The demigod
was dethroned, the pedestal knocked from under, and all Europe rejoiced.
The nightmare of fear which had so long pervaded all classes, was after
all only a bad dream; the incubus could be shaken off, and mankind again
resume its normal mode of living. Waterloo was already foreshadowed in
the events of this year, and the people were wild with joy.
The alliance which followed Napoleon's marriage to the Austrian
Archduchess did not have the good political results which Metternich
expected from it. The war indemnity of fifteen millions of dollars, the
cession of provinces whereby three and one half millions of people were
lost to Austria, the reduction of the army to 150,000 men, exactions
made by Napoleon at the time of the marriage, did not tend to make him
popular. The alliance existed in name, not in sentiment. He was still
regarded as the conqueror, not the ally. Austria had been lukewarm all
along, and when she changed front in 1813, and joined the coalition
against him, acting in concert with England, Russia and Prussia, the
measure had the moral support of the nation.
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