Page:Life of the Duke of Wellington.pdf/15

Rh struck Europe with amazement. Louis had already fled from the Tuilleries; and on the 20th of March, 1815, the Emperor once more entered Paris, where he was received at the palace by all the adherents of his cause.

The powers who signed the treaty of Paris were then in congress at Vienna, where the Duke of Wellington was present as the plenipotentiary of Great Britain, having left Paris for that eapitalcapital [sic] on the 24th of January. The moment that the news of Napoleon's daring movement reached them, the Congress published a proclamation in these words:“—By breaking the convention which established him in Elba, Bonaparte destroys the only legal title on which his existence depended. By appearing again in France, with projects of confusion and disorder, he has deprived himself of the protection of the law, and manifested to the universe, that there eancan [sic] neither he peace nor truce with him. The powers consequently deelaredeclare [sic] that Napoleon Bonaparte has placed himself without the pale of civil and social relations, and that, as an enemy and disturber of the tranquillity of the world, he has rendered himself liable to public vengeance." All Europe oneeonce [sic] more prepared for war, and scareelyscarcely [sic] was Napoleon seated on his throne, before he heard that in all likelihood he must do his best to defend it against 300,000 Austrians, 225,000 Russians, 236,000 Prussians, 150,000 men from the minor states of Germany, 50,000 from the Netherlands, and 50,000 English under Wellington, in all 1,011,000 armed men.

Napoleon, conscious of the stake for which he played, and of the odds against him, was indefatigable. When he landed at Cannes, the army numbered 175,000 men; the cavalry had been greatly reduced; and the effects of the campaigns of the three preceding years, was visible in the deficiency of military stores and arms, but especially of artillery. By