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Boney Returns

On 11 April 1814, the Emperor Napoleon issued the following Act of Abdication from the Palace of Fontainebleau:

The Allied Powers having declared that Emperor Napoleon was the sole obstacle to the restoration of peace in Europe, Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces, for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no personal sacrifice, even that of his life, which he is not ready to do in the interests of France.¹

Following his abdication, Napoleon was exiled to the tiny Mediterranean island of Elba. That, it seemed, was the end of the ‘scourge’ of Europe. The world turned its back on Napoleon Bonaparte.

The nations of Europe, after more than twenty years of almost continuous warfare, sought to find a means of ensuring peace. The representatives of the great powers and the smaller nations met at Vienna in September 1814, to re-draw the map of Europe. Britain was represented by Viscount Castlereagh, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who was in turn replaced by the Duke of Wellington on 3 February 1815. Despite the months of talks, agreement on the future shape of Europe was not achieved and it seemed that much negotiation still remained. That was until 7 March, as Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington wrote to Viscount Castlereagh, from Vienna, on 12 March, 1815:

I received here on the 7th inst. a dispatch from Lord Burghersh, of the 1st, giving an account that Buonaparte had quitted the island of Elba, with all his civil and military officers, and about 1200 troupes, on the 26th Feb. I immediately communicated this account to the Emperors of Austria and Russia, and to the King of Prussia, and to the ministers of the different Powers; and I found among all one prevailing sentiment, of a determination to unite their efforts to support the system established by the peace of Paris.

As it was uncertain to what quarter Buonaparte had gone, whether he would not return to Elba, or would even land on any part of the continent, it was agreed that it was best to postpone the adoption of any measure till his farther progress should be ascertained; and we have since received accounts from Genoa, stating that he had landed in France, near Cannes, on the 1st March; had attempted to get possession of Antibes, and had been repulsed, and that he was on his march towards Grasse. No accounts had been received at Paris as late as the middle of the day of the 5th of his having quitted Elba, nor any accounts from any quarter of his farther progress. In the meantime the Sovereigns, and all persons assembled here, are impressed with the importance of the crisis which this circumstance occasions in the affairs of the world.

All are desirous of bringing to an early conclusion the business of the Congress, in order that the whole and undivided attention and exertion of all may be directed against the common enemy; and I don’t entertain the smallest doubt that, even if Buonaparte should be able to form a party for himself in France, capable of making head against the legitimate government of that country, such a force will be assembled by the Powers of Europe, directed by such a spirit in their councils, as must get the better of him.

The Emperors of Austria and Russia and the King of Prussia have dispatched letters to the King of France, to place at His Majesty’s disposal all their respective forces; and Austrian and Prussian officers are dispatched with the letters, with powers to order the movement of the troops of their respective countries placed on the French frontiers, at the suggestion of the King of France. The Plenipotentiaries of the eight Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris assembled this evening, and have resolved to publish a declaration, in which they will, in the name of their Sovereigns, declare their firm resolution to maintain the peace and all its articles with all their force, if necessary … Upon the whole, I assure your Lordship that I am perfectly satisfied with the spirit which prevails here upon this occasion; and I don’t entertain the smallest doubt that, if unfortunately it should be possible for Buonaparte to hold at all against the King of France, he must fall under the cordially united efforts of the Sovereigns of Europe.²

Napoleon had been kept informed of the lack of unanimity in Vienna and the dissatisfaction that had grown in France under the restored monarchy of Louis XVIII and he believed that not only would he be welcomed back by the people of France, but that he would also be able to exploit the discord between the nations at the Congress of Vienna.

In France, with the country no longer on a war footing, large numbers of Napoleon’s former soldiers were out of work. The army had been reduced from 500,000 to just 200,000, with the ranks of the unemployed being swollen by the return of 400,000 prisoners of war. One of them had declared that, in losing Napoleon, ‘French military men had lost everything’.³

Napoleon left Elba, as Wellington noted, on three Elban ships along with 1,100 loyal soldiers, forty horses and two cannon. It was, as has been remarked, probably the smallest invasion force that ever set out to conquer a nation of fifty million people.⁴

Colonel Marie Antoine de Reiset was an officer in Louis XVIII’s bodyguard and was present at the Tuileries Palace when, on 4 March 1815, the king received the news of Napoleon’s landing at Golfe-Juan. De Reiset noted the following in his journal:

An astounding piece of news arrived yesterday. We learnt, by telegraph, that Bonaparte had landed at Cannes, near Fréjus.

Monsieur de Vitrolles [one of the King’s secretaries] had come back to his office at about one o’clock, after the Sunday court, when Monsieur Chappe brought him, for handing to His Majesty, a sealed dispatch which had just been transmitted by means of the apparatus he had invented. The Director of Telegraphs seemed extremely agitated. He is a large and corpulent man and had run so fast that he was all out of breath and unable to speak. When he was eventually in a state to articulate a few words, he merely begged Monsieur de Vitrolles personally to take the message, as the news was important. The King, who is very unwell, is at present suffering from an attack of gout which principally affects his hands, so much that he had great difficulty in opening the envelope. Having read its contents he remained silent, then spent several moments with his head in his hands, deep in thought.

‘Do you know what this telegraph contains?’ he at length asked Monsieur de Vitrolles, who was waiting for orders.

‘No, Sir, I do not.’

‘Well I will tell you. It is revolution once more. Bonaparte has landed on the coast of Provence. Have this letter taken instantly to the Minister of War, so that he can come and speak to me at once and decide what steps are to be taken.’⁵

The Minister of War was Jean-de-Dieu Soult, the Duke of Dalmatia, formally one of Napoleon’s most able generals who had accepted a position under the restored monarchy. The step that Soult decided to take was to warn the National Guard and its commanders that, should Napoleon seize power again, it would inevitably lead to war, with all its inherent evils. His ‘Order of the Day’ to the ‘National Guards of France’ was dated Tuesday, 7 March 1815:

A telegraphic dispatch and a courier have announced to the King that Buonaparte has quitted the Island of Elba, and disembarked at Cannes, in the department of the Var, with a thousand men and four pieces of cannon; and that he was marching in the direction of Gap, across the mountains, the only road which the weakness of his detachment allowed him to take. An advanced body which presented itself at the gates of Antibes has been disarmed and arrested by the Governor. The same dispatches announce that the Governors and Commanders of military divisions have marched to meet him with the troops and the National Guards, Monsieur is gone towards Lyons with Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, and several general officers.

A proclamation of the King convokes the two Chambers. An ordinance of the King prescribes the urgent measures requisite for the suppression of this attempt. The National Guards of the kingdom are called upon to give their assistance to the execution of these measures. In consequence of which, the Prefects, the Sub-Prefects, and the Mayors, officially, or on the demand of the competent authority, will require, and the inspectors and commanders of the National Guards will execute all those measures, whose object is to second the acts of the troops and of the gendarmerie, to maintain the public tranquillity, to protect persons and property, to restrain and repress the factious and the treasonable. For this purpose, the inspectors and commanders, under the authority of magistrates, will complete and perfect, as well as circumstances permit, the organization of the national guards which exist, and will organize provisionally those whose lists and skeletons are ready.

At the same time that the King convokes the Chambers, he calls to the defence of the country and of the throne, the army whose glory is without stain, and the national guards, who are no other than the nation itself armed to defend its institutions. It is, then, the interest of the nation itself which the national guards must have before their eyes.

Whether the measures adopted at the Congress of Vienna to settle the peace of Europe, by removing still further the only man interested in troubling it, have thrown this man upon a desperate enterprize; whether criminal intelligence has flattered him with the support of some traitors, his very partizans know him, and will serve him less from affection than in hate, in defiance of the established Government, or from personal motives of ambition or avarice.

Free from such passions, strangers to such calculations, the national guards will see with other eyes the re-appearance of that man, who, himself destroying his own institutions, and under the pretence of a regular government, exercising the most arbitrary and despotic power, has sacrificed the population, the riches, the industry, the commerce of France to the desire of extending his rule beyond all limits, and of destroying all the dynasties of Europe to establish his own family. That man who, to say all in one word, gave to the world a new and terrible example of the abuse of power and fortune, when ambition is without bounds, passions without check, and talents without virtues. He re-appears at a time when France is just recovering its breath under a moderate government: when violent parties, checked by the charter, are reduced to vain murmurs, and are without power to disturb the public peace: when the nation is about to receive from the King and the Chambers the completion of its institutions: when capital so long shut up is applied to agriculture, to industry, to foreign commerce, with a development which awaits only the proclamation of the basis adopted by the Congress for the balance and peace of Europe. He returns; and conscription, continental blockade, indefinite war, arbitrary power, public discredit, re-appear in his train, preceded by civil war and revenge. Does he hope that France is willing to reassume his yoke, to be again the slave of his passions, to combat again for 15 years, and to give its blood and treasures to glut the ambition or the hatred of a single man?⁶

It was all very well for Soult to issue such orders from Paris, but just how the French troops would react when they came face to face with Napoleon remained to be seen. That question was answered on the same day that Soult issued his Order of the Day:

Three leagues from Gorp the Emperor found a battalion of the fifth regiment, a company of sappers, &c. in all, seven or eight hundred men, stationed to oppose him. He accordingly sent [Captain] Raoul to parley with the men, but they would not hear him. Napoleon then alighting from his horse, marched straight for the detachment, followed by his guard, with arms turned downwards:— ‘What, my friends,’ said he ‘do you not know me? I am your Emperor; if there be a soldier among you, who is willing to kill his General, his Emperor, he may do it: here I am,’ placing his hand upon his breast. ‘Long live the Emperor!’ was the answer, in an unanimous shout.⁷

These are the words of Colonel Charles Angélique François Huchet comte de La Bédoyère, who commanded the 7th Regiment. He had managed to hide his regiment’s Imperial eagle and tricolore and now, with these emblems at its head, the 7th Regiment marched to join the Emperor’s tiny band.

Worried that the French National Guard appeared unable to stop Napoleon, the dignitaries in Vienna put aside their differences and agreed to combine forces to resist Bonaparte should he succeed in reestablishing himself at the head of the French nation. Rough plans were quickly made by the various representatives at Vienna. This was explained by Wellington to Castlereagh on 12 March:

I have but little to add to my dispatch regarding Buonaparte’s invasion of France. The intention is, as soon as it shall be ascertained that he can make head against the King, to assemble three large corps: one in Italy, solely Austrian, which will consist of 150,000 men; one on the Upper Rhine, Austrian, Bavarian, troops of Baden and Wurtemberg, which will eventually consist of 200,000 men, but will at first consist of only the troops of Bavaria, Baden, and Wurtemberg; the third on the Lower Rhine, consisting of the Prussian corps of Kleist, the Austrian garrison of Mayence, and other troops on the Moselle, to be joined to the British and Hanoverians in Flanders. Of this corps they wish me to take the command. The Russian army, 200,000 men, is to be formed in reserve at Wurtzburg, &c. &c.; the remainder of the Prussian army in reserve on the Lower Rhine. The Emperor of Russia seems reconciled to the notion of the old system, of managing the great concern in a council, consisting of himself, the King of Prussia, and Schwarzenberg. He expressed a wish that I should be with him, but not a very strong one; and, as I should have neither character nor occupation in such a situation, I should prefer to carry a musket.

The Emperor [of Austria] intimated to me this day that, in case the movement of his troops became necessary, he could do nothing without the assistance of money from England. I told him I should write to your Lordship upon the subject by this courier; and that, in my opinion, the first measure to be adopted was one something of the nature of the treaty of Chaumont, in which he agreed; and afterwards to think of subsidy, if England could grant such a thing. It is my opinion that Buonaparte has acted upon false or no information, and that the King will destroy him without difficulty, and in a short time. If he does not, the affair will be a serious one, and a great and immediate effort must be made, which will doubtless be successful.

All the measures above stated to be in contemplation tend to this effort; and it will remain for the British government to determine how far they will act themselves, and how far second the effort of the Continent. I now recommend to you to put all your force in the Netherlands at the disposition of the King of France. I will go and join it if you like it, or do any thing else that government choose. I think we shall have settled our concerns here, and signed the treaty … by the end of the month. We shall have finished every thing that is important much sooner, so that I shall be ready whenever you please to call for me.⁸

The Treaty of Chaumont which Wellington refers to was a document offered to Napoleon in early March 1814 which had been put together by the allied nations of the Sixth Coalition. In this treaty, the Coalition partners offered reasonable terms to Napoleon if he agreed on a ceasefire. If he did not, then the allies vouched that they would not stop fighting Napoleon until he was defeated. Napoleon rejected the treaty.

At this stage, however, just what would happen in France was not known, as Wellington wrote to Lord Burghersh, a former aide-de-camp of his, and the then Minister to Tuscany, on 13 March 1815:

Many thanks for your letters, which I have received to the 6th inclusive. Bony’s conduct is very extraordinary, and is, in my opinion, certainly an effet d’illusion. But, if not fit for Bedlam, as I believe, ought to be hanged. We ought to have known of his intention before he put it in execution, and then we might have hoped to have had some of our 6 sail of the line, with their &c. &c., now in the Mediterranean, off the island by the 26th. Here we are all zeal, and, I think, anxious to take the field. I moderate these sentiments as much as possible, and get them on paper; and in the mean time am working at a great exertion, in case things should become serious in France. But I think the King will settle the business himself.⁹

The news of Napoleon’s escape from Elba was, of course, reported in the British and French press. This was the story carried in Le Moniteur on 8 March:

We have hitherto delayed giving accounts of Buonaparte’s landing on the coast of Provence, because the telegraphic dispatches which first made it known still communicated no details.

Buonaparte left Porto Ferrajo on the 26th of February, at nine o’clock in the evening, in extremely calm weather, which lasted until the 1st of March. He embarked in a brig, and was followed by four other vessels, such as pinks and feluccas, having on board from 1,000 to 1,100 men at most, of whom a few were French, and the rest Poles, Corsicans, Neapolitans, and natives of Elba.

The vessels anchored in the road of the Gulph of Juan, near Cannes, on the 1st of March, and the troops landed. Fifty men advanced the same day to Cannes, where they urged the Mayor to proceed to the Gulph of Juan, to receive the orders of the person whom they called the Commander in Chief: but the Mayor returned an absolute refusal. He immediately received order to prepare 3,000 rations the same evening.

The same day fifteen men belonging to the expedition made their appearance before Antibes, soliciting permission to enter as deserters from the Isle of Elba. General Baron Corsin, the Commandant, an officer of distinction, and covered with honourable wounds, received them by causing them to be disarmed. Shortly after, an officer came to summon the place in the name of Buonaparte; he was arrested and imprisoned. In time, a third emissary presented himself before the Commandant, to claim the fifteen men detained, and to invite him in the name of General Drouot, to repair with the Civil Authorities to the Gulph of Juan; the only answer the emissary had, was his arrest. Next day, the men who had disembarked, began their march for Grasse; avoiding, however, the direct road through that town, and taking the road to Digne, where it is said they bivouacked on the 4th.

On the 2d, General Morangier, who commands in the department of the Var, assembled at Frejus the garrison of Draguignan and the National Guards of the adjacent communes. All the roads affording to the persons disembarked any communication with the sea, or any possibility of returning, are well guarded, and entirely intercepted.

A dispatch from Marshal the Prince of Essling announces that he has sent, in the direction of Aix, a corps under the orders of General Miollis, to intercept the route which the expedition had taken.

General Marchand has assembled at Grenoble an imposing force, with which he may act according to circumstances.

The first accounts of these events reached Paris on the 5th, and Monsieur set off the following night for Lyons, where he must have arrived yesterday evening.

The Paris-based Le Moniteur, which was, in effect, an organ of the French government, continued its report on the following day:

The weather being extremely cloudy and tempestuous the whole of yesterday morning, totally interrupted the telegraphic communications, and permitted the arrival only of the ordinary correspondence from the South.

A letter from Digne of the 4th, to Marshal Moncey, says, that Buonaparte had arrived with his small band at Bareine, four leagues from Digne, and imposed a requisition upon that town of 3000 rations.

A letter from the Maritime Prefect of Toulon, dated the 5th, adds the following details to those which are already known:-

‘The detachment which occupied Cannes consisted of 80 men, including three officers and a drummer, there then arrived a General named Cambrone, who was constantly at the head of the detachment posted at St. Pierre, the French gate; two officers demanded passports for Marseilles and Toulon, which were positively refused; and Lieutenant General Abbé was immediately informed of this fact, that he might be on his guard against the emissaries which Buonaparte might wish to send to the said two towns. General Cambrone arrested the Prince of Monaco, who happened to be at Cannes, and who was proceeding to his principality. He conducted him to an inn, where he placed him under a corporal’s guard; and then proceeded to make requisitions of provisions, ordering the fronts of the houses to be illuminated. The whole town was in motion, all the streets crowded; some questions put by the General and his officers as to the dispositions of the inhabitants in regard to Buonaparte, were only replied to by gloomy silence.

‘At half an hour past midnight, Buonaparte arrived, preceding his troop by some paces. He fixed his bivouac close to the town.

‘At one o’clock he caused the Prince of Monaco to be brought to him, and asked where he was going, and whether he would follow him. Every one could easily perceive, by the Prince’s gestures, that he begged to be excused, and permitted to continue his journey, which was immediately granted.

‘At three o’clock Buonaparte set off on horseback; his troop followed him, with drums beating and music at their head, preceded by four field pieces and a superb carriage. On arriving within a league of Grasse, he sent a General to sound the dispositions of the inhabitants: he found there great agitation, but in no respect favourable to his views; on approaching he was convinced of this, and did not deem it prudent to enter. He then took the road to St. Vallier, leaving his 4 field pieces, and his carriage, at the gate of Grasse. It is presumed that his plan is to advance towards Grenoble, by way of Castellane, Digne, Sesteron, and Gap, spreading every where reports calculated to encourage his band. But it was already observed, that his soldiers were selling their cartouch boxes, and that arms and cockades were found abandoned in the bivouac, and on the roads, which shews that desertions had taken place. Four men were arrested, drunk, in a village: ten others have entered Grasse, and remained there. It is not known that a single individual has taken part with Buonaparte, or made the least demonstration in his favour.

‘This event has had only a happy effect on all minds at Toulon. All the inhabitants and all the military have at once declared their attachment and fidelity to the Government. Order and tranquillity reigned in the city, the most perfect discipline and the best spirit among the troops.’

Letters from Grenoble, dated the morning of the 5th, announce that the moment the news of the landing was spread in the town, a great number of the inhabitants proceeded to the Staff of the National Guard to enrol themselves for active service; the white cockade was spontaneously resumed, and cries of Vive le Roi were heard on all sides. The troops composing the garrison participated in these feelings; they shewed themselves animated with the best spirit, full of ardour, fidelity, and absolute confidence in their chiefs, who second with zeal the wise measures taken by General Marchand. The most perfect union reigns between the troops and the national guard, between the heads of the military and civil departments.

‘All the official and private accounts from Marseilles agree in giving the following details:-

‘On the first news of the landing of Buonaparte, an unanimous feeling was displayed by all classes of the inhabitants of that large city. Almost at the same moment, and as in the first days of the restoration, the white flag was waved from all the windews. The whole population spread through the streets, with cries of Vive le Roi! Vive la Famille Royale! The National Guard ran to arms, and demanded instantly to march against the men disembarked. The most perfect concord, in every measure, reigns between the civil and military authorities, and the faithful Marseillese.’¹⁰

Le Moniteur sought to present a far more positive view of what was happening in the south of France than was really the case. The statesmen at the Congress were either better informed or more suspicious of the sentiments of the people in France and they were taking no chances, as revealed in this letter from Wellington to Castlereagh:

We have received here the accounts of the state of affairs in France, and of Buonaparte’s progress as known at Paris on the night of the 11th, and of the intentions of the King and of the government; and I am happy to inform your Lordship that what has occurred in that country has augmented the eagerness of the different Powers to put forth the general strength for the common protection …

I am not certain that I am correct in the estimate I have formed of the extent of the disposable allied force in the Low Countries; but I believe I have rather underrated it. I have this moment returned from a conference of the Ministers of the four allied courts; at which it has been determined to renew the treaty of Chaumont between the four courts, and to invite the accession of the King of France, the Sovereign of the Low Countries, the King of Sardinia, the King of Bavaria, and the Kings of Spain, Portugal, Hanover, Wurtemberg, and Denmark … I stated that, supposing Great Britain should have it in her power to give any subsidy, it was very obvious that she could not give more than had been stipulated by the treaty of Chaumont; but that it was equally so, that other Powers, particularly Bavaria and Hesse, would require some assistance of this description; and that this must fall upon those Powers with whose armies the contingents of those smaller Powers should be employed. I likewise stated that, seeing that Great Britain engaged to employ 150,000 men for the common cause, and that it was probable she could likewise afford further assistance in subsidy, I hoped all the Powers would attend to the Low Countries, by which our interests were more particularly united with those of the continent, although I believed that all ought to feel the same interest in their preservation from the hands of the enemy; and that I trusted they would take care to support properly the efforts which should be made in that quarter by the Sovereign of the Netherlands and the Prince Regent.

In this sentiment they all cordially agreed; and I then consented that the sums to be paid by Great Britain for any deficiency of the numbers stipulated to be employed by her should be paid to the smaller Powers, under the selection of Great Britain, whose troops should be employed in the common cause, in proportion to their numbers. The treaty then will contain an article by which the Prince Regent will engage to take into consideration the desire of the three Powers to be assisted by subsidies, and nothing more.

It is very desirable that government should without loss of time send their orders regarding treaties and subsidies; but I must state it as my decided opinion that none of the Powers can act at all unless they receive assistance of this description at least to the amount stipulated by the treaty of Chaumont.¹¹

It was on 13 March that the representatives at Vienna issued the famous statement which made Napoleon an international outlaw:

Napoleon Bonaparte, by again appearing in France with projects of confusion and disorder, has deprived himself of the protection of the law, and in consequence has placed himself without the pale of civil and social relations; and, as an enemy and disturber of the tranquillity of the world, has rendered himself liable to public vengeance.¹²

With the major Powers agreeing to each put at least 150,000 troops into the field, and Britain accepting that she would provide subsidies if she was unable to find that number of troops, the main concern of the Allies was with the newly created Kingdom of the United Netherlands. This nation had been put together at the Congress of Vienna, made up of the former Dutch Republic and Belgium and Luxemburg. At its head was the Dutch Stadtholder, who became the king. Its joint capitals were Amsterdam and Brussels.

Not only did this new country border France, its component parts had previously been under Napoleonic rule and a very large proportion of its solders had fought in Napoleon’s armies. Consequently, the Congress members decided to send the finest allied general to take charge of the situation in the Netherlands, the Duke of Wellington. On 18 March, Wellington wrote to Castlereagh:

You will see in both the protocols of the military conferences, the desire expressed by the Allied Powers that I should proceed to the Netherlands to take the command of the troops in that country, and particularly in the last that I should lose no time.

As this desire is so strongly expressed, and as the principal business here is nearly settled, and, at all events, will fall into the hands of the Earl of Clancarty, who is in every way qualified in so superior a degree to bring it to the conclusion wished by His Majesty’s government, and as I think it probable that the wishes of His Majesty’s government would coincide with those expressed by the Allied Powers in the military conferences, I propose to quit Vienna and to proceed to Bruxelles immediately that I shall have concluded the treaty for renewing that of Chaumont, which I hope will be in the course of to-morrow. I shall of course wait at Bruxelles till I shall receive your Lordship’s orders.¹³

As Napoleon progressed further inland, his support grew. At Grenoble, the garrison surrendered to Napoleon’s no longer inconsiderable army, and from there he wrote a proclamation which, within days, was being reproduced across France:

Soldiers! In my exile I heard your voice … Put up your tricolore cockade! You wore it in our great battles … Come and place yourselves under the flags of your leader … Victory will advance at the charge; the Eagle, with the national colours, will fly from steeple to steeple all the way to the towers of Notre-Dame … In your old age, surrounded and esteemed by your fellow citizens, they will listen to you and you will say with pride: ‘And I too, I was part of that grand army which twice entered the walls of Vienna, of Rome, of Berlin, of Madrid, of Moscow, which delivered Paris from the stain of treason and the presence of the enemy imprinted there.’¹⁴

Events were moving with astonishing speed, and The Times presented a comprehensive summary to its readers under the title of Narrative of Events from the Landing of Buonaparte to the Departure of His Most Christian Majesty Louis XVIII:

A catastrophe equally disastrous and unexpected has struck Europe with the greatest astonishment. A King, who was surrounded by the confidence and the love of his people, has been compelled to abandon his capital, and soon after his states, which had been invaded by that man whose name recalls only calamities and crimes: and France has in less than three weeks been re-plunged, from the state of profound peace and progressive prosperity to which she had been restored, into that abyss of evils which was believed to have been ever closed. It is important to make known by what progression of irresistible causes treason has under such circumstances been enabled to enchain the public force, and the national will.

On the 5th of March the King received information by a telegraphic dispatch of the landing of Buonaparte on the French territory, at the head of eleven hundred men. This enterprise was to be considered in two different views. It was either the result of a plot, supported by extensive communications, or the act of a madman whose ambition and violence of character prevented him from longer supporting a retirement which could afford to him only the agitations of remorse. In this double supposition, it was necessary to adopt every measure suggested by prudence, and which the most imminent peril would have dictated. No precaution was neglected. Orders were issued with the greatest dispatch for the assembling of troops at Lyons. Satisfactory accounts were received from the Commandant of Grenoble, and the conduct of the garrison of Antibes caused it to be conjectured that Buonaparte had been deceived in his hopes of being joined by the King’s troops. If, however, he had formed any communications, they might be expected to favour his first progress; but it was hoped that a corps which had been stationed at Lyons would, at all events, stop him. Monsieur departed on the 6th to take the command of that corps, and was followed the next day by the Duke of Orleans.

All the Marshals and Generals employed in the Department received orders to proceed to their respective commands, and immediately departed.

Marshal Ney, who commanded at Besancon, and who might effectually have seconded the operations of Monsieur, took leave of the King; and on kissing the hand of his Majesty, said, with a tone of affection and an energy which seemed to proceed from the frankness of a soldier, that ‘if he should subdue the enemy of the King and of France, he would bring him prisoner in an iron cage’. The event soon shewed by what base dissimulation he had been inspired. Thus was disclosed the project of a traitor, which every soldier in Europe will learn with horror.

Monsieur was received with enthusiasm at Lyons. All was prepared for the most vigorous resistance, but unfortunately no ammunition was to be procured.

It was soon made known that the garrison of Grenoble had opened the gates of the town to the enemy, and that a regiment which had departed from Chambery, under the orders of M. de la Bedoyere, had joined the rebels; only a small number of troops has as yet arrived at Lyons; but Monsieur, who had been eagerly joined by Marshal Macdonald, did not hesitate in determining to maintain himself behind the works, which had been hastily constructed. However, on the approach of the first dragoons, which preceded Buonaparte, a general disaffection appeared among the troops of Monsieur. All the remonstrances of the Duke of Tarentum were vain; and then, as afterwards, the forces collected to resist the torrent, only served to increase it, and to add to its violence.

It was learned on the 10th, by a telegraphic dispatch, and consequently without any details, that Buonaparte had entered Lyons that day. The return of the Duke of Orleans, who arrived at Paris on the 14th, and that of Monsieur, were quickly followed by accounts which carried to the highest pitch the alarm which so rapid a continuation of disasters could not fail to create.

Meanwhile opinion, agitated by alarm and distrust, sought to discover otherwise than in the fatal ascendancy of a detested man the cause of his deplorable success. No one would believe that the mere seduction of his presence could produce such an effect on the troops. The Marshal Duke of Dalmatia, Minister of War, had been the last to support in France, by force of arms, the already lost cause of Napoleon. Some pretended to infer from this former mark of attachment, a proof of treason. The public voice was raised against the Marshal, and he himself came and delivered into the hands of the King his resignation and his sword.¹⁵

The French people and soldiers had made their feelings known and Napoleon had been cheered at every town on his march to Paris. The enthusiasm of the troops certainly appears to have been quite genuine, if the scene described by Captain Lonwy of the 9ème Régiment d’Infanterie Légère is typical:

We were at the place where brave Colonel D’Eslon resides. Without knowing why, he formed us up and conducted us to beneath his windows.

Imagine seeing 80 officers in two ranks, asking one another what was going on? What was there? In the end we were filled with worry when we saw Colonel D’Eslon appear, holding in his hands, what? You would not guess what in a hundred years … Our eagle under which we had marched so many times to victory and which the brave colonel had hidden inside the mattress of his bed when that rotten race of Bourbons (an expression of the Prince of the Moskva) ascended the throne and exchanged our cherished colours with those that reminded us of slavery.

At the sight of the cherished standard cries of ‘Vive l’Empereur!’ could be heard; soldiers and officers, all overwhelmed, wanted not only to see, but to embrace and touch it; this incident made every eye flow with tears of emotion, and all, in a spontaneous motion; we have promised to die beneath our eagle for the country and Napoleon.¹⁶

The French capital was buzzing with excitement on the morning of 20 March, as demonstrated by an account written by one Captain Routier:

At dawn some of us were already assembled in the square at the end of the Paris road. There we were told the King had abandoned the capital and that he’d passed through Saint-Denis during the night, fleeing from Napoleon’s impeding arrival and making for Belgium. We all clustered together, consulted together. Finally our long pent up feelings exploded, a shout of Vive l’Empereur! burst from all throats. The white cockade is ripped off and trampled underfoot. Lieutenant-General Maison [military governor of Paris], whose present at this scene, jumps on his horse and flees.¹⁷

Finally, on the evening of that day, the 20th, Napoleon entered the French capital in triumph. The approach to the Tuileries,

was filled with such a solid mass of generals, officers, guardsmen and a large quantity of distinguished persons, however, that the carriage could not proceed to the stairs of the main entrance. Seeing that he could advance no further, the Emperor descended in the midst of the immense crowd, which quickly engulfed him.¹⁸

The ‘madman’ who had recklessly attempted to conquer France with just 1,000 men was back in power. It had taken him less than a month. His progress from forgotten man to national hero was exemplified in a broadsheet that was hawked around the streets of Paris:

The Tiger has broken out of his den

The Ogre has been three days at sea

The Wretch has landed at Fréjus

The Buzzard has reached Antibes

The Invader has arrived at Grenoble

The General has entered Paris

Napoleon slept at Fontainebleau last night

The Emperor will proceed to the Tuileries today.¹⁹

The news of Napoleon’s welcome in Paris hit the headlines in the country most likely to be immediately affected by Napoleon’s return, Belgium. These reports are from a Brussels newspaper and repeated in The Times:

We received yesterday the news of Napoleon’s entrance into Paris. It would be difficult to describe the effect which this event has produced. We had flattered ourselves that the King, who since his return has consecrated every moment to the happiness of France, and who had done everything to alleviate the fate of the soldiers prisoners of war, would have been able to collect round his standard a number of faithful Frenchmen considerable enough to combat with advantage the small corps of Napoleon; but it seems that the defection has been complete. There remains, then, no way except that of arms. The immense preparations which the powers make to support their declaration leaves no doubt as to the issue of this new war.

As if by magic, all is changed here within a few weeks. The silence of the Cabinet is succeeded by the din of arms. Very large bodies of troops continually march through Vienna.²⁰

Europe then was set on war. The only question still to be resolved was whether or not Napoleon would take the offensive or wait to be attacked by the combined armies of the Allies. This was the subject that occupied the mind of the Duke of Wellington who had arrived in Brussels to take command of the Anglo-Netherlands forces that were gathering in the south of Belgium.