San Andreas independent., 1858-09-04
Louis NAPOLEON.

Paris prisoner, in company with Count
Montholon and others. This Montholon
was one of the faithful few who had ad
hered to the elder Napoleon in his down.
fall, and had voluntarily shared his cap
tivity at St Helena. Afterthe Strasburg
affair, in 1886, Louis Philippe, afraid Of
furnishing Bonaparte, had quietly sent
Louis Napoleon off to America In n1S4O,
however, it was resolved to have him
tried by the Chamber of Peers on the
charge of High Treason.
The trial took place in the House of
Peers, at Paris, many of the members of
which had been ennobled by the great
Napoleon. Mr.. Berger appeared as Louis
Napoleon's counsel, and defended him
with courage and eloquence The accused
himself addressed the Court, vindicating
his conduct, asserting the claims of the
Napoleonic dynasty, and, stoutly affirm
ing that he, as the head of the Imperial
family, was entirely justified in seeking
to regain the crown which his uncle had
lost, not by fair battle, but by treachery.
All was in vain. The Peers were com
PEELED to convict him, on the evidence
before them, as well as upon his own
avowal. He was sentenced to perpetual
imprisonment in French fortress, and
was Immediately removed to Ham, where,
few years before Prince Polignag and
his political comates had been confined.
after the Revolution of 1880.
Here, as we have already stated, Louis
Napoleon passed some of the best years of
his life. He read and wrote great deal,
and was greatly indebted, for nearly every
thing beyond prison fare, to the liberality
of Count D'Orsay, and Lady Blessington,
with occasional assistance from his uncle
Jerome, ex-King of Westphalia, who,
with the rest of the Bonaparte race, admit
ted Louis Napoleon to be the head of the
family.
In that recent and remarkable work,
Louis Blanc's Historical Revelations, !"
is an interesting account of Louis Napo-
leon In prison. 1t seems that while a
captive In the Chateau de Ham, an invi-
tatlon was sent to Louis Blanc, then an
influential Partisan editor, to give visit
of few days to Louis Napoleon, in his
prison. Louis Blanc says: :" He was sur
rounded at that time with the only pres
tlge which true Republican may be
willing to salute; he was unfortunate.
His imperial pretensions had, as it were,
vanished in the smoke of wretched ad
venture. People were looking round for
his party, and he, bowed down, tried, con-
demned, denied by his partisans of that
period, rallied at by his servants of this
day, was doomed to a lonely life in a
gloomy fortress, with no other friend to
whom he could unburden his heart than
his physician, DR.. Conneau, and chem
ist named AGAR. Res sacra n,iser. With
the request of the prisoner, not of the
Prince, | complied; he procured from the
Home Minister a permission for me to
enter his prison, and [ set off to Ham"
AS Louis Blanc's book has not been vet
republished in this country, and is really
full of interesting revelations, we believe
that our readers will thank us for giving.
in full, such portions of the description of
the Imperial captive, within four walls.
as will exactly show his position and per-
sonality at that time. Louis Blanc says
"However, having repaired to the Chateau,
| was ushered into large, neatly furnished
room, where little seemed to be wanting of
what is required for domestic comfort l at
-1aff ho To -
of Louis Phillippe-that the prisoner was very
kindly treated He sat in high-backed, arm
chair, between the chimney and a table spread
with books and papers. AS entered he rose,
came forward to meet the expected visitor, and
shook hands with me with a mingled express
sion of cordially and reserve Ny impression
was that for moment he thought of assum-
ing sort of stately countenance but he was
almost instantly sensible of the mistake, did
his best to appear easy and free, and we got
into conversation. had never seen him be-
fore; nor was | enabled, at that time to remark
how different he was in his features, his man
ners, his department, from all the other mem
bers OF Napoleon's family. whom I did not
know. But it struck me that there was moth
ing in him of the Napoleonic type that he
spoke with rather foreign accent, and that he
had less command of language than any man
had ever conversed with"
The foreign accent is readily to be ac-
counted for. Louis Napoleon had spent
nearly twenty years almost wholly in Switz-
erland, where, of course, he acquired the
foreign literally Germanized) pronuncia
ton of the French language. He left
France in childhood, and had not been
again allowed to return to it-not even
to see his mother when she was dying.
Here, to understand what follows, let it
be remembered that in the earliest of
Louis Napoleon's Writings, called "Rev-
cries Politiques, he lays down the dictum
that France would be regenerated only by
means of one of the Napoleon family, as
this dynasty alone could reconcile repub-
lican principles with the demands of the
military spirit of the nation.
Louis Blanc and he conversed freely on
the political condition and prospects of
France. Bothagreed that Louis Philippe's
system must fall, based as it was upon
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