d for him. Sorrow had
usurped the place of enthusiasm, and they stood overwhelmed by grief.

A tall and soldierlike figure, with head uncovered, approached the
Emperor, and said a few words. Napoleon waved his hand towards the
troops, and from the ranks many rushed towards him, and fell on their
knees before him. He passed his hand across his face and turned away. My
eyes grew dim; a misty vapor shut out every object, and I felt as though
the very lids were bursting. The great tramp of horses startled me, and
then came the roll of wheels. I looked up: an equipage was passing from
the gate, a peloton of dragoons escorted it; a second followed at full
speed. The colonels formed their men; the word to march was given; the
drums beat out; the grenadiers moved on; the chasseurs succeeded; and
last the artillery rolled heavily up. The court was deserted; not a man
remained: all, all were gone! The Empire was ended; and the Emperor, the
mighty genius who created it, on his way to exile!

CHAPTER XLI. THE CONCLUSION

France never appeared to less advantage in the eyes of Europe than at
the period I speak of. Scarcely had the proud star of Napoleon set, when
the whole current of popular favor flowed along with those whom, but a
few days before, they accounted their greatest enemies. The Russians and
the Prussians, whom they lampooned and derided, they now flattered and
fawned on. They deemed no adulation servile enough to lay at the feet
of their conquerors,--not esteeming the exaltation of their victors
sufficient, unless purchased at the sacrifice of their own honor as a
nation.

The struggle was no longer who should be first in glory, but who
foremost in desertion of him and his fortunes whose word had made
them. The marshals he had created, the generals he had decorated, the
ministers and princes he had endowed with wealth and territory, now
turned from him in his hour of misfortune, to court the favor of one
against whom every act of their former lives was directed.

These men, whose very titles recalled the fields of glory to which he
led them, now hastened to the Tuileries to proffer an allegiance to a
monarch they neither loved nor respected. Sad and humiliating spectacle!
The long pent-up hatred of the Royalists found a natural vent in this
moment of triumphant success. Chateaubriand, Constant, and Madame de
Stael led the way to those declarations of the press which denounced
Napoleon as the greatest of earthly