Nor was it long before Fouché gained sufficient influence over Davoût to make it clear to him that the Empire had come to an end, and that the only solution possible out of the _impasse_ in which France had become involved, was submission to the will of the conquerors and the restoration of the Bourbons. Once gained over, the Marshal did not hesitate to obey, and efforts to ensure the defence of the capital were undertaken with deliberate half-hearted vigour.[20] The Parisians were rapidly becoming indifferent to their fate; they cared not who was to rule them, provided they were allowed to live in peace. The era of glory had afforded them some satisfaction, but it had its drawbacks, and late events had brought these to a crisis; therefore they were glad to welcome the strongest, and to have done with conquests. The Chambers, also, had exhausted all their energies in destroying the man whose military genius might have served the country at this terrible juncture. They succeeded admirably in their design; and now they devoted themselves to academical studies, and busied themselves in discussing a new constitution, quite oblivious of the fact that their labours must be fruitless. All sections of the nation were easily dealt with by Fouché; and even the army, devoted to their late incomparable leader, soon submitted to his will. ----- Footnote 20: Hooper, _Waterloo_ , p. 286. ----- Besides the efforts already made to obtain a suspension of hostilities from the allied Commanders, Marshal Davoût approached them on the 30th of June, but again unsuccessfully. On the same day, he also joined in a protest addressed to the Chambers against the return of the Bourbons—a protest intended, perhaps, rather to satisfy the susceptibilities of the army than for any other purpose. The Chambers, in their reply, alluded to their proposed constitution; and stated that, while they were prepared to accept whatever dynasty the Allies might insist on fixing upon the throne, they were convinced that the accession of the new Monarch could only become an accomplished fact, when he had agreed to the conditions they meant to impose upon his prerogative. They “will never,” they said, “acknowledge as legitimate Chief of the State him who, on ascending the throne, shall refuse to acknowledge the rights of the nation, and to consecrate them by a solemn compact.”[21] ----- Footnote 21: Siborne, ii. 450. -----