GENERAL HISTORY. 
assurance of the general disposi- 
tion of the army in his favour, 
andit can scarcely be doubted that 
several of its principal com- 
manders had secretly engaged 
themselves to promote his cause. 
The crisis speedily arrived. Pre- 
arations had been made for col- 
ecting a large body of troops at 
Melun for the immediate protec- 
tion of Paris, and another was 
posted at Montargis on the road 
to Fontainbleau, in order that the 
invader might be placed between 
two fires on his advance. Great 
hopes were derived from the sup- 
posed loyalty of Marshal Ney, 
Prince of: Moskwa, an officer of 
high military reputation, who had 
spontaneously repaired to the 
Tuilleries with a proffer of his 
services, assuring the King, in a 
gasconade which might have ex- 
cited suspicion, that he would 
bring Buonaparte to Paris in an 
iron cage. He was sent to the 
command of 12 or 15,000 men 
stationed at Lons le Saulnier, 
whence he was to fall on the rear 
of Buonaparte ; but on the ad- 
vance of the latter to Auxterre, 
Ney joined him with his whole 
division, whom he had ordered 
to hoist the tri-coloured flag. He 
sealed his treason by a proclama- 
tion to his troops, in which he 
told them that the cause of the 
Bourbons was for ever lost, and 
that the lawful dynasty, which 
the French had adopted, was 
about to ascend the throne. This 
defection was decisive of the con- 
test, for all confidence was now 
at an end. The King on the 
night of the 19th left Paris with 
the Princes of the Blood, and pro- 
ceeded for Lisle, having first pub- 
lished a proclamation to the peers 
(59 
and chamber of deputies, stating 
the reason for his departure, and 
ordaining their separation. 
Buonaparte entered Paris on 
the evening of the 20th, hav- 
ing been met by all the military, 
who received him in triumph ; 
and thus, within three weeks from 
his landing as a desperate adven- 
turer, he had marched without 
having occasion to fire a musket, 
through the greatest part of 
France, to mount a throne oc= 
cupied by the legitimate successor 
of a longline of native kings, 
and apparently fenced by all the 
authority of a potent monarchy. 
But the throne of France, like 
that of the Roman emperors, was 
at the disposal of the soldiery, 
whose feelings were purely pro- 
fessional; and had the voice of 
the French peop!e been of any 
weight in the decision, it is doubt- 
ful how far the’ love of change, 
and the indignant sense of having 
had a soveriegn imposed upon 
them by conquest, might have 
influenced their determination. 
This last circumstance was stu- 
diously brought to view by the 
usurper in his public addresses. 
“ The throne of the Bourbons 
(said he) is illegitimate, since it 
has been erected by foreign hands, 
and proscribed by the voice of 
the nation, expressed in every na- 
tional assembly.” 
If, however, foreign hands. had 
replaced the Bourbons on the 
throne of France, was it not pro- 
bable that they would be exerted 
to maintain them there? This 
idea, like the suspended sword of 
Damocles, could not fail to ren- 
der uneasy to Buonaparte the 
seat to which he had made his 
way with such unparalleled fa- 
