On the 2nd of April, the Senate, by a solemn decree, dethroned the Emperor, and absolved the army and the people from their oaths of allegiance. The legislative body, at a subsequent meeting of seventy-seven of its members, confirmed these acts of the Senate. Declarations of acquiescence in the decree, and of adhesion to the course of the government now came rapidly in from all points. The public bodies of Paris transmitted addresses filled with invectives against Napoleon, and as the news reached the provinces, it was quickly responded to by proclamations of the downfall of the tyrant, and the cordial approval by the people of the new order of things. Still, not a word was said by the constituted authorities concerning the return of the Bourbons. On the contrary, the persons appointed to fill the principal offices in the new government, were almost all drawn from the Republican party: and in this, Talleyrand showed his profound knowledge of human nature: he could gain the Republicans only through the medium of their interests, but he was sure of the Royalists from the force of their affections.

The next important consideration was, to ascertain the temper of the French army; for although its numbers were so greatly reduced, it might still, with Napoleon at its head, exert a powerful influence on the destinies of the nation. The matter was not long in suspense. The Moniteur of April 7th, contained an official correspondence between Schwartzenberg and Marmont, in which the latter declared his adhesion to the new gov ernment, on condition that the life and personal freedom of the Emperor should be secured, and a fitting asylum provided for the defeated sovereign, in some place to be designated by the allied powers; and that such of the French troops as, in virtue of the present convention, might pass over to the allies, should be furnished with secure quarters in Normandy. These conditions were conceded, and Marmont's entire corps entered the allied lines, where they were received with acclamation.

When intelligence of these proceedings reached Napoleon at Fontainebleau, he was greatly exasperated, and issued orders to the soldiers yet under his command to advance immediately on Paris: but his marshals, who had everything to lose, and nothing to gain by a renewal of hostilities, strongly opposed the movement, as desperate and unavailing against such a multitude of foes. Their representations and arguments finally prevailed, and the Emperor signed an abdication in favor of his son, and appointing Marie Louise as regent. He then sent Caulaincourt, with Ney and Macdonald, to Paris, to obtain from the conquerors their approval of this instrument. The efforts of these ambassadors, however, were unavailing: the allied powers unanimously decided that the sentence of dethronement pronounced by the Senate could not be disturbed, and they avowed their determination not to negotiate with Napoleon, nor with any of his family. Caulaincourt and Macdonald, finding it impossible to accomplish anything for their Emperor, returned to sympathize with his misfortunes; but Ney was more flexible. As feeble and irresolute in political life, as he was bold and persevering in the battle-field, he with little hesitation joined the party of Talleyrand; and his formal adhesion to the new government was promulged in the columns of the Moniteur.

In truth, during the four days following the declaration of the allies that they would not treat with any member of the Napoleon dynasty, the cause of the Bourbons completely triumphed. The voice in their favor, which at first emanated from a few devoted adherents, had now swelled

into a mighty shout, from nearly all the population of the capital. Nevertheless, the people were not all moved by a chivalrous feeling of loyalty, or an abstract repentance for the crimes of the Revolutiondeliverance from evil was their prevalent and all-controlling desire.

When Macdonald and Caulaincourt returned to Fontainebleau, and reported the refusal of the allies to negotiate with them, Napoleon gave vent to a violent burst of anger; but, as on a previous occasion, his counsellors gradually brought him to a cooler examination of his predicament, and at last prevailed on him to sign an unconditional surrender of the throne. This instrument was immediately transmitted to Paris, and a formal treaty between Napoleon and the allies was drawn up, and subscribed on the 11th of April. Napoleon, by this treaty, renounced the Empire of France and the Kingdom of Italy, for himself and his descendants: but he was permitted to retain the title of Emperor, and the titles of prince and princess were conceded to his brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces. The island of Elba, selected by himself as his place of residence, was erected into a principality in his favor; the Duchy of Parma and Placentia was secured to the Empress Marie Louise and her son, in full sovereignty. The sum of two and a half millions of francs was provided for the annual income of Napoleon, and two millions more were inscribed on the great book of France, to descend to his heirs after his decease. A million of francs, yearly, was also inscribed for the use of Josephine. The princes and princesses were allowed to retain all their movable estate; but the furniture of the palace and the crown jewels were held for France. Fif teen hundred of the Old Guard were to escort the Emperor to his place of embarkation; and he was at liberty to take with him four hundred soldiers for his body-guard. The Poles in the service of France were suffered to return to their own country, with their arms and baggage. The treaty bore the signatures of Caulaincourt, Macdonald, Ney, Metternich, Nesselrode, and Hardenberg. Lord Castlereagh, on the part of England, acceded to this treaty; "but to be binding on his Britannic Majesty, only with respect to his own acts, not with respect to the acts of third parties."

At noonday on the 20th of April, the Emperor took leave of his Old Guard, who were drawn up in the court of the palace, and he set out on his journey, accompanied by four commissioners on the part of the allies: General Koller, for Austria; General Schonvaloff, for Russia; Colonel Campbell, for England; and Count Waldbourg-Truches for Prussia. He was received with respect and in some cases with enthusiasm, by the inhabitants on the route from Fontainebleau to Lyons; but, after passing the latter city, he began to experience proofs of the fickleness of his subjects and of the general indignation produced by his oppressive government. At Valence, he saw the walls covered with a proclamation of Augereau, denouncing his reign and dynasty; and although the troops were in array to receive him, they all wore the white cockade: at Orange, loud cries of "vive le roi!" "vive Bourbon!" greeted his ears; and at Avignon, he found his statues thrown down from their pedestals. As he continued his journey to the south, the general disaffection so increased that on more than one occasion his life was in danger. He reached Frejus on the 27th; and on the 28th, set sail for Elba on board the English frigate, the Undaunted. Captain Usher, the commander of that vessel, in conformity to the orders of the British government, received him with the honors due

to a crowned head: a royal salute was fired when he entered the ship, the yards were manned, and the cheers of the crew rang a loud welcome to the dethroned sovereign, as he appeared on their quarter-deck. Napoleon was so affected by this reception from his enemies, which presented such a singular contrast to the treatment he had just experienced from his own subjects, that he burst into tears. During the voyage he assumed a cheerful and affable manner, conversed much with the captain and officers, and was very inquisitive concerning the details of English naval discipline. A slight shade passed over his countenance when the ship came within sight of the maritime Alps, the scene of his early triumph; but he soon recovered his serenity, and before he arrived at Porto Ferrajo, he had gained a strong hold on the affections of every man on board.

Josephine did not long survive the fall of the hero, with whose marvellous fortunes her own seemed to be mysteriously linked. Alexander was

desirous to see and console her in her distress, and, at his request, she came to Malmaison to meet him. While there, she was attacked with a severe illness, which terminated her life on the 28th of May.

Louis XVIII. left his peaceful retreat at Hartwell on the 20th of April, and proceeded to London, where he was received with numberless welcomes and congratulations. After bestowing upon him every attention in the British capital, the Prince Regent accompanied him to Dover, whence he embarked for France on the 27th. The roar of artillery announced his departure, and the thunder of the English cannon had hardly ceased to reverberate, when the answering discharge of guns on the French coast from Calais to Boulogne, announced the arrival of the monarch in the kingdom of his forefathers.

Louis reached Compeigne on the 29th; and, the preparations for his reception at Paris being completed, he made a public entry into that metropolis by the gate of St. Denis, on the 3rd of May. The Duchess d'Angouleme was seated at his side; the Old Guard of Napoleon formed his escort; the National Guard kept the streets free for the procession; and innumerable officers and privates of the allied armies added, by their gay and varied uniforms, to the splendor of the scene.

More important duties, however, than receiving and replying to congratulations, awaited the new monarch-the conclusion, namely, of a treaty with the allied powers, which should satisfy their just and inevi table demands, and, at the same time, prove no stumbling-block to the establishment of his own authority, by concessions that might tend to injure him in the respect and affections of the people of France. By a convention already completed, on the 23rd of April, it had been provided. that the French troops should evacuate all the fortresses and territories beyond the frontiers of France, as she existed prior to 1792; that the allied troops, with the least possible delay, should retire from the dominions of France thus designated; and that all military exactions, on both sides, should instantly cease. In virtue of this compact, fifty-three fortresses of note, twelve thousand pieces of cannon, with an incalculable quantity of ammunition and military stores were surrendered by France. The treaty with Louis XVIII. signed at Paris on the 30th of May, by the plenipotentiaries of France on the one side, and of Great Britain, Russia and Prussia on the other, contained little that had not been foreseen after the details of the convention of April were made known. It stipu

lated that France should be reduced to her former limits, as they stood on the 1st of January, 1792, excepting the cession that had been made of various small territories-some, to France by the neighboring powers, and others by France to them-for mutual advantage, and for the sake of defining more clearly the French frontier. Holland was to be an independent state, under the sovereignty of the House of Orange, but with an accession of territory; Germany was to be independent, but under the guarantee of a federal union; Switzerland independent, governed by itself; and Italy, divided into sovereign states. The free navigation of the Rhine was expressly stipulated. Malta was ceded in perpetuity to Great Britain; and that power agreed to restore to France and her allies all the colonies taken from them during the war, excepting the islands of Tobago and St. Lucie in the West, and the Isle of France in the East Indies. France was permitted to form commercial establishments in the East Indies, but under condition, that she should send thither no more troops than might be requisite for the purposes of police; and she regained the right of fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland, and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The fleet of Antwerp, consisting of thirty-eight ships of the line and fifteen frigates, was to be divided between France and Holland, in the proportion of two-thirds to the former, and one-third to the latter country. All subordinate points and matters of detail were, by common consent, referred to a Congress of the great powers to assemble at Vienna in the autumn of that year.

In this general settlement of Europe, after the Revolutionary deluge had subsided, the fate of Pius VII. must not be overlooked. When Paris capitulated, his holiness was still detained at Provence, and one of the first measures of the provisional government was, to liberate him and cause him to be conveyed to the Italian frontier with the honors due to his rank. On his arrival at Cesina, Murat waited upon him, and exhibited a memorial signed by a number of the nobles and chief inhabitants of Rome, and by them addressed to the allied powers, praying that the Roman States might be incorporated with one of the secular states of Italy. His holiness, without looking at the memorial to discover who had thus endeavored to despoil him of his possessions, generously threw it into the fire. When he arrived at his capital, some of the nobles who had affixed their signatures to this paper, overcome by his clemency, came to ask his forgiveness. "Have we not some faults too, with which to reproach ourselves?" replied the pontiff: "let us bury our injuries in oblivion.”

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CHAPTER XLVII.

INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND THE NORTH Of Europe.

THE termination of the war excited a degree of enthusiastic joy in the British dominions, of which it is impossible to give an adequate description. A large number of the inhabitants had come into existence since the commencement of the contest, and had inhaled with their earliest breath an ardent desire for its success. Those who were older, felt that whatever opinions they may have entertained at the outset, the fate and character of the British Empire had finally been staked on the throw, and that their own and their children's freedom depended on its result. The patriots now rejoiced in the victory of the allies, because it secured the glory and independence of their own country; the partisans of the aristocracy, because it closed a gulf that threatened to swallow up all ancient institutions; and the friends of liberty, because it had been achieved by the united efforts of the European people, and promised to establish freedom in France. The visit of the allied sovereigns to England, whither they repaired in the summer of 1814, excited these feelings to the highest pitch. All ranks, from the throne to the cottage, participated the general enthusiasm. In the anxiety and animation attendant on public events, the distresses and joys of private life were for a time forgotten: the sentiments of the British nation resembled those of a crowded audience in a theatre, when the genius of the actor, leading the multitude beyond the barriers of individual restraint, draws from assembled thousands one unanimous and simultaneous burst of applause.

After the first tumultuous excitement was past, the thoughtful observer, with the liveliest gratitude for the past and the most sanguine expectations for the future, pondered on the wonderful events of the war. There seemed to be a poetical justice in its result, an equity in the retribution which had overtaken the great and guilty nation, that demonstrated peculiarly the providence of GOD. The wildest anticipations were now indulged in England, as to the subsequent progress of liberty in France. "Deplorable," it was said, "as have been the excesses, bloodstained as were the hands of the first apostles of freedom in that country, their labors have not been in vain. A constitutional monarchy has at last been erected; guarantees of liberty established; her condition under the old monarchy, compared with the freedom she will enjoy under the Restoration, was slavery itself. The blood shed by Robespierre, however, was but for a season: the carnage of Napoleon has passed away: the glorious fabric of freedom has emerged unsullied from the sanguinary hands of its founders, and a brighter era has opened on the human race from the very crimes that appeared to overcloud its prospects."

Such hopes are the dream of the poet; they constitute the charm of the melodrama, but belong not to the history of man. The crimes of the

Revolution had been too great; the breaches it made, too wide; the blood sned, too profusely lavished; the injuries inflicted, too serious and universal-to admit the immediate founding of a pacific and prosperous society on its ruins. Human passions do not subside. like the waves of