On the 7th of March the news reached Vienna that he had escaped from the island of Elba, without its being yet known where he would land.

M.de Metternich[12124] brings the news to the Emperor of Austria before eight o'clock in the morning, who says to him, "Lose no time in finding the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Russia, and tell them that I am ready to order my army to march at once for France." At a quarter past eight M.de Metternich is with the Czar, and at half-past eight, with the King of Prussia; both of them reply instantly in the same manner.

"At nine o'clock," says M.de Metternich, "I was back.

At ten o'clock aids flew in every direction countermanding army orders....

Thus was war declared in less than an hour." VI.