CHAPTER V.

1815.

Message from the Tuileries—­My interview with the King—­ My appointment to the office of Prefect of the Police—­Council at the Tuileries—­Order for arrests—­Fouches escape—­Davoust unmolested—­Conversation with M. de Blacas—­The intercepted letter, and time lost—­Evident understanding between Murat and Napoleon—­ Plans laid at Elba—­My departure from Paris—­The post-master of Fins—­My arrival at Lille—­Louis XVIII. detained an hour at the gates—­His majesty obliged to leave France—­My departure for Hamburg—­The Duc de Berri at Brussels.

Those who opposed the execution of the treaty concluded with Napoleon at the time of his abdication were guilty of a great error, for they afforded him a fair pretext for leaving the island of Elba.  The details of that extraordinary enterprise are known to every one, and I shall not repeat what has been told over and over again.  For my own part, as soon as I saw with what rapidity Bonaparte was marching upon Lyons, and the enthusiasm with which he was received by the troops and the people, I prepared to retire to Belgium, there to await the denouement of this new drama.

Every preparation for my departure was completed on the evening of the 13th of March, and I was ready to depart, to avoid the persecutions of which I expected I should be the object, when I received a message from the Tuileries stating that the King desired to see me.  I of course lost no time in proceeding to the Palace, and went straight to M. Hue to inquire of him why I had been sent for.  He occupied the apartments in which I passed the three most laborious and anxious years of my life.  M. Hue, perceiving that I felt a certain degree of uneasiness at being summoned to the Tuileries at that hour of the night, hastened to inform me that the King wished to appoint me Prefect of the Police.  He conducted me to the King’s chamber, where his Majesty thus addressed me kindly, but in an impressive manner, “M. de Bourrienne, can we rely upon you?  I expect much from your zeal and fidelity.”—­“Your Majesty,” replied I, “shall have no reason to complain of my betraying your confidence.”—­“Well, I re-establish the Prefecture of the Police, and I appoint you Prefect.  Do your best, M. de Bourrienne, in the discharge of your duties; I count upon you.”

By a singular coincidence, on the very day (the 13th of March) when I received this appointment Napoleon, who was at Lyons, signed the decree which excluded from the amnesty he had granted thirteen individuals, among whose names mine was inscribed.  This decree confirmed me in the presentiments I had conceived as soon as I heard of the landing of Bonaparte.  On returning home from the Tuileries after receiving my appointment a multitude of ideas crowded on my mind.  At the first moment I had been prompted only by the wish to serve the cause of the King, but I was alarmed when I came to examine the extent of the responsibility I had taken upon myself.  However, I determined to meet with courage the difficulties that presented themselves, and I must say that I had every reason to be satisfied with the manner in which I was seconded by M. Foudras, the Inspector-General of the Police.