5 Ney was
commanding in Franche-Comte, and was called up to Paris and ordered to go
to Besancon to march so as to take Napoleon in flank. He started off,
not improbably using the rough brags afterwards attributed to him as most
grievous sins, such as that "he would bring back Napoleon in an iron
cage." It had been intended to have sent the Due de Berry, the second
son of the Comte d'Artois, with Ney; and it was most unfortunate for the
Marshal that this was not done. There can be no possible doubt that Ney
spoke and acted in good faith when he left Paris. One point alone seems
decisive of this. Ney found under him in command, as General of
Division, Bourmont, an officer of well-known Royalist opinions, who had
at one time served with the Vendean insurgents, and who afterwards
deserted Napoleon just before Waterloo, although he had entreated to be
employed in the campaign. 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.
Now, though Lecourbe was a distinguished General, specially famed for
mountain warfare--witness his services in 1799 among the Alps above
Lucerne--he had been long left unemployed by Napoleon on account of his
strong Republican opinions and his sympathy with Moreau. These two
Generals, Bourmont and Lecourbe, the two arms of Ney as commander,
through whom alone he could communicate with the troops, he not only kept
with him, but consulted to the last, before he declared for Napoleon.
This would have been too dangerous a thing for a tricky politician to
have attempted as a blind, but Ney was well known to be only too frank
and impulsive. Had the Due de Berry gone with him, had Ney carried with
him such a gage of the intention of the Bourbons to defend their throne,
it is probable that he would have behaved like Macdonald; and it is
certain that he would have had no better success. The Bonapartists
themselves dreaded what they called the wrong-headedness of Ney. It was,
however, thought better to keep the Due de Berry in safety.

Ney found himself put forward singly, as it were, to oppose the man whom
all France was joining; he found, as did every officer sent on a similar
mission, that the soldiers were simply waiting to meet Napoleon; and
while the Princes sought security, while the soldiers plotted against
their leaders, came the calls of the Emperor in the old trumpet tone.
T