The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-09-21

twenty thousand men, and ordered
to rush into the midst of the Pru;
sian Cantonments. This bold attack
which was execute on the 18th witt
the rapidity of lightning, seems hkel.
to decide the fate of the campaign.
But 1 was compelled to change m.
plans. Instead of making an mex
pected attack, / found myself obliged
to engage in a regular battle, having
opposed to me two combined armie
supported by immense ser :
The enemy's forces quadruped tn
number of ours. / had calculated al
the disadvantages Of a regular battle
The infamous desertion OF Bournou
forced.me to change all my arrange
ments."
The original abdication at Fontaine
bleau, before the departure for EIba
was couched in these words:
"The allied Powers having pro
claimed hat the Emperor Napoleon
was the sole obstacle to the re-estab
lishment of peace, the Emperor Ma
poleon, faithful TO his oath, declare
that he is ready to descend from the
throne, to quit France and life Itsell
for the good of the country; bui
without prejudice to the rights of his
son, to those of the Empress as Re
gent, and to the maintenance of the
laws of the Empire
"Given at our Palace of Fontaine
bleau, the 4th day of April, 1914"
On the 9Th of April this was alter
Ell so as to read as follows:
"The allied sovereigns having de
clared that the Emperor Napoleon i
the sole obstacle to the restoration OF
a general peace in Europe, the EN-.
peror Napoleon, faithful to his oath
declares that he renOunces for him
self and his heirs the throne of France
and Italy /; and that there is no per-
sonal sacrifice, not even that of life
itself, which he is not willing to make
for the interests of France"
This ~abdication, of course, was not
fnal-the last and conclusive act hav-
ing been made in favor of his son
June o. 1915. The latter, Napolean
III, born in 1911, died July %. 1882,
at the Palace of Schoenbrun. 1t was
after the first ~abdication, and imme-
diately following the escape from Elba,
that the Moniteur, then the organ of
Louis XVIII thus recorded the pro-
gress of the returning Emperor from
day to day:
1.-THE Corecian Ogre has Lande1."
"The Tiger is coming"
eeThe Monster has Slept at Greno-
ble."
"Fhe Tyrant has Arrived at Lyons
"The Usurper has been seen in the
Environs of Paris"
"Bonaparte Advances Toward, but
Will Never Enter the Capital"
Napoleon VIII be Under Our
Ramparts To morrow"
"His Imperial Majesty Entered the
Tuileries on the 21st of March in the
Midst Of HIS Faithful Subjects"
Some of Napoleon's explanatory
and exculpatory %utteranees while in ex
lie have a special value for Americans,
and it is interesting at this time to
read them. Take for example the fol-
lowing to Las Cases in st. Helena:
.Sce in the United States how,
without any effort, everything pros
pers, how happy and peaceful every
thing is there it is in reality the pub
lie will and interests which govern
there. Put the same Government at
war with the will, the interests of
all, and you will Immediately see what
confusion and what increase of arm
les would ensue. Arrived at power,
they, would have had me a Washing
ton ; TIE words cost nothing, and
surely those who said them with such
facility did so without knowing either
times, or places, or men, or things
If / had been in America, I would
willingly have been a Washington,
and I should have hal but little mer-
it, for I do not see how it would have
been reasonably possible to do other
wise. For me, 1 could be nothing
but a crowned Washington. 1t was
not possible in a Congress of Kings,
in the ldst of Kings conquered or
mastered, for me to be otherwise"
And again, to Montholon: "If
had not conquered at Austerlitz l
should have had all Prussil on me.
If 1 had been victorious at jena, Aus
tria and Spain would have attacked
me in the rear. If 1 had not triumph
ed at Wagram-which by the by,
was not so decisive q victory-I had
had no fear that Russia would aban-
don me, that Prussia would rise
against me; and, in the meantime,
the English were already before Ant
werp, / saw that the destinies of
France depended upon me alone
The circumstances in which the coun-
try was placed were extraordinary and
entirely new. 1t would be vain to
seek a parallel to them The stabi!i-
ty of the edifice of which 1 vas the
keystone but depended upon each OF
my battles. Had / been conquered at
Marengo, France would have encoun.
tered all the disasters of 1914 and
1915, without those prodigies of glory
which succeeded, and which will be
immortal. At A~usterlitz, at Jena, ut
Wagram and at Eylau, it was the
same. The vulgar failed not to blame
my ambition as the cause of these
wars, but they were not of my choos-
ing. They were caused by the nature
and decree of events. They arose out
of that conflict of the past and the fu-
ture, that permanent coalition of our
enemies, which compelled us to sub
due under pain of being subdued."
The prescience of the following in
the advice to his son, dictated to
Montholon, is remarkable
1.-THE whole mass of the DeoDle. and