PARI S. 
504 
difembarkation at Cannes. The grand marfhal Bertrand, 
the prenx chevalier of Europe, gave his word and honour 
to an Engliffi gentleman only yefterday, that no fuch con- 
fpiracy exifted; and that three weeks before their quitting 
Elba not the leaft idea was entertained of the defign. 
The emperor himfelf, whofe affurance you may receive 
with fufpicion, told Mr. S——*as much in a converfation 
he had with him in the garden of the Elyfee; and, on being 
complimented on the performance of this, the greateft of 
all his aCtions, he faid, No, it was eafier than you think; 
my only merit was making a good guefs as to the adtual 
iituation of France.” 
To this we may add the teftimony of M. de Chaboulon, 
who has recently publiflied Memoirs of the Private Life 
of Napoleon in 1815. He introduces the narrative of an 
officer whom he calls Colonel Z-, who appears to 
have repaired to Elba in February 1815, and by his report 
of the Hate of France to have ftrengthened the already- 
conceived intention of Bonaparte to hazard a return. 
The authenticity of this narrative muff reft on the credi¬ 
bility of M. de Chaboulon, for Col. Z. is reprefented as 
having fallen at Waterloo: but we fee no reafon for fuf- 
peCting impofition in what is related either of,him per¬ 
sonally, or of the converfations which Napoleon held 
with him ; from which it appears that the ex-emperor 
reafoned as follows : “ I confider it as certain that the 
kings who have fought againft me are no longer guided 
by the fame unity, the fame views, the fame interelfs. 
The emperor Alexander muft efteem me : he muff be able 
to eftimate the difference which exifts between Louis 
XVIII. and myfelf. I could give him Poland, and a 
great deal more, if he wifhed it: he knows that I have 
been always more inclined to tolerate his ambition than 
toreftrain it. Pruffia and the petty kings of the Rhenifli 
Confederation will follow the lot call by Ruffia. If I had 
Auftria on my fide, file would fecure me all the fecond- 
rate powers. As to the Auftrians, I do not know what 
they would do: they have never treated me candidly. I 
fuppofe I could keep Auftria in order by threatening to 
deprive her of Italy. Italy is yet very grateful to me, 
and much attached to me: if I were to afk that country 
for an hundred thoufand men, and five millions of money, 
I fhould have the men and the money. If they were to 
force me to make war, I could eafily revolutionize the 
Italians : I would grant them whatever they might wifh, 
independence or Eugene. Murat is ours: he has little 
brains: he has nothing but hand and heart: but his wife 
will guide him. As to England, we fhould have fhaken 
bands from Dover to Calais, if Mr. Fox had lived : but, 
as long as that country continues to be governed by the 
principles and paflions of Mr. Pitt, w>e mult always he as 
hoftile as fire and w>ater. From England I expeft no quar¬ 
ter, no truce. England knows, that, the inftant I place 
my foot in France, her influence will be driven back 
acfofs the feas.” 
In order to complete the arrangements for his depar¬ 
ture from Elba, Napoleon purchafed fojne fmall feluccas 
at Genoa, fome ammunition at Naples, and a few arms 
at Algiers. On the 25th of February, 1815, he prelided 
at a fete which he gave to his liliputian court, and was 
obferved u.nufually cheerful and affable. On the follow¬ 
ing day, he reviewed his little army ; and, at their dif- 
millal, ordered them to prepare for immediate fervice, 
and to aflemble on the fame parade at fix o’clock in the 
evening. Accordingly, the troops affembled at the time 
appointed, when Napoleon made his appearance, and, for¬ 
ming them into a hollow fquare, placed himfelf in their 
centre, and unfolded to them his purpofes and views. 
He then reprefented to them, in that military and popu¬ 
lar eloquence by which he was fo peculiarly characterized, 
and to which he owed 1b much of his former influence 
over the minds of his followers, that fortune now afforded 
them an opportunity to prove themfelves worthy of that 
eftimation in which he had always held them ; that it had 
been the confolation and delight of his retirement to form 
them to the difcrpTine and noble darin'g of foldiers ; that 
the time was at hand in which they might ftiow that his 
labours were not loft; that France, Belgium, and Italy, 
invited him to refume the imperial crown 5 and that he 
had only to effect his landing, and difplay his ftandfird, 
and the whole military of Frarice Would obey his fummons, 
and rally rourid their emperor; that he had been com¬ 
pelled to abdicate the fovereignty, not by the will of the 
French, but by an overwhelming foreign force which un¬ 
toward circumftances had formed into a coalition, and 
to which coalition the calamities of war had given a tem¬ 
porary fuccefs; that that coalition had been diflolved by 
the divifions, the jealoufies, and the narrow and perfonaf 
views, of its members ; that Italy was deceived, Germany 
facrificed, Poland enflaved, Saxony extinguilhed, and 
Ruffia, Pruffia, and England, the dividers of the fpoil ; 
that France had now recovered the 300,000 men whom 
the cruelty of the feafon hail rendered prifoners to Ruffia ; 
that, perfecuted by the Bourbon government, they now 
wandered deftitute through France, and that their well- 
known attachment to his perfon was rewarded withinfult 
and beggary. “ And will not thefe men,” he continued, 
“ return to the general who remembers them as ardently 
as he is remembered by them ?” “Fellow Soldiers l com¬ 
rades in glory and in arms! for fuch you are about to 
become, judge of them as you would judge of yourfelves; 
and anfwer me from your own feelings, whether my brave 
foldiers will pafs over to my enemy and theirs, or whether, 
again feeing my ftandard fluffing in the fun, and my im¬ 
perial eagle again elevated to its own Ikies, they will re- 
feek their ftandard, their eagle, and their general, and 
again conduft them to the throne which belongs to them. 
What are the Bourbons to them or us ? Who in France, 
ftill in the vigour of his life, remembers them, or knows 
any thing of them, but their name, their mad extrava¬ 
gance, and their contemptible debaucheries ? In the 
courfe of three hundred years did they add an acre to 
the French territory, or an unit to the la-fting glory of 
the French name ? Are thefe kings for the French ?■ 
No, comrades 1 the age and the people demand another 
kind of leaders. What fay you, foldiers ? are you prepared 
to follow' me, and to partake my fortune, my glory, and, 
if there be any, my perils and labours !” 
The foldiers anfwered this harangue by the moft en- 
thufiaftic acclamations. Napoleon immediately placed 
himfelf at their head, and conducted them to the place 
of embarkation. His whole force amounted to 1140 men ; 
viz. 700 men of his old guard, 300 Corficans, and 140 
Poles: his fleet confifted of a brig, l’Inconftant, mounting 
26 guns, and fix fmall tranfports. To invade a.kingdom, 
containing upwards of 28,000,000 of fouls, with this fmall 
force, at firft fight certainly appeared a moft defperate un¬ 
dertaking. But Napoleon calculated on the afcendancy 
of his name over the army, and the terror with which it 
infpired the peaceable citizens: he reckoned on the ftupor 
which great novelty produces, and that perplexity and 
confufion which feize the mind when fuddenly ftruck by 
fome bold and unexpected enterprife. 
At eight o’clock on the evening of the 26th, the little 
army was embarked. The firing of a cannon gave the 
fignal of departure ; and they failed from the harbour; 
enthufiaftically Ihouting “ Paris or death 5 ” The night 
was clear and beautiful, the wind favourable, and fortune 
feemed to finile on the en,terprize. Sir Neil Campbell 
was in Italy ; no cruifer appeared in fight; and, before the 
dawn, they hoped to double the ifland of Capraia, and 
to be completely out of danger from the veffels which 
were known to be cruifing off that ftation. But the wind, 
which at firft wafted them gaily on, gradually died away. 
At day-break they had made only fix leagues progrels, 
and were yet between Capraia and Elba. To add to their 
vexation, (ome veflels were feen in the offing, of fufficient 
force to annihilate theirdiminutive fleet. Thedanger was 
imminent. The captain and the greater part of the crew 
advifed and urged a return to Porto Ferrajo. But Napo¬ 
leon 
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