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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.]

1814. JANUARY.

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

off.

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.

FEBRUARY.

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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