did. He hoped to take
them by surprise, and defeat their projects, by making Murat march upon
Milan, and by stirring up insurrections in Italy. The Po being once
crossed, and Murat approaching the capital of Lombardy, Napoleon with the
corps of Suchet, Brune, Grouchy, and Massena, augmented by troops sent,
by forced marches, to Lyons, was to cross the Alps and revolutionise
Piedmont. There, having recruited his army and joined the Neapolitans in
Milan, he was to proclaim the independence of Italy, unite the whole
country under a single chief, and then march at the head of 100,000 men
on Vienna, by the Julian Alps, across which victory had conducted him in
1797. This was not all: numerous emissaries scattered through Poland and
Hungary were to foment discord and raise the cry of liberty and
independence, to alarm Russia and Austria. It must be confessed it would
have been an extraordinary spectacle to see Napoleon giving liberty to
Europe in revenge for not having succeeded in enslaving her.

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 o