Belliard, walking by his side, told him of the events of the day. Still the Emperor insisted on continuing his journey although again informed there was no longer an army in Paris; that the regulars were all coming behind, and that neither they nor he himself, having left the city in consequence of a convention, could possibly return to it. It seemed impossible for him to comprehend the astounding intelligence of Belliard who said; "Paris is surrounded by one hundred and thirty thousand enemies."
Napoleon bade Belliard turn with his cavalry and follow him. "Come" said he "we must return to Paris,—nothing goes aright when I am away—they do nothing but blunder!" As he progressed he continued, "You should have held out longer—you should have raised Paris—they cannot like the Cossacks—they would surely have defended their walls. Go! Go! I see everyone has lost his senses. This comes of employing fools and cowards."
The Emperor and Belliard continued Paris-ward, until they were met, a mile beyond the post-house, by the first column of the retreating infantry. Their commander, General Curial, reiterated what Belliard had said. "In proceeding to Paris," he said, "you rush on to death or captivity." The Emperor then became at once perfectly composed and abandoned his design, gave orders that the troops, as they arrived, should draw up behind the little river Essonne, and dispatched Caulaincourt to Paris to ascertain if it were yet possible for him to interpose in the treaty. Having taken this measure he turned back towards Fontainebleau.
Caulaincourt reached the Czar's quarters at Pantin early in the morning of the 31st of March where he found a deputation from the municipality of Paris waiting to present the keys of the city and invoke the protection of the conqueror. The Czar received them immediately on arriving and promised that the capital, and all within it, should be treated with perfect consideration.
Caulaincourt then found his way to Alexander; but he was dismissed immediately. The Allies had practically agreed in favoring the restoration of the Bourbons, ere any part of their forces entered the capital, and a proclamation signed, "Schwartzenberg, Commander of the Chief of the Allied Armies" was distributed throughout Paris in which there were many phrases not to be reconciled with any other position. The royalists welcomed with exultation the dawn of the 31st and issued proclamations of their own appealing for restoration, besides parading the streets without interruption from either the civil authorities or of the National Guard, although decorated with the symbols of their cause.
At noon the first of the Allied troops began to pass the barrier and enter the city, and the triumphal procession lasted for several hours. Fifty thousand troops, horse, foot and artillery, marched along the boulevards and in their midst appeared the youthful Czar and the King of Prussia, followed by a dazzling suite of princes, ambassadors and generals.
The Czar repaired to the hotel of Talleyrand where a council was convened. Alexander and Frederick were urged to re-establish the House of Bourbon. They hesitated: "It is but a few days ago" said the Czar, "since a column of five or six thousand troops suffered themselves to be cut in pieces before my eyes, when a single cry of 'Vive le Roi!' would have saved them." One of those present answered "Such things will go on as long as you continue to treat with Bonaparte even although at this moment he has a halter round his neck." The Czar did not understand this allusion until it was explained to him that the Parisians were busy pulling down Napoleon's statue from the top of the great pillar in the Place Vendome.
Alexander now signed a proclamation asserting the resolution of the Allies "to treat no more with Napoleon Bonaparte, or any of his family." That same evening the Czar, by his minister, declared that "Louis XVIII will immediately ascend the throne." A few days later myriads of hands were busy in every corner of the city pulling down the statues and pictures and effacing the arms of Napoleon.
Caulaincourt returned to Fontainebleau in the night between the 2d and 3d of April and informed Napoleon that the monarchs he had so often spared, and whose royal destinies he could have closed after Austerlitz, Jena, and Wagram, refused to treat with him,—and demanded his abdication. He added that the Allies had not yet, in his opinion, made up their minds to resist the scheme of a regency, but that he was commissioned to say that nothing could be arranged as to ulterior questions, until he, the Emperor, had formally abdicated.