His conduct too fully justified the suspicions of his enemies. On the 9th of March he hastened to the Thuilleries, threw himself at the feet of the king, and besought his ma jesty to employ him" in the impious war which the brigand, arrived from the island of Elba, had commenced." Half drawing his sword from his scabbard, he solemnly pledged himself, "to bring Napoleon to Paris, dead or alive;" adding, that " he ought to be brought in an iron cage." To this declaration the king replied with mild dignity, that this was not what he required, and that he only desired the marshal to beat back the invader. Ney applauded his magnanimity, and represented that the usual equipment expenses, amounting to 50,000 livres, granted to each marshal at the commencement of an enterprise, would be necessary to his success. The king thought the sum too small, and gave an unlimited order on the treasury. He took advantage of his sovereign's liberality, and departed with one million of livres.

Though it was greatly apprehended that the spirit of disaffection had pervaded the army in general, it was hoped that a part would yet be found faithful among the faithless. The knowledge that armies were placed in front, on the flanks, and in the rear, cheered the drooping spirits of the Parisian loyal ists, who, applauding the devotion of the national guard, rather than confiding in their prowess, saw with satisfaction the departure of the marshals to head the armies, and particularly of the prince of Moskwa. So strongly was the fidelity of the general impressed upon the mind of Louis himself, that meeting madame Ney, two days after the departure of her husband, he said, "Madame, you have a protector whose loyalty is equal to his courage."

On the 12th of March Ney arrived at Lons le Saulnier, assembled his staff, and harangued them in the royal cause. It was evidently his object to ascertain their sentiments, and to recede or persevere in his intention to join Napoleon, as he should find himself supported. To his declamatory speech, in favour of the royal cause, the officers made no reply, but maintained a cold and obstinate silence. A small number repeated their vows of fidelity, but the majority

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indicated, by their conduct and demeanour, that they fully understood the intentions of Ney, and were resolved to be guided by his example. That their treachery might be performed with all possible theatrical effect, the silence of the officers was only the signal of a still more vehement and more loyal address, in which he eulogised the virtues of Louis, and contrasted the mild and paternal sway of that beloved and benevolent monarch with the despotism of Buonaparte. His auditors listened with impatience. True," they exclaimed, "it is our duty to obey; but whom? The general whose courage we have witnessed, or the prince who is merely legitimate. We will obey Napoleon, elected by the people, beloved by the army, and who governs in the name of liberty and victory." The marshal retired in apparent agitation.During the night he granted an interview to the emissaries of Buonaparte, who had been sent to meet him. They presented him letters from the grand marshal, Bertrand, which described, in animated language, the hopeless situation of the king, and the certainty of the emperor's success. They assured him that Buonaparte had concerted this enterprize with Austria, through the medium of general Koller, that the empress and her son were on the road to Paris, that England had connived at his escape, that Murat advanced triumphantly towards Italy to assist his brother-in-law. These representations coincided too well with the views and inclinations of the marshal: and, in order to reconcile his duty to the nation with his desertion to the invader, he addressed a letter to Napoleon, of which the following is an ex

"I am induced to join you, neither by respect for your character, nor attachment to your person. You have been the tyrant of my country. You have carried destruction into every family, and despair into the greater part. You have troubled the peace of the whole world. Swear to me, since fate has recalled you, that you will employ the future in repairing the evils which you have brought on France. Swear that you will live for the happiness of the people. I charge you to take up arms for this purpose alone, to preserve our country from invasion and dismem

T

berment, and never to pass our natural limits again to attempt useless and fatal conquests. On these conditions I consent to join you, to preserve my country from the agonizing struggles with which it is menaced."

On the succeeding day he published the following proclamation:

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66 MARSHAL PRINCE OF THE MOSKWA TO THE TROOPS UNDER HIS ORDERS.

Officers, Subalterns, and Soldiers!

"The cause of the Bourbons is for ever lost. The ligitimate dynasty which the French nation adopted is about to re-ascend the throne. To the emperor Napoleon, our sovereign, it alone belongs to reign over our fine country. Of what consequence is it to us whether the noblesse of the Bourbons again expatriate themselves, or consent to live in the midst of us? The sacred cause of liberty, and of our independence, will no longer suffer under their fatal influence. They wished to degrade our military glory: but they have been deceived. That glory is the fruit of labours too noble to permit us ever to lose its remembrance.

"Soldiers! The times are gone when people were governed by strangling their rights; liberty at length triumphs, and Napoleon, our august emperor, will establish it for ever. Henceforth let that noble cause be ours, and that of all Frenchmen. A truth so grand must penetrate the hearts of those

brave men whom I have the honour to command.

"Soldiers! I have often led you to victory: I wish to lead you to that immortal phalanx which the emperor conducts to Paris, and which will be there in a few days, when our hopes and happiness will be for ever realized. Vive l'Empereur.

PRINCE OF THE MOSKWA, Marshal of the Empire. "Lons le Saulnier, March 13, 1815."

If any excuse can be admitted for the hypocrisy displayed by Ney in his servile and solemn assurances to the king, and his subsequent violation of promises so sacred, it must be found in the influence of his wife. and the attachment of that lady to Napoleon, In the singular vicissitudes of fortune that attended the revolution, she was transferred from a boarding school, kept by her aunt, at St. Germain, to mingle in the first society of Paris, and after incurring the suspicion of an illicit amour with Louis Buonaparte, a suspicion falsified by her future reception at court, accepted the hand of marshal Ney. She was lady of honour to the empress Josephine, and retained her situation under the empress Maria Louisa, a female of virtuous morals, exemplary habits, and too circumspect in her demeanour to have retained so near her person an attendant of suspicious character.

HAD the political and military partisans of Napoleon at once avowed their attach ment to the emperor, and disclaimed the authority of Louis, as established by the tyrannical dictates of an hostile coalition, they

might have justly claimed the praise of magnanimity, whatever might be thought of their errors, as Frenchmen, and as the swor defenders of the legitimate sovereign. But many atrocions examples occurred, in which

the divisions of the army endeavoured to conceal their treasonable designs beneath the mask of ardent and inflexible loyalty. The garrisons of the north, at the moment when they were preparing to co-operate with the troops of Buonaparte, sent deputies profes sing their fidelity. Marshal Oudinot assem, bled the garrison of Metz, amounting to 13,000 men, and received from them an unanimous oath in favour of the king, The old guard, with a reprehensible pretence of humility and forbearance, replied to the mar shal's exhortations, "He (Louis) has not used us well; he has degraded us from our rank of guards, and has shewn that he distrusted our honour; but we will prove to him, and to France, that we can be as generous as others are unjust." How disgracefully this pledge of fidelity was violated, by a large majority of these troops, will be hereafter seen; but the intelligence of their con duct so much satisfied and delighted Louis, that he commanded a general promotion throughout their ranks, placed them on per manent pay, and directed them to proceed by forced marches to do the duty of his pa lace. The intelligence at the same time received from Lisle was more alarming, but less characteristic of deliberate wickedness. Count Erlon had induced a considerable number of the troops stationed in that city to favour the enterprise of Napoleon. The conspiracy was disclosed to marshal Mortier, who caused count Erlon to be arrested, tried, and condemned to death. He was led to the square of the citadel, his eyes were bandaged, a file of soldiers was drawn up before him, they presented their musquets, and the fatal signal was momentarily expected; but before the word was given the troops suddenly arose against Mortier, and declared Erlon commander of the fortress. The latter immediately released Mortier and sent him to Paris. The chambers of peers and of deputies embraced the most extravagant and bigotted ideas of the kingly prerogative, and the violence of their proceedings tended to alienate the affections of the people from the government. Had Louis, in the present emergency, been guided by their councils, his flight from the capital would have been attended by acts of inhumanity, and of despotic op

pression, the remembrance of which would have for ever prevented his re-establishment on the throne. He displayed, in the present moment of adversity, an energy and good sense which had not always distinguished the few months of his prosperity, and was justly convinced that there could be no final security for the present influence, or future restoration of his family, but in his strict adherence to the constitution, which he had sworn to preserve inviolate.

The violent aristocrats, and the adherents to arbitrary government, under all its modifications of religious intolerance and feudal tyranny, were equally irritated and astonished, when Louis announced his intention to attend at one of the sittings of the two chambers, surrounded by the princes of the blood, and there repeat, in the most solemn and unequivocal manner, his acceptance of the constitutional charter, and his determination to respect the rights and property of the citizens. Their opposition to this measure, and their efforts to dissuade him from its performance were equally vehement and ineffectual. As the most sanguine hopes of the invader rested upon the fears and suspicions which unfortunately prevailed, it was obvious to the king that his defeat could only be ensured by the prompt removal of those fears..

On the 16th of March the king went in great state to the hall of the deputies. The chamber of peers had been invited to assist at the sitting. Louis was received with the most lively testimonies of affection and respect. He placed himself on the throne, and thus addressed the assembly:

"Gentlemen! In this momentous crisis, when the public enemy has penetrated into a part of the kingdom, and threatens the liberty of the remainder, I come in the midst of you to draw closer those ties which unite us together, and which constitute the strength of the state. I come, in addressing myself to you, to declare to all France my sentiments and my wishes.

"I have revisited my country, and reconciled her to all foreign nations, who will doubtless maintain with the utmost fidelity those treaties which had restored to us peace. I have laboured for the benefit of my people.. I have received, and still continue daily to

receive, the most striking proofs of their love. Can I, then, at sixty years of age, better terminate my career than by dying in their defence?-I fear nothing for myself, but I fear for France. He who comes to light again amongst us the torch of civil war brings with him also the scourge of foreign

war.

He comes to reduce our country under his iron yoke. He comes, in short, to destroy that constitutional charter which I have given you,—that charter, my brightest title to the estimation of posterity,-that charter which all Frenchmen cherish, and which I here swear to maintain. Let us rally, therefore, around it! let it be our sacred standard! The descendants of Henry the Fourth will be the first to range themselves under it. They will be followed by all good Frenchmen. In short, gentlemen, let the concurrence of the two chambers give to authority all the force that is necessary; and this war, truly national, will prove by its happy termination what a great nation, united in its love to its king and to its laws, can effect."

At the close of this address the whole assembly rose, and extending their hands towards the throne, exclaimed with one voice, "The king for ever!-We will die for the king. The king in life and in death!"

It was long before order could be restored; when a motion of Monsieur to approach the king commanded the most profound silence. He advanced to the foot of the throne, and spoke to the following effect :

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Sire! I know that I depart from ordinary rules in here addressing your majesty; but I beg you will excuse me, and permit me, in my own name, and in that of my family, to say how much we participate, to the bottom of our hearts, in the sentiments and principles which animate your majesty."

The prince, on turning again towards the assembly, added, raising his hand, " We swear on our honour to live and die faithful to our king, and to the constitutional charter, which secures the happiness of the French!"

We shall not attempt to delineate the theatrical and affected style in which this address was received: the caresses lavished on the sovereign by the count d'Artois, or

the embraces of the members who composed the assembly. In the political exhibitions of the French there is an indecency of which manhood should be ashamed, and which only tends to supply the place of virtuous sincerity, by violence of gesture, affected tears, and ostentatious sensibility. On the departure of the king the chambers voted an affectionate and respectful address, which is chiefly remarkable for its acknowledgment of those violent and arbitrary principles which the common voice of every free people has combined to reprobate.

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But, Sire," says this document, "these protestations of our hearts will not suffice. We entreat your majesty to permit us to propose to your gracious consideration the means which we deem proper to restore more and more the public hopes. While the chambers will lend to the government, to which the salvation of France is confided, the entire strength of the nation, your faithful subjects are convinced that the government will confide, for the public weal, in men at once energetic and moderate, whose names alone are a guarantee for all interests and an answer to all inquietude. In men who, having been at various periods the defenders of the principles of justice and liberty, with which the heart of your majesty is penetrated, and which form the patrimony of the nation, are equally the pillar of the stability of the throne, and of the principles which the public enemy would annihilate."

On the following day, general Angier pronounced a discourse, in which he declared officially, that," the inconsiderate acts of the ministry would not be repeated."

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The king alludes to this in his proclamation, dated Cambray, June 28th, when he was on his return to Paris. My government may have committed faults. Perhaps it has. There are times when the purest intentions are insufficient to direct us, and sometimes even they go astray. Experience alone can teach them, and it shall not be lost."

M. Sartelon suggested a law, which was immediately adopted, relative to the recruit, ing and organization of the army, conformably to the 12th article of the constitutional charter, which declared that every officer should retain his rank and pay. It was una

nimously agreed that the rank of lieutenant should be granted to all the subaltern officers; and that no officers should be removed, or cashiered, but by the forms of law. These regulations, though judicious in themselves, were mere confessions of the abuses existing in the army, which it was not attempted to correct till the time of danger awakened the royalists to a sense of their own erroneous

measures.

Field-marshal Angier proposed, in general resolutions, which were passed by acclamation, that the war should be called national, that the whole population should be roused to arms, that recompences should be granted to all who combated for their country, their sovereign, and their liberties; that those who had been seduced by the invader should be restored to their rank, and receive free and absolute pardon, if within four days they returned to their duty; and that those who persisted in their attachment to Napoleon's person should be denounced as traitors and enemies to their country. The king, having sanctioned these resolutions, reviewed the troops of the line, consisting of 6000, who were drawn up in the place de Carousal. On their fidelity depended the fate of the Bourbon dynasty, and he approached them with anxiety. His suspense was of short duration. The grenadiers of the first regiment elevated their caps on the points of their bayonets, but they uttered no shout, and their example was followed throughout the line. Louis was evidently and deeply affected. He attempted to address them, but could only pronounce a few incoherent and unintelligible words. He laid his hand upon his heart, and, silently appealing to their loyalty and affection, retired in despair.

The confidence of his advisers was not diminished by this decisive proof that the troops were universally and enthusiastically devoted to Napoleon. Twenty-eight thousand men had been assembled, by the exertions of the French princes, at Melun, while it was ascertained that the numbers of Napoleon, after advancing from Lyons, only amounted to 14,000 men. The king made one last effort to recal the army to its duty, and on the morning of the 18th published

the following affecting proclamation, written with his own hand :

"Officers! I have answered for your fidelity to all France. You will not falsify the word of your king. Reflect that, if the enemy should triumph, civil war will be lighted up among you, and that at the same moment 300,000 foreigners, whose arms I could no longer check, would pour down on all sides be our war-cry. of our country. Conquer or die! Let this

other standards, I see in you only deluded "And you who, at this moment, follow children. Abjure your errors, and throw yourselves into the arms of your father. I engage my faith that every thing shall be forgotten. Expect, all of you, the rewards vices shall merit." and distinctions which your fidelity and ser

The councils of the Thuilleries were distracted by the opposing feelings, and views of policy, entertained by the princes, the ministers, and the generals. The courtiers, and one of the princes, vehemently enforced the necessity of exterminating Napoleon and his followers. The generals regarded all resistance as utterly hopeless, and as an unnecessary waste of blood; and the ministers hinted their intention to resign. The disunion among the confidential advisers, and the nearest relatives of the king, completed his misfortunes, and no resource remained but to abandon the capital with the utmost promptitude.

After remaining two days at Lyons, Napoleon departed for Villefranche, and reached Maçon in the evening. On the 15th he slept at Autun, and on the 16th at Avallon. His travelling equipage was an open chariot, escorted sometimes by a dozen dragoons, and sometimes by a single attendant. His motions were so rapid and so careless that the smallest detachment, or a groupe of peasants, might have opposed his progress, or secured his person. Bertrand, and the rest of his confidential friends, expostulated with the emperor on the dangers to which he was exposed by his neglect of precaution. "Louis XVIII." he replied, " has been called Louis desire, I wish to prove which is the real desiré."