War And Peace Waterloo

[Apolonio Hicks]

After the defeat of the French Army of the North at the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) and the subsequent abdication of Napoleon as Emperor of the French, the French Provisional Government repeatedly sent peace emissaries to British commander, the Duke of Wellington, who commanded the Anglo-allied army marching on Paris and others to Prince Blcher who commanded the Prussian army, which was also marching on Paris. The position of the Provisional Government was that now that Napoleon had abdicated (22 June) and two days later that his son was not recognised by the Provisional Government as his successor, that the casus belli was ended so the Seventh Coalition had no reason to continue its armed invasion of France.

The politics behind the Provisional Government's stance was that a substantial majority of those in the French Parliament and Government did not want a second restoration of Louis XVIII. The position of the two coalition commanders was that without Napoleon in person detained by Coalition forces, the surrender of the French border forts to Coalition forces, the military occupation of Paris by Coalition forces and the disarmament of the French Army, armed Bonapartism remained a distinct threat to peace of Europe. Wellington in particular was a strong advocate for the British Government's position that Louis XVIII was the rightful monarch of France and that any other regime was illegitimate, and could lead to further warfare between the Great Powers in Europe.

As agreed in Convention of St. Cloud, on 4 July, the French Army, commanded by Marshal Davoust, left Paris and proceeded on its march to the Loire. On 7 July, the two Coalition armies entered Paris. The Chamber of Peers, having received from the Provisional Government a notification of the course of events, terminated its sittings; the Chamber of Representatives protested,[a] but in vain. Their President (Lanjuinais) resigned his Chair; and on the following day, the doors were closed, and the approaches guarded by Coalition troops.[1][2]

After the defeat of the Army of the North at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon judged that rather than stay with the remnants of the army, he needed to return to Paris as quickly as possible to secure his position as Emperor of the French. He arrived in Paris three days later on the afternoon of 21 June and immediately summoned his cabinet. Over the next 24 hours he lost control of the political process and was persuaded to abdicate the next afternoon in favour of his son Napoleon II. The Chamber of Representatives and the Chamber of Peers then elected a Commission of Government consisting of thee representatives: (Lazare, Count Carnot, Joseph Fouch, Duke of Otranto and General Paul Grenier); and two peers: Armand Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza and Nicolas Quinette, Baron Quinnette.[3]

During 23 June, proposals were made by the French to the advanced posts of the Brunswick Corps commanded by Prince Frederick of the Netherlands near Valenciennes, as also to those of the Prussian I Corps commanded by General Zieten, for a suspension of hostilities, upon the grounds that Napoleon had abdicated in favour of his son; that a Provisional Government had been appointed, and that these persons had sent ministers to the Coalition Powers to treat for peace.[8]

Both Wellington and Blcher considered that they would not be acting in accordance with the spirit and intentions of the Coalition of the Powers were they to listen to such proposals, and therefore peremptorily refused to discontinue their operations. Those which were addressed to the Prussian Commander emanated from General Count Morand, who commanded the rear guard of the French army at Laon; and to whom Blcher replied, that no armistice could be entered into, except in the case of Napoleon being delivered up, and the fortresses in rear of the two Coalition armies being abandoned and conceded as guarantees for its fulfillment.[9]

At Saint-Quentin, on the 25 June, Prince Blcher received a letter from Laon addressed to the Allied Commanders by the Commissioners sent from the two Chambers of the French National Assembly; in which they communicated the fact of Napoleon's abdication, and of the elevation of his son to the throne, and stated that they had been deputed by the Provisional Government to negotiate an armistice.[10]

To this Blcher replied verbally, by an aide de camp, that he would suspend hostilities on arriving at Paris, provided Bonaparte was given up to him, and several fortresses on the frontiers delivered up as sureties; and provided, also, that Wellington should agree to what might be proposed.[10]

Marshal Soult, who had been indefatigable in collecting at Laon the remains of the defeated portion of the French Army, marched the latter, on 25 June, to Soissons; where it was to be joined by the force under the command of Marshal Grouchy. Grouchy, who, having preceded his troops which were yet a march and a half distant, had arrived in that town, to take the command of the whole army, according to instructions conveyed to him from the Provisional Government. Soult, as soon as he found himself thus superseded in the command, resigned from the Army, and left for Paris; disgusted with the abrupt and discourteous manner with which he had been treated.[11]

Upon returning in the night to his Headquarters at Vermand, Wellington found a note from Blcher, forwarding to him the letter from the French Commissioners, and to which Wellington replied immediately that he could not consent to the suspension of hostilities until the French army laid down its arms.[12]

In the midst of all the military preparations to defend Paris, the Provisional Government, the majority of which, under the influence of Fouch, was most desirous of effecting a cessation of hostilities, though acting ostensibly upon the grounds of a necessity of gaining time for the completion of the measures of defence, and of securing the capital from an assault, could not be otherwise than convinced, from the tenor of the replies made by the Coalition commanders to all its propositions, that the presence of Napoleon in Paris was the chief obstacle to any satisfactory arrangement.[13]

The Provisional Government took two actions. The first was to persuade Napoleon to leave Paris for the Palace of Malmaison (15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of the centre of Paris), which he did on 25 June.[14] General Becker had been appointed to attend the latter at Malmaison, to watch over his safety, to insure him that respect to which he was so eminently entitled, and to prevent the ill-disposed from making use of his name for purposes of excitement and tumult.[15]

As had been pointed out by Representative Bigonnet in the heated debate in the Chamber of Representatives on 22 June the coalition were in arms to secure the Treaty of Paris of 1814 under which Napoleon and his family were excluded from the throne,[6] so the day after Napoleon withdrew from Paris, 26 June, the Provisional government issued a proclamation in the "name of the French People" and in doings so (rather than in the name of the Emperor Napoleon II) they in effect deposed Napoleon II and so met another of the Coalition war aims.[16]

The Provisional Government was desirous of inducing the victorious Commanders of the Coalition armies to enter into negotiations. Another Commission was appointed, the members of which were Messrs Androssy, Valence, Boissy d'Anglas, Flaugergues, and la Bernardire [fr]. They were directed to proceed to the Headquarters of the Coalition Field Marshals, again to solicit a suspension of hostilities and to negotiate an armistice.[17]

Meanwhile, Wellington continued his operations with unabated activity. As the armies approached the capital, Fouch, president of the government, wrote a letter to the Wellington, requesting him to arrest the progress of the war and stating that the French nation wished to live neither under despotism as they had under Napoleon or under unbridled liberty as they had during the republic but "wishes to live under a monarch, but it wishes that that monarch live under the empire of laws".[18]

A renewed application was received by Blcher, on 27 June, and by Wellington on the 28 June, from Androssy, the primary commissioner, for a suspension of hostilities; as also a request that a passport and assurances of safety might be accorded to Napoleon and his family, to enable them to pass to the United States of America.[19]

Prince Blcher declined taking any notice of the application, conceiving his former verbal reply quite sufficient. The Duke of Wellington referred the Commissioners to his reply of 26 June on the proposed suspension of hostilities; and stated that, with regard to the passport for Napoleon, he had no authority from his government, or from his coalition allies, to give any answer to such demand.[19]

Symptoms of a rising among the Bonapartists in Paris had been manifested on the 28 June, a circumstance naturally consequent upon the re-union in the capital, of so many regiments of the line, as also of the Imperial Guard, whose excitement, devotion, and enthusiasm, had Napoleon placed himself once more at their head, might have been such as to have brought them into hostile and fierce collision with the other great parties of the state, and thus have led to scenes of the wildest anarchy and confusion within the walls, whilst the enemy was thundering at the gates from without. Hence every effort was employed to induce the ex-Emperor to quit the capital. The fact of the arrival of the Prussians in front of Saint-Denis, and the possibility of an attempt being made to carry him off from Malmaison, were explained to him with much earnestness.[10]

Napoleon immediately referred to the map, and on perceiving the practicability of this coup de main, he adopted precautionary measures of defence. He also offered to the government his services in the capacity of general only, remarking, that he was prepared to march against the enemy, and frustrate his bold and hazardous attempt upon the capital. This proposal was sternly rejected. Fouch declared that to accede to it would be to remove every chance of arrangement with the Coalition powers, to create fresh troubles and disorders throughout the country, and, though a temporary success might be gained, to bring down eventually the concentrated force of the immense European armament upon the devoted capital.[10] If on the other-hand Napoleon was devastatingly successful then he would be in a strong position to reclaim the Imperial crown; something that was also not in Fouch's interests.

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