We were conducted to Kiow. We were there informed of the prodigies performed by that handful of brave men who had not despaired of the safety of their country. They had triumphed at Montmirail, at SÉzanne, at Champaubert, in every part where the enemy had dared to await them. All Europe fled before them; the coalition was dissolved. The obstinacy of a soldier snatched from us the fruits of victory. It became necessary to fight and conquer again; but ammunition failed us; the corps did not arrive, the generals were haranguing the troops to make them capitulate. Every thing was lost; our glory, our conquests vanished as a shadow; even the signs of them were repudiated.

The end of the coalition was attained. Our captivity was no longer profitable; we were set at liberty. We returned to France: what a spectacle did she present! The body of emigrants had invaded the army and the anti-chambers; they were bending under the ensigns of command and decorations. The first person that I met at the Tuileries was a chief of a battalion, whom I had formerly assisted and protected: he was become lieutenant-general; he did not know me again. Another, who was with me a long time at Dantzic, had not a better memory. This last person I had received at the recommendation of the Duke de Cadore, I had experienced his sickening adulations: he used to style me Monseigneur, your Excellency; he would willingly have called me the Eternal. In proportion as I told him how much these fooleries displeased me, he increased them; he even conceived the idea of attending at my levee. If it had depended on him I must have conceived myself a sovereign. His malversations delivered me from this obstinate flatterer; they became so glaring that the government was on the point of proceeding against him. I saved this gentleman from the shame of punishment; but I made him retire: he went to exercise his industry at.... He soon became acquainted with our reverses, was alarmed, took post, and never stopped till he was on this side of the Rhine: his fear had served him better than courage could have done. He had large epaulets, and four or five decorations. This was well for the opening of his career:—promotion does not go on so quickly on the field of battle. He withdrew as soon as he saw me: apparently his costume embarrassed him. I met a third, who, also, did not feel quite at ease in my presence. Formerly attached to Josephine, he had given proof of a truly exquisite foresight; in order to be provided against all unforeseen cases which might occur in promenades and journeys, he had provided himself with a silver gilt vessel. When a circumstance required it, he drew it from his pocket, presented it, took it, emptied it, wiped it, and put it away with care. This shewed the very instinct of domesticity.

But all these worthies, so ardent for the treasury, for decorations and commands, soon shewed the amount of their courage. Napoleon appeared, they were eclipsed. They had flocked to Louis XVIII., the dispenser of favours; but they had not a trigger to pull for Louis XVIII. in misfortune. We tried a few dispositions; but the people, the soldiers had never been accomplices of the humiliations of France; they refused to fight against the colours that they adored, and the Emperor peaceably resumed the reins of government.

Generals Bertrand and Lemarrois wrote to me to come to the Tuileries; I returned to Paris. A new invitation was waiting for me at my hotel; the grand-marshal informed me that his Majesty wished to see me. I did not like to keep him waiting; I went just as I was, quite sure that Napoleon would know how to appreciate duty and affection. I was introduced immediately.

Napoleon. "You are there, Monsieur General Rapp; you have been much wanted? Whence do you come?"

Rapp. "From Ecouen, where I have left my troops at the disposal of the minister of war."

Napoleon. "Did you really intend to fight against me?"

Rapp. "Yes, Sire."

Napoleon. "The Devil!"

Rapp. "The determination was compulsory."

Napoleon. (In an animated tone.) "F....! I was very well aware that you were before me. If an engagement had taken place, I would have sought you out on the field of battle: I would have shewn you the head of Medusa: Would you have dared to fire at me?"

Rapp. "Undoubtedly,—my duty ..."

Napoleon. "This is going too far. But the soldiers would not have obeyed you; they have preserved more affection for me. Besides, if you had fired a single shot, your peasants of Alsace would have stoned you."

Rapp. "You will agree, Sire, that the situation was a very painful one: you abdicate, you leave us, you engage us to serve the King; you return. All the power of old recollections cannot deceive us."

Napoleon. "How is that? What do you mean to say? Do you think that I have returned without alliance, without an agreement?... Moreover, my system is changed: no more war, no more conquests; I wish to reign in peace, and promote the welfare of my subjects."

Rapp. "You are pleased to say so; but your anti-chambers are already full of those flatterers who have always encouraged your inclination for arms."

Napoleon. "Bah! bah!... Did you often go to the Tuileries?"

Rapp. "Sometimes, Sire."

Napoleon. "How did those folks behave to you?"

Rapp. "I have no reason to complain of them."

Napoleon. "The King appears to have received you well on your return from Russia?"

Rapp. "Quite so, Sire."

Napoleon. "Without doubt. Cajoled first, then sent about your business. This is what would have befallen you all;—for, after all, you were not their men; you could not suit them: other titles, other rights were necessary to please them."

Rapp. "The King delivered France from the Allies."

Napoleon. "Very true; but at what price! and his engagements, has he kept them? Why did he not hang Ferrand for his speech on the national domains? It is that, it is the insolence of the nobles and priests which made me leave the island of Elba. I might have come with three millions of peasants who ran to me to tell their grievances, and offer their services. But I was certain of not finding resistance in my way to Paris. The Bourbons are very fortunate that I have returned: without me they would at last have had a dreadful revolution.

"Have you read Chateaubriand's pamphlet, which does not even allow me courage on the field of battle? Have you not sometimes seen me stand fire? Am I a coward?"

Rapp. "I have felt, in common with all honourable men, indignation at an accusation as unjust as it is mean."

Napoleon. "Did you sometimes see the Duke d'Orleans?"

Rapp. "I only saw him once."

Napoleon. "He is the only one who has discretion and tact! The others have bad men about them and are very ill-advised. They do not like me; they will now be more furious than ever; there is good reason for it. I am arrived without striking a blow. They are now about to cry me down as ambitious; that is their eternal reproach: they have nothing else to say."

Rapp. "They are not the only persons who accuse you of ambition."

Napoleon. "How ... am I ambitious? When people are ambitious are they as fat as I am?" (He struck his stomach with both hands).

Rapp. "Your Majesty jokes."

Napoleon. "No: I have wished that France should be what she ought to be; but I have never been ambitious. Besides, what do these folks think of? It becomes them well to assume importance with the nation and the army. Is it their courage on which they pride themselves?"

Rapp. "They have occasionally shewn some—in the army of CondÉ for instance."

Napoleon. "What is that order that I see on you?"

Rapp. "The Legion of Honour."

Napoleon. "The Devil! They have had, however, the sense to make a handsome decoration of it. And these two crosses here?" (He touched them).

Rapp. "Saint Louis and the Lily." (He smiled).

Napoleon. "What do you think of that ... Berthier, who did not like to remain. He will return; I forgive him all; on one condition however—it is, that he will wear his garde du corps uniform to appear before me. But enough of this. Well, General Rapp, we must serve France once more, and we shall rescue ourselves from the condition in which we are."

Rapp. "Confess, Sire, (since you have had the goodness sometimes to permit me to speak to you freely), confess that you were wrong in not making peace at Dresden? every thing was repaired if you had concluded it. Do you recollect my reports on the spirit of Germany? you treated them as pamphlets; you blamed me."

Napoleon. "I could not make peace at Dresden; the Allies were not sincere. Besides, if every one had done his duty at the renewal of hostilities, I should again have been the master of the world. I had already gained to my side 32,000 Austrians."

Rapp. "It is only a moment since your Majesty had no ambition, and now we hear again of the sovereignty of the world."

Napoleon. "Ah! well, that's true.—Besides, Marmont, the senators.... My plan was arranged so as not to let a single ally escape."

Rapp. "All these misfortunes are the consequence of the reverses at Leipsic: you might have prevented them by accepting peace at Dresden."

Napoleon. "You are ignorant what such a peace would have been:" (and suddenly growing warm,) "Would you be afraid to go to war again; you, who have been my aide-de-camp for fifteen years? On your return from Egypt, at the death of Desaix, you were nothing but a soldier; I have made a man of you: now you may pretend to any thing."

Rapp. "I have never let slip any opportunity of shewing my gratitude to you for it; and if I am yet alive, it is not my fault."

Napoleon. "I shall never forget your conduct in the retreat from Moscow. Ney and you are of that small number who have the soul thoroughly well tempered. Besides, at your siege of Dantzic you did more than impossibilities."

Napoleon fell on my neck and pressed me with vehemence against him for at least two minutes, He embraced me several times, and said to me, pulling my mustachios—

"Come, come, a hero of Egypt and Austerlitz can never forsake me. You shall take the command of the army of the Rhine, while I treat with the Austrians and Russians. I hope that, in a month's time, you will receive my wife and son at Strasburg. It is my pleasure that from this evening you perform the duty of my aide-de-camp. Write to Count Maison to come to embrace me; he is a brave man, I wish to see him."

Napoleon related a part of this conversation to some persons about him. He told them that I had spoken to him with too great liberty, and that he had pulled my ears. Fortune smiled on him. The courtiers came round him in multitudes:—it was enthusiasm, devotion: they boiled with zeal. These protestations had not, however, all the effect they had promised themselves. Many were rejected; one particularly, who persisted in obtruding his services, was repulsed with severity. Loaded with favours, gold, and dignities, he had overwhelmed his unfortunate benefactor with insults; he was treated with loathing and contempt. These gentlemen boast at present of an incorruptible fidelity. They find fault with the indulgence of the King in the saloons of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. They would like to see all those who were employed during the hundred days led to the scaffold. Chance has served them, appearances are for them; let it be so: but the generals, the ministers of Napoleon, the officers attached to his person, know full well what to think of these stoics of the ante-chamber. Sooner or later the royal government will be enlightened: there is wherewithal to supply the place of the red book.

Napoleon sent for me on the 29th of March, and informed me that I must set out for the army of the Rhine. He gave me the grand eagle of the Legion of Honour, which he had destined for me after the siege of Dantzic. He told me that within fifteen days my forces should be raised to 40,000 men, (I had 15,000 at the commencement of hostilities); I observed to him that this was very little in comparison with those that we were going to have on our hands; that the Congress (its declaration was already known) threatened us with a deluge of soldiers. "The declaration you allude to is false," he replied angrily; "it was fabricated at Paris: however, go. Lecourbe will command in Franche ComtÉ; Suchet in the Alps; Clausel on the Garonne. We have great chance of success. Gerard goes to Metz: he has just tormented me to give him that Bourmont, I yielded to him with regret: I never liked that man's countenance."

"The propositions I have made to the Sovereigns have been coldly received. Nevertheless all hopes of arrangement are not destroyed. It is possible that the energy with which opinion is pronounced, may incline them to sentiments of peace. I am going to make another attempt. This is the letter that I write to them:

But all overtures were useless. He was above human stature; he secured the supremacy of France; this was the grievance which nothing could counterbalance; I was convinced of it. His destruction was resolved on.

I set out for Alsace: the hostile attitude of foreign courts had excited general indignation in that province: all generous minds, all who abhor a foreign yoke, were preparing themselves to repulse this league of kings, who, under pretext of fighting with one man, only sought to enrich themselves with our spoils. The inhabitants, by concert and by a spontaneous movement, had rushed to the heights which command the defiles, to the roads or passages, and laboured at the construction of entrenchments; women and children put their hands to the work. They diverted and animated each other, by singing patriotic songs. There was between all the citizens a rivalry in zeal and devotion; some raised redoubts, others cast balls, mounted old muskets, and fitted the cartouches. In fine, every hand was in movement, every one wished to labour in the common defence.

An affecting scene, and worthy of ancient times, took place at Mulhausen, when I arrived there. A ball was given, the most distinguished persons of the town were met, the assembly was brilliant and numerous. Towards the close of the evening, war and invasion of the territory were talked of; every one communicated his advice, every one told his hopes and his fears.

The ladies were talking together, and conversed on the dangers of their country. On a sudden one of the youngest proposed to her companions that they should swear, never to marry any Frenchman who had not defended the frontiers. Cries of joy, clapping of hands, resounded from every part of the room. The looks of all present were directed towards the ladies; the rest of the company came up, and crowded round them. I went with the throng, I applauded this generous proposal, I had the honour of administering the oath, which every one of the fair patriots came to receive at my hands.

This trait recalls the marriage of the Samnites, but it has something perhaps still more admirable in it: that which was an institution among the people in question, was with us the effect of a spontaneous resolution; with them patriotism was in the law, with us it was in the hearts of our fair countrywomen.