The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-01-18
N,poLsoN's GREAT DREAM.
A Rabv,onian Palace for His Court, Most
Gorgeous in All the World.

Paris Ian. On. Laffitte, founder of
the Voltaire newspaper and since many
wears a deputy Mayor of Paris has just
contributed au interesting page to Ma.
poleonic history in memorial volume
dedicated to the little village of Passy,
M. Laffitte did deal of rummaging
through the dusty State archives, and he
was rewarded by finding complete de-
tails and draughted plans of what was
great Emperor's later days.
1t appears that Napoleon, arrived at the
pinnacle Of martial glory and having
forced the proud house of Hapsburg to offer
him princess for the purpose of founding
adirect dynasty, conceived the plan OF adj
ding new lustre to his throne by con-
structing in his capital Babylonlan
palace for his court, which would eclipse
all that had gone before, even the WORKS
of Louis XIV. With this idea IN MS
mind he sumomned two OF the Imperial
architects, Percier and Fontalne, anu
said to them:
81 wish to establish at the gates OF
I
monument the most vast and the mose
beautiful of the universe. have CHOSEN
as the seat of this edifice the heights
which overlook the Seine and the Champ
de Mars. The palace itself. which WILL
dominate all the surrounding country
shall face the field of manoeuvres, con-
secrated to my soldiers; in the BACK
ground shall be the Ecole Militalre, the
cradle of my officers. The palace snail
bear the name of the King of Rome, the
son whom await it shall be in every
detail worthy of him and worthy OF me.
Besides the grand State apartments, the
reception rooms, and the festal halls,
there shall be ample accommodation for
the dwelling of myself, the Empress, and
our son, likewise for the kings, queens,
princes and princesses of my family and
the high dignitaries of my court. de-
sire, further, that the arts, the sciences.
the university, the archives, shall have
each its own particular palace. In
word, wish to create a Kremlin hum
dred times more beautiful and imposing
than that at Moscow. All this will be
my imperial city-the Napoleonic city.
The architects lost no time. The quar-
ries which existed upon theSchosen site
were Immediately closed and large force
was set to work devising plans for what
was to be the greatest building, or series
of buildings, that n. Laffitte discovered
among forgotten State documents. to-
gether with many notes by Fontalne OF
interviews he had had on the subject
with his imperial mastor.
The palace, as planned. was to have oc-
cupied very nearly the exact site OF the
present Trocadero. Three broad terraces
were to have risen from the hanks of the
ment of the central palace, which was to
have been hanked by double colonnades
copied after those of St. Peters. The
gala apartments, with huge and srlen-
did ballroom. We're to have occuple> the
entire side facing the Seine, and they
We're to have been separated from the
wing palaces by other colonnades. On the
wesS, or Passy side, was to have been
the theatre, and on the north the chapel
Each was to have been many times larger
than those of Versailles. The palace on
the cast was to have contained the apart
lnents of Napoleon, the Empress and the
King of Rome
To the rear of the chapel, again. a num-
her of smaller palaces were planned to
afford dwelling places for high people of
the court; and further lack were to have
been established the stables, the kennels,
the orangerie, and other dependencies
The Chateau do la Muette was to have
been given over entirely TO hunting
horses and their grooms. The plans con-
templated turning the Bots de Boulogne
into an imperial private park, and al!
the intervening space up to the group OF
palaces, including the present park OF La
Muette, was to have been laid out In
lawns and pleasure grounds. The entirs
palace park would have been nearly throe
times the size of the park of Versailles,
and the total cost of the establishment, in.
GLIDING buildings, would have been
nearly Sc, 600, 600. COO, calculted in money
of our day.
Across the Seine, the Champ de Mars
was to have been left intact by Napoleon
for reviews of his beloved army. but the
field was to have been hemmed in by
monster Administrative buildings occu.
plying the sites of the Expositions. Be-
hind the Ecole Militaire was to have
been a new official quarter. Thus the
heart of Paris was to have been carried
to the west had Napoleon's dream been
realized But this, like SO many other of
the great Captain dreams was destined
to be obliterated in the SHOWS of Russia.
Work on the plans was stopped at the
beginning of the retreat, and they were
filed away in pigeon holes, there to re-
main hidden from the light of day for