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the 15th of June, beat the two armies, Anglo-Hollandaise and Prusso-Saxon, then in Belgium, before the Russian, Austrian, Bavarian, and Wirtemburg armies could arrive.

Napoleon hesitated a considerable time, as to the plan he should adopt; but as an insurrection in La Vendée necessitated him to detach troops from the army of the north, his force was reduced to a hundred and twenty thousand men. These considerations induced him to adopt a third plan, viz. to attack, on the 15th of June, the AngloHollandaise and Prusso-Saxon armies; to separate and beat them; or, if he failed, to retire with his army under the walls of Paris. Still he knew that the allies, thus surprised on the 15th of June, would have been in complete readiness by the 1st of July, and that their march upon Paris would be much more rapid after a victory than otherwise; and that the French army was still much inferior to those under Field-marshal Blucher and the duke of Wellington. But Napoleon also recollected, that, in the preceding year, 1814, the French, with forty thousand combatants, had faced the army commanded by the same Blucher, and that under Prince Schwartzenberg, where the two emperors of Russia and Austria were present, with the king of Prussia; that these combined armies, two hundred and forty thousand strong, had been beaten; that, at the battle of Montmirail, the corps of Sacken, Yorck, and Kleist, forty thousand in number, had been attacked, beaten, and drove beyond the Marne, by sixteen thousand French; whilst Marshal Blucher, with twenty thousand men, was held in check by the corps under the

duke of Ragusa, consisting of no more than four thousand men; and that Prince Schwartzenberg's army, of a hundred thousand, was restrained by the corps of the dukes of Reggio and Tarentum, with General Gerard's corps, not exceeding eighteen thousand.

CHAPTER XI.

State of the Chambers-Opposition to the Views of NapoleonEffect of his Speech-Reflections-Formation of a CouncilReport on the moral State of France-Fouché sold to the Bour bons-Error of Napoleon in employing his former Generals— Proclamation to the Army-Treachery discovered among the officers-Affairs of Charleroi, Marchiennes, Fleurus, QuatreBras, Ligny, and St. Amand-Battle of Waterloo-Movements of Marshal Grouchy.

THE approaching opening of the chambers excited much apprehension in the mind of Napoleon; he could not divest himself of his old prejudices. The remembrance of the former French assemblies haunted his imagination. "He feared," says one of his friends, "that the opposition inherent in representative governments would not be rightly comprehended in France; that it would make a bad impression, and clog the sovereign power!"

At last, tormented by the sudden application of the popular system, and the dispositions which the deputies inspired, he rested all his security on the chamber of peers.

Napoleon hoped that the chamber of deputies would elect his brother Lucien as their president; but, consistent with the new tone of independence which the nation had assumed, their choice fell upon M. Lanjuinais, a person by no means agreeable to the emperor. The chamber was also displeased at not being furnished with the list of the new peers, which Napoleon purposely kept back, to see if they would elect Lucien as their president. M. Dupin maintained, that "the oath to be taken to the sovereign by the nation, to be valid and le

gitimate, should not be administered by virtue of a decree that emanated from the will of the prince, but by virtue of a law, which is the will of the nation constitutionally expressed." But, though this proposal was rejected, it extorted the confession from Bonaparte, that he perceived with sorrow, that the deputies were not disposed to act with him, and that they let no opportunity slip of seeking a quarrel. "I will act," said he, "with them as long as I can; but if they think to make of me a King Log, or a second Louis XVI., they are under a mistake. I am not a man to receive the law from counsellors, or to allow my head to be cut off by factionaries."

On the 7th of June, he opened the chambers, and received the oaths of the peers. His speech made a deep impression on the assembly, and was received with shouts of "Long live the emperor !"

Napoleon, as he had announced, set out to join the army in the night of the 12th of June, and inspected on the way the defensive works carrying on at Soissons and Laon; and on the 13th he arrived at Avesnes. His looks, said one of his retinue, were frequently directed towards Paris. Placed as it were between two fires, he seemed less to fear the enemies he was going to contend with, than those he had left behind him. As it was thought the untoward disposition of the chambers would increase daily, it is possible that Napoleon resolved to commence the war, vainly hoping that fortune would favour his arms, and that victory would reconcile him to the deputies, or supply him with the means of reducing them to order.

The government, during his absence, consisted of a council, composed of Prince Joseph, president;

Prince Lucien; ministers-Prince Cambaceres, the prince of Echmuhl, the duke of Vicenza, the duke of Gaeta, the duke of Decres, the duke of Otranto, Count Mollien, Count Carnot, and others. Napoleon said to them, "To-night I set off: do your duty the French army and I will do ours. I recommend to you union, zeal, and energy."

It is evident that Napoleon was as far from being completely satisfied with his ministers as he was with the deputies; for, when the duke of Vicenza solicited the favour of attending him to the army, "If I do not leave you at Paris," said he, "on whom can I depend ?"

The day after his departure, the ministers of the interior and for foreign affairs repaired to the chamber of peers, and M. Carnot laid before them the situation of the emperor and the empire.

On the 17th, a new report, made to the emperor by the minister of police, on the moral state of France, was communicated to the two chambers. "Sire," said this minister, "it is my duty to tell you the whole truth. Our enemies are encouraged by instruments without and supporters within.” Bordeaux, Marseilles, Toulouse, and the left bank of the Loire, Caen, and other places, were mentioned as highly disaffected. Fouché, who made this traitorous report, was not believed by many of the deputies. They imagined it had been drawn up by order of the emperor, with the intention of alarming them, and rendering them more docile to his will; but Fouché had distorted facts, with the design of giving encouragement to the Bourbons, to whom he was sold, and of intimidating, cooling, and dividing the partisans of Napoleon.

The whole army was superb, and full of ardour;

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