CHAP. horse might then make the second grand attack upon the English position. Ney carried the farm, owing to its defenders wanting ammunition, and was then too impatient to wait. He rode up the height with his troops, and seeing the line of guns which the English, as usual, abandon when they retire within their squares, he resolved to capture them, and ordered up all his horse to charge the English. They fell into squares. The English cavalry, cut up in repelling the first attack, and what remained of it having been brought to the wings by Lord Uxbridge, was no longer in number sufficient to repel their assailants, whilst the Belgian cavalry declined the perilous service. The cuirassiers accordingly rode round and round the English squares, and for a long time were masters of the height, except that portion of it occupied by the squares, in which, wrote Foy, the British infantry seemed rooted to the ground. The young guard was engaged in disputing the village of Planchenois with the Prussians. They succeeded for a time in repelling Bülow's division, and Napoleon seized the opportunity to send first four and then six additional battalions to support Ney and his cavalry in their efforts to conquer the high plain of Mont-St.-Jean. This was the third attack, which the Duke of Wellington no longer met with his soldiers in squares, but in line, drawn up, not in the rear of the eminence, but on its crest, with artillery in the intervals, and the remainder of the cavalry brought back and ready to charge. The evening was closing in fast. The French troops, therefore, as they attained the crest, were not, as previously, allowed to deploy, but were met by the whole British force. And a momentary struggle between the combatants took place on the summit of the hill. Napoleon had his eye fixed on his advancing columns, and was shocked to perceive that, instead of moving forward, it became mingled with the enemy in a confused contest. "Ils sont mêlés ensemble," he exclaimed in despair. In XLIV. a short time, the French were for the third time driven CHAP. back from the high plain of Mont-St.-Jean, whilst simultaneously a fresh Prussian corps advanced, and pushed its formidable troops upon the high road. The French could no longer withdraw by it, and were obliged to fling themselves, dispersed and defeated, through the vast cornfields. The old guard, however, still intact, protected the Emperor's retreat. Wellington and Blücher met very near the spot where Napoleon had observed the battle. The day after, the Emperor found himself at Laon, the country around covered with the scattered relics of his army. He knew not what had befallen Grouchy. So leaving to Soult the command and the care of rallying the fugitives, he hastened to Paris. Shunning the Tuileries, he entered the Elysée palace in the evening of the 20th, flung himself into a bath, and summoned a council for the next morning. The mournful faces met, and did not brighten when Napoleon announced his defeat, and his thirst to repair it. For this he demanded a temporary dictatorship. The only voices which seconded him and signed an appeal to the people, and the revolutionists rather than to the moderates or the chamber, were those of Carnot and of Lucien. The rest, even Caulaincourt, were for consulting the chamber, although the chamber, observed Regnault, would insist on a second abdication. The decided Napoleonists replied by a threat to dissolve the chamber. To succeed, it ought to have been done ere talked of. For the members met at Fouché's, excited each other, and were excited by the ministers to resistance. Amongst those who attended and heard the rumour of dissolution was General Lafayette. Benjamin Constant had consulted him in drawing up the Additional Act, and the general had had conversations with Joseph Buonaparte. Without being adverse to the dynasty, he mistrusted Napoleon's promise of liberalism, СНАР. and now came forward with alacrity to depose him. On his motion, the chamber declared itself permanent, and denounced any attempt to dissolve it as treason. A commission was named to persuade Napoleon to abdicate. All the Emperor's friends, save Lucien, gave him the same advice. With the Emperor's abdication in their hand, the representatives of the chamber flattered themselves that they might make terms with the allies. And in order to reconcile Napoleon to this act, the abdication was to be in favour of his son. He hesitated for some time. Benjamin Constant he bade hearken to the clamours of the people without, who demanded his again taking the command and the field, whilst those whom he had loaded with honours merely demanded his abdication. Lucien again pressed an 18th Brumaire against the assembly. Napoleon refused. "I have reigned as a conqueror," he observed, "and desire not to do so as a tyrant." On the 22nd, the chamber insisted, and Lafayette was prepared with a motion for the déchéance, or forfeiture, of the crown, when Napoleon's second abdication was announced. 'My political life is finished," exclaimed and wrote he; "I proclaim my son, under the title of Napoleon the Second, Emperor of the French." 66 When this important document was communicated to the chamber, it resolved on nominating a commission of five to form a provisional government. Fouché, Carnot, Caulaincourt, and two other obscure names were chosen, all Royalists, as well as constitutionals, including Lafayette, being set aside. Fouché was the president, who flattered the chamber with the succession of Napoleon the Second, the constitutionalists with the possibility of making the Duke of Orleans king, whilst he at the same time released M. de Vitrolles from * Constant, Mémoires sur les Cent Jours. Lucien Bonaparte, La Vérité sur les Cent Jours. Fleury de Chaboulon, Mémoires. Mémoires de Lavalette. Mém. de Lafayette. Mém. de Miot, de Beugnot, &c. XLIV. prison, and through him opened a communication with CHAP. the Bourbons. Lafayette and some others were allowed to go as delegates to negotiate with the allied powers. They at first could see no higher person than Lord Stuart, who told them to their indignation they must deliver up Napoleon. Meantime the Duke of Wellington took upon himself to expedite the return and restoration of the Bourbons. He advised Louis the Eighteenth to repair at once from Ghent to Cambray. But whilst following the Duke's advice, the infirm monarch fell into a trap laid for him by his brother and the ultra-Royalists, and dismissed Talleyrand, whom the Duke of Wellington favoured, as well as M. de Blacas, whom he desired to see removed. The Duke was fortunately in time to correct the error, to bring back the King to his senses, and Talleyrand to the King. For Alexander, probably in understanding with Fouché, had made overtures at Vienna for substituting the Duke of Orleans for the elder branch of the family. M. Guizot and the constitutionalists arrived at Cambray in time to suppress an ultra-Royalist manifesto, and substitute a promise, not only to observe but to enlarge the charter. This was not done without a fierce altercation between Prince Talleyrand and Monsieur, supported by the Duke de Berry. Fouché, in the meantime, undertook to remove the obstacles in Paris to the return of Louis the Eighteenth. He first summoned a military council, and obtained from the generals an opinion that resistance would be vain. Marshal Davoust himself admitted the necessity of recognising the King. The majority of the chamber, however, still held for Napoleon the Second, and even the Constitutional Royalists were for not recogM. Beugnot recounts the dismi sal of Talleyrand, whom the King told to go take the waters of Carlsbad. Guizot's Memoirs. Chateaubriand, Mémoires d'ou tre Tombe. The scene is fully given in M. Duvergier d'Hauranne's Histoire du Gouvernement parlementaire," t. iii. p. 103. XLIV. CHAP. nising the King, till a more liberal constitution was stipulated. The presence of Napoleon at Malmaison was another obstacle that rendered an armistice almost impossible. The Provisional Government therefore warned Napoleon, on the morning of the 29th, that he must leave for the coast and embark. He was promised passports for England or America. Learning, however, the advance of the Prussians and English separately on either side of the Seine, the Emperor re-entertained the project of attacking them, and sent General Becker to the Provisional Government for authority to do so. Davoust in reply threatened to arrest the Emperor, who immediately resigned all hopes and departed for Rochefort. Meanwhile, a new batch of commissioners gained access to the Duke of Wellington at Estrées on the 27th, and professed a readiness to acknowledge Louis the Eighteenth on conditions. The Duke handed them the declaration of Cambray, and promised to call the King's attention to their objections. He also promised to do his utmost to induce General Blücher to consent to an armistice. The latter, instead of listening to his colleague, advanced to St. Cloud, in a position at once so provoking, yet so isolated, that his rashness tempted the French generals to attack him. Carnot was chiefly instrumental in dissuading them. But if the army was not to fight, it was necessary to treat, and an offer was sent to Blücher for the purpose on the 2nd. He, in concert with the Duke of Wellington, demanded that the French army should withdraw from Paris, behind the Loire, and the National Guard be entrusted with the tranquillity of the capital, whilst after the lapse of a certain number of hours the allies should enter. Such were the first terms of the capitulation concluded on the 3rd of August. An effort was made to place the works of art in the capital under the protection of the treaty. But Blücher would not consent. The allied generals |