for me that very evening. "Well!" said he to me with a smile, "you did
not expect to see me again so soon[55]."--"No, Sire; your Majesty
alone is capable of occasioning such surprises."--"What do they say of
all this at Paris?"--"Why, Sire, there, as here, they are rejoiced, no
doubt, at your Majesty's happy return."--"And public opinion, how is
that?"--"Sire, it is greatly changed: formerly we thought of nothing
but glory, now we think only of liberty. The struggle that has arisen
between the Bourbons and the nation has revealed to us our rights; it
has engendered in men's minds a number of liberal ideas, that did not
exist in your Majesty's time; people feel, people experience, the
necessity of being free; and the most certain means of pleasing the
French would be to promise, and to give them, laws truly popular."--"I
know that the discussions they[56] have suffered to take place, have
diminished the respect for power, and enfeebled it. Liberal ideas have
resumed all the ground I had gained for it. I shall not attempt to
reconquer it: no one should attempt to contend with a nation; it is
the earthen pot against the iron pot. The French shall have reason to
be satisfied with me. I know, that there is both pleasure and glory in
rendering a great people free and happy. I will give pledges to
France: I did not stint it in glory, I will not stint it in liberty. I
will retain no farther power than is necessary to enable me to govern.
Power is not incompatible with liberty: on the contrary, liberty is
never more entire, than when power is well established. When it is
weak, it is captious: when it is strong, it sleeps in tranquillity,
and leaves the reins loose on the neck of liberty. I know what is
requisite for the French; we shall settle that point: but no
licentiousness, no anarchy; for anarchy would lead us to the despotism
of the republicans, the most fertile of all despotisms in tyrannic
acts, because every body takes a share in it.... Do they suppose we
shall come to a battle?"--"They do not think it: the government have
never had confidence in the soldiery; it has made itself detested by
the officers; and all the troops that may be opposed to your
Majesty's, will be so many reinforcements sent you."--"I think so too:
and the marshals?"--"Sire, they cannot but be apprehensive, that your
Majesty will remember Fontainbleau; and perhaps it will be well to
remove their fears, and to make known to them personally your
Majesty's intention of consigning every thing to oblivion."--"No, I
will not write to them; they would consider me as under obligations to
them; and I will be obliged to no person. The troops are well
disposed, the officers are good, and if the marshals wished to
restrain them, they would be hurried along by them ... where is my
guard?"--"I believe at Metz and at Nancy."--"Of that I am sure, do
what they will, they will never corrupt it. What are Augereau and
Marmont about?"--"I do not know."--"What is Ney doing? On what terms
is he with the king?"--"Sometimes good, sometimes bad: I believe he
has had reason to complain of the court on account of his wife."--"His
wife is an affected creature; no doubt she has attempted to play the
part of a great lady, and the old dowagers have ridiculed her. Has Ney
any command?"--"I do not think he has, Sire."--"Is he one of
us?"--"The part he took in your abdication"--"Ay, I read that at
Porto Ferrajo: he boasted of having ill-treated me, of having laid his
pistols on my table: it was all false. Had he dared to fail of respect
to me, I would have ordered him to be shot. A heap of tales has been
spread respecting my abdication. I abdicated, not in consequence of
their advice, but because my army was out of its senses: besides, I
would not have a civil war. It was never to my taste. It was said,
that Augereau, when I met him, loaded me with reproaches ... it was a
lie: no one of my generals would have dared, in my presence, to forget
what was due to me. Had I known of the proclamation of Augereau, I
would have forbidden him my presence[57]: cowards only insult
misfortune. His proclamation, which I was reported to have had in my
pocket, was unknown to me till after our interview. It was General
Koller who showed it me; but let us quit these popular rumours. What
has been done at the Tuileries?"--"Nothing has been altered, Sire;
even the eagles have not yet been removed."--(Smiling) "They must have
thought my arrangement of them admirable."--"So I presume, Sire: it
has been said, that the Count d'Artois went through all the apartments
immediately after his arrival, and could not cease to admire
them."--"I can readily believe it. What have they done with my
pictures?"--"Some have been taken away, but that of the battle of
Austerlitz is still in the council-chamber."--"And the theatre?"--"It
has not been touched: it is no longer used."--"What is Talma
doing?"--"Why, Sire, he continues to deserve and obtain public
applause."--"I shall see him again with pleasure. Have you been at
court?"--"Yes, Sire, I have been presented."--"I am told, they all
have the air of upstarts of yesterday; that they know not how to utter
a word, or take a single step, with propriety: have you seen them on
grand public days?"--"No, Sire, but I can assure your Majesty, that
people pay as little regard to ceremony at the Tuileries, as at their
own homes: they go thither in dirty boots, common frock-coats, and
round hats."--"That must have a very majestic appearance. But how do
all those old _thicksculls_ spend their money? for every thing has
been restored to them."--"But, probably, Sire, they wish to wear out
their old clothes."--"Poor France! into what hands hast thou thrust
thyself! And the king, what sort of a countenance has he?"--"He has a
tolerably fine head."--"Is his coin handsome?"--"Of this your Majesty
may judge: here is a twenty-franc piece."--"What! they have not
re-coined louis: I am surprised at this. (Turning the piece over) He
does not look as if he would starve himself: but observe, they have
taken away _Dieu protege la France_ (God protect France), to restore
their _Domine, salvum fac regem_ (Lord, preserve the King). This is as
they always were: every thing for themselves, nothing for France.
Where is Maret? where is Caulincourt? where is Lavalette? where is
Fouche?"--"They are all at Paris."--"And Mole?"--"He, too, is at
Paris; I observed him a short time ago at the Queen's."--"Have we any
persons hereabout, who were nearly attached to me?"--"I do not know,
Sire."--"You must inquire, and bring them to me. I should be glad to
be thoroughly acquainted with the spirit of the times, and know
something of the present state of affairs. What does Hortense
do?"--"Sire, her house is still the resort of men, who know how to
appreciate wit and elegance: and the Queen, though without a throne,
is not less an object of the respect and homage of all Paris."--"She
did a very foolish thing, in exhibiting herself as a spectacle before
the tribunals. They who advised her to it were blockheads. Why, too,
did she go and demand the title of duchess?"--"She, Sire, did not
demand it, it was the Emperor Alexander...."--"No matter, she ought
not to have accepted, any more than demanded it: she should have
called herself Madame Bonaparte: this name is full as good as any
other. Besides, what right had she to have her son made a duke of St.
Leu, and a peer of the Bourbons? Louis was in the right to oppose it:
he was sensible, that the name of her son was sufficiently honourable,
not to suffer himself to change it. If Josephine had been alive, she
would have prevented her from engaging in such a foolish piece of
business. Was she much regretted?"--"Yes, Sire, your Majesty knows how
much she was beloved and honoured by the French."--"She deserved it.
She was an excellent woman: she had a great deal of sense. I greatly
regretted her too, and the day when I heard of her death was one of
the most unhappy of my life. Was there a public mourning for
her?"--"No, Sire. Indeed I think she would have been refused the
honours due to her rank, had not the Emperor Alexander insisted on
their being paid her."--"So I heard at the time, but I did not believe
it. He was no way interested in it."--"The generosity of Alexander was
not confined within any limits: he showed himself the protector of the
Empress, the Queen, Prince Eugene, the Duke of Vicenza, and a number
of other persons of distinction, who, but for him, would have been
persecuted or ill treated."--"You love him, it seems."--"Sire...."--"Is
the national guard of Paris well disposed?"--"I cannot positively
affirm it; but of this at least I am certain, that if it do not
declare for your Majesty, at least it will not act against us."--"I
imagine so too. What is it supposed, that the foreigners will think of
my return?"--"It is thought, that Austria will connect itself with
your Majesty, and that Russia will behold the disgrace of the Bourbons
without regret."--"Why so?"--"It is said, Sire, that Alexander was not
pleased with the princes while at Paris. That the predilection of the
king for England, and his attributing his crown to the Prince Regent,
offended him."--"It is well to know that. Has he seen my son?"--"Yes,
Sire: I have been assured, that he embraced him with a tenderness
truly paternal, and exclaimed: He is a charming fellow: how have I
been deceived!"--"What did he mean by that?"--"They say he had been
informed, that the young prince was rickety and imbecile."--"Wretches!
he is an admirable child: he gives every indication of becoming a
distinguished character. He will be an honour to his age. Is it true,
that so much was made of Alexander at Paris?"--"Yes, Sire, nobody else
was attended to but he: the other sovereigns appeared as if they were
his aides-de-camp."--"In fact, he did a great deal for Paris: but for
him the English would have ruined it, and the Prussians would have
set it on fire.--He acted his part well ... (with a smile) if I were
not Napoleon, perhaps I would be Alexander."
[Footnote 55: Those who have been about Napoleon's
person know, that he recommended to his
secretaries, and the officers of his household, to
take notes of what he said and did on his journeys.
A number of notes of this nature must have been
found at the Tuileries, most of which contained
particulars that were highly interesting. I
preserved mine, and from them I have composed, in
great measure, the present work.]
[Footnote 56: The Bourbons.]
[Footnote 57: The newspapers of the day asserted,
that Napoleon, though he had in his pocket the
proclamation of Augereau, filled with reproaches
and invectives, had thrown himself into his arms,
and heard the cutting reprehensions of the marshal,
without saying a word.]
The next day he reviewed the division of Lyons in Bellecour Square. "I
shall see that square again with pleasure," said he, to the chiefs of
the national guard, who stood round him: "I remember, that I raised it
from its ruins, and laid the first stone of it fifteen years ago." He
went out merely preceded by a few hussars. A crowd of men, old men,
women and children, thronged the bridges, the quays, and the streets.
They rushed under the horses' feet to hear him, to see him, to have a
closer view of him, to touch his garments ... it was an actual
delirium. Scarcely had he proceeded a few steps, when the crowd, that
had already seen him, ran to another spot, to see him again. The air
rung with uninterrupted acclamations. It was a rolling volley of "The
nation for ever! The Emperor for ever! Down with the priests! Down
with the royalists!" &c.
The division of Brayer, as soon as reviewed, set out on its march to
Paris.
When the Emperor returned to the archiepiscopal palace, the great
gallery was crowded with generals, colonels, magistrates, and public
officers of all ranks and kinds. You might have thought yourselves in
the Tuileries.
The Emperor stopped a few minutes: he embraced Generals Mouton
Duvernay, Girard, and other officers, whom Paris supposed to be in
pursuit of him; and after having distributed on the right and left a
few smiles and many compliments, he proceeded to his saloon, and
admitted to be presented to him the imperial court, the municipal
body, and the chiefs of the military corps and the national guard.
He conversed a long time with them on the faults of the Bourbons, and
the deplorable situation in which he found France. He confessed to
them with noble frankness, that he was not altogether inculpable for
its misfortunes. "I was hurried on," said he, "by the course of
events, into a wrong path. But, taught by experience, I have abjured
that love of glory, so natural to the French, which has had such fatal
consequences to them and to me.... I was mistaken in supposing, that
the time was arrived for rendering France the metropolis of a great
empire: I have renounced for ever that grand enterprise; we have
enough of glory, we want repose.
"It is not ambition, that has brought me back to France: it is the
love of the country. I could have preferred the tranquillity of the
island of Elba to the cares of a throne, had I not known, that France
was unhappy, and had need of me.
"On setting foot on our dear France," continued he, after a few
unimportant answers from his auditors, "I made a vow to render it free
and happy: I bring nothing to it but benefits. I am returned to
protect and defend those interests, to which our revolution has given
birth: I return to concur with the representatives of the nation in a
family compact, that shall preserve for ever the liberty and the
rights of every Frenchman: henceforward it will be my ambition, and my
glory, to effect the happiness of the great people from whom I hold
every thing. I will not, like Louis XVIII., grant you a revocable
charter; I will give you an inviolable constitution, and it shall be
the work of the people, as well as of myself."
Such were his words. He pronounced them with an air of such
satisfaction, he appeared so confident of himself and of the future,
that a man would have thought himself criminal to suspect the purity
of his intentions, or to doubt the happiness he was about to secure to
France.
The language he held at Lyons we perceive was not the same, as that he
had uttered at Gap and at Grenoble. In the last-mentioned towns he
sought principally to excite in men's minds hatred of the Bourbons,
and the love of liberty: he had spoken as a citizen, rather than a
monarch. No formal declaration, not a single word, revealed his
intentions. It might as well have been supposed, that he thought of
restoring the republic, or the consulship, as the empire. At Lyons,
there was no longer any thing vague, any thing uncertain: he spoke as
a sovereign, and promised to give a national constitution. The idea of
the Champ de Mai had recurred to him.
Not one of us suspected the sincerity of the promises and resolves of
Napoleon.
Time, reflection, misfortune, the grand teacher of mankind, had
effected the most favourable changes in the principles of Napoleon.
Formerly, when unforeseen obstacles arose, suddenly to thwart his
projects, his passions, accustomed to no restraint, to respect no
bridle, burst forth with the fury of a raging sea: he spoke, he
ordered, he decided, as if he had been master of the earth and of the
elements; nothing appeared to him impossible.
After his reverse of fortune, he had learned in the calm of solitude
and meditation, to control the violence of his will, and to subject it
to the yoke of reason and prudence. He had read attentively the
writings, pamphlets, and even libels, published against him: and amid
the revilings, calumnies, and absurdities, which they frequently
contained, he had found useful truths, judicious observations, and
profound views, of which he knew how to benefit himself.
"Princes," observes the learned author of the Spirit of Laws, "have in
their lives periods of ambition to which other passions, and even
indolence, succeed." Napoleon's hour of indolence was not yet come:
but to the ambition of increasing his power without limit, had
succeeded the desire of rendering France happy, and of repairing by a
durable peace, and a paternal government, all the evils that had been
brought upon it by war.
The Emperor spent the evening of the 11th in his closet: his first
thought was for the Empress. He wrote her a very tender letter, which
began with these remarkable words. "Madam and dear wife, I have
re-ascended my throne."
He informed Prince Joseph[58] also, that he had resumed his crown; and
directed him to make known to foreign powers, through their ministers
to the Helvetic Confederation, that he intended never more to disturb
the tranquillity of Europe, and faithfully to maintain the treaty of
Paris. He particularly recommended to him, strongly to impress upon
Austria and Russia, how desirous he was of re-establishing his former
connexions with them in the most intimate manner.
[Footnote 58: He had retired to Switzerland.]
He appeared to set a particular value on the alliance of Russia. His
predilection was founded, no doubt, on political motives not difficult
to guess; yet I believe he was equally induced to it by Alexander's
generous conduct towards the French. The popularity and renown, which
this prince had acquired in France, excited, and could not but excite,
the jealousy of Napoleon: but this jealousy, the attribute of great
minds, did not render him unjust; he knew how to estimate Alexander.
Hitherto Napoleon has been engaged only in depriving the King of his
army; he now thought the time was come, to take from him also the
sceptre of civil government. "On this I have resolved," said he to me:
"I will now annihilate the royal authority, and dismiss the chambers.
Since I have resumed the government, no authority but mine ought to
exist. The public must be taught from this moment, that they are to
obey me alone." He then dictated to me in succession the following
decrees, known by the name of the decrees of Lyons.
Lyons, 13th of March, 1815.
NAPOLEON, Emperor of the French, &c. &c.
Considering, that the Chamber of Peers is partly composed of persons
who have borne arms against France, and who are interested in the
re-establishment of feudal rights, in the destruction of the equality
of the different classes, in the nullification of the sale of the
national domains, and finally in depriving the people of the rights
they have acquired by fighting for five and twenty years against the
enemies of the national glory:
Considering, that the powers of the deputies of the legislative body
have expired, and that from that moment the Chamber of Commons has no
longer a national character; that a part of this chamber has rendered
itself unworthy the confidence of the nation, by assenting to the
re-establishment of the feudal nobility, abolished by the constitution
accepted by the people; by making France pay debts contracted with
foreign powers for negotiating coalitions, and paying armies, against
the French people; by giving to the Bourbons the title of legitimate
King, which was declaring the French people and the armies rebels,
proclaiming those emigrants, who for five and twenty years have been
wounding the vitals of their country, the only good Frenchmen, and
violating all the rights of the people, by sanctioning the principle,
that the nation is made for the throne, not the throne for the nation:
We have decreed, and do decree, as follows:
Article I.
The Chamber of Peers is dissolved.
Article II.
The Chamber of Commons is dissolved: it is ordered, that every one of
the members convened and arrived at Paris since the 7th of March last
shall repair to his home without delay.
Article III.
The electoral colleges of the departments of the empire shall assemble
at Paris in the course of the month of May next, in order to take
proper measures for correcting and modifying our constitutions
agreeably to the interests and will of the nation; and at the same
time to assist at the coronation of the Empress, our dear and
well-beloved wife, and that of our dear and well-beloved son.
Article IV.
Our Grand Marshal, executing the functions of Major-general of the
grand army, is appointed to take necessary measures for making public
the present decree.
SECOND DECREE.
NAPOLEON, &c.
Article I.
All the emigrants, whose names have not been erased, amnestied, or
eliminated, by us, or by the governments that have preceded us; and
who have returned to France since the 1st of January, 1814, shall
immediately quit the territory of the empire.
Article II.
Those emigrants, who shall be found in the territory of the empire
fifteen days after the promulgation of the present decree, shall be
arrested and tried conformably to the laws decreed by our national
assemblies: unless however it be proved, that they had no knowledge
of the present decree; in which case, they shall merely be arrested,
and conducted out of the territory by the gendarmerie.
Article III.
All their property, moveable and immoveable, &c. &c. shall be placed
in sequestration.
THIRD DECREE.
NAPOLEON, &c.
Article I.
The nobility is abolished, and the laws of the Constituent Assembly
shall be put in force.
Article II.
Feudal titles are suppressed.
Article III.
Those individuals, who have obtained from us national titles, as
national rewards, and whose letters patent have been verified before
the council by the seal of state, shall continue to bear them.
Article IV.
We reserve to ourselves the power of giving titles to the descendants
of those men, who have rendered the French name illustrious in various
ages, whether in the command of armies by land and sea, in the
councils of sovereigns, in the administration of justice or of civil
authority, or finally in the arts and sciences, commerce, &c.
FOURTH DECREE.
NAPOLEON, &c.
Article I.
All those generals and officers by land and sea, of whatever rank, who
have been introduced into our armies since the 1st of April, 1814, who
had emigrated; or who, not having emigrated, had quitted the service
at the period of the first coalition, when the country had the
greatest need of their services; shall immediately cease their
functions, relinquish the marks of their rank, and repair to their
homes, &c. &c.
FIFTH DECREE.
NAPOLEON, &c.
Considering, that by our constitutions the members of the judicial
order are not removable, we decree:
Article I.
All the arbitrary changes made in our inferior tribunals and courts
are null, and to be considered as having never taken place.
Article II.
The presidents of the court of cassation, our procureur-general
(attorney-general), and the members who have been unjustly, and from a
spirit of reaction, dismissed from the said court, are restored to
their functions, &c. &c.
By four other decrees the Emperor ordered, that the property of the
Bourbon family should be placed in sequestration.
That all the property of emigrants, which belonged to the Legion of
Honour, hospitals, communes, the sinking fund, or the national
domains, should be restored to these different establishments.
That the King's household and the Swiss should be dismissed, and that
no foreign corps should be admitted as a guard to the sovereign.
And that the decoration of the lily, and the orders of St. Louis, the
Holy Ghost, and St. Michael, should be abolished.
These decrees, which embraced at once every part of the political,
civil, and military administration of the state, succeeded each other
so rapidly, that Napoleon had scarcely time to interpose a few words
between them.
By restoring to their seats those magistrates, who had been expelled
from them, he gained with a stroke of the pen all the members of the
judicial order; but I know not why he did not extend this beneficial
measure to the functionaries of the administrative order, particularly
to the prefects and sub-prefects, whom M. de Montesquiou had so
cruelly persecuted. Among these functionaries there were
unquestionably some, who, from the weakness or incapacity they had
shown during the last moments of the imperial government, merited no
confidence: but the greater part of them had remained worthy of it;
and Napoleon, by placing them at the head of their former offices,
would have added to the advantage of publicly repairing an act of
royal injustice, that of entrusting the administration to experienced
men, and who, already knowing the partisans of the revolution and
those of the Bourbons, had only to show themselves, to intimidate the
latter, and render effective the patriotism of the former.
With this exception, every thing he did at Lyons appeared to me a
master-piece of wisdom and address.
It was necessary, to overturn the Chamber of Peers: he did it at one
stroke. "It is composed," said he, "only of men who have borne arms
against their country, and who are interested in restoring feudal
rights, and annulling the national sales."
The Chamber of Deputies had shown some resistance to the ministers,
and attachment to liberal doctrines; it was difficult, therefore, to
render it unpopular, yet the Emperor did it by a word: "It has shown
itself unworthy of the confidence of the nation, by making the people
pay debts contracted with foreigners for the shedding of French
blood."
It was necessary, to remove the apprehensions of France respecting the
future: he called the electors to the Champ de Mai. It was necessary,
to excite the belief, that he had a good understanding with Austria,
and that Maria Louisa would be restored to him: he announced the
approaching coronation of the Empress and her son.
It was necessary, to seduce the patriots, the republicans: he
abolished the feudal nobility; and declared, that the throne was made
for the nation, not the nation for the throne. It was necessary, to
tranquillize those, who had acquired national domains; he expelled the
emigrants not erased from the lists, and resumed their property: to
please the peasantry and the poor, he restored to the hospitals the
property of which they had been despoiled: to flatter the guard and
the army, he expelled from their ranks foreigners and emigrants,
dismissed the King's household, and restored to the Legion of Honour
its endowments and prerogatives.
Men may censure his conduct at Lyons; may represent it as that of a
madman, resolved to alter, to destroy, to overturn every thing: no
matter ... they who judge with impartiality, I believe, will find,
that he conducted himself with all the skill of a consummate
politician. He knew how to inspire confidence, dissipate
apprehensions, confirm attachments, and fill the people and the army
with enthusiasm: what could he do more?