XIII. bleau. 96. In the midst of this universal and unparalleled base- CHAP. ness, it is refreshing to have one noble and herioc scene. to refer to, which redeems in some degree the lost honour 1814. of human nature. On the 20th April, all things being in Adieu of readiness for his departure to the island of Elba, Napoleon Fontainedescended the great stair of the palace of Fontainebleau, April 20. and, advancing into the middle of the square of the Old Guard, which was drawn up ready to receive him, he said, amidst breathless silence and tearful eyes, "Soldiers of my Old Guard, I bid you adieu! During twenty years I have ever found you on the path of honour and glory. In our dark days, as in those of our prosperity, you have never ceased to be models of bravery and fidelity. With such men as you, our cause could never have been lost; but the contest would have been interminable: it would have turned into a civil war, and France must have become daily more unhappy. I have therefore sacrificed all our interests to those of our country. I depart; but you remain to serve France. Its happiness was my only thought; it will always be the object of my wishes. Lament not my lot; if I have consented to survive myself, it was that I might contribute to your glory. I am about to write the great deeds we have done together. Adieu, my children! I would I could press you all to my heart, but I will at least press the eagle." At these words, General Petit advanced with the eagle; Napoleon received the general in his arms, and after kissing the standard, said, with a voice almost last instructions. The latter found him hardly able to articulate, and apparently in the agonies of death. He was soon seized with violent spasms, the last efforts of expiring nature, but they brought on a fit of vomiting, which relieved his stomach of the greater part of the poison. Napoleon entreated the bystanders to give him another dose, but they positively refused; and by degrees, though suffering severely from spasins in the stomach, he recovered. He repeatedly said when he regained his senses, "How difficult it is to die when it is so easy on the field of battle. Ah! why did I not die at Arcis-sur-Aube?" At length he said to Dr Ivan, who was at his bedside, "The dose was not strong enough-God did not will it;" and fell asleep. He wakened in two hours, pale and haggard: but the effects of the poison had gone off.-See THIERS, xvii. 804, 805; NAPOLEON, in MONTHOLON, ii. 37; FAIN, 241; CONSTANT, vi. 85. CHAP. 1814. inarticulate with emotion, "Adieu, once again, my old XIII. companions! May this last embrace penetrate all your hearts." With these words he tore himself away amidst the sobs and tears of all around him. Never was a great career more nobly terminated. And yet such is the fickleness of human nature, such was the abhorrence in which the Emperor, when in misfortune, was held in France, that not only was he publicly insulted on many occasions dur252; Thiers, ing his progress through the southern provinces, but on one he escaped death at the hand of his own subjects, by riding post in the uniform of an Austrian courier.1 1 Fain, 250 xvii. 831, 832. 97. Treaty of April 11, 1814. Lord Castlereagh's arrival at Paris, on the 10th April from Dijon, was the signal for the signature of the preliminaries of peace, which was done on the day following. Little remained to be adjusted in this treaty, for Napoleon having resigned, and the King not arrived from England, it could be agreed to only by the provisional Government at Paris, and necessarily bore a temporary character. By it the Emperor Napoleon, by his commissioners, Ney and Macdonald, renounced for himself and his descendants the empire of France and kingdom of Italy; but he was himself to retain the title of Emperor, and his mother, brothers, and sisters, those of Princes and Princesses. The island of Elba was assigned to the exEmperor as his place of residence; and for that end it was erected into an independent principality in his favour. The duchies of Parma and Placentia were secured in full sovereignty during her life to the Empress Marie-Louise, and after her decease to the King of Rome, her son. An annual revenue of 2,500,000 francs (£100,000) were to be paid annually to the ex-Emperor, to be defrayed from the revenues of the countries ceded, and 2,000,000 more (£80,000) annually to be inscribed on the grand livre of France, and defrayed from its revenues. The Empress Dowager, Josephine, was secured in an annuity of 1,000,000 francs (£40,000) annually, to be also inscribed on the grand livre of France. All XIII. 1814. the movable property of the Emperor and his family CHAP. was to remain with the present proprietors, except the furniture of the palaces and diamonds of the crown, which were to revert to the King of France. Fifteen hundred of the Old Guard were to attend the Emperor to his place of embarkation, and he was to be allowed to take 400 with him to form a body-guard in the island of Elba. The whole Poles in the service of France were to be at liberty to return to their own country with their arms and baggage. This treaty, which was merely between Napoleon, personally, and the Allies, had affixed to it the signatures of Caulaincourt, Macdonald, Ney, Metternich, Nesselrode, and Hardenberg; Lord Castlereagh acceded to it, "but only to be binding upon his Britannic Majesty, with respect to his own acts, but not with respect to the acts of third parties." The fact was, he very much disapproved of the treaty, both as recognising the title of Emperor in Napoleon, which Great Britain had never yet done, and as assigning him an independent sovereignty on the shores of Italy, and within a few days' sail of France, where the revolutionary passions were still rife in both countries.1* See Treaty Sup. i. 696. in Martens, 98. at Paris, Sir Charles Stewart returned to Paris from Toulouse on the 26th of April, bringing with him Wellington's Arrival of answer to the proposal of Lord Castlereagh to confer Wellington upon him the office of Ambassador at Paris, of vital and his reimportance in the approaching deliberations, which he there as accepted. Nothing remained now, but to prosecute the dor. * "I have given the accession to the treaty of the 11th, in the form received from Lord Bathurst. I did not feel it necessary now to provoke the question of the ultimate destination of Elba after Napoleon's death. I think the form and nature of our peace will of itself preclude its becoming French, which, I conceive, is your main object."-LORD CASTLEREAGH to LORD LIVERPOOL, April 27, 1814; Castlereagh Correspondence, ix. 510. +"Lord Castlereagh, considering the importance, under the present auspicious change that has taken place in the general system of Europe, as well as in the government of France, that the embassy to Paris should be intrusted by your Royal Highness to a character of preponderating influence in the public estimation, presumes to recommend that your Royal Highness would authorise him to propose this trust, in your Royal Highness's ception Ambassa CHAP. negotiations with the utmost activity, and the conclusion XIII. of an armistice in Italy, between the Viceroy and Marshal 1814. Bellegarde, which Sir R. Wilson, the British envoy, then reported, greatly facilitated this object. The conduct of Murat had been so ambiguous and suspicious, like that of Bernadotte, as to deprive him of all confidence or respect on the part of the Allied Powers.* The visit of Sir Charles Stewart to Wellington at Toulouse, was in the highest degree delightful to both. The two soldiers had much to speak of; each had seen and done great things since they had parted on the banks of the Agueda, two years before. The one had struck the blows at Salamanca and Vitoria, which had delivered the Peninsula; the other had assisted at those at Leipsic and Paris, which had rescued Europe. The communication between them was of the most unreserved and confidential kind; and Sir Charles then communicated to his former commander his serious apprehensions at the con1 Sir Chas. Sequence of fixing Napoleon so near both France and Stewart to Italy, as in the island of Elba.1 Wellington soon followed reagh, April Sir Charles Stewart to Paris, where he arrived on the 4th May. He was received with loud applause by the volatile Parisians; and the cries of "Vive Wellington!" when name, to Field-Marshal the Marquess of Wellington, whose zeal and invariable devotion to your Royal Highness's service, will, Lord Castlereagh persuades himself, on this, as on every other occasion, determine him to obey your Royal Highness's commands."-LORD CASTLEREAGH to the PRINCE REGENT, April 27, 1814; Castlereagh Correspondence, ix. 511. Lord Castle 13, 1814, MS. * "I enclose a letter from Sir Robert Wilson, which contains an account of the conditions of an armistice between the Viceroy of Italy and Marshal Bellegarde. I trust that this convention may lead to a satisfactory settlement of the complicated questions which are involved in the present state of Italy. It appears, however, that Murat's conduct has been most equivocal and suspicious; and I shall take an early opportunity of writing to your Lordship more at length upon this subject."-LORd Castlereagh to LORD LIVERPOOL, April 27, 1814; Castlereagh Correspondence, ix. 510. "Lord Wellington arrived yesterday without notice, in time to see the Russian and Prussian Guards defile by Louis XVIII. The Emperor of Russia visited him in the evening; and he afterwards appeared at a ball given by my brother Charles, where he was the great object of admiration. He looks perfectly well, and does not show the effects of his campaigns as much as I expected in his countenance."-LORD CASTLEREAGH to LORD LIVERPOOL, May 5, 1814; Castlereagh Correspondence, x. 9. XIII. he made his first appearance at the opera in the French CHAP. capital, were as loud as ever those of " Vive l'Empereur !" had been in the plenitude of his imperial power.* 1814. 99. of the ne as the other Europe were The conferences of the ministers, however, soon showed that, though the terms of peace were sufficiently obvious, Difficulties so far as France and England were concerned, yet it would gotiation for be no easy matter to adjust the conflicting claims of the pace, so different Powers which had been engaged with her in the France and contest. Security for the future, not either conquest or Powers of revenge, having been the object, and the sole object, of concerned. Great Britain in the war, this point was completely gained by the reduction of France to its ancient limits, and the Napoleon dynasty being displaced, which was a standing menace to the other states of Europe. But the case was very different as between France and the other European Powers. Talleyrand adopted and again urged Napoleon's favourite argument, so often put forward by Caulaincourt, that the strength of the other Continental states, particularly England and Russia, had been so much augmented during the conflict that the balance of power would no longer exist if, while they retained their acquisitions, France was to be reduced to her ancient limits. In addition to this, the rival pretensions and claims of the victorious Allies were still more at variance, and more likely to lead to serious divisions. Prussia put forward her claims to be raised to the rank of a first-rate power, and increased to at least ten millions of inhabitants, in consideration of her unparalleled efforts during the war. It was felt by all that these claims were well founded; but from whence the territories were to come which were to raise her to that rank, was not so apparent. The necessity of erecting Belgium into a respectable power, as a barrier to Northern Germany against France, was evident; but Austria claimed with justice indemnification for the loss of her pro * The author was present on the occasion. The manner of the English hero in bowing his acknowledgments was constrained and embarrassed, probably from an apprehension that the display might prejudice the Bourbons. |