army of the allies amounted to four hundred and twenty thousand infantry,
and its cavalry to hardly less than one hundred thousand, without
counting a reserve army corps of eighty thousand Russians, in readiness
to leave Poland under the command of General Beningsen. Thus the enemy's
army outnumbered ours in the proportion of two to one.

At the time we entered into this campaign, Austria had just declared war
openly against us. This blow, although not unexpected, struck the
Emperor deeply, and he expressed himself freely in regard to it before
all persons who had the honor to approach him. M. de Metternich, I have
heard it stated, had almost certainly forewarned him of this in the last
interviews this minister had at Dresden with his Majesty; but the Emperor
had been entirely unable to bring himself to the belief that the Emperor
of Austria would make common cause with the coalition of the north
against his own daughter and grandson. Finally all doubts were solved by
the arrival of Count Louis de Narbonne, who was returning from Prague to
Dresden, as bearer of a declaration of war from Austria. Every one
foresaw that France must soon count among its enemies all the countries
no longer occupied by its troops, and results justified this prediction
only too well. Nevertheless, everything was not lost, for we had not yet
been compelled to take the defensive.




CHAPTER XIV.

War recommenced before negotiations were finally broken, for the Duke of
Vicenza was still in communication with M. de Metternich. The Emperor,
as he mounted his horse, said to the numerous generals surrounding him