The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-03-14
LES IDEEs NAPoLIENNEs.
Prince NapoIeOn's Court i'm CIairidge
Street, LOndOn-The BOnapartiSt Pro-
gramme-NO More COups d'Etat.


Prince NapoIeOn's Court in CIairidg
gramme-No More COups d'Etat.
The Prince Napoleon holds his cour
in Claridge street, at the hotel frequent
ed by rovAl people generally. He re
manned n d5v or two at Cniselhurst
saw his cousin decently buried, and re
turned - London He is accompanied
by his wife. the daughter of the king O
Italy and ai5ser to the king of Spain
and assumes the name OF the C0mte dt
MOntcdllcri@. an Italian title He has
been visited by the aristocracy, and
capped all hv visiting the queen in re-
Spouse to au invitation from her males
ty. This prince has an advantage oven
the family He himself by his mothers
side is q descendant of German king,
and connected by blood more or less di-
rectly with the ruling families of Eng
land, Russia and Germany. By his
fathers side he is own nephew to the
great emperor. Nor can any vulgar
scandal sully this origin, as they did in
the case of the late emperor =; for his
face is perfect type Of the greatNapo-
| leon. God has written every character
istic of the Corsican chief on his forms
I mean every physical trait. In ad-
! ditiOn, his wife is the daughter of King
| Victor Emmanuel, q real princes of the
! house Savoy. In the eyes of those who
look carefully at royalty as a decree of
| God who believe in "divine right and the
grace of God, " and these forms and re-
| gends of the throne, must accept Prince
! Napoleon as as one of the divinely-ap-
! pointed and heaven-anOinted of the
| earth. These are immense advantages
| over the other princes, who only go
| back to Corsiean and Spanish ancestors,
| beginning and ending with the great
| Napoleon. But the advantages so great
are more than cOunterbalanced by dis
| advantages that are hard to describe.
[ can hardly convey to yOu--unlesS you
| know France and Frenchmen well-the
esteem in which they hold Prince Ma
| poleOn. The epithet PlOn-Plon," !"
which is his universal name in France,
| is one of those extraordinary phrases
| which cannot be translated into Eng
lish, nor can the idea it conveys be ac-
curately translated. I saw a sketch the
| other evening a collection of political
cartoons made in Paris during the COM
mune, or rather just before the com
mune Prince Napoleon was drawn as
rabbit in full flight In the back
ground was a pole, from which a militia
ry coat was Tapping in the wind, and
this was the cause of the rabbits alarm
The motto was, as nearly as / can rem
der it. "Thrift and cowardice." The
French regard the prince as personal
coward. "Why," said one of the radi,
cal papers, Fwhy take the trouble to
order Prince Napoleon out OF France
Let papa Thiers order him to the com
mand of his regiment and he will leave
France soon enough" When the coup
detnt was an undecided event, the
prince-as furious Count Fleury could
tell you, no doubt, were he to converse
on the subiect-took pains to publicly
deny any connection with it, and to dis
approve of it. The men who made the
coup detdt were of a different stamp,
but when it did succeed and the en-
pire came iii all its wealth and glory,
Prince Napoleon was the first to share
in the spoil He was covered with sal
brief and decorations. He lived in the
Palais POyal, and was designated as
next in succession to the emperor. He
had his share, and more, of the good
things that come with an empire he did
not approve in the beginning nor heart
iIv support in the end. Being thrifty
and good man Of business, and not
overweening in his confidence that the
empire would last, he put away all the
money that he could spare for rainy
day. He is, therefore. a very rich man
the richest i'll the family, [ suppose,
and, come rain or shine, empire or exile
has money enough to keep the fires 60
ing, and his royal bride to insure his
entrance into high society But still
he is not trusted. Intellectually, |
Prince Napoleon is one of the first men
of his time more gifted than any one !
of the family since the first Emperor. |
AS writer, a speaker, a student, he was
always regarded as one of the most |
brilliant of Frenchmen. But this avail |
ed nothing. People would not believe |
him. The army had its feelings that he |
was Il coward. The Paris air was every |
now and then filled with stories of his |
recklessness in matters of personal NOR |
ality, extraordinary stories recalling the |
worst days and the worst men of the |
Roman empire Whether true or not, !
people listened and believed. and the |
moral sense of the nation was alternated |
from him. The followers of the empire |
the men who overthrow the republic, |
hated him with furious hatred part |
ly because he had no part in their auda- |
ciOus venture, and mainly because, hav-
ing more Of the awful risk, he had more |
than the share of the gain. Every now |
and then he would make public his dis
sent from the emperor, and on one or
two occasions, was publicly dlsregarded. |
SO, while he Was man who could not |
be spared from the court, he was never
welcomed to the steps of the throne. |
This, then, is the first man in the Ma
poleon party-for the prince imperial is
a lad, not through with his school read
ings. And the question discussed IN
NapOleOnic coterse is VIII it be wise
or Just to admit the prince to the regen-
cy? Would there not be a danger that
his regency over the young prince
might end as that of Richard, duke of
Gloster, over his two nephews?
Then, on the other side, in legitimate
authority and power is the Empress
Eugene. 1t is said that between the |
empress and the Prince Napoleon the
most angry feelings exist. [ don't |
know how true this is; but do know
that the most angry sentiments are
spoken by their adherents. The friends |
of the empress-those who are specially |
devoted to the empress-speak of the |
prince in terms that [ cannot repeat. |
I have given you an idea of the esteem
in which the prince is held in another |
paragraph. On the other hand, it is
said that while all regencies are unfor- |
nate, one with woman would be es- |
pecially so. She is commended as a
woman of courage and character, but |
full of impulses and under the sway of |
the clergy of a dependent emotional
character, and as a Spanish lady of high |
blood, but wholly unconnected with any |
royal family but her own would be |
alone in Europe and have no real sym
pgthy from any power. why" said |
one of the prominent leaders of the !
cause to your correspondent, why |
throw away the dynasty because of a
woman? We honor and respect the en-
press, and every Frenchman feels for
her widowhood But we cannot decide
these questions by our sympathies.
We must add strength to the party. |
Now men say the Count de Chambord |
would restore Jesuits to power That |
is stronc argument against him. But |
tn esuits would have as much to say |
to the empress as to Henry Y. Prince |