the gates. At this crisis, Napoleon deliberately planted two or three small guns under the very mouths of the artillery of the fortress, and blew down the gates. The spell of discipline was instantly dissolved,— and the garrison, in a transport of joy, broke their lines,-issued forth, and surrounded Napoleon,-carried him into the city (and it appears that they actually carried his horse after him), and before he could well recover his breath in the inn where he was set down, an incredible tumult was heard outside, and he found that the inhabitants of Grenoble, being unable to bring him the keys of the city, had brought him, with acclamations, the shattered gates instead. Next morning, the authorities of Grenoble waited on Napoleon, and tendered their homage. The commandant of the city, General Marchand, who still maintained his allegiance, was allowed to depart without the least molestation. The Emperor reviewed his troops, now about seven thousand in number; and on the 9th, renewed his march. On the 10th, he arrived within sight of Lyons. The Count d'Artois, with the assistance of Marshal Macdonald, attempted to make a stand, but in vain. At the bridge of Lyons, all opposition vanished when the person of the Emperor was recognised by the soldiers. Monsieur and Macdonald were forced to retreat, and Napoleon entered the second city of France in triumph. A guard of mounted gentlemen had been formed among the citizens to attend upon Monsieur; but as he was obliged to fly, they all (except one, who accompanied the prince), hastened to offer their services to the Emperor. He dismissed them with contempt, and sent the cross of the legion of honour to the one gentleman who had been faithful in the hour of need. During the four days the Emperor remained at Lyons, there were incessantly as many as twenty thousand people assembled beneath his windows, uttering acclamations of joy and welcome. This revolution had been proceeding during more than a week before the gazettes of Paris ventured to make any allusion to its existence. When its success was half secured, there appeared a royal ordonnance, proclaiming Napoleon Bonaparte an outlaw, while "The Moniteur" announced that he was already stripped of all his followers, and wandering in despair among the hills. The two chambers were convoked. The Count d'Artois departed for Lyons (with what success has just been shewn); the Duke d'Angoulême was already at Marseilles, preparing to cut off the retreat of Napoleon; and King Louis continued to receive loyal addresses from public bodies, marshals, and generals. Meantime, there was a strong under-current of movement among those in Paris who had wished for the return of Napoleon. The different intriguers and partisans seem to have circulated any reports that suited their various opinions and feelings. But while the royalists were talking of the seizure of this "outlaw and invader," the Emperor had formally resumed the functions of civil government, and issued several decrees-one of which was for the abolishing the chambers of peers, and of deputies; another concerning the coronation of Maria Louisa and his son; another for the abolishing the order of St. Louis, and bestowing its revenues upon the legion of honour; another ordering certain individuals into banishment, &c. When these proclamations could no longer be prevented from being known in Paris, the court dropped its high tone, and began to prepare simultaneously for defence and flight. The main hope of the Bourbons now rested upon Ney, who, like the other marshals and officers, had given his allegiance to Louis on the abdication of Napoleon. It will be remembered that this was done by the express injunctions of the latter; but, had it been otherwise, these men of the sword were for the most part no politicians and diplomatists, and their position was altogether very perplexing to their heads. Ney left the court, with a promise to bring back Napoleon "like a wild beast in a cage." When he arrived with his army at Lons-le-Saulnier, he received a letter from Napoleon, calling him to his side. Confused by old associations and present engagements; thunderstruck by the Emperor's proclamations; his soldiers leaving him in masses to join the ranks of their idolized commander of many fields, Ney yielded to the impulse around him, and issued his memorable order of the day, declaring that the cause of the Bourbons was lost for ever. But as Ney, like all the other marshals and officers (except Labedoyère and another individual), had not at once joined the standard of the Emperor, but only suffered himself to be borne along with the tide, he wrote to beg leave to retire from the service. Napoleon replied by desiring Ney to come to him, and he would receive him as on the day after the battle of Moscow. He came was received by the Emperor with open arms—and his intended hostility was all forgiven. As a Louis now convoked a general council, at the Tuileries, on the 18th of March. Nothing came of it but turbulent words. last hope, the King placed all the troops, that still remained faithful to him, under the command of Marshal Macdonald, and then prepared for flight. Macdonald was determined to maintain his allegiance to Louis, and proceeded to take post at Melun with the King's army, which amounted to upwards of thirty thousand men. On the 19th, Napoleon slept once more in the chateau of Fontainebleau. On the 20th, the army of Macdonald was drawn up in three lines at Melun, to oppose the advance of the Emperor and his troops, who were said to be coming from Fontainebleau. The bands of Macdonald's army played various loyal airs. A silence then ensued. There was a long pause of suspense, and of that kind which, as Scott remarks, seldom fails to render men accessible to strong and sudden emotion. The glades of the forest, and the acclivity which ascends to it, were full in view of the royal army, but presented the appearance of a deep solitude. At length, about noon, a galloping of horses was heard; but, instead of an advanced guard of cavalry, a single open carriage appeared, emerging from the green shadows of the forest, followed by a few Polish lancers as attendants, with their lances reversed. In the carriage sat Napoleon, in his little flat cockt-hat, and grey great coat. It came on at full speed direct towards Macdonald's army; and Napoleon, jumping from the vehicle, rushed alone into the ranks drawn up in battle array to oppose him. Instantly there rose a general shout of "Vive l'Empereur!" while the Polish lancers, leaping from their horses, mingled with their old comrades; and the last army of the Bourbons passed from their side without attempting to strike a single blow. They filled the air with shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" and trampled their white cockades in the dust. Macdonald made his escape to Paris, but Louis XVIII. had not awaited the issue of the last stand at Melun. Escorted by his household in the middle of the preceding night, the unwieldy body of Louis was assisted to his carriage, and departing from the Tuileries amidst the tears and lamentations of several courtiers, he took the road to Lisle. ENTRANCE OF NAPOLEON INTO PARIS-HIS FIRST REVIEW AND LEVEE-FIRST PUBLIC ACTS MAI-OPENING OF THE CHAMBERS-AMOUNT, AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE ARMIES OF He ON the evening of the 20th of March, masses of people, deafening the air with shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" The joy, as well as the disorder, assumed a frantic and almost fearful character. When Napoleon entered the court-yard of the palace, the WW postilions found it impossible to drive the carriage up to the entrance. The crowd was so dense that the horses were unable to move a step further. A rush was made towards the carriage; the door was forced open; the Emperor taken out; in vain did he attempt to reach the ground, either in the court-yard, the staircase, or even in the suites of rooms above: he was fairly borne along upon the shoulders of the multitude, and lifted from arms to arms till carried up to his own apartment. Napoleon instantly sent for his former ministers, and ordered each one to resume his portfolio. Everything took its former aspect. The Emperor dined as usual; his apartment was prepared as usual; "it seemed," says Savary, "as if he had merely returned from a journey." Every one was anxious to assume some duty, until every post was regularly allotted. A guard of honour had been suddenly formed, composed entirely of general officers, who relieved each other as sentries outside his door. In the apartment which Louis had just left, Napoleon found a brilliant assemblage of marshals, and nobles, and officers, and courtiers. Nearly the whole of them had been adherents of Louis but a few days before; their adulation was, therefore, not over-rated by Napoleon. He felt that it was his influence which had replaced him safely on the throne, not theirs, and he had no fear of any influence they might exercise. Instead of disguising this feeling, and receiving their flatteries (on this first moment when it might have been thought he would wish to secure all the power he could collect, till again firmly fixed on the throne), "Gentlemen," said he, as he walked round the glittering circle, "it is disinterested people who have brought me back to my capital." It was not in vain that party writers and speakers of the time exerted themselves to make Europe believe that Napoleon had only resumed the throne by the aid of brute force, and his ascendancy over the minds of the soldiery. These reports were credited, and answered the purpose of the time. History has a different story to record. He was not only the Emperor of the army, but of the citizens, the people, the peasantry, the masses of men. "If Bonaparte," says Hazlitt, "was not popular, it is strange; for the utmost conceivable popularity that a man can possess would only enable him, with a handful of men, to march from one end of a kingdom to the other enter its capital, and take possession of its throne." This was done without the shedding of one drop of blood, without even the drawing of a sword on the side of Napoleon-and scarcely a score of swords among the Bourbon defenders. On the following day, the 21st of March, the Emperor reviewed |