The National Register. — London, England, 1815-04-16 00:00:00

Pia THE NA . terrified the Court, astonished Paris, and electrified the Army. The eyes of every person were turned towards the South or France, from whence the blow proceeded ; nothing more was to be seen at first than a luminary sped( in the horizon, but suddenly the meteor arose, enlarged, approached, and filled the. space.. It vas Napoleon ! ! From the high rock which he !rad chosen for his Asylum, his eyes had hovered over France; he measured the abyss which separated him from it, under took to conquer all difficulties, to regain the sceptre which had fallen from his hand, This project, the most daring that ever was conceived by man, he executed at the head of 600 brave fellows, whom he admitted to be partners of his immortality. The news of his landing arrived in Paris on Sunday the sth of March, but either because dread at first chilled every mind, or from a fear of interrupting the pious exercises to which that day was devoted, they put off till the mor row taking any measures for an event, in which the delay of an hour might occasion the loss of a throne. On the Monday morning, this inconceivable intelligence passed the boundaries of the Thuilleries, and was circulated in the city, where it produced such different, and such changeable opinions, that at that time no character could be assigned to them. The Ilioniteur in 'officially giving it publieitY,,preserited it as in act of madness which a few coast guard, wonld be sufficient to repress and punish. Every one Who approached the Court affected the same confidence, anal the,toOst zealous, even treated it with con tempt ; alarth etas in one part of the city, and hope in the other. ',.ritiAiliittryitione prFdlcied the success of the en terprize th.ce male* thq. kne* it. Tfie scenes which had taken Place in..3llVch, of Ole precedhig year, were quickly renewed. e 7tfi, 6roifili*Sernbled near the Thuil leriei, lionleVicitiL the coffee-houses were Billed *iih Of whom hid his confiden tial lett& . in l is peCk . eti acid iltikreadlit of the Moniieur ) • which was done in a Wait. fake, was ititeirupted by ob se rtationi ? btan openly to shew it self. Frotri cliatike fit the contitenance of the military "Was oliiinf; to he discovered without difficulty, and its effect easy to be foreseen— Thdse, whom triiiing.circu*ances do not escape; and- who frequently draw frorii . ttietn iMportaht indactiOns, perceived that at thi,,,Very Period the decoraticitii of the, jteur de • Isete l ess general, •:11 known-; tikat . thettijaii the soldieri had from • a sort of preienti,ment and ta,ti - greentefit f when ih pri ! . vate within their garraWi l given : the. giilpe'ror the; mys terious surname a ri i e f , to 010 therattached the idea of his return fh Thisiecrk- thought from. that moment assilited in t.. Otitvr . aid Mask.. •The,most de voted partizans of l'ftapoleon alaqngst the citizens . atioPted a bunck of. violets, as a tnealm, of understanding and re cognizing each other, whilst the military for the • same purpose ne li ntly tied the ribton of the le g ion i n th e i r Governnient (whose conduct bpon _.:.~~' , DIAL [TR. . lii. this momentous occasion was a continued succession of • errors) after having thrown into the public journals a cry of alarm for which it had not prepared the public, adopt. ed measures that seemed dictated by .the most perfect se curity. The gates of Grenoble were open to the Em peror, and the 'Princes still deliberated upon the-plan- of defence it was necessary they should adopt, not perceiv ing that in such circumstances it was much further from .the gulf of Juan to Grenoble, than from Grenoble to Parii. The departure of the coolie d'Artois • for a mo. ment encouraged theroyal party, for it was seasy.to see there were two in France, one of which hid the eitecu. tive power on its side, and the other the force of public opinion. The King's Household weye• all called from their cantonments. These brave and noble youths, among whom the Hero of the Isle of Elba reckoned so many friends, did not . heiitate between their duty and their affection ; their zeal was as active and sincere as if their tievotion had been more entire. But what could be expected in the state of these cempanies, many of w hom were not mounted, and com manded by officers, for whom the,art of war, and the pro fession of arms were merely the confused remembrances of another age ? In proportion as Napoleon advanced, by an indistinct kind of foresight for which no one could .account, the opinions of the people appeared toconcen. trate, and their anxieties to coalesce. The hopes of one party less expansive, as they became more certain, pru dently spared . the despair of the other.. the Royalists, •endcavouring to deceive themselves, placed all their con fidence in the public opinion, which they fancied was most decidedly expressed, by the shouts of a multitude of idle and disordered people, that daily assembled in the courts and upon the terraces of the Thuilleries ; and trembled the next morning at finding themselves mentioned in the Journals as having demanded, on the preceding evening, to die in the cause of. the BOurbons. The precipitate re turn. of the Count d'Artois spread alarm through the Thuilleries. Its inhabitants now felt, but too late, the necessity of relying for support'upon that Constitutional Charter which, for the last year, had been devoted to the contempt of the staunch Royalists, and the insults of the netrspapers. - .The same - absurd policy that had removed the army, at a time when it would have been so advantageous for it to lmw.been near the King's, person, which was entrusted loth, Swiss Guards, the same policy,. I say, now called forth humiliated and discontented tirOppslor the defence of the Monarch, and flattered itself tit direct their arms against a chief whOse iter,y name recalled to them such glorious remembrances, and awoke. such noble expecta tions. That, which a silty Minister alone did. not fore see: and which ought . to have been feared, took place ; the forces of the Emperor were augtne.,Thted by all the re giments that were sent against him. , in the appeal to the Constitutional Charter, and the solemn ceremony with which the Royal Family swore to it s the feu- . ,~ %Pr erc 19( hits froi r "