some distance, and beyond them was another, composed of a large number of the inhabitants, who bore a strong expression of alarm in their countenances. At four o'clock the duke was sent back under the guard that brought him, to his inn in the town. In the official narrative of Bonaparte, it is stated, that the people of Cannes received the emperor with sentiments, which were a happy presage of the success of his enterprise. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They displayed only mortification and dismay, and put forth not one acclamation of welcome. He did not venture into the town; and it was, some time afterwards, nearly sacked by general Brune in revenge for its loyalty. From the outset, no opportunity was lost of distributing the three proclamations, bearing date, Gulf St. Juan, the 1st of March. The first, from the emperor, by the grace of God and the constitutions, to the French people, asserts -that the nation was never on the point of being more powerful, than immediately before the surrender of Paris, through the treachery of Marmont, duke of Ragusa;* -that their prince had traversed the seas in the midst of dangers of every description, &c. The second, from the same to the army, declares, that it was never vanquished; that the existence of their general, raised under their shields, was made up but of theirs; and the third, signed by Cambronne, Drouot, &c., is from the imperial guard to the army, and pronounces illegal See Marmont's letter from Ghent, to Caulincourt, in answer to this charge. Marmont recriminates, by the heaviest accusations, and styles Bonaparte the murderer of Pichegru and D'Enghein. whatever was done, without consulting them.* All three are filled with the most extravagant accusations against the Bourbons, and are highly ingenious in the choice of topics intended for the soldiery. Bonaparte speedily abandoned his position at Cannes, and, pretending to follow the road to Frejus, took that of Grasse. Grasse has a population of twelve thousand souls, and had received at seven o'clock the evening before, intelligence of the debarkation. The mayor, a spirited loyalist, would have summoned the inhabitants to arms, and sounded the tocsin in the country, but was opposed by the more prudent counsels of general Gazan, who was a native of the place, and possessed great influence. The night was lost in disheartening deliberation; the enthusiasm of the youth, who were eager to sally forth, was repressed; General Cambronne arrived, had an amicable interview with Gazan, demanded, and obtained, four thousand rations. Bonaparte was approaching slowly, and is said to have betrayed considerable alarm at the tolling of the bells for an interment, which he mistook for the tocsin, until undeceived by a waggoner, whom he questioned on the subject. He did not enter the town, but went round it, and encamped on a height half a league beyond. His corps breakfasted on food obtained at Grasse by requisition, * Generals Drouot and Cambronne, furnish, on their trials, an instance of the system of fraud pursued by Bonaparte as to state-papers, when they point out the material difference be tween the proclamation, which they signed at Gulf St. Juan, and the one inserted in the Moniteur with their sig. natures. while generals Cambronne and Bertrand excited them, by toasts, to cries of vive l'empereur, in order to draw a similar note from a few of the inhabitants, whom curiosity had attracted to the foot of the hill. These, however, maintained a dead silence. When the breakfast was finished, his Imperial majesty left his vehicle and cannon at the gates of the town; impressed a number of mules and horses, and, with his force disposed before and behind him, continued his march among the mountains by the most rugged and unfrequented paths. The only inhabitant of Grasse who joined his standard, was a tanner of infamous character. The printer of the town, whom he wished to employ on his proclamations, took to flight. In the evening he arrived at the village of Ceranon, and occupied the chateau of the loyal mayor of Grasse. He found himself thus, on the second day, on the borders of the department of Var, having journeyed twenty leagues. While he advanced rapidly towards the north, the military commander of the department of Var, who had collected the garrison of the town of Draguignan, and a body of national guards, at Frejus, manœuvred in the opposite direction towards the coast, in order to cut off the retreat of the invader. The civil prefect of the same department dispatched, instantaneously, couriers to Paris, to marshal Massena at Marseilles, to * *The prefect of this department, count de Bouthilliers, had, six weeks before, written to the minister of the interior at Paris, to inform him, that, from the active intercourse of suspicious persons with the island of Elba, he believed some treasonable plot to be in agitation. the prefects of Avignon, Valence, and Lyons, and in a line parallel to Grasse and Grenoble. He, himself, at the head of a few national guards, bent his steps along the route which Bonaparte must necessarily have taken, had he retained his cannon. It was supposed that the prefect of the lower Alps would secure the bridge of Sisteron, being but a few leagues distant from it. This, however, was a false calculation, and the movements towards Frejus were altogether nugatory. On Friday, 3d March, our hero set out from Ceranon. He breakfasted at Castellane, in the house of the sub-prefect, who had just been displaced by the Bourbons, and whom he promised to reinstate. He here forced the mayor to give him three passports in blank, halted three hours, and continued his march towards Barreme, where he took possession for himself and his officers, of the best house of the hamilet, and passed the night. On his arrival, he immediately sent for the mayor, questioned him much about the route of Sisteron, and caused him to procure some maps of Provence, which he examined, although he had that of Cassini with him. He made a requisition of two hundred vehicles with double harness, designating the villages which were to furnish them, and selecting those in preference by which he was to pass with his troops, so as to be secure of compliance. He stated, that his artillery had taken the main road with the cavalry, and spoke of several simultaneous landings at different points of Provence. After the mayor was dismissed, the curate was summoned, but did not appear. During this interview, the soldiery filled the place, quartered themselves upon the inha bitants, and forced them to illuminate their houses. | course of the night, and among the articles of which it was composed, a magnificent service of vermilion porcelain attracted particular attention. At three o'clock in the morning, he asked for coffee, and two hours after, he breakfasted upon cakes of portable soup contained in his camp-equipage. At seven, he summoned his host and son, who, from his appearance at the time and his movements, believe him to have carried armour under his blue uniform. He re ning the national domains, taxes, nobility and priesthood of the neighbourhood, answering most of them himself, and affirmed among other things " that the empress and the king of Rome had set out for Paris; and that the empress would soon arrive with troops which the emperor her father has given her as an escort." He spoke much of the Bourbons, but never pronounced the name of the king. This conversation lasted for near an half hour. Bonaparte endeavoured in vain to enlist in his service, the only son of his host, a Mr. Tartanson, and in the course of his conversations with the latter let drop this phrase," after to-morrow evening, the Bourbons will hear of my arrival." While the Emperor seconded by his major general Bertrand was endeavouring to gain over the father and son, general Cambronne was busy in the kitchen, searching for a meal. He call-newed his interrogatories concered for soup, but the mistress of the house told him, ingenuously, that it was a fast-day, and no meat had been put down. "Madam,” said Cambronne, raising his voice, 66 we must have some, nevertheless, for the supper of the emperor." It was then remarked to him, that there was, indeed, a soup prepared for the domestics who were about to come in from the fields, but that they would not dare to offer it. Let us see, answered Cambronne, removing the lid from the kettle, what this soup may be. He then took a spoon, tasted it, and finding it very good, ordered it to be served up immediately. Bonaparte called, himself, for some wine, fruit, and sweetmeats. He drank of coffee which he carried with him already made in a bottle, and used the cups of the family. After supper his travelling-bed was arranged in a few minutes, and two mamelukes were placed as centinels at each door of his chamber. The staircase was covered with officers stretched on straw, while others passed the night in writing and dispatching emissaries. Bonaparte was overheard, enquiring of Bertrand from time to time, "whether the correspondents of Grenoble and of the north had set out." His baggage arrived only in the At seven o'clock, he mounted his horse, or rather was put upon it by two or three equerries; with such difficulty did he move. The troops, under arins, clamoured vive l'empereur, and occupied a good part of the day in defiling through the town. Two hundred peasants were recruited, with their mules, upon which the whole of the baggage was heaped. The emperor took three gendarmes as guides, and marched, with his mounted lancers, towards Digne, unhorsing some travellers by the way, and interrogating them as they walked, compulsively, by his side. At Digne things were in the train he could have wished. The prefect (Mr. Duval) had received on the 3d at three in the evening, authentic intelligence of the debarkation, in a dispatch from his 1 colleague of the department of Var. He put the dispatch in his pocket, and kept secret the contents. In the course of the night, some of the companions and emissaries of Bonaparte made their way unobserved into the town. At four in the morning, an express sent from Barreme, by a zealous royalist, spread the news that Bonaparte himself would be at Digne in the course of the day. Then only did the prefect communicate to the military commandant, M. de Loverdo, the information which he had received. The commandant immediately proceeded to the barracks where a hundred and fifty men were lodged; and was hailed with cries of vive l'empereur. He returned to beg the prefect to assemble without delay the national guard, upon whom reliance could be placed. At the same time, the principal engineer came to tender his aid, either to destroy the bridges or break up the roads. The commandant was cajoled, and the engineer dismissed to take care of his wife and daughter. The news had, in the mean while,spread throughout the city; a multitude of the inhabitants repaired to the mayor, requesting arms, that they might march out and await Bonaparte at the formidable pass of the Baths (des Bains) where a handful of men could stop an army The mayor applauded their zeal, yet would not take upon himself to arm them, without consulting the prefect. But the latter positively forbade the distribution of arms, and intimidated the mayor by threats. During this controversy, the enemy gained ground, and soon sent in a requisition for five thousand rations, an exaggeration as to number, well fitted to terrify the inhabitants. When his nearer approach was VOL. I. | announced, the prefect withdrew to a country-seat lying near the road by which he was to pass. Bonaparte entered the city with drums beating, but he found the shops shut and only a few boys visible in the streets. They alone broke the silence of consternation which prevailed on every side, by crying vive l'empereur, when general Bertrand threw pieces of silver among them. As usual, the mayor and some other of the public functionaries were summoned to appear before his imperial majesty and compelled to listen to a long harangue interrogatory, ejaculatory, and objurgatory. You please me, said he to one of them, I will make you prefect; and to another, wildlymy fate depends on the army. About half past three, he mount ed his horse with much succour from his equerries, and rode onwards towards Sisteron, leaving General Drouot at Digne to superintend the printing of the three proclamations mentioned above. The vanguard led by General Cambronne reached and entered Sisteron at two in the morning. The General alighted at an inn which had been prepared to receive him by one of his emissaries. The sub-prefect of the place was already apprised of the progress of the invaders, but had been instructed by his prefect to forbear resistance, which the latter pretended must be futile, inasmuch as five thousand rations had been ordered at Digne. A very slight opposition might, however, have been effectual; for the soldiers of Bonaparte maintained scarcely any degree of order in their march. They were exhausted by fatigue and under the impression that they were not to be brought to battle. All believed that their leader came D in consequence of arrangements | reach Paris.""I have troops at made with the allied powers. Discouragement and submission would have been the certain effect of a knowledge of their true situation, or of a serious attack upon them. Sunday 5th. The sub-prefect of Sisteron, the mayor and the commandant of the national guard met in council at the town-hall, and were formally deliberating upon the directions of the prefect, when, on a sudden, General Cambronne entered, with all the insignia of the imperial cause. He ordered them to go and meet the emperor on the bridge, and seeing them hesitate, gave them to understand that he must employ force, if they did not obey at once. This consideration had due influence. They followed the general and were introduced by him to his master. The latter, who was then on foot, placed himself between the two municipal functionaries, and thus entered the town conversing with them. He asked for a tavern, and when conducted to one, dismissed the two functionaries with an order that they should return in an hour, and bring with them all the officers on half-pay who might be at hand. Of these five were found who enlisted in his service. After the mayor and commandant had retired, he asked the sub-prefect, Mr. Bignon, what was thought of his re-appearance. The answer was, that the emotion of surprise absorbed every other. "But would they be glad to see me again on the throne?” “I believe so, if people were not afraid of seeing the conscription and other scourges return with you.” “I know, rejoined Bonaparte, that many follies have been committed. I come to repair all.” “But you will certainly encounter many obstacles before you Gap and at Corps. The garrison of Grenoble expects me. I have ten thousand men at Lyons. There will not be a drop of blood spilt. Every thing is adjusted with the foreign powers. I know that follies, have been committed; I come to repair all. My people will be happy.” After this fine discourse, his majesty traversed the town amidst the huzzas of the populace, and continued his march to Gap. He halted for some time near the church of a village called Le Poët. The curate of the church had just rung his bell for the children of the parish to appear at catechism, and finding they did not come in on a repetition of the signal, went to the door in order to call them. He found there a body of soldiery, and no less a personage than Napoleon, who immediately had him brought forward, and endeavoured to hold some conversation. But the poor priest was so much overcome by the apparition from Elba, that he was unable to give any distinct replies, and therefore was quickly dismissed. Bonaparte himself was not without alarm. He was approaching the capital of a department administered by a prefect of tried loyalty to the Bourbons. He, therefore, hesitated whether to proceed, or take to the left, and enter the department of the Drome, the prefect of which did not give him the same uneasiness. He found, however, on enquiring, that there was no road practicable from Poët to Valence. On advancing some leagues beyond Poët, he encountered and detained a gendarme who was the bearer of an energetic proclamation of the prefect, which ordered the mayors to sound the tocsin, to arm the inhabitants and distribute them at certain points. |
