376 NAPOLEON ESCAPES FROM ELBA. Ch. 28 magic, overturned the throne of the Bourbons. The impolitic generosity and almost inconceivable rashness of the allies had 1815. enabled Napoleon to carry on extensive intrigues in Paris, A. D. leon escapes from Elba. and to collect a respectable force on the island of which he Napo was constituted the Sovereign; while the unpopularity and impolitic measures of the restored Dynasty singularly favored any scheme which he might have formed. The disbanding of an immense military force, the humiliation of those veterans who still associated with the eagles of Napoleon the glory of France, the derangement of the finances, and the discontents of so many people thrown out of employment, naturally prepared the way for the return of the hero of Marengo and Austerlitz. ed military rations. On the 26th of February, 1815, he gave a brilliant ball to the principal people of the island, and embarked the same evening, with eleven hundred troops, to regain the sceptre which had been wrested from him only by the united powers of Europe. On the 1st of March, his vessels cast anchor in the Gulf of St. Juan, on the coast of Provence; and Napoleon immediately commenced his march, having unfurled the tricolored flag. As he anticipated, he was welcomed by the people, and the old cry of "Vive l'Empereur" saluted his ears. Renew- The Court of the Bourbons made vigorous preparations to resist, and the armies of France were intrusted to those marprepa shals who owed their elevation to Napoleon. Soult, Ney, Augereau, Massena, Oudinot, all protested devotion to Louis XVIII.; and Ney especially promised the King to return to Paris with Napoleon in an iron cage. But Ney was among the first to desert the cause of law and legitimacy, and to throw himself into the arms of the Emperor. He could not withstand the arts and the eloquence of that great hero, for whose cause he had so long fought. The defection of the whole army rapidly followed. The King was obliged to fly, and Napoleon took possession of his throne, amid the universal transports of the Imperial party in France. BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 377 The intelligence of his restoration filled Europe with con- Ch.28 sternation, rage, and disappointment, and greater preparations A. D. than ever were made to subdue a man who respected no trea- 1815. ties. The unparalleled sum of one hundred and ten millions nation of of pounds sterling was decreed by the British Senate for va- Consterrious and all the continental powers made propor- Europe. purposes, tionate exertions. The genius of Napoleon never blazed so brightly as in preparing for this last desperate conflict with united Christendom; and, considering the exhaustion of his country, the forces which he collected were astonishing. Before the beginning of June, two hundred and twenty thousand soldiers were completely armed and equipped; a great proof of the enthusiastic ardor which the people felt for him to the last. and cher. The Duke of Wellington had eighty thousand effective men Welunder his command, and Marshal Blucher one hundred and lington ten thousand. These forces were to unite, and to march to BluParis through Flanders. It was arranged that the Austrians and Russians should invade France first, by Befort and Huningen, in order to attract the enemy's principal forces to that quarter. Napoleon's plan was to collect all his forces into one mass, and boldly to place them between the English and Prussians, and then to attack them separately. He had under his command one hundred and twenty thousand troops, and therefore, not unreasonably, expected to combat successfully the one hundred and ninety thousand of the enemy. of Wa On the 18th of June was performed the last sad act of the Battle great tragedy which had for twenty years convulsed Europe terloo. with blood and tears. All the combatants on that eventful day understood the nature of the contest, and the importance of the battle. At Waterloo, Napoleon staked his last throw in the desperate game he had hazarded, and lost it. He was now ruined, irrevocably and for ever. In vain was his rapid flight, his attempt to defend Paris, or his readiness to abdicate in favor of his son. The allied powers, on the 7th of July, again entered Paris, and the 378 A. D. NAPOLEON AT SAINT HELENA. Ch. 28 Bourbon dynasty was restored. Napoleon retired to Rochefort, hoping to escape his enemies and reach America. It 1815. was impossible. He then resolved to throw himself upon the generosity of the English. He was removed to St. Helena. Napo- And there, on that lonely island, in the middle of the ocean, St. He- guarded most effectually by his enemies, his schemes of conlena. quest ended. He supported his hopeless captivity with tolera leon at ble equanimity, showing no signs of remorse for the injuries he had inflicted, but meditating profoundly on the mistakes he had committed, and conjecturing vainly on the course he might have adopted for the preservation of his power. The Allied Sovereigns of Europe now insisted on the restoration of the works of art which Napoleon had pillaged. "The bronzed horses, brought from Corinth to Rome, resumed their old station on the portico of the Church of St. Mark; the Transfiguration was restored to the Vatican; the Apollo and the Laocoon again adorned St. Peter's; the Venus was enshrined with new beauty at Florence; and the Descent from the Cross was replaced in the Cathedral of Antwerp." By the treaty which restored peace to Europe, the old dominions of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, Holland, and Italy were restored, and the Bourbons, for a time, again reigned over the ancient provinces of France. REFERENCES.-Alison's "History" is, on the whole, the most com. plete account of the French Revolution. Scott's "Life of Napoleon' was too hastily written. Thiers's Histories, with all their faults, are invaluable. Napier's "History of the Peninsular War" is a masterly production. Wellington's "Despatches" are indispensable to a student. Botta's "History of Italy under Napoleon;" Labaume's "Russian Campaign;" Southey's "Peninsular War;" Gifford's "Life of Pitt;" James's "Naval History;" Berthier's "Histoire de l'Expédition d'Egypte," and Schlosser's "Modern History," form but a small part of the many works which have appeared concerning the French Revolution and the career of Napoleon. COST OF THE WAR TO ENGLAND. 379 CHAPTER XXIX. EUROPE, FROM THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA TO THE FALL OF Cost of THE restoration of peace revealed the tremendous cost at Ch. 29 which the great struggle, now happily brought to a termi- A. D. nation, had been carried on by England. The National Debt, 1815 which at the beginning of the reign of George III. was about to 1830 a hundred millions, was found to have received between 1793 and 1815 an addition of at least six hundred millions; and the national taxation, which before the war had not exceeded the war seventeen millions, had reached in the year 1815 the enormous to Engamount of seventy-two millions two hundred thousand pounds. In spite, however, of this great burden, it was found that the nation had been during the whole time advancing in prosperity. At the close of the great contest, the resources of Britain were greater, her possessions more extended, and her reputation higher than it had ever been before. land. gress of The Congress of Vienna, which opened in September, 1814, The and closed in the month of February of the following year, Confinally settled the various questions which had been left open Vienna. when the Treaty of Peace was signed. The result of the deliberations may be thus stated. In the main, Europe returned to its old masters, but not without important modifications in relation to territory. France resumed the position she had occupied before the Revolution. Italy was re organized:the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored, and the old republic of Genoa was annexed to it; Tuscany again became an independent State, under her Grand Duke; the Pope received back the districts of which he had been de 380 A. D. THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA. Ch. 29 spoiled; Lombardy and Venice fell under the yoke of Austria; and the Kingdom of Naples, with the Two Sicilies, was 1815. restored to Ferdinand, the Bourbon. Germany was divided into thirty-nine Sovereign States, united, for European purposes, in one great Confederation, which took the place of the old German Empire. Austria obtained the Tyrol, and part of the Duchy of Warsaw; and Saxony, for her adherence to Napoleon, suffered the confiscation of a great part of her territory, most of which was handed over to Prussia. Russia gained the Kingdom of Poland as an appendage to her Empire, on condition that it should be governed separately and paternally. The city of Cracow, and its neighbourhood, was erected into a free Republic. The Ionian Islands and Malta were retained by England; and Hanover was raised to the rank of a Kingdom. Belgium was incorporated with Holland, and given to the Prince of Orange, who was to govern under the title of King of the Netherlands; and Switzerland was re-constituted as an independent Republic. The Holy Alliance. ition The Holy Alliance, as it was termed, was formed on the 26th of February, 1815, between Russia, Austria, and Prussia: it expressed the determination of the Emperor Alexander and his allies "to endeavour to regulate their future conduct by the principles of the Gospel ;" and it pledged them to sustain each other in any future emergency that might arise. The affairs of Europe having been placed on this footing, the Monarchs, who had visited England in July, 1814, where they were received with great pomp, and sumptuously entertained, returned to their respective countries, and devoted themselves to the management of their peoples. It will, therefore, now be advisable to notice the proceedings of each State separately. In ENGLAND, the transition from war to peace was not Trans- effected without a great deal of commercial anxiety and disfrom turbance. Wide-spread distress was for some time expewar to rienced. The pressure of taxation, notwithstanding the great peace. reductions that were made, was felt, in the deadness of trade, |