on receipt of an order from the Emperor, that he meant to march on
Paris--a resolution that filled his officers with consternation. On the
marshal's arrival at the palace, the generals waited on him in a body,
to request that he would place before the Emperor, the rashness and
desperation of attempting to recapture Paris from the allies.
"Messieurs," said he, "in the present juncture, such advice might
displease his Majesty--leave the matter to me."
As soon as he presented himself before Napoleon--
"Well, marshal," said he, "how do things go?"
"Very ill, sire."
"What! Very ill? How is your division disposed?"
"It is completely discouraged, sire; recent events at Paris have spread
consternation through its ranks."
"Think you," asked the Emperor, "it will join with me in a movement
upon Paris?"
"Trust not to that, sire," was the desponding answer; "should I give
such an order, I should hazard being disobeyed."
"But what are we to do?" said the Emperor, passionately. "I cannot
remain as I am! I shall march against Paris; I will punish these
inconstant Parisians, and the folly of the senate! Woe to the
government they have plastered up waiting the return of their Bourbons.
To-morrow I shall place myself at the head of my Old Guard, and
to-morrow we shall be in the Tuileries!"
"Sire," urged Macdonald, "are you ignorant that a provisional
government has been established?"
"I know it."
"Then, sire, read this--a letter from Marshal Bournonville, announcing
the sentence of forfeiture pronounced by the senate, and the resolution
of the allied generals not to treat with you."
The countenance of Napoleon became violently contracted. After a pause,
he exclaimed, furiously,
"I shall march upon Paris!"
"March upon Paris, sire," reiterated Macdonald; "that design must be
renounced, for not a sword will leave its scabbard to follow you."
Finding all indeed over, the bitter subject of his abdication came to
be gravely considered, and he handed to the marshal a document, on the
4th April, stating that he was ready to quit the throne of France.
The tender and honourable part acted by Macdonald at this humiliating
but memorable time was duly appreciated by the Emperor, who has done
him ample justice. With Marshal Ney and the Duke of Vicenza, he
was named one of the commissioners sent by Napoleon to the Emperor
Alexander.
"Well, Duke of Tarentum," said the former, before the marshal left
Fontainebleau, "do you think a regency is the only thing possible?"
"Yes, sire."
"Well," continued Napoleon, who had now recovered his composure; "I
charge you with my message to the Emperor Alexander; you will go with
Ney instead of Marmont. _I rely on you_, and I hope you have entirely
forgotten the circumstances which separated us so long?"
"Oh, sire, I have never once thought of them since 1809."
"I rejoice to hear it," replied Napoleon with emotion; "but marshal--I
must now make the acknowledgment--_I was wrong_."
"Sire!" exclaimed Macdonald; the Emperor pressed his hand and faltered
out but one word,
"Go."[28]
Macdonald vehemently urged that a regency should be established in
France, in the person of Maria Louisa, in favour of her son, the young
King of Rome, and violent altercations took place at the conference.
"Speak not to me, sir," said he to Bournonville, who opposed him; "your
conduct has made me forget the friendship of thirty years!" "As for
_you_, sir," he added, turning to Dupont, "your behaviour towards the
Emperor is not generous. I acknowledge that he may have been unjust to
you in the affair of Baylen; but how long has it been the fashion to
avenge a personal wrong at the expense of the country?"
"Gentlemen," exclaimed the Duke of Vicenza, "do not forget that you are
in the presence of the Emperor of Russia."
The energy with which Macdonald urged the cause of Napoleon
embarrassed the Emperor of Russia; but neither the eloquence with which
he spoke of the military glory of France, and the resolution of himself
and his comrades never to abandon the family of one who had led them so
often to victory, and with whom they had shared so many perils in war,
nor the arguments with which he sought to enforce the regency, were
successful; and at midnight on the 6th, he returned in dejection to
Fontainebleau, to render, with Ney and Caulaincourt, an account of his
mission. Napoleon again exhibited much emotion, and said, with a sigh,
"I know, marshal, all you have done for me--with what warmth you have
pleaded the cause of my son. They desire my simple and unconditional
abdication? Well--act on my behalf. Go, and again defend my interests
and those of my family."
Bourienne and others thus relate their last interview.
"Alas!" said Napoleon, "I am no longer rich enough to recompense your
last service, Macdonald; but I can perceive how unwisely I was formerly
prejudiced against you. I can also see the designs of those who
inspired me with that prejudice."
"Sire," replied the marshal, "I have already had the honour to assure
you, that since 1809 I have been yours in life and death!"
"Since I can no longer recompense you as I would wish, I pray you
to remember that I shall NEVER forget the faithful service you have
rendered me!"
Napoleon then turned to Caulaincourt, saying,
"Duke of Vicenza, bring my sabre."
Caulaincourt brought the weapon, which was one of exquisite
workmanship, and placed it in the hands of the Emperor.
"Behold," said he, "a recompence, Macdonald, which, I believe, will
give you pleasure. This sabre, which was given to me by Murad Bey, in
Egypt, after we had won the battle of Mount Tabor, accept, my friend--a
gift which, I believe, will gratify you."
"Sire," replied the marshal, whose voice trembled as he received the
sabre from the Emperor; "if ever I have a son, this weapon shall be
his noblest heritage; and as such I will guard it with my life."
"Give me your hand, and embrace me!" exclaimed Napoleon; and throwing
themselves into each others arms, they parted in tears--parted never to
meet again as friends.[29]
In obedience to the commands of the fallen Emperor, the marshal, on the
day succeeding this impressive farewell, sent in his adhesion to the
new government.
"Now," he wrote, "that I am freed from my allegiance to the Emperor
Napoleon, I have the honour to announce to you--the provisional
government--that I accord with the national wish which recalls the
dynasty of Bourbon to the throne of France."
On the 6th May, he was named member of the Council of War, and
Chevalier of St. Louis. This was an order instituted by Louis XIV. in
1693, and, until the revolution, it remained entirely in possession of
the French army. The badge was a gold cross of eight points, hung from
a broad crimson ribbon. On the 6th June, he was created a peer of the
realm by the surviving descendant of the Capet family, Louis XVIII.,
who seemed now firmly seated on the throne of France. But this monarch,
as soon as order was duly established, was sufficiently rash and unwise
to raise doubts about the validity of that law by which, during the
stormy days of the republic, the property of the emigrant noblesse had
been confiscated and sold. This was an unpleasant topic to broach at
a time when Napoleon, like a caged lion, in Elba was watching for the
moment to break forth; and Macdonald foresaw that misfortunes might
ensue from its discussion; thus, on the 3rd December, 1814, he made
an oration which succeeded in tranquillizing the fears of those who
had made fortunes amid the anarchy of the republic, or with the growth
of the late military empire. He had, moreover, the amiable intention
of succouring the aged nobles and chevaliers of St. Louis, who were
returning home after twenty-two years of exile, and the families of
those whose fidelity to the ancient monarchy had involved them in
penury, expatriation, and ruin.
His proposition was to raise twelve millions of annual rents, to be
divided in proportions according to the rank and necessities of the
claimants. His motion was received by all honourable men with favour,
and with lively gratitude by those whose cause he had undertaken. He
also advocated the hard case of his old comrades, the veteran soldiers
of the Empire, who had lost their pay and pensions by the success of
the restoration.
Macdonald won the hearts of all by these proposed measures; but they
were brought forward too late in the year to have any practical or
beneficial result; for now the eyes of all men were turned towards the
little isle of Elba, from whence the _Violet_, as his soldiers named
Napoleon, was confidently expected to come with the spring.
About this time, learning that Madame Moreau, the widow of his old
friend and brother soldier, had secretly applied in his favour to
an influential friend at Naples, to the effect that the revenues of
the dukedom of Tarentum, which had been long withheld, should be
continued to him, he wrote to the French plenipotentiary at the court
of Ferdinand, praying that, with all gratitude to Madame Moreau, there
might be no interference in the matter.
"Ferdinand of Naples," said he, with noble spirit, "owes me nothing,
for having routed his armies, revolutionized his kingdom, and forced
him to seek refuge in Sicily."
"Had I not laid it down as a principle," replied Ferdinand, "not to
maintain one of the French endowments, I would assuredly have made an
exception in favour of Marshal Macdonald."
On the 1st of March, 1815, the Emperor landed from Elba, and again
Europe vibrated with war. The followers of the Bourbons were struck
with consternation, and the soldiers to whom Louis XVIII. looked for
protection and defence, were naturally enough flocking to the standard
of their old leader; and he could turn to none, in his desertion and
dismay, save a few officers of high rank, whose spirit of honour made
them adhere to their oath of allegiance. The first to whom he addressed
himself was Marshal Macdonald. He sent that officer to Lyons, where he
arrived on the 8th of March, and found the Comte d'Artois in despair at
the sullen and mutinous spirit exhibited by the troops he commanded.
Macdonald, of course, could not be surprised at this conduct in the
soldiers, while his own heart led him towards the Emperor, and an
_oath_ tied him to the throne of the Bourbons; but he ordered a general
parade of all the troops, and reviewed them before the prince. Still
the same sullenness and the same silence, so unusual in French soldiers
during a time of excitement, were apparent in the officers and men.
So strong did this feeling become, that the Comte d'Artois (according
to the _Voice from St. Helena_) had to withdraw in haste from Lyons,
accompanied by _one_ solitary dragoon, while Macdonald marched with a
regiment of cavalry and two battalions of infantry of the line towards
the bridge of the Rhone, which Napoleon was approaching at the head of
a few soldiers of the Old Guard and a force increasing every hour by
the regiments which deserted as they were despatched against him.
The marshal seized and barricaded the bridge, his soldiers still
obeying in silence, till the brass drums of the Emperor were heard
ringing on the highway; again the old tri-colour was seen, and the
eagles that had spread their gilded wings over so many fatal fields
were glittering in the sun. The marshal ordered his troops to fix
bayonets and load with ball-cartridge.
Where was then the memory of that farewell at Fontainebleau? and where
the sword of Murad Bey--the souvenir of Mount Tabor? The marshal was
deeply moved at that moment, but he remembered the oath he had sworn to
Louis XVIII.
The 4th Hussars, who formed the imperial advanced guard, dashed boldly
up to the bridge at full speed, and, brandishing their sabres, shouted
their old battle-cry, "_Vive l'Empereur!_"
The effect was electric. The soldiers of Macdonald could no longer
restrain their long-smothered enthusiasm. They, at least, had sworn no
fealty to King Louis. With a shout they responded, and, waving their
caps and muskets in welcome, tore aside the barricade, and rushed to
meet the Emperor, leaving the marshal on horseback, and by the roadside
_alone_.
The 4th Hussars wished to seize and deliver him to the Emperor, but,
animated by a high sense of chivalry, his own dragoons, who had come
with him from Lyons, would by no means permit this, and drew their
ranks across the road until he escaped. He returned immediately to
Paris, and was desired by Louis XVIII. to command in the army formed
under the Duc de Berri. This army proved, however, but a phantom, as
the soldiers composing it almost to a man joined the banner of the
Emperor.
Left thus alone, Macdonald repaired to the unfortunate king, and on the
night of the 20th of March accompanied him on his retreat to Menin;
but he again returned to Paris, where pleading his oath of fidelity,
sworn by the Emperor's desire to the Bourbons, he declined to serve
the imperial cause or become one of the Chamber of Peers under it--a
refusal, doubtless, most painful to one who knew that he owed all his
rank and honours to Napoleon. Relinquishing all these, as it were, for
a time, the marshal duke enrolled himself as a simple grenadier in
the National Guard of Paris, and as such did military duty during the
usurpation, as it was named; and in the plain uniform of this corps,
divested of medals, crosses, and epaulettes, he appeared as a private
sentinel before Louis XVIII. on his return to the Tuileries.
On the capitulation of Paris to the allies the remains of Napoleon's
army, then encamped beyond the Loire, were placed under the command
of Macdonald, whose instructions were to remodel and re-organize the
regiments, a difficult and arduous mission, which he accomplished with
equal fidelity and address; but the soldiers, dispirited by the defeat
at Waterloo, awed into submission by the flight of their idol Napoleon,
and the presence of the overwhelming masses of the allies, obeyed him
in silence and dejection. All was over now with the Bonapartists. The
army of the Empire was broken and scattered, like the marshal dukes who
had led it to those glories and conquests of which there remained but
the memory now!
In the words of M. Fleury de Chabulon, "Marshal Ney was the first to
give the alarm and despair of the safety of his country. Marshal Soult
had abjured his command, Marshal Massena, exhausted by victory, had no
longer the strength required by circumstances; Marshal Macdonald, deaf
to the war-cry of his old companions, left his sword peacefully in its
scabbard; Marshal Jourdan was on the Rhine; Marshal Mortier had the
gout at Beaumont; Marshal Suchet evinced repugnance and irresolution;
and finally, the Marshals Davoust and Grouchy no longer enjoyed the
confidence of the army."
Thus the throne that had been so long propped by bayonets and by the
splendid chivalry of the Old Guard and of the whole imperial army, had
crumbled into dust at last!
For his talent in organizing the army of the Loire Macdonald received
the office of Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour, succeeding the
Abbé de Pradt on the 10th of January, 1816, and on the 3rd of May, in
that year, he was appointed Knight Commander of St. Louis.
It is related that, when dining one day at the Tuileries, Charles X.
said to him--
"How came it to pass, marshal, that when serving in our Irish regiment
of Dillon, which emigrated _with us_ entirely, you still remained in
France?"
"Sire," he replied, "because I was in love with Mademoiselle Jacob; and
I applaud myself for it, since to that girl's love I owe the honour of
being this day at table with your Majesty."
"How so?"
"Because, had I emigrated, I might have lived in penury and died of
despair; but now, sire, I am a duke and marshal of France."
This reply was so frank and politic, that the king questioned him no
more on that subject. He was one of the four marshals who had command
of the Royal Guard; and as one of a commission appointed to inquire
into the recruiting of the army, on the 24th of February, 1818, he made
an able report upon the oppressive law of conscription, urging upon the
French ministry the British system of voluntary enlistment.
Four years after this, by a royal ordinance, he procured the reversion
of his rank and titles to the Marquis de Rochedragon, his son-in-law;
but this ordinance was useless, as there was no prospect of that noble
having any family. Thus, the marshal being anxious to have a male
heir--all his children being daughters--he married, in his fifty-eighth
year, Mademoiselle de Bourgoing, and from that period led a quiet and
retired life. Soon after his marriage he came to Scotland, the land of
his forefathers.
Accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Colonel Count Couessin, a nobleman
who was descended from an ancient family in Brittany, and was the
husband of his niece, Macdonald arrived in Edinburgh about the middle
of June, 1825. He remained at an hotel, where he received the cards
of all persons of distinction in the vicinity, and was visited by
every gentleman in the city who bore his name. He attended mass in the
Catholic church of St. Mary, and viewed all the great "sights" of the
Scottish metropolis. A Mr. Macdonald Buchanan invited him to a dinner
at which Sir Walter Scott, Lord Jeffrey, and Henry Cockburn, were
present, with several gentlemen who claimed the marshal as a clansman
and relation. "From what I see of you, gentlemen," said he, when
returning thanks after his health had been proposed, "and from what I
have remarked of this country, I feel more pride than ever in having
Scottish blood in my veins."
With great interest he visited the battle-field of Prestonpans, and
viewed the ground from the Thorntree, where Colonel Gardiner was slain
by the Highlanders. After being _fêted_ at Hopeton House, he left
Edinburgh for the Highlands, with the intention of visiting every part
of the country in which his father had accompanied Prince Charles
Edward, during their flight and concealment after Culloden.
On his way north, he visited the field of Bannockburn, on the 24th of
June, the anniversary of the battle; and, after surveying the ground
with a soldier's eye, he praised the dispositions and the valour of
Robert Bruce. Everywhere he expressed himself "enraptured with the
beauty of the country; and above all, of the metropolis of Scotland."
He visited the "fair city" of Perth; and accompanied by Macdonald of
Staffa, reached Inverness early in July, and went immediately to the
field of Culloden, where his father's sword had been drawn for the
last of the Stuarts. There he gazed about him long and thoughtfully,
surveying the desert moor, which is yet dotted by the green graves of
the loyal and brave men who fell there.
He expressed astonishment that the prince, with his slender army of
swordsmen, destitute alike of horse and artillery, should have fought
twice the number of regular troops on such ground, instead of retiring
into the mountains, and harassing the army of Cumberland by a guerilla
warfare.
In the ill-fated _Comet_ (a steamer which was wrecked a short time
after, under distressing circumstances) he left the Highland capital
for the wild mountain-shore of Arisaig; and to a large dinner-party on
board he made an address expressive of his admiration for the Scottish
clans, "than whom," said he, "no people, I think, deserve to be more
esteemed for their national character and uniform good conduct."
Everywhere he was _fêted_ and welcomed with Highland ardour and
hospitality, and in many instances by old Highland soldiers and retired
officers, who had served against him in Holland, Germany, and Spain.
On his landing under the walls of Armidale Castle in Sleat, on the
southern shore of Skye, he was saluted by fifteen pieces of cannon, and
was received by a body of his clansmen in full Highland arms and array,
under Lord Macdonald.
At the beautiful ruins of Castle Tiorm, in "the country of Clanranald,"
there was presented to him an aged clansman, named Alaster Macdonald,
then in his hundredth year, who had known his father, and remembered
the melancholy embarkation of Prince Charles and his fugitive
followers, seventy-nine years before. With this old namesake the
marshal conversed long, and asked him many questions about the personal
appearance, &c., of Prince Charles Edward.
He left the Scottish isles in a government ship, and reached Dublin
on the 16th of July; and there he again met Sir Walter Scott, who had
arrived in the same city on the previous day.
"Respecting his visit (to Scotland) a singular tradition is preserved
in France," says Dr. Memes; "namely, that, on being introduced to Sir
Walter Scott, the marshal offered to place at the disposal of the
historian authentic and unpublished intelligence on certain important
and misrepresented events. Sir Walter declined the proffered aid, with
the remark, 'Thank you, marshal; but I prefer taking my materials from
popular and current reports.' We relegate this to the class of fables."
After his return to France, he led a life of quiet and retirement, and
for nearly twenty-five years his name was rarely heard. He grew rapidly
feeble; for his long career of war in almost every country in Europe,
and the numerous severe wounds he had received, brought age quickly
upon him.
He died in his seventy-fifth year, on the 24th of September, 1840, at
his country house near Courcelles. A noble and generous eulogy was
pronounced upon him by General Count Philip de Segur, author of a
history of Napoleon's Russian expedition, and who in former days had
been the aide-de-camp of Macdonald.
The latter was pure in spirit and generous in heart, faithful and
benevolent in peace, as he was brave and true in battle. Sarrazen thus
describes him:--
"The Duke of Tarentum is of a good size, of a slender make, but robust
and pale-faced, with eyes full of fire; his smile is sardonic, his
bearing military, and his manners polished. I believe him to be a
sincere friend; and although he showed a weakness of character in the
council of war which occasioned the loss of the battle of Trebia,
we cannot but allow him to have all the firmness necessary to a good
general."
It has been already shown that the misfortune on the banks of the
Trebia arose from circumstances over which the marshal had no control;
but it was a battle that he fought long and gallantly.
He was thrice married; first to Mademoiselle Jacob, one of the most
beautiful girls in France, by whom he had two daughters, one of whom
married Sylvester Rene, Duke of Massa, in Italy; and the youngest to
Alphonse Comte de Perregaux. He married secondly, Madame Joubert,
formerly Mademoiselle de Montholon, widow of his comrade the brave
General Joubert, who was slain in battle against Suwarrow at Novi, on
the 16th of August, 1799. By her the marshal had an only daughter,
afterwards the Marchioness de Rochedragon. He married thirdly, Madame
de Bourgoing, daughter of the superintendent of the Royal Hospital at
St. Denis, and widow of the Ambassador Baron de Bourgoing.[30]
They had two children: to the joy of the old marshal one of these was a
son, whom he named Alexander, and who in October, 1824, was held at the
baptismal font by his Majesty Charles X. and Madame the Dauphinesse,
and who now inherits the dukedom of Tarentum, and the sabre of Mont
Tabor.
Such was the career of Stephen Macdonald, the son of an obscure
Scottish fugitive from the field of Culloden, who thus became a Marshal
Duke of the Empire, and by his worth and bravery shed a glory on his
father's name and on the rank he won.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 25: "General Macdonald, who has come forward with so much
_éclat_ as commander of a French column, is the descendant of a Mr.
Macdonald of Argyleshire. His uncle is Mr. Macdonald of Kinlochmoidart.
He preserves his clannish affections, and in the campaign of Pichegreu
in Flanders and Holland, having command of a brigade which had to press
on a British brigade, where he discovered a _namesake_, he supplied his
countryman during the memorable retreat with every comfort which a camp
could afford."--_Edinburgh Herald_, 10th January, 1799.]
[Footnote 26: General Sarrazen says _fifteen_ thousand (?)]
[Footnote 27: Bourienne.]
[Footnote 28: _Bourienne._]