Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
bottle to his comrades, till tired of this occupation he called out to
Bertrand, "Grand Marshal, assist me, if you please. Let us help these
gentlemen. They will help us some day." It was with this species of
bonhomie that he captivated when he chose all around him. The following
day he was employed in various arrangements, and among others in
dictating to Colonel Raoul the proclamations to be issued on his
landing. In one of these, after observing, "we must forget that we have
given law to the neighbouring nations," Napoleon stopped. "What have I
said?" Colonel Raoul read the passage. "Stop!" said Napoleon. "Omit the
word 'neighbouring;' say simply 'to nations.'" It was thus his pride
revealed itself; and his ambition seemed to rekindle at the very
recollections of his former greatness.
Napoleon landed without any accident on the 1st of March at Cannes, a
small seaport in the Gulf of St. Juan, not far from Fréjus, where he had
disembarked on his return from Egypt sixteen years before, and where he
had embarked the preceding year for Elba. A small party of the Guards
who presented themselves before the neighbouring garrison of Antibes
were made prisoners by General Corsin, the Governor of the place. Some
one hinted that it was not right to proceed till they had released their
comrades, but the Emperor observed that this was poorly to estimate the
magnitude of the undertaking; before them were 30,000,000 men uniting to
be set free! He, however, sent the Commissariat Officer to try what he
could do, calling out after him, "Take care you do not get yourself made
prisoner too!"
At nightfall the troops bivouacked on the beach. Just before a
postillion, in a splendid livery, had been brought to Napoleon. It
turned out that this man had formerly been a domestic of the Empress
Josephine, and was now in the service of the Prince of Monaco,
who himself had been equerry to the Empress. The postillion, after
expressing his great astonishment at finding the Emperor there, stated,
in answer to the questions that were put to him, that he had just come
from Paris; that all along the road, as far as Avignon, he had heard
nothing but regret for the Emperor's absence; that his name was
constantly echoed from mouth to mouth; and that, when once fairly
through Provence, he would find the whole population ready to rally
round him. The man added that his laced livery had frequently rendered
him the object of odium and insult on the road. This was the testimony
of one of the common class of society: it was very gratifying to the
Emperor, as it entirely corresponded with his expectations. The Prince
of Monaco himself, on being presented to the Emperor, was less explicit.
Napoleon refrained from questioning him on political matters. The
conversation therefore assumed a more lively character, and turned
altogether on the ladies of the former Imperial Court, concerning whom
the Emperor was very particular in his inquiries.
As soon as the moon had risen, which was about one or two in the morning
of the 2d, the bivouacs were broken up, and Napoleon gave orders for
proceeding to Grasse. There he expected to find a road which he had
planned during the Empire, but in this he was disappointed, the
Bourbons having given up all such expensive works through want of money.
Bonaparte was therefore obliged to pass through narrow defiles filled
with snow, and left behind him in the hands of the municipality his
carriage and two pieces of cannon, which had been brought ashore. This
was termed a capture in the bulletins of the day. The municipality of
Grasse was strongly in favour of the Royalist cause, but the sudden
appearance of the Emperor afforded but little time for hesitation, and
they came to tender their submission to him. Having passed through
the town he halted on a little height some way beyond it, where he
breakfasted. He was soon surrounded by the whole population of the
place; and he heard the same sentiments and the same prayers as before
he quitted France. A multitude of petitions had already been drawn up,
and were presented to him, just as though he had come from Paris and was
making a tour through the departments. One complained that his pension
had not been paid, another that his cross of the Legion of Honour had
been taken from him. Some of the more discontented secretly informed
Napoleon that the authorities of the town were very hostile to him, but
that the mass of the people were devoted to him, and only waited till
his back was turned to rid themselves of the miscreants. He replied,
"Be not too hasty. Let them have the mortification of seeing our triumph
without having anything to reproach us with." The Emperor advanced
with all the rapidity in his power. "Victory," he said, "depended on
my speed. To me France was in Grenoble. That place was a hundred miles
distant, but I and my companions reached it in five days; and with what
weather and what roads! I entered the city just as the Comte d'Artois,
warned by the telegraph, was quitting the Tuileries."
Napoleon himself was so perfectly convinced of the state of affairs that
he knew his success in no way depended on the force he might bring with
him. A 'piquet' of 'gens d'armes', he said, was all that was necessary.
Everything turned out as he foresaw. At first he owned he was not
without some degree of uncertainty and apprehension. As he advanced,
however, the whole population declared themselves enthusiastically in
his favour: but he saw no soldiers. It was not till he arrived between
Mure and Vizille, within five or six leagues from Grenoble, and on the
fifth day after his landing, that he met a battalion. The commanding
officer refused to hold even a parley. The Emperor, without hesitation,
advanced alone, and 100 grenadiers marched at some distance behind him,
with their arms reversed. The sight of Napoleon, his well-known costume,
and his gray military greatcoat, had a magical effect on the soldiers,
and they stood motionless. Napoleon went straight up to them and baring
his breast said, "Let him that has the heart kill his Emperor!" The
soldiers threw down their arms, their eyes moistened with tears, and
cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" resounded on every side. Napoleon ordered
the battalion to wheel round to the right, and all marched on together.
At a short distance from Grenoble Colonel Labedoyere, who had been sent
at the head of the 7th regiment to oppose his passage, came to join
the Emperor. The impulse thus given in a manner decided the question.
Labedoyere's superior officer in vain interfered to restrain his
enthusiasm and that of his men. The tri-coloured cockades, which had
been concealed in the hollow of a drum, were eagerly distributed by
Labedoyere among them, and they threw away the white cockade as a badge
of their nation's dishonour. The peasantry of Dauphiny, the cradle of
the Revolution, lined the roadside: they were transported and mad with
joy. The first battalion, which has just been alluded to, had shown some
signs of hesitation, but thousands of the country people crowded round
it, and by their shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" endeavoured to urge
the troops to decision, while others who followed in Napoleon's rear
encouraged his little troop to advance by assuring them that they would
meet with success. Napoleon said he could have taken 2,000,000 of these
peasants with him to Paris, but that then he would have been called "the
King of the Jaequerie."
Napoleon issued two proclamations on the road. He at first regretted
that he had not had them printed before he left Elba; but this could
not have been done without some risk of betraying his secret designs. He
dictated them on board the vessel, where every man who could write was
employed in copying them. These copies soon became very scarce; many of
them were illegible; and it was not till he arrived at Gap, on the 5th
of March, that he found means to have them printed. They were from that
time circulated and read everywhere with the utmost avidity.
The address to the army was considered as being still more masterly
and eloquent, and it was certainly well suited to the taste of French
soldiers, who, as Bourrienne remarks, are wonderfully pleased with
grandiloquence, metaphor, and hyperbole, though they do not always
understand what they mean. Even a French author of some distinction
praises this address as something sublime. "The proclamation to the
army," says he, "is full of energy: it could not fail to make all
military imaginations vibrate. That prophetic phrase, 'The eagle, with
the national colours, will fly from church steeple to church steeple,
till it settles on the towers of Notre Dame,' was happy in the extreme."
These words certainly produced an immense effect on the French soldiery,
who everywhere shouted, "Vive l'Empereur!" "Vive le petit Caporal!" "We
will die for our old comrade!" with the most genuine enthusiasm.
It was some distance in advance of Grenoble that Labedoyere joined, but
he could not make quite sure of the garrison of that city, which was
commanded by General Marchand, a man resolved to be faithful to his
latest master. The shades of night had fallen when Bonaparte arrived in
front of the fortress of Grenoble, where he stood for some minutes in a
painful state of suspense and indecision.
It was on the 7th of March, at nightfall, that Bonaparte thus stood
before the walls of Grenoble. He found the gates closed, and the
commanding officer refused to open them. The garrison assembled on the
ramparts shouted "Vive l'Empereur!" and shook hands with Napoleon's
followers through the wickets, but they could not be prevailed on to do
more. It was necessary to force the gates, and this was done under the
mouths of ten pieces of artillery, loaded with grapeshot. In none of his
battles did Napoleon ever imagine himself to be in so much danger as at
the entrance into Grenoble. The soldiers seemed to turn upon him with
furious gestures: for a moment it might be supposed that they were going
to tear him to pieces. But these were the suppressed transports of
love and joy. The Emperor and his horse were both borne along by the
multitude, and he had scarcely time to breathe in the inn where he
alighted when an increased tumult was heard without; the inhabitants
of Grenoble came to offer him the broken gates of the city, since they
could not present him with the keys.
From Grenoble to Paris Napoleon found no further opposition. During the
four days of his stay at Lyons, where he had arrived on the 10th, there
were continually upwards of 20,000 people assembled before his windows;
whose acclamations were unceasing. It would never have been supposed
that the Emperor had even for a moment been absent from the country. He
issued orders, signed decrees, reviewed the troops, as if nothing had
happened. The military corps, the public bodies, and all classes
of citizens, eagerly came forward to tender their homage and their
services. The Comte d'Artois, who had hastened to Lyons, as the Duc and
Duchesse d'Augouleme had done to Bourdeaux, like them in vain attempted
to make a stand. The Mounted National Guard (who were known Royalists)
deserted him at this crisis, and in his flight only one of them chose
to follow him. Bonaparte refused their services when offered to him, and
with a chivalrous feeling worthy of being recorded sent the decoration
of the Legion of Honour to the single volunteer who had thus shown his
fidelity by following the Duke.
As soon as the Emperor quitted Lyons he wrote to Ney, who with his army
was at Lons-le-Saulnier, to come and join him. Ney had set off from the
Court with a promise to bring Napoleon, "like a wild beast in a cage,
to Paris." Scott excuses Ney's heart at the expense of his head, and