Matters were, however, too far advanced to admit of the realisation of these political plans, for the Pyrenees were already passed. After the battle of Orthes the French army was unable to maintain the road to Bourdeaux, and Lord Wellington, in concert with Marshal Beresford, was obliged to give a decided opinion concerning the inclination in favour of the Bourbons, which began to manifest itself in the southern provinces. On this occasion he assumed a political position for the first time; until now he had been merely a general officer, exhibiting some degree of dexterity in his negotiations with the junta of Cadiz, but the events of 1814 were evidently assuming a decisive character fraught with great importance. Would he be justified in giving a political impulse in favour of the restoration of Louis XVIII., and what were the orders of his government on this subject when the Allies were engaged in negotiation at Chaumont? Lord Wellington permitted the full and energetic manifestation of the public feeling; and Marshal Beresford made no objections to the white flag being hoisted. The empire was gradually declining from the northern to the southern extremity of the kingdom; and letters were received from Lord Castlereagh, informing the chief of the English armies of the events that had taken place in Paris. The battle of Toulouse was fought a few days afterwards, a melancholy and useless sacrifice of human life,--for it was incapable of arresting the progress of the coalesced armies; in fact, all was now over, the restoration was completed, and Louis XVIII. in the act of re-entering his capital. The English remained in possession of Toulouse, and the peace of 1814 was concluded by all the allied powers. Lord Wellington took no part in this treaty, for he was then possessed of no political influence, his life being entirely military; and Lord Castlereagh, then at the head of the cabinet, was not inclined to yield his ministerial influence to any one. When, however, the congress was assembled at Vienna, the Duke of Wellington, who had been received with the utmost enthusiasm in England, attended this meeting of crowned heads, to exhibit the grandeur of his country, and recall to mind the services he had rendered to the common cause. The talent he had displayed in the Peninsular war, and the perseverance he had exhibited during that long struggle, had cast a halo round his person, and greatly excited the public curiosity concerning him. He was at that time forty-five years of age, cold and reserved in his manners, but attaching some value to the attention shewn him by some of the ladies at Vienna; an immense number of entertainments were given to him, and it is well known that no city in Europe offers so many resources for those inclined to pleasure and dissipation.