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Del'Imprimerie de C. Roworth, Bell-yard, Temple-bar.

POUR SERVIRÀ L'HISTOIRE DE

LA VIE PRIVÉE,

DU RETOUR, ET DU RÈGNE DE

NAPOLEON

EN 1815.

Ingrata patria, ne ossa quidem habes. SCIPION.

Par M. FLEURY de CHABOULON,

Ex: Secrétaire de l'Empereur Napoléon et de son Cabinet, Maître des
Requêtes au Conseil d'Etat, Baron, Officier de la Légion d'Honneur,
Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Réunion.

TOME I.

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.

1819.
ASS

36098 43obn Watts de Peyster, LL.D.

R

AS RE TILEN FO

on.

LITT. D. Doctor of Letters or Literature (Degree conveying highest collegi.
ate distinction, superior to LL.D.), Franklin and Marshall College, (corner-
stone laid by Benjamin Franklin, 1787; reorganized 1853). (Oldest institution
under Reformed (German) Church), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1892.
Master of Arts, Columbia College of New York, 1872.--Hon. M . Clarendon
Hist. Soc., Edinburgh, Scotland; of the New Brunswick Hist. Soc.,
ada; of the Hist. Soc. of Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey of the M
of the Loyal Legion of the U. S., &c.; of the N. Y. Burns Club, &c.
the Quebec Lit. and Hist. Soc., Canada, &c.; Life Mem. Royal Hist
Britain, London, Eng.; Mem. Maatschappij Nederlandsche Le
den, Holland.-First Hon. Mem. Third Army Corps (A. of ti
Mem. Third Army Corps Gettysburg Battlefield Reunion and Mem. of the Hon-
orary Committee; Mem. Amer. Hist. Association, U. S. A.; of the Helland So-
ciety, N. Y.; Associate Mem. Military Institution of the U. S., &c., &c., ember,
Life, Honorary and Corresponding Member of over forty State and Local His-
torical, Scientific and Literary Societies and Associations, &c., at home and
abroad.-Colonel N. Y. S. I., 1846, assigned for "meritorious conduct" to com-
mand of 22d Regimental District, M. F. S. N. Y., 1849; Brig.-General for “im-
portant service "[first appointment in N. Y. State to that rank, hitherto elec-
tive], 1851, M. F. S. N. Y; Military Agent S. N. Y. in Europe, 1851-53, authorized
and endorsed by U. S. A., 1851-3; assisted in organization of present Police, N.
Y., and first reported in favor of Paid Fire Department with Fire Escapes and
Steam Engines, 1852-3; Adjutant-General S. N. Y., 1855; Brevet Major-General
S. N. Y. for "meritorious services," by "Special Act" or "Concurrent Resolu-
tion," N. Y. State Legislature, April, 1866, [first and only General officer receiv-
ing such an honor (the highest) from S. N. Y., and the only officer thus brevetted
(Major-General) in the United States].

As long as the Republicans continued in power or exercised executive influence, General De Peyster was carried on the State Military Roster as Fifth MajorGeneral, N. G. S. N. Y., "without command" designated, ¿ e., unattached-that remark being the only difference between the mention of him and of the other four Major-Generals (See Legislative Manual, 1885, and previous years, p. 546). St. Nicholas Club (Resigned); Union League Club (Resigned), before 1887.-Honorary Life Member of the Toledo Soldiers' Memorial Association, Toledo, Ohio, 1888; First Honorary Member of Philosophian Society, Cowan, Pennsylvania, 1890; Honorary Member of West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian Society, Charleston, Kanawha Co., W. Va., 1890-1; Life Member of the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio, 1889; Life Member of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1890.

Recipient of Legislative and Executive Votes of Thanks from the States of New Jersey and of Pennsylvania, 1891; of the Mayor and Corporation of the City of Kearney, Nebraska, 1892; and of the N. Y. Historical Society of New York, 1892, for a "unique and most valuable Gift of the ancient historical manuscripts, documents, maps and deeds so long in the possession of this distinguished New York family, of which he is a well-known representative," going back even to the term of Governor Stuyvesant.

Corresponding Member of the Virginia Historical Society, 1893. Honorary Fellow (or Member) of the Society of Science, Letters and Art, London, England, 1893: Awarded Gold Medal for 1894, by Society of Science, Letters and Art, for "Scientific and Literary Attainments," 18th July, 1894.

Recipient of Vote of Thanks from the State of New York, Session of 1894, for a very fine Bronze Bas- Relief, representing the "Encampment of the Continental Troops at West Point, on the Hudson, during the Revolution."

1864, to June

Director of Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial Association from 21, 1880 (diploma dated July 4, 1895). Honorary Member United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada, 1895. Hereditary Member, 1896, Military Society of the War of 1812, as legal representative of his mother's brother, George Watts, Lieut. 1st U. S. Light Dragoons and Aide-de-Camp to Major General Winfield Scott, U. S. A., Brevetted for gallant and distinguished service in battle of Chippewa, 5th July (Aug.), 1814 (having saved his General's life from the Indians in the British service, by his courage and coolness, prior to that battle); and also distinguished in Brown's sortie from Fort Erie. Honorary Vice-President Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia (replacing nis father, Frederic de Peyster, Esq., who died full of honors in 1882). 1896.

AU LECTEUR.

La révolution du 20 Mars formera, sans doute, isode le plus remarquable de la vie de Napoléon, déjà si féconde en événemens surnaturels. Mon intention n'a point été d'en écrire l'histoire : ette noble tâche est au-dessus de mes forces; 'ai voulu seulement mettre Napoléon en scène, et opposer ses paroles, ses actions, et la vérité, aux assertions erronées de quelques historiens, aux mensonges de l'esprit de parți, et aux outrages de ces écrivains de circonstance habitués à insulter dans le malheur ceux qu'ils ont honorés dans la postérité.

Jusqu'alors on n'avait pu s'accorder sur les motifs et es circonstances qui avaient déterminé l'Empereui“. quitter l'île d'Elbe. Quelques

a 3

personnes supposaient qu'il avait agi de son propre mouvement; d'autres, qu'il avait conspiré avec ses partisans la perte des Bourbons. Ces deux suppositions étaient également fausses. On apprendra avec surprise, avec admiration peutêtre, que cette étonnante révolution fut l'ouvrage inoui de deux hommes et de quelques mots.

La relation du Colonel Z***, déjà si précieuse par les révélations qu'elle renferme, nous paraît devoir fixer sous d'autres rapports l'attention du lecteur. En l'étudiant soigneusement on y découvre le type des défauts, des qualités, des passions, qui, confondus ensemble, forment le caractère, si plein de contrastes, de l'incompréhensible Napoléon. On l'apperçoit tour à tour défiant et expansif, ardent et réservé, entreprenant et irrésolu, vindicatif et généreux, libéral et monarchique. Mais on voit dominer par-dessus tout cette activité, cette force, cette chaleur d'ame, ces inspirations brillantes, et ces déterminations soudaines, qui n'appartiennent qu'aux hommes extraordinaires, qu'aux hommes de génie.

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