, 1873-06-08

come to meet me never agnin, rave in dreams
and in memories, until l, too, cross over to tht
/ beautIu1 land of the hereaftar- E. Pc.
| NoaFHy1E1o, Minn., June l, 1873. ., -.
| 49, ~>--&--
THE LATE. LOUIS NAPOLEON.
! "Reminiscences by u Personal Ertend--
The Nlnn and the Emperor--EFis Gen.
cral Character--PeculiAr Character
of His sAmbttIon--Causea Of Els Fail.
nre as q General. !: 3: -.
London tHay 81 Correspondents ef thu Nao Yorl
| s- Iti6une.' =:
The continuing curiosity about the late En-
peror Napoleon gratifes to some extent his
known desire. His will vas publiahed this
week, and discussed BY everybody eagerly. Il
throws soma light On his character; but far
! more interesting paper appears In the HAY Corn
hiu, entitled "Isouis Napoleon painted by q
Contemporary" 1t consists OF passages from
Mr. Nassau ". Seniors diary, recounting con-
versations abont the Emperor that took place
between himself and lady designated as
Madame R.; and described as having been
brought up as b sister with the Emperor. and
continuing her intimacy till the coup d'etat,
which ahoa a woman Of integrity and ataunch
Republican, could not forgive This paper is
manifestly OF q different kind from most Of the
gossip and guess-work anecdotes current about
the Emperor during his lifetime and since. It
begins with an account Of tho escape from Ham,
and comes down to April, 1868, when the En-
peror Was more occupied with his Life OF CAESAR
than with anything else. Madame RS knowl~
edge Of the man-not merely Of the Emperor
ia minute, penetrating, critical, yet friendly.
Indeed, ahe was plainly fond Of him, though
for twelve years after the coup detat she
refused to see him. She did not, however, re-
fuse to correspond with him, and serve him in
various ways, and she seems to have expressed
her opinion with sufficient frankneos to Mr..
Senior, and be to have put them down faith
fully.
How completely separated in her OWL mind
tho man and the Emperor were may be seen from
a single Judgment which ahe expresses. She
WAS con vinced that Napoleon had, mistaken his
vocation; that instead OF stntesman or soldier
which he aspired to be I'm 1850 nature intended
him for poet; that be had an inventive, orr
ginal, aud powerful imagination, which, under
proper training, would LaVe produced something
great. As TO Ills taste:
t"He cannot tolerate French poetry" she an
swored. ''He is insensible to Racine but ha
delights in Shakespeare, Goethe, and Schiller.
The great, the strange, and the tragic, suit his
wild and somewhat vague habits OF thought and
bis melancholy temperament. OF the fine arts
the only one that interests him is architecture,
probably from the vastness of its products. He
hates music, and does not understand painting
or sculpture"
OF his general character Madame RS concep-
tion was opposed to the common one, which lat
that time) painted him calm, unimproasionA-
BILE, decided, and obstinate. He has, she says,
none OF these qualities except the last and even
that sometimes deserted him. This WAS written 80
late as 1858, when his irreso1ution was, should
ao r. IS description Of this aide OF his character
is vivid:
IL have known him build castles in the dir,
dwell on them for. years, and at last gradually
forget them: When ho WAS young, he had two
fixed ideas, that he was to bo Emperor of France,
and that he was to DO Iberntor Of Italy"
As to his calmnesB, the testimony ia curious: |
He has calm crust, but furious italian pas |
sions boil beneath it. Az child, he was subject |
to fits Of anger, such as never saw in any one
else. WhiIe they lasted he did not know what |
he said or did.
SHE is procrastiuatiug, undecided, and irroso- |
lutte. Courage he certainly has, and Of every |
kind. physical and moral"
And again on the same point she speaks Of |
him rs agreeable and attractive when q child, |
but in mature life his gentIeness WAS only In |
'He has great self-command; but
au fond he is irritable" One would think he
Madame Il. is reportedas saying: II have known
him, after conversation in which he betrayed
no anger, break his own furniture in his rage"
The first eign ct tho storm was swelling OF tho
nostrils, p" like those Of an excited horse :" then
his eyes became bright aud hls lips quiverod
riedit tho extent Of Disgusting bis features. His
long moussache was intended to conceal his |
mouth, and he had disciplined his eyes. This
|atter practice began in 1913. Madame R. in
That year roticed change in them, end asked
swered- i day or two later sho again remarked
their odd appearance, aud q. last she discovered,
apparently By his own confession, that he hai
boen accustoming himself to keep his eyelids
closed, and to throw into his eyes vacant,
She has much to say Of the peculiar character
IT his ambition. He desired most eagerly every
hing that be thought would give him posthu1n-
oua fame. !
ttLike most men Of imagination, he lives in
he future. As q child, his desire WAS to become
IN historical character. He has no moral sense;
1e does not care about le bien ou le MAJ, ca hui
'st egal plutot Il men concoit pa, Ia difference:
1or does he care much about present reputa-
ion, except as IN instrument. He begins now
o expect to fill as many pages IN history as his
,nclo has done, and he hopes that they will be
brighter Mt least that they will be darkened by
eason to think he does. that the man who
ounds FREQ institutions in Italy will be praised
thousand years hence, he will do it. He will
10 it il he hopes that history will accept it as
/
uch institutions in France"
But he had all sorts Of motives, as most men
,aye. Beside tho one above stated, others drove ]
i'm into the war Of 1859. He longed for mill
ary glory and he dreaded assassination. The
,arbonnri never ceased to plot against him from
be time OF the coup d'etat. The Italian con-
pirators for freedom cared little for his outrages
pom his own subjects they wanted to kill him
. the:supporter Of Papal tyranny, the supporter
Auatria in Italy, and the enemy OF Italian
nifty. The Orsini attempt gave him shock
rom which be was long in recovering. The
'ar, says Madame r., relieves him from an
nxiety which pressed On him from
be fear Of tho Ca1bonari. He has
reathed freely only since he could givo notice
. them that he accepted their terms" His con
'eneral has long boen known, but is hore
rought ont very strongly. He said to Madame
:, once at Ham, ~ trust that some day Ishali
ommand q great army. 7 know that I should
myself; feel have every military
dded,;" Perhaps it would be better for me- to die
the belief that am fitted to be great dener-
than to risk tho experiment. But will Try it,
can tandI believe TINT shall try It," This WAS