myself shut up and motionless. If success has crowned my efforts, I will wave, from the carriage-window, a paper, the signal of our triumph."

The sitting was commenced in the morning and prolonged late into the day. The speech of Talleyrand-uttered in low, calm, conversational, yet earnest tones-is one of the most persuasive upon record. A theatric display of gesture, and of impassioned intonations, would have been grossly out of place in the presence of such an audience, and in a crisis so momentous.

"If you punish France," said Talleyrand, "by dividing it after its conquest, how will you agree together in the distribution of the spoils? And what power can ever restrain under its hand the members, still living, still convulsive, ever on the stretch to rejoin one another? You have had nothing to dread in France but the revolutionary spirit. But you will then have to restrain and combat, at the same time, the two least compressible forces in the political world-the revolutionary spirit, and the spirit of independence. This double volcano will open its craters even under your own hereditary possessions. Look at Poland! Is it not the spirit of independence which perpetually nourishes there the spirit of revolution? The partition of France would be the ruin of the Continent.

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But it is said that the question is, not to ruin France, but to weaken it, so that it shall not be hurtful to other nations; to exhaust its strength, to occupy it for a time, and then to give it, for its masters, sovereigns with a firmer hand and a name less unpopular than that of Bourbon! But if you cease to recognize the right of the legitimacy of kings in France, what becomes of your own right in Europe? What becomes of this principle, or rather this religion of legitimacy, which we have found again under the ruins of the revolutions, subversions, and conquests of twenty years? Did the house of Bourbon offer at this moment only enervated sovereigns to fill the throne, Europe would still be condemned to crown them or to perish. The cause of Europe is the cause of legitimacy; and legitimacy is synonymous with the house of Bourbon. The partition of France would be a crime against nations; the dethronement of the Bourbons would be a crime against thrones.

There is but one course which is wise and just. It is to separate the cause of the French nation from that of Bonaparte; to declare personal and exclusive war against him, and peace to France. You thus weaken Bonaparte, by showing him alone to be the only obstacle to the reconciliation of nations; and you disarm France by separating her cause from the cause of Bonaparte. And then it must be declared that Europe will never recognize, under any circumstances whatever, the sovereignty of France but in the house of Bourbon."

ing entered France by force of arms, owe to their own dignity and the interests of society a solemn declaration of the sentiments with which that event has inspired them. By thus infringing the convention which settled Napoleon in the island of Elba, he has destroyed the only legal title to which his existence was attached (auquel son existence se trouvait attachée). By reappearing in France, with the design of disturbing and subverting it, he has deprived himself of the protection of the laws, and made manifest to the universe that there can be neither peace nor truce with him. The powers therefore declare, that Napoleon Bonaparte has thrown himself out of all the relations of civilized society; and that, as an enemy and a disturber of the world, he has rendered himself an object of public vengeance."

They then bound themselves by a solemn pledge to pursue to the last extremity, with all the energies of their combined states and kingdoms, the sovereign of the people's choice. This despotic decree was signed by Austria, Spain, France, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and Sweden. By a secret treaty, concluded on the same day, it was solemnly stipulated that the contracting parties should not lay down their arms till they had effected the complete destruction of Napoleon.

The unprecedented spectacle was now presented of all the monarchies and armies of Europe combined against one single man. Napoleon's only strength consisted in the love of the people, whose cause he had so nobly espoused, and so heroically maintained. The strength of the Allies was deposited in their bayonets and their gunpowder. They immediately marshaled their countless armies to crush, at once and forever, the child and the champion of popular equality. Austria contributed 350,000 troops under Schwartzenberg; England and Prussia furnished an army of 250,000 men to act in concert, under Wellington and Blucher; Alexander himself headed his semi-barbarian legions, 200,000 strong. The auxiliaries from other nations raised this formidable armament to one million of men. The fleets of England also girdled France and swept the seas, that there might be no escape for the doomed victim. Such were the forces which were arrayed, with all the enginery of war, to wrest one man from the love of the people. Never was a mortal placed in such a position of sublimity before. Chateaubriand had pithily said, "If the cocked hat and surtout of Napoleon were placed on a stick on the shores of Brest, it would cause Europe to run to arms from one end to the other."

But in England it was not precisely so. There was in England a liberal constitution, a House of Commons, a free press, and an inquisitive peo- | ple. Consequently, these English nobles did not dare to move so defiantly as did their confederated despots. While therefore combining, with intense cordiality, in this attempt to wrest from France the sovereign of its choice, and to force upon the nation a twice rejected dynasty, they ventured the declaration to the British people, that they only joined the coalition against a common enemy, but that they had no disposition to interfere with the rights of the French nation in the choice of their own rulers; "a reservation," says Lamartine," which was necessary for their justification to the British Parlia

ment."

With this astounding declaration upon their lips, the British Government appropriated, in prosecution of the war for that year, $90,000,000 to the navy, $139,000,000 to the army, and the subsidies paid to foreign powers amounted to $55,000,000 more. They maintained six hundred and fifty thousand men in arms, and placed fifty-eight ships of the line in commission. The whole war expenses of the year amounted to the unparalleled sum of $550,000,000. Such were the Herculean energies requisite to crush the illustrious chieftain of popular rights. Such were the enormous sums wrested from the people of England to maintain despotic authority on the Continent of Europe.

There was in the British House of Commons a band of noble men who breasted all the tremendous power of the British Government, in bold denunciation of this great iniquity; and even then there were so many of the English people whose sympathies were with Napoleon, that those who were in the opposition were accused of seeking popularity by their opposition to the measures of the government.

While the Allies were thus unrelentingly preparing for war, Napoleon was making every possible effort for the promotion of peace. Even when the combined army was advancing through Germany toward the frontiers of France, and when the English vessels were capturing the French ships on all seas, he still disregarded these hostile acts, hoping, by assurances of his readiness to accede to any reasonable propositions, to save his country and Europe from another appeal to the horrors of war. The Austrian embassador left Paris soon after Napoleon's arrival, refusing to have any official intercourse with the government of the Emperor. Napoleon had not been able to have any communication with Maria Louisa. The Austrian embassador consented to take a letter to her. He, however, gave it to the Em

sive that Napoleon might, by some means, succeed in regaining his wife and son, transported them both to his palace, and guarded them vigilantly. To alienate the Empress from her noble husband, she was infamously told, according to the testimony of the Duke of Rovigo, that Napoleon had assembled a harem of beautiful ladies around him, and was happy in their smiles. How far Maria Louisa credited the cruel slander is not known.

In all his pacific overtures Napoleon was sternly repulsed. The Allies would allow no messenger from him to approach them. Alexander greatly admired the grace, intelligence, and amiable virtues of Queen Hortense. Through her mediation Napoleon endeavored to get access to the heart of the Czar. But the Russian monarch was bound too firmly in the chains of the coalition to escape. He frankly replied to the sorrowstricken daughter of Josephine, "There can be no peace, not even a truce with Napoleon." The Emperor then sent his brother Joseph, whose character commanded the respect of every monarch in Europe, on a secret mission to Vienna, to endeavor, by every honorable artifice, to gain the ear of the allied sovereigns. But he found all alike unrelenting. Napoleon then, as his last resort, wrote the following dignified yet earnest appeal for peace, to each of the allied sovereigns, and dispatched couriers with a copy to each of their respective courts:

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"PARIS, April 4, 1814.

SIRE, MY BROTHER-You have learned, in the course of the last month, of my return to the shores of France, my entrance into Paris, and the retirement of the Bourbons. The true nature of these events must now be known to your Majesty. They are the work of an irresistible power, the result of the unanimous will of a great nation, which knows its duties and its rights. The dynasty which force had imposed upon a great people was no longer calculated for them. The Bourbons had no community with them, either of feeling or manners. France was therefore compelled to withdraw from them. The experiment which had induced me to make so great a sacrifice had failed. France called for a liberator; I therefore returned. From the spot where I first touched the soil of France, the love of my people bore me to the bosom of my capital.

The first wish of my heart is, to repay so much affection with an honorable tranquillity. The re-establishment of the Imperial throne was necessary for the happiness of the French. It is my most ardent hope to render it at the same time the means of confirming the peace of Europe. Enough of glory has added lustre, by turns, to the flags of the different nations. The vicissitudes of fate have sufficiently caused a succession of great reverses and signal triumphs. A more noble arena is now opened to the sovereigns, and I shall be the first to enter it. After having presented the world with the spectacle of great battles, it will be more grateful to recognize here

after no other rivalship than that of prolonging the blessings of peace; no other struggle than the sacred one of perpetuating the happiness of

nations.

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"France takes a pride in proclaiming frankly this noble end of all her wishes. Jealous of her own independence, the invariable principle of her policy will be, the most absolute respect for the independence of other nations. If such are, as I cherish the hope, the personal sentiments of your Majesty, the general tranquillity is assured for a long period; and Justice, seated at the confines of States, will alone suffice to guard their frontiers. NAPOLEON."

The frontiers were, however, so vigilantly guarded against every messenger from Napoleon, and the Allies were so determined to withdraw themselves from any kind of communication with him, that the Minister for Foreign Affairs could not succeed in forwarding one of these letters to any of the European courts. Under these circumstances, Caulaincourt sorrowfully made the following report to the Emperor and to the nation:

Sire: Alarming symptoms are all at once manifested on every side. An unaccountable system threatens to prevail among the allied Powers—that of preparing for action, without admitting a preliminary explanation with the nation they seem determined to assail. It was reserved for the present epoch to see an assemblage simultaneously interdict all communication with one great state, and close all access to its amicable assurances. The couriers sent from Paris to the different courts have not been able to reach their destination. One could not pass beyond Strasbourg. Another, sent to Italy, was stopped at Turin. A third, destined for Berlin and the north, has been arrested at Mayence, ill-treated by the Prussian commandant, and his dispatches have been seized. When a barrier thus impenetrable rises between the French Ministry and its agents abroad, between your Majesty's cabinet and those of other sovereigns, there is no other method open to your Ministry than by the public acts of foreign governments to judge of their in

tentions.

in despair. The Allies, by adroitly separating Napoleon from France, and declaring that they waged war against him alone, led thousands to feel that they must be again compelled to give up their beloved Emperor. Apparently they could retain Napoleon only by passing through the most awful scenes of conflict, carnage, and woe to which a nation was ever exposed. As fathers and mothers looked upon their little households, upon precious sons and lovely daughters, and in imagination heard the tramp of approaching armies, the reverberation of invading guns, the sweep of brutal squadrons, the shout of onset, and the shriek of despair, they turned pale, pressed their children to their throbbing hearts, and still clung to their beloved Emperor. Mothers, with streaming eyes, prepared their sons for the battle. Gray-headed fathers, with tottering steps, crowded the churches to implore God's blessing upon their righteous cause.

And still, incredible as it may seem, the Allies, who had the control of all the presses of Europe, unblushingly reiterated the cry, that the insatiably ambitious and blood-thirsty Bonaparte would not live at peace with the nations; and that the repose of the world demanded that he should be hunted down as a beast of prey. The Tory government of England, with its boundless wealth and resources, re-echoed the cry in books, pamphlets, and journals, with which they flooded all lands. It is impossible to paint a demon in blacker colors than Napoleon was painted in hundreds of thousands of placards and pamphlets which were scattered like autumnal leaves. The pen in this warfare was, in England especially, as necessary as the sword. Deep as were the wounds which the pen of calumny inflicted upon the memory of the Emperor, he never for one moment doubted that his reputation would eventually emerge triumphant from the conflict.*

*The following is the title page of a royal octavo volume of over 600 pages, published in London in the year 1810.

cluding his private life, character, domestic administration, and his conduct to foreign powers, together with secret anecdotes of the different courts of Europe, and of the

"The Secret History of the Cabinet of Bonaparte. In

state papers and of biographical sketches of the persons

comprising the court of St. Cloud. By LEWIS GOLDSMITH. Notary Public. Author of the Crimes of Cabinets,' An Exposition of the conduct of France toward America,' etc. The truth, and nothing but the truth.' London, 1810."

These were appalling tidings to France. The Empire was already exhausted by the interminable wars into which the Allies had dragged it. It was quite unprepared for a renewal of the dreadful conflict. A million of armed men were crowding mercilessly on, to desolate the hills and valleys of France with flames and blood. The boldest hearts in France trembled. The odds were so fearfully unequal, that many were

implore pardon of our readers for thus sullying this page. It is necessary to verify the declaration we have made. "Napoleon Bonaparte is the reputed son of the townclerk of Ajaccio, in Corsica. General Marbœuf was the avowed protector of the family. The meaning of this will be easily understood."

The following are extracts from this work. We must

"Our hero was placed at the military school at Brienne. He had an amour with a young girl of that place. Her disgrace was anticipated, and the disgrace of her paramour. The latter began his career of poisoning and

murder by administering a dose to this unfortunate young woman. No positive proof being adduced, he was allowed to remain at school.""

"In the year 1786, General Marbœuf died, and Napoleon was obliged to return to Corsica. From that period till he was sent off the island in 1793 by General Paoli, he was guilty of crimes of every description."