The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-08-22
NAPOLEON III'S MOTHER.

From Blar chard Jeri ODDS Life Of Napoleon III.
Queen Hortense has left seven or eight COM
pact volumes Of memoirs, which, in their en-
tirety, are never to be published. They were de-
signed FIR the reading of her own family, and
were intended to explain the complicated, un-
happy and not blameless life OF the writer. They
are full OF exaggeratlons and lndlscretions, or
high flown sentiments and hasty verdicts on men
and women. Throughout there is evidence of
generous spirit, warm heart and OF a pene-
trating mind.
The intimate descriptions of Napoleon are, in
many passages, admirable, and would be valua-
character. When the Queen touches on her
welded life, she presents her husband as do
nestle tyrant, with whom it was impossible to
live ; but then it is easy to see by the context
that what she called tyranny was the endeavor
of serious and solitary man to curb the wild
exuberance of worldly, society-loving, even
frivolous woman, who found most Of her pleasure
away from the fireside, and who had been spoiled
ty the alteration of brilliant court.
1t is to be remarked that, although she resent.
ed King Louis tyranny and gloom, she never
ceased to respect him. She knew that she had
not been good wife to her husband and in her
will che acknowledged it. Her frailties were be-
yound question, nor does she deny them in the
final record of her life. She explains, idealzes
and moralizes, seeking to bewitch rather than to
safety the judgment of the reader. And to some
extent she succeeds, for there in the daus hter
of 'la bonnie Josephiu heroic virtue, scorn OF dan
ger, VI mdttTuai love, duu WHICH,
covering the calamity Of the migrate and the
treachery Of the friend was active to the last in
kind offices among the humblest OF her neigh
bors. The good overbears and almost hides the
bad Yet it cannot be denied that the effect ex-
ercised by Queen Hortense on the character of
her son Louis was enervating. She was lover
and seeker of pleasure to the last. All her friends
we're delightful aud cultivated companions She
loved letters and the arts The learned man was
ever welcome at her board. But che was no
strict mistress OF morals
There was much of what we understand as the
Bohemian in her nature. Cottrau, the artist,
was allowed about the chateau in a costume that
would have charmed the grlsettes of the Quarter
Latin. She liked expeditions la bonnie fran
quette, to use Paris vulgarism In Rome her
parties were of the ivellest, and in those days
strict morals made no part of the estimate when
the value or desirability of lady's society was
under consideration.
Prince Louis could not but become kindly and |
charitable under the guidance and with the |
example of his mother: but he could hardly fail |
also to feel the influence Of the very thin moral
atmosphere of her little court. The basis of the |
society was democratic, and, as we |
have observed, the Bernese aristocrat was not |
more welcome than the rough radical of |
Thurgau. In this bracing political company the |
gay queens son contracted that democratic tone |
which his mind kept unimpaired to the last hour
of his life.
ern brio, that threw rosy tint about slips in
morals, were enervating surroundings to the
young man whose single hand was to hold sway
and mastery over an empire. Inafter-life Prince
Louis showed deep traces of both the good and
The evil of his mothers teaching and the
society in which she brought him up.
The good blossomed in a thousand acts of kind
ness, and the evil app cared III many weaknesses
al those of tender heart-for which bitter
penalty was paid in the end.