The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-11-13
THE LAST OF A FAMILY.

Few newspaper readers noticed the
death on the Sd inst. of Prince Lucien Bona
parte, the son of the well-known IUcien,
and the last surviving nephew Of Napoleon
the First. He was an old man, nearly 50.
with a taste for outlandish languages, who
had cut little figure in the world. He came
of family which was always on the brink
of greatness, but somehow cOntriyed never
to get there.
Before the campaign Of Italy. Lucien was
supposed to be the ao!est member of the
Bgnapsrie family, and even after Napoleon
returned 10 Paris he was regarded as more
level-headed than the victorious General.
It was he who planned the coup d'etat OF
Brumaire and when Napoleon was para
lyzed by the destruction Of the Republican
Government. Lucien took the direction OF
affairs into his own hands. He became
Minister of the Interior, Senator and all
powerful. This inspired jealousy in the
brothers mind. The First Consul subjected
Lucien to such annoyances that he aban-
doned the struggle and lett France. That
was really the end of his public life. He
reappeared after Waterloo and urged Napo-
leon to proclaim dictatorship aud fight to
the bitter end but the Emperor had lost
his nerve and Lucien left him for his home
in Italy, where lie spent his last years in
the cultivation OF letters and art.
lie left three sons. One was the we'll
| known ornithologist; another was the
Prince Pierre, who lived in Paris and was
at one time regarded as q likely successor
to Napoleon the Third. But he wrecked
himself and very nearly wrecked the en-
pire by numbering i'll his own house the
young journalist Victor Noir; SO there
was an end of him. The third was this
Lucieu. who died last week. He was a
| wonderful linguist and could speak almost
| as many languages and dialects as MeZzO-
fanti himself. In the distribution of the
family estates he was excluded from the in
| heritance he expected; for many years he
! lived on pension of $3.50 Il year, which
| the British Government had granted him
| for translating the Song of Solomon" into
| number Of English and Welsh and Scotch
and Gaelic dialects. Hs resided in a small
obscure house in Bayswater, Lon1on.
The fates of these Bonapartes furnish a
fresh illustration of the law which declares
that ability is not hereditary. OF the
| progeny Of the great men upon whose lives
history loves to dwell, there is not one who
bids fair to I've noticed by the historian OF
to-day. To all inteuts and purposes the
Bonaparte family is extinct. Americans
| know of no representative Of the Washing
ton family. Who inherits the ancestral
honors Of jefferson, or Pitt. or Decatur or
Lord Nelson, or Warren Hastings, or Web
| ster, or Clay? Many of them left offspring
who live or have living descendants. But
no one knows of them. The halo of their
| lineage only makes their present obscurity
| more conspicuous. A great mans son is not
much more likely to show signs OF greatness
than other members of the race. This is
even the case when the greatness is Of that
lower kind which manifests itself by an
aptness for money getting. IL is rather the
rule than the exception that the son of one
who has made fortune by shire wdness, in
dustry and foresight shall exhibit no capaci-
ty so obvious as that of wasting money.
The son Of a millionaire becomes spend
thrift.
AS this is not a new law of nature, but
one which, as history tells us, has prevailed
throughout all tina. it is marvellous that
nearly all the civilized nations should have
entrusted the conduct of their public affairs
to hereditary monarchies and hereditary
aristocracies. Even In countries where the
law of succession is qualified by partial
power of election in the sovereign or his
counselors, their choice has been limited to
certain family. In other instances the
control of the State has been rigidly gov
erned by the accident of birth. And this
has gone on for century after century for
thousand years or more subject to no other
correction than such as revelation could
bring to bear. The immemorial prevalence
Of so singular a deluson teaches pregnant
! lesson to believers in public wisdom.