New-York tribune., 1901-10-20
BONAPARTES LETTERS.
A RARE SET OF BOOKS, WITH NOTES
BY NAPOLEON l. WHICH INTER-
ESTED THE CAR.
Compiegne, France, october =

of Compiegne during the recent visit OF the EN-
peror and Empress of Russia to the once faVorite
country residence of Napoleon Ill are seven
octave volumes. bound in faded red paper covers
blotted smirched, torn and ear marked. Ihese
poverty stricken books seem like beggars among
princes when side by side with sumptuons-
" bound Illuminated works such as that de-
scribing the ceremonial festivities of the corona
ton of Louis XIV which rests on an adjacent
Shelf. Nevertheless, these seven modest volumes
so attracted the attention of the young Emperor
Nicholas III that he devoted two hours to peruS-
ing their contents on the Thursday morning OF
his stay at Compi6gne, when he abandoned the
idea of making the trip TO Pierrefonds or OF
shooting in the Presidential preserves, Where
five hundred braces of pheasants ana countess
partridges and hares had been turned loose for
the imperial guns. The seven volumes which
of such absorbing interest to the Car were
nothing less than the original copies Of the cor
respondence Of Napoleon Bonaparte. with the
pencil annotatiOns and corrections made by Ma
poleon himself at st. Helena The marginal
notes are of great interest, and have never been
published. although this precious work once
formed part of the library of Theirs
After the death of the first President of the
Third Republic. Mile Dosne. his faithful kins-
woman and residuary legatee. gave to the Ma
tonal Library a work entitled La Correspond
ance Inedite, Official ct Confldenteile de Ma
pOleon Bonaparte," published by F. Panckoucke
in 1919 and 1920 This correspondence is so rare
that to-day it is said to be impossible to obtain
another copy of it. 1t contains the letters OF
Bonaparte and those of the French and foreign
government agents relating to the Italian cam
paigns, to the affairs of Venice. Rastadt. Campo
Formo and Egypt. The work that bor-
rowed from the National Library form part
Of hp at ic mir ha.
cause it belonged to Napoleon 1 at St Helena.
where it frequently consulted by him. and,
indeed. until the Emperor's death remained on
his writing table at Longwood.
The first volume contains unedited notes writ
ten in pencil by Napoleon. with here and there
those passages retraced in ink by Count Mont
holon, is certified by Marchand. the EN-
peror's faithful secretary. in these words:
'QuelqueS- Unes des notes ecrites par PEmpereur
au crayOn ont etc misses rencre par lie comte
de Monthoon." Still another interesting feature
Of this work is an autograph letter written by
Marchand to Theirs on June 16. 1910 at which
time Theirs was Minister of Foreign Affairs and
President of the Council of Ministers under Louis
Philippe. This letter explains how the work
came into the possession Of Theirs and reads as
follows:
Paris. June 16, 1910.
To the President of the Council
The minister who associated himself with the
pious and generous inspiration of the King in
bringing back to France the remains Of the EN-
peror Napoleon has claim to his Inheritance.
Permit me to offer to you in this capacity the
correspondence OF Napoleon, published by
Panckoucke exactly in the state in which found
it on the writing desk Of the Emperor after his
death. | feared to have the volumes rebound
lest by doing the distinctive marks of the
constant use which he made OF these books dur
ing the long years of exile the rock might be
lost. recoect that when you came in January,
1927. to the collection intrusted to me by
pressed by the notes in the Emperor's handwrit-
ing on the margins OF the work Consequently
I do not doubt that this gift will be to you as
precious is the pleasure which l derive from
offering it to you. have the honor to remain,
etc. MARCHAND.
It may be recollected that in Napoleon's will
Marchand, OF whom the Emperor wrote. "The
services which he rendered me were those of
friend" was instructed to deliver to his son, the
Due de Reichstadt. his decorations swords, arms
uniforms. toilet articles, plans manuscripts and
four hundred volumes selected from those which
he had made most of. La Correspondence
Inedite" was among the latter. but Prince Met
ternich did not deem it prudent to allow Mar
chand to fulfil this bequest.
Through the courtesy of the librarian of the
National Library I was enabled to examine this
highly interesting work The first volume has
no cover to the front page which bears this in
scription. Napoleon" probably in the handwrit-
ing of Count Monthoon. few inches below
lines in Marchand's handwriting state that
the work was constantly on the Emperor's writ