The Campaign of France--Battles of Brienne and La
Rothiere--Expedition of the Marne--Battles of Nangis and
Montereau--Schwartzenberg Retreats--Napoleon again marches against
Blucher--Attacks Soissons and is Repulsed--Battles of Craonne and
Laon--Napoleon at Rheims--His Perplexities--He Marches to St.
Dizier.
Napoleon spent part of the 24th of January in reviewing troops in the
courtyard of the Tuileries, in the midst of a fall of snow, which must
have called up ominous recollections, and at three in the morning of the
25th, once more left his capital. He had again appointed Maria Louisa
Regent, placed his brother Joseph at the head of her council, and given
orders for raising military defences around Paris, and for converting
many public buildings into hospitals. He set off in visible dejection;
but recovered all his energy on reaching once more the congenial
atmosphere of arms.
He arrived at Chalons ere midnight; and found that Schwartzenberg and
Blucher, having severally passed through Franche-Comte and Lorraine,
were now occupying--the former with 97,000 men, the latter with
40,000--an almost complete line between the Marne and the Seine. Blucher
was in his own neighbourhood, and he immediately resolved to attack the
right of the Silesian army, which was pushing down the valley of the
Marne, while its centre kept the parallel course of the Aube, ere the
Prussian marshal could concentrate all his own strength, far less be
adequately supported from the side of Schwartzenberg, who was advancing
down the Seine towards Bar. A sharp skirmish took place accordingly on
the 27th at St. Dizier; and Blucher, warned of Napoleon's arrival, lost
no time in calling in his detachments, and taking a post of defence at
Brienne-le-Chateau on the Aube--the same town where Buonaparte had
received his military education. Could Napoleon force him from the Aube,
it was evident that the French would be enabled to interpose themselves
effectually between the two armies of the Allies: and it was most
necessary to divide the enemy's strength, for after all his exertions,
Napoleon had been able to add only 20,000 good troops to the 50,000 who
had been retiring before the allied columns from the course of the
Rhine.
Napoleon, therefore, marched through a thick forest upon the scene of
his youthful studies, and appeared there on the 29th:--having moved so
rapidly that Blucher was at dinner in the chateau, when the French
thundered at his gates, and with difficulty escaped to the rear through
a postern--actually leading his horse down a stair. The Russians,
however, under Alsusieff, maintained their place in the town
courageously; and, some Cossacks throwing themselves upon the rear of
the French, the Emperor himself was involved in the melee, drew his
sword, and fought like a private dragoon. General Gourgaud shot a
Cossack when in the act of thrusting his spear at Napoleon's back. The
town of Brienne was burnt to the ground; Alsusieff was made prisoner;
Lefebre Desnouettes died; and there was considerable slaughter on both
sides; but the affair had no result of importance. Blucher retired but a
little further up the Aube, and posted himself at La Rothiere, where
Schwartzenberg, warned by the cannonade, hastened to co-operate with
him.
Napoleon said at St. Helena, that during the charge of the Cossacks at
Brienne, he recognised a particular tree, under which, when a boy, he
used to sit and read the _Jerusalem Delivered_ of Tasso. The field had
been, in those days, part of the exercise ground of the students, and
the chateau, whence Blucher escaped so narrowly, their lodging. How
strange must have been the feelings of the man who, having but yesterday
planted his eagles on the Kremlin, now opened his fifteenth campaign
amidst the scenes of his own earliest recollections--of the days in
which he had never dreamt of empire!
On the first of February Blucher, in his turn, assumed the offensive,
assaulting the French position in his front at once on three several
points. The battle lasted all day, and ended in the defeat of the
French, who, with the loss of 4000 prisoners and seventy-three guns,
escaped from the field in such disorder, that, according to Napoleon's
own avowal at St. Helena, he had serious thoughts of putting an end to
the war by voluntarily resigning the crown to the heir of the Bourbons.
However this may have been, while the division of Marmont retired down
the Aube before Blucher, Napoleon himself struck across the country to
Troyes, which there was every reason to fear must be immediately
occupied by Schwartzenberg; and was there joined by a considerable body
of his own guard, in high order and spirits, whose appearance restored,
in a great measure, the confidence of the troops beaten at La Rothiere.
On the 3rd, he received at Troyes a despatch from Caulaincourt,
informing him that Lord Castlereagh, the English Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, had arrived at the headquarters of the Allies--that
negotiations were to be resumed the morning after at Chatillon--(now in
the rear of the armies), and beseeching him to intimate distinctly at
what price he was now willing to purchase peace. Napoleon replied, by
granting Caulaincourt full powers to do everything necessary "to keep
the negotiation alive, and save the capital." But the Duke of Vicenza
durst not act immediately on a document so loosely worded, and sent back
once more to beg for a specific detail of the Emperor's purposes.
Napoleon had his headquarters at Nogent, on the Seine, some leagues
below Troyes, when the despatch reached him, on the evening of the 8th
of February; and his counsellors unanimously urged him to make use of
this, probably last, opportunity. They at length prevailed on him to
agree to abandon Belgium, the left of the Rhine, Italy, and Piedmont.
But in the night after the consultation, and before the ultimatum
received his signature, Napoleon received information which quite
altered his views. He learned that Blucher, instead of continuing his
march down the Aube, and in communication with Schwartzenberg on the
Seine, had transferred his whole army to the Marne, and was now
advancing towards Paris by the Montmirail road. That the Allies, after
experiencing the effects of disunion at Brienne, and those of
conjunction at La Rothiere, should have almost in the moment of victory
again resolved on separating their forces, is a circumstance which no
writer has as yet explained in any satisfactory manner. The blunder was
great; yet in the end its consequences were disastrous, not to those who
committed, but to him whose eagle-eye detected it, and who could not
resist the temptation which it presented, to make one warlike effort
more. Buonaparte, in a word, refused to sign the despatch on the
morning of the 9th; and having left Bourmont at Nogent, with a small
force to defend the bridge over the Seine, and Oudinot with another, for
the same purpose, at the next bridge in descending the river, namely,
that of Bray, immediately commenced his march with the main body of his
army upon Sezanne.
It was the depth of winter--the cross-roads on which they moved were in
the most frightful condition, insomuch that had not the zealous Mayor of
Barbonne collected 500 horses, and come to their assistance, they must
have been forced to leave all their artillery in a slough near that
town; yet this determined band marched nearly forty miles ere they
halted with the dark. Next morning they proceeded with equal alacrity,
and at length debouched on the road by which Blucher's army was
advancing, at Champaubert. Alsusieff and the central division were
passing, when Napoleon unexpectedly appeared at this point, and were
altogether unable to resist his onset. They dispersed in confusion with
great loss, and fled towards the Marne. Meantime the van of the same
army, commanded by Sacken, who were advancing on La Ferte, and the
division of D'York, already in sight of Meaux, turned on hearing the
cannonade of Champaubert, and countermarched with the view of supporting
Alsusieff. They shared the fate of the centre, and having been severely
handled at Montmirail, escaped across the Marne at Chateau-Tierry; thus
leaving Blucher and the rear division alone to abide the attack of
Napoleon's entire force between the Marne and the Aube. The Prussian
marshal, advancing rapidly in consequence of the firing of these
battles, found himself all at once in presence of an army flushed with
victory, vastly superior in numbers, and well provided with cavalry, of
which he had almost none. He retired in alternate squares, sustaining
all day the charges of the French, with much loss of life, but with no
disorder; and at length cut his way, at Etoges, through a column of
heavy horse, sent round to intercept him, and drawn up on the causeway.
Blucher himself was, in the course of this day, obliged to fight hand to
hand like a private soldier. His retreat was masterly, and he finally
crossed the Marne at Chalons.
Such was Napoleon's celebrated "Expedition of the Marne." In five days
his arms had been three times successful. He had shattered and dispersed
(as he thought effectually) the Silesian army, and above all, recovered
the spirits of his own soldiery. A column of 7000 Prussian prisoners,
with a considerable number of guns and standards, at length satisfied
the Parisians that Victory had not entirely forsworn her old favourite.
Thus far all was well; and had Napoleon, from the field which thus
raised the courage of his troops, and revived the confidence of his
capital, despatched authority to Caulaincourt to conclude the treaty on
the terms before described--the victor of Montmirail might have kept the
throne of France. But his own presumption was rekindled by the same
success which dazzled inferior eyes--and Napoleon wrote on the instant
to his representative at Chatillon, that he might now assume "an
attitude less humble." This error proved fatal.
Scarcely had the Parisians seen the prisoners from Montmirail marched
along their boulevards, before they heard that the Cossacks were in
possession of Fontainebleau. Napoleon had left, as was mentioned, small
divisions of his army to guard the bridges over the Seine at Nogent and
Bray. The enemy, however, soon discovered that the Emperor and his chief
force were no longer in that quarter, and--while he was beating
Alsusieff, Sacken, and Blucher--had made good the passage of the Seine,
at three different points, at Nogent, at Bray, and still further down,
at Montereau, driving the discomfited guardians of these important
places before them. Schwartzenberg had already his headquarters at
Nangis, and was obviously resolved to reach Paris, if possible, while
Napoleon was on the Marne. The light troops of the grand allied army
were scattering confusion on both sides of the Seine--and one party of
them were so near the capital as Fontainebleau.
Buonaparte instantly committed to Marmont and Mortier the care of
watching the Chalons road and the remains of Blucher's army, and marched
with his main body on Meaux, where he received (15th February) the
welcome reinforcement of 20,000 veterans from Spain, commanded by
Grouchy. On the 16th, Victor and Oudinot were engaged with the van of
Schwartzenberg, on the plains of Guignes, when the Emperor arrived to
their assistance. The enemy immediately drew back, and concentrated his
strength at Nangis. Napoleon attacked that position on the morning of
the 17th, and with such effect, that the allies retreated after
considerable loss, though not in disorder, on the bridges in their rear.
They halted, however, at Montereau, and Victor, who commanded the
pursuers on that route, failed in dislodging them. Napoleon resented
this as a heinous error, and coming up on the morning of the 18th,
rebuked him in terms of violent wrath, and formally dismissed him from
the service. The Marshal, tears streaming down his face, declared that
though he had ceased to be an officer, he must still be a soldier, and
would serve once more in the ranks, from which he had originally risen.
The old man's son-in-law, General Chateau, had been slain the same
morning. Napoleon extended his hand to him, and said he could not give
him back the command of his corps d'armee, which had already been
assigned to another, but that he was welcome to place himself at the
head of a brigade of the guard. The attack then commenced with fury, and
the bridge and town of Montereau were carried. The defence was, however,
long and stern, and Napoleon was seen pointing cannon with his own hand,
under the heaviest of the fire. The artillerymen, delighted with
witnessing this resumption of his ancient trade, were, nevertheless,
alarmed at the exposure of his person, and entreated him to withdraw. He
persisted in his work, answering gaily, "My children! the bullet that
shall kill me is not yet cast." Pursuing his advantage, Napoleon saw the
grand army continue their retreat in the direction of Troyes, and on the
morning of the 22nd arrived before Mery.
The astonishment of the Emperor was great, when he found this town
occupied, not by a feeble rear-guard of Schwartzenberg, but by a
powerful division of Russians, commanded by Sacken, and, therefore,
belonging to the apparently indestructible army of Blucher. These
unexpected enemies were charged in the streets, and at length retired
out of the town (which was burnt to the ground in the struggle) and
thence beyond the Aube--which, in that quarter, runs nearly parallel
with, and at no great distance from, the Seine. The Emperor then halted,
and spent the night in a wheelwright's cottage at Chatres.
All this while the semblance, at least, of negotiation had been kept up
at Chatillon. Caulaincourt, receiving no answer to that important
despatch which reached Buonaparte (as has been mentioned) at Nogent, on
the 8th of February proceeded to act on the instructions dated at
Troyes, on the 3rd; and, in effect, accepted the basis of the Allies.
When Schwartzenberg was attacked at Nangis on the 17th, he had just
received the intelligence of Caulaincourt's having signed the
preliminary articles; and he, therefore, sent a messenger to ask why the
Emperor, if aware of his ambassador's act, persisted in hostilities?
Napoleon had ere then, as we have seen, desired Caulaincourt to assume
"a less humble attitude," and instead of ratifying, as he was bound on
every principle of honour and law to do, the signature which his
ambassador had had full powers to affix, he returned no answer whatever
to Schwartzenberg, but despatched a private letter to the Emperor of
Austria, once more endeavouring to seduce him from the European league.
The Emperor's reply to this despatch reached Napoleon at this hovel in
Chatres: it announced his resolution on no account to abandon the
general cause; but, at the same time, intimated that Francis lent no
support to the Bourbonists (who were now arming in Franche-Comte around
Monsieur), and urged Napoleon to avert by concession, ere it was yet too
late, total ruin from himself and his House. Buonaparte, flushed with a
succession of victories, was in no temper to listen to such advice, and
the Austrian envoy left his headquarters with a note, signifying that
_now_ he would not even consent to a day's armistice, unless the Allies
would fall back so as to leave _Antwerp_ in their front.
The same evening there came news from Paris, which might have been
expected to disturb the pride of these imaginations. The Council of
State had discussed deliberately the proposals of the Allied Powers,
and, with only one dissenting voice, now entreated the Emperor to accept
them. They announced to him that--while he had been driving the
Austrians up the Seine--the _Army of the North_, the third great force
of the Allies, had at length effected their juncture with Blucher; who
was now, therefore, at the head of a much greater army than he had as
yet commanded, and was manifestly resolved to descend directly on Paris
from Chalons. Napoleon was urged anew by those about his person, to send
to Chatillon and accept the basis to which Caulaincourt had agreed. He
answered that he had sworn at his coronation to preserve the territory
of the Republic entire, and that he could not sign this treaty without
violating _his oath_!--and dismissed his counsellors, saying haughtily,
"If I am to be scourged, let the whip at least come on me of necessity,
and not through any voluntary stooping of my own."
Instead, therefore, of sending messengers of peace to Chatillon,
Napoleon now thought only of the means of at once holding Schwartzenberg
in check on the Seine, and returning once more to confront Blucher on
the Marne. He pushed on, however, as far as Troyes, in the expectation
of still terrifying the allied princes into some compromise. In this
city he found that certain gentlemen had openly assumed the white
cockade, the mark of the Bourbonists, during its occupation by the
enemy, though without any countenance from the sovereigns. One of these
gentlemen was so unfortunate as to fall into his hands, and was
immediately executed.
The Emperor in vain expected new proposals from Chatillon; none such
reached him at Troyes--and he recurred to his scheme of a second
"Expedition of the Marne." He desired Oudinot and Macdonald, with their
divisions, to manoeuvre in the direction of Schwartzenberg: and these
generals commanded their troops to shout "vive l'Empereur" whenever they
were within hearing of the enemy, which for a little time kept up the
notion that Napoleon himself was still advancing on the road to Bar.
Meanwhile he was once more marching rapidly across the country to
Sezanne; at which point he received intelligence that Mortier and
Marmont had been driven from Ferte-sous-Jouarre by Blucher, and were in
full retreat to Meaux. Meaux he considered as almost a suburb of Paris,
and quickened his speed accordingly. Hurrying on, at Ferte-Goucher, he
was at once met and overtaken by evil tidings. Schwartzenberg, having
discovered the Emperor's absence, had immediately resumed the offensive,
defeated Oudinot and Macdonald at Bar, and driven them before him as far
as Troyes; and Augereau, who commanded in the neighbourhood of Lyons,
announced the arrival of a new and great army of the Allies in that
quarter. Napoleon resumed, however, his march, and having been detained
some time at Ferte, in consequence of the destruction of the bridge,
took the direction of Chateau-Thierry and Soissons, while Mortier and
Marmont received his orders to resume the offensive in front of Meaux.
He hoped, in this manner, to throw himself on the flank of Blucher's
march, as he had done before at Champaubert. But the Prussian received
intelligence this time of his approach; and, drawing his troops
together, retired to Soissons in perfect order.
Napoleon proceeded with alacrity in the direction of Soissons, not
doubting that the French garrison entrusted with the care of that town,
and its bridge over the Marne, were still in possession of it, and
eager, therefore, to force Blucher into action with this formidable
obstacle in his rear. But Soissons had been taken by a Russian corps,
retaken by a French one, and fallen once more into the hands of the
enemy, ere the Emperor came in sight of it. The Muscovite Black Eagle,
floating on the towers, gave him the first intimation of this
misfortune. He assaulted the place impetuously: the Russians repelled
the attack; and Napoleon, learning that Blucher had filed his main body
through the town, and posted himself behind the Marne, marched up the
left bank of that river, and crossed it also at Bery.
A few leagues in front of this place, on the heights of Craonne, two
Russian corps, those of Sacken and Witzingerode, were already in
position; and the Emperor lost no time in charging them there, in the
hope of destroying them ere they could unite with Blucher. The battle of
Craonne began at eleven a.m. on the 7th of March, and lasted till four
in the afternoon. The Russians had down to this hour withstood the
utmost exertions of Ney on their right, of Victor on their left, and of
Napoleon himself on their centre. The loss in slain and wounded had been
about equal on both sides; no cannon, and hardly a prisoner, had been
taken. The Emperor, enraged with this obstinate resistance, was
preparing for a final effort, when suddenly the Russians began to
retreat. He followed them; but they withdrew with the deliberation and
impunity of a parade. They had been ordered to fall back on the plateau
of Laon, in order to form there on the same line with Blucher, who was
once more in presence, and eager to concentrate all his force for a
decisive conflict.
It took place on the 9th. Napoleon found his enemy strongly posted along
an elevated ridge, covered with wood, and further protected in front by
a succession of terrace-walls, the enclosures of vineyards. There was a
heavy mist on the lower ground, and the French were advancing up the
hill ere their movement was discovered. They were met by a storm of
cannonade which utterly broke their centre. On either flank of the
enemy's position they then charged in succession, and with like results.
On all points they were repelled, except only at the village of Athies,
where Marmont had obtained some advantage. Night interrupted the
contest, and the armies bivouacked in full view of each other. The
Allies, in consequence of their well-covered position, had suffered
comparatively little; of the French some thousands had died--and all in
vain. Napoleon was, however, resolved to renew the attack, and mounted
his horse accordingly at four in the morning of the 10th. At that moment
news came that Marmont's corps had just been assaulted at Athies, and so
thoroughly discomfited that they were now flying in confusion towards
Corbery. Notwithstanding this ominous opening, the battle in front of
Laon was continued all the day. But the tide of fortune had turned, and
could not be resisted. On the 11th, Napoleon commenced his retreat,
having lost thirty cannon and ten thousand men.
Soissons had been evacuated by the Allies when concentrating themselves
for the battle of Laon. Napoleon threw himself, therefore, into that
town, and was making his best efforts to strengthen it, in expectation
of the Prussian advance, when once more a messenger of evil tidings
reached him. A detached Russian corps, commanded by St. Priest, a French
emigrant, had seized Rheims by a coup-de-main. The possession of this
city (as a glance at any good map will show) could hardly fail to
re-establish Blucher's communications with Schwartzenberg--and Napoleon
instantly marched thither in person, leaving Marmont to hold out as well
as he could at Soissons, in case that should be the direction of
Blucher's march. Buonaparte, moving with his usual rapidity, came
unexpected on Rheims, and took the place by assault at midnight. St.
Priest had fallen; and the bulletin announced that he met his fate by a
ball from the same cannon which killed Moreau. If it were so, no one
could have ascertained the fact; but Napoleon's imagination was always
ready to welcome a tale that savoured of fatality.
From Rheims, where he remained for three days to refresh his unfortunate
followers, he despatched at length full powers to Caulaincourt to
conclude _any treaty_, which should secure the immediate evacuation of
the old French territory, and a mutual restoration of prisoners. Maret,
(Duke of Bassano,) however, wrote--by the same messenger--at much
greater length; informing the plenipotentiary that the Emperor would
refuse to ratify _any treaty_ whatever--if, in the interim, events
should have taken a turn in his favour. It is to be doubted whether
Caulaincourt would have ventured to act, on instructions thus qualified,
with the decision which the emergency required. But he was not put to
the proof. The Allies had determined to negotiate no more, ere the
despatch of Rheims reached him.
Throughout this crisis of his history, it is impossible to survey the
rapid energy of Napoleon--his alert transitions from enemy to enemy, his
fearless assaults on vastly superior numbers, his unwearied resolution,
and exhaustless invention--without the highest admiration which can
attend on a master of warfare. But it is equally impossible to suppress
astonishment and indignation in following, or rather attempting to
follow, the threads of obstinacy, duplicity, pride, and perfidy, which,
during the same period, complicated, without strengthening, the tissue
of his negotiations. It is only when we fix our eyes on the battles and
marches of this wonderful campaign, that we can hesitate to echo the
adage:--_Whom God hath doomed to destruction, he first deprives of
reason._
To complete our notion of the energies of Napoleon--he had all through
this, the most extraordinary of his campaigns, continued to conduct,
from his perpetually changing headquarters, the civil business of his
empire. He occupied himself largely with such matters during his stay at
Rheims; but it was there that the last despatches from the
home-department at Paris were destined to reach him; and, before he
could return his answer, there came couriers upon couriers--with tidings
which would have unmanned any other mind, and which filled his with
perplexity. On the one side, Blucher had profited by his departure,
crushed down the feeble opposition of the corps left at Soissons, and
repassed the Marne. On the other hand, Schwartzenberg had detected,
almost as soon as it took place, his march on Sezanne, and instantly
resumed the offensive. Oudinot and Girard had been forced to give way
before the immeasurably superior numbers of the Grand Army. They had
been defeated with great slaughter at Bar on the Aube; and the Austrian
was once more at Troyes. The Allies were, therefore, to all appearance,
in full march upon Paris, both by the valley of the Marne, and by that
of the Seine, at the moment when Napoleon had thought to paralyse all
their movements by taking up a position between them at Rheims.
He still counted largely on the magic of his name; and even now he had
hardly over-reckoned. When Schwartzenberg understood that Napoleon was
at Rheims, the old terror returned, and the Austrian instantly proposed
to fall back from Troyes. But there was by this time, in the camp of the
allied powers, one who, though not a soldier, appreciated, far better
than all those about him, that had grown grey in arms, the circumstances
of the time, and the conduct which these demanded. Lord Castlereagh took
upon himself the responsibility of signifying that the Grand Army might
retire if the sovereigns pleased, but that if such a movement took
place, the subsidies of England must be considered as at an end. This
bold word determined the debate. Schwartzenberg's columns instantly
resumed their march down the Seine.
Napoleon, meanwhile, had been struggling with himself; whatever line of
action he might adopt was at best hazardous in the extreme. Should he
hasten after Blucher on the Marne, what was to prevent Schwartzenberg
from reaching Paris, ere the Silesian army, already victorious at Laon,
could be once more brought to action by an inferior force? Should he
throw himself on the march of Schwartzenberg, would not the fiery
Prussian be at the Tuileries, long before the Austrian could be checked
on the Seine? There remained a third course--namely, to push at once
into the country in the rear of the Grand Army; and to this there were
sundry inducements. By doing so, he might possibly--such were still the
Emperor's conceptions as to the influence of his name--strike the
advancing Allies, both the Austrian and the Prussian, with terror, and
paralyse their movements. Were they likely to persist in their _Hurrah
on Paris_ (at this period the Cossack vocabulary was in vogue), when
they knew Napoleon to be posting himself between them and their own
resources, and at the same time relieving and rallying around him all
the garrisons of the great fortresses of the Rhine? Would not such
conduct be considered as entirely out of the question by superstitious
adherents to the ancient technicalities of war? Would not Schwartzenberg
at least abandon the advance and turn to follow him, who still fancied
that no one could dream of conquering France without having ruined
Napoleon? But--even supposing that the allied powers should resist all
these suggestions and proceed upon the capital--would not that great
city, with Marmont and Mortier, and the national guard, be able to hold
the enemy at bay for some considerable space; and, during that space,
could the Emperor fail to release his garrisons on the Rhine, and so
place himself once more at the head of an army capable, under his
unrivalled guidance, of relieving France and ruining her invaders, by a
great battle under the walls of Paris?
It must be added, in reference to Napoleon's choice among these
difficulties, that ere now the continuance of the warfare had much
exacerbated the feelings of the peasantry, who, for the most part,
regarded its commencement with indifference. The perpetual marches and
counter-marches of the armies, the assaults and burnings of towns and
villages, the fierce demeanour of the justly embittered Prussians, and
the native barbarism of the Russians, had spread devastation and horror
through some of the fairest provinces of France. The desolation was such
that wolves and other beasts of prey appeared, in numbers which recalled
the ages of the unbroken forest, amidst the vineyards and gardens of
Champagne. All who could command the means of flight had escaped; of
those that remained there were few who had not, during three months,
suffered painful privations, seen their cottages occupied by savage
strangers, and their streams running red with the blood of their
countrymen. The consequence was that the peasantry on the theatre of the
war, and behind it, were now in a state of high excitement. Might not
the Emperor, by throwing himself and his sorely diminished, but still
formidable, band of veterans among them, give the finishing impulse, and
realise at length his fond hope of a national insurrection?
While Napoleon was thus tossed in anxiety by what means to avert, if it
were yet possible, from Paris, the visitation of those mighty armies,
against whom energies, such as he alone possessed, had been exerted in
vain--the capital showed small symptoms of sympathising with him. The
newspapers had announced nothing but victories; but the truth could not
fail to penetrate in spite of all this treachery. The streets were daily
traversed by new crowds of provincialists, driven or terrified from
their dwellings. Every hospital, and many public buildings besides, were
crammed with wounded soldiers; and the number of dead bodies,
continually floating down the Seine was so great, that the meanest of
the populace durst no longer make use of the water. As one conclusive
token of the universal distrust, it may be mentioned that, whereas in
usual times the amount of taxes paid daily into the exchequer at Paris
is about L3000, the average, after the 1st of March, did not exceed L15.
It was Savary's business to despatch a full account of the state of the
city every night to headquarters;--and he did not hesitate to inform the
Emperor that the machinery of government was clogged in every wheel, and
that the necessity of purchasing peace, by abandoning him, was the
common burden of conversation.
Meantime, to swell the cup of his anxieties, there reached him new
intelligence of the most alarming character from the south-western
provinces, invaded by Lord Wellington. That victorious general had
driven Soult before him through the _Pays de Gaves_ (the tract of strong
country broken by the torrents descending from the Pyrenees); defeated
him in another great battle at Orthes; and was now pursuing him in the
direction of Toulouse. Nor was even this the worst: the English had been
received more like friends than enemies by the French; their camp was
far better served with provisions than that of Soult; and lastly,
Bourdeaux had risen openly in the cause of Louis. The white flag was
floating on every tower of the third city in France, and the Duke
D'Angouleme was administering all the offices of government, in the
midst of a population who had welcomed him with the enthusiasm of old
loyalty.
It was amidst such circumstances that Napoleon at length decided on
throwing himself on the rear of the Allies. They were for some time
quite uncertain of his movements after he quitted Rheims, until an
intercepted letter to Maria Louisa informed them that he was at St.
Dizier.