"Your Emperor, who was my ally, came into the very heart of my States to bring with him evils of which the traces will long remain: a just defense has brought me here. I am far from wishing to return to France the wrongs which she has done me. I am just, and I know that the French: are not to blame. The French are my friends, and I wish to prove to them that I have come to return good for evil. Napoleon is my only enemy. I promise my special protection to the city of Paris; I shall protect and preserve all public institutions; I shall let only picked troops remain there; I shall preserve your National Guard, which is composed of the pick of your citizens. It is for yourselves to ensure your happiness in the future; you must give yourselves a government which will procure your repose and that of Europe. It is for you to express your wish: you will always find me ready to second your efforts."
These words were punctually fulfilled: the joy of victory surmounted every other interest in the eyes of the Allies. What must have been Alexander's feelings when he caught sight of the domes of the buildings of that town where no foreigner had ever entered except to admire us, to revel in the marvels of our civilization and our intelligence; of that inviolable city, defended by its great men during twelve Centuries; of that glorious capital which Louis XIV. seemed still to protect with his shade and Bonaparte with his return!
[86] Alcibiades (450-404 B.C.) started on his ill-fated expedition to Sicily in 416 B.C.—T.
[87] Alcinous King of the Phæacians, who welcomed Ulysses in the island of Corcyra.—T.
[88] Pericles (circa 494-429 B.C.) was Alcibiades' uncle and instructor.—T.
[89] Aspasia had married Pericles after having been his mistress.—T.
[90] Charles XIV. King of Sweden (1764-1844), as General Bernadotte, was adopted by Charles XIII., abjured Catholicism, fought against France in 1813, and succeeded in 1818.—T.
[91] Attila, King of the Huns (d. 453). He claimed half the Western Empire as the betrothed husband of Honoria.—T.
[92] Justa Grata Honoria (b. circa 418), a Roman princess, daughter of Constantius III., Emperor of the West. She was disgraced and kept guarded because of her intrigue with Eugenius, and is said to have sent to Attila to claim her as his bride.—T.