Part 3 - Act 5 - Scene 3. La Mure, Near Grenoble

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_ PART THIRD. ACT FIFTH. SCENE III.

[A lonely road between a lake and some hills, two or three miles outside the village of la Mure, is discovered. A battalion of the Fifth French royalist regiment of the line under COMMANDANT LESSARD, is drawn up in the middle of the road with a company of sappers and miners, comprising altogether about eight hundred men.

Enter to them from the south a small detachment of lancers with an aide-de-camp at their head. They ride up to within speaking distance.]

LESSARD

They are from Bonaparte. Present your arms!

AIDE (calling)

We'd parley on Napoleon's behalf,
And fain would ask you join him.

LESSARD

Al parole
With rebel bands the Government forbids.
Come five steps further and we fire!

AIDE

To France,
And to posterity through fineless time,
Must you then answer for so foul a blow
Against the common weal!

[NAPOLEON'S aide-de-camp and the lancers turn about and ride back out of sight. The royalist troops wait. Presently there reappears from the same direction a small column of soldiery, representing the whole of NAPOLEON'S little army shipped from Elba. It is divided into an advance-guard under COLONEL MALLET, and two bodies behind, a troop of Polish lancers under COLONEL JERMANWSKI on the right side of the road, and some officers without troops on the left, under MAJOR PACCONI.

NAPOLEON rides in the midst of the advance-guard, in the old familiar "redingote grise," cocked hat, and tricolor cockade, his well-known profile keen against the hills. He is attended by GENERALS BERTRAND, DROUOT, and CAMBRONNE. When they get within gun-shot of the royalists the men are halted. NAPOLEON dismounts and steps forward.]

NAPOLEON

Direct the men
To lodge their weapons underneath the arm,
Points downward. I shall not require them here.

COLONEL MALLET

Sire, is it not a needless jeopardy
To meet them thus? The sentiments of these
We do not know, and the first trigger pressed
May end you.

NAPOLEON

I have thought it out, my friend,
And value not my life as in itself,
But as to France, severed from whose embrace]
I am dead already.

[He repeats the order, which is carried out. There is a breathless silence, and people from the village gather round with tragic expectations. NAPOLEON walks on alone towards the Fifth battalion, Throwing open his great-coat and revealing his uniform and the ribbon of the Legion of Honour. Raising his hand to his hat he salutes.]

LESSARD

Present arms!

[The firelocks of the royalist battalion are levelled at NAPOLEON.]

NAPOLEON (still advancing)

Men of the Fifth,
See--here I am! . . . Old friends, do you not know me?
If there be one among you who would slay
His Chief of proud past years, let him come on
And do it now! (A pause.)

LESSARD (to his next officer)

They are death-white at his words!
They'll fire not on this man. And I am helpless.

SOLDIERS (suddenly)

Why yes! We know you, father. Glad to see ye!
The Emperor for ever! Ha! Huzza!

[They throw their arms upon the ground, and, rushing forward, sink down and seize NAPOLEON'S knees and kiss his hands. Those who cannot get near him wave their shakos and acclaim him passionately. BERTRAND, DROUOT, and CAMBRONNE come up.]

NAPOLEON (privately)

All is accomplished, Bertrand! Ten days more,
And we are snug within the Tuileries.

[The soldiers tear out their white cockades and trample on them, and disinter from the bottom of their knapsacks tricolors, which they set up.

NAPOLEON'S own men now arrive, and fraternize with and embrace the soldiers of the Fifth. When the emotion has subsided, NAPOLEON forms the whole body into a square and addresses them.]

Soldiers, I came with these few faithful ones
To save you from the Bourbons,--treasons, tricks,
Ancient abuses, feudal tyranny--
From which I once of old delivered you.
The Bourbon throne is illegitimate
Because not founded on the nation's will,
But propped up for the profit of a few.
Comrades, is this not so?

A GRENADIER

Yes, verily, sire.
You are the Angel of the Lord to us;
We'll march with you to death or victory! (Shouts.)

[At this moment a howling dog crosses in front of them with a cockade tied to its tail. The soldiery of both sides laugh loudly.

NAPOLEON forms both bodies of troops into one column. Peasantry run up with buckets of sour wine and a single glass; NAPOLEON takes his turn with the rank and file in drinking from it. He bids the whole column follow him to Grenoble and Paris. Exeunt soldiers headed by NAPOLEON. The scene shuts.] _

Read next: Part 3: Act 5: Scene 4. Schonbrunn

Read previous: Part 3: Act 5: Scene 2. Vienna. The Imperial Palace

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