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KING JOSEPH'S LETTER.

709

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XX.

KING JOSEPH'S LETTER TO THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. "SIRE: your Majesty's ministers furnish me regularly with extracts from their correspondence. I read them with all the interest that present circumstances inspire. I regret to inform your Majesty, that I find everywhere in them symptoms of the decline of authority, and prognostications of the complete dissolution of the adminstration.

"The presence of the enemy, independently of the ravages and the misery it occasions, has still more fatal consequences, in the loosening of all the bonds which unite the people to the Government; and the means to which it is necessary to have recourse in those places not occupied by the enemy, in order to provide for urgent and ever-recurring necessities, are beyond all precedent, are exhausting our resources, and at the same time demoralizing the public mind.

Already in the departments in the centre of La Vendée, germs of insurrection are developing, and the Senator Comte Canclaux shows great alarm respecting the state of public opinion. The appearance of the enemy in the department of the Somme, and the momentary occupation of the citadel of Doulens, are events which, if we may believe what Senator Villemanzy writes, did not take place without the connivance of the inhabitants.

"Senator Latour-Maubourg is full of alarm respecting the effect that the presence of the enemy, now in Picardy, may produce on Normandy, and still more so on account of a ship hoisting the white flag, which has been signalled from the coast.

"At the present time, the movements of the enemy at Meaux, and the terror they have inspired in Paris, have dismayed every mind; and such alarm cannot be felt without giving rise to popular discontent, which tends to alienate the people from us.

"The victories gained by your Majesty, and the odious conduct of the enemy, cannot, Sire, counterbalance these unfortunate tendencies. The most brilliant successes will not cause the miseries of the war to be forgotten, and the most fortunate of wars, by putting off from day to day the establishment of a regular order of administration, will but accelerate the fall of the financial and administrative system that now threatens us.

"Peace alone can heal our wounds, if indeed they are not become quite incurable. Your Majesty, after having in so short a time, changed the face of affairs, and after having once more displayed to Europe that transcendant military talent which you never demonstrate with greater force than in the most critical circumstances, has now done all that was necessary to save France from a dishonourable peace. It remains for you to achieve a great work, by arresting, through the rule you seem to exercise over events, the evil which at present permeates every part of the social body. Every other consideration should give way before so pressing a necessity, and with so precious an interest at stake, your Majesty may make any sacrifices, without fearing that you can ever be reproached with them.

"I hope that your Majesty will recognise in the freedom with which I explain myself, only a proof of the interest I take in your glory, and in the happiness of France, which is inseparable from it, and that you will consider me merely as the interpreter of the wishes and opinions of your most sincere friends and devoted servants.

"I am, etc.

(Signed)

"JOSEPH."

"Paris, March 1st, 1814."

NAPOLEON'S RETURN.

711

CHAPTER XXI.

THE HUNDRED DAYS.

After Napoleon's return from the Island of Elba the Author re-enters the Council of State-Appearance of the Imperial Court at an audience given at the Tuileries-The Author again meets Prince Joseph-Declaration of the Council of State respecting the dogma of the sovereignty of the people -Addresses of the principal tribunals and of the ministers, in favour of the re-establishment of Imperial authorityState reception at the Tuileries-The Author is sent as Commissioner-Extraordinary of the Government into the departments composing the 12th Military Division, and goes to La Rochelle-Feeling of the inhabitants of the different departments which he visits-Difficulties encountered by him-Hostile disposition of the inhabitants of a part of La Vendée, and especially the town of NantesUnfortunate effect produced by the publication of the Additional Act-Warm reception given to the Author at Poitiers-On his return to Paris, the Author renders an account of his mission to the Emperor-Influence of Prince Lucien, who has returned to Paris, on affairs-The news from Vienna having put an end to all hope of a pacific arrangement with the Allied Powers, the Emperor has no other chance but war-- Distrust inspired in the Government by the attitude of several general officers, and also by the majority of the nominations to the elective ChamberSolemnity of the Champ de Mai-Discourse pronounced on this occasion, in the name of the electors, and the Emperor's

reply-Solemn opening of the session of the Chambers, on the 7th June-The Emperor leaves Paris on the 12th for the northern frontier-Abandoning the army after the disaster of Waterloo, he returns to Paris during the night of the 20th of June-His abdication, strenuously opposed by Lucien, is resolved upon, and sent to the Chambers-The Author hears that his son-in-law has been killed, and his son seriously wounded in the battle of Waterloo-Dispersion of all the members of Napoleon's family -The Author returns to the country, where the generous protection of the Emperor Alexander secures both him and his family from injury by the allied troops-Death of the Count's son in consequence of his wound-At the end of two years the Author, having sold his country house, returns to Paris, where, remote from public affairs, and occupied with literary work, he lives in profound retirement.

DURING the latter part of 1814, and the beginning of 1815, I lived in retirement, occupied with literary work. During this interval I made only two or three journeys to Paris, and thus remained an entire stranger to the political events of that period. Nevertheless I perceived by the action of the Government since the Restoration, that far from gaining the hold on the public which it greatly needed, so many private interests were irritated and injured by it, that, having struck no roots, it would be powerless to resist the first violent shock it might sustain. Circumstances speedily justified my conviction. The Emperor returned from Elba, and the Bourbons, abandoned by the Army, fled before him. But I only learned the fact of his return and its accom

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panying circumstances from the Moniteur. Notwithstanding my former friendships with the family, I received no private information of the event, and I had afterwards reason to believe that the daring Genius who had conceived and put into execution so rash an enterprise had admitted no one to his confidence. I have therefore nothing particular to say concerning the Emperor's return, excepting that I regretted it profoundly, and that when the news reached my retreat, I was seized with a presentiment, afterwards too fully realised, of what the consequences would be.

My position did not however admit of my remaining a mere spectator of this fresh crisis. My son-inlaw, General Jamin, was still in command of the mounted grenadiers of the old Imperial guard, which Louis XVIII. had retained, and he, as well as my son and my nephew, his aides-de-camp, were carried along with the movement which the Emperor's return had communicated to all their former comrades in the army. I could not, without disowning them, refuse to re-enter the Council of State, from which the King had excluded me, and to which I was now recalled by the Emperor. I therefore yielded, though regretfully, to fate, and went to Paris on the 23rd of March, 1815. I found a crowd in the private apartment of the Emperor at the Tuileries. The former Grand Officers of the Empire had already

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