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CIRCULAR ADDRESSED TO FOREIGN
AMBASSADORS & MINISTERS UPON NAPOLEON'S RETURN FROM ELBA
NO. I
Sir,
The wishes of the French Nation never ceased to recall the
Sovereign of their choice, the only Prince who could guarantee to
her the preservation of her liberty and her independence. The
Emperor appears; and the Royal Government no longer exists. At
the appearance of the general sentiment which both the people and
the army bore towards their legitimate Monarch, the Bourbon
family discovered that there was no other part for them to take
than to escape to a foreign country, they have quitted the French
soil, without a musket being fired or a single drop of blood shed
in their defence. The Military staff which accompanied them
assembled at Bethune where they have declared their submission to
the orders of the Emperor. They have given up their horses and
their arms -- more than half of them enter into our ranks -- the
remainder retire to their firesides, happy to find an asylum in
the generosity of his imperial majesty -- the most profound
tranquility reigns throughout the whole of the French Empire --
everywhere the same cry is heard -- never did a nation present
the spectacle of more entire unanimity in the expression of its
happiness and joy -- the great change has been the work of the
confidence of a monarch in the love of his people -- at the same
time it is the most extraordinary effect of the will of a nation
who knows its rights and its duties. The functions with which the
Royal Government charged you are terminated and I shall, without
delay, communicate the orders of his Majesty to nominate a new
legation. You ought immediately, sir, to assume the tricolored
cockade, and cause it to be worn by all Frenchmen near you. When
you leave the court near which you reside, should you have an
opportunity of seeing the Minister, you will inform him that the
Emperor desires nothing so much as the preservation of peace;
that his Majesty had abandoned those sublime projects which he
might once have conceived, and that the system of his cabinet
policy, as well as the direction of everything in France, will be
on very different principles. I do not doubt, sir, but that you
will regard it as your duty, to make known to the French subjects
around you, the new situation of France, and that in which,
according to our laws, they themselves are placed.
(Signed) Caulaincourt
Duke of Vicenza
NO. III
Letter addressed by the Duke of Vicenza to the Ministers for
Foreign affairs of the Principal Courts of Europe.
Sir,
The hopes which led his Majesty, my August Sovereign, to make the
most magnanimous of sacrifices, have not been fulfilled. France
has not received the reward of this devotion of her monarch; her
expectations have been grievously deceived. After months of
fearful constraint her sentiments concentrated into regret, have
nobly displayed themselves by a general and spontaneous movement.
She has called for a Deliverer -- Him form whom alone she could
expect the guarantee of her liberties and her independence. The
Emperor has appeared -- the Royal scepter has fallen, and the
family of the Bourbons has left our territory without a single
drop of blood having been shed in their defense. In the arms of
his people, his Majesty has been borne through France, from that
part of her coast where he first touched the soil to the heart of
his Capital -- even to the bosom of that palace alike filled with
the same sentiment which warms the hearts of all Frenchmen. No a
single object has impeded the progress of his Majesty, from the
moment he had placed his foot upon the French territory, thereins
of government were completely in his hands -- his former reign
seems scarcely to have been for a moment interrupted -- every
genuine passion, every liberal sentiment rallied around him.
Never did a nation portray a spectacle of more solemn unanimity.
The report of this great event, Sir, will already have reached
you; I am charged to announce it to you in the name of the
Emperor, and to pray your Excellency, to make it known to your
Court. This resumption of the crown of France by the Emperor is
the most splendid of his triumphs. His Majesty, however,
attributes his greatest glory in owing it solely to the love of
the French people, and his only desire is to repay so much
affection, not by the trophies of a fruitless grandeur, but by
the benefits of a happy peace. The accomplishment of the best
wishes of the Emperor consists in the duration of this peace.
Disposed to respect the rights of other nations, his Majesty has
the pleasing assurance that those of the French nation are above
every attack. The preservation of this precious deposit is the
first as it is the dearest of his duties. The tranquility of the
world is for a long time secure, if other Sovereigns, in
imitation of his Majesty, confine themselves to make honor
consist in maintaining peace, in placing peace under the
protection of honor.
These, Sir, are the sentiments by which his Imperial Majesty is
most sincerely inspired and of which he has ordered me to be the
organ of communication to your Cabinet.
(Signed) Caulaincourt
Saturday, June 3.
The Report to the Emperor, which this evening is given at large, is a document which unfolds much. It is expressed with a spirit of moderation, and an affected cauder, but no court can be its dupe for a moment. We have not room for remark, but that single confession, that "The least favorable peace which the allies ever dared to offer you, is one with which your Majesty would be this day contented," speaks volumes: It betrays a consciousness of his weakness which we did not think Bonaparte would have made to the world. Nothing is more fallacious than the acclamations of the people and Bonaparte is fully sensible of it. When King James abdicated the throne, there was a deputation sent to him by several of the Lords to return to Whitehall, and they sent down the guards to protect him to London, where he actually arrived, about five in the evening, says the historian, and "was welcomed by the acclamations of the people quite through the city." But a messenger was sent to inform him at midnight, that it was desirable for the public peace he should remove a little from the city before the next day at noon; but he went the same night, observing that if he could be called upon at such an hour it was high time for him to depart. The Prince of Orange arrived the same afternoon in like manner, and "was welcomed by the joyful acclamations of the people, with ringing of bells, bonfires," etc.
Translated for the New York Evening Post From the Paris Moniteur of April 20:
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-Napoleon Bonaparte
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