Part 34

"The disjointing of the army, the dispersion of its officers, the exile of several, the debasement of the soldiers, the suppression of their endowments, the privation of their pay or pensions; the reduction of the pay of the legionaries, the despoiling them of their honours, the pre-eminence given to the decorations of the feudal monarchy, the contempt of the citizens, designated anew under the name of tiers-etat (third estate); the spoliation of the purchasers of national property, prepared and already begun, the actual diminution of value of such as was obliged to be sold; the return of the feudal system in its titles, privileges, and useful rights, the re-establishment of tramontane principles, the abolition of the liberties of the Gallican church, the annihilation of the Concordat, the re-establishment of tithes, the reviving intolerance of an exclusive form of worship; the domination of a handful of nobles over a people accustomed to equality: are what the ministers of the Bourbons have done, or wished to do, for the people of France.

"It was under such circumstances, that the Emperor Napoleon quitted the island of Elba: such were the motives of the resolution he took, and not the consideration of his own personal interests, so trivial in his opinion compared with the interests of the nation, to which he has devoted his existence.

"He has not brought war into the bosom of France: on the contrary, he has extinguished the war, which the possessors of national property, constituting four fifths of the landholders throughout France, would have been compelled to make upon their despoilers; the war, which the citizens, oppressed, degraded, humiliated by the nobles, would have been forced to declare against their oppressors; the war, which the Protestants, the Jews, and the people of different sects, would have been obliged to maintain against their persecutors.

"He came to deliver France; and as a deliverer he has been received.

"He arrived almost alone; he travelled two hundred and twenty leagues, without meeting any obstacle, without a battle; and has resumed without resistance, in the midst of the capital, and of the acclamations of an immense majority of the citizens, the throne relinquished by the Bourbons; who, from among the army, their own household, the national guards, or the people, could not raise a single person in arms, to endeavour to maintain them in it.

"Yet, replaced at the head of the nation, which had already chosen him three times, and has just elected him a fourth time by the reception it gave him on his march, and his triumphant arrival; of that nation, by which, and for the interest of which, he wishes to reign;

"What is the desire of Napoleon? What the French people desire, the independence of France, peace within, peace with all nations, the execution of the treaty of Paris, of the 30th of May, 1814.

"What is there, then, changed in the future state of Europe, and in the hope of repose promised it? What voice is raised, to demand those succours, which, according to the declaration, are to be granted only when claimed?

"There is nothing changed, if the allied powers recur, as we have a right to expect from them, to just and temperate sentiments; if they acknowledge, that the existence of France in a respectable and independent state, as far from conquering as from being conquered, from domineering as from being held in subjection, is necessary to the balance of great realms, as well as to the guaranty of smaller states.

"There is nothing changed, if, not attempting to compel France to resume with a dynasty, which she can no longer desire, the feudal chains she has broken, and to submit to the seigneurial or ecclesiastical pretensions, from which it has emancipated itself, those powers do not attempt to impose on her laws, to interfere in her internal concerns, to assign her a particular form of government, to give her masters suited to the interests and passions of her neighbours.

"There is nothing changed, if, while France is occupied in preparing the new social compact, that shall guaranty the liberty of her citizens, and the triumph of those generous ideas, that prevail in Europe, and can no longer be stifled; she be not compelled, to call off her attention from these pacific ideas, and from the means of domestic prosperity, to which the people and their chief are desirous of devoting themselves in happy concord, in order to prepare for battle.

"There is nothing changed, if, while the French nation demands nothing, but to remain at peace with all Europe, an unjust coalition do not oblige her to defend, as it did in 1792, her will, and her rights, and her independence, and the sovereign of her choice."

This eloquent refutation, full of irrefragable facts, and reasonings not to be refuted, was no longer necessary. French honour had judged and condemned the Congress of Vienna and its Declaration.

When this declaration appeared, France grew pale: she was astonished, affrighted at the calamities, which the future boded; and groaned at the idea of being exposed to a war for the sake of one single man.

This first impression over, her pride, her virtue, felt indignant, that the allies should dare to conceive the thought, that she would yield to their menaces, and cowardly consent, to give Napoleon up to them.

Had Napoleon been no more than a simple citizen, the attempt to violate by authority the rights of men and nations in his person would have been sufficient, to induce the French, or at least all worthy of the name, to think themselves obliged to protect and defend him.

But Napoleon was not merely a simple citizen, he was the head of the French nation: it was for having aggrandized it by his conquests, and ennobled it by his victories, that he was proscribed by foreigners; and the most timid as well as the most generous made it their sacred duty to place him under the safeguard of the nation, and of French honour.

Thus the declaration of the Congress, instead of intimidating France, heightened its courage; instead of separating Napoleon from the French, drew still more close the bands that united them; instead of calling down on his head the public vengeance, rendered him more estimable and more dear in the eyes of the people.

If Napoleon, availing himself of these generous sentiments, had said to the French: "You have restored to me the crown, foreigners are desirous of tearing it from me; I am ready, either to defend it, or to lay it down; say which I shall do:" the whole nation would have understood Napoleon, and would have risen in a body, to cause the sovereign of its heart and its choice to be respected.

But Napoleon had other ideas: he considered the declaration of the Congress merely as a paper adapted to the circumstances of the day, the object of which was, at the time when it was subscribed by the allies, to support the courage of the royalists, and to restore to the Bourbons the confidence and moral strength they had lost.

He thought, that his entrance into Paris, and the entire pacification of the South, would have completely changed the state of things; and he hoped, that foreign nations would ultimately acknowledge him, when they were convinced, that he had been re-established on the throne by the unanimous consent of the French, and that his ideas of conquest and dominion had given place to the real desire of respecting the tranquillity and independence of his neighbours, and of living in harmony with them.

In fine, he considered, that prudence would induce the allies, as it was their interest, not to engage in a war, the results of which could not be favourable to them: "They will feel, that they will not this time have to do with the France of 1814; and that their successes, if they gain any, will be no longer decisive, but will merely serve to render the war more obstinate and bloody; while, if victory favour me, I may become as formidable as ever. I have for me Belgium and the Rhenish provinces, and with a tricoloured flag and a proclamation I could revolutionize them in four-and-twenty hours."

The treaty of the 25th of March, by which the great powers, renewing the arrangements of the treaty of Chaumont, engaged themselves anew not to lay down their arms, as long as Napoleon should be on the throne, appeared to him merely the natural consequence of the act of the 13th of March, and of the erroneous opinions the allies had formed of France. He thought, that it would not alter the state of the question; and resolved, notwithstanding this treaty, and the affronting manner in which his first overtures were received, to endeavour repeatedly to make the voice of truth, of reason, and of peace, heard at Vienna.

Baron de Stassart, late auditor to the council of state and prefect, had been made chamberlain of Austria, or of Bavaria, since the restoration. He was at Paris. The Emperor, hoping he might be able to reach Vienna under favour of his quality of chamberlain, charged him with a mission for the Empress Marie Louise, and fresh despatches for the Emperor of Austria. Napoleon at the same time had recourse to other means: he was aware of the intimacy and connexions of MM. D. de St. L** and de Mont** with Prince Talleyrand; and persuaded, that M. de Talleyrand would procure for them authority to repair to Vienna, he resolved, to send them thither. He did not deceive himself with the idea, that they would accept their mission for any other purpose than that of more easily serving the royal cause; but he paid little regard to their intrigues with the King, provided they delivered and brought back with exactness the despatches, that should be entrusted to them.

About the King, however, and what passed at Ghent, he took little concern: his anxious eyes were turned to Vienna; and convinced of the influence, that M. de Talleyrand might exert there, he particularly directed M. ****, to offer him his favour, and money also, if he would abandon the Bourbons, and employ his talents and experience for the benefit of the imperial cause.

The Emperor, who did not cease to hope, that his exertions, time, and reflection, might effect some changes in the resolutions of the allies, heard with extreme displeasure, that the King of Naples had commenced hostilities.

This prince had long been dissatisfied with the complaisance, with which the allied sovereigns listened to the protests of France, Savoy, and Spain: and, though his crown had been guarantied to him by a solemn compact with Austria, and by the formal declarations of Russia and England, he foresaw, that the doctrine of legitimacy would carry the point against the faith of treaties, and that Austria, though interested in not allowing another crown to be transferred to the house of Bourbon, would be obliged to submit to the unanimous will of the other powers.

Thus the fear of being driven from the throne, and the resolution to maintain himself in it, possessed Joachim, when the news of the successful landing of Napoleon reached Naples.