Part 36

"The army of the North;

"The army of the Moselle;

"The army of the Rhine;

"The corps of observation of the Jura, which is assembling at Befort;

"The army of the Alps, which is assembling at Chambery;

"The corps of observation of the Pyrenees, which is assembling at Perpignan and at Bordeaux;

"And the army of reserve, which is assembling at Paris and at Laon.

"The old soldiers are every where on the march, animated with the greatest enthusiasm, and come to complete our hundred and twenty regiments of infantry. The purchases made for remounting the cavalry have been going on rapidly for this month, and will soon render our seventy regiments of cavalry fully complete. Regiments of volunteer cavalry are forming in many parts: Alsace has already furnished two regiments of lancers, of a thousand men each. We have reason to think, that this example will be followed in Brittany, Normandy, and Limousin, the province in which the greatest number of horses are bred.

"Parks of artillery, forming more than a hundred and fifty batteries, are already harnessed, and on the march for the different armies. The corps of artillery for the defence of Lyons is composed of two companies formed in the school of Alfort. The corps for serving the three hundred pieces of ordnance, that will be placed on the heights of Paris, will consist of twelve companies of marine artillery, two companies of invalids, two companies of the school of Alfort, two companies of the polytechnic school, two companies of the school of St. Cyr, and six companies of foot artillery.

"Corps of partisans and free corps are forming in a great number of departments. An adjutant-general, stationed with each general commanding in chief, will conduct the correspondence with these corps; which, if the enemy be rash enough to penetrate into our territories, will fall upon his communications in the mountains and forests, and find support in the fortified towns.

"The organization of the levy in mass of Alsace, Lorraine, the county of Messin, Franche Comte, Burgundy, Dauphiny, and Picardy, is prepared.

"All the cities will arm in defence of their vicinity: they will follow the example of Chalons sur Saone, Tournus, and St. Jean de Losne. Every unfortified town even would betray the national honour, if it surrendered to light troops, and did not make the best defence its means will allow, till the arrival of infantry and artillery in such force, that its resistance would cease to be prescribed by the laws of war.

"Every thing is in motion in all parts of France. If the coalition persist in the designs they have announced of making war on us, if they violate our frontiers, it is easy to foresee, what fruits they will reap from their attempt on the rights of the French nation: all the departments will emulate in zeal those of Alsace, the Vosges, Franche Comte, Burgundy, and the Lyonese; every where the people are animated with a patriotic spirit, and ready to make any sacrifice, to maintain the independence of the nation, and the honour of the throne."

In fine, to complete his means of resistance and attack, the Emperor remodelled the national guard, and divided it into three thousand one hundred and thirty battalions, forming a body of two millions two hundred and fifty thousand men. All the national guards from twenty years old to forty were classed in active companies of light infantry and grenadiers, and fifteen hundred of these companies, or a hundred and eighty thousand men, were immediately placed at the disposal of the minister at war, to form the garrisons of the frontier places, and reinforce the armies of reserve.

The general officers sent to the frontier departments, to accelerate the raising and departure of this national militia, had need only to show themselves, to accomplish their mission. Every citizen aspired beforehand to the honour of making a part of it; and in the provinces of the east, the north, and the centre, it was found necessary to form supernumerary companies. The father would have renounced his son, the wife her husband, the girl her betrothed lover, if they had been deaf to the voice of honour and their country. The mothers themselves, who at other times had so bitterly deplored the departure of their children, encouraged them, like the Spartans, to march against the enemy, and fall, if it must be so, in the sacred cause of their country. This picture is not an exaggeration, it is faithful, it is true. Never was a more beautiful spectacle exhibited to the eyes of any man, to whom the glory and independence of his country were dear, than that of the enthusiasm and martial joy, with which the warlike inhabitants of Alsace, Lorraine, Burgundy, Champagne, and the Vosges, were animated. The roads were covered with waggons loaded with young warriors, who hastened, gaily singing, to the post of honour assigned them by Napoleon: the population of the towns and villages received them on their way with applauses, which inflamed their minds with fresh ardor, and made them enjoy by anticipation the praises and acclamations, that their friends, parents, and fellow-citizens would lavish on them at their return.

Napoleon from his closet called the national guard to the defence of the imperial cause: 150,000 men took up arms, and hastened to battle.

What must we conclude from this coldness on the one hand, and this enthusiasm on the other? I leave the question to be answered by those, who pretend, that the revolution of the 20th of March obtained the assent only of a handful of factious persons.]

France seemed to call aloud, to see her eclipsed greatness restored. She had recovered all her energy: an evident proof, that the strength of a nation is always the work of the prince, by whom it is governed. It is he, who enervates the public spirit, and bastardizes his subjects, by the effeminacy of his government: or it is he, who inspires them with the love of their country, with priding themselves in it, and leads them to undertake, whatever can augment its glory and its power.

To draw still more closely the bonds of union between the French people, and impart greater intensity to their patriotism, Napoleon authorized the re-establishment of popular clubs, and the formation of civic confederations. This time his expectations were not answered by success. The major part of the clubs were filled with men, who formerly composed the revolutionary tribunals and societies; and their imprecations against kings, and their liberticide motions, made the Emperor fear, that he had revived the spirit of anarchy.

The sentiments manifested by the federates equally disquieted him. He perceived, that he did not occupy the first place in their thoughts and affections; that the primary wish of their hearts was liberty; and, as this liberty was in his eyes synonimous with republicanism, he exerted all his endeavours to moderate, restrain, and repress, the development of these patriotic associations. Perhaps there were men among the federates, whose principles might be dangerous, and their intentions criminal: but in general they consisted of pure patriots, who had taken up arms to defend the imperial government, and not to overturn it.

Napoleon had never been able to surmount the aversion, which he felt for the veterans of the revolution. He dreaded their constancy, and their daring spirit; and he would have thought himself in danger, if not lost, had they become consolidated, and resumed their ascendancy. This panic fear was the cause, that he did not reap from the confederations the advantages he promised himself; and which they would unquestionably have afforded him, if he had not clogged their wings. It was also the cause of his committing a perhaps still greater fault, that of putting a stop to the popular movements, that had shown themselves in most of the departments. In the critical state in which he found himself, and into which he had drawn France, he should not have disregarded any means of security; and the most efficacious, the most analogous to his situation, was indisputably that of engaging the people most intimately in his fate, and in his defence. It was necessary, therefore, while preventing them from spilling a single drop of blood, to let them compromise themselves with some of those incorrigible ultras, who had harassed, ill-treated, and insulted them, since the restoration. The people would then have been more sensible, that it was no longer the personal cause of Napoleon alone, that they had to defend; and the dread of chastisement, and of the yoke, would have restored to them that ancient enthusiasm, which had proved so fatal to the first coalition.

The moderation adopted by Napoleon on this occasion was honourable, but not politic. He conducted himself, as he might have done at a time, when all parties, confounded together and reconciled, acknowledged him for their sole and only sovereign. But things had changed: he had no longer the whole of France in his favour; and hence it was necessary, that he should conduct himself rather as the head of a party, than as a sovereign; and that he should display as it were all the vigour and energy of the leader of a faction. Energy unites men, by taking from them all uncertainty, and hurrying them with violence toward their object. Moderation, on the contrary, divides and enervates them, because it leaves them to their own irresolution, and allows them leisure, to listen to their interests, their scruples, and their fears.

The attention paid by the Emperor to his military preparations did not prevent his continuing to occupy himself on the welfare of the state, and endeavour more and more to conciliate the confidence and affection of the public.

Already, in other days, he had drawn out from its ruins the ancient University. A new basis, more broad, more extensive, more majestic, had raised this noble institution to a level with the age, and with France. But the first stage of education did not answer the efforts made to improve it, and to diffuse it among the younger classes of society.

M. Carnot, in a report that combined the most pleasing philanthropy with the most sage and lofty views, taught the Emperor the advantages of the methods of Bell and Lancaster, and the monarch and the minister made a present to France, to morality, to humanity, of the system of mutual instruction.

The Emperor, on removing his eyes from this interesting youth, the hope of the country, turned them to those old soldiers, who had formerly been its pride and support.

A royal ordinance had expelled from their asylum a considerable number of invalids, and had taken from them a portion of their endowments: a decree restored them to their rights; and a visit, which the Emperor paid these veterans in glory, added a kindness to the benefit.

He also repaired to the Polytechnic school. It was the first time of his showing himself to its pupils. Their love of perfect liberty, their inclination for republican institutions, had long alienated from them the affections of the Emperor: but the striking bravery they had displayed under the walls of Paris had restored to them his esteem and friendship; and it was satisfactory to him (these are his own words), to have such a fine occasion of reconciling himself with them.