Even before that fatal battle was fought, however, Napoleon, had he been wise, might have saved himself.  If he had been content in 1812 to spend the winter in Smolensk, instead of hurrying on to Moscow, the enterprise might not have been disastrous; but after his retreat from Russia, with the loss of the finest army that Europe ever saw, he was doomed.  Yet he could not brook further humiliation.  He resolved still to struggle.  “It may cost me my throne,” said he, “but I will bury the world beneath its ruins.”  He marched into Germany, in the spring of 1813, with a fresh army of three hundred and fifty thousand men, replacing the half million he had squandered in Russia.  Metternich shrank from further bloodshed, but clearly saw the issue.  “You may still have peace,” said he in an audience with Napoleon.  “Peace or war lie in your own hands; but you must reduce your power, or you will fail in the contest.”  “Never!” replied Napoleon; “I shall know how to die, but I will not yield a handbreadth of soil.”  “You are lost, then,” said the Austrian chancellor, and withdrew.  “It is all over with the man,” said Metternich to Berthier, Napoleon’s chief of staff; and he turned to marshal the forces of his empire.  A short time was given Napoleon to reconsider, but without effect.  At twelve o’clock, Aug. 10, 1813, negotiations ceased; the beacon fires were lighted, and hostilities recommenced.  During the preparations for the Russian campaign, Austria had been neutral and the rest of Germany submissive; but now Russia, Prussia, and Austria were allied, by solemn compact, to fight to the bitter end,—­not to ruin France, but to dethrone Napoleon.

The allied monarchs then met at Toplitz, with their ministers, to arrange the plan of the campaign,—­the Austrian armies being commanded by Prince Schwartzenberg, and the Prussians by Bluecher.  Then followed the battle of Leipsic, on the 16th to the 18th of October, 1813,—­“the battle of the nations,” it has been called,—­and Napoleon’s power was broken.  Again the monarchs, with their ministers, met at Basle to consult, and were there joined by Lord Castlereagh, who represented England, the allied forces still pursuing the remnants of the French army into France.  From Basle the conference was removed to the heights of the Vosges, which overlooked the plains of France.  On the 1st of April, 1814, the allied sovereigns took up their residence in the Parisian palaces; and on April 4 Napoleon abdicated, and was sent to Elba.  He still had twelve thousand or fifteen thousand troops at Fontainebleau; but his marshals would have shot him had he made further resistance.  On the 4th of May Louis XVIII. was seated on the throne of his ancestors, and Europe was supposed to be delivered.

Considering the evils and miseries which Napoleon had inflicted on the conquered nations, the allies were magnanimous in their terms.  No war indemnity was even asked, and Napoleon in Elba was allowed an income of six million francs, to be paid by France.