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We had come to deliver them without knowing it, and nobody in their country knew it either, which shows the sagacity of the Emperor, for there were already in that corner of the Sambre et Meuse, more than one hundred thousand men, and not the slightest hint of it had reached the enemy. The treason of Bourmont had prevented our surprising them as they were scattered about in their separate camps.
His King had summoned him, and impelled by a false sentiment of conscience, he had responded to the appeal of his King. But he was wrongly suspected of having delivered to the English and Prussians the plans of Napoleon. One may read in the Memoirs of the Duke Ambroise de Doudeauville: "The Count de Bourmont was appointed Minister of War. He had to meet grave prejudices.
I am grateful to you for having already done so much at Court for Louis. But though M. de Bourmont and M. de Polignac have paid him the compliment of asking him to join their ministry, I do not wish so conspicuous a place for him. It would commit him too much; and I prefer the Audit Office because it is permanent.
Bonaparte soon even employed those of the banished who, like Portalis, Simeon, Barbe-Marbois, had shown themselves more anti-conventionalists than counter-revolutionists. He had also gained over opponents of another description. He also addressed himself to the leaders of the Breton bands, Georges Cadoudal, Frotte, Laprevelaye, and Bourmont. The two last alone consented to submit.
When the expedition to Algiers was undertaken he wrote to her again, to obtain employment in it. He was then a sergeant; Marshal Bourmont gave him an appointment as sub-lieutenant in a line regiment. The major's son behaved like a man who wished to die.
Not only did Ney leave Bourmont in command, but, requiring another Divisional General, instead of selecting a Bonapartist, he urged Lecourbe to leave his retirement and join him.
With a view to the occupation of Belgium, or at least of a demonstration on the frontier, they had assembled two large camps at Luneville and St.-Omer; and in these camps the bulk of the available forces of the kingdom were collected, especially as Bourmont had with him a considerable and well-appointed army in Africa.
About a month before the Revolution, a ciphered despatch came from Bourmont which, I think, Circourt said he was told to transcribe in which the marshal earnestly entreated the King to take no important step till his return; adding that he hoped in a few weeks to terminate the African expedition, and to prove to the King what he was capable of in his Majesty's service.
On his trial his subordinate, Bourmont, who had by that time shown his devotion to the Bourbons by sacrificing his military honour, and deserting to the Allies, was asked whether Ney could have got the soldiers to act against the Emperor. He could only suggest that if Ney had taken a musket and himself charged, the men would have followed his example. And who was Ney to charge?
Among them was Count Bourmont, the Judas of the Waterloo campaign. In contrast with the priest and the nobles, Georges Cadoudal stood firm as a rock. That suave tongue spoke to him of glory, honour, and the fatherland: he heeded it not, for he knew it had ordered the death of Frotté.
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