Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert PeelAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert Peel
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
But the position of Buonaparte was far from being secure or
satisfactory. Though the soldiers had come over to him, and endeavoured
to rouse the populace of Paris to shout for his return, it was in
vain. The Guards, incensed at their silence, struck them with the
flat of their swords, and bade them cry, "Napoleon and Liberty!" but,
though they saw that Napoleon had returned, they very much doubted
whether he had brought liberty with him, and they remained cold and
indifferent. They saw the armies of the Allies looming again in the
distance, and they gave no credence to Napoleon's ready lies that he
was at peace with them. But he omitted no exertions to enter into such
a peace. He dispatched messengers to every Court, offering to accept
the terms of the Treaty of Paris, though he had repeatedly avowed that
this treaty consummated the disgrace of France. To these messages
no answers were returned. It was already determined that he should
receive no communication from the Allied sovereigns but in the shape of
overwhelming armies. They had proclaimed, in their Congress at Vienna,
and in their new Treaty of Coalition, that he had forfeited every claim
to consideration, and the British House of Commons had fully coincided
with them, and already upwards of a million of soldiers were in arms,
and in march towards France to finally crush him.
In England the Chancellor of the Exchequer had found no difficulty in
raising a loan of thirty-six million pounds, and this money was freely
devoted to put the armies of the Coalition in motion. Never had such
vast armaments been in preparation from the very north of Europe to
France. The Congress had removed its _locale_ from Vienna to Frankfort,
to be nearer the scene of action. The Emperors of Russia and Austria,
and the King of Prussia, were again at the head of their forces. On
the side of Switzerland, one hundred and fifty thousand Austrians, who
were liberated from Italy by the defeat of Murat, were ready to march
into France; another army of the same number directed its course to the
upper Rhine. Schwarzenberg was again Commander-in-Chief of Austria. Two
hundred thousand Russians, under Barclay de Tolly, were also marching
for Alsace, and Langeron, Sacken, and other generals were at the head
of other numerous divisions, all under the nominal leadership of the
Archduke Constantine. Blucher was already posted in Belgium with one
hundred and fifty thousand Prussians; and the army of Wellington, of
eighty thousand men, composed of British, and different nations in
British pay, occupied Flanders. The contingents of Holland, Sweden,
and the smaller German states raised the total to upwards of a million
of men, which, if they were not all at hand, were ready to march up in
case of any reverses to those first in the field.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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