in fact the law, that the allied powers have imposed on themselves.

"My lord, the whole question lies in the compass of these few words.

"Napoleon has abdicated, as the allied powers desired: peace is
therefore restored: who the prince shall be, that is to reap the fruit
of this abdication, ought not even to be brought into the question.

"Is our state of possession to be altered by force? The allied powers
would not only violate their promises, promises made in the face of
the whole world, but they would not obtain their end. Is the change to
come from the will of the nation? Then it is necessary, in order to
lead this will to declare itself, for the allied powers first to make
known their formal refusal, to let our present government subsist. An
armistice, therefore, is indispensable.

"The full force of these considerations, my lord, it is impossible not
to perceive. Even in Paris, should the event of a battle open its
gates to you, I should still hold to your lordship the same language.
It is the language of all France. Were rivers of blood made
causelessly to flow, would the pretensions, that gave rise to them, be
more secure, or less odious?

"I hope soon to have an intercourse with your lordship, that will lead
us both to the work of peace, by means more conformable to reason and
justice. An armistice would allow us, to treat in Paris: and it will
be easy for us to come to an understanding on the great principle,
that the tranquillity of France is a condition inseparable from the
tranquillity of Europe. It is only from a close inspection of the
nation and of the army, that you can judge, on what the quietness and
stability of our future condition depend.

"I beg, &c. &c."

Though in this letter the Duke of Otranto pleaded the cause of
Napoleon IL, and pretended to be ignorant of the dispositions of the
allies, it was nevertheless very easy to perceive, that he considered
the question as irrevocably decided in favour of the Bourbons. Their
name, which he had long avoided mentioning, was incessantly on his
lips: but always the same, always inclined naturally and
systematically, to have more strings than one to his bow, he appeared
to incline alternately _for the younger branch, and for the reigning
branch_. At one time the former seemed to him to offer preferably, and
in a higher degree, all the guarantees the nation could desire: at
another he insinuated, that it would be possible, to come to an
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