ow to dispose of such a capture as the head of the house of Bonaparte
was a great puzzle to Louis Philippe's ministers. They dared not
bring him to trial; they dared not treat him harshly. In the end
he was carried to Paris, lodged for a few days in the Conciergerie,
and then sent off, without being told his destination, to Cherbourg,
where he was put on board a French frigate which sailed with orders
not to be opened till she reached the equator. There it was found
that her destination was Rio Janeiro, where she was not to suffer
the prince to land, but after a leisurely voyage she was to put
him ashore in the United States.

As the vessel was about to put to sea, an official personage waited
on the prince, and after inquiring if he had funds enough to pay his
expenses on landing, handed him, on the the part of Louis Philippe,
a considerable sum.

On reaching Norfolk, Virginia, the prince landed, and learned, to
his very great relief, that all his fellow-conspirators had been
tried before a jury at Strasburg, and acquitted!

He learned too, shortly afterwards, that his mother was very ill.
The shock of his misfortune, and the great exertions she had made
on his behalf when she thought his life might be in danger, had
proved too much for her. Louis Napoleon recrossed the ocean, landed
in England, and made his way to Arenenberg. He was just in time to
see Queen Hortense on her death-bed, to receive her last wishes,
and to hear her last sigh.

After her death the French Government insisted that the Swiss
Confederacy must compel Louis Napoleon to leave their territory.
The Swiss refused, repaired the fortifications of Geneva, and made
ready for a war with France; but Louis Napoleon of his own free will
relieved the Swiss Government from all embarrassment by passing
over into England, where it was not long before he made preparations
for a new attempt to overthrow Louis Philippe's government.

He lived quietly in London at that period, visiting few persons
except Count D'Orsay at Gore House, the residence of Lady Blessington,
and occupying himself a great deal with writing. He had already
completed a Manual of Artillery, and was engaged on a book that
he called "Les Idees napoleoniennes." Its principal "idea" was
that France wanted an emperor, a definite head, but that she also
needed extreme democratic principles. Therefore an empire ought to
be founded on an expression of the will of the people,--in plain
words, on