At break of clay, the Prussian army had began to move ; the 2d and 4th corps marched to take up a position whence they might attack the on the rear, if circumstances proved favourable. The 1st corps was to operate on the right flank of the French ; and the 3d corps was to follow slowly in order. About 5 o'clock, Bonaparte perceived the advance of part of the Prussian army, which at first he seems to have supposed to have been the division of his own army under Marshal Grouchy, who had been posted on the rear of the allies to take advantage of their antici pated defeat. As soon, however, as he ascertained that it was the Prussians, he repeated his attacks with cavalry and infantry, supported by artillery, in a more desperate and murderous manner than ever ; but the British were im moveable. At last, about seven in the evening, he made a last effort, putting himself at the head of his guards. He succeeded for a moment in driving back the Brunswickers ; hut the Duke of Wellington, putting himsell at their head, and animating them by a short speech, restored the com bat. At this critical moment, the Prussians came up : General Bulow advanced rapidly on the rear of the right wing of the French ; and Marshal Blucher had joined in person with a corps of his army to the left of the British army, by Ohaim. The Duke of Wellington headed the foot•guards ; spoke a few words to them, which were re plied to by a general hurrah ; and his Grace guiding them on with his hat, they marched at the point of the bayonet, to close action with the imperial guard : but the latter be retreat, in which they were imitated by the whole French army. The British, completely exhausted, left the pursuit to the Prussians, who, coming fresh to battle, soon changed the retreat of the French into a rout, the most de structive, perhaps, ever known. In this battle, nearly 300 pieces of cannon were taken, and upwards of 14,000 pri soners. The losof the French in killed, especially on the 16th, when the Prussians neither gave nor received quar ter, was immense; on the 16th and 18th, it could not have amounted to less than 40,000 men. On the 16th, the Prus sians lost about 16,000 men ; and on the 18th, the Duke of Wellington's army about 13,000.
No battle, perhaps, ever was fought of a more obstinate description, or more decisive in its consequences. In this one battle of Waterloo, the fate of Bonaparte was sealed, and his empire again overthrown. In this one battle, the fame of the Duke of Wellington was raised to a summit it cannot possibly surpass ; and the British soldiers proved, that they were worthy of being commanded by such a ge neral.
On leaving the field of battle, Bonaparte fled as rapidly as possible to Paris, where he arrived on the 21st, and con voked a council of ministers. On the 22d, the two cham bers declared their sittings permanent; and Bonaparte was given to understand, that his abdication was expected. He
accordingly issued a declaratior,, in which he declared his political life terminated; and proclaimed his son, under the title of Napoleon II. His abdication was accepted by the Chambers ; but the question was evaded with regard to the title of young Napoleon. A commission of five was cho sen to exercise provisionally the functions of government : the members were, Fouche, Cannot, Grenier, Caulincourt, and Quinette. At first, the Chambers seem to have enter tained some hopes that the progress of the allies might have been arrested ; but on the representation of Ncy, that it was impossible to collect 25,000 men, they voted that an attempt should be made to ncgociatc an armistice with the Duke of Wellington.
In the mean time, the Duke and Prince Blucher were advancing rapidly towards Paris. The latter was unsuc cessfully opposed by Marshal Grouchy, who having united some of the fugitives from the battle of Waterloo with his corps, at last reached the capital with about 40,000 men. With these, and some of the national guards, Scc. au at tempt was made to prevent the Prussians from taking a position on the left of the Seine, the only part whereon de fensive works had been thrown up. On the failure of this attempt, and the refusal of the Duke of t Vellington to ne gociate an armistice, Paris was surrendered to the allies by a military convention, the principal stipulations of which were, that the French army should march out of it, and take up a position behind the Loire ; that the duty of the city should continue to be performed by the national guards ; that public and private property should be respected ; that no person should be called to account for his conduct or opinions ; and that the convention should be common to all the allied powers, provided it were ratified by the powers on whom the armies were dependant.* On the 8th of July, Louis entered his capital again, the provisional government and the chambers being previously dissolved. A few days afterwards Ire appointed his ministers, introducing a new regulation, according to which there is to be a privy coun cil, comprehending the princes, the ministers, and such others as the king may name ; and a council of responsible ministers. The latter are in number eight : consisting of Talleyrand, president of the council, and secretary for fo reign affairs ; Baron Louis, minister of finance ; Fondle, Duke of Otranto, of the police ; Baron Pasquier, the de partment of justice, and keeper of the seal • Marshal Gott vion St Cyr, the department of war ; Count de Jaucour, the marine ; and the Duke de Richelieu, the household. The appointment of Fonche, a man more deeply stained with the crimes of the Revolution, than perhaps any of the prin cipal surviving actors in that dreadful drama, excited uni versal astonishment and indignation ; but these feelings were almost entirely drawn aside from tF4s appointment, by