CHAPTER IV.

1814-1815.

Escape from Elba--His landing near Cannes--March on Paris.

About the middle of summer Napoleon was visited by his mother and his

sister the Princess Pauline. Both these ladies had very considerable

talents for political intrigue, and then natural faculties in this way

had not lain dormant or been injured by want of practice. In Pauline

this finesse was partially concealed by a languor and indecision of

manner and an occasional assumption of 'niaiserie'; or almost infantine

simplicity; but this only threw people the more off their guard, and

made her finesse the more sure in its operation. Pauline was handsome

too, uncommonly graceful, and had all that power of fascination which

has been attributed to the Bonaparte family. She could gain hearts with

ease, and those whom her charms enslaved were generally ready to devote

themselves absolutely to her brother. She went and came between Naples

and Elba, and kept her brother-in-law, Murat, in mind of the fact that

the lion was not yet dead nor so much as sleeping, but merely retiring

the better to spring forward on his quarry.

Having taken this resolution and chosen his time, Napoleon kept the

secret of his expedition until the last moment; and means were found to

privately make the requisite preparations. A portion of the soldiers

was embarked in a brig called the 'Inconstant' and the remainder in

six small craft. It was not till they were all on board that the troops

first conceived a suspicion of the Emperor's purpose: 1000 or 1200 men

had sailed to regain possession of an Empire containing a population of

30,000,000! He commenced his voyage on Sunday the 26th of February 1815,

and the next morning at ten o'clock was not out of sight of the island,

to the great annoyance of the few friends he had left behind. At this

time Colonel Sir Neil Campbell was absent on a tour to Leghorn, but

being informed by the French Consul and by Spanocchi, the Tuscan

Governor of the town, that Napoleon was about to sail for the Continent,

he hastened back, and gave chase to the little squadron in the Partridge

sloop of war, which was cruising in the neighbourhood, but, being

delayed by communicating with a French frigate, reached Antibes too

late.

There were between 400 and 500 men on board the brig (the 'Inconstant')

in which Bonaparte embarked. On the passage they met with a French ship

of war, with which they spoke. The Guards were ordered to pull off their

caps and lie down on the deck or go below while the captain exchanged

some words with the commander of the frigate, whom he afterwards

proposed to pursue and capture. Bonaparte rejected the idea as absurd,

and asked why he should introduce this new episode into his plan.

As they stood over to the coast of France the Emperor was in the highest

spirits. The die was cast, and he seemed to be quite himself again. He

sat upon the deck and amused the officers collected round him with a

narrative of his campaigns, particularly those of Italy and Egypt. When

he had finished he observed the deck to be encumbered with several

large chests belonging to him. He asked the maitre d'hotel what they

contained. Upon being told they were filled with wine he ordered them

to be immediately broken open, saying, "We will divide the booty." The

Emperor superintended the distribution himself, and presented bottle by

bottle to his comrades, till tired of this occupation he called out to

Bertrand, "Grand Marshal, assist me, if you please. Let us help these

gentlemen. They will help us some day." It was with this species of

bonhomie that he captivated when he chose all around him. The following

day he was employed in various arrangements, and among others in

dictating to Colonel Raoul the proclamations to be issued on his

landing. In one of these, after observing, "we must forget that we have

given law to the neighbouring nations," Napoleon stopped. "What have I

said?" Colonel Raoul read the passage. "Stop!" said Napoleon. "Omit the

word 'neighbouring;' say simply 'to nations.'" It was thus his pride

revealed itself; and his ambition seemed to rekindle at the very

recollections of his former greatness.

Napoleon landed without any accident on the 1st of March at Cannes, a

small seaport in the Gulf of St. Juan, not far from Fréjus, where he had

disembarked on his return from Egypt sixteen years before, and where he

had embarked the preceding year for Elba. A small party of the Guards

who presented themselves before the neighbouring garrison of Antibes

were made prisoners by General Corsin, the Governor of the place. Some

one hinted that it was not right to proceed till they had released their

comrades, but the Emperor observed that this was poorly to estimate the

magnitude of the undertaking; before them were 30,000,000 men uniting to

be set free! He, however, sent the Commissariat Officer to try what he

could do, calling out after him, "Take care you do not get yourself made

prisoner too!"

At nightfall the troops bivouacked on the beach. Just before a

postillion, in a splendid livery, had been brought to Napoleon. It

turned out that this man had formerly been a domestic of the Empress

Josephine, and was now in the service of the Prince of Monaco,

who himself had been equerry to the Empress. The postillion, after

expressing his great astonishment at finding the Emperor there, stated,

in answer to the questions that were put to him, that he had just come

from Paris; that all along the road, as far as Avignon, he had heard

nothing but regret for the Emperor's absence; that his name was

constantly echoed from mouth to mouth; and that, when once fairly

through Provence, he would find the whole population ready to rally

round him. The man added that his laced livery had frequently rendered

him the object of odium and insult on the road. This was the testimony

of one of the common class of society: it was very gratifying to the

Emperor, as it entirely corresponded with his expectations. The Prince

of Monaco himself, on being presented to the Emperor, was less explicit.

Napoleon refrained from questioning him on political matters. The

conversation therefore assumed a more lively character, and turned

altogether on the ladies of the former Imperial Court, concerning whom

the Emperor was very particular in his inquiries.

As soon as the moon had risen, which was about one or two in the morning

of the 2d, the bivouacs were broken up, and Napoleon gave orders for

proceeding to Grasse. There he expected to find a road which he had

planned during the Empire, but in this he was disappointed, the

Bourbons having given up all such expensive works through want of money.

Bonaparte was therefore obliged to pass through narrow defiles filled

with snow, and left behind him in the hands of the municipality his

carriage and two pieces of cannon, which had been brought ashore. This

was termed a capture in the bulletins of the day. The municipality of

Grasse was strongly in favour of the Royalist cause, but the sudden

appearance of the Emperor afforded but little time for hesitation, and

they came to tender their submission to him. Having passed through

the town he halted on a little height some way beyond it, where he

breakfasted. He was soon surrounded by the whole population of the

place; and he heard the same sentiments and the same prayers as before

he quitted France. A multitude of petitions had already been drawn up,

and were presented to him, just as though he had come from Paris and was

making a tour through the departments. One complained that his pension

had not been paid, another that his cross of the Legion of Honour had

been taken from him. Some of the more discontented secretly informed

Napoleon that the authorities of the town were very hostile to him, but

that the mass of the people were devoted to him, and only waited till

his back was turned to rid themselves of the miscreants. He replied,

"Be not too hasty. Let them have the mortification of seeing our triumph

without having anything to reproach us with." The Emperor advanced

with all the rapidity in his power. "Victory," he said, "depended on

my speed. To me France was in Grenoble. That place was a hundred miles

distant, but I and my companions reached it in five days; and with what

weather and what roads! I entered the city just as the Comte d'Artois,

warned by the telegraph, was quitting the Tuileries."

Napoleon himself was so perfectly convinced of the state of affairs that

he knew his success in no way depended on the force he might bring with

him. A 'piquet' of 'gens d'armes', he said, was all that was necessary.

Everything turned out as he foresaw. At first he owned he was not

without some degree of uncertainty and apprehension. As he advanced,

however, the whole population declared themselves enthusiastically in

his favour: but he saw no soldiers. It was not till he arrived between

Mure and Vizille, within five or six leagues from Grenoble, and on the

fifth day after his landing, that he met a battalion. The commanding

officer refused to hold even a parley. The Emperor, without hesitation,

advanced alone, and 100 grenadiers marched at some distance behind him,

with their arms reversed. The sight of Napoleon, his well-known costume,

and his gray military greatcoat, had a magical effect on the soldiers,

and they stood motionless. Napoleon went straight up to them and baring

his breast said, "Let him that has the heart kill his Emperor!" The

soldiers threw down their arms, their eyes moistened with tears, and

cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" resounded on every side. Napoleon ordered

the battalion to wheel round to the right, and all marched on together.

At a short distance from Grenoble Colonel Labedoyere, who had been sent

at the head of the 7th regiment to oppose his passage, came to join

the Emperor. The impulse thus given in a manner decided the question.

Labedoyere's superior officer in vain interfered to restrain his

enthusiasm and that of his men. The tri-coloured cockades, which had

been concealed in the hollow of a drum, were eagerly distributed by

Labedoyere among them, and they threw away the white cockade as a badge

of their nation's dishonour. The peasantry of Dauphiny, the cradle of

the Revolution, lined the roadside: they were transported and mad with

joy. The first battalion, which has just been alluded to, had shown some

signs of hesitation, but thousands of the country people crowded round

it, and by their shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" endeavoured to urge

the troops to decision, while others who followed in Napoleon's rear

encouraged his little troop to advance by assuring them that they would

meet with success. Napoleon said he could have taken 2,000,000 of these

peasants with him to Paris, but that then he would have been called "the

King of the Jaequerie."

Napoleon issued two proclamations on the road. He at first regretted

that he had not had them printed before he left Elba; but this could

not have been done without some risk of betraying his secret designs. He

dictated them on board the vessel, where every man who could write was

employed in copying them. These copies soon became very scarce; many of

them were illegible; and it was not till he arrived at Gap, on the 5th

of March, that he found means to have them printed. They were from that

time circulated and read everywhere with the utmost avidity.

The address to the army was considered as being still more masterly

and eloquent, and it was certainly well suited to the taste of French

soldiers, who, as Bourrienne remarks, are wonderfully pleased with

grandiloquence, metaphor, and hyperbole, though they do not always

understand what they mean. Even a French author of some distinction

praises this address as something sublime. "The proclamation to the

army," says he, "is full of energy: it could not fail to make all

military imaginations vibrate. That prophetic phrase, 'The eagle, with

the national colours, will fly from church steeple to church steeple,

till it settles on the towers of Notre Dame,' was happy in the extreme."

These words certainly produced an immense effect on the French soldiery,

who everywhere shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" "Vive le petit Caporal!" "We

will die for our old comrade!" with the most genuine enthusiasm.

It was some distance in advance of Grenoble that Labedoyere joined, but

he could not make quite sure of the garrison of that city, which was

commanded by General Marchand, a man resolved to be faithful to his

latest master. The shades of night had fallen when Bonaparte arrived in

front of the fortress of Grenoble, where he stood for some minutes in a

painful state of suspense and indecision.

It was on the 7th of March, at nightfall, that Bonaparte thus stood

before the walls of Grenoble. He found the gates closed, and the

commanding officer refused to open them. The garrison assembled on the

ramparts shouted "Vive l'Empereur!" and shook hands with Napoleon's

followers through the wickets, but they could not be prevailed on to do

more. It was necessary to force the gates, and this was done under the

mouths of ten pieces of artillery, loaded with grapeshot. In none of his

battles did Napoleon ever imagine himself to be in so much danger as at

the entrance into Grenoble. The soldiers seemed to turn upon him with

furious gestures: for a moment it might be supposed that they were going

to tear him to pieces. But these were the suppressed transports of

love and joy. The Emperor and his horse were both borne along by the

multitude, and he had scarcely time to breathe in the inn where he

alighted when an increased tumult was heard without; the inhabitants

of Grenoble came to offer him the broken gates of the city, since they

could not present him with the keys.

From Grenoble to Paris Napoleon found no further opposition. During the

four days of his stay at Lyons, where he had arrived on the 10th, there

were continually upwards of 20,000 people assembled before his windows;

whose acclamations were unceasing. It would never have been supposed

that the Emperor had even for a moment been absent from the country. He

issued orders, signed decrees, reviewed the troops, as if nothing had

happened. The military corps, the public bodies, and all classes

of citizens, eagerly came forward to tender their homage and their

services. The Comte d'Artois, who had hastened to Lyons, as the Duc and

Duchesse d'Augouleme had done to Bourdeaux, like them in vain attempted

to make a stand. The Mounted National Guard (who were known Royalists)

deserted him at this crisis, and in his flight only one of them chose

to follow him. Bonaparte refused their services when offered to him, and

with a chivalrous feeling worthy of being recorded sent the decoration

of the Legion of Honour to the single volunteer who had thus shown his

fidelity by following the Duke.

As soon as the Emperor quitted Lyons he wrote to Ney, who with his army

was at Lons-le-Saulnier, to come and join him. Ney had set off from the

Court with a promise to bring Napoleon, "like a wild beast in a cage,

to Paris." Scott excuses Ney's heart at the expense of his head, and

fancies that the Marshal was rather carried away by circumstances, by

vanity, and by fickleness, than actuated by premeditated treachery, and

it is quite possible that these protestations were sincerely uttered

when Ney left Paris, but, infected by the ardour of his troops, he

was unable to resist a contagion so much in harmony with all his

antecedents, and to attack not only his leader in many a time of peril,

but also the sovereign who had forwarded his career through every grade

of the army.

The facts of the case were these:--

On the 11th of March Ney, being at Besancon, learned that Napoleon was

at Lyons. To those who doubted whether his troops would fight against

their old comrades he said, "They shall fight! I will take a musket from

a grenadier and begin the action myself! I will run my sword to the hilt

in the body of the first man who hesitates to fire." At the same time he

wrote to the Minister of War at Paris that he hoped to see a fortunate

close to this mad enterprise.

He then advanced to Lons-le-Saulnier, where, on the night between

the 13th and 14th of March, not quite three days after his vehement

protestations of fidelity, he received, without hesitation, a letter

from Bonaparte, inviting him, by his old appellation of the "Bravest of

the Brave," to join his standard. With this invitation Ney complied, and

published an order of the day that declared the cause of the Bourbons,

which he had sworn to defend, lost for ever.

It is pleaded in extenuation of Ney's defection that both his officers

and men were beyond his control, and determined to join their old

Master; but in that case he might have given up his command, and retired

in the same honourable way that Marshals Macdonald and Marmont and

several other generals did. But even among his own officers Ney had an

example set him, for many of them, after remonstrating in vain, threw up

their commands. One of them broke his sword in two and threw the pieces

at Ney's feet, saying, "It is easier for a man of honour to break iron

than to break his word."

Napoleon, when at St. Helena, gave a very different reading to these

incidents. On this subject he was heard to say, "If I except Labedoyere,

who flew to me with enthusiasm and affection, and another individual,

who, of his own accord, rendered me important services, nearly all

the other generals whom I met on my route evinced hesitation and

uncertainty; they yielded only to the impulse about them, if indeed they

did not manifest a hostile feeling towards me. This was the case with

Ney, with Massena, St. Cyr, Soult, as well as with Macdonald and the

Duke of Belluno, so that if the Bourbons had reason to complain of the

complete desertion of the soldiers and the people, they had no right to

reproach the chiefs of the army with conspiring against them, who had

shown themselves mere children in politics, and would be looked upon as

neither emigrants nor patriots."

Between Lyons and Fontainebleau Napoleon often travelled several miles

ahead of his army with no other escort than a few Polish lancers. His

advanced guard now generally consisted of the troops (miscalled Royal)

who happened to be before him on the road whither they had been sent to

oppose him, and to whom couriers were sent forward to give notice of the

Emperor's approach, in order that they might be quite ready to join him

with the due military ceremonies. White flags and cockades everywhere

disappeared; the tri-colour resumed its pride of place. It was spring,

and true to its season the violet had reappeared! The joy of the

soldiers and the lower orders was almost frantic, but even among

the industrious poor there were not wanting many who regretted this

precipitate return to the old order of things--to conscription, war, and

bloodshed, while in the superior classes of society there was a pretty

general consternation. The vain, volatile soldiery, however, thought of

nothing but their Emperor, saw nothing before them but the restoration

of all their laurels, the humiliation of England, and the utter defeat

of the Russians, Prussians, and Austrians.

On the night between the 19th and 20th of March Napoleon reached

Fontainebleau, and again paused, as had formerly been his custom, with

short, quick steps through the antiquated but splendid galleries of that

old palace. What must have been his feelings on revisiting the chamber

in which, the year before, it is said he had attempted suicide!

Louis XVIII., left the Palace of the Tuileries at nearly the same hour

that Bonaparte entered that of Fontainebleau.

The most forlorn hope of the Bourbons was now in a considerable army

posted between Fontainebleau and Paris. Meanwhile the two armies

approached each other at Melun; that of the King was commanded by

Marshal Macdonald. On the 20th his troops were drawn up in three

lines to receive the invaders, who were said to be advancing from

Fontainebleau. There was a long pause of suspense, of a nature which

seldom fails to render men more accessible to strong and sudden

emotions. The glades of the forest, and the acclivity which leads to it,

were in full view of the Royal army, but presented the appearance of

a deep solitude. All was silence, except when the regimental bands of

music, at the command of the officers, who remained generally faithful,

played the airs of "Vive Henri Quatre," "O Richard," "La Belle

Gabrielle," and other tunes connected with the cause and family of

the Bourbons. The sounds excited no corresponding sentiments among the

soldiers.

At length, about noon, a galloping of horse was heard. An open carriage

appeared, surrounded by a few hussars, and drawn by four horses. It came

on at full speed, and Napoleon, jumping from the vehicle, was in the

midst of the ranks which had been formed to oppose him. His escort threw

themselves from their horses, mingled with their ancient comrades, and

the effect of their exhortations was instantaneous on men whose minds

were already half made up to the purpose which they now accomplished.

There was a general shout of "Vive Napoleon!" The last army of the

Bourbons passed from their side, and no further obstruction existed

betwixt Napoleon and the capital, which he was once more--but for a

brief space--to inhabit as a sovereign.

Louis, accompanied only by a few household troops, had scarcely turned

his back on the capital of his ancestors when Lavalette hastened from

a place of concealment and seized on the Post-office in the name

of Napoleon. By this measure all the King's proclamations' were

intercepted, and the restoration of the Emperor was announced to all the

departments. General Excelmans, who had just renewed his oath to Louis,

pulled down with his own hands the white flag that was floating over the

Tuileries, and hoisted the three-coloured banner.

It was late in the evening of the 20th that Bonaparte entered Paris in

an open carriage, which was driven straight to the gilded gates of the

Tuileries. He received the acclamations of the military and of the lower

classes of the suburbs, but most of the respectable citizens looked on

in silent wonderment. It was quite evident then that he was recalled

by a party--a party, in truth, numerous and powerful, but not by

the unanimous voice of the nation. The enthusiasm of his immediate

adherents, however, made up for the silence and lukewarmness of others.

They filled and crammed the square of the Carrousel, and the courts and

avenues of the Tuileries; they pressed so closely upon him that he was

obliged to cry out, "My friends, you stifle me!" and his aides de camp

were compelled to carry him in their arms up the grand staircase, and

thence into the royal apartments. It was observed, however, that amongst

these ardent friends were many men who had been the first to desert him

in 1814, and that these individuals were the most enthusiastic in their

demonstrations, the loudest in their shouts!

And thus was Napoleon again at the Tuileries, where, even more than

at Fontainebleau, his mind was flooded by the deep and painful

recollections of the past! A few nights after his return thither he sent

for M. Horan, one of the physicians who had attended Josephine during

her last illness. "So, Monsieur Horan," said he, "you did not leave the

Empress during her malady?"--"No, Sire."

"What was the cause of that malady?"--"Uneasiness of mind . . .

grief."--"You believe that?" (and Napoleon laid a strong emphasis on the

word believe, looking steadfastly in the doctor's face). He then asked,

"Was she long ill? Did she suffer much?"--"She was ill a week, Sire; her

Majesty suffered little bodily pain."--"Did she see that she was dying?

Did she show courage?"--"A sign her Majesty made when she could

no longer express herself leaves me no doubt that she felt her end

approaching; she seamed to contemplate it without fear."--"Well!--well!"

and then Napoleon much affected drew close to M. Horan, and added, "You

say that she was in grief; from what did that arise?"--"From passing

events, Sire; from your Majesty's position last year."--"Ah! she used to

speak of me then?"--"Very often." Here Napoleon drew his hand across

his eyes, which seemed filled with tears. He then went on. "Good

woman!--Excellent Josephine! She loved me truly--she--did she not? . .

. Ah! She was a Frenchwoman!"--"Yes, Sire, she loved you, and she would

have proved it had it not been for dread of displeasing you: she had

conceived an idea."--"How? . . . What would she have done?" "She one day

said that as Empress of the French she would drive through Paris with

eight horses to her coach, and all her household in gala livery, to go

and rejoin you at Fontainebleau, and never quit you more."--"She would

have done it--she was capable of doing it!"

Napoleon again betrayed deep emotion, on recovering from which he asked

the physician the most minute questions about the nature of Josephine's

disease, the friends and attendants who were around her at the hour of

her death, and the conduct of her two children, Eugène and Hortense.