Napoleon set forwards for the French capital, in order to concert with the government on those measures, which the exigencies of the state imperiously demanded. The Emperor left Mayence at one o'clock on the morning of the 8th, and gained Saint Cloud at five the following evening, which closed the famous German campaign of 1813.*

In reference to the war carried on by Napoleon, in Saxony, which we have thus concluded, we cannot do better than quote the following moral reflexions from the Journal of Las Cases, vol. iii. p. 21, &c. as delivered by Napoleon to that writer when at St. Helena.

"That famous campaign," said the Emperor, "must stand recorded as the triumph of courage manifested by the

* After having conquered at Lutzen, Bautzen, and Dresden, says Baron Fleury, the battle of Leipsic was fought. Never before that day had Napoleon been doomed to witness his armies flying before the enemy. The scattered wrecks of those battalions, created by the expiring hope: the last effort of his country, at length, reached the French frontiers. But the soldiers were no longer the vigorous and resolute warriors of France; they were bowed down by want, toil, and humiliation. Speedily after they were followed by wandering trains of military carriages, loaded with diseased and wounded wretches, who festered beneath the corpses amongst which they were heaped, at once absorbing and diffusing the germs of pestilence and contagion. Even the firmest minds then yielded to despair; and the grief occasioned by the havock made amongst their defenders, renewed the sorrows of the mothers and the wives of those who had previously perished in Russia and in Spain, while curses heaped on Napoleon, the supposed author of all those evils, resounded from one extremity of the empire to the other.

So long as good fortune attended upon Napolcon his most ambitious efforts had commanded the applauses of the versatile nation. The French boasted his profound political wisdom, extolled his genius, and worshipped his courage. But when the tide of prosperity changed, his political wisdom was deemed treachery, his genius, ambition, and his courage, fool-hardiness and infatuation.

Napoleon, however, was not to be depressed by ingratitude or misfortune. He re-assembled the feeble fragments of his armies, and proclaimed aloud that he would conquer or die at the head of his soldiery; a bold resolution, which was only productive of a momentary impression. The French, who so lately believed that the happiness and salvation of their country depended upon the life of Napoleon alone, coolly began to consider that his death, the fate he was prepared to encounter, afforded the only means of putting an end to the calamities of war, as peace otherwise appeared unattainable.

Napoleon departed, and achieved prodigies, but without effect, the national spirit no longer existed, and the population had gradually sunk into a state of insensibility so fatal to sovereigns, when the public mind has no perception of its dangers and becomes abandoned to its destiny, in a state of idleness and apathy.

youth of France; the intrigues and perverseness of English diplomacy; the energetic spirit of the Russians, and the duplicity of the Austrian cabinet: it will serve to designate the epoch of a disorganization of political society, and the separation of subjects from their sovereigns; in short, it will stamp the disgrace of the greatest military virtues :— fidelity, loyalty, and honour. It will be in vain to write, to annotate, repeat falsehoods and suppositions; the result must uniformly prove the above hideous and melancholy truth, of which time will unfold the direful consequences!

"But what is most remarkable, as regards the subject in question, is, that all the infamy, in fact, appertains to sources, unconnected with kings, soldiery, and the people. They were the labours of some intrigans à épée, (military men of intrigue,) some break-neck politicians, who, under pretext of throwing off a foreign yoke, and regaining the national independence, merely sold and delivered up, pieccmeal, their respective masters to rival and jealous cabinets. The real results did not long continue unknown; the King of Saxony lost half his territory; and the monarch of Bavaria was necessitated to yield up his most precious possessions. Of what consequence was that to the traitors? They retained their rewards, and the wealth purchased by their treason. Thus the most upright hearts and innocent minds displayed a picture of the greatest sufferings. It was a King of Saxony, the most honest man, perhaps, that ever wielded a sceptre, who was dispossessed of half his patrimony; and the sovereign of Denmark, so faithful to all his engagements, who lost his crown! Yet such has been the triumphant return of what was called morality! Such the distributive justice awarded here below!......

"Notwithstanding all this, I cannot refrain from adding for the honour of humanity, and even thrones surrounded by so much infamy, that never were greater virtues displayed. I had no cause to complain, individually, of the princes, my allies; the good King of Saxony continued faithful until the extinction of his power; the King of Bavaria frankly gave me notice that he was no longer master; the generosity of the King of Wirtemberg was fully displayed, and the Prince of Baden did not yield, until compelled by force, and at the last moment. I owe to all this justice, that they gave me timely notice, in order that I might shield myself from the impending storm; but, on the other hand, what abominations characterized the proceedings of the subalterns!...... Will military annals

ever be cleansed from the infamy of the Saxons, who reentered our ranks for the purpose of slaughtering us? It remains a proverb among the French soldiery: SAXONNER, meaning with them, are troops destined to butcher another under a friendly mask; and, to complete the horror of that fact, it was a Frenchman, (Bernadotte,) a soldier, who procured a crown through French blood, a child of France, who directed against us that deadly blow. Great God!!

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Yet what was still worse in my situation, and tended to increase my suffering, was, that I clearly saw the decisive moment arrive. My star faded, I felt the reins slip from my grasp, without possessing the means of retaining them. Nothing but the intervention of a thunderbolt could preserve us; for to treat or conclude any thing, at such a juncture, would have been to yield like an idiot to the enemy. I plainly saw the fact; and the result, I conceive, has sufficiently demonstrated I was not mistaken. No choice was left me but to fight, and every day, owing to one fatality or another, our chances diminished; treason began to glide insidiously among us; fatigue and discouragement operated upon the majority; my lieutenants became inexpert, deficient in energy, and, consequently, unfortunate; they were no longer the warriors of former days, when the Revolution flourished, nor of the period of my victorious career. I have been told that many among them have dared remark that, in the first instance, they combatted for the republic and their country, while, latterly, their swords were only wielded for a single individual, his own particular interests, insatiable ambition, &c. &c.

"What a worthless subterfuge!...... Let inquiry be made among that immense mass of young and brave soldiery, that crowd of subaltern officers, if, in any one instance, such a calculation ever entered their heads, if they saw before their eyes any other object than the enemy, or in the rear any thing but honour, glory, and the triumph of France? Nor did they ever fight more valiantly!...... Wherefore, then, dissemble? Why not frankly avow the truth? The fact is, that, generally speaking, the leaders of the army were tired of warfare; I had loaded them with too much consideration, too many honours, and too much wealth. They had quaffed of the cup of gratifications, and they in future wanted nothing but repose:-they would have purchased it at any price. The sacred fire was extinguished: they wished to be marshals of Louis the Fifteenth."

CHAP. III.

Napoleon returns to Paris-His Speech to the State Council-Declaration of the Allied Powers from Frankfort-Holland declares herself independent of France-Speech of Napoleon to the Legislative Body-Comparative View of the Forces of the Allies and those of the Emperor-Situation of the French Army-Singular Harangue of Napoleon to the Legislative Body, on the First of January, 1814-Fidelity of Carnot-Surrender of Dantzic-Departure of the Emperor to join the Army-Battles of Saint Dizier -Brienne-Champ Aubert-Montmirail-Vauchamp-NangisMontereau, and Occupation of Troyes by the French.

IMMEDIATELY after Napoleon's arrival from Saxony, which occurred in November, he, on the 11th of the same month, convened a state council, during which sitting, the Emperor delivered the following singular address to that assembly. After some immaterial business had been disposed of, a proposition of the Senatus Consultus was read, for the purpose of placing 300,000 men at the disposal of the war minister, who were to be drawn from the old conscriptions, which had been solemnly liberated, or completely exhausted. On this a profound silence reigned throughout the assembly; when, at length, one member, in a solemn tone, having exclaimed, "Sire, the safety of the empire!" while another used the words, "frontiers invaded."" Well, and why not be explicit?" said Napoleon. "Is it not better to speak the truth here? Is not Wellington in the south? Russia in the north? Are not the Austrians and Bavarians advancing in the east ?-Wellington in France! -What a scandal; what a disgrace!-and the population has not risen in mass to repulse him!-How the English will laugh at the obsequious civility of our countrymen.-But the English have no vessels there. It is not there the question of manoeuvring at sea-they are upon the soil of France; they must be beaten and repulsed. All my allies have abandoned me.-I have been basely betrayed by the Bavarians-dastardly wretches!-They fell back, and stationed themselves in my rear.-Their intention was to cut off my retreat, but they were properly handled! How they were slaughtered! De Wrede fell, and all his relations with him-No peace until I have reduced Munich to a heap of ashes!-A triumvirate is formed in the North; the same

that partitioned Poland; no peace, I say, until it is broken up!-Let the approaching year arrive and then we will see -I demand 300,000 men-I will establish a camp of 100,000 troops at Bordeaux, and similar numbers at Lyons and at Mentz. With the previous levy, and those still remaining, I shall have a million soldiers in arms; and they will suffice for the present. I demand, I say, 300,000 men, but they must be real men. What are those youthful conscripts good for? except to encumber the hospitals or die on the road. The French are uniformly brave; the Piedmontese and Italians are no less so, and fight nobly as for all the men of the north (the Germans), they are good for nothing-it is not blood, it is water that flows in their veins--I can really depend on none but the natives of ancient France!" "Sire," interrupted one of the members," the Belgians!" "True, the Belgians, perhaps, may love me. Of what import are all those_addresses which they are instructed to lay before me?-It is the acmé of stupidity!" "Sire," exclaimed another member, “it is requisite that ancient France should still continue our territory." "And Holland," resumed the Emperor; "if it was exacted of me to surrender up that country, I would rather surrender it up again to the ocean.—In regard to Italy, if not subjected to France, she must, at all events, be independent.

"Gentlemen, an energetic spring is necessary-Yes, yes; every body must march.-Matters will not come to that; but, in short, supposing it were indispensable, Monsieur Cambaceres, and you, and you,-ye would all march; ye should fill the posts of commanders of legions. Counsellors of the state, ye are fathers of families, ye are chiefs of the country; to you it belongs to set an example of energy-but I know too well, ye are lukewarm, pusillanimous. Nothing is talked of but peace-Peace!— Peace!!-I do not understand the meaning of that word peace, when every thing should resound with the cry of War! War!-To whine for peace, indeed, when Wellington is in France!"

A few days after that meeting of the Senate, Amsterdam fell into the power of the Prussians, commanded by Bulow, when General Molitor, to whom had been confided the defence of Holland and the islands of Zealand, fell back on Utrecht. A provisionary government was, in consequence, established at Amsterdam, which proclaimed