ell set out,
accompanied only by Generals Coulaincourt, Duroc, and Mouton, the
Mameluke Rustan, a captain of the Polish lancers, and an escort of
Neapolitan horsemen. This event is referred to in a caricature,
published by S. W. Fores on the 1st of January, 1813, entitled, _Boney
returning from Russia covered with Glory, leaving his army in
comfortable winter quarters_. Napoleon and Coulaincourt are seated in a
sleigh driven by another general in jack boots, with a tremendous cocked
hat on his head, a huge sword by his side, and a formidable whip in his
hand. Coulaincourt inquires, "Will your Majesty write the bulletin?"
"No," replies Napoleon; "you write it. Tell them we left the army all
well, quite gay; in excellent quarters; plenty of provisions; that we
travelled in great style; received everywhere with congratulations; and
that I had almost completed the _repose_ of Europe" (a favourite
expression of his). By way of contrast to these grandiloquent phrases,
the eye is attracted to the surroundings. The ground is thickly coated
with snow; in the foreground, two famished wretches cut and devour raw
flesh from a dead horse. On all sides lie dead and dying men and
animals, while in the distance we behold the flying and demoralized
troops chased by a cloud of Cossacks. The English caricaturists follow
the emperor into the sanctity of his private life; they depict in their
own homely but forcible fashion the astonishment of the empress at his
unexpected return, and the disgust of young "Boney the Second," who not
only expresses surprise that his imperial sire had forgotten his promise
to "bring him some Russians to cut up," but suggests that they seem to
have "cut _him_ up" instead. These incidents are described in a satire
entitled, _Nap's Glorious Return; or, the Conclusion of the Russian
campaign_, published by Tegg, in June, 1813.

The crushing defeat of Vitoria, the crowning disaster of
Leipzig--sustained the same year, the subsequent abdication of
Bonaparte, the return from Elba, the brief incident of the "hundred
days," the catastrophe of Waterloo, and the subsequent consignment of
the great emperor to St. Helena, form of course the subjects of a host
of graphic satires. Foremost amongst them (for Gillray's intellect was
gone), must be mentioned the caricatures of Thomas Rowlandson and of
George Cruikshank. The first being fully described in Mr. Grego's work,
we are not called on to mention them here, while the la