The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1871-03-18
ANTE BELLUM.
"Why Napoleon Went to War;"
A Record of Untold Incidents

Mall Gazette at the seat Of war, sup
plies the issue of that journal, dated
January 27, with an interesting ar
ticle under the head, CHOW Napo
leon Went to War" The writer
had an opportunity Of spending {
fortnight among the Imperialists
whom the fall of Sedan had throw1
into Belgium, and he thinks All ac
count of what he heard and saw
there may not be worthless. Lie
then says:
Truly speaking, stale news is of
ten the only news worth having
fresh news is seldom accurate. So
for instance, in July all the tele
grams and correspondence tended tC
show that it was the Emperor who
began the war, that it was he alone
who threw France into the subse
quent disasters. Yet some day il
will appear that such is not the case
The Emperor was one OF the worst
rulers that ever existed-one of the
men least fitted both by his person
al alqualifcations and his origin to sit
upon the Imperial throne of one OF
the first nations in the world. But
as regards the war, he is much more
innocent in it than the imperial
courtiers and the population of Par
is. True he had created the shame
full Tuilleries Court, and made the
population of Paris what it was four
months ago-after twenty years OF
imperial rule. But the truth re-
quires it to be said that if the ele-
ments for forming such a court and
such a population were not inherent
in the people itself, one man could
never have made them, still less a
man with the capacities of Napoleon
Ill. Almost the same language as
the countess of Pagerie held was
employed by the Countess of Pour
tales, a thorough French lady by
birth, daughter of the same Baron
of Bussiere, whom the Prussians
still keep in prison for no other rea-
son than having married his daugh-
ter to a German, he did not himself
become a servant Of the Berlin Cabi-
net. Now the Countess Of Pour
tales has always been too near the
Tuileries to remain silent, and her
celebrated letter to Gen. Ducrot,
which the General quoted afterwards
when writing to Trochu, clearly
shows in what sense she must have
spoken to the Empress. In one
word, Napoleon knew.-at any rate,
he had very confident expectation
that he would never see Paris
again. He had been urged into
war by the court, who constantly
frightened him with the bugbear Of
the growth of the Republican party,
which had shown itself SO formida
BILE at the plebiscite. He had been
urged, on the other hand, by the
people of Paris, from whom, after
King William had repeated to Ben
editti at Elms the celebrated word
of Cambronne, the preservation of
the Empire could be bought only at
the price of yielding to their cries Of
"a Berlinp That Napoleon was
quite prepared for disaster is OBJ
vious not only from what he was
told, but from the preparations and
arrangements he made. From the
mouth of those who saw him every
day, | heard that in the month of
July he carressed his son more than
he had done in the whole course of
the child's life. He is believed to
have taken hin to the Army of the
Rhine from a dread of being separa-
ted from him in any great disaster.
It was only when command was no
longer in the Emperor's hands that
he gave up $50 his friends declare)
the idea of carrying the child with
himself under actual fire. This is
not the only proof, however, of the
Emperor's opinions as to the result
of the campaign he was then enter
ing upon. When the Tuileries had
been invaded after the proclamation
of the Republic, the absence Of many
things known to have been there
formerly, showed what measures
had been taken. The so-cailed jew
els of the Crown had all been de-
posted in the Bank of France, but
not single piece of jewelry belong
ing personally to the Empress was
seen. The Empress was supposed
to have taken all away, but then
the siver plate had also disappeared.
The magnificent gold and silver
table services presented to the
Emperor by the Sultan, the Czar
Alexander, and the Viceroy Of Egypt,
were all gone. The splendid era.
die of the Prince Imperial, presented
by the town of Lyons, was not to be
found. The magnificent collections
of treasures of art which Napoleon
had accumulated at the palaces of
St. Cloud and Compeigne were also
no longer to be seen. All these had
been removed long ago: From the
very day when war had been de-
clared the railway stations of the
Nord, of Strasbourg, of Orleans, (for
Spain,) were crammed with gigantic
boxes bearing away to various des-
TIMES, the " personal" property of
the imperial family, and one cannot
help asking oneself how it is that
nothing of this has found it's way to
public notice. When Marshal
McMahon arrived at Marseilles from
Africa, he declared to his wife that