very tenacious, for the doyen of the armies of the republic had given the example. Marshal Jourdan had no idea of the part he was cajoled into playing; he had not foreseen that he would become the instrument of the émigrés. This great change, whose consequences were so grave, was, therefore, effected by a species of jugglery. Faithful to my convictions, I retained this cockade, and wore it when I went to meet Monsieur at the barrière on the 12th April. The next day, as not a single person still adhered to it, I took it off.

On the arrival of Monsieur he was received with the utmost enthusiasm, not emanating, however, from any affection for the Bourbons, for that generation hardly knew their name. The favourable reception merely expressed the feeling of weariness felt with the fallen power, whose oppression during the last years had been unendurable. The presence of the Bourbons seemed, consequently, to afford a guarantee of a species of freedom for the future. In the mean while, the man who had once been the idol of France was gnawing his heartstrings at Fontainebleau, whence he set out for Elba, accompanied by commissioners representing the various sovereigns of Europe. From the report of Count Waldburg-Truchsess, representative of Prussia, we are enabled to furnish some curious details about his journey to the coast:

About a quarter of a league on the other side of Orgon, Napoleon thought it indispensable to take the precaution of disguising himself: he put on a shabby blue great-coat, a civilian's hat with a white cockade, and mounted a post-horse to gallop before his carriage, thus wishing to pass for a courier. As we could not keep up with him, we arrived at St. Canal some considerable time after him. Ignorant of the means he had employed to conceal himself from the people, we fancied him in the greatest danger, for his carriage was surrounded by furious men trying to open the doors; they were, fortunately, securely closed, and this saved General Bertrand. The obstinacy of the women astounded us still more; they begged us to give him up to them, saying, "He has so well deserved it, that we only ask what is right."

وو

At about two miles from St. Canal we caught up the emperor's carriage, which soon after stopped at a poor inn situated on the high road, and called "La Calade." We followed it, and here learned for the first time the masquerade he had employed, by means of which he had arrived here in safety. He had only been accompanied by one courier, and his suite, from the general down to the marmiton, had mounted the white cockade, with which they must have provided themselves beforehand. His valet-de-chambre came to meet us, and begged us to address the emperor as Colonel Campbell, for he had passed himself off to the hostess as such. We promised to do so, and I was the first to enter a sort of bedroom, where I was struck to find the former sovereign of the world plunged in profound reflections, and resting his head on his hands. I did not recognise him at first, and drew near him. He started up on hearing a footstep. He made me a sign to say nothing, ordered me to sit down near him, and all the time the hostess was in the room he only spoke of indifferent matters. But when she went out he returned to his old position. I considered it advisable to leave him alone, but he begged us to come in at intervals, that his presence might not be suspected.

We told him that we had been informed Colonel Campbell had passed through this very place the previous day for Toulon, so then he resolved to take the name of Lord Burgherst.

We sat down to table; but as the dinner had not been prepared by his own cooks, he could not make up his mind to take any nourishment, through fear of being poisoned. Still, on seeing us eat with good appetite, he was ashamed to let us see the fears which assailed him, and took everything that was offered him he pretended to taste it, but sent away his plate without tasting. His

dinner was composed of some bread, and a bottle of wine, which was fetched from his carriage, and shared with us.

He spoke a great deal, and was remarkably amiable. When we were alone, he explained to us how he believed his life was in danger; he was persuaded that the French government had taken measures to have him carried off or assassinated. A thousand projects crossed his mind about the manner in which he could save himself. He devised schemes, too, to deceive the townspeople at Aix, for we had been advised a large crowd was awaiting him at the post-station. He then declared he thought it best to return to Lyons, and there select another route by which to reach Italy. We could in no case have assented to this project, and we tried to induce him to travel direct to Toulon, or via Digne to Fréjus. We strove to convince him it was impossible that the French government could have formed such perfidious plans against his safety without instructing us, and that the populace, in spite of the indecent language it employed, would not be guilty of a crime of such a nature. In order to persuade us then how well-founded his apprehensions were, he told us what had passed between him and the hostess, who had not recognised him. “Well,” she said to him, "have you met Bonaparte ?" No," he had replied. "I am curious," she continued, "to see whether he can save himself. I still believe the people will massacre him; and it must be allowed he has well deserved it, the_rascal. Tell me then, is he going to embark for his island ?" "He will be drowned, eh?" "I hope so," Napoleon replied. You see, therefore," he added, "to what danger I am exposed." Then he began to weary us once more with his fears and want of resolution. He begged us even to examine whether there was not a masked door by which he could escape, or if the window, the shutters of which he had closed on arriving, were too high for him to jump out, and so escape. The window was protected by iron bars outside, and I placed him in a state of great embarrassment by communicating this discovery. At the least noise he trembled and changed colour. After dinner we left him to his reflections, entering the room from time to time, according to his expressed desire.

'

"Yes."

A good many persons had collected at this inn; the majority had come from Aix, suspecting that our lengthened stay was occasioned by the presence of the emperor. We tried to make them believe that he had gone before us; but they would not listen to our statements. They assured us they did not wish to do him any harm, but only see what effect his misfortunes had produced on him; at the most they would only address a few reproaches to him, or tell him the truth, which he had so rarely heard. We did all we could to turn them from this design, and succeeded in calming them. A person, who appeared to us a man of some social station, offered to maintain order and tranquillity at Aix, if we would entrust him with a letter to the mayor of that town. General Koller communicated this offer to the emperor, who received it with pleasure. This person was sent with a letter to the magistrate, and returned with the assurance that excellent arrangements had been made by the mayor, which would prevent all disturbance. General Scherwaloff's aide-de-camp came to tell us that the people who had collected in the streets had almost all retired, and the emperor resolved to start at midnight.

Through an exaggerated prudence he took fresh measures to evade recognition. He induced General Scherwaloff's aide-de-camp to put on the blue great-coat and hat, in which he had himself arrived at the inn, in order, doubtlessly, that, in case of need, he might pass for him. Bonaparte, who had now decided on passing as an Austrian colonel, put on General Koller's uniform and the St. Theresa order the general wore, put my travelling-cap on his head, and wrapped himself in General Scherwaloff's cloak. After the commissioners of the allied powers had thus equipped him, the carriages were ordered to the door, but, before going down stairs, we rehearsed in our room the order in which we were to proceed. General Drouot opened the procession; then came the soidisant emperor, General Scherwaloff's aide-de-camp, then General Koller, the

emperor, General Scherwaloff, and myself, who had the honour of forming the rear-guard, to which the emperor's suite tacked itself on.

Thus we passed through the baffled crowd, who took extreme pains to try and discover among us the man whom they called their tyrant. The aide-decamp took Napoleon's place in his carriage, and the emperor set off with General Koller in his calèche. A few gendarmes, sent to Aix by the mayor's orders, dissolved the crowd which tried to surround us, and we continued our journey in perfect safety.

On

But though the emperor had been removed, the début of the Bourbons was attended by great difficulties, and at the outset Monsieur was guilty of an act calculated to alienate the affection of the nation. the 25th of April he signed a treaty by which France gave back fiftyfour strong places, defended by 10,000 guns, which she still held in Germany, Poland, Italy, and Belgium. It seemed, in fact, as if they desired to prevene the desires of the sovereigns of Europe, and that the surplus beyond what they regarded as their patrimony was oppressive to them; in short, that they thought it beneath them to be the successors of Napoleon, instead of the heirs of Louis XVI. And yet, had it not been for Napoleon, what would have become of their patrimony? The great qualities which Napoleon was endowed with, enabled him to master the Revolution and re-establish the throne. Had it not been for the reckless way he followed the dictates of his ambition, he would, probably, never have handed it over to the Bourbons; but, at any rate, they should have felt gratitude towards him for the faithful way in which he managed and improved their hereditary property. They were led by their entourage; and, as the path suggested harmonised most fully with their private feelings, they paved the way unconsciously for their own downfal. Time, that healing salve, has enabled Frenchmen to judge dispassionately of the Bourbons and the Bonapartes; and the present dynasty is sufficient proof of the judgment they have passed on history.

Marmont speaks very disparagingly of the émigrés who returned to France with the Bourbons, and in this only endorses the general opinion entertained of them. It is true they were conversant with the usages of society, polished in their manners, and kind in their conversation; on the other hand, they were greedy, egotistic, frequently without talent or elevated sentiments, utterly ignorant of business, men, and things; but not without a certain degree of importance, owing to their skill in detecting the passions of their master whom they combined to flatter. The only exception was M. de Blacas, whose portrait Marmont thus sketches:

M. de Blacas was born in 1772, of a very old Provençal family, but had no fortune. Tall and well made, endowed with external advantages, smiled upon by elderly ladies, and of very frivolous character, he started in life with the profession of homme aimable, and his success dispensed with his seeking a career. The Revolution having forced him to emigrate at a very early age, he lived at first by trade, and his decided taste for the fine arts fixed his residence in Italy. At Florence he acted as cicerone to M. d'Avaray, who was all-powerful with Louis XVIII. Pleased with his intelligence, and touched by his position, M. d'Avaray took him back with him as secretary. From that moment he lived with the king, whom he only quitted during the Emigration for short intervals. On the death of M. d'Avaray, he succeeded to his post, and was thus entrusted with the management of the king's modest fortune, and the direction of the few political affairs in which his position allowed him to mix. The king never felt any attraction towards him. This pedantry in trifling matters rendered him

personally disagreeable, and the inferiority of his mind and education singularly injured the consideration he enjoyed with the king.

Such was M. de Blacas in 1814, at the period of the king's return. His position, however, gave him importance; and the spirit of currying favour, unfortunately so common and active in France, added much to it. M. de Blacas, endowed with a narrow mind, but sufficiently just in all that did not affect his prejudices, and possessing intense pride, was the type of the émigrés of Coblentz. He shared their self-sufficiency and contempt for all that was not themselves. The Empire and its brilliancy had passed away, without affecting him. He had not taken it into account, for France, in his eyes, had not ceased to exist at Stockwell. After tracing the defects of M. de Blacas, I must add that his character was not deficient in truth or a certain dignity: his word deserved confidence. M. de Blacas, often accused wrongfully of the faults of the government, which every man of position knew belonged to Louis XVIII., never tried to justify himself. He repeatedly took on himself all that might have injured the king. But his pride and unbounded insolence spoiled his good qualities. In reference to him, a very clever man said that he knew nothing worse than parvenus with a long line of ancestry.

He soon contrived to accumulate an immense fortune. In 1814, it was founded by a share of the farming of the gaming tables; and in 1815, on returning from Ghent, the king, who was obliged to leave him at Mons, left in his hands seven or eight millions which he no longer required. M. de Blacas put them to good interest, and saved a great deal of money when sent as envoy to Rome. In 1819, on M. Decazes becoming all-powerful, he arrived suddenly at Paris, under the excuse of affairs connected with the Concordat; and, it is said, refused to go back till that sum was regularly settled on him. This version is the only one that can explain the fortune he left, which at his death amounted to fifteen millions.*

He

Louis XVIII. set out with immense success in his new career. bought friends by cheap compliments and gracefully-turned allusions. Thus, on seeing that Marmont still carried his arm in a scarf, he hoped that it would soon recover its strength to serve the king. Bernadotte, too, came to pay his court, and in his strong Gascon accent said to our author, "My dear Marmont, when a man has commanded in ten battles, he belongs to the family of kings." At the same time he gave Monsieur an excellent piece of advice, when he told him that a hand of steel, clothed in a velvet glove, was required to govern the French. But, in spite of his good advice, Bernadotte remained only a few days at court, for the following reasons:

During the campaign of 1814, General Maison, afterwards made a marshal by Charles X., commanded a corps d'armée in Flanders, opposed to the army of the Prince Royal of Sweden. Maison had been for a long time confidential aide-decamp to Bernadotte. He entered into secret relations with him, and tried to move him by showing the misfortunes to which France was a prey. Bernadotte felt them, and entered into Maison's ideas, finally declaring, in writing to Maison, that he was ready to embrace the cause of France with his army. He would disarm the Prussian corps under his orders, and join our ranks with his Swedes. The only condition he made was a written promise from Napoleon, by which the emperor pledged himself to secure Bernadotte a kingdom, in case his conduct deprived him of his claims to the throne of Sweden. Napoleon, on being informed of these proposals, gladly accepted them, but with the restriction that

*We must add, in defence of M. de Blacas, that Véron, in the third volume of his Mémoires d'un Bourgeois, states that, after the Revolution of 1830, the Duke of Blacas offered Charles X. the fortune which he owed to the kindness of the royal family.

the pledge should be signed by his brother Joseph, and not by himself. This was declaring positively enough his intention of freeing himself personally from any obligation. Of course, such a condition put an end to the negotiation. Napoleon, possessed of Bernadotte's handwriting, suffered it to fall into the hands of the Emperor Alexander. When Bernadotte paid his respects to the latter at Paris, he was received in a most freezing manner. Alexander gave him back the damning paper, with the remark that, as he never would forget his conduct in 1812, he would dismiss from his mind all recollection of this last fault, and would never mention it to him again, but requested Bernadotte, at the same time, to leave Paris as soon as possible.

Marmont received information that Talleyrand was negotiating a contract with Ouvrard to feed and keep 30,000 Russians, who were intended to remain in Paris for several years. He immediately proceeded to the king, who, to his credit, jumped up from his easy-chair, exclaiming, "Good Heavens! what infamy!" After a lengthened conversation, he thanked Marmont for his zeal, and begged him to come and give him good advice, in these words, strange enough in a royal mouth: "You must feel that the man who holds the handle of the frying-pan is often greatly embarrassed, and has a good deal to think about before deciding on what steps to take; but the opinions of an honest man are always worth knowing." Another great mistake was committed by the royalist party a portion of the Old Guard was garrisoned in Paris, and they mounted guard as before at the palace; but they were dismissed, and their duties performed by a detachment of cavalry from the National Guard, composed of young gentlemen, who came to offer their services and ask employment. Had the Bourbons reflected, they would have found a good omen for the future in the fact that these veteran soldiers hastened to rally round their sovereign. It was, consequently, unjust to deprive them of a right which they had acquired at the price of their blood, and unwise to render them dissatisfied. Had the Old Guard been

devoted to the sovereign, the rest of the army would have followed, for, when the head is satisfied, the rest may be easily contented. But, as if determined to array the entire army against him, Louis XVIII. restored the old Gardes du Corps-a body of officers performing the duties of privates. They were selected from young men of family who had not served, and the rumour soon spread that all the general officers of the army would be dismissed, causing great dissatisfaction naturally, and a great amount of regret for past times, when a commission was the reward of brave deeds in the field, and not the accidental appanage of noble birth. But before proceeding further, let us give a sketch of Louis XVIII. in Marmont's words:

Louis XVIII. was a composite of very opposite qualities and defects. He presented the greatest contrasts in his habits and his character. Having adopted some new ideas, he had something of the doctrinaire about him; but his habits and manners were quite of Versailles, and reminded me of his early years. Thus a perpetual combat was going on in his mind between the necessities in which he was placed, his opinions, and his tastes. These conflicts frequently rendered the progress of his government uncertain and vacillating. His mind, a great deal too much lauded, and, in reality, far from extensive, was often incorrect. His

*This very pretty anecdote Marmont assures us he had from Marshal Maison's aide-de-camp, who informed him that the marshal made no secret of the affair, but repeatedly spoke about it.