Germany was at length freed from its mighty foe. The garrisons which had
been left in its cities were forced to surrender as prisoners of war.
France in its turn was invaded, Paris taken, and Napoleon forced to
resign the imperial crown, and to retire from his empire to the little
island of Elba, near the Italian coast. In 1815 he returned, again set
Europe in flame with war, and fell once more at Waterloo, to end his
career in the far-off island of St. Helena.

Thus ended the empire founded by the great conqueror. The next to claim
the imperial title was Louis Napoleon, who in 1851 had himself crowned
as Napoleon III. But his so-called empire was confined to France, and
fell in 1870 on the field of Sedan, himself and his army being taken
prisoners. A republic was declared in France, and the second French
empire was at an end.

And now the empire of Germany was restored, after having ceased to exist
for sixty-five years. The remarkable success of William of Prussia gave
rise to a wide-spread feeling in the German states that he should assume
the imperial crown, and the old empire be brought again into existence
under new conditions; no longer hampered by the tradition of a Roman
empire, but as the title of united Germany.

On December 18, 1870, an address from the North German Parliament was
read to King William at Versailles, asking him to accept the imperial
crown. He assented, and on January 18, 1871, an imposing ceremony was
held in the splendid Mirror Hall (_Galerie des Glaces_) of Louis XIV.,
at the royal palace of Versailles. The day was a wet one, and the king
rode from his quarters in the prefecture to the great gates of the
chateau, where he alighted and passed through a lane of soldiers, the
roar of cannon heralding his approach, and rich strains of music
signalling his entrance to the hall.

William wore a general's uniform, with the ribbon of the Black Eagle on
his breast. Helmet in hand he advanced slowly to the dais, bowed to the
assembled clergymen, and turned to survey the scene. There had been
erected an altar covered with scarlet cloth, which bore the device of
the Iron Cross. Right and left of it were soldiers bearing the standards
of their regiments. Attending on the king were the crown-prince, and a
brilliant array of the princes, dukes, and other rulers of the German
states arranged in semicircular form. Just above his head was a great
allegorical painting of the Grand Monarch, with the proud s