The Portland daily press., 1866-09-07
The French Emperor,

The faith Of the house of Bonaparte in the
influence of what its members love to call
their STAR has always been feeling go
strong as to exercise powerful control over
their character, conduct and purposes. The
first Emperor ever exhibited the most implicit
confidence in this controlling power His
brothers accepted unquestioningly the same
conviction, and the luckless Josephine We'd
with him in blind adherence to the same idea,
though she, indeed, ever maintained, and the
event has strangely justified her assertion,
that the star which led the greatest of the
Bonapartes to victory and power was not his
own but hers. Be that as it may however, it
is certain that her grandson the present EN-
peror has always INDUCED in the same kind of
speeulations with regard to his own fortunes.
From his earliest abortive attempts at power.
when the greater part of the world aughed
at him as crazy visionary, we have been ac-
customed to hear of him as the "Man of Des-
tiny" and his intense conviction that his own
success was written in the heavens, and was
therefore inevitable, has doubtless had the
most potent influence in making success his
own. bsft.r -sh
There is no reason that we are aware of
why we should not accept his view of the case,
and doing SO, we are Immediately led to the
inquiry, what adverse influence is it which
just now weighs upon the fortunes of the
house of Bonaparte what planet is it whose
sinister rays are now causing the star of the
third Napoleon to wax pale and threaten ex-
tinctiOn? Let those learned in the lore of the
stars answer. We are not wise in such mat
tiers, but we can plainly see the gathering of
some threatening clouds in the political hori-
zon of the French Emperor. The evil effects
of his first great political mistake, the Mexi-
can ENHANCEMENT, become daily more appar-
emf. The heavy expenditures called for by
the Mexican expedition have made that bust
ness from the start extremely unpopular with
the French people, and now that the ineyita-
BILE failure of the scheme is becoming apparent,
mortified national pride adds keenness to the
distaste with which they regard 1t. While his
failure in the Mexican enterprise has been
serious injury to the Emperor's prestige, the
rebuff administered to him by Count Bis
marck IT. reply to his demands for the 'recti-
fcationp Of the French frontier is seen to be
to him an equally damaging blow. Prussia by
single vigorous bound has seized the foremost
place which France so lately filed. Bismarck,
not Louis Napoleon, seems now to be the az
bitter Of the destinies Of Europe. SEEMS, we
say, foriwe are not of those who judge the
present condition of European affairs entirely
upon their surface. Napoleon is not the man
to sit down Samely under defeat; and he has
shown us before this that failures had no pow
er to daunt his indomitable perseverance. If
life and health remain to him he will.yet give
good account Of himself in that European
arena in which he has SO long been a central
figure. But unfortunately for him this last
"f" is just now the most significant of ALL
Rumors, untraceable and mysterious in their
origin, often denied but as often renewed, are
constantly brought to us to the effect that the
vigorous constitution of the Emperor is really
breaking down under the pressure of his ar
duous cares and labors. Reports are constant
ly coming from the Tuileries of slight Illness
es on hls part, the effort by which these are
made to seem unimportant being too manifest
to deceive any one. The impression is gaining
ground that the career of Napoleon Third is
drawing to close that the star of his varied
fortunes is soon to set in night.
The results which must follow such con-
tingency as this would inevitably be momen-
to1s, though what might be their nature and
character it is impossible for the wisest to
foIesee. The government of the Emperor has
ever been so much personal one that the
transfer of his power into the hands Of a sue
cessor would, in the most favorable circum-
stances involve many possibilities of danger.
How immensely are these chances of trouble
increased by the fact that his heir and chosen
successor is still mere child whose feeble
hand is all untitled to grasp the reins which
it requires all his fathers skill to hold firmly,
and whose slender fortunes would in such
case be likely to fare as hardly as did those of
the second Napoleon, whose epitaph, written
by limself tells us that though "born King of
Rome he died an Austrian colonel"
But we have no purpose now to discuss
any Of these contingencies. We proposed but
to suggest possibilities and to leave the reader,
who is as competent as we for the task, to
map out as it may suit him the probabilities
of the future.
The Soldiers Vote.
How will the soldiers vote in the Congress