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of the coronation of Napoleon I. and Josephine; and the pope, who had come to Paris to perform that ceremony, supplemented it by subsequently baptising the infant nephew of the newly-made emperor and empress at St-Cloud. This child, however, was destined not long to survive. His early death (from measles) was a heavy blow not only to his parents and to the emperor and empress themselves, but to all ardent imperialists who desired the perpetuation of the then newly founded dynasty in France; for during his short life he had been looked upon as the heir-presumptive to the throne. Certainly, as before said, two other sons were born to Hortense; but, after the death of the eldest, Napoleon seems to have regarded their lives as too precarious for the stability of his own political views, and it was then that he resolved on divorcing Josephine, with a view to forming another alliance which should make him the father of a son.

One year before that divorce was carried into effect, the subject of this present memoir was born. It was in Paris, and at the palace of the Tuileries, that he was born; and it was at the palace of Fontainebleau, one of the most ancient and historical in France, that he was baptised on the 10th of November 1810, by the names of Charles Louis Napoleon. Napoleon I. as his godfather, and Marie Louise, the then new empress, as his godmother, presented him at the font; and the ceremony was performed by Cardinal Fesch. The first of his three names seems soon by family consent to have been dropped; and it was therefore by the latter two names, now familiar to the whole world, that the prince, who was destined to play so remarkable a part in the world, was known in childhood. And here it may be observed that the greater part of that childhood, at least in its earliest phases, was passed in the country over which he was one day to be called to reign; for when King Louis abdicated his throne of Holland, Queen Hortense found herself free to return to her native France.

From infancy upwards, Louis Napoleon was strongly attached to his uncle, the emperor; and as the young prince increased in years, strength, and intelligence, it was the delight of his imperial majesty to make him take part in the martial pageantry which represented to the delighted eyes of France the glory which he had achieved for her. Nor, despite the emperor's second marriage, was the young son of Hortense excluded from the presence of his grandmother, the gracious ex-empress, who then resided chiefly at the château of Malmaison, situated within an easy distance from Paris. Josephine, though divorced for political reasons, as above glanced at, was still dear as ever to the heart of France. Her deeds of charity, her beneficent acts of kindness to all classes of French subjects, caused her popularity to remain undiminished; and in the society of her daughter Hortense, and Hortense's two surviving sons (the younger especially), did she seek consolation for the fact that political

circumstances had separated her from the illustrious man to whom in heart she was still devoted.

Louis Napoleon, indeed, was at that early period of his life a link between the emperor and the ex-empress; and his affections seem to have been almost equally divided between them; for many readers will here remember that, whilst his whole life has been consecrated by act, word, and deed to his uncle's memory, it was in the name of his grandmother, Josephine, as we shall see hereafter, that he first formally announced to the senate of France his own intended marriage with his present empress.

But to return to the childhood of Louis Napoleon. His father, after his abdication from the throne of Holland, lived the life of a private gentleman; at first at Grätz in Styria, and afterwards in Italy. Queen Hortense, as has been stated, resided chiefly in Paris, where, when the restoration of the Bourbons was effected (1814), she was known as Duchesse de St-Leu-a territorial title derived from an estate formerly purchased by her husband.

The Empress Josephine died at Malmaison in 1814, at the very time when the allied sovereigns of Europe had succeeded in overthrowing, for a time, the power of Bonaparte. Of a broken heart, it

is supposed, she died; for, although no longer by his side as his wife, Josephine loved the emperor too well to survive his abdication and exile to Elba. Her son, Eugène de Beauharnais-he who long since, as a mere youth, had begged his father's sword from Bonaparte -had been made Viceroy of Italy. The restoration of the Bourbons to the throne of France recalled the brave Eugène to Paris, and there every honour due to a noble enemy was paid to him, as well as to his sister Hortense and her sons; and it was at that time that the child Louis Napoleon was saluted as 'Your Imperial Highness' by the Emperor Alexander of Russia and the King of Prussia.

The boy looked from the Russian emperor to the Prussian king, who stood near him, and then turning to Mademoiselle de Cochelet, his governess, he asked: 'Mademoiselle, are these two gentlemen my uncles also? How must we call them?' She told him that they, unlike the monarchs he had been accustomed to see, were not his uncles; but that, nevertheless, he must address them as 'Sire.' 'But are they the enemies of my uncle?' asked the boy. 'If so, why did the Emperor of Russia embrace me?' Mademoiselle de Cochelet explained to the young prince that the Emperor of Russia was a private friend, although a political enemy; and with such success did she make her charge understand this lesson, never afterwards to be forgotten by him, that upon the next occasion when Alexander reappeared at Malmaison the boy voluntarily presented his imperial majesty with the thing which at that time he most valued, namely, a ring which his uncle Eugène de Beauharnais had given to him. This ring the Emperor of Russia fastened to his watch-chain, and cherished for the sake of its young donor as long as he lived.

When, in the year 1815, Napoleon escaped from Elba, and reappeared before the dazzled eyes of his subjects for the Hundred Days,' Queen Hortense did the honours of the palace of the Tuileries. The ex-empress Josephine, as above mentioned, was then dead; the Empress Marie Louise had fled from Paris, with her infant son, the king of Rome (afterwards called Duc de Reichstadt), and had placed herself under the protection of her father, the Emperor of Austria. To Hortense and her children; therefore, was left the duty and the privilege of consoling Napoleon I. for the defalcation of some whom he had trusted when at the height of his glory.

Hortense and her two sons were with him when, on the eve of his departure for Waterloo, he distributed the imperial eagles of France to his troops on the Champ de Mars. The young Louis Napoleon beheld and participated in that celebrated scene, and was close to his illustrious kinsman when, with drums beating, bells ringing, and martial music resounding, all France seemed to echo with the shouts of 'Vive l'empereur !' They were with him too when, defeated at Waterloo, he returned for a brief moment to France, and then prepared to leave her for his last exile; they were with him at the last moment when he bade farewell for ever to that country which by him had for a time been made almost omnipotent-that country which to the last he loved with a love which perhaps by a great conqueror can be given only to a land to which he has also given glory.

It was from Malmaison, the late home of the dead Empress Josephine, that Napoleon I. started on the fatal journey which resulted in his captivity at St Helena. Louis Napoleon then beheld the tears of his mother, the sombre aspect of his illustrious uncle; he was too young to comprehend all the dire purport of that dread farewell; but when the moment came for him to share by word in it, he clung, it is said, in childish agony to the man he loved, and to whose name as emperor he was destined to succeed. The story is told that on this occasion Louis Napoleon, then a boy of seven years old, climbed on the emperor's knee, and entreated him to remain at home; for that if he went, his enemies would take him away, and that he should never see him again. The emperor was much affected by the child's speech, and handed him back to his mother, saying: 'Take your son, Hortense, and look well to him; perhaps after all he is the hope of my race.' What a comment on these prophetic words the after-life of the nephew has proved, we will presently go on to shew.

Like the rest of the Bonapartes, the ex-king of Holland and his queen Hortense found themselves obliged to withdraw from Paris. The mother now retired to Bavaria, taking with her the two children, and the subject of our memoir studied for some time at the Gymnasium of Augsburg. But political bitterness pursued her thither, and the court of Munich was compelled, by the emissaries

of Louis XVIII., to insist on the departure of the illustrious exiles. Forced to seek another refuge, Hortense and her children sojourned for a time in Switzerland, and then withdrew to Rome. After a time, however, circumstances permitted them to return to the north of the Alps, and they established themselves at the castle of Arenenberg, in Switzerland, where, on the heights which look down on the Lake of Constance, Hortense, like a loving and tender mother, devoted herself to the education of her children. From the plain and simple people among whom their lot was cast, the noble qualities of the ex-queen, and the manly and generous, though somewhat reserved character of her sons, attracted general esteem. That Louis Napoleon's studies at this time, under his mother's guidance and superintendence, were solid and useful, and such as would fit him for whatever state of life it should be his destiny to hold hereafter, be it the highest or lowest, is proved by the fruits which his after-years disclosed, but the seeds of which must have been sown in that early and somewhat unpromising spring-time of adversity. As a boy, Louis Napoleon became a proficient in mathematics and fortification, and especially in the science of government, of political and military organisation; he read much, and thought more, upon all subjects connected with the material and social happiness of nations; he had studied history, both ancient and modern, and with a watchful eye as to the true -application of its lessons and warnings; and on reaching manhood, though deficient in that practical experience which is learned in the busy world alone, he was probably better versed in the politics of Europe than many a gray-haired statesman.

But at Arenenberg he learned more than this. It was the aim and study of Hortense to train up her son so as to serve his country either as its sovereign-if such should be the will of Providence-or as a simple soldier in the ranks; and so it was that her son took advantage of the military camp at Thun to make himself practically acquainted with the duties of a private soldier. Every summer he carried the knapsack on his back, ate the soldier's fare, handled the shovel, the pickaxe, and the wheelbarrow; learned to scale the heights of the mountains, and followed the marches of the soldiers, and returned at night to repose under a soldier's tent. Such were the lessons of self-command, of willing submission to hardship and discipline, which the prince, at his mother's wish, imposed on himself, in pursuit of that practical experience which, in every path of life, is the secret of success, and without which even the highest scientific attainments are so often valueless. It is well that those who aspire to command should first learn to obey; that those who look forward to administering the discipline of an army or a nation, should first submit to discipline in their own persons. Had the Bourbons known, or been taught to follow such a course, it is possible that the French Revolution, the Consulate, and the Empire

would never have arisen, and that the line of Capet would still have been seated in the court of the Tuileries.

Louis XVIII., who had been placed by England and the allies on the throne, after the fall of the great Napoleon, was a pedant; he died in 1824, and was succeeded by his brother, Charles X., a man of very ordinary qualities, lethargic temperament, and great bigotry in matters of religion. Of neither of those sovereigns could it be said that, though their right to the hereditary throne of France was beyond question, they were at all men after the hearts of the French people. The French, as a nation, love enterprise, display, ambition, glory, war; and they have but little reverence for a sovereign who lags behind in the race for military distinction. The tame and dull routine of affairs contrasted sadly in their minds with the memories of the glory and greatness of the Empire; at all events they were dissatisfied with the Bourbon rule; and so, when a revolution in 1830 broke out at Brussels, it was a matter of little or no wonder that the uproar spread to Paris, and that the populace threw up barricades in the streets, and resolved on a change of government. They were not ripe, it is true, for a return to the imperial régime, at the present at least; but they determined that the elder Bourbons should no longer reign. And England, which, fifteen years before, had taken, at so heavy a cost of lives and of money, so active a part in imposing the Bourbons upon France, resolved to act a wiser part, and left the French people free to choose and to change their own dynasty, as England had changed its own a century and a half before. As our readers are aware, a younger branch of the House of Bourbon was now substituted for the elder, in the person of Louis, Duc d'Orleans, who now ascended the throne as Louis Philippe, 'King of the French.'

The news of the revolution of 1830 broke suddenly in upon the retired life which Louis Napoleon had been leading at Arenenberg, and changed his studies, and fired the aspirations which he had always cherished of returning to France, and being of service to the land and country of his birth. The prince and his mother too, very naturally imagined that, together with the nominal abolition of the anti-national system of 1815, such accompaniments of it as the exile and proscription of the Bonapartes might be removed. But it was their fate to be disappointed at present. A meeting of some members of the imperial family took place at Rome; the government now in power took alarm; and in obedience to a strong wish expressed from the Tuileries, the prince was conducted under a military escort beyond the pale of the papal territory. It was not long before a revolution broke out in Italy; and in this Louis Napoleon and his elder brother took part, forming a moving column, and otherwise promoting the popular efforts. Assisted by General Sercognani, they defeated the papal troops, and alarm and confusion filled the Vatican. But soon the policy of

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