BOOK XIV. the same time, to assist in the coronation of the empress and the King of Rome.

CHAP. III.

1315.

On Bonaparte's taking possession of Lyons, he established a newspaper, which was published on the 11th of March. This paper contained the following:

Honor, Glory, Country. At last we have again beheld those eagles a thousand times triumphant, and never vanquished! We have seen them again, and our hearts leapt with joy! At sight of them we exclaimed, Behold the honor and the glory of the country! And if we could have forgotten for a single moment that French blood flows in our veins, the sight of the hero of Marengo, of Jena, and of Austerlitz, and of his faithful companions in arms, would have recalled us to that proud and noble character which has always distinguished the Lyonese. Oh! what a day was that of the 10th of March; who can describe it as it deserves, that the immortal picture may be deposited in the annals of the city! We knew, five days ago, that the emperor bad landed in Provence, and was advancing on Grenoble by way of Digne and Gap. The news of his entrance into Grenoble reached us on the evening of the 8th, and we at the same time learned that the garrison of that city had flown to meet the monarch restored to the admiration, to the wishes of the French, and of the army. Joy was there seen impressed on every countenance; the cry of Vive l'Empereur! did not yet escape from all mouths; but it was in all hearts, excepting the perfidious and insensible hearts of some traitors, vile enough to seek their own elevation in the degradation of their country. In the mean time Mous'eur the Count D'Artois arrived within our walls, with the Duke of Orleans and Count de Damas. The 20th regiment, drawn from Montbrison, reinforced the garrison of Lyons, composed of the 24th light infantry, and the 13th dragoons. An appeal was made to a portion of the national guards. The two bridges on the Rhone were barricadoed: the prince passed the troops in review, and endeavoured to animate them for the royal cause. Vain efforts! The last and useless resource of a weak government, which could neither reanimate affections long since extinguish ed, nor make the army forget those colours which, during twenty-five years, passed triumphant through all the capitals of Europe, and exalted the French name to the highest degree of celebrity. In the morning the prince made another attempt on the spirit of the soldiers; he went through all the ranks, but he found them frozen: he saw that it was then necessary to resolve on departing and carrying off the troop. The Marshali Duke of Tarentum having arrived in the morning, visited the two bridges; preparations for resistance appeared to recommence; the regiments approached the bridges, but every one

knew that the advanced-posts of the emperor were on the left bank of the Rhone, in the Fau bourg Guillotiere, where their presence excited the most lively enthusiasm. It was also known that all the soldiers were only waiting for their brothers in arms to embrace them; and for the emperor, to salute him again as the support of the country. The Lyonese already called aloud for that powerful genius who had rebuilt their city, desolated by the anarchists; who protected their commerce, and made their manufactures flourish; and who, perhaps, had only been unfortunate, because he wished to do too much good to France, At two in the afternoon the Duke of Tarentum conducted upon the bridge of la Guillotiere two battalions of infantry. While they were approaching the barricades, the 4th bussars, who had rejoined the eagles at Grenoble, defiled from the faubourg Guillotiere, and entered upon the bridge, preceded by about one hundred young people of the faubourg, crying out, like them, Vive l'Empereur! The troops on both sides joined at the barricades. Here the same cry si multaneously issued from every mouth; the beams and trees which blocked up the road were thrown into the Rhone; the soldiers embraced with transport, and began their march to the city. More than 20,000 inhabitants ranged along the quay of the Rhone and the Cours Napol on, where they were witnesses of this new sort of war, and rent the air with their acclamations; all the officers and soldiers of the 20th and 24th of the line, and of the 15 b dragoons, gave themselves пр at last to the movements of their hearts. There was only one cry of Vive l'Empereur! They ran before the hussars, and then all drew up on the place Bonaparte. The Duke of Tarentum precipitately retired, as well as Count de Damas, the Governor. Count de Chobrol, the prefect, in like manner, quitted the city. All the superior offi cers remained; and it was with the most lively satisfaction that the soldiers saw amongst them the general-of-division Brayer. At five o'clock the garrison proceeded to the bridge la Guiliotiere, and beyond it, to meet the Emperor. At half-past six, the army which came from Greno ble began its entrance inte Lyons, amidst the same acclamations. At seven o'clock, the inhabit au's of Lyons had the bappiness of again seeing and possessing the emperor of the French, and of lavishing on him new marks of their fidelity and affection. Already this great monarch, al ways indefatigable in his activity, is busied with his good city of Lyons, on which he means to heap new benefits. He will review his army in the morning; and we know that several regiments will arrive this evening within our walls, in order to join their brethren in arms."

During this time, the partizans of Bonaparte were most active in every part of France. Gene

ral Lefebvre Desnouettes, an officer who had broken his parole of honor in England, had endeavoured to seduce the troops in the North. He bad marched the regiment of royal chasseurs, of which he was the colonel, from Cambray to Compeigne, where he first unfolded his intention of leading them to Lyons to join their former master. Baron Lyons, the major of the regiment, gives au interesting account of the transaction. "At seven o'clock of the morning of the 9th, General Lefebvre Desnouettes arrived from Lisle. He caused his regiment to mount their horses. We put ourselves in motion, and came to sleep at La Fere.

"On the morning of the 10th he had a violent altercation with the general commanding the artillery, on the requisition which he made to him for putting the artillery and artillerists of the place at his disposal; and on the formal refusal of that general we set out and passed the outposts. There were some cries of Vive l'Empereur! excited by General Lefebvre, which gave us reason to suspect that he had conceived some criminal project. We continued our route upon Noyon: there he told us, for the first time, that we were likely to find ourselves from twelve to fifteen thousand strong of all arms, without informing us the object of that assemblage. We were astonished not to find a man, and this confirmed our suspicion.

On the 12th, he set out at the head of two. squadrons, and arrived at Compeigne at five in the morning. He caused the colonel of the 6th chasseurs to be asked whether he would follow him with his regiment. The colonel peremptorily refused. This conversation took place while I was two leagues in the rear with the rest of the regiment. I learned the occurrence in the course of the d y.

"I was on the watch as well as the rest of the officers. At length we determined to demand of the general what he proposed to do with us, and whither he meant to lead us, entreating him to explain himself distinctly, and acknowledging that we suspected he had committed the honor and existence of the regiment, and that it only remained for us to implore the king's clemency. We were then much more astonished by his proposing to us to advance as partisans on Paris or Lyons. We did not hesitate a moment, and declared that we could not follow him, which determined him to quit us on the instant and to fly. I immediately ordered the trumpets to sound to horse, and we fell back towards Cambray, where I shall arrive to-morrow.'

99

He was followed by two officers only, who were pursued and taken, but the traitor escaped and joined Napoleon.

As the Duke of Treviso (Mortier) was, about

1815.

of 6,000 men proceeding to Paris by forced BOOK XIV. marches. Astonished at this unexpected rencontre, he inquired whither they were marching. He CHAP.III. was answered "to Paris, to quell an insurrection against the government." against the government." More astonished, he demanded to see the orders. They were evidently forged. It was doubtless a preconcerted movement to fill Paris with regular troops, to awe the national guard and the populace, and to prepare for the arrival of Napoleon. It is scarcely necessary to say that these regiments were immediately ordered to return to their former cantonments.

The

These troops were confidently expected at Paris, and there was reason to believe that the garrison would have opposed no resistance. time of their arrival had been preconcerted, and a crowd of persons collected round the gate by which they were to enter. On a false alarm that they were approaching, the cry of the emperor for ever!" was suddenly raised; when the gardes du corps rushed on the crowd, and speedily dispersed it, after a short but ineffectual resistance. One was killed, many wounded, and the ringleaders secured and imprisoned.

It was confidently reported by the partisans of the Bourbens, that numerous troops were advanc ing from the south to surround Bonaparte and cut off his retreat. The king, however, placed Little reliance on this intelligence, to which the greatest importance was attached by his imprudent and infatuated courtiers. In fact, what reliance could he place on the professions of any of his troops, after the shameless defections of Grenoble and Lyons? He was more fully justified in this distrust by the intelligence which he had just received of the conduct of the garrison of Lisle. Count Erlon had endeavoured to seduce the troops, to abandon the cause of the monarch. He had partially succeeded, when Marshal Mortier, discovering the plot, caused him to be immediately put under arrest. He was immediately tried and condemned to death. He was led to the square of the citadel; his eyes were bandaged; a file of soldiers were drawn up before him; their pieces were presented, and the fatal word was momentarily expected; when the troops suddenly rose against Mortier, and declared Erlon commander of the fortress. Erlon, however, speedily released the marshal, and sent him to Paris.

It was in opposition to the advice of the princes of his family, that Louis had convened the two chambers. These misguided men had been unable to relinquish the lofty ideas of the kingly prerogative in which they had been educated. They wished to have seen the sovereign assume a dictatorial power, for which the present crisis would have formed some colourable excuse, and which might have prepared the way for the future extension of the monarch's prerogative. But

1815.

P

BOOK XIV. cruel concurrence of circumstances, and not of his own ambition, was now perfectly convinced, CHAP. III. that even if the pretensions of Bonaparte were crushed, there would be no security for himself and his family, but in the strict observance of the constitution which he had sworn to respect. The Duke of Berry sent the following letter to his father, which was intercepted by the agents of Bonaparte.

Paris, March 7, Afternoon. "Dear Papa,-You have learned, by our telegraphic dispatches, that the king has ordered me to stay here for the present. All the ministers, Desbrays, Gerardin, &c. fell at my feet to persuade me to stay. I also believe it of the highest importance. Paris is always the grand point; and at Besancon I should only be a superfluous wheel to a carriage which I believe will have no occasion to move. The proclamation is perfect. I should not have convoked the chambers; but if they are dissolved in time, there will be no harm. All is calm here. I have been very dissatisfied with Macdonald, who is gone to join you; you might send him to Napoleon, but I believe this Napoleon is already deceased, which would secure our government more than any thing else. Adieu, dear papa; I embrace you, as I love you, with all my heart."

Many of the most enlightened friends of rational liberty, and particularly those who were known in Paris at that time under the denomination of liberales, eagerly rallied round the king. Though they disapproved of some parts of the constitution established by Louis, and seriously distrusted the spirit in which it was executed, and the maxims prevalent at court; though they had been treated with undeserved insult by the crowd of emigrants, who filled every apartment of the palace, and prevented the best friends of the monarch from approaching his presence, they now ranged themselves on the side of loyalty and justice. A most eloquent appeal was made to the French people from the pen of Benjamin Constant. It is as follows:

"During fourteen years we had groaned under the yoke of the despot. He had carried destruction through every country of Europe, and at length had embattled the whole of Europe against us. The author of these calamities was finally compelled to abdicate the throne, and to quit the soil of France. We fondly hoped that he had quitted it for ever. Suddenly he re-appeared. He reclaims his rights, or those of his son. promises the French liberty, victory, and peace. He re-demands the throne. His rights! What are they? Can the short usurpation of a dozen years, and the mere designation of an infant as his successor, be compared with seven centuries of peaceable possession? The wish of the people! Has not that wish been already expressed?

He

Was it not unanimous for the expulsion of Bonaparte? On what ground then can he reclaim his rights? The author of the most tyrannical go. vernment by which France had ever been oppressed; he, who, during fourteen years, had been employed in undermining the cause of freedom, and trampling on the rights of men, now speaks of liberty. He had not the excuse of former recollections, and the habit of power. They were his fellow-citizens whom he enslaved; his equals whom he enchained. Though not born to power, he meditated tyranny. What liberty can he mise us? Are we not a thousand times more free under a good king than we were under his empire? He promises victory! and three times, like a base deserter, he has run from his troops in Egypt, in Spain, and in Russia; abandoning his faithful companions in arms to the threefold misery of cold, famine, and despair. He has drawn on France the humiliation of being invaded, and he has lost the conquests which we had made without him and before him.

pro

"He promises peace, and his name alone is a signal for war. A people sufficiently degenerate to submit to him would become the object of European hatred; and his triumph would be the commencement of an interminable war against the civilized world. He promises also the security of the national property;-that property which is only attacked by the absurd and imprudent declamations of unknown and disavowed writers. But this promise he will not be able to keep. No longer has he Europe to partition for the recom pense of his accomplices, and he must, of necessity, reward them with the property of the French. He has nothing to offer, and nothing to reclaim. Whom then can he gain? Whom can be seduce? Civil and foreign war are the only bribes which he has to present. Against such an adversary the government needs neither extraordinary mea sures, nor jealous precautions, nor an extension of power. The constitution is sufficient, and the king has already rendered a faithful homage to it, in calling around him the representatives of the nation.

"The king appeals with confidence to all those to whom, in every period of the revolu tion, the interests of their country have been dear;

to those who have anxiously surrounded the monarch with the safeguards of liberty;-to the French exiles, to whom he has restored the land of their nativity;-to the new proprietors, whose acquisitions he has sanctioned; to all who acknowledge, who feel, and who cherish the principles which give dignity to our nature. We are called on to defend a constitution whose blessings are already known and felt; which con tains in it the principles of amelioration and perfection; and which will become every day more dear to the sovereign who finds in it bis

CHAP. III.

1815.

sure some of the measures of the government. BOOK XIV: Let them rush into the first ranks, for in proportion as liberty is dear to them, must they dread the triumph of Bonaparte, its eternal foe. The government, which in this critical moment has given a decisive proof of wisdom and of stability, by respecting the principles of the constitution, and trusting to them for its best defence, will more dearly cherish them in the hour of victory; will be proud to reign over a free people; will respect the rights of the people as its most sacred deposit, and the will and the affection of the people as the base and security of power.",

THE two chambers having met on the 9th of March, after some preliminary business, they both voted loyal addresses to the king. The president of the chamber of deputies, on this occasion, addressed his majesty as follows:

"Sire,―The interest of the country, that of the crown, bonor, liberty, call us around the throne to defend it, and to be protected by it. The representatives of the French people feel that it is wished to prepare for them the humiliating lot reserved to the subjects of tyranny. If some French bands dare to raise the flame of civil war, we are certain that the illustrious chiefs and soldiers, who have so long defended France against her enemies, will still lend to their country the assistance of their swords. The national guards will be their noble emulators; and this fine kingdom will not exhibit to astonished Europe the shameful spectacle of a nation betrayed by her own children. Whatever may be the faults which have been committed, this is not the time to examine them. We ought all to unite against the common enemy, and endeavour to render this crisis profitable to the security of the throne and to public liberty. We conjure you, sire, to exercise all the power which the constitutional chart and the laws have placed in your hands. The chambers, which your confidence has convoked, will neither fail in duty to the monarch nor to the French people. They will be, sire, your faithful auxiliaries, in

giving to the government that strength which is necessary for the safety of the state." To which the king replied:

"I have never doubted the sentiments of the chamber. I shall always unite with it for the safety, the liberty, and the happiness of my people."

On the news of the possession of Lyons by Bo. naparte and his army, now become formidable by its numbers, consternation began to operate on the French court. French court. The same magical powers which had led this extraordinary personage from his island to the centre of France, seemed no less potent to protect his further attempts if it was his intention to wing his way to Paris. Suspicions arose at that city that there existed some strange neglect in certain departments of the administrations of government. It was observed, that not only the southern depôt of Grenoble had furnished the invader with every implement of war, and that its garrison had shown a singular alacrity in declaring themselves traitors, but that Lyons had been left without defence, or arms necessary for the national guard. It seemed strange also that the fleet. at Toulon had remained in the harbour, and that, were it merely to exercise the sailors, no cruize had taken place in the space that reaches from the isle of Elba to the shores of Provence. It was discovered that no reliance could be placed on the telegraphic dispatches. They were either sup