New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-01-27
PRICE FOUR CENTS
LOUIS NAPOLEON.

| England over their ex-Emperors death. tie was,
beyond doubt sincerely liked by the English during
his life and his death is sincerely regretted Spite
of his fall he was still great parsonage, and spite
of the Belgian Treaty he was still regarded in
England as a faithful ally. The Times devoted u
| columns to an estimate of his character and
career, and the other papers had TWO or
/ three articles apiece about him, and Columns
upon columns describing with curious particularly
every incident of his malady and death. The tone
of all the estimates is euoqstc. Under pretense OF
avoiding criticism over an open grave and OF post
ponng the effort to anticipate the Judgment OF his
tory. the more important journals contrve to leave
their readers under the impression that the dead
ruler was on the whole, a good ruler-at least for
France. Their goodwill toward him. and the gem
eral good will of the English people is easily exphca-
bic. Alone among recent French rulers he liked
England Alone among continental rulers ne took
pains to show that he valued English alliance
above all other alliances.
| 1t was during the reign of the ex-Emperor tha6
the traditional enmty between the two nations
was transformed into something like friendship,
and the change due mainly to the personal IN
fuence of Napoleon the Third. He had lived here,
studied the people and their institutions, tried to
penetrate the secret of their prosperity and freedom,
and though half Frenchman, he probably more
than half understood English life. both political and
social. He acquired some English habits or
q kind which endeared him 10 various classes .
of people. Perhaps single trait made him
40 popular as the fact that he rode well to hounds
which Americans may find some difficulty IN com
pretending In the days Of his greatest restitution,
when he lived partly on English charity and when
everybody looked on him as a rather incapable adj
venturer he thought a gentleman. he never
was mean. During three months of the time TO
ol I ha vol he glie- pf
well-known banker in his country home near Lon
don. His host, to tell the truth, grew tired OF IT,
and to bring the visit TO an end, told Prince Louis
one day that he was going TO shut up his house and
take a trip to the Continent " But what am
to do, then 7" the reply, and he frankly
confessed to his host that he had neither home or
money. The banker offered him $500, which tho
Prince oL-and before he left the house gave half
of it to the servants. The story is characteristic Of
the man. Like other men who have been capable of
crimes on great scale, Louis Napoleon had VEN
of kindness in him for his interiors. have often
been told in Paris that he was liked as master by
his household domestcs, and by all those about him
who held any personal relation to him. With ono
exception he is said to have remembered everybody
who ever did him service during his exile,
and 10 have showered favors all such
friends The exception was Count dOrsay and
though he was under many obligations to Count
d'Orsay as well as TO Lady BlessngtOn, 1T IS
probable enough that he believed himself to have
some cause for the neglect withiwhich he afterward
treated his old comrade. Count dOrsay 1t Is known,
died in extreme poverty. and all his friends efforts To
persuade the Emperor to relieve him failed. II -
easy to guess what the cause may have been. but
never met anybody who pretended to know.
Englishmen, moreover really believed in the
Second Empire. They would not have liked Per-
n II Dial ;o.ffa f.rt
but they thought them quite good enough for
Frenchmen They did not like the Comp Ltat at the
time it was committed, but they quickly condoned
it. and they were partly the dupes of the splendid
prosperity which seemed speedily to follow tho
establishment of Despotism. II all the rest of the
world saw that they were tricked into the Crinean
War, it not TO be expected that they themselves
should take that view. 1t is said nothing gave
the Emperor so much pleasure his reception by the
Queen of England. 1t is said also that the Queen
was personally averse TO receiving him, but con-
quered her repugnance from of State BE that
as it may she ever after showed TO him and the En-
press unfaing courtesy and friendliness of demeanOr
and when Englishmen found their Queen,
of whose private character they were proud consor
ing with the Man of the Second December, and adj
hitting the Mornys and Persignys and Fleurys TO
her company they smothered all their senples and
followed her example,
The most potent reason ofialEfor their liking IS
still to be stated. He made the Treaty Of Com
MERGE with England. 1t is probable he really be-
lieyed in Free Trade; at any rate, be threw open
French ports to English cottons and fabrics of all
Sorts and, from the day he came to terms with Cob
den the Manchester school of politicians and writer's
were never weary of singing anthems and hosannas
to his name. That was the answer to every criti-
cism Hebroke his oath to the Republisf Yes, but
4 H. ua AZ "A
against France, he flung his opponents into prison.
he organized in cold blood the of the Bcule
wards he terrorized the country, he shipped off the
purest and ablest men.of France by of thou
sands to die by slow torture at Lambessa and Cay
enne-yes, but he signed the TrestyOf Commerce
with England. He Slapped the morals Of France,
strangled the Press, debauched her conscience, led
her by slow steps down the awful road which ended
at Sedan-yes, but there never was a time when En-
gland sold so many goods to France at such high
prices And so SO far material prosperity
goes he did earn a title to the gratitude of this
country, and this countrynever was slow in paying
its debt.
They say the butterfly Americans who lived in
Paris under the Empire were all Impenalsts. An
American friend of mine resident long time in Paris,
not Of the butterfly kind but accustomed to take
slightly cynical views of his dear fellow country
men, wont to declare after the Emperor's fall
that he fully believed that he would be resnthroned
by two-thirds vote in the United States, could no
only manage to get the vote taken. hope he was
wrong, / always said he was; but at any
rate there was liking enough in America for the man
who died this week to make his fate interesting and
English sympathy for him during the last few days
Ineligible enough without the explanation have
been giving. / don't know whether American sym
pathy will require tho reproduction of all the details
respecting his last illness which tho English papers
have Thought proper to print. You will find in them