d four hundred soldiers as his body guard. His
farewell address to the soldiers of his old guard, at Fontainebleau,
was pathetic and eloquent. They retained their attachment amid general
desertion and baseness.
Josephine did not long survive the fall of the hero she had loved, and
with whose fortunes her own were mysteriously united. She died on the
28th, and her last hours were soothed by the presence of the Emperor
Alexander, who promised to take her children under his protection. Of
all the great monarchs of his age, he was the most extensively beloved
and the most profoundly respected.
[Sidenote: Peace of Paris.]
The allies showed great magnanimity and moderation after their
victory. The monarchy of France was established nearly as it was
before the Revolution, and the capital was not rifled of any of its
monuments, curiosities, or treasures--not even of those which Napoleon
had brought from Italy. Nor was there a military contribution imposed
upon the people. The allies did not make war to destroy the kingdom
of France, but to dethrone a monarch who had proved himself to be
the enemy of mankind. The peace of Paris was signed by the
plenipotentiaries of France, Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, and
Austria, on the 30th of April; and Christendom, at last, indulged the
hope that the awful conflict had ended. The Revolution and its
offspring Napoleon were apparently suppressed, after more than three
millions of men had perished in the struggle on the part of France and
of her allies alone.
Great changes had taken place in the sentiments of all classes, since
the commencement of the contest, twenty years before, and its close
excited universal joy. In England, the enthusiasm was unparalleled,
and not easy to be conceived. The nation, in its gratitude to
Wellington, voted him four hundred thousand pounds, and the highest
military triumphs. It also conferred rewards and honors on his
principal generals; for his successful operations in Spain were no
slight cause of the overthrow of Napoleon.
But scarcely were these rejoicings terminated, before Napoleon escaped
from Elba, and again overturned the throne of the Bourbons. The
impolitic generosity and almost inconceivable rashness of the allies
had enabled Napoleon to carry on extensive intrigues in Paris, and to
collect a respectable force on the island of which he was constituted
the sovereign; while the unpopularity and impolitic measures of the
restored dynasty
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