On the 31st of December, 1814, fourteen hundred and seven years after the Suevi, Vandals, and Burgundians crossed the Rhine and entered without opposition the defenceless provinces of Gaul, The Allied Powers Invade France. the united Prussians, Austrians, and Russians crossed the same river, and invaded the territories of the modern Cæsar. They rapidly advanced towards Paris, and Napoleon went forth from his capital to meet them. His cause, however, was now desperate: but he made great exertions, and displayed consummate abilities, so that the forces of his enemies were for a time kept at bay. Battles were fought and won by both sides, without decisive results. Slowly, but surely, the allied armies advanced, and gradually surrounded him. By the 30th of March, they were encamped on the heights of Montmartre; and Paris, defenceless and miserable, surrendered to the conquerors. They now refused to treat with Napoleon, who, a month before, at the conference of Chatillon, might have retained his throne, if he had consented to reign over the territories of France as they were before the Revolution. Napoleon retired to Fontainebleau; and, on the 4th of April, he consented to abdicate the throne he no longer could defend. His wife returned to her father's protection, and nearly every person of note or consideration abandoned him. On the 11th, he formally abdicated, and the house of Bourbon was restored. He himself retired to the Island of Elba, but was allowed two million five hundred thousand francs a year, the title of emperor, and four hundred soldiers as his body guard. His farewell address to the soldiers of his old guard, at Fontainebleau, was pathetic and eloquent. They retained their attachment amid general desertion and baseness.
Josephine did not long survive the fall of the hero she had loved, and with whose fortunes her own were mysteriously united. She died on the 28th, and her last hours were soothed by the presence of the Emperor Alexander, who promised to take her children under his protection. Of all the great monarchs of his age, he was the most extensively beloved and the most profoundly respected.
The allies showed great magnanimity and moderation after their victory. The monarchy of France was established nearly as it was before the Revolution, and the capital was not rifled of any of its monuments, curiosities, or treasures—not even of those which Napoleon had brought from Italy. Nor was there a military contribution imposed upon the people. The allies did not make war to destroy the kingdom of France, but to dethrone a monarch who had proved himself to be the enemy of mankind. The Peace of Paris. peace of Paris was signed by the plenipotentiaries of France, Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, on the 30th of April; and Christendom, at last, indulged the hope that the awful conflict had ended. The Revolution and its offspring Napoleon were apparently suppressed, after more than three millions of men had perished in the struggle on the part of France and of her allies alone.
Great changes had taken place in the sentiments of all classes, since the commencement of the contest, twenty years before, and its close excited universal joy. In England, the enthusiasm was unparalleled, and not easy to be conceived. The nation, in its gratitude to Wellington, voted him four hundred thousand pounds, and the highest military triumphs. It also conferred rewards and honors on his principal generals; for his successful operations in Spain were no slight cause of the overthrow of Napoleon.
But scarcely were these rejoicings terminated, before Napoleon escaped from Elba, and again overturned the throne of the Bourbons. The impolitic generosity and almost inconceivable rashness of the allies had enabled Napoleon to carry on extensive intrigues in Paris, and to collect a respectable force on the island of which he was constituted the sovereign; while the unpopularity and impolitic measures of the restored dynasty singularly favored any scheme which Napoleon might have formed. The disbanding of an immense military force, the humiliation of those veterans who still associated with the eagles of Napoleon the glory of France, the derangement of the finances, and the discontents of so many people thrown out of employment, naturally prepared the way for the return of the hero of Marengo and Austerlitz.
On the 26th of February, he gave a brilliant ball to the principal people of the island, and embarked the same evening, with eleven hundred troops, to regain the sceptre which had been wrested from him only by the united powers of Europe. On the Napoleon's Return to France. 1st of March, his vessels cast anchor in the Gulf of St. Juan, on the coast of Provence; and Napoleon immediately commenced his march, having unfurled the tricolored flag. As he anticipated he was welcomed by the people, and the old cry of "Vive l'Empereur" saluted his ears.
The court of the Bourbons made vigorous preparations of resistance, and the armies of France were intrusted to those marshals who owed their elevation to Napoleon. Soult, Ney, Augereau, Massena, Oudinot, all protested devotion to Louis XVIII.; and Ney promised the king speedily to return to Paris with Napoleon in an iron cage. But Ney was among the first to desert the cause of law and legitimacy, and threw himself into the arms of the emperor. He could not withstand the arts and the eloquence of that great hero for whose cause he had so long fought. The defection of the whole army rapidly followed. The king was obliged to fly, and Napoleon took possession of his throne, amid the universal transports of the imperial party in France.
The intelligence of his restoration filled Europe with consternation, rage, and disappointment, and greater preparations were made than ever to subdue a man who respected neither treaties nor the interests of his country. The unparalleled sum of one hundred and ten millions of pounds sterling was decreed by the British senate for various purposes, and all the continental powers made proportionate exertions. The genius of Napoleon never blazed so brightly as in preparing for his last desperate conflict with united Christendom; and, considering the exhaustion of his country, the forces which he collected were astonishing. Before the beginning of June, two hundred and twenty thousand veteran soldiers were completely armed and equipped; a great proof of the enthusiastic ardor which the people felt for Napoleon to the last.
The Duke of Wellington had eighty thousand effective men under his command, and Marshal Blucher one hundred and ten thousand. These forces were to unite, and march to Paris through Flanders. It was arranged that the Austrians and Russians should invade France first, by Befort and Huningen, in order to attract the enemy's principal forces to that quarter.