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whose armies were unformed . The road to Paris was open to the enemy ; his threats of taking vengeance on the capital appeared to be by no
means vain : yet the people were not moved by them , and one spirit animated the whol £ to drive fhe foe out of their country . This spirit surmounted all difficulties , and the Duke of Brunswick learned the
difference between the citizen armed in defence of his country , and the soldier fighting for his pay . How different has been the contest , when Europe again poured
forth its troops into the same country . Prancenow had a disciplined army , experienced generals , and a conlniander of the greatest renown . But his soldiers did not now rush
to the field with the energy which possessed them before his iron reign . They fought indeed with that bravery , which is common to many armies ; they could execute manoeuvres ; they could do their business in the field . But the mass
of the population of France was inactive , easily kept under in every place through which the hostile armies past , and the war was evidently a war of regular governments , of soldiers merely against soldiers .
The military exploits are brought within a very narrow compass . Buonaparte was incessantly employed , both in body and mind , to prevent the approach of the hostile armies , Blucher on the north , and Schwartzenburg on the east of Paris . Victories were of course claimed on
both sides , yet Blucher was not driven back beyond Laon , and Schwartzenburg continued in the neighbourhood of Troyes . On a sudden it was heard , that Buonaparte had , by an extraordinary movement , got into the rear of
Schwartzenburg ' s a ^ my , thus exposing Paris completely to the enemy . The moment was not lost , the hostile a rime marched directly to Paris , A battle took place before the barriers , which was followed by a four hours' truce , in which time arrangements were made , and
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' - .. >¦ ¦ \ ¦ ^ r ¦ . , -i ¦ ¦ . fl the city was surrendered , by capi * tiilation , to the ejient y * r It can scarcely bte , imagined * that such aft event co $ M faave takei * place without some previous cam ^ munication between the leadersrtii
Paris and the h « adseof the allied armies . Be that a * jit « roay , the aet < of capitulation was- the prelude ta the fall of despotism * The conduct of the allied armies is beyond ill praise . They entered the city not cw conquerors , but as deliverers : the
sovereigns did net fix their resi « dence ia the palaces ! of the sovereign * but in the hotels of t&e nobility * . Every future act corresponded ^ also with the spirit of their fotmer pr ©^ clamations , that they vwarred notagainst the French people , tout *
against the Despot * wfcose systemwas incompatible with the Wfe » pendence and happiness : of Europe Buonaparte , though deprived'ofi his capital , was still the sovereign © f a large territory , and had mnd ^ his command very numerous armies .
The loss of the capital was n ot ^ unless from other potent causes , the loss of empire . But notwithstanding- appearances , he had built hifc house upon the sand ; his power wanted that foundation , which ti@& alone resist the attack of adverse fortune * The capital was left tolti *
own action by the allies , and tfcte controul of Buonaparte was goate . The senate met , andtkey determinv ed that Buonaparte had forfeited all pretensions to sovereignty , and that his reign was at an end . It "waat not difficult to find grounds for this determination . He > had broken
through every restraint of tne constitution , and had governed by his own will . To re-establish the constitution was the next point , and the third , to offeruthe government ; upon the new basis ,, to the brother
of their last monarch . The white cockade ^ the emblem © f the Bourbons , was now generally worn ; deputies were sent to England to offer the , crown to Louis Stanislaus Xavier of France ; a ptocMmati ^ tt was issued to the French poopia- m »
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254 State of Public Affairs-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1814, page 254, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2439/page/54/
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