The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1879-08-16
The Prince ImperIaps Boyhood.

Napoleon Ill. had been married three
years when the birth of the Prince Impe-
rial took place, on the 10th Of March,
1856. Driving through the Bois de Vim
cennes some months before, the Empress
Eugenie had made VOW that if o son
were born to her she would erect chapel
on q spot which she designated, and
there the chapel stands now, for no vow
was ever more gladly kept. One cannot
say, in hackneyed phrase, that the birth
OF the Emperor's heir proved a death
blow" to the hopes of any political party,
for the hopes of factions die hard, and in
1856 few people thought the Second EN-
pire would last long. Scores of the most
distinguished men of France were in ex-
lie; the prisons and penal colonies were
full of political delinquents, and it was
felt that order was only maintained in
the country by the merciless system of
compression which had been Inaugural
ted at the coup dtat. However, the
coming of an heir did add some prestige
to Napoleon, while it gave him new
and vital interest in preserving the
throne he had so strangely gotten. A
salute of one hundred and one guns an
nounced the birth of the child to the
people of Paris; and it was accounted an
auspicious circumstance that this event
should have occurred just at the time
when the negotiations for peace after the
Crimean war were in process of compile
tion. The signature of peace and the
christening of the young prince were ar
ranged to coincide on the Both of March,
and numerous measures of elemency and
largesse were made to follow. 1t was
decreed that every child born on the
same day as the Prince should, on appli-
cation of his parents, receive commem-
orative silver medal and a pension of one
hundred francs O year for eighteen
years, payable from the civil list. Some
five hundred applications were sent in
from poor people, and all the children
who survived till 1870 received their
pensions up to that date. The boys
were in every case christened Louis
Napoleon and the girls Eugenie,
As TO pardons, partial amnesty
was promulgated, but it only included
persons who chose to make their sub
mission to the government, and, conse-
quently, few availed themselves of it.
It is related-though the same story is
told incidentally to the birth of the
King of Rome-that a newspaper editor
who had got into trouble took petition
| for grace to the Tuileries, and asked
! leave to place it in the Prince ImperiaPs
| hands. He was led to the cradle and
put the document inside it, whereupon
the Emperor, who was present, inquired
what the baby said, and, being told
nothing" remarked, with a smile,
Well, then, silence gives consent. "
This story is more likely to have been
true of Napoleon than his nephew, for
the latter had too much tact to require
| that suppliants for mercy should humii-
ate themselves in his presence; but, pos
sibly, the episode was revived by some
courtier who loved scenic effect. In any
case it is fortunate that the baby did not
cry out when he received the petition,
| for the joke would have missed fire.
/ The little Prince had an English nurse
recommended by Queen Victoria, and
while he was in swaddling clothes he
used to be held up at the nursery win
| dow for the admiration of crowds who
collected in the gardens of the Tuileries
to stare at him. As soon as he could
toddle he was appointed a corporal in
the Imperial Guard. that the sobriquet
of LIE Petit Corporal" might be re-
| vived in his person; and in August, 1858,
when the French armies re-entered Paris
1 IL,
he stood at the head of the Guard to do
homage to his father on the Place Ven
dome. It was not till his tenth year that
he was promoted to a sergeantship, but
soon afterwards he was reduced for some
little act of disobedience, and remained
corporal again for whole year. The
Prince Imperial was never willful boy,
| though high-spirited like his mother and
/ hon 1crl1% fv1l 10 fafh ton
was always exquisitely sweet. Children
used to be invited to come and play with
him at the Palace, and he never abashed
them by any of the airs of spoiled
| child. When he drove through the
streets of Paris in the company
of his playmate, Louis Conneau,
and attended by strong mounted escort
| of guides, there was always a winning
smile on his face as he acknowledged the
greetings of the people; and sometimes,
when persons who had probably been on
| the lookout for him ran into the road
fourishing petitions, it was touching to
see him motion to those people to fling
their papers into his carriage, knowing
as he did that the captain of his escort
was under orders not to rein in for any
| body. Whenever it was possible to
| grant petition the Emperor was sure to
do so if it came through his sons hands,
for he dotted on the boy, and would have
let him have his own way in all things.
The Empress, not less loving, but rather
firmer, kept the Prince under curb that
! was good for him, and it was chiefly
owing to her very wise and motherly
guidance that he became what Continen-
| tails call ''un jeune homme bien elevs, !"
and Englshmen, perfect gentleman
He was not fortunate as regards the
| choice of tutors made for him. His first
| master was man of high attainments,
and most conscientious; but he seemed
to have thought it was his duty to follow
the precepts of J. J. Rousseau, and to
convert his pupil into philosopher
Prince. He only succeeded in filling the
boys head with iargon, and had to be
dismissed. General Frossard, who came
next, was an excellent strategist on
paper, and he could lecture learnedly on
mathematics; but he lacked geniality.
and profoundedly bored the Prince and
Louis Conneau, who was educated with
him. Young Conneau was the son of
DIR. Conneau, who had been the Empe-
ror's friend during his days of captivity
| at Ham. Louis Conneau and the Prince
were inseparables, except on occa-
slons when etiquette obliged his
Imperial Highness to figure alone
in public ceremonials occasions
which, of course, became more
and more numerous as time rolled on.
The Emperor, though very reluctant to
let the Prince go away from him, yielded
| to the suggestions of his Ministers that
the boy should see something of the
world, and in 1866 began to send him
! on State excursions with his mother
In that year they visited Lor-
| raine, together, and were enthusi-
astically received; but this welcome
was nothing to that which they got two
years later in Corsica, at the centenary
of the islands union with France. In
the country which was the cradle of his
race young Napoleon could feel that he
was indeed beloved; and from that date
it became noticeable that he understood
| to what high destinies he was born. He
became suddenly SO industrious that his
application, after first delighting his grim
tutor the general, ended by alarming the
court physicians, who, in consequence of
slight attack of illness, prohibited les
sons altogether for several months. This
interval of leisure was spent by the
Prince in practicing horsemanship and
| fencing, in both of which arts he became
so expert that he was enabled in after