.•«#*;'***

>4»t$C -*>

■'"* . ^ :■.-. ).^^'-

I

»

i#^

(ft' ;?#pi

W0£t

tor \

**"»

$W

- I .

.:■-

.vS ■.■>...■ .

presented to

£be Xibrarp

of tbe

Wnivereitp of Toronto

Thomas Wallace, Esq.

T1IK REMAINS Of NAPOLEON BROUGHT BACK TO FRANCE.

, •

1

• .

. to

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

Limited to One Thousand Sets Printed for Subscribers Only

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 wrho, 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, commander 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, rej 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 servirt 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