to retire there will be no retreat." After discovering the amount of his danger, however, he made a bold defence. But it was in vain. Napoleon's prompt, decided, and overwhelming attack, soon overcame all. opposition. In a few moments three Prussian battalions were surrounded and made prisoners. Soon after St. Priest himself was seriously wounded, his troops completely routed, and driven into the town in the greatest disorder, which they soon after evacuated, and Napoleon made a triumphal entry at one o'clock in the morning, by torch-light, amidst the acclamations of his soldiers, and the rapturous cheers of the inhabitants, who gave vent to their transport in a general illumination, In this brilliant affair the French took 2,500 prisoners, besides 1000 killed or wounded, 11 guns and 100 caissons, while they themselves were only weakened by the loss of 800 men-"a wonderful achievement," says Alison, "to have been effected by a worn-out army, after nearly two months incessant marching and fighting; and two days after a disastrous defeat; but more memorable still, by one circumstance which gives it a peculiar interest-it was the LAST TOWN NAPOLEON EVER TOOK."

But, notwithstanding this gleam of sunshine, the dark clouds of adversity were now fast closing in around the French Emperor.

At Rheims, Napoleon gave a few days' rest to his wearied troops, but he allowed none to his own indefatigable mind. Despatches from all quarters were received, and during these days of physical repose the various concerns of his still large empire passed under his review; and his final resolution to reject the terms offered by the Allies at Chatillon was taken. Let us take a glance with the Emperor at one or two points before we record the final catastrophe of his fall.

In Italy, the superior forces of the Austrian commander, and the hostile proceedings of Murat, obliged the Viceroy Eugene, in January, 1814, to withdraw his eastern line of defence from the Adige to the Mincio, behind which he placed his troops with their right and left resting, respectively, on the strong fortresses of Mantua and Peschiera. During February, the Viceroy was driven back almost to the boundaries of Sardinia. Fouché, who was then governor of Rome and central Italy for Napoleon, having given up Tuscany to Murat, he advanced his troops, in the beginning of March, in concert with Lord William Bentinck, to the Po, but being much offended by a proclamation of the hereditary prince of Sicily, who accompanied Lord Bentinck, claiming the restoration of the throne of Naples, he slackened his efforts against Eugene, and concentrated his troops in Tuscany. Thus relieved from the pressure of the King of Naples, Eugene resumed active measures against the Austrians, under Marshal Bellegarde, on the Mincio; but nothing further of consequence took place until the war was terminated by the fall of the French Emperor, except the taking of Genoa, by Lord Bentinck with the Anglo Sicilian army, which fell on the 18th April, just before the news of Napoleon's dethronement arrived.

In the South-east of France, Marshal Augereau was arrested in his career of success against Count Babna, by the approach of the Army of the South under Prince Hesse-Homburg, in the begining of March, and compelled to concentrate his forces for the defence of Lyons. On the 18th March, the Austrians, under Prince HesseHomburg, fully 43,000 strong, made a general attack on the French line. The French fought bravely, and at some points gained considerable advantages, but were ultimately compelled to yield. Augereau retreated to

Limonet, and took post across the great road to Lyons, barring all access to that city, in the hope that he might be able to retard the enemy till the reinforcements ordered from Catalonia and Turin arrived. A severe conflict again took place, and continued till nightfall with varied success, but at the close of the action the progress of the enemy, though not decisive, was distinctly marked on all sides; and Augereau, despairing of being able to defend Lyons, evacuated the city during the night, and took the road to Valence. Next day, the Austrians entered, and on the 20th March the allied colours were seen waving on the walls of the second city of the empire.

After two months' repose, the contest was renewed in the South of France, between Soult and Wellington, on the 14th of February, 1814, but upon very unequal terms. Although Soult had improved the two months' respite with great assiduity, to increase his military force, by collecting and drilling the conscripts, yet Napoleon's necessities were so great on the Siene, that his drafts from the army of the south left the veteran Marshal's strength actually weakened instead of increased, at the commencement of hostilities. After deducting the necessary garrisons, he could not bring more than 40,000 men, many of them inexperienced, into the field, to withstand Wellington with 70,000 veteran Anglo-Portuguese troops, besides 30,000 Spaniards: in all 100,000 men, with 140 pieces of To compensate in some measure, however, for this inferiority of force, Soult enjoyed the advantage of the strongly fortified town of Bayonne.

cannon.

Having completed his preparations, Wellington determined to force the passage of the lower Adour, between Bayonne and the coast, and the better to en

able Hope, who commanded his left wing in this quarter, to accomplish this object, he resolved with his right wing under Hill, to attack the French left, and threaten to turn it by the sources of the rivers at the foot of the mountains, while Beresford, with the main body, menaced their centre. At daybreak on the 14th of February, Wellington's troops were all put in motion, to take up their respective positions. The attacks on the French left and centre were conducted with great vigour, and notwithstanding all Soult's efforts, and the bravery of his soldiers, they were driven back from post to post, till, on the 18th, they took up a strong position near Sauveterre behind the Gave. These vigorous proceedings of the right had the desired effect of withdrawing Soult's attention from the Lower Adour and of inducing him to move the bulk of his troops to the hights of Sauveterre on his left to defend the passage of the Gave. Hope, accordingly, after a pretty keen contest, succeeded on the night of the 22nd, in crossing the river, and by noon next day, the British were firmly established on the north bank of the Adour. Two days afterwards, Hope commenced the investment of Bayonne, while the centre and right, under Wellington's personal command, pursued their victorious course on the banks of the Gave; and Soult, not deeming his position at Sauveterre tenable against the superior force thus concentrating before it, drew back his whole army, amounting to 40,000 horse and foot with 40 guns, to a new position between Orthes on the left, and Dax on the right, leaving Bayonne with a garrison of 6,000 men to its own resources, At dawn on the 27th, Wellington attacked the French position at Orthes, and after a severe struggle, Soult was obliged to give way, and order a retreat, which was conducted for miles with great ability, till they found a refuge behind the stream

of the Luy-de-Bearn from the hard pursuit of the

victors.

Although the military trophies of the battle-field of Orthes were not so imposing as in some of Wellington's other victories, yet it was inferior to none of them in its moral and political consequences. The French lost 3,900 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners, and six pieces of cannon, and the Allies 2,300. But the moral effects of the victory were much more disastrous to the cause of Napoleon. The discouragement and demoralisation it produced in the French army were extreme. The conscripts, in great part ill affected, and all desponding in the cause, threw away their arms and deserted in hundreds. A month afterwards, the stragglers and missing were found to be still 3,000, which proved Soult weakened by this battle and its effects to the extent of fully 7,000 men-a serious and irreparable loss in bis circumstances. But its effects upon the south of France were still more important, and, in the critical state of the Emperor's affairs, proved decisive. By the line of Soult's retreat, which was in the direction of Toulouse, the great road to Bordeaux was left open. No force capable either of withstanding the invaders or of controlling public opinion, now existed from the Pyrenees to the Garonne; and the Royalists in the south-west provinces, relieved from the pressure which for twenty years had borne them down, were left at liberty to give expression to their inclinations, which soon found vent in a general revolt. Bordeaux, which was distinguished for its Royalist feelings, had been in the greatest state of excitement since the advance of the British army into the south of France held out the hope, that its citizens would ere long be relieved from the iron yoke of Napoleon's power. These feelings reached a perfect climax when the battle of Orthes opened the road to