, 1875-03-27
PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON.
From tha Snacta4orN
(From the Spectator

PRINCE Louis NAPOLEON has "won9 the
Engineers" and though Frenchmen will not
at hrst understand the meaning of that phrase
as Engllshmen do, the event may yet exercise
an important influence on politics. 1t is an
immense thing for the Bonapartists to be able
to prove on testimony past all question that
their candidate has in him the making of an
able man. that be is not a mere Prince"
whose qualities, and manners, and disposition
are taken for granted, but a man who, if be
were nobody and were thrown into the rough
tusSle of life, could and would win an excellent
place for himself. To EngliShmen the result
of the examination at Woolwich proves that
much conclusiVely, and there are thousands
OF B0napartists who are only too anxious that
their countrymen should understand why.
There ls no probability, and indeed, except as
regards horsemanShip, in which he is reported
first" no possibility that the Prince has been
taVOured by the Examiners, who do not know
the writer's of the papers before them and if
he has not been f~avoured, he has achieved q
most creditable success. The competition for
the Engineers is now of very long standing, and
the struggle has for years been so honest,
so stringent, and so attractive to clever lads
without cash, who like the Army, but cannot
afford to spend their pay on their uniforms,
--~N ~ ~ ~ ~ h0fO y tiO
has become a distinction of which any father
in the country is proud. 1t is proof positive
that his son has got something special in him,
can beat formidable rivals, can fight his way
into a closely guarded scientific profession,
with no other help than his head. The Prince
has shown this power, and shown 1t too in the
teeth of very considerable obstacles, special to
himself. 1t is a very difficult thing to any
man to acquire a scientific education in a
foreign tongue, and the Prince when he entered
Woolwich, as General Lintorn Simmons re-
ports, was very imperfectly acquainted with
the English language, indeed SO imperfectly
that he was strongly recommended to post
pOne his entrance. He persisted, however,
studied hard, had, it is said, the self-denial
for months to turn all lectures and lessons
back into bis own tongue, so learning them
twice over, mastered the difficulty of English
spelling, and finally had the nerve to face the
ordinary, unrestricted competition, although
offered a special examination,-a bit OF real
pluck in its way, as failure might have dam
aged him irretrievably. He came out seventh
of thirty-three candidates, entitled to claim,
if be liked, a commission in the Royal EngI-
neers, that is, a student confessedly superb
or in highly intellectual attachments to the
average English boys of his year, and prObe-
DlyS 1iOA buo ullllCultlSS no udo SuSouhIOlSN'
superior to all but the very best. His sue
cess is no proof, of course, that he can govern,
or even that he will make a considerable SOL
der but it is proof that he can work, that he
can apply, and that he has strong brains,
brains likely to benefit by the teaching of
study and experience. He is not stupid, as
a majority of fnnces are, and that will UNI
doubtedly be a recommendation to most
Frenchmen. Not to mention that they ex-
pect brains in the Bonapartes, and would be
mortified as we'll as disappointed by their abb
sence, they like individuality in their rulers;
and to men who are expected to be individual,
to stand forward and show personal will,
judgement, or esprit, ability of some kind
or other, even if it be of the silent, dreamy,
and as it were depressing kind possessed by
Napoleon Ill, is almost indispensable. Even
Constituencies in France want their chief
to be a competent man, and proof that Louis
Napoleon is competent, proof of so indublta'
BILE a kind, will materially assist bis chances.
If be is constitutional he will do as we'll as
another, and if he is despotio he will be an
able despot. That is the rough way in which
great masses of half ignorant men reason
about a Pretender with the Princes claims.
The sort Of pleasure with which most Eng.
llshmen-Liberals included-have heard of
the Princes success at Woolwich will, we
dare saw, strike many French Republicans with