Murat was thus prohibited to come to the court of the Tuileries, where his defection might have been forgiven, but his defeat was an inexpiable offence. He remained in obscurity near Toulon, till his fate called him elsewhere, after the decisive battle of Waterloo.[122] From this episode, for such, however important, it is in the present history, we return to France and our immediate subject.
[109] "The result of the royalist enterprise rather contributed to tranquillise Napoleon. He was astonished by the courage which the Duke d'Angoulême exhibited in La Drôme, and especially Madame at Bourdeaux. He admired the intrepidity of this heroic princess, whom the desertion of an entire army had not been able to dispirit. It was proposed in council to obtain the crown diamonds for the Duke d'Angoulême. I recommended the Emperor to throw M. de Vitrolles into the bargain; but he would not consent."--FOUCHÉ, tom. ii., p. 261.
[111] Parl. Debates, vol. xxx.; Ann. Reg., vol. lvii.
[113] See debate, May 25, 1815, on the Prince Regent's message relating to France. Parl. Debates, vol. xxxii., p. 424.
[114] See Parl. Debates, vol. xxx., p. 726.
[115] See Parl. Debates, vol. xxx., p. 338.
[116] The contingents of the various powers were as follows:--Austria 300,000 men; Russia 225,000; Prussia 236,000; States of Germany 150,000; Great Britain 50,000; Holland 50,000; in all, 1,011,000 soldiers.--S.
[117] Mémoires de Fleury de Chamboullon, tom. i., p. 397.
[118] See papers relating to Maréchal Murat.--Parl. Debates, vol. xxxi., pp. 59-153.
[119] Commodore Campbell had promised Caroline a free passage to France; but, on the declaration of Lord Exmouth, that the commodore had exceeded his instructions, fresh negotiations were entered into with Austria; the result being that the ex-queen accepted the protection of the Emperor Francis, and has since resided, as Countess of Lipano, in his dominions.
[122] It is well known that Joachim Murat, escaping with difficulty from France, fled to Corsica, and might have obtained permission to reside upon parole in the Austrian territories, safe and unmolested. He nourished a wild idea, however, of recovering his crown, which induced him to reject these terms of safety, and invade the Neapolitan territories at the head of about two hundred men. That his whole expedition might be an accurate parody on that of Buonaparte to Cannes, he published swaggering proclamations, mingled with a proper quantum of falsehood. A storm dispersed his flotilla. He himself, October 8th, landed at a little fishing town near Monte Leone. He was attacked by the country people, fought as he was wont, but was defeated and made prisoner, tried by martial law, and condemned. The Sicilian royal family have shown themselves no forgiving race, otherwise mercy might have been extended to one, who, though now a private person, had been so lately a king, that he might be pardoned for forgetting that he had no longer the power of making peace and war without personal responsibility. Murat met his fate as became _Le Beau Sabreur_. He fastened his wife's picture on his breast, refused to have his eyes bandaged, or to use a seat, received six balls through his heart, and met the death which he had braved with impunity in the thick of many conflicts, and sought in vain in so many others.--S.