expectations. After providing for paying a debt on one hand by borrowing at higher interest on the other, he now proposed to alter and amend the Acts relating to the reduction of the Debt, admitting thereby the control of parliament over funds excluded by those Acts from parliamentary interference. The fallacy of the Sinking Fund system, as then managed, was not apparent to the nation during the war-so completely was its operation hidden by the process of raising annual loans, to cover deficiencies. At the close of the war, when, in the absence of loans, Parliament borrowed from the Sinking Fund Commissioners, year after year, people began to perceive how delusive had been the notion that the Debt had ever diminished at all; and, as we shall see, the mischievous child's play came to an end. By that time, men were wondering how Mr. Vansittart could have obtained his majorities in 1813. His doctrine was, simply, that obedience to the Acts only required that the Debt should be paid off in forty-five years from the institution of the Sinking Fund; and that it was justifiable, and would be now prudent, to take whatever was left over from the sum necessary for this, and apply it to general purposes to save the necessity of imposing new taxes. It cannot be necessary to expose the fallacy and bad faith of this scheme to readers who, long after the expiration of the forty-five years, are living under a Debt which has been largely increased instead of abolished.

In February, 1814, an incident occurred which appears not to have been explained to the satisfaction of any body to this day. A person, dressed in a nondescript officer's uniform, with a long beard, wet clothes, and an appearance of extreme fatigue, appeared in the middle of the night in Dover, declaring that he had just landed from a boat, and must proceed instantly to London, to announce the death of Napoleon. He paid his way, even at the toll-bars, with Napoleons. The bustle at the Stock Exchange was just what his employers intended to create. A plot of the same sort was prepared, and partly enacted, at Northfleet, in case of the miscarriage of the Dover scheme. Lord Cochrane, with others, was tried in the Court of King's Bench, found guilty of being one of the authors of this

extraordinary fraud, and condemned to a year's imprisonment, a fine of 1,000l., and the pillory. Much sympathy was naturally felt, from the outset, with an officer who had served his country bravely and effectually; and when the evidence against him on the trial was so strong as to stagger his nearest friends, the sympathy was kept up by the injustice of the procedure, and the enormity of the sentence. All England revolted at the sentence of the pillory for such an offence, though England had not yet revolted at the pillory in all cases. That part of the sentence was not inflicted. Lord Cochrane was expelled from the House of Commons by a large majority; but immediately re-elected for Westminster. Some of the electors, we are assured, believed him innocent; and most declared him to have been unfairly tried. He was, for a quarter of a century, stopped in his professional career: that is, he served with a bravery almost eccentric, and a genius which would have raised him to the summit of fame but for the drawback of this transaction. At length, he received the title of Lord Dundonald, and was held to have emerged from the cloud which had so long obscured his name and fortunes.

The winter of 1814 was so remarkable in regard to weather, that some of the facts should be recorded. The suspension of business, and even of the mails, was extremely inconvenient. Every effort was made to forward the mails-by a chaise and four here-by men on horseback there; but for several weeks, not even government could be sure of its letters on the right day. The portreeve of Tavistock set out, one January day, to take the oaths of his office at the Quarter Sessions, only thirty-two miles off; but, at the end of twenty-one miles, he was stopped by snow and ice; and there he was detained for twenty-six days, unable to communicate with home, or any other place than the village in which he was imprisoned. Soldiers were frozen to death on the road, in their march from town to town. The snow drifted in the streets to such a height that the shops were closed: and the accumulation of ice and snow about London Bridge was such that the passage was nearly closed by the middle of January. By the 1st of February, the Thames was completely frozen over.

A

bullock was roasted whole on the ice: booths were erected, and a kind of fair held, where the citizens, whose business was stopped, amused their enforced leisure. This stoppage of business was by this time so serious a matter-and chiefly from the failure of the remittances on which the merchants depended for taking up their bills—that all the powers of the Post Office were put forth to compel the overseers of parishes and surveyors of highways to clear the roads. Near Huntingdon, a strange sight was seen when several days had elapsed without the arrival of any mail. An official personage was sent down from the General Post Office, with orders to get the mails to and from the north through, at all hazards. The mail-coach appeared at length, completely filled and loaded, with bags, and drawn by ten exhausted horses, which had forced and floundered their way through banks and hills of snow.—It was a dreary season for many a wife and mother, whose husband did not return, and could not be heard of. The children must be kept warm and amused at home all day long; and they had not even the diversion of looking out of the windows; for the snow was drifted against them. It was difficult to communicate with the butcher: and, as for coals, if the stock ran low, there were no more to be had. No coals could get to London; and there was no passage by any of the rivers. Where there was an attempt to hold a market, no poultry or vegetables were to be seen and the people could not endure the coldeither sellers or buyers. The waterpipes were all frozen: and the snow was melted for water-the pails of thawing snow within the fenders making the house insufferably cold. The only alternative was to take up the plugs in the streets; and then, if the water came, it was immediately transformed into dangerous sheets of ice. Amidst such domestic discomfort, many a mistress of a household was left for weeks uncertain of the fate of her husband-if he happened to be in any of the hilly districts of the island. The Solway was frozen over, for the first time within the memory of living men. Many were the boats and coasting vessels, whose crews were kept starving and shivering out at sea, from the heaping of ice about the shores. On land, one of the gravest apprehensions was of fire: for there

would be great difficulty in putting it out. Several bad fires did happen during the period of frost: but a worse occurred just after water was once more seen in the Thames.

In the Great Fire of London, the Custom House was one of the buildings destroyed. It was replaced by one which was thought very grand in its day; but it was found to be inconveniently small in the beginning of the 18th century. In 1718, it was burned down, and a much larger one was erected in its stead. This larger one was found, in its turn, too small for the increased commerce of a century; and a new one had been planned, during late years, and was actually begun when, on the 12th of February, 1814, the existing Custom House was burned down to the ground. The building itself was not much to be regretted; but an untold amount of property perished; and, worse still, papers of inestimable value. The coral and pearls, the silks, the books, the bank-notes, the pictures, were a great loss: but much more lamentable was the destruction of antique documents, relating to the commerce of past centuries. Bonds, debentures, and securities of various kinds, perished to such an amount as to derange the transactions of commerce, and threaten the resources of government to a formidable extent. Vessels ready to clear out on the breaking up of the ice were detained one merchant lost 6,000l. worth of bank notesthe list of their numbers being locked up with them. By an explosion of gunpowder in the cellars, bundles and fragments of burnt paper were scattered on the roads at Dalston and Hackney; and a packet of signed debentures was picked up in Spital Square. There was now every inducement to press forward the erection of the new Custom House. The first stone had been laid by Lord Liverpool in the preceding October; and the present building was opened for business on the 12th of May, 1817. Many people afterwards thought that the speed had been too great. The site the old bed of the river-was a difficult one for such a foundation as was required. Within ten years, the foundations of the Long Room gave way. Examination of the facts was made by a Parliamentary Committee in 1828; and a severe censure was passed upon

the architect. An additional expense of above 170,000%. was incurred: and the cost of our Custom House, of the present century, was thereby raised to neary half a million sterling. It is a matter of curious speculation how soon it will be outgrown by the National Commerce, and what will become of it. We may hope that warning enough has been given by the fate of its three predecessors; and that it will not be destroyed by fire.

CHAPTER IX.

Napoleon's renewed Efforts-New compact of Allies-The Allies defeated-Armistice-Conference-Austrian declaration of WarBattle of Dresden-Succeeding Battles-Sufferings of the FrenchNapoleon's vacillation-Remonstrance of his Marshals-RetreatFirst Battle of Leipsic-Second Battle-Hanau-Napoleon at Paris -Independence of Holland proclaimed-The Allies cross the Rhine -Congress of Châtillon-Partial success of Napoleon-Treaty of Chaumont-Bourbon manifestations-Capitulation of Paris-Entry of the Allies-Provisional Government-Abdication of NapoleonAttempted suicide-Desertion of the Empress-Departure for Elba -Death of Josephine-Return of the Bourbons-Treaty of ParisLondon Gaiety-Wellington's Return-Popular Misgivings-Distrust Abroad-Napoleon's Return-Arrival in Paris-Treaty of Vienna-Constitutional Monarchy at Paris-Napoleon proceeds to Belgium - The British at Brussels - Quatre-Bras and Ligny — Waterloo-Napoleon's return to Paris-Is carried to St. HelenaCapitulation of Paris-The news in England-Second Treaty of Paris-Wellington's Farewell.-[1813-15.]

A MONTH after Napoleon's return to Paris, the remains of his great "Army of Russia" began to drop in after him. It was a mere fragment that retained any organization; but a considerable number of soldiers returned singly. The Emperor's addresses were more boastful than ever. He announced that the British had failed in Spain, and that England was on the verge of destruction from civil, as well as foreign, war. He offered his sympathy to the Americans, in their warfare with England, and assured them that they were supported by the enmity of all Europe against their foe. It was now necessary to settle many affairs, as he was going forth to war again. He