A Response to my Esteemed Fellow Napoleonic Enthusiast (Part 2)
Yes, my esteemed FNE, also known as Josefa vom Jaaga, is forcing my little grey cells to go into overdrive. She presents arguments that I consider with interest, but with which I often find myself in disagreement. Then long posts result, so long that they have to be split in two, as here. This is in response to her reblog of my own recent post, Napoleon is back from Elba! Will the Army fight for Louis XVIII?
Josefa invokes the hardships of the émigrés; these hardships were genuine and cannot be disregarded, especially in those cases where the choice was between emigration, leaving everything behind, and the real danger of an arbitrary condemnation to the guillotine. While some emigration was due to loyalty to the Monarchy, I would argue that a larger proportion might be due to preserving one’s own life, but truly this is speculation on my part. The result of emigration was usually the same, in any case: financial ruin. The restored Monarchy tried to counter these effects, and it is in this light that Louis XVIII’s actions can be seen; but I think Talleyrand saw how they were ultimately counter-productive (see Part 1 of this post).
As for the biens nationaux, here I agree with Josefa that their acquisition was extremely dodgy. Repossession was so politically sensitive, however, that even Louis XVIII would not have tried, no matter how unfair it was to those who had been dispossessed at the price of their lives. Even Berthier’s beloved Grosbois had belonged, before the Revolution, to... Louis XVIII. A bit awkward for Berthier starting in April 1814, one would think, but the King never reclaimed his chateau.
Because of my own ignorance, I can’t offer any opinion about how large the Army needed to be after the fall of Napoleon. I think the Allies were able to impose their will about this to some extent, but budgetary considerations had to enter into it regardless. However valid the reasons might have been, this did not make it any less bitter for men to lose their employment, especially those who had never had any civilian position or trade to start with. I think this is a natural human reaction, quite independent from smugness, arrogance, double rations, or sense of entitlement. But then to see positions eliminated in the Army only to see new ones created to accommodate people of often dubious credentials would have been a bit much to take, and according to the author I referred to in my original post, it actually was. (See the original text I consulted at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3364575n/f34.item , pp. 20 to 28 especially)
Regarding the Old Guard, I think it would have soon started crying “Vive le Roi!” if the King had taken Ney’s advice and made it into his personal guard, but again, betting on human nature, I’m speculating.
About Dupont, what little I’ve been able to garner about him in the past is that he was not competent to assume the responsibilities he was granted as Minister of War. No doubt Soult was better. But the conspirational circles were a police matter. Where was Fouché when he was needed? Oh, right, Louis had exiled him. So instead every half-pay officer was treated like a criminal. That was a mistake, and it was indeed an insult.
