“By demanding considerable sacrifices from France for the security of Europe, we unavoidably lower the character of the Government, which it is our wish to uphold; on the other hand, the stability of that Government, after the Allies shall have evacuated France, is so very problematical, that we should not do our duty to Europe if we looked to no other security than that which the legitimate government of the King of France could in itself hold out to us.”[73] ----- Footnote 73: _Supplementary Despatches, etc._ , xi. 95. ----- By the Treaty, the eastern frontier, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, was restricted generally, to the line that existed in 1790; and thus the French lost a strip of territory which, in 1814, had been ceded to them, including the fortresses of Landau, Sarre-Louis, Philippeville, and Marienburg. France had moreover to pay a war indemnity of 700,000,000 francs, for the expenses of the war. Further, an army of not more than 150,000 men, formed of British, Russian, Austrian, Prussian, and German troops, in about equal proportions, and under a Commander-in-chief appointed by the Allied Sovereigns, was to occupy seventeen fortresses along the northern frontier, from Condé, Valenciennes, Bouchain, and Cambrai, to the _tête de pont_ of Fort Louis on the Rhine. The occupation was to continue for three years certain, and might last for another two years. This mixed army was placed under the supreme command of the Duke of Wellington, and all the expenses incurred by it were to be defrayed by the French. It was understood that the primary object of these latter stipulations was to preserve Louis on the throne, and to give time for the consolidation of his government. Lastly, a sum of 835,000,000 francs was exacted by way of compensation to the Powers, for the spoliations and losses which they suffered during the Revolution, and to indemnify the minor States for their recent expenses. Thus, the French had to submit to the payment of more than sixty-one million sterling, as the result of their defeat; and this sum did not include the vast amounts which were otherwise taken from them, under the head of contributions for the armies that invaded their country, or that were to be maintained there, for the purpose of inducing them to conform to the new order which had just been established.[74] ----- Footnote 74: Baines, _Wars of the French Revolution_ , ii. 529, 530, where the text of the Treaty is given; Alison, _History of Europe, 1789-1815_ , x. 972. ----- CHAPTER III. OCCUPATION OF FRENCH FORTRESSES.