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HIS PROCLAMATION TO THE ARMY.

269

you. Come and join him. Tear off those colors which the nation has proscribed, and which during twenty-five years served as a rallying point to all the enemies of France. Assume this three-colored cockade-you wore it during our days of victory.

We should forget that we have been the masters of nations; but we ought not to suffer any other nation to intermeddle with our affairs.

Who shall pretend to be master among us? Who has the power? Re-assume those eagles, which were yours at Ulm, at Austerlitz, at Jena, at Eylau, at Friedland, at Judella, at Eckmuhl, at Essling, at Wagram, at Smolensk, at Moscow, at Lutzen, at Vurken, at Montmirail. Think you, that this handful of Frenchmen, now so arrogant, would venture to encounter the sight of them? Let them return from whence they came, and there, if they choose, let them reign, as they have pretended to reign during nineteen years.

Your property, your rank, and your glory, the property, the rank, and the glory of your children, have no greater enemies than those princes whom strangers have imposed upon us. They are the enemies of our glory; and their condemnation is sealed by the recital of so many heroic deeds, which have immortalized the French people while struggling to throw off their yoke.

The veterans of the armies of the Sombre and Meuse, of the Rhine, of Italy, of Egypt, of the west, and of the grand army, are all humbled: the glory of their wounds is tarnished, their victories are crimes, these brave men are rebels, if, as the enemies of the people pretend, legitimate sovereigns were found in the midst of foreign armies.

They bestow honours, rewards, their affections, on those who have served against their country and against us.

Soldiers!-Rally under the standard of your chief. His existence is yours. His rights are no other than those of the people and yours. His interest, his honor, his glory, are no other than your interest, your honor

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PROCLAMATION TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE.

and your glory. Victory shall march with the rapidity of an army rushing to the combat. The eagle with the national colours, shall fly from steeple to steeple, until it reaches the towers of Notre Dame; then you may show with pride your wounds; then you may boast of your achievements. You will be the saviours of your country. In your old age, surrounded by your fellow citizens, they will hear you with respect relating your exploits. You will have it in your power, to say with pride, "And, also, I was one of that Grand Army which twice entered the walls of Vienna, those of Rome, of Berlin, of Madrid, of Moscow; and which rescued Paris from the disgrace which treason and the presence of the enemy had enstamped upon it."

Honor to these brave soldiers, the glory of the country! Eternal shame to those criminal Frenchmen, in whatever rank or station they may have been born, who for five and twenty years have fought under foreign banners to tear the bosom of their country. (Signed) ON. The grand marshal, exercising the functions of major general to the grand army. Proclamation of his majesty the emperor of France. AT GULPH JUAN, March 1, 1815. Napoleon, by the grace of God, and the constitution of the state, emperor of the French, &c. &c. &c.

NAPOLEON.

BERTRAND.

TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE.-Frenchmen, The defection of the duke of Castiglione (Augereau) delivered Lyons, without defence, to our enemies. The army, the command of which I had confided to him, was, by the number of the battalions, the bravery and patriotism of the troops which composed it, able to beat the corps of the Austrian army which was opposed to it, and to fall upon the rear of the left flank of the enemy's army, which menaced Paris.

The victories of Chump Aubert, of Montmirail, of Chateau Thierry, of Vaucamp, of Mormans, of Monterau, of Graone, of Rheims, of Arcis-sur-Aube, and of St. Dizier, the insurrection of the brave peasants of Lorraine, of Champagne, of Alsace, of Franche Compte, and of

PROCLAMATION TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 271

Burgundy; and the position which I had taken in the rear of the enemy's army, by separating it from its magazines, from its parks of reserve, from its convoys, and from all its baggage, had placed it in a desperate situation. The French were never on the point of being more powerful; and the flower of the enemy's army was lost without resource; it had found its grave in those vast countries, which it had sacked in such an unpitying manner, when the treason of the duke of Ragusa (Marmont) delivered up the capital and disorganized the army. The unexpected conduct of these two generals, which betrayed at once their country, their prince, and their benefactor, changed the fate of the war. The disastrous situation of the enemy was such, that at the end of the affair, which took place before Paris, it was without munitions, in consequence of its separation from its parks of reserve.

Under these novel and great circumstances, my heart was rent to pieces, but my soul remained immovable. I only consulted the interests of the country; I exiled myself to a rock in the midst of the seas; my life was and would be still useful to you: I would not permit, that the great number of citizens who wished to accompany me, partaking of my fate, should do so; I believed their presence useful to France, and I only took with me a handful of brave men, necessary for my guard.

Raised to the throne by your choice, all that has been done without you is unlawful. For twenty-five years past, France has had new interests, new institutions, a new glory, which could only be guaranteed by a national government, and by a dynasty born under those new circumstances. A prince who will reign over you, who will sit on my throne, by the force of the same armies which have ravaged our territory, will seek in vain to support himself by the principles of the feudal law; he could not assure the honor and the rights but of a small number of individuals, enemies to the people, who, twenty-five years ago, had condemned them in all their national assemblies. Your internal

272 PROCLAMATION TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE.

tranquility and your external reputation would have . been lost forever.

Frenchmen! in my exile I have heard your complaints and your wishes; you call back that government of your own choice which alone is legitimate. You blamed my long slumber, you reproached me with sacrificing to my ease the greatest interests of the country.

I have traversed the seas amidst dangers of every kind; I arrived among you to resume my rights, which are your own. Whatever individuals have done, written or said, since the capture of Paris, I will remain forever ignorant of. That will have no influence upon the recollection which I cherish of the important services which they have rendered; for events of such a nature, are above human control.

Frenchmen! there is no nation, however inconsiderable, which has not had the right, and has not been subjected to the dishonor, of obeying a prince imposed by an enemy who is victorious for a season. When Charles VII. re-entered Paris, and overthrew the ephemeral throne of Henry VI. he determined to hold his throne by the valour of his brave men, and not by that of the prince regent of England. It is thus that to you alone, and to the brave men of the army, I give, and will always give, the glory of my being indebted for every thing. NAPOLEON.

CHAPTER XVI.

Napoleon appears in a new character....A detail of his expedition from Elba to Paris....His entry into the capital....Louis flies from Paris....Several decrees issued at Lyons....He determines the functions of the house of Peers.... His declaration to the French people....His old marshals and friends flock to Paris, and give in their adhesion....All France, except Bordeaux and Toulon, declare for him....He organizes a ministry ....The council of state_address the Emperor....The allied sovereigns at Vienna.... They declare him an outlaw....The different causes of the coalitions against France.... The preposterous principles of the allied sovereigns.

We have seen Napoleon Bonaparte, at the head of armies, conquering kingdoms, and giving law to empires, he now appears to us in a new character, of himself, by his own personal influence, driving the Bourbons from the throne of France, though seated there by the power of half a million of armed men. Cossacks, Russians, Prussians, Austrians, English, Dutch, Germans, Portuguese, Spaniards, Bavarians, Saxons, &c. &c. and all this was accomplished without the loss of one drop of blood!! The Exile of Elba, the ridicule and laughing stock of Englishmen, became the first legitimate Emperor of France. Millions of millions of times has it been said, (and most persons from the frequent repetition of the falsehood, believed it) that Bonaparte was hated by the French people, that they were grateful to the foreigners, who gave them a king, that they happily "reposed in the arms of their legitimate sovereign. 29 What is the fact? He appears, the whole country rises to support his claims to the throne, and expel the "usurper" the kingling of foreigners. If ever there was a "legitimate king" (which we very much doubt,) that king was Napoleon Bonaparte, for the people on this occasion willed, freely and frankly, that he should have the supreme authority."

Whatever we may think of particular acts of tyranny, or projects of ambition, of this extraordinary man, the fact now appears manifest, that, in general, he

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