he assured them.
They began to look upon the abdicated Emperor as the Angel of
Deliverance. The people of Lyons were equally enthusiastic, winning
warmer words than generally fell from the lips of Napoleon. "I love
you," he cried, and bore them with him to the capital. He entered the
Tuileries at night, and again the eagle of the Empire flew from steeple
to steeple on every church of Paris.

{182}

The Hundred Days elapsed between the liberation from the Bourbons and
Napoleon's last struggle for supremacy. The King made a feeble effort
against the Emperor. It was, however, the united armies of England and
Prussia that met the French on the field of Waterloo in 1815. From
March 13th to June 22nd Napoleon had had time to realize the might of
Wellesley, now Duke of Wellington. The splendid powers of the once
indefatigable French general were declining. Napoleon, who had not
been wont to take advice, now asked the opinions of others. The
dictator, so rapid in coming to a decision, hesitated in the hour of
peril. He was defeated at Waterloo on June 18th, 1815, by Bluecher and
Wellington together. The battle raged from the middle of morning to
eight o'clock in the evening and ended in the rout of the French
troops. The Emperor performed a second time the ceremony of
abdication, and, his terrible will being broken, surrendered on board
the _Bellerophon_ to the English.

The English Government feared a second return like the triumphant
flight from Elba. No enemy had ever been so terrible to England as
Napoleon. He must be removed altogether from the continent of Europe.
St Helena was chosen as the place of imprisonment, and Sir Hudson Lowe
put over him as, in some sort, a gaoler. A certain amount of personal
freedom was accorded, but the captive on the lonely rock did not live
to regain liberty. He died in 1821 on a day of stormy weather,
uttering _tete d'armee_ in the last moments of delirium.

{183}

Chapter XVI

"God and the People"

The diplomatists who assembled at the Congress of Vienna to settle the
affairs of Europe, so strangely disturbed by the vehement career of
that soldier-genius, Napoleon, had it in their minds to restore as far
as possible the older forms of government.

Italy was restless, unwilling to give up the patriotic dreams inspired
by the conqueror. The people saw with dismay that the hope of unity
was over since the peninsula, divided into four states, was parcelled
o