The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1873-05-16
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Our special dispatches, says the, New,
York Herald, from London. bripa.us shS
terms Of the will of Napoleon III.
ex-Emperor Of the French, who died a.
Chiselhurst, in England, last January.
His personal property is.. sworn; to os
under $500, 600, and this is Haid I'd be re.
ducible by debts to half that amount,
Truly, this is not an imperial fortune:
out there are great many ways Of dis
posing OF property, 30 that il will not
turn up in last testaments. IT. may, or
may not be that this sum is all Napoleon
saved from the wreck OF lis fortunes.
The public will care very little whether
it is or not. On $780, as capital, a
widow and her son can in England lead
lie lar above poverty. It is more. at
any rate, Tor the boy. cursed to have the
golden dream Of empire forever before
his eyes, than his father possessed when
ne lived in Hoboken. Aud it is proba-
oily not all. But the interest in tue do.
cumentsfegistered at Doctors Commons,
London, does not cease with the state
ment OF the sum bequeathed, or even in
the fact that the ex-Empress Eugene ia
the sole legatee. It runs back eight
years with the date alone. and brings be.
tore us the days when Napoleon, ia the
full tlde OF his power. sat down to write
words Tor the smiles. the cynicisms of
hlstory. On April "a. 1865, he wrote
ana signed the will. Europe was then
at peace, and the Emperor could then
scarcely see the edge of the black cloud
Inas mounted afterwards upon his hori-
zon. DE Morny was dead, but even the
Emperor could not tell how much he had
lost. The first of his great mistakes
the expedition to Me1ico-then looked
like success. Maximilian was nine
months upon the imperial throue OF the
Montezumas. Bazaine was fighting, with
every assurance of victory there. If the
cloud showed above the horizon g Fin, it
was only the gilded edge that met his
view. The Schieswig Holstein war was
ended. 1t was nearly twelve months
from the capture of Duppel, and Prussia
ana Austria were so friendly that King
William and Emperor Francis JOSEPH
were arranging to meet at Carlsbad for q
friendly talk. Sadowa did not seem evan
q remote possibility at the time. The
Southern rebellion had been crushed BY
the surrender of Lee, and although
Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated
ten days before, the news had vet TO
break upon Europe. There was one cir
oumstance, however, connected with the
day on which the will was drawn, that
Will not fail to suggest itself to history.
Three days previously, Napoleon had
Two imperial visitors at the Tuilleries.
whose faces were not lit with that joy
winch emperors assume when they meet
each other. These we're his Imperial
Mnjssty the Gear Alexander III, autoorat
OF Ail the Russias. and his august spouse.
the Impress Maria. There was but lit.
tie said that dny. and the two imperial
visitors soon proceeded on their journey
to the South. The Russian Empefor;s
eldest son and heir, the Czsrovitch Nj.
cholas, was siok unto death at Nice, aud
the mournful parents were fastening
shither to clasp their boy before he died.
Napoleon, with what light we have of his
character. despite his loud-tonei thus, in
destiny, We know to have been a man of
indeoision Ia supreme moments, aud
subleot at all times to melancholy fore.
bodings, which he did his best to con-
oeai: On Monday, the 24th of April,
the heir to the throne Of all the Russias
was taken quietly away from life and its
prospective imperial Drown. The news
OF death was flashed to Paris that same
~eSS s'neA euCa ~ Hao LuS MAI. CE DoCBm-
Der, in all the glory of his empire. sat
down to write the will of tho Man of Sc.
dan. The Prince Imperial, delicate
boy, just entering his tenth year, was
playing in the garden of the Tuil!eriss,
innocent OF the fact that q pen was
tracing ont for him. not the path of glory
OF future emperor, but the devious
way OF weak pretender. Such are the
sardonics of history. While death was
palled above one imperial house, Napo.
leon Ill was writing the hollow eIegy of
his own
1t was not u very elaborate piece Of
composition. 1t touched tho springs of
family pride and had glimmer in it
from the sun OF Austorlitz, although the
ray fell ooldly upon the rock of St. He.
lena. For the rest it was naked Of orna
ment, and men will say that it was
hypocritical where it speaks of Heaven.
He addressed it "to the high authorities
OF State. to the people aud army of
France. The Empress was to be Re.
gent, his son (just niue years old) pos
sessed qualities of disposition and
Judgment which will render him WORTHY
OF his high destinies." What are those
destinies now? Then the Emperor wrote
some bare words Of advice TO the boy