davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
The Unknown Father

With the nations drea ding and his own maternal kindred regrettiny his ex stence, amidst plots for his assa ssinatOn. which were fomented by a hatred of his blood. and pots for his abduction which were concocted by enthusiast c Bonapartists In France; breathing an atmosphere of mys- every con satnn. the little eagle tery and suspicion: detecting concealment in every face and awkward avoidances grew up. The creature and the victim of his extraord nary environment. he passed from shyness to taciturnity from fear to deceit, and became the paffling problem of the corps of solemn pedagogues who were chosen to erad cate any dangerous atavistic traits in his nature while they molded him into an Austrian and Haps- burg.
 Notwithstanding the oblivion in which his origin was studiously wrapped. he continued for a me to talk of when 1 used to be a King" and he persisted In the habit of including his father in his prayers since no one appeared to have t'e hard hood to forbid him. When those who constantly watched him wer., gratified to find his child sh thoughts Vf his exiled parent growing dim his in- terest would be revived by some pass-
 n" hov sh t fr, Look at the little Ma poleon!" The chi'd knew that h-s father had been the Emperor of the French, but with a secret shame he suspected that he had been "sent away" as CT minal for something he had done.
 It was not until he was nearly that he made bold to question one of his teach CTS directly, and this pathetic dialogue took place: My father is in the Eas(
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
The Little Eagle

A faint and pathetic shadow on the page of history is poor rAiglon, the pale shade of his mighty sire. That he mIght be born an empress was de- thsoned and the proudest imperial race in the world gave its daughter to a Corsican plebeian. whereat Emperors quarrel, Russia was invaded, Moscow burned and the Cossacks raced across Europe and broke down the gates of Paris. His first wall was heard rounl thu earth: Kings kneeling by his crib Of gold acclaimed him the inheritor of the Ioftiest throne and the widest do- main of modern times and the crown of Rome was placed upon his infant brow.
 Now, while yet in his lisp'ng child hood, his crown and his inheritance were gone, his father was tafen from him and he was all but deserted by his mother Snatched from his home. he was deprived of his French courtiers and servants and carried into a foreign country, where he saw not the familiar face and was surrounded by stran"e"s who spoke a strange language, under orders to weau him from his mother tongue and speak to him only fin German.
 Living in his grandfather's palace of Schoenbrunn at the edge of Vienna, lie seems to have had no playmates. for fear they would. with bovish frankness, remind him of the destiny to which he had been dedicated in his cradle. and even his little toys were put away lest they keep alive a recollection of his nur- sery in the Tuilerles. His very name was denied and he was no longer Napo- leon Francis Charles. but Joseph Car Franz. being addressed as Franz in the family circle of the Hapsburgs. The proud title of Roi de Rome vas likewise changed IL. c...s<. patent crea ting his u',edom. his batter. nity vas ignored as if he were the un- lawful child of Marie Louise by -an un, known father and. after the manner oi illegitimate children of princes and prin. cesses, he did not rank as member o1 the imperial family.
 Even all that remorsefess obliteratior of the identity of the young Napoleon did not suffice to allay the anx'e.ies of ths grand alliance. which stipulated that ht must be cut off from the succession o his mothers little Duchy of Parma ant not be permitted even to live with her where his presence might enlist the sym. pathy and support of his mott CT 8 sub jects The allies insisted that there mus be no possibility left for the son of Ma poleon to inherit the smallest sovereignt, anywhere.
 Nor was that enouoh When the Elm peror Francis of Austria announced tha he would make his grandson the Duke of Reichstadt and confer certain estates on him and his heirs new terror seizet upon the Grand Alliance at that sugges ton of posterity Pozzo di Borgo tool the lead among those who demanded tha' the Napoleonic race should be extermi mated and the duke thrust into the churcl under a VOW of celibacy. or at least tha lie should be forbidden ever to marry The grandfather, however did not yiel( to that extreme demand; hut when h. issued the dncal patent he omitted all dis turbing references to the heirs of th' duke.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
The Fear of France

The fear that the French volcano might burst forth again had greatly troubled the counsels of the allies. The Pruss ans and some others, indeed had insisted that there could be no guarantee of peace un- til France was partitioned as Poland had been in the generation before. But more prudent spirits dared not attempt the extermination of the French nation ality.
 The conouering powers contented them selves, therefore. with taking from Franco everything she had won In quarter of a century of victorious warfare and by leaping up barriers between her and her rival states To keep her at a distance from the Austrian possessions in Ital' . the Riviera and Genoa were handed over to the House of Savoy. While she was still left on the Rhine, with Alsace ard Lorraine. Belgium was given to Holland as a partial buffer between the French and the Germans. Finally Prussia, as the protector of Germany, was moved westward until she stood facing France across the Rhine.
 But with all those geoeraphical measures for holding in check the revo- lutionary, conquering French. the re- actionary sovereigns were haunted Ly the fear that they might rise agai,i end burst their bounds. They were sure there was no danger as long as Louis XVIII lolled on the throne; bat tl.ey well know that the King would be elected from the Tuiferies as read fly now as when Napoleon returned from Elba. At the thought that the eNfled Emperor might even scale the walls of St Helena and swim across tho ocean they furiously demanded m their meeting at Ak la Chapelle in 1918 that he should show himself to his custodians twice day.
 Even when the welcome news came
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
Let my son read and re- fleet on history. That is the only true philosophy.

Marie Louise that in the four years she sat upon his throne he was absent from her almost half the time.
 Her unhappy experience filled her with a hatred of politics and when in- formed of the condemnation of her political husband to the limbo of St. Helena, she only remarked on the weather. Once settled at Parma, with her one-eyed count, her dog, her par rot and her monkey she declared she was absolutely happy and that the earlier years of her life seemed but a bad dream"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
RQd

rived fo get passport for Vienna, Where she appeared in mans attire. Making her way to the door of the pal ace. in spite of the police who shad- owed her, the young woman waited there until the duke appeared. when she kissed his hand as she cried, "Who can keep me from saluting my sover- eign?" For that cousinly kiss, how ever, she was driven out of the city, and in spite of the dreams of the Bon apartists. not rAiglon hut Louis Phil llppe of the house of Orleans profited by the revolution and became the cit aEen King of the French.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
Marie Iorise,s Concreror

Never in his tortuous career did Met tcynich make a shrewder choice of m agent than when. at Napoleon's first downfall. he commissioned the Count Neipperg to alienate the thoughts ,'f Marie Louise from her husband. The wisdom of his selection could not have been perceived by discernment less keen than that of the Austrian states msn For the count had certain marked superficial disadvantages and this mid . dlc-aged soldier. with black SIX bandage tied over the socket of ,n eve lost In battle. produced at first a "disagreea ble impression" on the minh of this girlish ward.
 But the count was bred to the conquest of hearts. Born of a galiantry between Frenchman and his German mother he had already captured one mans WIG and married her, while he had been fairly waited through life on w0men's signs. After passing only a few weeks with him n Switzerland. the ex-Empress adored even the black silk bandage of her fair, curly haired chamberlain, who could play the piano divinely and talk like Romeo. Metternich chuckled with satisfaction when soon he found her appeal ng to her father not to take the count away, and he actually felt under the necessity of caution.ng her to be more decorus. ..I feel sure,'' he said after six months, s.that the relations now existing between him (the count and the princess can but lead to good results. as he has estab- iished such complete ascendency over her that she dare not move without the advice of her friend"
 Meanwhile guileless Marie Louise was delighted in the delusion that for once her heart was having it's own sweet way and was no longer being used as mere counter In the game of the crafty and sordid polite ans. We prncesses." she once explained. ''are not brought up like other women, nor have we the same sur roundings or the same family sentiments She spoke truly. and 1t is unfair to ex- pect of her, who had been surrendered like a strip of land to @ conqueror whom she had been taught to loathe, the wifeiy de- vot;on of one who pledges herself to the man of her free choice. And although she gave }fuli credit to Napoieon's kind
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22

out on the guide books of Rome her IA. vorite post was by a window, an1 RdI mans and travellers from all parts If tho world paused in the Piazza venr sia to gaze up at the mother of Napoleon. Blindness was added to her afflctions. but with a motherly smile she turned her sghtless eyes still to the bust of ths Emperor, always by her side.
 'T am indeed a Mater Dolorosa," she sighed. as she called again and again tho roll of her dead. At last the hand of mercy wrote her own name upon it..
 Lest the governments take offense, tte authorities requested that the tuners ] should be private and that the imperis l arms should not be d'splayed. But u ? mourners were not denied the satisfactir n of adorning the pail with the eagle of tho Emrire and inscribing upon 1t: Mat 1T Napoleonis.'
 Four sons and daughter outIived tn s mother of kings. Caroline and Lucieli, who are believed to have died. like N,,- poleon, of cancer of the stomach. and Joseph and Lous followed her in tf Q course Of 10 years: but Jerome Jagged superfuous and lived well into the second empire.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22

FTER marching through blood
 from Cadiz to Moscow, in his ambit on to found a Bonapartc dynasty, Napoleon bequeathed
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
The Heart of Napoleon

While Metternich has deemed 1t un- seemly for the father-in-law's court to go into mourning for the outlawed son-in law, he ordered mourning at the widows court, but the deceased must be nameless and described merely as the serene consort of the august sover- elgn of Parma!" Thereupon the sec- ond husband duly went into mourning for the first and the widow wife. when she was within 10 days of maternity, lalthI.lly attended the funeral ser- vice in the ducal chapel
 When pr. Antommarchi appeared at Parama with Napoleon's dying mes sass 70 his wife sne declined to see him and asked him to give 1t to the second husband. But the exile had wished to send her still more substantial token
 is affecilon and had requested An- tommarchi to place my heart in spirits 0. wine and take 1t to my beloved Marie Louise" Fortunately for her, Sir Hud- son Lowe had vigilantly prevented the escape of that organ. but Dr. Antom- marchi wished her to demand 1t from the grand alliance. She was naturally quite \upset by this awkward situation and she implored her father to see that the heart was left in St. Helena, be-
 SC If t should be brought to Parma 1t would give her fresh shock and besides attract excited crowds of pill grims to the town.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
E9LACH OE sScH0EzE8PZ>,z,Y

that the prisoner of Longwood lay iu the nameless grave beneath the will lows, they still could not rest at ease. For there was another Napoleon at Vienna. and all the while they had been hardly less fearful and watch ful of him. Their suspicion and alarm obliged his grandfather tozimmure the boy within his palace walls and fright ened his timid mother virtually into abandoning him.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22

Indies, think?' "Ah, no. it is not so.~ Perhaps he Is in American Why should he be there?" .where Us he then?' "T cannot tell you" Tt seems to me I have heard 1t said he was In exile?" What? In exile?' ''Yes' How could that be possible?''
 Thus put off, the little duke retired with in himself again, but only to emerge in a few days with the comment Napoleon must have been famous general!' And he added the question: "Why Is he no longer Emperor" The teacher replied that al lthe powers had made war against him because he had tried to usurp the whole world. Then the boy returned once more to the subject of his consuming curiosity with the remark, Il have al- ways heard he Is in Africa
 His guardians, in despair of his for getting his father. appealed to Emperor Francis. who commissioned Metternich. of all men, to have a long talk with the youth about Napoleon By an equally ironical choice the duke was to hear, when he was much older. a review of his fathers campaigns by Marmont the first marshal to betray the Emperor.
 The Widow and the Orphan
 When the report came to Vienna that the exile of St. Helena had been liberated ny Qed LII. A'SlOn was u HARRISBURG DOJ of 10. and had now fully succeeded in penetrating the mystery which had en- veloped his paternity. The teacher who broke the news to the duke was surprised that he should shed so many tears for a father whom he had not seen since az a child/of the Emperor took him in hs arms and kissed him good-by, before departing on the disastrous French cam- puaion of 1874. But Metternich advised tba fuf fhar. r.in Il xy that xUpI1ld Io to permit mourning for one who had been civ'lly dead six years.
 Marie Louise did not pay to the dead exile the tribute of a widows tears when the Emperor Francis notified his daughter that General Bonaparte' was no more. The reply of the exEm press Is a strange document. '1 cor fess I was extreme shocked. Although I never had any deep feeling for hin- I cannot forget that he Is the father of my son. and that far from treo ting me badly. as the world seems 10 think he always showed me the greet test con. s.deration. which after all Is all thai one could expect from political mar. rage. was. therefore, very mucf gritved. and although there is req sor to he glad that he ended h's un happy life as a Christian should. would have wished him many more years of happiness and life-providet they were lived apart from me-"
 That concluding sentiment may sound unnecessarily harsh. but it Wa. tte very truth It would have bee, most annoyng had Napoleon returne. to live again with his wife for in an ticipation Of widowhood she had give: hoi left hand to another and taken { second husband the year before. B, this spouse she already had daueh ter years old and was expecting stil another child when the exiled husbant died.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
EAiplOn at Rest

The story of Napoleon's dynastic am bition fittingly closes in q melancholy dusk which wraps with its gloom the couches of the i'll fated Hapsburgs. From a long. narrow. bare hall beside the Capuchin church in the midst of Vienna. & blue-eyed, blond bearded monk in sandals leads the waiting pit- grim down a dark, cellar stair to q drear. vaulted chamber where Austria,s imperial dead for 300 years lie in siul- pie bronze collins. Many of them are scattered over the floor as if but paus- ing on their way to the grave. Oniy here and there monument rises dius ly in the twilight specially to mark the resting place of some Emperor. but the most conspicuous tomb of all is that of the woman who pi loved herself more of a man than any of her race, Marie Theresa.
 Maximil an is there among his kindred, thanks to the Austrian warship which lay by the Mex can shore, helplessly waiting to bear him home when he should have paid the penalty of his imperial dream at Querataro. So. too, are the Empress Elizabeth. the guiltess victim O. an sy- sassin, and her son, the Grown Prince Rudolph, enshrouded in the tragic mys- tery of his death.
 In an elevated sarcophagus sleeps the Emperor Francis, with four metal cof- fins lying on the floor beside him. Those compan ons of the Emperor are not. how ever hls four wives. At his head and feet lie two children. and on either side of him Marie Lou SC and iAiglon. booted and spurred, and in his Austrian uniform.
 In death the little eagle's paternity was not dIsdained or den ed. The Hapsburgs were not ashamed to confess on his cof1 fin plate that the blood of Rudolph and the Corsican mingled in his veins, and the inscription boasts that he was KiuS of Rome before he was the Duke = Reichstadt On Marie Louise's plate Ma poleon alone is acknowledged among her husbands. for no other title to remem- brance had she.
 1t was not there among the Hapsbnrgs that the Emperor meant h's Empress and his her to find their sepulchre. but among the Rourbons Yet even at St. DeniB they would not be in prouder or more ancient company than beneath the old church X vienna. And those glory-loving FrenchS men who would bring rAiglon back Co place h,m beside his father in the lns vaiides would do better to let him aiooo in his csptivitv. (Copyrisht, 1s1s-1s14 by Jauss Morgaa)
 Next suudAyl -At the Tomb e 1eepo1eea.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
Marie Louise Thrice Wed


 Perhs,1 Marie Louise's closing yearsI laws. if the story of them could be read with the eye of sympathy rather than mocked by a sense of the ridiculous. Count Ne'pperg dying three years before rAiglon, the widows grief seemed incon- solable, although two of their three chilsl dren remained to console her. She wort locks of the counts hair in cruciix on her wrist and in locker at her throat, and a picture of his one good eye on a chain about her neck. Rheurnatism had sadly crippled her and the vic's dudes of life had given her the appearaace of al decrepit woman. of s55, although she was yet only s.
 For several years. Count Neipperg}s rlnce at the head of the duca1 gov eminent was filled hy temporary se- lection When it became necessary fer Netternich to choose permarent suc- cessor his choice fell unon Count Bon1- hel1es. whom he described as "a man strong enough to influence the weak character of the. Archduchess Marie Louise.
 Arain the discrimination of the great statesman was abundant1y verified for Rombel1es. who had been a French emit grant in revolutionary and Napoleonic days. and was now 0 widower of 49, was fairly dragged to the altar by Ma rie Lorise. six months after entering her service. This count. who prove6' himself competent minister. had never assumed the role of lady killer, but was very religious and austere. He was amazed by the duchess pro- posal and only obeyed it because 1t had the force of a command from hls sovereign.
 History has caught on it's records the weary sighs of Neipperg, while he wore the marital bonds of the Duchess of Parma, and poor Bombel1es marched signing to the altar He appears. in- deed to have proved himself no more than an official husband. and the gos- sips say that Marie Louise. when neerly 30, tried for time to fill tic void in her heart with a Parisian tenor. who dared to write home the proud boast. T am Napoleon's successhrw
 Since it is not possible to make s romance of Marie Louise's life. 1t wero well not to dwell upon 1t longer. She died at Parma in her fifty-seventh year, having survived the first of her three husbands 26 years.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-22
Io the Path of Napoleon Years After His Do1nfan

Mr. Morgan tells today the pitiful story of poor rAiglon, who lost the crown of the King of Rome and lost his very name. The checkered lie ot Marie Louise also is outlined, and the last resting place of the ill-starred mother and son, in the gloomy dusk ot the Hapsburg mausoleum beneath an old church in Vienna. is sketched.
 The Fate of the BOnapartes
 April 1e, 1si5-Marie Louise entered the Duchy of Parma.
 May 1, 1sl7-Birth of her daughter; 1920, married Ne pperg.
 August :. ls94-Death of Elisa Bona- parte, at Trieste aged 43.
 May 5 1s21-Death of Napoleon, aged ol. June C. 1s25-Death of Pauline Bona- parte. aged H.
 February %, 1S29-Death of Nefpper8. July %, lS32-Death of rAiglon, aged a. February r, 1s34-Marie Louise married Bombelles
 February 2. 1s36-Death or Mime. Mere at Rome, aged S6.
 May IS. 1s36-Death of Caroline Bons' parte, at Trieste. aged 5l.
 June 29 1Sm-Death of Lucien Bona parte at Viterbo, aged 65
 July 2s, ls44-Death of Joseph Bonaparts, at Florence aged 76
 July %, 1S46-Death of Louis Bonaparte at Florence aged G.
 June 24 1S60-Death of Jerome Bona parte, at Paris aged 73.
 rSFTER marching through blood A from Cadiz to Moscow. in his k,e ambition to found a Bonapartc t@M88I dynasty, Napoleon bequeathed
 only a crown of sorrow and q heritage of misfortune to his race. While he fingered in captivity within the ggan- tic walls of St Helena, his son was not less prisoner in his grandfdther's palace at Vienna, and his brothers and sisters, whom ne had thrust nto the sacred cir cle of royalty, were branded as outcasts by the old reigning families of Europe vho condemned them to wander over the earth with their trunks for their thrones.
 But if those parvenu princes and prin- cesses were despised by the triumphant sovereigns, the 4-year-oid King Of Roms inspired dread in every palace and cabinet of Europe. For he was the eagles own Hedging and half Hapsburg be- sides. Wherefore the tile eagle Ian" aralished a captive in his gilded cage