History. 
—/ 
A. D. 1814 
State of the 
military. 
Rumours 
of Bona- 
parte’s re- 
turn. 
Genjectures 
respectin.- 
Ashe 
of it 
668 
ed tp the prem alarmed and alienated the republican 
party, which were now beginning to assume consis- 
tency and strength; and the very agitating of the sub- 
ject relative to the property of the, emigrants, crea= 
ted serious and general apprehension in the minds of 
ely spread 
the very numerous and wi class. who had 
urchased confiscated estates. Discontent and dissatis-~ 
action began to manifest themselves in different parts 
of the kingdom. Among the a pee from which 
Louis, or rather his brother, had promised to libe- 
rate the French, were the droits reunis, or indirect 
taxes; but though the minister of finance, and af- 
terwards Talleyrand, officially reported the prospects 
of France, with respect to the produce of the taxes, 
and manufactures, and commerce, as v oe 
yet the King could not redeem his pledge that 
droits reunis should be taken off. In consequence 
of which, the collection of: them created such serious 
discontents, that his Majesty was obliged to issue an or 
dinance, which at once proved the serious nature and 
the extent of the evil, and the inability or apprehension 
of the government, to crush it effectually by vigorous 
measures, 
But all these signs of approaching misfortune to 
Louis, were ambiguous, or trifling, compared to those 
which might have been gathered from the conduct, the 
feelings, and the power of the military. To them the 
King had delivered himself up, even more completely 
than he had done when he first ascended the throne : 
Soult was minister of war, and consequently had an 
op nity of forming any plans which his former at- 
ts might suggest. e had, indeed, taken the 
oaths of fidelity to Louis; but weak and credulous must 
that man have been, who could put faith in the oath of 
a soldier of the revolutionary school, one of the most 
fa aay and eer poo agen of which was, that 
mili glory was of such paramount obligation, as 
to justity any means by which it could earn ty 
The King, therefore, had cast himself, bound hand and 
foot, into the power of his enemies, while he had ne- 
glected to make friends of the people. 
In the mean time, Bonaparte, in the isle of Elba, was 
nearly forgotten; when, to the astonishment and dis- 
may, not only of the French King, but ef all Europe, 
he suddenly landed near Cannes, in France, on the Ist 
of March, The arrangement of the plan, in confor- 
mity to which he was invited, or induced to land in 
France, is not accurately known. The following cir- 
cumstances, however, are either well substantiated, or 
highly probable :—Almost immediately after his depar- 
ture i France, his. numerous_ partizans, y 
among the soldiery in the southern provinces of the 
kingdom, began to talk in mysterious terms of the vio- 
let season, and to express a strong wish for its arrival. 
To those who compared and considered these terms, it 
was soon evident that Bonaparte was expected in France 
at the return of the violet season ; but it was not easy 
to ascertain whether this expectation was ded on 
any promise he had made, or plan which they knew 
was forming, or whether it was vaguely taken up by 
his admirers. The expectation, however, grew strong- 
er and more general as the spring a : there 
is good reason to believe that the ministers of Louis 
were informed of it, and that it would probably be re- 
alized: but what measures of ution could be ex- 
pected from men who were either lesgnedi ‘with Boba: 
parte, or who were so ignorant of the state of France, 
and of the character of the sovereign of Elba, as to 
see no danger to their sovereign from either? 
It is not so easy to trace the framers of the plan for 
bringing back Bonaparte, or the arrangements thst were 
FRANCE. 
made for carrying that plan into execution. We know, 
however, that Louis was disliked, both by the military 
and republican party ; and it is highly probable 
the restoration of Bonaparte was planned and achieved 
of defeat ; the lat- 
acquired, fter 
down to the observance of a free constitution. ‘ 
Bonaparte had been attended to the isle of Elba by 
commissioners from the allied po ; but soon after 
rectly charged with the 
Ge fo absence of 
sailed orto Ferrajo, on the 26th of F 4 
with about 1000 men, very few of whom were F 
men, the rest being Poles, Corsicans, Neapolitans, and 
Elbese. Generals Bertrand and Drouet 
It was soon a dot th eddiaeta ane, 
i 
F 
: 
i 
cing. Grenoble was the first military 
rison town at which he arrived; here a 
General Marchand was posted : the 
ful, but the soldiers, on a short 
joined his ranks. So quick and unmolested was 1 
that on the 8th of March he reached Lyons. 
As soon as the intelligence of Bonaparte’s landing 
sequences of Louis 
2 
773 
zEee 
is, but he was not active 
in his behalf; and the troops with whom he marched 
against Bonaparte refused to act. Ofall the traitors to 
their a: Marshal Ney was the most he np ipled: 
pea oversea = og xeon bse bec i chan 
to take parte, or alive: troops were ‘ 
under his command for that p : he advanced ap- 
ee a but on the 14th of March, when 
parte had reached Lons le Saulnier, he joined him, 
and issued a proclamation to his army, in which he de~ 
scribes the Bourbons as unfit to reign, and recommends 
his troops to join the great Napoleon. 
Under these circumstances, the zeal of the friends of 
Louis was of no avail. Monsieur and the Duke of Or- 
leans had advanced along with Macdonald to Lyons; 
were disaffected, and the people either 
Baws 
History. 
y 
4 
hf 
——_— 
He esca) 
Treachery 
of the Mar- 
shals and 
j 
the army, | 
but mabe pore A 
indifferent, and unwilling to expose themselves to dan~ _ 
