frontier, the Spaniards turned back into their own country in the very midst of triumph, for daring to pass the bounds of discipline prescribed by the wise and generous policy of their commander. Terror and desolation, and the insurrection of a people rendered frantic by the cruelty of the invaders, marked the progress of the ferocious multitudes who crossed the Rhine. Order and tranquillity, profound even on the very edge of the battle-field, attended the march of the civilised army which passed the Bidassoa. And what were the military actions? Napoleon, rising even above himself, hurtled against the armed myriads opposed to him with such a terrible energy, that though ten times his number, they were rolled back on every side in confusion and dismay. But Wellington advanced without a check, victorious in every battle, although one-half of the veterans opposed to him would have decided the campaign in the eastern frontier. Nor can this be gainsaid, since Napoleon's career in this campaign. was only stayed by the defection of his brother-in-law Murat, and by the sickening treachery of two marshals to whom he had been prodigal of benefits."

This was the crisis of the campaign in which Augereau, with the army of Lyons, should have co-operated with Napoleon. But Murat's treachery had crippled the army of Italy, and Augereau, though reinforced by Suchet's divisions, which had now arrived from Spain, attempted nothing. His conduct was called lukewarmness at the time; it soon assumed a more positive character.

Blucher had, meanwhile, rallied his fugitives and formed a junction with the two Russian corps, stationed as before mentioned on the frontier. With a hundred thousand fresh troops, he now made a rapid descent along the two banks of the Marne, advancing on Paris. Marmont and Mortier had already returned before him to Ferté-sousJouarre, when the news reached Napoleon on the 26th of February, at Troyes, where he was occupied with the "proposal" for a suspension of arms. He instantly set forward in pursuit of the Prussians, leaving Oudinot and Macdonald to keep the Austrians in check. At Sezanne, he learned that Marmont and Mortier had fallen back on Meaux, where they still maintained their position against Blucher's army. Napoleon pressed forwards. When he reached the heights which command Meaux, he saw the Prussian army in full retreat. Blucher had been apprised of his approach,-had recrossed the Marne, and destroyed the bridge. Napoleon issued orders for the reconstruction of the bridge, and commanded his two marshals to advance northward and form the left of a circle in which Blucher should be enclosed. The plain between the Marne and the Ourcq was covered with detachments of the Prussian army, retreating in disorder on

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Soissons. The roads were bad, owing to the weather, and their equipages stuck in the mud. Napoleon crossed the Marne on the 3rd. By this time, a hard frost had rendered the roads passable, and favoured the retreat of Blucher. Still, the Aisne opposed a barrier to him, and Soissons, the key of that barrier, was in possession of the French. Blucher was in imminent danger of being hemmed in between the Marne and the Aisne, on the rear and front; and between Marmont and Mortier, who were advancing through Villers-Cotterets and Neuilly on one flank, while Napoleon by rapid movements pressed on the other, marching by the route of Chateau-Thierry. At this critical moment, to the astonishment of both armies, the drawbridges of Soissons were lowered to receive the Prussians. Two Russian divisions had taken the place on the 2nd of March.

While Blucher, by this unexpected stroke of fortune, escaped the impending peril of being forced to surrender, Schwartzenburg, having discovered that the French force opposed to him was only a screen, had forced Oudinot and Macdonald to retreat, after a sanguinary action at Bar-sur-Aube on the 27th, and had felt himself strong enough to despatch two divisions against Augereau at Lyons. An important treaty had also been ratified at Chaumont on the 1st of March, between the sovereigns of Austria, England, Russia and Prussia, by which the four contracting powers bound themselves each to maintain in the field an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men until the objects of the war were attained; England, as usual, engaging, over and above, to furnish a subsidy of four millions sterling. In a second clause, each of the four powers was bound never to make a separate peace with the common enemy. About the same time, the commissioners at Lusigny broke up the negociations for an armistice, on the plea of an inability to settle the line of demarcation.

Napoleon's operations were not checked by his disappointment before Soissons. He detached a division to occupy Rheims, and manoeuvred to surprise the passage of the Aisne. On the 7th, he fought a sanguinary battle at Craonne, with the Russians and Prussians, in which he remained master of the field, but with no trophies except the enemy's dead. On the 9th, he advanced upon the strong position of Laon, where Blucher, now reinforced by the vanguard of Bernadotte's army, had stationed himself. Marmont, Ney, and Mortier, at different points, conducted the attack; but during the night of the 9th, Marmont's position was surprised, and his division dispersed or cut to pieces. On the following day, Napoleon retreated from Laon. He lost several thousand men, and some cannon, before this strong position. On the 13th, he attacked the Russians who had taken Rheims, drove them out, and occupied the city. Here he

halted for three days. But of what avail were all the masterly combinations of Napoleon, or all the exploits of his army, or all the bloodshed in these constantly renewed combats against all Europe. Bourrienne may well exclaim, "How much useless glory did not our soldiers gain in these conflicts! In spite of prodigies of valour, the enemy's masses advanced, and approximated to a central point, so that this war might be compared to the battles of the ravens and the eagle in the Alps. The eagle slays hundreds of his assailants, every blow of his beak is the death of an enemy; but still the ravens return to the charge, and press upon the eagle until they destroy him."

At this very period, two events, ominous of Napoleon's future fortunes, occurred. The English army entered Bordeaux on the 13th of March, accompanied by the Duke d'Angoulême; the population, headed by their mayor, Count Lynch, hoisted the colours of the Bourbons, raised the cry of "Vive le Roi," and proclaimed Louis XVIII. The second event to which allusion has been made, was the defection of Augereau. The marshal had, by a series of reverses, occasioned chiefly by his own want of zeal in the service, suffered Lyons to fall into the power of the Austrians. The loss of this important city was a serious blow to the cause of Napoleon.

The conferences of Chatillon were broken up on the 20th of March. The blame is laid on every party by turns, according to the bias of the different authorities; but the question is of little importance. There was never any sincerity in the negociations.

Schwartzenburg had advanced upon Troyes, and had taken possession of that city after the battle of Bar-sur-Aube. Notwithstanding the route to Paris was thus again open to the grand army of the allies, now strongly reinforced, they hesitated at the intelligence that Napoleon had taken Rheims, and at the spirit of resistance which the excesses of their soldiery had aroused among the inhabitants of the frontier districts. Schwartzenburg actually recommended a retreat behind the Aube. A council was held at midnight, in which their future motions were discussed. The Emperor Alexander opposed the overcaution of Schwartzenburg with great steadiness, and Lord Castlereagh, foreseeing that a retreat behind the Aube would only be a preface to another behind the Rhine, announced to the assembled powers that so soon as they commenced their retrograde movement, the subsidies of England would cease to be paid to them. It was, at length, resolved to resume offensive operations; to unite their two great armies, hitherto separated; to offer battle to Napoleon at Arcis, and should he decline to accept the engagement, to march boldly on Paris. So many, however, had been the anxieties and conflicting opinions of the night, that Alexander himself declared that he believed the half