But, though the French army of 1815 lacked some of the names far famed in story, numbers of zealous and able officers were ready to take their place.  The first and second corps were respectively assigned to Drouet, Count d’Erlon, and Reille, the former of whom was the son of the postmaster of Varennes, who stopped Louis XVI.’s flight.  Vandamme commanded the third corps; Gerard, the fourth; Rapp, the fifth; while the sixth fell to Mouton, better known as Count Lobau.  Rapp’s corps was charged with the defence of Alsace; other forces, led by Brune, Decaen, and Clausel, protected the southern borders, while Suchet guarded the Alps; but the rest of these corps were gradually drawn together towards the north of France, and the addition of the Guard, 20,800 strong, brought the total of this army to 125,000 men.

There was one post which the Emperor found it most difficult to fill, that of Chief of the Staff.  There the loss of Berthier was irreparable.  While lacking powers of initiative, he had the faculty of lucidly and quickly drafting Napoleon’s orders, which insures the smooth working of the military machine.  Who should succeed this skilful and methodical officer?  After long hesitation Napoleon chose Soult.  In a military sense the choice was excellent.  The Duke of Dalmatia had a glorious military record; in his nature activity was blended with caution, ardour with method; but he had little experience of the special duties now required of him; and his orders were neither drafted so clearly nor transmitted so promptly as those of Berthier.

The concentration of this great force proceeded with surprising swiftness; and, in order to lull his foes into confidence, the Emperor delayed his departure from Paris to the last moment possible.  As dawn was flushing the eastern sky, on June 12th, he left his couch, after four hours’ sleep, entered his landau, and speedily left his slumbering capital behind.  In twelve hours he was at Laon.  There he found that Grouchy’s four cavalry brigades were not sharing in the general advance owing to Soult’s neglect to send the necessary orders.  The horsemen were at once hurried on, several regiments covering twenty leagues at a stretch and exhausting their steeds.  On the 14th the army was well in hand around Beaumont, within striking distance of the Prussian vanguard, from which it was separated by a screen of dense woods.  There the Emperor mounted his charger and rode along the ranks, raising such a storm of cheers that he vainly called out:  “Not so loud, my children, the enemy will hear you.”  There, too, on this anniversary of Marengo and Friedland, he inspired his men by a stirring appeal on behalf of the independence of Poles, Italians, the smaller German States, and, above all, of France herself.  “For every Frenchman of spirit the time has come to conquer or die.”