TH E PRI N C E I M PER I A L 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/lifeofprinceimpe12barl 
 
Hv 
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PRINCE IMPERIAL OF FRANCE. 
 
7 
 
 
Born, 16™ March, 1856. Died, FJunl. 1879. 
 
LIFE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PRINCE IMPERIAL OF FRANCE. 
 
 WITH PORTRAIT. 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 ELLEN BARLEE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF “HOMEWARD: A MEMOIR,” “ OUR HOMELESS POOR,” “THINKING AND 
 ACTING,” ETC., ETC. 
 
 GRIFFITH AND FARRAN, 
 
 SUCCESSORS TO NEWliERY AND HARRIS, 
 
 WEST CORNER OF ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD, LONDON. 
 
 MDCCCLXXX. 
 
Co tl)c fHemon) of t!)c JStabt ©omtg dfirncl) Umgljt, 
 
 “ Sans peur et sans reproche 
 
 THE PRINCE IMPERIAL OF FRANCE, 
 
 WHO FELL, 
 
 FIGHTING UNDER OUR BRITISH FLAG IN ZULULANIJ, 
 
 JUNE i, 1879, 
 
 Cijcsse pagc3 arc rcgpectfulb UrtricatcB 
 
 BY THEIR COMPILER. 
 
 “ Those whom the gods love die early. ” 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LIFE OF THE 
 
 PRINCE IMPERIAL OF FRANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PRINCE IMPERIAL, 
 fit fHrmortam. 
 
 Stat sua cuique dies ; breve et irreparabile tempus 
 Omnibus est vitae. ALn. x. 
 
 As mourn’d the Trojan chiefs round Pallas’ bier, 
 
 Young Pallas, old Evander’s only son, 
 
 While down their rough cheeks stole the silent tear 
 For those bright hopes so ruthlessly undone 
 By cruel Turnus’ unrelenting spear : 
 
 Their huge frames shook with sobs to look upon 
 His fair form ’neath its leafy coverlet, 
 
 Like hyacinth or drooping violet 
 Clipt by a virgin hand : its beauty still 
 Lives on, though life is fled : deep is their grief 
 For noble trust betray’d. The memory will 
 Live on of that brave life, so brightly brief, 
 
 That nought but death its glory could fulfil. 
 
 So England mourns for one, whose loss is past relief ! 
 
 A. H. Thomas. 
 
 Napoleon Eugene Louis Jean Joseph 
 BUONAPARTE, Prince Imperial of France, was 
 born at the Palace of the Tuilleries, at Paris, 
 March 16, 1856, three years after Napoleon 
 
 III.’s marriage with Mademoiselle Eugenie de 
 Montijo, Comtesse de Theba. 
 
2 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Some time desired, this young Prince’s advent 
 was hailed by the nation at large with acclama- 
 tions of delight. “ Le fils de France ” — the Son of 
 the Nation — was the name which his father 
 adopted as his baptismal description ; and as such 
 the child was accepted by the millions who poured 
 forth their congratulations to the Emperor on the 
 happy event. Born at a time when peace was 
 about to be concluded between Russia and the 
 Western Powers, his advent was looked upon as a 
 special gift of Providence, sent to perpetuate a 
 system, which alone at that period seemed to pro- 
 mise the maintenance of peace to a country weary 
 of years of conflict and change. 
 
 The royal infant then cradled in purple, in- 
 herited a name which early in this century burst 
 like a meteor over France, and raised her to the 
 height of military renown, and which at one time 
 held all Europe in abeyance. A genius which, 
 unlike the fickle nature of geniuses in general, had 
 already proved itself an hereditary gift of his race, 
 and an exalted position — the highest earth can 
 give — the very security of which was apparently 
 based on the previous convulsions, social as well 
 as political, from which it had been upheaved. 
 He had likewise the prospect of being trained by 
 a father who had proved himself skilled, not alone 
 in the art of governing a kingdom, but the rarer 
 one of self-government ; who, with greater bold- 
 ness than any man living, had repeatedly breasted 
 
The Prince Imperial. 
 
 3 
 
 the wave of fortune, and each time had risen 
 triumphantly on its crest. On the other side, he 
 was nurtured by a mother who, in the earliest 
 days of her greatness, testified that benevolence, 
 and consideration for the unfortunate, were the 
 predominent features of her character. 
 
 Surely, if ever hope might fan the flame of 
 desire, France was justified in the expression of 
 her then belief that the child whom his father had 
 thus publicly consecrated to the nation would be 
 spared to fill the high destiny so enthusiastically 
 assigned to him, viz., that of the future representa- 
 tive of the country. 
 
 For fourteen years that hope, like a star in the 
 horizon, shone brightly, and then suddenly paled 
 under the events of 1872, through which the glory 
 of the Second Empire passed away. From that 
 date Napoleon III., once again an exile from 
 France, found a refuge in England, whither the 
 Empress and her son had already preceded him. 
 But although their Chief was dethroned, the in- 
 fluence of the Buonapartists was still strong in 
 France, and when, in 1873, Napoleon III. died at 
 his English retreat at Chiselhurst, the faithful 
 adherents of his house swore fresh allegiance to 
 his Heir. These were firm in their belief that 
 the fickle nature of their countrymen required 
 but a few years’ change of rule, and that then 
 they would gladly recall the son of Napoleon III., 
 to fulfil the high destiny of which his birth had 
 
 B 2 
 
4 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 given promise. Every stage of the young Prince’s 
 life was therefore watched with the deepest 
 interest and anxiety, both at home and abroad. 
 
 After the Emperor’s death the Prince continued 
 to reside with his mother at Chiselhurst, the abode 
 selected by the Emperor as his English home, and 
 here they dwelt in comparative seclusion. But, 
 however retired they might desire to live, the name 
 they bore at once brought them within range of 
 “ That fierce light which beats upon a throne,” 
 in which their every word and action found re- 
 flection. 
 
 Mysterious indeed are the workings of Sovereign 
 Power; and the French proverb “ L’homme pro- 
 pose, et Dieu dispose,” was never more verified 
 than in the early death of this promising young 
 prince, whose star, instead of setting over an 
 imperial throne, sank in a foreign land. It was 
 while fighting as a volunteer under the British 
 flag, where his natural ardour had at last found an 
 opportunity for exercise, in a petty reconnaissance 
 made in the enemy’s country, that he fell, pierced 
 by the assegais of a handful of savages. 
 
 When electricity flashed across the continent 
 the news of this sad catastrophe: there was over- 
 whelming sorrow among nations — sorrow not alone 
 for the extinction of the political significance 
 which had centred in his life, but genuine heart 
 sorrow that a character so lovely, so cultivated, 
 so brave, so rare in the annals of princes, should 
 
The Prince Imperial. 
 
 5 
 
 be lost to the world in the very opening of its 
 budding influence. Tears, too, fell freely for the 
 Empress, whom Providence in this crushing blow 
 had deprived of the prop of her existence. Since 
 the death of her husband, the Emperor Napoleon 
 III., it had been the Prince Imperial’s filial devo- 
 tion which had enabled her to meet her reverses 
 with resignation, and in his future all the earthly 
 hopes which yet germinated in her heart were 
 centred. So overwhelming indeed did her grief 
 appear that it entirely seemed to remove her out 
 of the reach of human sympathy. But our Queen 
 willed not that the Empress should feel thus alone 
 in her grief. She had herself personally known 
 and loved the young Prince from his cradle, and 
 she at once hastened to the Empress’s side to 
 weep with her over his loss. Only lately fresh 
 herself from a somewhat similar bereavement, her 
 royal sympathy was heartfelt ; and if anything 
 could temporarily rouse the Empress from her 
 deep sorrow it must have been the womanly 
 tenderness thus extended to her from the highest 
 in the land. 
 
 Like many other sterling characters, although 
 universally beloved wherever known, the Prince 
 Imperial bore about him a native modesty of 
 demeanour which partially veiled the true depth 
 of his character ; little by little, however, since his 
 death that veil has been lifted, and the force of 
 his religious feeling and intelligence have come to 
 
6 Life of the Prince Impei'ial of France. 
 
 the surface. In the few original prayers, thoughts, 
 and opinions, which were found after his death 
 amongst his papers, proof abundant is given that 
 his popularity and amiability were not the mere 
 offshoots of a general good nature, but those of 
 a soul in prayerful union with its God, and of a 
 mind that bid fair, had it lived longer on earth, to 
 prove itself capable of dealing with the future 
 possibilities of his position. 
 
 It is with the view of gathering together in a 
 volume such details as have transpired of the 
 Prince’s life and character that these pages are 
 undertaken. 
 
 In compiling a memoir of the Prince Imperial, 
 it is impossible, however, to separate his indivi- 
 duality from that of his illustrious ancestors, espe- 
 cially from that of his father, Napoleon III., the 
 man whose extraordinary genius raised him step 
 by step to that pinnacle of greatness which faith 
 in his own destiny made the goal of his ambition. 
 There were many similarities in the lives of the 
 father and the son ; both in early life were the 
 accepted heirs of the French throne, and both 
 were exiled from France while still under tutelage. 
 Both were brought up under the supervision of 
 mothers who alike exercised their maternal power 
 with wisdom and discretion. Both were famed in 
 youth for unswerving courage and determination, 
 and for that inflexible purpose which, in reviewing 
 the history of the Buonapartes, may be termed 
 
The Prince Imperial. 
 
 7 
 
 “ Napoleonic,” and was the mainspring of their 
 elevation to power. In the son’s case, the Em- 
 peror lived long enough to lay the foundation 
 of his education, and to give form to this special 
 characteristic — to impress upon him the due im- 
 portance of the mission he bequeathed to him, 
 and of the regime it had been his own life struggle 
 to establish in France. 
 
 In the performance of this task the experience 
 of Napoleon 1 1 Ids own eventful life was the most 
 useful of all guides. Above all it taught this 
 lesson — that the sudden and premature attempts 
 he had made to seize the throne, however 
 ingeniously planned and daringly attempted, had 
 each time ended in failure, and that to wait for 
 “ l’appel du peuple ” was a more dignified and 
 surer way to success. This fact, as we shall later 
 see, had been strongly impressed on the mind 
 of the Prince Imperial, who accepted its wisdom. 
 The necessary delay did not, however, diminish his 
 love for his country, or his determination that it 
 should recognize he was worthy of the name he 
 bore — a name first and foremost in the annals of 
 personal bravery. Shut out by his exiled position 
 from proving that in the defence of his country 
 the same martial blood ran in his veins as in those 
 of his uncles and his father’s, he yet thirsted for 
 distinction, and chafed at inaction. 
 
 Can we wonder, then, that when the sad news 
 of the carnage of Isandhlwana fired every British 
 
8 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 heart with indignation, and with the resolve that 
 the lost honour of our English prestige must be 
 at once retrieved, this young Prince, who was 
 British by adoption, by companionship, and educa- 
 tion, should seize the opportunity for action ? 
 Beyond the natural fiery zeal of youth, there was 
 the further motive, viz. that the moment had 
 arrived in which the reflection of his bravery — for 
 he intended to be brave with the bravest — should 
 speak for him to his people’s heart. It is recorded 
 that when two of his young companions in arms, 
 cadets from Woolwich, went over to Chiselhurst 
 to bid him farewell, en route for the Cape, he 
 received their adieux in silence and with a de- 
 pression most unusual to him. No sooner, how- 
 ever, had they departed than he sat for a short 
 time in deep thought, then suddenly rang for his 
 hat and gloves, and started at once for London, 
 going, on arrival, direct to the War Office, where 
 he offered his sword in his adopted country’s 
 service. It was at first refused ; he then elected 
 to follow our army as a volunteer, but when once 
 at the seat of war was nominated to a place on the 
 staff ; and it must ever remain a source of regret 
 to our nation that greater precautions were not 
 taken to prevent his falling a victim to his own 
 ardour. In doing so, however, his most cherished 
 heart desire found accomplishment. The French 
 nation recognized all too late that the budding 
 youth of their once cherished leader’s son enfolded 
 
The Prince Imperial. 
 
 9 
 
 the same reckless bravery which had so often led 
 their own armies on to victory. 
 
 In amassing materials for this work, naturally 
 much printed matter has passed under my eyes 
 in reference to the Prince’s asserted political 
 opinions ; and reputed conversations are recorded, 
 in which words are put into his Imperial High- 
 ness’s mouth, apparently self-contradictory. In 
 one he is represented as having strongly asserted 
 his disapproval of a monarchal government ; in 
 another, as having imbibed the revolutionary “ spirit 
 of the age;” in a third, as having “ determined 
 on landing in France and trying his fortunes there, 
 even as his father had done before him whilst 
 in other instances, evidently a courteous non- 
 contradiction of adulatory prognostications as to 
 his own influence when disposed to use it, caused 
 such silence to be recorded as participatory in the 
 views and wishes expressed. 
 
 Happily we live in an age when we are not 
 called upon to believe all we see in print. Suffice 
 it to say, all reliable authority scatters such gossip 
 to the winds, and is united in this one expression 
 of the Prince’s character, viz., that nothing but 
 what “ was honourable, lovely,” or “ of good 
 report,” was ever known to issue from his lips or 
 be connected with his name. In the country of 
 his adoption he is best designated by that term 
 which of all others we apply to those we believe 
 in, viz., that of “ an English gentleman in other 
 
io Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 words, one who under all circumstances proves 
 himself “ loyal to his God, his country, and 
 himself.” 
 
 But I must not anticipate ; nor can my readers 
 fully understand, the position the Prince Imperial 
 held with his own party in France, or his 
 social relations with this country, or again, what 
 were the policy and mission bound up with his 
 name, unless they will first follow me while I 
 rapidly sketch his father’s life until 1856. At 
 that date, amid a nation’s rejoicing, the Prince 
 Imperial was born, and telegraphic wires conveyed 
 this all-important announcement from one end of 
 the world to the other. To many the events in 
 the life of Napoleon III. are probably already 
 familiar ; such can pass over the next chapter 
 unread, but, recognizing its close connexion with 
 the subject of this memoir, they will forgive its 
 repetition. This sketch of the Emperor’s life is 
 principally collated, by kind permission, from 
 Mr. Blanchard Jerrold’s interesting work, “The 
 Life of Napoleon III.” 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SKETCH OF EMPEROR NAPOLEON III.’S LIFE. 
 
 One effort more, his seventh and last ! 
 
 The hero hail’d the sign, 
 
 For on the wish’d for beam hung fast 
 The spider’s silken line. 
 
 Slight as it was, his spirit caught 
 The more than omen from his thought, 
 
 This lesson too did trace : 
 
 Which even “ He who runs may read, 
 
 That perseverance gains its meed, 
 
 And patience wins the race.” 
 
 King Bruce and the Spider , Bernard Barton. 
 
 The commencement of this century found the 
 First Napoleon resting on his laurels after the 
 battle of Marengo, at Malmaison, near Reuil, 
 over which chosen retreat the Empress Josephine 
 ruled, with the grace and sweetness which made 
 her so universally beloved. The fear had not 
 then dawned upon her, that having failed to 
 present her husband with an heir, she would be 
 displaced from his side. 
 
 Her two children of her former marriage, whom 
 Napoleon had adopted as his own — Hortense and 
 
12 Life o] the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Eugene de Beauharnais, lived with her. The 
 former was then in the early bloom of her 
 womanhood, a bright, impulsive, lovely girl, 
 the crown of the many attractions of the impe- 
 rial residence at Malmaison. Early in life Hor- 
 tense was betrothed to her stepfather’s aide-de- 
 camp, General Durac, to whom she was much 
 attached. 
 
 When, however, the first rumour of her divorce 
 fell on Josephine’s ear, the selfishness born of 
 this fear made her sacrifice her daughter’s affec- 
 tions as an escape from her own alarm. The 
 Empress hoped that Napoleon might be per- 
 suaded, if she married Hortense to his younger 
 brother, Louis, to accept an heir from their off- 
 spring, should Providence thus favour the union, 
 the more so as Prince Louis was her husband’s 
 favourite brother. When this scheme was placed 
 before Napoleon he approved of it, as uniting his 
 ambitious views for both his stepdaughter, on 
 whom he doted, and his brother Louis. Hence 
 General Durac was dismissed, and Hortense 
 forced into a marriage in which her affections had 
 no part. Prince Louis Bonaparte was a shy, quiet 
 man, brave in the field, because bravery was an 
 integral part of his nature, not that he cared for 
 its laurels, he hated war, disliked pomp, or the 
 responsibility of office, his only pleasure being in 
 study and retirement, in this he was the opposite 
 of his wife, who loved gaiety and distraction, and 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon II Ns Life. 13 
 
 cared nothing for her husband’s graver pursuits. 
 Hence, no sooner had their marriage taken place 
 than the utter want of congeniality between them 
 led to dissensions, which eventually ended in a 
 separation. On October 10, 1802, the first child 
 of Louis and Hortense was born, and christened 
 Napoleon Louis, being afterwards created Duke de 
 Berg ; and in 1805, three years later, his younger 
 brother, Charles Louis Napoleon. Up to the 
 date of the latter’s birth, Prince Louis and his 
 wife, whatever their internal differences were, 
 externally lived harmoniously together, each alike 
 following their own pursuits. In November, 1805, 
 Napoleon appointed his brother Louis, Governor 
 of Paris. In this new position the necessities of 
 office drew out the latter’s character, and rubbed 
 off much of his reserve ; and he served his 
 brother with such sagacity, that the Emperor, 
 recognizing his powers of rule, broached to him 
 the idea of occupying the throne of Holland. 
 At first Prince Louis negatived the scheme. It 
 was useless, however, to resist Napoleon’s will, 
 which was stronger than his own. Hence, when 
 the Deputies of the Batavian Government waited 
 on Prince Louis at his brother’s suggestion, to 
 formally offer him the crown of Holland, he ac- 
 cepted it, and on June 5th, 1806, was crowned 
 King of Holland, at St. Cloud. Hortense was now 
 a Queen, and on arriving at the Hague entered 
 soul and spirit into the festivities which followed 
 
1 4 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 her husband’s coronation and made herself very 
 popular among their Dutch subjects. 
 
 King Louis was no sooner established on the 
 throne than he recognized the difficulties of the 
 task he had undertaken, and the impossibility of 
 doing his duty to his subjects on the one side, 
 and pleasing his brother on the other. 
 
 Napoleon, anxious to uphold his own interests, 
 caused the Dutch Court to be over-ridden by 
 Frenchmen. King Louis, who was conscientious 
 to a degree, expostulated, and said “ he would 
 not submit to have French soldiers fed with Dutch 
 gold.” Napoleon grejv angry, and refused to 
 remove them, and differences arose between the 
 two brothers, which yearly increased, until, in 1810, 
 King Louis abdicated in favour of his son, Prince 
 Charles Louis, then two years old. In all the 
 differences between the King of Holland and the 
 Emperor, Queen Hortense sided with her step- 
 father, which course of action fomented fresh 
 quarrels between herself and her husband. On 
 May 5, 1807, the eldest child of King Louis 
 and Queen Hortense died, and their common 
 sorrow for a time drew the husband and wife 
 nearer to one another. The happy change did 
 not, however, last long, for the following year 
 fresh differences arose, which deepened into a 
 quarrel beyond repair. Notwithstanding that 
 Queen Hortense was about once more to become 
 a mother, she left her husband, and went to reside 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon Jills Life. 15 
 
 in Paris, under her stepfather’s protection, taking 
 with her her surviving child, Prince Louis Charles 
 Napoleon, who w r as now, since his brother’s 
 death, heir to the throne of Holland instead of that 
 of the French Empire. In Paris, April 20, 1808, 
 Queen Hortense was delivered of her third son, 
 the late Napoleon III., and father of the Prince 
 Imperial, to whom these pages are dedicated. 
 
 This happy event gave fresh hope to the Empress 
 Josephine, whilst the Emperor was delighted at 
 the news. Thus, on all sides the infant, who was 
 christened Charles Louis Napoleon, received a 
 welcome into the world. It was two years after 
 the birth of this child that his father, King Louis, 
 abdicated the throne of Holland in favour of his 
 eldest son, and retired from public life. Josephine’s 
 days of happiness were, however, soon cut short, 
 for in April, 1810, the dreaded blow came. The 
 Emperor Napoleon’s ambition gained a mastery 
 over his affections, and to please the nation, who 
 clamoured for a direct heir, he divorced his truly 
 devoted wife Josephine, and married Marie Louise, 
 daughter of the Emperor of Austria. 
 
 The first seven years of Louis Napoleon’s life 
 were spent in France, where he took part in many 
 of the pageants of the First Empire. The aspect of 
 events in 1814 and 1815, however, changed the 
 social atmosphere from one of brightness to gloom, 
 and were the preface to Napoleon Ids downfall. If 
 Queen Hortense had been blamed in early life for 
 
1 6 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 her extreme love of gaiety, the true strength of 
 her character was shown during the misfortunes 
 which followed her stepfather’s downfall. In the 
 revolt of 1814, Queen Hortense, finding that the 
 Empress Marie Louise had quitted Paris, cou- 
 rageously remained with her children within its 
 walls, and showed unflinching courage. It was 
 only when told that the enemy was at the gates of 
 Paris, and that resistance was useless, she con- 
 sented to leave with her children, and join her 
 mother at Navarre. Here mother and daughter 
 learnt of the Emperor’s captivity and abdication. 
 This news was the death of Josephine; and although 
 Queen Hortense deeply grieved for her mother, 
 she returned to Malmaison, in order to propitiatein 
 her sons’ interests the new rulers of the city. This 
 act was in opposition to Napoleon’s wishes, as also 
 those of her husband, who, hearing that Hortense 
 had opened her salons to the Allied Commanders 
 in power in France, sent to fetch his eldest son, 
 fearing the influences which surrounded him. 
 Hortense indignantly refused to give up her child, 
 and King Louis instituted a lawsuit in the French 
 Courts for the recovery of his son’s person, which 
 was given in his favour. At this moment Napoleon 
 I. effected his escape from Elba, and threw his 
 influence and protection over his stepdaughter 
 and her children, and prevented the verdict being 
 carried out. 
 
 In the flush of successful triumph with which 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon II Ns Life, i 7 
 
 Napoleon inaugurated his return to power, and the 
 splendid festivities which took place during the 
 “ hundred days,” of his new rule — the Empress 
 Marie Louise, and her son the King of Rome, being 
 absent — Queen Hortense was installed as mistress 
 of the ceremonies ; and her two boys, as representa- 
 tives of the Napoleon family, were paraded before 
 the French people and troops, to call forth their 
 loyalty to the dynasty. Notwithstanding the 
 Emperor’s triumph, the outside world, however, 
 looked coldly upon him, and before long France 
 was again embroiled in war, the Powers of 
 Europe being arraigned against it. It was no 
 longer now a question with Napoleon of future 
 conquests such as had raised him to the pinnacle 
 on which he stood, but of self-defence for the pre- 
 servation of national independence. At Waterloo, 
 Napoleon Ids star may be said to have set; and 
 after that defeat he abdicated in favour of his son, 
 the King of Rome, then four years old, who was 
 crowned in Paris, June 23rd. 
 
 In 1815, Queen Hortense and her children were, 
 by the command of the General of the Allied 
 Forces then in possession of the capital, banished 
 from France, and with a few faithful followers fled 
 into Switzerland ; but the Swiss feared to harbour 
 the exiles, and Hortense proceeded to Aix in 
 Savoy, trusting to find a temporary shelter there. 
 Alas, it was at Aix the crown of her misfortunes 
 awaited her, for her husband, the ex-King of Hol- 
 
 C 
 
1 8 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 land, sent to demand the presence of his eldest 
 son, the law of France having given him possession 
 of his child. Resistance was vain; but the parting 
 with her boy broke down Hortense, whilst the 
 grief of his brother, the little Louis, was extreme. 
 The Allied Powers, in banishing Queen Hortense 
 from France, had named Constance as a place 
 where they would allow her to reside ; and here, 
 renting a modest dwelling, the once-courted, 
 imperious, and brilliant Queen lived in strict 
 seclusion, devoting herself to the education of 
 her one remaining son, Prince Louis, whom, far 
 from spoiling by indulgence, she trained with 
 wisdom and judicious discipline. Three great 
 truths she sought to teach him, namely, that in 
 the future he would have to rely on himself, and 
 not on the conditions of his birth — that honours 
 without merit were worthless titles — and to choose 
 his friends for their intellectual worth , and not 
 their wealth or position. These three maxims may 
 be said to have lain at the foundation of Napo- 
 leon 1 1 Ids successful career. 
 
 At the end of one year of her exile the King of 
 Bavaria invited Queen Hortense to fix her home in 
 his kingdom, and she moved to Augsburg, both to 
 be near her brother, Eugene de Beauharnais, who 
 resided there, and also because Augsburg con- 
 tained a good university, where her son Louis 
 could receive his education. At this university 
 Prince Louis remained four years, studying princi- 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon III.’s Life. 1 9 
 
 pally modern languages and science ; after which 
 he went to Thun, to receive his military education 
 there. At Thiin Prince Louis gained a complete 
 mastery over the Swiss military system, and in 
 later life his writings showed what a profound 
 study he had made while there of the art of war. 
 In the Swiss system he detected, however, its one 
 flaw, namely, want of unity in its elements; and 
 thenceforth he built up the persistent idea which 
 became a part of his life, and on which he founded 
 his own after military grandeur, namely, that in all 
 military organizations one central Power must be 
 para?nount — one central Will decisive. 
 
 It would take too long to follow the events 
 which succeeded each other from the time of 
 Prince Louis’ manhood until his accession to the 
 throne. The early part of his life was a very 
 revolutionary period, and Queen Hortense, during 
 the many conflicting interests which divided 
 Europe, found it no easy matter to restrain the 
 ardour of her son. With the view of distracting 
 his thoughts from martial subjects, in 1830 she 
 proposed to winter in Rome, hoping its arts and 
 antiquities would divert his mind. On their way 
 they stopped at Venice, where, to her exceeding 
 joy, her eldest son was allowed to join her. This 
 young man had already been pressed to raise 
 the standard of the Napoleons in France, but 
 had honourably declined in these words, “ The 
 people have chosen their Sovereign, and shall I 
 
 C 2 
 
20 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 carry war into a country which I would serve 
 with my heart’s blood.” On the arrival of 
 Queen Hortense at Rome the authorities took 
 alarm, fearing that even the name of Napoleon 
 might fire the blood of the Italian youth, and 
 as Rome was then in a very unsettled state, 
 Hortense’s sons were politely requested to leave 
 the city, and departed for Florence together, 
 where their mother, who was prevented by illness 
 accompanying them, wrote to entreat them not to 
 mix themselves up in any political movement what- 
 ever. This good advice came too late. No sooner 
 was the presence of the young Napoleons known 
 in Florence than the chief of the revolutionary 
 movement in that city sought them out, and in 
 passionate language worked on their feelings by 
 depicting the influence their all-powerful name 
 would be to the cause of liberty, if they would 
 only raise a standard around which the youth of 
 Italy could raily. The bait took, and the Princes 
 found in the cause of Italian freedom a vent for 
 their ardour. To Queen Hortense the youths 
 wrote, “ her advice had come too late, and that 
 their honour was pledged to fulfil the engagements 
 they had made.” Both King Louis and Hortense 
 were in despair at this news, and the latter pro- 
 ceeded to Florence to watch events, and be ready 
 to act as circumstances should dictate. Happily 
 jealousy within the ranks of the insurgents placed 
 the two young Princes in such a difficult position, 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon III l s Life. 2 1 
 
 that when the authorities at Rome represented to 
 them in strong terms the injury their name was 
 doing to the national cause, they resigned their 
 command, and only remained attached to the 
 revolutionary emeute as volunteers. At last 
 Hortense heard that the revolution had been 
 put down, and that her sons were at Bologna, 
 where, unless they could escape on neutral ground, 
 they would be imprisoned. She started at once 
 for that place, determining to take them boldly 
 through France into England ; and in further- 
 ance of this scheme armed herself with a pass- 
 port as for an English lady travelling with two 
 sons. At Ancona, however, she was met with 
 the melancholy news that her eldest son had 
 died of measles in his brother’s arms. Hardly 
 crediting this she pushed on, but her younger son 
 Louis met her on her road, and confirmed with 
 heart-rending grief the intelligence. Distressed as 
 she was, all the mother was roused in Queen 
 Hortense to save her now sole surviving child. A 
 day — nay, a few hours delay only — and she felt their 
 retreat might be cut off. In order to utilize her 
 passport, Hortense provided a youth to accompany 
 her in the place of her lost son, and made arrange- 
 ments to leave Ancona that night. On the point 
 of starting, Prince Louis, who had been ill all 
 day, became so much worse that the doctor 
 called in pronounced him to be seriously ill with 
 suppressed measles, and forbad the journey on 
 
22 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 the fear of death. At this crisis Hortense’s 
 womanly wit served her. She caused the news 
 to be spread that her son was gone by sea to 
 Corfu, and that she herself was too ill to accom- 
 pany him, and made semblance to have him seen 
 off on his voyage. This done, she had the invalid 
 conveyed into a closet chamber within her own, 
 and there nursed him. By this time the Austrian 
 forces had entered the city, the General taking up 
 his abode in the same house as the fugitives. 
 Happily he was an ex-friend of the Queen’s, and she 
 sent for him, put forward her illness as not having 
 allowed her to accompany her son, and begged 
 leave to remain till well enough to follow him. The 
 courtesy of the General not only granted this 
 request, but sheltered Queen Hortense from intru- 
 sion until Prince Louis was well enough to leave, 
 when the Austrian General gave Hortense and her 
 man servant, as he thought, a pass through the 
 lines, and the Prince, dressed in the livery of his 
 mother’s lacquey, thus escaped detection, and the 
 travellers reached Bonn in safety. Here dropping 
 their rank, and Prince Louis his footman’s livery, 
 they made use of their English passport to Paris, 
 where Queen Hortense threw herself on the mercy 
 of King Louis Philippe, demanding permission to 
 remain in Paris a short time, and then be furnished 
 with a passport to England. King Louis Philippe 
 received the fugitives kindly, but begged them not 
 to remain in Paris an hour longer than absolutely 
 
Sketch of Emperor A T apoleon Ill's Life. 23 
 
 necessary, offering to facilitate their departure by 
 at once sending them the necessary papers. 
 Again, on the point of starting, Prince Louis was 
 seized with a grave illness — a relapse, in fact, of 
 the former attack — and the travellers had to remain 
 ten days longer in Paris. The news, too, of the 
 Queen and her son’s arrival got wind, and crowds 
 assembled in the Place Vendome, whilst cries of 
 “ Vive l’Empereur ” followed. The King, alarmed, 
 sent to Hortense to hasten her departure; and 
 although at some risk to her son’s safety, the 
 Prince and his mother pursued their journey, and 
 arrived safely in London. Here, after a brief 
 period of repose, the Prince recovered his health, 
 and assuming their own name and rank, the 
 fugitives soon found themselves the centre of a 
 large circle of sympathizing friends. From 
 London, Queen Hortense and her son watched 
 with deep interest the events that were passing 
 in France, whilst Prince Louis’ visit to Paris had 
 aroused his national ardour, and the demon- 
 stration that had taken place at the Place Ven- 
 dome revealed to him the influence his name 
 carried. 
 
 In December, 1831, after a six months’ visit 
 to England, Queen Hortense having applied for 
 a passport to traverse France en route to 
 Switzerland, took up her abode with her son at 
 Arenenberg, on Lake Constance, a property 
 which has remained in the Napoleon family ever 
 
24 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 since, and been much endeared to them through 
 the many historic recollections attached to it. It 
 was here that Queen Hortense resided, until her 
 death. 
 
 Before Prince Louis left England, his father 
 extorted a promise from him that he would not 
 risk his life in any more such rash adventures as 
 were the primary cause of his brother’s death. 
 Hence on arriving at Arenenberg he eschewed 
 politics, and devoted his time, heart and soul, to 
 abstruse studies. During the year 1831 Prince 
 Louis published several useful works, showing 
 much thought and power of conception. In 
 1832 an event occurred which changed his posi- 
 tion, viz. the death of the King of Rome, Napoleon 
 Ids son. Until his cousin’s death Prince Louis 
 does not appear to have had any formed ideas of 
 his own advancement to the French Empire. This 
 event, however, entirely altered the position of 
 affairs, and from that hour he accepted the fact 
 that he had become the heir of the Napoleon 
 dynasty, and at once set to work to add to his 
 studies that of the art of ruling ; and in the next 
 three years it became a part of his creed that 
 Destiny had entrusted him with the future task of 
 regenerating France. In 1834 and 1835 Prince 
 Louis, however, notwithstanding this conviction, 
 continued to devote himself to literature, and pub- 
 lished several further works, among others his 
 “ Reveries Politiques,” in which he set forth his 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon Ill's Life. 25 
 
 own views of an ideal Government. Although 
 exiled, the Prince’s works were not forbidden in 
 France, and being widely read and approved, doubt- 
 less laid the foundation for his recall. 
 
 The next exciting event in the Prince’s life 
 was the rash attempt he made in 1836, to sub- 
 vert the fealty of the troops in the garrison at 
 Strasburg, and by a sudden stroke of fortune 
 to seize the French throne. The Prince, learning 
 that the army at Strasburg was favourable to him, 
 trusted they would carry him on to victory. 
 
 This scheme Prince Louis conceived in the 
 quiet of Arenenberg. Its failure, and the imprison- 
 ment of the Prince, are too well known to need 
 repetition here. King Louis Philippe, when the 
 revolt was put down, acted very leniently with its 
 ringleader, and treating the affair as a youthful 
 escapade, pardoned Prince Louis, but outlawed 
 him. For a few days the Prince was kept in soli- 
 tary confinement in Strasburg, then taken privately 
 to Paris, and from thence shipped on board the 
 “Andromache” to America. The captain of the 
 vessel sailed with sealed orders, which he was not 
 to open until he had crossed the line. In these 
 orders he was commanded to take a circuitous 
 route to Rio Janeiro, lasting some months, and 
 from thence to the United States, where he might 
 land the Prince ; but he was strictly charged 
 during that time not to allow him any communica- 
 tion whatever with land. Bitter indeed must have 
 
26 Life of the Prince l 7 nperial of France. 
 
 been the Prince’s humiliation at being thus treated, 
 whilst his mother’s despair at not knowing what had 
 become of him was extreme. It was four months 
 before Queen Hortense’s anxiety was relieved by 
 receiving a letter from her son from America. 
 
 In 1837 Prince Louis bade adieu to his American 
 friends, for he had the art of attaching people to 
 him wherever he was — and hearing that his 
 mother was very ill, applied for permission to join 
 her at Arenenberg. This request King Louis 
 Philippe refused, and the refusal cut him to the 
 heart. To a man of such a resolute purpose as 
 the Prince the tyranny, as he termed it, was not 
 to be borne. He was devoted to his mother, and, 
 borrowing a friend’s passport, he set obedience at 
 defiance, traversed France, and arrived at Arenen- 
 berg in time to be with her in her last hours, 
 nursing her with touching affection. After Queen 
 Hortense’s death, Prince Louis resided for a time 
 at Gottlieben, from whence he issued a pam- 
 phlet explanatory of his attempt at Strasburg, 
 which served to keep his name before the French 
 nation. About this date he also published a fur- 
 ther work, his “I dees Napoleoniennes,” which book 
 is a text of his own political actions both before 
 and after his ascension to the French throne, 
 founded closely on the regime his uncle had 
 adopted, which regime was so interwoven with his 
 own views that the latter was perforce the growth 
 of the former. 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon III Is Life. 27 
 
 In 1840 Prince Louis, whose restless spirit 
 was ever active, made another attempt to plant 
 the Imperial standard in France. On that stan- 
 dard he blazoned the names of his uncle’s con- 
 quests, and called on France to rally to their 
 beloved Chieftain’s name. This plot Prince Louis 
 matured in London, and carried out on August 6, 
 1840, landing with a few followers at Boulogne, 
 where he planted the tricolour, trusting to fortune 
 to favour his scheme. His hour was not, however, 
 yet come. The revolt was speedily put down, 
 and Prince Louis not only found himself once 
 more a prisoner of Louis Philippe’s, but his failure 
 was so ignominious that he was looked upon as a 
 mere rash adventurer in the eyes of the world in 
 general. 
 
 The King of France had treated with leniency 
 Prince Louis’ first exploit. The young pretender 
 was, however, getting too troublesome; and, after 
 being tried, he was condemned as a conspirator, 
 and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in 
 imprisonment, the fortress of Ham being selected 
 as his abode. When told his punishment was 
 perpetual imprisonment, “ How long does per- 
 petuity last in France ? ” asked the Prince, with a 
 calm and meaning smile. At Ham, for more than 
 five years Prince Louis suffered expatriation for the 
 rash act which had served to scatter his friends and 
 retard the cause he had at heart. In his captivity, 
 however, Prince Louis turned to deep study as 
 
28 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 a panacea for his trouble, mapped out his hours 
 with military precision, and filled up the time by 
 his pen. During those five years he wrote on all 
 kinds of subjects — politics, philanthropy, history, 
 science — and wrote so well that his works kept 
 his name before the public, and were received with 
 applause. In 1846 Prince Louis heard of his 
 father’s, the ex-king of Holland’s, severe illness, 
 and applied for leave to King Louis Philippe to 
 visit him. This was refused him, and what he 
 could not obtain by favour he determined to 
 effect by fraud — yea, even more than he had asked ; 
 for, if freedom was to be had, he determined to 
 secure it in the future. Thanks to the deep 
 attachment of his faithful physician, Dr. Conneau, 
 as also that of his trusty valet, Thelin, the Prince 
 effected his escape from Ham. The romantic 
 story of his flight is familiar to most persons. 
 Taking advantage of some repairs being carried 
 on in the fortress, the Prince assumed a work- 
 man’s garb, and, with a plank on his shoulder, 
 thus attired boldly passed the sentinels on duty. 
 Dr. Conneau, to facilitate his escape, made feint 
 that the Prince was ill, and placing a wooden 
 figure in the bed, kept up the semblance of 
 attendance on it for twelve hours, until, in fact, 
 the Prince was clear of all pursuit. Arrived in 
 England, the Prince failed in securing a passport 
 through Austria to join his father, who died July 
 28, 1846, without seeing his son. Although he 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon III.'s Life. 29 
 
 was now a free man, and in England, Prince Louis 
 was felt to be a dangerous person as far as the 
 peace of nations was concerned, and the English 
 Government, as well as the French Ambassador, 
 demanded from him a pledge that as long as he 
 remained in the country he would neither concoct 
 nor be party to any further plots and revolts. 
 This he gave, and continued to live quietly in 
 London, turning his attention to fresh subjects of 
 study. The two failures he had made to seize 
 the French throne, and the long imprisonment 
 that followed the last, had taught Prince Louis 
 wisdom, but it had not damped his ambition, and 
 he determined to bide quietly the hour when, faith 
 in his own destiny told him, the voice of France 
 would recall him. That hour was not far distant. 
 In 1848 a rift in the political horizon of France 
 appeared, which, quickly spreading, opened the 
 way for his return. At this date France was 
 in a very disturbed state. In the Cabinet, a 
 universal mistrust, self-interest, and corruption 
 prevailed ; and when at last M. Guizot, Louis 
 Philippe’s Minister, resigned, the classes whom in 
 the interest of his royal master he had so long 
 kept in check, flooded Paris and deposed their 
 king. Several leaders then tried to hold the reins 
 of government, each of whom was alike put down, 
 and, in the tumult and confusion which followed, 
 France was left for a time without a head. 
 Watching his opportunity, at this crisis Prince 
 
30 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Louis went to Paris and addressed a letter to the 
 Executive Council, announcing his return to 
 France, in order to place himself under the flag 
 of the Republic. The reply to this letter was a 
 polite request he would immediately leave the 
 country, as his presence involved danger. He 
 obeyed, and from London wrote again, stating 
 that he had retired for the present, but that his 
 patriotism and his devotion to his country remained 
 unchanged. Meantime the excitement in France 
 increased, and elections were held throughout the 
 country to select a ruler, each contending party 
 striving for mastery. When Prince Louis’ letter 
 was read in the Assembly, in which he demanded 
 that the question of his exile should be put to the 
 public voice of the country, and announced him- 
 self as a candidate for a seat in the Assembly 
 itself, there was a revulsion in his favour, and he 
 was returned for three Departments. On this the 
 Executive Council took alarm, and gave orders to 
 the police to arrest him if he set foot in France. 
 This was about the most unwise step his enemies 
 could have taken, for Prince Louis’ friends, pro- 
 voked at the order, not only determined to give 
 him a welcome in France, but to establish him 
 there as President of the new Republic. 
 
 This time Prince Louis acted with sagacious 
 wisdom. He declined to return to France until 
 his position was secured to him ; but he wrote to 
 the Provisional Committee, again offering his ser- 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon If/.’s Life. 3 1 
 
 vices. Again they were declined abruptly ; but 
 the Assembly was so divided that the order of 
 arrest was withdrawn, and Prince Louis’ name was 
 accepted as a representative of his country in the 
 province of Charente Inferieure. Then followed 
 that terrible week of revolution in Paris, when 
 military men, deputies, and peaceful citizens, with 
 a Christian prelate, were murdered in its streets. 
 In the midst of this carnage Prince Louis left 
 London for Paris, and there publicly announced 
 himself as a candidate for the Presidentship of the 
 new Republic. He was returned by an overwhelm- 
 ing majority of 200,000 votes, and the triumph of 
 himself and his party was complete. Thus, in his 
 fortieth year, after a succession of disappointments 
 and difficulties which would have daunted a man 
 of less firm resolve than himself, the first great 
 step of Prince Louis Napoleon’s self-believed 
 destiny was accomplished, and the prisoner of 
 Ham was President of the French Republic. It 
 was no easy height he had climbed, nor was there 
 rest on its summit. The affairs of France were in 
 almost hopeless disorder, and every eye was turned 
 on their new President as their one hope of safety. 
 
 Prince Louis Napoleon Buonaparte held the 
 position of President of the French Republic from 
 October, 1848, until December, 1851. During 
 this time he did his utmost to bring about a solu- 
 tion of the difficulties in which internal factions 
 still kept France enchained. What those dif- 
 
2,2 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Acuities were the history of that period vividly 
 displays. A house divided against itself, and 
 suspicious of its leader, must ever cramp the latter’s 
 hands. A writer of experience thus records the 
 position of France at that date: “ If there could 
 be anything new under the sun, it was the spec- 
 tacle France then offered the world. It was 
 filled with monarchists who could not establish a 
 monarchy, and who groaned under the weight of 
 a republic which had no republicans to defend it.” 
 Such a state of anomalous contradiction, in the 
 nature of things could not continue long. After 
 three years’ vain combat with his colleagues, 
 during which no real advancement was made in 
 the settlement of internal differences, the Presi- 
 dent determined to cut short the contradictory 
 arguments of the Assembly, which only resulted in 
 generating new factions, and to rely on solid force 
 alone as a solution of his difficulties. Henceforth, 
 the rapid succession of events, which prepared the 
 way for the celebrated coup d’ etat of the 2nd of 
 December, namely, the President’s tour in the pro- 
 vinces, undertaken in order to feel the pulse of the 
 people, and strengthen his own influence in the 
 nation ; the ministerial changes he effected on his 
 return ; the dismissal of General Changarnier from 
 the command of the army; the formation of a new 
 Assembly, and its abrogation, &c., &c. These 
 changes found favour with the French, a people 
 whose volatile nature fed on the excitement of 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon I Ills Life. 33 
 
 every successive deposition or nomination, and 
 who lived in the present with little thought for the 
 future. Meantime, step by step, Louis Napoleon 
 paved thereby the way for the adoption of that 
 sole and unlimited power which, in every expression 
 of his political views, and in every stage of his 
 progress, he had ever advocated as the only safe 
 form of rule. Had Prince Louis seen any pro- 
 spect of maintaining the Republic in its integrity, 
 those who knew him best assert that he was pre- 
 pared to have remained contented with his position 
 as its President ; but the greed of power was too 
 strong to ensure any hope that order could be 
 maintained by such a government. The one object 
 of each separate member of the Assembly ap- 
 peared to be self-aggrandizement, regardless in 
 the struggle whether friend or foe was trampled 
 under foot. Neither peace to the country, nor 
 prosperity to the people, could ever issue from 
 such opposing interests, nor did it give fair play 
 to the powers of a ruler who had spent half a life- 
 time in studying the most approved means to re- 
 generate the nation. Day by day things grew 
 worse, until the dread of another, and a more 
 bloody revolution than had yet broken out, hung 
 like a dark cloud over the fortunes of France. 
 The sagacious spirit of its President at last 
 changed at this crisis the nature of the storm. 
 As a skilful pilot seizes the happy moment to ride 
 the wave which threatens to engulf him until it 
 
 D 
 
34 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 lands him safely on the shore, so Louis Napoleon, 
 by one masterly stroke, overrode the troubled 
 waters of strife, and thereby alike satisfied his own 
 ambition and preserved the equilibrium of France. 
 The measures necessary to ensure success had 
 been prepared so quietly, and so few persons were 
 taken into the confidence of the President, that 
 the arrests of all the public authorities who had it 
 in their power to provoke a counterplot, were 
 totally unsuspected. Before Paris had time to 
 awake to a realization of what was being done, 
 the public offices, the railway stations, telegraphs, 
 Hotel de Ville, Bourse, had all changed heads, 
 and were in the hands of Napoleon’s abettors. 
 Paris was placarded by a proclamation from its 
 President to the citizens and soldiers, calling on 
 them in forcible language, “ to join him in the 
 establishment of order.” The rapid and decisive 
 triumph which followed is well known. The tide 
 of public opinion at once set in in favour of the 
 man who had had boldness and energy enough to 
 concert and carry out such a stroke, and Prince 
 Louis’ violation of his pledge to his colleagues 
 was condoned on faith of the prospects for the 
 future his policy warranted. 
 
 By the outside world the Prince’s conduct has 
 been censured, as ungrateful to those who had 
 helped to raise him to power. It is difficult to pass 
 judgment on him, and his excuse may be found in 
 the following extract from M. Guizot’s works in refe- 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon II/.'s Life. 35 
 
 rence to a similar procedure in America : “There are 
 days when power loses its right to fidelity, when 
 nations acquire the right to protect themselves by 
 force — finding no longer in the established order of 
 things either security or help ; days which no human 
 science can foresee, which no human constitution 
 can govern, but which dawn sometimes with the 
 mark of the Divine Hand upon them.” In the 
 need Prince Louis saw to act as he did, we can 
 but think this state of affairs in France had ar- 
 rived at just such a pitch, and that no other course 
 was open to him. The approval by the country 
 of this coup d'etat was testified in the fact that 
 on its accomplishment “ Orleanists, Legitimists, 
 and the Socialists, parties who had been most 
 bitterly opposed to each other, united in the ac- 
 knowledgment of the wisdom that dictated the 
 act. Doubtless in many cases this after-approval 
 was the result of self-interested hope for future 
 promotion. It was wiser to accept fate, and bow to 
 the rising sun, than to frown on an irresistible power, 
 and thus be banished from the field altogether. 
 
 The issue of the coup d'etat was more suc- 
 cessful than ever its author could have anti- 
 cipated. In the re-establishment of the Second 
 Empire, when the people’s votes were canvassed, 
 Louis Napoleon’s appointment to the head of the 
 state was ratified by 7,439,737 votes. The peril 
 France had stood in was overcome — true, not 
 without bloodshed, almost always an integral part 
 
 D 2 
 
36 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 of revolutionary victory ; but the skirmish was 
 short and decisive, and under a well regulated 
 command order and justice were soon established. 
 Thus was the great aim of Prince Louis’ life 
 accomplished ; his star had faithfully led him on 
 to victory, and in 1852 he exchanged the Pre- 
 sident’s chair for an Imperial crown. 
 
 In gratitude to those who had assisted his 
 efforts, and shown their confidence in his policy, 
 the Emperor addressed to his adherents the follow- 
 ing words : “ If I congratulate myself on this 
 measure, it is not from pride, but because it gives 
 me power to speak and act as becomes the head 
 of a great nation.” And then he adds : “ I assume 
 from to-day, with the crown, the name of Napo- 
 leon III., because the logic of the people in their 
 acclamations has given it to me ; because the 
 Senate has legally proposed it ; because the entire 
 nation has ratified it.” 
 
 The rejoicings which celebrated Louis Napo- 
 leon Buonaparte’s accession to the throne were as 
 brilliant as could be inaugurated, and in the 
 amusement they afforded calmed much of the 
 previous agitation which had existed in Paris. The 
 Emperor took advantage of the calm that followed 
 to reiterate the policy of rule it was his determina- 
 tion to pursue, recalling to the nation that it was 
 the same as that of his uncle, the First Napoleon, 
 the text of which that great man had left as a 
 legacy to his successors, viz. : — 
 
Sketch of Emperor Napoleon I II Is Life. 37 
 
 “ Concentrate upon solid foundations the prin- 
 cipal results of my exertions ; reunite the divided 
 people of France; repulse feudal Europe leagued 
 against her ; heal my wounds ; enlighten the 
 nations ; extend in breadth what I have gained in 
 depth ; be for Europe that which I have been for 
 France ; and, even if you water with your blood the 
 tree of civilization, though you see your prospects 
 misrepresented, and your family wandering about 
 the world without a native land to own them, never 
 abandon the sacred cause of the French people, but 
 lead it to triumph by all the means which genius 
 calls into being, and which humanity approves.” 
 
 The Emperor likewise at once turned his at- 
 tention to pacific improvements, and set on foot 
 in Paris many long-needed philanthropic institu- 
 tions. His income was fixed at the munificent 
 sum of one million sterling, and from it he dis- 
 pensed with no niggardly hand large grants to 
 many struggling charities. He likewise accorded 
 a free pardon to all soldiers and sailors under 
 punishment, of whom no less than 2000 were 
 released. By these and other gracious acts he 
 inaugurated his triumph, in order thus to im- 
 press on the people the blessings of peace. He 
 also set on foot public works of various kinds in 
 order to find employment for the unemployed ; and 
 Paris at this day remains a standing monument of 
 what a ruler’s enterprise can effect in making a 
 capital the admiration of the world. 
 
38 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MARRIAGE OF EMPEROR NAPOLEON III. 
 
 Long may our dear country rest in peace ! 
 
 Enough of sorrow hath our royal house 
 Known in the field of battles. Yet we reap’d 
 The harvest of renown. 
 
 Southey. 
 
 Napoleon III. having reached the summit of 
 his ambition, did not wait long before he announced 
 to the nation that he had selected a partner to 
 share his throne, and, if Providence so willed it, a 
 mother to the heir of his name and empire. It 
 can well be believed that on this subject rumour 
 had already had much to say ; and many were 
 the fair princesses and ladies of rank whose 
 names were coupled with the Emperor’s as 
 eligible or desirable parties. If report, however, 
 speaks true, a previous and ardent attachment, 
 contracted during his chequered fortunes to the 
 lady of his after-choice, had settled, without any 
 hesitation, the important question. The Emperor 
 only waited, in fact, for an interval of rest after the 
 excitement which landed him on the throne to 
 
Marriage of Emperor Napoleon III. 39 
 
 satisfy the domestic happiness which his unsettled 
 position had hitherto denied to him. The following 
 is the notification addressed by the Emperor, on 
 the subject of his marriage, to the House of 
 Assembly : — 
 
 “ Gentlemen, — I accede to the wish so often 
 manifested by the nation in announcing my mar- 
 riage to you. The union which I am about to 
 contract is not in harmony with old political tra- 
 ditions, and in this lies the advantage of it. 
 France, by her successive revolutions, has been 
 widely sundered from the rest of Europe. A wise 
 government should so rule as to bring her back 
 within the circle of ancient monarchies ; but this 
 result is more readily attained by a frank and 
 straightforward policy, and by loyal intercourse, 
 than by royal marriages, which often create a 
 false security, and substitute family for national 
 interests. Moreover, past examples have left a 
 superstitious fear in the popular mind. The nation 
 has not forgotten that for years foreign princesses 
 have but ascended the steps of the throne to see 
 their race scattered and proscribed by war or 
 revolution. One woman alone brought good for- 
 tune, and has lived in the memory of the people 
 of France. This woman, the good and homely 
 wife of General Buonaparte, was not of royal 
 blood. We admit also that the marriage of 
 Napoleon I., in 1810, with Marie Louise was a 
 satisfactory event, and welcome to the nation, 
 
40 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 since it was the illustrious house of Austria which 
 courted that alliance. When, however, in the 
 face of ancient Europe one is carried by the force 
 of a new principle to the level of an old dynasty, 
 it is not by affecting an ancient descent, and en- 
 deavouring at any cost to be allied with royalty, 
 that recognition is compelled ; it is rather by 
 remembering one’s origin, and by preserving one’s 
 own individuality ; by, in fact, assuming frankly 
 towards Europe the position of a parvenu — a glo- 
 rious title when one rises by the suffrage of a free 
 people — that such recognition is enforced. Thus 
 compelled, as I have felt, to depart from previous 
 precedents, my marriage is one of private choice. 
 She who has become the object of that choice is 
 of lofty birth, French in heart, by education, by 
 the memory of the blood shed by her father in the 
 cause of France. She has, as a Spaniard, the 
 advantage of not having a family in France, whom 
 it might be necessary to load with honours and 
 dignities. Gifted with qualities of heart, she will 
 be the ornament of the throne, as in the hour of 
 danger she will be one of its most courageous 
 defenders. A pious Catholic, her prayers will be 
 united with mine for the happiness of France; 
 kindly and good, she will imitate the virtues of the 
 Empress Josephine. I come to-day, gentlemen, 
 to say to France I have preferred a woman whom 
 I love and respect, to a stranger whose alliance 
 might have brought to France a mixture of advan- 
 
Marriage of Emperor Napoleon III. 41 
 
 tages and sacrifices. Without showing disdain to 
 any one person, I yield to my own heart’s desire. 
 In fine, in placing the qualities of the heart, and 
 domestic happiness, before dreams of ambition, 
 I shall not be less strong because I am freer. 
 Soon I hope to present the Empress to the nation, 
 and the confidence they repose in me will secure 
 their sympathy for her.” 
 
 The Emperor’s announcement was received in 
 France, and in Europe generally, with satisfac- 
 tion ; whilst the birth, parentage, and character of 
 the future Empress became at once the leading 
 conversation of the day. Mdlle. Eugenie de 
 Montijo, Comtesse de Theba, the lady in question, 
 was descended from one of the most illustrious 
 families in Spain, inheriting three of its noblest 
 names, viz. Theba, Mora, and Baros. Besides 
 these, she claimed among her ancestry the houses 
 of Guzman, Fernandez, Cordera, Jeira, and Lacona. 
 She was likewise allied to royalty, being a grand- 
 niece of Alphonso X., a descendant of a Queen 
 of Portugal, a King of Asturias, and a Doge of 
 Venice. 
 
 The father of the future Empress had been one 
 of Napoleon I.’s most distinguished generals, and 
 in 1814 the Emperor Napoleon confided to him 
 the maintenance of the fortifications of Paris. 
 Later, Ferdinand VII. of Spain imprisoned the 
 Comte de Montijo for taking part in the wars of 
 Napoleon I. ; but when Spain became a free 
 
42 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 country he was liberated, and called to take his 
 seat in the Senate. In politics he was a decided 
 liberal. His wife, Madame de Montijo, was of 
 Scotch extraction, being descended from the 
 Kirkpatrick who was a comrade in arms of 
 Bruce’s. This lady was a most cultivated, highly 
 educated woman, enthusiastic and impulsive, but 
 with attractive manners, and her salons in Spain 
 were thronged by the most intellectual men of the 
 day. As a girl Mdlle. Eugenie de Montijo was 
 sent to Paris, to be educated at the convent of the 
 Sacre Coeur. After spending some years there 
 she came to England, and acquired a perfect 
 knowledge of the English language. On her 
 return to Spain her father, the Comte de Montijo, 
 died, and after a period of mourning his widow 
 with her two daughters, the eldest of whom later 
 married the Due d’Alba, visited all the principal 
 capitals of Europe, where Mdlle. Eugenie de 
 Montijo’s beauty and grace made her universally 
 acknowledged as one of the queens of society. 
 
 The Comte de Montijo had from infancy im- 
 pressed upon his children’s minds an intense 
 admiration for Napoleon I., his old leader in arms ; 
 and the enthusiastic nature of his youngest 
 daughter transferred this admiration and loyalty 
 to Prince Louis Napoleon, whom, at the time of 
 her entrance into society, she met in England and 
 elsewhere, and in whose well-known name and 
 chequered fortunes she at once took a romantic 
 
Marriage of Emperor Napoleon III. 43 
 
 interest. It is asserted that some time previous 
 to the revolution which broke out in France in 1848, 
 Prince Louis’ admiration for Mdlle. de Montijo had 
 declared itself in an offer of his hand ; but, although 
 she reciprocated his feelings, this lady, more fore- 
 sighted than himself, declined the honour in the 
 following high-minded and disinterested words : 
 
 “ You will go to Paris and strive there to 
 acquire power — become Consul, President, or 
 Dictator. Supposing you attain your first object, 
 will you remain stationary ? Will you not rather 
 soar higher? You will; but in that case what 
 a burthen a wife would be to you ! If a man 
 wishes to become Emperor he must leave the 
 choice of an Empress open. But if you were to 
 be unsuccessful in your efforts, if things did not 
 go on as you wished, if France did not offer you 
 what you expect from her — then, but only then, 
 return ; then I will give you an answer ; then 
 remember that a heart beats in my bosom which 
 feels it has the strength to requite you for all your 
 grief and all your foiled expectations.” 
 
 If this story be true, was it to be wondered at that 
 when the Emperor attained that pinnacle of power, 
 instead of turning his eyes to distant countries to 
 seek some royal alliance, he remembered the 
 devotion which had bidden him go forward 
 unshackled, and hastened to ask Mdlle. de 
 Montijo to share his throne ? After this refusal 
 the lovers met again in Paris. Here Mdlle. de 
 
44 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Montijo gave another proof that her interest in 
 Prince Louis Napoleon was not abated. She 
 possessed in her own right a large fortune, which 
 at one period, during the troubles of Spain, had 
 been confiscated, but had just been restored to 
 her. On the eve of the coup d'etat , Mdlle. de 
 Montijo, who must in some way or other have 
 become a party to what was about to happen, sent 
 a private note to Count Bacchiocchio, placing her 
 whole fortune, in case of a failure, at the Emperor’s 
 disposal, begging the Count, however, to keep her 
 secret. The latter fulfilled her wish until the 
 bold enterprise had resulted in success, and then 
 he showed the Emperor the lady’s letter. We 
 need not doubt that the proof of such generosity 
 of heart proved another strong link in the chain 
 which rivetted the Emperor’s affections. When 
 the second Empire was fully established the 
 Comtesse de Theba and her two daughters were 
 constant visitors at the Tuilleries, and the renewed 
 intimacy culminated in the betrothal of the 
 Emperor with Mdlle. Eugenie. Within a month 
 of the Emperor’s announcement of his intended 
 marriage to the nation, the ceremony took place. 
 The royal wedding was celebrated on the 29th of 
 January, 1853, and was conducted on the grandest 
 scale imaginable. If anything had been wanting 
 to add to the Emperor’s happiness, it was secured 
 in the favourable impression his bride made on 
 the nation, and the modest, yet dignified way, with 
 
Marriage of Emperor Napoleon III. 45 
 
 which she met the change in her fortunes and 
 accepted imperial homage. One of the first acts 
 of the Empress after her marriage made known 
 the natural benevolence of her character. The 
 Municipal Council of the Seine had voted 600,000 
 francs to purchase a diamond necklace worthy of 
 their Emperor’s bride. This ornament the Em- 
 press declined, but she accepted the money, 
 which she at once devoted to the foundation of an 
 Orphan Asylum for Girls in Paris. In her letter 
 notifying this desire, she stated that her only 
 ambition was to share with the Emperor the love 
 and esteem of the French nation. On a similar 
 occasion she exhibited the same generous spirit : 
 the Emperor had caused to be placed in 
 her corbeille de mariage a purse containing 
 250,000 francs ; on opening it, she at once dis- 
 tributed 100,000 francs among the maternal 
 charities of Paris. By these and many other 
 such acts of charity the Empress Eugenie soon 
 won a place in the hearts of the French people, 
 and it may truly be said that throughout her reign 
 she ever testified the same kindly and philanthro- 
 pic spirit. Nor did the Empress in her own 
 happiness forget the unfortunate. The first 
 favour which, as a bride, she begged from the 
 Emperor, was the release of those persons who 
 for political offences in 1851 were languishing in 
 exile, and her request being granted, no less than 
 4312 persons were, through her intercession, set 
 
46 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 free. It is an accepted truth that those know us 
 best in whose presence we daily live ; and albeit 
 affection may sometimes be accused of softening 
 down failings and depicting virtues in its strong 
 light, yet those virtues must exist, or the affection 
 they generate would not exist to portray them. 
 Fifteen years after his marriage the Empress’s 
 character is described by her husband in an 
 article in the “ Dix de Decembre 1 — 
 
 “The Countess of Theba has not disappeared 
 under the lustre of the diadem of France. The 
 character of the Empress still remains that of a lady 
 of the simplest and most natural tastes. After 
 her visit to the cholera patients at Amiens, nothing 
 seemed to surprise her more than the murmur of 
 applause which everywhere celebrated her cou- 
 rageous initiative ; she was indeed distressed by its 
 excess. The lot of all classes of the unfortunate 
 constantly awakens her especial solicitude. It is 
 known with what efficacious activity she has 
 intervened in the reorganization of the prisons for 
 youthful offenders, in reformation labour, in the 
 administration of charitable societies. She founded 
 the ‘ Societe des Prets de l’Enfance au Travail.’ 
 How many generous reforms she still pursues 
 with a marvellous perseverance ! A little of the 
 young Phalansterienne is still to be found in her. 
 
 1 The original MS. of the following article was found in 
 the Tuilleries among the Emperor’s papers after his fall. — 
 “ Life of Napoleon ///.,” by Blanchard Jerrold. 
 
Alarriage of Emperor Napoleon III. 47 
 
 The condition of women singularly preoccupies 
 her. Her efforts are given to the elevation of her 
 sex. It was she who, on a fitting occasion, 
 decorated Rosa Bonheur. In two instances — 
 during the war of Italy, and during the voyage of 
 the Emperor to Algeria — she has exercised the 
 Regency ; we know with what moderation, what 
 political tact and sentiment of justice. Relieved 
 of the occupations of state, the Empress devotes 
 herself to serious studies. We may say that there 
 is no economical or financial question of which she 
 is ignorant. It is charming to hear her discuss 
 these difficult problems with men of authority. 
 Literature, history, and art, are also frequently the 
 subjects of her education. At Compiegne no- 
 thing is more attractive than a tea-party of the 
 Empress’s. Surrounded by a select circle, she 
 engages with equal facility in the most elevated 
 questions, or the most familiar topics of the day. 
 The freshness of her powers of perception, the 
 strength — the boldness even — of her opinions, at 
 once impress and captivate. Her mode of ex- 
 pressing herself, occasionally incorrect, is full of 
 picturesqueness and life. With astonishing powers 
 of conversation on common affairs, she rises, in 
 remarks on matters of state or morality, to a 
 pitch of real eloquence. Pious without being 
 bigoted, well informed without being pedantic, 
 she talks on all subjects with great uncon- 
 straint. She perhaps is too fond of discus- 
 
48 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 sion. Very sprightly in her nature, she often 
 lets herself be carried away by her feelings, which 
 have more than once excited enmities ; but her 
 exaggerations have always for their foundation 
 the love of good. In addition to the intelligent 
 Woman, and the prudent and courageous Sovereign, 
 it remains for us to show the Mother, full of solici- 
 tude and tenderness for her son.” It has been 
 her wish that the Prince should receive “ a manly 
 education. She causes statements of his occupa- 
 tions to be rendered to her ; she, so to say, assists 
 day by day in the development of that young in- 
 telligence, in the growth of that mental power 
 which, in the inheritor of so high a fortune, is a pledge 
 of the most brilliant future career.” 
 
 Much of this encomium England seals as just and 
 true. It is now many years since the Empress of 
 the French made England her home, during which 
 God has seen fit to visit her with the severest 
 trials which humanity is called upon to endure. 
 Her Majesty has met those reverses with a lofty 
 courage, and resigned acceptance of God’s will, 
 which has won her the sympathy and respect of 
 the nation. Nor during her long residence among 
 us has the shadow of rumour, so ready ever to 
 whisper malice in the ear, especially with reference 
 to those of high degree, ever attached aught but 
 honour to her name. 
 
 As soon as calm had settled down in Paris after 
 the exciting festivities which heralded the imperial 
 
Marriage of Emperor Napoleon III. 49 
 
 marriage, the new Emperor at once turned his 
 attention to the labours of government, and became 
 recognized throughout the Empire as the pro- 
 moter of works of enterprise of every descrip- 
 tion. Industry, science, education, philanthropy, 
 one and all, claimed his time and attention. He 
 never seemed weary of work, and met the difficul- 
 ties which beset him with a sagacious rule that 
 won him respect and obedience. 
 
 During the first three years of the new Empire 
 a fresh vigour seemed to be breathed into the social 
 atmosphere of France, and prosperity and good 
 will flourished throughout the land. 
 
 With England the Emperor maintained the most 
 friendly relations. In his exile it had been his 
 home, and he never forgot the kindly reception 
 its people had given him, but cordially tendered 
 them the right hand of fellowship. 
 
 E 
 
50 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BIRTH OF THE PRINCE IMPERIAL. 
 
 “ Entendez-vous. L’air tremble et la terre. 
 
 Est-ce le Te Deum d’une grande bataille ? 
 
 Que nous annoncera-t-il, ce canon triomphant ? 
 
 Quel favour du sort nous visite ? Un enfant ! 
 
 Un enfant ! Ecoutons ! La salve continue ! 
 
 Les coups preceptes jaillisso.it dans la rue. 
 
 Ah ! nos voeux ne sont pas exauces a demi, 
 
 Dans son presentement le peuple etait prophete, 
 
 C’est celui que la France appelait h genoux. 
 
 Un fils pour l’Empereur, un Empereur pour nous.” 
 
 Three years having elapsed after the marriage of 
 Napoleon III. without any hope of offspring, when 
 it became known that the Empress was enceinte 
 universal joy was manifested throughout France. 
 Hope, too, was widely expressed, that the child the 
 Empress was likely to give birth to would prove a 
 son, an heir to the Empire. The preparations that 
 were set on foot to welcome the expected babe 
 were of the most extensive and splendid descrip- 
 tion. For weeks before the event, the Imperial 
 layette was exhibited at the Tuilleries ; and so 
 
Birth of the Prince Imperial. 5 r 
 
 extensive was it that it filled three rooms ; and 
 any and everything that an infant could require 
 under any possible circumstances was to be found 
 in it. There were twelve dozen robes, with under 
 linen in proportion, upon which, for months pre- 
 viously, the most famous embroideresses, designers, 
 lace-makers and fine seam workers had be6n 
 employed, and the display formed a complete 
 competitive art needlework exhibition. The cradle 
 was presented to the Empress by the city of Paris. 
 It was in the form of a ship, which device is to 
 be found in the arms of France, and was made 
 of rosewood, elaborately decorated in enamel and 
 oxidized silver. At the prow was an eagle with 
 outstretched wings, which glittered with precious 
 stones ; at the poop, a figure representing the city 
 of Paris, clothed in gold, its raised arms holding a 
 golden crown. At the foot of this figure two sea 
 deities were placed, and at each corner of the 
 cradle were winged syrens in silver, whose spiral 
 tails were scaled, and shone with brilliant colours. 
 On the sides were blue medallions, representing 
 the cardinal virtues, Peace, Force, Vigilance, Pru- 
 dence, and Justice. Between each medallion was 
 the letter N. The coral provided in this layette 
 cost 600 francs (24/.). The basinette was of white 
 satin, its curtains being of Mechlin lace, lined with 
 blue satin, and looped up with cords of gold. 
 Early in the morning of March 15th, 1856, the 
 inhabitants of Paris, who had been all-expectant, 
 
 E 2 
 
52 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 were awakened by salvos of artillery; and the ioi 
 guns whose sound rent the air, proclaimed that 
 the fondest hope of the nation had been realized, 
 whilst the news rapidly spread from mouth to 
 mouth that the Empress had been safely delivered 
 of a son at three a.m. on that morning. Little else 
 was talked of through the day, and the telegraph 
 wires conveyed the news throughout Europe. 
 The newspapers described the child as a fine, 
 robust babe. There were a few grey-haired 
 croakers, who shook their heads, and reminded the 
 people that no Child of France, born to the throne, 
 had ever ascended it since the time of Louis XIV. 
 The Parisians, however, frowned down such ill- 
 timed prognostications, and gave themselves up to 
 extravagant joy. All France made holiday to cele- 
 brate the advent of its heir, and every street was 
 soon gay with bunting, the flags of Turkey, England, 
 Sardinia, and other countries mingling their colours 
 with those of France. Within a few hours of his 
 birth, the imperial child who was the unconscious 
 cause of all this gladness was borne in the arms of 
 Madame de Bruat, the official Gowvernante of the 
 Children of France, and presented to the Ministers 
 of State and other city functionaries, who, at the 
 first intimation of the Empress’s accouchement, 
 had been assembled at the Tuilleries to await the 
 event. The proces verbal of his birth was then 
 entered on the Register of the Civil State by the 
 First Minister of State, and duly attested. Tele- 
 
Birth of the Prince Imperial. 53 
 
 grams were sent to all the Crowned Heads of 
 Europe, who immediately returned congratulatory 
 messages ; the Pope using the telegraph wires to 
 convey his blessing to the infant. When the 
 Municipal Commission of Paris were called toge- 
 ther to receive the announcement of the child’s 
 birth, the Prefect announced that in honour of the 
 event the city of Paris had voted 100,000 francs 
 for the poor. This sum, by the Empress’s wish, 
 was devoted to the payment of infants of very 
 poor parents put out to be nursed. The child’s 
 ondoiement , or private baptism, took place on the 
 Sunday following his birth, in the chapel of the 
 Tuilleries, after morning service, and in the presence 
 of the Emperor and the chief dignitaries, civil as well 
 as ecclesiastical, of Paris. The font was of silver 
 gilt, and was placed in the middle of the chapel. 
 
 The Bishop of Arras performed the ceremony, 
 and preached a special sermon on the event. The 
 names bestowed upon the young Prince were : 
 Napoleon Louis Eugene Jean Joseph — the two 
 former after his father; Eugene after his mother; 
 Jean from the Pope, who was his godfather; 
 and Joseph in compliment to his godmother 
 the Queen of Sweden. Meantime congratula- 
 tions poured into the Tuilleries from every quarter 
 of France. The market-women of Paris sent 
 a deputation to represent their order, carrying 
 enormous bouquets. The Emperor, who was 
 always the friend of the working-classes, received 
 
54 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 these women himself, and delighted them by 
 exhibiting to them the new-born child. When 
 only a few days old, he was also formally presented 
 by the Emperor to the various members of the 
 Corps Legislatif, the Council d’Etat, and the 
 Garde Nationale, who all interviewed the babe, 
 and doubtless pronounced the usual eulogiums 
 such occasions call forth. To inaugurate the 
 event, the Emperor conferred the Legion of 
 Honour on many individuals for distinguished 
 services, and likewise granted reprieves to others 
 under sentence of political condemnation. For 
 the next few weeks the imperial child became the 
 centre of interest in France, receiving every pos- 
 sible welcome that a rejoicing nation could devise. 
 One of the most interesting of these was the sub- 
 scription started among the peasantry to present 
 the Empress with a token of gratitude. In order 
 that the poorest might join, the sum subscribed 
 was not allowed to exceed 25 centimes (2 \dl) 
 There were 600,000 subscribers, whose gifts 
 realized 780,000 francs. On receiving notice of 
 this generous act, the Empress was much affected. 
 The names of all the donors had been entered in a 
 book, which was presented with the money. She 
 sent word that she should ever retain the book as 
 a sweet remembrance of the devotion of France, 
 but that she should wish the money given to the 
 support of the maternal charities of Paris, which 
 was done. The Emperor, on his side, founded a 
 
Birth of the Prince Imperial. 55 
 
 new charity in Paris in memory of the event of his 
 son’s birth, which was called “ La Societe de 
 Bienfaisance du Prince Imperial,” its object being 
 small loans of money to the respectable poor. In 
 the five years following its establishment, this 
 charity lent to deserving cases no less than 
 4,291,245 francs, and the good done through its 
 means was inestimable. The Societe de Bien- 
 faisance remains in force to this day. An Act 
 was passed at the Assembly after the Prince’s 
 birth, viz., that he should be considered officially 
 of age at eighteen, when, should he have survived 
 his father, he should be invested with full powers 
 of sovereignty. Until that age, if the Emperor 
 had died previously, the Empress, provided she 
 had not married again, was to be appointed 
 regent. In case of her re-marriage, she was not 
 to be allowed any rights over her son while a 
 junior. The next French prince in succession 
 would then fill the regency ; and failing there being 
 one, the office of regent would devolve on the 
 Senate. In either of these cases, whoever held 
 the position was bound to take the following oath 
 of fidelity to the young Emperor : “ I swear fidelity 
 to the Emperor. I swear to rule according to the 
 Constitution, and the Assembly, and the law of the 
 Empire. I swear to maintain in integrity the rights 
 of the nation and those of the imperial dignity ; to 
 consult only and entirely my devotion to the 
 Empire, to the Emperor, and to France, and to 
 
56 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 remain faithful to the Emperor until his coming of 
 age, the power which I hold for him being on 
 trust.” Meantime congratulations began to pour 
 in from every town and province, and to attempt 
 to enumerate these would be futile. I give one 
 or two as a sample : these prove that in that 
 hour France acknowledged what she owed to the 
 Emperor, in the reforms he had made in France, 
 and the works he had inaugurated during those 
 first three years of his reign. 
 
 Address from the Court of Cassation. 
 
 “ France,” said the President, “ owes to your 
 Majesty’s internal order the development of all 
 the national resources, the rank which she has 
 resumed in the world, the success of a just and 
 necessary war, and the hope of a durable and 
 fruitful peace. Providence, which does nothing 
 in an incomplete manner, has willed that a son, 
 brought up under your direction, instructed by 
 your example, and trained by his august mother 
 to all the delights of charity, shall one day con- 
 tinue the work of government and of civilization 
 which you pursue, in the midst of the most evident 
 marks of Divine protection and of the gratitude 
 of the people.” 
 
 From Avignon the Civil Tribunal wrote their 
 congratulations : “ Sire, — France, scarcely re- 
 
Birth of the Prince Imperial. 5 7 
 
 covered from so many storms, and involuntarily 
 disturbed by the remembrances of the past, has 
 but enjoyed with a sense of uneasiness the 
 previous benefits of your reign. She dared not 
 inquire into the future. You yourself, sire, after 
 having again strengthened the principles of autho- 
 rity, of morality, of religion, which alone can secure 
 the duration of empires — after having brought 
 back victory to our standard, re-achieved the 
 high influence which belongs to us in the counsels 
 of Europe, and rendered possible by good faith 
 and energy an unhoped for peace — you, sire, felt 
 the want of a direct heir to your glorious name, 
 to continue your wise and courageous traditions, 
 and perpetuate the providential work in which you 
 are engaged. 
 
 “ Your wishes and ours have just been granted, 
 and henceforth we shall only have to invite the 
 blessings of heaven on your Majesty, on the 
 Empress, and on the cradle of the child on whom 
 the destinies of a great people now rest.” 
 
 Further addresses followed from the Plenipo- 
 tentiaries of the Congress and from the Legislative 
 bodies, &c. In his replies to these, the Emperor 
 adverted as well to the general circumstances of 
 Europe, as to the principle which had raised him- 
 self to the Imperial dignity. 
 
 To the Plenipotentiaries he said, “ I thank the 
 Congress for the wishes and congratulations which 
 it addresses to me through you. 
 
58 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ I am happy that Providence has sent me a 
 son at the moment when the era of general re- 
 conciliation is announcing itself to Europe. I 
 shall bring him up with the feeling that nations 
 must not be egotistical, and that the repose of 
 Europe depends on the prosperity of each 
 nation.” 
 
 In reply to the address of the Senate, Napoleon 
 said : “ The Senate has participated in my joy on 
 hearing that Heaven has given me a son, and you 
 have hailed as a happy event the birth of a ‘ Child 
 of France.’ I intentionally make use of this ex- 
 pression. In fact, the Emperor, my uncle, who 
 had applied to the new system created by the 
 revolution all that was great and elevated in the 
 old regime , had resumed that ancient denomi- 
 nation of the ‘ Children of France.’ The reason 
 is, gentlemen, that when an heir is born who is 
 destined to perpetuate a national system, that 
 child is not only the scion of a family, but also in 
 truth the son of the whole country, and that appel- 
 lation points out to him his duties. If this were 
 true under the old monarchy, which represented 
 exclusively the privileged classes, how much more 
 so is it now, when the sovereign is the elect of the 
 nation, the first citizen of the country, and the 
 representative of the interests of all. Thank you 
 for the kind wishes you have expressed for the 
 ‘ Child of France,’ and for the Empress.” 
 
 To the Corps Legislatif the Emperor wrote : 
 
Birth of the Pri?ice Imperial. 59 
 
 “ I have been much affected at the manifestation 
 of your feeling at the birth of a son whom Provi- 
 dence has given me. You have hailed in him the 
 hope, so eagerly entertained by the nation, of the 
 perpetuity of a system which is regarded as the 
 surest guardian of the general interests of the 
 country ; but the unanimous acclamations which 
 surround his cradle do not prevent me from re- 
 flecting on the destiny of those who have been 
 born in the same place and under similar circum- 
 stances. If I feel hopes that his fate may be 
 more fortunate, it is, in the first place, because I 
 confide in Providence — because I cannot doubt 
 its protection, when seeing it raise up by a con- 
 currence of extraordinary circumstances all that 
 it was pleased to level forty years ago, as 
 though it wished to give strength by martyrdom 
 and misfortune, to a new dynasty springing from 
 the ranks of the people. History, besides, con- 
 tains instructions which I shall not forget. It 
 tells me, on the one hand, that the favours of 
 fortune should never be abused ; and on the other, 
 that a dynasty has no chance of stability unless 
 it remains faithful to its origin, and occupies itself 
 solely with the popular interests for which it was 
 created. This child — who is consecrated in his 
 cradle by the peace which is being prepared, by 
 the benediction of the Holy Father brought by 
 the aid of electricity an hour after his birth, and 
 lastly, by the acclamations of the French people — 
 
60 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 this child, I hope, will be worthy of the destinies 
 which await him.” 
 
 After all the above-named festivities which in- 
 augurated the Prince’s birth were concluded, Paris 
 settled down into comparative calm until the 14th 
 of June, 1856, when it was once more plunged 
 into public rejoicings, consequent on the christening 
 of the Prince Imperial, a day never to be forgotten 
 in Paris. This event took place in Notre Dame, 
 and was solemnized amid surroundings of pomp 
 and splendour which no child that ever came into 
 the world, it may safely be asserted, was ever the 
 subject of before. The church of Notre Dame 
 was filled to overflowing with the magistrates of 
 the land, its aisles being resplendent with the 
 brilliant colouring of gold, scarlet, and purple, 
 which the mixture of ecclesiastical and military 
 uniforms presented. In the centre of the building 
 an altar had been raised, and facing it the imperial 
 throne ; between the throne and the altar were 
 ranged, according to rank and precedence, the illus- 
 trious company who had come to witness the cere- 
 mony. At the appointed hour the Imperial child, 
 who seems to have behaved in a model manner 
 on this first public occasion, inasmuch as no cries 
 or screams are noted, was brought in the arms of 
 Madame de Brouat, his gouvernante, when the 
 Archbishop of Paris — who, it will be remembered, 
 later suffered a martyr’s death during the Com- 
 munist war — assisted by the Cardinals Legat and 
 
Birth of the Prince Imperial. 6 1 
 
 Latere, performed the christening ceremony. In 
 this service a large number of cardinals and over 
 one hundred bishops took part, who, all clothed in 
 copes and mitres, with outstretched arms followed 
 in chorus the Archbishop, as he first conveyed 
 the Pope’s blessing, then that of the Church, 
 and finally his own benediction, upon the imperial 
 child. The baptismal basin was in brass, in the 
 style of the twelfth century, and tradition asserts 
 St. Louis brought it from the Crusades. The 
 scene which followed this display of pomp sa- 
 voured surely too much of political pride than we 
 Protestants should like to manifest in a church. 
 
 No sooner was the religious ceremony con- 
 cluded than the Gouvernante of France ad- 
 vanced to the imperial throne, and placed the child 
 in his father’s arms. On this the Emperor rose, 
 as did the congregation ; then an aide-de-camp 
 advanced into the centre of the church, and called 
 aloud three times “Vive le Prince Imperial!” 
 whilst the Emperor presented his son to the crowds 
 assembled as “ Le Fils de France.” Instantly 
 there arose a shout that almost shook the roof of 
 the building, which was repeated again and again. 
 After this the unconscious babe was borne in state 
 down the aisle, and was allowed to return to his 
 apartments, being attended by his suite. This 
 cortege occupied three royal carriages, and was 
 preceded by an escort of Guards, and followed 
 by a detachment of Cuirassiers. That evening a 
 
62 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 grand banquet was given at the Hotel de Ville, at 
 which the Emperor and Empress were present, and 
 Paris was again illuminated, if possible more exten- 
 sively than before. Among the public notices of 
 this day was a medal which the Emperor ordered 
 to be struck and distributed among the crowd. On 
 the one side it commemorated the baptismal scene 
 in Notre Dame, when the Emperor with the 
 Empress at his side, presented his child to the 
 assembled multitudes under the name of “ Le Fils 
 de France;” on the counterside was inscribed 
 “ A l’Empereur ” inside a circle, around which were 
 engraved the names of all the towns which had 
 sent representatives to witness the ceremony of the 
 Prince’s baptism. 
 
 Every child in the municipal schools of France, 
 in number 50,000, was presented with a smaller 
 commemorative medal of the Prince. Inasmuch 
 too as bonbons form an integral part of every 
 French greeting, this element was not wanting 
 on the 14th of June, 1856. Three hundred 
 balloons were sent up in the air, which were 
 filled with sweetmeats, and descended among 
 the crowds, who eagerly availed themselves 
 of their contents. The children of the muni- 
 cipal schools were likewise regaled with bon- 
 bons to their hearts’ content. Another curious 
 inauguration of the day was a notification that the 
 Emperor and Empress would stand godfather and 
 godmother to all the children in France who were 
 
Birth of the Prince Imperial. 63 
 
 born the same day as their child, whilst, as they 
 could not attend in person all such christenings, 
 the parents of the children were allowed to name 
 any one they chose to represent them on the occa- 
 sion, and 3000 applications for the honour were 
 made at the Tuilleries. The day’s triumphs were 
 completed by the arrival of an Ambassador from 
 Spain, charged by its Queen to invest the Prince 
 Imperial with the order of “ Le Toison d’Or,” and 
 another from the King of Sweden, with that of 
 “ L’Ordre des Seraphims.” The Prince also from 
 that date had his name, according to a French 
 custom in reference to the Princes of the Blood 
 Royal, inscribed in the regiment of Grenadier 
 Guards — we presume as its youngest officer. 
 Almost as soon as he was short-coated he had 
 a uniform of this corps made for him — an 
 embroidered tunic and trousers, with red epau- 
 lettes, in which he was presented to his brother 
 officers. So fond was the Prince as a little 
 child of wearing this dress, that the Emperor if 
 he had occasion to punish him would pretend to 
 lower him in rank, and deprive him of his epaulettes. 
 The child would cry bitterly at this degradation, 
 and promise to be good if his father would only 
 restore this insignia of rank, and not let his com- 
 rades know what had happened. 
 
 The crowds that flocked into Paris on the 14th 
 of J une were immense ; trains poured in their quota 
 from every province, until dense masses filled the 
 
64 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 streets. All were, however, in good humour, and 
 prepared to commemorate the event as a national 
 holiday, whilst in their enthusiasm they could 
 not then render sufficient homage to the Emperor 
 and his family. 
 
 Oh France, how fickle a character do you bear ! 
 At the hour at which I write, the ruined Tuilleries 
 and other public buildings remain a standing 
 memorial of your suicidal frenzy, attesting the 
 truth of that fickleness ! 
 
 The very name of Napoleon too, which in 1856 
 was your pride and boast, is now either spoken of 
 in hushed voice or branded with opprobrium, and 
 every semblance of its power erased from the 
 monuments of the land ! The Napoleon Museum, 
 formerly at the Louvre, so long a record of national 
 and historic interest, has been scattered ; and all 
 the humbler friends and attendants of the Emperor’s 
 household are dispersed, and at a distance from 
 the capital. 
 
 The name of Napoleon alone lives now in the 
 hearts of those faithful followers of the race who 
 treasure its memory and quietly await the time 
 when they may hope to see it restored to power. 
 Alas, how sadly has that hour been retarded, if not 
 extinguished, by the early death of the subject of 
 this memoir ! 
 
6 5 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHILDHOOD. 
 
 This little son of mine, 
 
 Oh, the sprite ! 
 
 When I tell him this he laughs 
 Quite outright, 
 
 And his twinkling dimples go 
 In and out, in merry show : 
 
 “ I’ll be king some day,” he cried, 
 
 “ You and mother at my side ! ” 
 
 During the first few years of the Prince Imperial’s 
 infancy the new interest his birth had given to the 
 people of Paris was manifested by the crowds who 
 assembled in the vicinity of the Tuilleries to see 
 the heir of the empire start or return on his daily 
 airings in the Bois de Boulogne. This he did in 
 a carriage and four, the servants in the imperial 
 livery, green and gold, with two outriders, and a 
 squadron of Lancers as escort. His nourrice 
 was a Burgundian woman, whilst Madame de 
 Bruat, the gouvemante , was assisted in her 
 nursery duties by two French ladies, both, like her- 
 self, the widows of distinguished officers, and Miss 
 
 F 
 
66 Life of the Prince Imperial of France . 
 
 Shaw, the English nurse, whom the Queen had 
 recommended to the Empress in that capacity. 
 
 When the Emperor returned from his Italian 
 campaign, his little son, attired in his uniform of 
 the Guards, stood with his brother officers to 
 receive him, and, holding a laurel wreath ready to 
 crown him, presented arms as he passed. It was 
 on this occasion, also, that the Prince was first 
 mounted, and rode by the Emperor’s side, on his 
 pony “Bouton d’Or,” when Napoleon III. re- 
 viewed the troops on their return from Italy. The 
 pony was of proportionate size to its rider, and the 
 miniature pair were loudly cheered as they rode 
 down the lines. Innumerable are the anecdotes 
 told of the Prince’s childhood. From these I 
 select a few, which are, methinks, demonstrative of 
 character. 
 
 The Prince, from his earliest years, always ap- 
 preciated the homage he received, and ever 
 claimed the respect due to his position. If, for 
 instance, on passing the Guards, they omitted to 
 present arms, he would directly draw his atten- 
 dants’ notice to their negligence. It was the 
 Emperor’s habit to have his little son with him every 
 morning while he dressed, that being the time he 
 was most free from interruptions. Usually the 
 child knocked at his door, when the Emperor 
 would say, “ Qui est la ? ” “ Louis,” was the 
 
 answer, and then he was admitted. One day, 
 however, the child replied to the inquiry “ Qui est 
 
Childhood. 
 
 67 
 
 la?” “ Le Prince Imperial.” His father took no 
 notice. He knocked again. “ Qui est la ? ” was 
 once more the inquiry. “ Le Prince Imperial.” 
 Still no answer was vouchsafed him. This little 
 by-play continued for some time, until, tired of 
 being kept outside, the boy entered without knock- 
 ing. The Emperor, looking up, remarked, “Ah, 
 c’est toi, Louis ? ” and then asked why he had 
 changed his name. “ I am the Prince Imperial, 
 am I not ?” said the boy proudly. The Emperor 
 then took him on his knee, and explained to him 
 that if he would be a Prince he must be both 
 humble and wise, remarking, “ As yet you have 
 everything to learn, my child.” This tendency to 
 pride his parents did all they could to restrain, 
 never allowing flattery to be poured into his ear. 
 His first playfellows were the little orphans of the 
 Regiment of Guards in which the Prince was so 
 early enrolled, and who are known as “ Les En- 
 fants de la Troupe,” being brought up at the 
 regiment’s expense. These little fellows are 
 dressed in the uniform of the Guards. While 
 playing with the children in the Tuilleries gardens, 
 climbing trees, &c., all difference of rank was 
 ignored, and one or other of his companions might 
 be heard calling out, “ Ou es-tu, Louis ? ” “ Viens 
 ici, Louis,” &c. 
 
 Every year the Empress took her son to Biarritz 
 for sea-bathing. Here many children of the town 
 were allowed to come and play with the Prince. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 It was a curious gathering of little ones of all 
 ranks. The children would form a circle, and play 
 all manner of games, dances, &c., and it was often 
 a scramble as to who should take the hand of the 
 Prince in the dance. He generally, however, made 
 his own choice, without any mauvaise-honte, and 
 that, too, it is said, among the prettiest of the 
 little maidens who surrounded him. 
 
 He showed, at an early age, predilections for 
 certain ladies among the court, and a dislike to 
 others. On one occasion, having been presented 
 with a beautiful box of bonbons, the Empress told 
 him he might carry it round the circle that evening 
 in the salon, and offer her friends some of its con- 
 tents. He did so, but purposely passed one lady, 
 ignoring her presence altogether. On seeing this, 
 his mother made him retrace his steps, apologize, 
 and repair his omission. 
 
 An entertaining story is told of him in respect 
 to the pleasure he took in wearing his little cor- 
 poral’s uniform, and the importance he attached 
 to his connexion with the regiment. 
 
 On one occasion, he had said something dis- 
 respectful to his mother, and as a punishment 
 the Emperor degraded him in rank, and his epau- 
 lettes were laid aside for a time. This was a 
 cause of great distress to him, and his pride was 
 terribly wounded. Somehow or other the story 
 got into the newspapers. That day, while out 
 walking, he happened to meet in the Bois du 
 
Childhood. 
 
 6g 
 
 Boulogne, one of the officers of the regiment. 
 With crimson cheeks and downcast eyes he first 
 passed him, then, suddenly summoning courage, 
 turned and addressed him thus : “ Monsieur, per- 
 haps you have heard what the newspapers say of 
 me, that I have been degraded in the service 
 because I was disrespectful to my mother. How- 
 ever, I assure you it is not true. I love her too 
 much to be disrespectful to her. Please, monsieur, 
 tell my comrades it is false.” And the child 
 burst into sobs, nor could he be comforted, until 
 the officer promised to justify him in face of the 
 regiment. 
 
 Although the Prince was of a singularly gentle, 
 sweet disposition, he possessed great firmness of 
 character, what in a child, possibly, would be 
 termed obstinacy, but that which, rightly directed, 
 forms the basis of greatness. It was doubtless 
 an hereditary gift of his race. This firmness 
 showed itself constantly in the determination not 
 to be beaten in what he undertook. 
 
 Victor Immanuel, the late King of Italy, was 
 very fond of the little Prince, and sent him a pre- 
 sent of a donkey of great beauty, striped like a 
 zebra. This donkey likewise inherited the nature 
 of donkeys in general, and between his master’s 
 will, and his own, there were constant battles. 
 Sometimes the little Prince came off victor, some- 
 times the donkey. One day the Prince took it 
 into his head that he would make his Bucephalus 
 
/O Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 march up the stairs of the Tuilleries into the upper 
 rooms of the palace. The donkey objected ; his 
 master was firm, and a tremendous battle followed, 
 but without the desired result. At last the Prince 
 called his attendants, and bade one place the don- 
 key’s fore feet and one his hind feet on the stairs, 
 and so enforce the upward march. Much amused, 
 the servants, without thwarting him, did as he bade 
 them, and his object was gained. On arriving at 
 the top of the flight the Prince’s further ambition 
 was aroused to make the donkey parade through 
 the salons. This was easier work for the animal, 
 although of course forbidden ground. It is said, 
 however, that the Emperor and Empress, who 
 heard what was going on, were so highly amused 
 that, instead of interfering to prevent the act, they 
 hid behind the curtains, to watch the progress of 
 the scene. 
 
 When only six years old, another amusing story 
 is told of his frankness. The sugar bakers of 
 Paris sent a deputation to the Emperor to request 
 some favour, and carried with them a magnificent 
 corbeille of dried fruits as a present to the Prince 
 Imperial. Their mission was pre-arranged ; hence 
 the Emperor had his child taught a pretty little 
 speech by heart, to say in return for the pre- 
 sent. 
 
 On the arrival of the baker community, mostly 
 bald-headed old men, the Emperor sent for the 
 Prince, who came to the front, made his bow, and 
 
Childhood. 
 
 7 l 
 
 repeated his speech without missing a word, the 
 glittering and enticing corbeille of fruit being all 
 the time within sight. When done, the child, 
 whose diet, it appears, was always carefully super- 
 vised, and who was rarely allowed extra indul- 
 gences, turned to the nearest of the bakers, and 
 said aside, “ Bel et bon ; mais on ne me don- 
 nera pas meme un seul,” and with this supple- 
 mentary epilogue, he shut his eyes, turned his 
 back on the corbeille of fruit, and bounded from 
 the room. 
 
 During the first six or seven years of the 
 Prince’s life, his education, albeit, under the most 
 careful supervision both of his parents and gover- 
 nesses, was much advanced by interesting him in 
 miniature models of many instructive things of 
 the day. The child had naturally a very obser- 
 vant and inquiring mind and consequently it was 
 sufficient to put before him such toys, presents, 
 pictures, &c., as bore on practical utility, and he 
 instantly desired to be made acquainted with their 
 use and meaning. In exemplification of this mode 
 of instruction, the following is a description of one 
 of the Christmas trees at the Tuilleries on the fete 
 de Noel , to which he was allowed to invite his 
 little friends, when, independent of pretty presents 
 for general distribution, the Prince had special 
 gifts apportioned to himself. 
 
 The tree was a cedar, with wide spreading 
 branches, and rose from a prettily decorated table. 
 
72 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 In height it almost reached the ceiling, and was 
 surmounted by an eagle, with outspread wings which 
 glittered with precious stones ; sparkling bees, the 
 insignia of the Empire, studded the branches, from 
 which costly fruits were suspended by chains of gold. 
 Among the Emperor’s gifts to his son was a globe, 
 Atlas supporting the world. Meridians of gold 
 begirt it ; its equator was formed of a hoop of 
 diamonds ; the poles were rubies. France occu- 
 pied the principal space on the eastern side of the 
 globe, and sapphires marked these boundaries, 
 whilst those of Rome and Mexico were defined by 
 sapphires also, but of a lighter hue. England was 
 the size of a nutshell, and the dimensions of 
 Austria were more limited. Poland was edged 
 with black ; Russia and Asia were likewise black. 
 The face of the Atlas who supported this miniature, 
 and in design truly to be called Napoleonic world, 
 was that of Napoleon I. 
 
 The Emperor also gave his son a small arsenal, 
 which could, in reality, hardly be designated as a 
 toy, so exactly was every article it contained 
 apportioned in weight and size to scientific laws. 
 It comprised Armstrong guns in steel, a silver 
 mortar, mountain cannon, muskets, mittrailleuse, 
 howitzers, pistols, balls, shells, &c. Its cost 
 was 10,000 francs (or 40/.). The Empress’s 
 Christmas gift was a representation of Spanish 
 life in several hundred miniature figures, all in 
 various national and pictorial costumes — Moors, 
 
Childhood. 
 
 73 
 
 Basques, priests, peasants, and Spanish children 
 at play. 
 
 The Mexican army sent as their contribution a 
 model of their city in cork, every street, house, 
 race, and tribe, beautifully executed. 
 
 King Victor Immanuel’s gift was a model of 
 the birthplace of the Buonaparte family at Ajaccio, 
 in Corsica, in straw work ; Prince Napoleon’s a 
 barrel-organ, which performed the national hymns 
 of France, Italy, and other countries connected 
 with France ; Princess Mathilde’s an aviary, the 
 plumage of each bird representing the national 
 colours of some separate State. 
 
 Such were some of the presents received at 
 that date, by the Imperial child. 
 
 Apropos of French Christmas trees, the gifts 
 are not always so happily instructive as those of 
 the Prince Imperial. It is recorded, that at a 
 Christmas tree gathering a lady, the Countess of 
 Reuss, received an ebony casket clasped with 
 silver. On unlocking this mysterious gift, a 
 guillotine sprang up, on the principle of a “ Jack 
 in the box;” beneath it lay the extended figure 
 of Prim. A gallows also presented itself, with the 
 facsimile figure of her husband suspended on it. 
 An inscription lay at the bottom of the box : 
 “ One or the other." 
 
 At a military review in 1864, the Empress and 
 her son, who were both mounted, started some- 
 what late to join the Emperor on the hills on 
 
74 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 which he had taken up his position. When within 
 a couple of hundred yards of the spot, the little 
 Prince, who was in his “ corporal of the Guards ” 
 uniform, and mounted on a spirited black pony, 
 saw his father in the distance, and started off 
 alone at full gallop towards him, saluting and 
 taking off his little cocked hat as he approached, 
 in true military style. The Emperor, with his 
 arms crossed, nodded his approval, and his face 
 did not disguise the pleasure he evinced. The 
 child then took up his position on his father’s 
 right, and kept with him all day. The Prince was 
 then but eight years old. 
 
 The talent that most developed itself in the 
 Prince’s earliest years was that of drawing, and 
 he was always amused and happy when provided 
 with paper and pencil. Napoleon III. at first 
 was not anxious to encourage this taste, as he 
 used to say that an Emperor did not need to be 
 an artist, the duties of rule not being compatible 
 with any such absorbing pursuit. The child’s 
 genius in this line could not, however, be sup- 
 pressed, and manifested itself on every possible 
 occasion. Like most children, he disliked the 
 irksome task of sitting still to have his hair 
 dressed ; hence, to keep him quiet, he was often 
 provided with paper and a pencil. 
 
 The hairdresser, who daily attended at the 
 Tuilleries, narrates that the child would chat freely 
 with him, while he performed his task, and ask 
 
Childhood. 
 
 75 
 
 him about his own family, &c. To amuse him the 
 coiffeur used to tell the Prince stories of his own 
 boys, one of whom was a soldier, and one a sailor. 
 When the hairdresser’s task was finished, the 
 Prince would often show him drawings he had made 
 during the operation, referring to their conversa- 
 tion — rough sketches truly, but full of talent. The 
 worthy man showed me these sketches- — one a 
 soldier at arms, another a sailor, a third a ship in 
 full sail. The Prince was only five or six years 
 old when he drew these. This hairdresser and 
 his wife, who are enthusiastic Imperialists, now 
 preserve these sketches as among the greatest 
 treasures they possess. 
 
 The question of hairdressing was one on which 
 the Prince and his mother were often at issue. 
 At that period it became the fashion for boys tc 
 wear the hair parted down the front, and the 
 Empress desired the coiffeur so to dress her child’s 
 hair. The Prince objected strongly, but his 
 mother was firm. Day by day the hairdresser 
 obeyed the injunctions given to him, but no sooner 
 was his task completed than the Prince put his 
 hands through his hair, and ruffled all his handy- 
 work. For five or six days this by-play continued, 
 until at last, being unable herself to secure obe- 
 dience, the Empress took the boy to his father, 
 and begged the latter to punish him. The Em- 
 peror, learning the cause of his son’s rebellion, 
 was very much amused, and asked, “ Why won’t 
 
76 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 you obey your mother, Louis ?” The child burst 
 out crying, and replied between his sobs, “ Be- 
 cause I won’t be made a girl of.’’ The Emperor 
 was, it is said, so pleased with his son’s manliness 
 that he forgave his disobedience, and requested 
 the Empress to yield the point, and allow her son 
 to wear his hair as he liked. 
 
 The Prince also showed a great taste for mo- 
 delling, and at the age of eight produced a spirited 
 model of a boy in the act of drumming. The 
 Empress showed this to a gentleman of her house- 
 hold, who remarked, “ It ought to be preserved, as 
 one day it would be of historic value as the 
 Prince’s first attempt.” “ I confide it to your 
 care, then, General,” was the Empress’s gracious 
 answer. 
 
 This taste for modelling developed rapidly. 
 During the Emperor’s absence in Algiers M. Car- 
 peaux, a French sculptor of note, was sent for, to 
 the palace, to execute a statue of the Prince 
 Imperial, life size, with his hand resting on his 
 father’s favourite dog Hero. M. Carpeaux soon 
 found he had not only a model, but a pupil, to 
 deal with, and during the sittings the Prince 
 modelled a bust of his father, one of his tutor, M. 
 Monnier, and a figure of a lancer on horseback. 
 M. Carpeaux had casts taken of these, which 
 were placed in the Emperor’s study the night be- 
 fore his return home. So struck was M. Carpeaux 
 with the Prince’s talent that he remarked, “ it was 
 
Childhood. 
 
 77 
 
 a thousand pities his pupil had any other vocation 
 than that of a sculptor.” 
 
 Another very successful piece of modelling was 
 executed by the Prince during a serious illness he 
 had when about eleven years old. The child com- 
 plained of severe pain in his hip, and fears were ex- 
 pressed that it was from some deep-seated tumour, 
 from which permanent lameness might ensue. Dr. 
 Nelaton, the first surgeon in Paris, when called in, 
 gave it as his opinion that an abscess had formed 
 in the joint, in which an operation would be ne- 
 cessary, which, however, in a contrary case would 
 prove fatal, as it would increase the inflammation 
 in a vital part. Dr. Nelaton’s opinion was ac- 
 cepted ; the young sufferer was chloroformed, and 
 the operation commenced. Dr. Nelaton, calm 
 and self-possessed, began the first incision. The 
 Emperor, who was present, turned towards the 
 window, his brow knit, and his fingers nervously 
 played on the glass. The lancet had reached the 
 seat of the disorder. “ You see !” exclaimed one 
 of the surgeons in attendance, “ after all there is 
 no abscess.” The Emperor turned suddenly round, 
 and mechanically grasped the arm of the operator 
 as if to stop him. Dr. Nelaton, without losing his 
 presence of mind, moved the Emperor’s hand. 
 “ Pardon me, sire, there is an abscess;” and, 
 plunging the instrument still deeper into the 
 quivering flesh, he inflicted a gaping wound — and 
 the child was saved. 
 
78 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 On this occasion the Empress, who had been 
 nursing the Prince with great devotion, could not 
 bear to be present ; but the brave boy bid her not 
 fear, saying, “ he was not a bit afraid himself,” 
 only remarking characteristically, that “ he trusted, 
 as the wound was behind, no scar would remain, 
 else perhaps some day his enemies might think he 
 had run away from them.” 
 
 The illness which followed was a protracted 
 one, and during the time he was confined to his 
 room he modelled an admirable group of Grenadiers 
 in clay; this he presented to Dr. Nelaton as a 
 token of gratitude for his unwearied care of him. 
 The Emperor also made his son the medium of a 
 gracious act towards the surgeon. In return for the 
 skill Dr. Nelaton had shown during the Prince’s 
 illness, he not only rewarded him by a very 
 handsome fee, but sent him the Legion d' Hon- 
 neur by the Prince, who presented it to him, say- 
 ing, “ Papa says I am to give you this, and thank 
 you very much for having cured me.” So serious 
 was this illness of the Prince, that the ambassadors 
 of England, Austria, and Russia, had orders by 
 their respective sovereigns to forward daily bul- 
 letins of his health. 
 
 The Empress was always anxious to interest 
 her little son in the various philanthropic works in 
 Paris, many of which she had herself either in- 
 augurated or remodelled on an improved footing, 
 and she constantly took him with her when she 
 visited these establishments. 
 
Childhood. 
 
 79 
 
 One day two ladies and a little boy presented 
 themselves at the door of an educational asylum 
 for the poor, and inquired of the concierge if they 
 could go over it. The woman replied she feared 
 not, as it was not a visiting day. The elder lady 
 said she brought an order to see the school, 
 whereupon the party were admitted. In the 
 schoolroom devoted to the youngest and poorest 
 children, a young friar was teaching, and rose and 
 asked the object of their visit. Before the lady 
 could reply, the little boy said in an authoritative 
 voice, “ Je suis le Prince Imperial;” whereon all 
 the children rose, and clapping their hands, 
 cheered lustily. While the Empress was talking 
 to the schoolmaster, the Prince went from desk to 
 desk, asking the children their ages, their names, 
 and if they had good marks. At last, finding one 
 copybook, in which the writing was extra well 
 done, he carried it off to show his mother. “ Quand 
 est-ce que vous ecrirez aussi bien que cela? ” said 
 the Empress as she praised the writing. “ L’ en- 
 fant qui a ecrit cette page a douze ans, et je n’ai 
 que neuf, mais a son age j’ecrirai tout aussi bien,” 
 was the Prince’s sharp reply. 
 
 In July, 1865, the Emperor went to Plombieres 
 for his health. While there he used the auto- 
 graphic telegraph morning and evening, to com- 
 municate with his son, the latter writing his own 
 replies. The child’s affection for his father was 
 intense. After being parted from him for any 
 
So Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 time, it was observed that when he went to meet 
 him he never left go of his hand when in the car- 
 riage, and kept his eyes fixed on the Emperor’s 
 face, regardless of anything around him. The 
 Emperor fully reciprocated this love, and showed 
 the greatest affection for his son. 
 
 Early in September, 1865, the Imperial family 
 went to Biarritz for their usual autumn sea bathing. 
 En route, as the train entered Lamothe station, it 
 was received by a formidable body of warriors, viz., 
 a miniature regiment of little boys, all armed to 
 the teeth ; one being in the uniform of a sapper ; 
 another of a drummer. They were under the 
 command of the Prince Imperial’s intimate friend 
 and playfellow, General Espinasse’s little boy, 
 whose two little sisters were also dressed as 
 vivandieres. As soon as the train stopped the 
 Prince got out, and reviewed his friend’s com- 
 pany in presence of the Emperor, whilst the 
 Empress invited the little cantinieres into her 
 carriage, and regaled them with fruit and flowers. 
 
 On September, 1865, the Prince went out for 
 his first day’s shooting with the Emperor, who 
 superintended his debut. The child shot five 
 rabbits and four pheasants, and was not a little 
 proud of his success. 
 
 The Emperor was anxious to accustom his 
 child to the dignities of his position, and at a 
 very early age, the Prince took part in all the 
 ceremonials and festivities of the Court. At the 
 
Childhood. 
 
 81 
 
 opening of the Chambers of Assembly, in 1864-65, 
 he was to be seen at his father’s side, as also at 
 all public reviews, his usual dress under such cir- 
 cumstances, being that of his corporal of Guards 
 uniform. On these occasions he would acknow- 
 ledge the cheers which invariably greeted his 
 presence with undisguised childish pleasure. At 
 the Court balls he ordinarily went through one 
 dance with some lady of rank apportioned as 
 his partner, then made his bow to his parents’ 
 guests, and retired to bed. 
 
 One loves to picture the Prince Imperial at this 
 early stage of his existence, before the dark 
 shadow of Sedan clouded his horizon, and when 
 fortune lavished her sunniest smiles upon him. 
 Second only in importance in a vast Empire 
 whose millions made him their idol, he seemed at 
 that period to move in an atmosphere of perpetual 
 sunshine. Many and bright are the glimpses we 
 have of him in those days of happy childhood. 
 Sometimes dressed in quaint and ancient costumes, 
 fulfilling a role in Court pageants, where tableaux 
 vivants and pictorial representations were the 
 amusement of the hour. At other times, in 
 Lincoln green, with silver hunting-horn at his 
 side, he might be seen following the hounds at 
 full gallop in the forests of Fontainebleau and 
 Compiegne, ever in at the death, by favour 
 or right the spurs being always accorded him. 
 The Prince would then exultingly hold up the 
 
82 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 prize to his father, and claim his smile of approba- 
 tion for his prowess in the field. In 1865 the 
 Prince and his young companions, the children of 
 Generals Espinasse and Fleury, acted a popular 
 farce at the Tuilleries, called “ La Grammaire,” 
 before a large audience of invited guests. A stage 
 was erected in the Palace, and with all the appoint- 
 ments of a regular theatre. The scenes, however, 
 were painted by the young actors themselves. The 
 comedy was in one act, and the dramatis personce 
 six in number. The Prince played the most 
 important role, namely, that of the “ Ancien 
 Negociant,” and appeared dressed as a gentleman 
 of the olden school, with wig, pig-tail, and long 
 flowered waistcoat, &c. So complete was his 
 disguise, that before his appearance on the stage 
 he ran in and out among his friends, and none of 
 them recognized him. The child performed his 
 part admirably, as did his companions, two of 
 whom were dressed in female attire. The enter- 
 tainment was a great success. Soon after this, 
 his first dramatic debut , the Prince assisted in a 
 tableau at a fancy ball given by the Empress, the 
 splendour of which entertainment it would be 
 impossible to exaggerate. The scene in which 
 the Prince figured was selected from Madame 
 Vigee le Brun’s well-known picture of Marie 
 Antoinette. The Empress Eugenie was seated on 
 a fauteuil near the throne as Marie Antoinette, 
 and in grace and beauty made a good representa- 
 
Childhood. 
 
 3 
 
 tion of that lovely but ill-fated lady. The future 
 Duchess of Angouleme, then a child of ten, stood 
 on her right, while the Dauphin leant over the 
 infant brother’s cradle. The victim of Simons’ 
 barbarity, in all the chubby beauty of infancy, 
 rested against his mother’s knee, who looked 
 proudly down upon him. The Prince Imperial, as 
 the Queen’s page, held her train, and wore a tight 
 hose of white silk, with a velvet cloak thrown over 
 his left shoulder. The Empress’s robe was of 
 crimson velvet edged with sable, with a lace 
 kerchief crossed over her neck and breast. Her 
 hair was raised over a pillow to a great height, 
 and surmounted by a crimson togue, edged also 
 with sable, in which was placed a plume of red 
 ostrich feathers fastened with a white aigrette. 
 This plume marked the Queen as the daughter of 
 her for whose sake the Magyars flashed their 
 curved sabres high, and shouted “ Pro Rege nostro 
 Maria Theresa. 
 
 The tableau was most effective, and called 
 forth the highest encomiums on its pose from 
 the guests who attended the fete. 
 
 One more fete of this year must be chronicled, 
 viz., that given by the Prince in the gardens of the 
 Tuilleries to all the children connected with the 
 beneficent work founded at Paris in his name at 
 his birth, and to which their parents were also 
 invited. It was calculated in all, that 35,000 
 persons assisted at this fete. The Tuilleries 
 
 G 2 
 
S4 Life of tiie Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 gardens presented a most animated appearance. 
 Long rows of tables were set out the length of 
 the terraces near the Seine, filled with cakes, 
 bonbons, and other refreshments for the children, 
 while four theatres, a hippodrome, and various 
 other amusements were provided for their enter- 
 tainment. The Empress and Prince Imperial 
 walked in and out among the guests, the latter 
 doing the honours of the day as host, and 
 making himself very popular. After this fete 
 the Court adjourned to Fontainebleau. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BOYHOOD. 
 
 For young Alphonso was in truth an heir 
 
 Of Nature’s largest patrimony ; rich 
 
 In form and feature, growing strength of limb, 
 
 A gentle heart, a soul affectionate, 
 
 A joyous spirit fill'd with generous thoughts, 
 
 And genius heightening and ennobling all ; 
 
 The blossom of all manly virtues made 
 His boyhood beautiful. 
 
 Southey. 
 
 When the Prince Imperial attained his ninth 
 year he was removed from female tuition and 
 placed under General Frossard, who had the 
 charge of his education, assisted by M. Monnier, 
 and later by M. P'ilon, which latter gentleman 
 followed him to Chislehurst, in 1872. The ap- 
 pointment of General Frossard as the Prince’s 
 governor arose from the following fact. The 
 General, who was the Emperor’s aide-de-camp, 
 was sitting one day in the latter’s study in con- 
 versation with him, when the door was hastily 
 opened, and the Prince ran in to ask some favour 
 
86 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 from his father. The child had, it appeared, been 
 disobedient to his mother on the previous day, 
 and to show his disapproval of his conduct the 
 Emperor refused the boy’s request, and bade him 
 leave the room. The Prince resisted, and the 
 Emperor in vain tried to enforce his command, 
 and finally rose to put him out. The Prince, 
 however, still struggled to remain, and catching 
 hold of the Emperor’s desk, held fast by its legs. 
 The Emperor, much displeased, hardly knew what 
 to do, until General Frossard, who had been a 
 silent spectator of the scene, rose, and bowing to 
 the refractory young Prince, said authoritatively, 
 “ What, monseigneur, his Majesty the Emperor 
 orders you to leave the room, and you refuse ? 
 Prince, I have to request you will obey at once, 
 and retire,” and he opened the door for him to 
 pass out. The child, surprised, looked the General 
 full in the face, and seeing firmness and resolution 
 there, demurred no longer, kissed his father and 
 disappeared. The Emperor was so struck by the 
 General’s quiet, decisive victory, that he at once 
 determined to confide his son’s education to him. 
 It was at one time a question whether the Prince 
 should not join one of the lycees , or public schools 
 of Paris, as the sons of Louis Philippe had done, 
 but this was finally decided against, and he 
 merely followed the same course of study. To 
 give him a companion in his lessons the Emperor 
 desired that young Conneau, the son of the 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 §7 
 
 physician who aided his escape from Ham, should 
 share every educational advantage given to the 
 Prince Imperial. Hence the two boys grew up 
 together in inseparable companionship. The sons 
 of General Fleuryand General Espinasse were also 
 intimate associates of the Prince. M. Bachon 
 was at this time attached to the Prince’s house- 
 hold, under the title of his equerry, and to this 
 gentleman the Prince owed his prowess in fencing, 
 riding, and gymnastics. An anecdote is related 
 of the Prince and M. Bachon’s firm rule over him, 
 which shows he was kept in good discipline : one 
 morning, while taking his riding-lesson, he rode 
 round the ring leaning to the off side of the ring 
 instead of to the centre of the circle. M. Bachon 
 desired him to ride as usual ; but the Prince paid 
 no attention to his words. 
 
 “ Monseigneur,” said M. Bachon, “ I beg you 
 will ride in the proper position, or I shall feel 
 compelled to take you off your pony.” 
 
 Still the Prince pretended not to hear, and 
 galloped round as before. M. Bachon went up 
 to him, stopped his pony, and quietly lifted the 
 boy from his saddle on to the ground. The 
 young gentleman was so offended that he laid 
 himself flat on the sand, and refused to get up 
 again. 
 
 “ If you do not rise, monseigneur,” said M. 
 Bachon, “the pony will walk over you.” 
 
 Still he refused to move. At this moment the 
 
88 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Emperor entered, and surprised at his son’s 
 position, asked the cause. Much disconcerted to 
 be caught in the act of disobedience, the Prince 
 tried to excuse himself, and began to tell his own 
 story. “ Papa, Bachon forced me.” 
 
 “ What,” said the Emperor, “ you call your 
 equerry Bachon ? ” 
 
 “ Yes, papa, Bachon.” 
 
 “ Say Monsieur Bachon at once,” said the Em- 
 peror, sternly, “ and never again let me hear you 
 speak so disrespectfully of your tutor.” 
 
 The Emperor then turned to the equerry and 
 asked his version of the story, on learning which 
 he told his son that Monsieur Bachon had acted 
 quite right, that obedience to those set over him 
 was a positive necessity, and made him apologize. 
 The next day, while riding, the Prince suddenly 
 stopped his pony, and said, “ Monsieur Bachon, 
 will you allow me to call you Bachon ?” 
 
 “ No, monseigneur, I cannot, since you heard 
 what the Emperor said yesterday.” 
 
 “ But when we are quite alone, you know, I 
 mean, Monsieur Bachon. Papa would not mind it 
 then.” 
 
 “ Certainly, if the Emperor permits,” said the 
 equerry ; and thus the matter was settled. 
 
 The Prince was happy in that, from his earliest 
 years, the great importance of truthfulness was 
 strongly placed before him. This virtue was shown 
 to him to be necessary in securing God’s favour, as 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 89 
 
 well as all-important in the conduct of earthly 
 government, especially in a ruler who wishes to 
 gain the confidence of his subjects. The serious 
 troubles and disasters, the intricate web which 
 falsehood ever weaves wherever it is practised, 
 was fully exemplified to the child, in the world’s 
 history, and so impressed his mind, that a genuine 
 candour and truthfulness were one of the brightest 
 characteristics he possessed. From the date of 
 his transfer from female government, the Prince 
 attained the dignity of having his own study. This 
 room was on the “Pavilion d’horloge” at the 
 Tuilleries, and was very simply furnished. On its 
 walls hung a fine painting of the Empress, by Win- 
 terhalter, two large photographs of his parents, 
 one of his grandmother the Comtesse Montijo, an 
 engraving of his first pony Bouton d’Or, and 
 two others of his favourite dogs Finette and 
 Finaud. The room also contained a piano, a book- 
 case with a small but well-selected library, a pair 
 of globes, and a writing-table, with a press-blotter, 
 in bronze of the First Napoleon on horseback. 
 His bedchamber was equally simple. Between 
 his bed curtains was a picture, by Hugue Merle, 
 representing Religion protecting Infancy, which 
 was presented to the Prince by the late Duke of 
 Morny. At one end of the room a small chapel 
 was erected, in the Byzantine style, and here, 
 morning and evening, his tutor brought him to say 
 his pravers, a religious exercise he was never 
 
90 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 known to omit throughout his brief life. The 
 Prince’s playground was characteristic of the war- 
 like tastes instilled into him. It contained a large 
 collection of drums, two cannons brought from 
 China, miniature regiments of soldiers, several 
 guns, and a theatre. To M. Monnier the Prince 
 owed the groundwork of a truly sound education. 
 He was an excellent tutor, and, independent of the 
 daily routine of lessons, had the happy art of 
 turning every incident in the day into instruction, 
 without rendering such irksome to his pupil. The 
 Prince showed great interest in his studies, but the 
 hour of the day which pleased him best was that 
 spent with M. Bachon in athletic exercises. Of 
 these he never wearied, and was delighted when 
 he could get the Emperor’s permission to take 
 his part with other French lads in the Grandes 
 Chasses a Course, which yearly took place at 
 Fontainebleau or Compiegne. In these races he 
 showed he could not only hold his own with other 
 boys, but soon became an object of admiration 
 for the great agility he displayed. In General 
 Frossard the Emperor placed unlimited confidence 
 and authority in respect to his son’s education, 
 bidding him “ not only train him as a man, but a 
 sovereign and the General did his best to carry 
 out this wish. The Prince and young Conneau’s 
 hours of work were as follows : — 
 
 Lessons commenced at 7 a.m, ; breakfast at 
 8 a.m.; and after this meal a walk till 9 a.m. ; then 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 9i 
 
 the Prince repaired to his parents’ private apart- 
 ments ; at 10 to 11, work again; at 11, the 
 French dejeuner, when the Prince returned to his 
 studies until 2 p.m. Then came M. Bachon’s 
 lessons, and riding or gymnastics occupied him 
 until 4 p.m., when he joined M. Monnier again 
 till 5'30. After this hour lessons were supposed 
 to be over for the day, and the Prince free to join 
 his parents. During school hours the strictest 
 discipline was enforced, and even the Empress 
 could not grant her child a holiday without his 
 governor, General Frossard’s, leave. In his daily 
 walks with his tutor the Prince’s natural benevo- 
 lence of disposition was often exhibited, and his 
 purse was constantly emptied among the poor he 
 met with en route. On one occasion he saw an 
 old soldier with but one leg hobbling before him ; 
 leaving his tutor, he ran up and asked him where 
 he had lost his leg ? “ In the great Napoleon’s 
 
 battles, mon Prince,” was the man’s answer, 
 whereon the child at once emptied his purse into his 
 hand. Another day he was much taken with an 
 old woman who was picking up sticks in his path. 
 So poverty-stricken did she appear, that he ques- 
 tioned her as to her means of livelihood. She 
 said she had none, and was often reduced to 
 begging. The child gave her some money, but 
 that night of his own accord went round the 
 circle of guests in his mother’s salon, hat in hand, 
 telling her story, and asking help for her. The 
 
92 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 ladies of the Court responded warmly to the 
 child’s appeal, and his hat soon received a large 
 sum in gold pieces, which enchanted him. Alas, 
 his joy was soon turned into grief, for the Empress 
 coming in, and learning from one of the ladies of 
 her son’s benevolence, somewhat sternly bid him 
 return the money, saying, “ It was not etiquette to 
 solicit money from invited guests.” The Prince’s 
 eyes filled with tears, but he did as he was bid, and 
 returned the money. The sum was, however, 
 made up to him by his mother’s friends before the 
 evening ended, and he had the pleasure of carry- 
 ing it to the old woman, and seeing her delight at 
 his thoughtfulness for her welfare. 
 
 In the spring of 1866 the Prince was attacked 
 with measles, which assumed a serious form, and 
 caused his parents much anxiety. This malady 
 was followed by the deep-set abscess in his hip, 
 already alluded to in connexion with his artistic 
 taste. These illnesses were a great interruption 
 to his studies. The first time the child appeared 
 in public in the Bois de Boulogne after his con- 
 valescence, so great was the ovation he received 
 that he had literally to hold his hat in his hand, 
 and those who surrounded his carriage were for a 
 time bareheaded. In his studies the Prince’s 
 quickness of comprehension was great, and may be 
 elicited from the following anecdote. M. Monnier 
 read to him one day the legend of Cadmus, the 
 Phoenician founder of Bceotia, who destroyed the 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 93 
 
 dragon guardian of a fountain, and raised an army 
 of warriors by sowing the monster’s teeth in the 
 earth, which army destroyed itself, &c. After 
 listening attentively to the legend, the Prince was 
 asked by his tutor if he understood the story. 
 “ Yes,” remarked the child, “ Cadmus means 
 civilization ; the dragon is barbarism ; the fountain, 
 that is enlightenment. The triumph of Cadmus 
 again represents civilization, and the army of 
 soldiers who destroyed each other, why — ” and he 
 thought for a moment, “ those must be the factious 
 spirits in a country whom no government can keep 
 down.” In July, 1866, preparations were set on 
 foot for the Imperial family to make an official tour 
 in Lorraine, in commemoration of the one hundredth 
 anniversary of that State’s annexation to France. 
 Horses, equipages, and a company of the Cent 
 Gardes were sent forward to Nancy, to be in 
 readiness for their arrival. But at the last moment 
 the Emperor was prevented from going, by more 
 urgent duties in Paris, and his son took his place 
 in the programme. This was the Prince Imperial’s 
 first official journey of the kind. The Empress 
 accompanied him, and their tour through Lorraine 
 was one continued ovation. At every fresh town 
 they passed through, the whole population turned 
 out to welcome them, presenting addresses which 
 the young Prince had to listen and respond to, 
 and offering flowers, bonbons, &c. At Nancy the 
 Empress and the Prince Imperial, with their suite, 
 
94 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 remained three days, and throughout their visit 
 the city was in full fete. On their arrival, dense 
 crowds awaited them, the Place Stanislaus was 
 lined by deputations of Lorraine farmers in their 
 picturesque costumes, the authorities of the town 
 in full official garments being in their centre. The 
 address read on this occasion was so long that the 
 poor little Prince looked dreadfully bored before it 
 ended. Two hundred and fifty thousand strangers 
 came into Nancy for these fetes , and a grand 
 banquet was given at the Town Hall, to which 
 1256 persons sat down. After dessert, the 
 Empress, taking the Prince by the hand, walked 
 round the salon , and conversed with the guests 
 who had come to do her son honour. The next 
 day the Prince entertained at a dejeuner the prin- 
 cipal children of the town, where it is said he 
 showed himself more at home than at the banquet 
 of the day before. At Epernay, when the Imperial 
 train stopped, a cortege of small children en 
 costume presented the Prince with miniature 
 bottles of champagne and bouquets of flowers. 
 On the return of the Empress and her son to Paris, 
 after this tour in Lorraine, in 1866, there occurred 
 that fearful outbreak of cholera which devastated 
 so many towns in France, especially Amiens. 
 This latter place was so sorely visited by the 
 epidemic, that no medical record exists of any 
 town ever before having been so frightfully 
 decimated by this disease. The Empress’s heroic 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 95 
 
 conduct during the calamity deserves the highest 
 praise that courage and self-sacrifice can call forth. 
 Whilst tens of thousands, fearful of the danger, 
 quitted the capital, the Empress refused to leave 
 it, and sending her only child away in safety, she 
 gave herself up to the task of devising means of 
 alleviation and comfort for the sick in the hospitals 
 of Paris, which were frightfully overcrowded. Her 
 influence and example did much good. 
 
 Hearing at Amiens that the organization of the 
 hospitals was sadly at fault, the Empress, at the mo- 
 ment when the epidemic raged most violently there, 
 started at six a.m. one morning with a single atten- 
 dant, and visited the hospitals. Not only did she 
 enter every cholera ward and inquire into its 
 arrangements, but she stood by the bedside of the 
 patients, and with a woman’s tenderness held their 
 hands, soothed them with kind words, wiped the 
 dews of death from the faces of the dying, knelt in 
 prayer by their sides, and often received their last 
 utterances. In passing out of the chief hospital at 
 Amiens, the Empress saw two little girls weeping 
 bitterly. She stopped, kissed them, and demanded 
 the cause of their grief. One of the nurses stepped 
 forward, and said the children had that morning 
 lost both of their parents from cholera. “Je les 
 adopte,” said the Empress, as tears rose to her 
 eyes, and thenceforth she was a second mother to 
 these orphans. 
 
 To describe the enthusiasm at Amiens at the 
 
9 6 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Empress’s conduct would be impossible. It can 
 only be compared to that created in the Crimea 
 by Miss Nightingale’s devotion to the wounded, 
 and affords a lesson to all to imitate such self- 
 sacrifice. On the Empress’s return from Amiens, 
 the Emperor, whose time had been similarly 
 employed in the hospitals of Paris, welcomed her 
 with these words : “ Eugenie, this has been a good 
 day for France ; you at Amiens, and myself here, 
 have each done a good day’s work.” One of the 
 officers of the household ventured to express to 
 Her Majesty his appreciation of her courage in 
 thus going among the cholera patients, when the 
 latter remarked, “ Monsieur, c’est notre maniere 
 d’aller au feu.” 
 
 At the Exhibition of the Palais d’ Industrie, in 
 1867, ‘‘The Empress at Amiens” was one of its 
 best pictures. She is painted as just quitting the 
 cholera hospital, and is on her way to her car- 
 riage, when she is stopped by a group of cholera 
 patients, to whom she is sympathetically listening. 
 The Empress’s attitude is both simple and un- 
 affected. 
 
 In the autumn of 1866 the Empress and the 
 Prince Imperial paid their yearly visit to Biarritz, 
 where the Emperor joined them, having just visited 
 the camp at Chalons. Here the young Prince, 
 attended by his tutor, might be seen every morning, 
 taking his swimming lesson at Port Vieux. On 
 his arrival at the bathing-place he was always 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 97 
 
 received by a crowd of children, with whom he 
 would shake hands and chat, before entering the 
 water, in his costume of black flannel trousers 
 and scarlet jacket. His tutor, M. Monnier, always 
 bathed with him, whilst his swimming master gave 
 him his directions from the beach. The Empress 
 constantly came and sat close by, to watch the 
 proceedings. After his swim the Prince generally 
 remained an hour chatting and playing with what- 
 ever children might be on the spot, their favourite 
 amusement being that of constructing dykes on 
 the sand. 
 
 The yearly Court ball, at the Villa Eugenie, at 
 Biarritz, was this year deferred for the Emperor’s 
 arrival, who did not join his family for some weeks, 
 being detained in Paris by political matters of 
 moment. 
 
 The Mexican question was still at that date 
 undecided, and caused the Emperor much anxiety. 
 A witty resume of the political situation appeared 
 in one of the Paris papers, as follows : — 
 
 “ L’ltalie est faite, 
 
 Et Rome contrefaite, 
 
 L’Autriche est defaite, 
 
 Et l’Allemagne refaite, 
 
 La Russe est surfaite, 
 
 La France parfaite, 
 
 Et l’Angleterre satisfaite.” 
 
 The Queen of Spain was at Biarritz this summer, 
 and often accompanied the Empress and the 
 
 H 
 
98 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Prince on the water in a small boat, the Empress 
 steering, and the Prince rowing the party. 
 
 On the return of the Court to Paris, after the 
 hunting season at Compiegne, the Emperor’s 
 time was much occupied with the organization of 
 the French International Building, which was 
 opened in 1867. Very early in that year the 
 building was so advanced as to be allotted to the 
 various exhibitors, and the Union Jack of Old 
 England was seen floating over a considerable 
 part of it. The Emperor nominated his son 
 “ President of the Exhibition of 1867,” and a 
 Commemorative medal was struck, on which on 
 one side was the head of the Prince Imperial, 
 and on the reverse, a figure of Peace distributing 
 laurels to the representatives of the nations of the 
 earth. 
 
 In April, 1867, the Prince Imperial, with his 
 Governor, General Frossard, paid an official visit to 
 Brest, and during one hour’s drive in that town no 
 less than 1400 petitions were handed to him. 
 While at Brest the Prince gave a dinner to 466 
 young naval boys and apprentices. After this 
 dinner he visited the dockyard and arsenal, and 
 finally the cadet school. Here the child expressed 
 a desire to play with the boys, but etiquette forbad 
 the wish being carried out. 
 
 During the summer of 1867, all Paris gave itself 
 up to the pleasures and gains which the Exhibition 
 brought to the country. 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 99 
 
 The Emperor had inaugurated this undertaking 
 as a great Peace Manifestation with the world at 
 large, and owing to his exertions this object was 
 successfully kept in view. Never was Paris more 
 resplendent in her greatness and prosperity. 
 The contrast the capital afforded at that date to 
 the almost hopeless state of anarchy and bank- 
 ruptcy in which the Emperor had found it when 
 he assumed the responsibility of the government, 
 fourteen years before, was remarkable. 
 
 People from every nation flocked to the Exhi- 
 bition, and lavished encomiums on its promoter and 
 on the skilful organization of the industrial enter- 
 prise. 
 
 At the Tuilleries the Emperor and Empress 
 entertained with true regal dignity, all the crowned 
 heads of Europe, softening past animosities, and 
 cementing new friendships by the cordial grace 
 and tact with which each separate representative 
 of power was welcomed, and assigned its legiti- 
 mate position and honours. The genial goodwill 
 which this assembly of Crowned Heads caused, 
 bore its fruits, and France learned to appreciate 
 the results of peace in the quiet period which 
 followed, and in the honours its industrial body 
 won in a competition with the world at large. 
 
 In the inauguration ceremony, and in the festi- 
 vities which took place during the Exhibition, the 
 Prince Imperial, as far as his health allowed, took 
 part ; but he was still delicate from the effects of the 
 
 H 2 
 
ioo Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 long illness in the autumn of 1866, which had . 
 followed the measles, and spent a portion of the 
 months of May and June at the baths of Luchon, 
 whither his physician, Dr. Barthey, accompanied 
 him. The Prince did not leave Paris, however, 
 until he had done the honours of St. Cloud to the 
 son of the Sultan, who, among other eastern 
 potentates, came to the Exhibition in 1867, and 
 with whom he struck up a great friendship. 
 The Prince was received at Luchon by fireworks 
 and illuminations. His sojourn there much bene- 
 fited his health, and he returned to St. Cloud 
 looking far stronger. 
 
 When Paris had subsided down into tranquillity 
 after the excitement of the International Exhibition, 
 and its troops of gay visitors had departed, the 
 Emperor and the Prince Imperial reviewed the 
 garrison of the city, as well as all the troops 
 quartered at Versailles and its environs. 
 
 The pageant was an unusually brilliant one, and 
 attracted crowds to witness it. The Cent 
 Gardes, with their magnificent silver cuirasses, 
 burnished helmets, and blue and scarlet trappings, 
 bearing the eagle standard of the various regi- 
 ments, the red and white pennons of the Lancers, 
 and the splendid black and gold uniforms of the 
 Artillerie de la Garde, the scarlet jackets of the 
 Dragoons de l’lmperatrice, and the full uniforms 
 of the Zouave and Algerian rifles, had a most 
 imposing effect. The Prince Imperial entered 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 ioi 
 
 heartily into the excitement of the scene, galloped 
 here and there, and replied to the salutations of 
 each separate defile with soldier-like address. 
 
 In November, 1867, the Court, according to its 
 usual custom, adjourned to Compiegne, a most 
 favourite residence of the Emperor and Empress. 
 While there they always entertained a succession 
 of visitors. In the year 1867 no less than 108 
 guests went down in the special train provided for 
 the Emperor’s invites, amongst whom were 
 several young friends of the Prince Imperial’s 
 from the Military College of St. Cyr. 
 
 Compiegne is about 51 miles from Paris, and 
 is a town of 13,000 inhabitants, surrounded by a 
 forest of 36,270 acres, which is intersected by 
 354 roads. It contains a small English com- 
 munity, and has an English church, built in 1869. 
 The chateau is very large and has always been a 
 favourite residence of the French kings and em- 
 perors. It was built by Gabriel in Louis XV. ’s 
 time. It was on the bridge of St. Louis, at Com- 
 piegne, that the heroic Joan of Arc was taken 
 prisoner in 1430, by the Burgundians. The 
 chateau contains many pieces of sculpture and 
 works of art. The Empress’s private apartments 
 were furnished in the style of Louis XVI. and 
 hung with gobelins , and the ceilings and panels 
 painted by Girodet. The gallery contained 200 
 pictures from the Louvre. 
 
 In the middle of the forest of Compiegne is 
 
102 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 the Chateau Pierrefonds, from which property 
 the Empress takes the title of La Comtesse de 
 Pierrefonds, under which she travels as a private 
 individual. 
 
 At Compiegne the Empress’s arrangements for 
 the comfort of her friends were perfect, and the 
 size of the establishment may be imagined from 
 the fact that one footman was told off on special 
 service to every two guests. The special trains 
 which conveyed the Emperor’s friends to the 
 palace were so arranged as to arrive at five p.m., 
 when the travellers were at once shown to their 
 apartments. Each guest had a bedroom, dressing- 
 room, and small salon allotted to him or her, 
 where their breakfast was always served. At 
 twelve p.m. the whole party assembled in the 
 long gallery of the palace, where, punctuallv as the 
 hour struck, the Empress and Prince Imperial met 
 them, and led the way to the salle d manger , where 
 the French dSjedner was spread. After this meal 
 the Emperor and Empress retired to their private 
 apartments till two p.m., and were occupied with 
 business or household duties, when they again 
 met their guests to arrange the afternoon’s 
 programme. 
 
 The principal outdoor attraction at Compiegne 
 was the hunt, stags abounding in the forest. 
 The huntsmen belonging to the Prince Imperial’s 
 private hunt wore a dress known as “ Bouton,” 
 from a particular silver button attached to the 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 103 
 
 tunic. The tricolour also formed a part of their 
 costume. The Prince Imperial’s dress was a green 
 and gold hunting- suit, with a silver horn hung round 
 his waist. Those guests who did not ride, usually 
 attended the hunt in chars-a-banc. A more 
 inspiriting sight can hardly be imagined than that 
 of the Imperial meet on some fine autumn 
 morning. Horses and riders, ladies in chars-a- 
 banc, and servants in green and gold liveries ; 
 huntsmen and dogs, all alike exuberant with high 
 spirits and anticipated excitement. Seen through 
 the green glades and branching trees of the 
 forest the pageant formed a bright picture of life, 
 which many who then took their part in it must 
 now look back upon almost as a dream. At 
 Compiegne the arrangements for the day’s pleasure 
 were always organized by the Empress, she it 
 was who arranged her guests in parties for their 
 drives or walks, and in default of any hunting 
 expeditions being possible, decided what expedi- 
 tions should take their place. In the evenings 
 private theatricals and tableaux vivants were much 
 in favour, and were executed with great spirit, the 
 Empress and Prince Imperial taking various roles. 
 On wet days the Empress invented a new amuse- 
 ment, which became very popular ; all her guests 
 were asked to inscribe their names on separate 
 pieces of parchment ; these were then thrown 
 pele-mele into a velvet bag; from this bag the 
 Empress then drew out a single parchment, and 
 
104 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 whoever’s name was thereon was compelled to tell 
 a tale for the amusement of the rest of the com- 
 pany. No excuse was taken, and many amusing 
 recitals were the result. Whether by fate or 
 otherwise, the name of M. Edmund About, the 
 famous French author, who was a frequent guest 
 at Compiegne, was often drawn, and his inventive 
 genius found its test in the presence of his 
 sovereign. 
 
 Altogether, the fetes of Compiegne in the 
 Empress Eugenie’s palmy days of rule, will ever 
 be remembered for the entrain and gaiety of 
 heart with which they were both organized and 
 carried out. 
 
 At this date M. Monnier, who had been the 
 Prince’s tutor under General Frossard since 1865, 
 was superseded by M. Filon. The young Prince 
 was tenderly attached to M. Monnier, and wept 
 sorely at parting from him. The latter’s dis- 
 missal was the cause of a warm correspondence 
 in the liberal papers of the day, it being considered 
 unjust, and as having arisen from the jealousy of 
 some one in power, who hoped to substitute a 
 friend of his own, M. Filon, who succeeded M. 
 Monnier, was a young man of the Ecole Normale, 
 who gave up his chair as a Professor of Rhetoric 
 at the College of Grenoble to enter the Tuilleries. 
 His father was Inspector of the Academy of Paris, 
 and had likewise been Professor of History to the 
 Due d’Aumale, one of the sons of Fouis Philippe. 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 ro 5 
 
 The history of the rise of the Filon family is 
 curious — they owed it to a Latin epithet. King 
 Louis XVI I $ who was much addicted to literature, 
 read young Filon’s Latin oration at the College of 
 St. Louis. In this he had described a butterfly as 
 flos aliger , literally, “ winged flower.” The epithet 
 took the king’s fancy, and he appointed the 
 youth as his librarian. When Louis Philippe 
 came to the throne in place of his cousin, he made 
 M. Filon tutor to the Due d’Aumale ; and it was 
 his son whom Napoleon III. appointed to M. 
 Monnier’s post. 
 
 In the early autumn of 1867 the Prince Imperial 
 accompanied his father to the camp at Chalons. 
 At the last station before ariving at Chalons both 
 the Emperor and Prince changed their dress, the 
 former for a general’s uniform, the latter for that 
 of a private of Grenadiers. When just about to 
 enter the train the Emperor was informed that the 
 engine attached to the train was heated by 
 petroleum, on the system invented by MM. 
 Deville St. Clair and Sauvage. Instead of enter- 
 ing the gilded saloon carriage prepared for their 
 transit, the Emperor, bidding the Prince follow 
 him, mounted on the engine, and the former, 
 changing place with the driver, propelled the 
 machine at a rate which exceeded by twenty 
 minutes that of a coal-heated engine. The 
 astonishment of the Emperor’s staff, who were 
 awaiting the arrival of the train, may be easily 
 
io6 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 imagined, as they recognized the Emperor and his 
 son on the engine. Their consternation was 
 heartily enjoyed by the young Prince, who was 
 charmed with his novel ride. On arriving at 
 the camp the Emperor mounted his charger, 
 “Colonel,” and the Prince “ Solferino,” and at 
 once rode to headquarters. Both these horses 
 are painted in the historical picture of the review 
 of June 1867, where the Emperor of Russia and 
 the King of Prussia are seen on the right and 
 left of Napoleon III. 
 
 Arrived at the camp, the Emperor and the Prince 
 walked about while waiting for dinner with the 
 inventor of the paraffin-heated engine, who ex- 
 plained its action in full to the Prince. That 
 evening, at 8 p.m. a retraite de flambeaux , one 
 of the most picturesque of military shows, was 
 executed for the Prince’s special gratification. 
 At 8.30 p.m. every trumpet and fife and drum 
 in the camp sounded the retreat, when the vari- 
 ous bodies of men, each bearing a flaming torch, 
 marched to headquarters ; the broad sheet of 
 flame thus represented made a complete cordon 
 de feu around the Emperor’s residence, where, 
 for some time, the regiments remained immovable. 
 Suddenly, at a given signal, every man wheeled 
 to the right, and slowly retiring, the line of flame 
 gradually vanished. 
 
 The next day, the Prince witnessed several 
 of M. Goddard’s experiments for photographing 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 107 
 
 military movements from a balloon, in each of 
 which the inventor’s success was undoubted. It 
 took exactly twelve minutes to start a balloon and 
 return to headquarters with the plate, which in- 
 cluded in one view six leagues of the country. 
 The experiments with the chassepots at the camp 
 much interested the Prince. Lay figures were 
 arranged in lines at a given distance, representing 
 a regiment in action. The chassepot was then 
 used, when it was found that every man in the 
 front of a regiment thus armed would receive at 
 least one ball, and the nature of the wound, owing 
 to the spherical movement of the conical ball, was 
 terrible. In battle, the men using this horrible 
 weapon of attack crawl on the ground until 
 within the necessary range of fire. Surely such 
 modes of slaughter pass the limits of civilized 
 warfare ! 
 
 The annual visit to Biarritz of 1867 combined 
 its ordinary features, and the Prince went through 
 his course of bathing, swimming, and rowing 
 lessons, and was often seen on the Ardour, rowing 
 the Empress in one of the boats belonging to the 
 Villa Eugenie. 
 
 In November, 1867, the court again adjourned 
 to Compiegne for the hunting season. That year 
 the Prince had a narrow escape in the field while 
 following the hounds. His Imperial Highness was 
 making a short cut to overtake the huntsmen, 
 when three fine stags crossed his path, and one of 
 
io8 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 them struck his horse in the flank, and overturned 
 both it and its rider. The Prince received a slight 
 wound in his thigh ; but before the Emperor, who 
 witnessed the accident, could reach his son, the 
 boy was on his legs again, and in full pursuit of 
 the game. For a few days it was noticed that the 
 Prince halted in his walk. Happily the accident 
 did not bear any graver result. 
 
 The following bon mot is related of the Emperor 
 at this time : The next day, while walking in the 
 forest with his son, the Prince, referring to the 
 previous day’s exploit, asked his father the dif- 
 ference between u malheur and accident , both which 
 terms he had heard applied to his fall.” 
 
 “Well,” said the Emperor, twisting his mous- 
 tache, and smiling at his own words, “ If, for 
 instance, a certain relative of ours fell into the 
 river, that would be an accident ; but if any one 
 pulled him out, why, that might be a malheur." 
 
 In December, 1868, the Court returned from 
 Compiegne to Paris, and on the 30th, the Emperor 
 and his son, with the Prince of Asturias, who was 
 on a visit to the Prince Imperial, stood on the 
 balcony of the Cour de l’Horloge to receive the 
 annual salute of all the drums of the various regi- 
 ments quartered in Paris, drum-beating being a 
 speciality of the French nation. We trust the 
 Imperial family were allowed to wear cotton in 
 their ears, or the ovation must have been a most 
 trying one. 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 109 
 
 In the spring of 1869 the Prince took warmly 
 to velocipeding, and might daily be seen wheeling 
 up and down in the reserved gardens of the 
 Tuilleries, the observed of all observers. He had 
 grown much during the last two years, and it was 
 noticeable how completely he had left childhood 
 behind him, and sought to make himself acquainted 
 with the questions of the day. Whatever subjects 
 occupied his father’s mind, were at once accepted 
 as of interest to himself, and the Emperor en- 
 couraged his devotion, and made quite a confident 
 of his son. He never excluded the Prince from 
 questions of State, deeming it wise he should early 
 learn to understand both the official routine of 
 public life and the political crises which accrue in 
 all state governments. 
 
i io Life of the Pinnce Imperial of France. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BOYHOOD ( continued . ). 
 
 Shield, gracious Heaven, 
 
 The aspirations of prophetic hope ! 
 
 Shield, gracious Heaven, the blooming tree ! and let 
 This goodly promise for my people’s sake 
 Yield its abundant fruitage. 
 
 Southey. 
 
 On January ist, 1868, New Year’s Day, a day 
 almost given up in France to visits and present- 
 making, the Emperor, Empress, and the Prince 
 Imperial, after attending mass in the private 
 chapel of the Tuilleries, received visits, as usual on 
 this anniversary, not only from their own house- 
 hold, but from the households of all the members 
 of their family. Their Majesties’ levees were held 
 separately, and each lasted four hours. Then the 
 Imperial family appeared on the balcony of the 
 Cour de l’Horloge, where the bands beneath 
 played “ La Reine Hortense,” and other national 
 airs, and the crowds enthusiastically cheered them. 
 A state dinner and soiree followed. 
 
 The amount of money spent in France in bon- 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 bons on New Year’s Day is almost incredulous. 
 At Sirondon’s, a favourite shop, 30,000 francs — 
 viz., 1500/. — is annually received on the 1st of 
 January. The mass of sugarplums, packed in 
 satin bags, sandal-wood and velvet boxes, baskets, 
 and Sevres caskets, and destined as gifts to the 
 fair sex, in Paris alone, passes belief. 
 
 One of the most ingenious presents on this New 
 Year’s Day was given to the Prince Imperial by 
 his father. It consisted of a Lilliputian engine, so 
 perfect in its construction that it could draw a 
 train of carriages on a line of rail 500 yards in 
 length, the rails having been laid down on the 
 terrace of the reserved gardens at the Tuilleries. 
 An engineer attended when the engine was in 
 operation, to teach the Prince its management. 
 
 On the 8th of May the natural thoughtful cha- 
 racter of the Prince was further established by the 
 solemn ceremony known in the Romish Church as 
 “ la premiere communion,” which was followed 
 immediately by the rite of confirmation. 
 
 The Empress had from infancy inculcated her 
 son with the greatest reverence for sacred things ; 
 and the Prince’s after-life testified that his religious 
 profession was no mere outward form, but a living 
 principle which guided his actions. 
 
 The ceremony above alluded to took place in 
 the private chapel of the Tuilleries, in the presence 
 of his parents and many friends of his house. 
 The Prince was dressed like the rest of the chil- 
 
1 1 2 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 dren who at the same date received their pre- 
 miere communion — viz., in white and blue, with a 
 white scarf tied round his arm. The Archbishop 
 who officiated, then gave an address, which con- 
 tained special clauses directed to the Prince’s 
 position, future responsibilities, and duties, as like- 
 wise to the example he should set as a Christian 
 ruler. The Prince was then conducted to the foot 
 of the altar, where he received the Sacrament from 
 the hands of the Archbishop. He then returned 
 to his seat, when a sermon was preached, during 
 which he was visibly affected, and shed tears. 
 The subject of the sermon was the new alliance 
 the communicants had made with their God by the 
 solemn act just performed. 
 
 At five o’clock that evening, the Prince was 
 confirmed. This ceremony is much like our own, 
 viz., an acceptance of the vows made to God 
 on our behalf at baptism. Thus a new stage of 
 existence was entered upon, which was marked by 
 maturer thoughtfulness and religious feeling. 
 
 It has been already mentioned how fond the 
 Emperor was of putting his son to the front on 
 every possible opportunity ; and his doing so on 
 one occasion during the summer of 1868 was the 
 cause of a small political emeute in one of the 
 lycees at Paris. At the annual distribution of 
 prizes at this school, the Emperor generally at- 
 tended to distribute them. The Prince Imperial 
 had followed, under his tutor, the same course of 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 ”3 
 
 study as at this lycee , and the Emperor, proud of 
 his son’s advancement, somewhat unwisely caused 
 his papers to be sent in to be judged with the rest. 
 This certainly was an injudicious act, as the Prince 
 had been privately coached, and had many advan- 
 tages which the other pupils had missed. When, 
 therefore, this was known, public feeling, especially 
 among the Republican party, ran high, and much 
 excitement was the result, especially in the lycees 
 and among the parents of the pupils. On the day 
 the prizes were to be distributed the Emperor took 
 his son with him, intending to make him the 
 medium of distributing the awards. On arriving, 
 the Imperial pair were not received with the same 
 loyalty as at other times, which feeling was 
 increased when the boys found that the Emperor 
 intended to make the Prince his deputy in bestow- 
 ing the awards. 
 
 It so happened that young Cavaignac — the son 
 of the man who had opposed Napoleon III. on his 
 candidature for the Presidentship — was one of the 
 first boys called up to receive a prize, and he was 
 followed by another boy called Genest. When 
 the Prince Imperial held out the award, Cavaignac 
 boldly crossed his arms behind him and refused to 
 take the book from his hand, while young Genest 
 shouted “Vive la Republique ! ” This bold act 
 was cheered by his comrades, and a political 
 schoolboy revolt took place in the presence of the 
 Emperor, the boys shouting “ Vive Cavaignac ! ” 
 
 I 
 
1 14 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ Vive la Republique ! ” The Emperor took the 
 matter lightly, shrugged his shoulders, and merely 
 remarked, “ Louis must learn to meet with opposi- 
 tion, and the sooner perhaps the better.” This 
 scene occurred at the Lycee Charlemagne, and 
 next day the two ringleaders were dismissed the 
 school. 
 
 The fete of Charlemagne is the day selected for 
 the annual merrymaking of the lycees of France, 
 on which occasion all the boys who have been for 
 one week at the head of their class are entertained 
 at a dinner and after soirle by their masters. This 
 fete suggested to M. Edmond About to write a 
 comedy in one act. His personages were Charle- 
 magne and the Prince Imperial. In this farce the 
 great Emperor appears to the heir apparent as he 
 wakes on the morning of the fete. The Prince at 
 once begins to apostrophize him as a saint, which 
 compliment the Emperor declines, remarking that 
 Pascal III., who had canonized him, was an anti- 
 Pope, created by the excommunicated Frederick 
 Barbarossa, who had as much right to create a 
 Pope as the excommunicated Victor Emanuel 
 would have to confer the mitre on Cardinal An- 
 drea. The Prince then reminds Charlemagne 
 that at least he is French. Charlemagne replies, 
 “ As you like; but I was born at Salzburg, in 
 Bavaria, and buried at Aix-la-Chapelle, in Rhenish 
 Prussia.” This elicits from the Prince Imperial 
 the remark that that territory will, however, 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 115 
 
 speedily belong to France. Charlemagne then 
 advises the heir apparent to become the man of 
 the nation, to execute its will, and not to impose 
 his own on the people ; and above all, to accept 
 the representatives it may select, and not travestie 
 his chamberlains into deputies. “ Why, you speak 
 like a journalist,” says the Prince Imperial. “ And 
 so I was in my day,” says Charlemagne ; “ I wrote 
 a pamphlet against the second Council of Nice, 
 which condemned the Iconoclasts.” “ Who are 
 they ? ” asks the Prince. “ The Iconoclasts and 
 myself,” replies Charlemagne, “ considered that 
 true Christianity consisted in smashing images of 
 marble, ivory, and wood, and in destroying pic- 
 tures.” The Prince remarks, “ Just as M. de 
 Rienerkergue does now.” Charlemagne : “ Pre- 
 cisely. That well-looking man was an Iconoclast, 
 who protested, in imitation of myself, against the 
 Council of Nice.” The farce continues in the 
 same strain, and winds up with the Prince Imperial 
 remarking that “ In France Providence means his 
 father, Napoleon III.” 
 
 About this period the city of Blois sent a depu- 
 tation to Paris, to say it was its desire to present 
 the Prince Imperial with the Chateau de Blois, as 
 a token of loyal affection. This castle is of greater 
 historic note than any in France, and dates from 
 the ninth century. The oldest standing towers 
 are of the thirteenth century. Here Louis XII. was 
 born, and here lived also Henry III., Catherine of 
 
1 1 6 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Cleves, Marie de Medicis, Gaston d’Orleans, 
 Francis III., and many other historical characters. 
 It was at Blois, Joan of Arc made her triumphal 
 entry, and remained three days ; and in its church 
 of St. Sauveur, the banner she swore on her trial 
 had been brought her by St. Catherine and St. 
 Marguerite, and which bore on one side the name 
 of “ Ihesus Maria,” and on the other a represen- 
 tation of a throne surrounded by clouds, on 
 which sat our Saviour — was publicly blessed, and 
 around it gathered the army of the Maid of 
 Orleans. The Chateau de Blois contains three 
 distinct styles of architecture. It was from a 
 window in this castle Catherine de Medicis 
 escaped, and was recaptured on the bridge of 
 Blois. The whole Forest of Blois at that time 
 belonged to the chateau. The gift much delighted 
 the Emperor, on account of all these historic asso- 
 ciations. When presented to the Prince the castle 
 was terribly out of repair, having been used as a 
 barrack. The Emperor at once caused it to be 
 thoroughly restored, an object which doubtless the 
 good people of Blois had in mind in presenting 
 it to the Prince. It has since been used as a 
 museum. In acknowledgment of the gift the 
 Prince paid his new property a visit, and was 
 received at Blois by its population with great 
 demonstrations of loyalty. A second gift of like 
 nature was the pretty and well-known Campagne 
 Bagatelle, in the Bois de Boulogne. This was 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 1 1 7 
 
 given to the Prince Imperial by the late Marquis 
 of Hertford, who had inhabited it for years. After 
 it became the Prince’s property he might be seen 
 constantly going to Bagatelle, accompanied by 
 his young friends Conneau and Espinasse. There 
 they would spend an hour or so in play in the 
 grounds, and then return to the Tuilleries. Sir 
 Richard Wallace now owns the place. Bagatelle 
 is approached by twin lodges, and is an object of 
 interest for many a drive in the Bois. 
 
 A third property was bequeathed to the Prince 
 Imperial by the Princess Baciocchi, viz., a con- 
 siderable estate in Brittany. 
 
 Dr. Evans, an American and the Imperial 
 dentist, whose name has been so associated 
 with that of the fortunes of the Buonaparte 
 family, inasmuch as it was he who assisted the 
 Empress Eugenie in her flight from Paris, had 
 made the Prince heir to his European pro- 
 perty. This was considerable. On hearing of 
 the Prince’s untimely end, Dr. Evans went over 
 to Woolwich to identify the body, not believing 
 himself in the truth of the statement, fancying, as 
 many of the French people did, that the Prince 
 had been kidnapped by the party who were 
 interested in his removal, and a substhute pro- 
 vided in the role assigned him. On sight, how- 
 ever, of the Prince’s body, Dr. Evans no longer 
 doubted the fact of his death, the formation of 
 the mouth and teeth being unmistakable. 
 
1 1 8 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 In the spring of 1869, in pursuance of the 
 decided military education the Emperor desired to 
 give his son, the Prince visited the Soldiers’ Col- 
 lege at La Fleche during the Easter holidays, 
 and likewise the Cavalry School at Samur. He 
 also made his first appearance in the uniform of a 
 Sub-Lieutenant of Guards, with epaulettes, at a 
 review in the Place du Carrousel, in April, 1869. 
 The dress is a double-breasted tunic, with two 
 rows of buttons fastening on the shoulder ; red 
 trousers, with a double row of gold lace, a gilt 
 belt and sword. The uniform suited him well, 
 but the photographs thus representing him were 
 confiscated after the expatriation of the Imperial 
 family from France, and I in vain tried to pro- 
 cure one for insertion in these pages. 
 
 In July the Court adjourned to Fontainebleau, 
 a royal palace too well known to need description. 
 From thence the Prince, accompanied by the 
 Empress, proceeded on August 15th, in state, to 
 visit the birthplace of the Napoleon family, at 
 Ajaccio, in Corsica. The occasion of this visit was 
 the hundredth anniversary of Napoleon Ids birth. 
 Their Imperial Majesties’ route lay through Macon, 
 Lyons, St. Germain, Toulon, and other towns, 
 and occupied five days. At each place the 
 Prince went through the formula of receiving 
 addresses. At Toulon an amusing incident 
 occurred. It is a tradition of the town that 
 whenever its sovereign passes through it the 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 1 1 9 
 
 market-women may claim the right to pay him 
 a visit. Accordingly a deputation of sixteen 
 of these ladies waited on the Prince and his 
 august mother. There were four fishwives, who 
 carried a large basket of live fish between them, 
 which jumped and floundered about, not relish- 
 ing the honour of presentation. Then came four 
 sellers of vegetables, with the finest specimens of 
 their craft they could muster. Four fruit-sellers 
 followed, carrying an exquisite corbeille of autumn 
 fruits ; and four shell-fish wives brought up the 
 rear, with their offering of crabs, lobsters, and 
 other such live dainties. All these women were 
 in costume, and their visit formed an amusing 
 variety in the day’s programme. 
 
 From Bastra, which is a fishing village, Corsica 
 was reached, in one of the Imperial yachts, a sail of 
 about ten hours, The yacht anchored at Ajaccio, 
 the capital of Corsica. Here the two Emperors 
 Napoleon I. and II. were born, as also their mother, 
 Laetitia Buonaparte, and the Emperor Napoleon I.’s 
 brothers, Lucien and Joseph, as well as his uncle, 
 Cardinal Fesch. 
 
 It was the first time the Prince Imperial had 
 set his foot on the soil of his fathers, and his 
 own excitement, as well as that of the Corsicans, 
 who claimed him as their own special property, 
 was extreme. The whole populace turned out to 
 welcome the Empress and her son, and as they 
 walked down the principal street of Ajaccio the 
 
120 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 people crowded so closely upon them that the 
 police had to make a path for their feet. Many 
 were anxious to touch the Prince. He was 
 delighted at this ovation, and constantly stopped 
 to shake hands with one or other of the most 
 pressing, checking the efforts of the police to keep 
 the crowd off by saying, “ Let them alone ; let 
 them alone ! Don’t try to prevent them. Remem- 
 ber, they have a right to me. We all belong to 
 one family ! ” This speech, as may be expected, 
 redoubled the enthusiasm of the people, who feted 
 him, not only as their future sovereign, but as a 
 child of their soil. The Empress and the Prince 
 visited the house where the Emperor Napoleon 
 was born — a very humble dwelling in an obscure 
 street. The Prince, however, was so overjoyed 
 to find himself there, that he ran from room to 
 room, asking questions of the Empress, who had 
 visited the house on a former occasion. He 
 was shown the bed on which his great-uncle 
 Napoleon I. first saw the light, and, boy like, he 
 at once stretched himself full length upon it. This 
 room was filled with portraits of the Buonaparte 
 family, to which on this visit the Empress added 
 one of her son. 
 
 The chapel was next visited, where the Prince 
 was shown the tombs of Laetitia Buonaparte and 
 Cardinal Fesch. That evening the town was 
 illuminated, and a distribution of medals took 
 place from the Prince’s hand in commemoration 
 of his visit. 
 
Boyhood, 
 
 1 2 1 
 
 The next day their Majesties returned to Toulon 
 in the yacht, the “ Aigle,” and from thence the 
 Prince visited the camp at Chalons, where he was 
 soon hard at work, receiving general officers, 
 inspecting batteries of artillery, and doing the 
 honours of the camp, under his Governor’s super- 
 vision, to the foreign officers who came to visit it. 
 These latter remarked that the Prince conducted 
 himself then as if he were twenty-four instead of 
 fourteen. Whenever, however, he could escape 
 from these official duties, he would rush off to the 
 reserved park, to play at leap-frog, ball, cricket, or 
 some such manly game, until recalled to fresh 
 official receptions. The officers were enthusiastic 
 about him, and grey-headed men spoke warmly of 
 his modest and graceful demeanour. 
 
 In the autumn of 1869 the Imperial family once 
 more adjourned to Compiegne for the hunting 
 season. Alas, it was their last visit to this favourite 
 abode, for before the following autumn, the Second 
 Empire and its glories were things of the past, and 
 its chief actors exiles and wanderers on the face 
 of the earth. 
 
 In 1870 the Republican party in France was 
 strong, and five of its foremost members — the “ five 
 Jules” as they were termed — banded together to 
 increase their power by popular demonstrations 
 and harangues. Their eloquence told on the lower 
 orders, whilst the leaders only waited an opportu- 
 nity to satisfy their ambitious views ; nor, as events 
 turned out, was that opportunity long wanting. 
 
122 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 During the early years of the Second Empire, the 
 war in which France and England met as allies to 
 check Russian aggrandizement was the first dis- 
 turbance of the peace which commenced with 
 Napoleon III.’s reign. In this war the victories of 
 Alma, Inkerman, Sebastopol, &c., satisfied the 
 pride of the French nation, and crowned the allied 
 armies with glory. In the next campaign the 
 Emperor personally took the field, where he dis- 
 tinguished himself in opposing the encroachments 
 of Austria on Sardinia, which latter territory the 
 former desired to annex, and the far-famed 
 conquests of Magenta and Solferino added to his 
 laurels. 
 
 Next followed the Mexican interference, which, 
 albeit at first successful, cannot be looked upon 
 as redounding to the fame of Napoleon III. It 
 was a false step on his part, and the story of that 
 sad and mistaken campaign is one of the saddest 
 on record in the history of this century. It ended 
 in the imprisonment and execution of the young 
 Emperor Maximilian, whom Napoleon had himself 
 placed on the Mexican throne, and was shortly 
 after followed by the insanity of his wife, the 
 Empress Charlotte. This unfortunate lady’s mind 
 broke down under the accumulation of trouble 
 which fell to her lot, its climax being the hasty 
 and unjust act through which her husband was put 
 to death. The heroic bravery and domestic virtues 
 of the Emperor Maximilian, and his wife’s devo- 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 123 
 
 tion and after-insanity, furnish a romance which 
 few persons can read without shedding tears. 
 
 When the excitement of the Mexican disaster 
 had somewhat subsided, a period of quiet followed. 
 Perpetuity , as however Prince Louis Napoleon 
 had once sarcastically remarked when that sen- 
 tence of imprisonment had been passed upon him 
 for his offence at Boulogne, was not a part of the 
 French Constitution, and the silken sails of the 
 Empire which peace had so gracefully inflated, 
 began to be ruffled by signs of an approaching 
 storm. Prussia and Austria, two powerful 
 opponents, were at discord at this period respect- 
 ing the proprietorship of Venice, which the latter 
 refused to cede to Italy. The fate of Venice was 
 referred to a European Conference, which failed 
 to bring the question to an amicable settlement, 
 and Napoleon, anxious to see Venice liberated, 
 gave his adhesion to a war, in which the battle 
 of Sadowa foreshadowed trouble to himself. 
 This question was doubtless the beginning of that 
 antagonism between Prussia and France, which 
 eventually ended in the overthrow of the Second 
 Empire. 
 
 As time went by, the advancement of Prussia 
 under the policy and wisdom of its First Minister, 
 Count Bismarck, quickly raised it to the platform 
 of European importance and aroused the jealousy 
 of France. Napoleon III., to be ready for any 
 emergency, and probably with the view of clipping 
 
124 Life of the Prince Imperial of France . 
 
 Prussia’s power, should opportunity present itself 
 to do so, increased the military status of France. 
 Count Bismarck saw through his design, and did 
 likewise, converting every male adult in Prussia into 
 a soldier, and when fully prepared for war threw 
 out hints of wishing to recover the territories of 
 Alsace and Lorraine, which had been ceded by 
 Prussia to France. 
 
 These rumours reaching the French Emperor, 
 aroused his anger. Still, although prepared for 
 war, Napoleon III.’s avowed policy was Peace, 
 unless that peace should be legitimately in- 
 fringed upon, and the honour of France demand 
 war. 
 
 For some years Prussia and France stood look- 
 ing thus defiantly at one another, alike armed 
 to the teeth and athirst to test their strength. 
 At last the opportunity was given, and the Lux- 
 embourg question furnished an excuse for war. 
 Luxembourg possessed a strong fortress, and 
 was so situated as to be of great importance 
 to both France and Prussia; albeit an indepen- 
 dent Duchy under the rule of the Grand Duke of 
 Luxembourg, then King of Holland, it had been 
 always garrisoned by Prussian troops. On the 
 formation of the North German Confederation the 
 inhabitants of the city, fearful if it thus remained 
 under Prussian protection it would eventually 
 lose its national independence, and by habits 
 and training sympathizing more with France than 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 125 
 
 Prussia, begged the Duke to annex it to France. 
 The King of Holland, desirous of granting their 
 request, negotiated with the Emperor of the French 
 for the annexation of the Duchy. 
 
 As soon as these negotiations were settled, 
 Napoleon III. gave the Prussian garrison notice 
 that their services would be no longer required. 
 The Prussian Government refused to withdraw 
 these forces, and France was thus driven tp the 
 brink of war. To prevent bloodshed the question 
 was, however, submitted to arbitration, and in a 
 conference of European powers it was decided 
 that Prussia should withdraw her troops, but 
 that it was advisable Luxembourg, as before, 
 should continue an independent state on neutral 
 ground. 
 
 Napoleon III. accepted, but was not pleased 
 at the arrangement ; he would have preferred the 
 annexation of Luxembourg. 
 
 Prussia was more than displeased ; she was 
 humiliated by the forced removal of her troops. 
 Henceforth, although externally on friendly terms, 
 the fire still smouldered between the two nations, 
 and Prussia pushed forward the military education 
 of her people with vigour, until she had at 
 her disposal an enormous and well disciplined 
 army. 
 
 Napoleon III. imitated this example, until on 
 his side he could number in his ranks 1,400,000 
 men. Either country being now ready for combat, 
 
126 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 only waited until some plausible excuse should 
 justify an attack. The opportunity soon presented 
 itself. 
 
 Spain had for long been in an unsettled state, 
 and now clamoured for a king, and the throne 
 was finally offered and accepted by the Prince of 
 Hohenzollern. When France learnt that a German 
 prince was to rule Spain, its long suppressed 
 wrath broke into flame, and it at once issued 
 a determined protest against the nomination. 
 Upon this the Prince of Hohenzollern, not am- 
 bitious of rule, and sooner than be the cause of 
 a war between nations, nobly resigned the honour 
 conferred upon him. It would have been a happy 
 thing for France if this act of reconciliation had 
 satisfied it ; the concession, unfortunately, led to 
 a further demand, and a somewhat arbitrary one. 
 So, at least, Prussia thought. 
 
 France demanded from Prussia a guarantee 
 that the Prince of Hohenzollern should never 
 again become a candidate for the Spanish throne. 
 This demand was received in contempt by the 
 Prussian Minister, and the French Ambassador 
 who bore it reported that he was not too graciously 
 treated. He returned to Paris, and magnified his 
 reception into an insult to his country, when all 
 too hastily, in order nominally to resent offended 
 dignity, France declared war against Prussia. 
 The excuse for war was a flimsy one, and un- 
 worthy the dignity of a great nation like France, 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 127 
 
 the real occasion being the long suppressed 
 antagonism of the parties and their mutual desire 
 that their separate military preparations should 
 not remain in a state of inaction. 
 
 The question of this war was fully discussed in 
 both Houses of Parliament, and the responsibility, 
 therefore, did not remain alone on the Emperor’s 
 head, as was afterwards alleged by his enemies. 
 Although it is said Napoleon was averse to the war, 
 when once it was determined upon he decided to 
 take the command of the army himself, and issued 
 the following proclamation to the troops : — 
 
 “ Soldiers ! I am about to place myself at your 
 head, to defend the honour and the soil of the 
 country. You go to fight against one of the best 
 armies in Europe ; but others, who were quite as 
 worthy, were unable to resist your bravery. It 
 will be the same again at the present time, and 
 the war which is now commencing will be a long 
 and a severe one, since it will have for the scene 
 of its operations places full of fortresses and ob- 
 stacles ; but nothing is too difficult for the soldiers 
 of Africa, the Crimea, China, Italy, and Mexico. 
 You will again prove what the French army, 
 animated by the sentiment of duty, maintained by 
 discipline, and inspired with love of country, can 
 perform. Whatever road we may take beyond our 
 frontiers, we shall find glorious traces of our 
 fathers. We will prove ourselves worthy of them. 
 
128 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 The whole of France follows you with her ardent 
 wishes, and the eyes of the world are upon you. 
 The fate of liberty and civilization depends upon 
 our success. Soldiers ! let each one do his duty, 
 and the God of Armies will be with us. 
 
 “ Napoleon. 
 
 “The Imperial Headquarters, 
 Metz, fitly 28 .” 
 
[29 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 METZ. 
 
 Farewell to thee, France ! when thy diadem crown’d me, 
 
 I made thee the gem and the wonder of earth ; — 
 
 But thy weakness decrees I should leave as I found thee, 
 Decay’d in thy glory and sunk in thy worth. 
 
 Byron. 
 
 When the Emperor decided to join the army in 
 person as Commander-in-Chief, he notified his 
 intention of taking the Prince Imperial with him. 
 By some persons this decision was looked upon as 
 Quixotic ; others thought it cruel to subject a lad 
 of fourteen to the scenes of horror a battle- 
 field, whether it be of conquest or defeat, must 
 entail. The Emperor had other views. His son 
 was the most precious thing he possessed. He 
 deemed his child’s presence in the field would 
 give the army the strongest proof possible of his 
 confidence in it. Hence the young Prince was 
 taken from his tutor to ride at his father’s side, as 
 the Emperor then hoped, to victory. On the 23rd 
 
 K 
 
130 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 of July, the Emperor and his son attended mass, 
 and received the Holy Sacrament, and on the 
 24th, early in the morning, left the little private 
 railway at St. Cloud to join the army on the 
 frontier, and a special train conveyed them and 
 their respective suites to Metz. Their way was 
 one continued ovation. At each place at which 
 they stopped crowds came to the stations to see 
 them, presenting bouquets, addresses, &c., whilst 
 the prolonged vivats that followed the imperial 
 train reassured the Emperor as to the loyalty of 
 his subjects. At that date, the French people 
 could not speak too loudly in their sovereign’s 
 praise, inasmuch as he was about to expose his 
 life, and that of his only son, in the cause of 
 France. The Prince Imperial’s suite was a simple 
 military escort — M. Larney, le Comte Cavaliere, 
 Comte Clary, and his tried and faithful friend and 
 ecuyer, M. Bachon, with three horses and a groom. 
 He was attired in the uniform of a sub-lieutenant 
 of Guards, the only difference between the Prince 
 and other sub-lieutenants being that across his 
 tunic he wore the decoration of the Legion of 
 Honour. On arriving at Metz, the army, gave 
 the Emperor a most enthusiastic reception, the 
 regiments only claiming to be led at once into 
 action. Napoleon III. then presented to them 
 his son, under the title of “ Le fils de France,” 
 and bade the troops win honours to surround 
 his future with glory. As the Emperor expected, 
 
Metz. 
 
 131 
 
 the sight of the young Prince fired the soldiers’ 
 enthusiasm, and they loyally responded to the 
 appeal. 
 
 The Prince was delighted with the novelty and 
 excitement of his surroundings, and soon made 
 himself at home in the camp. He was, however, 
 kept while at Metz under strict discipline,, his 
 hours of study being apportioned as regularly as 
 when at the Tuilleries. In camp all the Prince’s 
 lessons were, however, directed towards the art of 
 warfare. He read and wrote themes from the 
 military history of Europe and other such works, 
 and learnt how to visit fortifications, assist at 
 manoeuvres, &c. His father’s one aim was to 
 make his son a soldier ; hence, while put on honour 
 not to repeat what he heard, the Emperor allowed 
 him to be present at the military councils he held 
 with his generals, and the many pertinent observa- 
 tions which the child soldier made on the subjects 
 under discussion proved the interest he took in 
 them. 
 
 One of the Prince’s greatest pleasures was to 
 be allowed to join some encampment of soldiers 
 at their noonday meal. Here he would take his 
 seat among them around the great brass popote, 
 or cauldron, and, being furnished with a spoon, 
 eat his portion in turn with his fellows-in-arms with 
 gusto. His fearless bravery in riding, jumping, 
 &c., was even then remarkable. 
 
 The Emperor remained some days at Metz 
 K 2 
 
132 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 before he decided to commence action, and to this 
 delay was attributed the loss of the campaign, for 
 the ardour of the troops cooled in proportion to 
 the time they were kept waiting. The truth was 
 that during that period, while the Emperor was 
 personally investigating the state of his army, he 
 had become, as the French say, des-illusione 
 (undeceived). Napoleon then discovered the dust 
 that had been thrown in his eyes in respect to the 
 numbers of the troops, which had been grossly 
 misrepresented to him, as also their fitness to 
 attack such an enemy as Prussia, whose sound 
 military organization was an acknowledged fact. 
 Independent of inferior numbers, the discipline of 
 the French army was terribly defective, nor were 
 the regiments commanded by officers of either 
 intelligence or reliability. 
 
 Napoleon III. was a soldier himself, and knew 
 that even numbers without good discipline are 
 ineffectual in the field ; but here everything neces- 
 sary for success seemed lacking. It was, however, 
 too late to draw back. France had herself pro- 
 voked the war, and Napoleon could only hope 
 some happy turn of fortune might befriend him ; 
 but he is said to have lost heart from that 
 date. 
 
 The little Prince meantime had no fear and no 
 evil presentiment of what was to follow. His 
 constant talk was of France and of glory, and of 
 the triumphant entry the army would have when 
 
Metz. 
 
 T o “2 
 
 J 3o 
 
 they returned to Paris as the conquerors of 
 Prussia. 
 
 Longer delay being useless, on the 2nd of 
 August the French gave battle to the enemy at 
 Spichbron near the hills above Saarbruck, which 
 was situated just within the frontiers of Prussia. 
 This town commanded the river Saar, and was a 
 very important position, being likewise a most 
 interesting place. It possessed several fortresses 
 of note. It also commanded three lines of rail- 
 way, by which the Prussians looked to receive 
 their supplies of troops, ammunition, and provi- 
 sions ; its acquisition by the French was hence 
 much to be desired. The country around Saar- 
 bruck is rich in valuable coal-fields. At first the 
 French were slightly repulsed, but the Emperor 
 at once renewed the attack and with success. 
 Ten thousand men were engaged in the fight, 
 which lasted the greater part of the day. 
 
 It was at Saarbruck the young Prince was 
 called upon to receive his first initiation into what, 
 however necessary, must ever be looked upon as 
 the horrors of war. The French entered the 
 town before it was evacuated, and the scenes that 
 followed in the hand-to-hand fight in the streets 
 with its inhabitants were most sanguinary. This 
 battle was no mimic warfare, but a deadly, bloody 
 strife, in which the Emperor and his son, who 
 were seen galloping about side by side, were con- 
 stantly in great danger. At one time they ad- 
 
1 34 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 vanced within 300 yards of the Prussian needle- 
 gun, and remained there some time, while the 
 bullets whizzed round them in every direction. 
 The Prince picked up one, and retained it after- 
 wards as a remembrance of the scene. It was on 
 this occasion his nerves first became habituated 
 to the sight of the dead, who lay thick around 
 him. It was noticeable that when first he passed 
 a heap of fallen bodies the Prince raised his kepi 
 out of respect to the dead. On his return to the 
 camp he made a sketch of the scene. 
 
 A terrible carnage followed. A battery of 
 mitrailleuses had been dragged up on the heights 
 which commanded the railway station and lines, 
 and in the presence of the Emperor and his son 
 was brought to bear upon a detachment of Prus- 
 sian soldiers en route to the station. More than 
 half their number at once fell under the deadly 
 fire. A second detachment that followed shared 
 the same fate. By this time the town was fired in 
 every direction, and compelled to succumb. 
 
 It was after this battle, which the Emperor 
 recorded at Paris through a telegram, that he sent 
 this further ddpeche to the Empress : “ Louis has just 
 received his bap time de feu. He was admirably 
 cool, and in no way affected. We were in the 
 front line, and the cannon-balls and bullets fell at 
 our feet. Louis has kept a bullet which fell close 
 to him. Some of the soldiers shed tears to see 
 him so calm.” 
 
Metz. 
 
 i35 
 
 Notwithstanding this announcement, it was 
 proved that a boy of such a gentle and sympathe- 
 tic nature as the Prince possessed did not pass 
 through those scenes of bloodshed without their 
 making a strong impression on his mind. Months 
 afterwards, when in England, he would often start 
 from his sleep with loud cries, as if some horrible 
 nightmare possessed him. When asked “what 
 was the matter ? ” the poor child, half awake and 
 half asleep, would hide his face on the pillow and 
 say, “ Ces pauvres soldats ! ces pauvres soldats ! ” 
 Evidently the scenes he had witnessed were 
 running riot in his brain, and he fancied he saw 
 the dead and the wounded in their agonies. 
 
 The victory at Saarbruck encouraged the sol- 
 diers, and was the subject of public rejoicings at 
 Paris. These were, however, but short lived, for 
 all too soon commenced that series of defeats 
 which ended with Sedan and the Emperor’s 
 captivity. From Saarbruck Napoleon returned to 
 Metz, where the army remained some days in 
 repose ; but from that day the tide of fortune 
 turned against the French, and the defeats of 
 Forbach, Weissenburg, Worth, and others which 
 followed, were but the prelude to the greater 
 disasters of Gravelotte and Sedan ; whilst the 
 havoc made amongst the French troops in these 
 first engagements was appalling. 
 
 At the first defeat the Prince Imperial showed 
 great signs of distress, especially for his father’s 
 
136 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 humiliation. He went about among the soldiers, 
 trying to cheer them, telling them their losses had 
 been an accident ; that if they would be brave 
 they were sure in the next battle to be victorious. 
 He bid them remember, too, that they were led 
 by a Napoleon , and therefore must win in the end. 
 Child as he was, his words and bearing inspired new 
 hope, and reawakened among the troops a sense 
 of duty and patriotism. 
 
 On the 9th of August Marshal Bazaine 
 arrived from Paris, and demanded an audience 
 with the Emperor. He was admitted. What 
 passed is not at all known, but he brought the 
 order from Paris that the commandership of the 
 army was to be transferred to himself. When 
 he came out, the servant who opened the door 
 for him relates that the Emperor looked indig- 
 nant, and Bazaine was in such a passion that, 
 within the Emperor’s hearing, he uttered these 
 words as he passed out : “ I will be master, or 
 nothing.” On that day the Emperor ceded the 
 command to Marshal Bazaine. This resignation 
 of the Emperor’s must be looked upon as a 
 completely forced one. When he quitted the 
 capital he had ceded all authority into the hands 
 of the Regent and her Ministers, and was there- 
 fore bound in honour not to oppose their mandates. 
 After this, Napoleon III. moved about with the 
 army, sometimes on horseback and sometimes on 
 foot, his young son ever at his side, without any 
 
Metz. 
 
 137 
 
 special function, and this, while it added to his 
 humiliation, increased the confusion which reigned. 
 
 It was indeed a cruel time for the Emperor — 
 instead of the triumphs he anticipated, to find 
 himself superseded in command, a wanderer 
 without power among his own army, whilst all 
 around nothing but anarchy and disorder pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 Before the Emperor left Metz he issued a pro- 
 clamation to its inhabitants, begging them to 
 defend a city which had never yet surrendered to 
 any enemy ; and when this town was beleaguered 
 by the Prussians, most bravely did they respond 
 to that appeal. But notwithstanding their valour- 
 ous defence, later in the campaign, Metz was also 
 driven into surrender. 
 
 The Emperor slept at Gravelotte the night 
 before the attack on that town, and was in the 
 heat of the battle all the time it lasted. Here the 
 French fought well, but were literally overpowered 
 by numbers. 
 
 After leaving Gravelotte the Emperor asked 
 one of his attendants if Bazaine was following 
 the enemy. 
 
 “ No, sire,” was the rejoinder ; “ he has ordered 
 a retreat to Metz.” 
 
 “ Impossible ! ” said Napoleon, 
 
 “ It is true, sire.” 
 
 The Emperor started, shrugged his shoulders, 
 and remarked, “ Then all is lost.” 
 
138 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Bazaine’s appointment at Paris must have 
 opened the Emperor’s eyes as to the treachery 
 which was taking place at headquarters, and 
 Napoleon probably in that hour bitterly regretted 
 having placed himself in the position of being 
 made the tool of a party, whilst this remorse was 
 aggravated by the fact that he felt assured that 
 on his head alone France would visit her downfall. 
 
 Not to encumber the army, Napoleon III. left 
 behind him at Metz the greater part of his 
 baggage and personal attendants, and in con- 
 sequence had to put up with many privations ; but 
 he bore these, as he did his reverses, with a stoicism 
 that left little to be read of the deep inner current 
 of feeling behind it. 
 
 From Gravelotte the Emperor and the Prince 
 started for Verdun. On their arrival there they 
 were, however, advised to continue their journey 
 to Chalons. This place they reached in an open 
 cattle-truck, there being no better means of 
 transit. At one of the stations, when he stopped, 
 the Emperor asked for a glass of water. The 
 station-master brought it him in a common drink- 
 ing mug, in which afterwards the Prince washed 
 his face, wiping it with his father’s pocket-hand- 
 kerchief. At another small town on the road to 
 Chalons the Emperor was informed that General 
 Trochu, whom he had left in command of Paris, 
 had arrived to see him. The interview took place 
 in the cattle-truck. Napoleon must have sus- 
 
Metz. 
 
 139 
 
 pected before this the General’s want of fidelity, 
 and the tone he took with his sovereign during 
 that interview confirmed it. After General Trochu 
 had departed, some one asked Napoleon what 
 could have induced him to leave the former as 
 Governor of Paris. 
 
 “ France would have it,” was the Emperor’s 
 reply. 
 
 “ But, sire, were you not aware that he is your 
 bitterest enemy ? ” 
 
 “ I know it now,” was the curt rejoinder, and 
 the Emperor relapsed into his usual stoical silence. 
 
 Meantime, at Paris the Empress gave herself 
 up with the greatest self-abnegation and ability to 
 the duties of the Regency, and the news of the 
 reverses of the French armies seemed but to add 
 to her resolution and courage. She hardly 
 allowed herself necessary repose, and never slept 
 more than two hours at a time, even then giving 
 strict orders to be awakened directly any telegrams 
 arrived from the seat of war. At Chalons the 
 Emperor assisted at a council of war as soon as he 
 arrived. Here it was decided that the danger of 
 an utter rout of the French army was so great that 
 Marshal MacMahon had better take the Emperor 
 and the troops back to Paris, and make the best 
 conditions of peace which they could from the 
 capital. Had this plan been adopted, the 
 Emperor’s presence and influence in Paris might 
 probably have been in time to save the Empire. 
 
140 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Napoleon’s reply, however, was, “Never! Dead or 
 victorious I re-enter Paris." From Paris came 
 also objections to the return of the army there. 
 Marshal Bazaine was then closely hemmed in at 
 Metz, and the Paris Ministry desired that the 
 Chalons army should at once go to his relief. 
 Marshal MacMahon protested against any such 
 flank movement on a city so closely beleaguered 
 by Prince Frederick Charles’s army as Metz was. 
 The Emperor likewise highly disapproved the step, 
 but did not like to intervene his own influence 
 against the order from headquarters. On the 
 23rd of August, the Imperial quarters were trans- 
 ferred to Courcelles. Here M. Rouher met the 
 Emperor, and had a long consultation with him, 
 after which, in charge of M. Rouher, the Prince 
 Imperial was sent on to Rethel, where, later, his 
 father joined him, and both proceeded in company 
 to Tourteron. The Prince had by this time 
 recovered his fatigue, and was as active as ever. 
 Several times within the last few days the 
 Emperor had determined to send his son back to 
 Paris ; but the boy always begged so hard to 
 remain with his father, whose one solace in all his 
 difficulties he was, that the Emperor had not heart 
 either to refuse him or force upon himself the 
 separation. When, however, it was determined to 
 mass the remnant of the French army at Sedan, 
 and make one last and desperate' struggle for 
 victory, the Emperor well weighed the decisive 
 
Metz. 
 
 141 
 
 nature of the fight, and prejudging its results, 
 wavered no longer. Napoleon was ready to 
 expose his own life unflinchingly in the contest, 
 but not so that of the heir of the Empire. Hence 
 Comte Clary was instructed to take the Prince to 
 Mezieres, and to keep, en route , as near the army 
 as possible. The Prince combated his father’s 
 order with a vehemence not natural to his cha- 
 racter ; but the Emperor was firm. The separa- 
 tion was a cruel one, and both parent and child 
 were melted to tears. It was the only time the 
 Emperor’s stoicism really gave way. But the 
 parting took place, nor did the father and son 
 again meet until, alike exiles from France, in the 
 little village of Chislehurst. What a contrast did 
 that meeting present, in its quiet surroundings to 
 the confusion, hot haste, and war-clash of their 
 parting ! 
 
 That night the Prince turned his back on the army 
 and his brief soldier life. A broken-down caleche 
 was purchased at a high price from a rustic farmer 
 near, and, accompanied by his aides-de-camp 
 and two guards, the Prince started for Mezieres. 
 Their route bordered so near the enemy, that 
 more than once the escort could distinguish the 
 Prussian helmets in the distance, and prepared to 
 repel any attack that might be made to carry off 
 their charge. Mezieres was at last reached in 
 safety at three p.m. Here the population received 
 the Prince with great empressement , and under 
 
1 4 2 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 the welcome given him the boy’s spirits for a time 
 revived. Hardly, however, had they concluded a 
 meal when a messenger from the Emperor arrived, 
 to bid Comte Clary take the Prince to Sedan, 
 where he would meet him. Starting at once, 
 Sedan was reached. Here the Prince was allowed 
 but one day’s rest, when another messenger 
 arrived from the Emperor to say that, having 
 received intelligence from a spy who had been 
 captured, that the Prussians were in close proximity 
 to Sedan, the Prince was at once to be taken back 
 to Mezieres. On receiving this news, Comte 
 Clary felt he had not a moment to lose, and even 
 then he feared his charge might be taken prisoner, 
 so, as fast as horses could carry them back, they went 
 to Mezieres. This time Comte Clary took a strong 
 guard of twenty mounted men with him, who, under 
 command of Sub-Lieutenant Watrin, surrounded 
 the Prince’s carriage. It was only when the 
 inhabitants of Sedan saw this hurried exit of the 
 Prince Imperial, that they really realized the 
 danger of their position. 
 
 It was the fourth time the Prince thus hastily 
 had travelled the road between Metz and Mezieres. 
 The enthusiasm of the populace at the latter place 
 helped to arouse the boy from his bewilderment 
 and grief. He was, however, too weary to do 
 more than take a hasty meal and retire to bed — 
 not, however, it was noticeable, before he had 
 knelt down and said his evening prayers, a duty 
 
Metz. 
 
 *43 
 
 he never, under any circumstances, omitted. Worn 
 out by fatigue, he soon slept soundly, and forgot 
 all trouble. Ah ! poor child, little did he know 
 during that sleep the scenes of horror his hasty 
 exit from Sedan had spared him. During those 
 hours a battle was begun in which 140,000 French 
 and 240,000 Prussians met in deadly conflict. A 
 fight was fought which lasted nearly two days, 
 and when it was ended 60,000 men were left dead 
 or dying on the field. No rumour of this battle 
 reached Mezieres ; but the governor of the town, 
 learning that Prussians had been seen in the vicinity, 
 informed Comte Clary of the near proximity of the 
 enemy. 
 
 Being assured that the rail to Paris via the 
 Herson line was still free, Comte Clary waited for 
 further orders from the Emperor. At ten p.m. a 
 telegram arrived at the prefecture to inform the 
 governor of Mezibres that the enemy were within 
 ten miles of the town. At this news there was no 
 longer any question of delay, and Comte Clary in- 
 stantlyawoke the Prince, who was in bed and asleep, 
 and informed him of his danger, and also that no 
 orders had been received from the Emperor as to his 
 destination. The brave boy rose up in bed, and 
 at once spoke of defending the town. “Would 
 the people of Mezieres help him to do so ? ” he 
 asked. It was explained to him that this could 
 not be, and that he must not remain longer in 
 it ; so, hastily dressing, in the dark night the 
 
144 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Prince once more set forth on his retreating 
 flight. 
 
 His escort halted first at Avesnes. Here the 
 governor of the town received the Prince, who 
 slept at his house. The next morning, at breakfast, 
 a line of French troops was signalized as coming 
 from Sedan. Anxious for news, Comte Clary rode 
 forth to meet them. At his first question, “ Where 
 is the Emperor?” the troop looked bewildered. 
 “ Have you not heard the news ? ” they asked in 
 a breath. “We have heard nothing,” replied 
 Comte Clary. The captain of the troop then 
 narrated the loss of the battle and the Emperor’s 
 surrender. Greatly distressed, Comte Clary re- 
 turned to his charge, but, fearing the effect 
 of the sad news on the Prince, he would not 
 tell him more than that it was necessary to leave 
 Avesnes at once ; and in a few hours the Prince 
 and his escort arrived at Landrecy ? This was a 
 far more fortified town than Avesnes, and there 
 the people not only took a pride in welcoming the 
 Emperor’s son, but offered at once to defend him 
 if it was necessary. So loyal were they that the 
 Prince received quite an ovation ; but he hardly 
 responded to the welcome, and was pale and 
 silent. Anxiety for his father, combined with 
 fatigue and excitement, were fast telling upon him. 
 
 In his hasty journey from Avesnes the Prince 
 had closely questioned Comte Clary as to what 
 was passing, but had received only evasive an- 
 
Metz. 
 
 145 
 
 swers, and the boy felt something was kept back, 
 whilst the dread of what it might be weighed him 
 down. At Landrecy, not being able to bear the 
 suspense longer, he again begged to be told the 
 worst ; but as his aides-de-camp had received no 
 official confirmation in respect to the Emperor’s 
 captivity, they still parried his questions as best 
 they could. 
 
 Meantime, after seeing the Prince housed in 
 safety at Landrecy, Comte Clary galloped back 
 to Avesnes, hoping there to gain more definite in- 
 formation. On the road he met Colonel d’Espa- 
 nille who was en route to Landrecy to learn what 
 had become of the Prince. This officer could tell 
 Comte Clary how the battle of Sedan had begun, 
 for of his own regiment only one hundred Hussars 
 remained alive ; but he knew nothing of its close, 
 of the capitulation of Sedan, or the Emperor’s 
 captivity. The two officers returned in company 
 to Landrecy, and held a council with the other 
 aides-de-camp what best to do. Its result was the 
 determination to remain where they were until 
 orders were received from the Empress, and Com- 
 mandant Duperre started for Paris at once to learn 
 her wishes. He returned with the worst news of 
 all. To the utter defeat of the entire French army 
 was added treason and civil war in the capital. 
 
 In the Emperor’s absence, the democratic party 
 had seized the occasion to declare a Republic. 
 On hearing this the Prince’s friends were in unison 
 
 L 
 
146 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 that they had not a moment to lose. It was 
 night before Colonel Duperre had returned with the 
 intelligence, nevertheless a start must be made 
 without delay ; and at once rousing the Prince 
 from his sleep, they took him to Maubeuge as 
 fast as they could travel. Here Comte Clary at 
 once went into the town to seek a shelter for his 
 charge. This was no easy matter. News of the 
 state of things in Paris was already known, and 
 the Imperial child was not favourably received in 
 the place. 
 
 At last Comte Clary met with a friend in Madame 
 Marchant, the widow of a former Senator of the 
 Empire, who offered the Prince an asylum in her 
 house. True it was small, but it was a friendly 
 shelter, which at that moment was indeed needed, 
 and a room was at once prepared for him. 
 
 Meantime the town was soon filled with 
 Prussians, whilst posters on its walls proclaimed 
 the fall of Sedan, the Emperor’s captivity, &c. 
 It was useless longer to keep the Prince ignorant 
 of the event, and Colonel Duperre broke to him 
 the extent of his father’s downfall. 
 
 At first the Prince, mastering his emotion, 
 called pride to his aid, and in the presence of 
 strangers tried to act the man. “ The Emperor,” 
 he said, “ had done his duty, and could not expect 
 a better fate than his soldiers ; and like his father, 
 he must resign himself to the worst.” As soon, 
 however, as Colonel Duperrd had left, and he 
 
Metz. 
 
 147 
 
 was alone, his assumed pride gave way, and 
 throwing himself on a sofa, the boy sobbed as if 
 his heart would break. During his paroxysm of 
 grief a telegram arrived from Paris. It was from 
 his tutor, M. Filon, and contained these words : 
 “ Partez pour la Belgique.” Hardly had this 
 been read when another telegram followed ; this 
 time it was from the Emperor : “ Je suis prisonnier 
 du Roi de Prusse. Amenez le Prince en Angle- 
 terre. NAPOLEON.” 
 
 It appeared from its date that this last telegram 
 had, owing to the confusion which reigned every- 
 where, been three days en route , travelling from 
 town to town, before it was received at Avesnes 
 and forwarded to Landrecy. Comte Clary and the 
 other aides-de-camp again held a council. The 
 decision this time was that they must at once not 
 only leave Maubeuge, but France itself. Never 
 before; had the Prince’s guardians been more 
 anxious about him. 
 
 It was no longer the Prussians they had to fear, 
 but the French Revolutionists ; and already the 
 town of Maubeuge was full of these persons. 
 
 The railway officials and the telegraph clerks had 
 all revolted, and the Prince and his suite could 
 neither leave Maubeuge or France without fear of 
 capture ; nor could they telegraph to Paris what to 
 do. At this juncture, Madame Marchant again 
 stood the Prince’s friend, and offered her little 
 carriage to drive him to the next station on the road. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 When told by Comte Clary that it had become 
 necessary he should escape in disguise, as he 
 could no longer remain in safety, civil war having 
 broken out in France, the Prince exhibited great 
 indignation. His pride was outraged. At first 
 he declared he would stop and take the conse- 
 quences ; but when told this could not be, he 
 burst into tears, and said, “ the hardest thing of 
 all was to be driven out of France by Frenchmen.” 
 
 There was not time to argue the matter; and 
 on the 3rd of September, at four p.m., dressed as 
 a peasant boy, in cap and blouse, the Prince Im- 
 perial of France made his exit from Madame 
 Marchant’s friendly roof through the garden, by a 
 little door which opened on a back pathway to 
 a yard beyond. Near here, a small one-horse 
 carriage was in attendance. Comte Clary was 
 also dressed as a peasant, and their disguises saved 
 them. Taking a back road through the town, 
 they reached the station beyond Maubeuge in 
 safety. Here Comte Clary took third-class tickets, 
 and entering the train with his charge, they passed 
 the French frontiers. During the transit the 
 Prince was more than once recognized, but never 
 betrayed. One old woman who occupied the same 
 carriage knew him, it appeared, when he entered 
 it, but restrained her tongue until the train had 
 passed the frontier. Then she could contain 
 herself no longer, but at Mons she crossed over to 
 the side where he sat, and said in pitying tones, as 
 
Metz. 
 
 149 
 
 she stroked his hand, “ Pauvre petit Prince ! pauvre 
 petit Prince ! ” This at once made him an object 
 of curiosity to others ; and the news that the Prince 
 Imperial was in the train, brought numerous 
 persons to the windows wherever they stopped, to 
 look at him. Poor child ! how different was his 
 exit from Paris to the seat of war, to that of his 
 flight from the soil of France. The curiosity, and 
 the remarks made at his expense, did not, however, 
 seem to trouble the Prince much. The boy was, 
 in reality, too much overburthened with sorrow to 
 heed them. His very disguise he looked upon as 
 a disgrace. Nor did he ask where he was being 
 taken to ; for a time every sense seemed swallowed 
 up in the thought of being driven out of his 
 country by his father’s people. 
 
 The first stopping-place was Namur, where they 
 arrived at midnight. Three officers of the Im- 
 perial army had gone on in advance to seek shelter 
 here, and the Governor placed his house at the 
 Prince’s disposal. 
 
 After a rest and a meal, the Prince seemed to 
 recover power of mind and energy ; but his one 
 thought was for his parents, who were separated,, 
 and each alike in trouble. At Namur, Comte Clary 
 learned that the Emperor was at Venders, and tele- 
 graphed to him that the Prince, with himself and his 
 aides-de-camp, were at Namur, and in safety. The 
 Emperor’s reply was to beg Comte Clary to bring 
 his son to him to Verviers to say good-bye, before 
 
150 Life of the Prinu imperial of France. 
 
 he was taken to Wilhelmshohe. The distance 
 was not great, but Comte Clary feared the excite- 
 ment would prove too much for the Prince, 
 physically and mentally, and repaired at once to 
 Verviers himself, to tell the Emperor he dared not 
 bring him. 
 
 Comte Clary found Napoleon III. seated on 
 a bench at the railway station at Verviers, 
 where he had been for some time, his head 
 bowed on his hands, surrounded by Prussians, 
 who, however, showed him every mark of respect. 
 It was a bitter disappointment to the Emperor 
 when he found Comte Clary had arrived without 
 his son. In all his trouble he had looked for this 
 last indulgence. When, however, he learnt the 
 cause, he at once abandoned the idea of seeing 
 him, and decided that Comte Clary should return 
 without loss of time, and convey the Prince 
 Imperial to England. Bidding his royal master 
 a sad farewell, Comte Clary went back to Namur, 
 from which place he proceeded with his charge to 
 Ostend, landing at Dover on the 8th of September. 
 It was little more than a month since the Prince 
 had left Paris ; but in the events of that month he 
 left his childhood behind him — one may almost 
 say his boyhood — and thenceforth his countenance 
 assumed the serious half-melancholy expression so 
 habitual to it when in repose. On deck, in his 
 transit from Ostend to Dover, he is reported to 
 have sat with bowed head, and with his eyes 
 
turned towards France, as long as the coast was 
 visible, and then to have wept sorely. From 
 Dover the Prince was taken, by the Emperor’s 
 wish, to Hastings, where he waited at an hotel in 
 that town under Comte Clary’s charge, until the 
 Empress joined him, a few days later, after her 
 flight from Paris. 
 
1 5 2 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SEDAN. 
 
 Farewell to thee, France ! but when liberty rallies, 
 
 Yet still in thine annals remember me then. 
 
 The violet still grows in the depths of thy valleys ; 
 
 Tho’ wither’d, thy tear can unfold it again. 
 
 AFTER parting with the Prince Imperial, the Em- 
 peror in due course joined the army at Sedan, 
 which was being massed there to the number of 
 140,000 men previous to the battle of the 2nd of 
 September. He arrived at Sedan again in a 
 cattle-truck, the road being blocked up for rail 
 and carriage traffic. Sedan is a town in the pro- 
 vince of Ardennes, situated on the east side of 
 the Meuse. It contains a fortress, which was of 
 immense importance to France as a defence on the 
 side of Luxembourg, an arsenal, barracks, and a 
 military hospital, besides a castle on an eminence 
 overlooking the town. 
 
 An idea of the crowded state of the road to 
 Sedan may be gathered from the fact that, owing 
 to the troops, artillery, ammunition, and war pre- 
 
Sedan. 
 
 153 
 
 parations which blocked it, the Emperor’s four g on , 
 or private carriage, containing his personalities, 
 money, decorations, &c., which left Carignon at 
 ten p.m. the previous night, did not arrive at Sedan 
 until eleven a.m. the next day, albeit it was drawn 
 by four horses, and the distance was only about 
 sixteen miles. 
 
 At Sedan the Emperor occupied the Prefecture, 
 where he slept. At five a.m. the next day, his 
 servant relates that, hearing the sound of cannon, 
 he hastily entered the Emperor’s bedroom and 
 awoke him : “ Sire, the battle has begun.” 
 
 “ Comment, si tot ? ” was the Emperor’s reply. 
 
 “ Yes, sire ; listen, and you will hear firing.” 
 
 The Emperor arose and went to the window. 
 There he saw Marshal MacMahon, who lodged 
 opposite, in the act of mounting. The Emperor 
 instantly called for his horse, and bade his staff 
 prepare to take the field at once. His servant 
 brought him a cup of tea, which he took, and 
 snatching a piece of dry bread, ate it as he went 
 downstairs. While mounting, Marshal MacMahon 
 passed by him, being carried back, wounded, into 
 the town. The Emperor spoke a few words to 
 him, and then galloped to the scene of action. 
 For the next five hours Napoleon III. might have 
 been seen wherever the fire was hottest, doing all 
 he could to encourage the soldiers and assist the 
 wounded. The fight was a desperate one, but 
 the Prussians outnumbered their opponents by 
 
154 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 two to one, if not more. Seeing how the day was 
 going, Napoleon is said to have courted death over 
 and over again ; but like Roderick of old, the last 
 King of the Goths, under similar circumstances, 
 although brave men fell thickly around him, he 
 seemed to bear a charmed life, and was never even 
 once struck. 
 
 Meantime the enemy devastated the town with 
 their mitrailleuses from the neighbouring heights, 
 and shot and shell poured in so fast that the in- 
 habitants knew not where to find shelter. Within 
 an hour of the time the Emperor left for the field 
 the house he slept in was shattered to pieces. 
 Some of his household, among others the one 
 who gave me a viva voce account of the day’s 
 fight, entered a glazed cabaret close to the river in 
 which wounded men had been brought, and whose 
 wounds the Red Cross Brotherhood were dressing. 
 Hardly were they seated when a shell fell on the 
 roof, and burst, the glass fragments covering its 
 inmates. 
 
 At eleven a.m. the Emperor and his staff were 
 seen recrossing the little bridge over the Meuse into 
 the town ; when arrived in the centre of it, a shell 
 fell in the midst of the staff, and bursting, the 
 pieces struck two of the horses, who fell, and threw 
 their riders, both of whom were wounded. 
 
 The Emperor was quite calm, but looked so grave 
 that it was evident he had abandoned all hope. 
 He re-entered the town under a heavy fire. The 
 
Sedan. 
 
 155 
 
 battle continued all that day, and the carnage was 
 fearful. The Emperor would have returned to the 
 field early in the afternoon, but the streets were 
 impassable. 
 
 Towards evening, the state of things, instead of 
 being better, grew worse. The French soldiers 
 fell by thousands, and those that survived, de- 
 prived of all hope, had no spirit to rally or re- 
 trieve their loss, and were almost in a state of 
 mutiny. 
 
 The King of Prussia, wishing to stop the blood- 
 shed, sent to the Governor of the town of Sedan 
 to demand a capitulation. The latter indignantly 
 refused. The Prussians then closed nearer round 
 the town, and poured in shot and shell again with 
 terrible effect. The streets of the town were 
 literally cut to pieces with mitrailleuses. 
 
 The Emperor’s position at this time was no un- 
 enviable one. Although without military power in 
 the army, yet all turned to him for redress and 
 advice ; and appeals, telegrams, messages, beset 
 him at every turn. 
 
 “ Sire,” said one, “ the soldiers are in mutiny ; 
 in another hour the army will be gone.” 
 
 11 Sire, the commissariat has failed.” 
 
 “ Sire, there are only a few more rounds of 
 ammunition to be had.” 
 
 “ Sire, stop this butchery if you can.” 
 
 From the municipality of Sedan came another 
 appeal : — 
 
156 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ Sire, the town is being fired in every part : 
 have pity on the women and the children,” &c., 
 &c. 
 
 At last, Napoleon, deeming it inhuman to pro- 
 long any longer a battle in which the odds were 
 so fearful that every hour that it lasted thousands 
 of his troops were killed, took upon himself to send 
 an officer with the white flag of truce to the King of 
 Prussia. He bore this message from the Emperor : 
 
 “ Not being able to die at the head of my army, 
 I lay my sword at the feet of your Majesty.” 
 
 This act of Napoleon III. must ever be con- 
 sidered one of self-sacrifice. Had he chosen to 
 desert the army, and return to Paris, it is possible 
 that, even at the eleventh hour, he might have 
 reinstated himself on his throne. To his credit it 
 must be said he did not think of himself. His one 
 desire was to save a remnant at least of his army, and 
 by his own surrender prevent further bloodshed. 
 
 Before the Emperor had left Paris he had pro- 
 vided for the interests of the capital ; and he had 
 no doubt, when the authorities heard how the 
 day at Sedan had gone, and that he was a 
 prisoner, that the Regency would organize a 
 defence of the city, and from thence make 
 honourable conditions of peace with the conqueror. 
 So then thought Napoleon ; and this might have 
 taken place, and France been saved much of its 
 after humiliation, had its people been united and 
 faithful alike to their country and their sovereign. 
 
Sedan. 
 
 157 
 
 When the Emperor had been forced into a resig- 
 nation of the command of the army by those 
 whom he had himself entrusted with the reins of 
 government in his absence, he felt there must be 
 treason in the camp, or such a request would 
 never have been made ; but he did not know how 
 deep its venom had spread through all ranks, or 
 that the revolutionary party had so matured their 
 scheme as to be ready to sacrifice the honour of 
 France itself, in order to use its downfall as a 
 stepping-stone to power. 
 
 Unity might have defended the capital, and 
 chased the enemy from the soil of France under 
 conditions of an honourable peace. The Repub- 
 lican citizens refused to assist in its defence, but 
 stood silent spectators, if not abettors, of its siege, 
 only waiting for the complete defeat of their city 
 to set up their own standard within its ruins. 
 
 The consequence was that the conqueror, taking 
 advantage of this state of internal confusion, 
 marched into Paris, and there made his own terms 
 of peace. History furnishes no example of such 
 an utter and crushing defeat as the French sus- 
 tained in this, commonly known as the Franco- 
 Prussian war of 1870-71. 
 
 That night the sound of cannon, and the deadly 
 fire which had for so many hours devastated 
 Sedan, ceased, and in the stillness which followed 
 the dead were buried and the wounded attended to. 
 
 At five a.m. next morning, on the 3rd of 
 
158 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 September, the Emperor, who had been under 
 Prussian surveillance during the night, entered a 
 carriage, accompanied by a Prussian officer of high 
 rank and an escort of Prussian troops, and drove 
 along the road to Donchery, where it had been 
 arranged the previous day that the treaty for 
 capitulation should be made with Comte Bismarck. 
 The latter was in bed when he was told the 
 Emperor was en route to confer with him. He 
 instantly rose, mounted his horse, and went outside 
 the town to meet the fallen sovereign. The 
 Emperor descended from his carriage, and Comte 
 Bismarck, alighting from his horse, stood, hat in 
 hand, waiting for the Emperor to speak. This act 
 of courtesy, slight as it was, reassured Napoleon 
 that he would be treated with the dignity due to his 
 rank, and he bid Comte Bismarck put on his hat. 
 
 “ Sire, I receive you as I would my own royal 
 master,” was the Comte’s reply; and he still re- 
 mained uncovered, till again told to put on his hat. 
 
 The Emperor then re-entered his carriage, and 
 Comte Bismarck rode by his side until they reached 
 Donchery. 
 
 Just outside the town there was a small wayside 
 house, and the Emperor, doubtless shrinking from 
 being made a spectacle of within the town, re- 
 quested that the conference might take place 
 there, and alighted. Outside the house was a 
 terrace, and the proprietor brought out two chairs, 
 and placed them there. These the Emperor and 
 
Sedan. 
 
 159 
 
 Comte Bismarck occupied, while the general 
 officers who formed their suite fell back out of 
 earshot. The Emperor then commenced that 
 memorable conversation by saying “that while he 
 surrendered himself and his army, it must be clearly 
 understood he could not compromise the Govern- 
 ment of Paris, or enter into any political engage- 
 ments himself. He had,” he said, “ no power to 
 negotiate a peace, as he had vested all power, 
 during his absence from Paris, with the Regent 
 and her ministers.” Napoleon then pressed Comte 
 Bismarck to take him to see the King of Prussia. 
 The latter respectfully told him he could not do 
 so until the capitulation of Sedan was formally 
 signed. 
 
 When this, in due time, was done, the two 
 kings, or rather the King of Prussia and the 
 Emperor of the French, met at Chateau Belle 
 Vue, a country house in a village near. King 
 William of Prussia was, it is said, much affected 
 during this interview, for in previous years the 
 French Emperor and himself had been on terms 
 of great friendship. The King behaved in a very 
 handsome manner to his adversary, and assigned 
 the Emperor, during the time he was the prisoner 
 of Prussia, the Chateau of Wilhelmshohe as his 
 residence, a retreat worthy of its illustrious 
 occupant. 
 
 The Emperor remained that day and night in 
 the Chateau Belle Vue, and on September 4th 
 
160 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 started, under a strong Prussian escort, for Wil- 
 helmshohe. At his own request he was taken via 
 Belgium, not wishing, under the humiliating cir- 
 cumstances in which he was placed, to pass 
 through French territory. 
 
 The Emperor’s meeting with Comte Clary at 
 Verviers, and his disappointment at not seeing his 
 son there, have already been noted. 
 
 The Imperial prisoner, who was allowed a large 
 retinue of his own household, reached Wilhelms- 
 hohe on the 5th of September, and was received with 
 the same marks of respect as though he were still 
 in power. As he passed into the castle the 
 guards presented arms, whilst every possible 
 arrangement had been made by his Conqueror for 
 his comfort and convenience. Worn out, how- 
 ever, in body and mind, the Emperor was for 
 some days prostrate, whilst the anxiety to know 
 how it fared with the Empress and his son de- 
 prived him of rest. It was a week before he 
 learnt of their safety, and not until events had 
 arrived at a climax in Paris, and the Empress 
 been obliged to flee from France for very life’s 
 sake. 
 
 We must, however, take a brief sketch of the 
 course of events in Paris, from the period the 
 Emperor left St. Cloud to join the army at Metz, 
 to the time which saw him the prisoner of the 
 King of Prussia at Wilhelmshohe and the Empress 
 a fugitive from Paris. 
 
1 6 1 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE EMPRESS REGENT. 
 
 “ Lo ! crush’d she lies, who once, of all the earth 
 Reign’d its one pride and joy ; above her head 
 Droop the dark wings of mourning ; whose sad brow 
 Is sear’d and wrinkled with a stormy grief. 
 
 Her eyes, that brilliant as twin stars in cloudless sky 
 Once sparkled, now are heavy, and are dimm’d ; 
 And, bloodshot, seek the heavens ; while her lips, 
 Pale as the mountain snows, gasp out her woe.” 
 
 We must now return to the Empress Regent’s 
 position at Paris, the difficulties of which it would 
 be impossible to exaggerate, and who exhibited a 
 firmness and courage in her hour of trial which 
 deserves the highest encomium. When defeat 
 instead of victory occurred to the army, the 
 Regent was the first person attacked, and there 
 were many who threw the blame of the war on her 
 alone, saying “ she had forced it on the Emperor.’’ 
 Nothing, however, in writing or from the mouth of 
 any dependable witness, has ever transpired to 
 
 M 
 
1 62 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 confirm such a view. The war was the logical 
 consequence of that of 1866, and the feelings then 
 aroused in France against Prussia. That it was 
 both imprudent and unwise no one questions, but 
 the matter was fully discussed in both the French 
 Senate and Corps Legislatif, and therefore the 
 responsibility cannot be attached to any one 
 person. That the Empress was grieved to part 
 with her husband and son, and yet bent to the 
 necessity, is shown from the following letter to her 
 mother, the Comtesse Montijo : — 
 
 “ Louis goes in a few days to the war with his 
 father. I beg you will send him your blessing 
 first. Do not be anxious about him, he must learn 
 to support the duties and the honour of his 
 name. 
 
 “ Eugenie. 
 
 “ St. Cloud, July, 1870.” 
 
 The first news of the reverse of the French 
 arms reached the Empress through the following 
 telegram from the Emperor : “ Le Marechal Mac- 
 Mahon a perdu une bataille sur la Sarre. Le General 
 Frossard a ete oblige de se retirer. La retraite 
 s’opere en bon ordre ; tout peut se retablir.” 
 
 That day, 8th August, 1870, at eleven a.m., all 
 France learnt the news of its first disaster, the 
 Empress causing the following proclamation to be 
 placarded : “ Frenchmen, the fortunes of war have 
 not been favourable. Our arms have received a 
 
The Empress Regent. 1 63 
 
 check. Be strong, however, under this reverse, 
 and let us hasten to repair it.” 
 
 The French people, ever either elated or cast 
 down, at once took the gloomiest view of the 
 position. A cabinet council was called, and M. 
 Ollivier telegraphed to the Emperor that its unani- 
 mous opinion was that the Prince Imperial should 
 at once be recalled. To this telegram the Em- 
 press added in cipher, “For reasons I cannot here 
 explain, I wish Louis to remain with the army.” 
 Before the Emperor left Paris, the Republican 
 party had been strong in the Chambers, and they 
 now took advantage of the moment when dissatis- 
 faction was rife to push forward their own ambitious 
 views, and contentious voices were heard suggest- 
 ing the Emperor’s resignation of the command of 
 the army, &c. 
 
 On the 9th of August, M. Schneider, the 
 Ministre de l’Interieur, while reading a decree of 
 convocation after a special sitting of the House, 
 omitted the name of the Regent, whilst the timorous 
 who dared not as yet attack the Emperor, con- 
 demned Marshal Le Boeuf, General Failly, and 
 General Frossard, demanding their resignation, 
 and accusing them as the cause of the disasters. 
 These reports came to the Empress’s ears, and 
 she wrote to the Emperor the position of things, 
 begging him to consult Marshal Bazaine, in whom 
 alone the people showed confidence. 
 
 M. Ollivier also wrote, to say that Dejean was 
 M 2 
 
164 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 not trusted, and if the Government did not take 
 the initiative, the House would be broken up, and 
 begging the Emperor to authorize him to nominate 
 General Trochu, adding, “ If you do not, public 
 opinion will.” 
 
 This was a significant act. General Trochu was 
 very popular for several reasons ; first, he had 
 been averse to the war ; second, he had written a 
 work called “ L’Armee en 1867,” in which he had 
 exposed its maladministration ; and on the 7th of 
 August, M. Ollivier had called the General to 
 act as Minister of War, but he had declined, 
 saying “ his acceptance could not retard the 
 disruption of the Cabinet ; whilst, if obliged to 
 explain his views of the position, he should only 
 compromise instead of serve the Government.” 
 
 On the 9th August, a special meeting of the 
 Corps Legislatif was called ; whilst sitting, it was 
 surrounded by crowds, in the midst of which were 
 a handful only of unarmed National Guards. At 
 this sitting, Marshal Baraguay D’Hilliers, was made 
 Governor of Paris, by virtue of the law of “L’Etat 
 du Siege,” and he surrounded the city at once 
 by a cordon of troops. Outside the Corps Legis- 
 latif, the overthrow of the Ministry was loudly 
 called for, and also that the National Guard should 
 be armed ; while protests against the Emperor fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 “ He promised peace, and in a week he has 
 plunged us in war.— He said we were ready, and 
 
The Empress Regent. 165 
 
 we were not. — He undertook to command, and 
 led us on to defeat,” &c. M. Ollivier from the 
 tribune tried to calm the excitement, saying, 
 “ that at that date, but a few of the troops had 
 even been engaged — that the position would soon 
 be recovered — that the army had been compro- 
 mised,” &c. 
 
 “Yes,” said M. Jules Favre, rising, “by its 
 Head.” 
 
 Upon this the storm burst forth, and as its re- 
 sult fourteen members retired ; whereon General 
 Trochu was chosen President of the Council, and 
 asked to form a Ministry. 
 
 This step was a prelude to the overthrow of the 
 monarchy, as by imposing upon the Emperor a 
 First Minister chosen by the new constitution, it 
 was literally placing him in leading-strings. M. 
 Jules Favre then rose again, and in the name of 
 the Left made two propositions, one to arm the 
 National Guard of Paris at once ; this was received 
 with violent opposition ; he then modified it to the 
 National Guard of France, and the urgency of the 
 step was accepted. His second proposition was 
 that it was indispensable that the Ministry should 
 be concentrated under one head, and that not the 
 Emperor' s. 
 
 His Majesty had, he said, been unfortunate, and 
 lost the confidence of the people, and things had 
 arrived at such a pass that the new Government 
 must take the reins, or ruin would follow. 
 
1 66 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 On this, M. Granier de Cassagnac mounted the 
 tribune and said, “ If he had had a seat in the 
 Government, he would bring all the members pre- 
 sent beneath a Council of War. The Chamber, 
 however, called for a vote of urgency, and M. Jules 
 Favre’s proposition was carried by a large ma- 
 jority. Meantime the Empress’s position was 
 growing desperate. She telegraphed to the Em- 
 peror : “ Dismiss Le Boeuf, and make Palikao 
 Minister of War. He accepts, and starts at once 
 for Metz. Situation serious.” Still the Emperor 
 hesitated to dismiss General Le Boeuf, in whom he 
 had a blind confidence. The Empress telegraphed 
 again. 
 
 “ You do not understand the position. Le 
 Boeuf’s presence with the army creates suspicion 
 and disorder.” She also wrote herself to the 
 General, entreating him, by his former devotion, to 
 resign. ‘‘We all have to make sacrifices,” she 
 said, “ and I ask this of you.” The General 
 obeyed, and the Empress telegraphed back her 
 thanks. 
 
 At this juncture the Emperor seriously thought 
 of returning to Paris, or at any rate of send- 
 ing back the Prince Imperial, as the Ministers 
 had written they trembled for the Dynasty. His 
 best friends at Metz advised both returning, the 
 Emperor’s state of health being such that his 
 physicians forbade horse-exercise; but Napoleon 
 III. was beset by such a web of difficulties, he knew 
 
The Empress Regent. 
 
 167 
 
 not what to do for the best. The Empress wrote 
 to him through M. Pietri, “ Have you well reflected 
 on the consequences of your return under adverse 
 circumstances ? I dare not advise one way or 
 the other. If you come, it must be as the organizer 
 of a new army but she hinted, his best friends 
 in Paris thought his return dangerous. 
 
 After the Emperor left Paris, all war news was 
 centered at Le Ministere de 1 ’Interieur. where tele- 
 grams were received and opened, except the private 
 ones from the Emperor to the Empress, which were 
 written in cipher; these were taken at once to the 
 Regent. On Saturday, the 3rd of September, a 
 private telegram for the Empress arrived ; M. 
 Chevreau, the Ministre de 1 ’Interieur carried it him- 
 self at once to the Tuileries, asked to see the Em- 
 press, and handed her the telegram, which she 
 hastily tore open. As soon as she had read it, she 
 uttered a terrible cry and sank into a chair, bury- 
 ing her face in her hands. She remained thus in 
 silence, until M. Chevreau, who had retired to 
 another part of the room, came up, and respect- 
 fully touching her, asked if the news was bad. 
 She gave him the telegram to read. Its wording 
 was : “ The army is defeated and captured, and 
 I am a prisoner. — Napoleon.” 
 
 “ This blow is indeed terrible, Madame,” said 
 M. Chevreau, “but moments are precious.” 
 
 “ What is to be done ? ” asked the Em- 
 press. 
 
1 68 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ Try to save France/’ was M. Chevreau’s re- 
 
 “ By what means ?” asked the Empress. 
 
 “We must see! General Trochu has the con- 
 fidence of the people,” replied M. Chevreau. 
 
 The Empress raised her head, and looked 
 searchingly at the Ministre de l’lnterieur, who 
 continued : “ Trochu must save Paris. Let him 
 mount his horse, and personally rally the citizens 
 to resistance. Let him organize a defence of 
 cannon and soldiers.” 
 
 “ Don’t think it,” said the Empress. “ Trochu 
 will never do it.” 
 
 “ Will your Majesty authorize me to see him, 
 and propose it ? ” 
 
 “Yes, well — in my name; in my name,” replied 
 the Empress.” 
 
 M. Chevreau then left to do so, and to call a 
 Cabinet meeting at once. 
 
 When General Trochu heard the news, all he 
 remarked was, “Well, it is nothing more than I 
 expected. All has come to pass as I predicted.” 
 And when requested to wait at once on the 
 Empress, he declined, saying he was tired, had just 
 come from the camp, and had not dined.” 
 
 M. Chevreau’s eyes were then opened, and as 
 he left he remarked to some one, “We are 
 betrayed.” 
 
 The Cabinet Council met, and the Empress 
 entered and took her seat among her Ministers. 
 
The Empress Regent. 
 
 169 
 
 Her face was pale but resolute, and her eye turned 
 from one to the other, as if she would read their 
 countenances, to learn whom she could trust. 
 “ Sit down, gentlemen,” she said. “ I have the 
 gravest news for you. Our army is not only 
 beaten, but the Emperor is a prisoner. The King 
 of Prussia makes war, not against France, but 
 against the Empire. The Emperor has given 
 himself up, hoping thus to obtain better conditions 
 for the army. He has not, however, attempted 
 to open any negotiations with the enemy.” 
 
 The Empress’s words were spoken in short sen- 
 tences, as though she fought a battle with herself 
 even to utter them. Then nature asserted herself, 
 and she burst into a flood of tears, saying, “ Poor, 
 poor France ! The Emperor, oh how he must be 
 suffering ! And my child, where is he?” and she 
 clasped her hands in agony. The distraction of 
 her grief moved all present ; the domestic sorrow 
 of a wife and mother was enough to melt any 
 heart. All at once, with a strong effort, the 
 Empress conquered her emotion : “ Pardon me, 
 gentlemen,” she said, “ I am no longer mistress 
 of myself ; but you must not think of me, but of 
 France, and without a moment’s delay we must 
 return to the exigencies of the hour, and I request 
 each member of the Cabinet to express his opinion 
 what is best to be done.” 
 
 M. Schneider was the first to speak; others 
 followed. Opinions varied, but it was unani- 
 
1 70 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 mously decided that the Assembly should not be 
 called until the next day, and that a proclamation, 
 signed by all the Ministers, should be placarded 
 that evening (Saturday), addressed to the people 
 of Paris, and calling on the inhabitants to defend 
 the city. 
 
 The Empress expressed her hope that in the 
 presence of such a national disaster the Opposition 
 would restrain its animosities, and second the efforts 
 of a resolute woman for their common safety. 
 This was her only mistaken confidence. The 
 Opposition neither troubled themselves about the 
 honour or peril of France ; it only saw in the 
 defeat of Sedan an opportunity for advancing its 
 own ambitious views. Before the Council sepa- 
 rated they asked the Empress what her intentions 
 were relative to her own safety, as it was not im- 
 possible that the Tuileries might be invaded in the 
 night. 
 
 The Empress’s brave answer was : “She begged 
 an order might be given to the troops not to fire 
 upon the people, as she would not, on any 
 account, that a drop of blood was shed in pre- 
 serving her life;” and she added, — 
 
 “ If there were but one battalion left to be dis- 
 posed of, they must be used to face the enemy, 
 and not the rioters.” The Ministers then sepa- 
 rated, to meet again later ; but the President, 
 yielding to the views of outside friends, took upon 
 himself to call together the Corps Legislatif, 
 
The Empress Regent. 1 7 1 
 
 without waiting to consult the Government. The 
 perplexity of the members when they met again 
 was great, as the riot was hourly increasing ; 
 but the Empress had so strongly expressed her 
 wishes that the troops should not fire on the 
 rioters, that the usual means of subjugation 
 could not be resorted to. An adjournment of 
 all discussion was therefore proposed by the 
 Cabinet until the next day. The only proposition 
 in which all agreed, was M. Jules Favre’s, that 
 a change of Government was necessary. 
 
 Half the Cabinet, after this meeting, proceeded 
 to the Rue de la Sonodiere and organized a plot 
 to upset the Assembly. The other half, more 
 patriotic, sought means to meet the necessity of 
 the position without breaking their oaths. Among 
 these last was M. Buffet; and after some dis- 
 cussion it was arranged that he should next day 
 seek the Empress, with M. Daru and two other 
 members, who, as deputies from the Left, should 
 advise her to place in the hands of the Corps 
 Legislatif the exercise of executive power, inviting 
 her to constitute a commission of Government, 
 reserving to herself the right to consult the nation 
 as soon as possible. 
 
 Before narrating this interview, the situation of 
 things outside the Tuileries must be glanced at. 
 At four p.m. on the Saturday night the populace 
 learned from General Palikao, the Minister of 
 War, the awful news of the fall of Sedan, and 
 
172 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 the capture of the army and its Emperor. The 
 fact spread like wildfire. 
 
 At first the people were incredulous ; and could 
 not take in that their beloved army was entirely 
 surrounded. But as conviction broke upon them, 
 their fury knew no bounds, and crowds, growing 
 denser every minute, filled the streets, and from 
 the Place de la Madeleine to the Bastille it was 
 like a sea of heads. The excitement of the mob 
 was terrible, but this was increased when, from 
 the balcony of his house in the Place de la 
 Madeleine, M. Jules Simon harangued the crowds, 
 and from him first came the words “ Decheance ! 
 abas l’lmperatrice ! ” It was like striking a match 
 to gunpowder, and down the length of the crowded 
 streets the cry was taken up, and “ Decheance ! 
 decheance ! (abdication) a bas l’lmperatrice ! ” re- 
 sounded like a hungry howl from street to street. 
 
 Jules Simon then invited, in a violent speech, 
 followers to meet him and his party on the Place de 
 la Concorde at twelve the next day (Sunday), 
 when his colleagues would address them. Still 
 the crowd thickened, and still louder grew their 
 fury, and they made for the Rue Rivoli and the 
 Place de la Concorde. 
 
 An eye-witness of the scene at eight p.m. on 
 that Saturday told me that — her husband being 
 a member of the press, and ill — she courageously 
 traversed the Place de la Concorde through these 
 dense masses, till she arrived at the Tuileries, to 
 
The Empress Regent. 1 73 
 
 gather the fullest account she could for her 
 husband’s daily letter for the press. The sight 
 was so fearful, she said, she should never forget it. 
 The vociferations, the fury, the actions of the 
 mob gathered together, were more like fiends than 
 human beings, and the greater part remained 
 there through the night. 
 
 On the next morning (Sunday, 4th), the Em- 
 press rose at six a.m., visited the ambulances she 
 had organized in the Tuileries under the care of 
 Sisters of Charity, attended mass in the private 
 chapel, and from thence gave audience to M. 
 Buffet and his party. These gentlemen later 
 testified on oath exactly what passed during this 
 interview, the text of which is published in a 
 pamphlet called “ L’Imperatrice et l’Enquete du 
 4 de Septembre.” 
 
 When M. Buffet and his colleagues had made 
 known their mission, to which the Empress listened 
 with calm dignity, she spoke. 
 
 “ What you propose, gentlemen, makes a re- 
 servation for the future, but on the condition that 
 I abandon in the hour of peril the post that has 
 been confided to me. I cannot do so ; I will not 
 consent ; I ought not to do so.” 
 
 “ The future,” continued the Empress, “ is at 
 this moment what concerns me least of all. I do 
 not mean the future of France, but of the Napo- 
 leonic dynasty. Believe me, gentlemen, the 
 anguish I now suffer is so terrible that at this 
 
174 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 moment the thought of preserving the crown for 
 the Emperor and my son affects me but little. 
 My only anxiety, my only ambition, is to fulfil in 
 all their length and breadth the duties of my 
 position. If you think, if the Corps Legislatif 
 thinks, that I am in their way — that the name of 
 the Emperor is an impediment and not a power for 
 good to organize resistance — let the House of 
 Assembly pronounce 1 la ddcheance.’ I will 
 not complain. I can then quit my post with 
 honour, and no one can say of me that I have 
 deserted it. I am, however, myself convinced 
 that the only reasonable state of things, and the 
 only patriotic one, is for the representatives of the 
 country to draw closer round my Government and 
 to renounce for the time being all internal ques- 
 tions of difference. If we closely unite all our 
 efforts to repel the invasion, we may do so. I 
 am prepared myself to meet every danger, and 
 to follow the Corps Legislatif wherever it will 
 organize a resistance. 
 
 “ If this resistance is in effect pronounced by 
 them impossible, I think I may still be useful in 
 obtaining better conditions of peace. Yesterday 
 the representative of a great Power offered me 
 a mediation of neutral States on two conditions, 
 viz. the integrity of the territory of France, and the 
 maintenance of the Imperial Dynasty. I replied 
 that I was prepared to accept a mediation on the 
 first point, but the second I refused most decidedly. 
 
The Empress Regent. 
 
 1 75 
 
 “ The maintenance of the Dynasty, Gentlemen, 
 is a question for the country alone. I would never 
 sanction foreign interference in our internal arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 “ In case it is pronounced that the continuance 
 of power in my hands is an obstacle to the defence 
 of France, Gentlemen, do you think it would be 
 too much to ask, on the part of a woman who has 
 voluntarily quitted the throne, permission from 
 the Assembly to remain in Paris, in whatever resi- 
 dence they might appoint her, in order that at 
 least she might share the perils, the sufferings, the 
 agonies of a besieged city?’’ 
 
 After this speech, whose accuracy was vouched 
 and witnessed, as already recorded, by the ministers 
 present, M. Buffet recounted that the Empress 
 consented to accept the proposition made to her, 
 provided they referred it to the Ministry, leaving 
 the latter at liberty to make what decision was 
 best in the interests of the country. 
 
 M. Buffet and his colleagues then quitted the 
 Empress, much moved by their interview, and pro- 
 ceeded to the Corps Legislatif, to state what had 
 passed. After M. Buffet and his colleagues left 
 the Empress, she breakfasted. Covers were laid 
 for twenty-eight persons. M. Ferdinand Lesseps 
 was of the number. During this meal de- 
 spatches were coming in every minute, one from 
 the superintendent of police, another from the 
 Minister of the Interior, &c., all sending word they 
 
176 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 were preparing for the defence of the city, and 
 for a moment or so the Empress was hopeful. 
 
 “We can still meet every calamity but civil war,” 
 she exclaimed. “God protect us from that!” 
 Minutes seemed ages, and yet interviews were 
 pressed upon her, orders had to be given, arrange- 
 ments hastened, &c. Soon word was sent in 
 that the crowds were flocking fast into the Place 
 de la Concorde from the Faubourgs, and filling it. 
 It was the mob who had been obedient to the 
 summons of M. Jules Simon the day before, and 
 again the words “ Decheance ! ” “ Vive la R6- 
 publique ! ” rent the air. 
 
 From the windows the Empress saw the troops 
 take up their position in the Cour de Carrousel, 
 and before the faqade of the private gardens look- 
 ing on the Tuileries ; and these military precau- 
 tions, she knew, boded ill. A company of the 
 National Guard passed the quay to go to the Corps 
 Legislatif. The Empress stood at the window and 
 watched them defile through the crowds. 
 
 “ Oh, if it would but rain in torrents,” some one 
 near her remarked. 
 
 “ It is king’s weather, alas,” said the Empress, 
 sorrowfully smiling. 
 
 By 12.30 p.m. it was impossible not to recog- 
 nize that a terrible crisis was at hand. At that 
 hour M. Daru, heading a deputation of the 
 Left, appeared at the Tuileries, and demanded 
 an audience with the Empress. As they entered 
 
The Empress Regent. 
 
 1 77 
 
 she smiled scornfully. She already guessed their 
 business. The interview was short and “ abdica- 
 tion ” its object. 
 
 The Empress replied that her ministry would 
 shortly propose measures of safety, and if they 
 judged her abdication a necessary act, it would be 
 signed, not without, and her voice was firm from 
 the anger that steadied it. During the interview, 
 a messenger entered hastily, to say that a mob 
 had gone towards the Corps Legislatif, and 
 another had so threatening an attitude in the Cour 
 de Carrousel, they feared they were about to resort 
 to extremities and enter the palace, and already 
 their wild cries penetrated into the audience- 
 chamber. 
 
 The Republican deputation made the most 
 of this to intimidate the Empress into co- 
 hesion. 
 
 “ Do you not hear, Madame?” said one; “ the 
 crowd outside are only reiterating what we have 
 come to announce to you.” Their words failed 
 to alarm her. The Empress showed no fear, but 
 remained firm in her decision, and the deputa- 
 tion left her, looking angry and revengeful. 
 
 As soon as they had gone the Empress rose 
 and leant against the chimney, still much affected. 
 Her friends at once rallied round her, but the 
 only consolation they could offer was that of 
 sparing her anxiety. One of her household 
 stooped and kissed her hand. The Empress 
 
 N 
 
i/8 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 spoke in detached sentences, and her breath 
 came quick and short. 
 
 “ They want me to abdicate ; that would be 
 nothing if it would save France ; but I know it 
 would only weaken resistance. 
 
 “ What I ask is to hold a nominal command so 
 as to be a centre of unity, to prevent disorder and 
 division at a moment when France is invaded by 
 the enemy. 
 
 “ Afterwards we can think what is best ; now is 
 no moment to discuss political differences ; we 
 must only think of defence. 
 
 “ I told them I would aid to my best whatever 
 men had the confidence of the people ; that I 
 would put myself at the head of the ambulances, 
 nurse the wounded, would show an example of 
 self-sacrifice and devotion. 
 
 “ Yes, I would go to the front, and my ex- 
 ample would reassure them ! I would do nothing 
 unreasonable.” 
 
 In her excitement the Empress grew quite 
 eloquent and with lightning-like rapidity, seemed 
 to measure the country’s need. 
 
 Another despatch at that moment from M. 
 Pietri stopped her words : “ On abat les aigles” 
 (they are pulling down the eagles) ; and this 
 brought her back to what was passing outside. 
 At that moment the officers of her household, as 
 well as those of the Emperor, her ladies in waiting, 
 and a few intimate friends, gathered around her. 
 
The Empress Regent. 
 
 179 
 
 General Trochu alone was missing. He had 
 sworn by his honour, his sword, and his religion, to 
 guard, and to die for if needs be, the safety of the 
 dynasty ; but he never came to the Tuileries ; and 
 the Empress, who had never believed in him, did 
 not expect him. 
 
 The Empress was calm in the midst of this 
 moment of anxiety, even when the roar of the mob 
 penetrated into the room, and replied to some one 
 who, hinting at the fear of a general massacre, said 
 she had better fly while time allowed, — 
 
 “ Sir, I have no more right to abandon my 
 post than a captain has his ship when the tempest 
 rages,” and she resisted all entreaties to do so. 
 
 “ Very well, Madame,” said one of her officers ; 
 “ we will then die together ; but at least we will 
 defend our lives till the last moment.” 
 
 Abandoned by the general who ought to have 
 defended her, and who had the command of the 
 troops, the Empress — who feared that an unequal 
 fight might be engaged in between the small 
 number of police and Garde de Paris which the 
 devotion of M. Pietri had gathered together, and 
 the furious masses of armed rebels who surrounded 
 the palace — saw the lives of her friends in peril ; 
 and this fear alone made her, for the first time, 
 waver in her decision. A few of the younger men 
 got together in a corner of the room and suggested 
 forming an escort to protect the Empress if she 
 would leave, and vowed they would clear her 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 a passage by their swords. The Empress over- 
 heard them, and reiterated that “ she forbad any 
 blood to be spilt in her defence.” 
 
 At that moment a messenger arrived from the 
 Corps Legislatif, to say that the House had been 
 forced into a dissolution, that the Government 
 had been too few to resist ; and before these 
 dark words had hardly been spoken, Monsieur 
 Chevreau arrived at the Tuileries, and was followed 
 by Mons. Jerome David, who came in smiling, as 
 if at a fete ) and his presence alone told the worst. 
 
 Some one asked if any one had thought to 
 retain a carriage for the Empress ? No one had. 
 Now it was too late, and her safety had to be left 
 to Providence. 
 
 M. Pietri came hastily in, said a few words in a 
 low tone to the Empress, and then disappeared. 
 At this crisis the Empress sent for General 
 Mellinet, who commanded the small body of 
 troops around the palace. 
 
 “ General, can you defend the palace without 
 resorting to arms ? ” she asked. 
 
 The general bowed low. “ Madame, I cannot.” 
 
 “ Then,” said the Empress, “ I yield ; all is over, 
 and we must not add to our trouble that of civil 
 war.” 
 
 The Empress then rose, and with much emotion 
 bid farewell to those around her, many of whom 
 could not restrain their tears. Disengaging her- 
 self at last from their embraces, the Empress 
 
The Empress Regent. 
 
 1 8 1 
 
 retired to the end of the salon, and, pale and 
 trembling, made one last curtsey to her group of 
 faithful friends, and disappeared behind the door 
 of her private apartments, where Prince Metter- 
 nich and the Duke of Nigra, the Austrian and 
 Italian ambassadors, and Madame le Breton, 
 followed her. 
 
 Meantime her household remained uncertain 
 what to do, when the Empress’s Chamberlain 
 entered, and said, — 
 
 “ Her Majesty bids me say she thanks you, 
 gentlemen, but she dismisses you.” 
 
 “ Our duty is to remain here as long as the 
 Empress does,” was the rejoinder. “ Please 
 inform her our presence here has but one aim- — 
 her defence.” 
 
 “ Gentlemen,” again said the Chamberlain, 
 “ her Majesty has dismissed you, and believe 
 me it is best for all parties ;” and the house- 
 hold then separated. 
 
 The Empress went to the window of her apart- 
 ments, and looked out. The sight she saw was 
 enough to make the stoutest heart quail. 
 
 The crowd had been gathering in strength 
 during the last hour, and seemed to line the route 
 from the Arc de Triomphe up to the garden of 
 the Tuileries, against the iron grille of which 
 they pressed heavily, crying, “A bas Tlmpera- 
 trice ! ” 11 A la guillotine ! ” La decheance ! la 
 decheance ! ” and “ Vive la Republique.” 
 
1 82 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 In the midst of the Tuileries gardens, ha- 
 ranguing the crowds, were the Republican leaders, 
 M. Jules Simon, M. Jules Favre, Jules Ferry, and 
 others. These gentlemen had constituted them- 
 selves “ La Comite de la Defense Nationale,” 
 and succeeded in governing the country by force 
 of sheer effrontery. Eagerly the crowd watched 
 the going to and fro of General Mellinet, and 
 the disposition of his soldiers. All at once two 
 roughs in blouses forced the grille, and going 
 up to the General, said, as they stood with their 
 hands in their pockets, “ Que fait done la cet 
 escogriffe ?” To calm them, they were informed 
 that the Empress had left the Tuileries. 
 
 As some of the members of the household 
 passed out of the gate of the palace, Jules Favre, 
 at the head of a noisy crowd of people, with the 
 kepi of a Garde National on his head, passed 
 by. He was en route to the Hotel de Ville, to 
 declare the Republic. 
 
 Meantime the Empress hastily changed her 
 dress for a black one, threw a waterproof over her 
 shoulders, tied on a straw bonnet and thick veil, 
 Madame le Breton assisting her. She then de- 
 clared she would not allow any one of her officers 
 to run the risk of aiding her escape. She would 
 go alone. But she did not seem to have reso- 
 lution enough, even at the last moment, to tear 
 herself away. 
 
 She knelt down at her private oratory and 
 
The Empress Regent. 183 
 
 prayed ; then she gathered hastily the Emperor’s 
 photograph, the Prince Imperial’s, her mother’s, 
 and her sister’s, and placed them in a small lapis- 
 lazuli box — which, after all, she forgot to take with 
 her. Then, led by Prince Metternich, she directed 
 her steps towards a passage of the palace which 
 bordered the Seine. The doors were closed, and 
 the keys could not be found for some time. All 
 at once the Empress stopped. 
 
 “ My poor religieuses, my dear Sisters, my 
 wounded. — I have forgotten to say good-bye to 
 them. — I must, yes, I must go and do so,” and she 
 retraced her steps and performed her sad fare- 
 wells. 
 
 The Prince de Metternich became impatient, 
 and hurried her. 
 
 "Ah, Prince,” said the Empress, as she pointed 
 to the furious mob outside, “ it is now too late ; we 
 should be surrounded. Leave me ; I know how to 
 die ; my place is here. Prince, let me stay.” 
 
 The Prince was firm. He almost dragged the 
 Empress by sheer force, whilst the Duke of Nigra 
 followed with Madame le Breton. Every moment 
 was precious. Steps were heard behind them ; the 
 mob had penetrated into the palace. The Prince 
 de Metternich seized the Empress’s arm. 
 
 “ Madame, hasten. Do you not hear?” 
 
 “ I come,” said the Empress, hastening her 
 steps. “Je cede a la force; les Tuileries sont 
 violees, et je cede a la violence.” 
 
1 84 Life of the Prince Imperial o f France. 
 
 At the outer door the key was again missing, 
 and it had to be wrenched open. At last the 
 little party passed out and dived into the crowd, 
 who were thirsting for the poor Empress’s blood, to 
 such a height had their fury been inflamed by 
 their leaders. At first her thick veil and black 
 dress shielded the Empress from detection, and 
 the Prince de Metternich, leaving her and Madame 
 le Breton under the Duke of Nigra’s care, went 
 to seek a carriage. At that moment a street 
 gamin recognized the Empress through her veil, 
 and shouted “ Voila l’Imperatrice ! ” 
 
 The space around them was crowded by a body 
 of strong Republicans, and it would have been a 
 fatal moment for the Empress and her companions 
 had not the diplomatic Italian who protected them 
 averted suspicion by giving the urchin who had 
 raised the cry a sound box on the ears, and 
 dragged him away from where the two ladies stood, 
 whispering them first to fly, which they did by 
 diving into the crowd. 
 
 The Duke of Nigra having thus averted the 
 attention of the rioters to the boy, whose ear he 
 pinched, making him cry, asked, — 
 
 “You little rascal, are you not a better patriot 
 than to cry ‘ Vive les Prusses ’ ? I am ashamed 
 of you.” What with the boy’s struggles to be 
 free, and the inquiries from those around as to 
 what he had done to deserve being beaten, time 
 was gained for the Empress to escape in the oppo- 
 
The Empress Regent. 185 
 
 site direction ; and when the Prince de Metternich 
 returned the two ladies had quite disappeared. 
 
 Making their way through the crowd, the 
 Empress and Madame le Breton at last gained 
 the streets, where they hailed a cab and drove to 
 the houses of several friends without finding any 
 at home. At last, almost fainting, and at their 
 wits’ end what to do — for three francs was the 
 amount in their joint purses — they decided to go 
 to the Empress’s dentist, Dr. Evans, an American, 
 who lived in the Avenue Malakoff, outside the Arc 
 de Triomphe. Here they dismissed their cab, and 
 entering, sent word up “ a lady wished to see Dr. 
 Evans.” The answer came down : “ Dr. Evans 
 did not see any patients at that hour on a Sunday.” 
 The Empress then asked for paper, and wrote a 
 few words in cipher, and sent the servant back with 
 it. A few moments sufficed to bring down the 
 doctor, who at once took the two ladies into his 
 private consulting-room, the Empress holding her 
 handkerchief to her face as though in pain, to 
 prevent the servant’s recognizing her. 
 
 As soon as the door had closed on the 
 servant, the Empress threw herself upon Dr. 
 Evans’s protection, asking him to see her safe 
 out of France. Dr. Evans had known the Em- 
 press before her marriage, and had for years 
 been received as a friend at the Tuileries. What 
 the Empress now asked was indeed a difficult 
 matter; but waiting till dusk, he undertook the task, 
 
1 86 L ife of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 and meantime kept his visitors in strict seclusion. 
 Towards night he ordered his carriage, and 
 mounted the box. Placing the ladies inside, he 
 represented at the barrier where he was stopped 
 that he had an insane lady and her attendant 
 inside, whom he was taking into the country, 
 and begged the authorities not to excite his 
 patient, as she was apt to be violent. Dr. Evans 
 was known, and this story passed muster, and 
 the party thus got out of Paris, and proceeded 
 to Dauville, in Normandy. At this place Sir 
 John Burgoyne, who was a friend of the Emperor’s, 
 had his yacht at anchor ; and Dr. Evans, wished 
 the Empress to take advantage of so good an 
 opportunity to leave France. The tide was low, 
 and to hail the yacht the party had to walk on the 
 wet sand a very long distance, often up to their 
 ankles in water. 
 
 Sir John Burgoyne was about to raise his anchor 
 and set sail, when he saw the party making signals 
 from the beach, and, sending a boat ashore, learnt 
 from Dr. Evans the rank of his lady companions. 
 With an Englishman’s chivalry he at once accepted 
 the charge, and introduced the Empress to Lady 
 Burgoyne. He then wrapped Scotch plaids 
 round his visitors, to deceive the crew into their 
 being two Scotch friends anxious at the last 
 to sail with him, and raising his anchor the 
 Empress soon saw the shores of the unhappy 
 country she had left behind her disappear. That 
 
The Empress Regent. 1 8 7 
 
 night a fearful tempest occurred, and the yacht 
 was twenty-three hours at sea before the 
 Isle of Wight was sighted. Here they dis- 
 embarked and went to an hotel, but so travel- 
 stained and soaked were their clothes that the 
 hotel-keeper at first refused them admission ; and 
 when overruled, the Empress had to give her 
 stockings and a portion of her clothes to be 
 washed, and borrow for the night from the hotel- 
 keeper’s wife. 
 
 From the Isle of Wight the Empress hastened 
 next day to Hastings, via Portsmouth. Here 
 the Prince Imperial had been waiting some days, 
 whilst his poor mother knew not even what had 
 become of him. It was only just before she left 
 the Tuilleries that a telegram had arrived to say, 
 that by the Emperor’s wish, he had been taken to 
 Hastings. The meeting of mother and son may 
 be better imagined than described, and the Em- 
 press convulsively clasped the Prince in her arms. 
 He at least was still left to her. Yet how sad was 
 their meeting, for mother and son were alike 
 agonized at the recollection that the Emperor was 
 a prisoner, in captivity and distress. 
 
1 88 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CHISLEHURST. 
 
 “ Yet, yet I may baffle the hosts that surround us, 
 
 And yet may thy heart leap awake to my voice. 
 
 There are links which must break in the chains that have 
 bound us, 
 
 Then turn thee, and call on the Chief of thy choice.” 
 
 The Empress and Prince Imperial did not remain 
 long at Hastings. The news of their arrival in Eng- 
 land brought them many offers from their numerous 
 friends among the English nobility and gentry 
 of several houses and country seats, which were 
 placed at the disposal of the distinguished Refugees. 
 Amongst others, Mr. Strode, of Chislehurst, who 
 had long been honoured by the friendship of the 
 Emperor, offered the Empress the use of Camden 
 House. Its position, the surrounding picturesque 
 scenery, with the privacy of the abode, at once 
 recommended it ; the more so, as although only 
 a quiet and retired village, it possessed a Roman 
 Catholic place of worship. Mr. Strode’s offer was 
 
Chislehurst . 
 
 189 
 
 therefore accepted, on condition he would allow 
 the Emperor to rent it for his family. Mr. 
 Strode’s reply was, that “ while he should feel it 
 an honour if the Empress would inhabit it under 
 any circumstances, if it made her more comfortable 
 to pay a rental, he would accept such nominally, 
 spending, however, the sum agreed upon in ren- 
 dering the house and grounds more fitted for her 
 Majesty’s residence.” 
 
 Camden Houseisa comfortable English mansion, 
 on the picturesque line of rail between Dover and 
 London, about twentymiles distant from the capital. 
 It possesses all the features of an English gentle- 
 man’s country seat. It is built in the Italian style — 
 a centre with a clock tower, and two wings. It is 
 simply but well furnished, and surrounded by a park, 
 with an avenue of fine trees leading from the 
 lodge gates to the house. The neighbourhood is 
 renowned for the rural beauty of its scenery. As 
 the Empress was desirous of leaving Hastings as 
 soon as possible, Dr. Evans, who had accompanied 
 her in her flight, from Paris, escorted her to Camden 
 House at once, where hasty preparations had 
 been made for her reception and that of the Prince 
 Imperial. The travellers arrived at their destina- 
 tion on Saturday, 10th December. They took two 
 street cabs from the Chislehurst station to Cam- 
 den House, and, worn out with fatigue, excitement, 
 and distress of mind, they at once retired to rest. 
 So hasty had been the arrangements, that no one 
 
190 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 in Chislehurst knew of the expected arrival of the 
 Imperial party; and when Dr. Evans, having seen 
 the Illustrious Refugees safely domiciled, went to 
 the station, and asking for the telegraph clerk, 
 acquainted him that he wanted to telegraph to 
 the Emperor of the French at Wilhelmshohe, the 
 man seemed to think he must be mad, and ap- 
 peared quite bewildered. 
 
 “ Who are you ? ” he asked, “ and what do you 
 want with the Emperor ? Why should you come 
 here to telegraph ? Why not go to London ? ” 
 
 Then Dr. Evans explained who it was that had 
 arrived the previous evening at Camden House, 
 and like lightning the wonderful news spread next 
 day through the village, and the greatest interest 
 and commiseration were testified for the Refugees. 
 From that date, Chislehurst may be said to have 
 become a place of historic interest, and its name 
 a familiar one throughout all Europe. Tired 
 as were the travellers the previous night they 
 slept late ; but nevertheless, when the Empress 
 awoke, she remembered the day was Sunday, 
 and wished to attend mass in St. Mary’s Chapel, 
 there to offer up her thanks for her safe deliver- 
 ance, and reception on a friendly soil. Accom- 
 panied by the Prince and Madame le Breton, 
 both ladies closely veiled, they crossed the since 
 well-beaten track of the common to the church, 
 and entered. They were late. The service was 
 
Chi sic hurst. 
 
 191 
 
 half over ; and not wishing to cause any dis- 
 turbance, the Empress and the Prince took their 
 seats on alow form among the Sunday school chil- 
 dren at the end of the church, and there remained 
 until the close of the sermon. No one in the 
 congregation suspected that the figure in black, 
 whose devotion appeared so wrapt, was the exalted 
 Lady whose sad fortunes and courageous bearing 
 were even then the theme of every tongue, the Em- 
 press Eugenie, who for twenty years had reigned 
 the Queen of Beauty and Fashion in Paris — or 
 that the sad-faced lad at her side was the heir of 
 the Napoleon Dynasty. 
 
 As soon as the Imperial refugees were esta- 
 blished at Chislehurst, they were joined by several 
 gentlemen of their former household from Paris, 
 as well as by M. Filon, the Prince’s tutor ; whilst 
 Dr. Evans proceeded to Wilhelmshohe, to confer 
 with the Emperor, and report on the domestic 
 arrangements made for his family. 
 
 The first few days of the residence of the 
 Empress and Prince at Camden House were 
 very sad ones. Little news reached them, and 
 their hearts were overcharged by the thought 
 of the Emperor’s humiliation and distress. Dr. 
 Evans’s visit to Napoleon III. brought them, 
 however, some alleviation, as from that date 
 daily telegrams were interchanged, and they were 
 able to learn that the Emperor had recovered his 
 
1 92 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 health, and was resigned to his destiny ; whilst in 
 his letters he exhorted his wife and son to the 
 same submission to circumstances, and to 
 charitable feelings towards their enemies. 
 
 The Emperor desired that nothing should be 
 allowed to interfere with the Prince’s studies, 
 which he wished to be continued in the same 
 order as had been observed in Paris. 
 
 Amongst the earliest of the Emperor’s friends, 
 M. Rouher arrived at Chislehurst. He had 
 
 remained in the Senate until the last hour. 
 Many of the other Ministers followed him, and 
 the history of what had occurred after the 
 flight of the Empress was eagerly listened to 
 by herself and the Prince. 
 
 Soon daily couriers arrived from Paris, bring- 
 ing news, terrible news, of the revolution going 
 on there, and the fearful state into which that 
 capital was plunged. Meanwhile the war con- 
 tinued, for Metz was still in a state of siege, and 
 had not surrendered. The force within was 
 commanded by General Bourbaki, the best and 
 most faithful of all the Emperor’s officers. A 
 curious story is recorded in connexion with its 
 fall, the truth of which has been vouched to me. 
 M. Foder, one of the residents on Mr. Strode’s 
 estate at Chislehurst, and who, in the hasty orga- 
 nization of the household for the Empress’s recep- 
 tion, held a kind of pro tern, position, as Chamber- 
 lain, was one morning sitting in his study, when 
 
Chislehurst. 
 
 193 
 
 a gentleman, calling himself M. Regnier, was 
 announced. This gentleman said “ he had come 
 to see the Empress on important business, and 
 begged he might at once be granted an audience. 
 Mr. Foder informed him he could not see her 
 Majesty, and looked suspiciously at him, as he 
 requested to know his business. 
 
 “ I come from General Bourbaki, to ask her 
 Majesty to come off at once to Metz,” was the 
 extraordinary reply. “ Her presence there would 
 reassure the troops. She might lead them even 
 on to victory, and all yet be well.” 
 
 Thinking he had to do with a madman, so un- 
 reasonable did this scheme appear, Mr. Foder 
 again said it was not possible for him to see the 
 Empress, and then bowed out his visitor, glad to 
 be quit of him. As the latter crossed the park, he 
 met the Prince Imperial and M. Filon, who had 
 been taking their daily walk. Bowing to the 
 Prince, M. Regnier at once addressed him : 
 “ Monseigneur, I am come from the Empress, 
 and am en route to see the Emperor, your father. 
 I go straight from hence to Wilhelmshbhe, will you 
 not give me some letter to take to the Emperor, to 
 console him in his solitude ? but I have not a 
 minute to lose.” 
 
 The Prince’s eye glistened at the name of 
 his father, and the opportunity of writing to 
 him. “ But how,” he asked, “ can I write 
 here ? I have neither pen nor paper. Come 
 
 O 
 
194 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 into the house and wait, it will not take me 
 long.” 
 
 “ No, Monseigneur,” replied the man, “ every 
 minute is of consequence.” 
 
 “ What can I do then ? ” said the Prince, getting 
 quite excited, whilst his tutor, who did not dis- 
 believe the story, looked on. 
 
 “ A message ; a token ; anything will do,” 
 returned M. Regnier. “Just a proof that I had 
 seen your Imperial Highness, that you were well, 
 and thinking of the Emperor.” 
 
 The Prince took a photograph of himself from 
 his pocket-book, and writing on the back of it, “A 
 mon Pere,” he placed it in M. Regnier’s hands, who 
 bowed forward to receive it, and was soon out of 
 sight, without having any other motive attributed 
 to him than that he had given in the interview. 
 
 On their return from their walk, M. Filon 
 chanced to mention to the Empress what had 
 passed, telling her what the Prince had sent to 
 his father. He was then astonished to learn that 
 her Majesty knew nothing of the person alluded 
 to. The matter was inquired into, and fully dis- 
 cussed, but no further light was thrown upon it, 
 and the conclusion then arrived at was that it 
 had been a ruse to obtain from the Prince some 
 personal remembrance. 
 
 But it turned out that a far deeper scheme had 
 been the motive, and one that came within the 
 stratagem of war. General Bourbaki, who com- 
 
Chislehurst . 
 
 195 
 
 manded, as already stated, in Metz, was brother to 
 Madame le Breton, the Empress’s lady in waiting. 
 To this General’s skill and bravery — for he was 
 always termed “ Le Brave des Braves ” — Metz 
 owed the desperate defence it made. To get 
 General Bourbaki away from the army at Metz, 
 therefore, was a much wished-for thing by the 
 enemy, as, could Bourbaki be wiled from his 
 post, Metz would doubtless surrender, 
 
 M. Regnier, who was a spy in the Prussian ser- 
 vice, undertook to bring about this result. His pro- 
 ject was to see the Empress under the pretence that 
 he was an envoy from General Bourbaki, and to 
 invite her to head the troops in Metz ; and then to 
 bear an order from her to the General, asking him 
 to go to her at Chislehurst, at once, alike to 
 confer with her and also to visit his sister, whom 
 he would state was dying, and wished to take 
 leave of her brother, which natural wish the 
 Empress desired to facilitate. His scheme failed 
 as far as obtaining an interview with the Empress; 
 but fortune favoured M. Regnier in meeting the 
 Prince Imperial, which meeting the wily spy 
 turned to account. 
 
 Arrived with the Prince’s photograph with the 
 inscription and date, M. Regnier appeared before 
 Prince Charles Frederick, and asked for a pass into 
 Metz, which was at once granted him. Proceeding 
 to General Bourbaki’s quarters, he announced him- 
 self as a messenger from the Empress Eugenie to 
 
 O 2 
 
196 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 command his immediate attendance at Chislehurst. 
 The story seemed so impossible, General Bourbaki 
 did not know how to believe it. How could he 
 leave his post ? Then M. Regnier told him of 
 his sister’s illness, of her dying state, and said 
 that he could return in a short time. The General 
 was much attached to his sister, but still he 
 hesitated. 
 
 “ But you bring me no written authority from 
 her Majesty,” he said. 
 
 M. Regnier then produced the Prince’s photo- 
 graph. “True,” he replied, “I did not. Her 
 Majesty did not deem it wise to commit anything 
 to paper. She bid me, after giving you her com- 
 mands, proceed to the Emperor, but said I might 
 show you this photograph as a proof I had seen 
 her and the Prince Imperial. I came here first, 
 that there might be no delay on account of your 
 sister’s critical state, and must proceed as soon as 
 possible on my errand to the Emperor.” 
 
 Even thus exhorted, it took some time for the 
 General to make up his mind to quit the town. 
 However, he finally decided to ask for a pass, 
 with the intention to proceed in hot haste to 
 Chislehurst, see the Empress and his sister, and 
 return to his post as fast as possible. 
 
 When he arrived at Chislehurst, and the 
 Empress was informed General Bourbaki de- 
 manded an audience, her Majesty rushed down 
 stairs to meet him, almost frantic with surprise. 
 
Chislehurst. 
 
 i9 7 
 
 Surely Metz must have capitulated ! Was all 
 hope extinguished ? In General Bourbaki she had 
 placed all her confidence, and he never would 
 have left it, she felt sure, unless it had surrendered. 
 
 “ You here, Bourbaki ! ” she exclaimed, as he 
 entered her presence. “ You surely are not a 
 traitor, too? You cannot have deserted Metz ?” 
 Then she stood speechless, with clasped hands 
 and conflicting fears, awaiting his answer. 
 
 “ Madame, I am no traitor, I have but come at 
 your bidding ! ” was all General Bourbaki could 
 say, thoroughly bewildered in his turn. 
 
 “ My bidding! ’’exclaimed the Empress; “mine!” 
 and both remained standing looking at each other, 
 dumb with perplexity. Explanations followed, 
 when they discovered too late they were both the 
 victims of a plot. 
 
 “ General, you must return at once — this very 
 hour,” said the Empress ; and refreshments were 
 at once ordered, also a carriage to take the General 
 back to the station. 
 
 General Bourbaki departed in haste, extremely 
 anxious to regain if possible his position, mortified 
 at the discovery of the trap into which he had 
 fallen. 
 
 When the General arrived at the Prussian 
 outposts, his request for a pass to return into 
 Metz was denied him. The enemy had been very 
 willing to let him out, but they were far too 
 wary to let him in again ; and the result, as 
 
198 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 expected, was, that deprived of their gallant 
 leader, in whose brief absence treachery had 
 worked its way, Metz fell. General Bourbaki 
 afterwards led the retreating army into Switzerland. 
 
 Whilst the Empress and her son were taking 
 shelter in their quiet Chislehurst retreat, how fared 
 it with the Emperor at Wilhelmshohe? It was not 
 the first time Napoleon III. had been there ! As 
 a child, he had often visited the place, in which his 
 uncle Jerome had lived with his amiable wife, 
 Catherine of Wurtemberg. An interesting account 
 is given in a French paper of the first days of the 
 Emperor’s captivity. Soon after his arrival, after 
 nights spent in restlessly walking up and down in 
 his chamber, he asked leave to go over the 
 chateau, and his request was granted. 
 
 As the Emperor passed along the corridor, 
 accompanied by his physician, Dr. Covisart, and 
 other members of his suite, it was noticed that he 
 looked fearfully broken down, and seemed both 
 bodily and mentally prostrated. He went from 
 room to room, taking a retrospect of the past, until, 
 without any preparation, he entered an apartment, 
 and stopped before the portrait of a lady radiant 
 with youth and beauty, whose features were at the 
 moment lit up by a sunbeam. It was a portrait of 
 his mother, Queen Hortense ! The Emperor 
 started, and retired a step, as if struck by an 
 unseen hand. His nephew, Prince Achille, who 
 was with him, uttered a cry of surprise, while 
 
Chislehurst. 
 
 199 
 
 Dr. Covisart and his other attendants, who also 
 recognized the likeness, stood motionless. 
 
 The Emperor did not speak ; he could not, but 
 he signed with his hand that he wished to be left 
 alone, and his suite at once retired. 
 
 What a flood of memories must have rushed 
 before him as he gazed at the likeness of the mother 
 who had so tenderly and so carefully reared him, 
 and whose trials and exile he had shared. Since 
 her death he had wrestled with fortune as few men 
 had or could have done, and had triumphed. He 
 had mounted, step by step, the ladder of ambition, 
 until he had reached its summit, and the Imperial 
 Crown, whose glories during the First Empire his 
 mother had shared, had been his reward ; and 
 now, fallen from his greatness, he once more stood 
 before her — a dethroned monarch ! an exile ! and 
 alone ! 
 
 In what form his thoughts found rest is not 
 known ; but it is said that, borne down, pale, and 
 haggard, as the Emperor looked as he entered 
 that room, that hour of commune with his 
 mother’s spirit acted as a restorative to his soul, 
 and that he came out calm, with a smiling counte- 
 nance — a resigned man, his mind strengthened by 
 contact with the past. 
 
 During his sojourn at Wilhelmshohe,the Emperor 
 was treated with the respect due to his rank and 
 misfortunes. His attendants were dressed in his 
 own imperial liveries of green and gold. When- 
 
200 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 ever he appeared, the guards were ordered to 
 present arms. His rooms were hung with pictures 
 of his own family, and every arrangement for him- 
 self was made with reference to his comfort and 
 wishes, as far as circumstances would allow. 
 
 With regard to politics, Napoleon III. during his 
 captivity, maintained a strict silence from the hour 
 of his fall at Sedan until the armistice was over. 
 Popular opinion had attributed the result of the war 
 to him alone, and he was too proud to recriminate, 
 and unmask the treachery which in reality lay at its 
 foundation. Nor would Napoleon III. compro- 
 mise the National Assembly by any reflections. 
 His best hope lay in allowing the Republic to 
 run its course, as in its confusion and perplexity, 
 a possible means of return might be opened to 
 him. 
 
 As he had done years before at Ham, so now 
 at Wilhelmshohe, the Emperor diverted his mind 
 from his troubles by turning to his pen and his 
 books, and once more portioned out his days and 
 hours in regular employment. This routine of 
 work he continued during the six months of his 
 captivity. 
 
 In the periods set apart for recreation, one of 
 his generals would often read aloud to him from 
 such works as Racine, Corneille, or Lamar- 
 tine ; but his happiest hours were with his pen. 
 Dismissing his attendants at nine p.m. or there-' 
 abouts, the Emperor would retire to his study, and 
 
Chislehurst. 
 
 201 
 
 when all the rest of the chateau was plunged 
 in darkness, his lamp might be seen burning 
 like a star in the night, often until one or two 
 in the morning. 
 
 Napoleon III. followed anxiously and closely 
 the events passing in France, but he maintained 
 a quiet mind throughout the varied aspects which 
 the revolution assumed, never putting forward his 
 opinions in opposition to the new regime which 
 had dethroned him. 
 
 Pending the negotiations for peace, the National 
 Assembly was adjourned, and was finally convened 
 at Bordeaux, where the peace preliminaries were 
 signed, M. Thiers acting as President. The vote 
 for the deposition of the Emperor was then taken, 
 with that of the expulsion of the Imperial family 
 from France. Out of the members present, six 
 were dissenting, and the President was absent. 
 Hence, albeit that it was carried, the act was illegal. 
 
 The competency of the National Assembly, so 
 hastily convened at Bordeaux for the purpose 
 of signing the preliminaries of peace which were 
 forced on the nation, and to arrange a future 
 form of government, was, to say the least, ques- 
 tionable, and the decision as to an Empire or 
 Republic was not put legally either before the 
 nation or the Assembly. It was a usurpation of 
 rights beyond their power. Had the question 
 been put to the country, and the votes of the 
 people been recorded, there is little doubt but that 
 
202 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 they would have been given in the Emperor’s 
 favour. Acts were, however, at that period 
 carried through with hurry and rapidity, and, in 
 consequence, often illegally so. France was in a 
 state of bewilderment and nervous panic ; and the 
 ambitious few, with courage and brains for the 
 occasion, who came to the front, were accepted as 
 leaders, faut de mieux. 
 
 Once, however, peace restored, and himself a 
 a free man, Napoleon III. did not permit so 
 unjust a proceeding to pass without a protest ; 
 and albeit that his deposed position rendered 
 such a protest a nominal one, yet before he left 
 Wilhelmshohe he issued the following document 
 to the President of the National Assembly, M. 
 Thiers. 
 
 “At the moment when every Frenchman is pro- 
 foundly affected by the conditions of peace, think- 
 ing only of the sufferings of the country, the 
 National Assembly has pronounced the deposition 
 of my Dynasty, and affirmed that I alone was 
 responsible for the public calamities. I protest 
 against this unjust and illegal declaration. It is 
 unjust, because when the war was declared, public 
 feeling, roused beyond measure by causes inde- 
 pendent of my will, had produced a general and 
 irresistible excitement. It is illegal , because the 
 Assembly, appointed solely for the purpose of 
 making peace, has exceeded its powers in settling 
 questions beyond its competency. Even if it were 
 
Chislehurst. 
 
 203 
 
 a Constituent Assembly, it would be without the 
 power to substitute its own will for the nation. 
 The example of the past proves this. The 
 hostility of the Constitutional Assembly fell to 
 the ground before the election of the 10th of 
 December; and in 1851 the people by more than 
 7,000,000 of suffrages supported me against the 
 Legislative Assembly. Political passion cannot 
 prevail against right ; and French public right, for 
 the foundation of every legitimate government, is 
 the plebiscitum. Without that, there is only 
 usurpation on the one hand, and oppression on 
 the other. I am, therefore, ready to bow to the 
 free expression of the national will, but not to the 
 fiat of a few alone. 
 
 “Amid mournful events, which impose abnega- 
 tion and disinterestedness, I should have wished 
 to maintain silence, but the declaration of the 
 Assembly compels me to protest, in the name of 
 outraged truth and the disregarded rights of the 
 
 nation - “ Napoleon.” 
 
 The Emperor, having thus relieved his feelings 
 from appearing even tacitly to admit the justice 
 of his own and his family’s banishment, determined 
 to seek a home in the one country which had ever 
 been friendly to his fortunes. 
 
 On the 19th of March, 1872, Napoleon III. left 
 Wilhelmshohe by a special train, escorted to the 
 frontiers of Prussia by an escort of honour. From 
 
204 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 thence he passed through Belgium, and arrived at 
 Dover. Here he was met by the Empress, the 
 Prince Imperial, Prince Murat, and Prince Lucien 
 Buonaparte, and walked with them to the Lord 
 Warden Hotel amid loud cheering. From Dover 
 Napoleon III. proceeded to Chislehurst. Here 
 the Imperial family, united after their individual 
 trials, found for a time rest in the satisfaction 
 which domestic ties and home joys impart, and 
 which no loss of state or power can dissolve. 
 
 Once at Chislehurst, the Emperor, turning away 
 his thoughts from the vexed questions of his down- 
 fall and the chances of his return to France, occu- 
 pied himself principally in directing the education 
 of his son, and found in the society of the latter 
 both renewed interests and filial devotion. 
 
205 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 WOOLWICH. 
 
 “ Let us then be up and doing, 
 
 With a heart for every fate ; 
 
 Still achieving, still pursuing, 
 
 Learn to labour, learn to wait.” 
 
 On October 12, 1871, the Prince Imperial, then 
 in his 15th year, was entered as a cadet at the 
 Royal Military College, at Woolwich, and albeit 
 that he laboured under the disadvantage of not 
 having undergone the usual preparation for the 
 Woolwich course of study, he yet passed a credit- 
 able examination prior to his entry there. 
 
 As is well known, the studies at Woolwich are 
 chiefly military, and preparative for commissions 
 in the Artillery and Engineers Corps. The 
 courses include pure mathematics, up to differen- 
 tial and integral calculus ; mixed mathematics, up 
 to mechanics ; hydrostatics ; the principles of 
 building ; construction and theory of the steam- 
 engine. The higher part of these studies are 
 voluntary. The cadets also learn fortifications, 
 
206 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 theoretically, and practically as regards the con- 
 struction of earthworks ; artillery, chemistry, and 
 physics ; with military history, military drawing, 
 as well as freehand and landscape drawing. 
 Independently of Greek and Latin, which are 
 voluntary, they can take up any of the following 
 languages : Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, 
 German, and Hindostani. It is to the cadets’ 
 interest to take up as many voluntary subjects as 
 they can, in order to increase their marks. 
 
 It was the Emperor’s wish that the Prince 
 should undertake as much of the above course of 
 studies as possible, in which desire he himself 
 participated. 
 
 The studies are organized at the Academy by 
 means of lectures given by the Professors and 
 Instructors, which the cadets attend ; after which 
 the Instructors explain to the pupils what they may 
 not have understood at the time. 
 
 An examination takes place every term, in 
 which the proficiency of the pupils is shown by 
 the number of marks they have acquired, and 
 upon this result the cadets are passed into higher 
 forms. 
 
 The Emperor Napoleon III. was well acquainted 
 with the entire military system at Woolwich, and 
 was satisfied that nowhere could his son be better 
 trained for a soldier’s career. 
 
 On first arriving at the Academy the Prince took 
 up his residence within its walls, taking his meals 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 207 
 
 in the dining-hall, and sharing the same classes 
 as the rest of the cadets. The only privileges 
 accorded him were two private rooms, one as a 
 study, the other as a bedroom ; and these were 
 shared by his friend Louis Conneau, who had fol- 
 lowed him to England, and who, at the Emperor’s 
 request, had been likewise entered at Woolwich. 
 
 The Prince’s private rooms were, by the 
 Queen’s command, furnished at her expense. 
 Her Majesty had from his birth testified a warm 
 regard for him, and took a personal interest in his 
 studies during his career at Woolwich. The 
 Queen often sent for him to Windsor, and he 
 became a general favourite with the various mem- 
 bers of the royal family. The Prince’s study was 
 simply furnished. It contained a bookcase, well 
 filled with standard works, amongst which w T ere 
 found most of his father’s literary productions, and 
 Napoleon Ids “ Campagnes d’ltalie, Egypt,” &c. 
 
 A handsomely bound Shakespeare, a birthday 
 present from the Queen, bore the following inscrip- 
 tion : — 
 
 “ To my cousin, the Prince Imperial of France, 
 with many wishes for his happiness. 
 
 “ His affectionate Cousin, 
 
 “Victoria Regina. 
 
 “ 16th March, 1873.” 
 
 A copy of the Queen’s “Journal in the High- 
 lands,” w r as likewise so inscribed. The bookshelf 
 
2o8 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 was ornamemted by bronze statues of French 
 soldiers, which had been brought from the 
 Emperor’s library in the Tuileries. In this 
 study the Prince worked during his first term 
 at Woolwich. After that period a small house 
 was taken for him on Woolwich Common, where 
 his French tutor, M. Filon, joined him. The 
 Prince’s dwelling was recognizable by the two 
 tall men-servants, in their imperial liveries of 
 green and gold, who were in attendance on him, 
 one or other of whom might generally be seen by 
 the passer-by standing at the door, and looking 
 somewhat out of character with the size of the 
 house, which might truly be termed, in every sense, 
 “a maisonette.” 
 
 Every Saturday till Monday the Prince went to 
 Chislehurst, to spend the intervening time with 
 his parents, but was never known to miss return- 
 ing to Woolwich on the Monday morning, in time 
 to take his place in class at the appointed hour. 
 
 The Emperor rarely visited his son at the 
 Academy, as he was fearful of interrupting his 
 studies ; for the same reason, the state of France, 
 and the many political questions which the 
 Republic involved, were almost forbidden topics, 
 the Emperor wisely deeming that at the Prince’s 
 age the acquisition of knowledge was far more 
 important to him than useless discussions and con- 
 versations as to their fallen fortunes and clouded 
 hopes. 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 209 
 
 The Emperor, however, thoroughly imbued his 
 son’s mind with his own unswerving iddes Napo- 
 leoniennes , as being his best study for the future 
 responsibilities which lay before him. 
 
 During his first term at the Academy the Prince 
 worked very hard, feeling himself behind his com- 
 panions, and determining by assiduity to recover 
 lost ground. One privilege only above others was 
 allowed him, viz. to receive private lessons from one 
 of the instructors, Captain Edgar Kensington, 
 R. A., at present head of the Royal Military College 
 at Kingston, Canada. This gentleman has kindly 
 furnished me with an account of the Prince’s 
 progress while under his care at Woolwich, and I 
 reprint it as received, it being valuable as coming 
 from so undeniable an authority. 
 
 In acknowledgment of the Prince Imperial’s 
 birth, on first entering the Academy the offer was 
 made to him, as to others of like rank, viz., 
 that if he preferred it his examinations could be 
 conducted separately. His first examination was 
 so, after which the Prince of his own accord 
 begged that in future he might be placed on 
 exactly the same footing as his fellow -cadets, 
 taking his chance in open competition with these, 
 which, he said, would be far more satisfactory to 
 himself. 
 
 The cadets in these examinations send in their 
 papers under numbers, withholding their names, in 
 order that the examiners may not know to whom 
 
210 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 the separate papers belong, thus averting any 
 charge of partiality. 
 
 The Prince’s imperfect knowledge of English 
 was naturally a great drawback to him, nor was 
 he at that period of his life of a robust constitution ; 
 nevertheless, his intelligence and application con- 
 quered these deficiencies. Captain Kensington, 
 R.A., thus writes of the Prince’s sdjonr at the 
 Academy : — 
 
 “ My first acquaintance with the Prince Imperial 
 was on his being placed at the Royal Military 
 Academy, where I was then employed as the 
 Military Instructor of Mathematics. He was 
 entrusted to my charge, so far as regarded his 
 mathematical studies, by Sir Lintorn Simmons, 
 G.C.B., Governor of the Academy. From that 
 time to the end of his career at Woolwich he 
 worked with me at mathematics, making such 
 progress that he finished amongst the first of his 
 class, in spite of the great disadvantages under 
 which he laboured — such as the want of any 
 preparation for the Woolwich course, and the 
 difficulties inseparable from the whole of the 
 instruction in all subjects being carried on in a 
 foreign language. 
 
 “ Near the close of the Prince’s first term his 
 studies were interrupted by the death of his 
 father. As a necessary consequence, he was 
 unable to attend the examination at the end of 
 that term ; no indulgence in respect of class 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 2 1 1 
 
 promotion was on this account extended to the 
 Prince. This was at his own request, for he was 
 always anxious to receive no favour ; he wished to 
 go through the whole Academy course with 
 perfect fairness. I am glad of this opportunity 
 of giving a most positive denial to the opinion 
 that I found frequently expressed by the pub- 
 lic, viz. that the Prince’s examinations were 
 shams, and that it could not have been otherwise, 
 since the examiners must have recognized his 
 French handwriting. I have no hesitation in 
 giving an unqualified denial to these rumours, 
 because, owing to my own thorough knowledge of 
 what the Prince knew, I am convinced that the 
 examinations were perfectly fair. The Prince was 
 always examined with the rest of the cadets, 
 getting the same questions, and affixing an index 
 number to his papers in place of his name ; this 
 being the practice, to secure the absolute im- 
 partiality of the examiners. After each examina- 
 tion in mathematics it was my practice to ask the 
 Prince how he had succeeded, when he would, 
 with great eagerness tell me what he had done, 
 and where he had failed. By putting questions to 
 him, and by knowing the kind of mistakes he was 
 in the habit of making, I could always form a very 
 fair estimate of the number of marks he was 
 likely to be awarded by the examiners. The 
 results corresponded so accurately on the whole 
 that I am as sure that no favour w r as shown him 
 
 P 2 
 
212 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 as if I had examined the papers myself. 1 was 
 the more annoyed at these rumours because I 
 knew how extremely sensitive the Prince himself 
 was on the subject. He would sooner have 
 passed last of his class, or failed altogether, than 
 have counted a mark he had not fairly gained. 
 This extremely fine sense of honour was a most 
 marked trait in the character of the Prince. 
 
 “ His standing at the Royal Military Academy 
 differed from that of the other cadets in this, that 
 he did not enter by competitive examination, with 
 a view to obtaining a commission in the Royal 
 Artillery or Royal Engineers, but he was placed 
 there by the late Emperor, after consultation with 
 Sir Lintorn Simmons, for the purpose of receiving 
 a military education. This being the case, there 
 would have been no impropriety in the Prince’s 
 being specially examined, or even promoted from 
 class to class without examination ; but, as I have 
 said, the Prince was too proud to accept such a 
 position. If he was to be a cadet at all, he 
 wished to be a cadet in all respects. 
 
 “ Though at first far from forward in mathe- 
 matics, he was not content with merely doing what 
 was necessary for qualification, but was eager to 
 take up those more advanced sections of mathe- 
 matics which were only studied by cadets desirous 
 of obtaining a high place in their class. Although 
 I have spoken only of mathematics, with which I 
 was more immediately concerned, it must not be 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 213 
 
 supposed that this was the only subject to which 
 he devoted himself. He displayed the same 
 energy throughout all his studies ; as he showed 
 by the questions relating to them that he fre- 
 quently put to me. Further, he devoted a con- 
 siderable proportion of his spare time to reading 
 political subjects with his private tutor M. Filon. In 
 all his studies he showed a desire, and, it must be 
 added, a special aptitude, for grasping the main' 
 principles rather than the details. Details wearied 
 him. This was nowhere more apparent than in 
 mathematics. He had an undoubtedly clear insight 
 into the principles, but he failed to bring out his 
 knowledge at examinations, owing to his imperfect 
 grasp of the necessary formulae and working 
 details. He was not good at obtaining a correct 
 numerical answer to questions involving the appli- 
 cation of even those principles which he knew and 
 understood thoroughly. I was often disappointed 
 at examinations on finding that for want of some 
 single trigonometrical formula he had failed in 
 some question on a subject which I knew him to 
 have mastered ; or that, owing to his not being 
 quite perfect in his knowledge of English, he had 
 missed the whole drift of a question. But this 
 must be the experience of all Instructors in 
 mathematics. The Prince continually improved 
 his position amongst his contemporaries at every 
 successive examination, until he passed out seventh 
 in a class of about thirty-five. 
 
2i4 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Owing to the progress he had made during his last 
 term in the higher mathematics, which were alto- 
 gether voluntary, I had anticipated that he might 
 come out fourth ; but it was chiefly at this examina- 
 tion that he failed to come up to my expectations 
 for the reasons 1 have mentioned. It will be seen, 
 however, if the statistics are published, that he was 
 quite close up to the next three or four above him, 
 while there was a large gap between him and the 
 eighth man. Had he been competing for a com- 
 mission, he would have been entitled to choose 
 between the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. 
 I have not access to any documents, in order to 
 give a more complete record of the Prince's pro- 
 gress through the Academy. I can only relate 
 my reminiscences, but in doing so, I wish to 
 record that I had a great admiration for the 
 Prince’s character ; I cannot speak in sufficiently 
 strong terms of his most thorough genuineness, 
 conscientiousness, and uprightness. He was truth- 
 ful and honourable to a degree. 
 
 “ It scarcely becomes me to speak as to his re- 
 ligious convictions ; but it can do no harm if I add 
 that, owing to the connexion between mathematical 
 science and questions of religion, I had opportuni- 
 ties of concluding that he had sound, liberal, and 
 reverential religious opinions. He was gifted with 
 extreme industry, zeal, and energy, which never 
 slacked in my experience. Not only did he attend 
 all the studies and exercises with the rest of the 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 215 
 
 cadets, but during their hours of recreation, which 
 were not too many, he would be working either with 
 M. Filon or myself ; and, further, he spent the 
 Saturday and Sunday leave at Chislehurst, not in 
 rest, but in writing letters, receiving deputations, 
 and entering into momentous political questions. 
 He has spoken to me of this as his hardest work. 
 It appeared to me that he was actuated far more 
 by a love for his country than by a desire for 
 personal advancement. 
 
 “ He seemed to regard it as his destiny, that he 
 should one day be called upon to rule. On such 
 subjects he was most taciturn, and I never ques- 
 tioned him ; but he would make such remarks as 
 that he would introduce into French schools certain 
 customs and habits of English boys, for whom, as 
 a class, he evinced a great admiration. He was 
 most eager for success ; and was so delighted 
 when he heard of his having passed his first ex- 
 amination, that he took the trouble to telegraph 
 the result *to me. He was extremely attached to 
 his friend Conneau, a son of Dr. Conneau, who 
 joined the Academy at the same time as himself. 
 After about a year and a half, Conneau was re- 
 moved to the school of St. Cyr, which was a cause 
 of regret to me, as the two worked together so 
 well, and helped one another on in their studies. 
 
 “Although on first coming amongst the Wool- 
 wich cadets, the Prince was not altogether liked, 
 owing to his ignorance of English ways, yet he was 
 
2 1 6 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 soon beloved by them, and treated as one of them- 
 selves. Some were most attached to him, and were 
 ranked amongst the number of his truest friends. 
 
 “ The Prince was always anxious to do things 
 himself, rather than that others should do them 
 for him. His character was very lovable. I 
 can recognize him only too well in his anxiety 
 to be placed in a position of responsibility and in 
 his disregard for danger, which led to his untimely 
 death. I feel much pride and pleasure in looking 
 back to my studies with the Prince Imperial, and 
 cannot find words to express my exceeding grief 
 at the sad termination of so valuable a life.” 
 
 It was somewhat singular that, although the 
 Prince selected French as one of the modern 
 languages for his examination, albeit it was his 
 mother tongue he came out but second in it. In 
 fortifications he was sixth; sixteenth in military 
 drawing ; and in his final examination, in which 
 he competed with thirty-four well-instructed cadets, 
 he stood seventh. That was no mean position for 
 a foreign lad, whose education had been in another 
 tongue, and likewise sadly interrupted by the over- 
 powering events of 1871, whereby he had become 
 an exile from his native land. 
 
 Young as the Prince was when he joined at 
 Woolwich, that short and rapid campaign, begin- 
 ning at Saarbruck and ending at Sedan, had 
 taught him a saddened experience of the horrors 
 of war, which the light-hearted youths who were 
 
IVoolwich. 
 
 217 
 
 his companions had yet to acquire, it had also served 
 to impart a premature gravity to his years. The 
 general opinion of all who came in contact with 
 him during his three years’ residence at Woolwich, 
 whether Professors, Instructors, or cadets, testifies, 
 without a dissenting voice, to the high character 
 and studious example which he set while at the 
 Academy. To his fellow-cadets the Prince showed 
 himself frank and cordial. There was no assump- 
 tion of rank, yet at the same time he carried him- 
 self as one who could maintain his own dignity of 
 position when required to do so. 
 
 The Prince had early been taught the power of 
 self-control, and on one occasion he exercised 
 this while in residence at Woolwich, to the admi- 
 ration of the standers-by. 
 
 Hearing that a Frenchman had come to the 
 Academy on some business or other, the Prince, 
 who was always desirous to be affable with his 
 fellow-countrymen, requested that the individual 
 might be presented to him. The man was a total 
 stranger by name and person to the Prince, and a 
 very strong anti-imperialist. After the introduc- 
 tion had taken place, the Prince, with the view of 
 opening a conversation, asked him from what part 
 of France he came. The Frenchman’s reply was 
 both brutal and indecorous, for looking the Prince 
 Imperial full in the face, he uttered with a sarcastic 
 smile the one word “ Sedan,” and then watched its 
 effect on his interlocutor. For a moment the fire 
 
2 1 8 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 of youth was roused in the Prince, and the hot blood 
 mounted in his face at the impertinent reply, in- 
 tended as an insult to his fallen House. In the next 
 he choked down his rising indignation, and quietly 
 remarking “ That is a very pretty part of France,” 
 bowed to his visitor, and turned away without ad- 
 dressing any further conversation to him whatever. 
 
 The Prince, however, bore most good-naturedly 
 the boyish jokes and laughter which his imperfect 
 knowledge of English often raised among the 
 cadets, especially when, on giving the word of com- 
 mand at parade, he so uttered the phrases that it 
 was not always recognizable what was to be done. 
 
 In the slight deferences due between professors 
 and pupils the Prince was never lacking, and 
 on meeting with any of his instructors out of 
 class hours he never forgot to tender the proper 
 military salute. At class sometimes, in respect 
 to his rank, a Professor would offer to fetch him a 
 chair. This courtesy was always acknowledged 
 with thanks, but never accepted. “ It is not 
 necessary, sir,” the Prince would say, averting the 
 act, and in a second of time he had fetched it for 
 himself. 
 
 It may truly be said of him that there was not 
 one of his contemporaries at Woolwich who threw 
 more assiduity into his studies than himself. In 
 a great measure, this arose too from the high 
 sense of filial duty which the Prince possessed. 
 
 One of his father’s earliest telegrams from 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 219 
 
 Wilhelmshohe had been, “ Impress upon Louis the 
 necessity to continue his studies without any loss 
 of time, and as earnestly as when at Paris and, 
 ever bearing in mind this wish of his father’s, the 
 Prince accepted its text as an after-duty which 
 was incumbent on him. 
 
 It is with no wish to accumulate exaggerated 
 praise in depicting the Prince’s character that I 
 add the remark of another of the Prince’s Wool- 
 wich instructors, who had had a three years’ 
 intimate knowledge of his character. In writing 
 of the great sorrow with which he had heard of 
 his death, he added, “ It is a rare thing to be 
 able to say truthfully of any young man, as I can 
 experimentally of him, that the highest praise any 
 one has yet given him is not half what deserves to 
 be recorded.” 
 
 In all manly exercises the Prince was an adept, 
 his early training under M. Bachon having 
 imparted to him a superiority and ease in riding, 
 fencing, swimming, and gymnastic exercises of 
 every kind, which often made him a subject of 
 envy among his companions. 
 
 To all these sports his lithe, graceful figure was 
 well adapted. 
 
 In 1872 the Prince took part, very creditably, in 
 an assault of arms which was got up, at the 
 gymnasium, at Woolwich, to provide a sum of 
 money for the servant of a soldier who was 
 quitting his situation on being superannuated. 
 
220 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 At Woolwich the cadets go in very heartily 
 for all kinds of athletic sports. Every year they 
 have a gala day, for the exhibition of these games, 
 when prizes are given for races, pole jumping, 
 trundling gun wheels, &c. 
 
 The course is dressed in bunting, and as the 
 cadets are allowed to invite their friends, including 
 those of the fair sex, who come in numbers to 
 witness the prowess of their brothers, cousins, 
 and acquaintances, the spectacle is a very 
 animated one, thousands of persons assembling 
 on the course. 
 
 In 1874 the Prince was in training to take a 
 part in these games, but was unfortunately pre- 
 vented at the last moment by spraining his 
 foot. 
 
 Between the cadets at Woolwich and those 
 at Sandhurst a great competition exists relative 
 to these sports, the yearly contest being held 
 in London, at Lord’s Cricket Ground. A 
 Challenge Shield is kept between these com- 
 batants, which remains with the victors, but 
 this is far oftener found at Woolwich than at 
 Sandhurst. 
 
 The Prince was fond, among other amuse- 
 ments, of bicycle riding, and the following 
 anecdote is recorded of his rashness in the 
 conduct of this vehicle : — One summer afternoon, 
 in 1873, one of his instructors was engaged in 
 inspecting a company of cadets in the inner 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 22 1 
 
 drill court of the Academy, when he heard a 
 great clatter behind him, and observed an un- 
 usual excitement among his pupils. On looking 
 
 round Captain saw the Prince Imperial 
 
 lying on the ground, with his bicycle beside 
 him broken to pieces. On going to his Royal 
 Highness’s assistance, he asked him how the 
 accident had occurred. The Prince, scrambling to 
 his feet, pointed to a flight of stone steps, and 
 said he had tried to ride his machine down them. 
 
 “Was not that very rash, sir?” was the re- 
 
 “ Well, I jumped them yesterday,” replied the 
 Prince, “ and I meant that my horse should do so 
 to day ; but he has not only failed me, but broken 
 his back to boot.” It was the same determined 
 spirit which had, when a small boy, made him 
 persist in forcing h<s donkey to mount the stair- 
 case at the Tuileries. 
 
 The boy who could ride a bicycle with such 
 spirit was not likely to make a bad horseman, and 
 his performances in the riding-school at Woolwich 
 were such as to secure him the first prize. 
 
 Numerous instances are given of the Prince’s 
 great skill in horsemanship. On one occasion, 
 while on a visit to the Duke of Hamilton, while 
 inspecting the stud of this nobleman, a horse was 
 led out of uncommon beauty, but which had never 
 as yet allowed any one to mount him. On hearing 
 this named, the Prince, who was standing among 
 
222 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 a group of young noblemen, then and there 
 vaulted on to the animal’s back, and rode him 
 several times round the yard, to the astonishment 
 and alarm of the bystanders. The animal felt a 
 master’s hand, and after a struggle for freedom 
 submitted to control. 
 
 Again, just before the Prince’s death, while at 
 Maritzburg, the capital of Natal, some horses 
 were being tried previously to their purchase for the 
 staff. One fine-looking animal, which had already 
 thrown several officers who had mounted him, 
 passed the Prince at full gallop, having just 
 dethroned another rider. In a moment the Prince 
 seized the loosened rein which hung down, and 
 vaulted into the saddle. The horse, objecting to 
 his burthen, began as was his wont to rear, plunge, 
 and try every effort to dethrone its rider. In vain ; 
 for ten minutes or more horse and man battled 
 fiercely for victory. The Prince, with excited eye 
 and determined will, used his spurs freely, and 
 retained his seat, amid the cheers of the spec- 
 tators. 
 
 Early in January, in 1873, the Prince Imperial’s 
 studies were interrupted, as alluded to by Colonel 
 Kensington, by his father’s, the Emperor’s, decease. 
 The Prince was hastily fetched from Woolwich by 
 Comte Clary, to repair to his dying parent’s bedside. 
 Napoleon III. had long been suffering from an 
 internal and painful disease, which, of late, had 
 shown such aggravating symptoms that his 
 medical attendants had decided to operate. The 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 223 
 
 first operation had been successfully performed by 
 Sir Henry Thompson, but was not sufficient to 
 meet the exigencies of the case, and after a period 
 of repose, in which the Emperor at first seemed to 
 gain much strength, it was determined to renew 
 it. Most unexpectedly, just before the hour fixed 
 for the second operation, the Emperor’s pulse 
 suddenly weakened, and his strength sank so 
 rapidly, that before the Prince Imperial, who was 
 hastily summoned, arrived, he had expired. 
 When Comte Clary arrived at Woolwich, the 
 Prince Imperial was attending a lecture, and the 
 former’s sudden appearance at an unusual hour at 
 once raised alarm in his breast. He turned pale, 
 and asked if his father were worse. Comte Clary 
 did not like to tell him what he feared, for before 
 he had left Chislehurst there was but little hope 
 that the Emperor could survive long. 
 
 Without a moment’s delay the Prince entered the 
 carriage with Comte Clary, and drove as fast as the 
 horses could take them to Chislehurst. Before 
 reaching the door he leapt out, and eagerly de- 
 manded the news. 
 
 In reality the Emperor had expired, but in order 
 to break the sad fact, one of the attendants 
 replied, “ L’empereur est bien mal.” 
 
 The Prince turned white as ashes, and seized the 
 back of a chair for support ; then, steadying his 
 voice, he said, with a searching eye, to the at- 
 tendant, “ Tell me the worst ; I can bear it.” At 
 that moment, the Empress, hearing her son’s voice. 
 
224 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 came out of an adjoining room, and twining her 
 arms round his neck, sobbed out, “ My Louis! my 
 Louis ! I have now no one left but yourself.” 
 She then conducted him into the room where the 
 Emperor’s body lay. For a few minutes nature 
 asserted her rights, and the poor young Prince 
 was overpowered with grief. 
 
 In that pale, silent form he saw only the father 
 who had ever tendered him the fondest affection, 
 and throwing himself on the body, he embraced 
 it over and over again, exclaiming frantically, as if 
 he would battle with death itself for the recovery 
 of the Emperor’s life, “ Non, je ne le veux pas ! je 
 ne le veux pas ! ” 
 
 In a short time, however, the habit of self- 
 control — a habit which his dead parent had so 
 strikingly set him an example of, returned — and 
 the Prince astonished those who, like himself, were 
 surrounding the Emperor’s bed and weeping, by 
 suddenly rising and motioning them to kneel down. 
 They did so, when, in the presence of the Empress 
 and many grey-headed attendants, this boy of 
 sixteen, lifting his firm voice to the God who had 
 stricken him, repeated several prayers, among 
 others the “ Pater Noster” in Latin. 
 
 From that hour the Prince accepted his position 
 as his mother’s comforter and the head of his 
 home, and took his part with princely dignity in 
 all the official ceremonies which followed conse- 
 quent upon the position and rank of the deceased. 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 225 
 
 The Emperor’s lying in state took place on 
 January 14th, 1873, and was conducted with the 
 same ceremonies as though he had died at the 
 Tuileries. Crowds arrived from Paris and all 
 parts of France, to say nothing of the numbers of 
 English who desired to look once more upon the 
 features of the man whose name had for so many 
 years been a power in Europe. Train after train 
 disgorged its contents at the little station of 
 Chislehurst, until the village was alive with teem- 
 ing thousands, who trod the generally quiet road 
 to Camden House with the varied feelings of 
 regret, personal sorrow, and curiosity. 
 
 The Emperor’s body had been removed from the 
 room where he died into one on the ground floor 
 of Camden House, ordinarily used as a picture- 
 gallery. This chamber was turned into a tem- 
 porary mortuary, and draped in black, its gloom 
 being relieved by lighted tapers in large silver 
 candlesticks. On either side of the walls was an 
 Imperial crown in white, surmounted by the letter 
 “ N.” The body was watched by gentlemen of the 
 household and priests, who relieved each other 
 every four hours. Early in the day the Prince 
 of Wales with other English Princes arrived at 
 Chislehurst, and were the first to enter the 
 mortuary. After them the Prince Imperial en- 
 tered, knelt down, and prayed by the coffin for 
 five minutes, then passed out and joined the 
 Empress, to whom the Prince of Wales had 
 
 O 
 
226 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 already gone to offer his condolence. Then 
 followed in succession through the mortuary the 
 princes of the Buonaparte family, Princess Mathilde, 
 Princess Clothilde, and others, with many attached 
 personal friends of the late Emperor, who were 
 much affected as they took a last farewell of his 
 features. Then came the French generals and 
 Imperialists of rank; and finally, when these had 
 passed out, at two o’clock the gates of the park 
 were thrown open to the thousands who had been 
 waiting, many from early dawn, and who, one and 
 all clad in mourning, showed the deepest respect 
 as they also filed through the chamber of death. 
 
 This trying ceremonial over, the Empress and 
 her son had but a respite of two days wherein to 
 indulge their grief, when the funeral obsequies 
 took place, and there was again the necessary 
 repetition of state ceremonial to be gone through — 
 an ordeal which in the hour of bereavement adds 
 poignancy to heart-sorrow, contrasting so strongly 
 with the helplessness of the clay upon which the 
 mighty leveller Death has set his seal. 
 
 If the lying-in-state ceremonial had drawn its 
 thousands to Chislehurst, the Emperor’s interment 
 drew its tens of thousands. From all parts of 
 France adherents to the Napoleon dynasty arrived, 
 whilst those who had come over for the first 
 ceremony remained for the second. As usual, 
 too, when anything is to be seen anywhere within 
 reach, the English people love to take holiday. 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 22 7 
 
 Thus it was computed that 30,000 persons at 
 least arrived that day by train at Chislehurst, to 
 witness the Emperor’s funeral, to say nothing of 
 those who came in carriages, on horseback, or on 
 foot. 
 
 The park at Camden House, and the fields 
 adjoining the Roman Catholic church in Chisle- 
 hurst, were filled to overflowing. From the lodge 
 gates to the hall door a continuous stream of 
 ladies and gentlemen in deep mourning stood 
 waiting for the procession to pass along the 
 avenue. At 11.30 a.m. the Emperor’s coffin, 
 completely covered with wreaths and bouquets, 
 mostly composed of violets, was placed in the 
 hearse, which slowly passed along the line of 
 sorrowing spectators. 
 
 The Prince Imperial, dressed in a long black 
 cloak, over which he wore the broad crimson sash 
 of the Legion of Honour, followed as chief 
 mourner. His pale face was for the time almost 
 stern with the effort he made to conquer his 
 emotion. After him came in succession, accord- 
 ing to rank and precedence, the Buonaparte 
 princes, and numberless other illustrious visitors. 
 
 The arrangements in the chapel were as simple 
 as possible, but from the small proportions of the 
 building only very few of the visitors could gain 
 admission. The service was performed by 
 Dr. Danell and the Rev. Abbe Goddard, 
 after which a requiem mass was sung. As the 
 
 O 2 
 
228 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Prince Imperial returned from the ceremony he 
 was enthusiastically cheered. 
 
 On arriving at Camden House his duties, how- 
 over, were not completed ; and no time was allowed 
 this boy of sixteen for any retirement in which to 
 relieve his overspent feelings. 
 
 In deference to the numerous persons of dis- 
 tinction, deputations, &c., who had travelled from 
 France to show their respect for the late Emperor, 
 it was thought the proper thing that the Heir to the 
 French Empire should hold a levee in the large 
 drawing-room of Camden House. Here the Prince 
 therefore took his stand, supported by the 
 Buonaparte princes, and for nearly an hour the 
 heartstricken lad received the homage of the 
 friends who had upheld his father through all his 
 varied fortunes, and were now ready to transfer to 
 him the same fealty. 
 
 During the time occupied in these represen- 
 tative receptions, the remainder of the French 
 persons who had also come over — being many 
 thousands — were arranged within the precincts of 
 Camden House, beginning at the hall door of the 
 mansion, extending on either side of the car- 
 riage drive, down to the lodge gates. 
 
 As soon as the levee was over, attended by the 
 gentlemen of the household— le Due de Cam- 
 baceres, as Chamberlain, leading the wav — the 
 Prince Imperial walked the whole length of the 
 line made by his compatriots, followed by the 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 229 
 
 Buonaparte princes. Directly he appeared, every 
 head was uncovered. Lad as he was, he bore his 
 part with easy dignity ; it was no longer the 
 Woolwich cadet, but the Prince of an Imperial 
 dynasty, to whom his people were rendering 
 homage. To some he merely bowed ; but every 
 now and then catching sight of a familiar face, 
 he eagerly extended his hand, and gave a hearty 
 grasp to its recipient, the friendly recognition 
 drawing forth mutual tears of affectionate grief 
 for the departed Emperor. 
 
 At one spot, the head of the Paris workmen’s 
 deputation, which numbered fifty men, came for- 
 ward with a tricolour banner in his hand. The 
 Prince, remembering this man represented a class 
 in whose welfare his father had always shown such 
 interest that he had been termed the working 
 men's Emperor , listened attentively to the ad- 
 dress, and then shaking hands with the standard- 
 bearer, thanked him for his loyalty. On this, the 
 man raised the tricolour high in the air, and 
 shouted, “ Vive Napoleon IV !” whilst the whole 
 body of working men caught up the words, 
 and the air resounded with the cry of “ Vive 
 Napoleon IV. ! Vive Napoleon IV. !” 
 
 The Prince’s conduct at this demonstration 
 betokened both good sense and delicacy. Not 
 deeming the sad occasion one for such an exhibi- 
 tion of feeling, the Prince waved his hand, and in 
 a firm voice stopped the ovation by saying, — 
 
250 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ My friends, I thank you ; but the Emperor is 
 dead. Let me, however, join you in the cry of 
 1 Vive la France ’ ” — and he raised his hat high 
 over his head and repeated the words. 
 
 This new cry was at once taken up by the entire 
 crowd, which would have lifted the Prince from his 
 feet, had not his attendants cleared a way for him 
 until he arrived at Camden House ; and even 
 then for some minutes the deafening cheers for his 
 fatherland that he had himself set afloat, re-echoed 
 through the air. The cries of “Vive 1 ’Imperatrice ” 
 and “ Vive l’Angleterre” followed, the last a tribute 
 to the country in which the Emperor’s ashes re- 
 posed, and where they have since remained, un- 
 disturbed by the political factions that latterly rent 
 his life. 
 
 No more remarkable career was ever run by any 
 mortal man than that of the Exile of Chislehurst, 
 Napoleon III. Born to greatness, and then dis- 
 placed from it at an early age, he pursued the 
 glittering ambition with undaunted determination 
 through every adverse fortune, until he found him- 
 self at its summit. For twenty years he enjoyed 
 the fruits of his desire, and wielded the sceptre 
 with a skilful hand, making for himself strong 
 friendships, which were won and sealed by the 
 admiration of the qualities both of head and heart 
 which he possessed. 
 
 That Napoleon III. had, on the other side, 
 faults, no one can deny — who has not? — but he 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 231 
 
 possessed virtues which in their rarity counter- 
 balance many a failing. His devoted patriotism, 
 his genuine gratitude to those who had served him 
 in adversity, his fidelity to his friends, his personal 
 courage and indomitable perseverance, will ever 
 surround his name with a halo of admiration. 
 
 During his rule many of the virtues which tend 
 to a successful government, as well as the ambi- 
 tion, which exceed success and lead on to failure, • 
 were possessed by him both in measure and alloy ; 
 but the Emperor’s rule was a lengthened one, and 
 no one can deny that during the greater part of it 
 he exercised a salutary moral influence, which 
 accomplished much that Napoleon I. had failed to 
 compass by force of arms. 
 
 That the Emperor died in exile speaks little for 
 the gratitude of France, and establishes the fickle 
 character of that nation; whilst the genuine grief 
 of the numbers who attended his funeral obsequies, 
 at- a costly sacrifice of time and money, is suffi- 
 cient proof that his memory is cherished by a large 
 portion of the people he loved. 
 
 There was one further ceremony in connexion 
 with the Emperor’s obsequies at which the Prince 
 Imperial assisted, in which he was, visibly, more 
 affected than even at the two previous ones. 
 
 On the anniversary of the funeral, the Emperor’s 
 remains were transferred from the temporary rest- 
 ing place in the small chapel formerly used as the 
 sacristy of the church, into the magnificent granite 
 
232 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 mausoleum presented to the Empress by the 
 Queen. 
 
 On this occasion few persons comparatively were 
 admitted into the church, and as the service was 
 of a private character, there was not the same 
 necessity for self-restraint. 
 
 An eye-witness narrates that, being in the chapel, 
 she watched the Prince’s conduct with intense in- 
 terest. He stood near the small door of the Cha- 
 pelle Ardente, with his handkerchief to his face 
 during the prayers, and frequently wiped away the 
 tears which coursed each other down his cheeks. 
 As soon, however, as the bearers took up the coffin, 
 to carry it across the church to the newly-made 
 mausoleum on the opposite side, the expression of 
 his face was fixed with a depth of feeling she says 
 she can never forget. He hardly seemed to 
 breathe, but watched with dilated eyes the coffin 
 as it was slowly borne along the aisle, every fibre 
 of his being wrapped in the passing scene. 
 
 He did not attempt to follow it, but when he 
 lost sight of it behind those who did so, he 
 started, buried his face in his hands, and sobbed 
 audibly. 
 
 Poor boy ! he had in that last year tasted 
 independence, and during that time, with the 
 gravity of premature manhood had weighed its 
 responsibilities. Probably as he lost sight of his 
 father’s coffin he then realized to the full the 
 blank in his existence which his death had 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 occasioned. This second ceremonial too was a 
 disinterment of former feelings, and opened afresh 
 memories of the past. It was the last view of the 
 father who had ever surrounded him with the 
 tenderest and wisest solicitude, and who had always 
 taken a pride in making him, as a child, a partici- 
 pator of his triumphs — the parent whose rapid 
 downfall he had shared, and whose bitter humilia- 
 tions he more than any one else had witnessed. 
 During the years of exile too which followed, none 
 knew better than the Prince Imperial that love for 
 his only child, hopes for his future, had been the prin- 
 cipal solace of his father’s last sad years of exist- 
 ence. Circumstances rarely permit father and son 
 to be so closely drawn together by the close chains 
 of association and friendship as the Emperor and 
 Prince Imperial had been. Now all was over, and 
 he was left alone to meet both the possibilities 
 and the too certain trials which, in turn, time 
 brings to all. 
 
 At the birth of the Prince Imperial, in 1856, it 
 will be remembered that an Act was passed by the 
 French Senate, in which his official majority was 
 fixed at the age of eighteen years. At the date 
 of the Emperor’s death the Prince lacked one year 
 and two months of this age. 
 
 Before the Imperialists of note who attended 
 the Emperor’s funeral separated, a court was held 
 at Chislehurst, in which it was determined that 
 according to the terms of this Act the Empress 
 
234 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 should continue to exercise power over her son’s 
 education until his coming of age. These studies 
 were, however, to be conducted according to the 
 Emperor’s wishes as constantly expressed during 
 his residence in England. 
 
 In the will which Napoleon III. left, he nomi- 
 nated his son as his successor, conjuring him 
 never to forget the motto which belonged to their 
 house, viz., “Tout pour la France.” He also 
 charged him to make a profound study of the 
 writings and correspondence of Napoleon I., and 
 further added, — 
 
 “ Que mon fils se souvienne, quand les circon- 
 stances le permettront, que la cause des peuples 
 est celle de la France. 
 
 “ Le pouvoir est un lourd fardeau, parce qu’on 
 ne peut pas toujours faire le bien que Ton voudrait, 
 et que nos contemporaires nous rendront rarement 
 justice. II fautpenserdu haut descieux que ceux que 
 vous avez aimes vous regardent et vous protegent. 
 
 “ C’est lame de mon oncle qui m’a toujours 
 inspire et soutenu. II en sera de meme pour mon 
 fils ; car il sera digne de son nom.” 
 
 (Let my son remember, when circumstances per- 
 mit, that the cause of the people is that of France. 
 
 Power is a heavy burthen, because one cannot 
 always do the good one desires, and our contem- 
 poraries rarely render us justice. My son must 
 bear in mind that those who are gone above still 
 remember and protect him. 
 
Woohvich. 
 
 2 35 
 
 It is the soul of my uncle which has always in- 
 spired and protected me. It will be the same 
 with my son, for he will prove himself worthy of his 
 name.) 
 
 It was three weeks from the date at which the 
 Prince Imperial was called to his father's death- 
 bed, before that in which he returned to Wool- 
 wich, and this loss of time necessarily told in the 
 number of marks he had to make up for the 
 following examination, in March, 1873. 
 
 In consideration of the melancholy cause of his 
 absence, the authorities offered the Prince to 
 transfer him to the higher class without submitting 
 him to the forthcoming examination. 
 
 As before, the Prince Imperial’s high sense of 
 honour made him reject this offer. “ He pre- 
 ferred,” he said, “ to remain where he was, and 
 work his way up in regular competition with the 
 rest of the class” — which he accordingly did, 
 studying with such redoubled zeal that, as already 
 stated, he came out seventh at the end of his term. 
 
 It was about this period of the Prince’s residence 
 at Woolwich that M. Paul de Cassagnac came 
 over to Chislehurst to see the Emperor and his 
 family, and published the following account of his 
 interview with the Prince in Le Pays, the French 
 newspaper of which he is editor. 
 
 After commenting on his personal appearance, 
 M. Paul de Cassagnac says, — 
 
 “ The child has given place to the young man, 
 
236 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 who already feels profoundly to what destinies he 
 is called. He knows and comprehends all the 
 trials and vicissitudes which the future may have 
 in store for him, and he contemplates them in a 
 manner which charmed me. 
 
 “ When in taking a bitter pleasure in unfolding 
 these to him in succession, I looked fixedly on 
 him, and said, ‘Well, monseigneur, are you ready 
 for all this ? Are you decided ? ’ 
 
 “ ‘ Yes, sir,’ he replied, in a serious tone, and 
 without any hesitation. 
 
 “ In a word, the Prince is resolutely preparing 
 himself for whatever part Providence may reserve 
 for him. He possesses as natural gifts an acute 
 understanding, a cool courage. The education 
 he is receiving will do the best. He is at the 
 school of cadets at Woolwich, where he is the 
 object of universal deference and general sympathy. 
 So practical a life cannot but hasten the event of 
 his recognition as the rightful head of the French 
 nation.” 
 
 On the occasion of the Czar’s visit to Wool- 
 wich, in 1872, the Prince Imperial was asked by 
 Sir Lintorn Simmons, the Governor of the Aca- 
 demy, whether he wished to form one of the Cadet 
 Guard about to be organized to receive the 
 Emperor. 
 
 Before replying, he thought for a moment, and 
 then asked, “ Will the Czar speak to me ?” 
 
 “ I cannot tell, sir,” was the rejoinder. 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 237 
 
 The Prince then expressed his willingness to 
 join the Guard, and was accordingly enrolled. 
 When the Czar arrived, and was informed that the 
 Prince Imperial was among the youthful body of 
 guards who stood near him, he at once sent for 
 him, and cordially greeted him. The Czar also 
 requested that a horse might be provided for the 
 Prince, and kept him at his side during the re- 
 mainder of his visit to Woolwich. On this occa- 
 sion there was decidedly more cheering from the 
 crowds for the Prince than for the Emperor of 
 Russia. 
 
 On February 1 6th , 1875, the Duke of Cam- 
 bridge presented the prizes at the award of com- 
 missions at Woolwich Academy, and the Prince 
 Imperial was among the cadets assembled to 
 receive him. 
 
 The Empress Eugenie drove over to Woolwich 
 to witness the ceremony, with a distinguished 
 suite of French gentlemen, one and all anxious to 
 hear what position their young Prince would 
 take in his military studies among his English 
 companions. 
 
 The cadets were drawn up in a line, and re- 
 ceived the Commander-in-Chief with a general 
 salute. The Duke of Cambridge then put them 
 through a series of manoeuvres, after which a 
 certain number of the cadets were individually 
 called out of rank to exhibit their prowess in 
 drilling the remainder. 
 
2 38 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 After several cadets had done this to the 
 Duke’s satisfaction, the latter’s voice was heard 
 in the usual phraseology to call, “ Fall out the 
 Prince Imperial.” In a moment’s time the young 
 Prince doubled to the front, and drilled his fellow- 
 cadets for about ten minutes or so, and in good 
 English also. 
 
 He changed fronts by deploying on several 
 companies, and performed several intricate man- 
 cevres. When he had finished the Duke remarked, 
 “ Good, very good ! could not have been better,” 
 and rode straight to the Empress’s carriage, 
 where he complimented her on her son’s perform- 
 ance. 
 
 The Duke then proceeded to the School of 
 Arms to inspect the drawings executed by the 
 cadets, among which were found several of the 
 Prince’s. Those for examination were marked by 
 his index, No. 11, others were signed Napoleon. 
 The Prince took a very high position in drawing, 
 as also in surveying, military history, and artillery 
 exercise. In riding he was head of his class. 
 
 The cadets who were recommended for commis- 
 sions were then called to the front, and when 
 H.I .H. the Prince Imperial’s name was called there 
 was great applause. 
 
 Sir Lintorn Simmons, in his report of the Aca- 
 demy which he read to the Duke of Cambridge, 
 passed the following eulogium on the Prince : — 
 
 “ I must claim the special attention of your 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 2 39 
 
 Royal Highness to the fact that the Prince 
 Imperial, who, at the request of his august father, 
 the Emperor of the French, was admitted to 
 follow the course of instruction pursued in the 
 Royal Military College, now appears among the 
 commission class. 
 
 As your Royal Highness is aware, the Prince 
 Imperial was not subjected to the same competi- 
 tive examination as other cadets. Before his ad- 
 mission, however, I caused him to be examined, in 
 order to ascertain whether he was sufficiently ad- 
 vanced in his studies and in his knowledge of the 
 English language to enable him to follow the course 
 pursued in the Academy. As to that examina- 
 tion I had some doubt, considering his youth 
 and his imperfect knowledge of the English 
 language, and in the absence of all special 
 preparation for the Academy, whether it would 
 not have been advisable to defer his admission for 
 a few months. He, however, joined November, 
 1872, and has since pursued his studies without in- 
 terruption, excepting for a short period when, in con- 
 sequence of the death of his father he was unable 
 to be present at the periodical examination, 
 February, 1873. He then joined the present 
 commission class, with which he has been asso- 
 ciated throughout his subsequent career at the 
 Academy. On first entering the Academy the 
 Prince was under great disadvantages through not 
 being thoroughly conversant with the language in 
 
240 Life of the Prince Imperial op France. 
 
 which the instruction was given ; but a high 
 order of intelligence, combined with great diligence 
 and unremitting labour, have enabled him toimprove 
 his position in almost every succeeding examina- 
 tion, and he now, as a final result, stands seventh 
 in a class of thirty-four, a position which, if he was 
 to enter her Majesty’s army, entitles him to elect 
 service in either the artillery or engineers corps. 
 
 “ I have further to report, that the Prince Im- 
 perial, by his invariable punctuality and exactitude 
 in the performance of his duties and submission to 
 discipline, has set an example which deserves 
 honourable mention even amonsj these his com- 
 rades of the commission class.” 
 
 Great applause followed this announcement from 
 Sir G. Lintorn Simmons. 
 
 On February 24th, 1875, the officers of the 
 Royal Artillery entertained the Prince at mess, 
 when General Aguilar rose to propose his health, 
 and spoke in high praise of the manner in which he 
 had acquitted himself in his studies at Woolwich. 
 General Aguilar said that as the position he had 
 attained would have enabled him to choose service 
 in either ordnance corps, had he been about to 
 enter the English army, he imagined that were 
 the Prince ever to associate his imperial name 
 with the grand artillery of France, it would be with 
 the Royal Artillery Corps. 
 
 The Prince, when he rose to reply, thanked 
 General Aguilar for the hearty manner in which 
 
Woolwich. 
 
 241 
 
 the toast, given in his honour, had been drunk, 
 and said he hoped that the officers of the Royal 
 Artillery would still let him feel that he belonged 
 to their corps. Thanks to the hospitality of 
 England, he had been able to carry on the 
 tradition of his family, which had always been 
 “ a family of gunners.” 
 
 He had been precluded from obtaining his edu- 
 cation in France, but was proud for having as com- 
 panions the sons of men who had fought so bravely 
 with France on many a battlefield. He should 
 never forget the years he spent at Woolwich, or the 
 honour of belonging to a corps whose motto was — 
 
 “ Ubique quo fas et gloria ducunt.” 
 
 Although the Prince had completed his military 
 studies at Woolwich, and in 1875 took up his 
 abode at Chislehurst, he continued to take the 
 warmest interest in all that pertained to the Royal 
 Academy, and constantly went over to visit his 
 fellow-cadets there. One of these, a very pro- 
 mising young man, the son of General Philpot , 
 died soon after the Prince left Woolwich, and he 
 attended his funeral, walking as one of the 
 mourners behind the coffin to the cemetery. 
 
 The following year the Prince was attached, 
 during the autumn manoeuvres, to Major Ward 
 Ashton’s battery of Artillery, and showed, both in 
 these military operations, as well as others in 
 which he took part, great interest. 
 
 R 
 
242 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 On July 22nd, 1876, the Prince, while serving 
 with a battery of artillery at Aldershot, attempted 
 somewhat rashly to jump a camp-fire, and falling 
 into it, burnt his arm severely. 
 
 Notwithstanding the severe pain the accident 
 caused, he rode into Guildford with the battery 
 on the following Monday, but during the day his 
 arm became so swollen, and the pain so severe, 
 that considerable fever followed, and Dr. Stedman 
 was called in to attend his Imperial Highness. 
 The Prince, with his usual courage, determined, 
 however, to ride on the following day. When, 
 however, Dr. Stedman saw him at six a.m., his 
 arm was so inflamed that he forbad horse exercise, 
 and the Prince drove into Dorking, where for two 
 days he remained under Dr. Stedman’s care, 
 when he was permitted to travel as far as Chisle- 
 hurst, where the Empress nursed him until his 
 recovery. 
 
 Dr. Stedman was much impressed with the 
 fortitude the Prince displayed during the dressing 
 of the wound, which caused excessive pain, as 
 also with the courteous and kindly manner with 
 which he thanked him for the services he had 
 rendered him. 
 
243 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MAJORITY OF THE PRINCE. 
 
 “ The shades of night were falling fast, 
 
 As through an Alpine village pass’d 
 A youth, who bore, ’mid snow and ice, 
 
 A banner with the strange device 
 Excelsior.” 
 
 On the 1 6th of March, 1874, the Prince Imperial 
 attained his majority. He was then eighteen 
 years old ; and according to the decree passed by 
 the Senate at Paris at his birth, this was the age 
 at which he was to enter into possession of his 
 rights, and be considered, in case of his father’s 
 previous death, the head of the Napoleon dynasty. 
 Although the Prince was separated from it by 
 exile, the Imperialist party determined to celebrate 
 the event with as great a demonstration as possible. 
 As this could not under the circumstances take 
 place in France, they decided to go over in 
 numbers to Chislehurst, and there swear fealty to 
 their new chief. 
 
 The interest in the event was so widespread in 
 Paris that the authorities took alarm, and issued a 
 proclamation forbidding the railways to organize 
 
 R 2 
 
244 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 any cheap or special train to London, as also any 
 Government officials whatever to attend the pro- 
 posed inauguration. In face of this determined op- 
 position, Buonapartists arrived from all quarters ; 
 at Paris alone the tickets registered for Chisle- 
 hurst, at the Station du Nord, amounted to nearly 
 8000, whilst large reinforcements from the provinces 
 swelled the train. These masses of French people 
 arrived early in the day at Chislehurst, and con- 
 gregated in the fields, on the common, and in and 
 around the little church of that quiet Kentish 
 village, where a religious service was to be held 
 previously to the inauguration ceremony. Here in 
 its marble sarcophagus the remains of their exiled 
 Emperor lay, a centre of reverent and devoted 
 affection to the numbers assembled that day to 
 transfer their allegiance to his son. The morning 
 was bright, and the inhabitants of Chislehurst, 
 anxious also to tender their congratulations to the 
 Prince who had made his home among them, sus- 
 pended tricoloured flags and banners from every 
 available height, and joined with the foreign 
 crowds in celebrating the anniversary with joy. 
 
 Camden House had already been filled by the 
 various members of the Buonaparte family, and Im- 
 perialists of distinction who had likewise assem- 
 bled to honour the occasion. These, with the 
 Empress and her son, first attended service in the 
 chapel ; and as they passed slowly along through 
 lines of their French adherents, every head was 
 uncovered, and cries of “ Vive l’Empereur !” 
 
 were 
 
Majority of the Prince. 
 
 245 
 
 heard on all sides. M. Mourot, one of the 
 Emperor’s most attached followers, presented the 
 Prince Imperial with a branch of chestnut, 
 gathered the evening before in the garden of 
 the Tuileries. The Prince accepted the gift, but 
 as soon as he entered the chapel laid it reverently 
 on his father’s tomb. 
 
 When the religious ceremony was over, in which, 
 owing to the small dimensions of the church, but 
 few of the foreign travellers could assist, the Em- 
 press and the Prince returned to Camden Place, 
 whilst the large company of French people as- 
 sembled in the park. Here seats had been erected, 
 as likewise a series of flag-staffs, around which the 
 various French deputations who represented the 
 different provinces of France, each headed by a 
 leader carrying their provincial flag, stood. At 
 two p.m. the Prince Imperial, with the Empress, 
 and their relatives and suite, entered the park, 
 where a large tent, enclosed by a cordon, had 
 been reserved for the Imperialist party. 
 
 After a short time the curtains of the tent were 
 drawn back, and the Prince, with the Empress at 
 his side, came to the front. Behind them stood, 
 Prince Lucien Buonaparte, Prince Murat, M. 
 Rouher, the Due de Padoue, M. Ponard, 
 M. Grandperret, M. H. Chevreau, le Marquis 
 de Vallette, and other former ministers of state, 
 with many Imperialist ladies of high rank. So 
 many French persons of distinction were in fact 
 present that, some one sagaciously remarked, 
 
246 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ If the Empire had been suddenly re-established, 
 the Prince could easily then and there have 
 selected a personal government from among the 
 tried friends of his father’s who surrounded him.” 
 The Prince Imperial wore the star and ribbon of 
 the Legion of Honour. As soon as he appeared he 
 was greeted with cries of “Vive I’Empereur!” 
 “Vive l’lmperatrice 1 ” “Vive le Prince Imperial!” 
 and for at least ten minutes the crowd continued 
 these acclamations, the Prince repeatedly bowing 
 right and left in acknowledgment of the ovation. 
 
 Silence having at last been obtained, M. le Due 
 de Padoue advanced, and read a long address 
 significant of the attachment of the large body 
 of French persons present to both his father’s 
 memory and himself. 
 
 In this address he called attention to the posi- 
 tion of France, and bid the Prince remember that 
 its present Government was to them only a pro- 
 visional and a transitory one. He then enumerated 
 the Prince’s titles, and his legitimate right to in- 
 herit the mission of the Napoleon family, which 
 dynasty, he said, had been chosen from the ranks 
 of the people of France, to represent the interests, 
 and to guarantee to them the rights of modern 
 society. The Due ended his address with the 
 words, — 
 
 “ Wait with patience. No one can arrest the 
 national tide. Pass the hours of your exile in the 
 acquisition of knowledge, surrounded by the tender 
 care of a mother, whose courage and patriotism 
 
Majority of the Prince. 247 
 
 have assigned her a name in history. But be 
 ready , whenever the design of Providence shall 
 call you to the Empire.” 
 
 As soon as the Due de Padoue had ended his 
 address, the Prince Imperial rose, and was again 
 the subject of repeated acclamations. He held in 
 his hand a paper which contained the notes of the 
 first and last public speech he ever made, which 
 had been carefully studied, and thought out by 
 himself, he having expressly rejected any aid in 
 its composition. When he commenced speaking 
 a dead silence was maintained by the crowd, 
 every one straining their attention to hear what he 
 said. He spoke in a deep, manly tone, and with 
 clear enunciation. 
 
 First bowing to the Due, he thanked him for 
 the address he had read, and acknowledged him 
 as one of his most loyal supporters ; then, turning 
 to the crowds, he said, — 
 
 “ Messieurs, — En vous reunissant ici aujourd’hui, vous 
 avez obei a un sentiment de fidelite envers le souvenir de 
 l’Empereur, et e’est de quoi je veux d’abord vous remercier. 
 La conscience publique a venge des calomnies cette grande 
 me'moire et voit l’Empereur sous ses traits veritables. 
 
 “ Vous qui venez de diverses contrees du pays, vous pouvez 
 rendre ces temoignages : son regne n’a ete qu’une constante 
 sollicitude pour le bien de tous ; sa derniere journee sur la 
 terre de France a ete une journee d’he'ro'isme et d’abnegation. 
 
 “Votre presence autour de moi, les adresses qui me par- 
 viennent en grand nombre attestent combien la France est in- 
 quire de ses destine'es futures: l’ordre est protege' par 1’epe'e 
 du Due de Magenta, ancien compagnon des gloires et des mal- 
 heurs de mon pere ; sa loyaute nous est un sur garant qu’il ne 
 
248 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 laissera pas expose aux surprises des partis le de'pot qu’il a 
 re§u. Mais l’ordre materiel n’est pas la securite. 
 
 “ L’avenir demeure inconnu, les intdrets s’en effrayent, les 
 passions peuvent en abuser. 
 
 “ De la est ne le sentiment dont vous m’apportez l’e'cho, 
 celui qui entraine l’opinion avec une puissance irresistible vers 
 un recours direct k la nation pour jeter les fondements d’un 
 gouvernement definitif. Le plebiscite, c’est le salut et c’est le 
 droit, la force rendue au pouvoir et here des longues securites 
 rouverte au pays : c’est un grand parti national, sans vainqueurs 
 ni vaincus, s’elevant au-dessus de tous pour les re'concilier. 
 
 “ La France, librement consulte'e, jettera-t-elle les yeux sur 
 le fils de Napoleon III. ? Cette pensee eveille en moi moins 
 d’orgueil que de de'fiance de mes forces. L’Empereur m’a 
 appris de quel poids pese l’autorite souveraine, meme sur de 
 viriles epaules, et combien sont ne'cessaires, pour accomplir 
 une si haute mission, la foi en soi-meme et le sentiment du 
 devoir. 
 
 “ C’est cette foi qui me donnera ce qui manque k ma 
 jeunesse. Uni k ma mere par la plus tendre et la plus recon- 
 naissante affection, je travaillerai sans relache k devancer le 
 progres des annees. Quand l’heure sera venue, si un autre 
 gouvernement reunit les suffrages du plus grand nombre, je 
 m’inclinerai avec respect devant la decision du pays. Si le 
 nom des Napoleons sort pour la huitieme fois des urnes popu- 
 lates, je suis pret a accepter la responsabilite que m’impose- 
 rait le vote de la nation. 
 
 “Telle est ma pensee: je vous remercie d’avoir parcouru 
 une longue route pour venir en recueillir l’expression. 
 
 “ Reportez aux absents mon souvenir, k la France les voeux 
 de l’un de ses enfants : mon courage et ma vie lui appartiennent. 
 
 “ Que Dieu veille sur elle et lui rende ses prosperites et sa 
 grandeur !” 
 
 “Gentlemen,— In assembling here to day you exhibit a 
 feeling of fidelity towards the late Emperor, for which, in the 
 first instance, I beg to offer my thanks. This public acknow- 
 ledgment on your part divests his memory of all calumnies, 
 and exhibits the character of the Emperor in his truest colours. 
 
Majority of the Prince. 
 
 249 
 
 You who come from various parts of the kingdom can bear 
 witness that his reign was one constant solicitude for the 
 welfare of all parties, and that his last day on the soil of 
 France was one of heroism and self-abnegation. 
 
 “ Your presence around me, the addresses you have presented 
 to me, all testify to the anxiety of France as to the future. Order 
 is now, I am happy to say, protected by the sword of the Duke 
 of Magenta, the companion in arms of my father in both his 
 glory and in his misfortunes, and his loyalty is a sure 
 guarantee against party suspicions. But executive power is not 
 security. The future is in the dark; its interests are in danger ; 
 men’s passions may run riot. 
 
 “ This uncertainty it is which gives birth to the sentiments 
 of loyalty which you convey to me to-day. The nation’s 
 wishes appear to be drawn by an irresistible power towards 
 laying the foundation of a defined national government. In 
 organizing this the plebiscite is its safety and the people’s 
 right, because its strength regulates power, and gives a settled 
 security to the country. It likewise represents a great national 
 party without uplifting the conqueror or the conquered, and 
 it reconciles all divisions. 
 
 “ In the furtherance of this work will France under liberty of 
 conscience cast her eyes on the son of Napoleon III.? This 
 thought causes me less pride than doubts of my powers for 
 rule. 
 
 “ The Emperor has impressed upon me, however, the 
 weight of sovereignty, even when borne on experienced 
 shoulders, and has taught me that self-reliance, combined 
 with a high sense of duty, can accomplish much. It is 
 this self-reliance which I cultivate, and which will, I trust, 
 supply what is lacking in years. United to my mother by 
 most tender and grateful affection, I shall unceasingly strive to 
 acquire knowledge, and thus forestall the march of time. 
 
 “ If the hour ever arrives when another Government shall 
 accord me the majority of the country votes, I shall be ready to 
 bow with respect to the decision of France. If for the eighth 
 time the name of Napoleon emanates from the voice of the 
 populace, I am prepared to accept the responsibilities that those 
 votes impose. 
 
250 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ Such are my sentiments, gentlemen. I thank you all for 
 coming so far to receive them. Carry with you my remem- 
 brances ; take to France the devotion of one of her children. 
 My courage and my life belong to her ; may God watch over 
 her and restore to her her prosperity and her grandeur ! ” 
 
 This modest, and at the same time self-pos- 
 sessed speech, was received with loud expressions 
 of approval. His countrymen’s cheers were 
 loudest when he spoke of the plebiscite as the 
 foundation of a true government, and of his will- 
 ingness to accept the responsibility of the throne, 
 if it should be offered to him. 
 
 When he had concluded his speech, the Prince, 
 with tire Empress on his arm, returned to Camden 
 House, speaking en route there, now to one, now to 
 another old acquaintance whom they recognized. 
 
 At Camden House it had been prearranged that 
 the Prince should hold a levee in the large draw- 
 ing-room, as he had previously done on the occa- 
 sion of his father’s funeral. The Empress and the 
 Prince stood in the centre of the room, surrounded 
 by their relative suites, where each deputation, 
 headed by its leader carrying the tricolour flag, was 
 introduced, spoken to by their Imperial Majesties, 
 1 and then passed out. The province of Tarbes was 
 distinguishable by an enormous banner in silk, 
 with the Imperial arms worked in gold ; and many 
 of the other departments carried heraldic and 
 provincial designs. 
 
 Conspicuous among the many presents sent 
 over from France on the Prince’s eighteenth 
 
Majority of the Prince. 
 
 251 
 
 birthday was a beautifully worked carpet for the 
 Roman Catholic church at Chislehurst, which 
 not only covered the chancel but the lengths of the 
 centre aisle. This carpet was given in the name 
 of the ladies of France, and embroidered by many 
 fair fingers. The design is a kaleidoscope 
 pattern, with the bee (emblem of empire) worked 
 on canvas in Berlin wool. This carpet is used 
 every Sunday and on state occasions in the 
 church ; and over it the Prince Imperial’s funeral 
 train was carried, when his remains were brought 
 back to be placed next his father’s. 
 
 Among the incidents of the day was the publi- 
 cation of an English edition of L'Ordre, an Imperial 
 newspaper, which contained an article in which the 
 pilgrims to Chislehurst were made to explain their 
 mission to England in the following words : — 
 
 “ We are the French constituencies of Decem- 
 ber 10, 1848, who elected Prince Louis Napoleon 
 to the Presidency. 
 
 “We are France of November 22, 1852, which 
 named him Emperor of the French. 
 
 “We are the France of May, 1870, which con- 
 firmed his dynasty. 
 
 “We are the France which, freely expressing 
 its wishes, chose Napoleon III., in order that the 
 doctrines of 1789 might prevail ; the France which, 
 when it is in good faith called upon to make its 
 election, will give to the Prince Imperial the crown 
 of his august father. 
 
 “ Although here we number but a few thousand 
 
252 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 men, we represent the opinions of seven millions 
 and a half of electors who voted at the four great 
 plebiscites of the Second Empire. 
 
 “ Let the Government dare to make a sincere 
 appeal to the French people ; and it will be seen 
 that of these seven millions five hundred citizens, 
 not one will fail at the Ballot.” 
 
 When Napoleon III. was exiled there were 
 many reports abroad relative to the enormous 
 fortune he was said to have laid up for him- 
 self, and placed in foreign investments in case 
 of any emergency. Such was far from being 
 the case. Although the Emperor enjoyed a 
 very large private income from the State, he 
 spent it with no niggardly hand in works of 
 improvement, and in the patronage of art and 
 science ; besides which he provided handsomely 
 for all the many members of his family who needed 
 help in order to maintain their position with credit. 
 Hence, in his last days, he was comparatively a 
 poor man, and left little for his son to inherit. 
 
 The Prince Imperial’s chief income was de- 
 rived from an estate left to him by the Princess 
 Baciochi, who likewise left the Empress a hand- 
 some legacy. From his mother, had he survived 
 her, he would however have inherited considerable 
 wealth, the Empress having an estate at Bologna, 
 and a considerable income derived from the sale 
 of property belonging to her in France, whilst her 
 diamonds were valued at 150,000 francs alone. 
 
253 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LIFE AT CHISLEHURST, I 8 74 TO I 8 79. 
 
 “ Trust no future, howe’er pleasant. 
 
 Let the dead Past bury its dead ; 
 
 Act, act, in the living present, 
 
 Life within and heart o’er head.” 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 The Prince Imperial having completed his 
 studies at Woolwich, took up his abode with his 
 mother at Camden House, which place he made 
 his home during the remainder of his short career. 
 
 Filial duty kept him there ; but at this period 
 of his opening manhood, the monotonous life 
 was very distasteful to one of his ardent and 
 enterprising character. “ The young eagle would 
 not be chained, and longed to try his pinions,” and 
 he was restless, and often depressed. 
 
 Report, however, spoke of his studious habits 
 and abstemious tastes. He was a great reader, 
 and digested well what he read, and delighted 
 in abstract and political subjects. 
 
 The Prince’s appearance at this stage of his life 
 was prepossessing. His figure, medium height and 
 
254 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 well-knit, with a long and graceful bust ; his fore- 
 head high. In features he resembled both his 
 parents. He had his mother’s form of face, clear 
 blue eyes, and mild expression. His gait, manners, 
 and address were his father’s — calm, quiet, and 
 dignified. He wore a short dark moustache, and 
 affected simplicity in dress. 
 
 Although he lived in retirement, the Prince’s 
 every word and action were jealously watched, not 
 only by his opponents in France, but by those of 
 his own party, and the hopes of the former 
 in re-establishing the Napoleon dynasty were 
 strengthened as they recognized its head, albeit 
 young in years, was so well fitted to fulfil the role 
 they assigned him. 
 
 The French Imperial newspapers made the most 
 of the Prince’s success at Woolwich, and recorded 
 in full the speech of the Duke of Cambridge, and 
 the position the Prince had taken in his examina- 
 tion. In response the Republican Press declined 
 to acknowledge him as French, and wrote the fol- 
 lowing distich on his nationality : — 
 
 “ Par son grand-pere Hollondais, 
 
 Par sa grand-mere Fcossais, 
 
 Par sa mere Espagnol, 
 
 Anglais par alliance, 
 
 C’est dommage, qu’un fils de France, 
 
 Qui doit remplir un grand role, 
 
 Ne soit pas un peu Francais.” 
 
 “ By his grandfather Dutch, 
 
 By his grandmother Scotch, 
 
Life at Ckislehurst. 
 
 255 
 
 By his mother Spanish, 
 
 English by adoption, 
 
 It is a pity that a son of France, 
 
 Destined to a great destiny, 
 
 Should not be somewhat French.” 
 
 If the Prince’s life was uneventful at Chisle- 
 hurst, it did not lack employment. He had plenty 
 to do in maintaining relations with his own party ; 
 in writing letters, answering telegrams, receiving 
 deputations, and entering into the varied political 
 phases which the fluctuations and changes of the 
 Republic engendered. What he most lacked at 
 this period of his existence, when freed from all 
 authority, was wise councillors. Had such sur- 
 rounded him, he would never have been allowed 
 to peril his life in the foreign enterprise in which 
 he fell. He needed some one in whom he had full 
 confidence, to chalk out a career for him which 
 would have satisfied his own judgment, and given 
 him a definite aim in life independent of the un- 
 certain future before him. Such advisers would 
 have saved him the necessity of disentangling the 
 complicated web of diverse opinions which were 
 pressed upon him, by opening for himself a short 
 road to fame. 
 
 Those, however, of his party who^ were best 
 calculated by experience and wisdom to guide him, 
 separated by distance, lacked the energy to go to 
 and fro to Chislehurst and exercise their personal 
 influence over him. 
 
256 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 On the other hand, those who had the energy 
 wanted moderation. These latter were principally 
 the young and ardent followers of his House, who 
 anxious to forestall the hour of his return, invited 
 him to come forward through the means of political 
 appeals and inflammatory addresses. 
 
 Happily the Prince, with a wisdom beyond his 
 years, declined such overt acts, and although often 
 bewildered by the multitude of such advisers, 
 remained silent. “ Every word, directly or 
 indirectly, I might say,” he replied, “ would im- 
 mediately, be turned against me, and prove an 
 impediment hereafter in the furtherance of the 
 good I am resolved one day to effect.” 
 
 Notwithstanding this caution, the Prince’s senti- 
 ments were often misconstrued, and words and 
 propositions which had never emanated from him- 
 self were attributed to him. Often such were 
 propounded by others as desirable, and when 
 his courtesy did not allow him to negative or con- 
 tradict such views, for fear of wounding the zeal of 
 his friends, they were affiliated on him as his 
 own. 
 
 What goaded the Prince’s spirit most, were the 
 unjust accusations of his enemies as to the self- 
 indulgence, inactivity, and cowardice involved in 
 the acceptation of his quiet life at Chislehurst. 
 Not being able to attach intrigue and disloyalty to 
 his name, these were all the shafts they could 
 fling at him, and, although unmerited and 
 
Life at Chislehurst. 25 7 
 
 unnoticed, they irritated and stung him beyond 
 measure. 
 
 That these continued reproaches were amongst 
 the causes which determined the Prince to engage 
 in active warfare, and thus throw back these in- 
 sults to his courage, is certain. No one felt this 
 more than the poor Empress, who, when some one, 
 in the first days of her bereavement, spoke of the 
 Zulus having killed her son, — - 
 
 “ It is not the Zulus,” said the Empress with 
 indignant voice; “it is the French newspapers 
 who have murdered him. See ! ’’ and she drew 
 from her lost son’s small carpet bag, which his 
 faithful servant Uhlmann had brought her back 
 from Africa, a French newspaper of a late date, 
 wherein his enemies had called the Prince “ a 
 coward,” with other such opprobrious terms. This 
 paper the Prince had received and read only the 
 day before his death, and the passage referred to, 
 he had marked and folded. 
 
 In conversation with his countrymen, the Prince 
 was remarkable for never being betrayed into any 
 bitterness of speech in respect to those who had 
 turned against his father ; he rather spoke of them 
 with indulgence, as worthy of commiseration. 
 
 With regard to his future, he fully believed his 
 own return to the French throne was an “ historical 
 necessity,” and so wrote to one of his friends, 
 adding ; 
 
 “ But this belief, which I hold firmly, will not 
 
 s 
 
2 58 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 cramp my efforts, or make me neglect oppor- 
 tunity. When the time arrives to act , I shall act'.' 
 
 H e was a Liberal in this sense, viz., he used to 
 say that “ none but strong minds and souls should 
 ever be allowed to rise to power, but that even 
 then, these should be restrained under the seal of 
 authority, to avoid those counter-deviations and 
 collisions which throw countries into revolt. What 
 I should like to establish in France,” he added, 
 “ is some form of government which should be 
 durable. A Parliamentary Government is not 
 alone enough for this, it has been tried, and failed ; 
 nor absolute hereditary power either, for a sove- 
 reign may be a man of genius, and his son an 
 idiot.” 
 
 The Prince’s attachment to France was intense, 
 but he was far more occupied with the good he 
 hoped to effect during his rule than by any per- 
 sonal advancement or power. It was only to in- 
 timate friends he ever spoke of his future hopes, 
 and then in such phrases. 
 
 "When I return, I intend to inaugurate this or 
 that system “ I wish to remodel the present 
 system of education in France,” &c. 
 
 The following account of an interview with 
 the Prince Imperial at Chislehurst, in 1878, is 
 recorded in ai French pamphlet by its author. 1 
 
 After describing his person, he says, — 
 
 “ The Prince speaks fluently, without hesitatiop, 
 1 M. Loudin.. 
 
Life at Chislehurst. 
 
 259 
 
 and has the rare gift of moderation in argument. 
 His opinions are not exaggerated. He is well up 
 in the men of his day, and discriminates their 
 various characters with perspicuity, distinguishing 
 between their natural talents, and their moral stead- 
 fastness. Modest, he never alludes to himself, 
 nevertheless he gives his opinions with authority, 
 as if he were already in power. He has read 
 deeply, and is singularly up in the history of 
 France, as well as its ecclesiastical regime. What 
 struck me most was the power he has of treating 
 subjects philosophically, and of analyzing their 
 length and breadth. He expresses himself with 
 decorum and conciseness.” The same writer then 
 proceeds to quote several of the sentiments ex- 
 pressed by the Prince Imperial during his interview 
 with him, and afterwards by correspondence. 
 
 Without entering into all the discussions and 
 questions which elicited the remarks, I copy a few 
 which may be looked upon in the light of fugitive 
 thoughts, as they denote a reflective mind. 
 
 In writing on the Revolution of 1870, the Prince 
 says, “ While I regret that the revolution was 
 not crushed in the bud, I bow to the decrees of 
 Providence, who doubtless wishes to submit France 
 to a searching and complete test. Patience and 
 good courage must be our motto.” 
 
 Impressed with the idea, that authors and scien- 
 tific discoverers, artists, &c., had not been brought 
 forward enough, in the Second Empire, to influence 
 
 s 2 
 
260 Life of the Pi ince Imperial of France. 
 
 society by their works, he wished to see their 
 efforts stimulated ; and being asked, if he would 
 give them seats in the Senate ?” said, — 
 
 “No; they were not made for that. I would 
 make princes of them ; would confer on them 
 pensions, and every kind of honour ; but I do 
 not desire to see them installed in the government 
 of the country. It should however be by my own 
 hand that I would confer their rewards. Ministers 
 are too often influenced by personal and official 
 views. What I bestow, I shall confer myself, then 
 I cannot be deceived.” 
 
 As to secret societies, he wrote, “No civilized 
 society ought to tolerate secret societies in its 
 midst. Religion repudiates the thought, and the 
 name.” 
 
 The question of religion was ever present with 
 his thoughts. 
 
 To serve its interests, to uphold it wherever, 
 whenever, and as much as he could, without the 
 domination of the clergy, was his strong re- 
 solve. 
 
 On the temperance question : “ The suppres- 
 sion of public-houses solves in a great measure 
 the social question of the working man’s inde- 
 pendence.” 
 
 After studying the subject of revolutions : 
 “ Law should be established on principles of 
 justice, over and above the law of numbers,” 
 
 “ The State is the exchequer of a few. It ought 
 
Life at Chislehurst. 
 
 261 
 
 to be able to pay its debts, and to meet its internal 
 expenses, as well as private individuals.” 
 
 “ The study of revolutions hardly admits in 
 this day of a disinterested criticism. There is a 
 religion in this hour in the French Revolution. 
 This religion cannot be attacked except by free 
 discussion, the effect of which can but operate 
 slowly on public opinion ; which it will penetrate 
 nevertheless, if conducted impartially, especially 
 if it forbears accusing the revolution of having 
 strangled many things which the previous 
 monarchy had not allowed to live, things which 
 the men of 1779 found even then in a dead of 
 dying state.” 
 
 “ The press is not an organ of government. It 
 is a means of popularity. In the actual condition 
 of a country, numbers alone form strength ; it 
 is useless to dream of conquering the masses, be- 
 cause while they feel they cannot reason , and care 
 must be taken not to outrage them. Of all tyrants, 
 the popular tyrant is he who the least can bear the 
 truth to be told him.” 
 
 “ In France the true order of things is reversed. 
 Children no longer respect their parents ; and when 
 parental authority is abnegated, that of the law 
 follows. If order could return to its natural 
 course, and children be made to respect their 
 parents, the law in its turn would be respected. 
 I intend,” adds the Prince, “to set the example of 
 honouring and respecting my mother.” 
 
262 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ I estimate that the greatest need of a man who 
 would rule his country (like myself) is to become 
 acquainted with the personality of that country. 
 Political questions are the squares on a chess- 
 board ; the men are the pieces with which the 
 game is played.” 
 
 With this view the Prince organized a plan by 
 which he received information upon the personali- 
 ties of the military, administrative, judicial, political, 
 and ecclesiastical bodies in France. 
 
 During a game of “Questions and Answers” 
 which was played at Chislehurst, some one wrote 
 the Prince these queries : — “ What is the fault of 
 which you have the greatest horror ? ” 
 
 “ Cowardice.” was his reply. 
 
 “ What is the best way to be happy ? ” 
 
 “ Never to do anything your conscience does 
 not approve.” 
 
 When asked if when he came to the throne he 
 would select his advisers from his father’s friends, 
 he replied “ No ; he would rather select his 
 ministers from men without a past ; and that there 
 were plenty of such men with necessary quali- 
 fications amid the ranks of the Imperialists. If I 
 am ever restored to the Throne of my Father,” 
 added the Prince, “ I will have none near me 
 whose truth, honour, and morality are not above 
 suspicion.” 
 
 One day, in illustrating the difference between 
 the English and French character, the Prince 
 
Life at Chislehurst. 263 
 
 remarked, “ You have it here : suppose, for in- 
 stance, a Frenchman and an Englishman were out 
 walking on the coast, and came to a quicksand, 
 the approach to which was surrounded at low 
 water by a stone wall, with the word ‘ Danger ’ 
 written in large letters on it. The Englishman, 
 grateful to whoever had warned him of the danger, 
 would avoid the spot ; the F renchman, on the 
 contrary, would climb over the wall just because 
 he was warned not, and, as he sank down on the 
 other side, would cry out against the government 
 of the country, and reproach it with being the 
 cause of his disaster.” 
 
 During these years, 1874 to 1879, the Prince and 
 the Empress generally paid an annual autumnal 
 visit to Arenenburg, the homestead of the Napo- 
 leon family. Queen Hortense first fixed her 
 dwelling there, when exiled from France in 1808, 
 with her son, Prince Louis, and resided there until 
 her death, in 1837. Since then the various mem- 
 bers of the family have reunited many heirlooms 
 and souvenirs of the First and Second Empires 
 within its walls, and these, with the personal asso- 
 ciations connected with the place, have made it of 
 historic interest. The word “ Castle,” however, 
 gives a wrong impression of the spot. Arenen- 
 burg is rather a lovely villa residence, standing in 
 its own grounds, which enclose beautiful beech and 
 other forest trees. The house stands about 300 feet 
 above the level of the smaller lake of Constance, 
 
264 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 overlooking the island of Reichenau, dotted with 
 picturesque old towns and ruin-crowned heights. 
 The property was purchased by Napoleon III. 
 soon after his accession ; it covers an area of nearly 
 twenty-seven acres. The panorama it commands is 
 extensive, and embraces every feature which com- 
 bines to form the picturesque — woods, cascades, 
 ruins, fields, &c. The house is small, but has a 
 dependance , which is now used as stables, but which 
 formerly housed many of the visitors who flocked 
 to Arenenburg in the time of the Second Empire. 
 
 In this ddpendance is situated the room which 
 the Emperor Napoleon III. inhabited as a boy. 
 Three of the rooms are filled with souvenirs of 
 the two Emperors. On the left of the ground 
 fioor, as you enter, is an apartment which the 
 Empress Eugenie, in 1874, arranged entirely from 
 old furniture belonging to the First Empire, which 
 she found packed away in a garret, and which she 
 had renovated. A billiard-room, a library, and 
 Queen Hortense’s study, are on this floor, also a 
 large dining-room. Upstairs, the room in which 
 Queen Elortense died, has been preserved exactly 
 in the state she left it. The small camp bedstead 
 Napoleon 1 1 1. carried with him in all his campaigns, 
 and which he used at Sedan, is placed near that of 
 his mother’s, on which she died. The Empress’s 
 rooms, and that occupied by the Prince on his 
 last visit to Arenenburg, in the autumn of 1878, 
 dominate the lake. 
 
Life at ChisleJntrst. 
 
 265 
 
 Among the pictures at Arenenburg are some 
 interesting portraits of Queen Hortense, in which 
 the likeness to her son, Napoleon III., is very 
 striking. There is also a fine painting of the 
 Emperor as a young man, leading his horse 
 through the snow, up a steep path to the 
 castle. Near this is a marble bust of Napo- 
 leon III., taken after death, giving the well- 
 known face and long waxed moustachios, with 
 deep-set brooding eyes, so familiar to those who 
 knew him during his last sojourn in England. 
 
 On the chimney-piece is the silver-gilt time- 
 piece the P'irst Emperor used at St. Helena; and 
 its pulse still ticks away, as steadily as though its 
 hands had never recorded the hours when empires 
 rose and fell, and heavy hearts beat in unison with 
 its march. A marble bust of the Duke of Reichstadt 
 (Napoleon II.) might almost be taken for an Apollo, 
 so faultless in form and feature is it; while a 
 painting of his father, Napoleon I., as he led the 
 troops of the Republic across the bridge of Areola, 
 is finely painted. In the same room as these last- 
 noted relics are two handsome cabinets, which 
 were wedding presents to Maria Antoinette, from 
 the Municipality of Paris. 
 
 In the little chapel attached to the chateau is a 
 kneeling figure of the Queen, with this inscription, 
 
 “ A la Reine Hortense, 
 
 Son fils Napoleon III.” 
 
 In 1875 the Prince, accompanied by Dr. Covi- 
 
266 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 sart, Comte Clary, Prince Charles Buonaparte, 
 and Prince Murat, with Louis Conneau, and one 
 English friend, started from Arenenburg for a ten 
 days’ mountain excursion in Switzerland, and 
 thoroughly enjoyed travelling over the peaks and 
 glaciers in the vicinity of Interlachen, and the 
 Weuger Alps, &c. Agile of limb he vied with the 
 chamois in scaling snow-clad heights, and invigo- 
 rated by mountain air no exercise seemed to tire 
 him. 
 
 The gloom cast over Arenenburg and its vici- 
 nity when the news of the Prince’s death reached 
 the place was terrible, the old adherents of the 
 House, in charge of the place, wept sorely. They 
 had been there in the days, when the chateau and 
 its many guests made it the life of the neighbour- 
 hood, and now have lived to witness its last heir 
 and representative precede them to the tomb. 
 
 Little would be gained by closely recording the 
 Prince Imperial’s movements during the last few 
 years of his life. One year was much like another, 
 during which few events of note marked the time. 
 The aimless receptions of the number of French 
 people who came over to England on business, 
 and thought it right to pay their respects to the 
 Prince and his august mother at Chislehurst, 
 wearied the former much. It is recorded that 
 very often, seeing these persons coming up the 
 avenue, and recognizing at a glance the class to 
 which they belonged, he would throw open his 
 
Life at ChisleJmrst. 
 
 267 
 
 study window, bound through it, and whistling to 
 his dog to follow him, be half way across the park 
 before their visit could be announced. 
 
 In 1878 the Empress and Prince visited 
 Florence and Rome, at which latter place the 
 Pope, who was the Prince’s godfather, received 
 him at the Vatican on several occasions with great 
 empressement. The quiet seclusion in which he 
 lived at Chislehurst was also relieved by visits to 
 many of our English aristocracy, among others 
 the Duke of Hamilton, who was, through his 
 mother, a cousin of the Emperor Napoleon III. 
 At Windsor, and at other English royal residences, 
 the Prince Imperial was always a welcome guest. 
 
 It was only a few weeks previous to the Prince 
 Imperial’s sudden determination to join our British 
 force in Africa, that Dr. Evans, the gentleman 
 who aided the Empress in her escape from France, 
 went over to Chislehurst to visit the Imperial 
 exiles. On this occasion the Prince invited Dr. 
 Evans to accompany him in a walk in the park, and 
 then bared to him the trouble of his mind under 
 the conflicting opinions pressed upon him, which, 
 alike coming from faithful friends, made it very 
 difficult for him to select a right path between. 
 
 Dr. Evans had known the Prince from infancy, 
 and was on a sufficient footing of intimacy to 
 speak openly to him of his position and prospects, 
 and tendered him the following sound advice. 
 Alas ! it came too late. The Prince should have 
 
268 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 earlier been influenced by such friends. Still, 
 even at the eleventh hour, had it been followed it 
 would have averted the disaster in Africa. God 
 willed otherwise, and regrets therefore are but 
 vain. 
 
 “ You have been long enough in England for 
 the present, Prince,” said Dr. Evans. “You 
 have received a shelter, a home, and an education 
 at her hands. She has tendered you every kind- 
 ness your boyhood needed. Now, as a grown-up 
 man and a Prince, without a defined position 
 or fortune, your presence is an embarrassment 
 to her. Leave England for a time. Travel ; 
 go round the world, if you will, and become ac- 
 quainted with its nations and its customs. Do 
 not go alone. Take with you two or three 
 staunch French Imperialists, whose names and 
 character are as unimpeachable as your own, and 
 whose presence with you, will disabuse even your 
 enemies from the possibility of your being mixed 
 up in party intrigues. Go far away — to India, to 
 America, if you like. The greater the distance 
 the better, so that no suspicion can be attached to 
 you in reference to any plots against the French 
 Government. Let your movements be, however, 
 all known and chronicled ; keep your name and 
 acts before the public, and whenever you are 
 wanted, wherever you may be, the telegraph wires 
 can recall you. 
 
 “ By such a course of action you will attain two 
 
Life at Chislehurst. 
 
 269 
 
 objects, viz., that education which travel alone 
 imparts ; and the freedom from suspicion which, 
 as long as you hover around the coasts of France, 
 will, however unmerited, attach itself to your 
 name.” 
 
 The Prince was much struck with this advice, 
 and agreed to adopt it, and took measures at 
 once to secure the companions in travel which Dr. 
 Evans advised him to do. His plans, in fact, 
 were being matured for a prolonged tour, when 
 the news of the reverse of the British arms at 
 Isandhlwana, changed his views, and fired his 
 ardour to share the excitement of the fight which 
 followed, with those of his brother cadets who had 
 received orders to embark for Zululand. 
 
 During these years (from 1874 to 1879) the 
 political horizon of France was overcast by many 
 and varied changes, and the restlessness which 
 such changes notified seemed to be a favourable 
 symptom towards a return to the form of im- 
 perial government under which France had 
 enjoyed a longer sense of peace than any other 
 rule. A few years of patience and the Prince 
 Imperial would be recalled ; so, at least, thought 
 his party, whilst he himself fixed ten years as the 
 ultimatum of his exile. “ Dix ans de patience,” 
 he used to say. and then 
 
2 jo Lipe of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF ZULULAND. 
 
 “ And they stood there on the meadow, 
 
 With their weapons and their war gear, 
 
 Painted like the leaves of autumn, 
 
 Painted like the sky of morning, 
 
 Wildly glaring at each other ; 
 
 In their faces stern defiance, 
 
 In their hearts the feud of ages, 
 
 The hereditary hatred, 
 
 The ancestral thirst for vengeance.” 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 It is very difficult among the various opinions 
 expressed, many of which contradict each other, 
 for an outsider to venture on an opinion as to the 
 immediate cause of the Zulu war. 
 
 In this memoir of the Prince Imperial it seems 
 nevertheless required that some notice should be 
 made of the origin of a campaign in the cause 
 of which he gave his sword and his life. 
 
 The following sketch of the Zulu country and 
 the supposed reasons for the war, is collected, by 
 permission, from Captain Lucas’s work, “ The Zulu 
 Land and the British Lrontiers,” and is selected 
 
Description of Zululand. 2 7 1 
 
 for the graphic information it furnishes of the 
 warrior race with whom Great Britain has lately 
 come into such close contact. 
 
 Zululand, the late kingdom of Ketchwhyo, as 
 with Basutoland, is often erroneously spoken of as 
 belonging to the Cape of Good Hope, but should 
 rather be named separately in connexion with 
 Natal, the territory of the Orange River Free 
 State, and the Transvaal Provinces. The Cape 
 Colony, including the eastern provinces, which was 
 taken possession of by Great Britain in 1815, in 
 exchange for certain West Indian islands, extends 
 alone the entire south coast of Africa. 
 
 Natal and the Transvaal, with the Orange 
 River State north-east, with a maritime shore 
 looking over the Indian Ocean, and situated 
 between 28 and 32 degrees of south latitude. 
 The inland or western boundary of Natal is 
 formed by the Drackensberg, a continuous moun- 
 tain range from 6000 to 10,000 feet high, and 
 beyond it lies Basutoland, the Orange River Free 
 State, and the Transvaal. 
 
 Most of the Natal rivers have their source from 
 the Drackensberg range, the highest of which is 
 the Giant’s Castle, 9000 feet on either side. 
 Branching out from its spurs are lower ranges of 
 hills, which connect themselves with further ranges 
 till they join the coast. 
 
 The capital of the province of Natal is Pieter 
 Maritzburg, situated on the river Umgeni. The 
 
272 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Upper Tugela river joins the Buffalo, and flows 
 east from the Drackensberg to the Zulu frontiers. 
 The entire country of Natal is formed of hills and 
 valleys, with here and there a plain below. The 
 cliffs are composed of granite, trap, and sandstone, 
 with basaltic ranges of hills hollowed into caverns 
 by the action of sea waves. 
 
 The Kaffir branch of the African race have a 
 linguistic token of distinction annexed to each 
 tribe in the prefix Ania. The African nations in 
 the interior have the prefix Be or Ba, those on the 
 Gambibir coast Wa, and by these their various 
 affinities are known. The tribes on the eastern 
 frontier of the Cape Colony are called Gaikas 
 and Galekas, and derived their name from a chief, 
 the head of their clan. Their late ruler was Kreli, 
 around whose name and lineage the whole fabric 
 of Kaffir constitution is built up. 
 
 Zululand is situated beyond the Lower Tugela, 
 north of the province of Natal, and bears the same 
 physical features. The sea-coast is low and flat, 
 and forms a series of lagoons and tidal marshes, 
 rendering its climate very unhealthy. Some 
 fifteen miles from the sea the land rises in terraces, 
 covered with high grass and backed with moun- 
 tain ranges. These are divided by deep rivers, 
 the largest of which is Umvolosi, which is formed 
 by the meeting of two mountain streams. 
 
 Near the centre of Zululand lies Ulundi, the 
 capital, the scene of the late conflict and defeat 
 
Description of Zululand. 
 
 273 
 
 of the Zulus in which Lord Chelmsford dis- 
 tinguished himself. Upon one of these streams 
 Etchowe, the fortress Colonel Pearson held so long 
 and bravely, is situated. The banks of the river 
 are wooded, and the plains, where not swamp, 
 are covered with brushwood. 
 
 The name of Zulu originated with a small local 
 community, which was spread by war and con- 
 quest, until at one time it covered a large empire, 
 which held in terror all the eastern portion of the 
 region above described. Large portions were, 
 however, reconquered, and Zululand is now only 
 about one-fourth the size it was. Zulu signifies 
 “ heaven,” and was a name adopted as significant 
 of the pride of success of its warriors. 
 
 It is a strange fact in connexion with this 
 memoir that, in 1797, Chaka, the son of the Zulu 
 king Usenzangacona, the noted warrior of the 
 tribe, whose name since his death has been wor- 
 shipped as a national god in Zululand, as a youth 
 early in his career, had his military ardour excited 
 through some English sailors, who recounted to 
 him the. valorous deeds of Napoleon I., then in 
 the height of his military glory. 
 
 Young Chaka listened to their recital, and then 
 and there resolved to imitate the great White 
 Warrior, and be to Zululand what Napoleon 
 was to France. Upon the death of his father, 
 Usenzangacona, Chaka had ample opportunity 
 to exercise his resolve. He took pains to learn 
 
 T 
 
274 Life of the Prince Imperial of France . 
 
 all he could from the Europeans he came in 
 contact with relative to Napoleon and his military 
 tactics, and imitated him as closely as he could, 
 subjecting tribe after tribe to his rule. He 
 converted the entire manhood of the nation into 
 soldiers, and created an Imperial Guard of 10,000 
 well-trained warriors, who were always held in 
 readiness for battle. He built kraals which he 
 occupied as camps, and probably through European 
 help learnt to drill his troops in the art of civi- 
 lized manoeuvring, and succeeded in his ambition 
 of establishing the most formidable military power 
 ever wielded by an African king. He took for 
 his motto, “ Thorough,” which he exemplified by 
 devastating through terrible cruelties the sur- 
 rounding provinces. Like other mistaken chiefs, 
 he excused his ambitious ravages, by declaring 
 them the fruits of a heaven-born mission, and 
 prided himself upon his God-favoured sovereignty. 
 
 Chaka’s despotism at last attained such a 
 height that he fell by the hand of an assassin em- 
 ployed by one of the friends of his victims. He 
 died Sept. 23, 1828, at the age of forty. By the 
 few Europeans in his neighbourhood he was 
 known by the name of “ the Zulu Napoleon.” 
 Chaka was succeeded by his brother Dingaan, 
 who ruled Zululand until 1840. Although averse 
 to war, he was an equally cruel despot, so much 
 so, in fact, that thousands of his subjects emigrated 
 into the Natal territory, where in 1835 the British 
 
Description of Zululand. 
 
 2/5 
 
 had founded a settlement, at Durban. Since that 
 date Natal has always absorbed a large portion 
 of the Zulu people. The first European collision 
 with Zululand occurred in Dingaan’s reign. In 
 1837 the Dutch emigrants, or Boers as they 
 were termed, moved from the old Cape Colony 
 northwards, beyond the Orange River, until their 
 progress was stopped by Matebele, an offshoot of 
 the Zulu tribe. The Boers then turned east, and 
 crossed the Drackensberg Mountains, and de- 
 scended into the Natal country. On arriving, the 
 chief of the Dutch Boers, Pieter Retrief, opened 
 negotiations with King Dingaan for a grant of 
 the land. He was received by the Zulu king 
 in royal state, and after sundry conditions, 
 which were agreed upon by the Dutchman, a 
 grant of all the country between the Tugela and 
 Umzomkibu rivers was made over to him. On 
 going to see the king, Pieter Retrief had taken 
 with him an escort of sixty stout Dutchmen. 
 When the Dutch deputation were about to depart, 
 the king sent to beg they would remain to wit- 
 ness one more fete he wished to give in their 
 honour. They consented, when he caused the 
 whole number to be barbarously murdered. 
 
 The treachery of King Dingaan gave the 
 Dutch an ally in Prince Panda, a brother of Din- 
 gaan’s, who was eager to supplant him. Joining 
 the Dutch force, and the few English whose 
 interests caused them to try and extirpate the 
 
 t 2 
 
276 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Zulu enemy, a war was entered into against 
 Kinof Dingaan, in which the Dutch and their 
 allies were successful. King Dingaan was put to 
 death, and Panda, by the assistance of the Boers, 
 seated on the Zulu throne. In gratitude he gave 
 the territory of Natal to the Dutch Boers. 
 Panda’s reign lasted until 1872, when he was suc- 
 ceeded by his son Ketchwhyo, who during his 
 first years of rule showed a pacific disposition. 
 
 The military system of the Zulus still retains 
 the remarkable strength for which it was cele- 
 brated in Chaka’s time, and their efficiency and 
 courage is increased by the mode of charging in 
 columns, the hind rank on pain of death charging 
 over the front as it falls. In one hand they hold 
 a large shield pierced with eyelets, and which 
 nearly covers their persons ; in the other, the 
 terrible and too fatal assegai, which does such 
 deadly havoc from afar. Cowardice in the field, 
 being treated as dishonour, is punished by death, 
 so that save in victory the Zulu soldier has no 
 escape. The acquisition of Natal, in 1846, drew 
 upon England the responsibility of protecting 
 nearly half the Zulu nation, leaving the other 
 half to its legitimate king, the emigration of 
 Zulus into the Natal country being tenfold more 
 than those of British settlers. This was caused 
 by the hardships of Zulu rule, and its restrictions 
 on either forced or forbidden marriages. 
 
 By the last statistical returns Natal contained 
 
Description of Zululand, 277 
 
 22,654 Europeans, 290,000 Africans, mostly 
 Zulus, and 13,000 Indian coolies. The great 
 majority of the Zulus in the Natal Province sup- 
 port themselves by means of their own herds of 
 cattle. The Dutch Boers meantime, who had 
 placed King Panda on the throne and had received 
 in return the cession of Natal, were not allowed 
 to hold it long. As early as 1835 a certain num- 
 ber of British traders had established themselves 
 on the seacoast, and Fort Durban had been 
 founded and named after Sir Benjamin Durban, 
 then Governor of the Cape Colony. His suc- 
 cessor, Sir George Napier, regarded the Dutch 
 as amenable to British rule. The Dutch, on the 
 contrary, protested that by deed of gift Natal was 
 theirs, and that they were a free and independent 
 people ; and raising the flag of a national Dutch 
 republic, they sent a memorial to the Queen 
 asking for a recognition of their liberties. The 
 British Government declined any such recogni- 
 tion, and asserted its claim to Natal. The 
 Dutch resisted, and a force of British troops, 
 under Captain T. B. Smith, landed in May, 
 1842, at Durban, and prepared to take possession 
 of the disputed land. There was a brisk skirmish 
 between the Boers and the English, which latter 
 were so closely besieged that their number had to 
 be reinforced. On this the Dutch retreated to 
 Pieter Maritzburg, their capital, from whence they 
 made a condition of submission that their land 
 
2 78 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 ^nd property should be secured to them. In the 
 following year (1843) the English Government 
 established a new civil administration of Natal, 
 with the object of providing for the “ protection , 
 peace , and control ” of all classes of men who 
 settled within its province. Since that date the 
 history of Natal has been a chequered one. 
 Its first embarrassments arose from the Dutch 
 Boers, who, being defeated, were sullen and quar- 
 relsome. Although they still held their Volks- 
 raad, or Senate, at Pieter Maritzburg for two 
 years after the British annexation, their laws 
 were overruled by arbitrary regulations, and 
 many thereon left Natal for the higher plains of 
 the Orange River. 
 
 The Natal decree of 1848 in respect to the 
 native tribes, arranged that their social organization 
 should be maintained, except wherein any of their 
 customs were repugnant to the principles of 
 Christianity. Native law, in a word, was made 
 subservient to British authority. His Excellency 
 the Governor was made Supreme Chief of the 
 Natal Zulus. A Secretary of State for Native 
 Affairs was also created, who, until a few years 
 since, exercised his authority. This gentleman was 
 Mr. Shepstone, now Sir Theophilus Shepstone, 
 K.C.M.G., who, having from early childhood been 
 brought up in close converse with the native 
 African tribes, was well acquainted with the 
 various languages of Kaffirland, and in* whom the 
 
Description of Zululand. 
 
 279 
 
 chiefs had confidence. The diverse nationalities 
 inhabiting Zululand located themselves as much 
 as possible in separate districts — the Dutch in 
 the upland farmsteads, the coolies on the coast, 
 and the Zulus, in number over 130,000, in big 
 native reserves in a part of the province termed 
 Victoria. The proximity of this enormous army 
 of Zulus has always given cause for fear to the 
 Europeans of Natal, and in 1853 Mr. Shepstone 
 asked leave of the British Government to divide 
 their force, and draw half the number to the vacant 
 land on the south-west of Natal, offering to go 
 and rule them there. Sir George Grey, the then 
 Governor of Cape Town, rejected this offer, and 
 thereby, it was thought, considerably hindered the 
 development of the colony. In 1878 the Secre- 
 tary of State made a change in the position of 
 the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, and instead of 
 referring questions of rule to her Majesty’s Home 
 Government — hitherto always done — ordered 
 them to be referred to Sir Bartle Frere, High 
 Commissioner and Governor of the Cape Colony ; 
 and the same order was appended to the affairs of 
 the Transvaal. 
 
 In October, 1872, the Zulu king, Panda, died, 
 after a reign of thirty-three years, during which 
 time he had proved himself loyal to the Dutch as 
 also to the British Government, albeit he had 
 still maintained an enormous standing army. His 
 son, Ketchwhyo, reigned in his place, and until 
 
280 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 1878 continued the same peaceable relations with 
 the British Government. When King Panda died, 
 Ketchwhyo sent an official announcement of his 
 death with a present of oxen to the Governor of 
 Natal and requested that Mr. Shepstone, who had 
 been chief witness of his father’s will, and guardian 
 of his children, should attend his coronation cere- 
 mony, adding the words, “ for he knows all about 
 it.” In reply to this message the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, not comprehending the message, asked 
 further explanations ; whereon a second message 
 arrived with a gift of oxen to the President of the 
 Transvaal Republic, to say, “ the united will of the 
 Zulu people was that their new king should be the 
 son of the British Government ” — whatever that 
 might mean. The Lieutenant-Governor then 
 replied “ that he had no desire to interfere with 
 any arrangement the nation might make with re- 
 gard to the installation of the new king.” A month 
 later a third message arrived, in which Mr. Shep- 
 stone was requested to return with the messengers. 
 This gentleman then made a strong representation 
 of the great influence he had attained with the Zulu 
 nation, and urged that the present invitation was a 
 grand opportunity to establish a recognition from 
 the Zulu people of British power, and advised that 
 a special embassy should accompany him, in full 
 pomp and national parade. Sir Benjamin Pine 
 acceded, and Mr. Shepstone was sent, accompanied 
 by a full official retinue, with an escort of 100 
 
Description of Zululand. 
 
 281 
 
 Natal Volunteers, two guns, tents, flags, presents, 
 &c., in fact, all the necessary paraphernalia for 
 assisting at the coronation of the king. 
 
 Ketchwhyo was at his military kraal of Umlam- 
 bongwenya, and here the British Embassy was 
 received. For five hours the Zulu King and his 
 councillors discussed the future maintenance of 
 cordial relations between their State and Natal, 
 the enactment of various new laws, the toleration 
 of the missionaries, &c. 
 
 On the 1 st September, the coronation ceremony 
 took place with as much pomp and decorative 
 splendour as both the Zulu nation and Mr. Shep- 
 stone’s party could muster. A chair of state was 
 placed in the middle of the kraal for the King, who 
 was invested with a scarlet and gold mantle and a 
 regal crown. Mr. Shepstone then, before pro- 
 claiming Ketchwhyo king, stood before him and 
 read a paper of nine questions. Asking — 
 
 1. If he, Mr. Shepstone, had not entered Zulu- 
 land at the request of its people ? 
 
 2. Had he not come because he was the chief 
 witness of King Panda’s will ? 
 
 3. Was not Ketchwhyo, Panda’s son, the person 
 whom the people desired to nominate as king ? 
 
 4. Had not the people invited him to proclaim 
 the new laws about to be put in force ? 
 
 5. Was it not agreed that the life of man or 
 woman was to be considered the property of 
 the country ? 
 
282 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 6. Was it not to be a law no man could take 
 life without the consent of the King ? 
 
 7. Was it not agreed in future, every man 
 should answer for himself, before the King, to 
 any charge brought against him ? 
 
 8. Were they not agreed that the punishment 
 of death for every minor crime destroys a nation ? 
 
 9. Did not he, Mr. Shepstone, stand there in the 
 place of Ketchwhyo’s father, and represent the 
 nation ? 
 
 To each of these questions there was a vehe- 
 ment verbal assent from the Zulu party. After 
 this Mr. Shepstone, it appears, invested himself 
 with the power of further legislation. The pre- 
 vious questions had not much diminished the 
 kingly power over his subject’s lives, it merely 
 forbade any subordinate chiefs to take life, vesting 
 all power with the King (an act very pleasing to 
 his Majesty) ; but taking advantage of the in- 
 fluential moment, Mr. Shepstone (according to 
 Mr. Lucas’s views) added this further protest : — 
 
 1. That the indiscriminate shedding of blood 
 should cease in the land. 
 
 2. That no Zulu should be condemned without 
 open trial, with due examination of witnesses, and 
 with a right of appeal to the King. 
 
 3. That no life should be taken without the con- 
 sentof the King, after suchan appeal had been made. 
 
 4. That for minor crimes, loss of property 
 should be substituted for death. 
 
Description of Zululand. 
 
 283 
 
 Verbal assent was given to these further enact- 
 ments, and then the King’s installation took place, 
 a salute was fired from Durban, and heralds pro- 
 claimed Ketchwhyo King of the Zulus. The 
 next day, Mr. Shepstone and party paid a fare- 
 well visit to his Majesty, after which they returned 
 safely to Natal, carrying with them repeated 
 assurances of the goodwill of the Zulu nation, but 
 without any formal treaty in writing of the same — 
 an omission much to be regretted. 
 
 Meantime the Transvaal, a country measuring 
 400 miles each way, and the River Orange 
 Free State (the one in 1852, and the other in 
 1854) had been made sister Republics by the 
 British Government. Her Majesty on that occa- 
 sion guaranteed the future independence of these 
 States, with their right to manage their own 
 affairs without interference, and without any 
 British encroachment on their border ; on their 
 side, the Transvaal Boers undertook that no 
 slavery should be practised in the country ; and 
 this Convention was legally ratified in due form, 
 on 17th January, 1852. 
 
 The Convention, while it pledged its word that 
 the British Government would not encroach on 
 the boundaries of the Transvaal, had not debarred 
 the Dutch Boers who held the Transvaal, on their 
 side to annex land ; and in 1854, Lydenberg and 
 its adjacent country was incorporated into the 
 Transvaal State, the Dutch Boers having nego- 
 
284 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 tiated with the Kaffirs, to whom it belonged, and 
 secured the land by the payment of cattle. No 
 objection was made by the British, at this time, to 
 the annexation. 
 
 The Kaffir tribes through whom this arrange- 
 ment was carried out, were the Swazies, and the 
 Basutos, or Bapedi as oftener called. The 
 Dutch acquisition of Lydenberg occurred twenty 
 years since, and they retained it peaceably, with- 
 out question, five years. 
 
 Some five years ago, the Earl of Carnarvon, 
 however, then Secretary of State, conceived an 
 idea of a South African Confederation, to embrace 
 all the British Colonies, the two Dutch Re- 
 publics, and the Kaffir Protectorates, much after 
 the fashion of the Dominion of Canada, which 
 binds together the North American provinces. 
 Sir Henry Barkly, then Governor of the Cape 
 Colony, was requested to propound this view in 
 Africa, and appointed a Conference from the 
 various provinces to frame its Constitution. The 
 old Cape colonists, when they heard of the scheme, 
 disapproved, not caring to take upon themselves 
 the risk of guarding a thousand miles of frontier. 
 Lord Carnarvon’s proposal was therefore rejected. 
 The Dutch Republics alike did not wish to come 
 under British rule, and also declined. Lord Car- 
 narvon, very anxious to carry out his plan, persisted 
 in the project, and a second Conference was called, 
 in which Natal alone would listen to the scheme. 
 
Description of Zululand. 285 
 
 The Transvaal, which had long called itself the 
 “ South African Republic,” was loud in its declara- 
 tion of continued independence, and in its warmth 
 got into bad odour with the British Government 
 and the English Colonial Press, the latter of which 
 misrepresented on one occasion its acts and words, 
 and spoke of it as a hindrance to the advance of 
 British power in Africa. 
 
 In 1876 there were symptoms of growing hos- 
 tility between the Zulus and the Dutch Boers who 
 inhabited the Transvaal, which Sir Henry Bulwer 
 did his best to tranquillize. The subjects of dis- 
 pute were of old date, viz., the claim of the Zulu 
 nation to supremacy over the Swazies tribes 
 whom the Dutch had taken under their protection, 
 and the Zulu boundary as affected by a former 
 cession of territory in Panda’s reign. This latter 
 question led in fact to the Zulu war with England, 
 but it was principally the former which disturbed 
 the peace between the Zulus and the Boers. 
 Ketchwhyo making an ally of Secocooni, engaged 
 him to make a series of cattle raids on the pro- 
 perty of the Boers ; these latter, relying on the 
 help of their friends the Swazies, attacked Seco- 
 cooni, and a succession of petty mountain warfares 
 were carried on, until the Boers’ interest in their 
 farming operations suffered so much, that after an 
 unsuccessful attempt to take the fortress of Seco- 
 cooni by assault, they broke up their army and 
 returned to their homesteads. The leader of the 
 
2S6 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 expedition, mortified at the desertion of his fol- 
 lowers, sent a hurried despatch to the town of 
 Lydenberg begging for reinforcements to avert the 
 ruin which he represented must otherwise follow 
 to their town and country. This representation 
 terrified the inhabitants, and a cry of alarm was 
 raised among the English settlers, principally ad- 
 venturers in the gold-fields surrounding Lyden- 
 burg, who filled the local press with exaggerated 
 accounts of the danger Lydenberg was in from 
 the Zulu settlers in Natal. 
 
 The Governor of the Cape, reading these sen- 
 sational accounts, at once sent them on to the 
 Colonial Secretary in England. Lord Carnarvon, 
 on receiving them, wrote back strongly to urge 
 his former view of amalgamating the Dutch 
 republic with the British colonies, that both 
 might be under one protection ; adding, “ that, in 
 the state of things as represented the sooner 
 this was done the better ; and if the Dutch wished 
 it, no delay need exist.” 
 
 To hasten matters, Sir Theophilus Shepstone 
 was the same day appointed Commissioner to the 
 Transvaal, and returned at once to Africa with 
 discretionary power to act as he deemed best in 
 British interests, and with a writ of annexation, 
 dated six months in advance , ready to be served by 
 him on the Dutch Free Republic, should they 
 consent to the scheme. Meantime, the war against 
 Secocooni had been renewed by a corps raised 
 
Description of Zululand. 
 
 287 
 
 among the foreigners at the Diamond-Fields. 
 This latter industry had failed, and the disap- 
 pointed adventurers denounced the Transvaal 
 Republic as the cause ; and, as Secocooni threat- 
 ened to overrun the Republic, these latter in- 
 vited the British Government, through Sir Henry 
 Bulwer, to mediate in its behalf, and settle the 
 differences between Secocooni and Ketchwhyo. 
 
 In making this request, the Republic never 
 intended that its independence should be re- 
 pressed, or that it should be made subject to 
 British rule. The Dutch Boers, on the other 
 hand, knew nothing of what had been represented 
 in England by the English settlers, or of the 
 decree with which Sir Theophilus Shepstone 
 was hurrying back to Natal. On the 4th Septem- 
 ber the Dutch Legislative Assembly met as usual 
 for business. A report of its proceedings reached 
 Lord Carnarvon on the 21st, which he simply ac- 
 knowledged. This was a month after his despatch 
 undertaking to annex the Transvaal to the British 
 Empire, if the people wished it. No offer of 
 mediation was, however, made by him, as re- 
 quested by the Transvaal State. 
 
 On the 1 2th of July, hearing that there was 
 still war going on between the Zulu King and 
 the Transvaal Republic, Lord Carnarvon sent to 
 remonstrate against such aggressive policy, saying 
 “ that he had distinctly warned the Dutch Presi- 
 dent that England would prohibit any extension 
 
288 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 of the recognized frontiers of the South African 
 Republic which would affect the situation of the 
 native tribes bordering on Natal or other British 
 colonies. This England was justified in doing; 
 but it is one thing to prevent aggression, and 
 another to suppress altogether the existence of an 
 independent State without giving it an oppor- 
 tunity to conform to rule, and a due mediator 
 at this period would probably have secured the 
 peace desired. 
 
 Meantime, although the Boers refused to fight, 
 the war was carried on by a foreign volunteer 
 force, with some Kaffir auxiliaries, headed by a 
 young Prussian officer, Captain von Schlickman, 
 who had tried his fortunes in the Diamond-Fields, 
 and failed. This volunteer force had killed a Zulu 
 woman, and taken two others captive. These 
 latter were, however, after a short detention, set 
 at liberty. An exaggerated account of the capture, 
 however, reached London through the press, and 
 the Aborigines’ Society took up the matter warmly, 
 and these isolated cases of capture were multiplied 
 into a succession of uncivilized assassinations, 
 which compromised the Convention through which 
 the Transvaal independence had been secured. 
 
 With no one to contradict the report and stand 
 up for their defence, the tide of prejudice set in 
 against the Dutch Boers. And without taking 
 counsel of its rulers, the Special Commissioner 
 for Transvaal Affairs, escorted by a body of 
 
Description of Zululand. 
 
 289 
 
 Mounted Police, arrived at Pretoria on January 
 22nd, 1877, where he remained till April 12th, 
 the date of the writ for annexation, which he had 
 brought out from England, and then and there 
 issued his proclamation “ that the territory here- 
 tofore known as the South African Republic shall 
 be henceforth British territory.” 
 
 The reply of the President of the Republic was 
 a formal protest against the act, but he ended by 
 saying, “ I am not strong enough to draw the 
 sword for the successful defence of the indepen- 
 dence of the State, against a superior power like 
 England.” The Executive Council added, “ that 
 it had no desire to take any steps by which the 
 white inhabitants of South Africa should be divided 
 in the face of the common enemy, or come into 
 collision with each other to the danger of the 
 entire white population in South Africa.” 
 
 After a responsible government had been in- 
 troduced in the Cape Colony, the Imperial 
 Government gradually withdrew its troops, and 
 consequently the border-lands of the colony were 
 left to be defended by the Mounted Police— a late 
 act providing for the enrolment of the burgher 
 force, or militia, in which all male residents between 
 eighteen and fifty, including European, Kaffir, Fin- 
 goe, or Hottentot, are bound to serve when called 
 upon. The Gaika Kaffirs, with the Galekas, had 
 been for some time under the supervision of magis- 
 trates, who had soothed their causes of complaint 
 
 u 
 
290 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 successfully, when a new disturbing - element came 
 into existence. The progress of railway works 
 not only opened up fresh employment to the 
 natives, but facilitated the purchase of fire-arms. 
 Passes for these were at first only supplied to the 
 Fingoes ; these made them a source of traffic to 
 other tribes. Then came the desire on the part 
 of the Kaffirs to turn them to practical use. This 
 was the position in 1877, during which time the 
 war with the Boers and Secocooni had broken out ; 
 and, further, the attitude of King Ketchwhyo was 
 a hostile one. From these combined causes great 
 uneasiness prevailed at Natal, and nothing but a 
 spark seemed needed to put the whole country in 
 a blaze. 
 
 This spark fell shortly from a quarrel which 
 took place at a Fingo wedding, at which two 
 Galeka chiefs came unbidden. It ended in a 
 fmht, in which one of the Galekas was killed. 
 H is tribe at once sounded the war-cry, and a raid 
 on the Fingoes was made, which was but the 
 beginning of a series of fights between the Galekas 
 and the Fingoes. Sir Bartle Frere proceeded to 
 Butterworth, the boundary of the two tribes, and 
 tried to settle their differences, but ineffectually. 
 On the 28th December, 1877, the Galekas made a 
 fresh raid into Fingoland, and killed six Fingoes 
 and assegaied some colonists, burning also several 
 farmsteads. On January 1st, 1878, the Governor 
 therefore proclaimed martial law, and called on 
 
Description of Zululand. 291 
 
 the colonists for volunteers for the defence of the 
 frontier. At this date Lord Chelmsford was 
 appointed Commander-in-Chief, and in person 
 directed the operations of the frontier defenders 
 in a combined attack on the Kaffir army, which 
 dispersed their numbers, and the power of the 
 Gaikas was broken up. After the defeat of the 
 Galekas and Gaikas — from September, 1877, to 
 June, 1878 — the different districts of Kaffraria, 
 including the land of the Pondos, were annexed to 
 Natal. 
 
 The estimated number of natives living in 
 Natal who took up arms against British rule in 
 the Kaffir war was 7000, and in the work of paci- 
 fication which followed, and in the organization of 
 the newly-acquired Kaffir lands, Sir Bartle Frere 
 was beneficially employed for many months. 
 
 During this time Sir Bartle Frere was being 
 constantly appealed to by Sir T. Shepstone 
 to intervene his authority in the irritating land 
 disputes between the Zulu kingdom and the 
 administration of the Transvaal. This territorial 
 question, so angrily disputed by Ivetchwhyo, had 
 already been made the subject of an impartial 
 arbitration, and the decision was to be made 
 known in July ; but it was not till September 23rd, 
 1878, that Sir Bartle Frere arrived in Natal, and 
 by that time the Zulu war had become imminent. 
 There were many long-standing disputes with 
 Ivetchwhyo. One was the position of the Swazi 
 
 u 2 
 
292 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 people, over whom, as subjects of Chaka’s em- 
 pire, Ketchwhyo claimed rule, and in whose 
 blood, from various grievances, he wished his 
 warriors “ to wash their spears.” The Dutchmen, 
 who had taken this tribe under their protection, 
 had given them a King, who had arbitrarily ordered 
 all Zulus to withdraw from his dominion. This 
 Ketchwhyo considered an insult. Another cause 
 of contention was the land which King Panda 
 had given to the Boers on the north-west of 
 Zululand, which Ketchwhyo wished to recover. 
 Before the Transvaal had been annexed to Natal, 
 the Lieutenant-Governor had tried to bring about 
 pacific solutions of these questions, and had ad- 
 dressed words of admonition to Ketchwhyo, whose 
 reply was, “ that he did not wish to do anything 
 which the Natal Government disapproved, as he 
 knew the English were peace-loving, and he 
 looked on them as his fathers ; but he could not 
 understand why they would not give him leave to 
 ‘wash his spears,’ according to the custom of kings.” 
 The Lieutenant-Governor’s messengers, with 
 this reply brought back stories of cruelties and 
 death practised by the Zulu King on his sub- 
 jects, especially in the enforcement of marriages 
 between the young girls and his old warriors. 
 Sir H. Bulwer sent expostulations in consequence, 
 saying “ he hoped the tales were not true,” and 
 reminded the King of the counsels given him on 
 his coronation, by Sir T. Shepstone. 
 
Description of Zululand. 
 
 293 
 
 This admonition occurred in October, 1876, 
 when Ketchwhyo vented his wrath, declaring 
 haughtily “ that to kill was the custom of his race, 
 that he had never promised not, and that he had 
 scarcely yet begun and then followed a tirade 
 against Natal interference, in which he declared 
 “ he would not be treated like a child, and the only 
 way to rule was to kill.” He wished, he said, 
 “ to be friends with the English but, if so, “ he 
 must act on his own account.” 
 
 “ The Governor of Natal and himself,” he said, 
 “were equals.” “ He is Governor of Natal, and 
 I am Governor here.” 
 
 “Go back,” he said, “and tell the English 
 that rather than agree to their laws I shall become 
 a wanderer ! Let them hear it well ! ” 
 
 This language, which might have been spoken 
 in passion, Sir H. Bulwer interpreted as be- 
 tokening a changed mood and warlike intention, 
 the more so as he was given to understand Ketch- 
 whyo had been sounding the way to unite with all 
 the native races in a war against the whites. In 
 letters dated a fortnight later, Sir Henry noted 
 Zulu preparations for war against the Swazies, and 
 of Ketchwhyo’s wish to get permission to attack 
 that nation again on the boundary question. The 
 result, however, of that year’s events gave a strong 
 colour to the idea that Ketchwhyo intended to 
 provoke a war with the Transvaal Republic, which 
 at this date, be it remembered, had not definitively 
 
294 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 been annexed to Natal, and was a further reason 
 to convince the Dutch of the necessity of so doing. 
 
 The special ground of dispute was an extent of 
 country, eighty miles long and sixty broad, situated 
 east of the Blood River, which joins the Buffalo a 
 little above Rorke’s Drift. The Transvaal had 
 long claimed this territory under a cession of the 
 Zulu King, Panda, in 1854, before which all agreed 
 it belonged to the Zulus. This deed of cession, 
 with Panda’s signature, was rejected as a forgery. 
 The district of Utrecht was also questionable 
 ground, although not so much disputed. To the 
 north of the above-named tract of country ran a 
 large river, the Pongolo, which flowed east, and 
 formed the boundary of the Zulu kingdom. A 
 line of 120 miles had to be drawn from Buffalo 
 River — the boundary of Natal above Rorke’s 
 Drift — to strike the Pongolo. The drawing of 
 this line, and whether it should follow the course of 
 the Blood River or be carried east, was the sub- 
 ject of inquiry by the Commissioners appointed to 
 settle the question. 
 
 The English Commission of Inquiry, in 1878, 
 after listening to both sides, rejected the Transvaal 
 claim in these words : — “ We desire it to be tinder- 
 stood that there has been no cession of the land at all 
 by the Zulu kings, past or present, or by the nation; 
 that there has been no recognition by the Zulus of 
 Boer occupation. It has never ceased to be Zulu 
 territory, and is still Zulu territory by right." 
 
Description of Zululand. 
 
 295 
 
 This also was the general opinion in Natal, and 
 Ketchwhyo had British support in resisting the 
 Transvaal claim. 
 
 When, however, the Transvaal became a 
 British possession, Sir Bartle Frere, fearing the 
 increasing strength of the Zulu force on the British 
 frontier, postponed the official award, and sent Lord 
 Chelmsford to make preparations for war. 
 
 Meantime, several aggressive acts of cruelty on 
 Zulu women were committed by Ketchwhyo’s 
 people on British ground, as also the detention 
 and robbery of two English engineers, and other 
 outrages of the kind, of which probably, however, 
 the Zulu King knew nothing. 
 
 Sir Bartle Frere’s policy was shown at this date 
 by controverting the decision of the Natal Inquiry 
 Commissioners — against the advice of Sir H. 
 Bulwer, it is said, who quoted Ketchwhyo’s speech 
 when he heard the result of the award, — 
 
 “ I am glad ; now I shall have peace ; now I 
 can sleep.” 
 
 The High Commissioner refused to be over- 
 ruled ; possibly he was far-seeing, and recognized 
 iurther danger in any access of power to Ketch- 
 whyo. He must have, however, known that to 
 reject the claim of the Zulu King, after public 
 opinion and legal inquiry had ratified the award, 
 was synonymous to a declaration of war. 
 
 A lengthened controversy followed between the 
 Government chiefs of Natal and Cape Town, not 
 
296 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 exactly in order to reverse the verdict, but for 
 disparaging its necessity as an act of justice, and 
 making it rather an act of grace, to which conditions 
 might be affixed. This dilution, if it may be so 
 termed, of the award was, according to Captain 
 Lucas’s views, what led to the Zulu war. 
 
 When the Transvaal was annexed to Natal, 
 Sir T. Shepstone sent a messenger to warn 
 Ketchwhyo of the fact that he must now no longer 
 think of attacking it. His reply was, — 
 
 “ I am glad the English have taken it. Perhaps 
 now we shall have rest ; but my men are all ready. 
 But may I not have just one little raid among the 
 Swazies — just to wash my spears ? I am no king 
 until I have washed my spears.” 
 
 After the October meeting on the boundary 
 question, Ketchwhyo was far less humble in tone. 
 
 “ He declared his soldiers would never consent 
 to give up the land ; they would sooner die for it ; 
 and that his people would turn against him if he 
 did so yield it.” 
 
 It was, however, the opinion of Sir T. Shep- 
 stone that if the British made war on Ketchwhyo, 
 such a war would be acceptable to the majority of 
 the Zulu nation, who wished to overthrow his 
 sanguinary despotism ; and this he repeated in 
 writing to Lord Carnarvon. This chance of a 
 revolution in case of war Sir Bartle Frere 
 cherished, as hopeful in weakening the Zulu 
 power on the frontier. Sir H. Bulwer thought 
 
Description of Zuluiand. 297 
 
 otherwise — that there would be no division in the 
 Zulu camp. The award of the disputed territory 
 was about this time accorded, but subject to con- 
 ditions which no independent State could accept. 
 Its ultimatum was much as follows : — 
 
 “ Disband your army ; keep only such troops as 
 we sanction ; repeal your Spartan laws of mar- 
 riage ; perform the promises of your coronation- 
 day to us to rule your people more humanely 
 (such promises never had, it will be remembered, 
 been made by Ketchwhyo, although, it is true, he 
 had been exhorted to perform them) ; and if in 
 thirty days you consent, the disputed land shall be 
 awarded you.” 
 
 To the Zulu King, a proud and despotic savage, 
 these demands were like a challenge of strength. 
 Its answer came in the defeat of the British and 
 the massacre of I sandhi wana. 
 
 Sir Bartle Frere, in his despatch of February 
 1 6th, gave for his reason for commencing a war 
 with the Zulus before obtaining sanction for the 
 same from England, “ that it was impossible to 
 delay without incurring greater evils.” 
 
 Ketchwhyo knew he could only increase his 
 territory in future by war, and determined there- 
 fore to use force to obtain his wishes. His 
 warriors clamoured for battle, and he could not, 
 if he had wished it, restrain their ardour. The 
 slightest excuse, Sir Bartle Frere was assured, 
 would bring the whole Zulu force into Natal. 
 
298 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ISANDHLWANA. 
 
 “ How speak of bravery, when all were brave ! ” 
 
 The thirty clays prescribed to Ketchwhyo for his 
 reply to the terms proposed to him by the English 
 Government at Cape Town having passed, and 
 no answer being sent, Sir Bartle Frere requested 
 Lord Chelmsford and his army to cross the Zulu 
 frontier, and declare war. This Lord Chelms- 
 ford did, and pitched his camp under the hill of 
 Isandhlwana. That Sir Bartle Frere acted from 
 strictly conscientious motives in so doing, and 
 with a full assurance in his own mind that Natal 
 was in imminent danger, no one who knows his 
 high character and deep sense of responsibility 
 can doubt for a moment. As High Commissioner 
 he was charged “ in order to prevent any inroad 
 on the frontier, to take all necessary measures for 
 the safety of the British colony. 1 ’ When, there- 
 fore, he deemed it in danger, his own judgment 
 dictated that a trial of arms with Ketchwhyo was 
 
1 ' sandhlwana. 
 
 299 
 
 a lesser evil than a native rebellion, and the pos- 
 sible repetition in Natal of another “ Indian 
 Mutiny.” The mistake seems to have lain in 
 underrating the power of the Zulu ruler and his 
 warriors. 
 
 The troops under Lord Chelmsford were 
 divided into five columns, under the relative 
 command of Col. Pearson, Col. Durnford, R.E., 
 Col. Glyn, of the 24th, C.B., who commanded 
 the head-quarters column, Col. Evelyn Wood, 
 V.C., C.B., and Col. Rowlands, V.C., C.B. All 
 these columns, except the head-quarters column, 
 advanced simultaneously, though from different 
 points, into Zululand, and wended their way to- 
 wards the capital Ulundi. The column com- 
 manded by Col. Glyn consisted of the 1st and 
 2nd battalions of the 24th, under Lieut.- 
 Colonels Pulleine and Degacher ; a squad of 
 Mounted Infantry, under Major Russel, of the 
 1 2th Lancers; the N. battery of the 5th 
 Brigade of Royal Artillery, under Lieut. -Colonel 
 Harness, 5th company of Royal Engineers ; the 
 Natal Mounted Police, under Major Dartnell ; 
 the Natal Carbineers, the Newcastle Mounted 
 Rifles, the Buffalo Border Guard, and the Natal 
 Native Contingent, under Commander Lonsdale 
 — in all, 1 500 infantry, 200 cavalry, 400 natives, and 
 6 guns. These at first remained at the camp. 
 After effecting a passage at Rorke’s Drift, Lord 
 Chelmsford pushed forward to meet Col. Wood’s 
 
300 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 column, when the first skirmish took place with a 
 body of Zulus at the Bashee River, near the 
 stronghold of the Zulu chief Sirayo. The enemy 
 made a desperate resistance, but were defeated, 
 and large quantities of their cattle were captured. 
 Lord Chelmsford then returned to the camp. 
 Early on the morning of the 20th the head- 
 quarters column commenced its march also into 
 Zululand, and arrived at the advanced camp, near 
 the Bashee, leaving the Isandhlwana camp in 
 charge of Col. Pulleine. The force of the Bashee 
 consisted of four companies of the 2nd battalion 
 of the 24th, and of the 2nd battalion of the Native 
 Contingent. This camp being struck by noon, 
 the troops reached the southern face of the Isand- 
 hlwana hill, where their new quarters were to be 
 pitched. 
 
 On arriving at this spot Lord Chelmsford rode 
 out with his staff to reconnoitre the country ; but, 
 seeing nothing of the enemy, returned to camp, 
 and orders were given for an early advance next 
 morning. The Mounted Police, under Major 
 Dartnell, had meantime, while skirmishing, come 
 across a body of the enemy 1000 strong, eastwards, 
 on the Umpondi Hill. Being too weak t£> en- 
 gage them, they returned to seek aid of' the 
 Native Contingents and Carbineers. Believing 
 that these forces were on their way to overtake 
 the Zulus, Commandant Lonsdale, who, with a 
 portion of the Native Contingents, had gone out 
 
Isandhlwana. 
 
 3 01 
 
 to attack another party of the enemy, decided to 
 bivouac where he was for the night, and com- 
 mence operations next day. The General ap- 
 proved the plan, but sent Col. Durnford, who 
 was at Rorke’s Drift, back to the camp with 250 
 mounted men, 250 Native Infantry, and a rocket 
 battery. During the night despatches came from 
 Major Dartnell that the enemy were showing 
 themselves in force, and asking that some British 
 infantry might at once be sent to his assistance, 
 which was done. In the meantime, preparations 
 were made by the General-in-Chief to storm the 
 Isandhlwana Hill. This was a strong position, 
 and, as the Zulus appeared to retire from it, an 
 advance was ordered, when the enemy were seen 
 all at once in numbers to the left, and the General 
 ordered the Natal Native Contingent to retire 
 to the left, near the camp at Isandhlwana. About 
 noon a rumour arose that something was wrong 
 at the camp, and a prisoner who was put under 
 examination stated that an army of 20,000 
 Zulus was expected that day. At this moment 
 a native rode up, and said that guns were firing 
 at the camp. On hearing this, Lord Chelmsford, 
 with his staff, galloped up the crest of the hill to 
 reconnoitre. All, however, seemed quiet in the 
 camp direction, and he remained nearly an hour on 
 the hill. While returning, a solitary horseman was 
 seen approaching. It was Commandant Lonsdale, 
 and his first words struck dismay and horror : — 
 
302 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ The camp is in possession of the enemy ! ” 
 
 It was, alas! too true. Col. Lonsdale related 
 that he was returning to the camp when a bullet 
 whizzed near him, fired by a native. At the 
 same time he saw in the camp what he at first 
 took for its lawful possessors, viz., red-coated 
 British soldiers. He was then about twelve yards 
 off. On nearer approach, however, a Zulu came 
 out with a bloody assegai in his hand, and his 
 suspicion was aroused. 
 
 Another rapid glance, and Commandant Lons- 
 dale saw that, instead of British troops, the camp 
 was in possession of Zulus in British uniforms, 
 and this alone told its tale of bloodshed and horror. 
 Retaining his presence of mind, Col. Lonsdale 
 turned his horse, and rode off at full speed, amid 
 a shower of bullets, to warn Lord Chelmsford, 
 who otherwise would, by this ruse of the enemy’s, 
 with his whole staff, have been lured to death 
 and destruction. 
 
 The details that have transpired of that awful 
 butchery in the British camp at Isandhlwana are 
 fresh in my readers’ memory. After Lord Chelms- 
 ford and his staff had quitted the camp, a report 
 came to it that a body of the enemy had shown 
 themselves on the north-eastern side. Col. 
 Pulleine despatched a messenger at once to Lord 
 Chelmsford. Soon after came the further news 
 that the enemy, in three columns strong, had 
 retired north-west. At ten a.m. Col. Durnford 
 
Isandhlwana. 
 
 303 
 
 arrived at the camp, and took over its com- 
 mand from Col. Pulleine, the latter giving him 
 a verbal account of the orders he had received 
 for its defence. 
 
 Another report of the vicinity of the enemy 
 arriving at the camp at this juncture, Col. Durn- 
 ford decided to start with a body of troops and 
 a rocket battery to a spot five miles off to meet 
 the Zulu party. These came on in such force 
 that he sent back to Col. Pulleine to send two 
 further companies to his assistance. This weakened 
 the camp. The Zulus then first cut off Col. Durn- 
 ford’s retreat, and, secondly, attacked the camp, 
 swarming in at every opening, and using their 
 short assegais with fearful effect. Overpowered 
 at last by numbers, the camp fell into the Zulus’ 
 hands, and only 30 of its 1500 defenders escaped 
 with life. Its possession by the enemy was not 
 effected without the most desperate struggle. Col. 
 Pulleine, in dying, placed the colours of the 24th 
 in the hands of Capt. Melville and his Lieutenant, 
 Coghill, and bade them make the best of their way 
 out of the camp with them. This they did on 
 horseback, fighting their way through the enemy, 
 and receiving many wounds, arriving safely, how- 
 ever, notwithstanding, with their precious charge 
 as far as the Buffalo River. Here later the 
 bodies of both these brave officers were found. 
 Captain Melville had bound the colours round 
 him, evidently hoping to swim the river with 
 
304 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 them ; but both he and Lieut. Coghill had suc- 
 cumbed from the result of their wounds in the 
 attempt. The colours were happily afterwards 
 found in the river, and will ever remain a stand- 
 ing memorial of the bravery of these officers. 
 After Capt. Melville had received from Col. 
 Pulleine this charge, the latter turned to his men, 
 and said calmly, — 
 
 “ Men of the 24th, here we are, and here we 
 fight it out to the end ! ” and the positions of 
 their bodies, when found, testified how, on this 
 heart-stirring appeal, the soldiers had rallied round 
 their chief, and fallen in numbers at his side. 
 
 The few men who escaped — about thirty in 
 number — made their way to Rorke’s Drift, a 
 place which, since the fatal day’s fight at 
 Isandhlwana, has become renowned for English 
 pluck and courage. The little commissariat 
 garrison at this spot was under command of 
 Lieut. Chard, of the Royal Engineers, who 
 had with him only Lieut. Grenville Bromhead, 
 of the 2nd battalion of the 24th Regiment, and 
 a small number of natives. After their bloody 
 victory at Isandhlwana the main body of the 
 Zulu army followed to Rorke’s Drift, doubtless 
 deeming that the small force there would soon 
 be exterminated. Happily, the fugitives from 
 the camp had arrived in time to warn Lieuts. 
 Chard and Bromhead. 
 
 These at once, seeing an attack was imminent, 
 
Isandhlwana. 
 
 305 
 
 caused their men to throw up a hasty barricade, 
 made from biscuit tins, sacks, and other com- 
 missariat stores, the men, while doing this, being 
 all the time under fire. It was dark when the 
 Zulus came up in numbers at least 3000 strong, 
 and commenced the attack on the brave little 
 British party. How these maintained their posi- 
 tion all through the fight, and how they finally 
 effected their defence, was marvellous ! Six times 
 the Zulus got inside the barricade, and six times 
 were repulsed at the bayonet point. When dawn 
 came, Col. Pearson’s column being in sight, the 
 Zulus, who had suffered fearful loss, retreated, leav- 
 ing 1 000 dead behind them. This brave defence 
 saved Grey Town and Help Makaar, and afforded 
 a retreat for the main column. The same night 
 Col. Pearson attacked 5000 Zulus, and put them 
 to flight, and two days later Col. Wood defeated 
 another large body of the enemy. 
 
 The fearful loss sustained by the British arms 
 at Isandhlwana could not, however, be forgotten ; 
 fifty-four officers alone had fallen, and many of 
 these the finest and bravest men in her Majesty’s 
 forces, whilst the soldiers who had so courageously 
 fought out to death that fearful struggle could ill 
 be spared to the army, the whole number being 
 deeply mourned and regretted. 
 
 x 
 
306 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE PRINCE IMPERIALS DEPARTURE FOR NATAL. 
 
 “ He left his home with a buoyant heart, 
 
 For the world was all before him, 
 
 And he felt it scarce a pain to part, 
 
 Such sunbright dreams came o’er him. 
 
 He turn’d him to visions of future years, 
 
 The rainbow hues were round them ; 
 
 A nation’s boding, a mother’s fears, 
 
 Might not weigh with the hopes that crown’d him.” 
 
 The last chapter has been a long digression, but 
 bearing as it does on the Zulu war, which drew 
 the Prince Imperial, with many other gallant 
 youths, from their homes to Africa, I trust it will 
 be excused. It will likewise serve in its geogra- 
 phical sketch to familiarize the reader with the 
 names and places which the Prince passed through 
 while with our army. 
 
 When the sad news of the fatal defeat of our 
 troops at Isandhlwana reached England, it caused 
 wide-spread horror and consternation ; no such 
 disaster had befallen the British arms for many 
 a year. In the absence of any further report, 
 
Prince Imperial' s Departure for Natal. 307 
 
 save the bald fact of the defeat, which was con- 
 veyed by means of the telegraph wires, the 
 universal topic of inquiry was, how such a 
 disaster could possibly have occurred ? and further 
 accounts were greedily awaited. The news, brief 
 though it was, brought sorrow and mourning into 
 hundreds of English homes, whilst over hun- 
 dreds more, was the overhanging fear of uncer- 
 tainty, and the dread of what further accounts might 
 convey of death and bereavement. The safety of 
 Natal was also a cause of grave apprehension. 
 In this resolve, whatever might follow, all were 
 agreed — England, in the reverse her arms had sus- 
 tained, had received a blow, and her honour and 
 prestige demanded immediate reparation. Large 
 reinforcements were at once ordered to the Cape, 
 and at the military depots, the arsenals, and the 
 dockyards, all was bustle and activity. The British 
 youth, fired with enthusiasm, clamoured to be sent 
 forward to avenge the honour of their country. 
 Volunteers from every direction arose, begging their 
 services might be accepted, in what greyer heads 
 now feared would be an obstinate and lengthened 
 war. 
 
 When first it was made known that Lord 
 Chelmsford had been ordered to cross the borders 
 and give battle to the Zulu nation, there were 
 varied opinions expressed ; some thought the dig- 
 nity of England was compromised by crossing 
 arms at all with a savage foe ; others, that a few 
 
 x 2 
 
308 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 skirmishes, which no one doubted would end in 
 victory, would serve as a punishment to Zulu in- 
 tolerance, and so establish British prestige, pre- 
 venting further encroachment by Ketchwhyo on 
 our frontiers. Such undervalued the power of the 
 enemy. At the first serious encounter our troops 
 were out-manoeuvred, our camp surprised, and so 
 frightful a massacre had taken place, that but a 
 handful of soldiers had escaped to tell the tale of 
 disaster. 
 
 When the news of the Isandhlwana massacre 
 arrived in England, the Prince Imperial was at 
 Chislehurst, and his military ardour was at once 
 aroused. Albeit French by birth, he was, through 
 his Woolwich education, English in arms, and 
 claimed many friends both among those who 
 were already plunged in the thick of the war in 
 Africa, and those who were at once ordered to 
 start for the Cape. During the week that followed 
 the news of the Rorke’s Drift calamity, to and fro 
 from Chislehurst came and went these latter cadets, 
 brimful of spirited valour and expectant excite- 
 ment. A campaign to them was a new experience. 
 In this respect the Prince was far ahead of them; he 
 had seen and tasted of its horrors. The natural ar- 
 dour of youth however made him participate in the 
 enthusiasm of his friends, and he eagerly talked over 
 with them the prospects of the war. When later 
 the full and further details of the disaster arrived, 
 and inflamed to fever height the English mind, 
 
Prince Imperial's Departure for Natal. 309 
 
 the Prince appears to have thought out quietly in 
 all its bearings the project of joining in his own 
 person the African campaign, and shortly after 
 broached the idea to the Empress. She met it 
 with opposition and tearful entreaty. He did not, 
 however, relinquish the scheme, but, probably 
 wishing the Empress to digest it, said little 
 more that day on the subject. Two of his fellow- 
 cadets, however, arriving at Camden House to bid 
 him farewell, whose visit, as narrated in the open- 
 ing chapter of this work, he received in thoughtful 
 sadness, was the seal to his purpose. Soon after 
 their departure he mounted his horse, and went 
 direct to the War Office, where he offered his 
 sword in England’s service. 
 
 Much at the time and since has been said in 
 reference to the motives which induced the Prince 
 Imperial to risk his life in a foreign cause. Surely 
 we need not look far for it. Gifted with the genius, 
 high-minded resolve, and the love of enterprise of 
 his race, for some years, since his majority, these 
 qualities had, as it were, been lying dormant in the 
 solitary and unsatisfactory sphere which the cir- 
 cumstances of his rank, exile, and filial devotion 
 imposed upon him, whilst the Empress’s fallen 
 and widowed state precluded society, or the close 
 companionship even of the young men of his own 
 age and vicinity. 
 
 Truly he studied deeply, especially the branch 
 of administrative science, in which his Father had 
 
310 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 excelled ; but at twenty-three youth asks some- 
 what more than dry reading, and craves an oppor- 
 tunity for the practical exercise and extension of 
 the knowledge already acquired. Nor was ambi- 
 tion silent ; the Prince Imperial had a future before 
 him, and in all human calculation the measure of 
 that future depended on his proving himself worthy 
 of his name and race. The valour shown by the 
 Napoleons in the field had been the principal 
 rivet which had bound their fortunes to France 
 and raised them to the throne. The Prince in- 
 herited that valour, and thirsted to distinguish 
 himself. What opportunity better than the present? 
 what step more natural, what motive for earthly 
 ambition more laudable ? 
 
 The Prince’s position as a Pretender to the 
 throne of France, excluded him from taking part 
 in war with any European power, which might 
 compromise his country’s interests ; but the Zulus 
 were a savage race and no political embarrass- 
 ments could arise by his associating his name 
 with England in arms against that nation. 
 
 These ideas were, one and all, well thought out 
 before the Prince took the step of announcing his 
 final decision to the Empress and to the leaders of 
 his party. He did not, as was reported in some 
 of the newspapers, affect dependence, and ask leave 
 to go. Happily for both parties, the Empress’s 
 opposition was overcome without any struggle, for 
 such was the Prince’s filial devotion that to have 
 
 t\ 
 
Prince Imperial's Departure for Natal . 31 r 
 
 gone in the face of her positive counter-wishes 
 would have caused him much pain. His resolve 
 also met with the approval of his political coun- 
 sellors. 
 
 A few days after his determination had been 
 announced, M. Rouher, and the Roman Catholic 
 Bishop of Southwark, with other influential French 
 Imperialists, were dining at Camden House, and 
 the Empress seized the occasion to nominate 
 them as a council in reference to the advisability 
 of her son’s scheme. 
 
 M. Rouher, when he heard of it, at once de- 
 clared in its favour as a noble resolve, and, in 
 its soldier-like spirit, one that the French nation 
 was sure to approve. Events, he said, were 
 ripening in France, and the presence of the Prince 
 at a post of danger would create an interest for 
 him throughout the country. 
 
 The Empress, although disappointed at their 
 verdict, withdrew her opposition ; doubtless, 
 setting aside the dreaded separation, she was 
 proud of her son’s bold spirit and hoped France 
 would appreciate his courage. 
 
 At the War Office there was some hesitation on 
 the part of the Duke of Cambridge in acceding 
 to the Prince’s wish. From the first, the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief felt the responsibility which would 
 be attached to the safety of his person, and this 
 was increased by the well-known dauntless bra- 
 very of the Prince’s character ; nor did he hold 
 
312 Life of the Pi'ince Imperial of France. 
 
 any commission in the British army which en- 
 titled him to a command. 
 
 It was evident, on the other side, that the 
 Prince’s determination to go to Africa was so fixed 
 a one, that if he did not join the army he would 
 go as a volunteer, and probably in that capacity 
 be found wherever danger lurked. Hence the 
 above difficulties were overruled, and the War Office 
 authorities arranged that the Prince, starting from 
 England as a volunteer, should carry sealed letters 
 from the Commander-in-Chief to Lord Chelmsford, 
 who was therein armed with discretionary powers, 
 either to attach the young Woolwich artilleryman 
 to his staff, or to place him with a battery as first 
 lieutenant. The latter post was what the Prince 
 most desired for himself. 
 
 After his untimely death it transpired that the 
 Duke of Cambridge had accompanied his despatch 
 to Lord Chelmsford with a private note of warn- 
 ing, in which he said, — 
 
 “ He is a fine young fellow, full of spirit and 
 pluck, and having many old fellow-cadet friends 
 in the Artillery, he will doubtless find no difficulty 
 in getting on. If you can help him in any other 
 way, pray do so. My only anxiety on his account 
 is that he is too go-a-head and plucky.” 
 
 There was no time to lose in making the neces- 
 sary preparation for the Prince’s departure. It 
 was decided that, joining as a volunteer, he should 
 take as few attendants as possible, and his suite 
 
Prince Imperial's Departure for Natal. 313 
 
 consisted merely of Uhlmann, his body-servant, 
 Lomas, second valet, and two grooms. The 
 Prince took with him two horses which he had 
 used at Woolwich, tried and fine animals. During 
 the short time that intervened between his decision 
 to go to Africa and his final departure, the Prince 
 was calm, and much occupied with the many busi- 
 ness arrangements which claimed his attention ; 
 whilst the Empress most unselfishly sought to hide 
 her own feelings, and render him all the assistance 
 in her power. 
 
 In business matters the Prince was most exact ; 
 he knew he was going into danger, and without 
 anticipating the sad fatality which occurred, he 
 arranged with forethought for every contingency 
 of a soldier’s fortune. 
 
 The dayprevious to his departure the Oueen sent 
 for him, to bid her farewell, and, with her usual 
 forethought, provided a special train to be ready 
 to convey him from London to Windsor. It was 
 Ash-Wednesday when the Royal summons came. 
 
 The Prince, who never allowed anything to 
 interfere with his religious exercises, attended 
 mass first in the little Roman Catholic Church at 
 Chislehurst, and then proceeded to Windsor. On 
 this day thousands of telegrams from France 
 arrived for the Empress and for himself, many of 
 which had to be acknowledged. 
 
 That evening the Prince sat up late and made 
 his will, enclosing in it a letter, in which he desired 
 
314 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 if he fell to have his remains, if possible, brought 
 home, and laid by his father in the Roman Catho- 
 lic Chapel at Chislehurst ; these he desired M. 
 Pietri, the Empress’s private secretary, to witness, 
 and gave him the key of the box in which he de- 
 posited them ; other business transactions followed, 
 and he did not retire to rest until two a.m. 
 
 One of his last notes was the following to M. 
 l’Abbe Goddard : — 
 
 “ Monsieur le Cure, 
 
 “ Je vous remercie pour la lettre que 
 vous avez bien voulu m’ecrire. Elle me prouve 
 toute 1 ’affection que vous me portez ; mais je tiens 
 a ce que vous ne croyez pas que la precipitation de 
 mon depart et le soins des details m’ait fait oub- 
 lier mes devoirs de Chretien, Je me presenterai 
 demain, jeudi, a 7J- a 8 heures a.m., pour com- 
 munier une derniere fois dans la chapelle de 
 Chislehurst, ou je desire d’etre depose si je viens 
 a mourir. 
 
 “ Votre bien affectionne, 
 
 “ Napoleon.” 
 
 In English : 
 
 “ Monsieur le Cure, 
 
 “ I thank you for your letter. It is a 
 proof of your affection towards me ; but I hope 
 you do not think that in the hurry of my departure, 
 with its many details of business, I shall forget 
 my duty as a Christian. I shall present myself 
 
Prince Imperial's Departure for Natal. 315 
 
 between 7.30 and 8 o’clock a.m., to receive the Holy 
 Communion once more, at the little chapel at 
 Chislehurst, where I hope, if I die, to be buried. 
 
 “ Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 “ Napoleon.” 
 
 The 27th of February, 1879, broke chill and 
 cold over the little village of Chislehurst ; there 
 was a still colder chill in the heart of the Empress 
 and her small retinue of followers. At Camden 
 House all told of the bustle and excitement which 
 a hurried journey occasions. The Prince rose 
 early, took a hasty breakfast, and then, according 
 to the previous night's arrangement, proceeded 
 alone at 7.30 a.m. to the chapel, where M. l’Abbe 
 Goddard awaited him. 
 
 Taking- the well-beaten track from the lodge 
 gates across to the chapel, he entered the church- 
 yard, and walked up the private path which leads 
 to the sacristy. Here, before the Emperor’s re- 
 mains were removed to the marble sarcophagus 
 where they now rest, they had lain, and received 
 the homage of thousands. Ah ! how little the 
 Prince realized that before many months were 
 over his coffin would occupy, in imperial state, 
 that shrine ! or of the solemn scene which so shortly 
 took place in that little chapel, when all England’s 
 noblest and fairest came there to honour and weep 
 over the memory of the soldier prince who had 
 died a hero’s death in her cause ! 
 
 The chapel-keeper related to me that she was 
 
3 1 6 Life of the Prince Imperial of France . 
 
 engaged in her duties at the chapel that morning, 
 when the Prince entered through the sacristy, 
 looking sad and thoughtful. He saluted her cour- 
 teously, and passed between the altar rails, where 
 the Abbe awaited him, and from whose hands he 
 received the Holy Sacrament. 
 
 This duty performed, he went on to his father’s 
 tomb, and remained there so long in prayer, that, 
 as the hour of his departure was drawing 
 near, a messenger was despatched from Camden 
 House to summon him. Reverently kissing the 
 Emperor’s tomb, he rose, and passed out of the 
 chapel through the sacristy again ; but in a moment 
 returned to its door ; he remembered he had 
 omitted to take leave of the chapel-keeper. 
 
 The good woman narrated with tears of affec- 
 tion and pride, how, with French grace, he first 
 raised his cap to her, and then, “ with his own 
 lovely smile,” apologized for the omission, and 
 extending his hand bade her farewell. 
 
 “ He was a true Prince, ma’am,” she said, “ and 
 never did aught that a Prince should not do.” 
 
 The train which conveyed the Imperial travel- 
 lers — for the Empress decided to accompany her 
 son to Southampton — started at 8.20 a.m., and 
 before that hour a large concourse of people had 
 assembled at the Chislehurst station to see them 
 off. The Prince bade them farewell right gal- 
 lantly, shaking hands familiarly with those whom 
 he knew personally. One little girl, the daughter 
 
Prince Imperial's Dcparticre for Natal. 3 1 7 
 
 of a friend, pressed forward, and offered him a 
 bouquet. He accepted it, raised the child in his 
 arms, and kissed her. The same little girl, on the 
 2nd of July, with tearful eyes, placed a wreath of 
 violets on his tomb. Arrived at Southampton, the 
 Prince was again the object of welcoming crowds 
 who gave him “ God speed ” on his expedition. 
 
 At Southampton the Empress took a sad adieu 
 of her son ; both were visibly affected. To the 
 Empress the parting was one of intense anxiety 
 and anguish. Since her fallen fortunes the Prince 
 was her all , and in his life her past, her present, 
 and her future hopes were centered. 
 
 The ship which conveyed the Prince to the 
 Cape was one of the Union Steam Navigation 
 Company’s, the “ Danube,” commanded by Cap- 
 tain Draper. She likewise carried a detachment 
 of troops to Africa. 
 
 On board, the Prince assumed the position of 
 an ordinary voyager, dining at the same table, 
 and mixing in unrestrained intercourse with the 
 rest of his fellow-passengers, to whom he com- 
 mended himself by his affability and cheerful good 
 nature. His natural activity soon made him at 
 home with a sailor’s duties, and he was often 
 seen climbing the rigging, up the mast’s head, or 
 hauling in the ropes, for mere pastime. At other 
 times he amused himself by playing with the 
 children who were on board, and frequently was 
 a prominent object, seated on deck, with some 
 
3 1 8 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 baby on his knee, whom he dandled to its parents’ 
 pride and delight. With one and all he was 
 bon camarade, yet he never lost the dignity of 
 birth he knew so well how to maintain when 
 occasion required. 
 
 The Prince spent some time daily with his horses, 
 which he personally saw fed. One of these died 
 from an accident in landing at Durban, and the 
 other from disease soon after, so that on landing 
 he had to provide himself with a fresh supply. 
 
 Upon the Prince’s arrival at Cape Town, Sir 
 Bartle Frere being absent, Lady Frere received 
 him at Government House. He, however, lost 
 no time in proceeding to Natal. 
 
 At Durban, where he landed, the Prince at 
 first joined the corps of artillery stationed at the 
 camp, about four miles outside the town, in the 
 position of a lieutenant, but without command. 
 This arrangement did not please him, for, although 
 he quite understood the reasons which prevented 
 his taking command in the English army, he was 
 not contented, as he expressed it, “ to belong 
 to any special corps, merely as a fifth wheel to 
 a carriage.” As soon, therefore, as Lord Chelms- 
 ford arrived he begged permission to be attached 
 to his staff. 
 
 In this position, by following closely the general 
 operations, he hoped to pursue the study of war- 
 fare experimentally, whilst, if opportunity offered, 
 he trusted to be made useful. 
 
3i9 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 DURBAN, AND UP CAMP. 
 
 “ Give thanks to God who blinded us with hope, 
 
 Denied man skill to cast his horoscope ; 
 
 And, to make mortals of the present fond, 
 
 Forbad the keenest sense to pierce beyond.” 
 
 Hon. Mrs. Norton. 
 
 The port of Natal, Durban, is about two miles 
 from the town itself, and at a little distance does 
 not appear to consist of more than a few rough 
 warehouses and sheds, with a rude railway station 
 which serves the double purpose of protecting 
 boats and engines alike. There are trains every 
 half-hour into the town. Travellers can have the 
 choice of proceeding there by rail, omnibus, or 
 carriage, and whichever way they take lovely 
 scenery breaks upon the eye, the route lying 
 through a country rich in verdure and overhang- 
 ing foliage. When the tide is low, Durban can 
 be reached by driving along the hard, dry sand 
 along the shore. The town is full of activity 
 and life, and both clean and pleasant. New 
 arrivals find infinite amusement in the variety of 
 
320 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 nationalities, costumes, and physiognomies which 
 its mingled population presents — formed as it is 
 of Indians, Kaffirs, Natal Zulus, and European 
 residents. Coolies swarm in every direction ; fruit 
 and fish sellers force their wares on you, or throng 
 the verandahs of the houses and hotels. 
 
 The immediate country round Durban is beau- 
 tiful, and the drives most enjoyable, winding up 
 through luxuriantly-clothed slopes, where at every 
 turn lovely sea views are visible, and soft purple 
 lights enchant the eye and senses. Berea is the 
 west-end suburb of Durban, and here the wealthy 
 merchants of the place build their villas, and enjoy 
 the fresh air of the high ground on which it stands. 
 
 The Prince Imperial’s stay in Durban extended 
 over a fortnight. While walking in the town 
 one morning, he was accosted by a shoemaker, a 
 F renchman, who claimed him as a compatriot. The 
 Prince at once shook hands with him, and accom- 
 panied him to his modest domicile. Here this 
 man’s wife was occupied in domestic matters, and 
 the Prince, lifting her little child on his knee, sat 
 some time in friendly conversation with the pair, 
 whose delight at his condescension was unbounded. 
 Learning also that the correspondent of Le Figaro 
 newspaper was in Durban — M. Paul Deleage — 
 the Prince desired he might be presented to him ; 
 and in the course of their interview, while speaking 
 about the state of France, the Prince remarked, — 
 
 “ France is at the present moment incon- 
 
Durban , and up Camp. 321 
 
 testably a republic, and its leaders have not yet 
 made sufficient mistakes to give cause for any 
 change of government. On the other hand, the 
 Conservative party are so divided among them- 
 selves, that some time must elapse before their 
 internal differences can be healed, or softened down 
 into union.” This view he held firmly, and just 
 before he left England he remarked again to a 
 friend who spoke of his speedy return to France 
 as emperor, “No, I must have at least ten years 
 patience.” 
 
 At Durban the Prince purchased the horse 
 which on the fatal morning of the 1st of June 
 so signally failed him, and, humanly speaking, 
 was the cause of his death. As narrated, on 
 first reaching Durban the Prince joined the 
 Artillery corps at the camp there ; but being 
 slightly indisposed, he returned into the town, 
 and occupied a house belonging to the Union 
 Steam Navigation authorities. Here he awaited 
 Lord Chelmsford, who shortly afterwards arrived 
 with his staff, on his return from the Tugela river. 
 
 From Durban to the capital of Natal — Pieter 
 Maritzburg — is a distance of about sixty miles, 
 the greater portion of which is traversed by a 
 railroad, which was hastily made, to serve the pur- 
 poses of the late war. On his arrival at Pieter 
 Maritzburg — or Maritzburg, as for abbreviation the 
 town is called — the Prince was received by Sir 
 Henry Bulwer, and remained his guest until he 
 
 Y 
 
322 Life of the Prince Imperial of France . 
 
 reached the head-quarters of Lord Chelmsford. 
 The town is situated in a valley, and owes its name 
 to two famous Dutch farmers — Peter and Marious 
 — who have already been alluded to in the chapter 
 descriptive of Zululand, and who were both 
 treacherously murdered when on an errand of 
 peace, by King Dingaan, who then ruled the 
 Zulu nation. This town is about the same size 
 as Durban. Its transport labour, effected through 
 the means of huge bullock-waggons, and its Kaffir 
 Zulu population, are its special characteristics. It 
 has few public buildings, and those, such as 
 Government House and its churches, are not 
 remarkable for size or architecture. The native 
 police, dressed in white, are very prominent 
 objects ; and its black races, with their easy, 
 graceful, nonchalant movements are studies for 
 the pencil or the brush. The Kaffirs are never 
 known to hurry, but walk with a dignified step 
 and erect bearing, that denote their independence 
 of character. Work, or manual labour of any 
 kind, is simply looked on by the Kaffir tribes as 
 pertaining to a woman’s duties. True, they 
 accept hire, but only as long as the necessities of 
 existence compel them to do so. When once a 
 Kaffir has amassed a small independence, suffi- 
 cient probably to buy wives enough, he folds his 
 arms in idleness, and makes the latter support him 
 henceforth by their toil. A tract of land between 
 the sea-coast and the hills surrounding Maritzburg 
 
Durban , and up Camp. 323 
 
 is very fertile, and adapted for the growth of sugar, 
 the cultivation of which product first commenced 
 in 1849, and has extended every year until now it 
 is one of the chief exports of the country. Its 
 cultivation is carried on through the labour of 
 coolies, which system was introduced into the 
 colony by an enactment of the Legislature. The 
 growth of the sugar-cane imparts an agreeable 
 verdure to a countrv where much of the vegeta- 
 tion is otherwise dry and brown. The population 
 of Maritzburg is much about the same as that of 
 Durban, viz., about 5000, quite half of which is 
 Zulu. The Zulus who have left their own country 
 and have placed themselves under the protection 
 of the British Government are designated, as a 
 distinctive appellation from the other Zulu and 
 Kaffir tribes which inhabit South Africa, as “ Natal 
 Zulus.” In Maritzburg everything is done by 
 these Natal Zulus, who, albeit a proud race, are 
 sufficiently ambitious of independence to stoop to 
 service until such is secured. Whatever the Zulu 
 or Kaffir does he does gracefully, and is good- 
 humoured, honest, and truthful to a degree. If, 
 for instance, you give him your luggage to carry, 
 he shoulders it with ease, and walks off with erect 
 carriage, his head ornamented with some feather 
 trophy, which waves in the air in measure to his 
 steps. In his whole bearing and appearance he 
 contrasts favourably with men of a similar class 
 in life at home. 
 
 y 2 
 
324 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 When the Prince Imperial arrived at Maritz- 
 burg it was filled with several British and native 
 regiments, who had been massed together there 
 previously to being sent forward into action. 
 These were all reviewed by Lord Chelmsford, 
 who afterwards made arrangements to push for- 
 ward himself the next day, in order personally to 
 supervise matters nearer the frontier. 
 
 Unfortunately at this juncture the Prince Im- 
 perial, who entered into his new life with ardour, 
 and was ever anxious to be made an fait to every 
 fresh movement undertaken by the troops, was 
 seized with an attack of African fever. Lord 
 Chelmsford, uneasy on his behalf, sent for Dr. 
 Scott, one of the medical officers belonging to the 
 army, and attached him to the Prince’s person as 
 his medical attendant. This gentleman pronounced 
 that it would be unadvisable in the Prince’s then 
 state of health for him to proceed at once with the 
 staff, and much to the latter’s vexation, who chafed 
 at the delay, he was left behind for a few days. 
 He soon, however, recovered sufficiently to join 
 Lord Chelmsford at Utrecht, where he was again 
 seen galloping about with the staff on his white 
 charger, apparently as well and strong as any of 
 the party. The route to Utrecht lies through the 
 towns of Ladysmith and Harrysmith, both named 
 after the late governor and his wife, who were 
 very popular in the district. Ladysmith, from 
 the fact of its being in the centre almost of the 
 
Durban , and up Camp. 325 
 
 colony, is an important commercial town, and it is 
 from hence that the various roads lately made for 
 military purposes branch out in different directions 
 towards the frontier. The Prince, instead of 
 riding on horseback this route, was driven over 
 in the Governor’s carriage, his late indisposi- 
 tion causing it to be considered a less fatiguing 
 transit for him ; he assented, but expressed him- 
 self vexed that such precaution was required. At 
 Utrecht, when not engaged in his staff duties, the 
 Prince spent a great deal of his time in the hos- 
 pital, where he visited the different ambulances, 
 making himself acquainted with the men, their cir- 
 cumstances and wounds, &c. He talked sympa- 
 thetically to the sufferers, often assisting with his 
 own hands to raise them in bed, or perform other 
 such kindly offices. In one ambulance he met 
 with a Frenchman who had been wounded and 
 taken prisoner by the Zulus, but who had escaped. 
 He promised this man, when he was sufficiently 
 recovered, he would send him back to France at 
 his own expense. The Prince’s duties on staff 
 sometimes kept him hard at work within camp. 
 He was an excellent draughtsman, and this 
 coming to light from his having offered to alter a 
 sketch made by one of his companions, he was 
 afterwards constantly employed in reproducing on 
 an enlarged scale the rough drafts of the various 
 reconnoitring parties. This he did most skilfully. 
 He greatly preferred, however, saddle-work. 
 
326 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 From the camp at Utrecht — or rather, from an 
 adjoining height — the kraal of Oham, a brother of 
 Ketchw’nyo, who was taken prisoner by the 
 English, was discernible. For the benefit of such 
 of my readers as may not know the exact meaning 
 of “ kraal ” (albeit, to most persons since the war 
 it is a familiar word) I will describe it. “ Kraal ” 
 signifies a Zulu village, and is thus arranged : A 
 given place having been set aside for the abode of 
 some chief or headman, this is marked out and 
 surrounded by a thick wattle fence, twisted so firmly 
 together as to be impenetrable by wild animals and 
 cattle. This fence rises from seven to ten feet 
 high. Within it are placed a series of huts in the 
 form of enlarged beehives, one of which, being of 
 superior size, denotes the chiefs residence. Near 
 it, to the right and left, are his wives’ huts, which 
 in their number designate the chiefs power or 
 position. A Zulu who has less than four wives is 
 counted of small importance, but over that number 
 the more he can multiply his conjugal appendages, 
 the higher he is esteemed. The Zulu woman has 
 little or no individuality ; she is purchased by a bar- 
 gain made for her, paid in cattle, and is esteemed 
 of little higher value than the beasts which form 
 such exchange. Every chieftain’s wife has, how- 
 ever, her own hut near the headman’s. Lower 
 down are the huts of the inferior followers or subor- 
 dinates. Inside the circle of these beehive dwell- 
 ings is found another wattle fence, within w T hich en- 
 
Durban , and up Camp. 327 
 
 closure the cattle are driven and cared for. There 
 are at least twenty or more royal kraals in Zulu- 
 land, each containing many thousand warriors ; 
 hence the spaces occupied by many of these 
 kraals are of considerable extent and defence, 
 according to the position of their separate pro- 
 prietors. 
 
 The Zulu women are very domesticated, and, 
 as with the most uncivilized nations, perform the 
 hardest portion of the agricultural labour of the 
 country. They are, however, remarkable for their 
 chastity, any infringement of which law is punished 
 with Spartan discipline. A chieftain’s wealth con- 
 sists in his cattle and his daughters, the latter, if 
 at all good looking, being worth individually about 
 eight or ten oxen. The young girls, if not pre- 
 viously disposed of by the king as wives to his 
 elder warriors, are sold by their father to the 
 highest bidder. It was this latter tyranny, 
 from which the Zulu woman has no appeal, that 
 caused the remonstrance which Ketchwhyo re- 
 sented, and partly occasioned our campaign in 
 Africa. 
 
 The British troops in Natal, under their 
 separate leaders, were stationed at the various 
 camps near the frontier, the names of which are 
 familiar to those who have followed the late war 
 news : Dundee, Landsman’s Drift, Conference 
 Hill, &c. Conference Hill is named from the 
 spot having been selected by the representatives 
 
328 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 of the Colonial Government to meet those of 
 Ketchwhyo, to discuss, some months previously to 
 the war, certain boundary questions. 
 
 This camp is within a ride of Utrecht. Shortly 
 after the Prince’s arrival here, accompanied by 
 Colonel Harrison, Colonel Buller, and Lieut. Carey, 
 he rode over to the camp, from which these three 
 officers made a reconnaissance extending over 
 thirty-five miles into Zululand. This was the 
 Prince’s first official military expedition of the 
 kind, and he entered into the enterprise with 
 enthusiastic delight. The little party met, 
 however, with no special adventure, and returned 
 the same day to the camp. The excitement of 
 the ride, in which at any moment the Zulus might 
 have surprised them, although probably it would 
 have been in small numbers had they done so, 
 whetted the Prince’s appetite for further such 
 expeditions, and learning that Colonel Harrison 
 was about to return to the same place to make 
 further observations, he expressed his wish to 
 accompany him. The granting this request did 
 not lie in Colonel Harrison’s power; his instruc- 
 tions from the General having been, in reference 
 to the Prince’s presence, only applicable to the 
 previous reconnaisance, and he explained this 
 state of things to him. 
 
 “ I understand,” replied the Prince ; “ but sup- 
 posing I produce a second order, you will not 
 object to my going with you — will you ? ” Colonel 
 
Durban, and up Camp. 329 
 
 Harrison replied, “ Far from it, he should esteem 
 the Prince’s company an honour.” 
 
 In a moment the Prince, who had already had 
 a good day’s work, vaulted into his saddle, and 
 galloped off in the direction of Utrecht. On the 
 road he met General Wood, who was bound to- 
 wards Utrecht to see Lord Chelmsford on business. 
 
 “ Will you do me a favour,” asked the Prince, 
 “ viz., get leave from the General for me to accom- 
 pany Colonel Harrison to-morrow ? and I will wait 
 here at Baldi Spruit for your return to-night.” 
 
 The required authority was given by Lord 
 Chelmsford, and the same little party, with the 
 addition of a handful of soldiers, started the next 
 day. If the account of this expedition, as given 
 by M. Paul Deleage in his work, “ Trois Mois 
 chez les Zulus ” be true (and he followed the 
 Prince’s movements in Africa very closely, in his 
 capacity of correspondent of Le Figaro ), it is a 
 wonder either one or other of that little company 
 returned alive. 
 
 How those who were in a measure responsible 
 for the Prince’s safety, could have sanctioned his 
 joining such expeditions is a marvel : the more so 
 as the Duke of Cambridge’s letter had warned the 
 authorities of the rash bravery of his natural cha- 
 racter. Colonel Harrison and his party returned 
 from this second trip into the interior safely, nor 
 was the danger they had incurred at that time, 
 made a subject of public discussion. Would that 
 
330 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 it had been so, as probably it would have put an 
 end to like risky expeditions, at least as far as the 
 Prince’s person was concerned. M. Deleage states 
 that Lieut. Carey himself related to him (in eulogy 
 of the Prince’s hardihood and bravery) that that 
 afternoon, while they were out, a party of about 
 thirty Zulus, who were perched on a hill above, 
 fired several times at them ; but not hitting them, 
 they shortly disappeared. 
 
 Notwithstanding this confirmation of the near 
 neighbourhood of the enemy, they continued their 
 ride, but there being little or no twilight in Zulu- 
 land, were surprised by night suddenly overtaking 
 them. The country they were traversing was full 
 of “ dongas,” or deep holes, and lay through high 
 mountain passes, and to advance or return on 
 their road in the dark was equally dangerous ; the 
 only alternative therefore, was to spend the night 
 where they were, and to take their chance of any 
 attack that the Zulus might make upon them. 
 Considering that the small numbers of their party 
 was known, and that they had been already a sub- 
 ject of attempted fire by the enemy, such an attack 
 must have been almost expected. Dismounting, 
 the party fastened the horses together in a circle 
 around them as a wall of defence, and then, with- 
 out any bed but the bare, damp ground, or any 
 covering whatever, they lay down within the en- 
 closure, pressing close to each other for warmth, 
 and thus spent the night. Happily no attack was 
 
Durban , and up Camp. 331 
 
 made on them, and next morning they rose early, 
 and galloped on to the hill where the afternoon 
 previously they had seen the enemy. On its 
 height was a kraal, which the Prince was the first 
 to enter. Just then one of the party called out 
 that he saw a body of Zulus, sixty to seventy 
 strong, on some rocks near, and who prepared to 
 bar their further passage in that direction. The 
 small force, with Colonel Harrison and the Prince, 
 who entered with spirit into the business, attacked 
 the enemy, the Prince being the first to draw his 
 sword against the Zulus, who were eventually dis- 
 lodged from their position. So much courage did 
 he exhibit on this occasion, that then and there 
 the kraal was named “ Kraal Napoleon,” and re- 
 mains so designated in the military map of the 
 country. On his return to Conference Hill the 
 Prince recounted this adventure with great anima- 
 tion, but said little about himself or his share in the 
 skirmish. He, however, expressed himself as in his 
 element amid such exciting scenes, adding these, 
 alas ! prophetic words : — 
 
 “ Such skirmishes suit my taste exactly ; never- 
 theless I should be ati ddsespoir did I think I 
 should be killed in one!! In a great battle, if 
 Providence so willed it, all well and good ; but in 
 a petty reconnaissance of this kind — ah ! that 
 would never do.'’ 
 
 This last expedition occupied several days, after 
 which the Prince returned to Utrecht, where he 
 
332 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 remained some time, being employed in various 
 military drawings at head-quarters. 
 
 It was about this date that an expedition was 
 set on foot to visit the scene of the terrible 
 disaster at Isandhlwana. A number of baggage 
 waggons had been deserted at this place by 
 the enemy ; there was likewise a strong feeling 
 with the army, that those who had fallen in that 
 sad fight should, however tardy, have decent 
 burial. The expedition was for many reasons a 
 very melancholy and distressing one, the late camp 
 presenting a terrible spectacle. The ground was 
 covered with the skeletons, English and savages 
 alike, intermixed with those of horses, beasts of 
 burthen, &c., all lyin <g pcle-mcle, just as they had 
 fallen four months previously. Overall this terrible 
 scene the calm which the solitude of nature throws 
 over a place, had predominated for four long 
 months ! In and around the waggons the corn was 
 growing luxuriously. It had sprouted from the 
 seed which had fallen from the vehicles, fertilized 
 by the blood of the brave men whose skeletons 
 were strewn around. In many places it was so 
 high it served as a pall to cover them. In one 
 spot fifty of the 24th Regiment lay together. 
 They had formed, evidently, in a rallying square, 
 and so fallen. Colonel Durnford’s body was dis- 
 covered in the centre of a knot of brave fellows 
 who had fought it out with him to the death. The 
 Prince wished to accompany this expedition, but 
 
Durban , and up Camp. 
 
 was prevented by duties in camp. Sad as the 
 task was, it was successfully performed. The 
 dead were buried, very many of them being recog- 
 nized by their trinkets. Strange to say, the Zulus 
 will not touch anything in the shape of jewellery 
 worn on the person. These they look upon in 
 the light of “ fetiche,” or charms, and hold sacred. 
 Hence rings, medals, chains, &c., remained on the 
 poor sun-dried skeletons, and were the means of 
 their identification. Mems., pocket-books, photo- 
 graphs, letters, &c., were also found upon the 
 ground, and were sent across the water home to 
 mourning friends — touching mementos of that sad 
 day’s fight. Forty transport waggons were on this 
 occasion recovered. 
 
 In a reconnaissance made a little later, the pas- 
 sage at the foot of a hill known as Koppie Allein 
 was discovered, which proved the key to the route 
 taken later by the British troops on their march 
 to Ulundi. The difficulty of tracking any roads 
 through this part of the country is great ; at every 
 foot and turn hills rise so similar in form and 
 colouring that they are almost undistinguishable as 
 way marks ; again, hidden from sight under the tall 
 grass are deep holes, made by a species of large 
 ant, indigenous to the soil, into which man and 
 beast alike are often precipitated, at the risk of 
 life or limb. The valleys are intercepted by large 
 and deep “ dongas.” It was in one of these ravines 
 that the poor Prince was attacked and killed. 
 
334 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 The second division of the troops, under 
 General Newdegate, had been stationed at Lands- 
 man’s Drift, a camp near the Buffalo River. 
 
 On the 29th of March, Lord Chelmsford and 
 his staff, including the Prince, arrived here without 
 previous notice, and the latter shared the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief’s tent, the remainder of the staff 
 finding quarters near. The next morning universal 
 excitement prevailed in the camp. Lord Chelms- 
 ford had determined to head a reconnaissance in 
 person, in order to explore the borders of the 
 Blood River in the vicinity of the hill called Koppie 
 Allein, and he started early with a good escort. 
 
 The Prince Imperial led another party, follow- 
 ing the windings of the river in a southerly direc- 
 tion ; the latter’s escort consisted of ten Carbineers. 
 A regiment of Dragoons had already been sent 
 forward in the direction of Koppie Allein. 
 
 The Prince’s party were absent some hours, 
 during which time, note book in hand, he made 
 several sketches of the surrounding hills, which 
 gained him much praise on his return to the camp. 
 
 When not engaged in his military duties, the 
 Prince was the life of whatever circle he found 
 himself in, and often in moments of relaxation 
 loved to measure his strength and skill in gym- 
 nastic exploits with his companions in arms. 
 Apart from the solitude and sorrowful remem- 
 brances of Chislehurst, he seemed to be endowed 
 with fresh youth and spirits, and would hum little 
 
Durban , and up Camp. 335 
 
 French songs with true gaietS de coeur. One of 
 these, a favourite with him, “ Gi'dces aux Dames,” 
 he sang with spirit and effect. He cut sticks in the 
 form of assegais, and challenged skill in throwing 
 them in the native fashion. Again, he would throw 
 potatoes high in the air, and sever them with his 
 sword before they reached the ground, whilst 
 in many other such impromptu trials of skill he 
 showed himself an adept. 
 
 “ ‘ The dear boy ’ is what we called him in camp,” 
 said an Irish officer, when speaking of him. “ He 
 was a favourite with the whole army.” 
 
 On one occasion, in his transit from one camp 
 to another, a special tent, embracing somewhat 
 extra luxuries, was assigned him. The Prince 
 refused to occupy it. 
 
 “It is not because I happen to be born a 
 Prince,” he said “ that I deserve to be better 
 lodged than my fellow-soldiers and he selected 
 one that barely protected him from the elements, 
 remarking, “It was all he needed.” The next 
 day some of the soldiers raised a miniature fort on 
 the spot, and named it “ Fort Napoleon.” 
 
 An officer, in writing home from Zululand after 
 the Prince’s death, gave the following account of a 
 grand reconnaissance in which the latter took part. 
 The escort force on that occasion numbered sixty 
 of the Frontier Light Horse, under Lieutenant 
 Carey, forty Basutos, and eighty of Baker’s 
 Horse, under the direct command of Colonel 
 
336 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Buller, who was accompanied by Lord W. 
 Beresford, A.D.C. 
 
 They first proceeded to a farmer’s house, five 
 miles off, where they bivouacked in some mealie 
 fields, and then returned, and slept at the farm. 
 Next morning the party took a southerly course, 
 and crossed the Blood River, and rode on to a 
 hill four miles distant, from which they could see 
 Rorke’s Drift. Here they off-saddled, at a kraal in 
 which the Zulus had slept the previous night, and 
 from whence they had gone to Sirago Hill, oppo- 
 site, where they had called a gathering of their 
 clan. This was done by a crier on horseback giving 
 notice to all the neighbouring kraals to collect in 
 one spot. The answer to this appeal caused a 
 considerable number to assemble. Opposed to 
 them were Colonel Buller's Irregular Horse; and 
 opinions differed whether the blacks would engage 
 in a fight or not ; but they disappeared behind the 
 
 hill. Lieutenant B , one of the party, then 
 
 went ahead with six Basutos, and when he reached 
 the summit of the hill he saw nothing of the blacks. 
 
 The Prince, who had accompanied him, after 
 galloping about here and there, however spied a 
 Zulu at last on a distant koppie, and made after 
 him. He arrived in time to see a few scared 
 Zulus only, making off in the distance as fast as 
 they could across country. The reconnoitring 
 party followed their track, and found several 
 deserted kraals, at one of which they put up for 
 
Durban, and up Camp. 337 
 
 the night. It was very cold, and for those who 
 had no blankets there was little hope of sleep. 
 The Prince was one of these unfortunate ones, 
 and walked up and down disconsolately for 
 warmth. 
 
 On the 29th of May a fresh expedition was set 
 on foot, which Lord Chelmsford and almost all his 
 staff joined. They were escorted by a large body 
 of Dragoons. The Prince was of the party, as was 
 also the correspondent of the Figaro , M. Deldage, 
 who had obtained special leave to join. During 
 that morning’s ride, in conversation with the latter, 
 the Prince, seizing a moment when they were 
 alone, lowered his voice as he asked him, — 
 
 “ Did you ever hear that English saying, viz., 
 that ‘one Englishman is worth five Frenchmen ?’ 
 I heard it quoted this morning,” he continued, 
 “ while I was inside my tent. I hope nothing 
 personal was meant.” 
 
 M. Deleage replied he had not heard any such 
 remark, and in compliment added that in the 
 Prince’s presence the English could have no pos- 
 sible cause to make such a boast. 
 
 “Well,” returned the Prince, “I did hear it 
 assuredly, and it made my blood boil ; but it is not 
 worth troubling about, and can only affect those 
 whom the cap fits.” 
 
 The shade of annoyance this little incident 
 caused soon, however, passed, and the Prince was 
 as gay as ever again. Most unpremeditatingly, in 
 
 z 
 
338 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 his own person did he vindicate, however, this 
 reproach on his countrymen, by selling his life 
 dearly, his face to the foe, while five Englishmen 
 fled at the enemy’s approach, leaving him alone 
 and unaided. Let us hope the French nation may 
 never again have thus to reverse the adage ! 
 
 It was during this expedition that Lord Chelms- 
 ford, who during the trip studied the country 
 around him very accurately, determined the posi- 
 tion for the encampment of his troops a few days 
 later, on a broad stretch of table-land, connecting 
 Mount Itelizi and the northern boundary of Mount 
 Inegutu. A body of officers also then explored 
 for the first time the valley of Ityolyozi, a spot 
 that will henceforth be ever associated with a sad 
 memory. It was here that the Prince Imperial, a 
 few days later, met his death. 
 
 On the heights above the valley the exploring 
 party came across Lieutenant Carey, who, with 
 another officer and an escort of eighty Dragoons, 
 had penetrated over the hills to a distance of sixty 
 miles beyond Koppie Allein, which was on this 
 occasion reconnoitred by one party or the other. 
 
 Colonel Evelyn Wood’s camp was situated 
 fourteen miles beyond Koppie Allein, on a spot 
 called Munhla Hill, which overlooked important 
 heights beyond. This General commanded 
 several native Kaffir battalions, among others 
 those who surrendered in the suite of Oham, 
 Ketchwhyo's brother. These Kaffirs Colonel 
 
Durban , and up Camp. 
 
 339 
 
 Wood allowed to pitch their tents Kaffir-fashion, 
 side by side with those of the British troops. 
 Colonel Evelyn Wood had been two years in the 
 colony, during which time he had made himself 
 well acquainted with the country, as well as with 
 the habits and customs of the Zulu nation. 
 Associated with him were Colonel Harrison and 
 Colonel Buller. The latter had perhaps traversed 
 more of Zululand than any other officer. From 
 these gentlemen’s knowledge of the country, the 
 Commander-in-Chief confided to them generally 
 the organization of the various reconnoitring parties 
 into the interior. 
 
 Previous to the advance into Zululand, Lieu- 
 tenant Carey had been attached to the head- 
 quarters’ staff in the acting appointment of 
 Deputy - Assistant - Quartermaster - General, his 
 scientific knowledge rendering him very eligible 
 for such a post, he having passed the Staff 
 College. 
 
 On Saturday, the 31st May, the first division 
 of Colonel Newdegate’s column took up their 
 position on the other side of the Blood River, 
 half a mile distant from Koppie Allein ; and on 
 the 1 6th June, 1879, the remainder of the column 
 passed over, and camped on the side of the Itelezi 
 Hill at ten a.m. 
 
 The Prince Imperial, in company with Lieu- 
 tenant Carey, of the 98th Regiment, had preceded 
 this body of the army at eight a.m. As he was 
 
 z 2 
 
340 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 leaving the camp, the Prince begged a sheet of 
 writing paper from some one near him, saying 
 “ he had just heard that Mr. Forbes, the corre- 
 spondent of the Daily News , was about to return 
 to Landsman’s Drift, and he wished to send a few 
 lines by him to the Empress. This letter was 
 dated the ist June, 1879, and was the last he ever 
 penned. It commenced thus : — 
 
 “ I will not pass the frontier without letting you 
 have news of me,” &c. 
 
 Alas ! he never recrossed it again ! 
 
34i 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 “ What recks it where the casket lies 
 When the gem it shrined hath gone ? 
 
 Who bids the funeral pile arise 
 When the deathless soul has flown ? 
 
 And yet may honours duly paid, 
 
 Truth’s tears, appease a warrior’s shade — 
 
 For a martyr’s death atone. 
 
 Fallen chief ! this offering half divine, 
 
 The incense of the heart, is thine.” 
 
 I have now brought this narrative up to the date 
 of the fatal day, which, in the annals of the Zulu 
 war, will ever bear the black mark of a national 
 disaster. The sad event, which there struck 
 down the hope of a great nation, had annexed to 
 it the humiliating fact that the Prince was left 
 alone and unsupported in his death-struggle, his 
 own party deserting him on the first alarm of 
 Zulu proximity, without one attempt to rally for 
 his rescue. The circumstances of the catastrophe 
 were at first surrounded by such contradictory 
 statements, that the truth seemed difficult to 
 
34 2 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 unravel, but they appear to have been as 
 follows : — 
 
 On the 25th May the head-quarters were 
 established at Landsman’s Drift, and the Prince, 
 ever eager for work, applied for employment, 
 when he was directed to prepare a plan of a 
 divisional camp. That evening Lord Chelmsford 
 spoke to Colonel Harrison as to the Prince having 
 gone outside the lines without a proper escort. 
 Colonel Harrison replied that the work the Prince 
 had engaged in referred to the camp inside the 
 outpost lines. The General then gave a fresh 
 order, that the Prince was not to engage in work 
 which took him at a distance from the camp, 
 unless he had a strong escort. Colonel Harrison 
 then said he would report the General’s orders to 
 the Prince. 
 
 That same day Colonel Harrison saw the Prince, 
 and told him of the General’s orders, and, to make 
 sure, gave him his instructions in writing. Colonel 
 Harrison also asked the Prince to make a map of 
 the country from a reconnaissance sketch of Lieu- 
 tenant Carey’s, which the Prince executed well. 
 
 On the 28th May the head-quarters were moved 
 to Koppie Allein ; and during the next three days’ 
 reconnaissances were pushed into the enemy’s 
 country, but no Zulus were seen. Early on the 
 1 st of June, Lord Chelmsford, before leaving the 
 camp at Koppie Allein, missing the Prince from his 
 post at his side, inquired, “ What has become of 
 
Death. 
 
 343 
 
 him ? ” The reply was, that he had gone on slightly 
 in advance of the column with Colonel Harrison. 
 The duties of Colonel Harrison that day, in con- 
 nexion with General Newdegate’s, were the super- 
 vision of the transport of troops, &c. ; and, knowing 
 therefore that the former officers could not be far 
 ahead, the Commander-in-Chief was satisfied as to 
 the Prince’s safety, and said no more on the subject. 
 
 It appeared that the Prince had heard that 
 morning early that another reconnaisance was 
 contemplated ; and having been debarred from 
 joining the last, owing to his duties in camp, he 
 begged to be set free from desk-work, and volun- 
 teered to conduct the party. Colonel Harrison, 
 seeing that the Prince was bent on doing this, 
 yielded to his solicitations, and an expedition was 
 planned, which, had it kept within its original 
 limits, involved no risk, inasmuch as the column 
 was about to follow in the track, and the Prince’s 
 object was to go ahead and find a suitable place 
 for their encampment. While the scheme was 
 under discussion, Lieutenant Carey happened to 
 come in, and asked leave to accompany the Prince, 
 but said that he was rather inclined to extend the 
 ride, as he wished to finish some sketches of a 
 part of the country near the valley of Ityolyozi, 
 which two days before he had left uncompleted. 
 On hearing this, the Prince, who was ever ready 
 to be in advance, especially if such advance led 
 on the road to adventure, willingly assented to push 
 
344 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 the reconnaissance in the direction of Ityolyozi, 
 a distance of eleven miles beyond the boundary 
 of the first proposed reconnaissance. Colonel 
 Harrison’s faith in Lieutenant Carey’s know- 
 ledge of the country was so great that he doubted 
 not that the Prince would be safe under his sur- 
 veillance. The question was thus settled. 
 
 The Prince was to be nominally the commander of 
 the sortie, and Lieutenant Carey virtually its guide, 
 and the Prince’s adviser and abettor ; but had the 
 latter not been of the party, the prolonged recon- 
 naissance would never have been sanctioned. 
 
 The only further question that remained to be 
 decided was what escort should accompany them. 
 According to military rule, it was the Cavalry 
 Brigade Major’s duty to detail the escort, unless 
 special orders were given otherwise. This gene- 
 rally, for a small sortie of the kind, consisted of 
 six men of Bettingham’s Horse, and six men of 
 Shepstone’s Mounted Basutos. 
 
 When Lieutenant Carey, however, applied to 
 the Brigade Major, he offered him either the usual 
 escort, or to hand him a service order, and let him 
 secure his own troops from the respective com- 
 manding officers themselves. Lieutenant Carey 
 selected the latter course ; and, as time was an 
 object, he obtained six white men from Betting- 
 ham’s corps, and sent one of them to Shepstone’s 
 force for the Basutos. 
 
 Meantime, the Prince and Lieutenant Carey, as 
 
Death. 
 
 345 
 
 soon as their messenger returned, rode leisurely 
 along with their six troopers and a black Kaffir 
 guide, who had been enlisted in their service, leav- 
 ing word that the Basutos were to follow at once, 
 and join them on the mountain ridge near Itelizi. 
 
 On arriving here the party waited for an hour, 
 expecting the Basutos every minute to come up. 
 
 The views from this ridge are very picturesque, 
 the ground undulating all around, and the hills ex- 
 panding into mountain ranges which stand out in 
 bold relief, and in grandeur of form and colouring. 
 Sharp descents into the various valleys below, lead 
 to depths of wondrous beauty, only to rise again 
 on the other side into an extensive panorama of 
 hill and dale. 
 
 When the hour had passed, and no Basutos ap- 
 peared, the Prince’s impetuosity could brook no 
 further delay, and he expressed his determination 
 to proceed without them. Lieutenant Carey at first 
 showed reluctance ; but, in excusing himself later 
 for yielding, said he considered that the Prince 
 was the captain of the party, and did not like to 
 oppose his wishes, especially as, two days before, 
 he had been reconnoitering in that direction, and 
 had seen no Zulus. He should, however, have 
 borne in mind that he had then a large force of 
 Dragoons with him, whose presence would have 
 scared away any of the enemy lurking about. 
 
 On the ridge the party met Colonel Harrison, 
 who does not seem to have used any remonstrances, 
 
346 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 either to induce them to return, or to wait for the 
 Basutos. 
 
 These latter, it appears, were not even en roiite 
 to join them, for the message left with them was 
 not sufficiently definite, as to what course they 
 were to take, and the Brigade Major could not en- 
 lighten them, hence they did not follow at all. 
 After another hour and a half s riding, the Prince’s 
 cavalcade, reduced to nine persons, viz., himself, 
 Lieutenant Carey, six troopers, and the Kaffir 
 guide, arrived upon the heights above the 
 valley of Ityolyozi, the precise spot where 
 Lieutenant Carey’s sketches were to be corrected, 
 and which exhibited the same features of soft 
 undulating beauty as the previous heights where 
 they had rested en route. 
 
 H ere the Prince also produced his note-book, 
 and used his pencil freely. Their drawings 
 finished, the Prince led the way down into the 
 valley below, following the windings of the river, 
 until he arrived at a kraal at the foot of the hill. 
 This kraal had evidently only lately been vacated, 
 for, on entering the huts, which were five in number, 
 there was a strong smell of smoke, and two or 
 three dogs were running about. 
 
 These warnings, with the adage that “ Prudence 
 is the better part of valour,” were disregarded, and, 
 with inconceivable rashness, the Prince, after 
 peering into the huts, gave the order to “ off 
 saddle,” whilst no one seems to have gainsayed 
 
Death. 
 
 347 
 
 him, or remonstrated at the want of due precaution 
 such a step involved. 
 
 The kraal was surrounded on three sides by high 
 tambookie grass, and standing crops of corn and 
 mealies, the front being left open for a width of say 
 twenty yards or so. Here the party then lay down 
 while their attendants prepared coffee, and the 
 horses were turned into the grass for a meal also. 
 
 At3’45 p.m., after a good hour’s rest, Lieutenant 
 Carey suggested it was time to return. The 
 Prince, who was engaged in sketching, decided to 
 remain, however, ten minutes longer ; but, in a 
 few minutes, put away his pencil, and gave the 
 order to saddle the horses. 
 
 When the Kaffir who fetched the horses re- 
 turned, he said “ he had just seen a Zulu on the hill 
 opposite.” At that moment the Prince, who was 
 standing at his horse’s head, gave the final order, 
 
 “ Prepare to mount. Mount ! ” 
 
 The words were hardly out of his mouth, and 
 before the order could be carried out, a volley 
 rang through the clear air, and resounded among 
 the adjoining hills, and a cry of “ The Zulus ” was 
 heard ; while at the same moment the heads of the 
 blacks were seen emerging from the long grass a 
 few yards off, they having crept thus far within 
 range of fire unobserved. 
 
 Coming on with a wild cry, the Zulus fired 
 again, and hit a trooper, who fell dead under their 
 volley, another trooper, Letocq, falling soon after. 
 
348 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 At the first sight of the Zulus, without waiting 
 to discover whether their numbers were many or 
 few, there was a general “ Sauve qui peut,” and 
 the small party which had accompanied the Prince, 
 putting spurs to their horses, galloped off as fast 
 as they could, not drawing rein till they had 
 distanced the enemy ; nor do they appear for 
 some time to have even looked back, in order to 
 see if all their numbers were in safety. 
 
 At the moment when the volley was fired 
 the Prince was in the act of putting his foot 
 into the stirrup ; but his horse, startled at the 
 noise, bolted, before he, agile horseman though 
 he was, could succeed in mounting him. With 
 his usual agility, however, he ran after his 
 horse, and succeeded in catching hold at last of 
 the pommel of the saddle. Alas ! the leather 
 gave way, and it tore off in his grasp. 
 
 At that moment, poor youth, he must have 
 realized his danger indeed, for far, far ahead of 
 him were his companions, in rapid flight ; whilst a 
 few yards behind, in full hue, with their hideous, 
 savage cries, and with their assegais brandished 
 in the air, were his enemies, who were gaining fast 
 upon him. He continued running, however, until 
 he reached the donga, some considerable distance 
 from the kraal, and here, into the midst of its 
 deep, damp ground, the Prince plunged, and 
 there seems to have stood at bay and faced his 
 enemies, first emptying his revolver, which was 
 
Death. 
 
 349 
 
 found near, unloaded, and afterwards, in closer 
 combat, with his sword. 
 
 No British eye witnessed that mortal fight to 
 record its full details ; an after-examination of 
 the ground proved, however, that the Prince 
 must have made a desperate struggle for his 
 life, for the few accoutrements which were found 
 near the spot told this tale, testifying how his 
 blood had flowed. No need to dwell on this 
 dark side of the picture. In the heat of action 
 blood may flow even unheeded, and without 
 suffering ; and the calm, placid expression of his 
 face, when found, betokened anything but agony. 
 
 We love rather to hope, then, that valour con- 
 quered fear, and that, in the excitement of the 
 struggle, he met with an instantaneous and pain- 
 less death. 
 
 The evidence of one of the troopers at the 
 court martial, held afterwards, was that, “ as 
 soon as he had himself arrived at the donga, 
 he looked back, and saw the Prince running a 
 few yards in advance of about nine Zulus, who 
 were about five yards behind him. Seeing this, 
 he levelled his carbine, with the intent to fire 
 on the enemy ; but, at that moment, his horse 
 plunged into the donga, and threw him forward 
 on his neck. He says that, when he recovered 
 his position, the Prince’s horse was just in the 
 act of passing him, and he caught its bridle, and 
 took it with him into camp, as at that moment 
 
350 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 Lieutenant Carey called out to the party to 
 make for Wood’s Camp.” 
 
 He also stated that, as soon as he had crossed 
 the donga he once more looked back, and saw 
 the Prince still running ahead of the Zulus by 
 three or four yards, and that he called out to tell 
 his companions so ; but no orders were given to 
 rally. The Zulus were, he says, armed with guns 
 and assegais. 
 
 Meantime, as soon as the retreating party reached 
 the camp they reported their attack by the enemy, 
 and when asked anxiously by those at head-quarters 
 “ what had become of the Prince,” replied that no 
 doubt he had been killed ; that in fact it was a 
 certainty, as he could not have escaped — news 
 which carried dismay and grief into every heart. 
 
 Then indeed came the too tardy recognition 
 of the unwise course adopted, in having allowed 
 him, or indeed any of the force, to proceed so far 
 without a proper escort. 
 
 It was then suggested by one of the Prince’s 
 personal attendants, and seconded warmly by M. 
 Deleage, the Paris newspaper correspondent, that 
 no time should be lost in sending out a strong body 
 of troops, to recover the body if possible ; as, 
 they added, the Prince might possibly be lying 
 wounded only, and anxiously looking for help. 
 This idea did not find immediate response ; night 
 was fast falling over the hill, and the authorities, 
 convinced that it was impossible that the Prince 
 
Death. 
 
 351 
 
 could have escaped from the hands of the Zulus 
 with his life, determined to defer the search for 
 his body until the next morning. His attendants 
 expostulated, but could not alter their decision. At 
 seven a.m., on June 2nd, a regiment of cavalry, 
 under the command of General Marshall, with a 
 large corps of volunteers, Lieutenant Carey, and the 
 two troopers who had accompanied the Prince the 
 day before, with the Prince’s servant Lomas, set 
 forth on their sad errand, all on horseback. 
 
 On arriving at the valley of Ityolyozi, and 
 reaching the kraal where the party had rested the 
 previous day, an old Zulu woman came out of 
 one of the huts, showing that it had been inha- 
 bited by the enemv during the night. 
 
 The grass behind the kraal was so high that the 
 horses were almost hidden in it as they advanced. 
 
 As the searching party neared the donga, one of 
 the horses in advance, just after he had descended 
 the sides of the donga, suddenly stopped of his 
 own accord, and his rider discovered, in the 
 bushes, the corpse of one of the troopers who had 
 been shot in the attack. The body had been 
 horribly mutilated ; its stalwart size told at a 
 glance, however, that it was not the Prince’s. 
 
 Two hundred yards further off, at most, a cry 
 was raised that a second corpse was lying in the 
 donga ; and on riding up, it was at once recog- 
 nized as that of the Prince. He was lying on 
 his back, his arms crossed over his chest, and the 
 
352 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 head slightly inclined to the right. The Zulus 
 had stripped the body, but had spared it most of 
 the horrible humiliations usually inflicted by them 
 on their enemies. 
 
 The Prince’s countenance showed no trace of 
 suffering, but retained its usual sweet expression ; 
 one eye was wide open, and lifted heavenwards ; 
 the other had been pierced by an assegai. On 
 examining the body no less than seventeen assegai 
 wounds were discovered, but all in front ; not a 
 wound was found behind — showing how nobly the 
 brave young Prince had faced his foes. 
 
 Truly, no one could affirm the fear, his child’s 
 voice had expressed when operated upon in 1 866, 
 “ that he had run away from his enemies.” 
 
 The principal wounds were in his arms ; and 
 here again their number proved how long he must 
 have defended himself with his sword, before his 
 enemies could strike at any vital point. 
 
 Around his neck was a locket, also a small 
 fancy seal he always wore attached to it, which the 
 Emperor Napoleon I. had brought from Egypt. 
 
 The news that the Prince’s body had been found, 
 soon brought the entire scouting party to the spot ! 
 Their numbers had been augmented by Colonel 
 Buller with another body of volunteers, all eager to 
 render such aid as they could in the search. 
 
 Curious indeed was the scene witnessed that 
 morning on those far off heights in that distant land. 
 Picture it for a moment, my readers, if you can ! 
 
Death. 
 
 'j r o 
 
 35 J 
 
 A range of hills, over which the early morning 
 light is breaking, with soft, mingled hues of prim- 
 rose, pale green, and rosy tints, which, in the dis- 
 tance, deepen into darker shades of purple and 
 amethyst. The slopes into the valley are covered 
 with horsemen in scarlet uniform, who ride hither 
 and thither with earnest glances and bated breath. 
 On a sudden there is a shout ! was it triumph 
 or dismay ? All rally in one direction, and the 
 banks of the donga are soon alive with soldiers 
 and horse. These quickly gather around — what t 
 the extended corpse of a youth, the near descen- 
 dant of that man whose warlike deeds, when first 
 narrated to the young Zulu chief, Chaka, first 
 aroused his martial ardour to emulate the con- 
 quests of Napoleon I. 
 
 Alas! it is the heir of that Napoleon’s dynasty 
 who now lies in their midst, slain by the savage fury 
 of a portion of the Zulu tribe whom white men first 
 instructed in the finer arts of war, and over whom 
 grey-haired veterans and hardy soldiers shed scald- 
 ing tears. Some of their number indeed bend low 
 over the body, and reverently kiss the Prince’s 
 pale and placid face. The corpse was easily re- 
 cognized before even his friends drew near it. 
 The slight, lithe form could belong to none other. 
 Carefully the body was wrapped in blankets, and 
 placed on a bier formed of lances, the highest 
 officers in rank who were present acting as 
 bearers ; thus it was slowly carried up the heights, 
 
354 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 and along the route to where an ambulance had 
 been ordered to be in attendance, about a mile 
 in advance. To this it was carefully transferred. 
 The Lancers, Dragoons, and Volunteer forces 
 followed it as escort. 
 
 The journey to the camp occupied three full 
 hours ; once there, the body was deposited in one 
 of the tents. 
 
 That same afternoon a funeral parade was 
 held outside the camp, attended by all the 
 troops. The bier, covered with a tricoloured 
 flag, was put on a gun-carriage, and slowly con- 
 veyed down the line of troops until it arrived 
 at a spot where the 17th Lancers were formed. 
 In front of that corps, the funeral service was 
 then read by the Rev. G. Belfort, Roman Catholic 
 Chaplain to the Forces, the Protestant clergyman 
 also being present. 
 
 The Prince’s remains were at night put into 
 a shell, hastily formed from some tin-lined packing 
 boxes, the only available materials at hand. 
 
 The next day orders arrived that the body 
 should be sent to the capital. 
 
 When the Prince’s remains left the camp, a 
 detachment of Lancers accompanied it as far as 
 Koppei Allein, and from thence an escort of 
 Carbineers to Landsman’s Drift. Here it remained 
 for the night, after which it had to traverse the 
 Buffalo River. The next stage was Dundee, 
 where, after a halt of some hours, the funeral train 
 
Death. 
 
 355 
 
 proceeded to Ladysmith. Here the inhabitants 
 assembled round the coffin, and, bringing out the 
 church harmonium, sang hymns and dirges, and at 
 every fresh halting-place en route the same in- 
 terest and religious ceremonials awaited it. 
 
 The Governor went out two miles in advance 
 of the road by which the Prince’s remains were 
 brought into the town, accompanied by a proces- 
 sion, formed by all the civil and military authori- 
 ties of the capital in full dress uniform. He had 
 previously caused a cannon to be sent forward, 
 on which the coffin was placed, and thus it was 
 escorted into the town. Here certain forms 
 of identification had to be gone through ; these 
 were signed by the Governor, Uhlman his body 
 servant, and M. Deleage, the French correspon- 
 dent. One of these documents was placed in the 
 coffin, one was sent by the French Consul to 
 Paris, and one was placed in the archives of the 
 colony. 
 
 The body was also re-embalmed at Maritzburg. 
 Within the Prince’s coffin was placed the little 
 crucifix found on his neck, which had been a 
 present from the Pope, with a photograph of the 
 Empress, bearing the signature “ Eugenie, le 27 
 Fevr. 1879,” th e day his mother had last parted 
 from him. 
 
 When the poor Prince left the capital for the 
 camp, he had desired his trusty servant, Uhlman, 
 to remain at Maritzburg. The grief of this man, 
 
 a a 2 
 
356 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 when he heard of his master’s death, was almost 
 beyond control, and he blamed himself bitterly 
 for not having disobeyed him, and followed him 
 into the camp. Uhlman had lived in the Imperial 
 family ever since the Prince’s birth, never having 
 left him before for a single day, and his grief may 
 well be imagined. 
 
 The following order was issued to the troops in 
 Natal in reference to the embarkation of the 
 remains of the Prince Imperial : — 
 
 “ Soldiers, 
 
 “ The mortal remains of Prince Louis 
 Napoleon will be transported to-morrow at half- 
 past nine a.m. to the Roman Catholic Church at 
 Durban, Port Natal, to be afterwards embarked 
 on Her Majesty’s ship the ‘ Boadicea’ for 
 England. 
 
 “ In following the coffin which contains the 
 corpse of the Prince Imperial of France, and in 
 rendering to his ashes the last tribute of respect 
 and honour, the troops in garrison will re- 
 member : — 
 
 “ i. That he was the inheritor of a powerful 
 name and one of great military renown. 
 
 “ 2. That he was the son of England’s strongest 
 Ally in times of danger. 
 
 “ 3. That he was the only child of a widowed 
 Empress, who now remains without a Throne, 
 an Exile and childless, on the shores of England. 
 
Death. 
 
 357 
 
 “To enhance the sorrow and respect which 
 they owe to his memory, the troops will bear in 
 mind that the Prince Imperial of France fell in 
 fighting- under the English flag. 
 
 “ W. P. Buller, A.-A. -General.” 
 
 The next day a solemn funeral service was held 
 at Maritzburg, after which the sad procession 
 started en route for Cape Town. At Durban 
 the same tokens of respect awaited the cortdge. 
 The inhabitants of this town escorted the remains 
 to the port. Every house in the town en route 
 to the latter place, closed their shutters, and 
 hoisted the French flag half-mast high from their 
 windows. The “ Boadicea,” the vessel which 
 was to convey the body to Simon’s Bay, Cape 
 Town, arrived at that place on the 15th of June. 
 Here a pinnace, towed by a steam-launch be- 
 longing to the “ Boadicea,” transferred the coffin 
 to the “ Orontes,” passing with its burthen between 
 a line of men-of-war boats, the crews of which 
 stood with their oars peaked, and their heads 
 uncovered. 
 
 At Cape Town, Sir Bartleand Lady Frere, with 
 all the military and civil authorities, went to Si- 
 mon’s Bay and on board the “ Orontes.” Here 
 once more a solemn service was performed by the 
 Roman Catholic Bishop of Cape Town. Lady 
 Frere and other friends brought wreaths and 
 flowers wherewith they surrounded the coffin. 
 
358 Life of the Prmce Imperial of France. 
 
 The voyage to England occupied twenty-one 
 days, Captain Pemberton being in charge of the 
 Prince’s remains. The passage was a fair one, 
 and on the 10th of July the “ Orontes” anchored 
 at Spithead. She was commanded by Captain 
 Kinahan. At Spithead the “ Enchantress,” an 
 Admiralty yacht, commanded by Captain Hills, 
 met the “ Orontes,” and the coffin was transferred 
 to the former vessel without delay, still, however, 
 being in charge of Captain Pemberton. Several 
 of the Empress’s friends, however, joined the 
 “ Enchantress ” at Spithead. On Friday, the 
 10th, the “Enchantress” lay-to at the pier of 
 the Woolwich Arsenal. Here a distinguished 
 company of both French and English persons, 
 with the Prince of Wales and his Royal brothers 
 at their head, awaited the vessel. 
 
 The Prince Imperial’s coffin was borne on shore 
 by the sailors of the Admiralty yacht, M. Rouher, 
 General Fleurry, and other deeply-attached friends 
 of the deceased, walking on either side of it. 
 
 Poor M. Rouher, who was terribly overcome 
 when he first heard of the Prince’s death, had 
 exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, “ I have nothing 
 now left to live for.” 
 
 On arriving at the Arsenal, the coffin was 
 put into a temporary mortuary, draped for the 
 occasion in black, and here further forms of identi- 
 fication had to be gone through. That evening the 
 Prince’s remains were put upon a gun-carriage, 
 
Death. 
 
 359 
 
 over which the tricolour flag of France and our 
 British flag were thrown, and were transported to 
 Camden House, Chislehurst. 
 
 When the sad news of the Prince’s death 
 had first arrived in England, the Queen had 
 begged that great care might be used in making 
 it known to the Empress, and Lord Sydney pro- 
 ceeded at once to Camden House to break it to 
 her. Those about the Empress had tried to keep 
 her in ignorance of the event until Lord Sydney’s 
 arrival, by detaining her newspapers and letters ; 
 but unfortunately she opened a letter addressed to 
 her secretary, M. Pietri, who was absent, and there 
 learned, not indeed the full extent of her misfor- 
 tune, but that something very sad had happened 
 to her son. 
 
 Ever since the day of his departure, the 
 Empress had, with a mother’s touching love 
 and anxiety, caused preparations to be made 
 which would enable her to start at once for Africa 
 should she hear he was ill. On opening M. 
 Pietri’s letter she therefore at once rang, and 
 ordered her servants to prepare for her immediate 
 voyage to Natal. Then it became necessary to 
 inform her “it was too late.” Her grief can be 
 better imagined than described. All was not, 
 however, told her at first, and it was only in fact 
 by degrees, little by little, she learned the full tale 
 of sorrow and disaster which had rendered her 
 future a blank. 
 
360 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 To attempt to analyze her grief would be both 
 opt of place and impossible. In the drama of life, 
 as well as on its theatrical stage, at the supreme 
 moment of some tragic scene the curtain falls, and 
 the company can only through imagination picture 
 what takes place behind its heavy folds. In 
 the bereavement of the Empress, and over her 
 hours of agony which followed, we likewise drop 
 the curtain. 
 
 “ She sat alone, and heard the nations cr.y, — 
 
 ‘ Lo now the child is dead ! ’ 
 
 ' But his memory shall not fade, 
 
 Nor the halo die 
 
 That shineth around his head ; 
 
 For his shall be the glory, and his the power, 
 
 And his the kingdom be ; 
 
 And he shall reign — not for a little hour, 
 
 But — everlastingly.” 
 
 H. Charles. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 FUNERAL. 
 
 “ His great ambition was to raise his father’s fallen name, 
 
 To give back to his native land its ancient warlike fame : 
 Now all ambitious dreams are past, all earthly glory o’er ; 
 His Throne is with his Father, on an ever-peaceful shore.” 
 
 Never, within the annals of modern history, has 
 a more imposing scene been witnessed than 
 that which attended the funeral obsequies of the 
 Prince Imperial at Chislehurst on July 12, 1879. 
 Without being precisely a state funeral, there was 
 yet nothing wanting in exterior pomp which could 
 do honour to his name and race. On the other 
 hand, there were many unofficial marks of respect, 
 which set their seal to the universal affection and 
 goodwill which the Prince had won for himself in 
 the land of his adoption. No higher testimony, for 
 instance, could possibly have been accorded to his 
 memory than the fact of the unprecedented atten- 
 dance of Royalty as his pall-bearers. 
 
 As a deeply-sorrowing mourner also, the Queen 
 of England was the first to bend her knee in 
 
362 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 prayer at his shrine, and with her own hand to 
 place a wreath of laurels on his coffin. 
 
 The sad circumstances of the Prince’s early 
 death had crowned the interest with which Eng- 
 land had watched his growth into manhood, and a 
 general pathos marked, the ceremony, which 
 touched the hearts of all who witnessed it, and 
 brought crowds to Chislehurst on the day of his 
 interment. 
 
 Those who knew that quiet little village in the 
 days of its obscurity, before it became the resi- 
 dence of the exiled family of France, must have 
 been struck with the strange contrast it presented 
 on the 12th of July, 1879. On that day a mighty 
 stream of people threaded their way sorrowingly 
 towards the small Roman Catholic Church of St. 
 Mary’s ; all with the one object, viz., to see pass by 
 the funeral train which contained what remained 
 of the Hope of a great nation. 
 
 One of the distinctive English features of Chisle- 
 hurst is its broad common — general property — 
 whose open space and free air re-echoes the joyful 
 sound of children at play, the louder shouts of 
 schoolboy cricketers, or the sharp, quick sound of 
 horses’ feet, as equestrians of either sex canter over 
 its turf. In spring the verdure of its sward, in 
 summer its glory of golden gorse, where larks 
 lowly build, and then rise heavenwards in sweet 
 song ; its autumn tangle of bracken and bramble, 
 amid which children hunt for blackberries and 
 
Funeral. 
 
 'J f\ 
 
 o u o 
 
 cattle feed at leisure — these alternately have always 
 given beauty and life to its broad expanse. 
 Henceforth it will have an additional interest; and 
 the stone cross erected in its centre to the memory 
 of the Prince Imperial, will remind succeeding 
 generations that a family of world-famed note 
 made Chislehurst their home, and that, within the 
 little churchyard near, Napoleon III. and his 
 only son, the latter cut off in early manhood, 
 both lie interred. 
 
 On the evening of the nth of July the scene 
 on the common almost equalled in pathos that 
 of the following day’s spectacle. A very large 
 concourse of people had assembled to await the 
 passage of the gun-carriage which conveyed the 
 remains of the Prince from Woolwich to Camden 
 House. 
 
 Some there were among that number, who had 
 gone to the little railway station only a few months 
 before to bid him good-bye, when he had left for 
 Africa, full of youthful hope and spirit. 
 
 At nine p.m., when the grey shades of the 
 summer night were gathering closely over sky 
 and earth, the expectant crowd heard the tread 
 of horses’ feet, and saw at the turn of the cross 
 roads, a troop of English soldiers, riding four 
 abreast, and with their sabres drawn. These 
 preceded the cortege. Behind, on a gun-carriage, 
 lay the Prince’s coffin, covered with the united 
 colours of France and England, which served it 
 
364 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 as a pall. Then came a company of ecclesiastics, 
 and behind them an escort of troops, formed 
 from the Royal Artillery and the Horse Artillery. 
 Slowly and reverently the cortege passed through 
 the crowd, and the coffin was carried back, to rest 
 one night in the home of the Prince’s exile. 
 
 The Empress had been watching, it is said, for 
 weary hours, in nervous expectation of the arrival 
 of her son’s remains. She passed all that night by 
 the side of the coffin, and at four a.m., when dawn 
 broke over her agony, a religious service was held 
 in the mortuary chapel at Camden House, in which 
 she assisted, after which she took a last farewell 
 of the shell that contained her child’s body, and 
 then, worn out with grief, was carried, fainting, 
 to her room. 
 
 By nine a.m. on the morning of the 12th, 
 Camden House was already filled with the rela- 
 tives and friends of the Imperial family, who 
 were admitted to the Chapelle Ardente, arranged 
 in the picture-gallery, where the Prince’s coffin 
 was placed. Among these were veterans of 
 Magenta and Solferino, with many other French 
 adherents of the Emperor’s, who came to 
 pay a last tribute of respect to his son’s 
 memory. 
 
 The scene in this room was touching in the 
 extreme, and yet withal a curious mixture of 
 gloom and floral beauty. The walls were draped 
 in black ; but on them, as on the coffin, and piled 
 
Funeral. 
 
 3 6 5 
 
 up on the ground around it, were hundreds 
 of beautiful wreaths, formed of sweet-scented 
 violets, roses, or, again, of immortelles. These 
 had been sent over by the representatives of 
 most of the reigning monarchs of Europe, the 
 Allies of the Napoleon dynasty, and other sorrow- 
 ing friends. Five hundred wreaths were counted 
 alone in this first resting-place of the coffin. 
 Upon the pall lay the young warrior’s sword, its 
 hilt draped in crape, and on a cushion his various 
 decorations, including the cross and grand cordon 
 of the Legion of Honour. 
 
 At ten a.m. Prince Jerome Buonaparte, now the 
 head of the house, entered the mortuary chapel with 
 his two sons, Prince Napoleon Victor Frederick, 
 a youth of seventeen, and his brother, Prince Napo- 
 leon Louis Joseph Jerome, two years younger. 
 They were followed by Princess Mathilde and the 
 Duchesse de Morny. These knelt down and 
 kissed the coffin, and deposited their floral offer- 
 ings upon it, and then taking their last farewell, 
 passed out of the room. 
 
 Outside the house, and along under the tall 
 trees of the avenue, the cadets from the Royal 
 Military Academy, 200 in number, under the 
 command of Major Von Straubenzee, were 
 ranged. 
 
 To the left of the principal entrance the Duke of 
 Cambridge, with large numbers of the military, 
 massed themselves, every general officer almost 
 
366 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 in England being present to represent his regi- 
 ment. 
 
 The Queen and Princess Beatrice arrived early, 
 and were conducted at once to the Chapelle Ar- 
 dente by the Due de Bassano. Here the Queen 
 knelt and prayed at the foot of the coffin, and then 
 placed upon it a wreath of laurels in gold, to which 
 she had affixed a card, and inscribed, in her own 
 handwriting, with the words in French : 
 
 “ Souvenir de vive affection, d’estime, et de pro- 
 fonds regrets de la part de Victoria Regina.” 
 Princess Beatrice followed. Her offering was 
 a crown of violets in porcelain. Both the Queen 
 and the Princess were visibly affected when they 
 rose to leave the Chapelle Ardente. 
 
 The Princess of Wales arrived as the Queen 
 left. She likewise was laden with wreaths. Her 
 own bore this inscription : 
 
 “ A token of affection and regard for him 
 who lived the most spotless of lives, and died a 
 soldier’s death, fighting in our cause, in Zululand. 
 — Alexandra.” 
 
 A wreath of white roses was also placed on the 
 coffin of the Prince from 
 
 “Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.” 
 Another from 
 
 “ Edward and George of Wales.” 
 
 Another from 
 
 “ Louise, Victoria, and Maude of Wales.” 
 
Funeral. 
 
 367 
 
 And another : 
 
 “ Homage d’affection et d’estime de la part de 
 Leopold.” 
 
 After quitting the Chapelle Ardente, the Queen 
 took up her position in a small summer-house, 
 erected for her, on the right of Camden House, 
 where she had a full view of the procession as it 
 moved down the avenue ; but the Princess of 
 Wales drove direct to the church, as she wished to 
 assist at the services to be held there. When all 
 the royal personages and intimate friends had paid 
 their farewell visit in the Chapelle Ardente, the 
 gun-carriage which was to convey the coffin to 
 the church drove up to the door of Camden House, 
 drawn by six horses. 
 
 Meantime from an early hour in the morning 
 the Park surrounding Camden House had been 
 thrown open to all comers provided with cards, 
 and large numbers of persons, both English and 
 French, availed themselves of this opportunity 
 to witness the funeral cortdge start from the 
 House. 
 
 Within the Park also were arranged the Depu- 
 tations of the many Industrial Bodies who had 
 come over from France to assist at the ceremony. 
 These, mostly working men, carried tricolour 
 banners, surmounted by draped eagles ; they like- 
 wise bore large wreaths formed of immortelles and 
 violets. 
 
368 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 The procession was formed as follows : — 
 
 Pall Bearers. 
 
 E. Rouher. 
 
 The Duke of Cambridge. 
 The Duke of Connaught. 
 The Crown Prince of 
 Sweden and Norway. 
 
 The Woolwich Cadets. 
 
 Pall Bearers. 
 
 M. le Due de Bassano. 
 Prince Leopold. 
 
 The Duke of Edinburgh. 
 The Prince of Wales. 
 
 <u 
 
 &P e 
 •e £ 
 
 5— 1 O 
 a rj 
 
 3 * 
 
 The late Prince Imperial’s horse “ Stag,” led by M. Gamble. 
 The Prince Imperial’s groom and valet de chambre, Uhlman. 
 The English groom, Lomas. 
 
 Prince Napoleon, with Prince Victor and Prince Louis on 
 
 his left. 
 
 Prince Louis Lucien Buonaparte. 
 
 Prince Napoleon Charles Buonaparte. 
 
 Prince Joachim Murat, and the other members of the Imperial 
 
 Family. 
 
 General Prince de la Moskowa and General Comte Fleury, 
 grand officers de la Couronne ; and M. Franceschini Pietri 
 (executor of the Prince Imperial). 
 
 The former aides-de-camp of the Prince Imperial: — General 
 d’Espeuille, Admiral Duperre, le Comte d’Aigueville, and 
 M. Bachon (ancien ecuyer). 
 
 Lord Sydney. General Sir Lintorn Simmons. 
 
 The Ldgataires — MM. Conneau, Espinasse, Bizot, A. Fleury, 
 P. de Bourgoing, and S. Corvisart. 
 
 The Former Officers of the Household of the Emperor. 
 The Ambassadors and Members of the Corps Diplomatique. 
 Former Ministers of the Empire. 
 
 Former Ambassadors. 
 
 English Generals and Officers in Uniform. 
 
 Senators and Former Senators. 
 
 Deputies and Former Deputies. 
 
 Former Councillors of State, Former Deputies, the French 
 Press, Ladies, and Members of the French Deputations. 
 
Funeral. 
 
 369 
 
 Heading the procession were Colonel Labal- 
 mondiere and Captain Harris, mounted, and in 
 lull uniform. Then came a squadron of the 
 5th Lancers, under the command of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Brown. The first troop of the Light 
 Dragoons had their lances in rest, but the second 
 troop carried their spears erect and fixed. The 
 lances were wreathed in crape, and the officers 
 wore crape armlets. Next came a mounted mili- 
 tary band, the instruments having emblems of 
 mourning. Then followed the cadets of the Royal 
 Military Academy, Woolwich, with rifles reversed 
 and craped. 
 
 The body of clergy who were to officiate 
 at the ceremony met the procession at some 
 distance from the chapel, headed by the Bishop 
 of Southwark and his cross-bearer, and fell in 
 after the cadets, thus immediately preceding the 
 body, which was conveyed on the carriage of a 
 nine-pounder gun, drawn by six horses, conducted 
 by gunners and drivers of the Royal Artillery. 
 
 The coffin, which was almost entirely concealed 
 by the Union Jack and the tricolour, the flags of 
 England and France, was covered with violet vel- 
 vet, and strongly secured by gilded clasps and 
 clamps. 
 
 On the coffin lid were the hat and sword of 
 the deceased Prince, and a gigantic wreath of 
 violets and white roses. Another large floral 
 tribute, in the shape of an Imperial crown, was 
 
 b b 
 
3/0 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 at the head ; while at the foot was a cushion of 
 purple silk, on which reposed the Insignia of the 
 Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. Smaller 
 wreaths, bearing the device of the letter “ N ” 
 worked in silver, and with white satin bows, were 
 suspended from the sides of the coffin ; and finally, 
 between the carriage and the gun, was placed a 
 cross formed of flowers, all of the rarest and 
 costliest kind. 
 
 Princes were the pall-bearers. These were 
 the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, the 
 Duke of Connaught, Prince Leopold, the Duke of 
 Cambridge, and the Crown Prince of Sweden and 
 Norway— a stately group, fixing the attention of 
 all. 
 
 One of the most tear-compelling sights was the 
 Prince Imperial’s horse, Stag, craped, and led 
 by M. Gamble, so many years chief of the stable 
 to the Emperor Napoleon III. 
 
 Immediately behind the horse walked, bare- 
 headed, the Princes of the Imperial family, fol- 
 lowed by a large number of British officers 
 of every rank in the service, likewise bare- 
 headed, and marching four abreast. To these 
 succeeded a company of French gentlemen, and 
 a few ladies in deep mourning, representing the 
 personal friends and adherents of the Prince. 
 Next came a strong mounted detachment of 
 the Riding Establishment from Woolwich, and 
 battery after battery of the Royal Artillery, 
 
Funeral. 
 
 37i 
 
 guns, ammunition waggons, horses, drivers, 
 escort, and equipment in full order. A French 
 provincial deputation followed, preceded by an 
 Imperial flag of purple, decorated with golden 
 balls ; the men carried wreaths and crosses, 
 made of flowers. Another banner was borne by 
 a French regimental vivandieve. Some of the 
 wreaths were so large that they could only be 
 carried on the shoulders of three or four men. 
 The procession was brought to a close by the 
 remainder of the 5th Lancers* and by another 
 detachment of artillery. 
 
 Soon the sound of muffled drums, intermixed 
 with the boom of the minute-gun, announced that 
 the cortlge had left the house. As it passed the 
 Queen’s stand, the troops saluted. Another 
 minute-gun, and then the affecting notes of the 
 “ Dead March and the sad procession, a quarter 
 of a mile in length, filed in order down the avenue, 
 the bright uniforms of the military gleaming from 
 between the trees, contrasting with the black 
 robes of the other mourners. 
 
 The Queen watched the procession with tearful 
 eyes till it was out of sight ; then, true to the 
 instincts of her womanly nature, she controlled 
 her own grief and sought the bereaved mother, in 
 order to give her the support of her presence in 
 this the most trying hour of her desolation. 
 
 The cortdge took three-quarters of an hour to 
 reach the little church of St. Mary’s, situated on the 
 
 b b 2 
 
37 2 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 opposite side of the common. Near its entrance 
 was placed a guard of honour, composed of the 
 25th West Kent Volunteers. 
 
 The cadets who had led the procession were 
 marched into an adjoining field, to be ready in due 
 time to fire a volley of honour to their departed 
 comrade’s memory. 
 
 The bell of the Protestant church mingled its 
 voice with that of St. Mary’s, and tolled at regular 
 intervals its notes of woe. 
 
 At 10.30 a.m. the interior of the church was filled 
 with persons of distinction, who were admitted by 
 tickets to take part in the religious ceremony, the 
 central aisle alone being left free for the procession. 
 
 At eleven a.m. the Princess of Wales came in 
 hurriedly, and evidently much agitated by her late 
 visit at the Chapelle Ardente. She had in her 
 hand a large bunch of violets. The Princess took 
 up her position on a seat assigned her to the 
 right of the catafalque. 
 
 Meantime, the solemn bell announced the near 
 approach of the funeral train, which, having crossed 
 the golden-furzed common and the road near the 
 Protestant church, had turned down the narrow 
 lane which leads to St. Mary’s. 
 
 A few seconds more of breathless silence — a 
 confused sound of many feet outside its door — and 
 the coffin, wreathed in its pall of flags, was borne 
 on the shoulders of British officers, all of whom 
 had personally known and loved the young Prince 
 
Funeral. 
 
 o *7 "> 
 0/0 
 
 while in life. It was bright with flowers of every hue, 
 and crowned with the hat and sword of the deceased. 
 
 As it was slowly carried up the aisle, there was 
 hardly a dry eye among the spectators ; grey- 
 headed veterans, strong-hearted soldiers, and 
 tender women alike, feeling it no weakness to 
 weep over the premature death of the youth they 
 were bearing to his rest. 
 
 As the coffin was quietly lowered into the cata- 
 falque, the cannon once more pealed forth a 
 muffled sound. 
 
 The funeral service was performed by the 
 officiating clergy, and the words read which com- 
 mit “ dust to dust and earth to earth ” until that 
 day when it shall rise a glorified body, made meet 
 for eternal happiness through the sacrificial atone- 
 ment of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Happily, in 
 this fundamental profession of their faith Roman 
 Catholics and Protestants alike are agreed, and 
 meet on equal ground, whilst the pure, consistent, 
 religious life the Prince led gave evidence of the 
 reality of his Christian profession. 
 
 The coffin bore the following inscription : — 
 
 “ Napoleon Eugene Louis Jean Joseph, 
 
 PRINCE IMPERIAL. 
 
 Ne a Paris, le 16 Mars, 1856. 
 
 Tue par l’ennemi, en Zululand (Afrique Australe), 
 le 1 Juin, 1879. 
 
 Depose dans e'glise Catholique de 
 Sainte Marie de Chislehurst, le 
 12 Juillet, 1879. 
 
 R.I.P.” 
 
374 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 To the left of the catafalque in St. Mary’s 
 Church is the mausoleum where the ashes of 
 Napoleon III. repose; and as the sun’s rays lit 
 up this edifice, which was hung with black, they 
 threw into relief the violet shields, with the large 
 “ N,” worked in gold, and the wreaths of white 
 immortelles, placed upon and around them. 
 
 In his will the poor young Prince had expressed 
 the desire, if he fell in battle, to be buried near his 
 father. Rapidly that wish found fulfilment, and 
 pathetically touching are the two tombs, facing 
 each other, separated only by the church’s aisle, 
 each alike crowned with numberless wreaths, 
 placed by loving hands in memoriam. 
 
 What ambitions, what triumphs, what humi- 
 liations, what nobly-borne reverses, what political 
 factions, are likewise here buried ! and what heart- 
 burnings silenced for ever ! “ Requiescat in 
 
 pace,” alike father and son. 
 
 At the close of the ceremony, which ended with 
 the “ De Profundis,” the “ Miserere” was beauti- 
 fully sung, the booming sounds of the minute-gun 
 mingling with the music, and, as the last verses of 
 the “Dies Irse” rang through the sacred edifice, 
 it again mingled in solemn and startling effect. 
 The burial service was performed by the Bishop 
 of Southwark and Monsgnr. Goddard, assisted 
 by several other Roman Catholic clergy. At its 
 most impressive part, the sharp rattle of mus- 
 ketry outside proclaimed that the cadets of the 
 
Funeral. 
 
 375 
 
 Royal Academy had begun to fire their tribute 
 of honour ; and volley after volley rang out 
 until the cessation announced to the sorrowing 
 Empress and her Queenly comforter that the 
 sad ceremony was over. 
 
 As soon as the mourning-train left the chapel, 
 the endeavours of the crowd outside to gain 
 admission were indescribable, and it required a 
 strong body of police to arrest the tide. Arrange- 
 ments were, however, quickly made to admit the 
 public in small detachments, four gentlemen re- 
 lieving each other in keeping guard over the 
 coffin. Meantime, while the Empress sat in deep 
 sorrow in one part of Camden House, the French 
 persons who had come so far to show their respect 
 to the Prince’s memory were allowed to enter in 
 small parties the Chapelle Ardente, where the 
 coffin had lain until removed to the church. This 
 room resembled a bower of flowers, so many 
 wreaths still remained in it, and from these every 
 visitor was given a flower in pledge of the day’s 
 sad history. 
 
 On the following Sunday the church of St. 
 Mary was crowded, in consequence of the an- 
 nouncement that Cardinal Manning would preach 
 the sermon. Many who had come from great 
 distances were unable to obtain admission, and 
 the chapel was once more filled to the utmost 
 limits of its capacity. Prince Lucien, M. Rouher, 
 and M. Paul de Cassagnac were present, together 
 
376 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 with many persons of distinction who had taken 
 part in the funeral celebration on the day preced- 
 ing. The interior of the edifice was still hung 
 with black drapery, and the silver shields, with the 
 monogram “ N ” in silver, remained in position as 
 before. 
 
 The coffin had been removed into the little 
 vault, or alcove, in which the body of the late 
 Emperor Napoleon III. lay, until its trans- 
 ference to the opposite side of the church, when 
 it was placed in the present sarcophagus of granite. 
 Here the drapery had been thrown back, and the 
 black coffin could be seen through the bars by 
 which the vault is guarded. 
 
 Wreaths of beautiful white flowers had been 
 hung round the drapery beside the vault, but 
 in the interior nothing could be seen but a 
 couple of cushions, resting on the coffin, together 
 with a few satin decorations. 
 
 The Right Rev. Dr. Danell, Bishop of South- 
 wark, officiated at the mass, and Cardinal Man- 
 ning preached the sermon and pronounced the 
 benediction. The Cardinal took his text from 
 the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, 
 “ What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt 
 know hereafter,” and commenced his adddress 
 with the following remarks : — “ Ever since death 
 came into the world,” said his Eminence, “ the 
 dead had been carried out and laid in their 
 quiet graves, the mourners had gone to their 
 
Funeral . 
 
 377 
 
 sleep, and in the long procession of sorrows 
 there had been voices of lamentation, and of 
 sympathy through all the world ; but perhaps 
 few have been more zealous, more tender, or 
 more widespread than the sorrow which on 
 Saturday surrounded that tomb — the loving sor- 
 row of many nations, a sorrow pure and generous, 
 springing from the heart and ascending to God. 
 It was the wonderful mystery of God’s sovereign 
 wisdom ; that the youth whom they all mourned, 
 so fair, so noble, so blameless, and so brave ; 
 so high in intellect and so cultured ; so attrac- 
 tive in all his w T ays, so winning in his speech, 
 so humble in his dignity, so loved by all — 
 should have come, like a ray of April sun as it 
 were, for a moment, and passed away, giving a 
 transient promise of sunshine, ending for ever in 
 a cloud. 
 
 “ This mystery of God’s sovereignty could 
 not be explained, save only in the words of 
 our Divine Master, ‘ What I do thou canst not 
 understand, but thou shalt know hereafter.’ The 
 day would come when all would be clear in the 
 inaccessible light in which all mysteries of God 
 lay hid ; all would one day be revealed. The 
 lesson which was learnt was the sovereign Will 
 of God ; and the Will of God was the Love of God, 
 guided by His Wisdom.” 
 
 The Empress on the Sunday after her son’s 
 interment had mass said in his room at Camden 
 
3/8 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 House. It was noticeable on this occasion, that 
 in the bed he used to occupy were the faded 
 violets and wreaths put on his coffin by Lady 
 Frere, in Africa, and which had come all the 
 way with his remains to Chislehurst ; the palm 
 branches, which also draped the doorway, were 
 likewise brought from the Cape. 
 
 From all parts of Europe, the Empress received 
 both letters of condolence and sympathy, and the 
 highest testimonials to her son’s character. The 
 same were likewise voluntarily offered to the public 
 through the Press, from officers and other person- 
 ages who had known him personally. 
 
 One officer wrote from Africa : “ He was one 
 of the noblest youths whom modern times have 
 produced. To perfect disinterestedness he added 
 unalloyed patriotism, which held everything second 
 to the two great principles of devotion to his own 
 country, and faithful service to ours. When we 
 see life adorned with so much simplicity and gene- 
 rosity, so much affability and good nature, the easy 
 gaiety of a clear conscience, and the natural im- 
 pulses of a good heart, we feel, as it was said of 
 Wellington’s heroic reputation, that the better 
 the Prince Imperial’s character can be made 
 known, the more his memory would be honoured 
 and revered.” 
 
 In exemplification of the unobstrusive, humble 
 piety of the Prince’s character, who, although an 
 adherent of the Roman Catholic Church was 
 
Funeral. 
 
 379 
 
 liberal to members of the Protestant creed, the 
 following prayer, which was found after his death 
 among his papers at Chislehurst, is here appended. 
 It speaks volumes of that inner life which was the 
 spring of all that was lovely in his character. 
 
 La Priere du Prince Imperial. 
 
 “ Mon Dieu, je vous donne mon coeur ; mais 
 vous, donnez-moi la foi. Sans foi, il n’est point 
 d'ardentes prieres, et prier est un besoin de mon 
 ame. 
 
 “Je vous prie, non pour que vous ecartiez les 
 obstacles qui s’elevent sur ma route, mais pour 
 que vous me permettiez de les franchir. 
 
 “ Je vous prie, non pour que vous desarmiez mes 
 ennemis, mais pour que vous m’aidiez a me vaincre 
 moi-meme, et daignez, 6 Dieu, exaucer mes 
 prieres. 
 
 “ Conservez a mon affection les gens qui me sont 
 chers. Accordez-leur des jours heureux. Si vous 
 ne voulez repandre sur cette terre qu’une certaine 
 somme de joies, prenez, 6 Dieu ! la part qui me 
 revient. 
 
 “ Repartissez-la parmi les plus dignes, et que les 
 plus dignes soient mes amis. Si vous voulez faire 
 aux hommes des represailles, frappez-moi. 
 
 “ Le malheur est converti en joie par la douce 
 pensee que ceux que Ton aime sont heureux. 
 
 “ Le bonheur est empoisonne par cette pensee 
 amere : — Je me rejouis et ceux que je cheris mille 
 
380 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 fois plus que moi sont en train de souffrir. — Pour 
 moi, 6 Dieu, plus de bonheur. Jelefuis. Enlevez- 
 le de ma route. 
 
 “ La joi, je ne puis la trouver dans l’oubli du 
 passe. Si j’oublie ceux qui ne sont plus, on 
 m’oubliera a mon tour, et quelle triste pensee 
 que celle qui vous fait dire : ‘ Le temps efface 
 tout ! ’ 
 
 “ Le seule satisfaction que je recherche, c’est celle 
 qui dure toujours, celle que donne une conscience 
 tranquille. 
 
 “O mon Dieu, montrez-moi toujours ouse trouve 
 mon devoir ; donnez-moi la force de l’accomplir en 
 toute occasion. 
 
 “ Arrive au terme de ma vie, je tournerai sans 
 crainte mes regards vers le passe. 
 
 “ Le souvenir n’en sera pas pour moi un long 
 remords. Alors je serai heureux. Laites, 6 mon 
 Dieu, penetrer plus avant dans mon coeur la con- 
 viction que ceux que j’aime et qui sont morts sont 
 les temoins de toutes mes actions. Ma vie sera 
 digne d’etre vue par eux, et mes pensees les plus 
 intimes ne me feront jamais rougir. 
 
 “ Si je dois mourir, Seigneur, faites que ce soit 
 pour sauver un des miens. 
 
 “ Si je dois vivre, que ce soit au milieu des 
 meilleurs.” 
 
 In English : — 
 
 “ My God, I give to Thee my heart ; but give to 
 
Funeral. 
 
 38i 
 
 me faith. Without faith there is no strong prayer, 
 and to pray is a longing of my soul. 
 
 “ I pray, not that Thou shouldst take away the 
 obstacles from my path, but that Thou mayest 
 permit me to overcome them. 
 
 “ I pray, not that Thou shouldst disarm my 
 enemies, but that Thou shouldst aid me to conquer 
 myself. Hear, O God, my prayer. 
 
 “ Preserve to my affection those who are dear 
 to me. Grant them happy days. 
 
 “ If Thou only givest on this earth a certain 
 sum of joy, take, O God, my share and bestow it 
 on the most worthy, and may the most worthy be 
 my friends. 
 
 “If Thou wouldst punish man, strike me. 
 
 “ Misfortune is converted into happiness, by the 
 sweet thought that those whom we love are 
 happy. 
 
 “ Happiness is poisoned by the bitter thought, 
 while I rejoice, those whom I love a thousand 
 times better than myself are suffering. For me, 
 O God! no more happiness. Take it from my 
 path. 
 
 “ I can only find joy in forgetting the past. 
 
 “ If I forget those who are no more, I shall be 
 forgotten in my turn ; and how sad the thought 
 which makes one say, ‘ Time effaces all.’ 
 
 “ The only satisfaction I seek is that which lasts 
 for ever, that which is given by a tranquil con- 
 
 science. 
 
382 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ O my God ! show me ever where my duty 
 lies, and give me strength to accomplish it 
 always. 
 
 “ Arrived at the term of my life, I shall then 
 turn my looks fearlessly to the past. 
 
 “ Remembrance will not be for me a long re- 
 morse. Then I shall be happy. 
 
 “ Grant, O God ! that my heart may be pene- 
 trated with the conviction that those whom I love, 
 and who are dead, shall see all my actions. My 
 life shall be worthy of their witness, and my 
 inmost thoughts shall never make me blush.” 
 
 This MS. prayer, with many erasures, was 
 found in the Prince Imperial’s Missal. 
 
 Will of the late Prince. 
 
 The Prince’s Will, written the night before his 
 departure for Africa, had been placed in charge of 
 M. Pietri, and ran thus : — 
 
 “ This is my testament. 
 
 “ 1. I die in the Catholic Apostolic and Roman 
 religion, in which I was born. 
 
 “2. I desire that my body may be laid near 
 that of my father, until the time come when both 
 may be transferred to the spot where the founder 
 of our House reposes among the French people, 
 whom we, like him, dearly loved. 
 
 “3. My latest thought will be for my country, 
 for which I should wish to die. 
 
Funeral. 
 
 “ 4. I hope my mother, when I shall be no more, 
 will maintain for me that affectionate remembrance 
 which I shall cherish for her to the last moment. 
 
 “5. Let my private friends, my servants, and 
 the partisans of the cause which I represent, be 
 assured that my gratitude to them will only cease 
 with my life. 
 
 “ 6. I shall die with a sentiment of profound 
 gratitude towards the Queen of England, the 
 entire Royal Family, and the country in which 
 during eight years, I have received such cordial 
 hospitality. I constitute my mother my universal 
 legatee, subject to the payment of the following 
 legacies. 
 
 “ I bequeath 20,000 francs to my cousin, Prince 
 J. N. Murat ; I bequeath 100,000 francs to M. F. 
 Pietri, in recognition of his good services ; I be- 
 queath 100,000 francs to M. le Baron Corvisart, 
 in recognition of his devotion ; I bequeath 100,000 
 francs to Mademoisellede Larminat, who has always 
 shown herself so attached to my mother ; I be- 
 queath 100,000 francs to M. A. Filon, my tutor; 
 I bequeath 100,000 francs to M. L. N. Conneau, 
 100,000 francs to M. N. Espinasse, 100,000 francs 
 to Capt. A. Bigot, three of my oldest friends. I 
 desire that my dear mother should constitute an 
 annuity of 10,000 francs for Prince Lucien 
 Buonaparte ; an annuity of 50,000 francs for M. 
 Bachon, my former equerry ; and of 2500 francs 
 each to Madame Thierry and to Uhlman. I desire 
 
384 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 that all my other servants should never be de- 
 prived of their salaries. I desire to leave to 
 Prince N. Charles Buonaparte, the Duke of 
 Bassano, and to M. Rouher, three of the most 
 beautiful souvenirs that my testamentary executors 
 may select. I desire also to leave to General 
 Simmonds, to M. Strode, and to Mgr. Goddard, 
 three souvenirs which my testamentary executors 
 may select from the valuables which belong to me. 
 I bequeath to M. Pietri, my pin surmounted by a 
 stone (cat’s eye) ; to M. Corvisart, my pin with the 
 rose pearl ; to Mademoiselle Larminat, a medallion 
 containing the portraits of my father and mother ; 
 to Madame le Breton, my watch in enamel, 
 mounted with my monogram in diamonds ; to 
 MM. Conneau, Espinasse, Bizot, J. N. Murat, A. 
 Henri, P. de Bourgogne, S. Corvisart, my arms 
 and uniforms, except those I may last have worn, 
 which I leave to my mother. I leave to M. 
 d’Entraigues, a pin surmounted by a fine pearl, 
 round in shape, which was given me by the 
 Empress. I beg my mother to be good enough 
 to distribute to the persons who during my life 
 have shown attachment to me, the trinkets or less 
 valuable objects, which may recall me to their 
 recollection. I bequeath to the Comtesse Clary, 
 my pin surmounted by a beautiful, fine pearl ; and 
 to the Duke of Huescar, my cousin, my Spanish 
 swords. “ Napoleon. 
 
 “ All written by my own hand. 
 
Funeral. 
 
 335 
 
 “ I need not recommend my mother to defend 
 the memory of my great-uncle and father. I beg 
 her to remember that as long as a Buonaparte 
 lives, the Imperial Cause will be represented. 
 The duties of our House towards the country will 
 not be extinct with my life. When I die, the work 
 of Napoleon III. will fall to the eldest son of 
 Prince Napoleon (Prince Victor) and I hope my 
 beloved mother, in supporting him with all her 
 power, will give to us who shall be no more, this 
 last and crowning proof of affection. 
 
 “ Napoleon. 
 
 “ At Chislehurst, 
 
 “ February 26th, 1879. 
 
 “ I appoint MM. Rouher and F. Pietri my 
 testamentary executors. I mean by F. Pietri, 
 Franceschini Pietri. 
 
 “N.” 
 
 Dean Stanley spoke of the Prince from the 
 pulpit, on the Sunday after his funeral, in these 
 terms : — 
 
 “ We also know of him in our own renowned 
 Academy of Woolwich, as a student there, winning 
 the friendship of his companions, and achieving 
 his honours, without fear or favour, in that branch 
 of the profession which had attracted the studies 
 of his father and his uncle. Young as he was, he 
 has left a stainless name behind him, honoured 
 and respected even by his adversaries. 
 
 c c 
 
386 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 “ To his comrades — to you, English young men 
 — to you, English boys, as I have been told by 
 many who knew him best — to you, I say, he has 
 left the best legacy possible — the example of a 
 faithful and earnest friend, the example of a pure 
 life and clean lips. 
 
 “To the country which had sheltered his fallen 
 family, he gave what he could — his service and 
 his life. 
 
 “He won for himself the sympathy, and some- 
 thing at least of the soldier’s glory, which in his 
 case was so dear, without the dark shadow of 
 slaughter and bloodshed.” 
 
 In France the sad news of the Prince Imperial’s 
 death came like a thunderclap upon all parties, 
 and changed the aspect of the political horizon. 
 To the Buonapartists it was a terrible blow, and 
 scattered to the winds the hopes that had been 
 maturing around the Prince’s life, for a speedy re- 
 turn of the Empire. 
 
 Save and except a few low ultra- Radical papers, 
 whose coarse expressions of delight at the removal 
 of an antagonist from their path, were too brutal 
 to carry weight, the Press was unanimous in its 
 expressions of commiseration for the Prince’s un- 
 timely fate. In the Assembly the announcement 
 was first received by a dead silence, followed by a 
 thrill of respectful pity for the tragic fate which 
 
Funeral. 
 
 337 
 
 had befallen the heir of the Napoleon Dynasty. 
 And this feeling was common in all ranks where 
 political passion had not extinguished the senti- 
 ment of humanity. 
 
 On the day set apart at St. Augustine’s Church, 
 in Paris, for the religious service to be held in the 
 Prince’s memory, the approaches to that beautiful 
 edifice were blocked by the crowds who thronged 
 thither to assist in the Mass, not one tenth of whom 
 could find admittance within its walls. 
 
 St. Augustine was the last church built by 
 the Emperor Napoleon III. before his downfall, 
 and it was dedicated to the Prince. Marshal 
 MacMahon attended this service, which was most 
 impressive, from the genuine grief displayed by 
 the congregation. 
 
 Every one present was in mourning garb, and 
 carried a bunch of violets ; whilst, in defiance of all 
 prohibition to the contrary, the ladies wore on 
 this occasion the eagle, and other insignias of the 
 Empire, as ornaments. 
 
 On the spot in Zululand where the Prince fell, 
 the Queen has caused a cross to be erected at her 
 own expense, bearing the following inscription : — 
 
 “This cross is erected by Queen Victoria, in 
 affectionate remembrance of Prince Napoleon 
 Eugene Louis Jean Joseph, Prince Imperial of 
 France, to mark the spot where, while assisting in 
 a reconnaissance with the British army, he was 
 killed, on the 1st June, 1879, having been attacked 
 
 c c 2 
 
388 Life of the Prince Imperial of France. 
 
 by a party of Zulus. He fell with his face to the 
 foe.” 
 
 This cross has been placed in position close to 
 the cairn which was raised by the King’s Dragoon 
 Guards in memory of the spot where the Prince 
 fell. The ground around, inclusive of the graves 
 of the troopers of Bettington’s Horse, who fell 
 at the same time, has been enclosed by a wall, 
 and the space within planted with trees. This 
 work was carried out by Major Stabb, 32nd 
 Light Infantry, who, with a party of the Royal 
 Engineers, proceeded from Maritzburg to place 
 the Queen’s Cross in position. 
 
 When it was erected, the Major commanded the 
 attendance of the distinct tribe of Zulus by whom 
 the district was inhabited. 
 
 These came in their wild and primitive attire, 
 and through the medium of an interpreter, Major 
 Stabb delivered an address to them. 
 
 In this he committed to the Chief of the district, 
 and his indunas, the memorial designed to mark the 
 last resting-place of the warriors with whom they 
 had fought as fair and open enemies for victory. 
 
 The ceremony was rendered the more interest- 
 ing, from the fact that Gabousa, the headman of the 
 very clan whose followers slew the Prince, stood 
 within the enclosure near the cross, and, with his 
 hand uplifted to heaven, solemnly declared that 
 the spot should be henceforth respected, and re- 
 garded with reverence. 
 
Funeral. 
 
 389 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter here into the public 
 discussion which has lately arisen in respect to the 
 erection of a monument to the Prince Imperial’s 
 memory in Westminster Abbey ; suffice it to say, 
 the objections raised had reference solely to the 
 facts of the Prince being a foreigner, and that he 
 belonged to the Roman Catholic creed. They in 
 no way detracted from the high esteem which all 
 parties have tendered to his character. 
 
 These objections having been, however, lately 
 overruled, a monument worthy of the Prince’s name 
 and lineage is about to be placed in England’s 
 grand old Abbey at Westminster, which will remind 
 future generations that the son of our old ally, 
 Napoleon III., and the adopted child of England 
 — for such the Prince Imperial may surely be 
 termed — fell fighting bravely against her foes. 
 
 Proposed Monument to be erected in Westminster Abbey, to the Memory of the 
 Prince Imperial.