Declaration of the Congress at Vienna.-Attempt to carry off Journey of the King to Ostend.-Imminent Danger to which he was exposed.-Unsuccessful Mission of the Duke of Bourbon to La Vendée.-Heroic Behaviour of the Duchess of An- CHAPTER VIII. First Acts of Napoleon.-Review of the Troops.—Replies of Napoleon to various Addresses.-Freedom of the Press.- Abolition of the Slave Trade.-Institution of a National Edu- cation.-Private feelings of Buonaparte.-His justificatory A NARRATIVE, &c. &c. CHAPTER I. General Causes of the Restoration of Buonaparte arising from the New Proprietors of the National Property;-The Middle Classes;-The Republicans;-The Constitutionalists, and the Army. WHEN, in the spring of the year 1814, Paris poured forth her countless multitudes, to hail with acclamations of rapture the return of Lewis XVIII to the throne of his ancestors; when, appearing at a window of the Thuilleries, the virtuous monarch pressed his hand on his heart, and then extending his arms towards the vast assembly cried, "You are indeed my children-I feel it here-I fold "you thus in my paternal embrace;" and the people, with one simultaneous impulse, enthusiastically replied, "Long live the King-Long live our "Father;"-when not one cry of treason was heard, not a solitary murmur weakened the sublime effect of the scene, what superficial observer would have expected the events which so soon followed? Who would have ventured to predict, that in ten months, this excellent and patriotic prince would be an outcast from France; and the same mob would hail with equal fervour the re-appearance of the despot whom they now execrated, and who had filled their country with widows and orphans ? The situation of France at the recall of Lewis is justly and eloquently described by the traitorous yet interesting Labedoyère. "In 1814, "neither the nation nor the army could longer 66 support the yoke of Buonaparte. It was tired " of war without motive, and exhausted by sacri"fices without utility. All felt the necessity of a "repairing government. Where could we flatter "ourselves that we should find it, but in the re"call of the Bourbons, whose names reminded "France of a long series of good kings, and ages "of prosperity. Hence they were welcomed with "enthusiasm." This enthusiasm was universal. The royalist, who during five and twenty years had lamented the exile of his sovereign, and whose allegiance no misfortunes could seduce, had sufficient cause for triumph in the restoration of the legitimate monarch; and he hoped that the progress of events, |