Memoirs of the Private Life, Return, and Reign of Napoleon in 1815, Vol. I

About this book

The work is a first‑person memoir by Baron Fleury de Chaboulon, a former secretary of Napoleon and a senior official of the French Council of State, published in London in 1820. It opens with a formal “To the Reader” in which the author declares his purpose: not to write a full history of the Hundred Days, but to set Napoleon’s actions against the “erroneous assertions” of partisan historians and to expose what he sees as the hidden motives of ministers, generals and foreign diplomats. From the outset he promises to overturn prevailing narratives about the emperor’s escape from Elba, his abdication, and the political machinations surrounding the March 20th revolution, citing unpublished documents, correspondence and his own eyewitness recollections of secret conferences. The introduction therefore frames the book as a corrective, polemical account of the 1815 events, grounded in the author’s privileged access to the imperial circle.

The voice is that of a nineteenth‑century aristocrat steeped in the language of honor, duty and constitutional principle. Chaboulon writes in a dense, declarative style, peppered with rhetorical contrasts (“mistrustful and communicative, ardent and reserved”) and frequent appeals to moral authority, while frequently referencing contemporary figures such as Metternich, the Duke of Otranto and General Bertrand. Readers who enjoy a blend of personal testimony, political intrigue and detailed refutation of early‑Victorian historiography, especially those interested in Napoleonic studies, diplomatic history, or the contested memory of the Hundred Days, will find this memoir rewarding. Its exhaustive detail and impassioned defense of Napoleon make it a valuable companion for scholars and enthusiasts seeking a perspective from within the emperor’s own administration.