that they were
inspired by humane motives and the necessity for the peace of Europe.
They laboriously studied out the most ingenious plots so that they
might be glorified for ridding Europe of a "monster."

Napoleon was kept advised, during his stay at Elba, of their designs
on the liberty they had graciously (?) given him (with a pension that
was designedly withheld), and, acting on certain specific information,
he promptly developed one of his most brilliant achievements--the
sudden landing in France, his triumphal march to Paris, and the
resultant flight of the Bourbons at his unexpected approach at the
head of an enthusiastic army.

The campaign which followed--ending with the Battle of
Waterloo--enabled the Allies, after his defeat, to satisfy the
cravings of their savage instincts by carrying out their plan as
mentioned above and sending him to martyrdom.

But one of their most brutal acts was in refusing the request that his
wife and child should accompany him to Elba. These are the ultimate
"better terms" that Josephine is said to have secured by coquetting
with Alexander of Russia!

She revelled in grasping at every fragment of wreckage that would be
of advantage to herself and her family, and Alexander's crafty
friendship unquestionably gave her opportunities to indulge unchecked
in complaints of her grievances against the man who had been so foully
betrayed. Her mania for the distribution of confidences of the most
sacred character was only equalled by her capacity for intriguing and
piling up debts, and these attributes never forsook her at any time.

Josephine's moral qualities cannot be accurately judged by her
frequent outpourings of admiration and affection for Napoleon to
Eugene and Hortense. In the letters to each which are extant, she
declares it would be impossible for anyone to be kinder, more amiable,
or considerate than he has always been, and even after the divorce she
writes that if she loved him less sincerely, he could not show more
anxiety to mitigate anything that might be painful to her.

But notwithstanding these declarations, she never failed to gratify
her insatiable love of pouring forth to his most inveterate enemies
faults and failings that her constitutional moral obliquity indicated
he had. It is not an unfair assumption, therefore, that their
Majesties and others had conveyed to them in handfuls (unwittingly
perhaps) much that was valuable to their pernicious purpose while t