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LAST MILITARY MANOEUVRE OF NAPOLEON.

275

In the mean time Bonaparte, like the stag at bay, had turned from Blucher to Schwartzenberg; who, in his absence, had recovered the ground lost subsequent to the affair of Montereau. The emperor, to check him, fought his last battle on the 20th of March, at Arcis, where his troops, wearied and disheartened, at length gave up, and lost their long-supported energy and victory together. Naught seemed to remain but a retreat into Paris. That capital was the idol of Napoleon: it supplied the place of mistress to him: he loved, adorned, prided in it; lavished there his flattery, his treasures; courted it with pomp and magnificence, and even with the honeyed falsehoods of the Moniteur. At the same time he was an imperious lover; allowing to the object of his affection scant of liberty, and demanding the fullest return of obsequiousness and devotion. In all his victories he thought of Paris, and the chief use made of his spoil was to embellish it. Before its eyes had been displayed all his triumphs, all his grandeur. To return to it ruined, and bankrupt even in hope, was too much as yet for his pride; though misfortune subsequently endowed him with the apathy requisite. Napoleon, from these feelings, or from military views more profound, now refused to retreat to his capital, but resolved to fling himself in the rear of his enemies, fall upon their straggling parties, cut off their communications, and distract them, if possible, from Paris. He liked the confusion consequent upon these audacious and anomalous manœuvres, which disturbed his enemies in their plans and calculations, and which afforded him the best chance of advantage. Sallying therefore eastward, betwixt the Aube and Marne, Napoleon reached St. Dizier with a portion of his army. The divisions of Mortier and Marmont were ordered to join him; but these, intercepted by the allies, who did not allow their advance on Paris to be interrupted, were driven back upon the capital.

On Sunday, the 27th of March, the inhabitants heard the sound of war approach. The roar of cannon was in the direction of Meaux; and these portents were followed by the marshalling of national guards, the crowding in of frighted peasants, wounded and straggling soldiers. The gay boulevards were soon converted into a long bivouac. Terror and incertitude were in most countenances, indignant sorrow in some, joy in few. Marshals Marmont and Mortier had posted their scanty force round Paris, and scarcely removed from its frail walls, except where the heights of Montmartre and Belleville and the castle of Vincennes offered advantages of ground or support. Within the walls Joseph Bonaparte held the command. The empress, an amiable and affectionate III.—18

wife, was not a heroine, and now fled with her son from the menaced scene of strife. The boy, it is said, showed extreme reluctance to depart. Joseph, on his part, showed a degree of confidence. It was hoped that the enemy were not in force, that Napoleon might arrive with aid. Prolonged defence was imposssible; and a firm attitude was preserved merely lest any advantages, that time or the emperor could bring, might be lost.

On the 30th the allied troops commenced the attack of the several heights; bat, the Prussians not having come up in sufficient force on the right, the brunt of the battle was on the heights of Belleville and at Pantin, where the small number of French made a gallant resistance, but were, in the end, overpowered. The young pupils of the Polytechnic school plied the guns; and many perished in this their first essay of arms. From the very first the sovereigns had proffered to spare the city by capitulation: it was now accepted by Marmont, who had received permission of Joseph to this effect. After the order that prince had fled. On the last day of March the emperor of Russia and king of Prussia entered Paris in triumph at the head of their troops, welcomed with all the outward appearance of joy by the Parisians, who thus affected to gloss over defeat even in their own eyes. The views of the monarchs were sufficiently evinced by their dining with Talleyrand on that day. Caulaincourt, who arrived from Napoleon, was obliged to wait for an answer.

That rejected child of fortune had found at St. Dizier that his eccentric march had failed in diverting the allies from their march upon the capital. He had made the great blunder of supposing that those generals, who fought to the utmost whilst under his eye, or dreading his censure, were likely to exert themselves for victory when defeat would for ever deliver them from an imperious and unfortunate master. Napoleon bent his steps back towards the capital by Troyes, and the main road of Fontainbleau. He had already passed that town, when he encountered, on the evening of the 30th, some of the troops of Marmont, retiring by virtue of the capitulation. He could scarcely credit the tidings. Joseph's flight, Marmont's surrender, seemed inexplicable to him. He persisted in advancing; and it was only by persuasion, almost amounting to force, that he was made to believe in the loss of his capital, and to return to Fontainbleau: from hence he dispatched Caulaincourt to Paris.

The partisans of the house of Bourbon now openly assumed the white cockade, and paraded the streets. They were observed in silence by the population. But the allied troops

1814.

ABDICATION OF NAPOLEON.

277

tacitly declared more than their tolerance of these signs, by displaying white bands upon their arms; for which, indeed, another origin was assigned. It became incumbent, however, even upon the humblest citizen to come to a decision. The old revolutionary bands again were mustering. The enlightened classes all rallied by degrees to the cause of monarchy, and the citizens were fully alive to the Imperial despotism. A proclamation of the comte d'Artois, brother of Louis XVIII., was therefore read, and received with favor The novelty of royalism gained many proselytes on one hand, whilst its antiquity commanded others. These scattered sentiments communicated, spread like a flame; and in not very many hours the Bourbons, lately unknown and uncared for by the Parisians, were hailed and expected as the saviors and legitimate rulers of France.

Popular feeling was thus brought round to the desired point; and the sovereigns, the emperor of Austria by a singular chance being absent, some of the operations of war having thrown him back upon Lyons, declared their determination not to treat with Napoleon. Talleyrand convoked the conservative senate, those legislative puppets of Napoleon, and by their votes proceeded to enumerate all the faults and illegalities of the emperor, concluding from such premises to his forfeiture of the crown. A provisional government was then appointed, of which Talleyrand himself was the chief; and thus, master of the machinery of government, as well as of the ears of Alexander and his ministers, this sagacious politician disposed events into the channel where he wished them to flow.

Bonaparte, learning the color of events, and the proclamation of the sovereigns, which refused to treat with him, now meditated asserting once more his rights by the sword. He reviewed his troops, harangued them, and moved them on towards Paris. But his marshals dissuaded from this desperate resolve, which they refused to support; and some even told him that he was no longer emperor. It was then that he drew up a declaration, stating that as "he was the sole obstacle to the peace of France, he was willing to remove that obstacle-to depart-to resign his crown, nay, his life, if required, leaving his succession open to his son, and the regency to the empress. There was some hesitation in Paris as to the acceptation or refusal of this act. To the last, the hopes of the Bourbons depended upon a hair. But Talleyrand had taken his measures. Marmont declared his adhesion to the provisional government,-in other words, to Talleyrand,

and answered for his corps, which he afterwards conducted within the allied lines. Here expired the dynasty of Napoleon, as his personal reign had been already terminated. His marshals, officers, and friends deserted him one by one, from Berthier, prince of Neufchatel, down to the mameluke Rustan. There remained merely to go through the ceremony of signing the unconditional abdication, which with reluctance, and not without moving appeals to the officers yet present, to aid him to support another struggle, he consum mated on the 11th of April, 1814.

INDEX.

A.

ABBEVILLE built by Hugh Capet, i. 27.

Alençon, duchess d', sister of Francis
I. of France, i. 172.

Abercrombie, general, iii. 167. Death Alexander IV. pope, i. 63. Death of,
of, ib.

144.

Academy, the French, established in Alexander, emperor of Russia, iii. 176

1635, ii. 41.

Acre, siege of, i. 43.

Addington succeeds Pitt as prime
minister of England, iii. 167.
Adrian, pope, i. 17. 165.
Ægidius, count, i. 9.
Agincourt, battle of, i. 102.
Agnes Sorel, mistress of Charles VII.
of France, her patriotism, i. 114.
Agoult, marquis de, ii. 246.
Aguesseau, d', represents the magis-
tracy, ii. 143. Sent into exile, ii. 149.
Aiguillon, duke d', shut up in the
Bastile by order of cardinal Riche
lieu, where he soon after perished,
ii. 40.

Aiguillon, duke d', ii. 198. Succeeds
Choiseul as secretary of state, ib.
Aix, the capital of Provence, i. 188.
the parliament of, condemns the
leaders of the Vaudois to be burn-
ed, and the town of Merindol to be
destroyed, i. 201.

Orders his court to go into mourn
ing for the duc d'Enghien, murder
ed by order of Napoleon, iii. 189
His interview with Napoleon, iii
213. Commences war with Napo
leon, iii. 090. Enters Paris in tri
umph, iii. 000.

Alexis, the Greek emperor, i. 34.
Algiers, bombardment of, ii. 100.
Allemanni, i. 8.

Aleppo, the sultan, Edessa taken by
i. 40.

Alliance, quadruple, ii. 148.
Alliance, triple, ii. 147.
Alphonse, brother of Louis IX.; mar
riage of, with Jeanne of Toulouse;
takes the title of count of Poitiers,
i. 54. Succeeds to the title and dig.
nity of count of Toulouse, i. 55.
Alva, duke of, i. 242.
Alvinzi, marshal, iii. 118.
Amalric, abbot of Citeaux, i. 48.
Amaury de Montfort offers to cede all
his rights in Languedoc to Philip
Augustus, i. 51. Retires to Paris,
makes cession of all his claims to
Louis VIII., who, in return, prom-
ises him the office of constable, i. 53.
Amboise, the court removed to the

Aix-la-Chapelle, the treaty of, con-
cluded, ii. 92. Peace of, ii. 175.
Alberoni, an Italian of low birth,
placed by the duke de Vendôme as
secret agent at the court of Spain,
becomes prime minister and cardi-
nal, ii. 147. Policy of, ib. Endeav- castle of, i. 233.

ors to purchase the neutrality of Amboise, edict of, i. 240.

England and Holland, ii. 148. Re-Amboise, Bussy d', i. 260. Assassina
solved to punish England by afford- tion of, ib.

ing aid to the pretender, ib.. Dis- Amiens, peace of, iii. 168.

213.

grace of; banished from Spain, re- Amyot, the translator of Plutarch, i.
tires to Italy, ii. 150.
Albert of Brandenburg, i. 216.
Albert, duke of Austria, iii. 26.
Alberto Gondi, count de Retz, i. 248.
Albigenses, the primitive reformers, i.
47. A crusade against them pro-
mulgated by the pope, i. 48. A new
crusade preached against them, i. 53.
Termination of the war with the,
i. 55. Burnings and persecutions of
the, i. 73.

Albuera, battle of, iii. 245.
Albuquerque, iii. 135.

Alençon, duc d', thrown into prison,
and his duchy confiscated, i. 122.
Alençon, duke, imprisonment of, i.
255. Joins the malcontents, i. 257.]
Obtains Anjou, and styled duke of
Anjou, i. 258.

Ancre, mareschal, his avarice, ii. 14
Proposes an alliance with Spain, by
marrying the young king, Louis
XIII., to a daughter of Spain, ii. 15.
His hotel pillaged by a Parisian
mob, ii. 19. Rules uncontrolled at
court and in council, ib. Death of, ib.
Andrew Doria, i. 176. 191.
Angoulême, duchess d', her avarice;
her vengeance against Semblançay
the treasurer, i. 164. Made regent,
i. 171. Carries on negotiations
with Margaret of Austria, i. 177
Augoulême, duchess d', daughter of
Louis XVI., birth of, ii. 214. Re.
stored to her family by Barras,
member of the executive directory
in Paris, in exchange for the com

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