THE STORY-TELLER. NAPOLEON'S THREE WARNINGS.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 9, 4 August 1883, Page 4

T HE STO RY -TELLE R. NAPOLEON'S THREE WARNINGS.

A tfTRANGR STORY OF THK GttEAT CORBICAN, AS NARRATED BY FOUCUJS.

The celebrated Fouche, Duke of Otranto, sometime chief of the police to Napoleon, was retained but a short time, it is Veil known, in the service of the Bourbons, a^er their restoration to the "throne of France. He retired to the .town of Aix, in Provence, and there lived in affluence and <*ase upon the gains of bis long and busy career. On one occasion the company assembled in , •Ms salon heard from his lips the following story : By degrees, as Napoleon assumed the power and authority of a king, every1 thing about him, even in the. days of the Consulate, began to wear a court-like appearance. All the old monarchical . lutfrituiles vrere revived, one by on p. Among other revivals of this kind, thp custom of attending Mass previous to tue hour of audience was restored by Bonaparte, and he himself was punctual iv his appearance at the chapel of St. "Cloud on such occasions. Nothing could be more mundane than the* mode 'of performing these religions services. The actresses of the opera were the chorists, and great crowds of busy, talkative people were irt the habit oi frequenting the gallery of the chapel, - from the windows oi which the First v Consul and Josephine cruld be seen with their suites and friends. The whole formed merely a daily exhibition of the consular court for the people. At one particular time the pune tuality of Bonaparte in his attendance on mass was rather distressing to his wife. The quick and jea ous Josephine .bad -discovered that the eye of her husband was too much directed to a window in the gallery where there regularly appeared the form and face of a young girl of uncommon beauty. The chestnut tresses, the brlliant eyes, and graceful figure of this peisouage caused the more uneasiness to the Consul's wife, as the stranger's glances were bent not less often upon Bonaparte than his were upon her. 1 Who is that young girl ?' said Josephine, one day at the close of the service ; * what can she she seek from the First Consul ? I observed her drop a billet just now nt his feet. He picked it up — 1 saw him.' No one could teli Josephine who the object of her notice precisely was. though there were pome who declared her to be an emigree lately returned, and who probably was desirous of the interYtmtion of the First Consul in favor of her family. With such guesses ss this the Consul's wife was obliged to rest satisfied for the timeAfter the audience of that same day had passed, Bonaparte expressed a wisn for a drive in (ho park, and accordingly went out attended by his wife, his brother Joseph, Duroc, and Hortense Beauharnais. The King of Prussia had just presented Napoleon with a superb set of horses, four in number, and they were haruesse,d to an open chariot for the party. The Consul took it into his head to drive in person, and mounted into the coachman's seat. The chariot set off, but just as it was turning into the park, it went crash against a stone at the gate, an 1 the First Consul was thrown to the ground. He attempted to rise, but again fell prostrate in a stunned and insensible condition. Meanwhile the horses sprang forward with the chariot, and were only stopped when Duroc, at the lisk of his life, threw himself out and seized the loose reins. Josephine was taken out in a swooning condition. The rest of the party speedily returned to Napoleon, and carried him back to his apartments. Ou recovering his senses fully, the first thing which he did was to put his hand into his pocket and pull out the slip of paper dropped at his feet in the chapel. Looking over his shoulder, Josephine read upon it these words : ' Do not drive out in your carriage thisjlay* **this can have no allusion to onr late accident/ Raid Bonaparte. 'No one could foresee, that I was to play the paifc of coachman to-day, or that 1 ehuuld be awkward enough to drive against a stone, (xo, Duroc, and examine the chariot." Duroc obeyed Soon after he returned, very pale, and took the First Consul aside. ' Citizen Consul,' said he, ' had you not struck the stone and stopped our drive, we had all been lost.' ' How so ?' was the reply. 1 There was in the carriage concealed behind the rear seat, a massive bomb, charged with ragge 1 pieces of irofj, with a slow match attached to it, and-Jdndled. Things had been so arranged, that in a quarter of an hour we should have been scattered among the trees of the Park of Saint Cloud. Pouche mu6fc be told y of this ; Uubois must be warned \ * '.Not a word to them/ replied Bonaparte. l The knowledge of one plot only engenders a second. Let Joscpliine remain ignorant of the danger she has escaped. Hortense, Joseph, Cainbaceres — tell none of them ; and let the government journals say not a word about my fall/ The First Consul was then silent for jsome time. 'Duroc/ be said,- at length, 'you will come to-morrow at mass, and examine with attention a young girl whom I shall point out to you. She will occupy the fourth window in the gallery on the right. Follow her ho.ne, or cause Jber to be followed, and bring me in-

telliyonoe of lur name, her abode, ami circumstaneos. It will bo better to do . lus yourself; I would not have the police interfere in this matter.' On the morrow the eyes of more than one person were turned to the window in the gallery. But the jealous Josephine sought in v:»in for the graceful figure of the young giil. S'ie w;is not there. The impatient First Consul, and his confidant, Duroe, were greatly annoyed at her non-appoarance, and small was the attention paid by them to the serviec that day. Their anxiety was fruitless. The girl was seen at mass no more.

11. The summers of Napoleon were spent chiefly at Malmaison — the winters at Saint Cloud and the Tuilcries. Winter iad come on, and the First Consul had !>een holding cwurthUhe great apartments of the last of those palaces. It was the ttrrd of the month which the Republicans well called Nirose, and in t.ie evening Bonaparte entered his carriage to go to the opera, acco npaniod by his lide-de-eamp, r<anrist<m, and Generals L mines and Berthier. Tlie vehicle was ilo'ifc to start, when a female, wrapped in a black mantle, rushed out upon the Place Carousel, made her way into lhe nidst of the guards about to accompany Bomparte, and held forth a paper to the latter, crying : * Citizen Consul, Cili^n Consul, read ! read !' Bonaparte, with that smile which Bonrriei.ne describes as irresistible, saluted the petitioner, stretched out his hand for tite missive. * 4 A petition madam ?" sai-l he, inquiringly, and t:ien continued : ' Fear nothing : I shall peruse it and see justice done.' 4 Citizen Consul' cried the woman, imploringly joining her hands. What she would have turther said was lost. The coachman, who, it was afterwards said, was intoxicated, gave the lash to his hor.^es, and they sprang off with the speed of lightning. ThtJ Consul, throwing info his hat the piper he had received, remarked to his companions : ' 1 could not well see her figure, but I think the poor woman is young.' The carriage dashed along rapidly. It was just issuing from the street of St. Nicholas, when a frightful detonation was heard, mingling with and followed !>y the crash of broken windows and the eri"s of injured passers-by. The infernal mac'iine hid exploded. Uninjured, the carriage of the Consul and its inmates was wuiiled with undiininished rapi lit.y to. the opera. Bonaparte entered his box with serene brow and unruffled »)pportment. He saluted, as usual, the assembled spectators, to whom the news of the explosion same with all the speed which rumor exercises upon such occasion^. All were stunned and stupefied. Bonaparte only was perfectly calm. He stood with crossed arm 5 ?, listening attentively to lhe oratorio of Haydn, whicii was executed on that evening. Suddenly, however, he remembered the paper put into his hands. He took it out and read these lines : ' hi the name of heaven, Citizen Consul, do not go to the opera to-night, or, if you do go, pa*s not through the street 'of St. Nicholas ' On reading these words the Consul chancel to raise his eyes. Exactly opposite to him, in a box on the third tier, sat the young girl of the chapel of Saint Cloud, who, with joine I hands, seemed to utter prayers of gratitude for tne escape which had taken place. Her head had no covering but her flowing and beautiful chesnut hair, an 1 her person was wrapped in a dark mantle, wl:ic\ the Consul recognised as identical with that worn by the woman who had delivered the paper to him at the cariiu^e door on the Place On ousel. ( Go,' said he, quietly but quickly, to Lannes : 'gotiie box exactly opjvnsile to u^, on the thiul tier. You will find a young girl in a black mantle. Briny h»*r to the r 'uilmes. I must see her, hivl without delay." Bonaparte spoke thus, without raising his eyes, but to make Lannes certain of the person, he took the general's aim and said, pointing upward, ' See there — look !' Bonaparte stopped suddenly. The girl was gone. Ao black mantle was to be seen. Annoyed at this beyond measure, he hurriedly sent off Lannes to intercept her. It was in vain. The box-keeper had seen such an individual, hut knew nothing about her. Bonaparte applied to Fouche, and Dubois, but, all the zeal of these functionaries failed in discovering her.

111. Years ran on after the explosion of tlit 1 infernal machine and the strange accompany ing circumstances which tended to make the occurrence more remark ahle in the eyes of Bonaparte. To the Consulate succeeded the Empire, and victory alter victory marked the career of the great Corsican. At length the hour of change came. Allied Europe poured its troops into Prance, and compelled the Emperor to lay down the sceptre which had been so long shaken in terror over half the civiliz'd world. The Isle of Elba became for a few days the mo«t remarkable spot on the globe, and finally the resuscitated empire fell to pieces anew on ilio ficll of Waterloo. Bonaparte was about to quit Prance. The moment had come for him to setfoot in the bark which was to convey him to the English vessel. Friends who hal followed the fallen chief to the very last were standing by to give him a final adieu. Ho waved his hand to those aronnd, and a smile was on the lip which had given the farewell kiss to t!ie imperial eagle. At this instout a woman broke through the band that

stood before Napoleon. She was in ti. c prime of woman's life ; not a i?irl, yoi [ young enough to retain unimpaired that beauty for which she had been remarkable among a crowd of beauties. Her features were full of anxiety anil sadness, adding interest to her appearance even at such a moment. * Sire ! sire]' said she, presenting a ! paper hurriedly ; ' read ! read !' The Emperor took the paper presented to him. He shook his head, and held up the paper to his eyes. After perusing its contents he took it between his hands and tore it to pieces, scattering the fragments in the air. * Stop, sire !' cried the woman. ' Follow the advice ! Be warned — it is yet time I' *No !' replied Napoleon. And taking from his finger a beautiful oriental ruby, a valuable souvenir of his Egyptian campaigns, he held it out to the woman. Bhe took it, kneeling, and kissed the hand which presented it. Turning his head, Napoleon then stepped into the boat which awaited to take him to the vessel. The vessel took him to the barren rock of St. Helena. And there he died. Tbus of three warnings, two were useless because, neglected until the danger had occurred, an'! the third — which prognosticated the fate of Napoleon, if once in the power of his adversaries — the third was rejected. ' But who was this woman, Duke of 0 trsm to ?' ' That,' replied Fouche, ' I know not with certainty. The Emperor, if ho knew ultimately, seems to have kept the secret. All that is known respecting tho matter h that a female related to Sa ; nt Moment, one of the authors of the explosion of the street St. Nichols, died at the hospital Hotel Dieu, in 1#37, and that around her neck was suspended, by a silk ribbon, the ex jnisite oriental ruby of Napoleon.' — 'N. O. Times-Democr.it.'