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and Mahommed is his prophet;'—a confession of faith which is in itself a declaration of Islamism.

"'Thou hast spoken like the most learned of the prophets,' said the Mufti, who accompanied him.

"'I can command a car of fire to descend from heaven,' continued the French general, and 'I can guide and direct its course upon earth.'

"'Thou art the great chief to whom Mahommed gives power and victory,' said the Mufti.

"Napoleon closed the conversation with this not very pertinent Oriental proverb—'The bread which the wicked seizes upon by force, shall be turned to dust in his mouth.'"—Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, Vol. I., p. 416.

The motives which led Napoleon to profess Mohammedanism were undoubtedly a desire to advance the interests of his country, and to facilitate the operations of the army he commanded. But, if these motives justified him in the course he pursued, how much more had I to justify me in a similar line of conduct! His temporary profession of a false religion was by no means absolutely necessary under the circumstances; while, as I before observed, mine was indispensable to the end I had in view. And how much superior was my object to his! He merely wished to promote the ambitious views of his government; I, on the contrary, was endeavoring to save my country from the most dreadful evils—civil war, despotism, and the establishment of a false and persecuting religion.

"But how," inquires some cautious reader, "were you, as an honest man, justified in taking such a course? What confidence can I place in your statements, when I know, by your own confession, that you have once played the part of a hypocrite?"

These suspicions are very natural, and from the first I expected to incur them; but I think that a very little consideration of the extraordinary nature of my case will convince any candid person of the propriety, and indeed necessity, of the course of action I pursued.

Suppose for a moment, my dear reader, that you were located on our western frontier, in the vicinity of a large, powerful, and increasing tribe of savage Indians. Suppose it is apparent, from their movements, that they intend evil to the whites, your countrymen; that they are meditating murder, plunder, and devastation, and all the horrors