The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-02-20
ALL ooDsoNs OF EuoENrE.
Frenchnaen Born the same a0av 3. the
Prince Imperial Are Luclxx.5


Frenchnnen Born the same I1ax y. the
Prince Imperial Are L1eky.1
Three thousand eight hundred and
thiry-four male children were born IN
France on March 16, 1885, the same day
that the Inflated prince imperial came
into the world, says the New York
World. His mother. ex-Empress Eu-
genie, became godmother to them all
1t is said that the ex-empress has re-
Gently made her will, and in it has be-
queathed trifling legacy to each OF
her godsons, whose names and ad-
dresses she still preserves. The origi-
nal number, however, must have been
sadly depleted by death in the nearly
forty years which have elapsed, and OF
bearded men who will claim their be-
quest when Eugene dies there may be
less than half a thousand
The contrast between that March day
nearly four decades ago and the ex-
empress present fortune is striking.
Then the reign of Napoleon III. was in
the heyday of it's power, and the ma
ton, drunken with military glory, wish
ed as heartily as it's ruler for an heir
to the throne. Early on the morning
of the 18th the cannon doomed from
the Invalides, announcing the deliver
ance of the empress. Paris bent an
anxious listening ear, counting the
guns. A hundred and one. 1t was a
boy. "Conquerer in the Crimean cam
paign, the arbiter chosen by Europe at
the congress of Paris" says Andre
Martinez in his history of the prince i'm
perial, Napoleon III felt more firmly
placed on his brow by this birth the
crown which had been given him by
nearly 9,o00,O0 votes. France, radiant
in her rejuvenated glory and her recon-
quered prestige, drowned with the
noise of fetes the first cries of the i'm
perial infant
More than 10000 admiring people
viewed at the Hotel de Vile, before the
birth of the royal baby, the cradle
where he was to lie. 1t was in the form
of boat, made of rosewood, and at its
head stood the image of a beautiful
woman, personifying the City of Paris.
with drawn sword, and holding aloft
a protecting shield. March Is the era
die was taken to the Tuilleries. That
night the soldiers waited, with light
ed matches beside the cannon. At $40
in the morning the roar of the guns
awoke the city.
Some time previous the emperor had
issued a proclamation announcing the
fetes that would be held when his
child was born, and closing with these
words: "The emperor has decided that
he will be godfather, and the empress
godmother of all the legitimate chill
dren born in France upon the auspici-
Gus day" Napoleon IL intended that
the title of 'godson" which he thus be-
slowed should be a purely decorative
one, but many of the fond parents did
not SO understand it, and applied to the
emperor for a more substantial en-
dowment. There are a few instances
On record where the quest was not in
vain.
No end of poetry was written on the
occasion, and one uuatrain of Theophi!e
Gautier has survived. In it the poet
says that the royal heir is a blonde
Christ child, who bears in his little
hand for a globe the peace of the
world and the happiness of human kind.
1.-The Song of the Godsons" was the
title of another interesting bit of verse
that was printed and sold on the bou-
levards at that time and was extremely
popular.