The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-04-09
Ghe0ateuiqeneer:
NEW BOOKS.

| NE" bOOA5.
LEE OF NAPOLEON III, AND History
OF FRANCE, by John s. c. Abbott, / Vol.
royal octave, 700 pages.
This volume just issued by Messrs.
White, Corbin, Bowie q Co., of Cincin.
natl, has been laid on our table. The
name of Mr.. Abbott will be recognized
as the author of other writings concern
ing the Napoleons, one being history
OF the life and times OF the First Empe-
ror. For compliments heretofore paid
Louis Napoleon and the Bonaparte
family, Mr.. Abbott has been made the
recipient of personal courtesies and IA
vors at the hands OF the present French
Emperor, never accorded to any other
| citizen OF the United States. In the
preparation OF this work he has there.
fore had access to many original sour
ces of information and has had ad-
vantages unattainable by others
These have enabled him to pre-
sent a very full and interesting
narrative. II 1t Is not wholly impair
tial and aA true to history as 1t ought
to be, the fact may be largely attributed
to Mr.. Abbott's personal relations with
the subject of the work. There Is
throughout the work too evident In
clination to show only the rose. colored
side of the French Emperor, and OF his
public acts. Mr.. Abbott is a 1ull-blood-
ed imperialist and he praises and de-
tends without stint the means whereby
Louis Napoleon, President of the
French Republic, overthrow the con-
stitution and the Republic he had
sworn to defend and protect, and built
upon its ruins the empire with himself
at Its head. For example, at the COM
mencement OF chapter XIV, we read:
1.-THE coup a. etat OF Louis Napoleon
will be pronounced by history to be the
NJ st brilliant and merltorious act Ofhis
life. It is not easy to conceive
how any candid man can read this mar
rative and not give his cordial assent to
that statement; and yet, alas there are
they will not yield to demonstration
strong as proof OF Holy Writ"
When we remember that the coup
d'et0t involved, to begin with, dellber-
ate perjury on the part OF him who ex-
ecuted 1t; that the means he used were
the arrest, imprisonment, the ruin, exile
and murder OF near hundred thous-
and eminent scholars, statesmen
and republican citizens OF France,
we can account for some OF
these "inveterate preJudices" against
Mr. Abbott's idol, not only In the
bosom, OF French Republicans like
American republicans, a. we'll. Nor
can we bring ourselves to unite In Mr..
Abbott's "alasi" that 1t should be so.
But thlS part OF the coup d'etdt finds
very little place In the chapter devoted
to that event. Nor does II explain
| how the election of Napoleon, first as
President for ten years and afterwards
as Emperor, after both had been dc.
creed and Napoleon had the army at
his back to enforce the DEGREES, was the
hollowest mockery OF his boosted "uni-
versal suffrage" that any historian
ever countenanced.
We quote another paragraph to show
how implicitly Mr. Abbott accepts i'm
perIal government from Napoleon's
standpoint:
"The present Emperor Of France rO-
| marked to the writer: 1T seems strange
tn me that amy Intelligent man can
speak of the government OF France RS
tyranny, since II must be obvious that
all itH mPHRuEs are intended only To sP.
cure the tranquility and the prosperity
OF the nation II would seem that the
truth of this statement must he he sub
stantiRted to every mind by the words
spoken, the measures adopted, and the
results achieved under the restored Elm
pIre. Whatever doubt individuals may
cherish respecting the wisdom of this or
that ordinance of the government II can
hardly be denied that the end sought
to be attained is human happiness'tD
II France Is not a tyranny, where the
press is muzzled and dare not criticize
any act OF the government-where the
citizen suspected OF republlcanism is
/ followed and watched by the spies of
the government year In and year out,
his mouth efectually gagged, and him
self liable to imprisonment at any hour,
without any tribunal to which he may
appeal tor justice-then where should
we look for one7 Who is to judge OF
the measures "intended only to secure
prosperity and tranquility ?" Not the
millions who are affected by them, but
the one man who projects them for his
own uAPOa0o
Whatever fresh favors this work may
win Mr.. Abbott at the palace of the
TuiIierIes, 1t will not elevate him per-
| sonally in the esteem of American
| readers, who do not like to see an
American citizen Rbase himself to
please and hatter European despotism.
While we cannot commend this work
as Just and truthful history, 1t is an
interesting one, and those who want to
see Napoleon as painted by one who got
much of his coloring at first hands
from his illustrious subject, will do
we'll to read 1t. The binders and print
ers have done their part OF the work
we'll; and the book is a handsome adj
dition to any library. A feature OF the
work are nine fall page line engra-
wings, one OF which Is full length life
like portrait of the Emperor.
|
Tho TwItchelI Case ana the TwItchen
Family.
A correspondent OF the Washington
Chronicle furnishes that paper with the
following:-
Miss ofthis city,, knew both
TWltchsll and his wife. and from her
| Ioar0od the following facts about them