shal of France; that which joyously trundled the barrows full of
bones to erect the knoll of the lion; that which triumphantly inscribed
on that pedestal the date "June 18, 1815"; that which encouraged
Blucher, as he put the flying army to the sword; that which, from the
heights of the plateau of Mont-Saint-Jean, hovered over France as over
its prey, was the counter-revolution. It was the counter-revolution
which murmured that infamous word "dismemberment." On arriving in Paris,
it beheld the crater close at hand; it felt those ashes which scorched
its feet, and it changed its mind; it returned to the stammer of a
charter.

Let us behold in Waterloo only that which is in Waterloo. Of intentional
liberty there is none. The counter-revolution was involuntarily liberal,
in the same manner as, by a corresponding phenomenon, Napoleon was
involuntarily revolutionary. On the 18th of June, 1815, the mounted
Robespierre was hurled from his saddle.

CHAPTER XVIII--A RECRUDESCENCE OF DIVINE RIGHT

End of the dictatorship. A whole European system crumbled away.

The Empire sank into a gloom which resembled that of the Roman world as
it expired. Again we behold the abyss, as in the days of the barbarians;
only the barbarism of 1815, which must be called by its pet name of the
counter-revolution, was not long breathed, soon fell to panting, and
halted short. The Empire was bewept,--let us acknowledge the fact,--and
bewept by heroic eyes. If glory lies in the sword converted into a
sceptre, the Empire had been glory in person. It had diffused over the
earth all the light which tyranny can give a sombre light. We will say
more; an obscure light. Compared to the true daylight, it is night. This
disappearance of night produces the effect of an eclipse.

Louis XVIII. re-entered Paris. The circling dances of the 8th of July
effaced the enthusiasms of the 20th of March. The Corsican became the
antithesis of the Bearnese. The flag on the dome of the Tuileries was
white. The exile reigned. Hartwell's pine table took its place in front
of the fleur-de-lys-strewn throne of Louis XIV. Bouvines and Fontenoy
were mentioned as though they had taken place on the preceding
day, Austerlitz having become antiquated. The altar and the throne
fraternized majestically. One of the most undisputed forms of the health
of society in the nineteenth century was established over France, and
over the continent. Europe adopted the white cockade. Trestail