The termination of General Excelman's affair consisted in his surrendering himself to a court-martial, in which Count D'Erlon presided, and undergoing a trial at Lisle. In the 14 Jan. letter announcing his sur 1814. render, he states, that it was made in consequence of his acquaintance with the justice and enlightened sentiments" of the members of the court-martial; an intimation which seemed to anticipate the issue of the trial: The accusations against him were, 1. That he had corresponded with the public enemy, namely, with Joachim Murat, whose sovereignty had not been recognised by France. 2. That he had committed an act of espionage, by acquainting Murat with the dispositions of the French officers in his favour. 3. That he had written things derogatory to the king's person and authority. 4. That he had disobeyed the orders of the minister at war. 5. That he had violated his oath as a Chevalier de St Louis. Interrogated by the court on these heads of accusation, he replied to them in order. 1. That he could not be guilty of corresponding with the enemies of France, since France, at this moment, was at peace with all the powers of Europe. 2. That he disdained to make any reply to the article accusing him of espionage. 3. That his profound respect for the king rendered it impossible he could be guilty of the third charge, and that in his letter there was not a word applicable to his majesty. 4. That he had resisted an order to exile himself, because the minister of war had no lawful authority to issue such a mandate. 5. That he did not understand what

was the nature of the delict inferred in the last article of accusation. It is manifest from the high and scornful tone assumed by the accused party, that he was already certain of his acquittal, which, accordingly, was unanimously pronounced by the courtmartial. "General Excelman seized the first opportunity," (we are informed by the Journal of Debates) "which his freedom afforded to present himself at the foot of the throne, return thanks to his majesty for the justice which had been rendered him, and swear fidelity a toute epreuve." How he kept his oath we shall presently learn.

The reflecting part of the nation could not but see, in the conduct of General Excelman, and that of the court-martial who gave it their sanction, a resolution formed by the army to shake themselves free of subordination to the king. If a government has any authority over its soldiers, it must consist in the power of assigning them their posts and places of residence, and such authority is exercised wherever a standing army is known. Yet so much was this point of discipline disputed, or at least regarded as a grievance, by the French officers, that General Flahault having expressed himself on the subject of Excelman's disgrace in a manner disagreeable to the minister at war, and being commanded to retire from Paris, immediately sent in the resignation of his decorations and military rank. Every thing seemed to indicate that an understanding pervaded the army of their independent existence as a separate order of the state, subject to no external authority, not even to that of the sovereign whom they acknowledged as their master. Yet the correspondence of Excelman with Murat seems to exclude the idea that he had at that time hopes of the re-appearance of his ancient master,

since he would otherwise have naturally addressed Buonaparte himself. And although the fact of an actual organized and existing conspiracy, having the Isle of Elba for its object, and its centre, is strongly averred by some of the French writers, and is even said to have existed within a few weeks after the restoration of the Bourbons, no direct proof has been produced on that subject, and what evidence was adduced on the trials of Labedoyere and Lavallette would rather authorize a contrary conclusion. Still, however, as discontents waxed more and more bitter, and the jarring interests of contending factions became less and less reconcileable, it is obvious that the thoughts and hopes of the malcontents of every description must finally have centered on Buonaparte, whose name had such charms for the soldiery, the lower class of mechanics, and all other Frenchmen who were "fools to fame."

The first reports from Elba seemed to imply, that Napoleon had devoted his life to the improvement of his limited dominions. He built, he planned, he improved; he erected bridges, palaces, hospitals, fortifications; cut roads and canals, constructed machines, and laid out pleasure-grounds. Nothing seemed either above his power or beneath his notice, if it could contribute to the improvement of his limited dominions. His natural activity of disposition divided his time into the hours of business, study, and recreation, and he seemed to pursue all with equal alacrity. He was affable, and even cordial, (in appearance,) to the numerous strangers whom curiosity led to visit him; spoke of his retirement as Dioclesian might have done in the gardens of Salonica; seemed to consider his political career as ended, and to be now chiefly anxious to explain such passages of

bis life as met the harsh construction of the world. In giving free and easy answers to those who conversed with him, and especially to Englishmen of rank, Buonaparte found a ready means of communicating to the public such explanations concerning his past life as were best calculated to serve his wishes. More modest than his British apologists, he palliated, instead of denying, the poisoning of his prisoners in Egypt, the massacre at Jaffa, the murder of the Duke D'Enghien, and other enormities. An emperor, a conqueror retired from war, and sequestered from power, must be favourably listened to by those who have the romantic pleasure of hearing him plead his own cause. Milder editions of his crimes began to be circulated in Europe, and, in the curiosity to see and admire the chained tyger, men forgot the ravages which he had committed while at liberty.

In France, especially, there were many disposed to think more favourably of Napoleon in Elba, than of Napoleon on the throne; and gradually, even from the novelty and peculiarity of his situation, he began to excite a very different interest from that which attached to him who levied so many conscriptions, and sacrificed to his ambition so many millions of victims. Every instance of his activity within the little circle of his dominions was contrasted by his admirers with the constitutional inertness of the restored monarch. Excelling as much in the arts of peace as in those of war, it wanted but (they said) the fostering hand and unwearied eye of Napoleon to have rendered France the envy of the universe, had his military affairs permitted the leisure and opportunity which the Bourbons now enjoyed. These allegations, secretly insinuated, and at length loudly murmured, had their usual effects upon the fickle temper of the public; and,

as the temporary enthusiasm in favour of the Bourbons faded into indifference and aversion, the general horror of Buonaparte's ambitious and tyrannical disposition began to give way to the recollection of his active, energetic, and enterprizing qualities.

This change must soon have been known to him who was its object. An expression is said to have escaped from him during his passage to Eiba, which marked, at least, a secret feeling that he might one day recover the high dignity from which he had fallen. "If Marius," he observed, "had slain himself in the marshes of Minturnæ, he would never have enjoyed his seventh consulate." What was perhaps originally but the vague aspirations of an ardent spirit striving against adversity, became, from the circumstances of France, a plausible and well-grounded hope. It required but to establish communications among his numerous and zealous partizans, to hold out such hopes as might lure the jacobins to his standard, to profit by and inflame the growing discontents and divisions of France, and a conspiracy was ready formed, with little exertion on the part of him who soon became its object and its centre. It has been gravely stated, that the Exile of Elba even intrigued with the foreign powers of Europe, in order to induce them to undo the work which, with such labour, they had accomplished, and replace Napoleon on the throne of the Bourbons. To England he is said to have offered the sovereignty of Holland, and to have made proposals of equally extravagant advantage to Russia and Austria. We know this report to be false, so far as Britain is concerned, and we do not believe it in other respects. Such overtures could only have served to sharpen the suspicion with which the Congress regarded Buonaparte, when the allied powers began, too late, to

be sensible of the extravagance of their generosity at the treaty of Paris. It was in France and Naples only that Buonaparte could look for allies and confederates.

The situation of Murat, partly owing to his own ambitious views, and partly to the persevering enmity of Talleyrand, was becoming daily more critical. The state of Italy afforded him the most flattering hopes of success in a daring enterprize; the views of France and Austria menaced him with the loss of his kingdom. These causes, which will be more fully developed when we treat of the Italian campaign, rendered Murat peculiarly accessible to the daring suggestions of Napoleon, who, it must be remembered, was at once his master, his brother-in-law, and the author of his fortune. The confidante of their correspondence was the sister of Napoleon, Pauline Borghèse. Lively, bold, active, an intriguer in every sense of the word, this lady performed several voyages betwixt Elba and Naples, the object of which was to re-establish an intimate union of interests betwixt the brothers-in-law. How Murat's share of the adventure terminated, we will detail hereafter.

In France, Buonaparte had doubtless many correspondents; and if his power had lasted longer, we should have heard them make a merit of their share in scheming and forwarding his enterprize. But the term of his success was so short, that although it afforded innumerable reports of this kind, there was no time to discover which of them were true, which forged by the vanity of the narrators, which invented by the government to serve temporary purposes. The materials for this vast conspiracy seem to have lain so ready for combination, the moral sense of the people was so depraved, and their passions so much inflamed, that its ramifications soon

extended, like those of an immense net, over the whole kingdom of France, and the cord for drawing it was in the hands of Buonaparte. Paris was, of course, the centrical point from which the subordinate agents received their secret instructions; committees of the disaffected were established in the different quarters of the city. The most active members were women, who, having held rank at the court of Buonaparte, had been repulsed or treated with neglect at that of Louis. They were, in general, the wives of Buonaparte's generals and nobles and statesmen, to whom the aristocratic pride of the court-ladies denied the honours of the drawing-room. It is astonishing how much the passions of female emulation and revenge influenced the feelings of their relations, and influenced a grand national catastrophe. A quarrel betwixt two ladies of Queen Anne's household occasioned the peace of Utretcht; and the aristocratic state maintained by the female attendants of the Duchess d'Angouleme, had some share in bringing on the battle of Waterloo. One remarkable agent and victim of the short-lived revolution acknowledged how much he was influenced by such considerations. "I shall no longer," said Ney, when he deserted the cause of his sovereign for that of Buonaparte, "see my wife return from the Tuilleries in tears, on account of the neglect with which she has been treated ;" and many, besides the Marechal, felt, though they might not acknowledge, the impulse they received from these womanish grievances. Offended pride hesitates at no measures for gratifying vengeance. Besides the purses of their husbands, or lovers, which, of course, they commanded, many of these female intriguers devoted their jewels to the cause of revolution, and the sale produced considerable sums. The chief of these

female conspirators was Hortensia Beauharnois, daughter of Josephine, and wife of Louis Buonaparte, whom his brother created King of Holland, and afterwards deposed. To this person, at once his step-daughter and sister-in-law, Buonaparte was so tenderly attached as to give room for scandal, notwithstanding the propinquity of this double connection. She had been created by Louis, Duchess of St Leu, at the request, it was believed, of the Emperor Alexander, who had magnanimously extended his protection to several of the fallen house of Buonaparte. At Nanterre, Neuilly, and St Leu, meetings of the principal conspirators were held; and her confidential friend, Madame Hamelin, is said to have assisted in concealing the agents whom Buonaparte sent from Elba. The Duchess. of Bassano, wife of that Maret, Duke of Bassano, who was considered for some time as Buonaparte's favourite counsellor; with the Duchess of Montebello, (wife of Marechal Lanne,) and other ladies, whose rank at the royal court was inferior to that which they had held at the emperor's, were engaged in the plot. Seductions of every species were used to draw the discontented within the vortex of conspiracy; nor was it safe to be. come possessed of the secret without joining their measures. It is said that such a confidence was fatal to General Quesnel, who, having repulsed with indignation the treasonable proposals made to him at one of these societies, was soon afterwards assassi nated and flung into the Seine.

At the meetings held in the houses of these intriguing females, the whole artillery of conspiracy was forged and put in order, from the political lie, which does its work if believed but for an hour, to the political song or squib, which, like the fire-work from which it derives its name, expresses