The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-02-14
THEYouNG DUKE OF RE1cHsrADT,

~
The story of the life of Napoleon's
son, as it is told, in an article entitled
The Bonapart Family by writer for
the North British Reviel0, can hardly
fail to be read with deep interest
Whatever relates to the Bonapart fami-
ly, is always found imbued with excite
ment and the romance of history min
gled with the truth of biography and
chronology.
The fate of the son of Napoleon, has
universally been deplored by the more
enlightened portion of the civilized
world; and, it is to be regretted that he
did not live to realize fruits derivable
from the achieved glories of his illustri-
Gus ancestor.
Only three years ago, the young Duke
of Reichstadt came with his mother to
Schonbrunn to reside, and spent the
whole remainder of his life either there
or at Vienna only on one or two occa-
sions travelling from either beyond the
distance of few miles. BY his grand
father, the Emperor, as we'll as by all
the other members of the royal family
he seemed have always been treated
with extreme kindness After the de-
parture of his mother to the italian
| States, he was committed to the care of
various masters, under the superinten-
dence of aR Austrian nobleman of rank,
the Count Maurice de Dietriehsten.-
Regarding his early education, only two
facts of any interest are mentioned; his
excessive reluctance at first to learn
German, which, however, soon become
more his own than French; and his fond
ness for historical reading, and especial
ly for books relating to the career of his
father. As boy, he was, on the whole,
dull, grave, and worthless; but docile
and afectionate.
The news of his fathers death, which
occurred when he was ten years of age,
is said to have produced a visable effect
upon him. 1t was evident, indeed, that
the boy, young as he was, had been
brooding in secret over the mystery of
his own changed condition, and cherish
| ing as we'll as he could, the thought of
its connexion with the extraordinary hu-
man being whom he could dimly recol-
lect as his fahter; whose bust and por-.
traits he could still see; and who, as
they tried to explain to him, was now
shut on an island on the other side of
the earth, whittier the nations of Europe
had conspircd to send him for their own
safety. The thought of his father be-
came the boys simple passion and when
he could no longer think of that father
as still existing on the earth, his respect
for his memory amounted to a worship.
Every book that could tell him anything
about his father he devoured with eager
ness and if he CHANGED to hear of the
arrival of any one at Vienna, who had
personal relationship with the Emperor,
he was s'uueasy till he had seen him. At
last, to crafty this anxiety for informa-
tion, his tutors, at his grandfather's
command, began to instruct him system
atically in modern history and politics
concealing from him nothing, says NJ. de
Month l., that could enlighten him as to
the real course of his fathers life, and
its effects on tie condition of Europe,
and only adding such comments and ex-
positions as might make him aware, at
the same time, that in that point mis-
father was to be reprehended. Perplex-
ed by such lessons in history, according
to Metternich, the poor boy did his best
to come to the right conclusion and to
express himself judiciously to his tutors
regarding what he was taught to consid
er his fathers errors and excesses. In
all cases of feeling CT instinct, however,
his reverence for the memory of his faith
er prevailed. The very books which his
father had liked such asTasso and dOssian
became by that reason his favorites
His fathers campaigns and dispatches
he made subject of diligeut study, u.s.
ing them as text for his own military
lessons. In short, before he had attain
ed his seventeenth year, he had read
and reread everything that had been
written regarding Napoleon, aud had
fixed in his memory all the most minute
particulars relating to his military or
political life, the names of his generals,
his chief battles, and the various incl
dents in his long career, from his birth
in Corsica to his burial in st. Helena
One point in this great history he would
dwell on with special interest-that
where amid universal acclamations he
himself had come into the word the un-
conscious heir to mighty empire.
This brooding on the past naturally
assumed the furin- of aFestiess anxiety
respecting the future. That he, the son
of Nap leon, was no coamon person
that as the owner of great name, supe-
rior actions and qualifications would be
required of him; that in some way or
other he must take part in the affairs of
Europe-such was the idea that inevi-
| tably took possession of him. The ped
antry of his teachers seems to have fos-
tered it to an undue extent IF, for ex-
ample, the poor youth contracted an
admiration for the poet Byron, his teach
ters were at hand to criticise the poet
for him, and reduce his opinion to the
just shape and standard, lest he should
commit what, in his case, would be the
signal impropriety of exaggerated praise.
Ii again he was seen to be falling in love
with lady of his grandfather's court,
they we're at hand to reason him out of
the affair, by yconsiderations of what was
due to his peculiar situation, and his
importance in the public eye. With
this notion of the popularity of his
position brandished before him from
morning till night, would go moping
about the imperial court, on amible, but
unhappy youth. And what, after all,
was the popularity of his situation, ex-
cept extreme insignifcance. A pension
er, in the meantime, on the imperial
bounty, ultimately the mere possessor
of some Bohemian estates his mothers
second marriage in 1919, with the Count
Nipperg, having severed him from Italy
still more completely than before, J
doomed to inactivity by the misfortune
of too great a name, was there not