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silence. Monsieur then addressed the colonel of the 18th dragoons, and inquired what were the intentions of his regiment. "Ask "Ask them," said the officer," they will frankly inform you." The count then interrogated the soldier who was next to him. "Are you well paid?" Yes, my Lord." "Will you fight for the King ?" No, my Lord." "For whom then will you fight ?" "For Napoleon." Monsieur then dismounted, passed through the ranks, and repeated his inquiries. At length he spoke to a veteran, covered with scars, and decorated with medals. "Well! comrade," said the count, 66 a brave soldier like you cannot hesitate to cry our King for ever." "You deceive yourself," replied the veteran, "No soldier will fight against his father, and my cry will be Long live the Emperor!"

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The advanced guard of the invaders had already entered the suburb of La Guilloterie. Macdonald ordered two battalions of infantry to proceed against them, and led them across the bridge, to the suburb. They were met by a reconnoitring party of Buonaparte's army, followed by a tumultuous crowd, exclaiming Long live the Emperor." The moment was critical. The troops on each side rushed forward, intermingled, and embraced each other with the ardour of spontaneous feeling. The menaces and entreaties of Macdonald were alike unheard, and his troops encreased the army of Napoleon. "We know," said they, "nothing of the king, we never knew him, and you alone who have taken an oath to him, which our hearts disavow, will be culpable if you abandon your fidelity. Na poleon was torn from us by treason, but he was never absent from our affections: and as his noble energies have again restored him to our arms, to him only shall we preserve an oath which to him only we have taken. To obey the king and betray the emperor would be an act of perjury and dishonour. To quit the standard of Louis, and join the ranks of Napoleon, is the best proof we can give of our integrity." The determination of the troops had scarcely been announced, when the legions of Napoleon rushed forward, surrounded the marshal, and took him prisoner. But the soldiers who had just deserted him, animated by the noblest feelings,

and observing the conduct of their new comrades, flew to his rescue, declared that they would defend his person at the peril of their lives, safely conducted him within the walls of Lyons, and then returned to rejoin the invaders.

The flight of the count d'Artois (Monsieur), attended by a single horseman, was immediately succeeded by the entrance of Buonaparte, at nine in the evening. On the following day he reviewed his army, which now amounted to fourteen thousand men. The guard of honour which had been formed for the protection of Monsieur passed in review before him, and entreated that they might be permitted to become his personal escort. He received their supplication with a smile of contempt, and observed, "Your conduct to the count assures me what I should

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expect from your attachment, in a reverse of fortune." He ordered, at the same time, a cross of honour to be transmitted to the faithful horseman who had accompanied Monsieur.

Confident of success, and encouraged by the evident enthusiasm of a great proportion of the Lyonese in his favour, Buonaparte assumed the imperial state, and began to issue his proclamations and manifestoes with all the formality of an established monarch. On the 13th of March he published a series of decrees, of which the following is the substance :

"All the changes effected in the court of cassation, and other tribunals, are declared null and void.-All emigrants, who have entered the French service since the 14th of April, are removed, and deprived of their new honours.-The white cockade, the decoration of the lily, and the orders of St. Louis, St. Esprit, and St. Michael, are abolished.-The national cockade, and the tricoloured standard, to be hoisted in all places. -The imperial guard is re-established in all its functions, and is to be recruited by men who have been not less than twelve years in the service.-The Swiss guard is suppressed, and exiled 20 leagues from Paris. All the household troops of the king are suppressed. -All property appertaining to the house of Bourbon is sequestrated. All the property of the emigrants restored since the 1st of

April, and which may militate against the national interest, is sequestrated. The two chambers of the peers and deputies are dissolved, and the members are forthwith to return to their respective homes.-The laws of the legislative assembly are to be enforced. All feudal titles are suppressed.-National rewards will be decreed to those who distinguish themselves in war, or in the arts and sciences. All the emigrants who have entered France since the 1st of January 1814, are commanded to leave the empire. Such emigrants as shall be found fifteen days after the publication of this decree (dated the 13th of March) will immediately be tried, and adjudged by the laws established for that purpose, unless they can prove ignorance of this decree; in that case, they will merely be arrested, sent out of France, and have their property sequestrated. All promotions in the legion of honour, conferred by Louis, are null, unless made in favour of those who deserve well of their country.-The change in the decoration of the legion of honour is null. All its privileges are re-established.-The electoral colleges are to meet in May, to newmodel the constitution, according to the interests and the will of the nation; and to as sist in the coronation of the empress and the king of Rome."

The Bourbons, in the mean time, were as totally ignorant as the meanest inhabitant of the Boulevards, respecting the progress and resources of the enemy. Treason pervaded every department of the post-office, and the telegraph was rendered subservient to the purposes of the invader. The signals transmitted by the latter invention were altered, or suppressed, by some unknown individual connected with its management, and the information conveyed from the telegraph of Lyons, that Napoleon was about to enter the city, was transformed in its transmission to Paris, into an announcement that the duke of Orleans had opened the campaign with the most brilliant success. In the delirium of their joy, at this agreeable and unexpected intelligence, the royalists knew no bounds to their own self-confidence, and their contemptuous abuse of Buonaparte. But their triumph was of short duration. Monsieur himself arrived to dissipate their illusion, and

their presumption was now converted into despondency and alarm. The king was earnestly advised to hasten, as fast as possible, to the frontiers of Belgium, but he declared his intention not to quit the capital while the smallest chance remained of arresting the progress of the invader, or recalling his deluded subjects to their allegiance. The marshals, the national guard, the representatives of the people, the civil authorities; all, in fact, who afterwards hailed with enthusiastic acclamations the presence of the emperor, assembled to proclaim their attachment to the king, and to assure him of their eternal and unlimited devotion. How deeply must the unhappy sovereign, at present seated on the throne of France, lament the fickle temper and unsteady principles of the people whom he is doomed to govern?

Among the most fervent and active of the numerous individuals who assembled round the throne, to testify the ardour of their personal affection to the king, and their fidelity to his government, the prince of Moskwa (Marshal Ney), was peculiarly distinguished by the warmth of his devotion to the sovereign. The marshal, like many others, his companions in arms, was the son of humble parents, and, notwithstanding the irregularities of his early years, had risen to his present eminence by the bravery of his exploits, and the superiority of his military talents. He was born in 1760, at Sarre Louis, in Alsace; his father was a cooper, and early in life he was himself apprenticed to a cutler, a trade which he for some time followed. A few years before the revolution he engaged himself as servant to an officer of hussars, who was in garrison at Sarre Louis, and proceeded with his master to Paris. It would be equally unjust and disgusting minutely to repeat all the calumnious narratives of his enemies respecting this period of his life. They assert that he was guilty of petty thefts; that, after remaining some time in the situation of ostler, he became a horse-stealer; and that he was only saved from the gallies by the events of the revolution. His military career was commenced in the army of the north, under Dumourier, but no public mention is made of him till 1794, when he was appointed by Kleber, his adjutant-general, in the army of

the Sambre and Meuse. In 1796 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, on the field of battle, near Wartzburgh, where he fought under the command of Hoche, who there obtained a considerable victory over the Austrians.

In the beginning of the year 1797, under the same commander, Ney powerfully contributed to the victory gained near Neuwied, over the Austrians, whom he charged at the head of the French cavalry. On the 16th, after a very warm contest, he dislodged the enemy from Diersdorff. On the 20th, his horse sunk under him near Giessen, when he was exposing himself like a common soldier, to save a piece of flying artillery; he was taken prisoner by the Austrians, but soon released, on his promise not to serve till he should be exchanged. On the 4th of September 1797, he declared vehemently against the party of Pichegru, for which he obtained the rank of general of division, and served, in 1799, in the army of the Rhine. In October he defeated a body of Austrians at Frankfort; crossed first the Meine, and afterwards the Necker; and thus effected a diversion which was a principal cause of the victory at Zurich, as it forced the archduke Charles to send strong detachments to cover his right wing, which was threatened. In 1801 he distinguished himself at Kilmuntz, Ingolstadt, and Hohenlinden, under the command of general Moreau. In July 1802, Buonaparte appointed him envoy extraordinary, and minister plenipotentiary, to the Helvetic republic. On the 25th he had an audience of the senate at Berne, whom he assured of the protection he was authorised by his government to promise them; and then gave general Bachmann orders to disband his troops, warning him, that if it were not done before the 1st of November, he would lead the French troops against him. This threat was followed by an order to disarm the Swiss; and, the confederate forces being soon dispersed, the chiefs were arrested, and the general received deputies from all parts of Switzerland, who were charged to declare their submission to France. It is well worthy of observation, that Ney expressed himself after the following manner to the new Swiss government, in quality of ambassador from France :

You are, gentlemen, all convinced, that the prosperity which Switzerland enjoyed before the unfortunate epoch of your revolu tionary fluctuations, was derived from the innumerable benefits which were conferred on you by the French monarchy, either by defensive treaties of alliance, of commerce, and of military capitulations, or by the imposing force which that monarchy could always display against any power which would dare to make an attempt upon your territory, or on your federal constitution. Well, gentlemen deputies, the same services are offered to you by the first consul: this pledge of esteem which he gives to Switzerland, should convince you of that personal interest which he takes in your future prosperity. He will also place you in circumstances to recover that happy situation due to that moderation and economy which your ancestors had established in your administrations. Days more serene than formerly presage happy times in future; and the first Helvetic diet will have the glorious advantage of having laid the first stone of the political edifice."

When he returned from Switzerland, he was appointed commandant of the corps d'armée assembled at Montreuil, for the purpose of invading England. From that place it was that he sent an address to Buonaparte, when he was about to be elected emperor, from which we extract the following:

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Head-quarters, Montreuil, 11th Floreal, 1804. "CITIZEN FIRST CONSUL, The French monarchy has fallen down under the weight of fourteen ages: the sound of its fall has astonished the world, and shaken all the thrones of Europe.

"Abandoned to a total subversion, France has experienced, during ten years of revolution, all the evils which could desolate nations. You have appeared, citizen first consul, shining with glory, sparkling with genius, and at once the storms have been dissipated. Victory has placed you at the helm of government, and justice and peace are your assessors. Already has the recollection of our miseries become weak, and the French people know of no sentiment but that of gratitude."

Shortly after Napoleon's elevation to the imperial dignity, Ney was created a marshal. In 1805, when the war with Austria broke out, Ney commanded the advanced guard; and entered the neutral territory of the elec tor of Baden, which he violated, by forcibly entering the hotels of the Swedish and Rus sian ministers, and seizing all the papers found there belonging to the legations. For tunately for the persons of the ambassadors, they made their escape the preceding night; their furniture and valuables, however, were made the subject of plunder.

On Ney's arrival at Stutgard, then also a neutral country, still greater violence was offered to the Austrian, Russian, and Swedish ambassadors, resident in that capital. Not only were their hotels broke into and given up to plunder, but their persons were secured. The persons arrested at Stutgard were, the Austrian envoy, baron de Schrandt, and his three secretaries, Messrs. de Rubry, Steinherr, and Wolff; the Russian envoy, le baron de Maltitz, and his secretaries, Yacowleff and De Struve. These gentlemen were confined for two months in a dungeon at Strasburg. But disregard to the sacredness of neutral territories did not rest here. Ney, who was to have passed by agreement on the side of Stutgard, entered it by force, went to the elector's stables and palace, and carried off every horse in the one, and every thing valuable in the other.

After the capture of Mack's army, at Ulm, Ney was created duke of Elchingen, which place is in the vicinity of Ulm. An anecdote connected with this expedition will shew that Ney added very little to his military fame by the capture of Ulm. He had attached to his army, which formed the advance in the war, a native of Strasburg, of the name of Schulmeister, a man of considerable talents and address, who spoke most modern languages with the fluency of a native, and who acted as principal spy in foreign countries for Buonaparte. Schulmeister got into Ulm by forging a letter, in the name of a Prussian general who commanded at Bay reuth, to Mack. He passed himself off as a Prussian officer; and the letter pretended to give information respecting the violation of the neutral territory of Bayreuth by Berna

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dotte. His scheme succeeded so completely, that he dined that day with Mack; and, on his return to Ney, the story of his success. could not obtain belief from his employer, until he produced some spoons and forks, part of Mack's camp equipage, with his arms engraved on them, and his own gold snuff. box, set with diamonds, and bearing the portrait of the king of Naples, in whose service Mack had been; those Schulmeister purloined after dinner. By this means, Ney got acquainted with the strength of the garrison, and was also able to convince Mack that a French force was crossing the neutral territory of Bayreuth; of which Mack was previously informed by Napoleon, but in whose report he would place no confidence.

Ney was present at the battles of Austerlitz, and, in the years following, in those of Jena, Eylau, and Friedland. After the peace of Tilsit, he remained at Paris; and, shortly before Massena commenced his retreat from Portugal, Ney was sent there as second in command. On his return from Portugal, he commanded in the Russian campaigns; and for his exploits he was created prince of Moskwa. His services on that important occasion, and in the battles of Wurtzen, Bautzen, Leipsic, and Hanau, and afterwards in France, in all of which Ney took a distinguished part, have been already related in our narration of those events.

When the allies entered Paris, Ney was with. Napoleon at Fontainbleau; and was sent by him, together with Caulincourt and Macdonald, to the emperor of Russia, to treat about terms of peace, in which he failed: and on his return to Napoleon, he endeavoured to prevail on him to abdicate, and afterwards addressed the following letter to the provisional government.

"To his serene highness the prince of Beneventum, president of the commission comprising the provisional government.

"MY LORD,I proceeded to Paris yesterday, with marshal the duke of Tarentum, and the duke of Vicenza, with full powers to the emperor of Russia to defend the interests of the dynasty of the emperor Napoleon. An unforeseen event broke off the negotiations, which seemed at first to pro

mise a favourable termination. From that time I saw that, to save our dear country from the frightful evils of civil war, it remained only for the French to embrace the cause of our antient kings, and I repaired tonight to the emperor Napoleon to manifest this wish.

"The emperor, convinced of the critical situation in which he had placed France, and the impossibility of saving her himself, has appeared disposed to resign, and to give in his full and entire abdication. To-morrow I hope to have from him the formal and authentic act, and shall soon afterwards have the honour of waiting upon your lordship. I am, &c.

(Signed) "PRINCE OF Moskwa. "Fontainbleau, April 5, 1814, at half-past 11 at night."

In the treaty of Fontainbleau, marshal Ney was one of the subscribers on the part of Napoleon; after which, he appeared zealously to devote his whole time to the cause of Louis XVIII.; but, if he was not privy to the conspiracy of Napoleon, it is evident he was secretly attached to his cause, and that he only waited for an opportunity of betraying his master.,

When Louis XVIII. arrived at Compiegne, after his restoration, Ney, with the other French marshals, was introduced to him; on which occasion his majesty was addressed by Berthier in the name of the rest. To this address the king answered, that he saw the marshals of France with pleasure, and that he counted upon the sentiments of love and fidelity which they expressed in the name of the French armies. His majesty caused the name of each marshal to be repeated to him. The king stood up, although suffering with the gout; and, at the moment when his grand officers approached to give him their hands, his majesty, laying hold of the arms of the two marshals who were next to him, exclaimed, with an overflow of heart"It is on you, gentlemen marshals, that I wish always to support myself; approach, and encircle me: you have always been good Frenchmen. I trust that France will never have occasion for your swords again; but if ever we shall be forced to draw them, which

God forbid, gouty as I am, I will march with you."

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Sire," replied the marshals," your majesty may consider us as the pillars of your throne-we wish to be its firmest support."

The king withdrew, and the marshals were afterwards presented to the duchess of Angouleme, and to their serene highnesses the prince of Condé and the duke of Bourbon. The king did the marshals the honour of inviting them to dinner. His majesty, at the commencement of the repast, said "Gentle. men marshals, I wish to drink with you to the French armies." A feeling of respect withheld the marshals, who, in the moment of their enthusiasm, wished to give the health of the king in return, but by a spontaneous movement their hearts gave it in silence. All their looks were fixed on his majesty and his august family. After dinner the marshals followed the king, who condescended to call them successively by name, and conversed with each, expressing his sense of the part they had borne in sustaining the glory of the French armies, and declaring the confidence that he had in the fidelity of all. From this interview it appears, that the most unbounded confidence was reposed by the king on these military chieftains.

The favours conferred after this period upon marshal Ney were without number; for, by a decree of the 20th of May, he was appointed commandant-in-chief of the royal corps of cuirassiers, light horse, and lancers of France; and, by an ordonnance of the 2d of June following, he received the cross of the military order of St. Louis; and on the 6th of the same month was created a peer of France!!!

His conduct during the short period of Louis's government was marked with the most abject servility; but his sincerity was much doubted by the Parisians. It was re ported that it was the king's intention to have his feet washed, on Good Friday, by twelve pilgrims, who were to represent the twelve disciples. Ney was honoured with an anonymous note, desiring him to give his attendance, in order that he might act the part of Judas. This letter was addressed "Marechal Ney, Hotel de Judas, Rue de Lille."

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