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BONAPARTE. NAPOLEON I. 



BONAPARTE. NAPOLEON I. 



held at Chatillon, in which the allies proposed to fix the limits of 

 France as they were in 1792, that is to say, with the exclusion of 

 Belgium ; but Napoleon would not listen to this. It was his last 

 chance of peace. At the end of January 1814, Napoleon began the 

 campaign which has been considered by tacticians as that in which he 

 most strikingly displayed his astonishing genius for military combina- 

 tions, fertility of resources, and quickness of movements. For more 

 than two months he held at bay the various armies of the allies ; now 

 beating one coi'p?, and then flying to attack another; at times severely 

 checked himself, and yet recovering his strength the next day. 

 (' Memoirs of the Operations of the Allied Armies in 1813-14,' 

 London, 1822; and Koch, 'Slemoires pour servir a 1'Histoire de la 

 Campagne de 1814.') 



But the odds were too many against him. While he by a bold 

 movement placed himself in the rear of the allies, the latter marched 

 upon Paris, and after a hard-fought battle, 30th of March, took pos- 

 eessiou of the whole line of defence which protected that city on the 

 north-eastern side. The empress had left it for Blois, and Joseph 

 Bonaparte, after the battle of the 30th, quitted Paris also. Marshnl 

 Marmout asked for an armistice, and this led to the capitulation of 

 Paris, which the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia entered 

 on the 31st, amid-t the acclamations of the Parisians. Napoleon 

 hearing of the attack upon Paris had fallen back to the relief of the 

 capital, but it was too late. He met near Fontainebleau the columns 

 of the garrison, which were evacuating the city. His own generals 

 told him that be ought now to abdicate, as the allied sovereigns had 

 declared that they would no longer treat with him. Meantime a 

 decree of the senate declared that Napoleon Bonaparte, in consequence 

 of sundry arbitrary acts and violations of the constitution (which were 

 specified and classed under various heads in the preamble to the 

 decree), and by his refusing to treat with the allies upon honourable 

 conditions, had forfeited the throne and the right of inheritance esta- 

 blished- in his family, and that the people and the army of France 

 were freed from their oath of allegiance to him. A provisional govern- 

 ment was formed, consisting of Talleyrand, Bournonville, Daiberg, and 

 others. Upon this, Bonaparte, after much reluctance, and upon his 

 generals refusing to join him in a last desperate attempt upon Paris, 

 which he meditated, signed the act of abdication at Fontainebleau on 

 the 4th of April, 1814. In this first act there was a reservation in 

 favour of the rights of the empress and of his son. By a second act 

 however he ' renounced unconditionally ' for himself and his heirs 

 the throne of France and Italy. The emperor Alexander proposed 

 that he should retain the title of emperor with the sovereignty of the 

 island of Elba, and a revenue of six millions of francs to be paid by 

 France. This wag agreed to by Prussia and Austria; and England, 

 though no party to the treaty, afterwards acceded to it. On the 20th 

 of April, Napoleon, after taking an affectionate leave of his generals 

 and his guards, left Fontainebleau for Elba. He ran some danger 

 from the populace in passing through Provence, but arrived safe at 

 Frejus, where he embarked on board the British frigate ' Undaunted,' 

 and on the 4th of May landed at Porto Ferrajo, in the island of Elba. 



Napoleon remained in the island of Elba about ten months. At 

 first he seemed reconciled to his lot, set about making roads, improving 

 the fortifications, Ac. ; but after some months he was observed to 

 become more reserved, gloomy, and frequently absent and lost in 

 thought. He was in fact at the time engaged in secret correspondence 

 with bis friends in France and Italy. During so many years of 

 supreme power, attended by most splendid successes, he had formed 

 of course many adherents ; men whose fortune was dependent on bis ; 

 most of whom had lost their emoluments and prospects by his fall : 

 the bold and aspiring, the reckless and restless, saw no further prospect 

 of conquest and new organisation of foreign states, which left at 

 Napoleon's disposal thousands of offices and situations with which to 

 reward his partisans. The old soldiers, to whom the camp had become 

 a home, regretted him who used to lead them from victory to victory, 

 affording them free quarters, a continual change of scenery, and pleasant 

 cantonments in the finest cities of Europe. His brothers, sinters, and 

 other relatives, all rich, some still powerful, as Murat at Naples, felt 

 that by his fall they had lost the main prop of their family. On the 

 other side, the restored Bourbons had committed grave faults, and 

 had listened too much to the old emigrants by whom they were sur- 

 rounded ; and lastly, France in general had been too long in a state of 

 violent excitement to subside at once into quiet and contented repose. 

 Many of the subordinate agents of the police, post-office, and other 

 departments, were in Napoleon's interest. A wide conspiracy was 

 formed, the old republicans joined the Bonapartists, and Napoleon 

 wag invited to return to France. (See in Fleury de Chabulon's 

 ' HU'.ory of the Hundred Days,' an account of the intrigues carried on 

 with Elba.) 



On the 26th of February 1815, Napoleon embarked with about 

 1000 men of his old guards, who had followed him to Elba, and landed 

 on the 1st of March at Cannes, not far from Frejus. At Grenoble, the 

 Srst defection of the army took place : Colonel Labedoyere, command- 

 ing the 7th regiment of the hue, joined Napoleon ; the rest of the 

 march to Paris was a triumphant one. The Bourbons were abandoned 

 by the whole army ; and Marshal Ney, sent by Louis XVIII. to stop 

 Napoleon's progress, went over to him ; Macdonald and Maruiout, and 

 eyeral other marshals, remained faithful to the oath they had taki'n 

 . DIV. VOL. I. 



to the king. Augereau also kept aloof from Napoleon ; but the Bour- 

 bons had no troops they could depend upon. Napoleon arrived at 

 the Tuileries on the 20th of March, Louis XVIII. having left the 

 capital early in the morning by the road to Flanders. Napoleon's 

 return to Paris was accompanied with the acclamations of the military 

 and the lower classes; but the great body of the citizens looked ou 

 astounded and silent : he was recalled by a party, but evidently not 

 by the body of the nation. 



The Congress of Vienna was still sitting, when Talleyrand laid 

 before them the news of Bonaparte's landing at Cannes. They imme- 

 diately agreed to join again their forces, in order to frustrate his attempt, 

 and to maintain entire the execution of the treaty of Paris, of the 30th 

 May 1S14, made with France under the constitutional monarchy of the 

 Bourbon dynasty. The Austrian, Russian, and Prussian armies, which 

 had evacuated Fiance, resumed their march towards the frontiers of 

 that country. 



Napoleon found, on his return to Paris, that he could not resume 

 the unlimited authority which he had before his abdication. The 

 republicans and constitutionalists who hid assisted, or not opposed 

 his return, with Caruot, Fouchd, Benjamin Constant, and his brother 

 Lueien at their head, would support him only on condition of his 

 reigning as a constitutional sovereign : he therefore proclaimed a 

 constitution under the title of 'Acte additionnel aux Constitutions de 

 1' Empire,' which greatly resembled the charter granted by Louis XVIII. 

 the year before. There were to be an hereditary chamber of pe.'rs 

 appointed by the emperor, a chamber of representatives elected by 

 the electoral colleges, and to be renewed every five years, by which 

 all taxes were to be voted ; ministers were to bn responsible ; judges 

 irremovable ; the right of petition was acknowledged, and property 

 was declared inviolable. Lastly, the French nation was made to 

 declare, that they would never recal the Bourbons ; deputies from the 

 departments came to Paris to swear- to the additional act, at the Champ 

 de Mai, as it was called, although held on the 1st of June. The 

 emperor and his brothers were present at the ceremony. 



The chambers opened on the 4th of June, while Napoleon prepared 

 to march towards the frontiers of Flanders, where the allied English 

 and Prussian armies were gathering. He assembled an army of about 

 125,000 men, chiefiy old troops, of whom 25,000 were cavalry, and 

 350 pieces of cannon, witli which ho advanced upon Charleroi ou the 

 15th of June. Ney, Soult, aud Grouchy held commands under Napo- 

 leon. On the 16th Napoleon attacked in person Marshal Blucher, 

 who was posted with 80,000 men at Ligny, and drove him back with 

 great loss. At the same time he sent Ney against part of the English 

 army at Quatre Bras, which, after sustaining a severe attack, retained 

 possession of the field. In the morning of the 17th the Duke of Wel- 

 lington, in consequence of Blucher's retreat, fell back with his army to 

 the position of Waterloo. Napoleon followed him, after despatching, 

 on the 17th, Grouchy, with a body of 30,000 men, to follow the retreat 

 of the Prussians. (Grouchy, ' Observations sur la Relation de la Cam- 

 pagne de 1815, par le General Gourgaud,' Philadelphia, 1818.) On the 

 18th the famous battle of Waterloo was fought. Napoleon's army on 

 the field was about 75,000 men, and Wellington's force opposed to 

 him consisted of 54,000 men actually engaged at Waterloo, the re"i, 

 about 16,000, being stationed near Hal, and covering the approach to 

 Brussels ou that side. There were 32,000 British soldiers, including 

 the German Legion ; the rest was composed of Belgians, Dutch, and 

 Nassau troops. The events of the battle are well known. The French 

 made several furious attacks with infantry and cavalry upon the British 

 line, gained some advantages, took possession of La Haye Sainte, but 

 all the efforts of their cavalry could not break the British squares. In 

 these repeated attacks the French cavalry was nearly destroyed. At 

 six o'clock Billow's Prussian corps appeared on the field of battle, and 

 soon after Blucher came in peraon with two more corps. Napoleon 

 now made a last desperate effort to break the English line, before 

 the Prussians could act : he directed his guard, which had not yet 

 taken part in the action, to advance in two columns against the liijglish. 

 They were received with a tremendous fire of artillery and musketry ; 

 they attempted to deploy, but in so doing became confused, and at 

 last gave way. Napoleon, who was following with his eye, through a 

 spy-glass, the motions of his favourite guards, turned pale and exclaimed, 

 " They are mixed together ! " and galloped off the field. (See and 

 compare the various accounts of the battle of Waterloo, by English, 

 French, and Prussian military writers ; among the rest, Captain Priuglo 

 of the Engineers; Captain Batty; Baron MufUing, under the assumed 

 initials of C. de W., ' Histoire do la Campagne de 1'arme'e Auglaise et 

 de 1'armee Prussienne en 1815,' Stutgart, 1817 ; Gourgaud, ' Narrative 

 of the War of 1815,' with Grouchy's important comments upon it; 

 Foy, ' Campagne de 1815.' Napoleon's own account in Montholon and 

 Las Cases, and in the ' Mfimoires Historiques,' published by O'Meara; 

 Ney, 'Letter to the Duke of Otranto,' Paris, 1815 ; Rogniat's account 

 of the battle, and the accounts in the various English and French 

 histories.) 



The astonishing firmness of the British infantry (to which several 

 French generals, aud Foy among the rest, have paid an eloquent tribute 

 of praise) gained the day. Bonaparte's army fled in dreadful confu- 

 sion, pursued by the Prussians, and- lost cannon, baggage, and all. 

 The loss of the English was 15,000 men in killed aud wounded. On 

 the same day Grouchy was engaged at Wavre, 13 miles distant, with. 



