opinion, or what was otherwise interesting concerning the safety of the first consul and his government. Those reports belonged to the secret police of the interior; and Napoleon therefore never shewed them to any person. One day, his daughter-in-law, Fanny Beauharnois, who was married to Louis Buonaparte, and who was a great favourite with the first consul, observed him much agitated in reading a paper, which, at her approach, he put over the chimney-piece; curiosity made her contrive to penetrate into the cause of her father's uneasiness. In playing with him, as she often did, she got hold of this paper; and, to prevent any suspicion, she tore another paper near it to pieces, and threw them through the window, exclaiming, "Dear father! I hope you are not angry that I have destroyed the villainous paper which made you so uncomfortable." Napoleon freely forgave her, and, in presence of her mother, she mentioned what she had done, The paper she had concealed was found to be one of Fouché's reports, instilling fear and suspicion into the mind of the first consul, of the persons even the nearest and dearest to him. What most surprised madame Buonaparte was, that Fouché mentioned those informations as extracted from the report made to him by Dubois, the prefect of police. Madame Buonaparte knew that Dubois owed his place to the protection of Talleyrand, and that Fouché was Talleyrand's enemy; she therefore sent for him, and presented him the report of the police minister. In a few hours after Talleyrand informed her, that the whole was an invention of Fouché to make himself necessary; but that he should take care the first consul should not long continue the dupe of this man. It was said, that this report was transmitted to Buonaparte in the morning of the 8th of August 1802; and that, in consequence, he wrote for the Moniteur of the next day a most violent philippic against England; Fouché having reported, amongst other things, that English travellers in France, and Georges, and the French chouans in England, were closely connected, and conspired with those disaffected persons, who were about him. On the 15th of the same month, the birth-day of Napoleon, Talleyrand congratulated the first

consul upon the tranquillity that reigned every where, and the union of all parties under his mild but firm government, which he had heard with so much satisfaction from Dubois, the prefect of police, who assured him that for the last six months he had not received any intelligence of discontent or disaffection either amongst foreign or intestine rivals or enemies. This compliment made Napoleon thoughtful; and, the next morning, he ordered Dubois to send to him for the future his police accounts in secret, and to continue to forward them to Fouché, as was his duty. Soon after this, for some cause or other, which remains unexplained, Fouché was dismissed from the office of mimister of police, and appointed a senator, a place at that time of little profit, and more honourable than important.

When the constitution of Switzerland was about to be changed, in conformity with the views of the first consul, Fouché was appointed one of the negociators. In the year 1805 he was restored to the situation of minister of police. At the restoration of Louis XVIII. Fouché, as well as his rival Talleyrand, were each continued in their important offices; and at the moment when Buonaparte had planned his expedition from the isle of Elba, he thus addressed his former master in the language of respectful admonition.

66

SIRE,-When France and a part of Europe were at your feet, I dared to make you constantly hear the truth. Now that you are unfortunate I experience more dread of wounding your feelings by speaking the language of sincerity. But I owe it to you, since it will prove useful and even necessary to you.

"You have accepted as a retreat the island of Elba, and its sovereignty. I lend a very attentive ear to all that is said respecting that sovereignty, and that island, and I think it my duty to assure you, that the situation of Elba, in Europe, does not become your own (situation); and the title of sovereign of a few acres of land still less becomes him who possessed an immense empire.

"I beseech you to weigh these two consi. derations, and you will feel how well they are founded.

"The island of Elba lies at a short distance from Africa, Greece, and Spain. It almost touches the coasts of Italy and France. From that island the sea, the winds, and a small felucca, may rapidly convey you to every country exposed to movements, dissensions, and revolutions. As yet, stability exists nowhere. In this mutability of nations a genius like yours will always create inquietude and suspicion among the European powers. Without being criminal, you will be accused. Without being criminal, you will do harm; for fear is a great evil both to governments and nations.

"The king who is about to reign in France will wish to reign by justice; but you know how many passions surround a throne, and with what skill hatred imparts to calumny

the colours of truth.

"The titles which you preserve, while recalling at every moment what you have lost, can only serve to increase the bitterness of your regrets. They will not appear a wreck, but a vain representation of so many vanished grandeurs. I say more. Without honouring you, they will expose you to greater dangers. It will be said that you only keep these titles, because you maintain all your pretensions. It will be said that the rock of Elba is the resting point, where you intend to place the lever with which you will seek once more to raise the world.

"Allow me to tell you my whole thoughts. They are the result of mature reflection. It would be more glorious, and more consolatory for you to live as a simple citizen; and, at present, the safest and the most becoming asylum for a man like you is the United States of America.

"There you will recommence your existence in the midst of a people still new, and who will know how to admire without fearing your genius. In the country of Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson, you will be under the protection of those laws equally impartial and inviolable for all that breathe. You will prove to the Americans that if you had been born among them, you would have felt, thought, and acted like them,

and preferred their virtues and their liberties to all the domination of the earth. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) "The duke of Otranto."

The above was enclosed in the following note to Monsieur:

66

April 23, 1814. "MONSEIGNEUR,-I have attempted to render a last service to the emperor Napoleon, whose minister I have been during ten years. I think it proper to communicate to your royal highness the letter which I have written to him. His interests cannot be an indifferent object to me, since they have moved the generous compassion of the powers who have conquered him. But the greatest of all interests for France and for Europe, and that to which every thing should be sacrificed, is the repose of nations and of monarchs, after so many agitations and calamities: and that repose, even if it should be established on a solid basis, would never be truly enjoy. ed, so long as the emperor Napoleon should stay in the island of Elba. Napoleon, upon that rock, would be to Italy, to France, and to all Europe, what Vesuvius is by the side of Naples. I only see the new world in which he can produce no new convulsions.

"I have the honour to be, &c."

The confidence of the Bourbons, notwithstanding every warning and prediction, still continued; they could not be persuaded to believe that Buonaparte would venture to hazard his person in the midst of France, with a handful of followers, and attempt to traverse a country through which a few months before he had passed to his place of exile, loaded with insult and abuse. But the suspicions and anxiety of the people were strongly excited. Some strange neglect evidently existed in certain departments of the government. The rumours of conspiracy, intrigue, and revolution, were universal and alarming, and the terrible suspense with which the people were impressed, was only terminated by the awful and astonishing reality!

On the 25th of February Napoleon presided at a fete which he gave to his Lilliputian court, and mingled with the utmost condescension in the gaiety of his visitors. On the succeeding day he reviewed the soldiers of his guard, and on dismissing them from their parade, ordered them to prepare for immediate service, and to re-assemble at six o'clock in the evening. At that hour he formed them into a hollow square, placed himself in their centre, and addressed them in his usual style of energetic and animated eloquence. He represented to them that they were at this moment led by fortune to prove themselves worthy of his confidence and his attachment; that to form them to the discipline and energy of soldiers had been the solace and the delight of his exile; and that the opportunity had now arrived which would enable them to prove that his labours were not lost. He assured them that France, Belgium, and Italy, invited him to resume the imperial crown; that he had only to effect his landing, and display his standard, and the whole military force of France would obey his summons, and rally round their emperor; that he had been compelled to abdicate the sovereignty, not by the will of the French, but by an overwhelming foreign force; that Italy was deceived, Germany sacrificed, Poland enslaved, Saxony annihilated, and the spoil of these countries divided between Russia, Prussia, and England. France had now recovered 300,000 men, whom the cruelty of the season had rendered prisoners to Russia; persecuted by the Bourbon government, they now wandered destitute through France, and their well known attachment to his person was rewarded with insult and beggary; " and will not these men," he continued, "return to the general

who remembers them as ardently as he is remembered by them?

Fellow-soldiers! comrades in glory and in arms; for such you are about to become, judge of them as you would judge of yourselves; and answer me from your own feelings, whether my brave soldiers will pass over to my enemy and theirs, or whether, again seeing my standard shining in the sun, and my imperial eagle again elevated to its own skies, they will reseek their standard, their eagle, and their general, and again conduct them to the throne which belongs to them. What are the Bourbons to them or us? Who is it in France, still in the vigour of his life, who remembers them, or knows any thing of them, but their name, their mad extravagancies, and their contemptible debaucheries? In the course of three hundred years did they add an acre to the French territory, or an unit to the lasting glory of the French name? Are these kings for the French? No, comrades;-the age and the people demand another kind of leaders. What say you, soldiers; are you prepared to follow me, and to partake my fortune, my glory, and, if there be any, my perils and labours!"

His agents in France were more active than numerous. Carnot, if we may believe his own declaration, held no correspondence with Elba, nor entertained the slightest suspicion of a conspiracy. The unfortunate Labedoyere stated, in the course of his defence, that he held no intercourse with the isle of Elba, that he had never been present at any meeting in which the recall of Buonaparte had been discussed, that he had frequently heard mysterious rumours, and some expressions of discontent, but was unacquainted with any determined plan. The domestic situation of France, its antipathy

to the Bourbons, the imbecility of the king, and the influence of the military, operated far more powerfully than the intrigues of Buonaparte, and would have prepared the way for the return of a less able and formidable exile. He possessed, however, important and peculiar advantages; the influence of his name throughout the army was omnipotent, and amongst the peaceful citizens, inspired a degree of servile terror, which materially promoted his designs. His very appearance would be the signal of alarm, and the boldness of his enterprise would, to a certain extent, secure its success.

His whole fleet consisted of the brig l'Inconstant, mounting 26 guns, and six transports; and his whole army amounted to seven hundred men of his old guard, three hundred Corsicans, and one hundred and forty Poles. With a force so inconsiderable did this ambitious, intelligent, and enterprizing individual, invade a population of thirty millions, ruled by a government regularly organized, and confided to the protection of more than one hundred marshals and distinguished generals, who had taken the oath of fealty and allegiance to the Bourbon dynasty! None of the royal family, unfortunately, possessed the temper and the talents necessary to conciliate affection, or to form arrangements in so important an emergency. The duke d'Angoulême, nephew of the king. like his father Monsieur (count d'Artois), is of retired habits, is a bigot in opinion, and ruled by the clergy. The duke de Berri, his brother, with more activity, possesses a fierce and ungovernable temper, which often bursts out on improper and unseemly occasions.Under their auspices the attempts to newmodel the army, by gradually introducing officers attached to the royal family, gave much offence without producing any sensible advantage. In some instances the new officers were not received by the corps to whom they were sent; in some they were deprived of the influence which should attend their rank, by the combination of the soldiers and officers; in other cases they were perverted, by the universal principles of the corps which they were appointed to command; and many instances occurred in which the court was deceived by specious professions, and induced professions, and induced

to promote individuals the most inimical to the royal interests. The re-establishment of the household troops, in which a comparatively small number of body guards were, at a great expence, and with peculiar privileges, established, as the immediate guardians of the king's person, was resented by the army in general, but more especially by those guards so lately denominated the imperial, but now distinguished by the appellation of the royal guards.

The combination of all these circumstances tended to accelerate the enterprize of Napoleon.

The fire of a cannon, at eight o'clock on the 2d of March, gave the signal of departure, and cries resounded from the crew as they left the harbour, of "Paris or death." The breeze was favourable, the sea was smooth, and fortune seemed to smile upon the enterprize; but the wind died gradually away, and instead of doubling, as they had expected, the island of Capraria, they were, at day-break, between that island and Elba, having made only six leagues progress.Their disappointment was increased by the appearance of some vessels in the offing, and the greater part of the crew urged Napoleon to return to Porto Ferrajo. To all their importunities he replied by a positive refusal, and expressed his determination, if overtaken by the cruisers, to declare himself, and try the influence of his name. Should they prove faithful to Louis, he would attempt to carry them by boarding. The cruizers, however, consisting of two frigates and a brig, did not appear to observe him. The frequent excursions of Buonaparte to the neighbouring islands, and the visits of his own brig to the ports of Genoa and Leghorn, for stores and provisions, had so much accustomed the cruizers to his flag, that its appearance excited no suspicion. Towards noon the breeze became more powerful, and at four o'clock they were off Leghorn. In this situation they were alarmed by the appearance of a ship of war, which Buonaparte, as in the former instance, determined to board, should he be unable to deceive her. The soldiers were concealed between the decks, and the two vessels came alongside of each other.The cruizer proved to be the Zephyr, captain

Andrieux, the friend of Taillade, a lieutenant on board Napoleon's ship. Assuming an air of indifference, the lieutenant hailed the Zephyr, and demanded whither she was bound. It was answered, "to Livornia." Andrieux then enquired in his turn whither the Inconstant was proceeding. Taillade replied, without hesitation, " to Genoa," and offered to undertake any commission which captain Andrieux might have to execute. Andrieux was completely deceived, and thanking the lieutenant for his civility, but declining his offer, sailed on, and left Napo

leon to exult in Taillade's finesse.

At day-break, on the 28th, a 74 gun ship was seen at the distance of four leagues, making for Sardinia, but it took no notice of the little flotilla. At noon they came within sight of Antibes, and at three o'clock on the morning of the 1st of March they entered the gulph of Juan, at a short distance from Frejus, in the department of the Var. On their arrival at the shore, Buonaparte collected his troops on deck, and commanding them to throw the cockade of Elba into the sea, presented them with the national colours. They were received amidst the shouts of "long live the emperor."

A small battery, which might have opposed the landing of the troops, was, with the usual apathy and negligence of the Bourbons, left unoccupied, and a captain of the guard, with twenty-five men, entered without opposition. In the afternoon all the troops were disembarked, and when Buonaparte alighted on the French territory he exclaimed with exultation, "The congress is dissolved!"

Twenty-five men, commanded by a lieutenant, were now dispatched to invite general Corsin, the governor of Antibes, to join Napoleon. The invitation was accompanied by the most tempting proposals, but the commandant rejected the overture with indignation, imprisoned the officer and his men, and hastened to prepare for a vigorous defence. A second officer, who was sent to summon the place, was arrested and thrown into prison; and a third, who was dispatched to claim the prisoners, was likewise detained. Napoleon had established his bivouack on the seaside, in a vineyard surrounded by olive trees,

but finding that the capture of Antibes would occasion inconvenient delay, and diminish the numbers of his army, he proceeded to Cannes, where his unexpected appearance excited a sentiment of mingled exultation, anxiety, and astonishment. Continuing his progress to Grasse he found that town deserted. A report had been spread that a troop of corsairs had landed, and were ravaging the country, but the fears of the populace dissipated as soon as they had learned the truth. The mayor, on being required to furnish rations to the followers of Napoleon, replied, that he acknowledged no authority but that of Louis XVIII. The inhabitants, however, returning in crowds, opened their shops, and were easily induced to supply the wants of the soldiers. wants of the soldiers. At five o'clock in the afternoon the army arrived at the village of Cérénon, having travelled 30 leagues in the first day. On March the 3d Napoleon slept at Bareme, and on the 4th at Digne. Intelligence of his landing had been received at Marseilles, and had a body of faithful troops been immediately dispatched his progress might have been intercepted. The national guards, and many volunteers, were eager to march, but Massena, who commanded the garrison of Marseilles, displayed the most criminal indifference to the cause of the Bourbons. It was not until the third day, when the invader had penetrated eighty miles into the country, that a single regiment was sent in pursuit.

The peasants flocked from every quarter, and manifested their sentiments with an ener gy that could not be mistaken. The people in general were sufficiently tenacious of their property, and reports of the intended spoliation of national estates, the re-establishment of tythes, and the restoration of the former ecclesiastical domains, had been extensively circulated by the partizans of Buonaparte. More than one half of the popula tion of France was interested in the disposal of the national property, on account of the various channels through which it had passed since the first purchasers, but none would have been more deeply affected by such a measure than the class of the poor, among whom the minor domains of the church had been divided. In France there is no provi