nister of war]

[Sidenote: Marshal-General of France]

After the loss of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo, Soult was recalled to aid
Napoleon in Germany after the catastrophe of Moscow. He was the Emperor's
chief-of-staff in the battles of Luetzen and Bautzen. On Wellington's
invasion of France, Soult was sent against him. Marching through the passes
of the Pyrenees, he succeeded in inflicting great losses on the English.
His attempts to secure Pampeluna and San Sebastian having failed, Soult was
compelled to face Wellington on the soil of France. His dispirited troops
were driven back at Toulouse, where he held his ground tenaciously until
the allies had lost 5,000 men. At the Peace of Paris he signed a separate
suspension of arms, and was rewarded for this by Louis XVIII. with the
cross of St. Louis and the portfolio of the Ministry of War, but during the
Hundred Days he declared for Napoleon, and once more served as his
chief-of-staff at Waterloo. On his return from exile in 1819 his marshal's
baton was restored to him. Charles X. also confirmed him in his rank as
peer. Louis Philippe twice made him Minister of War. At the coronation of
Queen Victoria in 1838, Soult was elected to represent France. When he
retired into private life, nearly ten years later, the King revived for him
the ancient dignity of Marshal-General of France.

[Sidenote: Louis Napoleon's aspirations]

[Sidenote: Maupas]

[Sidenote: Emphatic disavowals]

By the time of Marshal Soult's death, the storm that arose over Louis
Napoleon's abrupt removal of Changarnier had been suppressed with a firm
hand. The majority in the Assembly who voted for a revision of the
Constitution was found to be ninety-seven less than the three-fourths
required, and all further opposition of the Assembly against Louis
Napoleon's measures was denounced as factious. Maupas, the obsequious Chief
of Police, discovered dangerous plots against the government and against
the person of the President. Fears of possible Napoleonic aspirations had
been silenced by Louis Napoleon's energetic protests. He himself stated
publicly: "They think that I wish to revive Napoleon. What could I revive
of Napoleon? One sole thing--a crime. I am not a genius--so I cannot copy
Napoleon; but I am an honest man--so I will imitate Washington. My name,
the name of Bonaparte, will be inscribed on two pages in the history of
France. On the first there will be crime and glory; on the second propriety
a