those vexations which filled them with discontent. By
injustice and bad faith the government deprived the King of our
confidence and love, and caused the restoration of the Emperor to
become the hope of the nation. In spite of the obstacles experienced
by the ministry, in spite of the affronts to which they had been
subjected, in spite of the retrograde steps which they had been
compelled to take, they still clung to the baneful system which they
had fostered; and, bigoted to these plans, they continued to persevere
in those errors which recalled Napoleon from his exile, just as
Napoleon persevered in the errors which recalled the Bourbons back
from theirs.

But whilst the storm was gathering in France, how was Napoleon
employed? Ambition had taken flight, and he was seen to prefer a life
of unostentatious retirement to all his former grandeurs. Repose had
greater charms for him than the noble turmoil of war; and his genius,
no longer teeming with meditation, yielded to the pleasures of
retirement. The study of botany, the cares of his household, the
plantations which he had made, and those which he was still planning,
beguiled his hours[27]; and, like the Roman Diocletian, he might have
said to those who suspected that he longed in secret after the throne,
"Come and see me in my retirement: I will show you the gardens which I
have planted, and you will talk no more to me about the empire."

[Footnote 27: It has been alleged, but without
foundation, that he retained his taste for military
exercises. Not one review took place during his
residence at Porto Ferrajo; arms seemed to have no
attractions for him.]

Napoleon, during the early part of his retirement in Elba, felt only a
vague desire of reigning. Grieved by the miseries of France, the
country which he loved so truly, wearied by the vicissitudes of
fortune, disgusted with mankind, he feared that, if he attempted to
seize the sceptre again, he should involve France and himself in new
troubles; and, without abandoning his expectation of re-ascending the
throne, he resolved to allow his resolutions to be guided by futurity.

The turn taken by public affairs soon roused the Emperor from this
state of indifference and hesitation. At first he hoped, and I have
heard him say so, that the Bourbons, instructed by adversity, would
confer liberty and happiness upon the nation.