The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-01 00:00:00

PRINCE LOUIS' NAPOLEON.

The Commerce of Saturday contains the following let-
ter from Louis Napoleon, complaining of the due severity
exercised towards him during his imprisonment at Ham.
The Commerce introduces the letter in the following

" We have received the following communications.
Our respect for misfortune, and our constant desire to
concur in alleviating all uncalled-for rigour, make it our
duty to give them the publicity of our journal. We trust
that the Government will appreciate the claims thus
made on its consideration and on its generosity. We
desire it for the sake of the prisoner who suffers, and for
those who think themselves compelled to guard him
" TO THE EDITOR OF THE COMMERCE.

" Sir,—l have the honour to enclose you the copy of
a letter I have received from Prince Louis Napoleon, and
of a protest addressed by him to the Council of Ministers.
I trust to your impartiality for the insertion of these two
documents in the earliest number of your journal.—Re-
ceive, Sir, the assurance of my perfect consideration.
(Signed) « SALVAGE DE FAVEROLLES.

" 3tay2B, 1841.'
" COPY OF A. LETTER ADDRESSED BY PRINCE NAPOLEON
LOUIS BOXAPARTE -TO MADAME SALVAGE DE FAVE-
, ROLLE& ".! Ham, May 24, 1841.
" Madame,—l send you a copy of the protest which
I have addressed to the President of the Council, which
I beg you to have inserted in the journals, and to send
a copy on my behalf to the Ambassadors of all the
Powers with whom I am allied—viz., to the Ministers of
Russia, Austria, Sweden, Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Baden,
and Portugal
" ' Receive the renewed assurance of my friendship.
(Signed) " NAPOLEON LOUIS B."
" PROTEST.

" Citadel of Ham, May 22, 1841.
For the nine months that I have been in the hands
of the French Government I have borne every outrage
patiently, but I can no longer refrain from speaking, nor
authorise oppression by my silence.
" My position ought to be considered in two different
points of view—on its moral and on its legal side.
" Policy has rights which Ido not dispute. It would
be just for the Government to act towards me as to-
wards an enemy, and to remove from me the means of
injuring it,- but, on the other hand, it is inconsistent to
treat me, the son of a King, the nephew of an Emperor,
allied to all the Sovereigns of Europe, as a common pri-
soner.

" In invoking foreign alliances, I am not ignorant
that the plea has never been of use to the conquered, and
that misfortune breaks all ties ; but the French Govern-
ment ought to recognize the principle which has made
me what I am, for this principle is the cause of its exist-
ence. The sovereignty of the people made my uncle
Emperor, my father King—and I am a French Prince by
birth. I have, therefore, a right to the respect and re-
gard of all those with whom the vote of a great people,
royalty, glory, and misfortune are of any weight.
" If, for the first timein my life, I boast of the chance
which presided at my birth, it is that pride belongs to
my position, and that I have paid for the first favours of
fortune by 27 years of trouble and suffering.
" As to my legal position, the Court of Peers has
created for me an exceptional punishment.
"' In condemning me to perpetual imprisonment, it
has only legalised the decree of fate, which made me pri-
soner of war ; it has endeavoured to ally humanity to po-
licy by inflicting the mildest punishment for the longest ,
pooible time. . 1.• • ••
" Accustnmed from my earliest infaney to a: life of
hardship, I do not complain ,of. the hiconvenierit
city of•my dwelling, but I complain of being subject to
vexatious measures which are - not necessary to my safe
keeping.. During the first months of my captivity, all
kind of communication with the outside was denied me,
and in the inside I was kept perfectly aloof; but since se-
veral persons have been admitted to communicate freely
with me, the internal restrictions have no longer any
object.
" It is, however, since the time that these restrictions
became useless that they have been more rigorous. The
attendance of a faithful servant—who was permitted to
follow me into captivity—meets with every annoying ob-
stacles.

" So much terror has been instilled into the minds of
the garrison and the employes of the citadel, that they
scarcely dare to look towards me, and it is with great
danger to their interests that they can be polite. Every
one who evinces any wish to soften the rigours of my
captivity, even without deviating from their duty, are
threatened to be denounced to the authorities and dis-
charged from their posts.

" rlti the midst- of that France, which the chief of
my family has rendered so great, I am like an ex-
communicated being of the thirteenth century ; every
one flies at my approach as if my very breath were
contagious.

" But this insulting inquisition, which pur-
sues me into my chamber, which attaches itself
to my steps when I go to breathe the air of
Heaven in a retired corner of the fort, is not confined
to my person ; it extends even to my thoughts. My
family letters, the outpourings of my heart, are sub-
mitted to the most rigid censure, and if a letter expresses
too much sympathy, it is sequestrated, and its author de-
nounced to the Government. It appears as if it were
ivished to remind me every instant ►.hat I am a captive,
and to cry incessantly in my ears, Vr victis !
" ' It is not unimportant here to mention that none of
the measures I have pointed out were adopted against
the Ministers of Charles X. (whose chambers I now oc-
cupy), and yet those Ministers were not born on the
steps of a Throne ; they had not been condemned to
simple imprisonment, but to a punishment more severe—
banishment. In fine, they were not the representatives
of a cause which is the object of the veneration of France.
" The treatment to which I am subjected is neither
just, legal, nor humane. If those that order it think by
that means to vanquish me, they are deceived ; it is not
outrage. but kindness which softens the heart of those
who suffer.
(Signed) " NAPOLEON LOUIS 132"