forth that, "to prevent the country from becoming a prey to foreigners, it is indispensable to nationalize the war: and this cannot be done unless the people and their sovereign are united by closer bonds. It is necessary to give a satisfactory answer to our enemies' accusation of a desire for aggrandizement; and there would be magnanimity in the formal declaration that the independence of the French people, and the integrity of its territory, is all that we contend for. It is the duty of the government to propose measures which may at once repel the invaders, and secure peace on a durable basis. These measures would be immediately efficacious, if the French people were persuaded that their monarch, in good faith, aspires only to the glory of peace, and that their blood will no longer be shed but to defend our country and secure the protection of the laws. But these words, 'peace' and 'country,' will resound in vain, if the institutions which secure these blessings are not guarantied. It appears to the committee, therefore, to be indispensable that, while the government proposes the most prompt and efficacious measures for the security of the country, his majesty should be supplicated to maintain entire the execution of the laws which guaranty to the French liberty and security, and to the nation the free exercise of its political rights.

"Let us attempt no dissimulation: our evils are at their height; our frontiers are menaced by the enemy; commerce is annihilated; agriculture languishes, and industry is expiring: there is no Frenchman who has not, in his family or his fortune, some cruel wound. The facts are notorious, and can never be too often repeated. Agriculture, for the last five years, has gained nothing; the fruit of its toil is annually dissipated by the treasury, which unceasingly devours everything to satisfy the cravings of ruined and famished armies. The conscription has become a frightful scourge for all France. Since 1810, the harvest of death has been reaped three times in each year. A barbarous war, without an object, cuts off all the youth of the land. Have, then, the tears of mothers and the blood of whole generations become the patrimony of kings? It is fit that nations should have a moment's breathing-time, that thrones should be consolidated, and that our enemies should be deprived of the argument that we are constantly striving to inflame the world with the torch of revolution."

The reading of the report, from which these passages are extracted, raised a storm in the Chamber. It was so long since liberty and political rights had been discussed within those walls, that the courtiers started as if they had heard treason proposed. The president interrupted the reading. "Orator," said he, "what you say is unconstitutional." "In what?" demanded Lainé; "there is nothing unconstitutional here but your presence!" After some discussion the debate was adjourned to the 30th, and an overwhelming majority voted an address to the Emperor, and decreed the printing and circulation of Lainé's report. Napoleon, however, ordered the printing to be stopped, refused to receive the address, and compelled the Council of State to issue a decree dissolving the Chamber of Deputies.

The presence of external danger at this period, extorted from Napoleon two important concessions in foreign diplomacy, which, of themselves, implied a total abandonment, on his part, of the chief objects of his Continental policy, and were calculated to effect an entire change in the relations of the European states to each other.

The former of these was the treaty of Valençay, by which the French Emperor, abandoning the pretensions of his brother Joseph, agreed to liberate Ferdinand VII. from his imprisonment, and restore him to the throne of Spain. It was further stipulated in this instrument, that the British troops should retire from the Spanish territory; that Port Mahon and Ceuta should never be ceded to Great Britain; that the contracting parties should guaranty each other's dominions, and maintain the rights of their respective flags, agreeably to the conditions of the treaty of Utrecht; and that the late monarch should receive an annuity of thirty millions of reals. It was also provided, that the treaty should be binding when ratified by the regency established at Madrid. The regency and the Cortes, however, had the sense and firmness to refuse their ratification: Ferdinand was, nevertheless, sent back to Spain.

Napoleon's second concession was, a consent to liberate the pope from his protracted and painful confinement at Fontainebleau. The detention of the Supreme Pontiff had long scandalized all Christendom, and the French Emperor had felt the consequence of the general indignation it excited, in the inveterate hostility of the Peninsular War, as well as in the readiness with which Austria had joined her forces to those of the European confederacy. With the twofold purpose, therefore, of taking this argument from his enemies, and of propitiating Austria-for he never ceased to expect secret favor from that power, by reason of his matrimonial alliance-he made overtures to the pope early in January, 1814, offering to restore the territory of the Holy See as far as Perugio. The pope replied, that the restitution of his dominions was an act of simple justice which could not be a fit subject of treaty, especially while he remained in captivity. He added, "Possibly, by reason of our faults, we are unworthy again to behold the Eternal City; but our successors will recover the dominions that appertain to them. You may assure the Emperor that we feel no hostility toward him; religion does not permit it; and, when we are at Rome, we shall do what is suitable." The necessities of Napoleon, however, forced him to disembarrass himself of the presence of the pope, even though he could not extort from him anything with which to prop up the falling Empire of France; accordingly, on the 22nd of January, his holiness was conveyed from Fontainebleau toward the southern departments. Yet even in this compulsory act, the grasping disposition of Napoleon was rendered apparent: for, on various frivolous pretexts, he threw obstacles in the way of the pontiff's journey, hoping that a change of fortune in the field would still enable him to recall and retain so notable a prisoner.

Murat was at this time in negotiation both with Napoleon and with the allied powers; his purpose being at all hazards to maintain his throne, by uniting himself to whichever of the belligerent parties was, in his judgment, likely to prove successful. He eventually came to terms with the allies, and concluded a treaty with them on the 11th of January, by which they guarantied his dominions, and he agreed to join their forces on the Po with thirty thousand men. As soon as this treaty was signed, he marched an army, twenty thousand strong, against Rome, and drove the French garrison into the castle of St. Angelo.

In the general anxiety to retain dignities and possessions, even Eugene Beauharnois became infected with the disloyalty of the period. He indeed publicly averred, that he would never separate himself from his

benefactor, yet in secret he received overtures from the allies, and sent a plenipotentiary to Chatillon to negotiate for his separate interests. His purposes were eventually defeated; but this was owing to the impossibility of reconciling his pretensions with the ambitious views of Austria, not to any disinclination on his part to desert the cause of Napoleon.

A more honorable constancy, at least in intention, was exhibited in the north of Europe: but the march of events could not be controlled; and the most faithful allies of France were compelled to range themselves on the side of the European Confederacy. The Danes, jealous of Russia to the last degree, and hostile toward England for twice invading her shores and conquering her capital, entertained strong predilections for the French alliance. Nevertheless, separated from the armies of Napoleon by the evacuation of Germany; unable to succor or derive aid from the corps of Davoust blockaded in Hamburg; menaced by the forces of Bernadotte on the south, and the fleets of England on the north, the cabinet of Copenhagen had no alternative but submission, even at the expense of severing Norway from their dominions. A treaty was therefore concluded between Denmark and the allies, on the 14th of January, stipulating that the former should join the coalition against France, and furnish for the common cause an army, the strength of which should thereafter be determined. The King of Denmark agreed to the cession of Norway to Sweden; the King of Sweden engaging to maintain inviolate the rights and privileges of its inhabitants; and Denmark received in exchange the Duchy of Fomerania, and the island of Rugen.

The allied congress at Frankfort, after adjusting the pretensions, determining the reclamations, and soothing the jealousies of the numerous princes of the Rhenish Confederacy, had a delicate and complicated task to fulfil in combining their several powers into one effective league for the prosecution of the war. The general enthusiasm, however, rendered these difficulties less formidable than they would have been at any other period; and the previous organization of Napoleon presented a system, already complete and of skilful construction, which was now applied against himself. By two treaties, concluded at Frankfort on the 18th and 24th of November, 1813, the important objects were secured of providing for the maintenance of the Grand Army, and regulating the contingents to be furnished by the German princes who had joined the Confederacy. Each of these princes agreed to procure at once, on his own credit, a sum equal to the gross revenue of his dominions: and the sum thus raised exceeded seventeen millions of florins. The contingent of each state was rated at double that which it had furnished to the Confederation of the Rhine; one-half to consist of troops of the line, and the other half of landwehr, or militia: in addition to this, corps of volunteers were allowed to be raised, and the landsturm, or levy en masse, was organized in all countries that seemed to require such extraordinary precautions. The troops of the line thus levied, independent of the Bavarian forces, thirtyfive thousand strong, amounted to more than a hundred thousand, besides an equal number of landwehr. Of these, Saxony furnished twenty thousand; Hanover, twenty thousand; Hesse, twelve thousand; Wirtemberg, twelve thousand; and Baden, ten thousand; the smaller provinces completed the remainder.

The accession of Switzerland to the Alliance, which took place on the 29th of December, resulted rather from necessity than from voluntary

action-the allied forces having first entered the Swiss territories in great strength, and insisted on the coöperation of the Helvetic Confederacy. Thus adjured, a majority of the deputies of the old Cantons, Uri, Schwytz, Lucerne, Zurich, Glarus, Zug, Fribourg, Bale, Schaffhausen and Appenzel, annulled the constitution introduced by Napoleon, and promul. gated the principle that no one Canton should be subject to another Canton a declaration which, by virtually raising the hitherto dependent districts of St. Gall, Thurgovia, Argovia, and the Pays de Vaud, to the rank of independent members of the Confederacy, laid the foundation of a more equal government in future times.

The forces which the allied powers had assembled by the end of December, to coöperate in the projected invasion of France, were thus disposed. The Grand Army, still under the immediate direction of Schwartzenberg, numbered two hundred and sixty thousand combatants, and was destined to act on the side of Switzerland and Franche Compté, where there were no fortresses except Besançon, Huningen, and Sarre Louis. The second army, still called the army of Silesia, under the orders of Blucher, amounted to a hundred and thirty-seven thousand men, and occupied the northeastern frontier of France, between Mayence and Coblentz, and threatened it on the side of Champagne and the Vosges mountains. The third army, under Bernadotte, mustering a hundred and seventy-four thousand soldiers, lay on the Lower Rhine, between Cologne and Dusseldorf, with the iron barrier of the Netherlands, yet in the enemy's hands, directly in their front. Besides these immense masses, the allies had collected, or were collecting, reserves from the various states of the Confederacy, to the number of no less than two hundred and thirty-five thousand men: these, with eighty thousand under Bellegarde, destined to act in the north of Italy, and a hundred and forty thousand British, Portuguese and Spaniards under Wellington in Bearn and Catalonia, formed a grand total of ONE MILLION AND TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND MEN in arms against France. All the troops, of which this stupendous host was composed, were not yet present in the field, although they could be eventually relied on: but a large proportion of the whole were actually organized for efficient operations.

:

Napoleon could bring but an inadequate force to oppose this enormous array; his total musters at all points, scarcely exceeded two hundred and fifty thousand men for the defence of the Empire. They were thus distributed fifty thousand, under Eugene in Italy, maintained a doubtful defensive against the Austrians; a hundred thousand, under Soult, in Bearn, and Suchet, in Catalonia, struggled against Wellington; and Napoleon had at his disposal but a hundred and ten thousand to resist the invasion of the allies on the Rhine. In explanation of the small numbers of these forces, it remains to be said, that the recent conscriptions had, by reason of evasion or desertion on the one hand, and the actual deficiency of male population on the other, almost utterly failed.

CHAPTER XLV.

FIRST CAMPAIGN OF 1814.

ON the night of December 20th, 1813, the army of Schwartzenberg, two hundred and sixty thousand strong, passed the Rhine, between Shaffhaussen and Bale, and overspread the adjacent districts of Switzerland and France. The several corps soon separated themselves under their different leaders, and took the directions assigned them in the plan of the campaign. Bubna, with the left wing, marched toward Geneva; the centre, under Hesse-Homberg, Colloredo, Prince Louis of Lichtenstein, Giulay and Bianchi, proceeded by the great road of Vesnoul toward Langres; while Wrede, the Prince Royal of Wirtemberg, and Wittgenstein, with the right wing, moved across Lorraine and Franche Compté, until they gained the line of the centre on the road to Langres. Bubna reached Geneva on the 30th, and the garrison of that town capitulated, on condition of being sent to France; detachments of his corps afterward readily made themselves masters of the passes of the Simplon and the Great St. Bernard; thus interposing between France and Italy, and cutting off Napoleon's communications with Eugene. The centre, meanwhile, pressed forward through Vesnoul and invested Besançon, Befort and Huningen; and Victor, unable to withstand such masses, fell back from the defiles of the Vosges mountains. toward Champagne. The Emperor in vain dispatched Mortier to the support of Victor; their united forces were inadequate to make head against the invaders; and, on the 16th of January, Langres-the most valuable post, in a strategetical point of view, in the East of France—was abandoned by the two marshals and occupied by the allies.

The army of Blucher commenced the passage of the Rhine, at several points, on the 31st of December. Sacken, with one division, crossed at Manheim by means of a flotilla assembled at the confluence of the Neckar. D'York and Langeron passed on a bridge of boats at Caubé, near Bacharach; and St. Priest forced his way across opposite Coblentz. In one of the squares of the last mentioned town, stood a monument erected by the prefect to commemorate the occupation of Moscow by the French. Its inscription ran thus: "To the Great Napoleon, in honor of the Immortal Campaign of 1812." Colonel Mardeuke, who took command of Coblentz, instead of destroying this monument, embellished it with the following additional inscription: "Seen and approved by the Russian commander of Coblentz, in 1813." Blucher pressed on with great impetuosity, taking, successively, Kayserbautern, Nancy, Brienne and St. Dizier, which last place he gained on the 25th of January.

Indeed, within a month from the invasion of the French territory, nearly one third of its extent had been wrested by the allies from the grasp of Napoleon. The army of Silesia had conquered the country from the Rhine to the Marne, crossed the Sarre, the Moselle and the Meuse, passed the formidable defiles of the Vosges and Hundswick mountains, and descended into the plains of Champagne. Schwartzenberg had crossed the Upper Rhine, traversed part of Switzerland, surmounted the lofty ridge