France, in consequence of Bonaparte's failures and abdication, being reduced to her former limits, Holland was soon after enlarged by the addition of the Catholic Netherlands. The emperor Francis showed no reluctance in getting rid of a detached territory, which had long been more of a burden than a benefit. On the 1st of August, 1814, a proclamation by Baron de Vincent, the Austrian governor, informed the people that Belgium was to be given up into the hands of the sovereign prince of the Netherlands; and the prince of Orange soon after assured his new subjects, that the destination of these provinces was only a part of a system, by which the allied sovereigns hoped to ensure to the nations of Europe a long period of prosperity and repose.

It may be necessary to mention here, that Joa chim Murat, having effected his escape from Italy, retired to Provence, in the south of France, while Madame Murat and her family found an asylum in the Austrian states.

The results of the battle of Waterloo, in the following year, obliged Murat to quit France; and in September, 1815, he appeared in the island of Corsica, where he assembled a number of partisans to assist him in invading Naples, and to recover the throne from which he had been expelled. At mid-day, on the 8th of October, he disembarked in Calabria with a suite of thirty persons, and marched without interruption to the first village, where, hoping to excite a rising of the people, Murat exclaimed, "I am Joachim, your king; it is your duty to acknowledge me." These words served to rouse the people to arms, not to aid, but to crush a desperate enterprise, that threatened to

involve their country in the horrors of a civil war. Murat and his suite sought refuge in the mountains, and afterwards endeavoured to open themselves a way to the coast, but were made prisoners. Immediately after his capture, Murat was brought to trial before a military commission, by which he was condemned to be shot, in company with his followers; this accordingly took place in the afternoon of the 13th of October, and thus released the apprehensions of the reigning family for the safety of their throne.

Such was the miserable end of him who had been one of the most active causes of Napoleon's reverses. In 1814, his courage, it was admitted, might have saved Napoleon from the abyss in which his treachery involved his former sovereign. He neutralized the vice-king Eugene, on the Po, and fought against him; whereas, by uniting together, they might have forced the passes of the Tyrol, made a descent into Germany, and, arriving ɔn the Rhine, might have destroyed the rear of the allies, and cut off their retreat from France.

The emperor, while he was at Elba, avoided all communication with Murat, as king of Naples ; but, on departing for France, he wrote to inform him, that, being about to resume possession of his throne, he felt pleasure in declaring to him, that all their past differences were at an end. He pardoned his late conduct, tendered him his friendship, sent some one to sign the guarantee of his states, and recommended him to maintain a good understanding with the Austrians, and content himself merely with keeping them in check, should they attempt to march upon France. Murat, at this

moment, actuated by the sentiments of his early youth, would receive neither guarantee nor signa ture. He declared, that the emperor's promise and friendship were sufficient for him, and that he would prove he had been more unfortunate than guilty. His devotedness and ardour, he added, would obtain for him oblivion for the past.

"Murat," said the emperor, "was doomed to be our bane. He ruined us by forsaking us, and he afterwards ruined us by too warmly espousing our cause. I had forbidden him to act; for, after I had returned from Elba, there was an understanding between the emperor of Austria and me, that, if I gave him up Italy, he would not join the coalition against me. This I had promised, and would have fulfilled; but that imbecille, in spite of the direction to remain quiet, advanced with his rabble into Italy, where he was blown away like a puff. The emperor of Austria, seeing this, concluded directly that it was by my order."

In the meanwhile, Louis, who had ascended the throne of France, found himself surrounded with difficulties. The splendid military despotism, which, for several years, had dazzled his country, had hushed, but not destroyed, the revolutionary parties. A great mass of past glory still adhered to the name of Napoleon; and his partisans, and even his troops, had no difficulty in finding reasons for his failures in unforeseen circumstances, and in the perfidious desertion of his former allies. The pride of the nation, co-operating with this feeling, spurned at the idea of being conquered. As soon, therefore, as the joy of present relief from danger had subsided, a spirit of discontent manifested it

self in animosity against the allies, and in disaffection to a government which they considered had been imposed upon them by foreign arms.

This

spirit was so strong in the capital, and in some of the departments, that it required all the vigilance of the government to prevent its breaking out into open insurrection.

CHAPTER X.

State of Parties in France at the Commencement of 1815-Situation of Napoleon at the Isle of Elba-Change in his Habits-Learns the Discontents of the French People-The Symbol of the Violet-Blindness and Insensibility of the Bourbons-Removal of Bonaparte in Agitation at Vienna-This prevented by his own Determination to quit Elba, and return to France-His actual Departure on the 26th of February-His Fortitude and Presence of Mind-Lands, and takes up his first Night's Quarters in a Field of Olives-His March to Paris-Re-establishment of the imperial Government-Activity and Bustle of the hundred Duys-The Champ de Mai-Plans for the ensuing Campaign.

THE state of parties in France, at the commencement of the year 1815, still indicated alarming differences in sentiments and opinions among large classes of the community. The military, in particular, deeply.felt the humiliation of the French arms. A recent ordinance for the reduction of all officers, not immediately in employ, to half-pay, combined with the recall of the Swiss guards to the capital, and the exclusion of the old imperial guard from Paris, swelled the tide of discontent to an alarming height. To add to such stimulants, already too strong, a religious ceremony, calculated to revive a recollection of the errors and crimes of the revolution, and by no means adapted to the enlightened spirit of the times, was performed on the 21st of January, the anniversary of the execution of Louis XVI. On the 18th, the remains of the bodies of the king and queen were taken up from the cemetery of the Magdalene, where they had lain two-and-twenty years. They were then enclosed in a large box, which was fastened, and seal