Upon the 18th of October Napoleon returned to Paris, secure of the present friendship and alliance of Russia, but uncertain of the moment when the stimulus of English subsidies would quicken the hostility of Austria into life; but if his peril was great, his preparations to meet it were likewise enormous. First he called out two conscriptions, of which the one taken from the classes of 1806, 7, 8, and 9, afforded eighty thousand men arrived at maturity; these were destined to replace the veterans directed against Spain. The second conscription, taken from the class of 1810, also produced eighty thousand, which were disposed of as reserves in the dépôts of France. The force in Germany was concentrated on the side of Austria. Denmark was evacuated, and one hundred thousand soldiers were withdrawn from the Prussian states. The army of Italy was powerfully reinforced, and placed under the command of prince Eugene, who was assisted by marshal Massena. Murat also, who had succeeded Joseph in the kingdom of Naples, was directed to assemble a Neapolitan army on the shores of Calabria, and to threaten Sicily. In short, no measures that prudence could suggest were neglected by this wonderful man, to whom the time required by Austria for the mere preparation of a campaign seemed sufficient for the subjection of the whole Peninsula. [Sidenote: Exposé de l’Empire, 1808.] The session of the legislative body was opened on the 24th of October; the emperor, in his speech from the throne, after giving a concise sketch of the political situation of Europe, touched upon Spain. “In a few days I go,” said he, “to put myself at the head of my armies, and, with the aid of God, to crown the king of Spain in Madrid, and to plant my eagles on the towers of Lisbon,” and then departing from Paris he repaired to Bayonne; but the labours of his ministers continued; their speeches and reports, more elaborately explicit than usual, exposed the vast resources of France, and were well calculated to impress upon the minds of men the danger of provoking the enmity of such a powerful nation. From those documents it appeared that the expenses of the year, (including the interest of the national debt), being between twenty-nine and thirty millions sterling, were completely covered by the existing taxes, drawn from a metallic currency, and that no fresh burthens would be laid upon the nation. Numerous public works were in progress, internal trade, and that commerce which was carried on by land, were flourishing, and nearly one million of men were in arms!