Napoleon created these licenses that would allow certain companies to trade with England. At one point in 1810, the British were in a terrible position due to bad harvest. This was the moment Napoleon had been waiting for with his Blockade, but ruined it by selling grain to the British thinking that he was making a good move in defeating his English adversary. In one fell swoop he reduced the pressure on Britain and thus "destroyed his own work " (Englund 366). Besides the constant wars, this was Napoleon's second mistake that led to his downfall. It was a policy that no one wanted and one that Napoleon would try to use to drive England to its knees no matter how much it cost France. At the end of the day though, no one but Napoleon wanted to pay for a broken blockade.
Another factor that hurt Napoleon was the people in his Empire. The best way to summarize Napoleon's Empire's feelings toward him around the end of his reign in 1814 is in Georges Lefebvre's Napoleon from Tilsit to Waterloo: .
As for the people, they thought it monstrous that the Emperor, after losing two huge armies in successive disasters, should presume to form another. In the course of a few months, Napoleon became downright unpopular. The nation wanted peace, and was rapidly coming to the conclusion that its master did not want to give it. With a running commentary from the royalists, the allied proclamation was having its effect. There was no thought of preferring the Bourbons to Napoleon, for they symbolized the Ancient Régime; but the French were weary and discouraged, and they began to offer passive resistance- the only right he had left them. The malcontents, who had been growing in number since 1812, were now beyond computation. People stopped paying taxes; requisition orders were not obeyed. The population looked on the invasion and took no action, at any rate, as long as the allies managed to hold their troops in check; and in the south the English were quite well received, for they could be relied upon to pay their way.
