MEMOIR, &c., OF THE LATE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. (Compiled from the Daily Papers)

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 142, 5 April 1873, Page 3

MEMOIR, &c., OF THE LATE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. (Compiled from the Daily Papers)

MIS BIKIJI UJD AMBITION. Chables Louis x\ vpoleoj. Bonapahti:, Idle Emperor of the French, " win bom m tho purple," ou ihe 2Dtli of April, 1808. It wa- at t)je Palace of the Tuillei les that ho first drew breath, anil tho thunder of artillery proclaimed the event to the population of Tans, He was the thiril son of Louis Bonaparte— King of Holland ;md brother oi Napoleon I.— aud Ifortense Beauharnais, better known a3 Queen Ilortcnsc, daughter of the Empress Josephine. Great importance w 1* attached to tho birth ot the young Louis, because the law of the Imperial succession, settled by a Seuatus Cwnultnm, limited it first to tho direct issue of the Empeior, acd next to the descendants of Joseph and Louis, none of whom then had children save the last. The baby's name was eolemnh inscribed! on the register of the family in its due place; 'and on thu 10th of November, 1810, the child Mas baptized at Fontainbleau by hU uncle, Cardinal Fesch. Brought up in the Imperial circle, nnd for some time lcsident with his father and mother at the Royal l'aluces of the Hague and Amsterdam, the young Bonaparte shared the fate of his relatives when, in 1814, they were compelled to quit France. A year had barely elapsed before Napoleon issued from Elba and his relatives returned to fill his court ; and it is recorded that, at the end of the Hundred Days, Pnnre Louis snw his great uncle for the last time, at the Elysee. Ibis was just before Napoleon's abdication and departure for Eochefort ; and it is related that the boy Prince passionately besought his uncle " not to go away." There was an ominous pi-eacienco in tho entreaty, although the child could not know thnt " iiwaj " was destined to mean the Bellerophou and the Northumberland— Plymouth and St. Helena. From 1815, onward to his election as President and subsequent entlnonenicnt as Empeior, the young man led a wandering life. His mother, whom misfortune had weaned from a life of brillant frnohty, did not neglect his training, or fail to sow in his mind the seeds of ambition. It is remarkable -that lie had for tutors an abbe and the son of a member of the famous Convention, so that he drew inspiration from both extreme", and became gradually a singular mixture of Democracy and Imperialism. Queen Hortense lived m various towns and countries — Geneva, Baden, Augsburg, Savoy ; but wherever she lived she contrived to secure a good tutor for her s>on, of tho kind suited to the place he always aimed at filling. He became a bold rider, a powerful swimmer, and an excellent fencer, while at the same time he applied himself lo science, especially all that bore ou gunnery. His mother finally settled down in the Castle of Arcnenberg, in Switzerland ; her son entered the Artillery, with General Dufour for his tutor. Thus his youth was passed m exercises calculated to harden his frame, and political and military studies by which ho profited in later years. But the hope of becoming a ruler of some sort was never absent from hit, mind. HIS WARLIKE EXPLOITS AM) BTUDIES. In July, 1830, Paris broke out into one of her periodical revolutions, and the spirit of insurrection was communicated , to Italy. The young Bonapartes, who, if rumour is to bo ( believed, had been affiliated to the political sect of the Car- ( bonari, failing Jm Jan attempt to secure a career in France ■ —for Louis Plullippc would not revoke the law of exile ■ levelled m 1815 at the Imperial family— flung themselves - into the Italian movement ; and tlie first revolutionary act ' of Louis Napoleon was performed in company with the insur- , gents in the Pontifical States. The two brothers took part i in several skirmishes, set out to march on Rome, but were ( recalled to Forh. There the elder died of fever contracted } in the Raman Marshes; and the younger, Louis, returned to 1 Ancona with his fr ends before the Austrians, who were ad- j vancing in support of the Papal authorities. Thence ho fled , disguised to Paris, but after a short stay ho and his mother were, by order of the Or'eans Government, conducted over the frontier. The essay in revolution failed, but it placed the } name of the Prince before the world. He was invited to join j the Poles, in the hope of being chosen King; but on his wny j he learned that thcCznrhad mastered the insurrection, and he halted in Ba^ aria. The death of the Duke of Eeichstadt, in 1 1832, left him, according to his views, legal heir to the Crown j of Napoleon I , and gavo his ambition a definite direction ( towards France. rlhenr Ihen ensued a period of comparative repose. He applied himself to the study of strategy, military organization, and gunnery, in historical and practical aspects ; he fed himself on the political testament ,dictated by the Exile of ( Longwood, and devoted himself to the labours, if not the j pleasures, of authorship. The taste for composition, acquired r so early, never left him, and he wrote almost as much when an Emperor a3 he did when an exile. His works, during j the Swiss period, were " Political Reveries," a draught Con- r stitution, some verses on tho Duche^se de Berri, addressed to Chateaubriand, military and political considerations on r Switzerland, and a manual of artiller} — the best known and T the best of all his books. 0 lIIS STBASIOUKO FIISCC. fl The quiet of his literary life, however, was broken by dreams of empire. Ho watched the course of French polities w ith eagerness, and was perpetually feeling the pulse of the French people. He studied their history and character profoundly, and sot himself to win the first place among them. -, In 1836 he resolved to try whether his presence, in Imperial guis>e, would sene to wrest the Ciown from Louis Philhppe. After long and occult negotiations he succeeded m securing the adhesion of part of the Strasbourg garrison. The story has been often told, and wo need not lepeat it. The Prince gamed over some officers, and entered the Alsatian capital in 1836 At first his success was considerable. He captured the Lieutenant General, he obtained possession of the telegraph ; the artillerymen rose at tho call of their Colonel, Vandrey, and surrounded the Prince with enthusiasm. But Colonel Taillandier, a man of boundless energy, threw himself athwart tho conspiracy, and broke it by his dauntless courage and ovei whelming will. The Prince was captured, and the imexde vanished like a morning mist. The question now was what to do with a prisoner so dangerous. The Government, unwilling to adopt a trial, adopted a middle c course, and sent him to New York in a man-of-war. Tho Prince had failed ; but he gained, by his attempt, the priceless knowledge that a vast mass of the peoplo still sympathised <X with the Emperor ; for everyone put on his trial for the " Atfentat de Strasbourg" was acquitted by the jury. The Prince, therefore, felt no discouragement, but continued in banishment to nourish the dream which, after lapse of years, he realised. HIS LIFE IN LONDON. Napoleon returned to London after a sojourn of six months in the Western Republic, and went thence to Switzerland. But the Helvetic Republic found itself powerless to afford him the needed shelter. The French Government demanded V his expulsion, on the ground that he was too near the frontier and the southern garribons : and a French army of observa- jtion actually began its march from Lyons towards the territory of the Swit/ers. The Confederation was unable to bear up ngainst the pressure, and Louis Napoleon found a refuge in London. Ulysses was a famous wanderer, but bis wander- "" ings were nothing to those of this prince of a crown. Tho French King never dreamed of demanding his expulsion ■from among us, and he resided in England for three years. "| As usual, he studied militai-y history, and especiallj that of J his uncle. He was made much of in society, and was very popular in certain sets, talking well when he chose to talk, °' and rid'ng to hounds with unexceptionable coolness and C courage. He made many acquaintances and tome friends, \\ useful to him in his subsequent career. It was in London that he composed " Les Iclees Napolooniennes," though ho ' published them in Paris. Throughout his earlier life ho •wanted means of obtaining access to the ears of the French, and lie used the pießS against Louis Phillippe as freely as any Red Republican. At one time the Democrats were fairly enamoured of Hs views, and the "ultra" papers of thirty years ago i caddy printed his articles. The life of tho exiled n ' adventurer at this period wns necessarily one of no little pecuniary embarrassment, for he had spent his own and his mother's foitune m the Italian and Strasbourg ventures. Yet he went much into society, had a stall at the Opera, and was a member of several clubs, among others of Crockford's — to belong to which was, save fora very wealthy man, a - privilege that might be ruinous. But he could not keep up an establishment suitable to his rank, and lived for tho most part in furnished lodgingf. Still he was to be found at most of the fashionable gatherings in the London season ; and at tho famous Eghnton Tournament he appeared as a squire — a modest enough post for ono who was dreaming ~j of empire. J JTHE ABORTIVE EXPEDITION TO BOULOGNE. Four years after the failure at Strasburg he devised a new J; scheme He had by almost|superhuman efforts raised a large sum of money. He gathered together a company of friends |at —including M. Fiahn, better known under the Second Empire as the Due do Pcrsigny — chattered a steamer called the City of Edinburgh, bought a tame eagle, ate at Crockford's a farewell supper given by sympathizing English gentlemen, >- and steamed etown tho Thames for Boulogne. Landing on the 6th of August at Vimprieux, he marched into the town, accompanied by a lieutenant, a detachment from whose regi- - ment occupied the barracks. There was at first a certain 5 movement m favour of the Prince, but it gave way before tho determination of the captain at the main-guard house. Prince E Louis was fain to seek safety in flight, and was captured on the beach by tho soldiers and gendarmerie. After a short detention at Boulogne ho was conveyed with a strong escort to Paris, where he was confined in the puson adjoining the ~ palace of tho Lu\embouig, to await his trial before the "1 Chambers of Peeis. J HIS TR'Ati AND SENTENCB OF BANISHMENT. n On his trial the Pr ; nce made a courageous defence. It •was on this occasion that he uttered the words so often q quoted, " I represent before you a principle, a cause and n a defeat. The principle is the sovereignty of the people, _ the cause that ot tho Empire, the deteat Waterloo." Ho n denied the right of jurisdiction of the peeis, saying that"i J apolitical struggle there could be only conquerois and conquered, nnd that if the peers were the conquerors he waited the? ustice, but did not desire the* generosity. M. B'n/er cK'end<"i H>n and gr"v>divj- j| «- oHmtho

oon te&t. The peers, on the i)th of October, sentenced the accused to imprisonment for life, and Ins companions to varying terms of detention. The i'rinoe uas sent to tlie fortress of Main, whtuu he rim.uiicd b.\ yi'us. He occupied his leisure, as wu his wont, m stu ly >nl composition, fighting his conqucrm ihn u ;b the j<>u n vis, .md publishing some remarkable imlit.iiy paper:* in tho l'<ts de Calais, ' then edited by Cauasiilkvi'. It w.is dining this imnod of enforced leisure, likewise, lie jixhird his remaik.ible pamphlet on the Extinction of I'axipuiism. l f is detention was for a long time of the most rigorous desci "ption ; and an application he made to the (!o\ eminent ti> 'uo .illo^cd, on his parole of honour, to icturn to wait a dying leLitive, was contemptuously lefused. At length his guardians relaxed their precatitions, aud the Prince adroitly availed himself of the prevailing laxity. Disguised as a woiKman, and carrying a plank on hij shoiildt 1, ho u.ilLed quietly through the sentries out of the fortress, and succeeded Hi reaching the Belgian fiontitr The two pi iucipal agents in ellecting his liberation were his physician, Ur Conneau — who was prosecuted and imprisoned by Louis Pbilipi i's Government — and a body servant ca'led Charles. HOW UK KsC.U'liD VltOM THE I'OHTRKSS.

How the escape was effected the Prince himself thus described in a letter to M. de George: — "You know," liv writes, " that the fort was gunrded by 400 men, who furnished daily 60 soldiers, placed as sentries outside tho walls. Moreover, the principal gate of the prison was guarded by three gnolors, two of whom were constantly on duty. It w.is necessary that I should first elude their vigilance, ai towards traverse the inside court before tho windows of the commandant's residence, and, arriving there, I should be oblige d to pass by a gate that was guarded by soldiers. Not wishing to communicate my design to any one, it was necessavj t o disguise myself. As several rooms in that part of the priicn which I occupied wero under repair, it was not difficult 1o assume the dress of a workman. My good and faithful valet. Charles Thelier, procured a 9mock-froek and n pair of cabots; and, after shaving off my moustaches, 1 took a plank on mj shoulders. On Sunday morning 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 way. He was also to call one of the turnkeys, whilst Dr Connean conversed with the others. Neverthelebs I scarcely got out of my room before I was accosted by a workman, who took me for one of his comrades ; and at the bottom of the stairs I found myself in front of tl'o keeper. Fortunately, I placed before my face the plank which I was carrying, and succeeded in reaching the yard. Whenever I passed a sentinel or any other person, I always kept the plank before my face. Passiug before the first sentinel, I let my pipe fall, and stooped to pick up the bits. There I met the officer on duty; but he was reading a letter he paid no attention to me. The soldiers at the guard-house appeared surprised at my dress, and a chasssur turned round several times to look aL me. I next met some workmen, who looked very attentively at me. I placed tho plank before my face, but they appeared to bo bo curious that I thought I should never escape until I heard them say, ' Oh, it is JJertrand ' ' Once outside, I walked quickly towards the road to St Quentin. Charles, who had tho day before engaged a carriage, shortly overtook me, and w e arrived at St Quentin. I passed through tho town on foot, after having thrown off my smock-frock. Charles procured a post-chaise under pretext of going to Cambrai. Wo arrived without meeting any ob-taeles, at Valenciennes, where I took the railway. I had procured a Belgian passport, but I was nowhere asked to show it. During my escape Dr Conneau, always so devoted to me, remained in prison, and caused them to believe that I was unwell, in order to give me time to reach, tho frontier. Before I could bo persuaded to quit Franco, it was necessary that I should be convinced that the Government would never set me at liborty if I would not consent to dishonor myself. It was also a matter of duty that I should c\ert all my efforts in order to be enabled to solace my father in his old age." THE BfcVOLTJTION IN PARIS OF 1848. — TIIE PHINCE's ELECTION TO TIIE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.

Soon after his escape he landed in England, and when tho revolution took place in Pans, in February, ISIS, and Louis Phillippo had fled to England, he went to Paris, but eooa had to withdraw again into exile. In Juiie of that year lie was elected to the Constituent Assembly. Being in doubt whether he would be allowed to take his seat, lie wrote a letter tendering his resignation. Three months after he wns elected by five constituencies, and was allowed to take his scat. CHOSEN PEESIDKNT OF TIIE RErUBUC.

His presence in Pang and in the Assembly raised a larger question. A president was to be elected in December, and his name at once went to the front rank. He published a moderate address to the electors — the fhsfc of those Stale papers which for twenty-one years attracted and perplcved Europe. General Cavaignac, actual head of the Government, was his competitor ; but he secured less than a million and a half of votes, while Prince Louis saw himself the chosen nominee of 5,552,834 Frenchmen. What a triumph for the wandering exile! Moreover, it showed thnt the vasl influence of the Fi'ot Napoleon had suiviied his deie.it lor moie than ft generation. (To be continued J