The tone of their malignant and mercenary journals, which praised and censured every party with equal vehemence, as their fears or their avarice might render convenient, was soon subdued, and they proposed to devote their polluted pages to that party alone which should prove victorious in the contest. The marshals, in the mean time, with a duplicity too well calculated to favour the interests of Napoleon, declared that the enterprize was wild and extravagant, and that the invader would easily be surrounded and destroyed. Louis alone was fully sensible of the danger which impended, and induced by his situation to disclose his conviction, he immediately predicted the most calamitous consequences from the re-appearance of the ex-emperor, and, though he did not despair, depicted, with a sagacity unusual to his character, the deplorable events which actually occurred.

mes.

A proclamation was dispatched to all the departments, in which Napoleon Buonaparte was denounced as a traitor, and all the military and civil authorities, and even private citizens, were required to apprehend him, and bring him before a council of war, which, on proof of his identity, was to punish him with death. The same punishment was announced against all who accompanied or assisted him in his invasion, unless, within eight days from the date of the proclamation, they sent in their submission to some civil or military authority. All seditious meetings, and seditious language, were prohibited under the same penalty, and another procla mation commanded the immediate assembly of the two chambers. The plenipotentiaries of all the foreign powers presented themselves the next morning before his majesty, expressing their concern at the unexpected escape of Napoleon from Elba; an event that threatened the repose of France and of Europe. They claimed the honour, whatever might be the chances of war, of attaching themselves to his person, and were anxious to give a decisive proof of their respect for a sovereign who had impressed the whole of Europe with sentiments of the utmost reverence, by his misfortunes, his virtue, and his generosity to his enemies.

The municipal body of Paris assembled, and voted an address to the king, which might be admired as a model of eloquence and patriotism, if the same men, a fortnight afterwards, had not welcomed the exiled emperor, in terms equally ardent, and not less sincere. The inhabitants of Paris assembled in the Thuilleries, and proclaimed, by every variety of amusement and festivity, their attachment to the king. When the monarch appeared at the windows, or the balconies, "My their enthusiasm was evinced by a thousand animated and expressive attitudes. heart," said Louis, speaking from the balcony,

" is overwhelmed with joy, that an affection so sincere and so ardent is testified by the people. When my children thus surround me, ingratitude on my part could alone render me unhappy." The national guards came forward to volunteer their services in favour of the legitimate government, and in three days the number of the military adherents to its cause, independently of the regular forces, amounted to forty thousand men. It must reluctantly be recorded, to the eternal disgrace of the French character, that before the lapse of a fortnight they witnessed with indifference, or actually promoted the public rejoicings of Napoleon's adherents.

Among the most honest and enlightened of the political parties in France, the liberales were honourably and justly distinguished, by the moderation of their views, and the generosity of their feelings. Neglected by the sovereign and the court, their attachment to their country, absorbed every consideration of personal resentment. Their opinion of the constitution was by no means favourable, and many indications of despotism, or imbecility, in the measures of Louis, had deserved and provoked their reprehension, but in the present instance they promptly and conscientiously supported that cause which they conceived to be the most intimately connected with the tranquillity and happiness of the nation. Though insulted with studied contumely by the crowd of emigrants, who filled every apartment of the palace, and prevented the most valuable friends of the monarch from approaching his presence, they now ranged themselves on the side of the existing government.

Early in March a powerful sensation was excited, by the publication of the following appeal, from the pen of Benjamin Constant, the literary oracle of the party. Whatever may be the opinion of the reader, on the truth and cogency of his remarks, his powers of eloquence, and his energy of expression, cannot be disputed.

and to quit the soil of France. We fondly hoped that he had quitted it for ever. Suddenly he re-appears. He reclaims his rights, or those of his son. He promises the French liberty, victory, and peace. He re-demands the throne.

His rights! What are they? Can the short usurpation of a dozen years, and the mere designation of an infant as his successor, be compared with seven centuries of peaceable possession?

The wish of the people! Has not that wish been already expressed? Was it not unanimous for the expulsion of Buonaparte? On what ground then can he reclaim his rights?

"The author of the most tyrannical government by which France had ever been oppressed; he, who during fourteen years had been employed in undermining the cause of freedom, and trampling on the rights of men, now speaks of liberty. He had not the excuse of former recollections, and the habit of power. They were his fellow-citizens whom he enslaved;-his equals whom he enchained. Though not born to power, he meditated tyranny. What liberty can he promise us? Are we not a thousand times more free under a good king than we were under his empire?

"He promises victory! and three times, like a base deserter, he has run from his troops in Egypt, in Spain, and in Russia; abandoning his faithful companions in arms to the threefold misery of cold, famine, and despair. He has drawn on France the humiliation of being invaded, and he has lost the conquests which we had made without him and before him.`

"He promises peace, and his name alone is a signal for war. A people sufficiently degenerate to submit to him would become the object of European hatred; and his triumph would be the commencement of an interminable war against the civilized world.

five in the morning. He caused the colonel of the sixth chasseurs to be asked whether he would follow him with his regiment. The colonel peremptorily refused. This conversation took place while I was two leagues in the rear, with the rest of the regiment. I learned the occurrence in the course of the day.

"I was on the watch, as well as the rest of the officers. At length we determined to At length we determined to demand of the general what he proposed to do with us, and whither he meant to lead us, entreating him to explain himself distinctly, and acknowledging that we suspected he had committed the honour and existence of the regiment, and that it only remained for us to implore the king's clemency. We were then much more astonished by his proposing us to advance, as partisans, on Paris or Lyons. We did not hesitate a moment, and declared that we could not follow him, which determined him to quit us on the instant and to fly. I immediately ordered the trumpets to

and tound to horse, and we fell back to

wards Cambray, where I shall arrive to-mor

row."

Lefebvre was followed by two officers only, who were pursued and taken, but he himself effected his escape, and joined Napo

leon.

Marshal Mortier, the duke of Treviso, who commanded the troops stationed in the north, had left Paris to return to his head-quarters at Lisle, when he met, on the indirect road he had taken, a body of troops, consisting of about 10,000 men, on their march to Paris. The astonished marshal demanded whither they were going, and found that they had received orders to march on Paris, to save the city from pillage, and rescue the king from the hands of the populace. He immediately perceived that this was a preconcerted plan to fill Paris with regular troops, to awe the national guard, and to prepare for the arrival of Napoleon. He examined the orders, saw that they were forgeries, and ordered the soldiers to march back instantly to their quarters.

The plans of Buonaparte, therefore, were neither rash nor ill-concerted. While he advanced by rapid marches to Lyons, for which due preparation had been made by

the removal of all obstacles, and while the garrison of Grenoble aided his advance, his partisans in the north were to furnish him with arms, lead on the troops under their command, and take possession of Paris. The accidental meeting of a powerful detachment of the northern army by the duke of Treviso, and the firmness of D'Aboville, at La Fere, disconcerted this part of the plan, but at the same time convinced the government, that the conspiracy was not confined to the south, of to the troops that accompanied Buonaparte.

The defeat of Lefebvre's treasonable machinations, and the defection of Napoleon's plans, by the vigilance of the duke of Treviso, induced the sovereign of France to issue the following proclamation, which displays an eloquence of style, and an energy of sentiment unusual to the Bourbons.

"PROCLAMATION TO THE ARMIES. "Louis, by the grace of God, king of France and Navarre:-To bur bravè ármies, greeting!

"Brave soldiers, the glory and force of our kingdom! It is in the name of honour that your king orders you to be faithful to your colours: you have sworn fidelity to him: you will not perjure yourselves. A general whom you would have defended to the latest moment, if he had not released you by a formal abdication, restored to you your legiti mate sovereign. Confounded in the great family of which I am the father, and among which you will distinguish yourselves only by more illustrious services, you are become my children. You are deeply rooted in my affections, I associated myself in the glory of your triumphs, even when they were not obtained in my cause. Called to the throne of my ancestors, I congratulated myself on seeing it supported by that brave army, so worthy to defend it. Soldiers, I invoke your love: I claim your fidelity. Your forefathers once rallied round the plume of the 'great Henry: it is his lineal descendant that I have placed at your head. Follow him faithfully in the path of honour and duty. Defend with him the public liberty which is attacked; the constitutional charter which it is attempted to destroy. Defend your wives, your fathers, your children, your property,

against the tyranny by which they are menaced. Is not the enemy of the country also yours? Has he not speculated on your blood; and made traffic of your fatigues and wounds? Was it not to satisfy his insatiable ambition, that he led you through a thousand dangers to useless and bloody victories? Our fine France not being sufficient for him, he would again exhaust its entire population to proceed to the extremities of the world, and acquire new conquests at the expense of your blood. Distrust his perfidious promises: your king calls you: the country claims you. Let honour fix you invariable under your banners. It is I who undertake to recompense you; it is in your ranks, it is among the chosen of the faithful soldiers that I will select officers. Public gratitude will repay all your services. Make one effort more, and you will speedily acquire glory, and the splendid repose you will have nerited. March then without hesitation, brave soldiers, at the call of honour: apprehend yourselves the first traitor who may try to seduce you. If any among you have already lent an ear to the perfidious suggestions of rebels, such have still time to return to the path of duty. The door is still open to repentance. It is in this way that several squadrons of cavalry, whom a guilty chief wished to lead astray near La Fere, voluntarily forced him to withdraw himself. Let the whole of the army profit by this example. Let the great number of corps which have not been seduced, and who have refused to join the rebels, close their battalions to attack and repel the traitor. Soldiers! you are Frenchmen: I am your king. It is not in vain that I confide to your courage, and to your fidelity, the safety of our dear country. Dated at the Thuilleries the 12th of March, 1815, and the twentieth year of our reign.

"LOUIS."

The defence of Lyons was entrusted to marshal Macdonald, beneath the immediate auspices of Monsieur and the duke of Orleans. The former of these individuals was distinguished by a title, which remarkably displays the vanity of the French, and implies that the brother of their king is exclusively a gentleman. In his youthful days he

was one of the most gay, fashionable, and dissipated men in France; but he was mild, amiable, generous, and humane, so that his foibles seldom gave much public offence, or gave rise to much severe animadversion.-He emigrated with the prince of Condé, and his family, as soon as the revolution seriously began, and since then the lapse of years and adversity have changed his temper and habits. He has become devout to a more than ordinary degree, but he possesses that general knowledge of the world, and of mankind, which qualify him much better for the throne of France than his present majesty. Should the family of Bourbon remain in France, Monsieur will probably succeed to the sovereign authority: an event most earnestly desired by the French loyalists. Disease, unwieldiness, and the other evils attendant on old age, do not accord with the duties of so active a nation as the French, at the end of a revolution of twenty-five years, when the people are divided by political and religious animosities; when many wish to establish a republic, that they may have no king; when others wish to acknowledge the authority of any family but the Bourbon race, which they have offended past forgiveness, and must always view with jealousy and hatred. There is a frankness in the character of Monsieur, extremely different from the reserve and taciturnity of the reigning monarch, who, in early life, was by no means so much esteemed as the duke d'Artois, notwithstanding his foibles, his levity, and expensive habits.

The majority of the inhabitants of Lyons were favourable to Napoleon, but a strong party of loyalists yet remained in the city, and many of the young men, of the principal families, formed themselves into a guard for the immediate protection of Monsieur. Macdonald carefully inspected the fortifica tions, caused the villages of Morand and La Guilloterie to be barricadoed, and made every preparation for a vigorous defence. On the ensuing day Monsieur harangued the troops, descanted on the virtues of Louis, and declaimed with the utmost energy on the tyranny and attrocities of Napoleon. His personal guard replied with acclamations of Long live the King," but the troops of the line remained in mournful and respectful