peared to be sincere. But when it was evident that Lewis had determined strictly to maintain the peace which he had concluded with the allies, and that the conquest of Belgium was renounced, complaints and murmurs began to be heard. The soldier's occupation was gone. The hope of advancement, glory, and wealth, effectually destroyed. They who had been accustomed to the licentiousness of camps could acquire no relish for the blessings of peace, no capacity for the virtues of industry.

Many of the superior officers had amassed almost incalculable riches by the plunder of every surrounding nation; but the inferior officers had been less fortunate. They were half-ruined by the reverses of Moscow and Dresden. They were utterly unable to support with credit the rank to which they had risen. All eagerly longed for war, some to augment the riches which they had acquired, and others to escape the evils of poverty*.

The morals of the army had been sadly deteriorated by the long continuance of war. Instead

* "Very good, gentlemen!" said an officer whom the interesting but somewhat misanthropic tourist, Mr. Scott, met in a French diligence, to his fellow travellers who were congratulating each other, that the tranquillity of Europe would probably remain undisturbed; "very good, gentlemen! this tranquillity "of Europe is a fine thing, but will it not always keep me a "captain ?"

of that noble ardour, whose legitimate object and highest aim was the defence and honour of his country, a mania for glory, a thirst for conquest, and a hatred of peace formed the characteristic of the French soldier, and almost of the French population. Carnot well describes this. "The youth "of the present day are educated with different

L

principles. The love of glory has struck deep "root in their minds. It is become the most distin

guishing trait of the national character, intoxi"cated by twenty-five years of constant success. "This glory had become the idol of our souls; "it absorbed every thought of the veterans whose "honourable wounds no longer permitted them to "fight their country's battles, and it formed the "only hope of the youthful warrior when he "entered on his first campaign. An unex

pected blow has damped these recollections "and destroyed these hopes; and we feel in "our hearts a melancholy void like the lover "who has lost for ever the object of his dearest "affections.

This sentiment renders our situation painful "and dangerous. Every one endeavours to con"ceal the loss which he has sustained. He looks

on himself as dishonoured, because, after twenty years of uninterrupted victory, he has lost one "stake, but that unfortunately was the stake of "honour."

A writer, just referred to, gives an interesting

delineation of the appearance and character of the French at this critical period.

"The most impressive feature of the crowd be"fore us, and that which most struck us with a "sense of novelty and of interest, was its mili

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tary aspect. Almost every man had some "indication of the military profession about his 66 person, sufficient to denote that he had been engaged in war: at the same time there was a "self-willed variety in the dress of each which "had a very unpleasant effect, inasmuch as it prevented us from recognizing that stamped assurance of legitimacy as an armed force which " is impressed on the aspect of British troops. "We could scarcely imagine that the dark-visaged

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beings, some in long loose great coats, some "in jackets, some in cocked hats, some in round ones, and some in caps, who darted at us keen "looks of a very over-clouded cast, had ever be"longed, to regiments steady, controlled and law"ful; they seemed rather the fragments of broken

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up gangs, brave, dexterous, and fierce, but un

principled and unrestrained. Much of this "irregularity and angriness of appearance was "doubtless occasioned by the great disbandment "of the army that had just taken place. They "had neither pursuits to occupy their time, nor even prospects to keep up their hopes. They "still lounged about in idleness although their pay had been stopped; and disappointment and

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"

"necessity threw into their faces an expression

deeper than that of irritation'; approaching, in "fact, to the indication of indiscriminate and "inveterate hatred. They carried about with "them in their air, the branded characteristics of "forlorn men, whose interests and habits opposed "them to the peace of mankind;-men who would "cry with the desperate Constance,

"War! wer! no peace! peace to me is war!*"

The discontent of the army was at first confined to secret murmurs and complaints, but a circumstance soon occurred which fanned the embers of disaffection into a flame. In compliance with the custom of his ancestors, and of every sovereign prince, Lewis formed a body of household troops for the immediate guard of his person. They were not selected from the army, but consisted of volunteers. None were excluded, but, as was naturally to be expected, the greater part were composed of young men whose families had long been attached to the royal cause. One half of the officers were chosen from those who had served Buonaparte, and the others from the long tried companions of the monarch's adversity.

Could any thing be more equitable and delicate than this arrangement? Ought the king to have selected his household troops exclusively from the

Scott's Visit to Paris in 1814, page 17.

army? Would it not have been unreasonable to have required him to confide the guard of his person to those of whose fidelity he had no proof, and who had always fought against him? Was not the plan which he adopted the most unobjectionable way of providing for those who had lost their patrimony in the defence of his cause, and who now reasonably and anxiously looked to him for protection and support? He could not restore to them the possessions of their ancestors. These were in other hands and the national property was guaranteed. He could not reward them from the public treasury. The claimants were too numerous and the funds were exhausted. By giving them commissions in this department of his service, he rewarded their fidelity without rendering them burdensome to their country. Had the former adherents of Napoleon possessed one sentiment of justice they would have acknowledged the propriety of the arrangement, and have been grateful that they were admitted to an equal share of the honours and emoluments of the corps.

If Lewis erred it was in forming so small a body of household troops. They consisted of only two thousand men; and while their composition excited the jealousy of the rest of the army, they were too few in number to be any check upon it, or to be of real service to the king. Instead of two thousand he should have embodied a corps of twenty thousand