Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-04-16
THE YOUNG NAPOLEON.


We make the following extract from long
and interesting article IN the last Foreign QUAR-
terly Review, in relation to the son Of Napoleon
the object, but lately, Of so many hopes and
fears in Europe:-
The life of the son Of Napoleon. since he fell
into Austrian hands when an infant, has been q
perfect mystery: the people were scarcely kept
in more complete ignorance OF the daily life Of
the man with the Iron Mask: his death was al
most the fest certain news OF his continued ex-
istence. Now that there is no motive tor farther
concealment, we are letinto all the details OF his
short career, down even to the most trivial &C.
tions of hourly existence; not without some re-
,ervation certainly, produced BY perpetual
consciousness Of the position Of the writer-a de.
pendant of the Court Of vienna-but still with
a sufficient abundance OF particulars, flowing
from the mouths Of his friends, tutors and house.
hold, to satisfy altogether as to the character
and disposition of remarkable and most inter.
esting parsonage
Many unworthy suspicious have been enter
tanned Of the Court of Austria respecting the
treatment of this young msn: these suspicious
will at once vanish before the perusal Of this
book, while the truth of the intentions Of the
Emperor, or at least of his minister, will appear
bat the young King Of Rune should be made
d German Prince:-nexi, that a. every man who
has passions and talents must have pursuit, it
was deemed safest, and perhaps most beneficial,
that he should be INDUCED in his enthusiasm for
the military profession. The example Of Prince
Eugene was set before him a. the one they would
most desire him to follow. Prince Eugene was
neither imperial nor alien, and yet one Of their
most valuable Generals, and in no way DANCE
rous subject, while he gained glory enough to sa-
tisfy the most ambitious Of men. These calcu.
Iatiuns would probably have answered, had not
the natural been more complex machine than
the political, and as such even beyond the inge.
NOUS manage meut Of VI lie Metterpich. The
youth was in moral prison, aud his soul pined
1t was deemed necessary that he should be cut
oil fran all communication With the agtators and
adventures OF France.
To effect this object, he was kept in utter soil.
tuJe; surrounded certainly by attendants and in-
structors, but still. in social sense, buried in
utter solitude. His orders were obeyed, his eve-
, ~ wish anticipated; he had his books, his horses,
and his equipas.s for promenade or the chase;
but for all that the soul the heart holds dear,
he was. with slight exceptions, solitary prso-
ner. This might be practicable to some extent
with an Austrian arehduke; but with chid'in
whose veins The quick blood ofthe Corsican Con.
queror flowed, it was species OF lingering mo.
raj torture. To outward appearance, he was
like Rasseas in the Happy VALLEY; but, like him,
he was wearying for all that was beyond the
range OF the mountains that separated him from
his fellow. men: in the one case, these mountains
were physical obstacles; in the other, moral ones.
The spirit chafed against the prison bars: the vic.
tim, bruised and care-worn, its food lost it's
substance.g grew emaciated, and died. The mind all
the wkile was developed and grew apace, while
the body became debiitated, nay, aged: the truth
being. that intellectual food may always be found
in prison, but moral and social isolation prey
upon the physical state; the creature grows up a
sapless weed. with the suspicion and dstrust Of
long experience, and the reflection and calm pro.
tundi,y of thought peculiar to unclouded age
After his death, young Napoleon presented in
his body the same anomaly he had done in his
lifetime: his frame had all the slenderuess and
fragility OF infancy stretched into unnatural
length. while his vital organs bore the schirrous
and haccid appearance Of extreme old age: there
was no part healthy or natural but the brain.
which was wonderfully fine, with the exception,
that It was more compact. and of 6rmer sub.
stance than is usually found. So it vas in life.
This boy bad all the enthusiasm and passion If
youth in extreme force, alternating with dis.
trust, caution, and rapdty in fathom,ng the
character ana apprec,atlng the talents Of the per.
sons with whom he was necessarily brought into
contact, which are the usual qualities Of age.
His intellect chiefly exhibited itself in master.
ing the history Of his father in all its voluminous
ness. in the soundness and scuteness of his criti
cism on the several authors he had read, and in
the facility with which he acquired the theory Of
war. aud all the studies which conduce to it,
He seems to have known almost 6y instinct; that
il was only through war that he could ever rise
to more Than mere eunuch Of the palace, and
froa tue earliest age he-,ook the deepest interest
in every thing that partook of military movement.
2 II was not. however, thought safe to ntrust him
abroad till he was nearly grown up; he felt that
HIS entrance into regiment was his FIRST step TO
emancipation. rs he called it, aud he devoted
himself To the practical duties Of a soldier and a
chief officer with an ardour which quickly devour-
ed the pisay body that had been frittered away
aud shaken BY the silent struggles Of solitude. -