tion. The menace, however profane and indecorous as it was, fulfilled its purpose. In answer to the second message an order was brought back to receive the corpse, and read the funeral service. The concession was received by the multitude as an assurance of peace, and in the midst of repeated acclamations the funeral ceremonies were partially performed. The troops, instead of repressing the tumult, evinced an inclination to support the populace. They had been directed to admit only a certain number of mourners and attendants into the church, but all had been suffered to pass, and the sacred edifice was crowded. The tapers which had been prepared for an approaching festival were lighted up, and the performers at the opera, and the principal theatres, chaunted a solemn anthem. The alarm excited by this evidence of attachment to religious institutions, in the sovereign, was confirmed by the institution of a perpetual mass for the soul of Louis XVI.: an excusable and interesting proof of fraternal affection, but exciting many unpleasing emotions and remembrances. The day on which the bones of that monarch and his queen were removed to the cathedral of St. Denis was ordered to be kept as a solemn fast; the military were required to attend the public mass. They obeyed the mandate, but in almost every place they disturbed the solemnity of the rites, and appeared disposed for open mutiny. The ceremony was regarded as a punishment inflicted on all who were concerned in the deed, or connected with the parties of the revolution. It confirmed the suspicions already entertained of the superstition and bigotry of the court, and revived the recollection of crimes and errors which it was the interest of all parties to forget. On this occasion the following declaration, on oath, of the late vicar of the Magdalen church, and the report of the commissioners appointed to recover the body, were published in the Moniteur.

"On the 21st of January, 1793, the members of the department and the commune informed me, that the orders they had received required them not to lose sight of the body of his majesty. We were, therefore, obliged to accompany them to the cemetery. On our arrival there I caused silence to be kept.

The body of his majesty was presented to us. It was clothed in a white waistcoat, with breeches of grey silk, and stockings of the same colour. We (M. Damoreau and myself) sung the vespers, and recited all the usual prayers for the burial of the dead; and I can say with truth, that the very same populace, who had lately made the air resound with their vociferations, listened to the prayers for the soul of his majesty in solemn silence. Before the body was let down into the grave, which was about ten feet distant from the wall of the churchyard, a layer of quicklime was thrown into the grave by order of the executive. The corpse was then covered with a similar layer of quicklime, and next a quantity of earth was thrown in, and the whole beaten down several times. tired in silence after this too painful ceremony; and, as far as I can recollect, a minute of the whole was drawn up by the justice of peace, which was signed by the two members of the department, and the two of the commune. On returning to the church, I entered the burial in a register, which was afterwards carried off by the members of the revolutionary committee, when the church was shut up."

We re

Then follows an account of the disinterment.

"After having, by means of some workmen, one of whoin was present at the queen's interment, opened the ground to an extent of ten feet in length, by five or six in breadth, and to the depth of about five feet, we came to a layer of lime from ten to eleven inches in thickness, which we caused to be carefully removed, and under which we found a very distinct impression of a coffin, of about five feet and a half, or thereabouts, in length, which impression was traced out amidst a thick layer of lime, and along which there were found various fragments of plank still untouched. We found within this outline, formed by the coffin, agreat number of bones, which we carefully collected; some, however, were wanting, which doubtless had been reduced to dust: but we found the head entire, and the position in which it was placed shewed incontestibly that it had been detached from the trunk. We also found some frag ments of clothing,-in particular two elastic

garters, in tolerable preservation, which we have brought away, that they may be given to his majesty, as well as two fragments of the coffin. We then respectfully placed the remains in a box, which we brought with us, in order to their being deposited in the leaden coffin which we have ordered. We also separated, and placed in another box, the earth and lime found with the bones, and which are to be deposited in the same coffin. This operation finished, we caused the spot to be covered with strong planks, and proceeded to search for the remains of Lewis XVI.

"The workmen opened in our presence a trench of seven feet deep, a little below the tomb of the queen, and nearer the wall on the side of the street d'Anjou. We discovered some earth mixed with lime, and some small fragments of boards indicative of a wooden coffin. We ordered them to continue to dig with more caution: but instead of finding a bed of pure lime, as round the coffin of the queen, we perceived that the earth and the lime had been designedly mingled, in such a manner, however, that the lime greatly predominated in the mixture, but had not the same consistence as that found in yesterday's operation. In the middle of this lime and of this earth, we discovered the bones of a human body, most of which, being thoroughly corroded, were ready to fall to dust. The head was covered with lime, and it was found placed betwixt two leg bones, a circumstance which appeared to us the more remarkable, as this had been pointed out as the situation of the head of Louis XVI. in the information which we had received on the 22d of last May.

"We searched carefully for the remains of any trace of clothing, without being able to discover any; no doubt because the quantity of lime being much more considerable, had produced a greater effect. We collected all the relics which we could perceive in this confused mass of earth and lime, and placed them together in a large sheet prepared for the purpose, as also many pieces of the lime yet entire.

"We enclosed them with respect in a large box, which we fastened, and sealed with the signet of the arms of France. We then carried this box into the same chamber where

the remains of the queen were deposited yesterday, in order that the ecclesiastics already assembled might continue round the two bodies the prayers of the church, till the time which shall be fixed by the king, for placing them in leaden coffins, and for conveying these coffins to the royal church of St. Denis."

The partizans of Buonaparte were not remiss in taking every possible advantage of these acts of imprudence. They spoke of his military fame, they asserted that misfortune had ameliorated his heart, that he had renounced his romantic projects of universal empire, and that he wished only to live for the happiness and glory of France. Clubs were formed, in the establishment of which the female sex bore a distinguished part.Madame Maret, duchess of Bassano, surrounded by a crowd of licentious women, spared no sacrifice of wealth, or chastity, to extend the influence and promote the return of her exiled relative. At one of these weekly orgies the unfortunate general Quesnal was an invited guest, but his virtue proved too firm for their allurements, and the next morning his corpse was discovered floating in the Seine.

Such was the influence of the various causes which I have endeavoured to detail, that the success of the conspirators, particularly in the army, exceeded their wishes, and their project nearly broke out before the time proposed. It is certain at least that their zeal outwent the discretion of their principal, and that Napoleon, more than once, declined the invitations which he received to return from Elba. The co-operation of Murat was a point of extreme moment, and until a Neapolitan army could approach the north of Italy, Buonaparte's situation must have been desperate, supposing him to have received a check in the south of France, at the outset of his expedition. A series of dark intrigues therefore commenced between the principal conspirators and king Joachim, which ended in his winding up his courage to the perilous achievement which they recommended.. the north of Italy were many officers and soldiers who formerly served under Eugene Beauharnois, and it was reasonably believed, considering the weak state of the Austrians,

In

that the army of Murat might, at least, have made their way so far as to recruit their ranks by the union of these veterans.

Internally, the subordinate agents were surprisingly active and successful. They haunted the coffee-houses and brothels of the Palais Royal, those assemblages of every thing that is desperate and profligate.

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Buonaparte," exclaimed a royalist to an English traveller, " had with him all the rogue-men, and all the rogue-women, and in our country they are nineteen out of twenty." One of these places of nocturnal rendezvous, called the Coffe Montaussier, was distinguished by the audacity with which its frequenters discussed national politics, and the vociferous violence with which they espoused the cause of the dethroned emperor. That the police, whose vigilance extended, in Buonaparte's reign, to the fire-side and bed-chamber of every citizen, should have overlooked, or observed, with supine indifference, those indications of treason, in places open for public rendezvous, arguès the incapacity of the superior directors, and the treachery of those whom they employed. Even the partial discovery of a correspondence between general Excelmans and Murat, served but to shew the imbecility of a government which could not, or durst not, bring him to punishment. The epistolary intercourse with the isle of Elba was carried on with such perfect security, that Buonaparte even determined to come secretly to Paris, to concert the necessary plans, and animate the conspirators by his presence. He was only dissuaded from so hazardous an enterprise by the persuasions of Bertrand, who was then dispatched to the capital with unlimited

powers.

The danger to be apprehended from the exile of Napoleon to a central position, like that of Elba, had been suggested to the allied monarchs, by lord Castlereagh, immediately previous to their signature of the treaty of Paris. The motive which influenced the allies in concluding that treaty on terms so favourable to their enemy were, the inconvenience, if not the danger, of Napoleon's remaining at Fontainbleau, surrounded by troops who still in a considerable degree remained faithful to their commander: the ap

prehension of intrigues in the army, and in the capital, and the importance attached by a considerable portion of the officers to their chief, in justification of their personal honour before they left him. Lord Castlereagh stated his objections to the treaty, but Talleyrand replied, that "he considered it, on the part of the provisional government, as an object of the first importance to avoid any thing that might assume the character of a civil war even for the shortest time: that he also found some such measures essential to make the army pass over in a temper to be made use of." The other plenipotentiaries coinciding in these remarks, lord Castlereagh withdrew his opposition, but declared himself, on the part of his government, to be no more than an acceding party to the treaty.

"I should have wished," says lord Castle reagh," to substitute another position in lieu of Elba, for the seat of Napoleon's retirement, but none, having the quality of security to his person on which he insisted, seemed disposable, to which equal objections did not occur; and I did not feel that I could encourage the alternative which M. de Caulincourt assured me Buonaparte repeatedly mentioned, namely, an asylum in England."

But if it were necessary to acquiesce in his selection of Elba, as the place of his abode, it might at least have been expected that the coast and shore of the island would have been watched with the utmost precaution. But the allies, in the delirium of their triumph, appear to have forgotten the enterprising and active character of that individual, over whose discomfiture and exile they were now ostentatiously exulting. The British government participated in this fallacious impression of security. Sir Neil Campbell, the British commissioner, unequivocally stated his opinion that some plot was in agitation. He made frequent visits to the continent, to watch the intrigues of Napoleon, and he did not fail to report the alarming circumstances which he had occasion to observe. It would not have been difficult, even without insulting the dignity of Napoleon, or infringing on his rights, especially as we were not parties to the treaty of Paris, to have stationed a few frigates round the island, and have rendered it impossible to escape with sufficient force

to effect his landing. Except a satisfactory reason be assigned for the omission of these measures, posterity will attribute much of the waste of blood and treasure, occasioned by the new revolution, to the criminal supineness of the British ministry.

If some blame may be attributed to the British government, the conduct of the French cabinet evinced a blind security, bordering on insanity. In the month of November, a stranger waited on one of the ministers, and offered to communicate important state discoveries. It was agreed that he should receive for his disclosures the sum of 6000l. and he then detailed the whole of the conspiracy to effect the escape of Napoleon, and to erect his standard in France. The minister, instead of consulting with his colleagues, communicated the secret to one of the agents of police. He was a friend of Buonaparte, and a conspirator, and he took so adroit an advantage of the information thus unwarily given, that nothing criminal appeared against his accomplices, and the informer was branded as an impostor, and deprived of his reward.

In the bureau of the Abbé de Montesquieu, the minister of the home department, several letters were afterwards found unopened.They were written by the prefect of the Var, the department in which Napoleon landed, were dated in the latter end of January, and informed the minister, that from the repeated passage of suspected persons to and from Elba, he could not but entertain strong suspicions of some dangerous plot. Other communications, apparently thrown aside without being read, disclosed the names of the conspirators, requested instructions in what manner to proceed, and urged the necessity of an armed force, to arrest the progress of the traitors on their first landing.Had it not been for this unparalleled and almost incredible neglect, Europe would have been saved the horrors of a sanguinary contest, but she might have lost a useful lesson.

The well known symbol of the violet, by which the friends of Buonaparte intimated his return to France with the appearance of that flower in spring, was generally known and adopted two months at least previous to his landing, yet attracted no attention on the

part of the police. Indeed, so gross was their negligence, that a Frenchman, finding his friend ignorant of some well known piece of news, observed, in reply, "I suppose you belong to the police," as if to belong to that body inferred a necessary ignorance of every thing of importance that was going forward in the kingdom.

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The ladies were dressed in violet coloured silks, and wore artificial violets on their bonnets. The watch-ribbands of the men were violet. When a partizan of Napoleon met a Frenchman, whose sentiments he wished to discover, he asked with apparent indifference," Do you love the violet." If the answer was simply Yes," it was concluded that he did not belong to the treasonable party, but if he replied " Ah!" and seemed to understand the allusion, the sentence was completed by the enquirer," Ah!-It will appear again in the spring." "The violet which will appear in the spring" was the usual toast at convivial parties.

At this portentous moment, to the utter surprise and dismay of the friends of loyalty, Soult was appointed minister at war. Of his personal attachment to Buonaparte no doubt could be entertained, as it is ascertained be yond the possibility of dispute, that he fought the sanguinary battle of Thoulouse three days after he had been informed of Napoleon's abdication, in the futile hope of retrieving his affairs. By whatever motives he might be influenced, it is certain, that in the present emergency he acted exactly as the friends of Buonaparte must have desired.— The most loyal of the troops were removed to a distance, and all the military friends of the ex-emperor were recalled from the Rhine and the Garonne, and quartered on the route which he afterwards pursued.

The British government had been confidentially informed of these proceedings, and the very time of the explosion was predicted. The proclamation of Napoleon to his partizans had been confided by a Frenchman to Mr. Playfair, who transmitted that document, together with the cypher in which it was written, to Lord Liverpool's office, but received, in return for his patriotism and ingenuity in deciphering, only insult and neglect! The cypher is probably superior to

P

is the first letter of the proclamation, and that letter which corresponds with f, being placed underneath it, viz. n, is that which is to be noted down. To decipher the proclamation, the order of reference must of course be inverted, by looking for the corresponding letter to n, in the division opposite that letter as it stands in the column. TRANSLATION.

"Frenchmen! Your country was betrayed: your emperor alone can replace you in the splendid state suitable for France. Give your entire confidence to him who has always led you to glory.

"His eagles will again soar on high, and strike the nations with astonishment."

So early as the spring of the year 1814, the duke of Otranto, Fouché, foreseeing the evils which were about to menace his country, and sacrificing his personal attachment to Napoleon to the interests of the nation, faithfully stated opinions, with equal impartiality to Buonaparte and to the French government. The character of Fouché had

he

been formed in the school of indigence and austerity. He was born in the year 1748, of poor parents, vintagers, near Nantes, in Britanny. A beggar boy in the streets of the city, he was noticed and adopted, from motives of benevolence, by the friars of the order called oratoire. At an early age was received as a novice, and afterwards as a member, of the order. Several years before the revolution he spread disunion and discontent throughout the convent, and although his superiors condemned him, at different times, to severe penance, and close confinement, it produced no perceptible influence on his conduct. After the destruction of the order of Jesuits, the education of youth in France was entrusted to their rivals, the friars of the order of oratoire. The principles of Fouché, at that period, may be observed in the conduct of his pupils. During the civil troubles in Britanny, in 1788, most of them left Nantes, to join the revolutionary standard at Rennes. Some of their number obtained considerable eminence, and others were consigned to the scaffold. No sooner were the monastic institutions abolished by the national assembly, than Fouché apostatized and married. Having thus incurred