Part 10

M. de St. L.... and M. de Mont...., who were returned from Vienna, had announced, that the allies would never depart from the principles manifested in their declaration and treaty of the 13th and 25th of March.

M. de Talleyrand, on whom Napoleon had depended, convinced of the triumph of the Bourbons, had refused to betray or abandon them.

M. de Stassard had been stopped at Lintz, and obliged to return. His despatches, which were seized and sent to the Emperor of Austria, had been shown to the foreign monarchs; and these monarchs had unanimously decreed, that they should not be taken into consideration, and that they adhered anew, and more formally than ever, to their declaration.

The Princess Hortense had received from the Emperor of Russia this laconic answer: "No peace, no truce, with that man: any thing except him."

The agents maintained by the Emperor in foreign countries informed him, that the troops of all the powers were in arms; and that the arrival of the Russians alone was waited for, to commence the campaign.

Thus every hope of conciliation was annihilated: the friends of Napoleon began to doubt his safety: he alone contemplated with imperturbable firmness the dangers, with which he was menaced.

The events of 1814 had disclosed to him the importance of the capital; and it may well be presumed, that he did not neglect the means of putting it into a state of defence. When the moment was arrived, for definitively resolving on the work of the fortifications, which he had already sketched out, M. Fontaine, his favourite architect, was with him, and was going to withdraw. "No," said the Emperor to him, "stay here: you shall help me to fortify Paris." He ordered the map of levels to be brought him; examined the sinuosities of the ground; consulted M. Fontaine on the placing of redoubts, and the erection of crown-works, triple crown-works, lunettes, &c. &c.; and in less than half an hour he conceived and settled, under the approbation of his architect, a definitive plan of defence, that obtained the suffrages of the most experienced engineers.

A swarm of workmen soon covered the vicinity of Paris: but to increase the effect, that the fortification of this city would produce both in France and in foreign countries, Napoleon caused it to be suggested to the national guard, to join in the work. Immediately detachments from the legions, accompanied by a number of citizens and federates from the suburbs of St. Antoine, and St. Marceau, repaired to Montmartre and Vincennes, and proceeded to the opening of the trenches with songs. The grenadiers of the guard would not remain idle; and came to take their part in the labour with their band of music at their head. The Emperor, accompanied only by a few of the officers of his household, frequently went to encourage the zeal of the workmen. His presence and his words fired their imagination: they fancied they saw Thermopylæ in every pass they fortified and, like new Spartans, swore with enthusiasm, to defend them till death.

The federates did not stop at these demonstrations of their zeal, empty as they often are; they called for arms, and were angry, at the dilatoriness with which they were given them. They complained no less eagerly, that they had not yet been reviewed by the Emperor.

To pacify them, the Emperor hastened to announce to them, that he would admit them with pleasure to file off before him on the first parade day.

On the 24th of May, they presented themselves at the Tuileries. Their battalions were composed in great part of old soldiers and laborious work people: but some of those vagabonds, who abound in great cities, had crept in among them; and these, with their jailbird countenances, and ragged clothes, recalled to mind but too forcibly those murderous bands, who formerly stained the dwelling of the unfortunate Louis XVI. with blood.

When Louis XIII., and the arrogant Richelieu, invoked the assistance of the corporations of arts and trades, they admitted their deputies to a solemn audience, took them by the hand, and embraced them all, history says, down to the very cobblers. Napoleon, though in a far more critical situation, would not humble himself before necessity: he preserved his dignity, and, in spite of himself, suffered symptoms to escape him of what he felt, at being obliged by circumstances to accept such assistance.

The chiefs of the confederation addressed him in a speech, in which the following passages were principally remarked.

"You, sire, are the man of the nation, the defender of our country: from you we expect independence, and a sage liberty. You will secure to us these two precious possessions; you will render sacred for ever the rights of the people: you will reign according to the constitution and the laws. We come to offer you our arms, our courage, and our blood, for the safety of the capital.

"Ah! sire, why had we not arms at the time when foreign kings, emboldened by treason, advanced up to the walls of Paris? ... we shed tears of rage, at seeing our hands useless to the common cause: ... we are almost all of us old defenders of our country; our country should give arms with confidence to those, who have shed their blood for her. Give us arms in her name ... we are not the instruments of any party, the agents of any faction.... As citizens, we are obedient to our magistrates, and to the laws; as soldiers, we are obedient to our chiefs....

"Long live the nation, long live liberty, long live the Emperor!"

The Emperor answered them in the following terms:

"Soldiers, federates of the suburbs of St. Antoine and St. Marceau: I returned alone, because I reckoned on the people of the towns, the inhabitants of the country, and the soldiers of the army, whose attachment to the honour of the nation I well knew. You have all justified my confidence. I accept your offer. I will give you arms; to lead you, I will give you officers covered with honourable scars, and accustomed to see the enemy flee before them. Your robust limbs, inured to the most laborious work, are better adapted than any other, to handle arms. As to courage, you are Frenchmen: you shall be the skirmishers (éclaireurs) of the national guard. I shall be without any anxiety for the capital, while the national guard and you are employed in its defence: and if it be true, that foreigners persist in the impious design of attacking our independence and our honour, I may avail myself of victory, without being checked by any solicitude.

"Soldiers, federates; if there be men among the higher classes of society, who have dishonoured the French name; the love of our country, and the sentiment of national honour, have been preserved entire among the people of our towns, the inhabitants of the country, and the soldiers of the army. I am glad to see you. I have confidence in you: long live the nation!"

Notwithstanding his promise, however, the Emperor, under the pretence, that there was not a sufficient number of muskets, only gave arms to those federates who were on duty; so that they passed daily from one hand to another, and consequently did not remain in the possession of any one. Various motives induced him, to take this precaution. He wished to preserve to the national guard a superiority, which it would have lost, if the whole of the federates had been armed. He was afraid, also, that the republicans, whom he ever considered as his most implacable enemies, would obtain sway over the minds of the federates; and induce them, in the name of liberty, to turn against himself those arms, that he had put into their hands. Fatal prejudice! that induced him to place his reliance elsewhere than on the people, and consequently deprived him of his firmest support.

At the moment when the population of Paris was testifying the most faithful attachment to the Emperor and their country, the alarm-bell of insurrection resounded through the plains of la Vendée.

As early as the 1st of May, some symptoms of commotion had been observed in le Bocage. The brave but unfortunate Travot had effected by his firmness, and by his persuasions, the restoration of order; and every thing appeared quiet, when emissaries arrived from England, to kindle the flames anew.

MM. de la Roche-jaquelin, d'Autichamp, Suzannet, Sapineau, Daudigné, and some others of the chiefs of la Vendée, re-assembled. A civil war was determined on. On the 15th of May, the day appointed, the alarm-bell was heard; energetic proclamations called the inhabitants of Anjou, la Vendée, and Poitou, to arms; and the assembling of a confused body of seven or eight thousand peasants was effected.

The English agents had announced, that the Marquis Louis de la Roche-jaquelin was bringing to the provinces in the West arms, ammunition, and money. The insurgents immediately repaired to Croix de Vic, to favour his landing. A few custom-house officers, assembled in haste, opposed them in vain: la Roche-jaquelin triumphantly delivered into the hands of the unfortunate Vendeans the fatal presents of England.

The news of this insurrection, considerably exaggerated by inaccurate accounts, reached the Emperor in the night of the 17th. He called me to his bedside; made me set down on the map the positions of the French and of the insurgents; and dictated to me his commands.

He directed a part of the troops stationed in the neighbouring divisions, to march with all possible speed for Niort and Poitiers; General Brayer, to hasten post to Angers, with two regiments of the young guard; and General Travot, to call in his detachments, and concentrate his force, till he received fresh orders. Experienced officers d'ordonnances were appointed, to go and reconnoitre the country; and General Corbineau, whose talents, moderation, and firmness were known to the Emperor, was sent to the spot, to appease the revolt, or preside over the military operations in case of need. All these arrangements being made, the Emperor quietly closed his eyes; for the faculty of tasting at pleasure the sweets of sleep was one of the prerogatives conferred on him by nature.

Telegraphic despatches soon brought more circumstantial and more heartening accounts. "It was known, that the peasants, who had been ordered to furnish merely four men from each parish, had shown hesitation and ill will; and that the chiefs had found great trouble in collecting four or five thousand men, consisting in great part of vagabonds, and workmen out of employ." In fine it was known, that General Travot, having been informed of the landing, and the road the convoy had taken, went in pursuit of the insurgents, came up with them in advance of St. Gilles, killed about three hundred men, and seized the greater part of the arms and ammunition.

The Emperor thought, that this insurrection might be quashed by other means than by force; and, adopting in this respect the conciliatory views proposed by General Travot, he directed the minister of police to invite MM. de Malartie and two other Vendean chiefs, MM. de la Beraudiere and de Flavigny, to repair in the character of pacificators to their ancient companions in arms; and remonstrate with them, that it was not in the plains of the West, the fate of the throne would be decided; and that, the final expulsion or restoration of Louis XVIII. depending neither on their efforts, nor on their defeat, the French blood, which they were about to shed in la Vendée, would be spilt to no purpose.