By means of these bold manoeuvres and vast combinations Napoleon calculated that he would have the advantage of the initiative in military operations.  Perhaps his genius was never more fully developed than in this vast conception.  According to this plan he was to extend his operations over a line of 500 leagues, from Ostend to Vienna, by the Alps and Italy, to provide himself with immense resources of every kind, to prevent the Emperor of Austria from marching his troops against France, and probably force him to terminate a war from which the hereditary provinces would have exclusively suffered.  Such was the bright prospect which presented itself to Napoleon when he stepped on board the vessel which was to convey him from Elba to France.  But the mad precipitation of Murat put Europe on the alert, and the brilliant illusion vanished like a dream.

After being assured that all was tranquil, and that the Royal family was secure against every danger, I myself set out at four o’clock on the morning of the 20th of March, taking the road to Lille.—­Nothing extraordinary occurred until I arrived at the post-office of Fins, in front of which were drawn up a great number of carriages, which had arrived before mine, and the owners of which, like myself, were impatiently waiting for horses.  I soon observed that some one called the postmaster aside in a way which did not appear entirely devoid of mystery, and I acknowledge I felt some degree of alarm.  I was in the room in which the travellers were waiting, and my attention was attracted by a large bill fixed against the wall.  It was printed in French and Russian, and it proved to be the order of the day which I had been fortunate enough to obtain from the Emperor Alexander to exempt posthorses, etc., from the requisitions of the Allied troops.

I was standing looking at the bill when the postmaster came into the room and advanced towards me.  “Sir,” said he, “that is an order of the day which saved me from ruin.”—­“Then surely you would not harm the man by whom it is signed?”—­“I know you, sir, I recognised you immediately.  I saw you in Paris when you were Director of the Post-office, and you granted a just claim which I had upon you.  I have now come to tell you that they are harnessing two horses to your calash, and you may set off at full speed.”  The worthy man had assigned to my use the only two horses at his disposal; his son performed the office of postilion, and I set off to the no small dissatisfaction of some of the travellers who had arrived before me, and who, perhaps, had as good reasons as I to avoid the presence of Napoleon.

We arrived at Lille at eleven o’clock on the night of the 21st.  Here I encountered another vexation, though not of an alarming kind.  The gates of the town were closed, and I was obliged to content myself with a miserable night’s lodging in the suburb.