The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-05-23


dence in the high destiny of his de-
scendants, which he always manifested
in the darkest hours and seasons, and
which eventually brought him to the
throne. He recommends to his son that
which was largely instrumental in pro-
noting his own fortune, viz. !" to study
and fix upon his mind the writings of
the prisoner of st. Helena" Those
writings, as dictated to Las Casas, Mon
tholon and DIR. O'Meara and others, al
most as much as his campaigns, estab-
lished the remarkable and universal
genius of the First Napoleon. It has
been well said by historian that we
might perhaps doubt whether his ca
pacity had not been exaggerated by his
too partial friends, andmirers and ser.
wants were it not for the profound and
luminous views on history, philosophy
and politics which he threw out from
the solitudes of st. Helena" Napole-
en- Ill, taciturn and meditative man,
especially in his youth, read and read
over again, and reflected upon these ex-
deduced q system of government and q
policy to which he was ever faithful.
No one ever knew so well the character
l.
His theories of them had been formed
by long and severe experience. He
knew how to appeal to the strongest
emotions of their hearts and the govern
ing principles of their minds.
When Napoleon III. was tried for his
life before the French Chamber of Paris
in 1910, he boldly told them that he
represented defeat and a cause that
If. Ix.Ev IL
cause that of the Exile of st. Helena."
1t was the strongest national appeal that
he could make to the country.
Napoleon ". is too young to have
yet developed character. But his
father has evidently marked out for him
the path and career of political strife
and ambition; yea, not only marked it
out, but enioined it upon him. His
fathers will speaks to HIM like trump
ct froIu the grave. His education and
government for the time being is com
mitted to an able and ambitious woman,
who unites in her person the hot blood
of the Spaniard with the cool wariness
of the Scotchman. Thus educated and
urged on, the young Prince will I'M
doubleday be for years. if he lives,
pretender to the throne of France But
if he were wise he would act for him.
self, and cast aside the glittering bau
bic that his parents would have him
strive for. It is not in that manner that
human happiness can be obtained.
Even his father in his Will, while en-
joining him to fulfill his mission, makes
this candid and truthful admission
Power is a heavy burden, because
one can not always do all the good one
coald wish, and because contemporaries
seldom realize justice so that in order
to falfill ones mission, one must have
faith in and conscientiously appreciate
his duty"
It is only those who have filed the
highest stations in the world and fallen
from them who can fully appreciate and
estimate as they deserve the base and
ignoble qualities of human nature.
They have seen how those who would
cringe to them in prosperity would turn
upon them in adversely. They have
felt the iron of ingratitude enter into
their very souls If the young Bona
parte would read the sad but instructive
chapter of history that narrates how all
his military Marshals, the creatures
whom he had made by his bounties, de-
serted the first Emperor in his misfor-
tunes, and gave in their adherence to
the BOurbons in order to serve theirfor-
tunes, he would have, one would think,
but little disposition to follow a road
that leads to such results. He would
not only agree with his father that
''power is a heavy burden, but that
there are considerations annexed to it
which would render it utterly incom-
patible with earthly pleasure. The
road of political Pretender in France
at this time is dangerous one. Upon
one side there is a prison, and upon the
other a guillotine. For an hundred
years the rulers of France, without ex-
ception, have been put to death. have
been imprisoned, or have been driven
into exile. Nor are the political pas
siens less violent now. On the contrary,
they have increased. There was moth
ing in the excuses of the Revolution
of 1898 that equaled the short reign Of
the Commune of Paris in the spring of
1871. The former made war upon men,
but spared the works of art and science.
The latter destroyed the Tulleries, the
Hotel de Vile, and sought to eradicate
every memorial of the past in sculp-
ture and painting which had a history
to which they were opposed. Such peo-
pie as these are not very pleasant sub
jects. for monarch to have.