Walter Scott - Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume V

For Messieurs de Polignac , we should read Monsieur de Vitrolles . – See Lord Burghersh's "Operations," p. 266. Note. – Ed. (1842.)

Memoir of the Operations of the Allied Armies in 1813 and 1814. By Lord Burghersh.

Jomini, tom. iv., 564.

Henry IV., act ii., scene ii.

"Mon Amie, j'ai été tous les jours à cheval; le 20 j'ai pris Arcis-sur-Aube. L'ennemi m'y attaqua à 8 heures du soir: le même soir je l'ai battu, et lui ai fait 4000 morts: je lui ai pris 2 pieces de canon et même repris 2: ayant quitté le 21, l'armée ennemie s'est mise, en battaille pour protéger la marche de ses armées, sur Brienne, et sur Bar-sur-Aube, j'ai décidé de me porter sur la Marne et ses environs afin de la pousser plus loin de Paris, en me rapprochant de mes places . Je serai ce soir à St. Dizier. Adieu, mon amie, embrassez mon fils."

"General Muffling told me that the word St. Dizier , of so much importance, was so badly written, that they were several hours in making it out. Blucher forwarded the letter to Maria Louisa, with a letter in German, saying, that as she was the daughter of a respectable sovereign, who was fighting in the same cause with himself, he had sent it to her." — Memorable Events , p. 98.

Lord Burghersh, Observations, &c., p. 232; Baron Fain, p. 222.

"At half past ten on the morning of the 29th, the Empress, in a brown cloth riding-habit, with the King of Rome, in one coach, surrounded by guards, and followed by several other coaches, with attendants, quitted the palace; the spectators observing the most profound silence." — Memorable Events in Paris in 1814 , p. 50.

Souvenirs de Mad. Durand, tom. i., p. 205.

"I saw the proclamation of Roi Joseph selling for a sous, on the Boulevards, where groups of people were assembled. The flight of the Empress caused considerable alarm. Many loudly expressed their discontent at the national guard, for permitting her to leave Paris, as they entertained a dastardly hope that her presence would preserve them from the vengeance of the allies. For the first time I heard the people openly dare to vent complaints against the Emperor, as the sole cause of their impending calamity; but I witnessed no patriotic feeling to repulse the enemy." — Memorable Events , p. 53.

Lord Burghersh's account states, that the village of Pantin was attacked, but never retaken by the French. – "Operations," p. 240. – Ed. (1842.)

"Prince Joseph, observing the vast number of the enemy's troops that had arrived at the foot of Montmartre, was convinced that the capitulation could be no longer delayed. He gave the necessary powers to the Duke of Ragusa; and immediately proceeded to join the government at Blois." – Baron Fain, p. 232.

"During the battle, the Boulevards des Italiens, and the Caffé Tortoni, were thronged with fashionable loungers of both sexes, sitting as usual on the chairs placed there, and appearing almost uninterested spectators of the number of wounded French, and prisoners of the allies which were brought in. About two o'clock, a general cry of sauve qui peut was heard on the Boulevards; this caused a general and confused flight, which spread like the undulations of a wave, even beyond the Pont Neuf. During the whole of the battle, wounded soldiers crawled into the streets, and lay down to die on the pavement. The Moniteur of this day was a full sheet; but no notice was taken of the war or the army. Four columns were occupied by an article on the dramatic works of Denis, and three with a dissertation on the existence of Troy." — Memorable Events , pp. 90-93.

The passage is curious, whether we regard it as really emanating from Fouché, or placed in the mouth of that active revolutionist by some one who well understood the genius of the party. "Had I been at Paris at that time," (the period of the siege, namely,) "the weight of my influence, doubtless, and my perfect acquaintance with the secrets of every party, would have enabled me to give these extraordinary events a very different direction. My preponderance, and the promptness of my decision, would have predominated over the more slow and mysterious influence of Talleyrand. That elevated personage could not have made his way unless we had been harnessed to the same car. I would have revealed to him the ramifications of my political plan, and, in spite of the odious policy of Savary, the ridiculous government of Cambacérès, the lieutenancy of the puppet Joseph, and the base spirit of the Senate, we would have breathed new life into the carcase of the Revolution, and these degraded patricians would not have thought of acting exclusively for their own interests. By our united impulse, we would have pronounced before the interference of any foreign influence, the dethronement of Napoleon, and proclaimed the Regency, of which I had already traced the basis. This conclusion was the only one which could have preserved the Revolution and its principles." — Mémoires , tom. ii., p. 229.

Las Cases, tom. ii., p. 251.

London Gazette, April 5. – "Early in the morning of the 31st March, before the barriers, were open, the soldiers of the allied army climbed up the pallisades of the barrier Rochechouard to look into Paris. They threw this proclamation over the wall, and through the iron gates." — Memorable Events , p. 124.

London Gazette Extraordinary, April 9.

"This magnificent pageant far surpassed any idea I had formed of military pomp. The cavalry were fifteen abreast, the artillery five, and the infantry thirty. All the men were remarkably clean, healthy, and well clothed. The bands of music were very fine. The people, astonished at the prodigious number of troops, repeatedly exclaimed, 'Oh! how we have been deceived.'" — Memorable Events , p. 106.

Sir Robert Wilson, Sketch of the Military and Political Power of Russia, p. 90.

Charles X.

Baron Fain, p. 227.

It is taken from a work which has remarkable traces of authenticity, General Koch's Mémoires, pour servir à l'Histoire de la Campagne de 1814 . See also, Memoirs of the Operations of the Allied Armies , already quoted, p. 208. – S.

According to Lord Burghersh, (Operations, p. 249,) Caulaincourt saw the Emperor Alexander at his headquarters, before he entered Paris. – Ed. (1842.)

De Pradt, Précis Hist. de la Restauration, p. 54.

Dated Paris, March 31, three o'clock in the afternoon. "After some discussion, the Emperor of Russia agreed not to treat with Napoleon, and, at the suggestion of Abbé Louis, nor with any of his family. De Pradt told me he retired into a corner of the apartment, with Roux Laborie, to whom he dictated the Emperor's declaration, which was hastily written with a pencil, and shown to Alexander, who approved of it. Michaud, who was in waiting, caused it immediately to be printed, putting, under the name of the Emperor, ' Michaud, Imprimeur du Roi ,' and two hours afterwards it was stuck up in Paris. It was read by the people with great eagerness, and I saw many of them copying it." — Memorable Events , p. 128.