ABSTRACT
Napoleon may have been quite sincere in the desire for peace with the rest of Europe which he professed on his return from Elba, but it was hardly to be expected that the Allies would take him at his word. Even Napoleon's faithful partisan Denmark did not stir on his behalf; and though the King of Saxony procrastinated, hoping to obtain some modification of the harsh treatment which was being meted out to his kingdom, in the end he, too, joined the Coalition. Wellington had been left without any news from his Prussian allies, as the only messenger Gneisenau sent him was intercepted by the French. Hence the delay of the Allied forces in their somewhat exposed position. However, the inaction of Napoleon averted the peril thus risked. The Emperor's conduct on the morning of June 17th has been criticised and explained times without number.
