THE DEATH OF MARSHAL NEY. 177 



After the defeat and partial destruction af the French army by the 

 allies, Ney proceeded to Paris, where he gave a true statement of the 

 disaster in the Chamber of Peers, and being averse to the new order 

 of things, retired from public life. 



In the meanwhile the English and Prussian armies approached 

 Paris, where the remains of the French army had rallied, and being 

 reinforced by several divisions not engaged at Waterloo, it still pre- 

 sented, with the national guard, a very imposing force ; but Napo- 

 leon having signified his intention to abdicate, a convention for the 

 capitulation of Paris was agreed to between the Duke of Wellington 

 and Marshal Blucher, on the one side, and the governor of Paris, on 

 the other, to the effect that private property should be respected, and 

 no person be molested for their past political or other conduct. By virtue 

 of this convention Louis XVIII. entered the capital, and was a 

 second time proclaimed King of France. 



Notwithstanding the above convention, Marshal Ney was arrested 

 on the 24th of July, and thrown into prison, accused of having con- 

 tributed to the revolution of the 20th of March, or, in other words, 

 having aided the return of Napoleon. A court-martial was sum- 

 moned to try him, Marshal Moncey being appointed president; 

 Moncey, however, nobly refused to sit in trial on such a man, for 

 which he was imprisoned three months in the chateau of Ham. 



The presidentship now fell by seniority upon Marshal Jourdan, 

 who accepted it, and with Marshals Massena, Mortier, and Augereau, 

 and three lieutenant-generals, composed the court-martial, which in 

 its second sitting declared itself incompetent to try the prisoner, and 

 immediately dissolved itself, to the undisguised delight of the French 

 people, with whom Ney was, as he merited to be, highly popular. 



An ordinance of the king next directed that he should be tried be- 

 fore the Chamber of Peers ; and so great was the interest excited by 

 the approaching mock trial, that, in addition to the capital being sur- 

 rounded by the English army (during Ney's trial and execution, be 

 it observed, the English were the only foreign troops remaining in 

 Paris), special commissioners of police were appointed, the press was 

 rigorously restrained from alluding to it, men were selected from each 

 regiment of the line, for their opinions, for the service of Paris, the 

 national guards were removed from the principal posts, patroles tra- 

 versed the town in all directions, and the city was filled with gendar- 

 merie, plainly indicating the apprehensions of the government, lest 

 this cold-blooded murder should be prevented. 



About the beginning of December the peers assembled in the 

 palace of the Luxembourg, which was surrounded constantly by 

 2,000 men, and immediately proceeded to the trial of Ney, who was 

 ably defended by the celebrated advocates and deputies, M. M. 

 Berryer and Dupinj but it was evident that the accused could have 

 no hope of justice from a tribunal, of which three-fourths of the 

 members were enraged aristocrats, rendered poor and vindictive by 

 their long emigration from France, and now eager for victims on 

 whom to wreak their vengeance. 



Marshal Ney was fully aware of his position, and though he al 



M.M. No. 2. 2 A 



