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 THE 
 
 SUBSTANCE 
 
 OF 
 
 SOME LETTERS,
 
 THE 
 
 SUBSTANCE 
 
 OF 
 
 SOME LETTERS, 
 
 WRITTEN BY 
 
 AN ENGLISHMAN RESIDENT AT PARIS 
 
 DURING 
 
 THE LAST REIGN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EMPEROR NAPOLEON. 
 
 WITH 
 
 &n &ppen&tx 
 
 OF 
 
 OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. 
 
 " How nations sink, by darling schemes opprest 
 " When vengeance listens to the fool's request. 
 
 Vanity of Human Wishes. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR RIDGWAYS, 170, PICCADILLY* 
 
 By T. Davison, Lombard-street, Whitefriars. 
 
 1810. 

 
 BS7 
 v.l 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 1 he following letters are composed from 
 the same journal which furnished the 
 writer with the materials of a very active 
 and detailed correspondence with several 
 of his intimate acquaintance, some of 
 whom, being members of the legislature, 
 were interested in receiving intelligence 
 more correct than could be obtained 
 through the usual channels, at a time 
 when the total perversion of some facts, 
 the partial selection of others, and the 
 unfair construction put upon such as 
 found their way to the public press, aided 
 a delusion, to which, in a greater degree 
 perhaps than to the exertions of ministerial 
 influence, must be attributed the par- 
 liamentary majorities that enabled the 
 government to undertake the late war 
 against France.
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 The writer, during his residence at Paris 
 in the months of April, May, June and 
 July of the last year, was a spectator of those 
 events and appearances in France, which 
 the journals and orators of his own country 
 pretended to pourtray, but which formed 
 a complete contrast with every thing said 
 or written by the agents or supporters of 
 the Bourbon cause, both in England and 
 on the continent. Feeling persuaded that 
 from a minute description of that which was 
 passing before his eyes, the conclusion to 
 be drawn could not fail to be favourable to 
 the principles which he had been taught 
 to consider the only safe and honourable 
 guides of an English politician ; and being- 
 shocked at the misrepresentations upon 
 which the policy of the British cabinet 
 appeared to him to be entirely founded, 
 he thought it his duty, as it must be that 
 of every individual, however insignificant, 
 to lose no opportunity of transmitting to 
 his friends a detailed account of passing 
 transactions, accompanied with comments, 
 which he conceived must be allowed natu- 
 rally to arise from an unprejudiced view
 
 PREFACE. VH 
 
 of those transactions, and which he there- 
 fore supposed he might take the liberty of 
 intruding upon his correspondents. 
 
 In treating the subject of the foreign 
 policy of the British government, the 
 writer could not but frequently touch 
 upon the public character and conduct of 
 those of his fellow countrymen with whom 
 that policy is immediately connected, and 
 particularly of the minister on whom it 
 may be supposed more especially to de- 
 pend. 
 
 Having, in the course of several visits to 
 the continent, been forced into the convic- 
 tion that our relations with the European 
 cabinets are carried on by such agents 
 as must insure the commission of many 
 errors, and that the real character of our 
 principal representative during the late 
 momentous events is very different from 
 that which the pretensions of himself and 
 his partisans, together with the fortuitous 
 concurrence of some unforeseen successes, 
 would induce us to believe, he has
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 judged it necessary not to confine himself 
 to the vague censure of measures, without 
 any notice of individual conduct or opi- 
 nion,buthas ventured to characterise certain 
 men, in such terms as he thought suitable 
 to their public career, and not exceeding 
 the freedom with which in his country it 
 has always been judged allowable to speak 
 of dangerous or mistaken politicians. 
 
 It would have been easy for him to have 
 erased from his publication the personal 
 animadversions of his private correspond- 
 ence; and by so doing, he would have 
 exempted it from the obloquy and retali- 
 ation of a very powerful and prevalent por- 
 tion of those who are the most likely to 
 become his readers. He has no resent- 
 ments to gratify, and not having to com- 
 plain of ingratitude for services which he 
 never performed, nor of the refusal of 
 favours for which he never applied ; he is 
 actuated by none of the animosities arising 
 from disappointment or neglect. He has 
 been placed in none of the circumstances 
 which in party writers not unfrequently
 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 give rise to the malignity which Tacitus 
 himself allows is the more pernicious, as it 
 is sometimes mistaken for a bold impar- 
 tiality and an honest liberty of speech. 
 He has spoken of men in their public 
 capacity, merely because he is persuaded 
 that the line of policy which his govern- 
 ment has thought fit to pursue has de- 
 pended on the positions and propensities of 
 two or three statesmen — nay, even of one 
 preponderating politician, to a degree so 
 unusual, that the adoption of the " shadow 
 fighting," declared by a great moral poet 
 to be no less inefficacious than safe, would 
 have been a base compromise of the in- 
 terests of the cause, to which all his en- 
 deavours, such as they are, are now de- 
 voted and will be for ever applied. 
 
 Could the writer of these letters suppose 
 that they would receive any weight from 
 the subscription of his name, he would not 
 hesitate to designate his person as dis- 
 tinctly as his opinions ; but not presuming 
 to indulge any such persuasion, he trusts 
 entirely to the truth of his statements for
 
 FJtEFACE. 
 
 that credibility which an author of more 
 importance might obtain partly from his 
 personal testimony. 
 
 He must also advertise the reader, that 
 he has been exceedingly cautious in in- 
 serting the names of any of those indivi- 
 duals, who, when they condescended to 
 communicate with him, had probably no 
 wish nor expectation of appearing before 
 the public in the character of his inform- 
 ants. He should think it too ill a compli- 
 ment to them, if he did not owe it to him- 
 self, to say, that as he never admitted any 
 of their anecdotes to a place in these let- 
 ters without a conviction of their authen- 
 ticity, either from the character of the nar- 
 rator, or from circumstances corroborative 
 of their probability, he is afraid of no in- 
 vestigation to which they may give rise. 
 
 Having premised thus much, the writer 
 finds it necessary to subjoin, that his pur- 
 pose in publishing these letters is similar 
 to that which guided his pen in their ori- 
 ginal composition, and that if he succeeds
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 in winning over even one honourable man 
 from the ranks of those who still approve, as 
 they once supported the late war against 
 national independence, he shall think him- 
 self nmply repaid for any exposure of per- 
 sonal or literary reputation. Declarations 
 of patriotism he leaves to those to whose 
 professions their country may listen with 
 delight, because much profit may be ex- 
 pected from their services ; but he trusts his 
 assertion will not, by those to whom he 
 is known, be thought unbecoming or mis- 
 placed, if he ventures to say, that no mo- 
 tive less pure than an anxiety to stamp with 
 its true character a system of aggression 
 whose apparent success may serve for a 
 precedent fatal to our own liberties has 
 prompted him to undertake a task, whieh 
 he laments that some other person more 
 qualified than himself has not been enabled 
 from similar opportunities to perform. 
 
 It is not impossible that the reader 
 may be startled at the variableness, or, 
 if the expression may be used, the sha- 
 dow of changing, discoverable in the
 
 XJ1 FRET ACE. 
 
 conduct and characters here described, 
 and, as it may seem to him, in the opi- 
 nion of the writer ; who, if the inconsist- 
 encies be in himself, and not in his subject 
 — if his story has varied, except with va- 
 rying facts, must submit, and is contented, 
 to be condemned. He must, however, be 
 judged by those whom local and cotem- 
 porary knowledge has enabled to decide 
 upon his statements, and who shall be 
 proved to have had immediate means of 
 information equal, at the least, to his 
 own. He asks no fairer trial — but he 
 shall appeal from any critic not so qua- 
 lified. He may easily be supposed to 
 have thought sometimes better, some- 
 times worse of the personages before him, 
 and by communicating his present im- 
 pressions, he conceived, that so far from 
 perplexing his correspondents, he enabled 
 them to collect one important truth — the 
 partial fluctuation of character and opi- 
 nion in the Parisian world. 
 
 Before this preface is concluded, notice 
 should be taken of a work, entitled, " A
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 Narrative of Events which have taken place 
 in France, from the landing of Napo- 
 leon Bonaparte, on the 1st of March, 
 1815, till the restoration of Louis XVIII." 
 — which work, though it made its ap- 
 pearance after this collection of letters 
 had been prepared for the press, seemed 
 to the writer to add to the urgency which 
 he imagined to exist, for attempting to 
 disabuse his fellow countrymen on the 
 subject of the return and last reign of the 
 Emperor Napoleon. Certainly the author 
 of that work and the writer of these let- 
 ters did not look at the same side of the 
 shield, and it is possible that one city in 
 the diversities of civil discord may, like 
 Pope's single nymph, present many moral 
 portraits. 
 
 " All how unlike each other, all how true." 
 
 But it must be permitted him to declare 
 solemnly, that were it not notorious thaMhe 
 composer of the Narrative was a spectator 
 of the events she describes, he would 
 not hesitate to aver, that she had employed 
 the optics of the editors of some minis-
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 terial journal, rather than those eyes 
 which beamed with delight at the dawn 
 of continental freedom, ' and communi- 
 cated their animation to so manv ad- 
 mirers of revolutionary France. 
 
 It may be necessary to add, that, although 
 that narrative will appear to be directly 
 contradicted by many positions contained 
 in these letters, yet not a line of them was 
 written in the contemplation of such a 
 controversy, rior, except in one solitary in- 
 stance, where the assumed fact was too 
 important to be left uncontradicted, has 
 been retouched in consequence of any 
 statements advanced by the above author. 
 
 The writer concludes this preliminary 
 notice by stating, that at the advice of 
 his friends he has reprinted some public 
 documents in the original French, and 
 that he trusts the interest which they must
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 command, from being, in some measure, 
 an official account of the last reign of the 
 Emperor, and from having as yet been 
 only very partially communicated to his 
 fellow countrymen, will excuse the ap- 
 pendix which they compose at the end of 
 these volumes.
 
 SUBSTANCE 
 
 OF SOME 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 WRITTEN FROM PARIS DURING THE LAST REIGN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EMPEROR NAPOLEON, 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Brussels, April 8, 18 1 5. 
 
 MY DEAR 
 
 A son of an English archbishop once told 
 me that during the siege of Gibraltar his father 
 was dancing at the balls of Paris. Since the 
 commencement of the revolution war the ani- 
 mosities of governments seem ta have been 
 communicated to whole nations, and, especially 
 as far as concerns France and England, each in- 
 dividual has become a belligerent. The mutual 
 civilities of their diplomatists at neutral courts 
 have long been dropped, and, without any atten- 
 
 B
 
 2 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 tion to the want of civilized intercourse or the 
 decency of christian communion, the war has 
 been carried on, to the scandal of the barbarous 
 and Mahometan world, even by their residents 
 at Pera and Tihiran. It may not be easy to 
 say with whom this pitiful practice commenced, 
 but personal experience has taught me that 
 the worthy members of our missions have car- 
 ried it into most full and painful effect; so much 
 so, indeed, as to exclude from the benefit of 
 their protection, and to refuse the light of their 
 countenance to those found guilty of holding 
 even parley with any Frenchman, whose atten- 
 tions, like those of the devil, seem to convey a 
 supposition of preaptitude for such evil com- 
 munications ; and to be judged therefore suffi- 
 cient cause for excommunication from the so- 
 ciety of all the good, the loyal, and the true. 
 Certainly, however, neither the interests of hu- 
 manity nor of policy have gained by this univer- 
 sal diffusion of antipathies : for although it 
 might have served the turn of our statesmen in 
 1793 to represent every Frenchman a man- 
 eater and an atheist, whose existence was in- 
 compatible with modern civilization ; yet for 
 us, who are not the cotemporaries of Legen- 
 dre and Danton, to treat all our neighbours as 
 if they were the accomplices of those miscre- 
 ants, cannot be just nor profitable : it cannot 
 be just, because the Frenchmen of the revolu-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 3 
 
 tion are no longer to be found in France ; it 
 cannot be of service to our policy, for such a per- 
 suasion must originate from an entire ignorance 
 of existing national character, the knowledge of 
 which I presume to be the first and most in- 
 dispensable quality in those concerned in the 
 management of political intercourse. I will 
 say nothing of the selfish and presumptuous 
 feelings, the bad passions and prejudices which 
 the encouragement of such a hatred tends natu- 
 rally to produce and nourish in the mind of the 
 whole nation. Fortunately the humanity of 
 Englishmen has thwarted every effort to diffuse 
 this savage principle, as far as relates to persons 
 and circumstances which are not within the 
 control of politicians either at home or abroad : 
 their generous nature associates itself with none 
 so easily as with their immediate neighbours ; 
 nor does war ever assume so civilized a form as 
 in the contest with the armies of France : our 
 soldier considers that he does not serve the 
 cause of his country or his king by cherishing 
 principles of animosity and revenge against the 
 individuals of the opposing enemy; whom, in 
 spite of the suggestions of the brave warriors of 
 the two Houses and their applauding journal- 
 ists, they look upon as men very much like 
 themselves, engaged in a stated duty, with a 
 certainty of subsistence, and a hope of advance- 
 ment and reward. Those who have lived much 
 
 b 2
 
 4 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 with our army know there is a liberality in the 
 opinions of our military men relative to France 
 which would scarcely be tolerated in some mi- 
 nisterial circles, or perhaps in the walls of par- 
 liament. This liberality at all times renders 
 their victories more dear to us, because less 
 dangerous. Were they liable to adopt all the 
 prejudices of cold-blooded politicians, and, sink- 
 ing the citizen in the soldier, to receive the 
 maxims of a corrupt court as their only rule of 
 civil conduct, then indeed might we tremble at 
 their prowess. But, since the example of the 
 army of James, we need not fear that British 
 soldiers should ever be true to tyranny ; nor, to 
 serve their monarch, betray themselves. The 
 horror which it has been the fashion either to 
 feel or to affect at the name of a Frenchman, 
 without being taken off the nation at large, has 
 been latterly concentrated andaccumulatedupon 
 the head of Napoleon; whom, after exhaust- 
 ing every opprobrious epithet before unapplied 
 to any potentate, it was at last agreed to de- 
 signate as the Enemy of the human race, a title 
 belonging, par excellence, to the Evil One, and 
 calculated to inspire a sort of blind terror and 
 universal detestation of this Satanic personage. 
 Posterity will hardly know how to reconcile the 
 proverbial courage and sense of our country- 
 men with the expression of such fears as they 
 will find in the predictions and revelation.^
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 5 
 
 of the preachers and politicians of the present 
 age; who, by helping out the Apocalypse with 
 an anagram, behold in this warrior sometimes 
 the Horned Beast, at others Apollyon him- 
 self. They will smile at the complacency with 
 which we contemplated the dethronement of 
 the Abomination of Abominations as the acci- 
 dental good which was to be blown to us by this 
 ill wind, as well as at the facility with which, 
 sacrificing our former interpretations to our 
 present interests, our prophecy to our politics, 
 forgetting our faith as our circumstances im- 
 proved, we strained every nerve to prevent 
 the accomplishment of our own prediction, and 
 in the indiscriminate fury of our opposition to 
 the devil, took up the cudgels for him with 
 whom he had been, in every British heart, so 
 long allied — the Pope. The children of the 
 present generation have been taught to start at 
 the name of Bonaparte as if he was in the bush ; 
 our colleges and academies have given prizes 
 to those who should best pourtray his crimes. 
 The painter has sketched a countenance to 
 correspond with the fancied features of trea- 
 son, murder, cruelty, and pride. Not the ter- 
 rors of a degenerate Roman could have beheld 
 the imp-begotten Attila under an aspect so 
 hideous. The pious from their pulpit prayed for 
 that resignation, patience, and humility under this 
 scourge of God, which were recommended from
 
 6 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the benches of parliament as the true christian 
 virtues necessary for those who were to be borne 
 along without a murmur by the current of events, 
 to bear all trial of taxation, and to be content 
 with the mean instruments through whom (the 
 help and cunning of man being altogether of no 
 avail) they might, in the appointed time and 
 hour, work out their salvation. Such was the 
 general feeling ; to be insensible to which was 
 looked upon as the proof of a hardened mind, 
 perverted by, or perhaps already associated 
 with, wickedness. It is true, and more strange, 
 that in order to complete the monster which 
 the world never saw, there were many amongst 
 us who arrayed him in all bad qualities, con- 
 tradictory and inconsistent ; interweaved with 
 the giant vices all the baser imperfections of 
 humanity, and, to justify their hatred and their 
 fear, denounced him as a coward and a fool. 
 These epithets were designed to take all pre- 
 text for admiration from those, who perversely 
 gazed with feelings not unmixed upon the 
 most extraordinary career ever recorded in the 
 annals of ambition. They were employed to 
 deepen the reprobation already attached to 
 those who saw in Napoleon Bonaparte a fortunate 
 soldier — of no less capacity than inclination 
 for conquest and dominion — undaunted — perse- 
 vering — unsatisfied — with most of the vices and 
 virtues of conquerors — comparable to any of the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 7 
 
 great names of history by his exploits, inferior 
 to some of them by the failings which a co- 
 temporary view enables us to see and prompts 
 us to condemn, superior to most of them as being 
 untarnished by those monstrous deeds which 
 characterized the age or habits of other heroes. 
 It was in vain that the imputed poisonings, 
 and assassination of single captives, became an 
 idle tale, abandoned at last by those who gave 
 to them their original credit The Emperor of 
 the French, King of Italy, Protector of the 
 Confederation of the Rhine, was still to be 
 charged with withdrawing from his throne and 
 his myriads in arms, to strangle an unarmed 
 British sailor -, and it was still to be accounted a 
 want of patriotism for an Englishman to regard 
 him in any other light than the murderer of his 
 countryman. The fall of this Dagon by no 
 means terminated the persecution of his name, 
 nor of his imputed worshippers. It was dis- 
 covered, that not France, not her capital itself, 
 could show a single evidence that her usurper 
 had ever contemplated to make her beautiful 
 or great. The hatred and fear which his 
 power might have inspired, and which might 
 be supposed to drop with it, were transferred 
 to the alleged friends of his system and princi- 
 ples ; but the charges of cowardice and folly 
 were renewed : he was a coxcomb, profligate, 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 8 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 empty and vain ; a mortal of an ordinary mind 
 and mould ; daring and impetuous, nothing 
 more — good natured, it is true', and communi- 
 cative, but quite on the usual level ; a lie com- 
 panion for the simple and younger classes of 
 mankind ; — a man about whom the world had 
 been much mistaken ; or, as a midshipman of 
 the Undaunted said, in a letter to his friend, 
 " all in the wrong." That he had found ad- 
 mirers was unaccountable. Those who knew 
 him most, liked him least ; a vulgar familiarity 
 constituted all the charm of his converse, which, 
 after all, con id have no etfect upon the open 
 heart of plain honesty, averse to the blandish- 
 ments of a knave. Not content to visit with in- 
 dignation those who did not regard him as the 
 weakest and the most dangerous being in ex- 
 istence, yet, without any power of attraction ; 
 as the most insignificant and the most to be 
 dreaded of mortals, yet neverto be listened to 
 for a moment ; it was found useful to assert, 
 that the admiration of such a character which 
 was to be so much deprecated, did not in fact 
 exist. A scandalous story had been told of the 
 inclinations manifested towards this worthless 
 personage by the crew of the frigate which 
 conveyed him to Elba. It w r as too true and 
 undeniable, that the officers of that ship had 
 listened to the voice of the tempter. For this
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 9 
 
 the commanding officer had received his re- 
 ward. What .as his reception at home in 
 return for having bestowed upon an acknow- 
 ledged Emperor the honours of sovereignty, 
 and for not having employed those torments of 
 insult by which the fallen monarch might feel 
 his dignity to be dying, it would be little to the 
 credit of our admiralty to record. 
 
 But this reception was not judged a sufficient 
 punishment ; the mistaken conduct of that ca- 
 joled though gallant officer was to be publicly 
 arraigned, and a channel of accusation was 
 found in the pages of a literary journal, devoted 
 usually to better purposes. A half official me- 
 moir was ushered into the world, compiled I 
 have good reason to believe partly from the 
 papers of the military gentleman, who, from his 
 residence at Elba, was a judge more competent, 
 butl now think hardly so fair as the above-men- 
 tioned midshipman of the Undaunted, and who, 
 unless his colouring was heightened by other 
 hands, made it seems the discovery of that 
 youth, that his charge was nothing above the 
 usual run, a very commonplace-minded man, 
 imprudent and unguarded to an excess, incapa- 
 ble of keeping a secret in love, or war, or poli- 
 tics ; with a flux of talk both as to past, present, 
 and to come, quite unbecoming and incompati- 
 ble with real grandeur. Colonel Sir Neil Camp-
 
 10 LETTERS FROM PAIlfB. 
 
 bell, when I knew him, was a most worthy, sen- 
 sible man ; but it is just possible that being ac- 
 customed to Lord Cathcart, and the dignities of 
 this world, he was astounded perhaps at first, 
 and then disgusted, at finding so much of hu- 
 man frailty, of the weaknesses of common life, 
 in a general and a sovereign. The colonel 
 might have been but little surprised to have 
 seen him shoot a grenadier a day. There 
 would besides have been more of dignity in 
 guarding such a Nero ; but to find that his pri- 
 soner had none of the trappings of legitimate 
 tyranny ; that he could not discover one trait 
 in his manner or conversation which affected or 
 gave him a superiority over himself; that he 
 talked freely and playfully on the passages of 
 his former life, and sometimes of his future de- 
 stination and even projects ; that he took no 
 pains to conceal any weakness or error ; that he 
 was, in short, altogether such a being as him- 
 self; this was intolerable, and would be so to 
 any eye accustomed to contemplate all objects 
 at a certain angle, and to mistake elevation of 
 position for height of stature. Had Napoleon 
 been haughty, morose, reserved, important, and 
 pompous, it would have been easy to recognize 
 and appreciate those kingly characteristics; 
 and to have foreseen and provided against an 
 effort to recover his crown. I was not therefore
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 1 1 
 
 much astonished to hear and read the judgment 
 formed by the guardian officer : (difficult as it 
 was to reconcile that judgment, to my mind, so 
 erroneous, with what I formerly knew of Sir 
 Neil Campbell ;) but I was truly surprised at 
 some representations contained in the journal 
 alluded to, which I knew could not proceed 
 from his pen, as they furnished the most extra- 
 ordinary example extant of that species of writ- 
 ing called by Voltaire the ccconomic style, or an 
 expedient falsification of facts. 
 
 The sailors of the Undaunted frigate are 
 stated to have resisted all that cajolement which 
 succeeded with the officers ; and to have refused 
 a gratuity offered them at disembarkation by 
 the Emperor, in terms both rude and contemp- 
 tuous — " they would take none of Mr. Bona- 
 parte's money." Could the writer of the me- 
 moir have invented both the refusal and the 
 speech ? He should have known that the sailors 
 did receive about four hundred louis d'ors from 
 Napoleon ; and that the boatswain, in their name, 
 addressed him on the quarter-deck, in a short 
 harangue, in which he thanked his honour, and 
 imshed him long life and prosperity in the island 
 of Elba, and better luck another time. The fact 
 is notorious to every man on board the frigate 
 at the time j as to the fiction, I know not to 
 what extent it has been believed or spread.
 
 12 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 I should not have mentioned either the one 
 ©r the other, ] ad I not thought it worth while to 
 give a go sample of the dialectic employed by 
 iome pretended champions of the church and 
 state. I fxhort you, therefore, to label this 
 pious fraud, as Fra Paoli did his dagger — stillo 
 delta Sit; eta chiesa. 
 
 The Quarterly Review has not, as I hear, 
 found more buyers nor admirers since it has un- 
 dertaken to write down Bonaparte, from authen- 
 tic documents. Twice has it tried its hand this 
 way ; a third time it may show that the. conquest 
 of l^gypt, of Italy, of Austria, of Prussia, of Po- 
 land, the foundation of empires and kingdoms, 
 fifty victories, a thousand monuments of laws, 
 and arts, and arms, all are fictions, unreal, non- 
 existent, and invented, like the pretended death 
 of Charles I. by the jacobins of France, to serve 
 the purpose and animate the wicked zeal of the 
 enemies of the true Porphyrogeniti — the legiti- 
 mate two or three for whom the modern many 
 were made, and are permitted to exist. The 
 triumph of these gentlemen was at its height : 
 the carcase butchers had carved out the 
 nations at Vienna ; Lord Castlereagh having 
 given Saxony to Prussia, Poland to Russia, 
 Italy to Austria, Genoa to Savoy, and Hil- 
 desheim to Hanover, was returned to receive 
 the thanks of a grateful British parliament.—
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. IS 
 
 Napoleon reappears — the stability of the system 
 of our great statesman, and its fitness to that 
 portion of Europe called France, are at once 
 apparent, by the resistance offered to the in- 
 vader : but his lordship, though a little siek and 
 hurt, is not abashed: he speaks for four liourft 
 as if nothing had happened. The night, indeed, 
 of that famous speech so stuck with (aughter as 
 was never goose with lord, * as Harrington says 
 of my Lord Epimonus-de-garruta* s harangue, 
 did give hopes to the malicious. it was 
 thought impossible that the patience of parlia- 
 ment should any longer endure. The most 
 tried members, who, during a long course of 
 court complaisance, had never slept nor smiled 
 at a minister's speech, now nodded outright, or 
 boretheirmurmurstotheclub: Westminster-hall 
 and St. James's-street were vocal to the complaints 
 even of the humble servants of the treasury. 
 The most devoted followers began to suspect 
 that the character which one accident had 
 made considerable, another accident might 
 again reduce to its original and tried insignifi- 
 cance. The rats were looking for their holes; 
 some said they had begun to run. But it seems 
 this house is not yet to fall. His lordship has 
 declared his sitting permanent ; and having that 
 
 * Oceana, p. 120.
 
 ]4 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 immovability which success stamps with the 
 name of perseverance, but which, under other 
 circumstances, is termed obstinacy, or despera- 
 tion, is resolved to bet his blue ribbon against 
 Napoleon's crown. Now, feeling no interest, 
 and not thinking myself involved in the playing 
 of this match ; being convinced likewise that 
 the threatened war is not, as far as England is 
 concerned, national, but ministerial ; I have re- 
 solved to pursue a journey which I have long 
 projected, and to revisit Paris, in spite of the 
 event which has driven so many of my country- 
 men, with so much speed and so little urgency, 
 from that capital. I have still hopes of peace, 
 but very little. A saying of the Duke of Wel- 
 lington circulates at Brussels, that he will be in 
 Paris in three months ; and his Grace is not 
 known either to boast or to threaten often in 
 vain. The Prince of Orange has buckled on 
 his armour, and has forbidden the English under 
 his command to say that Bonaparte is a great 
 man. By some accident, no one talks of his fa- 
 ther, nor seems to recollect that he was one of 
 the last batch of kings. 
 
 His majesty the King of the Netherlands is a 
 sound not yet familiar to Brussels, where the 
 garlands are yet green that adorned his tri- 
 umphal entry. The town-house and some few 
 houses in the park are hung with stripes of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 15 
 
 orange-bunting ; and by the edge of the canal 
 leading to the palace of Lachen is a triumphal 
 arch, recording the reception of Gulielmus Pri- 
 mus. These machines, and the placard of that 
 article of the Vienna Congress by which the Ne- 
 therlanderswere transferred to the house of Nas- 
 sau, are the only evidences that put you in mind 
 of the new monarchy. If you mention the king, 
 they ask you whether you allude to the old Prince, 
 or to Louis XVIII. His majesty is very kind and 
 condescending: — he received a ball from the 
 citizens* wives the other day, and honoured a 
 puppet show, I speak literally, with his presence. 
 Yesterday he was at the theatre : it was ill- 
 lighted, and worse attended ; not a person of 
 apparent gentility was present, to greet the new 
 sovereign. Some thirty stood up in the pit 
 when he entered; but when the play closed, 
 every body moved off without ceremony, not 
 waiting for his majesty's exit. The royal box 
 was surmounted with a paper crown, like that 
 of Shakespeare's Duke of York, which those in 
 the upper lodge looked as if inclined to clip ; and 
 the tongues of the lions, supporters of the arms, 
 seemed contrived by the artist to loll out at the 
 bawble above, with an air of archness not justi- 
 fied by heraldry or loyalty. To an eye accus- 
 tomed to the substantial shows of English roy- 
 alty, the state of the Dutch monarch cannot 
 but appear most pitiful; and connected with
 
 16 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the very general notion, that, such as it is, it 
 will dissolve at the first thunder of the French 
 cannon, nothing can be less enviable than the 
 condition of William the First — ridiculous as 
 Bubb Doddington on his late peerage — a young 
 king, but an old man. 
 
 I have not heard it even surmised that the 
 Eelgian troops will stand true to their allies, in 
 case the French should be fortunate in their 
 first attacks ; such an opportunity of trying 
 their fidelity was not certainly contemplated 
 when the monarch-makers of Congress first 
 created this kingdom, to satisfy with this bait 
 and the territory of Hildesheim the appetency 
 of English ministers, who might otherwise have 
 easily suspected that there had been nothing 
 paid for sacrificing the interests of Italians, 
 Saxons, Poles, or, in their own language, con- 
 solidating the masses of the three mighty mo- 
 narchies, so necessary for the balance and re- 
 pose of the European world. 
 
 The general disinclination of the Belgians to 
 their union with Holland is acknowledged on 
 all hands. It is not so clear that they are at- 
 tached to France : but it is no less certain than 
 reasonable, that they would prefer annexation 
 to any power sufficiently strong to carry the 
 war into a foreign territory, instead of fighting 
 for their own borders. The old oppression of 
 Austria would be forgotten, in consideration of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS* 17 
 
 such a& advantage. There are certain portions 
 of tke world which seem marked out for the 
 perpetual theatre of wars j and the quarrels of 
 civilized Europe have for ages been decided in 
 Saxony, in the northern portions of Italy, or in 
 the Low Countries. But the knowledge of this 
 fact does not reconcile the Flemish to the ne- 
 cessity, at present apparent, of again putting in 
 their claim to this fatal distinction. They have 
 partaken for many years of the protected in- 
 tegrity of the French empire ; and, whatever 
 might have been the demands upon their popu- 
 lation, or their wealth, the luxurious abundance 
 of their fields (the garden of Europe), their un- 
 numbered flocks and herds, and their thickly 
 scattered villages and farms, bear witness to 
 that boasted inviolability. They suffered little 
 by the retreating or invading armies of the last 
 year; and the rising generation look forward 
 with horror to the approaching contest, which, 
 for the first time to them, must make their 
 country the seat of war. The occupation of 
 Belgium by France was supposed to be the ne- 
 cessary and instant consequence of Napoleon's 
 return. The day was fixed for his arrival at 
 Brussels. It was said to be the demand of the 
 French army and people, and the desire of the 
 Belgians themselves. 
 
 The English and Hanoverian troops, assem- 
 bled in haste on the frontiers, are now in daily 
 
 c
 
 18 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 expectation of an advance from the French ; 
 and in my visit to Courtray, Tournay, and Ath, 
 a few days past, I found the military arrange- 
 ments corresponding to such a notion : the 
 towns put into a state of defence to resist a coup 
 de main — bridges broken down — the sluices pre- 
 pared to be cut — a third of each garrison under 
 arms all night — and orders given to retreat to- 
 wards Oudenarde. In Brussels, a fortnight ago, 
 the goods of English tradesmen were hardly of- 
 fered to be taken by the inhabitant shopkeeper at 
 a fourth of their value ; so sure does every one 
 appear to be of the immediate commencement 
 of hostilities, and the certain surrender of Bel- 
 gium. I know that our military and diplomatic 
 staff expect an instant attack. It will be seen 
 whether we have made any guess at the inten- 
 tions of Napoleon. 
 
 The Belgians, then, see they are to be the 
 prize first fought for ; and they wish, I presume, 
 that the struggle may be as short as possible. 
 As to any attachment to their good king, I 
 take that to be out of the question. There has 
 been but one nation in the world, as far as I 
 am aware, notorious for loyalty or love of a 
 sovereign, as such ; and that nation has long 
 repented of so mean and unreasonable an at- 
 tachment. Amongst the evils of an elective 
 monarchy, the most prominent is, that the so- 
 vereign, generally speaking, must be agreeable
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 19 
 
 to the majority only of the nation. When a 
 king is chosen for, instead of by, them, the 
 inconvenience of discord may be thought to be 
 removed; since in that case their dislike or 
 their indifference to his person must be unani- 
 mous : yet, by an edict of yesterday, the 7th, 
 the national militia, a large proportion of the 
 male population of the Netherlands, is called 
 out to fight for leur bon roi — that is to say, the 
 sacrifice of lives and fortunes, the last effort of 
 despairing patriotism, is required from a whole 
 nation, to justify and make good the will and 
 pleasure of the Vienna statesmen, who signed, 
 sealed, and delivered them over, a mute and 
 unconsulted stock, to swell the subjects of a 
 hateful, a neighbouring, a rival, and a weaker 
 state. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 LETtfERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Paris, April — , 1815. 
 
 No obstacle was offered to prevent my arrival 
 at this capital. General Dornberg, at Mons, 
 gave me a passport which carried me to Valen- 
 ciennes, and which was countersigned at that 
 place for St. Quentin, where the commissary of 
 police again countersigned my paper for Paris. 
 Valenciennes had lately been made a head- 
 quarters, and the regiments of the garrison were 
 parading under the walls as I entered the town. 
 An officer at the post-house informed me, that 
 the Emperor's horses had arrived a few days 
 ago. The same precautions have been taken, 
 I since learn, in all the extremities of the em- 
 pire ; but my Lord Fife is wrong in stating, as 
 I see by the English papers he does, that the 
 Emperor must have left Paris, because his 
 horses had been ordered for him at Compiegne, 
 His lordship's relays wfc^e also bespoken eight 
 days before he set off; so that, it seems, this 
 prudent preparation is not confined to Napo- 
 leon. Tricoloured flags streamed from the pub- 
 lic buildings, and the windows of all the houses, 
 in the frontier towns ; and this evidence of the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 21 
 
 return of Napoleon was observable in most of the 
 towns and villages, as far as St. Quentin ; from 
 which place it appeared to me more sparingly 
 displayed : the church steeples, however, were 
 every where so arrayed. The pass given to me 
 at Valenciennes, by the commissary of the cus- 
 toms, for my baggage, had a permission of entry 
 into the kingdom : he took it from my hand, and 
 scratching out that word, which had been ob- 
 solete for three weeks, wrote empire. Eleven 
 months ago the same scratch was made for me at 
 Calais across the imperial designation of France. 
 But titles change now without anv turn of man- 
 ners ; and with the exception that the Jieurs de 
 lys have disappeared from the newspapers and 
 the pats of butter, I find here but little outward 
 evidence of the great event which has asto- 
 nished all Europe. Like the hand of a watch, 
 the indication of the movement is most appa- 
 rent at some distance from the centre. Four- 
 and-twenty couriers have spread the convulsion 
 to the extremity of the Russian world — the 
 wall of China feels the shock — but Paris is 
 tranquil. A citizen of London or Bristol, the 
 course of whose calm existence the commo- 
 tions of a corn bill are sufficient to interrupt, 
 has little conception how the denizens of less 
 favoured regions can stand uncrushed amidst 
 the fall of mightiest monarchies, and more espe- 
 cially how the current of domestic and social joy
 
 22 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 can glide on, unruffled by the storms that 
 darken their whole political horizon. The En- 
 glishman, put into a position of danger, is per- 
 haps the most undaunted of his species ; but the 
 amusements of a town besieged indicate to his 
 eyes an indifference to danger more than can be 
 expected or even justified in man, and an habi- 
 tual compound of insensibility and levity, which 
 he is inclined rather to wonder at than admire. 
 He would not know how to believe that on the 
 eve of the bombardment of Dresden there was 
 a ball at the house of the French ambassador, 
 to celebrate the fete of the Queen of Saxony : 
 yet the fact was so, as I heard upon the spot 
 just after the event; and, what is more, the 
 horse of a carriage, drawn up to carry one of 
 the company from the house late in the morn- 
 ing, was killed by the fall of a shell in the court- 
 yard of the same house. There was a play acted 
 at the theatre on the evening after the battle, 
 when the suburbs were reeking with the blood 
 of the dying and the dead. The calamities of 
 twenty-five years, which I date back and. as- 
 cribe to the first conspiracy of crowned heads 
 at Pilnitz, have made the individuals upon the 
 continent familiar with scenes of blood. They 
 have not, perhaps, become braver, but they 
 have learnt habitually to live, like the inhabit- 
 ants of Terra del Fuego, amidst lightnings 
 which they consider as distant till they are
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 23 
 
 struck by them, and the least terrible of which 
 would appear to set our colder sky in an unex- 
 tinguishable blaze. Tremblingly alive to all 
 political events, from none of which we con- 
 sider ourselves to be remote, we are astonished 
 at their unconcern for objects which would call 
 all our passions into play: but, although our 
 surprise is natural, their coolness and indiffer- 
 ence are but the unavoidable consequences of 
 their position. It is impossible long to support 
 a state of undiminished apprehension ; and 
 when dangers become frequent and inevitable, 
 it is the natural resource of every mind to avert 
 its regard rather than to fix it upon the object 
 of alarm. Former experience has taught the 
 citizens of the continent not only that civil and 
 social life will continue their course, in spite of 
 the fall of dynasties and the annihilation of 
 armies, but that their own individual security 
 depends chiefly upon inaction. Thus interest 
 conspires with habit to diminish their solicitude 
 on the most important public events. It seems 
 to me, therefore, unreasonable to condemn 
 what we call the levity of Frenchmen, and 
 that calmness under calamities which we con- 
 ceive should be exchanged for the settled air 
 of terror or discontent. The nature and me- 
 thod of the revolution, or, as I feel inclined 
 to call it, the restoration which has just taken 
 place, are such as render this placid mien less
 
 24 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 extraordinary. You have read the official ac- 
 count of the progress of Napoleon from Cannes 
 to Paris. From every thing I have been able 
 to collect, the whole detail is true to the letter. 
 The Emperor recovered his throne, and tra- 
 velled to his capital as if returning from his 
 country seat — "from the Lacedemonian Ta~ 
 rentum." 
 
 No disturbance of any kind has taken place 
 in Paris. The accounts in the English news- 
 papers, which would make it appear that this 
 capital is as on the day of the Barricades, 
 are known by those on the spot to be most 
 ridiculous and malicious forgeries. I see in 
 those honourable channels of ministerial false- 
 hood and folly, that the partisans of Napoleon 
 are insulted in the streets,' and ladies, the 
 wives of generals, torn from beneath the win- 
 dows of the palace by the mob, for wearing 
 imperial purple or violet-coloured robes — that 
 strong guards surround the Tuileries and pa- 
 trol the streets — that the Emperor never sleeps 
 twice in the same bed — never shews himself 
 without distrust and an ill reception, and takes 
 every precaution against assassination. The 
 whole is untrue from beginning to end— invent- 
 ed either in London by Mr. de Blacas and his 
 worthy stipendiary of the Times, or transmitted 
 from hearsay and the reports of the royalists 
 on the coasts of Brittany. The misinformation
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS- 15 
 
 of the English journals may well attract the 
 attention of the continental world, and it is 
 impossible to read their representations of the 
 state of things in France and Paris without in- 
 dignation and contempt, particularly such of 
 them as are stamped with the true image of 
 official effrontery : but what can be expected 
 from men who take as much pains to be igno- 
 rant and pertinaciously to avert all fact as others 
 employ to obtain a fair statement of them? A 
 
 Mons. afriendof the Bourbons,has been lately 
 
 employed in the north, to transmit hopes for the 
 royal cause. His mission comprehended chiefly 
 the Pas de Calais. His information stated, 
 " that no movements were to be expected from 
 any thing he had seen in that quarter in favour 
 of the ancient dynasty. ,, The reply of his 
 masteVs conveyed to him " a dissatisfactory re- 
 ception of his news and a termination of his 
 mission.*' In politics, as well as war, it has 
 been thought allowable and wise to learn from 
 an enemy ; but our statesmen will not be taught 
 even by a fellow countryman and a friend. It 
 is well known even in England, where I first 
 heard it, that when Lord Castlereagh passed 
 through Paris, ou his way from Vienna, an 
 yoi. i.
 
 26 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Englishman of his acquaintance, who, from a 
 residence of some months in that city, and an ex- 
 tensive communication with the better informed 
 portion of society, was at least worth listening 
 to, endeavonred to convey to his lordship's ear 
 some truths relative to the condition of France, 
 and the dangerous position of the king. The 
 noble lord in the blue ribbon gave him a hear- 
 ing, but being told of the increasing discontent 
 of the kingdom, the imprudence of the royal fa- 
 mily, the officious treachery of the ministers, 
 and the imminent, the almost inevitable ruin of 
 the restored sovereign, his lordship only re- 
 marked, that he wondered at the progress 
 which the king had made in public opinion. 
 Had this well informed person been believed, 
 had he only been heard with attention, a hint, 
 a remonstrance from his lordship might have 
 put the Bourbons upon their guard — Louis had 
 not been lost. But, accustomed to pick po- 
 litics from the partialities of corresponding co- 
 lonels and foreign office cypherers, the English 
 minister would not learn any thing through an 
 irregular channel j he scorned to receive intel- 
 ligence from any one not paid nor interested 
 to deceive him •> and instead of attending to the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 27 
 
 truth, conveyed, perhaps, a little in the dis- 
 agreeable form of a lesson, he preferred to hear 
 from Mr. de Blacas, that nothing could exceed 
 the popularity of the French ministry (particu- 
 larly of the grand master of the robes) and of 
 the king. Thus are empires lost. Those who 
 are acquainted with the composition of our 
 diplomatic body cannot be surprised at the 
 Cimmerian darkness of our reigning English po- 
 liticians. It cannot be denied that any English 
 cabinet must be exceedingly embarrassed in the 
 selection of their foreign agents, and that, from 
 the necessity of silencing the importunity, and 
 satisfying the demands of those possessed of 
 parliamentary influence, they may run an even 
 chance of excluding whatsoever things are ho- 
 nest, just, true, and of good report from many of 
 our embassies, missions, and correspondencies. 
 Restricted to a choice not amongst the most 
 serviceable, but the best allied of their fellow- 
 countrymen; they ought not to be surprised at 
 occasionally discovering, when too "late, that 
 some of their peregrl missi have dropped the 
 mode of lying, (allow me the literal translation 
 of Sir Henry Wotton's Latin) comprehended the
 
 6 
 
 28 JLETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 old definition, and have deceived only their em- 
 ployers. " Vides mijili quam parvd sapientia re. 
 gitur mundus" was the speech of a great minister 
 to his travelling son; and a young Englishman 
 who is furnished with all his circular letters 
 from Downing-street is likely to make the 
 same remark, although the civilities he may 
 receive in his progress will naturally make him 
 unwilling to point the apothegm of Oxienstern, 
 against an individual who may have been his 
 kind acquaintance, or perhaps his generou* 
 
 host. 
 
 I own to yon that I do not find it difficult to 
 account for seeing lads, whom we recollect third- 
 rate scholars of fourth forms, hurried from us 
 for their implastic dullness, figuring in osten- 
 sible stations; but you must confess to me that 
 the fact is deplorable, and must be produc- 
 tive of the worst consequence to the national in- 
 terest. 
 
 With such inefficient tools it is not then very 
 likely that our government should be celebrated 
 for the management of its foreign relations : it 
 js not to be accounted strange, that in ever/
 
 XETTERS FROM PARIS. 29 
 
 jcourt of Europe English diplomacy should be 
 a standing jest, nor that every archive should 
 be filled with documents, every political circle 
 abound with good stories, not at all redounding 
 to the credit of British sense and penetration. 
 We have renewed the times of James the 
 First, when that excellent prince was so profuse 
 of his missions, that the Jesuits of Antwerp, as 
 Howell tells us, compared his hundred thou- 
 sand ambassadors, and put them in the scale, 
 with the hundred thousand red herrings of 
 Denmark and the hundred thousand cheeses of 
 Holland. The saloons of Vienna, which have 
 lately seen every and each of our living mini- 
 sters after his kind, still tremble with an uni- 
 versal titter, and, if opportunity should serve, 
 the laugh may spread throughout the whole of 
 Europe. The trick was admirable of sending 
 the Duke of Wellington to interpose his name 
 between the Metternichs, the Harden bergs, and 
 the Razumowskis, and the sinking credit of the 
 English plenipotentiaries. Pity, however, that 
 his grace had not declined ; he might have said, 
 in the words of Gregory Nazianzen — Non ego 
 cum gruibus simul anseribusque sedebo in syriodis.
 
 SO LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 There is one perpetual question put to all our 
 countrymen in this place, — how can the English 
 be so entirely ignorant of all that is passing in 
 France ? they can hardly be weak enough t© 
 believe avery thing told in the Austrian Ob- 
 server or the Brussels Gazette. 
 
 I was, indeed, able to procure a clue to one or 
 two extraordinary reports honoured by the no- 
 tice and belief of our gazetteers. An English 
 woman who keeps a lodging-house in this town 
 informed me that Lille had surrendered, and 
 gone over with 10,000 men to the king, whose 
 entry into Paris was fixed for that day fortnight. 
 She knew it for certain — it was known at the po- 
 lice, the chief of which was her good friend : she 
 had communications with a person at St. Maloes, 
 who sent her accounts of the insurrections in 
 Brittany, and received in return her happy in- 
 telligence. It was useless to laugh at the ab- 
 surdity of the tale, which is now to be seen, 
 with several corroborative facts, in the last 
 bundle of newspapers. I repeat, then, that 
 there is no disturbance of any kind at Paris. 
 The first few days of my arrival there was a 
 collection of spectators under the windows of 
 an apartment, at which Napoleon occansioally
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. SI 
 
 showed himself to the people amidst loud and 
 continual applause ; but the Emperor has re- 
 moved to the Elysee Napoleon, that he may be 
 able to walk in the gardens, in which he is also 
 in the habit of receiving and conferring with 
 his ministers of state.
 
 52 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Paris, April 24. 
 
 I have seen him twice : the first time, on 
 Sunday, the Kith, at the reveivv of the national 
 guard* ; the second time, at the Francais, on the 
 following Friday, April 21, at his first visit to 
 that theatre >ince his return. Having witnessed 
 the first appearance of the Bourbon Princes last 
 year in front of the national guard and at the 
 same theatre, I am able to make some compa- 
 rison between the two receptions, and what is 
 called the popularity, of each dynasty. The first 
 occasion was a trial which some of the female 
 partizans of Napoleon appeared to dread. A 
 rumour had gone about that some violence 
 would be attempted against the Emperor's 
 person by the republicans on the day of the 
 review. Several people whispered the suspi- 
 cion to me, and added, that the deed was to be 
 done by a female. The time naturally selected 
 for the purpose was the moment when the na- 
 tional guards were to be all under arms, as that 
 body, whatever may be their politics, would, it 
 is thought, defend their properties and the peace 
 of the city, rather than fly to the revenge of any
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 33 
 
 individual act. I was in the apartments in the 
 Tuileries, allotted to M e La Reine Hortense, who 
 was present at one of the windows, together with 
 
 some ladies of the court. The beautiful 
 
 was of the party : she manifested the utmost 
 inquietude; told me that she had no alarm from 
 the guards, but was uneasy at the appearance 
 of several people in plain clothes, crowding" 
 round the steps of the great porch of the palace, 
 where the Emperor was to mount his horse: 
 however, she recovered herself, and seemed to 
 forget her fears, when the discharges of cannon 
 at the Invalides announced the surrender of 
 Marseilles, and the pacification of the whole 
 empire. By half past one, twenty-four batta- 
 lions of the guard had marched into f the court 
 of the Tuileries. There were no troops of the line 
 or of the Imperial guard underarms on that day, 
 but there were several military men amongst the 
 spectators about the porch, who consisted chiefly 
 of women, and of the above-mentioned persons, 
 apparently of the lower classes. Your friend 
 and myself were, I think, the only gentle- 
 men in plain clothes. We waited silently, and 
 for some time at the window — the anxiety of 
 the ladies was renewed, but instantly dissipated 
 by the shouts of v'voe I'Empereur, which announc- 
 ed that Napoleon was on horseback. He rode 
 off to the left of the line, but the approaching 
 shouts told that he was returning. An officer 
 vol. i. $
 
 34 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 rode quickly past the windows, waving his 
 sword to the lines to fall back a little, and 
 shortly afterwards followed Napoleon himself, 
 with his suite, and distinguished, from amidst 
 their waving plumes and glittering uniforms, 
 by the far famed unornamented hat, and his 
 simple coat and single star and cross. He 
 cantered down the lines — as he passed near 
 the spot at which I had placed myself for abet- 
 ter view, he suddenly drew up and spoke to a 
 man in the ranks: an old soldier near me said 
 aloud, without addressing himself to any one, 
 (the tears glistening in his eyes) " see how 
 he stops to read the petition of the meanest of 
 his army." I caught repeated glances of him 
 as he glided through the ranks, at the end of 
 each of which he stopped a short time, as well 
 as before several soldiers in the line, who held 
 out petitions for his acceptation. His progress 
 was announced from right to left and left to 
 right, by continued acclamations. The batta- 
 lions then moved nearer towards the palace in 
 close order ; the gates in front of the triumphal 
 arch were thrown open, and the remaining twen- 
 ty-four battalions, marching from the Place du 
 Carousel into the court, were inspected in the 
 same manner by the Emperor. Afterwards a 
 space was made vacant in the midst of the 
 court, half way between the palace and the tri- 
 umphal arch. Napoleon advanced thither with 
 his staff drawn round behind him. A large body
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 35 
 
 of the officers of the national guard then quitted 
 their ranks and rushed towards the Emperor, who 
 addressed them in the speech whichyouhave seen 
 in the Moniteur of the 1 7th, * and which was fre- 
 quently interrupted by shouts, and received at the 
 close, when he added," vonsjurez enjin de toutsa- 
 crifierd Ihonneur et a V independance de la France" 
 by a thousand voices exclaiming, " we swear." 
 After some thronging and movements, the Em- 
 peror wheeled round into an open space, before 
 the porch of the Tuileries, and put himself in 
 front of his staff to review the whole body of 
 the troops who prepared to pass by in columns 
 of companies : two officers of the guard were 
 kind enough to push me forwards within ten 
 paces of him ; many of the spectators were 
 about the same distance from him on his right 
 and his left, whilst a whole line of them stood 
 opposite, just far enough to allow the columns 
 to march between them and the Emperor. — The 
 staff' were behind ; Count Lobau was close upon 
 his left, with his sword drawn: scarcely had a 
 regiment passed when he suddenly threw his 
 foot out of the stirrup, and coming heavily to 
 the ground, advanced in front of his horse, 
 which was led off by an aide-de-camp, who 
 rushed forw ids, but was too late to take hold of 
 his stirrup. The marshals and the staff dis- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. 1. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 mounted, except Count Lobau. A grenadier 
 of the guard, without arms, stood at the Empe- 
 ror's left hand, a little behind; some spectators 
 were close to his right. The gendarmerie on 
 horseback took but little pains to keep them at 
 a respectful distance. The troops were two 
 hours passing before him ; during the whole of 
 which time, any assassin, unless disarmed by his 
 face of fascination, might have shot or even 
 stabbed him. Sir Neil Campbell, who found him 
 so ordinary a being, would hardly forgive me for 
 being thus particular in the description of my 
 first sight of the man, who, without my taking 
 into consideration whether he be "a spirit of 
 health or goblin damned," fixed my eyes, and 
 filled my imagination. The vast palace of kings ; 
 the moving array before me; the deep mass of 
 flashing arms in the distance ; the crowd around, 
 the apparatus of war and empire, all disappear- 
 ed, and, in the first gaze of admiration, I saw 
 nothing but Napoleon — the single individual, 
 to destroy whom the earth was rising in arms 
 from the Tanais to the Thames. I know that 
 I never should have beheld him with delight in 
 the days of his despotism, and that the principal 
 charm of ttie spectacle arose from the contem- 
 plation of the great peril to be encountered by 
 the one undaunted mortal before my eyes. Let 
 me say also that the persuasion, that the right 
 of a powerful and great nation to choose their
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 37 
 
 i 
 
 own sovereign was to be tried in -his person, 
 and the remembrance of the wonderful achieve- 
 ment by which he had given an opportunity 
 to decide that choice contributed in no small 
 degree to augment my satisfaction. He has 
 been of late often seen and described by those 
 who visited him at Elba. I can only say, that 
 he did not appear to me like any of his por- 
 traits, except that one in the saloon of the pa- 
 lace of the legislative body, nor did I ever see 
 any man just like him. His face was of a 
 deadly pale; his jaws overhung, but not so much 
 as I had heard ; his lips thin, but partially curl- 
 ed, so as to give to his mouth an inexpressible 
 sweetness. He had the habit of retracting the 
 lips, and apparently chewing, in the manner 
 observed and objected to in our great actor, 
 Mr. Kean. His hair was of a dark dusky brown, 
 scattered thinly over his temples : the crown of 
 his head was bald. One of the names of affection 
 given him of late by his soldiers is " notre petit 
 iondu" He was not fat in the upper part of 
 his body, but projected considerably in the ab- 
 domen, so much so, that his linen appeared be- 
 neath his waistcoat. He generally stood with 
 his hands knit behind or folded before him, 
 but sometimes unfolded them : played with his 
 nose; took snuff three or four times, and looked 
 at his watch. He seemed to have a labouring 
 in his chest, sighing or swallowing his spittle.
 
 38 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 He very seldom spoke, but when he did, smiled, 
 in some sort, agreeably. He looked about him, 
 not knitting but joining his eye-brows as if to 
 see more minutely, and went through the whole 
 tedious ceremony with an air of sedate impa- 
 tience. As the front columns of each regiment 
 passed him, he lifted the first finger of his left 
 hand quickly to his hat, to return the salute, but 
 did not move either his hat or his head. As the 
 regiments advanced, they shouted, some loud- 
 ly, some feebly, " vive P Empereur" and many 
 soldiers ran out of their ranks with petitioiiSj 
 which were taken by the grenadier on the Em- 
 peror's left hand : once or twice, the petitioner, 
 afraid to quit his rank, was near losing his op- 
 portunity, when Napoleon beckoned to the gre- 
 nadier to step forward and take his paper. A 
 little child, in true French taste, tricked out in 
 regimentals, marched before one of the bands, 
 and a general laugh ensued. Napoleon contrived 
 to talk to some one behind him at that moment, 
 that the ridicule might not reach, nor be par- 
 taken by him. A second child, however, of six 
 years old perhaps, dressed out with a beard like a 
 pioneer, marching in front of a regiment, strode 
 directly up to him with a petition on the end of 
 a battle-axe, which the Emperor took and read 
 very complacently. Shortly after an ill-looking 
 fellow, in a half suit of regimentals, with a sword 
 by his side, ran from the crowd of spectators,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 39 
 
 opposite or from amidst the national guards, I 
 could not see which, and rushed directly to- 
 wards the Emperor. He was within arm's 
 length, when the grenadier on the left and an 
 officer jumped forwards, and, seizing him by the 
 collar, pushed him farther back. Napoleon 
 did not move a muscle of his body; not a line, 
 not a shade of his face shifted for an instant. 
 Perfectly unstartled, he beckoned the soldiers 
 to let loose their prisoner; and the poor fellow 
 approaching so close as almost to touch his per- 
 son in front, talked to him for some time with 
 eager gestures, and his hand on his heart. The 
 Emperor heard him without interruption, and 
 then gave him an answer, which sent him away ap- 
 parently much satisfied with his audience. I see 
 Napoleon at this moment. The unruffled calm- 
 ness of his countenance, at the first movement 
 of the soldier, relaxing softly into a look of 
 attention and of kindness, will never be erased 
 from my memory. We are not stocks, nor 
 stones, nor Tories. I am not ashamed to say, 
 that on recovering from my first surprise, I 
 found my eyes somewhat moistened; a weak- 
 ness that never fails to overpower some per- 
 sons, when alone and unrestrained by ridicule, 
 at the perusal of any trait of unmixed heroism, 
 especially of that undaunted tranquillity of 
 mind, which formed and finished the master- 
 spirits of antiquity.
 
 40 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 During the review, hearing a movement 
 amongst his staff, he turned round, and seeing 
 that it arose from a very pretty countrywoman 
 of ours, whom one of his aide-de-camps was 
 placing near him, replied to her curtsies with a 
 very low bow. 
 
 The last regiment of the national guards was 
 followed by ninety boys of the Imperial Lyceum, 
 who came rushing by shouting, and running, 
 many of them out of their ranks, with petitions. 
 Then, for the first time, Napoleon seemed de- 
 lighted ; he opened his mouth almost to a 
 laugh, and turned round to his attendants on 
 the right and left with every sign of satisfac- 
 tion. These youths wished to fight the last year 
 at the defence of Paris, and they are now again 
 enrolled. The school-boys throughout France 
 are enthusiastically attached to the Emperor, 
 who has perfected that system of military edu- 
 cation, of which it is, however, a great mistake 
 to suppose him the inventor. The schools in 
 France were to a certain degree always intend- 
 ed to be nurseries of the army. They owe 
 their amelioration, and adaptation to this great 
 object, originating in the genius of the peo- 
 ple, rather than any bent of this or that indi- 
 vidual, to the efforts of the republicans, fol- 
 lowed up by those of Napoleon, All the young 
 men, with the exception of those amongst the 
 debauched representatives of the noble houses,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 41 
 
 whose hopes were revived during the restoration, 
 are in favour of Napoleon, at least of the new 
 order of things, in opposition to the re-establish- 
 ment of the ancient regime. The class of men 
 wanting in France, and supposed to have been 
 melted down in the war, are those of about forty 
 years of age ; there is a fine rising generation, and 
 that decidedly against the royal cause. Silver 
 hairs are suspected by the new court j one of 
 whom talking to me one day, and seeing an 
 old gentleman come in, instantly changed the 
 conversation from politics, observing, in broken 
 English, " Say no more; you guess what his opi- 
 nions are by the colour of his hair." 
 
 Immediately after the boys of the Lyceum 
 had passed, he retired to the palace, ran quickly, 
 after his fashion, up stairs, and received his 
 court. They were chiefly military men, and 
 members of the Institute. Amongst the former 
 I saw a general of brigade, whose complexion 
 would have secured him against advancement 
 in the army, and admission into the court of 
 any of the legitimate sovereigns of Christen- 
 dom, — he was a negro. 
 
 The reception given to Napoleon on this 
 dreaded day was certainly of a mixed kind. 
 The national guards, all of them shopkeepers, 
 and who have been great gainers by the short 
 peace, consider the return of Napoleon as the 
 signal of war; they did not, therefore, hail
 
 42 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 him universally nor very loudly. Some regi- 
 ments, however, shouted loud and long, and 
 raised their caps on their bayonets ; and this 
 enthusiasm I have no doubt would be expressed 
 by all these armed citizens, if they had as good 
 a chance of a state of peace under the Emperor 
 as under another government ; for they all cling 
 to his palaces, his walks, his galleries, his co- 
 lumns, his triumphal arches, his bridges, foun- 
 tains, and quays, and all the imperial embellish- 
 ments of the capital : and, also, they all lament, 
 where they do not hate, the imprudence of the 
 royal family and the advisers of the king, which, 
 to say the truth, I have never heard a single 
 attempt to deny or to defend. 
 
 The Sunday before this scene Napoleon re- 
 viewed the imperial guard, when, as may be easi- 
 ly conceived, the gratification on both sides was 
 more apparent and more pure. The soldiers 
 gave a loose to their delight, and the Emperor to 
 his satisfaction at their joy: he kissed the eagles 
 of his Elbese guard. The lady before alluded 
 to informed me, that being close to him, she saw 
 his eyes glisten with joy, and heard him say, as 
 he was looking at the grenadiers in front, to 
 Marshal Bertrand — " et, Us ne voudraient pas se 
 servir de tels gens — quels betes!/" alluding to 
 the conduct of the Bourbon princes, with a re- 
 ference to this magnificent corps. 
 
 As to Napoleon's reception at the Fra?icais,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 48 
 
 it is impossible to give any idea of the joy by 
 which he was hailed. The house was choak- 
 ed with spectators, who crowded into the or- 
 chestra. The play was Hector. Previously 
 to the rising of the- curtain the airs of La Vic- 
 toire and the Marseillaise were called for and 
 performed amidst thunders of applause, the 
 spectators joining in the burthen of the song. 
 An actor of the Feydeau rose in the balcony 
 and sung some occasional words to the Mar- 
 seillaise, which were received in raptures, and 
 accompanied by the whole house at the end of 
 each verse. The enthusiasm was at its utmost 
 pitch. Napoleon entered at the third scene. 
 The whole mass rose with a shout which still 
 thunders in my ears. The vives continued till 
 the Emperor, after bowing to the right and left, 
 had seated himself, and the play "was recom- 
 menced. The audience received every speech 
 which had the least reference to their return- 
 ed hero with unnumbered plaudits. The 
 words " etifin il reparoit" and " c'etoit lui," — 
 Achille, raised the whole parterre, and inter- 
 rupted the actor for some moments. Napo- 
 leon w r as very attentive : whilst I saw him he 
 spoke to non^ of those who stood behind him, 
 nor returned the compliments of the audience : 
 he withdrew suddenly at the enu of the play, 
 without any notice or obeisance, so that the 
 multitude had hardly time to salute him with a
 
 44 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 short shout. As I mentioned before, I saw the 
 Bourbon princes received, for the first time, in 
 the same place last year. Their greeting will 
 bear no comparison with that of Napoleon, 
 nor will any of those accorded to the heroes of 
 the very many ceremonies I have witnessed in 
 the course of my life. Mr. Talma played 
 Hector in his usual powerful style, and having 
 mentioned the name of this great actor, I can- 
 not forbear adding a story I heard from him, 
 which shews that Napoleon has some ability in 
 turning a kind compliment. At the first meet- 
 ing between the Emperor and actor since the 
 return from Elba, the former, addressing him 
 with his usual familiarity, said, " so, Talma, 
 Chateaubriand says that you gave me lessons 
 how to act the Emperor : I take his hint as a 
 compliment, for it shews I must at least have 
 played my part well." 
 
 The intimacy between the master and the 
 scholar has been of long standing : the reputa- 
 tion of the former was established when the 
 latter was scarcely known, and the young offi- 
 cer accepted of admissions for the theatre from 
 his acquaintance. At that time one of the 
 principal amusements of the two friends, toge- 
 ther with that of a third person, a Mr. Le Noire, 
 afterwards a general, was the relation of stories 
 of ghosts and old castles, into which (the can- 
 dles being extinguished) the future conqueror
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 45 
 
 of Europe entered with all his heart, and was 
 seriously offended when his companions inter- 
 rupted him by tripping up his chair, shaking the 
 table, or any other practical pleasantry. It may 
 be of more importance to add that Napoleon has 
 never dropped the intimacy of his former his- 
 trionic patron, nor failed to remember the free 
 admissions and repay his present exertions by 
 an unlimited credit on the imperial purse. The 
 royal vice of ingratitude finds no place in the 
 bosom of an usurper ; this baseness belongs to 
 such as are born kings. There is something 
 magical in that power of personal attachment 
 which is proved by a thousand notorious facts 
 to belong to this extraordinary man ; and never 
 had one who wore a crown so many friends, nor 
 retained them so long.
 
 4G LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 LETTER IV, 
 
 Paris, April 37. 
 
 I see that the politicians of England still 
 choose to consider the dethronement of Louis 
 as the effect of a sudden act of daring violence 
 and deep laid treason, and to bewail the lot of 
 seven and twenty millions of honest men who 
 have been thus transferred from the paternal 
 sway of the best of princes to the iron yoke of 
 a military despot. It is possible, however, that 
 the French are themselves almost as good judges 
 of their own position as the politicians of Eng- 
 land, and that the reason why they have sub- 
 mitted to this fatal change of masters is, that 
 they have other opinions than their rival neigh- 
 bours as to the expediency of the late revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 The manner in which the imperial throne 
 has been recovered made me, even whilst in 
 England, suspicious that the stories of the 
 treason and preparatory schemes, by which the 
 design of the ex-emperor was made feasible 
 and finally brought to bear, were devoid, for 
 the most part, of foundation j invented by those
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 47 
 
 friends of the Bourbons who were unwilling to 
 attribute the fall of Louis to his imprudence 
 and their own misconduct; and believed by 
 such as, in spite of all historical deduction, are 
 determined to seek the origin of every great 
 event in deep-laid and widely-organised com- 
 binations. It is not to be denied that there is 
 still a considerable mystery hanging over some 
 of the circumstances which contributed to the 
 success of this wonderful exploit, and that no 
 one appears to know at Paris how far the secret 
 was originally spread, or to what extent any 
 previous conspiracy might fairly be said to 
 prevail. Having taken, however, considerable 
 pains to ascertain the fact, I am come into 
 that persuasion which prevails most generally 
 amongst those who have the reputation of 
 being the best informed ; which is, that there 
 was no corresponding scheme laid at Paris 
 for this restoration, and that the whole pro- 
 ject and execution are to be attributed solely 
 to the daring determination of Napoleon him- 
 self to recover his crown, most happily coin- 
 ciding with the actual condition and general 
 feeling of France. What was that condition 
 and that general feeling it is likely that the 
 exile at Elba well knew. He miffht be in- 
 formed of this even by the public papers, had 
 he not been possessed of correspondents at 
 Paris and agents at Naples. But what I mean
 
 48 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 to assert is, that there was no conspiracy in 
 France corresponding with the disembarkation 
 at Cannes. The Grand Marshal Bertrand, the 
 preux chevalier of Europe, gave his word and 
 honour to an English gentleman only yesterday, 
 that no such conspiracy existed ; and that three 
 weeks before their quitting Elba not the least 
 idea was entertained of the design. The Em- 
 peror himself, whose assurance you may receive 
 
 with suspicion, told Mr. S as much, in 
 
 a conversation he had with him in the garden 
 of the Elys6e, and, on being complimented on 
 the performance of this, the greatest of all his ac- 
 tions, he said, "No, it was easier than you think ; 
 my only merit was making a good guess as to the 
 actual situation of France." I have been assured 
 from one of the persons concerned in the affair, 
 that even the movement of D'Erlon andLefebvre 
 Desnouettes was originally contrived independ- 
 ently of the landing at Cannes, although the 
 coincidence of time made it subsidiary to that 
 effort. The original scheme was to create an in- 
 surrection among the troops. Desnouettes was 
 to have galloped through Paris at the head of 
 a regiment of cavalry, proclaiming the republic 
 and the downfal of the Bourbons, who were to 
 have been arrested, and, in case of resistance, 
 destroyed. It is certain that many thousand 
 papers were distributed at the beginning of 
 March, stating that the king would fall, and
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 49 
 
 the republic be established; even a date was 
 fixed for this great event, the 16th of March. 
 You will recollect, that during the last Christ- 
 mas, there was an apprehension of some treasona- 
 ble designs, and that the guards were doubled in 
 Paris. With these movements Napoleon could 
 have no connection. Indeed, I know that he 
 heard the first account of them from an English 
 gentleman, a friend of mine, at Elba. It is 
 currently reported here, that the Emperor has 
 complained to Fouche, that the revolutionary 
 spirit in France, being prematurely brought to 
 a head, obliged him to take advantage of the 
 general feeling three months sooner than he 
 should have wished, and whilst the armies of 
 the allies were still in a position to recommence 
 operations against France. In England, Mar- 
 shal Soult is supposed to have been deeply con- 
 cerned, and to have assisted materially in the 
 plot. I learn here that, on the contrary, that 
 officer had some scheme for his own aggrandise- 
 ment ; and that he took no pains to diminish the 
 discontents of the soldiery, who, he was in 
 hopes, might be induced, in case of actual in- 
 surrection, to make choice of a general so well 
 known as himself. It is certain, that he has not 
 as yet been received at the Emperor's court, 
 although it is thought that he is finally to have 
 some great employ. The manner in which he 
 was treated during the last days of the king's
 
 50 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 reign, notwithstanding that it throws suspicion 
 on his intentions, is sufficient to shew that no- 
 thing could be decidedly proved against him. 
 
 The treason of Marshal Ney was not in con- 
 sequence of any preconcerted scheme. The 
 marshal, when he left Louis, had not any in- 
 tention of betraying him ; nor did he adopt the 
 line of conduct so justly condemned, until he 
 found the troops at Lons le Saulnier had de- 
 termined upon joining the Emperor: when they 
 were ordered by him on the parade to march 
 against Napoleon, they replied by shouts of 
 laughter and cries of vive V Empereur. Never- 
 theless, the marshal had actually made every 
 disposition for a movement against his ancient 
 master. * He was weak enough not to do the 
 only thing left for an honourable man : instead 
 of returning to Paris with the news, he marched 
 with the revolted army, and has brandedhis name 
 with an infamy that even the success of his cause 
 has failed to obliterate. He has no ostensible 
 employ at the Emperor's court, excepting a mi- 
 litary command; and although he is known to 
 be a very brave man, and has the character of 
 a very weak one, is regarded by all parties as a 
 disreputable acquaintance. In London lan- 
 
 * I learnt this afterwards on the spot from an English- 
 man, settled as a commissary at Dole, who received the 
 marshal's orders. This, written long before his trial, has 
 been proved by the detail of that event.
 
 LETTERS FR03I PARIS. .51 
 
 guage " he is cut," and his name and crime 
 have furnished a pun for the Parisian wits, who 
 say of his treachery, " ilfaut itre ne pour ga." 
 Colonel Henry Labedoyere went over with his 
 regiment to Napoleon from the impulse of the 
 moment, and, as I know from the officer of Na- 
 poleon's suite who received the first intelligence 
 of his coming, without the least previous inti- 
 mation being conveyed to the Emperor. In 
 short, I have been unable to learn the time, 
 place, circumstances, or names connected with 
 any conspiracy to favour the landing at Cannes, 
 and I conceive that all suspicion of correspon- 
 dence with that attempt will be reduced, at 
 last, to the discontent circulated rather freely 
 in certain saloons at Paris, amongst the rela- 
 tions and known adherents of the former impe- 
 rial court. To my mind, the very magnitude of 
 the enterprise, and the facility with which it 
 was executed, which induce some people to look 
 upon the restoration as the effect of a plot laid 
 at Paris, and branching out in a thousand rami- 
 fications into the provinces, are presumptive 
 proofs, that when Napoleon quitted the isle of 
 Elba, he was aware that no provision had been 
 made for his reception, and that all he had to 
 trust to was his own activity and resolution, 
 and the unpopularity of the reigning dynasty 
 both with the army and the people. The re- 
 fusal of the garrison of Antibes to join him 
 
 e 2
 
 52 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 is a sufficient proof that the defection of 
 the other troops, afterwards, was not precon- 
 certed, but merely the effect of a spontaneous 
 preference of their ancient chief to their new 
 master. It is true that the soldiers had preserv- 
 ed their tri-coloured cockade, as also that the 
 violet, at Paris, was afterwards said to be the 
 sign adopted by the partisans of the imperial 
 government. It is no less a fact that Napoleon, 
 in his conversations at Elba, talked vaguely of 
 remounting the throne of France ; but these 
 things only prove that a portion of the French 
 nation had a persuasion that the reign of the 
 Bourbon dynasty could not be durable, and 
 that the Emperor indulged the same notion : 
 they do not prove any conspiracy in France, 
 which had for its object to second the landing 
 at Cannes. 
 
 I am inclined to believe that, not more than 
 a fortnight previously to the arrival of Napo- 
 leon on the coast, some effort had been made, 
 and discovered, to prepare the garrison of An- 
 tibes for that event ; and that Mr. de Bouthil- 
 liers, prefect of the Var, transmitted a commu- 
 nication upon that subject to the Abbe" Mon- 
 tesquiou, minister of the interior, who paid no 
 attention to the information. The story was told 
 me in England, and confirmed to me the other 
 day in Flanders, by an English officer, to whom 
 the Duke de Berri had imparted the fact, add-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 53 
 
 ing that the letter from the prefect had been 
 found unopened on Montesquiou's table three 
 weeks after its receipt. Some agents and 
 transactions in Italy, previously to the landing, 
 are now said to have been discovered three 
 months ago, by a British consul resident at one 
 of the Italian ports. This fact, if true, may 
 only go to prove the borrowing of money, or 
 an attempt to become acquainted with the state 
 of the public mind on the continent. No con- 
 spiracy will ever be proved, for no conspiracy 
 ever existed.* To what, then, attribute the 
 precipitate fall of the king? Not to his own 
 personal imbecility, for the weakest sovereign 
 would have found one friend ; — not to the ma- 
 gic name of Napoleon, for that could not have 
 subdued the honest and the brave, united in an 
 honourable cause ! — not even to any decided 
 choice arising from gratitude or affection for their 
 former monarch, for there was no time for deli- 
 beration. Let me ask, whether you think that 
 Napoleon solved the question in his speech to 
 the national guards ? — " The royal throne was 
 not suitable for France. It gave to the people 
 no security tor their most precious interests. 
 It had been imposed by a foreign power. Had 
 it existed it would have been a monument of 
 
 * Since the restoration o+' Louis a pamphlet has been 
 written to prove it, but it has not adduced a single fact. 
 VOL. J.
 
 54 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 misfortune and of disgrace." — The comment 
 upon which assertion as delivered to me by an 
 imperialist, who has, however, a character of 
 impartiality, I proceed to communicate, * The 
 people, sensible that the)'' were in no way inte- 
 rested in the preservation of this throne, as 
 might be expected, did nothing to defend it; 
 and regarding the daring attempt of a man who 
 united so many personal advantages to what 
 they esteemed a national cause, as the most de- 
 cisive means of putting the royal authority to 
 the test, they determined at least to remain in- 
 active until the question should be fairly tried 
 between the respective armed force of each 
 party. Thus was Napoleon suffered to invade 
 a kingdom in a carriage. When they found 
 that the royal army assembled only to join the 
 invader— that the enthroned princes could hardly 
 retreat so rapidly as the exiled usui per advanced 
 — that the household troops, the last hope of 
 Louis, had melted away before the music of the 
 imperial guard— that the king himself, despair- 
 ing of his cause and his country, had retired 
 from his throne — it was natural that they should 
 no longer hesitate to declare themselves in far 
 vour of t';e restored sovereign, now left without 
 acompenior. When their brothers of the ca- 
 pital, those who had shared the favours of the 
 king, who partook of his wealth and honour, 
 who bore his arms, had not lifted a hand in his.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 55 
 
 defence, were the provinces to support a cause 
 already lost ? The only resistance made for 
 the Bourbons, by the Duke of \ngouleoie, 
 soon subsided when the troops under his com- 
 mand were informed of the peaceable posses- 
 sion of the capital by Napoleon ; when they 
 recognized the restored energy of the new go- 
 vernment in the efforts of Grouchy ; and more- 
 over when they saw the intercepted letters by 
 which the Duke and Duchess of Angoul£me 
 had written for Spanish troops to assist in quell- 
 ing the insurrection. Those letters destroyed 
 the only chance, small as it was, of making the 
 cause of the Bourbons the cause of the people 
 in the south. The attempt to call down a fo- 
 reign and ferocious military upon France awak- 
 ened, in an instant, all the feelings of indigna- 
 tion attached to the Bourbon princes, and, more 
 particularly, to that branch of the family sup- 
 posed most alienated from the sentiments and 
 unacquainted with the interests of the country. 
 There is a story current here that the duchess, 
 when at Bourdeaux, and bearing the propo- 
 sals of some officers in reference to the royal 
 cause, exclaimed — " plus de vos belles paroles! 
 messieurs, je veux du sang" and that the speech, 
 being repeated to Napoleon, made dim say that 
 the princess was the only man of the family. 
 Indeed her conduct has obtained her at Paris, 
 amongst the royalists, the name of the Joan of
 
 56 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Arc of IS 15 : but it is not to be expected that 
 her energy in her own cause should obtain her 
 the affection of those who were to suffer by its 
 success ; or, in other words, that her demand 
 for blood should endear her to those from whom 
 it was to flow :' — so far said my imperialist. 
 The consequence of the publication of the 
 duchess's letter to Spain was as might be ex- 
 pected. The royal army of about eight thou- 
 sand had been successful at Lauriol against 
 General Debelle, had forced the Isere, and 
 was in march towards Lyons. It consisted of 
 the 10th regiment of the line, the 1st foreign 
 regiment, the 14th cavalry chasseurs, the 
 83d regiment of the line, ten pieces of can- 
 non, and regularly organized battalions of the 
 national guard and royal volunteers. Lyons 
 was in no state of defence, having a garrison of 
 little more than thre;- hundred soldiers. Ge- 
 neral Grouchy could immediately oppose only 
 the 6i!i regiment of the line to the duke, and 
 order the 58th regiment to be sent to join him 
 in haste. But the force which he employed 
 against ihe regular troops of this prince was the 
 people. He declared Lyons in a state of siege 
 — he armed the lauxbourgs — he mad< an appeal 
 to the surrounding population. It is said, I see, 
 in the English papers, thac this great town is 
 decidedly royalist ; on the contrary, its inhabit-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 57 
 
 ants tore up the flag-stones to oppose the royal 
 army, the national guards crowded to the im- 
 perial standard, and the regiments 83d and 
 14th having quitted him, the duke endea- 
 voured only to escape ; but his army diminish- 
 ed so rapidly, that, unable to force a passage, 
 he surrendered himself to the first officer that 
 marched to his attack. The military disposi- 
 tions of Napoleon's general were unnecessary; 
 the national guards, indignant that the Spa- 
 niards were invited to give a preponderance to 
 the inclination of either party, decided the fate 
 of the Bourbon prince, who, whilst his wife 
 was calling in the guerillas of Spain, had an- 
 nounced to Marshal Massena his intention to 
 deliver Toulon to the English. And you in 
 England wonder that the cause of the Bour- 
 bons should be looked upon in France as a 
 foreign cause, and that it is possible to prefer 
 the monster Napoleon to the mild Louis. It 
 is hardly necessary to observe, that if Louis, if 
 his government were actually such as they are 
 supposed by our English politicians to have 
 been, and were the opinions formed by them 
 of Napoleon and his system at all correct, such 
 a preference would have been unnatural, would 
 have been impossible. If you ask me for my 
 opinion, it is, that the friends of the present 
 imperial dynasty are right in saying that the 
 Bourbons are rejected by the vast majority of
 
 US LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the nation. I believe that the rejection would 
 not have been so sudden and decisive had it 
 not been matured by Napoleon ; but I believe 
 it would have been as fully displayed and more 
 certainly secured. • 
 
 The circumstances under which the Bour- 
 bons were restored could not procure'them the 
 previous love of Frenchmen. The present go- 
 vernment have been just enough to own that it 
 was impossible these princes should not commit 
 faults. — Nous n'entrons point ici, say they, in 
 the Moniteur of the 18th, dans le detail im- 
 mense des fautes qu'ils ont commises ; il leur 
 etalt impossible de ?i'e?i pas commettre, on aurait 
 pu les compter d'avance. But though the mini- 
 sters of Napoleon may wish to make it appear 
 that the royal government, under any circum- 
 stances, was incompatible with the honour and 
 interests of France, we may presume to suppose 
 that the king might have pursued a line of con- 
 duct which would have fixed the crown upon 
 his head, and rendered abortive any attempt to 
 replace it on that of his dethroned predecessor. 
 I do not say that the wisdom necessary for 
 such conduct was much to be expected in a 
 sovereign of sixty, unacquainted with the moral 
 position of his subjects. But much had been 
 said of the good sense and the instructed mind 
 of the king, and it was to be hoped that he 
 would have avoided the gross errors into which
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 59 
 
 the events of his flight, and even his own confes- 
 sion, prove him too clearly to* have fallen. His 
 position was difficult, but his difficulties were 
 not inextricable. His subjects, to be sure, were 
 not of such a disposition as might enable him 
 to expect a lenient judgment upon his wander- 
 ings; they were not the Frenchmen who re- 
 spected the boots of a Bourbon, or who wept 
 and prayed at the maladies of Louis the Fif- 
 teenth. If he could not challenge their esteem 
 for his virtues, he was to hope no pardon nor 
 toleration for his mistakes. Now that he is fallen, 
 it is natural that, although the government has 
 refused the task, some one should enter into 
 the detail, however immense, of these mistakes ; 
 and, in fact, there have not been wanting those 
 who have favoured their cotemporaries with a 
 regular indictment, of many counts, drawn up 
 against his late majesty, and who have endea- 
 voured to give some rational account of the 
 causes which led to the total abandonment of 
 the Bourbons. It is certainly necessary to 
 distinguish between those faults, however real, 
 discovered since the dethronement, and those 
 whose existence was recognised, and was the 
 subject of complaint, previously to that event ; 
 and which, therefore, may be supposed to have 
 more immediately contributed to its comple- 
 tion — neither will any impartial man suffer his 
 judgment to be sunk under the weight or num-
 
 60 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 ber of evidences produced hitherto almost ex 
 parte, in a time when it is not probable that there 
 should be many nor very strenuous defenders of 
 the contrary cause : not that no defenders have 
 been found, for I have this instant before my 
 eyes two pamphlets, one of which bears the 
 title of Apologie de Louis XVIII. , and the 
 other, Discussion cles Torts qu*on impute d 
 Louis XVIII. des Intentions qu'on lui suppose, 
 et Bejutations des lleproches qui lui sont ad- 
 dresses. 
 
 In endeavouring to give some account of 
 the defects of the . royal government I must 
 premise, that it is not my intention to examine 
 how far the king himself may be personally 
 arraigned, or how far only his family and mini- 
 sters are to be considered the cause of public dis- 
 content. The voice of all parties agrees to give 
 the title of a good sort of man to Louis ; and 
 Napoleon himself, in conversation with a friend 
 of mine at Elba, applied to him the usual com- 
 mendation — " c'est un brave homme, trop bon 
 pour les Francais," adding, also, what I shall 
 not here comment upon, " et moi, j'etois trop 
 bon'* I am inclined, however, to think that 
 the fault by general consent being thrown 
 upon some branches of the family and upon 
 certain of the ministers, it is rather in compli- 
 ance with decency, and a tacit compact, than 
 from any conviction arising from a knowledge
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 6l 
 
 of facts, that the partizans of the present go- 
 vernment and system have agreed in calling 
 Louis only a weak monarch. The Duchess of 
 Angouleme is charged with the errors arising 
 from superstition, and the Duke of Berri with 
 those consequent upon an undue disregard of 
 the army ; as if the king himself was not appa- 
 rently, at least, a devotee, and had not recalled 
 the Swiss guards. We must be just, even to 
 these scions of royalty, who have not to accuse 
 themselves of any conduct confessedly displeas- 
 ing to the king, or discountenanced by him. His 
 majesty may seem, indeed, to have displayed an 
 address hardly amiable, in diverting the public 
 odium from himself, and to have exercised a qua- 
 lity which, as may be deduced from the hints of 
 enemies and friends, he possesses in an emi- 
 nent degree. It is impossible to say whether, 
 under more prosperous circumstances, he would 
 not have drawn a benefit from, and founded his 
 whole course of system upon, that very line of 
 conduct adopted by his family and his ministers, 
 which himself and his personal partizans are now 
 said sincerely to condemn. * 
 
 The Count of Artois never acceded to the 
 constitutional charter until the moment of 
 peril: yet, surely it was the duty of the king 
 to insist upon the prince assenting to the ob- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. 2. 
 VOL. I.
 
 62 LETTERS FROM PARIS* 
 
 servance of that constitution, which, if lie meant 
 to give only for himself, without binding even 
 his immediate successor, he had done enough to 
 insult and betray the French nation. More 
 could not be wanted to cause his crown to pass 
 away from him. It is universally suspected, that 
 the princes, heirs to the throne, had, in reserve, 
 as a title to future despotism, their non-signa- 
 ture of this charter ; and as that policy, which 
 was seen and understood by all Paris, could 
 not escape the observation, so ought it to have 
 met with the decided resentment, of the king. 
 The royal family of France, like some of our 
 great houses, who contrive to have one honest 
 oppositionist amongst them in case of emergen- 
 cies, were resolved to profit by a diversity of 
 sentiment, and to find in their own body a pa- 
 tron for the increasing adherents of the ancient 
 civil system. Some go the length of asserting 
 that Louis could not be friendly to a free con- 
 stitution, the continuation of which he took no 
 pains to secure beyond the term of his own 
 reign ; and they add, that he began his ca- 
 reer with an open violation of the conditions 
 upon which he was called to ascend the throne 
 of France. He accepted at Hartwell the terms 
 which he disputed at St. Ouen ; and, indeed, 
 I myself recollect perfectly well, that on the 
 morning of his entry into Paris, it was a ques- 
 tion amongst some zealous royalists, whether
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 63 
 
 his Majesty would condescend to grace the tri- 
 umph of the day, unless upon the express retrac- 
 tion on the part of the existing chambers of jthe 
 conditions which they had been insolent enough, 
 originally, to exact from their lawful monarch. 
 You have read the letters on this subject in 
 the Moniteur of the 15th of this month, and 
 must there see how early the conspiracy was 
 begun against the people. Louis did enter 
 boldly, declaring that he reserved the right of 
 nominating or rejecting certain articles of the 
 constitution, which, when in England, He had 
 swallowed whole. It is a most absurd pre- 
 text of panegyric of this monarch, that he be- 
 stowed upon France the constitutional charter : 
 as if the chambers and provisional government 
 had not previously demanded such a guarantee 
 for national liberty, and as if, after acceding 
 to, he had not shamefully disregarded, this 
 guarantee. Mr. Carnot is right ; the com- 
 merce and intercourse between princes and 
 people consist in a perpetual struggle for the 
 increase and retrenchment of power : kings 
 have never willingly encroached upon their 
 own sovereignty, nor made their people more 
 free at the expense of their own prerogatives. 
 Liberty has always been wrung from their hard 
 hands — no thanks to them — and all the benefits 
 of this kind ever conferred by a sovereign 
 should be called by their true name, the extor-
 
 64 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 tion of a right rather than the grant of a favour. 
 When King John was forced to make some few 
 provisions for the happiness of his subjects, he 
 complained to his brother potentates that he 
 had been robbed. Louis, like all other mo- 
 narchs, seems to have looked upon his people 
 as if they had surrendered at discretion to him ; 
 and as if, therefore, even his inactivity was a 
 generous forbearance, whilst his dispositions for 
 what they might think something like their 
 independence should be regarded as an instance 
 of bounty and benevolence unexampled and un- 
 deserved. Follow me through another letter, 
 and you shall see this bounty and benevolence 3 
 Vid " to what they mount."
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 65 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Paris, April — *. 
 
 The people in all countries are liable and 
 apt to betray themselves by their generous 
 feelings ; and even if in any multitude there 
 be only a small proportion in whom these feeh 
 ings predominate, that minority will generally 
 become preponderate, by the mere force of 
 shame, which forbids opposition to actions that 
 have for their pretext and origin motives uni- 
 versally approved and admired by the moral 
 sense of mankind. This, in the struggle be- 
 tween kings and subjects, gives an infinite ad- 
 vantage to the former party, who can make use 
 of, and appeal to, every passion of the human 
 breast ; can take advantage of all good as well 
 as all bad dispositions in others, whilst they 
 themselves, acting from one only feeling and 
 character of mind, are the better enabled stea- 
 dily to pursue a single, unvarying, scheme of 
 action. The abhorrence of anarchy, and the 
 facilities afforded by the modern prejudices in 
 favour of a monarchical government, are con- 
 siderations so powerful in the state of civiliza- 
 vol. i, f
 
 66 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 tion to which the European world has long 
 arrived, that the dethronement of one king is 
 generally followed by the election of another, 
 whose successor, if set aside, may be replaced 
 by the heir of the former unfortunate monarch. 
 It is impossible but that a favourable feeling 
 should exist towards a sovereign ascending 
 the throne under these circumstances ; and on 
 that account I consider the reign ofarevelu- 
 tionary or a restored king as likely to prove 
 very dangerous to liberty, although he may 
 have owed his crown to the most noble exer- 
 tion of the rights of man. The person in this 
 predicament is regarded either with gratitude 
 for what he has done to second the people, or 
 with fondness, if he has done nothing, as being 
 their own choice ; and, if he be adroit, can 
 easily turn either of these affections to his own 
 account : still more easy is his task, if he as- 
 sume his authority upon the implied consent 
 and apparent necessities of a nation, as the 
 only close and cure of anarchy. Excepting 
 the English, I know of no nation that have 
 been wise enough to guard against their gra- 
 titude, and to depose one king without invest- 
 ing another with all or more of that authority 
 which they found intolerable in his prede- 
 cessor. The patriots of 1688 were able to 
 control their sense of obligation, and were too 
 sensible and just to lose by the encourage-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 67 
 
 ment of one virtuous propensity those advan- 
 tages which their other good and great qualities 
 had set within their reach. They regarded 
 King William as sufficiently recompensed by 
 the crown of three kingdoms, restricted ac- 
 cording to their wishes, for all his great ser- 
 vices ; and the discontent and disgust which 
 their conditions excited, even in this great and 
 liberal prince, are a sufficient proof that there 
 is in all those who have tasted of sovereign 
 sway a strange notion of a certain right of 
 dominion, either inherent in their persons or 
 acquired by their exploits, which neither good 
 sense, great virtue, nor long experience, produc- 
 tive otherwise of the most generous principles 
 and rational maxims, are able completely to era- 
 dicate and wholly to destroy — strange persua- 
 sion ! as if any possible benefit conferred upon 
 me should tempt me to resign the smallest por- 
 tion of that freedom of action which is necessary 
 for individual dignity, and which is found, by 
 the fact of its existence, not incompatible with 
 the social interests of the nation to which I be- 
 long ! !' In this case I lose by the deposition of my 
 tyrant j I exchange my just hatred and honour- 
 able opposition to despotism for an acquiescence 
 in it, nay, even for a love for it, in the person of 
 another, whom my own necessities and his good 
 qualities have induced me to call to my aid ! 
 The English, in bargaining with William, had 
 
 f 2
 
 gQ LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the advantage of knowing, by very recent ex- 
 perience, how much they must gain by bestow- 
 ing the crown upon one who, having none of 
 the absurd but powerful pretensions of legi- 
 timacy, should be able to plead no rights nor 
 pretexts not conveyed by themselves and cre- 
 ated by their own sole choice. They could not 
 fail to be aware how indispensable was their 
 duty to repress all those favourable inclinations, 
 all that confidence and affection towards their 
 new monarch, which had delivered the nation, 
 bound, as it were, hand and foot, into the 
 power of a base, revengeful, and vicious tyrant. 
 I have sometimes doubted my eyes, in reading 
 the charge to the jury on the trial of the regi- 
 cides, by Sir Orlando Bridgeman, thinking, it 
 impossible to recognise in the slavish doctrine 
 therein laid down as the law and constitution 
 of England the avowed sentiments of an indi- 
 vidual, distinguished by his dignity and charac- 
 ter, belonging to a nation which had afforded so 
 splendid an example of hatred and resistance of 
 despotism. The sufferings which the country had 
 endured from her internal struggles might have 
 induced this judge to cite, and his audience to 
 hear with complacency, those statutes and legal 
 opinions which were built upon the divine right 
 and uncontrolable power of kings ; but the fact 
 that those ridiculous and wicked pretensions 
 should have been supported in face of a nation
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 69 
 
 who had just given them such a practical disproof, 
 and the observation of the consequences which 
 ensued from their admission as just maxims of 
 government, may serve as a perpetual lesson to 
 all nations, and should have taught the French in 
 18 14 with what cautions, and reserves, and con- 
 ditions, to receive a monarch, who might look 
 upon his ascent to the throne as a restoration and 
 the recovery of a right. Louis lost no time in dis- 
 playing to his subjects his determination to be 
 considered as their legitimate monarch, restored 
 to the throne in the twentieth year from the 
 date of the period at which he had been called 
 to the hereditary possession of the crown of 
 France. It cannot be denied that the first 
 check given to the enthusiasm produced by 
 the return of the Bourbons was by this silly 
 enumeration of the nineteen years during which 
 Louis had reigned over his titular kingdom in 
 partibus infidelium. The king had been fairly 
 called to the throne by the only power then 
 representing the French nation ; he did not, 
 certainly, possess it by the right of conquest, 
 obtained either by his own armies or those of 
 the sovereign allies — for army he had none. 
 The Count of Artois had been neither seconded 
 by the people nor recognised by the foreign 
 princes j and only fifteen days before the taking 
 of Paris these princes were willing to secure the 
 dynasty of Napoleon by an honourable peace ;
 
 70 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 and after that event they had treated with the 
 provisional government, and had declared that 
 France was free in her choice of a sovereign. 
 It has not yet appeared that the calling Louis 
 XVIII. to the throne was the only condition 
 upon which peace was to be given to France ; 
 so that the new monarch should have attributed 
 some share, at least, of his right to the choice 
 of his countrymen. Whatever had been his 
 opinions as to the extent of the force and ne- 
 cessity which influenced his election, it is in- 
 conceivable how he should have refused to 
 introduce, were it only as a rhetorical flourish, 
 only one word about the unanimous wish and 
 election of eight and twenty millions of his 
 countrymen, and have lost sight of the whole 
 French nation in his grateful remembrance of 
 God, the Prince Regent, and his own hereditary 
 rights. The Count of Artois deigned to thank 
 the senate de ce qu'il a fait pour le bonheur de 
 la France, en rappelant son sowverain legitime^ 
 but assumed a false position in the very terms 
 by which he expressed the obligations of 
 France for the recal of her legitimate sove- 
 reign. In the same manner when Louis wrote 
 his proclamation dated January, 1814, at Hart- 
 well, although he announced his wish to hold 
 by the efforts of his subjects that throne to 
 which his rights and their love could alone give 
 strength, he showed he was already king, and
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 71 
 
 had inherited certain subjects and peoples, out 
 of which he was kept by the incumbent owner. 
 By the constitution of the 6th of April, 1814, 
 Louis Stanislaus Xavier was freely called to the 
 throne of France, and was to be proclaimed king 
 of the French when he should have signed and 
 accepted that constitution by a solemn act and 
 oath. Under the presumption that he would 
 accept the proposed terms, his brother was ap- 
 pointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and 
 himself suffered to arrive at St. Ouen, where 
 he refused his assent to the constitution, and 
 by his declaration of the 2d of May declared 
 himself King of France and Navarre, by the 
 grace of God. By thus eluding the subscrip- 
 tion to the act which called him to the throne, 
 he only behaved in conformity with his former 
 opinions, which prompted him to protest against 
 the acceptation of the constitution of 1 79 1 by 
 Louis XVI., and to declare by his' letter to the 
 sovereigns in 1804, all the acts illegal which 
 had been promulgated since the opening of the 
 states-general in France. " Je declare done, apres 
 avoir au besoin renouvele mes protestations contre 
 tous les actes illegaux qui, depuis l'ouverture des 
 etats-g6n6raux de France, ont ameni la crise ef- 
 Jrai/ante." These are his very words ; these words 
 should have been recollected by Frenchmen 
 when they deliberated on the choice of a king. 
 It must be confessed, however, that the senate,
 
 72 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 having once resolved upon Louis, took eveiy 
 precaution in their power to guard the nation 
 from the reassumption of rights which had 
 been acknowledged obsolete by all the powers 
 of Europe, in their several treaties with France 
 since the period of the revolution. They 
 could not, it seems, in the then state of France, 
 prevent the king from arriving at St. Ouenj 
 and if he dared, previously to his entry, to 
 throw off the mask, the disgrace should not in 
 fairness attach to those who were betrayed, but 
 to the deceiver himself. The king's title cannot 
 rest upon any other right than, that given him 
 by the constitution of the 6th of April, which 
 annexed as a condition, sine qua non, the ac- 
 ceptance of this constitution; so that, supposing 
 the senate to have had no power to act for the 
 nation — supposing them to have been as they 
 are now called in France, a handful of traitors, 
 Louis was never lawful king of France : but 
 supposing the senate to have represented and 
 acted upon the known wish of the people, and 
 so to have had a right to call Louis to the 
 crown, it is clear, that if the king never fulfilled 
 the only condition annexed to his election, he 
 was also, in that point of view, at no time law- 
 ful king of France. I use the word laxvful, in 
 contradistinction to the term legitimate, which 
 seems to have been lately adopted to distin- 
 guish the bastard pretensions of election from
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 73 
 
 that mysterious, hereditary, innate, unaliena- 
 ble, incorruptible right, which, mortal as to its 
 birth, partakes of the godhead in its eternal 
 duration — 
 
 " Its foot in earth, its forehead in the skies ;" 
 
 which although not without a beginning, is yet 
 sure, and promised, to last for ever and ever. 
 If you believe in this miraculous property and 
 attribute of certain royal races, you will find 
 no difficulty in fixing Louis on his throne, si 
 possis recte, si non quocunque modo — whether 
 violence or fraud be called to the aid of legiti- 
 macy, it disquiets you not. If the king stole into 
 Paris, and the old patriots were betrayed, it was 
 only, as the Scotch say, " to have his am again," 
 and he has your hearty wishes and thanks. But 
 if you think more nobly of your kind, if, in con- 
 cert with the wisest and best of all ages and 
 nations, and in unison with the expanding phi- 
 losophy of your own times, you trace the right 
 of sovereigns to that which should control 
 their authority — the will of their people — you 
 will find it somewhat difficult to extricate the 
 chief of the house of Bourbon from the above 
 dilemma, of having either never been elected 
 by a competent power, or, if so elected, of 
 having forfeited that election by a refusal to 
 ratify the part of that covenant on which alone 
 depended his tenure of the crown. 
 
 You will then find it difficult to controvert
 
 74 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the position of the imperialists, that Louis 
 never was lawful king of France, and that he is 
 no more king of France at this moment, than 
 he was previously to his return in 1814. It 
 was never denied, that some articles of the 
 constitution of April, especially those which 
 secured the seats and hereditary dignities of 
 the peers, were objectionable : but as Louis 
 was called by that constitution, he should 
 have left the modification of its articles to 
 others — to the interference of future legisla- 
 tures. He had no right to refuse to sign that 
 charter and then enter his capital as king; 
 if he did refuse, he should have returned to 
 England. But Louis was king by the grace of 
 God, not of Frenchmen, but of France and 
 Navarre — that is, divine proprietor of that 
 portion of the terraqueous globe so called, 
 comprising such a surface and nourishing so 
 many souls.* You may stand out for France 
 and Navarre as an immaterial form, but the 
 more immaterial the more should Louis have 
 made a point of adopting any other designation 
 more agreeable to the ears of his countrymen. 
 As for the grace of God, I should have been 
 inclined to allow it to his most Christian Ma- 
 jesty, if I had considered it merely as a form, 
 and if coming in for its share in the king's 
 nomination with the will of the people. But it 
 
 * See Appendix.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 75 
 
 will be seen that both these expressions, as well 
 as the nineteenth year of the king's reign, were 
 deliberate and formal, determined upon by Louis 
 and his ministers previously to his landing, as we 
 see by Mr. Talleyrand's paper in the Moniteur 
 of the 15 th of April, and perpetually repeated, 
 and therefore most consequent and important as- 
 sertions of the king's legitimate unlawful rights. 
 On the 1 4th of June, when the new constitution 
 was presented to both houses in the presence of 
 the king, his Majesty's Chancellor told the par- 
 liament, that " many years had passed since pro- 
 vidence had called their monarch to the throne 
 of his fathers ;" also, "that in full possession of 
 his hereditary rights over this great kingdom, 
 he would not exercise the authority which he 
 held from God and his fathers, except in himself 
 prescribing bounds to his power." This was the 
 preface to the preamble of the constitutional 
 charter, which preamble abounded in similar 
 positions, and premised that although the abso- 
 lute authority in France resided in the person of 
 the king, his Majesty would follow the example 
 of Louis le Gros, Philip le Bel, Louis XL, Henry 
 II., Charles IX., Louis XIV. — (what names to 
 quote to a nation hoping to be free !) and modify 
 the exercise of that authority. After express- 
 ing a wish to efface from the history of France 
 all that had happened during his absence, the 
 king solemnly promised to be faithful, and to 
 swear fidelity to that constitutional charter,
 
 76 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 which by the free exercise of his royal authority 
 he had granted, and did grant, made concession 
 of, and octroi to his subjects. Without enter- 
 ing into the faults of this charter, it must be 
 seen that the king took care to reassert his 
 rights to despotism, even in the act by which 
 he was to make his people free. His apologists 
 assert this preamble to have been a folly of the 
 Chancellor D'Ambray ; but it was backed by his 
 authority, and by this title he could not be re- 
 garded as a monarch entering, with the people 
 who hadjustchosen him, into a solemn covenant, 
 prepared and discussed, and accepted by both 
 parties to the agreement ; but as another Louis 
 le Gros, intent upon the enfranchisement of 
 the commons. The senate, which should have 
 expired by a splendid suicide, and have con- 
 voked a constituent assembly, but which scan- 
 dalized the nation by its egotism and consequent 
 baseness, did pronounce some half uttered 
 phrases as to the presentation of this charter to 
 the acceptation of the people ; but the words 
 died upon their lips, and the deputies, for the 
 most part usurpers of an expired power, ac- 
 quiesced almost without a murmur. Mr. Gre- 
 goire, daring to advance some recognised prin- 
 ciples of freedom, was accused as a restorer of 
 anarchy ; Messrs. Lambrecths and Garat, who 
 protested against precipitancy, were insulted 
 as metaphysicians. Whilst Messrs. Laharpe 
 and B. Constant no sooner proclaimed their
 
 I ETTEUS FROM PARIS. 77 
 
 liberal notions on the basis of the constitution, 
 than they were invited to hold their tongues> 
 being in the predicament of strangers unac- 
 quainted with the manners and feelings of 
 Frenchmen. It was the duty of the chambers 
 to have reserved to themselves the examination 
 of the charter, and to the people its acceptation; 
 but faulty as was their complaisance, the king 
 did not, by the preamble, concede any thing 
 but the charter ; he did not concede the power 
 to examine, to accept, or refuse it. Had the 
 chambers assumed this privilege, it is most pro- 
 bable that thev would have been invited, like 
 Messrs. B. Constant and La Harpe, to retire 
 from the discussion. 
 
 The king, it is said, was determined to have 
 all the merit of all the good things in this con- 
 stitution ; and as he and his ministers were per- 
 petually boasting of the voluntary goodness of 
 his majesty, they ought, at least, to have given 
 the full benefit of it, such as it was, to the peo- 
 ple. But from June 1814, to the following 
 March, those who had some hopes that it might 
 prove as good as the English Magna Charta, 
 which, it was observed, had also been octroyee 
 by King John, (a happy comparison !) acknow- 
 ledged they were able to enumerate no less than 
 ten direct violations of the terms granted by the 
 monarch to his people. I shall give you the re- 
 sult of their charges in my own words, leaving 
 out those qualifying phrases, " they say," or " it 
 is asserted," which I beg you to supply. They 
 object, that the first infraction was most ma- 
 
 vol. I.
 
 78 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 terial, and was begun betimes ; for on the 7th of 
 June, only three days after the publication of 
 the charter, the director-general of the police 
 issued two ordonnances in open contradiction to 
 the fifth and sixty-eighth articles; the first of 
 which secured to every religion an equal liberty, 
 and to every worship the same protection ; 
 whilst the second established the civil code, and 
 the laws actually existing, not contrary to the 
 charter, until legally annulled. 
 
 Now the two hundred and sixtieth article of 
 the penal code of the year 10 expressly forbad 
 the constrained celebration of any holidays or 
 shutting of shops, under pain of fine and im- 
 prisonment ; but Mr. Ferrand, by his ordon- 
 nance, commanded the discontinuance of all 
 labour, and necessarily the shutting of shops on 
 Sundays and holidays ; and also commanded 
 that all individuals of every religion, tiendraient 
 le devant de leur maisons dans toutes les rues ou 
 deoaient passer les processions du saint sacrement. 
 This was a dangerous abuse of authority in a 
 very delicate affair. The minister was guilty 
 of a breach of office, and came under the penal- 
 ties pronounced in.the one hundred and twenty- 
 seventh article of the penal code, against all 
 officers of the police who interfered in the ex- 
 ercise of the legislative power. Every one recol- 
 lects the murmurs these ordonnances produced 
 in Paris, and it is worth while to observe, that 
 when, four months afterwards, one of them was 
 passed into a law, the court- was unable to
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 79 
 
 prevail upon the chambers to authorise the pro- 
 cessions of the sacrament. 
 
 On- the 10th of Jane, six days after the pro^ 
 mulgation of the charter, which by its eighth 
 article proclaimed the liberty of the press, ap- 
 peared the ordonnance of the minister of the 
 interior re-establishing the censorship. This 
 was declared unconstitutional by a member, of 
 the chamber of peers; but the deputies, instead 
 of protesting against this illegal measure, 
 connived with the court in demanding a project 
 of a law on this subject from the king, that is, 
 from the minister, Montesquiou, who had been 
 guilty of the infraction, and who was insolent 
 enough, in presenting the required project, to of- 
 fer as his motive " a wish to facilitate the liberty 
 of the press." Messrs. Durbach and Raynourd 
 in the chamber of deputies, with B. Constant, 
 Soulety, and Souard, distinguished themselves 
 in opposition to the censorship: all the journals, 
 except the Gazette de France, took part against 
 the minister, who, however, was able to pass the 
 law, notwithstanding that it met with a violent 
 opposition in the chamber of peers. The esta- 
 blishment of the censorship by an ordonnance 
 was at first an open violation of tbe charter, and 
 when carried into a law shewed the determi- 
 nation of the court to stand by that violation. 
 Considering that some of us have smarted in 
 England on account of entertaining different 
 
 VOL. I. §
 
 80 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 notions of the nature oflibel from our peers, and 
 that no one can wish for a better advantage 
 over another than did Job, when he exclaimed 
 
 " Oh that mine enemy had written a book !" 
 
 on these considerations I say, that the revision 
 of the censorship may to some people seem al- 
 most preferable to the penalties of the chief 
 justice. But I am talking only of the violations 
 of the charter, of which there was a third fla- 
 grant example on the 15th of June and 15th of 
 July, by two royal ordonnances, which fixed 
 the mode of recruitment for the king's guard -, 
 whereas by the twelfth article of the charter 
 the mode of recruiting both for the land and 
 sea service was to be determined by a law ; 
 and the ordonnances were therefore unconsti- 
 tutional, and subjected those who acted upon 
 them $o the pain of death, pronounced by the 
 ninety-second article of the penal code against 
 every one engaging in an illegal recruitment. 
 The cannonniers of the marine were organized 
 by another ordonnance of the 1st of July, which 
 was also a violation of the twelfth article. On 
 the 21st of June an ordonnance established a 
 council of state, -composed of a high commission 
 court, a privy council, and five committees, and 
 gave to the council a power of judging public 
 functionaries; so that this council, which was re- 
 gulated by another ordonnance of the 6t h of July,
 
 Letters from paris. 81 
 
 Xras neither more nor less than an extraordinary 
 tribunal, and forbidden by the 63d article of the 
 charter, which says, "There cannot be created 
 any extraordinary commissions or tribunals.*' 
 
 On the 2?th of June, that most important ar- 
 ticle, the 1.5th of the charter, declaring the le- 
 gislative power to reside in king, peers, and 
 deputies, was broken through by an ordonnance 
 which annulled an impost law of the year 12, 
 22d of Ventose, regulating certain port duties. 
 
 The 69th article of the charter declared that 
 the soldiers in activity, the officers and soldiers 
 in retreat, the widows, the officers and soldiers 
 on the pension list, should preserve their ranks, 
 honours, and pensions. Now, by an ordonnance 
 of the 1 6th of December, the officers of all ranks, 
 and military administrators not employed, as 
 well as those on leave, were reduced to half-pay. 
 Had this measure not been illegal, had it not 
 been unjust, it would have been impolitic ; and 
 if at any time the crown should be fought for, 
 fatal. The army exclaimed loudly against so 
 crying an injustice ; the nation at large regarded 
 it as a gross violation of an express disposition 
 of the charter, and a breach of the most so- 
 lemn and repeated of the many promises em- 
 ployed in default of arms to open a way for 
 the Bourbons into France. It was easy to 
 see that the part of the king's conduct which 
 required the utmost prudence was the treatment 
 
 vol r. G
 
 82 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 of the army, which in France is more national, 
 both by its constitution and by the circumstances 
 of the times, than in any other country. The 
 great majority of all the male population having 
 served at some time or the other, sympathise 
 with the fortunes and character of a corps to 
 which they consider themselves as still in some 
 measure attached ; and by a happy complacence 
 fixing their recollections only on the glories, 
 without counting the disasters of their brethren 
 in arms, look upon the soldiery as the repositories 
 of their honour, as the representatives, as the 
 last hope, of their country. 
 
 The conduct of the imperial troops in the 
 campaign of 1814 was such as to excite the ad- 
 miration of the allies. Never were the valour, 
 discipline, and skill of very inferior numbers 
 mpre brilliantly displayed than in the battles of 
 Champ-Aubert, Montmirail, Vauchamp, Mor- 
 mans, Montereau, Craone, Rheims, Arcy sur 
 Aube, and St. Dizier ; and, in despite of the fatal 
 termination of the war, the citizens and peasantry, 
 who witnessed these gallant struggles, still 
 dwell upon the theme with pride and delight. 
 The army of Napoleon amounted to no more 
 than 85,000 at the utmost, computing all the 
 regular troops, excepting those of Marshal Soult - f 
 and with these the French Emperor was so near 
 obtaining a final success over the multitude of 
 his opponents, that, before the allies moved for
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 83 
 
 the last time upon Paris, the order was given, 
 and was in force for twenty-four hours, for a re- 
 treat to the Rhine. Of this fact assurance was 
 given me, from indubitable authority at Paris, a 
 few days after the capitulation, and my in- 
 formant added, that the second in command in 
 the Austrian army told him, when the advance 
 was resolved upon, that he expected to be 
 marched prisoner into the French capital. The 
 head-quarters of the Emperor of Austria were 
 by chance separated from those of the grand 
 army, so that the inclination of the Prince 
 Schwartzenberg to retreat could not be backed 
 by a precise order from his master; and when 
 that general insisted upon waiting for instruc- 
 tions from his court, the Emperor Alexander, 
 affirming the distance would cause too great a 
 delay, took the responsibility of the advance 
 uponhimself, and the movement was commenced 
 in precise opposition to the wishes of the com- 
 mander in chief and the whole Austrian army. 
 The allies found themselves at Paris they knew 
 not how. A general opinion prevails, that the 
 assertions of Napoleon relative to the conduct 
 of the Duke of Ragusa are founded in truth, 
 and at any rate the army is saved, in the eyes of 
 their countrymen, between the supposition of 
 treachery on the part of the generals, and of a 
 justifiable resolution to terminate the contest by 
 the sacrifice of the dynasty for which it had al- 
 
 g 2
 
 84 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 ready made such splendid efforts. In short, the 
 French considered the honour of their armies un- 
 tarnished by the issue of the campaign of 1814; 
 and they were therefore inclined to contemplate 
 the reduction of their pay and force as a treason 
 of the restored family, in unison with their whole 
 system and with their declared wish to efface 
 from the memory of their contemporaries, and 
 the page of history, all the twenty-five years of 
 misfortunes, or, in other words, the triumphs 
 of republican and imperial France. 
 
 At the same time there were many patriotic 
 and thinking persons who would have found some 
 excuse for this step in the poverty of the royal 
 treasury, and in the difficulty of supporting an 
 army calculated for forty-four millions of subjects 
 in a kingdom reduced to a population of twenty- 
 eight millions; had there notbeen repeated proofs 
 of profusion in other instances, and had not the 
 restored family betrayed, in many ways, a set- 
 tled disregard of this great national body. 
 Every saloon in Paris abounds with stories of 
 the insults and the vulgar pleasantries of the 
 Duke of Berri, addressed to many officers of 
 distinguished merit. Does he inquire of one, 
 in what campaign he served? and is told 
 * in all ;' — In what capacity ? * aid-de-camp to 
 the Emperor,:* — he turns upon his heel with a 
 contemptuous smile, and the officer is noticed 
 no more. Does he learn from another that he
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 85 
 
 has served twenty-five years? Vingt-cingt ans 
 de brigandage, is his reply. Do the old guard 
 displease that great commander the Duke of 
 Angouleme in performing some manoeuvre? they 
 are told that they must go to England, and learn 
 their exercise. Lastly, is a colonel to be degrad- 
 ed ? the Duke of Berri tears off his epaulets with 
 his own hand — another time he strikes a soldier 
 on the parade. The Swiss regiments return to the 
 Tuileries; but, in addition to this foreign guard, 
 six thousand nobles, the very old and the very 
 young, tricked out in fancy dresses* which draw 
 down the fatal curse of ridicule, compose a house- 
 hold force, the laughter of the citizens, and the 
 envy of the army. The old imperial guard, out- 
 rageously banished from the capital, and sud- 
 denly recalled at the beginning of the ministry 
 of Marshal Soult, are scarcely on their route to- 
 wards Paris, when fresh jealousies create fresh 
 orders, and the indignant veterans are marched 
 back to their quarters. Certain Chouan chiefs 
 are sent into Brittany, and there distribute de- 
 corations and recompenses to those rebels whom 
 the armies had routed and quelled. Another 
 Chouan lays a plan for enrolling a sort of sa- 
 cred battalion against the plots of the army, 
 and, though apparently prosecuted for this trea- 
 son, is never punished. Lastly, the invaders of 
 France, destroyed by the army at Quiberon, 
 are to have a monument raised on the spot, 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 86 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 as a perpetual commemoration of their loyalty, 
 and the treason of the troops by whom they 
 fell. The apologists and defenders of the king' 
 lament and admit the imprudences I have just 
 detailed. Connected with this debasement of 
 the army was the suppression of the establish- 
 ments for the female orphans of the legion of 
 honour, which the king was, however, obliged 
 to restore, and the reduction of the pay of the 
 invalids ; add to this also the evident attempt to 
 degrade the decoration of the legion, by the profu- 
 sion with which the crosses were granted to the 
 lowest agents of government, even to the clerks 
 of the post-office, and the care with which the 
 higher ministers laid them aside. The deductions 
 drawn from this conduct were most unfavourable 
 to the royal cause, and left no doubt in the mind 
 of the military, nor of the nation, that the ho- 
 nourable existence of the French army was con- 
 sidered as incompatible with the system of the 
 new court. In fact, when the Duke de Feltre 
 went to England, he assured the Regent's minis- 
 ters, that the standing army, which had been 
 fixed at 240,000, did not amount to more than 
 84,000 — he did not add what is said here, but for 
 which I will not vouch, that M. de Talleyrand and 
 another of the Bourbon ministers had pocketed 
 the difference of pay required for the nominal 
 and actual amount of the troops. No wonder 
 then, that in addition to the complaints of the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 87 
 
 army against their actual distresses, their ima- 
 ginary injuries contributed to increase their dis- 
 gust, and that of the nation, towards the House 
 of Bourbon j and that every talent, whether of the 
 pen or pencil, was called into play to overwhelm 
 with ridicule and contempt the warriors of the 
 court. I must not forget to mention, that the 
 reduction of the army was scarcely so unpopu- 
 lar as the attempt to new model it, by renew- 
 ing the regiments, and chiefly by the appoint- 
 ment of nearly five thousand officers, either old 
 emigrants or young nobles, totally devoid of all 
 military character or merit. The abolition of 
 the national colours, and the adoption of the 
 flag of La Vendee, though it afflicted the na- 
 tion, was more particularly affecting to the 
 army, who saw in this step the same determina- 
 tion to tear from them all memorial of their 
 former existence. The imperial guard burnt 
 their eagles, and drank their ashes ; some regi- 
 ments concealed, and all regretted, their cock- 
 ades. The friends of the court affected to 
 consider the mere change of a flag as a trifle, 
 and, in spite of all experience, did not recollect 
 that nothing is a trifle to which any importance, 
 however imaginary, is attached by a whole na- 
 tion. They shewed that the king was deter- 
 mined to illegitimatise all proceedings, as he 
 had said in his letter to the sovereigns, as far 
 back as the assembly of the states-general, ay
 
 88 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 even his own, or that he forgot that he had worn 
 the tricoloured cockade himself from the 11th 
 of July, 1789, to the 21st of June, 1792. The 
 provisional government, which acted in general 
 with great prudence, made this sacrifice to the 
 Count of Artois, the day before they surren- 
 dered their power into his hands, and must in 
 this their last decree be considered as acting in 
 conformity with the express wishes of the Bour- 
 bon princes, two of whom were then advancing 
 to Paris, having unfurled the white flag. 
 
 Besides the violations of the charter already 
 mentioned, may be fairly reckoned three other 
 edicts; the first of which, of the 30th of July, for 
 the re-establishment of the royal military school, 
 avowed its purpose to be, to give to the nobles 
 of the kingdom the enjoyment of those advan- 
 tages which had been granted them by an edict 
 of 1751. One hundred years of previous nobi- 
 lity were necessary to procure admission for 
 any pupil of this ancient school ; and this drew 
 a line at once between the old and new no- 
 blesse, in opposition to the third article of the 
 charter, which made all employs, civil and mi- 
 litary, equally open to all Frenchmen. Again, 
 the fifty-ninth article maintained the existing 
 tribunals and courts, and ordained that nothing 
 should be changed in respect to them, except 
 by a law. A law was proposed to the chamber 
 of deputies, for the organisation of the court of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 89 
 
 cassation ; some amendments were proposed, 
 but not adopted, and before the bill passed the 
 chamber was adjourned : nevertheless, the king 
 himself, without his parliament, re-organises 
 this court, and expels many of its members, 
 without pretext or declared motive. The pub- 
 lic decided, justly, that this was not only an 
 infraction of the charter and an insult to the 
 chamber ; but, moreover, that the evident mo- 
 tive of this measure was another breach of the 
 charter, which in its eleventh article forbade all 
 enquiry into any votes or opinions entertained 
 previously to the restoration. The same breach 
 was more strikingly hazarded in the expul- 
 sion of the fifteen members of the Institute — 
 Guyton Morveau, Carnot, Monge, Napoleon 
 Bonaparte, Cambaceres, Merlin, Kcederer, Ga- 
 rat, Sieyes, Maury, Lucien Bonaparte, Laka- 
 nal, Gregoire, Joseph Bonaparte, and David. 
 
 The forty-eighth article of the charter forbade 
 the establishment of any impost without the 
 consent of the chambers and the sanction of 
 the king ; but the Chancellor Dambray, whom 
 I find styled the great partizan of ancient bar- 
 barism, by his own authority established duties 
 upon the provisions of the judges, upon letters 
 of naturalization, and upon journals, in direct 
 usurpation of a power solely legislative. 
 
 So much for the decided violations of the 
 charter, which I should not have detailed had
 
 90 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 not a general opinion gone abroad in England 
 that the complaints of the French against their 
 good king were frivolous and unfounded, arising 
 rather from their turbulence and a spirit of dis- 
 content, which gave importance to trifles, than 
 from any just grounds of dissatisfaction, and of 
 suspicion that the new government was deter- 
 mined to return to the ancient order of things. 
 That such was the determination of the king, or 
 of those in whose hands he was an instrument (it 
 is indifferent which), other facts, not so palpable, 
 perhaps, but conjointly of great weight, will 
 leave little room to doubt. For these I must 
 refer you to my next.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 91 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 Paris, April — . 
 
 Lest there should be either in the preceding 
 or the following letter any appearance of a par- 
 tiality directed against the chief of the family of 
 the Bourbons, I must premise, as before, that I 
 am only a transcriber of opinions prevalent with 
 a certain portion of France, or of statements be- 
 come now a mere matter of record, relative to 
 that illustrious house; and that, even as to the 
 terms and epithets which may bear hard upou 
 them, " non ego, sed Democritus dixit," although, 
 to avoid repetition, I do not qualify every sen- 
 tence with the conditional phrase usual on such 
 occasions. So far from suspecting me of any 
 previous antipathy to this king, or kings in ge- 
 neral, you will allow that the most efficient 
 means of preserving thrones, is to show how 
 they have been shaken, and that, if Louis should 
 recover his crown, his best friend will be the 
 man who shall then point out to him how he 
 lost it before. With this proviso, I continue my 
 narrative of feelings and of facts. The royalists, 
 the pure, the returned royalists, always laughed 
 when they pronounced the word charter, and 
 scoffed at the revolutionary term " liberal ideas,' 
 which, in Spam, such is the benefit of restora- 
 tion, has become a title of proscription. M. 
 Dambray, the chancellor, took every opportunity 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 92 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 of professing doctrines only suited to an abso- 
 lute monarchy. M. Ferrand, director-general of 
 the posts, Laisne, president ot the chamber of 
 deputies, the Abb£ Montesquiou, and others, 
 the known sycophants or pensioners of the 
 court, besides the whole bod}' of nobles, as 
 well emigrant as those who had acquiesced in 
 Napoleon's tyranny, and the clergy at large, 
 adopted i e >ame language. 
 
 You may recollect that the members of the 
 ancient parliament, assembled at. the house of 
 M. Lepelletier de Morfontaine, protested for- 
 mally against the constitutional charter on the 
 4th of June ; and that the nobility, headed by 
 the princes ol the blood, prepared the same pro- 
 test, which was only not signed and delivered, in 
 support of their former rights. A decided con- 
 duct on the part of Louis would have shewn 
 that he partook of no such superannuated no- 
 tions; but, acting as he did, whatever were his 
 real wishes and final intentions, he ran the risk 
 of being involved in the general hatred and sus- 
 picion excited against the ministers, the nobles, 
 and the clergy, throughout the capital and the 
 greater part of France. It is extraordinary that 
 be should have thought it possible to force a 
 whole people to retrograde by means of a hand- 
 ful of partisans without skill or courage, already 
 known and suspected of anti-natronal designs, 
 for Louis was well aware of the progi >s of libe- 
 ral op i 10, s m Fr nee, since the ft si appeal 
 which he made to his people upon the landing 
 of Napoleon told them to rally round the char-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. , 93 
 
 ter. It is truly edifying to observe, that in the 
 change which that event produced in the lan- 
 guage of his majesty and the royalists, may be 
 recognized all that they ought to have done, 
 and all they did not do. Laisne, thepresident of 
 the representatives of the people, and the organ 
 of the famous maxim, " Ij the king wills it, the 
 " laiv wills it" then told the chamber of deputies 
 that the king was preparing wise laws on the 
 imposts,- on the finances, for the irrevocable do- 
 tation of the legion of honour, for the responsi- 
 bility of ministers, and for the definitive esta- 
 blishment of the liberty of the press — all this was 
 just about to be done, when the genius <j evil 
 arose to overturn all their hopes, and t<> break 
 that constitutional charter, the sacred paUadium 
 of the safety of the state. The majority of the 
 chamber of deputies, which had before registered 
 all the ministers' wishes almost without a mur- 
 mur, now declared that every placard against 
 the acquirers of national domains, o; in favour 
 of feudalism, tith.es, or other seignorial rights, 
 should be considered as a conspiracy, and sub- 
 ject the authors to reclusion. It is consoling 
 for all lovers of liberty to see that despots and 
 their slaves must, in the day of danger, have re- 
 course to their people, and must apply them- 
 selves to the common propensity of inn. kind in 
 favour of individual independence. This Mr. 
 Laisne had b. en one of those who lent them- 
 selves most directly to that portion ol the cabi- 
 net which had determined upon the partial re- 
 storation, at least, of the national lands, and
 
 <M LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 which, by so doing, may be considered as the 
 principal cause of the late revolution. 
 
 The disquiet most prevalent, and most likely 
 to prevail at the return of the Bourbons, arose 
 from a suspicion that the national property of 
 both kinds, that is, the property formerly be- 
 longing to the church, and distinguished under 
 the name of Mens nationaux de premiere origine, 
 and that arising from the possessions of emi- 
 grants, called simply biens nationaux, might, by 
 some stratagem, be restored to the ancient pos- 
 sessors or their representatives. The principal 
 portion of these properties being sold, partly 
 even in the time of Louis XVI., a number, 
 amounting, it is said, to six millions and a half of 
 people, had become interested in th^ perpetual 
 settlement of these possessions in the hands of 
 the present owners ; and the nation itself was 
 concerned in the disposal of the unsold por- 
 tion of these properties, as they had been al- 
 lotted by the imperial government for the main- 
 tenance of the hospitals and of the legion of 
 honour. It was natural, therefore, that Louis 
 should spare no promises to set the minds of his 
 subjects at ease on this important point ; and it 
 seemed to the French no less according to rule, 
 that having made these promises, and confirmed 
 them by the 9th article of the charter, he 
 should, when h s object, was obtained, con- 
 trive to break th m. I must, indeed, even on 
 my own part, say, that what has given rise to the 
 expression, " thejaith of a king," I am unable to 
 divine, history containing little else but events
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 95 
 
 caused by their want of faith. His first object 
 was to obtain his throne, his second to strengthen 
 it. Unfortunately he thought of no better me- 
 thod than to remunerate the faction of his fol- 
 lowers at the expense of the nation, or at least 
 of another faction a thousand times more pow- 
 erful. So early as the 4th of June, an ordon- 
 nance of the king expressed a wish to restore 
 the unsold properties to the ancient proprietors ; 
 and as this could not be done without a positive 
 law, and a pretext of exchange, although several 
 establishments of the legion of honour had al- 
 ready been deprived of their funds, M. Ferrand, 
 the minister, proposed this law; and, in his 
 speech, made use of the fatal expression — "the 
 " sacred inviolable rights which those who have 
 " followed the right line must have on the proper- 
 " ties, of which, by the revolutionary storms, they 
 "had been despoiled." The project was referred 
 to a committee, of which M. Bedoch being the 
 reporter, by the noble firmness of his opposition 
 tothe law, and the amendment by which he pro- 
 posed that it should be declared, that " at no time, 
 under any pretext, should there be granted any 
 indemnity to the ancient proprietors," only drew 
 down the still more fatal sentence of the pre- 
 sident Laisne, who said he would not consent to 
 the amendment, " because he would not shut 
 the door against hope.*' Not a word was lost 
 throughout France. This was no party ques-
 
 96 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 tion : men who will live quietly under the Em- 
 peror of Morocco will be driven into madness 
 by a hint of losing their own. True it is, that the 
 king affects in his late proclamation to treat this 
 rumour of his wishing to restore the national 
 properties as a base calumny : he has the inso- 
 lence, I use the word, to say he will not deign 
 to reply to such a ridiculous charge. " A king 
 must not lower himself" he tells his people, " to 
 refute groundless accusations ." if so, he must 
 be content not to reign : if he chooses to be in- 
 dependent, he must retire : would he drop the 
 censure, he should get rid of his subjects ; but 
 if he will consent neither to abdicate nor to 
 argue, his people must continue unanswered 
 and in arms against him. But the king, or M. 
 de Chateaubriand, who drew up the proclama- 
 tion, knew very well that no reply is to be made 
 to the charge. You want no more proof than 
 what has been brought to shew that the French 
 had grounds for their alarm ; and it may be 
 added, that it was indifferent to them whether 
 the king himself, or the system of his admi- 
 nistration, gave rise to their just suspicions. 
 However, it may be worth while to strengthen 
 your conviction, by mentioning an extraor- 
 dinary fact, which will evince the pains that 
 were taken, and the engines that were set at 
 work to bring about the change so much desired 
 by the restored court. When the fear of the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 97 
 
 king and his friends extorted, during the march 
 of Napoleon, some attempts at justice, a com- 
 mittee was appointed in the chamber of deputies 
 to examine into the petitions lying unpresented 
 in the parliament offices. Amongst them were 
 discovered nearly three hundred, which had 
 been kept back by the Abbe Montesquiou, from 
 individuals complaining that they had been re- 
 fused absolution by their priests on account of 
 being possessors of national properties. The 
 restitution of these properties was thus made 
 the sine qua ?wn of salvation ; and, indeed, at 
 Savenay in the Lower Loire, a sermon was 
 preached on the 5th of March, in which the au- 
 dience were told, that those who did not return 
 " their own" to the nobles and to the cures, as the 
 representatives of the monks, should have the lot 
 of Jezebel, and should be devoured by dogs. It 
 is not at all wonderful that the nobles and clergy 
 should endeavour to recover what was formerly 
 attached to those two privileged classes : but it 
 is w r onderful that any one should expect that the 
 restitution could be made without the utmost 
 resistance from the present owners, or should 
 be indignant that the resistance was made. 
 Every one at Paris at the time knew that the 
 nobles talked openly of the restitution, and 
 joining with the monied men, who are always, 
 in some degree, in the hands of the government, 
 so depreciated the securities and value of these 
 VOL. i. h
 
 98 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 properties, that no one would advance any turn 
 upon them. Let us wait a little, said these 
 gentlemen, and we shall get our properties back 
 again for as little as was originally given for them, 
 if they are not restored by force. But the na- 
 tional goods had been most of them often 
 sold and resold, and the last purchasers, having 
 no concern with the low price of the original 
 confiscations, felt the full injustice and hard- 
 ship of the projected restitution. Nor was the 
 mere change of hands the whole of the evil 
 to be dreaded by the property passing into the 
 purses of the old owners ; every abuse of the 
 ancient system was naturally supposed the 
 consequence of the return of the nobles and the 
 clergy. Seignorial rights, feudalism, tithes, be- 
 nefices, were in every mouth, and with some 
 reason ; for several of the returned nobles were 
 indiscreet enough to claim certain of these seig- 
 norial rights, that of exclusive chase, for in- 
 stance, over their former properties, even when 
 not restored. Although Voltaire proved the 
 mistake of Montesquiou in saying that feu- 
 dalism is an event which has once happened in 
 the world, and which, perhaps, will never again 
 happen ; yet the French of the present day 
 think that establishment as strange and singular 
 a monster as it was looked upon by the witty 
 president. They were wrong, however, in sup- 
 posing that the king could think it his interest
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 99 
 
 to re-establish feudalism ; for his ancestors had 
 for ages struggled against the seignorial and 
 church privileges, and Louis XVI. himself had 
 wished to get rid of them by that establishment 
 of the territorial impost which was resisted by 
 the parliament, who were unaccountably fa- 
 voured by the people. The states-general abo- 
 lished feudal rights, established the equality 
 of impost, and were applauded by the people, 
 who, from that time, thinking the interests of 
 the king and the nobles united against them- 
 selves, supposed that their sovereign must be 
 a friend of feudalism, forgetting how he had 
 formerly attempted to destroy one of its dearest 
 privileges. 
 
 The people, however, are in a certain degree 
 right, for it is not easy to doubt, that if Louis, 
 by re-establishing the seignorial rights, could 
 place the monarchy on its ancient footing, he 
 would not hesitate an instant to make the sa- 
 crifice to those nobles, who, in more tranquil 
 times, he might attempt to crush in their turn. 
 It was, however, enough for the people to feel, 
 that the nobles who were the consequences of 
 the return of the Bourbons, and were identified 
 with their system, were striving to recover their 
 obsolete rights ; which, because the lower classes 
 seldom, at least as we heard, in our coun- 
 try, broke out in acts of savage cruelty, we are 
 apt in England to think have been represented 
 
 h 2
 
 100 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 in colours too odious by the partizans of the re- 
 volution. The peasant of the 
 
 " Gay happy land of innocence and ease" 
 
 was thepeasant of poetry, or the revolution would 
 never have taken place. To any one moderately 
 conversant with facts instead of fiction, nothing, 
 can appear so little desirable as the restoration 
 of what the clergy of Paris, in their address to 
 the king on the 15th of last August, call — " that 
 old France, in which were intermingled, without 
 distinction, in every heart, those two sacred names 
 — God and the King." 
 
 It is sufficient only to call to mind the diversity 
 of seignorial and clerical rights, of judicial in- 
 stitutions, of invidious exemptions, and partial 
 burthens*, which obtained in the different pro- 
 vinces, and the recollection and horror of which 
 rendered tolerable a system of well organized 
 tyranny proceeding from the head of the state 
 alone, and weighing equally upon all, and re- 
 conciled or rather endeared to every French- 
 man the code of Napoleon, where he saw himself 
 and all his countrymen for ever secured against 
 the barbarous usages of Franche Comte' or Pro- 
 vence, and the prescriptive privileges of a law- 
 yer of Normandy or a noble of Poitou. If we 
 are to have recourse to poetry, let us look not 
 to the sportive vassals of the Loire, but to the 
 
 * Amounting, it is said, to 144 customs, all having the 
 force of a law, and all different.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 101 
 
 t>eing which Goldsmith's Traveller saw at home, 
 and be happy that the s el f-vene ration which he 
 beheld only in England has now spread amongst 
 others of his hundred realms,and augmentedthat 
 portion of thehuman race which alone canbe dig- 
 nified with the name of man. We are guilty of 
 treason against mankind, against God himself, if 
 we take up arms in favour of barbarism, and 
 attempt violently to arrest the progress or cir- 
 cumscribe the diffusion of human happiness. It is 
 abase and wilful mistake to assert, that because 
 Frenchmen had submitted to Napoleon, they 
 were a nation of slaves, unacquainted with the 
 principles, and therefore incapable, of liberty. 
 Many causes contributed to their patience of his 
 despotic sway : perpetual war and victory fur- 
 nished an excuse for extending the autocracy 
 of a general (for which the necessity is acknow- 
 ledged in the freest nations) to the monarch of 
 a people entirely military; but submission to an 
 individual conqueror, if voluntary, could never 
 reconcile them to the reign of thirty thousand 
 nobles, and if compulsory, as we in England 
 generally have asserted it to be, must increase 
 rather than diminish their odium of another 
 despotism. If we do not allow that the French 
 understand liberty, we must say that they fully 
 comprehend the advantages and nature of 
 equality, which is irreconcileable with the old 
 system. One monarch and a whole nation of 
 equals is that system which Frenchmen will
 
 102 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 easily bear j but the superior privileges of a fel- 
 low subject are incompatible with his notions of 
 liberty : however we English may conceive our 
 neighbours to misunderstand the true nature 
 and characteristics of this blessing, we cannot 
 be justified in doing our utmost to render their 
 attainment of it impossible, by concurring with 
 the conspired sovereigns to restore the kings, 
 the nobles, and the clergy of that ancient, op- 
 pressed, vassalled, decimated France. Suppos- 
 ing that by fourteen years of subjection to Na- 
 poleon this country has disgraced herself, are 
 we to visit her with the dreadful penalty of per- 
 petual bondage, and that of the nature the most 
 painful and revolting— the bondage of abrother ? 
 There is scarcely a privilege against which we 
 have successfully struggled in England that we 
 are not endeavouring to re-establish in France, 
 by the restoration of the Bourbons ; and after 
 two hundred years of recorded contempt of 
 this country for her servility and superstition, 
 we reverse the complaint, and hate her be- 
 cause she again shows the wish, and makes 
 the second effort to shake off the tyranny of 
 vassalage and superstition. Our pretext, the 
 choice of the manner in which she would com- 
 plete her purpose, I will touch upon perhaps 
 another time ; at present my object has been to 
 show the connection between the return of 
 Louis and the old regime, and the consequent 
 unpopularity of a restored king regarded, even in
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 103 
 
 the most favourable light, as a weak well mean- 
 ing man, the half reluctant instrument of the 
 nobles and the priests. The latter played their 
 usual part, God forgive them ! from M. de Tal- 
 leyrand, archbishop of Rheims, grand almoner, 
 corresponding with the bishop of Orthosia at 
 Rome, to procure a bull for the re-establishment 
 of the Gallican church, down to the wretched 
 cure of St. Roch, refusing sepulture to his an- 
 cient hostess, Mademoiselle Raucour. With the 
 return of the Saturnian sceptre of the Bourbons, 
 religion was also to revisit France, so long de- 
 prived of the consolation of continuing the Le- 
 vitical law. The professors of arts and arms, the 
 scientific sons of the impious Institute, having 
 eaten, and drunk, and played their fill, yielded 
 up the stage to the linsey woolsey brothers of 
 a more decently wanton court, and reinvigo- 
 rated retainers. Sixty covers spread daily at the 
 Tuileries kept alive the gratitude and the zeal of 
 as many champions of God and the king, whose 
 brethren of the departments inhaled, at a di- 
 stance, the steams of the royal refectory. The 
 court carpenter preferred his useless block from 
 a scarecrow to a saint ; the wax-chandlers con- 
 templated the inevitable re- illumination of all 
 the extinguished candlesticks of every shrine ; 
 days and nights all the gates of all the churches 
 were expanded, whilst their rival shops were 
 shut. Relics rattled together from the four 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 104 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 quarters of the capital to be re-adjusted and re- 
 enshrined by a second St. Louis. But the king 
 might have given their daily bread to his sixty 
 priests, he might have said his thousand masses, 
 he might have devoted his France to the Virgin, 
 or grubbed up his brother's bones; his Antigone 
 might have shut the Sunday shops, or even 
 have gone the greater length of forbidding the 
 masquerade of the mi'Carime (dangerous as re- 
 fusing both bread and shows at once must be 
 to modern Rome), she might cherish the town 
 of Nismes, and its vow of a silver baby for God 
 Almighty, as the lure and promised reward of 
 her conception of a man-child. These offences 
 might have been forgotten or been condemned 
 to ridicule, with the gaiters of his majesty, and 
 the English bonnet of Madame ; but when the 
 people, in the pious propensities of the new 
 court, foresaw the reinvestiture of the clergy, 
 when they saw the barns rebuilding which were 
 to receive a portion of their own bread, and the 
 yery fluctus decumanus of ancient despotism, the 
 fatal tenth wave about to burst upon their heads, 
 the religion of the royal family being likely to 
 prove so chargeable could then no longer be a 
 matter of indifference, or be visited only with 
 contempt. In Paris the decent piety of the 
 king excited only a smile, whilst the sombre su- 
 perstition of the duchess inspired a more se- 
 rious disgust ; but in several of the departments,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 10.5 
 
 the triumphant clergy being more than sus- 
 pected of a conspiracy against the manners, 
 feelings, and properties of the people, had, in 
 conjunction with their coadjutors, the nobles, 
 excited a hatred which was in daily danger of 
 breaking out into, acts of violence. It is un- 
 doubted that the mass of nobles, in many pro- 
 vinces, are indebted for their lives to the return 
 of Napoleon, who, by removing the fears of 
 the lower classes, has also laid asleep their 
 revenge. Lord Chesterfield might fairly say, 
 that a man is neither the better nor the worse 
 for wearing a black coat ; but when that colour 
 denotes a class of persons at variance with, and 
 direct opposition to, all the interests and habits 
 of the community, we must not be surprised 
 that it should be at first unpopular, and at last 
 proscribed. 
 
 It was the opinion of Leslie and Collier, * ' that 
 no man should say ( my parson' or c my chaplain' 
 in any other sense than we say * my king* or * my 
 God''" and they were backed by the whole 
 clergy in convocation. I doubt whether king, 
 peers, and commons, in England, could per- 
 suade our nobility and gentry of the reasonable- 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 106 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 ness of this notion in these days, and certainly 
 it is not amongst the liberal, unambitious, and. 
 enlightened individuals who now compose our 
 ecclesiastical establishment that such a dogma 
 would receive support. 
 
 The French of this day look upon the preten- 
 sions of the clergy as no less obsolete and ridicu- 
 lous than we should the decisions of Collier and 
 the convocation; and these pretensions having 
 every apparent protection of the court, could not 
 but increase their apprehensions of the new sys- 
 tem. The question came home to every man, 
 whether or not the most vexatious and inevitably 
 noxious of the three great privileged orders who 
 divided the oppression of the people with the 
 nobles and the crown, should resume all its rights 
 over the body, soul, and goods, of their fellow- 
 citizens. The protestants were more seriously 
 alarmed at hearing the toleration of Napoleon 
 classed with his many impious institutions, 
 which were gradually to be abolished by the 
 repairing hand of legitimate power. Indeed 
 these dissenters were with little caution desig- 
 nated as the chief partizans of the revolution, 
 and as being by their turn of mind the natural
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 107 
 
 eDemies of government in state as well as 
 church; just as Daniel Burgess and his audience 
 were hooted by Sacheverel's mob as the mur- 
 derers of Charles the First. 
 
 The persecutions consequent upon the resto- 
 ration of another branch of the house of Bour- 
 bon might render the example of his catholic 
 majesty not a little alluring to his brother of 
 Fiance; and a royalist mob, as well in Provence 
 as Castile, might be induced to extol the inqui- 
 sition, or cry out, the cat and nine tails for ever, 
 though the first stroke might be laid upon their 
 own backs. A reported saying of Louis, that 
 his cousin Ferdinand knew how to reign, but 
 was a little too precipitate, did not assure the 
 minds of those who expected the days of dra- 
 gooning to return. I have myself heard it re- 
 gretted by two very respectable nobles that Louis 
 had not acted like Ferdinand. The protestants 
 had already provided themselves with arms, and 
 some scandalous scenes, little to the honour of 
 their respective pastors, and those of the catho- 
 lic faith, were about to ensue, when the return 
 of toleration prevented the impending catas- 
 trophe. Napoleon saved the priests as he 
 saved the nobles. Will you then any longer be 
 inclined to think that the success of the Em- 
 peror must be attributed solely to a previous 
 conspiracy, seconded by the treason and vio- 
 lence of the military bodies ? or indeed attri-
 
 108 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 bute it to any other general cause than the 
 persuasion of the vast majority of the thinking 
 and active part of the nation, that the Bourbons 
 were not suitable to France. I repeat, again and 
 again, there was no conspiracy ; and I add, as 
 before, that Napoleon was the decided pre- 
 ference of the people at the period of the first 
 of March, when they had to choose between 
 the reigning and the abdicated monarch. I 
 do not say that he was the man, who, under 
 every circumstance, would have been their 
 choice. It is impossible that the question 
 should have been brought to a fairer trial be- 
 tween the two parties. If you would hear a 
 few circumstances not generally known relative 
 to the re-occupation of the throne by Napoleon, 
 you must turn to my next.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 109 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Paris, April. 
 The Emperor Alexander was amusing him- 
 self at Vienna at a dressing match with Madame 
 
 , in which the autocrat of all the Russias, 
 
 although he employed only a minute and fifty 
 seconds at this toilet, was beaten by his fair rival 
 by twenty -five seconds ; the King of France 
 was grubbing for the bones of the Dauphin; 
 and the Duchess of Angouleme, having made 
 her uncle promise solemnly at parting that he 
 would abolish the f6te of the mi-careme, was 
 upon a progress with her duke into the south, 
 when Napoleon embarked at Elba with eleA^en 
 hundred and forty-two men, and in twenty days 
 recovered the imperial crown of France. Some 
 circumstances relative to the expedition were 
 related in my presence, the other evening, to 
 General Kosciusko, by Baron the Colonel Ter- 
 manouski, commandant of the Polish lancers 
 of the guard who accompanied the Emperor to 
 Elba, and as they tally with the accounts circu- 
 lated here, both in print and conversation, as 
 well as with the famous bulletin of the Moni-
 
 110 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 teur, I shall venture to give you a short 
 detail of his information. The colonel com- 
 manded at Porto Longone, and had, besides 
 his lancers, about three hundred soldiers in his 
 garrison. Six days before the embarkation the 
 Emperor had sent for him, and enquiring what 
 number of vessels were in his harbour, desired 
 him to hire and provision them on his return, 
 and to prevent all boats from leaving the 
 port. He followed his instructions, and was 
 speedily visited by an Englishman who was de- 
 tained by this measure, and who represented 
 to him, in the most violent terms, that his de- 
 tention was unjust, and might cause a war 
 between Elba and Great Britain. The colonel 
 smiled, represented the inequality of the pow- 
 ers, but still obeyed his instructions. The day 
 before the embarkation he received orders to 
 disburse three or four thousand francs, for 
 making a road, and had almost forgotten the 
 embargo, when, on the 26th of February, whilst 
 he was working in his little garden, an aide-de- 
 camp from the Emperor directed him to em- 
 bark all his men by six o'clock in the evening, 
 and repair to the flotilla off Porto Ferrajo, at a 
 given time the same night. It was so late, that 
 he could not put his soldiers on board before 
 half past seven, at which time he got into a 
 boat, and rowing to the station, arrived at the 
 imperial brig the Inconstant, which was under
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 1 1 1 
 
 sail. On mounting the deck, the Emperor ac- 
 costed him with " comment ce va-t-il ? oil est 
 votre monde?" and, on receiving the answer, 
 said no more. The colonel learned that the 
 little garrison of Porto Ferrajo had not received 
 orders to embark until one o'clock the same 
 day, that they had got on board at four, and 
 that the Emperor, with Bertrand, Drouet, and 
 his staff, arrived at eight, when a single gun 
 gave the signal, and they set sail. The flotilla 
 consisted of the Inconstant of twenty-six guns, 
 L/Etoile, and La Caroline, bombardes, and four 
 feluccas. The soldiers on board the Inconstant 
 were four hundred of the old guard. The co- 
 lonel knew not, and no one appeared to know, 
 whither they were going, but the guard, when 
 drawn out on the beach, had shouted " Paris 
 ou la mort," as if by a presentiment of their de- 
 stination. The wind blew from the south, and 
 at first rather strong, but subsided into a calm, 
 so that by daylight they had made no more 
 than six leagues, and were between Elba and 
 Capraia, in sight of the English and French 
 cruisers. The night, however, had not been 
 totally lost, for during the darkness the soldiers 
 and crew had been let over the sides of the 
 brig, and had entirely changed her painting 
 from yellow and grey to black and white, in 
 order to escape the observation of those who 
 were acquainted with the vessel.
 
 112 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 It was proposed to return to Porto Ferrajo, 
 but Napoleon ordered the flotilla to continue 
 its route, determining, in case of necessity, to 
 attack the French cruisers, two frigates and a 
 brig, which however it was thought would join 
 rather than oppose them. At twelve the same 
 day the wind freshened, and the flotilla, at 
 four o'clock, was off the headland of Leghorn. 
 Three men of war were in sight, and one of 
 them, a brig, bearing down on the Inconstant, 
 the ports were taken up, and some preparations 
 made for action. The guard, however, were 
 ordered to take off their caps and lie down on 
 the deck, Napoleon intending to board the vessel 
 only as a last resource, and in case the Inconstant 
 should not be permitted to pass without a visit. 
 But the Zephyr, so she was called, only passed 
 alongside the brig, and her captain, Andrieux, 
 being hailed by Lieutenant Taillade, who was 
 known to him, only asked whither the Incon- 
 stant was bound — Taillade answered "to Genoa," 
 and wished to know if he could execute any 
 commission for the captain of the Zephyr — An- 
 drieux said no, and at parting cried out " how's 
 the Emperor?" Napoleon himself exclaimed — 
 " wonderfully well" and the ships dropped away 
 from each other. The wind increased during 
 the night of the 27th, and at day-light of the 
 28th the coasts of Provence were in sight. A 
 seventy-four gun ship was seen steering appa-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 113 
 
 rently for Sardinia. The colonel said, that be- 
 fore this time it was generally thought on board 
 that the flotilla was going to Naples. Many 
 questions were put to the officers by the men, 
 and by the officers even to the Emperor, who 
 smiled, and said nothing : at last, however, he 
 exclaimed — "ehbienf c est la France." Imme- 
 diately every body was in activity, and crowded 
 round the Emperor, to hear his intentions. The 
 first step he took was to order two or three of 
 the commissaries of his little army to prepare 
 their pens and paper, which they accordingly 
 got in order, and, resting on the companion, 
 took down, from the Emperor's mouth, the 
 proclamations to the army and to the French *. 
 When these compositions were written they 
 were read aloud ; Napoleon disliked some por- 
 tions of them, and made alterations ; they were 
 again read, and again altered, until after at 
 least ten revisions, he said, " that xvill do, now 
 copy them." At the word, all the soldiers and 
 sailors who could write laid themselves down on 
 the deck, with their paper and implements, and 
 completed a sufficient number forimmediate dis- 
 persion on landing. The next object was the 
 preparation of the tricoloured cockades, which 
 was easily managed, by ripping oft* one of the 
 
 * See Appendix, B. 
 VOL. I. %
 
 114 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 circles of the Elbese cockade, which had, at 
 their first arrival on the island, been even more 
 like the French national colours, but had been 
 changed by the Emperor, who thought it might 
 be the cause of suspicion. During these occu- 
 pations and for the latter part of the voyage, 
 the officers, soldiers, and sailors surrounded 
 Napoleon, who took very little sleep, and 
 was generally on deck. Lying down, sit- 
 ting, standing, and strolling about him, fa- 
 miliarly, they asked him unceasing questions, 
 to which he as unreservedly and without 
 one sign of anger or impatience replied, al- 
 though some were not a little indiscreet, for 
 they required his opinions on many living cha- 
 racters, kings, marshals, and ministers, and 
 discussed notorious passages of his own cam- 
 paigns, and even of his domestic policy. After 
 satisfying or eluding their curiosity, he would 
 himself enter into details of his own conduct, of 
 that of his rivals, or of his friends ; and then, 
 from the examination of contemporary merit, 
 touched upon such historical topics as related 
 more particularly to the military events of mo- 
 dern up to ancient times. All this he did with 
 an easy persuasive eloquence which delighted 
 and instructed his hearers, and, as our colonel 
 added, rendered every word worthy a per- 
 petual record. He talked without disguise of
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 1 1 .5 
 
 his present attempt, of its difficulties, of his 
 means, and of his hopes. He said, "In a 
 case like this, one must think slowly, but act 
 promptly. I have long weighed and most ma- 
 turely considered the project. The glory, the 
 " advantages we shall gain, if we succeed, I need 
 " not enlarge upon. If we fail — to military men, 
 " who have from their infancy faced death in so 
 *•' many shapes, the fate which awaits us is not 
 " terrific : we know, and we despise, for we have 
 " a thousand times faced the worst winch a re- 
 " verse can bring." 
 
 These were nearly the last words which he spoke 
 before his little fleet came to an anchor in the 
 gulf of Juan, and they were delivered with a more 
 set phrase, as a sort of final address to the com- 
 panions of his great enterprise. Antibes had 
 been in sight since mid-day on the 28th, and 
 on the 1st of March, at three o'clock in the 
 afternoon, the flotilla anchored in the bay. 
 A captain and five and twenty men were 
 dispatched to make themselves masters of any 
 battery which might command the landing- 
 place, and the officer finding none, marched 
 without orders to Antibes, which he entered, 
 but was made prisoner by the officer command- 
 ing the garrison. The troops were disembarked 
 by five in the evening, on the beach at Cannes; 
 the Emperor was the last to leave the brig. 
 
 i 2
 
 ] 16 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Napoleon took some refreshment and repose in 
 a bivouac, which was prepared for him in a mea- 
 dow surrounded by olive trees, near the shore, 
 where there is now a small column raised to 
 commemorate the event, and where thev 
 shew the table on which he was served. 
 The Emperor previously calling Termanouski, 
 asked him if he knew what cavalry horses had 
 been embarked at Elba ? the colonel told him, 
 he knew nothing of the matter, and that he 
 himself had not brought one. " Well," replied 
 Napoleon, " I have brought four horses ; let us 
 " divide them. I fear I must have one : as vou 
 
 command my cavalry, you must have another. 
 
 Bertrand, Drouot, and Cambrone must settle 
 " about the other two as well as they can." The 
 horses had been landed some way farther down, 
 so that the bivouac being broken up, Napoleon 
 and his staff proceeded to the spot on foot. The 
 Emperor walked alone, interrogating some pea- 
 sants whom he met. Termanouski and the ge- 
 nerals followed, carrying their own saddles. 
 When they found the horses, Bertrand, the 
 grand marshal, refused to take one; he said he 
 would walk. Drouot followed his example. 
 Cambrone and Molat were the other two 
 mounted officers. The Emperor then gave 
 Colonel Termanouski a handful of Napoleons, 
 and ordered him to procure some horses for 

 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 117 
 
 immediate use. The colonel bought fifteen, 
 giving any thing the peasants asked. These 
 were harnessed to three pieces of cannon which 
 were brought from Elba, and to a coach, given 
 to her brother by the Princess Pauline. News 
 came of the failure at Antibes. " We have made 
 " a bad beginning," said the Emperor; "but we 
 " have nothing to do but to march as fast as we 
 f* can, and get to the passes before the news of 
 " our arrival." The moon rose, and Napoleon, 
 with his invading army, moved forwards at 
 eleven o'clock. They marched all night : the 
 peasants of the villages through which they 
 passed said nothing — they stared, shrugged up 
 their shoulders, and shook their heads, when 
 they were told the Emperor was returned. At 
 Grasse, a town of 6000 inhabitants, where there 
 was a report that pirates had landed, every 
 thing was in a state of alarm. Shops and win- 
 dows were shut, and the crowds in the street, 
 notwithstanding the national cockade, and the 
 shouts of Vive V Empereur, suffered the troops 
 to march without a word or sign either of dis- 
 approbation or approval. They halted for an 
 hour on a hill above the town, and the soldiers 
 began to look at each other with an air of doubt 
 and dissatisfaction ; when on a sudden a body 
 of the townspeople were seen coming towards 
 them with provisions, and crying, Vive VEmpe*
 
 118 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 reurf From this moment the people of the 
 country seemed satisfied that the Emperor had 
 landed, and his march was rather a triumph 
 than an invasion. The cannons and the car- 
 riage were left at Grasse ; and, as the roads 
 were steep and bad in the course of this first 
 march, which was twenty leagues, (for they 
 reached the village of Cerenon in the evening 
 of the 2d,) the Emperor frequently walked on 
 foot with his grenadiers, whom, when they 
 complained of their hardships, he called his 
 grumblers, and who laughed at him when he 
 stumbled and fell. The familiar appellations 
 by which he was known to his soldiers at this 
 time were Notre petit tojidu, and Jean de t'epee; 
 and he frequently heard these names repeated 
 in a half whisper, as he was scrambling up the 
 ascents amidst his veterans. He slept at Bareme 
 on the third, and dined at Digne on the fourth : 
 it was either here or at Castellan, as the co- 
 lonel said, that Napoleon endeavoured to per- 
 suade the landlord of the inn at which he stop- 
 ped to cry Vive VEmpereur! and when the 
 man positively refused, and exclaimed, on the 
 contrary, Vive le Roi ! so far from being angry, 
 praised his loyalty, and only asked him to drink 
 his health, to which mine host acceded. 
 
 At Digne the proclamations to the army and 
 to the French people were printed, and circu-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 119 
 
 l&ted with such rapidity throughout Dauphiny, 
 that, on his route, Napoleon found the towns 
 and villages ready to receive him. As yet, 
 however, only one soldier had joined him, 
 a grenadier, whom Colonel Termanouski met 
 on the road ; and, informing him of the at- 
 tempt in which he was engaged, endeavoured 
 to persuade into the service. The soldier being 
 told that the Emperor was advancing, laughed 
 heartily, and said, " Good ! I shall have some- 
 thing to tell at home to-night." He was with 
 some difficulty convinced that the colonel was 
 not in jest; but when he believed him, consented 
 readily to enlist. " Where shall you sleep to- 
 night ?" said he to the officer ; and on being 
 told, rejoined, " My mother lives three leagues 
 hence 4 I must take leave of her ; but will be 
 with you to-night." Termanouski was accosted 
 some time after arriving in his quarters that 
 evening, by his recruit, who tapped him on the 
 shoulder, and would not be satisfied until pro- 
 mised that the Emperor should be instantly in- 
 formed that Melon the grenadier had kept his 
 word, and had joined fortunes with his ancient 
 master. Napoleon slept at Gap on the fifth, 
 attended only by ten cavalry soldiers and forty 
 grenadiers. The fortresses and bridge of Siste- 
 ron were the same day occupied by General Cam- 
 brone, at the head of forty grenadiers. But Melon
 
 120 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 was the only recruit; so that the inhabitants of 
 the towns and villages, particularly at St. Bonnet, 
 wished to sound the tocsin, and rise in mass to 
 accompany the little army ; and notwithstanding 
 they were refused, almost blocked up the roads, 
 and impeded the march by pressing round the 
 Emperor, who sometimes walked on foot. On 
 the 6th, Napoleon slept at Gap, and General 
 Cambrone, with his forty, at Mure, towards 
 which place the advanced guard of the garrison 
 of Grenoble of 6000 men had marched to stop 
 their further progress, and refused to parley 
 with the general. Colonel Termanouski being 
 on the advance, saw a body, of troops with a 
 white flag drawn up in a defile near Vizille. 
 He attempted to parley, but an officer ad- 
 vancing towards him, cried out, "Retire, I 
 can have no communication with you : keep 
 your distance; my men will fire." The 
 colonel tried to pacify him, telling him, 
 it was with the Emperor Napoleon that he 
 would have to speak, not with himself. But 
 the officer still threatened, and gave the same 
 answer to Raoul, an aide-de-camp of the staff, 
 so that the colonel returned to the Emperor, 
 and reported his failure. Napoleon said to Ter- 
 manouski, smiling, M If that is the case, I must 
 try what I can do myself." He dismounted; 
 and ordering about fifty of his grenadiers to 

 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 121 
 
 advance, with arms reversed, walked quietly 
 towards the defile, where he found a battalion 
 of the 5th of the line, a company of sappers, 
 and another of miners, amounting in all to 
 seven or eight hundred men, drawn up to 
 oppose him. The officer commanding conti- 
 nued to vociferate, sometimes against the Em- 
 peror, calling out, it is an impostor, it is not he; 
 and sometimes against his troops, ordering them 
 to fire. The troops were silent and motionless; 
 for an instant it appeared they were about to 
 raise their muskets, when Napoleon, halting his 
 grenadiers, walked calmly up to the battalion, 
 and, when close to the line, stopped short in the 
 front, looked steadfastly at them, and throwing 
 open his outer coat, exclaimed, " It is /, recog- 
 " nize me I If there be amongst you one soldier 
 " who would kill his Emperor, now is his time.'* 
 They were vanquished at once ; and with re- 
 peated shouts of " long live the Emperor ," rushed 
 forward to embrace the guard. 
 
 Another informant assured me, that imme- 
 diately after his speech, Napoleon walked to a 
 grenadier who had his musket presented, and 
 taking hold of one his mustachios, said, Et toi, 
 vieille mustache, tu a ete avec nous d Marengo! 
 The colonel did not tell me this ; but the story 
 is current at Paris, and it is certain that the 
 5th regiment had served under Napoleon in
 
 122 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Italy. The principal action is undoubted, and 
 will be ever recognized as one of that kind, 
 which, in all ages and nations, has decided 
 under what master we ordinary mortals are to 
 live. It is made the subject of one of the 
 several engravings which now record the most 
 singular passages in this late great transaction. 
 Napoleon did well to thank the battalion of the 
 5th, and the two companies, in his speech at the 
 review of the 26th of March in the Tuileries ; 
 in their hands were his life and destinies, and 
 their return to their former general was con- 
 sidered by all his followers a decisive sign, 
 that their master had not been deceived — that 
 the army was still his own. The tricoloured 
 cockade was assumed by the new reinforce- 
 ments, who ranged themselves round the im- 
 perial eagles amidst the acclamations of the 
 Elbese army, and that of the population of 
 Vizille. Advancing towards Grenoble, the 
 Colonel Termanouski was met by an officer 
 on full gallop, who said, " I salute you on the 
 part of the Colonel Henry Labedoyere." The 
 colonel soon arrived at the head of the 4th 
 regiment of hussars, carrying an eagle, which 
 had been hidden in the military chest. The 
 garrison of Grenoble had been augmented by a 
 part of the 7th and the 11th regiments of the 
 line, selected on purpose, as not being ac-
 
 LETTERS FROM TARIS. 123 
 
 quainted with the Emperor's person, and sent 
 from Chamberri. General Marchand, com- 
 manding the place, was faithful to the king. 
 The regular force was composed of the 7th and 
 11th, 2000 of the third regiment of engineers, 
 two battalions of the 5th, and the 4th of the 
 artillery of the line, in which last regiment 
 Napoleon had been raised to the command 
 of a company twenty-five years ago. The 7th 
 regiment marched out of the town at four in 
 the afternoon to meet the invaders, but were 
 ordered back by General Marchand. The 
 whole force was ranged on the ramparts ; tlte 
 cannon were loaded, and the matches lighted ; 
 the national guards were drawn out in the rear 
 of the regular troops, and were themselves 
 backed by the mass of the population of Gre- 
 noble. The gates were shut at half past eight. 
 Termanouski, with eight polish lancers, pre- 
 sented himself at the gate of Bonne, just 
 as Napoleon entered the suburbs. He de- 
 manded the keys, and was answered, that 
 General Marchand had secured them ; but, 
 at the same time, the garrison and the can- 
 noniers, instead of firing as they were ordered, 
 shouted Vive V Emperettr, and were joined by 
 all the inhabitants on the ramparts and those of 
 the suburbs, who now approached with axes 
 and began to beat down the gate. The keys
 
 124 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 were sent just as the gate was driven in ; and 
 the advanced guard, entering the town, were 
 met by a crowd with torches, issuing out to 
 meet Napoleon, who was soon seen walking 
 alone, and some paces before his troops. The 
 colonel told us that the crowd rushed upon 
 him, threw themselves before him, seized his 
 hands and knees, kissed his feet, and gave way 
 to every demonstration of unbounded trans- 
 port. The mayor and many of the municipality 
 would have accompanied him to the town- 
 house, but he slipped aside into the inn of one 
 Labarre, an old soldier of his guard, and was 
 there for some time completely lost to his staff, 
 who became so much alarmed, that Terma- 
 nouski and Bertrand, after many efforts, push- 
 ed their way into the room, and found the Em- 
 peror, unaccompanied by a single soldier, in the 
 midst of a crowd, who were thronging about 
 him in every direction to see, to speak to, and 
 to touch him. The officers succeeded for a 
 moment or two in clearing the room, and placed 
 tables and chairs against the door, to prevent 
 another irruption, but without success ; for the 
 crowd burst in a second time, and the Emperor 
 was nearly two hours in their hands unattended 
 by a single guard. It was during this period 
 that the gate of Bonne was brought under the 
 window of the inn by a vast body of people,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 125 
 
 who cried out, " Napoleon, ice could not offer 
 you the keys of your good town of Grenoble, but 
 here are the gales" 
 
 The next day Napoleon received all the civil 
 and military departments, reviewed his troops, 
 and left Grenoble amidst the acclamations not 
 only of the citizens, but of a large body of the 
 neighbouring peasantry. He thanked them for 
 their attachment in a printed address to the de- 
 partment of the Isere. The garrison of Greno- 
 ble marched immediately towards Lyons, having 
 hoisted their tricoloured cockades, which, it is 
 true, were found sewed in the bottom of their 
 caps. Napoleon now got into a carriage which 
 generally went a foot pace, and was not unfre- 
 quently impeded in its route, not only in the 
 towns, but in the roads, by the crowds, who press- 
 ed by the side and loaded it with flow r ers and 
 congratulatory addresses or petitions. The car- 
 riage sometimes was attended by half a dozen 
 hussars, and others was without a single guard, 
 and generally three leagues distant from any 
 body of troops. On the 9th, Napoleon slept at 
 Bourgoin, the same day that Monsieur, the 
 Duke of Orleans, and the Count of Damas, ar- 
 rived at Lyons, assembled the national guards, 
 reinforced the garrison, and barricaded the 
 bridges of the Rhone. The efforts of Mon- 
 sieur to gain the soldiery and the people
 
 126 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 were totally useless ; his kindness, his caresses, 
 were received in silence, or repulsed : stories, 
 not worth repeating, are told of some piti- 
 less repartees and replies made to his ad- 
 vances. The soldiers drew back even from 
 the proffered hand of their royal general, who 
 asked them, in accents of despair, " What he 
 had done to lose, what he could do to regain, 
 their favour V* Not a cry of Vive le Roi replied 
 to the similar shouts of the mounted national 
 guard, who escorted his royal highness. Mar- 
 shal Macdonald arrived, and still continued to 
 prepare for defending the passage of the Rhone, 
 which the Emperor had ordered Marshal Ber- 
 trand to pass at Mirbell, so as to cut off the 
 retreat of the princes to Macon. Two battalions 
 were marched at three in the afternoon to the 
 bridge of the suburb la Guillotiere ; but no 
 sooner saw the 4th hussars preceded by the 
 population of that suburb, than they joined in 
 the common cry, and assisted in throwing the 
 barricades into the Rhone. The prince, and 
 Marshal Macdonald, now retired from the 
 town ; at five the garrison marched to the same 
 bridge to receive the Emperor; the imperial 
 army entered Lyons at seven; and Napoleon 
 himself, having countermanded the passage of 
 Mirbell, arrived on horseback at nine o'clock, 
 attended not by his guard, but a vast concourse
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 127 
 
 of the people of the suburbs and surrounding 
 country. The next morning the Emperor re- 
 viewed the garrison as well as the mounted 
 national guard, composed chiefly of nobles of 
 the Lyonnais, who, after a thousand protesta- 
 tions of devotion in the morning, had suffered 
 Monsieur to leave the place in the evening, 
 attended only by a single dragoon; and the 
 day after requested the Emperor to permit 
 them to guard his person. Napoleon's answer 
 is one of the extraordinary traits of character 
 which distinguished and are recorded of his 
 progress to his capital. " Your conduct," he 
 replied to these faithful servants of the Bour- 
 bons, " to the Count D' Artois tells me how vou 
 " would behave to me in case of a reverse. I 
 
 " thank you for your offer you will return 
 
 " immediately to your homes." The dragoon 
 who did not abandon the prince was rewarded 
 with the cross of the legion of honour by the 
 Emperor upon his arrival at Paris. Napoleon 
 remained ten days at Lyons, and dated from 
 that town those decrees, by which it was clear 
 that he considered himself as again in posses- 
 sion of the imperial throne. His reception in 
 the second town of France justified this pre- 
 sumption. He mixed with the people in the 
 streets, and at the ball which was given to him 
 at the townhouse, with the same unsuspicious
 
 128 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 confidence which had marked his former pro- 
 gress, and which was no less apparent during his 
 advance upon the capital. This advance was 
 continued under the same circumstances as 
 had distinguished his approach to Lyons. He 
 travelled often alone, or only escorted by a few 
 Polish lancers, accompanied by the peasants on 
 the roads, and surrounded by the citizens of the 
 towns. Macon, according to Colonel Terma- 
 nouski, was the only town at which he was 
 obliged to ask for the residence of the Empe- 
 rer ; in every other place it was sufficiently 
 known by a concourse shouting before the im- 
 perial quarters. At Autun, where he slept on 
 the 15th, and at Avalon, where he passed the 
 next night almost unattended, he was received 
 with transport. He arrived at Auxerre on 
 the 17th; there he was joined by Ney, whose 
 troops had declared for him on the J 3th, and 
 also by the 14th regiment, who marched from 
 Orleans, and continued their route to Paris, at 
 which they arrived in six days and a half. 
 He received also the news that the 6th 
 lancers had hoisted the tri-coloured cock- 
 ade, and had occupied Montereau. Here he 
 embarked the Elbese, and the principal part of 
 his army, which now amounted to four divisions, 
 on the Yonne, and travelled in his carriage 
 towards Fontainbleau : he generally changed
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 129 
 
 his horses on the outside of the town, that he 
 might not be impeded by the crowd. He did 
 this at Sens, where he was followed, however, 
 and harangued by the mayor and municipality 
 without the walls. He arrived at Fontainbleau 
 at four on the morning of the 20th of March. 
 There he reviewed a regiment of lancers in that 
 court-yard, in which, eleven months ago, he had 
 bid adieu to his army and to France. At seven, 
 he learnt that Louis had fled from Paris; and at 
 twelve, his army having arrived from Auxerre, 
 he departed for the capital. Besides the troops of 
 Elba, Grenoble, Lyons, and Lons le Saulnier, 
 .the Emperor's force had been augmented by a 
 large body of officers of every rank; who, since 
 his entry into Grenoble, had from all quarters 
 joined the old guard, and formed themselves into 
 what they called a sacred battalion: a great 
 number of soldiers on half pay, or on leave, or 
 dismissed, flocked also to the imperial standard. 
 The peasants could with difficulty be pre- 
 vented from marching with the army to Paris. 
 The Emperor was met near Essonne by Count 
 , formerly his aide-de-camp, who 
 brought a superb carriage and six horses for 
 him, as did many others of his partisans, to 
 favour his entry into the capital. This was at 
 six in the evening; Napoleon, however, re- 
 mained in his travelling carriage, drawn by post- 
 vol. i. #
 
 f 
 
 130 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 -fiorses, and unaccompanied, except by a crowd 
 <of generals and other officers, which prevented 
 even his chariot from being seen. He entered 
 Paris by the Boulevards neufs.' The royal army, 
 that had marched to oppose him in the morning, 
 joined him near the gates of Paris; but the 
 brilliant imposing scene described in the 
 journals as occurring at Melun, did not take 
 place. The five thousand young nobles of 
 the royal body guard, who had taken leave of 
 their friends in the morning, to fly to their 
 posts and cover their king and their capital, 
 were seen in the saloons in the evening, and 
 told, how, finding themselves in their respective 
 positions without any men to command, they 
 had thought it advisable to be themselves the 
 heralds of their retreat, and of their submission 
 to the new order of things. Napoleon came 
 through the gate of the Tuileries opposite the 
 Pont royal, and alighted at the palace at eleven 
 o'clock — a crowd of officers rushed upon him 
 — in an instant he was carried off his legs 
 — his hat fell off, and he was borne upon 
 the shoulders of the eager multitude up the 
 great staircase into his apartments, where he 
 was welcomed by some ladies of his former 
 «ourt; one of whom, the most beautiful of the 
 party, in a transport of delight, threw her arms 
 round his neck, and burst into tears. From
 
 IETTERS FROM PARIS. 131 
 
 Cannes to Paris is a computed march of forty- 
 five days. The old guard, who left Essonne at 
 two on the morning of the 21st, and arrived early 
 enough for the review of the same day, were not 
 half that time on their journey. It is a piece of 
 common-place, but very true, to say, that history 
 furnishes no example of a similar journey per- 
 formed by any armed force, either in ancient or 
 modern times. The Elbese battalion of the 
 guard were individually rewarded with the 
 cross of the legion of honour, which is by no 
 means an insignificant distinction, as it confers 
 on the lowest class a pension of more than two 
 hundred francs, and entitles the bearer to the 
 presentation of arms by every sentinel. The 
 feeling with which this last honour is given and 
 received, is no less gratifying to the man that 
 pays, than to him who obtains the notice. The 
 private soldier finds himself honoured in the 
 attention shown to one of his own rank, dis- 
 tinguished only by a merit which he himself 
 may with justice hope to emulate. He is, there- 
 fore, the more anxious to preserve every form 
 and punctuality in this mark of deference, which 
 his comrade, as it comes from an equal, is anxi- 
 ous to receive with proportionate respect. The 
 mutual pride of the soldier-knight and the sol- 
 dier-sentinel gives rise to a sentiment of self- 
 
 K 2
 
 132 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 respect, the diffusion of which is alone suffici- 
 ent to discipline an army ; and of what service 
 this institution has proved in the corps to which 
 it has been most particularly applied, may be 
 seen by the confession of the Abb6 Montes- 
 quiou, from whom, in his speech to the cham- 
 ber of deputies on the 14th, was wrung the 
 flattering confession, that, " during ten months 
 of peace, in the corps of the old guard quartered 
 at Metz, amounting to five thousand men, not 
 a single officer or soldier had been reprimanded 
 even once." Yet this guard, " which reserved to 
 itself the glory of being the model and the "ex- 
 ample of armies," is now condemned as a body 
 of traitors, without one atom of honourable mo- 
 tive to exempt them from universal abhorrence 
 and disgust. It is impossible to deny that the 
 king's troops violated their oaths to Louis, as 
 the English army on Hounslow Heath did to 
 James ; but this violation is of a nature that 
 leaves its final denomination to be determined by 
 events, which alone will shew whether their defec- 
 tion from the faith is to be styled a heresy or a 
 reformation. An Englishman may not suspect that 
 Marshal Ney furnishes aparallel that may turnout 
 complete, if Napoleon succeeds, with the hero of 
 Blenheim — with his own Marlborough, all of 
 whose victories were not together so service-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 133 
 
 able to his country as the single action, for 
 which, in other circumstances, he would have 
 suffered infamy and death — the desertion of his 
 patron and his king. You may be assured, that 
 the conduct of General Churchill, and the army, 
 and the people of England, was not for some 
 years found out to have been expedient, and just, 
 and glorious; but was characterized in terms 
 of reprobation similar to those of which we are 
 now so liberal, when speaking of our cotem- 
 poraries on this side of the channel. Indeed, 
 the portrait formerly drawn of a certain Chris- 
 tian nation by the hand of a master, so exactly 
 tallies with that which we and our worthy 
 allies attach to Frenchmen at this moment, that 
 I venture to hint, that we may, without any 
 prejudice to our honourable feelings, entertain 
 some doubt of the infallibility and justice of 
 those who designate the readoption of the Em- 
 peror by the troops and the people as an ex- 
 ample of perjury and treason, altogether unpa- 
 ralleled, and too base to be justified upon any 
 principle of expediency. You see, in what fol- 
 lows, as much horror at perjury, treachery, oath- 
 breaking, and treason, as could be found in a let- 
 ter of Lord Castlereagh's, or of our gracious 
 Regent's to King Louis. "As you have ex- 
 perience to know your subjects, so J know them by 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 134 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 their character, and do believe them to he a peo- 
 ple of no faith, no honour, and no honesty, zvhom 
 no promise can oblige, nor oath can bind. They 
 have sxvorn allegiance to you, and since ac- 
 cepted of for their king, 
 
 and swear allegiance to him. How this swear- 
 ing to both can be reconciled I cannot under- 
 stand : but let them swear what they will, I 
 should not believe them, nor put any more value 
 upon their oath than they do themselves, zvhich 
 is nothing at all. Neither do I understand how 
 you can be assured of them that have no other 
 assurance to give you of their future fidelity but 
 their oaths, which are worth as much now as when 
 they broke with your majesty last. It is out of 
 my reach to put any trust in such people, neither 
 would I have you confide in them ; for I doubt 
 much of their integrity*." 
 
 And who, think you, are thus described ? 
 Why, our English ancestors of that period, 
 which to our eyes is the most glorious of our 
 history. It is true that his majesty, the most 
 Christian King, at whose charge the said na- 
 tion were to be punished for their patriotic 
 
 * See A short and true Relation of Intrigues transacted 
 both at home and abroad, to restore the late King James : 
 Lord Somers's Tracts, Vol. xi. p. 10Q.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 135 
 
 fault, had some little right to abuse them to his 
 brother James, who had no great reason to be 
 pleased with the direction taken by English ho- 
 nour ; and the ministry of our times being de- 
 termined to undertake a similar duty, may in- 
 dulge in similar strains. Let them ! but let not 
 you and me, who are averse to their unjust 
 interference, join in their unreasonable cla- 
 mour. 
 
 We should consider, besides, that the renewal 
 of the oath by the Parisian army is not so much 
 to be charged to. their treachery, as to the last 
 struggles and manoeuvres of the falling dynasty. 
 There was no middle conduct, for them to pur- 
 sue, between an accession to the proposed oath, 
 and an open resistance and violence perhaps to 
 the persons of the Bourbon princes, which, as 
 the utmost care was taken to deceive the capital 
 as to the real strength of the invading Emperor, 
 was not to be expected, and surely will not be re- 
 gretted. The assurances of devotion transmitted 
 from the departmental posts were the work of the 
 royalist officers lately enrolled, and if they did 
 not remain faithful, the disgrace is with them, 
 if even they are not to be excused upon the 
 universal revolt of the soldiery, which in 
 some measure released them from their oaths. 
 There are circumstances under which the
 
 136 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 obligation of an oath, military or civil, ceases at 
 once; and when that expressed or implied con- 
 sent of a people to submit to authority, in 
 conformity to which alone any oath can be 
 taken, is clearly withdrawn, not only is that 
 oath, however recent in its date, or solemn in 
 its form and nature, necessarily annulled, but 
 fidelity to our king becomes treason to our coun- 
 try. Without meaning to say that there is an 
 exact parity in the adventures of Napoleon and 
 William the Third, I do assert that the present 
 outcry against the troops, who have rather re- 
 covered than deserted their standards, by rang- 
 ing themselves under the imperial eagles, and 
 again displaying the tricoloured cockade, would 
 come with better grace and propriety from any 
 other nation than from the one which is now 
 enjoying all the benefits that can result from the 
 desertion of a despot. 
 
 Before I close this letter I cannot help men- 
 tioning, that Napoleon, notwithstanding the 
 fatigues of his late journey, to which some repose 
 might have been granted, did not retire to rest 
 until midnight, and was transacting business by 
 four o'clock the next morning. At one in the 
 afternoon of the 21st he reviewed the army of 
 Paris and the gaurd of Elba. From the time of 
 his arrival he has never laboured less than fifteen
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 137 
 
 hours a day. His frame of adamant alone could 
 support the incessant toil of body and mind of 
 this extraordinary mortal, who, when fatigued, 
 was accustomed at Elba (so Captain ■ re- 
 
 ports) to ride hard for three or four hours — 
 pour se delasser. 
 
 Note 1. — The reader may add to the above remarks on the 
 comparison between the landing at Torbay andat Cannes, that 
 if some circumstances are more favourable to William than 
 to Napoleon, there are others which tend to the preference 
 of the latter exploit. The expedition of the Prince of Orange 
 was not entirely English : that of the Emperor was exclu- 
 sively French, both in its design and execution. The pa- 
 rallel between Ney and Churchill is altogether to the advan- 
 tage of the former, inasmuch as the English general deserted 
 from his patron, benefactor, and friend, but the French 
 marshal to his protector, benefactor, and former chief. 
 
 Note 2. — Some English travellers visited Napoleon's palace 
 at Elba soon after his departure, and found his establishment, 
 his library, his apartment, and his furniture, exactly in the 
 state he had left them. His old housekeeper, who had followed 
 him through all his vicissitudes of fortune, was in the greatest 
 distress, not about herself, but for his safety and success'. 
 Her unaffected expressions of attachment, and artless report 
 of his uniform good humour, were better refutations of the 
 hideous pictures drawn of his domestic manners than vo- 
 lumes written by the flatterers who so long attended and dis- 
 graced'his court. His library was strewn with written pa- 
 pers torn into small bits, and on the table was lying open a 
 life of Charles V., which he had been reading the night before 
 he embarked. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 \o$ LETTERS FROM PARTS. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Paris, April — .. 
 
 The utmost celerity, courage, and address 
 on one side might, perhaps, have failed to bring 
 about the late events, had there not been an 
 excess of delay, imbecility, and weakness on the 
 other. It was not until the 5th of March that 
 the debarkation of Napoleon was known at the 
 Tuileries ; and it was then judged expedient to 
 circulate that the king was indisposed, instead 
 of informing the capital of this strange fact, 
 which was not announced until the 7th, when 
 the Moniteur contained the convocation of the 
 chambers, and an oxdonnance of the king, pro- 
 claiming Napoleon and his adherents traitors. 
 The Moniteur of the next day gave a telegraphic 
 dispatch, and a few details relative to the land- 
 ing at Cannes : and Generel Desolies made an 
 appeal to the national guard. Whether the royal 
 family were themselves deceived, or merely 
 thought it politic to conceal the extent of their 
 apprehensions, is uncertain; but every official 
 report relative to the advance of Napoleon was
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 139 
 
 garbled or kept back to the latest moment. The 
 bulletin in the Moniteur of the 9th gave an ac- 
 count of the advance to Grasse, but said that Na- 
 poleon's soldiers were selling their cartridges, 
 and that the best spirit reigned every where. 
 The Duke of Dalmatia published an address to 
 the army. Sixty-nine deputies met on the 8th, and 
 addressed the king the next day. The peers met 
 on the 9th, and also addressed his majesty. Some 
 of the court, however, at once foresaw the con- 
 sequence of the landing, as if conscious of the 
 apathy of the people and their disinclination to 
 
 the royal throne. The Duke of , meeting a 
 
 friend of mine the day the news was published, 
 exclaimed — Mon ami, tout est perdu! Yet such 
 was the infatuation of others, that, at the Thurs- 
 day s court, when the intelligence had reached 
 Paris that Napoleon was at Lyons, the pleasantry 
 of the day was, that as the monster would cer- 
 tainly be caught and caged, it might create 
 some embarrassment to know where to confine 
 him, unless he were domiciliated amongst his 
 brother beasts in the Garden of Plants. The 
 garrison of Paris and the national guards were 
 reviewed by the Duke of Berri and the king on 
 the 9th, and various addresses began to appear 
 in the Moniteur. Marshal Moncey made an 
 appeal to the gens d'armes of the kingdom. In
 
 140 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the Moniteur of the 11th, to the great surprise 
 of Paris, it was said that Bonaparte would sleep 
 at Lyons on the 10th : but up to the 12th it 
 was asserted that the Elbese army had not been 
 joined, except by some desperate individuals. 
 On that day a confession was made that some 
 defection had appeared at Laon, but had failed 
 to delude the garrison. Marshal Soult, how- 
 ever, resigned, and the Duke of Feltre was ap- 
 pointed in his place. The best accounts came 
 from Marseilles. The soldiers and officers on 
 half pay, or on leave, were ordered to join their 
 regiments by an ordonnance of the 1 1th. The 
 chancellor gave an account of the progress of Bo- 
 naparte in his speech to the peers, and allowed 
 that his emissaries might succeed to lessen the 
 means of defence. The next day appeared a pro- 
 clamation from the king to the people, and another 
 to the army ; as well as the order for forming bat- 
 talions of royal volunteers : still it was said, that 
 every thing wore a favourable aspect ; and ad- 
 dresses poured in from all quarters. The Duke of 
 Feltre ended a long speech on the 13th, by assur- 
 ing the peers that the dispatches were parfaite- 
 ment rassur antes ; but nothing was said of Lyons. 
 The president Laisne told the deputies that every 
 one was at his post, and that all France was armed 
 against the traitor. The Moniteur of the next
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. ] 41 
 
 day, (the 14th,) contained information " that a 
 functionary in the Ardennes had been deprived 
 of his office for pronouncing the forfeiture of 
 some national property;* and a motion was 
 made in the deputies, " to make proper provision 
 for the widows and orphans of the officers of 
 the legion of honour." The bait was too ridi- 
 culous. On the fifteenth the Moniteur declared 
 that Bonaparte was at Lyons, with a harassed 
 diminished force of 4000, and some few cavalry; 
 that he was isolated as it were in the midst of 
 France, and that the deputies which arrived 
 from all parts of the country brought the most 
 consolatory accounts of the spirit of the depart- 
 ments. The royal volunteers continued to in- 
 scribe themselves in numbers, that increased 
 daily. The king declared that he trusted to the 
 old guard, under the command of Marshal Oudi- 
 not, with the most entire unreserve; and the 
 Abb6 Montesquiou assured the chamber, that 
 every account from the armies w T as of the most 
 favourable nature. Marshal Ney was marching 
 upon Lyons to fight the invader. The garri- 
 sons of La Fere, Lille, and Antibes, received the 
 thanks of the legislature, as also did the Marshal 
 Duke of Treviso, and Marshal Macdonald, 
 the latter of whom refused this tribute for 
 nothing done, in an angry letter to the president 
 Laisn£, who kept back the communication, but
 
 142 letters from £aris* 
 
 was obliged to produce it the next day. On the 
 16th it was said that some troubles had been ex- 
 cited atMacon,Chalons,Tournus, and Dijon, and 
 the department of the Aube, but only amongst 
 the dregs of the populace ; a term which, by this 
 time, must be fully appreciated. These dregs, 
 indeed, were all that were left of the people 
 after the purer nobles had run away. The re* 
 port of the 16th assured the Parisians that 
 Napoleon was retreating upon Lyons, and that 
 his troops were deserting him in whole masses. 
 The following day it was said that he was di- 
 recting his flying forces towards Dijon, pursued 
 by Marshal Ney. Nothing was told of the re- 
 treat of the princes from Lyons ; but the Count 
 of Artois appointed a review for the 16th, to form 
 " the legion of the colonel-general," of such 
 as wished to serve with the line. The king held 
 the royal sitting of the chambers on the 16th, 
 and asked them "what he could better do at 
 sixty years of age than die for the defence of 
 his country." A ridiculous scene took place be- 
 tween him and Monsieur, who then, for the 
 first time, swore to maintain the charter. On 
 the 17th the defection of the army of reserve at 
 Lons le Saulnier was known ; from that moment 
 the success of the invader was no longer doubted 
 by any one not blinded by the falsities or the 
 hopes of the court, which commenced its pro-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 14$ 
 
 fession of the necessity of speaking truth, by 
 uttering on the 1 8th a falsehood, which could 
 only prove most ruinous to the cause ; namely, 
 that the desertion continued in an astonishing 
 manner in the troops of Napoleon, particu- 
 larly in the cavalry, of which there remained 
 only three hundred men, and that Grenoble, 
 and probably Lyons, had thrown off his mo* 
 mentary yoke. However, the Marshal Duke 
 of Tarentum was appointed to the command 
 of the army for the defence of Paris, and Count 
 Maison ordered the garrison of the capital " to 
 prepare for action." The confidential whisper 
 hinted, that the determination of the new mi- 
 nister of warwas to suffer Napoleon to advance to 
 the gates of Paris, and there attack him, when 
 beyond all hope of retreat, with the united forces 
 of the king's household, the national guard, 
 the royal volunteers, the troops of the first 
 military division, and garrison of Paris. No- 
 thing official was told of the desertion of Ney. 
 The Duke of Berri had been named general of 
 this army on the llth, having under him Mar- 
 shal Macdonald. The duke presumed to tell 
 the marshal at first that he should place him on 
 his staff. Macdonald answered, that he was 
 ready to command under his royal highness, 
 but that his rank would not allow of his taking: 
 a staff appointment. Upon which the prince is
 
 144 LITTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 said to have hinted that he would not have 
 given such an answer to Bonaparte. " Perhaps 
 not," was the reply, " but your royal highness 
 is not Bonaparte." A similar story is told of a 
 Dutch ambassador, who informed Charles the 
 Second that Oliver Cromwell was quite a dif- 
 ferent sort of man from his majesty. 
 
 The marshal advised the duke to confide in 
 the volunteer force, and not to expect that the 
 regular regiments would fire against their old 
 general ; but the prince, who had other notions 
 of his ability to command, and thought himself 
 degraded by being put at the head of a volunteer 
 corps, received the advice with displeasure. 
 Hence his expression in the intercepted letter 
 written to his father — " I do not like Mac- 
 donald*." 
 
 The advice of General Dessolles to unite the 
 citizens with the soldiers was alike unattended 
 to, in order, now say the king's friends, to 
 spare the people; as if a man, who brings 
 1, 100,000 men against his people, wishes to 
 spare them. 
 
 The prince was aware afterwards of his 
 mistake, and confessed his opinion in the hear- 
 ing of my informant at Menin, that if Paris 
 
 * We may believe the report, that this same poor prince, 
 whose aversion rises with his obligations, has since the second 
 restoration designated the Duke of Wellington as a parvenu.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 145 
 
 had held out until the arrival of the volunteers 
 of the north, all would have been saved. He was 
 also in that point wrong, but he at least acknow- 
 ledged a former error. The Duke of Bourbon 
 was sent into the west, notwithstanding the 
 king is said to have refused to raise La Ven- 
 dee. Full powers of enrolment were transmitted 
 to the Duke of Angouleme in the south. The 
 Duke of Orleans was charged with a mission 
 to Peronne, where an army of reserve was to 
 act under Marshal Mortier. So much had been 
 said of the fidelity of the soldiers, particularly of 
 the imperial guard, by the king's ministers, that, 
 after the defection of Ney's troops had been 
 known — after the Count of Artois had been un- 
 able to excite any enthusiasm in the national 
 guard — after it was found that the organiza- 
 tion of the volunteers and moveable columns 
 furnished no more than 2000 men, — there yet 
 appeared even on the 18th an order for the 
 uniform of the royal volunteers — pantalon de 
 cheval, recouvrant la botte, gris miU fonce. In 
 the review of the national guard, when the 
 eount, surrounded by a splendid staff, appeal- 
 ed to the separate legions, and desired those 
 who would serve out of Paris to advance from 
 the ranks, using these words ; Point de confusion, 
 messieurs; sortez Vun apres V autre ne vous presses 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 pas — it was observed, that this was the only or- 
 der exactly obeyed — there was so little pressing, 
 that scarcely more than a dozen men came forth 
 from each legion, and there was one legion which 
 furnished only one man. Indeed, from the ap- 
 pearance of the Tuileries on the 18th and 19th, 
 when the very windows of that palace were filled 
 with military of the household and the national 
 guard, when nothing was talked of but the 
 marching to Melun, Vincennes and Villejuif, 
 the quiet and bloodless catastrophe that ensued 
 would not have been expected by an uncon- 
 cerned spectator of the scene. It does appear 
 that the royal family and the ministry had al- 
 ready discovered every sign of extreme alarm, 
 menaces impotent and retracted, concessions 
 distrusted, flatteries despised, bribes, intrea- 
 ties, appeals, prayers, and tears, — untimely — 
 unavailing;. 
 
 The pure royalists, who. had at first affected 
 to be pleased at the attempt of Napoleon, 
 which would give the king an opportunity of 
 knowing his true friends and crushing his ene- 
 mies, did not fail, as this punishment appeared 
 more problematic, to represent to the king the 
 necessity of deferring it to another opportunity, 
 and employing for the present those dishonest 
 hands who might as well as others serve his
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 147 
 
 turn. The Duke of Feltre, who, in former 
 times, was obliged to defend himself by a me- 
 morial now before me, against the charge of 
 being concerned in the order to burn Paris, 
 was named to the war department, and Fouch£, 
 a regicide, was offered the police. The latter told 
 the king that he was too late in his application, 
 and could do him no service. His majesty was 
 mean enough to give orders for his arrest, an 
 endeavour which was eluded by his escape into 
 the house of a neighbour, a Chouan chief. To 
 be sure the king should have known better 
 than to have meddled with a man so secure of 
 protection in every quarter. Count Rapp, and 
 others of Napoleon's more intimate generals, 
 were applied to, and indeed named to military 
 divisions, but stated their inability to serve the 
 Bourbon cause. Yet the Moniteur of the 19th 
 contained another address from the king to 
 the army<$ and an order of the day stated that 
 Marshal Macdonald had taken the command in 
 chief under the Duke of Berri, and would esta- 
 blish his head quarters the next day, the 20th, 
 at Villejuif. The king's address threatened re- 
 bellious France 300,000 foreigners. One of the 
 king's friends in the chamber of deputies, on the 
 18th, had the inconceivable boldness to recom- 
 mend a levy in mass on the example of the levy 
 in mass in 1/89, when the whole nation and the
 
 148 LETTERS FROM PARIS, 
 
 king conquered their rights from the privi- 
 leged orders. In the same journal more than 
 thirteen hundred persons were promoted to 
 the cross of the legion of honour. It was 
 owned that Bonaparte had left Autun the 
 1 ,5th, but his force was still treated as insignifi- 
 cant. Yet the king was not aware of the im- 
 minence of his peril. He was awakened in the 
 night of the 19th to be told that Napoleon 
 must have reached Fontainbleau, and that the 
 carriages which would convey him from the ca- 
 pital were in waiting. He would not believe 
 his enemy so near ; and when he was persuaded 
 of the fact, at first refused to rise. He talked 
 of remaining in the Tuileries, or of marching 
 to Melun. When he rose, however, and was 
 lifted into his carnage, at half past one in the 
 morning, he seems to have been not a little 
 anxious as to the feasibility of his retreat ; so at 
 least I have been informed, through pne of the 
 national guard who assisted in persuading him 
 to withdraw. It was not till seven in the 
 morning that the foreign ministers received 
 letters notifying the king's departure ; and, by 
 a singular coincidence, received, at the same 
 time, invitations to court for the lev^e of the 
 following Tuesday. This alone is sufficient to 
 show that the royal family were taken by sur- 
 prise — that they did not expect the arrival of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 149 
 
 Bonaparte so soon. The same misinformation 
 •r self-deception is proved by the hasty depar- 
 ture of the minister, who left in the iron box at 
 the hotel appropriated to the body guard the 
 vast mass of state papers which have been found 
 to compromise so entirely that respectable cha- 
 racter M. de Blacas, and others of the king's mi- 
 nisters. The chest must have been carried to 
 the hotel of the body guard for removal, for 
 which the retreat of the minister was too pre* 
 cipitate. In the Moniteur of the 20th, the king 
 took leave of his capital ; " because, although 
 he might have disputed the entrance of the rebels 
 by arming the citizens, he shuddered at the ca- 
 lamities which a battle within the walls might 
 draw down upon the inhabitants."* Here are two 
 propositions, both equally true. The foreign mini- 
 sters appear to have been as entirely in the dark 
 as to the real instability and ruin of the royal 
 throne as the Bourbons themselves. They made 
 no preparation to depart, and were in Paris 
 when Napoleon arrived. The continental am- 
 bassadors, who had, from old habits, been taught 
 that existence and honour were not absolutely 
 incompatible with a residence of a day or two 
 in the capital of Bonaparte, were not in much 
 hurry to demand their passports; and when 
 they did make the demand, couched it in terms 
 
 Appendix, No. <t. 
 vol. r.
 
 150 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 with which the Emperor's minister could not re^ 
 fuse to comply. A worthy and gallant school- 
 fellow of ours happened, at that time, to repre- 
 sent the British nation at the court of France ; 
 and being placed by this occurrence, unexpected 
 indeed by him, as appears by his dispatches, in 
 circumstances which bore no resemblance to the 
 " moving accidents by flood and field," with which 
 he was so familiar, seems to have been overwhelm- 
 ed by the prospect of the deadly breach which 
 might be made in his diplomatic dignity, of the 
 danger to which his own honour, and that of his 
 country, might beexposed, either by detention, or 
 by the seeming acquiescence of a moment, in the 
 restoration of Napoleo •■•. In the surprise and ap- 
 prehensions, which the novelty of the circum- 
 stances might excuse, he applied for passports 
 to join the King of France ; and on receiving no 
 answer to his request, is said to have suffered, for 
 some days, a terror with which the armies of the 
 dreaded usurper had never inspired him. Con- 
 fused, perplexed, he at last learned from a coun- 
 tryman, that if he chose to withdraw, as the mis- 
 sions of other powers had withdrawn, he must 
 follow the steps adopted by these gentlemen ; he 
 must apply not for passports to join the King of 
 France, an unacknowledged inimical potentate, 
 but for passports to return home. 
 
 He followed the advice, and had an imme-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 151 
 
 diate answer in the affirmative from the Duke 
 of Vicenza, Neither his lordship nor the 
 Duke of Wellington's baggage was detained *; 
 and after this trial, it may be expected that a 
 clearer view of the sort of bloodless danger to 
 which he was exposed will prevent a similar 
 panic in any such diplomatic difficulties, and 
 communicate the courage of the soldier to the 
 inexperience of the secretary. Lord Fitzroy 
 Somerset was one of the best scholars of his- 
 form in Westminster school — the pride of the 
 master, and the favourite of such of his school- 
 fellows as had the pleasure of his acquaintance. 
 He has not dropped his capacity and attraction 
 in the active scenes in which he has been em- 
 ployed so much to his own credit, and the 
 service of his country. But the resolution of 
 civil life, and what I shall call political pre- 
 sence of mind, are not the portion usually 
 either of his age or profession ; and it was un- 
 fortunately not much to the credit of our na- 
 tion, that its representative should not be 
 exempt from the terrors that drove every man, 
 woman, and child, to the coast, in a flight 
 
 * Amongst the many falsities of the English newspapers, 
 it was asserted that the noble secretary had been detained, 
 and said the journal (the Sun) " we need not add the 
 " Duke's plate was not permitted to leave Paris."
 
 lot LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 where neither the dignity of the one sex, nor 
 the delicacy of the other, neither the strength 
 nor the weakness of any age, seemed to be the 
 object of regard. Nothing could show a more 
 decided ignorance of the politics of France, of 
 the feelings of the people, of the conduct which 
 Napoleon, or any one at the head of the go*- 
 vernment, must necessarily pursue, than to ap^ 
 prehend the detention of our countrymen as 
 the necessary consequence of the return of the 
 Emperor. His former measure, however it 
 might appear justified by the seizure of the 
 French merchant vessels, previously to the de- 
 claration of war, in order to swell our iniquitous 
 droits of admiralty, had been evidently against 
 the general feeling in France \ and as Napo- 
 leon could not hope to succeed, except by an 
 anxious deference to that feeling, and as it must 
 no less clearly be his interest to refrain from 
 every irritating measure against England, no 
 Englishman needed, upon reflection, to have 
 dreaded a repetition of the former injustice, 
 and a visit to Verdun. One of the first in- 
 quiries, made by Napoleon upon his return, of 
 one of the ladies of his court, was, if many En- 
 glish were in Paris ? and on hearing nearly all of 
 them had retired, he exclaimed, " Ah ! they 
 recollect what I did before, but those times are
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 153 
 
 past." Our politicians, and notably our mini- 
 sters, are blind to all seasons and their change 
 — regulated by their own precious precedents, 
 the canons of folly, inattentive to, or extracting 
 nothing from, the varying march of manners, 
 principles, and times, they are incapable of con- 
 ceiving that any one should be found willing 
 to resign a favourite system, merely because 
 a change of circumstances should appear to 
 render it inapplicable, and therefore unwise. 
 With some people, the times that require and 
 justify violence and revenge are never passe/]. 
 Our ministers, as I mentioned in my first letter, 
 certainly expected an immediate irruption into 
 Belgium, and a recurrence of all those harsh, 
 impetuous, rapid measures of open force which 
 before distinguished the enterprises of Napo- 
 leon — as certainly did they know nothing of 
 France ; 
 
 " And having once been wrong, will be soatill." 
 
 But if the Bourbons themselves knew no- 
 thing of the true state of their affairs, you can- 
 not expect our minister to have had any ac- 
 quaintance with them, when, with the ingenuous 
 unsuspicious candour of a soldier and a youth, 
 he put his entire trust in the court of the Tuile- 
 ries, and favoured his own cabinet with the im- 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 154 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 partial statements of the Abbe Montesquiou and 
 M. de Blacas. It was the endeavour of former 
 ambassadors to make the most of the cause of 
 their own countrymen at the court to which 
 they were sent ; and it would be scandal to as- 
 sert that the modern rule of our diplomatists is 
 to consult the interests and to create a cabal, 
 both at home and abroad, in favour of that par- 
 ticular potentate to whom they are attached; or 
 that our legations at the separate capitals, and 
 at the head-quarters of the European monarchs, 
 are but so many agents of foreign powers em* 
 ploying themselves to direct the resources of 
 their own country to that one of the magnani- 
 mous sovereigns of whose 'suite they happen to 
 be the honourable appendage, and whose splen- 
 dour and preponderance they are accustomed to 
 consider as their own. Russia, Austria, Prussia, 
 nay even the roitekts of Palermo, Brussels-, 
 Stockholm, and Stutgard, might, were this the 
 case, have each an advocate at the cabinet of 
 St. James's, whom they would not need be at 
 the charge of paying, except with some paltry- 
 ribbon, that would put him in the first, second, 
 or third class of the court sewers or apothecaries; 
 and our agents would have no other employ- 
 ment than that of finding out, in the course of 
 their commerce with the prince or his ministers, 
 how short is the distance between a devoted ad-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 155 
 
 mirer and an egregious dupe. The Metternichs* 
 the Hardenbergs, the Nesselrodes, might then 
 hug themselves at the facility with which an 
 English diplomatist might be converted into an 
 useful agent, to increase the subsidies, and di- 
 minish the pretensions of his own court. The 
 supposed rivalry of the separate British missions, 
 to augment the importance and extol the sin- 
 cerity of their own foreign prince, in annihila- 
 tion of all selfish interest for their employers, 
 has, indeed, amongst those I presume unac- 
 quainted with the truth, been one of the diver- 
 sions of all the many congresses, head-quarters, 
 conferences, &c. of these three years. We at 
 home have missed the pleasantry, but the scan- 
 dal may hit us at last. 
 
 Note. — If praise from such a quarter might not look like 
 presumption in the author, or might not possibly have even 
 a baneful effect upon its object, Sir Charles Stuart, his ma- 
 jesty's present ambassador at the court of Paris, should be 
 excepted by name from every thing said in any degree un- 
 favourable to our English agents abroad. No one who has 
 had the satisfaction of seeing that gentleman can doubt that 
 a better selection could not have been made from our diplo- 
 matic body to fill so important a mission. 
 
 vol. r.
 
 L56 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Paris, April. 
 
 The king retreated to Abbeville ; and it 
 should appear, by the Universal Journal pub- 
 lished at Ghent, that he thought of making some 
 stand there. He might have mistaken the faci- 
 lities afforded to his retreat for an inclination in 
 some portion of his people not to abandon his 
 cause; but on the 91st, at twelve o'clock, Mar- 
 shal Macdonald arrived from Paris, and repre- 
 sented the necessity of retiring towards the fron- 
 tier. The king had wished to fix upon Lille for 
 the head-quarters of his household troops, and 
 was disappointed at hearing that the Duke of 
 Treviso had remarched the garrison into the 
 town: he arrived there, however, on the 22d, 
 at one o'clock, and was well received by the in- 
 habitants, but by the troops in silence. 
 
 The declaration of the 13th of March here 
 reached his majesty, who hoped, by the 
 dispersion of this document, to frighten the 
 French into a return to their allegiance, and
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 157 
 
 accordingly took care to placard it in the town. 
 The effect was contrary to his expectations; 
 for so alarming were the appearances of the 
 next day, the Marshal Mortier was obliged to 
 inform Louis that he could not answer for the 
 garrison, and that an immediate retreat was 
 necessary. The king took the road to Menin, 
 which was in possession of an English regi- 
 ment, the colonel of which, upon receiving no- 
 tice that his majesty was approaching, thought 
 it his duty, upon advice from General Vande- 
 leur, to state in reply, that no French troops 
 would be allowed to pass the frontier. A 
 picquet of the national guard of Lille, and about 
 two hundred cuirassiers, formed the whole 
 escort; but these took leave of the king at the 
 barrier, where also Marshal Macdonald left 
 him. The marshal has since returned to his 
 country seat ; and although Napoleon has sent 
 two messages to see him, he has persisted in his 
 retreat. His constancy is still a topic of ad- 
 miration even amongst the friends of the court ; 
 
 so much so, that the amiable Madame was 
 
 pointed out to me by the following half serious 
 designation — " That is the daughter of the only 
 " honest man in France, and very fairly piques 
 " herself upon the fidelity of Marshal Mae- 
 " donald."
 
 1.58 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Louis left France unaccompanied by a single 
 soldier — only a drunken dragoon on a lame horse 
 pushed his way after him through the British 
 picquets, and toppled into Menin crying v'voe le 
 roi. He waited in his carriage, drawn up at 
 the inn door, half an hour, for post horses, one 
 ©f those trifling but levelling wants which must 
 have told him he was king no more. An En- 
 glish officer approached, and asked whether he 
 would accept of a guard of honour — he said he 
 should be thankful for a few dragoons, and 
 also for an estafette, which should order thirty 
 horses at the next and following posts. Never 
 was a crown so won and lost. - Napoleon travels 
 to his capital as Louis leaves it, in a chariot; 
 and the lives and fortunes of the invading as 
 well as the retreating monarch, seem to have 
 been intrusted principally to post-masters ; one 
 of whom, had he been like the man who stopped 
 Louis XVI. at Varennes, might have changed 
 the destinies of France. Four thousand of the 
 king's household, under the order of Monsieur 
 and the Duke of Berri, and Marshal Marmont, 
 directed themselves to the frontier, where, 
 being refused entrance into Dutch Flanders, 
 they were disbanded by Monsieur in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Bethune, in which place they 
 were shut up, and received the orders of Napo-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 159 
 
 leon relative to their final destination. Only 
 about 200 of the household, with a major- 
 general at their head, after great difficulties, 
 have been at last allowed to pass into Flanders 
 — and this is the French force with which 
 Louis is to recover his crown. The Universal 
 Journal says nothing of the real cause which 
 prevented the household from following the 
 king, but ascribes to the miry roads and 
 marshes that impediment which was produced 
 only by the jealousy of the court of Brussels. 
 A General Ricard, who came in with the king, 
 was even sent under a guard to Courtray; such 
 was the apprehension of French interference in 
 the affairs of the Netherlands, and in the com- 
 mon cause of Europe. The same Journal as- 
 serts, that an order to arrest the king and princes 
 arrived at Lille both before and after the kings 
 departure; but that Marshal Mortier,to whom it 
 was addressed, took care not to publish it, until 
 the Duke of Orleans, some hours after Louis, 
 had left the town. The Duke of Berri told 
 Colonel Morris at Menin, my informant, of the 
 same fact. If it be true, I am one of those who 
 regret that it was not carried into effect. No 
 measures of violence would have been pursued 
 with the Bourbon princes. The conduct ot y 
 Napoleon to the Duke of* Angouleme suffi-
 
 160 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 ciently shews the line of policy which he thinks 
 most suitable to the occasion, and most agree- 
 able to the French ; and the detention of the 
 dethroned family within the French territory 
 would, perhaps, have been a guarantee against 
 the unjust interference of the allies. I cannot 
 doubt that Napoleon might have prevented the 
 flight of the king from Paris ; and that, if the 
 order to prevent his escape did arrive at Lille, it 
 was only sent in consequence of the intelligence 
 received, that Louis did not intend to retire 
 without trying to occupy the garrison towns of 
 the north. If the Emperor has not a right to 
 say, as he does, that the proclamation of Louis, 
 offering a reward for his head, would give him 
 a pretext for retaliation against the Duke of 
 Angouleme, he may at least assert, that since 
 the occupation of the capital, and the acqui- 
 escence of the greater part of France, any at- 
 tempt to dethrone him, a king de facto, may 
 fairly be regarded as a national treason, The 
 dispersion of the Vienna declaration of the 13th 
 of March at Lille, clearly made Louis amenable 
 to the jurisdiction always exercised by a sove- 
 reign power against those who attempt its over- 
 throw. No personal injury was ever intended 
 against the Bourbons by the imperial govern- 
 ment. Had the republic been established,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. l6l 
 
 perhaps their sacrifice might have been deemed 
 necessary — Napoleon, having saved the nobles 
 and the priests, has saved the king. But, I re- 
 peat, it is to be regretted that the flight of Louis 
 and the royal family has not been prevented. 
 From the days of the Pisistratidae and the Tar- 
 quins down to those of the Stuarts and the Bour- 
 bons, the pretensions of dethroned dynasties 
 have always been an instrument in the hands of 
 foreign ambition, as well as a source of internal 
 division and treason. The appeal to the sword 
 (unfortunately the only true touchstone) tried, 
 indeed, and confirmed the liberties of Athens, 
 and of Rome, and of England; but the circum- 
 stances of France, and the character of her pre- 
 sent sovereign, are such as may make a victory 
 fatal to her freedom. At least such are the ap- 
 prehensions, whether well founded or not, of 
 many honest constitutionalists, who are, there- 
 fore, justified in wishing that the arrest of the 
 fallen family had taken away one engine and ex- 
 cuse from the enemies of France. The disper- 
 sion of the declaration of the 13th of March, and 
 the subsequent proclamation of Louis, in which 
 France is menaced with eleven hundred thou- 
 sand foreign bayonets, daily strengthen these re- 
 grets; and if William theThird publicly repented 
 of having facilitated the retreat of his father-in- 
 law from England, which he did in a memorial 
 vol. i. m
 
 162 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 addressed to all the courts of Europe, it may 
 surely be permitted the French patriots to de- 
 precate their clemency to a monarch, who 
 threatens to return amongst them at the head 
 of a foreign force ten times more considerable 
 than that employed by Louis the Fourteenth in 
 support of the miserable James. 
 
 I must say, to the honour of the constitu- 
 tionalists, that they are not terrified, and that 
 those amongst them who have no attachment 
 to Napoleon would again assist in the expulsion 
 of the princes, were it to be done again, and 
 were it certain to bring down upon them the 
 fiery trial which they are now told they must 
 certainly undergo. It was seen in the late dis- 
 asters of the Bourbons, amongst what men all 
 prudent monarchs should choose their friends. 
 When all the base had deserted the royal cause, 
 and all the vain — when even the court partizans 
 and ministers were lost in irresolution and fear, 
 and far the greater part began so to trim the 
 balance of their conduct as to prepare for the 
 preponderance of either scale — when the awed 
 satellites of the throne would not look the ap- 
 proaching danger for an instant in the face, 
 and prepared for the reception of a new, rather 
 than a defence of their present, master — who 
 was it that, in spite of prejudices, in spite of 
 the chance of apparent inconsistency, in de-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. \6$ 
 
 fiance of the threats of enemies, or the suspi- 
 cions of friends, of a peril almost certain, stepped 
 boldly forwards to defend the king — to plead 
 his cause — to rouse the people in his defence, 
 in direct opposition to, and preference of, the 
 resistless hero, marching with giant strides to 
 his overthrow ? Was it a courtier, one glittering 
 with the rays of royal bounty, whom the fall 
 of the king would ruin, the return of Napoleon 
 destroy ? Was he found amongst the friends 
 or the favourites of the monarch, — the patrons 
 or the stipendiaries of despotism, — the paid 
 defenders or the rewarded pensioners, the 
 expectant or the grateful servants, of the 
 court ? No. He was a patriot, known and 
 proscribed for the freedom and courage with 
 which he had censured the measures of the 
 king's ministers, and had held up their infrac- 
 tions of the constitution to the scorn and hatred 
 of his countrymen. Such was the man who, 
 thinking the establishment of a military govern- 
 ment the natural consequence of the return of 
 Napoleon, and knowing that government in- 
 compatible with the rights of individuals, called 
 upon France and Frenchmen to defend their 
 king, whose errors they might pardon and cor- 
 rect, against an enemy, whose principles were 
 so much more dangerous to their liberties and 
 to their repose* It was not a foolish, personal 
 
 M 2
 
 164 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 attachment to the king, nor a still more foolish 
 feeling of loyalty, which prompted Mr. Comte 
 to publish his tract intitled " De V Impossibility 
 cTetabUrun Goavcrnement Constitutiomiel sous un 
 Chef Militaire, et particuliercment sous Napo- 
 leon." It was his persuasion that by this de- 
 cisive step (taken by one well known as the 
 editor of the Censor for his opposition to the 
 government) the friends of freedom in the ca- 
 pital might be able to distinguish between the 
 reform which he proposed and the attempted 
 overthrow of the government ; and might op- 
 pose themselves to the pretensions of a man 
 more dangerous to their honourable cause than 
 the sovereign whom he advanced to dethrone. 
 We may not attach much consequence or cou- 
 rage to the publication of a pamphlet, which 
 in our country might involve some specula- 
 tive point of political theory, and expose its 
 author only to the criticism of a review, or, 
 at the worst, the animadversion of a judge ; 
 but in France, and particularly in the manner 
 in which Mr. Comte appeared as an author, 
 the writer holds the pen as he would the 
 sword, in a mortal debate, decisive of his 
 freedom, his property, and his life. He steps 
 forward, the combatant in a controversy in 
 which those who deal in the paper bullets of 
 the brain are, like the trumpeter in the fable,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 165 
 
 ranged with, and share all the fortunes of, 
 those who wield the weapons of death. The 
 strusrirles of our statesmen and writers are, 
 comparatively speaking, only a continuation of 
 our school discussions on abstract questions, 
 which may be decided either way without 
 being productive of any immediate visible ef- 
 fects, either to the audience or the arguers ; 
 but, when a Frenchman writes or talks on po- 
 litics, he must tremble at the differences which 
 a period turned to the right or to the left, a 
 paradox begun in sport and supported out of 
 vanity, an argument stretched to the verge of 
 ingenuity, or a play of rhetoric too irresistible 
 for an author, may perhaps create, in the 
 dearest and immediate interests of himself, his 
 friends, and his country. When we weep or 
 smile in declamation it is for Hecuba, but in 
 France the authors are actors, and play a part 
 in a real tragedy — their own. Those who have 
 not lived some time in Paris can have no notion 
 of the infinite importance attached to the pe- 
 riodical and other political publications, — of 
 the eagerness with which they are read by all 
 classes of people, — of the whisper which runs 
 through all the saloons upon the appearance of 
 such or such an article in a newspaper or other 
 journal, which is hinted to be from the pen of 
 some known writer, — and of the care taken by
 
 166 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the chiefs of parties to have at their disposal 
 the columns of some popular sheet. Notwith- 
 standing the censorship, means were found, in 
 the king's time, to give a distinct voice to 
 all opinions. The Nain Jaune, a yellow- co- 
 vered pamphlet, published five times a month, 
 of whom Mr. Etienne, the dramatic author, 
 was the reputed editor, established from the 
 15th of December, 1814, a reputation which 
 its preceding numbers had never obtained. 
 The pleasantries of this work were the chief 
 instruments employed to make the emigrant, 
 anti-liberal, system ridiculous j and these were 
 found very poignant, although an Englishman 
 might think the materials too serious for a 
 joke. 
 
 The Nain Jaune mixed and mixes literature 
 with politics ; dealing in that abusive lopping 
 sort of criticism of which Mr. Geoffrin was the 
 successful inventor, but which appears to one 
 of our nation most dull and ineffectual. A 
 review, which was the Satirist, is a tolerable 
 compeer of the Nain Jaune, as far as its lite- 
 rary character is concerned. The state of cri- 
 tical or rhetorical composition in France is now 
 at a very low ebb, perhaps partly because the 
 subject is too important, and touches the writers 
 too nearly, to enable them to compose with the 
 caution and coolness requisite for excellence in
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 167 
 
 any species of writing. The Nain Jaune, which 
 owed all its success to a sprightly opposition to 
 the court, has fallen lamentably since the fall of 
 the knights of the extinguisher and of the wea- 
 thercock. Its humour is dried up in the sun- 
 shine of its patron court. Certain of the news- 
 papers were avowedly in the hands of this or 
 that faction ; for example, the Quotidienne 
 was known to speak the sentiments of the emi- 
 grants, and the paragraphs in that journal were 
 anxiously perused by the large portion of the 
 nation who had purchased the national pro- 
 perties. The daily papers, being subject to 
 the censorship, could only hint a fault now 
 and then, and hesitate dislike ; but Messrs. 
 Comte and Dunoyer, passing beyond the 
 sixty pages prescribed by the law, contrived 
 in the Censor, which they published once a 
 month, to show themselves the true friends of 
 liberty and France, by exposing the conduct of 
 those who endeavoured to nullify or counteract 
 the benefits of the constitutional charter. They 
 met with the usual fate of those who wish to 
 enlighten their countrymen — were grossly in- 
 sulted as the enemies of order and law, in 
 morals, religion, and politics, and were de- 
 nounced as the friends and accomplices of the 
 last tyrant. 
 
 No sooner had the news of Napoleons land-
 
 168 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 ing arrived, than they gave the king's ministers 
 to understand that their efforts were at the ser- 
 vice of his majesty, that all calumny and insult 
 were forgotten, and that they should do their 
 utmost to serve their countrymen in that way 
 which appeared to them the most effectual — in 
 the defence of their sovereign. The pamphlet 
 appeared:— it was written in the true spirit of 
 freedom, with an honourable frankness, but at 
 the same time with a generous, a loyal confi- 
 dence; insisting upon no niceties, nor condi- 
 tions, nor distinctions, but going at once to the 
 point, and telling their countrymen that it was 
 their duty and their interest to stand by a go- 
 vernment which was a hundred times preferable 
 to that which the return of Napoleon would 
 inevitably restore. 
 
 Such is the difference between the friends of 
 an individual system or government, and the 
 friends of a cause, which, as it encourages, calls 
 every honourable quality into action — between 
 the servants of a king and those of a people, 
 whose interests, as they never vary, so can they 
 be easily understood and easily pursued ; and 
 whose rights, as they involve considerations de- 
 servedly dear to every individual, so must they 
 necessarily call forth defenders respectable by 
 their numbers, their courage, and their zeal. Mr. 
 Comte could not save Louis, but he was able to
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 169 
 
 teach him that most important lesson, that the 
 only true, the only serviceable friends of a con- 
 stitutional king are the friends of the people— 
 those whom hi^ courtiers are ever ready to 
 brand as the patrons and promoters of sedition 
 and revolt. 
 
 There are not a few politicians in this place 
 who are of opinion, that an entire and pure 
 transplantation of the Hartwell court to Paris 
 would have prevented the late catastrophe ; and 
 that the King was lost by an endeavour to re- 
 concile and amalgamate contending factions, 
 and to gain the affection and support of a power- 
 ful party by attentions which served only to shew 
 his weakness and augment their presumption. 
 I think J have told you that two of the ancient 
 noblesse did not hesitate to remark to me, even 
 in a place of public resort, that Louis should 
 have followed the example of Ferdinand. It 
 is possible that by rallying round him all 
 the partisans of despotism, and by a violent 
 re-establishment of the ancient monarchy, he 
 might have held the reins of power in despite 
 of the will of a people wearied by war, and 
 dreading the renewal of any military exertions. 
 It is possible he might, by this system, have 
 reigned more than eleven months ; he might 
 have reigned fifteen ; and he would have had 
 the honour of falling in a general massacre
 
 170 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 of all his friends, at the last ruin of the royal 
 cause in France. It must be owned, that any mo- 
 narch in the situation of Louis the Eighteenth 
 must have experienced difficulties almost inex- 
 tricable in the choice of his ministers. A prin- 
 ciple of gratitude must have induced him to pay 
 some attention to the crowd of emigrants by 
 whom he was besieged, and who were not con- 
 tent with any system which did not afford them 
 exclusive right to share the rewards and direct 
 the conduct of the court. Besides the emigrants 
 who returned immediately with the king, there 
 was another class of those who had temporised 
 under Napoleon, and who brought all the base- 
 ness of the imperial court to bear upon the re- 
 turned dynasty, and instructed in some sort their 
 brother nobles and the king in the arts of de- 
 spotism. This party, distinct in some measure 
 from the personal friends of Louis, were still 
 most ready to promote the projects of absolute 
 power, and, as they sometimes proposed measures 
 which their less hardy colleagues were too timid 
 to hazard, were the cause of repeated dissensions 
 and discord in the new cabinet. The French 
 themselves accuse the public functionaries, the 
 employed, those of any mark or influence, who 
 have lately risen into notice and wealth in their 
 country, as more corrupt, vicious, and selfish, 
 than the same class of men in any other nation.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 17 1 
 
 Luxurious and lazy, consequently no less greedy 
 and venal than ignorant and vain, — accustomed 
 to consider the necessity for honesty and exer- 
 tion as altogether superseded by the command- 
 ing influence of the French fortune and name in 
 in foreign politics, and in domestic relations by 
 artifice, intrigue, and servility — living in a round 
 of frivolous pleasures, which tend no less than 
 their tricky employments to destroy every vir- 
 tuous sentiment, and to finish the accomplished 
 egotist — these men could give neither credit nor 
 stability to the government ; but being a por- 
 tion of the machine, were still considered in- 
 dispensable to the ordinary movement and pro- 
 gress of the state. From amongst these the 
 king thought himself obliged to fill a certain 
 number of his charges : they did not betray him ; 
 but they did nothing for him ; they thought only 
 of themselves; and, without courage, though 
 too indifferent for premeditated treachery, were 
 ready to receive any other master at a moment's 
 warning. Serviceable, perhaps, whilst solely the 
 automata of despotism, they wanted individual 
 importance to fill the offices of a government in 
 which the forms at least of freedom prevailed. 
 Not that amongst the new ministers, employed 
 formerly by Napoleon, there were not some few 
 men, whose known activity and address might 
 have recommended them to the choice of the
 
 173 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 restored king, and whom he might with propriety 
 have employed. It was natural, however, that 
 their former attachments should render them 
 suspected, and that the companions of his exile 
 should exclaim against such a selection as trea- 
 son to his own cause and crown, and as ingrati- 
 tude to themselves. M. de Talleyrand himself 
 was tolerated only in proportion as he was known 
 to be the personal enemy of Napoleon, and was 
 by the pure royalist looked upon as the revolu- 
 tionary leaven, which might cause a ferment in 
 the state. Hence the king was persuaded not 
 to appoint that person first minister, and by s© 
 doing give an unity and responsibility to the ad- 
 ministration, so necessary for his own affairs, and 
 so ardently desired by the nation. Louis, the 
 weight and precision of whose sayings form a 
 strange contrast with his conduct, on learning 
 the general inclination in favour of that appoint- 
 ment, remarked, " They should not be angry 
 with me for this — ce n'est pas une place quefote 
 d M. de T. c'est une place que je reserve d mot- 
 meme." But what would do for Louis the Four- 
 teenth, or Charles the Twelfth, or Napoleon, 
 fitted not Louis the Eighteenth. 
 
 If the prejudices of the King's friends were 
 unfavourable to M. de Talleyrand, much more 
 was it natural that they should be so to the de- 
 cided constitutionalists, amongst whom, those
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 173 
 
 who might, from their experience and courage, 
 have been the most serviceable to him, were all 
 little less than odious as the murderers of his 
 brother, or, according to the etiquette of the 
 church and state, were to be supposed as such. 
 It would hardly be expected that he should call 
 to his councils the Carnots and Fouch^s, al- 
 though certainly nothing would have been more 
 fortunate than such a choice. In this embar- 
 rassment whom then was he to select? His only 
 expedient, it is now allowed, and we may say 
 proved, was to have thrown himself into the 
 arms of the nation, to have given rewards, but 
 not power, to the friends of his exile and his 
 family, and to have called around him neither 
 the agents of Coblentz nor of the imperial court, 
 but honest men, entirely new, energetic, and 
 enlightened, the offspring of the present age, 
 whom a popular representation, freely chosen, 
 would have drawn from the obscurity of private 
 life, and brought into the active service of the 
 state. Aware of the difficulties of his position, 
 and making allowances for the perversities of 
 prejudice, and the infirmities of age, we must 
 still wonder that Louis only shewed his indi- 
 vidual inclination for consulting the wishes of 
 the people; and that whilst his own private views 
 and opinions, whenever he was called upon to 
 declare them, had the semblance of liberality
 
 174 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 and justice, he should have suffered such men 
 as d'Ambray, Montesquiou, and Ferrand to 
 be the organs of the royal will. Whilst the 
 friends of the people looked up to that portion of 
 the administration headed by Talleyrand, and to 
 the military officers of state, whose services had 
 made their fortunes, the pure royalists reposed 
 all their hopes in the above ministers, and in the 
 known inclinations of the princes of the blood. 
 Each party regarded the favourite de Blacas as 
 one who might be bribed. It may then be 
 only justice to charge many of the follies of the 
 last short reign upon a weak discordant ad- 
 ministration : but this consideration, although 
 it may diminish the personal culpability of the 
 king, does not prove that the people were 
 wrong in judging him unfit to reign. He might 
 have chosen his ministers amongst their friends; 
 he might have thrown himself into their arms; 
 whereas, on the contrary, on many occasions 
 he gave evidences of his looking upon them in 
 some sort as the accomplices or immediate 
 actors in his brother s murder ; for, not con- 
 tent with excluding from public duties such as 
 had actually been concerned in that deed, he 
 took care to refresh, at every opportunity, his 
 indignant abhorrence against the act, which, 
 whether of justice or vengeance, was at least 
 national, and which therefore it was absolutely
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS, 175 
 
 necessary for the pride or the repose of all 
 Frenchmen either to justify or to forget. 
 Louis began his reign by saying mass for the 
 soul of his brother; he next instituted a fete 
 similar to that of the day " when every sove- 
 reign in Europe rises with a crick in his neck," 
 and he quoted the example of Charles II., as a 
 worthy precedent for his proceeding. Little 
 doubt have I but that his ministers, at least, 
 would have liked to complete the parallel. 
 Carnot and Fouche would have looked as well 
 in an execution list as Harrison and Cooke. 
 Then was performed the last office of fraternal 
 piety by this bone-collecting court. Between 
 these acts there was a perpetual playing off 
 of court horrors and antipathies, at the very 
 sound or smell of regicide. The coaches of 
 the king never drove over the " place Louis 
 Quinze," because in that square his brother 
 lost his head; as little would the royal family 
 walk upon the terrace of the Seine raised by 
 Napoleon, for that commanded a view of the 
 same fatal spot. The Duchess of Angouleme 
 never looked at a Parisian crowd without 
 shuddering, as if beholding the children and 
 champions of revolution. If at the Tuileries she 
 saw a lady of the imperial court, she passed over 
 on the other side. Her jealousy descended 
 upon the children of those that had hated her 
 father; and from this jealousy the representative 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 176 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 of the Orleans branch of the royal family was 
 by no means free. The manners of this prince, 
 tinctured with the kindness and facility gene- 
 rally acquired by a variety of fortune and expe- 
 rience, the education he had received in the 
 arms as it were of the republic, the fate of his 
 father which conferred upon him the fraternity 
 of a common crime ; all these considerations 
 endeared him to the French, and drew upon 
 him the suspicion and the hatred of the court, 
 which arose at last to a height so indecent 
 and ridiculous, that the court confessor in his 
 sermon at St. Denis, over the interment of the 
 royal bones, took the opportunity of what is 
 called in our vernacular preaching at the Duke 
 of Orleans, who was twice or thrice tempted to 
 rise and leave the church. The court at the 
 Palais Royal became too well attended. I hear 
 that it was shut by a proposal coming from his 
 Majesty. It must be allowed the subsequent 
 conduct of the Tuileries created a cause for sus- 
 picions, which, in the beginning, were totally 
 groundless ; for it is said of the* duke, (t he 
 would not be of the Orleans' party." I have 
 every reason to know that a very considerable 
 party both of the loudly active and the silently 
 assenting were prepared for a movement in 
 favour of the duke, as the only means of recon- 
 ciling the republicans, and those attached to 
 the forms of royalty - 9 of quieting the alarms of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 1 77 
 
 those who dreaded a reaction from an unsullied 
 Bourbon, and of those who were averse to the 
 extreme experiment of an entire revolution 
 and change of dynasty. Were I to say that 
 the crown was positively offered to the Duke 
 of Orleans, I should say too much ; but I may 
 assert, that had he stretched out his hand it 
 would have been within his reach. He did 
 not move a finger — on the contrary, when 
 something stronger than a hint was given him, 
 that a powerful and prepared portion of the 
 Parisians, and the departments, only waited his 
 signal to proclaim the king and his immediate 
 heirs incompetent and deposed — the intelli- 
 gence was not made of any service — nay, more, 
 .it was carried to Louis. I have frequently 
 heard it said in Paris, " we should have been 
 glad of the Duke of Orleans, but he would not 
 listen to us — now it is too late, — the place is 
 occupied." The inclination for the duke is 
 another proof of that which I have so frequently 
 asserted, that there was no previous conspiracy 
 contrived for the restoration of Napoleon. 
 
 The Emperor took his seat on his former 
 throne, because it was acknowledged by the 
 national feeling to be empty, and no other 
 candidate offered for the vacancy. Had 
 there been another pretender, it would be 
 
 VOL. i. n
 
 178 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 hazardous to say, that Napoleon would have 
 been preferred : he might have seized the 
 throne ; but that he would have united the 
 great majority of France as he has done at this 
 moment is not so clear j neither is it evident 
 that, even without a competitor, he would have 
 regained possession thus peaceably, unless the 
 declaration of the allies and the conduct of 
 Louis had rendered it a point of honour to every 
 Frenchman to shew that he was not to be 
 frightened into the deposition of one king, and 
 the choice of another. I must now declare a 
 truth, which my respect for the cause with 
 which he is at present identified makes me 
 unwilling to own. Napoleon is not popular, 
 except with the actual army, and with the in- 
 habitants of certain departments ; and, perhaps, 
 even with them, his popularity is only relative. 
 At no place is there so great a portion of the 
 population decidedly averse to him as at 
 Paris. The nobles of St. Germain are his de- 
 clared foes — they have seceded : the shop- 
 keepers, whose interest is connected with 
 peace, wish him no good, as long as they see 
 in him a promise of perpetual war. Hence, 
 Paris, on the entry of Napoleon, presented but 
 a mournful spectacle. The crowd, which went 
 out to meet the Emperor, remained in the out-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 179 
 
 skirts of the city ; the shops were shut — no one 
 appeared at the windows — the boulevards were 
 lined with a multitude collected about the many 
 mountebanks, tumblers, &c, which for the two 
 last days had been placed there in greater num- 
 bers than usual by the police, in order to divert 
 the populace. There was no noise nor any 
 acclamations ; a few low murmurs and whispers 
 were alone heard, when the spectators of these 
 open shows turned round to look at the string 
 of six or eight carriages, which preceded the 
 imperial troops. The regiments then passed 
 along, and cried out Vive I'Empereur; — not a 
 word from any one. They tried the more popu- 
 lar and ancient exclamation, Vive Bonaparte ; — 
 all still silent. The patience of the dragoons 
 was exhausted ; some brandished their swords, 
 others drew their pistols, and rode into the 
 alleys amidst the people, exclaiming, " crie, 
 done, Vice V Empereur !" but the crowd only 
 gave way, and retreated without uttering a 
 
 word. Lady . was present, — I have 
 
 the account from her. You may wish me to 
 reconcile this with my former statements ; but 
 I beg you to recollect, that it is my purpose 
 only to tell you what I know and believe to 
 be true ; and that the variety produced by 
 difference of place, of time, of circumstance, 
 both in the optics seeing, and the object 
 
 n 2
 
 ISO LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 seen, may account for that which may at first 
 appear a discrepancy in myself, and that, at the 
 worst, the contradiction is not in me, but in 
 human nature. To expect that uniformity of 
 character and conduct in a whole nation, or any 
 collected portion of it, which is scarcely ever to 
 be found in a single individual, is the folly of 
 a child, conversant only with the reconciled 
 inconsistencies, or adjusted improbabilities, of 
 a novel. Human character is, in the gross, like 
 the individual of Horace, " impar sibi." Impa- 
 tience of consistency is allowed to distinguish 
 this people above all others; I know not wdiether 
 you will admit that it is a proof of their superior 
 spirituality. Another poet tells us, that the 
 generous courser " knows not how to stand 
 still ;" but a jockey might impute this rather 
 to constitution, than to superior condition or 
 better blood.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 181 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Paris, May. 
 
 The truth of what is stated in my last, 
 that Napoleon did not remount the throne by 
 virtue of his previous popularity, is shewn by 
 the many measures which he has adopted to gain 
 that popularity since his return. He has taken 
 especial care to recognize the sovereignty of 
 the people as the only source of legitimate 
 power. The new council of state, in its first 
 meeting, recognized que la souverainete reside 
 dans le peuple, settle source legitime du pouvoir. 
 The avowal of these principles might have been 
 expected from the Carnots and the Benjamin 
 de Constants, whose appointment to the places 
 which they occupy is a guarantee of the in- 
 tentions of the government, and of the con- 
 fidence which, for the present at least, it 
 seems calculated to inspire in the true well- 
 wishers of France. The nomination of Fouch£, 
 who cannot be suspected of any private inclina- 
 tion for the Emperor, is considered, even by the 
 royalists themselves, as a protection against the 
 renewal of the arbitrary measures, in which con-
 
 183 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 sisted what Napoleon, after the fashion of other, 
 tyrants, chose to regard ns the vigour of the 
 imperial government. Napoleon cannot but 
 see, that if he does reign, it must be by the 
 title on which he has founded his right : for 
 since the few weeks of his present power, 
 he has experienced the force of public opi- 
 nion, (to wdiich he made originally so suc- 
 cessful an appeal) in instances too decisive to 
 admit of more than one interpretation even by 
 the self-love of a sovereign. A decree of the 24th 
 of March abolished the censorship, still leaving 
 a supervisor attached to each of the daily 
 papers, and subjecting the printers and book- 
 sellers, to a limitation as to their number, to a 
 certain form of oath, to the necessity of declaring 
 all works previously to printing them and of 
 depositing a certain number of copies at the 
 police before publication. The editors of the 
 Censor, who had distinguished themselves by 
 their courage during the days of doubt, in one 
 of the articles of their fifth volume, just pub- 
 lished, seem inclined to admit, that the time- 
 serving character of the chief part of the 
 journalists is more owing to their own base- 
 ness, than to any arbitrary measures taken by 
 the government. Upon this supposition they 
 dare to say in one article, " nn mouvement de 
 " troupes, approwve ou non par le xecu secret des
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 183 
 
 " citoy 'ens, force les Bourbons d sortir de France, 
 " et disperse les Siemens de noire constitution polu 
 " tique ; cette operationmilitaire ne presenteenelle- 
 " mime aucun caractere legal." And in another 
 place, " mais f expulsion des Bourbons nepeutpas 
 *' donner naissance a des droits en faveur d'un 
 " autre ; et de quelque maniere qu'on envisage les 
 u choses, on nepeut s'empecher de convenir que le 
 u gouvernement actuel n'est qu'un gouvernement 
 " provisoire, ou que lepeuple Fravcais est la pro- 
 priete du premier occupant . . . . . Et peu irri- 
 porte que Napoleon ait tie proclame' empereur 
 par Varmee et par les habitans des pays ou il a 
 passe; peu importe que les puissances coalisees 
 aient ou non tenu les conventions quelles avaient 
 "faites avec lui. La France tfappartient ni aux 
 " soldats, ni aux habitans qui se sont trouvees sur 
 " la route de Cannes a Paris, ni aux armees coa- 
 " Usees." The article ends by saying, that, 
 for the present, the government ought to be 
 obeyed, when it commands in the name of 
 the laws; but that nothing can save France 
 finally, except an assembly of the people 
 freely chosen, and deliberating freely. The 
 same vo''\me contains, besides, many direct 
 attacks on the conduct of Napoleon. Now 
 it must be owned, that our notion of the li- 
 berty of the press does not extend to the pub- 
 lication of opinions relative to the present 
 yol. i. 
 
 a 
 a
 
 184 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 rights of actual monarchs; and that, if no pre- 
 vious prevention of such discussion is admitted 
 by our law, the circumstances of our monarchy 
 render them so very unlikely ever to be called 
 into play, and the subsequent punishment of 
 opinions, similar to those above quoted, would 
 be so severe, that the Englishman who held 
 such a pen in one hand should hold a sword 
 in the other. According to the laws restored 
 by the imperial decree of the 24th, this volume 
 of the Censor was announced, and a certain 
 number of copies deposited at the police. After 
 what you have read, are you astonished that the 
 whole impression was seized? and do you not 
 think such a seizure preferable, if not in prin- 
 ciple, at least in practice, to the English pe- 
 nalties of libel ? However, a considerable 
 commotion was excited by this measure: the 
 saloons, the gardens of the Tuileries, and the 
 Palais Royal, were loud in their murmurs. 
 A report was spread, that the publication was 
 deJa}'ed by the editors themselves; but these 
 gentlemen immediately sent a circular letter 
 to their subscribers, stating, in strong terms, 
 that the rumour was fabricated, wns, false en- 
 tirely, and that the truth was, tilt' whole im- 
 pression had been stopped hy the police. This 
 determination on the part of Messrs. Comte 
 and Dunoyer had its effect ; the Censor was
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 185 
 
 re-delivered to them, and appeared on the 26th 
 of April, not only with all the offensive matter 
 in it, but also with additional hints as to the 
 influence " de la moustache sur le raisonnement, 
 <c et de la necessite da sabre dans V administration?: 
 Jt inserted besides a solemn retraction of that 
 article before mentioned, relative to the liberty 
 of the press. No notice was taken of the printers 
 or authors of these articles, which would ha?e 
 called down hard words, and perhaps hanging, 
 in the court of a Tresilyan, or a Pa^e, 
 
 I put this down as the first proof of the force 
 of opinion, which has given to the press of Paris 
 an actual license beyond what the most ardent 
 friend to freedom can admire, and which indeed 
 the government, if it stands, cannot permit. 
 It is allowable, that the author of a journal 
 called the Old Republican should take upon 
 himself periodically to remind Napoleon, that 
 the people have made him a monarch, and that 
 to their interests and wishes he must be sub- 
 servient. It is but reasonable, that objections 
 should be made to the form and substance 
 of the new constitutions, even in the most 
 poignant style - y but it cannot be expected, that 
 sheets should be allowed to fly about the Tui- 
 leries in which one Louis Florian Paul de Ker- 
 gorlay states, as a motive for voting against 
 the new constitution, u je suis convaincu que h
 
 186 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 retablissement de cette dynastie sur le trdne est le 
 seid moyen de rendre le bonheur aux Francais *." 
 I beg you will tell your friend Mr. Perry, that 
 two. hundred of these were distributed gratis a 
 few days ago. This, as well as a Memoire justU 
 jicatif of the Duke of Ragusa, in which Napo- 
 leon is treated with no sort of ceremony, may 
 be a sufficient answer to the absurd and mon- 
 strous falsities of his brother journalists, by 
 whom, however, I fear that a sufficient number 
 of our worthy countrymen are led to action f. 
 The journals, which are overlooked, do not 
 controvert the right of the Emperor, nor can 
 such opposition be expected or tolerated under 
 any government in modern times, where the 
 power of the pen is such, that scribere est agere ; 
 but the articles of foreign news, even the very 
 proclamations of the allied sovereigns, and of 
 Louis himself, which appear in them, shew that 
 they partake in no way of their former charac- 
 ter of servility and subjection. The Moniteur 
 
 * See Appendix — No. 42. 
 
 f The same person, a bold, and most probably an honest 
 man, published afterwards a sheet on the decree of the 
 9th of March, relative to the efforts of the Bourbonists in 
 France, in which the imperial government was treated with- 
 out reserve as a cruel usurpation: for this Dentu the printer 
 and publisher was arrested. I leave the lawyers to say what 
 would have awaited him in England.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARI8. 187 
 
 itself, which, though it has ceased to carry its 
 official pre-eminence on the face of it, is still 
 edited under the eye of the Duke of Bassano, 
 admits a freedom of discussion and liberality in 
 its extracts and translations, which our Courier 
 and Times must find irreconcileable with their 
 assertions of the renovated slavery of France. 
 Here follows a second more decided proof of 
 the power of public opinion. 
 
 The sketch of the new constitution appeared 
 in the Moniteur of Sunday, April the 23d. It 
 was said to be principally the work of Mr. Benja- 
 min de Constant, a name invariably joined with 
 the Lanjuinais, the Raynouards, the Bedochs, 
 the Flaugergues, the Durbachs, and all those who 
 had distinguished themselves as the patrons of 
 liberty, during the reign of eleven months — 
 therefore was it expected that the utmost conces- 
 sion would be made to the people, and that the 
 democratic spirit would prevail throughout every 
 article. Those acquainted with the French cha- 
 racter were not astonished to hear the pleasan- 
 tries launched against this tenth trial of their 
 modern Numas, even before its promulgation ; 
 but the friends of the Emperor wore an aspect 
 of the most settled concern and alarm when 
 they found the proposal, on its appearance, 
 attacked on every side by serious as well as 
 playful assailants. I never recollect, in my
 
 188 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 life, to have experienced such a change in that 
 which a man is apt to call public opinion, that 
 is, the opinion of those amongst whom he lives 
 and moves, and the voice of ephemeral publi- 
 cations, as took place at Paris at the appear- 
 ance of the Arte Additionnel aux Constitutions de 
 VEmpire. Both royalists and republicans, as 
 well even as some of those who are supposed 
 more attached to the Emperor, flew upon it at 
 once. They began by the beginning — the very 
 title was offensive. — The '* Additional Act to 
 " the Constitutions of the Empire," and the 
 " Napoleon by the Grace of God and the Con- 
 " stitutions Emperor of the French," showed, 
 said they, that Napoleon considered thfe old 
 system of despotism, the empire, as again in 
 activity ; that he skipped over the charter of 
 Louis, the reign of Louis, and his own abdica- 
 tion, all which annulled these constitutions, as 
 if they had never happened ; and that he was 
 Emperor by the grace of God and without any 
 interval, after the fashion of the monarch whose 
 nineteen years of reign he had himself so fairly 
 derided. 
 
 The pure constitutionalists thought they saw, 
 even in the renewal of these pretensions and 
 forms, an annihilation of all their hopes that 
 Napoleon was changed : they, as well as the 
 royalists, exclaimed, that it would have been
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 189 
 
 better to take for the basis of the constitution 
 thai charter of Louis which the patriots them- 
 selves admitted to be, on the whole, an excellent 
 guarantee for public freedom ; that the said 
 charter, although octroyee, was virtually ac- 
 cepted by the representatives of the people ; 
 and that it was unwise to have recourse to the 
 scheme, so often tried, of sending a constitu- 
 tion for acceptation to the people, the greatest 
 number of whose votes had notoriously been 
 given to the worst possible and most despotic 
 form of government — the imperial, and to the 
 worst constitution — that of the year 8. They 
 added, that to pretend the king had not reigned 
 at all, and that none of his acts were to be con- 
 sidered as valid, was to destroy the principle of 
 the sovereignty of the people, who had, for a 
 certain time, eagerly admitted and virtually 
 approved of his authority, even by the confes- 
 sion of Mr. Carnot himself. 
 
 The articles of the constitution were attacked 
 in detail by a thousand pamphlets. Those to 
 which the principal objection was made, were, 
 the initiation of all the laws by the govern- 
 ment, which was one of the faults of the royal 
 charter, and the establishment of hereditary 
 peers, which seemed a contradiction of the de- 
 cree of the 10th of April, abolishing the nobility 
 and feudal titles. This was accused as a recur-
 
 190 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 rence to the principle of nobility, without 
 any of the pretence and respect which such 
 names as Montmorency, Grammont, and others 
 associated with the glory of France, might be 
 able to command. The wish to create this 
 nobility was attributed to the personal vanity 
 and egotism of the Emperor, who, not content 
 with the plainer forms of democratic govern- 
 ments, wished to add to the pomp as well as 
 the props of his throne : it was said to be a 
 continuation of those monarchical institutions, 
 the renewal of which had already benn the ruin 
 of the country. When Napoleon came to the 
 throne, the French were an individual people, 
 a republic, glorious partly by his victories, 
 and consolidated by his ambition ; the nobles 
 were without honour, as they were without 
 titles; no one thought of them or of their an- 
 cient dynasty : Napoleon's counts, and mar- 
 shals, and court ceremonies, by awakening all 
 the ancient prejudices in favour of birth and 
 rank, revived their pretensions. I recollect 
 being told at Vienna, by the keeper of the im- 
 perial library, that a valuable work on French 
 genealogies in that collection was perpetually 
 consulted and extracted from by Frenchmen, 
 who on their own part, or on that of others, 
 were anxious to establish claims to nobility, 
 and to distinction in the new court of the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 191 
 
 Tuileries. The revival of these ideas not 
 only was the first source of disunion, but in a 
 manner prepared the way for that return of the 
 Bourbons and the nobles, which a preservation 
 even of the forms of republicanism for twenty 
 years from the period of the revolution would 
 have rendered almost impossible. There are 
 now in France the old nobles, who emigrated and 
 returned with the king — the nobles who recon- 
 ciled themselves to the imperial government— 
 the military and other revolutionary nobles of 
 the imperial court — and also the nobles of 
 the last chamber of peers ; to these are to be 
 added the nobles of the chamber of peers esta- 
 blished by the present constitution, who are to 
 be hereditary. This gives a shock to the hopes 
 of that equality which the return of Napo- 
 leon was expected to fix for ever in France. 
 It is in vain that the model of England is pro- 
 posed as an excuse for this institution. The 
 privileges of the British peerage were no con- 
 sequence of a formal pact proposed and agreed 
 upon by the British people, but were the fruits 
 of the courageous cupidity and revolt of the 
 ancient feudatories of the Norman kings ; and, 
 during the only time when the government 
 was in the hands of the people, were annulled. 
 The objectors go the length of saying, that the 
 present patriots of England consider an heredi-
 
 192 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 tary legislator no less ridiculous than an heredi- 
 tary poet or painter ; and that the house of lords 
 amongst us is notorious for its base servility 
 to the ministers of the day, and had long ceased, 
 in its united capacity, to command the least 
 esteem. In short, the peers were and are consi- 
 dered another proof that Napoleon will hardly 
 consent to be the head of a free constitutional 
 monarchy suitable to the age immediately subse- 
 quent to that which witnessed the revolution. 
 I am far from saying, that the framers of the 
 constitution, or Napoleon himself, had any other 
 design in view than the establishment of a free 
 government ; I am only recording opinions. 
 A French colonel, wh« attended the Emperor 
 at Fontainbleau during the days of his abdica- 
 tion, informed me, that he was standing by the 
 side of Napoleon, on the parade, when M. de 
 Caulaincourt brought him the first news of his 
 deposition. The event was communicated in a 
 whisper. Napoleon drew back a step, bit his 
 lip, and a faint flush passed across his cheek ; 
 but he recovered himself instantaneously, and 
 continued the review. For the first twenty- 
 four hours subsequent to his fall he was a little 
 unquiet ; but afterwards was restored to his 
 usual spirits and manners. It was a melan- 
 choly scene; the long corridors, the saloons of 
 that vast palace, even the anti-chamber of Na-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 193 
 
 poleon, were crowded with officers and soldiers, 
 sauntering carelessly from room to room, with- 
 out subordination, but without disturbance ; for 
 not only all order was lost, but all spirit even for 
 commotion had subsided. Each morning as 
 they rose, some marshal, general, or minister, 
 on being asked for by the Emperor, was found 
 to have dropped off to Paris*. Conversing 
 one day with the colonel, he said, " It is not 
 " the armies that have dethroned me, not the 
 " combined sovereigns, not the extraordinary ef- 
 " forts of England ; but the progress of liberal 
 " ideas/ which if I had regarded four or five 
 " years past, I should have confirmed my 
 " power for ever. However," said he, gaily, 
 
 * Napoleon, when he put his name to the* abdication, made 
 two or three scratches and a dent with the stump of the pen, 
 or back of a knife, on the little round claw -footed yellow table, 
 on which it was signed. After his resignation of the empire, 
 he spent his time, either in conversation in his apartment, or 
 in a little English garden at the back of the palace, which he 
 had himself laid out at considerable expense. In the midst 
 of it there is a circular marble fountain, with a figure of 
 Diana rising from the centre of the bath. On a stone bench 
 beside it, and immediately opposite to a vista, at the end of 
 which is a figure of Mercury on a pedestal, Napoleon, on 
 one of these days of distress, was seated alone for three 
 hours, and amused himself in kicking a hole, a foot deep, with 
 his heel, in the gravel beneath. The keeper of the palaCe of 
 Fontainbleau shewed me both the table and the fountain. 
 
 VOL. I. O 
 
 aMMM
 
 194 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 " I did not, and it is come to this." In the 
 conversation to which I have before alluded, 
 which he held with Mr. Sismondi, he said " that 
 " he was the child of the revolution ; that he owed 
 tC all his greatness to the emancipation of France 
 c ' from its ancient servitude ; that he knew and 
 " was attached to the true principles of liberty ; 
 c< quoiqueje men sids ecarte," added he ; " but I 
 " have seen my error, I have felt and suffered, 
 fC and I acknowledge the absolute necessity and 
 ec demand for freedom in this country." Mr. Sis- 
 mondi had volunteered some articles, in defence 
 of the constitution, of which the last appeared 
 in the Moniteur of this day (the 8th), with a 
 boldness which those only who are acquainted 
 with the full force of a Parisian pleasantry can 
 fully appreciate, and was in consequence in- 
 vited to an audience with the Emperor, who 
 kept him in conversation during a two hours' 
 walk through the gardens of the Elys^e. I have 
 heard both Mr. S. and Mr. de Constant, who 
 knows him well, say, that the quickness of his 
 conception, the depth of his remarks, the facility 
 and propriety of his eloquence ; but, above all, 
 the candour of his reply, and the patience of 
 his silence, are more remarkable and attrac- 
 tive than they have ever met with in any other 
 individual. Some very wise people amongst us 
 may doubt of his sincerity ; but those enlight-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 195 
 
 ened men are convinced that he intends well 
 to France, although they are not so sure that he 
 is aware of the method necessary to be pur- 
 sued in constituting the freedom of his subjects. 
 M. Sismondi one day owned in my presence, that 
 he feared that the Emperor had no conception 
 of that unity and responsibility of ministers 
 which would sink himself down to a pageant : 
 that although he would be content to contract 
 his authority, yet what power was left him he 
 would choose to have solely in his own hands ; 
 that he would continue to consider his minister 
 of foreign or of home affairs, of war, of the ma- 
 rine, of justice, of police, of the treasury, as 
 each of them organs of his own administration, 
 accountable to him alone ; as his servants, un- 
 connected with each other, ajid from the disu- 
 nion of whom he might increase the fidelity and 
 dependance of each upon himself. The porte 
 would always travel with the imperial stirrup, 
 and the French would think it the height of wis- 
 dom for him to transmit sealed orders to be 
 signed by an unconsulted minister. The truth 
 is, not Napoleon only, but the Frenchj are at 
 their elements in the work of constitutional o- . 
 vernment. M. de Constant's book on responsi- 
 bility is reckoned a mine of newly discovered 
 truths. Napoleon, nevertheless, many of the 
 friends of liberty are persuaded, is willing to 
 
 o2
 
 196 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 become the constitutional monarch of Francs, 
 as far as he has any conception of such a cha- 
 racter, either because he will be really con- 
 tent with limited power, or because he sees 
 that the French will submit to no other. 
 Such, however, was the clamour against the 
 constitution, so many and violent were the 
 pamphlets, whose very titles proclaimed it to be 
 incomplete, that the greatest alarm was appa- 
 rent in the friends of the Emperor, who ap- 
 peared to apprehend some immediate violence 
 from the Jacobins. I had an opportunity of 
 knowing that the grand marshal's family were 
 in the greatest consternation, and that others of 
 the court itself scrupled not to speak in terms 
 of the utmost dejection. In one week after the 
 promulgation of the constitution, on the 1st of 
 May, appeared an imperial decree, which at 
 once evinced that Napoleon had listened to the 
 voice of the people. The decree spoke the 
 language of truth. It confessed that the actual 
 government was a dictatorship (dont nous nous 
 trouvions investis par les circomtances et par la 
 confiaricc du peuple), to avoid the prolongation 
 of which the forms proposed for framing the 
 constitution had been abridged ; that is to say, 
 the constitution, instead of being originally 
 formed by the representatives of the people, 
 had been planned by the government. It was
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 197 
 
 owned that the intention had been to wait for 
 the acceptation of the constitution by the peo- 
 ple before the reunion of the electoral col- 
 leges for the choice of deputies ; but that, over- 
 ruled by circumstances, the best interests of the 
 state had compelled the Emperor to surround 
 himself with the national bodies. For this pur- 
 pose the electoral colleges were to be called toge- 
 ther in four days from the publication of the 
 present decree, and the chamber of representa- 
 tives was to be immediately chosen, so as to 
 meet at the same time as the assembly of the 
 Champ de Mai. Although in this convocation 
 of the chamber nothing was decisively said re- 
 specting the remodelling of the constitution, it 
 was implied, and universally acknowledged, that 
 this would be the first work of the representa- 
 tives of the people.* This was a decisive 
 change in the original plan of the imperial go- 
 vernment, which was declared in these words— 
 " en convoquantles electeurs des colleges en assem- 
 *' blee du Champ de Mai, nous comptions de consti- 
 " tuer chaque assemblee electorate de departement, 
 " en bureaux separes, composer ensuite une com- 
 ** mission commune d toutes, et dans I'e space de 
 " quelques mots arriver au grand objet de nos 
 
 * Indeed afterwards Napoleon told them so in his speech, 
 and they proceeded t^it in their short sitting.
 
 198 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 " pensees." Under this plan, the representatives 
 of the people, the parliament, in which the con- 
 fidence of the nation was placed, would have 
 been unassembled for several months, and the 
 mere commission of the electoral colleges cho- 
 sen at the Champ de Mai, an anomalous irregu- 
 lar body, would have been entrusted with the 
 great work of legislating for. the French nation 
 of the present age, and for all posterity. The 
 assembly of the Champ de Mai was never re- 
 garded with the eye of favour or confidence in 
 Paris j it was objected to as a specimen of impe- 
 rial charlatanerie, as a recurrence to those Charle- 
 magnic institutions for which Napoleon, in de- 
 spite of all inaptitude of time, and manner, and 
 circumstance, had already discovered so fre- 
 quent and decided a propensity, in preference 
 to the forms and habits of the French mo- 
 narchy. It was said to be a foolish insignificant 
 fete, absurdly called national, when its sole pur- 
 pose was to give splendour and a pretence to the 
 return of Napoleon, and when the greater pro- 
 portion of those assembled would probably 
 be the armed satellites of his throne ; since 
 of the 80,000 electors in France, it was sup- 
 posed not ten would attend the assembly. It 
 was a subject of general exultation then, 
 that the convocation of the chamber of re- 
 presentatives took away all the pretended irn-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 199 
 
 portance of the Champ de Mai, and left it no 
 other character than that of a mere ceremony. 
 Since the edict of the 1st of May, indeed, great 
 doubts have been entertained whether this ce- 
 remony will take place at all, as the electors 
 are to be assembled merely for the purpose of 
 casting up and balancing the votes of their de- 
 partments, and taking their seats in a range of 
 benches to hear the anticipated acceptation of 
 the constitution proclaimed from the steps of 
 the throne*. The calling together the new 
 convention, for so it may be named, has made 
 the acceptation of the additional act a matter 
 of perfect indifference ; as it is clear, from this 
 measure, that Napoleon has yielded, and the 
 people will at last have the formation of the 
 constitution ; so that at one notary's the act 
 has been signed by only eight, at another by 
 only two voters. 
 
 A third proof of the power of public opinion 
 has been shewn in the general lenity of the new 
 government to the known adherents of Louis, 
 and that in contradiction of some early decrees. 
 Napoleon, by a decree dated in the first week of 
 the new reign, but not published in the Moniteur 
 until afterwards, banished the persons composing 
 
 * It was even thought necessary to warn the world La the 
 Moniteur, that the meeting of the deputies did not annul 
 that of the Champ de Mai.
 
 200 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 * 
 
 the king's household to thirty leagues from 
 Paris. As a measure of security, supposing it 
 to be such, this might be excusable ; but it 
 seems the ministers thought no danger could 
 accrue from their residence in the capital, and 
 represented the proceeding as arbitrary and im- 
 politic. The Duke of Bassano even informed the 
 Emperor that he should resign if it was carried 
 into effect. The consequence of which repre- 
 sentations, as well as the general clamour 
 against the proscription, has been, that no one 
 has been banished, nor even received any intima* 
 tion from the police ; on the .contrary, over- 
 tures have been made to such of the household 
 as choose to enrol themselves in the imperial 
 armies, and a letter was shewn me the other 
 day from the minister of war, addressed to a 
 young nobleman who had desired to be put 
 upon service, saying that the rank he had re- 
 quired in the imperial guard would be granted 
 him. He made no such requisition, and I was 
 thence convinced of the confidence and the 
 necessities of the government. The modera- 
 tion of the government, and the assurances 
 which it is determined to give to the people 
 that the imperial despotism will not be re- 
 newed, have been strikingly seen in the circur 
 lar letter of Mr. Carnot, of this Tuesday, to 
 the prefects, reproaching them with the viola-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 20| 
 
 \ 
 
 lion of correspondence, and denouncing legal 
 penalties against all such as presume to open 
 or detain post letters under the pretence of 
 public service. This liberality on the part of 
 the Emperor, or of his ministers, will, I doubt 
 not, and must in reason, be regulated by the 
 measures of the foreign sovereigns, and the 
 conduct which their abettors in the Bourbon 
 interest will choose consequently to pursue. 
 The fixed opposition and continued aggres- 
 sion of the allies will naturally strengthen the 
 hands of Napoleon, and will make even the 
 most attached friends of freedom inclined to 
 trust him with a power necessary perhaps for 
 the salvation of France. If any thing should 
 prevent a war, the individual independence of 
 Frenchmen is secure,
 
 202 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 LETTEH XL 
 
 Paris, May 19. 
 The state* of the country has reduced the 
 government to the necessity of reminding the 
 partizans of the Bourbons, that no sovereign 
 can suffer a direct attack upon his authority ; 
 and that, whilst Napoleon is on the throne of 
 France, all efforts in favour of the fallen dynasty 
 are a national offence, which will be punished 
 by trie laws already provided against treason. 
 The decree of the 10th of this month, upon the 
 report of the minister of police, can be viewed 
 in no other light ; and I am astonished, that 
 even our liberal friends in England seem to 
 regard the measure as arbitrary and unjust. 
 If Napoleon is to reign, overt acts to dethrone 
 him must be repressed, and repressed in the 
 manner justified by the immemorial usage of 
 all actual sovereigns. It is acknowledged, that 
 the determination of the allies to attempt to 
 dethrone Napoleon has put into action that 
 minority of France which has the same object ; 
 and those demonstrations of discontent, which, 
 in happier times, the government might be able
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 203 
 
 to despise, must naturally now be quelled ; and 
 the reminding the revolters, that the laws 
 against their efforts are still in existence, and 
 will be put into vigour, is rather an act of 
 mercy than of rigour — it is affording a chance 
 for reform, and a delay of punishment. The 
 approaching meeting of the chamber of repre- 
 sentatives will prevent the exercise of any ille- 
 gal power, or the infliction of any unjust penal- 
 ties. It is very well for Mr. Kergorlay to call 
 the decree of the 10th the renewal of terrorism, 
 because a decided Bourbonist must take every 
 step to render the imperial government odious, 
 if he cannot persuade it to be imbecil ; but an 
 impartial person cannot think it unjustifiable, 
 that something should be done against the sedi- 
 tious, any more than that an army is sent into 
 La Vendue,' and that the royalists should not be 
 suffered to march to Paris, and cut the throats 
 of every one who wears the tricoloured cockade. 
 I know not-that Napoleon is equally justified, in 
 commanding by a decree published yesterday, 
 that the royal volunteers shall complete the offers 
 of horses and money, which they made to the 
 king, for the Emperor's service, and shall present 
 themselves before certain generals immediately, 
 in order to join the imperial armies, or be sent 
 to a depot. The Emperor has certainly a right 
 to be apprised that the royal volunteers are not
 
 204 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 actively employed against his government : he 
 has a right to their acquiescence, but not 
 to their service; and, previously to his leav- 
 ing Paris, he may fairly remove from the 
 capital such as are known to entertain any 
 design hostile to the state. They are in the 
 predicament, perhaps, of all the other portions 
 of the army, and may therefore be disposed of 
 by an order from the minister of war. The 
 decree, however, has been ill received at Paris, 
 in which, at the same time, it has, to my know- 
 ledge, not in all instances been carried into 
 effect, any more than that relative to the king's 
 household. M. de L — remains here still. The 
 royal volunteers are only called upon in the 
 south, where there are insurrections ; and it 
 seems that the decree was published on the 
 19th of April, although it appears- now for the 
 first time at Paris. I see in the English papers ac- 
 counts of numerous arrests and violences at Paris 
 — all false, as usual ; and resorted to in order to 
 reconcile the people to a war against Napoleon, 
 as if he were the great enemy of freedom, and 
 our enlightened, candid, liberal, accomplished, 
 patriotic ministers, the only patrons of national 
 and individual independence. These gentle- 
 men know nothing of France, if they think 
 there is a chance of the imperial despotism 
 being renewed in any other way, than by the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 205 
 
 decided success of the French arms in the 
 ensuing contest, when gratitude may perhaps 
 do the work of fear. There is, however, 
 even in the army, such a spirit of independ- 
 ence, and so weary are the superior officers 
 of the perpetual labours of the last war, so 
 anxious all the new men to assure what they 
 have obtained, that no one here thinks, that 
 under any supposition, Napoleon would be able 
 to persuade either his troops or France to carry 
 a war beyond the Rhine ; nor that the Emperor 
 would find support in his capital or the pro- 
 vinces, if he provoked a contest for the reco- 
 very even of Belgium, or if he did not make 
 every effort to remain at peace. It is his mo- 
 deration, that is to say, the repeated offers that 
 he has made to the allies to maintain the treaty 
 of Paris, that has rallied the pride and self-love 
 of France round his person, and has put the 
 question between this country and the com- 
 bined sovereigns into the simple form of a fo- 
 reign interference in the choice which she is to 
 make of a sovereign. It is so much the interest 
 ©f France to remain at peace; and by the 
 common consent and confession even of our 
 statesmen, who visited Paris last year, it is 
 so much her wish, that the apprehension of 
 aggression on her part can only be the pretext, 
 not the real cause of war. It is not because
 
 206 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Napoleon dare not quit Paris, as our ridiculous 
 journalists in England affirm, that he does not 
 march upon Brussels ; it is because he is deter- 
 mined not to begin the war until the convic- 
 tion, that there is no other alternative, has per- 
 suaded the whole of his subjects to join him in 
 one great effort to maintain his cause and their 
 own. In proportion as the chance of peace 
 seems to diminish, the union of all parties ap- 
 pears more probable — even the liberal royalists 
 say " we must fight first, and talk afterwards — 
 " since you gentlemen, the English, will have it 
 " so." The constitutionalists, in the first days of 
 the return of Napoleon, were considered as a 
 separate body from the Imperialists, and parti- 
 cularly at the time of the discontents consequent 
 upon the publication of the constitution, when 
 some reports tended to create a belief, that Eng- 
 land was willing to remain at peace. Rumours 
 were then spread that a sacrifice would be made 
 to the apprehensions of all Europe, and that a 
 change of government would take place, in which 
 Carnot or Fouche" would be appointed president 
 of the republic, and Napoleon generalissimo of 
 the forces — the same report was encouraged dur- 
 ing the advance of the Emperor upon Paris, to 
 reconcile the most powerful and the bravest por- 
 tion of the citizens of the capital. A sentence in 
 M. de Caulain court's memorial to the Emperor,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 207 
 
 in which it was hinted, that the interference of 
 foreigners might prevent the regulation of their 
 internal affairs, created a suspicion, that a war 
 would be commenced to excuse the necessity 
 of giving a free constitution to France. But 
 the continued determination of England to 
 pursue this unjust object, and the frankness 
 with whioh the Emperor has thrown himself 
 into the arms of the people, has listened to 
 their voice, and has identified their interests with 
 his own, by the convocation of the chamber of 
 representatives, has decided the part to be 
 played by those whom we call the Jacobins — 
 that is to say, four-fifths of the population of 
 France, who are determined to stand the shock 
 of nations, and to try the chances of liberty at 
 least, in one great throw, in the person of Na- 
 poleon. Accordingly, although the cap of 
 liberty is not hoisted, the eagle is held as its 
 substitute — the imperial guard march to the 
 Marseillaise ; and it was remarked the other 
 day to me at the Tuileries, that, for the first 
 time since the early days of the republic, the 
 troops passed in review to the tune of the 
 once famous ca ira. Every engine is set to 
 work — the theatre Montansier is now fitted up 
 as a coffee-house — tables and chairs are placed 
 in the pit, whilst the boxes and the lobbies are 
 thrown into one — on the stage is a pedestal 
 in the midst of a natural bower of green, upon
 
 203 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 which is placed the laurel-crowned bust of 
 the Emperor. The whole house is crowded 
 every night to excess, although there is no 
 other entertainment than volunteer songs 
 chanted to the praise of Napoleon and liberty. 
 I recollect that one of them ran upon the joke 
 of last year, which assigned the name of Nicho- 
 las to the Emperor; the licence to remember 
 which shows, that the Napoleon of 1815 is not 
 the Napoleon of 1812. The songster mounts 
 from the pit to the stage by a set of steps, on 
 each side of which stands a gendarme, and 
 sings from the stage. The entrance to the 
 saloon is guarded by soldiers, who regulate the 
 proportion between those who enter and those 
 who quit the coffee-house ; and this assistance 
 of the military must not be attributed to any 
 innovation made by Napoleon, but to the conti- 
 nuation of the old French system, under which 
 the laws, unfortunately, having no force, the 
 police and other servants of justice command 
 no sort of respect, and were they to attempt to 
 disperse a crowd, after the fashion of Towns- 
 end and Vickary, without the aid of bayo- 
 nets, would be instantly beat to pieces in the 
 struggle. 
 
 The songs at the Montansier are what we 
 call of the most inflammatory nature -, that is, 
 they breathe an ardent spirit of liberty, and 
 not only declare the right of France to be free*
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 209 
 
 but the wish that other nations may profit by 
 her example. 
 
 Si les peuples du continent 
 
 Marchaient sur la patrie 
 La guerre, c'est mon sentiment, 
 
 Serait bientot finie. 
 Nous voyant libres, ils diraient 
 
 Vivent les Francs ! la France ! 
 Et tout has, ils ajouteraient. 
 
 Pour nous quelle esperance? 
 
 •* * * -* * 
 
 Princes du nord, dansons en rond 
 
 Et soyez tous tranquilles, 
 Ou vos soldats embrasseront 
 
 Nos phalanges mobiles. 
 Attaquez ; et la liberte 
 
 Ira de fibre en fibre ! 
 Votre systeme rejete 
 
 Le Monde sera libre. 
 
 I do not require you to praise the poetry, 
 but to remark the sentiments. 
 
 On Sunday last, May 1 4, a body of the work- 
 men of St. Antoine and St. Marceau, represent- 
 ing a federation, which had two days before 
 formed itself in those suburbs to the number of 
 30,000, marched before the Emperor at the Tui- 
 leries. The express purpose of this union is to 
 form a body of sharp-shooters to fight in advance 
 of the national guard, in case the enemy shall 
 present itself before the capital. They demand 
 
 VOL. i. p
 
 210 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 
 
 arms, with which, they promise to guarantee 
 Paris against the reappearance of the allies* 
 The number of those who were ranged in 
 order of battle at the court of the Tuileries, 
 and passed Napoleon previously to his review 
 of some regiments of the line and of the young 
 guard, amounted to 12,000; they had de- 
 manded this presentation, but had made no pre- 
 paration for appearing before their Emperor, 
 the greater part being in their labouring dresses 
 and in their dustman's hats: nevertheless, 
 when drawn up and when marching, they fell 
 so easily into their ranks, and proceeded in 
 such order, that they might, in any other coun- 
 try, have been taken for old soldiers ; indeed, 
 many of them have served. This movement 
 of the suburbs glances at the national guard 
 of Paris, most of whom are reputed to be 
 peaceably inclined, and to think more of the 
 preservation of their shops than the glory or 
 integrity of France. A pamphlet has appeared, 
 stating the necessity of reorganizing this guard. 
 The timorous begin to shrug up their shoul- 
 ders ; and I see that even the Journal de l'Em- 
 pire says, that to their shouts of Vive rEmpe- 
 reur were added others which recalled the too 
 famous epochs of the revolution, and which 
 they regretted to hear. For myself I caught 
 nothing but Vive la Liberie, Vive la Nation,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 211 
 
 although a friend of mine heard d bas les Boy- 
 alistes, d bas la Canaille. On the 1 7th, a Pari- 
 sian federation was formed upon the same 
 principles as that of the suburbs, but no se- 
 cond presentation of these volunteers has taken 
 place. It is asserted, that these federations did 
 not originate with the friends of the court ; 
 and certain it is, that whether from fear of ex- 
 cess or other motives, no gratuitous distribution 
 of arms has yet taken place, for such as de- 
 mand them at the depots pay 19 francs for each 
 musquet. However, an organization of these 
 volunteers who are to act as tirailleurs of the 
 guard has been commenced, and officers of the 
 line have been appointed to command them. 
 The example of Paris has been followed in the 
 departments — particularly in Burgundy and 
 Brittany, where the federation is meant as a 
 counterpoise to the royalism of a portion of the 
 province. 
 
 In all the proclamations and addresses of 
 these bodies, the names of la patrie and la li- 
 berte are made the rallying point, and always 
 precede that of the Emperor, whose claims are 
 put upon the footing of his being the national 
 hero. The government is under some embar- 
 rassment in the regulation of its conduct re- 
 spectingthesemovements,whichit cannot wholly 
 encourage, although the least suspicion that they 
 
 p 2
 
 212 LETTERS FROM TARIS. 
 
 are looked upon with distrust would leave the 
 Emperor no support but the sword of his guard. 
 Accordingly, the utmost care has been taken to 
 give a military form and organization to these 
 voluntary levies, which have enabled the Empe- 
 ror to create a protection for his own throne 
 under all the denominations of armed force 
 which can be employed in defence of public 
 freedom, such as partizans, free corps, light 
 battalions, volunteers, and moveable national 
 guards. Nothing but the national spirit would 
 enable the government to take such a measure 
 as recalling all the soldiers disembodied by the 
 king to their regiments, which they join with 
 the utmost alacrity. Large detachments pass 
 through Paris daily, shouting and singing the 
 Marseillaise, and other patriotic songs. They are 
 in plain clothes ; but their sun-burnt faces and 
 mustachios sufficiently mark their old occupa- 
 tion. The campaign will open, if delayed a 
 month longer, with 300,000 regular troops, at 
 the least ; notwithstanding it is true that, as the 
 Duke of Feltre told our ministers, the French 
 army amounted at the king's flight only to 
 84,000. Eight armies or corps of observation 
 were formed by the second of May : the army 
 of the north, of the Mosselle, of the Rhine, of 
 Jura, of the Alps, of the Var, of the Pyrenees, 
 and of reserve at Paris and Laon. The efforts
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 213 
 
 will appear less extraordinary to those who 
 recollect that, in '1793, there were 14 armies 
 in the field— 400 battalions out of the 500 of 
 the garde nationale mobile are put in motion, 
 and every preparation made for the organiza- 
 tion of the levy in mass in Lorraine, Alsace, 
 Franche Compt£, Burgundy, Dauphiny, the 
 Lyonnois, and Picardy. The enrolment of 
 the moveable national guard is a measure 
 which, unless the government had allied it- 
 self with the people, would be utterly impossi- 
 ble. In communes which furnished only eight 
 to the conscription (Malmaison for instance), 
 sixty . have marched ; and in a neighbouring 
 commune, forty have gone instead of the 
 former five. The prefect writes to the mayor 
 for a list of all the inhabitants between twenty 
 and forty years of age, and their designation, 
 whether as bachelors, or married, with children, 
 or without; and, on receiving the answer, orders 
 in reply a certain portion out of each class, at 
 the discretion of the magistrate, who makes 
 and notifies the choice at once. 
 
 Three of the gardeners of the imperial cha- 
 teau of Malmaison have marched at an hour's 
 warning. No reluctance is manifested in the 
 recruits; if there were any, these means of re- 
 cruiting an army would be impracticable; or, to 
 use a paradox, the measure is so arbitrary, that 
 it can come only from the people. The Em-
 
 21 4 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 peror is now the man of the people — the people 
 are at the head of his ministry — the people 
 compose his army — the cause is that of the 
 people — and finally, it is against the people*, 
 more than against Napoleon, that the allies are 
 now in arms, especially our great statesman 
 Lord Castlereagh, wholsee has had the extreme 
 candour to confess in his speech on the 7th 
 of April, " that his object has long been to 
 restore Europe to that ancient social system 
 which her late convulsions had disjointed and 
 overthrown." When he talks so plainly, even 
 Lord Castlereagh can be understood ; when he 
 professes such principles, even Lord Castlereagh 
 may be believed. We want not here the fiddle 
 which made Huiiothrumbo intelligible. I see 
 his lordship's meaning, and the beauty of it, as 
 clearly as if the original tones had been drawled 
 into my ear. The ancient social system of 
 Europe ! — Truly one has as great a respect for 
 these words, either together or apart, as for the 
 holy Roman Empire, though it should turn out 
 to be neither ancient, nor social, nor a system. 
 That state of things which his lordship would 
 wish to restore, as it cannot refer to the poli- 
 tical divisions of the continent, but to the 
 relations between individuals, can be no other 
 
 * The programme of the late peace as they call it, owns 
 this at last — the war was against Napoleon and the revolu- 
 tionary system.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 215 
 
 than the comparatively modern invention which 
 immediately succeeded the feudal system, and 
 according to which the whole mass of a nation is 
 taught to look up to one individual as the source 
 of honour, and power, and law, and government 
 — whilst the dignities of the nobility are but 
 the trappings of the monarch — whilst all legis- 
 lation is reduced to the declaration of his will, 
 and all justice dependant upon his decision. In 
 fine, it can be no other than that absolute mo- 
 narchy, repugnant to the institutions and na- 
 tional manners of the ancestors of the modern 
 peoples of Christendom, which so many sove- 
 reigns, by mutually playing off the separate 
 classes of their subjects against each other, had 
 by degrees contrived to establish, but which the 
 philosophical spirit of the last age had made such 
 a progress to undermine, and will, in spite of the 
 vast difficulties and hinderances occasioned by 
 the internal and external excesses of repub- 
 lican and imperial France, succeed eventually 
 to overthrow. 
 
 In every other country but England, in which 
 the feudal system prevailed, the monarch has 
 managed to gain by the dissensions of the 
 nobles and the people ; and it would, perhaps, 
 have been our fate to profit as little by the fall 
 of the barons as the French in the reign of
 
 216 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Louis XI. if our people, properly so called, had 
 not, from the time of the conquest, regarded 
 both their monarch and his nobles as foreigners, 
 the importers of manners and laws contrary to 
 their own free institutions, and as persons, there- 
 fore, against whom, without being seduced by 
 the ties of consanguinity and natural attach- 
 ment, they were to strive solely for their own 
 advantage, and to obtain their end sometimes 
 by assisting their monarch against his barons, 
 sometimes the barons against their king. Thus 
 it was that they themselves were the only gainers 
 by the triumph or fall of either, and owed their 
 increasing consequence as much to the success 
 of Henry the Seventh as to the defeat of John. 
 To diminish the power of the feudatories, the 
 English kings emancipated their vassals and in- 
 creased their privileges. 1 hey created, like- 
 wise, a preponderating power in the munici- 
 palities, whose immunities, as they contributed 
 to the exertion, and consequently to the wealth, 
 of the subject, added also to their own revenue. 
 The necessities of the sovereign augmented 
 the number and the rights of the citizens, 
 who, feeling no gratitude for favours which 
 they purchased, were not seduced by any emo- 
 tions of loyalty to surrender to a reigning mo- 
 narch the favours which had been granted by 
 his ancestors ; and as the desire of freedom 
 had made the capital and the other great cities
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 217 
 
 affluent in money and in men, so their wealth 
 gave them the ability to defend and confirm 
 their independence. In this manner London 
 became the metropolis of freedom, as well as of 
 the commerce of the world. Liberty may be a 
 mountain nymph ; she may reside in the coun- 
 try ; but she is born in towns, the sister of com- 
 merce and of trade, to which chiefly must be 
 attributed the Dreservation of that individual 
 independence in England, transmitted, as Lord 
 Bolingbroke, in his Dissertation on Parties, 
 says, from the unknown ages of our govern- 
 ment, either from our early colonists, or per- 
 haps the aborigines of our island. Had Lord 
 Castlereagh Jived and talked in the reign of 
 Charles the Second, he would have been a 
 strenuous advocate for the ancient social sys- 
 tem of Henry the Eighth, and talked no less 
 learnedly of the great convulsions of our civil 
 war than he has referred to those of the French 
 revolution, of which I consider that, the great evil 
 has been, that we are now setting in the cur- 
 rent occasioned by its back-water, and that the 
 excesses, and, as yet, the misfortunes with 
 which it was accompanied, will furnish com- 
 mon-places and audences for such as may 
 wish to prepare us for the twunnu-is ol t} nnjr. 
 Already, perhaps, are there some amongst us 
 who contemplate the predicted euthanasia of the 
 
 VOL, I.
 
 218 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 British constitution as fast approaching — who al- 
 ready prepare to close her dying eyes, and com- 
 pose her decent limbs. But, by the blessing of 
 God, they may not all of them be in at the death! 
 Those who hoped that the ancient social system 
 had received from the French patriots of 1789 
 a shock which she would never recover, must, 
 indeed, from that period, have raised their hopes, 
 and renewed them only to lose them one after 
 another, and to deplore the condition of huma- 
 nity, by which the fairest and best of all good 
 things seems fated to be the most unattainable. 
 But a general persuasion of the benefits of free- 
 dom, and the rights of individuals, when once 
 diffused through a whole nation, cannot, like 
 the staining of glass, or any other insignificant 
 art, be wholly lost, although it may fall into 
 temporary discredit or oblivion. We have been 
 long accustomed to declaim against the former 
 tyranny of Napoleon, and with justice ; but we 
 forget that the circumstances of his elevation, as 
 well as of the rise of those who contributed t© 
 the power and splendour of the imperial court, 
 could not fail to be suggested to every French- 
 man when he contemplated the usurper — and 
 to confirm him in his notions of the power of 
 individual exertion, and the original equality of 
 man. We forget that these notions must ne- 
 cessarily outlive, or perhaps even be fatal to the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 219 
 
 pretensions of Napoleon, and the same inatten- 
 tion or perverseness of vision may make even the 
 liberal minded amongst us afraid that at this 
 moment a spirit of turbulence and discontent 
 and a love of change only have been produc- 
 tive of those efforts, which, without the sad 
 experience of our own time, we might mistake 
 for the effect of a genuine love of liberty. 
 Whatever may be our apprehensions on this 
 head, we cannot, however, suppose that, great 
 as Lord Castlereagh's efforts and abilities are, 
 it is feasible to restore the ancient social system 
 of Europe, nor indeed, until his lordship owned 
 so much, could we have guessed, that he, or any 
 body else, would dare to avow that he was 
 engaged in such a philanthropic project. The 
 restoration of the ancient social system of 
 Africa was, indeed, commenced under his 
 auspices and the selling of black children by 
 their mothers must have ameliorated the state 
 of society on the Coast of Guinea. I say 
 under his auspices — for be assured, and I have 
 it from one of the plenipotentiaries who signed 
 with his lordship, that little or no effort was 
 originally made by the English ambassador to 
 apply the abolition to France, and that a word 
 from England, in the Jlrst instance, would have 
 probably produced a very different result. 
 The transfer of a few millions of whites in
 
 220 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Saxony, Poland, Belgium, and Italy, from 
 owner to owner, may serve also as a specimen 
 of his wish to establish the property which 
 legitimate sovereigns possess in full right and 
 title in their subjects, for all the purposes of 
 use and abuse, to be kept or exchanged, as 
 convenient may be, according to the conditions 
 imposed by interest or force. His conduct at 
 the congress of Vienna was one constant in- 
 fraction of the pledge which the treaty of 
 Chaumont gave to the world in March, 1814, 
 for the future intentions of the allied sove- 
 reigns, which were said to be a general peace, 
 under the protection of which the rights and 
 liberties of all nations might be established and 
 secured. 
 
 How the rights and liberties of the Poles, 
 the Saxons, the Belgians, how those of the 
 Genoese have been established and secured, 
 and what seeds of a general lasting peace were 
 sown by the transactions of congress, the world 
 has at last an opportunity of judging. The 
 tongue whose early eloquence avenged the in- 
 sulted patriots of Gaul has already arraigned 
 " those principles of partition and plunder, the 
 " prime source of all the calamities of Europe, 
 " which, riyinating with the spoilers of Po- 
 " land, and copied on a gigantic scale by the 
 " leaders of France, have now returned to their
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 22 1 
 
 " first scat, without changing their nature or 
 " abating their malignity." 
 
 The ministerial mannikins had not fitted 
 their strings ; the prompter not breathing, the 
 puppets could not squeak ; Lord Castlereagh 
 was not present to answer to the charge of vio- 
 lating the honour of England and consummat- 
 ing the ruin of an ancient republic. Genoa 
 had been lost and forgotten a whole month ; 
 his treachery to her in December had been 
 erased from his memory whilst putting the 
 finishing hand, in January, to the srreacer mas- 
 ter stroke of injustice. To that state we broke 
 a solemn promise — to the other powers, who 
 looked up to us as the natural patrons of na- 
 tional independence, we only appeared as the 
 abettors and the dupes of despotism. The 
 moral character of England, by her constant 
 opposition to the aggressions of Napoleon, and 
 the circumstance of her efforts being turned 
 solely to that object, had been placed very high 
 in the estimation of all Europe, and up to the 
 peace of Paris had given a presumptive supe- 
 riority to every individual of our country, and 
 had even made our diplomatists originally re- 
 spectable. She had stood the storm, wrapped 
 in her virtues and a warm surtout, but when 
 the sun of success caused a developement of her 
 policy, the admirers of our honest, generous, 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 222 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 free disposition, saw, that if there was One 
 real republic in the world she was to be at 
 war with England; that when Norway wished 
 to be independent she was to be starved into 
 obedience by England ; if the Genoese had 
 indulged any absurd notions of being again 
 free, they were to be delivered over to the 
 king of Sardinia by the troops of England ; 
 if the Belgians showed any aversion to their 
 Dutch chains, they were to be riveted by the 
 hands of England ; if the Poles wanted advo- 
 cates, they found their slavery perpetuated by 
 the pre-engagements of England ; if Saxony 
 submitted with reluctance, her masters and 
 gaolers wore the clothes and carried the bayo- 
 nets of England ; if the inquisition was to be re- 
 established in Spain and monkery at Rome, it 
 was said to be under the auspices of England. 
 Seeing, I say, all these things, and finding that 
 when all the interests, and' rights, and feelings 
 of humanity were sported with and sacrificed, 
 there was no opposition from England, but 
 that, on the contrary, the wishes of the princi- 
 pal powers of Europe, that is to say, the cupi- 
 dity of certain royal and imperial houses, was 
 made and avowed to be the rule of her con- 
 duct, her admirers began to be strangely 
 surprised, to lose much of their respect for 
 her former conduct, and nearly all their con-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 293 
 
 fidence in her future promises. No one 
 could be astonished that Russia, Prussia, or 
 Austria, should have such wishes ; but that 
 they should be backed by England, — that the 
 implied absolute subjection of so many people, 
 that the prescriptive right of an assembly of 
 crowned heads, or their representatives, to 
 consult nothing but the wishes of the principal 
 powers in the confirmation or the change of 
 the masters of the whole European population, 
 should be countersigned by four Englishmen, 
 was a legitimate object of wonder and horror 
 to such as looked for the security of national 
 freedom in that influence which the glory of 
 England might give her a power to command, 
 and her generous policy an inclination to em- 
 ploy. To former admiration, then, has suc- 
 ceeded a distrust of the professions of the 
 English government ; and such as think the 
 case desperate, and that in the cause between 
 peoples and kings England has chosen her 
 party, only quote the eulogy made by Lord 
 Castlereagh on the ancient social system of Eu- 
 rope as proof of their suspicions and as a justi- 
 fication of their invectives. Thus the friends 
 of freedom in France do not hesitate to affirm 
 that we have connived at the subjection of the 
 continent upon a principle of interest ; and I 
 am ashamed to find in a writer who notices the
 
 224 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 above simple confession of our secretary, the fol- 
 lowing words — M enfin la Grande Brctagne, qui. 
 " est libre> a un inter 'St immense d ce qu'elle ne soit 
 " point changee" (meaning the forms of absolute 
 monarchy in Europe) ; " parce qiCelle retient les 
 " peuples du continent dans un etat de faiblesse 
 " et de miser e qui les place tous dans sa depends 
 " ance, et les rend necessairement tributaires de 
 " son Industrie" This opinion is found in 
 the same volume with those attacks on Na- 
 poleon which procured the temporary seizure 
 of the Censor, and has many partisans in 
 Paris, not so much amongst the friends of the 
 government as the constitutionalists. To say 
 the truth, as yet there has appeared nothing 
 of an official character which must not ra- 
 ther flatter both the English government and 
 people than be the cause of offence. The 
 common talk of those belonging to the court 
 consists of ardent prayers for peace with 
 our country, and when the constitution is 
 the topic, either in speaking or writing, the 
 assimilation of it to that of Great Britain seems 
 to be the general wish of the ruling party. 
 We may acquit Lord Castlereagh of the depth 
 ascribed to such a Machiavellian policy, at the 
 same time that we must confess that the con- 
 duct of the British cabinet, at the commence- 
 ment of the French revolution, and from the
 
 jLETfERS FROM PARIS. 225 
 
 moment of the fall of Napoleon, might justify 
 the above suspicions. At both of these epochs 
 England appears the arbitress of Europe — to 
 her have all eyes been directed — the cause of 
 kings and peoples were, and are now, alike in 
 her hand — her fiat can now enforce, as it would 
 before have confirmed, the independence and 
 happiness of the fairest portion of the civilized 
 world. Morocco itself could not have done 
 more against liberty than England in acced- 
 ing to the conspiracy of Pilnitz ; and there 
 are some who think that our war against the 
 spirit of jacobinism was crowned with com- 
 plete success. If so, why do we go to war 
 now ? Is our victory over this bruised serpent 
 null and void ? Have we been mistaken ? Has 
 Pitt not weathered the storm ? — and is Perceval 
 no more a martyr ? Is Lord Castlereagh only a 
 lucky man ? Have the efforts of these heaven- 
 born ministers advanced us not one step in our 
 expedition against the infidels, and is another 
 crusade to be preached ? The conclusion of 
 the Censeur seems almost inevitable, and I 
 should subscribe to it, did I not think that the 
 interest of Great Britain makes no part of the 
 consideration of our statesmen, and that a war 
 on our part will be merely the consequence of 
 the self-love of Lord Castlereagh being staked 
 to the maintenance of a certain system, and to 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the making good those bargains driven with 
 the sovereigns of congress, which the appear- 
 ance of one individual upon the shore of Cannes, 
 concurring with the indignation of insulted 
 peoples, now threatens to stultify and annul. 
 That this certain system is what he has himself 
 avowed, and what his conduct so well declares, 
 we need not doubt ; but, detestable and ridi- 
 culous as it may appear to you and me, let us be 
 candid, and own that, were it any other, he 
 would be no less pertinacious in its prosecu- 
 tion. It is not what he has said, but that he 
 has said, which causes his concern ; although, 
 perhaps, there are some reasons why a project of 
 " Undoing all, as all had ne'er been done" — 
 
 of retarding, or rather causing to retrograde 
 the progress of civilization — may have stronger 
 claims to his peculiar attention, than any indif- 
 ferent or praiseworthy design could possibly 
 command. For, first, vicious schemes like rickety 
 children requiring more care than a healthy 
 offspring, his parental honour may be at first 
 piqued, and at last his affections engaged to bring 
 them to maturity : secondly, the said system 
 is secure of a continuation of support, were it 
 but out of hatred to the opposite principle, 
 for which his lordship must feel something 
 very like the rancour of a renegade, notwith- 
 standing the momentary inclination to the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 227 
 
 Londonderry Catholics which made the trea- 
 sury tremble to its inmost rows, and extorted 
 
 from the pious the scriptural regret, that 
 
 the secretary should have returned like a dog to 
 his vomit. We have seen so many of our poli- 
 ticians, who commenced their career as friends 
 of liberty, afterwards pass over on the other 
 side, upon the pretence that she has fallen 
 amongst thieves, deserting her for that which 
 would have claimed the protection of the good 
 Samaritan, that we must suppose, either that 
 there is an impracticability in republican prin- 
 ciples, which, being undiscovered in the eager- 
 ness of youth, cannot be concealed from the 
 reflection of age and experience ; or that from 
 the acquiescence of increasing laziness, or the 
 baser motives of cupidity, those generous feel- 
 ings that prompt the youthful generation 
 towards the diffusion of benefits on which 
 their ardent imaginations set so high a price, 
 gradually expire, and are at last totally extin- 
 guished in the bosom of age. 
 
 Those who have lived much with public 
 men must know some few whose desertion of 
 their early principles they are happy to account 
 for upon the first presumption ; but as the far 
 greater portion of these people have all the 
 characteristics, and have for the most part 
 received the price of apostacy, I must attribute 
 
 Q2
 
 228 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 their neglect of their cause, not to any thing 
 vicious or untenable in that cause, but to some 
 flaws or faults in themselves ; in other words, 
 not to their justifiable prudence and conviction 
 of former mistakes, but to the increasing power 
 which the baser passions acquire w T ith progres- 
 sive years. For this reason it has no sort of 
 influence with me to hear the common-place, 
 that all ministers have commenced patriots, 
 and that there must be something intrinsically 
 bad or unproducible in that cause, which such 
 great and virtuous men as Pitt and Huskisson, 
 Canning and Castlereagh, discontinued to sup- 
 port. Even the great alarmist, who, were he 
 alive, methinks would blush to hear his name 
 proverbially coupled with the most disgraceful 
 of the meaner passions, has no weight with me, 
 any more than the herd of his disciples whose 
 tremours are lost in the gigantic shadows that 
 obscured their understanding, and caused their 
 fear. I do not hesitate an instant between the 
 Mr. Burke of 1775, and the Mr. Burke of 1795 ; 
 betw r een the friend of America, and the enemy 
 of France ; between the patriot and the pen- 
 sioner ; between the politician of forty and of 
 sixty ; between the author of the address to the 
 king and of the letter to Lord Auckland. The 
 delight and pride attached to the reflection that 
 I belong to a country which formed and che-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 229 
 
 rished such a genius, cannot so far prevail upon 
 me as to make me suspect the integrity of the 
 principles, in support of which that genius was 
 rirst displayed. 
 
 If liberty, and independence, and patriotism, 
 ceased in his latter days to flow from him\ith 
 their former flavour, I attribute the sourness of 
 the liquor to the insincerity of the cask — the 
 grape is still the same. Mr. Burke might be 
 mistaken — shall I say so much ? — he might be 
 dishonest. Those who knew hkn may judge 
 whether this melancholy method of accounting 
 for the change in his political opinions, as it is 
 more simple, is not also more just, than the 
 supposition of any actually well founded disco- 
 very having been made by that great man of the 
 futility and pernicious tendency of all attempts 
 to improve the condition of the subject at the 
 expense of the authority of the sovereign ; and 
 of the jealousy with which the wise and good 
 should consequently regard any innovation in 
 the ancient social system of the continental 
 nations. Unfortunate, however, as was this 
 change of character in the politicians of the 
 last age, it is neither so disreputable in the in- 
 dividuals, nor so fatal a prognostic for the na- 
 tion, as the tendency discernible in the rising 
 generation to take at once the dirty road to 
 fame, and to adopt those principles of pretended
 
 230 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 prudence which so happily unite national and 
 individual interest. The parliamentary boy 
 now adopts in his noviciate those solid, certain 
 maxims, and takes that prudent line, which it 
 formerly required some previous experience of 
 the vanity of virtue to admire. He makes that 
 discovery at the outset of his days with which 
 Brutus terminated his career. The applause of 
 his countrymen, the admiration or the gratitude 
 of all Europe, he finds have been bestowed upon 
 some who were unworthy of them ; therefore 
 they are always mis-applied ; therefore he will 
 despise them — he will contract his circle of 
 admirers from all human kind to the judicious 
 few whose judgment to discern is not less noto- 
 rious than their power to reward. He will begin 
 to stifle any deluding emotions of ambition, any 
 love of popularity, which all example teaches 
 him he must sooner or later disregard, and put 
 himself at once in the line of promotion. If 
 he has any talent, he will employ it directly 
 on the right side, and slide at the onset into 
 place, without the ceremony of going back- 
 wards and jumping in with a run from the 
 opposite benches. Is he the representative of 
 a great family ? he shall begin by moving an ad- 
 dress — but this is not a paid place ; the Ad- 
 miralty and ,£1200 shall slake his first thirst 
 for honourable distinction. Is he the Julus
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 231 
 
 of a wealthy workman, or an Indian director, 
 the wonder of his collegiate club, — distinguish- 
 ed above the ordinary sons of declamation ? — 
 his first speech is favourably heard — he is de- 
 clared an useful, promising man — his friends 
 think him in a good way — he tries his hand, 
 again, and a message acquaints him that he is an 
 under-secretary, or, if the treasury is open, a 
 lord — his fortune is made — his family are satis- 
 fied that his education has not been in vain — he 
 must rise, and perhaps may make his tutor a 
 bishop, and his father a peer. 
 
 It must be confessed there is no want of 
 attention to these early proficients. I find that 
 little difficulty is made of displacing an old 
 sinner to encourage profligacy in that portion 
 of the age whose opposition would be most 
 formidable. The youths of education and con- 
 dition, who are not favoured with the first start, 
 are content to take the next best badge of ser- 
 vitude, and to fill the many mansions of Down- 
 ing-street. Look at the honourable list of clerks 
 in our public offices, where many men of no 
 contemptible rank may recognise their children 
 or collaterals, doing very well at an alleged 
 salary of ^lSO per annum; although, were 
 a spark of English honour alive in their bo- 
 soms, they would rather send them to engross 
 in the highest garrets of Temple Lane, in 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 252 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 which case the youths themselves would be 
 snatched from ignominy, and St. James's air 
 would no longer be infected with the official 
 fops of five o'clock. The quills of the treasury 
 and the other public buildings must be driven 
 as well as those of Lothbury ; and the labourer 
 at that employ may be as honest and as worthy 
 of his hire, though, at the first presumption, 
 hardly so respectable as the other. But that 
 the gentlemen of England should think them- 
 selves too fortunate in seeing their sons or 
 brothers saved from the duties and indepen- 
 dence of a learned profession or of honourable 
 commerce, by becoming the journeymen pen- 
 cutters and bell-ringers of a rascal-statesman, 
 and that they should consider such a line as the 
 best qualification for and introduction to the 
 distinction of their fellow-citizens, denotes a de- 
 gradation of the honourable feelings in our aris- 
 tocracy (by this I mean the well-educated por- 
 tion of our countrymen), and a loss of that pro- 
 per individual pride which may be dispensed 
 with in an absolute monarchy, but without which, 
 notwithstanding the liberality and excellence of 
 its institutions, a nation must soon cease to be 
 free. To my mind, a young man should be 
 ashamed to commence his service to his coun- 
 try, which common decency obliges him after 
 all to make the pretext of his practices, by put- 
 ting his name upon the list of her pensioners, and
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS, 233 
 
 to anticipate at once, rather than to earn the 
 pay of patriotism. Much of this early degene- 
 racy is to be attributed to the increase of taxa*- 
 tion, which makes it difficult for any one to 
 hold his place in society who is not in posses- 
 sion of great real income, (not the nominal re* 
 venue of a large rent-roll,) unless a portion of 
 that taxation is in some way refunded into his 
 own pocket. The heads of the most consider- 
 able families are forced to provide for their 
 connections by those means which were origi- 
 nally their own; and which, having passed 
 through the channels of government, return, 
 diminished in value but increased in power, to 
 their own hands : for the necessary effect of this 
 circuitous route and transfer must be to trans- 
 form the gentry, the fathers and the sons, of 
 these kingdoms, from honest independent cha- 
 racters into the degraded tools of the ruling 
 parliamentary faction. 
 
 It is not to be expected that the young 
 should resist the parental kindness, which, af- 
 ter having brought them up with the preten- 
 sions usual to their rank, presents them with 
 the choice of immediate provision, and a place 
 in the circle, and of indigence and exclusion. 
 Thus whatever political virtue we are to see 
 in this age, will, for the most part, be found 
 jm the heirs to commercial property, whose
 
 234 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 connections being provided for at the coun- 
 ter instead of at court, have no demands for 
 their roguery, and who can themselves af- 
 ford to be honest. There are, however, but 
 few of those hardy spirits who would be willing 
 to see their best years spent in want, or, what 
 is more painful still, in inactivity, rather than 
 do violence to all the generous principles which 
 a good education can hardly fail to infuse into 
 the well-born mind, by taking the only dis- 
 honourable position to be found in a free coun- 
 try, a place amongst the slaves and satellites 
 of state. Circumstances may render it excusa- 
 ble for a young man of family or talent to lend 
 a virtuous statesman the support of his name 
 or service, by associating it to the list of his 
 ministry ; but he should by no means consider 
 such an early introduction into office as desir- 
 able, or in any way the object of youthful am- 
 bition. On the contrary, a person of any spirit 
 would take a pride in doing his duty, without any 
 conditions which should oblige him to receive 
 a recompense ; he would take a pride in being 
 known as one determined to be a statesman, 
 if possible, without being a placeman; and, 
 until such a pride is prevalent, little patriotism 
 is to be expected from either side of the 
 Speaker's chair. No ministry would dare to 
 insult the Marquis of Tavistock by asking him
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 235 
 
 to become a Lord of the Treasury ; and the 
 parity supposed amongst the representatives of 
 the nation renders it no unbecoming haughti- 
 ness for any member of parliament to receive 
 such an offer, at least, with reluctance, and to 
 consider the expediency, if an expediency ex- 
 ists, of acceding to it, as an objection rather 
 than an inducement to the adoption of mi- 
 nisterial politics. But the encouragement of 
 such antiquated notions, the classification of the 
 Viscount and the Lord and the Ho- 
 nourable < with the yagers and porters that 
 
 fill the functions or the rolls of court appoint- 
 ments, and the contempt of official grandeur, 
 are inconsistent with the ancient social system, 
 and with the existence of the Castlereaghs of 
 the day. They must live, say you. Recollect, 
 I pray, the Duke of ChoiseuPs reply to the same 
 apology.
 
 236 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Paris, May 24. 
 
 The French papers have arrived doubtless in 
 London with their usual regularity ; but I send 
 you, nevertheless, a view of the occurrences, 
 chiefly as they relate to the acts of government, 
 since the return of the Emperor. In preparing 
 this detail, I consult the public documents be- 
 fore me, as well as employ my own recollection 
 of such transactions as passed, as it were, under 
 my own eyes. 
 
 The Moniteur of the 20th of March con- 
 tained the proclamation of Louis taking leave 
 of his capital, not because he could not dispute 
 the entrance of the rebels, but because he would 
 not spill the blood of his subjects. " Divine Pro- 
 " vidence, which recalled us to the throne of our 
 " fathers, now permits that this throne should 
 " be shaken by the defection of a part of the 
 " armed force which had sworn to defend it. 
 
 We might profit by the faithful and patriotic 
 
 dispositions of the immense majority of the 
 *' inhabitants of Paris, and dispute the entrance 
 " of the rebels j but we shudder at the calami- 
 
 ty
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS* 257 
 
 " ties of every kind which a battle within the 
 " walls would draw down on the inhabitants.'* 
 
 All Paris knew his majesty could not have 
 disputed the entrance of the army of Napoleon 
 — and all Paris has now an opportunity of 
 judging how sparing this prince must be of the 
 blood of his subjects. 
 
 Has not his most Christian majesty acceded to 
 the treaty of the Sith of March, by which one 
 million one hundred thousand bayonets are to 
 break in upon France? What is his confidential 
 servant Laroche Jacquelin doing in La Ven- 
 dee ? Has his conduct differed from that of any 
 other monarch that ever pretended to a crown, 
 and does he not think all means for its recovery 
 justifiable by every law human and divine ? 
 
 The king left the Tuileries at one o'clock in the 
 morning; at two General Excelmans hoisted the 
 tr; coloured flag on the dome of that palace — the 
 windows, gates, and colonnades, which had been 
 occupied by national guards the three preced- 
 ing days, were cleared ; and the gardens, which 
 had presented a confused crowd of anxious ex- 
 pectants silent and dejected, now were filled 
 with groups of people, soldiers and others, of 
 all ranks and classes, eagerly embracing each 
 other, laughing, shaking hands, and exchang- 
 ing congratulations. 
 
 During the day, the Moniteur went over to
 
 238 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 other falsifiers you may say; but whatever in- 
 clinations you may choose to suppose in M. de 
 Bassano, I defy you to show two such egregious 
 attempts at imposition as are noticed above in 
 the king's proclamation. On the 21st, the next 
 day, the first line in that journal ran thus : 
 " Le roi et les princes sont partis dans la nvit.* 
 It continued, " S. M. VEmpereur est arrive ce 
 ** soir d 8 heures dans son palais des Tuileries. 
 * l II est entre a Paris d la tete des manes troupes 
 " qu'on avait fait sortir ce matin pour s'opposer 
 " a son passage. L'armee qui s'etaitformee de- 
 " puis son debar quement ri avait pas pu depasser 
 " Fontainbleau. S. M. a passe sur sa route la 
 " revue de plusieurs corps de troupes. JElle a 
 " march fe constamment au milieu d'une immense 
 "population qui partout se portait au devant 
 *' d*elle. La brave batallion de la vieille garde, 
 " qui a accompagne' VEmpereur depuis Vile 
 " d'Elbe, arrivera id demain el aura fait ainsi en 
 " 21 jours le trajet du golfe de Juan a Paris — 
 " Nous dormer ons demain le recit de ce qui s'est 
 " passe sur la route de S. M. depuis son debar- 
 " quement jusqu'd son arrivee a Paris." 
 
 On the same day appeared the appointments 
 of H. S. H. the prince archchanceilor to the 
 great seal; the nomination of the Duke of 
 Gaeta to the finance department; the Duke 
 of Bassano to the secretariship of state ; the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. Q$9 
 
 Duke Decres to the marine and the colonies j 
 the Duke of Otranto to the police ; Count 
 Mollien to the treasury ; Marshal Prince of 
 Eckmulh to the war department ; the Duke 
 of Rovigo to the inspection of gendarmerie; 
 Count Bondy to the department of the Seine ; 
 and Real, counsellor of state, to the prefecture 
 of police. 
 
 The same Moniteur contained the proclama- 
 tions of Napoleon, dated March 1, Gulf of 
 Juan, to the army and to the French people * ; 
 the address of the Elbese battalion of the guard 
 to the army ; the addresses of Napoleon to the 
 inhabitants of the Higher and Lower Alps ; to 
 those of the Isere ; to those of the town of 
 Grenoble, with the answer of its inhabit- 
 ants ; and two addresses, one from the Mayor 
 of Lyons, and another from the 11th regiment 
 of the line. The proclamation to the French 
 people had been brought to Paris by an English- 
 man travelling from Lyons, who continued 
 showing it to several friends, until a more pru- 
 dent acquaintance advised him to put it for the 
 present in his pocket. 
 
 Besides these proclamations, appeared nine 
 imperial decrees dated from Lyons, March 13. 
 In every instance, the title given to himself by 
 Napoleon, was " Napoleon, by tJie grace of God, 
 
 * See Appendix.
 
 240 LETTERS FROM PARIS* 
 
 " and the constitutions of the empire, Emperor 
 " of the French, <$r. §c. fyc" The etceteras 
 have since heen dropped* By these decrees, 
 all changes in the judicial tribunals, since the 
 abdication of Fontainbleau, were annulled ; all 
 emigrant officers were broken ; the white 
 cockade, the decoration of the lilies, the orders 
 of St. Louis, of the Holy Ghost, and of St. Mi- 
 chael, were abolished ; the national cockade 
 and tricoloured standard were to be re-esta- 
 blished, and the latter replaced in the town- 
 houses and on the village churches j the impe- 
 rial guard was restored to all its honours and 
 functions; the 100 Swiss, and other Swiss 
 guards, were banished forty leagues from Paris 
 and all the imperial palaces ; the kings house- 
 hold troops abolished, and their horses and 
 equipments put in the disposal of the state. 
 
 The Bourbon property was sequestrated; the 
 national property restored in every case ; the 
 nobility abolished, and the laws of the consti- 
 tuent assembly put in vigour against them. 
 Feudal titles were abolished ; but the titles of 
 those who had attained national distinctions pre- 
 served, as also a reservation for giving titles to 
 those whose ancestors had illustrated the French 
 name in any age or profession, or art or 
 science. The emigrants not included in former 
 pardons were ordered to quit the French terri- 
 tory in fifteen days ; and if convicted of wilful
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 241 
 
 entry, or remaining behind after that period, to 
 be tried by the tribunals — their property to be 
 sequestrated. All changes made in the legion 
 of honour were annulled, and that order re- 
 stored to its ancient footing, an exception being 
 made in favour of those members whom, al- 
 though appointed by the Bourbons, the Empe- 
 ror might choose to continue on the list. The 
 peers were dissolved : the chamber of deputies 
 was dissolved j and all members arrived at Paris 
 since the 7th of March ordered to return to 
 their homes. The electoral colleges of the em- 
 pire were convoked for the following May, to 
 meet at Paris, in an assembly extraordinary of 
 the Champ de Mai, to take measures for cor- 
 recting and modifying the constitutions, ac- 
 cording to the will of the nation ; and, at the 
 same time, to assist at the coronation of the Em- 
 press and the son of the Emperor. 
 
 The remainder of this important Moniteur 
 contained an account of the transactions at 
 Lyons and Grenoble, and the order of the day 
 addressed by Marshal Ney to his troops. 
 
 It is observable, that in these documents the 
 Emperor speaks everywhere of the government 
 of the Bourbons as having been illegal, and to 
 be considered as not having existed — a great 
 fault, as the constitutionalists have not failed 
 to remark, since a virtual acceptation of the 
 
 vol. i. R
 
 242 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 ancient dynasty cannot be denied to have been 
 given by the French people to their king ; and 
 as the contrary supposition would make it ap- 
 pear that they had engaged themselves so en- 
 tirely to Napoleon, that, notwithstanding his 
 abdication, of which he made no mention, and 
 the arrival of the Bourbons, they ought not to 
 think they had in fact, or might ever have, any 
 other sovereign than Napoleon. But, at the 
 same time, it must be owned, that the Emperor 
 gave a reason for thus bastardizing the claims 
 of the Bourbons, which no less flattered, than 
 his other proceeding might alarm, the people ; 
 namely, that these rights had no lawful founda- 
 tion, because not arising from their will, and 
 that his own pretensions had no other basis 
 or pretext. At Lyons he held the language 
 of moderation. " We should forget,'' said he, 
 " that we have been the masters of nations — 
 " my rights are those of the people alone — of 
 " all that individuals have done, written, or 
 " said, since the taking of Paris, I shall for 
 " ever remain ignorant." The supposition, 
 that what had been written or said might be the 
 object of research and punishment, may sur- 
 prise us, and show what was the rigour of the 
 ancient imperial government ; but it is no less 
 fair to remark, that Napoleon has religiously 
 kept his word, and that no prosecution or per-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 243 
 
 secution has taken place of any single indivi- 
 dual for acts, writings, or savings, previously to 
 his return, with the exception only of Marshal 
 Augereau, who has been excluded from this 
 grace, but who has been punished for saying, 
 in his base proclamation to his soldiers in 1814, 
 that Napoleon " was a coward who did not 
 dare to die like a soldier," only by being unem- 
 ployed and sent to his country seat. Orders 
 were given for the arrest of Brulart, who at- 
 tempted to assassinate Napoleon in Elba ; and 
 M. de Vitrolles was detained for his conduct 
 in the insurrection of the south. 
 
 On the 22d of March M. Carnot was declared 
 a count of the empire for his defence of Ant- 
 werp, and was also named, by another decree, 
 minister of the interior. The national guards 
 enrolled on the 9th of the month, and the vo- 
 lunteers, were decreed inactive, as also were the 
 genera] councils of the departments organized 
 by the late government on the 1 1th of March. 
 
 The appointment of M. Carnot, as well as 
 of M. Fouche, was direct evidence of the party 
 into whose hands the Emperor had determined 
 to throw himself; for though these two gentle- 
 men are considered of very different inclina- 
 tions, the one being attached to the princi- 
 ples, and the other only to the results, of the 
 revolution, yet they are equally a protection 
 
 H 2
 
 244 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 against any renovation of the imperial despotism. 
 The former minister, perhaps, may be consi- 
 dered a republican, who thinks no preliminary 
 step so likely to accomplish his great object as 
 the perpetual exclusion of an ancient incorrigi- 
 ble dynasty, and who for this purpose has not 
 hesitated to devote himself to the service of the 
 Emperor entirely and without reserve — a con- 
 duct for which if his propensities cannot alto- 
 gether account, the circumstances of the case 
 may. M. Carnot is believed to have survived 
 that acuteness and penetration which have given 
 his name so deserved a celebrity ; and his firm- 
 ness and courage, which still remain, having lost 
 those guides, are by those who do not esteem 
 him not unfrequently degraded into obstinacy 
 and rashness. His Memoir to Louis the Eigh- 
 teenth must surely be considered a very inferior 
 performance, and as much might be guessed 
 by the extraordinary pains taken to disperse it; 
 as, amongst other contrivances, it is now va- 
 grant through the streets in such tilted cart* 
 as are used in London by the perambulatory 
 agents of lottery contractors. 
 
 The Duke of Otranto, from whom more 
 compliance might be expected, as his princi- 
 ples have a greater tendency towards monarchi- 
 cal establishments, is nevertheless suspected to 
 be much less a Napoleonist than his brother
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 245 
 
 minister ; and being regarded as such, is con- 
 sidered as so much the more certain a guaran- 
 tee of the moderate popular policy which the 
 Emperor resolves to pursue. 
 
 He is decidedly the best head, so they say, in 
 France ; and at this moment is in possession, 
 unaccountable as it may seem, of the confi- 
 dence of all parties, if perhaps we except the 
 very decided imperialists attached to the person 
 of Napoleon. Of all the ministers appointed 
 by Napoleon, I hear of only one who is not 
 respectable for some quality; and with that 
 exception, their appointment is such as would 
 do credit to any court in Europe. Recollect 
 always, that I am talking of the Carnots 
 and Fouches of 1815, not of those persons as 
 they appeared in 1794. The Prince of Eck- 
 mulh is looked upon in England as a monster, 
 for the extremities to which he reduced Ham- 
 burgh ; but those extremities were necessary 
 for the defence of the town intrusted to his 
 care, and, severe as they were, have not left 
 the marshal without admirers, even in that 
 devoted city, where his exact discipline and 
 his disinterestedness were topics of praise, 
 whilst the suburbs were by his orders destroyed. 
 The marshal refused the purse presented as 
 usual to the military governor of the city. 
 Ask your friend Mr. P h if his example
 
 246 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 was followed by the general known in England 
 by the name of the gallant Tettenborn. 
 
 The Duke of Vicenza has since been named 
 to the department of foreign affairs, being at 
 the same time grand master of the horse. He 
 is an exceedingly popular person, and contri- 
 butes very much, as well as Count Mollien, 
 to the respectability of the present ministry. 
 To hear such animalcule? as Blacas and 
 others, through the channel of our pitiful news- 
 papers, call these gentlemen the rebel go- 
 vernment, and exhaust every epithet of abuse 
 upon men against whom no other charge can 
 be brought than that they have placed them- 
 selves in the post of honourable peril, must 
 move the spleen both of English and French, 
 of whatever party, who retain any sentiments 
 of generosity and candour. The Moniteur of 
 the 25th announced that this journal contained 
 no longer any official articles but such as were 
 public acts of state. This loss of autho- 
 rity was to acquire increase of credibility. — 
 It was to be less official and more authentic. 
 It is still the government journal, and in the 
 hands of the Duke of Bassano. An imperial 
 decree of the 24th abolished the censorship 
 and the general direction of the publishers and 
 printers. The most unrestrained liberty, it 
 may be said, licence, has ensued. Several de-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 247 
 
 crees of the same date restored the ancient 
 order and forms in the civil and military esta- 
 blishments. Immediate measures were taken 
 to secure all the departments. The minister 
 of the interior on the 2 2d wrote a circular 
 letter to the prefects*, notifying the return of 
 the Emperor, and requiring their assistance 
 in the re-establishment of his authority. Ad- 
 vices arrived at Paris on the 2oth, that, ex- 
 cepting in the north, where the presence of 
 the family of the Count de Lille repressed the 
 public spirit, the tricoloured flag was replaced 
 in the greater part of the departments. The 
 Duke of Belluno, who was marching to Paris 
 with the troops of the second military division, 
 had been obliged to quit his command, the sol- 
 diers unanimously declaring for the Emperor ; 
 the third and fourth military divisions, likewise, 
 sent in their addresses, which were delivered to 
 the Emperor on the parade on the 24th. The 
 Duke of Albufera and General Gerard had 
 witnessed and assisted in the enthusiasm of 
 all Alsace, Franche Comte, and Burgundy, so 
 early as the 23d. Normandy and Brittany 
 had restored the national standard. The Duke 
 of Bourbon quitted Angers as the troops 
 marched against him ; he embarked on the 
 Loire the 26th, having given up a concerted 
 
 * See Appendix — No. 5.
 
 248 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 project of enrolling all the male inhabitants of 
 the country from eighteen to fifty. The Count 
 de Lille was said to have left Lille ; 40,000 of 
 the imperial forces being on the march for that 
 town. He did leave it the 23d, and the whole 
 north declared for Napoleon on the following 
 days. General Clausel repaired towards Bour- 
 deaux, where the Duchess of Angouleme was 
 inspiriting the partisans of the Bourbons by 
 every effort, and by the invitation of J 2,000 
 Spaniards, to join in quelling the insurrection. 
 Marshal Massena had seen Toulon hoist the 
 national colours, and was employed in tran- 
 quillizing Marseilles. Bourdeaux was in pos- 
 session of the imperialists by the 2d of April, 
 and such was the address of General Clausel 
 that he employed only 200 men in restoring 
 this great town to the reigning authority. The 
 general was himself spectator of the extraordi- 
 nary scene which passed on the quay, where, 
 after Madame had made use of threats, intrea- 
 ties, and promises, to induce first the troops of 
 the line and then the volunteers to fire on the 
 fortress La Bastide, a sudden fusillade took 
 place amongst the volunteers themselves, who 
 concluded the efforts of the Bourdeaux roy- 
 alists by an act of frenzy, wounding several, 
 and killing a captain, of their comrades on the 
 spot. The efforts of the Duke of Angouleme 
 were of longer duration, but that prince was
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 249 
 
 put down chiefly by the national guards of Dau- 
 phiny, and taken prisoner, as you have seen. 
 The letter which the Emperor sent to Count 
 Grouchy, dated the 1 1th of April, giving per- 
 mission to the duke to embark at Cette*, 
 attaches a condition to this permission which I 
 fancy has not been fulfilled, although the duke 
 has embarked — I mean the restoration of the 
 crown jewels, which the king carried away 
 with him, to the amount of 13,834,046 francs. 
 Marseilles hoisted the tricoloured flag on the 
 12th. On the 17th of April, that is, in less 
 than a month after the return of Napoleon to 
 the Tuileries, the news of the whole of France 
 being restored to tranquillity under the impe- 
 rial government was announced by a salute of 
 artillery fired at one o'clock from all the batte- 
 ries at every part of the empire. Up to that 
 day addresses had continued pouring in from 
 all parts of the country, from the municipal 
 and military bodies. With the exception of 
 Marseilles, where the soldiery have been kept 
 on duty in the streets, no resistance of the 
 public authority was dreaded for the remainder 
 of the month ; but early in May, when the 
 emissaries of Louis had succeeded in spreading 
 the report that the allies were determined 
 
 * See Appendix— -Wo. 10.
 
 250 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 unanimously to support the pretensions of the 
 Bourbons, the partisans of that family reco- 
 vered their stupor, and proceeded to those 
 excesses in the departments of the north and 
 west, the Maine and Loire, and Lower Loire, 
 which produced the report of the 7th of this 
 month (May) from Fouche, and the consequent 
 decree of the Emperor on the ninth, renewing 
 the constitutional laws against the royalists. 
 Fouche, in a circular letter to the prefects on 
 the 31st of March, cautioned them against the 
 excessive exertion of their authority, against 
 the renewal of the police of attack instead of the 
 police of observation, against a minute officious 
 curiosity, destructive of social enjoyment, and 
 against every kind of conduct which might 
 make the police appear the sword instead of 
 the torch of justice. This wise and liberal 
 policy of the new government was abused by 
 the royalists. You will observe, however, that 
 Fouche in his report confines himself to general 
 assertions, except in the two instances of tear- 
 ing down the tricoloured flag in Calvados and 
 the massacre of a major. 
 
 Our countrymen, who now affect to have be- 
 lieved every thing said or implied of the unani- 
 mity of France, pretend to an excess of pleasing 
 surprise at the confession of Fouch6 ; but if 
 they will consider a moment, they will be rather
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 251 
 
 astonished at the concord than the disunion of 
 the majority of Frenchmen, amongst whom 
 cannot be reckoned at this moment, even after 
 all our machinations in La Vendee, as many 
 decided acknowledged enemies of the actual 
 government as every Irish paper confesses to 
 be inimical to the authority of George III., out 
 of a population of five millions of subjects in 
 one of the British isles. The Duke of Otranto is 
 even suspected, and indeed accused, of having 
 exaggerated the cause of alarm, in order to jus- 
 tify rigorous measures, and make them less sus- 
 picious to the constitutionalists*. 
 
 Napoleon lost no time in reorganizing his em- 
 pire : his first care was directed to the army, of 
 different corps of which he held repeated reviews 
 and inspections in the court of the Tuileries. 
 Every regiment in the service addressed him 
 in terms of unqualified devotion. All the of- 
 ficers on half pay, who followed the Empe- 
 ror, and who were in Paris, were immediately 
 put in activity by an order of the 24th. On 
 
 * In his second report to the Emperor, read to the two 
 houses, June 17, he certainly took no pains to conceal the 
 disaffection of some provinces, and even went so far in one 
 instance, that of Caen, as to state a town to be in insurrec- 
 tion where there had been only two insignificant quarrels in 
 the street between individuals, as the prefect of that place 
 stfited to the house of representatives.
 
 252 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the 2 1st Napoleon reviewed the Elbese bat- 
 talion. On the 24th he inspected two divisions — 
 and the chasseurs and lancers of the guard. On 
 the 25th ten regiments of infantry, six of cavalry, 
 and two of artillery, passed before him. Most of 
 these troops had arrived by forced marches at 
 Paris, to assure or partake the triumph of their 
 favourite. 
 
 The Emperor took care to converse with the 
 officers and men on the parade ; a familiarity 
 due, I think, to their affection, and by no means 
 unworthy of him or them. The first week was 
 chiefly occupied in reviewing the troops, and 
 in measures of internal reorganization. Some 
 regiments, indeed, passed before the Emperor 
 every day up to the 28th. 
 
 On Sunday, the 26th, the ministers waited 
 on the Emperor in the Tuileries, and presented 
 him an address of congratulation, to which he 
 replied in these words : — " The sentiments you 
 " express are also mine. Every thing for the 
 nation, and every thing for France ; such is 
 my devise. I and my family, which this 
 " great people have raised to the throne of the 
 " French, and which it has maintained in spite of 
 political vicissitudes and alarms : we wish not, 
 we ought not, and we cannot, lay claim to 
 " other titles than these." The council of state 
 then presented a deliberation extracted from the 
 
 
 it
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 255 
 
 registers of the meeting of the 25th : it declared 
 all those acts by which Napoleon had formerly 
 risen to power, legal; all those which gave 
 claims to the Bourbons, illegal ; because not 
 originating in the people, and only arising from 
 the temporary misfortunes of the country ; and 
 concluding " that Napoleon, by remounting 
 " the throne, restored the most sacred rights 
 " of the people.'* The Emperor's answer was 
 short, but sufficiently definite : — " Princes," he 
 replied, " are the first citizens of the state. 
 " Their authority is more or less extensive, ac- 
 " cording to the interests of the nations which 
 they govern. Sovereignty itself is heredi- 
 tary, only because the interest of the people 
 requires it. Except on these principles I 
 " know of no legitimacy. I have renounced 
 " my ideas of that great empire, of which in 
 " fifteen years I had not laid the foundation. 
 " Henceforth the happiness and the consolida- 
 " tion of the French empire shall be the object 
 " of all my thoughts." 
 
 The Emperor received the addresses of the 
 court of cassation, of the court of accounts, of the 
 imperial court of Paris, and of the municipality 
 of the capital ; to all of which he returned short 
 answers, nearly to the same effect as that given 
 to the council of state, except that he told the 
 Parisians he had given orders for the recom- 
 
 <c 
 it 
 
 cc
 
 254 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 mencement of the works of their city, and de- 
 ferred those of Versailles to a future period. 
 Also that he had taken the command of the 
 national guard. General Durosnel was named 
 second in command*. 
 
 News had now arrived that the king's house- 
 hold had submitted, at Bethune ; and the Duke 
 of Treviso, at the audience on this Sunday, gave 
 intelligence that all the garrisons on the north- 
 ern frontiers were secured from a coup de 
 main. An address of Augereau to the sixteenth 
 military division, dated from Caen, proclaimed 
 his repentance, and the fidelity of his troops t. 
 On the 27th Napoleon reviewed several regi- 
 ments, and a battalion of the polytechnic school, 
 to two of whom he gave crosses of the legion 
 of honour, for their defence of Paris in 1814. 
 He confirmed this day the commissions granted 
 to captains, lieutenants, and sublieutenants, by 
 the Bourbons; and by an order of the minister 
 of war, on the 2d of April, a commission was 
 formed to examine into the pretensions of all 
 officers, up to the rank of lieutenant-general, 
 promoted by the king. A notice appeared in 
 the Moniteur of the 28th, informing those 
 strangers who wished to leave France, that 
 their passports should be signed at the foreign 
 
 * See Appendix — No. 6. 
 f This man is now sitting on Marshal Ney.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 255 
 
 office. This article was inserted to give confi- 
 dence to those who were alarmed lest they 
 should find themselves in the predicament of 
 the English detained after the peace of Amiens. 
 In fact, no foreigner has been confined or re- 
 stricted in his movements since the return of the 
 Emperor*. 
 
 In the same Moniteur appeared the proces 
 verbal of the minister of finance, and the trea- 
 sury, relative to the disappearance of the crown 
 diamonds ; the order for carrying which away 
 
 * In one of the French royalist papers appeared a para- 
 graph on the 4th or 5th of July, stating that those English- 
 men who had been arrested or detained by the imperial go- 
 vernment had been released, and had received passports from 
 the provisional commission. No Englishman had ever been 
 arrested or detained except by mere mistake ; and those who 
 presented themselves at the proper offices were given to un- 
 derstand, that every facility would be afforded them of quit- 
 ting the country whenever they thought fit. The embargo 
 which was put on the ports at the departure of Napoleon for 
 the army was only a temporary measure, and the passports 
 given to Englishmen were to be used upon any opportunity, 
 whether of an American vessel, or a boat, or any other me- 
 thod which they could contrive to adopt. I repeat, no 
 Englishmen were ever detained by order of the imperial go- 
 vernment, and the contrary assertion was only a royalist fabri- 
 cation to incense our countrymen against Napoleon and his 
 adherents. The writer of these letters, from a sense of justice, 
 prepared a paragraph to this effect, for the Moniteur, after 
 the king's return ; but was informed it would not be inserted, 
 VOL. l.
 
 256 LETTERS FROM FARIS. 
 
 was signed by the king and M. de Blacas on, 
 the 13th of Match, and the receipt for the deli- 
 very to M. Hue, first valet de chain bre and trea- 
 surer of the king's household, on the 19th of 
 March, the eve of the king's flight. One of the 
 caricatures of the day represents his majesty and 
 M. de Blacas running away with this national 
 ore. This act has not added a little to the un- 
 favourable sentiments now rising even against 
 Louis himself in France, where a notion has 
 gone abroad, that the jewels of the crown belong 
 to the crown, not to the monarch; and should 
 be in the keeping of the master of the 1 uileries, 
 not of the inhabitant of the chateau of Ghent, 
 The diamond called the regent, valued at six 
 millions, was amongst the missing property. 
 The imperialists point this out as the return 
 made to the nation for having agreed to pay 
 the debts contracted by the princes of the house 
 of Bourbon in their exile, which have been 
 since found chiefly to relate to the expenses 
 of the emigrant armies, and agents employed 
 against France. It will be recollected that dur- 
 ing the eleven months reign, a commission of 
 French and English members was appointed to 
 settle the debts owing to Englishmen, upon the 
 civil list <>( Louis the sixteenth, of which Napo- 
 leon without any obligation had liquidated a 
 portion. The commission met many times, bu£
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 257 
 
 not a farthing was ever paid to any one of our 
 countrymen, who thus obtained more from the 
 generosity of the Emperor than from the justice 
 
 of the King. General , who was ruined 
 
 by his detention at Verdun, and was creditor of 
 the Bourbons to the amount of a hundred a year, 
 applied time after time, and never recovered any 
 portion of his pension. The commission had 
 not, as he told me, got so far as even to consi- 
 der either of the individual claims. 
 
 By an imperial decree of the 29th the slave 
 trade was abolished. Mr. Wilberforce, who de- 
 clared himself in the house of commons, on 
 the £Oth of March, perfectly satisfied with 
 what Lord Castlereagh had not done for that 
 portion of the human race of which this gen- 
 tleman has been so long the worthy orator, ne- 
 ver pronounced himself satisfied with Napoleon, 
 the whole of whose religious measures I have 
 observed have, if possible, given greater offence 
 in England even than the atheistic, theophi- 
 lanthropic, mahomedan propensities with which 
 he has been charged. The restoration of good 
 order and decency, whether in morals, politics, 
 or religion, as well as every other measure tend- 
 ing to heal the wounds of revolutionary fury, 
 were in the eyes of the admiiers of legitimacy 
 unpardonable crimes, and no one act of Bona- 
 parte has gained him more foul language than 
 
 vol. i. s
 
 258 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the concordat. The reason is obvious: virtue 
 and religion were thought to be engines solely 
 reserved and lawfully monopolized for the use 
 of the props and admirers of the ancient social 
 system, the priests and nobles who had just at 
 that time want of some such things or words. 
 As long as the anarchy and atheism of France 
 were to be opposed by all the moral policy of 
 Europe, the victory, though distant, perhaps, 
 was thought to be certain ; but when it was 
 found that Bonaparte would not allow him- 
 self or his nation to be any longer excluded 
 from the pale of christian civilization, and had 
 laid his unlawful laic hands to the work of pie- 
 ty, which the pure partizans of the ancient re- 
 gime wished the whole world to think it was 
 their exclusive right and power to perform, 
 the clamour against usurpation became more 
 violent, and excepting a few civil expressions 
 used at the peace of Amiens, and soon retract- 
 ed, together with a compliment from Louis the 
 eighteenth to " Mr e Bonaparte," accompanying 
 a claim to that gentleman's crown, every act 
 whether of the consul or emperor, favourable to 
 the church, was decried as an impious treachery, 
 an unhallowed, insincere cheat and mockery of 
 God and man ; just as every exploit productive 
 of internal security and national prosperity was 
 ascribed to the vile suggestions of tyranny and 
 ambition. The honest creatures, whose own mo-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 259 
 
 tives, no doubt, would bear sifting so thorough- 
 ly, proclaimed they were not to be deceived by 
 such pretensions and professions, or even by the 
 actions of the man whose virtues were but the 
 satanic snare to entrap that loyalty and love 
 which were inherited, together with all other 
 appurtenances of admiration, gratitude, and 
 obedience, by the lawful owners of France. 
 It is scarcely worth observing, that the real 
 reason of this anger and antipathy in the French 
 royalists to the specious reform of Napoleon may 
 be each traced to the fear, that such conduct 
 would be fatal to the hopes of the dethroned 
 princes and their expatriated dependents; by 
 showing that good might be expected at other 
 hands than their own. But it is not so easy to 
 account for the majority of our English politi- 
 cians coinciding with these sentiments, except- 
 ing, perhaps, by supposing that the tories are 
 in their politics like that sort of religious per- 
 sons which hate to hear that any one suspected 
 of infidelity has any morality, or has begun 
 to reform even his theological opinions; from 
 the fear that these merely moral or repentant 
 characters should be saved at a less expense 
 than they themselves have been at, to make 
 their calling and election sure. I recollect 
 hearing a very religious man regret bitterly, 
 that the author of Political Justice had recanted 
 
 s 2
 
 260 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 his scepticism — since such fellows would act 
 their part more becomingly, consistently, and 
 more productive of general edification, to die 
 and be .damned without any cowardly or in- 
 terested tergiversation. When the late member 
 for Yorkshire heard that in the claim for the 
 benediction of the blacks, the favourite object of 
 his life, his most powerful rival was Napoleon, 
 one may easily conceive the sensation of a per- 
 son who would rather have the earthly anti- 
 christ for his enemy than his coadjutor. 
 
 On the 30th of March, the works of Paris 
 were re-commenced at the fountain of the 
 Elephant, the Louvre, the new market-place 
 of St. Germains, and the office of foreign af- 
 fairs: the next week the workmen were doubled 
 — the streets recovered their former names — 
 the public buildings their imperial inscriptions 
 —the theatres were declared on their ancient 
 footing, and the imperial conservatory, for the 
 education and maintenance of actors and 
 singers of both sexes, restored. This is the 
 only establishment of the kind in Europe ; it 
 was commenced under the republic, but re- 
 ceived its present endowment chiefly from 
 Napoleon. The representations take place 
 every other Sunday, at two o'clock, when the 
 pupils, in their usual dresses, sing and recite 
 portions of operas and plays to an audience
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 261 
 
 which pays for admission, and thus contributes 
 to support the institution. M. Talma is the 
 principal professor of declamation. The sup- 
 pression of the conservatory by the Bourbons 
 was a measure the economy of which was not 
 sufficiently considerable to be set off against 
 the odium occasioned by this declaration 
 against the amusements of the Parisians, who 
 had rather be limited to their ounces of bread, 
 as in the days of terror, than be deprived of 
 their shows. None but ignorant and ob- 
 stinate governors neglect to consult the feel- 
 ings of their subjects in those trifling par- 
 ticulars. The minority of the Duchess of 
 Angouleme might look upon the conservatory 
 as well as the masquerade of Lent as an inno- 
 vation of republican impiety • but it was the 
 part of a king to listen to no suggestion sub- 
 versive of that principle which Sir Walter Ra- 
 leigh, in his advice to Prince Henry, ranks 
 amongst the most notorious and simple maxims 
 of state policy •, — namely, that a sovereign should 
 always side with the majority, against the 
 weaker and less numerous party of his subjects. 
 The Emperor's bust was replaced by accla- 
 mation at the saloon of the conservatory, as 
 were his statue, and the foreign colours pre- 
 served during the last reign, and hidden in the 
 king's time, in the theatre of the legislative 
 body. This last step, together with replacing 
 
 VOL. I
 
 262 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 
 
 Carle Vernet's grand picture of the battle of 
 Marengo in the Louvre, and similar proceed- 
 ings, unimportant as they may appear, did not 
 lose their effect; as indeed they were indica- 
 tive that the t ; me had arrived, when the French 
 were no longer to be ashamed of their former 
 exploits, nor regard the trophies of their glory 
 as the emblems of treason and usurpation. The 
 lilies of the last government have been but 
 partially erased in the palaces and public 
 buildings, and nothing is done towards the 
 restoration of the imperial initial so offensive to 
 taste and modesty, and the source only of 
 the famous play upon words, il a des N mis, 
 (ennemisj partuiit. Napoleon whilst at Elba 
 was informed by an Englishman of the erasure 
 of his N; he laughed at this as a trifle, 
 adding, peut-etre aurai-je mieux fait de ne les 
 avoir pas ?nis du tout ! He made no war 
 upon the symbols of royalty, as even the Moni- 
 teur was issued with the king's stamp up to the 
 28th of April. He allowed the use of the tim- 
 bre royal extraordinaire, up to the 1st of May, 
 and of the timbre royal ordinaire to the 1st of 
 July. 
 
 On the 31st of March he visited and spent 
 some time at the establishment at St. Denis, 
 dedicated to the education and maintenance 
 of the daughters of members of the legion of 
 honour. This institution originating in Napo-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. L 26S 
 
 leon, it was part of the folly and the system of 
 the Bourbons to neglect. Not once, except 
 after the news of the landing at Cannes, was 
 any attention paid by either of these princes 
 to this truly national establishment, associated 
 by the dearest of all ties to the honour and 
 glory of France. On the same day a decree 
 restored the university to its former footing, 
 and appointed Count Lacepede chancellor of 
 that body. The institute presented an address 
 on Sunday, the 2nd, to the Emperor, beginning 
 thus : — " Sire, the sciences which you culti- 
 " vated, the letters which you encouraged, 
 •' the arts which you protected, have been in 
 mourning since your departure. The insti- 
 tute, attacked in its happy organization, saw 
 " with grief the imminent violation of the depot 
 ** entrusted to its care, and the approaching dis- 
 " persion of a portion of its members." 
 
 The institute alluded to the alterations made 
 by the ordonnance of the king, by which, the 
 Bonapartes, Carnot, David, and other members 
 were excluded from that society. Amongst 
 the other persuasions of Frenchmen, by which 
 an unhappy contrast is made between the two 
 dynasties, is the notion, whether founded or 
 not, that as Napoleon is the known lover and 
 patron of the arts and sciences, so are the Bour- 
 bons the pronounced enemies of both, and of 
 
 it
 
 264 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 
 
 such as have risen to any eminence in them, in 
 the days of treason and immorality. The same 
 enmity is supposed to extend to all mental im- 
 provement and illumination ; and hence the 
 order of the extinguisher, invented to fit the 
 heads of the princes and others, a piece of hu- 
 mour which is carried to its full length in the 
 caricatures and periodical publications of the 
 day. I recollect one evening seeing a fellow 
 parading the palais royal with a high paper cap 
 in the form of one of these utensils, amidst the 
 shouts of a most disreputable crowd, who, to all 
 appearance, could be very little solicitous about 
 the advancement of literature and the arts. 
 They had a right, however, to pretend an inte- 
 rest in that improvement, with which the hap- 
 piness and well-being of every class of society 
 are progressive and proportionate. The plea- 
 santry of the extinguisher commenced in the 
 Naine Jaime, before the return of Napoleon, and 
 was not a little mischievous in a country where 
 a pleasantry is so effectual. Lists of certain 
 pure royalists, in anagram or otherwise, with a 
 figure of one or two extinguishers opposite to 
 their name, were published, and augmented, by a 
 kind of proscriptive ridicule, the personal odium 
 attached to the friends of the new-old system. 
 Napoleon has taken care to visit all the scien- 
 tific establishments : he went to the Garden of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. %65 
 
 Plants on the 6th of April, and the same day call- 
 ed on Mr. David, with whom he remained an hour 
 examining his picture of the Pass of Thermo- 
 pylae ; these visits he pays without any suite or 
 giving notice of his arrival — a simplicity which 
 I observe to be most effectual in the successor 
 of Louis. On this Sunday, the 2d, the imperial 
 guard gave a fete to the national guard and 
 garrison of Paris, in the Champ de Mars. The 
 common soldiers, to the number of 15,000, were 
 placed at tables in the open air ; whilst the 
 officers dined in the galleries of the palace of 
 the military school. After the repast, which 
 was served up in presence of an immense multi- 
 tude, on the sloping sides of the plain, and which 
 was interrupted by many military songs and other 
 toasts to the health of the Emperor, the Empress 
 and the imperial prince (for so the King of 
 Rome is now denominated), repeated, to the 
 sound of music, arid discharges of artillery, 
 the whole mass of guests and spectators rose to 
 the shout of some voices which cried out " to 
 the column !" The procession, carrying a bust of 
 the Emperor, with music, moved towards the 
 Tuileries, and presented itself under the impe- 
 rial apartments with unceasing acclamations, 
 to which Napoleon replied by appearing at the 
 window, and saluting the enthusiastic multi- 
 tude, who then repaired to the column of the
 
 <166 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 grand army in the square Vendome, under 
 which the bust of Napoleon received a solemn 
 inauguration ; at which moment the pedestal 
 of the pillar and the houses of the square were 
 spontaneously illuminated, and rings of soldiers, 
 national guards, and citizens, danced round the 
 monument of their former glories. The even- 
 ing ended, with a procession round the bou- 
 levarts, the palais royal, and principal streets of 
 the neighbouring quarter. No excesses, no in- 
 sulting of royalists, no turbulent shouts, or me- 
 nacing gestures ; in short, no sign of the triumph 
 of one citizen over another was displayed dur- 
 ing this fete. The Napoleonists have been 
 marked with every principle of forbearance and 
 reconciliation, and union, which distinguishes 
 the consciousness of strength and a good cause; 
 nor until it was but too apparent that they 
 should 'have to fight for their altars and their 
 hearths, did even the lower classes of the suburbs 
 vent their indignation against their domestic 
 enemies by clamours which were soon allayed, 
 and were unproductive of any fatal conse- 
 quences. What the conduct of the royalists 
 is likely to be in case of triumph, you may 
 judge from what they have done, and what 
 they say they will do. Of the latter, the best 
 of specimens was given in the intercepted 
 letters of the Angouleme party in the south.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 267 
 
 The Count of Guiche, writing to his mother 
 from Pont St, Esprit, the 2'9th of March, after 
 telling her, " that the barbarian Bonaparte had 
 only 8,000 men at Paris, and that he, the Count, 
 with the Duke of Angouleme, were on the 
 point of entering Lyons without striking a 
 blow;" continues, " the Marshals have re- 
 mained faithful with the exception of one, 
 zvhom zee will hang outright : he goes on — 
 
 (< My very good mother, 
 " I feel myself inspired: this is my presenti- 
 
 " ment in a month the king of France 
 
 " will be in his capital. I fancy we must hang 
 " and shoot a good many of them, the worth- 
 less fellows! they have sworn fidelity, and 
 " they betray the best of masters ! At this 
 " moment all French are passes au creuset, and 
 " the hand of God points out the separation 
 *' to be made between the good grain and the 
 " chaff: the fire is the place for the chaff — 
 "there we must cast it; then shall we be all 
 " pure, and worthy the government of our 
 
 " king " 
 
 " Le bon fils, 
 (Signed) " Comte de Guiche." 
 
 This good son who entertains his good mo- 
 ther with hangings and shootings, and asks her 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 268 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 whether she is not happy to know that he is 
 about the person of so august a prince!! ! if I 
 mistake not, has been employed in God's work 
 of separating the wheat from the chaff, from his 
 youth upwards, by doing his best against his 
 countrymen in the imperial armies. I have 
 seen some letters frorn the Emperor when at 
 the head of a victorious army, but the barbarian 
 Buonaparte did not console his Josephine in this 
 tender style, nor spoke of the enemy and his 
 own forces, then in presence of each other, ex- 
 cept in such terms as these :— " General Beau- 
 " lieu and myself are trying to overreach each 
 c< other, but I think I shall succeed first. — I 
 " like him better than his predecessor." 
 
 And shall we go to*war to furnish ropes and 
 bullets for this good son,who, after having succeed- 
 ed in making the proper sacrifice of the rebels at 
 home, might return our kindness by employing 
 himself and regiment in our own country, should 
 an occasion present itself, and in the same 
 pious purification. 
 
 This Count of Guiche speaks the language 
 of all the royalists, and the publication of his 
 feelings and fraternal intentions had the ex- 
 pected effect in Paris and France, no less than 
 the dispersion of the Duke of Angouleme's 
 letters, in which he would have done well to
 
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 269 
 
 confine himself to telling his wife to make un 
 petit bulletin exaggere of the affair of the 30th, 
 and to boasting to her of his ride of twenty 
 leagues, half of it upon bidets ; " ce qui rCcst 
 pas mat — aussij'ai le poster tear legerement en- 
 dommage." The duke's ride is no bad thing 
 to do, but his royal highness had better have 
 flayed his whole body, and beat up for royal 
 volunteers with a Zisca drum of his own skin, 
 than have told his wife that he was about to dis- 
 organize the army — " Je vais travailter a desor- 
 " ganiser tous les regimens'* and than have 
 required of their brother and cousin, the King 
 of Spain, " de faire entrer ses forces dans le 
 " royaume comme auociliaires du Roi de France" 
 M. de Yitrolles, commissary extraordinary in 
 the south for the king, in telling Madame, in 
 his letter of the 1st of April, from Toulouse, 
 that they were taking measures for withdrawing 
 the garrison from Perpignan, and begging her 
 to do as much for Bayonne, that the Spaniards 
 might find no obstacles, was no less an enemy 
 of his cause than the Duke himself. I have 
 been assured by some imperialists in Paris, that 
 the most powerful and effectual engine the 
 government could employ against the southern 
 royalists was the publication of these letters, 
 until the appearance of which affairs in that 
 part of the country wore an aspect, to say the
 
 270 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 least, of the utmost uncertainty. But the Bor- 
 delais, although inclined to the Bourbons on 
 account of their inclination for peace and com- 
 merce, had, since the days of the revolution, 
 been distinguished for their patriotism ; and 
 even during the last government had vented 
 some loud complaints against the continuance 
 of the droits rennis. They understood very 
 well that, whatever political differences they 
 might have amongst each other, the knives 
 and muskets of the guerillas of Spain, neither 
 the most merciful nor discriminating of men, 
 were not to be the first resource employed in 
 arranging their disputes. Those, therefore, 
 who would have " brought the excise and Spa- 
 u niards in" began to lose their popularity ; 
 the peasantry of Dauphiny flew to arms ; the 
 troops of the line revolted j and the forces of the 
 Duke of Angouleme gave way ; whilst those of 
 the Duchess fired upon one another. The com- 
 missary extraordinary and his Moniteur-Vi- 
 trolles could hold out no longer at Toulouse ; 
 he was arrested bv General Laborde, and his 
 papers seized, on the morning of the 4th of 
 April ; and the public opinion which had 
 driven the Bourbons from Paris assumed the 
 same direction and acquired the same irre- 
 sistible predominance in the departments of 
 the south as in the rest of the empire.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 271 
 
 The Emperor, however, was obliged to take 
 some decisive measures when the extent of the 
 resistance was known at Paris : the decree of the 
 25th of March, banishing the king's household 
 to thirty leagues from the capital, was publish - 
 ed on the 8th of April, and on the same day 
 the laws of the national assemblies against the 
 family and adherents of the house of Bourbon 
 were declared in vigour. But this decree, 
 which caused no bloodshed, nor was ever 
 wanted or carried into effect, was accompanied 
 by another on the same day, in which it was 
 shown, that the government did not intend to 
 content itself with punishments alone, but would 
 make provision for the reward of those who 
 had suffered in the national cause. The re- 
 ceipts of certain eventual sums not carried to 
 the budget were, together with the funds of 
 the extraordinary domain, allotted to form an 
 extraordinary chest ; half of which should be 
 applied to rebuilding the houses destroyed in 
 the last war of 1814, and the other to mak- 
 ing good the donations granted formerly to the 
 pensioners of the army establishment, and in- 
 fringed upon by the last government. On the 
 8th of April, an edict regulated the duties on 
 liquors, and suppressed all vexations which had 
 made the excise laws one of the chief griev- 
 ances under the imperial and royal government.
 
 272 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 The king had promised to reform them, and 
 Monsieur at his entry into France, in 1814, had 
 joined No droits reunis to No conscription, in 
 order to make a royal watch-word, sufficiently 
 intelligible and alarming to every citizen and 
 peasant. Louis retained this impost for 1815, 
 and paid his promise with another promise, 
 that the chamber should examine the subject 
 at their next session. Napoleon in this and 
 other points seems the very Spartan of Louis ; 
 all the one says the other does. His decree on 
 this subject begins with stating the motive of 
 its promulgation to be the complaints of the 
 people, which permit of no delay, and excuse 
 the precipitancy of the measure. It must be 
 told at the same time, that the change made is 
 in the collection of the tax ; the odious visitation 
 of excisemen, which created such a ferment once 
 in our own country, being abolished, and an- 
 other method of collecting the same revenue be- 
 ing proposed for the deliberation of the muni- 
 cipalities. The reduction of the public expense 
 to be dated from the 1st of June, consisted in 
 discharging the excise officers, and in taking 
 the impost duty from all towns containing less 
 than four thousand souls. 
 
 The first public act emanating from the go- 
 vernment containing any hint that apprehen- 
 sions might perhaps be entertained of an im-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS, 273 
 
 mediate war, appeared in the publication of a 
 report from the Duke of Vicenza to the Empe- 
 ror, dated the first of April, which made its ap- 
 pearance in the Moniteur of the ninth; all the 
 extracts previously given in that and other 
 journals from English and other foreign news- 
 papers tended to encourage an expectation 
 that the allied powers would not interfere with 
 France. But that report conveyed the demand 
 of the diet of the cantons, that the Swiss regi- 
 ments in the French service might be sent 
 home immediately. The Duke of Vicenza 
 stated to the Emperor, that this demand was 
 entirely irregular, and contrary to the articles 
 of capitulation agreed upon between France 
 and Switzerland, in 1812. The Swiss regi- 
 ments, not having followed the king, shewed 
 they evidently thought themselves in the ser- 
 vice of France, not of the individual monarch, 
 and consequently subject to the conditions of 
 the capitulation by which they entered that ser- 
 vice ; their recal, therefore, by the diet was not 
 conformable to former treaties between the two 
 powers. Napoleon, however, permitted all the 
 individuals of the four regiments to retire- from 
 the territory ; only giving them the choice of 
 entering into two battalions, to be formed of 
 their countrymen in Paris and the departments 
 of the north. 
 
 VOL. I. t
 
 274 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 On the same day appeared the decree of the 
 Emperor, dated the 28th, recalling the whole 
 army, on whatever pretence absent, to their 
 posts — commanding the organization of twelve 
 regiments of the young imperial guard at 
 Paris, out of such military as should possess 
 the requisite qualifications, and forming a skele- 
 ton tifth battalion for every regiment of infan- 
 try. It must be observed, that no addition was 
 made by this decree to the actual force of the 
 empire, such as it was, or supposed to be, un- 
 der the king. The officers and soldiers were 
 only commanded to join their ranks. No 
 new levies were ordered ; and, indeed, by the 
 sixth article, only two out of five battalions 
 were to be completed and put into readiness 
 for service. This disposition contained no- 
 thing to which the allied powers had any right 
 to object. The people of Paris saw, however, 
 in it a confirmation of the fears begun to be en- 
 tertained at the non-appearance of any friendly 
 propositions from any foreign minister, or of any 
 prospect of the arrival of the Empress and the 
 King of Rome. In the review of the day be- 
 . fore at the Tuileries, where twenty regiments 
 of infantry and cavalry from the left bank of 
 the Loire passed before him, Napoleon made 
 a speech to the troops, in which he told 
 them, "the French did not wish to interfere
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 275 
 
 in the affairs of other nations ; but woe betide 
 those who would wish to interfere with theirs, 
 and to treat them as Genoa and Geneva had 
 been treated *." 
 
 On the 10th appeared the Prince Regent's 
 message, communicated to parliament on the 
 6th of April, informing the two houses of the 
 augmentation of his forces by land and sea, and 
 of his precautionary communication with the 
 combined sovereigns. 
 
 Napoleon had tried in vain, by a peaceable 
 posture, to recommend himself to the allies : 
 his next chance of tranquillity was to show that 
 the nation could defend itself. The day after 
 the Prince Regent's message to his parliament 
 was seen in the Paris papers appeared the de- 
 cree for calling out the national guards through- 
 out the whole empire ; that is, every man be- 
 tween the age of twenty and sixty, with the 
 exceptions previously made by the imperial de- 
 cree of the 5th April, 1813. Those paying a 
 contribution of fifty francs and upwards are now 
 obliged to furnish themselves with arms, which 
 are, for the poorer classes, provided by the 
 departments. This measure was taken at the 
 moment the telegraphic dispatches announced 
 the pacification of the south. The paper that 
 
 * See Appendix — No. Q. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 proclaimed these preparations mentioned also, 
 in an article from Strasburg, the approach of 
 German regiments on the right bank of the 
 Rhine, and the cutting of the bridge of Kehl. 
 No secret has been made since this time of the 
 immense preparations for war. Yet the pub- 
 lication of the debates on the Regent's message 
 in the Moniteur of the next day, the 12th, con- 
 cluded with the rejection of the amendment 
 proposed by Mr. Whitbread, on the prelect 
 that the address contained no provocation to war. 
 But M. de Caulaincourt, in his report to the 
 Emperor, two days afterwards, seemed to be of 
 Mr. Whitbread's opinion, and to think the mes- 
 sage sufficiently warlike to justify any alarm, or 
 cause any preparations on the side of France. 
 Indeed the truth became too apparent and too 
 big for further concealment, and the Moni- 
 teur of the ensuing day contained the famous 
 declaration against Napoleon Bonaparte, of 
 March the 13th, binding all Europe to carry 
 into effect the excommunication of the political 
 consistory assembled at Vienna, and to make 
 good the threats of sundry individuals, more or 
 less known, whose names were attached to the 
 document in due alphabetical arrangement. The 
 publication of this provocation to assassination, 
 with the ensuing observations of the council of 
 state, was very justly accompanied by a tre-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 2?7 
 
 mendous columnar array of all the corps of the 
 whole imperial army, and the posts assigned to 
 them, for the information of the soldiers re- 
 called to their regiments. A circular of M. 
 Carnot's, dated the 12th, enjoined all the pre- 
 fects to exert themselves in carrying this mea- 
 sure into complete effect. The Moniteur of 
 the 14th, by giving the Duke of Vicenza's 
 report to the Emperor, informed the French 
 what had been done to maintain the peace of 
 Europe, and by shewing the preliminary ob- 
 stacles, whether official or unofficial, which had 
 been thrown in the way of all attempts at ac- 
 commodation, appealed to the nation whether 
 the time was not come for preparing the means 
 of resistance. French couriers had been stop- 
 ped at Mayence, at Turin, at Kehl ; Monaco had 
 been occupied by the English, a vessel taken 
 by an English frigate, and a hundred and 
 twenty French soldiers, returning from Russia, 
 and twelve officers, intercepted on their route 
 by order of the Prince of Orange. 
 
 The conclusion from these events, to what- 
 ever they might lead, was inevitable. The pa- 
 pers attached to the minister's report contained 
 the letter written by Napoleon to the sovereigns 
 of Europe*, as also that of M. de Caulaincourt 
 
 * See Appendix for the letter, and Lord Castlereagh/s 
 answer.
 
 278 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 to the ministers of foreign affairs at the dif- 
 ferent courts. They are both dated the 4th of 
 April. 
 
 I took the liberty, in a conversation with one 
 of the Emperor's aide-de-camps on the 14th, 
 when I heard this letter had been returned un- 
 opened by the Prince Regent, and transmitted 
 to Vienna, to recommend another application, 
 upon the pretext of the entire pacification of the 
 empire, which was afterwards announced, as I 
 have mentioned, on Sunday the 17th, and which 
 might have some effect upon the fears or the 
 justice of the English cabinet. " Nothing but 
 " an extreme ignorance of the real state of things 
 " in France" could occasion, I thought, " such 
 unaccountable conduct." " We have tried," 
 said the general, " to let them know the truth, 
 " but they will not hear us : however, the Moni- 
 " teurs get to England, they will see the truth 
 " there." Certainly, they will see it, but they 
 will not believe it : they will believe the Austrian 
 Observer instead. " Well, but your country- 
 " man is gone to London ; he will tell what is 
 " the real posture of affairs." They will not 
 believe him either : — " If so," rejoined this gen- 
 tleman, " what is the use of any further attempt 
 " at communication ? However, I cannot help 
 " thinking that every thing is as well known in 
 •■ London as at Paris, and that your government
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 279 
 
 " have eyes, but shut them." The simple reply 
 to which was, only to ask him if he had ever 
 read our Courier, or seen Lord Castlereagh. 
 It was more difficult to find an answer to his 
 question as to the utility of future correspond- 
 ence. A circular of the Duke of Otranto to 
 the prefects, in the Moniteur of the 15th, in 
 which he said, that the alarms and inquietudes 
 conceived by the continental powers at the first 
 news of the restoration of the Emperor would 
 subside when those powers were aware of the 
 unanimity of France and the peaceable disposi- 
 tion of the nation and the Emperor, might, if 
 at all credited in England, have had some in- 
 fluence on public opinion ; but you have told 
 me, and I learn from other quarters, that 
 vanity, anger, fear, obstinacy, and every selfish 
 passion, have so blinded the eyes of our states- 
 men, that truth, if it tried all the shapes of Pro- 
 teus, would be seen or be agreeable in none. 
 Instead of believing the Moniteur, our good 
 ministers gave credit to the Austrian Observer, 
 one article of which, on the 15th of April, said 
 that the Tuileries looked like an intrenched 
 camp, being filled with troops and cannon with 
 lighted matches. But the ministry have ap- 
 peared anxious that as little communication as 
 possible should take place between the two
 
 280 LETTERS FR'OM PARIS. 
 
 countries, for fear disagreeable facts should find 
 their way to the parliament and the country ; 
 for a French commissary, sent to Dover on the 
 8th of April, to demand the reciprocal and 
 usual interchange of letters and journals be- 
 tween Calais and that port, was told, that not 
 only his proposition could not be listened to, but 
 that he must quit England the same day. Yet the 
 packet-boats had not been stopped : no hosti- 
 lities of any kind had then commenced ; for no 
 less than six French vessels, having been de- 
 tained and visited by British men of war, 
 were suffered to pursue their voyage — neither 
 had even the slightest violation of the frontier 
 been hazarded, until the 21st and the follow- 
 ing days of the last month, whe some foreign 
 troops maltreated the custom-house officers at 
 St. Amand and at Nussdorf ; and some boatmen 
 belonging to Strasburg were attacked on the 
 right bank of the Rhine, and robbed of their 
 boats*. The Emperor, finding that his letters 
 were not read and that his couriers were arrest- 
 ed, was obliged to have recourse to the public 
 prints, as the only means by which he could 
 
 * It was not until the 29th that the Melpomene was 
 taken — nor were the arms landed in La Vendee until the 
 first week in May.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 281 
 
 communicate with the sovereigns*; but since 
 the publication of his letter on the 14th of 
 April, he ordered another attempt to be made 
 on the side on which the chance of success ap- 
 peared the greatest. The minister of foreign 
 affairs wrote to Prince Metternich on the l6th 
 of April, and transmitted the dispatch by a 
 courier. The courier was arrested at Linz, but 
 the letter was sent on to Vienna. That it has 
 failed of its effect is sufficiently apparent, since, 
 from the 19th, all communications have been 
 cut off with the German frontier ; which block- 
 ade, connected with the arrival of the Arch- 
 duke Charles at Mayence the day before, de- 
 monstrated too clearly the spirit and intentions 
 of the Austrian cabinetf. 
 
 M. de Flahaut was made the bearer of a pri- 
 
 * This the Duke of Vicenza owns in his letter of the l6th 
 of April to Prince Metternich, telling him, that the Emperor 
 of Austria must have read the letter written to him by the Em- 
 peror of the French in the newspapers — a new way of corre- 
 sponding between imperial fathers and sons-in-law. 
 
 f Since the date of this letter, I see by the Duke of Vi- 
 cenza's report to the Emperor of the 7th of June, inclosing 
 Lord Clancarty's letter to Lord Castlereagh, that the bearer 
 of the letter was a M. de Strassant — that neither the letter 
 of the Duke of Vicenza, nor that from Napoleon to the Em- 
 peror Francis, were opened before they were shown to the 
 Congress by order of the Emperor; and that the resolution 
 taken by the plenipotentiaries was to return no answer to 
 either, nor to take the propositions in consideration.
 
 282 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 vate letter from Napoleon to the Emperor Fran- 
 cis ; but was not suffered to proceed in his jour- 
 ney. The Duke of Vicenza made his courier the 
 bearer of this or a similar letter, from the Em- 
 peror to his father-in-law. This I believe to have 
 been the last official effort made to renew a cor- 
 respondence with the sovereigns or the con- 
 gress j and since M. de Montron has found the 
 futility of any personal applications at Vienna, 
 the language of hope, either explicit or convey- 
 ed by hints, respecting the dispositions of the 
 father of Maria Louisa, has been dropped 
 in Conversation, though not in the Moniteur. 
 The queen of the fete, it is feared, will not grace 
 the Champ de Mai. Many an anxious look has 
 been turned towards her and her son, who if 
 he were present, some pretend to say, would 
 be the occasion of an abdication in his favour. 
 However, the Duke of Otranto's circular to 
 the prefects on the 13th of April contained 
 these words, we are at peace; nor, with the 1 ex- 
 ception of the irregular marauding on the Bel- 
 gian frontier, has any act of decided hostili- 
 ty yet become known to the capital, where very 
 many still think that all will end in peace. It 
 would have been nearer the truth for the mini- 
 ster of police to have said, u we are not ar war," 
 and perhaps more consistent with the documents 
 with which his circular was followed up in the
 
 cc 
 
 (C 
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 283 
 
 Moniteur of the same day, which gave an ad- 
 dress of the minister at war to the soldiers 
 recalled to their posts, by a decree of the 
 28th. 
 
 " Vous avez voulu votre Empereur — il est an* 
 
 rivL Vous favez seconde de tons vos efforts. 
 
 Venez, qfin d'etre tout prets d defendre la pa- 
 li trie contre des ennemis qui voudraient se meler 
 ce de regler les couleurs que nous devons porter, 
 " de nous imposer des souverains, et de dieter nos 
 " constitutions. Dans ces circonstances, e'est mi 
 " devoir pour tons les Francais dejd accoutmnes 
 " au metier de la guerre d'accourtr sous les dra~ 
 " peaux. 
 
 " Pre sent ons unefrontiere d'airain d nos enne- 
 " mis, et apprenons-les que nous sommes toujours 
 '* les mimes. 
 
 " Soldats ! soit que vous ayez obtenu des 
 " congis absolus ou limites, soit que vous ayez 
 " obtenu votre retraite, si vos blessures sont cica- 
 cl trisees, si vous etes en etat de servir, venez ; 
 " Vhonneur, la patrie, V Empereur vous appellent. 
 
 " Quels reproches w' auriez-vous pas d faire, si 
 '* cetie belle patrie etait encore ravagee par ces 
 " soldats que vous avez vaincus taut de fois, et si 
 " Vetranger venait effacer la France de la carte 
 " de V Europe. 
 
 (Signc) « Le Prince D'Eckmulii." 
 
 vol. i. XX
 
 284 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 The same day's journal contained the famous* 
 papers found in M. de Blacas' chest, fit to be 
 put by the side of the minister at war's appeal 
 to the soldiery ; and showing how much the 
 whole of France was interested in presenting a 
 frontier of steel against those princes who, even 
 at the moment of their first restoration, and bo- 
 fore their return, were plotting against the in- 
 dependence of their subjects. In those papers 
 you see at how early a period the Bourbons 
 were counselled to employ all the good and 
 all the bad feelings and passions of the peo- 
 ple, their love, their fear, their apprehensions 
 of some of their own body, their confidence 
 in themselves, to cheat them of that consti- 
 tutional government which the French had 
 hoped should emanate from their own will, but 
 which the restored dynasty was to contrive 
 either should not exist, or, if existing, should 
 be acknowledged to originate only in their 
 own condescension and remission of lawful au- 
 thority. 
 
 In the last document you may perceive a 
 truth which ought to convey instruction to 
 those who imagine that there is a large portion 
 of the French people essentially Bourbonists, 
 and who will not recognise the real fact, that 
 the enthusiasm with which the king was re-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 285 
 
 ceived in France arose from no attachment to 
 his majesty or his family, but the persuasion, 
 that in his person the nation was secure of 
 peace and of a constitutional king. I extract a 
 passage of this letter, which you may wish to 
 see in the original*. 
 
 The Moniteurs, from the 14th of April up to 
 this time, have contained daily more or less de- 
 tailed accounts of the preparations making for 
 the war by the allies, and of the corresponding 
 efforts of the departments in raising the national 
 guards. The minister of the interior addressed 
 the prefects to encourage the organization of 
 these troops on the 12th of April ; and the first 
 review of those of the capital, of which I have 
 given you some account, took place on the 16th. 
 That body returned the feast given to them by 
 the imperial guards on the 18th, and gave them 
 a banquet at the Conservatoire des arts et me- 
 tiers, at which 720 guests sat down to table. 
 The most prominent symbols of the day were 
 the bust of the Emperor crowned by France, 
 who, with the other hand, presented a tablet, 
 with the inscription Constitution, Liberie, Patrie. 
 In the same spirit, the Duke of Otranto gave as 
 a toast, the constitution of the Champ de Mai% 
 and the health of the Empress and the imperial 
 
 * See Appendix — No. 7*
 
 286 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 prince, proposed by the minister of the interior, 
 together with a vow for their speedy return, 
 showed that the court wished still to encourage 
 the hopes of peace. No menaces nor triumph- 
 ant exultations of any kind, nor even expression 
 of confidence, which could offend the nation- 
 ality even of an Englishman, were heard during 
 this day of rejoicing. This forbearance, so fre- 
 quently manifested on other occasions, arises 
 from the wish of France to remain at peace : — 
 a wish so unanimous, so sincere, and so ardent, 
 that the allies are bound in duty to see in that 
 inclination the most complete and satisfactory 
 guarantee against the ambition of Napoleon, 
 whom they alone supply with the power of 
 aggression, by justifying in the eyes of all his 
 subjects the measures of defence. 
 
 The same feeling caused the regret which 
 was so evident at Paris at the news of Murat s 
 advance upon the papal territories, and of the 
 opening of the campaign between him and the 
 Austrians. The proclamation of the King of 
 Naples to the Italians appeared in the Moniteur 
 of the 22d of April, that of General Bellegarde 
 in the journal of the 20th of that month. The 
 account of his successes has never been firmly 
 believed, notwithstanding it was confirmed by 
 private letters, secreted in a bag of silver sent 
 to a banker of Paris ; and the best informed
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 2&7 
 
 here saw in this renewal of hostilities by a 
 member of the imperial family another obsta- 
 cle to the peace of France. 
 
 The programma of the constitution, which 
 appeared on the 23d of April, professed the 
 desire of the Emperor to maintain this peace 
 with all the nations of Europe. This desire, 
 however, did not prevent a further disposition 
 for resistance ; for, on the 22d, an imperial de- 
 cree invited the formation of free corps in the 
 frontier departments of the empire, to be raised 
 by officers commissioned for that purpose, and 
 appointing their own captains, lieutenants, and 
 sub-lieutenants, and consisting either of national 
 guards, unemployed at the time, or of volun- 
 teers, receiving neither pay, nor arms, nor ac- 
 coutrements, but only subsistence during the 
 actual campaign. A decree of the day before 
 re-established the cannoniers of the coasts, dis- 
 missed by an ordonnance of the 4th of June, 
 1814. On the 24th was formed the federation 
 of Brittany, a part of France which has been se- 
 lected for this compact as being that in which 
 the partisans of the emigrant dynasty are in 
 the greatest activity. A similar federation was 
 signed in 1790, at Pontivy, now Napoleon ville. 
 The first article of the compact shews in what 
 manner it is thought that the most successful 
 opposition may be made to the Bourbon ists of
 
 cc 
 u 
 
 288 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 France. ".The object of this federation," say 
 these patriotic Bretons, "is to consecrate all its 
 <c means to the propagation of liberal principles, 
 " to oppose truth to imposture, to enlighten the 
 " erroneous, to sustain the public spirit to the 
 * c level of present circumstances ; to oppose all 
 " disorders ; to maintain internal security ; to 
 " employ every influence and credit to retain 
 " every one in the line of his duty to his prince 
 " and his country; to bring an effectual and 
 prompt succour to the first requisition of the 
 public authorities, whenever there may be 
 need; to protect the cities, towns, and villages 
 " when menaced ; to defeat every plot against 
 " the liberty, the constitution, and the sove- 
 " reign of the state ; and, lastly, to lend each 
 " other a mutual assistance and protection, ac- 
 " cording to circumstances and events." In 
 the songs which were sung at a banquet given 
 at Rennes, on the 13th, on the occasion of this 
 federation, a stanza of some couplets set to the 
 Marsellaise expressed what I believe to be the 
 general feeling of France. 
 
 Aux jours ou notre belle France 
 Voulut recpuvrir son honneur, 
 Nous avions bien la vaillance, 
 Nous n'avious pas notre Empereur. 
 Des parties souillaient la victoire,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 289 
 
 Tous, vous marchez au raeme rang, 
 Vous verserez bien moins de sang, 
 Et vous n'aurez pas moins de gloire. 
 Braves confederes, brave peuple Breton, 
 Servons la liberte, 1'honneur, Napoleon. 
 
 The Emperor, in other words, is the head and 
 the hope of this new revolution. This being 
 the case, Lord Castlereagh's exception to the 
 eighth article of the treaty of the 25th of March, 
 which appeared in the Moniteur of the 1st of 
 May, and in which the common effort of the 
 allies is confined to the opposition of Bona- 
 parte, is seen here in the true light of an at- 
 tempt to disengage the nation from its chief; 
 and is. as little heeded as those furious decla- 
 mations against the French armies that dis- 
 graced the two houses of the English parlia- 
 ment on the discussion of the treaty of Vienna. 
 On the 30th of April Napoleon confirmed this 
 union of interests between the subject and the 
 sovereign, by his decree for the formation of 
 primary schools on the report of Mr. Carnot — - 
 and gave the next day, by the convocation of 
 the representatives and the modification of his 
 original decree concerning the constitution, a 
 surer pledge of the sincerity of his intentions in 
 favour of individual independence and happi* 
 .ness. The Moniteur of the 3d of May inserted 
 the proclamation of Justus Grihier, from Diis- 
 vol. i. u
 
 290 LETTERS FEOM PARIS. 
 
 seldorf, promising the plunder and division of 
 France to the brave Germans ; and as a set off 
 against this menace, and the proclamation of 
 the King of Prussia, the hate and horror of 
 France, an article appeared in the same sheet 
 containing a short detail of the military de- 
 fences already completed, and preparing at 
 all points of the empire. A circular letter 
 from the minister at war of the same date, 
 to the prefects, sub-prefects, and mayors, 
 exhorted them to inspire the inhabitants of 
 the cities, towns, and villages, with that pa- 
 triot spirit which distinguished Tournus, Cha- 
 lons, St. Jean de Lozere, Langres, and Com- 
 piegne, in the campaign of 1814. The forti- 
 fications on the heights of Montmartre were 
 commenced about this time ; six hundred 
 workmen were at first employed, and the 
 number was afterwards increased to ten thou- 
 sand : these persons, in traversing the streets 
 to the heights, generally sing the Marseillaise 
 and other patriotic songs. 
 
 The Emperor visited the suburb of St. An- 
 toine on the sixth, where he examined the new 
 manufactures of arms, and promised the inha- 
 bitants of that quarter (many of whom crowded 
 about him) that forty thousand musquets and 
 able officers should this year put them in a state 
 capable of defending the capital. Napoleon was
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 291 
 
 accompanied only by three officers when he 
 made this visit to the suburbs. The federation 
 of Burgundy and of the Angevins followed 
 that of Brittany; and, a3.you have seen, this 
 measure has been extended to the suburbs of 
 of Paris on the 10th, and to the city itself on 
 the 1 9th. The proclamations of the allies, and 
 particularly of the King of Prussia, are given 
 as the motives of this levy in mass. Volun- 
 tary contributions are another measure of na- 
 tional defence which the present crisis has ex- 
 torted from the exhausted purses of the French. 
 In the department of the Aisne 1 100,000 francs 
 have been collected ; and one woman, at the 
 parade on the 14th, gave into the Emperor's 
 hand a note for 25,000 francs. At the same 
 time, that is, in the second week of this month, 
 the debates in the English parliament and the 
 address of the city of London for peace a little 
 revived the hope that the imposing appearance 
 of France would work a favourable change in 
 the policy of the allies. In the Moniteur of the 
 11th appeared this notice : " The minister of 
 fC general police has received a telegraphic dis- 
 " patch from the prefect of the department of 
 " the north conceived in these terms. — Lille, 
 " \0th May, The Duke of Wellington has 
 " forbidden his soldiers to put foot on the 
 " French territory under pain of death." 
 
 u 2
 
 292 LETTERS FROM PARIS* 
 
 Letters from Vienna, published in the Moni* 
 teur of the 12th, began thus: "I do not yet 
 " believe in the war," and " The time for the 
 " departure of the foreign sovereigns and of 
 " the Emperor of Austria from Vienna is not 
 " yet fixed." Yet the postmaster of Menin 
 announced to the director of the posts at Lille* 
 on the 12th, that all communication between 
 the two countries would for the future cease. 
 The minister at war on the 20th renewed the 
 order to all officers of every rank to apply for 
 routes to their corps, and an order of the day 
 from Count Lobau, commandant of the first 
 military division, cautioned the troops under 
 his order of the necessity for the strictest 
 discipline and vigilance, especially in the 
 prevention of desertion, a paper having been 
 thrown into Cambray which offered 80 francs 
 to any trooper, and 20 to a soldier of infantry, 
 who would quit the eagle of France for the 
 lily of Ghent. The report of the Duke of 
 Otranto on the 9th had already discovered the 
 efforts of the royalists in other quarters of the 
 country, and I believe it to have been pub- 
 lished merely to show that the enemies of 
 France, who hope to find in the present liberal 
 dispositions of the Emperor an engine to be 
 employed against himself, will see that the 
 government has been hitherto inactive in this
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 29$ 
 
 respect, not out of ignorance and fear, but 
 from the better motives of clemency and forbear- 
 ance. Such have been the principal public 
 transactions from the arrival of the Emperor, 
 up to the date of this letter, and you will per- 
 ceive from this detail that in the situation of the 
 empire from the landing of Napoleon to the 
 present day three great changes may be re- 
 marked ; the first of which, comprehending 
 three weeks, expelled the Bourbons from the 
 capital ; the second, in nearly the same period, 
 restored the power of Napoleon throughout the 
 whole French territory ; and the third, in about 
 an equal short space of time, has converted the 
 listlessness of peace into the vigilance of alarm 
 and war.
 
 '29** LETTERS FROM TARIS. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Paris, May 23. 
 
 Every one is in the greatest anxiety at the 
 turn which politics may take in England, which 
 is still an object of some hope, notwithstanding 
 the ineffectual attempts made at negotiation, 
 and notwithstanding the violent language of our 
 parliamentary combatants. I see a Mr. Doug- 
 las recommends, as a preliminary to the peace, 
 the cutting the throats of all the French army. 
 There are several gentlemen of that name in 
 parliament ; but my French friends tell me, that 
 it is the one who was peculiarly well received by 
 Napoleon at Elba, and. by the society of the 
 imperialists at Paris. If so, Mr. D. is an old 
 schoolfellow, and a very good acquaintance 
 of mine, and I shall make no comment, except 
 in the words of Tom Jones's lieutenant : " O fie ! 
 " all is rather too bloody minded a wish :" per- 
 haps he would reply with the Salisbury land- 
 lady, " to be sure, it is natural for us to wish 
 " our enemies dead, that the wars may be at 
 " an end, and our taxes be lowered j for it is
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 295 
 
 %l a dreadful thing to pay as we do !" I feel 
 persuaded, however, that there must have been 
 some mistake in the report of this gentleman's 
 speech ; for those who have the pleasure of his 
 intimacy must have so good an opinion of his 
 understanding and his disposition as to acquit 
 him of entering heart and hand into the politics 
 of the sanguinary side of the house. 
 
 I confess that it has not been without a mix- 
 ture of horror and contempt that I have listened 
 to the cold-blooded recommendations of human 
 slaughter, tricked out in all the tawdry pomp 
 of commonplace, which drop so often from the 
 lips of English orators, and which are so sure 
 of a favourable reception from an English au- 
 dience, that it requires the boldness and un- 
 wearied patriotism of a Whitbread kimself to 
 stand forward the opponent of military glory. 
 I know of no way in which a member of parlia- 
 ment can give such a complete proof of his 
 courage as in recommending peace, by which he 
 braves the dull declamation and the pert plea- 
 santry of orators of all ages and professions ; 
 who enter the lists against him with so much 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 296 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 greater activity and good will, as they seem to 
 fancy they associate themselves to those war- 
 riors whose bravery they so kindly call ijito play, 
 and to partake in some measure the glory they 
 shall gain. 
 
 It would have been a matter of some surprise 
 to me to see amongst the supporters of the war 
 in parliament a description of persons whom 
 one might expect rather to find conferring 
 their blessing upon the peace-makers, had not 
 their previous practice long taught me to reduce 
 their principle of action to a \ery simple motive, 
 which is connected neither with war nor peace, 
 except so far as the one or the other line of po- 
 licy may happen to be the order of the day 
 with the givers of all good things. I by no 
 means intend to undervalue the claims to inde- 
 pendence which have even in our times distin- 
 guished the very powerful class of citizens, of 
 which these gentlemen are the representatives, 
 and from which, as there appears no other prin- 
 ciple now in activity amongst us, it may be hoped 
 sufficient opposition will always be found to 
 prevent the public mind from stagnating into 
 entire apathy, and unconditional non-resistance.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 2^7 
 
 Whilst there are a million and a half of our fellow- 
 countrymen who would die rather than resign 
 the rights of conscience, we may feel secure 
 that there exists in England an insuperable bar 
 against the designs of despotism. But it must 
 be confessed, that the parliamentary leaders of 
 these enemies to ecclesiastical encroachment 
 seem to have a propensity in favour of state au- 
 thorities with which the great mass of their fol- 
 lowers can by no means be charged. For this I 
 
 understand from our friend Mr. , they 
 
 quote the conduct of the disciples of St. Paul, 
 amongst whose duties is particularised the 
 " taking care in all things not to offend the 
 ministry." If the abolition of the slave trade, 
 and the institution of primary schools, was in- 
 tended by Napoleon to entrap the admiration 
 of this portion of our parliament, the Emperor 
 could have been but little acquainted with those 
 respectable characters. 
 
 Eor the heathen amongst us, perhaps there 
 are some who will be pleased with each of the 
 above mentioned measures, and will suggest to 
 themselves a comparison between the royal and 
 imperial laws, by no means unfavourable to the
 
 293 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 latter government. It may be, that the abo- 
 lition of the slave trade, which all the late and 
 faint importunities of Lord Castlereagh and 
 the letter of Mr. Wilberforce were unable to 
 procure, and the imitation of our Lancastrian 
 schools, were intended as an oblique compli- 
 ment to the wishes and institutions of Eng- 
 land; and indeed Mr. Carnot's report of the 
 £9th of April, on the latter subject, cannot fail 
 of pleasing the ears of our countrymen. If this 
 be so, there is nothing dishonourable in such an 
 intention, and as the means chosen to please 
 us must be of such infinite benefit to the cause 
 of humanity and of civilization, no supposition 
 of state policy can take away the honour pro- 
 perly belonging to those by whom they have 
 been adopted. The friends of the ancient so- 
 cial system must indeed see in these measures 
 a just object of suspicion, and a decided proof 
 of the hostility intended to them and their 
 cause by the authors of those dangerous inno- 
 vations on barbarism and ignorance. This is a 
 conduct widely different from the restoration of 
 the inquisitorial and commercial cruelty of the 
 
 / 

 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 299 
 
 slave and saint trade, of factories and monkeries., 
 under the happy auspices of either branch of t{je 
 house of Bourbon. Napoleon and the Jacobins 
 must have intended these measures to form aq 
 ingenious contrast between their acts and those 
 of the ancient dynasties, for the use of the wil- 
 ful opponents of Lord Castlereagh ; and as such, 
 I am not surprised that they are decried by a; 
 the good men and true belonging to that noble 
 lord, and held up to the contempt of parlia- 
 ment as springes to catch the short-sighted, 
 narrow-minded politicians of the party, and not 
 the sedate Athenian fowls, conversant with 
 darkness, who are wise enough to see and h.ea^y 
 enough to break through the snare. 
 
 "Whilst the ministers and their friends c 
 make use of this argument, there is no conduct 
 on the part of Napoleon which will reconci*^ 
 our parliament to a peace with France. In- 
 stitutions the most sage and liberal for the in- 
 terior of his empire, the most just and equita- 
 ble offers to the ether powers, — all will be re- 
 garded with equal jealousy, as contrivances 
 to recommend usurpation to his subjects and to 
 the potentates of Europe, and as tending to 
 establish the dangerous precedent, that the 
 choice made by a nation of its sovereign m.iy 
 be justified and confirmed by the subsequent
 
 300 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 efforts of the man so elevated to show himself 
 worthy of that choice. 
 
 I presume you have read the answer to the de- 
 claration of the 1 3th of March, in the Moniteur 
 of the 13th of April, given in the form of an ex- 
 tract from the register of the council of state, and 
 countersigned by the Duke of Bassano. It is 
 reckoned a masterpiece of argument, and con- 
 tains a kind of declaration of the virtual abdica- 
 tion of the Bourbons, in imitation perhaps of the 
 similar paper drawn up by the lords and com- 
 mons of England against James II. I confess 
 there appears tome something ingenious, or 
 rather lawfully artful, in the preliminary po- 
 sition taken up by supposing the whole to 
 be a forgery of M. de Talleyrand and the 
 French plenipotentiaries. Not that the go- 
 vernment are deceived ; they know well 
 enough that the representatives of the allies, 
 and that the Duke of Wellington, to whose 
 character and nation they contrive to pay the 
 compliment of supposing his signature to be 
 the surest sign of forgery, did put their names 
 to this atrocious and absurd paper ; but they 
 take the vantage ground of civility, in address- 
 ing to a Frenchman remonstrances and re- 
 proofs which are obliquely intended for the 
 ears of the allied sovereigns themselves. Little
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. SOl 
 
 can be added to the document, and to you little 
 need be added; for I believe that public opi- 
 nion in England has declared itself sufficiently 
 against this which has delighted our ministerial 
 journalists, and in which their correspondents 
 must see such a glorious restoration of old forms 
 and ceremonies. The great patron of the an- 
 cient social svstem must himself have favoured 
 the ministerial journals with the head-line of 
 the declaration, in which we find Bonaparte put 
 to the ban! ! I The declaration itself makes no 
 mention of this excellent term ; although, by 
 excluding the offender from " all social and civil 
 relations" with his fellow-creatures, it does en- 
 curage his assassination. There are, however, 
 certain people who are not content with doing 
 a foolish thing without designating it by some 
 ridiculous phrase or epithet. The dilemma to 
 which the framers of this political excommuni- 
 cation have reduced themselves seems simply 
 this : — If Bonaparte was considered by them 
 solely as a rebel, endeavouring, as it must have 
 appeared to them on the ISth of March, at 
 Vienna, with inadequate means, to excite a re- 
 bellion, the sovereigns of congress could have 
 no motive nor justification for their interference 
 in the case of France, any more than they could 
 have had for declaring against an attempt made 
 to dethrone the King of England or the Emperor
 
 302 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 of Russia ; for, notwithstanding the hopes and 
 plans of the allied monarchs, it is not to be sup- 
 posed that the sovereigns of Europe can by any 
 treaties guarantee mutually to each other the 
 perpetual possession of their crowns for them- 
 selves and their dynasty, against all inclinations 
 and efforts of their respective subjects. In such 
 a supposition the congress of Vienna could be 
 considered in no other light than a conspiracy 
 against the liberties of Europe ; and any Eng- 
 lishman who assisted at such a meeting would 
 deserve to lose his head as a traitor, whose ne- 
 gotiations might subject his countrymen to the 
 invasion of 100,000 Prussians or Russians, as the 
 stipulated succour belonging to one of the high 
 contracting parties. Napoleon Bonaparte then 
 could not, if their interference were called for, 
 be regarded as a mere rebel to the King of 
 France. But if he was not regarded in that 
 light, but looked upon as a sovereign invad- 
 ing the territories of a province whom the 
 allies were bound by treaty to defend, war 
 might be declared, perhaps, upon that prince, 
 but not in the terms of the declaration which 
 treated him as rebel. The declaration, besides, 
 may be viewed in another light as ridiculous ; 
 for, if the invader were in a condition which 
 rendered the denunciations of congress formid- 
 able to him, he might have been crashed with-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 30S 
 
 out such a compromise of the dignity of Che 
 respective sovereigns; whereas if he were too 
 powerful for such threats to injure him, that is 
 to say, if he were master of France, the indul- 
 gence of impotent rage and vengeance was 
 equally absurd in that point of view. 
 
 In fact, even the complaisance of our parlia- 
 ment was not relied upon for swallowing such a 
 gross morsel ; for the declaration, I see, was 
 only half avowed and half defended by our ca- 
 binet orators. The framers themselves dropped 
 their outrageous language in the treaty of the 
 25th of March, but without reconciling the 
 purposes of this league with any principles of 
 common sense or justice : I mean as far as re- 
 lates to England, whose objection to the eighth 
 article of that treaty is perhaps an attempt to 
 cajole, not only the English and French nations, 
 but the whole of Europe, more pitiful and un- 
 precedented than might be expected even from 
 the present government. 
 
 Scarcely was this objection to the eighth 
 article made, scarcely was it pretended that 
 the English could not consent to go to war 
 with the view of imposing a?iy form of go- 
 vernment upon France, but merely to displace 
 Bonaparte, than the interpretation, as it was 
 called, of the original article, was found to 
 admit of a latitude either way ; and in the 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 i ( 
 
 St 
 
 304 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 official letter of Lord Clancarty to Lord Castle- 
 reagh, which is a sort of renewed and reasoned 
 declaration, dated Vienna, May the 6th, the 
 refinement of our cabinet was reduced to its 
 real insignificance by the avowal, " that the 
 sovereigns did not intend to influence the 
 conduct of the French relatively to such or 
 such a dynasty or form of government, except 
 " as for as might be essential to the security and 
 " permanent tranquillity of the rest of Europe. 
 " If France shall give reasonable guarantees to 
 " this effect, such as the other states have a 
 " right to require for their own defence, their 
 " object will be fulfilled ; and it is with joy that 
 " they will enter then into that state of peace, 
 " which then, and then only, will be within 
 " their reach. " If there were any in Eng- 
 land weak enough to be deceived by the ap- 
 pearance of moderation (and I see that argu- 
 ment has been used in parliament), the words 
 above quoted must have been sufficient to cor- 
 rect their credulity, and to reduce to its real 
 value the liberal generosity displayed by us, 
 in telling the French they may establish any 
 sovereign authority, save that of one man, 
 without the interference of England. Even 
 allowing the sincerity of this declaration, the 
 mockery of calling such an offer the giving a free- 
 dom of choice to France is sufficiently glaring.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 305 
 
 and something similar to that proposed to a 
 man who has the door shut upon him when the 
 house is on fire, and is told he has his choice of 
 either of the windows. In vain he begs to be 
 allowed to extricate himself in the readiest 
 manner, and deprecates the other outlets, be- 
 cause, in spite of their rope-ladders and blan- 
 kets, he may be knocked to pieces in the de- 
 scent. The allies are kind enough in offering 
 to break the fall of France ; but it is not to be 
 wondered at, that she wishes not to fall at all, 
 but rather to adopt the means of preservation 
 the nearest at hand, without having recourse to 
 extreme experiments. Napoleon is actually iti 
 possession of the power — the dethroning him 
 is not the gate of salvation. Considering the 
 manner in which he returns to the throne, and 
 the abandonment of it by his competitor, it is 
 not to be expected that the great majority of 
 Frenchmen, having tacitly admitted his claim, 
 should, on the remonstrance of foreigners, sud- 
 denly decide themselves to have acted un- 
 justly and foolishly. They may admit of the 
 necessity of giving a security for the peace of 
 Europe, but they must not be excluded from 
 doing so in the only manner which it is con- 
 sistent with their own honour and safety to 
 adopt. The objection of the allied powers, 
 it is said, is not to France, but to Napoleon, 
 
 VOL. I. x
 
 .708 LETTERS FROM PARIS, 
 
 whom they are determined to deprive of the 
 capacity of future aggression. If France her- 
 self deprives Napoleon of this capacity, by the 
 establishment of such a constitutional govern- 
 ment as shall make the actions of her monarch 
 dependant upon the national will, the end of 
 the allied sovereigns is answered ; and if they 
 distrust France, and think she will herself be 
 aggressive, then they do make war upon 
 France ; and if they make war upon France 
 for this motive, it is not only a falsehood to 
 assert that the object of attack is Napoleon, 
 but it is an absurd cause, if real ; since, who- 
 ever succeeds to Napoleon, should this monarch 
 fall, would be obliged to yield to the national 
 bent, by pursuing projects of ambition. 
 
 That a due guarantee would be given to the 
 allies against the absolute power of Napoleon, 
 the formation of a representative government, 
 and every evidence of the ascendant gained 
 by the people in this country, are sufficient to 
 make more than probable. The constitution 
 which he himself has proposed, by putting the 
 purse of the state into the hands of the house 
 of representatives, makes the declaration of 
 war as dependant upon that house as it is upon 
 the English house of commons; but in the 
 alterations which the chamber, when met, will 
 propose, it is doubted whether the declaration 
 of war will be left to the crown ; for I see that
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 307 
 
 a pamphlet, addressed to the representatives, 
 earnestly recommends taking away this prero- 
 gative from the sovereign, as well as putting 
 the army into the hands of responsible and na- 
 tional officers *. Those who aver, that Napo- 
 leon, seconded by the army, would find means 
 to crush the rising spirit of liberty, and to resume 
 his former power in all its plenitude, know no- 
 thing of France, as you have, by this time, 
 seen, nor of the army, which would second no 
 such project. It is possible, as I have said, 
 that the nation, being itself ambitiously in- 
 clined, would aggress ; but such an inclination 
 would not depend upon Napoleon any more than 
 upon any other limited monarch, therefore the 
 removal of him would not allay the appre- 
 hensions of the neighbouring peoples. There 
 are but three methods of removing the fears 
 entertained, or professed to be entertained, by 
 the allies — the deposition of Napoleon — the 
 disarming of the ambition of Napoleon by con- 
 verting the despotism of his former throne 
 into a constitutional monarchy — or the entire 
 destruction of the French armies. The first 
 method has been proved to be as unreasona- 
 ble for the allies to expect, as unproductive 
 of the end they propose; the second plan 
 
 * The sovereign was never to take the field by the con- 
 stitution made during the siege of Paris. 
 
 X 2
 
 SOS LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 is looked upon as feasible only in France, for 
 the other powers are either actually blind 
 to the present disposition and moral state of 
 this country, or wilfully shut their eyes to 
 them ; and the last — the system of extermina- 
 tion, is at once adopted, as the only resource, 
 according to that policy, so popular in England, 
 which has given to the iron argument, the ratio 
 regum, the first instead of the last place in 
 royal dialectics. The force of arms is to drive 
 Napoleon from his throne. Suppose the pur- 
 pose accomplished, and that only half a million 
 of men have fallen in battle, and fifty times as 
 many been ruined and made wretched. The 
 throne is vacant — the war ceases — and the 
 French choose another sovereign, that is, if 
 the original interpretation of the eighth article 
 be sincere, and acted up to by the conquerors 
 — but is the peace of Europe secured ? what 
 guarantee is there against the newly elected 
 sovereign, especially under the supposition of 
 his being absolute, which the allies think must 
 be the case ? The annihilation of the army of 
 France, if brought about, will not annihilate the 
 revenge of France, nor, if the above declaration 
 of her integrity be adhered to, her power. The 
 war, therefore, which the allies declare against 
 Napoleon only, supposing that pretext to be 
 believed, leaves in reality no option to France;
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 300, 
 
 and. as the object which the allies aver as the 
 real motive of this war seems so entirely unat- 
 tainable by the method proposed to be pursued, 
 there is no other conclusion to be formed but 
 that the reserves and exceptions hinted at in 
 Lord Clancarty's letter will turn out sufficient 
 excuse for the imposition of any sovereign 
 chosen by the congress, if not for the dismem- 
 berment of France. Such of the constitution- 
 alists here as cannot yet reconcile themselves 
 to Napoleon pretend to give some credit to the 
 declaration of the allies that they make war 
 on Napoleon alone, but only, I believe, for the 
 sake of encouraging a whisper that the Empe- 
 ror will, by abdicating at the Champ de Mai, 
 put the truth of that declaration to the test. 
 It is not easy to foresee what would be the 
 event of such an act ; for myself, I believe 
 that, as nothing would so embarrass the allies, 
 so no news would be received w T ith such con- 
 sternation, though all would end, I suppose, in 
 the advance of the 1,100,000 bayonets into 
 France, in search of Lord Clancarty's reasona- 
 ble guarantees*. 
 
 * The Censor of the next month, No. VI. did require, 
 in as many words, this sacrifice of Napoleon, from himself, 
 not from the nation. The words are remarkable, and may 
 serve to shew the constraint under which the press groaned 
 during the late reign. — " En 1814. NapoUon si Von en croit
 
 8.10 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 *t son conseil d'etat, abdique V empire pour prevenir une guerre 
 " civile, et pour mettre une terme d la guerre ctrangerc. En 
 " 1815, il se ressaisit de Vautorite ; sur-le-champ la guerre 
 " civile eclate, la France est menacee de V invasion de totes les 
 " peuples de V Europe, et cependant il retient la puissance 
 " dans ses mains. La patrie lux est elle moins chere cette 
 " annee que I'annee derniere, ou une abdication enjaveur des 
 " Bourbons lui parait-elle preferable d une abdication enja~ 
 " veur de sonjils?"
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 311 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Paris, May — . 
 
 I have hitherto regarded the war as far as 
 France is concerned. You may now ask why 
 Napoleon does not make this personal sacrifice, 
 and thus having rescued his country from a dy- 
 nasty considered by many whether justly or not 
 to be no less dangerous than incapable, and hav- 
 ing, by convoking a representation really nation- 
 al, and reorganizing her disbanded armies, made 
 her happy at home and respectable abroad, re- 
 tire from his painful pre-eminence with more 
 glory than Dioclesian, and with a self-devotion 
 not unworthy of Codrus or any ancient name ? 
 To this I answer, that perhaps Napoleon may 
 be as entirely persuaded as you are that his 
 abdication would not preserve the independence 
 or integrity of France. His proclamations and 
 speeches, of course, hold that language, and 
 his Mends, together with far the greater part 
 of the constitutionalists, laugh at the protesta- 
 tions of the allies, although they have been as 
 yet retained, by a wish to go every length to 
 reconcile the English cabinet, from openly as- 
 serting that the stipulation relative to the eighth 
 vol. r.
 
 Si 2 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 article of the treaty of the 25th of March is no- 
 thing but an excuse for aggression, and a lure to 
 loosen the allegiance of France to her new so- 
 vereign. Add to this, that the Bourbonists do 
 every thing in their power to bring discredit 
 upon these protestations and our stipulation, by 
 asserting that the natural consequence of the 
 retreat of the Emperor would be the return of 
 the king, and that for this object alone Europe 
 is now at the gates of France. With the con- 
 viction, then,, that his abdication, though it 
 might put the right and justice of France in a 
 more favourable position, or rather, render it 
 altogether unquestionable, would give her no 
 other advantage than that which right and jus- 
 tice can bestow on a disputed cause, which is 
 
 , Napoleon may fairly look upon his 
 
 retreat as a compliance with an unjust demand, 
 productive neither of honour to himself nor 
 utility to France. Without this conviction, 
 the preventing motive must be an egotism and 
 selfishness, of which, to say the truth, he is 
 more than suspected, even by his firmest ad- 
 mirers, and which, combined with a just, reli- 
 ance upon his own abilities and the intrepidity 
 of the French armies, may induce him to prefer 
 trusting his own destinies and those of his em- 
 pire to the decision of the sword. He has 
 spilled blood enough, and if in any point of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 313 
 
 view, since his return, he can be regarded as 
 provoking the war about to ensue, without the 
 adoption of every means, and the sacrifice of 
 every personal feeling, to preserve the peace 
 of France and of Europe, let the hatred of all 
 honest men, now dispersed amongst the sove- 
 reigns of congress, be collected into a focus, 
 and fall united upon his guilty head. 
 
 The friends of the ancient social system (I 
 thank Lord C. for the phrase, and must be 
 allowed to use it) in every country in Europe 
 have joined with the honest Metternich, the 
 unprejudiced Hardenberg, the unassuming Ra- 
 zumouski, the virtuous Talleyrand, and our 
 own Clancarty, in the outcry against the re- 
 turn of Napoleon, as an act unprecedented 
 even in the annals of ambition, and arrayed in 
 all the characteristics of atrocity — with more of 
 perfidy, ingratitude, and violence, than is to be 
 allowed even to the obliquity of ambition— a sort 
 of treason against our common nature — a lese- 
 majesUy human and divine, such as the parlia- 
 ment of Rouen imputed to Henry IV. These 
 accusations, when considered merely as the 
 terms in which the allies choose to couch their 
 declaration against France, are of little moment. 
 The nations of modern Christendom have al- 
 ways seemed to like the ceremony of being told 
 why they are to be mutually slaughtered and
 
 314 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 pillaged — the reason does not matter as to 
 weight, or application, or truth, so as it be 
 assigned. Louis XIV. informed his subjects 
 that they were to carry fire and sword into the 
 states of the empire, and that all true and 
 faithful subjects of France would fly to arms, 
 to recover some old furniture belonging to the 
 Duchess of Orleans. 
 
 Whether old furniture or old systems are to 
 serve the turn is perfectly indifferent. Certain 
 reasons have always been given in all due form, 
 and though they were as plenty as blackberries, 
 no others are required, or would be offered. But 
 until these days it was not expected that any 
 reasonable man should be the dupe of a mere 
 form, or should imagine that monarchs really 
 considered themselves, and were determined to 
 act, as the patrons and preservers of every reli- 
 gious and moral duty. However, it seems that 
 the awful train of good and just, which form so 
 large a portion of mankind, call for vengeance 
 upon the first man who ever broke a treaty, 
 and have devoted him to punishment, to deter 
 others from the commission of the like unheard 
 of crime, and the invention of new and mon- 
 strous infringements upon public right. 
 
 The believer in the right divine of certain 
 reigning houses may think, that as every at- 
 tempt to overthrow the Emperor Napoleon, in
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 315 
 
 the wars formerly waged against France, was 
 justified by the holy end in view, so no break- 
 ing of treaties by either of the allied sovereigns 
 can be brought in excuse of a similar conduct 
 in one not born with the privilege of looking 
 upon expediency as right. But an Englishman 
 must see this matter with very different eyes, 
 and, notwithstanding the common forms of hos- 
 tility justified the government of his country in 
 former times, in refusing to acknowledge the 
 title by which Napoleon held the sovereign 
 power, or, in other words, to call him Emperor 
 instead of Consul of France, yet he cannot for 
 a moment hesitate in allowing the pretensions 
 of that great man to all the rights of sovereigns 
 to have been as full as can be acquired by the 
 founder of any dynasty — a position, by the way, 
 that a diet of the old empire would find it diffi- 
 cult to controvert. The British government 
 were willing to make peace with this Emperor, 
 and had peace been made, would never have 
 dared to insult the liberality, and do a violence 
 to the justice, of their countrymen, by alleg- 
 ing the want of hereditary title as a fair ex- 
 cuse for breaking such a peace upon the first 
 expediency. 
 
 An Englishman, therefore, cannot regard 
 the infraction of the treaty of Fontainbleau by 
 Napoleon in any other light than he would
 
 316 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the violation of the same or another treaty by 
 any other monarch. The imposition of force 
 has always been thought a sufficient excuse for 
 making and for breaking conditions. A war 
 was never begun without the belligerents on 
 both sides being accused by some and excused 
 by others for want of faith, and no one objected 
 to the efforts made by the sovereigns of Europe 
 to throw off that subjection to which they had 
 solemnly stipulated themselves, by putting their 
 signatures to the Confederation of the Rhine. 
 Every one thought it very natural that the 
 King of Prussia, when reduced to four towns, 
 and to a dependance which made him eye 
 every stranger at his little court at Kcenings- 
 berg with fear, lest he should have orders from 
 Napoleon in his pocket to carry him away, 
 should seize the first opportunity of recovering 
 his throne ; and every one characterised his 
 desertion of the French as an honourable effort 
 to rescue himself from an insignificance to 
 which he had been sunk by force alone. 
 
 The violation of his engagements with his 
 son-in-law, by the Emperor of Austria, was not 
 called perfidy, but, on the contrary, a glorious 
 sacrifice to public duty. I believe it to have 
 been neither one nor the other, being per- 
 suaded that a little better management with 
 Mr. de Metternich would have secured at least
 
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 31-7 
 
 the neutrality of Austria. That minister, of 
 whom the saying of Napoleon ran through 
 Germany, " Tai M. dans ma manche, qui a un 
 " Empereur dans sa poche" was insulted by 
 the manner in which Napoleon opened the 
 conference with him at Dresden, by saying 
 abruptly — '• Come, Metternich, tell me how 
 " much they have given you ?" — for he turned 
 pale — gave no reply, and soon withdrew, and 
 from that moment, said the Duke of Bassano, 
 (who was at the interview) we could never 
 get him to treat, and soon found that Austria 
 was determined. — If, then, so far from being 
 angry with Frederick or Francis, we applaud 
 them for escaping from their vassalage to Na- 
 poleon, and for no longer continuing to be the 
 accomplices of their own insignificance, what 
 occasions our indignation at the resolution 
 taken by Napoleon, of being no longer inactive 
 than the force which contracted his former 
 empire to a rock in the Mediterranean should 
 continue to confine him to so narrow a circle ? 
 He had surely as full a right to be discontented 
 with being Emperor of Elba as had Frederic 
 William to be King of Koeningsberg ; and I 
 conclude that an endeavour to recover a lost 
 crown is just as respectable a passion, and as 
 justifiable an act, in the one as in the other un- 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 318 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 fortunate sovereign. The one as well as the 
 other must be judged guilty of that " violation 
 " of right for the sake of reigning," which, 
 from its gallant disregard of all the petty in- 
 terests and feelings of human nature, we have 
 agreed to designate as the infirmity only of a 
 noble mind. The fact however is, and I defy 
 the most skilful casuist to prove it otherwise, 
 that the allied sovereigns, in spite of all their 
 former compliances and engagements, and Eng- 
 land, notwithstanding the contempt of legiti- 
 macy which has governed her own internal 
 conduct, do consider Napoleon in the light of 
 an adventurer, and can find no other cause of 
 offence distinguishing his infraction of the treaty 
 of Fontainbleau, which Mr. de Talleyrand is 
 said to own to have been signed le pistokt a la 
 gorge, from any other violation of a royal sig- 
 nature, than his not being the son of a king. 
 He does not own this in his memorial, but his 
 glory might have allowed the admission of that 
 truth, and the egotism and ingenuity of Horace 
 would have so well suited him that he might 
 have used the very words — 
 
 Nunc ad me redeo libertino patre natum 
 Quern rodunt omnes libertino patre natiyji. 
 
 The Emperor of Austria, who boasted in his 
 declaration of war in 1813, that he was of the
 
 LETTERS PROM PARIS. 319 
 
 oldest family in Christendom, and complained 
 that he should have suffered so much, after 
 condescending to give all his quarterings a 
 place in the scurvy escutcheon of the house 
 of Ajaccio, wished at the marriage of Maria 
 Louisa to have employed some of the gene- 
 alogists in the service of the all high, (the title 
 given to the military and official slaves in 
 Austria on the turnpike tickets) — in making 
 out a tree for his future son-in-law from the 
 pedigrees of Tuscany, in which country the 
 Bonapartes had formerly owned titles of nobi- 
 lity. Napoleon laughed at the proposal, and 
 said, " his family could be dated no higher than 
 " the dixhuit Brumai re." The blood of the house 
 of Hapsburgh was suffered to mingle with the 
 ignoble stream ; and, if the daughter of that 
 house is herself to be believed, she found no 
 reason to be discontented at the union. She 
 used to call Napoleon by m:\ny tender names; 
 and she told an English lady of my acquaint- 
 ance, that had he been neither an Emperor 
 nor an hero, she should have still preferred him 
 to all the world. It is certain, however, that 
 the feelings which the Emperor Francis chose 
 to put in the front of his merits at the com- 
 mencement of his struggle have now assumed 
 their full force, upon the success of that effort, 
 
 and that as much is now to be done to exclude 
 vol. I.
 
 320 LETTERS FROM PARIS, 
 
 his daughter from the throne of France as was 
 formerly hazarded to maintain his aunt upon 
 the same pre-eminence. The balance of power, 
 all former jealousies, all conveniences of juxta- 
 position, all objects of family grandeur, are to 
 be overlooked rather than unteach the world 
 the happy lesson which showed the fatal end 
 of all revolutions ; and rather than the will 
 of a people should appear to have any con- 
 nection with the rejection or choice of a so- 
 vereign. Is there any one who will say, 
 that if by accident the Dauphin, Louis the 
 XVIIth, had been placed by a party, after the 
 revolution, at the head of the republican 
 armies, had discovered the same genius and 
 the same ambition, had run the same career of 
 glory and defeat, he would have been deserted 
 with the same indifference, overwhelmed with 
 the same obloquy, pursued by the same ran- 
 cour, and doomed to the same fate as we have 
 seen reserved for Napoleon ? Would Austria, 
 after having given him a daughter, detain her 
 from her husband and subvert her throne in op- 
 position to the dictates of interest and inclina- 
 tion ? The question will admit of no other solu- 
 tion. Napoleon was not born to the purple — 
 " the head and front of his offending hath this 
 ' extent — no more." 
 By this he hath offended the sovereigns of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 321 
 
 Europe, but not the peoples — George Prince 
 Regent — not you and me. 
 
 I have not mentioned the infractions of the 
 treaty of Fontainbleau, with which Napoleon 
 charges the other contracting parties, the treat- 
 ment of the Empress Maria Louisa, his wife, of 
 Joachim, King of Naples, his brother-in-law, 
 the refusal of the stipulated pension to himself, 
 and the attempts made upon his life by the 
 Bourbon governor of Corsica. These pretences 
 I cannot suppose the real cause of his invasion 
 of France, although I think them a very citable 
 excuse ; but it is a fresh proof of his being con- 
 sidered out of the pale of sovereignty, that no 
 attempt has been made to refute the charge. 
 On the contrary, the apologists of Louis XVIII. 
 avow his effort to dispossess Murat of the crown 
 of Naples, and his withholding the pension of 
 Napoleon, and they excuse him. The sequestra- 
 tion of the Bonaparte property was pronounced 
 by a decree, bearing date the 14th of December, 
 1814, as you have seen in the Moniteur of the 
 1 1th of April. With respect to the attempts at 
 assassination, I shall only say that the officers 
 who attended the Emperor at Elba assert them 
 to be undeniable. The Coloneljermanouski * 
 informed me, that the imperial staff had esta- 
 blished a police amongst themselves, and that 
 
 * Not Termanouski, as erroneously printed in some of the 
 preceding pages. 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 522 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the district of Porto Longone was entrusted to 
 him. He employed as a spy the physician of 
 the English consul. They received previous 
 information of the fellow sent by Brulart, 
 governor of Corsica; and having, upon his 
 arrival, shown him that they were totally aware 
 of his project, they disarmed him of a rifle gun 
 which he had brought with him, and sent him 
 from the island. Another Corsican, of the name 
 of Pompeio, they detected in the same scheme, 
 and contented themselves with dismissing him 
 likewise. It was natural, that upon seeing how 
 punctually the stipulations made with him and 
 his family were kept, Napoleon should also 
 expect more violent injuries, and perhaps an 
 infraction of the main article of the conditions 
 upon which he had abdicated the sovereignty 
 of France. The rumour, whether founded or 
 . not, that it was proposed at congress to remove 
 him to St. Helena, had certainly reached him— 
 he talked of it to an English friend of mine, add- 
 ing, if it will be no easy matter to drive me and 
 " my grenadiers out of these rocks ; neither of 
 " us will quit them alive." No ! whichever way 
 I look, I see nothing in the enterprise of this 
 man, except its magnitude, which distinguishes 
 it from other violations of treaties, prompted, 
 as are all such transactions, by motives of inte- 
 rest, excusable on some grounds, unjustifiable 
 in others.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 323 
 
 The event hitherto has shown, that as far as 
 France is concerned, the seal of success, the 
 true stamp of right and propriety in such efforts, 
 has given to it the character which it will bear 
 with an impartial posterity. Those who believe 
 that his professions of love to France were to 
 be credited will not attempt to excuse — they 
 will glory in his conduct, and with reason ; for 
 when he divined from the position of France, to 
 use his own words, that she was on the eve of a 
 revolution, for the establishment of a free govern- 
 ment by the final overthrow of a dynasty which 
 he judged to be effete and arbitrary, he was 
 right in hoping that such a noble project might 
 be accomplished by himself, rather than by the 
 united patriotism of rival demagogues. 
 
 Machiavel allows, I do not say with what jus- 
 tice, that a commonwealth is seldon well turned 
 or constituted except it hath been the work of a 
 single person ; and the republican Harrington, 
 who quotes this opinion in a chapter of the 
 Oceana, avers " that a wise legislator, and one 
 " whose mind is finally set, not upon private, but 
 " public interest, not upon his posterity, but his 
 " country, may justly endeavour to get the so- 
 " vereign power into his own hands ; nor shall 
 " any man that is master of reason blame such 
 " extraordinary means as in that case will be ne- 
 " cessary, the end proving no other than the con- 
 vol. i. y 2
 
 324 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 'f stitution of a well ordered commonwealth. " If 
 it could be proved the king broke the contract 
 with his people no less than James with our an- 
 cestors, his abdication would then be pronounced 
 to have been completed by that by which the Bri- 
 tish lords were willing to designate the deposi- 
 tion of James, the desertion of the throne. In this 
 view of the subject he had incurred the penalties 
 of abdication ; for, to use the words of Serjeant 
 Maynard, " if attempting the utter destruction 
 of the subject, and the subversion of the con- 
 stitution, be not as much an abdication as the 
 attempt of a father to cut his son's throat, I 
 know not what is*." 
 
 Bonaparte, foreseeing this abdication, and 
 thinking he had a right to profit by the cir- 
 cumstances producing it, has given the best 
 proof of his ambition taking the direction 
 prescribed by Harrington by his subsequent 
 conduct. I allow that the formation of a happy 
 constitution in France cannot be alleged to 
 the allies as a pretext for breaking the treaty 
 of Fontainbleau : indeed I solemnly affirm, 
 that it is my belief, that such an object, so far 
 from excusing, is in their eyes an aggravation 
 of offence ; for what would be the danger to 
 the neighbouring despotisms, did 27,000,000 
 of the most enlightened and active portion 
 * Parliamentary Debates, 16S3.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 325 
 
 of the population of Christendom compose a 
 well-ordered commonwealth ? The bare right 
 to declare war must, I suppose, be allowed 
 for the maintenance of the treaty of Fontain- 
 bleau, but not for the exterminating purpose 
 assigned by the ministers of congress. The 
 government of England may also have the 
 bare' right to join in an endeavour to reduce 
 the Emperor to his Elba. But the having 
 a right never supposes or includes an obliga- 
 tion, according to the strictest rules of politi- 
 cal morality ; and if from any consideration 
 Great Britain chooses to resign her right to 
 enforce the treaty of Fontainbleau, there is no 
 implied duty which can recommend a contrary 
 conduct, unless it should be said, that by the 
 treaty o£ Paris she guaranteed the crown of 
 France to Louis XVIII, because that , mo- 
 narch was one of the parties ; a position which 
 would suppose a necessity of her taking part 
 in any civil war which might endanger either 
 of the contracting monarchs, or their descend- 
 ants, which is absurd. 
 
 The utmost that can be allowed is, that we 
 have a right to go to war, and a right not to go 
 to war. The treaty of Paris was made, not with 
 Napoleon nor Louis, but with the monarch of 
 France. This may be objected to upon the 
 grounds, that less favourable conditions weuld
 
 326 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 have been granted to the French under the 
 former than the latter sovereign : but I deny 
 that such would have been the case ; for the 
 Conditions offered to Napoleon at Chatillon 
 were at least as good as those given at Paris 
 to Louis. I see this objection has been made 
 by Lord Castlereagh — I refer him to his own 
 offers at Chatillon. The treaty of Paris is still 
 preserved by the monarch of France — no mat- 
 ter whether that monarch be Louis the Eigh- 
 teenth : but allowing that he is Napoleon the 
 First, who bound himself by treaty to reign no 
 more in France, and to whom alone, therefore, 
 the other parties signing that treaty have a right 
 to object ; they have of course a right not to 
 object, for they did not enter into a mutual 
 engagement to each other to exclude him from 
 the throne. It was he that gave up his preten- 
 sions, and they that received his resignation ; 
 and guaranteed, in return, the grant of certain 
 advantages for the abdicated monarch and his 
 family. If England shall not consider her in- 
 terest concerned, seeing the general state of 
 affairs in France, in insisting upon the conti- 
 nuance of that exclusion, she has as much right 
 tacitly to resign that privilege, as her monarch 
 had to give up the title of King of France in 
 the treaty of Amiens. I ask whether the abdi- 
 cation of Fontainbleau can in any way be called
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 327 
 
 a treaty of alliance offensive and defensive, ex- 
 cluding the right of neutrality, in case the ces- 
 sions on either side should fail to be made 
 good? or whether each of the parties, who 
 supposed themselves to gain by the abdication 
 of Napoleon, may not resign the pursuance of 
 that advantage ? Did they bind themselves mu- 
 tually to pursue it ? I answer no — not until 
 they signed the declaration of the 13th and the 
 treaty of the 2.5th of March ; which, therefore, 
 unless the honour and interest of our country 
 should be concerned in the execution of them, 
 the British parliament may fairly disapprove, 
 and refuse to lend its assistance in carrying into 
 effect. The ministers tell us they have pledged 
 the honour of England to their high allies for 
 the dethronement of Napoleon. They com- 
 mitted the honour of England by the precipi- 
 tance and violence of the declaration of the 
 1 3th of March ; and, finally, it is for the 
 representatives of the nation to determine, 
 whether the loss of Lord Castlereagh's place 
 may not be almost as simple and efficacious a 
 manner of preserving the credit of the country, 
 as the loss of Napoleon's throne. We have here 
 but little hopes that the parliament will see the 
 matter in the light in which it appears to every 
 Englishman without exception, I believe I may 
 say, who is now on the spot, and to those French-
 
 328 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 men who have the best reputation for independ- 
 ent principles. 
 
 I see by the Moniteur of yesterday, that 
 Lord Liverpool says we may be considered in 
 a state of war since the Regent's message on 
 the 22d, and that an embargo may be put on 
 at any time. Still the communications are per- 
 fectly free, and the English papers are to be 
 met with at the usual reading -room in the Rue 
 Vivienne. Very many pretend, that in spite of 
 all this, England will not go to war — it is so 
 evidently, say they, her interest and her duty 
 not to support the pretensions of kings against 
 the rights of peoples; but, for this reason, I 
 consider the war to be certain. What can be 
 expected from Lord Castlereagh ? By the way, 
 his state paper relative to Saxony has astounded 
 those who honoured this prophet here as he is 
 honoured in his own country, What a perform- 
 ance ! ! ! If I did not happen to know the chan* 
 nel through which it has been communicated 
 to the public, (I inclose the original French), I 
 should scarcely believe it to be authentic. His 
 lordship asserts, that he is not answerable for 
 " the translation of a translation :" his dis* 
 patches, like those good things called puns, may 
 be untranslateable j but, that the destinies of 
 Europe should be in such hands, shows the gods 
 in the same pleasant humour as his lordship —
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 329 
 
 qucenam ista jocandi scevitia? What! " to have 
 no moral nor political objection" to enslaving a 
 whole people ? to incorporating them with a ri- 
 val power, merely to punish the policy of their 
 king? From all his involution of phrase and 
 meaning one can only make out, that his lord- 
 ship has been frightened by Russia and duped 
 by Prussia. The pretensions of the first he owns 
 alarming even for the Russians : the virtues of 
 the latter make nothing too good to be given, 
 " provided she asks for nothing!!!" 
 
 vol., I. * *
 
 SSO LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Paris, May — . 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 Let me intreat 3^0 u to vote for peace. In 
 the course of your long political life, you 
 have had to give your suffrage on many most 
 important questions, and your name has been 
 found constantly amongst the advocates for re- 
 ligious and political freedom. The revolution 
 war you never ceased to oppose, from the be- 
 ginning to the end of that unjust and unfortu- 
 nate struggle, in spite of the denunciations of 
 enemies and the frowns of friends. You left 
 father and mother to cleave to the good cause ; 
 nor, although that cause has appeared to you 
 to have fallen into other hands than those by 
 which it was upheld at the outset of your public 
 life, is there to be found any relinquishment of 
 those honourable principles which gave it the 
 first claim to your early regard. You will par- 
 don the impertinence of praise from one with 
 whom duty and affection must supply the place 
 of that approbation which, perhaps, it may ap- 
 pear no less decent to withhold than to feel.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 331 
 
 My only motive for recurring to this topic is, 
 that you may infer the character I cannot but 
 attach to the question at present before your 
 House, when I appeal to the tenor of such a 
 public life, as a presumption that you cannot 
 intend to support your friends, the ministers, 
 in their warlike address to the Regent. I 
 hear with surprise and grief, that a defec- 
 tion is expected from the ranks of opposition, 
 and that even among the personal friends, 
 the immediate disciples of Mr. Fox, there are 
 some found who declare, that to the last ounce 
 of gold, the last drop of blood, England is to 
 struggle against the restored tyrant. Such pa- 
 triots ought to be forgiven, as they know not 
 what they do : though, until I see that they act 
 upon some general principles entirely inde- 
 pendent of the false premises assumed by 
 the contrivers and supporters of the war, I 
 must think there is something of haste in their 
 conclusions, which not even the events hoped 
 for by themselves will be able to justify. Those 
 who think a war with France, in order to de- 
 throne Napoleon, to be an inevitable evil, ac- 
 knowledge the state of distress to which the
 
 332 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 country is already reduced, and the improbabi- 
 lity of any scheme of taxation being invented 
 which will enable it to support the increasing 
 burthens of the state beyond a limited time: 
 the chancellor of the exchequer fixed it, 1 think, 
 in one of his luminous speeches, to four years. 
 Viewed as an excuse for a renewal of the in- 
 come-tax, this contest may have many recom- 
 mendations to that gentleman, and the sove- 
 reigns of congress were not more happy to re- 
 brace their dissolving union by joining in the 
 old common cause, than Mr, Vansittart may be 
 to merge all partial discontents in one general 
 calamity. In Paris they have been bold enough 
 to insinuate, that the necessity of renewing the 
 income-tax has no little share in the apparent 
 determination to renew the war. But I shall 
 say nothing of the pecuniary distresses of our 
 country ; you are much better acquainted with 
 the details than myself ; all I know is the grand 
 total collected from the confessions of ministers 
 themselves, who speak as if they were in the jaws 
 of ruin, at the same time that they recommend 
 the indefinite augmentation of our difficulties. 
 So that no conclusion can be drawn but that
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. S3S 
 
 the political existence itself of England must 
 appear *iot only menaced by, but incompati- 
 ble with, the continuation of Napoleon on the 
 throne of France. If we unknit all our own 
 sinews, crack all our joints, in the convul- 
 sive effort, we must still keep hold of the fatal 
 purpose, nor desist till we die in the agony of 
 this oar last grasp. You must think in Eng- 
 land, then, that Napoleon, if suffered to remain 
 in peace, will render himself no less formidable 
 than he was during his former reign. To me 
 it seems that nothing can restore him to a sha- 
 dow of his ancient authority, except, perhaps, 
 a decided and brilliant triumph over the allied 
 arms, in a contest in which the people of 
 France conceive themselves the injured party, 
 and may, therefore, acquiesce in a splendid re- 
 venge. A state of peace, you say, must always 
 be uncertain with such a man, and to maintain 
 the treaty of Paris, whilst he reigns, would re- 
 quire a constant armament, and hostile prepara- 
 tions more intolerable than war itself. To me 
 this seems like the giddy feeling, which forces 
 a man to throw himself dow r n a precipice for 
 fear of falling. You think, then, that with 
 Louis, or any other king on the throne, a 
 peace would be permanent, or at least of a 
 duration much greater than could be hoped for 
 with Napoleon. You must, therefore, never
 
 334 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 make peace ; because sometime or the other 
 you must renew the war — like Swift's footman, 
 you say the boots will be dirty again. I re- 
 peat to you, however, that if the French re- 
 main at peace, the power of going to war will 
 not be in the hands of Napoleon. The esta- 
 blishment of a constitutional government is in- 
 evitable ; the elections for the chamber of repre- 
 sentatives are carrying on at this moment with 
 every chance of such a return being made as will 
 secure a large majority to the independent 
 party, and the patriots of 1 7&9 it is expected 
 will be predominant. The spirit of liberty 
 is gone forth ; to chain it down will be im- 
 practicable j and an assemblage of six hundred 
 and twenty-nine persons of any condition or 
 character, under the present circumstances, 
 must be the actual masters of the French na- 
 tion. I will not conceal the difficulties attend- 
 ing the choice of persons the best qualified for 
 representing the nation. In the first place, the 
 generality of the nobility in the provinces take 
 every care to discredit the new chamber, and 
 have succeeded so far, that several who have 
 been chosen have refused to serve. Secondly, 
 such is the base iove of court distinctions, 
 which the restoration of monarchical usages by 
 the old imperial government has left amongst 
 more than one class of people, that men, who
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS,- 335 
 
 would think themselves honoured by a bit of 
 ribbon at their button-holes, disdain to make 
 any efforts to represent their countrymen. 
 Thirdly, in some provinces the nobles are so 
 suspected by the people, that such young men 
 as belong to that body, and are very well qua- 
 lified and willing to serve, are unable to obtain 
 a seat in their own county ; and, as a prejudice 
 seems for the most part to prevail against 
 strangers, such as have made the attempt else- 
 where have generally failed. Several young per- 
 sons, well known in Paris for their independence 
 and their talents, have presented themselves to 
 the electoral colleges, at a distance from the 
 capital, but without success. I see, by the Mc- 
 niteur, that the court would wish to discourage 
 the ambition of such suspected patriots j for the 
 prudence of the electoral colleges who have re- 
 jected them is held up to public applause and imi- 
 tation. Another objection lies against the form 
 of voting, which is by* writing, without any viva 
 voce application or rivalry between different can- 
 didates. The state of partial insurrection creates 
 another difficulty, which, however, must soon be 
 corrected upon the success of Napoleon ; for 
 in the Marseillois six members have been re- 
 turned by thirteen electors, and in the Vend 
 departments no election has taken place. The 
 court hafs not failed to make some efforts to se-
 
 336 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 cure a portion of the representatives : thus the 
 minister M. Regnault de St. Jean D'Angely has 
 been twice returned ; and there are other in* 
 stances of what we should call ministerial no- 
 minations in the maires and procureurs imper 
 riaux of their districts. Notwithstanding, how* 
 ever, all these objections, the constitutional 
 party will have a decided majority ; and the 
 voice of such as have an attachment to the im- 
 perial person, or even government, will be lost 
 in the cries of liberty and the nation. In more 
 than one instance the old terrorists have been 
 chosen ; and it is a fact worth mentioning, that 
 
 has been elected in that very district 
 
 in which he executed the most horrible ven- 
 geance recorded of those frightful times, by 
 
 razing the town of , and exterminating 
 
 the inhabitants. This choice has been carried 
 partly by the propensity in favour of pure re- 
 publicanism, and partly by the influence of the 
 candidate, who, strange' as it may appear, has 
 for many years performed the duties and at- 
 tained the reputation of the purest and most 
 liberal benevolence. The honest portion of 
 the king's chamber of deputies, whom we may 
 call the constitutionalists, about sixty members, 
 have been re-elected; and these, with La 
 rayette at their head, are expected to temper 
 the violence of the more decided enemies of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 337 
 
 despotism. There is a rumour, that the pri- 
 soner of Olmutz will be the president of the 
 assembly, and Lucien Bonaparte (to whose ar- 
 rival in France I find much more importance 
 attached in England than in Paris) has also 
 been named ; but an article has appeared in 
 the Independent, insisting upon the impro- 
 priety of such a choice. Lucien is now an 
 imperial prince, and has obtained for his wife 
 and children the dignities which Napoleon be- 
 fore refused to that refractory brother. He 
 was denied his request even at the Emperor's 
 return, but has succeeded at last — has accepted 
 the grand cordon — is lodged in the palais royal, 
 and forgotten. I heard him the other day re- 
 cite an ode at the Institute, in defence of Ho- 
 mer, amidst the solemn silence of the members 
 and the titters of the galleries. He has been 
 elected to the chamber under the simple name 
 of Lucien Bonaparte, which may show the 
 spirit of the times ; for, according to the con- 
 stitution, he must have a seat amongst the 
 peers, and such an election must have taken 
 place in expectation that the said chamber 
 would have no existence : and indeed, in de- 
 fiance of the imperial will, many persons now 
 assert the peers will be dropt, the Moniteur 
 being entirely silent upon that head. The 
 chamber, as it stands, is chiefly composed of 
 vol. i. z
 
 S3& LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 freeholders, manufacturers, advocates, and offi- 
 cers, and will be as fair a representation of the 
 people, as, under the existing circumstances, it 
 would be possible to assemble : it will, I repeat, 
 be the mistress of France ; and will not be the 
 dupe, much less the instrument, of imperial 
 despotism. If England continues at peace 
 with France, the house of representatives, so 
 far from encouraging Napoleon in any of his 
 ambitious projects against her, will regard her 
 as the friend, as the patron, of the rising liber- 
 ties of their country. To her are directed the 
 eyes of all liberal and enlightened Frenchmen. 
 With more of sorrow than of anger they ask 
 why she should refuse the incense of so many 
 millions of disciples, willing to venerate her 
 as the model of all their institutions, as the 
 origin of all their happiness ? why she should 
 confine the light of freedom to her favoured 
 regions, and condemn those who would infuse 
 a portion of the sacred flame into the automata 
 of slavery to the punishment of theft and sa- 
 crilege ? 
 
 I beg you not to believe the stories reported 
 in England of the jealousies entertained against 
 our countrymen, and the ill usage heaped upon 
 such as still remain in this place. The vast 
 machine now put in motion solely by our go- 
 vernment to crush and swallow up the hopes of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 339 
 
 France, and to blot out her name from amongst 
 the nations, might indeed justify such jea- 
 lousies, and almost excuse such insults; but 
 with tile exception of one article, concluding 
 with the famous prediction of Montesquieu, that 
 England will perish as Rome and Carthage 
 have perished, not even the journals have 
 indulged in any tone but that of simple remon- 
 strance ; and the language of society, especially 
 that immediately connected with the court, is 
 such, although entirely political, as the saloons 
 of St. James's Square might hear without re- 
 sentment. Whilst, if your societies are like 
 your journals, falsehood, and fanaticism, and 
 rudeness, and ignorance, and rage, have ob- 
 tained a credit and currency worthy of the Au- 
 gusta Trinobantum, rather than of the British 
 capital of the 19th century. An alliance be- 
 tween France and England at this present mo- 
 ment would, in all probability, be cemented by 
 every principle of union which can give dura- 
 bility to a friendship between two nations. 
 The efforts we have already made, and the 
 preparations now on foot, as they would show 
 that no motive of fear had withheld our hand, 
 so would they create in our neighbours a senti- 
 ment of gratitude ; and the conviction, that we 
 had given up our suspicions, acknowledged, at 
 first view, to be justifiable, and yielded up the 
 
 z 2
 
 340 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 right which we might pretend to a personal 
 quarrel with Napoleon, from love of justice 
 and of freedom, and of the happiness of a 
 whole nation, would be certain to command 
 their respect and esteem. The imitation of 
 our institutions would assimilate the manners 
 and the tastes of the two nations, and their an- 
 cient rivalry be lost in the affection of the mas- 
 ter and the duty of the disciple : nor would the 
 advantage fail to be mutual ; for, whilst they 
 attempted to copy us, we might resolve to re- 
 form ourselves ; and, taught by their example, 
 be at last persuaded, that the only chance for 
 a virtuous and permanent administration of a 
 commonwealth, is to divide the controlling 
 power amongst the greatest possible portion of 
 those who are interested in its preservation and 
 well-being. 
 
 Then would the emulation between us be 
 confined to the arts of peace, and the increas- 
 ing freedom and power of the respective peoples 
 disarming the ambition, would prevent the quar- 
 rels of their governments. The principles of in- 
 dependence would not be circumscribed by the 
 limits of these nations ; they would spread from 
 the Rhine to the Danube, from the Danube to 
 the Vistula, and in their rapid and bloodless 
 progress reform the Christian world. 
 i The union of two such commonwealths would
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 34 1 
 
 be so commanding, and the reassertion of the 
 rights of human nature so irresistible and se- 
 cure, that monarchs themselves would silently 
 submit, and consent, without a struggle, to 
 surrender the happiness and freedom of their 
 subjects into their own hands. 
 
 Could you be assured that such would or 
 even ought to be the happy effect of aiding the 
 experiment now making in France, you would 
 not vote for war, for you are not one of the 
 friends to " the ancient social system," nor are 
 you one of those who think with Lord Somers, 
 that the first of the two nations which loses its 
 antipathy to the other will become a province 
 of its ancient rival. You have no animosity to 
 France. You think, as the allies pretended to 
 think, that it is necessary for the happiness of 
 Europe that she should be a great and indepen- 
 dent state. Let me ask you, then, what you pro- 
 pose by the war ? Would you wish to prevent 
 the establishment of a constitutional govern- 
 ment in France? — Certainly not. But it is 
 known to all in France that such an event will be 
 the consequence of a peace. You may say that 
 you prefer the establishment of such a govern- 
 ment under other auspices. So would I, so 
 would France herself; but would you, for the 
 sake of a name, of a form, to gratify a per- 
 sonal pique of a minister or a king, defer to a
 
 342 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 future and uncertain period the acquirement of 
 that happiness which now appears within the 
 grasp of this unfortunate people, and employ 
 the interval in the massacre and misery of 
 millions ? 
 
 You do not seriously think that the best way 
 to give rational freedom to France is to crush, 
 by entire conquest, every existing principle of 
 animation, and, having reduced the mass to in- 
 activity, mold it into such a shape, and infuse 
 into it such a new life, as may render its resur- 
 rection inoffensive to the conquerors. 
 
 Suppose Napoleon already defeated and de- 
 throned, and the combined armies at the gates 
 of Paris, do you think the allies will allow the 
 French to fill the vacant throne ? Will not 
 they pretend that the chamber of representa- 
 tives is the tool of the usurper, and that its 
 voice cannot be heard in the election of a mo- 
 narch? Will not that chamber be dispersed, 
 perhaps at the point of the bayonet ? If you 
 do consider that such would be the conse- 
 quence of the total discomfiture of the imperi- 
 alists, you cannot, you must not vote for that 
 war, of which the most fortunate consequence 
 proposed by those who consider it necessary 
 would be productive of injustice on the part of 
 ^England, and of incalculable calamities to France. 
 
 You are too fair to look with distrust upon
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 343 
 
 the preparations making in this country, which 
 have been occasioned solely by the threatened 
 hostilities of all the rest of Europe, and to which 
 the nation on no other pretence would consent; 
 although I see that some amongst you have the 
 excessive boldness to impute these efforts for 
 actual existence to the ambition of the Empe- 
 ror and the empire. It is because you think 
 the late revolution in France a mere military 
 movement that you think it should be opposed. 
 In whatever manner the throne was recovered 
 by Napoleon, there is no doubt that he is now 
 in possession of the will of the people. You say, 
 the dregs of the people— you may give what name 
 you please to the great majority of Frenchmen, 
 but you will not alter the fact ; and as for the 
 classification of natures now in fashion, I may be 
 not contradicted in saying that these dregs are, 
 it is possible, the best part of the nation. Let 
 me remind you that Burnet does not hesitate 
 to call the people who kept down the Jacobites, 
 in the times of difficulty and danger to English 
 liberty, the rabble, who, whilst there were only 
 7000 troops in the island, when Lord Torring- 
 ton's fleet had been beaten at Beachy Head, 
 and all our coasts were insulted by the French, 
 enabled, by their zeal and affection for the go- 
 vernment, ay, by mobbing the Jacobite country 
 gentlemen, Queen Mary and her ministers to
 
 344 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 stand their ground against the traitors in Eng- 
 land, whilst William was opposing the armies 
 of the tyrant in Ireland. The French armies, 
 numerous as they are, and devotedly as they 
 will fight, may be beaten or overwhelmed — 
 Paris may be occupied by the conquerors — and 
 Louis, as before, may enter with their baggage 
 waggons. The imperial family— their adhe- 
 rents and soldiers — the representatives of the 
 people — may be driven from their posts ; they 
 may finish their career on the scaffold or in the 
 squares : but, having fashioned all these events 
 to your will, what will you do with conquered 
 Prance ? You think she will fall quietly under 
 the paternal sway of Louis XVIII., and accept 
 liberty from him and his charter. Such an ac- 
 quiescence is impossible, because incompatible 
 with every passion of the human breast, both 
 those which are vicious and those which wear 
 the semblance of virtue ; and I feel assured 
 that the victory of the allies would diminish 
 the partisans of the Bourbons, although it 
 might give a loose to the fury of such of them 
 as remain attached to the cause. Even were 
 that sovereign and his family disposed to re- 
 occupy the throne with no principle of venge- 
 ance and without resorting to any reaction, and 
 fully bent upon the establishment of a consti- 
 tutional government (which I cannot allow),
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 345 
 
 would the seventy departments of France, who 
 now look upon the Bourbons as the principal 
 source of all the sufferings with which they are 
 threatened, understand or accept the benefits 
 even of freedom from such hands? If left to 
 defend themselves, the king, every member of 
 the royal family, every noble, every priest, every 
 royalist, would be butchered within a fortnight 
 after the second restoration. Foreign armies 
 might, indeed, protect the sovereign and his 
 adherents from the hate and the vengeance, 
 though, perhaps, not from the despair of his 
 people; and, in order to fulfil mock promises, 
 mock forms might be invented, and mock par- 
 liaments convoked, which would cajole the pa- 
 triot millions as long as fear should force them 
 to shut their eyes. Undeceived as to the pos- 
 sibility of keeping Louis on the throne, and 
 wearied out with the care and the expense of 
 the armies necessary to secure the crown and 
 person of the king, the allied sovereigns might 
 at last resolve upon the dismemberment of the 
 kingdom — the safest, they might say, the only 
 reasonable guarantee for the peace of that coun- 
 try or of Europe. 
 
 Either the dismemberment or the subjection 
 of France to a perpetually standing army of 
 foreigners must be the effect of the forcible 
 deposition of Napoleon, unless the Bourbons 
 
 vol. I.
 
 346 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 should fatally persuade themselves and their 
 allies that they can stand alone, which would 
 be the signal of a second revolution not less 
 sanguinary than the first. Can you wish for 
 the accomplishment of either of these conse- 
 quences ? Under the two first suppositions the 
 cause of liberty would be retarded for an age 
 (it can only be retarded ;) and the latter event 
 humanity and the experience of our own times 
 forbid us to consider desirable upon any expec- 
 tation of the advantages which it might finally 
 produce. 
 
 I should wish to ask vou, what would be the 
 probable effects of the overthrow of the French 
 people (for so it must be called) and the an- 
 nihilation of their present hopes of independ- 
 ence, in England, and whether you do not sup- 
 pose it possible that such a signal triumph of the 
 cause of kings, on the continent, might be dan- 
 gerous to our own liberties? Might not the 
 admirers of the ancient social system of Eu- 
 rope, justified by the general defeat of the con- 
 trary principles, endeavour to adapt that sys- 
 tem to the British nation, and to abolish the 
 tedious, embarrassing, discredited forms of our 
 government, in favour of the more simple, vi- 
 gorous, and now victorious institutions of pure 
 monarchy? You do not think that portion of 
 the ministry with which you are more inti-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 347 
 
 mately connected and acquainted to be capable 
 of such a project ; and perhaps you may acquit 
 Lord Castlereagh himself of so vile a design. 
 It is, however, too clear that for some years 
 the power of the crown, or the rizierat (it is the 
 same), has been increasing in a reduplicating 
 ration, and that amongst the other sacrifices to 
 which our long struggles have obliged us to con- 
 sent, that of a due jealousy and suspicion of court 
 influence has been not the least important. 
 Each succeeding ministry has made a demand, 
 not only for our men and our money, but our 
 confidence ; and unfortunately the exigencies 
 of the times have appeared to justify the repre- 
 sentative portion of the nation in acceding li- 
 berally to these grants, and in confirming them. 
 The phrase of strengthening the hands of the 
 executive has been so frequently used, that it is 
 now resorted to as an excuse for measures alreadv 
 taken, instead of for measures proposed, and 
 may soon, perhaps, become obsolete as the power 
 of the crown shall be plenary, and no strength 
 be left in any other hands. Such infinite use 
 has been made of pity and terror, in purging 
 the passions of patriotism during all discussions 
 relative to republican and imperial France, that 
 I feel convinced Lord Castlereagh or his bro- 
 ther ministers might carry any measure, how- 
 ever arbitrary, by contriving to connect it with
 
 348 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 their opposition to the Jacobins and Napoleon, 
 and the little impartial reflection and unshaken 1 
 attachment to the principles which placed the 
 house of Brunswick on the throne, now left in 
 the house of commons, might be lost in the de- 
 lirium of a final triumph over these terrific 
 monsters. The vast increase and influence of 
 our military establishment, and the creation of 
 a kind of court nobility out of that gallant 
 body, which has disjointed independent society, 
 and attracted a part of it round the person of 
 the sovereign, distinguished by the badges of 
 favoritism, may be looked upon as national in- 
 novations which have arisen perhaps from the 
 misfortunes of the times, more than from any 
 settled purpose, but which it becomes every ho- 
 nest man to discourage, by striking at the root 
 of the evil, in a constant demand for peace, in 
 preference to any war of experiment. Such is 
 the view that those Englishmen, who are on 
 this spot, must take of the threatened contest, 
 that if the armies of Wellington and Napoleon 
 meet in the field, I should tremble at an En- 
 glish victory. I could receive no congratulation 
 on a triumph in a bad cause, and one which 
 might eventually endanger the individual inde- 
 pendence of my countrymen. Do we want any 
 accession to the glory of our arms ? are there any 
 disgraces to repair ? any uncertainties to decide I
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 349 
 
 Amongst the topics employed by our bolder 
 orators, I have not heard that this has found a 
 place. Let me, then, again implore you to 
 vote for peace; or, at least, not to vote for the 
 war. 
 
 Let me, in concluding, intreat you also, 
 whilst you examine the preceding dissuasives, 
 to forget the quarter whence they have been 
 directed to your notice ; lest you should dis- 
 cover an inversion of the order of nature, in 
 your taking that which it is your privilege to 
 give, and in my presuming to offer when I 
 should be anxious only to receive advice. 
 
 Believe me your most dutiful 
 
 and affectionate —
 
 3.50 LETTERS FROM PARKS. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Paris, May 29. 
 
 Mr. P is just arrived from London 
 
 With the newspapers of the 26th. There are 
 ninety-two honest men in the house of com- 
 mons, who will redeem the English character; 
 and, whatever may be the event of the war, 
 now, as it appears, inevitable, leave some re- 
 treat upon which the friends of freedom will 
 fall back, and find consolation and repose. 
 
 The minority in the peers is respectable for 
 that house ; but its respectability has not sur- 
 prised mc, for had not God, for some strong 
 purpose, steeled the hearts of that assembly, 
 the speech of Lord Grey had met with the full 
 success which the eloquence, and the cause, 
 and [the character, of that noble-minded person 
 gave him a right to expect. The commanding 
 voice, the graceful action, the upright air, of the 
 powerful orator, to us are lost j but his truths 
 divine have happily reached us, and the French 
 confess, that liberty has in England still an 
 advocate, whom neither fear nor corruption
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 351 
 
 have been able to silence or to control. A 
 gentleman, just returned to Paris, heard this 
 splendid display of honest oratory, and owns 
 himself to have been so affected, that he gives 
 up the cause for lost, being persuaded, that if 
 that effort failed to carry conviction to every 
 breast, no power of words can hope a more 
 happy effect. I fear he is right — " if they hear 
 not Moses and the prophets." Lord Grenville, 
 when scholars and statesmen do not abound, is 
 indeed a loss, and a loss that might have been 
 foreseen. The author of the letter to the Direc- 
 tory could hardly be reconciled to his republi- 
 can correspondents ; but the schism, if it lasts, 
 may not be unproductive of good ; it may re- 
 move all obstacles between the people and their 
 former chiefs, and, correcting the coyness and 
 suspicion of either party, restore to the long 
 disjointed opposition its original union and le- 
 gitimate force. I see that Lord and 
 
 Mr. are gone — vile damnum. But Mr. 
 
 Grattan ! ! ! If the English whigs had no other 
 charge to make against the returned Emperor 
 than that he has brought one of their first cha- 
 racters to an unfortunate end, and has closed a 
 life of enlightened and protracted patriotism by 
 a lamentable scene of unaccountable perverse- 
 ness, surely they would have so much cause to 
 complain of Napoleon, that they ought never to 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 352 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 be suspected of attachment to his person or his 
 cause. 
 
 There must be some mistake in the report of 
 his speech — " method in his madness, and madtiess 
 " in his method! ! T But however he might have 
 been carried away by the feelings of the moment, 
 the enthusiasm of nonsense could not have been 
 communicated to the orator himself; and the 
 applause of the treasury bench must soon have 
 made him, like Phocion, suspect he had said 
 some silly thing. Whence he got his eloquence 
 we need not ask — there is something not to be 
 mistaken in the taste of either of the thousand 
 rills that flow from the harmonious springs of 
 the Irish Helicon — but his facts, where could 
 he have procured them ? who has amused him- 
 self at the pitiful sport of playing upon a patriot 
 venerable by his talents and his age ? If I mis- 
 take not, he and his family have been lately in 
 this country ; but if he had swallowed, at second 
 hand, the crude accounts of a Bourbonist sub- 
 prefect of the south of France, he could not have 
 " full fairly given to the house" a mass so indi- 
 gested and indigestible. 
 
 Of all the extraordinaty things in this extra- 
 ordinary specimen, the most romantic is the 
 sketch of the progress of Napoleon from Cannes 
 to Paris, of which (could I change countries 
 with this distinguished man) I should say, that
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 353 
 
 if it had been such a progress, it would have 
 been no progress at all. The apostrophe, see 
 him at Grenoble/ appeared to me particularly 
 grand and daring; for had any English member 
 of parliament seen him there, and had he, as a 
 piece of pleasantry, resolved upon an ceconomic 
 account of Napoleon's reception at that place, 
 no distortion nor fiction of facts could have form- 
 ed a more complete contrast between realities 
 and representations, than the rhetorical memoir 
 of that event. In this instance facts are dealt 
 with, as some dialecticians choose to treat argu- 
 ments, according to the old phrase of taking the 
 bull by the horns, for the strongest and most 
 prominent feature of Napoleon's entry into his 
 former dominions is laid hold of, and being 
 first rendered inoffensive, little is to be feared 
 from other less dangerous opponents. The 
 battery is not only carried by storm, but all the 
 guns are now made to point the other way. 
 You have already seen what really did happen 
 at Grenoble; and I shall only add, that the 
 triumphant welcome which the Emperor there 
 received from the inhabitants of the town and 
 neighbourhood, has made a subject for one of 
 the four common prints representing the most 
 singular and* notorious events attending his re- 
 turn to the throne.
 
 554 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 I feel inclined to transmit one of these prints 
 as a comment upon, and reply to, this harangue. 
 I presume that you yourself want no other no- 
 tice than what has been already taken of it; 
 and that it is unnecessary to add, that, from the 
 beginning to the end of it, there is not one 
 single representation, which, to those who are 
 acquainted with the truth, can excite much less 
 astonishment than the adventure at Grenoble, 
 such as it appeared when adapted for the use of 
 the serene audience of St. Stephen's. 
 
 I see Mr. Gfattan quotes Mr. Burke, fixing 
 upon that portion of his writings, which, to 
 my mind, is the most unhappy justification he 
 could have found for the encomium he bestows 
 upon the political foresight of that great man. 
 If there be in works of authority any eccentri- 
 cities, any paradoxes, any doctrines of a doubt- 
 ful character and tendency, any of that Beliac 
 eloquence which makes the worse appear the 
 better reason, and which passion, or perverse- 
 ness, or playfulness, may have produced, such 
 portion of the author is sure to be found more 
 frequently in modern quotations than the honest 
 acknowledged truths with which the better part 
 of his writings may abound. Folly and vice 
 want an excuse much oftener than wisdom and 
 virtue stand in need of precedent. So it has 
 happened with Mr. Burke: the ravings of the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 355 
 
 alarmist are become almost common-places in the 
 mouths of our present statesmen, to whom the 
 nobler lessons of the oppositionist are scarcely 
 known. Certainly there are to be found in 
 his oratorical armoury weapons to equip a 
 Quixote, as well as a patriot : but it might be 
 expected that Mr. Grattan should rather have 
 selected one of the solid swords of freedom, 
 than the brittle lances of knight errantry. 
 
 Weaving it in his own myrtles, he might have 
 flourished the sacred steel with peculiar grace. 
 Instead of citing authorities to justify national 
 ambition, and a thirst of glory and of blood, 
 he might, from the brighter pages of the same 
 author, have illustrated apprehensions more be- 
 coming his character, of the probable conse- 
 quences of engaging in an unhallowed struggle 
 against the independence of peoples— and when 
 pleading the cause of other nations, might have 
 warned us of the danger of our own, in the 
 noble remonstrance directedagainst the delusive 
 love of glory, a favourite passion of tke En- 
 glishmen of the present age. " What, graci- 
 *' ous sovereign! is the empire of America to 
 " us, or the empire of the world, if we lose our 
 " own liberties ? We deprecate this last of 
 " evils. We deprecate* the effect of the doc- 
 ■" trin&s, which must support and countenance 
 
 A A <2
 
 356 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 " the government over conquered English* 
 « c men. 
 
 " As it will be impossible long to resist the 
 " powerful and equitable arguments in favour 
 " of the freedom of these unhappy people, 
 " that are to be drawn from the principle of 
 " our own liberty ; attempts will be made, 
 " attempts have been made, to ridicule and 
 " argue away this principle ; and to inculcate 
 " into the minds of your people other maxims 
 c f of government and other grounds of obedi- 
 Ci ence, than those which have prevailed at, 
 <e and since, the glorious revolution. By de- 
 " grees, these doctrines, by being convenient, 
 " may grow prevalent. The consequence is 
 
 not certain ; but a general change of princi- 
 ' pie rarely happens among a people, without 
 
 leading to a change of government." 
 
 This language of truth and patriotism, which 
 I glow to read and tremble to write, was ad- 
 dressed to the king to dissuade him from '« abt 
 
 " ATTEMPT TO DISPOSE OF THE PROPERTY OF A 
 " WHOLE PEOPLE WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT. A 
 
 " grievance as simple in its nature, and as level 
 Ci to the most ordinary understanding, as it is 
 ec powerful in affecting the most languid pas- 
 
 te 
 
 K 
 
 " sions." 
 
 This powerful strain called forth to control
 
 LETTERS FItOM PARIS. 357 
 
 a former spirit of aggression, would have lost 
 none of its force if applied by such an orator as 
 Mr. Grattan, to the representatives of the peo- 
 ple, as the counterpoise to the names of Wel- 
 lington and victory, which threw such a pre- 
 ponderance against the scale of common sense: 
 and I would tell that gentleman, that it is not 
 the foreboding of a discontented mind that 
 induces me to fear that these words will ring 
 in our ears till we can distinguish no other 
 sound, and shall be no less deaf to the voice 
 which warns us against the attacks of internal 
 tyranny, than we are now to that which dis- 
 suades us from purchasing military glory at the 
 hazard of destroying the liberty of a great and 
 injured nation, and of establishing other rights 
 than the will of the people, as the lawful basis 
 of sovereign power. I should have no hope 
 from an adroit and able sovereign, who might 
 know how to employ the propensities of his 
 subjects, and to work upon that commencing 
 " change of principle which may lead to a 
 change of government," and who would sacri- 
 fice all minor motives to one settled object of 
 domestic usurpation. But as it is, little jealousies 
 and frivolous favouritisms may protect us, and 
 keep the Duke field-marshal without the pale and 
 the projects of the court. His brother, by his 
 vote for peace, has merited the eternal grati-
 
 358 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 tude of his countrymen, and has, considering 
 common prejudices, stood forward as boldly, 
 and performed as notable an action in opposi- 
 tion to a national injustice, as the victorious 
 opposer of French tyranny beyond the Pyrenees. 
 The Marquis of Wellesley himself, with all his 
 extensive views of general policy, cannot, with- 
 out a personal acquaintance with the state of 
 things in France, be aware how very justly and 
 wisely he has decided in refusing to lend his 
 name to the fruitless project of making a war 
 upon principles, which, like Virgil's oak, have 
 shot roots as deep below, as they have spread 
 branches high above, the surface ; and which, 
 though some may think they tend, like those 
 roots, to Tartarus itself, will never be plucked 
 up by force, but though they may be levelled 
 with the soil, will in their due time reappear, 
 and overshadow the earth. 
 
 I find there are many of our public men who 
 avow, in spite of our exception to the 8th 
 article of the treaty of the 25th of March, 
 that they would make war upon the jacobins as 
 they call them, rather than the Emperor of 
 France. I have before told vou, that I believe 
 this to be true, and that the real dread of our 
 court and ministry is the establishment, not of 
 Napoleon, but of a monarchical republic, in 
 which the real national representatives should
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 359 
 
 be the controlling power, and every institu- 
 tion be declaratory of, and contributive to, the 
 sovereignty of the people. The whole of the 
 foreign policy of our cabinet seems to have had 
 for its great object the perpetual insignificance 
 of popular interests and wishes, when set in 
 opposition to the wishes, of the principal powers 
 of Europe, or at least to that concurrence of their 
 wishes, by which the King of Sardinia took 
 possession of Genoa. 
 
 It must be confessed we have been exceed- 
 ingly complaisant to the Powers, as well as to 
 the personages who come next in the scale of 
 Satanic greatness — those Virtues the King of 
 Wirtemberg and the King of Hanover, and 
 have wished away the liberties of nations, as 
 heartily as the best of them ; it cannot there- 
 fore be a subject of surprise, that we should be 
 enraged at the audacious attempt made to break 
 the enchantment, and prevent us from putting 
 on our Fortunatus caps, when we next want 
 
 " To buy estates, or fetch and carry kings." 
 
 If Louis XVIII. is to cease to reign, merely 
 because he is not beloved by his people, all our 
 state deeds will be worth nothing as conveyances, 
 and the names of Clancarty, Stewart, and Cath- 
 cart, be just as valuable as the red wax and 
 green ferret at the bottom of the bond. A 
 great effort must therefore be made to establish
 
 360 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the validity of the present transfers, and the 
 right and title of the powers to sirnilar bargains 
 for the soil of Christendom, and the featheiless 
 two-legged animals on its surface. It was entire- 
 ly inconsistent with this reestablish ment of an- 
 cient principles, that a single revolutionary king 
 should retain his throne ; notwithstanding the 
 fact of his being imposed upon his people, and 
 being besides the brother of a tyrant, might 
 perhaps have been expected to have weighed 
 with the congress to be somewhat more favour- 
 able to Murat than circumstances have proved 
 them to have been. Of all the countries which 
 had to deplore the consummation of the wishes 
 of the world by the fall of Napoleon, Italy was 
 the first which recovered from the temporary 
 delusion of self-congratulation, into which she 
 had by that event been at first surprised. She had 
 felt but little the weight of the iron crown, and 
 recognised in her subjection to France rather 
 a union of interests and a claim to protection 
 than any of the conditions of servitude. She 
 was in possession of a court, an army, a civil 
 administration of her own, and might be said 
 to enjoy the paternal sway of a national so- 
 vereign, in the authority of the Viceroy Eu- 
 gene. Her kingdom began to acquire that 
 vigour, that respectability, that public spirit, 
 and many of those characteristics of absolute 
 independence, which, it is p-^bable, would
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 36 1 
 
 have at last procured that finishing excellence 
 itself. 
 
 The dethronement of Napoleon was thought 
 to be the signal of emancipation, and the cry of 
 liberty was raised for a moment j but she soon 
 found " the luckless dower of her charms" in the 
 hands, not of liberators, but of spoilers, who 
 treated her with the vengeance and implacability 
 of a restored and foreign master. Her arms and 
 her arts were to be crushed beneath the yoke of 
 the despotic patrcns of ignorance and supersti- 
 tion, and all her long-cherished hopes of union 
 and independence blasted for ever. Seeing 
 that she was thrown into the common stock of 
 the congress, and that her redemption seemed 
 hopeless, she regretted the golden chains of 
 the Emperor and King, and cast many a look 
 of dejection and despair toward the rocks of 
 Elba 5 and, at a signal from the conqueror of 
 Austria, would have fled to arms. Napoleon 
 must be supposed aware of this disposition in 
 his favour ; but it does not appear that he com- 
 bined a revolt in Italy with his attempt upon 
 France. The advance of Murat and his army, 
 although the treatment he had received from 
 the congress might justify any conduct in him, 
 so far from being preconcerted with Napoleon, 
 was in direct opposition to the wishes of the 
 court of Paris 3 and I have never ceased to. hear 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 362 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 it deprecated in this place, even when it was 
 supposed the King of Naples had defeated his 
 enemies. Not only was that movement ridi- 
 culed as precipitate and ill contrived, but as- 
 serted possitively to be the consequence of a 
 fatal jealousy, which induced the king to antici- 
 pate that liberation of Italy, which would other- 
 wise be reserved for his imperial brother-in-law. 
 When the unfortunate step was taken, courier 
 after courier was dispatched from Paris, to ad- 
 vise a retreat, and an immediate adoption of 
 measures wholly defensive, as a proper counter- 
 part of the negotiations which were offered by 
 Napoleon to the allies, and of which eighty 
 thousand troops, under the command of his re- 
 lation, would have afforded a powerful persua- 
 sive. The advices either did not reach the Nea- 
 politan army, or reached it too late, or were not 
 attended to; and the Italians, who saw no sign of 
 concert between the king and him in whom all 
 their hopes must finally centre, in spite of the 
 proclamations addressed to them, and in spite of 
 their own propensities, remained,except in Bolog- 
 na, tranquil spectators of the contest between the 
 Neapolitans and the Austrians. The signal and 
 incomprehensible defeat of the former was no en- 
 couragement to insurrection j and I believe 
 that few swords were drawn for Murat by 
 the friends of Italian independence. He has
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 363 
 
 fallen, as you have learnt; and,'as far as he is him- 
 self concerned, has fallen unregretted in France, 
 where he is so far from being considered as 
 an ally of the Emperor, that the friends of the 
 court accuse him as the earliest deserter, and a 
 continued traitor to his brothers cause. Some 
 reports say he is now at St. Cloud, others at 
 the gulf of Juan ; but the imperial generals aver 
 that he has been tried enough : and I heard one 
 of them, the other day, express a hope that he 
 might not be put again to command the French 
 cavalry. He is, indeed, not to be pitied ; on 
 the contrary, we must look on him with an 
 evil eye, as having furnished arguments and 
 exultation to the enemies of freedom. The 
 integrity of his power at this moment, together 
 with the known inclinations of the Italians, 
 would have thrown a considerable weight into 
 the scale of the peoples against that of the 
 kings of Europe ; but the fall of the last reign- 
 ing sovereign of the new dynasty is so decided 
 a triumph of the policy of the Bourbons and 
 the wishes of the principal powers of Europe, 
 that the French begin their battle in the very 
 face of victory. Great use will be made by 
 the patrons of the ancient social system in Eng- 
 land of this event: the instability of new kings, 
 and the superiority of legitimate dynasties, will 
 not fail to be frequently in their mouths : but
 
 364 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 what I most regret is, that the representations 
 which the emissaries of Murat have spread 
 both here and in our own country, relative to 
 the state of thinking amongst the Italians, their 
 love of freedom, and their impatience of their 
 present subjection, will now be denied as false, 
 and as contrived merely to serve the purposes of 
 an ambitious upstart ; an imputation which will 
 also throw discredit upon, and be made applica- 
 ble to, similar assertions respecting the wishes 
 and feelings of France. But the fact, though dis- 
 couraging, does not decide the question; the sal- 
 vation was not expected from the side of Naples, 
 and even the intelligent agents of our cabinet 
 cannot conceal from themselves that the danger- 
 ous attachment to French innovations is perhaps 
 stronger at this moment in Italy than when the 
 power of Napoleon was at its height. It is incon- 
 ceivable to me, that those who allow that there 
 is a general persuasion of the prevalence of 
 these principles amongst the people of Europe, 
 and are themselves sensible of such prevalence, 
 should think that all the cabinets of all the 
 kings in Christendom can withstand or change 
 the tendency of public opinion, or that the ge- 
 neral bent of the age can be permanently af- 
 fected, or receive an opposite turn, by the fall of 
 one man or the triumph of another. Lord Cas- 
 tlereagh may be inclined to own and boast that
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 365 
 
 his course is contrary to the moral motion of 
 
 the earth, as that of Apollo was supposed to be 
 
 to the rotation of the empyreura — 
 
 " Nitor in adversum, nee me, qui camera, vincit 
 " Impetus, et rapido contrarius evehor orbi." 
 
 But his lordship may recollect, that the father of 
 Phaeton employed this as an argument to dis- 
 suade his child from an effort fatal to all but the 
 sun, and which the progress of reason has since 
 discovered to have been nothing but an idle 
 vaunt in the mouth even of Apollo himself. The 
 opinion of the age is irresistible. It is true, as 
 Mr. Benjamin Constant observes, that this opi- 
 nion has a sort of representative, without whom 
 it cannot acquire its full force, and upon whose 
 character and fortune the manifestation and 
 peculiar development of its influence must, 
 therefore, in some measure, depend. But so 
 little does the man of the age himself control 
 or direct this opinion, that his whole success 
 depends upon his constant inclination to that 
 bias which he originally received from the im- 
 pulse common to all his cotemporaries. Any 
 direct and continued deviation from the track 
 stops his own career; but does not alter the 
 nature and tendency of the ground itself. And, 
 notwithstanding the saying of Caesar, he and 
 all other heroes have found rather than made 
 their way to greatness. As long as Napoleon
 
 366 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 rode buoyant upon the current, his triumph 
 was never even in the balance ; but when he at- 
 tempted to carry the stream higher than the level 
 of the original fountain, he was indebted to his 
 own genius and exertions for a temporary exalta- 
 tion j but the first obstacle, the first remission of 
 his toil, put an end to his career ; the waters 
 rushed rapidly backwards to their natural bed, 
 and left him on the rocks. It was not the cause 
 but the man that fell, for deserting that cause, 
 which has proved itself to have survived his ruin, 
 by enabling him to return ; and which, whether 
 the misfortune or misconduct of him or any 
 other individual should retard its triumph, will 
 at last prevail. The allied sovereigns may think 
 this spirit of the age more easily overthrown, 
 because it is represented by one instead of 
 many, and doubtless a republic would have 
 better stood the trial than a monarchy, which 
 does not so much concentrate the power as 
 concentrate the point of attack, and reduces 
 the game in appearance to a single stake. In 
 1793 there were thirteen French armies in the 
 field, commanded by as many generals, by the ri- 
 vality of each of whom the republic mighttriumph, 
 though it could not be ruined by his defeat. 
 When the fate of France depended upon an 
 Emperor and a grand army, an individual acci- 
 dent was decisive. The same objection is good
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 367 
 
 against the imperial commonwealth of this day, 
 and is, in fact, acknowledged by the constitu- 
 tionalists, who tremble that the fortunes of their 
 country should be entrusted to a single hand. 
 But these fortunes, they proclaim, may be re- 
 trieved from any calamity ; and they commence 
 the contest not so much with an expectation of 
 present victory as with a resolution not to be 
 discouraged by misfortune. It has been pro- 
 posed by more than one writer at this time to 
 defer the business of constituting the common- 
 wealth until a period of tranquillity, and, in the 
 mean time, to entrust the dictatorship to Na- 
 poleon, with a generous confidence, which may 
 permit of the absolute, unshackled exertion of 
 all his genius and of the means of France. For 
 this purpose the authors of several pamphlets 
 have advised the immediate prorogation of the 
 chamber of representatives, when it meets, and 
 a temporary restoration of the imperial power 
 in all its plenitude. This measure is objected 
 to by a portion of the constitutionalists, who are 
 suspicious of Napoleon, and would not trust him 
 with victory, but, notwithstanding these jea- 
 lousies, it would, I doubt not, be adopted by his 
 patriot ministers, were they not convinced that 
 by the conduct which they at present pursue 
 the greatest possible exertions are made, and 
 the largest force raised from the people, who
 
 368 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 are taught, by every act of government, that the 
 cause for which they tight is their own. In fact, 
 it is allowed that no efforts of the most absolute 
 despotism could do more than is now done for the 
 defence of the empire ; and that being the case, 
 any postponement of the benefits which the re- 
 turn of Napoleon is to confer upon the nation 
 would be of no use, even if it did not lend a 
 handle to the suspicions of his subjects and the 
 accusations of his enemies. At the same time, 
 also, that the assembling of the legislative 
 power gives to the people a confidence in the 
 government, it likewise commits a vast portion 
 of the population and a certain quantity of the 
 talents and rank of the country to the support 
 of the new order of things, and in some mea- 
 sure provides against the objections before made 
 to the hazards of an individual command, se- 
 curing a retreat for the people, and a refuge, in 
 any extremities, for the cause itself. 
 
 You may conceive that it is with no little 
 anxiety that the eyes of all are turned towards 
 the meeting of the chamber, which is not yet 
 fixed for any named day. The lords are not 
 yet hinted at, and it is rumoured that either 
 there will be no chamber of peers, or that they 
 will not be hereditary : the whole will depend 
 upon the representatives, and I see that a wri- 
 ter of an address to the deputies declares it as
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 369 
 
 his opinion " that their first decree should be 
 " to expel for ever from the French empire all 
 " the nobles who have done nothing; for their 
 "country:'' others directly oppose the em- 
 bodying of the aristocracy. But there are not 
 wanting those who endeavour to recommend 
 the constitution, such as it has been proposed 
 by Napoleon. I have told you that the author 
 of the history of the Italian republics has pub- 
 lished five articles in the Moniteur, and Mr. de 
 Constant is preparing a short treatise, which is 
 to serve, I presume, as a kind of manual for the 
 members of the new parliament. As to the 
 Champ de Mai, which was fixed for the 26th 
 of this month, it seems it is deferred. Your 
 
 friend L said to me yesterday — " Good 
 
 " God! if such a thing was put off in England 
 " in such a manner." The electoral colleges 
 have some of them arrived at Paris, and have 
 been presented to the Emperor, which seems 
 useless and suspicious. The building for the 
 ceremony in the Champ de Mars is also in a 
 state of forwardness, but there are many who 
 still say that the building will be the only por- 
 tion of this project carried into effect — in other 
 words, there will be no such assembly. A total 
 secrecy is observed relative to the measures of 
 government, but, as the war is inevitable, there 
 are daily reports of the immediate departure of 
 
 VOL. I. B B
 
 370 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Napoleon for one of the armies, but for which of 
 them it is not yet said. The Duke of Welling- 
 ton is generally his allotted antagonist, but a 
 little coxcombry was shewn in a paper of a day 
 or two ago, which named a lieutenant-general as 
 a competent opponent for his grace. An officer 
 of rank observed to me on this occasion — " 77 
 "fera tres Men y aller lui-mime. 3 * 
 
 Visiting an aide-de-camp of the Emperor, I 
 found him employed mapping in detail the 
 country on the Belgian frontier, and was asked 
 by him whether a separation of the Prussian 
 and English armies, and a rapid march upon 
 Brussels, would not surprise our politicians in 
 England. " We can beat Blucher first, and 
 " then," added he, smiling, <c we shall try your 
 " Wellington. No one doubts the undaunted 
 " bravery of English soldiers, but the loss of 
 " 20,000 men would make the people of Lon- 
 " don look a little pale. You are rather sparing of 
 your own blood, though I cannot say that you 
 care about that of your friends." The general 
 was right, I thought, in the former part of his 
 remark, and as to the latter, I presume he had 
 been lately reading the comparative valuation 
 of flesh and blood made by Lord Castlereagh 
 in the house of commons, on the £4th, when 
 he set down an Englishman at from'sixty to 
 seventy pounds sterling, but assured his friends 

 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS, 371 
 
 and the public that he had bargained for the 
 continental creature of the same species and re- 
 quisite pugnacious properties, at eleven pounds 
 two shillings a head, and would sell them to his 
 countrymen at prime cost. 
 
 A mighty merchant — and his trade was man. 
 
 bH
 
 372 LETTERS FROM FARIS. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Paris, May 30. 
 
 In my last letter I mentioned the name of 
 Murat, and told you that not only his attempt 
 upon Italy was unconnected with the project of 
 Napoleon, but was regarded here with an evil 
 eye : nevertheless, it is not to be supposed but 
 that the court has felt an interest in the success 
 of his projects, which might have disarmed at 
 least one of the enemies of France. The reply 
 made in the Moniteur to the attack on the ho- 
 nour and good faith of the late King of Naples 
 by Lord Castlereagh will have informed you of 
 this j but I doubt whether the defence of Mu- 
 rat would have been undertaken, had it not 
 been for the sake of exposing the honesty of 
 the Bourbon government, and the gullibility of 
 our secretary of state, whom I believe to be the 
 first minister that ever adduced a forged letter, 
 and, let me add, a private family letter, as an 
 argument in favour of a war against a friendly 
 power. 
 
 After the complete exposure of these impu- 
 dent fabrications in the Moniteur, it is asto- 
 nishing to me that so little has been made of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 373 
 
 the matter in England. You may be sure I 
 availed myself of the invitation given to any 
 English gentleman present at Paris to exa- 
 mine the minutes and other documents upon 
 which the forgery was formed. On the 23d 
 
 of this month Mr. L and myself went to 
 
 the archives, and were there shown the paper 
 in question by the Duke of Bassano and Mr. 
 Joan. This latter gentleman was cabinet se- 
 cretary to the Emperor in his former reign, and 
 holds the same situation at present. It was he 
 who took down, from Napoleon's own mouth, 
 the minutes made use of to fabricate the 
 pretended letters ; and it was by mere acci- 
 dent, that, reading Lord Castlereagh's speech 
 and the contained correspondence, he recol- 
 lected, by the remarkable phrase pisser dessus, 
 that he had written down such words at the 
 order of Napoleon, but not at the imputed 
 time. He thus led to a research in that strong 
 box which was left so unaccountably by M. de 
 Blacas at the hotel of the king's household, and 
 which contained, besides many materials for mi- 
 nisterial forgery, details of all the machinations of 
 the French princes since the court of Coblentz, 
 with the names of their agents in France. The 
 Emperor, on the discovery of these papers, or- 
 dered all such as compromised individuals to be 
 immediately burnt, excepting only those which
 
 374 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 were immediately connected with affairs of state. 
 It is now known and indeed confessed in Eng- 
 land, that one of the principal objects of the 
 late Bourbon ministry was to dispossess Murat 
 of Naples. Lord Castlereagh, by his speech, 
 shows that there was an original inclination in 
 himself to serve his cause at congress against 
 that ministry; and I was not surprised when 
 you told me, in one of your letters, that an 
 agent of Murat 's in London had made to our 
 government the offer of 80,000, men, to be dis- 
 posed of as we should point out, and not to be 
 paid until the troops had quitted the Neapo- 
 litan territory ; and that Lord Liverpool had 
 manifested no little hesitation, and even alarm, 
 praying more than once this agent not to send 
 off his letter to the Neapolitan court before he 
 had given to the English cabinet sufficient time 
 for reflection. They were aware in Paris of 
 this transaction, which has not added to the 
 popularity of Murat. The documents first 
 shown to us were the original minutes of the 
 Emperor's real letters in Mr. Joan's hand- 
 writing : they were written on the right half of 
 sheets folded in the manner of official papers. 
 The passages left out in the citations of Lord 
 Castlereagh had been marked with red chalk 
 for the Emperor's inspection. We saw the 
 letter dated Fontainbleau, January 24, 1813,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 375 
 
 addressed to the Queen of Naples, of which 
 these words, occurring after the first sentence — 
 " Your husband is very brave on the field of 
 '? battle; but he is weaker than a woman or a 
 " monk when he does not see the enemy : he 
 " has no moral courage" — were made use of in 
 framing M. de Blacas' letter*, dated Nangis, the 
 17th of February ; and written, said Lord Cas- 
 tlereagh, at an epoque when Napoleon did not 
 despair of success, and when he treated Murat 
 en maitre. The actual letter began, " The 
 " king quitted the army the l6th," which 
 words were left out by M. de Blacas, as they 
 would have shown the letter could not have 
 applied to the assumed date and time at Nangis. 
 We next read Napoleon's letter, dated Fon- 
 tainbleau, January 26, 1813, which begins thus, 
 '* Je ne parle pas du mecontentement de la con- 
 " duite que vous avez tenue depnis mon depart de 
 " Varmee" and which is conceived in the 
 strongest terms against Murat, does treat him 
 like a valet, tells him to look to his crown, to 
 take this warning, which shall be the last, and not 
 to think that the lion is dead, and that on peut 
 pisser dessus. It was necessary that M. de 
 Blacas should make this letter pass for one 
 written after the battles of the 11th and 12th 
 
 * The letters being handed to Lord Castlereagh by M. dc 
 Blacas, I call them his — whether forged by him or Talley- 
 rand is immaterial.
 
 3?6 LETTERS FROM TARIS. 
 
 of March, 1814, in Champagne. Hence the 
 terrible mutilations and additions found in his 
 falsification read by Lord Castlereagh, and end- 
 ing gardez voire parole, as if Murat had at that 
 time given his word to Napoleon, that his al- 
 liance with his enemies was but forced and 
 temporary, and that he would soon show his 
 real intentions and good-will to his brother-in- 
 law. The actual letter contains no such expres- 
 sions ; but is full, as I said above, of the coarsest 
 abuse, which, if one could suspect the present 
 French ministry of any forgery, one could not 
 think they would have so little regard for the 
 character of their master as to assign for his 
 composition. The third letter, dictated by Na- 
 poleon, and taken down by Mr. Joan, was dated 
 Compiegne, August 30, 1811 ; and was likewise 
 conceived in language of considerable asperity, 
 some of which is copied verbatim in the for- 
 gery. The Duke of Bassano told us, that, 
 some time before the commencement of the 
 Russian war, Napoleon had discerned in Murat 
 a disinclination to furnish his contingent of 
 12,000 men ; and that he, the duke, had re- 
 ceived repeated orders to write to the king on 
 that subject in the strongest language. Murat 
 returned no answer to the dukes letter, but 
 corresponded directly with Napoleon, which at 
 last incensed the Emperor, and induced him to 
 use an expression in his letter left out by Bla-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 377 
 
 cas j and telling him to correspond, for the 
 future, only with his minister, and write no 
 more to him. You must have observed by 
 what adroitness the addition of the words at 
 Ancona, in the third letter, dated March 7, com- 
 municated, though not read to parliament by 
 Lord Castlereagh, so completely alters the sense 
 of the real sentence, which was not used in 1814 
 as pretended, but in 1811 — "I shall see by 
 H your conduct [at Ancona] if your heart is truly 
 " French." M. de Blacas did not put any date or 
 year to this third falsification ; but by the muti- 
 lations and additions, wished to make it tally 
 with March 7, 1814, to which time Lord Castle- 
 reagh applies it as a proof, that Murat was to 
 show at Ancona that his heart was truly French, 
 in spite of all Napoleon's suspicions and his own 
 declarations to the allies. The falsification of 
 these letters is the clumsiest forgery ever ha- 
 zarded. We asked the Duke of Bassano how 
 M. de Blacas could have been induced to insert 
 scraps of actual correspondence, the existence 
 and examination of which might disprove the 
 imposition, instead of forging the whole: — he 
 said, that the latter would have been the better 
 measure of the two ; that the Emperor would 
 have been much embarrassed by such a pro- 
 cedure, as he would only have to deny the
 
 3/8 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 letters to have been written, and oppose his word 
 to that of Blacas ; that he could only account for 
 the present scheme by supposing the count was 
 blinded by security and impudence, and a wish 
 to be sure of imitating Napoleon's private style, 
 by actually taking some of his phrases. Mr. 
 Joan added, that he thought the latter was the 
 real motive; as, indeed, anyone at all accus- 
 tomed to that style would never mistake any 
 other for it. We remarked, that the boldness 
 was the greater, as the original letters taken 
 from the actual minutes must be in the hands 
 of Murat, who might expose the forgery : to 
 which the duke replied, that when M. de Bla- 
 cas communicated his forgeries to Lord Castle- 
 reagh, he did not expect they would be pub- 
 lished ; or, if he did, he considered the King of 
 Naples would be beaten and lost before the dis- 
 covery. At the same time that the falsified 
 minutes were shown to us, we were presented 
 with -the minutes of fabricated correspondence, 
 cited by Lord Castlereagh, written in the hand 
 of the Abbe" Fleuriel, cabinet secretary for 1 9 
 years to Louis XVIIL, with which we com- 
 pared the original minutes. We had only the 
 word of the duke for the Abbess hand-writing ; 
 but Lord Castlereagh's citations were sufficient 
 for our purpose, even without the Abbe's copy.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 379 
 
 The internal evidence renders the deductions 
 of the Moniteur of the 14th of May inevitable. 
 In the month of January, 181.5, Mr. de Blacas 
 wished to convince Lord Wellington, that 
 Murat was a traitor to the allies ; for this pur- 
 pose he sends him certain papers, which the 
 duke reads, and returns, on the 4th of January, 
 an answer like that of Pilate — he found nothing 
 against Murat. The duke's note we saw in a 
 hand-writing, which my companion said " he 
 would attest to be that of his grace," and 
 which I knew was written on the paper used 
 by the English foreign office. The note is in- 
 serted in the Moniteur of the 14th, textually, 
 even with the trifling neologism in the opening 
 sentence. Mr. de Blacas, seeing the object had 
 failed, was to find some other means of incul- 
 pating Murat. On the 4th of March follow- 
 ing, he writes then to Lord Castlereagh a note, 
 of which we saw the minute prefixed to the 
 falsification in the Abb'e's hand-writing, saying, 
 " Besides the papers I have already shewn you, 
 " I have also since found in another bundle three 
 " minutes of letters written by Napoleon, one of 
 " which has no date. I have the honour of 
 " transmitting copies of them to you, and they 
 " are not the least interesting of the pieces which 
 " have been discovered in the immense quantity
 
 380 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 " of papers, amongst which we have been oblig- 
 " ed to make our researches." 
 
 This passage occurs at the end of a letter 
 written by Blacas, on another subject, to Lord 
 Castlereagh, and is extracted in the Moniteur 
 with the exception of the words at the begin- 
 ning, which I have underlined. I remarked to 
 the duke this omission, and asked " to what 
 " papers Mr. de Blacas alluded ;" he said, "he 
 " did not know ; perhaps they were the papers 
 " seen by the Duke of Wellington; perhaps they 
 " were other forgeries ; but that one thing was 
 " clear, that the three additional letters were 
 " the falsified correspondence founded on the 
 " real minutes we had before seen, for it is cer- 
 " tain the Duke of Wellington could not allude 
 " to the three minutes, such as were shown to 
 " Lord Castlereagh, otherwise he would have 
 " drawn the conclusion made by the noble se- 
 " cretary.*' The Moniteur of the l-4th says, that 
 the authority of Lord Wellington attests the 
 pieces adduced by it are tru e ; meaning, Ipresume, 
 that the duke must have seen the real minutes 
 which Blacas afterwards falsified. But we stated 
 to Mr. de Bassano the improbability of Count Bla- 
 cas running sucharisk,byshowing the real letters 
 to one English minister, and the forged ones to 
 another, and that probably the papers seen by the
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 3gl 
 
 duke were those alluded to in the first sentence, 
 ""besides the papers I have already shewn you." 
 The Duke of Bassano agreed at once to this, 
 and said, " We found yesterday in the same 
 " box a bundle of papers, which, to all appear- 
 '* ance, are those on which Lord Wellington 
 " formed his judgment." These he produced : 
 they were in the same hand-writing as the 
 three fabrications ; the originals being, it is 
 supposed, in the possession of Count Blacas. 
 The envelope of the papers mentioned seven 
 inclosures, but only six were remaining, the 
 third being lost : two of them were letters from 
 Fouch6, dated Lucca, 1814; one a letter from 
 the Princess Eliza Borghese to Napoleon ; an- 
 other a letter from the Duke of Feltre ; and 
 the last document a communication from the 
 French consul, dated Lucca. All these papers 
 we carefully read, and were answered most 
 patiently such questions as we thought it ne- 
 cessary to put in the course of the perusal. It 
 was the mention of General Clarke's letter by 
 the Duke of Wellington in his note to Count 
 Blacas, which gave Mr. de Bassano a hope that 
 he might find the letters on which his grace's 
 opinion was founded. It is hardly possible to 
 doubt that these are those papers ; that is to 
 say, the copies of them. Indeed, I see by Lord 
 Castlereagh's notice of the reply in the Moni-
 
 38'2 lETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 teur, that he virtually allows them to be so, 
 and you recollect that he quoted the Princess 
 Borghese's letter in his first speech on the 2d of 
 May. Their identity is moreover deducible 
 from the conclusion drawn by the Duke of 
 Wellington, which is just such as any honoura- 
 ble man of sense forming a fair judgment, 
 without any political bias, would have found it 
 necessary to infer. The papers are exceedingly 
 curious; the princess* letter is written in a 
 style worthy of her determined character, and 
 indicative of the entire devotion and resolution 
 with which she would hazard her welfare and 
 her life to prop the falling fortunes of her im- 
 perial brother. She mentions, that the princi- 
 pal reason which determined Murat to side 
 with the allies was a letter written to him by 
 the Emperor of Austria, in which was a post- 
 script of Metternich's, to this effect : " Austria 
 " is the only one of the allied powers, qui luttt 
 " pour la dynastie Napoieonne ; by continuing 
 " your alliance with France, you will do her no 
 " service, and will lose your crown ; whereas, 
 " by joining Austria, you will preserve yourself, 
 " and will, in conjunction with her, be able, 
 " when peace is to be agreed upon, to throw 
 " your weight into the scale with her to make 
 " terms for the imperial family of France." 
 We remarked upon this singularity of expres-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 383 
 
 sion, and were answered with a smile, hinting 
 that M. de Metternich ought to be too well 
 known by this time to make any thing extraor- 
 dinary which came from that quarter. The in- 
 clinations of Austria, supposing them to be sin- 
 cere, need not surprise those who are aware 
 that the Emperor Francis, as far as he himself 
 was concerned, was only seduced into the war 
 with his son-in-law in 1813, by a contrivance of 
 
 M. de That minister said, that he 
 
 knew the Emperor well ; that no soothing from 
 the allied sovereigns would be of any avail; 
 that there was but one feasible method, viz. to 
 frighten him. For this purpose, Russia declar- 
 ed, that if Austria did not immediately accede 
 to the alliance, she would make peace with 
 France, and leave the Emperor Francis to the 
 vengeance of Napoleon, who, it was shown by 
 the artful disclosure of certain real or pretend- 
 ed documents, would be eager to make the 
 sacrifice of his presumptuous father-in-law the 
 first bond of reconciliation with Alexander. 
 The Austrian Emperor thought the alternative 
 of direct warfare preferable to protracted neu- 
 trality ; and as for joining Napoleon, his minis- 
 ters had then fallen into other politics, from 
 those mixed motives and trifling turns which de- 
 cide the conduct of statesmen as well as the less 
 important portion of mankind. One of the most 
 vol. I.
 
 384 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 determined opponents of the French system in 
 the interior council of Francis at that time was 
 
 , } the favourite, who is to be added 
 
 to 
 
 " All the mighty names by love undone." 
 
 And any one who has lived in the Vienna cir- 
 cles cannot be ignorant that the implacability 
 offemak revenge is to be reckoned amongst the 
 causes operating towards the decline of French 
 influence in the Austrian cabinet. The great 
 schism which divided the western world for forty 
 years is traced to three hasty words — a box on 
 the ear may be a source no less respectable nor 
 improbable of the quarrels and fall of empires. 
 
 The Duke of Bassano was sufficiently polite 
 to acquit our secretary of state of partaking in 
 the fraud of M. de Blacas, but could not help 
 hinting, that he wondered his lordship should 
 have allowed himself to "be the dupe of so appa- 
 rent and gross an imposture. And well may 
 he wonder : for it must be past all comprehen- 
 sion, even of those who know our cabinetj to 
 account for the blindness and facility with which 
 they fell into the snare of a government who 
 they knew were interested to deceive them, and 
 whose efforts to produce a decision against 
 Murat they had before so repeatedly witnessed 
 both at the congress and at Paris. The minutes
 
 LETTERS PROM PARTS. 385 
 
 oT the three letters, as presented by M. de 
 Blacas to Lord Castlereagh, were all of them 
 supposed to be written in 1814, after Napoleon 
 had quitted Paris for the last time ; but M. de 
 Blacas told Lord C. he had found these minutes 
 at Paris. Now how came his lordship not to 
 ask by what means these minutes came to 
 Paris, to which the Emperor never returned 
 after the alleged writing of them, instead of 
 being carried with the other state papers in- 
 termediately composed, or received, to Elba ? 
 Was it likely that they should be sent to the 
 archives, and that they should be the only do- 
 cuments of that date transferred thither ? The 
 fact is, that no private cabinet papers, especially 
 such compositions as private letters from the 
 Emperor to his brother-in-law, were, or were 
 likely to be sent to Paris, after Napoleon had 
 quitted it for the campaign of 1814 — and it was 
 unpardonable in Lord Castlereagh not to sug- 
 gest to himself the extreme improbability of 
 such a supposition, and the consequent chance 
 of forgery in the case of the alleged correspond- 
 ence. Lord Castlereagh may have had other 
 grounds for going to war with Murat ; but 
 this minister in his speech certainly lays the 
 greatest stress on this correspondence, and 
 has the extreme assurance to open his account 
 of the notable discovery by stating, that the 
 vol. i. c c
 
 386 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Prince Talleyrand had told him 9 &c. &c. that 
 long time after the negotiation between Murat 
 and the allies, the former had entered into ne- 
 gotiations with Napoleon to occupy Italy up to 
 the Po, and of this he had the most certain 
 proofs. What these certain proofs were Lord 
 C. does not say ; but proceeds to read and 
 comment upon the letter of the Princess 
 Borghese, which the Duke of Wellington pro- 
 nounced, amongst others, to be inconsequen- 
 tial ; and upon the three letters which we now 
 see, and which he ought at once to have 
 guessed, to have been fabrications. 
 
 Did ever minister before quote the assertion 
 of the agent of one government as conclusive 
 against another rival power, and of such an 
 agent as M. de Talleyrand, whose perfidy, want 
 of faith, cunning, and political immorality, 
 have furnished so many a cumbrous, long-spun 
 period, to the very bench whence his authority 
 is now cited as little less than scriptural ? 
 
 Much more extraordinary, however, even than 
 this credulity and courage is the victorious answer 
 — so I see it termed in the Courier — afforded 
 by Lord Castlereagh, to the proofs given in the 
 Moniteur of the 14th of the Blacas forgeries. 
 His lordship says, that five of the eight letters 
 are not denied by the Moniteur. True ; but 
 these five, of which the copies were found in
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 387 
 
 the Abbe Fleuriel's hand-writing, are those seen 
 by the Duke of W., and which he pronounced 
 insignificant, as any one would ; and whether 
 forged or not prove nothing, as he said, against 
 Murat. His grace, however, wrote to Lord 
 Castlereagh a letter from Vienna, in which he 
 says that he is now satisfied of the treachery 
 of Murat. Well, and likely enough, if he was 
 shown the three forged letters, which convinced 
 Lord Castlereagh, and which were written be- 
 tween the 4th of January, 1815, and the 4th of 
 March following. However, the duke's letter 
 has not been produced by Lord Castlereagh. 
 Lastly, the secretary says, he has examined 
 the originals of the three letters in question, 
 which were sent by Count Blaeas to the Sici- 
 lian ambassador, and has not the least doubt 
 of their authenticity. This is really too bad. 
 The originals; what originals? The original 
 minutes are at Paris — the original letters are at 
 Naples, or with the King of Naples. What does 
 Lord Castlereagh mean by saying he saw them in 
 London? It is inconceivable that some one should 
 not have told his lordship, that it was next to 
 an impossibility that Count Biacas should be in 
 possession of original minutes of Napoleon's writ- 
 ing after he had quitted Paris tor the last time ; 
 and that this, together witli the fact of the very 
 expressions of the fabrications being found in 
 vol. i. c c 2
 
 588 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 real letters of a different date, was an indubita- 
 ble proof of the imposture. If his lordship will 
 not own himself to have been deceived, he 
 must then be gored with the other horn of the 
 dilemma ; and, in my opinion, it is somewhat less 
 disgraceful to be the dupe than the coadjutor 
 of knavery. 
 
 There is, I own, nothing contrary to form 
 and usage in the triumphant air and infinite 
 satisfaction with which the secretary concluded 
 the first production of these wretched fabrica- 
 tions, by kindly offering a salutary lesson to the 
 members of opposition, not to trust to their own 
 weak illuminations, nor be over-hasty in giving 
 credence to documents which proceed from 
 anv other than the true official fountains of 
 Downing-street. Whether deceived or deceiv- 
 ing, it is not unbecoming, in such a predica- 
 ment, to deprecate and condemn all wilful 
 knowledge, all irregular information, all en- 
 quiry and illustration dispersive of ministerial 
 ignorance and obscurity. It may be presumed 
 that the next step to the declaration of the 
 treasonable qualities of truth and intelligence 
 will be an edict against preaching politics in 
 the vulgar tongue of sense and patriotism, in 
 manifest detriment and overthrow of the learned 
 mysterious involutions of the treasury pulpits. 
 To forbid conclusions is but a little more hardy
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 389 
 
 than to proscribe facts. The ostrich is nothing 
 to such a minister ; the one thinks that because 
 he cannot see, his enemies are blind ; but the 
 other would make them so. 
 
 But his lordship probably thinks of his nar- 
 row politics and his old social system, 
 
 " Ainsi qu'en ont use sagement nos aieux ;" 
 
 as Sganarelle did of his thin legs and anti- 
 quated hose ; for he offers the expedient in- 
 vented by that precious pantaloon, against the 
 aversion and reproof of such as found him ridi- 
 culous and intolerable. 
 
 i.+ 
 
 Et qui me trouve mal n a qua fermer les yeux." 
 
 Note. — Whilst this is preparing for the press arrives the 
 news that Murat, in attempting to recover his crown, has 
 lost his life — the victim of the falsehood of one cabinet, and 
 the folly of another, and of his own temerity, in hazarding 
 the imitation of a great and successful enterprise, where all 
 the circumstances of the supposed parallel did not coincide. 
 There is, perhaps, no throne, the struggle for which has oc- 
 casioned such a repetition of bloody wars and domestic tra- 
 gedies as that of Naples, from the earliest periods of modern 
 history to the present day ; but, excepting Conradin, who 
 also died by the order of a relation of a king of France, I 
 know of no other of its kings than Joachim Napoleon who 
 has fallen by the executioner. I trust, I feel assured, that 
 Lord Castlereagh, instead of exulting, must shudder at the 
 catastrophe, which, so far from justifying or excusing, must 
 cast a deadly stain upon that policy (the offspring of credu- 
 lity and deceit), to which must be traced the original cause
 
 3q0 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 of the fall and the death of this unfortunate — this injured 
 man. 
 
 It is hardly worth while to argue whether Ferdinand had 
 the right to kill his prisoner — unfortunately he had the 
 power. A Bourbon has executed a brother of Napoleon, 
 who spared the life of the Duke of Angouleme, after his 
 own head had been set up to sale by the uncle of that 
 
 prince. We shall be reminded of the Duke of Enghien : 
 
 but let no one ever presume again to taunt the imperial ca- 
 binet with an action that has found such a confirmation. It 
 is to be hoped, that when a soldier, brave as chivalry, gene- 
 rous, hospitable, known to many an Englishman by the un^ 
 precedented partial exercise in his favour of everyamiable and 
 kingly quality, and whose political crime was a treachery not 
 to the allied cause, but to that of his brother, fell under the 
 musquets of a cruel cowardly court, no participation or ap- 
 proval of such a vengeance was extorted from any British 
 minister. The manes of Caraccioli want no companion. 
 Perhaps a hand might have been stretched to save him, 
 without any loss to the British reputation for honour and 
 moderation. There is one point of view under which this 
 dreadful deed must affect every honest man with peculiar 
 regret, independent of all consideration either for the person 
 himself, or indignation for the cause of his fall — namely, that 
 the day of retribution will be more bloody, and the retalia- 
 tion of? the people, whether of France, Italy, or any other 
 part of Europe, more severe when they are triumphant, than 
 a milder use of a momentary success, on the part of the 
 conspired sovereigns, would have occasioned or justified. 
 What revolutionary chieftain would dare to show mercy te a 
 member of any of the ancient dynasties after such an exam- 
 ple of the mercy to be expected at their hands ? what popu- 
 lar government, after throwing off the chains of despotism, 
 would think themselves doing their duty by their country- 
 men, by conniving at the escape of those whose pretensions 

 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 391 
 
 and pernicious power can be extinguished only by extir- 
 pation ? 
 
 The base unmanly exultation of those amongst us who 
 designate this execution by epithets properly bestowed only 
 on acts of wise and vigorous policy, not such as bespeak 
 conscious weakness and fear, deserves only to be noticed in 
 order to show the taint which spreads through all the parti- 
 sans of this accursed legitimacy, so as to corrupt every prin- 
 ciple of candour, clemency, confidence, and true courage, 
 even in the breasts of those who breathe the happy air of 
 freedom, and feed on the generous fruits of her salubrious 
 soil. No sooner has a general benevolence in favour of the 
 rights of nations been worked into a disposition inclined to- 
 wards families or individuals in their royal capacities., than a 
 proportionate contraction displays itself in every sentiment, 
 and gives even to actions in themselves praiseworthy a cha- 
 racter of selfishness inconsistent with true dignity. " The 
 " man who fights for an individual fs a slave — the hero 
 " is he that combats for his country'' — the personal exposure 
 of each is the same — the difference is made by the com- 
 parative insignificance of the cause, and the inferiority of the 
 object of the pensioner, to that of the patriot. 
 
 There is no appendage of a king entirely, or, perhaps, 
 in some cases, at all contemptible, except his courtiers, in 
 whom " the divinity that doth hedge him" does by no means 
 consist ; for these are, by common consent, and long usage, 
 delivered over to the hatred and raillery of all mankind, in 
 every country where human reason has made the slightest 
 progress. How then is it that so many men, even in our 
 land of freedom and common sense, seduce themselves 
 into as slavish an admiration and respect for certain crowned 
 heads, as could be commanded from the most abject and in- 
 significant followers of these royal despised retinues ? This 
 is being pandars to our own abasement, without the honour, 
 the reward, or the expediency, which give a countenance,
 
 392 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 or, at least, an excuse, to the servility of those who are born 
 the property of others, and can diminish their own disgrace 
 only by magnifying the power and importance of him to 
 whom they belong. Besides, it is observable, that being 
 ourselves supposed to enjoy the privileges of the purest in- 
 dependence, this base part taken by our writers and politi- 
 cians gives to the national character an air of cruelty and 
 selfishness, as if we exulted in, and would willingly contem- 
 plate, the protraction of evils from which we ourselves are, 
 ire&.
 
 JLETTERS FROM PARIS. 393 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 Paris, May 31. 
 
 The Champ de Mai is fixed for to-morrow. 
 The Square Venddme is full of the deputations 
 from the different corps of the army, who are 
 to assist at this ceremony, and the General 
 Caffarelli told a friend of mine yesterday that 
 there were not less than fifty thousand regular 
 troops in and about the vicinity of the capital, 
 to secure the public tranquillity, and to pre- 
 vent a catastrophe, as well as to form part of 
 the army of reserve. The imperial guards are 
 still in Paris, and are generally reviewed on 
 Sundays, together with such regiments as hap- 
 pen to be passing through the capital. On 
 Sunday (yesterday) I was in the Tuileries, 
 where five regiments of the line and four of 
 the young guard, together with a body of re*- 
 emits, were paraded before the Emperor. Na- 
 poleon stood for some time immediately under 
 the window of the council of state, in which I 
 was placed, and gave me the opportunity of 
 observing one or two circumstances which I 
 hope you will not think too trifling to deserve
 
 3<H LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 mention. It was a very hot day, and he was 
 standing in the shade of the building as the re- 
 giments passed, but, looking up, he advanced 
 a pace or two, and placed himself in the sun, 
 as it appeared to me and those who were with 
 me, evidently because he observed that he alone 
 was protected from the heat. A battalion of 
 the guard coming up,- Napoleon stepped for- 
 wards to them, and, whilst they were filing, 
 marched with his hands behind, absolutely con- 
 founded with and amongst the soldiers. Some 
 regiments of the line were then drawn up in 
 front, and presented arms : he walked along 
 close to them, and seeing a grenadier with a 
 petition in his hand stopped before him, took 
 the paper, talked for two minutes to him, and 
 ended by pulling the man's nose. A little 
 afterwards a colonel running up to him with 
 some news, which he communicated with a 
 laugh, the Emperor raised himself on tiptoe, 
 and interrupted him by giving him a sound 
 box on the ear, with which the officer went 
 away smiling and shewing his cheek, which was 
 red with the blow. I started at the sight, of 
 which I knew neither the cause nor conse- 
 quence, but was satisfied by a general officer, 
 who informed me that such friendly flaps were not 
 unusual with the Emperor, and that he himself 
 had seen other instances of this singular fami-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 395 
 
 liarity. On one occasion, a soldier, at a review, 
 shouted vive I'Empereur, the whole line being 
 silent, when Napoleon went up [to him, and 
 asking him how many campaigns he had served, 
 added, " how happens it you have not been 
 " promoted ?" The soldier answered — " on ma 
 il fait la queue trois fois pour la croix," " Eh 
 M bien" replied the Emperor, 6t je te donne la 
 " queue" and, giving him a slap in the face, 
 conferred upon him the cross of the legion of 
 honour. At his first interview with General 
 Rapp since his return, he gave him that sort of 
 blow, vulgarly called a punch in the stomach, 
 crying — " quoi, coquin, tu voudras me tuerV* 
 alluding to this general's being named by the 
 king to a military division when the Emperor 
 came from Elba. 
 
 These manners may appear gross and vulgar, 
 but certainly they have succeeded completely 
 with the French soldiery ; for both on the 
 present occasion and at other reviews, I have 
 remarked an enthusiasm, an affection, a delight 
 apparent in the countenances of the troops at 
 the sight of their general, which no parent can 
 command in the midst of his family. The Em- 
 peror continued his inspection until six o'clock, 
 having reviewed about fifteen thousand men, 
 and, lastly, the cavalry of the guard, amongst 
 which were distinguished the Polish lancers
 
 396 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 who attended him at Elba. The colonel of 
 these troops seemed intoxicated with pride and 
 satisfaction, whilst he rode by the side of Napo- 
 leon down the line of his small squadron, and 
 took care, when the Emperor passed in the 
 rear, to face round and salute him again, con- 
 trary, I believe, to all discipline. The mame- 
 lukes of the guard are now reduced to about 
 forty, and have deviated considerably from the 
 true costume of that body. Nearly all of them 
 are French. Rustan wisely deserted his master 
 at his abdication*. 
 
 Of the French troops I shall only say that 
 their appearance, to my eyes, is more military 
 than that of any soldiers in the world, and that 
 the old guard might pass for the representa- 
 tives of the gentry of France. It is impossible 
 to view them without admiration and regret. 
 The guard will not leave the capital until im- 
 mediately previous to the departure of the Em- 
 peror: the royalists assert that he dares not trust 
 to his capital without them. The proceedings 
 of these persons are such as would justify 
 more violent measures than have hitherto been 
 pursued. They have lately dispersed a paper 
 
 * Napoleon's valet was a still honester epitome of worldly 
 attachment: he wrote to his former master when at Elba, 
 and told him, " If he should ever be fortunate (keureuxj, he, 
 the valet, would be happy to serve him again."
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 307 
 
 ealled Address to the National Guards, dated 
 from Ghent, in which those troops are advised 
 to deliver Napoleon to the allies ; also a similar 
 paper called the Cry of Alarm, copies of which 
 have been struck off in Paris, at the house of a 
 lady, who has been arrested. Messrs. Gautier, 
 father and son, a celebrated physician and advo- 
 cate, have likewise been imprisoned, together 
 with others, whose friends therefore exclaim 
 that the proscriptions are renewed. The dis- 
 turbances in the departments continue, parti- 
 cularly in Poitou. Fifty of the 26th regiment 
 have been killed near Bessieres, and the insur- 
 rection in La Vendue has assumed so serious 
 an appearance that General Lamarque andfive- 
 and-twenty thousand picked troops have been 
 sent to that quarter. Some battalions of the 
 young guard were dispatched in post carriages to 
 the general's army a few days ago. I mention 
 these facts because the public papers have not 
 been very explicit on this head. The superin- 
 tendents of the journals could not be expected 
 to admit intelligence which would so much 
 disquiet the public mind. With respect to La 
 Vendee, however, it should be considered as 
 as enemy's country, nor will it be thought 
 very formidable when it is recollected how 
 long two millions of these royalists in arms 
 were ineffectual against the rising republic.
 
 398 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 The most decisive national spirit is on the 
 other hand shown in other quarters, and espe- 
 cially in the protestant departments. Some 
 alarms in Gard, of an insurrection of the Bour- 
 bonists, immediately assembled 10,000 of the 
 national guards, and General Gilly easily col- 
 lected 25,000 peasants from the mountains for 
 the immediate suppression of another royalist 
 movement. But I cannot flatter you with 
 hopes that any real uneasiness is felt on ac- 
 count of these distant dissensions : and although 
 the frondeurs, an abundant party at present at 
 Paris, do not fail to lament the want of unani- 
 mity, every one is aware that there will be no 
 want of that virtue amongst the troops who will 
 decide the great cause in the plains of Bel- 
 gium. Strange as it may appear, there are 
 yet some few individuals who entertain hopes 
 of peace, notwithstanding the finishing stroke 
 seems to be preparing for the general confede- 
 racy against France, by the efforts made to add 
 Switzerland to the grand alliance. It was 
 hoped for a moment in Paris, that the Swiss 
 might be induced to assist in the defence of 
 the French frontier by way of protecting their 
 own neutrality. But the utmost now hoped 
 for is, that she will add none of her forces to 
 the combined armies. However, no blood has 
 it appears yet been spilt, except by the Prus-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 399 
 
 sians at Liege, who seem to have opened the 
 campaign against the Saxon revolters. Swords 
 have been drawn also in Paris, in a literary quar- 
 rel, between Mr. Montlosier, author of the trea- 
 tise on " the French monarchy," and Mr. de Con- 
 stant ; when the former being run through the 
 pen-hand, no further mischief ensued. With 
 this exception, no commotion or contest of any 
 kind has disturbed the peace, although such 
 are the blind rumours and whispered appre- 
 hensions of the saloons of this capital, that I 
 was in an apartment the other evening, where 
 the explosion of some fireworks at the gardens 
 of Tivoli was at first taken for the fusillade of 
 an insurrection.
 
 400 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 / 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 June 2. 
 
 Mr. B — and myself were present, yesterday 
 at the assembly of the Champ de Mai, of which 
 though a detailed account will soon be seen in 
 your English papers, I cannot help telling you 
 what we ourselves witnessed. 
 
 On the SI st, the discharge of a hundred 
 cannons from the bridge of Jena had an- 
 nounced the eve of the ceremony, and a 
 similar salute was fired at daylight the next 
 morning. A programma of the fete, toge- 
 ther with the order from the minister of police, 
 was fixed to the walls, and cried, to prevent 
 the occurrence of accidents, which are very 
 rare on these occasions, %i for they do these 
 things? it must be confessed, " better in France? 
 We had previously visited the building pre- 
 pared for the assemblage, which was a vast 
 pentagonal semicircular amphitheatre of paint- 
 ed wood and canvas work, at the upper end of 
 the Champ de Mars, and immediately in front 
 of the military school. The amphitheatre was
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 401 
 
 open on all sides, and separated in the middle 
 by a space, in which was a structure covered 
 with a canopy, containing an altar, and seats for 
 priests, musicians, and other performers of the 
 mass. There were nominal divisions made by 
 the wooden pillars of the building, surmounted 
 by large wooden eagles, under which were 
 written the names of the departments, the enu- 
 meration of which associated itself, in my mind, 
 in a very lively manner, with the extent and 
 power of the empire. 
 
 A structure of the same materials was raised 
 against the face of the military school, covered 
 with a square canopy in the middle, and jutting 
 out into oblong wings on each side. Under 
 the canopy, a flight of carpeted steps de- 
 scended from the principal window in the first 
 story of the building, and about half way be- 
 tween the window and the ground was a plat- 
 form for the throxie. This structure formed as 
 itwere the chord, of which the amphitheatre was 
 the arc. Besides these preparations, there was 
 a bare pyramidical platform, with an ascent on 
 each side of a flight of steps, fifteen feet high, 
 about a hundred yards in front of the amphithe- 
 atre ; or, it ought to be called, at the back of it, 
 on which was placed a plain arm-chair, open and 
 uncovered: one of those pieces of wood, which, 
 as Napoleon said, is not made a throne by the 
 
 VOL. I. D D
 
 402 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 carpenter, but by the man who sits in it. These 
 temporary edifices were rather tawdry than 
 otherwise, and it was ill-contrived that the 
 assembly should sit with their backs to the 
 multitude in the Champ de Mars, and even 
 to the Emperor during the time that he sat 
 upon the open throne. We set off at nine 
 o'clock ; and walking by the Tuileries, the 
 Elysian Fields, the quay and bridge of Jena, 
 crossed into the Champ de Mars, which we 
 traversed through the masses of soldiery of the 
 imperial and national guard, which were form- 
 ing upon the plain. Arrived at the amphithea- 
 tre, and showing our admission tickets, we were 
 conducted by a grenadier of the guard, after a 
 mistake or two, into the inner structure, which 
 we found nearly full, and took our places in the 
 'Seats allotted,' according to the lettering under 
 the eagles, to the department of the Sarthe. 
 However, the electors had observed no order 
 in placing themselves, except that the deputa- 
 tions from the army, chiefly common soldiers, 
 occupied the two wings of the amphitheatre. 
 Of the 15,000 said to be assembled, I must 
 suppose that there were very many who were 
 equally electors with ourselves ; for a profusion 
 of tickets were distributed by the court, and 
 my companion had five or six sent to himself. 
 Nor was there much choice in the selection j
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 403 
 
 for the audience drank brandy, and gave into 
 Other plebeian amusements, which by no means 
 recommended their neighbourhood. The mul- 
 titude of heads, however, made the spectacle 
 imposing, even as far as the electors contri- 
 buted to the sight, and every other part of the 
 scene was indescribably magnificent. The 
 windows and the roof of the military school 
 were rilled with ladies ; the area of the theatre 
 with electors, and with innumerable standard- 
 bearers, whose "'littering eagles and tricoloured 
 banners made a dazzling show. The eagles 
 were in a cluster at each wing at first; but 
 before the ceremony commenced, they were 
 ranged in a row round the area in face of the 
 pavilion of the throne. The throne was a 
 gilt purple- coloured arm-chair, with a purple 
 cushion on the ground before it : on the right of 
 it were two common chairs, on the left a single 
 chair ; beyond, on each side, under the canopy, 
 were square boxes, or tribunes, under which 
 was a range of other tribunes. The children 
 of the Queen of Holland soon appeared, and 
 took their seats in the tribune to the left of the 
 throne : and shortly afterwards arrived the court 
 of cassation, the court of accounts, the council 
 of the university, the imperial court, and the 
 magistracy of Paris in robes, some of which I 
 thought fantastic. These took their places in 
 
 d d 2
 
 404 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the tribunes under the sides of the throne. 
 Every now and then appeared officers of the 
 court on the flight* of steps above the throne, 
 in singular fancy dresses like the Spanish cos- 
 tume. The interval was very tedious ; there , 
 were continual shouts at every arrangement of 
 the eagles, especially those of the national 
 guards, and also cries of hats off! sit down ! 
 but no tumult. The first sign of the ap- 
 proaching ceremony was the lighting of the 
 candles at the altar ; and, at a quarter after 
 twelve, we heard the cannon announce the 
 departure of the Emperor from the Tuileries. 
 My friend and myself were about six benches 
 from the highest range of seats ; so that by 
 pressing backwards and turning round, we 
 looked over the Champ de Mars, and beheld a 
 sight superb indeed : the troops were drawn up 
 on each side down the whole length of the 
 plain — the whole of the national guard, and the 
 imperial guard, and the troops of the line, as 
 well as the gendatmertf^ were under arms, either 
 in the field or in the city. In half an hour the 
 cannon of the bridge of Jena told us, that the 
 imperial procession had set foot on the plain; we 
 had before seen the red lancers filing over the 
 bridge, and the long train of the cavalry of the 
 guard, with the suite of carriages, moving along 
 like a vast piece of distant clock-work, along
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 405 
 
 the quay of the palace of the King of Rome, 
 on the other side of the Seine. The cavalry of 
 the guard, as they advanced towards the amphi- 
 theatre, formed on both sides, so as to make a 
 lane in front of the infantry, the whole length 
 of the plain, from the river to the throne. A 
 line of imperial foot guards fenced off a pas- 
 sage round the left side of the amphitheatre, to 
 form an entry for the imperial carriages into the 
 interior of the structure. Shortly, the com- 
 mandant of Paris, Count Hulin, and his staff, 
 with the heralds at arms, approached us, and 
 wheeled through this lane, to the left: he 
 was followed by fourteen state carriages, each 
 drawn by six bay horses. The last but one 
 of these showed us Cambaceres, the arch- 
 chancellor of the empire ; and the last the 
 three imperial princes. They advanced at a 
 slow trot, and wound round into the am- 
 phitheatre. After a short interval, we saw a 
 squadron of red lancers, followed by a mass 
 of officers on service, aide-de-camps, and state 
 grooms. These immediately preceded the im- 
 perial carriage, which was a large gilt coach, 
 with glass pannels, surmounted by an immense 
 gilt crown, nearly covering the whole top of 
 the body. Four footmen or pages were crowded 
 before, and six behind; and two marshals of the 
 empire rode on each side of the carriage, which
 
 406 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 was drawn by eight milk white horses, dressed 
 in lofty plumes of white, each led by a groom, 
 who scarcely could hold him down. Napoleon 
 was distinctly seen through the glass pannels, 
 in his plumage-covered bonnet and imperial 
 mantle : he bowed, as he passed round the 
 amphitheatre, to the shouts of the soldiers and 
 the people, which were mingled with the rer 
 peated discharges of artillery from the batteries 
 of the military school. A squadron of the 
 chasseurs of the guard closed the procession. 
 We returned to our seats ; and presently, a 
 body of pages, in green and gold uniforms, ran 
 down the stairs from the window, and ranged 
 themselves on each side the steps from the plat- 
 form of the throne to the ground. A grena- 
 dier of the guard was posted at the foot of 
 jthe steps to the left and to the right. The 
 tribunes under the canopy then began to be 
 filled. The grand cordons of the legion of ho- 
 nour, and the marshals of the empire, occu- 
 pied that on the left, and the counsellors of 
 state placed themselves in that to the right. 
 Several great officers of state, in fancy dresses, 
 Spanish mantles, and feathered bonnets, took 
 their station chiefly on the steps to the right 
 of the throne. The Duke of Vicenza and 
 Count Segur, grand master of the ceremonies, 
 .stood at the top of the highest step. The arcli-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 407 
 
 chancellor Cambaceres then tottered down to 
 the platform, in a blue mantle spotted with gold 
 bees, to a chair placed for him a little below the 
 chairs to the right of the throne. There was 
 much laughing in our vicinity when this per- 
 sonage appeared, whose talents and whose taste 
 are alike notorious throughout the empire. 
 The Archbishop of Tours and the Cardinal 
 Cambaceres, with four bishops and assistants, 
 ascended into the tribune of the altar. It was 
 one o'clock. The artillery still thundered from 
 the battery, when Napoleon, amidst a mass of his 
 nobles and princes, marched from the window 
 down the steps to the platform, and the assem- 
 bly arose with a shout. All were uncovered 
 except the Emperor, who wore his Spanish 
 black bonnet, shaded with plumes, and looped 
 with a large diamond in front. His mantle was 
 of purple velvet, edged with broad embroidery 
 of gold on the outside, and lined with white 
 ermine, scarce descending to his ancles, and 
 tied round his throat without any arm-holes. 
 He advanced hastily in front, bowed, or rather 
 nodded, two or three times, and flung himself, 
 or to use the right word, plumped himself down 
 into his throne, and rolled his mantle round 
 him. He looked very ungainly and squat. 
 His brothers took their seats at his side ; Lu- 
 pien to the left, Joseph and Jerome to the
 
 408 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 right : they were caparisoned in fancy dresses of 
 white taffety from head to foot ; and, except- 
 ing the house of Austria, looked as ill as the 
 princes of any legitimate house in Christendom. 
 No sooner was the Emperor seated than the 
 artillery was silenced, by a signal from an offi- 
 cer who flourished a sword from the left of the 
 steps of the throne, and was answered by the 
 drums in the area of the theatre. A small vel- 
 vet-covered altar, or prie Dien, was moved be- 
 fore the Emperor, and now mass was performed 
 by the priests and the musicians of the opera- 
 house, in the tribune opposite to the pavilion. 
 During this interval Napoleon was less occu- 
 pied with his prayers than with an opera-glass, 
 with which he was contemplating-the assembly. 
 The music ceased, the velvet altar was re- 
 moved, and immediately a large body of men 
 crowded from the area, and ascended the steps 
 of the throne. These were the central deputa- 
 tion from the electors of the empire, chosen a 
 few days before by selection from all the col- 
 leges. They filled the whole flight of steps, 
 and were introduced in a mass to the Emperor. 
 One of them, the advocate Duboys, deputy from 
 Angers, on the right of the throne, then read, 
 from a paper in his hand, a speech, with much 
 motion, and action more than oratorical : 
 though he spoke very loud, not a word was to
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 409 
 
 be heard where we sat. The Emperor nodded 
 assent to certain positions of his address, which, 
 when you have read it, you will conceive very 
 natural ; for it abounded in panegyric ; and, al- 
 though it was prepared by a committee of the 
 central deputation, has on that account been 
 severely criticised. You will, nevertheless, re- 
 cognize certain truths in the performance, and 
 will applaud the indignation launched against 
 the conspiracy of kings. 
 
 The expression, " that the nation would be 
 ready to disengage the Emperor from the mo- 
 derate conditions which he had proposed to 
 the allied powers," must be attributed to their 
 indignation ; and the orator very well put the 
 question of the personal rejection of Napoleon, 
 when he hinted, that if the French preferred 
 peace to war, they preferred war to shame. 
 The speech was concluded amidst the shouts 
 of the assembly. The arch-chancellor then 
 rose from his seat, and, advancing to the Em- 
 peror with certain papers in his bands, commu- 
 nicated to him the acceptation of the constitu- 
 tion j and the master of the ceremonies received 
 the orders of the Emperor to carry the result to 
 the herald at arms. The sword was flourished, 
 and the drums beat, when the herald, in a voice 
 not audible to us, declared the acceptation of 
 the constitution. At this moment the batteries
 
 410 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 iired a general salute. The central deputation 
 moved a little lower down ; but still filled the 
 principal part of the steps of the throne. The 
 attendants of the great chamberlain then placed 
 a small gilt table, containing a gold writing 
 standish, before the Emperor. The arch-chan- 
 cellor laid the constitution on the table, and 
 handed the pen to Prince Joseph, who gave it 
 to Napoleon. The Emperor quickly and care- 
 lessly put his name to this famous act at ten mi- 
 nutes before two o'clock. The table was moved 
 away; and then, opening a roll of paper, he ad- 
 dressed the immense concourse in a loud shrill 
 voice, which at times made him audible even 
 to the benches where we were placed. His 
 opening words— Empereur, consul, soldatje tiens 
 tout du peuple* — reached us distinctly, as also 
 the sentence— -fai convoque. le Champ de Mai. 
 He was applauded at the end with cries of Vive 
 VEmpereur ! Vive Marie Louise I but I heard 
 no shouts of Vive la nation! which the Moni- 
 teur asserts to have been frequent. The second 
 cry might have been spared by dextrous cour- 
 tiers, as it must have served to remind Napo- 
 leon of the absence of her whom he had promised 
 his people should be the queen of the fete. When 
 
 the acclamations had subsided, the Archbi- 
 
 * 
 
 * See Appendix — No, 15.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 4 1 I 
 
 shop of Bourges, first almoner of the empire, 
 presented the Testament, upon his knees, to Na* 
 poleon, who took the oath " to observe, and to 
 cause the observance of the constitution ;" and 
 the Te Deum was chaunted from the tribune 
 of the altar. There was, at this time, no little 
 crowding and confusion near the throne, and I 
 see by the papers that the oath was now admi* 
 uistered to Cambaceres, who swore " obedience 
 to the constitutions and to the Emperor." There 
 was no cry, as the Moniteur says, from the as- 
 sembly of Noas lejurons. The sword was again 
 waved and the drums beat. The steps were 
 cleared, and the eagles from the wings pressed 
 forward into the centre of the area, forming 
 one long dazzling mass of gold, from the tri- 
 bune of the altar to the front of the throne* 
 The ministers of the interior, of war, and of 
 the marine, descended from their places, and 
 shortly returned, followed by many standard- 
 bearers and a body of officers, who pressed up- 
 wards, near the throne. The republican Car- 
 not, in his white Spanish dress, carried the 
 eagle of the national guard of the department 
 of the Seine j the bald-headed Davoust that of 
 the first regiment of the line, and Decres of 
 the first marine corps. Then it was ^hat Na- 
 poleon, with an animation in his manner and 
 countenance which gave to that ceremony a
 
 412 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 superior interest to any other event of this 
 national assembly, threw off his imperial man- 
 tle, hastily leaped from his throne, and ad- 
 vanced to meet his eagles. The waving sword 
 and beating drums commanded silence, and 
 taking the standards in his hands he returned 
 them to the three ministers, with a short 
 speech, which he delivered in a loud and lively 
 tone. The concluding sentence, " Vous leju- 
 (i rez" pierced the whole assembly, and was 
 answered by the exclamation of those around 
 the throne — " We swear." 
 
 The speech was as follows : " Soldats de la 
 " garde nationale de V empire — Soldats des troupes 
 " de terre et de mer,je vous confie Vaigle impe- 
 Ci riale aux couleurs nationales, vous jure z de la 
 defendre au priv de votre sang contre les enne- 
 mis de la patrie et de ce trdne* Vous jurez 
 qiCelle sera toujours votre signe de ralliement— 
 vous k jurez." The drums beat, and shortly 
 afterwards the Emperor, still in his short crim- 
 son tunic, accompanied by all his marshals and 
 dignitaries, and lost to our sight in the blaze of 
 uniforms, and eagles, and banners, descended 
 the steps, traversed the area, passed through 
 the opening of the theatre by the altar, and 
 crossing between files of soldiers mounted the 
 platform in the open plain. He seated himself 
 on his throne, surrounded by his marshals and 
 
 it
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 413 
 
 court, who occupied the steps on each of the 
 four sides of the structure. My friend and 
 myself pressed backwards to the outward circle 
 of the amphitheatre, and surveyed a scene more 
 magnificent than any pen can describe. The 
 monarch on his open throne, which seemed a 
 glittering pyramid of eagles, and arms, and mili- 
 tary habits, crowned by his own white plumes 
 — an immense plain, as it were, of soldiers, 
 flanked with multitudes so innumerable that 
 the sloping banks on each side presented but 
 one mass of heads — the man — the occasion — . 
 all conspired to surprise us into a most unqua- 
 lified, unphilosophical admiration of the whole 
 spectacle before us ; which was not diminished 
 when the bayonets, and cuirasses, and helmets, 
 flashing as far as we could see, and the flags of 
 the lancers fluttering, and the music bursting 
 from the plain, announced that the whole scene, 
 far and near, began to move. 
 
 What passed previously on the platform we 
 could not distinguish, but we saw the eagles 
 paraded to the left before the throne, and then 
 moved lower down into the plain, where such 
 of them as belonged to the troops on duty were 
 delivered to their respective regiments ; the 
 remainder being carried back to the military 
 school. It seems that the Emperor, in his 
 character of colonel of the national guard of
 
 414 LETTERS FROM TARTS. 
 
 Paris and of the imperial guard, presented the 
 eagles to the president of the department and 
 six arrondissements and to the chiefs of his 
 guard, after which, a body of the soldiery of 
 both corps forming, with a crowd of officers, 
 in front of the throne, he addressed the na- 
 tional guard and imperial guard in a second 
 speech*, interrupted by drums, and by fre- 
 quent acclamations of" We swear." The na- 
 tional guard swore never to suffer the capital 
 to be again polluted by the presence of foreign- 
 ers ; the imperial guard to exceed their former 
 prowess. The whole army, amounting, it is 
 said, to fifty thousand, of which twenty-seven 
 thousand were national guards, now filed before 
 the throne, with their eagles, in admirable or- 
 der ; the imperial guard marching from right 
 to left, and the others from left to right. To- 
 wards the end of the review the crowd rushed 
 from the banks towards the throne, but no ac- 
 cident happened ; a slight rope and a single 
 line of soldiers, placed at considerable inter- 
 vals, were sufficient to protect the amphitheatre 
 and the throne. 
 
 It was half after three before the last batta- 
 lion passed before the Emperor, who then rose 
 from the throne, descended the platform, and, 
 
 * See Appendix — No. 1 5.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 415 
 
 in the midst of his suite, returned to the inte- 
 rior of the assembly, and mounted to his former 
 position. He turned round, and bowing seve- 
 ral times very graciously, and apparently much 
 pleased, quickly ascended the stairs with his 
 court, and disappeared at the window of the 
 palace. The procession soon left the amphi- 
 theatre in the same order in which it had 
 arrived, except that the dragoons and lancers 
 of the guard did not accompany the state car- 
 riage, as before, and that it consequently passed 
 between a line of spectators the whole length 
 of the Champ de Mars ; the troops having by 
 this time nearly left the plain. The departure 
 was announced by the batteries of the military 
 school and the bridge of Jena, as at the entry 
 of the Emperor. 
 
 Such was the long expected Champ de Mai, 
 which is now known by its right name, and is 
 called " the distribution of the eagles:" in fact 
 it was nothing more, and is misnomered when 
 described as a national fete. Whether it bore 
 any resemblance to the fields of March and of 
 May, at which were assembled the warlike 
 estates of Charlemagne and his successors, no 
 one has thought it worth while to discuss, any 
 mor*e than its similarity to the Tartar Cour-llt£, 
 the model of the Franc parliaments ; but the 
 Censor draws an invidious comparison between
 
 416 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 it and the memorable federation of 90, when 
 the same plain was thronged by deputations 
 from all the national guards of the kingdom, 
 collected together to celebrate and seal the 
 triumph of the people, and the subjection of 
 the throne. The same publication objects to 
 the Emperor having remained constantly co- 
 vered in the presence of the uncovered repre- 
 sentatives of France, and to the fantastical cos- 
 tumes of the court. Certainly, Mr. Carnot did 
 not become his taffety tunic and feathered bon- 
 net, or the tunic did not become Mr. Carnot ; 
 who, when he objects pertinaciously to sign 
 himself Count Carnot, after having accepted 
 the title, might perhaps decline tricking him* 
 self out in a fancy dress. The Censor says, 
 that the acclamations were very sparing and 
 partial, and that not 2000 people ever shouted 
 at once during the whole ceremony. Yesterday 
 evening, after the Champ de Mai, I happened to 
 
 visit the Princess : a gentleman came 
 
 into the room, and began laughing at the whole 
 transaction—*' never was there such a paltry, 
 " gaudy, melancholy exhibition — not a soul ap- 
 " plauded except the military, and they but sel- 
 " dom and faintly." He had scarcely finished 
 when another gentleman entered, and at once 
 launched forth into raptures at the success with 
 which the scene of the day had been crowned
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 417 
 
 r» 
 
 — what struck him particularly was that the 
 military had not been very loud in their shouts 
 — but the electors and the spectators had never 
 ceased their acclamations. Every body smiled ; 
 — which was to be believed ? both had been pre- 
 sent — neither were Frenchmen, nor interested 
 to deceive ; and the event recorded had taken 
 place but four hours before, in presence of two 
 hundred thousand people, who could give the 
 lie to any misrepresentation. How is history 
 written ? or how believed ? This is not meant 
 for a memoire pour servir: but I will tell you 
 my own impression. The loudest and longest 
 acclamations were when the Emperor first ap- 
 peared, and when he delivered the eagles ; but 
 neither then, nor at any other period, were the 
 cries very animated. They generally began 
 and ended with the military deputations in the 
 wings of the amphitheatre, and particularly 
 with one individual soldier, who was so perti- 
 nacious as to raise a laugh more than once in 
 the whole assembly. The usual cries were, 
 Vive VEmpereur! and now and then, Vive Ma- 
 rie Louise ! — I did not hear Vive la nation ! 
 
 If there were no frequent and loud acclama- 
 tions, there were no hired applauders, a class 
 attached to the police department during the 
 former reign of Napoleon, and employed occa- 
 
 vox. I. e E
 
 418 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 sionally, at present at least, if the malcontents 
 say true*. 
 
 The number of votes in favour of the consti- 
 tution were, 1,288,357 : the negative votes 
 amounted to 4207. The army gave in 222,000 
 names for, and 320 against, the act : the navy 
 about 22,000 affirmatives, and 275 negatives. 
 Eleven departments, and some of the regi- 
 ments, had not sent in their registers. The 
 departments in which the votes were the most 
 numerous were the Cote d'Or, the Jura, the 
 Moselle, La Meurthe, Saone et Loire, the 
 Vosges, and the Yonne. The department of 
 the Cotes du Nord, out of 6000 names, gave in 
 1058 negatives — a sufficient proof that no com- 
 pulsion was resorted to in that quarter, although 
 a contrary conclusion may be drawn from the 
 registers of Paris, which show 20,082 affirma- 
 tive, and only 570 negative votes, in a place 
 where opinion is so much divided. In fact, the 
 Anti-Napoleonists did not like to commit them- 
 selves in the face of the police ; and it is cer- 
 tain, that the workmen of the suburbs fur- 
 nished the greater number of the approving suf- 
 
 * In the garden of the Tuileries, the night of the king's 
 return, July, 1815, I heard many of those who were shout- 
 ing vive le roi! cry out, " nous ne sommes pas payes a qua- 
 rante schtt."
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 4X9 
 
 frages of the capital ; but the reason of this is 
 to be found, not so much in any dislike to Na- 
 poleon, as to the discredit into which this me- 
 thod of consulting the people has fallen. The 
 people accepted the constitution of the year 8 : 
 two years afterwards the people accepted the 
 nomination of Bonaparte to the consulship for 
 life : and again, in two years, the same people 
 declared its wish, that the imperial dignity 
 should be settled in the family of Napoleon 
 Bonaparte : but all the signatures attached to 
 each of these acts of the nation put together 
 would not amount to a quarter of the popula- 
 tion of France. As therefore there has been no 
 stipulated proportion requisite to give authority 
 to this declaration of the will of the people, and 
 as it is evident that the mere opening of regis- 
 ters will be always sufficient to secure, from the 
 public functionaries and dependents on the go- 
 vernment, a certain majority over any number 
 of negative votes that can, without a rebellious 
 combination, be possibly procured, it seems a 
 consequence, that no constitution can be consi- 
 dered fundamental, which, by recurring to the 
 same means by which it was created, can with 
 such facility be overthrown. 
 
 Nothing can be conceived more vicious than 
 this method of collecting the wishes of thepeople, 
 who can no more be said to be represented by the 
 
 E E 2
 
 420 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 signatures of such acts than the English nation 
 was by the mayor, and aldermen, and ragamuf- 
 fins of the Tower hamlets, who chose Gloster 
 to be king ; and I am persuaded, that the ma- 
 nifest and acknowledged absurdity of the appeal 
 has been the chief cause why the additional act 
 to the constitutions of the empire has been only 
 thus partially accepted. Add to this, that as the 
 new parliament is to remodel the constitution, it 
 matters but little either to approve or object to 
 the original draught of theTuileries. For my own 
 part, I conceive the provisions of the constitution 
 to be such as a lover of his country may fairly ap- 
 prove. I should not object to its being granted, 
 anymore than to its being composed by an indivi- 
 dual ; and I should be inclined to inquire, whe- 
 ther the nation had the power rather of main- 
 taining than of choosing the conditions of their 
 liberty. Although there was no proposal in 
 the act relative to the re-election of Napoleon, 
 there is a general persuasion, that his dictator- 
 ship ceased at the moment that he signed the 
 constitution, and that he is now rechosen Em- 
 peror of the French. The constitution is now, 
 however, in vigour; and the decrees which are 
 affixed to the walls give a singular and speaking 
 proof of the change of governments which 
 France has witnessed within the last fifteen 
 years. The past constitutions being still in
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 421 
 
 force, the senatus consultum, signed Bona- 
 parte, first consul, sometimes appears at the 
 top of the paper : another, in the middle, with 
 the authority of Napoleon, Empereur et Roi ; 
 and at the bottom, the last promulgation, with 
 Napoleon Empereur. The will of the Emperor 
 is no longer to be a law ; but amongst the four 
 volumes of the senatus consulta, it will not be 
 difficult to find, for the present, an apology for 
 any act of government. There will be some 
 embarrassment, however, in getting rid of the 
 forms of despotism. The Emperor, in his 
 speech, defers to the peace the final reduction 
 of this mass of laws to a simple fundamental 
 code ; but it remains to be seen whether the 
 chamber of representatives will allow of such a 
 delay. The meeting of the two chambers is 
 fixed for Saturday the 3d, to-morrow. The 
 peers were named to-day ; and a list of them 
 is handed about, amounting to 116, of whom 
 fifty at least are general officers. Labedoyere, 
 Drouot, Ney, and Lallemand, are at once 
 devoted to a pleasantry as the quatre (pairs 
 Jides) ; whilst Lefebvre Desnouettes, Van- 
 damme, and others, are the quatre pairs si/les. 
 On the whole, the list is received with shrugs 
 and smiles ; but, at the same time, it is allowed, 
 on all hands, that the utmost embarrassment 
 attended the selection — that the old nobles
 
 422 LETTERS FllORI PARIS. 
 
 neither could nor would have been chosen; 
 and that the prevalence of military members 
 was unavoidable, from the superior respectabi- 
 lity of the class of general officers, which, in 
 fact, may be said to compose the nobility, 
 whether modern or ancient, of France. The 
 gratitude of the Emperor obliged him to make 
 a merit of the act, which has rendered the 
 above-mentioned nobles obnoxious to a pun j 
 ]>ut there is a chamberlain or two who seems 
 to have been thrown in by accident, or out 
 of laziness. Where was Napoleon to choose ? 
 The frondeurs answer this by saying, that he 
 ought not to have chosen at all— at least, that 
 the original selection should not have been his : 
 and a plan has been mentioned, which, it is 
 supposed, may be adopted in any future nomi- 
 nation. In each of the departments three or 
 five of the principal proprietors are to be named 
 by the electoral colleges, and presented to the 
 Emperor, out of which he is to take one. A 
 great part of the present house of peers may 
 soon fall in the field, and a replenishment will 
 be necessary. 
 
 Mr. Constant's pamphlet is published. It 
 was necessary for this gentleman to say some 
 little of himself, as his acceptance of office 
 under Napoleon, on the 20th of April, imme- 
 diately subsequent to a violent attack, honestly
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 423 
 
 ventured against him as he was advancing to 
 Paris, to prop a mouldering fabric, has sub- 
 jected him, unjustly, I think, to the suspicions 
 of the pure constitutionalists. For twenty years 
 he has demanded the liberty of the subject, the 
 liberty of the press, the suppression of all arbi- 
 trary encroachment, and respect for the rights 
 of all. " These objects," he continues, " have 
 always been, and are still my end and aim ; and 
 I pursue them, at this moment, with equal zeal 
 and with more hope." To excuse himself, he 
 had only to justify Napoleon ; and in his last 
 chapter he relies for all apology for his Em- 
 peror upon an appeal to facts, the convocation 
 of a representation of the people chosen freely, 
 and without any interposition of government 
 influence, the unlimited freedom of the press, 
 and the restitution of the choice of their ma- 
 gistrature to a numerous portion of the citizens. 
 " All this he has done," continued M. Con- 
 stant, " when in possession of the dictatorship j 
 " and when had he wished for despotism, he 
 " might have endeavoured to have retained it. 
 " It maybe said," he adds, « that his interest 
 " opposed such an effort — doubtless, but is not 
 " that as much as to say that his interest ac- 
 " cords with the public liberty ? and is not that 
 " a reason for confidence?" I see no means of 
 answering the question in a manner which can
 
 424 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 discredit either Napoleon, or M. Constant. 
 You will perceive the state of feeling in this 
 country, from the tone and manner with which 
 a person of the reputation of M. Constant 
 thinks it necessary to reconcile his conduct in 
 accepting a place under the imperial govern- 
 ment to his former professions. It should seem 
 that M. C. has made the painful discovery, " that 
 certain men are but too happy to throw off the 
 burthen of esteem, and recognize the failings of 
 a person whose irreproachability weighed hither- 
 to upon their hearts." Those whom his eloquent 
 complaint is intended to reach are not the 
 royalists, but, apparently, the constitutionalists, 
 his former admirers, the distrust of whom in 
 the character of Napoleon can be frequently 
 collected from other portions of the work, and 
 whom the author endeavours to persuade, that 
 to obtain their patriotic objects, there is no 
 course so pernicious as that which must en- 
 courage or assist the projects of invaders, 
 the success of whom must terminate either 
 in the division of France, or in an admini- 
 stration entirely dependent upon their will. 
 M. Constant remarks, and justly, that the 
 allies, just and moderate, if they are allowed to 
 have been so, when they appeared last year in 
 the character of the liberators of Europe, have 
 now no other pretext than punishment — and a
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 425 
 
 punishment, which, beginning with Napoleon, 
 is to involve the army and the nation itself. 
 One cannot indeed but observe, that the hatred 
 of the allied princes, like the overflowings of 
 friendship stirred from a small centre, and origi- 
 nating only with an individual, has spread all 
 around, and from embracing friends and ad- 
 herents, has at last taken in a whole people as 
 the accomplices of a single crime. With re- 
 spect to the constitution, the author does not 
 think it necessary to be less candid than the 
 government itself, or to deny that it is capable 
 of amelioration; but his work tends to the 
 recommendation of the outline, and general 
 principles which it contains. He concludes 
 by confessing his willingness to leave the ques- 
 tion of his own conduct, and (by implica- 
 tion) that of the new government, to be decided 
 by the judge of all things — time. 
 
 " Uavenir repondra ; car la liberti sortira de 
 " cet avenir, quelqut orageux qiHil paraisse en- 
 " core. Alors, apres avoir, pendant vingt ans, 
 " reclame lex droits de Vespece humaine, la sllrete 
 " des individus, la liberte de la pensee, la garantie 
 " des proprietes, V abolition de tout arbitraire, 
 "j'oserai me feliciter de m*etre reuni, avant la 
 " victoire, aux institutions qui consacrent tous ces 
 " droits, fam^ais accompli I'ouvrage de ma vie."
 
 426 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 The victory may not be as near as M. Con- 
 stant conceives, but it is no less certain*. 
 
 Upon reflecting on the difficulties in which 
 the Emperor is involved, with the boldest 
 and most active part of France, I would 
 ask you, whether his greatest enemy could 
 contrive a plan more likely to deprive him of 
 all chance of re-establishing himself in his 
 ancient despotism, or even to endanger his 
 throne, than by leaving the French at peace, 
 and thus dissolving that union of effort to 
 which the most distrustful and cautious are 
 agreed in contributing, as the last resource for 
 the salvation of their country ; but which, 
 after being employed as the protection, may 
 encourage the ambition of the throne. Lest 
 what I have just said should seem inconsistent 
 with the apprehensions stated, as being enter- 
 tained by M. Constant and others, relative to 
 the constitutionalists, I shall add, that the hesi- 
 tation of those who dread the propensities of 
 the Emperor has no sort of connection with a 
 
 * Whilst this is preparing for the press, an account ar- 
 rives of a revolt in Spain, and of a remonstrance of the Wir- 
 temberg statesagainst their king. Let us not despair ; the vic- 
 tory will come — the rights of the human race must triumph 
 over all the superannuated institutions of the ancient social 
 system. Again — Porlier is no more ; there are others.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 427 
 
 preference of the Bourbons to the present 
 government: every day makes it more ap- 
 parent, that although there is a great diversity 
 of opinion about men — the French are pretty 
 much agreed about things. One of the most 
 sensible men in Paris asserted much the same 
 thing on this subject yesterday evening, when 
 he said, " I do not talk of the voltigeurs of Louis 
 XVIII., nor of the voltigeurs of Napoleon, (a 
 number comparatively insignificant) but I say, 
 that the nation is united on the great point, 
 and that there is a determination on the part 
 of the vast majority of us to procure for our- 
 selves individual and national respectability and 
 independence. We differ about the means, and 
 that circumstance may give an appearance of 
 inconsistency and disunion, for which, after 
 all, the change and variation of our fortunes 
 might sufficiently account ; but our opinions of 
 what we want may be said to be unanimous, and 
 our endeavours to obtain the things needful 
 will be as united as can be expected from a 
 nation, which has done and suffered so much, 
 and has still so much to suffer and do." Then 
 turning towards myself, he added, " we are 
 trying to do what you did a hundred years ago 
 — unfortunately, we have many more obstacles 
 in our way, and have not only to front our ene- 
 mies, but to keep a look upon our friends. I
 
 428 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 speak as a lover of my country, as one of the 
 majority. A patriot should be a Janus, and 
 have a pair of eyes for those who back his 
 cause ; however, no one who knows France or 
 human nature can doubt of the termination 
 of the struggle, let it be ever so long. I at- 
 tach no great importance to Napoleon, except 
 as an individual, who set in motion feelings 
 too prevalent for any very protracted con- 
 cealment. The first day he set foot at 
 Cannes was, I know, the first day of a new 
 revolution, which his defeat or success may 
 retard or mature, but not finally terminate or 
 entirely control." 
 
 The conversation ended by a general attack 
 
 made on Mr. , a counsellor of state, who 
 
 was present, for the new nomination of peers. 
 An Englishman present asked him, rt if he 
 recollected whether there were 1 1 6 members 
 in Cromwell's council of officers ; and whether 
 the people were great gainers by the Barebone's 
 parliament ?" To which the counsellor of state 
 replied, " II ri-y-a pas question de Cromwell" 
 You will forgive me for retailing this interlocu- 
 tory discourse, which you may honour with the 
 name of gossip ; but which, when you consider 
 its freedom, may make some impression upon 
 you, if you are one of those who believe in the 
 present subjection of opinion in France.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 429 
 
 A pamphlet is just published with this title, 
 La Patrie avant tout, que mimporte Napoleon ? 
 How would this sound in our vernacular, " Old 
 England for ever ! what care I for George 
 Prince ?" Such is the despotism of this cruel 
 stratocracy, as that well-informed member Mr. 
 Grattan calls it. I cannot help thinking 
 what joy there must have been in the earthly 
 heaven of Carlton-house, over the repentance 
 of that sinner. The dialectics of Duigenan, 
 and other just men, are nothing indeed to his 
 inauguratory oration, which I read with increas- 
 ing astonishment. 
 
 " What guarantee does Napoleon offer for the 
 preservation of peace ?" and what the allies ? 
 " 600,000 men in arms to assure the tranquillity 
 of the world — can the choice be doubtful ?" 
 This sentence must strike at Napoleon, or rather 
 the French nation, who are here blamed for raising 
 troops to resist 1,100,000 bayonets, with which 
 they are threatened by their paternal king. 
 
 Who have raised these 600,000 men ? who 
 but the brother politicians of Mr. Grattan ? 
 
 I am concerned to see, that Sir Francis Bur- 
 dett, instead of confessing his inability to coun- 
 teract the effect of such " an appeal to the pas- 
 sions,", did not tell the house plainly, that the 
 assertions of the right honourable gentleman 
 were every one of them gratuitous. He might
 
 430 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 have added, had he known as mueh as myself, 
 that they were all founded on mistakes. How 
 could he possibly know that the constitution pro- 
 posed by Napoleon was only a lure, and that his 
 sole intention was to establish a military power? 
 Sir Francis might have told him, that ignorance 
 itself was scarcely sufficient excuse for such a 
 hardy surmise, which every present appearance 
 in France tends flatly to contradict. But this 
 is of a piece with the assertion of Lord Castle- 
 reagh, who, in his speech on the subsidy, counts 
 amongst the allies the very great party in France 
 which will favour them. Does Lord Castlereagh 
 mean La Vendue ? If so, Napoleon may quote 
 Ireland as one of his auxiliaries. But he does 
 not mean La Vendue. Never was the English 
 nation so abused, as in the arguments offered to 
 them for the renewal of hostilities — which are 
 nearly all unfounded, and many of them contra- 
 dictory. Some assert, that Napoleon is so 
 weak, he may be immediately crushed ; others, 
 that he is so strong, that he is too formidable 
 to be left at peace — these declare, that he has 
 only the army for him, and that the nation 
 pants for the Bourbons : those would reconcile 
 France itself to the war by saying, that the 
 restoration of the Bourbons is not the object of 
 the war- — Mr. C. would save France, who longs 
 to escape from a tyrant — Lord F. would disarm
 
 LETTEkS FROM PARIS. 431 
 
 all France, who will be the willing accomplice 
 of the ambition of this tyrant — Lord G. would 
 fight, because the cause is just, though hopeless 
 — Lord C. thinks success certain, and will 
 afford the opportunity of substantiating various 
 claims against France, which, at the former 
 conquest, were unaccountably suffered to lie 
 dormant ; but nullum tempus occurrit regi, the 
 Kings of Europe, like the King of England, 
 cannot suffer by lapse ; the demands may be 
 
 made at any time. Mr. ■■ thinks, that 
 
 the only guarantee for the tranquillity of the 
 world is the establishment of the Bourbon 
 dynasty on the throne of France — therefore he 
 votes for war. Mr. C... G...., a lord of the 
 treasury, wonders how the notion has got 
 abroad, that the restoration of the Bourbons 
 is the object of the war, when the allies ex- 
 pressly declare their aim to be so different. 
 
 Your friend says, we do not want any 
 
 thing for ourselves, but must support the cause 
 of the allies, whose honour and existence de- 
 pend upon our aid ; whereas, Mr. C... G...., 
 and many others, advise instant hostilities, for 
 fear England should never have such a chance 
 of catching the allies in the same humour 
 of seconding her designs. Lord Castlereagh, 
 lest any thing unreasonable and absurd should 
 be wanting to motive the war, reads a forged
 
 432 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 letter, and then says, that his residence in France 
 during the last year has convinced him, that 
 there is a principle of falsity at the heart of the 
 French government, which, I presume, is to 
 make it an object of hatred and attack, to all 
 the moral courts of Europe. You will see 
 that the Moniteur well enough remarks, that 
 if he speaks of the government of the Count of 
 Lille, his lordship has been most kindly helped 
 to the confirmation of this opinion, by some 
 late expositions of the imperial cabinet. As 
 to the pretended letter of the 19th of March, 
 1814, from the Duke of Bassano to the Duke of 
 Vicenza, it is quite sufficient to ask, whether it 
 is probable that such a communication would 
 be sent across the enemies' lines, when Austrian 
 couriers were occasionally resorted to, not in 
 cypher ; and if it were in cypher, who could 
 have decyphered it to Lord Castlereagh ? In 
 the papers of M. de Blacas left in the iron chest 
 were discovered many letters prepared in a 
 similar manner, it seems, for the inspection of 
 the congress at Vienna j and if the documents 
 relative to the congresses at Prague, atChatillon, 
 and at Vienna, now in possession of the impe- 
 rial government, were published, as M. de Bas- 
 sano told, in my hearing the other day, and has 
 said in the Moniteur, might one day be done, 
 the world would have some opportunity of judg-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARfS. 433 
 
 ing if the French alone, of all Europe, are to be 
 accused of want of faith, and justice, and mo-* 
 deration. Whatever may be the event of the 
 war, it is evidently undertaken on the part of 
 England without the foundation of adequate 
 causes and motives, or the foresight of any of 
 the probable consequences of victory or defeat ; 
 either of which will equally confound the calcu- 
 lations of our sagacious ministry. 
 
 VOL. i. r f
 
 434 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Paris, June 7. 
 
 The chambers met on Saturday last. The 
 peers at the Luxembourgh, the commons at the 
 palace of the legislative body. The former 
 chose two secretaries, Mess. Thibeaudeau and 
 Valence, who, together with the president Cam- 
 baceres, and the Counts Sieyes and Roederer, 
 were named members of a commission for the 
 internal regulation of the assembly. The re- 
 presentatives met at nine o'clock in the morn- 
 ing j the elder member took the chair, and two 
 provisional secretaries were appointed, in order 
 to proceed to the formation of the chamber by 
 naming certain commissions, and choosing w T hat 
 they call the bureau, that is, the president and 
 vice-presidents, and secretaries, by ballot. A 
 member proposed, that this should be delayed 
 beyond the next day, as the chamber, together 
 with the electoral colleges, was invited by the 
 Emperor to meet him at the Museum ; but M. 
 R-egnault de St. Jean d'Angely made a motion, 
 that the house should adjourn only until eight
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 433 
 
 o'clock the next morning ; adding, with a tone 
 rather factious in a minister, that, on all ac- 
 counts, the house should rather occupy itself 
 in the election of a president than in a ceremon}', 
 especially as they would have many opportuni* 
 ties of enjoying his Majesty's presence. The 
 next day I was present at the discussion, being 
 shown, without a ticket, into the galleries, in 
 which I was surprised to find so few spectators 
 at first, considering that this was the second 
 day of meeting. I must say, that the appear- 
 ance of the assembly, entirely popular as it is, was 
 highly creditable, and such as would not disgrace 
 the floor of St. Stephen's. Most of the members 
 were in evening dresses, and three or four ge- 
 nerals in uniform. The deputies in the king's 
 time w r ore a livery of Jleurs de lys, which pro- 
 claimed their dependence in too striking a 
 manner to be imitated in this assembly. The 
 company in the galleries was of a very inferior 
 cast, in appearance, to that which frequents 
 our house of commons, chiefly workmen (it 
 seemed) between their hours of employ, a class 
 of men which is not found in London ; but 
 which Alls, at certain hours, half the coffee- 
 houses and billiard-rooms at Paris. They did 
 not, however, want either as good manners or 
 as much sense as is to be found in any mixed 
 audience of our capital. Two or three women 
 
 f p 2
 
 436 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 
 
 were present, and the reporters sat in a box by « 
 themselves. It was not difficult to see at once 
 the cast of character which the new convention 
 would assume j for, immediately after hearing 
 the proceedings of the meeting of the day be- 
 fore, a Mr. Sibuet, deputy of the department 
 of the Seine and Oise, rose in his place, and 
 in a speech (which wanted none of the action 
 of oratory) proposed that all titles should be 
 dropped in that assembly, in which the most 
 perfect equality ought to reign, and the pre- 
 sident himself was to be only primus inter 
 pares. , He was declaiming, when a member 
 interrupted him by saying, that he was speak- 
 ing from a speech in his hat, which was con- 
 trary to that article of the constitution, forbid- 
 ding expressly the reading of any written opi- 
 nion in that assembly ; on which Mr. Sibuet 
 turned his vehemence from the nobility to this 
 article of the constitution itself; but was si- 
 lenced by being told, that these considerations 
 should be deferred until the chamber was com- 
 pletely organised. Shortly afterward a message 
 from the Emperor,, sent by the minister of the 
 interior,* informed the house, in reply to its 
 application to know the names of all the peers, 
 before it proceeded to the choice of a presi- 
 dent, in order to prevent their electing an in- 
 dividual designated for a member of the higher
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 437 
 
 house, u that the requisite list would be trans- 
 " mitted in due time, but not immediately." The 
 message was received with murmurs of discon- 
 tent. They proceeded to ballot for a president, 
 which was done by each member putting his 
 paper into an urn, with a minuteness that gave 
 me an opportunity of seeing all the men of 
 any note who have survived the revolution; for 
 such it seems have been elected in this parlia- 
 ment, which is now confessed to be the most 
 popularly chosen of any since the constituent 
 assembly. 
 
 There was no little tumult in determining 
 whether the votes given to Lafayette, without 
 the designation of Lafayette the father, should be 
 permitted to pass in favour of the elder or the 
 younger, his son, of that name. There seemed 
 considerable eagerness in some4^nembers that 
 Lafayette should not be chosen ; and, after the 
 election, when a member of the chamber in^ 
 formed me on the steps of the palace that 
 Lanjuinais had been elected, and not Lafayette, 
 he took me by the hand, though I knew him 
 not, saying, " Wish us joy, sir ; we have not 
 " got that man, but one of the right sort ; a 
 " bold decisive man, no trimmer." One of the 
 door-keepers, who overheard him, rejoined, 
 " Yes, Mr. Lanjuinais is an honest and a bold 
 f* man, as I can tell ; for I was the man who
 
 438 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 " brought him the first news, in 17.93, of his 
 " being proscribed, I concealed him, and shall 
 '* never forget the intrepidity of his conduct." 
 Mr. Lanjuinais voted against the imperial title, 
 and was one of the opposition in the late chamber 
 of peers. He has been always distinguished as 
 a true patriot, firm, but moderate, a supporter 
 of all the first principles, but stained with none 
 of the excesses, of the revolution. Four hun- 
 dred and seventy-two members voted at the 
 first ballotting : 189 were for Mr. Lanjuinais; 
 74 for Mr. Flauguergues, (an eloquent person, 
 and celebrated for his boldness in the legisla- 
 tive assembly in 1813, and his speech upon the 
 court of cassation in the chamber of deputies); 
 51 for Lafayette the father; 17 for Lafayette, 
 without any designation ; 4l for Count Mer- 
 lin ; 29 for Mr. Dupont ; and a smaller number 
 to some other members, of whom Regnault de 
 St. Jean d' Angely was one. When the first vote 
 was given for him, I recollect that my neigh- 
 bours in the galleries burst into a laugh ; and 
 one said he must have put that vote in himself. 
 We are mistaken in England, and unjust, in 
 supposing that the French have no sense of 
 morality. If capacity alone could insure re- 
 spect, Mr. Regnault would not have a charac- 
 ter too pronounced in a certain way, to inca- 
 pacitate him even for the chance of the presi-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS, 439 
 
 dency. Both Mr. Merlin and Mr. Bedoch would 
 have had more supporters had not one been 
 a counsellor of state and solicitor general of 
 the court of cassation, and the other imperial 
 solicitor and ex-counsellor extraordinary of the 
 Emperor in several departments. Any con- 
 nexion with the court would be fatal to greater 
 favourites than either of those two gentlemen 
 in being candidates for the president's chair: 
 but Mr. Bedoch is elected a secretary. You have 
 already seen that the support which the represen- 
 tatives may give to the government may be en- 
 tirely independent of all considerations but those 
 of duty to their constituents. You are, perhaps, 
 not aware that the presidency of the French 
 chamber does not answer exactly to the chair 
 of the house of commons, at least, not in our 
 times ; and that it is not only the organ, but, in 
 some measure, the mirror of the assembly, whose 
 general complexion may be judged from, and is 
 also a little dependent upon, the character of the 
 man of their choice. Mr. Lanjuinais could not be 
 chosen for that dignity of manner or person so 
 useful in our Speaker ; but for the known firmness 
 and honesty which would render him a faithful 
 and fit channel of communication between the 
 representatives of the people and the monarch. 
 The assembly has the same object in view in 
 the selection of the four vice-presidents, of
 
 A&Q LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 whom Mr. Flaugergues was the first choserr, 
 Mr. Dupont the second, Mr. Lafayette the 
 third, and General Grenier the fourth ; all of 
 them men notorious for that independence of 
 either court, of Louis or Napoleon, which re- 
 commended them to the representatives. 
 
 The day following the choice of the presi- 
 dent I was again in the galleries, when a scene 
 arose which has decided the character of the 
 assembly. The provisional president announced 
 that he had informed the Emperor of their 
 choice of Mr. Lanjuinais, and had received for 
 answer, that his majesty would commimicate 
 with them by a chamberlain. The most vio? 
 lent murmurs instantly burst out on all sides ; 
 many members rose at once ; some spoke from 
 their places, others struggled to reach the tri- 
 bune. At last a member declared a chamber- 
 lain to be a very unfit channel of official corre- 
 spondence between the Emperor and the repre- 
 sentatives of the people ; and this sentiment 
 was repeated by the patriotic Dumolard, one of 
 the opposition in the late chamber of deputies, 
 who added, that the president could hardly 
 haye heard his majesty's answer distinctly. Mr, 
 Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely agreed with 
 Dumolard, and left the chamber, which ad- 
 journed its sitting, to wait for the Emperor's 
 reply. Mr. Regnault returned not long after.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 441 
 
 with the approval at the bottom of the message 
 transmitted by the provisional president, simply 
 
 in these words—" I approve. Napoleon." 
 
 Lanjuinais made a short speech, and ascended 
 to the chair amidst the shouts of the assembly. 
 
 It was the representation of Mr. Regnault 
 which occasioned this change in the decision 
 of Napoleon ; and his conformity with the 
 wishes, of the representatives was shewn in 
 another instance the same day, by the same 
 minister bringing down to the house the list of 
 the chamber of peers, which had been refused 
 the day before. An excuse was made the next 
 day for the intimation given respecting the 
 chamberlain, by M. Boullay de la Meurthe, 
 counsellor of state, who informed the chamber 
 that his majesty, on receiving the provisional 
 president, testified his regret that he had not 
 been before informed of his presence in the anti- 
 chamber. The Emperor has seen M. Lanjui- 
 nais, and has addressed him, as the story goes, 
 to this purport : " Mr. L., some tell me that 
 " you are a Bourbonist, others that you are my 
 " personal enemy, others that you are a true 
 " lover of your country ; you will conclude 
 " which of the three I believe when I congra- 
 " tulate you and the chamber on the choice it 
 " has made of such a president." 
 
 Neither the quick impatient tone of the
 
 442 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 president, nor his bell, is able at all times to 
 command silence in the assembly, which occa- 
 sionally breaks out into the tumults incident to 
 a popular body in its first meetings. 
 
 The imperial session takes place to-morrow, 
 and Napoleon will then open his two houses in 
 form, at the palace of the legislative body. 
 There was some noisy discussion this morning, 
 relative to the method in which the members 
 of the imperial family should be received, and 
 two or three indignant hints were thrown out, 
 deprecatory of all such renewal of formal ce- 
 remonies, which, however, the president very 
 prudently discouraged, by stating that the mat- 
 ter, being a mere form, was unworthy the sus- 
 picion, and consequently the reflection, of the 
 free representatives of the people. A more 
 serious attempt was made to convince the 
 Emperor that he must expect no sort of sub- 
 jection, either in form or reality, from this new 
 parliament; for a Mr. Dupin objected, in a 
 set speech, to the oath to be taken at the im- 
 perial session, which he asserted should not be 
 in virtue of a decree, but only of a law made by 
 the whole legislature. He demurred also to the 
 inference which might be drawn from that oath 
 in favour of the immutability of the constitution. 
 However this opinion was overruled by Mr. 
 Dumolard, who nobly observed, " that if they
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 443 
 
 " had to choose between their country and their 
 " Emperor he should not hesitate an instant ; but 
 " that the case was not so, since in the critical 
 *■* circumstances in which they were placed, the 
 " nation was to be saved by and with the Empe- 
 " ror :" he protested, therefore, against affording 
 ground for suspicion of distrust and disunion 
 to the open and the secret enemies of France, 
 and moved the order of the day. The speech 
 of Mr. Dumolard had an unexpected effect in 
 inducing General Sebastiani not only to object 
 to Mr. Dupin, but to make use of his proposi- 
 tion, by grounding upon it a pointed declara- 
 tion of the chamber in favour of the oath to be 
 taken to-morrow, of obedience to the constitu- 
 tions of the empire and fidelity to the Emperor, 
 The resolution was passed, and was followed 
 up by a proposal from General Carnot, to de- 
 clare the army to be national, and to have me- 
 rited well of the country ; which would have 
 been adopted, had not Mr. Regnault suggested 
 that it would be better to reserve that measure 
 for an act of both houses and of the Emperor. I 
 should mention that M. Boullay de la Meurthe, 
 in declaring for the oath, stated expressly that 
 in so doing he judged that the house reserved 
 the right of ameliorating the constitution. You 
 will agree with him and M. Dumolard, in think- 
 ing the objections of M. Dupin to be ground-
 
 444 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 less ; but will see in these objections, as well as 
 in the whole course of proceeding in the cham- 
 ber, how false are all the assertions of your 
 Bourbonist partisans relative to the subservi- 
 ency of the pretended representatives of the 
 people to the will of the Emperor. According 
 to the present system of representation, it is 
 calculated that only a seven-hundredth part of 
 the people of France enjoy the elective fran- 
 chise ; and that the mass of citizens have only 
 the privilege of choosing once in twenty-five or 
 thirty years an elector, who is to vote once in 
 five years for a deputy. Many objections may 
 be made to the present formation of the elec- 
 toral colleges, which is contrary to the decision 
 of the constituent assembly, that determined 
 the number of electors by the number of citi- 
 zens ; but if the present chamber shall display, 
 as it appears will be the case, a spirit of liberty 
 and moderation, I shall think them as fair a re- 
 presentation of the wishes and interests of the 
 nation as the convention parliament was of 
 those of our own country. They will, most 
 probably, be called upon to display every vir- 
 tue of patriotism, and that very shortly; for 
 the rival armies are in presence, and wait but 
 for the signal to commence the mighty mas- 
 sacre. 
 
 Napoleon seems to have taken a last leave
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 445 
 
 of the people of Paris in the fete of Sunday, 
 the 4th. On that day there was a distri- 
 bution of bread, and fowls, and sausages, and 
 wine, in the Champs Elysees, where rope- 
 dancing, horsemanship, greased poles, mounte- 
 banks, conjurors, and all the fooleries of Bar- 
 tholomew fair were let loose, gratis, to that 
 portion of the Parisian populace which requires 
 a Frenchman, as well as a French word, faith- 
 fully to represent. The canaille were, indeed, 
 in all their glory ; but, notwithstanding there 
 was as much drunkenness as can be expected 
 from the effusions of sixteen fountains of wine, 
 I saw only one disturbance, and that was occa- 
 sioned by a boy, who was instantly hurried off 
 by a picquet of soldiers — those efficient coadju- 
 tors of the police being stationed at intervals 
 in every part of the fields. Bands of musicians 
 played to dancers, who, though of the lowest 
 order, figured in a manner that would have 
 shamed the awkward essays of some of our co* 
 tillon beaux. Not a melancholy nor an angry 
 face was to be seen throughout the vast con^ 
 course thus celebrating, as it were, the eve of a 
 day which must make widows and orphans of 
 half the officiating crowd. But the life of thi3 
 people is liveliness, which is their mode of ex- 
 istence. I recollect that when on one side of the 
 Tuileries the twelve thousand federates w
 
 446 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 parading before Napoleon, with shouts which 
 recalled the times of terror, and which the 
 courtiers of the Emperor did not choose to 
 renew by a second similar review, the windows 
 at the back of the palace looked out upon 
 strings of girls dancing round the fountains, to 
 the delight of many tranquil groups of Sunday 
 spectators. In the evening of this day there 
 was an illumination at the Tuileries, and a 
 public concert performed in a temporary struc- 
 ture in front of the centre balcony of the pa- 
 lace. There was an immense but orderly crowd 
 opposite to this part of the palace., and stretch- 
 ing far down the centre walk, towards the 
 Champs Elysees. The palace and gardens were 
 lighted up by nine o'clock, and in three quar- 
 ters of an hour the pavilion, in the midst of 
 the orchestra, had some tapers placed in it. 
 The musicians arrived, and were rangeid on 
 each side, in the open air. Soon afterward Na- 
 poleon, in his Spanish hat and feather, and in 
 his crimson tunic, appeared at the window, with 
 the princes of his family and the Princess Hor- 
 tense. He stepped forwards into his pavilion, 
 saluted the people quickly three or four times, 
 and sat down. The orchestra performed an 
 overture, and then sung the Lyonnaise, which 
 was received with raptures : other music was 
 performed, which did not, however, last long,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 447 
 
 and was ended by the Vivat in (sternum. It 
 was a romantic sight, and such as those only 
 who have seen the Tuileries illuminated can 
 conceive. The presence of the Emperor and 
 his court, with the music in the open air, and 
 the unnumbered crowd seen, as at noon day, 
 in the lustre of glittering palaces and groves, 
 added to the fairy sprightliness of the scene ; 
 and a spectator might have thought himself 
 any where but in France, had he not known 
 that in no other country could he witness such 
 a sight. The instant the music ceased a rocket 
 rushed from the summit of the palace, and gave 
 signal to the fireworks prepared in the Place de 
 la Concorde, part of which displayed a large 
 ship, in the midst of a landscape of sea and 
 rock, representing the vessel that bore Napo- 
 leon from the island of Elba. A figure larger 
 than life, in a green uniform, and distinguished 
 no less by the plain hat of the Emperor than 
 by a star auspiciously' blazing over his head, 
 stood on the declf of the ship, and shewed the 
 image of the hero of the day to all those who 
 could not approach near enough to see the ori- 
 ginal, at the other end of the gardens. The 
 day terminated without a single accident, al- 
 though the shouts of Vive VEmpereur were 
 prolonged by the parties of feasted federates to 
 a late hour of the night.
 
 * 
 
 448 LETTERS FROM PARIS'. 
 
 The Parisians observe that the weather of 
 this day, as well as of that of the Champ de 
 Mai, was superb, although rain had threatened 
 to fall on both occasions, and did come the en- 
 suing days. This to them is ominous. More 
 than one or two persons remarked to me that 
 the Emperor always had had fine weather for 
 his fetes, except on those immediately pre- 
 ceding and following the fatal Russian cam- 
 paign. This superstition is said to attach to 
 Napoleon himself, with whom, perhaps, it ori- 
 ginated, and so became the reigning distortion, 
 like the wry necks of the Macedonians, or the 
 thin legs of King Edward's courtiers. 
 
 Napoleon had passed the whole morning of 
 this day, until seven o'clock, in receiving the 
 electoral colleges and the military and naval 
 deputations. He first saw them on his throne in 
 the Tuileries, and afterwards passed them in re- 
 view in the gallery of the Museum, down the 
 whole length of which the departments, with 
 their eagles, were ranged to the right, and the 
 land and sea armies, with their eagles, to the left; 
 the saloon at the extremity being filled with 
 deputations of the imperial guards, of the inva- 
 lids, and of the veterans. The Emperor spoke 
 to almost every man of the ten thousand who 
 were present, and with his accustomed ease and 
 variety of conversation -, replying to intelligence
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 449 
 
 by no means agreeable with a frankness most 
 unroyal. He spoke, amongst others, to a friend 
 of mine, a colonel in the army, a notorious 
 royalist, and an elector for the Marseillois. — 
 " How many electors met in your department, 
 " colonel ?" " Thirteen, Sire." " Ah, com- 
 " ment ! How many deputies did you choose ?'' 
 " Six." " What ! six deputies for thirteen elec- 
 " tors? I' esprit doit etre bien mauvais Id; ilfautle 
 " rammer" Napoleon said this with a face half 
 serious, half smiling, as if he knew how happy 
 my colonel was to tell such news, for he was 
 well acquainted with him ; and, when he added 
 " Oui, sire," made a sort of grimace, and walked 
 on. 
 
 You see that the Moniteur is full of addresses 
 from different public bodies, expressive of devo- 
 tion to the cause of the Emperor and of France, 
 and records the many voluntary donations which 
 have been poured into the public treasury, for 
 the service of the state, in this great national 
 struggle. Different associations are forming at 
 Paris and in the departments, for affording re- 
 lief to the sufferers by the war j and the mini- 
 ster Carnot has put himself at the head of a 
 society calling themselves the Friends of Hu- 
 manity, or some such suspected title, the ob- 
 ject of which is to be the dissemination of 
 liberal principles, and the reward and relief of 
 
 VOL. I. g G
 
 450 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 those who distinguish themselves as friends 
 and champions of liberty. On the 1st of June, 
 the day of the Champ de Mai, the minister of 
 war addressed an order of the day to the sol- 
 diery, calling them to arms j and telling them 
 the signal would soon be given which would 
 lead them to victory, and confirm for ever the 
 glory and the independence of France, 
 
 In the Moniteur of the 4th, the extent of 
 the insurrection of La Vendee, which had long 
 been rumoured at Paris, received an official 
 authenticity, by a circular letter, dated the 28th 
 of May, from the minister of police, and by a 
 proclamation (dated Angers, 29th) of General 
 Lainarque, who has taken the field, and is said 
 to have already routed the insurgents in several 
 actions. The operations of the English on the 
 western coast, and their communications with 
 the La Vendeans, may be called a commence- 
 ment of hostilities : but, if there were any 
 doubt before of the fatal determination of our 
 ministry, the capture of the Melpomene by the 
 Rivoli must annihilate every hope of peace. 
 Yet such is the violent inclination here for 
 avoiding the renewal of war, that several jour- 
 nals, and, at last, the Moniteur, hint that the 
 action took place by a mistake of the British 
 captain. 
 
 The director-general of the posts mentioned
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 451 
 
 in my hearing, the other evening, that the ser- 
 vice of the mails between Dover and Calais, 
 which had been interrupted a short time, was 
 now re-established and in activity, as usual. 
 It would be the height of injustice in any 
 one of the few Englishmen now at Paris 
 not to own that he has been treated with an 
 attention and deference by all classes, which, 
 considering the distinct national air and appear- 
 ance, joined with the present public politics of 
 our countrymen, no inconsiderable command 
 of manner and language must be requisite to 
 enable the French to assume. 
 
 I believe that none of us, who have chosen 
 to make the application, have been refused ad- 
 missions to the ceremony of opening the parlia- 
 ment to-morrow, although only three hundred 
 spectators can be present, and many, even of 
 the court, have not succeeded in procuring 
 tickets. The grand marshal presented one to 
 
 me. Your friend B has had two sent to 
 
 him, which you may think were not obtained by 
 any undue concessions, or any exclusive atten- 
 tions to one party, when I tell you that one of 
 them has been transmitted to a notorious royalist 
 lady of the Bourbon court, who would otherwise 
 have been unable to be present at the sight. 
 It is not the least obligatory circumstance at- 
 tending the reception of your friend here, that 
 
 g g 2
 
 452 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 no unbecoming partiality of language or con- 
 duct has been expected from him ; and that, on 
 the contrary, he has been even encouraged in a 
 freedom of discourse which he has found con- 
 trary to the forms or express regulations of al- 
 most every other continental capital. Neither 
 these tickets nor that reception may be a rea- 
 son why the English and French nations should 
 not go to war, although I most firmly believe 
 that the present attachment to the Bourbons in 
 our country dates from the day when those 
 princes refused the invitation to Kensington 
 Palace, and basely administered to the rancour 
 of the most pitiful persecution that ever dis- 
 graced the domestic annals even of the house 
 of Brunswick,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 4,53 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 Paris, June 10. 
 
 On Wednesday, at two o'clock, another Eng- 
 lishman and myself went to the palace of the 
 legislative body, and, after some trouble, got 
 into the galleries of the theatre of the house of 
 representatives, which were shortly filled chiefly 
 with ladies in evening dresses. A tribune was 
 boarded off for the ladies of the court : — a 
 throne was placed on the elevation in the circu- 
 lar niche, where the president's chair is raised ; 
 and on the steps beneath were ranged benches, 
 those on the right being for the ministers, and 
 the others on the left for the marshals of the 
 empire. One chair was at the right of the 
 throne, and two on the left ; and a stool stood 
 at each side beyond. The four lower ranges of 
 seats were reserved for the house of peers, ex- 
 cept a semicircle on the left, which was kept 
 apart for the counsellors of state. The depu- 
 ties filled all the upper seats of the theatre. In 
 an hour the peers began to arrive, nearly all of 
 them either in regimentals or in broad cordons.
 
 454 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 The counsellors of state took their places : and 
 shortly afterwards Napoleon's mother (usually- 
 known by the title of Madame Mere, a very 
 handsome, regular featured, princely personage, 
 young of her age) entered the gallery with the 
 Princess Hortense, and the beautiful Duchesses 
 of Bassano, Rovigo, and Vicenza. At four 
 o'clock we heard the cannon of the Tuileries, 
 and, in about twenty minutes, the cannon sta- 
 tioned near the palace ; at which time the fold* 
 jng doors of the theatre, opposite the throne, 
 were thrown open ; and the 25 members, with 
 the president who had received the court, 
 walked down the steps, followed by the mi- 
 nisters of state and the marshals, who took 
 their places by the throne : after these came 
 the chamberlains and pages : and lastly, a man 
 shouted with a loud voice, L'EMPEREUR I 
 — and Napoleon appeared. He wore his bonnet 
 and imperial mantle, and was attended by the 
 princes his brothers, by aide-de-camps and mar- 
 shals in waiting, together with other great 
 officers of his court ; amongst whom were 
 Cardinal Cambaceres, the grand almoner, and 
 the prince archchancellor his brother, in his 
 robe of bees. The whole assembly arose — Na- 
 poleon walked down to the area of the theatre, 
 and then ascended the steps to the throne amidst 
 continued acclamations. He turned round,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARTS. 455 
 
 Lowed, and sat down. Lucien took place to 
 his left ; Joseph, King of Spain, to his right. 
 The chair of Prince Jerome, King of Westpha- 
 lia, was vacant, so were the stools. The princes 
 wore white, robes as on the Champ de Mai. The 
 aide-de-camps and marshals stood behind the 
 throne. The whole assembly continued stand- 
 ing, when the grand master of the ceremonies, 
 the Count Segur, was addressed by the Em- 
 peror. The grand master then exclaimed, 
 " the Emperor begs you will be seated," — and 
 all took their seats. The president Lanjuinais 
 was seated in front of the throne, with two Ser- 
 jeants at arms behind his chair. The archchan- 
 cellor, advancing in face of the Emperor, in- 
 formed him that the members of the two 
 houses would proceed to take the oath of 
 obedience to the constitution, and fidelity to 
 his majesty. Accordingly, the names of the 
 peers were first called over, beginning with 
 Prince Joseph ; who, standing up, turning to 
 his imperial brother, and stretching out his 
 hand towards him, exclaimed, " Je jure!'* 
 a ceremony observed by Lucien, and by all the 
 peers. This oath, and that of the representa- 
 tives, which followed, lasted a tedious time. 
 Several names must have awakened certain recol- 
 lections ; but there was no curiosity excited in 
 the assembly, except at calling over La Fayette,
 
 456 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 when all eyes were raised, and Napoleon him- 
 self looked towards the general. Napoleon con- 
 tinually took lozenges from a small box in his 
 hand, and appeared to labour considerably in 
 his chest. He was evidently unwell : except 
 speaking twice to Prince Joseph, he said not a 
 word to any one near him. When the oaths 
 were finished, he adjusted himself, turned to 
 the left, pulled off his bonnet, saluted the as- 
 sembly, recovered himself, and, unrolling a 
 paper, began his speech. His mantle embar- 
 rassed him, and he turned it partially over his 
 left shoulder — his voice was distinct and clear, 
 but rather feeble towards the end of the dis- 
 course. I lost not a word: and looked, I 
 own, a little red, when he said, " La fregate la 
 " Melpomene a ete atlaquee et prise dans la Me~ 
 ii diterranee apres un combat sanglant contre un 
 " vaisseau Anglais de 74. Le sang a coule pen- 
 " dantlapaix!" The mention of this isolated 
 fact startled me, as it designated the head and 
 real mover of the new coalition, and seemed the 
 first step towards that line of policy, which, of 
 course, when the war is begun, will attempt to 
 exasperate the nation against our countrymen. 
 I send the speech, which appears to me prefer- 
 able to that of the Champ de Mai*. When he 
 
 * Sac Appendix — No. 16.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 45? 
 
 spoke the last sentence, " La sainte cause de la 
 " patrie triomphera" he elevated his voice, and 
 seemed unconsciously to give a jerk or half 
 flourish with his right hand. He instantly rose, 
 bowed to the assembly, and retired amidst 
 thunders of acclamations, which accompanied 
 him from the throne until he disappeared at 
 the door, and obliged him several times to turn 
 round and salute the assembly as he was quickly 
 ascending the stairs from the area : — he appeared 
 highly delighted. Indeed nothing could exceed 
 the enthusiasm, which was the more gratifying, 
 as it proceeded from such an assemblage ; and 
 which appeared the more spontaneous, as the 
 cries of Five I'Empereur! were not more frequent 
 than those of Vive la Nation I Vive la France ! 
 I have a presentiment of having seen this ex- 
 traordinary man for the last time. 
 
 Notwithstanding the qualifying phrase, it is 
 possible, no one doubted that he would set off 
 immediately for the army The imperial guard 
 had nearly all marched on the day of the open- 
 ing the session, only the depots remain ; and 
 the duty of the Tuileries, and other public pa- 
 laces, is performed by the national guards. He 
 has now done all that he promised the people 
 at his restoration, which depended upon him- 
 self: he has, as he truly says, commenced the 
 constitutional monarchy, and given the people
 
 458 ' LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 of France something more substantial and per- 
 manent to fight for than any vain attachment to 
 their glory or to their monarch. Of this the 
 character of the chamber of representatives is 
 alone sufficient to furnish a decided proof. 
 The day after the imperial session a proposal 
 was made by Mr. Gamier, to state in the proces 
 verbal of the opening the parliament, that the 
 sentiments of the assembly were unanimous on 
 that occasion : but the president observed, that 
 this regard to unanimity might be inimical to 
 individual opinions j and the same objection 
 being made by Mr. Dumolard, the order of the 
 day was adopted, and the president proposed 
 the formation of a committee for preparing the 
 address, which committee was named and 
 formed of the bureau, together with five other 
 members. An evidence no less clear of the 
 warrantable jealousy with which the new par- 
 liament would guard themselves from every 
 suspicion of undue deference to the constitu- 
 tional monarch, was shown in a short debate 
 that ensued, upon a proposal of Mr. Felix Le- 
 pelletier the same day, to decree in the address 
 the title of Saviour of his country to Napoleon. 
 Not only the most tumultuous cries of the order 
 of the day arose from all parts of the house, to 
 discourage this premature flattery ; but Mr. 
 Dupin mounted the tribune, and protested ve-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 459 
 
 hemently against that adulation which had mis- 
 led so many preceding legislative bodies ; add- 
 ing also, '* if we anticipate events, what means 
 *' will be reserved by which we shall demon- 
 " strate our gratitude, at the moment when our 
 " country shall be saved." 
 
 The sitting of the next day was attended 
 with a circumstance equally declaratory of the 
 reassumption of the national rights. I found 
 that the whole bureau had been chosen, and 
 made, indeed, a respectable appearance with 
 its president, four vice-presidents, and four 
 secretaries, attended by the eight Serjeants at 
 arms. The statue of Napoleon was replaced 
 on the pedestal behind the Emperor's chair. 
 Several reports from committees were read 
 to the house, and received with some little dis- 
 cussion, which called up many orators, some 
 of whom spoke from the tribunes, others from 
 their places, and were more or less listened to, 
 according as the opinions inclined to the popu- 
 lar sentiments of the day. 
 
 The president informed the house, that several 
 projects of addresses had been handed in to the 
 committee, and that the one judged most suitable 
 would be submitted to the house the next day. 
 But a discussion of the utmost importance then 
 ensued, and was carried on with all the warmth
 
 460 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 that a question involving the liberty of the sub- 
 ject might be expected to excite. A member, 
 rising in his place, enquired what method 
 ought to be adopted for the presentation of pe- 
 titions to the house, and proposed a provisional 
 committee for the reception and preparation of 
 suitable petitions ; but against this mode there 
 were many objectors, who asserted, that the 
 establishment of a committee might put some 
 difficulties in the way of petitions, contrary to 
 the rights of the citizens. In the heat of the 
 argument, an officer, with some anger, said, 
 that the first thing to be considered was, to 
 answer the Emperor's speech, and dropped the 
 expression of " an effusion of the heart, on the 
 part of the members, for his Majesty's good- 
 ness." The words were scarcely out of his 
 mouth, when he was put down with a shout of 
 disapprobation, and, leaving his place, went out 
 of the chamber with evident marks of disgust. 
 The president himself remarked, that the dis- 
 cussion of the present question could not be 
 postponed — that it was the first duty of the re- 
 presentatives to attend to their constituents. 
 He was followed by others, and amongst them 
 by Mr. Flaugergues, who, in an eloquent 
 speech, recommended the adoption of the 
 mode pointed out in the constitution, and sane-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 461 
 
 tionedby the practice of the English parliament, 
 in which a petition was presented by a member, 
 and then the house voted whether or not it 
 should be considered. 
 
 In mentioning the practice of England, he 
 qualified his approbation, by stating, that he 
 did not wish to hold up the rivals of France to 
 any other applause than that which they de- 
 rived from the, sanction which experience had 
 given to some of their institutions. The mem- 
 ber who had stated the question then came 
 forward again, and asked the house whether it 
 was their pleasure he should read a petition 
 from a citizen illegally arrested, and put under 
 the inspection of the mayor, in the prison of 
 Valence. The petition was read j and, proving 
 to contain a case which merited the attention 
 of the assembly, was ordered to be presented 
 to the Emperor by the president. The next day, 
 Mr. Regnault de St. Jean D'Angely inform- 
 ed the house, that the petition had been trans- 
 ferred to the proper ministers by the Emperor, 
 and that the consequence had been an imme- 
 diate order for the enlargement of the peti- 
 tioner, and a restoration to his functions. Can 
 a more decided proof be wanting of the omni- 
 potence of the national representation, and of 
 their inclination to consult before all things the 
 interests of their constituents ? This comes
 
 462 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 opportunely to you, who see in the Courier, 
 that any one found reading that journal or the 
 Times is punished by a fine of 100 Napoleons, 
 and a year's imprisonment ; and that 600 per- 
 sons have been arrested for exclaiming a little 
 too publicly against the government of Napo- 
 leon.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 463 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Sunday, June II.- 
 
 The sitting of the chamber of representatives 
 was private yesterday, when the address was 
 taken into consideration. The peers had less 
 difficulty in framing their speech to his Majesty; 
 but that body seems to be forgotten, in the 
 general anxiety to observe the conduct of the 
 lower house. It cannot be expected that the 
 jealousy manifested in the proceedings of the 
 representatives should be altogether so pleasing 
 to the immediate friends of the court and per- 
 sonal partisans of the Emperor, some of whom 
 affect to regret that he did not prorogue the 
 parliament, whilst others more openly insist 
 upon the danger of Napoleon's delaying his mi- 
 litary movements, of which the protracted dis- 
 cussions on the address are alleged to be the 
 cause. To me it appears that Napoleon 
 should have convoked the legislative body 
 immediately upon his return — should have 
 left to them the original formation of a consti- 
 tution — and instantly upon finding the allies 
 were resolved upon war, have marched upon 
 Belgium, where he could not have met with 
 resistance sufficient to oppose the concentrated 
 armies of France. By this conduct he would
 
 464 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 have escaped the unpopularity of his own 
 " additional act," have shown his perfect con- 
 fidence in his subjects, and have avoided the 
 evil consequences which may now arise from 
 delay. As to proroguing the parliament, it is to 
 be doubted whether the Emperor could at this 
 time do it if he would. The chamber has ac- 
 cepted the offer of a guard from the national 
 guards of Paris, and all the regular troops have 
 marched to the frontiers. Besides this, the 
 chamber is composed of men who seem in pos- 
 session of the confidence of the nation ; and as 
 in all essential points they afford every support 
 to the executive, any attempt against them 
 would weaken the hands of government, and 
 perhaps be fatal to the personal cause of the 
 Emperor. The repeated accounts received of 
 the preparations making on the part of the allies, 
 and the report of the allied sovereigns having 
 commenced their march towards the armies, 
 naturally increase the anxiety of the friends of 
 the government to see Napoleon at the head of 
 
 his soldiers. Mr. S , addressing me yesterday 
 
 evening, said that the delay was inconceivable; 
 that Napoleon had four times before lost him- 
 self by hesitation, and might a fifth time. The 
 same gentleman, and some others, were angry 
 with the chamber for being so long in present- 
 ing their address, and added, " If they do not 
 " intend to support the Emperor, let them de-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 465 
 
 *' dare so at once, and proclaim the King of 
 " Rome, or Duke of Orleans, or any other per- 
 " son." In the sixth volume of the Censor, it is 
 proposed that the chambers should send deputies 
 to the allied head-quarters, offering every reason- 
 able guarantee- for the maintenance of the ueace 
 of Paris, and the popular restriction of the impe- 
 rial power. In short, the republican party al- 
 ready appears to be decidedly predominant; 
 and when I say the republican party, I mean 
 the constitutionalists, in contradistinction to the 
 personal partisans of Napoleon, of whom there 
 are reckoned no more than a hundred in the 
 whole representation. It is easy to see that 
 the court has its fears of this party. In the Mo- 
 il iteur of last Friday, the 9th, appeared an essay 
 to prove the folly and inconsistency of those 
 who are jealous of a military power in a coun- 
 try where, and at a time when every thing has 
 been preserved, as every thing is to be decided, 
 by the soldiery. As long as the chamber is con- 
 vinced that the country is to be saved, as Mr. 
 Dumolard said, by and with Napoleon, they will 
 afford him every assistance consistent with their 
 paramount attachment to the rights of their 
 constituents; and it is but justice to the French 
 nation to say, that their devotion in support of 
 this man has increased in proportion as his ene- 
 mies have appeared more determined upon his 
 vol. I. h H
 
 466 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 fall. Regarding him as their constitutional mo- 
 narch, they have consented to confront in his 
 behalf a peril greater than that with which a na- 
 tion was ever threatened, and to consider his" 
 glory as an indispensable condition of their 
 liberty. The moveable army of the empire 
 amounts at this moment to 850,000 men, of 
 whom 375,000 are regulars, including 40,000 of 
 the imperial guard. Of these 375,000 — 200,000 
 have been raised since the 20th of March, and 
 are all old soldiers, above twenty years of age*. 
 The national guards amount to 2,254,320, a 
 thirteenth of the whole population. But this 
 devotion of the people supposes and expects a 
 corresponding exertion on the part of the Em- 
 peror, and it may be added, such exertion as 
 from its first successes or its perseverance may 
 justify their choice of a chief. Should Napo- 
 leon meet with any signal disaster, it is an opi- 
 nion of some, (and I heard it publicly delivered 
 a day or two ago) that the representatives will 
 think that the state is to be saved by other 
 hands. You will observe, that in his speech to 
 the parliament he takes care to recommend to 
 their attention the necessity of putting some re- 
 straint upon the press. InCarnot's report is to be 
 found a strong and fair representation of the ex? 
 
 * Carnot's Report to the Emperor,
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 4()7 
 
 cesses of the press, and the attempts of the Bour- 
 bon agents, which it was impossible for any actual 
 monarch to suffer and reign. On the whole, Na- 
 poleon must be supposed to feel that his crown 
 depends entirely upon himself, and that he does 
 not leave behind him at Paris friends sufficiently 
 powerful or numerous to excuse misconduct or 
 repair the losses of repeated failure. 
 
 The two houses have at last presented their 
 addresses this day at the Tuileries. That of 
 the peers contains sentiments very honourable 
 to the independence of that body, and, you will 
 own, very moderate*. They promise not to 
 be depressed by adversity ; but add, that their 
 constitutions guarantee to all Europe that the 
 French government cannot be carried away by 
 the seductions of victory. To this latter senti- 
 ment Napoleon replied, in the very opening of 
 his answer, and sufficiently evinced his feeling 
 of such a hint, when he said, " The struggle in 
 " which we are engaged is serious. The se- 
 <c duction of prosperity is not the danger which 
 " menaces us at this moment. It is under the 
 " Caudine forks that our enemies would now 
 " force us to pass." 
 
 The address of the commons is conceived in 
 the same spirit of firmness and moderation ; and 
 
 * See Appendix — No. \y. 
 
 H H 2
 
 468 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 at the same time that it shows the determination 
 of the representatives to make the establishment 
 of a free constitution their first care, and de- 
 clares that the will of a victorious prince will 
 be impotent in any endeavour to draw the na- 
 tion beyond the limits necessary for its defence, 
 declares that they are ready to co-operate to 
 the utmost with the monarch of their choice in 
 every effort for maintaining the liberty, the ho- 
 nour, and the dignity of France. It breathes 
 ardent vows for peace, and expresses the hope 
 that the Emperor will afford them every docu- 
 ment to prove that nothing has been left undone 
 to procure the continuance of that blessing. 
 
 The answer of Napoleon imparted the import- 
 ant, the long-expected news, that he should de^- 
 part for the army, and depart to-night. He 
 frankly advised the representatives not to imi- 
 tate the example of the lower empire, which, 
 pressed on all sides by the barbarians, became 
 tire laughter of posterity by occupying itself 
 with abstract discussions, whilst the battering- 
 rams thundered at their gates : but he no less 
 openly encouraged their labours and anxiety 
 for the immediate formation of a constitution, 
 and concluded in a style worthy of himself and 
 of his cause* " On all occasions my march 
 w will be always upright and unshaken. Help 
 " me to save your country. As the first repre-
 
 a 
 it 
 t( 
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 46.9 
 
 <c sentative of the people, I have contracted 
 the obligation which I here renew to employ, 
 in more tranquil times, all the prerogatives 
 of. the crown, and any small experience 
 t f which I may have acquired, in seconding 
 <c your efforts towards the amelioration of our 
 " constitution. " You may admire this answer; 
 but you must remark also the same tendency 
 towards irritation which discovers itself in the 
 reply to the peers. By what abstract questions 
 the chamber has delayed its attention to the 
 immediate necessities of the state, I know not, 
 except Napoleon alludes to the discussions on 
 the words of the address to himself, or to the 
 debates upon matters of form, which have oc- 
 cupied the chamber rather too much ; but 
 which might be expected in an infant assem- 
 bly. I could not help myself remarking, that 
 it would be necessary for the chamber to have 
 recourse to some regulations which should save 
 them from the embarrassment and delay they 
 at present experience by private presentation 
 of homages, and pamphlets, and offers of service 
 from individuals. You will recognize, perhaps, 
 in the language of the two replies, a confirma- 
 tion of what I before said relative to the state 
 of public feeling, and the suspicions of the Em- 
 peror's personal partisans. An article in the 
 journal, devoted to the constitutionalists, called
 
 470 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the Independent, of the 8th of June, on the 
 national independence and public liberty, con- 
 tains a tirade against absolute power, and the 
 personal importance of the monarch, which 
 glances distinctly at the character of the Em- 
 peror. 
 
 It remains to be seen how the friends of li- 
 berty will conduct themselves should he be 
 crowned with signal success. He says, " I de- 
 " part to-night ;" but indicates no spot to which 
 he directs his steps. Relays of post horses have 
 been ordered some days for him on all the prin- 
 cipal roads : a method of concealing his actual 
 destination which he has often before adopted.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 471 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Monday, June 12. 
 
 Napoleon left Paris this morning at half 
 after three o'clock. The Moniteur does not 
 mention his departure, which is noticed by some 
 journals, that add he has taken the road to Sois- 
 sons. It is rumoured that orders were transmitted 
 two days ago to the army, in front of Marshal Blu- 
 cher, to drive in the Prussian posts ; but it may 
 be hoped that the Duke of Wellington is better 
 informed of the intended movements of the 
 French than the Parisians, who know nothing 
 beyond the mere fact, that the war is about to 
 begin, and that as the Emperor has joined his 
 forces, a great blow will be struck at once. 
 
 The head-quarters are to be at Brussels, on or 
 before the 2oth — so they bet — which in France 
 is a greater proof of confidence than in Eng- 
 land. Indeed this will be an imperial conflict — 
 certandum eat de imperio. It is the civil war of 
 sovereigns, and the first battle may win a 
 crown. It has been reserved for our own gi- 
 gantic times to witness a war of which the 
 avowed purpose is the dethronement of an Em-
 
 472 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 peror j a project which, considered as the effort 
 of enemies, not of rivals, (for Louis is not 
 a Maria Theresa,) is without precedent, al- 
 though the example may be too alluring to 
 leave it without imitators. The occupation of 
 Brussels and the retreat of Lord Wellington to 
 Antwerp are to be followed by a proposition 
 for peace. Such is the language of those who 
 think the enthusiasm of the French army and the 
 genius of their chief irresistible. Indeed I meet 
 with very few here who think it probable that 
 la furia Francese will be withstood at the onset: 
 even the acknowledged talents of our com- 
 mander-in-chief, and the proverbial courage of 
 Englishmen, are thought unequal, si-Qce they 
 have never been put in opposition, to Napoleon 
 and his guard. But the more timid, not to 
 say the more thinking, reasoners, predict that 
 France must finally succumb if the alliance 
 should not be dissolved by the first successes 
 of the Emperor. This will be the case if the 
 affair is to be determined by pitched battles, 
 instead of being protracted into a war of posts; 
 but the immense means of defence which the 
 genius and activity of Napoleon, and the devo- 
 tion of his subjects, have already developed, if 
 sparingly and pertinaciously employed, would, 
 I fancy, resist the combination of the allies, 
 liable as it must be to all the principles of in-
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 473 
 
 ternal dissolution. The natural solicitude for 
 and importance of Paris increase the dangers of 
 the cause. A single defeat lays bare the walls 
 of the capital, and no more is expected from 
 the batteries of Montmartre than from the 
 national guard. The influence of the metro- 
 polis upon the feeling of the people unhappily 
 connects the ruin of the empire with the fall 
 of this fatal city, and precipitates or cramps the 
 measures which might otherwise be adopted 
 for the general safety. The twelfth legion of 
 the national guards, and other corps, have so- 
 lemnly sworn at banquets to die beneath the 
 entrenchments which they have raised; but this 
 sacrifice they may make and not save the town. 
 I know that it was the opinion of Napoleon, if 
 I can trust my informant, who had it from the 
 Emperor's mouth, that had he not been de- 
 serted by Marshal Marmont he might have oc- 
 cupied one side of Paris, whilst the allies were 
 in possession of the other, and, assisted by the 
 suburbs and armed levies, would have finally 
 succeeded in cutting off the retreat of his ene- 
 mies. It is not to be supposed that he would 
 have refrained from the partial destruction of 
 the city, had such an extremity been necessary 
 for the success of his military operations. The 
 Duke of Ragusa, in his Justificatory Memoir, 
 owns that Napoleon would have marched from
 
 4Y4 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Fontainbleau to Paris if his officers would have 
 seconded him. I am aware that Napoleon has 
 denied his intention of burning Paris ; but Je- 
 rome, King of Westphalia, told Mr. P 
 
 that his brother positively commanded that 
 last great sacrifice ; and, on being asked what 
 he would have done with such and such papers 
 and documents, answered, " They will be 
 " burned with the rest." Also let me add, 
 
 M. de L r is generally designate^ here as 
 
 the person who prevented the dreadful mea- 
 sure from being executed. With such a per- 
 suasion, and with the threat ringing in their 
 ears, that Europe shall see what the fall of 
 a great man will cost, the Parisians, even 
 those who are royalists, tremble at the appre- 
 hension of a defeat, which may lay their city 
 in ashes, and let loose upon them, not only the 
 fury of a triumphant enemy, but the despair of 
 their own fellow-citizens. The command of the 
 first military division is left to Cafarelli, who 
 has published an order of the day relative to 
 the defence of the town and its environs. The 
 first personal efforts of the Emperor begin un- 
 der happy auspices ; for a circular from the 
 minister of war, of the date of yesterday, an- 
 nounces the repeated defeat of the insurgents 
 of La Vendee ; and the Moniteur of to-day 
 gives some favourable details from the official
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 475 
 
 correspondence of General Lamarque. It can, 
 not be without some regret that the friends of 
 the imperial family read in the same paper the 
 account of the final conquest of the kingdom 
 of Naples, which, I suppose, is regarded at 
 home as the first triumph of legitimacy. 
 
 Regarding Napoleon and his warriors as the 
 partisans of the cause of peoples against the 
 conspiracy of kings, whatever may be my re- 
 gret that that cause has not fallen into hands 
 so pure as to command unqualified support, I 
 cannot help wishing that the French may meet 
 with as much success as will not compromise 
 the military character of my own countrymen. 
 But, as an Englishman, I will not be witness 
 to their triumphs; as a lover of liberty, I would 
 not be a spectator of their reverses. I leave 
 Paris to-morrow. The police and the minister 
 for foreign affairs signed my passport for Ge- 
 neva at the first demand ; and, as I learn, no 
 difficulty has hitherto been put in the way of 
 any one wishing to quit the capital or the coun- 
 try. I regret much that I shall not stay to 
 hear the report of the minister of the interior, 
 which is to be read to the chamber of repre- 
 sentatives the day after to-morrow, and which 
 I will take care to transmit to you, in case it 
 should not appear in the English papers, that 
 you may have some notion of the activity of a
 
 476 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 government which must command the admira- 
 tion of the world, and winch, should it fall to- 
 morrow, has in three months done enough for the 
 glory, though it should fail to procure the happi- 
 ness, of France. In the chamber of representa- 
 tives, to-day, it appears that two members had 
 already intended to communicate propositions 
 relative to the great work of the constitution ; 
 but the business was postponed upon the sugges- 
 tion of Mr. Dumolard, that all projects should 
 lie upon the table twenty-four hours previously 
 to their public presentation ; and Mr. Felix 
 Desportes then read a petition, demanding jus- 
 tice, not imploring favour, from the Emperor, 
 by an individual who had been put under the 
 inspection of the mayor of Epernay by the mi- 
 nister of war. After some discussion the as- 
 sembly agreed to refer the petition to a com- 
 mittee of examination, rather than decide at 
 once upon its merits, as that proceeding might 
 give rise to an opinion that the legislative body 
 was endeavouring in every thing, and at the 
 first complaint, to thwart the measures of the 
 executive. One cannot but conceive the best 
 hopes from such an union of spirit and pru- 
 dence. A regency of ministers has been named, 
 at the head of which is placed his Imperial 
 Highness Prince Joseph.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 477- 
 
 LETTER XXIIf. 
 
 Bourg, Sunday, June 25. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 13th, Mr. B and 
 
 myself left Paris for Geneva ; and travelling 
 by Joigny, Tonnerre, and Dijon, arrived as far 
 as Morez, within thirty miles of that town. 
 We had heard at Dole that Geneva was block- 
 aded, and the same intelligence was conveyed 
 to us at Champagnole and St. Laurent ; but we 
 determined to proceed, and make an effort to 
 cross the frontiers. At Morez, however, where 
 we found about 1000 national guards employed 
 in fortifying that pass of the Jura, the Mare- 
 chal de Camp, Baron Gaussard, informed us, 
 that General Lecourbe had visited the outposts 
 the day before, and had given the strictest or- 
 ders that all communications should cease be- 
 tween the two countries. My fellow-traveller 
 had procured a letter of introduction for us 
 from Count Mollien, minister of the imperial 
 treasury, to Marshal the Duke of Albufera; 
 and this letter, Baron Gaussard informed us, 
 would have enabled us to pass, had the marshal 
 commanded at Morez ; but, unfortunately, be- 
 tween that place and Rousses, the next post,
 
 478 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 was a narrow tongue of land belonging to Swit- 
 zerland, whose territory the baron had express 
 orders not to violate, and the command of 
 Marshal Suchet commenced only at Gex, the 
 frontier town. We were advised, therefore, by 
 the baron to return ; and if our object was of 
 the last importance, to make a detour (a long 
 one indeed, about 2,50 miles) to Chamberri, the 
 head-quarters of the duke, who might then, if 
 he found it expedient, forward our views, and 
 make an exception in our favour. On the 
 evening of the 18th, therefore, we retraced our 
 steps to Champagnole, and crossed the moun- 
 tains to Lons le Saulnier. There a general in- 
 formed us, that Marshal Suchet had engaged 
 the Piedmontese at Montmellian, and would be 
 in Turin in a few days. We proceeded by 
 Beaufort, St. Amour, and St. Etienne-du-Bois, 
 to Bourg, the capital of the department of the 
 A in, where we were shown a telegraphic dis- 
 patch from Prince Joseph to the commander- 
 in-chief of the army of the Alps, stating the 
 Sambre to have been forced, Charleroy taken, 
 and the Emperor to have gained a complete vic- 
 tory over the Duke of Wellington and Blucher 
 on the 16th. At Pont d'Ain, the next stage, 
 those who examined our passports unfortunately 
 had drunk too many healths to the Emperor, 
 on the news of this great exploit; and we were
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 479 
 
 not only stopped, but favoured with the honours 
 of the gendarmery during that night and the 
 next morning, when we were transferred back 
 to Bourg, in order that the prefect might de- 
 cide upon the probabilities of our story, which, 
 to the uninstructed brigadier of this post, could 
 not be reconciled with the prevalent opinion of 
 English prudence. He supposed we must know 
 that Geneva was blockaded, and would be bom- 
 barded in a day or two ; and added many argu- 
 ments to prove that we had some concealed 
 plans, and that we were not Englishmen. It is 
 possible there might have been some little in- 
 temperance of expression on both sides ; but be 
 that as it will, the matter might have terminated 
 more unpleasantly for us if the mayor of Ain 
 had not stood our friend, and persuaded the 
 gendarme of the reasonableness of our request 
 to return to Bourg. The only circumstance now 
 worth recording is, that a person who was pre- 
 sent at our examination, on hearing a hint that 
 we might be transferred to a place of security for 
 the evening, exclaimed, " no man can be put in 
 " prison except by order of the representatives 
 " and by a law of the legislature." This good 
 person's notions of the new liberties of France 
 were a little confused, but convinced us that the 
 constitution had not been thrown away upon his 
 countrymen. Baron Baude, the prefect at
 
 480 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 Bourg, treated us with the utmost civility, and 
 offered to dispatch our letter to Marshal Suchet 
 by an estafette, on the condition that we should 
 remain in the town until the arrival of his an- 
 swer. We preferred taking this step to return* 
 ino" at once to Paris ; and the prefect informed 
 us that the whole country being at present in 
 arms, we were liable, through ignorance or 
 some little informality in our passports, to be 
 detained at any post, should we attempt to pro- 
 ceed towards Chamberri. Here then we have 
 remained. Moniteurs up to the 20th have ar- 
 rived regularly, and you may easily conceive 
 the eagerness with which they are perused. 
 That of the 14th contains no other intelligence 
 than that Napoleon was at Soissons at 10 in the 
 morning of the J 2th, and at Laon at 4 in the 
 afternoon, where he visited the works before he 
 continued his journey. The Moniteur of the 
 15th gives the report of the minister of the in- 
 terior, which was read to the chamber of re- 
 presentatives by Mr. Regnault de St. Jean 
 D'Angely, in the sitting of the 13th. The 
 chamber, on the 14th, heard some short dis- 
 cussion relative to its internal regulation, and 
 the provision for the president and members 
 of the assembly. — That paper contains no news 
 from the army. The number of the 16th is 
 equally silent ; but the details of the sitting of
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 481 
 
 the representatives on the 1.5th are interesting. 
 -A Mr. Malleville proposed the presentation 
 of a project in form of a law to the Emperor, 
 relative to seditious provocations and the abuse 
 of the liberty of the press. The cries of Vive 
 leRoi! Viventles Bourbons! Vive Louis XVIII ! 
 •were included in the first. It was moved to 
 adjourn the question until the hearing of the 
 report of the minister of police the next day ; 
 and also on the ground, that previously to de- 
 ciding on the abuse of the liberty of the press, 
 some regulations should be made touching the 
 jury selected to try that crime. The present 
 jury is formed by the government, although 
 the offence is always against the government. 
 It was decided that Mr. Malleville should 
 be heard on Saturday. Mr. Legueval, deputy 
 for Morbihan, proposed a project relative to 
 crimes committed by armed outlaws, and was 
 heard patiently, until he came to an article 
 which put all revolters, their ascendants and 
 descendants, out of the protection of the law, 
 when the orator was interrupted by loud cries 
 of disapprobation, and of the order of the day, 
 some voices adding, avec la censure. I beg you 
 to remark the feeling of moderation which has 
 more than once displayed itself in this Jacobin 
 parliament. Mr. Pouilly named the next day 
 for a proposition relative to the suspension of 
 vol. i. I i
 
 482 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 the constitutional laws in the insurgent depart- 
 ments. Mr. Dupin proposed Monday for dis- 
 cussing a proposition which he should offer to 
 the house, tending to form a committee of 21 
 members, chargee de reunir nos constitutions, de 
 les refondre el de les co-ordonner dans un projetde 
 loi general Mr. Marques proposed that the Em* 
 peror should be invited to name a commission; 
 and also the chamber of peers a certain number 
 of members to assist the labours of the representa- 
 tives in framing this constitution. The question 
 was deferred till Monday. Mr. Malleville then 
 proposed, that in no discussion the wish, the 
 presumed intention, or an expression of the 
 monarch, should be quoted to the house ; but 
 this important regulation was on the point of 
 being laid aside, because the orator twice intro- 
 duced the expression — " in England," an ex- 
 ample which present feeling makes it more ad- 
 visable to follow than to cite, -j 
 
 The Moniteur of the 1 7th is taken up with 
 the voluminous report of the Duke of Vicenza, 
 which contains a remonstrance against the con- 
 duct of the allies, accompanied with documents 
 such as the chamber of representatives seemed 
 to demand in their address to the Emperor, and 
 tending to prove that Napoleon has done all in 
 his power to maintain the peace of Europe, and 
 has been forced at last into a war, which, in-
 
 it 
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 483 
 
 deed, has already been begun on the part of the 
 enemy, and required, therefore, his immediate 
 presence to conduct. " The English," says the 
 Duke, " the Prussians, the Austrians, are in line. 
 " The Russians are in full march — the head 
 " of their first column passed Nurenberg on the 
 " 1 9th of May, and is now on the banks of the 
 «' Rhine. The Emperor of Russia and the King 
 of Prussia quitted Vienna on the 26th of 
 May, and the Emperor of Austria on the 
 *' 27th. These sovereigns are at this moment 
 " at the head of their armies, and your majesty 
 *' is yet at Paris .... Sire, all farther hesita- 
 " tion must compromise the interests of our 
 " country." 
 
 Indeed I should presume, that neither in 
 France nor England will Napoleon want any 
 excuse for having struck the first blow, except 
 Mr. Grattan should, in his riot, have doomed 
 him to bleed without resistance. The Moni- 
 teur contains a short bulletin, dated Charleroy, 
 June 15, nine in the evening, couched in these 
 words — "The army has forced the Sambre, taken 
 u Charleroy, and driven the advanced posts half 
 " way from Charleroy to Namur, and from Char- 
 " leroy to Brussels. We have made loOO pri- 
 " setters, and taken six pieces of cannon. Four 
 ** Prussian regiments have been cut to pieces. 
 " The Emperor's army has suffered but little ; 
 
 1 1 2
 
 484 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 " but he has experienced a sensible loss in the 
 " death of General Letort, his aide-de-camp, who 
 " was killed on the heights of Fleurus, leading a 
 " charge of cavalrv. The enthusiasm of the in- 
 " habitants of Charleroy, and of all the countries 
 " which we traverse, cannot be described." 
 
 The paper of the 18th gives at last the official 
 detail of this first action, and also the Emperors 
 address to the army, dated Avesnes, June 14th, 
 conceived in his usual terms, telling his soldiers 
 that he addresses them on the anniversary of 
 Marengo and Friedland*. A dispatch men- 
 tions the affair of Montmellian by Marshal Su- 
 chet. The Emperor, in a letter of the 1 6th, 
 has written with his own hand — " Letort is 
 " better." The French know how to appre- 
 ciate such solicitude. In the chamber of peers 
 on the 16th, an animated discussion took place 
 on some internal regulations. That body be- 
 gan to assume an independent aspect, and the 
 Count of Pontecoulant declared that if they 
 had resolved not to be insignificant they must 
 resolve often to displease. The Duke of Otran- 
 to's report was read to the chambers. It con- 
 tains a picture by no means flattering or flat- 
 tered of the state of the Empire, and holds 
 that language of truth which it must be owned 
 has characterised all the public acts of the im- 
 * See Appendix — No. 21.
 
 LETTERS FltOM PARIS. 485 
 
 perial ministry. The institutions of England 
 are repeatedly quoted, to justify a suspension of 
 the constitutional laws and a restriction of the 
 abuses of the press ; but the minister candidly 
 confesses that, up to this time, the personal 
 liberty of the subject has not been sufficiently 
 secured against those exertions of authority 
 which the divers orders in power conceive them- 
 selves justified in employing against suspected 
 individuals. " The result of this," he adds, is 
 " a general disquietude, a secret discontent, an 
 " actual and progressive establishment of power 
 " — for power does not always command obedi- 
 " ence; obedience, on the contrary, is the mea- 
 " sure and limit of power, and results amongst 
 " all civilised peoples from the national con- 
 " sent."* 
 
 Where such language can be held by a mi- 
 nister to his sovereign, and trusted to the ears 
 of a nation, the establishment of despotism is 
 not, surely, the most rational apprehension. 
 In the chamber of representatives on the 16th, 
 after hearing the report of the Duke of Vicenza 
 read by Mr. Boulay de la Meurthe, counsellor 
 of state, a warm debate arose upon the proposi- 
 tion of Mr. Jay, that, for the future, the reports 
 of ministers should be addressed to the cham- 
 ber, and the ministers be ready to answer any 
 * See Appendix — No. 20.
 
 486 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 questions put by the members. Mr. Le Roi 
 went so far as to propose that as the minister's 
 communication gave notice of the inevitable 
 commencement of war, that communication, ac- 
 cording to the article thirty of the constitution 
 of the year 8, which enacts "that all declarations 
 of war shall be proposed, discussed, decreed, 
 and promulgated as a law," should be transfer- 
 red to a special committee. This proposal was 
 contested by several members, and particularly 
 by General Sebastiani ; but a proposition of 
 this general's, to transfer the important question 
 of the method of communication between the 
 executive and legislative to a special commis- 
 sion, was adopted almost unanimously. Mr. 
 Pouilly notified his intention of proposing that 
 the government should communicate the acts 
 by which certain departments had been put out 
 of the empire of the constitution, and that these 
 acts should be discussed. The report of the 
 minister of the police gave rise to much discus- 
 sion on the necessity of taking some immediate 
 step for the suppression of the insurgents. Mr. 
 Dumolard proposed a commission of nine mem- 
 bers for that purpose, but this was objected to, 
 as an assumption of the initiative by the cham- 
 ber, which is left by the constitution to the 
 executive. Mr. Barrere, however, said that 
 circumstances had evinced the influence and
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 487 
 
 force of truth, and of those principles of policy 
 founded upon wisdom, by showing the neces- 
 sity of two initiatives, one of the executive and 
 the other of the legislative. Mr. Dumolard's 
 proposition was negatived, and the chamber 
 passed to the order of the day. 
 
 The same Moniteur contains, in six lines, 
 the following intelligence, strangely squeezed 
 into a corner of a column : — 
 
 " News from the Army. 
 
 " Behind Ligny, June l6th, 
 "half past eight in the evening. 
 
 " The Emperor has just obtained a complete 
 " victory over the Prussian and English armies 
 " united, under the orders of Lord Wellington 
 " and Marshal Blucher. The army debouches 
 te at this instant by the village of Ligny, in 
 " front of Fleurus, to pursue the enemy." 
 
 The prefect, Baron Baude, has assured us 
 that he has received confirmation of this great 
 news. The paper of the next day (19th) gave 
 a very short official letter from the Duke of 
 Dalmatia to the minister of war, dated Fleurus, 
 June 17 — mentioning that Wellington and 
 Blucher with difficulty saved themselves, and 
 that the English army had lost some cannon
 
 488 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 and some standards *. I suppose the marshal 
 means to be pleasant when he says that the 
 French were one to three. A private letter from 
 Fleurus is inserted with that of the marshal- 
 major-general of the army, stating that already 
 eight thousand prisoners are taken, and twenty 
 pieces of cannon, and many stand of colours. 
 A charge of the old guard is said to have de- 
 cided the battle. It is not said whether Prus- 
 sians or English were chiefly engaged. In the 
 sitting of the peers on the 17th, the report of 
 the minister of police was read, and a discussion 
 took place, similar to that in the representatives, 
 relative to the initiative in the proposal of laws, 
 which terminated in the suggestion of Count 
 Thibeaudeau, that the communication between 
 the executive and the legislative should be re- 
 gulated by a special commission, consisting of 
 commissioners named by the government and 
 by each of the houses. In the chamber of re- 
 presentatives, on the same clay, previously to 
 the business already recorded, Mr, Malleville 
 developed his project for the repression of the 
 abuse of the liberty of the press, and a debate 
 ensued relative to evacuating the galleries, 
 which ended in the regulation that on the de- 
 
 * See Appendix — No. 12.
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 489 
 
 mand of twenty-five members the house must, 
 at any time, resolve itself into a secret commit- 
 tee. Mr. Crochon said, in his speech, " we 
 " are here by the people and for the people, 
 " and it is in their presence that we ought to 
 " determine even upon our internal expenses." 
 This drew down loud applauses from the galle- 
 ries, which, however, were reminded that all 
 signs of praise or blame were forbidden. At 
 the sitting of the 1 9th in the chamber of re- 
 presentatives, Mr. Crochon proposed a regula- 
 tion relative to vacancies in the chamber, in 
 which he insisted on the necessity of permitting 
 the monarch to choose his ministers amongst 
 the representatives of the people, citing the ex- 
 ample of England, who you will observe to be 
 still the model of those whom she is labouring 
 to destroy. The minister of state, Defermont, 
 read the report of the minister of finances, and 
 the remainder of the sitting was taken up with 
 determining the interior regulations respecting 
 committees, and discussing the necessity of en- 
 quiring into the conduct of the editor of the 
 Journal General de France, who had published 
 that General Travot had been defeated in La 
 Vendee, made prisoner, and exchanged for an 
 insurgent chieftain. Much indignation was 
 excited against the author of this seditious in- 
 telligence, which Mr. Regnault de St. Jean
 
 490 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 d'Angely asserted to be positively false; but 
 Mr. Dupin carried the order of the day, upon 
 the presumption that the competent authorities 
 would punish the delinquency. 
 
 The Moniteur of the 20th contains nothing 
 relative to the war but a letter from an officer 
 of the general staff, stating the battle of Fleurus 
 to have been a complete victory, in which the 
 combined armies were separated, four or five 
 thousand Scotchmen cut to pieces, adding these 
 words — " Le noble lord doit ttre confondu. The 
 " grand total of the enemy's loss is fifty thou- 
 *< sand." 
 
 The last words are to us of painful interest : 
 " Quant aux Anglais, on verm aujourd'hui ce 
 " quits deviendront. VEmpereur est Id?* It 
 is plain, then, the main English army has not 
 been engaged*. 
 
 * See Appendix — No. 23. 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
 T. DAVISON, Lombard-street, 
 Whitefriars, London.
 
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