On the 14th of May, previously appointed as the day of procession and solemn festival of the "Federates,"—operatives and artisans of Paris—the Emperor rode along their ranks, received their acclamations, and harangued them in his usual strain of eloquence. In the meantime, however, Fouché, Minister of Police, had already begun to hold traitorous communications with the Austrian government. In one instance Napoleon had discovered this fact, and had nearly caused him to be arrested; but he abstained, apparently from apprehension of the Republican party, amongst whom Fouché was a busy pretender.
The ceremony of the "Champ-de-Mai" took place on the 1st of June, in the open space facing the Military School. The Imperial and National Guards and troops of the line, amounting in all to 15,000 soldiers, were drawn up in squares in the Champ-de-Mars and an immense concourse of spectators thronged every vacant space from which a view of the scene could be gained. After a religious solemnity, a patriotic address was delivered to the Emperor by the electors of the departments, to which he replied: "Emperor, Consul, Soldier—I hold all from the people. In prosperity, in adversity, in the field of battle, in council, on the throne, in exile, France has been the sole object of all my thoughts and actions."
The Emperor then proceeded to the altar and took an oath to observe the new constitution, which had been adopted by upwards of a million and a half votes, and in which he was followed by his ministers and the electoral deputations. The ceremony concluded with the distribution of the eagles to the troops, and with loud and repeated acclamations, and cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" from the soldiers and multitude assembled. On the following day the Emperor gave a grand fête, in the gallery of the Louvre, to the deputies of the army and the electors, on which occasion he was again greeted with every manifestation of devotion and fidelity. On the 4th of June, Napoleon attended in person the opening of the Chambers and delivered addresses which were both firm, open and sensible.
By this time the Emperor had made most extraordinary progress in his preparations for war. The effective strength of the army had been raised to 365,000 men, of whom 117,000 were under arms, clothed, disciplined and ready to take the field. They were formed into seven grand corps, besides several corps of observation stationed along the whole line of the frontiers, which were then threatened on every side. What Napoleon now required was time to prepare the means of defense; but this his enemies were far from intending to allow.
Their immense armaments were already passing on towards the frontiers of France, in different lines, and at considerable intervals, for the convenience of subsistence. The Emperors of Russia and Austria, and the King of Prussia, had once more placed themselves at the head of their respective armies. The Austrians, amounting to 300,000 men, commanded in chief by Schwartzenberg, were divided into two bodies, one of which was to enter France by Switzerland, the other by the Upper Rhine. Two hundred thousand Russians were marching towards Alsace, under the Archduke Constantine. The Prussian army amounted to two hundred and thirty-six thousand men; of whom one half were already in the field. The minor states of Germany had furnished one hundred and fifty thousand; the Netherlands, fifty thousand; England, eighty thousand, including the king's German legion, and other troops in British pay, under the command of the Duke of Wellington;—in all 1,016,000 soldiers!
Among these hosts it was the army commanded by the Duke of Wellington, and the Prussians under Blucher, which were first in the field. They occupied Belgium and amounted to upwards of two hundred thousand men, of whom rather less than one half were ranged under the English commander-in-chief.
Return of Napoleon from Elba
Two plans of campaign presented themselves to the mind of Napoleon. One was to remain entirely on the defensive, leaving to the Allies the odium of striking the first blow against the liberties of nations. He believed that as they would not begin the invasion until the middle of July, it would be the middle of August before they could make their way through the fortresses, and appear in force before Lyons and Paris. Large armies, could, before that time, be concentrated by him under the walls of these two cities, and there the battles must be fought and decided. The second plan was to assume the offensive before the Allies had completed their operations, by marching into Belgium and attacking the armies of Wellington and Blucher. His numbers would be inferior, but his tactics would aim at preventing the junction of the two armies opposed to him and beating them separately, in which event Belgium would to a certainty rise and join his cause. He finally resolved on the latter plan of campaign. His calculations, were, in part, disturbed by a serious insurrection in La Vendée, which obliged him to send 20,000 men into that province, in order to quell it, and reduced his disposable forces to one hundred and twenty thousand men; but did not alter his determination. The army was put in motion, and every preparation made for the approaching struggle.