February 1817 the army was reduced
by 30,000 men, one-fifth of each contingent; and by the Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle of 9th October 1818, France was to-be evacuated by the
30th of November 1818.

The three monarchs were probably not sorry to get the Congress over on
any terms. Alexander had had his fill of displaying himself in the
salons in his favourite part of an Agamemnon generous towards Troy, and
he had worn out his first popularity. He was stung by finding some of
his favourite plans boldly opposed by Talleyrand and by Metternich, and,
indeed, was anxious to meet the last in open combat. Francis had
required all the firmness of what he called his Bohemian head to resist
the threats, entreaties, and cajoleries employed to get him to acquiesce
in the dethronement of the King of Saxony, and the wiping out of the
Saxon nationality by the very alliance which professed to fight only for
the rights of nations and of their lawful sovereigns.

All three monarchs had again the satisfaction of entering Paris, but
without enjoying the full glories of 1814. "Our friends, the enemies"
were not so popular then in France, and the spoliation of the Louvre was
not pleasant even to the Royalists. The foreign monarchs soon returned
to their own drained and impoverished States.

The Emperor Francis had afterwards a quiet reign to his death in 1835,
having only to assist his Minister in snuffing out the occasional flashes
of a love of freedom in Germany.

The King of Prussia returned in a triumph well won by his sturdy
subjects, and, in the light of his new honours, the Countess Von Voss
tells us he was really handsome. He was now at leisure to resume the
discussions on uniform, and the work of fastening and unfastening the
numerous buttons of his pantaloons, in which he had been so roughly
interrupted by Jena. The first institution of the Zollverein, or
commercial union with several States, gradually extended, was a measure
which did much for the unification of Germany. With his brother
sovereigns he revisited Paris at the end of the military occupation in
1818, remaining there longer than the others, "because," said the
Parisians, "he had discovered an actor at a small theatre who achieved
the feat of making him laugh." He died in 1840. His Queen--heartbroken,
it was said--had died in 1810.

Alexander was still brimming over with the best and most benevolent
intentions towards every one. The world was to be free, happy, and
re