help was so sorely
needed that she could dictate her terms, and she began to scheme for
the creation of a sort of _Fuerstenbund_, or League of Princes, under
her hegemony. The result was seen in her Treaty of October 7th, 1813,
with Bavaria, which detached that State from the French alliance and
assured the success of Metternich's plans for Germany (see pp.
354-355). The smaller States soon followed the lead given by Bavaria;
and the reconstruction of Germany on the Austrian plan was further
assured by the Treaty of Chaumont (see pp. 402-403). Thus the dire
need of Austrian help felt by Russia and Prussia throughout the
campaigns of 1813-1814 had no small share in moulding the future of
Europe.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXXVI

FROM THE RHINE TO THE SEINE

"The Emperor Napoleon must become King of France. Up to now all his
work has been done for the Empire. He lost the Empire when he lost his
army. When he no longer makes war for the army, he will make peace for
the French people, and then he will become King of France."--Such were
the words of the most sagacious of French statesmen to Schwarzenberg.
They were spoken on April 15th, 1813, when it still seemed likely that
Napoleon would meet halfway the wishes of Austria. Such, at least, was
Talleyrand's ardent hope. He saw the innate absurdity of attempting to
browbeat Austria, and strangle the infant Hercules of German
nationality, after the Grand Army had been lost in Russia.

If this was reasonable in the spring of 1813, it was an imperative
necessity at the close of the year. Napoleon had in the meantime lost
400,000 men: and he could not now say, as he did to Metternich of his
losses in Russia, that "nearly half were Germans." The men who had
fallen in Saxony, or who bravely held out in the Polish, German, and
Spanish fortresses, were nearly all French. They were, what the
_triarii_ were to the Roman legion, the reserves of the fighting
manhood of France. That unhappy land was growing restless under its
disasters. In Spain, Wellington had blockaded Pamplona, stormed St.
Sebastian, thrown Soult back on the Pyrenees in a series of desperate
conflicts, and planted the British flag on the soil of France, eleven
days before Napoleon was overthrown at Leipzig. Then, pressing
northwards, in compliance with the urgent appeals of the allied
sovereigns, our great commander assailed the lines south of the
Nivelle, on which the French had