The Prussians, who were on our left, had several sharp engagements with the enemy during their advance upon Paris; and both armies reached the environs of the capital on the 1st of July. Hostilities ceased, and a military convention was signed in the evening of the 3d. On the morning of this day Zieten’s corps had a sharp action, in which they were victors, at Issy near Paris. The campaign thus, by a singular coincidence, was brought to a close by the same troops that opened it. The allied and Prussian armies entered Paris on the 7th of July, and were followed next day by Louis XVIII. Before the end of the month, the armies of Europe congregated in and round Paris, amounted nearly to the enormous number of a million of men in arms. Napoleon, in the mean time, had left the capital. The Emperor surrendered at sea, on the 15th of July[80], to captain Maitland, of the Bellerophon. By a decree of the allied powers, he was sent to St.-Helena, where he died May 5th, 1821. Since these events, more than thirty years have passed over us; and peace between the two greatest nations of the globe, England and France, has been uninterruptedly maintained. Long may it continue, to the honour of those whose blood and valour purchased it, and to the lasting happiness of the civilized world! It was the prospect of securing this immense benefit to mankind that united all European nations against the ambition of Napoleon, and that afforded the best comfort under the distressing sacrifices made to ensure his overthrow. Perhaps no people benefitted by his fall so much as the French themselves: his triumphs (often great in a military point of view,) left nothing in their hands, whilst they filled every family in France with mourning. The conscription was a more searching tyranny than civilized men had ever before endured; and all this blood flowed in vain. Our Gallic neighbours have sometimes mistaken the tone of triumph in which we speak of the downfall of Napoleon, and have regarded it as insulting to them: nothing is farther from the mind and heart of the British soldier, who is always ready to acknowledge their military excellence. [Illustration: (end of chapter; image of a soldier)] FOOTNOTES: