sault, at midnight. St. Priest had fallen; and the bulletin announced that he met his fate by a ball from the same cannon which killed Moreau. From Rheims, where Napoleon remained for three days to refresh his followers, he despach ed full powers to Caulaincourt to conclude any treaty, which should secure the immediate evacuation of the old French territory, and a mutual restoration of prisoners. The allies, however, had determined to negotiate no more ere the despatch of Rheims reached him.

CHAP. XXIV

Energies of Napoleon. Operations of the allies. Sufferings of the Peasantry. Napoleon marches to St. Dizier. The allies approach Paris. Proclamation of Joseph. The Empress retires to Blois. Heroic but unavailing defence of the Capital. Marmont capitulates.The allies enter Paris. Napoleon at Fontainbleau. His abdication His parting interview with the Imperial Guard. Death of Josephine. Napoleon commences his journey to Elba.

THROUGHOUT this crisis of his history it is impossible to survey the rapid energy of Napoleon-his alert transition from enemy to enemy, his fearless assaults on vastly superior numbers, his unwearied resolution and exhaustless invention -without the highest admiration. He had all through this, the most extraordinary of his campaigns, continued to conduct, from his perpetually changing head-quarters, the civil business of his empire. He occupied himself largely with such matters during his stay at Rheims; but it was there that the last despatches from the home-department at Paris were destined to reach him; and, ere he could return his answer, there came couriers upon couriers with tidings which would have unmanned any other mind, and which filled his with perplexity. On the one side, Blucher had profited by his departure, crushed down the feeble opposition of the corps left at Soissons, and repassed the Marne On the other hand, Schwartzenberg had detected, almost as soon as it took place, his march on Sezanne, and instant.y resumed the of ensive. Oudinot and Girard had been forced to give way

before the immeasurably superior numbers of the grand army. They had been defeated with great slaughter at Bar on the Aube; and the Austrian was once more at Troyes The allies were therefore, to all appearance, in full march upon Paris, both by the valley of the Marne, and by that of the Seine, at the moment when Napoleon had thought to paralyze all their movements by taking up a position between them at Rheims.

He still counted largely on the magic of his name; and even now he had hardly overreckoned. When Schwartzenberg understood that Napoleon was at Rheims, the old terror returned, and the Austrian instantly proposed to fall back from Troyes. Lord Castlereagh, who was at this time in the camp of the allies, took upon himself the responsibility of signifying that the grand army might retire if the sovereigns pleased, but that if such a movement took place, the subsidies of England must be considered at an end. This bold word determined the debate. Schwartzenberg's columns instantly resumed their march down the Seine.

Napoleon, meanwhile, had been struggling with himself: whatever line of action he might adopt was at the best hazardous in the extreme. Should he hasten after Blucher on the Marne, what was to prevent Schwartzenberg from reaching Paris ere the Silesian army, already victorious at Laon, could be once more brought to action by an inferior force? Should he throw himself on the march of Schwartzenberg, would not the fiery Prussian be at the Tuilleries long before the Austrian could be checked on the Seine? There remained a third course-namely, to push at once into the country in the rear of the grand army; and to this there were sundry inducements. By doing so, he might possibly-such were still the Emperor's conceptions as to the influence of his name-strike the advancing allies, both the Austrian and the Prussian, with terror, and paralyze their movements.— Were they likely to persist in their Hurrah on Paris (at this period the Cossack vocabulary was in vogue,) when they knew Napoleon to be posting himself between them and their own resources, and at the same time relieving and rallying around him all the garrisons of the great fortresses of the Rhine? Would not such conduct be considered as entirely out of the question by superstitious adherents to the ancient technicalities of war? Would not Schwartzenberg at least abandon the advance and turn to follow him, who still fancied that no one could dream of conquering France without hav

ing ruined Napoleon? But-even supposing that the allied powers should resist all these suggestions and proceed upon the capital-would not that great city, with Marmont and Mortier, and the national guard, be able to hold the eromy at bay for some considerable space; and during that space, couid the Emperor fail to release his garrisons on the Rhine, and so place himself once more at the head of an army capable, under his unrivalled guidance, of relieving France and ruining her invaders, by a great battle under the walls of Paris?

It must be added, in reference to Napoleon's choice among these difficulties, that ere now the continuance of the warfare had much exacerbated the feelings of the peasantry, who, for the most part, regarded its commencement with indifference. The perpetual marches and counter-marches of the armics, the assaults and burning of towns and villages, the fierce demeanour of the Prussians, and the native barbarism of the Russians, had spread devastation and horror through some of the fairest provinces of France. The desolation was such that wolves and other beasts of prey appeared, in numbers, which recalled the ages of the unbroken forest, amid the vineyards and gardens of Champaigne. All who could command the means of flight had escaped; of those that remained there were few who had not, during three months, suffered painful privations, seen their cottages occupied by savage strangers, and their streams running red with the blood of their countrymen. The consequence was that the peasantry on the theatre of the war, and behind it, were ere now in a state of high excitement. Might not the Emperor, by throwing himse.. and his diminished, but still formidable, band of veterans among them, give the finishing impulse, and realize at length his fond hope of a national insurrection? While Napoleon was thus tossed in anxiety by what means to avert, if it were yet possible, from Paris the visitation of those mighty armies, against whom, energies, such as he alone possessed, had been exerted in vain-the capital showed small symptoms of sympathizing with him. The streets were daily traversed by new crowds of provincialists, driven or terrified from their dwellings. Every hospital, and many public buildings besides, were crammed with wounded soldiers; and the number of dead bodies continually floating down the Seine, was so great that the meanest of the populace durst no longer make use of the water. As one conclusive token of the universal distrust, it may be mentioned

that, whereas in usual times the amount of taxes paid daily into the exchequer at Paris is about £3,000, the average, af. ter the first of March, did not exceed £15. It was Savary's business to despatch a full account of the state of the city every night to head-quarters ;-and he did not hesitate to inform the Emperor that the machinery of government was clogged in every wheel, and that the necessity of purchasing peace by abandoning him, was the common burden of conversation.

Meantime, to swell the cup of his anxieties, there reached him new intelligence of the most alarming character from the south-western provinces, invaded by Lord Wellington. That general had driven Soult before him through the Pays de Gaves, (the tract of strong country broken by the torrents descending from the Pyrenees;) defeated him in another great battle at Orthes, and was now pursuing him in the direction of Toulouse. Nor was even this the worst, Bordeaux had risen openly in the cause of Louis. The white flag was floating on every tower of the third city in France, and the Duke D'Angouleme was administering all the offices of government in the midst of a population who had welcomed him with enthusiasm. It was amid such circumstances that Napoleon at length decided on throwing himself upon the rear of the allies. They were for some time quite uncertain of his movements after he quitted Rheims, until an intercepted letter to Maria Louisa informed them that he was at St. Dizier.

He continued for several days to manœuvre on the country beyond St. Dizier. Having thus seized the roads by which the grand army had advanced, he took prisoners many persons of distinction on their way to its head-quarters— and at one time the Emperor of Austria himself escaped most narrowly a party of French hussars. Meanwhile, petty skirmishes were ever and anon occurring between Napoleon's rear-guard and Austrians, whom he took for the vanguard of Schwartzenberg. They were, however, detached troops, chiefly horse, left to hang on his march. The grand army was proceeding rapidly down the Seine; while Bucher, having be ten Marmont and Mortier, was already within sight of Meaux.

It has been mentioned that Napoleon, ere he commenced his campaign, directed some fortifications to be thrown up on the side of Paris nearest to the invading armies. His brother Joseph howeve. was, as Spain had witnessed, neither an active no kilfuldier; and the civil government of this

tempestuous capital appears to have been more than enough to employ what energies he possessed. The outworks executed during the campaign were few and inconsiderable; and to occupy them, there were but 8,000 fresh regulars, the discomfited divisions of Marmont and Mortier, and the national guard of the metropolis. Meanwhile, the royalists within the city had been watching the progress of events with eagerness and exultation. Talleyrand was ere now in close communication with them, and employing all the resources of his talents to prevail on them to couple their demand for the heir of the Bourbons. Various deputations from the royalists had found their way to the head-quarters, both of Blucher and of Schwartzenberg, ere the middle of March, and expressed sentiments of this nature. As yet, however, none of the allies had ventured to encourage directly the hopes of the Bourbon party. They persisted in asserting their resolution to let the French nation judge for themselves under what government they should live; and to take no part in their civil feuds. Talleyrand himself was in correspondence with the Czar; but, in his letters, he, as far as is known, confined himself to urging the advance of the armies. A billet from him was delivered to Alexander just ere the final rush on Paris began: it was in these words "You venture nothing, when you may safely venture every thing-venture

once more.

On the 26th of March, the distant roaring of artillery was heard at intervals on the boulevards of Paris; and the alarm began to be violent. On the 27th (Sunday) Joseph Buonaparte held a review in the Place Carousel; and the day being fine, and the uniforms mostly new, the confidence of the spectators rose, and the newspapers expressed their wishes that the enemy could but behold what forces were ready to meet and destroy them. That same evening the allies passed the Marne at various points; at three in the morning of the 28th, they took Meaux; and at daybreak, "the terrified population of the country between Meaux and Paris, came pouring into the capital," says an eye-witness, "with their aged, infirm, children and household goods of every description. The boulevards were crowded with waggons, carts and carriages thus laden, to which cattle were tied, and the whole surrounded with women." The regular troops now marched out of the town, leaving all the barriers in charge of the national guard. The confusion that prevailed everywhere was indiacribable.