It is puerile to say, as Mollien does, that England bribed the allies to this last effort.  Experiences of the last months had shown them that peace could not be durable as long as Napoleon remained in a position to threaten Germany.  Even now they were ready to conclude it with Napoleon on the basis of the old frontiers of France, provided that he assented before the 11th of March; but the most pacific of their leaders saw that the more they showed their desire for peace, the more they strengthened Napoleon’s resolve to have it only on terms which they saw to be fraught with future danger.[422]

While the conferences at Chatillon followed one another in fruitless succession, Bluecher, with 48,000 effectives, was once more resuming the offensive.  Napoleon heard the news at Troyes (February 25th).  He was surprised at the veteran’s temerity:  he had pictured him crushed and helpless beyond Chalons, and had cherished the hope of destroying Schwarzenberg.—­“If,” he wrote to Clarke on the morrow, “I had had a pontoon bridge, the war would be over, and Schwarzenberg’s army would no longer exist....  For want of boats, I could not pass the Seine at the necessary points.  It was not 50 boats that I needed, only 20.”—­With this characteristic outburst against his War Minister, whose neglect to send up twenty boats from Paris had changed the world’s history, the Emperor turned aside to overwhelm Bluecher.  The Prussian commander was near the junction of the Seine and the Aube; and seemed to offer his flank as unguardedly as three weeks before.

Napoleon sent Ney, Victor, and Arrighi northwards to fall on his rear, and on the 27th repaired to Arcis-sur-Aube to direct the operations.  What, then, was his annoyance when, in pursuance of the allied plan formed on the 23rd, Bluecher skilfully retired northwards, withdrew beyond the Marne and broke the bridges behind him.  Then after failing to drive Marmont and Mortier from Meaux and the line of the Ourcq, the Prussian leader marched towards Soissons, near which town he expected to meet the northern army of the allies.  For some hours he was in grave danger:  Marmont hung on his rear, and Napoleon with 35,000 hardy troops was preparing to turn his right flank.  In fact, had he not broken the bridge over the Marne at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, and thereby delayed the Emperor thirty-six hours, he would probably have been crushed before he could cross the River Aisne.  His men were dead beat by marching night and day over roads first covered by snow and now deep in slush:  for a week they had had no regular rations, and great was their joy when, at the close of the 2nd, they drew near to the 42,000 troops that Buelow and Winzingerode mustered near the banks of the Aisne and Vesle.