spoke of the difficulties and obstacles he had met with on his first re-appearance among them. My government, said he, was liable to commit errors: perhaps it did commit them. He men tioned, as a mere calumny, the intention of restoring tithes and feudal rights, and appealed to his own proposal to the chambers for the security of the sales of national property. He concluded with promising pardon to all misled Frenchmen from the time of his quitting Lisle to that of his return to Cambray; but reserved for the vengeance of the laws, the instigators and authors of that treason, which had summoned foreigners into the heart of France. The armies under Wellington and Blucher were, in the mean time, continuing their advance on the capital, no regard having been paid to the proposal for a suspension of hostilities. On the 28th, the Prussian advanced guard was attacked at Villars Coterets, but the main body coming up, the assailants were repulsed with loss. Quesnoy surrendered on the 29th to Prince Frederick of the Netherlands. Wellington crossed the Oise on the 29th and 30th: and on the latter day Blucher passed the Seine at St. Germain, the intention being to invest Paris on two sides. The heights about the capital were strongly fortified; and the troops within it were estimated at 40 or 50,000 of the line and guards, besides national guards, a new levy of tiralleurs, and the Parisian volunteers, called Federés. Blucher was strongly opposed in taking his position on the left of the Seine; but the Prussians at length succeeded in

establishing themselves on the heights of Meudon, and in the village of Issy, on July the 2nd. The French attacked them at Issy on the 3rd, but were repulsed with considerable loss. Paris being now open on its vulnerable side, and a communication established between the two armies by a bridge at Argenteuil, a request came from the city for a cessation of the firing, for the purpose of negociating a military convention, under which the French army should evacuate the capital. This was concluded on the 3rd at St. Cloud, between Prince Blucher and the Duke of Wellington on one part, and the Prince of Eckmuhl on the other, being considered as merely referring to military questions, and touching none that were political. By its conditions, the French army was on the following day to commence its march for the Loire, with all its materiel, and completely to evacuate Paris within three days; all the fortified posts round the city, and finally its barriers, were to be given up; the duty of Paris was to be performed by the national guard and the municipal gendarmerie, and the actual authorities were to be respected by the allies; public property, with the exception of what relates to war, was to be respected, and the allied powers were not to interfere with its management; private persons and property to be respected; and all individuals continuing in the capital to enjoy their rights and liberties, without being called to account, either for the situations they may have held, or as to their conduct or political opinions. This convention was

declared common to all the allied armies, provided it were ratified by the powers on which those armies depend. "Thus (says an eloquent female writer) in the short space of fifteen months was the capital of France twice besieged, and twice compelled to

open its gates, and receive the law of the conqueror." Such was the retribution doomed to expiate the sufferings and disgraces inflicted upon Vienna, Berlin, Madrid, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Rome, Naples, Venice, and Moscow!

Lord Castlereagh a memorial, requesting the speedy conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace between the two crowns.

Long before this time, how ever, Murat had become an object of suspicion; and lord William Bentinck, who had closely observed him, gave, in a letter to lord Castlereagh, dated January 7, 1815, the following, among other remarks on the subject ;"There can be no doubt that all the advantages contemplated in the alliance with Murat, by Austria and the allies, would have been realized, if he had embarked honestly and cordially in the cause; but his policy was to save his crown, and to do this, he must always be on the side of the conqueror. His first agents were sent to me after his return from Leipsic. He then thought Napoleon's affairs desperate. His language was plain and sincere, He said, Give me an armistice, and I will march with the whole of the army against the French. Give me the friendship of England, and I care not for Austria, or the rest of the world. Sub. sequently, when Austria came to seek his alliance, he naterally discovered both his own importance, and the uncertain issue of the contest. He then began to entertain views of aggrandizement, and by possessing himself of the whole South of Italy, he seemed to think he could render himself independent, whatever might be the event of the war." His lord ship proceeds to speak of the counsels by which Murat was governed. He describes him as equally remarkable for his courage in the field, and his indecision in

the cabinet, which disposition was worked upon by two contending parties in his court, the French, and the Neapolitans. His attachment was manifestly to the former, and he was anxious to keep with him his French officers, who were continually magnifying the suc cess of the French army, and endeavouring to fix him in alliance with their country. It further appears, that lord W. Bentinck entertained strong suspicions of the good faith of Murat, even whilst acting with the allies, and that he had a serious difference with him on that account; and also that the Austrian General Bellegarde, was fully of the same opinion.

In the latter part of the preceding year, Murat had put in motion a considerable body of troops, with the apparent intention of occupying an additional share of the territories of the church; and at the end of January a Neapolitan army, said to consist of 25,000 men, was posted near Rome, so as in a manner to blockade it on the side of Naples. The Pope, who had sent a memorial of his complaints to the Aus trian court, remained in the city with his cardinals, trusting to the sanctity of his character for his sole defence. About this period the Duke of Campochiaro, the Neapolitan minister at the con, gress of Vienna, presented a note to Prince Metternich, in which after representing that his Sove. reign considered himself as included in the peace of Paris, among the allies of the coalesced powers, he complained of the delay of his most Christian Majesty to recognize him, and urged the

emperor of Austria to exert his influence with the court of France, in order to procure him this justice. That the French cabinet had before this time formed the design of obliging Murat to resign the crown of Naples to king Ferdinand, was rendered apparent by a letter made public, from the prince of Benevento (Talleyrand), to lord Castlereagh, proposing a plan of attack upon him. The duke of Campochiaro, when he presented his note, informed the Austrian minister, that he was directed to ask for a passage for 80,000 men into France through the Austrian dominions in Italy, who should pay for all which they consumed; which request induced the emperor's cabinet to take measures for the security of Italy, and to reinforce their troops in that country.

At this period, as already observed, an active correspondence was carrying on between Naples and the isle of Elba; but it may be doubted whether Joachim was entrusted with Buonaparte's design of landing in France. As soon as the intelligence of this event reached Naples, he called together his council, and informed them of his determination to adhere to his alliance with the emperor of Austria, and to remain faithful to the system of the allied powers, An assurance to this purpose was communicated to the Imperial ambassador at his court, and also to the plenipotentiaries at the congress of Vienna, The whole of the Neapolitan army was now in movement towards the frontier, and it was announced, that Joachim was immediately to follow, and establish his head

quarters at Ancona. For some days he appeared to be in a state of great agitation, He held frequent interviews with some French officers at Naples, several of whom he dispatched to France; but he delayed his own departure from Naples, and the advance of his troops, which was attributed to the news of the failure of Buo naparte's attempt to gain possession of Antibes. In fact, he seems to have been under the im. pression of all that doubt and fluctuation which naturally attends a man acting a double part, and irresolute which side to take, When, however, the news arrived of Buonaparte's entrance into Lyons, he inade known that he con. sidered the cause of Napoleon as his own, at the same time requiring a passage through the Roman states for two of his divisions. The pope protested against this violation of his territory, and withdrew to Florence.

On March 19, king Joachim arrived at Ancona, and put himself at the head of his troops He entered the pope's dominions on the 22nd, and, with his main body, proceeded from the Marches to the Legations, where, on the 30th, he began hostilities, by attacking the imperialists posted at Cesena, who retired before him. The consequence was, a declaration of war against him by Austria. He issued at Rimini, on the 31st, a proclamation addressed to the Italians, calling upon them universally to assert their independence, and liberate themselves from the dominion of foreigners; and asserting that eighty thousand Neapolitans, under the command