Europe who had once been Napoleon's allies had now declared against him.
They all refused to acknowledge Napoleon as emperor, or to treat with
him as one having any authority.

"No peace, no reconciliation with this man," wrote the Emperor Alexander
to Pozzo di Borgo; "all Europe is of the same opinion concerning him.
With the exception of this man, any thing they may demand; no preference
for any one; no war after this man shall have been set aside[51]."

[Footnote 51: Cochelet, vol. iii., p. 90.]

But, in order to "set this man aside," war was necessary. The allied
armies therefore advanced toward the boundaries of France; the great
powers declared war against France, or rather against the Emperor
Napoleon; and France, which had so long desired peace, and had only
accepted the Bourbons because it hoped to obtain it of them, France was
now compelled to take up the gauntlet.

On the 12th of June the emperor left Paris with his army, in order to
meet the advancing enemy. Napoleon himself, who had hitherto gone into
battle, his countenance beaming with an assurance of victory, now looked
gloomy and dejected, for he well knew that on the fate of his army now
depended his own, and the fate of France.

This time it was not a question of making conquests, but of saving the
national independence, and it was the mother-earth, red with the blood
of her children, that was now to be defended.

Paris, that for eighty days had been the scene of splendor and
festivity, now put on its mourning attire. All rejoicings were at an
end, and every one listened hopefully to catch the first tones of the
thunder of a victorious battle.

But the days of victory were over; the cannon thundered, the battle was
fought, but instead of a triumph it was an overthrow.

At Waterloo, the eagles that had been consecrated on the first of June,
on the _Champ de Mai_, sank in the dust; the emperor returned to Paris,
a fugitive, and broken down in spirit, while the victorious allies were
approaching the capital.

At the first intelligence of his return, Hortense hastened to the
Elysee, where he had taken up his residence, to greet him. During the
last few days she had been a prey to gloomy thoughts; now that the
danger had come, now when all were despairing, she was composed,
resolute, and ready to stand at the emperor's side to the last.

Napoleon was lost, and Hortense knew it; but he now had most need of
friends, and she remained true, while