The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-19
NAPOLEON III AND Nv.
How the little Emperor Got His APP
peIIatiOn-RumOrs OF His Success

How the Little Emperor Got His APP
peIIatiOn-RumOrs OF His Success
sOr.
Paris Correspondence of the London Post
Whatever may be the immediate chances
of a Bonapartist restoration in France,
there is no doubt that the present repre-
sentative of che Napoleons Is taking the
situation seriously. 1t is even reported
that a proclamation TO the French people
signed Napoleon w. Is In print, ready to
be posted in Paris at the psychological
moment, and the very name suggests
strange recollections. especially on this,
the twenty-sixth anniversary of the death
of Napoleon III. There has always been
some mystery as to why that particular
Napoleon was called THE third" for IL
was by the merest fiction that the Due de
Reichstadt, son of the great Bonaparte.
can be considered to have reigned. The
traditional story of how the numeral first
came to be thought Of was originally re-
lated, within month after Louis Napol-
con had become Emperor, by Lord Cow
ley. our ambassador in Paris, to Lord
Malmesbury, our foreign secretary. It
was that the project of Bourges. where the
Prince president slept the first night of his
progress in provincial France in the au-
tumn of 1852, had given instructions that
the people were to shout give Napoeonr
but he wrote "Vive Napoeonllr' and the
crowd took the three marks of exclama-
ton as the Roman numeral III, and shout
ed accordingly.
One of the band of conspirators who sur
rounded Louis Napoleon at and after the
coup detat wanted In later days. however
to have the glory of inventlng the numeral
and in his posthumously published Me
moirs'' the once notorious Due de Per-
signy declared that Il was he who, on mis-
own account. gave the necessary order
to the project.
There is a train" he began. 'leaving
Paris for Bourges in an hour. Take care
90 catch IT, Resume your duties without
seeing any one here, aud without letting
a soul know your secret instructions. These
Instructions are L'Empirel Vive PEmpe-
reur! and let us not make a mistake.
The Due de Reichstadt never reigned, but
he was proclaimed Emperor by his father.
Render then this homage to the memory
of a great man; announce the nephew al
Napoleon III. / have already told you
to summon all the municipalities of your
department. Set in hand. without losing
a moment, flags inscribed 'Vive rEmpe-
reurp on one side, and 'Vive Napoleon IIIr
on the other side. Place the same inscrip-
ton on the trimuphal arches under which
the Prince will pass. Preserve the utmost
secrecy in these preparations, and when
the day comes telegraph to me from hour
10 hour all that occurs"
Persigny's story. however, Is little more
than a turgid amplification of the post
script of letter written 20 Malmes bury
during the prince-presidents progress by
Walewsk then French ambassador in
London, in which IL was said: "The
prince proceeds from triumph to triumph.
At his departure from Paris they cried
'Nive Napoleon and few 'Vive TEmpe-
reurH On his return there will be a
unanimous chorus of 'Vive TEmpereurv
and 'Vive Napoleon mr." Persigny ad-
mitted in his Memoirs" indeed. that
when Il served him he was an unscrupu-
lous liar; and It is far easier to believe the
story told by Lord Cowley
In view of the possibility of the arrival
of Napoleon w. and especially n. as
is limited with the sympathy of the Rus
sian court, II Is striking 20 recall that the
French official opinion OF lS52 was that
Russia was attempting to persuade Great
Britain to object 20 the mineral in order
10 SOW dissension between the two West
ern nations. But there was more substan-
tial reason for the annoyance felt by the
British government at the assumption of
the numeral. in which was thought to Turk
which was not removed until Louis Napo-
leon himself after some heated negotia-
lions, consented TO insert IN his speech
TO the great bodies of the state, at ST.
Cloud, on Dec I, 1852 accepting the i'm
perial crown. the following explanatory
paragraph:
Il take from this day, with the crown.
the name of Napoleon III, because the
logic OF the people has bestowed It upon
ft,t f,afr Ia Al.
ate has legally proposed It and because
the whole nation has ratified It. Thus
then the title Of Napoleon III is not one
Of those dynastic and superannuated pre-
tensions which seem to be an insult to
good sense and TO truth. II Is the hon.
age rendered TO a government which is
legitimate, and to which we owe the
brightest pages Of our modern history. NV
reign does not date from 1876; Il dates from