their steps as they approached Paris, should
desecrate by their presence the capital of France. When informed of the
vast project, which, however, was but the dream of a moment, I
immediately recognised that eagle glance, that power of discovering great
resources in great calamities, so peculiar to Bonaparte.

Napoleon was yet Emperor of France; but he who had imposed on all Europe
treaties of peace no less disastrous than the wars which had preceded
them, could not now obtain an armistice; and Caulaincourt, who was sent
to treat for one at the camp of the Allies, spent twenty days at
Luneville before he could even obtain permission to pass the advanced
posts of the invading army. In vain did Caulaincourt entreat Napoleon to
sacrifice, or at least resign temporarily, a portion of that glory
acquired in so many battles, and which nothing could efface in history.
Napoleon replied, "I will sign whatever you wish. To obtain peace I will
exact no condition; but I will not dictate my own humiliation." This
concession, of course, amounted to a determination not to sign or to
grant anything.

In the first fortnight of January 1814 one-third of France was invaded,
and it was proposed to form a new Congress, to be held at
Chatillon-sur-Seine. The situation of Napoleon grew daily worse and
worse. He was advised to seek extraordinary resources in the interior
of the Empire, and was reminded of the fourteen armies which rose, as if
by enchantment, to defend France at the commencement of the Revolution.
Finally, a reconciliation with the Jacobins, a party who had power to
call up masses to aid him, was recommended. For a moment he was
inclined to adopt this advice. He rode on horseback through the
surburbs of St. Antoine and St. Marceau, courted the populace,
affectionately replied to their acclamations, and he thought he saw the
possibility of turning to account the attachment which the people
evinced for him. On his return to the Palace some prudent persons
ventured to represent to him that, instead of courting this absurd sort
of popularity it would be more advisable to rely on the nobility and the
higher classes of society. "Gentlemen," replied he, "you may say what
you please, but in the situation in which I stand my only nobility is
the rabble of the faubourgs, and I know of no rabble but the nobility
whom I have created." This was a strange compliment to all ranks, for
it was only saying that they were all rabble together.