by the
allies, to support the courage of the royalists, and to restore to the
Bourbons the confidence and moral strength they had lost.

He thought, that his entrance into Paris, and the entire pacification
of the South, would have completely changed the state of things; and
he hoped, that foreign nations would ultimately acknowledge him, when
they were convinced, that he had been re-established on the throne by
the unanimous consent of the French, and that his ideas of conquest
and dominion had given place to the real desire of respecting the
tranquillity and independence of his neighbours, and of living in
harmony with them.

In fine, he considered, that prudence would induce the allies, as it
was their interest, not to engage in a war, the results of which could
not be favourable to them: "They will feel, that they will not this
time have to do with the France of 1814; and that their successes, if
they gain any, will be no longer decisive, but will merely serve to
render the war more obstinate and bloody; while, if victory favour me,
I may become as formidable as ever. I have for me Belgium and the
Rhenish provinces, and with a tricoloured flag and a proclamation I
could revolutionize them in four-and-twenty hours."

The treaty of the 25th of March, by which the great powers, renewing
the arrangements of the treaty of Chaumont, engaged themselves anew
not to lay down their arms, as long as Napoleon should be on the
throne, appeared to him merely the natural consequence of the act of
the 13th of March, and of the erroneous opinions the allies had formed
of France. He thought, that it would not alter the state of the
question; and resolved, notwithstanding this treaty, and the
affronting manner in which his first overtures were received, to
endeavour repeatedly to make the voice of truth, of reason, and of
peace, heard at Vienna.

Baron de Stassart, late auditor to the council of state and prefect,
had been made chamberlain of Austria, or of Bavaria, since the
restoration. He was at Paris. The Emperor, hoping he might be able to
reach Vienna under favour of his quality of chamberlain, charged him
with a mission for the Empress Marie Louise, and fresh despatches for
the Emperor of Austria. Napoleon at the same time had recourse to
other means: he was aware of the intimacy and connexions of MM. D. de
St. L** and de Mont** with Prince Talleyrand; and persuaded, that M.
de Talleyrand would procure for them authority