of the old imperial guard from the capital swelled the mass of discontent. Both officers and soldiers, with scarcely any exceptions, retained a high sentimental attachment to the man who had so long led them to victory, and under whose banners, notwithstanding recent disasters, they fondly regarded themselves as destined to retrieve the honour and glory of their country. The imperial rank, which he had been still suffered to preserve, maintained his titular dignity; and his position at Elba, separated only by a narrow space of sea, kept him almost in view of the French shores, and allowed a ready intercourse with his numerous partizans. The year, however, commenced in the French capital with those demonstrations of loyalty, which are always at the service of power, and which too frequently serve to lure sovereigns to their ruin. The municipal body of Paris ushered in the season of gratulation by an address to the king, in which the peculiar advantages of legitimate authority were eloquently expatiated upon, and his majesty was assured that all the subjects in his realm would cheerfully sacrifice their lives and fortunes for the maintenance of those blessings, which it was his felicity to confer, and their happiness to enjoy. A religious service calculated to revive a recollection of the errors and crimes of the revolution, and by no means adapted to the temper of the times, was performed on the 21st of January, the anniversary of the execution of Louis XVI.* Two and twenty years had elapsed since that "deed without a name" was perpe trated; and the chief actors in the scene had BOOK V. long since perished, by that tempest which their own violence had raised. The retributive hand CHAP. IV. of providence, and the voice of surrounding 1815 nations, had already stamped this act with its appropriate character; and the ceremonial of re-interment was as uncalled for as it was impolitic. Suspicions had long been entertained, that a design existed to restore the principles of the ancient monarchy; and the official order for shutting up the theatres of Paris, on the day of re-interment, and for the introduction into the French liturgy of a service commemorative of the death of the royal martyr, served to encourage this apprehension. There was, indeed, nothing in the character of the king to justify such an opinion; but other branches of the royal family were supposed to have imbibed a greater portion of the maxims of prerogative, and many of the emigrant noblesse, and ecclesiastics, were known to have retained all the political feelings with which they left the country. If, on these accounts, the friends of constitutional liberty found reasonable grounds for withholding their confidence from the existing government, there were not wanting others, who, from factious motives, aggravated the public discontents, disseminating reports of designs to invalidate the purchase of national property, to effect the restoration of tythes, and to re-establish feudal and seignorial rights, and from these causes, a mass of secret disaffection was engendered in the nation, which was ready to manifest itself whenever any superinducing cause should call it into action. * DISINTERMENT OF LOUIS XVI. AND HIS ROYAL CONSORT. "On the 18th of Jan. the Chancellor, Count de Blacas, and others, proceeded to the cemetery of the Magdaleine, now a garden, attached to the house of M. Descloseaux. After causing the ground to be dug up by labourers, one of whom was present at the inhumation of the queen, a bed of lime, ten inches thick, was found, under which was discovered the mark of a bier about five and a half feet long, with several planks still sound; a great number of bones along this bier was carefully collected. Some were, however, wanting, which had, doubtless, been reduced to dust. The head was found entire, and the position in which it had been placed indicated with certainty that it had been detached from the body. Some remains of clothes were also found, and a pair of elastic garters, pretty well preserved, which were put aside to be presented to his majesty, along with two pieces of the bier. The bones were then placed in a box which had been brought for the purpose of receiving them, and the earth and lime which had been found along with the bones were deposited in another box.-To discover the remains of the king, next day the digging re-commenced, and some planks of a bier were found, but there was no bed of pure lime as about the bier of the queen. The earth and the lime appeared to have been purposely mixed. In the midst of the lime and the earth were found the bones of a male body; several of which being almost entirely corroded, were on the point of crumbling into dust. The head was covered with lime, and was found between two leg bones. This was the situation indicated as that of the head of Louis XVI.; no trace of any clothes could be found, nor could any complete bed of lime be discovered near the spot. "The relics were then inclosed in a large box, which was fastened and sealed with the signet of the arms of France. The box was afterwards carried into the chamber where the remains of the queen had been deposited the day before, in order that the ecclessiastics already assembled might continue round the two bodies the prayers of the church, till the time fixed for placing them in leaden coffins, and for carrying them to the royal church of St. Denis, where they were finally entombed. Marshals Soult and Oudinot held the pall over the coffin of Louis XVI.; and the Presidents Barthelemy and Laine, over the coffin of the queen. But not among the least interesting assistants at the ceremony, were M. M. Hue, Deséze, and Descloseaux. The first had remained constantly with the king till his death; the second had ably defended him at the bar of the convention; and the third had preserved, and watched over, his mortal remains."-Moniteur. BOOK V. 1814 CHAPTER V. THE SECOND REIGN OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON: Introductory Matter: Exile-Return from FROM a review of the proceedings of the government of Louis XVIII. and the causes of CHAP. V. the dissatisfaction of his people, the mind is directed, by a natural transition, to the imperial exile of Elba. The departure of Napoleon from Fontainebleau, on the 20th of April, 1814, attended by the English, Russian, Austrian, and Prussian commissioners, afforded the troops, by whom he was surrounded, another opportunity of indicating their undiminished attachment to a leader, under whose banners they had attained so much glory, and in whose cause they had endured so many sufferings. The cries of Vive l'Empereur! which attended the departure of the imperial cavalcade, were reiterated in every town and village from Fontainebleau to Moulins, and the discontent of the populace at the presence of the commissioners, and the object of their journey, was expressed in the most unqualified terms of abuse.* At Lyons, which city Napoleon and his attendants passed through near midnight on the 23d, a few persons were assembled, and saluted him with the cry so familiar to his ears in the days of his prosperity. On the following day, Marshal Augereau crossed the emperor on his route at Valence, where an interview took place, in which Napoleon reproached Augereau for the asperity of his proclamation of the 16th,† and the marshal recri minated, by reminding the fallen monarch of that insatiable thirst for conquest to which he had sacrificed the fidelity of his friends, and the happiness of his country. In Valence, the troops belonging to Marshal Augereau's corps, though wearing white cockades, received the emperor with military honours, and their indignation was manifested in no equivocal terms towards the commissioners in his suite. Here, however, his triumphs ended; and his lacerated feelings were no longer soothed even with the homage of exclamations. At Avignon, on the morning of the 25th, a great concourse of persons were assembled, and the emperor and his attendants were saluted with cries of "Vive le Roi! Vivent les Allies! A bas Nicholas ! A bas le Tyran, le Coquin, le mauvais Gueux !" and even still coarser abuse. The conduct of the populace at Orgon and Aix was equally insulting; at the former of these places, a gallows was erected exactly on the spot where the relays of horses stood, from which was suspended a figure, in French uniform, sprinkled with blood, bearing a paper upon its breast with this inscription: "Tel sera tot ou tard le sort du Tyran!" These repeated demonstrations of popular indignation became so alarming, that Napoleon changed his dress in his carriage, soon after he * Narrative of Napoleon Bonaparte's journey from Fontainebleau to Frejus, in April, 1814, by Count Truchses-Waldburg (Valdeburgh Fruchsels) attendant Prussian Commissary. + See Vol. II. Book IV. p. 342. A name applied familiarly to Bonaparte, while he was a student at the college of Brienne, and revived as a term of opprobrium after his abdication, under an erroneous idea that Nicholas was actually his christian name. On this subject, his own writing, in the still existing registry of the second arrondissement of Paris, at the time of his first marriage in 1796, is pretty conclusive evidence-it is there written " Napolione." left the town, and mounting a post horse, rode on before, in the character of a courier. At a small inn, on the other side of Orgon, the imperial suite stopped to dinner, and here, in a kind of chamber, the former ruler of the world was found by the commissioners, buried in thought, with his head resting upon his hand, and his countenance bedewed with tears.* An apprehension that the new government had determined to take away his life, continually haunted his imagination in the latter part of his journey, and after assuming various disguises, he quitted his own carriage entirely, and took a seat in a corner of General Koller's calêche. When his mind had regained some degree of composure, he spoke freely of his political projects while he was Emperor of France; but now, according to his professions, every thing that could happen in the political world, was to him perfectly indifferent, and he felt extremely happy in anticipating the tranquil life which he should pass at Porto Ferrajo, far from the intrigues of courts, and in the full enjoyment of his scientific pursuits. Yes; the throne of Europe might now be safely offered to him, for he should reject it; this conduct of the French towards him had evinced such black ingratitude, as to entirely disgust him with the ambition of reigning. On the morning of the 27th, the emperor and his train arrived in the neighbourhood of Frejus, when, finding himself under the protection of a body of Austrian troops, he again resumed his uniform, and once more occupied his own carriage. The Undaunted, an English frigate, under the command of Captain Usher, awaited his arrival, and on the evening of the 28th, he embarked on board that vessel in the harbour of St. Raphor, where fourteen years before he had landed on his return from Egypt. During the five days passed at sea, the manners of the emperor were unusually condescending and courteous; General Koller and Colonel Campbell, the two commissioners appointed to attend him to the island, were daily invited to his table, and he frequently expressed his regret at the scenes which they had been called to witness, during the latter days of his journey, through the instigation, as he imagined, of the French government. On the 3d of May, the Undaunted arrived off the coast of Elba, and on the following day the bee-studded flag+ of the Elbese empire waved from the watch-towers of Porto Ferrajo. In answer to a congratula 1814 tory oration from the municipal body of his new BOOK V. The energies of the ever active mind of When the emperor received the visits of * Count Truchses-Waldburg's Narrative. +The ancient and peculiar ensign of Elba was singularly well adapted to Bonaparte's situation, being no other than a wheel-an emblem of the vicissitudes of human life, borrowed by the Elbese from the Egyptian mysteries. 1815 BOOK V. capture of Paris; and of his abdication; on these topics he would descant with great earCHAP. V. nestness, exhibiting, in rapid succession, traits of eloquence, of military genius, of indignation, and of inordinate self-estimation. The chief violence of his rage was directed against Marmont for the surrender of Paris; and against Augereau for the surrender of Lyons. For the allied troops, as compared with his own, he expressed the most profound contempt; the Prussians were the best, but he would beat even them with one-third their number. In the vexation of his heart, however, he did justice to Blucher: "Ce vieux diable," said he, "never gave me any rest. I beat him to-day-good, he attacked me to-morrow. I beat him in the morning-he was ready to fight again in the evening. He suffered enormous losses, and, according to all calculation, ought to have thought himself too happy to be allowed to retire unmolested, instead of which he immediately advanced upon me again; ah, le vieux diable !" When the first impressions of novelty were effaced, Bonaparte's mind seems to have gradually subsided into a state bordering upon ennui. He grew corpulent, took less exercise, and slept more. But the discussions in the congress at Vienna regarding his future destiny, and the arrangement of the Italian states, particularly of those which had been awarded by the treaty of Fontainebleau to the empress and his son, soon roused him from this state of torpor. Hitherto he had evinced a decided predilection for the society of Sir Neil Campbell, the British accredited agent at Elba; he seemed to have nothing to conceal, and courted the strictest scrutiny; but having received a visit from some of his family and friends, who had just left Paris, and by whom the proceedings of the congress were reported, he became restless and dissatisfied. He now shunned the company of the British officer, and almost secluded himself from society. Often he would spend seven or eight hours in his closet, no one daring to intrude on his retirement; and at other times, he would wander on the shore with folded arms, and frequently with an unequal and agitated step. The embellishments of his capital, and the improvement of the island, were neglected, and almost forgotten; the discontents of the French people, which had now come to his knowledge, had awaked his slumbering ambition, and the incipient conspiracy to effect his restoration absorbed all his thoughts. The wheel of vicissitude was again in motion, and the mind of Napoleon became intently fixed upon the progress of the rotation. This striking alteration in the conduct of Napoleon, and the frequent intercourse which he had now opened with his friends in Leghorn, Florence, and other parts of Italy, was not concealed from the principal governments of Europe; and there is no doubt whatever but Sir Neil Campbell reported from time to time to his government all that appeared to him deserving of notice, as well in the island of Elba as on the neighbouring peninsula. It is impossible perhaps to conceive any situation in Europe less calculated for a place of security, or more favourable for conducting a conspiracy, than the island of Elba. That it was the place of Bonaparte's selection, as he informed the inhabitants on his first arrival among them, may be easily imagined; but that the allies should have acceded to such a choice cannot be so well accounted for. Situated in the vicinity of France, Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, it afforded a centre of unrestricted communication with the principal scenes of his former usurpations; and that nothing might be wanting to give to Napoleon's genius for intrigue the most unbounded scope, a corvette was assigned him to keep up his communication with the ports of the Mediterranean, and no cruiser of any nation had a right to violate his flag. Colonel Sir Neil Campbell had indeed been allowed to remain either at Elba or Leghorn, after he had fulfilled the whole of his duty, which consisted in conveying the exile to his residence at Elba, but he was not permitted by the treaty to exercise over him any police whatever, not so much as to seize and detain him if he thought proper to quit the island.* Under circumstances so auspicious to his designs, the ramifications of the conspiracy soon became widely extended. On the course of the Seine, as well as on the banks of the lake of Geneva, the violet was the secret symbol by which the conspirators denoted their chief, and recognized each other. Rings of a violet colour, with the device, Elle reparaitra au printems,'t became fashionable. The ladies were dressed in violet-coloured silks; and the men displayed violet-coloured watch-strings. When they asked, 'Aimez vous la violette?‡ if the answer was simply Oui,'§ it was inferred that the respondent was not a confederate, but if he exclaimed Eh bien,' they recognized a brother, initiated in the secrets of the conspiracy, and completed the sentence by remarking, Elle reparaitra au printems. These secret symbols, less important for their professed purpose of * Speech of Lord Castlereagh in the House of Commons, April 7, 1815. + It will re-appear in the spring. Are you fond of the violet. § Yes. Ah! well. secrecy, than as a romantic embellishment of Marshal Soult, who was at the head of the place as the seat of the amusements and plea BOOK V. The deliberations of the congress assembled The preparations made for the hazardous The night proved clear and favourable, and fortune seemed to smile on the enterprise. Sir Neil Campbell, the British commissary, was in Italy; no cruisers appeared in sight; and before the dawn of the following morning the adventurers hoped to double the cape of Capraia, and to be placed beyond the reach of the vessels which were known to be cruising on that station. But the wind, which was at the time of embark * Lord Castlereagh's Speech in the House of Commons, April 7, 1815. 1815 |