GENERAL HISTORY. 



[165 



CHAPTER XV. 



Jtestoration of France to its territory. — Sioeden enters upon its new 

 dominion — German affairs still unsettled. — Speech of the united 

 sovereign oj" Holland and Flanders. 



THE great powers who had 

 subdued and taken posses- 

 sion of France, consisting of 

 Austria, Russia, Great Britain, 

 and Prussia, after retaining that 

 country in their hands during 

 three years, now confiding in the 

 security which such a period con- 

 ferred upon a regular and well 

 ordered government, thought it 

 high time to loosen their shackles. 

 Accordingly, in November 1818, 

 having personally met at Aix-la- 

 Chapelle, with the exception of 

 the prince regent of England, the 

 other sovereigns joined solemnly 

 in liberating France from depen- 

 dence of every kind upon a 

 foreign dominion, and imme- 

 diately withdrew their troops 

 from the whole of the French 

 territories. There is every reason 

 to suppose that the consent 

 among these different powers was 

 full and entire ; and that the re- 

 solution of putting it into effect 

 had been predetermined for a 

 considerable time before it had 

 been generally made known. The 

 relief which it brought to the 

 country, overburdened as it was 

 with a load of debt, was ex- 

 tremely desireable ; and although 

 the burden for a time pressed 

 heavily upon the nation, there 

 was no ground for doubting that 



it would be able to meet all its 

 difficulties. It is sufficient here 

 to notice in a general way the 

 circumstances as they took place : 

 under our Chronicle will be found 

 a more particular account of the 

 whole transaction. 



In the rest of Europe affairs 

 had reverted to their ordinary 

 course, and the vast fabric of 

 French power had been com- 

 pletely subverted; it was in 

 Sweden alone that a new dynasty 

 arose which, in the person of a 

 Frenchman of obscure origin, 

 fixed upon its throne a successor 

 to its former monarchs. After a 

 kind of interim filled up by the 

 brother of a preceding king, of 

 the name of Charles XIH, his 

 death without progeny on the 

 fifth of February 1818, brought 

 to the full view of the crown a 

 sovereign, who under the name 

 of Charles John, immediately suc- 

 ceeded to his rank and title. He 

 was recognized by the other 

 kings of Europe ; and there is at 

 present no cause to doubt that 

 their concurrence will support 

 him in the arduous destiny v/hich 

 he has undertaken. It was so 

 long ago as the year 1810, that 

 he was unanimously chosen to be 

 the eucecssor of the late king ; 

 and though the course of events 



threw 



