n of soldiers, and would have had them too, had
not the King been against the project and delayed the completion of it
at least for a time.

Of these great European disputes Captain Joinville received a
notification while he was at sea on board his frigate: as we find by the
official account which has been published of his mission.

"Some days after quitting St. Helena," says that document, "the
expedition fell in with a ship coming from Europe, and was thus made
acquainted with the warlike rumors then afloat, by which a collision
with the English marine was rendered possible. The Prince de Joinville
immediately assembled the officers of the 'Belle Poule,' to deliberate
on an event so unexpected and important.

"The council of war having expressed its opinion that it was necessary
at all events to prepare for an energetic defence, preparations were
made to place in battery all the guns that the frigate could bring to
bear against the enemy. The provisional cabins that had been fitted up
in the battery were demolished, the partitions removed, and, with all
the elegant furniture of the cabins, flung into the sea. The Prince de
Joinville was the first 'to execute himself,' and the frigate soon found
itself armed with six or eight more guns.

"That part of the ship where these cabins had previously been, went by
the name of Lacedaemon; everything luxurious being banished to make way
for what was useful.

"Indeed, all persons who were on board agree in saying that Monseigneur
the Prince de Joinville most worthily acquitted himself of the great and
honorable mission which had been confided to him. All affirm not only
that the commandant of the expedition did everything at St. Helena
which as a Frenchman he was bound to do in order that the remains of the
Emperor should receive all the honors due to them, but moreover that he
accomplished his mission with all the measured solemnity, all the pious
and severe dignity, that the son of the Emperor himself would have shown
upon a like occasion. The commandant had also comprehended that the
remains of the Emperor must never fall into the hands of the stranger,
and being himself decided rather to sink his ship than to give up his
precious deposit, he had inspired every one about him with the same
energetic resolution that he had himself taken 'AGAINST AN EXTREME
EVENTUALITY.'"

Monseigneur, my dear, is really one of the finest young fellows it
is possible to see. A tall, broad