Page images
PDF
EPUB

that through two intermediate persons, from Napoleon's own mouth, that actual violence was employed before he would consent to step for the last time from the throne; and that a deputation of representatives, of whom General Marescot was one, declared they would not quit the imperial closet until the abdication was signed. But I have reason to think, that, although there is nothing out of rule in such an incident, in the last scene of a falling monarch, my informant misheard or mistook a metaphor for a fact, a comparison for a reality. The violence used by the deputies and ministers was no other than enforcing the conviction that resistance might retard but could not prevent his deposition. By mid-day he had ceased to be an Emperor-he nevertheless received the deputation of the chambers, signifying their acceptance of his abdication, in great state, surrounded by his household and ministers of state.

It appears that Napoleon, both before and some time after he had signed his abdication, hung by the hope of retaining the crown in his family. His answer to the messages of the two chambers shewed his anxiety for his son, perhaps, more prominently than became him; for he must have known that the fact of his reminding them, that he abdicated only for

[ocr errors]

his son, would not add one figure to the chance of Napoleon the Second: indeed, it has hitherto only given occasion for the intemperate and officious zeal of M. Labédoyère. When he said, in his address to the French, "I proclaim my son Napoleon the Second Emperor of the French," he erred both in form and substance: a constitutional monarch, stepping from his throne, proclaims not his successor: the constitution awards the crown, and in virtue of that constitution is the sovereign proclaimed. If the son should not succeed, this proclamation of the father will be considered as the last impotent effort of expiring usurpation. Such solicitude for his family may appear natural, but, as it was totally ineffectual, it would have contributed to the dignity of the monarch to have concealed those feelings that betrayed the man, and to have wrapt up from the public view those last emotions of humanity which lessened the decency of his fall. Napoleon so far forgot himself in this struggle, as to apprehend dangers where none could possibly exist, and to take measures for the accomplishment of his forlorn hope, and in the behalf of his son, which he had not employed for himself in his late reign. The last exercise of his authority, on the morning of the 22d, was to give orders that a British nobleman, resident at Paris,

should quit France at a minute's warning, as a punishment for, and in order to prevent, his efforts to deprive Napoleon the Second of the crown of France. The gentleman remained a few hours at M. Real's office; but, on mentioning the circumstance to the Duke of Otranto, was told to laugh at the order, as he would see something that day which would remove all his uneasiness. The abdication was read to the chambers, and the arrest immediately ceased.

It is still believed that Napoleon intended to make the succession of his son a condition of his abdication, and that he would have taken advantage, even subsequently to that event, of any revolution which the federates might have hazarded in his favour. On Friday the 23d, the day after the abdication was notified to the chambers, and the day when it was first placarded in Paris, the emissaries of the police discovered a plot to seize the military depôts, to arm the suburbs, march to the Elysée, and re-establish the imperial throne. The vigilance of Fouché prevented the scheme from being carried into effect: the whole of the national guard of Paris were put under arms late in the evening, and remained on duty all the night: no attempt at arrest was made until the signal of the conspiracy, a gun fired near the barrier of

St. Antoine, gave an opportunity of seizing the ringleaders, who advanced first to the concerted scene of action, and were secured to the number of about two hundred. Napoleon was removed the next morning to Malmaison, the cradle of all his greatness, which was neglected when he accepted, and, like a faithful friend, receives him when he resigns, the crown. He must soon bid it his last adieu. He does not appear to have carried with him to his retreat such regrets as he might have been expected to command from the government and the chambers. No provision has been made for him, and there has been a threat that Count Mollien, minister of the treasury, is to be arraigned by the chambers for having disbursed certain sums of money from the public purse for his relief. The count declares, that he has not given him a single franc, but honestly adds, that he regrets it was out of his power to succour the abdicated Emperor in his distress. Malmaison is besieged by personal creditors and friends, who have nearly exhausted the small stock of money which remained from his private fortune after the disaster of Waterloo. The imperial family, the staff-officers, chamberlains, servants, and other dependants, even the tradesmen of the court, crowd the antechamber of their imperial debtor,

and the last distress of the lowest individual

is the first calamity of him who was

66

Yesterday a king, and born with kings to strive."

An extreme carelessness and generosity in pecuniary matters, is one of the characteristics of Napoleon he is incapable of refusing an application for money. He will carry from Malmaison only fifteen thousand louis d'ors. It seems mean and ridiculous to couple these considerations with the name of such a man, but during his varied career he has been in situations in which such considerations have been suggested even to himself. In those private letters, in his own hand, written to his first wife, when he was commander in chief of the army of Italy, which I have before mentioned as having read, he gives an account of the small fortune left him by his father (I think either 8 or 12,000 francs), and enters, besides, once or twice into some details relative to this patrimony, and the state of his purse; and, what is perfectly conformable to his character, gently reproaches Josephine for having made no demands upon him. The excess of affection and esteem with which he talks of his brothers in those letters, and which some think has degenerated into a failing with him, adds another trait, a fit companion to his generosity.

« PreviousContinue »