tation to Jean-Bon and myself to go with him, he had expressed himself in such a way as to authorize us to do so. We followed the company, and got into the boat with the rest. The Emperor was accompanied by two aidesde-camp and a palace adjutant. Afterwards came the Prince of Nassau and a sort of naval officer in command of the crew, Jean-Bon and myself, and lastly the Mameluke in waiting. The Emperor's suite occupied one end of the boat, we the other. The Emperor remained in the middle with the Prince of Nassau, who was showing off the magnificent vine country that crowns the right bank of the Rhine, and has the Castle of Biberich in the midst. The Emperor seemed to give his whole attention to this scene, and was examining it with a telescope. He asked for information on the Castle of Biberich, and the Prince himself was giving it with a servile complaisance that was not to last much longer. Jean-Bon and myself kept as far from the Emperor as the length of the boat allowed; but that was not enough to prevent hearing what was said at both ends. While the Emperor, standing at one side and leaning over the water, appeared wrapped in contemplation, Jean-Bon said, and not so very low, What a strange position! the fate of the world depends on a kick more or less.' I shuddered all over, and only found strength to say, 'In God's name, keep quiet!' My friend took no notice of my entreaty or of my terror, and went on, Never mind! persons of resolution are rare.' I turned the conversation to save myself from the consequences of the dialogue, and the expedition was finished without his being able to resume it. We landed, and the Emperor's suite followed as he returned to his palace. As we went up the great staircase I was by the side of Jean-Bon, and the Emperor seven or eight steps above. The distance emboldened me, and I said to my companion, 'Do you know how terribly you frightened me?"

Yes, indeed I do, and am surprised you found your legs to walk up; but be assured that we shall weep tears of blood because this day's expedition was not his last.' 'You are a madman.' And you an idiot, saving respect to your Excellency.'

"We came to the ante-room. Despatches had just arrived, so important that not a moment could be lost in opening them. The Emperor went into his study to read them, and the dinner was put back. The anteroom was full of chamberlains, aides-de-camp, orderly officers, and secretaries, distinguished by richer or plainer dresses of refined elegance. Those who wore them did them justice by the politeness of their manners, and a courtly language then beginning to be formed. The blot in the picture was the old member of the Convention, in the plainest possible prefect's uniform, and the rest of his clothes being black, even to the neckcloth. It seemed that he had more than once experienced the amiable witticisms of the gilded troop on this head, for on that day they

appeared to be taking up conversation interrupted the day before. M. Jean-Bon allowed these gentlemen to exhaust all the shafts in their gilded quivers, and then answered, with a coolness that added to the power of his words:

666

"I really am astonished that you are hold enough to attend to my dress and the colour of my stockings on the day I am to dine with the Emperor and Empress. You do not tell me all; you are shocked to see me asked to such a dinner, and the moment my back is turned you will say, "Really it is past belief the Emperor should invite to dine with the Empress the new Empress a member of the Convention, a voter, a colleague of Robespierre in the Committee of Public Safety, in whom you can smell a Jacobin a mile off."

"But really, Monsieur Jean-Bon, why should you put such nonsense into our mouths? We respect ourselves too much to ever allow ourselves...

666

'Not at all, gentlemen. It is not nonsense, but fact! I confess it. Europe was then leagued together against France, as it is now. She wanted to crush us with all the moral and material forces of the old civilization. She had drawn a circle of iron around us. Valuable cities had already been betrayed to her. She made progress. Well, the kings were defied. We delivered our territory, and retorted upon them the war of invasion they had begun upon us; we took Belgium from them, and the left bank of the Rhine, which we have united to this very France which, at the commencement of the war, they had determined to dismember and divide. We have established our preponderance, and compelled these same kings to come humbly to us and sue for peace. Do you know what government obtained, or prepared, these results? A government composed of members of the Convention of mad Jacobins, with their bonnets rouges, coarse clothes, sabots, and nothing to live on but coarse bread and bad beer, and who, when spent with fatigue and watching, threw themselves on mattresses on the floor of the room where their meetings were held. These are the sort of men that saved France. I was one of them, gentlemen; and here, as well as in the Emperor's chamber, which I am going to enter, I glory in it.'

"A general answer, "There is no accounting for tastes; but while granting to the administration of the period the justice due to them on military matters, there are many of their actions that it is impossible to glory in. I protest against that expression; it is too strong.'

"And I maintain it,' replied Jean-Bon. 'Besides, wait a little while, Fortune is capricious. She has raised France very high. Sooner or later she may throw her down! Who knows? perhaps as low as in 1793. Then will be seen if she can be saved by anodyne

1 Un votant-equivalent to a regicide.

remedies, and what can be done for her by spangles, embroideries, and feathers, and especially white silk stockings."

This pitiless Republican died shortly after of typhus fever, contracted while taking the most indefatigable care of the hospitals which the defeated French armies had filled with infection. He seems to have carried out the classical model to a perfection attained by few of his countrymen, perhaps in consequence of the stern mould imposed on him by his Huguenot training. But what has become of the energy that produced such men? Is France like Athens after Demosthenes?

One more incident of this meeting at Mayence deserves mention. Napoleon, having few of his ministry about him, was employing Beugnot as his amanuensis, an exceedingly difficult office, as he dictated so fast that it was not possible to do more than jot down the main points and fill up afterwards. Beugnot was hurried and pre-occupied, and twice seated himself by mistake in the Emperor's chair, which was not different from the others. The first time Napoleon sharply called him to order, the second he gave him time to finish the sentence he was writing, and then said in a voice no longer severe, "So you are determined to sit in my seat; you have chosen a bad time for it." Strange, unconscious avowal to break from those stern, guarded lips, usually so full of self-assertion!

The uneasiness of the Emperor soon became manifested by his sending a sort of Japanese double to watch and share the administration in every office of State, and very troublesome and impeding was the effect during the brief remnant of the Empire. The next event at Düsseldorf was the arrival of multitudes of sick and wounded. One of the saddest effects of the battle of Leipsic was the immediate evacuation of all the French hospitals up to the banks of the Rhine. Thousands of patients from wounds and typhus had to be disposed of. Beugnot undertook to shelter 1,000. The first convoy announced contained 1,600, and neither

beds, dressings, nor medicines of any sort, were supplied. supplied. Happily for Beugnot, there was living at Brussels a Prussian, Dr. Abel, "of the school of the great Frederick," at whose Court he had lived some time. He anticipated the treatment of which we have lately heard, as if it were a recent discovery— that of placing the sick as much in the open air as possible. It was still fine weather, and the season a dry one, and the sick were placed by him in the courts of the Castle of Bensberg, and the garden of Benrath, and carefully classified, with arrangements made for being speedily carried into the rooms in cases of rain. The brave fellows at first thought they were turned out to die, and lamented piteously; but kindness and encouragement soon restored their spirits, and typhus disappeared at once, so that the deaths were far fewer in proportion than in any of the ordinary hospitals.

How like this is the experience of the admirable American ambulance at Paris!

The sick were soon followed by the retreating army itself, and Beugnot's next experience was of the destructive nature of the soldier. The thorough schoolboy spirit of doing mischief for its own sake is very little below the surface in man, and to save the public gardens at Düsseldorf, which Beugnot had greatly improved and adorned, from being destroyed by the retreating armies, was an object about which he is halfpathetic, half-satirical, on his own eagerness to save what he should never see again. The colonel who was bivouacking in these gardens was deaf to all entreaties to allow the men to be quartered in the town, and even insisted on cutting down the trees, because green wood gave more heat than the faggots that were offered to him, and the huts must be made of branches. Luckily, General Damas came to the rescue, and, after a conversation with the colonel, advised Beugnot to send in twice as much wood as could be wanted, and all the canvas in the town. A bottle of wine was also distributed to

each man, and Damas and Beugnot walking round in the evening heard very complimentary jokes being cracked as to the tall Imperial Minister who had used them so well.

The day after they passed on came General Rigaud and his division, announcing that he was only forty-eight hours ahead of the enemy. He asked

for no wood, but for a contribution of four millions to be raised in twentyfour hours. Here Beugnot trusted to the short time. He supplied a good dinner and plenty of wine, and entirely refused the contribution. He was well abused, but the general had to march the next morning, and Beugnot, who had made all his preparations, followed closely, leaving his servants with orders to prepare a good dinner for the Russian commander who was expected the next day. The Cabinet of Berg transferred itself to Aix-la-Chapelle, where the Emperor desired Beugnot to go to Macdonald's headquarters, to confer on the requisites for the army assembling under his orders. Macdonald could only smile with bitter irony, saying, "Would you like to see a review of my army? It will not take long; as to the men, it consists of myself, whom you see before you, and of my Chief of the Staff, General Grundler, who will be here presently; and as for materials, they at present consist of four strawbottomed chairs and a deal table. write every day to Paris to say that it is a mere jest to call what you see Marshal Macdonald's army; I loudly demand a real army, for I am far from sharing the general opinion that the enemy will not cross the Rhine. It is enough for me to see the direction he gives his troops, and that they are going to pursue, even into the depth of winter, to convince me that the Rhine itself is not the conclusion of their march; and upon my word, if the Emperor has only such armies as mine to oppose to them, the enemy will scarcely stop till they reach Paris. This," added the Marshal, “is what you and all of us must tell the Emperor, for the danger is extreme, and the time for boasting is gone by."

I

"I

gave an account," Beugnot adds, "of my visit, without repeating the naked truth, but I insisted on the necessity of forwarding troops to the Rhine.

"Without repeating the naked truth." Is not this, said as the merest matter of course, the key to half the miseries of France?

In actual conversation with the Emperor, his way of putting the fact was this:

"I do not know the exact number of men that compose the army of Marshal Macdonald; he was complaining of the delay of troops in joining him, and was very impatient when I left him.”

I know

"You give me no answer. very well that you could not count his men; you are not an inspecting officer of reviews; but did not Macdonald inform you in conversation what force he had got together?"

"I fear, Sire, that at present it is only a very small number."

"You fear? I do not ask you what you fear; either you do not know the truth, or are afraid to tell it; at least, have you seen on your road, bodies of men and single soldiers hastening to the Rhine?"

"I met a battalion of the 18th coming out of Ghent, four detachments of the old Dutch Guard, and single men to the number of a hundred and fifty or two hundred."

And the Emperor remained in a pitiable state of perplexity. He next appointed Beugnot to the prefecture of Lille-a service so much beneath that of Imperial Minister that it was a very bitter pill, and was forced down most Napoleonically.

"What is this? The Minister of Home Affairs says that you will not go to Lille."

"I am always ready to obey the Emperor; but perhaps he may himself feel that after having done me the favour to appoint me his minister at Düsseldorf, and having given me the uniform and style, I cannot very well again be employed as Prefect. Conclusions would be drawn from it of a disturbance and disorder in his affairs; that is, happily, very different from the case."

"Indeed, I hope so; but I do not understand you. Anyone willing to

serve me must serve where it is convenient. I do not know if you have been minister or not; I have no time to consider it; but if I sent you anywhere as sub-prefect, your duty would be to go."

"No doubt, Sire; so it is only in the interest of your authority that I venture to allow myself to make an observation. I think that a man who has filled a coniderable post is less fit than any other o fill an inferior one, because he comes it with a sort of appearance of disrace; for, in a word

"In fact I am in haste You must go to Lille. I am told that Dulantier is killing himself in my service. 'hat is no good to him, nor to me either. there is much to do there. This department of the North is one of the gates of France. You have ten places to provision, and the National Guard to set on foot. The National Guards of that department are excellent; the inhabitants, who are really brave, want to be stimulated. Have as little trafficking as you can; do the work by yourself and your own people. You shall not want for money. You will have enough to do; but the country is rich. Raise what is necessary, nothing more."

"The Emperor may reckon on my zeal. It would be increased, if possible, by the confidence that he deigns to show me; but may I be permitted to ask him under what title I am to present myself in the department of the North ?"

"In truth, Monsieur Beugnot, you rather exceed

"I ask the Emperor's pardon a thousand times."

"A fine moment to talk about titles! Present yourself as prefect, as minister, as emperor if you dare, only do what I want. How can you take up my time with such follies, when my head is distracted from morning to night? Your Macdonald prevents nothing, stops nothing. Clouds of Cossacks are devastating the departments of the Rhine. I have to arrange for defence at all points, and with what?. And at such a time I put one of the keys of France into your

pocket, and you come and talk to me about titles. That is the sort of thing to do when there is nothing better on hand. All the world tells me you are a man of sense. You do not show it." "Perhaps the fault is the Emperor's." "Ah!"

"Why has he elevated me beyond my capacity?"

"Very good. Start this evening, or to-morrow morning at latest. You will correspond with my ministers. If you have anything of importance or that is serious to inform me of, you may write to me direct. I give you authority. Adieu, Count Beugnot. I wish you a pleasant journey."

This is the last personal glimpse of the great Napoleon. Beugnot took the control of affairs at Lille, and soon had another experience showing how like the French of a past day are to the French of our own. Never, according to letters received from Paris, did France meet with a reverse. One colleague, of whose statements Beugnot kept notes, made the recruits amount to 180,000 men, and even the battles of Brienne and La Rothière failed to bring conviction.

Lille was threatened with a siege, and was victualled by the French troops much after the fashion in which Tillietudlem was provided for by the dragoons.

"Detachments came in, driving herds of cattle before them, sheep, and especially cows with calves, about which the superior officers were very choice. The soldiers, not to be behindhand, carried fowls hung from their firelocks. No more had butter or salt provisions been neglected. All had been carried off with singular barbarity. They might have done as much harm in a conquered country; but assuredly they could not have done worse. And the most disgusting thing about it was, that these beasts had no sooner entered the city than they became a kind of current coin. The generals used them as payment for their tradesmen, the officers to pay their tavern bills; and when Beugnot remonstrated, the answer was that it was all right. The essential point was that

the beasts should be in the town; after that it mattered very little into whose hands they passed, as they could always be found again in case of need."

Whether they would have been found does not appear, for the siege did not take place, and, ere long, Beugnot found it time to make his way to Paris, where Talleyrand immediately named him provisional Minister of the Interior. In this capacity he had to hear the lamentable complaints of the devastated departments.

"It is too true," he says, "that the enemy left acts of barbarity unheard of in modern war along their track. The greatest reproach in this respect was due to the troops of the powers of the Confederation of the Rhine, who had long followed our standards; while their plea that they had been taught the art of devastation in our school was only an additional insult. I had been in the rear of the victorious French army after the day of Jena; and though some excitement was then caused by the Emperor's bulletins and general orders, exhibiting personal resentment against the House of Prussia, the soldiers did not make any bad use of the right of power against the disarmed populations. Victory does not make France fierce and pitiless; her natural inclination to mirth and kindness is developed by it. The guard-room has its wit, and the bivouac its humour; and even there, on close

observation, may be found the light and cheerful nation laughing at everything, even danger, and making a joke of everything, even in victory. From such a soldier may heroism be expected not barbarity; it is not in his nature." But he adds that from the general distress must be excepted the course followed by the army of the Duke of Wellington in the south. "As this general had taken the course of paying ready money for everything, in solid gold, he had attracted such a quantity of provisions to his line of march, that, even with the extraordinary consumption occasioned by his passing, food declined in price."

Such a testimony is too pleasant to our national feelings to be omitted, and with this we conclude, though we could spend many more pages over the etiquettes and the difficulties attending the return of Louis XVIII., and the ins and outs of the Cabinet. The result we carry away is, that in those days there was something like a solid stratum beneath the chaos of disintegrated materials. Everyone, whether Republican, Buonapartist, or Royalist, had something to rally round, and knew it. Has the last half-century broken up even this lower foundation, and left nothing but a whirlpool to settle down when the force of agitation is over?