After he had left the room, Napoleon said with a melancholy
tone:--"Never! he will never return hither!" "What, sire!" replied Maret,
who was present, "can that be the farewell of your Berthier?" "Yes! I
tell you; he will not return." He did not. At two o'clock in the
afternoon Napoleon sent again for De Bausset. He was walking on the
terrace under the gallery of Francis I. He questioned De B. as to all he
had seen or heard during the late events; he found great fault with the
measure adopted by the council in leaving Paris; the letter to his
brother, upon which they acted, had been written under very different
circumstances; the presence of Louise at Paris would have prevented the
treason and defection of many of his soldiers, and he should still have
been at the head of a formidable army, with which he could have forced
his enemies to quit France and sign an honourable peace. De B. expressed
his regret that peace had not been made at Châtillon. "I never could put
any confidence," said Napoleon, "in the good faith of our enemies. Every
day they made fresh demands, imposed fresh conditions; they did not wish
to have peace--and then--I had declared publicly to all France that I
would not submit to humiliating terms, although the enemy were on the
heights of Montmartre." De B. remarked that France within the Rhine would
be one of the finest kingdoms in the world; on which Napoleon, after a
pause, said--"I abdicate; but I yield nothing." He ran rapidly over the
characters of his principal officers, but dwelt on that of Macdonald.
"Macdonald," said he, "is a brave and faithful soldier; it is only during
these late events that I have fully appreciated his Worth; his connexion
with Moreau prejudiced me against him: but I did him injustice, and I
regret much that I did not know him better." Napoleon paused; then after
a minute's silence--"See," said he, "what our life is! In the action at
Arcis-sur-Aube I fought with desperation, and asked nothing but to die
for my country. My clothes were torn to pieces by musket balls--but alas!
not one could touch my person! A death which I should owe to an act of