The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-24
SOME NEW ROCKS.
Cen, emrorary France. F,rst Notice.

M. GABRiE HANoTAUx Is we'll known a.
havinr been the French Minister for For
eisn Affairs from 1894 to 1897. and as the
author of a remarkable book on Cardinal
Richelieu, which gained for him tho PIX
Gobert and a chair In the French Academy
Il is doubtful whether any Frenohman
now living is better qualified to write
Histoyp OF Contemporary France, ana We
are slad. therefore, 70 receive from the
Putnams the first volume OF an Enghsn
TRANSLATION OF his work bearing that utle.
Tho narrative opens with summary OF
the CAUSES and events Of the Franco-Ger-
man War. and the rest OF the first volume
IA devoted to the period Of reconstrucuon
which ended with the election OF Marsnai
MaoMahon to the presidency OF the Republic
The remaining three volumes, which VIII
b. published, we are told, at short Intervals
viii bring the story down to the close OF the
wear 1900. As regards the point OF view
from which the history is written. II should
b, borne In mind that, while the author Us
Republioan, he belongs to the Moderate
section OF the Republican party which nela
ofice under Premier Meline. and Ia sun
q powerful rival Of the Radical-ooclai.
lists, who, under NJ. Waldeck-Rousseau ana
N. Combes, have for some years controueo
the Chamber Of Deputies There Is nut NIUE
doubt that should his faction regain as
cendancy in the popular branch OF tne
French Parliament he would succeeu
N, Delcasse In the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs. Inasmuch as the Moderates cannot
hope TO recover prepondcrance without
the aid Of the Reactionists. the latter are
treated In a conciliatory way by NJ Hanoi
tauz, who cannot be expected to forget
that, as politician. he has future.
The first chapter is comparatively briei.
Within the compass Of some seventy pages
the author shows how the imperial policy
of nationalities led up to the war with fr,ls-
sia. Then, after reviewing the work done
by the Government of National Defence, he
surveys the condition of France after an
armistice had been concluded. and con-
centrates attention upon the convocauon
of the National Assembly at Bordeaux, and
Its election OF NJ. Theirs to be Chief Of the
Executive on Feb. s. 1871.
In some preliminary comments on tho
Second Empire, NJ Hanotau1 points out
that war was the logical and inevitable
outcome OF the imperial political system.
A Bonaparte could not fling aside tie
traditions which bound him to the most
jllustrious captain Of modern times. Ma
poleon III. could not have reigned at all
tad he not abandoned himself, body and
soul; tn the policy Of Intervention which
was IN light con6agration In all the cor
ners Of Europe end to agitate all its govern
ments. Like the founder OF bis family.
he was pledged to war, and condemned
- a succession Of victories. Defeat de-
throned him. In the third Bonaparte
our author finds a reduced copy OF the
Arst. .The one follows the other exactly.
<he same restless and ambitious youth;
>he same appreciation OF TIE lower OF
the masses; consulate on the one side,
presidency on the other; the Eighteenth
Of Brumaire on one side. on the other the
Second of December. at the outset success
full wars. and, at the end. catastrophe.
But the one had genius. the other, ingenuity;
the one had created legend. the other
ponformed to it; and. Il the careers are to
shis extent alike. the reason is that the
Napofeonic ideal had become q second
nature for the son Of the Queen OF Hol-
land.
1t u well known that Napoleon III. had
not q drop Of the blood OF the Bonapartes
N his veins. He was Beauharnais,
scion OF that aristocratic French family
10 which Napoleon gave four thrones, for
he made, Josephine 1te'her, the widow
Of Gen. Beauharnais, Empress OF France.
her son Eusen Viceioy of Italy. her Gaueh-
ter, Hortense, Queen o, Holland and her
husband's niece, Stephsnie Beauharnais'
Grand Duchess Of Baden. II is, in truth,
an extraordinary fact that not the Bona
parties but the Beaularnais should have
profited by the Napoeonic legend. This
example of the irony Of history figures
conspicuously in the first pa e Of the book
bafore US. As follows: Napoleon III.
belonged to the branch Of the Bona parties
OF Holland, that branch which History,
now better informed. secs unrollinS tie
long labor OF its ambitions during the whole
OF the first half Of the nineteenth century
They are the Beauilarrais- b napa rtes, the
lalr Bonaparns. They are contrnsted
with the dark B .uapartes, the Corsicrn
Bonapartes, wh) claimed 10 be the more
direct heirs of the great Emperor, but
who, in spite of their intelligence. their
yigor and their furious assa ulte, have been
In the end tripped and set ABIDE by the
scientific and aris,ocrn' c intrigues Of the
Beauharnais." We are reIninCed that il
was the Beauharnns Who, in the person
of Josephine, did in fact, through the agency
OF Barras. render ossible the career OF
the little Corsica upstar That is TO
ay, they gave Ne poleon his opportunity.
1t may have been owing to recognition
OF this fact, which acquired the force OF a
superstition, that Napoieon permitted them
to impress themselves so strongly upon
his dynasty.
It Is certain that they he'd their heroine
and their ortyr in josephine, their hero
in Prince Eugene, and their muse in Queen
Hortense; In our author opinion the
last-named lady was something more;
he would dt-c. !be her SIS at. once woma q
Of action eno h woman with heed. OF
her sons, the second Louis. the godson Of the
great Emperor. was her favorite, and she
devoted her life to preparing a career fol
him. NJ. HanotauX suggests that woman
who could write the Memorial published ir
1894, and could trick King Louis Philippe
with the GOODNESS and tssur2nce which SHE
herself recounts, must hive known whittier
she WIS going. Already in is4i she must hrvt
foreseen 1913. or this our author ia cntirel.
convinced He says Queen Hortens'
was certainly the first to discover thlt tn
Bonapartes must look for their .surpor
from the side of the people The srea
man had dictated this browning maxim
f.or, a. uoiono Tho Oroop who wa