there was therefore no motive for mis-statement or mis-representation; and he has forborne to add any commentary to the unvarnished nar- rative. There was a time when he himself performed an important part in the drama of the world; but he is now a silent, though cheerful, spectator.]
Towards the end of January, the dreams of power, security, and reliance on the omnipotence of their arms, which the French had so long indulged, vanished before their increasing dangers; and apprehen- sion that the invading army would arrive at Paris was manifested by several of the inhabitants packing up their most valuable effects, and sending them into those parts of France where it was least probable the enemy would penetrate. While, at the same time, many of the in- habitants of villages, farms, and country-houses in the environs, brought their furniture into the metropolis for greater security. Waggons and carts thus laden were daily seen on the Boulevards and all the roads to the capital. Even the Duke of Rovigo, Minister of Police, sent his daughters, and the furniture of his own hotel in the Rue Cerutti, into the neighbourhood of Toulouse. The Parisians of every class of society laid in, to the full extent of their circumstances, stores of flour, rice, vetches, white beans, potatoes, salt pork, red herrings, &c. Salt beef and biscuit are unknown at Paris. One day at the commencement of February, the demand for potatoes was so great at the Marché des Innocentes, that a measure (the decalitre) rose from the usual price of six sols to forty; this produced a considerable supply the next day, when they fell to the usual price.
The bakers received orders from the police to lay in a stock of flour. On the 18th of January, the law which fixed the rate of interest in civil cases at five per cent, and at six in commercial concerns, was sus- pended until January 1, 1815; and in the interim, every one was at liberty to obtain what interest he could.
However, general as were these precautions, yet few persons would openly acknowledge, or even bring themselves to believe, that the enemy would dare to attack the capital. All they would admit was, that it might be so surrounded as to have all supplies of provisions cut
Notwithstanding the exertions of government to "Nationalise the war," the greatest indifference was evidently felt by the middle and lower classes, now that their vanity was no longer gratified by conquest for themselves and insult to others. Every artifice was resorted to by the Police to arouse the slaves of its power from this apathy; one of these was the attempting to recal to the minds of the populace (what they had been for years labouring to destroy) the energy they had mani- fested at the beginning of the Republic. Towards effecting this, they
had that celebrated, but long proscribed air, the Marseillois hymn, set on the street barrel organs, and songs in praise of the Emperor adapted to it, which were sung in the streets. The attempt made in these songs to preserve the imperial dignity, and at the same time combine the revolutionary slang, was most ludicrous. During the twelve years of my residence in France, I never had heard this piece of music, and only once (in 1803) had heard "Ça ira," which was in passing an obscure wine shop near the Place de Grève.
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About the beginning of January, some one in conversation with Talleyrand, said he could not comprehend what was going on, alluding to the confusion which it was then known reigned in every branch of the government. Talleyrand replied " c'est le commencement de la fin."*
A paper was stuck at the base of the column which supported the statue of Napoleon in the Place Vendôme, on it was written, " Passez vite; il va tomber."
M. Paulze, Auditor of the Council of State, was on a mission in the Western departments of France; in January he received directions to superintend the arrangements of the castles at Saumur and Angers for the reception of the state prisoners then confined in the castle of Vin- cennes and in the prison of Laforce; among them were Palafox and several Spanish and Italian ecclesiastics, and Messrs. Latumierre and Charette, who were imprisoned for firing at M. de Segur, at Tours.
The state prisoners were removed from Paris the first week in Fe- bruary. There were twelve carriages filled with them, guarded by as many Gens-d'armes. They were seen by the English prisoners then at Blois as they stopped to dine in that city.
Price of Stocks Jan. 3rd, 5 per cents, 50 francs, 50 centimes. 51 francs. Bank actions 690 francs.
January 1. The allied army crossed the Rhine; this was not officially noticed in the Moniteur until the 22d, and then said to consist of fifty thousand men.
6. The passage of the Rhine was announced in the Journal de l' Empire, in a dispatch which arrived from the Prefect of the Roer, dated Aix la Chapelle, 2 a. m., saying that the Allies had passed the
* Abbé de Pradt, in his Recit Historique sur la Restauration de la Royauté en France, le 31 Mars 1814 (Paris 1816) writes; "Every where was seen a decided spirit to rid themselves of the present domination. All coincided in this desire: an atmosphere of conspiracy hovered over the whole city; and as is the case in all popular conspiracies what was every body's secret was consequently the best kept: no traitors, and though so many babblers no informers. For many years no one had dared to sport with the power of Napoleon: every one considered himself most happy when he supposed himself unnoticed or forgotten: now every one gave vent to the most hazardous discussions and perilous forebodings: all said this will not continue; the cord is too much stretched, it will soon be over. This was the text and finale of every conversation in Paris. (P. 32.)
Rhine on the 1st, but had been beaten, and lost three hundred men; on the 3d they passed at Mulheim, in eleven little boats, but were driven back by the garrison of Cologne, leaving sixty prisoners, only a few were soldiers, the rest consisting of Landwehre, and even children; the same day at eleven they crossed between Weiss and Rodenkircher, but were repulsed.
9.-The imperial decree dated the 8th, for calling out the national guard inserted in the Moniteur.
11. Journal de l'Empire published a letter from Cologne, dated the 5th, mentioning an attempt of the Allies to pass the Rhine, but that they were driven back except about twenty prisoners, who were such mise- rable objects as to excite the laughter of all who saw them.
14.-The same newspaper inserted a letter from Langres, admitting that from Mulhaus to Schelstadt there are sixty thousand troops of the Allies.
21. Do. that the Allies had left several important fortified places in their rear.
23. Sunday. The officers of the National Guard received orders to attend at the palace of the Tuileries, in the Salon des Maréchaux; this saloon is a square, taking up the whole of the first floor of the centre tower, and receives its name from whole length portraits of the mar- shals being hung round it.
Why the officers were thus summoned they did not know: nearly nine hundred attended, all in new uniforms, and formed on each side of the apartment. The Emperor passed through, according to custom, as he went to mass in the chapel, and was saluted with the cry of Vive l' Empereur. On his return, he came in at the door from the great staircase, walked round the room, and then placed himself in the middle. At this moment the Empress entered, accompanied by the Countess de Montesquiou. This lady, and not the Empress, as was said in some of the newspapers, carried the King of Rome in her arms. The family walked round, and advancing into the middle of the apartment, the Emperor, in a firm tone of voice, said that a part of the territory of France was invaded, that he was going to put himself at the head of his troops, and hoped, with God's help and the valour of those troops, to drive the enemy beyond the frontiers. Here, taking the Empress in one hand and the King of Rome in the other, he continued, " but if they should approach the capital, I confide to the courage of the National Guard, the Empress, and the King of Rome;" then correcting himself, he said, with a voice of emotion, "my wife and child."
This produced the wished for effect: several of the officers stepped from their places and approached nearer to him; a considerable number was in tears, and among that number were many who were far from being admirers or willing supporters of the Imperial government, but who were impressed by the scene.
The next day the whole was considered as a theatrical display, got up by Bonaparte.
24.-I saw the Emperor about ten o'clock in the morning standing in the court-yard of the Tuileries reviewing some troops.
25. At seven o'clock in the morning Napoleon quitted Paris to join the army.
26.-At eleven at night he arrived at Chalons-sur-Marne. 27. The Emperor fought at St. Dizier.
On the 10th of January an order from the Minister of War had arrived at Verdun to transfer the English prisoners who were there to Blois, and to clear Verdun by the 13th; but in seventeen days after their arrival at Blois, they were not deemed sufficiently secure from the allied army, and were therefore ordered to Gueret, the principal town of the department of the Creuse, containing three thousand three hundred inhabitants. The first detachment left Blois on the 17th of February.
The intended removal of the English detenus who resided in Paris was rumoured among them, from hints at the war office about the 20th of January; and on the 28th and following days circular letters were sent to the English to attend at the Prefecture of Police: on presenting themselves there, their permission to remain at Paris was taken from them and a passport delivered to go to Blois or Tours. The clerks were far more civil than they had been on similar occasions; but said there were to be no exceptions; yet the day of departure was not, as was usual in such cases, specified; they were only told to quit the capital as soon as possible. Many, however, subsequently obtained per- mission of the Minister of Police to remain. At the particular request of the Empress Josephine, I was among the number, and others delayed their departure until the enemy occupied the country about Orleans, which rendered it impassable.
Several persons received orders to quit Paris who had hitherto remained unmolested when similar general orders had been issued.
In every stage of the revolution the newspapers had constantly been the organs of calumny, and the persecutors of every unfortunate pro- script; every injury had constantly been vomited forth against those whom the preceding day they had covered with eulogy; the vile flat- terers of every new minister, and every new revolution; at the order, and in the pay of tyranny, they obeyed all its impulses, and celebrated its most shameful epochas. At the beginning of this month, the ordi- nary censors of the newspapers not being deemed by government suffi- ciently conversant with its intentions to be intrusted with the revisal of the articles on politics and the army intended for insertion, a special commission of five persons, Etienne, Pelline, Jay, Desrenauds, and Tissot, was therefore formed with a salary of a thousand francs each monthly, charged with the fabrication of articles calculated to excite
the passions and deceive the understandings of the people. The hypo- crisy of patriotism has been one of the most distinctive characteristics of the French Revolution.
General Hullin, the Commandant en Chef of the first military division of France (in which Paris is situated) and of Paris, who from the first advances of the Allies in France had been much dejected, apprehensive that all was over with the existing government, was fear- ful of trusting the National Guards with arms. To prevent their being armed, he industriously collected all the muskets he was able to discover, and muskets were at this time with great difficulty procured even for the regular army; such had been the losses and destruction of the last campaign. Marshal Moncey, Duke of Conegliano, Major General of the National Guard, sent for General Hullin, and ordered him to deliver up these arms. At first he denied having any, and, after all, evaded the surrender. Even to the last the National Guard were only armed with fowling pieces.
M. de Talleyrand was accustomed to entertain evening whist parties; these he now relinquished, lest he should incur the suspicion of their being made subservient to political purposes.
The manifested public opinion underwent a total change after the 4th of February, when the result of the battle of Brienne transpired. The approach of the allied army was then known, and it was even expected at Paris in the course of the next ten days. To have doubted this, or the inability to resist them would have made a person suspected of being in the pay of the police, and all seemed ready to humble himself before the approaching enemy. A greater number of persons than usual visited the Museum of the Louvre to take a farewell look at the pictures, not doubting that the Allies would imitate the example of the French, and carry them all away. A considerable number of the more wealthy inhabitants of Paris employed carpenters, joiners, and masons, in making hiding places for their plate, money, and portable articles. But no sooner did the news arrive of the battle of Champ-aubert, and a column of prisoners was exhibited to the versatile and sanguine Parisians, than a paroxysm of confidence was excited, and the universal cry was, that "not one of these insolent invaders would recross the Rhine."
M. Denon, under whose direction the government medals were struck, was anxiously waiting for some event to commemorate; and no sooner had the battle of Champ-aubert afforded a pretence for exultation, than he ordered a medal to be executed to commemorate the state of France at that moment. On the obverse was the head of Napoleon; on the reverse an eagle erect, having a most ridiculous Bobadil air; above his head a star, his claws on a thunderbolt, on one side the sign Pisces; on the other a small figure of victory flying with a wreath in her hand. The legend FEVRIER. MDCCCXIV. This was the only medallic record of this memorable campaign.
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