Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-06-29
NAPoLEONIC ROMANCE.
The Mysterious Courtier of the Second
Empire.

The Mysterious Courtier of the Second
Empire.
Paris Correspondence Boston Journal
The memoirs and souvenirs of the i'm
perial regime continue to flood the mar
ket. The latest of these productions is
from the pen Of one Of the great ladies of
the court, who was a familiar at Com
plegne, and who gives us many piquant
sketches of the brilliant life led there by
Napoleon III. and his numerous favorites
Among other stories told by this gossip
ing lady is one which so well illustrates
the corruption of the Second Empire that
/ will repeat it here. 1t appears that at
Compiegne there was for years a mys-
FERROUS parsonage who came and went
among the guests like one of them, and
who seemed to be on a footing of perfect
equality with them, yet concerning whom
no one knew anything definite. If his
name was asked by some one newly intro
duced at the Imperial Court, the answer
was, so, that is NJ. Funt,s and that was
all. Who was NJ. Funt? No one except
the Emperor and his private agents APP
peared to know, and they met all appeals
for knowledge on the subject with impene-
trable silence. Funt was accounted by
many as police agent who took notice of
everything that they said, and reported it
to the Emperor. So visitors at COmpiegne
and at the Tuileries gradually became
VI NUNS UNI, anu gave MN a
wide berth when they could do so without
fear of wounding his suscepti5ilities.
After the Emperor's death the truth came
out, and this lady authoress of the me-
moirs has now published it to the world.
1t appears that when Napoleon took
refuge in Switzerland, in the Castle of
Arenemberg, in company with his mother,
he received many favors at the hands of
the President of the Confederation.
&c &c all
friend, nor an enemy either, fox that
matter. And when he assembled the
French throne he did everything in his
power to further the interests of the Swiss
President, who, meantime, like all good
Republicans, had come down to be
simple citizen. In short, Napoleon told
his old friend that he would grant him
any favor that he asked. One day a
murder was committed at BoulOgne-sur-
Mer. A lover shot dead the wife who,
after having for long time been unfaith-
ful to her husband, repented, and an
n0unced her intention of seYering the
unholy liaison, and returning to him.
The lover, as soon as he had committed
the crime, went into hiding in miserable
fishing village on the coast. The imperial
police were put on his track and he was
soon found. AS they were about to
deliver him up to justice the police were
greatly surprised to receive an order,
''at the instance Of superior authority"
20 quash all proceedings, not to let the
public know the criminal had been
caught, and to announce to the murderer
that he was free. Much mystified, the
agents did as they were bid. The
wretched lover, who was no other than
the Mons. Funt who in later years so
excited the curiosity OF the ladies OF the
court at Compiegne, soon discovered that
his head had been spared because he was
a near relative of the eX-President of the
Swiss Confederation who had befriended
Napoleon. 1t was enough that the ex-
official had mildly expressed his horror
at the prospects of having a criminal
affair even remotely connected with his
family record. Napoleon silenced the
whole affair at once. Mons. Funt went
to the Tuileries and threw himself at the
EmperOr's feet, asking to be allowed to
devote the remainder Of his life to the
imperial service. His request was favor
ably received, and as we have seen
Napoleon faithfully kept the wretched
mans secret to the last.