But neither the Chambers nor the army were to determine the fate of the country; for Fouché, alone among Frenchmen, was possessed of power, and he only had any voice in shaping its policy in this crisis. Wellington, anxious above all things that Paris should submit without further bloodshed, consented, on the 2nd of July, to a suspension of hostilities, on the basis of the evacuation of the capital by the army. But he was not altogether master of the situation, for Marshal Blücher, to whom he was so greatly indebted for his victory over the enemy, had different ideas, and wished to humble the French in a manner that would have been impolitic as well as hostile to the best interests of a stable peace. It required, therefore, all the Duke’s tact to make him understand, that the best way to end the war, was to accept a capitulation, and to give up all ideas of incurring the responsibility of taking so large a city as Paris by force of arms. Blücher, fortunately, had some respect for the good sense of his colleague, and agreed to these views, and, on the 3rd, he consented to treat. Thereupon hostilities ceased abruptly, while Vandamme was being driven back, in the manner that has been already described, near Issy.[22] ----- Footnote 22: Hooper, 296. ----- Commissioners met on the 3rd, at the Palace of Saint-Cloud, and speedily agreed to a Military Convention, which stipulated the following conditions:— (1) The army to evacuate Paris within three days, and to take up a position in rear of the Loire, the movement to be complete within eight days; (2) St. Denis, St. Ouen, Clichy, and Neuilly to be given up to the Allies on the 4th, Montmartre on the 5th, and, on the 6th, all barriers, giving access into the city, to be placed in the power of the Allies; (3) Order to be maintained in Paris by the Garde Nationale, and by the municipal _Gens d’armerie_; (4) The actual authorities to be respected “so long as they shall exist;” (5) Private and public property, except that which relates to war, to be respected, and all individuals to enjoy their rights and liberties, “without being disturbed or called to account, either as to the situations which they hold, or may have held, or as to their conduct or political opinions;” (6) The capital to be furnished with supplies.[23] ----- Footnote 23: Siborne, ii. 470, where the text of the Convention is given in full. ----- These stipulations, ratified by the British and Prussian Commanders, were carried out by the French with scrupulous fidelity. In spite of the violence of the troops, whose enthusiasm for the Imperial system had scarcely abated, the army, 70,000 men and 200 guns, marched towards the Loire on the 4th, under Marshal Davoût.[24] The Chambers continued their sittings, still intent upon their proposed constitution. On the 7th, the Allies determined to enter Paris, heralding the re-instatement of Louis XVIII., the Bourbon king. ----- Footnote 24: