The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1892-11-25
DIDLOUIS USE PAINT?
ZOLA'S CHARGE THAT NAPOLEON
PAINTED HIS FACE.


On the declaration of war against
Prussia, both NM de Cassagnac and
Mitchell threw down their pens for the
sword, and enrolled themselves as vol
unteers in the First zouaves. Both
were personally known to the Emperor
Napoleon Ill, who saw them almost
every day, and now these two distin-
guished authorities have come forward
to traverse the inference suggested by
M. Emile lola in "La Debacle" that
Napoleon III at Sedan had resorted to a
cosmetic to impart unnatural rosiness to
his complexion. M. lola describes the
emperor as having glowing cheeks, and
adds, "Assuredly he had his face paint
ed" M. de Cassagnac has emphatically
stated that during his close association
with Napoleon before the battle he
never noticed a trace of paint on the
imperial countenance, and in this denial
he is corroborated by M. Robert Mitch
ell, who declares his certainty that the
then ruler of the French people used no
pigment whatsoever during the opera
lions leading to the capitulation of
Sedan.
The question, although intrinsically
unimportant, is very curious, inasmuch
as this is not the first time that the
change of complexion of the son of
| Queen Hortense has been made mat
ter of public discussion. The anony-
nous writer of that most entertaining
medley, "The Englishman in Paris, "
who first met Prince Louis Napoleon at
the Hotel du Rhin, Paris, in 1848, has
plenty to say about the personal appear
ance of the then pretender to the French
throne. He describes his heavy brown
mustache, his thin lank hair, his aqui-
line nose and grayish blue eyes and the
general impression which the features
of the prince gave him of being ha-
bitual opium eater; and opium eaters are
assuredly not as a rule persons of rud-
dy tint. Provokingly enough the Eng
lishman has nothing to say touching the
princes complexion at this stage of his
career.
The late Mr.. Kinglake has, on the
other hand, great deal to state touch
ing the facial hue of the third Napoleon.
In his prologue to the history of the
Crimean war the writer describes the
emperor as apt, on days of great peril,
to turn facially green, and ON this cir
cumstance he founded the opinion that
the emperor, either at the period of the
coup d'etat or on subsequent occasions
as momentous, did not, so far as could
be judged from his appearance, suggest
the conclusion that he was a man of ex-
ceptional courage. 1t is said, indeed,
that when Napoleon III read the first
volume Of Mr.. Kinglake's history he
observed with smile to one of his con-
fidants, ''This," pointing to the sea green
passage, "must have been written by a
woman," and anti-English French jour.
nalists of the period did not scruple to
ins;nuate that Mr.. Kinglake's structures
ON the personal appearance Of the en-
peror wero due to the inspiration of an
Egeria we'll known in Partisan society
who hated the third emperor as bitterly
as the first one had been detested by
Nine. De Stael.
The authority, however, of the histo
rian of the Crimean war was naturally
so highly valued in England that the
story of the emperor turning green or
days of battle or revolution obtained
universal credence, and to some extent
it was used to bolster up the absurd &C
cusation of personal cowardice which
the ultra republicans constantly brought
against their imperial foe. 1t remained
for an illustrious English surgeon, moi
long deceased, to point out the indubita
BILE verify that man has no command
over his blood, although by the exercise
of his will he has every command ovel
his muscles. Meanwhile it must be-
frankly admitted that in circumstance:
Of emergency the features of Napoleon
III did assume a peculiar hue.
The color was certainly not ruddy
nor was it swarthy or sallow; it was
curious leaden gray. But that such &
leaden gray had nothing to do with the
emperors capacity for mourning danger
without wavering there is on record frs
the observation of the distinguished Eng
lish medical man to whom allusion has
been made, and next to the personal ties
timony-not by any means exclusively
that of MN. de Cassagnac and Mitchell
of people who had constantly beer
close to the emperor, and who had oh
served his physical mien from the early
stages of his career to its mournful anC
irglorious close. He was undoubtedly
as brave as his uncle, the Great Napo
leon, who, by the way, was frequently
accused in the English press of being al
abiect coward.
The harum scarum adventure of Stras
burg and the madcap escapade at Bou
logne showed that poltroonery was mo-
among his shortcomings. and although
Mr.. Kinglake would have us believe
Napoleon III turned green at Solferinc
and Magenta, there is plenty of evidence
from eye witnesses who were near tx
the emperor throughout those moment
GUS battles to show that whatever TIM
the face of the emperor took, it was Ger
tainly not verdant one. AS to Sedar
there is the further testimony of Princes:
Mathilde, who declares that she never
told any one that the emperor was IL
the habit of using cosmetics. Since the
appearance of M. Zola's statement sht
has questioned persons who were at the
battle and they all assert that ''the leg
end is absolutely false" The princess
adds, 81 cannot believe that, even with