T'howfooltottCKCflmbdnions in the aowd 
 „ into thv room mfhvtc upon thv Knees 
 u Before th<j bocKJlKlvcs humblstaKN Cod 
 J That thou hdstfrifnds Iikcw sc 
 
 , Altai invu iu 
 
If 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1850.] 
 
 THE PRINCE PRESIDENT— (continued.) 
 
 " Charivari." y.st Augtist, 1850. 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL TOUR ROUND THE PROVINCES. 
 
 "It is not all pleasure even on one's travels." 
 
 M. le Maire. — "Permit me to present to your Highness these young persons; they are the 
 very same who had the honour to receive your august uncle in 1804. He embraced them ! We 
 trust you will imitate the noble example of your great relative in all things." 
 
 The Traveller (to himself). — " Embrace them I — the devil ! " 
 
 Louis Napoleon was fully aware of the popularity of his great Uncle, especially 
 in the provinces, and never lost an opportunity of turning this to good account. On 
 his journey he appeared in a military uniform of his own selection, notwithstanding 
 the new Constitution had expressly declared that he should hold no military com- 
 mand. The nephew and successor of the Great Napoleon, he thought, would cut 
 but a sorry figure in black coat and white necktie. Next to the Prince President, 
 in the picture, will be seen Count Montholon, decorated with the ecclesiastic ex- 
 tinguisher; whilst still further to the right is the Duke de Morny. 
 
 25 
 
THE MAN OF HIS TIME. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 NAPOLEON III. 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES M. HAS WELL. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE SAME STORY AS TOLD 
 
 BY 
 
 POPULAR CARICATURISTS 
 
 Of the last Thirty Years. 
 
 Napoleon III., as the modern " Hop-o'-my-Thumb," in the act of obtaining 
 the legendary Seven-league Boots. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY. 
 
 All rights reserved. \ 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/manofhistimeOOhasw 
 
PRELIMINARY. 
 
 HE reader will not be able to complain that a 
 one-sided view of the Life of Napoleon III. 
 has been set before him in this work. The 
 text forms one chronicle, the illustrations another 
 — and certainly a very different one. Between the 
 two the reader will doubtless arrive at an opinion 
 not very far from the truth. 
 
 The publisher takes upon himself whatever re- 
 sponsibility rests in the selection of the pictures 
 illustrating this volume. After he had looked over 
 what Mr. Haswell has written about the Emperor, he 
 felt that there still remained a part of the story 
 
ii PRELIMINARY. 
 
 untold, viz. that part which is contained in the public 
 caricatures appearing immediately after each impor- 
 tant event in our hero's career. 
 
 It matters but little to what extent any caricature 
 may be exaggerated — however distorted may be the 
 form when compared with the original — there always 
 must be a certain amount of truth in the libel, or the 
 caricature will be wholly without effect. It is this con- 
 temporary opinion, this whisper of truth, caught 
 up by the satirist at the moment, and echoed and 
 re-echoed on both sides of the English Channel, and 
 in the New as well as in the Old World, that \v 
 thought only fair should be laid before the rea 
 along with the story told from another point of view.. 
 
 No insult whatever has been intended to the 
 deposed monarch in reproducing these little pictun 
 The Emperor has been before the world as a pub- 
 man for such a very long time, that we may read 
 believe he has long ceased to feel annoyance at a 
 
PRELIMINARY. iii 
 
 caricatures of either his person or his actions. His 
 past acts are now a matter of history, and if we want 
 to know the opinion of the public concerning them, 
 we cannot do better than to consult the little sheets 
 of satire and of comedy that preserve, as faithfully as 
 amber does flies, the ideas and facts, the popular 
 sentiments and opinions of the passing hour. 
 
 J. C. H. 
 
 Piccadilly, 
 
 April 15, 1871. 
 
A FACT NOT GENERALLY KNOWN. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter of the Rev. 
 Thomas Belsham, dated Hackney, August 16, 1805, which 
 contains an account of a visit which he had just paid 
 to the Duke of Grafton : — " Admiral Cosby told me one 
 circumstance which was curious. When he was Com- 
 mander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, during the late war, 
 at the time that we were in possession of Corsica, and 
 when Sir Gilbert Elliott was Governor-General of the 
 island, General Paoli introduced Buonaparte, then a young 
 man, to the Governor and to the Admiral, as a friend of 
 his who would be glad to be employed in the service of 
 England; but these wise men, not having Lavater's skill 
 in physiognomy, rejected the proposal, which obliged 
 Buonaparte to offer his services to the French, and this was 
 the rise of Buonaparte's fortunes. I had often heard that 
 Buonaparte had offered his services to the English and been 
 rejected, but I hardly gave credit to it till I learned it 
 from Admiral Cosby himself." 
 
NAPOLEON III. 
 
 [1808 to 1815.] 
 
 THE QUEEN HORTENSE, AND PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON 
 WHEN A CHILD. 
 
 From a picture in the Emperor s private collection. 
 
LOUIS NAPOLEON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 
 
 ENIUS considered as property is not here- 
 ditary. It is a passport granted to some men 
 to immortality, stamped "not transferable"; 
 it is Nature's knighthood, the glories and honours of 
 which expire with the recipient. Very seldom, indeed, 
 do we see more than one member of a family illus- 
 trious : there have, of course, been exceptions to this 
 rule, but they may be considered as much out of order 
 as twins and triplets are out of the common range of 
 births. There is, to our thinking, moreover, some 
 special design of Providence in partially favouring 
 certain races. History affords hundreds of examples, 
 but none, perhaps, more remarkable than that of the 
 Buonaparte family. A great and richly endowed 
 country was sunk in voluptuous ease and polished 
 indolence: the first Napoleon was sent to stir its 
 stagnant blood ; to rouse its military ardour ; to 
 
 B 
 
iS BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. [1808, 
 
 elevate its people in the eyes of surrounding nations ; 
 and to make the name of France a name of power. 
 He fulfilled his mission to the letter ; but the storm 
 he had raised, though it purified the atmosphere of 
 the whole land, would have devastated it had it con- 
 tinued. A monarch skilled to rule in a reign of 
 peace was what the realm then wanted. Three 
 miserable specimens of that article were tried, and 
 proved as miserable failures : they did no great harm, 
 because they did nothing at all. 
 
 Providence wrested the useless sceptre from the 
 last, and bestowed it upon a second Napoleon. It 
 may be left for future generations — not biassed as the 
 present one is — to say whether he too has fulfilled 
 his mission. Nor is it our intention to waste in 
 eulogies on the man the space so limited for record- 
 ing his wonderful career. Yet a word or two of 
 that kind we must say by way of a text, on which 
 we propose to found our discourse. His acts and 
 deeds speak for themselves ; and they prove, on 
 undeniable evidence, that France was never so well 
 governed as by him. A people as fickle as the wind, 
 as restless as the sea ; a people as whimsical as 
 women, as fanciful as children ; a people with whom 
 novelty is a mania and faction a disease ; a people 
 brave, intelligent, and generous by fits, and treacher- 
 ous, frivolous, and vindictive by starts ; such a people 
 could have been governed at that crisis only by such 
 a ruler. And single-handed, by the sheer force of 
 his genius, and the moral power which is the body- 
 guard of genius, he governed them wisely and well. 
 In spite of almost invincible opposition, in the face 
 of almost unsurmountable obstacles, he raised them, 
 step by step, to be regarded as the most enlightened 
 nation of Europe ; he unsparingly promoted their 
 national welfare ; he perceptibly diminished their 
 
iSo3. I 
 
 BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 
 
 national evils ; in short, for nearly twenty years 
 he was the glory of France and the wonder of the 
 world. 
 
 Carlo Buonaparte, from whose loins sprang the 
 founder of the Napoleonic dynasty, was by profes- 
 sion an attorney at Ajaccio, in the island of Corsica, 
 and in the latter part of his life held the post of" 
 Procureur du Roi, or Attorney-General. He married 
 a lady remarkable alike for her beauty and strength 
 of mind, whose maiden name was Letitia Ramolino. 
 She bore him in all thirteen children, but only eight 
 of them lived beyond their infancy. These were 
 Joseph (afterwards King of Spain), Napoleon (after- 
 wards Emperor of the French), Lucien, Louis (after- 
 wards King of Holland), Jerome (afterwards King of 
 Westphalia), and the three sisters, Eliza, Caroline, 
 and Pauline. 
 
 From Louis Buonaparte descended the hero of 
 these pages. Louis Buonaparte, in May, 1806, was 
 created King of Holland. He had previously 
 married Hortense Fanny de Beauharnois, the 
 daughter of Josephine, the first wife of Napoleon, 
 who was subsequently divorced. There never was, 
 perhaps, a more ill-assorted marriage than that of 
 which the third Napoleon was the offspring. 
 
 Louis Buonaparte was by no means an unamiable 
 man ; in fact he was too tender-hearted to please his 
 brother, for in his sympathy with the Dutch in their 
 trials of those times, he greatly offended the 
 Emperor, who hated the Dutch as heartily as ever 
 Dr. Johnson could have wished to see a man hate, 
 on account of the tendencies of the Hollanders 
 towards England — a country the subjugation of 
 which was the main aim of the man who crippled 
 the rest of Europe. 
 
 The way in which Louis suffered himself to be 
 
 B 2 
 
20 BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. [1808. 
 
 foisted on a nation to which he was an utter stranger, 
 and whose language he could not speak, proved him 
 rather easy of being led. 
 
 It is true that subsequently, when his crafty 
 brother wished to make a more complete tool of 
 him by offering him the crown of Spain, two years 
 after he had assumed that of Holland, he was obsti- 
 nate in his refusal to accept it ; but then he had had a 
 taste of the menial and degrading position for which 
 he was intended — that of a catspaw. Napoleon wrote 
 his brother a very specious and cunningly devised 
 letter on this occasion, which might have tempted 
 him but for his late experiences. "The King of 
 Spain," said he, " has just abdicated, the Prince 
 of Peace has been imprisoned, insurrectionary 
 movements have shown themselves at Madrid. 
 At that instant, our troops were at least forty 
 leagues distant, but on the 23rd [March, 1808], 
 Murat must have entered that capital at the head of 
 40,000 men. The people demand me with loud 
 cries to fix their destinies. Being convinced that I 
 shall never conclude a peace with England till I have 
 caused a great movement on the continent, I have 
 resolved to put a French prince upon the throne of 
 Spain. In this state of affairs / have turned my eye 
 on you for the throne of Spain. Say at once what is 
 your opinion on the subject. You must be aware 
 that this plan is yet in embryo, and that although I 
 have 100,000 men in Spain, yet according to circum- 
 stances I may either advance directly to my object, 
 in which case everything will be concluded in a fort- 
 night, or be more circumspect in my advances, and 
 the final result will appear only after several months' 
 operations. Answer categorically — if I declare you 
 King of Spain, can I rely on you ? " 
 
 Louis did answer categorically — No. He had already 
 
i8o8.] BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 21 
 
 begun to be tired of doing the great man's dirty work, 
 and contemplated abdicating his inglorious throne, 
 which he eventually did, in 18 10, in favour of his son 
 Napoleon Louis, or, failing him, his other son, Charles 
 Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III.). 
 
 Notwithstanding this show of spirit, Louis Buona- 
 parte was a man that almost any woman, had she 
 taken the trouble, could have managed. Hortense, 
 his queen, was not that woman. She could not 
 bear him — he was so excessively heavy, drowsy, 
 and stupid. She was all life and wit, thoroughly 
 imbued with poetry and romance, and a beauty be- 
 sides, who felt that the sacrifice of her charms in her 
 union with this clumsy boor, for reasons not her own, 
 was an act of exceeding great merit on her part. 
 Napoleon, aided by her mother, Josephine, almost 
 compelled her into this mariage dc conveyance. 
 Tradition ascribes a variety of motives to them, and 
 thereby hangs a tale of scandal which it would serve 
 no purpose to perpetuate. 
 
 The natural consequence of this loveless, and one 
 might almost say absurd, match was, that Louis and 
 his queen were husband and wife only in name. 
 From the first they lived very much apart, and a 
 little more than five years after their nuptials they 
 finally separated — the date of their marriage being 
 January, 1802, and that of their separation, Septem- 
 ber, 1807. Quoting her husband, Hortense betook 
 herself to Paris, where she was exactly in her ele- 
 ment, and was numbered amongst the most beautiful 
 and the most fashionable ladies of the Tuileries. 
 
 Six months after her arrival at the French capital, 
 namely, on the 20th of April, 1808, she gave birth to 
 Charles Louis Napoleon, who was destined to revive 
 the dynasty of his uncle after it had been overthrown 
 by the combined armies of Europe. 
 
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 
 
 [1810. 
 
 The birth of this prince was the occasion of great 
 demonstrations in France and Holland, salvos of 
 artillery announcing his advent as the heir of the 
 Imperial throne — for it must be remembered that 
 Napoleon's own son was yet unborn ; in fact, the 
 Emperor had not then divorced Josephine. 
 
 The next great event in the early career of young 
 Louis was his baptism, which was attended by a 
 vast display of splendour. This took place at 
 Fontainebleau, on the 4th of November, 18 10, the 
 Emperor, with his newly-made bride, Maria Louisa, 
 Archduchess of Austria, standing as sponsors, and 
 the ceremony being performed by Cardinal Fesch, 
 the brother of Josephine. 
 
 The boyhood of Louis Napoleon was not charac- 
 terized by any strong indications of a superior mind. 
 He was of a taciturn, morose disposition — almost 
 unnaturally so for a boy — and was seldom seen to 
 play or associate with other children. His mother 
 designated him " mildly obstinate" ; but she was 
 very fond of him, and her definition of his character 
 must be considered accordingly. Almost everybody 
 else who knew him as a boy speaks of him in much 
 harsher terms. 
 
 That he was not so bad of heart as he looked, 
 however, was attested by the great affection he 
 entertained for his mother, the tenderness of which 
 was always observable. There would also seem to 
 have been some heroism in the boy, and a love of the 
 beautiful. As an illustration of these qualities, it 
 may be mentioned that, on the return of the 
 JEniperor from Elba, he took his young nephew, 
 to whom he was very much attached, to the Champ 
 -de Mai, and, holding him up in his arms, presented 
 liim to the deputies of the people and the army, not 
 more to their delight than that of the child, upon 
 
iSis.] BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 23 
 
 whom the grandeur of the scene had a magical effect, 
 though he was then only seven years old ; and he 
 made a dreadful fuss when being taken away by his 
 mother. These are, however, traits that may be 
 noticed in almost any child, and would not have 
 found a place here but for the inexorable demand 
 of the public to know something of the early 
 days of the great men whose lives the historian 
 chronicles. 
 
 The fall of Napoleon in 181 5, and the re-establish- 
 ment on the usurper's throne of Louis XVIII., was, 
 of course, the signal for all the Buonapartes to quit 
 France. Hortense, who then went under the title of 
 the Duchess St. Leu, betook herself, with her son, to 
 Bavaria ; but from thence she was soon compelled to 
 make another move, and she then went to Switzerland. 
 Here, too, she was only allowed to remain a short 
 time, for political reasons ; and she eventually sought 
 Italy as her asylum, taking up her residence near 
 Rome. 
 
 Louis having now reached the age when steps 
 should be taken for his mental culture, a tutor was 
 appointed in one M. Lebas, whose precepts were not 
 likely to allow to lie dormant the hereditary republican 
 spirit of his pupil. M. Lebas was a red-hot republican 
 himself, and was the son of a red-hot republican — the 
 M. Lebas who was the intimate friend and associate 
 of Robespierre, whose ignominious death led to that 
 of M. Lebas by his own hand ; his attachment to the 
 prime mover in the Reign of Terror being so great 
 that he could not outlive him. 
 
 What progress he made under the tuition of this 
 pedagogue is not recorded, but all historians agree 
 that to his mother he owes very much of that 
 knowledge which has elevated him to the throne of 
 France, and a great deal more of that chaste poetical 
 
24 
 
 BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 
 
 [1815. 
 
 fancy and strength of style which characterize all his 
 writings and public orations. 
 
 All authorities admit that Hortense was a really 
 clever woman ; and some go as far as to say that the 
 first Napoleon was indebted to her for many sugges- 
 tions that proved of great service to him. 
 
 Her literary productions are not numerous, but the 
 few that can be traced to her are full of fire and 
 poetical fancy ; and we need mention no other piece 
 than the lyric commencing " Partant pour la Syrie " 
 to establish her claims in this respect. She devoted 
 a good deal of her time to the education of her chil- 
 dren, but more especially of this boy, who, though he 
 then had an elder brother living, was always regarded 
 as the hope of the family. 
 
 Though the odds were now so much against them, 
 the Buonapartes, one and all, never despaired of 
 regaining their lost power, and were continually 
 venting themselves in prophecies as to their coming 
 restoration. The grandmother, or Madame Mere, as 
 she was designated by the expatriated circle, was 
 given, it is said, to this kind of thing. Calling, when 
 on her death-bed, her waiting-maid Belgrade to her 
 side, she said, " Go to Jerome, he will take care of 
 thee ; when my grandson is Emperor of France, he 
 will make thee a great woman." 
 
 She then asked for Colonel Darley, who had 
 attended her in all her fortunes, and to him she 
 said, " You have been a good friend to me and my 
 family. I have left you what will make you happy. 
 Never forget my grandson, and what he and you 
 may arrive at, is beyond my discerning, but you will 
 both be great!' She then washed her hands, declaring 
 she had done with the world, and was soon after- 
 wards found dead, with her prayer-book on her 
 breast. 
 
NAPOLEON III. 
 [1808 to t 81 5.] 
 
 LOUIS BONAPARTE, KING OF HOLLAND, 
 
 FATHER OF NAPOLEON III. 
 
 From a picture i?i the Empervr'i, private collection. 
 
1 8 15-] BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 25 
 
 It will be raadily imagined, therefore, that the boy 
 was nurtured in the hope of regaining his uncle's 
 sceptre, and restoring his exiled relatives once more 
 to their positions, round the throne of France. That 
 such teachings and such dazzling prospects did not 
 turn his young head, only goes to prove the power of 
 his mind, and the calm, cool self-possession which was 
 his chief characteristic throughout the many troubles 
 and dangers which constantly beset his path ere he 
 reached the first step of his throne. At all events, 
 what with his tutor and what with his relations, young 
 Louis had but one aim and object daily placed before 
 him — the restoration of the Buonaparte dynasty and 
 the Imperial crown of France. He, too, himself, it is 
 well known, had always a strong presentiment that 
 he should one day become the Emperor of the 
 French. The uncle was a fatalist, believing in des- 
 tiny, and the nephew inherited his creed. 
 
 One day, when quite a child, he went into the 
 Cabinet where the Emperor was preparing for his 
 last campaign, and, bursting into tears, clung to the 
 knees of his uncle and said, " Oh ! sire, my gover- 
 ness says you are going to the wars : oh, do not go ; 
 do not leave me !" 
 
 " I have often gone to the wars before-, my child : 
 fear nothing, I will soon come back to you." 
 
 " Oh, dear uncle, do not go ; they want to kill you ! 
 or, if you go, take me along with you." 
 
 This affected Napoleon very much, and turning to 
 the Marshal in attendance, His Majesty said, " Em- 
 brace Louis, embrace that boy ; he is perhaps the hope 
 of my race!" Here no doubt was sown the seed of 
 the man's ambition, which grew into the " Napoleonic 
 Idea" of destiny. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 HIS FIRST MOVE ON THE POLITICAL CHESS-BOARD. 
 
 HE Buonapartists in France, though out- 
 wardly loyal to their new Governments, were 
 neither idle nor hopeless while the descend- 
 ants of their beloved Napoleon were outlawed and in 
 exile. Constant were the signs manifested that 
 there was a party, and a very considerable one too, 
 working day and night to re-establish the dynasty 
 that had just fallen. It was not, however, until about 
 fifteen years afterwards that they were bold enough 
 to make anything like a popular demonstration ; but 
 about the year 1830 it was clear that, if the son of the 
 Emperor, who was then just of age, had had the spirit 
 to make an attempt at an insurrection, his followers 
 would have been neither few nor far between. 
 
 A correspondent writing to the Times from Paris 
 at that period, particularly mentions how the Buona- 
 partists were beginning to look up, and how that 
 they were not over-cautious in expressing themselves 
 as to the likelihood of their being able to avenge 
 themselves for fifteen years of oppression and hard- 
 ship. It does not appear that the Duke of Reisch- 
 stadt, as the son of Napoleon was now called, had 
 either the pluck or the inclination to risk his liberty 
 and his life, even with so plausible a prospect of 
 success ; but Hortense was quickly alive to the situa- 
 
1830.] THE POLITICAL CHESS-BOARD. 
 
 27 
 
 tion, especially as day after day brought news of 
 fresh disturbances in Paris, and of the intense excite- 
 ment gradually increasing as the memorable trials of 
 the ex-Ministers proceeded. 
 
 The mother of Louis Napoleon summoned several 
 family councils, to consider what steps should be 
 taken with a view of advancing her son's interests, 
 and their own, under the existing crisis. There were 
 present the old lady, Madame Mere, Jerome Buona- 
 parte, Hortense, Louis, and Cardinal Fesch. It is 
 not known what steps they decided on in the matter, 
 but the fact that they intended doing something with 
 regard to their return to France coming to the ears 
 of the Pope, threw His Holiness into a dreadful state 
 of alarm and agitation. 
 
 Cardinal Fesch quickly received a polite intima- 
 tion from the Vatican that, as the presence of the 
 young prince at Rome at that time might lead to 
 disagreeable consequences, His Holiness would feel 
 obliged if he would withdraw. The message was no 
 doubt so very polite — perhaps scarcely going beyond 
 a hint — that Louis endeavoured to evade it ; but it 
 soon became imperative in its tone, and shortly 
 afterwards a guard of soldiers waited upon him, and 
 conducted him beyond the frontier. 
 
 This was, perhaps, an ungracious act on the part 
 of the Pope, but even with infallible natures self- 
 preservation no doubt is the first law. His Holiness 
 certainly might have compromised himself by allow- 
 ing plots and machinations to take place in his 
 dominion against the peace of another country. 
 
 Louis Napoleon, now in his twenty-third year, with 
 more accomplishments than many men of his age 
 and position, and an exile from what he lately 
 doubtless had begun to regard as a home, sought for 
 some pursuit to occupy his mind till he could see the 
 
28 
 
 HIS FIRST MOVE ON 
 
 [1831. 
 
 proper opportunity of carrying out his idea of 
 becoming the second Emperor of the French. He 
 soon met with something that suited him exactly. 
 A revolution broke out in Italy, and he joined the 
 insurrectionists, whose motto was " Liberty for 
 Italy." 
 
 It was a singular coincidence of this rising that 
 one of the first states affected and in arms was that 
 of Parma, over which Maria Louisa, Archduchess of 
 Austria and ex-Empress of the French, held sway. 
 The execrable conduct of this woman to her fallen 
 husband, while it awoke the sympathies of friends 
 and foes for that truly lonely exile at St. Helena, 
 deserted even by the wife for whom he had put away 
 another, also brought her into universal condemnation 
 and contempt. Her behaviour when her people rose 
 was somewhat amusing, and not a little selfish. 
 
 She was seated at breakfast, on the 10th of 
 February, 183 1, when a deputation from the people 
 of the town waited upon her, and announced to her 
 that the Parmesans intended to join the Italian 
 Confederation, and requested her to withdraw. The 
 Duchess insisted upon remaining, but the deputation 
 intimated that her carriages were already in waiting 
 to convey her under escort to wherever she might 
 think proper to go ; and, in fact, that she must lose 
 no time in making her preparations ! She speedily 
 took the hint and was off to Piacenza. From thence 
 she issued the following proclamation, illustrative of 
 her character : — 
 
 " Piacenza, February 26. — Maria Louisa, Imperial 
 Princess, Archduchess of Austria, by the grace of 
 God Duchess of Parma, Guastalla, &c, to her subjects. 
 
 "You know the motives which induced me to 
 leave Parma and to remove to my faithful city of 
 Piacenza. Before my departure I had taken the 
 
1831.] THE POLITICAL CHESS-BOARD. 29 
 
 necessary measures to provide for the wants of the 
 state till I return. But meantime part of my 
 subjects, forgetting their duties to me, have dared to 
 establish at Parma a provisional government, which 
 has suspended the powers of the authorities instituted 
 by me in my Duchy. 
 
 " I do not mean to suffer the power which has been 
 confided to me by God to be fettered and destroyed 
 by these rebels, and consequently I declare to be 
 radically null everything that the government set up 
 by these men has done or may do in the sequel ; 
 and I warn my subjects against the consequences 
 that obedience to orders issuing from unlawful autho- 
 rities would lead to." 
 
 As one reads this proclamation one cannot but 
 be struck with the retributive justice awarded the 
 Duchess ; for aiding and abetting those who had 
 forgotten their duties to her was the nephew of the 
 man to whom she had so deplorably forgotten her 
 duties — the man whom she had not only spurned in 
 his fall, but whose name she disdained any longer 
 to wear. Her lofty threat as to the consequences 
 that might overtake the rebels is the comic part of 
 the effusion. It brings out in bold relief the 
 cowardice of her nature, this dealing in terrible 
 menaces from a safe distance, and after running away 
 from her dominion without having struck a single 
 blow for her rights. That same cowardice had 
 doubtless much to do with her not facing the 
 rigours of exile with him whom she had sworn to 
 love and cherish under every phase and circum- 
 stance of life. 
 
 On her return to power she was vindictive enough 
 to carry out her threats, notwithstanding that she had 
 not long previously sought to conciliate her subjects 
 by promises of an amnesty to all who laid down 
 
30 
 
 HIS FIRST MOVE ON 
 
 [1S31. 
 
 their arms and again acknowledged her authority. 
 She earned a bad name by these proceedings, for her 
 loving people never afterwards called her by her 
 right title, but alluded to her as the " widow of Neip- 
 perg." Count Neipperg was an Austrian nobleman > 
 who, after serving Napoleon several shabby tricks, 
 finished up with marrying his widow! Historians 
 have been at a loss to account for the ex-Empress 
 being induced to bestow her hand upon this person- 
 age ; for not only from having lost one eye, but from 
 many bad traits of character, he is said to have been 
 more beast than beauty. 
 
 The rebellion in Italy, like all the efforts for the 
 liberation of that unhappy country from despotism 
 and priestcraft, began well. The enthusiasm awakened 
 in the towns and villages was great. All grades and 
 conditions of men were enrolled under the tri-coloured 
 banner — nay, even women shouldered muskets, and 
 shouted " Liberty for Italy ! " General Zucchi was 
 the chief, but a number of other generals took an 
 active part, and Louis Napoleon and his brother were 
 entrusted with high commands. The movement 
 spread like wildfire, and the tri-coloured flag was soon 
 found waving over many cities, the most conspicuous 
 of which were Ferrara, Urbino, and others. At 
 length the insurgents made their way towards Rome, 
 and a little more than a month after the first out- 
 break, a correspondent of the Times writes from 
 Bologna that " Rome is hourly expected to fall." 
 
 The Pope was in mortal terror. He sent Cardinal 
 Benvenuti to parley with the rebels, and they made 
 His Eminence a prisoner, taking him to Ancona. 
 His Holiness then appealed to the Emperor of 
 Austria, who was prompt in offering his assistance, 
 and accordingly, about six weeks after the rising of 
 the people, Baron Frimont, the deputed Austrian 
 
i8 3 i.] 
 
 THE POLITICAL CHESS-BOARD. 
 
 General-in-chief, issued the following proclama- 
 tion : — 
 
 "Milan, 19 March, 1831. 
 " His Holiness, having employed in vain the 
 language of mildness and indulgence, to induce to 
 return to their duty ill-intentioned persons, who had 
 driven several provinces of his states into the horrors 
 of insurrection, has addressed himself through me to 
 His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, my august 
 Sovereign, to obtain assistance against their wicked 
 attempts. 
 
 "In consequence of the power which has been 
 graciously granted to me, I enter with a corps of 
 the Imperial and Royal troops into the domains of 
 His Holiness, where the rebels have overthrown the 
 legitimate government and momentarily usurped the 
 supreme authority. 
 
 " Subjects of the Pope — I come to fulfil the sacred 
 duty which is confided to me. The troops under my 
 command will observe the most strict order and the 
 severest discipline. They enter not as an enemy, 
 but as called to assist your Sovereign, who is un- 
 worthily betrayed, to re-establish the legitimate 
 Government, and to deliver you from the horrors of 
 anarchy. 
 
 " The General-in-chief, 
 
 " Baron Frimont." 
 
 This proceeding on the part of Austria was in 
 direct violation of the treaty of non-intervention 
 guaranteed by France, who not only winked at it, 
 but in a measure aided it. What, then, could a horde 
 of undrilled patriots — even though fired with zeal 
 and fighting for the glorious cause of liberty — do 
 with the powerful army of a nation like Austria, at 
 the back of the Pontifical troops? They did the 
 
3 2 
 
 HIS FIRST MOVE ON 
 
 [1831. 
 
 best thing they could under the circumstances. They 
 stipulated for a disbandment of their forces. Car- 
 dinal Benvenuti was released on the condition that 
 he pledged his holy word to get the Pope to agree 
 to certain proposals for the consideration of his 
 release and their laying down their arms. 
 
 These proposals were by no means of an extra- 
 vagant nature. They were simply that no one who 
 had taken any part in the disturbances should be 
 molested or persecuted ; that all foreigners who had 
 engaged in them should be allowed a fortnight to 
 depart unmolested from the Papal territory, and 
 receive passports gratis if required ; that all civil 
 officers and placemen should sustain no injury for 
 having served the provisional government ; and other 
 minor stipulations. 
 
 The Cardinal, in giving his " holy word " that the 
 Pope would grant all these concessions, reckoned 
 without his host. His Holiness, stimulated by the 
 timely help from Austria, ignored the right of the 
 insurgents to ask for clemency at all ; and in fact 
 behaved himself in a very uncharitable and unchris- 
 tian manner. His first act was to have the Te Deum 
 performed in honour of the victory over Italian 
 liberty and independence ; and his subsequent acts 
 were barbarous and vindictive enough for a Tartar 
 chieftain. 
 
 The Austrians, too, broke faith with the people. 
 They came, according to their own account, to restore 
 peace and order, and to assist the Pope to subdue his 
 enemies ; but they remained to commit the most 
 horrible atrocities, to pillage, violate, and murder, ere 
 they found their way back to the domains of their 
 august sovereign. The people fled in all directions, 
 hastily gathering together whatever movables they 
 possessed, and reaching foreign asylums in the most 
 
1831.] THE POLITICAL CHESS-BOARD. 
 
 33 
 
 deplorable conditions ; but still were happier far 
 than those who remained behind to experience the 
 mercy of the Pope and the Austrians. 
 
 The leaders of the patriots, when they found their 
 cause hopeless, immediately called upon their sup- 
 porters to lay down their arms, in order to prevent 
 useless bloodshed — a call which was as immediately 
 obeyed. But they, mistrusting the Pope and his 
 Ministers, from past experiences, did not wait to get 
 their pardon. They were wise ; for an edict of the 
 Papal Government was soon issued appointing civil 
 and military commissions to try the insurgents, and 
 confiscating their property for the losses occasioned by 
 their rebellion. This was a government, forsooth, 
 with the Vicar of Christ at its head ! 
 
 Louis Napoleon also managed to make his 
 escape, but his brother had fallen ill and died, his 
 death taking place on the 27th of March, 1831. 
 Still the future Emperor of the French was by no 
 means out of harm's way. He was liable to be 
 tracked and made prisoner by the Austrian troops. 
 He was in a dilemma ; but his mother, with the quick 
 wit of her sex, came to his aid. Hearing of the 
 danger he was in, she quitted home and joined her 
 son at Ancona, and, dressing him up in a lacquey's 
 livery, seated him at the back of her carriage, and 
 made her way to Camoscia, a place crowded with 
 fugitives on their way to Corfu. She was fortunate 
 enough to meet here a young nobleman who had 
 been under obligations to her, and she conceived 
 the idea of asking him to represent her son and go 
 to sea, so that she might have the rumour spread 
 about that Louis Napoleon had escaped to Corfu, as, 
 having fallen ill with the measles, the Prince was 
 obliged to lie by for several days. The young 
 nobleman acceded to her wishes, and the rumour 
 
34 
 
 HIS FIRST MOVE ON 
 
 aforesaid going abroad, the pursuit of the Austrian 
 troops was abated. Then, having recovered from 
 his illness, the Prince and his mother fled, and in due 
 course of time reached Cannes. Here, if detected, 
 they would have been in almost as great danger as 
 \ on Italian soil ; but the amateur lacquey sustained 
 his part with consummate tact, and not even the 
 keen eyes of the French police could discover a 
 clue for suspicion. Still the fugitives could not 
 stay at Cannes for ever, and it is just possible 
 the Prince began to get tired of his ignoble 
 disguise. 
 
 What should they do ? — where should they go ? 
 Many people so circumstanced have asked them- 
 selves the same questions, and done exactly what 
 they should not have done, and gone exactly where 
 they should not have gone. They determined to go 
 to Paris ! One is apt to charge such an idea to an 
 aberration of mind, and perhaps on good grounds, 
 but it is a very common thing for men to fancy 
 security in places of the greatest peril. They 
 were led to their resolution by a vain hope. They 
 would throw themselves on the mercy of the King, 
 and implore him to allow them to remain, promising 
 faithfully never to molest His Majesty. Louis 
 Napoleon, too, actually made up his mind to offer 
 to serve in His Majesty's army, and throw " destiny " 
 to the winds. It must be said that they had some 
 slight grounds for the hope that their project would 
 succeed. In happier times Hortense had been the 
 means of propitiating the Emperor in favour of 
 a distressed Bourbon. It was the Duchess of Bour- 
 bon, the mother of the Due d'Enghien, and of course 
 a member of the King's family. Here is her ac- 
 knowledgment : — 
 
THE POLITICAL CHESS-BOARD. 
 
 35 
 
 "April 2\st, 1815. 
 
 " Madam, 
 
 " You have been extremely kind in offering 
 your mediation with His Majesty the Emperor, in 
 order to obtain for me an authorization to remain in 
 France, and an allowance sufficient to enable me to 
 live in a manner suitable to my rank. I know, 
 Madam, what you have already done, and that it is 
 in a great measure owing to your interest that I am 
 indebted for the 200,000 francs a year which His 
 Majesty has had the goodness to allow me." 
 
 What Hortense had " already done " the Duchess 
 does not mention in detail, but it may be stated here 
 that it was nothing more significant than the pro- 
 curation of a similar amnesty for Louis Philippe's 
 own mother, with an allowance of 400,000 francs a 
 year! These were morally good reasons for an 
 appeal to His Majesty's clemency and generosity, 
 but as the world goes, and always has gone, not to be 
 relied upon. The return of a kindness has been 
 found by all men of experience to be as rare as that 
 of borrowed money. Yet what are aching hearts to 
 do in trouble if they cannot hope on such things ? 
 They must hope, if inevitably to be deceived. To 
 Paris they went, the Prince still preserving his dis- 
 guise. The opportunity arrived ; they supplicated 
 the King. His Majesty was not half pleased with the 
 visit of such dangerous personages. It would not be 
 a violation of the veracity of this history to say that 
 he was really as frightened as if a couple of dread 
 spectres stood before him. He begged they would 
 not urge their request ; he hoped they would quickly 
 retrace their steps. Louis, to prove their sincerity, 
 laid his services at His Majesty's feet; he would fight 
 for His Majesty, he would shed his blood for His 
 
 C 2 
 
36 
 
 HIS FIRST MOVE ON 
 
 Majesty's cause. He wanted no rank, no commission ; 
 he would be a common soldier. The King declined 
 the young man's offer, politely, but firmly. Further 
 overtures met with the same fate. Then the poor 
 waifs of fortune were again cast upon its tide. 
 
 Let us here be just to the King (we shall have 
 enough to say against him by and by), as well as 
 generous in our sympathies with the exiles. Louis 
 Napoleon's intentions at that time may have been 
 sincere enough, for he was weary and sick at heart, 
 as all exiles soon become ; and wanting a steadfast 
 home as well for his mother as himself, he might 
 have settled down as not only one of Louis Philippe's 
 most loyal subjects, but one of the most trusty and 
 valiant defenders of his kingdom. But it was almost 
 in the same way that his uncle had begun ; and 
 evil propensities, sad to say, are as apt to run in the 
 blood as virtues and excellences. 
 
 The King could not be blamed for not trusting to 
 the chance of everything turning out right, with his 
 throne and his crown at stake. As to a reciprocation 
 of former obligations, such a thing could hardly be 
 expected in this case. What Napoleon had done for 
 Louis Philippe's mother and the Duchess of Bourbon, 
 the King would doubtless have requited in the same 
 way if Hortense and her son were two harmless old 
 women ; but the fact was, the ex-Queen of Holland 
 bore a wide reputation for intrigue and diplomacy, 
 and her son was one of the heirs of the defunct 
 dynasty, bearing a name that Paris might any 
 morning rise up and proclaim as that of their new 
 monarch. 
 
 As has been before hinted, the Buonapartists also 
 were beginning to crop up pretty thickly, after 
 having been trodden into the ground for some years 
 That very year, on the 5 th of May, the anniversary 
 
THE POLITICAL CHESS-BOARD. 
 
 37 
 
 of the death of their idolized chieftain, some signi- 
 ficant demonstrations were made. Crowds collected 
 round the bronze column in the Place Vendome 
 (where stood the statue of Napoleon), upon the cor- 
 nices and projecting ornaments of which they flung 
 funeral wreaths of flowers and crape. This was all 
 very quietly done, but had its full force. Nay, it was 
 even witnessed by the police. One man, it is said, 
 looking like a lamp-lighter, mounted the railing which 
 surrounds the base of the column, and arranged the 
 garlands as they were handed to him by the throng 
 without, the sentinels now and then elevating a 
 wreath at the point of the bayonet to be hung higher 
 up ! Scraps of doggrel verses eulogistic of the great 
 Napoleon and his deeds were showered about the 
 streets, and picked up by passengers. 
 
 This was in the day-time ; but under cover of 
 darkness the demonstrations were somewhat more 
 lively. The crowds increased, and the military on 
 duty moved around the place, blocking the avenues 
 to the entrance. Still, it was determined by the 
 soldiers to treat the matter lightly ; and instead of 
 fire-arms, fire-engines were resorted to to cool the 
 ardour of the patriots ! The sappers and miners set 
 to at the pumps with a will, and a good drenching 
 drove the people off for a time ; but they kept 
 collecting round the sacred spot, at intervals, all 
 night and all next morning. 
 
 It was evident that the shopkeepers did not view 
 the affair quite so lightly or coolly as the military, 
 for they took the precaution to close hours before 
 their time that evening. All this sort of thing might 
 have been very harmless and orderly in its way ; but 
 who could tell what turn things might take next year, 
 with a young Napoleon present in the body at Paris? 
 We must say the King was quite right to turn a 
 
38 FIRST MOVE ON POLITICAL CHESS-BOARD. [1831. 
 
 deaf ear to his suppliants' prayers, even though it 
 was a hard thing to do. 
 
 Expelled from every refuge that they sought ; 
 branded with a name that caused terror and distrust 
 wherever they went ; sprung from a race which 
 roused the hatred of the wronged, and even chilled 
 the pity of charity ; whither now should this hapless 
 mother and her offspring go ? Where, but to that 
 land whose white cliffs have sheltered exiles hunted 
 from every other part of God's universe ; whose sea- 
 girt shore was never trod by man's oppressor ? 
 Where, but to the Grand Asylum of Europe, as 
 Louis Napoleon subsequently called our free country ? 
 Heartsick, and almost heartbroken, Hortense and 
 her son, quitting their native country, landed in 
 England. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 OREIGNERS driven to our shores, though 
 they fully appreciate the protection afforded 
 them from tyranny and persecution, never 
 can quite get to like the country. Our mode of 
 life is a deal too slow for them ; our amusements 
 are much too sober ; our regulations much too 
 strict. They smile at our immense pretensions 
 to virtue — at our vast assumption of godliness. 
 It may not strike them, perhaps, that we really 
 are more virtuous and godly than any other race 
 of beings, but it amuses them to see how much 
 we aim to show them we are. A Frenchman, 
 therefore, especially, is seldom more than a week in 
 London before he begins to feel "triste." Every 
 Sunday he is certain to have a fit of the blues. He 
 is a miserable spectacle on that day, met with any- 
 where ; but more particularly wretched in his favourite 
 localities, the Haymarket and Leicester Square, where 
 he looks about as lively as an owl on a ruin. He 
 cannot understand the law of Sabbath decorum which 
 obliges places of amusement, and even the shops, to 
 be shut up ; he cannot see the good of that. Nor 
 can he ever cordially fraternize with the natives. He 
 is keenly alive to the marked antipathy of English- 
 men to foreigners. John Bull he finds a thorough- 
 bred Pharisee. That good man's eternal boast is that 
 he is an Englishman ; that he is not a Frenchman, 
 
40 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 L1831. 
 
 nor a German, nor a Russ, nor a Spaniard — that he 
 is an Englishman, God be thanked ! J. B. has a 
 natural aversion to broken English, to shrugging 
 of shoulders, to the use of gestures and grimaces 
 in conversation. He connects these manifestations 
 with treachery and deceit, with secret poisonings, 
 the bullet, and the knife ; and can in no way- 
 associate them with a fair stand-up fight, and no 
 hitting below the belt. He, moreover, does not 
 relish foreign habits and ideas, regarding both 
 generally as indecent and unnatural. Above all, 
 Englishmen have a sterling abhorrence of adven- 
 turers, which is not confined to foreign adventurers. 
 It was the same spirit which unearthed the rotting 
 remains of Cromwell, to submit them to the miser- 
 able vengeance of a gibbet ; that triumphed on 
 the fall of the Gallic Caesar ; that consigned him to 
 a desolate prison, and authorized the insults of his 
 gaoler, Lowe. These feelings and prejudices, no 
 doubt, were prevalent to a greater extent amongst us 
 at the time we are speaking of than now ; but the 
 march of civilization has by no means routed them, 
 and a foreigner is still the object of suspicion and 
 distrust. 
 
 Not that to a pair of ill-used, helpless beings like 
 Hortense and her son, was exhibited any of this 
 unfriendly feeling on their arrival here. Pharisee 
 as he is, John Bull is a good Christian, and endeavours 
 to do unto others as he would have them do unto 
 him. It is not all self-conceit that bloats his big 
 stomach, there is a heart there as large as that of 
 the animal he derives his name from. He won't stand 
 by and see anybody put upon, even though it be a 
 foreigner. Our refugees, therefore, had little to com- 
 plain of in the reception they met with in England. 
 They experienced the hospitality of several of the 
 
NAPOLEON III. 
 
 \ 
 
 [1815 to 1836.] 
 
 THE CHATEAU OF ARENEMBERG, 
 
 CANTON BERNE, SWITZERLAND. 
 
 The residence of Queen Hortense during her unhappy differences with the King 
 of Holland. She retired here with Prince Louis on the downfall of the Empire, 
 and it was in this delightful chateau that the Emperor passed his youth, under the 
 careful training of his mother, whose early instructions had much influence on his 
 future career. 
 
 Hortense bequeathed Arenemberg to her favourite son, and he, it is believed, 
 presented it to the Empress Eugenie. 
 
 4 
 
x8 3 r.] VAULTING AMBITION. 41 
 
 leading members of the aristocracy, and, amongst 
 others, the Duke of Bedford entertained them in a 
 princely way at Woburn Lodge. The lower orders 
 also showed them sympathy after their own fashion. 
 Tradesmen paid the utmost civility and deference to 
 the exiles, and rough fellows in the street, when they 
 had pointed out to them the nephew of old " Boney," 
 driven from the land of his birth, clutched at his 
 hand, and, giving it a hearty shake, abjured him to 
 keep his pecker up, for they would see him righted 
 some day. Still, Louis Napoleon and his mother 
 could not make themselves at home in England. 
 Everybody was kind and good to them, but yet they 
 felt more alienated here than they did anywhere 
 they had gone since their misfortunes had tossed 
 them about the world. They could not stay here 
 long ; something was wanting for their complete 
 happiness which they could not define. 
 
 In about six months, therefore, they set out for 
 their beloved Switzerland, where they settled down 
 at the Chateau of Arenemberg, in the county of 
 Berne. Here for a while the Prince gave himself 
 up to the pursuit of literature, and wrote some 
 works — notably "Les Reveries Politiques" — which 
 were calculated to enlist in his behalf public favour, 
 by their tendency to unite democratic and imperial 
 parties. As literary works, they are full of merit, 
 showing great powers of thought and reflection, with 
 a good command of easy, graceful diction. 
 
 He became very popular in Switzerland, and his 
 mother's house soon was a centre of attraction, not 
 only to the neighbouring families, but to a large body 
 of the Napoleon party, and that portion of the Re- 
 publicans whose reverses, when acting alone, induced 
 them to amalgamate themselves with the more power- 
 ful and better disciplined bands of the Napoleonists. 
 
42 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 [1832. 
 
 Only a few months after his arrival in Switzerland, 
 the Prince was presented by the authorities of the 
 canton of Thurgovia with the rights of citizenship. 
 This honour was conferred upon him, couched in the 
 following terms, by letter : — 
 
 " We, the President of the petty council of the can- 
 ton of Thurgovia, declare that the commune of Sallen- 
 stein, having offered the right of communal citizen- 
 ship to His Highness the Prince Louis Napoleon, 
 out of gratitude for the numerous favours conferred 
 upon the canton by the family of the Duchess of 
 St. Leu since her residence in Arenemberg, and the 
 grand council having afterwards by its unanimous 
 vote of the 14th of April sanctioned this award, 
 and decreed unanimously to His Highness the right 
 of honorary burgess-ship of the canton, with the desire 
 of proving how highly it honours the generous 
 character of this family, and how highly it appreciates 
 the preference they have shown for the canton, 
 declares that His Highness Prince Louis Napoleon, 
 son of the Duke and Duchess of St. Leu, is ac- 
 knowledged as a citizen of the canton of Thurgovia. 
 
 " In virtue of which we have made out the present 
 act of burgess-ship, certified by our signature and the 
 seal of the state. 
 
 " The President of the Petty Council, 
 (Signed) " AUDERWEST. 
 
 " The Secretary of State, 
 
 (Signed) " MOERIKOFER. 
 
 "Given at Frauenfeld, 30th April, 1832." 
 
 The Prince sent the following reply in acknow- 
 ledgment of the honour conferred upon him : — 
 
1832.3 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 43 
 
 " Monsieur le President, 
 
 " It is with great pleasure that I have received 
 the right of burgess-ship which the canton has been 
 pleased to offer me. I am happy that new ties now 
 attach me to a country which for sixteen years has 
 afforded to us such kind hospitality. My position 
 as an exile from my country makes me the more sen- 
 sible of this mark of attention on your part. Believe 
 me, that under all circumstances of my future life, as 
 a Frenchman and a Buonaparte, I shall be proud of 
 being the citizen of a free nation. My mother 
 desires me to say how much she is touched with the 
 interest you have shown towards me. I beg, M. le 
 President, that you will interpret my sentiments to 
 the council. 
 
 " Receive the assurance, &c. 
 
 (Signed) " NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE." 
 
 It will be noticed that the Prince here signs his 
 name as Napoleon Buonaparte, not Louis Napoleon 
 Buonaparte. The reason for this was, that by an 
 order of the Emperor, in case of the death of Louis 
 Napoleon's elder brother, who was named Napoleon 
 Louis, the eldest representative of the family should 
 bear the title of Napoleon. After the Revolution of 
 1848 he re-altered his signature to Louis Napoleon, 
 owing to some confusion arising from the other prefix 
 to the election papers. 
 
 While on this subject, we may explain also the 
 cause of there being two ways of spelling Napoleon's 
 surname, as Buonaparte and Bonaparte. The name 
 originally was spelt with the addition of the "u," 
 but when Napoleon the First came into power he 
 dropped the letter, in order to assimilate his name 
 more with the French language. 
 
44 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 [1833-5- 
 
 The next year (1833) Louis Napoleon was ap- 
 pointed a captain in a Bernese regiment of artillery. 
 This appointment was, however, merely honorary, 
 for there is no permanent army in Switzerland, and 
 its bestowal was only in compliment of a very clever 
 book on artillery which he had just published. 
 
 Associated thus, several years of Louis Napoleon's 
 life passed over with barely an incident to mark 
 them. In the year 1835, popular rumour ascribed to 
 him intentions of throwing in for the throne of 
 Portugal, then become vacant, and of aspiring to 
 the hand of the Queen Donna Maria. This he 
 indignantly denied, and his letter on that subject 
 is worth quoting, as showing then his own views of 
 his future career. " Several journals," he says, 
 " have noticed the news of my departure for 
 Portugal, as though I were pretending to the hand 
 of Queen Donna Maria. However flattering to me 
 might be the idea of an union with a youthful 
 Queen, beautiful and virtuous, the widow of a cousin 
 who was very dear to me, it is incumbent on me to 
 refute such a rumour, because there is no circum- 
 stance, of which I am aware, which could give rise 
 to it. It is due to myself to add, that in spite of 
 the lively interest which attaches to the destinies of 
 a people who have but recently acquired their rights, 
 I should refuse the honour of sharing the throne 
 of Portugal, should it perchance happen that any 
 persons should direct their eyes to me with that 
 view. The noble conduct of my father, who ab- 
 dicated a throne in 18 10 because he could not unite 
 the interests of France with those of Holland, has 
 not left my memory. My father, by his example, 
 proved to me how far the claims of one's native land 
 are to be preferred even to a throne in a foreign 
 land. I feel, in fact, that, habituated since infancy 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1836.] 
 
 THE STRASBOURG AFFAIR. 
 
 The artist, in dealing with the details of this inglorious fiasco, has assumed a cer- 
 ain poetic licence. The facts were in reality so improbable and absurd, that this 
 leparture from strict historical accuracy was, perhaps, almost involuntary. 
 
 The Prince, according to writers on the event, conceived that he had only to 
 present himself to the garrison of Strasbourg, in the familiar costume of the first 
 Emperor, to be hailed as his successor. The artist has favoured the sanguine 
 
 Nephew with a vision of his illustrious relative. It may be remembered that botlb 
 hese members of the Bonaparte family were rather inclined to believe in omens, 
 •isions, fates in the stars, destinies, eagles, and other paraphernalia of superstition. 
 
 The Uncle produces his jack-boots — memorable alike in victory and defeat — and 
 ounsels his Nephew to tread in his footsteps. He awakes, and finds his great pre- 
 lecessor pointing to these links in the Napoleonic chain. The artist humorously 
 epresents Napoleon departing in Louis' " trodden-down bluchers." 
 
 5 
 
i8 3 5.] 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 45 
 
 to cherish the thought of my native land above 
 every other consideration, I should not be able to 
 hold anything in higher esteem than the interests of 
 France. Persuaded as I am that the great name 
 which I bear will not always be held as a ground of 
 exclusion in the eyes of my fellow-countrymen — 
 since that name recalls to them fifteen years of glory 
 — I wait with composure in a hospitable and free 
 country until the time shall come when the nation 
 shall recall into its bosom those who, in 1815, were 
 expatriated by the will of two hundred thousand 
 strangers. This hope of one day serving France as a 
 citizen and as a soldier fortifies my soul, and is worth, 
 in my estimation, all the thrones in the world." 
 
 To prove that the foregoing sentiments were not 
 mere idle vaunts, he put in execution a project very 
 shortly, that had for its object the return of his 
 family to France. 
 
 It should be mentioned here that, on the death of 
 the Duke of Reischtadt, Napoleon's own son, which 
 took place in 1832, Louis Napoleon became the 
 rightful heir of his uncle's throne, and the sole hope 
 of the Buonapartists. As yet no blow had been 
 struck with a view of advancing his claims in this 
 respect ; but it was perfectly evident that France 
 was thoroughly tired of its citizen king, who was 
 getting more insufferable every day, and it seemed 
 probable that any movement properly and vigorously 
 made to effect his overthrow would be seconded by 
 his disgusted subjects. 
 
 Louis Napoleon began to feel convinced of this 
 idea, and was greatly encouraged by his party to 
 make the attempt, which might have ended more 
 disastrously than it did, but which, from its utter 
 failure, brought his name into a good deal of con- 
 tempt and ridicule. 
 
4 6 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 [1836. 
 
 This was the insurrectionary movement at Stras- 
 burg. The town in question was not badly selected 
 for a rising of the kind, on account of its vicinity to 
 the head-quarters of the disaffected in Switzerland, 
 and of its being a great fortress, as well as of its 
 adjoining provinces where Republican notions pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 The chief associates of the Prince in this affair 
 were Colonel Vaudrey, the commandant of a regi- 
 ment of artillery in Strasburg, whose influence with 
 his men, it was supposed, would serve the Prince's 
 cause, a M. Parquin, and M. (afterwards Count) 
 Persigny, who, it will be remembered, was the French 
 ambassador in London some few years ago. These 
 were all men of the right stamp. Colonel Vaudrey 
 was a brave soldier, who had greatly distinguished 
 himself at Waterloo. M. Parquin was also a soldier 
 of the true military type, while M. Persigny was a 
 clever tactician and consummate diplomatist. 
 
 For some two or three months preceding the at- 
 tempt, Louis Napoleon had taken up his residence at 
 Baden, so as to be nearer the French frontier and 
 avoid espionage. 
 
 It was here, while he appeared to be plunging into 
 the vices and pleasures of that celebrated town of 
 gamblers and roues, that he planned the outbreak, 
 and waited for a favourable opportunity to carry out 
 his designs. At length it was thought the proper 
 time had arrived, and accordingly he set out on his 
 expedition, on the 26th of October, 1836. The next 
 day he arrived at Sohr, where he was obliged to stay 
 till the morrow, as the axle of his caleche had broken 
 down ; but on the 28th he quitted Sohr, and passing 
 through Fribourg, Neubriach, and Colmar, arrived in 
 Strasburg at midnight. On the following morning 
 he had an interview with Colonel Vaudrey, to whom 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1836.] 
 
 THE STRASBOURG AFFAIR— (continued.) 
 
 In the last illustration the old Emperor had presented his ambitious Nephew with 
 his " Jack-boots " as a passport to the Empire. The latter entered Strasbourg in 
 these martial appendages, and as they were immediately recognized by a shoeblack 
 — who polished them gratuitously— his confidence was considerably raised. 
 
 The attempt was made in early morning. Louis Napoleon firs presented him- 
 self to Colonel Vaudrey. 
 
 The Colonel, as soon as he 
 beheld the cherished boots, could 
 
 j not withhold his enthusiasm ; he 
 
 J first embraced the Prince, and 
 
 I then presented him to his regi- 
 ment, who gave him a very en- 
 couraging reception. An eagle, 
 which originally copped the 
 standard of the 7th regiment of 
 the line (Napoleon had served as S; 
 captain in this company), formed P 
 part of the "properties." The ^ 
 artist represents the Prince kiss- 
 ing a carved walking-stick, sur- 
 
 mounted with a cockatoo, in burlesque of this circumstance. 
 
i8 3 6.] 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 47 
 
 he submitted his plan of operations. The Colonel 
 replied to him as follows : — " It is not here a ques- 
 tion of a conflict of arms ; your cause is too French 
 and too pure to be soiled by spilling French blood. 
 There is only one course to pursue which is worthy of 
 you, because it will avoid all collision : when you are 
 at the head of my regiment, we will march together 
 to General Voirol — an old soldier will not be able to 
 resist the sight of you and that of the Imperial 
 Eagle, when he knows that the garrison is with you." 
 
 The Prince agreed to this arrangement. At night 
 he repaired to a house which had been specially 
 engaged for the assembling of himself and his sup- 
 porters, previous to their moving to the barracks 
 where the regiment aforesaid would be assembled in 
 the morning. 
 
 He there found his friends in conclave, and thank- 
 ing them for their devotion to his cause, assured 
 them that from that moment they would share 
 together whatever might come of good or evil 
 fortune. One of them had brought an eagle, and on 
 its being recognized as that of the 7th regiment of 
 the line, which the first Napoleon had served as 
 captain, they pressed it to their hearts with genuine 
 emotion. 
 
 The rest of the night the Prince spent in writing 
 his proclamations, which with his customary caution 
 he did not think expedient to print before. 
 
 Six o'clock in the morning was the hour appointed. 
 It came, and Louis Napoleon himself thus describes 
 the effect the striking of the hour had upon him : — 
 " Never did the strokes of a clock re-echo with such 
 force through my heart ; and in a moment's time the 
 sound of the bugle at the Ouartier d'Austerlitz 
 accelerated still further its beatings." Immediately 
 the Prince was apprised that Colonel Vaudrey was 
 
43 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 [1836. 
 
 waiting for him, he sallied forth, dressed in a uniform 
 the fac-simile of that worn by the first Napoleon, so 
 familiar to his soldiers, and in fact to the world. 
 He was accompanied by M. Parquin, in the uniform 
 of a general of brigade, on one side, and a com- 
 mander of battalion bearing the eagle in his hand 
 on the other, while about a dozen more officers 
 followed in their wake. 
 
 They quickly reached the barrack, where Colonel 
 Vaudrey was in waiting, and the regiment was 
 drawn up in order of battle. On the Prince advanc- 
 ing, the Colonel harangued his men. 
 
 " Soldiers," he cried, " a great revolution is com- 
 mencing this moment. The nephew of the Emperor 
 Napoleon is before you. He comes to put himself 
 at your head. He has arrived on the soil of France 
 to restore to it liberty and glory. The time has 
 come when you must act or die for a great cause — 
 the cause of the people. Soldiers, can the nephew of 
 the Emperor count upon you ?" 
 
 A tremendous shout of "Vive Napoleon!" "Vive 
 l'Emperqur!" was the immediate response, accom- 
 panied by a waving of sabres and the clashing of arms. 
 These demonstrations lasted some seconds, and the 
 Prince essayed to speak, but his voice was drowned 
 by the cheers of the men. At length the Colonel 
 made a signal for silence, which followed. 
 
 The Prince then addressed the soldiers in the 
 following speech : — 
 
 " Resolved to conquer or to die in the cause of the 
 French nation, it was before you that I wished to 
 present myself in the first instance, because between 
 you and me exist some grand recollections in com- 
 mon. It was in your regiment that the Emperor 
 Napoleon, my uncle, served as a captain ; it was in 
 your company that he distinguished himself at the 
 
i8 3 6.] 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 49 
 
 siege of Toulon ; and it was also your brave regiment 
 that opened the gates of Grenoble to him on his 
 return to Elba. Soldiers ! new destinies are in 
 reserve for you. To you is accorded the glory of 
 commencing a great enterprise — to you it is given 
 first to salute the eagle of Austerlitz and Wagram ! ' 
 The Prince here snatched the eagle from the 
 officer who bore it, and continued : — " Soldiers ! 
 behold the symbol of the glory of France, 
 destined also to become the emblem of liberty! 
 During fifteen years it led our fathers to victory ; it 
 has glittered upon every field of battle ; it has 
 traversed all the capitals of Europe. Soldiers ! will 
 you not rally round this noble standard, which I con- 
 fide to your honour and your courage ? Will you 
 refuse to march with me against the betrayers and 
 oppressors of our country, to the cry of 'Vive la 
 France ! vive la Liberte ! ' " 
 
 The men responded with cheer after cheer, and the 
 most intense excitement prevailed. 
 
 Having succeeded to the utmost of his hopes with 
 this regiment, Louis Napoleon took immediate steps 
 to gain over to his cause the remainder of the 
 garrison. Placing himself, therefore, at the head of 
 the soldiers, and the military band striking up, he 
 marched them to the head-quarters of the general. 
 He was everywhere received with cries of "Vive 
 l'Empereur !" 
 
 On the way to the general's quarters he sent an 
 officer with a file of men to a printer's to have his 
 proclamations put into type, and a similar party to 
 arrest the prefect. 
 
 He and his newly acquired force then arrived at 
 the General's before the latter was dressed. The 
 Prince went straight up to him, and offering to 
 embrace him, said, " General, I come to you as a 
 
5o 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 [1836. 
 
 friend. I should be much grieved to raise our old 
 tri-coloured flag without having with me a brave 
 soldier like yourself. The garrison is on my side ; 
 therefore make up your mind and follow me." 
 
 The General was by no means so enthusiastic about 
 the new Emperor as his men. He stood struck with 
 amazement at the proposal, but at length returned 
 a cold reply. " Prince," said he, " you have been 
 deceived ; the army knows its duties, and I will go at 
 once to prove it to you." 
 
 He presented himself before his soldiers, and 
 ordered them to return to their obedience to the 
 King. This order was received with shouts of defi- 
 ance and " Vive l'Empereur ! " 
 
 He beat a retreat, but a picket that the Prince had 
 placed in readiness captured him, and he was locked 
 up. Meanwhile the detachments previously sent on 
 various errands fulfilled their mission with prompti- 
 tude and success. A suitable printer was seized and 
 compelled to set to work on the manuscript pro- 
 clamations, which were all worked off in a short 
 time and posted about the city. The hotel of 
 the prefect was besieged, and that functionary 
 speedily put under arrest. The colonel of the 
 third regiment of artillery was made prisoner in his 
 own house. In short, the rapidity with which every- 
 thing was done was only equalled by its audacity. 
 
 Much has been said and written about the madness 
 of this attempted outbreak at Strasburg, but we 
 think the sequel will show that it was so well 
 planned that it was within an ace of proving the 
 most complete and astounding piece of strategy on 
 record. 
 
 By this time the majority of the inhabitants were 
 beginning to move about, and when they heard what 
 was going on, their enthusiasm for the Prince's cause 
 
i8 3 6.j 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 was as great as had been that of the soldiers. They 
 rent the air with cries of "Vive l'Empereur !" which 
 resounded from street to street and echoed over the 
 entire city. Many, and fervent too, are said to have 
 been the prayers publicly offered for the success of the 
 design. Louis Napoleon saw and heard all this, but 
 it had been well for his scheme that he had not. It 
 put him entirely off his guard. He considered the 
 garrison gained, and the road to Paris opened before his 
 view, strewn with flowers, and resonant with popular 
 acclamations. He had, as will be seen, a great deal 
 to do yet before such dreams could be realized. 
 
 Quitting General Voirol's quarters, the Prince pro- 
 ceeded to the Finkmatt Barracks, where the 46th 
 regiment was quartered. He had sent on before him 
 a messenger to apprise the regiment of his coming, 
 but from some accident the messenger had not 
 reached the barracks before him, and consequently, 
 instead of finding the men, as he expected, as- 
 sembled in the court-yard to meet and welcome 
 him, he discovered they were still in their rooms, 
 preparing for inspection. This was the first hitch 
 in the proceedings, but it did not appear to be a 
 formidable one, for the soldiers, on hearing the magic 
 name of Napoleon, rushed to the windows, and with 
 the heedless impetuosity of their nation, quickly 
 caught up the cry of " Vive l'Empereur !" especially 
 as it was vociferated by the mouths of some hundreds 
 of their garrison comrades. In another moment 
 they had all rushed into the yard, and stood gazing 
 upon the young man who called himself the nephew 
 of their old Emperor. The situation was critical in 
 every way. Now came upon the scene their com- 
 manding officer, Colonel Taillander. He looked the 
 Prince up and down, with scorn and rage burning in 
 his face ; then turning to his regiment, cried with great 
 
 D 2 
 
52 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION. 
 
 [1836. 
 
 vehemence, " Soldiers, you are deceived ! that man is 
 no nephew of the Emperor Napoleon. He is an 
 impostor and a cheat ! He is a relative of Colonel 
 Vaudrey ! " 
 
 This was an extraordinary statement, but no doubt 
 the expression of an honest conjecture. Unhappily, 
 it was favoured by appearances. The Prince's face 
 had not a single feature resembling the Emperor, 
 owing, his enemies say, to a doubtful paternity. His 
 figure, too, was nothing like the well-proportioned, 
 dapper little frame of his uncle. The only point of 
 similarity was the absurd fac-simile uniform, which 
 was all the more calculated to inspire the notion of 
 its wearer being a counterfeit. 
 
 The cry raised by the colonel was echoed by a sub- 
 altern, who rushed out of the ranks to arrest the 
 Prince forthwith. A decisive step here would have 
 turned the tide in his favour, but Louis Napoleon, 
 glutted with so much previous success, was too confi- 
 dent. In an instant the story of the alleged imposture 
 gained credence ; the soldiers were furious ; the sup- 
 posed cheat was surrounded ; his life was in imminent 
 danger ; some, but very few, of his adherents made — 
 for the majority also began to doubt his identity — a 
 movement at a rescue, but were driven back and dis- 
 persed ; in fine, ere the time it takes to relate it, the 
 scheme entirely collapsed, and the Prince and his 
 associates were made prisoners. Most of his sup- 
 porters managed to make themselves scarce, but 
 the following ringleaders were instantly pounced 
 upon : — Colonel Vaudrey, M. Parquin, Count de Gu- 
 court, Lieutenant de Quevelles, Lieutenant Laity, 
 Sergeant-Major Boisson, Louis Napoleon's man-ser- 
 vant, and subsequently a young actress named Mdlle. 
 Gordon, who had taken a prominent part in the 
 conspiracy, con amove. 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1836.] 
 
 THE STRASBOURG AFFAIR — (concluded.) 
 
 The Prince next addressed a patriotic speech to the soldiers who formed Colonel 
 Vaudrey's regiment, and, after prophesying the glories of their new destiny, he 
 invited them to rally round the standard of Austerlitz. 
 
 The emotion was profound, and everything seemed to favour this daring attempt 
 to upset a powerful Government (which that of Louis Philippe undoubtedly was at 
 
 the date of the coup), when, lo ! an unbeliever appeared on the scene, who covered 
 the pretensions of the Prince with confusion and contempt. Colonel Taillander 
 declared him to be both a cheat and impostor, and nothing more than a relative of 
 Colonel Vaudrey, who had warmly assisted the attempt. 
 
 The appearance of Louis Na- 
 poleon certainly did not favour 
 the statement of his relationship 
 to the Idol of France. The artist 
 has given a more laughable ter- 
 mination to the heroic venture by 
 substituting the man who made 
 the "Jack-boots" in Colonel 
 Taillander's place. This man 
 declared that he manufactured 
 the imposing "Napoleons," that 
 they are unpaid for, and that the 
 wearer, immediately on their 
 arrival, deposited them as security for an advance of funds with a relative. Only 
 in that sense, therefore, might they be regarded as "his Uncle's boots!" This 
 adventure ended in the arrest of the Prince. 
 
 7 
 
i8 3 6.] 
 
 VAULTING AMBITION, 
 
 S3 
 
 The immediate effect produced in Paris by the 
 news of this affair was intense excitement, notwith- 
 standing that the official despatches did their best, as 
 usual, to tone down their accounts of it. The name 
 of Napoleon itself was quite enough to upset all 
 such precautions. The funds went up rapidly, and 
 people waited breathlessly for fuller details. The 
 ex-Queen of Naples (sister of Napoleon the First), 
 who was in Paris at that time, was arrested. She 
 was accused of making some law proceedings a pre- 
 text for her presence in the French capital, while her 
 real purpose was to further the insurrectionary de- 
 signs of her nephew. With what truth this charge 
 was brought against this lady is not known, but the 
 Bourbons were not likely to let even an innocent 
 Buonaparte be free at such a moment. She was further 
 suspected of a complicity in other conspiracies, and 
 was all at once considered to be a very dangerous 
 person. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 OR some considerable period Paris continued 
 to talk of nothing but the insurrection at 
 Strasburg. The people were moved to a 
 man by an event which, as later accounts reached the 
 city, would, but for an accidental circumstance, and the 
 prompt measures taken on the first advantage being 
 gained, have assumed a very serious aspect, if it did 
 not terminate in the overthrow of the existing Govern- 
 ment. General Voirol, the commandant of the garrison, 
 seems to have made capital out of the matter. He 
 wrote a long letter to the Minister of War, in which 
 he did not omit to put himself forward as the chief 
 agent in quelling the disturbance. He says : — 
 
 " A picket, commanded by M. Parquin, took pos- 
 session of my drawing-room, but the loyal and brave 
 cannoniers, attending to my voice, and guided by 
 sentiments of duty and honour, surrounded me, and, 
 having mounted my horse, I marched out with them, 
 sword in hand, and proceeded to the citadel, of which 
 I caused the drawbridge to be raised, and where I 
 knew I should find a faithful regiment — the 16th of 
 the line — which had just returned from the camp of 
 Compiegne. The brave soldiers, recollecting our 
 young princes, received me with cries of ' Long live 
 the King!' and evinced an enthusiasm only to be 
 
i8 3 6.] 
 
 NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 55 
 
 met with on the field of battle, in the presence of the 
 enemy." 
 
 Now, all this bravery and enthusiasm took place, 
 without the shadow of a doubt — if indeed at all — 
 when the row was all over ; for every authority 
 mentions the time between the Prince's leaving the 
 General, and his arrest in the barracks of the 46th 
 regiment, as being extraordinarily brief ; furthermore, 
 the picket guarding the General, it may be surmised, 
 would only have given up their charge when it was 
 no longer of use to detain him. Nor was this the 
 only case in which personal advancement was sought 
 by vaunts of bravery and loyalty, for over two 
 hundred persons claimed the honour of having 
 arrested M. Parquin, while it was afterwards^ proved 
 that a sergeant-major had the sole title to it. 
 
 The General, however, by a grateful king and 
 country, was immediately made the recipient of the 
 dignity and emoluments of a peer of the realm ! 
 Colonel Taillander, who was the real hero of the day, 
 does not appear to have had his important services 
 recognized. 
 
 After a short durance in the barracks, the par- 
 ticipators in the conspiracy were removed in carriages, 
 under escort, to the civil prison of Strasburg, to await 
 orders from Paris as to their future disposal. 
 
 The Prince's first thought and care was about 
 the fate of his accomplices, and he never ceased to 
 take all the blame upon himself for all that had 
 happened. He was particularly anxious and con- 
 cerned about Colonel Vaudrey, whom he protested he 
 had seduced from his allegiance to the King, and that 
 but for him the Colonel would still have been loyal. 
 On this subject he lost no time in writing to General 
 Voirol, urging that he (the General) " was in honour 
 bound to interest himself for Colonel Vaudrey, for 
 
56 
 
 NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 [1836. 
 
 that it was probably to the Colonel's attachment to 
 him, and the consideration with which he had treated 
 him, that the non-success of the enterprise was attri- 
 butable." He at the same time insisted that the 
 whole rigour of the law should be visited upon him- 
 self, as he was the leader from whom alone anything 
 could be feared. 
 
 The preliminary measures for the trial of the de- 
 linquents were not long in being taken, and the King, 
 advised by Count Mole, determined upon having 
 it held at the Court of Assizes for the department of 
 the Indre et Loire. M. Guizot and the rest of the 
 Cabinet were for sending the matter to the Chamber 
 of Peers. In the course of a week the captives were 
 informed that an order had been received for their 
 removal to Paris. On hearing this, and that he 
 would be separated from his fellow-prisoners, the 
 Prince wrote a letter to his mother, of which the 
 following is an extract : — 
 
 " When I perceived that my departure from Stras- 
 burg was inevitable, and that my lot was to be sepa- 
 rated from that of the other accused parties, I 
 experienced a grief which it would be difficult to 
 describe. There I was, forced to abandon men who 
 had devoted themselves to me ; and I was deprived 
 of the means of making known, in my defence, my 
 views and intentions. I felt that I was receiving a 
 pretended favour from one to whom I had wished to 
 do the greatest injury. I wasted my breath in com- 
 plaints and regrets, but all I could do was to pro- 
 test." 
 
 The brave lady and affectionate mother to whom 
 the letter was addressed did not receive it, for she 
 was already at Paris, at the feet of the King, suing 
 for a pardon for her son ! Surely there never was a 
 case in which maternal love and solicitude shone with 
 
1836.] NATURAL ' CONSEQUENCES. '57 
 
 a greater lustre, and did more honour to the sacred 
 name of mother. His Majesty would give her no 
 definite promise, except that he would do all he could 
 for her, upon due consideration. 
 
 The Paris gossip, in the interim, was almost 
 entirely confined to the conspiracy and the youthful 
 conspirator. Considering the nature of the attempt, 
 the French were, for the most part, disposed to treat 
 the matter more in the light of an indiscretion than 
 of a really heinous offence. 
 
 Some curious rumours got afloat as to the primary 
 origin of the insurrection. One was to the effect 
 that the notion was actually conceived in 1832; 
 that at that period Louis Napoleon intended to 
 make the attempt in the name of the Due de 
 Reischtadt, whom he meant to carry off against his 
 will, and bring him into France, to proclaim him as 
 Napoleon II. ; that, failing in the above attempt, he 
 would proclaim him in his absence ; that Prince 
 Metternich, becoming aware of this project, nipped it 
 in the bud ; and that the French Government was 
 put in possession of all details. 
 
 Another rumour said that an officer in an infantry 
 regiment, only four months previous to the rising, 
 had received overtures from the Prince which he for 
 some time did not heed, but receiving several other 
 offers of the same description, he thought it to be his 
 duty to communicate the matter to the Minister of 
 War ; that the Minister laid it before the Council, 
 and the officer in question, on being presented before 
 the King, was thanked by His Majesty for the com- 
 munication ; that, shortly after, a correspondence 
 took place between the Minister and the General of 
 Division at Strasburg on the subject ; that when the 
 occurrence actually took place, the King said to 
 Marshal Maison, "This is, in fact, what was an- 
 
58 NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. [183S. 
 
 nounced to me four months ago." The private 
 correspondence, it was further asserted, subsequently 
 discovered in the Minister's secretary's office, amply 
 proved the facts. 
 
 We very much doubt the accuracy of all these 
 statements, notwithstanding the assertion made as to 
 their authenticity. The French papers of that day 
 were deplorably incorrect and conjectural. They 
 did not, or rather could not, even furnish the public 
 with the real facts of events till days after they had 
 happened. 
 
 For instance, the fate of Louis Napoleon had been 
 settled by the Government almost a week before it 
 was authentically announced. That fate was a very 
 merciful one. It was that the young man who had 
 conspired against the throne, and indirectly, perhaps, 
 the life of the King, was not to be brought to trial 
 with the other prisoners, but was forthwith to be 
 exiled to America. 
 
 Sinister motives for this extraordinary leniency were 
 attributed to both the King and the Government. 
 The most feasible of these were, that the Duchess 
 of St. Leu having given her solemn pledge for her 
 son that he should not again transgress, and the 
 Prince himself having renounced all claims to the 
 throne, this was an easy way of getting rid of a 
 dangerous criminal whose blood they were afraid to 
 spill. It was even publicly asserted that the King 
 did not dare to try the young Prince with whose 
 name was associated so much of which the people 
 were proud, and that mercy in this case was an act 
 of expediency. That there were some grounds for 
 such insinuations cannot be denied, but it is equally 
 clear that, with all his faults and weaknesses, Louis 
 Philippe was a really good-natured man, and it is 
 more than likely that his pity for a misguided youth 
 
1836.] NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. 59 
 
 and a heartbroken mother solely induced him to 
 adopt such temperate measures. What share Hor- 
 tense had in the salvation of her son can only be 
 conjectured. She could not have been more strenuous 
 in her exertions if her own life were at stake, and 
 very probably she would not have striven half as 
 hard even in such a case. Count Mole had daily and 
 almost hourly visits from her, mostly in the disguise 
 of a servant bearing messages, so that she might not 
 be recognized. Every plea that her woman's inge- 
 nuity and her maternal anxiety could suggest she 
 put forward, and urged on her knees, with tears and 
 sobs piteous enough to move even a Cabinet Minister, 
 till at length the Count assured her that the Prince 
 should come to no harm, or he himself would imme- 
 diately resign. Her expressions of gratitude may be 
 readily imagined. 
 
 Censorious individuals were not wanting who said 
 that the Duchess's prompt appearance at the foot of 
 the throne was a part of the scheme. They even 
 went so far as to affirm that she was privately resi- 
 dent in Paris, on the very day that the insurrection 
 broke out, in order to be ready to act according to 
 emergency. Both assertions were subsequently 
 proved to be malicious falsehoods. With regard to 
 the first, the Prince had written two letters, one of 
 which he sealed with red, and the other with black 
 wax ; if he succeeded in his attempt, he intended to 
 send the one with the red seal ; if he failed, the one 
 with the black seal. The latter was sent off to 
 Switzerland immediately after his capture. 
 
 As for her lurking in secret, for the purpose alleged, 
 prior to the date of the movement, the fact was 
 established that she did not leave Switzerland till 
 the 2nd of November, or three days afterwards, when 
 she got her son's letter. 
 
60 NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. [1836. 
 
 The Bourbons were eternally spreading evil reports 
 about this lady, for they feared her from the immense 
 influence she not only once but still possessed in 
 France — more, perhaps, than all the other adherents 
 of the Buonaparte dynasty. History amply proves 
 them capable of any extent of baseness ; but its 
 pages alike record, for the satisfaction of millions 
 who have suffered by their crimes, the retributions 
 meted out to them. 
 
 His offence being thus compromised, no time was 
 lost, on the part of the Government, in getting rid of 
 their prisoner, whose stay in the capital would doubt- 
 less have produced disturbances, which under existing 
 circumstances were well avoided. The Duchess of 
 St. Leu could not accompany her son, as she could 
 not leave her estate at Arenemberg unattended to. 
 But it was her intention then to repair to Switzerland, 
 sell off everything, and follow him. 
 
 They did not meet to take a farewell of each 
 other, for the Prince arrived in Paris at two o'clock 
 in the morning of the nth of November, and was 
 actually hurried away to the coast at four o'clock, 
 only two hours afterwards ! He had time, however, 
 to write her an affectionate letter, in which he says : — 
 " I perceive in the step which you have taken all the 
 affection you feel for me. You thought only of the 
 danger which I incurred, but you did not reflect that 
 honour obliged me to share the fate of my com- 
 panions in misfortune. It has caused me poignant 
 grief to forsake those men, whom I led on to their 
 ruin, when my presence and my depositions might have 
 influenced the jury in their favour. I wrote to the 
 King to beg of him to regard them with lenity ; it is 
 the only favour which can touch my heart. I am 
 about to embark for America ; but, my dear mother, 
 I implore you not to follow me, if you would not add 
 
i8 3 6.] 
 
 NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 61 
 
 to my grief. I beg of you, dear mother, to watch 
 over the wants of the prisoners of Strasburg. Take 
 care of the two sons of Colonel Vaudrey, who are at 
 Paris with their mother. I could easily reconcile 
 myself to my fate, if I knew that my companions in 
 misfortune would not be deprived of their lives ; but 
 to have on one's conscience the death of brave sol- 
 diers is a bitter grief which cannot be effaced. 
 Adieu, my dear mother ! Receive my thanks for all 
 the proofs of affection which you give me. Return 
 to Arenemberg, but do not come and join me in 
 America ; it would make me too unhappy. Adieu ! 
 Receive my affectionate embrace. I love you always 
 with all my heart." 
 
 On the 14th of November, or just a fortnight 
 after the disastrous event, the Prince arrived at 
 L'Orient. The trumpet of rumour had sounded his 
 approach, and the natives of the town collected in 
 crowds to have a look at the nephew of their grand 
 Emperor ; but he was speedily lodged in the citadel, 
 and they did not see much of him. 
 
 The weather being extremely unfavourable for 
 putting out to sea, he remained here several days. 
 During this time his continual thoughts and theme 
 were of his fellow-conspirators. To his mother he 
 wrote again that he felt deeply in not being allowed 
 to share the fate of his companions in misfortune ; 
 that he was thereby deprived of the opportunity of 
 deposing to several matters which were in favour of 
 the accused. 
 
 These letters must either prove him a consummate 
 hypocrite, or those who invented the story of his 
 renunciation of all claims to his uncle's throne as 
 the price of his pardon, consummate liars. Had they 
 been written to any one except his mother — to 
 whom they would have been absurd, if the two were 
 
62 
 
 NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. [1836. 
 
 leagued together — there might have existed a doubt 
 as to the alternatives ; but, as the case stands, there 
 can be none. He also expressed himself in the same 
 way to the prefect, and, in fact, to everybody whose 
 ear he could gain. What weight any protestations 
 or depositions on his part could have had, however, 
 on the fate of his companions, it is difficult to see ; for 
 they were caught in the act of treason, for which 
 they were to be tried. He little knew then that the 
 leniency shown to him was the very best thing that 
 could have happened for his companions. 
 
 Enough now has, perhaps, been said of this event 
 in a life so full of events. Whatever the aspirant to 
 the throne lost by the failure of his scheme, it cannot 
 be denied that he got well out of his scrape. He 
 was assailed, it is true, by the bitterest calumnies, not 
 only directed against himself, but against his mother, 
 which, doubtless, he felt more keenly. He was 
 mercilessly laughed at ; he was dubbed a madman 
 and an ass ; but he had philosophy enough to bear 
 all this, and faith enough in his " destiny " to fortify 
 himself with the thought that the day would come 
 when his detractors would turn sycophants, and his 
 lampooners panegyrists. 
 
 After a confinement of a week in the fortress, the 
 Prince was waited upon by the sub-prefect, who 
 informed him that the frigate, the Andromede, in 
 which he was to make his voyage, was ready to set 
 sail — a piece of news he was not ill-pleased to hear. 
 A procession was then formed, composed of the 
 magistrates of the town and the officers of the 
 Gendarmerie, by whom their prisoner was conducted 
 forth over the drawbridge, which was let down. 
 They passed to the beach between two files of 
 soldiers, keeping a space clear from the crowds who 
 flocked to witness the Royal exile's departure. 
 
i8 3 6.] 
 
 NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 63 
 
 Much sympathy was expressed and emotion dis- 
 played by all classes, which afforded the Prince no 
 small gratification. But this feeling of pride was 
 transient, for on reaching the deck of the vessel his 
 countenance fell, and he is said to have shed tears as 
 he gazed upon the receding shores of his native 
 country, which he loved so well, and from which he 
 had hoped so much since his boyhood. All that could 
 be done to ameliorate his position was carefully at- 
 tended to ; he was apportioned the best cabin in the 
 ship, and supplied with all the luxuries and comforts 
 he could possibly desire. The voyage, too, was a 
 pleasant one, though not attended with incidents of 
 any remarkable character. 
 
 Amongst Louis Napoleon's fellow-passengers was 
 a necromancer, or one who professed himself such. 
 The Prince, as much to humour the fellow as to 
 have something to amuse himself with, consulted 
 the oracle as to his future career. The result may 
 be guessed : a prophecy issued from his lips that a 
 member of the Napoleon family — -he could give no 
 further particulars of identity — would make a suc- 
 cessful rising in France, and overthrow the reigning 
 monarch, within a very few years ! The rogue of 
 course knew the " subject " he was dealing with, but 
 it is not at all improbable that even such an absurd 
 assurance had some comfort in it for him whom it 
 was intended to cajole. 
 
 The vessel made a very circuitous passage, going 
 first of all to Brazil, before proceeding to New York, 
 in accordance with the orders received by the 
 captain, a gentleman named Villeneuve, who is said 
 to have been a very agreeable, obliging, kindly 
 old salt. 
 
 Hortense received several letters from her son 
 while he was making this roundabout voyage 
 
6 4 
 
 NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. [1836. 
 
 When they had passed the tropics he writes : — 
 "We have got through the winter, and are again 
 in the midst of summer. [This was in the middle of 
 December.] To the storms of the north have suc- 
 ceeded the trade winds, which allow me to remain as 
 much as I please on deck. Seated on the poop, I 
 reflect on what has happened to me, and think of 
 Arenemberg and you. Our situations are greatly 
 modified by the affections of our minds ; two months 
 ago my strongest desire was never to return to 
 Switzerland, and now, if I were free to follow my 
 inclinations, I would fly eagerly back to it, and sit 
 down once more in that little room overlooking the 
 beautiful country in which I fancy I ought to have 
 been so happy. But when we feel strongly, it is 
 generally our lot to be overwhelmed by the weight 
 of inaction or in the convulsion of painful situations." 
 
 Such letters as these, when generally read, must 
 surely tend to soften the harsh opinion of the man 
 who wrote them, to some extent prevalent in the 
 public mind, from uncontradicted calumnies cir- 
 culated by self-interested and malignant adversaries. 
 
 Much deference and kindness was paid to the 
 Prince by all on board. On New Year's Day, which 
 with our neighbours across the channel is a festive 
 occasion, the officers went into his cabin and cordially 
 wished him a happy New Year. They dined to- 
 gether, and he drank his mother's health, of which 
 he wrote to inform her, adding that he thought at 
 the same time she no doubt was dining at Arenem- 
 berg, and forming similar loving wishes for him. The 
 library, of course, was a very limited one, but there 
 were at least two books after his own heart, the 
 works of Chateaubriand and Rousseau, which he 
 read over again with as much pleasure as when he at 
 first perused them. 
 
i8 3 7-] NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. 65 
 
 In this sort of way, and with nothing more out of 
 the common of sea voyages than a fearful tornado, in 
 which much danger was apprehended, the Prince 
 gained the land of his exile. 
 
 The first piece of news that reached him from 
 Europe was, that those for whom he had experienced 
 so much anxiety and solicitude, his fellow-plotters 
 at Strasburg, had been brought to trial and uncon- 
 ditionally discharged. He had little expected such 
 a termination of the affair, and of course it afforded 
 him the liveliest satisfaction. 
 
 The proceedings in this trial were, perhaps, some 
 of the most remarkable on record. The evidence 
 could not possibly have been more conclusive, but 
 the jury had made up their minds. They waited 
 patiently till all the witnesses were examined ; till 
 the counsel for and against had exhausted all their 
 eloquence ; till the judge had made his damaging 
 comments ; and then they acquitted the prisoners ! 
 
 The excitement and enthusiasm of the people dur- 
 ing the case, which lasted some days, was unbounded, 
 and the verdict was hailed with deafening applause. 
 The Government, of course, was in a great state of 
 confusion. One of its members denounced the issue 
 of the trial as a lasting disgrace to the administration 
 of the justice of France. Perhaps it was; but there 
 was something to be said on the other side. 
 
 In the first place, the prisoners should have been 
 tried at the Supreme Court of the Chamber of Peers, 
 which, according to French law, was alone competent 
 to deal with civil and military offenders on the same 
 charge ; and then the popular feeling had been 
 worked upon by the fact that, while the chief of the 
 conspirators was not only pardoned without a trial, 
 but provided with a free passage into exile, his 
 accomplices were called upon to bear the brunt of 
 
 E 
 
65 
 
 NATURAL CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 [1837. 
 
 the offence. The jury would not sanction such a pro- 
 ceeding. However, the matter led to warm disputes 
 in the Chamber of Deputies, and the question 
 whether a trial by jury was exactly suited to the 
 French constitution was gravely raised. Meanwhile, 
 the agreeably surprised captives got scot free, and 
 made themselves scarce as expeditiously as they 
 could. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. 
 
 SfiSB'OUIS NAPOLEON, on landing in America, 
 1 SpS discovered he was not entirely without kith 
 areagjl and kin in that country, for his two cousins 
 Achille and Lucien Murat were settled down there, 
 one as an officer in the American army, and the 
 other with a highly lucrative civil post. But, from all 
 accounts, he had no reason to congratulate himself 
 on this circumstance. 
 
 The exile was, of course, an object of immense 
 interest to a people so curious as those of the United 
 States, whose inquisitiveness has made them remark- 
 able in that respect. He checked their impertinence 
 with that haughty reserve which has characterized 
 Louis Napoleon from a youth, and it was only a select 
 few who were admitted to his acquaintance, to say 
 nothing of his confidence, of which he, from habit 
 caused by perpetual espionage, was exceedingly 
 sparing. 
 
 After living in the cities of the American Union for 
 some time, quietly and almost alone, devoting him- 
 self to the study of political questions suggested by 
 the government, laws, and condition of the American 
 people, he went on a journey of scientific inquiry into 
 Central America, where he formed an engineering 
 scheme, on which he afterwards published his remarks, 
 
 E 2 
 
63 FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. [1837. 
 
 almost as gigantic as that carried out by M. de 
 Lesseps in the present day. 
 
 His friends, the Bourbons, as if it were not enough 
 to expatriate him, pursued him with persecutions 
 and gross aspersions of character even into exile. 
 Their hired minions, too, went about France 
 representing him as living a life of infamy so deep 
 that it would be a disgrace to the French people ever 
 again to own him as a citizen. 
 
 No higher testimony could be given, however, of 
 the rectitude of his career during his stay in America 
 than the following extracts of a letter, written long 
 afterwards by Captain Stewart, one of the most 
 eminent and widely esteemed officers in the American 
 navy. " His favourite topics," says Captain Stewart, 
 " when we were alone, were his uncle the Emperor, his 
 mother, and his immediate family, in whom he had 
 been deeply interested ; his own relations to France 
 by birth and imperial registry ; the inducements 
 which led to the attempted revolution at Strasburg ; 
 the causes of its failure ; and, his chief support, his 
 mortification at the result — ' the will of God/ to use 
 his own words, 'through a direct interposition of his 
 Providence ; the time had not yet come.' He seemed 
 ever to feel that his personal dignity was indissolubly 
 linked with France, or, as his mother, Hortense, 
 expressed it in her will, ' to know his position ' ; and 
 the enthusiasm with which, at times, he gave utter- 
 ance to his aspirations for the prosperity, the happi- 
 ness, and the honour of his country, and to the high 
 purposes which he designed to accomplish for her 
 as a ruler, amounted in words, voice, and manner to 
 positive eloquence. Had I taken notes of some of 
 these conversations, they would be considered, now, 
 when his visions of power and earthly glory are 
 realized, scarcely less epigrammatic and elevated in 
 
x»37-] FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. 69 
 
 thought, or, as related to himself, less prophetic, than 
 many which have been recorded from the lips of the 
 exile of St. Helena. 
 
 " He was winning in the invariableness of his 
 amiability, often playful in spirits and manner, and 
 warm in his affections. He was a most fondly 
 attached son, and seemed to idolize his mother. 
 When speaking of her, the intonation of his voice 
 and his whole manner were often as gentle and 
 feminine as those of a woman. 
 
 " It had been his purpose to spend a year in making 
 a tour of the United States, that he might have 
 a better knowledge of our institutions, and observe 
 for himself the practical workings of our political 
 systems. With this expectation he consulted me 
 and others as to the arrangement of the route of 
 travel, so as to visit the different sections of the 
 Union at the most desirable seasons. 
 
 " After such opportunities of knowing the mind 
 and heart and general character of Louis Napoleon, 
 it was with great surprise that I for the first time 
 read, in a distant part of the world, when he had 
 become an Emperor, representations in the public 
 journals of his life in New York (and New Orleans 
 too, though he never was there), which would induce 
 a belief that he had been, when here, little better 
 than a vagabond — low in his associations, intemperate 
 in his indulgences, and dissipated in his habits. In 
 both eating and drinking he was, so far as I ob- 
 served, abstemious rather than self-indulgent. I 
 repeatedly breakfasted, dined, and supped in his 
 company, and never knew him to partake of anything 
 stronger in drink than the light wines of France 
 and Germany, and of these in great moderation. 
 I have been with him early and late, unexpectedly 
 as well as by appointment, and never saw reason 
 
70 FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. [1837. 
 
 for the slightest suspicion of any irregularity in his 
 habits. 
 
 " Louis Napoleon may have had some associations 
 in New York of which I was ignorant, and he, like 
 Dickens and other distinguished foreigners, may 
 have carried his observations, under the protection 
 of the police, to scenes in which I would not have 
 accompanied him. If he did I never heard of it, 
 and have now no reason to suppose that such was 
 the fact. But that he was an habitue, as has been 
 publicly reported, of drinking saloons and oyster 
 cellars, gambling houses and places of worse repute, 
 I do not believe. I can recall to my recollection no 
 young man of the world whom I have ever met, 
 who, in what seemed an habitual elevation of mind, 
 and an invariable dignity of bearing, would have 
 been less at home than he in such associations. 
 
 " There was, however, in New York, at the same 
 time, and for the same period, a Prince Buonaparte, 
 who was, I have reason to think, of a very different 
 character. His antecedents in Europe had not been 
 favourable, and his reputation here was not good. 
 He, too, was an exile, but not for a political offence. 
 He may not have been received in society, and may 
 have had low associations. I met him, but from this 
 impression formed no acquaintance with him. For 
 the same reason the intercourse between him and his 
 cousin was infrequent and formal. All that has been 
 said and published of the one may be true of the 
 other ; and in search for the reminiscences of the 
 sojourn in New York of Louis Napoleon, on his 
 elevation to the throne fifteen years afterwards, it is 
 not difficult to believe that those ignorant of the 
 presence here, at the same time, of two persons of 
 the same name and title, may have confounded the 
 acts and character of the one with the other. This 
 
1837.] FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. 
 
 7i 
 
 I doubt not is the fact, and that however general and 
 firmly established the impression to the contrary 
 may be, the reproach of a disreputable life here does 
 not justly attach itself to him who is now confessedly 
 the most able, the most fortunate, and the most 
 remarkable sovereign in Europe." 
 
 Every man has a harmless shadow that follows 
 him about, assuming his make and shape, and mi- 
 micking his gait and gestures ; but to some men is 
 allotted a more tangible one — flesh of their flesh and 
 bone of their bone, which falls like a blight on the 
 whole of their race. Those three social furies, envy, 
 hatred, and malice, shriek with delight when they 
 can get hold of an effigy like it to burn at honest 
 people's doors. 
 
 The exile's wanderings were cut short by a most 
 unexpected and painful piece of intelligence from 
 Europe. It was contained in a letter from his 
 mother, which ran as follows : — 
 
 " My dear Son, 
 
 " I am about to undergo an operation which has 
 become absolutely necessary. In case it should not 
 terminate successfully, I send you in this letter my 
 blessing. We shall meet again — shall we not ? — in a 
 better world, where may you come to join me as late 
 as possible ; and you will believe that, in quitting this 
 world, I regret only leaving yourself and your fond, 
 affectionate disposition, which alone has given any 
 charm to my existence. This will be a consolation 
 for you, my dear friend — to reflect that, by your 
 attentions, you have rendered your mother as happy 
 as circumstances could allow her. You will think, 
 also, of all my affection for you, and this will inspire 
 you with courage. Think this, that we shall always 
 have a benevolent, clear-sighted feeling for all that 
 
72 
 
 FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. 
 
 [1837. 
 
 passes in this world below, and that assuredly we 
 shall meet again. Reflect upon this consolatory 
 idea ; it is one which is too necessary not to be true. 
 And that good Arese, I send him my blessing as to 
 a son. I press you to my heart, my dear friend. I 
 am calm, perfectly resigned ; and I would still hope 
 that we may meet again, even in this world. The 
 will of God be done ! 
 
 " Your affectionate Mother, 
 
 " HORTENSE. 
 
 "3rd April, 1837." 
 
 Letters like this must awaken in the most apathetic 
 natures remembrances that have slumbered for years ; 
 there can be no heart proof against these sad tracings 
 of a dying hand. Marble would weep, had it but 
 tears, over such deeply pathetic words. For him to 
 whom they were addressed, they opened an abyss of 
 grief. An eye-witness of his sorrow says he cried, 
 " My mother is ill ! I shall take the next packet to 
 England. I will apply for passports to the Continent 
 at every embassy in London, and, if unsuccessful, 
 will make my way to her without them." And he 
 did. 
 
 There have been men who have had the heart- 
 lessness to blame him for this act. They have 
 deliberately abused him as a person who could not 
 be trusted on his oath, because, forsooth, they alleged 
 that he had broken his promise to remain ten 
 years in America, by going to see a dying mother ! 
 He himself swears he gave no such undertaking, 
 and there is certainly no written record of his having 
 done so authenticated by his signature. Neverthe- 
 less, granted he did, could any one but a creature 
 whose instincts would disgrace a reptile deny the son 
 of such a mother the sad consolation of tending 
 
X837-] FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. 
 
 73 
 
 her in her last moments ? Away with the wretch I 
 Mutilate him, so that he shall no longer carry about 
 with him the image of God ; hoof him and horn him, 
 and then take his picture as a fiend incarnate. 
 
 Whatever risk he ran, or malignant comments he 
 caused, he came, and found the idol of his life — the 
 one object on whom he had lavished all his affections 
 — the mother who not merely gave him life, and 
 aided and tended him through his helpless infancy, 
 but who had been his protector and his preserver 
 throughout all his troubles and dangers, his guardian 
 angel, his all in all — was about to be taken away 
 from him. He watched her from day to day, we 
 may be sure, with a breaking heart, for some glimmer- 
 ing hope of her recovery. He ministered to her, we 
 may be equally certain, with all the pious duty of a 
 devotedly attached son. Ah ! let us not peer further 
 into that sacred chamber, where all that was left of 
 this good woman and fond mother lay in its last 
 sleep, on the 5th of October, 1837. 
 
 Hortense left a will, of which the following is a 
 remarkable extract : — 
 
 " I wish that my husband may erect some memo- 
 rial to my memory, and that he should know that 
 my greatest regret was that I could not render him 
 happy. I have no political advice to give to my son ; 
 I know that he is aware of his position, and all the 
 duties that his name imposes upon him. I forgive 
 all sovereigns with whom I have had relations of 
 friendship the levity of their judgments upon me. I 
 forgive all the ministers and charges d'affaires of 
 states for the falsity of reports which they have 
 constantly circulated about me. I forgive certain 
 Frenchmen, to whom I have had opportunities of 
 being of use, the calumnies with which they have 
 loaded me by way of requital ; I forgive them who 
 
74 
 
 FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. 
 
 [1837. 
 
 have believed these sentiments without investigating 
 them, and I hope to survive for a little while in the 
 memory of my fellow-countrymen. I thank all those 
 ,who are around me, as also my servants, for their 
 attentions, and I hope they will not forget my 
 memory." 
 
 With regard to the disposal of her property, she 
 left liberal legacies to friends and dependants — the 
 bulk of her estate, of course, going to her son. 
 
 Hitherto the career of the mother has been subser- 
 vient to that of the son in these pages ; and a brief 
 memoir of herself would not, therefore, be here out of 
 place. 
 
 Hortense Fanny de Beauharnois was, as previously 
 stated, the daughter of Josephine, first Empress of 
 the French, by Viscount Alexander de Beauharnois. 
 She was born at Paris, on the 10th of April, 1783. 
 The family of Beauharnois was one of the most 
 ancient and highly descended of the old French 
 nobility. The father of Hortense served with dis- 
 tinction in the French army under Rochambeau, 
 who, it will be remembered, fought on the side of the 
 insurgents in the American Revolution. 
 
 In the French Revolution of 1789, Viscount Beau- 
 harnois was chosen a member of the National 
 Assembly, of which he was for some time President. 
 Subsequently he held the posts of General of the 
 Army of the Rhine, and Minister of War. A decree 
 being then issued, removing men of noble birth 
 from the army, Viscount Beauharnois retired to his 
 country seat. He was soon after accused of an act 
 of treason — it is said falsely — and was executed, at 
 the age of thirty-four. 
 
 Hortense was but a child when this sad event took 
 place. A great portion of her infancy was spent in 
 Martinique, whose tropical climate had no doubt 
 
*8 3 7.] 
 
 FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. 
 
 75 
 
 considerable influence on her after temperament. 
 When she became capable of receiving instruction, 
 she was placed in a first-class seminary, conducted 
 by the celebrated Madame Campan, and had for her 
 fellow-pupils Stephanie, afterwards Grand Duchess 
 of Baden, Emilie Beauharnois, afterwards Madame 
 Lavalette, and Caroline Buonaparte, afterwards 
 Queen of Naples. 
 
 She acquired, under the tuition of Madame Cam- 
 pan, every accomplishment which became a noble- 
 man's daughter, and made a most successful debut 
 into society. This took place when she was about 
 seventeen, on the return of her stepfather, Napoleon, 
 from Egypt. Her winning manners and graceful 
 deportment are said to have been the admiration 
 of the court of the Tuileries, no less than her superb 
 foeauty. 
 
 Amongst her early suitors was one M. de Paulo, 
 a Royalist, of polished manners. Josephine was 
 rather desirous of her daughter favouring his ad- 
 dresses, but Napoleon would not allow them, as he 
 took a dislike to the swain, from his excessive vanity 
 and pomposity of manner. Then came her marriage 
 with Napoleon's younger brother, Louis Buonaparte, 
 which has been the subject of so much mystery and 
 discussion. 
 
 Both the bride and the bridegroom, it appears, were 
 averse to this union, but were induced to it, if not, 
 as alleged by some historians, actually obliged to 
 submit to it, for some purpose of convenience. It 
 proved, of course, a miserable failure in the way of 
 conjugal happiness. Three sons were born of it ; 
 the eldest dying in infancy ; the second succumbing 
 to illness in the insurrection of Italy in 183 1 ; the 
 third being the subject of our memoirs. 
 
 Five years of what we may term intermittent 
 
7 6 
 
 FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. [1837. 
 
 wedlock ended in a final separation, and the hus- 
 band and wife never met again, although it was 
 more than thirty years after that Hortense died, 
 her husband being then still alive. We now bring 
 her history up to the point of the commencement of 
 this work, and necessarily need go no further into 
 details. 
 
 The character of Hortense has suffered in one 
 respect extremely at the hands of almost all her 
 biographers — a respect in which all ladies are ex- 
 pected to be, like Caesar's wife, above suspicion. 
 She certainly did not lead a life calculated to encircle 
 her with the halo of a vestal. Some incidents of her 
 career would bear the most uncharitable constructions 
 to be placed upon them. The most notable of these 
 was one connected with Alexander, the Czar of 
 Russia, who was said to have been so enamoured of 
 her, that she had but to ask him a favour of any 
 magnitude to obtain it. Indeed, without any inti- 
 mation from her, he took measures to introduce into 
 the Treaty of Fontainebleau, after the overthrow of 
 the Napoleon dynasty, a clause which secured to her 
 the Duchy of St. Leu, the privilege to reside in 
 France exempt from the outlawry of her family, and 
 other rights she could not have hoped for from the 
 Bourbons. 
 
 When the allied sovereigns were in Paris, the Czar 
 was constantly in her society. An adequate amount 
 of jealousy was of course created thereby, and, as an 
 inevitable consequence, a deal of scandal went about. 
 An eminently handsome woman leading captive 
 the Czar of all the Russias was, alas ! quite sufficient 
 cause. The worst of such charges is that they can 
 never be rebutted except by denial, and that is no 
 evidence, either before a jury or public opinion. Yet, 
 surely, the lady being a beauty and a Frenchwoman, 
 
i8 3 7-] FLIGHT OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL. 77 
 
 some stronger proof than her acknowledged flirta- 
 tions should be necessary for her conviction. 
 
 She was a fine-hearted woman, with a nature 
 worthy of the nobility of her descent. Gentleness 
 and heroism, love and magnanimity, were the natural 
 impulses of her breast. Her generous acts towards 
 the two Bourbon ladies, already recorded, contrast 
 strangely with the mean persecutions she subse- 
 quently experienced at the hands of their tribe. 
 Yet she was so incapable of malice, that throughout 
 the whole of her trials, brought on by these wretches, 
 not a revengeful word did she utter against them, 
 but, on the other hand, left a legacy of forgiveness 
 as her last testament. A noble woman she was, and 
 as enlightened as noble. The gifts of her mind vied 
 with the attributes of her soul — her wit subtle, keen, 
 and almost manly ; her thoughts refined and com- 
 prehensive ; her aspirations sublime. Even to this 
 day her countrymen are proud of those lyrical 
 melodies which she poured forth with the inspiration 
 of a Sappho, and which have found an echo in every 
 civilized country. 
 
 The remains of this gifted lady were taken to the 
 churchyard of Ruel, near Paris, and laid by the side 
 of those of her mother. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DESOLATE. 
 
 HE intense sorrow Louis Napoleon felt for a 
 loss so incalculable was too deep for utter- 
 ance ; for we do not find him at any time 
 blabbing his griefs to the world after the manner of 
 persons who make up by show what they do not 
 really feel. The loss he sustained by the death of 
 his mother had but one equivalent, and that was 
 what he owed to her. Singularly, although she 
 had three children, this one child was the object of 
 her most especial care from his birth. 
 
 A curious, and apparently authentic, story is told 
 of her having been by accident the sole means of his 
 surviving his infancy. The child had a tooth drawn, 
 and by the operation was opened a small artery in 
 the gums, the haemorrhage of which all medical skill 
 failed to stop. He was bleeding his little life away, 
 when, after a night of watching and anxiety, his 
 mother bethought herself of introducing her finger 
 into his mouth, and pressing the gum with it. The 
 simple remedy succeeded, or else, an hour or two 
 later, the future Emperor of the French must have 
 succumbed to an untimely fate. 
 
 This was but the first fraction of the debt he 
 owed her which all his love could not repay. The 
 sum increased day by day as soon as he was able to 
 
I837-] 
 
 DESOLATE. 
 
 79 
 
 follow her teachings ; all that was good in him, or 
 great in him, was engrafted by her hand. As he 
 grew up, she was in sickness his physician and his 
 nurse ; in manhood, from danger she was his shield ; 
 in trouble, his friend. Verily, some parents might 
 take much from such a pattern, and then the children 
 of men would break one commandment less than 
 they do. 
 
 Severe bereavements almost invariably leave some 
 indelible mark behind them. Their effects are 
 various : mostly beneficial, sometimes ennobling ; 
 seldom maudlin, except with weak minds. Hard as 
 it may seem to say so, it frequently is a great gain to 
 us to lose the dearest object of our affection. Death- 
 beds of love have been bedewed with sincerer tears 
 of penitence than have gushed to the smiting oratory 
 of the preacher, than have wet the pillow of a hope- 
 less illness, or have flowed over providential reverses 
 of fortune. 
 
 It is when our nest is invaded that we fly like 
 startled birds, and instinctively seek securer regions. 
 The passing hearse that daily meets our view, 
 the tolling death-bell that for ever salutes our 
 ear, have but a momentary call upon our attention ; 
 but when from our own door is borne that part 
 of us which we never can forget, when stroke 
 after stroke of the funeral knell, reminding us of an 
 empty place on our own hearth, booms upon us, — then 
 it is that we fully realize the fact that we are also 
 to die, and the mutability of things terrestrial. It 
 is only when death appeals to our selfishness, as 
 when friendship does to our pockets, that we actually 
 look it in the face. From these sad moments do 
 we date our best resolutions, our loftiest aims, our 
 most stringent codes of morality, sobriety, and re- 
 ligion. It is but the semi-imbecile, or the idiot, who 
 
8o DESOLA TE. [1337. 
 
 whines and whimpers ever after because nature has 
 taken its allotted course, inflicting upon his feeble 
 spirit an overwhelming sense of his irreparable loss. 
 
 There is one more effect produced by these occa- 
 sions which may be named by itself, because it 
 immediately applies to the subject before us. This 
 is the apparent sealing up of the affections, when the 
 only object that could call them into play is gone. 
 It is marked by an entire change of manner. 
 
 We meet men with stern, cold features, with faces 
 staring at nothing, with manners isolated, and wonder 
 whether they ever were boys, or lovers, or husbands, 
 or fathers. It is no mere poetical fiction that men 
 become hermits under such circumstances ; they may 
 not build huts in a wilderness, and live upon roots, as 
 alleged by romance writers, but they withdraw into 
 themselves, and nothing more is seen of them but 
 their shell. 
 
 Louis Napoleon, generally of a reserved disposi- 
 tion, subject to fits of generous impulse and outbursts 
 of frank open-heartedness, became, after the loss of 
 his mother, a man of mystery, never relaxing even 
 before his most intimate acquaintances. Records are 
 left of his early residence in Switzerland, speaking of 
 him in the most glowing terms ; of how he endea- 
 voured to render himself popular in the neighbour- 
 hood in which he resided by participating in every 
 local movement, joining in all the local sports, march- 
 ing at the head of the local volunteers, carrying their 
 flag, and, in fact, making himself as genial and 
 sociable as possible. So great was the attachment to 
 him of the Swiss people on this account, that, when 
 his life was in danger from the consequences of his 
 Strasburg attempt, numerous letters were published 
 in the Paris papers enumerating his good qualities, 
 and hoping no harm would come to him, " for," as 
 
I837-] 
 
 DESOLA TE. 
 
 81 
 
 says one of the writers, " Prince Louis has endeared 
 himself to us by his social qualities and his kind, 
 gentle disposition." 
 
 About the period we are now treating of, a most 
 decided alteration had taken place in his character. 
 An English gentleman, who was introduced to him 
 a short time afterwards, describes him as frigidly 
 affable and repulsively polite, avoiding neither offence 
 nor familiarity, but seeming instinctively to coil up 
 his nature from observation. In phrase and demea- 
 nour, he was all that became his birth ; but in him- 
 self, perfectly inaccessible. The reason was evident : 
 he had lost the only creature on earth to whom his 
 nature was kin. He then retired into himself, and all 
 his future plans and projects were locked up in his 
 own breast. 
 
 The property the Duchess bequeathed her son was 
 considerable. Her mansion on the shore of Lake 
 Constance, the Chateau of Arenemberg, was a perfect 
 palace. It was most beautifully furnished and de- 
 corated ; the pictures and other works of art collected 
 within its walls were of the most rare and costly 
 character. She was not so rich as some of the Buona- 
 parte family, who had feathered their nest during the 
 Emperor's reign ; but she had an ample fortune, be- 
 side her Duchy of St. Leu. 
 
 After she was dead her son continued to reside at 
 Arenemberg, and might perhaps have remained there 
 unmolested, but for that restless idea of his destiny, 
 which at all hazards must be fulfilled. He could not 
 live quietly in a spot unsurpassed for its beauty and 
 grandeur, amidst associations that left nothing to 
 be desired. The palaces of Paris rose eternally 
 before his view ; a lost inheritance haunted him 
 night and day. Manifold, no doubt, were the 
 schemes formed at this time in his mind to make 
 
32 
 
 DESOLA TE. 
 
 [1S37. 
 
 another attempt to regain his uncle's throne, with 
 various improvements upon that of Strasburg. 
 
 Strange to say, Louis Philippe, though he of 
 course knew of the Prince having returned from his 
 exile, took no notice of the matter, and seemed 
 quite disposed to allow him to remain even so near 
 his frontiers, as long as he conducted himself properly. 
 
 A time came, however, when cognizance was 
 bound to be taken of the circumstance. The failure, 
 and its consequences, of the affair at Strasburg, 
 could not but be daily present in the mind of a man 
 like Louis Napoleon, who had but one aim in 
 existence — the recovery of his lost rights. 
 
 By way of smoothing his course with the French 
 people, in the event of another blow being struck by 
 him, he wrote an elaborate defence of himself and 
 his movement at Strasburg. This he prevailed 
 upon one of his old associates, namely, Lieutenant 
 Laity — who had so marvellously escaped from pun- 
 ishment for his complicity in the Strasburg insur- 
 rection — to publish. The immediate consequence 
 was the arrest of this poor young officer, who was 
 condemned to pay a large fine and suffer five years' 
 imprisonment. 
 
 Then the French Government turned its attention 
 to the real culprit. The Swiss Confederation was 
 peremptorily requested to expel Louis Napoleon 
 from its territories. It refused to comply with what 
 it considered an impertinent foreign intervention. 
 Louis Philippe sent an army to the Helvetic fron- 
 tier ; the Swiss rose up in arms to defend their 
 country and their rights. A spirited, though of 
 course unequal, struggle was thus imminent, when 
 Louis Napoleon, to avoid the useless shedding of 
 blood, especially of that of his kind friends, the Swiss 
 people, put a stop to actual hostilities by voluntarily 
 
DESOLA TE. 
 
 33 
 
 withdrawing from the country. Upon his contem- 
 plated departure he addressed the following letter 
 to the President of the Council of the Canton of 
 Thurgovia : — 
 
 " Arenembergy 22nd September, 1838. 
 
 " M. Landamann, 
 
 " When the note of the Duke of Montebello 
 was addressed to the Diet, I was by no means 
 disposed to submit to the demands of the French 
 Government ; for it concerned me to prove, by my 
 refusal to leave, that I had returned to Switzerland 
 without breaking any engagement ; that I had a 
 right to reside there ; and that there I could find aid 
 and protection. 
 
 " A month ago, Switzerland, by the energetic pro- 
 tests, and now by the decision of her great councils 
 at this time assembled, has shown that she was, and 
 is, ready to make the greatest sacrifices for her 
 dignity and rights. She has done her duty as an 
 independent nation ; I know how to do mine, and 
 remain faithful to the voice of honour. They may 
 persecute, but can never degrade me. The French 
 Government having declared that the refusal of the 
 Diet to yield to its demands would be the signal of 
 a conflagration, of which Switzerland would become 
 the victim, I have no alternative but to quit the country 
 when my presence is made the cause of such unjust 
 pretensions, and would be made the excuse for such 
 great misfortunes. 
 
 " I beg you, therefore, M. Landamann, to announce 
 to the Federal Directory that I shall leave Switzer- 
 land as soon as the necessary passports are obtained 
 to enable me to reach in safety a place where I shall 
 find a sure asylum. 
 
 " In quitting voluntarily, at present, the only 
 
 F 2 
 
84 
 
 DESOLATE. 
 
 [1838. 
 
 country in Europe where I have met with support 
 and protection, and which has now become dear to 
 me for many reasons, I hope to prove to the Swiss 
 people that I was worthy of those marks of esteem 
 and affection which they have lavished upon me. I 
 shall never forget the noble conduct of the Cantons, 
 who have so courageously pronounced in my favour ; 
 and, above all, the generous protection afforded me 
 by the Canton of Thurgovia shall ever remain 
 engraved in my heart. I hope this separation will 
 not be perpetual, and that a day will come when, with- 
 out compromising the interest of two nations which 
 ought to remain friends, I shall be able to return to 
 an asylum which twenty years' residence and acquired 
 rights have made, as it were, a second fatherland. 
 
 " Be good enough, M. Landamann, to convey my 
 sentiments of gratitude to the Councils, and believe 
 me, that the idea of saving Switzerland from great 
 trouble is the only thing which alleviates the regret 
 which I feel on quitting its soil. 
 
 "Receive, &c, 
 "Napoleon Louis Buonaparte." 
 
 His retirement was, of course, all but compulsory ; 
 but that he thereby saved serious consequences to a 
 country that had sheltered him for so many years, 
 which others more selfish and less scrupulous would 
 not have troubled themselves about, cannot be dis- 
 puted ; and the above letter is one of the innumerable 
 graceful productions of his pen, showing at once a 
 prince of polite bearing, and a man of subtle per- 
 ceptions. Satisfied with a compromise like this, the 
 French troops retraced their steps, and afforded their 
 silly old King a great occasion on which to plume him- 
 self as a powerful monarch, whose behests were bound 
 to be obeyed. Time is verily the revealer of all things. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. 
 
 NDER very much altered circumstances to 
 those of his previous visit, Louis Napoleon 
 again repaired to England to seek that pro- 
 tection from his enemies which he could not find 
 elsewhere. 
 
 A little more than six years before he had come 
 here with his mother, and met with some degree of 
 hospitality and kindness, both from the nobility and 
 the people ; but now matters were somewhat changed. 
 The fiasco at Strasburg was not calculated to 
 promote him in the estimation of the British public, 
 for it looked so like a wild adventure or a mad freak, 
 that it gave Englishmen no great notion of his 
 capacity or even his sanity of mind. But this was 
 not all. The court of Louis Philippe had begun to 
 exercise a good deal of influence with the court at 
 St. James's, and partizans of the French monarch 
 were not wanting, who took especial pains in 
 denouncing the young Prince as a person who had 
 contracted the lowest of habits, whose word could 
 not be relied upon in any matter, and who, in fact, 
 could at any moment be guilty of the most flagitious 
 conduct. The consequence was, that with very few 
 exceptions the higher ranks of English society gave 
 him a wide berth. 
 
86 THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. [1838. 
 
 It was in the autumn of 1838 the Prince arrived in 
 London, and he took up his residence in Carlton 
 Terrace, being then naturally very much more in 
 funds than subsequently, when it is said he was often 
 in want of a shilling. 
 
 For some months after his arrival he led an almost 
 exclusively studious life, and published as the fruit of 
 it his justly admired work, the Idces Napoleoniennes. 
 In the preface to this book he says : — 
 
 " If the destiny which presaged my birth had not 
 been changed by events, nephew to the Emperor, I 
 should have been one of the defenders of his throne, 
 one of the propagators of his ideas ; I should have 
 had the glory of being one of the pillars of his 
 edifice, or of dying in one of the squares of his 
 guard fighting for France. The Emperor is no more, 
 but his spirit is not dead. Deprived of the op- 
 portunity of defending his protecting power with 
 the sword, I can at least try to defend his memory 
 with the pen. To enlighten opinion by searching 
 for the thought that presided over his lofty concep- 
 tions, to recall to men's minds the memory of his 
 vast projects ; this is a task which still gratifies my 
 heart and consoles me for exile." 
 
 These words will convey a pretty general idea of 
 the nature of the work, which should be read by all 
 for its intrinsic merit. When it appeared it created 
 the greatest interest, was translated into all the 
 languages of Europe, and actually was allowed to go 
 through four editions in Paris. 
 
 Louis Napoleon's habits at this time were very 
 simple and regular. Those who knew him then say 
 that he rose punctually at six o'clock in the morn- 
 ing and worked till noon ; then, having breakfasted, 
 occupied himself with the papers of the day till 
 2 o'clock, when he received visitors, rode in the park, 
 
 i 
 
1838.] THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. 87 
 
 or otherwise spent his time, retiring early to rest. 
 His appearance at this part of his life is thus 
 described in some " Letters from London," written 
 by a gentleman who had his acquaintance — " He 
 is of middle size, of an agreeable countenance, and 
 has a military air. To personal advantages he 
 adds the more seductive distinction of manners, 
 simple, natural, and full of good taste and ease. 
 At first sight I was struck with his resemblance 
 to Prince Eugene and the Empress Josephine, his 
 grandmother ; but I did not remark a like resem- 
 blance to the Emperor. But by attentively observ- 
 ing the essential features, that is, those not depend- 
 ing on more or less fulness, or more or less beard, we 
 soon discover that the Napoleonic type is reproduced 
 with astonishing fidelity. It is in fact the same lofty 
 forehead, broad and straight, the same nose of fine 
 proportions, the same grey eyes, though the expres- 
 sion is milder ; it is particularly the same contour, 
 and inclination of the head." 
 
 This portraiture is perhaps slightly influenced by 
 a desire on the part of the writer to trace even some 
 slight resemblance between the Prince and his uncle, 
 for now no similarity of feature between the two 
 Emperors could fairly be said to exist. Hence the 
 whole range of scandal which fixes the paternity 
 of Louis Napoleon on a variety of individuals. 
 
 It has been mentioned that with a few exceptions 
 the aristocrats of this country turned a cold shoulder 
 to the Prince on his arrival. These were, however, 
 brilliant exceptions ; noblemen whose position and 
 descent made them indifferent to the opinions and 
 considerations of their class. The Duke of Montrose 
 had the Prince as a guest at his seat, Buchanan, near 
 Lochlomond ; and the Duke of Hamilton hospitably 
 entertained him at Brodick Castle, in the island of 
 
88 THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. [1838. 
 
 Arran. The Duke of Newcastle was on terms of 
 intimacy with him, as were other noblemen who 
 stood equally high in the peerage. In their com- 
 pany, Louis Napoleon was as frequently talking of 
 his " destiny," and his future accession to the throne 
 of France, as he was amongst the republicans of 
 America. 
 
 Sir Archibald Alison, in his standard work " The 
 History of Europe," mentions in a note a remark of 
 
 the Earl of W concerning Louis Napoleon at 
 
 this time. "Only think of that young man Louis 
 Napoleon," said the Earl ; " nothing can persuade 
 him he is not to be the Emperor of France ; the 
 Strasburg affair has not in the least shaken him ; he 
 is constantly thinking of what he is to do when on 
 the throne." The Duke of Newcastle also said to 
 the same author, " Several* years ago, before the 
 Revolution of 1848, I met Louis Napoleon often at 
 Brodick Castle in Arran. We frequently went out 
 to shoot together ; neither cared for much sport, 
 and we soon sat down on a heathery brow of 
 Goatfell, and began to speak seriously. 
 
 " He always opened these conferences by discours- 
 ing on what he would do when he was Emperor of 
 France. Among other things, he said he would 
 obtain a grant from the Chambers to drain the 
 marshes of the Bries, which, you know, once fully 
 cultivated, became flooded, when the inhabitants, 
 who were chiefly Protestants, left the country on 
 the revocation of the edict of Nantes ; and what is 
 very curious, I see in the newspapers of the day 
 that he has got a grant of two millions of francs 
 from the Chambers to begin the draining of these 
 very marshes. The idea that he would eventually 
 be the Emperor of the French never for a moment 
 left the mind of Louis Napoleon, and though similar 
 
1838.] THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. 89 
 
 ambitions have been signally frustrated, it is remark- 
 able that in his case everything really did happen 
 which was conceived in these day-dreams as bound 
 to happen." 
 
 Perhaps what may be termed Louis Napoleon's 
 most intimate associates now were those brilliant 
 wits and men of the world who formed the circle of 
 which the accomplished and celebrated Lady Bles- 
 sington was the centre, at her town residence, Gore 
 House. Of these the inimitable Count D'Orsay was 
 the chief, and between the Count and Louis Napo- 
 leon sprang up a close and sincere friendship. In 
 after years they were what may be termed arcades 
 ambo, or a couple of accomplished gentlemen, who, 
 as Thackeray says, lived " elegantly on nothing a 
 year." 
 
 Here, too, he met Lord Eglinton, who was then a 
 young man about town, and of course visited at 
 Lady Blessington's. Even when, however, his lord- 
 ship had sown his wild oats and got married, the 
 intimacy between himself and the Prince was not 
 allowed to drop. Louis Napoleon was a constant 
 visitor at the Earl's residence in Scotland, and on one 
 occasion took part in a grand tournament, in imita- 
 tion of exhibitions of that class of the Middle Ages, 
 given at the castle, in which the Prince is said to 
 have figured conspicuously amongst the flower of 
 English nobility, both by his deportment and the 
 elegance and costliness of his appointments. In the 
 drawing-room he did not shine to such advantage, 
 owing to his taciturn though amiable disposition. 
 He was, however, it appears, himself again when he 
 got into the nursery, where he romped to their hearts' 
 content with the Countess's three little daughters by 
 a former marriage. In the same arena, he is accre- 
 dited to have been no mean performer in all chil- 
 
9 o THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. [1838. 
 
 dren's plays, throwing his whole spirit into blind 
 man's buff, and revealing a marvellous genius in the 
 manufacture of shadowy rabbits and other animals 
 on the wall ! 
 
 Had he been so disposed, he might by his gentle 
 disposition and polite address have ingratiated him- 
 self, in spite of all the vile reports circulated about 
 him, into the best of English society, and lived on 
 his ample means a quiet and happy life in a country 
 which affords every blessing to those so inclined. 
 
 But he was restless and dissatisfied in his mind, 
 and that unhappy idea of " destiny " made him sigh, 
 even amidst pleasant scenes like these, for a crown of 
 thorns, and for a throne based upon the volcano of 
 popular favour. 
 
 Always concocting some scheme for the accom- 
 plishment of his one great aim, he now conceived 
 the notion of publishing a monthly periodical, setting 
 forth his views. That idea he carried out, but only 
 one number appeared of the serial, which was called 
 "The Napoleonist Idea." The gist of this "idea" 
 was the establishment of a democratic or republican 
 administration under the form of monarchy. Events 
 passing then in France induced him to withhold these 
 views, and themselves occupied the whole of his 
 attention. 
 
 That combination of vanity and avarice, rejoicing 
 at that period in the title of Louis Philippe, Citizen 
 King of France, and subsequently in that of Mr. 
 Smith, a drivelling exile in this country, found the 
 tide of popular opinion surging in angry billows 
 round his throne. He felt dreadfully uneasy. The 
 army especially was clamorous against him and his 
 government. 
 
 At the head of the army then was Lafayette. 
 Deputations waited upon this general from the Na- 
 
i8 3 8.] 
 
 THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. 
 
 9- 
 
 tional Guard of both Paris and the provinces, pro- 
 testing against the state of affairs. 
 
 Now, although Lafayette had quite as much to do 
 with the installation of this puppet king as anybody, 
 he rather encouraged these deputations than other- 
 wise. Louis Philippe became cognizant of his con- 
 duct, and he knew what immense influence Lafayette 
 had with the soldiers ; for he saw him review sixty 
 thousand of the National Guard in Paris, and was 
 struck with their enthusiastic demeanour towards 
 their commander. His Hajesty conceived the brilliant 
 idea of dismissing Lafayette from the command, 
 which he carried out, covering the act by appoint- 
 ing him Honorary Commander of the Guard. By this 
 act he made an enemy of his former supporter. 
 
 Political parties contending for the ascendancy were 
 waging a fierce war, and no small amount of bribery 
 and corruption was necessary to propitiate to some 
 extent the enemies of the Government. The papers 
 of the day began to throw out seditious hints. They 
 boldly questioned the right of the King to the throne, 
 as, said they, he was only placed there by a few 
 clever people, who took advantage of the disturbances 
 which led to the flight of Charles X. 
 
 Assassins had for some years beset the path of 
 Louis Philippe. There was the diabolical Fieschi and 
 his associates, who, in 1836, let off a whole battery 
 of infernal machines just as the Royal carriage 
 approached, and who succeeded in slaying a street- 
 ful of people, but failed in accomplishing their real 
 object. Not long after, there were the wretches 
 Boirier and Meunier, who deliberately walked up as 
 the King was proceeding in state to the legislative 
 body, and fired into his carriage window — happily, 
 without hitting him. Then, again, there was the 
 madman, by the name of Alibaud, who attacked the 
 
92 THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. [1838. 
 
 King and Queen in the court-yard of the Tuileries, 
 and shot at them, but whose aim was also defective. 
 The spirit which actuated these men at length found 
 a sympathetic response in a secret body of men, 
 called "La Societe des Families," whose oath em- 
 braced hatred to all kings, the abolition of all dis- 
 tinction of wealth and rank, and other such like 
 levelling measures. 
 
 All these significant facts could not escape the eye 
 of Napoleon, watching, as it was, every move on the 
 political board. 
 
 The Societe* des Families aforesaid numbered as 
 one of its chiefs a young man of good descent, and 
 possessed of a daring, reckless disposition, named 
 Armand Barbes. Under the command of Barbes 
 there were about a thousand equally intrepid adven- 
 turers, ready to risk their lives" in any attempt that 
 had for its view the carrying out the projects of their 
 society. 
 
 By secret meetings, like those of the Irish Fenians 
 of the present day, these men had undergone a 
 regular course of military drill, and in addition to 
 their desperate character, were a formidable, well- 
 disciplined troop. Seizing at length what they con- 
 sidered a favourable opportunity, these desperadoes, 
 headed by Barbes, marched through the streets of 
 Paris, singing the " Marseillaise," and shouting "Vive 
 la Republique " with the fury of demons. 
 
 They then seized upon the Palace of Justice, and 
 establishing some of their troop there, next pro- 
 ceeded to the Hotel de Ville, which was also speedily 
 in their power. 
 
 These easy conquests stimulated them to further 
 excesses, and to guard against attack they erected 
 barricades as they went along. Their reckoning 
 speedily came. The National Guard was ordered 
 
1838.3 
 
 THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. 
 
 93 
 
 out, and mowed them down like grass ; but such was 
 their enthusiasm, that amidst the agonizing cries of 
 death arose with redoubled voice the strains of the 
 republican hymn. They all perished like mad dogs, 
 with the exception of their leader, Barbes, who was 
 captured, after being severely wounded, and was con- 
 demned to death ; but through powerful intercession 
 the capital sentence was commuted to that of penal 
 servitude for life. 
 
 Bourbon malignity attributed this outbreak to the 
 instigation of Louis Napoleon ; it never lost an op- 
 portunity of reviling him or holding him up to the 
 hatred and contempt of the French people. That 
 such an impression was abroad in Paris, was com- 
 municated to the London Times by its resident 
 correspondent. 
 
 Louis Napoleon disabused the public mind in that 
 respect by a spirited letter to the journal aforesaid, 
 of which the following is a copy : — 
 
 "Sir, 
 
 " I observe with pain in your Paris corre- 
 spondence, that it is sought to throw upon me the 
 responsibility of the late insurrection. I count upon 
 your kindness to refute the insinuation in the most 
 formal manner. The news of the sanguinary scenes 
 which have just taken place equally surprised and 
 afflicted me. If I were the soul of a conspiracy, I 
 should be the leader of it in the day of danger, and 
 I should not deny it after a defeat. 
 " Receive, &c, 
 
 " Napoleon Louis Bonaparte." 
 
 The occurrence, nevertheless, served to keep alive 
 in Louis Napoleon's mind, and that of the sup- 
 porters of the dynasty of his family, the purpose of 
 
94 THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. [1838. 
 
 making another venture towards the re-establishment 
 of the Empire. But, warned by the Strasburg failure, 
 the Prince determined to wait till he thought he 
 could strike a decisive blow, aided by advantageous 
 circumstances. 
 
 In the year 1840, M. Thiers, whose name is so 
 universally known, was Prime Minister of France ; 
 and wishing to do something to reconcile the people 
 to the Government, of which they were becoming 
 heartily sick, pitched upon a device which was just 
 calculated to arouse the national apathy and give the 
 populace something to think and talk about, and, 
 perhaps, to thank the Government for. The remains 
 of Napoleon, whose glorious memory could never 
 fade from the mind of the French people, associated 
 though it was with a ruin of which they still felt the 
 effects, yet lay under an alien soil. It occurred to 
 M. Thiers that by translating them to France, with 
 the consent of the British Government, he could 
 create amongst all classes that natural enthusiasm 
 which invariably ensues upon such patriotic occasions, 
 and thereby propitiate somewhat the grumblers who 
 said the Government was doing really nothing for 
 the country. 
 
 It was a novel idea, and was immediately con- 
 veyed to Louis Philippe. That dauntless monarch's 
 hair stood on end at the bare proposition. Al- 
 ready with some reluctance he had acquiesced in 
 the restoration of the Emperor's statue to the Place 
 Vendome, and had tremblingly heard of people * 
 gathering round it on each 5th of May, to cover it 
 with wreaths of immortelles. Was that not enough ? 
 What would be the consequence of bringing the 
 body itself over, when the bronze image of the man 
 attracted these annual crowds ? If spirits do haunt 
 the living, the ghost of Napoleon must have appeared 
 
1840.] 
 
 THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. 
 
 95 
 
 to the Citizen King upon that night, and scared him 
 for a while out of the few senses he possessed. Con- 
 tinual droppings of water are known to wear away- 
 stone, and, nevertheless, after repeated pleas and argu- 
 ments, the King yielded his consent, and then ac- 
 tually began to calculate how much such a concession 
 to the people on his part would enhance his glory 
 and magnanimity of character ! The British Govern- 
 ment, was applied to on the subject, and after some 
 deliberation consented to the removal of the body. 
 Lord Palmerston, instructed by the British Govern- 
 ment, wrote the following letter to our Ambassador 
 at Paris : — 
 
 " My Lord, — The Government of Her Majesty 
 having taken into consideration the authorization 
 demanded of it by the French Government, to 
 transfer the ashes of the Emperor Napoleon from 
 St. Helena to France, you can say to M. Thiers that 
 the Government of Her Majesty will do itself plea- 
 sure in acceding to that demand. 
 
 " The Government of Her Majesty hopes that the 
 readiness with which it responds to this demand will 
 be considered in France as a proof of the desire of 
 Her Majesty to efface even the last trace of those 
 animosities which, during the life of the Emperor, 
 had impelled the two nations to war. The Govern- 
 ment of Her Majesty loves to believe that such 
 sentiments, if they still continue, will be buried for 
 ever in the tomb destined to receive the mortal 
 remains of Napoleon. The Government of Her 
 Majesty will co-operate with that of France in the 
 measures necessary to effect the translation. 
 
 (Signed) " PALMERSTON." 
 
 To the somewhat visionary mind of Louis Napoleon, 
 these proceedings assumed an undue importance. 
 
96 THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. [1840. 
 
 With the people, he thought, all agog about Napoleon, 
 from the fact of his remains being about to be trans- 
 ferred to France — a fact which would naturally recall 
 to their recollection all his glorious triumphs at the 
 head of the French army — no .time could be more 
 fitting for his nephew to present himself before them, 
 claiming their sympathies and support, to aid him. 
 in re-establishing the dynasty fraught with such 
 splendid memories. Here, as before, Louis Napoleon 
 placed his whole reliance upon the magic name of 
 Napoleon. He could not see that a name is only an 
 instrument of power as a part of the man who wields 
 power ; his practical knowledge of the world did not 
 go so far as to teach him that a great man's name 
 won't find his children bread ; that, however much 
 a nation may worship a name, it does not consider it 
 in the light of a passport admitting all who bear 
 it to unbought privileges or unachieved honours. He 
 ought to have known, too, but he did not seem to 
 know, that society is generally jealous of a great 
 man's name, which can have no " magical " effect in 
 favour of a second-hand wearer ; and that it is no un- 
 common experience of men, that the descendant of a 
 great man, bearing his name, is often utterly unworthy 
 of it ! It would be invidious to mention instances in 
 which his name has been much the best part of the 
 man ; but they might be traced in all ages down to the 
 present period, in every walk of life. There was, there- 
 fore, too much speculation on plausible but unreliable 
 chances in these early schemes of Louis Napoleon. It 
 was with him as with the gamblers on the turf, who in- 
 vest heavy stakes on the sheer racing capabilities of a 
 horse, not taking at all into consideration the probity 
 of the owner, nor the integrity of the jockey — the two 
 rocks upon which they are so frequently wrecked. 
 His imagination was worked upon to such an extent 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1840.] 
 
 THE BOULOGNE FIASCO. 
 
 The caricaturist here gives 
 a trap baited with the Impe- 
 rial crown ; such a lure — ; 
 his father the King of Hoi- T 
 land (then living in philo- 
 sophical retirement as the 
 Count of St. Leu) represented 
 to Louis Philippe after his 
 son's failure — had been set 
 by designing schemers for the 
 unfortunate Prince. 
 
 After enjoying for a season the enlivening hos- 
 pitalities of English hosts, the Prince, in 1840 
 (according to our artist) is again inspirtd by the 
 Napoleonic shade to attempt a fresh demonstra- 
 tion. The funds of the Prince were, at the date 
 of the attempt at Boulogne, surrounded with ob- 
 
 scurity. Whether he had property, or merely succeeded in raising it, is open to 
 question; but that he had money for this emergency (some ^20,000 it is conjec- 
 tured) is certain. 
 
 8 
 
1840.] THE GRAND ASYLUM OF EUROPE. 
 
 97 
 
 by what may justly be termed this insane idea of 
 amalgamating himself, as it were, with the dead 
 Napoleon, and making a step of his uncle's coffin 
 to his uncle's throne, that he concocted, and put 
 immediately into execution, a project which rendered 
 him the laughing-stock of the age, and which is, even 
 now, comic enough to provoke risibility. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AT A POINT BETWEEN THE SUBLIME AND THE 
 RIDICULOUS. 
 
 ITTLE did the self-sufficient Citizen King 
 of France and his devoted subjects know 
 that on Thursday, the 6th of August, 
 1840, their country would be in danger of a 
 powerful invasion ; that an attempt would be 
 made at an insurrection on their soil, from which 
 the worst consequences might be feared, if only 
 through its powerful organization and its extensive 
 ramifications. Yet, with these objects in view, 
 there was on its way to Boulogne a flotilla, with an 
 army ; the flotilla consisting of a small coasting 
 steamboat, called the City of Edinburgh, and the 
 army of about sixty individuals, with the important 
 auxiliary of a live eagle. The formidable force in 
 question combined in its ranks bodies of men chosen 
 expressly for their warlike character and military ap- 
 pearance. It boasted of companies of puissant hotel 
 waiters, brigades of doughty French cooks, battalions of 
 martial brothel bullies, and divisions of other troops 
 of an equally invincible character. At their head were 
 the Prince and the eagle ; for this aggressive bird, it 
 appears, had been for some time inseparable from its 
 master, with whom it fed, and, it is asserted — slept. 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1840.] 
 
 THE BOULOGNE FAILURE — (continued.) 
 
 In the preceding illustrations the artist let us into the secret of the Piince's means 
 of raising funds ; we now find him engaged in raising his army. The fifty-six per- 
 sons who formed the chosen retainers of the Prince were in truth not of the loftiest 
 position or character, and the selection reflected but small credit on the chief. 
 
 Conspicuous in the suite was a trained or tame eagle. This bird had been the 
 companion of the Prince for some time : he fed it personally, and it was even said 
 to sleep with him. To dwell on this ill-conditioned eagle with dignity or serious- 
 ness has puzzled even favourable "historians of the Boulogne venture. 
 
 A steamer, the "City of Edinburgh," chartered for the purpose, conveyed the 
 adventurers from Margate to the point of their demonstration. 
 
 9 
 
1840.] BETWEEN THE SUBLIME AND RIDICULOUS. 99 
 
 Immediately under the Prince and the eagle in com- 
 mand was a personage who, it must be acknowledged,, 
 was quite out of place there — namely, Count Persigny ;. 
 then came Count Montholon, who had acted some 
 time before a very much inferior part as companion 
 to Napoleon the First in his exile at St. Helena ; 
 Colonel Parquin, the Prince's associate at Stras- 
 burg, and others. 
 
 The programme of operations was worthy of the 
 army that was to execute it. The first thing 
 arranged to be done on landing at Boulogne was 
 of course to shout "Vive l'Empereur!" then hand- 
 bills were to be plentifully scattered about, announcing 
 the end of the Orleanist dominion and the restoration 
 of the Empire. 
 
 The soldiers and the inhabitants were next to be 
 completely overawed by the bearing and prowess of 
 the invaders, and these were then to fly the eagle, so 
 that it might rise and perch itself on the Colonne de 
 Napoleon ! How the latter purpose was to be attained 
 is not recorded, and it does seem rather singular that 
 the royal bird, though, perhaps, the most intelligent of 
 its species, should be considered competent for per- 
 forming such a feat when it had never been taught 
 to do it. 
 
 Just as the dawn streaked the horizon on the 6th 
 of August, 1840, this redoubtable band of patriots 
 sighted the French shore, and about five in the 
 morning anchored about a mile off Boulogne. Their 
 approach was observed by the Custom House officer 
 on watch, who, unable to make out their intentions, 
 hailed them, but was easily persuaded by them that 
 they were only a company of the 40th regiment of 
 the line, proceeding from Dunkirk to Cherbourg — 
 compelled to land on account of the breaking of one 
 of their paddle-wheels. Once landed, they seized 
 
 G 2 
 
IOO 
 
 AT A POINT BETWEEN 
 
 [1840. 
 
 this beguiled officer and his assistants. This strata- 
 gem insuring them against any alarm being raised, 
 the boat that had brought the first batch ashore 
 returned to fetch further detachments of the troops, 
 which it continued to do until the immense force was 
 all on terra firma, the eagle included. 
 
 By the time these extensive operations were com- 
 pleted, it was six o'clock, at which hour — exactly that 
 fixed at Strasburg — the valiant body moved en masse 
 to invade France. The cry of "Vive l'Empereur" 
 rang loud and shrill in the morning air, and people, 
 wakened out of their sleep, looked out of their 
 windows to see an overwhelming force marching 
 along with all the pomp and circumstance of war, 
 bearing tri-colour flags, and headed by a personage 
 whom they supposed to be the Emperor, whose life 
 was the subject of happy wishes, and, mirabile dictu, 
 a live eagle perched upon his sleeve ! 
 
 Having related the advent of the conquering 
 heroes on the soil of France, we will now, with the 
 reader's permission, allow an actual eye-witness to 
 take up the wondrous tale and describe their exploits. 
 
 " I was at Boulogne," says the eye-witness, " when 
 the adventurer Charles Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, 
 sailing in a steamer called the City of Edinburgh 
 from Margate, landed on the coast of France, at 
 Vimereux. With a well supplied cellar and larder, 
 with a tame eagle, a cook and scullions, with a valet, 
 a maitre d'hotel, a secretary, a chasseur, a hair- 
 dresser and grooms, with an elaborate and costly 
 dressing-case, and a couple of travelling carriages, 
 there was not wanting a Fortunata to grace these 
 orgies of a political Trimalchio ; but notwithstanding 
 the midnight and early morning potations, worthy of 
 the descriptive pen of a modern Petronius, the hero 
 of this escapade in no degree unnecessarily exposed 
 
1840.] THE SUBLIME AND THE RIDICULOUS. 101 
 
 himself. Servants — i. e. footmen and grooms — in 
 English liveries, officers and soldiers in French, and 
 a couple of military attendants, surrounded and 
 encircled as he landed, and marched to the barracks, 
 the future Emperor, and made a rampart round his 
 body. But never once, I repeat, did the pretender 
 fairly expose his person, and all the bombast we 
 have been reading about his courage and nerve is 
 mere thrasonical blague. Before the firmness of 
 Captain Puygellier, the pretender was appalled, and 
 though he drew a pistol on an unarmed man and shot 
 out three of his teeth, yet the moment Captain 
 Laroche of the 42nd could arm his men, M. Buona- 
 parte and his followers took to their heels. Some of 
 his brave and rash adherents I saw shot down before 
 me ; others wounded ; others, among the rest a 
 Corsican named Ornano, taken in a bathing machine ; 
 but the Coryphceus of the band was calm and 
 phlegmatic as a Dutchman, except during the moment 
 he fired upon an unarmed soldier, and exhibited as 
 safe a discretion as M. Dupin himself might be 
 supposed to show under similar circumstances. At 
 a quarter before six on that memorable morning the 
 future Emperor touched the French soil. Before 
 eight o'clock his party were routed, and such of them 
 as were not shot or drowned in attempting to escape 
 were safely lodged in prison." 
 Sic transit gloria mundi ! 
 
 It could scarcely be conceived, were it not true, 
 that a man who subsequently ruled with such con- 
 summate skill a great and mighty empire, and whose 
 name was allied with her's as a symbol of civilization 
 and power, could at any time of his life have been 
 mixed up with such an utterly absurd affair. There 
 never was before, never has been since, and, doubt- 
 less, never will be, such an invading army as this, 
 
102 
 
 AT A POINT BETWEEN 
 
 [1840. 
 
 except, perhaps, in a burlesque on the stage. The end 
 of the expedition has been recorded, but what became 
 of the eagle, which was to have played so con- 
 spicuous a part in the drama, is not a matter of 
 history, the last thing known about it being that it 
 refused to soar in the manner proposed, when called 
 upon to do so. 
 
 An American writer is the only one we have met 
 with who has taken the pains of giving a lengthy and 
 elaborate description of this fiasco ; all other writers 
 have taken the view which we have of it, that it was 
 too ridiculous to be dwelt upon seriously, and the 
 less said about it the better. We may state, how- 
 ever, that the trans-Atlantic author in question gives a 
 good picture of the woeful issue of the expedition. 
 He says, "An English gentleman, at that time 
 residing in Boulogne, led by the tumult, had run to 
 the shore, where the fugitives were struggling in the 
 waves, and were being shot at by the troops. He 
 saw a soldier taking deliberate aim at one of the 
 party, who was half suffocated in the water, but 
 a few yards from him. He rushed upon the man, 
 knocked up his gun, and, with an Englishman's in- 
 dignation at so cowardly a murder, asked the fellow 
 what he meant by attempting to shoot one thus 
 helpless and unarmed. The soldier turned upon 
 him with oaths and imprecations. But the English- 
 man, muscular and fearless, was the stronger of 
 the two, and the drowning man was rescued. It 
 proved to be the Prince. The writer received the 
 above narrative from the lips of a responsible gen- 
 tleman, who was for many years the familiar acquaint- 
 ance of one thus instrumental in saving this valuable 
 life. How slender are the chances upon which 
 often seem to be suspended the most momentous 
 destinies ! " 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1840.] 
 
 THE BOULOGNE FAILURE — (continued.) 
 
 The satirist's 
 last picture left the 
 Prince on board 
 the "City of Edin- 
 burgh." He is 
 here engaged in 
 forming a Ministry 
 — in gambling — 
 in drinking — and 
 other matters of 
 state. 
 
 They landed at 
 early morning, be- 
 
 guiled a custom- 
 house officer into 
 the belief that they 
 were a portion of 
 a regular regiment, 
 and seized the man 
 and his assistants to 
 prevent an alarm, 
 which would have 
 interfered with the 
 necessary ceremo- 
 ny of landing. The 
 populace was then 
 
 harangued, the tricolour was displayed, and " Vive VEmpereur /" resounded freely. 
 
 Encouraged by 
 the acclama- 
 tions of the po- 
 pulace, the 
 Prince, sur- 
 rounded by his 
 suite, and bear- 
 ing the eagle 
 perched on his 
 wrist, proceed- 
 ed to the Ca- 
 serne, and 
 aroused the 
 troops with 
 shouts of ' ' Vive 
 V Empereur I " 
 Captain Puy- 
 
 gellier and the 
 soldiers, how- 
 ever,- frustrated 
 his intentions 
 by remaining 
 firm in their 
 allegiance to 
 the Orleans 
 power; indeed, 
 it has been 
 stated that in- 
 structions had 
 been forward- 
 ed from Paris 
 in advance of 
 the harmless 
 invaders ! 
 
 10 
 
j 840.] THE SUBLIME AND THE RIDICULOUS. 
 
 One of the proclamations issued by Louis Napo- 
 leon on this occasion clearly shows that the ap- 
 parently precipitate and unprecedentedly foolish 
 undertaking had its origin, as we have traced it, in 
 the stir that was then made about the removal of 
 Napoleon's body from St. Helena. It runs as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Frenchmen ! the ashes of the Emperor should 
 return only to regenerated France. The shade of 
 a great man should not be profaned by impure and 
 hypocritical homage. Glory and Liberty should 
 stand at the side of the coffin of Napoleon. Traitors 
 to their country should disappear. There is in 
 France to-day but violence on one side and lawless- 
 ness on the other. I wish to re-establish order and 
 liberty. I wish, in gathering around me all the 
 interests of the country without exception, and in 
 supporting myself with the suffrages of the masses, 
 to erect an imperishable edifice. I wish to give 
 France true alliances and a solid peace, and not to 
 plunge her in the hazards of a general war. French- 
 men ! I see before me a brilliant future for our 
 country. I perceive behind me the shade of the 
 Emperor, which presses me forward. I shall not 
 stop till I have regained the sword of Austerlitz, 
 replaced the eagles upon our banners, and restored 
 to the people their rights." 
 
 In later times he found that something more was 
 absolutely necessary, for the accomplishment of such 
 designs, than the useless harping upon the name of 
 Napoleon. Up to that time he had been a mere 
 theorist, but he grew wiser, finding that one bold 
 resolute act went farther than a thousand plausible 
 propositions. 
 
 The tidings of a second insurrection, raised by 
 Prince Louis Buonaparte, created in Paris, at first, the 
 
104 AT A POINT BETWEEN [1840. 
 
 usual sensation ; but when people came to hear what 
 a miserable failure it was, how badly managed, and 
 how soon put an end to, their interest subsided, and 
 they only began to wonder what would now be done 
 with the restless conspirator. Various terms of im- 
 prisonment were guessed at, and the guillotine was 
 darkly hinted at as a not unlikely reward of his 
 enterprise. 
 
 There was no mother now to fly with wings of 
 love on an errand of mercy for him ; but, singular 
 to relate, his father, who had hitherto apparently 
 taken no interest in his son — not even on the last 
 occasion when he was a prisoner — now suddenly ap- 
 peared in print, endeavouring to palliate his son's 
 crime. He writes from Florence to the editor of a 
 Paris paper, called Le Commerce, and says : — 
 
 " Monsieur, — Permit me to entreat you to receive 
 the following declaration. I know that it is unusual 
 thus to make an appeal to the public ; but when a 
 father, afflicted, aged, sick, and exiled, can in no 
 other way come to the rescue of his unhappy son, 
 such a measure cannot but meet the approval of 
 every one who has the heart of a father. Convinced 
 that my son is the victim of an infamous intrigue, 
 and that he is seduced by vile flatterers, false friends, 
 and perhaps by treacherous counsels, I cannot keep 
 silence. I declare, then, that my son, Louis Napo- 
 leon, has fallen into a frightful snare — into a terrible 
 ambuscade. I declare, moreover, with sacred horror, 
 that the injury which has been inflicted upon my son, 
 by imprisoning him in the cell of an infamous assas- 
 sin, is a monstrous cruelty — anti-Francaise — an out- 
 rage as vile as it is treacherous. As a father, pro- 
 foundly afflicted ; as a Frenchman, tried by thirty 
 years of exile ; as the brother, and, if I may venture 
 to say so, the pupil of him whose statues France re- 
 
x84o.] THE SUBLIME AND THE RIDICULOUS, 105 
 
 erects, I commend my son, deluded and betrayed, to 
 the mercy of his judges, and of all those who have 
 the heart of a Frenchman and a father." 
 
 The poor old gentleman, in speaking of his son 
 having been confined in the cell of an infamous 
 assassin, referred to the Prince having been locked up 
 in the cell occupied by Fieschi, the assassin, shortly 
 before in the Conciergerie. This Newgate of France 
 is historically associated with unfortunate names of 
 every grade and class. A celebrated French writer 
 says, u The monarchy, the republic, the empire — 
 all these phases of history — have paid their tri- 
 bute of illustration to these dismal abodes." The two 
 most illustrious persons immediately preceding the 
 Prince who entered them were Marie Antoinette and 
 Marshal Ney, to both of whom the Conciergerie 
 was a last home. The nephew was thus incarcerated 
 in a felon's dungeon, awaiting, for all he knew, the 
 fate of the two personages mentioned above ; while 
 his uncle's bones were about to ride triumphantly 
 over the sea, wafted by the people's wishes back to 
 the scene of his former glory. That was a remark- 
 able contrast of fortunes. 
 
 One of the most curious facts connected with the 
 Boulogne expedition was that, though it emanated 
 directly from Louis Napoleon, it was gravely given 
 out as aided and abetted by the English Govern- 
 ment ! Lord Palmerston's name was as freely mixed 
 up with the subject as that of the real culprit. The 
 French papers, with their usual veracity and accuracy, 
 gave a wide circulation to the preposterous statement, 
 the Temps, at the head of them, authoritatively pro- 
 claiming it. No doubt the rumour was partly due to 
 the rancorous international animosity then existing 
 between France and this country ; but some colour- 
 ing was given to it by some lying sycophants of the 
 
io6 AT A POINT BETWEEN [1840. 
 
 French Government at Boulogne. One of these 
 miscreants averred, upon his oath, that he had clearly 
 seen, with a lunette cTapproche, a British fleet in the 
 offing, crowded with 10,000 English troops. From a 
 simple concurrent incident, too, a good deal of non- 
 sensical inference was drawn. The police discovered, 
 in the possession of one of the captives, a five-pound 
 note, with the name of Captain Brown endorsed 
 upon it, and, inconceivable as it may seem now, this 
 fact raised their suspicions that the English people 
 might be at the bottom of the insurrection. As long 
 as the credulous could be gulled by such a canard, 
 the English residents at Boulogne were made very 
 uncomfortable, and numbers of them left at once for 
 Dover. 
 
 As previously stated, Paris itself was in a state of 
 agitation on the first report of the news, accompanied, 
 as it was, by hints of England's complicity in the 
 movement. The King, hearing of the occurrence, 
 made a precipitate journey from Eu, where he was 
 staying, to the capital, in order to assist at the deli- 
 berations of the Council on the subject. 
 
 It has been variously said how Louis Napoleon 
 procured the means of organizing his expedition ; 
 for, slender as it was, it cost money, and a consider- 
 able sum was seized on board the steamer. There 
 can be little doubt that then the Prince was pretty 
 well in funds, or he could not have mixed in the 
 society he did in England ; and he could scarcely 
 have got rid of the property left him by his mother. 
 Some writers say that he disposed of his estate at 
 Arenemberg to raise sufficient money, and others 
 prematurely attribute to him those borrowing pro- 
 pensities for which he certainly was subsequently 
 notorious. The real fact was, we believe, that he 
 came into possession of a sum of ^"20,000, procured 
 
1 840.] THE SUBLIME AND THE RIDICULOUS. 107 
 
 for him by M. Thiers from the King of Holland, as 
 satisfaction for some diamonds the ex-Queen, his 
 mother, had left behind her at the Hague. 
 
 The rashness and palpable want of sense of his 
 act was not calculated to inspire in his favour, for 
 his now dangerous position, any amount of public 
 sympathy, even amongst his countrymen, so quickly 
 alive to any heroic or patriotic movement. It was 
 quite evident, from subsequent testimony, that the 
 whole thing was the upshot of an impulse, and that 
 not the least consideration had been given to the plan 
 of operations, if that fact was not already patent, from 
 the absurdity of an army of cooks and waiters being 
 taken upon such an expedition. 
 
 Count Bacchiochi, Louis Napoleon's cousin, who 
 had not returned to Boulogne many days after visit- 
 ing his relative in London, when arrested as an 
 accomplice in the plot, declared, upon his honour, 
 that he knew nothing whatever of such a project, as 
 also, that he did not believe the Prince had any con- 
 templation of it himself any length of time before 
 he landed. It was, without exception, the most 
 stupid, the most ill-timed, and the most hopeless 
 undertaking of its kind in the annals of history ; and 
 after the first excitement it caused was over, pro- 
 duced an universal and well-merited contempt for 
 its prime mover, though naturally a good deal of 
 sympathy was felt and expressed for its misguided 
 victims, who, in drunken conceit, had doffed their 
 menial liveries for a mock-military uniform, and who 
 had left respectable, though humble, situations to 
 play soldiers, and be shot or drowned in a madcap 
 attempt to establish an empire ! 
 
 The tone of the Paris papers was for once an 
 echo of the real feeling of the country towards the 
 young adventurer, who had now made two futile 
 
108 BETWEEN THE SUBLIME AND RIDICULOUS. [1840. 
 
 attempts to disturb the peace and constitution of the 
 realm. 
 
 An extract from the Debats of August 13th, says, 
 " We will acknowledge that if there be a popular 
 reminiscence in France, it is that of the Great 
 Captain whose name is associated with our immortal 
 victories ; but if there be a forgotten tamily, it is the 
 Imperial family. The son of Napoleon, in dying, 
 carried with him to the tomb the remnant of interest 
 which was attached to the blood of the Emperor. 
 France has pardoned in the Emperor the unsup- 
 portable harshness of his domestic government, the 
 unheard-of rigours of the conscription, the disasters of 
 1812 and 1 8 13, and the evils caused by his unbounded 
 ambition ; and in the popular mind the hero has been 
 almost deified. The image of Napoleon is every- 
 where, from the humble cottage to the public monu- 
 ments, but Buonapartism is extinct ; even the eclat of 
 the glory of the Emperor crushes those who ridicu- 
 lously attempt to cover themselves with it. Where 
 was M. Louis Buonaparte arrested ? At the foot of 
 the Column of Boulogne — of the Column raised 
 by the Grand Army in honour of its chief ! It was 
 reserved for Buonapartism to expire on that spot." 
 
 The prophecy with which these remarks conclude 
 naturally now provokes a smile ; but there can be no 
 doubt that France then was not ripe for a revolu- 
 tion, much as it was disgusted with the existing state 
 of affairs. 
 
NAPOLEON J II. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1840.] 
 
 THE BOULOGNE FAILURE— (continued.) 
 
 The Prince, from some inconceiv- 
 able fancy, was prepared to see his 
 eagle fly up the column to the statue 
 of his Uncle, and there rest on the 
 shoulders of the Great Napoleon. 
 
 The royal bird seems to have been, 
 as eagles go, but an indifferent ex- 
 ample of the soaring race. Perhaps 
 it is not a very wild conjecture to 
 establish an affinity between this Na- 
 poleonic favourite and the depressed 
 and deplumed specimen chained 
 years ago to the melancholy rookery, 
 or eyrie, which adorned the now defunct Coliseum ! 
 
 It is certainly true that neither 
 the Prince nor the bird acquitted 
 themselves favourably on this 
 occasion, and both performers 
 were freely censured and ridi- 
 culed. 
 
 During the affair Louis Na- 
 poleon drew a pistol on an un- 
 armed man, and shot out three 
 of his teeth. This circumstance 
 was revived by the revolutionary 
 party dominant in France at this 
 moment, and a street is believed 
 to have been re-christened after 
 this early unfortunate. The 
 Prince's miserably misguided 
 followers were all shot, drowned, 
 or taken prisoners. 
 
 11 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. 
 
 lOUIS NAPOLEON was removed from 
 Boulogne and lodged temporarily in the 
 Citadel of Ham, some days previous to 
 
 the transport of those who survived of his accom- 
 plices. These were sent on to Paris by diligences on 
 the 13th of August, or the week after the outbreak. 
 They consisted of Count Montholon, Marquis de 
 Montauban, Count Persigny, Marquis Ornano, 
 Lieut-Colonel Laborde, Colonel Parquin, Lieutenant 
 Aladenize (the only person at Boulogne who re- 
 sponded to Louis Napoleon's Quixotic call to sur- 
 render), and such as were alive of the cooks and the 
 waiters. 
 
 The King and Council assembling to consider the 
 measures to be taken in order to bring the traitors to 
 justice, determined upon having them tried before the 
 Court of Peers, and with as little delay as possible. 
 Some considerable time, however, elapsed before all 
 the necessary arrangements could be made, during 
 which some curious and entertaining anecdotes were 
 retailed concerning the Prince and his scheme. 
 
 In one journal it was stated that the papers seized 
 on board the Edinburgh Castle produced some 
 curious discoveries. A project, which was planned 
 some months previously by a person named Chanel, to 
 
no THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. [1840. 
 
 carry off, bodily, the King and Queen, during their 
 visit to Eu, appeared, it was said, from these papers, 
 to have been acquiesced in by Louis Napoleon. That 
 M. Chanel, in proposing the scheme to the Prince, so 
 inflamed his imagination, that he received £10,000 
 from him to carry it into execution ; having secured 
 which sum, the unprincipled scoundrel returned to 
 Paris, and revealed to the Prefect of Police all the ? 
 particulars for a further sum of £4,000, making thus ? 
 capital out of both parties. That Marshal Gerard 
 was then requested to write to Louis Napoleon to 
 inform him of the discovery of his intentions, and to 
 reason with him against carrying out such plans, 
 which could only conduce to render him ridiculous. 
 There were, it was said, other discoveries made, which 
 would implicate persons then filling high stations 
 in the political world. 
 
 To account for so much money being found in the 
 possession of Louis Napoleon when arrested, it was 
 stated that he had recently sold for £6,000 the paper 
 called Le Commerce, which had been bought for 
 him some time before in the name of a third party. 
 
 With regard to that contumacious bird, the eagle, 
 who so flatly refused to go through his part of the 
 performance, the story went that Louis Napoleon 
 himself was not entitled to the brilliant conception 
 of that piece of buffoonery, but that it had its origin 
 in the fertile genius of an officer of his scullion army. 
 The flying of the eagle was to take place at a given 
 signal, when the royal bird was expected to soar and 
 perch upon the Prince's head, the latter making the 
 best of his way to the top of the monument in the 
 meantime. Of a truth it may be observed, " Nemo 
 mortalium omnibus horis sapit." 
 
 A day or two after reaching Ham, the royal 
 prisoner was sent on to Paris, where he arrived 
 
1840.] THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. n 1 
 
 at midnight on the nth of August, and was 
 locked up, as previously mentioned, in the Concier- 
 gerie, in the cell formerly occupied by the assassin 
 Fieschi. He had evidently suffered much mental 
 depression in the interval, for his face is said to have 
 been deathly pale, and his frame greatly prostrated. 
 Three warders were put to keep watch over him, and 
 ordered not to quit him night or day. 
 
 There would appear to have been some under- 
 current of malice in the indignity offered to the 
 Prince, of not only consigning him, a state prisoner, 
 to a criminal jail, but of also allotting to him a cell 
 occupied by an assassin — the latter proceeding being 
 no doubt a low and mean attempt to prove, on the 
 part of the Government, to the prisoner himself and 
 the public, that there was no difference between his 
 crime and that of the dastardly Fieschi. 
 
 The announcement that the Prince was confined in 
 the cell of the would-be regicide was made by the 
 ministerial organs with unmistakable indications of 
 gloating over the fact, but popular indignation was 
 aroused by so unmanly an affront offered to a Prince 
 of a former dynasty. A similar lot, however, awaited 
 all his comrades, who were soon lodged in cells within 
 the same walls. 
 
 As a curious coincidence, it may be here mentioned 
 that, as at Strasburg, there was here also a lady in the 
 case, and the same lady, namely, Mdlle. Gordon, whose 
 wearing-apparel, workbox, &c, were found on board 
 the steamboat, but who was not captured with her 
 male companions. A warrant was issued for her 
 apprehension. 
 
 Another lady, residing at Boulogne, and moving 
 in a respectable circle of society, who was im- 
 peached of having carried on a correspondence with 
 the Prince, had the honour of a visit from the 
 
112 
 
 THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. [1840. 
 
 Commissary of Police. On search being made, 
 there were only a few love-letters found bearing the 
 signature of Louis Napoleon. These the Commis- 
 sary politely returned to the fair one, saying, " I see 
 what this affair is, Madame, but be assured it shall 
 remain buried in my breast." 
 
 Within a fortnight after the emeute, His Christian 
 Majesty Louis Philippe arrived at Boulogne, person- 
 ally to thank the garrison and the inhabitants for 
 their recent exhibition of loyalty to his throne. His 
 arrival was quite a surprise, for he came by sea. In 
 honour of the occasion flags were hoisted at all the 
 principal houses and stations, and military bands of 
 music struck up national airs all over the town. It 
 was very early in the morning when His Majesty's ad- 
 vent was announced, but the whole of the inhabitants 
 quickly turned out to witness his disembarkation, 
 and the town authorities collected on the pierhead to 
 welcome their King. 
 
 The roughness of the weather, however, rendered 
 landing almost an impossibility, and the elements 
 not being any more propitious towards noon, the 
 King determined to go on to Calais, and proceed to 
 Boulogne by road, which he accordingly did. This 
 was not done without France running a considerable 
 risk of being deluged in tears for the loss of her 
 invaluable ruler, for the frigate, in trying to unship 
 its royal freight, struck the jetty, and carrying 
 part of it away, was cast upon the sands. Fortu- 
 nately, His Majesty was able to step on the jetty and 
 walk ashore, where the Queen, who had arrived there 
 by another route, was ready to receive him with 
 tears of joy. From Calais to Boulogne the King 
 and Queen were cheered by their subjects vocife- 
 rously, and their carriage drew a gathering escort of 
 gentlemen along its route. Upon entering Boulogne, 
 
1840.] THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. 113 
 
 the air was resonant with cries of " Vive le Roi ! " which 
 were repeated again and again, until His Majesty had 
 entered his hotel. It was now eight o'clock in the 
 evening, and all the grand doings in connection with 
 the visit were postponed till the morrow. 
 
 After refreshing himself, the King honoured the 
 performance at the theatre with his presence, to the 
 unspeakable gratification of the lessee, who was re- 
 ported to have experienced a windfall of 2,500 francs 
 by the occasion. The eyes of the whole house were 
 naturally less bent upon the play than upon the 
 King, who smiled benignantly on his faithful people, 
 looking the very picture of a good king. An open- 
 hearted Englishman, called Brosher, was so captivated 
 by His Majesty's benevolent appearance, that he 
 roared out, while the performance was going on, 
 " God bless you, Louis Philippe !" to the great amuse- 
 ment of the people. The entertainment over, the 
 royal carriage drew up to the door of the theatre. His 
 Majesty motioned it away, at the same time signify- 
 ing his intention of proceeding to his hotel on foot. 
 Scarcely need it be added, that the resolution was 
 greeted with deafening cheers. His Majesty's retinue, 
 as he proceeded along the streets, increased to an 
 inconvenient degree, and as the crowd pressed closer, 
 to have a better view of their monarch, one of the 
 soldiers drew his sword to drive them back. 
 " Hold ! " cried the King, " a sword is unnecessary 
 amongst my faithful people in Boulogne." " What a 
 real King, this !" no doubt thought the crowd, for they 
 echoed something like that sentiment in the shouts 
 of "Vive le Roi!" they sent ringing into the air. 
 Here the uncourtly rain came on, and, to get out 
 of it as quickly as possible, His Majesty took to 
 his heels, followed by the crowd, reaching his hotel 
 breathless. This kind of thing was peculiar to 
 
 H 
 
ii4 THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. [1840. 
 
 Louis Philippe ; he had an overweening desire to 
 make himself at home amongst his subjects, and 
 be considered the pink of affability. 
 
 The morrow was a gala day. Early in the 
 morning all was life and activity amongst the natives. 
 The King received a numerous party at breakfast, 
 Including all the magnates and all the presentables 
 of the town. After this came the levee, which 
 lasted up till noon. The King then proceeded to 
 the church and saluted the clergy. From the priests 
 he went to the soldiers, who were mustered in full 
 force, including amongst them the . 42nd Regiment, 
 which had shown itself so fondly attached to its 
 sovereign. After reviewing them, he made the 
 following speech : — 
 
 " Frenchmen and comrades ! The whole of France 
 thanks you — I thank you — for your recent exertions 
 in favour of liberty, peace, and order. I am also 
 grateful to you for the attachment you manifested to 
 my throne and dynasty. The glory of the ancient 
 army, the memory of which is consecrated by the 
 pillar which overlooks this city [the Column of 
 Napoleon aforesaid], has fallen upon you, and you 
 have shown that, should occassion arise to require 
 your services in defence of the liberties and rights of 
 France, you know how to gain a military reputation." 
 The voice of the multitude responded with a " Vive le 
 Roi!" Now took place the distribution of rewards 
 of loyalty. • The colours of the National Guard had 
 attached to it a cross of the Legion of Honour. 
 The Mayor and the Colonel of the Guard were 
 advanced to the rank of Commanders in the Legion. 
 All the officers of the 42nd Regiment were advanced 
 one step ; two of the privates received crosses, and 
 to the remainder of the regiment, and to all the 
 other soldiers, pecuniary remunerations were ordered 
 
1840.] THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. 115 
 
 to be given. These ceremonies over, His Majesty 
 returned to the hotel, and shortly after left for 
 Eu ; signalizing thus the attachment to him of his 
 subjects in the hour of a formidable invasion by 
 personal marks of his favour, and leaving them with 
 an overwhelming sense of his beneficent qualities 
 as a monarch. 
 
 The scene changes from where a faithful people are 
 basking in the smile of their gracious sovereign, and 
 royal favours for loyal services rendered are falling 
 in golden showers, to where a motley band of 
 conspirators against the throne, pale and crestfallen, 
 stand to answer for their act of treason, and await 
 their punishment. 
 
 The trial of Louis Napoleon and his comrades 
 took place on the 28th of September, lasting several 
 days, before the Court of Peers. At eleven o'clock 
 on that day the gates of the Hall were opened, and 
 every seat available to the public was immediately 
 taken possession of. An hour afterwards, the 
 lawyers and counsel took their seats in front of the 
 bar, and at the same time the accused persons, 
 nineteen in number, headed by Louis Napoleon, 
 entered the court. The Prince was dressed in black, 
 and wore on his left breast a silver cracliat, distinctive 
 of his rank. He seated himself opposite the Presi- 
 dent's chair, and by his side sat Count Montholon, 
 these two prisoners being separated from their com- 
 panions by some gendarmes. A military guard was 
 drawn up in their rear. These preliminaries arranged, 
 the Chancellor, Baron Pasquier, took his seat, and the 
 proceedings commenced. The first process was the 
 calling over the names of the peers, when over 150 
 of these answered. Then the President requested 
 the Prince to rise, and questioned him as to his 
 name, age, and proiession. " My names," replied the 
 
 H 2 
 
n6 THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. [1840. 
 
 Prince, " are Charles Louis Napoleon Buonaparte. I 
 am thirty-two years of age, was born in Paris, and 
 am a French exile lately residing in London." The 
 same ceremony was gone through with the other 
 prisoners. 
 
 The President next called upon M. Cauchy to read 
 the impeachment of Louis Napoleon and his fol- 
 lowers. Some little delay took place before, this 
 could be done, on account of the entrance into court 
 of what might be called a " cloud of witnesses," 
 composed of a motley assortment of custom-house 
 officers, pilots, National Guards, officers and soldiers 
 of the 42nd Regiment, and citizens of Boulogne. 
 The accusation was eventually read, after which the 
 witnesses were ordered into a separate room, and 
 retired. 
 
 It being now three o'clock in the afternoon, a suspen- 
 sion of twenty minutes for refreshments took place, 
 and on the Court resuming its sitting, the President 
 again requested the Prince to rise. On doing so, the 
 prisoner begged that he might be allowed to make 
 a few observations before he answered any further 
 interrogatories, and, on the permission being given, 
 expressed himself in the following terms : — 
 
 " For the first time in my life, I am permitted to 
 lift up my voice in France and to speak freely to 
 Frenchmen. An occasion is offered to me to explain 
 to my fellow-citizens my conduct, my intentions, my 
 projects, what I think, what I wish. Without pride, 
 as without weakness, if I recall the rights deposited 
 by the nation in the hands of my family, it is solely 
 to explain the duties which these rights have imposed 
 upon us all. 
 
 " Fifty years ago the principle of sovereignty of 
 the people was consecrated in France by the most 
 powerful revolution which ever occurred in the world. 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1840.] 
 
 THE BOULOGNE FAILURE — (concluded.) 
 
 We left, in the last sketch, the Prince at the foot of the Napoleon Column, his 
 expedition utterly wrecked. The artist here suggests his temporary asylum in a 
 bathing-machine. According to one version of this failure, a bullet, but for a 
 stranger's hand, would there and then have ended the Prince's career. 
 
 Forwarded to Paris, after an ignominious incarceration in the Conciergerie, he 
 was tried by the Court of Peers, under the presidency of Baron Pasquier, the Chan- 
 cellor. The Prince was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment at Ham. 
 
 The fate of the eagle, the companion of Caesar and his misfortunes, has been the 
 subject of conjecture. The artist delineates the aspiring bird ignominiously engaged 
 in abstracting sausages at the moment he was expected to bear up the fortunes of 
 an empire. The Prince disowned his pet. 
 
 12 
 
1840.] THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. n 7 
 
 Never has the national will been proclaimed so 
 solemnly, or been established by suffrage so nume- 
 rous and so free, as on the occasion ol adopting the 
 constitution of the Empire. 
 
 " The nation has never revoked that great act of 
 its sovereignty, and the Emperor has said, 1 All that 
 has been done without its authority is illegal.' Do 
 not, therefore, allow yourselves to believe that, sur- 
 rendering myself to the impulses of personal ambi- 
 tion, I have attempted to force a restoration of the 
 Imperial Government upon France. I have been 
 taught higher lessons ; I have lived under noble 
 examples. I am the son of a King who, without 
 regret, descended from his throne when he no longer 
 thought it possible to reconcile with the interests of 
 France the interests of the people whom he had been 
 called upon to govern. 
 
 "The Emperor, my uncle, preferred abdicating 
 the Empire to accepting by treaty the restricted 
 frontiers, which could not but expose France to the 
 insults and menaces which foreign nations permit 
 themselves to indulge in to-day. I have not lived a 
 single day forgetful of these lessons. The unmerited 
 and cruel proscription, which for twenty-five years 
 has been clogging my existence, from the foot of the 
 throne where I was born, to the prison which I have 
 just left, has been as powerless to irritate as to sub- 
 due my heart. It has not been able to estrange me 
 for a single day from the dignity, the glory, or the 
 interests of France. My conduct, my convictions, 
 explain themselves. 
 
 " When in 1830 the people reconquered their sove- 
 reignty, I had thought that the day after the con- 
 quest would be as loyal as the conquest itself, and 
 that the destinies of France were fixed for ever. 
 But the country has had the sad experience of the 
 
n8 THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. [1840. 
 
 last ten years. I thought, therefore, that the vote of 
 four millions of citizens, which had elevated my 
 family to supreme power, imposed upon me the duty 
 of at least making an appeal to the nation, and of 
 inquiring what was its will. I even thought, that if 
 in the midst of the National Congress which I in- 
 tended to call, any pretensions could make them- 
 selves heard, I should have the right to re-awaken 
 the glorious recollections of the empire ; to speak of 
 the elder brother of the Emperor, and of that vir- 
 tuous man who, before me, is his worthy heir [he 
 here referred to Joseph and Louis Buonaparte], and 
 to place in contrast the France of to-day, enfeebled, 
 passed over in silence at the Congress of Kings, with 
 the France of those times, so strong at home, so 
 powerful and respected abroad, — to the question 
 * Republic or Monarchy, Empire or Kingdom ? ' the 
 nation would have responded. Upon its free decision 
 depends the end of our sorrows, and the termination 
 of our dissentions. 
 
 " As to my enterprise, I repeat it, I have had no 
 accomplices. Alone I have resolved all. If I am 
 culpable towards any one, it is towards my friends. 
 However, let them not accuse me of having trifled 
 lightly with courage and devotion such as theirs. 
 They will easily comprehend the motives of honour 
 and prudence which did not permit me to reveal, 
 even to them, how well founded and strong were my 
 reasons to expect success. 
 
 " A last word, gentlemen. I represent before you 
 a principle, a cause, a defeat. The principle is the 
 sovereignty of the people ; the cause that of the 
 Empire ; the defeat, Waterloo. The principle, you 
 have recognized it ; the cause, you have served it ; 
 the defeat, you have wished to avenge it. 
 
 * Representative of a political cause, I cannot 
 
1840.] THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. 119 
 
 accept as the judge of my intentions and my acts, a 
 political tribunal. Your forms impose on no one. 
 In the struggle now commencing there can be but 
 the victor and the vanquished. If you are of the 
 victorious party, I have no justice to expect from 
 you, and I do not wish generosity." 
 
 These words were delivered in a firm clear voice, 
 and produced a visible impression upon the audience, 
 amongst which was a large number of Napoleon's 
 old companions in arms, and members of the Em- 
 peror's household. They were, however, anything 
 but palatable to the President, who, after the Prince 
 had concluded, said to him : — 
 
 " I do not think that what you have said is very 
 favourable to your cause : you ought to have sought 
 for other means of justification. You ought to have 
 known how to appreciate in a better manner the 
 sentiments of the country whose will you invoke." 
 
 The President then went on to put a series of 
 questions to the Prince, but the latter refused to 
 reply to the majority of them, especially those having 
 a tendency to inculpate other persons not arraigned 
 before the court. 
 
 Turning from the Prince, the President, according 
 to the French law, interrogated each of the other 
 prisoners. Count Montholon, on being asked if he 
 attempted to excite a rising in Boulogne, in order 
 to change the Government of France, and proclaim 
 Louis Napoleon Emperor of the French, declined to 
 answer. He, however, stated that he arrived at Mar- 
 gate, on his way to Ostend, when the Prince sent him 
 word that he wished to speak to him on board the 
 City of Edinburgh, which was anchored there ; that 
 he went immediately, and was, without any reason 
 being assigned, furnished with the uniform which he 
 wore when captured. He asked the Prince where 
 
120 
 
 THE EAGLE S PINIONS CLIPPED. 
 
 [1840. 
 
 they were going to, and he replied, "You will see ;" 
 and that he (the Count) knew nothing whatever of 
 the project until a short time before landing at 
 Boulogne. Here the question being repeated as to 
 whether he did not attempt to create a rising in 
 Boulogne, to proclaim Louis Napoleon Emperor of 
 the French, the Count replied : " I could have no 
 intention of proclaiming the Prince Emperor of the 
 French, because he did not wish it himself." He 
 further stated that he said to the Prince on landing, 
 " You are ruining yourself and us : but I will not 
 abandon the nephew of the Emperor in the hour of 
 danger, and I follow you in the hope of saving you, 
 and preventing French blood from being uselessly 
 shed." 
 
 He was asked if the Prince never before spoke : 
 to him of his projects, and if so, why he had not 
 endeavoured to dissuade him from them. "The 
 Prince often talked to me of them," he replied, " and 
 I always told him to wait until France should call 
 for him, and to remember Strasburg." 
 
 With regard to the proclamation bearing his name, 
 the Count asserted most positively that he knew 
 nothing of it, and that he should not have been fool 
 enough to play the part of a major-general to an 
 army of forty men. Similar testimony was adduced 
 from most of the other prisoners, all of whom agreed 
 in the one fact, that the Prince inveigled them on board 
 the steamboat without imparting to them any infor- 
 mation whatever of his intentions, but that, shortly 
 before the vessel reached the French coast, he 
 mounted a carriage on the deck, and then informed 
 them of the errand on which they were bound. 
 M. Persigny admitted that he knew the Prince's 
 object with regard to the expedition, but was told 
 none of the details before any of the others were 
 
1840.] 
 
 THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. 
 
 121 
 
 acquainted with them. They all, moreover, agreed 
 upon another point, that the firing of the Prince's 
 pistol at Boulogne was accidental, but that though 
 it wounded a soldier, it without a doubt prevented 
 greater mischief accruing. 
 
 The examination of the prisoners having been con- 
 cluded, the court proceeded with the examination ot 
 the witnesses. The depositions of these were nearly 
 alike, going to prove the landing at Boulogne, the 
 occurrences that followed, and the identity of the 
 prisoners. The imputations before spoken of, respect- 
 ing men holding high positions in France having 
 something to do with the conspiracy, came to nothing, 
 though it was admitted by several of those implicated 
 that they had received proposals from Louis Napoleon, 
 which were by them indignantly spurned, Major- 
 General Magnan said that a letter was put into his 
 hand by a third party, written by the Prince, which 
 commenced : — "My dear Commandant, — It is impor- 
 tant that you should see the general in question. 
 You know that he' is a man of execution, and that I 
 have marked him to be a Marshal of France. Offer 
 him 100,000 francs, and promise to lodge 300,000 
 francs with a banker in Paris, in case he should lose 
 his command." The general continued that he could 
 read no more, so great was his surprise and anger; and 
 looking at the end of the letter, he found it signed 
 by Louis Napoleon. That he returned the letter, 
 remarking that the Prince ought to have known him 
 better than to make such a proposal to him ; and that 
 if even he took his money, the army would not obey 
 him. 
 
 The Procureur-General, in opening his address, 
 observed that the dynasty founded in July had been 
 the object of attack of different factious parties, but 
 that' the loyalty and affection of His Majesty's sub- 
 
122 THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. [1840. 
 
 jects had triumphed over all their attempts. Then, 
 referring to the case before the Court, he said, " What 
 can be the utility of words, or the necessity of dis- 
 cussion ? Nothing has been denied, either of the 
 facts which constitute the attempt, or of the part 
 which each one has taken in the enterprise. The 
 intention, the end, the means, everything has been 
 avowed. 
 
 " When an effort has been made to substitute 
 another Government for that of the country — when 
 ambition so high that it aspires to nothing less than 
 sovereign power manifests itself by formal acts — when 
 men menace with a new revolution the land already 
 furrowed by so many revolutions — is it sufficient, 
 before such a court as this, to state the material 
 circumstances of the attempt, and provoke against 
 its authors merited punishment ? Is it not necessary 
 to search into the motives which inspired the aggres- 
 sion — into the grounds of support to pretensions so 
 vast — into the influences and means at the disposal of 
 men influenced by such vain hopes ? 
 
 " As for us, gentlemen, the more ardent the ad- 
 miration with which we cherish in our hearts the 
 memory of the Emperor Napoleon, the more need 
 have we to remember our character as a magistrate, 
 that we may maintain impartiality of judgment in 
 the presence of this puerile ambition, which has twice 
 compromised that grand name in these hare-brained 
 enterprises. 
 
 " Have they not already felt in their consciences 
 that they could nowhere find a judge more indignant 
 and more severe than Napoleon himself would be, if 
 the report of these attempts without wisdom — this 
 temerity without grandeur — these defeats without 
 combats, could ascend to his ear ? 
 
 " They imagine that the grandeur of the empire, 
 
1840.] THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. 123 
 
 and the glory of the Emperor, were as a patrimony 
 for the family of Napoleon ; and the worship of the 
 nation of these immortal souvenirs, transforms itself, 
 in their view, into a popular wish which calls that 
 family to reign. 
 
 " The Emperor could not bequeath the sceptre to 
 any one. It fell from his powerful hand betore his 
 destinies were accomplished. His glory is the in- 
 heritance of France ; and the real representative of 
 the empire in her eyes is not he " (pointing to the 
 Prince), " nor the obscure friends that surround him ; 
 but it is the genius of the Emperor still living in our 
 laws — it is the men who, cherishing his traditions, 
 and at the head of an army, and in our councils, are 
 the honour of our country, and the bulwark of that 
 royalty that France has founded with her own 
 hands." 
 
 Turning here to the Prince, the advocate continued : 
 — " We have been severe towards you, Prince Louis. 
 Our mission and your crime made such to be our 
 duty ; but we can never forget that you were born 
 near a throne, and that you have been educated in 
 exile, where we cannot forbid hope from consoling 
 misfortune, and where the sorrows of the past are 
 sweetened by illusions of the future." 
 
 M. Berryer, whom the Prince had engaged, notwith- 
 standing his Legitimist views in politics, well know- 
 ing that there was not his superior at the French bar, 
 followed for the defence. His speech was a some- 
 what long one, but is worth giving almost in extenso, 
 as the sensation it produced upon the assembled 
 peers had, no doubt, much to do with the future 
 success of Louis Napoleon. M. Berryer said :— 
 
 " Gentlemen, — I have not witnessed this trial without 
 being penetrated with a painful reflection. Is not 
 that country most unfortunate, in which so many con- 
 
124 THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. [1840. 
 
 vulsions take place in so few years, and create doubts 
 as to all its institutions ? How many changes has 
 not a single generation witnessed ? A republic, an 
 empire, a restoration, and a constitutional govern- 
 ment. Is not such a state of things calculated to 
 lead men to profane the majesty of the laws ? In 
 such a nation, and with such a succession of events, 
 is it true that men of the greatest energy and fidelity, 
 and the most invincible in contracted duties, are to 
 be precisely those who are to be regarded as bad 
 citizens? In such a state of society, statesmen might 
 well feel alarm ; but judges in a political process 
 should, before they give satisfaction to power, demand 
 with energy whether it has not authorized by its acts, 
 its antecedents, and its manifestations, enterprises 
 which it declares criminal. When in 18 15 the ministers 
 sent before judges the men who had escaped the 
 disasters of Waterloo, I defended those who had 
 remained faithful to the Emperor, in order to save 
 their lives. I allowed for events, and circumstances, 
 and treaties. What I did then, I do again now. 
 
 " The prisoner who has done me the honour to 
 entrust me with his defence, in seeking me out in 
 the ranks of a party so opposed to his own, has 
 nothing to fear. He shall see that I will not betray 
 his confidence Although the questions to which I 
 shall advert affect deeply the success of our political 
 struggles, I will only allude to them judicially." 
 M. Berryer here went over the facts of the landing, 
 the proclamations, &c, and said : — " Does the chief 
 of this enterprise stand before you with such a 
 character of culpability that it is possible to punish 
 him judicially ? Is this an occasion for applying to 
 a rebellious subject the articles of the penal code? 
 No! In 1830 the people declared its sovereignty; 
 it declared that it resumed its rights, and asserted 
 
1840.] THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. 125 
 
 the will of a majority of the citizens. You have 
 recognized this, and have consecrated it in the head of 
 your fundamental law. The principle which now 
 governs you is the principle of 1791, in virtue of 
 which an appeal was made to the nation — in virtue 
 of which 4,000,000 of votes in 1804 declared that 
 France demanded hereditary government in the 
 dynasty of Napoleon. This was abolished in 1814, 
 but you know what passed in 181 5. 
 
 " Gentlemen, amongst yourselves, how often have 
 I heard voices raised against the abolition of the 
 principle which consecrated the hereditary power of 
 Napoleon ; but how many of you have I seen 
 descend even to party struggles for the re-establish- 
 ment of the dogma of the sovereignty of the people 
 which had been destroyed ? Is the restoration of 
 the empire then a phantom, a dream ? Well, then, 
 the Emperor Napoleon is dead, and all is now dead 
 with him ! But in saying this what do we say ? 
 Did his dynasty, which was founded by the national 
 sovereignty, promise the country to last during the 
 lifetime of only one man ? It is thus that you must 
 now attack the guarantees of power which you 
 defend in order to repulse that which claims them. 
 The empire has failed, but under what circumstances ? 
 At the moment of the fall of the political dogma on 
 which the empire was founded, what did you do in 
 1830? You revived this dogma, and with it the 
 hereditary rights of the Napoleon family. Is this 
 the subject for judgment ? Really one can hardly 
 comprehend that there should be here a person 
 under accusation ! 
 
 " You have by consecrating the principle re- 
 established the empire. This principle had been 
 abolished, but you restored it. Again I say, and I 
 will say it a thousand times, there is no person here 
 
126 THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. [184a 
 
 liable to judgment. In 1836 you proclaimed the 
 maxim which I now lay down. You recognized then 
 that the Prince did not fall within the common law, 
 and that he was not liable to the laws of the country. 
 Why, then, is he brought before you ? Are the 
 times changed ? Are rights no longer the same ? 
 Are the laws abolished ? 
 
 " But you will say, perhaps, new disorders, violent 
 revolutions, must be prevented. You have a right to 
 do this. Govern, but do not judge ; do not judge the 
 heir to a crown ! Is there one amongst you, one who 
 could say to himself on entering this court, ' I will be 
 an impartial judge ; I will weigh all rights. I will 
 put the royalty of the empire and the royalty of 
 July into the balance, and endeavour to judge im- 
 partially ' ? Impartial ! you cannot be impartial : for 
 you are the judges of established power ; and you 
 cannot cover the acts of the Government with the 
 mantle of justice ! (Great sensation.) You cannot 
 give a verdict which would not be that of the Govern- 
 ment. The client for whom I appear is proscribed, 
 and you cannot apply to him the common law, from 
 which you have excluded him. But if you will be 
 judges, be at least human judges of human things, 
 and look at the circumstances connected with the 
 event which has placed these prisoners before you. 
 
 " The present ministry was formed at a time when 
 great political questions were agitated. This ministry 
 blamed the timidity of its predecessors : the nation was 
 groaning under the sense of the concessions made to 
 the foreign powers. It accused the Government of 
 the loss of influence of France in Spain, and of having 
 left that country under the influence of England. 
 What did the ministry do ? It invoked the memory 
 of him who carried his sword from the extremity of 
 Portugal to the shores of the Baltic ; it has opened 
 
1840.] THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. 127 
 
 the tomb of the hero, it has touched his formidable 
 arms, and has extended its hand to deposit them on 
 his tomb. This is what the ministry has done. You 
 are now going to judge the Prince without taking 
 into account the feelings which such appeals must have 
 revived in his heart. Be men, gentlemen, and judge 
 as men ; and before you judge, remember what has 
 been done under a Prince who once asked the favour 
 to be permitted to fight against the Corsican usurper. 
 (Sensation.) Under this Prince, gentlemen, a minister 
 has said that Napoleon was the legitimate sovereign of 
 the country. What ! after having heard these words, 
 this appeal to the great name which he bears, to the 
 glory which he regards as his inheritance, would you 
 have his heart dead to feeling, and could you expect 
 that this ardent young man would not cry, i I will 
 carry this great name to the frontiers to avenge 
 France, and carry into neighbouring states the terror 
 of past defeats ' ? ' This name,' would he say, ' is 
 mine ; these arms were bequeathed to me by the 
 warrior ; no other than myself shall place them on 
 the tomb of the warrior. I will go, I will head the 
 funeral procession, and I will say to France, Will you 
 hear me ? ' (Sensation.) 
 
 " Be courageous enough to hear the truth. If the 
 act which Government calls upon you to condemn 
 be a crime, it was the Government which inspired it 
 by the principles which it has proclaimed, by the acts 
 which it has glorified. If it be said that success is the 
 basis of moral law, listen to me. I will ask you to 
 say, you whom we know, whether if he had triumphed, 
 you would have denied him his rights and refused to 
 associate yourselves with his power ? (Profound sen- 
 sation.) Judges and legislators, you respect the laws ; 
 well, then, open the code, what will you see there ? 
 Death, death for the offence before your tribunal .? 
 
E28 THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. [1840. 
 
 Death ! oh, no. You will not pronounce that ver- 
 dict, you cannot. You cannot at the same time 
 attach the name of Napoleon to a glorious tomb, and 
 upon the scaffold ! You will, then, pronounce a 
 political verdict — political reasons will engross the 
 mind of the judge and decide his conduct. That 
 would not be indulgence. You can pronounce 
 another punishment — perpetual imprisonment, for 
 instance — a punishment of infamy ! (Sensation.) A 
 sentence of infamy upon the name of Napoleon ! 
 Oh, no, you cannot. You will not forget that you 
 are men ; and you will remember that France, which 
 has its eyes upon you, desires above all things 
 respect for its feelings. You pronounce an infamous 
 punishment against the nephew of the man to whom 
 you owe everything ! You turn against the family 
 of your benefactor for benefits which he conferred 
 upon you ! Marshals, dukes, barons, who made you 
 what you are ? You will say your exploits, your 
 services. Be it so ; but it is to the magnificence of 
 the empire, and to its liberality alone, that you owe, 
 nearly all of you, the right of sitting in this assembly. 
 (Agitation.) Gentlemen, you have to pronounce upon 
 a question which is purely political ; you are not 
 judges, you are politicians. You will then send the 
 accused again into exile — exile is the position which 
 the law has created for him. Let the law be executed, 
 and his exile recommence. Any other consideration 
 would be immoral, in presence of the obligations 
 which are imposed upon you, and, above all, with 
 the reminiscences of your own lives." 
 
 As M. Berryer concluded, and sat down, the peers 
 seemed literally to writhe from the home-thrusts he 
 had given them ; and there was such a scene of 
 confusion in the Court that Count Montholon, in 
 rising to read a statement from a paper he held in 
 
1840.] THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. 129 
 
 his hand, could not find a hearing, and had to wait 
 several minutes before tranquillity was restored. This 
 eminent French lawyer, though not an Imperialist in 
 his views, was as a. Legitimist strongly opposed to the 
 citizen King and his Government ; and in his defence 
 of Louis Napoleon, he was all the more earnest and 
 energetic on that account ; in fact, his speech reads 
 as if he intended to kill two birds with one stone — to 
 serve his client's cause and his own at the same time. 
 Every word that fell from his lips came with a telling 
 effect in both directions ; and there can be little 
 doubt that the peers, if they dared, would have 
 acquitted the prisoner ; but, as M. Berryer observed, 
 they were not judges, but politicians. Though it 
 failed, however, to procure the liberty of the captive, 
 that speech laid the foundation of the future empire. 
 It was a speech not likely to be forgotten by those 
 who heard it, nor by the populace who read it 
 as reported. It was calculated to rouse whatever 
 sympathy was latent in the French people for the 
 exiled family of their glorious Emperor, especially at 
 a time when his memory was being so tenderly 
 revived. A hundred attempts at revolution, organized 
 with the utmost skill and carried out with the most 
 consummate tact, would not have done as much for 
 Louis Napoleon's cause as that speech did. 
 
 After the counsel for the other prisoners had 
 addressed the peers in their defence, the Court took 
 three days to consider its verdict. It was then 
 announced that Prince Louis Napoleon was found 
 guilty of high treason, and sentenced to perpetual 
 imprisonment — a term never, till then, awarded by 
 the French law, but which was improvised to meet 
 this case — that Count Montholon, Commandant 
 Parquin, M. de Persigny, and M. Lombard were each 
 doomed to twenty years' imprisonment, while the 
 
 I 
 
THE EAGLE'S PINIONS CLIPPED. [1840. 
 
 remainder of the culprits were allotted periods- of 
 confinement ranging from ten to two years. 
 
 The Court party, it was currently reported, were 
 extremely desirous that Louis Napoleon should be 
 sentenced to death, in order to afford Louis Philippe 
 the opportunity of pardoning him ! The old friends 
 of the Emperor would not give His Majesty the 
 chance of so great an act of magnanimity ; they 
 had not quite so far forgotten what they owed to 
 their former benefactor as to jeopardize the life of a 
 scion of his house, with so much Bourbon rancour 
 afloat, even though the King into whose hands the 
 Prince would have been committed was so inordi- 
 nately anxious to be considered the very fountain- 
 head of mercy and benevolence. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE EAGLE CAGED. 
 
 S a commuted sentence, imprisonment for 
 life might be hailed by the wretch in mortal 
 terror of the gallows with an outburst of joy 
 and thankfulness ; but it is questionable whether, even 
 with him, these feelings last, as year after year spins 
 itself out, and he finds himself enduring a living 
 death, knowing nothing more of existence than that 
 he exists. As a primary doom, especially to a 
 cultivated mind, it must be dreadful. It opens to 
 the view such a barren vista of life, wrapped in un- 
 broken gloom ; induces a moral death to take place, 
 and hopes, aims, affections, in a moment, to crumble 
 into dust ; makes the wide world narrow itself into a 
 cell ; death to assume the aspect of a friend, and 
 the grave a refuge. No such melancholy effects, it 
 would seem, however, were produced on the spirit of 
 Louis Napoleon ; because no walls, however massive, 
 could shut out from his sight that star of his destiny 
 whose ray had cheered so many years of exile and 
 of persecution. 
 
 It was in the afternoon of the 6th of October that 
 his sentence of perpetual imprisonment was read to 
 him. He smiled as he heard it, and observed, 
 " Formerly it was said that the word ' impossible ' 
 was not French : I suspect it is so with the word 
 
132 THE EAGLE CAGED. [184a 
 
 ' perpetual ' now." He could hardly have expected 
 an acquittal, and might have anticipated death ; but 
 it is probable that the sentence in question was 
 the one most present in his mind as likely to be the 
 issue of the verdict. Taking fully into consideration 
 all circumstances, we are also fain to confess that in 
 our opinion Justice made a good hit here ; for death 
 and acquittal would have been equally monstrous, 
 and no limited term of incarceration could teach such 
 a man a lesson, nor check his ambition. 
 
 At midnight on the same day he was taken from 
 the Conciergerie, and removed in a carriage to the 
 Castle of Ham. This is a fortress in the town of 
 Ham, which is something short of a hundred miles 
 north-east of Paris. It has a stern, gloomy-looking 
 aspect, and overlooks a perfect wilderness ; even 
 vegetation seeming to be blighted by its shadow. 
 Given a choice, St. Helena might be preferred to it ; 
 for the sullen rocks which surround that island-prison 
 of Napoleon are much the worst part of it, as Nature 
 has been by no means niggardly to the soil above 
 them, abounding, as it does, in a great variety of the 
 fruits of the earth. The fortress of Ham is in the 
 shape of a quadrangle, with a tower at each angle ; 
 one of the towers rising to the height of a hundred 
 feet. Some tall poplar trees stand by its walls ; but, 
 with the exception of these, nothing, even in the way 
 of a shrub, can be seen in the dreary waste expanding 
 before the view. The castle has but one entrance, 
 which is by a gate in the north-eastern wall, and this 
 is strongly protected. The interior of the structure 
 is even more cheerless than its outer prospect ; the 
 part used as the state prison being an ill-designed, 
 narrow brick building, containing a few wretched 
 rooms, low and damp. 
 
 The apartments assigned to the Prince were in a 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1840— 1846.] 
 
 CAPTIVITY AFTER THE BOULOGNE ATTEMPT. 
 
 THE PRISON OF HAM. 
 
 The fortress, flanked by four bastions and surrounded by a moat, is in a desolate 
 5'ituation, and the Prince became gloomy under confinement. He relieved the 
 tedium of his prison life, which was by no means oppressively strict, by literary 
 composition. Many of the political tracts written by him at that period are still 
 ixtant, and it is curious to observe how the principles advocated in them differ 
 from those which were acted upon by the Prince when he came into power. His 
 ^arly convictions, therefore, were not of much practical value. 
 
 Among other works he wrote a pamphlet on the extinction of pauperism. He 
 dso composed a paper on the sugar question: this fact is curious from the circum- 
 stance of his reputed relative, the Uuke de Morny, having been the promoter and 
 lead of a company for the manufacture of beetroot sugar; as a Minister the Duke 
 ifterwards legislated on this matter under the Imperial regime^ 
 
 13 
 
1840.] 
 
 THE EAGLE CAGED. 
 
 133 
 
 very tumble-down state ; the ceiling with great 
 cracks across it, letting in rain ; the doors hanging on 
 infirm hinges ; the windows rattling in the wind, and 
 hardly proof against beating showers ; the paper 
 hanging on the walls like rags on a beggar's back ; 
 and the floor, from the tread of ages of misery, and 
 the gnawing of centuries of rats, in a shaky and 
 perforated condition. 
 
 The Prince's rations were limited to the produce of 
 seven francs per diem ! This, however, was his least 
 hardship, for he never was much of an epicure, fol- 
 lowing, in this respect, his uncle, whose rule it was to 
 leave off eating with a live appetite. 
 
 To wait upon him, he was positively allowed the 
 luxury of a valet ; and, happily, to the Prince his 
 servant was something more than a menial, if he was 
 not what might be called a friend. This worthy fol- 
 lower's name was Charles Phelin, and, like a real gem 
 of his class, he had been in the service of the family 
 before his present master was thought of, his first 
 entry into life being in the household of Josephine, 
 the grandmother, from which he was transferred to 
 that of Hortense, and finally cast in his lot with the 
 exiled descendant of a race he had known in all its 
 greatness and misfortunes. Taking into consideration 
 his position, the Court had acquitted Phelin at the 
 trial, and the Government graciously allowed him to 
 share his master's captivity. Louis Napoleon was 
 very much attached to this good creature, and speaks 
 of him in several letters with great affection. 
 
 The Prince's gaoler, unlike his uncle's, was a man 
 who would relax from the severity which his position 
 entailed upon him, when off duty. He diurnally went 
 through two totally opposite parts, playing both with 
 equal success. On duty he was a most inflexible guard, 
 with his eye open for every crevice through which 
 
134 
 
 THE EAGLE CAGED. 
 
 [1841. 
 
 escape could be possible ; but having turned the last 
 key, he almost invariably repaired to the Prince to play 
 cards with him, and gave him the benefit of social 
 qualities of the most cordial and agreeable descrip- 
 tion. The other members of this captive household 
 consisted of Count Montholon and his lady, and the 
 Prince's physician, Dr. Conneau, whose several duties 
 were to cheer and animate each other with as bright 
 hopes of the future as could find their way through 
 those dismal walls. 
 
 Always of a studious character, the Prince natu- 
 rally felt now a greater., love for books, as affording 
 mental glimpses of the fair world from which he was 
 shut out ; and he also devoted a great deal of his 
 time to literary labour. By a singular oversight on 
 the part of his enemies, he was allowed to correspond 
 freely, and his name frequently appeared in a journal 
 with which he was connected, called the Progres du 
 Pas de Calais. His friends, also, were constantly in 
 receipt of letters from him, in which he tried to show 
 how cheerfully and manfully he was bearing up with 
 his misfortune, though the real truth was his heart 
 was breaking. The following is a copy of one of 
 them : — 
 
 "Ham, 14th August, 1841. 
 
 " My life is passed here in a very monotonous 
 manner, for the rigours of the authorities are un- 
 changed ; nevertheless, I cannot say that I am dull, 
 because I have created for myself occupations which 
 interest me. For instance, I am writing ' Reflections 
 upon the History of England,' and I have also 
 planted a small garden in the corner of the yard in 
 which I am located. But all this fills up the time 
 without filling the heart, and sometimes we find that 
 very void of sentiment. 
 
i8 4 t.] THE EAGLE CAGED. 135 
 
 " I am very much pleased at what you tell me of 
 the good opinion I have left behind me in England, 
 but I do not share in your hope as to the possibility 
 of soon being in that country again ; and indeed, 
 notwithstanding all the pleasure I should have in 
 again finding myself there, I do not complain in the 
 least of the position to which I have brought myself, 
 and to which I am completely resigned." 
 
 The love of flowers inherent to most of us is 
 nowhere so marked as in the centre of great 
 cities, or in places of seclusion and confinement 
 like this, where Nature's child yearns for Nature's 
 smiles hidden from its view. That little garden 
 in the corner of the yard was cultivated with un- 
 common skill by the same hand that had so lately 
 reached out for a sceptre, and the progress of the 
 tinted nurselings of its care was the source of no 
 small or vulgar delight to this amateur horticul';u- 
 ralist. The Prince's prison missives frequently breathe 
 the odours of that little garden in the corner of the 
 yard. After having read a book where the misfor- 
 tunes of a prisoner similar to himself were narrated, he 
 consoles' himself on being somewhat better off than 
 him in a few respects, and adds : " I am, however, 
 more happy than the prisoner who is the hero of the 
 author of ' Picciola,' and they respect my flowers 
 very carefully. I might, indeed, already gather a 
 
 bouquet worthy of Lady — 's garden. Perhaps 
 
 I boast a little in saying this, but then it is because 
 I see my onions with paternal eyes." 
 
 Still the mind cannot for ever be dwelling upon 
 trifles such as these, and deriving such unbroken 
 pleasure from them, as to reconcile it to four massive 
 walls eternally rising before the view to a height 
 beyond which even hope cannot soar. The soul 
 
136 
 
 THE EAGLE CAGED. 
 
 [1841. 
 
 turns cannibal at intervals, and devours its own 
 heart, like a mad sow its litter. The horrors of im- 
 prisonment may well frighten desperate villains who 
 would face the devil ; isolation from their fellows 
 is no small punishment to the most callous of men. 
 We can form no conception of the priceless value of 
 liberty, as of health, until we lose it. The Prince's 
 philosophical bearing and evenness of temper, which 
 nothing else could touch, under these circumstances 
 frequently gave way, and irascible outbreaks, with 
 fits of peevishness, imparted quite an altered aspect 
 to his character. These ebullitions at length found 
 vent in a written protest against his treatment in 
 the prison, which we here quote : — 
 
 " Citadel of Ham, 
 
 May 28, 1 841. 
 
 " During the nine months which I have been in 
 the hands of the French Government, I have sub- 
 mitted patiently to indignities of every description. 
 I do not, however, wish longer to be silent, or to 
 authorize oppression by my silence. 
 
 " My position ought to be considered under two 
 points of view — the one moral, and the other legal. 
 Morally speaking, the Government which has recog- 
 nized the legitimacy of the head of my family, is 
 bound to recognize me as a Prince, and to treat me 
 as such. 
 
 " Policy has rights which I do not dispute. Let 
 Government act towards me as towards its enemy, 
 and deprive me of the means of doing any harm. 
 So far it would be right ; but, on the other hand, its 
 behaviour will be inconsequent and dastardly, if it 
 treats me, who am the son of a King, the nephew of 
 an Emperor, and allied to all the sovereigns of 
 Europe, as an ordinary prisoner. 
 
1841.] THE EAGLE CAGED. 137 
 
 " In appealing to foreign alliances, I am not 
 ignorant that they have never been of use to the 
 conquered, and that misfortunes sever all bonds ; but 
 the French Government ought to recognize the prin- 
 ciple which has made me what I am, for it is by this 
 that it exists itself. The sovereignty of the people 
 made my uncle an Emperor, my father a King, and 
 made me a French Prince by birth. Have I not, 
 then, a right to the respect and regard of all those 
 in whose eyes the voice of a great people, glory and 
 misfortune, are anything ? 
 
 " If for the first time in my life I perchance boast 
 of the accident which has presided over my birth, it 
 is because pride suits my position, and that I have 
 purchased the early favour of fortune by twenty- 
 seven years of suffering and sorrow. 
 
 " With respect to my legal position, the Court of 
 Peers in my case has created an exceptional penalty. 
 
 " By condemning me to perpetual imprisonment, 
 it has only legalized the decree of fate which has 
 made me a prisoner of war. It has endeavoured to 
 combine humanity with policy, by inflicting upon me 
 the mildest punishment for the longest time possible. 
 
 " In its execution, however, the Government has 
 fallen very far short of the intention which I am 
 pleased to ascribe to my judges. Accustomed from 
 my youth to a strict rule of life, I do not complain 
 of the inconvenient simplicity of my dwelling ; but 
 that of which I do complain is being made the 
 victim of vexatious measures, by no means necessary 
 to my safe keeping. 
 
 " During the first months of my captivity, every 
 kind of communication from without was for- 
 bidden ; and within, I was kept in the most rigorous 
 confinement. Since, however, several persons have 
 been admitted to communicate with me, these 
 
138 THE EAGLE CAGED. [1841. 
 
 internal restrictions can have no longer an object ; 
 and yet it is precisely since they have become use- 
 less that they are more rigorously enforced. 
 
 " All the provisions for the supply of my daily 
 wants are subjected to the most rigid scrutiny. 
 
 " The attentions of my single faithful servant, who 
 has been permitted to follow me, are encumbered by 
 obstacles of every description. Such a system of 
 terror has been established in the garrison and 
 among the officials in the castle, that no individual 
 dares to raise his eyes towards me ; and it even 
 requires extraordinary boldness for them to be 
 commonly polite. 
 
 " How can it be otherwise when the simplest 
 civility of look is regarded as a crime, and when all 
 who would wish to soften the rigours of my position, 
 without failing in their duty, are threatened with 
 being denounced to the authorities, and with losing 
 their places ? In the midst of this France, which the 
 head of my family has rendered so great, I am 
 treated like an excommunicated person of the 
 thirteenth century. Every one flies at my approach, 
 and all fear my touch as if my breath were in- 
 fectious. 
 
 " This insulting inquisition, which pursues me into 
 my very chamber, which follows my footsteps when 
 I breathe the fresh air in a retired corner of the fort, 
 is not limited to my person alone, but is extended 
 even to my thoughts. My letters to my family, the 
 effusions of my heart, are submitted to the strictest 
 scrutiny ; and if a letter should contain any expres- 
 sions of too lively a sympathy, the letter is seques- 
 trated, and its writer is denounced to the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 " By an infinity of details too long to enumerate, 
 it appears that pains are taken at every moment of 
 
1841.] THE EAGLE CAGED. 139 
 
 the day to make me sensible of my captivity, and 
 cry incessantly in my ears, 1 Vse victis ! ' 
 
 " It is important to call to mind, that none of the 
 measures which I have pointed out were put in force 
 against the Ministers of Charles X., whose dilapidated 
 chambers I now occupy. 
 
 "And yet these Ministers were not born on the 
 steps of a throne ; and, moreover, they were not con- 
 demned to simple imprisonment, but their sentence 
 implied a more severe treatment than has been given 
 to me ; and, finally, they were not the representatives 
 of a cause which is an object of veneration in 
 France. 
 
 " The treatment, therefore, which I endure is 
 neither just, legal, nor humane. 
 
 " If it be supposed that such measures will subdue 
 me, it is a mistake ; it is not outrage, but marks of 
 kindness, which subdue the hearts of those who 
 suffer. 
 
 " Napoleon Louis Bonaparte." 
 
 Few can doubt, who have read the history of 
 Bourbonism, that there was some genuine cause for 
 this string of complaints ; but the tone in which they 
 are uttered is very like that which is common to 
 men whose minds are so distempered with real 
 trials, that their imaginations create a host of 
 unreal ones, which for their torture serve equally 
 as well. When people become querulous about 
 trifles, and take to misinterpreting looks and gestures, 
 their mental organization is in a very bad state, and 
 their fortitude on its last legs. We are more in- 
 clined to favour the idea that to some extent such 
 was the case with the Prince because Louis Philippe, 
 on receipt of his prisoner's mournful outpourings, 
 immediately gave orders that such rigours, if they 
 
140 
 
 THE EAGLE CAGED. 
 
 existed, should be removed, and every attention be 
 paid the Prince, consistent with circumstances. The 
 faithful Phelin was then allowed to go into the neigh- 
 bouring town on commissions for his master, and 
 no embargo was laid on the Prince's reception of 
 visitors. 
 
 Not many weeks had elapsed since the incarce- 
 ration of his nephew, when the body of the Emperor 
 arrived from St. Helena at Cherbourg. It was 
 received with a salute of guns from all the batteries 
 and ships of war in the harbour, and all France was 
 alive to the magical name of Napoleon. The coffin 
 was transferred from the man-of-war that brought it 
 over to a steamboat, which, attended by an immense 
 flotilla, bearing almost all the high and noble per- 
 sonages of France, including the King's son, the 
 Prince de Joinville, made its way up the River Seine 
 to its destination at the Invalides. All along its 
 route, as it may be imagined, the people flocked to 
 the banks of the river on whose bosom was borne 
 the ashes so dear to their own, and tears fell freely 
 from the eyes of the multitude, as they gazed in silence 
 on the mournful cortege gliding slowly along. The 
 pall that covered the sarcophagus had on it, in gold 
 letters, the name of Napoleon, and who can tell what 
 memories that awoke ? In due time the pageant was 
 over, and the desire of its subject gratified, for he had 
 said, " It is my wish that my ashes may repose on 
 the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French 
 people whom I have loved so well." 
 
 For all the boasting of the prosecuting counsel, at 
 the trial of Louis Napoleon, of the unbounded loyalty 
 of the subjects of the King, His Majesty must have 
 little relished the repeated cries of " Vive l'Empereur," 
 to the utter exclusion of " Vive le Roi," which were 
 the accompaniments of the heavenly music amidst 
 
1841.J THE EAGLE CAGED. 141 
 
 which the ashes of the hero of Austerlitz were lowered 
 to their last resting-place. The dead lion was once 
 more an object of greater interest than the live 
 donkey. 
 
 Louis Napoleon, with whom his uncle was a golden 
 idol, was much affected by the recitals of an eye-witness 
 of the splendid reception given by France to the sacred 
 dust of its Emperor. His whole soul was moved as 
 he listened to the description of the magnificent 
 obsequies ; and, for once in his life, he lost his self- 
 possession. He rushed into a rhapsody " To the 
 Manes of the Emperor," which does little credit 
 either to its author or its subject ; and, besides being 
 too long, is too trashy to be quoted here. We may, 
 however, give a single paragraph, as illustrative of 
 our remarks : — 
 
 " When you touched the soil of France, an electric 
 shock was felt ; you raised yourself in your coffin ; 
 your eyes were for a moment re-opened ; the tricolour 
 floated upon the shore, but your eagle was not there !" 
 Could anything be more absurd than such rant ? 
 
 Government spies were posted in the vicinity of Ham, 
 on the entry of the Prince into the citadel, and they 
 found much congenial occupation in pumping people, 
 both in and out of the castle, concerning everything 
 that was going on, and transmitting the produce of 
 their labours to head-quarters. An alarm was once 
 given that there was a conspiracy on foot for the 
 release of the Prince by force, for that several 
 thousand workmen from the plains of St. Denis 
 would, on a certain day, march to the fortress, and, 
 battering in its gate, set free the captive nephew of 
 their Emperor. A panic ensued, and troops came 
 pouring in from Amiens — infantry, cavalry, and artil- 
 lery enough to storm a town. But they came only to 
 find a mare's nest ; for the industrious eavesdropper 
 
142 
 
 THE EAGLE CAGED. 
 
 who had spread the report about had been most 
 completely gulled ! 
 
 With a weary, monotonous march, passed month 
 after month, year after year, and the prisoner of 
 Ham was still as far from liberty as on the day he 
 entered. With five years of imprisonment over his 
 head, he writes : — 
 
 " Years roll on with discouraging uniformity ; and 
 it is only in the promptings of my conscience and my 
 heart that I find strength to stand up against this 
 atmosphere of lead which surrounds me and suffo- 
 cates me. Nevertheless, the hope of a better future 
 never entirely abandons me." 
 
 He heard from his father now, saying that he was 
 dangerously ill. Considering that the relations be- 
 tween them had not been of the closest kind, it 
 will scarcely be allowed by many that this news 
 could affect him deeply ; but those who have lost 
 the last tie that bound them to this world will freely 
 sympathize with his feelings at the time. If tears 
 were only bought by benefits conferred, or love reci- 
 procated, it would be quite a rarity to see a wet eye 
 at a funeral. It must be added, too, that whatever 
 may have been the reasons for their non-intercourse, 
 Louis Napoleon always refers to his father in his 
 letters in the highest terms of esteem and respect. 
 
 He thought then, naturally, that it was a duty 
 incumbent upon him to make a strenuous effort to 
 get to his father, and attend upon him in his last 
 moments. His father had previously presented a 
 petition to the French Government, that he should 
 be allowed to do this, which being heartlessly refused, 
 the Prince wrote the following letter to the Minister 
 of the Interior : — 
 
I845-] 
 
 THE EAGLE CAGED. 
 
 143 
 
 "Ham, Dec. 23, 1845. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " My father, whose age and infirmity require the 
 attention of a son, has requested the Government to 
 allow me to go to him. 
 
 " His application has not been attended with a 
 favourable result. 
 
 "The Government, as I am informed, require a 
 formal guarantee from me. Under the circumstances, 
 my resolve cannot be doubted ; and I am prepared 
 to do everything compatible with my honour, in order 
 to be allowed to offer to my father those consolations 
 to which he has so many claims. 
 
 " I now therefore declare to you, sir, that if the 
 French Government consent to allow me to go to 
 Florence, to discharge a sacred duty, I will promise 
 upon my honour to return, and to place myself at 
 the disposal of the Government, whenever it shall 
 express a desire that I should do so. 
 
 "Accept, sir, &c, 
 
 "Napoleon Louis Bonaparte." 
 
 This letter was sent to the Minister by M. Poggioli, 
 whom the Prince's father had sent to Paris with his 
 petition. The Minister took time to consider, but at 
 length told M. Poggioli that the Prince's request 
 could not be allowed — it would be contrary to law to 
 grant it. It would be tantamount to an act of par- 
 don on the part of the Government, to which it was 
 not entitled, such a prerogative belonging entirely to 
 the King. Here was Louis Philippe again lusting 
 to show himself the most gracious of monarchs and 
 the best of men ! 
 
 Taking the hint, the Prince applied to the King 
 himself in the following letter : — 
 
144 THE EAGLE CAGED. [1846. 
 
 "Ham, 14 January, 1846. 
 
 "Sire, 
 
 " It is not without deep emotion that I approach 
 your Majesty, and ask, as a favour, permission to 
 quit France, even for a very short time. For five 
 years I have found, in breathing the air of my 
 country, ample compensation for the torments of 
 captivity. But my father is now aged and infirm, 
 and calls for my attention and care. He has applied 
 to persons known for their attachment to your 
 Majesty in order to obtain my liberation, and it is 
 my duty to do everything which depends upon me to 
 meet his desires. 
 
 " The Council of Ministers has not felt competent 
 to accede to the request which I made to be allowed 
 to go to Florence, engaging to return and again to 
 become a prisoner, as soon as the Government might 
 desire me to do so. I approach your Majesty with 
 confidence, to make an appeal to your feeling of 
 humanity, and to renew my request by submitting it 
 to your high and generous interference. 
 
 " Your Majesty will, I am convinced, appreciate a 
 step which beforehand engages my gratitude ; and 
 affected by the isolated position in a foreign land of 
 a man who, upon a throne, gained the esteem of 
 Europe, will accede to the wishes of my father and 
 myself. 
 
 " I beg your Majesty to receive the expression of 
 my profound respect. 
 
 " Napoleon Louis Bonaparte." 
 
 Like the wily humbug he was, Louis Philippe 
 expressed himself willing to exercise his royal 
 clemency, but it must be done conditionally. The 
 reader might almost guess the required stipulations. 
 
i8 4 6.J 
 
 THE EAGLE CAGED. 
 
 MS 
 
 A document was drawn up by an astute hand, and 
 sent for signature to the Prince, in which he was 
 called upon to renounce all his claims to the throne 
 of France, and humbly beg His Majesty's pardon for 
 the acts of treason committed against him. Louis 
 Napoleon, though indignant at such proposals, re- 
 turned the document to M. Odillon Barrot, from 
 whom he received it, quietly remarking that he could 
 not conscientiously affix his signature to that paper, 
 but again urging the painfulness of his position, 
 and appealing to the sympathies of the King, who, 
 he said, like him, had lived through thirty years of 
 misfortune. 
 
 M. Odillon Barrot replied that all his negotiations 
 in the matter had proved a failure ; that he had said 
 to the King that if himself and His Majesty had 
 differed in politics, they would at least agree in 
 sentiments of humanity and generosity, but that he 
 found now that this was another of the Utopian 
 ideas of his life. In fact, the Prince was told that 
 what he wished could not be done, unless, like the 
 dupe of a usurer, he signed away, for the small 
 consideration of immediate liberty, all his future 
 prospects and expectations. 
 
 Never till now had occurred to him the idea 
 of making an effort to escape ; for, in writing 
 to a friend, when there was some talk of an 
 amnesty, he says : " I prefer being a captive on the 
 soil of France, to being a free man in a foreign land." 
 He had then no object in view in gaining his liberty 
 by flight ; but his sense of filial duty, and that 
 rebellious feeling which springs up in us when we 
 cannot propitiate tyranny, made him form a resolu- 
 tion that, though he might perish in the attempt, he 
 would make it, to free himself. 
 
 K 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 "GONE AWAY, LEAVING NO ADDRESS." 
 
 ESOLVED to escape, Louis Napoleon did 
 not wait for the opportunity voluntarily to 
 present itself to him ; he set about to make 
 it, exercising all his ingenuity in the conception 
 of a plan by which he could pass the sentinels 
 who guarded his prison gate. . It is generally 
 hazardous to impart to others the knowledge of 
 such intentions, even though their faith and dis- 
 cretion may be thoroughly relied upon, for their 
 zeal is often a more direct clue for suspicion. Never- 
 theless, the Prince took into his confidence the 
 most trusty of servants, his valet, Phelin, and his 
 friend, Dr. Conneau, who, though his own term of 
 imprisonment had expired, petitioned the Govern- 
 ment that he might still remain, to attend on Louis 
 Napoleon, and was allowed to do so. These three 
 hit upon a contrivance which appeared only to re- 
 quire the favour of fortune to turn out successful. 
 
 Whether from motives of humanity, or from absolute 
 necessity, the Government ordered extensive repairs 
 to be made to the premises in which the Prince was 
 confined, and a large number of workmen were con- 
 sequently going in and out of the Castle. The idea 
 struck the council of three that, disguised as one of 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1840— 1846.] 
 
 IMPRISONMENT AT HAM. 
 
 The Prince occupied the apartments once appropriated to the Ministers of Charles 
 the Tenth. He several times petitioned for a little more liberty, but his various 
 pretexts for temporary enlargement were unsuccessful. The principal anxiety he 
 
 expressed in these pleas was his dutiful desire to minister to the last moments of a 
 dying father. 
 
 Louis Napoleon took advantage of some repairs proceeding in the fortress to don 
 the dress of a workman, and so effect his escape from a garrison numbering two 
 
 ndred, sixty of whom were always ostensibly on guard. According to the carica- 
 ist, the Prince was so well disguised that it was impossible to recognize him. 
 uis Phdippe's Government were not unreasonably charged with connivance in 
 is escape : they indignantly exhibited great vigilance when the captive's retreat 
 secured. Some of the Prince's biographers assert that his filial impulses then 
 peared to cool, and, his object obtained, he did not gratify a feeble and expiring 
 ■rent with those soothing attentions he had proclaimed himself panting to perform. 
 
 14 
 
1846.] " GONE AWAY, LEAVING NO ADDRESS." 147 
 
 the workmen, the Prince might chance the attempt ; 
 and that proceeding was accordingly determined upon. 
 Good Dr. Conneau and the devoted Phelin repaired to 
 the village, as they were now free to do, and bought 
 a suit of the most appropriate garments they could 
 procure, in which the Prince might personate a car- 
 penter, and some dye with which to stain the fugitive's 
 hands and face, so that their cleanliness might not 
 lead to detection. Fortunately, there was no inquisi- 
 tion now into parcels brought into the prison ; and 
 the purchases were safely conveyed to the Prince's 
 apartments. 
 
 To nick the proper time in which to make the effort 
 was the next thing for consideration. The Prince 
 was favoured by the attentions of three keepers 
 generally ; but, on certain days of the week, he ob- 
 served that two of these guardians of his person 
 absented themselves for a short space of time on 
 some business of their own ; and one pair of eyes being 
 less hazardous to encounter than three pairs, one of 
 these days was chosen. An early hour in the morning 
 was further decided upon, because the commandant, 
 who, as before stated, was as vigilant as a weasel 
 when on duty, made his appearance about nine 
 o'clock, and it was a great thing to have him out of 
 the way. 
 
 Here we could not do better than give the Prince's 
 own account of how he carried out these arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 "On Monday" [25th of May, 1846], he says, "I 
 saw the workmen enter at half-past eight o'clock. 
 Charles took them some drink, in order that I should 
 not meet any of them on my passage. He was also 
 to call one of the guardians (turnkeys), while Dr. 
 Conneau conversed with the others. Nevertheless, I 
 had scarcely got out of my room when I was accosted 
 
 K 2 
 
148 "GONE AWAY, LEAVING NO ADDRESS." [1846. 
 
 by a workman, who took me for one of his comrades ; 
 and, at the bottom of the stairs, I found myself in 
 front of the keeper. Fortunately, I placed the plank 
 T was carrying before my face, and succeeded in 
 reaching the yard. Whenever I passed a sentinel, or 
 any other person, I always kept the plank before my 
 face. 
 
 " Passing before the first sentinel, I let my pipe 
 fall, and stopped to pick up the bits. There I met 
 the officer on duty, but, as he was reading a letter, he 
 did not pay attention to me. The soldiers at the 
 guard-house appeared surprised at my dress, and a 
 drummer turned round several times to look at me. 
 I next met some workmen, who looked very atten- 
 tively at me. I placed the plank before my face, but 
 they appeared to be so curious that I thought I should 
 never escape them, until I heard them cry, ' Oh, it is 
 Bernard ! 9 
 
 " Once outside, I walked quickly towards the road 
 of St. Quentin." 
 
 He was soon afterwards followed by Phelin. 
 
 Here was a case, indeed, where fortune really did 
 favour the brave ; for it required no small amount of 
 courage and self-possession to carry out successfully 
 such a project, which, though it seemed exceedingly 
 plausible in appearance, was fraught with extreme 
 danger, and liable to a thousand accidents. The 
 adroitness with which the plank was placed before 
 his face when he met a turnkey or a workman ; the 
 coolness with which he picked up the pieces of his 
 broken pipe under the nose of the keeper ; the in- 
 trepidity with which he marched past the sentinels, 
 stamp this man as the very reverse of the coward his 
 enemies declare him. Placed in his position, they 
 would have been sadly in want of some of that bold- 
 ness with which they have assailed his character. 
 
1846.] "GONE AWAY, LEAVING NO ADDRESS." 149 
 
 Two out of the three individuals engaged in this 
 scheme having got away, the third might have also 
 done so, but for the most disinterested friendship 
 that one man could feel for another. Dr. Conneau, 
 though running a great risk of endangering his own 
 liberty, remained behind to do all in his power to 
 cover the flight of the Prince. The latter had left a 
 letter to the Governor to say that he was rather in- 
 disposed, and wished not to be disturbed. This letter 
 the noble-hearted doctor took care to have delivered 
 in proper time, thus preventing any person repairing 
 to the Prince's apartments. He then placed a stuffed 
 figure in the Prince's bed, and covering it over with 
 the bed-clothes, succeeded admirably in making it 
 resemble a human form asleep. He then lit the fire, 
 so that its flicker through the window might further 
 induce the belief that the prisoner was preparing his 
 coffee, as was his custom. Having done this, he 
 posted himself as sentry behind the door, caring little 
 for the consequences to himself, so that he could put 
 as many miles as possible between the runaway and 
 pursuers. 
 
 At nine o'clock the commandant presented him- 
 self, as usual, at the Prince's apartments, where the 
 doctor met him at the door. 
 
 "Well, doctor," said the commandant, "how is the 
 Prince now ? " 
 
 The loveable hypocrite of a doctor put on a dole- 
 ful face, and replied, with a fib to match it, — 
 
 " He is seriously ill, indeed, and must be kept very 
 quiet." 
 
 The commandant expressed his sympathy for the 
 sufferer, and went away. He returned at one 
 o'clock, and, singularly enough, again met the phy- 
 sician at the door. The patient was no better, quoth 
 the latter, but had just taken an opiate, which no 
 
ISO "GONE AWAY, LEAVING NO ADDRESS.' 1 [1846. 
 
 doubt would relieve him of pain by composing him 
 to sleep. 
 
 Seven o'clock came, and with it the commandant. 
 " Walk in," said the doctor. The commandant 
 entering, gazed in astonishment to find no Prince 
 there. " He is gone out, sir," said the doctor. The 
 secret was soon out : the bird was flown ! 
 
 Making good use of his time, the Prince directed 
 his course to the Grand Asylum of Europe. Having 
 passed the last sentinel, he quickened his pace till he 
 got out of sight of the fortress, and came upon a 
 cabriolet that Phelin had ordered the day before, and 
 which he had brought up to a place previously ap- 
 pointed. The Prince found him seated inside, and 
 taking his place by him, directed the coachman to 
 drive as fast as he could to St. Quentin. During the 
 journey, the royal carpenter took off his soiled 
 blouse, and put on a clean one provided by Phelin, 
 as also a braided cap, making himself look like a 
 respectable mechanic taking a holiday. 
 
 Arrived at St. Quentin, the Prince, taking the 
 Cambray Road, walked on, while his indefatigable 
 servitor made his way to the post-house to get 
 another vehicle, having procured which, he overtook 
 his master, who jumped in, and giving the driver a 
 gratuity in hand, and promising him another in the 
 event of his deserving it, urged him to make the best 
 speed he could to Valenciennes. This town they 
 reached at two o'clock, and after a couple of hours' 
 delay were on their road to Brussels by rail. In due 
 time they were placed in comparative security from 
 pursuit. From Brussels they repaired to Ostend, 
 and from thence embarked for England. 
 
 The news of the Prince's escape created a sensa- 
 tion both in France and in England, a telegram of 
 the fact being sent to this country as soon as it was 
 
i8 4 6.] "GONE AWAY LEAVING NO ADDRESS." 151 
 
 known, and published in large type by the news- 
 papers. In Paris it was the talk for some time. The 
 general impression seemed to be that the affair was 
 connived at by Government, who were glad to get 
 rid of in that way the responsibility of keeping such 
 a prisoner longer in detention. Louis Philippe had 
 just a week or two previously had a marvellous 
 escape from assassination by a man called Lecomte, 
 and it was said His Majesty, wishing to conciliate all 
 the enemies he could, desired nothing more than that 
 such an event should happen as the Prince's flight. 
 The efforts of the Government to recapture him were 
 construed into a mere show ; for their success, it was 
 stated, would be more disagreeable to the Govern- 
 ment than to the captive. That the French press erred, 
 as usual, in point of veracity, was evident. There 
 could have been no connivance ; and, as further 
 proof thereof, it may be stated, that even Count 
 Montholon did not know of his friend's intention 
 to fly, for he subsequently received the following 
 letter : — 
 
 " My dear General, 
 
 " Believe how much I regret not being able to 
 shake you by the hand before I go, but it is impossi- 
 ble. My emotion would betray the secret which it is 
 so important for me to keep. I have taken measures 
 to ensure your pension being regularly paid, but, as 
 you may be in need of money, I have left with Dr. 
 Conneau two thousand francs, which he will give you. 
 Thus your pension will be paid till the end of Sep- 
 tember. Adieu, my dear General I Receive the 
 assurance of my friendship. 
 
 "L. N." 
 
 The commandant, on making the discovery of the 
 
152 "GONE AWAY, LEAVING NO ADDRESS." [1846. 
 
 flight, turned pale with fear, lest he should be visited 
 with punishment for neglect of duty. Recovering 
 himself, he hastily withdrew, to see what he could do 
 to overtake the fugitive, and sent out soldiers in all 
 directions, but of course to no purpose. Dr. Conneau 
 was placed under arrest, as were shortly afterwards 
 the commandant himself and the keepers of the gate. 
 
 They were all brought to trial about six weeks 
 afterwards. Dr. Conneau, in answer to the usual 
 interrogatories, gave a detailed history of his career, 
 finishing thus : " In the Italian insurrection of 1831, 
 I formed one of the revolutionary staff at Ancona. 
 Thence I proceeded to France, and wrote to Prince 
 Louis Napoleon to furnish me with letters of recom- 
 mendation. His only reply was to invite me to 
 Arenemberg. There I was loaded with kindness by 
 Queen Hortense, who even thought proper to 
 remember me in her will. She entreated me to 
 remain with her son. Such a request was a com- 
 mand, and I obeyed it." 
 
 The trial lasted three days, and the issue of it was, 
 that Dr. Conneau was sentenced to three months' 
 imprisonment — a penalty so lenient, that it was 
 more than ever said that the King and the Govern- 
 ment looked upon the flight of Louis Napoleon as a 
 lucky accident for them ; and it was, moreover, hinted 
 that a severer sentence would have produced conse- 
 quences which they were anxious to avoid. With 
 regard to the other prisoners, the commandant lost 
 his post, and the others were acquitted. 
 
 Louis Napoleon arrived, for the third time, m 
 England on the 26th of May, the day after his 
 escape. He almost immediately addressed a letter 
 to the French ambassador in London, stating his 
 object in escaping: — 
 
1846.] "GONE AWAY, LEAVING NO ADDRESS." 153 
 
 "London, May 29, 1846. 
 
 " Monsieur Le Comte, 
 
 " I come frankly to declare to the man who was 
 the friend of my mother, that in quitting my prison 
 I have not been actuated by any idea of renewing 
 against the French Government a war which has 
 been disastrous to me, but only to be enabled to go 
 to my aged father. 
 
 " Previous to my taking this step, I made every 
 effort to obtain from the French Government the 
 permission to go to Florence, and I offered every 
 guarantee consistent with my honour. But finding 
 that all my applications had proved unsuccessful, I 
 determined to have recourse to the last expedient, 
 which the Due de Nemours and the Due de Guise 
 adopted in similar circumstances under Henry the 
 Fourth. 
 
 " I beg, Monsieur Le Comte, that you will inform 
 the French Government of my peaceable intentions, 
 and I hope that such a spontaneous assurance on my 
 part will shorten the captivity of my friends who 
 still remain in prison. 
 
 " Receive, &c, 
 
 "Napoleon Louis Buonaparte." 
 
 The Prince tried his utmost to get a passport to 
 Florence, that he might be present by the death-bed 
 of his father, and receive his last wishes. Count Die- 
 trichstein, the Austrian ambassador in London, was 
 appealed to, but gave an insulting refusal. The 
 Grand Duke of Tuscany was implored, but he also 
 declined to accede to the request, though in terms 
 more befitting a nobleman. "T cannot," said he, 
 "authorize you to remain twenty-four hours in Tus- 
 cany. This I regret, but the influence of France 
 
154 "GONE AWAY, LEAVING NO ADDRESS." [1846. 
 
 compels me to act in this manner." The same in- 
 fluence was brought to bear everywhere, till not a 
 loophole was left through which the unhappy son 
 could fly to soothe the last moments of his heavily 
 afflicted and dying parent. 
 
 Turning, with a sick heart, from the monstrous 
 cruelty that debarred him from his pious wishes, the 
 Prince had not long to wait before he heard that 
 his father had no need of his attention, as he 
 died on the 25th of July, 1846, in the sixty-eighth 
 year of his age. This event, though it put an end 
 to a painful anxiety, was to the Prince a source of 
 deep sorrow, and the sense of his loneliness, induced 
 by exile, was deepened by the thought that he now 
 stood the sole representative of his father's household. 
 
 There was not much in the life of Louis Buonaparte 
 to call for remark. Everything of interest about him 
 has already been related. He played but a poor 
 part in the history of his family, being, as far as his 
 natural abilities went, but a mere cypher. He was 
 elevated to a throne, without possessing any of the 
 qualifications of a sovereign. He abdicated his throne 
 because he was almost compelled to do so by the 
 same hand that had raised him to it. For some few 
 years he stood as a landmark of the progress of the 
 French Empire, then he sank into what he was natu- 
 rally intended for — a complete nonentity. Like all 
 the Buonapartes, he had amassed considerable wealth 
 while the family was in power, and, dying, left sixty 
 thousand francs for the erection of a tomb to mark 
 the spot where lay the dust of a man who had been 
 of the least service to his generation. But, after 
 gratifying this singular vanity, he bequeathed ample 
 legacies to the poor — he was always good to the poor 
 •—and then his son came in for the residue. 
 
 In his will he expressed a wish that he might be 
 
x8 4 6.] ''GONE AWAY, LEAVING NO ADDRESS." 155 
 
 buried at St. Leu, in France, from whence he took, 
 latterly, the title of Count of St. Leu ; but this wish 
 was not allowed to be carried out by the French 
 Government for some months ; but it relented at 
 last, and his remains were conveyed to St. Leu, 
 and deposited by the side of his son, who died during 
 the Italian insurrection. The husband sleeps at St. 
 Leu and the wife at Ruel — so that even in death 
 were not united the pair whose marriage could 
 scarcely be said to have been one of those popularly 
 said to be made in heaven. 
 
 Almost immediately on arriving in London, Louis 
 Napoleon repaired to his former pleasant resort, Gore 
 House. He asked for Count d'Orsay. The Count 
 was informed that some one wanted to see him. 
 " What sort of a person is it ?" asked the Count, for 
 he was, for cogent reasons, not at home to all visitors. 
 The servant, put up to the joke by Louis Napoleon, 
 who knew his friend's weaknesses, replied that it was 
 a man with a sinister cast of countenance. Not 
 relishing the description, the Count declined to see 
 the person. The servant, however, returned with a 
 fresh message, to the effect that the importunate 
 visitor must have an interview, as he was on impor- 
 tant business. "Well," said the Count, "what does 
 the fellow look like ?" — " Something like a foreigner," 
 replied the lacquey, "with an odd-looking mouth, 
 and big moustachios." — "Louis Napoleon !" cried the 
 Count, and rushing from his lair, he caught the Prince 
 in his arms and embraced him. 
 
 Louis Napoleon then visited his cousin, Lady 
 Douglas, afterwards Duchess of Hamilton. The 
 following colloquy is said to have taken place on this 
 occasion : — 
 
 " Well," said Lady Douglas, " at last you are free. 
 Will you now be quiet ? Will you lay aside those 
 
156 "GONE AWAY, LEAVING NO ADDRESS." [1846. 
 
 schemes which have cost you so dear, and brought 
 such misery on those who love you ?" 
 
 " My dear cousin," replied the Prince, " I do not 
 belong to myself. I belong to my name and my 
 country. It is because my fortune has twice betrayed 
 me that my destiny is nearer its accomplishment. 
 I bide my time." 
 
 Gathering thus all his old friends about him, he 
 tried to make the best of his lot, and whatever 
 interval might pass between that time and the attain- 
 ment of the objects of his ambition, he was deter- 
 mined that it should roll along as pleasantly as pos- 
 sible. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE STAR OBSCURED. 
 
 llflJf O make up, as it were, for six years of close 
 IliilPi confinement, and to obliterate its effects 
 upon him, Louis Napoleon now gave up 
 the pursuit of knowledge, to a great extent, for the 
 pursuit of pleasure. During the winter he took to 
 hunting, and became as great an adept at that truly- 
 English sport, and as thoroughly enjoyed it, as if 
 he were to the manner born ; indeed, his exploits 
 in the saddle, and his perfect seat, were remarkable, 
 considering his nationality. 
 
 In the fine summer afternoons he found the British 
 Turf a pleasing source of amusement. Introduced 
 by his friend D'Orsay, he soon made himself at 
 home in the midst of that most agreeable society 
 which is constituted of the upper ten of Turf circles. 
 Racing noblemen and gentlemen, he discovered, were 
 even more affable and pleasant companions than 
 men of their class he met off a race-course. They 
 were more free in their manners and conversation, 
 and less bound by the rigid conventionalities of the 
 social code. If they were less polished they were 
 more hearty, more frank, more sociable than those 
 of their type who conformed strictly to the rules of 
 etiquette, or enshrouded themselves with the dignity 
 of their station. And then the coach-loads of female 
 
THE STAR OBSCURED. 
 
 [1847. 
 
 loveliness these gay swells carried about with them I 
 Perfect models of English beauty — the flowers of crea- 
 tion — attired with superlative elegance, and, to use 
 a sporting phrase, trained to perfection for winning 
 men's hearts ! Iced champagne and lobster salad, 
 under the influence of their eyes and the charm of 
 their smiles, were no bad foretaste to an ardent young 
 Frenchman of the bliss of Elysium. Mahomet him- 
 self, under such influences and charms, might have 
 been tempted to pitch his Seventh Heaven on the 
 lawn at Goodwood ! 
 
 There is, too, an heroic aspect about the struggle 
 of a field of high-mettled horses, carrying all the 
 colours of the rainbow, straining every nerve and 
 sinew, bringing into play all their powers of endur- 
 ance and speed, with all the appearance of being as 
 conscious of what is expected of them as if they 
 were rational beings ; and it must be a dull nature 
 which cannot be moved thereby. Horse-racing has 
 been called a noble pastime, and intrinsically it fully 
 deserves the distinguishing epithet. 
 
 Then, to an intelligent foreigner like Louis Napo- 
 leon, here was a vast field for the study of English 
 character. From the patrician who supports the 
 institution, down to the cadger who hangs on its 
 skirts, the British Turf affords the widest scope of 
 observation of any other community to the student 
 of men and manners. 
 
 There are many specimens of the genus homo; 
 indeed, which are entirely indigenous to it. Where 
 else in the wide creation can you meet with, for 
 instance, that lubberly north-country betting man, 
 with a face like a full moon, and a mouth as wide as 
 a washhand basin, from which incessantly roars a 
 voice, the like of which is not earthly ? or his anti- 
 thesis, that most compact of pigmies, the jockey 
 
I847-] 
 
 THE STAR OBSCURED. 
 
 159 
 
 turned horse-trainer, standing four feet nothing-, with 
 a foxy head, and eyes to match, and with his tiny 
 frame encased in such a tight-fitting suit of clothes 
 that he suggests the idea of a natural phenomenon 
 born dressed ? In point of costume, by the way, a 
 race-course can only yield to a masquerade ball ; 
 and there is no small amount of amusement to be 
 derived in noting the extraordinary assumption of 
 finery by fellows with the cut of tramps and with 
 the deportment of coal-heavers ; blending the splen- 
 dours of broadcloth with the complexion of a potato, 
 and the fashion of a marquis with the gait of a 
 scavenger. 
 
 But, on the principle of the rose and its thorns, 
 such pleasures are invested by insidious dangers, and 
 are not infrequently purchased at the cost of a for- 
 tune or a reputation. Few are so marvellously con- 
 stituted as to withstand the infection of the gambling 
 epidemic which pervades the race-course. Louis Napo- 
 leon soon caught the betting fever, and the result was 
 the common one, that it never left him till he was 
 purged of his last shilling. There is no other remedy 
 for that disease. Whatever remained to him of his 
 legacies and his other means quickly found its way 
 into the maws of the Turf-harpies, who sight their 
 prey the moment he enters the betting-ring. One 
 vice leads to another, as one road into another. 
 Reluctant as we are, therefore, to do so, we are 
 bound to admit that our hero now wallowed in the 
 mire of dissipation. In vain have we looked for 
 evidence to refute, to some extent at least, the 
 charges brought against his moral character at this 
 period : the search has only ended in the discovery of 
 orgies, too shocking to detail, of which he was a ready 
 participator, and of unquestionable proofs of his fully 
 deserving his reputation for every species of de- 
 
x6o THE STAR OBSCURED. [1847. 
 
 bauchery. Then came the eternal state of impecu- 
 niosity, of which we have heard so much, and the 
 consequent devices for raising the wind. As a kite- 
 flyer, Louis Napoleon in those days had few equals. 
 His usual representation in working the oracle was, 
 that he was entitled to a large estate of his mother's 
 in France, and for the recovery of which proceedings 
 at law would be taken that could not but result in 
 his favour. The Jews at last began to fight shy of his 
 signature, but private gentlemen always continued 
 to help him, not so much from any hope of a return, 
 as from consideration of his unfortunate position, 
 and from those truly generous feelings for persons 
 in distress which characterize English people of all 
 classes. 
 
 Some of the documents rendered ornate by his 
 autograph got into bad hands. He once wrote to an 
 advertising money-lender, and the reply received 
 being satisfactory, he was induced to part with bills 
 of exchange to the value of several thousand pounds. 
 Not a shilling was advanced, as may be supposed, 
 and the bonds were kept by the loan-office swindler 
 till they were redeemed by a large bonus when the 
 Prince became Emperor. The rogue who accom- 
 plished this coup was a well-known sporting character, 
 who had earned the sobriquet of " Pretty Charley," as 
 the Apollo of blackguards. 
 
 One of the favourite resorts of the fast men of that 
 period was the theatre, both before and behind the 
 scenes. A couple of anecdotes will serve to illustrate 
 that Louis Napoleon was quite at home, like the rest 
 of the idlers of his class, in the company of stage 
 heroes and heroines, the most deserving of whom he 
 was never ashamed to acknowledge as old acquain- 
 tances when he became an Emperor. The celebrated 
 Bouffe says : — 
 
I847-] THE STAR OBSCURED. i5i 
 
 "In the summer of 1847, I was performing at 
 London with considerable success, and among the 
 pieces which found most favour were the Gamin de 
 Paris and Michel Perrin. One evening I had got 
 through the former, and had retired to my dressing- 
 room, when I heard a knock at the door. ' Come in,' 
 I exclaimed, with some impatience, for I had to 
 transform myself into Michel Perrin, and I was afraid 
 the intruder would hinder me, as I had no time to 
 spare. I was pleasantly surprised by the entrance of 
 Count d'Orsay, who had always been my good friend, 
 accompanied by a gentleman unknown to me. ' My 
 dear artist/ said the Count, 4 I have taken the liberty 
 to bring with me one of my friends, a Frenchman, 
 who never saw you play till this evening, and he 
 wishes to thank you for the gratification you have 
 afforded him.' The stranger then eulogized my per- 
 formance, and added, ' Were I not afraid of incom- 
 moding you, I would ask permission to remain here 
 while you dress. I have just applauded you in the 
 character of a youth ; I know you are now about to 
 appear as an old man, and should much like to 
 witness the mysteries of your wonderful transforma- 
 tion.' Count d'Orsay having added his request to the 
 stranger's, I consented, and my metamorphosis was 
 completed in less than a quarter of an hour, just as 
 a signal summoned me on to the stage. I then 
 turned to my visitors and said, ' Gentlemen, Michel 
 Perrin salutes you.' Count d'Orsay's friend then 
 thanked me heartily for having satisfied his curiosity, 
 and we went downstairs together. Before we parted, 
 Count d'Orsay said in a whisper, ' Should you like to 
 know the name of your visitor ?' and on my replying 
 in the affirmative, he said, ' Well, it is Prince Louis 
 Buonaparte.' — 'The late prisoner at Ham V I inquired. 
 ' Himself,' said the Count. About two months since, 
 
 L 
 
1 62 
 
 THE STAR OBSCURED. 
 
 [1847. 
 
 when I was preparing for my benefit, a friend asked 
 me whether it was to take place at the Gymnase, and 
 I replied that I intended to obtain permission for the 
 Grand Opera. 1 The Opera !' he exclaimed, ' are you 
 mad ?' In order to realize my design, I addressed a 
 petition to the Emperor, and took the liberty of re- 
 minding Napoleon III. of the visit paid to me in 
 London by Prince Louis Napoleon. The next day 
 but one my petition was sent to the proper parties, 
 with the words, 'For M. BoufTe, yes! yes! yes!' 
 written on the margin in the Emperor's own hand. 
 And this is how my benefit took place at the Opera 
 instead of at the Gymnase." 
 
 In Lumley's " Reminiscences " is the following 
 passage : — 
 
 " With the future Emperor of France, when an 
 exile in England, I had been well acquainted. He 
 had been a constant subscriber to Her Majesty's 
 Theatre, was a frequent guest at my house, and had 
 ' assisted ' at the afternoon fetes given by me at my 
 residence, ' The Chancellor's,' at Fulham, where he 
 had entered heart and soul into the amusements of 
 the hour. Frequenters of these ' champetres ' enter- 
 tainments may remember one occasion when Prince 
 Louis Napoleon figured in the same quadrille with 
 Taglioni, Cerito, and Carlotta Grisi ; having the 
 director of Her Majesty's Theatre as his vis-a-vis. 
 The Prince and I frequently dined in company at 
 Gore House, the residence of the late Countess of 
 Blessington, where all that was distinguished in 
 literature and art was constantly assembled ; and it 
 may be worth recording, in connection with the 
 Prince's known firm reliance on his destiny, that at 
 one of these dinners, when Count d'Orsay was 
 expatiating on the evidences that had come before 
 him of the popularity of the Prince in France 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1840 to 1848.] 
 
 HIS RESIDENCE IN LONDON. 
 
 THE HOUSE IN KING STREET, St. JAMES'S, 
 
 IN WHICH PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON LODGED IN 1848. 
 
 The fortunes of the exile during the interval succeeding his escape from Ham and 
 the declaration of the Republic of 1848 were of a very fluctuating nature, and many 
 amusing anecdotes are told of the state of his finances at this period. Previously, 
 however, the Prince must have contrived to dispose of considerable sums. The 
 English friends of the Prince at that date believed in his star of destiny, and their 
 kindnesses to the then banished Napoleon have since been rewarded — if we may be- 
 lieve report — with a munificence which few but princes are able to show. 
 
 15 
 
i8 4 8.] 
 
 THE STAR OBSCURED. 
 
 163 
 
 (although, at that time, the law forbidding any 
 member of the Buonaparte family to enter the 
 country was still in force), the future Emperor sat 
 silent, with a significant smile upon his face, the 
 meaning of which none could fail to interpret. On 
 another occasion, when I was alluding to the part 
 played by General Cavaignac in June, 1848, in 
 firing upon the people after the emeute had been 
 quelled, the Prince drily, but in an earnest manner, 
 remarked, 'That man is clearing the way for 
 me.' " 
 
 Reduced to pecuniary shifts, the future Emperor of 
 the French occupied very humble quarters indeed 
 during the last few months he resided in London. The 
 best known of these was at No. 10, King Street, St. 
 James's, where he rented a couple of rooms, and lived in 
 an exceedingly modest and circumscribed way. The 
 surrounding tradesmen, when they came to know 
 him, gave him credit for goods freely, and some of 
 them lent him money, when the rigours of fortune 
 were at the worst with him. We have had it on good 
 authority, that a man in a very small way of business 
 was one of these good Samaritans, and that when the 
 indigent recipient ascended the throne of France, his 
 debt to this humble friend in need was remembered 
 handsomely, not only by a tenfold return of the loan, 
 but also by a gracious letter of invitation to the 
 Tuileries, to spend a day or two with its Imperial 
 occupant. Many such stories are current, and there 
 is ample reason to believe that some of them, at 
 least, are not fictitious. 
 
 It was while residing at 10, King Street, St. James's, 
 that Louis Napoleon was sworn in as a special con- 
 stable, on the 10th of March, 1848, at the time of the 
 Chartist riots. His services in this character were 
 not called into requisition, as it was afterwards dis- 
 
 L 2 
 
THE STAR OBSCURED. 
 
 [1848. 
 
 covered that there was a great deal of needless appre- 
 hension of danger on that occasion. 
 
 Penury, thus embittering the other sorrows of exile, 
 with evils accumulating every day, it may be fairly pre- 
 sumed that the "star of destiny" was somewhat 
 f obscured at this period of Louis Napoleon's history. 
 Its eclipse was of short duration, and we may cut 
 this chapter short to bring that constellation again 
 into view. 
 
 i \ 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 KING like Louis Philippe on the throne 
 
 of France for over seventeen years, is 
 one of the marvels of history. Not only 
 did he do nothing for the country, but greedily 
 appropriated to himself and his family all that 
 he could lay hands on. His avarice was un- 
 bounded, and the means he employed to enrich him- 
 self and all who bore his name, were most unscrupu- 
 lous. Added to this, he had got about him the very 
 worst set of ministers who ever formed a Government, 
 and these, by degrees, like their royal master, com- 
 pletely ignored the public interests for their own. An 
 extract from a speech made by Lamartine at the 
 end of the seventeenth year of the Citizen King's 
 reign, will show the state of affairs at that time, when 
 the measure of iniquities of the administration was 
 nearly filled up : — 
 
 " If the Government," said Lamartine, on the 20th 
 of September, 1847, "deceives the hopes which the 
 country has placed in 1830, less in its nature than its 
 name — if, in the pride of its constitutional elevation 
 it seeks to isolate itself — if it fails entirely to in- 
 corporate itself with the spirit and legitimate inte- 
 rests of the masses — if it surrounds itself by an 
 electoral aristocracy instead of the entire people — if 
 
i66 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 [1848. 
 
 it distrusts people organized in the civic militia, and 
 disarms them by degrees as a conquered enemy — if, 
 without attempting openly to violate the rights of 
 the nation, it seeks to corrupt it, and to acquire, 
 under the name of liberty, a despotism, so much the 
 more dangerous that it has been purchased under 
 the cloak of freedom — if it has succeeded in making 
 of a nation of citizens a vile band of beggars, who 
 have only inherited liberties, purchased by the blood 
 of their forefathers, to put them up at auction to the 
 highest bidder — if it has caused France to blush for 
 its public functionaries, and has allowed her to 
 descend, as we have seen in a recent trial, in the 
 scale of corruption, till she has arrived at her 
 tragedies — if it has permitted the nation to be 
 afflicted, humiliated, by the improbity of those in 
 authority — if it has done all these things, that 
 royalty will fall ; rest assured of that. It will not 
 slip in the blood it has shed, as did that of 1789 ; 
 but it will fall into the snare which itself has laid. 
 And after having had the revolution of blood, and 
 the counter-revolution of glory, you will have the 
 revolution of public conscience, and that springing 
 from contempt ! " 
 
 What a wonderful prophecy, this, of what really 
 took place, and how short a time elapsed before 
 the events indicated came to pass. The impending 
 revolutionary storm broke out towards the end of 
 February, 1848. 
 
 The King and his ministry, while they robbed and 
 dishonoured the country, adopted every means, as a 
 matter of course, to prevent the expression of public 
 opinion. Public gatherings in the streets for the 
 discussion of political questions were put down with 
 a strong arm, and at the point of the sword. Indoor 
 assemblies were then resorted to, as evasions ; and 
 
1848.] 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 167 
 
 these went under the designation of banquets. They 
 served the purpose in view just as well, and perhaps 
 better ; and speeches like that of Lamartine's were 
 uttered on these occasions with freedom. These 
 roused the citizens to a sense of their degradation. 
 They brought into bold relief the turpitude of a 
 King who really was as much a usurper of his throne 
 as Buonaparte had been, but who, unlike the latter, 
 had used his power for glutting himself and his 
 vulture-like race to the impoverishment of the 
 country, rendering nothing in return but smiles and 
 fair speeches. His Majesty's health at these banquets 
 was studiously omitted from the toasts. Passing 
 from the King to the Government, each member of 
 it was attacked by a storm of invectives, his indi- 
 vidual iniquities being exposed by merciless criticism. 
 Pictures were drawn of the rapacity, the dishonesty, 
 the chicanery exercised by the whole body in 
 power, arousing the national spirit, which had been 
 charmed to sleep by the crafty smiles of a King, 
 and kindling the popular indignation into a blaze, 
 at which was lit the torch of another French revo- 
 lution. 
 
 A monster banquet of this description was fixed 
 for the 22nd of February, 1848. No less than 
 1,700 guests, composed of all shades of the Oppo- 
 sition, and 1,500 more, comprising deputations from 
 the colonies and the various schools of learning, 
 were invited. These were to assemble in two sepa- 
 rate bodies, the first-named in the Place de la 
 Madeleine, and the other in the Place de la 
 Concorde ; and then uniting, they were to march in 
 procession to the place appointed for the entertain- 
 ment. This place, as will be imagined, was impro- 
 vised for the occasion. It consisted of a large open 
 space, calculated to hold about six thousand people, 
 
i68 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 [1848. 
 
 enclosed by four walls, and covered with canvas, 
 and was situated in a quiet, unfrequented street 
 called Chemin de Versailles, opening from the 
 Champs Elysees. 
 
 Immense excitement was of course produced by 
 the announcement of such a gathering. The King 
 and the ministry were thrown into a state of alarm, 
 and they determined not to allow it to take place. 
 They hunted up an old law, by which such assem- 
 blies were declared illegal. Orders were given for 
 the garrison to be increased immediately to 80,000 
 men. Still the Opposition party were not daunted, 
 and continued their preparations ; for they had in 
 their ranks such men as Thiers, Ledru Rollin, and 
 Odillon Barrot, whose power and influence were 
 unlimited with the nation. 
 
 The Government, seeing that all the force it could 
 bring to its aid would be absolutely necessary, now 
 tried strategy to aid force. It pretended to compromise 
 with the Reformers, and gave a partial promise that 
 the meeting should be held on certain conditions. 
 In the meantime, troops poured into the city from 
 all quarters, until it was computed that about 150,000 
 soldiers of all arms were within its walls. At the 
 last moment the Government broke faith, and issued 
 the following proclamation, which on the night pre- 
 ceding the day of the banquet was posted all over 
 Paris : — 
 
 " Parisians, — The Government had interdicted 
 the banquet of the 12th arrondissement. It kept 
 within its right in doing this ; being authorized by 
 the letter and the spirit of the law. Nevertheless, in 
 consequence of the discussion which took place in 
 the Chamber on this subject, thinking that the Oppo- 
 sition was acting in good faith, it resolved to afford 
 the opportunity of submitting the question of the 
 
1848.] A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 169 
 
 legality of banquets to the appreciation of the tri- 
 bunals and the High Court of Cassation. 
 
 " To do this, it had resolved to authorize for to- 
 morrow the entrance into the banquet-room ; hoping 
 that the persons present at the manifestation would 
 have the wisdom to retire at the first summons. But 
 the manifesto published this morning, calling the 
 public to a demonstration, convoking the National 
 Guard, assigning them a place ranked by the legions, 
 and ranging them in a line, a Government is raised 
 in opposition to the real Government, the public 
 power is usurped, and the charter openly violated. 
 These are acts which the Government cannot tole- 
 rate. In consequence, the banquet of the 12th arron- 
 dissement shall not take place. Parisians ! remain 
 deaf to every incitement to disorder. Do not by 
 tumultuous assemblages afford grounds for a repres- 
 sion which the Government must deplore." 
 
 The eventful morning dawned, and Paris was on 
 tiptoe at a very early hour, to see what would come 
 of the affair. Up to ten o'clock the most perfect 
 order prevailed. Half an hour later, some signs of 
 agitation began to be made manifest. The troops 
 commenced to move in every direction. The Boule- 
 vards, from the Bastille to the Place de la Madeleine, 
 were streaming with people, mostly of the lower 
 orders ; but there were soldiers in abundance to keep 
 them in order. 
 
 Noon. — Large bodies of students were assembled 
 in the Boulevards Italiens and Rue Lapelletier. 
 They brought with them the copy of a petition to 
 the Chamber, for the impeachment of the Ministers* 
 A large crowd had followed them, and were lustily 
 singing the Marseillaise. The same state of things 
 existed at the Place de la Madeleine and the Place 
 de la Concorde, where the crowds were increasing 
 
170 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. [1848. 
 
 every moment, and National Guards mustering in 
 immense force. All the shops were closed. 
 
 As yet, but slight encounters had taken place 
 between the people and the soldiery. There had 
 been a charge of cavalry between the hotel of M. 
 Guizot and the Madeleine, in which a man's head 
 was cut open, and a few stones were thrown at 
 windows by the mob. In the Place de la Concorde 
 also had been a little skirmish. The Municipal 
 Guards had sallied out at the corner of the Turkish 
 Embassy, and attempted to drive the crowd before 
 them, but found their match, and were driven back 
 themselves. A carriage then passed by, and in it 
 was discovered a rare prize for the mob in the shape 
 of a Ministerial Deputy, on his way to the Chambers. 
 The ill-starred Deputy was made to alight, and the 
 mob, seizing hold of him, shook him within an inch 
 of his life. After doing this, however, they allowed 
 him to proceed. Mischief of a similar nature pre- 
 vailed everywhere, carts and omnibuses being over- 
 turned, and other such frolics indulged in, but nothing 
 more. 
 
 Evening. — There was uproar in every quarter, but 
 no serious encounters resulted. Barricades were 
 being erected by the people, and the pavements of 
 several of the streets were dug up. But the mob 
 was unarmed, and no great danger was apprehended 
 of an attack. 
 
 The Chamber of Deputies was nearly deserted. 
 Of the Deputies, only a few were present, but not 
 a single member of the Opposition occupied the 
 benches. The most prominent of the Ministers in 
 attendance was M. Guizot, who looked pale, but 
 defiant. The Chamber resumed a postponed dis- 
 cussion, relative to the Bank of Bordeaux. 
 
 M. Odillon Barrot entered in the midst of it, accom- 
 
1848.] 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 171 
 
 panied by Messieurs Thiers, Garnier-Pages, Marie, 
 and others. One of them handed to the President 
 a document, whose purport was the impeachment of 
 the Ministers. M. Guizot, to whom the paper was 
 passed, glanced over it, and then laughed immode- 
 rately in the face of those who presented it. The 
 discussion in hand was allowed to continue ; but on 
 its termination, M. Odillon Barrot ascended the 
 tribune, and deposited on the table a formal proposi- 
 tion for impeaching the Ministers, but the President 
 raised the sitting without having it read. 
 
 Night. — Unexpected order prevailed. In some 
 places rows took place, ending invariably in the re- 
 pulse of the mob, and the barricades which the latter 
 attempted to throw up were speedily demolished by 
 the troops. Several prisoners were made of the 
 ringleaders in the various disturbances, and safely 
 locked up. A few lives were also sacrificed. Yet 
 this was but the lull before the storm. 
 
 The next morning (Wednesday) a most significant 
 incident occurred. At an early hour the rappel was 
 beaten for the National Guards, but only a tenth part 
 of them answered to the call. At ten o'clock the 
 crowd, after shouting itself hoarse with "Vive la 
 Reforme !" suddenly raised a most unexpected cry of 
 "Vive la Garde Nationale ! Vivent les vrais defen- 
 seurs de la patrie!" And then a large number of 
 these troops, mingling with the people, paraded the 
 streets, singing the Marseillaise at the top of their 
 voices. 
 
 " An hour afterwards," says a correspondent of the 
 Times, "the National Guards proceeded, with the 
 sapeurs at their head in full uniform, to the Tuileries, 
 to declare their sentiments. 
 
 " They returned about one o'clock, and occupied 
 the Rue Lepelletier again. A platoon closed the 
 
172 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 [1848. 
 
 street on the Boulevard. Loud cries of ' Vive la 
 Garde Nationale!' called me to the window again. 
 A squadron of cuirassiers, supported by half a 
 squadron of chasseurs a cheval, arrived. The chef 
 d'escadron gave orders to draw swords. The cries 
 of the people redoubled, although not a man of them 
 was armed. The squadron made a half-movement 
 on the Rue Lepelletier, when the officer in command 
 of the National Guards drew his sword, advanced, 
 and saluted him. A few words were exchanged. 
 They separated. The one placed himself at the 
 head of his soldiers, and gave the word to * wheel and 
 forward,' and they resumed their march, accompanied 
 by the cheers and clapping of hands of the multitude. 
 The officer of the National Guards returned very 
 quietly to his post, and sheathed his sword. 
 
 "I am told the words exchanged by the officers 
 were these — 'Who are these men?' 'They are the 
 people.' 'And those in uniform?' 'They are the 
 Second Legion of the National Guards of Paris.' 
 'The people must disperse.' 'They will not.' *I 
 shall use force.' ' Sir, the National Guards sympa- 
 thize with the people — the people who demand Re- 
 form.' ' They must disperse.' ' They will not.' ' I 
 must use force.' ' Sir, we, the National Guards, 
 sympathize in the desire for reform, and will defend 
 them.' 
 
 " I am assured by persons who say that they heard 
 all that passed, that the officer of the cuirassiers 
 cried 'Vive la Reforme!' but I cannot affirm or con- 
 tradict it. I know, however, that the soldiers looked 
 serious, but not savage." 
 
 By one o'clock the number of National Guards who 
 had joined the people amounted to over 3,000. They 
 set up as their motto, " Reform, and the dismissal of 
 M. Guizot." With this inscription flying from their 
 
i8 4 8.] 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 173 
 
 banners they assembled round the Place des Petit 
 Peres, and their officers held a council, at which they 
 deputed their colonel to go to the King, and acquaint 
 His Majesty with the views of the National Guard. 
 That officer thereupon proceeded to the Palace. He 
 was not admitted into the Royal presence, but the 
 General-Commander of the National Guard came up 
 to him, and promised to carry the memorial himself 
 to the King. The same evening one of their points 
 was gained. 
 
 When the Chamber of Deputies met, the Opposi- 
 tion members being in great force, one of the latter, 
 M. Vevin, rose amidst profound silence, and said that 
 he had a solemn duty to accomplish, which was to 
 call the Minister of the Interior to account for the 
 scenes then passing in the capital ; and he went into 
 the details of the disturbances, and the fatal mis- 
 fortunes attending them. M. Guizot replied that he 
 did not deem it expedient to reply to those questions. 
 The King had that moment sent for Count Mole, to 
 charge him with the reconstruction of the Cabinet. 
 
 This announcement was received with loud cheers 
 from the Opposition benches, and by the crowd out- 
 side when it was reported to them. 
 
 The latter, however, were by no means satisfied. 
 They now demanded to have securities, and ex- 
 pressed themselves to the effect that they would take 
 care there was no mistake this time. 
 
 The King, hearing that the concession he had made 
 to the people had been so well received by them, 
 began to recover from fears by which he had been 
 almost driven into idiocy, and to entertain hopes 
 that the dreadful storm was over. He sought the 
 society of his wife and family, who did their best to 
 cheer and encourage him. In the family group was 
 present the Duchess of Orleans, widow of the King's 
 
i 7 4 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 [1848. 
 
 eldest son, with her child, the Count de Paris, who 
 was then the direct heir to the throne. Embracing 
 the boy with emotion, when she heard of the popu- 
 lace being appeased, she cried, " Poor child ; your 
 crown has indeed been compromised, but now Heaven 
 has restored it to you ! " Alas for such hopes ! 
 
 As evening approached, there were unmistakable 
 indications of a brewing tempest. Large bodies cf 
 men began to assemble round the office of the 
 National, from which, says Lamartine, "a young 
 man of slight stature, with a fiery eye, with lips agi- 
 tated by enthusiasm, and hair dishevelled by breath 
 of inspiration, mounted the inner wall of the window, 
 and harangued the assembly. The spectators saw 
 but the gestures, and heard but the sound of a voice, 
 and some thrilling expressions emphasized by lips of 
 a southern contour. It was Marast, the editor, who 
 by turns delighted as a wit, and hurled in thunder 
 the sarcasms and indignation of a republican Opposi- 
 tion." 
 
 By the agency of firebrands like Marast, the 
 passions of the populace were soon in a blaze, and it 
 was a night of terror for Paris. Military weapons 
 were now in the hands of the people, who gave every 
 sign of their intention to make a dreadful use of 
 them. 
 
 Notwithstanding that M. Guizot had retired from 
 the Ministry, so malignant was the popular hatred 
 against him, that the Hotel des A ff aires des Etrangers 
 was one of the first places surrounded. It was 
 guarded by a large body of troops. About ten 
 o'clock a young man walked up to the officer in com- 
 mand and blew his brains out with a pistol. At this 
 signal the soldiers fired a murderous volley, which 
 heaped the pavements with dead bodies. These were 
 quickly gathered together by the survivors, and a 
 
i8 4 8.] A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 175 
 
 cart being brought for the purpose, placed in it. A 
 procession then formed, and the crowd, chanting 
 " Mourir pour la Patrie," wended its way towards what 
 seems to have been the centre of the insurrection, the 
 office of the National, the light of torches blazing 
 on the dead. Here the procession halted, and the 
 multitude simultaneously gave one fearful shriek of 
 the word Vengeance ! 
 
 The morrow came, and with it Vengeance. Towards 
 noon a mob like a legion of devils broke into the 
 Palais Royal and sacked it. In every apartment, fur- 
 niture, pictures, and other beautiful works of art were 
 smashed, and the debris being thrown out of the win- 
 dows, a huge bonfire was kindled from it in the court- 
 yard. The next move was to the Tuileries. Here 
 the same work of destruction went on. The drapery 
 which canopied the throne was torn into shreds, and 
 made to decorate the persons of these Vandals. 
 Another bonfire was made of the furniture, books, 
 pictures, and everything the palace contained, at the 
 top of all being placed the throne, while bands of men 
 danced like demons round the burning pile. The 
 King himself would no doubt have been immolated, 
 had he not an hour previously escaped with the 
 Queen. 
 
 Up to the last moment His Majesty consoled him- 
 self with the thought that all danger was past. He 
 did not retire to rest until four o'clock in the morning, 
 when, having just left M. Thiers, who had undertaken 
 the formation of a new Government on the refusal of 
 Count Mole to do so, he considered the people would 
 be more than ever satisfied. Rising at eleven in the 
 forenoon, he came down to breakfast quite in a hope- 
 ful spirit, and with a smiling countenance. These 
 both underwent a serious change shortly. The news 
 came that Paris was in a blaze of revolution, and 
 
176 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 [1848 
 
 that the people and the National Guard were ir 
 mixed companies traversing the streets, using - the 
 most fearful oaths and imprecations, and menacing 
 the life of all tyrants, including the King. A deadly- 
 pallor came over the old man's face, his hands 
 trembled, his knees shook. Yet a desperate courage 
 suddenly inspired him. He retired to his dressing- 
 room, and arraying himself in the uniform of the 
 National Guard, called his two sons, the Duke of 
 Nemours and the Duke of Montpensier, and with 
 them sallied forth to the Place Carrousel, where 
 the troops were being reviewed. As he was leaving 
 the palace the Queen said to him, " Go, show yourself 
 to the discouraged troops — to the wavering National 
 Guard. I will come out on the balcony with my 
 grand-children and the princesses, and I will see you 
 die in a way worthy of yourself, of your throne, and 
 your misfortunes." 
 
 The King reached the troops, the Queen ascended 
 the balcony. They both saw the waving of sabres 
 in the air, and heard the shouts of the soldiers. 
 The Queen thought His Majesty was being received 
 with loyal acclamations ; the King heard but the 
 cries of savage indignation and vengeance, and made 
 his way back in haste. He was quickly waited upon 
 by M. Emile de Girardin and his own son, the Duke 
 de Montpensier, urging him to abdicate ; his son in so 
 doing using such undutiful language as to make the 
 poor old man weep. 
 
 Taking then pen and paper, he wrote himself the 
 doom of his kingdom : — " I abdicate in favour of 
 the Count de Paris, my grandson, and I trust that he 
 will be more fortunate than I." Having done this, he 
 took the quill full of ink, and, stroking it peevishly 
 down his son's face, exclaimed, " Now sir ! Are you 
 satisfied ?" 
 
x8 4 8.] A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 177 
 
 Hastening now again to his dressing-room, he pulled 
 off the uniform in which he had lately quitted it, and 
 arrayed himself completely in black, including a 
 round black hat. His wife came to him attired in 
 deep mourning, and then this sad-hearted couple 
 sallied out of their magnificent home, never to see 
 it again. As they passed into the court-yard, he had 
 his right arm through the left arm of the Queen, lean- 
 ing heavily on her for support, his face being cast 
 down, and his whole form overcome with emotion ; 
 but his wife walked with a firm step and a brave 
 mien, casting around her looks of anger and defiance. 
 
 As they approached the gate, a report was cir- 
 culated amongst the people round it, that their 
 Majesties were repairing to the Chamber of Depu- 
 ties, to depose to the act of abdication, when cries 
 of "Vive la Reforme!" "Vive la France!" and even 
 now and then "Vive le Roi!" were heard. Passing 
 the Pont Tournant, and arriving at the pavement 
 surrounding the Obelisk, the Royal pair and their 
 followers were suddenly stopped by a mob, on foot 
 and on horseback. The poor old monarch became 
 terror-stricken ; but his fears were quickly allayed, 
 for the mob passed on, apparently without recog- 
 nizing him. They then bent their steps towards two 
 small black carriages with a single horse each, stand- 
 ing waiting a short distance off. Reaching these, 
 they got into the first they came to, which, beside 
 them, contained two young children, who, as the 
 vehicle moved rapidly along, gazed out of the win- 
 dows with innocent curiosity on the maddened mass 
 of people surging onwards, and roaring out the 
 terrible cry of Vengeance ! The other carriage con- 
 tained a couple of servants and a small amount of 
 baggage, which was all that the fugitives had had 
 time to put together. 
 
 M 
 
i 7 8 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 [i8 4 3. 
 
 So great was the speed with which the coachman 
 urged on his horse, that the poor brute was quite 
 exhausted when it reached St. Cloud, and could not 
 climb the hill leading up to the Chateau. The King 
 and Queen, with the children, then entered a hackney- 
 coach and drove to Versailles, and thence to Trianon. 
 Here a fresh travelling-carriage was procured, but the 
 Royal party had scarcely taken their places inside it 
 when they were informed of the approach of six men 
 on horseback. The panic-stricken King went almost 
 wild with terror, thinking the men were in pursuit 
 of him. He leaped out, and running like he did at 
 Boulogne in the rain, sought refuge in the guard- 
 house near the railway station, carefully concealing 
 himself behind the stove ! But he was soon relieved to 
 hear that he had taken a false alarm, and re-entering 
 the vehicle, was driven off towards Dreux, on the 
 road to which place the Royal pair were joined by 
 their two sons, the Dukes of Nemours and Mont- 
 pensier. 
 
 It would be a long story to describe all the inci- 
 dents of this flight. Suffice it to say, the remainder 
 differed little from those given above ; and the King, 
 after being frightened out of six at least of his seven 
 senses during the space of a week, succeeded in 
 reaching Havre, from whence, registering himself 
 and his Queen as Mr. and Mrs. Smith in the ship's 
 book, he sailed for England, and landed at New- 
 haven on the 4th of March, 1848. But such was 
 the privacy observed by Mr. and Mrs. Smith, that 
 even the English papers did not announce the 
 arrival of Louis Philippe and the Queen till weeks 
 afterwards ; all the world in the meantime variously 
 conjecturing the fate of the unhappy monarch of 
 France. 
 
 Almost at the same time fled the real originator 
 
i8 4 S.] 
 
 a speck: in the horizon. 
 
 179 
 
 perhaps of all the mischief that had taken place in 
 France — M. Guizot. He seemed inclined at first to 
 stay and brave it out with the people, but yielded 
 wisely to the solicitation of friends, and reached 
 Folkestone in safety in a few days. In addition to 
 the counsels of his friends, he was no doubt induced 
 by what he heard of the behaviour of the mob 
 opposite the Hotel des A ff aires des Etr angers on the 
 morning after the night when the soldiers fired upon 
 it. The people collected there in great numbers, 
 and the name of Guizot was cursed with a vengeance. 
 One man dipped his hand in the blood which still 
 lay in pools about the road, and wrote on the wall 
 of the hotel with it, "A mort Guizot!'* The ex- 
 minister knew that this would be no idle threat, 
 and so made his escape, as some say, in a servant's 
 livery. 
 
 The King quitted Paris on the 24th of February, 
 and on the 28th Louis Napoleon presented himself 
 there. Immediately upon his arrival he placed 
 himself in communication with the Provisional 
 Government, and offered his services in assisting to 
 restore social order. The chief members of the 
 Government expressed themselves sensible of the 
 patriotism which had dictated his offer ; but they 
 urged the Prince not to continue in Paris, as, the 
 conflicting pretensions and passions of parties not 
 having subsided, the illustrious name he bore might 
 become a new element of civil disorder. The Prince, 
 in proof of the sincerity of his sentiments and in- 
 tentions, immediately withdrew; and his return to 
 England was announced on the 2nd of March. 
 
 M 2 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FAVOURING BREEZES. 
 
 S"^pHE legacy the King had left his subjects in 
 EofPl ^ e f° rm °f ms grandson, the Count de 
 jgfyil ll Paris, as their future monarch, was not so 
 duly appreciated by them as he could have desired. 
 The Duchess of Orleans repaired to the Chamber of 
 Deputies with the young Prince, to advance his claim 
 to the vacant throne, by craving their support for 
 establishing him thereon. She was accompanied by 
 her brother-in-law, the Duke of Nemours, and M. 
 Dupin. The latter, on reaching the Chamber, as- 
 cended the tribune, and earnestly advocated the 
 Duchess's cause by putting the boy forward as the 
 new King, and his mother the Regent. 
 
 The Duchess and her advisers must have been 
 stone-blind to the real nature of current events, to 
 have supposed for a moment that their project would 
 succeed. They were quickly made aware that 
 nothing could be more unpalatable to the French 
 people at that time than a king of any kind, to say 
 nothing of one descended from the smiling impostor, 
 whose flight was the cause of universal exultation, 
 while the very sound of whose name was sufficient to 
 provoke a volley of execrations. 
 
 On their way to the Chamber, they might have 
 heard too the cries, which rose incessantly, of " Enough 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1848.] 
 
 CALLED TO PLAY A PART. 
 
 The caricaturist here introduces us to the Prince in decidedly reduced circum- 
 stances. Some allowance must be made for dramatic effect in the decayed surround- 
 ings, but it is on record that he was often in doubt as to how the means of the hour 
 were to be obtained. Musing thus in London, his ambition is again revived. 
 
 The eagle, that mysterious counsellor, 
 stimulates the somewhat phlegmatic per- 
 ceptions of the Prince by appearing on the 
 scene and taking up his position on a bust 
 over the door of the chamber. The bird 
 prophesies a great fate in store for Louis 
 Napoleon ; the change of opinion in France ; the flight of the Citizen King ; and 
 the proclamation of a Republic. The exile at last detects certain glimpses of the 
 star destined to guide him to future power. 
 
 16 
 
i8 4 8.] 
 
 FAVOURING BREEZES. 
 
 181 
 
 of the Bourbons!" "Enough of Kings!" "Long 
 live the Republic!" As M. Dupin concluded his 
 proposals, M. Lamartine came into the House and 
 ascended the tribune. Looking confidently about 
 him, he said : — 
 
 " There is but one way to save the people from 
 danger, which a revolution in our present social state 
 threatens instantly to introduce : and that is to trust 
 ourselves to the force of the people themselves — to 
 their reasons, their interests, their aims. It is a 
 Republic we require. Yes, it is a Republic which alone 
 can save us from anarchy, civil war, foreign war, 
 spoliation, the scaffold, destruction of property, the 
 overthrow of society, the invasion of foreigners. 
 The remedy is heroic. I know it. But there are 
 occasions, such as those in which we live, when the 
 only safe policy is that which is as grand and audacious 
 as the crisis itself." 
 
 Hardly had this speaker finished, when, like the rush 
 of a tide, poured in the crowd through the doors of the 
 Chamber, completely choking up the entrance, and 
 shouting "Vive la Republique !" with a vehemence 
 almost enough to blow the roof off. They had heard 
 of the Duchess being there, and came to protest, not 
 only by voice, but with muskets and spikes, against 
 her pretensions being in any way favoured by the 
 members of that Assembly. With a courage ren- 
 dered desperate by her situation, the Duchess essayed 
 to speak, but all that she could be heard to say was, 
 " I have come here with all I have dear in the world," 
 when yells and shrieks the most fearful and piercing 
 drowned her voice, leaving her lips moving in silent 
 supplication. A lull ensued, and M. Lamartine, 
 taking advantage of it, rose. 
 
 " I demand," said he, " in the name of the public 
 peace, of the blood which has been shed, of the 
 
18a FAVOURING BREEZES. [1848. 
 
 people famished in the midst of their glorious leaders, 
 that you should appoint a Provisional Government." 
 
 The hall rang again with fiendish shouts. Excite- 
 ment and confusion of the wildest description pre- 
 vailed. The President fled in terror from his chair. 
 The Duchess, surrounded by her friends, was hurried 
 away just in time to escape the murderous outrage 
 of a portion of the mob climbing over the benches 
 and levelling their muskets in the direction where she 
 stood. She soon afterwards joined her relatives in 
 England. 
 
 In this way another of those transitory forms of 
 government in France, called a Republic, was estab- 
 lished. There was no end here, as may be easily 
 imagined, of riot and bloodshed, and all those con- 
 comitant evils which attend the rage of factions 
 and the overthrow of one party in power for the 
 setting up of another ; but it neither concerns this 
 history, nor would our space admit that we should 
 go into details of the revolutionary storms which 
 ravaged Paris till order was restored. Suffice it to 
 say, that after the lapse of a few weeks, there was 
 an established power in France which could be fairly 
 called a Government, and that there was also a 
 National Assembly. 
 
 The entire overthrow of the old order of things 
 necessarily included the abolition of proscriptions 
 against political offenders. Taking advantage of 
 this circumstance, all the members of the Buonaparte 
 family who had survived their exile, were instantly 
 in Paris. They were headed by old Jerome Buona- 
 parte, the brother of Napoleon, most intimately 
 associated with his destinies. He immediately ad- 
 dressed himself to the Provisional Government in the 
 following terms : — 
 
x8 4 8.] 
 
 FAVOURING BREEZES. 
 
 "The nation has torn to pieces the treaties of 
 1815. The old soldier of Waterloo, the last brother 
 of Napoleon, returns at once to the bosom of his 
 great family. The season of the dynasties has 
 passed away from France. The proscription law 
 which struck me is fallen with the last of the 
 Bourbons. I ask the Government of the Republic 
 to pass a decree declaring my proscription to be an 
 insult to France, and to have disappeared with every- 
 thing else which was imposed upon us by a foreign 
 Power. 
 
 "Jerome Buonaparte." 
 
 A copy of the above was posted on all the walls of 
 Paris, and, being read by the people, added in no 
 small way to the prevalent excitement. Now was 
 there not wanting amongst the various political cries 
 daily resounding in the streets, those of "Vive Louis 
 Napoleon!" "Vive TEmpereur!" but the personage 
 indicated was quietly biding his time in London, 
 knowing the moment must come when he would 
 receive a popular recall to his country. In the mean- 
 while his relatives, Jerome, his uncle, and Napoleon 
 Pierre, and Lucien Murat, his cousins, made haste to 
 Corsica, to present themselves to the electors of that 
 island, as candidates to represent it in the National 
 Assembly. They were enthusiastically received and 
 unanimously returned. 
 
 The presence of the members of the Buonaparte 
 family in the Assembly was not relished by any- 
 party, but more especially not by extreme Republi- 
 cans, for the obvious reason of the potency of their 
 name ; yet they were contented that any of the other 
 members of the family should have the privilege of 
 sitting in the Senate, so long as the statutory heir of 
 the Empire, Charles Louis Napoleon, was debarred 
 
1 84 
 
 FAVOURING BREEZES. 
 
 [1848. 
 
 from it ; and with a view of rendering this contingency 
 secure, a motion was brought forward for the reten- 
 tion of the prohibition against the Buonaparte family- 
 entering France, as it applied only to Louis Napo- 
 leon. 
 
 The Prince, hearing of the proposed measure, ad- ' 
 dressed an expostulation to the National Assembly, 
 of which the following is a copy : — 
 
 "London, 23^ May, 1848. 
 
 " Citizen Representatives, 
 
 "I learn by the newspapers of the 22nd inst. 
 that it has been proposed in the bureaux of the 
 Assembly, to retain against me the law of exile 
 which has been in force against my family since the 
 year 18 16; I now apply to the Representatives 
 of the people, to know why I have merited this 
 penalty ? 
 
 " Can it be for having always publicly declared 
 that, in my opinion, France was not the property 
 either of an individual, or of a family, or of a 
 party ? 
 
 " Can it be because, desiring to accomplish the 
 triumph, without anarchy or licence, of the principles 
 of national sovereignty, which alone can put an end 
 to our dissensions, I have been twice the victim of 
 my hostility to a Government which you have over- 
 thrown ? 
 
 " Can it be from having consented, out of deference 
 to the wish of the Provisional Government, to return 
 to a foreign country, after having hastened to Paris 
 upon the first news of the revolution ? 
 
 " Can it be because I disinterestedly refused seats 
 in the Assembly which were proffered me, resolved 
 not to return to France until the new constitution 
 
1843.] FAVOURING BREEZES. 185 
 
 should be agreed upon, and the Republic firmly- 
 established ? 
 
 " The same reasons which have made me take up 
 arms against the Government of Louis Philippe, 
 would lead me, if my services were required, to devote 
 myself to the defence of the Assembly, the result of 
 universal suffrage. 
 
 " In the presence of a King elected by 200 
 Deputies, I might have recollected that I was heir 
 to an Empire founded by the consent of 4,000,000 of 
 Frenchmen. In the presence of the national sove- 
 reignty, I neither can, nor will claim more than my 
 rights as a French citizen ; but these I will demand 
 with that energy which an honest heart derives from 
 the knowledge of never having done anything to 
 render it unworthy of its country. 
 
 " Receive, gentlemen, the assurance of my senti- 
 ments of high esteem. 
 
 " Your Fellow-Citizen, 
 
 " Napoleon Louis Buonaparte." 
 
 For all the hearing it got, this protest might just 
 as well have never been addressed to the Assembly. 
 Every class represented in it had some self-interested 
 motive in keeping out this dangerous would-be 
 intruder. They consequently took no notice of the 
 letter or its writer, until they were compelled to do 
 so by a voice they dared not disregard. 
 
 Owing to a few double and informal elections, there 
 were several voids to be filled up in the seats of the 
 Assembly, and the day fixed for the filling up of 
 them was the 3rd of June. Overtures were made to 
 Louis Napoleon, by his partisans, to induce him to 
 allow his name to be put up for one of the vacant 
 departments. He declined, stating that he would 
 
x86 
 
 FAVOURING BREEZES. 
 
 [184S. 
 
 wait until his presence in his native country should 
 not be made a pretext for disturbances and annoy- 
 ances. In spite of his refusal, however, his friends 
 issued the following placard : — 
 
 " Louis Napoleon only asks to be a representative 
 of the people. He has not forgotten that Napoleon, 
 before being the Magistrate of France, was first its 
 citizen." 
 
 It created a vast amount of enthusiasm, which the 
 Government in vain endeavoured to suppress, and 
 the upshot was, that Louis Napoleon was not only 
 returned for one department, but four departments 
 at once, namely — those of the Seine, the Yonne, the 
 Sarthe, and the Charente-Inferieure. 
 
 Then were redoubled the cries of "Vive Louis 
 Napoleon !" " Vive l'Empereur!" The Government, 
 alarmed beyond measure, determined to try their 
 best to avert the danger which threatened them- 
 selves and the Republic. Anticipating that, embol- 
 dened by the circumstances of this extraordinary 
 election, Louis Napoleon would make his appearance 
 in France, they issued, on the 12th of June, the fol- 
 lowing order to the Minister of the Interior, and to 
 the Prefects and sub-Prefects : — 
 
 " By order of the Commission of Executive 
 Power, arrest Charles Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, if 
 he is in your department. Transmit everywhere the 
 necessary orders." 
 
 As if got up to warrant such an outrage as the 
 arrest of an unoffending man, an affair occurred on 
 the very evening of the issuing of the order, out of 
 which the most was made by a member of the 
 Government, who may be said to have been Louis 
 Napoleon's bitterest enemy, and his chief rival, 
 M. Lamartine. 
 
 On the day in question, great excitement prevailed 
 
i8 4 8.] 
 
 FAVOURING BREEZES. 
 
 187 
 
 in Paris, from the report that Louis Napoleon would 
 arrive there to claim one of the seats allotted to him in 
 the Assembly. Towards afternoon the streets were 
 in a perfect hubbub, and the generale was beaten for 
 the National Guard. The name of Louis Napoleon 
 was to be heard from almost everybody's mouth, in 
 the various groups that were gathered together. A 
 new journal, entitled Le Napoleonien, appeared for the 
 first time that morning, and with considerable ability 
 advocated his cause. In the vicinity of the Palace of 
 the Assembly, a great multitude was waiting to hear 
 what the members said of Louis Napoleon's elec- 
 tion. In vain they were told that deliberation on that 
 point was postponed till the morrow, and that Louis 
 Napoleon would not arrive till the same time. The 
 mob was not to be put off in that way. At length a 
 diversion was created by a couple of individuals, who 
 had the temerity to cry out, " A bas Louis Napoleon !" 
 These were instantly set upon, and, taking to their 
 heels, were followed by several hundreds of people, 
 hooting and yelling, and now and then aiming a 
 brickbat at them, through several streets. 
 
 In the Chamber, at the opening of the Assembly, 
 Jerome Buonaparte ascended the tribune, and said 
 that he was surprised to hear that the name of 
 Buonaparte had at the previous sitting been made 
 the subject of hostile observations. He was the 
 friend and relative of citizen Louis Napoleon, and 
 would not undertake to justify his past conduct, to 
 which he had remained a total stranger. He should 
 have despised idle rumours published in the journals, 
 and infamous statements which nobody had the 
 courage to make at the tribune. The authors of 
 these calumnies were well known. They were 
 parties opposed to the Republic, who, fortunately, 
 were in a feeble minority in that country, and con- 
 
i88 
 
 FAVOURING BREEZES. 
 
 sisted of the less generous portion of the populace, 
 and it was but natural that such a party, wishing to 
 attack the Republic, should make use of a name 
 possessed of some influence. He declared, on his 
 honour, that Louis Napoleon was a total stranger to 
 those machinations. His nephew had not only with- 
 drawn from Paris at the request of the Provisional 
 Government, but had refused different seats in the 
 Assembly offered to him, in order not to disturb 
 order. There was one rumour he (Jerome Buona- 
 parte) could not treat with too much contempt. It 
 had been asserted that money had been distributed 
 by agents of foreign Powers to support the preten- 
 sions of the Buonapartes. This was an infamous 
 calumny. Last night, on hearing of the reports in 
 circulation, and of the intention of the Government 
 to introduce a measure of exclusion against Louis 
 Napoleon, he (Jerome Buonaparte) had waited on the 
 President of the Chamber, on the Minister of the 
 Interior, and on the Prefect of the Police, by whom 
 he had been informed that the Government contem- 
 plated no such measure. His astonishment had 
 accordingly been great when, on entering the hall, he 
 had been told that the Cabinet intended to bring 
 forward such a measure. 
 
 M. Flocon, Minister of Commerce and Agriculture, 
 duly replied, that under the present grave circum- 
 stances, the Government would know how to pro- 
 vide for the security and independence of the 
 Republic. 
 
 The debate for the evening then proceeded. As 
 M. Lamartine was speaking, he was suddenly inter- 
 rupted by the hurried entrance into the hall of a 
 member who exclaimed, " Buonapartist riots ! Shots 
 have been fired at the Commander-in-Chief of the 
 National Guard, at the Place de la Concorde ! An 
 
X848.] FAVOURING BREEZES. 189 
 
 officer of the line killed amidst cries of ' Vive l'Em- 
 pereur ! 1 " 
 
 This was a dramatic situation to be seized, and 
 M. Lamartine, referring to the matter, said, "You 
 can easily conceive that the emotion which is felt by 
 the Assembly, in consequence of this unhappy event, 
 will compel me to shorten my address. 
 
 "The Executive Government will oppose faction 
 under whatever name it may show itself. We will 
 never allow the Republic to be turned from its 
 course. We have adopted the Republic seriously. 
 We shall never allow France to sully herself in the 
 name of her most glorious souvenirs. Whenever the 
 people have been spoken to in the language of reason, 
 they have become the soldiers of order. The revolu- 
 tion of February made serious promises, and it will 
 fulfil them : it will fill with benefits and realities 
 that abyss which agitators wish to fill with misfor- 
 tunes and falsehoods. We have already passed 
 through the greatest difficulties, and we shall do the 
 same with that which now presents itself. It is 
 natural that we should be accused of faults ; but we 
 bear the responsibility of circumstances ; we accept 
 this misfortune, which will be, one day, our greatest 
 glory. For my own part, I every day see myself 
 accused in the journals, and by parties : it has been 
 said that I have conspired with men whom you will, 
 perhaps, in a few days be called upon to judge with 
 Blanqui and with Barbes. (Several voices : ' No one 
 can believe it.') If I have conspired with these 
 men, it was when they had not been unmasked. I 
 conspired with them as the lightning-conductor con- 
 spires with the thunderstorm. I, for a long time, 
 withstood these men. The safety of the country is, 
 in my opinion, in an honest and a national Republic, 
 with universal suffrage without exclusion : it will 
 
i 9 o 
 
 FAVOURING BREEZES. 
 
 [1848. 
 
 triumph when confidence is restored to commerce 
 and industry. Let us make such a Republic, and we 
 shall be proud and happy, even should our names be 
 dishonoured, to serve as its foundation." 
 
 Here M. Lamartine produced and read a decree 
 of banishment against Charles Louis Napoleon, 
 which he had brought in his pocket, and which was 
 rendered so singularly necessary by the occurrence 
 of which they had just heard. 
 
 The following is a copy of the proposed decree: — 
 
 "The Executive Committee : 
 
 ** Looking at Article 4 of the law of June 12th, 1816 : 
 
 "Considering that Louis Napoleon Buonaparte is comprised in the law 
 of 1832, which banishes the family of Napoleon : 
 
 "That if that law has been departed from by the vote of the National 
 Assembly in favour of three members of that family, who were admitted 
 to take their seats as representatives of the people, such departure from 
 the law is quite personal, and by no means applies to the said Louis 
 Napoleon Buonaparte : 
 
 "That Louis Napoleon Buonaparte has twice come forward as a pre- 
 tender, and that his pretensions might compromise the Republic : 
 
 "That the Government cannot accept the responsibility of such acts, 
 and that it would fail in the first of its duties if it did not take measures to 
 prevent the recurrence of them : 
 
 "Declares that it will cause the law of 1832 to be executed against 
 Louis Napoleon, until such time as the National Assembly shall decide 
 otherwise." 
 
 A large majority of the members seemed disposed 
 to subscribe to this extraordinary document, but the 
 voices of Louis Napoleon's relatives were neither 
 silent nor ineffective. 
 
 M. Pierre Buonaparte ascended the tribune, and 
 said : — 
 
 " Every one who bears my name will be deeply 
 affected at learning what has just taken place. 
 Shame on those who have cried, while shedding 
 blood, " Vive l'Empereur Napoleon I" — the Emperor, 
 who, to avoid civil war, sacrificed himself in 1815, 
 and all his family. For my part, I cannot suppose 
 that any suspicions can reach me. (Cries of * No, no.') 
 
1848.] FAVOURING BREEZES. 191 
 
 At the first cry of liberty, I hastened from my exile, 
 and swore allegiance to the Republic, and never can 
 I entertain any other convictions than what I feel 
 at this moment. The time for trials may arrive, and 
 those trials are the touchstones of patriotism. I 
 shall know how to combat against reactionists or 
 anarchists. I shall be found in the first rank of the 
 defenders of the Republic. Liberty has always been 
 my idol, and I would rather die than see it infringed 
 upon." (Loud and continued applause.) 
 
 M. Napoleon Buonaparte applauded with all his 
 heart the words which had just been uttered by his 
 relative, and which had been so well received by the 
 Assembly, but he appealed to their reason at such a 
 terrible moment. M. Lamartine had eloquently told 
 them that the horrible crime which he had de- 
 nounced to them, was committed to the cry of the 
 name which had never been accused of fermenting dis- 
 cord, and it was under feelings of execration against 
 such an odious attempt that he (M. Lamartine) had 
 proposed to them a bill of proscription. (Agitation.) 
 He, M. Buonaparte, would be sorry to say anything 
 to excite them in any way, but he considered it his 
 duty to protest against such a decree inspired by a 
 crime to which he whom it was intended to proscribe 
 was a stranger. 
 
 Minister of Commerce : The decree was prepared 
 beforehand. 
 
 M. Napoleon Buonaparte : Then what a moment 
 you have chosen to present it ! Think on what you 
 demand ! It will be enongh for any wretches to 
 make use of a name to cover their criminal designs ! 
 The Empire ! who wishes for it ? It is a chimerical 
 notion : it will remain as a great epoch in history, 
 but can never be revived. I conclude by protesting 
 against the connection which M. Lamartine appears 
 
192 
 
 FAVOURING BREEZES. 
 
 [1848. 
 
 to establish between this crime and the name of my 
 relative. 
 
 The subject was here allowed to drop for the day, in 
 order to ascertain the fullest particulars of the alleged 
 Buonapartist riots, and the murderous proceedings 
 connected therewith, the news of which had been 
 brought into the House by the excited member afore- 
 said. On investigation, the dreadful doings were 
 found more matters of fancy than fact. There had 
 been some agitation in favour of the newly-elected 
 member for Paris, it was true, but it did not amount to 
 a riot by a long way. About two o'clock in the after- 
 noon a crowd, consisting of three-fourths bourgeoisie 
 and one-fourth working classes, had assembled at the 
 Place de la Concorde. They were divided into 
 groups, which were severally addressed by stump- 
 orators ; one of these being a young, handsome, and 
 well dressed woman, who made an energetic and 
 impassioned speech in favour of Louis Napoleon, — not 
 holding him up as a pretender to the crown, but as 
 one who had every right to be admitted into the 
 National Assembly as a representative of the people. 
 (Was this Mademoiselle Gordon again ?) There 
 was some opposition to these sentiments, but not 
 beyond a verbal remonstrance. An orator of a 
 different way of thinking got up, and said, " There 
 must be no more pretenders: let us show ourselves 
 good republicans, and shout ' Vive la Republique !' and 
 to stimulate the people thereto, he began shouting it 
 himself, at the same time waving his hat. A few 
 congenial spirits responded, but they were in a sad 
 minority to those who almost simultaneously raised the 
 counter cry of " Vive Napoleon ! " " Vive l'Empereur !" 
 Another dissentient orator, by way of clinching his 
 arguments, applied to the name of Louis Napoleon 
 a most opprobrious epithet, which was no sooner out 
 
1848.] FAVOURING BREEZES. 193 
 
 of his mouth, than a fist from the crowd was in it. 
 A little further ofT, one more orator, holding adverse 
 views, came to sad grief, for the mob, irritated by his 
 foul vituperations on Louis Napoleon, pounced upon 
 the unfortunate wretch, stripped him of every shred 
 of clothing, and then hunted him, like a wild animal. 
 The soldiers now coming up, the people dispersed 
 quietly. The shots alleged to have been fired dwin- 
 dled down to the discharge of a single pistol, which 
 the Commander of the National Guard himself 
 declared was, in his opinion, quite accidental. 
 
 M. Lamartine's eloquence of the previous day 
 was, it need scarcely be said, completely thrown 
 away when the above facts came to the knowledge 
 of the members of the Assembly, who rejected his 
 decree for the banishment of Louis Napoleon by 
 a large majority. 
 
 N 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." 
 
 F the breath expended by M. Lamartine, in 
 his effort to puff a decree of banishment 
 against Louis Napoleon into favour with 
 the Assembly proved quite ineffectual for that pur- 
 pose, it served to fan the flame of this new passion 
 of the people for the nephew and appointed heir of 
 their Emperor, on the principle that wishes grow 
 stronger from opposition. Next day the name of 
 riot could be justly given to the demonstrations in 
 the streets. Attempts were made to raise barricades, 
 which were only frustrated by frequent charges of 
 soldiers. A rush was made upon the Treasury, which 
 the guards were just in time to save by rushing 
 inside the gate, and closing it in the face of the 
 crowd. A poor street-keeper in the Rue de Rivoli 
 was set upon for trying to obstruct the progress 
 of the mob, and stabbed in several places ; but 
 he bravely drew his sword, and putting his back 
 against one of the pillars of the colonnade, struck 
 out right and left, till he was rescued from his peri- 
 lous position by a troop of the National Guard. 
 Everywhere rung the cries of "Vive Louis Napo- 
 leon !" "Vive l'Empereur !" A placard was posted 
 on the walls of the Ardennes, to the following 
 effect : — 
 
1848.] " THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND. 
 
 " Frenchmen ! After having again been expelled by 
 the tyranny which deceived us in July, we have once 
 more suffered ourselves to be deceived by a tyranny 
 more hypocritical and more infamous, inasmuch as 
 it conceals itself under the veil of democracy. In 
 place of one king who plundered us, we have several 
 who enrich themselves at our expense. Men of the 
 Ardennes ! Let us rush to our arms ; let us break 
 our chains ; let us show an example which France 
 will hasten to follow, and let us place at our head 
 the only man who is worthy of us. Let us place 
 there Louis Napoleon. 
 
 "Vive l'Empereur !" 
 
 Repetitions of such tumults took place for several 
 days, for though the decree of banishment against 
 Louis Napoleon had been quashed, nothing would 
 satisfy the people until the exiled citizen was allowed 
 to take the place allotted to him in the National 
 Assembly by four departments at once. Very re- 
 luctantly the Government granted this demand also. 
 
 But now Louis Napoleon, wisely advised by his 
 friends, showed himself in no hurry to occupy the 
 position open to him. His reasons for so acting were 
 expressed in a letter which he addressed to the 
 President of the National Assembly, and which was 
 read to the House on the 15th of June. It ran as 
 follows : — 
 
 "London, June 14. 
 
 " Monsieur le President, 
 
 " I was about to set off, in order to appear at 
 my post, when I heard that my election had been 
 made the pretext for disorder and disastrous errors. 
 I repudiate all the suspicions of which I have been 
 made the object, for I seek not for power. If the 
 people impose duties on me, I shall know how to 
 
 N 2 
 
jg6 "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LANDS' [1848. 
 
 fulfil them; but I disavow all those who have made use 
 of my name to excite disturbance. The name which 
 I bear is, above all, a symbol of order, of nationality, 
 of glory, and rather than be the subject of anarchy 
 and disorder, I should prefer remaining in exile. I 
 send you enclosed a copy of the letter of thanks, 
 which I have addressed to all the electors who have 
 given me their votes. Have the goodness, M. le 
 President, to communicate this letter to my col- 
 leagues, and receive, &c, 
 
 "Louis Napoleon Buonaparte." 
 
 A letter more proper in sentiment or more respect- 
 ful in expression could scarcely be written ; but the 
 writer's enemies and rivals, chagrined by the conces- 
 sions that had lately been forced from them by the 
 people, displayed a wonderful amount of ingenuity 
 in pulling it to pieces and making it assume any 
 but its true aspect. The Minister of War remarked 
 that the word Republic was not mentioned in it ; 
 this observation giving rise, of course, to an instan- 
 taneous cry of "Vive la Republique !" That omis- 
 sion the said Minister pointed out as denoting per- 
 sonal ambition on the part of the writer, rather than a 
 desire to serve the Republic ! A M. Baune protested, 
 in the name of all his colleagues, against that 
 declaration of war of the Pretender. They would 
 not have pretenders ; but it was necessary that 
 France should know how that impudent citizen 
 had responded to the generosity of the Assembly. 
 He (M. Baune) handed over the letter that had been 
 read to its just contempt. 
 
 Then came a M. Thouret, who did not wish to be 
 uncharitable, but he must allude to one expression 
 in the letter. It was, "If the people impose on me 
 duties, I shall know how to fulfil them ' This, M. 
 
1848.] "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." 
 
 Thouret considered, amounted positively to an appeal 
 to revolt, and he demanded that the Assembly- 
 should therefore immediately decree that Louis 
 Napoleon Buonaparte had ceased to be a representa- 
 tive of the people ! 
 
 Even M. Jules Favre, who had been the chief 
 advocate for Louis Napoleon being admitted to the 
 Assembly, took a wrong-headed view of the Prince's 
 communication. He rose to say there was in that 
 Assembly but one sentiment. (A Voice : " No, no.") 
 He would repeat what he said, and was sure that 
 those who interrupted him were not aware how 
 much they insulted the Assembly. There was but 
 one sentiment there — that of indignation. When 
 the 7th bureau proposed to the Assembly the 
 admission of Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, no doubt 
 had arisen as to the conditions of that act. But if, 
 two days after, that person sends forth an insolent 
 challenge to the National Sovereignty, it was their 
 duty to reply to it. He (M. Favre) demanded that 
 the letter and the document which accompanied it 
 should be at once placed in the hands of the Min- 
 ister of Justice. 
 
 A large amount of fire was eaten by a number 
 of other members, and a perfect hurricane of passions 
 was raised by a document which has on the face of 
 it, impartially read, nothing but a laudable desire on 
 the part of its author to avoid public disturbances 
 and party conflicts by not coming, at that time, on 
 the scene to provoke them. At length, amidst much 
 agitation, the President succeeded in having delibera- 
 tion on the matter postponed till next day. " Gentle- 
 men," he said, " in the midst of the various propositions 
 which have been made, it appears to me that it is for 
 the dignity of the Assembly not to make any 
 alteration in the order of the deliberations. Let us 
 
xgS " THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." [1848. 
 
 not impart more importance than it deserves to an 
 accident which, after all, may not be as grave as it 
 at first appears." Apparently, this was the only man 
 in his senses in the Assembly on that day. 
 
 All the empty bombast that had been uttered the 
 previous day appeared on the morrow in its true 
 light. As fortune would have it, the President 
 received that afternoon a second letter from Louis 
 Napoleon, which made his real sentiments towards 
 the Republic so plain, that some of the fault-finders 
 who created so much fuss about the expressions and 
 hidden meanings of the first letter looked extremely 
 foolish. The following is a copy of the second letter, 
 which was read to the Assembly : — 
 
 "London, June 15, 1848. 
 
 " Monsieur le President, 
 
 " I was proud to have been elected represen- 
 tative of the people in Paris and in three other 
 departments. It was, in my opinion, an ample repa- 
 ration for thirty years' exile and six years' captivity. 
 But the injurious suspicions to which my election has 
 given rise, the disturbances of which it was the 
 pretext, and the hostility of the executive power, 
 impose upon me the duty to decline an honour which 
 I am supposed to have obtained by intrigue. I 
 desire order, and the maintenance of a wise, great, 
 and enlightened Republic, and since I involuntarily 
 favour disorder, I tender my resignation — not without 
 regret — into your hands. 
 
 " Tranquillity, I trust, will now be restored, and 
 enable me to return as the humblest of citizens, but 
 also as one of the most devoted to the repose and 
 prosperity of his country. 
 
 "Charles Louis Napoleon Buonaparte." 
 
1848.] "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND: 
 
 In reference to the resignation of his seat, the 
 President observed, that as the admission of Citizen 
 Louis Napoleon had not been pronounced by the 
 Assembly, and that the Committee had only declared 
 his election valid, the Assembly was not called upon 
 to vote on the matter, which was referred to the 
 Minister of the Interior, with orders to convoke the 
 electoral colleges that had returned Louis Napoleon. 
 
 When the Prince's resignation became known, a 
 variety of comments were passed upon it. Some 
 could not account for such a step, when he had been 
 so enthusiastically elected, and seemed to have the 
 people so much on his side. Others considered it 
 a well-advised step, and gave the Prince the fullest 
 credit for self-denial and patriotism. But there were 
 not wanting those who put it down to a deep 
 design on his part — namely, that he considered his 
 cause would derive greater strength thereby, as people 
 would be talking about him and his inherited throne 
 more by his keeping away, than if he at once pro- 
 ceeded to France, and quietly settled down as a 
 citizen. That such were his motives may be fairly 
 doubted, but that he really did enhance his prospects 
 by the exercise of self-denial at that monent is a 
 fact. 
 
 The circumstance, however, was but a nine days' 
 ' wonder, after which sensational period the name of 
 Louis Napoleon was almost forgotten in the excite- 
 ment of a civil war which shortly ensued. 
 
 Partly brought on by the ruinous issues of the events 
 of the year, and partly by the poverty of resources, 
 and inefficiency of the Executive Commission, the 
 condition of the working classes of Paris became most 
 deplorable. Almost a famine prevailed for want of 
 work, and, rendered desperate by their situation, the 
 people sent protest after protest to the Government, 
 
THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." [1848. 
 
 to devise some plan of organizing labour. Fiery- 
 speeches were made in the Assembly, calling upon 
 the Executive Commission to adopt immediate 
 measures for ameliorating the state of affairs. An 
 extract from an appeal made by M. Victor Hugo 
 will give an idea of the evils existing : — 
 
 "The national workshops," said M. Hugo, "were 
 necessary when they were first established, but it 
 is now high time to remedy an evil of which the 
 least inconvenience is to squander uselessly the 
 resources of the Republic. What have they pro- 
 duced in the course of four months ? Nothing. They 
 have deprived the hardy sons of toil of employment, 
 given them a distaste for labour, and demoralized them 
 to such a degree, that they are no longer ashamed to 
 beg in the streets. The Monarchy has its idlers, the 
 Republic has its vagabonds. God forbid that the 
 enemies of the country should succeed in converting 
 the Parisian workmen, formerly so virtuous, into 
 lazzaroni or praetorians." 
 
 Instead of active and adequate measures being 
 taken by the Executive Commission for meeting the 
 requirements of the case, a singular amount of apathy 
 was exhibited by them regarding the matter. They 
 did certainly close the Government workshops ; but 
 as for providing the people with labour, all they 
 could say was that the Government workmen 
 between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five would 
 be enrolled in the army ; that workmen who had 
 flocked into Paris from the country would be sent 
 back to be employed in draining marshes and 
 cultivating wild lands ; and that then the Parisian 
 workmen could shift for themselves. The announce- 
 ment of such half-and-half measures was heard by 
 the people with disgust and indignation. A deputa- 
 tion of working men waited upon M. Marie, one of 
 
1848.] "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." 
 
 the Executive Commission. That red-tapist treated 
 their spokesman, M. Pujol, with lofty insolence, 
 accusing him before the other members of the 
 deputation of having been connected with the Barbes 
 movement of the 15th of May, and therefore 
 unworthy to represent any body of honest men. 
 
 One of the protests the deputation determined 
 upon laying before the Executive Commission was 
 directed against the proposed dealing with workmen 
 who had come from the provinces. M. Pujol, not- 
 withstanding the behaviour of the Government 
 official, made this protest. 
 
 " I understand you," said M. Marie. " Very well, 
 listen : if the workmen refuse to leave Paris for the 
 provinces, we will compel them by force ; by force — 
 do you understand ? " 
 
 " By forced replied M. Pujol. " Very well ; now 
 we know that which we wished to know." 
 
 " Ah ! " quoth M. Marie, " and what did you wish 
 to know ? " 
 
 " That the Executive Commission," rejoined M. 
 Pujol, " has never sincerely desired the organization 
 of labour. Adieu, citizen." 
 
 The result of this fruitless interview was made 
 known to all the workmen of Paris that same 
 evening, the 21st of June ; and they were called 
 upon to meet at six o'clock the next evening at the 
 Place du Pantheon. Eight thousand men were there 
 as the hour struck ; and emerging from amongst them, 
 M. Pujol got upon a stool and addressed them : — 
 
 " Citizens, you are about to give to France an 
 example of your patriotism and of your courage. 
 Let us unite ; and let the cries ring in the ears of 
 our persecutors, ' Work and Bread,' and ' Labour or 
 Death.' If they are deaf to the voice of the people, 
 woe be to them. Forward ! " 
 
202 "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND" [1848. 
 
 The whole body then moved on towards the quay 
 of the Hotel de Ville. Amongst the cries raised by 
 them, those of " Down with Marie ! " " Down with the 
 Executive Commission !" "Vive Napoleon !" " Vive 
 l'Empereur!" were the most frequently heard. Some 
 three thousand of this multitude had actually received 
 the money from the Government to enable them to 
 reach the provinces they came from, as ordered by 
 the Executive Commission, but they had stopped 
 immediately outside the barriers and spent it in 
 drink, returning inspired with Dutch courage for 
 their riots. These had improvised a song, and 
 adapted it to an old tune, the chorus of which was, 
 " We will remain ! We will remain ! " This they 
 sang lustily as they traversed the streets. From 
 the Hotel de Ville they went to the Faubourg du 
 Temple, with the intention of forming a junction with 
 the workmen of the Temple and St. Antoine, having 
 done which, they spread themselves all over the city 
 in detachments, and remained out all night in the 
 open air listening to the speeches of stump-orators, 
 of whom there sprang up a legion. 
 
 On the morrow commenced one of the bloodiest 
 insurrections that even Paris — the Vesuvius of political 
 eruptions — ever witnessed. Early in the morning 
 the people set about erecting barricades, in which 
 work were engaged even women and children. By 
 noon, nearly one half of the streets of the city were 
 covered with these obstructions. The positions round 
 the Pantheon, the Porte St. Denis, the Porte St. 
 Martin, the Faubourg du Temple, the Hotel de Ville, 
 the Faubourg St. Antoine, the Faubourg St. Jacques, 
 the Faubourg St. Marceau, and the Isle of St. Louis, 
 were completely blocked up. 
 
 So rapidly and energetically were the operations 
 of the masses carried on, that the force at the imme- 
 
1848.] "TB/S IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND" 20? 
 
 diate disposal of the Minister of War was quite in- 
 adequate to check them ; indeed, the attempt to do 
 so was not made. General Cavaignac had not 20,000 
 troops that he could muster at a moment's notice — 
 a state of the army induced by the poverty of the 
 Republic — and considering the wide scope of ground 
 occupied by the insurgents, such a small body of 
 men would have been utterly useless to commence 
 hostilities with. To make matters worse, the National 
 Guard, as they did in February, were for the most 
 part in league with the people ; for, to the beating of 
 the generate, not a twentieth part of them appeared, 
 while large numbers were seen aiding the mob in 
 erecting barricades. A moiety of the Garde Mobile 
 also proved faithless to the Government, and were 
 seen in the ranks of the insurgents. 
 
 General Cavaignac gave up the whole of the day 
 to preparations, and the force under his control was 
 augmented before evening by some 10,000 men from 
 neighbouring garrisons. The Commander-in-Chief 
 divided the 30,000 men into four columns, which he 
 placed under the command of Generals Lamoriciere, 
 Duvivier, Demesne, and Bedeau. Lamoriciere was 
 ordered to take his post near the Porte St. Denis, 
 Duvivier by the Hotel de Ville, Demesne at the Place 
 Cambray, and Bedeau round the Pantheon. With 
 twilight, hostilities commenced. 
 
 That night was witnessed by weeping angels a 
 city of men in dire fratricidal combat. Goaded by 
 hunger, and that maddening sense of insult and 
 injury which makes a furnace of a Frenchman's 
 breast, and a live coal of his brain, the people fought 
 like devils in despair. The people — not alone the 
 ruffians and vagabonds of a metropolis, but men who 
 had hitherto conducted themselves respectably, and 
 earned honest livings ; not only men, but women and 
 
204 "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." \1848. 
 
 children — on the one side, and the soldiers on the 
 other, stood that night in the attitude of two bands 
 of hostile savages, not like natives of the same soil 
 — not like a nation in the nineteenth century of 
 Christian civilization. 
 
 For the next three days Paris weltered in its 
 blood. The hand of Cain was doing its butcheries 
 in all her thoroughfares, and the dying shrieks of its 
 victims echoed from her walls to the accompaniment 
 of the boom of cannon and the rattle of musketry. 
 Corses strewed her streets for miles, of men en 
 blouse and of soldiers in uniform, hugged together in 
 devilish death-struggles ; of women with their faces 
 robbed of all feminine traits, and rigid in the aspect 
 of fiends ; of children like slaughtered cubs of beasts 
 of prey. 
 
 There were but few of the stark forms lying 
 stretched in death during those three days, which 
 could be said to have differed materially in the 
 characteristics depicted ; but there was one eminently 
 in contrast with the hideous wrecks of passion 
 around it. It was that of an apostle of peace, the 
 saintly Archbishop AfTre. 
 
 That heavenly-minded prelate, heedless, of personal 
 danger, issued from his palace on a mission of conci- 
 liation, which he hoped to succeed in both by his 
 personal influence and his priestly character, for his 
 name was held in high popular esteem and veneration. 
 Arrayed in his pontificial robes, and bearing the 
 symbol of infinite mercy — the Cross — before him, he 
 repaired, attended by two vicars, to the head-quarters 
 of the insurgents. As he passed through the streets 
 the people fell on their knees, and, deeply affected by 
 his courage and devotion, implored him to desist 
 from an attempt so fraught with danger to himself; 
 but he mildly replied, " A good shepherd gives his 
 
1848.] " THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." 
 
 life for his sheep," and passed on with the intrepid 
 step of a follower of Christ. 
 
 The Place de la Bastille was where the leaders of 
 the insurrection were quartered. Here he arrived at 
 seven o'clock in the evening, and presenting himself 
 before the rebels, with an attendant waving aloft a 
 green branch, was received by them with profound 
 reverence, a truce being established between the con- 
 tending parties. There is no knowing the good 
 that might have ensued, but for an accident. The 
 soldiers, distrusting the insurgents, who had frequently- 
 fired upon bearers of flags of truce, advanced closer 
 to the insurgents, so that, should the latter prove 
 treacherous, they might have the prelate within their 
 reach. Seeing the troops advance, the insurgents 
 leapt over the barricade, and angry glances were 
 exchanged between the two parties, now so close toge- 
 ther ; when suddenly a shot was fired. This was the 
 signal for a cry of "Treason !" Hostilities instantly 
 recommenced, each party retreating to its own 
 quarters. The Archbishop, being seized by the rebels, 
 mounted the barricade to retire behind it, and while 
 descending on the other side, some cowardly villain 
 fired at him from a window above, and wounded him 
 mortally. The expiring prelate was carried to the 
 nearest hospital, and from thence to his palace, where 
 he died soon after, his last words being, " God be 
 praised, and may He accept my life as an expiation 
 for my omissions during my episcopacy, and as an 
 offering for the salvation of this misguided people/' 
 
 Such were the results of this hellish struggle 
 between a starving people and a Government which, 
 though established but four months, had begun to 
 grow careless of the national welfare, and had in 
 that short period thrown aside the public welfare, 
 which it was started to promote, for party and 
 
ao6 "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." [1848. 
 
 personal aggrandisement. Such were the results of 
 battles, fought hourly, in which now the people and 
 then the soldiers prevailed, but neither gaining such 
 an advantage as to be able to hold it long ; point 
 after point being taken and retaken by both, till the 
 arrival of fresh troops from the provinces turned the 
 tide in favour of the soldiers ; when the rebels, after 
 vainly endeavouring to stipulate for a surrender, were 
 obliged to capitulate unconditionally. 
 
 The result of these bloody massacres, most per- 
 tinent to our story, was the establishment by them 
 of an entirely new mode of government in France. 
 The inefficiency of the Executive Commission, which 
 had been the sole cause of the troubles, was seen 
 in a strong light when rapid decision and resolute 
 action were necessary for the salvation of the 
 country ; consequently, the wrangling, dilly-dallying 
 members composing it — who had rendered them- 
 selves hateful, both to the people and the National 
 Guard, by their insolence in office — were sent to the 
 right about, and the brave, quick-witted General 
 Cavaignac invested with absolute power as President 
 of the French Republic. 
 
 That there had been woful mismanagement by the 
 Executive Commission was abundantly made mani- 
 fest when matters came to be inquired into. It can 
 hardly be credited, that while the population of Paris 
 was starving for want of work, 120,000 ouvriers in 
 the national workshops were kept in comparative 
 idleness on splendid wages, and that out of the 
 number it was proved, when the census came to be 
 taken, no less than 10,000 were actually professional 
 thieves, and 5,000 more formats, or men who had been 
 sent to the hulks for heinous offences. Was there 
 ever so monstrous an act of treason to the people ? 
 By the aid of the vigorous antidotal measures 
 
1848.] "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." 
 
 adopted by the new dictator, however, the evils 
 produced by such atrocious misgovernment were soon 
 remedied, and the Assembly not only granted with 
 acclamation whatever demands General Cavaignac 
 made upon them, but unanimously confirmed him in 
 the office to which they had promoted him in a serious 
 emergency. Peace then once more resumed her sway 
 over a capital from which she had fled so oft. 
 
 There were still some seats vacant in the Assembly 
 for which representatives had not been forthcoming, 
 and the new elections were fixed for the 17th of 
 September. As that day drew near, there was not 
 only a better state of things in the House of the 
 Assembly, but the people, hardly recovered from the 
 dreadful calamities of June, were more subdued in 
 their character ; and altogether, France seemed in a 
 fair way of settling down quietly under the wise and 
 prompt administration of her military ruler. 
 
 Louis Napoleon therefore considered the fitting 
 time had now come for him to return to his native 
 country, and enjoy the immunities from which he 
 had been so long debarred. His friends, too, 
 strongly advised him to go over and settle down 
 amongst them. When asked, therefore, by General 
 Piat whether he would accept of a seat in the National 
 Assembly should his party propose him at the coming 
 elections, he sent the following reply : — 
 
 "London, 2%th August, 1848. 
 
 " General, 
 
 "You ask me if I should accept the post of 
 representative of the people if I were to be re- 
 elected. I reply, without hesitation, ' Yes ! ' 
 
 " Now that it has been demonstrated, without 
 gainsaying, that my election in four departments at 
 once was not the result of intrigue, and that I have 
 
co8 "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." [1848. • 
 
 kept myself a stranger to all manifestations and 
 every political manoeuvre, I should consider myself 
 wanting in my duty if I should not respond to the 
 call of my fellow-citizens. 
 
 " My name can now no longer be made a pretext 
 for commotions. I am anxious, therefore, to re-enter 
 France, and to take my seat amongst the repre- 
 sentatives of the people, who desire to organize the 
 Republic upon a broad and solid basis. In order to 
 render the return of the Government which have 
 passed away impossible, there is but one thing to do, 
 and that is to do better than they ; for you know, 
 General, we have really not destroyed the past until 
 we have replaced it by something else. 
 
 " Accept, &c. 
 
 "Louis Napoleon Bonaparte." 
 
 Acting upon the permission given them, Louis 
 Napoleon's friends put up his name for several of the 
 vacant departments, for each of which he was re- 
 turned with an overwhelming majority ; and it was 
 only with him a case of choice of seats. He naturally 
 chose that of Paris, his native city. 
 
 Having at length received that call from the voice 
 of the nation for which he had been yearning all his 
 life, the Prince bade adieu to his kind friends in 
 England, and, with a jocose remark that, with all his 
 obligations to them, he should come some day to 
 invade their country for the purpose of avenging 
 "Waterloo, set out for Paris immediately after the 
 elections. He was then, as has been stated, in great 
 poverty ; but he received timely aid in the shape of 
 funds from the Duke of Brunswick, who was then 
 publishing a German political newspaper in Totten- 
 ham Court Road. 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1848.] 
 
 "the thin end of the wedge." 
 
 PAQUEBOT NAPOLEONIEN, 
 
 France is now a Republic, and after some conference with the heads of the Go- 
 vernment, Louis Napoleon appears in Paris. His return to the capital was strongly 
 opposed by the party in power : they clearly foresaw in the enthusiasm accorded 
 to the magic name of " Napoleon " a ready passport, in the hands of an ambitious 
 man, to the subversion of the Republic and the establishment of a personal govern- 
 ment. This circumstance is clearly demonstrated, even at this early date, in the 
 histories of the Republic. 
 
 We now come to the telling caricatures which appeared in the "Charivari." 
 Each step in the Presidential career was subjected to the sting of graphic comment. 
 The scope of the French caricaturists has too frequently been circumscribed by the 
 absence of liberty of the press — the vitality of free countries. We adhere as closely 
 as possible to the " Charivari" series, until the enactment of the stringent press 
 laws, which prohibited political criticism. 
 
 17 
 
1848.] "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." 
 
 On the 26th of June, 1848, Louis Napoleon was 
 enrolled as a member of the National Assembly of 
 the French Republic. 
 
 As the Prince entered the Hall, a sudden agitation 
 prevailed amongst the members, and all eyes were 
 fixed upon him as he made his way up it, and seated 
 himself at the upper part of the left benches. M. 
 Marast was in the chair, and when Louis Napoleon 
 made his appearance at the door a speaker was in 
 the tribune ; but such was the confusion in the House 
 when the illustrious visitor's features were recognized, 
 that business was obliged to be suspended for 
 some minutes. Ill-bred and impertinent as was the 
 behaviour of several of the more curious of those 
 who directed upon him their scrutinizing glances, yet 
 finding himself thus an object of general interest 
 could not but have been gratifying to the persecuted 
 exile, who had endured over thirty years of sorrows 
 such as only those situated like him could fully sound 
 the depth of. 
 
 Presently the reporter of the Committee to which 
 the election of the department had been referred, 
 entered the tribune, and said the Committee had 
 examined the documents placed before it, and found 
 the election perfectly regular. Citizen Charles Louis 
 Napoleon had obtained 42,000 votes, and the 
 candidate highest in the list after him only 3,000. 
 The Committee accordingly proposed the provisional 
 admission of Charles Louis Napoleon, until he should 
 produce the certificate of his birth and documents 
 establishing his nationality. 
 
 To the proposition of a provisional admission the 
 President objected. No provisional admission, he 
 observed, could be proposed. 
 
 Here M. Vivien rose and said that the ninth 
 bureau had been unanimously of opinion to propose 
 
2io "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." [1848. 
 
 the admission of Charles Louis Napoleon, and as 
 respected the documents required, public notoriety 
 might replace them. All the other members being 
 agreed upon this point, the President put the formal 
 question as to whether there was any opposition to 
 the admission of Charles Louis Napoleon. Cries of 
 " No ! No ! " arose from every part of the house, and 
 Charles Louis Napoleon was duly proclaimed by the 
 President a representative of the people. 
 
 Louis Napoleon, bowing to the President in ac- 
 knowledgment, ascended the tribune and delivered 
 the following address to the House : — 
 
 " Citizen Representatives, 
 
 " I cannot longer remain silent after the 
 calumnies directed against me. I feel it incumbent 
 on me to declare openly, on the first day I am allowed 
 to sit in this hall, the real sentiments which animate 
 and have always animated me. After being pro- 
 scribed during thirty-three years, I have at last 
 recovered a country and my rights of citizenship. 
 The Republic conferred on me that great happiness. 
 I offer it now my oath of gratitude and devotion ; 
 and the generous fellow-countrymen who sent me 
 to this hall may rest certain that they will find me 
 devoted to that double task which is common to us 
 all, namely, to assure order and tranquillity, the first 
 want of the country, and to develop the demo- 
 cratical institutions which the people have a right to 
 claim. During a long period I could only devote to 
 my country the mediation of exile and captivity. 
 To-day a new career is open to me. Admit me into 
 your ranks, dear colleagues, with the sentiments of 
 affectionate sympathy which animate me. My con- 
 duct, you may be certain, shall ever be guided by 
 a respectful devotion to the law ; it will prove, to the 
 
1848.] "THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND." 
 
 confusion of those who attempted to slander me, 
 that no man is more devoted than I am, I repeat it, 
 to the defence of order and the consolidation of the 
 Republic." 
 
 Had Louis Napoleon been a man of less worldly- 
 experience he might have expected a cordial reception 
 of the sentiments expressed by him ; but he knew too 
 well of what his audience was composed to manifest 
 the least chagrin at the frigid silence with which his 
 speech was received. Alas for France ! that there 
 should be feeding upon its vitals a hundred different 
 parties who have a hundred different purposes to 
 serve, not in the remotest way tending to the general 
 good. To these, and not to the infatuated mob that 
 periodically breaks out at their instigation into acts 
 of violence, are owing the constant political disturb- 
 ances of that unhappy country. So dangerous a 
 rival as Louis Napoleon could expect nothing but ill 
 feeling from such men. 
 
 There were no popular demonstrations upon the 
 occasion of Louis Napoleon's installation as a repre- 
 sentative of the people, for General Cavaignac, with 
 his usual keen foresight, had taken measures to 
 prohibit all assemblages of people, for any purpose, 
 in the streets, and took care to have a sufficient 
 number of soldiers waiting in readiness to enforce 
 his orders. Every act of this sagacious governor 
 tended to prove that the only form of administration 
 suited to the French people is a military despotism, 
 with the supreme power properly invested. A sceptre 
 in France is as much a " bauble " as Cromwell's 
 mace. The sword is the only talisman of peace for 
 a people who respect nothing else. 
 
 O 2 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. 
 
 ITH the return of order, the National 
 Assembly occupied itself in discussions as 
 fill to the best modes of government to prevent 
 repetitions of such disasters as had lately laid Paris 
 in ruins. The first point for consideration was, as to 
 the expediency of having more than one house of 
 legislature, and the next as to the choice of Presi- 
 dent, whether this functionary should be elected by 
 the National Assembly, or by the universal suffrage 
 of the people. 
 
 With regard to the first question, the chiefs of the 
 debaters were, M. Lamartine for the single chamber, 
 and M. Odillon Barrot for more than one chamber of 
 legislature. 
 
 M. Lamartine expressed his views thus : — " I 
 have witnessed the misfortunes and catastrophes 
 which have befallen a nation governed by one 
 legislature, but I have seen the same under a 
 government resting on two ; and I see no identity 
 between the situation of the countries in which the 
 latter form is established, and that of our country. 
 The examples of Great Britain and America are 
 not applicable. Has France any aristocracy like 
 England ? The considerations which led to the 
 adoption of a Senate in America are widely different 
 from those which have inspired the proposal for a 
 
1848.1 
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. 
 
 213 
 
 second chamber in this country. The Seriate there 
 represents the federal principle, which is the basis of 
 the Union ; but which is not so of a Republic, one 
 and indivisible. 
 
 " How are the regulations of a senate to be made ? 
 Are the members to be chosen on account of their 
 fortunes, or their age ? If so elected, would they form 
 an aristocracy in one sense of the word i Would they 
 not rather form the representatives of the bankers ? 
 They would not be the chevaliers of the sword, but 
 the chevaliers of the purse. Menaced on all sides, 
 society, as at present, will for a long time be under 
 the necessity of recurring to the protection of a 
 Dictator. In such a case, who is to elect him ? Is 
 the choice to be confided to the two assemblies — 
 almost certain, in that event, to be at variance with 
 each other ; or is it to be entrusted to the one to 
 the exclusion of the other ?" 
 
 M. Odillon Barrot replied on the other side. 
 " The project of establishing a single chamber," 
 said he, " is one of the most insane, and fatal to 
 democracy itself, which can enter into a human head. 
 What is the cause of the universal uneasiness and 
 perturbation which prevail, and the general feeling in 
 favour of a dictatorship ? It rests upon the opinion, 
 so often proved by experience, now generally ad- 
 mitted, that a democracy cannot regulate itself. All 
 democracies have begun by establishing one single 
 legislative power ; but experience soon taught them 
 that a balance was indispensable, and that a power 
 responsible to none must soon fall from its very 
 weight, if uncontrolled. There is but one force in 
 France — the democratic force. But does it follow 
 from that circumstance that that single force is to be 
 altogether uncontrolled ? Can democracy not be 
 tempered by democracy ? and can we not discover in 
 
214 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. [1848. 
 
 republican institutions such a controlling power ? 
 During eighteen years I have laboured in vain to 
 consolidate this constitutional system under the mon- 
 archy ; but all these efforts were rendered nugatory 
 the moment Louis Philippe resolved to liberate him- 
 self from control, and to establish on the throne a 
 system abhorred by the country. What I failed to 
 do to the monarchy, I could now wish to render to 
 the republic. Pretenders are not to be feared. De- 
 mocracy has no enemy to fear but itself." 
 
 Under existing circumstances, there could have 
 been little doubt as to which opinion would prevail ; 
 for to France, in those days, anything like an equiva- 
 lent to our House of Lords would have been nothing 
 short of an abomination. The Assembly almost 
 unanimously voted in favour of a single Chamber 
 of Legislature. 
 
 The mode of electing the President came next on 
 the tapis. Here was a bone of contention for all the 
 hungry party dogs. It was not a question with them 
 as to what method of investing power would most 
 benefit the nation, but as to what would most surely 
 conduce to the advancement of themselves and their 
 cliques. Parties were, therefore, pretty equally di- 
 vided between a packed house and universal suffrage, 
 just as the one or the other would suit them best. 
 
 Much as they fought between themselves, there was 
 one man, representing a powerful party, against whom 
 almost all were allied, and that was Louis Napoleon. 
 The majority seemed to be under the presentiment 
 that an appeal to universal suffrage, as France was 
 then situated, would be nearly certain to end in the 
 election of Louis Napoleon to the presidency. They 
 could but too clearly perceive a latent desire in the 
 people to return to power a member of the family 
 which had conferred upon them the greatest glory. 
 
1848.] 
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. 
 
 215 
 
 How to get rid of this formidable rival without 
 exciting suspicions as to any fears being felt by them 
 regarding him, was a matter of deliberation for some 
 time ; and at length a member of the Assembly put 
 a most specious proposition before the House, making 
 out that it would not be expedient for any member of 
 a family which had previously held rule in France to be 
 eligible for the office of President or Vice-President. 
 
 Such a proposition, though intended to be general 
 in its application, could only refer to the Buonapartes 
 and Louis Napoleon, and advocated so barefaced an 
 injustice to them, that it could not of course be coun- 
 tenanced by any body of men pretending to be legis- 
 lators. The members who were indifferent to the 
 result of the question as regarding themselves, rose 
 man after man, and protested against the designs of 
 the honourable member who proposed the measure. 
 One of these vehemently declared that such a law of 
 proscription would be unworthy of a great people. 
 No one, he felt sure, could deny that the motion had 
 exclusive reference to the Buonapartes, and was most 
 unjust, for the chief of the Imperial family had come 
 forward, and from the tribune protested his devoted- 
 ness to the Republic. 
 
 Louis Napoleon, who spoke seldom, and, in fact, 
 only frequented the House when there were any 
 questions of importance under discussion, ascended 
 the tribune, and replied that he was too grateful to 
 the nation for restoring to him his rights as a citizen 
 to have any other ambition. It was not in his name, 
 but that of 300,000 electors, that he protested against 
 the appellation of Pretender, which was continually 
 flung in his face. Some wrangling followed, but at 
 length the originator of the debate, seeing that his 
 scheme was detected, made a formal withdrawal of 
 the motion. 
 
2l6 
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. 
 
 Li 848. 
 
 The Assembly afterwards repealed the law of the 
 I Oth of April, 1832, which banished the family of 
 Napoleon from the French territory. Opposition was 
 by no means silenced now. Within a fortnight, a 
 new reason was discovered why the Buonapartes, and 
 especially Louis Napoleon, should labour under a 
 disadvantage not affecting the rest of the community. 
 Towards the end of October, 1848, there had been 
 held some of the old political " banquets," and Louis 
 Napoleon was supposed to be in favour of them, 
 because his name was so frequently mentioned at the 
 meetings. Without waiting for any proof of the 
 Prince's complicity, M. Clement Thomas, the Com- 
 mander of the National Guard, bounced into the 
 tribune, and delivered himself of a volley of invec- 
 tives against the Buonapartes in general, and Louis 
 Napoleon in particular, expressing himself in terms 
 far beyond the limits of what is known as parliamen- 
 tary language. Such animus, indeed, was displayed 
 by M. Thomas, that a plot to goad Louis Napoleon 
 into a duel, where the soldier expected to have 
 the best of him, was as clear as noon-day. By that 
 means would of course have been removed this 
 political stumbling-block, this eyesore to ambition. 
 The furious speaker wanted to know by what right 
 M. Louis Napoleon presented himself as a candidate 
 for the Presidency of the Republic, and covered the 
 country with emissaries recommending his candi- 
 dature to the peasants. 
 
 Louis Napoleon was not present that afternoon, 
 and a voice reminded M. Thomas of the fact, but 
 that heated orator met the hint with the retort that 
 it was not the first time he had noted the absence of 
 the representative citizen Louis Napoleon Buonaparte 
 from the Assembly. 
 
 Several Voices : What is that to you ? 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1848.] 
 
 "the thin end of the wedge" — (continued.) 
 
 The arrival of the Prince in Paris was the signal for a general burst of enthusiasm 
 and good-natured criticism. The two failures which had rendered his previous 
 visits to France notorious were distinguished by a fantastic Quixotism, very flatter- 
 ing to the French love of "surprise." 
 
 The masquerade adopted by the Prince was mercilessly ridiculed by the carica- 
 turists. We have seen the satire showered on his assumption of the "Napoleon " 
 boots. The imitation cocked hat and grey greatcoat of his Uncle, which he now 
 added to the famous boots, were further challenges to the wits and satirists of Paris. 
 
 '■'All this doesn't suit YOUR style of figure!" remarks the impertinent fripier (or 
 dealer in left-off wearing apparel) in the picture above. 
 
 18 
 
x8 4 8.] 
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. 
 
 217 
 
 M. Thomas : A most significant fact. You are 
 aware that there are certain members of this 
 Assembly who are about to present themselves to 
 the country as candidates for very elevated and 
 important offices. Well, it is not by seldom attend- 
 ing your sittings, or by abstaining from taking any 
 part in your votes ; it is not by avoiding to say from 
 whence we come, or whither we go, or what we want, 
 that one can pretend to gain the confidence of a 
 country like France. For my part, I distrust such 
 tactics. 
 
 For a few minutes some notion of the confusion of 
 Babel might have been formed from the hubbub in the 
 Chamber. Several of the members protested loudly 
 against the unseemly language of M. Thomas, and as 
 for the Prince's two cousins, Napoleon was openly 
 called to order by the President from the chair ; 
 though he did not go so far as the hot-headed Pierre, 
 who challenged to mortal combat the Commander of 
 the Guard from the foot of the tribune ! 
 
 The following day Louis Napoleon attended the 
 Assembly, and mounting the tribune, said : — 
 
 " The unpleasant incidents which occurred here 
 yesterday referring to me will not allow me to remain 
 silent. I deeply regret to be again obliged to speak 
 of myself, for it is repugnant to my feelings to see 
 personal questions incessantly dragged before this 
 Assembly, at a time when the most important 
 interests of the country are at stake. 
 
 " I shall not now speak of my sentiments or my 
 opinions ; these I have already set before you, and 
 no one as yet has had reason to doubt my word. As 
 to my parliamentary conduct, I will say, that as I 
 never take the liberty of bringing any one of my 
 colleagues to account for the course which he thinks 
 proper to pursue, so in like manner I never recognize 
 
2i8 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. [1848. 
 
 in him the right to call me to account for mine. This 
 account I owe only to my constituents. 
 
 " Of what am I accused ? Of accepting from the 
 popular sentiment a nomination after which I have 
 not sought. Well, I accept this nomination which 
 does me so much honour. I accept it because suc- 
 cessive elections, and the unanimous decree of the 
 Assembly against the proscription of my family, 
 authorize me to believe that France regards the 
 name I bear to be serviceable for the consolidation 
 of society. 
 
 " Those who accuse me of ambition, little know my 
 heart. If an imperative duty did not keep me here, 
 if the sympathy of my fellow-citizens did not console 
 me for the violence of the attacks of some, and even 
 for the impetuosity of the defence of others, long 
 since should I have regretted my exile. 
 
 " I am reproached for my silence. It is desired 
 that I should exhibit great talents, and make a 
 brilliant appearance in this tribune. But it is given 
 to but few persons to bring eloquent words to the 
 support of just and salutary ideas. Is there only 
 one way to serve one's country ? That which the 
 country needs above all things else is a Government 
 firm, intelligent, and wise, which is more desirous to 
 heal the evils of society than to avenge them. 
 Often one can more effectually triumph by wise and 
 prudent conduct than by bayonets, over theories not 
 founded upon experience or reason. 
 
 " Citizen Representatives, there are those who 
 wish, I know, to strew my path with pits and snares. 
 I shall not fall into them. I shall follow the path I 
 have marked out, without allowing myself to be dis- 
 quieted or irritated. I shall know always how to 
 exhibit the serenity of the man who is resolved to 
 do his duty. It is my only desire to merit the 
 
i8 4 8.] 
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. 
 
 219 
 
 esteem of the National Assembly, and of all good 
 men, and the confidence of that magnanimous 
 people who were treated so lightly here yesterday. 
 I therefore declare to those who wish to organize 
 against me a system of provocations, that henceforth 
 I shall not reply to any summons, or to any species 
 of attack. I shall not reply to those who wish to make 
 me speak when I prefer to be silent. I shall remain 
 immovable against all attacks, impassible towards all 
 calumnies." 
 
 His resolution was put to the test on many an 
 occasion afterwards, for even rank cowards ventured 
 to insult him to his face, relying upon his assu- 
 rance that there would be no danger of their 
 being called to account for their dastardly conduct ; 
 but he sat unmoved amidst all the storms which 
 envy, hatred, and malice could raise about him, with 
 the serenity of a statue. All through his life, Louis 
 Napoleon has been remarkable for an impenetra- 
 bility of exterior, and an imperturbability of tempera- 
 ment seldom witnessed ; and much of his success in 
 life was owing to these gifts of nature. Had he been 
 anything of a fire-eater, he would never have become 
 an Emperor ; for when his enemies found they could 
 not put this obstacle to their ambition away privily, 
 nothing would have pleased them better than to have 
 had a shot or thrust at him openly, and there were 
 hundreds of bravoes who would have gladly risked 
 their lives in the attempt. 
 
 The deliberations as to the choice of President 
 lasted several days. The voice of Lamartine pre- 
 vailed, as it did in the matter of a single Chamber of 
 Legislature, and it was decided that the First Magis- 
 trate of the realm should be elected by universal 
 suffrage. 
 
 Lamartine was an ambitious man. and his splendid 
 
220 
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER. [1848. 
 
 orations, combined with his polished writings, had 
 gained him such a world-wide fame, that he relied 
 upon an appeal to an admiring public to procure him 
 the President's chair. Yet he hypocritically made a 
 great pretence that he did not seek so high an 
 honour, for in a letter to the editor of the Journal 
 des DebatSy he says : — 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I read in the Debats an article borrowed from 
 the Courier de la Gironde, and beg permission to 
 rectify it. I made the following answer to a corre- 
 spondent at Bordeaux : — ' I do not put myself for- 
 ward as a candidate for the Presidency. I pray to 
 God and my friends to keep me from a burden so 
 much beyond my strength. But if the country 
 should think proper to appoint me to the Magis- 
 tracy, I do not think I have any more right to refuse 
 it than I thought myself warranted, on February 24, 
 to refuse the designation of the people, and leave 
 Paris without a government. I do not believe that 
 I am in any degree threatened with such a danger, 
 and I only rectify the Courier de la Gironde in order 
 to avoid all misunderstanding. To solicit the Presi- 
 dency would be ridiculous, to desire it would be rash, 
 to refuse it would be wanting to the Republic and 
 the country. I am devoid of this ambition, but in- 
 capable of such an act of cowardice. 
 
 " Lamartine." 
 
 The. charming modesty of this effusion completely 
 evaporates when we recollect that this very man 
 afterwards said, that he regretted nothing more in 
 his life than that his coup de thedtre, with regard to 
 the proscription of Louis Napoleon, did not succeed, for 
 then his path to power would have been as smooth as 
 
i8 4 8.] 
 
 THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER, 
 
 221 
 
 ivory. This was said when he was entirely discarded 
 by the people, and, after having spent the colossal 
 fortune he had with his wife, an English banker's 
 daughter, as also another fortune which came to him 
 by way of legacy, he was a struggling author, writing 
 for bread, books which made his early readers weep 
 for the wreck of so great an intellect. The decline in 
 popular favour of this gifted man dated from the period 
 we are now at : he fell like Lucifer — never to hope 
 again, and died in obscurity about twenty years 
 afterwards. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 iSftSI I0t ^ °^ December, 1848, was the day 
 ra|Jp§3 fixed for the election of the new President 
 gjjgSBjl of the French Republic by the will of the 
 people. 
 
 General Cavaignac, the President elected by the 
 National Assembly during the June revolution, 
 offered himself for re-election by the nation. He 
 had every reason to look for success. A brilliant 
 soldier, who had won distinction in the field ; the son 
 of a republican, and a republican himself, in his ideas, 
 even while serving in Louis Philippe's army ; a ruler, 
 as proved by recent events, just the man for the 
 place, there could have been little question about 
 his claims to popular support His partisans made 
 strenuous efforts on his behalf, and the General issued 
 an address to the electors, setting forth his determina- 
 tion to keep in view the maintenance of social and 
 political order and the advancement of Republican 
 institutions. 
 
 MM. Ledru Rollin, Lamartine, Raspail (then in 
 prison), and General Changarnier, were the other 
 candidates beside Louis Napoleon. 
 
 The manifesto of the last named to the electors 
 ran as under : — 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1848.] 
 
 " ADVANCING." 
 
 PRINCIPLES PROFESSED BY LOUIS NAPOLEON. 
 
 The 10th December was fixed for the election of a new President, to be appointed 
 according to the will of the people. The most influential opponents of the candi- 
 dature of the Prince (as illustrated above by the satirist) were General Cavaignac, 
 Lamartine, and Ledru Rollin, — names which subsequent history has treated with 
 respect. 
 
 The friends of the Prince were most energetic in their canvass. Their great in- 
 fluence was with the peasantry, a body most easily dazzled with Napoleonic glitter. 
 This section has uniformly followed and confirmed the acts of Louis Napoleon both 
 as Prince President and Emperor, and by their number and their pliability have in 
 the specious scheme of universal suffrage utterly negatived the verdict of the edu- 
 cated section of the community. 
 
 The caricaturists understood and commented on this stronghold of the Prince. 
 
 One of the canvassers accosts a "clod" at his oxens' head. 
 
 "Here is your brevet as labourer to the Court. Of course you are for Napoleon?" 
 He presents a scroll (the address), which the ploughman cannot read. 
 
 " His vote is a certainty," remarks the canvasser, perfectly satisfied. 
 
 19 
 
x8 4 8.] 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 223 
 
 " To my Fellow- Citizens. 
 
 " In order to recall me from exile, you elected me 
 a representative of the people. On the eve of the 
 election of the Chief Magistrate of the Republic, 
 my name presents itself to you as a symbol of order 
 and security. These testimonies of a confidence so 
 honourable to me are due, I am aware, much more to 
 the name which I bear than to myself, who have as 
 yet done nothing for my country. But the more the 
 memory of the Emperor protects me and inspires 
 your suffrages, the more I feel myself called upon to 
 make known to you my sentiments and my principles. 
 There must be nothing equivocal between us. 
 
 " I am not an ambitious man, who dreams at one 
 time of the Empire and of war, and at another of 
 the application of subversive theories. Educated in 
 free countries and in the school of misfortune, I 
 shall always remain faithful to the duties which your 
 suffrages and the will of the Assembly may impose 
 upon me. If I am elected President, I shall not 
 shrink from any danger, from any sacrifice, to defend 
 society, which has been so audaciously attacked. I 
 shall devote myself wholly, without reserve, to the 
 confirming of a Republic which has shown itself wise 
 by its laws, honest in its intentions, great and power- 
 ful by its acts. I pledge my honour to leave to my 
 successor, at the end of four years, the executive 
 power strengthened, liberty intact, and real progress 
 accomplished. 
 
 " Whatever may be the result of the election, I 
 shall bow to the will of the people ; and I pledge, 
 beforehand, my co-operation with any strong and 
 honest Government which shall re-establish order in 
 principles as well as in things ; which shall efficiently 
 protect our religion, our families, and our properties, 
 
224 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 [i8 4 3. 
 
 the eternal bases of every social community ; which 
 shall' attempt all practical reforms, assuage animo- 
 sities, reconcile parties, and thus permit a country 
 rendered uneasy by circumstances to count upon the 
 morrow. 
 
 " To re-establish order is to restore confidence, to 
 repair by means of credit the temporary depreciation 
 of resources, to restore the finances, and to revive 
 commerce. 
 
 " To protect religion and the rights of families, is 
 to ensure the freedom of public worship and educa- 
 tion. 
 
 " To protect property is to maintain the inviola- 
 bility of the fruits of every man's labour ; it is 
 to guarantee the independence and security of 
 possession, the indispensable foundation of all civil 
 liberties. 
 
 " As to the reforms which are possible, the follow- 
 ing are those which appear to me most urgent : — 
 
 " To adopt all measures of economy which, without 
 occasioning disorder in the public service, will permit 
 of a reduction of those taxes which press most 
 heavily upon a people. 
 
 " To encourage enterprises which, while they de- 
 velop agricultural wealth, may, both in France and 
 Algeria, give work to hands at present unoccupied. 
 
 " To provide for the relief of labourers in their old 
 age, by means of provident institutions. 
 
 " To introduce into our industrial laws ameliora- 
 tions which may tend, not to ruin the rich for the 
 gain of the poor, but to establish the well-being of 
 each upon the prosperity of all. 
 
 " To restrict within just limits the number of 
 employments which shall depend on the Government, 
 and which often convert a free people into a nation 
 of beggars. 
 
x8 4 8.] 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 225 
 
 " To avoid that deplorable tendency which leads 
 the State to do that which individuals may do as 
 well — and better — for themselves. The centralization 
 of interests and of enterprises is in the nature of 
 despotism. The nature of the Republic rejects mono- 
 polies. 
 
 " Finally, to protect the liberty of the press from 
 the two excesses which always endanger it — that of 
 arbitrary authority on the one hand, and its own 
 licentiousness on the other. 
 
 " With war we can have no relief to our ills. 
 Peace, then, would be the dearest object of my desire. 
 France at the time of her first revolution was warlike, 
 because others forced her to be so. Threatened with 
 invasion, she replied by conquest. Now she is not 
 threatened. She is free to concentrate all her resources 
 to pacific measures of amelioration, without abandon- 
 ing a loyal and a resolute policy. A great nation 
 ought to be silent, or never speak in vain. 
 
 " To have regard for the national dignity is to have 
 regard for the army, whose patriotism, so noble and 
 disinterested, has been frequently neglected. We 
 ought, while we maintain the fundamental laws, which 
 are the strength of our military organization, to alle- 
 viate, and not to aggravate, the burden of the con- 
 scription. We ought to take care of the present and 
 future interests, not only of the officers, but likewise 
 of the non-commissioned officers and privates, and 
 prepare a means of subsistence for men who have 
 long served under our colours. 
 
 " The Republic ought to be generous, and have 
 faith in its future prospects. And for my part, I, who 
 have suffered exile and captivity, appeal, with all my 
 warmest aspirations, to that day when the country 
 may, without danger, put a stop to all proscriptions, 
 and efface the last traces of our civil discord. 
 
 p 
 
226 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 [1848. 
 
 " Such, my dear fellow-citizens, are the ideas which 
 I should bring to bear upon the functions of Govern- 
 ment if you were to call me to the Presidency of the 
 Republic. The task is a difficult one — the mission 
 immense. I know it ; but I shall not despair of ac- 
 complishing it, inviting to my aid, without distinction 
 of party, all men who, by their high intelligence or 
 their probity, have recommended themselves to public 
 esteem. Besides, when a man has the honour to be 
 at the head of the French nation, there is an infallible 
 way to succeed, and that is the desire to do so." 
 
 The above address was issued to the people about a 
 fortnight before the election, which interval was made 
 the most of by the partisans of the several candidates. 
 The one most confident of success, up till now, had 
 been General Cavaignac, but from certain indications 
 he could not but observe — after Louis Napoleon's 
 sentiments began to permeate the people, causing 
 his name to be universally mentioned, as if he were 
 the long-expected political Messiah who should come 
 to regenerate France — the General's hopes began to 
 waver, and he began to entertain feelings towards his 
 formidable rival such as only jealousy can inspire and 
 its blindness excuse. But with all his rancour and 
 enmity, he was too brave a soldier, and too much of 
 a gentleman, to resort to the underhanded and un- 
 manly devices of some of Louis Napoleon's rivals, to 
 degrade him in the eyes of the people. 
 
 The press was of course the chief instrument of 
 warfare between the contending parties. Suborned 
 by the Government, the majority of the journals 
 made a plump for General Cavaignac, and in fact 
 advocated his cause with such bursts of enthusiasm, 
 that stains of "palm oil" could be perceptibly traced 
 on their broad sheets. The result of their efforts, 
 however, showed that there is as much evil done, 
 
i8 4 8.] 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 227 
 
 both personally and to a cause, by too much zeal, as 
 by the want of it ; for the shopkeeper who puffs his 
 wares the most, is not unreasonably suspected of 
 selling the worst article. That the General's sup- 
 porters did not muster in any stronger force at the 
 call of the fourth estate was discouragingly evident 
 from day to day. As for the other candidates, save 
 
 \ Louis Napoleon, their chances looked hopeless from 
 
 . the very start. 
 
 At the same time that General Cavaignac was the 
 beau ideal of a President, according to the veracious 
 authorities who embellished newspaper columns, 
 Louis Napoleon necessarily was the very reverse. 
 Contributors of a lively turn of mind were immode- 
 rately funny about the man with a name so much 
 bigger than himself ; wishing to know, by way of 
 parenthesis, whether the " eagle " was alive and well, 
 and if so, what that sagacious bird said to its 
 master's new projects? Pages of journals usually 
 staid and sententious, burst all over into wrinkles of 
 type-laughter at the bare notion of the madman of 
 Strasburg, and the Quixote of Boulogne, being 
 •allowed to rule the destinies of a nation. Ingenious 
 artists, catching the risible itch, soon produced thou- 
 sands of caricatures, more or less like their original, 
 representing a man always with a very long nose 
 and a very large moustache, in a variety of prepos- 
 terous situations, invariably expressing by his atti- 
 tude and sentiments something absurd, immoral, or 
 iniquitous. From that day to this, it can safely be 
 said, that no man has been in this kind of way more 
 before the world than Louis Napoleon. It was 
 stated at the time, on good authority, that most of 
 the valuable contributions to fine art aforesaid were 
 issued from a public department popularly imagined 
 to be steeped in important business. 
 
 P 2 
 
228 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. [1848. 
 
 Professional liars were likewise engaged to go 
 about the country and circulate such specious 
 reports as would, in their honest judgment, best find 
 acceptance in the districts they traversed. In the 
 north, especially, the peasants were assured, upon 
 honour, no doubt, that Prince Louis Napoleon had 
 gone mad ; to pot-politicians was imparted the secret 
 that Prince Louis Napoleon had a strong tendency 
 towards Russia, a country not then in much favour 
 with the French people. These perversions of fact 
 prevailed of course, as long as they could, against the 
 spread of truth. 
 
 Opposing influences need scarcely have been 
 brought to bear on the other side, as far as the 
 result of the elections appeared to be concerned, 
 but they were. One of the stoutest champions of 
 the Prince's cause was M. Odillon Barrot, his old 
 friend, that told Louis Philippe he was wanting in 
 humanity towards the prisoner of Ham, in not allow- 
 ing him unconditionally to go and see his dying 
 father. M. Barrot drew public attention to the fact 
 that exile and captivity had drawn the Prince to 
 study, in which he had discovered much that could 
 be successfully carried out for the welfare of the 
 nation ; that he bore a name which France univer- 
 sally was attached to, though he did not use that as 
 a title to suffrages, but as a guarantee, not only that 
 he would not dishonour it, but of good government, 
 that he was totally free from connection with any 
 party, and open to serve faithfully the people un- 
 divided. " In fine," said M. Barrot, " in my most pro- 
 found conviction, the Presidency of Louis Napoleon 
 will be the most sure defence of our Republican society, 
 not only against the attacks of demagogism, but still 
 more against retrograde and monarchial tendencies." 
 
 A rejoinder quickly made its appearance in the 
 
iS 4 S.] 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 229 
 
 columns of the National, showing the Prince, in 
 another and a novel light, unworthy of the suffrages 
 of the people, namely, in that he presumed to be too 
 much like his uncle! u If M. Louis Napoleon," says 
 the National, " appears as little as possible, and 
 never speaks in public, knowing well that he should 
 gain nothing by being known, on the other hand, in 
 the little circle of his friends, he thinks it necessary 
 to give himself Napoleon manners. When he 
 appears, he has himself preceded by a Chasseur in 
 grand livery, who announces his entry by the solemn 
 words, ' The Prince ! ' At once the ladies rise, and 
 form a line from the door to the chimney. The 
 Prince, one hand behind his back, and the other in 
 his waistcoat, in imitation of his uncle, advances, 
 distributing smiles and salutations to the Court— 
 touching preludes to the grave functions of Presi- 
 dency of the Republic, and which show how strongly 
 the candidate of the Presse is penetrated with the 
 spirit of the age and with the customs of this 
 country." The omnipotency of palm-oil! Alas! 
 if the press of this country were in any measure the 
 venial sycophant of Power, as that of France, what 
 an absurdity would be the vaunt that it is the fourth 
 estate of the realm ! In that it is but the expression 
 of the people's mind, and the outburst of the nation's 
 heart, consists its majesty, and that electric influence 
 by which it guides events. 
 
 Such was the prelude ushering in the opening day 
 of the elections, the 10th December, 1848. 
 
 Proceedings connected with the polling for candi- 
 dates commenced dully. From outer indications it 
 could not be supposed that so important an event 
 was taking place as the choosing by the people of the 
 supreme ruler of the country. A few men were to 
 be seen at the doors of the Mairics, with the cards of 
 the candidates in their hand, but no stir, no enthusiasm 
 
2 3 o THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. [1848 
 
 was manifest. By the way, it may be mentioned, 
 that a report had for some days been current amongst 
 the supporters of Louis Napoleon, that among other 
 expedients which would be resorted to by his op- 
 ponents for endeavouring to obtain his defeat, would 
 be a distribution of voting cards, which, by the means 
 of a chemical preparation applied to the paper, 
 would, when dropped into the ballot-box, change the 
 inscription of "Louis Napoleon Buonaparte/' into 
 " General Eugene Cavaignac ! " So magical a pro- 
 cess being possible was by no means doubted by 
 the voters, for they knew how clever were French 
 chemists ; consequently, the ground about the polling 
 places was literally strewn with fragments of cards 
 gratuitously distributed, these being torn up and 
 thrown away with a gesture of impatience. 
 
 Animation was aroused as the time wore on ; and on 
 the evening of the first day, innumerable groups of 
 men were seen on the Boulevards, but with the 
 exception of their raising a cry against the Gardes 
 Mobiles, who occupied the military post at the Con- 
 servatoire des Arts et Metiers, and now and then 
 shouting "Vive Napoleon !" they were comparatively 
 orderly ; while strong patrols of Gardiens de Paris, 
 preceded by peace officers, were continually moving 
 about and dispersing the people, who submitted good- 
 humouredly. One of the Prince's most demonstrative 
 partisans on this occasion was a little old woman, 
 with a little yellow face like a squeezed lemon, who was 
 three sheets in the wind, and whose enthusiasm there- 
 from being at the highest possible pitch, found vent 
 in shrill shrieks of "Vive Napoleon!" and "A bas 
 Cavaignac!" to the infinite delight of the gamins, 
 who followed her about as she staggered along, loudly 
 cheering her patriotic sentiments. Much in the same 
 way passed away the few days preceding the closing 
 of the poll. 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1848.] 
 
 THE PRESIDENCY. 
 
 THE REPUBLIC OCCUPIED IN SELECTING HER "HEADPIECE." 
 The artist presents her in classic guise, fair and ingenuous. She is choosing be- 
 tween three caps for the edifice. Her back is turned on the military casque of General 
 Cavaignac, and the civilian castor of the poet Lamartine (symbolized by the lyre) is 
 already rejected. She coquets with the Napoleonic presentment, and is thus sug- 
 gestively advised: — "Believe me, madame, the little cocked hat does not become 
 you. Do not listen to those who would impose their Empire on you. : ' 
 
 [10th December, 1848.] 
 LOUIS NAPOLEON ELECTED AS PRINCE PRESIDENT. 
 He takes a solemn oath of fidelity to the Republic. 
 
 " I am not an ambitious man, who dreams now of empire and of war, now of the 
 application of subversive theories. I will make it a point of honour to leave to my 
 successor, at the end of three years, power consolidated, liberty untouched, and real 
 progress accomplished. I, who have myself been familiar with exile and captivity, 
 anxiously desire to see the day when a magnanimous pardon may, without danger, 
 put an end to all proscriptions." — Louis Napoleoji's Address, 27th Nov., 1848. 
 
 20 
 
1848.3 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 23]. 
 
 The while that Paris was so unexpectedly tran- 
 quil, the country elections were carried on amidst 
 scenes of noise and frenzy. The name of Napoleon 
 naturally awoke in the minds of the peasants re- 
 collections of those glorious times, when victory after 
 victory, won by their forefathers, inspired their young 
 breasts with military ardour, and made them long for 
 the conscript's uniform, as a preliminary decoration 
 to the Marshal's baton. No other name would go 
 down with them now, and voters were rallied to the 
 cry of "Vive Napoleon !" and were the Prince's adhe- 
 rents to a man. The mouth of the enemy attributed 
 all this enthusiasm to a rumour having been widely 
 circulated, by Louis Napoleon's emissaries, amongst 
 the ignorant and superstitious clodhoppers, that it 
 was their old Emperor, returned from exile, who 
 claimed their suffrages ; while such as had heard of 
 his death were gulled into the belief that he only 
 shammed death, and that he really was alive when 
 they brought him away from St. Helena in a coffin. 
 
 In ten days, namely, on the 20th of December, 
 the result of the poll was made known. The elec- 
 toral contest had been like the famous race, in which 
 " Eclipse " was first, and the rest nowhere. Louis 
 Napoleon had been returned with a majority of 
 nearly 4,000,000 votes over his nearest opponent, 
 who was, of course, General Cavaignac. Thus stood 
 the list of suffrages : — 
 
 Louis Napoleon 5,434,226 
 
 General Cavaignac 1,448,107 
 
 M. Ledru Rollin 370,119 
 
 M. Raspail 36,900 
 
 M. Lamartine 17,910 
 
 General Changarnier .... 4>790 
 
 Votes lost . . 12,600 
 
s 3 2 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. [1848. 
 
 The proclamation of the President took place some 
 days earlier than the time originally fixed, on ac- 
 count of reports reaching the Government that an 
 immense popular demonstration was being organized, 
 and that Louis Napoleon's installation would be re- 
 ceived with shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" The 
 Prince, being equally anxious to avoid disturbances, 
 gladly acquiesced in the anticipation when proposed. 
 
 The Palace of the National Assembly was com- 
 pletely invested by soldiers some hours before the 
 doors were open. At three o'clock, M. Marast took 
 the chair. The House was full of members, and the 
 public galleries were crowded. 
 
 M. Rousseau, the Chairman of the Committee of 
 the Elections, entered the tribune, and said that the 
 Assembly, being itself elected by universal suffrage, 
 had wished the President of the Republic should be 
 chosen in the same way. The people had responded 
 to the appeal, and nothing could exceed the dignity 
 manifested by them. All Europe would admire that 
 grand and magnificent spectacle, as well as the calm- 
 ness and freedom which had characterized the pro- 
 ceedings. No less than 7,349,000 citizens had 
 deposited their votes in the electoral urns. The 
 elect belonged to no party. There was no victory, 
 no defeat, no conquerers, no vanquished. After so 
 calm and patriotic a manifestation, no man could 
 presume to substitute the will of a few for the will of 
 all. 
 
 Here M. Rousseau presented the list of votes for 
 the various candidates given above, and paying a 
 high tribute to General Cavaignac, which was cheered 
 by the loud acclamations of the entire Assembly, he 
 concluded by calling upon the House to proclaim the 
 President, exclaiming, " Have confidence : God pro- 
 tects France !" 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1848— 1849.] 
 
 THE PRINCE PRESIDENT. 
 
 THIS IS YOUNG FRANCE'S NEW TOY, 
 
 from the pencil of an English caricaturist, who cleverly sums up the situation. The 
 popularity of the Prince was then considerable, for, as delineated in the sketch, he 
 was ready at that moment to jump whichever way France should please to pull the 
 string I 
 
 Louis Napoleon has now exchanged the poverty of his early appearance in 1848 
 for the power of a Prince President, whose will soon became absolute. The bird 
 who roused him from his former doubtful position, now takes a conspicuous place 
 in the state arrangements. The eagle again becomes an ensign of approaching 
 Imperialism. 
 
 21 
 
1848.] 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 233 
 
 General Cavaignac then rose and said, " I have 
 the honour of informing the National Assembly that 
 the Members of the Cabinet have just sent me their 
 collective resignation, and I now come forward to 
 surrender the powers with which it had invested me. 
 You will understand, better than I can express, the 
 sentiments of gratitude which the recollection of 
 the confidence placed in me by the Assembly, and 
 of its kindness for me, will leave in my heart." 
 
 The House rose en masse, and cried "Vive la 
 Republique !" 
 
 When order had been restored, the President of 
 the Chamber pronounced the following proclama- 
 tion : — 
 
 " In the name of the French people. 
 
 " Whereas Citizen Charles Louis Napoleon Buona- 
 parte, born in Paris, possesses all the qualifications of 
 eligibility required by the 44th Article of the Con- 
 stitution : Whereas the ballot gave him the absolute 
 majority of suffrages for the Presidency : By virtue 
 of the powers conferred on the Assembly by the 
 47th and 48th Articles of the Constitution, I pro- 
 claim him President of the French Republic from 
 this day, until the second Sunday of May, 1852, and 
 I now invite him to ascend the tribune and take the 
 oath required by the Constitution." 
 
 The Prince, who was dressed in black, decorated 
 with a crachat, set in diamonds, on his left breast, and 
 wore the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour 
 under his coat, advanced to the tribune and took the 
 oath of fidelity to the Constitution administered to 
 him by the President. He then addressed the 
 Assembly : — 
 
 " Citizen Representatives, — 
 
 " The suffrages of the nation, and the oath which 
 
234 THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. [1848. 
 
 I have taken, command my future conduct. My 
 duty is marked out, I shall fulfil it as a man of 
 honour. I shall look upon those as enemies to the 
 country who attempt to change, by illegal means, 
 what entire France has established. Between you 
 and me, fellow-citizens, no real difference can exist. 
 Our wishes, our desires, are the same. I wish, like 
 you, to re-establish society upon its foundations, to 
 establish democratic institutions, and to search out 
 all the means of relieving the sufferings of the gene- 
 rous and intelligent people who have given me so 
 conspicuous a proof of their confidence. 
 
 "The majority which I have obtained not only 
 fills me with gratitude, but it will give to the new 
 Government a moral force, without which there can 
 be no authority. With peace and order, our country 
 can rise, heal her wounds, bring back her scattered 
 children, and calm her passions. 
 
 " Animated by this spirit of conciliation, I have 
 called around me men of honesty, capable and 
 devoted to the country, assured that in spite of the 
 diversity of their original politics, they will, with one 
 accord, unite with you in the application of the con- 
 stitution to the perfecting of the laws and the glory 
 of the Republic. 
 
 " The new administration, in entering upon busi- 
 ness, must thank its predecessor for the efforts which 
 it has made to transmit the power intact, and to 
 maintain public tranquillity. The conduct of the 
 Honourable General Cavaignac has been worthy of 
 the loyalty of his character, and of that sentiment of 
 duty which is the first qualification of the head of 
 the State. 
 
 " We have, Citizen Representatives, a great mission 
 to fulfil. It is to found a Republic for the interests 
 of all, and a Government just, firm, and animated 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1849— 1850.] 
 
 THE PRINCE PRESIDEN T — (coil till tied. ) 
 
 The wedge is now firmly inserted ! The Prince President does not conceal his 
 hand so cautiously ; indeed, the moment to display his cards approaches ! 
 
 A Republic has been declared at Rome, and the French national cock, "La 
 Gloire," is sent off to dispose of it, as skilfully represented in the above cartoon 
 from the pencil of a powerful English satirist. 
 
 The Prince President is tripped up by the stump of the tree of Liberty, felled by 
 his order. He cries : " What, not a single friend to bid me ' Beware ' ! " 
 
 This gives the earliest French indication of distrust in the sincerity of the Prince 
 President, aroused by the Roman affair. His strength and power of keeping on 
 his legs was under-estimated, as the Charivari caricatures exemplify. 
 
 22 
 
THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 23S 
 
 with a sincere love of progress, without being either 
 reactionary or Utopian. Let us be men of the 
 country, not men of a party, and, with the assistance 
 of God, we shall at least accomplish useful, if we 
 cannot succeed in achieving great things." 
 
 Again arose from the entire Assembly the cry of 
 "Vive la Republique !" 
 
 The newly elected President then descending from 
 the tribune, made his way to where General Cavaignac 
 was seated, and offering him his hand, it was cordially 
 shaken by the brave soldier, who was above resent- 
 ment to the man who had beaten him in a fair fight. 
 M. Odillon Barrot, with Louis Napoleon's friends, 
 then advanced to offer him congratulations, and 
 shortly afterwards the whole party left the Hall 
 together. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. 
 
 HE new President had as much to do as 
 have other new magnates, from a new 
 premier to a new schoolmaster, in estab- 
 lishing his authority. He had considerably more to 
 do than some. Many of his subordinates had been 
 his rivals, not a few were his sworn enemies, who 
 would neither acknowledge his capacity for, nor his 
 right to, the position the nation had placed him in. 
 
 The new President's coat was soon full of holes 
 picked out by his numerous foes. A civil war com- 
 menced in the Assembly. Discontent manifested 
 itself even amongst Louis Napoleon's party, as if it 
 were an itch, and Prince Napoleon, his own cousin, 
 gave vent to sentiments injurious to his relative, as 
 he has done on some occasions since. He received 
 the following letter of reproof : — 
 
 " Ely see National, April 10, 1849. 
 " My dear Cousin, 
 
 " It is said that, on your way through Bor- 
 deaux, you made use of words capable of sowing 
 dissension even among the best-intentioned. You 
 are reported to have said that I did not follow my 
 own inspirations, because I was ruled by the leaders 
 
1849-] 
 
 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. 
 
 237 
 
 of the reactionary movement ; that I was impatient 
 of the yoke, and wanted to shake it off ; and that, in 
 order to assist me at the approaching elections, it 
 was necessary to send to the Chamber men hostile 
 to my Government rather than those belonging to 
 the moderate party. 
 
 " Such an imputation, coming from you, cannot 
 but surprise me. You should know me well enough 
 to be aware that I never brook the ascendancy of any 
 one, and that I struggle incessantly to govern for the 
 interests of the people, not for the interests of a 
 party. I honour those men who by their capacity 
 and experience can give me good counsels, but if I 
 receive daily the most contradictory advice, I obey 
 nothing but the impulses of my own head and heart. 
 
 " Censure of my political conduct was least of all 
 to be expected from you, who found fault with my 
 manifesto because it had received the entire sanction 
 of the chiefs of the moderate party. This manifesto, 
 from which I have not deviated, still continues to be 
 the conscientious expression of my sentiments. 
 
 " My first duty was to reassure the country. Well, 
 confidence has been increasing during the last four 
 months. Every day has its own task. Security first, 
 reform afterwards. 
 
 " The approaching elections, I entertain no doubt, 
 by strengthening the Republic in order and modera- 
 tion, will hasten the period of all possible reforms. 
 To bring all the old parties together, to reconcile 
 them, to unite them, should be the constant object of 
 our exertions. Such is the mission attached to the 
 great name I bear, and it would prove a failure if it 
 served to divide, and not to rally, the supporters of 
 the Government. 
 
 " Henceforward then, I hope, my dear cousin, you 
 will use every exertion to enlighten the people 
 
238 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. [1849. 
 
 regarding my real intentions, and to avoid furnishing 
 grounds, by inconsiderate expressions, for absurd 
 calumnies, which go so far as to assert that sordid 
 self-interest alone rules my conduct. Nothing, repeat 
 it aloud, shall trouble the serenity of my judgment, 
 or shake the strength of my resolution. 
 
 " Free from every moral constraint, I shall advance 
 in the path of honour, with my conscience for my 
 guide, and when I shall retire from power, if I may 
 be reproached for faults fatally inevitable, I shall 
 at least have performed what I sincerely consider my 
 duty. 
 
 " Receive, my dear Cousin, the assurance of my 
 friendship. 
 
 "Louis Napoleon Buonaparte." 
 
 The growling and snarling of that political pack 
 increased day by day, but their intended victim stood 
 inaccessibly at bay. Say what they would, do what 
 they would, his immobility was as fixed as fate. The 
 missiles of insult, invective, and injustice incessantly 
 hurled at him, stuck, as it were, in a mud wall — never 
 .rebounded. Yet his silence was not submission, but 
 a haughty contempt, a lofty indifference. 
 
 The very first measure of the President was of 
 course the appointment of a new Ministry. It 
 consisted of the following members : — 
 
 M. Odillon Barrot, President of the Council ; 
 M. Drouhyn de Lhuys, Minister of Foreign Affairs ; 
 M. Leon de Maleville, of the Interior ; General 
 Rulhieres, of War ; M. de Tracy, of the Marine ; 
 M. de Talloux, of Public Worship and Instruction ; 
 M. Bixis, of Agriculture and Commerce ; M. Hip- 
 polyte Passy, of Finance. 
 
 The finances of the country, when the President 
 entered office, were in the most deplorable condition 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1850.] 
 
 the prince president — (continued.) 
 
 "Charivari," i^th Feb., 1850. 
 
 L'Invalide. — "Ah ! and is that my Emperor? Those rascals of English, 
 how they have changed him ! " 
 
 This is founded on a curious belief among many of the old soldiers that their Em- 
 peror could not be dead ; and on the appearance of Louis Napoleon in Paris, they 
 fully believed that they were again to meet the national idol. 
 
 The caricaturist here affords us a good representation of the Prince President's 
 general characteristics and habits at this period. " Mufti " is worn after the English 
 fashion, in preference to uniform, usual among the French. The style of dress and 
 the appearance of the "turn-out" is British: the Prince evidently impressed the 
 Parisians as an inaugurator of London customs. 
 
 His companion, whose face, frequently recurring in French caricatures, is not un- 
 sug^estive of the Prince's, is probably the Duke de Morny, already alluded to as 
 a reputed near connection of the President. 
 
 23 
 
A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. 
 
 239 
 
 imaginable, and in fact the poverty of the resources 
 of the Republic was the original cause of all its late 
 troubles. The receipts for the year had amounted to 
 1,383,000,000 francs, and the expenditure had ex- 
 ceeded that sum by 419,000,000 francs. To meet 
 this deficit, no less than 103,790,000 francs had been 
 borrowed from the sinking fund, 250,000,000 francs 
 from other sources, and there was a floating debt of 
 150,000,000 francs from the Bank of France. The 
 removal of such a crushing burden from the country 
 was a task worthy of the most unblushing tax- 
 monger. 
 
 The Pope was his next care. That anomalous 
 sovereign, who professed to be invested with two 
 powers totally irreconcilable with each other, the 
 one of this world and the other of the next, had 
 fled from the Vatican on the invasion of Rome by 
 Italian patriots, and taken refuge at Gaeta. When 
 General Cavaignac was President, he had sent 
 three steam-frigates with soldiers for the succour of 
 the Pontiff, but their aid was unavailing. Austria 
 was again arming to crush the Papal insurgents ; but 
 Louis Napoleon and his Ministers considered it 
 would be better to have French influence at Rome 
 than Austrian, and sent a detachment of the Army of 
 the Alps, numbering 6,000 men, under the command 
 of General Oudinot, to Civita Vecchia. This force 
 too proved quite inadequate for the fulfilment of its 
 mission, for after a severe battle with the Italian 
 troops it was completely routed. Much gratification 
 was afforded by the defeat to the enemies of the 
 President, who, however, nothing daunted, wrote a 
 letter of sympathy to General Oudinot, with a 
 promise of a reinforcement, so that the honour and 
 dignity of France might be vindicated. The promise 
 was made good in the course of a few weeks by the 
 
240 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. [1849. 
 
 arrival at Palo, to which place General Oudinot had 
 retreated, of eight regiments of infantry, one of 
 cavalry, and a train of siege artillery. Spain offered 
 6,000 men to assist the French troops, but the offer 
 was declined. 
 
 The two foremost men of the Roman Republic 
 were Mazzini and Garibaldi. The master of politi- 
 cal plots was Dictator, and the lion-faced hero of 
 modern Italy Generalissimo of the insurgent army. 
 These, before the second French army marched upon 
 Rome, were waited upon by M. Lefrege, a diplomatic 
 agent from Louis Napoleon, asking them whether they 
 would not make a bloodless surrender of the city, for 
 that they could not resist Austria if France withdrew, 
 in which case they would fare worse. Their answer, 
 as might be imagined, was a defiant negative. 
 
 The army of General Oudinot was then further 
 reinforced, and early in June 28,000 French troops 
 marched upon Rome. Of the Italian insurgents, 
 there were 20,000 men within the walls of Rome, 
 which had been greatly strengthened, the ramparts 
 being heavily mounted with cannon. It took, conse- 
 quently, a whole month to effect a breach for the 
 entry of the invaders into the city, but this was 
 successfully accomplished on the 2nd of July, 1848, 
 and Rome once more declared to be under the 
 sovereignty of the Pope. Mazzini and his associates 
 fled at midnight, leaving behind them a proclamation 
 on the walls, of which blood and blasphemy were the 
 component parts. From that day till recently, the 
 throne of the Pope rested upon French bayonets. 
 
 Whatever might have been Louis Napoleon's 
 reasons for such a policy, it certainly was a won- 
 derful contrast to his act of eighteen years before, 
 when he was one of the most prominent leaders of 
 a movement exactly similar to that which he here 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1850.] 
 
 THE prince president — (continued.) 
 
 " Charivari," rgth June, 1850. 
 
 A HEAVY BILL OF FARE. 
 The Prince President. — "But that is more than I can digest." 
 His Ministers. — -"Don't be afraid ; you will find that eating brings an appetite." 
 
 M. Thiers is uncorking a bottle of white wine (an allusion to his Orleans procli- 
 vities), and M. Ch. Veron brings in his plat of a ten years' Presidency, Louis Napo- 
 leon having been elected for three years; Count Montholon — it is believed — is 
 bringing in the loaf ( loi de Vinstruction ). A representative of the Bourbon type 
 presents a tongue — suggestive of the operation of" the Prince President eating his 
 own words. 
 
 Space prevents our enlarging on the subject of the President's changes of Cabinet 
 (he tried some ninety individuals in all, ten members generally constituting a Min- 
 istry). The caricaturists satirized the difficulties the Prince encountered in obtain- 
 ing men sufficiently subservient to his will, which became more absolute as oppor- 
 tunity occurred. In one cartoon the Prince is rushing in quest of Ministers, official 
 portfolio in hand ; but statesmen take flight and escape from such ungrateful service 
 in all directions, with one exception. M. Thiers is satirically introduced lying down, 
 full in the path of the searcher (ready to upset him, it is very possible!), but the 
 Prince does not seem to distinguish this opportune succour. 
 
 24 
 
I849-] 
 
 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. 
 
 24 r 
 
 crushed. History exhibits some most extraordinary 
 examples of political inconsistencies, and this is one. 
 
 That France, who then vaunted herself so much 
 on her Republicanism, should, moreover, have sanc- 
 tioned the step, is inexplicable. As a matter of 
 course, agitators sprang up in all directions, calling 
 the President and the Assembly to account for such 
 an unconstitutional proceeding. They were accused 
 of a breach of trust, for in the Preamble to the 
 Constitution it was declared, "that the Republic 
 respects all foreign nationalities, in the same manner 
 as she expects her own to be respected. She under- 
 takes no war with the idea of personal aggrandize- 
 ment, and will never employ her strength against the 
 liberty of any nation." 
 
 The Socialists and others presented, through 
 M. Ledru Rollin, an act of accusation against the 
 President and his Ministry. This, of course, the 
 Assembly could not receive, for it had itself aided 
 and abetted in what was done. Nor could those 
 who laid it before the Assembly have had the least 
 hope of its being heard ; and, indeed, it was per- 
 fectly apparent that the proceeding had but one 
 object, and that was to base a revolution on the 
 refusal of the Chamber to stultify itself by con- 
 demning its own actions. 
 
 The act of accusation was presented on the ioth 
 of June, a week after General Oudinot's army was 
 encamped round Rome. Louis Napoleon took the 
 hint. He knew what M. Ledru Rollin and his asso- 
 ciates meant by their movement, and lost no time in 
 checkmating them. That was done very quietly, but 
 most effectually. 
 
 General Changarnier was then the Commander-in- 
 Chief of the army, and in this brave, resolute officer 
 the President found an able ally. Putting their heads 
 
 Q 
 
242 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. [1849. 
 
 together, they arranged plans by which those who 
 should attempt to resist the authority of the country 
 would find that it was no longer within their power 
 to do so — that the day was gone by when a handful 
 of ferocious savages of the city, behind a barricade, 
 could keep in check a regiment of drilled and armed 
 soldiers. 
 
 Two days passed quietly over the city. The 
 mischief was brewing, but nobody could see any 
 outward sign of it. The soldiers were ready, too, 
 but lay in ambush for the coming insurgents, whose 
 plans were all known to the President and General 
 Changarnier. On the third day, the first speck of 
 the boding storm could be discovered. 
 
 Early in the morning of the 13th of June, Paris 
 had an intuitive knowledge of what was about to 
 take place. The usual groups were about, going 
 through the usual formula for the commencement of 
 an insurrection. Some fifteen thousand men assembled 
 before the Chateau d'Eu, not a few of whom were 
 National Guards in uniform, but without arms. They 
 were headed by an officer of the National Guards, 
 named Arago. They formed themselves into a body, 
 but scarcely had they done so, when they were charged 
 by the troops, who came upon them unexpectedly. 
 
 The fifteen thousand bravoes were soon reduced 
 to fifteen thousand sheep, flying helter-skelter in all 
 directions. In their retreat, they attempted to erect 
 barricades, but these were swept away before they 
 had reached a foot high, by the soldiers, who scoured 
 every locality, and who were assisted in the clearance 
 of the obstacles by the householders and shopkeepers 
 of the neighbourhood. 
 
 The panic-stricken mob, meeting at various avenues, 
 inundated the Boulevards, where a large crowd was 
 already assembled. The military element was here 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1850.] 
 
 THE PRINCE PRESIDENT — {continued.) 
 
 " Charivari," 4th Sept. '50. 
 "The Fiddler" {addressing La France). — "It is you, my good woman, who always 
 
 pay ! " 
 
 " Le joueur de Violon," a French synonym with our English version of "paying the piper." 
 
 In this cartoon we find the Prince President still courting popularity. Public 
 balls were among his earliest baits to secure friendly votes. We further obtain a 
 glimpse of the Napoleonic gallantries, so renowned and diversified. The sacrifices 
 made by Louis Napoleon on the altar of "tender intrigue" have already engaged 
 the attention of many writers and journalists. Each crisis of this changeful life has 
 produced an instance of female devotion, or of his devotion to a female. Mdlle. 
 Gordon was captured after Strasbourg; in America the Prince sustained the role of 
 Don Juan ; on his first visit to London he availed himself of every opportunity for 
 this indulgence ; Mdlle. Gordon was again traced at the Boulogne failure, and cer- 
 tain ladies of position in that town were accused of corresponding with Louis Napo- 
 leon, but these complicities were proved to be strictly affairs of the heart, without 
 political reference or danger to the existing Government. Marguerite Berjoux, it is 
 recorded, was favoured with the particular attentions of the Prince during his incar- 
 ceration at Ham : she was the daughter of an inhabitant of that town. A crowd 
 of amourettes of every shade occupied the Prince until the Republic ; then Miss 
 Howard reigned in the ascendant, and the cost of her supremacy at the Elyse'e is 
 now revealed by the papers found in the Tuileries, and recently circulated in the 
 papers. The costs of the Coup d'Etat are there shown. Mdlle. The'i ic, and other 
 daughters of Melpomene, also shared the President's interest. The papers already 
 referred to produce indisputable evidence of more recent egarements. 
 
 26 
 
I849-] 
 
 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. 
 
 243 
 
 also in resistless force, and the soldiers soon had the 
 Boulevards all to themselves. 
 
 In the afternoon the Commander-in-Chief, at the 
 head of a numerous staff and escort, rode along the 
 immense line of troops, and was well received both 
 by the soldiers and the respectable classes of the 
 people. He harangued both the soldiers and the 
 people, and his exhortations for the preservation 
 of order were received with loud acclamations. 
 To show the rebels that he was not to be played 
 with, he gave an immediate order for the troops to 
 load, and every man bearing a fire-arm was imme- 
 diately in a position to make the best use of it. In 
 the meantime, a shot or two had been fired by some 
 miscreants at the skirts of the crowd, but they did 
 no particular harm, and were taken no notice of by 
 the troops. 
 
 Paris was declared in a state of siege. The shops 
 were all closed. The first-floors of the houses, in 
 all the neighbourhoods where danger was most 
 apprehended, were the billets of soldiers, while a 
 proclamation was issued, stating that no mercy would 
 be shown to those attempting to erect barricades ; in 
 fact, not a stone was left unturned in preparing to 
 meet the worst evils that might ensue. 
 
 The insurgents were awed. Their leaders were 
 quickly put under arrest, but some of them managed 
 to make their escape. Amongst these was their 
 chief, M. Ledru Rollin, who, by dint of much 
 squeezing, succeeded in forcing his ponderous frame 
 through a back window when the soldiers were in front 
 of the house he was in, terrifying him with shouts of 
 " Vive la President !" " A bas Ledru Rollin !" 
 
 At five o'clock in the evening, the President, at- 
 tended by a brilliant staff, rode along the Boulevards, 
 proceeding to the Place de la Bastille, and from thence 
 
 Q 2 
 
244 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. [1849. 
 
 to the Faubourg St. Antoine, returning to the Elysee 
 by the Rue de Rivoli. This was a triumphal pro- 
 cession, and everywhere the President met with the 
 most enthusiastic reception. 
 
 General Changarnier was at the head of the 
 President's staff; and the gratitude of the well- 
 disposed portion of the people to him, for having 
 saved them from the horrors of a revolution, passed 
 all bounds. As he rode by, men, women, and 
 children ran up to his horse, and were clamorous for 
 the honour of shaking hands with their protector ; 
 while from the windows thousands of hats and hand- 
 kerchiefs waved the grateful blessings of their owners 
 to their guardian. 
 
 Profiting by the sad results of the insurrection of 
 the year before, arising from a want of military 
 power to nip the evil in the bud, the General had 
 taken the most prompt and effective measures to 
 stamp out the rebellion the moment it flickered ; and, 
 further, proved what an omnipotent power for good 
 in France is the sword. That the General had all 
 his wits about him will be proved by the following 
 anecdote : — Colonel Guinard, who commanded the 
 Artillery of the National Guard, and who the 
 General knew was secretly in league with the in- 
 surgents, made an application to him two days before 
 the movement for eight pieces of artillery stationed 
 in the Court of the Tuileries, at the same time 
 pledging his honour that, if they were given up to 
 him, he would in all respects act under the orders of 
 the General. The latter consented to deliver the 
 guns up on the receipt of an official demand from 
 the Colonel, in writing. This Colonel Guinard 
 retired to write out, when the General addressed a 
 command to his subordinate to bring his artillerymen 
 to the Court of the Tuileries — and there to remain 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1850.] 
 
 THE PRINCE PRESIDENT'S PROGRESS. 
 
 [26th September, 1850.] 
 
 The caricaturist has here indicated the difficulties besetting Napoleonic ambition. 
 The President, seated in the state car, remarks, 
 
 "It is easy enough to say, 'it moves without difficulty, its runs alone !' — I don't 
 at present find it runs too freely ! " 
 
 The propelling power is given by the Prince's friends ; Ve'ron (represented in- 
 variably as an ex-apothecary) assists with a syringe, and the influence of his journals ; 
 the army, already enlisted in the cause, lend their support and their voices. ''''Vive 
 VEmpereur" is partly displayed, and the direction of the State is pretty manifest. 
 On the other hand, the President does not observe that he stands on the gulf of a 
 precipice, that the rock of the Republic, the figure of Liberty, and the Constitu- 
 tion he has sworn to uphold, stand opposing his progress to the seat of Empire — the 
 throne perched aloft in the far distance. 
 
 27 
 
i8 4 9-] 
 
 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. 
 
 245 
 
 with them ! Colonel Guinard, in obedience to the 
 mandate, presented himself and his men, when, lo ! 
 he found the ground occupied by two batteries of 
 the regular Artillery and two battalions of Chasseurs 
 d'Afrique, who had received orders from the General 
 how to deal with Colonel Guinard and his followers 
 should they manifest the least sign of what he 
 suspected was their purpose. The Colonel was not 
 long in finding himself successfully trapped. 
 
 It was soon apparent that there was no cause for 
 fear of any further disturbance. The night passed 
 away with the most perfect tranquillity ; and in the 
 morning the tradesmen began to feel so much re- 
 assured that they opened their shops, and business 
 went on as if nothing had happened. Such was 
 Louis Napoleon's first coup. 
 
 In the proclamation the President issued to the 
 people, when the attempted outbreak was crushed, he 
 told them that some factious men had dared to raise 
 the standard of revolt against him because he 
 was elected by universal suffrage. That they had 
 accused him of violating the Constitution unjustly, 
 and that there could be no doubt in his mind the 
 same party were in enmity against him who had 
 endeavoured to oppose his election, both as a re- 
 presentative of the people and as President. That 
 he was determined this sort of thing should cease. 
 He kept his word in due time. 
 
 Meanwhile he made a tour of the provinces, where 
 he was feted as if he had been the Emperor, his 
 uncle, returned to life. He went to Chartres on the 
 6th of July, and from thence to Amiens, and from 
 thence to Ham. The feelings with which he re- 
 visited a spot whose name was indelibly engraved on 
 his memory may be imagined, and so may the 
 reception he met with from the inhabitants, who but 
 
246 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. [1849. 
 
 three years before commiserated the unhappy lot of 
 a prisoner in whom they now beheld the wielder of 
 their nation's destinies. The mayor made a most 
 appropriate and feeling address on the occasion, to 
 which the Prince replied in these words : — 
 
 " I am profoundly moved by the affectionate 
 reception with which I have been greeted by your 
 fellow-citizens ; but, believe me, I am not come to 
 Ham from pride, but from gratitude. My heart 
 impelled me to thank the inhabitants of this village 
 and of its environs for the marks of sympathy which 
 they unceasingly gave me during my misfortunes. 
 
 "To-day, when, elected by entire France, I have 
 become the legitimate chief of this great nation, I 
 cannot take pride in a captivity which was caused by 
 an attack upon a regular Government. When we see 
 how revolutions the most just draw evils after them, 
 one can scarcely appreciate the audacity of having 
 wished to assume one's self the responsibility of a 
 change. I do not complain, then, of having expiated 
 here, by an imprisonment of six years, my temerity 
 against the laws of my country ; and it is with 
 satisfaction that, in these places in which I have 
 suffered, I propose to you a toast in honour of the 
 men who are determined, in spite of their convictions, 
 to respect established institutions." 
 
 From Ham he went to Angers, Nantes, Saumur, 
 Tours, Rouen, Elbeuf, Dijon, Epernay, and every- 
 where he was pleased beyond measure to find how 
 prosperous the country was growing, and how soon 
 would be obliterated from its face the scars of so 
 many revolutions. 
 
 The President had long been impressed with the 
 fact that he had made a bad choice of Ministers on 
 his entry into office. He found he had taken an ill- 
 advised step in selecting men composed of such 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1850.] 
 
 the president's PROGRESS — (continued.) 
 
 " Charivari," -jtk Oct. '50. 
 "We can always drink, it does not pledge us to anything." 
 
 The army, from the importance of its support, was the object of every civility, 
 and received court in a way most likely to secure its sympathy. The President 
 hurriedly fills the soldier's champagne-glass from the contents of his basket, eager 
 to anticipate the arrival of a stout representative of the Bourbons laden with " Bor- 
 deaux," who is followed by the vigilant Thiers, bearing "Orleans" white wine to 
 the scene of action. Like the Praetorian Guards of Rome, the army must have 
 anticipated a glorious future. 
 
 The caricaturist, in an equally spirited sketch, designs the Prince with his cham- 
 pagne-basket, attentively serving the pleased soldiers, while in the foreground a 
 handsome indignant vivandiere, irritated at the loss of her customers, complains to 
 her captain — " But what right has he to interfere with my trade? do I meddle with 
 his business of President ? " 
 
 28 
 
A TASTE OF MS QUALITY. 
 
 247 
 
 various shades of opinion, for nothing but discord 
 sprang from that combination of incompatibilities. 
 He determined to get rid of them, and addressed a 
 message to the President of the Assembly, to the 
 effect that he found it necessary to have recourse to 
 a change of Ministry ; for that, under the existing 
 grave circumstances, it was absolutely impossible for 
 business to be carried on promptly and effectually 
 with such an opposition of views in the Executive. 
 
 The Assembly received the President's message 
 with marks of disfavour. On the contrary, the 
 people greeted it with applause. It need scarcely be 
 stated what the result was. The President carried his 
 point, and a new Ministry was formed, which eventu- 
 ally had as many as ninety members comprising it. 
 
 Now free from all shackles, the President's ad- 
 ministration began its great work of national regenera- 
 tion. To hinder him in his purpose, incessant war was 
 waged against him by the Legitimists, the Orleanists, 
 and the Socialists, all fighting under the banner of 
 Republicanism, to which none of them could be said 
 to have had the shadow of a claim. The people saw 
 through their flimsy pretensions, and upheld the 
 power of the ruler they had set over them. 
 
 The fact was patent to all but those who would 
 not acknowledge it, that within a few months France 
 had risen like a phoenix from her ashes, and that her 
 renovation was owing entirely to the spirited, though 
 arbitrary, policy of Louis Napoleon, whose sagacity, 
 ability, and energy made due amends for the species 
 of despotism he had assumed with the will of the 
 nation, which, after all, was the best judge of the man 
 she should obey. A short paragraph in one of the 
 Parisian journals of the day will convey in a few 
 words the happy results of the first year of Louis 
 Napoleon's term of Presidency : — 
 
248 
 
 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY. 
 
 [1849. 
 
 " A year ago," it runs, " the State finances were 
 greatly compromised. There was a deficit of more than 
 300,000,000. Now, without loans, we can show an 
 exchequer with balances. A year ago, labour and 
 commerce had ceased everywhere. Now, factories are 
 in full activity. The custom-houses have reported as 
 favourably as in the most prosperous years. The 
 actual augmentations of the indirect revenue over 
 the year 1848, is 77,000,000 of francs. A year ago, 
 the city of Paris alone gave support to nearly 
 100,000 poor. A Now, the number is reduced to 
 10,000. A year ago, the tolls of Paris had consider- 
 ably diminished, the workmen were withdrawing 
 their deposits from the Savings Banks, and pledging 
 their effects in the Mont de Piete. To-day, the tolls 
 are 6,000,000 more than last year ; deposits in 
 Savings Banks are increased by 25,886,000 francs; 
 and, according to the official reports, the total value 
 of effects released from the Mont de Piete is much 
 greater than that of effects pledged. A year ago, 
 the stocks were at seventy. To-day, they are at 
 ninety-seven." 
 
 Add to these blessings, the sense of security felt 
 by the country against those popular outbreaks which 
 had so often destroyed in a few days the national 
 progress of years ; for, though the people knew that 
 emetites were inevitable, they felt confident, from late 
 experiences, that a riot would end in a riot, and 
 there need be no dread of its expanding into a revo- 
 lution. What mattered it, then, to those whom it 
 most concerned what name the Government bore ? 
 A nation, like any other employer, chooses its ser- 
 vants by character, but retains or discharges them 
 according to the value or worthlessness of their ser- 
 vices. And would a wise master send away an 
 honest butler because he bullied the footman who 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1850.] 
 
 the president's PROGRESS— (continued.) 
 
 > VI! 
 
 LOUIS NAPOLEON ADDRESSES PATRIOTIC SPEECHES TO HIS ARMY 
 
 The English caricaturist ironi- 
 cally connects the President's 
 policy with the Strasbourg sau- 
 sage, and the ring of his eloquence 
 with the ring of coin. 
 
 The Prince gave military ban- 
 quets to twenty thousand soldiers 
 at one time, and he even regaled 
 thirty thousand on the plain of 
 Sattory with champagne and 
 roast fowls in one day. Such 
 costly liberality deserved a return ! 
 
 The artist, who has 
 laughed at the wine, 
 places all his confidence 
 in the sausage (this, he 
 insists, is the real support 
 of the Empire). The 
 Prince, amidst the pro- 
 foundest emotion, pro- 
 duces the famed saucisson 
 of Strasbourg, and the 
 heads of the army swear 
 to follow it to glory. 
 
1849.] 
 
 A TASTE OF HIS QUALITY, 
 
 249 
 
 gave himself airs ? What, then, was it to the people, 
 that the President rode the high horse over the 
 Assembly, so long as he discharged his duty to them 
 in so satisfactory a manner ? France found in Louis 
 Napoleon just the man she wanted at that time, and 
 declared for him from one end of her territory to the 
 other. She turned upon her heel from the calumnies 
 of his enemies ; she refused to see his faults through 
 the microscope offered to her by one party and 
 another ; it was enough they did not strike her 
 naked eye ; she weighed in the scale the benefits 
 he had conferred upon her, and the supposititious 
 iniquities imputed to him, and the balance was all 
 in his favour. " Vive le President !" was her verdict. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SALVATION. 
 
 HE war of the Assembly against the author 
 of so much progress was now carried on 
 with tenfold vigour. The years of 1850 and 
 185 1, during which it lasted, were fully qualified to 
 try the fortitude of him whom it was directed against. 
 At length the flames of persecution raged like those 
 of eternal torment — the stake was ready, the martyr 
 was doomed. 
 
 Every step Louis Napoleon now made in the way 
 of reform was over demolished barricades. His 
 enemies were determined that he should not retain 
 his hold upon the nation by any further benefits con- 
 ferred. They opposed him at all times, and upon all 
 occasions. The right or wrong was according to 
 which side he was upon. What would have been 
 praiseworthy in others, was execrable in him. He 
 tainted every cause, damned every principle he 
 advocated — no matter what ; his schemes were ini- 
 quitous, whatever their aim. 
 
 Nothing daunted, his friends actually had the 
 audacity, at this crisis, to propose an increase to his 
 salary ! Could anything be more monstrous than 
 the bare-faced idea ? A great deal was said about 
 flinging the nation's money at the feet of beggars ; 
 a great deal was said about the present allowance 
 being amply sufficient for a professed patriot ; a great 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1858.] 
 
 the president's progress — ( continued). 
 
 f 14th October, 1850.] 
 
 A CHAMPAGNE SOLUTION. 
 La France. — "Come, Sir, this is no Game of Chance; 00 not tamper with the 
 
 Scales." 
 
 The caricaturist has here given a more serious turn to his satire. The Republic 
 rebukes an evidence of chicanery with gravity. The votes for the maintenance of 
 the constitution weigh down the balance, and the scale for a prolongation of Pre- 
 sidential power is too light; but the Prince is surreptitiously insinuating champagne- 
 bottles to falsify the equilibrium. 
 
 The President, who has certainly exhibited a taste for dramatic costume, is pre- 
 sented in the dress he then adopted, or, it may be, invented : the extensively plumed 
 and feathered cocked hat (which must have helped to increase the physical stature 
 of its wearer) was too extravagant to escape satire. In one caricature the Prince is 
 drawn contemplating a statue of his Uncle in the habit of a First Consul — the ultra 
 fashion produced in the first Revolution : his hat bears the three panaches or plumes 
 worn by Republican officers; and the Prince remarks, "Why, you were nearly as 
 well-feathered as I ! " 
 
 30 
 
1850. 
 
 SALVATION. 
 
 deal was said about the advisability of making it less ; 
 but, like a great deal more said about such matters, it 
 was said to no purpose. The nation doubled the 
 President's income ! 
 
 There was a grain of truth in the accusation that 
 the nation's money was being flung at the feet of 
 beggars, but it was in a way not intended to be con- 
 veyed. There has never been a ruler in France who 
 was the poor man's friend more than Louis Napoleon ; 
 the needy were his especial care from the moment of 
 his entrance into power. France will speak out with 
 one voice for him in that respect. One-third of the 
 income his enemies grudged him found its way into 
 the coffers of charity, and the starving families of 
 Paris shared the President's crust. 
 
 Finding that, by fighting separately, the President 
 was a match for any one of them, the conspirators 
 against his authority coalesced, with the one view of 
 upsetting his power. Their next step was to gain 
 over to their side all the most formidable supporters 
 of their enemy, and they actually succeeded in in- 
 ducing to join them the very chief who had rendered 
 Louis Napoleon such great aid in suppressing the 
 late rising against him — General Changarnier. That 
 gallant officer, like all persons who are too well paid 
 for their services, had begun to pique himself upon 
 being one of the most indispensable men in the 
 country. He took a great deal too much upon him- 
 self, and forgot his soldier's discipline. For instance, 
 on the 26th of August, 1850, died Mr. Smith of 
 Claremont, in England, who had once been a King 
 of France. Such an event could affect his late sub- 
 jects but very little, yet General Changarnier took 
 upon himself to order funeral services for his late 
 Majesty in the chapel of the palace, without consult- 
 ing the President. The latter, who did not choose to 
 
252 SALVATION. [1850. 
 
 quarrel with his subordinate on so trivial a matter, 
 quietly remarked, on having the affair pointed out to 
 him, that he did not regard prayers for the dead as 
 any acts of political opposition. 
 
 Emboldened by impunity, the General next re- 
 fused to acknowledge the superior authority of the 
 Minister of War, who thereupon appealed to the 
 President, by whom the Minister was upheld. The 
 animosity engendered in the mind of the General by 
 this proceeding found vent shortly afterwards. At a 
 review which took place in October, 1850, three 
 regiments of infantry, in passing before the President, 
 did so in perfect silence, while they were immediately 
 followed by several squadrons of cavalry, who rent 
 the air with the cries of "Vive Napoleon!" "Vive 
 l'Empereur !" The contrast was curious, and on the 
 matter being inquired into, it turned out that 
 General Neumayer, who commanded the silent 
 division, had given orders that no cries of any kind 
 were to be raised during the review. It was, of 
 course, preposterous to suppose that he would have 
 dared to take such a liberty without at least the 
 acquiescence of his superior officer. General Neu- 
 mayer was removed from his command, though he 
 was given another in the provinces. 
 
 A fortnight later, a general order appeared, signed 
 by Changarnier, forbidding all the troops under his 
 command from uttering any cries while under arms. 
 Here was a declaration of war ; but nothing definite 
 came of it till some time afterwards, for the President 
 could not very well interfere in a matter of military 
 discipline, or did not choose to do so. Not content 
 with so open an insult to his chief, the General pro- 
 ceeded to another act of the same nature, by causing 
 to be revived an order, issued some years before, 
 commanding the army not to obey any commands 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1850.] 
 
 THE president's progress (continued.) 
 
 " Charivari" \oth Dec. '50. 
 ANNIVERSARY OF THE TENTH OF DECEMBER. 
 
 Testimonial of a Sword offered to the President of the Republic, in the 
 name ok all the Grateful Champagne-Growers! 
 
 The caricaturist has here suggested an appropriate celebration of the date of the 
 Prince President's election. In addition to the extravagances of the Prince's per- 
 sonal establishment, the cost of his outlay in champagne and sausages was very 
 considerable. The income of Louis Napoleon was found to be quite disproportioned 
 to his expenditure. He applied for an increase of the President's salary, previously 
 deemed adequate for the position: it was doubled; but the Prince continued to 
 make fresh demands on the national purse, and finally applied for five times the 
 amount originally granted. This demand was satirized in the form of a monster 
 carrot, which his agents in vain attempted to force into the Chambers. 
 
 31 
 
SALVATION. 
 
 253 
 
 but those of the General-in-Chief — to the exclusion 
 of those of every functionary, civil, political, or 
 judiciary. The President asked the Assembly to 
 censure the General-in-Chief, who had done this 
 without proper authority ; and on their hesitating to 
 do so, he himself dismissed the General. A division 
 was then made in the troops, the National Guards 
 being placed under General Perrot, and the regular 
 troops under General Baraguay d'Hilliers. 
 
 So bold a step, although perfectly legal, was, as 
 might be imagined, severely commented upon by the 
 Assembly ; and the now united opposition against 
 the President threatened to overwhelm him. He 
 tried his utmost to effect a pacification of them. He 
 declared his earnest desire to remain on good terms 
 with the legislature ; offered to take his Ministers from 
 the majority ; to abandon his enlarged civil lists ; to 
 do everything they desired, except give up the right 
 the Constitution gave him of dismissing an inferior 
 officer. 
 
 It is questionable whether he thought that any 
 good would really result from such an effort ; but 
 there could be no mistake about the offensive atti- 
 tude of the Assembly towards him from that day, 
 January 8th, 185 1, to the 2nd of December, when 
 he dealt his adversaries a blow that laid them, one 
 and all, level with the dust at his feet. 
 
 From day to day he watched their movements, 
 ready to act upon the first sign of treason. From 
 time to time he heard of their secret designs against 
 him. " These designs," says Alison, " were to 
 denounce the President, and declare his power 
 terminated, commit him to Vincennes, and subse- 
 quently transport or banish him from France. All 
 civil or military officers refusing their support to the 
 Assembly were to be proceeded against according to 
 
254 
 
 SAL VA TION. 
 
 law, as guilty of treason ; and this decree was to be 
 publicly affixed in all the barracks of the Republic. 
 This motion was remitted to a committee of fifteen, 
 consisting of the leaders of the three coalesced 
 parties, by whom it was, with one dissenting voice, 
 agreed to. The motion once carried, the command 
 of the army was to be assumed, and the President 
 lodged in Vincennes. Those who agreed to this 
 scheme were the leaders of the Legitimist, Orleanist, 
 Moderate, and Jacobin parties. The execution of 
 the plan was fixed for an early day ; while in the 
 interior the most entire secrecy was enjoined upon 
 the design," 
 
 Yet was not his extraordinary self-composure in 
 the least perturbed ; if anything, he appeared calmer 
 and more silently resolute than ever. He waited 
 with confidence for the result, for not only were the 
 people for him, but the army had transferred to him 
 the devotion it had paid to his uncle. There was a 
 sublimity in the attitude of this one man serenely 
 facing a legion of menacing enemies, and boldly 
 daring them to do their worst. 
 
 The conspirators met for the last time on the 1st 
 of December, 185 1 ; that night their fate was sealed. 
 
 The same night a grand ball was given at the 
 Palace Elysee, the President's residence. There was 
 a large and brilliant assemblage, and the President 
 was remarked as the gayest personage of it ; he 
 dispensed his splendid hospitalities with his accus- 
 tomed suavity, and his countenance never for a 
 moment relaxed from its affable smile. The enter- 
 tainment over, the President retired into a private 
 chamber, into which he was followed by three of his 
 most intimate friends, namely, Count de Morny, 
 General St. Arnaud, and M. de Maupas. Between 
 this council of four had been arranged a plan, the 
 
t 
 
 NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1850.] 
 
 the president's progress — (continued.) 
 
 "Charivari" 15th Jan., 1851. 
 A BALL AT THE PALACE OF THE ELYSEE, 
 {The residence of the Prifice President.) 
 
 M. Thiers (whose partner is evidently Miss Howard) is figuring opposite to Count 
 Mole. The Prince President, Prince Napoleon, and General Le Breton — conspicuous 
 from his huge nose — fill up the background. Count Mole, remarkable for his satyr- 
 like head and elongated foot, occupies a position of considerable influence. The 
 grotesque ball which the artist has composed is possibly conceived on the suggestion 
 of certain attempts to fuse members of an anticipated opposition with the Prince's 
 cautiously winnowed circle of loyal retainers. 
 
 *** From this date cartoons bearing on political questions may be considered to 
 cease in the French journals : the approaching press enactions already sobered their 
 wit, and limited their irony until the point became harmless, — mere social pencil- 
 lings had to content the French taste for satire, all political allusions were prohibited. 
 
 Our own artists, although not so intimately associated with the events then pro- 
 ceeding, record the successive acts of Louis Napoleon with finished force and clever- 
 ness. We continue the caricature history at this point from our own resources, 
 until the German comic press increases our field of selection. 
 
 32 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1851—1852.] 
 the president's progress— (continued). 
 
 The French satirist left the Prince President indulging in the pleasures of the 
 Elysee. The English artist introduces us to another picture from the same gallery. 
 The dissipations of the bachelor host and his convives directed public attention to 
 his private life, and furnished materials for ironical comment and statements reflecting 
 rather freely on the morality of the ruler of France. 
 
 The expression of real public opinion, in the meanwhile, did not endorse his 
 popularity as a legislator. The artist here describes the Prince President as being 
 equally rejected by the three great divisions of the people. He is spurned by the 
 possessor of the wooden shoe to the cry of liberty ; the military boot is raised against 
 him, and elegant jraternite kicks out with scornful vehemence. The Prince was 
 beginning to show an iron rule to the disaffected Parisians. 
 
 33 
 
i85i.] 
 
 SALVATION. 
 
 235 
 
 most minute in detail, for the carrying out of a coup 
 d'etat. Every move was calculated to such perfec- 
 tion that when the President and his friends retired, 
 as stated, they had but to put the match to the train 
 of the mines underneath the obnoxious Assembly to 
 settle its fate. 
 
 By six o'clock next morning, seventy-eight of the 
 ringleaders of the conspiracy were simultaneously 
 arrested. Most of them were asleep when the police 
 made their appearance in the bedroom, and they 
 certainly may be said to have opened their eyes at 
 so unexpected an intrusion. General Changarnier 
 sprang out of bed and seized a pistol. The commis- 
 sary caught his arm, and said, — 
 
 " What are you about, General ? Your life is not 
 threatened ; then why do you defend it ?." 
 
 The General gave up the weapon and replied, " I 
 will follow you. Let me dress myself." 
 
 General Cavaignac, being apprised of the character 
 of his visitor, locked himself in his room, but shortly- 
 capitulated. 
 
 "Why do you arrest me ?" said he. 
 
 The commissary could answer no questions. 
 
 M. Thiers sat bolt upright in bed, and stared 
 wildly at the officer waiting upon him. 
 
 " What is it you want ?" said M. Thiers. 
 
 " I am come," replied the officer, " to arrest you ; 
 but don't be alarmed :" an assurance, it appears, 
 rendered necessary by the captive beginning to 
 tremble. 
 
 " But what are you doing that for ? Do you know 
 that I am a representative of the people ?" 
 
 " Yes, I am not come to dispute that point ; I am 
 here to execute the orders I have received." 
 
 "What you are doing may send you to the 
 scaffold!" 
 
256 SALVATION. . [1851. 
 
 " There is not any consideration that will stop me ' 
 in the discharge of my duty." 
 
 " But this is a coup d'etat- — is it not ?" 
 
 " I cannot answer questions ; pray rise." 
 
 " Suppose I blow out your brains ?" 
 
 " I do not believe, sir, that you could be guilty ot 
 such a crime ; but I am prepared, and could easily 
 prevent it." 
 
 M. Thiers disputed no further, but, arraying himself, 
 followed his inexorable captor. In like manner were 
 the whole of the seventy-eight individuals who had, 
 for so long a time, been plotting the ruin of Louis . 
 Napoleon, made prisoners in the Mazas, where their 
 former courage forsook many of them to a deplorable 
 degree. 
 
 While the police were obeying their instructions in 
 the private chambers of the leaders of the Opposition, 
 the soldiers took entire possession of the city at the 
 command of General Magnan. That officer had been 
 let into the secret of the intended movement some 
 days before it took place, and not only commended 
 it, but begged to be sent for the moment he should 
 mount his horse. Upon receiving this signal, the 
 whole of the troops under his command were at their 
 previously appointed posts to the precise minute. 
 The despatch with which all these arrangements were 
 carried out was perfectly electric, for within the 
 space of an hour Paris was placed in a state of 
 siege. 
 
 The 42nd Foot surrounded the National Assembly 
 Palace. Yet, through the stupidity of some official 
 connected with the movement, a private door leading 
 into the Hall from the Rue de Bourgogne was left- 
 unguarded, and some sixty factious members, making 
 an entrance through it, began to hold a turbulent 
 debate on the occurrences of the day. M. de Morny, 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1851-1852.] 
 
 WILL THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS? 
 
 The English carica- 
 tures now illustrate 
 the methods and 
 means resorted to 
 by the Prince Presi- 
 dent to secure a per- 
 manent dominion in 
 France, his absorb- 
 ing object from the 
 
 moment of his return 
 from exile. 
 
 An elaborate sys- 
 tem Of ESPIONAGE 
 now prevailed on all 
 sides. The artist se- 
 lects a few types of 
 the hated race. 
 
 The dandy visitor 
 
 at your soi- 
 ree, and the 
 venerable 
 1 o i terer 
 who shares 
 your seat in 
 the sun- 
 shine ; the 
 earnest de- 
 votee, so 
 constant in 
 the sanc- 
 tuary; and 
 the 
 
 reverend 
 pastor, into 
 whose ear your 
 most sacred 
 confessions are 
 poured for the 
 comforts of re- 
 ligion, are, one 
 and all, base 
 spies, ready to 
 enlarge the 
 most trifling 
 suspicions into 
 the foulest ut- 
 J^L, terances of 
 treason. 
 
 34 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1851-1852.] 
 
 WILL THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS?— (continued.) 
 
 The artist here traces the President's jealousy of criticism, and his determination 
 to check the expression of opinion and the freedom of discussion. He now appears 
 violating even the privacy of his subjects. 
 
 The most ignominious means are employed to trace and secure dissentients from 
 his own ambitious policy. The prison doors are opened for adverse journalists ; 
 
 papers are consigned to the flames ; offices are seized ; fines and imprisonment 
 reward even the mildest question of the righteousness of a Prince's acts. 
 
 35 
 
SALVATION. 
 
 257 
 
 when he heard of their proceedings, sent an immediate 
 order to have them turned out ; but they seemed 
 disposed to . resist the order, till M. Dupin, their 
 President, who appears to have been the political 
 weathercock of the age, said, — " Gentlemen, the 
 Constitution has been violated. We' have the law 
 on our side ; but we" are not the strongest. I advise 
 you to go away. I have, the honour to wish you 
 good morning !" Considering the facility with which 
 M. Dupin had turned his coat from that of an Or- 
 leanist to that of a Republican, it may not be unfair 
 to suppose that, by the above speech, he intended to 
 turn it once more into that of a Buonapartist. 
 
 The early risers of Paris, as they passed along the 
 streets to their various occupations, rubbed their eyes in 
 considerable doubt as to whether they were still asleep 
 and dreaming. For, lo'! the walls were covered with 
 proclamations of a most astounding character — an- 
 nouncing, in fact, that in the course of the night the 
 miraculous event of a silent revolution had happened. 
 They stood and stared at the placards in stupefied 
 wonder, till they no longer could doubt their senses, 
 and then burst into exclamations of surprise and 
 admiration at the marvellous courage and adroitness 
 of the man who had accomplished so stupendous a 
 feat. They then went on reading his " Appeal to the 
 People" :— 
 
 " Frenchmen, 
 
 " The present si-tuation cannot last much longer. 
 Each day the situation of the country becomes worse. 
 The Assembly, which ought to be the first supporter 
 of order, has become a theatre of plots. The pa- 
 triotism of 300 of its members could not arrest its 
 fatal tendencies. In place of making laws for the 
 general interest of the people, it was forging arms 
 
 R 
 
258 SALVATION. [1851. 
 
 for civil war. It attacked the power I hold directly 
 from the people, it encouraged every evil passion, 
 it endangered the repose of France. I have dissolved 
 it, and I make the whole people judge between me 
 and it. The Constitution, you know, had been made 
 with the object of weakening beforehand the power 
 you had intrusted to me. Six millions of votes were 
 a striking protest against it, and yet I have faithfully 
 observed it. Provocations, calumnies, outrages, found 
 me passive. But now that the fundamental part is 
 no longer respected by those who incessantly invoke 
 it, and the men who have already destroyed two mo- 
 narchies wish to tie up my hands in order to overthrow 
 the Republic, my duty is to baffle their perfidious 
 projects, to maintain the Republic, and to save the 
 country by appealing to the solemn judgments of 
 the only Sovereign I recognize in France — the 
 people. 
 
 " I, then, make a loyal appeal to the entire nation, 
 and I say to you, if you wish to continue this state 
 of disquietude and malaise that degrades you and 
 endangers the future, choose another person in my 
 place, for I no longer wish for a place which is power- 
 less for good, but which makes me responsible for 
 acts that I cannot hinder, and chains me to the helm 
 when I see the vessel rushing into the abyss. If, on 
 the contrary, you still have confidence in me, give 
 me the means of accomplishing the grand mission 
 I hold from you. That mission consists in closing 
 the era of revolution, in satisfying the legitimate 
 wants of the people, and in protecting them against 
 subversive passions. It consists especially in creating 
 institutions which survive men, and which are the 
 foundation on which something durable is based- 
 Persuaded that the instability of power, that the 
 preponderance of a single Assembly, are the per- 
 
NAPOLEON III. jrom POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [i 851— 1852.] 
 
 WILL THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS? — (continued.) 
 
 The expression of honest conviction deserves an acknowledgment — let the plain 
 speaker reap his harvest of free thought in a dungeon ! 
 
 The French journals are all suppressed, or reduced to slavish submission. The 
 acts of an all-wise Prince will now escape the stricture of being judged by the laws 
 of ordinary mortality. 
 
 The English press assumes a hostile attitude. Every paper fearlessly examines 
 and discusses the justice of the Napoleonic progress. The Prince President cannot 
 escape public criticism. 
 
 36 
 
NAPOLEON III. front POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1851-1852.] 
 
 WILL THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS? — (continued.) 
 
 At a moment when the Prince President meditates an act on which he would 
 prefer the world to remain silent, the comments on his motives become most irri- 
 tating. He directs a decree in La Patrie against English journalists who furnish 
 accounts from Paris. 
 
 These journalists escape the notices of the Prince's Ministers to quit Paris, by 
 remaining within doors. Meanwhile confidential friends bring the latest on dits 
 regarding the Prince, who, however, holds a rod in pickle ! 
 
1851.] SALVATION. 259 
 
 manent causes of trouble and discord, I submit to 
 your suffrages the fundamental bases of a Constitution 
 which the Assemblies will develop hereafter : — 
 
 " I. A responsible Chief named for ten years. 
 " 2. The Ministers dependent on the executive 
 alone. 
 
 " 3. A Council of State, formed of the most dis- 
 tinguished men, for preparing the laws and main- 
 taining the discussions before the Legislative Corps. 
 
 "4. A Legislative Corps for discussing and voting 
 the laws, named by universal suffrage, without the 
 scrutin de liste which falsifies the election. 
 
 " 5. A second Assembly, formed by all the illustrious 
 persons of "the nation, a preponderating power, guar- 
 dian of the fundamental pact and of public liberty. 
 
 " This system, created by the First Consul in the 
 beginning of the present century, has already given 
 to France repose and prosperity. It guarantees them 
 still. Such is my profound conviction. If you par- 
 take it, declare so by your suffrages. If, on the 
 contrary, you prefer a Government without force — 
 Monarchial or Republican, borrowed from some 
 chimerical future, reply in the negative. Thus, then, 
 for the first time since 1804, you will vote with com- 
 plete knowledge of the fact, and knowing for whom 
 and for what you vote. 
 
 " If I do not obtain the majority of the votes, I 
 shall summon a new Assembly and lay down before, 
 it the mission I have received from you. But if you 
 believe that the cause, of which my name is the 
 symbol, that is, France regenerated by the revolution 
 of 1789, and organized by the Emperor, is still yours, 
 proclaim it to be so by ratifying the powers I 
 demand of you. Then France and Europe will be 
 preserved from anarchy, obstacles will be removed, 
 
 R 2 
 
260 
 
 SALVATION. 
 
 rivalries will have disappeared, for all will respect, in 
 the will of the people, the decree of Providence. 
 
 "Done at the Palace of the Elysee, this 2nd of 
 December. 
 
 "Louis Napoleon Buonaparte." 
 
 By the side of this proclamation was another, 
 addressed to the soldiers, encouraging them to pre- 
 serve order, for by so doing they would prove the 
 salvation of the country. Their President assured 
 them that he placed the utmost reliance upon their 
 fidelity, not only to himself, but to the nation, and 
 he hoped through their instrumentality to accomplish 
 great aims, which had so long been shackled by the 
 enemies of their country. He admired their impos- 
 ing attitude, and France looked upon them, he said, 
 as her Guard of Honour." 
 
 Then came half-a-dozen decrees, which ran as 
 follows : — 
 
 In the name of the French people, the President 
 of the Republic decrees : — 
 
 "Art. I. The National Assembly is dissolved. 
 
 " Art. 2. Universal suffrage is re-established. The 
 law of the 31st of May is abrogated. 
 
 " Art. 3. The French people is convoked in its elec- 
 tive colleges from the 14th of December to the 21st 
 of December following. 
 
 " Art. 4. The state of siege is decreed throughout 
 the first military division. 
 
 "Art. 5. The Council of State is dissolved. 
 
 " Art. 6. The Minister of the Interior is charged 
 with the execution of the present decree. 
 
 "Louis Napoleon Buonaparte." 
 In explanation of Article 2, it may be here stated 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1851-1852.] 
 
 WILL THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS? — (continued.) 
 
 It is pretty evident that the Republic is in danger, and there is an inclination to 
 defend the Constitution. 
 
 At this critical juncture the Prince 
 issues his decrees, his journals pro- 
 mulgate them, and the guillotine is 
 ready to see to their execution. 
 
 All is now prepared for the 
 Coup d'Etat, and the Prince 
 President, in the security of 
 the Elysee, stoically gives the 
 order to sweep away opposi- 
 tion and clear the Imperial 
 road ! 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1851-1852.] 
 
 WILL THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS ? — (continued.) 
 
 There is opposition in the streets, but the soldiers can disperse it. The jaws of 
 
 death are opened, and the artillery is well served. Day and night the streets are 
 
 heaped with the ghastly corpses of a few thousand unarmed victims. The conflict 
 is most sanguinary : death, destruction, and dismay spread on all sides for days. 
 
 39 
 
i8 S i.] 
 
 SALVATION. 
 
 261 
 
 that the suspension of universal suffrage was one of 
 the measures forced from the President by his 
 enemies to serve their own ends. 
 
 The serenity that pervaded the city, even after 
 those who were first about in the morning had 
 become cognizant of what had been done, was really 
 wonderful. So profound, indeed, was the tranquillity, 
 that half Paris had taken its breakfast before it was 
 called upon to digest the news. When people who 
 had gone into the streets came hurrying back with 
 wonder-stricken faces, to tell their friends at home 
 that a revolution had taken place, they aroused 
 serious suspicions as to their having suddenly gone 
 mad. It took hours for many to fully realize the 
 startling fact and credit their own senses. 
 
 As dawned the morning, so passed the day, in 
 peace, the aspect of Paris differing only from that of 
 the previous day in its broad stare of astonishment. 
 The shops were open all day, and the theatres were 
 filled in the evening with large and brilliant audiences. 
 Every now and then some people would leave the 
 performances and hurry to the Boulevards, to ascer- 
 tain if any movement was going on, only to return 
 perfectly satisfied that Paris for once in her life had 
 passed through a bloodless revolution. Alas ! it was 
 again but silent thunder. 
 
 At about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Presi- 
 dent issued from the Palace of the Elysee, and, attended 
 by a numerous staff, rode along the Quais. His 
 appearance everywhere was the signal for loud and 
 ringing cheers. The people cried " Vive l'Empereur !" 
 because they recollected that on this very day was 
 the anniversary of the coronation of their Imperial 
 idol, as well as that of his most glorious achieve- 
 ment, the victory of Austerlitz. Compared with 
 the days of the Strasbourg and Boulogne under- 
 
262 
 
 SAL VA TION. 
 
 takings, the day of the coup-d\etat was admirably- 
 planned. 
 
 While the President was thus abroad, congratulating 
 himself upon the unprecedented success of his coup, 
 the Vice-President, M. Daru, was entertaining a select 
 party of marplots at his residence, who were planning 
 a scheme for upsetting not only the President, but 
 the peace of the city. Of them there were over 200 
 present. One of their first resolutions was to proceed 
 in a body to the Palace of the Assembly and demand 
 their right to be admitted. It was carried out ; but 
 with an ignominious result. The soldiers guarding 
 the building gave them a warm reception with the 
 butt-end of their muskets, and they had to make a 
 precipitate retreat to the house of M. Daru. 
 
 Their courageous spirits, however, could not brook 
 defeat ; and a second expedition was organized, 
 now to the Mairie of the tenth arrondissement. 
 Here they found admission into the Hall, and for 
 three hours a lively debate took place as to wha«- 
 should be done with the Chief of the State, who had 
 kicked over the traces. They came to the unanimous 
 determination to depose him, try him before the 
 High Court of Justice, and, if they could, cut his 
 head off! But — unhappy mortals — while they laid 
 the flattering unction to their souls that all this was 
 very easy to do, in came a posse of police, seized 
 each man of them by the collar, and conducted them 
 forth in couples, between two files of soldiers, to the 
 Fort Valerien and the Mazas, where, as far as they 
 were concerned, sedition slept that night. But the 
 decree which they had issued, denouncing Louis 
 Napoleon, was soon printed and posted on the walls. 
 It was almost as soon torn down by the sergens de 
 ville. Then it was printed in the form of a news- 
 paper, and slipped under the doors of the houses. 
 
NAPOLEON III. Jrom POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 Even the intrepid Thiers is arrested ! The gaols are filled. 
 40 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 The outbreak of popular opposition is practically silenced ! 
 41 
 
i8si.] SALVATION. 263 
 
 Many other ingenious devices were also adopted for 
 circulating this precious document, which had for its 
 object the shedding of innocent blood ; for its framers 
 knew too well what would be the work of that mali- 
 cious effusion. 
 
 A calm night closed a quiet day, but the blood-reel 
 streak of the ensuing dawn was a true omen of the 
 coming carnage. Assured by the events of the 
 previous day, the shopkeepers did not hesitate to 
 pull down their shutters ; and the city wore at early 
 morn her usual gay appearance. But one by one 
 was met in the street, as noon came on, faces which 
 are seldom seen in public by daylight, and which, 
 without any touch of superstition in the beholder, 
 might be taken to bode evil. There was no mistaking 
 the mission of those who carried them, when shortly 
 from under their blouses they produced muskets and 
 knives. These were the infamous Montagnards. They 
 brought with them appeals to arms in manuscript, 
 some in red and others in black, which they proceeded 
 to display on the walls. These dreadful documents 
 were signed, amongst others, by Emmanuel Arago, 
 with whom the reader has had a former acquaintance. 
 
 At eleven o'clock a small group formed at the 
 Boulevard St. Martin ; and as it passed along the 
 Boulevards of St. Denis, Bonne Nouvelle, and Mont- 
 marte, vociferating the sentiments of the incarcerated 
 agitators, it waxed strong in numbers. Eventually, 
 it made a sudden halt, and showed fight to the 
 soldiers, by whom it was immediately dispersed. 
 Being separated then into several sections, each 
 section took a separate route. One stopped at the 
 Rue St. Marguerite, and succeeded in erecting a small 
 barricade. The troops who advanced to demolish 
 it, were received with a deadly volley, which was 
 returned : and so flowed the first blood. 
 
264 
 
 SAL VA TION. 
 
 That any more blood was spilt was from no fault 
 of the military arrangements. Could anything have 
 awed the turbulent multitude, the presence every- 
 where of soldiers armed to the teeth should have 
 done so. At the mouth of almost every important 
 street stood a regiment, divided into groups, ready 
 for any emergency. Windows round the most 
 dangerous quarters bristled with well-armed troops. 
 The houses in the street in which the Archbishop of 
 Paris was killed in June, 1848, and in which such a 
 prolonged resistance had been maintained against 
 the army, were packed from cellar to garret with 
 musketeers. Not a loophole scarcely was left 
 through which an insurrection could burst forth ; 
 and yet infuriate handfuls of men were desperate 
 enough, in all directions, to seek certain death by 
 insane attacks upon superior forces. 
 
 On the third day another scene of slaughter was 
 witnessed at the Porte St. Denis. One dreadful 
 feature of this insurrection was the total absence of 
 singing or other noisy demonstration while it lasted ; 
 and consequently, the mob had succeeded in erecting 
 a barricade in the locality mentioned before the 
 soldiers were made aware of their proceedings. The 
 road was seventy feet wide, but the crowd soon 
 procured enough materials to block it up with. 
 Every cab and omnibus that passed by was seized 
 upon, and their drivers sent on their way on the 
 backs of their horses. There was a house being 
 built close by, and the scaffolding was, of course, a 
 rare godsend to the barricade builders. In pulling it 
 down, observed one man, " It 's good for trade." 
 " Ay," replied another, " the house of the people 
 against the house of Napoleon ! " This redoubt of 
 insurgent warfare stood twelve feet high in a short 
 time. It was swept away by artillery, as soon as 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1851— 1852.] 
 
 WILL THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS ? — {continued.) 
 
 This argument will convince the most factious. Any doubts entertained by the 
 opponents of the Empire are disposed of expeditiously and laid finally to rest. 
 
 Liberty is gagged and suppressed during the Prince's pleasure. 
 
 The future Empire is at once promised the ready and independent support of the 
 clergy. The Emperor can present a beneficent Church with the gold of the victims 
 of his ambition, to purchase masses for the repose of the souls set free before their 
 time by the humanizing instruments of Imperial advancement. 
 
 42 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1851-1852.] 
 
 WILL THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS? — (continued.) 
 
 At length France may, in the language of her illustrious head, be proclaimed 
 "free" to record her unbiassed wishes, uninfluenced by the distraction of inimical 
 factions. 
 
 The army is not unmindful of favours received ; its gratitude is appealed to in 
 the hour of trial. The President has secured a profitable cat's-paw to snatch an 
 Imperial prize, which is in a dangerous position. 
 
 43 
 
i8 5 i.] 
 
 SALVATION. 
 
 25s 
 
 guns could be carried to it, and its debris strewed a 
 sickening human shambles. 
 
 But why conjure up, one by one, these scenes of 
 horror ? Such a task might suit those who connect 
 massacres with the name of Louis Napoleon ; as if 
 that staunch friend and preserver of the people 
 gloated on the sight of the stark victims of mis- 
 guided men or unscrupulous miscreants. It would 
 simply be an insult to the readers common sense for 
 us to endeavour to assure him that the slaughter 
 which followed was no part of the original plan of 
 the conp-d 'etat ; for it is evident to every sensible 
 mind that the extensive ramifications of its design 
 display a desire for the prevention of bloodshed. 
 We turn with disgust from such gory details of 
 Louis Napoleon's "handiwork" as given by M. 
 Victor Hugo. Believe it who may, that the soldiers 
 were made drunk on purpose to butcher the people, 
 but we do not. Nor do we credit the story of un- 
 offending shopkeepers being consigned to the fury of 
 the troops ; for it was only when the latter were fired 
 upon from the windows that they entered any house. 
 
 Happily, on the fourth day returned perfect 
 tranquillity. The few mad followers of the drapeau 
 rouge shot down and dispersed, the tricolour waved 
 once more over a peaceful city on Friday, the 5 th of 
 December. Deplorable as was the fact of blood 
 having been shed at all, yet this reign of terror was 
 of the shortest duration of any in so serious a 
 revolution, and no great mischief was done. If 
 there was one thing to be more deeply regretted 
 than another, it was the fact, that in place of the 
 poor infatuated and goaded wretches who fell in the 
 struggle, were not found the riddled carcases of the 
 men by whom they were duped, so that they had not 
 bred the future vampires of France. 
 
266 
 
 SALVATION. 
 
 {.1851. 
 
 As soon as the city was quiet, the President 
 issued the following proclamation : — 
 
 " Frenchmen, 
 
 "The disturbances are appeased. Whatever 
 may be the decision of the people, society is saved. 
 The first part of my task is accomplished. The 
 appeal to the nation, for the purpose of terminating 
 the struggles of parties, I knew would not cause any 
 serious risk to the public tranquillity. Why should 
 the people have risen against me ? If I do not any 
 longer possess your confidence — if your ideas are 
 changed — there is no occasion to make precious 
 blood flow ; it will be sufficient to place an adverse 
 vote in the urn. I shall always respect the decision 
 of the people. But as long as the nation shall not 
 have spoken, I shall not recede before any effort, 
 before any sacrifice, to defeat the attempts of the 
 factious. That task is, besides, made easy to me. 
 On the one hand, it has been seen how foolish it is 
 to struggle against an army united by the bonds of 
 discipline and animated by the sentiment of military 
 honour and by devotion to the mother country. On 
 the other hand, the calm attitude of the people of 
 Paris, the reprobation with which they condemned 
 the insurrection, have testified with sufficient clear- 
 ness for whom the capital pronounced itself. In the 
 populous quarters, in which insurrection formerly 
 recruited itself so quickly among ouvriers, docile 
 with respect to such matters, anarchy, on this occa- 
 sion, was able to find nothing but repugnance for 
 these detestable excitations. Thanks be rendered to 
 the intelligent and patriotic population of Paris ! 
 Let it persuade itself more and more that my only 
 ambition is to ensure the repose and prosperity of 
 France. Let it continue to lend its aid to the 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1851— 1852.] 
 
 WILL THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS 1 — (continued.) 
 
 A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK; 
 Or, the Brummagem Bonaparte out for a ride. 
 
 We have here selected one of the most powerful cartoons of our great English 
 satirist. The reckless vagabond air of the tattered rider galloping swiftly to 
 destruction is finely conceived. The dripping sword, the cross of death, the 
 "champagne" holster, and the shabby masquerade of a world-renowned uniform, 
 contrast grimly with the dread reality of the slaughtered citizens trampled under the 
 hoof. Louis Napoleon has since avowed his horror of bloodshed. 
 
 4t 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 The Imperial eagle has disposed of the Republic, — her fate is quickly told. 
 
 45 
 
SAL VTAION. 
 
 267 
 
 authorities, and the country will be able soon to 
 accomplish in tranquillity the solemn act which must 
 inaugurate a new era for the Republic. 
 
 " Done at the Palace of the Elysee, 8th December, 
 185 1. 
 
 "Louis Napoleon Buonaparte." 
 
 With the above manifesto from the author of 
 what has been construed by some historians into the 
 grossest act of political turpitude on record, we crave 
 the verdict of the reader, while we pass on to record 
 the verdict of the French nation. Two questions 
 may be fairly suggested for the reader's consideration, 
 not to bias, but to assist his judgment. First : What 
 would have been the result if a revolution had ensued, 
 as it was bound to ensue, from the successful issue of 
 the conspiracy of the Assembly against Louis Napo- 
 leon ? Second : Have subsequent events shown 
 that the coup-d? e'tat of Louis Napoleon, though 
 baptized with blood, was the salvation of France ? 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 VIVE l'empereur ! 
 
 HE 20th of December, 185 1, was the day 
 fixed for receiving from the people through- 
 out France, by votes, a verdict either con- 
 demning or ratifying the coup-d'etat of the President. 
 The proceedings connected with the voting were 
 conducted in the most orderly manner, and on the 
 31st of December the result was communicated to 
 the President. The committee appointed to receive 
 the votes repaired on that day to the Palace of 
 the Elysee, and laid before the Prince the following 
 responses to his " Appeal to the People " : — 
 
 Ratifying the conp-d? Hat . . 7,439,216 
 Condemning the same . . 640,737 
 
 Thus, by a majority of seven millions of the people, 
 was acknowledged the wisdom and the beneficial 
 tendency of an act which a few perverse and self- 
 interested individuals have held up to public execra- 
 tion and eternal infamy. 
 
 M. Baroche, the chairman of the committee, after 
 having presented the report, said : — 
 
 " Monsieur le President, 
 
 " In making an appeal to the French people 
 by your proclamation of the 2nd of December, you 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1852 to 1853.] 
 
 THE FASCINATION OF EMPIRE. 
 
 PLAYING A DANGEROUS GAME. 
 
 The artist has summed up the situation of events at this critical juncture, by 
 delineating a Parisian blouse trying his hand as a snake-charmer, and yielding to 
 the fascination said to be possessed by these reptiles. He is foolishly subdued by the 
 jewelled crest and stealthy eye of a deadly cobra, whose coils are gradually encir- 
 cling his arm, extended to the fatal influence. Stories of snake-charming occupied 
 considerable attention at the date this caricature appeared. 
 
 46 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1852— 1853.] 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Suggestion for a commemorative Medal to inaugurate the Empire ! 
 
 Reverse of the Medal : the emblems of the dynasty in its modern establishment ! 
 
 The reader will note the two principal characteristics of the medal — the Stras- 
 bourg sausage and the bayonet of the r oup d'etat. 
 
 47 
 
x8 5 i.] 
 
 VIVE LEMPEREUR! 
 
 269 
 
 said, ' I do not wish for authority which is powerless 
 for good, and which chains me to the helm when I see 
 the vessel drifting into the abyss. If you have con- 
 fidence in me, give me the means of accomplishing 
 the great mission I hold from you.' 
 
 " To this loyal appeal, made to her conscience and 
 to her sovereignty, the nation has responded by an 
 immense acclamation — by nearly seven million 
 four hundred and fifty thousand suffrages. Yes, 
 Prince, France has confidence in you : she has con- 
 fidence in your courage, in your deep reason, in your 
 love for her ; and the testimony she has just given 
 you is so much the more glorious, as it is rendered 
 after three years of a Government whose wisdom 
 and patriotism she thus consecrates. 
 
 "Has the elect of the 10th of December, 1848, 
 shown himself worthy of the trust which the people 
 imposed upon him ? Has he well comprehended the 
 mission he then received ? Let these questions be 
 asked of the seven million voices which have just 
 confirmed the trust by adding to it a mission still 
 more great and glorious. Has ever the national will 
 in any country or at any time been so solemnly 
 manifested ? Has ever a Government obtained such 
 an approval, on a base more wide, an origin more 
 legitimate and more worthy the respect of the 
 people ? 
 
 " Take possession, Prince, of this power so gloriously 
 presented to you ! Use it to develop by wise institu- 
 tions the fundamental basis which the people them- 
 selves have consecrated by their votes. Re-establish 
 in France the principle of authority too much 
 shaken for the last sixty years by our continual 
 agitations. Combat incessantly these anarchical 
 passions which assail even the foundations of society. 
 It is no longer mere odious theories which you have 
 
270 
 
 VIVE UEMPEREUR! 
 
 to pursue and repress : they have manifested them- 
 selves in deeds, in horrible overt acts. 
 
 " Let France be delivered from those men always 
 ready for murder and pillage — from, those men who, 
 in the nineteenth century, transfuse horror into 
 civilization, and by exciting the most gloomy recol- 
 lections, seem to throw us back five hundred years. 
 
 " Prince, on the 2nd of December you took for 
 your motto, — * France, regenerated by the Revolution 
 of 1789, and organized by the Emperor ; ' that is to 
 say, a wise and well-regulated liberty — an authority 
 strong and respected by all. May your wisdom and 
 your patriotism realize this noble thought ! Restore 
 to this noble country, so full of life and of the future, 
 the greatest of all benefits — order, stability, con- 
 fidence. 
 
 " You will thus save France, preserve entire Europe 
 from incalculable dangers, and add to the lustre of 
 your name a new and imperishable glory." 
 
 The President replied : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, 
 
 "France has responded to the loyal appeal 
 which I had made to her. She has comprehended 
 that I departed from the legal only to return to the 
 right. More than seven million votes have absolved me 
 by justifying an act which had no other object than 
 to spare France, and perhaps Europe, from years of 
 troubles and misfortunes. I thank you for having 
 authenticated officially how entirely this manifesta- 
 tion has been national and spontaneous. 
 
 " If I congratulate myself upon this immense 
 adhesion, it is not through pride, but because it gives 
 me power to speak and act in a manner becoming 
 the chief of a great nation such as ours. I com- 
 prehend all the grandeur of my new mission. I do 
 
VIVE L'EMPEREUR / 
 
 27 1 
 
 not deceive myself respecting its grave qualities ; 
 but. with an upright heart, with the co-operation of 
 all good men, who, like you, shall enlighten me with 
 their intelligence and sustain me with their patriotism ; 
 with the tried devotedness of our valiant army ; in 
 fine, with that protection which to-morrow I shall 
 solemnly pray Heaven to grant me again, I hope to 
 render myself worthy of the confidence which the 
 people continue to repose in me. 
 
 " I hope to assure the destinies of France in 
 founding institutions which will correspond at once 
 with the democratic instincts of the nation, and with 
 the universally expressed desire of having hencefor- 
 ward a strong and respected Government : in truth, 
 to satisfy the demands of the moment, by creating 
 a system which reconstitutes authority without 
 injuring equality, or closing any channel of ame- 
 lioration, is to lay the true foundation of the only 
 edifice capable of sustaining hereafter the action of 
 a wise and salutary liberty.'' 
 
 The pageantry of the next day, at the inaugura- 
 tion of the President in his renewed authority, has 
 never been surpassed in splendour and magnificence. 
 The new year awoke to salvos of artillery and 
 inspiriting strains of military music. The march of 
 thousands of troops was heard proceeding to their 
 various positions with banners unfurled, and shouting 
 " Vive Napoleon ! " " Vive le President ! " All Paris 
 was astir soon after dawn, and though the morning 
 was cold and misty, all the principal positions by 
 which the coming procession would pass were 
 thronged from an early hour. To prevent disorder, 
 a double line of infantry was drawn up through the 
 entire route, from the Palace of the Elysee to the 
 Cathedral of Notre Dame. 
 
 It was to that sacred edifice the President was 
 
VIVE LEMPER EUR! 
 
 [i8 5 r. 
 
 about to repair, to consecrate himself and the new- 
 power the nation had lately ratified to him, to the ser- 
 vice of the people. It was filled by forenoon by the 
 most brilliant and distinguished assembly that ever 
 congregated to celebrate a similar occasion. As the 
 clock struck twelve, the Archbishop moved down 
 the aisle to receive the President, carrying in his 
 hand a reputed piece of the " true cross." This the 
 President, with the blind devotion of a true Catholic, 
 kissed with due reverence on its being presented to 
 him, at the same time meekly deporting himself before 
 the font of holy water. Then, led by the Archbishop, 
 the President and his attendants proceeded to the 
 altar, near which a regal seat, covered with rich 
 velvet, was assigned to him. From the organ and 
 the orchestra now arose the sublime music of 
 the Grand March composed for the Emperor by 
 Lessueur. This was succeeded by the "Vivat," 
 and when the sweet strains of that melodious 
 anthem died away, the magnificent building vibrated 
 to the rolling harmonies of the Te Denm. Finally, 
 in soft and solemn accents, fell from the lips of the 
 High Priest the benediction of the Church upon the 
 head of her first son, now on his knees before the 
 altar. 
 
 The service over, the vast multitude in the cathe- 
 dral cried "Vive Napoleon!" and the shout was 
 echoed like a refrain along the streets as the Presi- 
 dent proceeded to the Tuileries. Here a grand re- 
 ception was given by the public bodies and the 
 military and civic dignitaries. Here, too, a splendid 
 banquet was provided, to which nearly five hundred 
 guests sat down ; and at which the most loyal and 
 patriotic toasts were proposed and drunk with ac- 
 clamation, while the beatified city lay basking in a 
 brilliant illumination. 
 
VIVE LEMPEREUR! 
 
 273 
 
 Only a short period intervened before the fact was 
 announced, but to all intents and purposes the 
 Empire was re-established on this memorable day. 
 
 The interval, though short, was replete with work 
 done and successes achieved. A new constitution 
 was promptly drawn up according to the principles 
 advocated by the President in his proclamation of 
 the 2nd of December, and presented to the people on 
 the 14th of January. The property in France of that 
 miserable money-grub, Louis Philippe, was ordered to 
 be sold, since the members of the Orleans family 
 were not now allowed to have any possessions in the 
 country. Part of this property did not belong to the 
 King really and personally, though he had of course 
 appropriated it with his wonted greed ; and after 
 some debate in the legislature, the proceeds were 
 voted to purposes of charity. Quiet having been 
 permanently restored, the greater part of the 
 prisoners apprehended before and at the coup- 
 d'etat were set at liberty. This proceeding, though 
 satisfactory no doubt to all whom it concerned, was 
 especially so to one of the captives, General 
 Cavaignac. That gallant officer, when arrested, was 
 just on the eve of marriage with a beautiful and 
 wealthy lady, to whose parents, however, he was 
 allowed to write, stating his awkward situation, before 
 being removed to the Mazas. On his release the 
 General made up for the cruel delay of his happiness 
 by claiming his bride at once, and repairing with her 
 to Italy for the honeymoon. 
 
 Another political prisoner was liberated to whom 
 freedom was almost equally dear. This was the 
 roving son of the desert, Ab-del-Kader. Several 
 years before, that hapless captive was put into 
 durance with two wives and a limited number of 
 attendants, and, no doubt, in the absorbing struggles 
 
 S 
 
274 
 
 VIVE LEMPEREUR! 
 
 of the times, the brave African chieftain pining in 
 prison was absolutely forgotten ; but the President 
 made amends for the neglect by sending him a 
 very kind letter, after ordering his release, and 
 Ab-del-Kader was made a lion of by the people on 
 his route back to his native country. 
 
 The poor, always the care of Louis Napoleon, both 
 as President and as Emperor, had a very much 
 needed benefit conferred upon them. Seeing that 
 indigent families in Paris were deprived under exist- 
 ing circumstances of the rites of Christian burial, from 
 their inability to pay the priest, the President decreed 
 that there should be attached to each of the three 
 chapels of The Trinity, St. Ambrose, and St. James, 
 two vicars, under the title of Almoners of Last 
 Prayers, paid by Government grants of twelve hun- 
 dred francs a piece. 
 
 In the army, the eagle was once more attached to 
 the national banner, and the cross of the Legion of 
 Honour was reintroduced as a badge of distinguished 
 services. 
 
 The license of the press was curbed, to the great 
 benefit of public morality and the lasting peace of 
 society. By this means the services of professional 
 liars were at a discount, and those literary varlets had 
 to seek a more honest livelihood. The disturbers of 
 the equanimity of the nation generally were more 
 closely looked after. Those hotbeds of discord, the 
 secret societies, were put under a ban ; and the streets 
 were ordered to be cleared of all stump orators the 
 moment they mounted the rostrum. Many of these 
 worthies, finding their occupation gone, repaired to 
 more congenial and profitable spheres of action. 
 
 It is not a little curious that amongst the most 
 violent of agitators during the time of the cotip- 
 d'etat was our friend M. Victor Hugo, who signed 
 
NAPOLEON IIL from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1852-1853.] 
 
 INVASION PANICS. 
 
 The English press, after the freedom of its strictures on the President's progress 
 to Empire, exhibited indications that a reckoning might be demanded for their 
 straightforward expression of opinions. 
 
 For a time alarmists were inclined to dream that some fine morning the Emperor 
 would pop across the Channel, as indicated above, and take his revenge — possibly 
 by setting the Thames on fire ! 
 
i8S2.] 
 
 VIVE L'EMPEREUR/ 
 
 275 
 
 several proclamations breathing the most horrible 
 denunciations : yet we find the same individual, upon 
 leaving France, becoming quite a benevolent cha- 
 racter in his retreat at the Island of Guernsey, taking 
 especial delight in providing Christmas treats for 
 infants ! There must be surely something obnoxious 
 in the atmosphere of the country that could trans- 
 form so good a man at a tea-party here into so 
 furious a political bully there. The beneficial effects 
 of the change of air, however, do not seem to have 
 extended to the virulence of his soul against Louis 
 Napoleon. The latter, on taking up a book contain- 
 ing M. Hugo's most venomous attacks upon him, 
 under the facetious title of " Napoleon the Little," 
 remarked, in his usual quiet way, " Ah ! Napoleon 
 the Little by Hugo the Great ! " Not a bad tit for 
 tat. 
 
 After the adjournment of the new Legislative 
 Corps, which took place at the end of June, the 
 President made another tour through the provinces. 
 He proceeded to Strasbourg to take part in the 
 inaugural ceremony of the opening of the railway. If 
 possible, his line of route was marked by a greater 
 display of enthusiasm and hospitality than ever 
 before. He was the living wonder of the day, and 
 drew homage equally from high and low. At Stras- 
 bourg he found himself in a very different situation to 
 that in which he was placed some fifteen years 
 before. Things had taken quite a turn for him there. 
 Instead of entering a prison portal, he passed through 
 triumphal arches ; while his name, once ciphered in 
 the gaol register, was now to be read in flowery devices 
 on the fronts of the houses. That name, which had 
 then been a by-word, as that of an impostor and a 
 madman, was now the subject of the happiest wishes, 
 and the burden of the heartiest cheers. The fairy 
 
 S 2 
 
276 
 
 VIVE LEMPEREUR! 
 
 dream in which he indulged on his first arrival at 
 Strasbourg was most completely realized at last. 
 
 Upon his return to Paris, the city showed itself 
 glad to have him back. His welcome rang as 
 cheerily as that of coming day from waking birds. 
 " Vive Louis Napoleon ! " was a cry the people had 
 got quite used to now, and they did not forget to 
 make use of it. 
 
 Soon after his return he celebrated the birthday of 
 Napoleon, the 15 th of August, with great festivities. 
 Amongst other demonstrations was a novel ball for 
 market-women. Funny as the idea of it appears, the 
 thing itself was quite a grand affair. The Market of 
 the Innocents was converted into the ball-room, and 
 lit up with over 300 chandeliers, containing some 
 thousands of candles. The decorations of the hall 
 were superb, and the music provided fine. It 
 scarcely remains to be added, that the company were 
 numerous, and the enjoyment perfect. The Presi- 
 dent himself was not present, from a sudden attack 
 of illness, but he sent the whole of his staff. M. de 
 Persigny had the honour of dancing with a buxom 
 potato vendor ; General Magnan was similarly 
 favoured by a lady who kept an apple-stall ; while 
 gentlemen of high standing, too numerous to 
 mention, were all likewise mated, dancing with 
 vigour amidst the most uproarious merriment. Nor 
 were the ladies of these distinguished personages too 
 proud to accept antithetical partners, but were dis- 
 covered whirling in the mazes of the waltz with 
 porters and grooms ! The correct taste of such a 
 proceeding was, of course, much questioned, and 
 there certainly does not appear to have been a great 
 deal to recommend it. 
 
 The seeds sown by a wise and vigorous Govern- 
 ment were beginning to crop up before many 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1852-1853.] 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE ! 
 
 THREATENED FRENCH INVASION OF ENGLAND IN 1853. 
 
 John Bull (quizzically).— " I'm not sure, Master Prince President, that it's right to 
 allow Foreign Refugees to land in England ! " 
 
 The dread of invasion was succeeded by a partial feeling of uncertainty, and the 
 downfall of the newly restored dynasty was considered rather imminent. Small 
 respect was paid to the Empire, — France had all the immense advancement she has 
 made under the Imperial rule still lying unexplored in her more brilliant future. 
 The Emperor gave indications of a desire to retain cordial feelings with England. 
 In all the changes of a policy founded on expedience, the most consistent side of 
 the Emperor's enigmatical character has conspicuously been his firm attachment to 
 England and his furtherance of British enterprise. That this policy was profitable, 
 the diversion of English capital for the advancement of French projects has practi- 
 cally demonstrated. 
 
 Beyond the mere consideration of interest, it is generally felt that, as a nation, 
 we are indebted to our faithful ally; it is certain that we have suffered less and 
 gained more by his particular sympathy with England than any nation favoured 
 with the Imperial friendship. In the present hour of his real or partial retirement 
 this consideration may suggest a gentler feeling for his fate. Sometimes justice is 
 stronger than gratitude. 
 
 49 
 
VIVE L'RMPERE UR I 
 
 277 
 
 months had passed, and by the end of the year their 
 fruits were abundant. The nation, in fact, again 
 stood upright, and her arm, palsied by so many 
 revolutions, was mighty in commerce and industry. 
 The city of Paris began to regain her lost beauty, 
 and to add to her charms ; for instead of barricades 
 arose palaces ; in the place of dens of squalor and 
 misery appeared the neat homes and bright gardens 
 of a well-to-do population. 
 
 Was it a wonder, then, that the nation's heart 
 should long to reward her benefactor, even according 
 to the wishes of his own heart ? She knew what 
 would be the most appreciative gift she could bestow 
 upon him. It was not wealth, for he gave back to her 
 poor a part of what he already received in that way ; 
 gold was dross to that title, empty as it really was, of 
 Emperor — the shining glory of his day-dream from 
 a child. It was nothing to part with, for was he not 
 then as autocratic a ruler as the very Czar of Russia ? 
 Yet, like the ribbon on a warrior's breast, it had a 
 value of its own to him. 
 
 From all parts of the country now came requisi- 
 tions that the Empire should be re-established. The 
 Councils-General of the various electoral depart- 
 ments were unanimously in favour of that step ; and, 
 from a second tour in the provinces, the President 
 learnt from the voice of the whole people that they 
 heartily wished him to assume the Imperial crown. 
 At every halt in this memorable journey, nothing 
 was heard but "Vive Napoleon III.!" "Vive la 
 Sauveur de la France ! " The Empire was re-estab- 
 lished. 
 
 The first attempt for the taking of a life so valu- 
 able to the nation was discovered during this tour. 
 This was at Marseilles, where the Socialists had 
 organized a most horrible plan, from which, had it 
 
278 
 
 VIVE LEMPEREUR! 
 
 [1852. 
 
 not been found out, the President could not possibly 
 have escaped death. Three hundred musket-barrels 
 were placed in a room on the ground floor of a house, 
 and would have swept the street when fired. The 
 police were fortunate enough to discover the plot, 
 and arrest those concerned in it. 
 
 Again, when he reached Paris, the President was 
 received with acclamations that a Caesar might have 
 envied. All the dignitaries of the land, civic, military, 
 and clerical, met him at the railway station, and 
 escorted him at the head of a brilliant body of 
 troops to the Tuileries. The procession, as it 
 passed along, was cheered both from the street and 
 from the windows of the houses, for the nation's 
 deliverer was entering the metropolis. It was now 
 no dream with him of his path being strewn with 
 flowers, and the air being resonant with popular 
 acclamations : it was a fact. Groups of beautiful 
 young girls, dressed in pure white, scattered fragrant 
 blossoms under his horse's feet, and with united heart 
 and voice the people cried, " Vive l'Empereur!" 
 
 On the triumphal procession reaching the Boule- 
 vards, the head of the Municipal Council advanced 
 and addressed the hero of it : — 
 
 " Prince, the Municipal Council of Paris eagerly 
 salutes your return. It congratulates itself with you 
 for the triumph which has marked every step of this 
 glorious journey. If the most noble enjoyment, after 
 that of saving one's country, is to And the country 
 grateful, what happiness must All your heart ! Every- 
 where you have met the acknowledgment of the service 
 rendered — everywhere the plaudits and the acclama- 
 tions of the people. Where civil discord had sown 
 despair and death, you have carried consolation, hope, 
 and life. 
 
 " Prince, France a few months ago surrendered to 
 
185*.] 
 
 VIVE LEMPER EUR/ 
 
 279 
 
 you the supreme right to form her laws. To-day the 
 voice of the people, after having consecrated the 
 2nd of December, demands that the power which 
 has been confided to you should be consolidated, 
 and that its stability may be the guarantee for the 
 future. 
 
 " The city of Paris is happy to associate itself 
 with this wish, not in your interest, Prince, and to 
 add to your glory — there is no greater glory than to 
 have saved the country — but in the interests of all, 
 and in order that the mobility of institutions should 
 leave hereafter to the spirit of disorder neither hope 
 nor pretext. 
 
 " You have anticipated France when it is necessary 
 to rescue her from peril ; but now, when France, guided 
 by her souvenirs, inspired by her love, opens to you a 
 new path, follow it." 
 
 To this unmistakably unanimous requisition of 
 Paris, in common with the provinces, that he should 
 invest himself with the Imperial dignity, the Presi- 
 dent responded : — 
 
 " I am the more happy, in view of the wishes you 
 express to me in the name of the city of Paris, since 
 the acclamations which I have received here are the 
 echoes of those of which I have been the object 
 during my journey. 
 
 " If France desires the Empire, it is because she 
 thinks that that form of government better guaran- 
 tees her grandeur and her future. As for me, under 
 whatever title I may be permitted to serve her, I 
 shall consecrate to that service all I have of force, all 
 I have of devotion." 
 
 The President subsequently communicated the sen- 
 timents of the nation to the Senate, which, without 
 loss of time, issued the following decrees : — 
 
280 VIVE LEMPEREUR! [1852. 
 
 " Senatus Consult. 
 
 "Article I. The Imperial dignity is re-established. 
 Louis Napoleon Buonaparte is Emperor, under the 
 title of Napoleon III. 
 
 "Article 2. The Imperial dignity is hereditary in 
 the descendants, direct and legitimate, of Louis 
 Napoleon Buonaparte, from male to male, by order of 
 primogeniture, to the perpetual exclusion of women 
 and their descendants." 
 
 Then followed other articles of a technical charac- 
 ter, and the whole were put to the vote of the French 
 nation. The people were convoked to meet at the 
 poll on the 21st and 22nd of December, to decide by 
 universal suffrage whether the Empire should be 
 re-established or not. 
 
 Nothing, of course, could exceed the fury of the 
 President's enemies on hearing these tidings. Here 
 was the very event they dreaded most actually 
 about to be accomplished. The Empire had been a 
 nightmare in their dreams, but now it was a waking 
 reality. Secure under the protection of a foreign 
 power, they fairly outstripped themselves in vitupera- 
 tions. The personage about to receive the Imperial 
 dignity was a brigand, to commence with ; that he 
 should meet a brigand's fate was, of course, just. It 
 was then patent that those who executed on the igno- 
 minious scaffold so great a social criminal were 
 ministers of Justice, and God would reward their 
 righteousness. Louis Napoleon was an outlaw ; he 
 was out of the pale of humanity ; and it would be an 
 act of imperishable glory to take his life, and save 
 the country he was now reducing to slavery. 
 
 The most conspicuous of these blasphemous patriots 
 were, that benevolent patron of Guernsey urchins, 
 M. Victor Hugo ; that gigantic advocate of universal 
 
1852.] 
 
 VIVE LEMPEREURl 
 
 281 
 
 murder and self-aggrandisement, M. Ledru Rollin ; 
 and that amiable, but somewhat erratic genius, M. 
 Louis Blanc. 
 
 The will of the nation, however, was as the oak to 
 the storm raised by such hands. In less than a week 
 the following record of the people's sentiment in 
 the matter was made public : — 
 
 Affirmative Votes for the Empire - 7,864,180 
 Negative do. 253,145 
 
 This startling majority, exceeding any which had 
 yet proceeded from the same source, was duly an- 
 nounced to the President at the Palace of St. Cloud. 
 
 For the first time in his life he then mounted a 
 throne, which had been erected upon a platform at 
 the extremity of the Hall ; and, surrounded by his 
 relatives and friends, the Emperor elect stood 
 thereon, and said : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, 
 
 " The new reign which you inaugurate to-day 
 has not for its origin, like many others in history, 
 violence, conquest, or stratagem. It is, as you have 
 said, the legal result of the will of the entire people, 
 which consolidates, in the midst of tranquillity, that 
 which it had founded in the midst of agitations. 
 
 " But the more power joins in expert and in vital 
 force, the more it has need of men enlightened as 
 those who surround me each day, of men independent 
 as those whom I address, to aid me with counsels, to 
 bring back my authority within just limits, if it can 
 ever pass them. 
 
 " I take, to-day, with the crown, the name of 
 Napoleon III., because the logic of the people has 
 already given it to me in their acclamations, because 
 
282 
 
 VIVE L'EMPEREURf 
 
 the Senate has proposed it legally, and because the 
 entire nation has ratified it. 
 
 " Is this, however, to say that, in accepting the title, 
 I fall into the error with which that prince is re- 
 proached who, returning from exile, declared as null, 
 and not having happened, everything which had taken 
 place during his absence ? Far from me a similar 
 delusion ! Not only do I recognize the Governments 
 which have preceded me, but I inherit in a measure 
 the good or the evil which they have done ; for 
 Governments which succeed each other, notwith- 
 standing their different origins, are responsible for 
 their predecessors. 
 
 "But the more I accept all that which for fifty 
 years history has transmitted to us, with its inflexible 
 authority, the less it will be permitted to me to pass 
 in silence the glorious reign of the chief of my family, 
 and the regular title, though ephemeral, of his son, 
 whom the Chambers proclaimed in the last outburst 
 of vanquished patriotism. 
 
 "Thus, then, the title of Napoleon III. is not one 
 of those dynastic and obsolete pretensions which 
 seem an insult to good sense and to truth ; it is the 
 homage rendered to a Government which was legiti- 
 mate, and to which we owe the best pages of our 
 modern history. My name does not date from 1815 ; 
 it dates from the moment in which you make known 
 to me the suffrages of the nation. 
 
 " Receive, then, my thanks, Gentlemen Deputies, 
 for the eclat which you have given to the manifesta- 
 tion of the national will, in rendering it more evident 
 by your control, more imposing by your declaration. 
 I thank you also, Gentlemen Senators, for having 
 desired to be the first to address to me your felicita- 
 tions, as you have been the first to give expression to 
 the popular will. 
 
VIVE LEMPEREUR! 
 
 283 
 
 "Aid me, all, to establish upon this land, agitated 
 by so many revolutions, a stable government, which 
 shall have for its basis religion, justice, honesty, and 
 love for the suffering classes. Receive here the oath, 
 that nothing shall I count too dear to assure the 
 prosperity of the country, and that, in maintaining 
 peace, I shall yield nothing that can protect the 
 honour or the dignity of France." 
 
 On the next day, the 2nd of December, the anni- 
 versary of the coronation of his uncle and of the 
 battle of Austerlitz, the newly created Emperor of 
 the French rode, attended by his staff, to the Champs 
 Elysees, where an immense multitude proclaimed him 
 with the cry of 
 
 "Vive l'Empereur!" 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 mjAVING now sighted the haven to which we 
 I have been tending, we must shorten sail. 
 I From the day that Louis Napoleon ascended 
 
 the Imperial throne of France, his history became 
 the history of his country, and of course it was no 
 part of our plan to compress into a few pages the 
 story of a nation's progress through twenty bright 
 years. Another day we may undertake to amplify 
 this glorious reign, to detail the unexampled success, 
 the unsurpassed wisdom, the unrivalled grandeur of 
 a sovereign who, though he owed his elevation to the 
 throne in some degree to his name, yet upheld his 
 so-acquired dignity only by his sterling genius. 
 
 Still, to preserve the unity of this narrative, some- 
 thing in the way of a retrospect of that glorious period 
 which intervened between the rise and fall of this 
 extraordinary man is requisite. It must be very 
 short, for, since it cannot do full justice to it by 
 elaboration, it should not spoil a story which may be 
 developed in another volume, when Louis Napoleon's 
 later history is ripe for discussion. 
 
 A dynasty reclaimed after so great a struggle, and 
 fraught with such happy prospects, had, of course, 
 as one of its most indispensable needs, an heir. But 
 for that consideration, it is questionable whether 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1853-] 
 
 EARLY DAYS OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL POULTRY SHOW. 
 
 The artist here cleverly gives a comparative view of his impressions of the stand- 
 ing of European Powers. The French cock, valiant in the borrowed beak of the 
 Imperial eagle, and ornamented with long spurs, measures his height with the royal 
 bird, massive and stalwart, symbolizing Prussia, single headed and firmly seated. 
 This attitude is replete with meaning at this moment, for in 1871 the comparison 
 seems renewed. Russia and Austria occupy a very similar position in the same 
 relation. 
 
 50 
 
THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 285 
 
 Louis Napoleon would have married. Ever since 
 his mother's death, as has been stated before, he 
 became a man of mystery, perfectly unapproachable, 
 and matrimony could have had little charm for him. 
 The exigency of his position, however, determined 
 him to seek a bride. To men so minded, it may be 
 admitted, without endangering the value of the fair 
 sex by suggesting the idea of its plenitude, that 
 there is no lack of choice. And the very kind of 
 wife as quickly presents herself as the resolution to 
 marry is taken, which is really curious. 
 
 A young Spanish beauty, bearing the title of the 
 Countess de Teba, dawns upon Paris a very few days 
 after the new Emperor ascends the throne of France. 
 A splendid Castilian brunette she is, slightly toned 
 by a mixture of English blood. She makes a most 
 successful debut into society, and, designedly or not, 
 completely enslaves the new autocrat of the realm. 
 He is smitten at first sight, and is soon in the sup- 
 pliant position of all true lovers — at her feet. The 
 sweet consent, which thrills alike the bosom of the 
 prince and the peasant, is given, and the happy 
 recipient announces his august intention to the Senate, 
 of taking unto himself a wife. 
 
 The speech of the Emperor on this occasion was 
 one of the happiest he ever delivered. He alluded 
 gracefully to Josephine as the modest and excellent 
 wife of General Buonaparte, not of royal blood, and 
 declared that the nephew of that great man had 
 chosen just such another. " The one," said he, " who 
 has become the object of my preference, is of ele- 
 vated birth. French in heart, by education, and by 
 the recollection of the blood shed by her father in 
 the cause of the Empire, she has, as a Spaniard, the 
 advantage of not having in France a family to whom 
 it might be necessary to give honours and dignities. 
 
286 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. [1853. 
 
 Endowed with all qualities of mind, she will be the 
 ornament of the throne, as in the day of danger she 
 will become one of its most courageous supporters. 
 Catholic and pious, she will address the same prayers 
 to Heaven with me for the happiness of France. By 
 her grace and goodness, she will, I firmly hope, 
 endeavour to derive in the same position the virtues 
 of the Empress Josephine." 
 
 After so flattering a character, bestowed upon her 
 in such glowing terms, France of course could not 
 choose but accept this prodigy of feminine grace 
 and excellence as her new Empress. 
 
 The wedding, which took place on the 29th of 
 January, 1853, was one of the grandest affairs of the 
 century. The ceremony was celebrated in two places, 
 first at the Tuileries, and next at the Cathedral of 
 Notre Dame. It would scarcely be sufficient to say 
 that the latter edifice was filled, for it was crammed ; 
 the major part of the spectators of the scene being, as 
 usual, of the fair sex. Two thrones were elevated 
 in front of the altar, and occupied severally by the 
 Emperor and Empress. The Archbishop performed 
 the imposing service, and, at its conclusion, the bride 
 and bridegroom were saluted with all the customary 
 good wishes of such occasions by their liege subjects as 
 they drove along the gay streets of the city, which 
 was decked with flowers from the one end to the other. 
 And now was blended with the cry of " Vive l'Em- 
 pereur" the new one of " Vive l'lmperatrice." 
 
 In the course of time came the blessing to this 
 union. People were beginning to fear that the Empress 
 Eugenie was too like the Empress Josephine to 
 please her Imperial Consort, but she at length rejoiced 
 his heart with a son, on the 16th of March, 1856. 
 
 That pleasing event was attributed to the fertiliz- 
 ing influence of the English climate! for the Emperor 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1853.] 
 
 A SEASON OF SUNSHINE. 
 
 THE EAGLE IN LOVE. 
 
 We have already ventured to make a cursory allusion to the susceptible tempera- 
 ment of the Prince. It was considered expedient that the Emperor should find a 
 suitable consort for the Imperial throne. Negotiations with this view were pursued 
 in various directions, and overtures were made by De Morny with the family of a 
 princess of the North; the descendants of Vasa, however, are said to have declined 
 the distinction. 
 
 The perplexities of selection were avoided by the appearance of the charming 
 Countess de Theba at the hunts of Compiegne. The heart of the Emperor became 
 the spoil of the chase ; the rivals of this fair Diana were all neglected. Colonel 
 Fleury opposed the influence of the new star, De Morny became her partisan; and 
 finally Louis Napoleon announced to the nation the choice of his affections. 
 
 Eugenie de Theba is the second daughter of the Marquess de Montijo. Her 
 mother was the daughter of Kirkpatric, who was engaged in Malaga. The career 
 of the lady mother has been freely handled by scandalous chroniclers. Mademoiselle 
 Eugenie de Montijo was attached to the Court of Isabella II. of Spain, where she 
 was associated, it is said, with the Duke de Joinville and the Duke de Nemours, the 
 Orleans princes. She has filled the position of Empress with dignity and grace. 
 
 51 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES, 
 
 [1850 and 1854.] 
 
 POPULARITY THE REAL " BEAUTY-RESTORER " ! 
 
 The caricaturists preserve in the gentle or 
 severe handling of the features of public cha- 
 racters the favour or displeasure marking popu- 
 lar opinion regarding their acts. We have seen 
 in preceding cartoons the repellent expression 
 assumed by the Imperial face when it was appre- 
 hended he was unfriendly to England, and when 
 he was justly reprobated for the slaughterous 
 Coup d'Etat. 
 
 We now produce two portraits, emanating from the same artist, not as a contrast 
 of forbidding and engaging expressions (our selections elsewhere will afford suffi- 
 cient evidences of these extremes), but to demonstrate how prominent features 
 become toned down and asperities are softened by popularity. 1854 witnessed the 
 inauguration of " The Entente Cordiale." Prince Albert visited the Emperor at 
 Boulogne. The artist celebrated this cordiality — the avant courier of a personal 
 and political intimacy of the greatest weight and consequence — by representing the 
 Imperial host and the Consort of our Queen pleasantly pledging the national 
 intimacy. 
 
 Emperor. — " Well, now you have found your way here, we hope we shall see 
 you often." 
 
 Prince. — "Oh, yes ; and the next time we have a holiday, I hope our wives 
 may be present." 
 
 52 
 
1856.] 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 287 
 
 and Empress, the year preceding it, paid a visit to 
 our country. They came in April, 1855, and were 
 received by her Majesty Queen Victoria with the 
 utmost cordiality. This was a grand occasion of 
 fetes and banquets, and England welcomed her great 
 ally with hearty British cheers. The Times published 
 an additional verse to the National Anthem, blessing 
 him, whom it has damned ever since. That impos- 
 ing personage, the Lord Mayor of London, gave a 
 grand dinner to their Imperial Majesties, and acted 
 the part of host with his customary magnificence. 
 
 It is worthy of note that, amidst the splendour of 
 his reception in England, Louis Napoleon, as his 
 carriage drove down St. James's Street, ordered it to 
 stop at the corner of King Street, that he might once 
 more behold his humble home of seven years before. 
 
 The Empire was peace, but it was found necessary 
 to have recourse to war for the maintenance of 
 peace. This was the Russian War, the expediency of 
 which has often been disputed, though there can be 
 little doubt that France and England, in their invin- 
 cible alliance against the aggrandizing policy of the 
 Czar of Russia, accomplished much for the peace of 
 Europe. If this alliance did no other good, it 
 brought into friendly relations two nations who, much 
 against their mutual interests, had been at deadly 
 strife for ages. Louis Napoleon here first showed 
 himself the friend to England which he has proved td 
 be ever since, notwithstanding his jocosely threatened 
 invasion for the avenging of Waterloo. If brothers 
 ever did fight side by side for one cause, the English 
 and French did in the battles of the Crimea, and the 
 bad blood between them was shed there, let us hope, 
 for ever. 
 
 This war cost France dear, as it did England, but it 
 enhanced the glory of both, and balanced the power 
 
288 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 [1858. 
 
 of Europe. The Emperor lost a most dear friend in 
 it in Marshal St. Arnaud — one of the few who 
 were in the secret with him in his memorable coup- 
 d'etat. The Emperor's grief on hearing of the Mar- 
 shal's death was unbounded, and he wrote a gracious 
 letter to the Marchioness, in which he deeply 
 sympathized with her, assuring her that his sorrow 
 was almost as great as her own. 
 
 Eventually the treaty of peace was signed, and 
 the Empire once more was peace. 
 
 On the 14th of January, 1858, a most dastardly 
 attempt at assassination was made on the Emperor's 
 life by a miscreant called Orsini, who was supposed 
 to be one of Mazzini's emissaries. The Emperor 
 and Empress were proceeding in their carriage to the 
 Opera, when Orsini and his associates threw under it 
 some bombs, ingeniously constructed to ignite from 
 concussion. A dreadful explosion took place, scat- 
 tering death in every direction, but the charmed 
 life of Louis Napoleon escaped, while the Empress, 
 with the exception of a dreadful fright, was nothing 
 the worse. 
 
 Two years later, a similar outrage was perpetrated 
 by an emissary from the same quarter, called Graeco, 
 but again Providence protected the life it had chosen 
 as the instrument of so much good to its generation. 
 Louis Napoleon's courage and self-composure in the 
 midst of danger were never more exemplified than 
 on these dreadful occasions, and his calm and philo- 
 sophical speech made after one of them is worth 
 quoting, as displaying his real character, and belying 
 the stigma of cowardice fixed upon it by some 
 historians. It ran as follows : — 
 
 " in the position which I occupy, life has only one 
 attraction — that of being useful to the grandeur and 
 prosperity of France. As long as I live I shall pur- 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [I855-] 
 
 A MILITARY EMPIRE. 
 
 LA BELLE ALLIANCE. 
 
 Royal visits are exchanged, and the Emperor re-enters London — a guest of the 
 nation. The alliance with France is a practical fact ; French and English soldiers 
 are shedding their blood in the Crimea, side by side, in the new character of firm 
 allies. This record of progress, this disappearance of traditional hatred before the 
 demands of civilization, furnished our artists with materials for finely patriotic illus- 
 trations of the event. The pencils of the French caricaturists were congenially 
 engaged in ridiculing the well-intentioned efforts of our notorious Peace party, 
 under the leadership of Bright and the Society of Friends. ' 
 
 53 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1856—1857.] 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 In 1856 an Imperial heir was presented 
 to the throne of France. In regarding 
 the probable continuance of the Napo- 
 leonic dynasty, a more liberal form of 
 government engaged attention. The 
 caricaturist has represented the Emperor 
 occupied in rocking the cradle of" the 
 infant Prince ; Liberty presents herself, 
 and very suggestively asks, " Please 
 may / be godmother ? " 
 
 We here introduce a German carica- 
 ture, which is important, as it conveys 
 the impression that England was not 
 altogether consulted about the conclu- 
 sion of peace with Russia. John Bull, an 
 old woman dealing in flat fish, is asleep 
 
 over the Times, while France, as a purveyor of the more sprightly lobster, grants the 
 gallant Cossack an assignation in the woods of Compiegne. * This graphic suggestion 
 of concealed favour is not unsubstantiated by the evidence of our own satirical cartoons 
 on the event. The coquettish female figure of France, in one instance, playfully 
 inserts a laurel of victory in John Bull's button-hole. The national prototype is in 
 the greatest bewilderment ; "but I really do not understand ! " he remonstrates. 
 
 " Never mind," persists France, archly, " you shall come and see the fireworks ! " 
 
 Recent facts, too, clearly prove our work was but partially accomplished. The 
 results were considered, even at the time, unworthy so costly a sacrifice of blood, 
 effort, and wealth. 
 
 * The warlike proclivities of France are happily symbolized in the smart military "casquette ;" 
 while the naval supremacy of John Bull is denoted by the tarpaulin hat. 
 
 54 
 
1858.] THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 289 
 
 sue that object, and Providence, who has hitherto so 
 visibly lent me support, will not abandon me. In 
 presence of so many parties, animated by rival ambi- 
 tions and subversive passions, there is only one way 
 of safety for France, namely, that she remains closely 
 bound to my dynasty, which alone is a symbol of 
 order and progress. But it would probably happen 
 that the circumstance of my being struck down 
 would contribute more to the consolidation of my 
 dynasty than the prolongation of my life. A 
 political assassination always produces an effect the 
 very opposite of what was intended. Look at 
 Servia : the conspirators hoped, by killing Prince 
 Michael, to bring in another dynasty, whereas they 
 have consolidated for a long time the family of the 
 Obrenowitch. Here, in France, if one of the nu- 
 merous attempts made against King Louis Philippe 
 had succeeded, the great probability is that the 
 House of Orleans would still reign over the country. 
 If to-morrow I were to fall, the people would rally 
 round my son ; and even if the whole Imperial 
 family disappeared, it would go, as in Servia, and 
 seek out some grand-nephew or other distant relative 
 — some Milan or other — to uphold the standard of 
 the Empire, avenge my murder, and once more 
 confirm this truth, that * the party which imbrues its 
 hand in blood never profits by the crime.' Therefore 
 I look to the future without any apprehension, as, 
 whether I live or die, my death will be equally 
 profitable to France, for the mission which has 
 devolved on me will certainly be accomplished 
 either by myself or by my family." 
 
 A passing cloud here cast its shadow upon the 
 friendship between England and France, for upon 
 learning that all these regicidal schemes were hatched 
 in London, by the Italian rufugee Mazzini, the French 
 
 T 
 
THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 [i8 S 8. 
 
 people were naturally irritated that we should har- 
 bour such blood-thirsty conspirators against the life 
 of their Emperor, who had shown so sincerely ami- 
 cable a disposition towards us. But what could we 
 do ? Our Grand Asylum of Europe was once as 
 free for the plotter against Louis Philippe, and we 
 could make no distinctions without infringing our 
 glorious charter of liberty. The Emperor became 
 sulky, and the French press indignant and bellicose. 
 We saw an impending quarrel, but that, instead of 
 frightening us from our duty, only made us more 
 steadfast in it. And then sprang into existence that 
 patriotic, and now highly efficient, auxiliary of the 
 national forces, the British Volunteers, who will some 
 day prove that they were not enrolled in vain. But 
 France, on cooling down, saw no reason to disturb 
 the amity existing between her and this country, so 
 recently cemented with blood, and we were again on 
 the most cordial relations with our neighbours. 
 
 After the lapse of three years, the Imperial visit 
 to England was returned by Queen Victoria and 
 Prince Albert, who became the Emperor's guests in 
 August, 1858, and the grand doings on this occasion 
 by no means fell short of those which characterized 
 our reception of Napoleon and his Empress. 
 
 One anecdote, apparently authentic, may be re- 
 lated referring to this occasion. While the Emperor 
 conducted Her Majesty and Consort to the Invalides, 
 to view the tomb of Napoleon, Jerome Buonaparte, 
 with a brother's jealousy, absented himself with the 
 keys of the vault. His nephew instantly sent for 
 him, saying he should have felt more grateful to Her 
 Majesty, who had restored to France the glorious 
 dust of its Emperor. 
 
 Louis Napoleon's first campaign in the field was 
 immensely successful. The opportunity to distin- 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1857.] 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 A PICTURE OF PEACE. 
 
 In this droll illustration we are introduced to a picture of Imperial domestic 
 serenity. The infant Prince Imperial planting his toy cannon against the advocate 
 of the Peace party is a sly satire on the irrepressible military genius of the family. 
 The bust of Cobden marks the time the Emperor was debating with that great 
 reformer the effects of a free trade policy between the two nations. 
 
 The dove on the parrot-stand with an olive-leaf in its mouth, the Quaker in the 
 picture peacefully twiddling his thumbs, show very clearly how calm and peaceful 
 were the intentions of the Emperor as compared with the terrible and warlike nature 
 lie inherited. The picture in the left corner shows the warrior's soul, which the 
 Emperor desired his friends to believe was calmed and subdued by him with so 
 much difficulty. 
 
 55 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1859.] 
 
 A MILITARY EMPIRE. 
 
 The beginning of the Austro-Italian campaign is here given with great point. 
 Footprints of the Imperial progress are not eradicated in the free Italy of this date. 
 The Italians, however, must acknowledge that their nation owes a deep debt of 
 gratitude to this member of the Bonaparte family. 
 
 The termination of the 
 Austro-Italian campaign 
 was satirized for two rea- 
 sons. The protection ac- 
 corded to "bolster up" 
 the doomed Papal See 
 was generally unpopular, 
 and Austria still held Ve- 
 netia in iron fetters. "Free 
 Italy" of 1859 was por- 
 trayed with great power 
 as a dignified maiden ; her 
 head, surmounted with 
 the cap of liberty, was 
 partially buried beneath 
 the Papal tiara, which her 
 champion Louis Napoleon 
 held suspended as a gigan- 
 tic extinguisher, threaten- 
 ing to put out the light of 
 freedom. Her hands were 
 heavily manacled, and 
 chained to a block — Ve- 
 netia, on which the proud 
 figure of Austria's Em- 
 peror held a firm foot, 
 while his hand sternly re- 
 tained the key of "free 
 Italy's " massive fetters. 
 
 56 
 
*8 S 8.] 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 291 
 
 guish himself as a General was afforded by the 
 aggressive designs of Austria against Italy, obliging 
 France to go to war a second time while the 
 Empire was peace. Not content with possessing 
 large territories in Italy proper, the Austrian troops 
 invaded Sardinia, then the seat of the now King of 
 Italy. Austria had collected an army of 230,000 
 men on the frontiers of Sardinia. A prompt decla- 
 ration of war issued from the Tuileries, and the 
 Emperor took the field, to return the conquering 
 hero of Magenta and Solferino ; yet his qualities as 
 a commander are considered by no means equal 
 to those of a politician, and his success on this 
 occasion is attributed more to fortunate accidents than 
 to military skill. 
 
 An authentic anecdote illustrative of this dictum 
 may be here given. " Before the battle of Magenta 
 the critical position of his army had caused him the 
 deepest anxiety. He had almost made up his mind 
 that a defeat was imminent. It was even feared by 
 his ally that he would throw up the game and enter 
 into a precipitate peace. Through incredible mis- 
 management the Austrians were completely defeated. 
 The Emperor lodged, the night after the battle, in the 
 house of the parish priest of the town around which 
 the bloody contest had raged. When he had left the 
 town in the morning his humble host sought for some 
 memorial of the great man. At length a sheet of 
 paper crumpled up was taken from the empty fire- 
 place. It was the rough draft of the famous pro- 
 clamation of Milan. The depression of the previous 
 day had been succeeded, after the wonderful victory, 
 by unbounded elation. Now everything appeared 
 within the Emperor's reach, and he called upon the 
 [talians to be soldiers to-day, that they might be 
 citizens to-morrow," 
 
 T 2 
 
THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 L1867. 
 
 Then came the Mexican expedition, which proved 
 the most rash and the most unfortunate intervention 
 of a foreign power ever attempted. All the facts con- 
 nected with this expedition must be fresh in the mind 
 of the reader : the setting up of the Emperor Maxi- 
 milian ; the perfidy of Lopez; the imprisonment 
 and execution of Maximilian ; the insanity of his 
 Empress Carlotta. These are tales of yesterday, and 
 require no repetition here. This was the first false 
 step of Napoleon the Third. 
 
 The Grand Exposition of April, 1867, is the next 
 bright landmark of the progress of the second 
 Empire. France on that occasion fraternized with 
 the whole world, and her resplendent capital was the 
 admiration of the eyes of the universe. With that 
 regal dignity which was born in him, the Emperor 
 entertained at his noble palace all the kings of the 
 earth who headed their people in their friendly invasion 
 of his country ; and his qualities as a host were duly 
 appreciated, for, said the Prince of Prussia, when the 
 present unhappy war broke out, Louis Napoleon's 
 kindness to himself and his Princess, while they 
 sojourned in Paris, had left a grateful recollection on 
 his mind, and he deplored returning the hospitality in 
 the way he was compelled to do. 
 
 The bond of friendship between England and 
 France, uniting them in war, was now strengthened 
 by peaceful associations, and the system of passports 
 was abolished, as an unnecessary precaution against a 
 nation which, next to his own, the French Emperor 
 most esteemed. The influx of English visitors in 
 Paris exceeded that of any other nation. People of 
 every grade from this country repaired to the Grand 
 Exposition as if it were being held in London, and 
 added great variety to the motley crowd that daily 
 thronged the boulevards. 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1863.] 
 
 A MILITARY EMPIRE. 
 
 The Empire, after a short phase of the "peace " profession, is again pushing for- 
 ward the dazzlement of war. 
 
 The Imperial success in Mexico pleased the French nation, and in fancy they saw 
 the glitter of phanto 11 wealth and splendour. French money flowed freely into this 
 El Dorado, and disappeared with the new Empire. The unhappy fate of the be- 
 trayed Maximilian, Napoleon's nominee, was the earliest check to the gay progress 
 of the restored Empire. The satirists, English, German, and French, alike pre- 
 sented the murdered Prince as a perpetual Death's head at the Imperial banquets. 
 
 57 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1863— 1864.] 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 THE IMPERIAL ROBINSON CRUSOE. 
 
 The failure of 
 the Emperor's pro- 
 posals lor a Con- 
 ference on the af- 
 fairs of Europe is 
 thus concisely told. 
 Compl i cat ions, — 
 now engaging the 
 attention of the 
 world, — might 
 possibly have been 
 avoided had this 
 scheme succeeded. 
 Prussia, Austria, 
 and Russia were 
 suspicious of the 
 Emperor's since- 
 rity; this distrust 
 has resulted al- 
 ready in the de- 
 struction of thou- 
 sands. The Ger- 
 
 man papers repre- 
 sented Napoleon 
 and the King of 
 Italy opening a 
 " lavatory " or 
 wash-house label- 
 led " Congress ;" 
 Prussia, Austria, 
 Russia, and Tur- 
 key bring their 
 dirty linen to be 
 subjected to the 
 cleansing process 
 professed by the 
 enterprising pro- 
 jectors of the un- 
 dertaking. Scene 
 the second pre- 
 sents the acceptors 
 of the Imperial in- 
 vitation staring in 
 wonderment,— 
 
 while Napoleon and his ally decamp with the articles subjected to their offices ! 
 
 THE BONE OF CONTENTION. 
 
 The claims of 
 the Duke of Au- 
 gustenburg to the 
 Duchies of Schles- 
 wig-Holstein drew 
 the attention of the 
 German Confede- 
 ration to the dis- 
 posal of this ques- 
 tion with Den- 
 mark, who refused 
 to give up these 
 provinces. The 
 responsibility of 
 electing the pro- 
 per Powers to in- 
 
 Napoleon. 
 
 "Come along, young Denmark 
 58 
 
 sist on this cession 
 embittered feeling 
 in Germany, and 
 paved the way for 
 gigantic results. 
 
 A hint that Na- 
 poleon might have 
 been able to snap 
 up the Rhine Pro- 
 vinces in the con- 
 tention, while 
 Denmark made off 
 with Schleswig- 
 Holstein, is thus 
 
 let 'em fight it out among themselves ! 
 
i86 7 .] 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 293 
 
 Here was the culmination of the happy reign of 
 Napoleon III. Nations of every clime beheld the 
 marvellous progress of France under the administra- 
 tion of her sagacious ruler. Unclouded happiness 
 pervaded the land, and untarnished glory shed a 
 lustre over the Empire. It was a proud day for the 
 author of so much good and so much greatness to 
 his country. He could say, " Behold, ye dwellers of 
 the earth, my handiwork ! I came here and found 
 this land in almost irremediable bankruptcy, and gasp- 
 ing out its life in revolutions. Its wealth is now 
 stupendous, its energies herculean. Poverty and 
 crime infested this grand city ; a third of its people 
 were mendicants or thieves. I unbarred the doors of 
 industry and enterprise, and, lo ! you see the fruits of 
 my toil. Is there a brighter or more beautiful 
 capital in the whole world, with a population more 
 happy and prosperous ? When I arrived, there was 
 a great cry for liberty, equality, and fraternity. I 
 gave them liberty, short only of license ; equality, with- 
 out disorder ; fraternity, with decorum." 
 
 It was said of Augustus, that he found Rome brick 
 and left it marble. That saying would be no exaggera- 
 tion if applied to Louis Napoleon and Paris. A lively 
 but true sketch by a Paris correspondent is worth 
 giving, as it conveys some notion of the grand 
 improvements that had taken place in the second 
 capital of the world. 
 
 After describing the great improvements that have 
 been made in London, the writer proceeds : — 
 
 " But just cross the Channel, and pass a few days in 
 Paris. Rub up your boyish reminiscences of that gay 
 capital, and to amazement will succeed bewilderment, 
 to bewilderment despair. It is not that the city has 
 grown to such a very enormous extent. There are no 
 entire suburbs simpering in stucco, and full of pert 
 
2Q4 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. [1867. 
 
 flimsy edifices such as those which have deservedly 
 raised the sceva indignatio of Mr. Ruskin. The fact 
 is rather that Paris proper — our old Paris, that dirty, 
 delightful city — has gone clean away, and another 
 Paris has started up in its place. There is still a 
 Rue St. Honore, but it is no more like the Rue St. 
 Honore of Louis Philippe's time than chalk is like 
 cheese. The famous tobacco shop of ' La Civette ' 
 yet hangs out its sign, but it no more resembles the 
 old 'Civette' than the Members' dining-room at the 
 New Palace at Westminster resembles the Bellamy's 
 with its sanded floor and monstrous gridiron, where 
 Pitt used to drink port and Sheridan ' bilk ' the 
 waiters. There is a Boulevard des Italiens certainly ; 
 but a Boulevard without trees, without a jardin Turc, 
 without ' all the fun of the fair ' in the shape of rope- 
 dancers, jugglers, dancing-dog masters, quacks, con- 
 tortionists, and roving industrials with their cry of 
 ' tine monire, chaine et cachet, vingt-cinq sous la piece! 
 There is an American process, implying utter spolia- 
 tion, devastation, and corruption, known as ' knocking 
 things into a cocked hat.' The Shenandoah Valley, 
 for instance, has been 'knocked into a cocked hat/ 
 So has the once-thriving city of Atlanta. The Em- 
 peror Napoleon III. has put Paris through a similar pro- 
 bation, only he has given the Parisians a new cocked 
 hat in exchange — the petit chapeau of Imperialism. 
 Far be it from us to mourn over dark and dirty, 
 ill-paved and worse-drained streets, replaced by noble 
 boulevards full of palaces — over a completed Louvre, 
 a reconstructed Tuileries, a regenerated Palais 
 Royal, and an interminably prolonged Rue de 
 Rivoli. If the Place de l'Hotel de Ville seems to be 
 an adjunct of Belgrave Square — if the Quartier 
 Latin has now little Latin and less Greek — if the 
 Morgue has been moved, and the dens of the Cite 
 
NAPOLEON Ill.jrom POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1866.] 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 Prussia and Austria settled 
 the Schleswig-Holstein ques- 
 tion by the right of might 
 with Denmark, and then 
 quarrelled over the division 
 of the booty. The important 
 campaign of 1866 resulted. 
 An early view of the Imperial 
 interest in the conflict is illus- 
 trated from a German carica- 
 ture of the gladiatorial arena 
 " Ave, Csesar Imperator ! 
 morituri te salutant ! " 
 
 An English cartoon presents 
 Britannia and Napoleon seve- 
 rally commenting, under the 
 heads of " Honesty and Po- 
 licy," on the failure of their 
 efforts as peacemakers. 
 
 Brit. — "Well, I've done 
 my best. If they will smash 
 each other, they must." 
 
 Nap. ( aside ) — "And some 
 one may pick up the pieces." 
 
 The results of the short 
 decisive campaign of 1866 
 opened the eyes of Europe to 
 a new era. France lost her 
 prominence. The exertions 
 of Napoleon for the recovery 
 of his firestige constitute the 
 history of the four years suc- 
 ceeding: 1866. 
 
 This cartoon was provoked 
 by the clouded condition of 
 the Imperial affairs. The 
 irresistible impulse of Prussia 
 and the threatened health of 
 the Prince Imperial, the only 
 representative of his personal 
 sovereignty, gave a gloom)- 
 shade to the Emperor's pro- 
 spects. Napoleon meditates 
 amid the pregnant shadows 
 of the sepulchre of his race. 
 
 IN THE BOSOM OF HIS FAMILY. 
 59 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1866 to 1870.] 
 
 A GATHERING TEMPEST. 
 
 A CONFERENCE ON THE ROMAN QUESTION. 
 The German satirist wittily introduces a comment on the influence exercised by 
 the Empress. Eugenie has certainly controlled Louis Napoleon's action on the 
 Catholic question, and, by the support accorded to the Papal chair, has made Eu- 
 rope recognize the force of beauty allied to courage — even in affairs of state. 
 
 NAPOLEON AND BISMARCK IN CONTEST. 
 A later suggestion of a general conference (1867) produces from the pencil of a 
 German artist the conviction that the clouded questions of Europe (and piominently 
 the Eastern difficulty) are to be settled henceforth by two champions ; from this time 
 Prussia seems to thwart and dwarf France, and to limit the aspirations of her ruler. 
 
1867.] THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 295 
 
 swept away — we are fain at the same time to admit 
 that the Paris which old Prior pithily summed up as 
 ' a mountain of mud, masquerades, monks, and 
 murderers,' has become, under the auspices of the 
 present ruler of France, the handsomest and cleanest 
 city in the world." 
 
 But greatness frequently spoils a nation as wealth 
 individuals. France grew as proud of herself as of 
 her Emperor and of her capital, and she became 
 arrogant and jealous of rivals; and then came her 
 downfall, which will be related in the next chapter. 
 
 In the meantime may be noted the rustication of 
 the Emperor and the Empress at Biarritz. Fatigued 
 with his great labours, Louis Napoleon, with his wife 
 and son, repaired to that beautiful bathing-place to 
 repair his wasted energies amidst its salubrious 
 atmosphere and pleasing recreations. A most en- 
 thusiastic reception was rendered by the natives, and 
 as the Imperial family daily walked and talked with 
 the inhabitants, its popularity increased, and charming 
 stories were told of the condescension and affability 
 of the Emperor and Empress. The Empress and 
 her son were made especial favourites, and hymns of 
 praise were chanted of that amiable and sweet lady, 
 who proved that what her Imperial husband had said 
 of her before marriage was no courtly nonsense, 
 no gallant flattery. She was found to be the em- 
 bodiment of all the graces and virtues of her sex, 
 while her fascinating beauty, and her elegant taste in 
 dress, were justly admired. In the latter respect, the 
 name of the Empress Eugenie will be historical, if in 
 no other. The marvellous modes of fashion she has 
 introduced amongst the ladies of all countries, 
 from time to time, have immortalized her ; and that 
 stupendous auxiliary to female attractions, first as- 
 sumed by her, and then by the whole fair world, the 
 
2giJ 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 [1867. 
 
 crinoline, will doubtless assume its due importance in 
 the annals of the age. 
 
 It was while he was at Biarritz that the Emperor 
 took the next false step, leading to his misfortunes. 
 Count Bismarck then got on the blind side of his 
 wary rival, and, with his own consent, instituted his 
 ruin. The first blow for Prussia's aggrandizement 
 was struck by her in her alliance with Italy against 
 Austria ; for by it a powerful opponent to her future 
 aggressive measures was crippled and humiliated. 
 The Emperor, little dreaming of the fatal results 
 which might ensue to France, and perhaps thinking 
 Prussia would get the worst of the struggle, and so 
 save him the trouble of fighting against her, gave his 
 consent to this war, and the battle of Sadowa became 
 the precursor of the siege of Paris. 
 
 A modern historian gives a succinct and interesting 
 account of this interview, which will be read with 
 interest at this juncture. Says Sir Alexander 
 Malet :— 
 
 " The French circular, referring to the Treaty of 
 Gastein, had been followed by the meeting of the 
 English and French fleets at Cherbourg, and the 
 King of Prussia raised objections to his Ministers 
 taking a journey which, under such circumstances, 
 seemed incompatible with the dignity of Prussia. 
 In this conjuncture, seeing the indispensable need of 
 removing the mistrust of the Emperor of the 
 French, M. de Bismarck contrived to induce the 
 French Cabinet to modify the terms of their cir- 
 cular ; and the King's consent being thereupon 
 given, he went at once to Paris, and thence con- 
 tinued his journey to Biarritz. 
 
 " His success was complete — how brought about 
 can only be vaguely surmised. One point, however, 
 may be shrewdly guessed at with tolerable certainty 
 
NAPOLEOX III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1866 to 1870.] 
 
 A GATHERING TEMPEST — -( COJltinued.) 
 
 Emperor Napoleon. 
 
 THE LUXEMBOURG QUESTION. 
 
 " TO BE SOLD." 
 
 I have made an offer to my friend here, and- 
 
 The Man in Possession — " No ! have you, though? I rather think I was the party to apply to " 
 Emperor Nap. — "Oh, indeed ! Ah! then in that case I '11 but it's of no consequence." 
 
 The German caricaturists presented the question under the guise of a universal 
 fair. Holland, as a Dutch pedlar „ 
 
 trafficking among the licensed 
 booths, is turned out by Bismarck 
 at the moment he is concluding 
 a bargain for the disposal of 
 Luxembourg (represented by a 
 toy lamb) to Napoleon, who 
 slinks round a corner on the 
 transaction being detected ! 
 
 The discussion of the Luxem- 
 bourg question gave indicative 
 warning of the heavy clouds 
 which loomed overhead. A 
 danger of collision was appre- 
 hended, and England, with great 
 promptitude, tendered her offices 
 the moment intervention could 
 be listened to. This amicable 
 settlement is we'l summed up by 
 a German caricaturist, who re- 
 presents Great Britain as a sub- 
 stantial envoy of peace, rubbing the noses of Napoleon and Bismarck together in 
 friendly contact : it may be observed that the faces still retain a threatening cast ! 
 
 61 
 
I867-] 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 297 
 
 — that the alliance of Prussia with Italy, for the 
 purpose of war with Austria, was promised. The 
 Emperor did not insist on any positive engagements 
 for contingent advantages to accrue to France. He 
 had not that superb confidence in the ability of 
 Prussia to vanquish Austria, even with Italian aid, 
 indulged in by M. de Bismarck. It is much more 
 likely that he looked forward to the exhaustion of 
 the combatants, when both or either of them might 
 appeal to his not altogether disinterested good offices 
 to appease their strife. The Emperor foresaw, how- 
 ever, with tolerable certainty, the probable liberation 
 of Venetia, an object he had greatly at heart ; and 
 it is perfectly well known that M. de Bismarck re- 
 turned to Berlin with such assurances of sympathy 
 and absolutely benevolent neutrality on the part of 
 France, that he could make his arrangements for 
 employing the Rhenish garrisons, and leaving Sarre 
 Louis, Coblenz, Luxemburg, and Cologne partially 
 stripped of artillery, and with a small force of Land- 
 wehr for their protection ; all which would have been 
 impossible had he been insecure as to the disposi- 
 tions of France." 
 
 The dispute between Prussia and Austria, as will 
 be remembered, arose from the refusal of the latter 
 to cede Venetia to Italy. The question of the right 
 of Italy to Venetia, and the motive which actuated 
 Prussia to aid Italy in wresting the province from 
 Austria, may here be left open, as irrelevant to our 
 story ; but the views entertained by Louis Napoleon 
 in the matter may be given. After the Venetian 
 question had been referred to a European Conference, 
 and failed in being amicably arranged, it was decided 
 in the French Senate that the Emperor should express 
 his opinion of the affair, as relating to France, in the 
 form of a letter to that body. This was accordingly 
 
293 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. [1867. 
 
 done, and M. Rouher read to the House the following 
 communication from the Emperor to the Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs : — 
 
 "Palace of the TuilerieSy June II. 
 
 " Monsieur le Ministre, 
 
 " At a moment when all the hopes of peace 
 which we were induced to entertain from the meet- 
 ing of the Conference seem to have vanished, it is 
 essential to explain, by a circular to our diplomatic 
 agents abroad, the ideas which my Government pro- 
 posed to submit to the councils of Europe, and the 
 conduct which it proposes to adopt in presence of the 
 events in preparation. This communication will show 
 our policy in its true light. If the Conference had 
 taken place, your language, as you know, was to have 
 been explicit ; you were to have declared, in my 
 name, that I repudiated any idea of territorial ag- 
 grandisement (cheers) so long as the European equi- 
 librium should not be broken (uproar). In fact, we 
 could only think of an extension of our frontiers in 
 case of the map of Europe being modified for the 
 exclusive benefit of a great power, and also in the 
 case of the frontier provinces asking by their votes, 
 freely expressed, to be annexed to France (approba- 
 tion). Excluding such circumstances, I think it more 
 worthy of our country to prefer, to acquisitions of 
 territory, the precious advantage of living on good 
 terms with our neighbours (cheers), while respecting 
 their independence and their nationality (renewed 
 applause). Animated by these sentiments, and having 
 only in view the maintenance of peace, I made an 
 appeal to Russia and England to address words of 
 conciliation to the parties interested (cheers). The 
 accord established between the neutral powers will 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1866 to 1870.] 
 A GATHERING TEMPEST — (continued. ) 
 
 "AFTER YOU, SIR!" 
 An English sketch of the attitude of France and Prussia from 1866. The diffi- 
 cult nature of the position is suggestively indicated, and recaUs the proposal for a 
 general disarmament. A clever French caricature mi_this subject represents a sol- 
 dier of each power, 
 
 his hand holding a 
 weapon but half 
 concealed behind 
 his back. One in- 
 quires, "Are you 
 disarmed?" An- 
 other replies, inter- 
 rogatively, " Are 
 you ?" 
 
 This French 
 sketch of the con- 
 tinental custom of 
 leaving cards at 
 one's neighbours' 
 on the anniversary 
 of the new year is 
 employed as an 
 apt vehicle to con- 
 vey the estimation 
 of the rapidity of 
 Prussian exten- 
 sion. 
 
 French Portf.es s 
 
 "JOUR DE L'AN." 
 It may increase like this (t868) every year 
 where this card will be put soon ! 
 U 
 
 It grows so fast, I can't tell 
 
300 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. [1867. 
 
 Now it is to be feared that the fate of arms can alone 
 decide the questions. In the face of these eventu- 
 alities, what is the attitude of France ? Should we 
 manifest our displeasure because Germany finds the 
 treaties of 18 15 impotent to satisfy her national ten- 
 dencies and maintain her tranquillity? In the war 
 which is on the point of breaking out, we have but 
 two interests— the maintenance of the balance of 
 power in Europe, and the maintenance of the work 
 to which we contributed in Italy (cheers). But is 
 not the moral force of France sufficient for the pro- 
 tection of these two interests ? Will she be obliged 
 to draw the sword to make her voice heard ? I think 
 not (fresh applause). If, notwithstanding our efforts, 
 the hopes of peace be not realized, we have at least 
 the assurance, from the declaration made by the 
 Courts engaged in the conflict, that whatever be the 
 results of the war, none of the questions in which we 
 are interested will be settled without the concurrence 
 of France (cheers). Let us maintain, then, a watch- 
 ful neutrality, and, strong in our disinterestedness, 
 animated by the sincere desire to see the nations of 
 Europe forget their quarrels, and unite for the ad- 
 vancement of civilization, liberty, and progress, let 
 us wait, confident in our right, and calm in our 
 strength (prolonged applause). 
 
 " Hereupon, Monsieur le Ministre, I pray God to 
 have you in his holy keeping. 
 
 " Napoleon." 
 
 The revelations of future history must clear up 
 the complicated policy involved in this Venetian 
 question. The secret design, if there was any secret 
 design hidden beneath the above plausible manifesto, 
 must some day come to light ; but it is quite clear 
 that neither the Emperor nor any of his ministers 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1866 to 1870.] 
 A GATHERING tempest— (continued.) 
 
 MODERN VERSION OF THE EMBLEMS OF PEACE AND WAR. 
 "Which is Peace and which is War?" or very much alike. 
 
 The French satirist has given a happy rendering of that very serious subject, 
 "armed peace." Parisian caricaturists, whose hits are often both wise and witty, 
 represent the question as illimitable. In "A New Version of National Budgets " 
 we find one scale of the balance weighed down with cannon -balls, which all the 
 public wealth heaped in the other scale cannot raise. In another cartoon, Mars 
 — who looks barely warlike in contrast with "Pax," remarks, "Well, / shall be 
 able to take a little rest now ! " 
 
 A spirited English pencil presents a view of Vulcan's forge and manufactory ; 
 orders for thousands of arms of every description are posted on the workshop walls, 
 in progress of execution. Peace steps in, and inquires if the perspiring divinity has 
 much work to do. Vulcan replies, "Well, thanks to your ladyship, I've almost 
 more than I can manage. " 
 
 63 
 
i86 7 .] 
 
 THE EMPIRE IS PEACE. 
 
 301 
 
 had the slightest apprehension of what Count Bis- 
 marck knew would be the final issue of this contest, 
 so innocently encouraged by France, pending between 
 Prussia and Austria. The German statesman had 
 worked out the political problem involved, and kept 
 the solution wisely to himself. 
 
 The most remarkable feature of Louis Napoleon's 
 Imperial rule was its total freedom from attempts 
 at revolutions. It was the wonder of the world how 
 this man kept in subjection the unruly spirits who 
 had ravaged the country with insurrections for so 
 many years previously. Not that political squibs 
 like Rochefort did not occasionally explode, to the 
 alarm of old women, but that the serenity of the 
 country was never disturbed by an armed resistance 
 to the constituted authorities. Prompt and decisive 
 in their operations, the police were found sufficient to 
 arrest disorder ere it reached a tumult, while pensive 
 meditations in a prison brought each rising agitator 
 to his senses. 
 
 The last year of the Empire dawned with un- 
 diminished glory. The last "plebiscite" displayed 
 no decay, in its millions of favourable votes, to those 
 whichhad re-established the Imperial regime. The ship 
 of the Imperial dynasty sailed onto the breakers with 
 a full stretch of canvas, and a clear blue sky above it. 
 The confidence of the Emperor's last speech to the 
 Senate was as marked as it had been on any 
 previous occasion ; and the prophet was not inspired 
 who could foretell the unprecedented disasters of the 
 next few months. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 HE advancement of Prussia within a few 
 years, through the instrumentality of a .single 
 genius, from a second-rate power to the 
 summit of European importance, has but the one 
 parallel of France under the two Napoleons. It has 
 been the fashion to decry Count Bismarck as a 
 scheming villain, an unprincipled scoundrel, a limb of 
 the devil, simply because he has been endowed with 
 an almost omniscient intellect, which he has used, as 
 a true patriot should, to the ennobling of his country. 
 There is a superstitious dread connected with his 
 very name, as there was with that of his great proto- 
 type, Nicholas Machiavelli, than whom there have 
 been few more virtuous men. Both these illustrious 
 personages have been supposed to be in close compact 
 with the Evil One, who, not unfrequently, goes by 
 the name Old Nick, in honour of his presumed inti- 
 macy with Nicholas Machiavelli. That the Count is 
 perfectly aware of the extent of the popular hatred 
 towards him, will be seen from the following extract 
 of a letter to a friend, published lately in one of the 
 Berlin papers : — 
 
 "What man, placed as I am, could not cause 
 scandal, rightly or wrongly ? I even go farther than 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 [1866 to 1870.] 
 
 A GATHERING TEMPEST — {continued.) 
 
 FRENCH VIEW OF GERMAN UNITY. 
 
 "La Charivari" (to a Prussian who is clumsily endeavouring to carve "unity" on the 
 board of Germany. — "Ah, my friend, you won't get through that work, your hand is too heavy ! " 
 
 While the German caricaturists ventilate every act of the wily Emperor, whose 
 movements they followed with an ever- watchful eye, in 1868 we find the French 
 satirists equally sensitive to any activity on the part of Prussia. 
 
 Two members of the Landwehr are discussing the augmentation of the army : 
 "A levy of a million men ! " remarks one ; "that will weigh heavy on our enemies." 
 "And," observes his less enthusiastic companion, "it will weigh heavier on us." 
 
 That the Emperor distrusted the reality of German unity is illustrated by the 
 useless negotiations which followed his declaration of war (1870). The postpone- 
 ment of immediate action produced mistrust among his generals, and resulted in 
 an irresolute and disastrous campaign. 
 
 64 
 
i868.] 
 
 THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 you. I do not deem that your opinion, relative to 
 concealed things, is correct. 
 
 " I would thank God that I should not have more 
 sins weighing upon my conscience than those which 
 are known to the world, and of which I hope to be 
 pardoned, but thanks to the blood of Jesus Christ ! 
 
 "As a statesman, I am not sufficiently haughty. I 
 do not place myself sufficiently above conventions. 
 In my own opinion I am rather a poltroon ; more- 
 over, I cannot succeed to get for the questions of 
 which I seek the solution that clearness which confi- 
 dence in God gives. Who accuses me of being a poli- 
 tical man without any conscience wrongs me ; before 
 condemning me, let him feel his ground — let him put 
 his conscience to the ordeal." 
 
 It is thus apparent that Count Bismarck actually 
 considers himself a Christian, though, of course, few 
 will allow his claims in that respect. 
 
 Count Bismarck, before he turned his attention to 
 politics, was known as a very wild character, and 
 from the orgies in which he indulged was called 
 " Mad Bismarck." This was, however, when he was 
 a young man, for his political career extends over 
 twenty-five years. His advancement to the position 
 he now holds was slow but sure. In 1847 ne became 
 a member of the Diet ; in 185 1, he was sent to Frank- 
 fort as ambassador ; from thence he was transferred, 
 in 1859, to St. Petersburg; and from thence, in 1862, to 
 Paris. His stay in the French capital, however, was 
 short, for in the same year he was made Premier. 
 The king conferred on his faithful servant the title of 
 Count in 1866, and it may be said to have been 
 fairly earned, as also other distinctions which have 
 been showered upon the great statesman by his grate- 
 ful sovereign. 
 
 The scheme with regard to the North German 
 
3 o4 THE STAR FALLS. [1868. 
 
 Confederation, planned and carried out by Count 
 Bismarck, amounted to this : — That the King of 
 Prussia, as President of the Bund, should be em- 
 powered to declare war or make peace in the name 
 of all the German Principalities ; to accredit and 
 receive ambassadors ; to convoke and close the 
 Federal Diet and Council ; to appoint and dismiss 
 Government officials ; to have the chief command 
 of the Army and Navy ; and, in fact, to rule as 
 a supreme Sovereign, without interfering with the 
 mere titles and dignities which the petty princes 
 were loth to part with, though they lost their indi- 
 vidual power, such as it was. Thus, the King of 
 Prussia is now really, though not in title, the ruler of 
 a vaster empire than any German Emperor before 
 him, though the petty kings under him still wear 
 their crowns, still retain their castles and courts, and 
 all the other paraphernalia of a dummy royalty. 
 Prussia has indeed done with Germany what Eng- 
 land did with India, where in a similar way many 
 a nabob reigns to-day in his own eyes and those of 
 his retinue, though his ancestor ceded the territory 
 which he is supposed to have dominion over to the 
 British Government, for a pension and a mock title. 
 An offensive and defensive treaty was signed by the 
 German states with Prussia, whereby, in the event of 
 war, the whole German army would be under the 
 sole control of the King of Prussia. 
 
 Singularly enough, the late Sir Robert Peel enter- 
 tained the same idea years before Count Bismarck took 
 to politics, for in writing to invite Chevalier Bunsen 
 to meet Cornelius, the German artist, he said of the 
 German people — " The ultimate union and patriotism 
 of this people, spread as it is over the centre of 
 Europe, will offer the best guarantee for the peace 
 of the world, and the most powerful check against 
 
1868.] 
 
 THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 305 
 
 the propagation of doctrines, pernicious alike to the 
 cause of religion and order, and to that freedom 
 which respects the right of others." 
 
 This gigantic acquisition of power by Prussia, 
 through, as it were, the sleight-of-hand of Bismarck, 
 was an accomplished fact in a few months, to the 
 great consternation of Austria, and the chagrin and 
 jealousy of France. Both these countries were 
 astounded to find the vast coalition had actually 
 taken place, the while that they were reckoning upon 
 the likelihood of an appeal from the States, to either 
 one or both of them, for aid in stopping Prussia 
 from carrying out her wholesale confiscation of their 
 lands. Apprehending danger, France without delay 
 began to strengthen her military establishment, with 
 the view of not only being ready for any aggressive 
 measures of Prussia towards her, but also of some 
 day provoking a war with her, whereby her usurped 
 power might be crippled, and she again be reduced 
 to her former position amongst European nations. 
 Early in 1867, a motion was brought forward in the 
 French Senate, for the reorganization of the army, 
 its object being to increase, in the space of six years, 
 the French forces of all arms, from 400,000 men to 
 1,232,200 men, of whom two-thirds were to be com- 
 posed of the reserve and the National Guard, and 
 one-third of the regular troops. No reason was 
 assigned to the French nation for the expediency of 
 so startling a military reform, which of course gave 
 rise to various surmises, and no small amount of 
 opposition from the people, who were already groan- 
 ing beneath a heavier burden in this way than they 
 had been accustomed to in times of peace. 
 
 The eye of Bismarck was not slow to perceive the 
 real meaning of this movement in France. He 
 knew that it implied nothing short of a war with his 
 
 . u 
 
306 
 
 THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 [1868. 
 
 country ; and occupied as he was in putting into 
 shape the raw material he had lately got together for 
 the creation of one of the most formidable nations 
 in the world, he did not neglect to set in motion 
 machinery for increasing the even then almost 
 invincible military force at the command of Prussia. 
 A slow but steady process was going on for render- 
 ing every able-bodied man in the new German 
 Empire an efficient soldier, available the moment he 
 was called upon for service in the field. Glutted by 
 recent victories, the German press began to be vain- 
 glorious, adding fuel to the fire now kindled. To 
 the sore irritation of the French people, it began 
 to talk of the probable recovery of Alsace and 
 Lorraine by the victorious army that had given 
 some token of its prowess at Sadowa ; while it 
 hinted that Holland was by no means out of reach, 
 should the same redoubtable force be sent to annex 
 that country to Prussia. Such insolent exultation on 
 the part of the press was but an echo of the voice of the 
 German people, and it was continued for a long time. 
 
 France was not unreasonably inflamed to find, 
 therefore, an upstart power, separated from her only 
 by the breadth of a river, vaunting itself on victories 
 accruing from the beguiled non-intervention of herself 
 in the war that led to them, and breathing defiance 
 to the whole world. Every day her jealousy grew 
 greater, as the taunts from across the Rhine grew 
 louder that Prussia was ready to meet her in the 
 field whenever she might think proper. 
 
 It came to pass that as the two nations stood in 
 this unfriendly attitude, a casus belli occurred, which, 
 though it did not provoke a war at that time, was 
 undoubtedly the original cause of that which took 
 place three years later. This arose from the Luxem- 
 bourg question, in April, 1867. 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1866 to 1870.] 
 
 A GATHERING TEMPEST — (contimied.) 
 
 PARIS AND MADRID. 
 
 The German satirists saw in 
 every event some connection with 
 the Emperor. On the downfall 
 of Queen Isabella and the pro- 
 clamation of a Republic in Spain 
 they discovered a significant warn- 
 ing to the Bonaparte family. The 
 establishment of a Republican 
 Government in France at this 
 hour has demonstrated this spe- 
 culation was not altogether insi 
 nificant. The attentions the 
 Imperial family hastened to offer 
 the ex-Queen furnished the artist 
 with a sly hint of the notorious 
 gallantries of the principal per- 
 sonages, under the head of "A 
 Spanish flirtation." 
 
 Public opinion 
 in France, though 
 not so completely 
 ignorant of the im- 
 mense resources of 
 Prussia as some 
 apologists for the 
 Emperor's disas- 
 ters would demon- 
 strate, was too 
 strongly preju- 
 diced by confi- 
 dence in the supe- 
 riority of the 
 French arms. The 
 Chassepotwas one 
 source of weak- 
 ness : its proved 
 advantages over 
 the needle-gun 
 were dangerously 
 exaggerated — to a 
 point of rendering 
 the known nume- 
 rical superiority of 
 Prussia a question 
 too unimportant 
 to be entertained 
 at Paris. 
 
 CONFIDENCE IN THE CHASSEPOT. 
 "Heavens! what have you said to this gentleman?" 
 " Nothing offensive, that I am aware of. I simply inquired his opinion 
 of the Chassepot ! " 
 
 65 
 
x868.] 
 
 THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 307 
 
 The city of Luxembourg had been garrisoned for 
 over fifty years by Prussian troops, but on the for- 
 mation of the North German Confederation, the 
 authorities began to fear that the Grand Duchy, if 
 allowed to remain so garrisoned, would eventually 
 become a part of the Confederation. Therefore a 
 numerously signed petition was sent by the citizens 
 to the King of Holland, the Grand Duke, which may 
 be quoted as showing the nature of the dispute 
 between France and Prussia in this matter : — 
 
 " Sire, 
 
 " Be pleased to permit many of your faithful 
 subjects, inhabitants of the city of Luxembourg, 
 to raise at this moment of profound anxiety their 
 voice towards the throne. Luxembourg, happy and 
 free, has prospered under the sceptre of your glorious 
 house, and it will preserve an eternal and grateful re- 
 membrance of it. In the present day, fate is against 
 your Majesty and our country, and the days of 
 our independence appear to be numbered. After the 
 grave events of last year, which dissolved the old 
 Germanic Confederation, we can no longer hope to 
 maintain our national existence. The fortress of 
 Luxembourg will fall either to North Germany or to 
 France, and in either case the country will inevitably 
 follow the destinies of the nation that is in possession 
 of the capital. If in such circumstances a sem- 
 blance of independence could be preserved to us, it 
 would be no other than ephemeral and uncertain, and 
 would only prolong the agony of our country. On 
 the one hand, France desires the annexation of the 
 Grand Duchy ; on the other hand, the Grand Duchy 
 recoils from its annexation to the Northern Con- 
 federation and its absorption by Germany. We 
 admire Germany, but our sympathies, our habits, our 
 
 U 2 
 
3 o8 THE STAR FALLS. [1868. 
 
 traditions, our strong feeling of equality, our ancient 
 franchises, draw us, not towards Germany, but to- 
 wards France. It is with the latter we should find a 
 new country and a future, and those sentiments the 
 whole country shares. Were war to break out, 
 whatever might be the issue, we should be the first 
 victims of it. Even now, we tremble for our homes, 
 our families, and our future condition. Your Majesty, 
 in your magnanimous goodness, will understand our 
 alarms and excuse our complaints. If you fear, as 
 we do, that our independence, however dear to us, 
 cannot be guaranteed, you can, Sire, without failing 
 in your paternal mission, and without endangering 
 the interests of Luxembourg, accede to the wishes of 
 France. The disinterested love of our dear country, 
 and the solicitude we feel for the future, inspire us 
 with this language. Whatever may befall us, attach- 
 ment to the noble and glorious family of Orange will 
 never be effaced from our hearts. Long live King 
 William III. ! " 
 
 Whether to meet these wishes, or to meet his own 
 pecuniary necessities, the King of Holland determined 
 upon selling the Luxembourgers to the French, as 
 Sir Robert Peel remarked in the House of Commons 
 in a debate on the question, "at £20 per head," 
 there being 200,000 souls to be so disposed of. His 
 Majesty, in the first instance, put the question to the 
 Prussian ambassador, whether Prussia would be pre- 
 pared to yield the occupation of Luxembourg in the 
 event of the Grand Duchy wishing to have itself 
 annexed to France. Count Bismarck's reply to the 
 ambassador was characteristic. It was to the effect 
 that while he, the Count, respected the susceptibilities 
 of France, Holland must take upon itself the entire 
 responsibility of every transaction in the matter. 
 
1868.] THE STAR FALLS. 309 
 
 Insignificant as the question might seem, this small 
 fortress of Luxembourg was of great importance, both 
 to France and to Prussia. To the former it afforded 
 almost the only safeguard from invasion on that side, 
 while, in the event of a war between the two powers, 
 it was invaluable to Prussia, as affording an access to 
 the most vulnerable part of France. 
 
 Upon the King of Holland negotiating for the sale 
 of the Grand Duchy with the Emperor of the French, 
 the latter gave the Prussians notice to quit. This 
 notice the Prussians refused to heed, and German 
 insolence broke out afresh, driving France to the very 
 brink of a war. 
 
 The Parisian journals were almost unanimously 
 bellicose. The Luxembourg question, they said, was 
 no longer one of territorial aggrandisement, but one 
 of national dignity and influence. So great a country 
 as France had the right to put forward pretensions, 
 and when she did put them forward, she certainly 
 would not renounce them at the bidding of a foreign 
 power, especially when that power had no right of its 
 own, as was the case with Prussia. The latter must 
 remember she was not dealing with a third-rate power 
 like Belgium, but with France, the leading nation of 
 Europe. 
 
 How the peace of Europe was preserved, with 
 matters in this state between France and Prussia, 
 must ever be the subject of wonder. Our Foreign 
 Minister, Lord Stanley, was the chief mover in a 
 pacification of the two nations, who stood daggers 
 drawn. The Luxembourg question was referred to a 
 conference of European Powers, their representatives 
 to meet in London. These met accordingly in May, 
 and it was decided at their deliberation that Luxem- 
 bourg should remain neutral, and that the Prussian 
 
310 THE STAR FALLS. [1868. 
 
 garrison should withdraw from its occupation of the 
 fortress within a month. 
 
 The communication of the result of the Lon- 
 don conference was anything but enthusiastically- 
 received by France, for though she had gained 
 nearly all she had demanded from Prussia, yet she 
 felt that the concession was made not to her but to 
 Europe, and she looked forward to the day when her 
 voice should be found sufficient to carry any point 
 she urged. Prussia, too, though she acquiesced in 
 the mediatory suggestion, was by no means disposed 
 to forget the feud that had arisen from so trivial a 
 cause. Thus, though Europe now slumbered in the 
 belief that the wrath of the two nations had been 
 quenched, as a householder after a false alarm of fire, 
 that wrath smouldered in secret in both the Berlin and 
 Parisian Cabinets, and was only kept from blazing 
 forth again by the adroitness of the two jugglers now 
 pitted against each other, Louis Napoleon and Von 
 Bismarck. 
 
 These two natural enemies — for the one was born for 
 the bane of the other — assumed now the mask of diplo- 
 macy, and successfully secreted behind it the most 
 determined designs against each other. During the 
 Grand Exposition they met, and fraternized like a 
 pair of rival beauties at a ball, and what from that 
 and the hospitality displayed towards King William 
 and his son by the Emperor, it was hoped by the 
 neutral Cabinets that the Luxembourg quarrel had 
 ended in the right way. Queen Augusta of Prussia, 
 too, was wonderfully tender with the Empress, and 
 even from so uncertain an omen as ladies kissing 
 each other was formed the happy augury of a 
 durable peace, since those who had quarrelled had 
 now embraced. But was there any sincerity in all 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1866 to 1870.] 
 
 A GATHERING TEMPEST — (continued.) 
 
 FRENCH CONFIDENCE IN THE MITRAILLEUSE (1868). 
 " Ha, great Fritz ! had you but known of the mitrailleuse, your Seven Years' War would have 
 been over in seven minutes." 
 
 Novelty is the weak side of the Gallic character: the enthusiasm for any new in- 
 vention, fashion, or leader, from the head of an empire to the arms for its protec- 
 tion, blindly lead the multitude for good or evil. That the advantages of Prussian 
 
 DEPENDENCE IN THE MITRAILLEUSE (1869). 
 "They had good reasons to increase their armies. This poor gun would have been starved undei 
 the old organization." 
 
 leadership, discipline, and numerical strength, supported by their obvious superi- 
 ority in artillery, has had much to do with French defeat is manifest ; but her 
 leaders have acknowledged that the over-sanguine reliance on the mitrailleuse 
 demoralized the troops. 
 
 66 
 
r86 9 .] 
 
 THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 3" 
 
 this, on either the one side or the other ? We think 
 not. For it is to be feared that royal people can no 
 sooner forgive or forget grievances than humbler 
 Christians who are called upon to do that violence 
 to human nature. The cause of quarrel had been 
 removed, but the desire to quarrel remained, and 
 under those circumstances the feud was bound to 
 burst forth some day or other. 
 
 Germans in France were now objects of distrust 
 and suspicion, and both countries, becoming conscious 
 of the inevitability of a war sooner or later, hastened 
 their military preparations. 
 
 Unhappily for France, it could form no adequate 
 idea of the real strength of her opponent. She had, 
 perhaps, less experience than other European nations 
 of the fecundity of a race endowed, like the lower 
 animals, with marvellous procreative powers, which 
 threaten to overrun the world with guttural bar- 
 barians, and which have already foisted such a horde 
 of shirtless princes, with little to recommend them 
 save a dubious title and a crackjaw name, on the 
 bounty of so many countries. With regard to her 
 own forces, it has been previously stated that France 
 had taken measures to augment them, but that was a 
 work of time. Yet so vigorously were her military 
 preparations pushed forward, that a well-known 
 German writer, dating in 1869, says : — 
 
 " The military establishment of France now con- 
 sists of nearly 1,400,000 men. This, too, is one of 
 the grievances which have found their vent in the 
 last elections. France is being soldiered out of the 
 very marrow of her life, and she does not relish it. 
 The average size of her men has constantly dimi- 
 nished within the last eighty years. The withering 
 effects of the Napoleonic wars are visible even now. 
 As to the slow increase of the population, there are 
 
312 
 
 THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 [1868. 
 
 other causes difficult to treat upon in an essay 
 addressed to the general public. England proper 
 has nearly doubled its population within the last 
 fifty years, in spite of emigration. In Germany 
 there has been a similar movement. France, with no 
 emigration worth speaking of, has in the same period 
 not fully increased one third. Latterly the number 
 of births has diminished to such an extent that a 
 French statistician of note declared the time not too" 
 distant when, if things did not alter, the births would 
 no longer suffice to cover the losses by death." 
 
 But where France seems to have made the most 
 fatal miscalculation, was in the relative merits of the 
 engines of destruction of the two armies. She too 
 confidently pitted the chassepot with the needle-gun, 
 and the mitrailleuse with Prussia's splendid artillery, 
 that had done such tremendous execution at 
 Sadowa. 
 
 Almost the only man in France that had his doubts 
 upon that country being sufficiently prepared to com- 
 bat the armies which had lately swept everything 
 before them, was Louis Napoleon. His voice was 
 continually raised in the Senate against agitators for 
 offensive measures against Prussia, who had assumed 
 so warlike a character, and whose arms were reeking 
 with recent victories. Yet he was bound — both to 
 gratify the national pride and uphold the national 
 prestige — to put himself in a defiant attitude, to dic- 
 tate conditions for maintaining the equilibrium of 
 Europe, and to show himself ready to enforce those 
 conditions if necessary. 
 
 But the French people, headed by the Ministry, 
 grew clamorous for the commencement of hostilities, 
 as they could no longer put up with the insolence of 
 the Germans. The casus belli, however, was still 
 wanting, and even anger could not discover a pretext 
 
1869.] 
 
 THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 3*3 
 
 for the blow it was burning to give. A cause of 
 quarrel not being forthcoming, the quarrel was pro- 
 voked. 
 
 Spain, having rid itself at last of the incubus of a 
 Bourbon, had tried for a time to content itself with a 
 Republican Government, but a people more unsuited 
 for such a ruling power could scarcely be found. The 
 ablest men of the time endeavoured in vain to fit on 
 the new yoke, but it galled the neck of the people, who 
 cried out for one more calculated to their condition. 
 They wanted a constitution and a king. The princi- 
 pal members of the Provisional Government were 
 then empowered to make choice of a monarch, and 
 in their search for a candidate for the vacant throne, 
 where should they go but to the place where such 
 things are made to order, and where there is always 
 on hand a large assortment ? The Prince of Hohen- 
 zollern was unhappily fixed upon, and invited to 
 assume the title of King of Spain. 
 
 When the news reached Paris of this fatal prefer- 
 ence of a German prince, above all others, for the 
 Spanish throne, it aroused universal rage and jealousy. 
 Nothing could have been more calculated to set in a 
 blaze the animosity which had been smouldering in 
 France for four years against Prussian aggrandize- 
 ment. A warm protest was made by France against 
 the election of the Prince to the position proposed. 
 The Prince, seeing the likelihood of a rupture, on his 
 account, between his country and France, nobly re- 
 signed his claims, displaying thereby a spirit fully 
 befitting him for a throne and regal honours. 
 
 Europe, again trembling on the brink of a dreadful 
 war, now began to hope the danger was past. It 
 happened, however, as it usually does, when one con- 
 cession was made, another was wanted. The French 
 ambassador at Berlin was empowered to ask for a 
 
THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 [1870. 
 
 guarantee that the candidature of the Prince of Ho- 
 henzollern would never be renewed. Could anything 
 be more insolent, or more sure to provoke the result 
 that it did ? The King of Prussia angrily turns upon 
 his heel, and declares he has nothing more to do with 
 the matter. The people of France had their will, 
 for the Emperor declared war, the declaration taking 
 place in July, 1870. 
 
 M. Ollivier, according to a German paper, recently 
 gave the following account of the circumstances under 
 which war was declared : — 
 
 "When the news of the Prince of Hohenzollern's 
 renunciation arrived in Paris, the Ministers met at 
 the Tuileries. The matter was thoroughly discussed, 
 and the majority of the Cabinet determined, in conse- 
 quence of this signal satisfaction, to take a conciliatory 
 course. The Emperor, who, according to his custom, 
 had till then kept silence, rose, and for a moment 
 retired to a little dista'nce. A pause ensued, and 
 most of the Ministers also left their seats, in order to 
 smoke a cigar and talk unconstrainedly in the ante- 
 room. Only three stayed behind — Segris, Maurice 
 Richard, and Lebceuf. The last was greatly excited 
 when the votes were taken, and exclaimed in a des- 
 perate tone, as he rapped his knuckles on his desk, 
 'O mon Dieu ! O mon Dieu !' The Minister of 
 Fine Arts stepped up to him and said, ' Pray, com- 
 pose yourself, Marshal ; we have to do with the first 
 military power of Europe. Are you quite prepared V 
 * Are we prepared !' cried Lebceuf, jumping up like 
 a tiger ; ' prepared as France has never been, and 
 never will be again. Believe me, my dear colleague, 
 if my respect for the Emperor did not restrain me, I 
 would not hold office an hour longer.' As these last 
 words were pronounced, the Emperor, with the other 
 Ministers, returned, and even he appeared more ex- 
 
NAPOLEON III. from POPULAR CARICATURES. 
 
 [1866 to 1870.] 
 
 THE TEMPEST BREAKS. 
 
 The prominence of Napoleon is 
 now obscured by the "Man of Blood 
 and Iron," whose system has ob- 
 tained the ascendency of French 
 impetuosity, and whose tactics have 
 out-generalled the cunning states- 
 manship of the Third Napoleon. 
 
 These selections from a German 
 series portray Count Bismarck in the 
 appropriate character of Hercules 
 performing the Seven Labours. Whe- 
 ther the great Count will bring this 
 part to a successful end later records 
 must decide. His power of raising 
 loans is demonstrated above. In the 
 last caricature we present a grand 
 final tableau, not unlike the con- 
 cluding scene in an extravaganza, or 
 the Apotheosis of an heroic poem. 
 It is designed from a German point 
 of view, but it certainly conveys the 
 
 position. The Sirens of the Rhine (very solid and Teutonic !) have lured the wily 
 lion, by a promise of the coveted dominion, into the power of the Hercules of the 
 situation, who is on the point of dispatching him with his club. 
 
 67 
 
1870. j THE STAR FALLS. 31* 
 
 cited than the Ministers had ever seen him, but, as if 
 wishing to conceal his feelings from his Council, he 
 merely remarked mildly, that guarantees for the 
 future must also be demanded of Prussia. An hour 
 later it was decided that a casus belli should be made 
 of this demand." 
 
 The war broke out, and never in the history of the 
 world has happened an event fraught with such dire 
 disasters, such appalling reverses. An act so rash as 
 this declaration of war can only be likened to the 
 leap of a somnambulist from a garret window. It 
 was the third and last false step of a man so wary and 
 wise, that some irresistible motive, beyond what has 
 been made known, will be required by future his- 
 torians to fully account for it. 
 
 It were a gloomy task to give in detail the sac$ 
 issues of the next few weeks. Nor can we dwell at 
 length upon what has happened in so short a time, 
 and so lately. An Empire which had progressed 
 through nearly twenty years, has run out in a 
 moment like a reel of thread ! When more light 
 has been thrown upon the real cause of an overthrow 
 so inexplicable, it will be time enough to go fully 
 into it ; but a slight outline will here suffice. 
 
 Ill both in body and mind, the Emperor makes 
 his journey to the scene of action. He takes with 
 him his child, the heir of a throne which is so soon 
 to be hurled from its position, and shattered like the 
 many which have stood in its place — perhaps, like its 
 immediate predecessor, to be kindled into a bonfire 
 by an infuriate people, forgetful of all the blessings 
 showered upon them from it. A proclamation is 
 issued to the soldiers by the hero of Magenta and 
 Solferino, as courageous in its tone, as confident 
 of success as ever, but marred by the childish inti- 
 mation that he takes his son with him. The world 
 
316 
 
 THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 [1870. 
 
 laughs at the idea, and blames the mother of the 
 boy for allowing him to go. A lad of fourteen on a 
 field of battle ! It was so like the live eagle at 
 Boulogne. The people in England said the poor old 
 man had lost his head, and indeed it seemed like it. 
 Perhaps that may some day be established as a fact, 
 and then would come the solution of the mystery of 
 that absurd declaration of war. 
 
 The rendezvous is Metz, which in due time is 
 reached, and another proclamation is issued, which 
 is here given : — 
 
 " 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. The war which is now commencing 
 will be a long and severe one, since it will have for 
 the scene of its operations, places full of fortresses 
 and obstacles ; 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. 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. 
 
 " The Imperial Head-quarters, " NAPOLEON. 
 
 "■Mete, July, 28." 
 
THE 
 
 * 8 7°'] THF STAR FALLS. 31? 
 
 The army receives its beloved Chief with loud 
 acclamations, as it had done for twenty years, and his 
 presence animates it with renewed courage to do and 
 dare anything for him and for France. It is moved, 
 moreover, according to the doting old father to the 
 anxious mother at home, with tearful emotions at the 
 sight of young Louis. Well it might be, if from nothing 
 else but pity for the poor child in danger of his 
 young life, to serve no possible end but the grati- 
 fication of paternal vanity. The enemy approaches, 
 and Louis undergoes his " baptism of fire," in spent 
 bullets rolling at his feet ! There is an exulting 
 telegram sent to that effect to Paris immediately, 
 and no doubt the mildness of the ordeal through 
 which the darling boy has passed is a great relief 
 to mamma. The fighting is not heavy nor pro- 
 tracted, and the victory is for France. 
 
 But then comes terrible news, that there has been 
 another engagement higher up the Rhine, and that 
 MacMahon, with the flower of the French troops, has 
 been completely routed, and is in full retreat. France 
 hears it with amazement. There must be something 
 wrong. It can't be true. But it turns out to be too 
 true, as does that the invader is on her soil, and making 
 the best of his way to Paris. Her armies had set out 
 for Berlin, but they have had to retrace some of their 
 way, and were very glad to be allowed to do so by 
 the enemy. 
 
 Ere she has had time to recover the shock, like clap 
 after clap of thunder, roll fresh tidings of new defeats, 
 one after the otiier, with a rapidity of succession, as if 
 victories were won now-a-days on a new principle of 
 electricity. The Prussians are marching on Paris, 
 and Paris is declared in a state of siege, amidst 
 excitement and apprehensions the most painful and 
 gloomy. But where is the Emperor ? He is still at 
 
3 x8 THE STAR FALLS. [1870. 
 
 Metz ; but presently we hear of him going on to 
 Chalons, and from thence to such a variety of places 
 that we marvel at his ubiquity, and wonder what 
 he is doing flying about the country in that manner. 
 
 One day, a little more than a month after he has 
 set out on his campaign, we are startled by the 
 shrill cries of London newsboys, making an an- 
 nouncement which induces us to buy a paper, when 
 lo ! the following meets our eye : — 
 
 DESPATCH OF KING WILLIAM TO 
 QUEEN AUGUSTA. 
 
 Berlin, Sept. 3. — The Queen has received the 
 following telegram from the King : — 
 
 "Before Sedan, Sept. 2 (1.22 p.m.). — A ca- 
 pitulation, whereby the whole Army at Sedan are 
 prisoners of war, has just been concluded with 
 General WimpfFen, who was in command, instead 
 of the wounded Marshal MacMahon. 
 
 " The Emperor only surrendered himself to me, 
 as he himself has no command and left everything 
 to the Regency in Paris. His place of residence 
 I shall appoint after I have had an interview with 
 him at a rendezvous, which will immediately take 
 place. What a course events have assumed by 
 God's guidance !" 
 
 What ensued at Paris, is it not written in the 
 chronicles of Printing-House Square, and of Fleet 
 Street ? How that a perfidious people turned their 
 back upon their beneficent ruler when he fell, and 
 assailed him with opprobrious epithets, such as coward 
 and traitor, and set up for themselves a government 
 which had been their ruin till he rescued them ? 
 How that the Empress fled in terror from her home, 
 consecrated by such fond memories and brilliant 
 
i8 7 o.] 
 
 THE STAR FALLS. 
 
 319 
 
 recollections, took a common cabriolet in the street, 
 and trembling at the recognition of a gamin, who 
 cried, "Voila, l'lmperatrice !" sought, as her husband 
 had done before her, the Grand Asylum of Europe, 
 where she was joined by her hapless son, once the 
 heir of so much greatness, and now of what ? How 
 that cries of "Vive la Republique!" startled the 
 echoes of a city so long accustomed to those of 
 "Vive I'Empereur !" 
 
 Drop the curtain, and let us sing with heart and 
 voice — 
 
 God save the Queen ! 
 
BAXTER'S PROPHECY OF NAPOLEON III. AS ANTICHRIST. 
 
 Facsimile. 
 
 1806 to 1815 The Roman Empire under Napoleon I., 
 
 who represented the Napoleon dynasty— the seventh governing head of the seven-headed 
 and ten-horned Wild Beast.— (Dan. vii, ; Rev. xiii., xvii. 
 
 1815 to 1852. — The Roman Empire headless. 
 
 1852 to 1871-73.— The Roman Empire under Napoleon III. 
 who represents the Napoleon dynasty — the seventh revived, or eighth head of the 
 Wild Beast, healed of the deadly wound it received at Waterloo in 1815. He is compre- 
 hensively termed the Wild Reast itself, and is also called the Assyrian (Is. x., xiv., xxx.) ; 
 the Little Hom(\J&n. vii., viii.) ; the IVilful King(T>axi. ix. 21—45) ; the Atttickrtst(l. In. 
 i. 24); the Man of Sin, destined to perish at the personal descent of Christ(II.Thes.ii.3 — 8.) 
 
 Louis Napoleon, the Destined Monarch of the 
 
 World and Personal Antichrist, foreshown in prophecy to 
 confirm a seven years' covenant with the Jews, about or soon 
 after 1864-5, an d (after the resurrection and the translation of 
 the Wise Virgins has taken place, two years and from four 
 to six weeks after the covenant), subsequently to be- 
 come completely supreme over England, and most of 
 America, and all Christendom, and fiercely to 
 persecute Christians during the latter half of the 
 seven years, until he finally perishes at the 
 
 descent of Christ at the Battle of Aima- 
 geddon, about or soon after 1872-3. 
 
 By the Rev. M. BAXTER, Philadelphia. 
 Thirteenth Thousand. 
 
 1866. 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 Special List for 1871. 
 
 *#* Note.— In order to ensure the correct delivery of the actual Works, 
 or Particular Editions specified in this List, the name of the Publisher 
 should be distinctly given. Stamps or a Post-Office Order may be remitted 
 direct to the Publisher, who will forward per return. 
 
 Charles Dickens— The Story of his Life. By the 
 
 Author of " The Life of Thackeray." This day, price 73. 6d., with 
 numerous Portraits and Illustrations, 370 pp. 
 
 Dickens's Summer House. 
 
 "Anecdotes seem to have poured in upon the author from all quarters. 
 * * * Turn where we will through these 370 pleasant pages, something 
 worth reading is sure to meet the eye." — The Standard. 
 
 Ib. Another Edition. Uniform with The 
 
 " CHARLES DICKENS EDITION'," and forming a supplementary 
 volume to that favourite issue, crimson cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Artemus Ward, Complete. The Works of Charles 
 
 Farrer Browne, better known as "Artemus Ward," now first 
 collected. Crown 8vo, with fine portrait, facsimile of hand- 
 writing, &c, 540 pages, cloth neat, 73. 6d. 
 
 *** Comprises all that the humorist has written in England or America- 
 Admirers of poor Artemus Ward will be glad to possess his writings in a com- 
 plete form. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
 I 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 Earthward Pilgrimage (The). By Moncure D. Con- 
 way, the eminent Minister" of South Place, Finsbury. Crown 8vo, 400 
 pages, cloth, neat, 73. 6ii. 
 This volume has excited considerable discussion, as it advances many entirely 
 new views upon the life hereafter. The titles to some of the chapters will con- 
 vey an idea of the contents of the work : — " How 1 left the world to come for 
 that which is." 
 
 Dickens's Speeches, Literary and Social. Now first 
 
 collected. With Caapters on " Charles Dickens as a Letter Writer, 
 Poet, and Public Reader." This day, price 73. 6d., with fine Portrait 
 by Count D'Orsay, 370 pages. 
 
 \* " His capital speeches. Every one of them reads like a page of c Pick- 
 wick."' — The Critic. 
 
 " His speeches are as good as any of his printed writings."— The Times. 
 
 Ib. Uniform with The " CHARLES DICKENS 
 
 EDITION, 1 ' and forming: a supplementary volume to that favourite 
 issue, crimson cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 Cheap edition, without portrait, in pqper wrapper, 2s. 
 
 Madge and the Fairy Content. A Charming 
 
 Child's Story. By Blanohard Jerrold. Intended to inculcate a 
 Spirit of Contentment. With nearly 100 Pictures of the Industry 
 requisite to produce the Christmas Pudding. 4s. 6d. 
 
 A Third Supply of Yankee Drolleries, comprising 
 
 the best recent Works of American Humorists. A. Ward's Fenians; 
 Mark Twain ; Autocrat Breakfast Tablk ; Bket Harte ; 
 Innocents Abroad. With an Introduction by George Augustus 
 Sala, Crown 8vo, 700 pases, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 *** An entirely new gathering of Transatlantic humour. Fourteen thousand 
 copies have been sold of the 1st and 2nd series. 
 
 John Camden Rotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly^ W, 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 UNIFORM WITH MR. RTJSKIN'S EDITION OF " GERMAN 
 POPULAR STORIES." 
 Uqw Book of Delightful Tales. — " Family Fairy Tales 
 
 or, Glimpses of Elfland at Heatherston Hall." Edited by Cholmon- 
 deley Pennell, Author of " Puck on Pegasus," &c, adorned with 
 beautiful pictures of "My Lord Lion," "King Uggermugger," and 
 other great folks. Handsomely printed on toned paper, in cloth, green 
 and gold, price 4s. 6d. plain, 5s. 6d. coloured. 
 
 *** This charming volume has been universally praised by the critical press. 
 
 The Biosicrucians ; their Rites and Mysteries. With 
 
 Chapters on the Ancient Fire- and Serpent-Worshippers, and Explana- 
 tions of the Mystic Symbols represented in the Monuments and 
 Talismans of the Primeval Philosophers. By Hargrave Jennings, 
 tos. 6d. 
 
 *** A volume of startling facts and opinions upon this very mysterious 
 subject, illustrated by nearly 300 engravings. 
 
 " Curious as many of Mr. Hotten's works have been, the volume now under notice is, among 
 them all, perhaps the most remarkable. The work purports to describe the Rites and Mysteries of 
 the Rosicruciflns. It dilates on the ancient Fire and Serpent Worshippers. The author has certainly 
 devoted an enormous amount of labour to these memorials of the ROSE-CROSS — otherwise the 
 Rosicrucians."— The Sun, 21st March, 1870. 
 
 Gustavo Bore's Favourite Pencil Sketches. — His- 
 torical Cartoons ; or, Eough Pencillings of the World's History from 
 the First to the Nineteenth Century. By Gustave Dore. With 
 admirable letterpress descriptions by Thomas Wright, F.S.A. Oblong 
 4to, handsome table book, 7s. 6d. 
 
 *** A new book of daring and inimitable designs, which will excite considerable attention, and 
 doubtless command a wide circulation. 
 
 Captain Castagnette. His Surprising, almost Incre- 
 dible Adventures. 4to, with Gustave Dore's Illustrations, is. gd. 
 (sells at 5s.) 
 
 Direct application must be made to Mr. Hotten for this booh. 
 
 Cent, per Gent. A Story written upon a Bill Stamp. 
 
 By Blanchard Jerrold. With numerous coloured illustrations in 
 the style of the late Mr. Leech's charming designs, price 7s. 6d. 
 
 'i 1 ** A Story of "The Vampires of London," as they were pithily termed in a recent notorious 
 cose, and one of undoubted fliterest. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
THE NEW "PUNIANA SERIES" OF 
 
 CHOICE ILLUSTRATED WORKS 
 OF HUMOUR. 
 
 Elegantly printed on toned paper, full gilt, gilt edges, for the 
 Drawing Room, price 6s. each : — 
 
 1. Carols of Cockayne. By Henry S. Leigh. 
 
 Vers de Soci6t£, and charming Verses descriptive of London life. 
 With numerous exquisite little designs by Alfred Concanen 
 and the late John Leech. Small 4to, elegant, uniform with 
 " Puniana," 6s. 
 
 ' 'An awfully Jolly Book for Parties." 
 
 2. Puniana. Best Book of Riddles and Puns 
 
 ever formed. Thoughts Wise — and Otherwise. Edited by the 
 Hon. Hugh Rowley. With nearly ioo exquisitely fanciful 
 drawings. Contains nearly 3,000 of the best Riddles and 10,000 
 most outrageous Puns, and is one of the most popular books ever 
 issued. Third edition, price 6s. 
 
 Why did Du Chaillu get so angry when he was chaffed about the Gorilla ? 
 Why? we ask. 
 
 Why is a chrysalis like a hot roll? You will doubtless remark, "Be* 
 <ause it 's the grub that makes the butter fly! " But see " Puniana" 
 
 Why is a wide-awake hat so called ? Because it never had a nap, and, 
 never wants one. 
 
 The Saturday Review says of this most amusing- work—" Enormous burlesque— unapproachaDle 
 *nd pre-eminent. We venture to think that this very queer volume will be a favourite. It deserves 
 to be so: and we should suggest that, to a dull person desirous to get credit with the young holiday 
 people, it would be good policy fo invest in the book, and dole it out by instalments." 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 NEW SOCIETY BOOK, 
 By the Author of "Puniana." 
 
 Gamosagammon; or, Advice to Parties about to 
 
 Connubialize. By the Hon. Hugh Rowley. With numerous exquisite 
 and fanciful designs from his pencil. Small 4to, green and gold, 6s. > 
 
 *** The Quaintest, Funniest, most Original Book published for a long time. 
 Three years since it was announced under the title of " Advice to Parties about 
 to Marry." 
 
 Country-House Charades, for Acting. By Captain 
 
 E C. Nugent. With Illustrations by W. K. Snow. Small 4to, green 
 and gold, 6s. 
 
 *** An entirely new book of Household Amusements. An Appendix gives 
 the various Songs set to Music for accompaniment upon the Pianoforte. 
 
 Cruikshank's Comic Almanack. A nine years' 
 
 gathering of the Best Humour, the Wittiest Sayings, the Drollest 
 Quips, and the Best Things of Thackeray. Hood, Mayhew, Albert 
 Smith, A'Beckett, Bobert Brough. With nearly one thousand 
 Woodcuts and Steel Engravings by the inimitable Cruikshank, 
 Hine, Landells. Crown 8vo, 600 pp., 73. 6d. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 5 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 NEW SERIES OF ILLUSTRATED HUMOROUS NOVELS. 
 1. Tlie Story of a Honeymoon. By Chas. H. Ross and 
 Ambrose Clarke. With, numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 gilt, 6s. 
 
 *** An inimitable story of the adventures and troubles of a newly-married couple. Not unlike 
 Mr. Burnand's " Happy Thoughts." 
 
 2. Cent, per Cent. A Story written upon a Bill Stamp. 
 By Blanchard Jerrold. With numerous coloured Illustrations. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. 
 
 MR. MOSS, IN THE DISCOUNTING LINE. 
 
 *** A capital novel, "intended not only for City readers, but for all interested in money 
 
 matters." — Athcnceuin. 
 
 Tlie Genial Showman ; or, Adventures with Art emus 
 
 Ward, and the Story of his Life, z vols., crown 8vo, illustrated by 
 Brunton, 2 is. 
 
 *** This is a most interesting work. It gives Sketches of Show-Life in the Far West, on the 
 Pacific Coast, among the Mines of California, in Salt Lake City, and across the Rocky Mountains; 
 including chapters descriptive of Artemus Ward's visit to England. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 The Secret Out; or, One, Thousand Tricks with 
 
 Cards, and other Recreations ; with Entertaining Experiments in 
 Drawing- Room or " White il^gic 7 ' By Gustave Ffikell, Professor 
 of the Art for twenty-five years. Translated and Edited by W. H. 
 Cremer, Junr. With 300 engravings, crown 8vo, cloth, 4s. 6d. 
 
 %* A perfect Cyclopaedia of Legerdemain. Under the title of " Le Magicien 
 des Salons," it has long been a standard Magic book with all French and German 
 Professors of the Art. The tricks are described so carefully, with engravings to 
 illustrate them, that anybody can easily learn how to perform them. 
 
 Art of Amusing (The). A Collection of Graceful 
 
 Arts, Games, Tricks, Puzzles, and Charades, intended to Amuse 
 Everybody, and enable all to amuse everybody else. By Frank 
 Bellew. With nearly 300 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. 
 
 *** One of the mc.3t entertaining handbooks for the amusement of Society 
 ever published. 
 
 2 
 
 John Camden Rotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 Midsummer Eve, a Fairy Tale of Love. By Mrs. S. 
 
 C. Hall. New Edition, ios. 6d. Elegantly bound, gilt edges, pro- 
 fusely illustrated by Sir Noel Paton, Maclise, Kenny Meadows, Hine, 
 and other eminent artists. 
 
 THE STANDARD EDITION. 
 Robinson Crusoe, Profusely Illustrated by Ernest Griset. 
 
 Edited, with a New Account of the Origin of B-obinson Crusoe, by 
 William Lee, Esq. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. 
 
 *** This edition deserves special attention, from the fact that it is 
 the only correct one that has been printed since the time of Defoe. By 
 the kindness of Mr. Lee a copy of the rare and valuable original, in 
 3 vols., was deposited with the printers during the progress of the work, 
 and all those alterations and blunders which have been discovered in 
 every recent edition are in this case avoided. There is no living artist 
 better adapted to the task of illustrating Crusoe than Ernest Griset. 
 
 Fables of JEsop. With Illustrations by Henry L. 
 
 Stephens. 4to, with 56 full-page inimitable designs by this Artist. 
 Cloth and gold, gilt edges, 35s. 
 
 *** la artistic circles the very highest praise has been accorded to the above designs. 
 
 The Kosicrucians ; their Rites and Mysteries. With 
 
 Chapters on the Ancient Fire- and Serpent-Worshippers, and Explana- 
 tions of the Mystic Symbols represented in the Monuments and 
 Talismans of the Primeval Philosophers. By Hargrave Jennings. 
 Crown 8vo, 316 wood engravings, ios. 6d. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
 3 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 Flagellation and the Flagellants ; a History of the 
 
 Rod in all Countries, from the E-irliest Period to the Present Time. 
 By the Rev. William Cooper, B.A., with numerous Illustrations. 
 Thick crown 8?o, 12s. 6d. 
 
 *** " A very remarkable, and certainly a very readable, volume. _ Those who 
 care for quaint stories of the birch will find much matter for reflection, and not 
 a little amusement, in Mr. Cooper's ' Flagellation ' book."— Daily Telegraph. 
 
 The Englishman's House, from a Cottage to a 
 
 Mansion : a Practical Guide to Members of Building Societies, and all 
 interested in Selecting or Building a House. By C. J. Richardson, 
 Architect (Author of " Old English Mansions," &c). Second Edition, 
 corrected and enlarged, with nearly 600 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 
 550 pages, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 *** This Work might not inappropriately be termed " A Book of Houses." 
 It gives every variety of house, from a workman's cottage to a nobleman's palace. 
 The book is intended to supply a want long felt, viz., a plain, non-technical 
 account of every manner of house, with the cost and manner of building. 
 
 John Camden Holten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
 7 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 T/Xary Hollis ; a Romance of the clays of Charles II. 
 
 and William Prince of Orange, from the Dutch of H. J. Schimmel, 
 "the Sir Walter Scott of Holland." 3 vols, crown 8vo, £1 us. 6d. 
 
 +** This novel relates to one of the most Interesting periods of our history. It has created the 
 „reatest excitement on the Continent, where it quickly passed through several editions. It is now 
 translated from the Dutch with the assistance of the author. 
 
 UNIFORM WITH DOCTOR SYNTAX. 
 
 Wonderful Characters. Memoirs and Anecdotes of 
 
 Remarkable and Eccentric Persons of Every Age and Nation. From 
 the text of Henry Wilson and James Caulpield. 8vo. Sixty-one 
 pull-page Engravings op Extraordinary Persons. 7s. 6d. 
 
 *#* One of the cheapest and most amusing books ever published. There are so many curious 
 matters discussed in this volume, that any person who takes it up will not readily lay it down. The 
 introduction is almost entirely devoted to a consideration of Pig-Faced Ladies, and the various stories 
 concerning them. 
 
 Artemus Ward in London. Including Ms well-known 
 
 Letters to "Punch." Square i6mo, is. 6d. ; cloth, 2s. 
 
 *** An entirely new volume of Wit and Fun by the famous humorist, and one which is sure to 
 become popular. 
 
 NEW BOOK ON THE LONDON PARKS. 
 
 Taking the Air; or, the Story of our London Parks. 
 
 By Jacob Larayood. With numerous illustrations. Vol. I., Hyde 
 Park ; Voh II., St. James's Park, The Green Park, and Mary Bone 
 Gardens. Price 18s. the two volumes. 
 
 *** This is a new and most interesting work, giving a complete History of these favourite out-of« 
 floor resorts, from the earliest period to the present time. The fashions, the promenades, the rides, 
 the reviews, and other displays in the parks from the merry days of Charles II. down to the present 
 airings in Rotten-row and drives "around the ring," are all fully given, together with the exploits 
 of bold highwaymen and the duels of rival lovers, and other appellants to the Code of Honour. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
 5 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 An Epic of V/omen, and other Poems. By Arthur 
 
 W. E. 0 Shaughnessy. With some Original Designs by Mr. J. T. 
 Nettleship. Just out, fcap. 8vo, with woodcuts, cloth, very neat, 
 price 6-*. 
 
 " What he has given us is remarkable. With its quaint title, and quaint Illus- 
 trations, ' An Epic of Women ' will be a rich treat to a wide circle of admirers." 
 — Atkenceum, Nov. 5, 1870. 
 
 " Combine Morris and Swinburne, and inspire the product with a fervour 
 essentially original, and you have, as we take it, a fair notion of Mr. O'Shaugh- 
 nessy s poems."— Dispatch, Oct. 30, 1870. 
 
 Anacreon. Illustrated by the Exquisite Designs of 
 
 Girodet. Translated by Thomas Moore. Oblong i6mo, in vellum 
 cloth and Etruscan gold, 12s. 61. 
 
 V A MOST BEAUTIFUL AND CAPTIVATING VOLUME. The well-known 
 Paris house, Firmin Didot, a few years since produced a very small edition of 
 these exquisite designs by the photographic process, and sold a large edition at 
 £2 per copy. The designs have been universally admired by both artists and 
 poets. 
 
 Albert Durer's "Little Passion." As Engraved by 
 
 the distinguished artist in 1509-10, consisting of 37 inimitable designs 
 upon wood. With a survey of Durer's Works by \V. C. Prime. Royal 
 4to. The illustrations in exquisite facsimile, emblematic binding, 25s. 
 *** Only 100 copies of this beautiful book were printed. 
 
 8 
 
 John Camden Rotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 The Champion Pig of England. A Capital Story for 
 
 Schoolboys. Cloth gilt. With, spirited Illustrations by Concanen, 
 coloured and plain, 3s. 6d. 
 
 " He was a pig— take him for all in all, 
 We ne'er shall look upon his like again." 
 
 UNIFORM WITH MR. RUSKIN'S EDITION OF "GERMAN 
 POPULAR STORIES." 
 
 Prince Ubbely Bubble's New Story Book. 
 
 THE DRAGON ALL COVERED WITH SPIKES. 
 
 THE LONG-TAILED NAG. 
 
 THE THREE ONE-LEGGED MEN. 
 
 THE OLD FLY AND THE YOUNG FLY. 
 
 TOM AND THE OGRE. 
 
 And many other tales 
 By J. Templeton Lucas With numerous Illustrations by Matt 
 Morgan, Barnes, Gordon Thompson, Brunton, and other artists. In 
 email 4to, green and gold, 4s. 6d. 
 \ Gilt leaves, 5s. 6d. 
 
 *** This is an entirely new story-book, and one that is likely to become 
 very popular. 
 
 Acrostics in Prose and Verse. Edited by A. B. H. 
 
 i2mo, gilt cloth, gilt edges, 3s. 
 
 SECOND SERIES, i2mo, gilt cloth, gilt edges, 3s. 
 
 ■ THIRD SERIES. i2mo, gilt cloth, gilt edges, 3s. 
 
 FOURTH SERIES. With 8 Pictorial Acrostics. i2mo, gilt 
 
 cloth, 3s. 
 
 ■ FIFTH SERIES. Easy Double. Historical. Scriptural Acrostics. 
 
 i2mo, gilt cloth, gilt edges, 3s. 
 
 The most popular Acrostics published. 
 
 *** Each series sold separately. These are the best volumes of Acrostics ever issued. They comprise 
 Single, Double, Treble, and every variety of acrostic, and the set would amuse the younger members 
 of a family for an entire winter. 
 
 The whole complete in a case, " The Acrostic Box" price 15s. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
ENTIRELY NEW SOCIETY BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 "PUNIANA." 
 
 3. Gamosagammon ; or, Hints on Hymen, 
 
 For the Use of Parties about to Connubialize. By the Hon. 
 Hugh Rowley. With numerous exquisite and fanciful designs 
 from his pencil. Price 6s. 
 *** The quaintest, funniest, most original book published for a long time. Three 
 years since it was announced under the title of " Advice to Parties about to Marry." 
 
 4. Artemus Ward's Lecture at the Egyptian 
 
 Hall, with the Panorama. Edited by T. W. Robertson 
 (Author of "Caste," "Ours," "Society," &c.) and E. P. 
 Hingston. Small 4to, exquisitely printed green and gold, WITH 
 
 NUMEROUS TINTED ILLUSTRATIONS, price 6s. 
 
 "Mr. Hotten has conceived the happy idea of printing Artemus 
 Ward's ' Lecture ' in such a way as to afford the reader an accurate notion 
 of the emphasis, by-play, &c, with which it was delivered. We have 
 no hesitation in saying that Mr. Hotten has almost restored the great 
 humorist to the flesh." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " The tomahawk fell from our hands as we roared with laughter — the pipe of peace slipped from, 
 between our lips as our eyes filled with tears! Laughter for Artemus's wit— tears for his untimely 
 death! This book is a record of both. Those who never saw Artemus in the flesh, let them read 
 of him in the spirit." — Tomahawk. 
 
 " It actually reproduces Ward's ' Lecture ' which was brimful of first-class wit and humour." — 
 Daily News. 
 
 " It keeps you in fits of laughter." — Leader. 
 
 "One of" the choice and curious volumes for the issue of which Mr. Hotten has become famous." 
 —City Press. 
 
 " The ' Lecture' is not alone droll ; it is full of information." — Examiner. 
 "It adds one to the books of genuine fun we have got." — Sunday Times. 
 
 5. Country House Charades for Acting. By 
 
 Captain Nugent. With numerous Illustrations by W. R. 
 Snow. In elegant green and gold, price 6s. 
 
 *** A capital volume for household amusement — practical in what it advises, and 
 easy to understand. The Author 3ays, " In the first place, I have taken care to limit 
 the number of my performers to naif a dozen, or thereabouts ; secondly, they require 
 no scenery, very little dressing, and not more than two or three rehearsals." 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 John Buskin and George Cruikshank. — " German 
 
 Popular Stories." Collected by the Brothers Grimm, from Oral 
 Tradition, and Translated by Edgar Taylor. Edited by John Buskin. 
 WITH TWENTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS AFTER THE INIMI- 
 TABLE DESIGNS OF GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. Both series com- 
 plete in i vol. Very choicely printed, in small 4to, price 6s. 6&. 
 
 *** These are the designs which Mr. Ruskin has praised so highly, placing them far above all 
 Cruikshank's other works of a similar character. So rare had the original book (published in 1823- 
 1826) become, that £b to X6 per copy was an ordinary price. By the consent of Mr. Taylor's family 
 a new Edition is now issued, under the care and superintendence of the printers who issued the 
 originals forty years ago. The Illustrations are considered amongst the most extraordinary 
 examples of successful reproduction ever published. A very few copies on lakge papek, 21s. ; 
 or with proofs of plates on INDIA PAPEK, price 31s. 6d. 
 
 "'Grimm's German Stories' was so well adapted to the genius of Cruikshank, that it has 
 suggested one of the very best of all his etchings. The two elves, especially the nearer one, who is 
 putting on his breeches, are drawn with a point at once so precise and vivacious, so full of keen fun 
 «ind inimitably happy invention, that I have not found their equals in comic etching anywhere. It is 
 said that these elves are regarded with peculiar affection by the great master who created thorn; it 
 is only natural, for he has a right to be proud of them." — Hammerton's Etching and Etchers. 
 
 Hood's "Whims and Oddities," 1826. A ETew and 
 
 very Cheap Edition of this well-known Book, with the Author's 40 
 inimitably funny Woodcuts. Square izmo, price is. stiff cover; 
 or cloth neat, is. 6d. 
 
 * # * Christopher North once remarked of this book that "it contained 
 more wit, more fun and humour, than any other work of its size." 
 
 Hawthorne's ETote Book. A new and most interesting 
 
 volume of Autobiographical Reminiscences, Ideas, and Suggestions 
 by this delightful author, selected from his private Note Books. 
 Square nmo, stiff cover, is.; or cloth neat, is 61. 
 
 KJ3f The poet Longfellow thus anticipates this charming book : — " Live 
 ever, sweet, sweet book. It comes from the hand of a man of genius. 
 Everything about it has the freshness of morning and May." 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 Seymour's Sketches* A Companion Volume to "Leech's 
 
 Pictures." The Book of Cockney Sports, Whims and Oddities. Nearly 
 200 highly amusing Illustrations. Oblong 4to, a handsome volume, naif 
 morocco, price 12s. 
 
 A re-issue of the famous pictorial comicalities which were so popular thirty years a<ro. The 
 volume is admirably adapted for a table-book, and the pictures will doubtless a^ain meet with that 
 popularity which was extended, towards them when the artist projected with Mr. Dickens the famom 
 "Pickwick Papers." 
 
 The Famous " DOCTOR SYNTAX'S " Three Tours. 
 
 Oni> of the most Amusing and Laughable Books ever published. With 
 the whole of Rowlandson's very droll full-page illustrations, in colours, 
 after the original drawings. Comprising the well-known TouES: — 
 
 The three series complete and unabridged from the original editions in 
 one handsome volume, with a Life of this industrious Author — the En* 
 gUsh Le Sage— now first written by John Camden HqUhu 
 
 *#* It is not a little surprising that the most voluminous and popular 
 
 English writer since the days of Defoe should never before have received, 
 the small honour of a biography. This Edition contains the whole of the 
 original, hitherto sold for £x us. 6d., but which is now published at 
 7s. 6d. only. 
 
 A VEBY USEFUL BOOK. In folio, half morocco, cloth sides, 7s. 6d. 
 Literary Scraps, Cuttings from Newspapers, Extracts, 
 
 Miscellanea, &c. A EOLIO SCRAP-BOOK OF 340 COLUMNS, 
 formed for the reception of Cuttings, &c, with guards. 
 
 Authors and literary men have thanked the publisher for this useful 
 
 look. 
 
 *»* A most useful volume, and one of the cheapest ever sold. The book is sure to be appreciated? 
 and to become popular. 
 
 Hone's Scrap Book. A Supplementary Volume to the 
 
 " Every -Day Book," the " Year Book," and the "Table-Book." From 
 the MSS. of the late William Hone, with upwards of One Hundred 
 and Fifty engravings of curious or eccentric objects. Thick 8vo, uniform 
 
 1. In Search of the Picturesque. 
 
 2. In Search of Consolation. 
 
 3. In Search of a Wife. 
 
 with " Year-Book," pp. 800. 
 
 [In preparation. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
 9 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 More Yankee Drolleries. A Second Series of cele- 
 brated "Works by the best American Humorists. Artemus Ward's 
 Travels ; Hans Breitmann ; Professor at the Breakfast-Table 5 
 Biglow Papers, Part. IT. ; Josh Billings. With an Introduction 
 by George Augustus Sala. Crown 8vo, 700 pages, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 *** An entirely new gathering of Transatlantic humour. Twelve thousand copies of the Tint 
 series hare been sold. 
 
 Life in London; or, the Day and Night Scenes of 
 
 Jerry Hawthorn and Corinthian Tom. Crown 8vo. WITH THE 
 WHOLE OF CRUIKSHANK'S VERY DROLL ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 IN COLOURS, AFTER THE ORIGINALS. Cloth extra, 7s. 6d 
 
 *** One of the most popular books ever issued. It was an immense favourite with George IV., 
 and as a picture of London life 50 years ago was often quoted by Thackeray, who devotes one of 
 his " Roundabout Papers" to a description of it. Clean second-hand copies of this work always 
 realise from £1 to £2. 
 
 Pierce Egan's "Finish" to "Life In and Out of 
 
 London," 8vo, cloth extra, with spirited Coloured Illustrations 
 by Cruikshank, i8s. 
 
 *** This is the quaint original edition of one of the most amusing pictures of London life evar 
 
 Fine Old Hunting Books, with Coloured Plates. 
 
 MR. JORROCK'S JAUNTS AND JOLLITIES. 
 LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JACK MYTTON. 
 ANALYSIS OF THE HUNTING FIELD. 
 LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN. BY NIMROD. 
 
 UNIFOKM WITH DE. SYNTAX. 
 
 Tom and Jerry taking a ttrott. 
 
 written. 
 
 Apply to Mr. Hotten direct for this work. 
 
 Apply to Mr. Hotten direct for these looks. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
 9 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 Mark Twain's New Pilgrim's Progress. A delight- 
 
 fully fresh and amusing Volume of Travel. Companion to the popular 
 " Innocents Abroad." 3s. 6d. ; paper, is. 
 
 *** Readers who approved of this Author's quaint story of " The Jumping 
 Frog," will be very well satisfied with the "New Pilgrim's Progress :" there has 
 been no work like it issued here for years. 
 
 Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad. THE VOYAGE 
 
 OUT. Price 3s. 6d. cloth extia ; a paper edition, is. 
 
 *** A delightful, fresh, and amusing volume of travels. Readers who appre- 
 ciate true wit and humour will be well satisfied with " The Innocents Abroad." 
 
 The Luck of Roaring Camp; and other Stories. 
 
 By Bret Harte. Crown 8vo, toned paper, 3s. 6d. ; a paper edition, is. 
 
 *** The Work of a new candidate to literary honour. The Publisher of a book 
 is, not perhaps always the most unbiassed person to give an opinion about it ; 
 but in the present instance the writer has no hesitation in saying that English 
 readers will be charmed with these inimitable stories of strange life in the Far 
 "West— away on the Pacific slope. The fun, the very humour of the thing, has a 
 May freshness about it, which smacks not of the Old World. 
 
 Champagne: its History, Manufacture, Properties, 
 
 &c. By Charles Tovey, Author of " Wine and Wine Countries," 
 «' British and Foreign Spirits," &c. Crown 870, with numerous illus- 
 trations, 5?. 
 
 \* A practical work, by one of the largest champagne merchants in London. 
 
 Acrostics. An Entirely New and Original Work, 
 
 constituting the FIFTH SERIES of the popular A. E. H. Acrostics. 
 i2mo, cloth elegant, 4s. 6d. 
 *** The authoress is a lady of high position in the North of England, and her 
 
 books are very popular amongst the best Families in the country. 
 
 John Camden Rotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
 9 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 AARON PENLEY'S Sketching in Water Colours, 21s. 
 
 By the Author of " The English School of Painting in Water-Colours," 
 &c. Illustrated with Twenty-one Beautiful Chromo-Litho- 
 graphs, produced with the utmost care to resemble original Water- 
 Colour Drawings. Small folio, the text tastefully printed, in hand- 
 some binding, gilt edges, suitable for the drawing-room table, price 21s. 
 
 *** It has long been felt that the magnificent work of the great English master of painting in 
 water-colours, published at £4 4s., was too dear for general circulation. The above embodies all 
 the instructions of the distinguished author, with twenty-one beautiful specimens of water-colour 
 painting. It is a most chakming present fob a young lady. 
 
 A Clever and Brilliant Book (Companion to the " Bon Oaultier 
 Ballads"), PUCK ON PEGASUS. By H. Cholmondeley 
 Pennell. 
 
 This most amusing work has already 
 passed through five editions, receiving 
 everywhere the highest praise as " a clever 
 and brilliant booh." TO NO OTHER 
 WORK OF THE PRE SENT DAT HAVE 
 SO MANY DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS CONTRIBUTED ILLUS- 
 TRATIONS. To the designs of GEORGE CRUIKSHANK, JOHN 
 LEECH, JULIAN PORTCH, "PHIZ," and other artists, SIR NOEL 
 PATON, MILLAIS, JOHN TENNIEL, RICHARD DOYLE, and M. 
 ELLEN EDWARDS have now contributed several exquisite pictures, 
 thus making the new edition — which is twice the size of the old one, 
 and contains irresistibly funny pieces— THE BEST BOOK FOR THE 
 DRAWING-ROOM TABLE NOW PUBLISHED. 
 
 In 4io, printed within an india-paper tone, and elegantly bound, gilt, 
 gilt edges, price 10s. 6d. only. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 MOST AMUSING NEW BOOK. 
 Caricature History of the Georges (House of Hanover). 
 
 Very entertaining book of 640 pages, with 400 Pictures, Caricatures, 
 Squibs, Broadsides, Window Pictures. By T. Wright, F.S.A. 7s. 6d. 
 
 *#* Companion Volume to "History of Signboards." Eeviewed in 
 almost every English journal with highest approbation. 
 
 "A set of caricatures such as we have in Mr. Wright's volume brings the surface of the aga 
 before us with a vividness that no prose writer, even of the highest power, could emulate. 
 Macaulay's most brilliant sentence is weak by the side of the little woodcut from Gillray wich gives 
 us Burke and Fox."— Saturday Review. 
 
 44 A more amusing work of its kind never issued from the press."— Art Journal 
 
 "This is one of the most agreeable and interesting books of the season."— Public Opinion. 
 
 41 It seems superfluous to say that this is an entertaining book. It is indeed one of the most 
 entertaining books we have read for a long time. It is history teaching by caricature. There is 
 aardly an event of note, hardly a personage of mark, hardly a social whimsey worth a moment's 
 potice, which is not satirised and illustrated in these pages. We have here the caricaturists from 
 Hogarth to Gillray, and from Gillray to Cruikshank"— Morning Star. 
 
 44 It is emphatically one of the liveliest of books, as also one of the most interesting. It has the 
 wofold merit of being at once amusing and edifying. The 600 odd pages which make up the 
 goodly volume are doubly enhanced by some 400 illustrations, of which a dozen are full-page 
 engravings. "—Morning Post. 
 
 41 Mr. Thomas Wright is so ripe a scholar, and is so rich in historical reminiscences, that he 
 cannot fail to make an interesting book on any subject he undertakes to illustrate. He has achieved 
 a success on the present occasion."— Press. 
 
 Notice.— Large-paper Edition. 4to, only 100 printed, 
 
 on extra fine paper, wide margins for the lovers of choice books, with 
 extra Portraits, half -morocco (a capital book to illustrate), 30s. 
 
 Romance of the Rod: an Anecdotal History of the 
 
 Birch in Ancient and Modern Times. With some quaint illustrations. 
 Crown Svo, handsomely printed. [In preparation. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
 11 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 The History of Advertising in all Ages and Countries. 
 
 A Companion to the " History of Signboards." With many very 
 amusing Anecdotes and Examples of Successful Advertisers. By 
 Messrs. Larwood and Hotten. [In preparation. 
 
 Signboards : their History. With Anecdotes of Famous 
 
 Taverns and remarkable Characters. By Jacob Larwood and John 
 Camden Hotten. " A book which will delight all." — Spectator. This 
 day, Fourth Edition, pages 580, price 7s. 6d. only. 
 
 From the " Times." 
 
 "It is not fair on 
 the part of a re- 
 viewer to pick out 
 the plums of an 
 author's book, thus 
 filching away his 
 cream, and leaving 
 little but skim-milk 
 remaining; but, even 
 if we were ever so 
 maliciously inclined, 
 
 From the u Times. n 
 not in tho 
 
 we cou 
 present 
 
 stance 
 
 pick out all Messrs. 
 Larwood and Hot- 
 ten's plums, because 
 the good things are 
 so numerous as to 
 defy the most whole- 
 sale depredation."— 
 lievievo of three 
 columns. 
 
 BULL AND MOUTH. 
 (Angel St, St Martin's-le-Grand, circa 1800.) 
 
 *#* Nearly loq most curious illustrations on wood are given, showing 
 the various old signs which were formerly hung from taverns and other 
 houses. The frontispiece represents the famous sign of "The Man 
 loaded with Mischief," in the colours of the original painting said to 
 have been executed by Hogarth. 
 
 Notice.— " Large-paper Edition," with Seventy-Two 
 
 extra Illustrations (not given in the small edition), showing Old 
 London in the days when Signboards hung from almost every house. 
 In 4to, half -morocco neat, 30s. 
 
 *** Only a small number printed on extra fine paper with wide margins for the lover of fine books. 
 
 The Parks of London. Their History and Asso- 
 ciations from the Earliest Times. By Jacob Larwood. With Illus- 
 trations by the Author. [In the Press. 
 
 AN EXTRAORDINARY BOOK. 
 
 Hotten's Edition of " Contes Drolatiques " (Droll 
 
 Tales collected from the Abbeys of Loraine). Par Balzac. With 
 Four Hundred and Twenty-five Marvellous, Extravagant, and Fan- 
 tastic Woodcuts by Gustave Dore. Beautifully printed, thick 8vo, 
 half morocco, Roxburghe, 12s. 6d. 
 
 *** The most singular designs ever attempted by any artist. This book is a fund of amusement. 
 Oo crammed is it with pictures that even the contents are adorned with thirty-three illustrations. 
 
 Direct application must be made to Mr. Hotten for this work. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
 13 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 NEW BOOK BY THE "ENGLISH GU STAVE DORE." — 
 COMPANION TO THE " HATCHET-THROWERS." 
 legends of Savage Life. By James Greenwood, the 
 
 famous Author of " A Night in a Workhouse." With 36 inimitably 
 droll illustrations, drawn and coloured by Ernest Griset, the 
 " English Gustave Dore." 4to, coloured, 7s. 6d. ; plain, 5s. 
 
 *** Readers who found amusement in the " Hatchet-Throwers " will not regret any acquaintance 
 they may form with this comical work. The pictures are among the most surprising which have 
 come from this artist's pencil. 
 
 "A Munchausen sort of book. The drawings by M. Griset are very powerful and eccentric."— 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 School Life at Winchester College; or, the Hemi- 
 
 niscences of a Winchester Junior. By the Author of "The Log of 
 the Water Lily," and '"'The Water Lily on the Danube." Second 
 edition, revised, coloured plates, 7s. 6d. 
 
 *** This book does for Winchester what " Tom Brown's School Days " did for Rugby. 
 
 Log of the " Water Lily " (Thames Gig), during Two 
 
 Cruises in the Summers of 1851-52, on the Rhine, Neckar, Main, 
 Moselle, Danube, and other Streams of Germany. By R. B. Mans- 
 eield, B.A., of University College, Oxford, and illustrated by Alfred 
 Thompson, B.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge. [In preparation. 
 
 *** This was the earliest boat excursion of the kind ever made on the Continental rivers. Very 
 recently the subject has been revived again in the exploits of Mr. MacGregor in his " liob Roy 
 Canoe." The volume will be found most interesting to those who propose taking a similar trip, 
 whether on the Continent or elsewhere. 
 
 The Hatchet-Throwers. With Thirty-sis Illustra- 
 tions, coloured after the Inimitably Grotesque Drawings of Ernest 
 Griset, the English Gustave Dore. 4-to, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. ; plates, 
 uncoloured, 5s. 
 
 *** Comprises the astonishing adventures of Three Ancient Mariners, the Brothers Brass of 
 Bristol, Mr. Corker, and Mungo Midge. 
 
 Melchior Gorles. By Henry Aitchenhie. 3 vols. 
 
 8vo, £i us. 6d. 
 
 * + * The New Novel, illustrative of " Mesmeric Influence," or whatever else we may choose to 
 term that strange power which some persons exercise over others. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 Original Edition of Blake's Works. 
 
 NOTICE.-— Mr. Hotten has in preparation a few facsimile copies (exact 
 as to pauper, printing'— the water-colour drawings being filled in by an 
 artist) of the Original Editions of the Books written and Illustrated 
 by William Blake. As it is only intended to produce — with utmost 
 care— a few examples of each work, Mr. Hotten will be glad to hear from 
 any gentleman who may desire to secure copies of these wonderful books. 
 The first volume, " Marriage op Heaven and Hell," 4to, is now being 
 issued, price 30s., half morocco. 
 
 "Blake is a real name, I assure you, and a most extraordinary man he is, if he still be living. 
 He is the Blake whose wild designs accompany a splendid edition of ' Blair's Grave.' He paints in 
 water-colours marvellous strange pictures — visions of his brain — which he asserts he has seen. They 
 have great merit. I must look upon him as one of the most extraordinary persons of the age."— 
 Chables Lamb. 
 
 George Chapman's Plays, from the Original Texts. 
 
 Edited, with Notes and an Introduction, by Algernon Charles 
 Swinburne. 4 vols., tastefully printed, uniform with Wm. Pickering's 
 Editions of the " Old Dramatists." [In preparation. 
 
 UNIFORM WITH MR. SWINBURNE'S POEMS. 
 Fcap. 8vo, 450 pages, Fine Portrait and Autograph, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Walt Whitman's Poems. (Leaves of Grass, Drum- 
 Taps, &c.) Selected and Edited by William Michael Rossetti. 
 
 44 Whitman is a poet who bears and needs to be read as a whole, and then the volume and torrent 
 ©f his power carry the disfigurements along with it and away.— He is really a fine fellow."— 
 Chambers's Journal, in a very long Notice, July 4th, 1868. 
 
 A great deal of prejudice in this country has been shown against 
 tms very remarkable author. His work should be read by independent 
 minds, and an opinion formed totally apart from the attacks that have 
 been made upon him. 
 
 Hossetti's Criticisms on Swinburne's Poems. Price 
 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 The Prometheus Bound of iEschylus. Translated in 
 
 the Original Metres by C. B. Cayley, B.A. Cloth, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 SECOND EDITION.— Now ready, 4*0, 10s. 6d., on toned paper, 
 very elegant. 
 
 Bianca. Poems and Ballads. By Edward Brennan. 
 
 18 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W, 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 Fair Rosamond, and other Poems. By B. Mont- 
 
 gomerie Ranking (of the Inner Temple). Fcap. 8vo, price 6s. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, and other Poems. By Colburn 
 
 Mayne, Esq. In strawberry binding, fcap. 8vo, 7s. 6d. 
 
 " It is a bright, clever little book, in which we find a great deal of good rhyme, and some genuine 
 and pleasing poetry. There are several charming pictures of the historic group, which we know 
 from Horace Walpole's letters and Sir Joshua's paintings." — Morning Star. 
 
 Infelicia. Poems by Adah Isaacs Menken. Illus- 
 trated with NUMEROUS GRACEFULLY PENCILLED DESIGNS DRAWN ON 
 wood, by Alfred Concanen. Dedicated, by permission, to Charles 
 Dickens, with photographic facsimile of his letter, and a very beau- 
 tifully engraved portrait of the Authoress. In green and gold, 5s. 6d. 
 
 "a pathetic little 
 TOlume exquisitely 
 got up." — Sun. 
 
 "It is full of 
 pathos and senti- 
 ment, displays a 
 keen appreciation of 
 beauty, and has re- 
 markable earnest- 
 ness and passion."— 
 Globe. 
 
 "A loving and 
 delicate care has 
 been bestowed on 
 perhaps the dain- 
 tiest pages of verse 
 that have been 
 issued for many 
 years." — Lloyds 
 News. 
 
 " Few, if any, 
 could have guessed 
 the power and 
 beauty of the 
 thoughts that pos- 
 sessed her soul, and 
 found expression in 
 language at once 
 pure and melodious. 
 .... Who shall 
 say Menken was not 
 
 "An amusing little book, unhappily posthumous, 
 legacy to mankind and the ages." — Saturday Review. 
 
 a poet ? Through- 
 out her verse there 
 runs a golden thread 
 of rich and pure 
 poetry." — Press. 
 
 " There is a pas- 
 sionate richness 
 about many of the 
 poems which is al- 
 most startling." — 
 Sunday Times. 
 
 "What can we 
 say of this gifted 
 and wayward 
 woman, the exist- 
 ence of whose better 
 nature will be sug- 
 gested for the first 
 time to many by the 
 posthumous disclo- 
 sure of this book? 
 We do not envy the 
 man who, reading 
 it, has only a sneer 
 for its writer ; nor 
 the woman who 
 finds it in her heart 
 to turn away with 
 averted face." — 
 New York Round 
 Table. 
 
 which a distinguished woman has left as a 
 
 Anacreon in English. Attempted in the Metres of 
 
 the Original. By Thomas J. Arnold. A choice little volume, price 4s. 
 
 The Village on the Forth, and other Poems."^ By 
 
 Philip Latimer. Just published, elegantly printed, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 Baudelaire. Translations from Chas. Baudelaire, 
 
 with a few Original Poems. By R. Herne Shepherd. Fcap., same 
 size as Tennyson's " Maud," price 5s. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75. Piccadilly^JV 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 ME. SWINBURNE'S NEW BOOK. 
 
 %* 16 A wonderful literary performance. 1 '' — 11 Splendour of 
 style and majestic beauty of diction never surpassed." — WILLIAM 
 BLAKE: A Critical Essay. With facsimile Paintings, 
 coloured by hand, from the original drawings painted by 
 Blake and his wife. Thick 8vo, pp. 350, 16s. 
 
 with a sense of 
 vitality." — Daily 
 News, Feb. 12, 
 1868. 
 
 "It is in every 
 way worthy of Mr. 
 
 ' An extraordi- 
 nary work : vio- 
 lent, extravagant, > 
 perverse, calcu- 
 lated to startle, to 
 shock, and to alarm 
 many readers, but 
 abounding in 
 beauty, and cha- 
 racterised by intel- 
 lectual grasp. . . 
 . . His power of 
 word - painting is 
 often truly won- 
 derful—sometimes, 
 it^ must be ad- 
 mitted, in excess, 
 but always full of 
 matter, form, and 
 colour, and instinct 
 
 Swinburne's high 
 fame. In no prose 
 ^ work can be f ound 
 7.- passages of keener 
 " poetry or more 
 finished > grace, or 
 more impressive 
 harmony. Strong, 
 vigorous, and 
 musical, the style 
 sweeps on like 
 a river." — Sunday 
 Times. Jan. 12, 
 1868. 
 
 Mr. Swinburne's Hew Poem. — A Song of Italy. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo, toned paper, cloth, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 *** The AthcncEum remarks of this poem—" Seldom has such a chant been heard so full of glow, 
 Strength, and colour." 
 
 Mr. Swinburne's Poems and Ballads. Third Edition. 
 
 Price 9s. 
 
 Mr. Swinburne's 3STotes on his Poems, and on the 
 
 Reviews which have appeared upon them, is now ready, price is. 
 
 Mr. Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon. "New Edition, 
 
 fcap. 8vo, price 6s. 
 
 Mr. Swinburne's Chastelard. A Tragedy. Hew 
 
 Edition. Price 7s. 
 
 Mr. Swinburne's Queen Mother and 
 
 New Edition, fcap. 8vo, price 53. 
 
 Rosamond. 
 
 Mr. Swinburne's Eothwell. 
 
 A NEW POEM. 
 
 [In preparation. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
 *7 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 Lost Beauties of the English. Language. Revived 
 
 and Eevivable in England and America. An Appeal to Authors, 
 Poets, Clergymen, and Public Speakers. By Charles Mackay, LL.D. 
 Ia crown 8vo, uniform with the " Slang Dictionary," price 6s. 6d. 
 
 [In preparation. 
 
 Captain Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 
 
 1785. A genuine unmutilated Reprint of the First Edition, price 6s. 
 
 * + * Only a small number of copies vf this very vulgar, but very curious, book have been printed 
 for the Collectors of " Street Words" and Colloquialisms, on. fine toned paper, half -bound morocco, 
 gilt top. 
 
 Slang Dictionary; or, the Vulgar Words, Street 
 
 Phrases, and "Fast" Expressions op High and Low Society; 
 many with their Etymology, and a few with their History traced. 
 With curious illustrations. A New Dictionary of Colloquial 
 English. Pp. 3*8, in 8vo, price 6s. 6d., by post, 7s. 
 
 Two upon Ten, in 
 the Dictionary, p. 264. 
 
 Egyptian Hieroglyphic ver\ 
 to be drunk, showing the amptw 
 tation of a man'* leg. See 
 tinder Bheaxy Lbg (■viz. 
 Strong Drink) in tho Diction* 
 
 Jg^f One hundred and forty newspapers in this country alone have 
 
 reviewed with approbation this Dictionary of Colloquial English. " It 
 may be doubted if there exists a more amusing volume in the English 
 language." — Spectator. " Valuable as a work of reference." — Saturday 
 Beview. " All classes of society will find amusement and instruction in 
 its pages." — Times. 
 
 Original Edition of the Famous Joe Miller's Jests ; 
 
 or, the Wit's Vade-Mecum ; a Collection of the most bi'illiant Jests, 
 politest Repartees, most elegant Bons-Mots, and most pleasant short, 
 Stories in the English Language. London : printed by T. Eead, 1739. 
 An interesting specimen of remarkable facsimile, 8vo, half morocco, 
 price 9s. 6d. 
 
 V ONLY A VERY FEW COPIES OF THIS HUMOROUS AND 
 BACY OLD BOOK HAVE BEEN REPRODUCED. 
 
 John Camden Rotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 In preparation, an entirely 
 
 New Book by the late Artemus Ward. Edited by 
 
 his executors, T. W. Eobertson and E. P. Hingston. Illustrated with 
 35 pictures, taken from his world-renowned Panorama. 
 
 Immediately, cloth, very neat, as. 6d. 
 
 The Works of Charles P. Browne, better known as 
 
 "Artemus Ward." Portrait by Geflowski, the Sculptor, and fac- 
 similes, &c. 
 
 History of Playing Cards. With Anecdotes, Ancient 
 
 and Modern Games, Conjuring, Fortune-Telling, and Card- Sharping. 
 With Skty curious illustrations. Skill and Sleight-of -Hand j Gambling 
 
 and Calculation ; Cartomancy and Cheating ; Old Games and Gaming* 
 Houses; Card Revels and Blind Hookey; Piquet and Vingt-et-un j 
 Whist and Cribbage ; Old-Fashioned Tricks. Pp. 550, price 7s. 6d. 
 
 * A highly-interesting volume."— Morning Post. 
 
 Cruikshank's Comic Almanack. A complete set, as 
 
 published in the original numbers from 1835 to 1853. 19 vols., neatly 
 bound in 5 vols., half -morocco, Roxburgh style, £3 3s. Containing 
 Merry Tales, Jests, Humorous Poetry, Whims, Oddities, &c, by 
 Thackeray, Thomas Hood, Albert Smith, and other woll-known 
 comic writers. Illustrated with nearly One Thousand Woodcuts 
 and Steel Engravings by the inimitable George Cruikshank and 
 other Artists. Very scarce. 
 
 Mr. Sprouts his Opinions. The Hew and Genuine 
 
 Book of Humour. Uniform with "Artemus Ward." By Richard 
 Whiteing. New Shilling Edition now ready. 
 
 John Camden Hotten, 74 and 75, Piccadilly, W. 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS. 
 
 Pictorial description of Abyssinia. 
 Dedicated to HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN by Royal Command. 
 Views in Central Abyssinia. With Portraits of 
 
 Natives of the Galla Tribes, taken in Pen and Ink nnder circumstances 
 of peculiar difficulty, by T. Zender. With letterpress description by 
 Sophie F. Veitch, daughter of the Chaplain to the Bishop of 
 Jerusalem. 4to, price 12s. 
 
 *** A book of peculiar interest at the present moment, as it gives a marvellously faithful pano- 
 rama of the country, about which so much has recently been said. The soiled worn volume from 
 which these facsimiles were taken is quite a curiosity, having been constantly secreted about the 
 person of the draughtsman, fearing the observation of the native chiefs, who do not allow drawings 
 to be made. 
 
 Mary Lamb's Poems and Letters; with Inedited 
 
 Remains of Charles Lamb. Now first collected, with numerous 
 illustrations of Lamb's favourite haunts in London and the suburbs. 
 Facsimiles on old pauper of the title-pages of the rare first editions of 
 Lamb and Coleridge's works. Facsimile of a page of the original 
 MS. "Essay on Roast Pig," Hancock's admirable Portrait of the 
 essayist now first correctly reproduced, and many other relics of the 
 delightful essayist. Crown 8vo, price 10s. 6d. 
 
 FAIR ROSAMOND'S COTTAGE. 
 
 The Collector. Choice Essays on Books, Authors, 
 
 Newspapers, Pictures, Inns, Doctors, Holidays, &c. Introduction 
 by Dr. Doran. A Choice Book, on toned paper, half morocco, 6s. 
 
 *** A charming volume of delightful Essays, ith exquisitely-engraved Vignette of an Old Book 
 Collector busily engaged at his favourite purs t of book-hunting. The work is a companion 
 volume to Disraeli's " Curiosities of Literature," d to the more recently published " Book-Hunter," 
 by Mr. John Hill Burton. 
 
 " A comely and suitably named volume. His humour and reading are considerable, and whilst ho 
 displays the latter with the frankness of a collector not ashamed of his function, he exercises the 
 former with unflagging spirit and excellent effect."— Athenceum. 
 
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