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EFFECTS OF EXPLOSION.

Parma, and conjured him to retire from a spot where his life was in imminent and visible danger. He repeated his request more pressingly, as the Prince paid no attention; and, at last, falling at his feet, implored him in this single instance, to be guided by his servants. While he spake, he had seized the Prince by the cloak, as if to draw him from the place by force; and he, rather overpowered by the boldness of this man, than convinced by his reasoning, began to move with his officers towards the shore. Scarcely had he time to reach Fort Santa Maria, at the further end of the bridge, when an explosion was heard behind him, as if the earth had burst, or the vault of heaven had given way. The Prince, with his whole army, fell to the ground as dead; and several minutes passed before any one recovered his recollection.

But what a scene appeared when recollection returned ! The waters of the Scheldt had been divided by the explosion to their utmost depths, and driven like a wall over the mound which opposed them, so that all the fortifications along the bank were inundated to the depth of several feet. The earth shook for three miles round. Nearly the whole of the left scaffolding, against which the fire-ship had been driven, with part of the bridge of ships, had been burnt asunder, shattered, and with all who were upon it, masts, cannon, and men, hurled into the air: even the enormous blocks of stone which covered the mines, had been blown by the force of the explosion into the neighbouring fields, so that many of them were afterwards dug up more than a thousand paces from the bridge. Six ships were burned, and several dashed to pieces.

But still more dreadful was the carnage which this murderous engine had made among the soldiers. Five, or, according to some accounts, eight hundred men, fell a sacrifice to the explosion, besides those who escaped with mutilated or injured limbs. The most opposite modes of death were united in that tremendous moment. Some were consumed by the flame of the volcano; others suffocated by the waters of the river, or by the poisonous sulphurous vapour; some drowned in the stream; some buried beneath the falling masses of rock; some pierced by the knives, or axes, or shattered with the balls which had sprung from the bowels of the engine; some, who were found dead without any visible injury, must have been killed by the mere agitation of the air.

THE PRINCE IN DANGER.

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The sight immediately after the explosion was awful; some were seen sticking among the pillars of the bridge; some labouring between the masses of stone; some hanging on the sails of the vessels: on every side was heard a heart-piercing cry for help, but every one was too deeply engaged for his own safety, and the cry was answered only by an impotent wailing. Many of the survivors were saved by wonderful accidents. An officer, named Tucci, was lifted like a feather into the air, suspended for some time aloft, and dropped into the stream, where he saved himself by swimming. Another was caught up by the force of the explosion on the Flanders side, and deposited on that of Brabant, where he rose with merely a slight contusion on the shoulder, and who afterwards described his progress through the air as resembling that of a body shot from a cannon.

The Prince of Parma had never before been so near death, when the difference of half a minute decided his fate. Scarcely had he set his foot in Fort Santa Maria when he was lifted as if by a whirlwind, and struck senseless to the ground by a plank, which lighted on his head and shoulder. For some time, indeed, it was believed he was killed, as several recollected having seen him on the bridge but a moment before the deadly explosion. He was found at last raising himself up with his sword between his conductors; and the intelligence restored the spirits of his army. But it were in vain to describe his sensations when he contemplated the wreck which a single moment had made in the work of so many months. The bridge, on which his whole hope rested, had been torn in pieces; great part of his army destroyed; others maimed and rendered useless for a time; several of his best officers killed; and, as if the present misfortunes were not enough, he received at the same time the painful intelligence, that the Marquis of Rysburg, in whom of all his officers he reposed the greatest confidence, was nowhere to be found. The worst still remained behind, namely, that the hostile fleets of Antwerp and Lillo were every instant to be expected, while the disabled state of the army would render it impossible for him to make any resistance. The bridge had been completely separated, and there was nothing to prevent the fleet of Zealand from sailing through; while the confusion of the troops was at the time so great, that it was impossible to

F

issue orders or to obey them: some of the regiments wanting their officers, many of the officers unable to find their corps, or to discover the place which they had occupied amidst the universal ruin. All the fortifications on the bank were inundated, the cannon sunk under water, and the matches and powder rendered useless.

What a moment for the enemy had they known how to have availed themselves of the opportunity! It will scarcely be believed, however, that this attempt, which had succeeded so much beyond expectation, was rendered useless to Antwerp, because it was unknown. As soon as the explosion of the mine was heard in the town several vessels were sent out, with orders to shoot up fire-balls and burning arrows if they should successfully pass through, and then to sail on to Lillo, to put the fleet of Zealand into immediate motion; the admiral of Antwerp at the same time receiving orders, as soon as the signal was given, to set sail immediately, and attack the enemy in their first confusion. But, although a tempting reward was offered to the sailors who were sent out, they could not be persuaded to venture into the neighbourhood of the enemy, and they returned without effecting their purpose, with the intelligence that the bridge remained uninjured, and that the fireship had produced no impression.

So signal a failure could occur only in a government without authority, and without independence, guided by a tumultuous population, whom it ought to have commanded. The more inactive, however, they showed themselves against the enemy, the more their rage seemed inflamed against the engineer, whom the enraged populace would willingly have torn to pieces: he was for two days in the most imminent danger, till, on the third morning, a messenger from Lillo, who had swum through the bridge, brought accounts of the real destruction which had taken place, but at the same time of its restoration. This rapid repairing of the bridge was really a miraculous effort of the Prince of Parma; but the reduction of Antwerp had become now only a question of time, as famine had begun to stare them in the face. After this there was some desperate fighting, but eventually, as there was no longer any means of obtaining a stock of provisions, the governor felt himself compelled to capitulate for the surrender of the town on the 17th of August, 1585.

NAPOLEON'S Farewell.

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CHAPTER V.

Rejoicings at the Close of the War. -The Allied Sovereigns in England. -Napoleon's Destination.-His Address to the Old Guard.—Barracks at Antwerp unhealthy.-Belgium and Holland joined.-Prince of Orange made King.-The Foot-guards.-The Proclamation.-Abolition of Flogging.-Fatiguing March.-Journey at Night.-Buonaparte lands in France.-Fresh Treaty of the Allies.-Sinews of War wanted; furnished by England.-Progress of Napoleon.-Defection of the Royal Army.-Buonaparte enters Paris in Triumph.

ANTWERP participated largely in the general joy and rejoicing at the successful termination of the war, and the prospect of of a lasting peace under the guarantee of the allied sovereigns. The newspapers from England at this time teemed with the most glowing statements of the enthusiasm of all classes of the people, and of the numerous and splendid fêtes given by the Prince Regent in honour of his illustrious visitors. If any one had then predicted the astounding events which were so soon to follow, he would have been denounced either as a fool or a madman.

The great Napoleon had, in the meantime, been consigned to the Island of Elba, the place allotted for his future residence, where, with the allowance it was stipulated he should receive, he would still be able to play the sovereign on a small scale. His separation from his old and faithful Guard, which has formed the subject of an excellent painting, was thus described in the French papers:

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To the officers of the Guard who were still with him, he spoke in nearly the following words:-My dear friends and comrades, I bid you farewell. During the twenty years that we have acted together I have been satisfied with you, I have always found you in the path of glory. All the powers of Europe have armed against me. A part of my generals have betrayed their duty. France itself has betrayed it. With your assistance and that of the brave men who have remained faithful to me, I have for three years preserved France from civil war. Be faithful to the new king whom France has chosen. Be obedient to your commanders, and do not abandon your dear country, which has suffered too long. Pity not my fate; I shall be happy when I know that you are so likewise.

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ATTACHMENT TO THE EMPEROR.

I might have died; nothing would have been more easy to me; but I still wish to pursue the path of glory. What we have done I will write. I cannot embrace you all, but I will embrace your General. Come, General. Let the eagle be brought to me, that I may also embrace it. Ah, dear eagle! may the kisses I bestow on you resound to posterity. Adieu, my children! Adieu, my brave companions! Once more encompass me.' The staff, accompanied by the commissioners of the four allied powers, formed a circle round him; and Buonaparte, getting into his carriage, manifestly affected by the scene, shed some tears."

History furnished but few instances of such entire devotion and enthusiasm as was exhibited by the French soldiers towards their darling leader; even the dreadful reverses to which they were subjected on the disastrous retreat from Russia had not been sufficient to wean their affections from the emperor: they were still willing to fight for him, to die for him. One of the old French Guard was dangerously wounded and attended by an English surgeon, who, while probing for the ball, endeavoured to elicit from the man an acknowledgment that he was tired of his general.

"No, no! said the man ; "cut deeper yet, and still you'll find the emperor ! "

If we seek a reason for such extraordinary attachment, we shall find it in that constant attention of Napoleon to the wants and wishes of his men; his identity with them in all their dangers; his prompt, profuse, but impartial distribution of rewards; his throwing open, to the meanest soldier, the road of promotion to the highest honours, so that every man had a strong incentive to good conduct. When officers were killed or disabled, the vacancies were filled up from among the men who had been serving, who could sympathise with their comrades in their dangers and privations; and, while they had no difficulty in maintaining their authority, their conduct towards the men was kind and affectionate. No man, however elevated in rank and connection, had any chance of promotion, but by passing through the various grades, commencing with the lowest.

Our residence in the close barrack at Antwerp, produced among us a great deal of sickness; so that it was for a time deemed prudent to quarter us on some of the suburban villa