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Hobhouse and the Hundred Days

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Hobhouse and the Hundred Days 116 The Hundred Days, March 11th-July 24th 1815 The Hundred Days March 11th-July 24th 1815 Edited from B.L.Add.Mss. 47232, and Berg Collection Volumes 2, 3 and 4: Broughton Holograph Diaries, Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Saturday March 11th 1815: Received this morning from my father the following letter: Lord Cochrane has escaped from prison1 – Bounaparte has escaped from Elba2 – I write this from the House of Commons and the intelligence in both cases seems to rest on good authority and is believed. Benjamin Hobhouse Both are certainly true. Cullen3 came down today and confirmed the whole of both. From the first I feel sure of Napoleon’s success. I received a letter [from] Lord John Townshend4 apologising for his rudeness, but annexing such comments as require a hint from me at the close of the controversy. Sunday March 12th 1815: Finish reading the Αυτοχεδιοι Ετοχασµοι of Coray.5 1: Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald (1775-1860) admiral. Implicated unfairly in a financial scandal, he had been imprisoned by the establishment enemies he had made in his exposure of Admiralty corruption. He was recaptured (see below, 21 Mar 1815). He later became famous as the friend and naval assistant of Simon Bolivar. 2: Napoleon left Elba on March 26th. 3: Cullen was a lawyer friend of H., at Lincoln’s Inn. 4: Lord John Townshend. (1757-1833); H. has been planning to compete against his son as M.P. for Cambridge University, which has made discord for which Townshend has apologised. See BB 130-1. 5: Autobiographical essays and prefaces to Plutarch (1809-1814) by Adamantios Korais, leading writer of the Greek diaspora, a culture-hero of H.’s whom he meets on 15 and 18 April 1815, below. 117 The Hundred Days, March 11th-July 24th 1815 Monday March 13th 1815: I ride up to London with Cullen. In the morning I find that the Moniteur of the 10th had given every hope of Napoleon being put down. Kinnaird6 and others [are] treating Napoleon’s attempt as a piece of desperation, but alas! by five o’clock the Moniteur of the 11th comes to London, which states Napoleon to have slept at Bourgoigne, four posts from Lyons, the night of the tenth, and “il avoit du entrer Lyons” [on] the 11th! What, Lyons, which in the paper of the day before is said to have opened her arms to Monsieur7 and his generals? In the Moniteur of the 10th is given a ridiculous account of Napoleon’s invasion – he left Elba on the 28th with about 1,100 men, of Corsica, Elba, Italy and a few French – one ship tried to land at Antibes but was fired upon by the fort – he landed at Cannes in the department of La Var on the 1st of March, with four pieces of cannon and a handsome coach which preceded his march – three drums, &c. The cannon were left at the gate of the first town – his men deserted – two or three corporals’ parties were sent to summon as many forts, and were disarmed, &c. Clermont Perrigeaux’s8 partner tells Kinnaird there is not the least danger for Louis.9 The Chamber of Peers and of deputies are convoked; they promise fair: the National Guards declare their devotion – Soult, Minister of War,10 addresses the soldiers – but [in] the Moniteur of the eleventh, Napoleon entered Seranon on the 2nd, Castellane on the 3rd, Barrême on the same day, Digne on the 4th, and according to all appearance, Gap on the next day. However he was at Bourgoigne on the 10th. The Prefect of the Upper Alps says the spirit of the people is good, but that they were taken by surprise, and have not done what could be wished. 6: Douglas Kinnaird (1788-1830) friend of B., whose banker and agent he was during the poet’s exile, and of H., whose 1813 journey round Europe he had in part shared. 7: “Monsieur” is Louis XVIII’s brother, Charles de Bourbon (1757-1836) comte d’Artois; reigned as Charles X until 1830 when he was forced to abdicate in favour of Louis (“Citoyen Roi”) Philippe. 8: The Parisian banker. 9: Louis XVIII (1755-1824) brother of the decapitated Louis XVI; nicknamed from his size “Louis le Gros”. Gout and obesity forced him to be moved about in a special wheelchair. 10: Nicholas Jean de Dieu Soult (1769-1851) French Marshal. Napoleon’s Chief of Staff during the Hundred Days. 118 The Hundred Days, March 11th-July 24th 1815 Opinion varied wonderfully at the Cocoa Tree in two hours. I was the only person who would bet even on Napoleon’s success at first, and latterly no-one would back the Bourbons at all. Cavendish Bradshaw11 told me that at Rosier he dined a short time ago with a mess of eighteen officers, and when he was going to give the health of Louis XVIII – one whispered to him “For God’s sake don’t do that unless you wish to be turned out of the barracks”. So there! [as to] any doubt of Napoleon’s adventure. I took a sandwich at the Cocoa Tree and went to Byron’s box with the family and saw Kean in Richard II. He was very great and gave a wonderful interest in the part. The play, however, was heavy for the first two acts and a half. The Corn Bill disturbances are dropped in the universal anxiety respecting Napoleon. Notwithstanding the coroner’s inquest brought in a verdict of wilful murder over the body of the midshipman who was shot by the soldiers out of the window of Robinson’s12 house (the mover of the bill) in Burlington Street, and notwithstanding Robinson was fool enough to cry in the House of Commons when alluding to that transaction – 13 Napoleon Bonaparte is declared a rebel and a traitor by the French Government and 100,000 louis d’ors set upon his head – his adherents are declared the same – he is to be taken before the first military commission and to undergo the sentence of a court martial instantly. Came back to Whitton same night in the congé – write to Lord John Townshend, for the last time I hope. Tuesday March 14th 1815: Wrote to Lord Sidmouth14 asking him for dispatches for Paris or Italy, and also if I might apply without binding myself to parties for the G.P.R. uniform.15 Sent this to London by Parsons.16 Dispatched copies of correspondence with Lord John Townshend to Rolfe17 and to Lord Tavistock,18 asking him the same question as to the G.P.R. I 11: Note on Bradshaw pending. 12: Note on Robinson pending. 13: Ms. gap 14: Lord Sidmouth, (1757-1844) unpopular Home Secretary 1812-21. 15: Note on G.P.R. pending. 16: H.’s valet. 17: Rolfe was a lawyer friend of H. who worked from LIncoln’s Inn. 18: The Marquess of Tavistock had been a contemporary of H.’s and a member of the “Whig clubby-O”. 119 The Hundred Days, March 11th-July 24th 1815 employ myself in making preparations for departure, and finished extracting from the Αυτοχ Ετοχασµοι. No news from …19 Wednesday March 15th 1815: Sorting and destroying letters all the morning. Kept up 1,065 at battledore with Amelia20 – caught cold. Thursday March 16th 1815: Dreadful cold. Took salts – burnt nearly the whole of the manuscript of my Travels. Arranged papers, books, &c. &c. Mr Gostling’s ground’s gravel walk is 1,214 common walking paces in extent, and ours 1,16521 – coddled for my cold. Friday March 17th 1815: Letter from Cockburn,22 stating he fears all is over in France – General Marchand has been killed by his own troops,23 who joined Napoleon. Monsieur retreated from Lyons – which is said to have received Napoleon with open arms – to Clermont. Soult leaves the War Department: Clarke24 takes it. Monsieur can’t depend on his soldiers, nor Masséna,25 who is said to be firm to the Bourbons. Measures taken for the defence of Paris. Napoleon is said to be 190 miles only from the capital. Grenoble taken with twenty-four pieces of cannon. Embargo on the shipping in the French ports. By the Morning Post of yesterday it seems Murat26 has marched to the north of Italy and, on the 28th, issued a proclamation to the Italians, from himself and Napoleon, “Emperor of the French and King of Italy”, promising the Independence of Italy. All seems to have been done in concert between the two – the inattention to this probability seems miraculous. Napoleon had an agent at Naples when the British had no minister. Murat kept 80,000 men on foot under pretence of marching against the Pope. His proclamation when he joined the Grand Alliance; his duplicity [of] conduct before that period; the manner in which he has been treated since; everything 19: Phrase not completed; “Byron” could be implied. 20: One of H.’s half-sisters. 21: It looks as if Amelia has a counting mania. 22: Note on Cockburn pending. 23: Note on Marchand pending. 24: General Henri-Jacques Clarke, duc de Feltre, French War Minister and traitor. Bribed by the English to render Paris indefensible in 1814, he betrayed Napoleon’s plans to Wellington in 1815. 25: Marshal André Masséna (1758-1817) had beaten Suvorov in Switzerland; he was afterwards Napoleon’s C-in-C in Spain; but, unlike Ney, did not support him in 1815, remaining at Marseilles; although he was persuaded to attend the Champ de Mai.
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