The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-04-28


Ham I'm 1916.
The following is translation of hitherto
unpublished letter written by Louis Napo-
leon just after his escape from the Fortress
OF Ham, to the editor of O newspaper to
which he. had contributed during his i'm
prIsonmen.. In certain poverty and awk-
wardness Of diction, it is faithful to the
for publication:
My DEAR Mr.. DEGEoRdE: The desire of
once more seeing my father in this life, has
made me attempt the boldest undertaking
that / have ever attempted, and for which
needed more frmness and courage than ut
Strasbourg and Boulogne, for was resolved
not to endure the ridicule that fastens on
those who are arrested under disguise, and
failure would have been no longer endura-
BILE. But to come to the particulars of nv
escape.
You know the ford was guarded by 400
men, who furnished daily guard of sixty
soldiers, who were on duty within and with
out the fort; furthermore the door of the
prison was guarded by three jailors, two of
whom were always on duty. 1t was neces-
sary, therefore. in the first place, to pass
before them, then to traverse all the inner
court before the windows of the command
ant; having reached there, it was necessary
to pass through the gate where were an
orderly, and sergeant, gate-keeper,
sentinel and finally, post of thirty men.
Not having been willing to establish
any communication with n corruptible
jailor or so,) disguise was OF course, ne
cessary. Now SO several rooms of the
building inhabited were undergoing re-
pairs, it was easy to take the costume of
workman. My good and faithful Charles
Thelin procured blouse and wooden shoes.
I cut off my mustache and took board on
my shoulders.
Monday morning 1 saw the workmen
come in at half past o'clock. When they
were at work Charles took some drink to
them in room, 80 as to get them out of my
way; he was also to call one keeper up stairs,
while Doctor was talking with the others.
Meanwhile. was hardly out of my room
when was accosted by a workman who fol-
lowed me, taking me for one of bis COM
rades; at the foot of the staircase found
myself front to front with keeper. Lucki-
ly, I put the board before his face and
reached the court, always holding the board
between myself and the sentinel and those
whom I met.
When passing before the first sentinel,
let fall my pipe, but I stopped to pick up
the pieces. Then I met the officer of the
guard, but he was reading q letter, and did
nos notice me. The soldiers of the post at
the gate seemed to wonder at my dress; the
drummer in particular turned several times
to look.
Meanwhile, the orderlies opened the door
and found myself outside the fortress !;
there met two workmen, who were coming
toward me, and looked at me attentively. I
then turned the board on their side but
they appeared 80 inquisive that thought
could not escape them, when heard them
exclaim:
"Oh it is Berthoud."
Once on the outside, I walked rapidly
toward the Saint Quentin road
A little later, Charles, who had engaged q
carriage for himself the preceding day.
overlook me, and we reached Saint Quen-
tin.
passed through the town on foot, after
taking off my blouse
= Charles had procured a post-carriage,
under pretense of going to the races at
Cambria. We reached Valencienness with
out difficulty, whore took the railway.
had obtained q Belgian passport, but
it has nowhere been asked for. During this
time Copneau, always GO devoted, remained
in prison, and gave out that 1 was i'll, so as
to give me time to reach the frontier.
hope he will not have been ill-treated; :;
that would be, rs you may suppose great
grief for me.
But, my dear Mr.. Degeorge, if expe-
rlenced lively sentiment of Joy when T
found myself outside the fortress, I was
very sadly impressed on passing the frontier;
the certainty that the Government would
never set me at liberty, unless consented
to dishonor myself, WAS necessary to decide
me to quit France; finally, it was necessary
that should be urged to this step by the
desire of trying all means to console my
father in his old age Adieu, my dear Mr..
Degeorgs. Although free, I feel myself
very unfortunate. Be assured of my warm
friendship. and, if you can, try to be useful
to my good Conneau.
a LOUIS NAPOLEON.