thers of
England execrate Lowe as a monster in human shape.

But the Governments of Europe, as well as individuals, were spending
vast sums of money on pamphleteering, and probably those who wrote the
worst libels were the most highly paid. Therefore the women of England
and of other countries were continuously having their minds saturated
with poisonous statements. Many of them firmly believed Napoleon to be
the anti-Christ, and it is only now that the world is beginning to see
through the gigantic plot.

It was stated that the bust had been executed at Leghorn by order of
the faithless Marie Louise. In Hooper's "Life of Wellington," the
statement that "she was grateful to the Duke for winning Waterloo,
because in 1815 she had a lover who afterwards became her husband, and
she was not in a condition to return with safety to her Imperial
spouse," is hard to believe. This mother of the son the poet-Emperor
sings about was deriving pleasure in playing cards for napoleons with
the Duke who was regarded by her husband as one of his most determined
executioners. Her supposed connection with the statue naturally gave
it a larger interest, so the Emperor expressed a desire to see the
gunner, and ordered Bertrand to get permission for him to visit
Longwood.

The Governor, after examining the gunner on oath, and having had him
carefully searched, gave him leave to see Napoleon, but Captain
Poppleton was ordered not to allow him to speak to the French unless
in his presence. This arbitrary condition was resented with quiet,
scornful dignity, and the gunner was asked to withdraw. It is hard to
believe that a man could be so perversely crooked as Sir Hudson Lowe.
How human it was for the exile to long to hear a message from the lips
of one who was credited with having seen and spoken to the mother of
his son, and how inhuman of Lowe to put any obstacles in the way of
his desire being gratified!

The incident became common talk, and in proportion to its circulation,
so did Lowe's reputation suffer. It is questionable whether he could
have found any one unfeeling enough on the island to justify so
despicable an act, except perhaps Sir Thomas Reade, whose baseness in
this and other transactions cannot be adequately described, and whose
nature seems to have been ingrained with the daily thought of
achieving distinction by excelling his master in some form of cruelty.

It is a piteous reflection to think of these two plants of gra