ng been able to die in midst of my
troops, it only remains for me to place my sword in the hands of
your Majesty.

I am your Majesty's good brother,

NAPOLEON.

The king of Prussia replied,--

MONSIEUR MON FRERE,--Regretting the circumstances under which we
meet, I accept the sword of your Majesty, and I invite you to designate
one of your officers, provided with full powers, to treat for the
capitulation of the army which has so bravely fought under your
command. On my side I have named General von Moltke for that purpose.

I am your Majesty's good brother,

WILLIAM.

Before Sedan, Sept. 1, 1870.

"The next morning early, a carriage containing four French officers
drove out from Sedan, and came into the German lines. The carriage
had an escort of only three horsemen. When it had reached the Germans,
one of its occupants put out his head and asked, in German, for
Count von Bismarck? The Germans replied that he was at Donchery.
Thither the carriage dashed away. It contained the French emperor."

With Napoleon III. fell not only his own reputation as a ruler,
but the glory of his uncle and the prestige of his name.

The fallen emperor and Bismarck met in a little house upon the
banks of the Meuse. Chairs were brought out, and they talked in
the open air. It was a glorious autumn morning. The emperor looked
care-worn, as well he might. He wished to see the king of Prussia
before the articles of capitulation were drawn up: but King William
declined the interview. When the capitulation was signed, however,
he drove over to visit the captive emperor at a chateau where the
latter had taken refuge.

Their interview was private; only the two sovereigns were present.
The French emperor afterwards expressed to the Crown Prince of Prussia
his deep sense of the courtesy shown him. He was desirous of passing
as unnoticed as possible through French territory, where, indeed,
exasperation against him, as the first cause of the misfortunes of
France, was so great that his life would have been in peril. The
next day he proceeded to the beautiful palace at Cassel called
Wilhelmshoehe, or William's Rest. It had been built at ruinous expense
by Jerome Bonaparte while king of Westphalia, and was then called
Napoleon's Rest.

Every consideration that the German royal family could show their
former friend and gracious host was shown to Louis Napoleon. This
told against him with the French. Was the man who had led th