The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-03
NApOLEON ".
ais Birth, Education and Early Life.

city of Paris was at the same time pro-
foundly agitated and delighted. That
day a son had been born to the Emperor
and Empress Of France, and prospec-
tive ruler to the French people. at six
o'clock in the morning the cannon OF the
Invalides announced to the, yet scarcely
awakened city the tidings of the arrival
of an heir to the Imperial throne. The
fact, however, was hardly known in the
city until about eight o'clock. Tele-
graphic dispatches were sent to all the
various. diplomatic agencies of France on
the Continent. Notice was sent to the
representatives of other Powers resident
in Paris, and in tho course of the morn
ing they visited the Tuileries and left
their names. Preparations were made
at all the public Offices for illuminations
and decorations. Many houses on the
Bouleyards were embellished with stream
ers. The flags OF England, France,
Turkey and Sardinia foated united at
this moment of rejoicing as they had
during the long and dreary hours of suf-
fering and danger. No one visiting
Paris could mistake the temper of the
people. to -
Three years had elapsed since the mar
rage of the Third Napoleon with the
young Spanish lady, who had received
but beauty and ambition as her only
dowry from her mother, the Countess de
Montijo. The young Prince had an
English nurse provided for him, and he
remained under her charge until his
seventh birthday, SO that he could speak
English before he could pronounce his
own tongue, and he always spoke it with
remarkable. fuency and pure accent.
All through his childhood and boyhood
the Prince Imperial had an inseparable
companion in the young Louis Conneau,
son Of the DR.. Conneau who aided his
father to escape from Ham, and this lad
was as good as a second tutor to the
Prince. In his first teachers the young
Prince was not fortunate. One began by
teaching him republican doctrines. The
next turned out to be affiliated with
what was considered s highly dangerous
community. He was dismissed before
be had an opportunity to influence the
boys mind. Gen. Proessard was then
selected by the Emperor. He was popu-
lsrly supposed to be a. military eagle, but
he proved much tanner bird. The
Prince Imperial, under this more couItly
than erudite warrior, learned little
mathematics, aome Latin, less Greek, and
good deal Of horsemanship snd fencing.
Being fond of the study of history, he
gathered q good deal through his own
efforts. He was 8 quiet.mannered boy,
naturally shy, and disposed to become
more so by che diplomatic reserve con-
tinually inculcated upon him. He had,
nevertheless, from his earliest childhood,
a considerable amount of shrewdness,
and used often to say, "I always take off
my hat to the Parisians, because they
take off ones crown so easily when they
are offended"
When he was three years old he was
placed on the roster of the Imperial
Guard. At five he was promoted to
corporalship. he was made sergeant
at seven, and wore his sub-lieutenants
epaulet for the first time when he started
for the German war with his father. Af-
ter the peace, when Napoleon III. was
released from his captivity at Wilhelm
shoe, the young Prince, who had been
spirited away to England at the first
French defeat, was entered at the Wool
witch Academy. A banquet was given
in August, 1876, to few of the older
adhercnts of the Napoleonic dynasty,
while the Empress and her son were en-
joying holiday at the Castle Arenen-
berg, and the young Prince addressed
his friends with considerable tact and
political ability in the following words:
"Should the people some day recall me
to power, I will force all honest men to
rally round the Empire by erasing from
the French language the words Exile
and Prescription IF it could only be
known what lessons / have learned from
the past, what resolutions I have drawn
from experience of the events which
passed under my own eyes, it would be
seen how we'll I understand that I must
only look backward for example and
teaching, but not for objects of vengeance
and bitterness. A great people is not to
be governed by hatred and revenge"
The birth. of the Prince Imperial was
regarded by all who wished to be consid-
cred true Frenchmen as a good omen,
second only in its European importance
to the millennium. Thenceforth the sun
of peace and prosperity was to shine upon
everything French and everybody who
had the surprising happiness to be born
on the soil of the favored nation. The
Princes birth was to be the panacea for
all grumbling, olisafection and discon-
tent; the dynasty was firmly established,
and, as to the future, did not his Impe-
rial Majesty himself presently assure all
the world that "the Empire was peace?"
1t was halcyon time for France.
Time, which was rude enough b to 60 on
in France much as it did in other and far
less favored countries, and even in a
neighboring State peopled by such barba-
rians as the ill-conditioned Prussians had
invariably proved themselves to be
Time, which would not acknowledge the
supremacy even of Bonaparte, passed,
and France, the model nation, the envy
of the civilized world, basked in the
warm but enervating sunshine of pros
perity. 1t is true that the country was
ruled with what some few millions con-
sidered an iron hand; that, if a stranger,
you were watched by the police with cat
like vigilance; that, despite the gay ex-
terror of every Frenchman and the
smiling face of every Frenchwoman,
there were people who, when they got
you safely ensconced in their charming
country houses, were prone to compare
English and other institutions to the
great disparagement of the latter.
The young Prince was meanwhile oc-
cupying himself in much the same man.
ner as other boys of his age. His chris.
tening at Notre- Dame, on the 10Th OF
June, three months after his birth, was
one of the most magnificent spectacles
ever witnessed even in France.
At the age of six months the Prince
was admitted with becoming ceremony
irto the ranks of the first regiment OF
Grenadiers of the Guard, who, as the
recognized victors of the Alma, !nker-
Al IL tha nht