singularly favored any scheme which Napoleon might
have formed. The disbanding of an immense military force, the
humiliation of those veterans who still associated with the eagles of
Napoleon the glory of France, the derangement of the finances, and the
discontents of so many people thrown out of employment, naturally
prepared the way for the return of the hero of Marengo and Austerlitz.

[Sidenote: Napoleon's Return to France.]

On the 26th of February, he gave a brilliant ball to the principal
people of the island, and embarked the same evening, with eleven
hundred troops, to regain the sceptre which had been wrested from him
only by the united powers of Europe. On the 1st of March, his vessels
cast anchor in the Gulf of St. Juan, on the coast of Provence; and
Napoleon immediately commenced his march, having unfurled the
tricolored flag. As he anticipated he was welcomed by the people, and
the old cry of "_Vive l'Empereur_" saluted his ears.

The court of the Bourbons made vigorous preparations of resistance,
and the armies of France were intrusted to those marshals who owed
their elevation to Napoleon. Soult, Ney, Augereau, Massena, Oudinot,
all protested devotion to Louis XVIII.; and Ney promised the king
speedily to return to Paris with Napoleon in an iron cage. But Ney was
among the first to desert the cause of law and legitimacy, and threw
himself into the arms of the emperor. He could not withstand the arts
and the eloquence of that great hero for whose cause he had so long
fought. The defection of the whole army rapidly followed. The king was
obliged to fly, and Napoleon took possession of his throne, amid the
universal transports of the imperial party in France.

The intelligence of his restoration filled Europe with consternation,
rage, and disappointment, and greater preparations were made than ever
to subdue a man who respected neither treaties nor the interests of
his country. The unparalleled sum of one hundred and ten millions of
pounds sterling was decreed by the British senate for various
purposes, and all the continental powers made proportionate exertions.
The genius of Napoleon never blazed so brightly as in preparing for
his last desperate conflict with united Christendom; and, considering
the exhaustion of his country, the forces which he collected were
astonishing. Before the beginning of June, two hundred and twenty
thousand veteran soldiers were completely armed and equipped; a great
proof