constitutional monarchy, round which all liberals 
had rallied, while admitting beforehand the opposition he was 
likely to meet with from the Assemblies. "With reference 
to projects, I have now none but that of gaining a battle, re- 
gaining our independence, and avenging the misfortune of 
having seen 200,000 strangers in our capital! and that done, 
peace ! When the only question left is the administration of 



ch. xyii.] TEE HUNDRED DATS. 171 

France, I shall certainly feel no humiliation in hearing the 
representatives oppose me with objections, or even refusals ; 
after ruling and conquering the world, there is nothing so un- 
pleasant in being contradicted at home that I cannot bring 
myself to submit. In any case my son will do so, and I shall 
try to prepare him by my lessons and example. But let me 
be allowed to conquer, only once to conquer, those sovereigns 
formerly so humble, to-day so arrogant : that is what I ask 
from God and the nation !" 

" For intelligent men," says Guizot in his M6moires, " it was 
a strange sight, and in two respects somewhat ridiculous: 
Napoleon and the liberal leaders engaged in a close struggle, 
not as enemies, but in order to persuade, gain over, or over- 
master each other. There was no need for very close in- 
spection to see that on neither side was their conference or its 
discussions considered trustworthy. The one, as well as the 
other, knew well that the real struggle was not between them, 
and that the question on which their fate depended would be 
decided by other means than their conferences. If Napoleon 
had conquered Europe, it is very certain he would not have 
long remained a rival of Lafayette and disciple of Benjamin 
Constant ; and as soon as he was beaten at Waterloo, Lafay- 
ette and his friends applied themselves to the task of over- 
throwing him. From necessity, or of set purpose, men's real 
intentions and passions are sometimes concealed in the inner- 
most thoughts, but they promptly rise to the surface as soon 
as they think there is a chance of reappearing with success. 
For the most part, Napoleon resigned himself with infinite 
suppleness, cunning, and intellectual resource, to the comedy 
which the liberals and he played together ; at one time defend- 
ing quietly, but obstinately, his old policy and present views ; 
at another gracefully abandoning them, without denying 
them, and as if from courteous respect to opinions which he 
did not hold. Occasionally, however, whether purposely, or 
from want of patience, he violently became himself again, and 
the despot, who was both son and subduer of the Sevolution, 
reappeared in his whole entirety. When asked to insert in 
the Supplementary Act the abolition of confiscation, as pro- 
claimed by the Charter of Louis XVIII., he angrily exclaimed, 
' I am being forced on a path that is not mine, weakened, and 
fettered ! France wishes for me, but is not allowed to have 
me. Such an idea was excellent; it is execrable! France 
asks what had become of the emperor's arm, that arm which 



172 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xvii. 

she is now in want of to subdue Europe. Why should I be 
told about kindness, abstract justice, natural laws? The first 
law is necessity; the highest justice is the public safety! 
Every day has its own difficulty, every circumstance its law, 
every man his own natural character. Mine is to be not an 
angel! When peace is secured we shall see.' 

" On another occasion, when engaged with the same Supple- 
mentary Act with reference to the institution of the heredi- 
tary peerage, he gave full swing to the abundant fertility of 
his ideas, and considered the question from all sides, throwing 
in a multitude of opposing arguments and opinions, without 
drawing any conclusion. 'Peerage is out of harmony with 
the natural state of men's minds ; it will offend the pride of the 
army, and raise against me a thousand individual claims. 
Where do you imagine I can find the aristocratic elements 
which a peerage demands? Yet a constitution without an 
aristocracy is only a balloon lost in the atmosphere. A ship is 
directed because there are two counterbalancing forces, and the 
helm finds a fulcrum ; but a balloon is the sport of a single force, 
there being no fulcrum; the wind carries it away, and it is 
impossible to guide it.' When the question of principles was 
decided upon, and the Chamber of Hereditary Peers was 
about to be appointed, he was strongly inclined to call to it 
many names of the old monarchy. After mature reflection 
he gave up the idea — not without regret, we are told by Ben- 
jamin Constant, and declaring, ' We must nevertheless come 
back to that some time, but recollections are too recent: let 
us defer the matter till the fighting is over, and I can easily 
have them if I am the winner.' He would have liked to ad- 
journ in the same way all questions, and do nothing till his 
return as winner. But liberty had returned to France along 
with the Restoration, and he himself had just awoke the 
Revolution afresh. He was face to face with those two 
powers, compelled to endure them, and was now attempting to 
make use of them until he should be able to conquer them. "* 

From an undefined but powerful sense of the eternal strug- 
gle which exists between them and liberty, the revolutionary 
masses were disposed to serve the Emperor Napoleon. In the 
faubourgs of Paris, the population organized a confederation, 
and resolved to go to the emperor and ask leaders and arms. 
He agreed to their wishes, giving them a name, "Confed- 

* Quizot's Mevioires, etc., vol. i. 



ch. xvn.] THE HUNDRED DA TS. 173 

erates," which had no sinister associations, and their cohorts 
denied one after another across the Place du Carrousel. "I 
remember," says Guizot, "meeting in the gardens of the 
Tuileries a group of about a hundred of the confederates, of 
rather disreputable appearance. They gathered under the 
windows of the palace, shouting ' Long live the emperor ! ' and 
trying to persuade him to show himself. After keeping them 
waiting a long time a window at last opened, and he ap- 
peared and waved his hand to them ; but almost at the same 
instant the window closed, and I plainly saw Napoleon shrug 
his shoulders as he retired, much annoyed no doubt at having 
to take part in demonstrations the character and importance 
of which were disagreeable to him." A similar movement 
took place in several provinces, that in the west taking the 
form of reprisals for the hostilities of the Vendeans and 
" Chouans." The civil war again broke out. 

Meantime the Supplementary Act had been completed, and 
was published on the 22nd April. The liberals asked for an 
entirely new constitution, which should confer upon Napoleon 
the imperial crown by the will of the nation, on condition that 
that condition was fulfilled. Napoleon when proclaiming it 
did not thus understand the sovereignty of the people. ' ' You 
deprive me of my past," he said to his experts; "I wish to 
keep it. What would you make of my eleven years' reign? 
The new constitution must be a continuation of the old, and 
it will be the sanction of several years of glory and success." 
It was on the emperor's part a proof both of his skill and pride 
to maintain, both by the preamble and the very name of Sup- 
plementary Act, the old empire which he was re-forming. 
With the exception of the confiscation, which Napoleon did 
not consent to abolish, the additional act contained in principle 
all the liberties necessary, and justified the following decla- 
ration of the preamble: — "The emperor wishes to give to the 
representative system its full extension, while combining in 
the highest degree political liberty with the power necessary to 
secure respect abroad for the independence of the French 
people and the dignity of the throne. " 

It had nevertheless the bad fortune to be unfavorably 
received by all parties, except the constitutionals, who, owing 
to Constant's assistance, thought they had some interest in it, 
and moreover found in the new constitution several of their 
dearest theories. The revolutionists were violently opposed to 
this act, conceded by favor of the monarch, and the royalists 



174 HISTORY OF FRANCE. ch. xvii. 

ridiculed it as a parody of the Charter. All were certain that 
the imperious will of the master would soon be manifested be- 
hind the studied moderation of language, regardless of the guar- 
antees granted at the moment. "Your constitution is better 
than it is said to be," was said to Constant by Lafayette, who 
was then much courted by partisans of the liberal empire ; " but 
you must get people to believe that ; and to bring that about, it 
must be at once put in force. " The promulgation of the Addi- 
tional Act took place on the 1st June at the Champ de Mai, 
with a great display of the old imperial pomp — a useless and 
painful reminiscence of the times when the glory of victory 
made amends for demonstrations which were frequently 
puerile. The Chambers were immediately convoked, and on 
the 7th June the emperor himself gave the oath to the new 
members. ' ' Gentlemen of the Chamber of Peers, gentlemen 
of the Chamber of Representatives," said he, "three months 
ago circumstances and the confidence of the people reinvested 
me with an unlimited power. To-day the most urgent desire 
of my heart is fulfilled ; I am about to begin the constitutional 
monarchy. Men are powerless to guarantee the future; insti- 
tutions alone secure the destinies of nations. The monarchy is 
necessary in France to guarantee the liberty, independence, 
and rights of the people. I aspire to see France enjoy all the 
liberty possible, — I say possible, because anarchy always 
brings back absolute government. A formidable coalition of 
kings have a spiteful hatred against our independence, and 
their armies are arriving on our frontiers. ... It is possible 
that the first duty of a prince will soon call me at the head 
of the children of the nation in order to fight for our country : 
we will do our duty, the army and I. As for you, peers and 
representatives, show the nation an example of confidence, 
energy, and patriotism; and, like the senate of the great 
people of antiquity, be determined to die rather than survive 
the dishonor and degradation of France. The holy cause of 
our country will triumph !" 

The war had already begun, and the Emperor Napoleon pre- 
pared to set out under sorrowful and painful auspices. With 
few friends about him in his palace, often reduced to the 
society of Queen Hortense and Lavalette, who had become a 
favorite with him, he left to his brothers Joseph and Lucien a 
certain amount of political action. They undertook of their 
own accord to flatter and gain favor with the Chambers. 
Joseph was partly responsible for the disaster which had fallen 



ch. xvii.] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 175 

upon one member of the imperial family. Before leaving 
Switzerland, where he had recently taken refuge, he wrote to 
Murat, urging him to join the emperor and join his forces to 
his. " Reassure the Austrians, in order to separate them from 
the coalition," said he. Talk and act as your heart dictates; 
march to the Alps, but do not cross them." Murat, through 
the intervention of the Princess Borghese, had already been 
reconciled to Napoleon, but the latter carefully advised him 
not to begin hostilities. But the excitable and fickle-minded 
King of Naples became inflamed with a return of warlike 
ardor, and having collected 50,000 men crossed Italy, causing 
much confusion. The Pope withdrew to Genoa as well as the 
King of Sardinia, and the Grand-Duke of Tuscany set out for 
Leghorn. Murat then, without consulting the emperor, or 
making any reference to France, proclaimed himself King of 
Italy, promising Italian unity as the result of that new author- 
ity. After several days' stay at Bologna, hesitating and 
uncertain about his march, he saw his troops, who were still 
more undecided, gradually disperse; and when he joined 
battle with the Austrians at Tolentino and Macerata, he was 
completely beaten. Returning to Naples in disguise, the 
unhappy king said to his wife, who had disapproved of the 
enterprise, " Madame, don't be astonished to see me still alive; 
I did everything I could to die." All chance of victory or 
revolution being lost, Murat set sail for Provence. Queen 
Caroline came to terms with the Austrians and English, and 
the house of Bourbon again ascended the throne of Naples. 
The dethroned king having asked leave from Napoleon to join 
him, received orders to remain in the department of Var. His 
wife and children were conducted to Trieste, in spite of the 
engagements entered into by the Austrians. Queen Caroline 
merely claimed the right of personal freedom. 

Thus fell to pieces the last of the thrones raised in Europe by 
Napoleon for members of his family, a few days before the 
commencement of the great struggle which was to decide his 
fate as well as that of France, so imprudently identified with 
his destinies. The military preparations, as well as was 
possible within so short a time, were at last completed : and on 
12th June the Emperor Napoleon left Paris, anxious about the 
state of affairs in the interior, the excited and confused state 
of men's minds, and that test of a new form of government 
which was about to be tried in painful and difficult circum- 
stances. He had information of all the intrigues carried on 



176 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvil 

about him or abroad, by some of his own servants even, under 
Fouche's direction. "You will not succeed in governing the 
Chambers," he said to his ministers on the eve of his depar- 
ture. "If I don't soon gain a battle they will eat you all up, 
however big you may be. Fouche thinks that assemblies are 
ruled by gaining over several old members, by finding their 
price, and flattering several young enthusiasts; but he is 
wrong. That is intrigue, and intrigue does not go far. In 
England, though those means are not absolutely neglected, 
they have others, much greater and more important. Pitt 
used to govern the Chambers by a movement of the eyebrow, 
and Castlereagh still does the same. Ah ! if I had the same 
tools to work with, I should not fear the Chambers. But have 
I nothing similar? At present, we must get out of the dif- 
ficulty as we best can. If I am victorious, we shall easily 
compel everybody to confine himself to his prerogatives ; if I 
am conquered, God only knows what will become of you and 
myself !" Even when signing the act constituting the Council 
of Government, he still repeated "Ah! it is indispensable for 
you that I should gain a battle !" 

The whole of Europe was waiting for that battle— that day 
which was to decide the fate of all. For more than a month the 
belligerents had paraded their forces, and Napoleon made 
unparalleled efforts to fill up the gaps caused by the reductions 
of the Restoration. He had found 180,000 men under arms, 
and by calling out soldiers on leave and retired veterans, 
brought up the efficient forces to 288,000. He still awaited the 
levy of 1815, the mobilized national guards— resources of no 
use on entering a campaign. The line, therefore, who alone 
were really fit for service, had to supply the wants of the 
interior, as well as face the dangers on the frontiers. Only 
180,000 fighting men marched under the emperor's orders. 
The nucleus of the army was still composed of old troops 
accustomed to the hardships of war; even then and in the 
midst of those insufficient forces, a certain number of recruits 
marched for the first time against the enemy. France had 
not had an opportunity of resting after the efforts which had 
lasted for twenty-five years. " The moment is at hand to 
conquer or perish," said Napoleon to his soldiers on the 14th 
June, when reaching his head-quarters at Avesnes. 

The forces of the allies had long been prepared. Wellington, 
resting on Brussels as the basis of his operations, counted about 
100,000 men under his orders. Bliicher, cantoned, around Liege 



CH. xvii. J THE HUNDRED DAYS. 177 

with 120,000 soldiers, excited their ardor by his insatiable pas- 
sion. The Russians, Austrians, and secondary powers of Ger- 
many, formed on the east an army of 300,000 combatants, 
which was still further from the theatre of war, and could not 
enter upon the campaign before the middle of July. The em- 
peror was informed of this situation of the enemy, and drew out 
his whole plan of operations accordingly. He resolved to take 
the offensive immediately, in order not to have upon his hands 
at once the armies of the north and east. He proposed therefore 
to throw himself between the Prussians and the English, and 
then beat them, successively and separately, with an army of 
about the same strength as those of Bliicher and Wellington 
taken separately. It was with this object that he ordered a 
concentration of troops on the northern frontiers, Beaumont 
being chosen as centre. On the evening of the 14th all the 
corps had come up, with only thick forests between them and 
the enemy, from whom they concealed our movements. The 
ardor of the soldiers was extreme. "The excitement of the 
troops," wrote General Foy on that day in his military jour- 
nal, ' ' is not that of patriotism, or enthusiasm, but an actual 
madness to fight for the emperor and against his enemies ; no 
one thinks there is any question about the triumph of France." 
Napoleon had fully decided to march immediately upon the 
enemy, The Duke of Wellington had labored to moderate 
Bliicher's impetuosity by showing him the necessity of com- 
bining his operations with those of the eastern army, in order 
to invade the French territory on all points at once. His main 
object was to protect the new kingdom of the Netherlands, as 
that of the Prussians to defend the Rhenish provinces. The 
Duke of Wellington's brilliant staff had a constant succession 
of balls and entertainments at Brussels, where the great Eng- 
lish general remained in case of an attack by the sea-coast. 
On the night of the 14th, Charleroi, being insufficiently de- 
fended by the Prussians, was carried by Generals Pajol and 
Rogniat ; and other corps having crossed the Sambre at Mar- 
chiennes, the enemy fell back on Quatre-Bras and Fleurus. 
The emperor thus found himself placed between the two 
armies of the enemy, and advanced towards Namur, the road 
to which was barred by General Ziethen. Resolving to pre- 
vent the movements of the English, which could only be 
effected by the Quatre-Bras road, Napoleon at once took meas- 
ures to take this important post from the Prussians. Marshal 
Ney had just arrived unexpectedlv; there being some embar- 
VIII— 12 



178 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvn 

rassment in their relations, the emperor had sent him on a 
mission to the frontier without any further orders. When 
Ney took part in the Champ de Mai ceremony, Napoleon dryly 
saluted him with, "Ah! there you are; I thought you had 
gone abroad !" 

He had now need of the marshal in the great engagement 
which was about to take place, and immediately entrusted him 
with the command of the left wing, enjoining him to husband 
his forces carefully, without, however, neglecting the effort 
necessary to occupy Quatre-Bras. "Do you know this post?" 
asked the emperor. " I certainly ought to know," replied Ney ; 
" I served in a campaign here in my youth, and remember that 
it is the point where all the roads meet." " Exactly so," con- 
tinued Napoleon; " take possession of it; the English might by 
means of it join the Prussians." 

The emperor at the same time himself advanced towards 
Gilly, to carry the Prussian position near the river Soleilmont. 

During his long military career, Marshal Ney held the char- 
acter of being brave even to extreme rashness. On the 15th 
June, 1815, in presence of the perilous position of the army and 
France, he showed hesitation and fear, and, believing that he 
was threatened by superior forces, did not dare to advance as 
far as Quatre-Bras ; but leaving a division at Frasnes, at about 
a league from the post he was to occupy, returned to Charleroi 
for new orders. Our forces were thus scattered, and the em- 
peror ordered a concentration in the plain of Fleurus on the 
morning of the 16th, Marshal Ney's corps being still ordered to 
occupy Quatre-Bras. The orders were somewhat late. Gene- 
ral Gerard's corps were much grieved at the departure of Gene- 
ral Bourmont, who had formerly, after being leader of the Nor- 
man "Chouans," served the emperor and then King Louis 
XVIII. Wishing to continue his career, he had again entered 
the service during the Hundred Days till he was influenced by 
fresh insurrections in Vendee, and withdrew to Ghent. " The 
Blues are always blue, and the Whites always white," said 
Napoleon on hearing this news. 

At noon he arrived with the army near the village and 
stream of Ligny. The Prussian masses deployed before us to 
defend the highway leading from Namur to Brussels. There 
were tbree villages on its banks, St. Amand-le-Hameau, St. 
Amand-la-Haye, and St. Amand the Greater. The generals 
suspected that the English were near, but Napoleon said they 
could not have yet arrived, that at the very most the advanced 



ch. xvii.] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 179 

guard might have attacked Ney at Quatre-Bras. He was now 
waiting for the signal of attack which was to have been given 
by his illustrious lieutenant's cannon ; he had ordered him to 
fall on the Prussians' rear, after occupying the point where the 
roads met. When no cannon-shot was heard, Napoleon at last 
ordered the attack at half-past two, carrying immediately St. 
Ainand the Greater and St. A m and-la-Hay e. There was a 
keenly -contested struggle in the village of Ligny. After tak- 
ing most of the houses, our soldiers could not pass beyond the 
village, because the Prussians' reserves were ranged out in an 
amphitheatre on the heights as far as the Windmill of Bry. 
The emperor had already twice sent an order to Ney to hurry 
his march, in order to execute the backward movement which 
he had already indicated. Forbin-Janson carried the follow- 
ing letter from the major-general; "Marshal, the engagement 
of which I gave you notice is very important; the emperor 
commands me to say that you are to manoeuvre immediately 
so as to surround the enemy's right and fall sharp on his rear. 
The Prussian army is lost if you act with vigor ; the fate of 
France is in your hands." 

The greatest of all misfortunes for an illustrious warrior is to 
find himself in a critical juncture inferior to the resolution de- 
manded by necessity. Ney had this misfortune on the day of 
Quatre-Bras, whatever personal heroism he may have dis- 
played. After receiving late information of the movements of 
the French, the Duke of Wellington, after giving his army 
orders to march, secretly left Brussels in the midst of a grand 
ball given by the Duchess of Richmond, and hurried to Quatre- 
Bras with Count Perponcher and several officers of his staff. 
On being informed of his arrival, Ney, who was already in 
hesitation when face to face with the small army of the Prince 
of Saxe- Weimar, believed that he was about to be attacked by 
the whole English army. General Eeille was seized with the 
same apprehension, and had not advanced with his corps be- 
yond Gosselies. Count Erlon, who was placed in rear, was 
ordered to make two contradictory movements. The emperor 
had commanded him to march on the mill of Bry, and after he 
had taken that direction, Ney insisted on his coming to his as- 
sistance. He was impatiently expected at Ligny when he turned 
to go back, and thus deprived the gallant defenders of the vil- 
lage of the support necessary to complete their victory. After 
losing most valuable time in marching and counter-marching, 
Erlon arrived at Quatre-Bras too late to assist Marshal Ney. 



180 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xyil 

Blood flowed in torrents in the plain of Fleurus, and the battle 
assumed quite a new character of ferocity. The movement 
upon the Prussian rear not being executed, the emperor ordered 
a fresh manoeuvre which at last compelled the enemy to evacu- 
ate the positions which had been so many times taken and 
retaken during the day. The Prussians retired, leaving a 
large number of dead on the blood-stained field. The high road 
from Namur to Brussels remained in our hands, but the enemy 
were allowed to retreat unmolested. No news had arrived 
from Quatre-Bras when the emperor returned to Fleurus at 
about eleven o'clock in the evening, leaving his troops to 
bivouac on the plain, exhausted as they were with march- 
ing and fighting. The battle was gained most creditably, 
but Napoleon waited for the report of Marshal Ney's opera- 
tions. 

It was three o'clock before Ney made up his mind to attack 
the 20,000 men of the English army who had just arrived at 
the important post which he was directed to occupy. After 
allowing them time to take up their position before him, he 
charged all along the line : and attacked by a trouble to which 
he was entirely unaccustomed on the battle-field, he persist- 
ently tried to break the English lines, hurling upon them charge 
after charge of cavalry with complete success at several points ; 
but he was finally repulsed by the unyielding obstinacy of the 
enemy. At six o'clock Wellington received a reinforcement of 
10,000 men; and a last attempt by Valmy's cuirassiers having 
failed upon Quatre-Bras, the marshal determined to remain on 
the defensive, and held his ground about Frasnes with heroic 
courage. Advancing on foot in the midst of his soldiers, Ney 
felt bitterly the uselessness of his efforts. As the bullets 
whistled round him like hail, the illustrious soldier muttered 
sadly, " Would to heaven they were all in my body !" 

The English, however, had been detained at Quatre-Bras"the 
whole day, and were thus unable to bring assistance to the 
Prussians. Napoleon took this into account, and made due 
allowance for it, when the marshal informed him of the results 
of the battle. He at once sent him orders to advance towards 
Brussels, the direction which he intended to take himself. He 
hoped to fight the English in front of the forest of Soignies, 
without leaving them time to rally the Prussians. Marshal 
Grouchy with the right wing, was at the same time ordered to 
watch the Prussians, pursue them and keep them apart from 
the English, whilst the emperor with his centre and left wing, 



ch. xvii.] THE HUNDRED DATS. 181 

still amounting to 70,000 men both together, should advance 
against the Duke of Wellington. 

On the 17th the whole day was occupied with the various 
movements necessary to come up to the enemy. A violent 
storm hindered the march, soaking the fields and rendering 
the transport of artillery extremely difficult. After staying 
some time at Quatre-Bras, the Duke of Wellington had fallen 
back upon the position on the height of St. Jean. He de- 
spatched an aide-de-camp to Marshal Bliicher, to know if he 
could reckon upon being supported by one of his corps. ' ' At 
one o'clock I shall be on the ground," replied the old hero, who 
on the previous evening had been trod under the horses' feet 
during the battle of Ligny; "if the French don't make an at- 
tack on the 18th, we shall certainly attack them on the 19th." 
In spite of their heavy losses, all the Prussian corps had rallied 
round Wavre, at four hours' distance from the English. 

The emperor's last verbal instructions to Grouchy were 
" above everything push the Prussians forward vigorously and 
keep up constant communication with me by your left." Dur- 
ing the whole day, on the 17th, the marshal, being led astray 
by indications which he had misunderstood, sought in vain for 
the Prussians, thinking they had marched towards the Rhine. 
In the evening the emperor sent him new instructions ; ' ' Pur- 
sue the Prussians with only one detachment, if they are on the 
road to the Rhine ; do the same if they are marching upon 
Brussels. If they are posted in front of the forest of Soignies, 
keep them together and occupy them, while you detach a 
division to take the left wing of the English in rear." This 
order was as precise as it was prudent and masterly, and the 
fate of the day depended on its execution. Marshal Grouchy 
declared till the day of his death that he never received it. By 
an unfortunate neglect the message was not sent more than 
once, and over the confined area where the destinies of the 
world were then being decided there were numerous small de- 
tachments of the enemy. From Grouchy's personal report 
which arrived during the night, Napoleon felt somewhat con- 
fident that Grouchy had himself anticipated the manoeuvre. 
His only fear now was lest the English should escape him by 
plunging into the forest of Soignies, and the two hostile armies 
effect a junction behind that thick curtain of verdure. At 
night, when out on a difficult reconnoitering expedition, under 
rain and cannon-shot, on suddenly coming in sight of the fires 
of the English behind Mont St. Jean, he exclaimed with heroic 



182 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvii. 

joy, "Ah! I have them, those English! We have nine 
chances out of ten against them!" "I know them well, sire," 
replied Major-General Soult; "there are no troops to match 
them for the defensive ; they will die on the spot, without stir- 
ring an inch." "I know all that," said the emperor, "but I 
shall manoeuvre." He went to bed at his bivouac at the village 
of Rossomme ; he slept, and the Duke of Wellington also re- 
posed. The rain still continued falling. When Napoleon rose 
before daybreak, the clouds seemed to be going off, and Gen- 
eral Drouot assured him that in five or six hours the ground 
would be firm enough to bear the weight of the artillery. 
"That will give Grouchy time to arrive," said the emperor. 
It was Bliicher who gained by the attack being delayed. 

I have no intention of entering upon a minutely detailed ac- 
count of that keenly contested battle, so often described by 
eye-witnesses with contradictory statements and conclusions. 
The battle-fields extended over a space of nearly a league, from 
the old chateau of Hougoumont on the right to La Haie-Sainte 
on the left. It was crossed by the highway from Brussels to 
Charleroi. Wellington occupied the small village of Waterloo, 
at some distance from the road passing in front of the farm of 
Mont St. Jean. The French army was grouped round the vil- 
lage of Belle- Alliance and the hamlet of Rossomme. The Eng- 
lish positions were partly protected by the slope of the height, 
the summit of which was provided with formidable artillery. 
They had held their posts for some time ; were well rested and 
fed, and quite prepared to endure the fight, as in the fatal days 
of the ancient struggles between the two nations at Crecy or 
Agincourt. The French came to the battle without having 
taken time to renew their strength by several hours of rest ; 
the ardor which animated them was sufficient for every effort. 
The English general had taken the precaution to post a body of 
reserve on the road from Mons to Brussels, and had written to 
King Louis XVIII. to withdraw to Antwerp in case the French 
should march upon Ghent. The long trains of ambulance 
wagons which had gone to the capital with the wounded had 
meantime caused much excitement and alarm there, and the 
English, who were very numerous, were making preparations 
to leave it. Brussels was awaiting in terror the triumphant 
arrival of the Emperor Napoleon. 

The fighting, however, was not begun before eleven o'clock, 
when Jerome Bonaparte's corps attacked the hedges, walls, 
and defences of the chateau of Hougoumont. The English 



ch. xvn.] THE HUNDRED DATS. 183 

were dislodged from it, and the building set on fire, with a 
body of foot guards still in possession of the main court. 

It was round La Haie-Sainte, however, that the fighting 
raged with greatest fury. A charge of English cavalry had 
forced through Ney's battalions, carrying off his batteries, cut- 
ting the horses' traces, and sabring the cannoniers and artillery- 
men. On Napoleon sending reinforcements the fighting again 
began. Wellington, motionless under a tree, listened to the 
bullets and balls which crashed through the branches over his 
head: " Well directed," said he; "they did not aim so well as 
that in Spain." Marshal Ney was now master of La Haie- 
Sainte, and wished to push forward on the Brussels road, but 
already the practised eye and foreseeing genius of Napoleon an- 
ticipated the approach of the Prussians. No news had been re- 
ceived from Grouchy, and it was necessary to stop the new ene- 
mies who were advancing. Count Lobau was entrusted with 
this duty, and took up a position parallel to the Charleroi high- 
way. At three o'clock the Prussians were on the ground, having 
easily crossed the thick woods which had been left undefended 
on account of Grouchy's arrival being expected. They immedi- 
ately joined in the fighting ; and, before going himself to this 
part of the battle-field, the emperor, who had no more infantry 
at his disposal, sent General Milhaud's cuirassiers to Ney, with 
instructions to wait for his orders before charging the English 
centre. On his way, Milhaud said to Lefebvre-Desnouettes, who 
was in command of the light cavalry of the guard, " I am going 
to charge ; support me." Without waiting for other orders, the 
general put his corps in movement, and a terrible mass of men 
and horses advanced to the front. Ney, full of joy, and the 
hope of a great triumph in his eyes, exclaimed, "I undertake, 
entirely alone, to put an end to the English army !" And with- 
out waiting a moment in his unrestrainable impatience, he 
ordered the attack, at the moment when the Duke of Welling- 
ton had just reformed his lines which were shaken by serious 
losses: the batteries had been abandoned. A firet charge of 
our cavalry having failed at this point, the second charge 
forced the ranks of the English brigade and drove them back 
violently upon the second line of infantry ; the confusion be- 
came general. Scarcely had the corps of Lefebvre-Desnouettes 
arrived, when Ney hurled them into the furnace of battle, 
where each soldier, "being only witness of his own feats of 
prowess, could not tell how the fate of the day inclined. " One 
after another the corps of the English cavalry came to measure 



184 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvii. 

strength with our cuirassiers, fighting with a keen determina- 
tion as unconquerable as the courage of their general. Ney, 
with his hat and clothes torn by bullets, mounting one horse 
as soon as another fell under him, always as inaccessible to 
fear as to death, rushed forward in the van of his soldiers; 
asking from the emperor the cuirassiers and grenadiers of the 
guards which he had not yet given. Napoleon beheld at a dis- 
tance this terrible combat, begun without his orders. "It is 
too soon," said he; "too soon by an hour!" He ordered, how- 
ever, the movement asked by Ney, who himself led the rein- 
forcements to the attack, with shouts of "Long live the Em- 
peror !" Once again the English lines were broken, but they 
re-formed again after each charge, frequently hemming in 
some of our cavalry in their fatal circle. Wellington had on 
his side sent forward all that remained of his cavalry. Thus, 
one after another, all the corps were engaged in this ever- 
renewing struggle. Ney, more ardent and indefatigable than 
when the fighting began, in a transport of heroism and despair, 
asked for the infantry of the guard in order to triumph at last 
over the English resistance. ' ' If we don't die here under the 
English bullets," said he to General d'Erlon, "there is nothing 
left for you and me but to fall miserably under those of the 
emigrants I" The emperor had shrugged his shoulders and said, 
"Infantry ! where does he think I can get any? You see what 
I have on hand, and look at what I have still to cope 
with ....!" In fact, Bulow's corps of 20,000 against Lobau's 
10,000 soldiers were now being joined by the masses of Blucher's 
army, fresh for the fight, and the old Marshal himself had al- 
ready arrived on the battle-field. 

It was an essential part of Wellington's plan to wait for this 
assistance, every moment more and more necessary. General 
Picton had been killed at the head of the left wing, and when 
General Kemp, who replaced him in command, sent to ask the 
general-in-chief for reinforcements, Wellington replied, "Tell 
him that I have no reinforcements to send him. He and I and 
all the Englishmen here have only one thing to do, to die at 
our posts." " Hold firm, 95th," he said, a few minutes pre- 
viously, under the attack of Milhaud's cuirassiers; " what will 
they say in England if we give way?" "Don't be afraid, sir," 
replied the soldiers, "we know our duty." "This is hot 
work," repeated the Duke twice, as he threw himself within 
one of the squares which had just been formed to meet a 
charge of the French cavalry, ' ' but we shall stand it out !" 



ch. xvn.] THE HUNDRED DA TS. 185 

In every part of this battle-field, so obstinately contested, 
there was displayed the same enthusiasm, ardent or re- 
strained, full of passion and determination to win the victory. 
The emperor himself rallied the young guard when giving way 
before the Prussians, and ordered two battalions of the old 
guard to support them. "My dear fellows," said he, " now is 
the critical moment; shooting is no longer of any use; you 
must close with the enemy, man to man, and throw them down 
at the point of the bayonet into the gully from which they 
have come to threaten the army, the empire, and France !" 
" Long live the Emperor!" shouted the grenadiers in reply, as 
they drove back the Prussians for a long distance, and crossed 
in their turn the gulf which lay between. In the distance ap- 
proached Bliicher's soldiers. Ney loudly called for the in- 
vincible veterans, who alone might decide the victory, and 
supported by General Friant, he at last hurled them forward 
upon the English centre. That was the decisive moment. 
General Hill, who had just joined Wellington, said, "You may 
be killed here, what orders do you leave me?" "To die on the 
spot to the last man, so that the Prussians may be all on the 
ground," replied the invincible leader of the English army. 

Meanwhile Grouchy had not arrived, and the Prussians 
were all at hand. After Ney's heroic imprudence, and the 
absence of reinforcements which might turn the tide of battle, 
the emperor had only one more chance to try, that of crushing 
the centre of the English army. To meet the attack of the old 
guard, Mortland's regiment, who had been lying on the ground 
on the plateau by Wellington's order, suddenly rose and fired 
their muskets when almost touching their opponents. General 
Friant was wounded, and some squadrons of English cavalry, 
now relieved by the approach of the Prussians, charged in their 
turn. Our heavy cavalry were destroyed, and only 400 
chasseurs of the guard remained at the disposal of the em- 
peror. They rushed against the hostile tide which was ever 
advancing, but were everywhere out-numbered. The cuiras- 
siers who held Mont St. Jean found themselves compelled to 
fall back to avoid the danger of being separated from the main 
body, and D'Erlon's corps were dispersed at the same time. 
Wellington had taken the offensive. Night being come, the 
soldiers could no longer distinguish the emperor, from whom 
alone they now derived confidence. The terrible suspicion of 
treachery pervading their minds, the ranks were becoming 
conscious of defeat. There was no longer any reserve in the 



186 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvn. 

rear, the Prussians had forced our lines at Plancenois, and 
were all on the battle-field. The guard alone still resisted, 
forming in squares which kept constantly contracting as death 
made larger and larger gaps in their ranks. One cry was in 
the mouths of all, the expression of the single thought in all 
their hearts, whoever may have first chosen the words: 
"The guard dies, and never surrenders!" "Let none of us 
surrender!" was still repeated by the soldiers when there were 
not more than 150. The English fired with grape-shot upon 
this fortress of unconquerable hearts and arms. The wounded 
and dying took refuge behind the lines that were still stand- 
ing. A final charge with the bayonet, urged by heroic despair 
and passion, signalized the last effort of the old guard. The 
emperor watched them from a distance, in the midst of the 
rushing and raging tide of battle. "All is lost; they are 
mixed together !" said he, when he saw the hairy hats of his 
grenadiers confounded with the English horses and soldiers. 
The confusion and rout were becoming general. Marshal Ney, 
after rallying the remains of the Durutte division, said to 
them, " Come, my friends, and see how a marshal of France 
dies !" and led them again to face the enemy, while the com- 
mander of the Rulliere battalion detached the eagle from their 
standard and concealed it under his jacket. After a fifth horse 
had been killed under him, he headed the charge on foot, but 
without finding the death which he sought, and without re- 
ceiving a single wound. A square of the 1st regiment of 
grenadiers surrounded the emperor with their ranks, and drew 
him to a distance from the battle-field. Not a word was 
spoken. On the Charleroi road, which was a crowded scene of 
frightful disorder, men flying and pursuing, foot soldiers and 
horse soldiers wounded and dying, all hurried on or fell in a 
confused mass. Wellington's aides-de-camp tried to draw him 
out of the danger in which he stood of being shot by both 
friends and foes. "What does it matter?" said the English 
general, as impassible in victory as during the fight, "let 
them fire as they like, the battle is gained !" 

The Emperor Napoleon alone said a few words to the soldiers 
who were protecting him. His brother Jerome and the major- 
general marched by his side. No one knew what had become 
of several of the generals : some were killed, and a large num- 
ber wounded, and more than 20,000 French soldiers remained 
on the battle-field. The Prussians had given no quarter. The 
English showed humanity to the wounded. "Leave it all to 



ch. xvii.] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 187 

me," said Bliicher to Wellington, when the two leaders of the 
allied army met between Belle-Alliance and Plancenois. "I 
undertake the pursuit." A large number of the flying soldiers 
feH into the hands of his cavalry. Fortunately fatigue obliged 
them to halt at the small river Dyle. The Belgians every- 
where received the escaping army with kindness. 

The emperor advanced to Charleroi, whence he set out for 
Laon, ordering Jerome and Soidt to lead the remains of the 
army towards that town. By a despatch sent in search of 
Marshal Grouchy, he was informed of the disaster, and ordered 
to retreat upon Namur. The orderly who carried the message 
met the marshal and his corps between Wavre and Limal. 
The previous evening they had made an ineffectual attack on 
Wavre, and General Gerard was severely wounded; yet 
though certain of death, he tried, with General Vandamme's 
concurrence, to persuade their chief to march to the noise of 
cannon at Waterloo, which thundered in the distance. 
Nothing now remained for him but to obey the emperor's in- 
structions, as he ran the risk of being surprised by the victor- 
ious enemy, and thus adding a new misfortune to the deplora- 
ble position of affairs. He commenced the march towards 
Laon with his corps, saying repeatedly to his lieutenants, 
"When you see my orders, gentlemen, you will admit that I 
could not act differently from what I have done." 

It was the end, and everybody knew it ; none better than the 
Emperor Napoleon. He had risked on one cast of the die his 
fortune and his empire, but fate had betrayed him. He vainly 
made a final effort to enumerate the resources still at his dis- 
position. When he reached Paris, on the evening of the 20th, 
urged by his councillors to return to his capital, and sorry to 
leave the army, he for a moment gave vent to his bitter dis- 
appointment before Caulaincourt. " The army fought magnifi- 
cently," said he; " they were seized by a panic terror, and all 
was lost : Ney acted like a madman ; he made me massacre my 
cavalry. I am quite knocked up, and must have two hours' 
rest before I do anything. I am choking !" While a bath was 
being prepared he said, "I shall at once assemble the two 
chambers in special session ; I have no longer an army or a 
single musket ; my only resource is the country. I hope the 
representatives will second me when they feel the responsibility 
which rests upon their heads." 

The Duke of Vicentia made no reply. He had in vain tried 
to enlighten the emperor as to the state of public opinion in 



188 HISTORY OF FRANCE. ch. xvn. 

Paris and the Chambers. The rumor of the disaster had spread 
over the capital, in spite of the lying message read by Regnault 
de St. Jean in the tribune of the representatives. For three 
days every battle had been represented as a brilliant victory, 
and on the 21st the minister of state announced that a great 
battle had been fought four leagues from Brussels ; that the 
English army, after fighting the whole day, had been obliged 
to yield up the field, when some traitors by spreading alarm 
caused a state of disorder which the presence of his Majesty 
could not rectify ; that some serious disasters were the result, 
but that his Majesty having come to Paris to confer with his 
ministers as to the means of restoring the material of the army, 
also intended to consult the Chambers as to what legislative 
measures present circumstances demanded. 

No one considered the result of such false statements, not 
even those who suggested them. The emperor was aware of 
the distrust with which several leading representatives were 
animated against him. On the day after the elections they 
chose Lanjuinais to be president, as a living proof of their in- 
dependence, and Napoleon felt greatly annoyed. During his 
absence, men's minds became more and more uneasy. The 
reports of Carnot, Caulaincourt and especially that of Fouche 
on the home and foreign affairs of France, had aggravated the 
alarm, without throwing the representatives into the em- 
peror's arms. When discussing the reply to the speech from 
the throne, Lepelletier, an old " terrorist," proposed that the 
title " saviour of the country " should be conferred upon the 
emperor. " But wait till he has saved it ! " exclaimed Dupin, 
then quite young. 

Every hour the chance of safety seemed more doubtful. On 
the 21st of March, at the opening of the session, La Fayette 
mounted the tribune and said, " Gentlemen, when for the first 
time during many years I raise a voice which the older friends 
of liberty will still recognize, I feel that I am called to speak 
to you of the dangers of our country, which you alone at 
present have the power to save. Sinister rumors have spread 
. . . . , and they are unhappily confirmed. The moment has 
now come for us to rally round our old tricolor flag of '89, the 
flag of liberty, equality, and public order, and it is this only 
which we have to defend against foreign pretensions and ex- 
ternal aggression. Permit, then, a veteran of this sacred 
cause, who has never known party-spirit, to submit to you a 
few preliminary resolutions the necessity of which I trust you 



ch. xvii.] THE HUNDRED DA YS. 189 

■will appreciate:— The chamber of representatives declares the 
national independence to be in danger ; it declares its sittings 
permanent ; it invites the ministers to throw themselves forth- 
with upon its confidence." 

The proposition was carried unanimously. 

"Whilst the ministers were being thus appealed to in the 
chambers, they were assembled in Council with the emperor. 
Marshal Davout had found him in his bath, his body worn out 
with fatigue and his mind weighed down by misfortune, but 
he had recovered his strength, announced his intention of 
claiming from the country the dictatorial power which was 
necessary to him at this supreme crisis. The ministers looked 
at each other, confounded in the presence of the illusions 
which still existed in the mind of their master. ' ' The em- 
peror is wrong to count upon the chambers," said the Due 
Decres, "they are resolved upon a separation from him." 
Eegnault de Saint Jean d'Angely expressed himself in the same 
sense. " Speak frankly," said Napoleon, " it is my abdication 
which they desire." " Yes, sire, "replied the Minister of State, 
" and if your Majesty does not tender it, the chamber will per- 
haps dare to demand it." 

Lucien Bonaparte now rose, always faithful in the time of 
trouble to that brother whose imperial yoke he had but lately 
shaken off. 

Since the chamber does not appear disposed to join the 
emperor in order to save France," he said, " the emperor must 
save her by himself. Let him declare himself dictator, put 
the country in a state of siege, and call all patriots and good 
Frenchmen to its defence." "I do not fear the deputies," 
cried Napoleon, "whatever they may do; the people and 
the army I have still. One word from me, and they 
would be annihilated." At the same moment the proposal 
of La Fayette arrived from the chamber. Napoleon was 
troubled. " I was wrong not to dismiss all these people before 
my departure," he said, "they will ruin France. Eegnault 
has not deceived me; I will abdicate if I must." Meanwhile, 
after long uncertainty and several vain attempts at reconcil- 
iation, the emperor decided upon sending Lucien as bearer of 
his message to the chamber. He entered in the uniform of the 
national guard, accompanied by Carnot, Caulaincourt, Fouche, 
and Davout, and said, "Gentlemen, being appointed commis- 
sioner extraordinary from his Majesty to the representatives 
of the people, I come to propose to them certain means of sav- 



190 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvn. 

ing the country." He at the same time announced that a com- 
mittee had been charged with renewing and carrying out nego- 
tiations with the foreign powers with the view of putting an 
end to the war. "But," added the emperor's message, "it is 
necessary that there should be the most complete harmony. 
I count upon the patriotism of the chambers and on their per- 
sonal attachment to me." 

Jay ascended the tribune. Moderate and honest by nature, 
he was that day the instrument of Fouch6's intrigues. In a 
few simple but effective words, he asked the ministers if they 
believed peace to be possible as long as the Emperor Napoleon 
remained on the throne. Seeing their silence and embarrass- 
ment, he rose to eloquence, and described the deplorable con- 
dition of France, and concluded with a proposal that the cham- 
ber should demand the emperor's abdication. In vain did 
Lucien courageously attempt to defend his brother and re- 
proach France for her inconstancy. La Fayette rose, and 
vividly expressed the general sentiment. "Prince, you are 
calumniating the nation. It is not for having abandoned Na- 
poleon that posterity will be able to reproach France, but, alas, 
for having followed him too far. She has followed him in the 
fields of Italy, in the scorching Egyptian sands, in the burning 
fields of Spain, in the vast plains of Germany, and the icy 
wastes of Russia. Six hundred thousand Frenchmen sleep by 
the banks of the Ebro and the Tagus; can you tell us how 
many have fallen on the banks of the Danube, the Elbe, the 
Nieman and the Moskowa? Alas! had she been less constant, 
France would have saved two millions of her children; she 
would have saved your brother, your family, us all, from the 
abyss into which we are to-day being dragged, without know- 
ing if we will be able to extricate ourselves from it." 

The real gravity of the situation burst upon the chambers. 
It burst upon the Elysee Palace in spite of the emperor's agita- 
tion and changes of thought. He had received news from the 
army; about 50,000 men had already rallied at Laon, and some 
reinforcements could be counted upon ; with the depots, some 
hundred thousand men could be formed. The military party 
was not absolutely lost, and the impassioned obstinacy of the 
great gambler was unwilling to abandon it. Two commissions 
had been appointed by the chambers, charged with deliberat- 
ing with the ministers upon salutary measures. The home 
policy was discussed, but at every motion, at every proposal, 
the idea of the abdication cropped up in the propositions and 



ch. xrn.] TEE HUNDRED DAYS. 191 

speeches. The representatives expected to hear it proclaimed 
on the morning of the 22nd of March. When they assembled 
in the hall at nine o'clock, they received a communication 
from General Grenier to the effect that several negotiators had 
been sent to the allies' camp charged with treating in the 
name of the chambers. The germ of the abdication was con- 
tained in this declaration, but the impatience of the represen- 
tatives was not satisfied with this. It was said that the em- 
peror still hesitated, and Fouche's creatures industriously dis- 
seminated the fear of seeing him all at once again vigorously 
take possession of power by a direct appeal to the people and 
the army. Forfeiture began to be talked of : a vote was even 
proposed. General Salignac, who had been disgraced under 
the empire, craved an hour of respite for his old chief, in 
order to give him time to take his resolution before voluntar- 
ily laying down the proudest sceptre in the world. "If I 
asked you to give him till to-morrow, or till this evening," he 
said, "I could understand your objections, but one hour!" 
"One hour! one hour! Let him have one hour!" was the cry 
from every bench. The news was immediately carried to Na- 
poleon. 

For a moment his pride revolted at the summons, and at the 
respite allowed him. " I will not abdicate for a hare-brained 
lot of Jacobins and adventurers !" he cried, ' ' I ought to have 
denounced them to the people and turned them out ; but lost 
time can be made up !" Then, recovering himself, and perceiv- 
ing the vanity of his hopes and the uselessness of his anger, 
" Write to these gentlemen, that they need not disturb them- 
selves," said he to Fouche, who took care to follow the pro- 
gress of his own intrigues, "they are going to get all they 
want." Fouche wrote to Manuel. The emperor dictated his 
second abdication to Lucien Bonaparte. " Frenchmen, in com- 
mencing the war to sustain the national independence, I 
counted upon united efforts, united wishes, and on the concur- 
rence of the national authorities. I had reasons for hoping for 
success, and I braved the declarations of all the po ^ers against 
me. Circumstances appearing to be changed, I offer myself as 
a sacrifice to the hatred of the enemies of France. May they 
be sincere in their declarations that they have only cherished 
it against my person ! My political life is over, and I proclaim 
my son Emperor of the French, under the title of Napoleon the 
Second. The present ministers will form provisionally the 
council of government. The interest which I taka in my son 



j 92 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvij. 

compels me to invite the chambers to organize a regency by- 
law without delay. Unite yourselves in the interests of the 
public safety, and that you may remain an independent nation." 
The emperor did not attempt to deceive himself as to the 
meaning of the step which he took in abdicating. " My son!" 
he repeated two or three times, "my son! what a chimera! 
No, no. It is not in favor of my son that I am abdicating, but 
in that of the Bourbons. They at least are not prisoners at 

Vienna !" 

After some waverings, which for a moment seemed to be fa- 
vorable to the preferment of Napoleon the Second, the chambers 
ignoring that part of the emperor's message, resolved upon the 
nomination of an executive committee charged provisionally 
with carrying on the government. Three of its members were 
to be elected by the Chamber of Representatives and two by 
the Chamber of Peers. Fouche, Carnot, and General Grenier 
were immediately chosen by the representatives, and a deputa- 
tion was appointed to thank the emperor for his self-sacrifice. 
" I hope my abdication will be for the good of France," he re- 
plied to Lanjuinais, " but I do not expect it to be." Then, as 
if to satisfy his conscience, he commended his son to his care. 
" It is in his favor that I am abdicating," he said. 

He repeated this to the delegates from the Chamber of Peers. 
A sad and violent scene had taken place in their assembly. 
Marshal Ney had arrived, still greatly distressed by the disas- 
ters of Waterloo, and declaring that all was lost and that noth- 
ing was left but to treat with the enemy. General Drouot had 
prevailed upon him not to contradict these assertions, and the 
imperial message had completed the work of sowing dissension 
among the peers. Lucien Bonaparte had insisted upon the 
proclamation of Napoleon II., some other members had pro- 
tested against this, and Labedoyere had flown into a passion. 
" There are some people here who, lately at the feet of Napo- 
leon fortunate, wish to abandon Napoleon unfortunate. If his 
son is not recognized, Ms abdication is annulled, and he ought 
co take it back. The traitors will perhaps put the finishing 
touch to their intrigues with the foreigner. I see some now on 
the benches who have already done so."— A tumult of shouts 
had interrupted the imprudent orator, and the chamber had 
appointed as members of the Executive Commission, Caulain- 
court and Quinette, formerly members of the convention. 

In vain did certain revolutionaries and old servants of the 
empire still adhere to the notion of a regency which they could 



ch. xvii.] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 193 

nominate under the name of Napoleon II. Public opinion, bold 
and steadfast in its good sense, went dead for the re-establish- 
ment of the Bourbons, the emperor once out of the way. 
Manuel, a young advocate of Aix, known to Fouche, who 
availed himself of his services without employing him, cleverly 
dissuaded the Chamber of Eepresentatives from a vote in favor 
of Napoleon II., which might have the effect of interfering 
with its liberty of action. ''What party have we to fear?" he 
said. " Is it the republican party? There is no reason to sup- 
pose that that party longer exists, whether in heads devoid of 
or in those matured by experience. Is it the Orleans party? 
That party, doubtless, by the protection which it offers to the 
principles and to the men of the revolution, would seem to 
offer more chances than any other for the liberty and happi- 
ness of the people ; but we know that it has not many opinions 
on its side. Finally, is it the royalist party? Every one opposes 
it in the chamber, and we are generally agreed upon the prom- 
ises of the future which it holds out to France. Nevertheless, 
it cannot be concealed that, especially among men who cannot 
rise above the level of their own selfish interests, there are nu- 
merous followers who are devoted to it, some from remem- 
brance, sentiment, or custom, others by love of peace, welfare, 
and quiet enjoyment." 

Manuel concluded by moving an order of the day on the 
simple ground that, Napoleon II. being Emperor of the French 
in his own right, his proclamation was not necessary. The 
Chamber adopted his idea, and contented itself by appointing 
Generals La Fayette and Sebastiani, Pontecoulant, Argenson 
and Laforest, to go to the head-quarters of the allies, to an- 
nounce officially the abdication of Napoleon, and to treat for 
peace. Almost deserted at the Elysee, the emperor had retired 
to Malmaison, where Queen Hortense had been living since the 
death of her mother (May 29, 1814). The acts drawn up by 
the executive commission bore this significant title suggested 
by Fouche: " In the name of the French people." 

Ever since the departure of the king, in the midst of that 
contusion of parties and opinions, there had existed on the part 
of the constitutional royalists, an ardent and sincere desire to 
let the fugitive monarch know the truth about the state of 
France, and to convey to him useful suggestions as to the 
course he should pursue. ' ' It was not only necessary to insist 
upon the necessity for his persevering in the constitutional 
system, and in the open acceptation of French society, such as 
VIIL— 13 



194 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvit 

modern times had made it, it was necessary to enter into per- 
sonal questions ; to tell the king the presence of Blacas near 
him was essentially prejudicial to his cause ; to demand the 
banishment of the favorite ; to call forth some act, some public 
words which would serve to explain frankly the intentions of 
the king before again possessing himself of the government of 
his estates ; to persuade him, in fine, to trust implicitly in the 
counsels of M. de Talleyrand, with whom, moreover, at this 
time, hardly any of the men who gave this advice had the 
slightest relation, and for whom even the majority of them had 
little liking."* 

M. G-uizot accepted this difficult mission, and has often been 
blamed for its unfortunate conclusion. He found at Ghent his 
friends, Jaucourt, Louis, Beugnot, Lally-Tollendal, and Mou- 
nier, sad and broken-spirited, bravely struggling against the 
passions and designs, odious or ridiculous, of party-spirit. He 
saw the king, calm in the midst of the storm which was raging 
around him. "What troubles us, sire, is that, believing in 
the re-establishment of the Monarchy, people have no confidence 
in its lasting." "Why? when the great maker of revolution is 
removed, the Monarchy will last. It is clear of course, that if 
Bonaparte returns to the island of Elba, it will be begun afresh ; 
but when he is finished, revolutions will be finished too." 
" There are other things to be feared besides Bonaparte, sire. 
People fear the weakness of the royal government ; its vacilla- 
tion between old and new ideas and interests; the disunion, or 
at least the disagreement, of its ministers." G-uizot mentioned 
Blacas. ' ' I will stick to everything I have promised in the 
Charter," replied Louis XVIII. , " what does it matter to France 
what friends I keep in my palace, so long as no act emanates 
from it which does not meet her views?" The battle of Water- 
loo had precipitated events and rendered prompt decisions in- 
evitable. The king set out for Mons ; there he got rid of Blacas., 
appointed ambassador at Naples ; at the same time, and while 
refusing his resignation, Louis XVIII. had coldly receives 
Talleyrand. This conduct was neither prudent nor clever, 
Europe wished to see with whom she was going to treat, and 
Talleyrand had made a great name in Vienna for success ana 
ability. On the advice of the Count d'Artois, the king directed 
his steps towards Cateau-Cambresis, the head-quarters of the 
English army. Pressed by Pozzo di Borgo to put an end to 

♦Guizot's Mdmoires pour servir^ etc., vol. i. 



ch. xyii.J THE HU2WBED DATS. 195 

these difficulties, the Duke of Wellington wrote to Talleyrand 
at Mons. "I greatly regret," he said, "that you did not ac- 
company the king here. It is I who have eagerly persuaded 
him to enter France at the same time as we do. Had I heen 
able to tell you the motives which have directed me in this 
circumstance, I do not doubt that you would have given the 
king the same advice. I hope you will come and hear them." 
Talleyrand immediately joined the king at Cambrai. A liberal 
proclamation, drawn up by Beugnot, and containing the indi- 
cations of a sound policy, was signed without difficulty by 
Louis XVIII. Monsieur had protested violently, and he ob- 
tained with trouble a few unimportant modifications. The 
armies of the allied powers were already on the march towards 
Paris. A proclamation of the Duke of Wellington, dated June 
24th, announced to the French people that he entered their 
country not as an enemy (except of that enemy of the human 
race, with whom he could have neither peace nor truce), but in 
order to aid them in shaking off the iron yoke which had op- 
pressed them. Marshal Blucher, intoxicated with the ven- 
geance which he had exercised, and with that which he was 
preparing, loudly announced his intention of seizing and pun- 
ishing Napoleon if he could get him into his clutches, without 
waiting for what the allied powers should determine upon with 
regard to him. "It will not accord with the part we have 
played during these late events to debase ourselves to the trade 
of the executioner," the Duke of Welhngton said to him. At 
Paris, Fouche had let Vitrolles out of prison, and charged him 
with making his advances to Louis XVIII. ' ' Perhaps we shall 
not go quite straight, but we shall finish by arriving at him," 
the Duke of Otranto had said. "Have no fear for your head, 
it will be put on the same hook as mine, which is, it is true, in 
some very tolerable danger. All the madmen in the army 
have sworn to make me out a bad lot. We are working here 
in the king's service ; perhaps meanwhile we shall have to go 
by way of Napoleon II. and the Due d'Orleans." 

"In the deplorable condition into which the enterprise of an 
heroic and chimerical egotism had thrown France, there was 
clearly only one course to follow, namely, to recognize Louis 
XVIII., to take action upon his liberal ideas, and to act in con- 
cert with him in order to treat with the foreigners. This was 
a duty in the interests of peace, and a course calculated to af- 
ford the best chances of diminishing the evils of invasion, for 
Louis XVIII. alone was able to repel them with some authority. 



196 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvn 

To accept without hesitation or delay the second restoration, 
and to place the king between France and Europe, was the 
course clearly pointed out by patriotism and common sense. 
But not only was this not done, but everything was done, or 
was allowed to be done, which was necessary to make the res- 
toration appear the work of foreign efforts only, and to make 
France, after her military defeat, undergo a political and diplo- 
matic one. The chamber of the hundred days lacked intelli- 
gence and resolution. It did not lend itself either to imperial 
despotism or to revolutionary violence, it did not become the 
instrument of any of the extreme parties, it applied itself hon- 
estly to the task of holding back France on the brink of the 
abyss into which they would have liked to push her; but its 
policy was entirely negative, it beat about timidly outside the 
harbor, instead of resolutely entering, shutting its eyes when it 
reached, the bar, and submitting, not through confidence, but 
through weakness, to the infatuation and obstinacy of the old 
or new enemies of the king. It was to these hesitations, to 
these fruitless gropings of the only public power then in exist- 
ence, that Fouche owed his importance and his ephemeral suc- 
cess. When honest men fail to understand and carry out the 
designs of providence, dishonest people undertake the task. 
On the spur of necessity, and in the midst of general impotence, 
there always gather together certain corrupt spirits, bold and 
sagacious in discovering what is likely to happen, and what 
contingencies may arise ; and they make themselves the instru- 
ments of a triumph which does not actually belong to them, 
but by which they succeed in giving themselves airs in order 
to appropriate for themselves its fruits. Such a man was the 
Duke of Otranto in the hundred days. A revolutionary turned 
grand seigneur, and wishing to ingratiate himself under this 
double character with the old French royalty, he displayed in 
the pursuit of his object all the savoir-faire and audacity of a 
gamester, endowed with more foresight and wisdom than his 
fellows. " * Through the endless labyrinth of these complicated 
and shameless intrigues Fouche marched, always with the defi- 
nite view to the restoration of the Bourbons, but he required 
time in order to serve his personal interests under the Restora- 
tion ; he was not anxious for the conclusion. 

Others were more urgent, perhaps because they were honest 
and sincere. Marshal Davout had been badly treated by the 

* Guizot, Mimoires pour serif r d Vhistoire de mon tempt 



oh. xvn.] TEE HUNDRED DAYS. 197 

court in 1814 ; he had at that time dipped into the military- 
plots, and had actively and ardently served the Emperor Na- 
poleon during the hundred days. After the battle of Water- 
loo, he saw France conquered, and ready to be once more torn 
by civil war ; he took his resolution courageously, and received 
favorably the advances which Marshal Oudinot had been 
charged to make to him by Vitrolles. With the consent of 
Fouche a grand council was convoked, to which were nomi- 
nated the presidents, vice-presidents, and secretaries of the two 
chambers. The marshal demonstrated from military reports 
that the army was henceforth unfit to oppose the allied forces ; 
then, as all present remained silent, he repeated : "In the light 
of tbe tidings that have reached me from the departments, as 
well as from the corps posted on the Moselle, and the Rhine, I 
regard France as lost, if she does not hasten to treat with Louis 
XVIII. " He immediately added some conditions. The king, 
he thought, ought to enter Paris without a foreign guard, ac- 
cepting the national colors, guaranteeing the personal security 
of every one, and the conservation of all property and appoint- 
ments, and, finally, maintaining the Legion of Honor as the 
principal order of the State. 

The marshal thus cut the knot of the situation with a firm 
hand, accustomed to serve France resolutely ; the hesitations 
and dislikes of the old conventionals, obstructed and delayed 
the decision. They were encouraged in their opposition by the 
report that certain commissioners had just been received, em- 
powered to treat with the allies. Before advancing towards 
Haguenau, where the allied sovereigns were at the time, they 
had seen the Duke of Wellington and Blucher at Laon, and 
they had gathered some impressions rather than obtained any 
categorical declarations. They transmitted to the feeble ex- 
ecutive power which governed France provisionally, their 
opinion that the allied princes were not absolutely opposed to 
the ascension of Napoleon II. , and that they did not insist upon 
the restoration of the Bourbons. This assurance circulated in 
the chambers by the members of the grand council whose 
wishes it flattered, increased the excitement and uncertainty. 
Meanwhile the hostile armies approached Paris. The commis- 
sioners of the chambers had not been allowed to come near the 
sovereigns in Alsace ; they had taken the way back to Paris, 
not without difficulty. Negotiators were chosen afresh, and 
were charged to treat for an armistice with the victorious gen- 
erals. The intrigues of Fouche brought them within reach of 



198 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvii. 

the Duke of Wellington, who was always steady, sensible, and 
favorable to the restoration, pure and simple, of the house of 
Bourbon to the throne. He communicated to the commission- 
ers of the executive the declaration signed at Cambrai by King 
Louis XVIII., counselling them to hold by the Charter of 1814, 
without claiming to impose on the king any humiliating con- 
ditions. A homogeneous and strongly constituted ministry 
was alone necessary to assure good government. Louis 
XVIII. had promised to confide the direction of it to Tally- 
rand. The Duke of Wellington did not conceal from the 
negotiators that the advice of the Austrians and of the majority 
of the alhed princes was, that they should not grant an arm- 
istice, and that they should not consent to treat before occupy- 
ing Paris. Already Marshal Bliicher had caused the environs 
of the capital to be devastated by his cavalry. He had blown up 
several of the bridges on the Seine, and had posted his troops 
on the left bank. 

The possible defence of Paris remained the last hope of the 
determined adversaries of the Eestoration. More than 60, 000 
men were united under the hand, or were within, the reach of 
Marshal Davout. " If he would only engage in a battle," said 
he, " I am ready to fight, and I hope to win." "Are you able 
to answer for the victory?" slyly asked Fouche. "Yes," re- 
plied the marshal; " if I am not killed in the first two hours." 
Carnot and Marshal Soult held the defence to be impossible, 
even after the gain of a battle. 

It was necessary to be prepared for the most painful alter- 
native ; with hearts full of patriotic anger and sadness, the 
executive commission resolved to send plenipotentiaries to 
Marshal Bliicher, who had drawn nearer to Paris than the 
Duke of Wellington, in order to obtain the renewal of the arm- 
istice negotiations. They believed themselves certain of a 
favorable reception. Marshal Davout, at the head of the 
troops, had great difficulty in restraining their eagerness to 
fight. He repressed at the same time his own indignation in 
the presence of the menacing enemy. The three negotiators, 
Bignon, interim minister of foreign affairs, General Guille- 
minot, and Bondy, perfect of the Seine, arrived, at his head- 
quarters at Montrouge. They came to demand his signature 
to the projects of negotiation. The excitement was as great 
among the officers as among the soldiers. ' ' Better to die 
fighting than to capitulate to the allies," reiterated the generals 
grouped around their illustrious leader. But France could not 



ch. xvn.] THE HUNDRED DATS. 199 

perish like her heroic defenders. After a brief and final 
reconnaissance, Marshal Davout signed, as all the members of 
the executive commission had done. " I have sent a flag of 
truce," he said to Bignon, "you can set out." 

It was a clever thought of Fouche to direct the plenipoten- 
tiaries to the head-quarters of Blucher, who, always violently 
opposed to the French, was jealous of the Duke of Wellington, 
and therefore felt flattered by the appearance of the negotia- 
tors in his camp. The English general, however, was not slow 
in arriving. Each had taken a side, inflexible on the import- 
ant points regarding wbich the commissioners were empowered 
to treat primarily. Discussion was impossible, and the in- 
structions of the sovereigns were as summary as the decisions 
of their generals. The plenipotentiaries had proposed several 
plans, and they were reduced to accept conditions more un- 
favorable than they could have foreseen. The French army 
should evacuate Paris and the environs within three days, and 
retire beyond the Loire, carrying with it its arms, artillery, 
and baggage. The officers of the federates were assimilated to 
the regular troops. The allies, once in possession of Paris, 
should reinstate the national guard in the interior service. The 
commanders of the allied armies undertook to respect and to 
uphold the actual authorities as long as they were in force. 
Public property shoidd be respected, except that which had re- 
lation to war. In virtue of this exception we should soon lose 
all the treasures accumulated in our museums by victory, and 
which the allies had spared in 1814. Article 12 stipulated that 
the persons and property of private individuals should be re- 
spected ; "The inhabitants and generally the individuals with- 
in the capital shall continue to enjoy their rights and liberties, 
without being disturbed or affected in anything relative to 
the duties which occupy them or have occupied them, to their 
conduct and to their political opinions." The enemy's generals 
raised no objection to this article. In his declaration of Cam- 
brai, King Louis XVIII. had announced the intention of 
making some exceptions to his general clemency. 

The capitulation was signed in the evening of the 3rd of July, 
and at four in the following morning the plenipotentiaries re- 
turned to Paris, nearly heart broken with grief, but assured in 
their conscience that they obtained all that it was possible to 
obtain from the immovable resolution of the victors. Saint 
Ouen, Saint Denis, Clichy, and Neuilly had to be evacuated on 
the same day ; Montmartre on the 5th. the day following ; and 



200 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvit 

on the 6th all the other barriers of the capital were to be 
handed over to the enemy. The movement of evacuation be- 
gan immediately, at every moment interrupted by the pass- 
ionate emotion of the army. Marshal Davout, at the head of 
his corps, seconded by the honest efforts of General Drouot, 
succeeded in re-establishing order in the exasperated multitude, 
ready to refuse obedience to the chiefs, whom it accused of 
having dishonored it. Meanwhile the indignation was direc- 
ted especially against Fouche. The soldiers of Waterloo were 
still too devoted to the emperor to shift to his shoulders the 
grievous weight of the misfortunes of the Fatherland. 

The army had slowly taken the road for the Loire, every- 
where directed by Marshal Davout. Imposing even in his mis- 
fortune, he threatened the Austrians, who were preparing to 
cross the boundary agreed upon on the upper Loire, and held 
in check at the same time his enemies and his soldiers. He had 
laid down his functions as minister of war hi order to fulfil this 
mournful mission, and would have no other title than that of 
' ' general-in-chief of the army of the Loire. " Thanks to the 
generous advances of a rich banker, Lafntte, whose name was 
destined soon to become known, he had been able partly to dis- 
charge the arrears of pay due to the soldiers. 

The capitulation of Paris had been facilitated by the removal 
of the Emperor Napoleon from the environs. It was one of the 
principal points in the instructions of the allied sovereigns that 
the person of Napoleon was to be delivered up to them. 
French honor shrank from this unworthy concession. Almost 
alone at Malmaison, Napoleon wavered between the desire of 
taking refuge in America and the idea of throwing himself on 
the mercy of Russia or England. He had finished by request- 
ing that two frigates in the roads at Rochefort should be pre- 
pared to take him to America. ' ' Since the society of men is 
denied to me," he had said, " I will take refuge in the bosom 
of nature, and there I shall live in the solitude which har- 
monizes with my last thoughts." Meanwhile he was troubled 
by the rumors which reached him concerning the chimerical 
projects of his friends as well as by the danger which threat- 
ened him from the hatred of the allies. At the last moment 
he proposed to the executive commission to place him again 
for a few hours at the head of the troops. " The resources of 
the enemy are exhausted," said he to General Beker, who was 
charged at the time with guarding and protecting him, " We 
can throw ourselves between them ; and under my orders the 



ch. xvii.] THE HUNDRED DATS. 201 

army will fight with the courage of despair. I shall conquer 
not for myself but for France, and I pledge the word of a 
soldier to restore on the spot the authority to the Provisional 
Government. I shall not keep it for a single hour after vic- 
tory." 

Vain projects of an ardent and solitary imagination, driven 
to the last limits of an existence given up to the most unheard 
of adventures! The proposal was immediately rejected by 
Fouche, who hastened the departure of Napoleon, which had 
been already decided upon. On the evening of the 29th of 
June, the emperor left Malmaison on the way to Rochefort, 
accompanied by General Bertrand, the Due de Rovigo, and 
General Gourgaud. All his relations were to join him in 
America. At the moment of his departure, Queen Hortense 
constrained the emperor to accept the diamond necklace which 
she wore. He took the road for Rambouillet, still repeating, 
while he was leaving for ever that capital to which the noble 
generosity of King Louis Philippe was one day to bring back 
his ashes, "The Provisional Government does not know the 
spirit of France, it is too anxious to get me away from Paris ; 
if it had accepted my last proposition the appearance of mat- 
ters would have changed." 

Meanwhile, King Louis XVIII. was approaching Paris. At 
Roye, where he had stopped, the emissaries of Fouche had be- 
gun their final attack in order to assure for their chief the 
price of his services. Monsieur went into it with ardor. 
" That is a new passion and one which does not come to you 
through Divine inspiration," said the king, laughing. He made 
some resistance. "In spite of what he had said to me at 
Ghent with regard to the regicides," says Guizot, in his Me- 
moir es, " I doubt whether he made any strong resistance. His 
dignity was not always sustained by strong conviction or by 
energetic feeling, and it could sometimes give way before 
necessity. He had as guarantee of the necessity in this cir- 
cumstance the two authorities best calculated to influence his 
decision and to protect his honor, namely, the Duke of Well- 
ington and the Comte d'Artois. Both pressed him to accept 
Fouche as his minister— Wellington, in order to assure for the 
king an easy return, and also in order that he himself, and 
England along with him, should remain the chief authors of 
the Restoration, while putting a quick stop to the war before 
Paris, where he was afraid of seeing himself compromised in 
the odious rage of the Prussians ; the Comte d Artois, by im- 



202 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvn. 

patient activity, always ready to promise and to agree, en- 
gaged beforehand by Vitrolles in the snares which Fouche had 
planted everywhere for the royalists. Louis XVIII. yielded ; 
he promised to nominate Fouche as minister of police, and on 
the 6th of July, at the Castle of Arnouville, the king signed 
the ordinance with a visible effort. Some hours later, Fouche, 
the regicide, one of the most hateful among the hateful tribunes 
of the "Terror," was received into the king's cabinet. This 
was an uncalled-for degradation, which by a little patience the 
royal dignity might have avoided. Fouche was not in pos- 
session of the keys of Paris, and France, by the necessities of 
the situation, was inevitably urged towards the Bourbons. 
Fouche was not to enjoy a long triumph, but his momentary 
triumph brought disgrace and weakness to the restored mon- 
archy. 

Fouche's excuse throughout his intrigues, and his determina- 
tion, as boldly displayed before the chambers, was to impose 
liberal conditions on the monarch. The pretext of patriotism 
produced no result. In an interview which took place at 
Neuilly between the Duke of Wellington, Talleyrand, Pozzo di 
Borgo, and Golz, on one side, and the Duke of Otranto on the 
other, the latter found himself compelled to accept the king's 
voluntary promises thus summed up by Talleyrand: — "The 
whole of the old Charter, including the abolition of confisca- 
tion, the non-renewal of the law of last year as to the liberty of 
the press; the immediate election of a new chamber by the 
electoral colleges, the unity of the ministry, the reciprocal 
initiative in laws, by message from the Crown, and on the pro- 
posal of the chambers ; an hereditary right to the Chamber of 
Peers. " 

It was, in fact, almost a return to the situation of the pre- 
ceding year. Although Talleyrand accompanied that declara- 
tion with the most liberal assurances, they were not sufficient 
to satisfy the chambers, who were generally influenced by a 
strong antagonism against the House of Bourbon, and had for 
several days been discussing a proposal of a Constitution, 
which, in many points, indicated democratic and revolutionary 
distrust. It was, nevertheless, necessary to decide on a plan. 
"The English are now arriving!" repeated sensible men, tired 
of hearing useless theories pompously detailed in the midst of 
the dangers now threatening the country. ' ' Though the Eng- 
lish are on the spot," replied Dupin, "I shall insist on express- 
ing my opinion, and shall enounce it." The Chamber of Pep- 



ch. xvii.] TEE HUNDRED DAYS. 203 

resentatives proudly voted a declaration of rights, to which 
they remained invariably attached. The Chamber of Peers 
refused to adhere to them. All the gates of Paris were already 
in the hands of the allies. 

The day was now come to determine so much fatal indeci- 
sion, which had become childish or hypocritical. The executive 
commission sat in the Tuileries, on the 7th of July, whilst the 
columns of the allies, poured, without disorder, through the 
streets and boulevards of the capital, and took possession in 
succession of all the public buildings, strongholds, and the 
Champ de Mars. There were cannon placed everywhere ; the 
crowds gathered in the streets silently and gloomily. A Prus- 
sian officer entered into the Council -hall, and said, "I have 
orders to take possession of the palace." On Fouche protest- 
ing, the officer repeated his orders. The new Minister of 
Police of King Louis XVIII. took a sheet of paper and wrote 
to the presidents of the new Chambers: "Monsieur le Presi- 
dent, till the present we were led to believe that the allied 
sovereigns had not come to an agreement in choosing a prince 
to reign over them. Our plenipotentiaries have given us the 
same assurances on their return. Nevertheless, the ministers 
and generals of the allied powers declared yesterday at the 
conference held with the president of the commission, that all 
the sovereigns had undertaken to replace Louis XVIII. on the 
throne, and that he must make his entry into the capital to- 
night or to-morrow. The foreign troops have just taken pos- 
session of the Tuileries, where the Government is sitting. 
Under the present circumstances, we can do nothing for our 
country, but express our best wishes, and since our delibera- 
tions are no longer free, we feel it to be our duty to separate." 

In reality, and by the very force of circumstances, the allied 
sovereigns showed their intention to replace King Louis 
XVIII. upon the throne of France, and Fouche put in their 
mouths words which they had not really spoken. He showed 
equal audacity next day, in inserting the following paragraph 
in the Moniteur: — " The Commission of the Government has in- 
formed the king through its mouthpiece, the president, that it 
is just dissolved, and the peers and deputies appointed under 
the late Government have received information to that effect. 
The chambers are dissolved. The king will enter Paris to- 
morrow, at eleven o'clock. His Majesty will stop at the Tuile- 
ries." 

The executive commission had entrusted Fouche with no 



204 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvil 

message to the king, and the representatives were violently 
excited against the sort of orders they had received. On 
presenting themselves next day at the doors of the Palais 
Bourbon, they found them closed by order of the Prefect of 
Police, and fifty-three of them signed a protest, and lodged it 
with Lanjuinais. On the following day, the 8th of July, King 
Louis XVIII. entered Paris, welcomed with real sincerity by 
the populace, but without the display of enthusiastic delight 
which signalized his previous arrival. Marshal Massena, on 
the previous evening, had again attempted, in the name of the 
colonels of the national guard, to obtain permission from the 
king to retain the tricolor; and Oudinot assisted him, but 
Louis XVIII. obstinately refused, in spite of the advice of the 
Duke of Wellington. "What a people!" said the illustrious 
leader of the English army ; " it is easier to make them accept 
a regicide than a reasonable idea !" 

On the same day as Louis XVIII. entered Paris, General 
Beker, who had arrived at Rochefort on the 3rd of July with 
the Emperor Napoleon, received from the executive commis- 
sion, who were still acting, the order to hasten the exile's em- 
barkation. The latter had been hitherto delaying; the English 
cruisers, it was reported, threatened his safety and were ready 
to attack the frigates. The emperor wished a safe-conduct to 
be asked from Wellington. At Rochefort various plans for 
escape were proposed ; and before leaving Paris he had refused 
La Payette's offer to get him conveyed to America by a mer- 
chant-vessel belonging to that nation. The regiment of ma- 
rines garrisoned on the island of Aix showed great enthusiasm 
for Napoleon, who amused himself in reviewing them. Gen- 
eral Beker insisted on the necessity for departure ; the Prefect 
of Marine was authorized to embark the emperor in a man-of- 
war's boat, if the state of weather or presence of the enemy 
prevented the use of frigates ; but, should he prefer to go on 
board an English vessel or to England itself, an ambassador 
was to be put at his disposition. Only two English frigates 
closed the entrance to the harbor. 

It was to Captain Maitland, who was in command of the 
"Bellerophon," that Napoleon sent Rovigo and Las Cases on 
the night of the 9th July. Their orders were to inquire about 
the safe-conducts which had been asked, and at the same time 
sound the English officer as to the manner in which he should 
think it his duty to treat the emperor if either taken when out 
at sea, or if he should present himself on board ! With refer- 



ch. xvii.] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 205 

ence to the first point, the captain's answer was very simple. 
He knew nothing as to the request for safe-conducts ; in their 
absence, he should, of course, stop any war-ship attempting to 
force the blockade, and should also stop any neutral vessel 
attempting to escape. He had received no instructions with 
regard to the person of the emperor, but was disposed to be- 
lieve that England would always show him the respect due to 
the high position he had held. 

After some hesitation and several new proposals for out- 
witting the vigilance of the English cruisers, Napoleon decided 
to fall back upon his original intention. Now at bay, and re- 
duced to the necessity of risking an absolutely desperate at- 
tempt to save himself, he wished to make before the world a 
final display as striking as it was painful. On the 14th of July, 
he wrote as follows to the Prince Regent of England : — 

" Your Eoyal Highness, — After being aimed at, both by the 
factions which divide my country, and by the enmity of the great 
powers of Europe, I have finished my political career, and now 
come, like Themistocles, to sit down by the hearth of the Eng- 
lish people. I place myself under the protection of their laws, 
which I claim from your Royal Highness as the most power- 
ful, the most steadfast, and the most generous of my enemies." 

No law of the English constitution could extend its protec- 
tion to the mortal enemy of England and Europe, after he had 
just given a new proof that oaths were powerless in chaining 
him down to enforced repose. Napoleon was secretly con- 
scious of this, but he wished to risk this last chance of the 
hostile nation being imprudently generous. He delivered him- 
self up to the risk of appearing betrayed. "Don't accompany 
me on board," he said to General Beker, when setting out to 
embark on the " Bellerophon ;" " I don't know what the Eng- 
lish intend doing with me ; and should they not respond to my 
confidence, it might be said that you have sold me to Eng- 
land." 

The emperor went on board the English frigate on the 15th. 
General Gourgaud was not permitted to go to London with 
Napoleon's letter to the Prince Regent. On the 24th, the 
"Bellerophon" brought into Plymouth harbor its illustrious 
passenger, who was speedily besieged by the insatiable British 
curiosity, all Captain Maitland's endeavors to keep off visitors 
being insufficient. 

Meanwhile, the question was being discussed in London, 
what place would be sufficiently sure for the transportation of 



206 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [en. xvn. 

the dangerous enemy who had at last, after so long and keenly- 
contested struggles, fallen into the hands of the English people. 
It had been decided to treat him as a prisoner of war, and thafc 
he should be deprived of his sovereign title and asked to give 
up his sword. Thus a vengeance legitimate enough to bear the 
name of justice was meanly gratified. Several members of the 
English cabinet proposed to deliver up the outlaw to the King 
of France ; but at last the decision was that he should be con- 
ducted to St. Helena, a rock lost amid the Atlantic, between 
Africa and America, the most solitary of all prisons. Only 
three of his old servants were to be allowed to accompany him 
in his exile, and he was to be deprived of all personal re- 
sources. 

When Lord Keith, the admiral in command at Plymouth, 
appeared before Napoleon with orders to announce the fate in 
store for him, the emperor listened unmoved, as if he had 
anticipated the whole. He discussed several points, and asked 
some questions as to the details, while retaining a quiet and 
natural dignity that imposed respect on the most hostile of his 
enemies. Throughout all England there were violent outcries 
against him, and the journals resounded with shouts of hatred 
and vengeance. When Lord Keith went towards Napoleon to 
demand his sword, the latter only replied by a look, at the 
same time placing his hand on the hilt. The admiral did not 
insist upon it. 

It was on the 8th of August, 1815, that the Emperor Napo- 
leon left the English coasts to cross the seas towards his prison. 
He was still in the prime of life, and having long enjoyed 
robust health, seemed still to have many years before him. 
Six years exhausted his physical strength and sometimes his 
moral courage. The weight of his captivity was to be unneces- 
sarily increased by paltry annoyances and severity ; and he re- 
sented them with a bitterness which the isolation and wear- 
iness alone might excuse. When, at last, he expired, on the 
5th of May, 1821, Europe, astonished that " ce mortel etait 
mort," felt itself delivered from a secret and perpetual appre- 
hension. The French people preserved in their hearts a re- 
membrance of which they were thirty years later to prove 
the persistence. Though exhausted, crushed, vanquished, and 
reduced, France always remained dazzled and giddy by the 
whirlwind of glory in the midst of which he had kept her for 
more than fifteen years. The rest of a long peace was now at 
last to heal her wounds, without exciting her gratitude for 




THE "BELLEROPHON7 BROUGHT ITS ILLUSTRIOUS. PASSENGER INTO 
PLYMOUTH HARBOUR 



ch. xviii.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 207 

those who healed her, or effacing from her eyes the sight of 
the " deepest print ever left by mortal foot on the blood-stained 
dust of the world." 

The genius and renown of Napoleon have nothing to fear 
from the light of history ; justice is being done him and will 
continue to be clone every new generation. Illustrious in the 
foremost rank amongst the greatest conquerors of enslaved 
humanity, whether subduing, ruling, or organizing, equally 
great by military genius, and by the supreme instinct of na- 
tional government, he was constantly carried away by selfish 
passions and desires, whatever their importance or unimport- 
ance might be, and took no cognizance of the eternal laws of 
duty and justice. Corrupt, he corrupted others; despotic, he 
subdued minds and debased consciences; all-powerful, he con- 
stantly made a bad use of his power. His glorious and blood- 
stained traces remained soiled not only by faults but by crimes. 
The startling dream with winch he dazzled France had dis- 
appeared; the memory still remains, weakened, but always 
fatal to our unhappy country, in her days of weariness and de- 
jection. It is necessary that she should know what the glory 
and triumph of the first Empire cost her : nor must she forget 
the degradation and tears which were a second time to be 
brought upon her by the same name. 



CHAPTER XVm. 



PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. THE RESTORATION UNDER KING 

louis xvm. (1815—1824). 

The Restoration of 1815 remained burdened with a bitter and 
heavy heritage, which it afterwards rendered more grievous 
by its own faults. The first months which elapsed after the 
definitive return of Louis XVIII. to France were disturbed by 
painful political antagonism, and by much imprudent severity 
displayed in the name of justice. We now, however, enter 
upon a new era, till then unexampled in our history, during 
which France, at peace in spite of its internal agitation, con- 
stantly tended towards that government of the country by the 
country which remains and shall remain the object of the most 
noble hopes. The sentence, "Happy the nation who has no 



208 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xvhl 

history!" has often been ridiculed. It is indeed false in its 
first application, since every free people has a history daily re- 
commencing with animation, ardor, and effect ; but it is true 
in this point that the inner history of free peoples is especially 
engraven on men's memories by striking and simple traits. 
Its incidents from day to day are not striking enough to excite 
the attention of all : it is by practical results and the general 
result of its powerful influence on the destinies of the country 
that effects of the Parliamentary regime must be judged. 

In July, 1815, King Louis XVIII. had scarcely entered the 
Tuileries before he had to form a ''homogeneous" ministry, 
united in the same thought and from their common object. Tal- 
leyrand had already been appointed the leader by the king, in 
accordance with the express wish of England and Austria ; and 
Fouche, by dint of intriguing and perfidious cunning, obtained 
a place which was granted with great repugnance by Louis 
XVIII. The ministry of the interior had been in vain offered 
to Pozzo di Borgo. Pasquier remained interim Home Minister, 
being at the same time Minister of Justice. He summoned 
Guizot from the Ministry of Justice to be Secretary-General, 
without much personal favor towards him, but from a strong 
conviction of his merit. From its very origin, and in spite of 
the conscientious efforts both of the king and his best coun- 
cillors, the new power as constituted immediately after the 
fall of Napoleon was weak and was to remain so. 

' ' Talleyrand performed a great feat in Vienna. By the 
treaty of alliance concluded on the 3rd of January, 1815, between 
France, England, and Austria, he put an end to the coalition 
formed against us in 1813, and cut Europe into two to the ad- 
vantage of France. But the events of the 20th March over- 
threw his work, and the European coalition was again formed 
against Napoleon and France, which made itself or allowed 
itself to be made the instrument of Napoleon. There was now 
no chance of breaking this formidable alliance. The same 
feeling of disquietude and distrust with reference to us, the 
same purpose of firm and lasting union animated the sover- 
eigns and peoples. In this close intimacy again formed 
against us, the Emperor Alexander was specially indignant 
against the house of Bourbon and Talleyrand, who had shown 
a wish to deprive him of his allies. The second restoration, 
moreover, was not, like the first, his work or personal glory. 
The honor now belonged mainly to England and the Duke of 
Wellington. From motives of self-love as well as policy, the, 



CH. xthi.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 209 

Emperor Alexander went to Paris, which he reached on the 
10th of July, 1815, with coldness and ill-temper towards the 
king and his councillors. 

" France and her king were nevertheless in pressing want of 
the Emperor's good services. They were now face to face 
with the passionate rancor and ambition of Germany. Her 
diplomatists drew up the map of our territory* deprived of the 
provinces which they wished to take from us. Her generals 
mined in order to blow up the monuments which recalled their 
defeats in the midst of their victories. Louis XVIII. resisted 
with dignity such foreign coarseness : he threatened to have 
his chair placed on the ' Bridge of Jena,' and asked Wellington 
openly if he thought that the English government would con- 
sent to receive him if he were to ask again for refuge. " Well- 
ington cooled down Bliicher's passion as well as he could, and 
tried to remonstrate with him. But neither the dignity of the 
king nor the friendly intervention of England sufficed against 
the German passions and claims. The Emperor Alexander 
alone could restrain them. Talleyrand tried to ingratiate him- 
self by personal intentions. When forming his cabinet he had 
the Duke of Richelieu, f who was still absent, appointed minis- 
ter of the king's household ; and the ministry of the interior 
was reserved for Pozzo di Borgo, who had of his own accord 
exchanged the official service of Russia, to take part in the 
government of France. Talleyrand had implicit faith in the 
power of temptations, but this time they failed. Richelieu re- 
fused, probably by arrangement with the king himself ; and 
Pozzo did not obtain, or perhaps dared not ask from his mas- 
ter, permission to become again French. Of a keen and rest- 
less disposition, daring but suspicious, he felt his situation un- 
certain, and could not conceal his perplexities from penetrating 
looks. The Emperor Alexander maintained his cold reserve, 
leaving Talleyrand powerless and embarrassed in that arena of 
negotiations, generally the theatre of his success. 

"Fouche's weakness was different, and due to different 
causes. Not that the foreign sovereigns and their ministers 
were better disposed to him than to Talleyrand, his entry into 
the king's council having caused great scandal to monarchical 
Em-ope, Wellington alone still continuing to defend him ; but 

♦After the treaty of peace, the Emperor Alexander presented Richelieu with this 
map. 

t Richelieu had become the emperor's intimate friend during the emigration, and 
was made Governor of the Crimea. 

VIIL— 14 



210 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xyiii. 

none of the strangers made an attack upon him or felt in- 
terested in his fall. It was within that the tempest arose 
against him. With a strange mixture of presumption and 
frivolity, he was confident of Toeing able to deliver up the revo- 
lution to the king, and the king to the revolution, trusting to 
his skill and audacity to pass and repass from one camp to an. 
other, and govern the one by the other by betraying them in 
turn. It is our weakness and misfortune that in great crises 
the conquered become dumb. The chamber of 1815 could not 
yet be seen except in the distance ; and the Duke of Otranto 
already shook, as if struck by lightning, at the side of the tot- 
tering Talleyrand." * 

The military discipline, the profound and touching confidence 
inspired by their distinguished chiefs and all the sentiments of 
genuine patriotism, produced the submission of the army of 
the Loire, and maintained order in the ranks. The armed re- 
sistance which took place on various points of the frontiers was 
speedily disappearing. A few fortresses on the north and east 
still held out. The small town Huningue was defended till the 
26th of August ; and when at last General Barbanegre capitu- 
lated, and his garrison defiled on the ramparts, there were not 
more than about fifty men. The Archduke John, who com- 
manded the blockading army, thought they formed only the ad- 
vanced guard, and congratulated Barbanegre on his illustrious 
defence. The excessive severity displayed by the armies of oc- 
cupation caused an expiation of the patriotic rage of the provin- 
cial populations ; the violence and exactions of the Prussians, 
then more excusable than in recent times, frequently prcvoked 
the peasantry to secret and stern reprisals. As Secretary -Gene- 
ral of Justice, Guizot one day saw a peasant of Burgundy brought 
into his private room, on charge of having killed several Prus- 
sians. The peasant having boldly denied it, Guizot wished to 
examine him alone. "I shall tell you by yourself ," said the 
wine-grower, " I put seventeen of them into my well." I am 
very certain his confidence did not lead him into trouble. 

On the 13th of July the electoral colleges were summoned by 
royal order to meet on the 14th of August for the new elec- 
tions. The age of eligibility was reduced from forty years to 
twenty-five, and that of the electorate from thirty to twenty- 
one ; while the number of deputies was extended from 250 to 
402. It was decided that the peerage should be hereditary. 

* Guizot's Memoiresi etc., vol. i. 



en. xvni.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 211 

The censure of printed works of less than twenty pages was 
abolished. A largo privy council composed of prominent 
members of various parties assisted, on important occasions, 
in the deliberations of the government. These important re- 
forms were not imposed upon the restored monarchy by any 
real necessity or strong expression of public opinion, but the 
cabinet wished to show itself in favor of a large extension of 
free institutions. They had moreover to conceal from people 
or cause them to forget the severity then exercised against in- 
dividuals, under the violent pressvire of the ultra-royalist jour- 
nals, as well as upon the advice almost amounting to a com- 
mand of the foreign sovereigns. 

" It is only by making a striking example of Napoleon's ac- 
complices that we can hope to make the monarchy last any 
time," wrote Lord Liverpool to Castlereagh. "Severity in 
their case would dispose public opinion in this country to be 
less stern with regard to France." The unchaining of reac- 
tionary passions in the interior was still more significant. 
During the hundred days the king, in his Cambray proclama- 
tion, had already announced the intention of making some 
exceptions to the general amnesty. On the 24th of July, 1815, 
two lists were published, one of which bore the names of nine' 
teen persons to be tried by court-martial; Marshals Ney, 
Grouchy, Bertrand; Generals Lallemand, d'Erlon, Lefebvre- 
Desnouettes, Clauzel, Drouot, Cambronne ; besides Labedoyere, 
Lavalette, and Eovigo. No title was granted to the most dis- 
tinguished favorites of the fallen power. On the second list 
were inscribed the names of thirty-eight accused persons who 
were to leave Paris for certain towns indicated by the minister 
of police, until the chambers should have decided upon their 
fate. Marshal Soult and Bassano were in this number. It 
was with great difficulty that the ministers succeeded in eras- 
ing other names which had been originally indicated by 
Fouche, and which amounted to 110: the Duke of Vicentia, 
General Sebastiani, and Benjamin Constant were among these 
more fortunate exceptions. Twenty-nine peers were excluded 
by name from the upper chamber. Marshal Davout protested 
against the exceptional measures directed against those of his 
friends who like him had served the emperor during the hun- 
dred days. "It is my name that ought to be substituted for 
that of several of them," said he, "since they only obeyed the 
orders I had given them as Minister of War. It is obvious that 
to all the calamities weighing upon our unhappy country are 



gl2 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xyiii 

to be added those of vengeance and proscription." He at the 
same time gave in his resignation as commander-in-chief of the 
army of the Loire ; and was replaced by Marshal Macdonald, 
who began to disband the troops with great success. The order 
to that effect appeared on the 12th of August. 

It was by a constant exercise of self-control and resolute 
patience that the king, the ministers, and the whole of the 
French government succeeded in enduring the hateful vio- 
lence of the Germans, and the intentional severity of the other 
allies. On entering Paris, the Prussians imposed on the cap- 
ital a war contribution of a hundred millions, an exorbitant 
demand which was further aggravated by exactions inces- 
santly renewed. The museums had already begun to be de- 
spoiled, a severe measure due to the mad attempt of the hun- 
dred days. When opening the session of 1814, King Louis 
XVIII. was able to congratulate himself because those master- 
pieces of art thenceforward belonged to us by rights more 
secure and sacred than those of victory. In 1815 the English 
cabinet, with the exception of Castlereagh, was more eager in 
supporting the demands of the nations who had formerly been 
robbed by Napoleon. The directors of the museums alone pro- 
tested : the king might probably have succeeded in retaining 
the works of art granted to France by treaties, but Talley- 
rand's advice was to make no resistance. "Let the Prussians 
disgrace themselves," said he, when the statues and paintings 
were being gradually sent back to the towns they had formerly 
adorned. The foreign troops were more than once obliged to 
protect the wagons loaded with them, against the strong in- 
dignation of the population of Paris. 

Throughout the whole country, according to the various 
temperaments of the provinces, there reigned a violent and 
contradictory agitation. The cantonment of the allied armies 
in the centres of occupation kept up indignation without im- 
posing order. The English army occupied the north; the 
Prussians, all the country between the Seine and the coast; 
the Austrians, Burgundy and the centre of France, and after- 
wards Provence and part of Languedoc ; the Eussians, Cham- 
pagne and Lorraine ; the men of Baden, Alsace. Only some 
western states still remained partially unoccupied ; they were 
still in arms on account of the royalist risings during the hun- 
dred days. The calm and resolute attitude of the,leaders im- 
posed respect upon Blucher himself, who wrote as follows to 
General de Grisolles in command at Morbihan: "Sir, your re- 



ch. xvin.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 213 

quest that I should send the troops under my orders into the 
cantonments occupied by the royal army in Brittany is so rea- 
sonable that I agree to it with much pleasure." There was no 
bloodshed in the west, but bands of men overran the country 
parts, demanding arbitrary contributions and ill-treating the 
inhabitants. The whole of the south was on fire. 

It was a bitter inheritance of the keenly-fought struggles and 
long religious persecution that the population of the south of 
France were left divided into parties in violent or secret hos- 
tility, who had for more than a century been perpetually tossed 
between the alternatives of triumph and oppression. The 
Protestants, who had long bent under a painful yoke which 
years had scarcely alleviated, found themselves delivered by 
the dawn of the French Revolution, which they hailed with 
transport. Amongst them a certain number of the constitu- 
tionals had paid, on the scaffold of "The Terror," for their 
generous self-illusions in 1789. The mass of the Protestant 
population remained attached to the principles of the revolu- 
tion. They had been well treated under the empire, and had 
been of service to it. The attempt of the hundred days found 
them generally favorable, and some acts of violence were com- 
mitted against the royalists who in several places supported 
the brave efforts of the Due d'Angouleme. Even where 
religious passions had no great influence, political passions 
were violently excited among those populations who were 
equally hot-headed in their opposition. Napoleon's final fal 
was the signal for a shameful letting loose of vengeance which 
had recently been accumulated. In their violence the populace, 
in various towns, selected startling victims. Marshal Brune 
was murdered at Avignon on the 2nd of August. An old 
soldier of the revolution, without favor under the empire, he 
had been appointed during the hundred days to a command in 
the Var. He retired immediately upon the restoration, after 
taking the Bourbon colors from the regiment, and was fur- 
nished with a passport from the king's government when he 
arrived on the morning of the 2nd of August, at the Hotel de 
Poste in Avignon. Being quickly recognized and denounced, 
he was violently attacked by the maddened populace. In vain 
did the prefect and mayor, supported by several national 
guards, try to rescue him from the senseless mob. The car- 
riage was stopped, the hotel surrounded and besieged; the 
marshal traced to his room and shot in the head. It was at 
once given out that he had killed himself to escape his execu* 



214 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xyiii. 

tioners. The murderers broke up the coffin in which their 
victim's body was concealed from them, dragged it to the 
Rhone, and hurled it into its waters. The corpse was washed 
ashore on the bank, but it was not till two years afterwards 
that the marshal's widow succeeded in finding her husband's 
remains. 

At Toulouse similar scenes characterized the murder of Gen- 
eral Ramel. Honorable and brave, he in vain exerted himself, 
as commander of the department, in repressing the excessive 
violence of the royalist population. He had dissolved tbe com- 
panies of royal volunteers formed at Toulouse during the hun- 
dred days, and serving as the rallying-point of disorder. On 
the 15th of August, when entering his hotel, the general was 
attacked by an armed band. The sentinel before his door was 
killed, and the general, severely wounded, succeeded with great 
difficulty in entering his house. The crowd continued to in- 
crease, being at every moment encouraged and excited by 
base and lying reports. The doors of the house and then the 
chamber were forced open. The unfortunate general was 
dragged from the bed whence he was rising to dress, and the 
assassins threw themselves furiously upon him, but without at 
once putting an end to his life. He expired at the end of thirty- 
six hours in the most fearful agony. The authorities had 
spread the report of his death in the hope of putting an end 
to the violence of the populace. Marseilles and Carpentras 
became the theatres of scenes of outrage. Information was 
freely circulated against the partisans of the empire, but the 
fury of the multitude did not await the vengeance of the law. 
The efforts of the Due d'Angouleme to organize the military 
government of the five divisions of the south sufficed not to 
check the most terrible disorder. 

The prince soon found himself obliged to enter Gard in per- 
son, there to appease troubles more violent still, excited and 
aggravated by religious animosities. Just after the fall of 
Napoleon, various gangs of men had banded themselves to- 
gether, drawn from the lowest classes, and driven on by the 
shameful promoters of a cowardly revenge and an ignoble 
greed. At their head marched some known leaders, Trestail- 
lons, Quatretaillons, Truphemy, — names or surnames odious 
still on account of the memories they excite among the Prot- 
estant population. Everywhere reigned the white terror ; the 
Protestants of Nimes and Uzes were plunged in fear ; the gar- 
rison had abandoned its artillery to the desperadoes who over- 



ch. xvm.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 215 

ran the streets, maltreating and insulting Protestant women ; 
in retiring, a great number of the soldiers were killed, while 
the mob pillaged the barracks of the gendarmerie. In the 
country isolated houses were attacked and plundered. In the 
town, they forced the doors of numerous dwellings. The au- 
thorities, feeble or disarmed, remained powerless, lavishing 
proclamations in vain, without having recourse to effective 
repression. The contagion of the evil spread ; for more than 
three months Nimes and the environs remained a prey to this 
detestable rabble. When the Due d'Angouleme arrived at 
Nimes in the month of November, he ordered the reopening of 
the Protestant churches which had been closed under the pre- 
text of shunning the disturbance. The day after his departure 
General Lagarde, protecting the entrance of the Protestants 
into the church, was seriously injured by the shot of a pistol 
fired quite close to him. A few moments afterwards, he said 
to Madame Guizot, " Keep near my horse, no harm will come 
to you." Some months later his assassin, although known to 
all, was to be acquitted by the jury, under the violent pres- 
sure of religious and political fanaticism, on the pretext that 
the general had himself excited the crowd and wounded in- 
offensive passers-by. Meantime the churches remained closed. 
Enraged by this horrible violence, the passions excited in all 
minds were for a long time to maintain in the departments of 
the south a sullen feeling of which the remembrance is not 
yet even effaced. 

The disturbances of the elections had aggravated the popular 
violence at various points. The scrutinies were finished, the 
deputies arrived at Paris, but the whole extent of the new re- 
turns was not yet understood ; enough, however, was known 
meanwhile to assure people that the chamber would be keenly 
royalist. The minister found himself deceived in his hopes ; 
his leaders were not in a condition to face the struggle which 
was impending. A courtier and a diplomatist, not a man for 
government, and less for a liberal government than any other, 
M. de Talleyrand still suffered under the displeasure of the 
Emperor of Eussia and the secret aversion of King Louis 
XVIII. Fouche was cleverly intriguing on his account and in 
his personal interest. A few days later both had to succumb, 
and their cabinet fell with them. Talleyrand was yet to ren- 
der brilliant services to his country, but Fouche's career was 
ended. He accepted the petty and remote mission at Dresden, 
and left Paris under a disguise, which he only dropped at the 



216 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xviil 

frontier, in the dread of being seen in his native country, 
which he was never to look upon again. 

" The cabinet of the Due de Richelieu entered on its duties 
with the good-will of the king and even of the party which the 
elections had sent into power. It was a truly original and 
royalist ministry. Its leader, but recently returned to France, 
honored by Europe, loved by the Emperor Alexander, was for 
King Louis XVIII. what the king himself was for France, the 
pledge of a more durable peace. Decazes, young and amiable, 
distinguished from his first appearance hi the magistracy, had 
pleased the king personally, and he was nominated minister 
of police. The new keeper of the seal, Barbe-Marbois, belonged 
to that generously liberal old France, which had accepted and 
sustained with an enlightened moderation the principles that 
were dear to new France."* Guizot filled as his colleague the 
office of secretary -general. 

The Due de Richelieu had a double mission. He had to 
negotiate peace with the allies and to direct the new chamber, 
as inexperienced as it was enthusiastic. The former task de- 
manded at first all his efforts. He was more qualified for it 
than for the coming struggles in the political arena. Sup- 
ported in his negotiations by the faithful friendship of the 
Emperor Alexander as well as by the fairness of Lord Castle- 
reagh, he obtained several favorable modifications in the con- 
ditions of the treaty. The insane claims of Germany for the 
dismemberment of France had been long since abandoned. 
Reduced in theory to her frontiers of 1790, France kept the 
forts of Joux and L'Ecluse and the fortresses of Conde, Givet, 
and Charlemont. The war indemnity was reduced from eight 
to seven hundred millions ; the duration of the occupation of 
the fortresses of the east and of the north by the allies was 
fixed at five years instead of seven, but the districts of Bel- 
gium, Savoy, and Germany, which had been delivered to the 
French in 1814 by the treaty of Paris, were definitively taken 
away from them, and the fortifications of Huningue were to 
be razed. When he at last signed, on the 20th of November, 
the vigorous conditions which he had disputed from point to 
point with the exigencies of the allied sovereigns, the Due de 
Richelieu wrote to his sister, Madame de Montcalm : ' ' All is 
over. I have put, more dead than alive, my name to this 
fatal treaty. I had sworn not to do it, and I had said so to 

* M. Guizot, Memoir e& pour servir a Vhistoire de mon temps. 



ch. xviii. ] PARLIAMENTAR Y GO VEBNMENT. 2 17 

the king. The unhappy prince has beseech ed me, melting in 
tears, not to abandon him. I have not hesitated ; I have the 
assurance of believing that no one would have obtained so much. 
France, expiring beneath the weight of the calamities which 
overwhelm her, calls imperiously for a speedy deliverance." 

Before the signature of the treaty, and when its principal 
conditions were in abeyance, the allied sovereigns successively 
left Paris (Sept. and Oct., 1815). They had once more renewed 
among themselves the engagements of Chaumont against that 
power of Napoleon, fallen from henceforth, and against the 
revolutionary spirit, which appeared to be conquered. They 
had at the same time concluded a new convention about which 
there has been much talk without clear understanding, and 
which has been confounded with the coalition recently formed 
against the French. Under the influence of the Emperor Alex- 
ander, himself inspired by a woman of great spirit, vain, and 
mystic (the Baroness de Kriidener), the sovereigns of Russia, 
Prussia, and Austria bound themselves by a treaty rather 
theoretical than practical, conceived in a vague spirit of re- 
ligion, and prepared by the Czar. The three monarchs, con- 
vinced of the necessity of establishing mutual relations be^ 
tween the powers based on the sublime truths inculcated by 
the eternal religion of God the Saviour, had resolved to engage 
themselves in the ties of an insoluble fraternity as the dele- 
gates of Providence, charged with governing three branches 
of one and the same family, and hoping for a mutual reward 
for protecting religion, peace, and justice. They called upon 
their peoples, to grow stronger every day in the principles and 
the exercise of the duties which the Divine Saviour has taught 
to men, and they invited all the sovereigns to join themselves 
to them in order to tie the bonds of the holy alliance. In 
deference to the wishes of the Czar, almost all the allied 
princes adhered to this convention, as strange as it was sadly 
inefficacious. King Louis XVIII. did not refuse his consent. 
The Prince Regent of England alone took no part in it ; the 
treaty was the personal work of the sovereigns, and was 
signed directly by them, while constitutional government as 
it was practised in England did not admit of the official inter- 
vention of princes in such negotiations. This abstention was 
much remarked upon when the text of the holy alliance was 
published, and curious spirits exercised themselves to dis- 
cover in it a hidden meaning far from the thoughts either of 
the Emperor Alexander or of his devoted friend. 



218 HISTORY OF FRANCE. ch. xviii. 

The work of external pacification was achieved, while that 
of the interior, still more necessary and important, appeared 
further than ever from attainment. The hundred days had 
done a still greater evil to France than the loss of the blood 
and the treasure which they had cost her ; they rekindled the 
old quarrel which the empire had stifled and which the char- 
ter was intended to extinguish — the quarrel between old and 
new France, between the emigres and the revolutionists. It 
was not only among political parties but among rival classes, 
that the struggle began in 1815 as it had burst forth in 1789. 
For the first time for five-and-twenty years the royalists saw 
themselves the stronger. While believing their triumph legit- 
imate, they were a little surprised and intoxicated by it, and 
delivered themselves over to the enjoyment of power with a 
mixture of arrogance and ardor, as if they were little accus- 
tomed to conquer, and not very sure of the force which they 
hastened to display. Very different causes threw the chamber 
of 1815 into the violent reaction which has remained its his- 
torical characteristic. First and foremost were the passions 
of the royalist party, its good and bad feelings, its moral and 
personal sentiments, the intention of restoring to honor the 
respect for sacred things, old attachments, sworn faith, and 
the pleasure of oppressing its former conquerors. To the 
transports of passion was joined the calculation of interests. 
For the security of parties, for the fortune of persons, the new 
lords of France required to take possession of places and 
power; there the field was to be cultivated and the ground to 
be occupied, that they might gather the fruits of their vic- 
tory. Then came the empire of ideas. After so many years 
of great occurrences and great strifes, the royalists had on all 
political and social questions systematic views to realize, his- 
torical traditions to perpetuate, and spiritual wants to satisfy. 
They were not working to destroy the charter and to restore 
the old regime, as has been often said of them ; they hastened 
to put their hand to the work, eager to enjoy their victory, 
believing that the day was come at last to recover in their 
country both morally and materially, in thought as in deed, 
the ascendancy which they had lost for so long a time. 

Their passions were represented by Bourdonnaye, while 
Villele defended their interests, and Bonald their ideas. They 
were all three highly qualified for their parts, and conducted 
ably to its goal the party which was in power at the opening 
of the session in the chamber of 1815. Under their controJ 



ch. xvnx] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 219 

this chamber had the merit of practising energetically the 
constitutional government, which in 1814 had hardly emerged 
from the torpor of the empire, but in this novel task it could 
guard neither equity nor propriety, nor moderation ; it wished 
to dominate the king and France at the same time. It was 
proud and independent, sometimes liberal, often revolutionary 
in its proceedings towards the Crown, and at the same time 
violent and anti-revolutionary towards the country. This 
was too much to attempt ; it was necessary to make a choice, 
and to be either monarchical or popular. The Chamber of 
1815 was neither the one nor the other, the governing spirit, 
yet more necessary in a free government than under a des- 
potism, was completely wanting in it. 

Also there was seen promptly forming against it and in its 
very heart an opposition which became ere long at once 
popular and monarchical, for it simultaneously defended 
against the party in power the Crown which was thus rashly 
offended and the country which was deeply disturbed. And 
after some great struggles, sustained on both sides with sin- 
cere energy, this opposition, strong in royal favor and public 
sympathy, frequently overpowered the majority, and became 
the governing party. Serre, Eoyer-Collard, and Camille 
Jordan were from the first the eloquent leaders of the new 
party, pledged to the service of the restoration as against the 
reaction. Pasquier, Beugnot, Simeon, De Barante, and De 
Sainte-Aulaire supported them ardently. The struggle began 
just after the opening of the session. The king's speech had 
been sad and firm in its judicious moderation, and the almost 
unanimous election of M. Laine as president, and the vote of 
the address had not raised any violent storms in the Chamber 
of Deputies. But the tendencies which were soon to manifest 
themselves so emphatically had made their appearance in the 
plan of the address of the Chamber of Peers. Chateaubriand 
had demanded that they should again place in the hands of 
the king the power of dispensing justice. Soon the thirst for 
revenge burst forth in the discussion of the laws proposed to 
the chambers by the government, some expressly temporary 
in their nature, as the law on the suspension of individual 
liberty and the establishment of courts martial, others perma- 
nent and belonging to the section of definite legislation, as 
those for the supression of seditious acts and for the amnesty. 
Everywhere the amendments proposed by the ultra-royalists, 
as they were soon called, tended greatly to aggravate the 



220 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [en. ma. 

troubles ; many exceptions to the amnesty were loudly called 
for. The moderate royalists eloquently defended the projects 
of the government. " It is not always the number of penalties 
which save an empire," said Royer-Collard, "the art of gov- 
erning men is more difficult, and the glory of it is to be ac- 
quired at a higher price. We shall be punished enough, if we 
are wise and clever, never enough if we are not so." Serre 
repelled boldly the confiscations disguised under the name of 
indemnities to the state. " The revolutionaries have done 
so," said he, " they would do so again if they seized the power. 
It is precisely because they have acted thus that you should 
refrain from following their odious example, and that by the 
distorted sense of an expression which is untrue, by an arti- 
fice which would be altogether unworthy of the stage. Gen- 
tlemen, our treasure may belittle, but it is pure!" The 
amendments were rejected ; only the banishment of regicides 
remained inscribed in the project of law, without which no one 
might dare to plead in their favor. ' ' There are divine laws 
which the human powers cannot prevent, but which they 
should know not to oppose when revealed by the course of 
events."* 

The exceptions to the amnesty remained numerous enough 
and important enough. Many of the accused had already 
been arrested, others had succeeded in escaping; Lavalette 
was himself constituted a prisoner. Labedoyere had been 
recognized in a stage coach by an agent of police at the 
moment when he was bidding good-bye to his wife. Early in 
August he appeared in Paris before a council of war. His 
crime was as notorious as the influence which he had exer- 
cised. The Ultras let loose their passions against him whom 
they regarded as a renegade from their cause. The journal 
Vlndependant, which took up his defence, was suppressed; 
the accused defended himself, pleading his own cause nobly 
and simply. "I have been deceived regarding the true in- 
terests of France," he said; "some glorious memories, my 
warm love of the fatherland, some illusions have been able to 
mislead me, but the greatness even of the sacrifices I have 
made in breaking off the dearest of ties proves that no per- 
sonal motive entered into my conduct. I declare that I had 
no hand in any plot which may have preceded the return of 
Napoleon. I shall say more ; I am convinced that there was 

•Guizot, Mimoires pour servir & Vhistoire de mon temps. 



ch. xvm.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 221 

no express conspiracy to bring Napoleon back from Elba." 
Labedoyere was condemned, and his wife threw herself in 
vain at the feet of the king. "I know your sentiments and 
those of your family, madame," he replied, "never was it 
more painful for me to pronounce a refusal." Benjamin Con- 
stant drew up a memorial in his favor. But, on the 19th of 
August, the young general died courageously, himself com- 
manding the soldiers to fire. 

Five weeks later, on the 27th of September, the twin 
brothers Faucher, both generals of the republic, both carried 
away by the enthusiasm of the hundred days, without having 
ever served under the empire, expiated, in their turn, the 
insurrection which had taken place in their little town of 
Reole, and which, it was said, they had instigated. The 
public prosecutor, like the magistrates, displayed towards 
them the most disgusting violence. A decree of the Court of 
Orleans condemned Lavalette to death. 

A more illustrious culprit attracted all attention at this 
time. Marshal Ney had been arrested on the 5th of August in 
a friend's house, where he was hiding. A rare weapon, left 
inadvertently on a table, had betrayed his whereabouts. " He 
does more harm to us in letting himself be arrested than he 
has ever yet done," said King Louis XVIET., rightly foreseeing 
the evils which he knew not how to avoid. Immediately 
brought to Paris, the marshal was transferred to a council of 
war, which declared itself incompetent; the accused, belong- 
ing to the Chamber of Peers, was to be tried by it. The case 
was opened in the Chamber with a speech by the Due de 
Richelieu, composed, it was said, by Laine, and stamped un- 
fortunately, by the strong passions which then prevailed 
among the Royalists. The indictment bore the same charac- 
ter. It was not till the 4th of December that the marshal 
appeared before the court. 

The ambassadors of the four great powers signatory to the 
capitulation of Paris, had refused to interpose on behalf of the 
culprit, who claimed the benefit of this act. Meanwhile, the 
defenders of the marshal recurred in the first place to the 
article guaranteeing personal safety. The king, having signed 
this convention, found himself, they contended, bound by 
such signature not to investigate past acts. Dupin and 
Berryer were equally desirous of making the best of the 
clause which sheltered from prosecution all the inhabitants of 
the ceded countries : the marshal belonged originally to Sarre- 



222 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xviil 

louis. He himself protested against this advocate's quirk. 
" I was born French," he cried, " I wish to live and die French ■ 
I thank my generous defenders, but I beg them rather to 
renounce my defence than to present it incomplete ; I am 
accused, contrary to the faith of treaties, and they would not 
have me invoke them. From them, I appeal, like Moreau, to 
Europe and to posterity I" 

The court interdicted the argument on the subject of the 
bearing of the capitulation of Paris ; the acts of Marshal Ney 
were notorious, and the hearing of witnesses was only capable 
of conveying hope to the accused himself and to his friends. 
The deposition of General de Bourmont drew from the mar- 
shal a reply which transferred to him, in turn, the weight of 
culpability. "It is seven months since the witness prepared 
his evidence," Ney exclaimed ; " he has had time to do it well. 
He believed that I should be treated like Labedoyere, that we 
should never find ourselves face to face ; but it is otherwise. 
I come to the point. The fact is that, on the 14th of March, I 
asked for the signal with Marshal Lecourbe . . . pity it is 
that Lecourbe is no more, but I summon him against all these 
witnesses before a higher tribunal, before God, who hears us, 
and who shall judge us, — you and me, Monsieur le Bourmont! 
I consulted you. No one said to me, you are risking your 
honor and your reputation for this fatal cause ! . . . Bour- 
mont collected the troops. He had a great command, and 
could arrest me ; I was alcne and had not a single saddle-horse 
on which to escape. When I was reading the proclamation, 
Bourmont and Lecourbe were with me ; the officers, like the 
soldiers, threw themselves upon us, they embraced us, they 
stifled us. The superior officers came to dine at my house ; I 
was sad, and nevertheless the table was merry; there is the 
truth, Monsieur de Bourmont. You said that I should have 
to take a carabine and charge at the head of my troops, who 
would follow me ! I was still twenty leagues from Napoleon's 
columns, and I had already raised two regiments. Would 
you have marched under such conditions? I believe not, you 
have not strength of character enough." 

Forbidden to have recourse to the capitulation of Paris, the 
defenders of the marshal were completely disarmed; they 
were driven to descant on the career of the accused, and on 
the services which he had rendered to France. The argument 
of the attorney-general, Bellart, was severe and violent. The 
royal commissioners requested the Court of Peers to pro- 



ch. xvin. ] PARLIAMENTAR Y GO VERNMENT. 223 

nounce capital sentence against Marshal Ney, convicted of 
high treason. Lanjuinais alone refrained from answering the 
various questions set by the court ; he declared that he was 
unable, conscientiously, to decide, the defence not having 
been complete. One hundred and fifty -nine voices voted the 
culpability. The Due de Broglie, still very young, and sitting 
for the first time in the chamber, opposed it boldly ; he main- 
tained that when a revolution has triumphed so completely as 
to become temporarily the government of the country, there 
results from it on behalf of the acts which have created the 
government a kind of prescription which does not allow of 
their being prosecuted. When they came to the application 
for the penalty, seventeen voices declared on the second vote 
for deportation. Five peers abstained from voting. One 
hundred and thirty-nine voices pronounced for capital punish- 
ment. Among these rigorous judges, were counted many 
marshals and generals, companion s-in-arms of Marshal Ney. 
The fatal sentence was passed on the 7th of December, at two 
o'clock in the morning. 

Some hours later, Marshal Ney, Due d'Elchingen and 
Prince de la Moskawa, heard in his prison of the Luxembourg 
the decree of his condemnation. " Say Michel Ney, and ere 
long but a little dust," said he, interrupting the Eecorder of 
the Court, Cauchy, in the enumeration of his titles. His wife 
and children had hastened to join him ; he spoke to them for 
a long time, consoling his wife, who several times fainted. 
He feigned to believe in the possibility of a pardon, in order to 
put an end to these sad farewells. The lady hurried to the 
Tuileries; the audience which she solicited was refused, "her 
demand not having sufficient object;" already her husband 
had succumbed under platoon fire at the entrance of the 
Grand Avenue of the Observatoire. " Soldiers, straight to the 
heart!" he cried. Before commanding the fire, he protested 
against the judgment which condemned him. " I appeal from 
it to mankind, to posterity, and to God ! Long live France !" 

It was in 1815, in the midst of the passions which raised up 
the great political persecutions, the weakness and the injury 
of the king and the government to allow themselves to be 
carried along by the transports of the party, to which they 
yielded all without resisting. "There were assuredly grave 
reasons for leaving the law to take its free course : it was of 
consequence that generations formed in the vicissitudes of the 
revolution and in the triumphs of the empire might learn by 



224 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvm 

brilliant examples that the power and the success of the 
moment did not decide everything, that there are inviolable 
duties, that one may not tamper with impunity with the 
forms of government and with the peace of the people, and 
that at this terrible game the most powerful, the most illustri- 
ous, risk their honor and their life. 

" But another grand truth must enter into the balance, and 
weigh heavily in the final decision. The Emperor Napoleon 
had maintained his position for a lengthened period and with 
brilliance, accepted and admired by France and by Europe, 
and supported by the devotion of a host of men, by the army 
and the people. The ideas of right and duty, the sentiments 
of respect and fidelity, were confused and in conflict in many 
minds. There were, seemingly, two legitimate and natural 
forms of government, and many spirits might, without per- 
versity, have been troubled in their choice. King Louis 
XVIII. and his counsellors could, in their turn, without weak- 
ness, have taken account of this moral disturbance. Marshal 
Ney, pardoned and banished after his condemnation, by 
letters royal, in which the reasons were gravely stated— this 
had been royally rising up like a dam above all, friends and 
enemies, in order to arrest the flow of blood, and, in this way, 
the reaction of 1815 had been subdued and closed, as well as 
the hundred days." * 

King Louis XVIII. did not know how to seize this occasion 
to place clemency by the side of justice, and to display above a 
head condemned that granduer of spirit and heart which had 
also its influence in establishing power and commanding fidel- 
ity. The passion of revenge which had seized the royalist 
party was not yet appeased. The appeal of Lavalette had been 
rejected some days after the execution of Marshal Ney. A 
stranger to all public duties under the first restoration, he had 
not betrayed any oath in serving the Emperor Napoleon ; yet 
he was condemned to death, and the most odious rage was pro- 
voked against him. At the suggestion of Decazes, the Due de 
Richelieu counselled the Duchess d'Angouleme to request his 
pardon from the king, who was quite ready to grant it. Per- 
sonally, and by instinct, the duchess was disposed to implore 
this favor, but her friends opposed it. Marshal Marmont 
vainly multiplied his efforts in order to obtain a pardon, 
which Madame Lavalette begged on her knees. The culprit 

* Memoires pour servir a Vhistoire de mon temps. 



CS. xvm.j PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 225 

asked to be allowed to die by the bullets of the soldiers in place 
of having to mount the scaffold, but his request was rejected. 
His friends then concurred in a scheme to effect his escape. 

On the 20th of December, Madame Lavalette arrived at five 
o'clock at the gates of the prison of the Conciergerie, in order 
to dine there with her husband, according to custom ; she was 
accompanied by her daughter, and by an old waiting-maid. 
At seven o'clock, covered with his wife's dress, leaning on the 
shoulder of his daughter, his face concealed in his handker- 
chief as if to hide his tears, the criminal went forth from his 
prison ; he crossed the halls of the Palais de Justice and the 
posts of the gendarmerie ; delayed for a moment at the outer 
gate by the absence of the porters, he entered a sedan chair, and 
was conducted to the Eue de Harlay, where one of his friends 
waited for him with a cabriolet. Harbored for five days at 
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, in the house of Bresson, head 
of the account-office, he was at last escorted out of France by 
Sir Robert Wilson, an English officer who generously devoted 
himself to saving political prisoners.* Lavalette was to turn 
old in exile, oppressed by the sufferings which ruined his life 
and his energy. The emotions which his wife had undergone 
affected her reason. The rage of the ultras on the subject of 
the escape was so violent that they made it the object of a 
summons against the ministry before the Chamber of Deputies. 
The tattle of the drawing rooms was disgusting. "Ah! the 
little villain!" said one lady, generally good and gentle, in 
speaking of Mademoiselle Lavalette, an accomplice in her 
father's escape. The poor child could not remain in the con- 
vent where she was being educated, many families having 
threatened in that case to withdraw their daughters. "It is 
said that they make it languish," some persons remarked, in 
speaking of the long interval which elapsed between the 
arrest of Marshal Ney and his trial; " they make us languish 
also. Do they think that two heads can suffice to expiate the 
outrage of the 20th of March ?" 

The public sentiment in France was not in accord with this 
misrule of violence, and it was with sincere satisfaction that it 
received the acquittal of Generals Drouot and Cambronne, and 
the commutation of sentence granted by the king to Generals 
Boyer, Debelle, and Travot and to Admiral Linois. Two 
months before the execution of Marshal Ney, the companion 



* Sir Robert underwent in his turn a trial for this cause. 

VIII. —15 



226 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvm. 

of his most brilliant military exploits, Joachim Murat, recently 
King of Naples, had also succumbed under platoon fire (13th 
October, 1815). More fortunate than Ney, in spite of his still 
graver faults, he owed not his death to French bullets. Flat- 
tered by a vain hope of recovering his kingdom, he had pro- 
jected a disembarkment on the coast of Calabria, he was in- 
duced to land at the port of Pizzo ; betrayed by the captain of 
his vessel, he was seized and the men who accompanied him 
were either killed or made prisoners. Condemned to death by 
court-martial, he was shot in a yard of the fortress. " I have 
too often braved death to fear it, " said he when some one 
wished to bind his eyes. These heroes of so many battles were 
still young. Ney was forty-seven years of age ; Murat had 
attained his forty-fifth year. 

The period of great political trials was not yet at an end. 
Generals Lefebvre-Desnouettes, Drouet d'Erlon, and Lalle- 
mand, were condemned by default ; General Chartran was ex- 
ecuted ; General Mouton-Duvernet, hidden for many months 
at Montbrison, in the house of M. de Meaux, an ardent royalist, 
delivered himself up on seeing his protector threatened, and 
was executed on the 27th of July, 1816. Donnadieu, who com- 
manded at Grenoble, had attributed an illusory importance to 
a conspiracy directed by Paid Didier, an old constitutional, 
who had been tossed from party to party, and who seemed to 
plot from a natural turn for intrigue rather than from any 
very definite object. He sometimes spoke of Napoleon II., 
sometimes of the Due d'Orleans, as the sovereign whom he 
wished to give to France, and his principal plan appeared to 
be a sudden military attack on Grenoble. The attempt to 
carry this plan into execution was soon suppressed by the 
police of the town, who were on their guard for several days 
before. Six men were killed among the insurgents. The 
general wrote to Paris in a transport of excitement, "Long 
live the king ! I have just time to say to your Excellency that 
his Majesty's troops have covered themselves with glory. At 
midnight the hills were iUumined by the fires of rebellion 
throughout the province. The town has been attacked on all 
sides at once. I should not be able to praise too much the 
brave legion of the Isere, and its worthy colonel. Already 
more than sixteen miscreants are in our power; a great num- 
ber more is expected. The court-martial is going to deal 
promptly and severely. We estimate the number of the 
wretches who have attacked the town at 4000." 



CH. xviii.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 227 

The exaggeration of the details was flagrant, but this was not 
enough, unfortunately, to enlighten the government, which 
was excited and suspicious. The general and the prefect, who 
vied with each other in zeal, had already put Grenoble in a 
state of siege. They were invested with enlarged powers, and 
the ministry believed itself obliged to refuse forgiveness, even 
to those of the accused who were interceded for by the most 
important inhabitants in the town. Twenty -five of the insur- 
gents were executed ; their chief, Paul Didier, perished on the 
scaffold on the 10th of May. When the truth respecting the 
gravity of the danger which threatened Grenoble at last found 
its way to bight, the reaction of public opinion was so strong 
that it accused Decazes of having combined with General 
Donnadieu in getting up a mock-insurrection. Other conspir- 
acies meanwhile received an undoubted stimulus. At Paris 
a popular plot cost the lives of its three leaders, Plaignier, 
Carbonneau, and Tolleron, poor workmen, misled by foolish 
hopes. The scaffold was likewise set up in the departments 
of Sarthe and Somme. The agitation prevails at all points. 
The journals fomented it with passion. In the heart even 
of the cabinet union was not complete. The Due de Riche- 
lieu, ceaselessly thwarted by the whimsical independence 
of M. de Vaublanc, demanded and obtained his replacement 
by Laine\ At the same time, and to satisfy the royalists, 
Barbe-Marbois, who displeased them, was removed from the 
Ministry of Justice, and Dambray recovered the seals of office. 
After a prolonged and fruitless discussion on the electoral 
law, and the much disputed budget vote, the chamber ended 
its first session on the 20th of April, 1816. Notwithstanding 
the changes, it broke up in an excited state, still disquieted by 
fears of the future and of the opposition party, moderate and 
monarchical, which it saw in its midst. At its head those men 
took their place every day more distinctly who were then 
honored by the name of Doctrinaires. They were bold and 
honest, devoted to the reconstruction of society anew on wide 
and solid foundations, without animosity towards the ancien 
eegime, without weakness for revolutionary theories, and 
doing their country the credit of believing it capable of learn- 
ing to govern itself, and of emerging from chaos while advanc- 
ing towards knowledge. Royer-Collard was their veritable 
leader, and at his side fought Serre. 

In 1816 it was the honor of Decazes to comprehend, and to 
be the first to make, the effort necessary to escape from chaos. 



228 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xviil 

The schism between the country and the chamber was every 
day becoming greater. He felt that dissolution was indispensa- 
ble, and he undertook to gain over to that idea the Due de 
Richelieu, Laine, and the king himself. He demanded from 
his friends — among others from Guizot, who had a short time 
before re-entered the Council of State as master of petitions 
— the notes with which he often supported his reasonings. The 
disturbances which had spread among the corps diplomatique 
were of equal service to his cause. "If the ultras come to 
power, as the Comte d'Artois is loudly declaring," wrote the 
ambassadors, " the ministry will not last a month; but, while 
waiting for its fall, he will have agitated the country, put the 
monarchy in danger, and rendered impossible of fulfilment the 
engagements into which France has entered at the instance of 
the foreign powers." 

The king chose his side. He had hesitated a long time, and 
his hesitations were natural. How was he to dissolve the first 
pronouncedly royalist chamber which had assembled for five- 
and-twenty years— a chamber which he himself had qualified 
as introuvable, and in which he counted so many of his oldest 
friends? Meanwhile the chamber had been more than once 
irreverent, and almost as disrespectful towards him as a revo- 
lutionary assembly could have been. It often insulted the 
charter, and sometimes menaced it : now the charter was the 
work of the king ; he held it as his glory, and considered him- 
self bound to defend it. On Wednesday, 14th August, at the 
rising of the Council, the king stopped his ministers as they 
were about to leave. ' ' Gentlemen, " he said, ' ' the moment has 
arrived for coming to a determination with respect to the 
Chamber of Deputies. Three months ago I had decided upon 
summoning it, and that was my opinion a month ago. But all 
I have seen, all that I see every day, proves so clearly the 
spirit of the party which rules the chamber, the dangers with 
which it threatens France and myself are so evident, that my 
opinion has completely changed. From this moment you may 
regard the chamber as dissolved." 

The king had ordered this to be kept secret, which was care- 
i fully done. On the 5th of September, at half -past eleven at 
night, the Due de Richelieu informed Monsieur that the ordi- 
nance of dissolution was signed, and would be in the Moniteur 
in the morning. The king's door was closed, and the wrath of 
Monsieur had to wait till the next day to blow itself off vainly. 
The preamble announced that the king had determined to 



ch. xvin.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 229 

revert simply to the original text of the charter. "We are 
convinced, " said Louis XVIII. , ' ' that the wants and the wishes 
of our subjects will be united to preserve intact the constitu- 
tional charter, based on the public law of France and the 
guarantee of general peace. We have, in consequence, judged 
it necessary to reduce the Chamber of Deputies to the number 
fixed by the charter, and only to summon men of the age of 
forty years. 1 ' The new Chamber of Deputies was called for 
the 4th of November. 

The ebullition of public joy was lively and general. The 
anger of the ultras was equalled by the satisfaction of the 
moderate men. "Those who had for a long time been accus- 
tomed to shout ' Long live the king !' " kept silence. Those 
who had kept silence shouted 'Long live the king!'" says 
Montlosier in his book De la Monarchie franqaise. ' ' France 
breathes again: the charter triumphs and the king reigns," 
wrote Lally-Tollendal to Decazes. The instructions given by 
the latter to the prefects were as moderate as they were wise. 
He himself summed them up in saying, ' ' Whether we get to 
the king by a charter, or to the charter by the king, our arrival 
shall be equally welcome." On the whole, the elections re- 
sponded to this honest and patriotic appeal. The government 
passed henceforth into the hands of men of moderate opinions, 
which people came to know under the name of the Centre. 
The charter had placed the bases of constitutional government 
in their great and important aspects, and it (the Centre) occu- 
pied itself after this in defining them, and in regulating their 
application in detail. 

The discussion of the electoral law took up almost the entire 
session of 1816. "I have adopted all the principles of this 
measure, " wrote Laine to Guizot, a few days before the open- 
ing of the debate. "The concentration of the franchise, 
direct election, equal rights of voters, their meeting in a 
single assembly in each department— I really believe these to 
be the best. I have, however, still some perplexities of spirit 
on some of these questions, and very little time 10 get out of 
them. Help me to prepare the draft of the motions." The 
bill introduced by the ministry, and violently attacked by the 
right, had a two-fold aim— to put an end to the revolutionary 
regime, and to put in force constitutional government. The 
principles on which this bill rested obtained for France thirty 
years of a regular and liberal government, at once seriously 
sustained and controlled. Tossed since then on the heaving 



230 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xviii. 

surface of universal suffrage, we turn with respectful sorrow 
towards that quiet harbor which the tempest of 1848 compelled 
us to leave, without other storms having brought us any- 
nearer to it. 

The electoral law was succeeded by the law of enlistment, a 
wise and far-reaching conception of Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, 
who had replaced the Due de Feltre as minister of war. The 
martial insisted from the first on the principle that all classes 
of the nation were called upon to assist in forming the army, 
without getting into the way, as Germany did then, of making 
military service compulsory for all. This idea had always 
been strange to the organization of the French army, but it 
was to be imposed upon us by the unforeseen reverses. In 
accordance with the equality established in the military nation 
by Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, those who entered by the lowest 
rank had the right of promotion to the highest ; and this was 
partly assured to them by the ascending scale of the middle 
ranks. Those who aspired to enter by a higher grade, were at 
first bound to show by competition some merit already ac- 
quired, then to acquire by hard study the special instruction 
for their duty. The obligations imposed upon, and the rights 
recognized by all, were upheld by law. 

The supreme test of legislators is the long result of their 
labors. More than one has succumbed ; others have not had 
time to find out by experience the merits or defects of their 
conceptions. Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr created for France a 
strong and faithful army, religiously preserving the memory 
of past glory, and animated by a severely military spirit. 
Other circumstances have enfeebled this salutary influence, 
and we have gathered the bitter fruits of the lax system which 
was introduced under the second empire into both the morals 
and the interior organization of the army. When, at the 
opening of the session of 1818, the illustrious warrior came 
himself to the tribime, to defend at once the new army he 
wished to create and the old army which he wished to attach 
to the new one as a glorious reserve, he moved the chamber 
by his grave and firm language in recalling to its memory the 
sufferings of the soldiers who had recently been unhappily 
disbanded. This speech assured the passing of the bill. 

The elections of 1816, and the partial renewing of the cham- 
ber, had brought into it elements which scarcely existed in 
that of 1815. The Left was brilliantly represented. Lafayette, 
Benjamin Constant, and Manuel attacked the press laws which 



en. xvn i. ] PARLIAMENTA RY GO VERNMENT. 231 

were introduced by the cabinet in 1818. The ministry had 
undergone several changes. Pasquier had replaced Dambray 
as keeper of the seals, and he was in his turn succeeded by 
Serre. It was he who projected the measure which did away 
with the exceptional regime under which the press lived for 
three years, and which henceforth regulated its rights and 
obligations. Serre has left upon those who heard him, the 
impression of an eloquence unapproachable even in such a 
tune of eloquence. "He sustained general principles as a 
magistrate who applies them, not as a philosopher who ex- 
plains them. His speech was profound and not abstract, 
colored and not figurative, and his arguments were actions. 
As strong in impromptu as after cogitation, when he had sur- 
mounted a slight hesitation and timidity at first he went to his 
point firmly and impressively, like a man ardently sincere, 
who sought nowhere personal success, and who only occupied 
himself in making his cause to triumph, while communicating 
to his audience his sentiments with his conviction." * 

During the discussion of the press laws, Guizot ascended for 
the first time— as commissary of the king, and to defend some 
articles of the measure— that tribune which was to become so 
familiar to him. His age not yet permitting him to take part 
in the assembly, he took an active and ardent part in the dis- 
cussions which were carried on outside the chamber by the 
polemics of the newspapers. Independent friends of the gov- 
ernment, whom they sometimes annoyed even while defending 
it, the doctrinaires eloquently advocated their ideas in the 
Globe, the Courier, the Archives philosophiqties et politiques, 
and the Revue frangaise. Animated by the noblest hopes for 
the future, and every day engaged in the arena, they carried 
into the contest a devotion equal to their pride, and a pride 
which for the most part surpassed their ambition. 

Their influence had increased, and became more direct and 
efficacious at the time when the press laws were brought before 
the chambers. The chambers, then renewed for the fifth time, 
had seen new members join the opposition ; the ultras, agitated 
amongst themselves, plotting in their turn in a small assembly, 
which took from the place where it held its meeting the name 
of Terrasse du bord de Veau. Secret notes, drawn up by 
Vitrolles, were addressed to the foreign powers, warning them 
of the dangers which menaced the restoration, and of the 



* Memoires pour servir a Vhistoire de mon temps. 



232 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [en. xvin 

powerlessness of France to keep to her engagements with them 
if she again fell into the hands of revolutionaries. The culpa- 
bility of this communication was all the more flagrant, inas- 
much as our relation towards the allies had already been im- 
proved in several ways: the army of occupation had been 
reduced, a contract had been accepted for the payment of the 
war indemnity, and the Due de Richelieu was preparing to go 
to the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in the hope of obtaining a 
complete liberation of the territory. Vitrolles was expelled 
from the Privy Council on the 24th July, 1818. Already in 
1816, for his book La Monarchie selon la Charte, in which he 
had personally offended the king, the name of Chateaubriand 
had been erased from the list of the ministers of State. 

Richelieu succeeded at Aix-la-Chapelle, and had the pleasure 
of returning to Paris as bearer of the convention, signed on 
the 9th of October in the Congress, which settled the 30th oi 
November as the date of the withdrawal of the foreign troops. 
The days of grace which had been granted to France for its 
payments were doubled. Meanwhile the allies had cemented 
their union by a protocol which was destined to perpetuate it, 
and the Emperor Alexander — instructed by Pozzo, who had 
joined him at the Congress— warned Richelieu against the 
dangers which were menacing the government of the king. 
Every one was finding fault with the electoral law. The Due 
de Richelieu was strongly in favor of modifying it, and he 
arrived at Paris with that idea on the 28th of November, 1818. 

The electoral law was unjustly attacked, and the inconven- 
iences which resulted from its application flowed inevitably 
from the violent strife of parties, equally ardent and inex- 
perienced. The Due de Richelieu met in the very heart of his 
cabinet an opposition which he could not put down, and he 
decided to break with Decazes, who had become a count and a 
member of the Chamber of Peers. The latter retired at first 
before the fury of the right; but Richelieu having vainly 
endeavored to form a cabinet, Decazes became the directing 
minister, at the head of an enfeebled and divided majority, 
confronted by the ultras, more and more irreconcilable, and 
by the left, more numerous and animated than in the past. 
The enterprise was beyond his powers, and all the eloquence 
of Serre, who had become keeper of the seals, did not suffice to 
carry it out. 

He alone represented in the government the friends from 
whom he was to separate with eclat. Decazes pi-essed Royer- 



ch. xvnx] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 233 

Collard to enter the cabinet. He hesitated, accepted for a 
moment, then at last refused. ' ' You do not know what you 
would do," he said to Decazes. " My way of treating matters 
is entirely different from yours. You evade the questions, 
you twist them about, you gain time. As for me, I should 
attack them in front, produce them in public, and turn them 
inside out before everybody. I should compromise, instead of 
aiding you."* Eoyer-Collard was right. He was more fit to 
counsel and control power, than to exercise it ; he was a great 
spectator and a great critic, rather than a great political actor. 
General Dessoles had become minister of foreign affairs, and 
Baron Louis minister of finance. The electoral law remained 
still intact. 

It was destined soon to undergo new attacks, for the always 
precarious existence of the ministry was not to last long. 
"There was in the parliamentary arena a cabinet brilliant 
with integrity, and in the country a loyally constitutional 
government. But it possessed more rhetorical than political 
power, and neither its care for personal safety nor its successes 
in the tribune were sufficient to rally the great government 
party which its formation had divided. Discord was kindling 
between the chambers themselves. The Chamber of Peers 
accepted the proposal of the Marquis Barthelemy for the 
reform of the law of elections. The attacks of the right as 
well as the left were still more efficacious in shaking the power, 
than the latter's victories were in consolidating it. The con- 
stant favor of the king sustained uneasily a friend whose 
downfall he foresaw with sadness. Two sinister events— the 
one long prepared by the directing committee of the affairs of 
the left, the other unforeseen by all — gave the fatal blow to 
the ministry of Decazes. Gregoire, formerly a constitutional! 
bishop, regicide by his approval of the condemnation of Louis' 
XVI., and senator under the Empire, at once pious and revo- 
lutionary through every phase of his existence, was returned 
to the Chamber of Deputies by the assembly of Grenoble (11th 
September, 1819), and, on the 13th of February, 1820, the Due 
de Berry was assassinated by Louvel, on coming out of the 
Opera. 

The election of Gregoire was not long in being invalidated 
by the chamber itself ; but it appeared none the less a sign of 
the times, and caused a lively feeling of uneasiness, not only 

* Mimoires pour *ervir u 7 'histoire de mon temps. 



234 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xviii. 

in France, among the moderate spirits -which were occupied 
with the progress of reaction towards the left, but in Europe, 
among the sovereigns and ministers menaced with revolution. 
Risings had taken place in England, and Parliament had voted 
laws of repression. The democratic fermentation was daily 
increasing in Germany. A celebrated dramatist, Auguste 
Kotzebue, accused of betraying the national cause, had been 
assassinated on the 28th of March, 1819, by a fanatic called 
Charles Sand, who cried out, as he struck his victim, " O God, 
I thank Thee that Thou hast permitted me to do this deed!" 
Prussia and Austria united to repress the progress of the evil. 
They did not let the fears be unknown in Paris with which they 
were inspired by the state of France, always destined to assure 
or to disturb the world's repose. The king inclined henceforth 
to the proposed reforms in the electoral law. "Well, brother, 
you see what they are driving you to!" said the Comte 
d'Artois, who for a long time had abstained from talking poli- 
tics in the royal circle. " Yes, brother, and I will provide for 
it," replied Louis XVIII. A draft of the law of legislature was 
prepared by Serre, with the consent of the Due de Berry. 

The minds of men were at the same time troubled by other 
causes of agitation. There was ever since the first days of the 
restoration the constant effort of the Catholics, eager to estab- 
lish between Church and State those ties which they deemed 
necessary to the independence and the dignity of the clergy. 
An attempt had been made at Rome to modify in this sense 
the Concordat of 1801, but the negotiations, badly entered upon, 
were abortive, and the new Concordat, for a moment accepted 
in 1817, was abandoned in 1819. Almost at the same time, and 
in spite of the overwhelming influence which he exercised over 
the great Council of Public Instruction, Royer-Collard resigned 
the presidency, uneasy, it was said, at some hostile tendencies 
towards the university which he came upon when in power. 
"We shall perish; this is a solution," he replied to Decazes, 
who was seeking to reattach him to the government. Marshal 
Gouvion St. Cyr, General Dessoles, and Baron Louis refused to 
touch the electoral law. The Due de Richelieu had not con- 
sented to charge himself with the formation of a new cabinet. 
Pasquier, Roy, and La Tour-Maubourg replaced in the council 
the retiring ministers, and Decazes became its president. 

More than ever was the cabinet lacking in force and unity ; 
more than ever was it attacked by all parties, abandoned by a 
part of the doctrinaires, and sustained by the younger and more 



CH. xvin.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 235 

ardent, who inspired measures of pacification and liberalism. 
Seven of the peers who had been excluded after the hundred 
days were reinstalled; and Marshal Grouchy and General 
Gilly were comprised in the amnesty. The Due de Eovigo, 
tried for contumacy, was acquitted. The projected electoral 
law remained in suspense in consequence of the illness of 
Serre; what was known or guessed as to its nature roused the 
violent indignation of the left, well satisfied up to that time 
by the law of the 5th of February, 1817. The cabinet had 
entered upon pourparlers, with the chiefs of the right, and 
appeared disposed to make important concessions to them; 
when, on the night of the 13th of February, 1820, the rumor 
ran through Paris that the Due de Berry, after conducting 
his wife to her carriage on coming out of the Opera, had 
been stabbed as he was re-entering the hall. The princess 
hearing the cry of her wounded husband, threw herself from 
the carriage at once, and was covered with his blood. Some 
months before (after two miscarriages) she had given birth to 
a daughter, and was again looking forward to become a 
mother, when, to the sound of the joyful music, she received 
in her arms the lifeless body of the duke. From the first there 
was but little hope. Already, around the couch of the dying 
man, sinister rumors and incredible suspicions were circulat- 
ing. The grief and marked concern of Decazes as chief of the 
cabinet were arousing an evident distrust. The examination 
of Louvel, who declared that he had acted of his own accord 
and without any accomplice, did not allay the excitement. 
The prince bade farewell to those who surrounded him, be- 
seeching the king to forgive the man who had stabbed him. 
The Duchesse de Berry, mad with despair, asked permission 
to return to Sicily. King Louis XVIII. himself closed the eyes 
of the nephew whom he called his son. 

The storm broke forth in the chambers before they had been 
officially informed of the death of the Due de Berry. Clausel 
de Coussergues, a member of the Court of Cassation, and a 
fanatical royalist, rushed into the tribune, robed in mourning. 
" Gentlemen," cried he, " there is no law defining the method 
of making an accusation against ministers, but the debate 
upon such a question ought naturally to take place in public 
sitting. I propose to the chamber to vote an indictment against 
M. Decazes, minister of the interior, as an accomplice in the 
assassination of the Due de Berry, and I ask leave to speak 
in support of my proposition." Silence was imposed on the 



236 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xviii. 

orator, by cries that were almost unanimous ; "but his idea had 
taken root in many minds. A proposal by Bourdonnaye for an 
address to the king, veiled the same accusation in more guarded 
forms of speech. General Foy protested. " Let it be simply 
a question," said he, " of the tears that we shall all shed over 
a prince regretted by all Frenchmen, and especially regretted 
by the friends of liberty, because they know that advantage 
will be taken of this frightful occurrence to seek to destroy 
the liberties and the rights which have been recognized and 
sanctioned by the wisdom of the monarch." 

Immediately, and with justice, Louis XVIII. instinctively 
felt himself menaced by the odious attack upon his minister. 
"The royalists gave me the finishing stroke," said he; "they 
know that the policy of M. Decazes is also mine, and they 
accuse him of having assassinated my nephew. It is not the 
first calumny that they have hurled at me. I wish to save our 
country without the ultras, if it is possible. Let us seek for a 
majority outside the circle of M. Clausel, and M. de la Bourdon- 
naye and their friends," In the Chamber of Deputies, Ste.Au- 
laire, father-in-law of Decazes, hearing Clausel de Coussergues 
repeating, with a slight modification, his denunciation of the 
previous day, cried out, "I do not oppose M. Clausel's proposi- 
tion being consigned to the minutes. I content myself with 
asking that the reply which I make to it may also be included. 
This reply will not be lengthy : You are a calumniator !" 

The current of excited passions was too violent to yield to 
the beneficent wishes of the monarch, and the patriotic efforts 
of sober-minded men. Sinister projects were being agitated 
amongst the men of the right. They had dared to propose to 
the Duke de Bellune to use force towards the president of the 
Council if he persisted in retaining power. In the chambers, 
the two parties in opposition, equally excited, inveighed 
against the measures abridging personal liberty and the free- 
dom of the press, such measures having been immediately 
proposed by the minister. It was indispensable to the govern- 
ment that these measures should be adopted. The left centre 
would only consent to support them on condition of the aban- 
donment of the new electoral law "It is necessary for the 
ultras to be once more in power," said Royer-Collard ; "they 
will not keep it three months. What do I say? They will not 
ascend the tribune three times. There is a sword of Damocles 
suspended above our heads, and it is necessary to take meas* 
ures to dispel the danger." 



ch. xvm.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 237 

Once more in possession of power, the ultras were to retain 
it much longer, and to use it with more vigor than Royer-Collard 
had foreseen. Decazes, however, could not deceive himself as 
to the dangers of the situation in which he found himself 
placed, and he begged the king to sanction his retirement. 
The royalists did not cease repeating that only one victim 
was necessary to them, and that they were ready to support 
the Due de Richelieu. The latter persisted in remaining in his 
retreat; the king refused to intervene. "I have too many 
times sought in vain for the co-operation of M. de Richelieu," 
said he; "my dignity does not permit me to try again." The 
violence of the journals against the president of the Council 
continued to increase, and the threats respecting his liberty 
and his life grew more serious. Vitrolles apprised Monsieur 
of these things. "In the interest of the king, as well as in 
that of the monarchy," said he, " a voluntary retreat would be 
more advantageous than a defeat accomplished by violence." 
Monsieur repaired to the king, accompanied by the Duchesse 
d'Angouleme, pleading earnestly for the abandonment of 
tbe favorite. " We make this request of you in order to escape 
a fresh crime." "Ah!" cried the king, "I will brave the dag- 
gers ; and there is a greater distance than you think between 
the assassin's steel and the heart of an honest man." "Ah! 
sire," replied madame, "thanks to God it is not for your maj- 
esty that we fear, but for one who is very dear to you." "I 
defy the crime on my friend's account, as well as on my own," 
proudly responded Louis XVIII. Decazes, who arrived a few 
moments later, obtained, however, permission to retire. Riche- 
lieu yielded to the entreaties that were made to him in the 
name of the monarch. Monsieur wished to have his share in 
the settlement, and went to the house of Richelieu who was 
ill. " Only one thing in the world do I ask of you," said he; 
"one man more, that is yourself; one man less, that is M. 
Decazes. Form your ministry as shall seem good to yourself, 
and be certain that I shall approve everything and support 
everything. Your policy shall be mine, and I will be your 
foremost champion." 

Monsieur promised for himself and his party more t han he 
was able, and more than he was destined, to fulfil. The Due 
de Richelieu foresaw this when he saw himself compelled once 
more to accept power. The new Due Decazes, minister of 
state, member of the Privy Council, set out for London in the 
capacity of ambassador. The Due de Richelieu having refused 



238 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [en. xvm. 

to take a portfolio, there had been some difficulty in finding a 
new minister of the interior. Count Simon was at last called 
upon to undertake this difficult charge. An advocate at the 
bar of Aix before the revolution, banished on the 18th Fructi- 
dor, he had been councillor of state under the empire. Ap- 
pointed a representative during the hundred days, and since 
then a member of the Chamber of Deputies, he had gone 
through all regimes with a tranquil complaisance which did 
not promise to strengthen the government he consented to 
serve. Mounier, son of the celebrated member of the Con- 
stituent Assembly, replaced Guizot in the direction of the de- 
partmental and communal administration, which had been 
entrusted to the latter under Decazes. 

The first acts of the minister soon gave opportunity for judg- 
ing what would be the direction of his policy. Serre, always 
absent, but resolved upon supporting the Due de Richelieu 
with all his influence, and with the venerated brilliancy of his 
eloquence, retained considerable irritation against his old 
friends, who had been in alliance with Decazes. "It is M. 
Royer-Collard and his friends," wrote he to the fallen minis- 
ter; "it is their intractable pride which has done you most 
harm, and which has precipitated your fall by placing you in 
the power of the ultras." He hastened to satisfy immediately 
his animosities and his fears: Royer-Collard, Camille- Jordan, 
Barante, and Guizot were struck out of the list of the 
Council of State. "I was expecting your letter," replied 
Guizot to the keeper of the seals. " I ought to have foreseen 
it, and I did foresee it, when I proudly manifested my disap- 
probation. I congratulate myself on having no change to 
make in my conduct. To-day, as yesterday, I shall belong 
only to myself, and that completely." Decazes vainly labored 
to effect a reconciliation between his friend and the govern- 
ment. 

The outburst of royalist violence against him did not cease 
with his fall. For a long time an enemy to Decazes, Chateau- 
briand dared to write in the Conservateur these words, of 
mournful celebrity. " Those who still struggle against public 
hatred have not been able to resist public sorrow ; our tears, 
our sighs, our sobs have terrified an imprudent minister; his 
feet have slipped from under him in a pool of blood ; he has 
fallen." The importance of the victory of the ultras was esti- 
mated by their passionate attacks upon liberty. " The assassi 
nation of the Due de Berry," wrote Charles Nodier, in the 



en. xvm.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 239 

Drapeau Blanc, " is a clause of the ordinance of September 5th. 
It is asked whether the knife which killed the Due de Berry 
was a poniard, a dagger, or what : I have seen it ; the instru- 
ment is a liberal idea." 

During the trial of the assassin (whose crime had furnished 
the occasion, but was not the origin of the outburst of political 
passions) the discussion upon the "laws of exception" was ex- 
citing in the chambers violent storms, which were re-echoing 
far beyond, creating in Paris and in the departments an ever- 
increasing agitation. Honestly but vainly desirous of main- 
taining a moderate line of conduct, the government inclined 
more and more towards the right, and found itself every day 
more effectually and more eagerly attacked by the liberals. 
"Whilst even the ministers are sometimes led astray," said 
Benjamin Constant, "the representatives of the nation have 
walked in the lines of the constitution. Do you wish to depart 
from them? Will you re-enact the 'laws of exception?' The 
Convention, the Directory, Bonaparte, governed by laws of ex- 
ception! Where is the Convention? Where is the Directory' 
Where is Bonaparte?" General Foy was roused up to exclaim, 
" Do you think that without the presence of foreigners, and the 
terror that they inspired, we should have ingloriously submitted 
to the outrages and insults of a handful of wretches whom we 
despised, and whom we have seen in the dust for thirty years?" 
Corday, a member of the left, rose in his place, and loudly 
cried, "Monsieur, you are an insolent fellow!" A duel took 
place the next day, followed by a reconciliation; but the public 
fervor was less easily calmed than private quarrels ; the people 
increasingly gathered in crowds outside the chambers. The 
voting of the laws of exception was followed by the suppression 
of several journals. A national subscription was opened at the 
house of Lafitte in favor of the victims of the new legislation. 
The electoral law was destined to arouse more violent and more 
dangerous attacks. It was modified in order to satisfy the 
right. After the discussion it was found almost assimilated to 
the project elaborated in 1819 by Serre. He supported it on 
several occasions with an eloquence which the state of his 
health rendered sorrowfully effective. Adversaries the most 
formidable were roused up against the various articles of the 
project. Twice Royer-Collard spoke with that unanswerable 
authority which his character as well as his mental superiority 
merited. Corbiere accused him of upholding the sovereignty 
of the people. The illustrious defender of a wise liberty thus 



240 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. nm 

proudly expounded its eternal basis. "Privilege, absolute 
power, the sovereignty of the people, are, under diverse, and 
more or less unfortunate forms, the empire of force upon earth. 
There are two elements in society— the one material, which is 
the individual, his power and his will ; the other moral, which 
is right, resulting from the true interests of society. Will you 
form society out of the material element? Then the majority 
of individuals— the majority of wills, whatever they may be, 
is sovereign. If voluntarily, or in spite of itself, this sov- 
ereignty blindly or violently places itself in the hands of a sin- 
gle person or of several persons, without changing its charac- 
ter, it is a force more wise and more moderate, but it is still only 
force. This is the root of absolute power and of privilege. 
Will you, on the contrary, form society with the moral element, 
which is right? Justice is the sovereign, because justice is the 
rule of right. Free constitutions have for their object the de- 
thronement of force and the accomplishment of the reign of 
justice. It is force if your government represents persons ; it 
is justice if it represents rights and interests. " 

It was the glory of Eoyer Collard, and the secret of his in- 
fluence over the distinguished men who surrounded him, that 
he always raised to the highest regions of thought the questions 
upon which he spoke. This was also the cause of his isolation 
even in the midst of his brilliant renown. Lafayette more 
effectively declared war against the government by a threaten- 
ing manifesto. " I flattered myself," said he, " that the differ- 
ent parties, yielding at last to the general need for freedom and 
repose, were by mutual sacrifices, and with no mental reserva- 
tions, about to seek these benefits in the exercise of the rights 
which the charter has recognized. My hopes have been de- 
ceived. The counter-revolution rests with the government, but 
they wish to fix the blame on the chambers. It has devolved 
on my friends and myself to declare it to the nation. Thinking 
also that the engagements of the charter were founded on 
reciprocity, I have loyally denounced the violators of their 
sworn faith." 

In developing his thought, Lafayette manifested his fear lest 
the younger generation, threatened with the loss of all the 
fruits of the revolution, should themselves seize once more upon 
the sacred fasces of the principles of eternal truth and sovereign 
justice. The struggle, in fact, was already commencing in the 
streets, between the young royalists from the barracks of the 
body-guard (as it was said) and the students, ardently liberal, 



ch. xviii.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 241 

grouped round the chambers or escorting popular deputies. 
On the 3rd of June a pupil of the school of law, the young 
Lallemand, was killed by a pistol-shot. The agitation lasted 
for several days, maintained by the funeral obsequies of the 
unfortunate victim as well as by the trial and execution of 
Louvel. On August 19th, after the closing of the session and 
the passing of the electoral law, an important conspiracy was 
suddenly discovered, hatched by a few Bonapartist officers, 
and by the young leaders of the democratic party. The day 
had arrived for carrying out the enterprise. Several arrests 
were effected ; the accused, numerous and important, were sent 
before the Court of Peers. 

The popular and political emotion which was reigning in 
France, and which was re-echoing afar, was, in its turn, excited 
and encouraged by the blasts of revolution which had again 
begun to blow across Europe. In England, King George III. 
had just died, tenderly regretted by his people, who had con- 
stantly loved and respected him through his long madness : the 
scandalous trial instituted by the new monarch, George IV. , 
against his queen, Caroline of Brunswick, excited the most vio- 
lent and contrary passions. The revolution having broken out 
in Spain, King Ferdinand VII. was obliged to accept the con- 
stitution voted in 1812, by the Cortes met at Cadiz during the 
national war against the Emperor Napoleon and King Joseph. 
The reaction was immediately felt at Naples; the sovereigns 
found themselves compelled to proclaim the Spanish Constitu- 
tion, though ignorant of its conditions. Portugal was affected 
by the same contagion. The Diet of Warsaw rejected the laws 
proposed by the Emperor Alexander ; a regiment mutinied at 
St. Petersburg. The European sovereigns became so uneasy 
that a congress was convoked at Troppau, and afterwards at 
Laybach, for the purpose of taking the measures necessary for 
maintaining public order. Metternich, one of the most able 
and skilful amongst diplomatists, succeeded in separating the 
Emperor Alexander from alliance with France, as well as from 
the liberal ideas which had brought them together. A protocol 
of Russia, Prussia, and Austria laid down the principle of 
armed intervention in the case of States in a state of revolution. 
It was also decided to apply the principle to the kingdom of 
Naples. England had urged Austria to interfere alone in the 
affairs of the two Sicilies, and refused to adhere to the declara- 
tion of the absolutist powers. France placed restrictions upon 
her adhesion. The King of Naples was called to take part in 
"VIII.— 16 



242 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xviii. 

the congress, but the Neapolitan Parliament would not agree to 
his appointing his son, the Duke of Calabria, regent, till he had 
sworn that he would make no change in the constitution. The 
conciliatory appeals issued from Laybach by the monarch who 
had thus recovered his liberty, produced no result ; the Aus- 
trian troops entered the kingdom of Naples. At the same mo- 
ment a military insurrection broke out in Piedmont, and the 
king having refused to accept the Spanish Constitution, a 
model approved by all the revolutionaries, found himself 
obliged to abdicate. An Austrian army was at once directed 
against Piedmont, with the support of those troops who had 
remained loyal. Both in Turin and Naples the Austrian forces 
were completely successful, the Neapolitans scattering like 
cowards. After some serious resistance, the Piedmontese in- 
surgents were beaten at Novara. The fears of the congress 
were removed, though some indignation was still felt. Pied- 
mont, as well as the Two Sicilies, was now placed under Aus- 
trian occupation by diplomatic convention; there was some 
display of absolutist reaction at Naples ; at Turin, a severe re- 
pression was brought to bear upon the revolutionists, and even 
the liberals. Lombardy and Modena were agitated by the 
political trials of some prominent public men; and the lega- 
tions were also much disturbed. The Pope excommunicated 
the "carbonari," who had, for the most part, a share in the 
disorders of the Italian peninsula. Metternich triumphed at 
Laybach: he at first succeeded in influencing the Emperor 
Alexander, and secured his assistance in declaring against the 
revolutionary spirit, which he was too apt to confound with 
the spirit of liberty. " The allied sovereigns were not ignorant 
of the fact that they had to resist a devastating torrent," said 
the circular adopted by Austria, Prussia, and Eussia ; "to pre- 
serve whatever legally exists, was the invariable principle of 
their policy. The changes useful and necessary to the legisla- 
tion and administration of States should emanate only from 
the free will, the well-considered and enlightened impulse, of 
those whom God had rendered responsible for the power. All 
that exceeds that limit must necessarily lead to disorder and 
social overthrow — to evils much more insupportable than those 
pretended to be remedied." 

Neither France nor England adhered to this frank declara- 
tion of absolute power, and the coalition of European states 
was thus virtually dissolved. The ultra -royalist party were 
none the less delighted because this distant success succeeded 



en. xviii.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 243 

the fears caused by the rising tide of revolution. All seemed 
to conspire to urge the government towards that right side, 
which alone offered it enthusiastic support. On the 29th Sep- 
tember, 1820, the Duchess of Berry gave birth to a child, whose 
birth caused transports of joy not only to the extreme royal- 
ists, but to the mass of the population. None but a few men 
of foresight were apprehensive of seeing the imprudent parti- 
sans of power derive additional arrogance from that certainty 
of direct succession. Every day the separation between the 
ministry and liberals becamv. more complete. Serre entirely 
abandoned his former friends, who opposed him with increas- 
ing vivacity. In his pamphlet entitled, The Government of 
France since the Restoration, Guizot severely attacked him. 
Next year, 1821, he endeavored to direct his friends in the way 
of legal opposition, and regular government offered them by 
the charter. His work On the Present Government and Oppo- 
sition in France was entirely devoted to this purpose. 

The partial renewal of the chamber was an indication that 
the royalists were being visited by a return of favor. A large 
number of the members of the ' ' lost chamber " were again 
elected. Eichelieu and Pasquier began to feel uneasy as to a 
success exceeding their hopes and desires. The king thought 
the same: — "Why, we are now like the poor knight who had 
not agility enough to leap on horseback, " said he ; "he prayed 
to St. George with such fervor that St. George gave him more 
than there was need for, and he jumped to the other side." 

The result of the increase of power on the right was inevita- 
ble. Richelieu resolved to gain over the principal leaders. 
After long hesitation, mixed with some dissension, Villele 
and Corbiere, moderate leaders of the excited party, ac- 
cepted the title of ministers without office, which was also 
granted to Laine, who had long refused the office of president 
of public instruction. This duty was entrusted to Corbiere. 
Chateaubriand was appointed minister at Berlin, and had 
great influence in securing the admission of his friends into the 
cabinet. "It is true that in the cabinet we are only two 
against seven," said Villele, "but we rely upon a compact mass 
of one hundred and sixty deputies, whereas our seven col- 
leagues have not more than a hundred behind them. With 
such support it will be our own fault if we have not the pre- 
ponderance." 

It was in fact the preponderance of the ardent and combative 
right which was every day becoming obviously more perma- 



244 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvhl 

nent. The moderate right, approximating to the centre, both 
in their views and interests, still rallied round the Due de Riche- 
lieu and Pasquier, though tacitly beaten. Still the peaceful 
alliance of the two parts of the right could not last, and the 
declarations of Villele and Corbiere in favor of an efficacious 
and practical government having been repelled by Richelieu, 
the two leaders of the right withdrew, one starting for 
Toulouse, and the other for Rennes. Their friends in the 
chambers redoubled their attacks upon the ministry, and when 
Richelieu complained to Monsieur, reminding him of his 
promises, which had been repeated since his entry into the 
ministry; "The fact is, my dear duke," replied Monsieur, "if 
you allow me to say so, you have taken my words too liter- 
ally: and then the circumstances then were so difficult." The 
president rose abruptly, and hurrying to Pasquier' s house 
threw himself into an arm-chair, exclaiming, " He has broken 
his word of honor ! He has broken his word as a gentleman !" 
" What would you have me to do?" said the king to Richelieu. 
" He conspired against Louis XVI. ; he conspired against me; 
he will conspire against himself." The explosion of a barrel 
of gunpowder in the king's apartments gave room to suspect 
another attempt to renew the painful circumstances preceding 
the fall of the Due Decazes. The king himself shared this opin- 
ion. ' ' These attempts are Protean, " he wrote to Decazes, ' 'every 
day assuming a new form. It is quite probable that at the 
bottom of the sack there may be found an infamous intrigue, 
instead of an execrable wretch." 

Nevertheless Richelieu succumbed to the attack directed 
against him. He had refused to sacrifice several of his col- 
leagues, and his colleagues in their turn refused to take share 
in the new ministry. When the ultras made some advances, 
Serre replied, as Royer-Collard had recently done: " You have 
not enough for three months." Montmorency, Villele, Cor- 
biere, Peyronnet, Bellune, and Clermont-Tonnerre, now com- 
posed the government. Ravez, president of the Chamber of 
Deputies, belonged to the right. Chateaubriand was sent to 
London as ambassador. The power passed entirely, and for 
several years, into the hands of men who had scarcely the 
slightest experience of it in the chambers, without having 
ever really exercised it. Villele, " moderator " of the right, 
who was frequently unaware of the ideas, passions, and plan? 
of his friends, nevertheless found himself at the head of the 
government as a party man, where he was to remain for some 



en. xvni.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 245 

tirae as a party man, although he strove to make the govern- 
ment spirit have more influence with his associates than the 
party spirit. He reached this result by the great and natural 
way : the head of the parliamentary majority became head of 
the government. 

At the moment when his cabinet was being formed his posi- 
tion was one of the greatest difficulty. " It was no longer 
stormy discussions in the chamber, and riots in the streets: 
secret societies, plots, insurrections, an enthusiastic resolution 
to overthrow the established order, were everywhere ferment- 
ing and manifesting themselves in the eastern, western, and 
southern departments; at Belfort, Colmar, Toulon, Saumur, 
Nantes, Rochelle, even at Paris before the eyes of the min- 
isters, among both military and professional men, both in the 
royal guard and the regiments of the line. Within less than 
■fliree years the restoration was attacked and endangered by 
^ight serious plots." * 

The general excitement and alarm was excessive. The pub- 
lic liberty was not seriously endangered, and those who de- 
fended it were not disarmed. To struggle against the tend- 
ency of a government which displeased them, they had numer- 
ous adequate legal resources. They were nevertheless sincere 
in their patriotic prejudices, convinced that all means were 
not only permitted, but necessary, to protect the great liberal 
institutions recently secured to the country. The three 
leaders of the different parties in the opposition in the Chamber 
of Deputies, Lafayette, Manuel, and Argenson, brought to the 
conspiracies their characteristic habits of thought and natural 
disposition. With obstinate fidelity to the principles of liberty 
which he had adopted when young, Lafayette could, at certain 
periods of his life, meet the arguments of demagogues with un- 
swerving firmness. A man of noble birth, liberal and popu- 
lar, with no natural disposition to be revolutionary, he was 
blindly induced to be urged and to urge others to repeated 
revolutions. Manuel was the docile son and able defender of 
the revolution which had been accomplished since 1789, capable 
of becoming in her service a government partisan, but deter- 
mined in any case to support her at all risks. Argenson, a 
melancholy dreamer, passionately devoted to the cure of the 
evils afflicting the human race, plotted with much hope of suc- 
cess, but always with untiring energy. 



* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



246 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvnL 

The Court of the Peers showed great moderation with respect 
to the accused of the 19th August. It had pronounced the 
charge inapplicable to most of the principal men who were im- 
plicated, and acquitted many of the others. The plots which 
afterwards were divulged towards the end of 1821, at Saumur 
and Belfort, seemed to be more skilfully contrived. Carbo- 
narism had made great progress in France, and the leaders 
were resolved not to abandon their accomplices. An accident 
led to the discovery of the Saumur conspiracy, the centre ol 
which was the military school. The movement which soon 
after declared itself in Alsace and delivered up Colmar to a 
provisional government, proved abortive, like that of Saumur, 
on account of repeated blunders. 

On the 1st of January, 1822, Lafayette reached Belfort, to 
put himself at the head of the insurrection. He found the plot 
had been discovered, and several of the leaders arrested. On 
January 7th, Arnold Scheffer and Courcelles went to Mar- 
seilles, where they expected to find preparations made for a 
rising; the same disappointment attended them, their accom- 
plices were either arrested or in flight. Several weeks after- 
wards, on the 24th of February, a more serious attempt at last 
broke out in the west, Saumur being the centre, and General 
Berton the principal leader. The town was attacked by bands 
of men from Parthenay and Thouars ; but the hesitation of the 
inhabitants, and the determined attitude of a certain number of 
the pupils in the military school, put a stop to that unimpor- 
tant manifestation. There was at the same time great excite- 
ment in the 45th regiment of the line, then garrisoned at 
Rochelle: four young sub officers were accused of taking a 
leading part in the insurrection. Almost simultaneously a 
rising was attempted at Colmar, to deliver those accused of 
conspiring at Belfort. In all parts of France, under the in- 
fluence and auspices of the Carbonari, there was an outburst 
of attempts, which were both serious and silly, followed up 
step by step by the authorities, and sometimes even encour- 
aged eagerly by interested agents. During two years these 
men procured from various parts of the kingdom nineteen 
condemnations to death, twelve of which were carried out. 
Imprisoned after the Eochelle plot, the four sergeants, Bories, 
Baoulx, Goubin, and Pommier, were on the point of under- 
going their sentence, to escape which attempts had been in 
vain made in their favor, though they were ignorant of it, and 
probably thought they were abandoned. The magistrates 



ch. xym.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 247 

urged them to save their lives by giving some informa- 
tion as to the chief instigators of their fatal attempt. They 
all replied that they had nothing to reveal, and died with- 
out a word. Such devotion deserved leaders of more fore- 
sight. 

Such noisy but powerless attempts at a rising were of service 
to the new government rather than a cause of weakness. The 
violence of the parliamentary debates increased, but the pro- 
tection granted to the conspirators by those who did not con- 
spire was necessarily prejudicial to the latter. Press censor- 
ship now brought many to trial : Beranger being twice already 
condemned for his outspoken songs, Benjamin Constant also 
was prosecuted. 

The elections of a fifth of the chamber strengthened the 
ministerial majority. The power had really passed from the 
king's hands to those of Monsieur and his friends. Kichelieu 
died on the 17th May, regretted and respected even by those 
who had most keenly opposed him. On his return from Aix- 
la-Chapelle, after the evacuation of the territory, he at first, 
with quiet simplicity, refused the national recompense offered 
him, and made over to the Bordeaux hospitals as a gift the in- 
come of 50,000 livres which was finally settled upon him. The 
king had always more esteemed him than loved him ; habit 
had great influence in his personal affection, which the Duke 
Decazes had seen decrease with his removal. Henceforward 
other influences bore upon Louis XVIII. , which were favorable 
to the predominance of the ultras. 

From this time the tendencies of the government were clearly 
manifested. On the 1st of June the Abbe Frayssinous was 
appointed grand master of the university. An eloquent orator, 
honorable and candid, weak in character and narrow-minded, 
he was sometimes alarmed at the violent acts to which he 
found himself driven, without resisting or blaming them. 
The reorganization of the school of medicine, and school of 
law, and the suppression of the normal school were succeeded 
by stringent measures against individuals. In the preceding 
year Jousin's philosophical lectures were closed. Guizot's 
lectures in modern history were attended by a multitude of 
lads, who were diligently occupied in more serious studies ; the 
tendency of the teaching was as moderate as it was liberal, 
but the professor was well-known to be strongly opposed to 
the government, and the lectures were suspended. It was in 
reviews and newspapers that independent minds now found 



248 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xvm 

expression, not having yet attained their natural development 
in the parliamentary arena. 

The government were now triumphant in France, the effer- 
vescence of the opposition being less eager without losing its 
earnestness ; and conspiracies ceased. Villele had to struggle 
against the interior difficulties of his party and foreign embar- 
rassments. The Italian revolutionists were easily beaten by 
the Austrian armies. The Spanish revolution remained tri- 
umphant, and was said to threaten the life of King Ferdinand 
VII., as it certainly hampered his liberty of action. Men's 
minds were anxiously expecting a European intervention in 
Spain, a congress at Verona having been invoked to deliberate 
upon it. 

When Villele, in forming his cabinet, proposed to the king 
to appoint Mathieu de Montmorency as foreign minister, Louis 
XVIII. made several objections. Eagerly devoted to good 
works of every kind, president of those powerful associations 
consecrated to that end which were known by the name of 
"the Congregation," and with great influence naturally among 
the earnest Catholics of the right, Montmorency's intellect was 
not in proportion to his virtue. ' ' He will betray you without 
intending it, from weakness," said the king: "when away from 
you, he will act according to his inclinations, not your di- 
rections; and instead of being served, you will be thwarted 
and compromised. " The penetration of Louis XVIII. had not 
deceived him. When Villele sent Montmorency to the Verona 
congress, the head of the ministry wished France to remain a 
stranger to any armed intervention in Spain, and instructed 
his representatives to undertake no engagements to that effect. 
Chateaubriand accompanied Montmorency to the congress; 
sharing secretly the views of the foreign minister rather than 
those of Villele, he at first withheld his views and kept himself 
in the background. Metternich had resolved to draw France 
into the policy of intervention, contrary to that of England, 
and thus at one blow destroy the Spanish revolution by French 
arms, and the alliance between Paris and London, which was 
annoying to him. Montmorency easily gave way to his influ- 
ence, and Chateaubriand was seduced by tbe flattering atten- 
tions of the Emperor Alexander. France found herself en- 
gaged to a course suitable to the purposes of the three great 
northern powers, which would necessarily lead to a war with 
Spain. The king refused to recall at once his ambassador from 
Madrid. "Louis XIV. destroyed the Pyrenees," said he; "I 



ch. xvni.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 249 

shall not allow them to be raised again. He placed my house 
on the throne of Spain ; I shall not allow it to fall. The other 
sovereigns have not the same duties as I; my ambassador 
must not quit Madrid till the day when 100,000 Frenchmen 
march to replace him." In reality, when thus speaking Louis 
XVIII. had tacitly accepted the part assigned him by Metter- 
nich in the European intervention in Spain, but he was lending 
his ear to the proposals made by the Duke of Wellington on 
the part of England. The two powers were to treat with the 
Spanish government in a friendly manner, in order to obtain 
such constitutional concessions as would preserve a state of 
peace. Montmorency believed his policy was condemned, and 
resigned, being replaced by Chateaubriand as minister of 
foreign affairs. 

The war, nevertheless, became imminent. The Spanish 
government, proudly resolving to maintain the national inde- 
pendence, would make no concession. The French ambassador, 
Lagarde, was recalled, and on the 23rd January, 1823, at the 
opening of the chambers, the king himself announced the reso- 
lution he had formed. "I have ordered the recall of my min- 
ister," said he; " 100,000 Frenchmen, commanded by a prince 
of my family whom I fondly call my son, are ready to march 
with a prayer to the God of St. Louis, that they may preserve 
the throne of Spain to the grandson of Henri IV., save that 
fair kingdom from ruin, and reconcile it to Europe. Let Fer- 
dinand VII. be free to give to his people the institutions which 
they can have only from him, and which, while securing tran- 
quillity to Spain, will remove the well-founded uneasiness of 
France ; from that moment hostilities will cease, as I no w, 
gentlemen, in your presence solemnly promise." 

On the 15th March, 1823, the Duke of Angouleme and his 
staff left Paris, much liked and respected by the army on 
account of his moderation and justice. He soon gave a double 
proof of his strength of mind. On account of the loyalty of 
several officers being doubted in Paris, the Due de Bellune, 
then minister of war, resolved to take the post o2 major-gen- 
eral at the head of the Spanish army ; but the prince firmly 
resisted, and the Due de Bellune was recalled. At the same 
time the Duke of Angouleme, being with good reason dissat- 
isfied with the administration of military supplies, entrusted 
the management to Ouvrard, already celebrated for his daring 
speculations, but of great skill and foresight. On the 7th 
Aprh\ the French advanced-guard crossed the Bidassoa, and 



250 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xyhl 

the duke entered Irun, already thronged with his allies, the 
insurgents and royalist juntas. Almost at the same moment 
the Cortes left Madrid, taking with them to Seville, King 
Ferdinand VII. 

On the morning of the 24th May the prince entered the 
Spanish capital, without having met any serious resistance. 
He at once appointed a regency under the presidency of the 
Duke of Infantado. He had great difficulty in restraining the 
violent opposition of the royalists to the constitutionalists, and 
was perpetually hampered himself in his sensible procedure by 
the instructions sent from Paris. Chateaubriand showed great 
favor to the Spanish royalists, in the hope of gratifying in 
France the passionate enthusiasm of the right, who alone sup- 
ported the armed intervention, generally disapproved of by 
the country. The three great powers of the north sent ac- 
credited representatives to the regency. King Louis XVIII. 
sent to Madrid as ambassador the Marquis of Talaru. The 
Cortes withdrew to Cadiz; and, on the king refusing to 
accompany them, they suspended his powers, and appointed 
a regency to compel the monarch's obedience. The Duke of 
Angouleme gave orders to begin the siege of Cadiz. 

Spain was delivered to all the horrors of civil war. Don 
Miguel, second son of the King of Portugal, who was then 
captive, had excited a counter-revolution at Lisbon; every- 
where guerilla bands of opposing factions hindered the move- 
ments of the armies, while taking an active share in the war. 
General Molitor, however, defeated the constitutional General 
Ballesteros, at Campillo de Arenas. Tbe duke of Angouleme 
left Madrid to conduct personally the siege of Cadiz; and with 
the hope of mitigating the violence and vengeance which his 
presence was not sufficient to restrain, he published at Andu jar, 
on the 8th August, an order which enjoined that political 
prisoners were to be set at liberty, and no arrests were to be 
made without instructions from the French commandants. 
Journalists and newspapers were subjected to the same 
authority. 

This order offended both the good and the evil passions of the 
Spanish royalists, their national pride, and their thirst for ven- 
geance. Its publication was stopped in Madrid, and it was 
severely blamed in Paris. Villele wrote to the Duke of Angou- 
leme that it was a breaking of the engagements entered into 
with Spain that we should not interfere in her home affairs. 
Every day aggravated the dissension between the Spanish 



ch. xvin.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 251 

regency and the powerful ally that had established it, and pro- 
tected it with her arms. This was frequently painful to 
Angouleme's honorably sincerity. His success in carrying 
the Trocadero fort before Cadiz led to a commencement of 
negotiations with the Cortes. "What most worries them," 
said the prince, ' ' is the question of guarantees ; for they know 
that the king's word is utterly worthless, and that in spite of 
his promises he might very well hang every one of them." 

No guarantee could restrain the vindictive and angry pas- 
sions of the victorious royalists. The war was still carried on 
in several parts, but Cadiz succumbed to our attacks by sea 
and land. On the 30th September, the Cortes declared them- 
selves dissolved, and King Ferdinand VII. now free, embarked 
next day with all his family, to meet, at port St. Marie, the 
Duke of Angouleme, and the principal members of the 
regency of Madrid, who had just arrived at head-quarters. 
The shouts of the populace already hailed the monarch, and 
threatened his enemies. Angouleme insisted upon a general 
pardon ; but the King of Spain pointed out with his hand the 
ragged crowd gathered under the windows of the palace, and 
replied, "You hear the will of the people." " This country is 
about to fall back into absolutism," wrote the prince to Villele. 
" I have conscientiously done my part, and shall only express 
my settled conviction that every foolish act that can be done 
will be done." 

The reaction was already setting in with unparalleled violence. 
All the acts of the constitutional government were annulled. 
Even before reaching Madrid, Ferdinand VII. banished for 
life to fifteen leagues from the capital all who had had a share 
in it. Angouleme refused absolutely to wait for the king at 
Madrid, and wrote to him with severity, boldly demanding 
the fulfilment of his engagements with France for the good 
government of Spain. ' ' I asked your Majesty to give an 
amnesty, and grant to your people some assurance for the 
future. You have done neither one nor the other. During 
the fourteen days since your Majesty recovered your author- 
ity, nothing has been heard of on your part but arrests and 
arbitrary edicts, measures opposed to all regular government 
and all social order. Anxiety, fear, and discontent, begin to 
spread everywhere." 

The Duke of Angouleme returned to France thus dissatisfied 
and anxious, in spite of the successes he had gained, and the 
honor he had acquired. ' ' The war was not popular in France.- 



252 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xviii. 

in fact, it was unjust, because unnecessary. The Spanish 
revolution, in spite of its excesses, exposed France and the 
restoration to no serious risk; and the intervention was an 
attack upon the principle of the legitimate independence of 
states. It really produced neither to Spain nor France any 
good result. It restored Spain to the incurable and incapable 
despotism of Ferdinand VII. , without putting a stop to the 
revolutions; it substituted the ferocities of the absolutist 
populace for that of the anarchical populace. Instead of con- 
firming the influence of France beyond the Pyrenees, it threw 
the King of Spain into the arms of the absolutist powers, and 
delivered up the Spanish liberals to the protection of England. 
France though victorious was there politically defeated ; in the 
eyes of all who could clearly judge, the general and permanent 
effects of that war were no better than its causes." * 

At home it was considered a great success by the leaders of 
the royalists, who had imposed it upon Villele, and with him 
upon King Louis XVIII. A certain coolness reigned between 
the prime minister and Chateaubriand. The latter had taken 
no share in the parliamentary government, but joined in the 
stormy debates in the chambers. He proudly showed his 
delight at the success of his war in Spain, as he termed it, and 
the favors showered upon him by foreign sovereigns. On the 
Emperor Alexander sending him the cross of St. Andrew, the 
king took offence, and wrote to Villele, ' ' Pozzo and La Ferron- 
nays have just made me give you, through the Emperor Alex- 
ander, a slap on the cheek, but I shall be even with him, and 
give him a Roland for his Oliver. I now make you, my dear 
Villele, knight of my orders, and they are worth more than 
his." 

Villele was then fully occupied with an important campaign. 
On the 26th February, 1823, in a keen discussion on Spanish 
affairs, Manuel laid the blame upon foreign intervention of 
the evils that formerly desolated England and France. When 
violently interrupted by the royalists, whose anger he con- 
stantly provoked, he replied, " Can any one be ignorant that 
what caused the misfortune of the Stuarts was nothing but 
the assistance granted them by France— an assistance foreign 
to the parliament — a clandestine assistance, which compelled 
them to place themselves in revolt against public opinion? 
They were precipitated by public opinion. It is certainly a 

* Guizot's MemoireSy etc, 



oh. xvih.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 253 

misfortune, but that misfortune would have been avoided had 
the Stuarts sought their support within the nation. Need I say- 
that the moment when the dangers of the royal family of 
France became most serious, was when France, revolutionary 
France, felt it necessary to defend herself by strength and 
energy of an entirely new character?" 

The orator had not finished, but no one heard the rest. The 
right had risen in a body with violent protestations, demanding 
the expulsion of the defender of regicide. Manuel remained in 
the tribune, apparently unmoved by the indignation which he 
took pleasure in exciting. In the midst of the tumult, Ravez, 
the president, suspended the sitting without restoring order. 
Neither a letter of Manuel, explaining his words, nor the mod- 
erate and manly speech delivered next day, was sufficient to 
calm the fury of the right. Though perhaps rather impru- 
dently, it had determined to use its power in taking revenge of 
this most daring opponent. The discussion lasted several 
days, conducted with great keenness in the chamber, and com- 
mented upon passionately by partisans of both sides without. 
Manuel was saluted in the streets with loud shouts, and the 
police felt it necessary to close the gates of the gardens of the 
Tuileries. 

Bourdonnaye made a formal proposal to exclude Manuel from 
the chamber, which was agreed to by the commission ap- 
pointed to consider it. Royer-Collard eloquently contested the 
assembly's right to pronounce that exclusion. " I know some- 
thing more hateful than the violation of the laws," said he; 
"and that is, to give that violation fine names in order to le- 
gitimatize it and summon sophistry to the assistance of force. 
The revolution has only too abundantly shown this scandal. 
Supposing force is produced, we are sometimes powerless to 
prevent it : but let us at least compel it to keep its name and 
character, so that it may retain its responsibility. When I 
consider one after another the various necessities which rule 
human affairs, I dare not lay it down absolutely as a fixed 
principle that recourse to force can always be avoided. It 
holds a great place in every history, and receives various names 
according to its origin. When it comes from the government 
or the powers, it is called coup d'etat ; when it comes from the 
people, it is called ' insurrection ; ' when employed by a state 
against a state, it gets the name of 'intervention.' The re- 
course tG force in the present case is of the first class, it is a 
%oup <T6tat that is being directed against M. Manuel. ... As a 



254 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xviii. 

matter of fact, M. Manuel has not justified regicide. He is only 
accused of having wished to do it ; and that cannot be proved 
against him when he affirms the contrary. There is therefore 
no real reason for the exclusion ; and the coup d'etat does not 
fulfil the first of its conditions, which is that it be necessary." 

In spite of all those efforts, an amendment of Hyde de Neu- 
ville, that Manuel should be excluded from the chamber during 
the remainder of the session, was carried by a large majority. 
Manuel boldly declared that he would not submit to such ex- 
clusion. ' ' I acknowledge the right of no one here to accuse 
me or judge me," said he. "I look for judges, and I only find 
accusers. I do not await an act of justice ; it is an act of ven- 
geance to which I resign myself. I profess respect for the au- 
thorities, but I have much greater respect for the law which 
established them; and I fail to acknowledge their power as 
soon as, in spite of that law, they usurp rights which it has not 
conferred upon them. In such a state of things, I know not if 
submission is an act of prudence, but I know that whenever re- 
sistance is a right it becomes a duty. Having entered this 
chamber by the will of those who had the right to send me, I 
am now about to leave it only because compelled by those who 
have not the right to exclude me ; and if that resolution on my 
part is to bring down on my head more serious dangers, I re- 
flect that the field of liberty has sometimes been fertilized by 
noble blood !" Manuel's friends announced their intention of 
sharing his lot. 

Next day, on the 3rd of March, a large crowd assembled 
round the Palais Bourbon. Manuel entered in his deputy's 
dress, accompanied by the whole of the left. Ravez protested 
officially against his presence and suspended the sitting, an- 
nouncing that he was about to give the orders necessary for 
executing the decision of the chamber. " M. le President,'' 
said Manuel, " I declared yesterday that I should only yield to 
force; to-day I shall keep my word." 

The members of the majority had left, and the deputies of 
the left with part of the left centre remained alone, motionless 
in their places. The first summons of the chief usher produc- 
ing no result, a group of national guards appeared, with a de- 
tachment of veterans. " It is an insult to the national guard !" 
exclaimed Lafayette. The officer commanding the battalion 
advanced towards Manuel, and repeated the orders he had re- 
ceived for his expulsion. Then, after some hesitation, he left 
to go for fresh orders. Furnished this time with written in 



ch. xvm.J PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 255 

structions, he summoned Manuel to go out. On his refusal, he 
ordered the national guards to use force against the recalci- 
trant deputy. The national guard moved not a step. Showing 
the same impassibility when a second order was given, the ap- 
plause of the deputies burst forth, and was repeated by several 
persons in the gallery. At last a detachment of gendarmes ap- 
peared on the threshold, and their colonel advancing a few 
steps said, " Gentlemen, I have just received official orders to 
compel M. Manuel to leave the chamber, since he resists the 
summons already made, and the efforts of the national guard." 
There were immediate shouts of recrimination: "Give orders 
to charge, as on the 18th Brumaire !" The colonel advanced 
towards Manuel, and seized him by the arm, while two gend- 
armes laid hold on his collar. His friends rushed towards him. 
" That is sufficient, gentlemen !" said Manuel, after being moved 
9, short distance. He went out of the hall accompanied by all 
the members of the left, and allowed himself to be conducted 
to his carriage. 

On account of this violation of the privileges of the chamber, 
and the excitement which resulted from it, Villele understood 
the necessity of another appeal to the country. He calculated 
to derive from that source influence enough at length to rule 
according to his own ideas, or that of those whose will he fol- 
lowed. Immediately after the Spanish campaign the success 
of the elections was great for the government, and their power 
thus confirmed for a long time. Seventeen opponents alone 
were re-elected. Villele resolved to present at once two pro- 
posals, which the deputies of the right were in favor of. By 
the one, a general election of all the deputies septennially was 
substituted for the partial yearly election ; that was a guaran- 
tee of power, as well as duration to the new chamber. By the 
second proposal, a great financial measure, the conversion of 
five per cent, stock into three per cents. — that is to say, paying 
up the stockholders in full, or reducing their interest, an- 
nounced a great political measure, an indemnity to the emi- 
grants, and prepared to carry it out. The two laws were voted 
without difficulty by the Chamber of Deputies ; but the second 
was violently opposed in the Chamber of Peers. Chateau- 
briand spoke not a word in favor of the project : he was re- 
ported to have said, "I have seen a good many break their 
heads against a wall, but people who themselves build a wall 
to break then* heads against, I never saw yet." Villele's anger 
at his colleague was constantly increasing, and when the Cham- 



2^6 HISTOUT OF FRANCS. [cb\ xvnx 

ber of Peers injected the law. Chateaubriand went up to the 
president of the council and said, "If you "withdraw, we are 
ready to follow."' " Yillele's only reply." says Chateaubriand, 
in his Manoircs. " was to honor us with a look, which we still 
see. Next day. Whit-Sunday, the 6th Juno. 1884, 1 went to the 
Tuileries. at half-past six. to pay my respects to Monsieur. The 
first drawing-room of the Marson pavilion was almost empty, 
only a few persons entering, and all with an air of embarrass- 
ment. One of Monsieur's aides-de-camp said that he did not 
expect to see me there, and asked if I had not received any 
message. 'No.' said I, 'what message could I receive?' I 
suspect you will soon know," he replied. Then, as no one came 
to conduct me to Monsieur's room, I went to hear the music in 
the chapel; and when fully intent upon the beautiful chants, 
an usher came to say that I was wanted. It was my secretary, 
Pilorge. who handed me a letter and official note, and told me 
I was no longer a minister. The Due de Eauzan. who had 
charge of the political department, had opened the letter, but 
had not the courage to bring it to me. It was from Villele. as 
follows. ' M le Viscomte. in obedience to the king's command, 
I at once transmit to your Excellency an order which his Maj- 
esty has just given: ' Count Villele. president of our ministe- 
rial council, is appointed interim foreign minister, replacing 
Viscount Chateaubriand.' " 

The insult was of the grossest character, and showed the ex- 
treme imprudence of Villele ! There are some allies who are 
necessary, though unpleasant ; and Chateaubriand, in spite of 
his assumption and caprice, was less dangerous as a rival than 
as an enemy. Now all at once become a distinguished and 
powerful leader of the opposition, he launched incessant attacks 
at the ministry, from the tribune, which was eagerly supplied 
to him by the Journal tfes Debats. At one time, in spite of 
their friendship for him. the Bertins were on the point of 
quarrelling with Villele. They requested that Chateaubriand 
should be appointed ambassador at Rome. The minister re- 
fused, alleging the king's dislike of Chateaubriand. "In that 
case.'' replied Bertin de Vaux. " remember that lesDSbats have 
already ovei'thrown the Decazes and Richelieu ministries, and 
can soon overthrow the Villele ministry. " ' ' You overthrew 
the two first by stirring up royalism." replied Villele ; ,- but to 
overthrow mine you must first stir up a revolution." 

It was from the bosom of royalism itself that the Journal des 
Dcbats and Chateaubriand were about to excite the keenest op- 



ch. xix ] CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 257 

position to Villele. He had driven from the chamber most of 
hip enemies; and others, like Camille-Jordan, were dead: 
Serre, also dead, no longer checked him by his attacks or his 
assistance. Chateaubriand, however, attacked him in the 
Chamber of Peers, and Bourdonnaye in the Chamber of Depu- 
ties; and round them were grouped the grievances of every 
sort which are quickly begot by power. Eesolute opponents 
seconded attacks, the tendency of which they sometimes dis- 
approved. Thus Villele found himself entirely at the mercy of 
his friends, compelled tc-husband them, and accept their wishes 
in order to retain their support. He had just given Monsieur 
and his pious advisers the satisfaction of seeing Monseigneur 
de Frayssinous, already grand master of the university, raised 
to the new functions of minister of public instruction. At the 
bottom of his heart, and while reckoning upon the toleration 
of the ultras, who were masters of the power, Villele princi- 
pally depended on the king's good will. Louis XVIII. was old 
and sickly, and died on the 16th of September, 1824, surrounded 
during his last moments, and after his death, by all the ancient 
pomp of royalty. Several years previously, on receiving Barbe- 
Marbois in his room, he said, as he pointed to his bed, "My 
brother will not die in that bed !" Among those sovereigns who 
had immediately preceded him, as well as those soon to succeed 
him on the throne, Louis XVIII. was to be the only one to die 
peacefully in his palace. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

KING CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION OF 1830 (1834 — 1830). 

After succeeding Louis XVIII. , King Charles celebrated his 
succession by suppressing the censure of the press, though it 
was soon afterwards restored. On his return to Paris (27th 
September), after spending several days at St. Cloud, the new 
monarch showed a genuine desire for conciliation, and was 
well received by public opinion, the only favor asked from him 
being dismissal of the ministry. Charles X. refused. Like 
his brother and his children, he looked upon Villele as the 
most able and useful of all his servants. Nevertheless the 
president of the council soon learnt that he had changed mas- 
VHL— 17 



258 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xix. 

ters, " and that there is httle to be counted upon in the mind 
and heart of a king, however sincere, when the surface and in- 
terior are at variance. Men are much more governed than is 
generally believed, or than they themselves believe, by their real 
thoughts. Louis XVIII. and Charles X. have been much com- 
pared for the purpose of distinguishing one from the other ; the 
distinction was much more profound than has been indicated. 
Louis XVIII. was a moderate of the old regime, and a free- 
thinker of the eighteenth century. Charles X. was a faithful 
'emigrant,' and a humble devotee. The wisdom of Louis 
XVIII. was full of selfishness and skepticism, but earnest and 
genuine. When Charles X. acted as a wise king, it was by his 
sense of honor, by uncalculating kindness, by momentary im- 
pulse and the desire to please, not from conviction or taste. 
Through all the cabinets of his reign — Montesquiou, Talley- 
rand, Richelieu, Decazes, and Villele — the government of Louis 
XVIII. was always consistent and similar to itself, without bad 
intention or false purpose. Charles X. shifted about, from con- 
tradiction to contradiction and inconsistency to inconsistency, 
till the day when, restored to his real faith and real intention, 
he committed the fault which cost him his throne." * 

From the beginning of the new reign, and in spite of the 
kind words or isolated acts which cleverly calmed the anger of 
the liberals, Villele faithfully served the king's personal in- 
stincts and the wishes of his advisers. He made no effort to 
correct the inconstancy and fickleness of the king, but limited 
himself to making him accomplish, whenever circumstances 
admitted of it, so many acts of moderate and popular policy 
that he should not seem exclusively devoted to the party who 
really held his heart and faith in keeping. The first measures 
presented by the ministry at the opening of the session clearly 
proved sovereign will. The law of indemnity to " emigrants," 
that of communities of women, and that of sacrilege, were 
really the manifesto of the new kingdom. The intelligent 
effort invariably made for the advantage or pleasure of the 
spirit of progress, was always due to Villele, and to him the 
honor must be ascribed. 

It was Villele who in 1825 resisted the exclusive application 
of the reparatory measure brought before the chambers in 
favor of the victims of the revolutionary confiscations. Those 
condemned or banished at the successive crises of the revolu- 

* Guizot's Mtfmcires, etc. 



ch. xix.] CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 25£ 

tion were to have their share in that indemnity, which the 
" emigrant" party tried to appropriate entirely to themselves. 
Public opinion has in fact retained the recollection of their 
pretensions, and the measure presented on the 3rd of January, 
1825, has by succeeding generations been termed " the emi- 
grants' indemnity." It provoked violent attacks; it caused 
great anxiety to those who had acquired the national property, 
and seemed to open a dangerous path. The right supported it 
with a passionate bitterness, which Villele and Montignac tried 
in vain to modify. The law had been proclaimed as one to heal 
up the remaining wounds of the revolution ; it bitterly re- 
vived its most painful recollections. The creation of stock to 
the amount of a milliard, by a law voted on the 15th of March 
by the deputies, and 23rd of April by the peers, continued to 
be unpopular in spite of its evident fairness. But this unjust 
criticism was soon falsified by the good effects whcih were 
produced in the provinces, and beneficial influence upon men's 
minds. 

The proposal of a law on sacrilege was opposed both in the 
peers and deputies on higher grounds, based on earnest and 
profound liberalism. Eoyer-Collard and Broglie were more 
hostile to sacrilege than any man, but they boldly stood up 
against the application of extreme penalties to a crime which 
the law had no power to punish. "This bill now before the 
chamber," said Eoyer-Collard, " is of a special order, hitherto 
unknown in our deliberations. Not only does it introduce into 
our legislation a new crime, but what is much more extraor- 
dinary, it creates a new principle of criminality — a class of 
crimes which are, so to say, supernatural, which do not fall 
under our senses, which human reason cannot discover or 
understand, and which are only manifested to religious faith 
enlightened by revelation. Thus the penal law brings under 
discussion both religion and civil society — their nature, end, 
and respective independence. . . . The law has a religious be- 
lief, and since it is sovereign it must be obeyed. Truth in the 
matter of faith belongs to its domain; truth in its* turn takes 
possession of the law, makes its constitutions both political 
and civil, that is to say, it makes everything. Not only is its 
kingdom of this world, but this world is its kingdom, the 
sceptre has passed from its hands. Therefore, just as in pont- 
ics we are shut up between absolute power and revolutionary 
sedition, in religion we are confined between theocracy and 
atheism. Let them beware ; the revolution has certainly been 



260 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xix. 

impious even to cruelty, but it is this crime especially that has 
destroyed it ; and it may be predicted for the counter-revolu- 
tion that reprisals of cruelty, even if only written, will bear 
witness against her, and shatter her in turn." The law was 
voted without amendment, including the first article, which 
pronounced capital punishment against profaners of sacred 
objects. "It is only referring them to their natural judge!" 
exclaimed Bonald in an impulse of fanatical violence which 
was blamed even by his friends : this sentence of his speech 
was not inserted in the Moniteur. 

Such procedure only the more embittered the dissension, 
already so profound, which divided the men who had pro- 
duced the revolution from those who underwent it. The 
struggle became as keen in the religious arena as in the political 
arena. In the foremost ranks of the hottest partisans of a re- 
turn to the faith and practice of the past, there fought the Abbe 
Lamennais, soon destined to turn his arms elsewhere. The op- 
position journals, the Conrrier, Constitutionnel, and the Globe, 
eagerly brought before the public the numerous questions dis- 
cussed in the Chambers. Everything supplied material for 
fiery discussion — a cure's sermon, the representation of a new 
piece at the theatre, the recognition of the independence of 
Haiti, or the conversion of public stock. King Charles X. was 
consecrated on the 19th May, 1824, with all the pomp necessary 
to such a ceremony. The numerous acts of clemency which 
signalized the consecration assisted to appease the popular ex- 
citement for some time. 

Before the session was reopened, 21st January, 1825, Gen- 
eral Foy had died — still young, passionately regretted, and with 
numerous proofs of public admiration heaped upon him even 
till after his death. The Emperor Alexander was also dead, 
having left still pending the question of the independence of 
Greece, which had been recently raised by the insurrection of 
the Christians against the oppression of the Turks. The seri- 
ous and resolute opposition of the Chamber of Peers to the im- 
prudent procedure of the government was daily manifested 
with great notoriety. Villele submitted against his will to the 
demands of his party for a law in favor of primogeniture and 
the substitution of property. He himself was by no means 
deceived as to its success. "Should the government propose 
to restore the law of primogeniture," he wrote in the preceding 
year to Prince Polignac, then ambassador in London, "they 
would not find a majority to obtain it, because the evil is more 



ch. xix.] CHARLES X. AND TEE REVOLUTION. 261 

deeply-seated ; it is in our manners, which still all bear the im- 
press left by the revolution. The bonds of subordination are 
so relaxed in our families, that the father is often compelled to 
consider the wishes of all his children." In his eloquent speech 
in the Chamber of Peers, Broglie did not criticise so severely 
the state of manners and families, but boldly resisted what he 
considered an ill-timed and useless return towards an anti- 
quated legislation. "What is now preparing," said he, ".is a 
social and political revolution, a revolution against the revo- 
lution which took place in France nearly forty years ago. If 
I had the right of advising the councillors of the crown, I 
should say to them, ' Give way while there is still time, to the 
pressure of public opinion. Perseverance is a virtue, but not 
when in excess.' There are certainly circumstances under 
which a statesman ought to resist public complaints however 
general, raise his solitary voice against public opinion if led 
astray, and remain alone on the breach to defend the interests 
of truth; but it is only then that the truth is of such an 
order that higher minds can alone reach it. Here, on the con- 
trary, where the point at issue is the peace of families, the re- 
lationship between fathers and children, the ties between 
brothers and sisters, the rudest workman or simplest artisan 
knows as much as the greatest philosopher. Here we deal 
with some of those truths which God is sometimes pleased to 
hide from the wise in order to reveal them to the simple and 
ignorant. It is one of those occasions when the legislator can 
resign himself blindfolded to go with the stream, exclaiming 
with confidence, ' Vox populi, vox Dei ! ' " The law was re- 
duced to a single clause, which gave permission to extend to a 
second generation the ' ' substitution of the disposable part of 
the successions;" and was passed in that form by both cham- 
bers. 

The bill on the press, presented in the end of the year 1826, 
was not to obtain even that meagre success. Intended to satisfy 
the claims of the clergy as well as the ultras, it did not please 
Lamennais, who, with his usual violence, characterized it as a 
"monument probably unique of hypocrisy and tyranny," and 
roused to their highest pitch the wrath and indignation of all 
the liberals. Peyronnet had announced it as a "law of justice 
and love;" Chateaubriand termed it a "law of the Vandals." 
"It is a censorship!" exclaimed Benjamin Constant. "It 
would amount to the same thing as a proposal in these terms : 
' Printing is suppressed in France for the profit of Belgium,' " 



202 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xix. 

declared Casimir Perier, then become one of the leaders of the 
opposition in the Chamber of Deputies. The French Academy 
drew up an address to be presented to the king, to protest 
against the painful position in which literature should be placed 
by the new legislation. The address was not received, and 
many of the academicians were deprived of the offices they 
held. The Courrier was prosecuted. In spite of this display 
of power and resolution on the part of the government, the bill 
as amended by the Chamber of Deputies received so decided an 
opposition in the peers that the ministry found themselves 
compelled to withdraw it (17th April, 1827). 

The public excitement constantly increased. It was notably 
exhibited when the king was reviewing the national guard on 
the 29th April, abusive terms being shouted in various places, 
not only against the ministers, but against the princesses. On 
being informed by some of his cortege of circumstances which 
had escaped his notice, the king resolved to discharge the na- 
tional guard (30th April). On the 24th June, the day after the 
closing of the session, he issued an order restoring the censor- 
ship of periodicals and newspapers. The ill-advised severity 
of its application answered to the arbitrary violence of: the act 
of power. Eloquent and outspoken pamphlets supplemented 
the enforced silence of the newspapers. Chateaubriand, always 
a consistent advocate of the liberty of the press, was one of the 
foremost combatants in this arena, and a society was formed 
for the gratuitous dissemination of his writings. There was 
at the same time a strong antipathy formed against the clerical 
" congregations" and the order of Jesuits. A petition of Mont- 
losier to the Chamber of Peers was the occasion of a long and 
brilliant debate. In spite of the eloquent defence of the Abbe 
Frayssinous, minister of public instruction, the chamber sent 
the petition to the president of the council, demanding the ap- 
plication of the laws which interdicted Jesuitical establish- 
ments in France. 

The home difficulties were not the only ones then weighing 
upon the cabinet. The death of King John VI. of Portugal led 
to the abdication of his son Don Pedro, the first Emperor of 
Brazil, on condition that his daughter Maria should marry her 
uncle Don Miguel, and both should occupy the throne of Por- 
tugal. Pedro at the same time granted a constitutional char- 
ter to Portugal. Several provinces revolted, and declared Mig- 
uel an absolute monarch. Conquered in Portugal, the insur- 
gents retired to Spain, where thev were well received ; and on 



ch. xix.] CHARLES X. AND TEE REYOL UTION. 263 

an invasion into Portugal being attempted, the diplomatic rela- 
tions between the two kingdoms of the peninsula were broken. 
The French Government disapproving of the King of Spain's 
conduct, recalled Moustier, their ambassador. The Portuguese 
constitutionals having claimed the support of England, the 
cabinet sent an army. " To those who blame the government 
for delay," said Canning in Parliament, "the answer is very 
short : it was only last Friday that I received the official re- 
quest from Portugal ; on Saturday the ministers decided what 
was to be done; on Sunday, the decision received the king's 
sanction ; on Monday it was communicated to both houses ; and 
at this very moment the troops are on tbeir way to Portugal." 
The English minister of foreign affairs declared his policy of 
opposition to French intervention and occupation in Spain. 
He had already recognized the republics in South America, 
those old Spanish colonies which revolted against the yoke of 
the mother country. "Should France occupy Spain," said he, 
' ' was it necessary to blockade Cadiz to restore the situation of 
England? No, I looked to the other side of the Atlantic, and 
sought for compensation in another hemisphere. I thought of 
Spain as she was known to our ancestors ; and determined that 
if the French should have Spain, it would not be Spain with 
the Indies. I called in the new world to redress the balance of 
the old. I have left to France the unpleasant burden of her 
invasion, which I am convinced she would gladly be rid of. " 

Several months afterwards Canning died, succumbing in his 
turn like Pitt, Fox, Castlereagh, and Romilly under the weight 
of a government which had long exceeded human strength. 
But Spain had at last yielded to the pressure exercised upon 
her by England and France. The government of Charles X. , 
after some violent attacks by the right, recalled the Swiss bri- 
gade sent to protect the royal family in Madrid. 

After friendly relations between Spain and Portugal were re- 
stored, the affairs of Greece became the object of a European 
arrangement. Supported from the first by England, the Greek 
insurgents asked without success from the Duke of Orleans the 
honor of placing his son, the Duke of Nemours, on the new 
throne of Greece. The Duke of Wellington was instructed by 
Canning to offer the mediation of England, between Russia 
and Turkey, and between Turkey and Greece. By a protocol 
of the 4th April, the cabinets of St. Petersburg and London 
agreed together to guarantee to Greece a semi-independence. 
The Emperor Nicholas absolutely refused to admit of any in 



264 HISTOBY OF FRANCE. \cs. xix. 

tervention from Europe in his quarrels with Turkey. He 
said to Wellington, with Oriental exaggeration, "I have just 
been making reductions in my army, and have now only 600,- 
000 men to place at the disposal of my friends, and 1,200,000 to 
oppose my enemies." While showing favor towards Greece, 
France did not adhere to the Anglo-Russian protocol. On the 
6th July she undertook with those allies to put a stop to the 
" bloody struggle which delivered the Grecian provinces and 
islands of the Archipelago to all the disorders of anarchy, 
brought every day fresh hindrances to European commerce, 
and occasional piracies demanding onerous measures of surveil- 
lance and repression." The Porte having rejected the friendly 
proposals offered by the three powers, and General Ibrahim 
having violated a provisional armistice demanded by the allies, 
the combined English, Russian, and French fleet, under the 
orders of Admiral Codrington, the senior commander, forced 
the entrance of Navarino harbor, and the Turkish fleet defend- 
ing it was almost completely destroyed. The struggle between 
the Turks and Greeks was still keenly contested. The ambas- 
sadors of the three powers left Constantinople. The procla- 
mations of Turkey formed a reason for Russian armaments. 
France wished for a peaceful arrangement, but without success. 
The disorder continued to reign in Portugal, and a serious in- 
surrection broke out in Catalonia, yet the English ministry, 
now under Wellington's direction, seemed resolved to maintain 
the policy of non-intervention ; France found herself joined to 
Russia, and separated both from Austria and Prussia. Some 
preparations were also being made to punish the Dey of Al- 
giers, who had encouraged the Mediterranean pirates. 

In the midst of this fermentation and these foreign dis- 
tractions, the opposition to Villele was steadily increasing ; he 
was blamed for evils of every sort. "Even in the Palais 
Bourbon and the Tuileries, its two strongholds, the cabinet 
was visibly losing ground. In the Chamber of Deputies the 
ministerial majority became smaller and more depressed, even 
when victorious. At court, some of the king's most trusted 
servants, whether from party-spirit or from monarchical 
anxiety, wished for Villele's fall, and were already considering 
who should succeed him. The king also, on learning some 
fresh indication of the public feeling, said with a tone of an- 
noyance as he returned to his private room, "Always Villele! 
Always against Villele !" * 

* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



ch. xix.] CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 265 

In reality such judgment was grossly unjust. If the right 
enjoyed power for six years, and had so exercised it as to be 
able to retain it ; if Charles X. not only succeeded peacefully 
to Louis XVIII., but ruled without trouble, and even with 
occasional popularity — it was Villele especially they had to 
thank for it. He had kept his party and power within the 
general limits of the charter, and for six years conducted the 
constitutional government under a prince, and with friends 
who were supposed not to understand it, and to have accepted 
it against their wills. He was wrong in yielding to the king 
or his party when he disapproved of their plans, and thus 
accepting the responsibility of faults committed under his 
name, and with his consent, though against his will. Taking 
the whole burden on himself, he asked the king for a dissolu- 
tion, 5th November, 1827. The elections were fixed for the 
17th and 24th November. 

The liberal movement became, not only more animated, but 
more concentrated and more powerful in its efforts towards a 
common aid. Men of extremely different general views and 
special intentions were brought closer together. A public 
association, with the motto, "Heaven helps those who help 
themselves," was formed by the opposition to organize in the 
elections; and by rallying both liberals and royalists who 
were disgusted with the ministry, its success exceeded all ex- 
pectation. The more moderate friends of the government had 
been much afraid of this test. Laine refused for a long time to 
believe a dissolution possible. "In any case," he wrote to 
Decazes, in the beginning of October, "I shall give you my 
hearty assistance to secure the exercise of the public rights of 
election and the liberty of the press. Whatever may be the 
evils of the latter, they are not to be compared to the advan- 
tages which result from it, in a nation where no right is 
fixed, and which, after the horrors of the revolution, the 
prostration of the empire, and the ebb and flow of the restora- 
tion, remains hesitating and uncertain, without being really 
indifferent. The people of France are treated like a people of 
puppets, and what is worse, they themselves laugh at it." 

"What actually produces the elections," says Guizot in his 
Memoires, "is the wind that blows and the impulse impressed 
on men's minds by events. The elections, considered as a 
whole, are almost always more true than is believed by inter- 
ested or silly distrust. However anxious and adroit, the 
government's influence over them is for the most part only 



266 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [en. xix 

secondary." In 1827 the government left no means untried to 
influence strongly the electoral results. Seventy-six new- 
peers were added to the Upper Chamber, in the hope of weak- 
ening its independence; and opposition writers were vigor- 
ously repressed. Even the tribunals, however, were some- 
times free from administrative pressure. At Manuel's death 
his funeral obsequies were the occasion of a great public 
demonstration. Mignet, then a very young man, one of the 
most ardent colleagues of Thiers in the management of the 
Constitutionnel and Globe, wrote an account of the ceremony 
in a pamphlet, which was prosecuted. On Mignet's acquittal, 
"Paris celebrated the verdict as a counterpoise to the press 
censorship," wrote Salvandy, always anxious to note the 
progress of liberal opinion." "Frenchmen of the charter," 
exclaimed the Journal des Debats, " prepare wings to fly to 
the combat! Frenchmen of the restoration, make haste to 
give us a royalist chamber which will not blast that name by 
servility. Frenchmen of honor and truth, purge your country 
from the scandal of a perverse and dishonored administra- 
tion." 

The coalition of liberals with the royalists 'opposed to the 
ministry had a brilliant triumph, and seemed certain of a 
majority. Villele and his colleagues offered to resign, but 
King Charles X. was undecided and alarmed. Various 
schemes were devised for changing the ministry while retain- 
ing the president of the council, but the force of circum- 
stances was too great. Villele withdrew in favor of Martig- 
nac, to be actual chief of the cabinet without bearing the 
title. Count Portalis became keeper of the seals ; Count Fer- 
ronnays foreign minister, and Count Eoy chancellor of the 
exchequer. Royer-Collard, chosen by seven colleagues, was 
appointed president of the chamber. Though but little favor- 
able to Villele, the princess royal had been opposed to his dis- 
missal. "You are deserting M. de Villele," said she to the 
king; " it is your first step downwards from the throne." 

" Thus began a new attempt at government by the centre; 
but with much less energy or chance of success than that 
which from 1816 to 1821, under the simultaneous or alternate 
direction of Eichelieu and Decazes, had protected France and 
the crown against the domination of the members of the right 
and those of the left. The centre in 1816, while the country 
was in pressing danger, had derived much energy even from 
that force, and had to deal, both on the right and left, only with 



CH. xix.] CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 267 

resistance which, though resolute, was still in the opinion of 
the public too inexperienced and badly organized to be capa- 
ble of governing. In 1828, on the contrary, the right having 
only left power after a possession of six years, believed them- 
selves beth sure of soon recovering it and capable of exercis- 
ing it, and therefore eagerly and hopefully attacked the unex- 
pected successors who had snatched it from them. Threat- 
ened in the chambers by ambitious and powerful rivals, the 
aew-born power only found their allies who were lukewarm, 
or hindered in their good intentions ; and sensible men were 
much more paralyzed or compromised by the violent or 
thoughtless, than successful in directing or restraining their 
troublesome companions. Another point was that, whereas 
from 1816 to 1821, King Louis XVIII. gave genuine and 
practical assistance to the government of the centre, in 1828 
King Charles X. considered the cabinet which took the place 
of the leaders of the right as a disagreeable experiment which 
he had to undergo, but to which he lent himself with anxiety, 
without confidence in its success, resolving not to test it more 
than was strictly necessary. ' ' The ministry resulting from 
the first conflict will be necessarily rather insignificant," wrote 
the Due de Broglie after the elections, ' ' but we must support 
them, and try to prevent any one being alarmed. Should we 
succeed, after the fall of the present ministry, in getting 
through the year tranquilly, it will be a triumphant suc- 
cess."* 

Martignac's ministry was not to last long, and the hope of 
seeing it establish itself and become permanent was still more 
ephemeral. In vain did the cabinet try to find fresh support. 
Notwithstanding his fall, Villele kept up with Charles X. a 
constant correspondence, which had no favorable influence on 
the mutual and confidential relations between the king and his 
ministers. Chateaubriand rejected the overtures made him, 
as they had no bearing on the ministry of foreign affairs, 
which alone he coveted. He still kept up a bitter opposition 
in the Journal des Debats. Vatimesnil, who formerly stood 
in the ranks of the ultras, now more moderate than he 
avowed, was appointed minister of public instruction, and 
made all haste to reopen the professional courses of lectures 
which Villele had closed. Guizot and Villemain began again 
their lectures to crowded classes of enthusiastic pupils, who 

* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



268 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xrx. 

eagerly flocked to them as well as to Cousin. Guizot's prin- 
cipal aim at this time was to struggle against the error of 
superficial minds separating the past from the present, and 
the history of the nation from its new life. " In my lectures 
from 1828 to 1830," says he in his Memoires, " I constantly la- 
bored to bring back my hearers to an intelligent and impartial 
appreciation of our ancient social condition, and thus con- 
tribute my share in restoring between the varirus elements of 
our social system, old and new, monarchical, aristocratic, or 
democratic, that mutual esteem and harmony which may be 
suspended by an access of revolutionary fever, but which soon 
become indispensable both to the liberty and prosperity of the 
citizens, both to the power and tranquillity of the state." 

Notwithstanding the distrust with which Martignac's min- 
istry inspired some of the liberals, it gave good assistance to 
the wise and prudent efforts of sensible men to secure at last 
the foundation of the public liberties upon strong bases. A 
law for the purpose of securing the annual revision of the 
electoral lists, a proposal for new press-regulations and sup- 
pressing the preliminary authorization of newspapers, as well 
as the censorship, were soon brought before the chambers, and 
passed by large majorities. Martignac defended his measures 
with that persuasive and dignified eloquence which gained for 
him the name of "the Syren," given him by Dupont, the Eure 
deputy. Benjamin Constant attacked the press law, after de- 
manding and supporting it. " Attacked by contradictory ac- 
cusations," said the minister of the interior, " we reply by our 
acts. We present ourselves before you with uncovered fore- 
heads, and look you in the face without fear, because our con- 
sciences are at rest, and you are just. The declaration of war 
which has just been been addressed to us will only be signed, 
we are confident, by a small number of enemies. We have 
not provoked it, but we do not fear it, because we have as 
witnesses and judges of the conflict you, gentlemen, and 
France." At the same time, and as if to reduce at last to 
nothing the attacks directed against the ' ' clerical" tendencies 
of the government, there appeared two orders regulating the 
private management of the small seminaries which had occa- 
sioned numerous protests, and declaring that ecclesiastical 
schools, managed by religious bodies who were not authorized, 
should henceforth be subject to the rule of the university. This 
measure, which really excluded Jesuits from teaching, greatly 
pleased and astonished the liberals, but caused much dis- 



ch. xix.] CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 201) 

pleasure and anxiety amongst the ultras, -who were very sus- 
picious of the influence of Ravez upon the king. The journey 
made by Charles X. in the eastern provinces after the close of 
the session, and the enthusiasm with which he was received, 
assisted more successfully in removing the alarm of the 
court. The king unfortunately derived from that source 
illusions which soon after contributed in drawing him on 
towards ruin. 

The misfortune of the liberals in 1829 was, that they dis- 
turbed with their own hands the touchy and precarious har- 
mony which had been established between them and the mod- 
erate royalists. Martignac brought in two bills securing to 
the electoral principle a share in the administration of the 
departments and communes, and imposing new rules and 
limits on the central power with regard to local affairs. 

"These concessions might appear either too great or too 
narrow. In any case they were real, and defenders of the 
people's liberties could not do better than accept them and hold 
by them. But among the liberal party which had till then 
supported the cabinet, two spirits but slightly allied to politics, 
the spirit of impatience and the spirit of system, the desire for 
popularity and the rigor of logic, could not be satisfied with 
conquests so incomplete and easy. The right refrained from 
voting, and left the ministers to struggle with the demands of 
their allies. Notwithstanding Martignac's efforts, an amend- 
ment which seemed more important than it really was formed 
a sort of attack upon the bill to systematize the departmental 
administration. In the king's opinion, and that of the cham- 
bers, the ministry had reached the limit of their credit, unable 
to obtain from the king what would have satisfied the cham- 
bers, or from the chambers what would have reassured the 
king. They themselves by suddenly withdrawing both bills 
confessed their double powerlessness, and remained still stand- 
ing, though dying. " * 

Two months previously, on account of an accident which 
had compelled Ferronnays to leave the ministry of foreign 
affairs, the king tried to replace him by Prince Polignac, for 
whom he had a strong attachment, but not succeeding, the 
office remained vacant. Chateaubriand, who had been covet- 
ing it, was then in Rome: his purpose was to take revenge 
upon Villele, by forming a new cabinet himself. He was 

* Guizot's Memoire8 y etc. 



270 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xix. 

spared, however, both the trouble and the satisfaction. On 
the 9th of August, the Moniteur announced the formation of 
Polignac's ministry. Bourdonnaye was appointed home min- 
ister. 

What was the object in view? No one knew; Polignac and 
the king as little as the public. But Charles X. had displayed 
on the Tuileries the flag of the counter-revolution. There was 
a universal outburst of anger and anxiety. "There it is now 
again broken, that bond of love and confidence which joined 
the people to the monarch !" exclaimed the Journal des Debats, 
on the 10th of August. ' ' See again the court with its old 
hatreds, emigration with its errors, the priesthood with its 
antipathy to freedom, coming to interpose between France 
and her king ! What constituted the glory of this kingdom 
was the moderation in the exercise of power ; now moderation 
is impossible. Those now ruling the affairs would like to be 
moderate, but they cannot. What will they do then? Will 
they bring to their assistance the force of the bayonet? Bay- 
onets in these days are intelligent ; they know and respect the 
law. Are they about to tear up that charter which made the 
immortality of Louis XVIII., and the power of his successor? 
Let them consider well : the charter now is an authority against 
which all the efforts of despotism should be broken. The peo- 
ple pay a milliard to the law ; they would not pay two millions 
on the orders of a minister. With illegal taxes there should be 
born a Hampden to crush them. Hampden? Must we again 
recall to mind that name of alarm and warfare? Unhappy 
France ! Unhappy king !" 

The Bertins were prosecuted for that article, and condemned 
by the lower court, though the judgment was quashed by 
the Cour de Cassation. The new ministers were extremely 
astonished at this manifestation of public opinion. It was 
more serious and sustained than such popular impulses gen- 
erally are in France, because the danger seemed still greater 
to enlightened men than to the mass of the nation. Guizot 
and Berryer had just taken their seats as deputies, being at 
last qualified by age to enter the chamber ; one representing 
Calvados, the other Haute-Loire. Both were already known ; 
both destined to join together in political combat, not without 
mutual respect and liking; both eager for the fray. The 
struggle was everywhere concealed and threatening, and had 
not yet burst forth at any point. Societies were publicly 
formed, both in the provinces nnd in Paris, to refuse payment 




THE DUC D'ORI.EANS AT THE HOTEl.-DE-VILLE. 



ch. xix.] CHABLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 271 

of taxes, should the government attempt to raise them with- 
out legal sanction of the chambers. "We shall not make a 
coup d'etat" said Polignac to Michaud. "What, your high- 
ness! you won't! I am sorry for that," replied the historian 
of the crusades, who had formerly been insulted by Villele. 
"Why?" asked Polignac. "Because all your party wish 
for coups detat, and if you don't make one, you will have 
nobody." Polignac had not yet understood. The prejudice 
against him astonished the king and his new minister. Po- 
lignac had recently, in the Chamber of Peers, declared his at- 
tachment to the charter. "His declarations are sincere : he be- 
lieved the charter compatible with the political preponderance 
of the ancient nobility and the definitive supremacy of the 
ancient royalty. He flattered himself that he could develop 
the new institutions by making them subject to the rule of in- 
fluences which they had been created for the very purpose of 
abolishing or limiting. It is impossible to estimate the extent 
of the conscientious illusions which may deceive a weak mind, 
of some ardor and elevation, but mystically vague and keen. 
Alarmed at his unpopularity, and afraid to increase it by his 
actions, Polignac did nothing. The cabinet formed to subdue 
the revolution and save the monarchy remained motionless 
and fruitless. They prepared an expedition to Algiers, and 
summoned the chambers, with constant declarations of their 
devotion to the charter. They hoped to get rid of the difficulty 
through a majority and a conquest !" * Henceforth it was as" 
president of the council that he had to keep up the struggle, 
After some dissension within the cabinet, Bourdonnaye with- 
drew, Montbel replaced him as home minister, and Guernon 
Ranville was appointed minister of public instruction. 

The king and ministers thought to find a useful diversion 
from the agitation of home affairs in general European politics, 
at that time difficult and complicated. After being urged by 
Russia, and without receiving much support from England, the 
French government promised pecuniary assistance to the Greek 
insurgents, and entered upon some negotiation with President 
Capo dTstria as to the future organization of the new state. It 
was intended by the intervention of a corps of the French army, 
supported by the English fleet, to assist the operations of the 
Russians, and compel Ibrahim Pacha to return to Egypt. 
This expedition was delayed through the Duke of Wellington's 

- ■ — ■ ■ ■ — £ 

* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



272 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xrx. 

objections and Metternich's diplomacy, but on the 17th August, 
1828, the French troops set sail at Toulon, under the orders of 
General Maison. On the 6th October the last Egyptian division 
evacuated the Morea, all the strongholds were delivered up to 
us, and the Peloponnesus was freed from it enemies. The con- 
ference of allied powers, by arrangement with Capo d'Istria, 
offered the crown of Greece to Prince Leopold, of Saxe-Coburg, 
widower of the Princess Charlotte, heiress to the English throne. 
After some discussion of the conditions of acceptance, the prince 
definitively refused the crown. The English ministry, who had 
supported him, lost their hold on the public confidence. The 
state of Europe was not reassuring. Don Miguel and the ab- 
solutists triumphed in Portugal over the rights of Queen Maria. 
In Spain, Ferdinand VII., on the occasion of his young queen's 
confinement, issued a pragmatic sanction, restoring the ancient 
order of the Spanish monarchy admitting females to the royal 
succession. The Dey of Algiers refused the satisfaction de- 
manded in France, on account of the consul having been in- 
sulted ; and on the failure of a blockade to reduce the town, an 
expedition, commanded by Bourmont, set out for Africa, on 
the 16th May, 1830. The landing was successfully effected on 
the 14th June; and soon news of the taking of Algiers (4th 
July) came to fill all hearts with joy and pride. 

This public satisfaction was not diminished by the discontent 
of England. George IV. had just died ; and the Duke of Well- 
ington, who was still retained in power by William IV., de- 
manded from the French government an engagement to retain 
none of the territories they had just conquered. Polignac 
refused. "Never," said Lord Aberdeen to Laval, the French 
ambassador, "never did France, under the Republic or under 
the empire, give England such serious ground of complaint as 
she has been giving us for the last year." "Polignac is con- 
sidered a man of worth and honor," said Wellington; " I look 
upon him as one of the falsest and ablest men that exist." 

Wellington did Polignac too great injustice and too great an 
honor at the same time. In his foreign as well as in his home 
policy, he ivas animated by perfidious intention ; and his ability 
was merely the imprudent daring of a lofty but confused mind. 
The liberties of the people were not yet violated, but they were 
felt to be seriously endangered. Anxious not only for the 
safety of his throne, but for what he considered the inalienable 
rights of his crown, King Charles X. assumed, to maintain 
them, an attitude which was most offensive to the nation. Ha 



ch. xix.] CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 273 

braved her more than he defended himself against her. The 
nation in her turn felt angry and haughty. There were hints 
of coups d'etat on the people's side, ready to reply to those on 
the king's. Without directly attacking the reigning power, 
legal measures were used against it to their utmost limit ; too 
openly to admit of a charge of hypocrisy, and too adroitly to 
be hindered in their hostile work. Press trials might follow 
each other, and the hostile acts of the government clearly show 
their tendency, but they also, like the opposition, kept within 
legality. The constitutional royalists, who had sincerely ac- 
cepted and supported the restoration, felt more than any other 
section of the party the difficulty and danger of the situation. 
The address, called that of the 221, inspired by Eoyer-Collard 
and his political friends, was the last and supreme effort of 
those men of honor and foresight, then apprehensive of the 
overthrow of the monarchy which their hands had helped to 
raise. The speech from the throne contained one threatening 
sentence : — 

"Peers of France, deputies of the departments, I am fully 
confident of your assistance in producing the good which I 
wish to do. You will repel with scorn the base insinuations 
which malevolence is seeking to propagate. Should guilty 
intrigues stir up against my government obstacles which I 
cannot, which I wish not to anticipate, I shall find power to 
surmount them in my determination to maintain the public 
peace in the well-grounded confidence of the French people, 
and in the affection they have always shown to their king." 

"Don't urge the king too eagerly," Eoyer-Collard sometimes 
said. " Nobody knows what stupid blunders he may be guilty 
of." It was such blundering due to the royal illusions that the 
Chamber of Deputies tried to prevent in 1830. The address 
of the peers was embarrassed and hesitating; that of the 
Chamber of Deputies was both firm and modest, inflexible 
as to the basis of constitutional principle, sympathetic and 
respectful in its desire to warn the monarch of the dangers to 
which he was exposed. "They tell us that France is in peace, 
that there is no disturbance of order," said Guizot, mounting 
the tribune for the first time as a deputy, to speak on behalf of 
the address. It is true that the material order is not disturbed ; 
all move about freely and peacefully ; business is not interfered 
with by uproar. The social surface is tranquil, so tranquil that 
the government may well be tempted to believe that the bot- 
tom is in perfect security, and thus consider themselves un- 
VUI.-18 



274 HISTORY OF FUANCE. [ch. xix. 

threatened by any danger. Our words, gentlemen, the candor 
of our words, alone can inform the government at the present 
moment ; they are the only voice that can reach up to them 
and dissipate their illusions. Let us beware of weakening its 
force ; let us beware of enervating our expressions. Truth has 
already too much difficulty in reaching within the palaces of 
kings ; let us not send it weak and colorless ; let us leave no 
possibility of its being misunderstood, or of the loyalty of our 
sentiments being mistaken." 

On the 18th March, the address of the chamber was carried 
to the Tuileries. A large number of the opposition deputies ac- 
companied their president. Royer-Collard showed considerable 
emotion, even in the tone of his voice ; that of the king was dry 
and abrupt, though his attitude was dignified, without either 
hesitation or haughtiness. " Sir," said he, "I had the right to 
expect the assistance of both chambers in effecting the good I 
intended. My heart is pained to see the deputies of depart- 
ments declare that, so far as they are concerned, there will be 
no such assistance. I announced my determination at the 
opening of the session — that determination is unchangeable. 
The interests of my people forbid me to relinquish it ; my min- 
isters will let you know of my intentions." Next day, the 19th 
March, the prorogation of the chamber to the 1st September 
was announced in the Moniteur. The triumphant delight of 
the ultras broke forth everywhere. ' ' These people did not 
know what a king was," said the Universel, Polignac's journal; 
"they know it now: a breath has scattered them like chaff." 
The more clear-sighted among the ecclesiastical party were not 
so mistaken. "As the ministry have laid it down, the ques- 
tion puts us between the republic and an arbitrary court 
party," said Lamennais. "Considering everything, I prefer 
the former, because I prefer fever to death or paralysis causing 
death." 

The republicans, till then few and timid, held the same 
opinion as Lamennais. At a banquet on 1st April, in honor of 
the 221, Godefroy Cavaignac refused to drink to the king's 
health. Odilon Barrot reproved him with intelligent firm- 
ness. They drank to the harmony of the three powers, the 
constitutional king, the chamber of peers, and the chamber of 
deputies. On the 16th May, the chamber was dissolved by 
royal order; the electoral colleges being summoned for the 
end of June and first weeks of July. 

Two days afterwards, Courvoisier and Chabrol gave in 



oh. xix.] CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 275 

their resignation. Peyronnet became home minister and 
Montbel chancellor of the exchequer. Chantelauze, first 
president of the court of Grenoble, replaced Courvoisier. 
When consenting to join the cabinet, the latter said he should 
leave it the first day the liberties of the people were endan- 
gered. Those who knew him considered his withdrawal very 
ominous. Montbel and Guernon-Ranville retained their posts 
against their real will. " I consider the favor bestowed upon 
me by the king the greatest misfortune of my life," said Chan- 
telauze. 

Villele had hitherto kept in retirement, living in the country 
since the abortive proposal of Labbey to bring an accusation 
against his cabinet. He returned to Paris in March, when 
Polignac offered him a seat in the cabinet, but the former 
president refused, and returned to Toulouse. He advised 
Montbel to agree to no new change in ministerial arrange- 
ments. "The importance which they attach to it proves the 
determination to get rid of the difficulty by a coup d'etat" he 
remarked with penetrating foresight; "and that is a game 
you are not fit for." 

The whole of France was now waiting for the coup d£tat, 
and Europe was waiting as well as France. "Your two 
weakest points are the electoral law and the liberty of the 
press," said Metternich in Vienna to Payne val; " but you can- 
not touch them except through the chambers. A coup d'etat 
would ruin the dynasty." At St. Petersburg the Emperor 
Nicholas spoke in the same manner to the Due de Mortemart, 
the French ambassador. "If they leave the charter it is 
certain ruin; if the king attempts a coup detat he must bear 
the whole responsibility alone." His ambassador at Paris, 
Pozzo di Borgo repeated this to the members of the council, 
and to the king himself with all the authority due to the great 
influence he had formerly exercised in the affairs of the resto- 
ration. He one day found King Charles X. seated at his 
table, with his eyes fixed upon the charter, open at Article 
XIV.* The king read and re-read that article, simerely anx- 
ious to discover the meaning and bearing which he wanted to 
find in it. In such cases one always finds what he is looking 
for ; and the king's remarks, though vague and indirect, left 

* "The king is supreme head of the State; commands the forces on sea and 
land; makes treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce; appoints all the function- 
aries in the public administration, and makes the rules and orders necessary for 
the execution of the laws and the safety of the State." 



276 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [en. xix. 

no doubt in the ambassador's mind of what his intentions 
were. 

All the thoughts, efforts, hopes, and fears of the nation were 
absorbed by the elections, which proved to all the world that 
the constitutionals were right in resolutely opposing the min- 
istry. With very few exceptions, the 221 were re-elected, and 
the opposition reckoned a majority of more than a hundred 
votes. Nearly everywhere the elections passed witheut dis- 
turbance ; the nation being ready to accept unhesitatingly the 
supreme test, neither anticipated it nor hurried it by any 
violence. On the 10th July, at a meeting of the leading men 
of character who were friends of liberty, it was resolved that, 
should there be a coup d'etat, the payment of taxes would be 
refused. People still asked if it should take place. The peers 
had received their invitations to be present when the king 
visited the chamber. The deputies who arrived from all parts 
were as a body animated by an ardent and sincere desire to 
maintain peace while obtaining justice and preserving their 
liberties. 

Charles X. showed no hesitation. Before the elections he 
had in principle decided what course to follow should the 
government receive a check. Henceforward the only question 
was with reference to the action to take for vindicating the 
rights of the throne. Two fatal mistakes had taken firm hold 
of the monarch's mind : he believed that he was much more 
endangered by the revolution than he really was ; and entirely 
disbeheved in the possibility of defending himself, and govern- 
ing by the legal course of the constitutional regime. France 
had no wish for a new revolution. The charter, in the hands 
of a prudent and patient sovereign, supplied the means of 
safely exercising the royal authority and protecting the 
crown. But Charles X. had lost confidence in France and the 
charter; and when the address of the 221 triumphantly re- 
sulted from the elections, he believed he was driven to his last 
entrenchments, and compelled to save himself in spite of the 
charter, or perish by the revolution. 

"There are only Lafayette and I who have not changed 
since 1789," said the king one day. True enough he had not 
changed : he remained candid and fickle, trusting to himself 
and his surroundings, with little observation or reflection, 
though active-minded; attached to his ideas and friends of 
the old regime as much as to his faith and his flag. All 
through the profound changes undergone by France during 



ch. xix.] CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. £77 

the uprooting of the ancient bases of society, she had experi- 
enced a transformation which influenced the most noble 
minds, modifying their views as well as the inborn moral 
sense. "Devotion to one's country, duty towards one's 
country, are certainly not new sentiments, which our fathers 
were ignorant of; yet between their ideas and ours, in this 
respect, there is a profound difference. Fidelity towards per- 
sons, towards superiors or equals, was in former French 
society the ruling principle and sentiment ; personal ties were 
social ties. In the new social system sprung from the revolu- 
tion, among various classes now brought together and mixed, 
duty and devotion towards one's country have assumed an 
empire superior to that of the ancient devotion and duty 
towards persons. It was owing to social facts of extreme im- 
portance that in 1789 the two parties spontaneously and in- 
stinctively called themselves the royalist party and patriotic 
party respectively. In one, duty and devotion to the king, 
head and representative of the nation ; in the other, duty and 
devotion towards the nation itself directly, formed the princi- 
pal bond of union, and ruling sentiment." * King Charles X. 
was so unfortunate as not to understand this change in the 
national sentiment. He believed himself deserted and be- 
trayed by his servants, and ranged against himself in battle 
all the patriotic fears as well as hopes. This was soon after- 
wards proved in a striking manner by the attitude of a large 
number of devoted and sincere royalists. 

The king determined not to unite the chambers, and not to 
wait till they had acted before acting himself. He also in- 
tended to keep in the most absolute secrecy the measures he 
was preparing. The idea of a coup d'etat was everywhere de- 
nied emphatically ; even the precautions necessary in case of 
armed resistance were sacrificed. On Sunday the 24th July, 
when the court was held at St. Cloud, as the king was on his 
way to hear mass, Vitrolles stopped Guernon-Eanville and 
said, "I don't ask you your secret, but I must inform you 
that it is the fate of the monarchy that is at stake. You are 
probably deceived in the difference of the times. A measure 
which was easy at the beginning of the ministry, even six 
months ago, is no longer possible in the effervescing state of 
public opinion to-day. It would inevitably have the most 
deplorable and unlooked for effects." The listener thought as 

* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



278 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [en. xix. 

Vitrolles did, and had said the same thing in council. He 
passed on, and found the ministers met in the king's room. 

After all had spoken, Charles X. took the pen to sign the 
orders placed before him. He stopped and held his head in 
his hands. " The more I think of it," he said presently, " the 
more I am convinced of being in the right, and that it is im- 
possible to do otherwise." He signed; all the ministers signed 
also, bowing before the king as if by a tacit engagement which 
linked their fate to his. " For life and for death, gentlemen," 
said tbe king; " count upon me, as I count upon you." 

So faithfully was the secret kept, that Marshal Marmont, 
placed on active service as governor of the first military divi- 
sion, was still ignorant of his nomination, the king having 
undertaken to tell him himself. The orders in council appeared 
in the Moniteur of Monday, 26th July, preceded by a long re- 
port drawn up by Chantelauze. On receiving from the keeper 
of the seals a copy of the official publication, Sauvo, the editor 
of the Moniteur, looked to the minister with an emotion which 
he could not restrain, and said, "May God protect the king! 
God protect France !" 

All France was thunderstruck on learning that morning the 
king's fatal resolution. Convinced that a vast conspiracy threat- 
ened both the tranquillity of the country and the rights of the 
crown, Charles X. believed he had a right to attempt a coup 
d'etat, and moreover that it was not contrary to the letter of 
the charter. The four orders in council thus announced sus- 
pended indefinitely the liberty of the press, dissolved the 
Chamber of the Deputies, modified the electoral law, and sum- 
moned the electoral colleges to meet from the 6th to the 18th 
September, the chambers on the 28th. Such was the arbitrary 
and imprudent act against which burst forth all at once the 
protestations of an indignant nation. 

The first protestation, as it ought to be, was that of the jour- 
nalists, ably drawn up by Thiers. It was immediately followed 
by the seizure of the printing-presses of the leading journals. 
The agitation, however, had yet led to no active results : the 
disturbance in men's minds was yet undeclared in action. The 
king went to hunt at Rambouillet, and on his return to St. 
Cloud he asked Marshal Marmont, who was still ignorant that 
he had been appointed to the command of Paris, what was the 
news. "Great alarm, sire; there is great depression, and an 
extraordinary fall in stocks." " How much?" asked the dau- 
phin. "Four francs, monseigneur." "They will rise again." 



ch. xix.] CHARLES X. AND TEE REVOLUTION. 279 

Next day the marshal was at last informed. "It seems there 
is some doubt as to the tranquillity of Paris," said the king to 
him ; " go and take the command there, calling first at M. de 
Polignac's. If everything is in order by the evening, you may 
return to St. Cloud." The choice of the Due de Ragusa was un- 
popular, as had also been that of Bourmont as war minister, 
because both were blamed for their "treason" under the em- 
pire. 

While the marshal was being installed at head-quartei-s, and 
crowds were already gathering in the streets, a certain num- 
ber of deputies met in the house of Casimir Perier, Rue de 
Luxembourg, and discussed a proposal to protest in the name 
of the illegally dissolved chamber. That drawn up by Guizot 
was adopted next day, but in the meantime the troops had 
several times charged the crowd, several shots had been fired, 
and some barricades raised. The night passed quietly ; but in 
the morning every eye was stnick by the formidable aspect of 
a rising of the people. The soldiers had resumed their posi- 
tions ; against them a certain number of the national guards 
had just joined the crowds. The Polytechnic school broke 
open the gates, and the tricolor flag floated on the towers of 
Notre Dame. The columns on march were shot at from some 
of the houses. In the morning Marshal Marmont had written 
to the king: "Sire, I had the honor of reporting to your 
Majesty the dispersal of the crowds which disturbed the tran- 
quillity of Paris. This morning they are again collecting, 
more numerous and more threatening. It is no longer a riot, 
but a revolution. There is urgent need for your Majesty to 
take means of pacification. The honor of the crown may yet 
be saved. To-morrow probably it would be too late." Paris 
was placed in a state of siege, the order having been signed on 
the previous evening. The Due de Ragusa agreed to command 
the arrest of several deputies. Amongst those indicated by 
Polignac, General Gerard and Lafittewere members of the 
deputation who went to the Tuileries, the ministers having in- 
stalled themselves there under the protection of the governor of 
Paris. The deputies brought to the Due de Ragusa a general 
protest, and were authorized to ask him to cease firing, and to 
interpose between Paris and St. Cloud. 

"The undersigned," said the protest, "chosen regularly as a 
deputation, consider themselves to be absolutely compelled in 
duty and honor to protest against the measures which the ad- 
visers of the crown have recently nut in force for the over- 



280 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xix. 

throw of the legal system of elections and the ruin of the 
lihery of the press. 

" The said measures, contained in the orders of the 25th, are, 
in the eyes of the undersigned, directly contrary to the consti- 
tutional rights of the Chamber of Peers, the common rights of 
Frenchmen, the privileges and decisions of the tribunals ; and 
are calculated to throw the state into a confusion compromising 
both the present peace and our future security. 

' ' The undersigned, therefore, being inviolably faithful to 
their oath, protest with one accord, not only against the said 
measures, but against every act which may result from them. 

"And, considering that, on the one hand, the Chamber of 
Deputies not having been constituted could not be legally dis- 
solved ; on the other hand, the attempt to form another Cham- 
ber of Deputies, in a new and arbitrary manner, is in formal 
opposition to the constitutional charter, and the acquired rights 
of the electors, the undersigned declare that they still consider 
themselves as being legitimately elected to represent the arron- 
dissement or department whose suffrages they obtained ; and 
that they can only be replaced by means of elections made in 
accordance with the principles and forms appointed by law. 
And if the undersigned do not effectively exercise the rights or 
fulfil all the duties which they hold through their legal elec- 
tion, it is because they are prevented by physical force." Six- 
ty-three signatures were affixed to this vindication of the legal 
rights of the nation. 

While the deputies, who were numerous in the morning, and 
easily counted towards the evening, were thus discussing in 
Audry's house, the place was surrounded by workmen, boys 
and young men, combatants of every sort, who filled the court, 
and besieged the doors, speaking to the deputies at the drawing- 
room windows— ready to defend them if, as was rumored, they 
were presently to be arrested by the police or military, but de- 
manding at the same time their immediate assistance in pre- 
paring a revolution. Among the deputies various opinions 
and expectations were manifested, in some minds still vague, 
in others steadfast and decided. "Several wished to carry re- 
sistance to the last limits of legal order, but not further. 
Others were resolved upon a change of dynasty, wishing for no 
further revolution, but considering that necessary, and that 
the circumstances seemed favorable for it, and flattering them- 
selves that they might stop there or thereabouts. Others 
again, more revolutionary without being aware of it. were 



CH. xix.] CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 281 

sanguine as to all sorts of undefined reforms in the institutions 
and laws, commanded as they imagined by the interest and 
wish of the people. Others again, had a decided aspiration for 
a republic, and considered as abortive or deceptive any other 
residt of the struggle maintained by the people in the name of 
liberty. Those who declared they would not become revolu- 
tionary while making a revolution, already found themselves 
overwhelmed and urged forward — by the enemies of established 
order, the regular conspirators, the secret societies, and the an- 
archical dreamers who had thrown themselves into the move- 
ment, and were every hour becoming more powerful and more 
exacting. The tide still rose, reaching the elevated regions, 
and spreading noisily amid the lower regions of society." * 

Polignac, however, refused to understand the position of 
affairs in Paris. On being informed that at certain places the 
soldiers apparently shared the sentiments of the populace, he 
replied, "Very well! if the troops fraternize with the people, 
let the troops be fired upon." The Due de Ragusa made a re- 
port to the king of his interview with the deputies, and the 
ultimatum which they brought in the name of their colleagues 
— withdrawal of the orders, and a change of ministry. "In 
my opinion there is urgent need that your Majesty should 
without delay take advantage of the overtures made." "Let 
your Majesty not be deceived," added the colonel appointed to 
carry the marshal's letter; " it is not the populace, but the en- 
tire population who are rising." Charles X. confined himself 
to replying to the Due de Ragusa. "My dear marshal, I have 
great pleasure in hearing of the good and honorable conduct of 
the troops under your orders. Convey to them my thanks, 
and grant them a month and a half's pay. Bring your troops 
together and hold your ground ; wait for my orders to-morrow." 
" We must treat only with large bodies," was his message on 
another occasion. 

The army had in fact begun to fall back ; for the insurrection 
had gained too much ground to leave Marmount the hope of 
again occupying Paris. The Hotel de Ville was in the hands 
of the rioters; 600 barricades intersected the streets every- 
where ; the troops surrounding the Tuileries and Louvre were 
everywhere attacked during their march ; provisions began to 
fail them ; and many soldiers wavered on account of the re- 
peated appeals made to them by the people. "But where do 

___ ___^ __— - - ■ -» 

* Guizot's M4moires, etc. 



282 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xix. 

the insurgents get their powder ? " asked the ministers in as- 
tonishment. " They get that of the soldiers," replied Bayeux, 
then acting as procureur-general ; " and often the soldiers 
themselves give them cartridges." 

The government of Charles X. no longer existed in Paris. 
The minister had resigned the power into the hands of the 
Due de Ragusa, and now contemplated, like sad and persistent 
spectators, the ruins they themselves had made. " What- 
a misfortune to have my sword broken in my hands ! " said 
Polignac; "a little more patience and determination, and I 
was about to establish the government and charter upon im- 
movable bases." 

The same illusions reigned at St. Cloud, strengthened by the 
respect and alarm of the courtiers. On the 28th, Vitrolles tried 
to enlighten the king, but he was still confident of victory. 
"Let the insurgents lay down their arms," said he; "they 
know my kindness sufficiently to be certain of the most gen- 
erous pardon." The evening passed in the usual courtly cere- 
monies. "Not a guard more, not a guard less," we are told 
by an eye-witness. "The windows of the drawing-rooms 
being open, several persons went on the balcony, listening to 
the firing and the tocsin, and then retiring without remark, 
as if they had merely been to breathe the fresh air after a day 
of burning heat. In the royal drawing-room the king played 
whist and the dauphin chess, without speaking of anything 
else. During the game, which thus seemed to engross their 
whole attention, several discharges of artillery shook the win- 
dows. The most frightful news kept constantly arriving, but 
without crossing the threshold of the royal drawing-room. 
The Due de Duras left the room, and returned full of excite- 
ment; but as he approached tne whist -table the courtier 
resumed his attitude and silence." 

The Due de Mortemart, who had come from Paris, could not 
receive an audience of the king till next day. He declared 
that the orders must be withdrawn. "They exaggerate the 
danger," said Charles X.; "I know the truth," and on the 
duke appearing to doubt it, the king said eagerly, " You were 
born in the midst of revolution, and, without knowing it, have 
acquired its prejudices and false ideas. My old experience is 
above such illusions. I know what the concessions asked of 
me would lead to ; and I have no wish to ride like my brother 
on a cart." James II. had spoken thus in 1688. 

Meanwhile the ministers arrived at St. Cloud, preceded "by 



ch. xix.] CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 283 

Semonville and Argout, who had been sent by the few peers 
then present in Paris. The dauphin was appointed com- 
mander-in-chief of the army ; and Marshal Marmont's political 
opinions appearing as doubtful as his military movements, an 
order was sent him to retire immediately upon St. Cloud 
with his troops. When the royal messenger reached the Due 
de Eagusa he had been obliged to abandon his positions and 
fall back as far as the Arc de Triomphe. Two bine regiments 
had joined the revolution; the Louvre, the Tuileries, and all 
the quarters of Paris, were in the hands of the insurgents. 
Joubert, who was the first to enter the Tuileries, ordered the 
tricolor flag to be planted on the clock-tower. 

The principal point now was to secure order in Paris. La- 
fayette was naturally appointed to the command of the 
national guard. "The security of Paris depends on the gen- 
eral's determination," said Guizot in a meeting of deputies; 
"but we have also our duties. It is absolutely necessary that 
we establish, not a provisional government, but a public au- 
thority that, under a municipal form, will undertake to restore 
and maintain order." A municipal commission was at once 
formed, composed of Lafayette, Casimir Perier, General Lobau, 
Schonen, and Audry de Puyraveau. It installed itself at the 
Hotel de Yille. General Gerard was appointed to command 
the active troops. 

While the revolution was being organized, the despairing 
servants of the tottering throne vainly strove to save it. After 
Mortemart had been rejected, Vitrolles and Sussy, assisted by 
Semonville and Argout, attempted to obtain for the country 
legal satisfaction, and bring about some arrangement between 
the effete monarchy at St. Cloud and the revolution boiling in 
Paris. But on asking to see the king they were refused on ac- 
count of the hour, the etiquette, military orders, sleep; and 
when at last admitted, found the king calm and yet angry, 
obstinate yet hesitating. With great difficulty they succeeded 
in forcing from him the dismissal of the Polignac cabinet, 
repeal of the orders, and the appointment of Mortemart as first 
minister. But, that being agreed upon, the king still hesitated, 
and kept Mortemart waiting for the necessary signatures. He 
at last gave them to his new minister, thus impelled by his 
patriotism to accept a task which he hated. Mortemart, ill of 
a consuming fever, started for Paris without having obtained 
the necessary passports from the displeased dauphin; aud 
being delayed at every step on his journey, by the royal 



284 EISTORY OF FRANCE. [err. ::ix 

troops or the volunteers guarding the barricades, he did not 
reach the meeting of the deputies, who had been informed by 
Argout that he did not bring the necessary powers. It was 
with great difficulty that Mortemart succeeded in transmit- 
ting to the parliamentary meeting and the municipal commis- 
sion the orders of which he was the bearer. It was too late. 
Nowhere were the concessions accepted; and at the Palais- 
Bourbon and Hotel de Ville it was with difficulty that any 
notice was agreed to be taken of them. Lafayette had the 
courage to write to Mortemart to acknowledge the receipt; 
and two men on horseback having shouted on the Boulevard, 
"All is finished; a peace is concluded with the king; Casimir 
Perier has arranged everything !" it was with great difficulty 
that General Gerard and Berard, who were on the spot, rescued 
them from being massacred by the angry crowd. There was 
no longer at St. Cloud any power, not only to act, but evc-i to 
speak to the country. 

Lafayette had just issued a proclamation to the national 
guard, and the municipal commission addressed the French 
army. On the 30th July the deputies left off the vague and 
purposeless meetings they had held, and assembled at the 
Palais-Bourbon, in the hall of their sittings, and invited their 
absent colleagues to join them, and raise again the great pub- 
He power of which they were the scattered members. The 
peers then present in Paris also assembled in the Luxembourg. 
The deputies entered into communication with them, and the 
same day, at the close of the morning sitting, on hearing that 
the Due d'Orleans— who had hitherto kept himself aloof, inac- 
tive and invisible — was disposed to come to Paris, the assembly 
in the Palais-Bourbon adopted the following resolution : — 

' ' The deputies now met in Paris feel the urgency of request- 
ing H.R.H. Monseigneur le Due d'Orleans to come to the capi- 
tal, to exercise the functions of lieutenant-general of the king- 
dom, and to give expression to the desire of preserving the 
national colors. They have also felt the necessity of striving 
without intermission to secure for France, in the ensuing ses- 
sion of the chambers, all the guarantees indispensable for the 
full and entire execution of the charter." 

It was M. Thiers who brought from Neuilly Madame Adel- 
aide's promise, given in the name of her absent brother, that 
he should agree to receive the delegates from the chamber. 
The Duchess of Orleans, affectionately anxious, though so 
high-minded a royalist both in principles and habits, had per 



CH. xix. J CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 285 

suaded her husband to go to Eaincy to avoid the arrest which 
some one said was impending. As soon as Thiers introduced the 
subjects he exclaimed, " All my happiness is ended ! " Lafay- 
ette feared lest the deputies were too hasty in concluding an 
alliance with the Due d'Orleans and bringing the revolution to 
a close. He instructed Odilon Barrot to insist beforehand on 
guarantees of liberty and the revision of the charter. His 
grandson, Remusat, on going to see him at the Hotel de Yille, 
said to him: "General, if they make a monarchy, the Due 
d'Orleans will be king; if they make a republic, you will 
be president. Do you take the responsibility of the repub- 
lic?" 

' ' Lafayette seemed to hesitate, though he really did not. 
Generously disinterested, although fully conscious of his impor- 
tance, and with almost as much anxiety for the responsibility 
as desire for popularity, he was much more disposed to treat 
for the people and in name of the people than ambitious of 
ruling. That a republic, and a republic under his presidency, 
should be thought of as a possible chance, was sufficient for 
his satisfaction, I will not say his ambition. Lafayette had no 
ambition: he wished to be the popular patron of the Due 
d'Orleans, not his rival. 

"The Due d'Orleans was equally unambitious. Self -re- 
strained and prudent, in spite of his mental activity and the 
mobile vivacity of his impressions, he had long foreseen the 
chance which might carry him to the throne, but without try- 
ing to find it, and rather disposed to be afraid of it than to 
long for it, After the protracted sorrows of exile and the 
recent experiences of the hundred days, one thought especially 
occupied his attention — the wish being again necessarily en- 
tangled in the faults which the elder branch was liable to 
commit, and in the consequences which might result from 
these faults. On the 31st March, 1830, a few days after the 
arrival of his brother-in-law, the King of Naples, at Paris, he 
gave him a banquet in the Palais-Royal, at which Charles X. 
and all the royal family were present. ' Monseigneur,' said 
Salvandy to the Due d'Orleans, [as he passed near him, 
' this banquet is quite Neapolitan ; we are dancing over a 
volcano.' * That the volcano is there,' answered the duke, ' I 
believe as well as you. At least the fault is not mine. I can- 
not reproach myself with not having tried to open the king's 
eyes. But wbat is the use? He listened to nothing. Heaven 
only knows where they will be in six months ! But I know 



286 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xix 

where I shall be. Whatever happens, my family and myself 
will remain in this palace ; whatever danger there may he, I 
shall not move a step from here. I shall not separate my lot 
and that of my children from the lot of my country : that is 
my fixed resolution. ' 

" That resolution held more place than any other intention 
in the Due d'Orleans' conduct during the whole course of the 
restoration. He had also resolved to he neither conspirator 
nor victim. He was devoted to the country which he had 
served since his infancy. If the definitive consolidation of 
the restoration had depended upon him he would, without 
hesitation on his own and his family's account, as well as that 
of France, have preferred the certainty of that future to the 
prospects which a new revolution might afford him. In the 
bottom of his heart, and without perhaps fully weighing the 
fact, he felt from that time that, for the present, and in a 
future which he could not fathom, he remained the actual and 
all important ' reserve' of France. 

"Chateaubriand, after arriving in Paris, and being carried 
in triumph to the Luxembourg, said ' As lieutenant-general, 
yes; but for king, Henry V.' The words of deputies and 
peers did not yet go beyond that, however free their thoughts 
might be. The municipal commission having declared that 
the government of Charles X. was deposed, Casimir Perier 
refused to sign the proclamation, on the ground that it ex- 
ceeded their powers. Twelve members of the Chamber of 
Deputies were chosen as delegates to go and offer the Due 
d'Orleans the appointment of lieutenant-general of the king- 
dom. He had just arrived in Paris from Neuilly on foot, and 
not without difficulty, and when the deputation presented 
itself at the Palais-Eoyal the prince asked for several hours 
to consider. Time was pressing; he accepted, and the follow- 
ing proclamation was at once issued : — 

" ' Inhabitants of Paris! the Deputies of France now assem- 
bled in Paris have expressed the desire that I should come into 
this capital to exercise the functions of lieutenant-general of 
the kingdom. I have not hesitated to come to share your 
dangers, to place myself in the midst of your heroic popula- 
tion, and use every effort to preserve you from civil war and 
anarchy. On my return to the city of Paris I bore with pride 
those glorious colors which you have resumed, and which I 
myself have long borne. The chambers are about to assemble ; 
they will consider the best means of securing the reign of the 



ch. xix.] CHABLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 287 

laws, and the maintenance of the rights of the nation. The 
charter will henceforth be a reality.' "* 

The proclamation did not satisfy all the violently excited 
passions and hopes of the people, but it corresponded to the 
earnest desires and deeply felt wants of all enlightened men 
who were anxious to bring disorder to a close. After the dele- 
gates made their report, the Chamber of Deputies adopted the 
following declaration, addressed to France, which was drawn 
up, and read from the tribune, by Guizot: — 

' ' Frenchmen ! 

" France is free. Absolutism raised its flag, and the heroic 
population of Paris put it down. Paris, when attacked, has 
by arms caused the triumph of the sacred cause which had 
just triumphed to no purpose in the elections. A power which 
had usurped our rights and disturbed our repose, was threat- 
ening both liberty and order : we resume possession of order 
and liberty. No more fears for acquired rights ; no more bar- 
riers between us and the rights which we still want. 

" A government which will at once ensure for us those ad- 
vantages is what the country to-day demands above every- 
thing. Frenchmen! those of your deputies already in Paris 
have met together, and, until the chambers shall formally in- 
terpose, have invited a Frenchman, who has never fought 
except for France, the Due d'Orleans, to exercise the functions 
of lieutenant-general of the kingdom. That, in their eyes, is 
the mode of promptly securing without war the success of the 
most legitimate defence. 

" The Due d'Orleans is devoted to the national and constitu- 
tional cause, and has always defended its interests, and pro- 
fessed its principles. He will respect our rights, for his own 
he will hold from us ; we shall secure by law all the guaran- 
tees necessary to render liberty sure and lasting." 

When this proclamation, which concluded by enumerating 
the guarantees necessary for liberty, was read, the chamber 
replied by acclamations, and at once went to the Palais-Royal. 
The lieutenant-general made ready to go to the Hotel de Ville, 
whither he was accompanied by the deputies. Several hostile 
shouts were heard in the streets, some repeating, "No more 
Bourbons!" The general crowd, however, cried, "Long live 

* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



288 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xix, 

the charter!" "Gentlemen," said the Due d'Orleans as he 
mounted the staircase, "it is an old national guard paying a 
visit to his former general." Viennet read the proclamation 
of the chamber, which was rather coldly received by the pop- 
ulace. General Lafayette soon came to pay his respects to the 
prince. " You know," said he, " that I am a republican, and 
consider the constitution of the United States as the most per- 
fect that has ever existed." "So do I," replied the duke? 
" but do you think that in the present condition of France, 
and according to general opinion, it would be advisable for us 
to adopt it?" "No," answered Lafayette; "what the French 
people must now have is a popular throne, surrounded by 
republican institutions— entirely republican." "That is just 
my opinion," said the duke. 

The republicans did not reckon upon such princely declara- 
tions, though they also had resolved to interview the lieuten- 
ant-general. "To-morrow you will be king, monseigneur, " 
said Boinvilliers ; "perhaps it is the last time you will hear 
the truth : allow me to tell it you. " On the prince referring in 
severe terms to the convention, Godefroy Cavaignac quickly 
exclaimed, " Monseigneur forgets that my father was a mem- 
ber of the Convention!" "And mine also, sir," returned the 
Due d'Orleans in a sorrowful tone; " and while cherishing his 
memory, I may be allowed the desire to save my country 
from the procedure to which he was a victim." Lafayette's 
conversation with the prince led to the engagement which was 
called the programme of the Hotel de Ville. It promised a 
revision of the charter. ' ' I am condemned to propose noth- 
ing," said the duke. "I shall not take the crown; I shall re- 
ceive it from the Chamber of Deputies on the conditions it 
may suit them to impose. The modifications of the charter, 
whatever they may be, must therefore be made by that cham- 
ber alone." The popular feeling had already strongly pro- 
tested against the phrase, " The Charter will henceforward be 
a reality, " which was contained both in the declaration of the 
Due d'Orleans and the proclamation of the chamber. The 
Moniteur of the 31st July contained this absurd correction, 
"A charter will henceforward be a reality." 

While the Due d'Oileans was being appointed lieutenant- 
general by the deputies, a preparatory step as it proved to his 
becoming king, Charles X., still at St. Cloud, saw Marshal 
Marmont arrive with his troops, discontented, ill-fed, and 
much reduced by desertior The marshal advised the king to 



Cfi. xrx.] CHARLES X. AND TEE REVOLUTION. 289 

retire upon the Loire, to Blois or Tours, and summon there 
the great functionaries and the diplomatic body. The dauphin 
flew into a passion, having been opposed to the withdrawal of 
the orders and discharge of the ministers. " My father is the 
master," said he, "but I am far from approving of all that he 
has done." The quarrel with the Duke of Ragusa was so vio- 
lent, that the marshal was conducted to his apartment as a 
prisoner, and the old king had great difficulty in restoring an 
appearance of friendliness. During the night, yielding to the 
alarms of the Duchess of Berry, who believed the safety of 
the palace was threatened, the king set out for Versailles, and 
thence went to Rambouillet — the first sad stage of a new jour- 
ney into exile. The dauphin attempted to take Sevres, but 
some of the corps refused to fire, and others laid down their arms. 

The royal princess just then returned from Vichy. She had 
constantly opposed the idea of a coup d'etat, from a conscien- 
tious regard to a sworn promise. The king threw himself into 
her arms, exclaiming, " How will you be able to pardon me?" 
Always heroic in misfortune, the daughter of Marie Antoinette 
had been persecuted by the mob all the way from Dijon. " I 
shall never again leave you," was her reply. The king had 
just sent the Due d'Orleans his powers as lieutenant-general of 
the kingdom. The latter respectfully refused them. "You 
cannot receive them from everybody," said Dupin. 

A new idea was now being originated among those about the 
king, who consulted Marmont. " What is your opinion of an 
abdication?" he asked. It was the only means of safety still 
left for the tottering throne. "Let your Majesty not allow 
yourself to be deprived of the crown, " said the Duke of Ragusa ; 
"but take it off your head yourself, to place it on the head of 
your grandson. " No objection being now made to this proposal 
by the dauphin, who was sad and disheartened, the act of ab- 
dication was at once drawn up, and addressed to the Due d'Or 
leans as lieutenant-general : — 

"Rambouillet, 2nd August. 
" My cousin, I am too deeply pained by the evils now afflict- 
ing and threatening my peoples, not to have sought for some 
means of preventing them. I have, therefore, taken the reso- 
lution to abdicate the throne, in favor of my grandson the Due 
de Bordeaux. 

"The dauphin, who shares my sentiments, also renounces 
bis rights in favor of his nephew." 
VIIL-19 



290 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xix 

"As lieutenant-general of the kingdom you will therefore 
have to proclaim the accession of Henry V. to the throne. 
You will, moreover, take every measure in your power to con- 
duct the forms of government during the minority of the new 
king. At present I confine myself to the announcement of my 
dispositions, as a means of still avoiding many evils." The 
small fugitive court at Eamhouillet already began to address 
the little duke as "sire." 

The abdication of the king and dauphin came too late, as the 
recall of the orders and change of ministers had done. A mon- 
archy under the Due de Bordeaux, with Orleans as regent, 
would have been not only the legal solution, but the more po- 
litic one. On the 2nd August, 1830, it seemed to the most mod- 
erate statesman more impracticable even than reconciliation 
with the king himself. At that time neither the liberal party 
nor the royalists would have had sufficient discretion, nor the 
regent sufficient power, to conduct and maintain a government 
so complicated, divided and agitated. The masses were giving 
way to revolutionary passion, and the leaders were yielding to 
the pressure of the masses. The state of men's minds, and the 
circumstances, allowed no choice but a new monarchy or a re- 
public. Amongst the lower orders and most young men the 
latter was every moment becoming more popular and threaten- 
ing. Of their own accord, or under orders, some in confused 
bands, others commanded by the chiefs of the national guard, 
50,000 or 00,000 men were marching to Rambouillet. The old 
king was soon to understand the startling message conveyed 
by this demonstration. At the same time, three commissioners 
—Marshal Maison, Barrot, and Schonen — were appointed to 
protect the safety of the royal family, and impress upon them 
the necessity for departure. "I have abdicated," said Charles 
X., " but it is in favor of my grandson; and we have resolved 
to defend his rights to the last drop of our blood." The Par- 
isian columns were already surrounding the chateau. " Sire," 
said Barrot, with emotion, "I have no right to express an 
opinion upon the rights spoken of by your Majesty, or the hopes 
depending on them. But whatever may be the future reserved 
by God for your grandson, prevent his name from being the 
signal for the catastrophe now at hand ; let him not be stained 
by the blood now about to be shed. " Charles X. paused, full 
of thought and emotion. He consulted Marshal Marmont. 
" Tbey have there 60,000 or 80,000," said the Duke of Kagusa; 



CH. xix.J CHARLES X. AND THE REVOLUTION. 291 

"with those who are gone, and those who refuse to march, we 
do not muster 1300 men." " That is sufficient," said the king, 
and he agreed to set out. At four o'clock in the morning, the 
royal fugitives reached Maintenon, constantly informed of new 
desertions. The king declared to Marmont, who had accom- 
panied him, that he renounced all idea of maintaining a useless 
struggle, and that he would make for Cherbourg by the way 
of Dreux. 

Those troops who had remained faithful withdrew. A small 
body of the guards and picked gendarmes followed the royal 
carriages through towns with the tricolor flags hoisted every- 
where by the contagion of the Parisian revolution. The com- 
missioners did not display their cockade before the fallen mon- 
arch. "We are not jailers," said Odilon Barrot; "our 
mission is one of humanity and respect." The wretched jour- 
ney was much prolonged, rendering the revolutionist leaders 
in Paris uneasy and impatient. ' ' What answer can be given 
to an old man who tells you that he is tired? " wrote the com- 
missioners to those who urged them. It was not till the 16th 
August that the royal family embarked at Cherbourg, on the 
American vessels the Great Britain and Charles Carrol, which 
had been hired for them by Captain Dumont d'Urville. The 
king had announced his intention of going to England, and the 
English government consented. At one time the diplomatic 
body expressed a design of joining the king at Rambouillet, 
but Pozzo di Borgo and Lord Charles Stuart entered a formal 
protest. The Russian ambassador soon after warmly espoused 
the cause of the new dynasty. " The Orleans family wish to 
reign," said he; " they are right, they must reign! I am with 
them, to life or death! " King Charles X. was abandoned by 
Europe as well as by France, when he went on board at Cher- 
bourg to seek refuge in that England which had so long shel- 
tered his family, and which was one day to shelter in their 
turn those who were now replacing him on the throne. As he 
passed through the country the populace had received him 
without any welcome; at the moment of embarking, there 
were tears in every eye. The princess royal, dressed in mourn- 
ing, and holding her children by the hand, cast a last look upon 
that country which was for a second time sending her to exile. 

Meanwhile a new government was constituted at Paris, and 
the whole of France was, without resistance, passing under 
new laws. In every ear seemed to resound the grand saying 
of the psalmist, formerly repeated by Bossuet before Louis 



292 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xrx,. 

XIV.: Et nunc,reges, intelligite; erudimini, qui judieatis ter- 
rain. 

The new-born power in Paris felt much joy and real relief 
when they at last learnt, on the 17th August, that the royal 
family had left France without danger and insult. The mass 
of the population were fully engrossed with other interests. 
On the 1st August the municipal commission had transferred 
their powers to the lieutenant-general. Provisional commis- 
sioners were appointed to manage the public departments; 
Dupont to the ministry of justice ; General Gerard, of war ; 
Guizot, of the interior; Baron Louis, of finance; Girod, of the 
police. A privy council, including Broglie, Laffitte, Casimir 
Perier, Dupin, and Sebastiani, assisted the Due d'Orleans in his 
first attempts of government. On the 3rd August the cham- 
bers assembled to discuss the revision of the charter, noisily 
demanded by some enthusiasts, both republican and monar- 
chical. The inheritance of titles of nobility was the object of 
the most violent attacks. The 3till excited populace seemed on 
the point of again imposing their wishes by force. The duke 
was disposed to let them have their way, but through the per- 
sistent efforts of some of his principal friends the question was 
deferred till next session. 

The prince opened the session with much of the usual cere- 
monial. "Attached both by feeling and conviction to the 
principles of a free government," said he, "I accept all its 
consequences. The past is for me a source of pain, I deplore 
misfortunes which I should have wished to prevent ; but in tbe 
midst of that magnanimous impulse of the capital, and all the 
French towns, a well grounded pride fills my heart with emo- 
tion, and I look torward with confidence to the future of our 
country. Yes, gentlemen, she will be happy and free, this 
France so dear to me; she will show to Europe that, being 
solely occupied with her home prosperity, she cherishes peace 
as well as liberty, and wishes only for the happiness and tran- 
quillity of her neighbors. " 

Three days later (7th August), on the formal request of the 
two chambers, who had declared the throne vacant, the Due 
d'Orleans solemnly accepted the crown; and on the 9th 
August, at a " royal sitting," he took, in presence of the whole 
country, the oaths which he was so long and faithfully to 
keep. 



CH. XX.J PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 293 



CHAPTER XX. 

PARLIABIENTARY GOVERNMENT, KING LOUIS PHILIPPE. 

(1830—1840.) 

"It is neither wise nor honorable to overlook, when the ex- 
citing stimulus is no longer felt, the true causes of events," 
says G-uizot in his Memoires. "The necessity, a necessity 
which weighed equally on all, royalists as well as liberals, the 
Due (TOrleans as well as France, the necessity of choosing be- 
tween the new monarch and anarchy, such was in 1830, for 
men of honor, and independently of the part played by revo- 
lutionary passions, the cause which determined the change of 
dynasty. At the critical moment, this necessity was felt by 
every man, by the most intimate friends of King Charles X. as 
well as by the most ardent members of the opposition. Several 
of the royalists retired from public life. Others, and of the 
highest character, swore fealty to the new regime. One single 
conviction ruled all earnest men : by monarchy alone could 
France escape the opening abyss, and only one monarchy was 
possible." The establishment of the new reign was a deliver- " 
ance for all. "I, too, am amongst the victorious, " said Royer- 
Collard, sad in the general rejoicing. 

France had hastened to throw off a yoke which had neither 
long nor heavily weighed upon her shoulders. Jealous of the 
liberties she had gained through so many shocks and crimes, 
she revolted as soon as she saw them endangered, without em- 
ploying that steadfast patience which experience has taught 
nations exercised in self-government. She did not yet feel the 
difficulties of the enterprise she was attempting by founding a 
new dynasty in the face of numerous and keenly hostile 
parties. She seemed to take pleasure in aggravating those 
difficulties, by changing the charter as well as the dynasty. 
For that there was certainly no necessity. The charter had 
just undergone the most severe test successfully and honor- j 
ably. King Charles X., to escape from its rule, had been com- 
pelled to violate it, yet it survived that violence. Both in the 
Streets and the chambers it was the flag of resistance and vie- 



294 HISTORY OF FRANCE. \cu. xx. 

tory. It came into their imagination to pull down and tear 
that flag. 

Kesolute hands, however, were not wanting in its defence. 
A.s soon as a decidedly revolutionary tendency was manifest, 
the men who were engaged in the great event then heing ac= 
complished acknowledged how much they differed from each 
other, and separated. It was from the revision of the charter 
that the policy of resistance takes its date. The party of the 
government began to be formed, still without unity, inexperi- 
enced, and feeling its way, but determined to make an earnest 
experiment of a constitutional monarchy, and defend it boldly 
against the revolutionary spirit. 

Eepresentatives of the two opposing tendencies were brought 
together in the new cabinet formed by King Louis Philippe on 
his accession. Dupont, the deputy for Eure, and Laffitte, led 
the progressionists, assisted by General Gerard and Bignon; 
Casimir Perier, General Sebastiani, Baron Louis, Mole, and 
Dupin were all more or less obstructionists. Broglie and 
Guizot pursued their path in constant harmony, which con- 
tinued, with a shade i disagreement, through their long 
career. " Though different in origin, position, and character, 
we were united not only by a friendship already of long stand- 
ing," says Guizot in hi, Memoires, but by sharing ultimately in 
the same principles and generous " sentiments, the most 
powerful of ties, when (as rarely happens} it really exists." 
Broglie, in his will, gave such witness of this close union as 
afterwards touched the friend destined to survive him, to the 
bottom of his heart. ' ' Our long friendship, " he wrote, ' ' I con- 
sider one of the most precious blessings that God has granted 
me." 

Louis Philippe's personal liking, if not his intimate confi- 
dence, was reserved for those of his ministers who inclined to 
the left. That side above all was then to him a source of dan- 
ger and difficulty. The work of administrative reorganization 
absorbed the strength of those appointed to carry it out, who 
had at the same time to struggle against revolutionary at- 
tempts everywhere secretly in action. Lafayette's appointment 
to command the national guard was confirmed. The radical 
passion for effacing the past was manifested, both in qualify- 
ing the charter as that of 1830, and in changing the seal of 
state, which was now decorated with tricolor flags, behind 
the arms of the house of Orleans. In their turn the lilies were 
soon to disappear from the emblems of France. 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 295 

The elections for the purpose of replacing the deputies who 
had resigned, or confirming the titles of those called to public 
functions, gave striking evidence that the people were in 
favor of the new royal establishment. The Chamber of Peers, 
seriously reduced in numbers by a good many resignations, as 
well as by the unreasonable expulsion of those peers who had 
been appointed under the reign of Charles X., was moreover 
threatened in its fundamental principle of hereditary descent. 
Having obtained the right to choose its own president, Pas- 
quier was appointed to that important post, which had already 
been entrusted to him by the Due d'Orleans in his quality of 
lieutenant-general of the kingdom. Many important bills 
were at once brought bef ol the chambers. On the 29th Au- 
gust the king held his first grand review of the national guards 
of Paris and the suburbs, and was received with enthusiastic 
shouting. The repression of rioting, caused by the unsettled 
state of the popular mind, and the closing of the political 
" clubs," reassured all lovers of order, and restored hopes that 
trade and industry would speedily revive. " France has made 
a revolution," said Guizotto the chamber, "but she had no in- 
tention of placing herself in a permanently revolutionary 
state. The prominent features of a revolutionary state are, 
that all things are being incessantly put in question, that the 
claims are indefinite, that constant appeals are made to force 
and violence. Those features exist in all the present popular 
societies, in their action and tendency, and in the impulse 
they are striving to impress upon France. That is not 
progress, but disorder: it is aimless excitement, not advance- 
ment. Since the government is armed with legal power 
against the dangers of popular societies, it not only must not 
abandon it, but it must make use of it. It has already done 
so, and is resolved to do so as often as is demanded by good 
order in the country and the steady development of its liber- 
ties." 

It was against King Charles's ministers that the popular rage 
and rancor stirred up the most violent and almost uncontrol 
lable hatred. " What would ou have d ne to M. de Polignac 
if you had caught him?" said Odilon Barrot to an old woman, 
who persisted in searching the carriage of the commissioners 
on their return from accompanying th^ old king to Cherbourg. 
"Ah! sir," cried she, "I should have strangled him with my 
own hands!" Those ministers who had been arrested could 
scarcely understand the reason of their imprisonment or the 



29G HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

fury of the populace. It had to be explained to them that their 
captivity alone protected them from the mob, who were per- 
petually threatening them. They were charged on the 27th 
September, on the motion of Salverte, and on the 17th October 
they found that they were threatened even in the Chateau of 
Vincennes by a mob that had already proceed to frightful 
excesses. The crowd blocked the streets of Paris, shouting 
loudly for the heads of the ministers, and after being driven 
back from the garden of the Palais-Royal, rushed eagerly along 
the roads leading to the fortress. General Fabvier, who had 
the military command of Paris, having felt anxious about the 
prisoners' safety, ordered General Pajol to make the necessary 
arrangements. The mob had already arrived before Vincennes. 
Awoke by their cries about eleven o'clock at night, the im- 
prisoned ministers saw them through their narrow windows, 
crowding by torchlight in front of the fortress, and demanding 
entrance. General Daumesnil, who commanded the guard of 
the prison, ordered the gate to be opened, and presented him- 
self alone to the crowd. " What do you want? " " We want 
the ministers." "You won't get them; they belong only to 
the law. I shall blow up the powder-magazine rather than 
give them up to you. " His looks were as full of energy as his 
words; and the crowd, surprised and cowed, after pausing for 
a moment began to return to Paris, shouting l ' Long life to the 
Wooden Leg! " Durmg the night the rioters forced their way 
into the Palais Royal, which was still badly guarded, declaring 
that they wished to see the king; and some were actually 
going up the staircase, when some of the national guards 
arrived and arrested the ringleaders. 

The king and his ministers acted together in repressing the 
violence of the populace, and opposing the hateful excesses of 
a vengeance which was as useless as it was cruel. To lay down 
the principle of the application of the penal laws, Tracy had 
already proposed the abolition of capital punishment. In 1822, 
in the midst of the plots and political trials which were then 
causing much agitation, Guizot published a pamphlet On 
Capital Punishment for Political Offences, to show clearly that 
it was inexpedient and immoral. An address of the Chamber 
of Deputies supported an amendment to the same effect in 
place of Tracy's proposal. The king's reply gave grounds to 
hope that the question would soon be decided ; but from the 
report of riots the discussion was considered dangerous, and 
therefore adjourned, and the revolutionists grew bolder. The 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 297 

latent discord in the cabinet broke forth on the occasion of a 
proclamation issued by Odilon Barrot, prefect of the Seine; 
and the conservative ministers, Perier, Mole, Louis, and 
Dupin resigned, as well as Guizot and Broglie. Laffitte and 
Dupont were, like their former colleagues, resolved to use their 
power equitably and gently in the great question of the trial of 
the ministers ; and their connection which the party of progress 
rendered this more easy of accomplishment. Montalivet, still 
quite young, when summoned by the king to become minister 
of the interior, shrunk from accepting the heavy burden. 
" Then you will not assist me in saving the ministers?" asked 
the king. It was to the honor of the young minister that he 
successfully and courageously responded on this occasion to 
the confidence of which he was the object. 

The trial of the ministers began on the 15th December, 1830. 
They had been brought with a good escort to the Little Luxem- 
bourg. More than a month previously, just after quitting the 
cabinet, Guizot had openly declared his opinion, and that of 
his friends among the deputies. "When going to the tribune," 
says he in his Memoires, " as I passed in front of Casimir Perier, 
he said in a low voice, ' All you can do is in vain ; you will not 
save Polignac's head !' I had better hopes of the public feeling, 
and I expressed my own in a few words : ' I have no interest 
in the fallen ministers, nor has any communication passed be- 
tween them and me ; but I have the profound conviction that 
the honor of the nation, the honor of her history, forbids that 
their blood be shed. After changing the government and re- 
newing the face of the country, it is a wretched thing to pro- 
ceed with a mean judicial act, side by side with that vast judi- 
cial act which had struck, not four men, but a whole govern- 
ment, a whole dynasty. As to blood, France desires nothing 
unnecessary. All the revolutions shed blood from anger, not 
from necessity ; three months, six months after, the blood so 
shed turned against them. Let us not to-day enter upon a 
path in which we did not march even during the struggle." 

Martignac made it a point of honor to defend Polignac, 
who had formerly overthrown him. Chantelauze's counsel was 
Sauzet, still young and little known, but most successful. 
There was still immense danger and difficulty. For eight days 
the cabinet with all its power, Lafayette with all bis popular- 
ity, and King Louis Philippe with his experienced and wise 
tact, and the Peers' Court with a bold discretion, consumed 
themselves in efforts, ever nearly failing, to restrain the 



298 HISTORY OF FRANCE [ch. xx, 

revolutionary intrigues and that imprudent rage which sought, 
in the death of the prisoners, to find satisfaction and success 
respectively. 

On the last day of the trial, a carriage was in attendance in 
a side door of the Little Luxembourg, into which the four 
prisoners stepped as soon as the court was dismissed. Monta- 
livet, minister of the interior, and Lieutenant-Colonel Lavocat, 
rode on horseback, one on each side, General Fabvier, having 
wished to take charge himself of the escort posted in the Eue 
de Madame. The horses galloped off, and soon the procession 
reached the outer boulevards. As it entered into the court of 
the fortress of Vincennes, a cannon-shot fired from the donjon, 
reassured many anxious minds in Paris. The prisoners were 
now safe from the fury of the populace. The baulked hopes 
of the mob sought vengeance in the streets of Paris. At one 
time the Louvre was threatened. The national guard grudg- 
ingly restrained an indignation which many of them shared. 
Polignac, Peyronnet, Chantelauze, and Guernon-Eanville, were 
condemned to imprisonment for life, a sentence of "civil 
death" being added in the case of the president of the council ; 
and almost before the verdict was pronounced, the ministers 
were secretly, though not without difficulty, conveyed to the 
state prison of Ham by the courage and foresight of those to 
whom they were entrusted, and thus freed from the dangers 
with which their fives had been so long threatened. The fury 
of the populace cooled down, and the satisfaction soon become 
general. The danger was now past, and their self-love satis- 
fied. Lafayette and his friends alone remained dissatisfied 
and dejected: they had boldly and honorably compromised 
themselves. The office of commandant-general being sup- 
pressed by the new law as to the organization of the national 
guard, the king had an offer made to Lafayette to retain the 
honorary title, with the effective command, of the national 
guard of Paris. Lafayette, laying down political conditions to 
his acceptance— namely, a chamber of peers chosen from can- 
didates elected by the people, a chamber of deputies elected in 
accordance with a new electoral law, and a large extension of 
the right of suffrage — with an expression of regret the king 
accepted the general's resignation ; and Count Lobau replaced 
him as commandant-general, without any public manifestation 
of great excitement. " Don't trouble me," said the old soldier 
to Montalivet. "I know nothing about the national guard. " 
44 What 1 you know nothing about it, when the question, this 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 299 

very day, perhaps, is one of battle and danger ! " Ah ! if 
that is what is the matter, all right! Come what may, I 
accept." 

The street fightings were not finished in the streets of Paris, 
and the most deplorable excesses soon occasioned some z'igor- 
ous oppression. Abroad, owing to the universally agitated 
state of Europe, the nation generally wished earnestly for 
peace. The world was tired of the troubles and suffering 
caused by war: the passionate longing for peace had taken 
possession of the nation. The revolutionist partisans and 
dreamers still sometimes stirred up the popular emotion. The 
explosion which had turned France upside down resounded 
all around : in Belgium, Switzerland, and Spain, revolutionary 
disturbances shook Europe from its centre to its extremities. 
In Germany, Poland, Italy, all the questions and international 
complications which are stirred up by revolution were raised, 
as well as other questions, not revolutionary but politically 
important and difficult. The Ottoman Empire, more and 
more tottering ; Asia, more and more divided up and disputed 
over between England and Russia; France conquering in 
Africa; then in the New World, France and England, England 
and the United States, the United States and France, engaging 
in keen contests about territory, money, influence and honor. 
Formerly war, many long wars, had sprung from all these 
questions ; from 1830 to 1848 there were only a few partial and 
temporary threats of war. Everywhere men hastened to deal 
with events in a summary manner. The world remained 
motionless in the midst of the storms, recovering from its rest 
strength to endure fresh harsh shocks. 

It was the good fortune of the monarchy of 1830, from its 
very beginning, to meet in England and amongst the English 
people with a sincere and earnest sympathy, which influenced 
the English government. The Duke of Wellington had assisted 
with no good grace in Polignac's reckless proceedings, though 
by personal taste and habit he had favored the fallen and pro- 
scribed dynasty. His good sense and impartiality led him to 
uederstand the change of opinion in France, and the serious 
consequences which had followed from it. "That means a 
change of dynasty," he at once said. The English government 
was the first to acknowledge the new monarch of France ; and 
the choice made by King Louis Philippe of Talleyrand as his 
ambassador at London, strengthened this good understanding 
from the first. Frequently impatiently desirous of recovering 



300 HISTORY OF FRANCE, [ch. xx 

Ms share of power and influence under the government of the 
restoration, Talleyrand kept himself ill-naturedly aloof from 
it. He accepted the difficult duty of placing the French gov- 
ernment in confidential communication, and, when, necessary, 
in common action, with the principal European governments. 
It was a work of reparation analogous in some respects to that 
which in 1814 he accomplished at Vienna. "He was well 
suited to succeed in it, for he brought to it the very qualifica- 
tions necessary — a combination of liberal intelligence and 
aristocratic habits, impassiveness and daring, cool patience 
and prompt tact, and the art of acting and waiting with a 
certain lofty manner. " * 

One important question brought together in London all the 
representatives of Europe, . ow jealous and anxious. In the 
midst of the revolutionary risings caused by the revolution 
just accomplished in France, that of Belgium against the 
hated yoke of Holland was the first and most serious (25th 
August, 1830). A provisional government was organized on 
the 26th September, and on the 3rd October the new state de- 
clared its independence, wbich was soon confirmed by tbe na- 
tional congress. A conference was already open in London, 
for the purpose of determining the situation of Belgium in 
Europe. It was a difficult and protracted undertaking, com- 
plicated by the claims and thoughtless defiance of the Belgians, 
by the unmanageable obstinacy of the King of Holland, by the 
irritation and distrust of the northern powers. King Louis 
Philippe personally contributed to these delicate negotiations a 
disinterested prudence which raised and simplified the ques- 
tion. " The Low Countries have always been the stone of 
Stumbling in Europe," said he ; " none of the great powers can, 
without anxiety and jealousy, see them in the hands of an- 
other. Let them be by general consent an independent and 
neutral state, and that state will become keystone in the arch 
of the European order." In 1814, England wished to place the 
independence of the Netherlands as a barrier between France 
the conqueror, and threatened Europe. In 1830, King Louis 
Philippe wished in his turn to found peacefully a barrier of 
neutrality and pacification. He refused to allow his son, the 
Due de Nemours, to be placed on the throne of the new state. 
In 1832, in agreement with England, he supported by arms the 
resolution of Europe, against the obstinate and triumphant 

*■ ' - 

* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 301 

Dutch. Subsequently, he continued in constant harmony with 
the able and wise prince whom Belgium had the good fortune 
to receive as her first king. The family alliance which was 
concluded between the two monarchs by the marriage of King 
Leopold with the Princess Louise d'Orleans served to bind 
closer together the natural ties arising from their similarity in 
sound judgment and foresight. 

Italy was agitated without results, through the intrigues of 
her refugees, who had been cast on the French frontiers by 
the successive shocks of her internal revolutions. Spain was 
still more so, with that ardor and persistence which character- 
ized all her political movements. The Spanish refugees, who 
were very numerous in France, and had long been actively 
encouraged by the French liberals, offered King Louis Philippe 
to unite the Due de Nemours to the young queen, Donna 
Maria, of Portugal, and combine the whole peninsula under 
one sceptre, by overthrowing the throne of Ferdinand VII. 
and disregarding the claims of Don Miguel. The king refused to 
second the proposed insurrection. The procedure of Ferdinand 
VII. with regard to him was bad, inconsistent, and disloyal ; 
but the French government confined themselves to granting 
the Spanish refugees full liberty of action on the frontiers. 
When they came back to France after their reverses, beaten 
and dispersed, they were brought together and supported, on 
condition of remaining at some distance from the frontiers in 
places assigned to them. Ferdinand VII. now assumed a con- 
ciliatory attitude. "France is, and desires to remain, at peace 
with all her neighbors, notably with Spain," such were the 
government's instructions to its agents. 

France wished also to remain at peace with Russia, and was 
grieved to see (29th November, 1830) a Polish insurrection 
break out under the most noble leaders, which was to end only 
in redoubling the woes of Poland. The first attempt of Joseph 
Chlepecki, as well as of General Skrynecki, only aimed at 
obtaining from the Emperor Nicholas just and honorable con- 
cessions in favor of Poland, such as the Emperor Alexander 
intended to reconstitute her. The passions of the people, im- 
prudent from the ardor of their patriotism, paralyzed those 
efforts, squandered the influence, and then the lives, of their 
bravest and most intelligent leaders, and delivered up Warsaw 
and Poland to the horrors of unrestrained popular factions, to 
let them then fall again under the heavy Russian yoke. The 
Poles had reckoned too much upon the promises of French 



302 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx 

revolutionists, and their influence with the French govern- 
ment. There had been no engagement entered into : nor did 
France fail towards them in a single duty, as was proclaimed 
by Sebastiani with inconsiderate bluntness. " Order reigns at 
Warsaw," he announced to the chamber, at the very time 
when the Polish insurrection was expiring in a sea of blood. 
France alone had tried to interpose with Russia in favor of 
Poland, before the last days of the struggle ; and she for a long 
time generously received the wretched fugitives. 

The foreign policy of France, though everywhere really 
peaceful, was not one of inaction or indifference. " It is neces- 
sary," said the king, " to weigh the interests, and measure the 
distances, far from us. Nothing obliges us to engage France. 
We can act or not act, according to French prudence or in- 
terest. Pound about us, at our gates, we are engaged before 
hand ; we cannot permit the affairs of our neighbors to be 
directed by others than themselves, and without us." 

It was on this principle that we soon after took arms against 
the citadel of Antwerp ; and this principle also suggested in 
July, 1832, the expedition commanded by Admiral Roussin 
against the exactions of Don Miguel in Portugal upon the 
Frenchmen domiciled in his states. There had been delay in 
redressing our grievances, and England had obtained satisfac- 
tion analogous to that which we were demanding. The Tagus 
was forced, the Portuguese fleet captured, and the compensa- 
tion insisted upon was paid at a convention signed on board of 
the French admiral's ship. In England the indignation was 
intense. " A blush rises to my brow," said Wellington in the 
House of Lords, "when I think of the treatment which our 
former allies are undergoing with impunity." The tories had 
been replaced in power by the whigs ; Palmerston and Grey 
did not ask France to give an account of the chastisement 
which she had inflicted upon Portugal. At about the same 
time the French government were acting in Italy with the 
same vigor which they displayed in Portugal. Austria had 
promptly repressed the insurrections which agitated the 
states possessed by the princes of his house. She in the same 
way assisted the papal troops against the revolutionary risings 
in the legations. As soon as the Austrian forces retired the 
agitation recommenced, and the European powers felt it their 
duty to address a common appeal to the Pope, to induce him 
to undertake in earnest some system of political and adminis- 
trative reform. Promises had proved of little value, and in- 




INSURRECTION IN THE CLOISTER ST. MERRY 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 303 

dignation reappeared in the pontifical states. Cardinal Ber« 
netti boldly announced to the foreign powers an intention to 
renounce the proposed changes, and have recourse to energetic 
repression. The Austrians returned from all parts to the papal 
states. The French government resolved not to leave them in 
sole possession, after having, without success, expressed this 
desire at Eome. The occupation of Ancona being resolved 
upon, "the small French squadron, commanded by the cap* 
tain of the ship Gallois, arrived opposite it on the 22nd Feb- 
ruary, 1832, having set sail from Toulon on the 7th, and carry- 
ing the 66th regiment of the fine, under the orders of Colonel 
Coombes. At two o'clock in the morning the frigate Victoire 
entered the harbor in full sail, and the troops were landed in 
silence. The gates of the town were burst open, and without a 
drop of blood being shed the town and citadal were occupied 
the same morning. Our soldiers mounted sentry everywhere 
together with those of the Pope, and the French and Roman 
flags floated side by side. " If we succeed," wrote Barante, 
the ambassador at Turin, to Guizot, "we shall displease Aus- 
tria, without her wishing to quarrel with us, a very desirable 
result. We shall have shown to the Italian governments that 
we do not agree to their making themselves vassals to avoid 
granting their subjects anything. We shall have actually 
shown our strength, to the great joy of all the French-liberal 
party, who will be encouraged and strengthened by the pres- 
ence of our flag in Italy. The carbonari themselves will begin 
to set more value on our ministry than on Lafayette. " * 

All Europe was beginning to know the powerful hand which 
had just taken hold, for too short a time, of the helm of our 
vessel, beaten about by the waves. When the occupation of 
Ancona was known in Paris, the representatives of the great 
powers hastened to call upon Casimir Perier, who had been 
home minister since 13th March, 1831, and found him in bad 
health, but excited and proud. On hearing the Prussian min- 
ister, Baron Werther, ask if international law still existed? 
in Europe, he rose from his couch, and going up to him, ex- 
claimed, " The international law in Europe, sir, I am now de- 
fending. Do you think it easy to maintain treaties and peace? 
The honor of France must also be maintained ; and it enjoined 
what I have just done. I have a right to the confidence of 
Europe; and I reckoned upon it." 

* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



304 FISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

Casimir Perier was not naturally disposed to reckon upon 
other men's kindness, but his daring resolution was never hin» 
dered by his prudent distrust. The occupation of Ancona did 
not disturb our friendly relations with the court of Borne. 
Through our ambassador, St. Aulaire, they accepted it as a 
temporary act, the conditions of which were fixed by a conven- 
tion (16th April, 1833). Peace was maintained in Europe, as 
well as the honor of France. The determined and important 
experiment was perfectly successful. 

Abroad, however, as well as at home, the efforts of the 
French government were constantly weakened and hindered 
by the revolutionary fermentation. It had fatally caused the 
fall of Laffitte's cabinet, though they really and in majority 
belonged to the left, but proved powerless and inefficacious 
against the disorderly fury of the demagogues and rioters, who 
were perpetually stirring up new agitations in the streets of 
Paris. This weakness was soon to declare itself in a painful 
and striking manner. 

There was much alarm beforehand in the anticipation of a 
popular manifestation on the 14th February, the anniversary 
of the murder of the Due de Berry, which was to be commem- 
orated by religious services. The Archbishop of Paris, and 
the cure of St. Boch refused to allow the celebration in their 
churches by solemn mass, as was demanded by the legitimists. 
It was at St. Germain l'Auxerrois that the ceremony took 
place. The government did nothing to prevent it, and took 
no precautions against revolutionary excesses. Several days 
previously, on the 21st January, the death of Louis XVI. was 
brought to recollection without any insult to disturb its maj- 
esty; but on the 14th February, the populace proceeded to 
the most frightful excesses. The church of St. G-ermain, with 
the presbytery and archbishop's palace, were sacked with a 
savage fury. "Like everybody else," says Guizot in his 
3femoires, "I saw floating in the river and dragged in the 
streets sacred objects, priests' robes, the archbishop's furni- 
ture, paintings, and books ; I saw the cross thrown down ; I 
have visited the archbishop's palace, or rather the site of his 
palace, and the vicarage, and church of St. Germain l'Auxer- 
rois, that ancient parish church of our kings, since they were 
destroyed. Those sudden ruins, that naked desolation of the 
holy places, formed a hideous sight; less hideous, however, 
than the brutal delight of the destroyers, and the mocking 
indifference of the spectators who crowded round." 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 305 

The same spectacle, under various aspects, was reproduced 
in many other towns, sometimes provoked by similar manifes- 
tations of attachment to the fallen monarchy. Not only did 
Laffitte allow anarchy to display itself freely, without any 
earnest attempt to repress or punish it, but he took advantage 
of these disorders to ask Kmg Louis Philippe to efface from 
the coins and escutc eons the raditional arms of France ; and 
unfortunately was too easily successful. 

So much lack of energy ,nd foresight could not suffice for 
the government of the country, or the confidence of honorable 
men, in the midst of times so disturbed. Without much per- 
sonal liking, but from a necessity which he clearly perceived, 
the king asked Casimir Perier to form a cabinet, at the same 
time summoning Marshal Soult to sit in it. "I must have that 
grand sword," said Louis Philippe. Casimir Perier, however, 
claimed the right of being president, to which the marshal did 
not dare offer opposition. 

It is a rare occurrence for a man in a single year of govern- 
ment to imprtss his seal upon a whole policy, and establish his 
glory for ver. Those leaders of men who remain powerful in 
the memory of their contemporaries and successors have gen- 
erally long borne the burden of power, and learned to exercise 
it with a steady hand. Casimir Perier deserved and obtained 
success of a more striking kind. Devoted in his youth to 
financial affairs, he was elected in 1817 to the Chamber of 
Deputies, and constantly sat there, acquiring every year 
greater influence, without taking any part at any time in 
official duties. Borne to the front from the first days of the 
revolution of 1830, he refused to be made a minister, saying, it 
was too soon. In 1831, he was elected President of the Cham- 
ber of Deputies, when he found it necessary to accept power. 
"Do you not see that everything is crumbling about us?" he 
had for some time been saying to his friends ; "and that the 
government is about to become impossible?" It was upon him 
that the duty devolved of showing the nation that it must be 
governed, and the revolutionists that a government had at last 
seized the authority. 

" He had been created by God for a wild and excited period. 
Some expression of his mental earnestness was constantly re- 
flected in his countenance, gait, look, and tone of voice. His 
physical vigor equalled his moral. " How can you expect a 
man of my build to yield?" he frequently asked. Eager and 
restless, he always seemed to be defying his opponents, and 
VIIL-30 



306 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

implicitly trusting his friends. From the latter he exacted a 
never-failing devotion. "I laugh at my friends when I am 
right," he exclaimed one day; "it is when I am wrong that I 
require their support." In private conversation he listened 
coldly, disputed little, and almost always showed that his 
mind was already made up. In the chamber, he seldom showed 
eloquence, and sometimes want of tact, but he was always 
successful and powerful. Both in private and in the tribune, 
he sometimes allowed himself to be carried away by violent 
fits of anger. He terrified his partisans somewhat as well as 
his friends, but possessed the confidence of the one in spite of 
their doubt, and compelled that of the others in the midst of 
their annoyance. This was due to the power of the man, 
much superior to that of the orator." * 

When he entered into power, on the 13th March, 1831, 
Casimir Perier formed a just estimate of the difficulties of 
the task which he undertook in undertaking to rescue the 
country from anarchy; but he was not at first conscious 
of all its tremendous import. "After all," said he, when 
the revolutionary press was let loose upon him, and every 
day giving a distorted view of his conduct and intentions, 
" after all, what does it matter to me? I have the Moniteur 
as a record of my acts, the tribune of the chambers to explain 
them, and the future to judge them. 

For the moment Casimir Perier had scarcely strength 
enough for the task. With dignity as well as enthusiasm and 
ability, he made use of all the resources at command. He 
exacted and obtained from his agents perpetually renewed 
efforts ; but the evil was more deeply-seated than he had be- 
lieved, and constant proofs of it were manifested. There 
were frequent fresh riots in the streets of Paris, sometimes 
with violence, at other times in secret, but always stirring up 
the passions of the populace by various means, and under 
various pretexts, in the name of the Polish insurrection or 
some trials of obscure conspirators. Open or secret associa- 
tions everywhere exercised their fatal influence. On the occa- 
sion of the commercial and industrial crisis which weighed 
upon the whole of France, serious insurrections in Lyons and 
Grenoble in 1831 revealed the wretched slavery submitted to 
by peaceful and sensible workmen, who were induced to 
actions and crimes at which they themselves were afterwards 

— i ■ ■ ■ . .. .i - -. .. ■■ i- i a 

* Guizot's Mimoires % etc. 



CH. XX.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 307 

shocked. The juries too often were under the same influence, 
and magistrates were therefore put to the pain of seeing their 
pression powerless or insufficient. The audacity of prisoners 
at the har was redoubled; " we have still some bullets in our 
cartridges," exclaimed several amongst them. 

Perier persisted in struggling, however great might have 
been his real dejection and doubt. Brave to audacity in the 
foreign relations of France and Europe, he showed himself not 
the less obstinate in resisting insurrection, disconcerting the 
offenders sometimes by a word or look. Stopped one day in 
his carriage with General Sebastiani, in the Place Vendome, 
he stepped out without hesitation, walked up to the rioters, 
and addressing the row in front, who were shouting "Long 
live Poland!" on account of the news received that very 
morning of the fall of Warsaw, he asked what they wanted. 
" We wish for the rights of man and our liberties! " " Well, I 
give you them ! What will you do with them ? " And, shrug- 
ging his shoulders, he quietly passed through the crowd, who 
made way for him as well as the soldiers, then leaving the 
sentry-post of the treasury. At the same time, in spite of the 
serious troubles then beginning to show themselves in several 
provinces, he obstinately refused to propose any exceptional 
laws or rigorous measures. " The law should be sufficient for 
everything," said he. "Order in Paris and Vendee by the 
maintenance of law, peace in Europe by respecting sworn 
promises, that is enough to serve as an answer to much re- 
proach, to calm much anxiety, and rally many convictions." 
He repelled, both for himself and the country, every sign of 
weakness, proudly claiming the confidence and support of his 
friends. " I do not accept your indulgence," he exclaimed 
from the tribune; "I only claim justice and my country's 
esteem." 

There was at that time no threatening danger, whatever 
may have been said, in the visit made to Paris by Queen 
Hortense with her son Prince Bonaparte, destined to become 
the Emperor Napoleon III. The king and queen showed the 
exiled princess a kindness and respect, which never inter- 
rupted their relations with the Bonapartes, and the memory of 
which must have produced certain results. Queen Hortense's 
visit was unknown to the public. In spite of the shouts, ' ' Long 
live the Emperor ! " sometimes heard in the mobs, the recollec- 
tions of Napoleon was then dormant, and Bonapartism in com- 
plete abeyance. There was, however, a proposal made to the 



308 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

Chamber of Deputies, asking that the ashes of Napoleon 
should be brought back to France. "It is true," said Charles 
Lameth, " that Napoleon suppressed anarchy, but there is no 
need for his coffin coming to increase it in these days." The 
cabinet had ordered the emperor's statue to be re-erected on 
the column in the Place Vendome, and made no objection to 
referring the petition to the ministers. It was destined to 
produce some result nine years later. 

Throughout the incessantly recurring noise of insurrection, 
heard even at the gates of the Palais Bourbon, the legislative 
work was bravely and consistently pursued. Seventy-eight 
bills, successively presented by the cabinet on the 13th March, 
1831, disposed of a mass of pending questions, and political or 
administrative reforms. By some of them several painful 
duties were imposed upon the head of the government. He 
found himself compelled by the pressure of public opinion to 
propose the abolition of hereditary peerage, which he con- 
sidered useful, and create thirty-six new peers in order to 
oblige the chamber to weaken itself with its own hands. His 
most determined supporters, Koyer-Collard and Guizot, sup- 
ported on this occasion by Thiers, were opposed to the bill, and 
boldly attacked it. " You are very fortunate to be able to say 
what you think," Perier sometimes said to them. 

The struggle meanwhile was prolonged, and while being 
prolonged gradually undermined the strength of the resist- 
ance. Perier, however, though bravely supported by his 
friends, felt weary and isolated. " No one does his duty com- 
pletely," said he ; "no one comes to the assistance of the gov- 
ernment in moments of difficulty. I cannot myself do every- 
thing. Though a good horse, I cannot without assistance get 
out of the rut; yet, if need were, I shall kill myself at the 
task. But let everybody do his honest endeavors, and pull 
along with me. That is our sole chance of saving France. I 
hope soon to obtain the disarming of the great powers. This 
warlike fermentation will then subside ; and as for me, I shall 
retire, my task being terminated. The burden is already too 
heavy, and when the danger is gone it will be intolerable." 
From his confidence in Guizot, he chose the latter to continue 
his work, and expound his parliamentary doctrines. "All 
those discussions do not suit me," said he; "I am a man of 
active struggle." 

His struggling was now drawing to a close, and precursory 
signs of eternal rest soon after caused even him some anxiety,. 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 309 

Cholera bi-oke forth in Paris during March, 1832, being pre 
dieted some months previously from scientific observation, 
although no remedy had yet been discovered to cope with its 
terrible ravages. The alarm of the populace soon produced 
disorder and absurd charges. The horrible scenes which had 
taken place during the epidemics of the middle ages seemed at 
one time destined to be renewed in Paris ; several men were 
massacred on the charge of poisoning. Casimir Perier unfor- 
tunately had an attack of it when already weak from ill- 
health. "I shall only leave this place feet foremost," he said 
to Montalivet, who called to see him. As danger increased, 
men's courage revived. The noble side of human nature 
was shown in deeds of kindness, multiplied everywhere, for 
the assistance of the sick and unfortunate. The courageous 
devotion of trustees, doctors, and priests, was equalled by that 
of the women. The Duke of Orleans, then quite young and 
already popular, visited the Hotel-Dieu hospital with Casimir 
Perier, and Barbe-Marbois, then eighty -seven years old, and 
president of the general council of the hospitals, offered to 
accompany them. Several patients died during the visit, but 
neither the prince nor the minister thought of hurrying it 
over. Three days later, Perier was ill in bed, and soon after 
^ie was, despaired of. The prince was reserved for a more 
tragical end, fatal to his country and his family. Death had 
reaped an illustrious harvest, Cuvier being of the number, his 
death (on the 13th May, 1832) being accelerated by the pre- 
vailing epidemic. The friends of Perier felt his case hopeless, 
though he still struggled with all his physical and mental 
vigor. During his delirious attacks, from which he frequently 
suffered, he was still eagerly engrossed with the dangers of 
the country, which he knew would soon be deprived of him. 
Once he rose on his bed, and throwing away everything from 
him, exclaimed in a ringing voice, " Alas! alas! the president 
of the council is mad !" "I am very ill," he said, on coming 
to his senses, "my wings are clipped; but the country is in 
even worse health than I am!" "When at last, on the 16th 
May, he succumbed, there was a great demonstration of 
national grief and gratitude before his deathbed and tomb. 
The gap made was already felt in the foremost rank of those 
rare servants of the country on whom Providence has be- 
stowed as a gift "those sublime instincts which form as it 
were the divine part of the art of governing." " To his last 
day," said Royer-Collard, in the speech spoken at his funeral, 



310 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

" he fought with an intrepidity which never behed itself; when 
his strength was overcome, his soul was not." 

The most striking testimony paid to Perier's memory was 
the sudden increase of anarchy and conspiracy that at once 
signalized the disappearance of his firm and strong will. His 
cabinet were left mutilated when face to face with a situation 
becoming daily more serious, as Perier had himself foreseen. 
Talleyrand, whom for a moment they had thought of to ap- 
point premier, had no wish to accept a burden which did not 
suit him. The difficult questions of foreign policy were nearly 
resolved, but the mutual animosity of parties broke out simul- 
taneously. While a new and terrible insurrection was being 
prepared in Paris, the Duchesse de Berry had secretly arrived 
in Vendee, to place herself at the head of a legitimist insur- 
rection which had for several months been arranged and pre- 
pared in several places. 

The zeal of the royalist gentry and their impatience of exile 
had overpowered the wise advice of the friends of the royal 
family, then living at Lullworth in England. Chateaubriand. 
Fitz- James, and Berry er strove eagerly to dissuade the princess 
from her journey, and their friends from the proposed rising; 
but all their efforts were in vain. In April, 1832, the Duchess 
de Berry on her return from Italy, where, unknown to any, 
she had formed a new alliance, arrived secretly at Marseilles in 
the Carlo- Alberto, freighted by herself. The hopes they had 
formed of an insurrection in that town proving abortive, the 
princess, on whom Charles X. had conferred the title of regent, 
boldly crossed France in company with a few devoted friends, 
and reached the chateau of Dampierre in Saintonge. There 
she received secretly the insurrectionist leaders, the aged rem- 
nants of the former Vendeans, or brave inheritors of their per- 
severance in a path that seemed interminable. Charette, 
Autichamp, Roche jacquelein, and Marshal Bourmont eagerly 
showed their devotion. The rising was fixed for the 24th May, 
and the duchess travelled over the country districts in disguise, 
brave and untiring, full of excited delight in her hopeful 
activity. The royalist leaders, however, were depressed, for 
the warlike ardor was extinguished. The peasants did not re- 
spond to their appeals, and the hesitation of many of the coun- 
try gentry on whom they had counted delayed their operations 
till the beginning of June. The insurrection broke out only 
partially and weakly, without that contagious brilliancy which 
attracts and strikes the lower orders. The repression was 



ca xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 3H 

prompt and energetic; and the authorities endeavored to 
apprehend the Duchess de Berry, who had unfortunately per- 
sisted in her enterprise. She was obliged to take refuge in 
Nantes, while several trifling engagements cost her the lives of 
her most devoted partisans. Several gentlemen still held the 
Chateau Penissiere when the princess reached Nantes. Traced 
up to her last retreat, and betrayed by a man of the lower 
order to whom she had been entrusted, she was taken, along 
with her friend Miss Kersabiec, in a place of concealment made 
in the wall of a fireplace. Arrested on the 6th November, 1832, 
she was conducted to the Chateau Blaye, where she was kept 
for eight months, to the regret of all parties. On the 8th June, 
1833, the duchess left her prison, without trial or condemna- 
tion, and at once went to Palermo. Her illustrious friends who 
had in vain opposed her project, Chateaubriand, Hyde, Fitz- 
James, and Berryer, had been imprudently accused by the 
government, but the tribunals pronounced that there was no 
ground for the charge ; and the sentence of the Vendeans taken 
armed was commuted by the crown, while many of the others 
were acquitted. The total destruction of the hopes of the 
royalists led to the subsidence of their passion, and soon the 
only traces that remained of the insurrection were several ad- 
ministrative difficulties. 

The stirring up of the demagogic indignation was due to two 
causes more serious and deep-seated. In 1830 the revolutionists 
again flattered themselves with the hope of definitively seizing 
the power; but it escaped them through that divine pity for 
France which has often disarmed the enemies of her well-being 
at the very moment of their apparent triumph. The constant 
insurrections in Paris during the whole of the year 1831 kept 
up amongst the lower orders an excitability and desire for ac- 
tion. Like the legitimist leaders, the republican leaders did 
not think the moment propitious for a great effort, but they 
could not restrain the undisciplined wishes of their soldiers. 
Some seditious manifestations had already occurred, such as 
the breaking of the official seals on the doors of the hall 
formerly occupied by the "Friends of the People." Only an 
opportunity was wanting for the explosion already projected 
and prepared ; and the death of General Lamarque, well known 
in the army for his enlightened liberalism and rare military 
talent, supplied a pretext. An immense concourse of people 
was assembled on the 5th June, 1832, to escort the car which 
was to convey his body to the country, and after some speeches 



312 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx 

were made, the tricolor flag was quickly replaced by the red 
flag, with loud shouts of " Long live the republic! Down with 
Louis Philippe! Down with the Bourbons!" General Exel- 
nians was insulted. Troops began to appear, but at the same 
time there appeared an organized insurrection. The gun- 
smiths' shops were pillaged ; several military posts were taken 
possession of, and barricades were erected in various places. 
There was some keen fighting, but towards evening the impor- 
tant positions were again in the hands of those on the side of 
order. The national guards performed their duty with a cour- 
age which surprised their military chiefs, due partly to the 
personal interests which were everywhere in danger. The in- 
surrectionists were posted in the neighborhood of the Church 
St. Merry. At the first report of the outbreak, the king had 
left Neuilly, and was accompanied to Paris by the queen. At 
five o'clock in the afternoon, and six next morning, the king 
visited the bivouacs, and then the very spots where the fight- 
ing had been hottest. He was welcomed with shouts. " I have 
a good cuirass," said he to those who advised him to be prudent ; 
"I have my five sons." A handful of men still resisted, repel- 
ling the successive attacks of the troops, and secretly supplied 
with powder and provisions by friends whose courage did not 
equal their own. The fighting lasted for two whole days, and 
cost the lives of some of the bravest republicans, so enthusias- 
tic and led away by generous motives as to lose their common 
sense. "Almost at the same time, on the 6th June, 1832, 100 
republicans in Paris at the Cloister St. Merry, and some fifty 
legitimists in Vendee at the Chateau Penissiere, surrounded by 
enemies, fire, and ruins, fought in utter desperation, and died 
shouting ' ' Long five the Republic !" and ' ' Long live Henry V. !'» 
respectively, thus giving up their lives as a human sacrifice, in 
the hope of perhaps thus one day serving a future which they 
were not to see."* 

So many formidable shocks proved too much for the strength 
of the cabinet over which Casimir Perier had recently presided. 
It was violently attacked both publicly and in the chambers by 
the leaders of the opposition, and they published against it a 
report, or "Manifesto to our constituents," trying to induce 
the king to accept their conclusions. He replied by the partial 
renewal of his ministry. Marshal Soult became president of 
the council, Thiers home minister, and Broglie agreed to become 

»■ ■*■ — ■■ -■■ . — ■■ i ...... .. ... . ■■■■-. — i. — i , rf 

* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 313 

foreign minister on condition that Guizot should be appointed 
minister of public instruction. Constituted on the 11th of 
October, 1832, the new cabinet at once convoked the chambers 
for the 19th November, being resolved to act on their own 
account, and endeavor to establish political liberty in the coun- 
try—in other words, trustworthy guarantees both of the 
security of individual rights and interests, and a proper atten 
tion to public affairs. Coming immediately after the terrible- 
trials which had just agitated the new monarchy, it was a 
difficult and daring enterprise to govern with success and regu- 
larity, while at the same time leaving in every direction strik- 
ing traces of their action. It was to the honor of the cabinet 
of the 11th October that they attempted this work, and in a 
large measure accomplished it, notwithstanding the obstacles 
which seemed certain to paralyze their early efforts. 

Each of the new ministers found himself at first burdened 
with a delicate and heavy task. After a long alternation of 
hurry and delay, the London conference finished its labors on 
the 1st October, 1832 ; and the separation of Belgium and Hol- 
land, accomplished in fact, was definitely acknowledged by 
Europe. King William, however, still held the citadel of Ant- 
werp. The English fleet assembled at Spithead and ours at 
Cherbourg ; and by a convention concluded on the 22nd Octo- 
ber, between England and France, it was demanded that the 
belligerents should evacuate each other's territories before the 
12th November. Should the king of Holland refuse, the French 
army were to invade Belgium on the 15th. The evacuation not 
having taking place, on the 17th, at one o'clock, the Dukes of 
Orleans and Nemours passed through Brussels at the head of 
the troops, Marshal Gerard being commander-in-chief. On the 
29th the trench was opened against the fortress, and it was not 
till the 5th December that the place surrendered. The garrison 
remained prisoners of war, because the king of Holland refused 
to abandon the forts of Lillo and Liefkenskoek at the mouth of 
the Scheldt. The princes had greatly distinguished themselves, 
Orleans insisting on superintending the work of the trenches, 
and scaling the parapet of the St. Laurent lunette in the midst 
of a storm of shot. " My sons have done their duty," said the 
queen, with modest pride. "I am glad they have proved that 
they may be relied upon." The kingdom of Belgium was now 
founded. 

Thiers was at that time engaged in the pacification of the 
western provinces. He also undertook the completion of aU 



314 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [en. xx. 

the great public monuments commenced by the empire and 
languidly continued by the restoration. The chamber unhesi- 
tatingly voted him large supplies. It was the pacific honor of 
King Louis Philippe to accomplish grand works of which he 
had not had the initiative, and to reduce to practical action 
principles of order and public utility which had been noisily 
professed by bis predecessors. The public instruction was a 
striking instance. The legislative assembly and national con- 
vention proposed to give France a grand system of public in- 
struction. Three men of distinguished and very different 
mental qualities, Talleyrand, Condorcet, and Daunou, were 
successively appointed to present to their respective sovei*eigns 
reports on this important question. There was much discus- 
sion without result. On emerging from the French Kevolu- 
tion, after some unsuccessful attempts, the only higher schools 
were the " Polytechnique" and the "Normale;" and the "In- 
stitut" was the highest stage for literary or scientific ambition. 
By organizing the lycees, and then founding the university 
under the fertile management of Fontanes, the Emperor Na- 
poleon provided for the great and important wants of second- 
ary education; but the modest and vast career of primary 
teaching, the necessities of popular instruction, were still per- 
sistently neglected. The revolution decreed that instruction 
was to be public, gratuitous, and obligatory. According to the 
principles of Napoleon, the education of youth belonged ex- 
clusively and entirely to the state. 

No one passed from words to deeds. The expense of primary 
instruction was left absolutely in charge of families and com- 
munes, which was enough alone to strike all the statutes with 
sterility. In fact, since the various religious bodies ceased to 
exercise their pious duty of instructing the people, schools and 
teachers had disappeared throughout the greater part of 
France, without being successfully replaced. Guizot undertook 
to fill up this gap, and at last satisfy this want. He conceived 
the idea of extending his reforms farther, and laid before the 
chambers the proposal of a law at once liberal and protective, 
conserving to the university her dignified right to the foremost 
rank in secondary instruction, without denying to her natural 
rivals, the Catholic Church and free thought, the perilous 
honor of free contest. He also endeavored to resolve the ques- 
tion of intermediate instruction by higher primary schools ; but 
the opposition encountered, and rapid changes of power, ren- 
dered abortive those fair hopes, which have been repeatedly 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 315 

aimed at since by generous endeavor. Several months pre- 
viously, Montalembert, Lacordaire, and Lamennais, united by 
a sympathy of ideas and beliefs which was destined soon to 
disappear, had boldly defended that liberty of instruction 
under whose color they were afterwards long to fight on vari- 
ous principles. To the close of his life, Guizot never ceased to 
regret the fate of the great enterprise which he had been the 
first to attempt, though unsuccessfully, and to which he was 
afterwards to consecrate all his remaining strength. 

A special satisfaction to Guizot as minister of public instruc- 
tion was being able at least to found in France a complete and 
prospective system of primary education, which, though often 
modified in its details, has remained the basis and starting 
point of all the advancements which in the last forty-five years 
have been made in popular instruction. It is the seal of inferi- 
ority impressed on human works that they are necessarily slow 
in their effects, and only produce light in the midst of chaos 
after long efforts. The results of the law of 28th June, 1833, 
were thenceforward patent to all. The impetus which it gave 
to popular instruction has never slackened. In the midst of 
much sorrow, it will be to the honor of the present time that it 
has supported it with fresh ardor. 

The powerful development of higher education under emi- 
nent teachers selected with the greatest care, the foundation of 
new chairs in the great public schools, the appointment of a 
class of moral and political science in the institute, the en- 
couragement everywhere granted to literary and scientific 
bodies, the grants procured with great difficulty from the 
chambers for the moderate endowment of study and research, 
and finally the great attention bestowed upon the improvement 
of historical studies in France, — such were the special labors of 
Guizot during the three and a half years that he held office as 
minister of public instruction. The toils and combats of parlia- 
mentary life left to the ministers but little leisure for the noble 
enterprises with which they anxiously aspired to have their 
names associated. Hostile passions were not yet entirely ap- 
peased, and frequently the storm was heard on the horizon. 
It burst out afresh after two years, which had caused hopes of 
some repose. 

Sincerely and resolutely liberal, the cabinet of 11th Octo- 
ber did not renounce the policy of courageous resistance which 
it believed compatible with the full exercise of every public 
liberty. Compelled by the violent language of the newspapers 



816 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

to institute some press trials, it was most of all anxious about 
the fatal influence exercised by perpetually urging the people 
to form associations, as if the profuse publication of incendiary 
articles were not enough. The Catechisme republicain, Cate- 
chisme des Dibits de Vhomme and Le Pilori gained much addi- 
tional influence by being cried in the streets — a new abuse 
against which the courts afforded no remedy. In order to 
notify clearly the right thus claimed, Rodde, the manager of a 
popular journal Bon Sens stood in the Place de la Bourse, 
dressed in a blouse and cap, and began distributing a packet of 
sheets, declaring his intention of repelling violence by violence 
should the police attempt to interfere with his liberty. ' ' Let 
them take care," said he, " I am on the ground of legality, and 
I have the right there to appeal to the courage of Frenchmen : 
I have the right there to appeal to insurrection. In that case, 
if ever, it will be the most sacred of duties." Two bills for re- 
stricting the rights of public criers and those of voluntary as- 
sociations were laid before the chambers by the cabinet. The 
first became law without difficulty, and the second had under- 
gone some keen attack when some practical difficulties came to 
overthrow many optimist illusions. On the 5th April, 1834, 
there was a violent outbreak in Lyons, soon accompanied by 
bloodshed. 

This insurrection, organized by Mazzini, the chief of the 
Italian carbonari, had long been in preparation. It was to be 
combined with an invasion of refugees upon the territory of 
Savoy, and a strike of the Lyonese workmen. The refugees, 
however, failed in their attempts, and the workmen resumed 
their work, in spite of all that their leaders could urge. A 
second time, but merely by accident, they were induced to re- 
volt. The Parisian leaders of the party, including Godefroy 
Cavaignac and Gamier-Pages, had come to Lyons to rouse the 
revolutionary passion. On the occasion of the trial of several 
leaders of the Rights of Man Society, on the 5th April, there 
were several violent scenes in court. " No bayonets !" shouted 
the workmen when they saw the soldiers arrive. The presi- 
dent adjourned the court to the 9th, and on that day all was in 
readiness. At daybreak any doubt was no longer possible: 
Lyons was undergoing, not a tumultuous and disorderly agita- 
tion, but a movement which was both violent and systematic. 
Resolutions had evidently been made, orders given, time fixed. 
The court was to open at eleven o'clock, and before its doors 
the Place St. Jean remained, the whole morning, empty and 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 317 

deserted. The insurgents wished to appear in a body and act 
all at once. The secret agents of the Eights of Man Society- 
were waiting collected in their respective quarters. At half- 
past eleven, when the court had opened, the first band arrived, 
and then the others. Barricades were quickly thrown up at 
the four corners of the place, others being at the same time 
erected in all parts of the town. An ultra-republican proclama- 
tion, conveying the grossest abuse of King Louis Philippe and 
his ministers, was distributed in great numbers. The attack 
began in all parts, and was everywhere repulsed courageously. 
For five hours, a civil war, premeditated and organized against 
the existing government, caused blood to flow in the streets of 
Lyons. It was kept up by the insurgents with skilful audacity 
and fanatical keenness and determination ; by the authorities 
with steady firmness ; by the troops with a fidelity to their 
colors and a vigor which towards the end almost passed into 
fury. A similar outbreak was prepared in the same way at St. 
Etienne, Vienne, Grenoble, Chalons, Auxerre, Arbois, Mar- 
seilles, and Luneville. In the streets of Lyons, during the 
fighting, bulletins, dated Like the proclamations the year XLII. 
of the republic, were incessantly publishing news, which was 
almost all false, amongst the insurgents to keep up their cour- 
age. "At Vienne," said one of those bulletins (22 Germinal, 
11th April), "the national guard is master of the town ; they 
have stopped the artillery coming against us. The insurrec- 
tion is breaking out everywhere. Patience and courage ! The 
garrison must of course become weak and demoralized. Even 
should it hold its positions, we have only to keep it in check 
till our brothers arrive from the departments." The garrison 
did not become demoralized; the brothers from the depart- 
ments did not come ; and on the 13th April, in the evening, all 
over the town, the beaten insurgents gave up fighting. When 
authority was everywhere restored, men were astonished to 
find, among the dead, the prisoners, and the wounded in the 
hospitals, scarcely one tenth of the workmen belonging to the 
silk-mills, and six strangers for one Lyonnais ! 

In Paris as well as Lyons the republican party had an- 
nounced, and made preparations for, their victory. A Breton 
gentleman, Kersausie, an eager partisan of the carbonari, took 
the leadership of the "Society of Action," by whom the move- 
ment was to be commenced. He was arrested, as well as all the 
leaders of the Eights of Man Society, Godefroy Cavaignac 
alone escaping. The news of the definitive check suffered by 



318 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

the insurgents at Lyons excited the rage and shame of the 
masses enrolled under Parisian revolution. On the 13th 
April, at five o'clock afternoon, the outbreak took place in 
Paris. Barricades started from the ground with inconceivable 
rapidity, several officers were wounded, others killed. As in 
1832, the insurgent operations seemed to be concentrated in the 
St. Merry quarter. General Bugeaud commanded the troops, 
and Thiers accompanied him when he went by night to take 
observations. " They passed along close to the houses, at the 
head of a small column, without any light but that from some 
candles in several windows falling upon their arms and uni- 
forms. A shot fired from a cellar struck the captain of the 
troop dead, and another wounded mortally a young auditor of 
the Council of State who had come with a message to Thiers. 
As they advanced forward, new victims fell, and they looked 
in vain to discover the murderers. The soldiers' hearts boiled 
with anger, and as soon as daylight appeared a general attack 
was directed against the insurgents. There was a perpetual 
firing kept up from the houses and barricades. In the Rue 
Transnonain some soldiers were carrying their wounded captain 
on a litter, when several musket-shots from a house they were 
passing were fired at them, and killed their captain in their 
hands. Wild with rage, they burst open the doors of the 
house, rushed headlong over all the floors, into all the rooms, 
and a cruel and indiscriminate massacre blindly avenged 
savage assassinations."* This deplorable scene procured 
among the people for General Bugeaud, the sinister surname 
of butcher of the Rue Transnonain. It put a sad end to the 
struggle, the insurgents either hiding themselves or effecting 
their escape. A great many were arrested, shortly to appear 
.before the Court of Peers. Admiral de Rigny, and Guizot an- 
nounced to the chambers that the insurrection was subdued in 
Paris as well as in Lyons. After having provided for the 
evident necessities of legislation by passing a law respecting 
the possession of arms and ammunition, the Chamber of Depu- 
ties was dissolved on the 24th May, 1834. 

The elections went almost everywhere in favor of the gov- 
ernment, and testified strongly to the fears and repugnance 
which the revolutionary attempts inspired in the minds of 
honest people. Meanwhile the cabinet had suffered some loss 
of strength, and further embarrassment was impending. 

— — ' — i. ■ ■-.. — ..., .-. — . ,.,.., — — — ... ..,■■■, . ^ 

* Memoires pour servir a Vhistoire de men temps. 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 31 § 

Following on an adverse vote of the chamber on the subject of 
the indemnities long due to the United States, the Due de Brog- 
lie gave in his resignation. Guizot did not follow his example, 
and at this there was some astonishment in the chamber 
among those near Thiers. Thiers turning to those about him, 
said smartly, "Guizot has not retired with De Broglie, in 
order to make him return." The result was soon to justify 
Thiers' perspicacity. The question of the government of 
Algeria at that time gave rise to some dissensions within the 
cabinet. Marshal Soult, a very capable commander, was much 
less suited to treat with politicians, and often caused embarrass- 
ment to his colleagues. Not without difficulty he was replaced 
by Marshal Gerard, who in his turn retired some months later, 
accompanied by most of the other ministers. They were all 
determined to put the government of the country into the 
hands of the third party, which was increasing in the chambers 
under the influence of Dupin. A ministry which lasted for 
three days was the only success of this experiment. Again 
power was accepted by Thiers, Guizot, Duchatel, Humann, and 
Eigny. Marshal Mortier became president of the council. 
Old, weary, and restless, Talleyrand quitted the embassy in 
London. The veterans of the great struggles of the past were 
disappearing from the arena, either retiring from active life, 
or being removed by death. Lafayette died peaceably at La 
Grange, surrounded by his children, and recalling piously in 
his enfeebled memory the recollection of the admirable wife 
whom he had recently lost. He wished to be interred by her 
side in the cemetery of Picpus, consecrated to the memory of 
the victims of the Terror, and no political demonstration dis- 
turbed the solemnity of the funeral rites. After the ardent 
struggles but recently extinguished, the populace, once so 
easily excited, had become indifferent ; moreover, the leaders 
of the insurrection had entered on a course in which the 
patriotism of Lafayette prevented him from following them. 

Before the Court of Peers burst forth the audacity of the 
numerous conspirators put on trial for complicity in the risirg 
which took place in the month of April. The conflict was re- 
moved from the streets to the palace of the Luxembourg; it 
was boldly proclaimed, and systematically pursued by the 
launching of invectives, declamation, and theories, instead of 
the discharge of arms. Lying letters and insulting proclama- 
tions circulated everywhere among the people, seeking at the 
same time to sow erroneous impressions and artificially to ex* 



320 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

cite the public passions. The courage and calm resolution of 
the Court of Peers was not relaxed, in spite of the provocations 
constantly being launched by the accused and their friends. 
" You wish 164 heads; take them! " cried one of those at the 
bar. ' ' You have brought me here by force, you have ruined 
me, you have butchered me: here is my breast, strike me, kill 
me! " But only one condemnation to death was pronounced. 
Transportation was the most serious penalty inflicted. Guizot 
was soon obliged, however, in the presence of the chamber to 
support the necessity of the repression with a firmness for 
which be was accused of cruelty. " They forget constantly in 
this debate," said he, "what is the aim of all punishment, of 
all penal legislation. It is not only to punish and to repress 
the guilty, but to prevent the repetition of similar crimes. 
Preventive and general intimidation, such is the principle, the 
dominant aim, of the penal laws. It is necessary to choose 
in this world between the intimidation of the just and of the 
unjust, between the security of rogues and of orderly citizens; 
the former or the latter must stand in fear ; there must be a 
sentiment, profound and lasting; of a superior power, always 
capable of overtaking and punishing. In the bosom of the 
family, in the relations of man with his God, there is some- 
thing of dread, and this is so naturally and necessarily. He 
who fears nothing, ere long respects nothing." 

M. de Broglie supported the same cause with a courage and 
an elevation of thought and language that strengthened him in 
the position which he had newly accepted in the cabinet. 
After tedious struggles within, and repeated effort on the part 
of the king to re-form a ministry, Marshal Mortier retired, and 
the Due de Broglie replaced him as president of the council. 
The laws of September, 1835, intended to furnish the govern- 
ment with the weapons suited for an efficacious repression of 
the ceaseless attacks arising out of the revolution, bore by no 
means the character of exceptional measures. They main- 
tained the essential guarantees of justice, while providing for 
the present and accidental wants of society. They were 
defended by the leaders of the conservative party with pro- 
found conviction ; violently attacked both in the chambers and 
in the country by the opposition, they were nevertheless voted 
by a great majority, and were favorably received by the im- 
partial and honest onlookers, who felt themselves effectively 
protected without oppression. 

The tendencies and the e vents which broke out at the 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 321 

moment when the cabinet presented the laws of September 
justified by anticipation their anxiety for the peace of society. 
For some days vague rumors, which seemed mysteriously to 
herald the fact as a secret that had escaped from numerous 
confidants, threatened the king and the royal family with 
some unknown danger. Already seven projects of assassi- 
nation had been discovered, when a grand review of the na- 
tional guard was convoked for the 28th July, 1835. At the 
moment when the royal procession arrived on the Boulevard 
du Temple, the king, who was bending over the shoulder of 
his horse to receive a petition, suddenly heard a noise as of 
platoon firing. He recovered himself instantly. ' ' Joinville, 
this is for me," said he to the son who was nearest him: "let 
us go on." Meanwhile a crowd of dead and dying already sur- 
rounded him, including Marshal Mortier, General Lachasse de 
Verigny, Captain de Vilate, many officers of the national 
guard, and several soldiers and women. The Due d'Orleans 
had received a contusion, and a spent ball had penetrated the 
cravat of the Due de Broglie. Cries of horror at the crime 
committed, and enthusiastic acclamations for the king, re- 
sounded on all sides. At the Chancellery, where were as- 
sembled the queen, the princess, and those of his ministers 
who had not accompanied the king, there prevailed the great- 
est consternation and a terrible uneasiness. They did not yet 
know the number and quality of the victims, nor the circum- 
stances of the attempt. 

One man attempted to make his escape by means of a rope 
suspended from a window on the third floor of the house 
No. 50, on the Boulevard du Temple. Wounded himself by the 
explosion which he had effected, he was easily arrested. The 
"infernal machine" was presently seized; it consisted of 
twenty-five gun barrels supported on a scaffolding of oak, 
and the discharge of these was rendered stimultaneous by the 
employment of a single train of powder. Several of the guns 
had burst, while others had not gone off, and it is to this cir- 
cumstance that the safety of the king may be attributed. It 
was soon ascertained that the author of the crime was a Cor- 
sican named Fieschi. Already guilty and condemned, dissat- 
isfied with his social position, he had been urged on the path 
of villainy by three Parisian workmen, who were ardent 
demagogues and affiliated to the Society of the Rights of Man. 
The latter were also arrested, and were tried and condemned 
some months subsequently by the Court of Peers. Hardly had 
VIII.— 21 



322 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx, 

they suffered the reward of their crime (26th of February, 
1836) when another attempt to assassinate the king was mada 
by a young southern, Louis Alibaud, who was formerly a 
soldier, and had taken part in the revolution of July. On six 
other occasions, either against Louis Philippe or his sons, 
were similar attempts renewed without ever once having 
shaken the calm courage of the king. On the other hand, he 
had great difficulty in ratifying some of the sentences pro- 
nounced against the criminals. 

Meanwhile order was re-established ; the dread and terror 
which the attempts had caused had assisted rather than shaken 
the prudent, resolute policy practised by the king and his 
ministers. A military expedition in Algeria under the Due 
d'Orleans and Marshal Clauzel met with distinguished success ; 
the French army occupied Mascara, to the great honor of its 
commanders. The discussion on the financial laws then 
absorbed the chambers; Humann, able and bold, suddenly 
rose, and proposed, without preliminary discussion in the 
Council, the measure which De Villele had tried without suc- 
cess in 1824, and which was based on the reimbursement or 
reduction of the rentes. Humann, who had formerly sup- 
ported the ministry of the restoration, attached great import- 
ance to his enterprise. "What would you have?" said Royer- 
Collard. " Guizot has his law on primary education, Thiers 
has his on the completion of the public monuments, and now 
Humann wants a share of fame." The cabinet refused to 
allow itself to be entangled thus; the king was personally 
opposed to the measure; and Humann was replaced in the 
financial department by DArgout. The fallen minister and 
his proposition meanwhile reckoned on numerous partisans in 
the chamber, who challenged the government to explain its 
ulterior intentions respecting the conversation of rentes. They 
accused the Due de Broglie of not being sufficiently explicit on 
the subject ; he repeated the reasons for his reserve, returning 
to the very terms of reproach which they had addressed to 
him. "Is this clear?" he asked as he ended his speech. The 
chamber was offended ; the Due de Broglie was not popular, 
partly because of his defects, partly because of his very gifts 
of mind and character. Certain propositions were formerly 
presented for the prompt conversion of rentes; the cabinet 
demanded an adjournment, but was defeated, and resigned 
immediately. 

Thiers shared the opinion of his colleagues on the question 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 823 

that had arisen; but he was not at all equally at one with 
them in his convictions and political views, and although often 
fighting by their side for the same objects, he never enter- 
tained much liking for the doctrinaires. When, therefore. 
Humann, Mole, and Gerard refused to form a cabinet, and 
when Dupin and Passy also declined the honor in the name of 
the third party, the king charged Thiers with the difficult 
function. The new ministry was definitely constituted on the 
22nd of February, 1836, under his presidency. The harmoni 
ous union and action of men properly trained in the work of 
free and monarchical government had vanished; henceforth 
the wishes of leaders were diverse, if not antagonistic; the 
powers and efforts that were put forth after the revolution of 
1830, for the purpose of establishing and sustaining the throne, 
were ruined absolutely and forever. 

The country found itself at this time in a delicate situation 
with respect to the great powers of the north, who had re- 
mained suspicious and defiant even after they had ended by 
accepting the government sprung from the revolution of July, 
and the conclusion of the English alliance, which had dis- 
pleased and embarrassed them in then* relations with France. 
The combination of narrow views and egotistical passions had 
prevented the King of Prussia as well as the Emperor Nich- 
olas and Metternich from rendering to the sound foreign policy 
of the country the justice which it merited. The revolutionary 
movements which had disturbed Germany were attributed to 
the contagion of French ideas, and to the protection which 
France granted to political refugees. A conference of the 
sovereigns at Munchengratz in 1833, and near Toplitz in 1835, 
had been followed by protests addressed to France ; while the 
cold, determined attitude of the French discouraged such at- 
tempts at intimidation, without improving the existing rela- 
tions. The complication of affairs in the east, and the aspira- 
tions of the Pasha of Egypt, Mehemet Ah, towards independ- 
ence, were a continual source of disquietude to Russia, 
ambitious, with all her patience and ostentation — to England, 
decidedly Turkish in her proclivities— and to Prussia, 
disinterested but anxious. The attitude of France was shift- 
ing and contradictory, fettered as she was by revolutionary 
memories, by the traditions of the Egyptian expedition, by the 
desire to maintain the Ottoman Empire, while serving the 
ambition of the pasha. At different times Russia had already 
intervened for the protection of the Porte, which she was desir* 



324 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

ous of holding at her mercy. The convention of Kutaieh, con- 
cluded under her auspices on the 5th May, 1833, had tempora- 
rily appeased the difference between Turkey and the Pasha of 
Egypt, without calming Turkish uneasiness. On the 10th of 
July, the treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi gave the sultan the assur* 
ance of Russian protection, on the sole condition that the Dar- 
danelles should be closed to all foreign vessels of war. The 
Black Sea should thus be a Russian lake, while Russia pre- 
served the full liberty of her maritime operations in the Medi- 
terranean. Great was the displeasure of England and France. 
In spite of his personal dissatisfaction, Metternich applied 
himself to arrange matters. The relations meantime remained 
difficult and strained between the Porte and Mehemet, and 
between France and the Emperor Nicholas, who was naturally 
prejudiced against Louis Philippe and his government. Eng- 
land herself was somewhat affected by the good-will which 
France had evinced towards the Pasha of Egypt. But the 
agreement of the policy of the two countries on another point 
contributed strongly to maintain a good understanding be- 
tween the French and English governments. 

King Ferdinand VII. died in September, 1835, and left the 
succession to the throne contested, in spite of the definitive act 
sanctioned by the Cortes, which had guaranteed the crown to 
his eldest daughter, the Infanta Isabella. Long distracted be- 
tween his family affections and his absolutist tendencies, the 
monarch had sown the seeds of the Carlist insurrection, which 
burst forth immediately on his death. A numerous and 
resolute party supported the claim of Don Carlos to the throne 
in the name of the Salic law, established in Spain by the Prag- 
matic Sanction of Philippe V., which Ferdinand VII. himself 
had for the moment recognized. Those wise and moderate 
Spaniards who aspired to give their country a free constitu- 
tion naturally supported the title of the young queen. Zea 
Bermudez, who was placed at the head of the ministry of the 
Queen Regent Christina, was known and esteemed in London 
as well as Paris. The English and French cabinets did not 
hesitate, but recognized the rights of Isabella II. , in conformity 
with the old Spanish law accepted by the nation. Civil war 
already prevailed in Spain; it began in Portugal, where the 
usurper Dom Miguel declared in the name of the same prin- 
ciple the exclusion of the young Queen Donna Maria from the 
throne. Don Carlos had sought support from Dom Miguel, but 
the latter was defeated, and the new governments of the two 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 325 

sovereignties appealed to the great liberal and constitutional 
powers for assistance. On the 13th of April, 1834, a triple 
alliance was concluded in London, between England, Spain and 
Portugal. A month later the French government protested 
against the exclusively English policy of Lord Palmerston; 
but while it chose to adhere to an existing treaty, it declined, 
in agreement with England, all armed intervention. The civil 
war continued to rage, but Don Carlos embarked for England, 
while Dom Miguel, taking a lasting farewell of Portugal, re- 
tired to Italy. Henceforth it iwas against the revolutionary 
Spaniards, her allies at one moment, that the Regent Maria 
Christina had to struggle. 

Some months before the government changed hands in 
France, without seriously modifying the existing policy, the 
power in Spain passed to Mendizabel, the leader of the radicals, 
who were resolved to restore the constitution of 1812. He 
immediately manifested a marked preference for the support 
of England, and that country testified towards him a feeling 
of great friendship. Hardly had Thiers become president of 
the council, than Lord Palmerston announced his intention 
of intervening in the affairs of the Peninsula, and proposed to 
us to act in concert. "France could occupy," he said, "the 
port of Passage, the valley of Bastan, and Fontarabia. For 
the rest, she shall trace at her will the line within which she 
shall be willing to limit her occupation." 

King Louis Philippe had constantly been opposed to all 
thought of intervention in Spain. "Let us aid the Spaniards 
from a distance," said he, "but never let us enter the same 
boat with them. If once we are there, it will be necessary to 
take the helm, and God knows where we shall find ourselves." 
Thiers sustained the contrary principle with a settled convic- 
tion; he had, however, flatly refused intervention at the be- 
ginning of his ministry, but the situation had become aggra- 
vated in Spain. In the Basque provinces, the Carlist bands 
and the royal troops, fighting with a fury that was of little 
effect, abandoned themselves to revolting cruelties, which 
were everywhere tolerated, and sometimes commanded by 
their leaders. At the same time the intrigues of the secret 
societies, and the passions stirred up by the demagogues, 
burst forth in the provinces of the South — Barcelona, Valen- 
cia, Malaga, Seville, Cordova, and Cadiz — making the cry, 
"Long live the constitution of 1812!" re-echo on every side, 
and causing innumerable scenes of bloodshed. A military in' 



326 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

surrection in Madrid was resolutely repressed by General 
Quesada, the captain-general of Castille. The government 
passed from the hands of Mendizabel to those of Isturifcz, who 
was more moderate, and less attached to the English alliance. 
He claimed afresh the effectual aid of France. The services 
indirectly accorded to Spain were multiplied, but the king re- 
mained absolutely opposed to intervention. The French am- 
bassador at Madrid was ill, and De Bois le Comte was commis- 
sioned to carry thither the reply of the French government. 
"The Spaniards," he wrote to Thiers, on the 12th August, 1836, 
" have been so accustomed to see us intervene in their affairs, 
and to see us decide their questions of succession, from the 
time of Henry of Transtamare downwards, to Philip V. , Fer- 
dinand VII., and his father and the Queen Isabella, that the 
idea that we shall end by intervening now is profoundly be- 
lieved, and it is hardly possible to root the belief out of the 
country. They think that they must leave us to speak, and 
that we shall always conclude by coming to direct interven- 
tion, being unable to support in Spain either revolutionary 
anarchy or the restoration of Don Carlos." A successful mil- 
itary insurrection at St. Udefonso had forced Queen Christina's 
hand by an invasion of the palace of La Granja. She accepted 
the constitution of 1812. General Quesada was murdered by 
the insurgents, and a new cabinet having been formed, the 
Cortes were dissolved and a general election was decreed. 
The king wished to testify with emphasis his neutrality in the 
affairs of the Peninsula; he demanded the retirement of the 
corps of the French troops on the frontier. Thiers opposed 
this, and the majority of his colleagues coincided with him. 
"Nothing can bring the king to intervention," said he, "and 
nothing can make me renounce it. " The cabinet of the 22nd 
[of February resigned, and Comte Mole was charged with the 
duty of reconstituting the ministry. 

The prudent, sensible, and moderate policy prevailed in 
foreign relations ; as far as concerned the interior, it remained 
both firm and clear, although without much eclat or success. 
An unfortunate expedition against the town of Constantine, in 
pursuance of the schemes of conquest which at this time ap- 
peared too vast, had caused the retirement of Marshal Clauzel 
as governor-general of Algeria. The sentiment of misfortune 
weighed painfully on all minds in spite of the heroism of 
which the troops and their leaders had given proof in the re- 
treat. Commander Changarnier at the head of his battalion 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 327 

disputed with the Arabs each step as they followed up the pur- 
suit with fury. He descried the cavalry of Achmet Bey, dis- 
posed so as to make a general charge. As soon as he saw them 
approaching the commander formed his battalion in square. 
"Soldiers!" he cried, "look, these people, they are 6000, and 
you are 300 ; you see that the game is equal. " The courage of 
the soldiers did not falter at this youthful explosion of an 
heroic soul, which continued to be worthy of himself even in 
extreme old age. The glory of General Changarnier began on 
that day. 

A new source of disquietude, prophetic in its vague unrest, 
began to alarm the king and his counsellors. On the 30th of 
October, Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte arrived at Stras- 
bourg, where he maintained certain secret relations. With 
no other support than that of Colonel Vaudrey and a major, 
gained beforehand to his cause, he paraded the streets of the 
town, and presented himself at the barracks of the 4th regi- 
ment of artillery, where he was received with cries of "Long 
live the emperor I" He then tried to gain the soldiers of the 
second barracks, but the officers were not favorable to him, 
and remained faithful to their duty. The general in com- 
mand, and the prefect, whose hotel had been surrounded by the 
insurgent soldiers, made their escape. They caused the arrest 
of the prince and his followers ; Persigny, his most intimate 
confidant, alone contrived to get away. The attempts at in- 
surrection immediately ceased, and order was restored. The 
king denied himself the thought of using severity towards a 
young man, who was haunted by the visions of grandeur as- 
sociated with his name, and by the conviction that he was 
destined to retrieve that name. The embarkation of the prince 
for the United States was resolved upon before the prayers of 
Queen Hortense were heard, imploring on his behalf the royal 
clemency. He departed, loaded with tokens of the thoughtful 
kindness of the monarch, and not without engaging himself 
never again to set foot on French soil. His adherents were 
taken before the court at Colmar, and were all acquitted by 
the jury. More than one of these have reappeared in the his- 
tory of later years. Providence has impenetrable secrets ; the 
fiasco of Strasbourg prepared the way to the second empire, 
by making ring once more in the ears of France the name of 
Napoleon, the power of which on her soul has withstood so 
many mistakes and so much of suffering. 

Insignificant in itself, the attempt of Prince Louis Napoleon 



828 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx 

indicated in the minds of the people and in the army a fickle- 
ness and a tendency to waver that was disquieting. A slight 
insurrection had also taken place in a regiment at Vendome, 
this time to the cry of " Long live the Republic!" The minis- 
ters proposed three legal projects, designed to complete the 
penal code, in order to prevent the recurrence of similar dis- 
orders. At the same time, and by an unfortunate combination 
of circumstances, two measures, announced long before — the 
one fixing the payment of the dowry of the Queen of the Bel- 
gians, the other confirming the endowment to the Due de 
Nemours — required to be presented in the course of the same 
session. The Chamber of Deputies had never given proof of 
liberality in its relations with Xing Louis Philippe. They 
exaggerated in public the personal fortune of the king ; they 
attributed to him an avidity assuredly very foreign to his 
spirit and his conduct, although the memory of his past dis- 
tresses had occasionally left him disturbed as to the future for- 
tune of his children. The pro j ects of endowments were unpopu- 
lar, while the plans of penal repression were cleverly attacked 
by the opposition, the first article presented being rejected. 
The government felt itself checked ; the public was convinced 
of the impotence of the cabinet ; and the king inclined towards 
a policy of concession and conciliation. After several days of 
internal crisis, Guizot and his friends retired, and Mole recon- 
stituted the ministry, immediately allowing the unpopular 
measures to drop. A general amnesty was announced. 
Already, some months previously, the grace of the king had 
set free from prison the four ministers of Charles X. A certain 
appeasement of passions made itself felt, a little superficial 
perhaps, and soon destined to suffer fresh shocks, but it pro- 
cured for the ministry of Mole some years of calm and of gov- 
ernmental freedom. The marriage of the Due d'Orleans on the 
30th May, 1837, with the grave and intellectual Princess 
Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who was subsequently to 
bear her great sorrows nobly, seemed a pledge of stability, and 
was favorably received in public opinion. Some months later, 
on the 17th of October, the Princess Marie d'Orleans was mar- 
ried to Duke Alexander of Wurtemburg. In her adopted 
country she continued her artistic labors, in which she had 
shown rare talent, modelling, after her statue of Joan of Arc, 
the figures of the two angels which were one day to shelter 
with their wings the tomb where she lay beside her brother, 
the Due d'Orleans. The happy issue of the second expedition 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 329 

to Constantine, and the distinction which the Due de Nemours 
gained in the siege, contributed to invest the Mole ministry at 
its outset with a certain amount of popularity. Several im- 
portant laws, which had long been in course of preparation, 
including those respecting the general and municipal councils, 
and the closing of the gambling-houses, were readily voted by 
the chambers. The left and the third party supported the 
amnesty and the policy of conciliation. In the conservative 
party many of the leaders were dejected and uneasy, but still 
they supported the policy of the ministry. 

Abroad, a short and brilliant expedition, under Admiral 
Baudin and Prince de Joinville, secured the fort of St. Jean 
d'Ulloa and the town of Vera Cruz, forcing the Mexican gov- 
ernment to sign a treaty of peace, on the 9th of March, 1839, 
making allowance to France for the injury inflicted on her na- 
tional interests. The complicated affairs of the small South 
American republics at the mouth of the Plate, and the injuries 
done to us by the republic of Haiti, afforded opportunities for 
skilful and resolute management. At the request of France, 
Switzerland interdicted its territory to Prince Louis Napoleon, 
who had returned to Europe on the occasion of his mother's 
death. The last difficulties of Belgium disappeared before the 
kindly interposition of the great powers, and the King of Hol- 
land agreed to accept the conditions of separation fixed upon 
in twenty -four articles drawn up by the conference. The cita- 
del and town of Ancona was evacuated on the oft-repeated de- 
mand of the Pope, at the moment when the Austrians them- 
selves quitted the Papal territory. The cabinet renounced in 
Italy the policy of daring interference, liberal, and at the same 
time conservative, which had been inaugurated by Casimir 
Perier. 

The very persons who had recently opposed Casimir Perier 
saw with regret the abandonment of his foreign policy. The 
declarations which Mole made in the chambers against abso- 
lute governments offended those governments, without reassur- 
ing the liberal party in France. Every day the schism between 
the ministry and the left manifested itself more clearly, the 
latter having been sued for its help by the cabinet from the be- 
ginning; every day also the ministry unfortunately drew away 
from that portion of the conservative party which wished to 
found in order a regime of liberty, and to establish amid the 
powers of the state the preponderance of the Chamber of Depu- 
ties. Guizot combined with Thiers and Odilon Barrot against 



330 BISTORT OF FRANCE, [ch. xx. 

the cabinet, which neither satisfied the ultra liberal aspirations 
of the first, nor the test of the others for stable authority side 
by side with fearless liberty. The coalition was necessarily to 
be temporary, like the union which had allowed Mole himself 
to supersede the co-operation of Guizot and Duchatel in order 
to get his measure accepted by the Chamber of Deputies. The 
present union had the grave disadvantage of presenting to the 
country the problem of an alliance which was difficult to un- 
derstand, and which was opposed to its common sense. It ac- 
complished the dislocation of the great government party, 
recently founded for the purpose of re-establishing order after 
tbe revolution of 1830; it drove to the side of Mole that party 
formed more recently in a less liberal direction, astonished and 
displeased to see its natural leaders temporarily joined to 
strange allies. 

The dissolution of the chamber, called for in 1838 by Mole, 
modified the composition of the assembly, without acting pro- 
foundly on the state of parties. The ministry zealously strug- 
gled against a certain number of the particular friends of the 
doctrinaires. The address of 1839, drawn up by a committee 
favorable to the opposition, was skilfully discussed and amended 
by the cabinet, which carried it with a majority too weak to 
ensure success. A ministerial crisis, and some efforts on the 
part of Marshal Soult to constitute a new cabinet, terminated 
in confirming Mole in power, and in another dissolution of the 
chamber. This time, and in spite of the little favor which the 
coalition met with in general among sensible honest men, who 
were friends of order, and spectators rather than actors in the 
political struggle, the weakness of Mole's situation appeared 
undeniable. The majority was still too small to render gov- 
ernment possible, and the ministry retiring, the coalition was 
immediately placed at the head of the affairs of the country. 
The radical vice of its principle soon made itself felt. Guizot 
and Odilon Barrot were not able to govern together, as Guizot 
and Thiers had done, and were still able to do. The opposition 
evinced some natural enough distrust of Guizot and his friends ; 
it expected the less influential posts to be assigned to them, 
and these they declined on account of their personal dignity 
and the honor of their cause in the common victory. The 
crisis was prolonged, and business suffered in consequence. 
The king resolved to form a provisional ministry which wielded 
authority for six weeks in the midst of growing excitement. 
Supported by the conservatives, Passy was elected president o* 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 331 

the chamber over Odilon Barrot, who had the support of the 
left. In this disorder of parties and minds the important mem- 
bers of the centre and left centre, who by agreement had sepa- 
rated from their unpopular or incompatible leaders, prepared 
with great exertion the constitution of a new conciliatory cab- 
inet, when on the 12th of May an insurrection broke out in the 
most populous quarters of Paris, crowds attacking simultane- 
ously the Hotel de Ville, the Palais de Justice, and the Prefec- 
ture of Police. Vigorous measures of repression put a stop to 
this frantic attempt, which was inspired by the feebleness and 
irresolution of the authorities. On the same day the ministry 
was definitely formed, under the presidency of Marshal Soult ; 
the centre properly so called was represented by Duchatel, 
Villemain, and Cunin-Gridaine, wbile Passy, Dufaure and 
Teste shared with them the political sway. Thiers was nomi- 
nated by his friends for the presidency of the cbamber, the 
cabinet having supported Sauzet, who only obtained a majority 
of seven votes. Meanwhile the political party of liberal order, 
so often and so seriously shaken, rallied with a dawning of con- 
fidence around the cabinet, which was composed of confused 
and contradictory elements, but which began by securing a 
victory under its colors. 

The internal business of administration and organization, 
and the movement of commercial and industrial development 
which began to make itself felt, absorbed public thought more, 
and occupied the government more than the evident and ad- 
vancing decadence of the Ottoman Empire, and the covetous- 
ness and ambition which that decadence excited in Russia and 
Egypt. The Porte had determined to make one more vigorous 
effort, which it believed itself capable of accomplishing under 
the protection of Eussia. On the 21st of April, 1839, the Turkish 
army passed the Eufjhrates, for the purpose of attacking that 
of the pasha, which was commanded by his son Ibrahim. Some 
days later the European powers convoked a conference at 
Vienna, and on the request of the two aides-de-camp sent to 
Egypt and to Constantinople by Marshal Soult, the sultan and 
the pasha ordered the suspension of hostilities, when it was 
learned that the two armies had met, and that the Turkish 
forces had been completely destroyed, on the 21st of June, 1839. 
The Sultan Mahmoud died on the 30th of June, and a few days 
later Pasha Achmet-Feruzzi, commander of the Turkish fleet, 
conducted the whole fleet to Alexandria, in order to deliver it 
up to Mehemet AIL The young Sultan Abdul-Medjid evinced 



332 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

an inclination to make larger concessions to the Pasha of 
Egypt. Such was not, however, the tendency of the great 
powers, who were desirous of maintaining their influence in 
eastern affairs. In the fear of finding herself condemned in 
Europe to a position of troublesome isolation, Russia felt con- 
strained to adhere to the resolutions of the projected confer- 
ence of Vienna. On the 27th of July the representatives of 
the five courts assembled at Vienna addressed the following 
note to the Porte: " The undersigned have received from their 
respective governments this morning certain instructions, in 
virtue of which they have the honor to inform the Sublime 
Porte that harmony on the eastern question is confirmed among 
the five great powers, and to engage the suspension of all defini- 
tive settlement without their concurrence, in consideration of 
the interest which they take in his affairs." 

It was a great deal to say, and a great deal to promise ; the 
cabinets of London and Paris were agreed to maintain the 
Ottoman Empire, but they were not of one mind regarding 
the extent of the concessions which were necessary to secure 
to the Porte the partial submission of its troublesome vassal. 
Lord Palmerston said to De Bourqueney, "It will be necessary 
to open at Constantinople and Alexandria a negotiation on the 
double basis of the constitution of the heredity of Egypt in the 
family of Mehemet AH and of the evacuation of Syria by the 
Egyptian troops." The French government, on the other 
hand, claimed with emphasis the hereditary possession of 
Syria for Mehemet Ah. The cause of the pasha was popular 
in France, where the people had conceived a very exaggerated 
idea of his forces. Moreover, no one expected to see Russia 
adopt unconditionally the policy of Lord Palmerston, and the 
hope still remained that England could be brought to our way 
of thinking. General Sebastiani, who proceeded to resume his 
post in London, did not long allow these illusions to exist. He 
was convinced that the resolution was unalterable in the minds 
of the ministers of Great Britain; besides, it was suspected 
that she was at heart favorable to Turkey. The friends of 
Guizot in the cabinet urged the king to despatch him to Lon- 
don on this difficult mission; he had recently handled the 
question in the chamber ; ' ' Lord Chatham once said, ' I would 
not discuss with any one who tells me that the maintenance 
of the Ottoman Empire is not a question of fife or death for 
England.' As for myself, gentlemen, I am less timid; I do 
not think that for such powers as England and France there 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 333 

may be thus in the distance, and with certainty, any questions 
of life or death. But Lord Chatham was passionately con- 
vinced of the importance of maintaining the Ottoman Empire ; 
and England still thinks so strongly with him that she devotes 
herself to this cause even with a touch of superstition, in my 
opinion. She has often shown herself somewhat hostile to the 
new states which have formed themselves, or which are in- 
clined to form themselves, from the natural dismemberment 
of the Ottoman Empire. Greece, for example, has not always 
found her friendly ; Egypt still less. I will not enter into an 
examination of the motives which may have influenced on 
similar occasions the policy of England. I believe that she is 
sometimes deceived, that she has sometimes sacrificed the 
great to the minor policy, the general interest of Great Britain 
to some secondary interests. The first interest that concerns 
Great Britain is that Russia shall not dominate in the east." 

It was this idea which Guizot was charged to represent in 
London, when he accepted, in the month of February, 1840, 
the mission of ambassador. King Louis Philippe had not been 
favorable to this choice, on which the ministers had insisted 
unanimously. The new ambassador had hardly arrived at his 
post, when the cabinet from which he held his powers found 
itself compelled to retire, in consequence of a new and painful 
check, suffered for the second time, on the project of endow- 
ment in favor of the Due de Nemours. Thiers was called by 
the king to the presidency of the new ministry, which from 
the beginning published its resolution to demand neither elec- 
toral reform nor dissolution. Under these conditions of a gov- 
ernment which in advance protected itself against its charac- 
teristic tendencies towards the left, Guizot believed it to be 
his duty to remain at his post. "I here occupy the decisive 
position on the question of war," wrote he to his friends. "It 
is only here that the policy that would force on war, or would 
lend itself to that purpose, or to whatever would bring about 
war, may find a basis. As long as this position is ours we are 
in a position to forewarn and arrest. It is here that we must 
and can defend the policy of peace. " 

Peace was from that time seriously manaced by the growing 
ill-humor of England and by the illusions of France. Guizot 
applied himself to calm the one and dissipate the other. He 
diverted his government from certain intentions which he sus- 
pected. "It is possible," he wrote to Thiers on the 17th of 
March, "that we may return to the policy of waiting, amid 



334 HISTORY OF FRANCE. ch. xx. 

endless difficulties, as the outcome of which we foresee in the 
east the maintenance of the statu quo ; but it may be also 
that events will be precipitated, and that we may soon find 
ourselves obliged to take a side. If that comes to pass, the al- 
ternative in which we shall be placed will be this : either to put 
ourselves on a footing with England, acting with her in the 
question of Constantinople, and obtaining from her in the 
Syrian question some concessions for Mehemet Ali, or to retire 
from the affair, and leave it to be concluded between the four 
powers, we in the meantime standing aloof and waiting the 
course of events. If we do not make an attempt to bring 
about between France and England an arrangement with 
which the pasha may be satisfied on the question of Syria, 
it will be necessary to await the other issue, and to hold 
ourselves prepared." Some days later he wrote to General 
Baudrand, aide-de-camp to the king: " I wish much I had the 
same security that the king has granted to you. I hope that 
they will do nothing without us, and I work for it ; but this 
is only a hope, and the work is difficult. The English policy 
is occupied sometimes lightly and very rashly in foreign ques- 
tions. In this affair, besides, all the Powers except France 
flatter the inclinations of England, and show themselves ready 
to do whatever she wishes. We alone, her particular allies, 
say, no ! The others never dream of anything but pleasing ; we 
want to be reasonable at the risk of displeasing. The situation 
is neither very comfortable nor perfectly certain. We can 
achieve success by good management and with time. I believe 
that we would be wrong to confide in ourselves in the matter ; 
it is plways necessary to fear a hasty and sudden stroke." 

Meantime, and while the situation remained in this serious 
and delicate state, good services were redoubled between 
France and England : the French government helped to arbi- 
trate between England and the King of Naples on a commer- 
cial question which had failed to become a political one ; soon 
the negotiation of a commercial treaty, and the question of ex- 
tending the right of search for the abolition of the slave-trade, 
were to be the objects of diplomatic correspondence. England 
responded with readiness to the desire manifested by the 
French ministry to obtain the restitution of the ashes of the 
Emperor Napoleon. Lord Palmerston wrote on this subject 
to Lord Granville, his ambassador at Paris: "My Lord, the 
government of her Majesty having taken into consideration 
the request of the French government to obtain authorization 




BATTLE OF ISLY. 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 335 

to transport from St. Helena to France the remains of Napo- 
leon Bonaparte, I request your Excellency to assure M. Thiers 
that the government of her Majesty will accede with pleasure 
to this request. The government of her Majesty hope that the 
promptness of this response will be considered in France as a 
proof of their desire to efface all traces of those national ani- 
mosities which, during the life of the emperor, armed against 
each other the French and English nations. The government 
of her Majesty is confident that if such sentiments still exist 
anywhere, they will be buried in the tomb in which the re- 
mains of Napoleon are to be laid." 

The Minister of the Interior, Eemusat, repeated these words 
to the Chamber of Deputies when he announced the negotia- 
tion and its results. ' ' Henceforth France, and France alone, 
will posses? all that remains of Napoleon. His tomb, like his 
fame, shah belong to none but his own country. The monarchy 
of 1830 is the only and legitimate inheritor of all the memories 
of which France is proud. It was for it —for that monarchy 
which for the first time has rallied all the forces and concili- 
ated all the aims of the French Eevolution, to raise, and to 
honor without fear, the statue and the tomb of a popular hero. 
For there is one thing, one only, which dreads not comparison 
with glory, and that is liberty." 

Liberty was still to be more than once menaced by the great 
name of Napoleon I. and by the influence which it exercised in 
France. In 1840 the nation, king and people alike, were eager 
with a generous improvidence to raise a monument anew to 
him. The most illustrious among those of whom France was 
proud had already put their hand to the work ; Lamartine, and 
Victor Hugo, as well as Beranger, continued to nourish the 
new generations from the story of the Napoleonic legend. 
Other and more able hands were to work in turn at the same 
task. 

The enthusiasm which manifested itself in France on the 
occasion of the transference of Napoleon's remains did not 
carry away all minds, and the chamber refused to vote more 
than a million francs for the cost of the expedition and sepul- 
ture. It was then occupied with great domestic projects, the 
first serious enterprises in railways, a law on the labor of 
children in factories, and many important questions of com- 
mercial administration. The anxiety and interest was not in- 
clined to lessen respecting eastern affairs, which were still as 
obscure on the spot as in London. 



336 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ CH . xx. 

A Turkish plenipotentiary had arrived in London. For the 
original proposals of Lord Palmerston, assuring to Mehemet 
Ali the hereditary possession of Egypt, and a title during life 
to the pashalic of Acre, the representatives of Austria and 
Prussia — Neumann and Von Bulow — seemed disposed to sub- 
stitute the relinquishment for life of all Syria, and the heredi- 
tary cession of Egypt. At Paris there was hesitation over 
these overtures. The grand vizier, hostile to the Pasha of 
Egypt, was dead ; Mehemet Ali sent an emissary to Constanti- 
nople, charged with direct proposals to the sultan. The cabi- 
net of the Tuileries desired to wait the residt of this negotia- 
tion, to which it attached some value. On the other hand, 
Lord Palmerston was resolved to break it off; and he suc- 
ceeded. An insurrection of the Druses, cleverly fomented by 
England, broke out against Mehemet AH. "They will rise to 
the last man provided they are furnished with arms and am- 
munition," wrote Wood, the dragoman, to Lord Ponsonby, the 
ambassador at Constantinople. " There has never, perhaps, 
been a movement more favorable to the separation of Syria 
from Egypt, and to the accomplishment of the political views 
of Lord Palmerston regarding Mehemet AH." 

Guizot remained uneasy respecting the future, but the danger 
was nearer than he believed. Two drafts of treaties had been 
officiaHy communicated to him— the one common to the five 
Powers, and containing the maximum concessions which they 
could make to France ; the other, to be concluded between the 
four Powers in case of France refusing the first arrangement: 
they showed her concurrence should be dispensed with. The 
French ambassador reckoned on a final delay, before the lapse 
of which he could make a definitive resolution ; but Lord Pal- 
merston had decided otherwise. On the 15th of July, without 
calling afresh for the participation of France, the quadruple 
treaty was signed in London, to be executed immediately. 
Orders were already given to have presented to the Pasha of 
Egypt the resolution taken to impose on him the conditions 
which he had already peremptorily repelled. Only on the 17th 
of July, Lord Palmerston communicated to Guizot a memo- 
randum, carefully prepared, full of apologies and flattering 
expressions towards France, claiming her good services at Alex- 
andria with Mehemet Ali. " The sultan, " said he, " wiU pro- 
pose in the first place to the pasha to concede to him, always 
under the title of vassalage, the possession of Egypt heredita- 
rily, and the portion already offered of the pashaHc of St. Jean 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 337 

d'Acre, including the fortress, but only during life. He will 
grant him a period of ten days in order to accept this proposal. 
Should the pasha refuse, the sultan will make a new proposi- 
tion, which will not comprehend more than Egypt, always 
granted hereditarily. If, after a fresh delay of ten days, the 
pasha still refuses, then the sultan will address himself to the 
four powers, who undertake towards him, and among them- 
selves, to force his vassal into obedience." 

It was probable war at short notice, supported by Europe., 
against a prince whom we had imprudently covered with our 
protection ; we should find ourselves isolated from Europe, and 
condemned to a situation at once humiliating and dangerous. 
The wrath and indignation in Paris were great ; the feelings 
were legitimate, and found expression in Guizot's note to Lord 
Palmerston in answer to the memorandum. "Prance," the 
cabinet said, "has not received in these latter circumstances 
any positive proposal on which she might give an opinion; 
it isnot necessary therefore to impute to a refusal that she 
has not been able to make the determination which Eng- 
land communicates to her in the name doubtless of the four 
powers." 

Lord Palmerston having protested against this phrase, Gui- 
zot commented upon it with a grave and impressive dignity. 
"This phrase surprises you, my Lord; the fact which it ex- 
presses has much more astonished the government of the 
king, and myself as well. When you communicated to me 
last Friday the memorandum to which I responded, intimat- 
ing that, unknown to us, without our having either been defi- 
nitely told or asked anything, a definitive resolution had been 
taken by the four powers, a convention signed, perhaps execu- 
tion actually begun, I was profoundly astonished — I must say, 
hurt. When you come to tbe end of a negotiation in which 
we have constantly taken part you owe it to the government 
of the king to invoke it, and to say to it : ' Since we have not 
been able hitherto to put ourselves in harmony so as to act 
together as five powers, we are unable to put off any longer, 
and we have resolved to act on that basis and by that means. 
Will you join us? This is all that we desire. If decidedly 
you do not wish it, we shall be obliged to act as four powers, 
on the basis and by the means which we have indicated.' 
That was the natural course. On the contrary, without in- 
forming us, while preserving secrecy towards us, you have 
resolved to act without us. This is not, my Lord, the proper 
VIIL— 23 



338 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx 

proceeding for an old and intimate ally, and the government 
of the king has every right to take offence at it. The alliance 
of France and England has given ten years of peace to Eu- 
rope ; the whig ministry, allow me to say, was born under its 
colors, and it has drawn from it during ten years some of its 
energy. Canning, if I am not deceived, was your friend and 
the leader of your political party. In a great and celebrated 
speech he portrayed England as one day taking into her keep- 
ing the cave of storms, and possessing herself of the key. 
France also has this key, and hers is perhaps the larger. She 
has never wished to help herself by its use. Do not render 
this policy more difficult and less sure for us. Do not give 
serious reasons for, and a redoubled impulse to, the national 
passions in France. This is not what you owe to us, what 
Europe owes to us, for the moderation and prudence which we 
have shown during ten years !" 

This was indeed, and in spite of the eager protestations of 
Lord Palmerston, the first result of the treaty of the 15th of 
July, the effect being to excite outbursts of passion, and of 
that warlike feeling which is always easy to awaken in our 
minds. The revolutionaries profited immediately by it in 
order to advance towards their aim, careless of the fresh em- 
barrassments which confronted the country in a moment of 
national crisis. Everywhere agitation was stimulated on the 
subject of electoral reform, by means of petitions and ban- 
quets. Important industrial strikes took place at various 
points. At home as well as abroad the attitude of the govern- 
ment continued resolute and composed. Armaments were 
being prepared in the meantime ; all the soldiers of the classes 
of 1836 and 1839 still disengaged were called out, and the forti- 
fied places were put into a state of defence. Threatened by 
serious dangers, France held herself ready for any event, and 
made this known to Europe. Her representatives maintained 
their reserve, and were distant and gravely dissatisfied. The 
powers were disquieted thereby, but without ceasing to pursue 
the resolutions which had offended France. Count Walewski 
was charged by Thiers to bear to Mehemet Ah counsels of 
moderation and- prudence; he urged his futile efforts even at 
Constantinople. Lord Palmerston had skilfully succeeded in 
explaining his conduct before Parliament and to the public, 
which was at first very divided regarding the real nature of 
the Eastern question, as well as the diplomatic proceedings of 
the government. Henceforth the English feeling was carried 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 339 

away by party dissensions, which tended to strengthen the 
ministry. 

Meanwhile events were precipitated in the east, and the 
powers seemed to seize the opportunity of discarding in ad- 
vance all means of pacific solution. The first interval of ten 
days had not expired, and already, by order of the govern- 
ment, Commodore Sir Charles Napier began hostilities, by 
capturing the Egyptian merchant-ships in the harbor of Bey- 
rout, and by exciting the uprising of the Syrian insurgents. 
Twenty years afterwards he himself pronounced upon the 
part which he had then played in Syria. "I was ashamed 
for my country and for myself," he said in Parliament, on the 
17th of August, 1860. "The government had sent me there to 
perform a mission ; I acquitted myself of it, but against my 
will. Under Mehemet Ah, Syria was quiet and peaceable. If 
Lord Ponsonby had not sent agents to stir up the population, 
it would have been impossible for us with the weak forces at 
our disposal to put to flight an army of three or four thousand 
men." A few days later this army, under the orders of Ibra- 
him Pasha, drifted miserably into the bands of a force com- 
posed of English, Austrians, Turks, and Albanians, disem- 
barked at Beyrout by the Anglo-Austrian fleet. Beyrout 
succumbed on the 11th of September, and Sidon on the 21st, 
giving up vast supplies of provisions to the victors almost 
without resistance. On the 14th of September the sultan, sup- 
ported by the allied powers, pronounced the deposition of 
Mehemet Ali. 

In France the astonishment and dismay were great; all 
hope of maintaining peace was now at an end. The possession 
of Egypt alone had been guaranteed to the pasha; on the 
advice of the wisest councillors the ministry resolved to make 
a casus belli of an attack upon this point, and to continue 
warlike preparations, concentrating in the w r aters of the Isle 
d'Hyeres the fleet which was then anchored in the neighbor- 
hood of Salamine. ' ' If you want to take Egypt from the 
pasha," declared Guizot to Lord Palmerston, "the cannon 
will decide between us." The attitude was resolute without 
being provocative; it was unfortunately too often contra- 
dicted by rash words, and by that outburst of revolutionary 
passions which had been so long unchained amongst us. In 
England as well as in Germany the public feeling responded in 
patriotic demonstrations, which were also ardent and incon- 
siderate. "We are returning to 1831," wrote Guizot on the 



340 HISTORY OF FRANCS. [cs„ xx 

t3th of October, to the Due de Broglie, "to the revolutionary 
spirit, making use of the national power, and urging on war 
without legitimate motives, and without reasonable chances 
of success, in the sole hope, and with the sole purpose, of 
creating revolutions. The question of Syria is not a legitimate 
case for war. This I hold as undeniable. France, which has 
not gone to war to liberate Poland from Kussia and Italy from 
Austria, cannot reasonably go to war in order that Syria may 
be held by the pasha and not by the sultan. No other ques- 
tion has hitherto been raised in principle by the convention of 
15th July. In fact, by its execution no great French interest 
is attacked. Enterprise in the east may bring about some- 
thing different from what is aimed at: questions may be born 
there, events may arise to which France could not remain in- 
different. It is a question of arming, of holding herself ready ; 
it is not a reason for herself raising in the east events and 
questions still more grave, and which are not born naturally." 
At home the natural results of the warlike agitation found 
expression in revolutionary agitation ; a strange attempt hap- 
pened which serves to show its effects on excited spirits ruled 
by a fixed idea. On the 6th of August, at two in the morning, 
a small English packet-boat, the City of Edinburgh landed on 
the French coast, at Vimereux, near Boulogne, Prince Louis 
Napoleon, accompanied by some accomplices, who had either 
come like him from England or joined him on the shore. For 
many months, in spite of the sentiments of gratitude which 
he had formerly testified towards the king, the prince had 
labored to gain over officers in various regiments occupying 
the northern departments. He had purchased the Commerce, 
and its principal editor, Maugin, a passionate Jacobin in the 
Chamber of Deputies, too corrupt to refuse the means of 
making money. They had tried to spread the conviction that 
the Bonapartist pretenders had experienced kindness at the 
hands of several great powers. On embarking in the Thames, 
Louis Napoleon announced to his companions the object of his 
enterprise. "We proceed to France," he said. "There we 
shall find powerful and devoted friends. The only obstacle 
to victory is at Boulogne ; once that point is carried, our suc- 
cess is sure. Numerous auxiliaries await us; and if I am 
seconded as they have promised me, as sure as the sun shines 
on us, in a few days we shall be in Paris, and history will say 
that it was with a handful of brave men such as you that I 
accomplished this great and glorious enterprise." 



ch. xx. J PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 341 

Three accomplices only awaited the prince on the coast ; one 
of these, Aladenise, a young lieutenant of the 42nd regiment 
of the line, reckoned to carry along with him all his comrades. 
They marched on Boulogne, to which the packet-hoat had just 
returned. The harracks were naturally the first object of 
attention. The lieutenant preceded the conspirators, announc- 
ing to the assembled soldiers the downfall of King Louis 
Philippe, as it had been decreed by Prince Louis in a procla- 
mation which he had brought from England ; they were then 
chosen to march on Paris in order to re-establish the empire. 
Surprised, and excited by a speech by Louis Napoleon, the 
soldiers cried "Long live the emperor!" But some officers 
had already hastened to the spot; the captain, Colonel Puyge- 
lier, with sword in hand, struggled against the conspirators 
by whom he was surrounded. "Prince Louis or not!" ex- 
claimed the captain, ' ' I only see in you a conspirator. Clear 
the barracks !" The soldiers advanced in order to protect him 
in the struggle, which was prolonged. The brave officer had 
just exclaimed, "Help, grenadiers!" when unfortunately a 
bullet from a pistol which the prince held struck a soldier in 
the neck very near where the captain was standing. Discon- 
certed by this accident, the insurgents retired in disorder, 
addressing themselves on their route to the people, and direct- 
ing their course to the magazines of arms in the upper town. 
The gate of the arsenal resisted their efforts; the national 
guard began to assemble ; the small force took in all haste the 
direction of the shore, casting themselves pell-mell into the 
long-boat of the packet. Pursued, summoned to stop, the 
victims of some stray shots, they saw their hopes betrayed by 
the waves as well as by man ; the boat capsized, and those on 
board had some difficulty in saving their lives. Perhaps they 
believed themselves threatened by the rigors of a government 
which they had twice gratuitously offended. Honest people 
reproached King Louis Philippe with the generous attitude 
which he had maintained towards him whom they then called 
an adventurer, but whom, by the strangest coincidence, they 
were one day to call upon to reign over France. Condemned 
by the Court of Peers to perpetual confinement, and impris- 
oned within the walls of Ham, from which he was to escape 
at the end of six years, Prince Louis acknowledged subse- 
quently the justice of his sentence. Finding himself, during a 
tour as President of the Kepublic, under the walls of the 
fortress which had held him a prisoner (22nd July, 1849), he 



342 HISTORY OF FRANCE. ch. xx.] 

expressed surprise that he had not been impeached for twice 
violating the laws of his country. " To-day, when elected by 
all France, I have become the legitimate head of this great 
nation, I shall not glorify myself for a captivity which had 
for its cause an attack upon a regularly constituted govern- 
ment. When one has seen how the most just revolutions 
draw evils in their train, one understands fully the audacity 
of having wished to take on one's self the terrible responsi- 
bility of a change. I do not therefore compassionate myself 
for having expiated here by an imprisonment of six years my 
temerity against the laws and against my country." 

The attempt of Prince Louis Napoleon excited more curi- 
osity and raillery than apprehension. A fresh outrage against 
the king, committed by a miserable fellow named Darmes, on 
the 15th of October, 1840, caused more uneasiness, and seemed 
to indicate a growing state of revolutionary agitation. The 
government suffered insensibly from the contagion of restless- 
ness. Anxious as it was, it became more and more warlike. 
Thiers proposed a fine plan for the fortification of Paris; he 
claimed the augmentation of the effective army; and the 
chambers were convoked to respond to these wants. The 
cabinet presented to the king a plan for the speech from the 
crown ; its language was firm and dignified, but it was con- 
ceived in the prospect of war, and for the purpose ef demand- 
ing from the country the means of putting it in a state of 
preparation. The king declined to place himself in such 
jeopardy. He believed that peace was possible and desirable. 
From the heart even of the cabinet he received advice to seek 
elsewhere for other ministers. " Discharge us, sire," said 
Cousin, "we drive you to war." For the second time in a 
month the cabinet offered its resignation, which was accepted 
by the king. G-uizot was still in London, ready to take part 
in the session of the chambers ; the king and Thiers wrote to 
him at the same time, pressing him to return to Paris. A few 
days later, on the 29th of October, 1840, he formed, under the 
presidency of Soult, and as minister of foreign affairs, the last 
cabinet which was for many years to govern France under 
the constitutional monarchy by the noble and peaceable alli- 
ance of liberty and authority. 

It was a heavy burden which the new councillors had ac- 
cepted from the crown in a situation in which they knew all 
the dangers. "Why has the cabinet of 29th October taken 
the place of that of the 1st of March? " said Thiers in the dis- 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 343 

cussion of the address. "Because the cabinet of the 1st of 
March thought that in a certain case it was necessary to make 
war. Why has the cabinet of the 29th of October come? It 
has come with certain peace." Guizot at once replied, "The 
honorable gentleman has only uttered a moiety of the truth ; 
under the ministry of 1st March war was certain." The 
preparations for war had not ceased, and the attitude of 
France remained resolute in its isolation. The question of the 
fortifications of Paris was brought before the chambers in 
agreement with Thiers ; and in spite of the doubts of the pre- 
servers of peace at any price, and in spite of the secret discon- 
tent of the abettors of disorder, the law was voted, and the 
great work commenced. The Duke of Wellington said on this 
subject to Guizot: "Your fortifications of Paris have closed 
that era of wars of invasion and of rapid marching on capitals 
which Napoleon opened. They have almost done for you 
what the ocean does for us. If the sovereigns of Europe be- 
lieve me, they will all do as much. I know not whether wars 
will be thus rendered shorter or less murderous, but they will 
infallibly be less revolutionary. You have rendered by this 
example a great service to the security of nations and the 
order of Europe." Even at the present time, after a double 
and grievous experience— of enemies besieging the capital of 
France with success, and of a triumphant insurrection retain- 
ing it for more than two months against the efforts of the 
regular government— the words of the Duke of Wellington 
remain true, and have been justified by events. The resist- 
ance of France during the war of 1870 and 1871 concentrated 
almost entirely in Paris ; only the fortifications of Paris ren- 
dered that resistance possible. 

Meanwhile the change of the French ministry weighed on 
the diplomatic deliberations. It was known in Europe that 
the new ministry was favorable to peace, without relaxing 
anything of the quiet dignity of its attitude. The German 
powers began then to manifest the desire of putting an end to 
a situtation which with good reason disquieted peaceable 
spirits. Despite the deposition pronounced by the sultan 
against Mehemet Ali, it was the general opinion that the 
heredity of Egypt had been guaranteed to the pasha on certain 
conditions which he could still execute. On the spontaneous 
advice of Sir Charles Napier, Mehemet Ali sent back to Con- 
stantinople, the Turkish fleet which still remained in his har- 
bors, and ordered the evacuation of Syria by his troopa 



344 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xix. 

Henceforth, the treaty of the 15th of July was executed, and 
it was left to the four powers to overcome the tardiness and 
malice of the Porte. They employed themselves actively in 
this, not without meeting obstacles on the part of Mehemet 
Ali as well as on that of Lord Ponsonby. At the same time, 
and in order to signalize the return of France into the Eu- 
ropean concert, a special convention, accepted by all the 
powers, ruled the question of the closing of the Straits in the 
Black Sea. The two treaties were signed on the 13th of July, 
1841. Eventually, and in spite of the errors, the faults, and 
the disquieting griefs which had for France marked the great 
eastern question, the European peace had been maintained. 
In the midst of peace the armaments of precaution raised by 
France in 1840 had been maintained also ; the fortifications of 
Paris arose; and Europe, feeling the void which the absence 
of France made in her councils, showed herself eager to make 
her return to her place. France did not return till Europe 
asked her, after having caused the Porte to make the conces- 
sions claimed by the pasha, while declaring that the treaty of 
15th July, 1840, was finally extinguished. Mehemet Ali, 
driven from Syria, threatened even in Egypt, was established 
hereditarily and under equitable conditions, not on account 
of his own forces, but in consideration of France, and in the 
firm desire of maintaining peace in Europe. By the conven- 
tion of 13th July, 1841, the Porte found herself withdrawn 
from the exclusive protection of Russia, and placed in the 
sphere of the general interests, and of the common delibera- 
tions of Europe, while this sensible and wary policy removed 
from her the grave dangers which had so long menaced her. 

The re-establishment of good relations with England soon 
manifested itself with heartiness. The ministry of Lord 
Palmerston had been replaced by that of Sir Eobert Peel and 
Lord Aberdeen, both of whom were animated towards France 
with kindly intentions. The difficult negotiations relative to 
the repression of the slave-trade had been renewed with the 
new cabinet ; public opinion in France claimed the abolition of 
the reciprocal right of search among the vessels suspected of 
trading. Prolonged and lively discussions took place in the 
chambers. Immediately after these discussions, and while 
the question was still pending, Queen Victoria came to pay to 
King Louis Philippe, at the Chateau d'Eu, a visit of friend- 
ship and good neighborliness, which the king returned to her 
some weeks later at Windsor (2nd September, and 7th October, 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 345 

1S44). At the beginning of this exchange of royal courtesies, 
the Due de Broglie, entrusted with carrying out in London the 
negotiation with reference to the right of search, inaugurated, 
by mutual arrangement with the English commissioners, a 
new system of watching and repressing the slave-traffic. 
And, on the successful result of a transaction which had been 
conducted on both sides with dignified sincerity, Broglie was 
able to say to Lord Aberdeen: "I hope, my Lord, that 
on this occasion, as on many others, it will be your good 
fortune to say to your opponents what the Lacedemonian 
did to the Athenian, 'What thou sayest, that I do.' It ia 
to you that the definitive overthrow of the trade in negroes is 
due." 

This good understanding between France and England, so 
long disturbed, so necessary to the peace of Europe, had to 
resist all the difficulties and daily jealousies of diplomacy. 
The two governments acted together upon the Porte in favor 
of the Christians of Lebanon; and Lord Aberdeen's instruc- 
tions to Sir Edward Lyons at Athens prescribed the same 
moderation as Guizot invariably recommended to Piscatory, 
who was then our minister in Greece, powerful and influential 
in the midst of the difficulties of a government which was 
new, and therefore much exposed to the suspicions of the Eng- 
lish minister. In Spain nothing could destroy that ancient 
rivalry between the two nations which was produced by re- 
mote recollections, as well as recent struggles. A dread of 
the ambitious designs and preponderance of France in Spain 
greatly and permanently influenced, and still influences, the 
mind of England. The revolutions which continued to agitate 
Spain, the fall of Queen Christina as regent, and elevation of 
General Espartero to power, conferred for a short time upon 
the English agents a predominating influence, which was 
moderated in its effects by the good sense and justice of the 
cabinet in London. The same moderation, mixed with some 
display of ill-temper, signalized Lord Aberdeen's attitude on 
the occasion of the great commercial treaties concluded in 1843 
and 1845 between France and Belgium. In the distant seas 
no difficulty was raised by the establishment of our stations in 
the Gulf of Guinea, and on the islands Mayotte and Nossi-Be 
on the east coast of Africa. France was still hindered in her 
progress by the prejudice and distrust of England, though 
certain of her earnest good-will and her unswerving loyalty. 
Happy times, when the politicians of both countries did not 



346 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

speak all they thought, but never spoke anything but the 
truth ! 

The same harmony did not everywhere reign in our diplo- 
matic relations. The Emperor Nicholas persisted in his sys- 
tematic reserve towards King Louis Philippe. On the 1st of 
January, 1842, Count Pahlen, the Russian ambassador, when 
about to become senior member of the diplomatic body, whose 
duty was to pay their respects to the king, was recalled by the 
emperor, and set out for St. Petersburg. The French ambas- 
sador in Russia, M. Barante, was already in Paris, but the 
French legation were indisposed on St. Nicholas' day, and did 
not appear at the emperor's reception. Neither of the two 
ambassadors returned to his post. 

It was from abroad that in 1840, when the new cabinet was 
summoned, the most serious dangers and urgent difficulties 
came upon us, but a resolute and wise policy kept us clear of 
their effects or weakened their power. With reference to 
home affairs, France seemed stronger, and every day more 
prosperous. Immediately after Guizot and his friends came 
to power, it was their duty to render to the emperor that 
homage of funeral rites which was then universally considered 
the last of his triumphs. On the 2nd December, 1840, Prince 
Joinville landed at Cherbourg, bringing back from St. Helena 
Napoleon's remains ; and the chaplain of the hospital gave ex- 
pression to the general sentiment, when, with the deepest 
emotion, he said to the prince, " Will your royal highness 
allow a ploughman's son, who has become a navy chaplain, to 
offer his respectful homage to the son of his king? You will 
perhaps pardon me for joining my feeble voice to the great 
voice of France, and anticipating the judgment which pos- 
terity will form of your expedition to St. Helena, when en- 
graving your name beside that of the king, your august 
father, on the tomb of the great man ?" 

The same confiding and sympathetic generosity which had 
sent so far the son of the king to bring back the Emperor 
Napoleon's remains signalized the whole of the ceremonial of 
the 15th December, when King Louis Philippe, accompanied 
by all his family and court, received the funeral procession at 
the Invalides. The popular emotion and curiosity remained 
quite peaceful, in spite of some attempts to produce disorder. 
A great memory and spectacle had attracted the multitude, 
and nothing more. " The friends of the regime of liberty and 
peace were justified in belie vine: that the imperial regime was 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 347 

entirely contained in the emperor's tomb. No fault of theirs 
led to the events which revealed it. It is not because King 
Louis Philippe and his councillors again raised Napoleon's 
statue, and brought back his coffin from St. Helena, that the 
name of Napoleon had such power amid the social disturbances 
of 1848. The monarchy of 1830 would not have gained a day 
by showing itself jealous and suspicious, eager to crush all 
recollections of the empire. And in such subordinate attempts 
it would have lost the glory of the liberty which it respected, 
and the generosity which it displayed towards its enemies — a 
glory which remains to it after its disasters, and which is also 
a power that death cannot injure." * 

In their noble efforts to secure that difficult glory for their 
country, the leaders of the liberal-conservative party fre- 
quently met with painful deceptions and serious difficulties. 
The passionate manifestations of revolutionary excitement 
were succeeded by revolutionary theories, which secretly un- 
dermined amongst the masses those remains of moral and 
religious principles which had survived the protracted shocks 
in our recent history, or were slowly reappearing with peace 
and order. The St. Simonians had recently undertaken to 
renew society by their principles ; a famous trial exposed and 
combated their tendencies, and the society was dissolved ; and 
the many distinguished men who had yielded to the attractions 
of Pere Enfantin's theories, resumed, like him, the duties of 
practical life. Victor Considerant and Fourier in their turn 
had their dreams of overthrowing or regenerating the social 
state. Auguste Comte reduced to a philosophy the lower in- 
stincts of human nature, and in the name of positivism ex- 
plained away our consoling hopes of eternity. The results of 
those theories acted vaguely upon many minds who believed 
themselves free from their influence. The revolt against 
divine and higher order necessarily begat a revolt against 
human and material order, as was daily proved by the abuses 
of the liberty of the press. The government felt this, and 
were fully conscious of the present and future danger ; they 
allowed the institution full liberty of action, while endeavoring 
to prevent or repress abuses. Several press trials resulted, on 
the part of the juries, in dangerous acquittals. A new and 
utterly abominable attempt was made upon the life of the Due 
d'Aumale, colonel of the 17th regiment of light infantry, as he 

*Guizot's M6moire$..etc., vol. i 



348 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

entered Paris at the head of his troops, with his brothers the 
Dukes of Orleans and Nemours, who had gone to meet him. 
The horse of the officer beside the prince received the ball in- 
tended for the latter, and fell dead instantly. The people were 
deeply moved. Quenisset, the assassin, was not an isolated 
fanatic ; there was a clearly proved conspiracy. The Peers' 
Court shared in the excitement, and the debates were bril- 
liantly conducted by Hebert, who was formerly for several 
years a member of the Chamber of Deputies, and had just 
been raised to the post of procureur-general at the royal 
court, to which new position he was called till the king 
should entrust him with the difficult functions of keeper of 
the seals. 

Whilst the legal authorities of the country labored to defend 
its peace, so constantly menaced, the chambers discussed and 
adopted the more important measures of administrative and 
social progress. A law referring to the work of children in 
manufactories, the works necessary for the development of 
national defence, the navy, and roads and bridges, the net- 
work of the principal fines of railway, were all voted in the 
session 1841-42. After a discussion marked by much keen 
discussion, the Chamber of Deputies rejected Ganneron's pro- 
posal to exclude official men from the Assembly, as well as 
that of Ducos on electoral reform. The mind of the govern- 
ment, in accordance with the real want of the country, was in 
favor of the consolidation of the gains of liberty, so dearly 
bought, and not in favor of new and dangerous enterprises. 
"Be careful," said Guizot, "not to take up all the questions 
they may be pleased to raise, or any business they may ask 
you to enter upon. Do not so easily undertake whatever 
burdens the first comer may fancy to lay on your shoulders, 
when the burden which we must bear is already so heavy. 
Decide the necessary questions, perform well the duties which 
fall to be performed in due course, rejecting those which are 
wantonly and unnecessarily thrown in your way." 

The general elections of 1842 had just given the sanction of 
the country to that firm and prudent policy, when a great 
misfortune, sent directly by the hand of God, suddenly struck 
the royal family and France. All could not say, as did Queen 
Marie- Amelie, when prostrate in her pious grief, " My God! it 
is not too much, but it is a great deal!" All felt like the 
mother, that it was a great deal, and that the new foundations 
of the national repose were shaken, when, on the 13th July, 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 349 

1843, the Due d'Orleans was thrown from his carriage, only to 
survive a few minutes. Young, handsome, and of the most 
attractive and amiable disposition, and well qualified to ad- 
dress and please the people, the Due d'Orleans by degrees had 
learned the lessons of wise government. He had become the 
firm stay of the throne, and a source of consoling hope, at the* 
moment when an untimely death removed him from his family 
and country. "I have no information to give you," wrote 
Guizot to all the French representatives at the principal for- 
eign courts; "the details of our misfortune are known every- 
where. I was for three hours in that wretched room, oppo- 
site that prince as he was dying on a mattress, his father, 
mother, brothers, and sisters on their knees around him, 
holding their breaths to hear him breathe, keeping back 
everybody that a little fresh air might reach him. I saw Mm 
die. I saw the king and queen kiss their dead son. As we 
left the house, with the prince's body on a fitter, and the king 
and queen on foot behind him, a long-continued shout of 
"Long live the king!" burst from the crowd, composed of 
people of the lower orders who had assembled round the 
house. I have just seen the king. Yesterday, during that 
agony, he showed admirable courage, presence of mind, and 
self-possession. To-day he is tired, and gives way more than 
yesterday to sorrow, but with a physical and moral strength 
that surpasses everything. We have hastened the assembly 
of the chambers by a week, and they will now meet on the 
26th, the obsequies taking place only a few days after. Every- 
thing is, and will be, perfectly quiet. Good order is indis- 
pensable, and everybody feels it. I hope also that it will be 
continued, and produce its proper result." 

" In France the king never dies," said the Due de Broglie to 
the House of Peers, on the 27th August, 1842. "An excellent 
point in monarchical government is, that the supreme authority 
never undergoes any interruption, that the supremacy is never 
disputed; that between two reigns there cannot even be a 
thought of detecting the least interval of delay or hesitation. 
It is by that means especially that this government rules the 
minds of men, and restrains tbeir ambitions. The monarchy 
is the empire of right, order, and law. Everything must be 
regulated in the monarchy ; everything which can be reason- 
ably foreseen must be so ; nothing ought to be left by choice or 
forgetfulness to the uncertainty of events. Under such a gov- 
ernment, in fact, the monarchy is the support of the State* 



350 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

when that support begins to fail everything falls to pieces; 
everything is shaken as soon as it appears to totter. This we 
have recently had experience of. At the moment when the 
hand of God weighed upon us— when that infinite Wisdom 
whose ways are not as our ways, struck the nation in the per- 
son of the first-born of the royal house, and reaped our dearest 
hope in full flower, all hearts felt frozen with secret terror. 
Public anxiety manifested itself through the accents of grief; 
there was uneasiness on every brow, as well as tears in every 
eye. All mentally considered how many years still separate 
the heir of the throne from the age when he can with a firm 
hand seize the sceptre of his grandfather and the sword of his 
father. All asked themselves what should in the meantime 
happen if the days of the king were not numbered according 
to his people's prayers and the State's wants. All sought for 
an answer in the charter, and regretted its silence." 

It was to supply this omission in the charter, and calm 
the well-founded anxiety of the country, that the chambers 
were summoned to legislate regarding the regency. " The law 
as proposed is very simple, " wrote Guizot to the diplomatic 
agents. "It is an application to the regency of the essential 
principles of our constitutional monarchy— heredity, the Salic 
law, the unity and inviolability of the royal power. The guard 
and tutelage of the king in his minority are entrusted to bis 
mother and grandmother. The proposal does not aim at the 
anticipating or providing for all imaginable hypotheses or pos- 
sible chances. It decides the questions, and provides for the 
necessities, imposed upon us by present circumstances." 

The discussion in the chambers was more ambitious and 
theoretical than were the deliberations in the ministerial 
council. All the characteristics of the different systems of 
regency were laid down, with their respective advantages and 
inconveniences. The opposition defended the principle of an 
elective regency— in practical application, a female regency, 
but Thiers on this point abandoned his friends, and eloquently 
spoke on behalf of the ministerial proposal. The extreme left, 
through Ledru-Eollin as their mouthpiece, demanded an appeal 
to the people, who, they said, were the only really constituent 
power. Guizot and Thiers were of one mind in rejecting this 
theory. "The constitutional government is the sovereignty of 
society organized," said the former. "Beyond that, there is 
only the social mass, moving about at hap-hazard, struggling 
with the chances of revolution. Revolutions are not organ- 



A 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 351 

ized ; they have not assigned to them a place and legal pro- 
cedure in the course of the affairs of nations. No human 
power governs such events; they helong to a greater master. 
God alone disposes of them; and when they hreak out God 
makes use of the most various instruments to reconstitute 
shaken society. In the course of my life I have seen three 
constituent powers; in the year VIII., Napoleon; in 1814, 
Louis XVIII. ; in 1830, the Chamber of Deputies. This is the 
real and actual state of matters. All that you talk about — 
those votes, voting-papers, open registers, appeals to the people 
—all that is fiction, imagination, and pretence." 

"I do not believe in the constituent power," said Thiers. 
"It did exist, I know, at different epochs in our history; but 
allow me to tell you that if it was the real sovereign, if it was 
above the constituted powers, it would, nevertheless, have had 
a wretched part to play by itself. In fact, it was in the French 
assemblies in the wake of the factions; and under the con- 
sulate, and under the empire, at the service of a great man. 
It then assumed the form of a conservative senate, who, on a 
signal given by a man who made everything bend under the 
ascendancy of his genius, made all the constitutions which he 
asked of them. Under the restoration it took another form. 
It concealed itself under Article XIV. of the Charter: it was 
the power of conceding the charter, and modifying it. Those 
were the different parts played by the constituent power for 
the last fifty years. Do not say it is the glory of our history, 
for the victories of Zurich, Marengo, and Austerlitz have 
nothing in common with those wretched constitutional com- 
edies. I therefore have no respect for the constituent power." 

Thus defended by most lofty and powerful arguments, the 
law was passed by a great majority in both chambers. The 
Duke of Nemours, who was respected and esteemed by all, 
was appointed to exercise, in case of necessity, the powers of 
that temporary monarchy which is called the regency ; and 
the bereaved Duchess of Orleans bravely undertook the 
charge and education of her two sons, Louis Philippe, Count 
of Paris, born 24th August, 1838, and Robert, Duke of Char- 
tres, born 1st November, 1840. She afterwards nobly pre- 
pared them for a future more sad and troubled than could 
then be anticipated. 

The government also resumed their course, really weakened, 
though in the long vistas of the future apparently strength- 
ened by the harmony of thought and feeling which was mani- 



352 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx, 

fested immediately after the catastrophe. Affairs of great 
complexity and importance were now in preparation, which 
were exaggerated by the agitations of parliamentary rule, and 
produced very serious results on the minds of the people. 
Afar off, in the regions of the Pacific Ocean, the storms were 
gradually gathering which were soon to burst upon London 
and Paris, in the chambers and the diplomatic communica- 
tions of both nations. All was the natural result of events 
which appeared unimportant. 

French sailors had long felt the want of finding in the 
southern seas a landmark and secure refuge under the na- 
tional flag. In 1844 this want seemed to be met by an estab- 
lishment on the Marquesas Islands, made by the advice of 
Admiral Petit-Thouars, who had just returned from those 
countries, and was now appointed to take possession in the 
name of France. The ambition of the brave sailor was not 
limited by these precise instructions; he thought he might 
extend our protectorate as far as the Society Islands, and more 
particularly Tahiti. The native queen, Pomare, afraid and 
anxious, unresistingly accepted a rule which was speciously 
disguised, and the French flag floated over Tahiti, as well as 
the Marquesas. 

No political power had till then taken possession of the So- 
ciety Islands, and our occupation was regular. The religious 
power, however, of some English missionaries had been there 
in exercise alone, with a devotion which was at first attended 
with danger, but afterwards uninterrupted and powerful. At 
the thought of a possible invasion of apostles from another 
Christian communion, the convictions and jealousy of the 
English missionaries quickly took alarm. Mutual suscepti- 
bilities led to troublesome procedure. The influence of the 
English missionaries was naturally great ; and Admiral Petit- 
Thouars believed that the interests and dignity of France were 
injured by the action of Pritchard, the English missionary- 
consul, as well as by the conduct which he had suggested to 
Queen Pomare. In 1843, on returning to those countries after 
a long absence, the admiral declared the sovereign of the 
island had forfeited her rights, on account of the infraction of 
a treaty voluntarily concluded with France. He then boldly 
took possession of the Society Islands, without, at first, any 
resistance. 

When in February, 1844, this distant news reached Paris, 
the government considered the admiral's action violent and 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 353 

irregular, and at once disavowed it by restoring our simple 
protectorate, in spite of the excitement and indignation of the 
opposition, who charged the ministers with a cowardly com- 
plaisance towards England. Meanwhile the anger of the 
Tahitians and uneasiness of the English missionaries had 
borne their fruits. A sedition broke out in the Society Islands, 
which was firmly and prudently repressed by Admiral Bruat, 
recently appointed governor of our possessions in Oceania. 
His subordinates, however, were not so moderate ; and, on the 
occasion of an attack on a French sailor, Commandant d'Au- 
bigny ordered Mr. Pritchard to be arrested and imprisoned, 
and declared Papeiti, the capital, to be in a state of siege. Ad- 
miral Bruat set at liberty the former consular agent, just ap- 
pointed by Lord Aberdeen to the Friendly Isles, and placed 
him on board a small English vessel, which took him away. 
The missionaries gladly assisted our governor in his efforts to 
appease the rising of the natives, though the struggle at Tahiti 
still lasted for some time. It broke out also in London on a 
question put to Sir Eobert Peel in the House of Commons, 
when the irritation of the ministry was clearly shown from 
his reply. The resulting negotiations were long and intricate. 
England thought her national honor was wounded ; and anger 
was stirred up by religious prejudices. The good sense and 
friendly intentions of the ministers on both sides, who had 
been specially appointed to treat the affair, succeeded in avoid- 
ing complications it might have involved. England agreed to 
acknowledge the French protectorate of Tahiti, without pro- 
testing against the expulsion of Mr. Pritchard, only asking on 
his behalf a moderate indemnity for the losses he had under- 
gone. 

In his speech from the throne, at the opening of the session 
1845, King Louis Philippe responded to the sentiments ex- 
pressed by the Queen of England at the prorogation of Parlia- 
ment: ''My government," said he, "took part with that of 
the Queen of Great Britain in discussions which might have 
occasioned a doubt lest the relations between the two States 
were altered. A mutual feeling of good will and equity has 
maintained between France and England that happy har- 
mony which is a guarantee for the peace of the world." 

In Paris there was an extremely keen discussion upon the 

paragraph of the address which approved of the conduct of 

the ministry. Both in France and England public opinion 

was excited. The concessions strictly indispensable to the 

ym. -23 



354 BISTORT OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

peace of the world seemed enormous, and humiliating to the 
pride of our country. It was the first time for four years that 
the parliamentary opposition felt itself borne by a current ad- 
verse to the ministerial policy, and they lost no time in 
taking advantage of it. The government boldly accepted the 
challenge. "I thank the commission for the frankness of 
their adhesion," said Guizot. "We are convinced that our 
four years' policy has been sound, honorable, advantageous to 
the country, suited to its interests, and morally great. But 
such a policy is difficult, very difficult: it has many prej- 
udices, passions and obstacles to surmount on these benches, 
beyond these benches, in public, everywhere— great and small 
obstacles. To succeed, it requires the well-defined and steady 
assistance of the great powers of the State. If that assistance, 
I do not say entirely fails us, but is not so steadfast that that 
policy can be continued with success, we should not remain in 
charge of it. We should not allow what we consider a good 
policy to be disfigured, enervated, and degraded in our hands, 
or that it should become common-place by weakness. All that 
we ask for is, that the decision be perfectly clear and intelli- 
gible to every one. Whatever it is, the cabinet will be glad of it." 

The discussion rallied several hesitating minds, but dis- 
turbed others who were already influenced by stupid or mis- 
leading reports in some of the newspapers. The majority of 
the chamber approved of the conduct of the cabinet, but it 
was seriously reduced in number, 213 having voted for tbe 
paragraph, against 205. The cabinet resolved to resign. 

It was an impressive scene, not easily forgot by those pres- 
ent, the excitement suddenly pervading the Chamber of Dep- 
uties on the comparative check of the ministry and the news 
of their proposed resignation. Two hundred and seventeen 
conservative deputies, in solemn assembly, resolved to make a 
formal request to their parliamentary chiefs not to abandon 
the helm of government at such a moment. Touched and 
strengthened by this sympathy and confidence, the ministers 
again accepted the burden. The deserters returned to the 
flag ; and the government soon found a new occasion of show- 
ing their independence of action with regard to foreign pow- 
ers. Amongst the more ignorant classes, the conservative 
deputies who had supported the cabinet through that formid- 
able crisis received and kept the name of "Pritchardists," as 
an insulting memorial of a silly and groundless public irrita* 
tion. 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 355 

The confidence and sympathy as well as the spirit of justice 
and moderation of the French and English governments could 
alone produce a peaceful result from a puerile quarrel, aggra- 
vated and increased by the difficulties inherent to parliamen- 
tary regime. The good intentions of the English minister 
were at almost the same moment put to another test. The 
Due de Bordeaux had left the peaceful abode where he had 
grown up in exile with his grandfather and uncle, his early 
education being piously directed by the dauphin. He under- 
took several voyages, first in Germany, and without any pro- 
test on the part of the French government, no political char- 
acter being attached to the courtesy naturally paid by the 
sovereigns to an exiled prince. When the duke seemed about 
to direct bis steps towards England, the attitude of the legiti- 
mists in France became aggressive. They declared their in- 
tention of making a brilliant gathering round the prince. 
Queen Victoria showed her desire to remain a stranger to any 
manifestation, and not to receive the illustrious traveller; and 
the French government expressed a similar opinion. The Due 
de Bordeaux came to London in November, 1843, and lived 
there several weeks, receiving many people at Belgrave Square, 
and noisily hailed as king by several thoughtless persons ; but 
the Queen did not receive him, and her government referred 
in severe terms to facts which they could not prevent. The 
prince left London, but the agitation caused in France by the 
provoking conduct of the legitimists soon came to a head. 
During the discussion on the address at the opening of the 
session of 1844, the commission used the phrase "the public 
conscience branded by criminal manifestations." The expres- 
sion was harsh and awkward, and went too far. The stiff and 
somewhat embarrassed defence and protest of the legitimists 
produced no great result ; but the left took advantage of the 
attack, and some violent scenes took place in the chamber, 
Guizot being the principal object of attack. Without approv- 
ing entirely of the address drawn up by the commission, the 
government supported it loyally and bravely. The paragraph 
was voted by a large majority; and the deputies who had 
visited the Due de Bordeaux in Belgrave Square got the name 
of "the branded," as the conservative deputies that of the 
"Pritchardists." Thus were embittered the internal animosi- 
ties, which were soon to aggravate the political situation, and 
deliver France up to revolution and absolute power. ' ' You 
are trying to govern against Jrhe head and the tail," said 



356 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

Royer-Collard formerly to Guizot; "it is too difficult an un- 
dertaking, and you will not succeed. " 

However faithful and reasonable the English minister proved 
himself more than once in our regard and in the European 
complications and agitations, he frequently showed a personal 
impatience and suspicion when acted upon by the national 
prejudices. The English had always shown interest in our 
Algerian settlements, and the extension of our power in the 
north of Africa. Since Marshal Bugeaud succeeded to Marshal 
Vallee as governor of Algeria (December, 1840), such fears 
were redoubled. Bold and determined, passionately engrossed 
in the work he had undertaken and the means of accomplish- 
ing it, Bugeaud ardently strove to realize his ideas as to our 
African settlements, the complete conquest of the Arabs, and 
the system of military colonization. His convictions and 
ideas being generally well-founded, if sometimes exaggerated, 
he expressed them with the frankness of a soldier of honor 
and the courage of a good citizen. As Governor of Algeria, 
however, he had faults which naturally flowed from those 
qualities. His zeal and spirit of initiative frequently urged 
him to speak and act too quickly. His speeches to the cham- 
ber and his pamphlets sometimes offended and embarrassed 
Marshal Soult in Paris. His success in Algeria was undoubted, 
and he proceeded to carry his success further. In the spring 
of 1S44, Abd-el-Kader was pursued and beaten over the whole 
interior of Algeria, most of the tribes, now decimated and dis- 
couraged, having abandoned him, or only supporting him 
secretly and with hesitation. The surprise and capture of 
Smalah, on the 16th May, 1843, by the Due dAumale, was a 
serious blow to his prestige even among the Arabs. Our re- 
peated expeditions into the least accessible parts of the re- 
gency, from the defiles of Jurjura to the frontiers of the great 
desert, and the permanent occupation of Biskra and several 
other important points, spread abroad everywhere the con- 
viction of our superior strength, and our resolution to establish 
our empire on a firm basis. It might be said that the con- 
quest was complete ; but Abd-el-Kader was one of those who 
never give up hope or the struggle. He took a position on the 
west of the province of Oran, on the doubtful frontier of Mo- 
rocco, and thence pursued or recommenced the war inces- 
santly. Sometimes, with his roving bands he made sudden 
raids upon the regency; sometimes he inflamed the natural 



ch. xx. ] PARLIAMENTAR Y GO VERNHENT. 357 

fanaticism of the Moorish population, and hrought them with 
him against us, being always sure of a refuge with them. He 
had great influence over the Emperor Abd-el-Ehamman him- 
self, at one time getting him to share in his Mohammedan 
antipathies, at another terrifying him with accounts of us or 
of his own projects. He stirred up between that prince and 
us a dispute as to the possession of certain territories between 
the course of the Tafna and the frontier of Morocco. On the 
30th May, 1844, a numerous body of Moorish horse invaded 
our soil, and came ostentatiously to attack General Lamori- 
ciere, in his camp at Lalla Maghrania, two leagues from the 
frontier. The explanations demanded by Marshal Bugeaud 
from the chiefs being unsatisfactory, and the fanatical enthu- 
siasm of the Mohammedans becoming more and more excited, 
the government ordered that compensation should be insisted 
upon by arms ; and the Prince de Joinville was at the same 
time placed ' in command of a squadron on the coast of Mo- 
rocco. This caused in London much excitement, and a politi- 
cal anxiety partly due to commercial interests. England had 
much communication with Algiers, and the port of Tangiers 
supplied Gibraltar with most of its resources. Men were 
alarmed at the thought of a French conquest. Guizot lost no 
time in reassuring Lord Aberdeen, who in his turn used all 
endeavors to act diplomatically upon the Emperor of Morocco. 
His action remaining unsuccessful, Bugeaud entered the Moor- 
ish territory with 10,000 men, and on the 19th August, at Isly, 
gained an easy victory over 25,000 enemies assembled against 
him. The marshal took possession of their camp, artillery, 
colors, and all their baggage. At sea, on the 15th, Prince 
Joinville bombarded, at the northern extremity of Morocco, 
Mogador, Abd-el-Ehamman's favorite town, took possession of 
the small island guarding the entrance to the harbor, and 
stationed there a garrison of 500 men. Thus in five days the 
war was finished, before the eyes of an English squadron, who 
were following at a distance the movements of ours. The 
news of our two victories increased the English dissatisfac- 
tion : the government took this suspicious distrust into con- 
sideration when imposing upon the emperor their conditions 
of peace, which he had much difficulty in agreeing to. Abd- 
el-Kader was to be expelled from the territory of Morocco, 
and henceforward deprived of the assistance which had been 
granted him. An exact limit was to be assigned to the ter- 



358 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

ritories of Algeria and Morocco; "beyond, nothing is known 
exactly," said the old Turkish generals shortly before, "it is 
the country of guns." 

Guns lost their dominion when, on the 18th March, 1845, 
the treaty between France and the Emperor of Morocco was 
signed. Abd-el-Kader, nevertheless, still continued to infest 
our frontiers, and frequently made sudden attempts to sur- 
prise our soldiers, assisted by a wide-spread conspiracy of the 
Arabian chiefs. One of the insurrections in the Dahra tribes 
induced a struggle with a tribe till then unsubdued ; and on 
the Mohammedans taking refuge in a cave when pursued by 
Colonel Pelissier, he summoned them several times to come 
forth, promising them their liberty if they delivered up their 
arms and horses. The Arabs refusing, the colonel had bun 
dies of wood heaped up at the entrance of the cavern, and 
threatened to set fire to them. The Arabs fired upon our 
soldiers from within the cavern ; the flames rose, and most of 
the obstinate wretches perished, choked by the smoke. In 
this deplorable alternative of the necessities of war, which put 
in the balance humanity towards the enemy and the safety of 
the soldiers whom he was commanding, Colonel Pelissier 
(after, Marshal Due de Malakoff) acted as Ludlow did in Ire- 
land against the peasants in revolt, as Napoleon did at Auster- 
litz against the Russian battalions when crowded on the ice, 
which he broke under their feet by cannon-shot. This act of 
Pelissier was fiercely attacked by the journals of the opposi- 
tion. Guizot alone defended him. Marshal Bugeaud was 
greatly offended, thinking that his attempts at military colon- 
ization were not sufficiently encouraged; and without being 
authorized, addressed a circular to the chiefs of the Algerian 
corps, ordering the application of his views. The govern- 
ment's embarrassment in Algeria was increased by their au- 
thority being thus perpetually harassed. Bugeaud had al- 
ready several times announced his intention to retire, but the 
renewal of hostilities with the Arabs, and the distinction of 
the campaign in the plains of the Mitidja against the insurrec- 
tion excited by Abd-el-Kader, delayed the accomplishment of 
this resolution. Marshal Soult, now old and weak, withdrew 
from the practical direction of affairs, soon to rest altogether 
with the title of Marshal-General of France, which had been 
borne only by Turenne, Villars and Saxe. General Molines 
St. Yon, who succeeded him as war minister, drew up a 
scheme for military colonization which confirmed Bugeaud's 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 359 

views, though the latter considered it weak and colorless. 
The chambers objected to the proposal, and the ministry, in 
accordance with the decision of a special committee, rejected 
it. Marshal Bugeaud immediately resigned. 

The king had long thought of placing one of his sons at the 
head of the government of Algeria. The Due d'Aumale served 
therewith distinction, and Bugeaud wrote, "I wish to be re- 
placed here by a prince, not in the interests of the constitu- 
tional monarchy, but those of the matter in hand. He will be 
granted what would be refused to me. The Due d'Aumale is, 
and will daily more and more be, a man of ability. I shall 
leave him, I trust, the office in good working order ; but there 
will still be much to do for a long time. It is a labor of giants 
and of ages." On the 11th September, 1847, the Due d'Aumale 
was appointed Governor of Algeria, as the most natural suc- 
cessor to Marshal Bugeaud, and best fitted to exercise upon 
the army there, as well as the native races, a happy and pow- 
erful influence. Only a few months, however, were to elapse 
before the tempest of new revolutions tore him away from a 
life and duty which were dear to him. Before that sad day 
the young prince had at last forced Abd-el-Kader to his last 
entrenchments, compelling from the hero of that religious and 
national resistance a submission which he was no longer able 
to refuse. In spite of several further attempts at insurrection, 
the conquest of Algeria was finally completed in February, 
1848. 

It was no doubt to our success in Africa and the prudent 
firmness of our attitude that we must attribute the develop- 
ment of our influence with the Mohammedans. From 1845 to 
1847 the representatives of the great Mussulman powers 
flocked to Paris— the Morocco ambassador, Sidi-ben-Achache ; 
Ibrahim Pacha, eldest son of Mehemet Ah; the Bey of Tunis; 
an envoy from the Shah of Persia. Turkey had at last agreed 
to give the various races of Lebanon the natural chiefs whom 
they demanded, especially the Druses and Maronites. In 
spite of the opposition of the Pachas and their slow compli- 
ance, the European diplomatic demands obtained a certain 
amount of satisfaction. From 1845 to 1848 the state of the 
Syrian Christians was sensibly improved, and gave them 
hopes of a happier future. The same protection over the Chris- 
tian populations extended throughout the Ottoman Empire. 
By a convention of 21st March, 1844, the fives of Christian con- 
verts who had been seized with remorse and abjured Islam were 



360 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx, 

assured. France's influence had now regained in the east 
much of her ancient empire. 

She exercised the same influence, enhanced by recollections 
of earnest and practical sympathy, in the small Christian king- 
dom lately founded on the limits of the east. Greece knew how 
genuine and disinterested were the good wishes of France in 
her behalf. " France has but one thing to ask from Greece in 
return for all she has done for her," wrote Guizot to Piscatory, 
on sending him as minister to Athens ; "that she may learn to 
develop the infinite resources contained in her bosom ; that by 
a skilful, prudent, and active administration she may grad* 
ually, without any shock, without encountering dangerous 
risks, rise to the degree of prosperity and power necessary to 
occupy in the world the place to which she is destined by the 
natural process of politics. We shall then be amply satisfied, 
and never think of claiming from King Otho any other proof of 
gratitude." 

Greece asked from the king whom she had chosen for herself 
resolutions which his conscientious hesitation could not give ; 
and differences among the foreign powers at Athens fomented 
the popular discontent. " The question of king cannot be laid 
down," said Piscatory; " he is already there, and must remain. 
Yes, some reform is necessary to give the country assurance, 
but more than that amounts to a revolution ; and it is not the 
business of governments to protect them." 

The revolution, however, did break out (15th September, 
1843), and compelled King Otho to accept a liberal constitution. 
After some party struggles and disturbance, Colettis assumed 
the reins of government in his country. One of the foremost 
and most able of the patriots who conspired against the Turkish 
rule, chief of the Palicares in the armed struggle, and ardently 
devoted to the national cause, Colettis had learned much during 
the seven years he was Grecian minister in Paris, but he re- 
mained Greek to the bottom of his soul. He was at the same 
time full of respect and love for France, sometimes suspicious 
of England, and distrustful with regard to Eussia and Austria, 
who had looked with an evil eye upon the new revolution of 

Greece. 

The harmony which had recently reigned between the diplo- 
matic instructions of France and England was now quickly 
disturbed. The ministry of Peel and Aberdeen was replaced 
by that of Lord Palmerston, and Sir Edward Lyons resumed 
that course with which he had been so closely identified. The 



en. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 361 

interior troubles of Greece, which Colettis had firmly repressed, 
were again fomented by foreign influences. The financial diffi- 
culties of the small and poor state were increased by England's 
demands for the payment of interest due on the loan formerly 
guaranteed by her together with France and Italy. Colettis 
met all these difficulties with unconquerable courage ; and it 
was to bis wisdom and devotion that the Greeks and their 
friends trusted, when he fell ill, and died on the 10th Sep- 
tember, 1847, still humming with his trembling lips the old 
national songs which had delighted his youth. His loss was a 
dreadful shock to his country, and was felt long after, through 
disorders that were perpetually reappearing. ''Colettis is 
gone to join the battalion of Plutarch's heroes," was the sad 
remark of those who had known and loved him. 

It is the honor as well as the special difficulty of free govern- 
ments that they live in the full light of day, and are constantly 
subjected to the complications which public discussion too 
often brings upon the solution of questions still undecided. 
Probably no government was ever more habitually struggling 
with this difficulty than that of Louis Philippe. Born of a 
revolution, it was, both in Europe and France, perpetually 
undergoing the consequences of its origin. It was long sus- 
pected, when no longer disputed; and at the very moment 
when a temporary lull of interior excitement and passion 
allowed it a glimpse of order in peace, it found itself dragged 
into European complications which momentarily threatened 
its repose and supplied new material for parliamentary attacks. 
From 1840 to 1848 the discussions in the chambers bore con- 
stantly upon foreign affairs. The ministry had undergone 
various internal changes. H^mann's death was largely due to 
the difficulties and disgust which he had involuntarily excitedj 
by ordering a new census. He was replaced, first by Lacave-1 
Laplagne. and then by Dumon, who had long been one of 
Guizot's intimate friends. The departments of war, the navy, 
and public works had been under various heads ; but the chiefs 
of the cabinet remaining the same, the opposition continued to 
attack the same names. They were constantly losing strength 
in this protracted attack, and the elections of 1846 returned to 
the chambers a larger conservative majority than ever. Still 
the effect of a continued persistence began already to be felt in 
that majority itself. In the midst of the debates referring to 
foreign affairs, as well as during questions of business, only 
the proposals relating to electoral reform constantly rear*- 



362 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

peared, occasioning a silent agitation which was beginning to 
stagger many minds. In their intimate and continual com- 
munication with the members of both chambers, the cabinet 
were soon convinced of this fact. The fundamental policy of 
the conservative party since the revolution of 1830, had as its 
object the establishment of a free government under the pre' 
ponderating influence of the middle classes, an influence 
acknowledged and accepted in the general interest of the coun- 
try, and submitted to every test and all the influences of gen- 
eral liberty. It was this very conception of the governmental 
regime in France which the opposition attacked by demanding 
electoral reform, the results or tendency of which they had not 
even themselves estimated. 

It is the frequently burdensome, but always glorious cost of 
public liberty, that all its conditions are incessantly discussed. 
The French Government were not astonished at this, but they 
found it necessary to calm, even among their opponents, the 
dissatisfaction caused by the natural development of liberty. 
In accordance with men's natural tendency to refuse to their 
adversaries rights which they claim for themselves, those who 
loudly professed the most advanced liberal opinions were 
doubtful about allowing liberty of teaching to the University, 
and showed great anxiety at the free development of religious 
bodies. The charter secured to new France all the liberty 
advisable ; and she had taken her share in freeing education. 
"With reference to public instruction, " said Guizot (31st 
January, 1846), "all the rights do not belong to the State; 
some of them are, I do not say superior, but anterior to her 
own, and exist with them. Such are the rights of the family. 
Children belong to the family before belonging to the State. 
The State has the right to distribute instruction, assign it to 
its proper institutions, and overlook it everywhere, but has 
not the right to impose it arbitrarily and exclusively upon 
families without their consent, and perhaps against their con- 
viction. The regime of the Imperial University did not admit 
this primitive and inviolable right of families. Moreover it 
did not admit, at least to a sufficient degree, another order of 
rights, the rights of religious belief. Napoleon well under- 
stood the greatness and power of religion ; he also equally well 
understood its dignity and liberty. He often misunderstood 
the right belonging to men who are the depositaries of religious 
belief, to maintain them, and transmit them from generation 
to generation by education and teaching. That is not a privi- 



ch. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 363 

lege of the Catholic religion ; that right is applicable to all 
creeds, to all religious bodies, Catholic or Protestant, Christian 
or non-Christian. It is the right of parents to rear their 
children in their faith, by ministers of their faith. In organ- 
izing the University, Napoleon took no account of the right of 
families, nor the right of religious beliefs. The principle of 
liberty of education, the only real security of those rights, 
was foreign to the University regime. To the charter and the 
government of 1830 must be referred the honor of having 
brought this principle to light, and attempted its practical 
realization. It is not only an engagement and duty, but the 
interest of the constitutional monarchy, to keep this promise 
strictly. How remote originally from the principles of liberty, 
the great creations of the Empire — those at least which are 
really conformable to the genius of our social system — may ad- 
mit those principles, and thence derive new power. Liberty 
may enter into that mighty apparatus created for the restora- 
tion and protection of power. What is more strongly imagined 
in the interest of power than our administrative regime, by 
prefects; their Councils, and the Council of State ? Yet into 
that regime we introduce the principles and instruments of 
liberty. The Councils-General elected, the Councils- Municipal 
elected, the mayors necessarily chosen from the elected Muni- 
cipal Councils ; those institutions, of great reality and vitality, 
which will from day to day be developed and play a greater 
part in our society, have all come to adapt themselves to the 
administrative regime which we have from the empire. The 
same thing may take place with the great institution of the 
University, and the government will thereby gain advantage 
and liberty. In order that the present power may become 
stronger and more durable, liberty must come to its aid. In a 
public and responsible government, it is a too great burden 
which monopolizes them, whatever be the shoulders support- 
ing it. There is no strength or responsibility sufficient for it ; 
the government must be discharged of part of the burden, and 
society must display its liberty in the service of its affairs, and 
be itself responsible for the good or bad use to which it is put." 
Few people dared to protest seriously against the general 
laying down of the principles of liberty; but in practice and in 
the daily application of the principles, the chambers and great 
mass of the people were opposed to liberty of education. 
Twice, in 1841 and 1844, Villemain proposed without success 
some schemes which, without fully deciding the question, pro- 



364 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

duced notable progress in the principle of liberty. Salvandy 
made fresh attempts, which also remained fruitless. Indigna- 
tion and anxiety took possession of the partisans of liberty of 
education. As it extended and became warmer, the struggle 
changed in character, and became violent and aggressive. The 
University found itself unjustly attacked, and several bishops 
imprudently threw themselves into the struggle. In the eyes 
of the public the question of the liberty of instruction became 
a case of war between the University and the Church, that is 
to say, the State and the Church. Then moderate and sensible 
men who were indifferent believed themselves threatened in 
their personal liberty by the increasing influence attributed to 
the Jesuits. Founded in the sixteenth century for the defence 
of absolute power in the spiritual order, and perhaps the tem- 
poral too, the Society of Jesus, in spite of the immense services 
rendered by her to the propagation of Christianity and the de- 
velopment of instruction, had remained constantly suspected 
by the partisans of liberty, who looked upon her as still faith- 
ful to the first idea with which she started. The legislation as 
to religious bodies bound down the Jesuits to rules which they 
did not observe. The number of their schools was constantly 
increasing, and their influence being boldly displayed, the pub- 
lic alarm demanded that the laws should be enforced against 
them. The government conceived the idea of a procedure 
which was more efficacious and more moderate. They asked 
Pope Gregory XVI., the natural and supreme head of the 
order, to dissolve in France the Society of Jesus. Rossi was 
appointed to carry out this negotiation at Rome. 

An Italian, of extremely liberal views, who had taken refuge 
first at Geneva and then at Paris on account of his opinions, 
Rossi was at the same time daring with self-control, patient 
and persevering, endowed with a keen subtlety, and an influence 
over men which was acquired gradually and quietly. After 
long and complicated negotiations, Rossi was at last successful. 
The court of Rome really laid down for the Jesuits the conduct 
demanded from them by the French government and people ; 
though the court of Rome and the French government appar- 
ently allowed the Jesuits the honor of a spontaneous and volun- 
tary withdrawal. On the 6th July, 1845, the Moniteur con- 
tained this official notice : ' ' The government has received news 
from Rome. The negotiation with which M. Rossi was en- 
trusted has attained its object. The body of Jesuits in France 
will cease to exist in France, and is going to disperse of its own 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 365 

accord. Its houses will be closed, and its novitiates dissolved." 
At Rome, Rossi laid special stress on the Holy See adhering to 
its engagements. "I shall yield nothing," he wrote to Guizot, 
"to party spirit or a foolish hostility. No attack upon the 
liberty of individuals ; no obligation to leave France or sell 
property; and no harassing interference in purely religious 
functions; but the dispersal of the body, the closing of the 
houses where they lived together, and the dissolution of the 
novitiates; that has been promised, and that is indispensable." 
Rossi had just been officially appointed ambassador at Rome, 
when Pope Gregory XVI., already very old, died, on the 1st 
June, 1846. Three days afterwards, Cardinal Mastai Ferretti, 
who was piously devoted to his diocese, and personally un- 
known to the majority of the members of the Sacred College, 
was elected Pope, and proclaimed under the name of Pias IX. 

During a period and in a country still entirely filled with 
noble hopes, it was a beautiful and consoling sight to see the 
new pontiff commence, after his high elevation, by a complete 
and touching amnesty; and to see the Roman people, so re- 
cently agitated by secretly hostile passions, eagerly rush before 
the Pope, who promised them reforms ardently desired. 
Thiers as well as the French government and their Roman am- 
bassador strove to encourage Pius IX. in those popular meas- 
ures. During his first conversations with Rossi, the Pope re- 
ferred to everything, "both temporal and spiritual affairs — 
the chance of his presiding over an Italian league, and his re- 
lations to the foreign powers ; to his Swiss guard, and a civic 
guard ; finance and commerce, administrative abuses and ju- 
dicial reform. His mind evidently dealt with every subject, 
and considered every question, with glimpses at every possible 
reform, sometimes with a simple confidence, sometimes with a 
half-official anxiety; keenly enjoying his popularity, and, in 
spite of his first generous impulses, with some hope of adher- 
ing to the aspirations without passing to the practical applica- 
tions of the theories. 'That is not the ideal of government,' 
said Rossi, somewhat uneasy on seeing the promised reforms 
go off into smoke; ' it is government in an ideal state.' "* 

Fear and anxiety were soon added to the natural sluggish- 
ness and hesitation of an old government which men wished to 
draw from its long-continued paths and routine. Cardinal 
Gizzi, appointed secretary of state, soon exhausted himself in 

* Guieot's MemoireS) etc. 



3G0 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

his efforts to act without displeasing anybody. A latent strug- 
gle was engendered between old and young Italy, and the 
inertia of the government chafed men's minds. The French 
ambassador urged the Pope to give his people some proofs of 
his liberal intentions. The efforts of Pius were sincere in spite 
of their weakness. The ill-managed rule of the Austrians 
weighed heavily on all the Italian States, and in all minds there 
was now rising the thought of freedom from the foreign yoke 
by the glorious effort of national unity. The Pope shared in 
this thought and desire common to all the Italians, his acces- 
sion and early reforms having impressed new energy upon 
them. In Tuscany the grand duke entered upon a path of ad- 
ministrative, financial, and judicial improvements. Piedmont 
was about to receive a constitution. Even at Naples the popu- 
lar agitation became intense, and the king had already granted 
some commercial reforms. The whole of Italy was now ready 
for action, and soon Pius IX. was induced to join thoroughly 
in the national effort against foreigners. The Pope was still 
advancing as leader of the generous effort for social and politi- 
cal reform. He had just formed a civic guard, armed with 
French guns .The budget was published ; the municipal organ- 
ization of the city of Eome was improved ; liberty of the press 
extended ; while railways were decreed, schools and asylums 
founded. The Pope convoked at Eome an Assembly of the 
Notables for the 15th November. He wished to find support 
from those liberal and moderate men in the laity who wished 
like himself for reform without revolution. Both he and they 
were destined to succumb under the blows which the rival and 
extreme parties aimed at each other. The projects of re- 
actionary plots and threats of popular insurrections were al- 
ready crossing each other in all directions, causing anxiety and 
annoyance to the Pope and the friends faithful to his policy. 
Rossi had already formed a friendly intimacy with Pius IX., 
which was soon after to engage him definitely in his service, 
at the cost of his life, and to his own lasting renown. The 
thought of the independence of the Italian States, delivered 
from the presence of foreigners, and united in an Italian con- 
federation, together with a thoroughgoing reform of their in- 
ternal condition, constituted the basis of the Pope's fond hopes, 
which his future minister had a clearer conception of, and the 
French government steadily supported. " Peace and liberty, 
pi-ogress without war or revolution" — that grand motto of the 
monarchy of 1830— had constantly directed its policy abroad 



CH. xx.] PARLIAMENT ART GOVERNMENT. 367 

as well as at home. At Home, as well as in France, revolution 
was destined to obtain the mastery. The cause, however, was 
still good and great. In 1847, and the first months of 1848, 
there were still hopes. The Pope had honestly commenced the 
reforms, and then accepted the idea of having a lay minister. 
"Your holiness has awoke Italy, " said Rossi, "it is a glory, 
but on condition that the impossible is not attempted. " The 
attitude of the French government protected the action of the 
Holy See. The Austrians had evacuated Ferrara, having oc- 
cupied it without good reason. Appearances seemed to promise 
well, but excited minds still retained their antagonism. "In 
Italy,' 1 said Mazzini, " there exists no moderate party." 

There was good reason for believing there was no moderate 
party in Switzerland. The political struggles envenomed by 
religious ones, divided the cantons, and threatened to break 
the federal treaty. In presence of the radical movement, 
which was eaily becoming more defined in Berne, Geneva, and 
the Vaudois country, the cantons which were really Catholic 
believed that their religious liberty and independent action 
were threatened, and formed a special alliance (Sonderbund) 
binding them to defend each other's independence and rights 
of sovereignty. The Helvetic Diet urged by their demands, 
ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits, who had been invited by 
the canton of Lucerne to superintend the schools. Several 
armed fights had already taken place at various places, and a 
civil war was in preparation. The French government were 
somewhat anxious about this disturbance in a neighboring 
country, whose federal treaty was under the protection of the 
great powers by the very fact of its neutrality. In the inter- 
ests of liberty, thus threatened, as well as peace, France be- 
lieved it her duty to stir up on the part of Europe a diplomatic 
intervention, which might dispense with a material and vio- 
lent intervention. For that purpose a memorandum from the 
five great powers was addressed to the Diet ; but it had been 
with great difficulty forced from Lord Palmerston against his 
inclination, and he secretly informed the Swiss radicals of it. 
The latter precipitated their operations ; the troops of the Diet 
inarched against the free corps of the Sonderbund, who were 
speedily dispersed. Friburg capitulated without great resist- 
ance. The struggle was more severe at Lucerne, but it also 
yielded. The Valais alone still resisted, and the defeated Son- 
derbund had now no hope except in foreign intervention. King 
Louis Philippe and his cabinet had no natural inclination for 



368 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xx. 

that, although resolved not to allow Austria to make use alone 
of that last resource. " Let us beware of interfering in Switzer- 
land as well as in Spain," said the king; "let us prevent others 
from interfering. A great service is already done. Let each 
people perform its own business, and bear its burden by the 
use of its rights." 

There was then a fermentation throughout all Europe, and 
everywhere from the bosom of a long peace there burst forth 
that violent uneasiness which generally presages the terrible 
blows of fate. An old and dangerous element had reappeared 
in the situation of Europe : England and France were now di- 
vided and hostile. To the difficulties which had in various 
points broken out between the two powers, to the struggle of 
influences which had succeeded the "cordial understanding," 
there was now added a wounding of national pride. Lord 
Palmerston measured himself in Spain with the French govern- 
ment in an important question, and was beaten. The annoy- 
ance of England was great, and anger succeeded the annoy- 
ance. 

Revolutionary changes, in a country of perpetual agitation, 
had brought Queen Christina to be regent of Spain. Having 
the intention of marrying her daughter, Queen Isabella, she 
and her friends of the moderate party strongly desired a 
union with the royal family of France. The king loudly and 
resolutely repelled that idea. "Our policy is simple," wrote 
Guizot to Flahault, the ambassador at Vienna. ' ' At London, and 
probably elsewhere, they would not wish to see one of our princes 
reign in Madrid. We understand the exclusion, and accept it 
in the interests of the general peace and the European balance 
of power ; but in the same interests we return it, and allow of 
no prince on the throne of Madrid who is not a member of the 
house of Bourbon. It has many husbands to offer — princes of 
Naples, Lucca, the sons of Don Carlos, the sons of Don Fran- 
cisco. We propose none of them; we forbid none of them. 
He who suits Spain will suit us — but in the circle of the house 
of Bourbon. It is for us a French interest of the first order ; 
and in my opinion it is evidently also a Spanish interest and a 
European interest." (27th March, 1842.) 

This clearly expressed policy of the French government 
had been loyally accepted by Lord Aberdeen, then foreign min- 
ister. It was secretly attacked by Sir Henry Bulwer, English 
ambassador at Madrid, who was intriguing in favor of the 
young queen's union with Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg. This 



chl xx.1 PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 369 

manoeuvre, openly condemned by Lord Aberdeen, caused com- 
plications in our official negotiations. After long hesitation 
with regard to a Neapolitan candidate— Count Trapani, brother 
of the king— the French government modified their intention. 
The influence of France was declared more definitely. It ap- 
peared that the future spouses of the Queen of Spain and the 
Infanta Louisa Fernanda must be the Due de Cadiz, son of 
Prince Don Francisco, and the Due de Montpensier, youngest 
son of King Louis Philippe. ' ' For heaven's sake, don't let us 
miss this prince!" exclaimed Queen Christina, as soon as she 
saw the possibility of so desirable a union for her second 
daughter. The fall of Peel's cabinet changed the relative posi- 
tion of France and England in Spain. Lord Palmerston now 
was in favor of the Prince of Coburg as a candidate. "I lay 
infinite stress upon agreement in our plans and action," wrote 
Guizot to Jarnac, then our representative in London. "I 
have already proved that sufficiently, and shall do much to 
make it good. But in fact, France perhaps ought to have 
an isolated policy in Spain ; and if the initiation of an isolated 
policy was taken in London, I surely ought to adopt in Paris 
the policy also." 

The interior policy of Spain, as well as her foreign alliances, 
were at stake. The moderates, who were in power, were 
threatened by the revolutionary "progressists," their constant 
enemies. The support of France was certain and necessary. 
After tergiversation and hesitation had uselessly prolonged 
the diplomatic intrigues, Queen Christina, and her minister 
Isturitz, at last decided definitely for the French alliance, and 
the marriage of the Due of Cadiz with Queen Isabella, and that 
of the Due of Montpensier with the Infanta, were officially 
announced. On the 10th and 11th October, 1846, the two 
unions were solemnly celebrated in the palace, and in the 
church of Our Lady of Atocha, at Madrid. Unions of difficult 
completion, and which were to be variously crossed by many 
shocks and griefs, but which were not to exercise, either on 
Spain or on European politics, the influence attributed to them 
by the triumph of France and the dissatisfaction of England. 
The son of Queen Isabella, reared in exile, reigns on the throne 
of Spain ; beside him, raised by spontaneous affection to that 
elevation, is his cousin the daughter of the Due of Montpensier 
and the Infanta. God sports with human anticipations and 
anxieties, just as He often, in His impenetrable designs, de- 
stroys the fairest hopes and the purest happiness. 
VIII.— 24 



370 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [en. 3"u 



CHAPTER XXI. 

REFORM AND REVOLUTION (1847 — 1848). 

I have gone over the history and policy of King Louis 
Philippe's government from 1830 to 1847, and after taking 
pleasure in showing its steadfast tendency towards the well- 
being and progressive development of the country under its 
influence, I now come with profound repugnance and sorrow 
to those painful days by the faults and misfortunes of which 
France was launched into dangerous enterprises, such that 
men of the greatest foresight cannot discern their end. Our 
country has paid, and will probably long pay, very dearly for 
the fatal error which overthrew the throne of the king who 
had for eighteen years governed it with a wisdom, prudence, 
and moderation acknowledged even by his enemies when they 
are attacking him. 

"The cabinet of the 29th October, and their political friends, 
had a clearly defined idea and purpose. They aspired to bring 
to a close the French era of revolutions by establishing the free 
government which France had in 1789 promised herself as the 
consequence and political guarantee of the social revolution 
which she was completing." This policy, formerly the object 
of their youthful hopes, had become theirs, whether in power 
or in the opposition. "It was in fact both liberal and anti- 
revolutionary. Anti-revolutionary both in home and foreign 
affairs, since it v ished to maintain the peace of Europe abroad, 
and the constitutional monarchy at home. Liberal, since it 
fully accepted and respected the essential conditions of free 
government; the decisive intervention of the country in its 
affairs, with a constant and well-sustained discussion, in pub- 
lic as well as in the chambers, of the ideas and acts of the gov- 
ernment. In fact, this two-fold object was attained from 1830 
to 1848. Abroad, peace was maintained without any loss to 
the influence or reputation of France in Europe. At home, 
from 1830 to 1848 political liberty was great and powerful; 
from 1840 to 1848 in particular, it was displayed without any 
new legal limit being imposed. It was this policy that the 



ch. xxi.] REFORM AND REVOLUTION. 371 

opposition— all the oppositions, monarchical and dynastic as 
well as republican— blindly or knowingly attacked, and tried 
to change. It was to change it that they demanded electoral 
and parliamentary reforms. In principle, the government 
had no absolute or permanent objections whatever to such 
reforms; the extension of the right of suffrage, and the incom- 
patibility of certain functions with the office of deputy, might 
and must be the natural and legitimate consequences of the 
upward movement of society and political liberty. They did 
not think the reforms necessary or well-timed, and were there- 
fore justified in delaying them as much as possible, provided 
they should one day allow to be accomplished by others what 
they thought themselves still strong enough to refuse."* 
" We have too much and too long maintained a good policy," 
said Guizot afterwards. 

A frequent and formidable sign that men's minds are secretly 
agitated, is the anxiety by which they are seized with refer- 
ence to intrigues and vices which they suppose around them. 
It would be a serious error to see always a symptom of moral 
improvement in the clamors against electoral or parliamentary 
corruption. Immediately after the ministerial success in the 
general elections of 1846, this precursory indication of storms 
appeared on the horizon. Guizot raised the question to its 
proper point of view. "Leave to countries which are not 
free," said he, "leave to absolute governments, that explana- 
tion of great results by small, feeble, or dishonorable human 
acts. In free countries, when great results are produced it is 
from great causes that they spring. A great fact has been 
shown in the elections just completed ; the country has given 
its adhesion, its earnest and free adhesion, to the policy pre- 
sented before it. Do not attribute this fact to several pre- 
tended electoral manoeuvres. You have no right to come to 
explain, or qualify by wretched suppositions, a grand idea of 
the country thus grandly and freely manifested." The rumors 
of electoral corruptions were soon followed by rumors of 
parliamentary corruptions; but the majority of the cham- 
ber declared themselves "content" with the ministerial ex- 
planations. The "contents " figured in the opposition attacks 
by the side of the " Pritchardists." 

Several improper abuses of long standing existed in certain 
branches of the administration; some posts m the Treasury 



* Guizot's Mimoires, etc. 



372 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xxl 

had been the object of pecuniary transactions between those 
who held the posts and were resigning, and the candidates who 
presented themselves to replace them. A bill, proposed on the 
20th January, 1848, by Hebert, who had become keeper of the 
seals, formerly forbade any such transaction, under assigned 
penalties. Several months previously (June, 1847), M. Teste, 
formerly minister of public works, and then president of the 
Cour de Cassation, was seriously compromised in the scandal- 
ous trial of General Cubieres and Pellapra. Convicted of hav- 
ing received a large sum of money in connection with a mining 
concession, he was brought before the Peers, and being led 
from question to question and from discussion to discussion, 
soon made a confession of his crime. He, as well as his accom- 
plices, underwent the just penalty. 

"It was, on the part of the cabinet, one of those acts the 
merit of which is only perceived afterwards, and in which the 
government bears the weight of the evil at the moment when 
it is trying most sincerely and courageously to repress it. 
There were several deplorable incidents— the shocking murder 
of the Duchess of Praslin, some scandalous trials and violent 
deaths following hard one upon another, and aggravating the 
momentary depression and the excited state of the popular 
imagination. The air seemed infected with moral disorder 
and unlooked-for misfortunes, coming to join in party attacks 
and the false accusations which the cabinet were subjected to. 
It was one of those unhealthy hurricanes often met in the lives 
of governments."* It was certainly culpable on the part of 
the opposition to try to take advantage of this disturbed state 
of men's minds to gain the end they were pursuing. Seven 
times was parliamentary reform, and three times was electoral 
reform, refused by the chambers, from 20th February, 1841, 
to 8th April, 1847; the question being then displaced, it changed 
its ground. The opposition made an appeal to popular passion ; 
and parliamentary discussions were succeeded by the banquets. 

" From the close of the session of 1847 to the opening of that 
of 1848, they kept France in a state of constant fever— an 
artificial and deceptive fever in this sense, that it was not the 
natural and spontaneous result of the actual wishes and wants 
of the country; but true and serious in this sense, that the 
political parties who took the initiative in it found amongst 
some of the middle classes and the lower orders a prompt and 



* Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



ch. xxi.] REFORM AND REVOLUTION. 373 

keen adhesion to their proposals. The first banquet took place 
in Paris at the Chateau-Rouge Hotel on the 9th July, 1847. 
Garnier-Pages has himself told how the royalist opposition and 
the republican opposition concluded their alliance for that 
purpose. On leaving the house of Odilon Barrot, the radical 
members of the meeting walked together for some time. On 
reaching that part of the Boulevard opposite the Foreign Office, 
at the moment they were about to separate, Pagnerre said, 
"Well, really, I did not expect for our proposals so speedy 
and complete success. Do those gentlemen see what that may 
lead to? For my part, I confess I do not see it clearly; but it 
is not for us radicals to be alarmed about it." "You see that, 
tree," replied Garnier-Pages; " engrave on its bark a mark in 
memory of this day, for what we have just decided upon, is a 
revolution."* Gamier-Pages did not foresee that the republic 
of 1848, as well as the monarchy of 1830, should in its turn 
speedily perish in that revolution, so long big with so many 
storms. 

For six months banquets were renewed in most of the de- 
partments—at Colmar, Strasburg, St. Quentin, Lille, Avesnes, 
Cosne, Chalons, Macon, Lyons, Montpellier, Rouen, etc. In 
many parts, there was a great display of feelings and intentions 
most hostile to royalty and the dynasty. On several occasions 
— at Lille, for example — the keenest members of the parliamen- 
tary opposition, Odilon Barrot and his friends, withdrew, soon 
after taking then* places at table, because the others absolutely 
refused to dissemble their hostility to the crown and the king. 
At other banquets, notably at Dijon, the ideas and passions of 
1793 unblushingly reappeared. They defended Robespierre 
and the reign of terror. The "red republic " openly flaunted 
its colors and hopes. The attack upon monarchy and the 
dynasty ranged itself, it is true, behind the parliamentary 
opposition, but like Galatea running away— 

Et se cupit ante videri. 

It had succeeded well enough in making itself seen. The gov- 
ernment could no longer shut then eyes. They had tolerated 
the banquets so long as they could believe, or seem to believe, 
that the parliamentary opposition directed, or at least ruled, 
the movement. When it became evident that the anarchical 
impulse was more and more gaining upon the parliamentary 
opposition, and that the latter was becoming the instrument 



*Guizot's Memoires, etc. 



374 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xxi. 

instead of remaining the master, then only they forbade the 
banquets. It was their duty. 

It was also their right, in the opinion of the most competent 
legal authorities, as well as according to the recent practice of 
other free governments, in presence of a situation full of cer- 
tain danger. This right, however, was disputed by the oppo- 
sition. The government, pushing the principle of legality to 
its farthest limit, arranged with several leading men of the 
opposition for the purpose of enabling the question of right to 
be brought speedily and methodically before competent tribu- 
nals. Just before the opening of the new session, in order to 
close the campaign, a new and formal banquet was being pre- 
pared in Paris, to which all the deputies and peers who had 
taken part in any of the preceding banquets were to be invited. 
This manifestation was to take place in the twelfth arrondisse- 
ment of Paris. It was therefore agreed between the opposition 
delegates and those of the ministerial majority that the deputies 
invited should go to the place appointed for the meeting and 
take their places, so as to avoid any disturbance in the streets 
or the hall, and that on the police-commissary declaring that 
there was an order against it, the guests should protest and 
withdraw, to lay the question before the tribunals. The agree- 
ment thus concluded was communicated by Duchatel to the 
council, who approved of it. 

Meanwhile the chamber met, the session was opened, and 
from the very first the government could perceive a wavering 
in the majority. Even amongst those who blamed and feared 
the agitation out of doors, several believed in the urgent neces- 
sity of a concession, to remove all pretext for clamors and in- 
trigues. On the ministers being informed of it, Guizot said, 
"Withdraw the question from the hands of those who now 
hold it, and let it be brought back to the chamber. Let the 
majority take a step in the direction of the concessions indi- 
cated ; however small it be, I am certain it will be understood, 
and that you will have a new cabinet, which will do what you 
think necessary." It was in the same spirit that the ministry, 
during the discussion on the address, rejected an amendment 
tending to impose upon them immediate engagements with 
reference to reform. 

"The maintenance of the unity of the conservative party," 
said Guizot, "the maintenance of conservative policy and 
power, will be the fixed idea and rule of conduct in the 
cabinet. They will make sincere efforts to maintain or restore 



ch. xxi.] REFORM AND REVOLUTION. 375 

the unity of the conservative party upon that question, in 
order that it may he the conservative party itself in its en- 
tirety that undertakes and gives to the country its solution. 
If such an operation in the midst of the conservative party is 
possible, it -will take place. If that is not possible— if by the 
question of reforms the conservative party cannot succeed in 
making a common arrangement and maintaining the power of 
the conservative policy, the cabinet "will leave to others the 
sad task of presiding over the disorganization of the conserva- 
tive party and the ruin of its policy. " 

The question was not destined to be taken up again by the 
chambers, having escaped from the weak hands that aspired to 
direct it. The courtesy of the conservative reformers had no 
result except disquieting the government, a sort of precursory 
sign of the tempest. E^en the parliamentary opposition found 
themselves baffled in their prudent efforts, A manifesto pub- 
lished in the National newspaper organized a noisy demonstra- 
tion in the streets, though forbidden in the banquet-hall, the 
national guards being called to arms by the insurrection, and 
their services arranged beforehand. The convention was 
clearly violated, and the legal appeal to the tribunals therefore 
abandoned: the revolution itself declared it would decide the 
question. In such a situation, sorrowfully admitted by those 
who had negotiated the evening before, the government offi- 
cially forbade the banquet. The evening papers announced 
that the deputies of the opposition had given up the intention 
of being present, and therefore the proposed manifestation was 
deprived of all importance. The revolutionary leaders in their 
turn declared that the banquet would not take place. 

Disappointment increasing their irritation, the parliamentary 
opposition, in a momentary resistance, employed the remainder 
of their strength. On the 22nd February fifty-two deputies of 
the left laid before the chamber a bill of impeachment against 
the ministry, on account of their home and foreign policy 
during the whole course of their administration. "What 
would you have them do?" said to Guizot an old member of 
the opposition who had no share whatever in this act. ' ' They 
have just rendered the banquet abortive by declaring 
they would not attend it, and felt compelled to do some- 
thing to compensate for, and to some extent redeem, that re- 
fusal." 

Weakness has a constraining power difficult to understand, 
which is not foreseen even by those who give way to it ; and 



376 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xxi. 

of this the history of the revolution of 1848 offers an eloquent 
and melancholy example. 

The king, as well as his ministers, still hoped that the crisis 
had passed, and that the disorder avoided on the occasion of 
the banquet should not reappear under any pretext. The dis- 
play of military forces which had been agreed upon and pre- 
pared was ordered to be suspended ; instructions to arrest the 
republican leaders were issued slowly, and in but few instances. 
Yet a secret agitation was indicated in several parts of the 
capital ; there were numerous crowds ; on the morning of the 
23rd several corps-de -garde were attacked. As the fermenta- 
tion increased, the streets were crowded with idle workmen ; 
people collected in knots from curiosity, or stood at their doors. 
The storm was in the air, evident both to those who dreaded it 
and those who were preparing to make use of it. 

Meanwhile the appeal of the revolutionary leaders to the 
national guard had been listened to. Many of the Parisian 
shopkeepers took part in the "reform movement," without 
well understanding it, and marched under the orders of their 
dangerous allies. Several detachments of the 7th, 3rd, 2nd 
and 10th legions appeared in the streets, some in the Faubourg 
St. Antoine, others marching to the Palais Royal, or the office 
of the National in the Eue Le Peletier, and others in the stu- 
dents' quarter shouting " Long live reform!" in every street. 
When General Jacqueminot, the Commander-in-Chief of the 
National Guard, ordered a general muster of the legions, a 
large number of the guards, respectable and law-abiding men, 
did not answer to the summons. They had no desire for a 
revolution or reform forced from the legal powers by insurrec- 
tion, but they shrunk from entering upon a struggle with sol- 
diers wearing their own uniform, and influenced apparently 
by reasonable motives. They remained in their homes de- 
jected and anxious. 

The king was as dejected as the Parisian citizens, and still 
more anxious. For several months he had frequently fallen 
into very low spirits, which was attributed to his grief at the 
death of his only sister, Madame Adelaide of Orleans, whose 
life had been always intimately associated with his, and who 
had just expired (December, 1847). His most intimate friends 
urged him to charm away the crisis by changing his ministry. 
He still resisted, but every hour less vigorously. The cabinet 
was not even informed of his perplexities. "Concessions 
forced by violence from all the legal powers are not a means 



ch. xxi] REFORM AND REVOLUTION. 377 

of safety," said Duchatel; "one defeat would quickly bring a 
second. In the revolution there was not much between the 
20th June and the 10th August, and to-day things advance 
more quickly than in those times. Events, like travellers, 
now go by steam." 

The truth, however, was now becoming manifest, both in the 
king's mind as to the tendency of his ideas, and in the eyes of 
his ministers as to the determination now being formed in the 
Palace. By the very statement of the question it was resolved 
upon. Guizot and Duchatel thus expressed it to the king: "It 
is for your Majesty to decide. The cabinet is ready either to 
defend to the last the king and conservative policy which we 
profess, or to accept without a murmur the king's determina- 
tion to call other men to power. At present, more than ever, 
in order to continue the struggle successfully, the cabinet has 
need of the king's decided support. As soon as the public 
should learn, as they inevitably must, that the king hesitates, 
the cabinet would lose all moral influence, and be unable to 
accomplish their task." The king seemed still in perplexity, 
and said he should prefer to abdicate. "You cannot say that, 
my dear," replied the queen, who was present at the interview 
with the Dukes of Nemours and Montpensier ; "you belong to 
France, and not to yourself." "That is true," said the king, 
as Louis XVI. had formerly said to Malesherbes; "I am more 
unfortunate than the ministers, I cannot resign." 

The ministers then in King Louis Philippe's cabinet had not 
resigned. The king, having made his decision, said, "It is 
with the keenest regret that I separate myself from you, but 
necessity and the safety of the monarchy demand this sacri- 
fice. My will gives way ; much time will be needed to regain 
the ground I am about to lose." There were tears in many 
eyes. The king sent for Mole, and Guizot himself announced 
to the Chamber of Deputies the change of ministry. 

There was much astonishment and sorrow in the parlia- 
mentary majority, always strongly attached to the leaders 
they had so long followed in spite of occasional vagaries and 
good-natured weakness. The imminence of a great danger en- 
grossed their minds, together with the consciousness of a great 
defeat. The anxiety of the chambers was re-echoed in the 
Tuileries ; and for the last time the ministers assembled there, 
anxious at that last moment of their power to maintain order, 
now everywhere threatened. Count Mole was laboriously occu- 
pied in the formation of a cabinet. ' ' To think that this resolu- 



378 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xxi. 

tion was formed in a quarter of an hour !" exclaimed the king 
when engaged with Jayr in some administrative details. 

The excitement was great in the palace, but still greater in 
the streets, being skilfully kept up by several insurrectionist 
leaders, and spontaneously arising among the reckless portion 
of the populace, who are easily influenced by revolutionary 
clamors. Increased by those assembling from curiosity or 
idleness, the crowds in the squares and boulevards assumed 
alarming proportions. All at once, opposite the Foreign Office, 
there was heard, about nine o'clock in the evening, one of those 
fatal explosions, whether accidental or premeditated, which 
history often records as the origin of great popular risings. 

The soldiers, who till then had remained motionless and 
patient, thought they were attacked, and fired in their turn. 
Several persons fell, some dead, others wounded, and some 
were knocked down and trodden under foot. The greatest 
disorder, caused both by alarm and indignation, broke out in 
the whole neighborhood. Then was the moment of action for 
the keen and determined insurgents. A cart which happened 
to be there was immediately loaded with the corpses and 
drawn through the streets, from one newspaper office to an- 
other, in the most populous quarters, with shouts of "Ven- 
geance ! To arms ! Down with Guizot ! The head of Guizot !" 
By daybreak Paris was covered with barricades. 

Mole having failed in his efforts to form a cabinet, the king 
sent for Thiers. For the last time he claimed the devotion of 
his old ministers. "I must have immediately a military chief 
— an experienced chief," he said. "I have sent for Bugeaud, 
but I wish M. Thiers to find him appointed. Will you grant 
me this further service?" Duchatel, and General Trezel, on 
the previous evening still minister of war, signed without 
hesitation Marshal Bugeaud's appointment as Commander-in- 
Chief of the National Guard and the Army. It was three 
o'clock in the morning. "It is somewhat late to set to work," 
said the marshal; "but I have never been beaten, and shall 
not make a beginning to-morrow. Let me act, and fire the 
cannon; there will be some bloodshed, but to-morrow evening 
the strength will be on the side of law, and the factious will 
have had their account settled." 

The day had not yet dawned when the marshal was review- 
ing his forces. He found them demoralized, having for sixty 
hours remained motionless before the mob, with their feet in 
the mud, and their knapsacks on their backs, allowing the riot- 



ch. xxi.] REFORM AND REVOLUTION. 379 

ers to attack the municipal guards, burn the sentry-boxes, cut 
down the trees, break the street-lamps, and harangue the sol- 
diers. They were moreover badly supplied with provisions 
and ammunition. The energetic language of their new com- 
mander, and the precise orders which he gave for the march 
of the columns, inspired the soldiers with fresh life and cour- 
age. The movements indicated had already begun to be exe- 
cuted, and the troops were taking position; but the crowds 
again filled the streets, and at several points the soldiers were 
prevented from marching. One of the generals at the head of 
a column sent to tell Bugeaud that he was face to face with 
an enormous body of men, badly armed, who made no attack 
upon him, but only shouted "Long live reform! Long live 
the army! Down with Guizot!" "Order them to disperse," 
replied the marshal ; " if they do not obey, use force, and act 
with resolution." 

There was no fighting on either side. The staff were be- 
sieged by the entreaties of a crowd of respectable men, who in 
terror and consternation conjured Bugeaud to withdraw the 
troops because they excited the anger of the populace, and 
leave to the national guard the duty of appeasing the insur- 
rection. The danger of such counsel was obvious, and the 
marshal paid no attention to it, till Thiers and Odilon Barrot, 
who had just accepted office, came to the staff with the same 
advice, and it therefore became an order. The marshal at 
first refused the ministers as he had done the citizens, and 
then the same order was sent by the king. "I must have a 
government," the marshal had recently said ; and, as he was 
now without the government, who thus relaxed the resistance 
agreed upon, he in his turn gave way. His instructions for 
retreat were thus given to his officers: " By order of the king 
and ministers, you will fall back upon the Tuileries. Make 
your retreat with an imposing attitude, and if you are 
attacked, turn round, take the offensive, and act according to 
my instructions given this morning." 

Meanwhile the formation of the ministry was posted up 
everywhere. A mixed crowd carried Odilon Barrot in tri- 
umph to the home office, which Guizot and Duchatel had just 
left. Those round him shouted ' ' Long live the father of the 
people !" but most of the notices posted up were torn. At the 
moment when the new ministers were about to leave Bugeaud 's 
staff on horseback in order to pass through the city, Horace 
Vernet, the artist, arrived out of breath. "Don't let M. Thiers 



380 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xxi. 



go," said he to the marshal. " I have just passed through the 
moh, and they are so furious against him that I am certain 
they would cut him in pieces !" Odilon Barrot presented him- 
self alone to the crowd, but was powerless to calm the fury he 
had assisted in unchaining. ' ' Thiers is no longer possible, and 
I am scarcely so, said he on his return to the staff. The king 
on one occasion showed himself in the court of the Tuileries, 
when reviewing several battalions of the national guards. 
There were some shouts of "Long live the king!" but the 
most numerous were ' ' Long live reform ! Down with Guizot I" 
"You have the reform; and M. Guizot is no longer a minis- 
ter!" said the king; and on the shouts being again repeated, 
he returned to the palace. 

The palace also was thronged with a confused crowd, ani- 
mated by various feelings, and agitated by evident fears or 
secret hopes. Some urged the king to abdicate in favor of the 
Comtede Paris; others vigorously opposed such a relinquish- 
ment of power in presence of the insurrection. The great 
mind of Queen Marie- Amelie was displayed in all the simplic- 
ity of its heroism. "Mount on horseback, sire," said she, 
"and I shall give you my blessing." She had recently urged 
the king to change his cabinet; a very kind message, entrusted 
for Guizot to one of his most intimate friends, at the same 
time proved her regret. 

The king sat at his writing-table, agitated and perplexed. 
He had begun to write his abdication, when Marshal Bugeaud 
entered, having just learned what was takiDg place in the 
Tuileries, and excited by the sound of some shooting which 
had already begun. " It is too late, sire," said he; "your ab- 
dication would complete the demoralization of the troops. 
Your Majesty can hear the shooting. There is nothing left but 
to fight." The queen seconded this advice, and Piscatory and 
several others were of the same opinion. The king rose with- 
out finishing his writing, and then other voices were raised to 
insist upon the king's promise. He sat down again, wrote and 
signed his abdication. By this time the troops had received 
orders to fall back, and Marshal Gerard took the place of 
Bugeaud as commandant-general. The columns were marched 
towards the barracks, and there was no detachment around ( 
the Palais-Bourbon, where the same disorder reigned, and the 
same efforts were made in vain. The Duchess of Orleans pre- 
sented herself before the Chamber of Deputies as soon as the 
abdication of the king was known. The Due de Nemours 



ch. xxi.] REFORM AND REVOLUTION. 381 

accompanied her, leading the Comte de Paris by the hand; 
and the Due de Chartres, who was weak and ill, was wrapped 
up in a mantle and leaned on Ary Scheffer's arm. Before 
joining the princess at the gate of the chamber, the Due de 
Nemours had, with his brother the Due de Montpensier, seen 
the king their father take his melancholy departure, to escape 
the insurrection, against which he could not make up his 
mind to use force. 

The Duchess of Orleans already knew that depriving the 
king of the crown was not giving it to her son. Her natural 
courage, however, and her maternal affection, induced her to 
make every effort to secure the throne for the prince of nine 
years whom the nation had already entrusted to her keeping. 
She had seen the Tuileries invaded before leaving that hall 
where her husband's portrait by Ingres seemed to preside over 
her son's destinies. "It is here one ought to die," she said, 
when Dupin and Grammont came to conduct her to the 
chamber. Odilon Barrot had gone to bring her, and succeeded 
in finding her in the Palais-Bourbon. The crowd showed 
sympathy for her, and made room respectfully, though she 
and her small retinue had difficulty in getting within the 
palace, every passage being crowded. The duchess stood near 
the tribune holding her two boys close to her. After Dupin 
announced the king's abdication, Barrot, after presenting the 
legal instrument, asked the chamber to proclaim at once the 
young king and the regency of Madame the Duchess of 
Orleans. Shouts of protest were heard on several benches. 
"It is too late!" exclaimed Lamartine, as he went to the 
tribune, eager to urge this difficulty, reject the regency, and 
demand a provisional government, so that the bloodshed 
might be stopped. Some others were already mentioning the 
word " republic." The crowd were gradually pouring into the 
chamber from the corriders, and Sauzet, the president, re- 
quested strangers to withdraw, and made a special appeal to 
the duchess herself. ' ' Sir, this is a royal sitting !" she replied ; 
and when her friends urged her, " If I leave this chamber, my 
son will no more return to it." A few minutes before her 
arrival, Thiers had entered the chamber in the greatest agita- 
tion: "The tide is rising, rising, rising!" he said to those who 
crowded round him, and then disappeared. Several voices 
were heard together in confusion ; amongst the speakers were 
Larochejacquelein, Ledru-Kollin, Marie, and Berryer. The 
duchess had been conducted to a gallery, on account of the 



382 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [ch. xxi. 

threats of the insurgent battalions, who burst open the doors 
after General Gourgaud had in vain tried to stop them, 
Arrnand Marrast, one of the editors of the National, aftei 
looking at the invaders, said "These are the sham public; I 
shall call the real!" A few minutes afterwards shots were 
heard in the court of the palace : the posts in the hands of the 
national guards opened before the triumphant mob, who, after 
sacking the Tuileries, hurried up against the expiring rem- 
nants of the monarchy. The Duchess of Orleans had already 
twice offered to speak, but her voice was drowned in the 
tumult. The new comers, stained with blood, and blackened 
with gunpowder, with dishevelled hair and bare arms, climbed 
on the benches, stairs, and galleries ; and in every part were 
shouts of "Down with the regency! Long live the republic! 
Turn out the ' contents ' !" Sauzet put on his hat, but a work- 
man knocked it off, and then the president disappeared. 

Several of the deputies rushed to the gallery, where the 
duchess was still exposed to the looks and threats of the in- 
surgents. "There is nothing more to be done here, madam," 
they urged; "we must go to the president's house, to forma 
new chamber." She took the arm of Jules de Lasteyrie; and 
on her sons being separated from her in the narrow passages, 
she showed the greatest anxiety, crying " My boys ! my boys!" 
At one time the Comte de Paris was seized by a workman in a 
blouse ; but one of the national guards took him out of his 
hands, and the child was passed from one to another till he re- 
joined his mother. No one knew what had become of the Due 
de Chartres ; but he was brought to the Invalides, where the 
princess went for refuge ; and in the evening, after nightfall, 
the mother and sons withdrew from Paris, and soon after 
from France. "To-morrow, or ten years hence," said the 
Duchess of Orleans as she left the Invalides, "a word, a sign 
will bring me back." Afterwards, in exile, she frequently 
said, "When the thought crosses my mind that I may never 
again see France, I feel my heart breaking." 

Wanderers and fugitives across their kingdom, after kneel- 
ing for the last time beside the tomb of their children at Dreux, 
and asking the hospitality of some friends who were still 
faithful, and without a single attempt to recover the crown 
they had lost, King Louis Philippe and Queen Marie- Amelie at 
last reached the sea- coast, and set sail towards England, 
that safe and well-known refuge of unfortunate princes. 
Thunderstruck like them, and at their wits' end, the most 



ch. xxi.] REFORM AND REVOLUTION 383 

faithful of their servants and partisans waited for some sign 
authorizing them to protest against the unparalleled surprise 
to which France had been subjected. The fugitive king made 
no protest. His sons quietly followed him into exile. Those 
who were serving France abroad learned at the same time tbe 
news of their fall and the rise of a new power, and thought it 
their duty to bow to the national will, resolving that not a 
single drop of French blood should be shed in their cause. 
They had often unhesitatingly exposed all then- own. 

In bringing to a close this sketch of the history of France as 
it was, the cradle still obscure of new France, we leave our 
native land on the threshold of an unknown future, charged 
both with storms and with hopes. We followed it throughout 
the terrible acts and the pacific interludes of a long drama ; we 
saw it delivered up to the enthusiasm of inexperience, a victim 
to most dangerous misconceptions, and humbling itself, 
throughout the intoxication and crime of the reign of terror, 
even to the corruption and inertia of the directory. We saw 
order again revive, with glory, under the powerful hand of 
Napoleon, as first consul, and then emperor. We saw glory in 
alliance with the disasters of madness ; the hopes of the first 
restoration tarnished by the mutual distrust of the crown and 
the people ; Napoleon's selfishness, together with the credulity 
of the army and nation, bring again upon us the bitter chas- 
tisement of foreign vengeance. The revolutionary tragedy, 
demagogic or despotic, seemed at last to be nearly complete. 
The struggles for liberty were again Limited to the parliament- 
ary arena, and repose and hope were again reappearing. An 
old man's illusions might occasion this glimpse of calm, having 
witnessed new political disturbances, which were speedily 
followed by a grand attempt at government. We have seen 
the rise of noble efforts and fair hopes, the wisest and most 
steadfast minds flatter themselves that at last they had reached 
the haven. God did not give His permission : in His impene* 
trable wisdom, our country, bandied about from revolution to 
revolution for so many years, was not yet deemed deserving 
of repose. It is at the painful moment of deception and down- 
fall that we to-day close the book of history. Under the blow 
of an extorted abdication and cowardly trickery, the edifice 
which was at last to shelter future generations disappeared, 
and those who had raised it withdrew for a long time into re- 
tirement. France resumed the course of her disturbed and 
uncertain destinies. After some new experience of republican 



384 E1ST0RY OF FRANCE. [ch. xxi. 

powerlessness, she weakly attempted a second trial of imperial 
government, and received a terrible fall headlong through the 
want of foresight of the absolute power. Immediately after 
her most painful reverses, in one of the great intervals of 
national action, she shuddered at the renewed horrors of the 
demagogic fever. Wounded, sick, humbled, borne on a raft 
in the midst of the tempest, she often asked herself what 
hardships were yet awaiting her. The course remains ob- 
scure, and the nearest object remains uncertain and veiled. 

France has not lost, and, will not lose, courage. She is 
laboring; she is hoping; and, while endeavoring to find her 
proper path, she reckons upon the day when revolutions 
will be at an end, and, when liberty with order will forever 
crown the long and painful efforts of her most faithful ser- 
vants of every name and every period ! 



INDEX. 



Abbey, Battle, on field of Hast- 
ings i. 288 

Abbio, Saxon chieftain, receives 

baptism i. 172 

Abbo, monk of St. Germain des 

Pres i.207 

— his poem on siege of Paris by 

Northmen i. 207, 208 

Abdel-Rhaman, Arab governor 

of Spain i. 150 

— suppresses rebellion of Abi- 

Nessa i. 151-153 

— sends Lampagie to Damascus i. 152 

— marches into Gallic Vasconia i. 152 

— takes Bordeaux by assault. . . i. 153 

— slain at Poitiers i. 155 

Abderame. See Abdel-Rhaman. 
Abelard, philosopher of 12th 

century i. 257 

— on Mount St. Genevieve i. 257 

— private life i. 400 

— quarrel with church i. 400 

— doctrines condemned by 

councils i. 400 

— death of i. 400 

Abercrombie, General, in Can- 
ada v. 127 

Aberdeen, Lord, English pleni- 
potentiary viii. 66 

Abi - Nessa, Mussulman com- 
mander i. 151 

— plans seizure of Peninsula. . . i. 151 

— overcome by Abdel-Rhaman i. 152 

— dies in defence of Lampagie i. 152 

Abo, conventions of viii. 24 

Abou-Kacem, Khalif of Egypt. . i. 328 

— takes Jerusalem from Turks i. 328 

— tenders gifts to leaders of 

crusades i. 330 

Aboukir, Bay of vi. 386 

— battle of vi. 387 

A cademicians, the iv. 425 

Academy, French, founded by 

Richelieu iv. 149-151 

— pronounces judgment on the 

Cid iv. 161 

— Dictionnaire of iv. 424 

Academy of Sciences iv. 426 

Acadia, desolation of v. 120 

Acadians, the story of v. 123 

" Accolade, the" i. 259 

Accol6e. See Accolade. 

Ache\ Count d\ commander of 

fleet in India v. 107 

Aci, Regnault d\ massacre of . . ii. 120 
Aclocque, captain of National 

Guard vi. 75 



Acqs (now Dax), on frontier of 

Guienne ill. I? 6 

Act of Accusation viii. 11? 

— Supplementary viii. 170, 173 

Adalberon, Archbishop of 

Rheims i. 236 

— advocates cause of Hugh 

Capet i. 236-239 

— and Duke Charles i. 237-239 

Adalbert, Count of Perigord i. 240 

Adalbert, De Ordine Palatii... i. 188 

Adam, Abbot, and Louis VI i. 382 

Adams, John, on Declaration 

of Independence v. 267 

Adelaide, Madame viii. 376 

Adhemar, Bishop of Puy i. 306 

— dies at Antioch i. 328 

Adhemar H., "Viscount of Li- 
moges i. 256 

— and monks of St. Martial i. 257 

Adrets, Baron of, barbarities in 

Provence iii. 248 

Adrian I. invokes aid of Charle- 
magne i. 174 

— his reception of Charlemagne i. 177 

— advises Charlemagne to be- 

come king of Lombards i. 177 

Aduaticans struggle against 

Romans i. 55 

jEduans, a Gallic tribe i. 17 

— ask aid of Romans i. 49 

iEgidius, Roman general i. 106 

iEtius leads Romans against 

Attila i. 106 

— victorious over Attila at 

Chalons i. 108 

iEtolians, a Greek people i. 25 

Affry, of Helvetian confedera- 
tion vii. 60 

Agace, Gobin, a French traitor ii. 84 

Agenois, ceded to England i. 456 

Agincourt, battle of ii. 214 

Agnadello, battle of ii. 441 

Agnes of Merania, death of i. 418 

Agobard, of School of Palace . . i. 196 

Agoult, Marquis d' v. 361 

Agrippa, Governor of Gauls i. 68 

— founds Cologne i. 68 

— admits Germans to Gaul i. 68 

Aguesseau, Chancellor d' v. 10 

— deprived of the seals, retires v. 14 

— recalled v. 17 

— exiled v. 42 

Aigues-Mortes, Charles V. and 

Francis I. at iii. 100 

Aiguillon, Duke of, repulses 

English v. 147 



380 



INDEX. 



Aiguillon,. Governor of Brittany v. 157 

— minister of war and foreign 

affairs v. 241 

— superseded by Count of Ver- 

gennes v. 24i 

Aiguillon, Due de vi. 26 

Aiguillon, Duchess of, niece of 

Richelieu iv. 75 

Aire, John d', of Calais ii. 94, 96 

Aix, founded by Romans i. 38 

— Parliaments of iii. 173 

— English fire-ships at vii. 314 

Aix-la-Chapelle, Congress at, 

1688 iv. 226 

_ treaty of, 1748 v. 95 

— liberation of viii. 232 

Aladenise, accomplice of Prince 

Louis Napoleon viii. 341 

Alain V., Duke of Brittany i. 266 

— appointed regent of Nor- 

mandy i. 266 

— poisoned by his enemies i. 267 

Alais, peace signed at, 1629 iv. 103 

Alans. See German nations. 

Alaric, King of Visigoths i. 109 

Alaric II., King of Visigoths of 

Aquitania i. 118 

— interview with Clovis i. 119 

Alauda, Gallic legion of Csesar i. 66 
Alava, General, commands the 

Spanish auxiliaries viii. 11 

Alba, Duke of, Captain-general 

of Spain iii. 196, 281 

Albech, French troops fall back 

upon vii. 120 

Alberic, Cardinal, against here- 
tics i. 402 

Albermarle, Duke of, defends 

Denain iv. 297 

Alberoni, Italian priest iv. 449 

— influence over Philip V v. 23 

— his work in Spain v. 30 

— fate of his navy v. 31 

— and Marquis of Villena v. 32 

— endeavors to create civil war 

in France v. 35 

— dismissal demanded by 

France and England v. 35 

— fall of, 1719 v. 35 

— carries away will of Charles 

II v. 36 

Albigensians, a religious sect. . . i. 401 

— crusade against . . i. 401 

— negotiations of Louis VIII ... i. 422 
Albret, Henry d', King of Na- 
varre iii. 146 

Albret, Jeanne d\ birth of iii. 161 

— and the young princes iii. 270 

— goes to the court at Blois iii. 277 

— death of iii. 283 

Albret, Sire d' ii. 393 

Alcuin, adviser of Charlemagne i. 196 

Aldred, Archbishop of York i. 277 

Alencon, Duke d\ at the battle 

of Crecy ii. 88 

— killed at Agincourt ii. 214 

Alencon, Duke of ii. 250 

— kind reception to Joan of 

Arc ii. 251 

Alencon, Duke of, leaves field 

of Pa via iii. 71 

—death of iii. 78 



Alesia, capital of the Mandu- 

bians i. 6, 12 

— siege of i. 63 

Alessandria. Convention of Tii. 23 

Alexander II., Pope i. 278 

— espouses cause of William 

against Harold i. 279 

Alexander IV., Pope i. 451 

— St. Louis asks for Inquisition i. 451 
Alexander VI., Pope ii. 402 

— death of ii. 434 

Alexander, Emperor of Russia, 

learns of his father's death vii. 42 
Alexander, Emperor, corona- 
tion vii. 42 

— proposes mediation in Euro- 

pean affairs ... vii. 109 

— treaty with England vii. 110 

— admiration of Napoleon vii. 135 

— meeting with Napoleon at 

Tilsit vii. 159 

— rejoins his troops vii. 159 

— meets Napoleon at Erfurt. . . vii. 242 

— dissatisfied with treaty of Vi- 

enna vii. 320 

— concludes war with Turkey . . vii. 879 

— refuses to negotiate with Na- 

poleon vii. 384 

— begins campaign against Na- 

poleon vii. 386 

— enters Breslau viii. 23 

— unjust terms to St. Cyr viii. 61 

— personally engaged against 

Napoleon vii. 89 

— in Paris, 1815 viii. 209 

— Religious treaty with Prussia 

and Austria viii. 217 

— death of . . viii. 260 

Alexandria, new and old vi. 383 

— surrender to English vii. 45 

Alexis Comnenus. See Comne- 

nus. 

Alfred the Great, friendship for 

Rollo i. 208 

Algeria, question of govern- 
ment viii. 819 

— extension of French power 

in viii. 357 

Algiers, capture of viii. 272 

AUemannians. See German na- 
tions. 

— invade settlements of Franks i. 115 
Alliance, the grand, forming. ... iv. 258 

— second signing of iv. 272 

— quadruple, rupture of v. 62 

— triple, signed at the Hague, 

1668 iv. 224 

— triple, 1834 viii. 325 

Allied armies march upon Paris viii. 97 
— powers against France, dec- 
laration of viii. 59 

— powers renew treaty of Chau- 

mont viii. 165 

— troops retreat from Jem- 

mapes vi. 800 

— troops, successes and re- 

verses of vi. 314 

Allier, Chabot de 1' vii. 09 

Allies defeated at Lutzen viii. 30 

— determine upon an armistice viii. 36 

— position after battle of Baut- 

zen • viii. 36 



INDEX. 



387 



Allies in Paris, declaration of . . . viii. 107 

— demand person of Napoleon viii. 200 

— take possession of Paris viii. 203 

— in the capital viii. 303 

Allobrogians, a Gallic tribe i. 39 

— lose existence as a nation — i, 40 
Aimanza, Spanish defeat Eng- 
lish and Portuguese at iv. 283 

Almeida, siege of — vii. 344 

Aloys of Reding overthrown vii. 59 

Alphonso II., King of Naples ii. 403 

— abdicates in favor a" Ferdi- 

nand II ii. 403 

Alquier, President of Tribunal 

ci' Versailles vi. Ill 

Alauier. minister of France vii. 181 

jjreaay distressed ii. 219 

Alsace. Hungarian hordes in i. 211 

— Henry H. attempts to conquer hi. 193 

— Lorrainers in exile in Algeria iv. 31 

— restored to France iv. 300 

— return of emigrants vi. 230 

Altenkirchen, fight of vi. 331 

Alviano, Barthelmy d' and Louis 

SH ii. 441 

Alvinzy, General of Austrians.. . vi. 334 

Amaury I., King of Jerusalem.. i. 348 

Ambessa, Arab chieftain i. 150 

— leads Arabs into Gaul i. 150 

Amboise, Bussy d', killed in 

duel iv. 39 

Amboise, Cardinal d' ii. 392, 397 

— and Florentine envoys ii. 449 

— death at Lyons ii. 451 

Amboise, Chaumont d', nephew 

of Cardinal ii. 453 

Amboise, the conspiracy of in. 229 

Ambra "braves," Gallic horde i. 21 
Ambria. See Umbria. 
Ambrians. See Umbrians. 

Amelie, Queen viii. 353 

Amelot, of Court of Aids, and 

Conde iv. 189 

Amelot, Marquis v. 300 

America, armed resistance 
against taxation by Eng- 
land ii. 261, 264 

— declaration of independence, 

1776 v. 267 

— commerce, embargo on vii. 338 

— reheved from decrees of Na- 

poleon vii. 338 

American war, battles of Lex- 
ington and Concord v. 265 

— successes in the war v. 274 

— army, sufferings of v. 275 

— success at Yorktown v. 288 

Americans reheved from English 

orders in council vii. 338 

Amhra, A morons. See Ambra. 

Ami ens, treaty of, with England vii. 58 

Amnesty, general, exceptions to viii. 211 

Amphisseans, a Greek people ... i. 25 

Ampisuarians, a Frankish tribe i. 103 
Amsterdam refuses submission 
to Louis XIV. and cuts the 

dikes iv. 236 

— eagerly receives French ... vi. 317 
Anastasius, Pope, to Clovis i. 117 

— sends embassy to Clovis i. 120 

Ancenis, treaty of, 1468 ii. 333 

Ancients, Council of vi. 356 



Ancona surrenders to Bonaparte 

— seized by French troops 

— occupied by the French 

Ancre, Marshal d\ murder Of . . . 
Andalusia, insurrection in 

— Marshal Soult's campaign in 

— French evacuate 

Andelot, Francis d' 

— sent to prison by Henry H. . . 
Andre, Major, execution of ... 
Andreossy, General, leaves Eng- 
land 

— appointed governor of Vienna 

Angennes, Nicholas d 1 

Angilbert, scholar of Charle- 
magne's time 

Anglas, Boissy d' vi. 

— uncovering be.f ore the head of 

the deputy Feraud 

Anglo-Siciliah army in Catalonia 
Angouleme, Due d\ arrival at 

Bordeaux 

— establishes regency in Spain. . 
Angouleme, Duchess, Journal 

quoted. 

— re-enters Paris 

— visits the troops 

— opposes coup d'etat 

Anguiers, the 

Anianus, St., and Hun invasion 

Anjou, a state of France 

Anjou, Count of (Foulques, the 

brawler). 

Anjou, Duke of (Geoffrey Martel) 
Anjou, Duke of, son of John H.. 

— hostage for treaty of Bretigny 

— breaks pledge and returns to 

France 

— aspires to dominion in France 
Anjou, John of, Duke of Calabria 
Anjou, Henry, Duke of iii. 

— ignoble treatment of Conde's 

body 

— receives tender of crown of 

Poland 

— flight from Cracow 

— flight and insurrection of — 

— death of 

Anjou, Duke of, brother of Louis 

XHI 

— See also Orleans. 

Anjou, Duke of, grandson of 
Louis XIV 

— See also Philip V. 

Anjou, little Duke of, heir to 
French crown 

Anjou, Ren6 d' 

Anne of Austria, wife of Louis 
XHI. 

— secret correspondence with 

her brothers 

— regency of 

— retains Cardinal Mazarin 

— tour through Normandy and 

Burgundy 

— commissions Mazarin to raise 

levies in Germany 

— summons Parliament to Pon- 

toise 

— proclaims Parliament rebel- 

lious 

— fidelity to Mazarin 



vi. 341 
vii. 169 
viii. 303 

iv. 12 
vii. 224 
vii. 224 
viii. 13 

iii. 190 

iii. 214 
v. 285 

vii. 77 
vii. 273 
iii. 349 

i. 19(5 
222,237 

vi. 230 
viii. 11 

viii. 95 
viii. 250 

vi. 141 

vhi. 134 

viii. 167 

viii. 289 

iv. 430 

i. 101 

L244 

i. 253 
i. 270 
ii. 140 
ii. 140 

ii. 140 

ii. 175 

ii. 315 

260,267 

iii. 269 

iii. 288 
iii. 318 
iii. 317 
iii. 324 

iv. 35 



iv. 269 

iv. 294 
ii. 472 

iv. 12 

iv. 54 

iv. 165 
iv, 165 

iv 181 

iv 188 

iv 198 

iv 193 
iv. 196 



388 



INDEX. 



Anne of Austria and Cardinal 

Mazarin iv. 198 

•^-meeting with Philip IV. of 

Spain iv. 907 

Anne of Beaujeu, daughter of 

Louis XI ii. 382 

"- assumes government of 

France ii. 383, 891 

~- and Duke of Orleans ii. 391 

•— war with Brittany ii. 393 

— and Louis of Orleans, recon- 

ciliation ii. 397 

Anne of France. See Beaujeu. 

Anne of Bourbon ii. 396 

>— See also Anne of Beaujeu. 

Anne of Brittany ii. 392 

•— claimants for her hand ii. 393 

^— marries Charles VM ii. 399 

— personal animosities ii. 435 

<— marries Louis XU. ii. 478 

— death of ii. 478 

Anne, Princess, of Russia, wife of 

Robert of France i. 250, 251 

Anne, Queen, of England, acces- 
sion of iv. 278 

— dismisses Marlborough and 

the Duchess iv. 293 

Annebaut, Admiral d' id. 106 

Ansgard, burgess, efforts in be- 
half of William of Norman- 
dy i. 289 

Antigonus, King of Macedonia i. 22 

Antilles, French squadrons in. . vii. 112 
Antin, Duke of, son of Mme. de 

Montespan v. 43 

Antioch. capital of Syria i. 319 

— besieged by crusaders i. 319-322 

— betrayed into hands of cru- 

saders i. 322 

— horrible famine .. i. 323 

— epidemic at i. 328 

Antiochus conquers division of 

Gauls i. 26 

Antoin, village near Fontenoy . . v. 87 
Antoinette, Marie. See Marie 

Antoinette. 

Antonelli, Cardinal vii. 107 

Antonines, age of the i. 79 

Antoninus Pius, reign of i. 79, 80 

Antrustions, confidants of the 

king ii. 143 

Antwerp surrenders to Louis 

XV v. 91 

— fortifications of vii. 315 

Anvers, treaty of Flemish com- 
munes and English ii. 54 

Anville, Duke of, fleet destroyed v. 120 

Aosta, Duke of vi. 396 

ApoDo, oracle of i. 25 

Aquae Sextice, now Aix i. 38 

Aquitaine, a state of France ... i. 244 
Aquitania, division of southern 

Gaul i.125 

Aquitanians in Gaul i. 10 

— victorious over Arabs i. 149 

Arab blood in France i. 401 

Arabs and religion i. 148 

— terribly defeated by Aquita- 

nians i. 149 

— invade and conquer southern 

Gaul i. 149, 150 

— of Spain i. 150 



Arabs under Ambessa enter Gaul i. 150 

— triumph over Aquitanians at 

Bordeaux. i. 158 

— retreat from Poitiers i. 155 

— take Jerusalem i. 298 

— attack pilgrims i. 303 

— in subjection to Mamelukes . . vi. 384 

— Mussulman, invade Europe ... i. 148 

— Mussulman, overthrow king- 

dom of Visigoths 1. 148 

— Mussulman, conquer Syria, 

Mesopotamia, Egypt, and N. 

Africa i. 148 

Aranjuez vii. 187 

— central Junta at vii. 248 

Arcadius, an Arvernian senator i. 127. 

Architecture in middle ages iii. 136 

Areola, battle of vi. 336 

Arcon, Chevalier d\ inventions 

of v. 296 

Arcot, in India, taken by Clive. . v. 103 

Ardres, royal meeting at iii. 33 

Arecomicans, a Gallic tribe i. 19 

Aregisius, Duke of Beneventum i. 178 
Arezzo, Mgr., interview with 

Napoleon vii. 176 

Argence, D', and Condd iii. 268 

Argenson, M. d', seals entrusted 

to v. 14 

— harsh dismissal v. 140 

Argenson, party leader viii. 245 

Argenteau, M. Mercy d' v. 359 

Argonne, forest of vi. 296 

Arians and bishops of southern 

Gaul i. 118 

— a religious sect i. 401 

Aridius, adviser of Gondebaud, 

i. Ill, 112 

— perfidy to Gondebaud i. 117, 118 

Ariovistus, chieftain of Suevians i. 49 
Aristoxena. See Gyptis. 

Arlon, reduction by French, 1558 iii. 209 

Armada, Grand, against Eng- 
land iii. 434 

Armagnac, Bernard d' ii. 205. 

Armagnac, James d\ See Ne- 
mours. 

Armagnac, Louis d', viceroy of 

Louis XU ii. 431 

— killed at Cerignola ii. 431 

Armagnacs and Burgundians .ii. 206, 216 

— massacred by Burgundians. . ii. 222 

Arminius (Herrman) i. 168 

Armoric League i. 17 

Army, Christian, the vi. 253 

— of French Republic, first im- 

portant victory vi. 800 

— remains faithful to Napoleon viii. 115 

— reorganization of viii. 138 

Arnauld, M., a Jansenist iv. 345 

Arnauld, Amaury i. 411 

Arnauld, Mother Angelica iv. 77, 346 

Arnhem in hands of French ... vi. 317 

Arnold, Benedict, treason of v. 284 

Arnulf proclaimed emperor i. 208 

Arouet, Francis Mari6. See 

Voltaire. 

Arras, sedition in ii. 108 

— siege of ii. 210 

— peace concluded at ii, 210 

— peace signed between France 

and Burgundy 11.287 



INDEX. 



389 



Arras, treaty of, Dec. 88, 1483 ... ii. 878 

Arrest of the members v. 362 

Art during reign of Louis XIV. . iv. 365 

— in France in 19th cen vii. 210 

Artevelde, James van, at his 

door ii. 53 

— sketch of ii. 54 

— and Count of Flanders ii. 56 

— in Ghent ii. 57 

— and Edward m ii. 60 

— maintains right of Edward 

HI. to French crown ii. 63 

— growing unpopularity ii. 78 

— killed by mob ii. 80 

Artevelde, Philip Van ii. 176 

Articles, organic vii. 56 

Artois, allies invade, 1710 iv. 292 

Artois, Count Robert of i. 462 

— defeats Flemish at Furnes i. 462 

— put to the sword i. 464 

Artois, Robert of ii. 46 

— intrigues and banishment ii. 46 

— desperately wounded at Van- 

nes ii. 67 

— death of ii. 76 

Artois, Comte d\ closes Tennis 

Court vi. 9 

— in England vii. 81 

— returns to Paris viii. 128 

— accepts constitution for Lou- 

is XVHI viii. 129 

— strives to take part in the gov- 

ernment vii.. 237 

Arts, development in middle 

ages ill. 135 

Arvernians, a Gallic tribe i. 17 

— defeat JDduans i. 49 

Asfeldt, Marshal d' v. 66 

Asia, source of wandering na- 
tions i. 211 

Asiatic nations inundate Roman 

Empire i. 105 

Assas, Chevalier d\ death of v. 148 

Assemblies of Charlemagne i. 188 

— provincial v. 312 

— preparatory v. 383 

Assembly, National, Third Es- 
tate becomes v. 395 

— votes collection of taxes vi. 8 

— adjourns to Tennis Court — vi. 8 

— in Church of St. Louis vi. 9 

— visit of Louis XVI vi. 9 

— refuses to disperse vi. 10 

— the three orders united vi. 13 

— pledged to provide constitu- 

tion vi. 14 

— asks withdrawal of troops — vi. 17 

— all power concentrated in 

hands of vi. 24. 

— honorable action of nobility . . vi. 26 

— vote of, Aug. 4 vi. 29 

— takes property of clergy vi. 41 

— declares its mission ended. ... vi. 65 
Assembly, Constituent, National 

becomes vi. 65 

— revie w of i ts work vi. 65, 66 

— Louis XVI. takes leave of — vi. 66 

— defiance to sovereigns of Eu- 

rope vi. 291 

— substitutes militia for pro- 

vincial troops vi, 293 

—formation of auxiliary corps . . vi. 293 



Assembly, Legislative, Constit- 
uent becomes vi. 66 

— insists upon oath from all 

priests vi. 69 

— receives armed petitioners ... vi. 74 

— pronounces the country in 

danger .' vi. 81 

— Act of accusation vi. 82 

— royal family in hall. vi. 88 

— Swiss Guards enter hall vi. 91 

— obeys the insurrection vi. 92 

— legacy of universal suffrage . . vi, 93 

— recognizes Commune of Paris vi. 94 

— abdicates power into hands 

of Commune vi. 98 

— votes for domiciliary visits. . . vi. 100 

— petitioners crowd to bar of. . . vi. 102 

— expires vi. 113 

— threatening news from prov- 

inces vi. 154 

Assembly of Notables iii. 435 

Assembly of Resistance at Caen vi. 276 

Aspern, struggle at vii. 274 

Assietta, heights of, battle of. . v. 93 

Assizes of Jerusalem i. 335 

Astolphus, king of Lombards ... i. 165 

— conditions of peace with Pep- 

in i. 166 

Astros, Abb§ <T, imprisonment 

of... vii. 360 

Asturias, Prince of, arrest of . . . vii. 183 

Ataulph, king of Visigoths i. 106 

Athanagild, king of Spain i. 134 

Atheling, Edgar, nephew of Ed- 
ward i. 288 

— proclaimed king of England. . i. 288 

— abdicates i. 289 

Athelstan, successor of Alfred 

the Great i. 209 

Athenians lead Greek coalition. . i. 24 

Attalus, king of Pergamos i. 26 

— triumphs over Gauls i. 26, 27 

Attalus, the Christian. See Ly- 
ons, martyrs i. 94, 96 

Attila, king of the Huns i. 106 

— besieges Orleans i. 107 

— defeated by jEtius at Chalons, i. 108 
Attuarians, a Frankish tribe — i. 103 
Aubigne, Theodore Agrippa d'. . iii. 458 

— and Henry IV iii. 458 

— and Henry HI iii. 459 

Aubigny, Stuart d' ii. 429 

Aubin-du-Cormier, battle of ii. 394 

Auch, Martin d' vi. 9 

Audovere, first wife of Chilpenc i. 136,137 

Augereau, French general vi. 325 

— and Directory vi. 359 

— leaves Council of Five Hun- 

dred vi. 411 

— reply to Napoleon viii. 53 

Augsburg, entry of Gustavus 

Adolphus iv. 119 

— league of, 1686 iv. 253 

August, 10th, insurrection of . . . vi. 95 
Augustulus, last Roman Empe- 
ror of the West i 108 

Augustus, Roman Emperor i. 67 

— divides Gaul i. 67 

— administrative energy, L 68 

— attacks religion of Gauls i. 69 

— Roman title of Emperor L 83 

Augustus IH. of Poland v. 66 



390 



INDEX. 



Augustus m., king of Poland, 

death v. 168 

Augustus, Stanislaus, king of 

Poland v. 169 

Aulie Council vi. 313 

Aumale, Duke d\ Historie des 

Princes de Conde. 

iii. 229, 236, 268, 332, 333 
Aumale, Due d\ attempt upon 

life of viii. 347 

Aumont, Duke of, threatened 

by mob vi. 57 

Aumont, Marshal d' iii. 349 

Auneau, Germans defeated at. . iii. 331 

Auquetonville, Raoul d' ii. 199 

Auray, battle of ii. 71 

— military commission of vi. 271 

Aurelian, Roman Emperor i. 83, 85 

Aurelian, messenger of Clovis 

i. Ill, 112, 115 
Aurehus, Marcus. -See Marcus 

Aurelius. 

Austerlitz, battle of vii. 132 

Austrasia, extent of i. 125 

Austrasians proclaim Charles 

Duke of Austrasia i. 146 

— and Neustrians i. 143, 145, 147 

Austria, part in division of Po- 
land v. 174 

— fails at mediation vii. 156 

— secret diplomacy at St. Pe- 

tersburg ... vii. 281 

— matrimonial alliance with 

France vii. 326 

— secret alliance with Napoleon vii. 377 

— declares her position viii. 28 

— joins coalition against France viii. 47 
Austria, Anne of, wife of Louis 

xm iv.12 

— See also Anne. 

Austria, House of, foundations 

laid i.455 

— split in two iv. 170 

— end of its supremacy in Ger- 

many iv.170 

Austrian army enters Italy iv. 272 

Austrians occupy Genoa v. 93 

— defeated by French at Rivoli vi. 339 

— defeated at Hohenlinden vii. 30 

Austro-Bavarian army encamps 

on the Mein viii. 58 

Auton, John d\ Chronique quo- 
ted ii. 427, 433 

Autichamp, Marquis vi. 303 

Autun. See Bibracte. 

Auvergne, portion of Gaul i. 17 

Auvergne, Count of iii. 370 

Avalos, Ferdinand d', Neapoli- 
tan officer iii. 59 

Avars, barbaric nation i 144 

Avaux, M. d\ French diploma- 
tist iv.170 

Avignon, governed by Jourdan vi. 67 

Aviles, Pedro Menendes de v. 113 

Aydie, Odet d' and Louis XL... ii. 374 
Aymot, James, translator of 

Plutarch iii. 343 

Azebes, Diego, bishop of Osma i. 405 

Babeuf, Gracchus, conspiracy of vi. 322 
Babua, envoy of Emperor Fran- 
cis viii 32 



Baciocchi, Elisa, sister of Napo- 
leon vii. 108 

Badajoz, treaty of vii. 47 

— capitulates to the French vii. 355 

— taken by Wellington viii. 10 

Baedhannat. See Barthanat. 
Bagaudians, significance of 

name i. 84 

Bagration, Prince vii. 131, 886 

— death of vii. 403 

Bailly, the learned astronomer. . vi. 8 

— execution of vi. 177 

Baird, Sir David. vii. 248 

Bajazet I , Turkish Sultan ii. 194 

Balachoff, bearer of Alexan- 
der's orders vii. 389 

— dismissed by Napoleon vii. 389 

Baldwin, the Debonnair, Count 

of Flanders i. 270 

— regent of France i. 274 

Baldwin, Count of Hainault i. 312 

— and Tancred, strife between i. 318 

— leaves Crusaders at Maresa. . i. 318 

— becomes prince of Edessa, 

afterwards king of Jeru- 
salem i. 819 

Baldwin II., emperor of Con- 
stantinople, sells crown of 

thorns to Louis i. 435 

Baldwin III., king of Jerusalem i. 342 

Baldwin IV., king of Jerusalem i. 352 
Bale, negotiations toward 

peace vi. 318 

Baliol, claimant for throne of 

Scotland ii. 47 

Balland, General vi. 350 

Balue, John de ii. 367 

Ban, Giulay, the vii. 283 

Ban, Jellachich, corps of the vii. 282 

Bank, downfall of the v. 17 

Banquets in the departments viii. 373 

Bar, Guy de, Burgundian pro- 
vost ii. 221 

Barante, M., History of the 

Dukes of Burgundy... ii. 188, 333, 381 

Barbaczi, Austrian Colonel vi. 400 

Barbanegre, General, capitu- 
lates at Hunnigue viii. 210 

Barbarians assisted by Gauls 

and Germans i. 41, 42 

— defeated by Romans at the 

Ccenus i. 45 

Barbarigo, Augustin, Doge of 

Venice ii. 401 

Barbavera, Genoese bnccanier. . ii. 61 

Barbaroux in Assembly vi. 117 

— joins in denunciation of 

Robespierre vi. 117 

— death or vi. 176 

Barberini, Cardinal, nephew of 

Urban VIII iv. Ill 

Barbezieux, Secretary of War. . iv. 261 

Barcelona, treaty of ii. 400 

— attempts insurrection vii. 223 

Barclay de Tolly, General vii. 386 

— aims at junction with Bagra- 

tion vii. 390 

— sketch of vii. 393 

Barnave in prison vi. 1 76 

— execution of vi. 176 

Barras named commandant vi. 208 

— commandant of armed force vi. 215 



INDEX. 



391 



Barras, character of vi. 358 

— violent scene with Gohier vi. 402 

— dislike of Bonaparte vi. 407 

Barre, Chevalier de la, execu- 
tion of v. 207 

Barre, Colonel, in English Par- 
liament v. 260 

B&rrere, character of vi. 131 

— report of danger to republic vi. 311 
Barres, William des, French 

knight i. 354 

Barri, Godfrey de. See La Re- 

naudie. 
Barricades, the triumph of the 

hi. 340, 344 

Barrot, Odilon viii. 373 

Bart, John, corsair of Dun- 

Eerque iv. 247 

— an exploit of ii. 247 

Barthanat, a Gallic chieftain. . . i. 26 

Barthelemy, French diplomat. . vi. 318 

— arrest of vi. 362 

Bartholomew, Peter, priest i. 324 

Baschet, La Diploniatie Veniti- 

enne au Seizieme Siecle 

ii. 398, 427, 430 

Basle, conference at vi. 377 

Basnage, Huguenot refugee in 

Holland v. 56 

Basques, people in Southwest 

Gaul i. 11 

— perfidy to Charlemagne i. 180 

— in Aquitania, insurrection i. 214 

Bassana represents Napoleon at 

Wilna vii. 393 

Bassompierre, Francis de, and 

Henry IV iii. 468 

Bassompierre, Count of iv. 10 

— extracts from journal of iv. 37, 42 

Bassompierre, Memoires de iv. 112 

Bastile, the, a fortress ii. 174 

— storming and capture vi. 18, 20 

Batavian Republic, revolution., vii. 58 

— authority of First Consul as- 

sured in vii. 58 

Battle Abbey i. 288 

Baudricourt, Robert de ii. 242 

— .reception of Joan of Arc ii. 243 

Bauffremont, Henry de, baron 

of Senecy iv. 14 

Bautzen, battle of viii. 34 

Bavaria, Gustavus Adolphus in iv. 120 

— elector of, proclaimed 

Charles VII v. 75 

— secretly joins coalition 

against France viii. 54 

Bavian Republic, interior dis- 
sensions vi. 379 

Baville, M. de iv. 340 

Baville. Lamoignon de v. 52 

Bayanne. Cardinal de vii. 177 

Bayard, Chevalier de ii. 417 

— imprisoned ii. 424 

— and Ludovico ii. 425 

— wounded at Brescia ii. 455 

— farewell ii. 459 

— at Villaf ranca iii. 11 

— death of iii. 57 

— honors by Spanish army at . 

his death iii. 60 

Baylen, battle of vii. 230 

Bayonne, Junta formed at vii. 221 



Beachy Head, naval battle off iv. 259 
Beam, re-establishment of free 

Catholic worship iv. 24 

Beaufort. Duke of, arrest of . . . iv. 168 

Beaugency, French take ii. 261 

Beauharnais, President of As- 
sembly vi. 57 

— French ambassador in Spain, vii. 183 
Beauharnais, Eugene de vii. 108 

— See also Eugene Prince. 
Beauharnais, Hortense de vii. 108 

— marries Louis Bonaparte vii. 108 

Beauharnais, Josephine. See 

Josephine 

Beaujen, M. de, at Ft. Duquesne v. 12S 

Beaumarchais, sketch of v. 271 

— pleads and assists cause of 

Americans v. 271 

— as author v. 333 

Beaume, Reginald de, Arch- 
bishop of Bourges iii. 400 

Beaumont, Francis de, barbar- 
ities in Provence iii. 248 

Beaupuy. General opinion of 

Vendean War. vi. 261 

Beauvais, Vincent of iii. 110 

Beauvais, Bishop of (brother 

of Coligny) iii. 244 

Beauvais Nangis, Sieur de iii. 349 

Beauvais, siege of ii. 342 

— resists Burgundians ii. 343 

Beauvilliers, Duke of v. 45 

Beda, Noel Bedier, Syndic of 

Sorbonne iii. 148 

Bedford, Duke of, brother of 

Henry V of England ii. 238 

— regent of France ii. 235, 238 

Bedier, Noel. .See Beda. 

Behuchet, Nicholas, treasurer 

of King Philip ii. 61, 63 

Belg or Bolg. See Belgians. 

Belgians in Gaul i. 10 

— kindly receive escaping 

French soldiers viii. 187 

Belgica, insurrection in i. 75, 76 

Belgium ruined by war with 

France vi. 316 

— insurrection in 1793 vi. 397 

— independence declared viii. 800 

Belin, of the League, taken 

prisoner iii. 371 

Bellay, Martin du, Memoires de iii. 84 

Belle-Isle, Count v. 74 

— cold reception at Paris v. 79 

— arrested, carried to England v. 85 
Belle-Isle, Chevalier, death of.. v. 93 

Belle-Isle-en-Mer v. 13 

Belle Poule and the Arethusa. . . v. 277 
" Bellerophon," the, brought its 

illustrious passenger into 

Plymouth Harbor viii. 205 

Belles'me, William de, Norman 

lord i.265 

Bellievre, President, and Louis 

XIII iv. 64 

Belzunce amidst the plague- 
stricken v. 39 

Benedict XI. elected Pope i. 481 

— conciliatory measures of i. 481 

— supposed to be poisoned i. 481 

Benevento, Prince of (Talley- 
rand) viii. 60 



392 



INDEX. 



Benningsen, General of Rus- 
sian forces vii. 157 

Benoit, Histoire de VEdit de 

Nantes iv. 335 

Berezina, crossing the vii. 422 

Bergamo occupied by French. . vi. 329 

— insurrection of vi. 348 

Bergen - op - Zoom besieged by 

French v. 94 

Bergerac, peace of, 1577 iii. 323 

Berlin captured and pillaged by 

Russians v. 148 

— triumphal entry of Napo- 

leon vii. 145 

— decree of Napoleon vii. 166, 338 

— evacuated by the French — viii. 23 
Bernadotte vi. 33 

— sent to Paris by Bonaparte . . vi. 360 

— ambassador at Vienna vi. 379 

— refuses command of army 

of Italy vi.398 

— removal of from ministry of 

war vi. 406 

— bars passage of Prussians at 

Weimar vii. 143 

— principality bestowed upon vii. 174 

— resentment against Napoleon vii. 288 
~- proclaimed prince - royal of 

Sweden vii. 336 

— engagements with Russia vii. 378 

— commands army of the North viii. 47 

— slowness criticised by Ger- 

mans viii. 53 

— English subsidies to viii. 89 

— letter to Napoleon viii. 23 

Bernard,a French monk i. 300 

Bernard, Duke, of Saxe- Weimar iv. 122 

— defeated at Nordlingen iv. 124 

— dies 1639 iv. 131 

Bernard, duke of Septimania. . . i, 218 

Bernard of Italy and Louis i. 214, 217 

Bernese army beaten by Gen. 

Schauenbourg vi. 378 

Bernier Abbe vii. 50 

— Bishop of Orleans vii. 106 

Bernwald, treaty of, 1631 iv. 117 

Berquin, Louis de, charged 

with heresy iii. 152 

— again a prisoner in the Con- 

ciergerie iii. 155 

— transferred to Louvre by 

Francis I iii. 158 

— liberation of iii. 159 

— enters service of Marguerite 

ofValois iii. 159 

— third arrest of iii. 162 

— dies at the stake iii. 164 

Berruyer, General, recalled vi. 253 

Berry, Duke of, Charles ii. 312 

Berry. Duke of iv. 453 

— death of iv. 461 

Berry. Due de, nephew of Louis 

XVIII viii. 235 

— assassination of viii. 235 

Berry, Duchess of v. 455 

— death at Palais Royal v. 38 

Berry, Duchess de, the viii. 310 

— arrives in Vendee, insurrec- 

tionary efforts viii. 310 

— arrest and imprisonment of viii. 311 

Bertha, wife of Philip I i. 251 

<— repudiated by Philip i. 251 



Berthier, General, forms new 

army vi. 254 

— in command of army of Italy vi. 378 

— character of vi. 374 

— at Paris, minister of war vii. 6 

— receives title of General-in- 

Chief vii. 17 

Bertrade, fourth wife of Foul- 

ques le RGchin i. 251 

— character of i. 258 

Bertrand, Grand Marshal, re- 
fuses to countersign the de- 
cree viii. 154 

Berulle, Cardinal, labors of iv. 74 

— Father, sketch of iv. 108 

Berwick, Marshal, son of James 

II... iv. 282 

— defeats Anglo-Portuguese at 

Almenza iv. 283 

— commands French army in 

Spain ▼. 34 

Besenval, Baron de v. 308 

Bessieres, Marshal, at Rio Seco. vii. 227 

— offensive order of Lannes vii. 275 

— death of viii. 30 

Beurnonville enters Flanders. . . vi. 300 

— arrested by order of Du- 

mouriez vi. 306 

Beverninck visits Louis XTV. at 

Ghent iv. 249 

— peace iv. 249 

Beyrout taken by allied pow- 
ers viii. 339 

Bibracte (Autun) country of 

JEduans i. 17 

Bicetre, the assassins at vi. 108 

Biechel, Marshal vii. 143 

Bievres, Lord of. See Rubem- 

pre ii. 367 

Billaud-Varennes vi. 108 

Bingos occupied by Marshal 

Bessieres vii. 223 

Bicern, or Ironsides, Danish 

prince i. 204 

— shipwreck and death i. 205 

Biron, Marshal de, at La Ro- 

chelle iii. 277 

— conspiracy against Henry IV. iii. 465 

— arrest of iii. 466 

Biron, Duke of v. 87 

Biron, Marshal suppresses bread 

riot in Paris V. 248 

— commands republican forces vi. 254 

— recalled and sentenced vi. 255 

Bituitus, King of the Arverni- 

ans i- 89 

— defeated by Romans — i. 40 

Biturigians, a Gallic tribe i. 18 

Blake, General, overthrow of 

his army vii. 250 

Blanchard, Alan, hero of Rou- 
en ii. 220 

Blanche of Castile, wife of Louis 

VIII '. i. 862, 415 

Blanche, Queen, jealous of Mar- 
guerite i. 428 

— character of i. 424 

— government of France i. 424 

— intrigue with Theobald r7 . . . i. 425 

— insurrection of barons i. 425 

— death of i. 374 

Blanche of Navarre ii. 97 



INDEX. 



393 



Blanche-Tache, ford of the 

Somme — ii. 83 

Blanciiiesnil, President, arrest 

of iv.171 

Blandina. See Lyons, martyrs 
of. 

Blenheim, battle of, 1704. See 

Hochstett iv. 279 

Blockade, Continental, by Na- 
poleon vii. 147, 336 

Blois, Mile, de, daughter of 

Mme. de Montespan iv. 444 

Blois, treaty of ii. 422 

Blondel, Robert, a poet ii. 238 

Blucher, Marshal, commands 

Prussian army viii. 23 

— commands army of Silesia. . . viii. 47 

— driven back by Napoleon viii. 92 

>— cavalry devastates the envi- 
rons of Paris viii. 198 

Board of Works v. 158 

Bocage, the vi. 251 

Bodin, John, publicist of 16th 

century ill. 315 

Boetie, Stephen de la, friend 

of Montaigne iii. 187 

— republican treatise of iii. 315 

Bohemond, Prince of Tarento . . i. 310 

— treatment of Turkish spies. . i. 321 
Boians, isolated Kymrian tribe i. 19 
Boileau, Stephen, provost of 

Paris i. 443 

Boileau and Racine iv. 407, 412 

Bois de Vincennes iv. 196 

BoisHardi vi. 268 

Bois-Robert iv. 149, 154 

Boleyn, Annie, maid of honor 

to Mary Tudor ii. 480 

Bolingbroke, Lord, at Versail- 
les iv. 299 

Bologna, siege raised by Gaston 

deFoix ii. 455 

— Leo X. and Francis I. at iii. 16 

Bommel, island of vi. 316 

Bonaparte, Napoleon. See Na- 
poleon. 

Bonaparte, Jerome, marriage 

in America vii. 135 

— King of Westphalia vii. 168 

Bonaparte, Joseph, represents 

France at Rome vi. 373 

— king of Two Sicilies vii. 137 

— proclaimed King of Naples., vii. 171 

— proclaimed King of Spain 

See Napoleon vii. 221 

Bonaparte, Louis. See Louis, 

King of Holland. 
Bonaparte, Lucien, efforts at 

influence vi. 401 

— replaces Laplace Tii. 24 

— sent as Ambassador to Mad- 

rid vii. 25 

— faithful to Napoleon viii. 189 

Bonaparte, Prince Louis Na- 
poleon at Strasbourg vii. 327 

— attempt at insurrection and 

arrest viii. 327 

— embarks for United States . . . viii. 327 

— second arrest viii. 341 

Bonchamps commands insur- 
gent peasants vi. 252 

— death of vi. 259 



Boniface departs to evangelize 

the Frisons i. 161 

— yields his episcopal dignity 

toLullus i. 161 

— slain by barbarians 1. 162 

Boniface VIII. decrees canon- 
ization of Louis IX 1.454 

— and Philip IV i. 468, 470 

— addresses bulls to Philip IV. 

i. 470, 471, 478 

— proclaims supremacy of 

HolySee i. 474 

— urges release of Saisset i. 474 

— bull, "Hearken, most dear 

son. " i. 474 

— accusation against i. 477 

— in captivity i. 479 

— dies of fever i. 480 

Bonif acius, Roman general i. 106 

Bonnet, General, at Salamanca viii. 12 

Bonnivet, Admiral iii. 32 

Borde, Charlotte Arbaleste de 

la iii. 457 

Bordeaux, Due d\ visits Lon- 
don viii. 355 

Bordeaux taken by Arabs i. 153 

— besieged by Northmen i. 203 

— King John at ii. 116 

— two-fold capitulation of. . . . ii. 296, 298 

— insurrection against Charles 

VH ii. 298-301 

— opens its gates to English ii. 298 

— outbreak in iii. 96, 185 

— serious insurrection against 

salt-tax iii. 187 

— in revolt against royal au- 

thority iv. 181 

— opened to the English viii. 95 

— General Clausel takes pos- 

session of viii. 168 

Borel, Duke of inner Spain i. 239 

— asks assistance of Hugh Capet i. 239 
Borgia, Caesar, receives fa- 
vors from Louis XQ ii. 430 

Borgo, Count Pozzo di viii. 72 

Borisow taken by Russians vii. 426 

— battle of vii. 429 

Borodino, battle of, vii. 401. See 

Moskwa. 
Boscawen, Admiral, besieges 

Pondicherry v. 100 

Boso, Duke of Aries, King of 

Provence L 208 

Bosq, Peter du, Huguenot 

preacher iv. 327 

Bosredon, Louis de ii. 217 

— commander resigns vi. 382 

Bossuet disapproves of Mme. 

Guyon's writings iv. 356 

— Bishop of Meaux iv. 357 

— Oraison funebre de Louis de 

Bourbon iv. 167 

— Oraison funebre d'Henriette 

d'Angleterre iv. 228 

— real head of Church in 17th 

century iv. 362 

— sketch of iv. 369 

Boston patriots throw tea over- 
board v. 264 

— English evacuate, 1776 v. 266 

Botta, Marquis of, Austrian 

commandant v. 93 



394 



INDEX. 



Bottles, Cardinal. See Louis 

de Lorraine iii. 276 

Bouchain taken by French, 1712 iv. 298 
Bouchard, Lord of Montmo- 
rency i. 383 

— boast and death of i. 383 

Bouchotte, minister of war vi. 254 

Boucicaut, Marshal of France.. ii. 150 

Boufflers, Marshal, at Lille iv. 284 

Boufflers, Duke of, at Genoa v. 93 

Bougainville, M. de v. 332 

Bouille, M. de, ordered to re- 
press the sedition vi. 43 

Bomllon, Godfrey de, Duke of 

Lorraine i. 309, 310 

— death of i. 335 

Bouillon, Duke of iv. 9 

— arrested by order of Louis 

XHI iv. 57 

— refuses to join Conde faction iv. 186 

Boulay, M., report of vi. 363 

Boulogne taken by Henry Vin. iii. 107 
Bourbon, Anthony de. See Na- 
varre. 

Bourbon, Peter of, son-in-law 

of Louis XI ii. 371 

Bourbon, Duke John of, death of ii. 394 

Bourbon, Matthew of ii. 416 

Bourbon, Gilbert of ii. 413 

— dies prisouer at Naples ii. 418 

Bourbon, Charles, Duke of iii. 8 

Bourbon, Duke of, Charles II. iii. 40 

— as Governor of Milaness iii. 41 

— campaign in Picardy iii. 45 

— rejects hand of Louise of 

Savoy iii. 46 

— lawsuit iii. 47 

— negotiates with Charles V. of 

Spain iii. 48 

— treason of iii. 49 

— made lieutenant - general of 

Charles V.'s forces in Italy iii. 57 

— and Chevalier de Bayard iii. 59 

— re-enters Milaness with new 

army iii. 67 

— commands imperial armies 

in Italy, 1527 iii. 89 

— slain in the assault upon 

Rome iii. 90 

Bourbon, Constable de. See 
Charles II. of Bourbon. 

Bourbon, Henry de. See Cond6, 
Henry de. 

Bourbon, Louis de. See CondS, 
Louis de. 

Bourbon, Cardinal of, decla- 
ration of iii. 324 

Bourbon, Charles de, pretends 

to throne of France iii. 366 

— dies at Fontenay iii. 367 

Bourbon, Duke of, claims 

king's education v. 20 

— ministry of v. 50 

— dismissal of v. 61 

Bourbon, Francis of, Count 

d'Enghien iii. 104 

Bourbon, Duke of, attempt at 

insurrection viii. 167 

Bourbon, Mary of, Mile, de 

Montpensier iv. 37 

Bourbon, House of, plans for 

restoring... % vii. S2 



Bourbon princes protest against 

usurpation of Bonaparte . . . viii. 105 

— first restoration of viii. 1 10 

Bourbons authorized to quit 

France vi. 239 

— tremble on their thrones vii. 13£ 

— overthrow of viii. 146 

— re-ascend throne of Naples., viii. 175 

— public opinion demands res- 

toration viii. 19S 

Bourbotte demands death of 

Louis XVI vi. 118 

Bourges, transformation of ii. 10 

Bourse, construction by Napo- 
leon vii. 206 

Bouteville, M. de, executed for 

duelling iv. 89 

Boutiot, T. Histoire de la 
Ville de Troyes et de la 
Champagne meridionale . . . 

iii. 149, 167, 247 
Boves, Hugh de, a mercenary. . i. 392 

Bouvines, battle of i. 393, 394 

Boyne, the, battle of iv. 257 

Braddock, General, death at 

FortDuquesne v. 125 

Braganza, House of, fall of vii. 167 

Brancas, Andrew de, Lord of 

Villars iii. 405 

Brandywine, English defeated. . v. 274 
Brantome, CEuvres de, quoted. . 

iii. 37, 90, 96, 309 
Brantome, Histoire des grands 

Capitaines iii. 252 

Bread riot, 1795 vi. 223 

Breda, 1667, peace between Eng- 
land and Holland iv. 222 

Breda, surrender of vi. 303 

Brenn. See Brennus. 
Brennus, most famous Gallic 

chieftain i. 23 

— stabs himself i. 26 

Brescia taken by Gaston de 

Foix ii. 455 

— occupied by French vi. 329 

— insurrection of vi. 348 

Breslau, Prussian court at viii. 23 

Bressuire, rising in suburbs of vi. 251 

Brest, expedition from vi. 336 

Bretigny, peace of ii. 137 

Breton army defeated near 

Rennes ii. 394 

— "Club" vi. 37 

— becomes Jacobin club vi. 38 

Bretons ravage Fraukish terri- 
tory i. 214 

— and Normans, arrest and 

decapitation ii. 77 

Breteuil, William de, seneschal 

of William i. 277 

Breteuil, Baron de v. 338 

— desires Louis XVI. to leave 

France vi. 55 

— personal agent of Louis XVI. vi. 299 
Brez6, M. de, and National As- 
sembly vi. 10 

Brigonnet, Bishop iii. 146 

Brienne, Walter de, duke of Ath- 
ens ii. 107 

Brienne, Memoires de iv. 166 

Brienne, Lomenie de v. 350 

Brienne, battle of , 1814 viii. 78 



INDEX. 



393 



Brigands . . ii. 154 

Brigault. Abbe v. 23 

Brihueg'a taken by Spanish, 

1710 iv. 292 

Brissac, Charles de, in war in 

Piedmont iii. 199 

Brissac, Count de, governor of 

Paris iii. 412 

Brissot, member of Legisla- 
tive Assembly vi. 67 

Brit. See Pryd. 

Britons of Armorica tender 

homage to Clovis i. 120 

— refuse tribute to Franks i. 214, 215 

Brittany portion of France i. 17 

— succession of ii. 66 

— insurrection i. 214 

— state of France i. 244 

— failure of conspiracy v. 35 

— states of refuse subsidy v. 322 

— civil war reaches vi. 149 

Brittany, John m., Duke of, 

death of ii. 70 

Brittanv, Duke of, Francis II ii. 333 

— death of ii. 394 

Brittany, Anne of. -See Anne. 
Broglie, Marshal, evacuates 

Bavaria v. 81 

— commands forces about Paris vi. 14 

Broglie, Due de viii. 223 

Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit iii. 259 

Brottier, Abb6 vi. 354 

Broussel, Councillor, arrest of. . iv. 171 

— released at popular demand iv. 176 

Bruafc, Admiral in Oceania viii. 353 

Bruce, Robert, Scottish hero. . . i. 457 
Bruce, David, claimant for 

throne of Scotland ii. 47 

Bructerians, Frankish tribe i. 103 

Bruey, Admiral, commands 

French fleet vi. 3S6 

Bruges, fair of i. 460 

— people dumb at approach of 

PhllipIV i.463 

— burghers make a new seal i. 467 

— opens its gates to the 

French, 1707 iv. 283 

Brune, General , in Helvetia vi. 377 

— proclaims Democratic Con- 

stitution vi. 378 

— proclaims unity of Helvetic 

Republic vi. 378 

— replaces Masseha in Italy vii. 29 

— Marshal, murder of viii. 213 

Brunehaut, wife of Sigebert i. 135-139 

— enterprise and charity i. 138 

— instigates murder of St. Di- 

dier i. 139 

— terrible death i. 139 

Brunn, French army in vii. 128 

— overcrowding of hospitals. .. vii. 134 
Brunswick, Duke of vi. 81 

— commander of allies vi. 296 

— proposes a conference vi. 300 

— resigns his command vi. 313 

— mortally wounded vii. 142 

Brueyere, Matthew de la iii. 321 

Brueyere, Peter de la iii. 321 

Brys, Edouard Faye de, Trois 

Magigtrats PVangais du Sei- 

zieme'Si&cle iii. 95 

Bubenberg, Adrian of ii. 355 



Bubna sent to Paris viii. 15 

Bucharest, treaty of 1812, Russia 

and Turkey. vii. 379 

Buckingham, Duke of, favorite 

of Charles I. of England iv. 85 

— sails for France iv. 85 

— at siege of R6 iv. 89 

— expedition to Rochelle iv. 90 

Bude, William, iii. 135, 161 

Buffon, sketch of v. 220 

— superintendent of Jardin du 

Roi v.220 

— elected to the Academy v. 222 

— theories of v. 224 

— writings of v. 221, 223, 235 

— death of v. 225 

Bugeaud, General viii. 318, 359 

— appointed Commander - in - 

Chief viii. 378 

— in Algeria viii. 356 

Bulgarians, barbaric nation . . i. 144 
Bullion, M. de, Superintendent 

of Finance iv. 49 

Bunker's Hill ... v. 266 

Burdigala, afterwards Bor- 
deaux i. 19 

Bureau des Longitudes vi. 226 

Burghers, growing power of ii. 34 

— white hoods of ii. 56 

Burgos captured by French vii. 249 

Burgoyne, General, capitulates 

at Saratoga v. 274 

Burgundians. See German na- 
tions 

— found kingdoms in Gaul i. 106 

— and Armagnacs ii. 205 

— plot favoring ii. 221 

— masters of Paris ii. 221 

— defeated at Morat ii. 355 

Burgundy, a state of France — i. 244 

— delegates repudiate cession of 

duchy iii. 85 

Burgundy, house of, founded by 

John H . . ii. 140 

Burgundy, Duke of, Philip the 

Bold ii. 147 

— marriage of ii. 147 

— death of ii. 197 

Burgundy, Duke of, John, and 

ChariesVI ii. 197 

— John the Fearless, Count of 

Nevers ii. 198 

— acknowledges murder of Or- 

leans ii. 199 

— re-enters Paris ii. 200 

— pardoned by Charles VI ii. 205 

— challenges Henry V ii. 215 

— (John) prosecutes civil war in 

France ii. 218 

— and Henry V ii. 225 

— and Dauphin ii. 226, 230 

— assassinated ii. 231 

Burgundy, Duke of, Philip the 

Good ii. 215 

— besieges Compiegne ii. 267 

— besieges Calais ii. 291 

— protects Dauphin ii. 312 

— dies of apoplexv ii. 330 

— Charles of, and Louis XI. . . ii. 325-327 

— and Louis XI. at P6ronne ii. 834 

— burns Nesle ii. 343 

— repulsed at Beauvais ii. 343 



396 



INDEX. 



Burgundy invades Lorraine ... ii. 849 

— hasty retreat from Granson. . ii. 353 

— third campaign against Swiss, ii. 358 

— slain at Nancy ii. 360 

Burgundy, Duke of, in Flan- 
ders, 1707 iv. 283 

— affection for Fenelon iv. 381 

— now dauphin iv. 455 

— has favor of Louis XTV iv. 457