These arrangements having been made, the sovereigns of Russia and Prussia came over to London on a visit to the Prince Regent, and to take a look at that wonderful capital which had poured out such torrents of gold to bring up their armies to Paris. With them came the Duchess of Oldenburg, the sister of the Czar, the two sons of the King of Prussia, and a great number of the victorious field-marshals, generals, princes, dukes, barons, and the like. But the two grand favourites of the people were Platoff, whose Cossacks had charmed the British people so by their wild prowess, and the bluff old Marshal Blucher. This was a hero exactly after the British heart--blunt, uncompromising, and, like the British, never knowing when he was beaten. [Illustration: THE STATES OF EUROPE in 1815. ] CHAPTER III. REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_concluded_). The Congress at Vienna--Napoleon's Escape from Elba--Military Preparations--England supplies the Money--Wellington organises his Army--Napoleon's Journey through France--His Entry into Paris--The Enemy gathers round him--Napoleon's Preparations--The New Constitution--Positions of Wellington and Blucher--The Duchess of Richmond's Ball--Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras--Blucher's Retreat--The Field of Waterloo--The Battle--Charge of the Old Guard--Arrival of the Prussians--The Retreat--French Assertions about the Battle refuted--Napoleon's Abdication--The Allies march on Paris--End of the Hundred Days--The Emperor is sent to St. Helena--The War in America--Events on the Canadian Frontier--Repeated Incapacity of Sir George Prevost--His Recall--Failure of American Designs on Canada--Capture of Washington by the British--Other Expeditions--Failure of the Expedition to New Orleans--Anxiety of the United States for Peace--Mediation of the Czar--Treaty of Ghent--Execution of Ney and Labédoyère--Inability of Wellington to interfere--Murat's Attempt on Naples--His Execution--The Second Treaty of Paris--Final Conditions between France and the Allies--Remainder of the Third George's Reign--Corn Law of 1815--General Distress--Riots and Political Meetings--The Storming of Algiers--Repressive Measures in Parliament--Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act--Secret Meetings in Lancashire--The Spy Oliver--The Derbyshire Insurrection--Refusal of Juries to convict--Suppression of seditious Writings--Circular to Lords-Lieutenant--The Flight of Cobbett--First Trial of Hone--The Trials before Lord Ellenborough--Bill for the Abolition of Sinecures--Death of the Princess Charlotte--Opening of the Session of 1818--Repeal of the Suspension Act--Operation of the Corn Law--The Indemnity Bill--Its Passage through Parliament--Attempts at Reform--Marriages of the Dukes of Clarence, Cambridge, and Kent--Renewal of the Alien Act--Dissolution of Parliament and General Election--Strike in Manchester--Congress