Early next morning the Chambers again met, and the necessity of the Emperor’s abdication was on the point of being put to the vote—­when Fouche appeared, and saved them that trouble by producing the following proclamation.  “To the French people “: 

Frenchmen!  In commencing war for the maintenance of the national independence, I relied on the union of all efforts, all wills, and all authorities.  I had reason to hope for success, and I braved all the declarations of the powers against me.  Circumstances appear to be changed.  I offer myself as a sacrifice to the hatred of the enemies of France.  May they prove sincere in their declarations, and to have aimed only at me!  My political life is ended; and I proclaim my son, Napoleon II., Emperor of the French.  Unite for the public safety, if you would remain an independent nation.—­Done at the palace Elysee, June the 22nd,1815.—­

     NAPOLEON.

The debate which followed the production of this act in either house, but especially in that of the Peers, was violent.  In the latter, Carnot, having received some grossly exaggerated accounts of the force and success of Grouchy, endeavoured to persuade the assembly, that that marshal must have ere then added 60,000 men at Laon to Soult and the relics of Waterloo, and so formed an army capable, under fit guidance, of even yet effectually retrieving the affairs of France.  But Ney had arrived in Paris the same morning, and this speech called up the man who, if any single energies could have done so, would have saved the day at Waterloo.  “Grouchy,” said he, “cannot have more than 20—­at most 25,000—­men; and as to Soult—­I myself commanded the guard in the last assault—­I did not leave the field until they were exterminated.  Be assured there is but one course—­negotiate, and recall the Bourbons.  In their return I see nothing but the certainty of being shot as a deserter.  I shall seek all I have henceforth to hope for in America.  Take you the only course that remains for France.”

Napoleon, in his bulletins, did not scruple to throw the blame of his discomfiture on the misconduct of his chief officers—­particularly of Grouchy—­and even of Ney himself; nor wanted there devoted men, such as Labedoyere, to sustain these most unfounded charges, and all other arguments anywise favouring the cause of the Emperor, in either chamber.  But the truth was great, and prevailed.  The Senate, no more than the people, could be deceived now; and though a deputation waited on him at the Elysee, and in most respectful terms thanked him for the sacrifice he had made, he in vain endeavoured to extort any direct avowal that, in accepting his abdication, they considered that act as necessarily accompanied with the immediate proclamation of Napoleon II.  The Emperor, for the last time clothed in the imperial garb, and surrounded with his great officers of state, received the deputation with calmness and dignity, and dismissed them with courtesy.  He perceived clearly that there was no hope for his son.