The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-08-15
ROyalty'S Vicissitudes.
TIE UPS AND DOWNS OF THE MURAT
FAMILY.

tlcman, with large black eyes and SWarthy
complexion, dressed in almost youthful
costume, and always decorated with the
cross of the Legion of Honor, has Of late
been missed by those who used to meet
him in his daily walk on the Paris boule
wards. Few who thus passed him were
aware that he was prince, and that he
was the last son of the "beau sabreur' Of
the First Empire, and the nephew Of the
great Napoleon himself. The Bonapartc
family in all its branches, has been re-
markable for many things; in nothing
more so than in the strange and often
sudden vicissitudes of fortune that its
scions have undergone. 1t wonld be
hard to name single child or grand
child of the Sicur Charles BOnaparte and
his wife Letitia, who has led other than
troubled and uncertain career; and not
the least stormy and changing was the
life of Prince Lucien Murat, who died IA
few weeks ago at Paris. The world toss
cd him about from luxury to want, and
from want to prosperity again; and he,
like his dashing, big hearted, vain, and
valiant father, was certainly a favoritc
shuttecock of Fate.
Joachim Murat's career affords mater
ial for stOry-book as entertaining as
that of Wilmington, LordMayOr of
London, or of Prince Caniche. When he
had married Caroline Bonaparte, and
poried in the title of "King of the Two
Siciiies,' and was holding an amusing ex-
travagant and gorgeous state at Naples,
the "heau sabrcur' never forgot his hum
bic origin, and no doubt the better en-
loved his brief season of royal power, by
the contrast which the memory of his
hard working boy-hood provoked. In
one of the royal reception rooms, visitors
were surprised to see, lying on a velvet
cushion covered with glass case, an old,
worn, postiliion's whip; and, when,
King Joachim remarked their expression
of establishment, he would toss his head
merrily and eXclaim, "That is what |
came from" From the cozy little Pro-
ycncal inn where his father offered en-
| tertainment to man and beast, where he
himself used to deal out the "wine Of the
country and the cheap omelcts, and
where, a little later, he acted as IA postil
ion to local diligenCes, to legal rank and
! power, was certainly transition to be
proud of and boosted of; and we may be
sure that the rollicking, great-voiced
Joachim never failed, when occasion of
tered, to point the moral of his rise. He
was as vain, too, of being the husband
of the lovely Caroline. Caesars favorite
sister, as of being the occupant of a
throne contended for by Spain, Austria,
and France, for many century.
But Joachim had his ups and downs,
! like all the brothers in-law of the "COr-
sican orge." After Waterloo even his
| brisk logs scarcely saved him from aGire
fate at Naples; and his tickle subjects,
after having almost worshipped him for
his generosity, his free ways with every
body, his dazzling showiness, buIly good
nature, would probably have shot him at
! the nearest corner, had he not made haste
! to get out of their clutches That was.
| indeed, his fate nj last; for, when he re-
| turned with IA band of braves to rctake
! Naples, he was caught and executed with
| short shrift. He left two healthy boys to
| run the gauntlet of Il world that delight
| ed to make sport of all whose blood had
! Bonapartist mixture. The elder, Ac-
| lille, who was rather tondly spoken of
! 10y the Parisians as sic eros Achilc,'
was as well known at all the lounging-
| places of the Capitol few years ago, as
the padded and painted diamond Duke
of Brunswick, or at that wonderful octo-
genarian fop, Auber; great, lazy, good
| natured old fellow, who kept clear of
politics, and ate prodigiously, and con
sorted generally with everybody that liked
good living, the drama, and the aifcn
cocottcrie of Paris. The other Lucien,
] L.,. ;..l
about from place To place with his eXilcd
mother, he seized the idea of making free
America his home; and the first thing he
knew, he was shipwrecked on the Span
ish coast, to be there clapped into prison
| by the Jealous Bourbon, as the son Of a
usurper of a Bourbon throne. As soon
rs he was released; he came to the Uni
ted States, studied law, and put out his
sign. But nobody wanted prince for
lawyer, and he would have starved if it
had not been for his energetic English
! wife, who opened a young ladies, board
ing school. ~ soon as the Revolution
of 1913 once more opened the portals OF
France TO the eXiled Bonapartes, Lucien
returned, to become deputy, then, u
der his cousin, the Prince President, an
ambassador lie had his share of the
good things of the Second Empire, but
relapsed into obscurty when the sun of
the empire set again at Sedan; enjoying,
however, something of ease in his later
days, and finally dying at a good old
age, in his bed. Happily for him, the
foes of the Napoeons were not in the
least afraid of the Murats; and while
other scions of the adventurous house
have been refused home on their native
SOIL the harmless Lucien, like the fat