III. 1815. as an expiation;--but what then? The very time when CHAP. justice is shown in harmony with present magnanimity and ultimate expedience, is when a great crime has been committed, a great criminal is at stake, and a great sacrifice must be made to secure that harmony. Banished from France, with his double treason affixed to his name, Ney would for ever have been an object of scorn and detestation to every honourable mind. Slain, in defiance of the capitulation, in the gardens of the Luxembourg, and meeting death in a heroic spirit, he became an object of eternal pathetic interest; and the decoration of the Legion of Honour, which his sentence directed to be torn from his neck, was for ever replaced around it by the volley of the platoon which consigned him to the grave. 66 91. the Duke ton's share During the trial, and when his counsel had appealed to the capitulation of Paris as protecting him, great efforts And on were made with foreign powers to save his life. Notes of Wellingwere addressed to all the foreign ambassadors then at in the transParis, and the intervention of the military chiefs who con- action. cluded that convention was in an especial manner invoked. Madame Ney applied for and obtained an interview with the Duke of Wellington on the subject, and in the most passionate manner invoked the protection of the 12th article. Madam," answered the Duke, "that capitulation was only intended to protect the inhabitants of Paris against the vengeance of the allied armies; and it is not obligatory except on the powers which have ratified it, which Louis XVIII. has not done." "My Lord," replied Madame Ney, "was not the taking possession of Paris, in virtue of the capitulation, equivalent to a ratification ?" "That," rejoined the Duke, "regards the king of France; apply to him." Wellington expressed himself in the same terms to Marshal Ney, in answer to a letter addressed to him by the marshal on the subject.* The "I have had the honour of receiving the note which you addressed to me on the 13th November, relating to the operation of the capitulation of Paris on your case. The capitulation of Paris, on the 3d July, was made between III. 1815. CHAP. whole case rests on both sides on this brief dialogue: all the wit of man to the end of time can add nothing to their force. Strictly speaking, the Duke of Wellington was undoubtedly right: the capitulation bound him, and had been observed by him; if the King of France violated it, that was the affair of that monarch and his ministers; and there was a peculiar delicacy in a victorious foreign general, in military possession of the capital, interfering with the administration of justice by the French govern ment. In private, it is said, Wellington exerted himself much, though unhappily without effect, to save the life of his old antagonist in arms; but, in the face of the united opinion of the whole powers of Europe, he did not conceive himself at liberty to make any public demonstration in his favour. His situation was doubtless a delicate one, surrounded with difficulties on every side; but there is an instinct in the human heart paramount to reason, there is a wisdom in generosity which is often superior to that of expedience. Time will show whether it would not have been wiser to have listened to its voice than to that of unrelenting justice on this occasion; and whether the throne of the Bourbons would not have been better inaugurated by a deed of generosity which would have spoken to the heart of man through every succeeding age, than by the sacrifice of the greatest, though also the most guilty, hero of the empire. Another trial took place at the same period before the ordinary courts of justice in Paris, which, although the commander-in-chief of the allied British and Prussian armies, on the one part, and the Prince of Echmuhl, commander-in-chief of the French armies, on the other, and related exclusively to the military occupation of Paris. The object of the 12th article was to prevent the adoption of any measures of severity, under the military authority of those who made it, towards any persons in Paris, on account of offices which they had filled, or their conduct, or their political opinions. But it never was intended, and could not be intended, to prevent either the existing French Government, or any French Government which might succeed it, from acting in this respect as it might deem fit."-WELLINGTON to Marshal NEY, 19th Nov. 1815; GURWOOD, xii. 694. III. 1815. 92. Lavalette. not terminating in the same mournful catastrophe, was CHAP. attended with circumstances of perhaps greater romantic interest. M. Lavalette was in civil administration what Marshal Ney had been in military-the great criminal of Trial of the Hundred Days. Accompanied by General Sebastiani, he had taken forcible possession, in the name of the Emperor, of the important situation of Director-General of the Post-office, which he had formerly held under the Emperor, and had used the power thus acquired to the worst purposes. On the 20th March, before the entry of the Emperor into Paris, he had addressed a treasonable circular to the inferior postmasters, which had a powerful effect in tranquillising the provinces, and facilitating Napoleon's peaceable resumption of the throne.* In addition to this, he had written to Napoleon at Fontainebleau, urging his immediate advance to Paris, and refused posthorses to several of the persons in the suite of Louis XVIII., in particular Count Ferrand, the former postmaster, on the departure of that monarch for Lille. His guilt, therefore, was self-evident; indeed, it has been confessed by himself; but, like so many others of the per * "L'Empereur sera à Paris dans deux heures et peut-être avant. La capitale est dans le plus grand enthousiasme; et quoi qu'on puisse faire, la guerre civile n'aura lieu nulle part. Vive l'Empereur!-Le Conseiller d'Etat, Directeur-General des Postes, Comte LAVALETTE."-Moniteur, 21st Nov. 1815. + “En sortant de la Rue d'Artois pour entrer sur le boulevard, je rencontrai le Général Sebastiani en cabriolet. Il me donna la nouvelle du départ du Roi, mais il n'en avait aucune sur l'Empereur. 'J'ai bien d'envie,' lui dis-je, 'd'en aller chercher à la poste;' et je me plaçai à coté de lui. En entrant dans la salle d'audience qui précède le Cabinet du Directeur-Général, je trouvai un jeune homme établi devant un bureau, à qui je demandai si le Comte Ferrand était encore à l'hôtel. Sur la réponse affirmative je lui donnai mon nom, en le priant de demander pour moi quelques instans d'entretien à M. le Comte Ferrand. M. Ferrand se présenta, mais sans s'arrêter et sans m'écouter il ouvrit son cabinet. Je ne l'y suivis pas; et j'allai dans une autre piece où je trouvai tous les chefs de division réunis de me revoir, et disposés à tout faire pour m'obliger. M. Ferrand, après avoir pris ses papiers, se retira, et laissa son cabinet à ma disposition. J'avais un vif désir de courir à Fontainebleau, pour embrasser l'Empereur; mais je voulais voir ma femme avant de partir, et pour concilier ces deux mouvements de cœur, je pris la résolution d'ecrire à Fontainebleau. On me donna un courrier, qui partit à l'instant. J'annonçai à l'Empereur la nouvelle du départ du Roi, et je lui demandai des ordres pour la Poste, puisque M. Ferrand avait abandonné l'administration."— Mémoire de Lavalette, ii. 152, 153. III. 1815. CHAP. sons implicated in the treason of the Hundred Days, he made no attempt at escape. He remained, on the contrary, at his own hotel, or the country house of his mother-in-law, near Paris, after the return of the king, and even after the fate of Labedoyère might have taught him the expedience of consulting his safety by flight, the more especially as he was not in Paris at the time of the capitulation, and could not appeal to its protection. He had even the extreme imprudence to disregard a significant hint sent him by Fouché, and remained at his mother-in-law's without concealment. The consequence was, he was arrested and brought to trial; and, as his treason was clearly proved, he was found guilty and sentenced to death.1 1 Cap. iii. 321, 325; Moniteur, Nov. 21, 1815; Lavalette's Mém. ii. 150, 156. 93. pardon is in vain. The counsel of Lavalette, to gain time, advised him to The king's apply to have the sentence reviewed by the Court of applied for Cassation, and meanwhile applied, through the Duke de Richelieu, to the king for mercy. Louis answered: "M. de Lavalette appears to me to be guilty; the Chamber of Deputies demands examples, and I believe them to be necessary. I have every wish to extend mercy to M. de Lavalette; but recollect that, the day following, you will be assailed by the Chamber of Deputies, and we shall be in a fresh embarrassment." By the advice of the king, the intervention of the Duchess d'Angoulême was applied for, as it might support him in the course which his inclination prompted, and the princess shed tears at the recital, and recommended that Madame Lavalette should throw herself at the king's feet. She did so, having with great difficulty obtained entrance to the chateau by the assistance of Marshal Marmont; but though the monarch addressed her with kindness he promised nothing, and it was understood the law would be allowed to take its course. It was fortunate he did so, for it gave occasion Mém. 272, to one of the most touching instances of female heroism iii. 331,332. and devotion that the history of the world has exhi 2 Laval. 275; Cap. bited.2 III. 1815. dress. 94. The day of his execution was fixed, and the unhappy CHAP. prisoner, despairing of life, had already begun to familiarise his mind with the frightful circumstances of a public execution. In this extremity everything depended on He escapes the courage and energy of Madame Lavalette; and to of his wife, by the aid her he owed his salvation. The evening before, being and in her the 21st December, she came to have á last interview. with him, accompanied by her daughter, a child of fourteen years; and, as soon as they were alone, proposed that he should escape in her dress. With much difficulty she persuaded him to accede to the proposal, and after their last repast, the change of apparel was effected with surprising celerity and address. The hope of success, the consciousness of heroism, had restored all her presence of mind to Madame Lavalette, and she was not only cheerful but animated on the occasion. "Do not forget," said she, "to stoop at passing through the doors, and walk slowly in the passage, like a person exhausted by suffering." He did so: the jailors did not, through the veil which he wore, perceive the change; the porters of the sedan chair in which Madame Lavalette arrived had been gained by twenty-five louis; and after passing four gates, and about twelve turnkeys in different places, Laval. he got clear off. When the jailer some time after entered 288, 291; the apartment, he found Lavalette escaped, and the 24. heroine of conjugal duty seated in his place.1 1 Mém. ii. Lac. ii. 22, 95. Wilson, Mr son, and Mr to escape. But though the prison gates had been passed, much remained to be done, for the escape was soon discovered: Sir Robert the police were on the alert; the most active search was Hutchinmade in every direction; and the Government, held to Bruce, rigorous measures by the clamour raised in the Chamber enable him of Deputies, where they were openly accused of having favoured the escape, were compelled to direct every effort to be made to apprehend the fugitive. But fortune seemed never weary of accumulating romantic incidents around this memorable trial; and the escape of Lavalette from Paris, and into Germany, was effected by an inter |