ted
a most beautiful scene. It was a succession of beautiful small gardens;
there a fortress made of turf, its bastions crowned with hortensias; here
a plot had been converted into a terrace, its walks ornamented with
flowers, like the most carefully tended parterre; on a third was seen a
statue of Pallas. The whole barrack was decked with moss, and decorated
with boughs and garlands which were renewed each day.

As the armistice would end on the 15th of August, the fete of his Majesty
was advanced five days. The army, the town, and the court had made
extensive preparations in order that the ceremony might be worthy of him
in whose honor it was given. All the richest and most distinguished
inhabitants of Dresden vied with each other in balls, concerts,
festivities, and rejoicings of all sorts. The morning before the day of
the review, the King of Saxony came to the residence of the Emperor with
all his family, and the two sovereigns manifested the warmest friendship
for each other. They breakfasted together, after which his Majesty,
accompanied by the King of Saxony, his brothers and nephews, repaired to
the meadow behind the palace, where fifteen thousand men of the guard
awaited him in as fine condition as on the most brilliant parades on the
Champ-de-Mars.

After the review, the French and Saxon troops dispersed through the
various churches to hear the Te Deum; and at the close of the religious
ceremony, all these brave soldiers seated themselves at banqueting tables
already prepared, and their joyous shouts with music and dancing were
prolonged far into the night.

CHAPTER XIII.

The entire duration of the armistice was employed in negotiations tending
to a treaty of peace, which the Emperor ardently desired, especially
since he had seen the honor of his army restored on the fields of Lutzen
and Bautzen; but unfortunately he desired it only on conditions to which
the enemy would not consent, and soon the second series of our disasters
recommenced, and rendered peace more and more impossible. Besides, from
the beginning of negotiations relative to the armistice, whose limit we
had now nearly reached, the emperor Alexander, notwithstanding the three
battles won by Napoleon, would listen to no direct proposals from France,
except on the sole condition that Austria should act as mediator. This
distrust, as might be expected, did not tend to produce a final.
reconciliation, and, being the conquering party, the