Page:15 decisive battles of the world Vol 2 (London).djvu/312

304 our toil and fortitude is undone; the blood of Europe is spilt in vain—

The exertions which the Allied Powers made at this crisis to grapple promptly with the French emperor, have truly been termed gigantic; and never were Napoleon's genius and activity more signally displayed, than in the celerity and skill by which he brought forward all the military resources of France, which the reverses of the three preceding years, and the pacific policy of the Bourbons, during the months of their first restoration, had greatly diminished and disorganised. He re-entered Paris on the 20th of March, and by the end of May, besides sending a force into La Vendée to put down the armed risings of the royalists in that province, and besides providing troops under Massena and Suchet for the defence of the southern frontiers of France, Napoleon had an army assembled in the north-east for active operations under his own command, which amounted to between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and thirty thousand men, with a superb park of artillery, and in the highest possible state of equipment, discipline, and efficiency.