Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1852-11-13
why do I Love Him2
Picture of Louis Napoleon.

One OF the most interesting personage5l IN europe
at the present moment is the future Emperor of the
French. He has often been described by those
who have known him more or less intimately, but
the portraits have not seemed altogether to repro
duce the lneaments and character OF their subject.
The strongest marked, and in some respects, the
iuctest, is that of Victor Hugo, in his late merci-
less book upon the usurper and his crimes. He
thus describes the hero of StIasbourg, Boulogne
and December2 2: ts. '' -h'-.t =avI
s.Louis Bonaparteis is aman of middle hight, cold,
pale, slow in his movements, having the air Of .
person not quite awake. He has published, as we
mentioned before, tolerable treatise artillery,
andis thought toabe acquainted with the..mannuv-
ering of cannon. .st'aa l.Jygm 5s| yyaa
"He is good horseman. He speaks drawlinsly
with slight German accent. His histrionic abli-
He has thick moustache, covering his smile like
that of the Duke p Artos, and dull eye like that
of Charles TX. j. ..,--...,s.i ~, ...-,-i..,
"Judgng of him apart from what he calls his
necessary acts or his grand acts, he is vulgar
| common place parsonage, puerile, theatrical and
vain. The persons who are invited to ST, Cloud
in the summer receive with the invitation order
to bring morning toilette. He loves fnery, ,trink-
cry, and feathers, embroidery, .spangles, grand
words and grand titles-the sounding, the glitter
ing all the glassware of power. In his quality as
cousin to the battle of Austerlitz he dresses himself
up ,as General - I,,;rt o.;4 IL .7bi.,..,.
..He cares little about being despised he con-
tents himself with the appearance of respect.
taThis manwould tarnsh the background Of his
tory; he absolutely sullies its foreground. Europe
smiled when, thinking of Hayti, she saw this white
Souloque appear. But there is now in Europe, IN
every understanding mind, abroad as at home, q
profound stupor, feeling, as itwere of personal
insult; for the European continent, whether it will
| or no, is bound guarantee for France, and that
which aliases France, humiliates Europe:
| iY'Before the I'd December the leaders of Right
used habitually tosay of. Louis Bonaparte1tis nm
idiot. /. They were: mistaken. Questonless, that
brain of his is perturbed, and has large gaps in it.
but you can discern here and there in it thoughts
consecutive and concatenate. 'Tis book from
| whence poges have been torn. Louis Napoleon
| has fixed idea; but fixed idea is not idiocy; he
knows what he wants, and he goes straight on to it
defying justice, defying law defyng reason, DEFY.
ing honesty, defying humanity, no doubt, but shu
i straight on. - 4! .dl has z5taa ..if Il!
| "He is notan idiot. He is q man Of another
l age than our own. He seems absurd and mad, be-
cause he is out of his place and time. Transport
i him to Spain in the 10Th century, and Philip ~
would recognize him; to England, and Henry VII
would smile on him; to Italy, and Cesar Borgla
would embrace HIM Or even, taking care 70 place place
him, in 1917, at ] ANNA, and An-Tepelini would
grasp him by the hand hi3' ~. -, s'Da!s-!
| t'He is of the middle ages and of the Lower En-
pire. That which he does would have seemed per-
fecty simple and natural to Michael Ducas, to Ro-
manus Diogenes; to Necephorus Botoniates, to the
vandal, Silicon, to Mahomet vi, to oAlexander VI,
to Ezzelino of Padua, as it seems perfectly simple
and natural to himself. The only thing Is, that ne
forgets, or knows not, that in the age wherein We
live, his actions will have to traverse the grand
courses of human morality, chastened by three
ages of literature and by the French revolution ;
and that, in this medium, his actions will wear
their true aspect, and appear what they are
hideous. q, s-,4tIi..,.,t. Il.. .,i-l
tHs patisans-he has sone-complac emily par
allel him with his uncle, the first Ronaparte. They
say: The one accomplished the 18th Brumaire, the
other the I'd December: they are Two men Of am
bition. The FIRST Bona parte aimed to reconstruct
the empire of the West to make Europe his vas-
sal: to dominate over the continent by his, power,
and to dazzle it by his grandeur; to take an arm
chair himself and give footstoos to the kings; to
create his place in history: Nimrod, Cyrus, Alex
ander. Hannibal, Cesar, Charlemagne ne---- 30 Napo-
ieon-to be master of the world. He was SO, he
accomplished the 18th Brumaire. The other man
aims to have horses and mistresses, to be called
Monseigneur. and to live luxuIiously. To this
end, he brought about the I'd of December: Yes:
they are two men of ambition: the comparison Is
just. a,a qei as,.N
"Let us add that, like the first Bonaparte, the
second also aims to be Emperor. But that which
somewhat allays comparison is, that there Is, per-
haps, some slight difference between the couquer-
Z ing an empire and the pilfering it. 7" 522 ] ,..th