The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-08 00:00:00

lIISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.

The following passages from the greatest of all Sir
Walter Scott's romances, his "Life of Napoleon Buena-
parte," have an extraordinary interest at this moment, as
illustrating in a remarkable way the mysterious manner
in which, according to a familiar proverb, history is a
series of repetitions. Our first extract is taken from the
account of the first fall of the First Empire, and the ad-
vance of the Allies afterwards upon Paris, with a view to
its occupation. The very first place mentioned, in this
record by Scott of the approach of the European Powers
to the French capital, has acquired since then, in fact
very recently, a horrible interest, as the scene of the
diabolical murders perpetrated by the monster Tropp-
mann. The Scotch historian of Napoleon writes :
The Sovereigns had previously received, at the village
of Pantin, the magistrates of Paris, and Alexander had
expressed himself in language still more explicit than that
of their, proclamation. He made war, he said, on • Napo-
leon alone ; one who had been his friend, but relinquished
that character to become his enemy, and inflict on his
empire great evils. He was not, however, come to re-
taliate those injuries, but to make a secure peace with any
Government which France might select for herself. "I
am at peace," said the Emperor, " with France, and at
war with Napoleon alone." These gracious expressions
were received with the more gratitude by the citizens of
Paris that they had been taught to consider the Russian
prince as a barbarous and vindictive enemy. The mea-
sure of restoring the Bourbons seemed now to be regarded
by almost everyone, not particularly connected with the
dynasty of Napoleon, like a haven on the leeward, unex-
pectedly open to a tempest-tossed and endangered vesi,el.
There was no loss of honour in adopting it. since the
French received back their own Royal Family—there was
no compulsion, since they received them upon their:own
free choice. They escaped from a great and imminent
danger as if it had been by a bridge of gold. An immense
crowd filled the boulevards (a large wide open promenade,
which, under a variety of distinctive names, forms a
circuit round the city), in order to witness the entrance
"of the allied Sovereigns and tit* army, wkill„ in, the
cession of four-and-twenty hours, this mutable people -
were disposed to regard as friends rather than enemies—a,
disposition which increased until it amounted to enthu-
siasm for the persons of those princes, against whom a
bloody battle had been fought yesterday under the walls
of Paris, in evidence of which mortal strife there still
remained blackening in the sun the unburied thousands
who had fallen on both sides. There was in this a trait
of national character. A Frenchman submits with a good
grace, and apparent or real complaisance, to that which
he cannot help ; and it is not the least advantage of his
philosophy that it entitles him afterwards to plead that
his submission flowed entirely from goodwill, and 'not from
constraint, Many of those who on the preceding day
were forced to fly from the heights which defend Paris
thought themselves at liberty next morning to maintain
that the allies had entered the capital only by their con-
sent and pomission, because they had joined in the
plaudits which accompanied their arrival. To vindicate,
therefore, their city from the disgrace of'being entered by
force, as well as giving way to the, real enthusiasm which
was suddenly inspired by the exchange of the worst evils
which a conquered people have to dread for the promised
blessings of an honourable peace and internal concord, the
Parisians received the Emperor Alexander and the King
of Prussia with such general and unremitting plaudits as
might have accompanied their triumphal entrance into
their own capitals. Even at their first entrance within
the barriers, we learn from Sir Charles Stewart's
official despatch, the crowd was already so enormous, as
well as the acclamation so great, that it was difficult to
move forward; but before the monarchs had reached the
Porte St. Martin to turn on the boulevards, there was a
moral impossibility of preceding; all Paris seemed to be
assembled and concentrated he one spot—one spring
evidently directed all their movements. They thronged
around the monarchs, with the most unanimous shouts of
" Vive l'Empereur Alexandre !—Vive le Roi de Prusse !"
mingled with the loyal exclamations, " Vive le Roi !
' Vive Louis XVIIL !—Vivent les Bourbons !" To such
unexpected unanimity might be applied the words of •
Scripture, quoted by Clarendon on a similar occasion—
" God had prepared the people, for the thing was done
suddenly." The procession lasted several hours, during
which 50,000 chosen troops of the Silesian and Grand
Army filed along the boulevards in broad and deep
columns, exhibiting a whole forest of bayonets, mingled
with long trains of artillery, and preceded by numerous
regiments of cavalry of every description. - Nothing sur-
prised those who witnessed this magnificent spectacle '
more than the high state of good order and regular
equipment in which the men and horses appeared. They
seemed rather to resemble troops drawn from peaceful
quarters to some grand or solemn festival than regi-
ments engaged during a long winter campaign in constant
marches and countermarches, as well as in a succession of
the fiercest and most sanguinary conflicts, and who bad
fought a general action but the day before. After making
the circuit of half of Paris by the interior boulevards, the
monarchs halted in the Champs-Elysées, and the troops
passed in review before them as they were dismissed to
their quarters in the city. The Cossacks of the Guard
established their bivouac in the Champs-Elysdes them-
selves, which may be termed the Hyde Park of Paris,
and which was thus converted into a Scythian encamp-
ment.

Our next extract from Scott's " Life of Napoleon" is
descriptive of the events subsequent to the Great Em-
peror's second abdication, and the second entrance of the
Allies into the. French capital :

On the 29th of June, Napoleon departed from Malinai-
son ;on the 3rd of July he arrived at Rochefort. General
-Beker accompanied him, nor does his journey seem to have
been marked by any circumstance worthy of remark.
Wherever he came, the troops received him with accla-
mation ; the citizens respected the misfortunes of one
who had been well nigh master of the world, and were
silent where they could not applaud. Thus, the reign of
the Emperor Napoleon was completely ended. But,
before adverting to his future fate, we must complete, in
a few words, the consequences of his abdication, and
offer some remarks on the circumstances by which it was
extorted and enforced. The Provisional Government had
sent commissioners to the Duke of Wellington to request
passports for Napoleon to the States of America. The
Duke had no instructions from his Government to grant
them. The Prussian and English generals alike declined
all overtures made for the establishment, or acknowledg-
ment, either of the present Provisional administration or
any plan which they endeavoured to suggest, short of the
restoration of the Bourbons to the seat of Government.
The Previsional Commissioners endeavoured, with as
little success, to awaken the spirit of national defence.
They had lost the road to the soldiers' hearts. The
thoughts of patriotism had in the army become indissolubly
united with the person and the qualities of .Napoleon.
It was in vain that deputies, with scarfs, and proclama-
tions of public right, and invocation of the ancient watch
words of the Revolution, endeavoured to awaken the
spirit of 1794. The soldiers and federates answered sul-
lenly, " Why should we fight any more? we have no
longer an Emperor."

_
On the 7th of July the Provisional Commission dissolved
itself. The Chamber of Peers, when they heard the act
of surrender, dispersed in silence; but that of the Repre-
sentatives continued to sit, vote, and debate, for several
hours. The president then prorogued the meeting till
eight; the next morning, in defiance of the cries of several
members, who called on him to maintain the literal per-
manence of the sitting. The next morning the members
who attended found the hall sentinelled by the National
Guard, who refused them admittance, and heard the ex-
clamations and complaints of the deputies with great dis-
regard. Nay, the disappointed and indignant legislators
were subjected to the ridicule of the idle spectators,
who accompanied the arrival and retreat of each indivi-
dual with laughter and acclamation, loud in proportion
to the apparent excess of histiortificatien. On the Bth of
July, Louis re-entered his capital, attended by avery large
body of the National Guards and Royal Volunteers, as
well as by his household troops. In the rear of these
soldiers came a numerous tat major, among whom were
distinguished the MardschaLs Victor, Marmont, Mac-
donald, Oudinot, Gouvion St. Cyr, Moncey, and
Lefebvre. An immense concourse of citizens received,
with acclamations, the legitimate monarch ; and the
females were observed to be particularly eager in their ex-
pressions of joy, Thus was Louis again installed in the
palace of his ancestors, over which the white banner once
more floated. Here, therefore, ended that short space,
filled with so much that is wonderful, that period of a
Hundred Days, in which the events of a century seemed
to be contained.

As justifying in a very signal manner our remark that
Sir Walter Scott's " Life of Napoleon " was the greatest
of all his romances, we will now give an extract from " An
Eye-Witness " of the entrance of Louis XVIII. into Paris
in 1815—an entrance so imaginatively described by Sir
Walter on mere hearsay, as marked by " eager expres-
sions of joy," and. " the acclamations " of an immense con-
course. The eye-witness, whose testimony we shall
adduce, was there on that Bth of July, and himself saw
and heard what occurred upon the occasion. He was a
soldier, an historian, an Englishman. He was then Colonel
Napier, afterwards Sir William Napier, Governor of
Guernsty and author of " The Military Annals of the
Peninsular War ?" What are the words of this credible
and authoritative writer ? They are these :

The feelings of the British soldiers were unequivocally
shewn. Proud of their long victorious course against the
French, they yet respected the latter as brave enemies,
and had a proud admiration, even love, for Napoleon.
They thought of him not as a foe, but as a hero standing
alone ' • a soldier to be hailed by all soldiers ; ns a man
who had enabled them to gain the greatest possible glory
by fighting him : a master in war, and the fast friend of
warriors. Their instinct as fighting men was for him,
and as freemen against the bourbons. When Louis the
Eighteenth entered Paris, the writer, his post being then
at the head of the picquets guarding the Barrier of St.
Denis, was asked by the captain on duty there if he was
to salute. I have no orders on that head and give none,
was the reply. The King
came up, crowds thronged
forward, and the words Vive and Roa were heard on all ,
sides ; but the last was generally preceded by the words
L'Empereur et, pronounced in a low tone. The British

soldiers, left to themselves, brought down their muskets
from the shoulder, and placing their hands on the muzzles,
fiercely regarded the approaching King. He seemed sur-
prised, but soon his countenance assumed a look of such
malignant ferocity, so fixed, so peculiar, as never to be
forgotten.

This striking, description—as vivid as a photograph—
occurs in the first of the four volumes of Sit William
Napier's life of his brother, Sir Charles James Napier, the
Conqueror of Scinde. It will be found there in the Ninth
Epoch, page 267. It is from an eyewitness and an ear-
witness of the actual scene. But this is not all. Ilead
down the rest of that page, and turn the leaf ! It will
then be seen what reliance is to be placed upon the mere
hearsay statements of a Tory partisan, who was by the
whole force of his genius not an historian, not a biographer,
but a novelist and a romance writer. Colonel, that is
Sir William Napier, writes thus in continuation :
A number of mousquetaires in burnished cuirasses,
their faces convulsed with anger, then rode up, shouting,
gesticulating, and brandishing their swords ; but close
behind the picquet was a wall, and the swarthy veterans,
hard as the steel of their bayonets, and with wits as
sharp, knew their advantage. keeping their bronzed faces
bent over their hands, their eyes glared sternly, yet no
movement indicated that they were even sensible of the
musquetaires' presence, until the latter closed within a
few paces and seemed dangerous ; then suddenly all their
heads were lifted, and streams of tobacco-juice flew to-
wards the shining cuirasses, whereupon the courtier sol-
diers followed the chariot of the king. A shout of delight
arose from the crowd, and many well-dressed women em-
braced the Biitish veterans.

So much for the " acclamations" of the "irnmens e
concourse of citizens," and for " the females who were
observed to be particularly eager in their expressions of
joy," described by Sir Walter Scott. Sir William Napier
was there, and saw the malignant ferocity in the eyes of
the king, and heard the shouts of delight when the royal
mousquetaires were threatened with th,e squirted tobacco
juice, and watched the British veterans when they were
mehbraced by the fair Parisians! So history is written.

WAR RIOTS IN IRELAND.

A correspondent telegraphs that a riot of a serious
character has taken place at Lurgan. As soon as news
had been received of the surrender of Marshal Mac-
Mahon's army and of the Emperor a large number of
Orangemen assembled for the purpose of celebrating the
Prussian victories. In proceeding through the town they
carried a portrait of the Crown Prince before them.
Several houses of the opposite party were wrecked. A
Roman Catholic mob also attacked and wrecked several
Protestant houses. Great excitement prevailed.yesterday.

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