Military Career of Napoleon the Great Part 33

Wellington and Blucher met about 10 o'clock, at the farm-house of La Belle Alliance, and after congratulating each other on the success of the day, the Prussian commander, whose men were still fresh, eagerly undertook to continue the pursuit during the night, while the English general halted to rest his weary men and care for the dead and wounded.

The English loss on this eventful day was 100 officers slain and 500 wounded; very many mortally. The Duke who was himself exposed to great danger throughout the day, and one other person, were the only two among his numerous staff who escaped unhurt. The enemy, according to their own accounts, lost over thirty thousand men, including Hanoverians, Belgian troops of Na.s.sau, Brunswick, etc.; those of the English army alone amounted to 22,800; to which are to be added 8,000 to 10,000 Prussians.

Of the 72,000 men whom Napoleon headed in this, his 85th pitched battle and greatest defeat, not more than 30,000 were ever again collected in arms. The remainder were either killed or wounded on the battlefield, or deserted and fled separately to their homes, or were murdered by the Prussians who followed hard on the miserable and defenseless fugitives, cutting down all they overtook without resistance or mercy.

Several French officers blew out their brains to escape their brutality and some of the veterans of the Imperial Guard, who lay wounded upon the battlefield, killed themselves when they heard the Emperor had lost the battle, in order that they might not fall into the hands of the enemy, or through remorse at the downfall of their chief.

Napoleon made a brief halt at Genappe, at about 11 o'clock at night; but all his attempts to rally the frantic ma.s.ses were in vain. He then continued his course towards Quatre-Bras, where he dismounted at a bivouac at about 1 o'clock in the morning. At Phillipville, he received news of Grouchy's movements, and sent him word of the loss of Mont St.

Jean, (Waterloo).

At this point he caused orders to be dispatched to Generals Rapp, Lecourbe and Lamarque, to proceed by forced marches to Paris, and to commanders of fortified towns to defend themselves to the last extremity. He also dictated two letters to his brother Joseph, one to be communicated to the council of ministers relating imperfectly the fatal issue of the day, and the other for his private perusal giving a faithful account of the total rout of the army, and declaring that he would soon have an army of 300,000 troops with which to oppose the enemy. The Duke of Ba.s.sano (Maret) and Baron Fleury now came up and greeted the Emperor who was much affected at meeting them, and was scarcely able to suppress his emotions. He then prepared to set off in a calash, accompanied by Bertrand. At Rocroi, where Napoleon stopped to take refreshments, his attendants appeared in a pitiable state; their clothes were covered with blood and dust, their looks were haggard, and their eyes were filled with tears. Napoleon continued his journey to Paris, via Laon, accompanied by two or three hundred fugitives, who had been collected to form an escort, arriving at the capital on the evening of the 20th of June.

XVII

CONCLUSION

The "military career" of Napoleon Bonaparte having ended at Waterloo, but little remains to be added here. Other writers, especially those n.o.ble self-sacrificing friends who shared with the Exile his life at St.

Helena, have told in detail of his weary hours on the rocks in the Atlantic Ocean, and a brief summary of the events which finally ended in Napoleon becoming a prisoner of England for life will only be recited.

The arrival of the Emperor at Paris had been preceded by the news--received on June 19th, of the victories at Charleroi and Ligny, and one hundred cannon had been fired in honor of his successes. On the morning of the 21st it became known that the Emperor had arrived the night before, at the Elysee. When he stopped at the flight of steps leading to the palace General Druot, who had accompanied him exclaimed, "All is lost!" "Except honor," answered Napoleon quickly. He had not spoken before since leaving Laon.

Immediately on his arrival the Emperor was received by Caulaincourt--his censor in prosperity and real friend in adversity. To him he said, with head bowed by grief and fatigue, "The army performed prodigies; a panic seized it, and all was lost. Ney conducted himself like a madman; he got my cavalry ma.s.sacred. I can say no more--I must have two hours' rest, to enable me to prepare for business"; "I am choking here!" he exclaimed a moment later, laying his hand upon his heart. After ordering a bath, and a few moments silence he said: "My intention is to a.s.semble the two Chambers in an imperial sitting and demand the means of saving the country."

He was then informed that the deputies appeared hostile towards him, and were little disposed to grant his requests. While he remained in his bath the ministers and great officers of state hastened towards the Elysee. When they arrived, his clothes were still covered with dust, as he had left the field of Waterloo; yet, exhausted by the fatigues of three battles, and the dreadful events of his flight and the hurry of his journey being still vivid in his mind, he gave a rapid but distinct view of the resources of the country, the strength already organized for resistance, and the far greater power still capable of development.

Among his listeners were his brothers Joseph and Lucien.

While consulting with his ministers, presided over by Joseph, on the morning of the 21st, as to what manner he should inform the Chambers of his great misfortune, news was received that both a.s.semblies had met on learning of his defeat and resolutions pa.s.sed,--one of which declared the State to be in danger, and the other that their own sittings be made permanent. Thus the Chamber of Representatives overturned the new const.i.tution, and put aside the authority of the Emperor. These resolutions were also adopted by the Chamber of Peers. Lucien Bonaparte, and some of Napoleon's more intimate friends, wished him to instantly put himself at the head of 6,000 of the Imperial Guard, who were then in the capital, and dissolve the Senate, which was unfriendly to him. The Emperor, however, was undecided; as Lucien said of him ever after that, "the smoke of Mont St. Jean had turned his brain."

[Ill.u.s.tration: From a Painting by C. Steuben

NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO]

Late in the evening of the 21st Napoleon held a council to which the presidents and vice presidents of both Chambers were admitted, but no decision was arrived at. Lafayette, the friend of Washington, declared that nothing could be done until "a great sacrifice could be made." The Emperor heard all in silence and broke up the meeting without having come to any decision.

"I have often asked myself," said Napoleon to Las Casas at St Helena, "whether I have done for the French people all that they could expect of me--for that people did much for me. Will they ever know all that I suffered during the night that preceded my final decision? In that night of anguish and uncertainty, I had to choose between two great courses; the one was to save France by violence, and the other to yield to the general impulse." He finally decided that abdication was the only step he could adopt, and his determination was taken.

Early next morning--the 22d--the Chambers again met, and the necessity of the Emperor's abdication was discussed with vigor. It was demanded on all hands, and without any reservation or condition whatever. Finally, Lafayette instructed that word should be sent Napoleon that he would be given an hour in which to abdicate, and be told if he had not done so by that time he would be deposed. Between noon and 1 o'clock the abdication was signed and carried by Carnot to the Chamber of Peers, and by Fouche to the Chamber of Deputies.

When Fouche appeared, the Deputies were about to declare the Emperor deposed, and he saved them that trouble by producing the following proclamation, in the handwriting of Joseph Bonaparte, to whom it had been dictated, and addressed to the French people:

"Frenchmen! When I began war for the maintenance of the national independence, I relied upon the union of all efforts, all wills and all the national authorities. I had reason to hope for success, and I braved all the declarations of the powers against my person. Circ.u.mstances appear to be changed. I offer myself as a sacrifice to the hatred against France. May they prove sincere in their declarations, and to have aimed only at me! My political life is ended. I proclaim my son under the t.i.tle of Napoleon II., Emperor of the French. The present ministers will provisionally form the council of the Government. The interest which I take in my son induces me to recommend the Chambers should immediately enact a law for the organization of a Regency; unite together for the general safety, and to the end of securing your national independence. Done at the Palace of the Elysee, June the 22d, 1815.--NAPOLEON."

The Chambers had awaited this reply in a state of the greatest impatience in both houses. In the Chamber of Peers, Carnot, having received some exaggerated accounts of the force and success of Grouchy, endeavored to persuade the a.s.sembly that the marshal must ere then have added 60,000 men at Laon to Soult, the relics of Waterloo, thus forming an army capable, under proper guidance, of yet effectually retrieving the affairs of France.

Ney, who had arrived in Paris the same morning, declared otherwise.

"Grouchy" said he, "cannot have more than twenty, or at most, more than twenty-five thousand men; and as to Soult, I myself commanded the Guard in the last a.s.sault--I saw them all ma.s.sacred before I left the field.

Be a.s.sured there is but one course,--negotiate and recall the Bourbons.

In their return I see nothing but the certainty of being shot as a deserter. I shall seek all I have henceforth to hope for in America.

Take you the only course that remains for France."

Ney's prophecy was soon to be fulfilled, for on the return of the Bourbons to the throne he was shot as a traitor to France, although, as has been frequently said of him, he fought more than five hundred battles for his country and never raised arms against her!

A deputation from the Senate waited on the Emperor at the Elysee, and in respectful terms thanked him for the sacrifice he had made, but he was unable to exact from them the avowal that his abdication necessarily carried with it the immediate proclamation of Napoleon II.

The Emperor, for the last time clothed in imperial garb, and surrounded by his great officers of state, received the deputation with calmness and dignity. "I thank you for the sentiments which you express," he said, "I desire that my abdication may produce the happiness of France; but I cannot hope it; the State is left by it without a chief, without a political existence. The time lost in overturning the Empire might have been employed in placing France in a position to crush the enemy. I recommend that the Chamber promptly reinforce the armies; whoever wishes for peace must be ready for war. Do not place this great nation at the mercy of strangers. Beware of being deceived in your hopes. This is the real danger. In whatever position I may be placed, I shall always be satisfied, if France is happy."

He perceived clearly that there was no hope for his son. Thus ended the second reign--the "Hundred Days" of Napoleon. His public career was ended. The council of ministers broke up, and the palace of the Elysee soon presented the appearance of being deserted. Napoleon, surrounded only by a few friends, had now become a private individual. When Caulaincourt advised him to seek safety from the Allies in flight to the United States, he replied; "What have I to fear? I have abdicated--it is the business of France to protect me!"

The repeated protestations of Napoleon and his friends, that unless Napoleon II. was recognized the abdication of his father was null, and that the country that could hesitate about such an act of justice was worthy of nothing but slavery, began to produce a powerful effect among the soldiery in Paris, and Napoleon was called upon to signify to the army that he no longer claimed any authority over them, to which he complied.

A provisional government was now proclaimed, consisting of Fouche, Carnot, Caulaincourt and Generals Grenier and Quinette, and installed in the Tuileries. Fouche declared that Napoleon's continued presence at the capital might produce disturbance, and Carnot was deputed to request him to withdraw to Malmaison, which he was compelled to do on the 25th.

Arriving there he soon became aware of the fact that he was in effect a prisoner, for Fouche's police surrounded him on all sides--ostensibly "to protect his person." It was at Malmaison, in compliance with the suggestions of some members of the government, that Napoleon addressed his last proclamation to the army; "Soldiers!" he said, "When I yield to the necessity which forces me to separate myself from the brave French army, I take away with me the happy conviction that it will justify, by the eminent services which the country expects from it, the high character which our enemies themselves are not able to refuse to it.

Soldiers! I shall follow your steps, though absent. I know all the corps, and not one among them will obtain a single advantage over the enemy that I shall not render homage to the courage which it will have shown. You, and I, have been calumniated. Men, incapable of appreciating your actions, have seen, in the marks of attachment which you have given me, a zeal of which I was the whole object; let your future success teach them that it was the country, above all, that you served in obeying me, and that if I have any part in your affection, I owe it to my ardent love of France, our common mother. Soldiers, some efforts more, and the coalition will be destroyed. Napoleon will know you by the blows that you will give to it. Save the honor, the independence of the French; be what I have known you for twenty years, and you will be invincible."

This address, however, although written at the instigation of the government, its representatives would not allow to be published in the "Moniteur."

The relics of Waterloo, and Grouchy's division, were now marching towards Paris under Soult, followed closely by Wellington and Blucher.

The provisional government began to feel some anxiety concerning Napoleon, whom they feared might make his escape from Malmaison and place himself at the head of an armed force to take the field against the invaders, and in favor of Napoleon II.

General Becker, who had been appointed by Fouche to the unthankful office of guarding Napoleon, was prevailed upon to repair to Paris and convey a letter to the government, in which the ex-Emperor offered to a.s.sume the command of the army and beat the enemy, not with an intention of seizing the sovereign power, but agreeing to pursue his journey as soon as victory should give a favorable turn to the negotiations. In this letter, which was addressed to the Committee of Government, Napoleon said: "In abdicating the sovereign authority, I did not renounce the n.o.blest right of a citizen, that of defending my country.

The approach of the Allies upon the capital leaves no doubt of their intentions and bad faith. Under these weighty circ.u.mstances, I offer my service as general, still considering myself the first soldier of my country!"

Fouche read the letter aloud, and then exclaimed, "Is he laughing at us?

Come, this is going too far." His proposal was of course rejected, although Carnot was desirous that his prayer should be granted.

General Becker was instructed to carry back to Malmaison this response; "The duties of the Committee toward the country do not permit it to accept the proposition and the active a.s.sistance of the Emperor Napoleon."

He found the Emperor in uniform, believing a favorable reply would be returned. When he had finished the missive Napoleon said: "These men are incapable of energy. Since that is the case, let us go into exile."

Fouche now urged his prisoner to consent to depart at once for some foreign port--naming the United States as a haven in which he might find relief from outside interference. If Napoleon had acted promptly, as he had all his life been accustomed to do, he might in all probability have made his escape to this country, as our vessels were in every French port--and he could have crossed the Atlantic; but he hesitated, and those golden moments, which meant so much to him, even liberty itself, were soon irretrievably lost. Fouche, who was extremely anxious to have the man who had made him all he was out of the way, did not hesitate to resort to questionable means of pressure to get Napoleon to leave France. One of these was the stimulating of the personal creditors of the dethroned Emperor, and his family, who repaired incessantly to Malmaison to torment him with their demands.

Meanwhile Fouche sent to the Duke of Wellington announcing that Napoleon had declared his intention of departing for America, and requesting for him a safe conduct across the Atlantic. The Duke replied that he had no authority to grant pa.s.sports to Napoleon Bonaparte but the request, as Fouche hoped, had the effect of causing the English admirality to quicken their diligence and there was immediately stationed no less than thirty cruisers along the western coasts of France in order to intercept Napoleon should he attempt to depart. No one could be deceived as to the intention of this proceeding; it clearly denoted that the men, who, for the moment, possessed the government of France, had determined that the late Emperor should not leave the country freely. The fear that he might return to the capital, and to his throne, had made them take a step which was certain to place him in the power of the English government.

The next move was to inform Napoleon of the Duke's reply and with it the declaration that two frigates, and some smaller vessels, awaited his orders at Rochefort. He was informed that "if he repaired thither on the instant" he would still be in time. For a moment he hesitated, wavering between hope and doubt. Baron Fleury then went to Paris and learned that the Prussians designed to carry off the Emperor; that Blucher had said, "If I can catch Bonaparte, I will hang him up at the head of my army,"

but that Wellington had strenuously opposed such a cowardly design. At half past 3 o'clock in the morning Napoleon was informed that Wellington had refused him safe conduct, and he was ordered to depart immediately from Malmaison. Preparations were hurriedly made, and on the 29th of June, eleven days after the battle of Waterloo, he left Malmaison, accompanied by Savary, Bertrand and Las Casas, and others of his attached servants, and attended by a guard of mounted men.

If one of his followers had not taken the precaution to have the bridges in front of Malmaison burned, Napoleon would have run a great risk of falling into the hands of the Allies, as three corps of Prussian cavalry appeared there in quest of him very soon after he started. They had arrived by a circuitous route, and must have been led by a guide well acquainted with the locality. Napoleon, however, had escaped this danger. He slept at Rambouillet the first night, at Tours on the 30th, and at Niort on the 1st of July. He was well received wherever he was recognized; but at the last named place the enthusiasm of the people and troops was extreme.

Rochefort was reached on the 3rd of July. Here Napoleon, who was joined by his brother Joseph, took up his residence in the prefect's house with the view of embarking immediately, but he was informed that a British line-of-battle ship, and some smaller vessels of war, were off the roads, watching the roadstead and harbor, and his departure was therefore impossible.

Meanwhile the French army had once more retired from before the walls of Paris under a convention, and Blucher and Wellington were about to enter the capital and reseat Louis on the throne. The only alternative, therefore, was to open negotiations with Captain Maitland, who commanded the Bellerophon, an English man-of-war which had taken up its station at Rochefort two days before the arrival of the ex-Emperor.

On being asked for a safe conduct to America the English commander replied that his orders were to make every effort to prevent "Bonaparte"

from escaping, and if so fortunate as to obtain possession of his person, to sail at once with him for England. Savary and Las Casas, who conducted the negotiations, were unable to exact a definite promise from the captain, when they visited him on the 10th of July, or to learn from him if it was the intention of the British government to throw any impediment in the way of his voyage to the United States. In the course of the conversation, Captain Maitland, according to his own statement, threw out the suggestion, "Why not seek an asylum in England?" to which various objections were urged by Savary, and thus the interview terminated.