ice of the new conspiracy. We have seen
that Soult was commander-in-chief of the army; and it is very difficult,
on considering the subsequent course of events, to doubt that he also
made a systematic use of his authority with the same views, distributing
and arranging the troops according to far other rules than the interests
of his royal master.

Ere the autumn closed, Buonaparte granted furloughs on various pretexts
to about 200 of his guardsmen; and these were forthwith scattered over
France, actively disseminating the praises of their chief, and, though
probably not aware how soon such an attempt was meditated, preparing the
minds of their ancient comrades for considering it as by no means
unlikely that he would yet once more appear in the midst of them. It is
certain that a notion soon prevailed that Napoleon would revisit the
soil of France in the spring of the coming year. He was toasted among
the soldiery, and elsewhere also, under the _soubriquet_ of Corporal
Violet. That early flower, or a ribbon of its colour, was the symbol of
rebellion, and worn openly, in the sight of the unsuspecting Bourbons.

Their security was as profound as hollow; nor was it confined to them.
The representatives of all the European princes had met in Vienna, to
settle finally a number of questions left undecided at the termination
of the war. Talleyrand was there for France, and Wellington for England;
and yet it is on all hands admitted, that no surprise was ever more
sudden, complete, and universal than theirs, when on the 11th of March,
1815, a courier arrived among them with the intelligence that Napoleon
Buonaparte had reared his standard in Provence.[68]

[Footnote 67: When the King first came to Paris, there appeared a
caricature representing an eagle flying away from the Tuileries, and a
brood of porkers entering the gate; and His Majesty was commonly called
by the rabble, not Louis _dix huit_, but Louis _Cochon_ (the pig), or
Louis _des huitres_ (of the oysters).]

[Footnote 68: The Emperor Alexander alone preserved perfect
self-possession; and, turning to the Duke of Wellington, exclaimed "Eh
bien, Wellington, c'est a vous encore une fois sauver le monde."]

CHAPTER XXXVIII

Napoleon lands at Cannes--his progress to
Grenoble--Lyons--Fontainebleau--Treason of Labedoyere and
Ney--Louis XVIII. retires to Ghent, and Napoleon arrives in Paris.

The evening before Napoleon sailed (February the 26th)