Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-03-07
THE VOLUNTEER PRINCE.
He ImpsrlIs His Life 0ut.Of Gratitude d
England.

10y LA0AA' &NAIlA0RA VI va
Prince Imperial, as his adherents il
France persist in calling him-mus
in all fairness be credited with tina
impatience of a life of continued in
action which is natural to his year
and his family. He was only twenty
two years old last March, and thu
companions of his studies have Ions
been with their regiments. Soon after
his arrival in England in 1870, he was
placed under the charge of a retired
officer of the English army for in
struction in English, and completed
his education for the artillery at
Woolwich. AT the final examination
he took a tair place, without particu-
larly distinguishing himself in any
special branch, and has ever since
been condemned to the life of an idle
man about town, or a lOunger in the
grounds of the Chiselhurst estate.
His only real occupation was to lend
his presence to the meetings of the
leaders of the Imperialists, and he was
certainly endowed with sufficient sa-
gacity to be aware that his youth and
i~nexperience made him rather the
puppet than the guide and master of
his co-eonspirators. The most excit-
ing moments in the young mans life
we're probably enjoyed during his
occasional trips to Belgium or Switz-
erland, when politics ran high in
France, and it was thought that he
ought to be neal at hand to take adj
vantage of any movement in his favor.
But these were but few and short.
The remainder Of his existence was
doomed to be passed in the country,
for which he had no tastes, OF. in
London for the season, where the
circle of his friends and associates
was narrowed at once by his age and
training and the s~ingularity Of his
position.
To escape from an existence bur-
dened with ennUi such as he must
have endured, he would no doubt be
glad to grasp almost any opportunity
that might present itself. Thus he
was no doubt willing to act upon the
suggestion to volunteer for service
against the Zulus as soon as it was
made. But the prince, however de-
sireus he might have been Of a
change, is not made ofthe stuff that
leads men to the front by the very
charm of the excitement of danger.
and the idea that he was anxious to
imperil his life out of gratitude to
England, as he seems to imply in his
letter to his political mentor, is too
Quixotic to be for q moment believed
of a man with a single drop of the
blood of the Bonapartists in his veins.
The plain truth is hal it is a trump
card played at precisely the proper
moment in the game cunningly de-
vised by NJ. ROuher. For the pres
ent, and particularly since the peace
able termination of the events of the
Both of January, the Bonapartists
have no immediate prospects of at
tanning their ends. Variable as
French politics proverbially are, there
now seems to be some chance of at
least a temporary interval of rest I'M
der the Republican regime. During
this period of compulsory inactivity.
all that even NJ. Rouher, with all his
experience of thirty years in public
life, a do for his Telemachus is TO
keep the memory of his name green.
and not allow the solvent tendencies
of a protracted Wis inertia to break
down and scatter the ranks of the I'm
perialists. His pupil must also be
ready to trim his sails so that he may
be able to take advantage of the first
breath Of public favor in the shifting
atmosphere Of French political life.
NJ. ROuher is wise enough to know
all this, and he fully appreciates the
fact that the Napoleonic legend owes
more than half its strength to its old
en- fulfllmeht of the French passion
for la gloire, and that to give it a new
lease OF life he must appeal to the
same causes which made it so power
full hat the mere name of Napoleon
did more than anything else to win his
father place and power after the reyo-
luton of 1913 had banished the house
Of Orleans from French soil. The
best possible chance was offered by
the Zulu war. There we're many
reasons which prevented his taking
service against the Afghans. 1t would
have excited the animosity Of Russia
against his pretensions, and there are
thousands of Freuchmen who still
entertain a sentimental idea that
French interests in the East should
be paramount over British. But in
Iululand there were no such Obiec-
tons, and the battle to be fought for
civilization against barbarism appeals
most strongly to another phase OF
French character, while the very ma.
ture of the service will recall some OF
their own triumphs against the wild
Arabs of Algeria. If the young
prince IL lucky he will have many q
chance of earning whatever real dis.
%tinction is to be won during tho cam.
paign and rumor will magnify ever,
feat he may perform. The officers un.
der whom he serves will be only toe
happy TO follow the bent Of the pro.
fession of arms and help the youn.
volunteer by every means in theiI
power. It the regulations permit
and they may easily be relaxed OF
the other side of the 'fugels. be cal
be attached as a supplementary aide
de.eamp to the staff. But if h,
fights II tbe ranks, it will, in ,
political poiHt Of view, be ever
better for him. As q volunteer
he will not be an enlisted man aBt
hla lot will only be cast with til,
private sqldiers upon parade, ON guard
or in the heid. lie will be released
from fatigue duties, a4a mess with til.
officers, among whom he viii DC east
Eor al the purposes Of society, as sool
as DE psEs4e is dismissed. The re
| iusal ftbe British %ggyernment to Civ