61].

[Footnote 61: La Reine Hortense, p. 93.]

Hortense had taken no part in these attempts and efforts of her family;
she knew that it was all in vain; she understood her sons better than
they, and she knew that nothing in the world could alter a resolution
they had once formed. But she also knew that they were lost, that the
revolution must be suppressed, that they would soon be proscribed
fugitives, and she quietly prepared to assist them when the evil days
should come. She armed herself with courage and determination, and made
her soul strong, in order that she might not be overwhelmed by the
misfortune that was so near at hand.

While all about her were weeping and lamenting, while her husband was
wringing his hands in despair, and complaining of the present, Hortense
quietly and resolutely confronted the future, and prepared to defy it.

That which she dreaded soon took place. An Austrian fleet sailed into
the Adriatic; an Austrian army was marching on the insurrectionary
Italian provinces. Modena had already been reconquered; the insurgents
were already flying in crowds before the Austrian cannon, whose
thundering salvos were destined to destroy once more the hopes of the
youth of Italy.

Like an enraged lioness glowing with enthusiasm and courage, Hortense
now sprang up. The danger was there, and she must save her sons! She had
long considered how it was to be done, and whither she was to go with
them. She had first resolved to go with them to Turkey, and to take up
her residence in Smyrna, but the presence of the Austrian fleet which
ruled the Adriatic made this plan impracticable. At this moment of
extreme danger, a volume of light suddenly beamed in upon her soul, and
pointed out the way to safety. "I will take them by a road," said she to
herself, "on which they will be least expected. I will conduct them
through France, through Paris. The death-penalty will there hang
suspended over them, but what care I for that? Liberty, justice, and
humanity, still exercise too much control over France to make me
apprehend such severe measures. I must save my sons; the way through
France is the way of safety, and I shall therefore follow it!"

And Hortense immediately began to carry her plan into execution. She
requested an Englishman residing in Florence, to whose family she had
once rendered important services in France, to call on her, and begged
him to procure her a passport for an English lady and her two son