old dynasty. If
the populace had not as yet declared for the Bourbons, who could
wonder at that, when the allies persisted in negotiating with
Napoleon? But let them declare that they will no more treat with him,
and France would at once show her real desires. For himself, he would
answer for the Senate. The Czar was satisfied; Frederick William
assented; the Austrian princes said not a word on behalf of the claims
of Marie Louise; and the cause of the House of Bourbon easily
triumphed.[448]

On the morrow appeared in the "Journal des Debats" a decisive
proclamation, signed by Alexander _on behalf of all the allied
Powers;_ but we must be permitted to doubt whether the Emperor
Francis, if present, would have allowed it to appear, especially if
his daughter were present in Paris as Regent. The proclamation set
forth that the allies would never again treat with "Napoleon
Bonaparte" or any member of his family; that they would respect the
integrity of France as it existed under its lawful kings, and would
recognize and guarantee the constitution which the French nation
should adopt.

Accordingly, they invited the Senate at once to appoint a Provisional
Government. Talleyrand, as Grand Elector of the Empire, had the power
to summon that guardian of the commonwealth, whose vote would clearly
be far more expeditious than the _plebiscite_ on which Alexander had
previously set his heart. Of the 140 Senators only 64 assembled, but
over them Talleyrand's influence was supreme. He spake, and they
silently registered his suggestions. Thus it was that the august body,
taught by ten years of despotism to bend gracefully before every
breeze, fulfilled its last function in the Napoleonic _regime_ by
overthrowing the very constitution which it had been expressly charged
to uphold. The date was the 1st of April. Talleyrand, Dalberg,
Beurnonville, Jaucourt, and l'Abbe de Montesquiou at once formed a
Provisional Government; but the soul of it was Talleyrand. The Czar
gave the word, and Talleyrand acted as scene-shifter. The last tableau
of this constitutional farce was reached on the following day, when
the Senate and the Corps Legislatif declared that Napoleon had ceased
to reign.

Such was the ex-bishop's revenge for insults borne for many a year
with courtly tact, but none the less bitterly felt. Napoleon and he
had come to regard each other with instinctive antipathy; but while
the diplomatist hid his hatred under the cloak of iro