NAPOLEON DELIVERING HIMSELF UP TO CAPT. MAITLAND ON BOARD THE BELLEROPHON.

THE wonderful man whose name stands at the head of this article was born at Ajaccio, in the island of Corsica, on the 15th of August, 1789. He entered the French army in the troublesome times of the Revolution of 1789, or just as that dark period was approaching; and from a simple captain of artillery he made his way up to the throne of the country which he served, and became the leading spirit of his age, and has left a name indelibly inscribed on the annals of time. By the prowess of his arms he successively humbled and subdued the great nations of continental Europe, and brought them to sign such terms, after his great battles, as left the iron hoof of the conqueror plainly visible, to the shame and chagrin of the peoples he defeated. For about twenty years he was a terror to Europe. But the day of vengeance was approaching. The disastrous issue of his Russian campaign, when the patriotism of that country burnt Moscow, and so drove the Corsican and his huge army out of this retreat to face all the rigours of an arctic winter, was the signal for the conquered nations to throw off the symbols of their vassalage and pursue the retreating French to the gates of Paris. Thus the tide of battle rolled back, and France was invaded and made to bow her neck to the galling chain she had so imperiously put upon others. The issue was, Napoleon had to abdicate, and he was sent to the Isle of Elba. His restless spirit could not remain long there; and he returned to France. The King, who in his absence had been placed upon the throne, fled before him, and Buonaparte again seized supreme power. He had broken his word of honour given to Europe, that pledged him to remain a prisoner in Elba; and his presence in the French capital menaced the peace of the world. The combined nations whom he had deceived were determined to subdue and restrain him. The tocsin of war sounded from Moscow to

London, and rang over every capital in Europe. The beat to arms was general. The English and Prussians, because of their contiguity to the scene of action, were the first to take the field against the usurper. The British army and he met in the Netherlands; and on the plains of Waterloo, on the 18th of June, 1815, after one of the severest battles recorded in history, his power was for ever broken. After the defeat and disasters of the day he abandoned his army to make its way back to the soil of France as best it could. It is said he himself was the first to bring the fatal news to Paris. At four o'clock in the morning of the 21st he alighted at the Elysée Bourbon. "The army," said he to Caulincourt, "has performed prodigies; but a sudden panic seized it, and all has been lost. Ney conducted himself like a madman; he caused my cavalry to be massacred. I can do no more. I must have two hours repose, and a warm bath, before I can attend to business. I have no

more an army, they are a set of fugitives. I may find men; but how shall I arm them? I have no muskets." The House of Representatives met in this national crisis and declared itself permanent, and demanded the instant abdication of Napoleon as the only means of saving the country, as the armies of Wellington and Blucher were making their way from the blood-stained plains of Waterloo to Paris. Lucien, the brother of the fallen Emperor, spoke eloquently of the former services of their chief, and of the claims he had on the gratitude of France. "We have followed your brother," said Lafayette, "over the sands of Africa, and through the frozen deserts of Russia; the whitened bones of Frenchmen scattered over every part of the globe bear witness to our long fidelity to him." Lucien was defeated; his speech failed to move the Representatives. He advised his brother to dissolve the Chambers. Napoleon refused: "It would," he said, "be the signal for civil war." The House of Peers had adopted the same views as the lower House. Before the inexorable will of the nation Napoleon had to bow; and on June the 22nd, just four days after the

battle of Waterloo, this military despot signed his second abdication. He abdicated in favour of his son, Napoleon II. This the allies refused to acknowledge; and on the following day Louis XVIII, re-entered the capital as the King of the French. How was the late Emperor to be disposed of? A project was set on foot to get him to the United States, and General Becker was appointed to escort him to Rochefort for that purpose, where they arrived on the 3rd of July. But the English cruisers were too vigilant to allow this prize thus to slip away. Napoleon seeing all hope cut off of getting away without leave of the English, sent two of his friends to Capt. Maitland, who commanded the Bellerophon, asking permission to proceed to America, either in a French or neutral vessel. Maitland replied that his instructions forbade this, but that if Napoleon chose to proceed to England he would take him there on board the Bellerophon, without, however, entering into any promise as to the reception he might meet with there, as he was in total ignorance of the intentions of the British Government as to his future disposal. On the 15th he came on board the Bellerophon with his suite. As Capt. Maitland advanced to meet him on the quarter-deck, Napoleon said to him: "I come to place myself under the protection of your Prince and your laws." He was brought to England but not permitted to land. The British Government determined to send him as a prisoner to the island of St. Helena, far off in the Atlantic Ocean. When this decision was announced to him, by Lord Keith and Sir Henry Bunbury, the Imperial prisoner raged and protested against the decision; but the Government was inflexible. On the 7th of August he was removed from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland, Sir George Cockburn's flagship, appointed to carry him to his destination. He remained there about six years, closely watched by the British Government. In his exile he spoke words and delivered himself of sentiments that will live as long as the memory of his captivity. On the 5th of May, 1821, a violent storm of wind and rain

arose: the death struggle of Napoleon took place during its fury. In the delirium of that hour the phantoms of departed days flitted across his disordered imagination, and the last words he uttered were "tete d'armee," "head of the army; and at eleven minutes before six in the evening this turbulent spirit broke away from the mortal prisonhouse and passed from earth into the presence of its Maker. Just before his death he said to his chaplain: “I believe in God, and am of the religion of my father. I was born a Catholic and will fulfil all the duties of the Catholic Church." So all human glory passeth away, but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever.

P. P.

A SHORT SERMON FOR LITTLE PEOPLE,
FROM LITTLE THINGS.

BY JOHN VAUGHAN.

"There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in summer: The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks: The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands: The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.”—Proverbs xxx. 24-28.

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,-When Jesus was upon earth he often preached from little things. He did not always take his text from the Old Testament; and the New Testament was not then written. But he often took a text from the book of nature. Sometimes he talked about the lilies, foxes and sparrows; at other times he preached about hens gathering their chickens beneath their wings, and about boys and girls playing in the market-place. One time he took the subject of seed-sowing for his text, and preached a great sermon from a fisherman's boat to a large congregation on the sea-beach. You remember his sermon about the