the immediate and certain session of two such important
provinces as those of Wallachia and Moldavia, the Czar,
without much trouble, renounced that division of the Ottoman
Empire with which he had been tantalised for more than a year.
... He bound himself ... by the Treaty of Erfurt to continue his
co-operation with Napoleon in the war against England (Article
2), and, should it so befall, also against Austria (Article
10); but the affairs in Spain threw every attack upon England
into the background. ... The only very distinct engagement
which the treaty imposed on Alexander was the recognition of
the new order of things established by France in Spain.'"
P. Lanfrey,
History of Napoleon,
volume 3, chapter 10.
ALSO IN:
Prince Talleyrand,
Memoirs,
volume 1.
FRANCE: A. D. 1808-1809.
Reverses in Portugal.
Napoleon in the field.
French victories resumed.
The check at Corunna.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1808-1809 (AUGUST-JANUARY).
FRANCE: A. D. 1809 (January-September).
Reopened war with Austria.
Napoleon's advance to Vienna.
His defeat at Aspern and victory at Wagram.
The Peace of Schönbrunn.
Fresh acquisitions of territory.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1809 (JANUARY-JUNE),
and (JULY-SEPTEMBER).
FRANCE: A. D. 1809 (February-July).
Wellington's check to the French in Spain and Portugal.
His passage of the Douro.
Battle of Talavera.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1809 (FEBRUARY-JULY).
FRANCE: A. D. 1809 (May).
Annexation of the States of the Church.
Removal of the Pope to Savona.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814.
FRANCE: A. D. 1809 (December).
Withdrawal of the English from Spain into Portugal.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1809 (AUGUST-DECEMBER).
{1352}
FRANCE: A. D. 1810 (February-December).
Annexations of territory to the empire.
Holland, the Hanse Towns, and the Valais in Switzerland.
Other reconstructions of the map of Germany.
"It was not till December 10th 1810 [after the abdication of
King Louis--see NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1806-1810] that
Holland was united to France by a formal senatus-consulte. By
the first article of the same law, the Hanse Towns [Hamburg,
Bremen, and Lubeck], the Duchy of Lauenburg, and the countries
situated between the North Sea and a line drawn from the
confluence of the Lippe with the Rhine to Halteren, from
Halteren to the Ems above Telgte, from the Ems to the
confluence of the Werra with the Weser, and from Stolzenau on
that river to the Elbe, above the confluence of the Stecknitz,
were at the same time incorporated with the French Empire. ...
The line described would include the northern part of
Westphalia and Hanover, and the duchy of Oldenburg. ... The
Duke of Oldenburg having appealed to the Emperor of Russia,
the head of his house, against this spoliation, Napoleon
offered to compensate him with the town and territory of
Erfurt and the lordship of Blankenheim, which had remained
under French administration since the Peace of Tilsit. But
this offer was at once rejected, and Alexander reserved, by a
formal protest, the rights of his relative. This annexation
was only the complement of other incorporations with the
French Empire during the year 1810. Early in the year, the
Electorate of Hanover had been annexed to the Kingdom of
Westphalia. On February 16th Napoleon had erected the Grand
Duchy of Frankfort, and presented it to the Prince Primate of
the Confederation of the Rhine, with a reversal in favour of
Eugene Beauharnais. On November 12th the Valais in Switzerland
was also annexed to France, with the view of securing the road
over the Simplon. Of all these annexations, that of the Hanse
Towns and the districts on the North Sea was the most
important, and one of the principal causes of the war that
ensued between France and Russia. These annexations were made
without the slightest negociation with any European cabinet,
and it would be superfluous to add, without even a pretext of
right, though the necessity of them from the war with England
was alleged as the motive."
T. H. Dyer,
History of Modern Europe,
book 7, chapter 15, with foot-note (volume 4).
"'The English,' said Napoleon, 'have torn asunder the public
rights of Europe; a new order of things governs the universe.
Fresh guarantees having become necessary to me, the annexation
of the mouths of the Scheldt, of the Meuse, of the Rhine, of
the Ems, of the Weser, and of the Elbe to the Empire appears
to me to be the first and the most important. ... The
annexation of the Valais is the anticipated result of the
immense works that I have been making for the past ten years
in that part of the Alps.' And this was all. To justify such
violence he did not condescend to allege any pretext--to urge
forward opportunities that were too long in developing, or to
make trickery subserve the use of force--he consulted nothing
but his policy; in other words, his good pleasure. To take
possession of a country, it was sufficient that the country
suited him: he said so openly, as the simplest thing in the
world, and thought proper to add that these new usurpations
were but a beginning, the first, according to his own
expression, of those which seemed to him still necessary. And
it was Europe, discontented, humbled, driven wild by the
barbarous follies of the continental system, that he thus
defied, as though he wished at any cost to convince every one
that no amicable arrangement or conciliation was possible; and
that there was but one course for governments or men of spirit
to adopt, that of fighting unto death."
P. Lanfrey,
History of Napoleon,
volume 4, chapter 2.
FRANCE: A. D. 1810-1812.
Continued hostile attitude towards
the United States of America.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1810-1812.
FRANCE: A. D. 1810-1812.
The War in the Peninsula.
Wellington's Lines of Torres Vedras.
French retreat from Portugal.
English advance into Spain.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1809-1810 (OCTOBER-SEPTEMBER),
and 1810-1812.
FRANCE: A. D. 1810-1812.
Napoleon's divorce from Josephine and marriage to
Marie-Louise of Austria.
His rupture with the Czar and
preparations for war with Russia.
"Napoleon now revived the idea which he had often entertained
before, of allying himself with one of the great ruling
families. A compliant senate and a packed ecclesiastical
council pronounced his separation from Josephine Beauharnais,
who retired with a magnificent pension to Malmaison, where she
died. As previous marriage proposals to the Russian court had
not been cordially received, Napoleon now turned to Austria.
The matter was speedily arranged with Metternich, and in
March, 1810, the archduchess Maria Louisa arrived in France as
the emperor's wife. The great importance of the marriage was
that it broke the last links which bound Russia to France, and
thus overthrew the alliance of Tilsit. Alexander had been
exasperated by the addition of Western Galicia to the
grand-duchy of Warsaw, which he regarded as a step towards the
restoration of Poland, and therefore as a breach of the
engagement made at Tilsit. The annexation of Oldenburg, whose
duke was a relative of the Czar, was a distinct personal
insult. Alexander showed his irritation by formally deserting
the continental system, which was more ruinous to Russia than
to almost any other country, and by throwing his ports open to
British commerce (December 1810). ... The chief grievance to
Russia was the apparent intention of Napoleon to do something
for the Poles. The increase of the grand-duchy of Warsaw by
the treaty of Vienna was so annoying to Alexander, that he
began to meditate on the possibility of restoring Poland
himself, and making it a dependent kingdom for the Czar, in
the same way as Napoleon had treated Italy. He even went so
far as to sound the Poles on the subject; but he found that
they had not forgotten the three partitions of their country,
and that their sympathies were rather with France than with
Russia. At the same time Napoleon was convinced that until
Russia was subdued his empire was unsafe, and all hopes of
avenging himself upon England were at an end. All through the
year 1811 it was known that war was inevitable, but neither
power was in a hurry to take the initiative. Meanwhile the
various powers that retained nominal independence had to make
up their minds as to the policy they would pursue. For no
country was the decision harder than for Prussia. Neutrality
was out of the question, as the Prussian territories, lying
between the two combatants, must be occupied by one or the
other.
{1353}
The friends and former Colleagues of Stein were unanimous for
a Russian alliance and a desperate struggle for liberty. But
Hardenberg, who had become chancellor in 1810, was too prudent
to embark in a contest, which at the time was hopeless. The
Czar had not been so consistent in his policy as to be a very
desirable ally; and, even with Russian assistance, it was
certain that the Prussian frontiers could not be defended
against the French, who had already garrisons in the chief
fortresses. Hardenberg fully sympathised with the patriots,
but he sacrificed enthusiasm to prudence, and offered the
support of Prussia to France. The treaty was arranged on the
24th of February, 1812. Frederick William gave the French a
free passage through his territories, and undertook to furnish
20,000 men for service in the field, and as many more for
garrison duty. In return for this Napoleon guaranteed the
security of the Prussian kingdom as it stood, and held out the
prospect of additions to it. It was an unnatural and hollow
alliance, and was understood to be so by the Czar.
Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and other friends of Stein resigned
their posts, and many Prussian officers entered the service of
the Czar. Austria, actuated by similar motives, adopted the same
policy, but with less reluctance. After this example had been
set by the two great powers, none of the lesser states of
Germany dared to disobey the peremptory orders of Napoleon.
But Turkey and Sweden, both of them old allies of France, were
at this crisis in the opposition. ... The Swedes were
threatened with starvation by Napoleon's stern command to
close their ports not only against English, but against all
German vessels. Bernadotte, who had just been adopted as the
heir of the childless Charles XIII.; determined to throw in
his lot with his new country, rather than with his old
commander. He had also hopes of compensating Sweden for the
loss of Finland by wresting Norway from the Danes, and this
would never be agreed to by France. Accordingly Sweden
prepared to support the cause of Alexander."
R. Lodge,
History of Modern Europe,
chapter 24, sections 88 and 41.
"Napoleon's Russian expedition should not be regarded as an
isolated freak of insane pride. He himself regarded it as the
unfortunate effect of a fatality, and he betrayed throughout
an unwonted reluctance and perplexity. 'The war must take
place,' he said, 'it lies in the nature of things.' That is,
it arose naturally, like the other Napoleonic wars, out of the
quarrel with England. Upon the Continental system he had
staked everything. He had united all Europe in the crusade
against England, and no state, least of all such a state as
Russia, could withdraw from the system without practically
joining England. Nevertheless, we may wonder that, if he felt
obliged to make war on Russia, he should have chosen to wage
it in the manner he did, by an overwhelming invasion. For an
ordinary war his resources were greatly superior to those of
Russia. A campaign on the Lithuanian frontier would no doubt
have been unfavourable to Alexander, and might have forced him
to concede the points at issue. Napoleon had already
experienced in Spain the danger of rousing national spirit. It
seems, however, that this lesson had been lost on him."
J. R. Seeley,
Short History of Napoleon,
chapter 5, section 3.
"Warnings and cautions were not ... wanting to him. He had
been at several different times informed of the desperate
plans of Russia and her savage resolve to destroy all around
him, provided he could be involved in the destruction of the
Empire. He was cautioned, with even more earnestness, of the
German conspiracies. Alquier transmitted to him from Stockholm
a significant remark of Alexander's: 'If the Emperor Napoleon
should experience a reverse, the whole of Germany will rise to
oppose his retreat, or to prevent the arrival of his
reinforcements.' His brother Jerome, who was still better
situated for knowing what was going on in Germany, informed
him, in the month of January, 1811, of the proposal that had
been made to him to enter into a secret league against France,
but the only thanks he received from Napoleon was reproach for
having encouraged such overtures by his equivocal conduct. ...
Marshal Davout and General Rapp transmitted him identically
the same information from Hamburg and Dantzig. But far from
encouraging such confidential communications, Napoleon was
irritated by them. ... 'I do not know why Rapp meddles in what
does not concern him [he wrote]. ... I beg you will not place
such rhapsodies under my eyes. My time is too precious to
waste on such twaddle.' ... In presence of such hallucination,
caused by pride and infatuation, we seem to hear Macbeth in
his delirium insulting the messengers who announced to him the
approach· of the enemy's armies."
P. Lanfrey,
History of Napoleon,
volume 4, chapter 6.
"That period ought to have been esteemed the happiest of
Napoleon's life. What more could the wildest ambition desire?
... All obeyed him. Nothing was wanting to make him happy!
Nothing, if he could be happy who possessed not a love of
justice. ... The being never existed who possessed ampler
means for promoting the happiness of mankind. Nothing was
required but justice and prudence. The nation expected these
from him, and granted him that unlimited confidence which he
afterwards so cruelly abused. ... Instead of considering with
calmness and moderation how he might best employ his vast
resources, he ruminated on projects beyond the power of man to
execute; forgetting what innumerable victims must be
sacrificed in the vain attempt. ... He aspired at universal
despotism, for no other reason than because a nation, isolated
from the continent and profiting by its happy situation, had
refused to submit to his intolerable·yoke. ... In the hope of
conquering that invincible enemy, he vainly endeavoured to
grasp the extremities of Europe. ... Misled by his rash and
hasty temper, he adopted a false line of politics, and
converted in the north, as he had done before in the south,
the most useful and powerful of his allies into a dangerous
enemy."
E. Labaume,
Circumstantial Narrative of the Campaign in Russia,
part 1, book 1.
ALSO IN:
C. Joyneville,
Life and Times of Alexander I.,
volume 2, chapter 3.
Imbert de Saint Amand,
Memoirs of the Empress Marie Louise.
FRANCE: A. D. 1812 (June).
The captive Pope brought to Fontainebleau.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814.
FRANCE: A. D. 1812 (June-August).
Defeat by the English in Spain at Salamanca.
Abandonment of Madrid by King Joseph.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1812 (JUNE-AUGUST).
{1354}
FRANCE: A. D. 1812 (June-December).
Napoleon's Russian campaign.
The advance to Moscow.
The burning of the city.
The retreat and its horrors.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1812.
FRANCE: A. D. 1812-1813 (December-March)
Napoleon's return from Russia.
His measures for creating a new army.
"Whilst Europe, agitated at once by hope, by fear, and by
hatred, was inquiring what had become of Napoleon, whether he
had perished or had been saved, he was crossing in a
sledge--accompanied by the Duke of Vicenza, the Grand Marshal
Duroc, Count Lobau, General Lefevre-Desnouettes, and the
Mameluke Rustan--the vast, plains of Lithuania, of Poland, and
of Saxony, concealed by thick furs; for if his name had been
imprudently uttered, or his countenance recognised, a tragical
catastrophe would have instantly ensued. The man who had so
greatly excited the admiration of nations, who was the object
of their ... superstition, would not at that moment have
escaped their fury. In two places only did he allow himself to
be known, Warsaw and Dresden. ... That he might not occasion
too great surprise, he caused himself to be preceded by an
officer with a few lines for the 'Moniteur,' saying that on
December 5 he had assembled his generals at Smorgoni, had
delegated the command to King Murat, only so long as military
operations were interrupted by the cold, that he had traversed
Warsaw and Dresden, and that he was about to arrive in Paris
to take in hand the affairs of the Empire. ... Napoleon
followed close on the steps of the officer who was to announce
his arrival. On December 18, at half-past 11 P. M., he entered
the Tuileries. ... On the next morning, the 19th, he received
the ministers and grandees of the court ... with extreme
hauteur, maintaining a tranquil but severe aspect, appearing
to expect explanations instead of affording them himself,
treating foreign affairs as of minor consequence, and those of
a domestic nature as of principal import, demanding some light
upon these last,--in short, questioning others in order to
avoid being questioned himself. ... On Sunday, the 20th of
December, the second day after his arrival, Napoleon received
the Senate, the Council of State, and the principal branches
of the administration," which severally addressed to him the
most fulsome flatteries and assurances of support. "After an
infuriated populace basely outraging vanquished princes,
nothing can be seen more melancholy than these great bodies
prostrating themselves at the feet of a power, bestowing upon
it a degree of admiration which increases with its errors,
speaking with ardour of their fidelity, already about to
expire, and swearing to die in its cause when they are on the
eve of hailing the accession of another. Happy are those
countries whose established Constitutions spare them these
humiliating spectacles!" As speedily as possible, Napoleon
applied himself to the recreation of his lost army, by
anticipating the conscription for 1814, and by making new
calls upon the classes which had already furnished their
contingents. All his measures were submissively sanctioned by
the obsequious Senate; but many murmurs of discontent were
heard among the people, and some movements of resistance
needed to be put down. "However, when the enlightened classes
of a country approve a measure, their support is extremely
efficacious. In France, all those classes perceiving that it
was necessary energetically to defend the country against a
foreign enemy, though the Government had been still more in
the wrong than they were, the levies were effected, and the
high functionaries, sustained by a moral acquiescence which
they had not always obtained, fulfilled their duty, though in
heart full of sad and sinister forebodings."
A. Thiers,
History of the Consulate and the Empire,
book 47 (volume 4).
ALSO IN:
Duchess d'Abrantes, Memoirs of Napoleon,
volume 2, chapter 43.
FRANCE: A. D. 1812-1813.
Germanic rising against Napoleon.
War of Liberation.
Lützen.
Bautzen.
Dresden.
Leipsic.
The retreat of the French from beyond the Rhine.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1812-1813,
to 1813 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).
FRANCE: A. D. 1813 (February-March).
The new Concordat signed and retracted by the Pope.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814.
FRANCE: A. D. 1813 (June-November).
Defeat at Vittoria and in the Pyrenees.
Retreat from Spain.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1812-1814.
FRANCE: A. D. 1813 (November-December).
Dutch independence regained.
See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1813.
FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (January).
The Pope set free to return to Rome.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814.
FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (January-March).
The allied invasion.
Napoleon's campaign of defense.
His cause lost.
Surrender of Paris.
"The battle of Leipzig was the overthrow of the French rule in
Germany; there only remained, as evidence of what they had
lost, 150,000 men, garrisons of the fortresses of the Vistula,
the Oder, and the Elbe. Each success of the allies had been
marked by the desertion of one of the peoples that had
furnished its contingent to the Grand Army of 1812: after
Prussia, Austria; at Leipzig the Saxons: the French had not
been able to regain the Rhine except by passing over the
bodies of the Bavarians at Hanau. Baden, Wurtemberg, Hesse,
and Darmstadt declared their defection at nearly the same
time; the sovereigns were still hesitating whether to separate
themselves from Napoleon, when their people and regiments,
worked upon by the German patriots, had already passed into
the allied camp. Jerome Bonaparte had again quitted Cassel;
Denmark found Itself forced to adhere to the Coalition.
Napoleon had retired to the left bank of the Rhine. Would
Alexander cross this natural frontier of revolutionary France?
'Convinced,' says M. Bogdanovitch, 'by the experience of many
years, that neither losses inflicted on Napoleon, nor treaties
concluded with him, could check his insatiable ambition,
Alexander would not stop at setting free the involuntary
allies of France, and resolved to pursue the war till he had
overthrown his enemy.' The allied sovereigns found themselves
reunited at Frankfort, and an immediate march to Paris was
discussed. Alexander, Stein. Blücher, Gneisenau, and all the
Prussians were on the side of decisive action. The Emperor
Francis and Metternich only desired Napoleon to be weakened,
as his downfall would expose Austria to another danger, the
preponderance of Russia on the Continent. Bernadotte insisted
on Napoleon's dethronement, with the ridiculous design of
appropriating the crown of France, traitor as he was to her
cause. England would have preferred a solid and immediate
peace to a war which would exhaust her in subsidies, and
augment her already enormous debt. These divergencies, these
hesitations, gave Napoleon time to strengthen his position.
{1355}
After Hanau, in the opinion of Ney, 'the allies might have
counted their stages to Paris.' Napoleon had re-opened the
negotiations. The relinquishment of Italy (when Murat on his
side negotiated the preservation of his kingdom of Naples), of
Holland, of Germany, and of Spain, and the confinement of
France between her natural boundaries of the Rhine and the
Alps; such were the 'Conditions of Frankfort.' Napoleon sent
an answer to Metternich, 'that he consented to the opening of
a congress at Mannheim: that the conclusion of a peace which
would insure the independence of all the nations of the earth
had always been the aim of his policy.' This reply seems
evasive, but could the proposals of the allies have been
serious? Encouraged by disloyal Frenchmen, they published the
declaration of Frankfort, by which they affirmed 'that they
did not make war with France, but against the preponderance
which Napoleon had long exercised beyond the limits of his
empire.' Deceitful assurance, too obvious snare, which could
only take in a nation weary of war, enervated by twenty-two
years of sterile victories, and at the end of its resources!
During this time Alexander, with the deputies of the Helvetian
Diet summoned at Frankfort, discussed the basis of a new Swiss
Confederation. Holland was already raised by the partisans of
the house of Orange, and entered by the Prussians. The
campaign of France began. Alexander issued at Freiburg a
proclamation to his troops. ... He refused to receive
Caulaincourt at Freiburg, declaring that he would only treat
in France. 'Let us spare the French negotiator the trouble of
the journey,' he said to Metternich. 'It does not seem to me a
matter of indifference to the allied sovereigns, whether the
peace with France is signed on this side of the Rhine, or on
the other, in the very heart of France. Such an historical
event is well worth a change of quarters.' Without counting
the armies of Italy and the Pyrenees, Napoleon had now a mere
handful of troops, 80,000 men, spread from Nimeguen to Bâle,
to resist 500,000 allies. The army of the North
(Wintzingerode) invaded Holland, Belgium, and the Rhenish
provinces; the army of Silesia (Blücher) crossed the Rhine
between Mannheim and Coblentz and entered Nancy; the army of
Bohemia (Schwartzenberg) passed through Switzerland, and
advanced on Troyes, where the Royalists demanded the
restoration of the Bourbons. Napoleon was still able to bar
for some time the way to his capital. He first attacked the
army of Silesia; he defeated the vanguard, the Russians of
Sacken, at St. Didier, and Blücher at Brienne; but at La
Rothière he encountered the formidable masses of the Silesian
and Bohemian armies, and after a fierce battle (1st February,
1814) had to fall back on Troyes. After this victory had
secured their junction, the two armies separated again, the
one to go down the Marne, the other the Seine, with the
intention of reuniting at Paris. Napoleon profited by this
mistake. He threw himself on the left flank of the army of
Silesia, near Champeaubert, where he dispersed the troops of
Olsoufief and Poltaratski, inflicting on them a loss of 2,500
men, and took the generals prisoners. At Montmirail, in spite
of the heroism of Zigrote and Lapoukhine, he defeated Sacken;
the Russians alone lost 2,800 men and five guns (11th
February). At Château Thierry, he defeated Sacken and York
reunited, and again the Russians lost 1,500 men and five guns.
At Vauchamp it was the turn of Blücher, who lost 2,000
Russians, 4,000 Prussians, and fifteen guns. The army of
Silesia was in terrible disorder. 'The peasants, exasperated
by the disorder inseparable from a retreat, and excited by
exaggerated rumours of French successes, took up arms, and
refused supplies. The soldiers suffered both from cold and
hunger, Champagne affording no wood for bivouac fires. When
the weather became milder, their shoes wore out, and the men,
obliged to make forced marches with bare feet, were carried by
hundreds into the hospitals of the country' (Bogdanovitch).
Whilst the army of Silesia retreated in disorder on the army
of the North, Napoleon, with 50,000 soldiers full of
enthusiasm, turned on that of Bohemia, crushed the Bavarians
and Russians at Mormans, the Wurtembergers at Montereau, the
Prussians at Méry: these Prussians made part of the army of
Blücher, who had detached a corps to hang on the rear of
Napoleon. This campaign made a profound impression on the
allies. Castlereagh expressed, in Alexander's presence, the
opinion that peace should be made before they were driven
across the Rhine. The military chiefs began to feel uneasy.
Sesslavine sent news from Joigny that Napoleon had 180,000 men
at Troyes. A general insurrection of the eastern provinces was
expected in the rear of the allies. It was the firmness of
Alexander which maintained the Coalition, it was the military
energy of Blücher which saved it. Soon after his disasters he
received reinforcements from the army of the North, and took
the offensive against the marshals; then, hearing of the
arrival of Napoleon at La Ferté Gaucher, he retreated in great
haste, finding an unexpected refuge at Soissons, which had
just been taken by the army of the North. At Craonne (March 7)
and at Laon (10th to 12th March), with 100,000 men against
80,000, and with strong positions, he managed to repulse all
the attacks of Napoleon. At Craonne, however, the Russian loss
amounted to 5,000 men, the third of their effective force. The
battle of Laon cost them 4,000 men. Meanwhile, De Saint
Priest, a general in Alexander's service, had taken Rheims by
assault, but was dislodged by Napoleon after a fierce
struggle, where the émigré commander was badly wounded, and
4,000 of his men were killed (13th, March). The Congress of
Châtillon-sur-Seine was opened on the 28th of February. Russia
was represented by Razoumovski and Nesselrode, Napoleon by
Caulaincourt, Austria by Stadion and Metternich. The
conditions proposed to Napoleon were the reduction of France
to its frontiers of 1792, and the right of the allies to
dispose, without reference to him, of the reconquered
countries. Germany was to be a confederation of independent
States, Italy to be divided into free States, Spain to be
restored to Ferdinand, and Holland to the house of Orange.
Leave France smaller than I found her? Never!' said Napoleon.
Alexander and the Prussians would not hear of a peace which
left Napoleon on the throne. Still, however, they negotiated.
Austria and England were both agreed not to push him to
extremities, and many times proposed to treat. After
Napoleon's great success against Blücher, Castlereagh declared
for peace. 'It would not be a peace,' cried the Emperor of
Russia; 'it would be a truce which would not allow us to
disarm one moment. I cannot come 400 leagues every day to your
assistance.
{1356}
No peace, as long as Napoleon is on the throne.' Napoleon, in
his turn, intoxicated by his success, enjoined Caulaincourt
only to treat on the basis of Frankfort--natural frontiers.
... As fortune returned· to the allies, the congress was
dissolved (19th of March). The Bourbon princes were already in
France; Louis XVIII. was on the point of being proclaimed.
Alexander, tired of seeing the armies of Bohemia and Silesia
fly in turn before thirty or forty thousand French, caused the
allies to adopt the fatal plan of a march on Paris, which was
executed in eight days. Blücher and Schwartzenberg united,
with 200,000 men, were to bear down all opposition on their
passage. The first act in the drama was the battle of
Arcissur-Aube, where the Russians took six guns from Napoleon.
The latter conceived a bold scheme, which perhaps might have
saved him if Paris could have resisted, but which was his
ruin. He threw himself on the rear of the allied army,
abandoning to them the route to Paris, but reckoning on
raising Eastern France, and cutting off their retreat to the
Rhine. The allies, uneasy for one moment, were reassured by an
intercepted letter of Napoleon's, and by the letters of the
Parisian royalists, which revealed to them the weakness of the
capital. 'Dare all!' writes Talleyrand to them. They, in their
turn, deceived Napoleon, by causing him to be followed by a
troop of cavalry, continued their march, defeated Marmont and
Mortier, crushed the National Guards of Pacthod (battle of La
Fère-Champenoise); and arrived in sight of Paris. Barclay de
Tolly, forming the centre, first attacked the plateau of
Romainville, defended by Marmont; on his left, the Prince of
Wurtemberg threatened Vincennes; and on his right, Blücher
deployed before Montmartre, which was defended by Mortier. The
heights of Chaumont and those of Montmartre were taken;
Marmont and Mortier with Moncey were thrown back on the
ramparts. Marmont obtained an armistice from Colonel Orlof, to
treat for the capitulation of Paris. King Joseph, the Empress
Marie-Louise, and all the Imperial Government had already fled
to the Loire. Paris was recommended to the generosity of the
allied monarchs'; the army could retire on the road to
Orleans. Such was the battle of Paris; it had cost, according
to M. Bogdanovitch, 8,400 men to the allies, and 4,000 to the
French (30th March). ... The allied troops maintained a
strict discipline, and were not quartered on the inhabitants.
Alexander had not come as a friend of the Bourbons--the
fiercest enemy of Napoleon, was least bitter against the
French; he intended leaving them the choice of their
government. He had not favoured any of the intrigues of the
émigrés, and had scornfully remarked to Jomini, 'What are the
Bourbons to me?'"
A. Rambaud,
History of Russia,
volume 2, chapter 12.
ALSO IN:
C. Joyneville,
Life and Times of Alexander I.,
volume 3, chapter 1.
M. de Beauchamp,
Narrative of the Invasions of France, 1814-15.
Duke de Rovigo,
Memoirs,
volume 3, part 2, chapters 20-32.
J. Philippart,
Campaign in Germany and France, 1818,
volume 1, pages 279 and after, and volume 2.
FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (January-May).
Desertion of Napoleon by Murat.
Murat's treaty with the allies.
French evacuation of Italy.
See ITALY: A. D. 1814.
FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (February-April).
Reverses in the south.
Wellington's invasion.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1812-1814.
FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (March-April).
Friendly reception of the Allies in Paris.
Collapse of the empire.
Abdication of Napoleon.
Treaty of Fontainebleau.
"At an early hour in the morning [of the 31st of March], the
Allied troops had taken possession of the barriers, and
occupied the principal avenues leading to the city. Picquets
of the Cossacks of the Guard were stationed at the corners of
the principal streets. Vast multitudes thronged the
Boulevards, in anxious and silent expectation of pending
events. The royalists alone were active. The leaders, a small
band indeed, had early assembled in the Place Louis XV.,
whence, with Bourbon banners displayed, they proceeded along
the principal streets, haranguing the people and National
Guard; but though not interfered with by the police,--for all
seemed to feel that the Imperial government was at an
end,--they were listened to with such perfect indifference,
that many began to think their cause absolutely hopeless. It
was between ten and eleven o'clock when the procession began
to enter the city. Light horsemen of the Russian Guard opened
the march; at the head of the main column rode the Emperor of
Russia and the King of Prussia. ... Then followed 35,000 men,
cavalry, infantry, and artillery, the elite of the armies, in
all the pride and circumstance of war and conquest. At first
the multitude looked on in silent amazement; but the
affability of the officers, above all, the condescending
manner of the Czar, dispelled any fear they might still
entertain; and shouts of 'Vive Alexander!' began to be heard;
cries of 'Vive le Roi de Prusse!' were soon added. ... The
shouts of welcome increased at every step. The conquerors were
now hailed as liberators; 'Vivent les Allies!' 'Vivent nos
liberateurs!' sounded through the air, mingled at last with
the long-forgotten cry of 'Vive le Roi!' 'Vivent les
Bourbons!' ... The Emperor Alexander had no sooner seen the
troops file past on the Place Louis XV., than he repaired to
the hôtel of Talleyrand, where in the evening, a council was
assembled to deliberate on the important step next to be
taken, and, on the best mode of turning the glorious victories
achieved to an honourable and beneficial account. ... The
points discussed were:
I. The possibility, on sufficient guarantees, of a peace
with Napoleon;
II. The plan of regency under Marie Louise; and,
III. The restoration of the Bourbons.
The choice was not without difficulties. The first plan was
easily dismissed; as the reception of the Allies proved
clearly that the power of Napoleon was broken. The second
seemed more likely to find favour, as promising to please the
Emperor of Austria; but was finally rejected, as being, in
fact, nothing more than a continuance of the Imperial reign
under a different title. Against the restoration of the
Bourbons, it was urged that the nation at large had evinced no
desire for their recall, and seemed to have almost forgotten
them. This, Talleyrand said, was owing entirely to the
Congress of Chatillon, and the negotiations carried on with
Napoleon; introducing at the same time, the Abbé de Pradt and
Baron Louis, who fully confirmed the assertion. On being asked
how he expected to obtain a declaration in favour of the
exiled family, Talleyrand replied, that he was certain of the
Senate; and that their vote would influence Paris, the example
of which would be followed by all France.
{1357}
Alexander having on this assurance taken the opinion of the
King of Prussia and Prince Schwarzenberg, signed a declaration
to the effect that 'the Allies would treat no more with
Napoleon Bonaparte, or with any member of his family.' A
proclamation was issued at the same time, calling on the
conservative Senate to assemble and form a provisional
government, for the purpose of drawing up a constitution
suitable to the wishes of the French people. This the Allies
promised to guarantee; as it was their wish, they said, to see
France 'powerful, happy, and prosperous.' A printer was ready
in attendance; and before dark, this memorable decree was seen
placarded in all the streets of Paris. The inconstant populace
had not even waited for such a sig nal, and had been already
engaged in destroying the emblems of the Imperial government; an
attempt had even been made to pull down the statue of Napoleon
from the summit of the column of Austerlitz, in the Place
Vendome! The decisive impulse thus given, events moved rapidly
forward. Caulaincourt's zealous efforts in favour of his
master could effect nothing after the declaration already
noticed. On the 2d, he took his departure for Fontainbleau;
having, however, received the assurance that Napoleon would be
suitably provided for. ... The funds rose five per cent., and all
other public securities in proportion, on the very day after
the occupation of the capital; and wherever the Allied
Sovereigns appeared in public, they were loudly cheered and
hailed as liberators. From the first, officers of the Allied
armies filled the public walks, theatres, and coffee-houses,
and mixed with the people as welcome guests rather than as
conquering invaders. The press, so long enslaved by Napoleon,
took the most decided part against its oppressor; and from
every quarter injurious pamphlets, epigrams, and satires, now
poured upon the fallen ruler. Madame de Staël had
characterised him as 'Robespierre on horseback'; De Pradt had
more wittily termed him 'Jupiter Scapin'; and these sayings
were not forgotten. But by far the most vivid sensation was
produced by Chateaubriand's tract of 'Bonaparte and the
Bourbons'; 30,000 copies of which are said to have been sold
in two days. In proportion as the popular hatred of the
Emperor evinced itself, grew the boldness of his adversaries.
On the first of April, the Municipal Council of Paris met and
already declared the throne vacant; on the next day, the
Conservative Senate formed a Provisional Government, and
issued a decree, declaring, first,'That Napoleon Bonaparte had
forfeited the throne and the right of inheritance established in
his family; 2d, That the people and army of France were
disengaged and freed from the oath of fidelity which they had
taken to him and his constitution.' ... The members of the
Legislative Assembly who happened to be in Paris, followed the
example of the Senate. The Assembly had been dissolved in
January, and could not meet constitutionally unless summoned
by the Sovereign; this objection was, however, set aside, and
the Assembly having met, ratified the act of deposition passed
by the Senate. All the public functionaries, authorities and
constituted bodies in and near Paris, hastened to send in
their submission to the new powers: it was a general race in
which honour was not always the prize of speed; for every
address, every act of submission sent in to the new
government, teemed with invectives against the deposed ruler.
... It was in the night between the 2d and 3d, that
Caulaincourt returned from his mission, and informed Napoleon
of the events which had passed. ... In what manner the Emperor
received these fatal tidings we are not told. ... At first it
would seem that he entertained, or affected to entertain,
thoughts of resorting to arms; for in the morning he reviewed
his Guard, and addressed them in the following
terms:--'Officers and soldiers of my Old Guard, the enemy has
gained three marches on us, and outstripped us at Paris. Some
factious men, emigrants whom I had pardoned, have surrounded
the Emperor Alexander; they have mounted the white cockade,
and would force us to do the same. In a few days I shall
attack the enemy, and force them to quit the capital. I rely
on you: am I right?' The troops readily replied with loud
cheers to this address, calling out 'To Paris! 'to Paris!' but
the Marshals and senior officers were by no means so zealous
in the cause. ... The Generals and Marshals ... followed the
Emperor to his apartments after the review; and having advised
him to negotiate with the Allies, on the principle of a
personal abdication, ended by informing him, that they would
not accompany him if he persisted in the proposed attack on
Paris. The scene which followed seems to have been of a very
undignified description. Napoleon was almost convulsed with
rage; he tore and trampled under foot the decree of the
Senate; vowed vengeance against the whole body, who should
yet, he said, be made to pay for their deed of 'felony'; but
ended, nevertheless, by ignobly signing the abdication
demanded of him. We say ignobly; for nothing can be more
debasing in character, than to sink down from a very tempest
of passion to tame submission. ... The act of abdication was
worded in the following terms: 'The Allied powers having
proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon is the sole obstacle to
the re-establishment of peace in Europe, the Emperor Napoleon,
faithful to his oath, declares that he is ready to descend
from the throne, to quit France, and even to relinquish life,
for the good of the country, which is inseparable from the
rights of his son, from those of the regency in the person of
the Empress, and from the maintenance of the laws of the
empire. Done at our Palace of Fontainbleau, 4th April 1814.
Napoleon.' Caulaincourt, Marshals Ney and M'Donald, were
appointed to carry this conditional abdication to Paris. ...
The commissioners on returning to Fontainbleau found the
Emperor in his cabinet, impatiently awaiting the result of
their mission. Marshal Ney was the first to speak; and in that
abrupt, harsh and not very respectful tone which he had lately
assumed towards his falling sovereign, told him at once, that
'France, the army and the cause of peace, demanded his
unconditional abdication.' Caulaincourt added, that the full
sovereignty of the Isle of Elba, with a suitable
establishment, had been offered by the Emperor Alexander; and
Marshal M'Donald, who had so zealously defended the cause of
his master, confirmed the statement,--declaring also that, 'in
his opinion, the Imperial cause was completely lost, as they
had all three'--the commissioners--'failed against a
resolution irrevocably fixed.' 'What!' exclaimed Napoleon,
'not only my own abdication, but that of Marie Louise, and of
my son? This is rather too much at once.'
{1358}
And with these words he delayed the answer till next day,
intending, he said, to consider the subject, and consult the
army; ... Words ran high between the fallen chieftain and his
former subordinates; there were altercations, recriminations,
and painful scenes, and it was only when Napoleon had signed
the following unconditional abdication that perfect calm was
restored:--'The Allied Sovereigns having declared that the
Emperor Napoleon is the only obstacle to the re-establishment
of a general peace, the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his
oath, declares, that he renounces, for himself and his heirs,
the throne of France and Italy; and that there is no personal
sacrifice, not even that of life itself, which he is not
willing to make for the interest of France. Napoleon.
Fontainbleau, 6th April 1814.' This deplorable document is
written in so agitated and faltering a hand as to be almost
illegible. ... According to the treaty signed at Paris on the
10th, and usually called the Treaty of Fontainbleau, Napoleon,
from being Emperor of France and King of Italy, became Emperor
of Elba! He was to have a guard and a navy suited to the
extent of his dominions, and to receive from France a pension
of six millions of francs annually. The Duchies of Parma,
Placentia and Guastala, were to be conferred in sovereignty on
Marie Louise and her heirs. Two millions and a half of francs
were further to be paid annually by the French government to
the Empress Josephine and other members of the Bonaparte
family. Splendid as these terms were for a dethroned and
defenceless monarch, Napoleon ratified the treaty with
reluctance, and delayed the signature as long as possible;
still clinging, it would seem, to some vague hope of returning
fortune. It is even related by Fain, Norvins, Constant, and in
the pretended Memoirs of Caulaincourt, that he attempted to
commit suicide by taking poison, 'and was only saved by the
weakness of the dose, and the remedies administered by his
attendants, who, hearing his groans, hastened to his bedside.
It is certain that he was very unwell on the following
morning, the 18th April, a circumstance easily accounted for
by the anxiety he had undergone; but there can be little
difficulty in rejecting the tale of poison, for, it is
mentioned in none of the St. Helena Memoirs."
Lieutenant-Colonel J. Mitchell,
The Fall of Napoleon,
book 8, chapter 8 (volume 2).
ALSO IN:
M. de Bourrienne,
Private Memoirs of Napoleon,
volume 4, chapters 20-23.
Duke of Rovigo,
Memoirs,
volume 4, part 1, chapters 4-10.
Prince Talleyrand,
Memoirs,
part 7 (volume 2).
FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (April-June).
Departure of Napoleon for Elba.
Louis XVIII. called to the throne.
Settlement of the constitution.
Evacuation of France by the Allies.
The Treaty of Paris.
Determination of the new boundaries of the kingdom.
"April 20, everything being ready for Napoleon's journey, and
the commissioners of the four great powers who were to
accompany him having arrived, the former drew up the imperial
guard in the grand courtyard at Fontainebleau to take leave of
them. 'Soldiers,' said he, 'I have one mission left to fulfil
in life,--to recount to posterity the glorious deeds we have
done together.' Would to Heaven he had kept his word and done
nothing else! He kissed the flag, and his brave soldiers, who
only saw the man who so often led them on to victory, burst
into tears. Seven or eight hundred of them were to form the
army left to him who had had a million soldiers at his
command, and they were sent in advance, Napoleon going by
another road, unescorted save by General Drouot, Bertrand, and
the four foreign commissioners with their people. In the first
departments through which they passed ... the people who had
been eye-witnesses of the invasion forgot the evil wrought by
Napoleon, and only saw the defender of his country. They
shouted 'Long live the Emperor! Down with foreigners!' But
beyond Lyons, where the foe never penetrated, the population
became hostile: old royalist and Catholic passions were
revived in proportion as they went farther south; the mob
cried 'Long live the King! down with the tyrant!' and others
howled 'Long live the allies!' At Avignon and Organ a furious
rabble attacked the carriages, demanding that the tyrant
should be handed over to them to be hung or thrown into the
Rhone. The man who braved the storm of shot and shell with
utter indifference gave way before these ignoble perils, and
disguised himself; otherwise the commissioners could scarcely
have saved his life at Orgon. The sad journey closed at the
Gulf of St. Raphael, on the coast of Provence. ... An English
frigate awaited him and bore him to Elba, where he landed at
Porto-Ferraio, May 4. While the Empire was crumbling to dust
... and the fallen Emperor went into exile, the new government
was working hard to hold its own at Paris. The royalists were
at sword's points with the national sovereignty party in the
commission chosen by the senate to draw up a constitution. The
pretender's agent, Abbé de Montesquiou, failed to win
acceptance of the principle that royal right is superior to
the nation's will; and the formula adopted was as follows:
'The French people freely call to the throne of France, Louis
Stanislas Xavier de France, brother of the late king, and,
after him, the other members of the house of Bourbon.' Thus
they did not recognize in the king whom they elected the title
of Louis XVIII., and did not admit that between him and his
brother, Louis XVI., there had been a rightful king, the poor
child who died in the Temple and whom royalists called Louis
XVII. The reign of Louis Stanislas Xavier was to date from the
day when he swore allegiance to the Constitution: the
executive power was vested in the king, who shared the
legislative power with the Senate and a Chamber of Deputies.
The Constitution sanctioned individual liberty, freedom of
worship and the press, the sale of national goods, the public
debt, and proclaimed oblivion of all acts committed since the
beginning of the Revolution. The principles of 1789 were
maintained, and in the sad state of France there was nothing
better to be done than to rally round this Constitution, which
was voted by the Senate, April 6, and accepted by the
Legislature. ... The Senate's lack of popularity gave the
royalist party hope that the act of April 6 might be
retracted, and at this time that party won a faint success in
a matter on which they laid great stress. Count d' Artois was
on his way to Paris, and declared that he would not lay aside
the white cockade on entering. The temporary government
ordered the national guard to assume the white cockade, and
let Count d'Artois in without conditions (April 12), He was
received in solemn state, the marshals marching before him,
still wearing their tri-colored cockades and plumes, which the
government dared not attack.
{1359}
The rabble was cold, but the middle classes received the
prince favorably and he proved gracious to every one. ...
D'Artois ... insisted on being recognized, unconditionally, as
lieutenant-general of the kingdom, as he had entered Paris
without making terms; but this time the Senate and temporary
government did not yield. They intended that the prince should
make a solemn promise, in his brother's name, in regard to the
Constitution. The czar interfered and explained to D' Artois
that the allies were pledged to the Senate and the nation, and
he was forced to submit and receive the lieutenant-generalcy
of the kingdom from the Senate, 'until Louis Stanislas Xavier
of France should accept the Constitutional Charter.' ... The
day after his proclamation as lieutenant-general, the white
cockade was finally adopted, and ... imposed upon the army and
various public buildings, though the national cockade was
still worn by many French soldiers from the Garonne to the
Elbe, and many warlike deeds still signalized the final
efforts of their arms, even after Napoleon had laid aside his
sword. ... By degrees the truce became universal, and the next
question was to fix the terms of peace. ... The enemy held
nothing but Paris and the unfortified towns, French garrisons
still occupying all the strongholds of France, old and new,
and several important places far beyond the Rhine. ... This
was a powerful means of gaining, not the preservation of the
natural frontiers, which could no longer be hoped for, but at
least an important advance on the limits of the ancient
monarchy. Unluckily a movement, natural but hasty, broke out
all over France, to claim the immediate evacuation of her soil
by foreign armies;"--an impatience which allowed no time for
bargaining in the matter, and which precipitated an agreement
(April 23) with the allied powers "to leave the French
dominion as it had been on the 1st of January, 1792, in
proportion as the places still occupied beyond those limits by
French troops should be evacuated and restored to the allies.
... This compact surrendered to the allies, without any
compensation, 58 strongholds, 12,600 pieces of ordnance,
arsenals and magazines filled with vast supplies." The new
king, calling himself Louis XVIII., arrived in Paris on the 3d
of May, from England, where he had latterly resided. He had
offended the czar, ruffled public feeling in France, even
before he arrived, by saying publicly to the English people
that he owed his restoration, under Providence, to them.
Negotiations for a definite treaty of peace were opened at
once. "At Metternich's suggestion, the allies decided to
conclude their arrangements with France in Paris, and to
reserve general arrangements with Europe for a congress at
Vienna.
See VIENNA: THE CONGRESS OF.
Talleyrand did not object, although this plan was evidently
unfavorable to France. ... The royal council directed
Talleyrand to try to win for the northern frontier those
million people promised beyond the old limits; but Louis X
VIII., by angering the czar, completed the sad work of April
23. Alexander thought of renewing with the Bourbons the
alliance that he had planned with Napoleon, and marrying to
the Duke de Berri, Louis's nephew, that one of his sisters to
whom Napoleon preferred Marie Louise. Louis ... responded
churlishly to the czar's advances. Accordingly, when France
demanded a solid frontier, including the South of Belgium, ...
Lord Castlereagh absolutely refused, and was supported by
Prussia, hostile to France, and by Austria, indifferent on
that score, but disposed to follow England in everything.
Russia did not side with France. ... The allies were willing
to grant, in place of the old dominion of the monarchy, on the
Rhine side, the line of the Queich, which opened communication