s ever
figured in the world's history; he had staggered creation with his
formidable power, and the instruments of his downfall flattered
themselves that the day of Divine vengeance had arrived.

III

Only a few short months had elapsed when the indomitable hero, well
informed of the Allies' squabbling deliberations, at the seat of
Conference over the division of their conquest, and their vindictive
intentions towards himself, startled them by the news of his landing
and uninterrupted march on Paris, and was everywhere acclaimed by the
cheers of the Army and the civilian population. Louis XVIII, whom the
conquerors had set on the throne, flew in panic when he heard that the
man of destiny was swiftly nearing his palace to take his place again
as the idol and chief of a great people. Meanwhile, the Allies had
somewhat recovered from their apoplectic dismay, and one and all
solemnly resolved to "make war against Napoleon Bonaparte," the
disturber of the peace, though he was the welcomed Emperor of the
French. It was they who were the disturbers of the peace, and
especially Great Britain, who headed the Coalition which was to drench
again the Continent with human blood. Napoleon offered to negotiate,
and never was there a more humane opportunity given to the nations to
settle their affairs in a way that would have assured a lasting peace,
but here again the ruling classes, with their usual impudent
assumption of power to use the populations for the purpose of killing
each other and creating unspeakable suffering in all the hideous
phases of warfare, refused to negotiate, and at their bidding soldiers
were plunged into the last Napoleonic conflict though many other
conflicts have followed in consequence. Nothing so deadly has ever
happened. The French were defeated and their Emperor sent to St.
Helena with the beneficent Sir Hudson Lowe as his jailer.

What a cynical mockery of a man this creature of Wellington,
Castlereagh, and Lord Bathurst was! He carried out their behests, and
after the ugly deed of vindictiveness, rage and frenzy had wrought the
tragic end, they shielded their wicked act by throwing the guilt on
him, and he was hustled off to a distant colony to govern again lest
his uneasy spirit should put them in the dock of public opinion. He
pleaded with them to employ the law officers of the Crown to bring an
action against Doctor Barry O'Meara, whose "Voice from St. Helena"
teemed with as dark a story as w