NOTES AND EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 403 



AN INTERESTING CASE. The British brig Governor Temple 

 arrived at New York a few days since, from Demerara, bound to 

 the river Gambia in Africa. She put in here to procure some 

 articles for her cargo. She is chartered by upwards of twenty 

 natives of Africa, and their descendants, who were sold some twenty 

 or thirty years ago as slaves in the colony of Demerara, and have 

 since purchased their freedom, chartered this vessel, and are on their 

 return to their native land to spend the remainder of their days. 

 They are nearly all related to each other, and embrace both sexes, 

 from childhood to the age of 70. All appear well-dressed, comfort- 

 able, and industrious ; some of them are mechanics, such as cabinet- 

 makers, coopers, &c., and have, besides earning a stipulated sum 

 for their masters, earned a sufficiency to pay for their freedom. 

 One of them paid 1,300 dollars for himself, wife, and two children ; 

 another 500 dollars for himself; and others in like proportion. 

 They all appear happy, and anxious to get back to their native 

 shore. It is a subject of no small interest, and one that must cause 

 the mind of every beholder to reflect, on seeing a group of Africans, 

 who were stolen from their homes, transported in a slave-ship, sold 

 and served thirty years in a foreign land, and who, by their industry 

 have acquired a sum sufficient to purchase their freedom, charter a 

 vessel, and return home. All the older ones still hold to the religion 

 they were educated in, that of the Mahometan faith, and all on 

 board except one (the captain) are blacks. 



NAPOLEON A TORMENTER. One summer's evening the emperor, 

 accompanied by Josephine, was enjoying the cool breeze on the 

 lawn which occupied the vast front of Malmaison. The day had been 

 oppressively hot, and the ladies of the court were seated in circle, 

 attending the empress, who was inhaling the sweets of a beautiful 

 bouquet she had in her waist. Napoleon took up a handful of sand, 

 without being perceived by the party, and sprinkled the nosegay of 

 his wife. One may easily guess that the flowers were not much im- 

 proved by this mode of treatment ; and, on shaking the sand from 

 her posy, some of the petals, in spite of her care, dropped on the 

 ground. " Mon Dieu! Buonaparte," said she to him, "what a tor- 

 ment you are ;" but in that mild even tenour of voice so familiar to 

 her. " What have t done that you should so ill-treat my flowers?" 

 " Que tu es enfant," said Napoleon, embracing her " do you not 

 see that I wish to give you some that are fresher, and cut by my 

 hand ?" " I do not believe you have any such notion," replied the 

 empress, doubtingly. " Well, then, you shall presently see," said 

 Napoleon, making his way through the lattice-work paling, and 

 soon returned with a huge cluster of roses, which he presented to 

 her in the most gallant way possible. Josephine divided the flowers 

 with the ladies still sitting beside her, and said with a smile, " I beg 

 of you to keep all your roses, as I shall do mine, as long as possible, 

 that you may never forget the hand which gave, nor the hand which 

 gathered them." 



