constitution. The provisional government, composed of Talleyrand, de Beurnonville, de Jaucourt, de Dalberg, and the abbé Montesquiou, called to the throne Louis XVIII., and the Bourbons were once more in possession of the sovereignty of France. France was at the mercy of its enemies, who, together with the capital, occupied all the departments of the east. Marshal Soult was defeated by the duke of Wellington at the batttle of Toulouse; and the count d'Artois was compelled to sign a disastrous convention. On the 20th of April Napoleon departed for the isle of Elba, the sovereignty of which had been ceded to him, with the title of ex-emperor, and a pension of two millions of livres and four hundred men of his guard. The empress Maria Louisa obtained the duchies of Placentia, Parma, and Guastalla, with the power of transmitting them to her son, after her death. A pension of two millions four hundred thousand francs was stipulated for the members of the imperial family, and a suitable establishment out of France for the prince Eugene. Thus finished the empire and commenced the restoration.

XIII. THE RESTORATION.

(12TH APRIL, 1814, TO 29TH JULY, 1830.j

First Restoration. - Louis XVIII., after the peace of Tilsit, had taken refuge in England, where he was honourably received, and Hartwell, in Buckinghamshire, a seat belonging to the marquis of Buckingham, was assigned as his residence, where he remained till the fall of Napoleon called him from his retreat to reascend the throne of his ancestors. He was accompanied from London to Dover by George IV., at that time prince regent, and conducted to Calais by the duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV. On the 3rd of May he made his entry into Paris. Wearied with the imperial yoke, and with continual war, France hailed the return of peace with acclamations of joy and hope. The senators, in conjunction with some others, formed a chamber of peers. At the same time was convened the legislative body of the empire, which formed the chamber of deputies; and Louis, who had declared his determination to adopt a liberal constitution, granted the charter, which, notwithstanding some omissions and imperfections, contained numerous guarantees for liberty. The new constitutional charter was presented to the nation by the king on the 4th of June. It contained the principles of a limited monarchy: as, the equality of all Frenchmen in the eye of the law; the equal obligation of all to contribute to the expenses of the state; the equal right of all Frenchmen to all offices; personal liberty; the free exercise of religion, and the liberty of the press; the security of property; oblivion of the past; and the suppression of the conscription. The person of the king, in whom was vested the executive power, the command of the forces of the kingdom, the right of declaring war and making peace, of appointing officers, and proposing and publishing the laws, was declared to be inviolable; the legislative power was vested in him, in conjunction with the two chambers; laws relating to imposts and taxes were required to be presented first to the chamber of deputies; and the legislature was required to grant the civil list of the king for the period of his reign. The king convoked the chambers, named the peers, hereditary or personal, prorogued the chambers, and dissolved the chamber of deputies, but was required to summon a new one within three months. The chamber of deputies was to be comprised of deputies chosen by the electoral colleges, one-fifth part to be renewed yearly; to be eligible as a deputy, it was necessary to be forty years old, and pay 1,000 francs direct taxes. the 14th of May Louis created the new ministry, and on the 3rd of August a new council of state. The royal orders of the Holy Ghost, of military merit, the order of St. Louis, and that of St. Micha 1 were revived; the legion of honour received a new decoration (the portrait of Henry IV.) and a new organisation, and the order of the silver lily was founded.

On

There were still, however, many prejudices in favour of the abdicated emperor to overcome, and many restless spirits to soothe. It was soon perceived that a great difference of opinion prevailed among the members of the royal family and among the ministers. The honours conferred on the old nobility and the emigrants who had returned with the court, excited great discontent; and the national pride was offended by the public declaration of the king, that he owed his crown to the prince regent of Great Britain. The army, so long used to war and the rewards which awaited a successful career, was in a state of the highest irritation; the remembrance of him by whom they had so often been led to victory was yet fresh, when they saw their corps dissolved, their dotations, their pay, and their pensions diminished, their importance and their influence destroyed, and they themselves compelled to change their favourite badges for others, on which they had formerly trampled. The holders of the national domains feared to lose them. The people were discontented with the burden of the taxes, the alleviation of which had been promised to them. The republicans, in small numbers, it is true, were again showing themselves, and they numbered in their ranks Carnot and Barras. The constitutionalists had ranged themselves under the orders of general Lafayette, Lanjuinais, Boissy d'Anglas, de Broglie, and Benjamin Constant. The imperialists met in the saloons of queen Hortensia, the daughter of the empress Josephine. They had adopted a rallying sign, the violet, the emblem of hope, and kept up a most active correspondence with the isle of Elba. The ex-emperor held his eyes fixed upon France; he inwardly applauded the capital errors of the government of the Bourbons; and knew day by day the state of public opinion. When he deemed the discontent to have reached a sufficient height, he decided upon his departure. On the 26th of February, 1815, he embarked on board the brig Inconstant, armed with twenty-six pieces of cannon, taking with him about a thousand men, including the four hundred grenadiers of his guard. "Soldiers," he said, "We are going to France; we are going to Paris." He was responded to by frantic acclamations. The expedition succeeded in avoiding the English cruisers, and on the 1st March it landed in the gulf of Juan. Scarcely disembarked, Napoleon displayed his wonted activity; he issued proclamations to the army and the people, and advanced upon Grenoble. "Soldiers," he exclaimed, on seeing a batallion issuing from the town to draw up before his small army, "if there is one among you desirous of killing his emperor, he may do so; behold him!" This voice, so well known and so often dreaded, had an irresistible effect; the royalist detachment fraternised with the new comers, and Grenoble surrendered. The cause of the emperor was gained.

The news of his landing was instantly conveyed to Paris, and large bodies of troops were sent to arrest his progress and make him prisoner. But Louis was surrounded by traitors; the army regretted the loss of their chief, who had so often led them to victory; and doubted not that his return would efface their late disgrace, and restore them to that proud preeminence from which they had fallen. At his approach the armies that had been sent to oppose him openly declared in his favour, and he pursued his journey to Paris, augmenting his numbers at every step, till all resistance on the part of the king was deemed useless. On reaching the capital he was received by the inconstant multitude with acclamations

as loud as those which so recently had greeted the arrival of Louis. The unfortunate king retired first to Lille, and then to Ghent.

The Hundred Days.-Napoleon immediately annulled most of the royal ordinances, dissolved the two chambers, and named a new ministry. He declared that he should content himself with the limits of France, as settled by the peace of Paris, and that he would establish his government on liberal principles. The congress of Vienna refused to listen to him; his autograph letter to the sovereigns was not acknowledged, and he was denounced as the enemy and disturber of the peace of the world. The allied powers further declared that they were firmly resolved to employ all means and unite all their efforts to maintain the treaty of Paris. For this purpose, Austria, Russia, Britain, and Prussia, concluded a new treaty, on the basis of that of March 1, 1814, whereby each power agreed to bring 150,000 men into the field against Napoleon; who, on his part, was indefatigable in making preparations for war. He had announced his firm resolve to establish a constitutional monarchy, and the masses were anxiously awaiting the realisation of his promises. The publication of the additional act to the constitution of the empire (22nd April) did not satisfy public opinion; it had been expected that the meeting of the Champ de Mars, which had been summoned, would have been charged with the discussion of the new institutions, and that the present should not renew a state of things which had become so unpopular during the past. The act emanating from the imperial will was regarded as a fresh step towards despotism, and the ardour of the patriots became slackened. Nevertheless, the constitution was accepted by upwards of fifteen hundred thousand votes, the opposition only counting four or five thousand negative votes. The solemn assembly of the Champ de Mars took place on the 1st of June; it was an imposing ceremony. The emperor took the constitutional oath, amid enthusiastic acclamations from the midst of the army, which was grouped around the throne, resounded through the vast space of the Champ de Mars. Three days after, the chamber of representatives constituted itself under the presidency of count Lanjuinais, and union appeared to revive between it and the emperor.

In the mean time, the preparations for war were made by all the allied powers. The English, whose army, under the command of the duke of Wellington, was at this time in the Netherlands, resolved not to leave the man they had once conquered, in quiet possession of the throne of France, and every engine was put in motion to reassemble the troops. Napoleon left Paris on the 12th of June with a hundred and ten thousand men, whom he led towards the Netherlands, hoping to arrive before fresh troops could come to the aid of the English and Prussians, and thus defeat them and get possession of Brussels.

The army under the immediate direction of the French emperor, including the corps of Grouchy, amounted to upwards of 150,000 men, with 350 pieces of cannon. In an order of the day, issued the 14th of June, he said, "The moment has arrived for every Frenchman, who has a heart, to conquer or perish." The allied troops in Flanders were very quiet in their cantonments. The Prusso-Saxon army formed the left, the Anglo-Belgian army the right. The former was 115,000 strong, commanded by the veteran Blucher; the latter about 80,000, commanded by the duke of Wellington, whose head

quarters were at Brussels; those of Blucher were at Namur, about sixteen leagues distant.

On the 15th of June, the memorable campaign of 1815 was begun, by Napoleon driving in the advanced posts of the Prussians on the river Sambre; whilst marshal Ney crossed the river at Marchiennes, repulsed the Prussians, and drove back a Belgian brigade to Quatre Bras. In the evening at eleven o'clock, the duke of Wellington, who, together with the duke of Brunswick and the principal officers then in Brussels, were participating in the festivities of a ball, given by the duchess of Richmond, received a despatch from marshal Blucher informing him that Bonaparte was on his march to Brussels, at the head of 150,000 men. The dance was suspended, and orders issued for assembling the troops. On the 16th was fought the battle of Ligny, in which Blucher was defeated, and forced to retreat to Wavre, having narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. On the same day the duke of Wellington had directed his whole army to advance on Quatre Bras, with the intention of succouring Blucher, but was himself attacked by a large body of cavalry and infantry, before his own cavalry had joined. In the mean time, the English, under sir Thomas Picton, with the Belgians, under the duke of Brunswick, had to sustain the impetuous attacks of the French, commanded by marshal Ney; who was eventually repulsed, though with considerable loss. In this action fell the gallant duke of Brunswick, who was universally and deservedly lamented. The whole of the 17th was employed in preparation for the eventful battle that ensued.

The retreat of Blucher's army to Wavre rendered it necessary for Wellington to make a corresponding retrograde movement, in order to keep up a communication with the Prussians, and to occupy a position in front of the village of Waterloo. Confronting the position of the allies was a chain of heights, separated by a ravine, half a mile in breadth. Here Napoleon arrayed his forces, and having rode through his lines, and given his last orders, he placed himself on the heights of Rossome, where he had a complete view of the two armies.

About a quarter before eleven o'clock the battle began by a fierce attack on the British division posted at Hougomont. It was taken and retaken several times, the English guards bravely defending and eventually remaining in possession of it. At the same time, the French kept an incessant cannonade against the whole line, and made repeated charges with heavy masses of cuirassiers, supported by close columns of infantry, which, except in one instance, when the farm of La Haye Sainte was forced, were uniformly repulsed. Charges and countercharges of cavalry and infantry followed with astonishing pertinacity. The brave sir Thomas Picton was shot at the head of his division; a grand charge of British cavalry then ensued, which in a moment swept everything before it; but attacked in its turn by masses of cuirassiers and Polish lancers, it was driven back, and in the desperate encounter sir William Ponsonby and other gallant officers were slain. Soon after this, it is said, the duke felt himself so hard pressed, that he was heard to say, "Would to God that night or Blucher would come." As the shades of evening approached, it appeared also most doubtful whether the troops could much longer sustain the unequal conflict; but at this critical moment the Prussian cannon was heard on the left. Bonaparte immediately