Caulaincourt, who was sent by Napoleon to the headquarters of the Emperor Alexander, arrived there on the night of the 30th of March. He, however, did not obtain an interview with the Czar until after his Majesty had received the Municipal Council of Paris, at the head of which was M. de Chabrol. At first Alexander appeared somewhat surprised to see the Municipal Council, which he did not receive exactly in the way that was expected; but this coldness was merely momentary, and he afterwards addressed the Council in a very gracious way, though he dropped no hint of his ulterior intentions.

Alexander, who entertained a personal regard for Caulaincourt, received him kindly in his own character, but not as the envoy of Napoleon. "You have come too late," said the Czar. "It is all over. I can say nothing to you at present. Go to Paris, and I will see you there." These words perfectly enlightened Caulaincourt as to the result of his mission. His next interview with the Emperor Alexander at M. de Talleyrand's did not take place until after the declaration noticed in my last chapter. The conversation they had together remained a secret, for neither Alexander nor the Duke of Vicenza mentioned it; but there was reason to infer, from some words which fell from the Emperor Alexander, that he had received Caulaincourt rather as a private individual than as the ambassador of Napoleon, whose power, indeed, he could not recognise after his declaration.. The Provisional Government was not entirely pleased with Caulaincourt's presence in Paris, and a representation was made to the Russian Emperor on the subject. Alexander concurred in the opinion of the Provisional Government, which was expressed through the medium of the Abbé de Pradt. M. de Caulaincourt, therefore, at the wish of the Czar, returned to the Emperor, then at Fontainebleau.

again protests that whatever may be the event, he will never separate the cause of his daughter and that of his grandson from that of France" (Vitrolles, tome i. p. 48). But this is exactly what he did do, and even to an extraordinary extent, in sending Napoleon to Elba and retaining the Empress and the King of Rome.

1814.

137

CHAPTER XI.

1814.

Situation of Bonaparte during the events of the 30th and 31st of March-His arrival at Fontainebleau-Plan of attacking Paris-Arrival of troops at Fontainebleau-The Emperor's address to the Guard-Forfeiture pronounced by the Senate-Letters to Marmont-Correspondence between Marmont and Schwartzenberg-Macdonald informed of the occupation of ParisConversation between the Emperor and Macdonald at FontainebleauBeurnonville's letter-Abdication on condition of a Regency-Napoleon's wish to retract his act of abdication-Macdonald, Ney, and Caulaincourt sent to Paris-Marmont released from his promise by Prince Schwartzenberg.

ON the morning of the 30th of March, while the battle before the walls of Paris was at its height, Bonaparte was still at Troyes. He quitted that town at ten o'clock, accompanied only by Bertrand, Caulaincourt, two aides de camp, and two orderly officers. He was not more than two hours in travelling the first ten leagues, and he and his slender escort performed the journey without changing horses, and without even alighting. They arrived at Sens at one o'clock in the afternoon. Everything was in such confusion that it was impossible to prepare a suitable mode of conveyance for the Emperor. He was therefore obliged to content himself with a wretched cariole, and in this equipage, about four in the morning, he reached Froidmanteau, about four leagues from Paris. It was there that the Emperor received from General Belliard, who arrived at the head of a column of artillery, the first intelligence of the battle of Paris. He heard the news with an air of composure, which was probably affected to avoid discouraging those about him. He walked for about a quarter of an hour on the high road, and it was after that promenade that he sent Caulaincourt to Paris. Napoleon afterwards went to the house of the postmaster,

where he ordered his maps to be brought to him, and, according to custom, marked the different positions of the enemy's troops with pins, the heads of which were touched. with wax of different colours. After this description of work, which Napoleon did every day, or sometimes several times a day, he repaired to Fontainebleau, where he arrived at six in the morning. He did not order the great apartments of the castle to be opened, but went up to his favourite little apartment, where he shut himself up, and remained alone during the whole of the 31st of March.1

In the evening the Emperor sent for the Duke of Ragusa, who had just arrived at Essonne with his troops. The Duke reached Fontainebleau between three and four o'clock on the morning of the 1st of April. Napoleon then received a detailed account of the events of the 30th from Marmont, on whose gallant conduct before Paris he bestowed much praise.

All was gloom and melancholy at Fontainebleau, yet the Emperor still retained his authority, and I have been informed that he deliberated for some time as to whether he should retire behind the Loire, or immediately hazard a bold stroke upon Paris, which would have been much more to his taste than to resign himself to the chances which an uncertain temporising might bring about. This latter thought pleased him; and he was seriously considering his plan of attack when the news of the 31st, and the unsuccessful issue of Caulaincourt's mission, gave him to understand that his situation was more desperate than he had hitherto imagined.

Meanwhile the heads of his columns, which the Emperor had left at Troyes, arrived on the 1st of April at Fontainebleau, the troops having marched fifty leagues in less than three days, one of the most rapid marches ever performed. On the 2d of April Napoleon communicated the events of Paris to the Generals who were about him, recommending them to conceal the news lest it should dispirit the troops, upon whom he yet relied. That day, during an inspection of the troops, which took place in the court of the Palace,

1 This little apartment is situated on the first storey, parallel with what is called the Gallery of Francis I., where Monaldeschi was murdered by order of Queen Christina of Sweden. -Bourrienne.

1814

ADDRESS TO THE GUARDS.

139

Bonaparte assembled the officers of his Guard, and harangued them as follows:

Soldiers! the enemy has stolen three marches upon us, and has made himself master of Paris. We must drive him thence. Frenchmen, unworthy of the name, emigrants whom we have pardoned, have mounted the white cockade, and joined the enemy. The wretches shall receive the reward due to this new crime. Let us swear to conquer or die, and to enforce respect to the tri-coloured cockade, which has for twenty years accompanied us on the path of glory and honour.

He also endeavoured to induce the Generals to second his mad designs upon Paris,1 by making them believe that he had made sincere efforts to conclude peace. He assured them that he had expressed to the Emperor Alexander his willingness to purchase it by sacrifices; that he had consented to resign even the conquests made during the Revolution, and to confine himself within the old limits of France. "Alexander," added Napoleon, "refused; and, not content with that refusal, he has leagued himself with a party of emigrants, whom, perhaps, I was wrong in pardoning for having borne arms against France. Through their perfidious insinuations Alexander has permitted the white cockade to to be mounted on the capital. We will maintain ours, and in a few days we will march upon Paris. I rely on you."2

When the boundless attachment of the Guards to the Emperor is considered it cannot appear surprising that these last words, uttered in an impressive tone, should have produced a feeling of enthusiasm, almost electrical, in all to whom they were addressed. The old companions of the

1 The plan of Napoleon to make a sudden and fresh attack on the Allies does not seem a mad one if the army had been ready to undertake it with ardour. Jomini (see tome iv. pp. 591, 592) seems to consider that at least better terms might have been got. Hamley (Operations of War, p. 290, edition of 1872, in which the campaign of 1814 should be studied) treats the attempt as impossible with officers weary of war and a country impatient of his rule. Thiers (tome xvii. p. 692) says that posterity will judge that success was at least likely. Marmont (tome vi. p. 253) says that Napoleon forgot that the Marne, with its bridges all destroyed, lay between him and the enemy, and he thenceforward seems to have considered that Napoleon was mad, and that his own duty was to betray him and France, and then (p. 260) to tenderly offer to look after his (the Emperor's) bodily comfort for the rest of his life.

2 An interesting account of the events attendant upon the entrance of the Allies into Paris, and of the situation of Napoleon at Fontainebleau, from the pen of an eye-witness, will be found in the third volume of the Memoirs of Madame Junot (Duchesse d'Abrantès), English edition of 1883.

glory of their chief exclaimed with one voice, " Paris! Paris!" But, fortunately, during the night, the Generals having deliberated with each other saw the frightful abyss into which they were about to precipitate France. They therefore resolved to intimate in discreet terms to the Emperor that they would not expose Paris to destruction, so that on the 3d of April, prudent ideas succeeded the inconsiderate enthusiasm of the preceding day.'

The wreck of the army assembled at Fontainebleau, which was the remnant of 1,000,000 of troops levied during

1 Efforts were making in the capital to effect a rising en masse of the populace in favour of Bonaparte. Had these efforts succeeded Paris would have been bombarded, and possibly left as miserable a heap of ruins as Moscow had been two years before. But the burghers, artisans, and even the mere mob were not disposed for such extremities.

Paris was now quite tranquil; and notwithstanding several of Bonaparte's emissaries were in the city endeavouring to work on the people, with money and promises, to rise on the Allies, no instance of disorder occurred.

So much did M. de Caulaincourt at length despair of the possibility of Bonaparte's return that he sounded M. de Talleyrand and the Duc Dalberg as to the intention of the Allies with regard to his Emperor's future lot, as he considered him a lost man. The Senate met to deliberate and to pronounce their decision; but since the declaration of the Emperor Alexander, in the name of the Allies, they had but one course to adopt, which was to declare Bonaparte hors de la loi. The National Guards, who had been commanded by Marshal Moncey, were without a leader, he having fled. Count Montmorency remained, and what part he would take was yet uncertain. The brother-in-law to the late General Moreau was mentioned as likely to be placed at the head of the National Guards; but hitherto every arrangement was necessarily incomplete.

A report now arrived by a letter from Toulouse, of a great battle having been fought on the 23d ult. between Lord Wellington and Marshal Soult, in which the latter had been completely defeated, and driven into Toulouse, with only one piece of artillery left.

The decision of the Senate, who met on the 1st of April, declared that as Napoleon Bonaparte had deserted the government of France, they felt themselves called upon to choose another chief, and that they were unanimous in calling to the throne their legitimate sovereign, Louis XVIII.

In an

The management of every new measure undoubtedly lay with the Emperor of Russia, and the confidential Cabinet which he had formed. . . incidental conversation I had with M. de Talleyrand at this period he told me that steps were taking to communicate with all the French troops and fortresses. He believed strongly in a movement among the troops favourable to the new order of things. Marmont and Lefebvre were the Marshals who it was thought would declare first. On the other hand, it was said Bonaparte had an immense number of emissaries in Paris. M. Girardin, Marshal Berthier's aide de camp, was in the city with large sums of money at his disposal: some hundreds of the Old Guard had been introduced into Paris to head an insurrection, and Bonaparte was determined, at any risk, de se faire jour dans Paris.

These various histories amused the alarmists of the day, but an excessive tranquillity and even indifference reigned around (Lord Londonderry's Narrative).