Meanwhile the allies united their forces; all nations marched together against the insatiable ambition of that conqueror, who placed for a second time the fate of the world at the hazard of his destiny. Wellington was at Brussels, collecting his forces and awaiting those of the allies. Placed by public consent at the head of all the allied armies, he was prudent and moderate; careful to avoid violent sentiments and exaggerated resolutions; friendly to the Bourbons, but without ill-will either towards France or the Emperor Napoleon. The wise attitude which he imposed upon the English, by the ascendancy of his authority and character, was not imitated by all the powers, Prussia, especially, having grievous injuries to avenge, acted with intense bitterness. {440} Napoleon entered Belgium. On the night of the 15th of June, 1814, the English officers were at a ball at the house of the Duchess of Richmond in Brussels. During the festivities they were informed, one after the other, of the approach of the French army; they quietly withdrew, and at once placed themselves at the head of their troops. On the 16th the two battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras were fought by the Prussian General Blücher and the Duke of Wellington, and cost the allies more than 15,000 men. On the 18th, at Waterloo, the English army alone left 15,000 dead upon the field of battle. The Emperor Napoleon there lost his crown, and France lost all the conquests she had so unjustly and imprudently acquired, and which had caused her so many tears and so much blood. Yet once more, after a hundred days of agitation and of anguish, the French people, tossed from one master to the other, vacillating and thoughtless, wounded nevertheless by their reverses, to the depths of their souls, and sad notwithstanding their deliverance, saw returning to his palace their fugitive king; while Napoleon rendered to England, his persevering enemy, the involuntary homage of demanding an asylum upon her territory. Accompanied by General Becker to Rochefort, he entered into negotiations with Captain Maitland, commander of the Bellerophon. Maitland received him on board, refusing to make any engagement in the name of the English government, but resolved not to allow his illustrious guest to escape. That government promptly decided that the Emperor Napoleon, who was so dangerous to the repose of Europe, should be detained during the remainder of his life on the island of St. Helena. {441} He departed, while England, through the intervention of the Duke of Wellington, lent to the monarchical restoration, as well as to the French nation, the support of her wise counsels and prudent moderation, without any one, at that time, being able to divine the role that his name and the prestige of his glory was yet to play in the history of the French nation and in the history of Europe. {442} Chapter XL. George IV. Regent And King. (1815-1830).