might naturally be expected to be followed by the immediate restoration of the ancient royal dynasty; but France was not in the same state of preparation for such an event as England on the downfall of the protectorate. The Bourbons were unknown or forgotten by the mass of the nation, and the allied powers had hitherto cautiously avoided any open indications of intending to adopt their cause. The declaration in their favour at Bourdeaux was the work of a few in Paris they had no party except some emigrants who had been permitted to return; and it is affirmed, that the emperor of Russia, on his entrance into the capital, was yet undetermined how to act in this point. To Talleyrand alone is ascribed, by the best informed, the resolution of placing Lewis XVIII. on the throne of his ancestors. This consummate politician, whose talents had made him necessary to Buonaparte, found no difficulty in transferring his allegiance from one who had slighted his counsels, and had brought on his own ruin, to a sovereign who would be indebted to him for his crown, and probably give him his entire confidence. When, therefore, the provincial government, of which he was the main spring, presented their plan of a constitution to the conservative senate, that body passed a decree in which was the following article: "The present Constitution shall be submitted to the acceptance of the French people, in the form which shall be regulated. Louis Stanislaus Xavier shall be proclaimed King of the French, as soon as he shall have accepted and sworn by an act stating, I accept the Constitution;

I swear to observe it, and cause it to be observed." This was confirmed by the legislative body, and no opposition appeared on any part to the resumption of royalty by the head of the Bourbons. It is indeed probable, that eventually this must have taken place, whoever had first been in possession of the helm. Republicanism had been tried and found unsuitable to the genius of the nation; and no other settlement than a restoration of hereditary royalty could have united so many suffrages; but it was happy for the tranquillity of France, that the determination was instant, and by the highest authority.

Several succeeding days were distinguished by the accession of different French marshals, and of various public bodies, to the new order of things. On April 13th, the interesting circumstance took place at Paris of the entry of Monsieur, the king's brother, into the capital. The allied sovereigns, who very prudently had hitherto avoided all appearance of interfering in the domestic concerns of the French, thought it expedient, that this solemnity should be purely national, and therefore neither attended it in person, nor permitted their troops to join the train; lord Castlereagh, however, with the whole of the English mission, conceived it a compliment due to a family which had so long resided in this country, to appear in the procession. His Royal Highness was met at the barrier by the members of the provisional government, the municipal authorities, and the ministerial officers, and entering amidst a group of marshals of France, and great officers, proceeded in grand ceremony

to

to the church of Notre Dame, to return thanks for the happy change in affairs. He was welcomed, according to the authorised account, with the most loyal acclamations, and received a congratulatory address from the municipal body of Paris, presented by the prefect of the department of the Seine. But before we proceed farther in recording the events of France, pacified and renovated, it is proper to wind up the narrative of its warlike transactions, unhappily not yet brought to a conclusion.

Lord Wellington, under the date of March 26th, communicated the intelligence of the retreat of the French, after the affair near Tarbes, with such celerity, that they arrived at Toulouse on the 24th, offering no other opportunity of action to their pursuers, except one attack of cavalry upon their rear-guard, in which they sustained some loss. The approach of the combined army on the 28th, caused the French to withdraw into the city of Toulouse, and the swoln state of the Garonne from rain and melted snow, would not permit Lord Wellington for some days to throw a bridge over it, below the town. It was not till April 8th, that he was enabled to move any part of his army across 'the river, at which time, no information had reached either army of the great events that had taken place in Paris. The defences of Toulouse, which on three sides is surrounded by the canal of Languedoc and the Garonne, consisted chiefly in a fortified suburb, on the left of that river, forming a good tete de pont, works at each bridge of the canal, and strong redoubts on a height between the canal and the river Ers. Of these

positions every advantage had been made by the diligence of marshal Soult; and the roads from the Ariege to Toulouse being impracticable for cavalry and artillery, it became necessary at all hazards to make the approaches on this quarter. The 8th and 9th were chiefly occupied in preparatory movements; and on the morning of the 10th, a general attack was made, the particulars of which cannot be rendered intelligible without a plan. The result was, that after a day spent in sanguinary conflicts at various points, at its close the allied troops were established on three sides of Toulouse, and the light cavalry was dispatched to cut off the communication by the only road for carriages, which remained to the enemy. Arrange. ments were making for a further advance; but on the night of the 11th, the French retired, leaving three generals and 1600 men prisoners. This success was not obtained without a loss to the troops of the three nations of about 600 killed, and 4,000 wounded. Lord Wellington entered Toulouse on the following morning, where he was received with general accla mations, and the town hoisted the white flag. It was not till the evening of that day, that his Lordship received from Paris intelligence of the events which had occurred in that capital on the 7th. It was brought by col. Cooke, who was accompanied by a French officer, directed by the provisional government to convey the same information to marshals Soult and Suchet. The former did not at first consider it to be so authentic as to induce him to send his submission to the new govern. ment; but proposed to Lord Wel

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lington a suspension of hostilities, for the purpose of giving him time to ascertain the real state of affairs. To this, his lordship refused his consent, and marched his troops forward, on the 15th and 17th, to Castelnaudary; in the meantime he concluded a suspension with the commandant at Montauban. On the 16th another officer arriving from Paris was forwarded to Soult, who, on the following day, gave information of his having acknowledged the provisional government of France. Lord W. in consequence authorized English and a Spanish general to arrange with the French general Gazan, a convention for a suspension of hostilities between the allied armies under his command, and those under marshals Soult and Suchet.

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- This was not the only unnecessary bloodshed, which the delay of intelligence for a few days occasioned. Early on the morning of April 14th, a sortie in force was made from the French camp in front of the citadel of Bayonne, upon the position of the allies at St. Etienne, opposite the citadel, chiefly on its left and centre. At the beginning of the attack, Majorgen. Hay, the commanding officer of the out-posts for the day, was killed, and the assailants gained temporary possession of St. Etienne. They also drove in the picquets of the centre, where major-gen. Stopford was wounded. On the right, lieut. gen. Hope bringing up some troops to support the picquets, came suddenly in the dark upon a party of the enemy, when his horse was shot under him, and himself wounded and taken prisoner. After a time,

all the lost ground was recovered, and the picquets were reestablished in their former posts, but a serious loss was incurred, both of officers and men. These actions, however, were the conclusion of a war now without an object. On April 23d, Monsieur ratified, with the allied powers, a convention for the suspension of all hostilities,

In the preamble it is said, that "the allied powers, united in the determination to put a period to the calamities of Europe, and to found its repose on a just distribution of power, among the states which compose it; wishing to give France, replaced under a government whose principles offer the necessary securities for the maintenance of peace, proofs of their desire to resume amicable relations with her; wishing also to cause France to enjoy as much as possible, the benefits of peace, even before all the terms thereof have been settled, have resolved to proceed conjointly with his Royal Highness Monsieur," &c. Of the articles, the first declares, that all hostilities by land and sea are suspended between the Allied Powers and France, as soon as the French generals and commanders shall have made known to those opposed to them, that they have acknowledged the authority of the lieutenant-general of the kingdom. By the second, the Allies agreed to cause their armies to evacuate the French territory, such as it was on Jan. 1, 1792, in proportion as the places beyond those limits, still occupied by French troops, should be evacuated and given up to the allies. The blockade of fortresses in France by the allied

armies,