152 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



Siborne says: — "Never, perhaps, in the whole course of the extra- 

 " ordinary career of that extraordinary man did the powerful energies 

 " of his comprehensive mind shine forth with greater brilliancy and 

 " effect than in his truly wonderful and incredibly rapid development 

 "of the national resources of France on this momentous occasion." 

 We cannot here enumerate all that Napoleon effected between the 

 time of his landing at Cannes in March and his taking the field in 

 June. A discussion of his political measures during this time is 

 foreign to our purpose. 



It may be pointed out that the French complain that Napoleon did 

 not lay before them as a nation the peril in which they stood. In 

 May 800,000 foreign troops were on their borders. But Napoleon 

 deceived the people by constant assurances of peace. His war 

 measures, they urge, wei^e not taken with the determination necessary 

 under the circumstances. On the 25th March the Congress of Vienna 

 had formally declared a united war of Great Britain, Russia, Prussia 

 and Austria against Napoleon. He knew of this declaration, the 

 country should have known of it too. But Napoleon felt his per- 

 sonal danger. His only line of policy in his own interest was that 

 of not alarming the French too soon, or they would have perceived 

 the effects of their sudden revolution in his favour and would have 

 risen against him. He therefore declai-ed no general levy of the 

 National Guard. But the fact remains, that while Napoleon on the 

 first of March was an exile, on the first of June he had a thoroughly 

 equipped regular army of 200,000 men. He had a reserve of another 

 200,000. By the 15th June he would have had the conscription of 

 1815, producing 77,500 more, besides another hundred battalions of 

 National Guard, or 70,000 more ; in all, 555,000 soldiers. "When 

 in addition to these figures we take into consideration the immense 

 mass of material, cannon, equipment for horse and man, provided by 

 Napoleon during this time, the fortresses he garrisoned, besides the 

 thinking out and prepax'ing for the campaign with the necessary 

 movements of troops, whatever some French writers may say, the world 

 will not withhold from him its admiration. It should be remem- 

 bered also that nothing has been said of his complete i-eorganization 

 of the civil administration in all its aspects, social, financial, and 

 political ; nor of his negotiations with foreign states, alone enough to 

 tax the greatest powers. The man who accomplished such results in 

 so short a time now threw down the gauntlet to Europe. 



