eventful interview. M. Thiers has, in some measure, toned down the language; but the text of this work was, we believe, before him: "The troops say that you are summoning them to march on the capital, they share our regrets, and I am here to tell you in their name that they will not expose it to the fate of Moscow. . . . Our reso

you may do, we are determined to have done with the present state of things; as for myself, I declare that my sword shall never be drawn against Frenchmen, or stained with French blood.'"

and arrogance were his distinctive | donald their spokesman, and he tranfaults; and these are perilous qualities scribes part of his account of this in generals and statesmen. But it is chiefly to be sought in surveying the circumstances of his life; he had been invincible for many years; he had overrun and subdued the Continent; he had founded an empire that seemed of adamant; and the lord of three-fourths of Europe, in the pride of his power, scoffed at the menaces of adverse fortune, would not believe that he could lution has been formed, and whatever not regain a supremacy that had been finally lost, and trusted, to the latest moment, to the magic of a sword, which had been a talisman of victories beyond all example. It was thus that Napoleon fought for his whole empire to the last; that he rejected the overtures made by the allies; and that he risked everything on the hazards of war; and thus, too, it was that. in this desperate contest, he committed a series of grave mistakes; knew not how to proportion means to ends; showed a want of wisdom, and of simple prudence, which ordinary persons could not understand. Yet the spectacle which this extraordinary man presented, in his gigantic fall, was not that of mere blind recklessness, rushing inconsiderately to a certain fate; it was that of genius, grand even in its aberrations, contending against irresistible force, and keeping the issue long doubtful; and it must be observed that, even to the last, it required but little to incline the scales of fortune, so immense was Napoleon's superiority in war. Macdonald does not give due weight to these facts; and this part of his book, therefore, is not just.

Macdonald then handed Napoleon a letter from Bermonville — we have met him before — he was a member of the new Parisian government—and this repeated the previous statement, that the allies would not treat with the emperor. Napoleon at once consented to abdicate; but it will be observed he still thought he could defeat the allies; and those who describe him as a mere heartless tyrant, should bear in mind that he made no stipulation for himself, and thought only of the empress and his infant son.

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'Well, gentlemen,' he said, 'since it is so I will abdicate. My wish was to secure the welfare of France. I have failed; events have turned against me. I do not intend to increase our misfortunes; but if I abdicate, what will you do? Do you wish to have the king of Rome as my successor, and the empress as regent?' We unanimously agreed. 'We must,' he added, 'treat for an armistice, and I shall send commissioners to Paris. I select for this important mission marshals the Prince of the Moskwa, the Duke of Ragusa, and the Duke of Vicenza. . . .' The emperor, after the act of abdication had been drawn up, threw himself upon a sofa, and exclaimed, with a careless air, Bah, gentlemen, leave all this alone, let us march to-morrow, and we shall defeat them!' He had remarked, 'I will prepare instructions for the commissioners,

We have reached the most honorable passage in the marshal's career. The emperor, and his still large army, had attained Fontainbleau, after the fate of Paris, and his purpose was to attack the allies in the rear, distributed carelessly around the capital, an operation which, he has declared, must have been successful. His lieutenants, however, were sick of the war; they had taken it into their heads that Napoleon intended to fight a pitched battle in the very streets of Paris, and they resolved to oppose an but I prohibit them from making perattempt of the kind. They made Mac-sonal conditions for myself.''

Ney, Marmont, and Caulaincourt had, | accept this sovereignty, and cannot find we have seen, been selected by Napo- an asylum elsewhere, he may come to leon to treat for his cause; but Marmont my dominions; he will be received as a was replaced by Macdonald at the last sovereign; he may take the word of moment. The three plenipotentiaries Alexander." had now reached Paris, and had an in- Macdonald, Ney, and Caulaincourt terview with the Czar Alexander, the returned to Fontainbleau and were arbiter of the situation for the time. thanked by Napoleon for their services. The conversation was friendly and The abdication was signed, and Elba long, and Macdonald and Caulaincourt accepted; and Macdonald confesses strongly urged the claims of Marie that the allies felt an immense sense of Louise and of the king of Rome, and relief when all was over. Napoleon's denounced the Bourbons, the Senate, military power was, in truth, still forTalleyrand, and his crew. It is not midable; and if the marshals had reprobable that they could have succeeded, solved to fall away from him the great for the restoration of Louis XVIII. had mass of the army was devoted to his been almost arranged; but they terrified cause: "Napoleon had the great majorthe provisional government: "We went ity of the inhabitants of the capital in to the house of Marshal Ney. We were his favor, and the whole of the National told that our arrival had caused the Guard; the allies by no means felt greatest alarm among the partisans of themselves secure. The armies, still the new order of things, more than two numerous, which had evacuated Spain, thousand white cockades had been taken the frontiers of Italy and Piedmont out of peoples' hats; the Senate was in could unite with ours; the garrisons on a state of consternation." the Rhine and the Meuse could form a large body of troops, and could support the risings, which though at first partial, might become national; the energy of Napoleon, though weakened by multiplied reverses, might awaken and powerfully stir France."

Macdonald and Caulaincourt had loyally served the emperor in these negotiations, from first to last. But Ney had begun to play a double part; the

The defection, however, of the corps of Marmont at this crisis decided the question, and made the efforts of the envoys hopeless. Macdonald endeavors to palliate Marmont's conduct; but his was a repentance like that of Judas; and he infamously betrayed a too generous master. The czar announced the decision of the allies: "He spoke at once on the subject of our conference, and said that our request had been an-"bravest of the brave" was really a swered in the negative. Thus was extinguished the last and feeble ray of hope which our first interview had produced, namely, that a regency would be established after the abdication of Napoleon in favor of his son."

weak man; and while still acting as his master's envoy, had made his peace with the provisional government: "We were at dinner with Marshal Ney, when one of his aides-de-camp came into the room, and, with a radiant face, said The plenipotentiaries next fought for Your letter has been received by the Napoleon's interests, and, as is well emperor of Russia in the best spirit.' known, Elba was assigned to him. The He pointed to an order on his neck, language of the czar was noble and gen-given to him by that sovereign: There erous: "Napoleon has been unfortu- is the proof.' He added that M. de nate; from this day forward I am once more his friend; all has been forgotten. He shall have the island of Elba, or some other spot to rule over; he is to retain the title by which he has been generally known; his family will have pensions, and will retain their property. Tell him, gentlemen, that if he will not

Talleyrand, the president of the provisional government, thanked the marshal for the important counsel he had given."

Napoleon was deeply touched by the noble conduct of Macdonald at this most trying crisis. The one of the marshals, who owed him least, and had never

been anything like a friend, had defended his cause with the most loyal energy, while favorites and satellites had forsaken him and fled. We can only quote a part of Macdonald's description of his well-known parting with the fallen conqueror; the marshal, it will be seen, seems to have been not aware that Napoleon had taken poison a few hours before:

we fell into each other's arms and cordially embraced."

With a characteristic sense of honor, Macdonald refused to declare for the Bourbons, until the treaty of abdication had been ratified. He stood alone with Caulaincourt in taking this part: "M. de Talleyrand came forward and said, Now that all is finished, we ask you gentlemen, to express your adhesion to the new order of things.' Marshal Ney hastened to say he had done so. 'I do not address myself to you, but to the Dukes of Tarentum and Vicenza.' I simply replied that I refused, and Caulaincourt said the same."

"The emperor, shaking off his sad thoughts, sat up with a less preoccupied look; but his complexion had not changed, his countenance was dark with melancholy. I feel a little better,' he said, and then added: 'Duke of Tarentum, I am deeply moved and most The same fearless and chivalrous spirit grateful for your conduct and devoted- distinguished the later parts of Macdonness. I did not know you well; I had ald's career. He had kept aloof from been put on my guard against you; I the Bourbons, as became his position, have done much for and enriched many but he remained true to them through others, but they have abandoned and all the changes of fortune. He was deserted me, and you, who owed me made a peer of France by Louis XVIII., nothing, have remained faithful! I ap- and received one of the great provincial preciate your loyalty when it is too late; governments, bestowed on the marshals and I sincerely regret that my present as props of the throne. But he persituation does not permit me to recog-ceived and resented the faults of the nize it, and that I can only thank you Bourbons; and he has dwelt, in these by words. I know that your sense of pages, at some length on the follies of honor and disinterestedness have left the returned émigrés, on the violence of you without a fortune. I am aware, the extreme Royalist faction, and the too, that you nobly refused in 1809 to infatuated policy which combined all accept a donation from the Estates of the interests of the Revolution against Gratz, in token of their gratitude for the the monarchy. Especially mischievous strict discipline and good order you were the progresses of the royal princes, maintained among my troops, and for made in the hope of winning popular your perfect equity in doing justice to all. favor, but only arousing anger and bad I have been rich and powerful, I am now blood, owing to a series of extravagant poor. I flatter myself,' I answered, errors; and he boldly expressed his views that your Majesty esteems me suffi- on the subject. "The princes were surciently to believe that I would not ac- rounded by their partisans alone; they cept a recompense from you in your only saw the men of the old régime; present position; my conduct and you they had nothing but words of feigned value it too highly-was wholly disin- politeness for the authorities, which, for terested.'This I know,' he said, clasp- want of proper appointments, had not ing my hand; but you may, without been changed. Their Royal Highnesses hurt to your delicacy of mind, accept saw and learned nothing, for they looked another kind of gift I mean, the sabre through the eyes of men full of the of Mourad Bey, worn by myself at the passions of the past. The result was Battle of Mount Thabor; keep it in re- mistrust and discontent more strongly membrance of me and of my friend- excited." ship.' He had it sent for, and offered After the extraordinary return of Nait to me; I thought I might take a pres-poleon from Elba, Macdonald was placed ent of the kind; I thanked him warmly; in command at Lyons, and did his best

to resist the imperial exile. He had person, and that he proposed a public resolved to lead in person a few daring or private interview, at my choice. I men, and to fire on the little band which at once replied, that I had been true to attended the emperor. He insists we his cause and his person to the last mobelieve he was wholly mistaken-that ment; that I had other engagements the enterprise might have succeeded: which I would fulfil with the same loy"It is a proof that my calculations were alty, and that Napoleon doubtless esnot irrational, that when I was at teemed me enough not to flatter himself Bourges, after the army had submitted, that he could lead me astray by allurethe Grenadiers of the island of Elba, ments of wealth to this, a high office. soldiers, officers, nay, the commandant I had formed a decided resolve which himself, were all, being asked one after nothing could shake, and that it was the other, unanimous in declaring that useless to persist any further." they were enchanted at returning to France, but that had they met the least resistance, the least obstacle, nay, had a shot been fired, they would have thrown down their arms and asked for mercy!"

Authority, however, slipped from the marshal's hands, and he was obliged to fly from Lyons in the universal revolt of the soldiery gathering around their unforgotten chief. On his return to Paris. he found the king still hopeful, owing to the pledges of Ney; and the unfortunate marshal, it appears certain, uttered the celebrated words which were laid to his charge: “I have great confidence in Marshal Ney," said the king; "he has promised to arrest him, and to bring him in an iron cage."

Macdonald evidently was indignant with Ney, whose conduct had shocked Napoleon himself: "Our carriages were facing each other, when a voice from his desired it to stop. Go to Paris,' he said; you will be well received; the emperor will give you a friendly welcome.' I shall dispense with his politeness,' was my answer; I will not see him, and I will not join his party.'

The marshal took no part in the Royalist movement which agitated Paris after Waterloo. The highest honors were properly bestowed on him at the second restoration of Louis XVIII.; he was made chancellor of the Legion of Honor; had the refusal of the ministry of war; and was given the command of the still powerful army which had retreated behind the Loire. This was a delicate and most difficult trust; the soldiery were exasperated at their late defeat, and at what they rightly deemed the vile treason of Fouché; and the higher ranks swarmed with partisans of Napoleon, fearing for their lives, and detesting the Bourbons. Macdonald

Macdonald entreated the king not to go to La Vendée, when the triumph of Napoleon had become certain; and urged Louis XVIII. to remain in France. He bade the monarch farewell on the frontier, for he did not choose to bear the odious name of émigré; his language was characteristic: "I have loyally done all that in me lay to support the author-admirably fulfilled his mission, won the ity of your Majesty, and to keep your Majesty in your dominions; you choose to leave them; I will conduct you in safety to the frontier, but I will not go further."

hearts of the troops, and restored discipline, and saved many officers from proscription and death. He tells us how he baffled the emissaries who had been sent by the Junta in Paris, to arrest and The marshal remained quiescent dur-immolate some of the bravest men in ing the Hundred Days, and turned a France: At the close of the day Body deaf ear to Napoleon's overtures con- Guards in disguise presented themselves veyed in flattering terms by Davoust: to me. They had been furnished by the "He said that he had been sent, on the commandants of the gendarmerie with part of the emperor, to repeat the ex directions to obey the orders of these pression of his gratitude on account of gentlemen, and to arrest the persons my conduct in the last agony of the Em-named in the ordinances. . . . I did not pire; that he wished to thank me in know how to find out those who had

been threatened in order to give them | result, even if Napoleon had not made warning. The Prince of Eckmühl had his appearance." just left me. . . . I called on him at once, and told him of what was on foot. 'At once,' I said, 'give notice to every individual contained in these lists; send messengers to the cantonments; they will have eight or nine hours to escape.' I do not know how it was accomplished, but they all got off well, even General Laborde, who had the gout."

These "Reminiscences" close at this point, and we shall not dwell on Macdonald's later years. The marshal died, full of honors, in 1840, a few weeks before the remains of Napoleon were brought from St. Helena and restored to France. He was a most striking figure among the warriors of an extraordinary time, and it may be truly said of him Unfortunate Ney might, it seems, that, in the land of Bayard, the son of a have escaped; jealousy had been one of Jacobite-Scottish gentleman was one of his motives for abandoning the king; the very few soldiers who deserved the and jealousy, perhaps, led to his cruel proud title sans peur et sans reproche fate. In truth, he had not been himself in his revolutionary and troubled day. since he had betrayed the Bourbons; this had been evident at Quatre Bras and Waterloo:

"Unhappy Marshal Ney might have had this advantage, had he at once made use of the passports obtained by his wife from the leaders of the allied armies. She begged him on her knees not to lose a moment and to set off. He dryly replied, Madame, you are thinking of getting rid of me!' The unfortunate

widow told me herself this characteristic tale."

Macdonald used all his influence, unfortunately in vain, to disabuse the government of the false notion, that a conspiracy had been formed to bring Napoleon from Elba, and strove to moderate the frenzy of the vindictive Royalists. He freely declared his mind to the king: "The conversation turned upon the existing position of affairs and on the causes which had produced it; reckless charges were made, that all parties, especially the army, had entered into a vast plot to overthrow the royal government and to restore Napoleon. I insisted, on the contrary, that the errors of the ministers - I could speak boldly of these, for they had been openly confessed in the proclamation from Cambray-the prodigalities, the iniquities, the abuses, the powers that had been wrongly conferred, the violation of the charter, the arrogance, the scorn shown by those in high places that all this, in a word, had exasperated the army and a part of the nation, and that a serious agitation would have been the

WILLIAM O'CONOR MORIS.

From Temple Bar.

THE BLACK BUTTERFLY.

CHAPTER I.

THE year was 1795, a year of bloodshed, reprisals émeutes, terror, though Robespierre was dead.

Between the rivers Isle and Dronne, the gilded vanes and conical tourelles of two grand châteaux still peered up through the woods untouched by the Revolution.

The Marquis de Roseambeau was 2 lad of eighteen, who had been for the last two years with his governor at Heidelberg, for whose sake, the aunt who had brought him up prayed for peace more devoutly than ever, for she was expecting him home. His sister, one year younger, had only been the charge of Madame de Palcire from the time when the young widow De Roseambeau fled with other court poltroons, and flung the girl on the truly maternal heart that had made an idol of the brother.

Monsieur de Palcire was not a deceased saint, but a living sinner, who, finding domestic ties galling, and scarcely comme il faut, bade his wife adieu, and went to enjoy himself in Naples and Florence. Unfortunately Monique had loved him, and so had gone through the fevered anguish of a wound dealt by a beloved hand, which