TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

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THE CAREER OF THE GREAT Napoleonic dynasty is without a parallel either in ancient or modern times. The universal judgment of mankind has long since decided, that its founder, Napoleon I., was in every respect as great a hero, and probably a greater, than Alexander, Caesar, or Charlemagne, the three most renowned representatives of ambitious and martial daring in the world’s history. It has been conceded that the variety and extent of Napoleon’s abilities, both as a commander, a legislator, and a ruler, place him above all his rivals. It is also granted that the splendor of his victories, the extent of his conquests, and the grandeur of his elevation, exceeded theirs in an eminent degree.

But in addition to all these elements of superior greatness, it must be admitted that the family of Napoleon I. add an unequal attraction and halo to his career. Neither of his illustrious rivals could boast of a wife as graceful and bewitching as Josephine, or as high-born and nobly descended as Maria Louisa. None of them possessed a sister who, like Pauline, deserved the distinction of being called the most beautiful and fascinating woman of her time. None could point to a Caroline who combined beauty, intrepidity, and talent, in so pre-eminent a measure. None of them could claim brothers as sagacious as Joseph, as gallant as Murat, as romantic as Jerome, as capable as Lucien. None of these rival conquerors could point to as many relatives who were sovereign princes and princesses, and who owed their dizzy eminence to his own powerful arm. And none of them had a successor equal in talent, and in desperate, successful daring, to Napoleon III. It must be admitted, also, that the present Emperor of the French is the second personage in point of consequence, celebrity, and interest, among all that illustrious company who bear the name and share the glory of the Bonapartes; and that his career possesses an importance and splendor, inferior only to that of the great head of the family himself.

Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Paris on the 20th of April, 1808. He was the third and only surviving son of Louis Napoleon, the King of Holland, and Hortense, the daughter of the Empress Josephine, by her first husband, the Viscount de Beauharnois. The infant prince first saw the light at one o’clock, and the Chancellor of the Empire immediately wrote to the Emperor, the Empress, and to Louis Napoleon, informing them of the happy event. At five o’clock in the evening the act of birth was received by the Arch-Chancellor, assisted by his eminence, Regnault de St. Jean d’Angely, the minister of state, and secretary of the imperial family. Salvos of artillery announced the happy event along the whole line of the grande armée, throughout the entire extent of the empire, from Hamburg to Genoa, from the Danube to the Atlantic. This was an honor which fell to the lot of only two members of the imperial family, Louis Napoleon, and the King of Rome; for they only were born under the imperial regime.

Notwithstanding these and other testimonials of the legitimacy of Louis Napoleon, it has been gravely asserted by authorities of no mean importance, that not a drop of Bonaparte blood flows in his veins; and that he is, in reality, the son of the favorite lover of Hortense, Admiral Verhuel, a Dutch nobleman connected with the court of her husband, while king of Holland. It is well known that the marriage between Louis Bonaparte and Hortense was a compulsory one, brought about by the tears and persuasions of Josephine. Napoleon’s Minister of Police, the celebrated Fouché, boldly asserts in his Memoirs, that Hortense was then already pregnant by the Emperor; that the latter first determined to marry her immediately to Duroc; that Duroc positively refused, being engaged to another lady whom he loved; and that then Louis was absolutely commanded to accede to a union with the daughter of Josephine. Subsequent events seemed indeed to give the color of truth to these assertions. From the day of that union, the young couple never pretended to entertain the least affection for each other. From January the 20th, 1802, the date of the marriage, down till September, 1807, the period of their separation, they never resided together more than four months, and that at very remote intervals. Some months after their final separation, and after Hortense had taken up her permanent residence in Paris, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was born. The strongest proof which supports the assertion of the illegitimacy of his birth, is his own peculiarly apathetic Dutch temperament; a temperament such as no other Frenchman ever possessed since the national existence began. To this may be added the total want of any resemblance in his features to the Napoleon family, and their very considerable similarity to those of the courtly and accomplished Dutch Admiral already referred to.

The family of Hortense and Louis Bonaparte consisted of the eldest son, called Napoleon Louis Charles, born in 1802, who died in 1807; the second son named Napoleon Louis, who was born in 1804, was baptized by Pope Pius VII., and who died in 1831; and the subject of this history. The family register of the Bonapartes which contained the evidence of the right of the succession, had been deposited in the keeping of the Senate. By the Plebiscite of the year 1804, the children of the brothers of Napoleon I., in the absence of his own direct heirs, were entitled to the succession to the throne in the order of their ages. Accordingly, at the period of his birth, Louis Napoleon was regarded as the second heir of the empire, and considerable interest clustered around his person from his earliest years, as one who might perhaps be reserved by the mysterious vicissitudes of fate, for a brilliant or at least a checkered destiny. He was baptized in 1810 by Cardinal Fesch, with great splendor, at Fontainbleau, the Emperor and Maria Louisa themselves acting as sponsors.

His earliest years were spent in his mother’s private residence in the Rue Cerutti, now Lafitte, in Paris. She was his first preceptor; and she was well fitted for the task. Hortense was a woman of great intelligence, refinement and taste. Herself educated by the accomplished Madame Campan, she possessed a well-cultivated mind. She had, when quite a girl, distinguished herself in the celebrated school d’Ecouen, by her superior talents for music and drawing. She was learned, witty, and exceedingly attractive in her manners. In a word, she was worthy to be the daughter of Josephine. She reared her two sons with great strictness; and the severity of the training to which she subjected them, was intended both to enlarge and cultivate their minds, as well as to strengthen and develop their bodies.

Napoleon himself took a deep interest in the progress of the boys. He frequently sent for them, while he was breakfasting hastily in his cabinet, in order to converse with them, to ascertain their progress in learning, and to scrutinize the displays or evidences which they might give of intelligence and talent. Not even the subsequent birth of the king of Rome seemed to diminish the intense interest which Napoleon felt in the children of Hortense. His sagacious mind well appreciated the uncertainties of human life, and the possibility of the death of his direct heir. There is ample evidence to prove, that both in prosperity and misfortune, until the end of his marvellous career at St. Helena, the great conqueror regarded the fate of the two sons of Hortense with solicitude, and watched their career with a vigilant eye.

Louis Napoleon continued to reside in Paris with his mother till 1814. During the interval between this period and the separation of his parents, his father had led a retired life at Gratz, in Germany. When the first great disasters of Napoleon occurred after the Russian expedition, when the mighty Colossus who had so long overawed the world lay prostrate on the earth, the former king of Holland hastened to Paris. When the allied armies drew their vast lines closely around the French capital, Hortense was undismayed by the dangers which surrounded the imperial family, and remained. She actively employed herself in procuring relief for the thousands of wounded French soldiers who crowded the hospitals of Paris. She praised the fortitude of her husband in remaining near the Emperor. No perils nor threats could appal her; and she displayed pre-eminently on this occasion the leading attribute of her character, which was the secret of all her domestic difficulties and troubles—her unconquerable obstinacy. When she beheld Maria Louisa desert with cowardice and pusillanimity the capital of her husband’s Empire, thus betraying his dearest interests in the moment of his greatest peril, she gave way to excusable paroxysms of rage, and exclaimed to the Empress, “I am incensed at the weakness which I see. You intend to destroy France and the Emperor. You must be aware that by quitting Paris you neutralize its defence and lose your crown. You make the sacrifice with great resignation!” “You are right,” replied the pliant Austrian princess; “but it is not my fault. The council have thus decided.” Hortense being asked what she intended to do, answered: “I shall remain at Paris, and will share with the Parisians all their fortunes, be they good or bad.” “I wish,” said she, energetically, “that I were the mother of the King of Rome; I would inspire all around me with the energy I could exhibit.” Speaking to Regnault, the Colonel of the National Guard, she said: “Unfortunately I cannot fill the place of the Empress; but I do not doubt that the Emperor is executing manoeuvres which will soon conduct him hither. Paris must hold out; and if the National Guard is willing to defend it, tell them that I pledge myself to remain here with my sons.”

Such was the heroism and determination of the mother of the present Emperor of France, and such the noble example which she gave to him, and to the world, of devotion to the interests of her illustrious benefactor.

After all was lost, Hortense was directed by her husband to send him their children in order to convey them to a place of safety, as they might be taken by the enemy as hostages. She accordingly left Paris only two days before the entry of the allies. She commenced her sad journey at nine o’clock at night, taking the road to Glatigny. When she reached Rambouillet, she received an order from her husband to repair with her children to Blois. She considered this requisition as an insult, and exclaimed, with her usual determination and obstinacy, which had long before induced her brother Eugene to call her his Dear Stubborn—“I was going to Blois, but since I am ordered to go, I will not go.” She crossed the forest of Rambouillet, even at the risk of being captured by the Russians, and reached Navarre, whither her mother Josephine had taken refuge.

At this retreat Hortense was undetermined what to do. Once she thought of retiring to Martinique and residing upon the family estate which her mother still possessed in that island. This project however was soon given up. After the allies entered Paris, her elegant hotel was occupied by Swedish officers; but having soon received assurances from the Emperor Alexander that she and her mother should be protected, and their interests provided for, she returned to the capital with her sons, and there awaited the final issue of events. It was stipulated by Napoleon in the act of abdication at Fontainbleau, that Hortense should receive a permanent yearly revenue of four hundred thousand francs, and that she should retain possession of her sons. Through the influence of the Russian monarch, her estate of St. Leu was erected into a duchy, of which she took the title and the dignities.

The government of Louis XVIII., however, did not treat the fallen queen with the same generosity. A portion of the forest of St. Leu was restored by him to its ancient proprietor, the Prince de Condé; the sum of six hundred thousand francs, which had been deposited by Napoleon in the hands of the Receiver-General of Blois, to the credit of herself and Josephine, was given to the Duke d’Angoulème; and the inscription on the national treasury of a million and a half of francs, which Napoleon had guaranteed to Hortense, was repealed.

After the departure of Napoleon to Elba, Hortense resided with her two sons chiefly at Malmaison with her mother. Here the family were frequently visited by the illustrious strangers who were then in Paris, and especially by the Emperor Alexander. It is said that on one occasion, Alexander, Josephine, Prince Eugene, and Hortense, with her two sons, visited together the works of Marly, in the vicinity of Malmaison; that Alexander’s dress was on the point of being caught in the machinery, in consequence of his too near approach, and that his life was saved by the sudden movement of Hortense. This act of sincere devotion completely won the heart of Alexander, who from that moment became much attached to her.

Greater misfortunes now overwhelmed Hortense and her children than had ever before fallen to their lot. On the 29th of May, 1814, her amiable and illustrious mother Josephine expired in her arms. Regretted as this noble woman was by every one with whom she had ever come in contact, none felt the blow so profoundly and acutely as Hortense. Of Josephine alone, of all human beings, could it with truth have been said, as indeed it was frequently asserted, that “she never caused the shedding of a single tear.” The grief of Hortense was agonizing beyond description; and the baseness of the government of Louis XVIII. added a still sharper pang to those which already distracted her bosom. Josephine was scarcely laid in her grave when M. Blacas, on the part of the king, demanded the pictures which were at Malmaison as the property of the State; and other indignities were subsequently offered her.

Notwithstanding these reverses, the characteristic generosity of Hortense still marked her conduct in settling the estate of Josephine with Eugene. She reserved to herself the payment of twenty thousand francs in salaries, and gave away a hundred thousand francs in presents to the needy and faithful dependants of the fallen dynasty. In consequence of the reduction of her pecuniary resources from various causes, she now curtailed her style of living; relinquished all the useless expenditures of the days of her splendor; and dismissed her attendants, except three women and the tutor of her sons.

At this memorable and exciting period Louis Napoleon was five years old. He was even then remarkable for the taciturnity of his disposition. Though he spoke very little, he seemed to be reflective and intelligent. His progress in his studies was moderate; neither deficient nor remarkable. His mother had taught him to regard the Emperor Alexander as a friend. Accordingly on one occasion when that monarch was present, Louis Napoleon quietly approached him, and placed in his hand a little ring which his uncle Eugene had given him. When his mother inquired what he had done, he answered: “I have nothing but the ring which uncle Eugene gave me, to give; and I wanted to give it to the Emperor because he is so good to you.” Alexander embraced the child, and retained his present.

The nurse chosen by Hortense for her son, was a lady named Madam Bure. This person was a handsome and pretty brunette, small in stature, but possessing remarkably fine, expressive black eyes. On one occasion, when attending young Louis at the Tuilleries, she attracted the attention of the Emperor Napoleon, and elicited his rather significant compliments. At length he fixed his eyes upon Madam Bure so rudely as to cause her to blush. Napoleon, seeing her confusion, turned away, exclaiming: “That young rogue has a very charming nurse!” Madam Bure was much attached to the family and person of Hortense; she continued in her suite during the lifetime of the ex-queen, and resided with her till her death at Arenemberg.

The chief solace of Hortense at this period was, the possion and education of her sons. She was threatened even with the loss of these; for her husband, having retired to Italy, now demanded them from her. She refused to resign them; and a lawsuit was commenced to recover possession of them. A verdict was given in favor of the father; but before it could be executed, Napoleon’s sudden return from Elba suspended the proceedings, and again threw France and the whole continent into confusion. On the 20th of March, 1815, he reached his former capital. The ex-queen of Holland was among the first to congratulate him. Her reception at the Tuilleries, contrary to her expectation, was rather cold. Napoleon condemned her for having remained at Paris during the supremacy of the Bourbons. But Hortense had an excuse ready, which was both reasonable and adroit. Said she: “Sire, I had a strong presentiment that you would return; and I waited for you here.” The great hero and stern conqueror at once melted down very perceptibly at this skilful reply.

The day after Napoleon’s return, Hortense presented to him her sons. He received them with warm and affectionate feelings. The King of Rome was then a captive and a state-prisoner at Venice, with his mother; and the importance of the children of Hortense became magnified in consequence of that fact. They became the inheritors of the attentions which would have fallen to the lot of the son of Maria Louisa. At the august ceremony of the ratification of the new constitution, in the Champs de Mai, they stood by the side of Napoleon’s throne; he presented them separately to the deputations of the army and the people; and he regarded them as pledges to confirm the new alliance which on that day had been made between France and the returned Emperor. At Napoleon’s request, Hortense wrote to Maria Louisa to urge her to make some movements toward reaching her husband. But all her arguments were thrown away upon the stupid and imbecile nature of the ignoble being, whom fortune had insanely elevated to share the throne of the aspiring hero of a hundred battles. Hortense received no answer to her eloquent and impassioned representations. In the absence of Maria Louisa from the imperial court, Hortense assumed her place, and did the honors. She was consequently beset with an infinite number of applications; and she displayed in this high place the same generosity and benevolence in relieving the miseries of others, which had so eminently characterized her mother in former years, when she occupied the same position, and possessed the same power. At her instance, Napoleon permitted the dowager Duchess of Bourbon, and the Duchess of Orleans, to remain in France, and even bestowed on the former an income of four hundred thousand francs, and one of two hundred thousand on the latter.

At length, on the swift wings of time, the decisive day of Waterloo arrived. On its ensanguined plain the vast empire of Napoleon fell prostrate in the dust, never to be revived again during his own existence. Six days afterward, Hortense and her sons met their fallen benefactor at Malmaison, The ex-queen did her utmost to console and encourage him; she offered to place her whole fortune at his command, and to share his destiny, whatever it might be. When at last a final separation became necessary, and Napoleon was compelled to commence that journey, which eventually resulted in placing him as a prisoner for the rest of his life in the stern grasp of his foes, the parting was most affecting. The young Louis, especially,—his future, though then unsuspected heir,—clung to his uncle, screamed, and refused to leave him. He was taken away at last by main force; and as Napoleon was then in possession of but slender means, Hortense induced him to accept her diamond necklace, worth eight hundred thousand francs, which she sewed up in a silk ribbon, and concealed in his dress. This jewel Napoleon never parted with; not even amid the deprivation and semi-starvations of St. Helena; and by his will he requested Montholon to restore it to Hortense. The important trust was faithfully executed, and it was returned to its generous donor in an hour of dire necessity. In her old age, Hortense sold it to the King of Bavaria for trifling annuity of twenty-three thousand francs; which she survived to enjoy only two years.

Shortly after the capitulation of Paris, a strong current of hostile public feeling arose against Napoleon; and Hortense and her sons, who still remained in the capital, were in considerable danger. She succeeded in concealing them safely in a hose establishment on the Boulevard Montmartre, kept by one of her faithful personal friends, Madame Tessier. During the second occupation of Paris by the allied troops, her hotel in the Rue Cerutti was occupied by the Austrian Prince Schwartzenberg; and she hoped that this circumstance would increase her security. She was mistaken. She shared the general odium which now gathered around the Bonaparte family. Even the attachment and esteem of the Emperor Alexander seems to have strangely waned; and he even called at her hotel to see the Prince Schwartzenberg, without ever inquiring after her, or showing her the slightest courtesy. Such are the vicissitudes of fallen greatness!

At length the hostility of her enemies became so great, that the Allies sent her an order to leave Paris within two hours. Accordingly, on the 19th of July, 1815, she passed the barriers in the evening, under the conduct of the Count de Voyna, aide-de-camp to the Prince of Schwartzenberg, and chamberlain of the Austrian Emperor. She spent the first night at the Chateau de Bercy. On her route she met with demonstrations sometimes of popular hatred, and sometimes of popular favor. At Dale, the multitude who crowded around her carriage, supposing that she was being led into captivity, were disposed to effect a rescue, and assail her conductor. They were appeased only by assurances from Hortense herself that such was not the fact.

The first design of the fugitive and unfortunate ex-queen was to retire with her sons to an estate which she owned at Pregny, near Geneva. As soon as this purpose became known, the French Minister in Switzerland procured an order from the Swiss government prohibiting her from doing so. In this emergency she directed her course to Aix, hoping there to find repose and protection. But here vexations of another nature awaited her. She was there met by an order from her husband, the Count de Leu, conveyed by the Baron de Zuite, to deliver to his messenger, their eldest son. Napoleon. This demand was based upon the judgment which had been rendered by the Parisian courts on the subject; and there was no power which could or would prevent the execution of the decree. Accordingly, Hortense was compelled, after many protestations and many tears, to resign her eldest son to the custody and possession of his father. For the first time, the mother and son were separated; and the parting scene was affecting in the extreme. At length the last embraces were given, the last adieus were uttered; and the young Napoleon departed for Rome under the conduct of a preceptor chosen for him by his mother, together with his father’s confidential agent.

Young Louis Napoleon also felt this separation keenly. He was then seven years of age, and the brothers were much attached to each other. Napoleon the elder, was bold, resolute, and determined in his disposition. Louis was taciturn, timid, mild, yet intelligent and reflective. The one even then was in every sense a Frenchman. The other already seemed to all intents and purposes a Dutchman. There was no rivalry, because there was no similarity between their natures. They loved each other; and found an appropriate and harmonious counterpart in each other’s peculiarities. The younger, especially, was much affected at the loss of his brother’s animated and agreeable society; and he turned with great tenderness to his mother’s protection.

But Hortense was not permitted long to remain even at Aix. The Sardinian government was disposed to sympathize with her enemies, and it scrutinized her movements in the most vexatious manner, and eventually compelled her to resume her wanderings. She concluded to repair to Constance, in the Grand Duchy of Baden. She thought she would there be protected, inasmuch as the Grand Duchess, Stephanie de Beauharnois, was her cousin. But to reach this spot she was compelled to obtain permission to pass through Switzerland. After great difficulty this permission was obtained, and Hortense, accompanied by her son Louis Napoleon, his tutor, the Abbé Bertrand, Mademoiselle Cochelet, her reader, and a servant, departed from Aix. She desired to pass the first night on her own estate at Bregny; but even this small boon was denied her by the French and Swiss authorities. At Morat she was even put under temporary arrest. Having arrived at Constance, she was immediately informed that however much the grand duke and duchess might be anxious to serve her, they were under the control of higher powers, and therefore could afford her no protection. She answered to these representations, that her health and the season of the year—it was then November—did not permit her then to continue her journey; and she desired to be permitted to remain only till the ensuing spring.

At this moment of gloom and despair, when thus apparently an outcast from every clime and country in Europe, Hortense received a secret letter from the grand duchess, in which, after having given her encouragement, she added: “Have patience, and do not be uneasy; perhaps all will be right by spring. By that time passions will have calmed, and many things will have been forgotten.” Comforted by these words, Hortense rented a modest mansion on the beautiful shore of the lake of Constance, and resumed her usual habits of life. There she remained during the year 1816. Her drooping spirits again revived. She was visited by many illustrious personages in her obscure retirement. Here she enjoyed for a time the society of her brother Eugene. The Austrian prime-minister, Prince Metternich, offered her a more agreeable residence at Bregentz on the same lake, which, however she declined. Her health became restored, and she again resembled the graceful, accomplished, and attractive woman who had once shone as one of the brightest ornaments of the brilliant court of St. Cloud. She indulged in her usual amusements; and, inspired by the romantic scenery which surrounded her, she gratified her taste for literary and musical composition. It was here that she composed, among many other songs of great taste and beauty, the celebrated national French air, Partant pour la Syrie, which to this day remains, after the celebrated Marseilles Hymn, the nation’s favorite.

In the following spring, Hortense and her son visited Prince Eugene at Berg, a country seat of his father-in-law, the King of Bavaria, where she was received with the respect and affection which were due her. She passed the summer with her son at the baths of Geiss, among the mountains of Appenzell, and derived great benefit from their medicinal qualities. In the fall of 1816 she returned to Constance, and here devoted the whole of her attention to the education of her son. She herself taught him drawing and dancing. On each Saturday she spent the whole day in reviewing the studies of the week, and marking and commending his progress. At this period Louis was not remarkable for intellectual improvement. His physical development seemed now to predominate, and he became restless, active, and almost ungovernable. The gentle cares of the Abbé Bertrand were now useless, and Hortense provided for him another and more resolute tutor, M. Lebos, from the Normal School at Paris. Yet, at this period, the developing impulses of his nature were generous, noble, and manly, and gave promise of a more vigorous and active manhood than his more youthful years appeared to have prognosticated. His active habits served to develop his physical energies. His features gained in expressiveness what they lost in regularity. They lost something of the beauty of his supposed father, the Dutch nobleman, but they displayed more of the intelligence of Hortense.

Thus the life of the persecuted ex-queen was flowing for a brief interval tranquilly along, when once more, in the beginning of 1817, the hostility of her enemies drove her and her son from their chosen retreat. The Grand Duke of Baden received orders from the Allies to send her out of his dominions. Her thoughts now recurred to the generous treatment which she had received in the neighboring district of Thurgovia; and in her rides through this canton she had often admired the picturesque beauty of an estate and manor known by the name of Arenemberg. She now proposed to purchase it, and to obtain permission from the authorities of the canton to reside there. She was successful in both applications. Arenemberg became her home, at the cost of sixty thousand francs. There she spent many happy years, and there at last she died.

In 1818 a partial reconciliation happily took place between Hortense and her husband, and the latter permitted her to enjoy the society of her eldest son for several months. After an absence of three years the brothers again met. Louis Napoleon was now seventeen years of age, and had finished his studies in the college of Augsburg. In 1824 Prince Eugene died, and in 1825 his father-in-law, the best surviving friend of Hortense, King Maximilian, of Bavaria, followed him to the grave. It was after these sad events that she determined to divide her time between Arenemberg and Rome, the residence of her husband. The winters she spent in the capital of the Christian world; the summers were passed at her delightful retreat in Switzerland. At Rome she became the centre of the most brilliant society, for there she was surrounded not only by the polished and illustrious princes of the church, but she also met her accomplished and fascinating relative, Pauline Bonaparte, who had married the Prince Borghese. Hortense resided with this lady at her Villa Paolina, where she was constantly addressed with the title, and served with the ceremonial, of loyalty. Her chief wealth, and her most precious relics, were collected together at Arenemberg. It was here that she cherished and preserved, among many other sad and affecting souvenirs of those unparalleled days of glory, felicity, and splendor which had forever passed away, the beautiful miniature of the King of Rome, which, on the bleak and rocky summit of St. Helena, had received the last kiss of the expiring Emperor.

At this period Louis Napoleon commenced his military studies and exercises, in connection with a Baden regiment garrisoned in Constance. He now also devoted his attention to the study of physics and chemistry, under the direction of a learned Frenchman named Giestard. He was afterward admitted into the camp of Thun, in the canton of Berne, where he studied engineering and artillery-practice under Colonel Dufour, an old hero of the Grand Armée. His personal activity and martial bearing made the young prince a great favorite in the camp. He excelled in all martial exercises and manoeuvres. He seemed to be fond of fatigue, and became particularly partial to artillery practice and science. When the imbecile Bourbons fell, in the revolution of July, 1830, Louis Napoleon cherished the enthusiastic hope that he might at last be permitted to return to his native land. In this expectation he was disappointed; although Louis Philippe sent to Hortense assurances of his esteem and protection; and intimated to her that the future might perhaps enable him to gratify his wishes towards her more effectually than the existing posture of affairs then permitted.

CHAPTER II.

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THE REVOLUTION OF 1830 IN France rekindled the fierce flames of popular discontent in Italy. The tyranny of Austria was then, as it is now, both a curse and a disgrace to the land of the ancient conquerors of the world; and there were not wanting men among their degenerate descendants, who possessed the courage to strike a deadly blow at the despot’s power.

Louis Napoleon spent the winter of 1830 in Rome with his mother. He was surrounded by revolutionary influences and elements, and became imbued with their spirit. He identified himself with the principles and measures of the patriots. Excluded by the jealousy and caution of Louis Philippe from taking any share, however humble, in the movements which were progressing in his native country, he turned with greater sympathy to the similar revolutionary and popular changes which were taking place in Italy. He became the object of much interest to the progressive party; and this circumstance excited at once the distrust of the Papal government. Another incident served to increase the suspicion with which he was now regarded. In December, 1830, a portion of the Bonaparte family had held a secret conclave at Rome. It was composed of Madame Letitia, the mother of the ex-Emperor, Cardinal Fesch, Jerome Bonaparte, Hortense, and her two sons, the elder of whom, having married his cousin, the second daughter of Joseph Bonaparte, resided at Florence. It could not be doubted that the object of this secret assemblage of the fallen dynasty bore some reference to the political events which were then transpiring. The Papal government immediately requested, through Cardinal Fesch, that Louis Napoleon should withdraw from Rome. The request was not complied with. The government then sent a guard of fifty men to the residence of the prince, for the purpose of conducting him by force to the frontiers. He escaped their grasp, and fled to Florence. Scarcely had he disappeared when the insurrection of the Romagna burst forth. The main object of this movement was to overthrow the detested power of Austria in Italy, and to restore the national unity so long dissevered and broken. Louis Napoleon and his elder brother entered with enthusiasm into this movement. Tri-colored flags waved above the battlements of Ferrara, Urbino, and several other Italian cities. Louis Napoleon was active in forming moving columns, and in organizing the revolutionary efforts. Nor were the endeavors of the insurgents fruitless of results. They defeated the Papal troops on several occasions; and high hopes began to be entertained that something might yet be won for Italian liberty. The Vatican was filled with terror, and the worst consequences were apprehended. At this crisis, Hortense was constrained to leave Rome and repair to Florence, the head-quarters of her sons, whose influence among the revolutionists, young as they were, was almost unbounded. Hortense herself was not opposed to the share which her sons took in these transactions; but her husband. Cardinal Fesch, and Jerome Bonaparte, were highly incensed at it, and demanded of them that they should abandon a career which they deemed pregnant with the most injurious consequences, not only to themselves, but to the whole family. Their representations were useless, and the brothers remained unmoved. They took part in an action fought at Bologna between the Papal troops and the insurgents, and highly distinguished themselves by their intrepidity. But the Austrians came to the relief of the government forces, and the insurgents were at length compelled to retire to Forli. As is usually the case, treachery, more fatal than the Austrian bayonets, infected the camp. The two princes were deprived of their commands, and disunion began to prevail. The ultimate result was, that the revolution became a total failure, and the chief care of those who had participated in it was to escape, if possible, the grasp of the offended and terrified, but now triumphant authorities.

Other and greater misfortunes now overwhelmed the unhappy Hortense and her sons. The elder of them, when on the retreat to Forli, was attacked with the small-pox, or as others have asserted, by an internal inflammation of some kind, and expired on the 27th of March, 1831, at Faenza. Hortense had received information of his illness, and she immediately started from Florence to his relief. She arrived too late, and the young Napoleon expired in the arms of his brother. The latter was himself attacked with the small-pox at Ancona. The care of his mother, who reached him when in rapid retreat at Pesaro, rescued him from the fate of his brother. On leaving Florence she had provided a passport, under the name of an English lady travelling with her two sons. She still used this passport, and represented one of the young insurgent chiefs, the Marquis Zappi, as her son. The Austrians had set a price upon the head of the surviving Napoleon. Strict search was made for him, but in vain. A report prevailed that he had escaped in a small vessel to Malta, and this delusion served to relax the severity of the efforts made to capture him. Thus favored by fortune, Hortense and her son succeeded in evading the Austrian troops, embarked in a vessel for Cannes, and safely arrived at that port; the same which sixteen years before had witnessed the bold and desperate return of the great Napoleon from Elba. They resolved to travel directly to Paris, and throw themselves upon the generosity of Louis Philippe.

Having arrived, at length, at Paris, the first act of Louis Napoleon was to address a respectful letter to the king, asking permission to enter the French army as a private soldier. This step Hortense, less enthusiastic than her son, did not approve. She took up her residence at the hotel de Holland, and immediately informed Louis Philippe of her arrival. It is said that her letter communicating this fact arrived at the palace just as Sebastiani, the sagacious minister of the king for Foreign Affairs, informed the Council that she had landed at Malta. Louis Philippe sent Casimir Perin, the President of the Council, to wait upon her. She excused herself for violating the law which banished the family of Napoleon from the French territory, and confidently claimed the mercy of the sovereign. Louis Philippe granted her an audience, during which he said to her: “I know what exile is, and it is not my fault, if yours has not already terminated.” She was also permitted to see the queen and Madame Adelaide, the king’s sister. Her presence in Paris was still a secret to the public, when the 5th of May arrived, the anniversary of the Emperor Napoleon’s death. On that day the Parisians were in the habit of covering the base of the column in the Place Vendome with evergreens; which, therefore, seemed dedicated to the memory of Napoleon, Hortense and her son had now been twelve days in Paris, and by this time the news became known that they were present. The multitude who surrounded the triumphal column rushed, as if by a common impulse, to the hotel where the ex-queen and the prince were sojourning, and filled the air with their shouts. Marshal Lobau, commander of the National Guards, dispersed them by the novel means of fire-engines, which effectually quenched the intensity of their enthusiasm by immense discharges of water instead of grapeshot.

But this incident, though it terminated so comically, unhappily excited the fears and jealousy of the king. Hortense was given to understand that she could not longer remain in the French territories. Accordingly, she once more resumed her pilgrimage, and on the 10th of May embarked, at Calais, for England. Her son accompanied her, for he too had become personally obnoxious to the reigning family. He had uttered sentiments, in the letter which he had addressed to the king:, which indicated a superior degree of intelligence and determination,—acknowledging the right of Louis Philippe as the representative of a great nation, to occupy the throne to which they had invited him. He was too aspiring, and too dangerous, to be permitted to remain in France.

In England, and especially at Woburn Abbey, the seat of the Duke of Bedford, the ex-queen and her son were treated with great consideration. They were honored by men of all parties and factions. The adroit Talleyrand did his utmost to worm himself into the intended aims and purposes of Hortense, but her self-possession and her superior sagacity completely foiled him. While, perhaps, herself uncertain what course to take, the authorities of the canton of Thurgovia presented her son with the rights of citizenship. This was the district in which her estate of Arenemberg was situated. The document which conferred upon the young prince this honor recited how the canton was under great obligations to the duchess of St. Leu for many favors; and that the said honor was bestowed in consideration of those favors. It bore date the 30th of April, 1832. To this grateful testimonial of esteem the prince replied in appropriate terms. He thanked them for the honor of being made “the citizen of a free nation,” expressed the pleasure which his mother derived from their courtesy, and tendered his best wishes for the prosperity of the canton. He also sent them, as further testimonials of his esteem, two six-pounders, with complete trains and equipage; and he also founded a free school in the village of Sallenstein. In consequence of the state of kindly feeling expressed by the Swiss toward her and her son, Hortense now determined to take up her permanent residence at Arenemberg. She proposed to pass through Belgium and Brussels; but this was forbidden her, as her presence in the Belgian capital, with her son, might lead to serious consequences. The Belgians might, perhaps, elect the prince to their then vacant throne, and results of the most important nature might ensue. The whole corps diplomatique in London assembled together, and the most earnest representations were made against granting her a passport through France. At length, in August, Hortense left England, and landed at Calais with her son. Avoiding Paris and Brussels, in accordance with the requisitions of Louis Philippe, she visited the tomb of her mother, Josephine, at Ruel, passed through Chantilly and other cherished and familiar places, and finally reached Arenemberg in safety.

On his return to Switzerland Louis Napoleon was honored by a deputation of Poles sent from Warsaw, who proposed to place him at the head of their revolutionary movements, with an ultimate prospect of the possession of the throne of the Jagellons. The young prince was at this time twenty-three years of age. The letter which the deputation bore was signed by many of the most distinguished patriots of the nation, including General Kniazewicz, and Count Plater. The prince enthusiastically accepted the high mission; and fearing the more cautious opposition of his mother, he left Arenemberg without her knowledge or permission, and started for the Polish frontier. But, happily for his future destiny, ere he had progressed far upon his journey the news of the fall of Warsaw on the 7th of September, put an end to his progress and restored him to his home.

When the melancholy death of the Duke of Reichstadt took place at Vienna, in July, 1832, the importance of Louis Napoleon in the great system of European politics became immensely magnified. He became thenceforth the direct and recognized heir of the Napoleonic dynasty. The thoughtful solicitude of all the sovereigns of Europe now clustered around the obscure estate and manor of Arenemberg. It is well known that Talleyrand, on behalf of Louis Philippe, sent a secret emissary to reside permanently near Arenemberg, for the purpose of watching the movements of the prince. The castle was secretly surrounded by invisible but vigilant agents of many anxious and uneasy kings, who intently yet unobtrusively scrutinized his conduct. But their labors led to no satisfactory results. The truth was that the prince now led a retired life, engaged in literary pursuits. Pie did not forget that he was the direct heir of the claims of the great Napoleon, inasmuch as Joseph Bonaparte had no male children, and Lucien Bonaparte and his family had been expressly excluded from the succession by the will of the Emperor himself, and by the provisions of the Plebiscite; but Louis Napoleon felt convinced that the time of action had not yet arrived. It would have been well for his fame and fortune had he entertained the same opinion on several important occasions of his subsequent career. Although his thoughts at this period were chiefly engaged in studious labors, he was not forgotten by the chivalrous people who had once invited him to ascend their vacant throne. He was constantly visited by crowds of Polish refugees, and his purse was always open to relieve their necessities. He sent to the Polish committee at Berne a beautiful and valuable casket, which Napoleon himself had once possessed, in order that a lottery might be organized to relieve the wants of many of the exiles. He received in return the following expressive reply: “Five hundred Polish refugees, grateful for his generous solicitude, have the honor to present their sentiments of the most profound regard to the illustrious descendant of the Emperor Napoleon, August 6th, 1833.”

Nor were the various studies in which Louis Napoleon had already engaged fruitless in cultivating his intellectual powers, in storing his mind with valuable knowledge, and in enabling him to systematize and settle his own views on the great themes which appertain to the science of government. He now employed his leisure in the composition of his “Reveries Politiques,” which work was published in 1832. This production, emanating from a young man of twenty-four years of age, indicates more than ordinary ability. It displays an originality of thought and powers of generalization which very much exceed the usual range of juvenile capacity. The author clearly describes and characterizes the several forms of government which had successively prevailed in France, and the relation which they severally bore to the development of liberty. He very truly says of the reign of Louis Philippe, that while it indicated the sovereignty of the people, and promoted the reign of merit, its passions were fear, egotism, and meanness. The whole reign of Louis Philippe was overshadowed and tarnished by a craven fear of the powers and movements of the people; by a constant endeavor to magnify and glorify the Orleans dynasty in every possible way; and by despicable and greedy avarice of money, of dignities, of alliances, and of emoluments.

Reveries Politiqueswrite and think.