Blucher at Laon and Craon, he got tired of pursuing a course
which afforded no great results, and leaving a strong body under
Marmont to watch Blucher, he threw himself into the rear of the
Grand Army. The march upon Paris entirely disconcerted him and
finished the war. The Allies could not have maintained themselves
much longer, and had he continued to keep his force concentrated,
and to carry it as occasion required against one or other of the
two armies, the Duke thinks he must eventually have forced them
to retreat, and that their retreat would have been a difficult
operation. The British army could not have reached the scene of
operations for two months. The Allies did not dare attack
Napoleon; if he had himself come up he should certainly have
attacked him, for his army was the best that ever existed.

The Duke added that he traced back the present politics of France
to their chagrin at the dissolution of the Family Compact. At the
general pacification the Duke, on the part of the English
Government, insisted upon that treaty not being renewed, and made
a journey to Madrid for the purpose of determining the Spanish
Government. Talleyrand and the King of France made great efforts
to induce the Duke to desist from his opposition to the renewal
of the treaty, and both were exceedingly mortified at being
unable to shake the determination of our Government on this
point.

The Duke of Wellington told me that Knighton[20] managed the
King's affairs very well, that he was getting him out of debt
very quickly, and that the Ministers were well satisfied with
him. When he was appointed to the situation he now holds, he
called at Apsley House to announce it to the Duke, and expressed
his hopes that the appointment would not displease him. The Duke
said that he could have no objection, but he would give him a
piece of advice he trusted he would take in good part: this was,
that he would confine himself to the discharge of the functions
belonging to his own situation, and that he would not in any way
interfere with the Government; that as long as he should so
conduct himself he would go on very well, but that if ever he
should meddle with the concerns of the Ministers he would give
them such offence that they would not suffer him to remain in a
situation which he should thus abuse. Knighton thanked him very
much for his advice, and promised to conform himself to it. It
seems that he told this to the King, for the next time