A VERY LOUIS-NAPOLEONIC LETTER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 26, 22 July 1871, Page 15

A VERY LOUIS-NAPOLEONIC LETTER.

The following letter to Lady Blessington, written by the ex-Emperor of the French when he was a prisoner at Ham, is a very characteristic one, and will, we think, prove interesting as a fine specimen of epistolary art. It is from Samuel Phillips Day's recent work, " The True Story of Louis Napoleon's Life :"

My Lady,—l will not give you an account of all I have suffered. Your poetic soul and noble heart have already divined all the cruel circumstances of a position where defence has limits impassable, and justification compulsory reserve. Under such circumstances, the only consolation for all the calamities and rigors of Fate is to hear from the depths of one's heart an absolving voice ; it is to receive testimonials of sympathy from those rare beings who, like you, madam, are distinguished from the crowd by the elevation of their sentiments, and who do not depend in their affections and their judgment upon the caprice of Fortune or the dispensations of Fate. I have been for the last three months in the fortress of Ham, with General Montholon and Dr Conneau. All communication with the interior is forbidden. No one, as yet, has been able to obtain permission to come and see me. I will send you, one of these days, a view of the citadel which I have copied from a small lithograph ; for you may be well aware that I know nothing of the fortress as seen from without. My thoughts often go back to the spot in which you dwell. . . . Still, I have no desire to go from the spot where I am ; for here I am in my place. With the name I bear, I must be in the seclusion of a dungeon or in the brightness of power. If you will deign to write to me occasionally of the details of society in London, and of a country where I have been but too happy not to love it, you will confer on me a great pleasure.—Napoleon Louis.