future; it is natural they should be so directed, even without reflection.”  Most of the individuals present concurred in my opinion, and the decision of the meeting was unanimous.  Marshal Marmont has since said to me, “I have been blamed, my dear Bourrienne:  but you were with me on the 30th of March.  You were a witness to the wishes expressed by a portion of the principal inhabitants of Paris.  I acted as I was urged to do only because I considered the meeting to be composed of men entirely disinterested, and who had nothing to expect from the return of the Bourbons.”

Such is a correct statement of the facts which some persons have perverted with the view of enhancing Napoleon’s glory.  With respect to those versions which differ from mine I have only one comment to offer, which is, that I saw and heard what I describe.

The day after the capitulation of Paris—­Marmont went in the evening to see the Emperor at Fontainebleau.  He supped with him.  Napoleon praised his defence of Paris..  After supper the Marshal rejoined his corps at Essonne, and six hours after the Emperor arrived there to visit the lines.  On leaving Paris Marmont had left Colonels Fabvier and Dent’s to direct the execution of the capitulation.  These officers joined the Emperor and the Marshal as they were proceeding up the banks of the river at Essonne.  They did not disguise the effect which the entrance of the Allies had produced in Paris.  At this intelligence the Emperor was deeply mortified, and he returned immediately to Fontainebleau, leaving the Marshal at Essonne.

At daybreak on the 31st of March Paris presented a novel and curious spectacle.  No sooner had the French troops evacuated the capital than the principal streets resounded with cries of “Down with Bonaparte!”—­ “No conscription!”—­“No consolidated duties (droits reunis)!” With these cries were mingled that of “The Bourbons for ever!” but this latter cry was not repeated so frequently as the others:  in general I remarked that the people gaped and listened with a sort of indifference.  As I had taken a very active part in all that had happened during some preceding days I was particularly curious to study what might be called the physiognomy of Paris.  This was the second opportunity which had offered itself for such a study, and I now saw the people applaud the fall of the man whom they had received with enthusiasm after the 18th Brumaire.  The reason was, that liberty was then hoped for, as it was hoped for in 1814.  I went out early in the morning to see the numerous groups of people who had assembled in the streets.  I saw women tearing their handkerchiefs and distributing the fragments as the emblems of the revived lily.  That same morning I met on the Boulevards, and some hours afterwards on the Place Louis XV., a party of gentlemen who paraded the streets of the capital proclaiming the restoration of the Bourbons and shouting, “Vive le Roi!” and “Vive Louis XVIII!”