one expressed surprise at Louis Napo leon's having allowed a work so injurious to the moral character of his uncle to appear. "I doubt," said Madame R., "whether, supposing him to have moral sense sufficient to perceive the immorality of Napoleon's letters, he would have thought that an objection to their publication. He is beginning to be jealous of his uncle. He hopes to become his rival. At first he was satisfied to be Augustus — now he wishes to be also Cæsar. you." So he promised it. The workmen who had gone home were sent for, and 400 of them were kept at work from that time until Monday evening, when the ball began. They were well fed, and a little brandy was added to their wine. When they left off they had been at work for nearly eighty-two consecutive hours: that is, from the morning of Good Friday until the evening of Easter Monday. In that time, besides fitting up the existing rooms, they had built three kitchens and a new ball-room in the garden 90 feet by 35, and 30 feet high. All night they had "He has mistaken," she added, "his 700 lamps, and thirty men carrying vocation. He aspires to be a statesman, torches. One of their difficulties was the perhaps to be a soldier - what nature inpresence every day of the Empress, or- tended him for was a poet. He has an dering, interfering, and not understand-inventive, original, and powerful imaginaing technical objections. On Monday tion, which, under proper training, would morning the Emperor came. He looked have produced something great." with dismay at the court, still covered Is his taste good?" I asked. with the 3,000 square yards of stone, and "He cannot tolerate French poetry," at the gap where the staircase was to be. she answered. "He is insensible to RaLacroix then explained to him that he cine, but he delights in Shakespeare, meant to employ these vast masses of Goethe, and Schiller. The great, the stone in building up a vast straight out-strange, and the tragic, suit his wild and side staircase, from the court to the first somewhat vague habits of thought and floor, protected by a roof of glass. This his melancholy temperament. Of the was done by seven o'clock that evening, fine arts the only one that interests him and while it was doing, 400 loads of rub- is architecture, probably from the vastbish were carted out. The poor archi-ness of its products. He hates music, tect was nearly killed by the incessant and does not understand painting or worry, want of sleep, and fatigue. "He sculpture. seemed to me, yesterday," said Madame R., "to have grown ten years older in four days. "It is remarkable," she continued, "that while this was going on in the house of the head of the State, the head of the Church was publishing from every pulpit in Paris, a protest against Sunday labour. The circular of the Archbishop of Paris on the Repos du dimanche,' which was read throughout his diocese on Easter Sunday, denounces such labour as sacrilege and cruelty, as insolently disobedient to God, oppressive to the labouring classes, and degrading to the national character. The Archbishop must have felt secure in popular sympathy when he ventured to choose such a moment to rebuke his most Christian Ma jesty. The matter seems trifling, but its childish recklessness will do Celui-ci * great mischief; not the less because the ball was given to an English Prince.” June 10, 1855.- I breakfasted with the Mohls, and met there Madame R. Joseph's letters were mentioned, and some Louis Napoleon. - M. C. M. S. "Among the mistakes," she added, "which the public makes with respect to that family, one of the greatest is the treating Jerome as an unimportant member of it. Jerome has as much courage and as much ambition as Louis Napoleon himself. His ambition, however, is less selfish, for it looks towards his heir. He idolizes his son, and in the improbable event of his surviving Louis Napoleon, and succeeding to the Crown, he will endeavour to hand it over to Prince Napoleon. But he will not without a struggle let it be worn by a Bourbon, or broken by a republic. He will fight, and fight desperately, for the rights of the Buonapartes the enemies of that family ought to pray that he may die before his nephew." [Sebastopol fell in Sept., 1855, and peace was proclaimed on March 31st, 1856. — M. Č. M. S.] serts him. "I have known him build castles in the air, dwell on them for years, and at last gradually forget them. When he was young he had two fixed ideas, that he was to be Emperor of France, and that he was to be the liberator of Italy, and I do not believe that, even now, he has abandoned the latter." "Unless Louis Napoleon's character," | unanimous. He was tried again, and said Madame R., "is much changed since again unanimously acquitted. The Pope 1852, when I ceased to see him, it is little then, admitting that the French could understood. He is supposed to be calm, not punish C., required him to be delivunimpressionable, decided, and obstinate. ered for trial and punishment to the RoHe has none of these qualities, except the man Tribunals, and I am sorry to say last, and even his obstinacy sometimes de- that he was supported by M. de Rayneval. My intimacy with Louis Napoleon then continued. I saw him and told C.'s story. He behaved well, as he usually does in individual cases, particularly when an Italian is concerned, and ordered C. to be released and sent to France. The Roman authorities, however, were so bent on seizing him, that they managed to detain him twenty days at Civita Vecchia, while they were intriguing to get the order for his discharge reversed. They failed-he came to Paris, and was employed on the Crédit Mobilier. He has so much influence among his countrymen, that Orsini, though unacquainted with him, named him as his executor. The tribunals refuse to acknowledge the validity of Orsini's will, but have allowed C. to act as in the case of an intestacy." "If," said the Italian, "he would frankly declare himself favourable to Italian liberty, these plots, as respects the Italians, would cease. We care nothing for his treachery to France, or for his usurpation, or for his despotism. These are the affairs of the French, in which we do not presume to interfere. The Italians try to kill him as the supporter of the Pope, the supporter of Austria, and the enemy of Italian unity. I do not believe that they would meddle with him if he were merely neutral." Has not his treatment of Orsini," I said, "done him good with the liberal Italians? Never was a man's head cut off more politely. Short of pardon, which was impossible, Orsini had everything that he could wish.” "It has done him good," answered the Italian, "for a time. He has shown sympathy for our cause, he has shown hostility against our enemy. He has raised our hopes. He has obtained perhaps a respite. But if he disappoints those hopes, if, in order to court the French clergy, he continues to support the Papal tyranny and to allow the Germans and the Bourbons to oppress four-fifths of Italy, I fear that it will not be more than a respite." The Italian left us, and Madame R. told me his history. "You say," I said to Madame R., "that Louis Napoleon is neither calm, unimpressionable, nor decided." "I do," she answered. "He has a calm crust, but furious Italian passions boil beneath it. As a child, he was subject to fits of anger, such as I never saw in anyone else. While they lasted he did not know what he said or did. "He is procrastinating, undecided, and irresolute. Courage he certainly has, and of every kind, physical and moral." [Mr. Senior's next visit to Paris took place six weeks before the battle of Magenta. - -M. C. M. S.] R. April 28, 1859.-I called on Madame "Louis Napoleon," she said, "is delighted with the war. A war to drive Austria out of Italy, in which he should command, has been his dream from boyhood. He said to me once, at Ham, 'I trust that some day I shall command a great army. I know that I should distinguish myself, I feel that I have every military quality.' "Is not experience,' I answered, 'necessary?' 666 "He is," she said, "a Milanese named C. He took a prominent part in the Milanese revolution, on its failure emigrated to Rome, and was a member of the Roman Parliament, and was one of the leaders in the defence of Rome against the French. When we entered, Oudinot "Great things,' he replied, 'have been had him tried, I know not on what pre- done by men who had very little of it. tence, by a court-martial. He was ac- By Condé, for instance. Perhaps it would quitted unanimously. The Pope, or the be better for me to die in the belief that people about the Pope, prevailed on Ou- I am fitted to be a great general, than to dinot to appeal — a thing of most unusual risk the experiment. But I will try it, if occurrence, when the acquittal has been | I can, and I believe that I shall try ́it.'' "Then the war relieves him from an anxiety which pressed on him from January 14, 1858, until the 1st of January, 1859-the fear of the Carbonari. He has breathed freely only since he could give notice to them that he had accepted their terms." "You do not believe, then," I said, "in the sincerity of his negotiations?" "They were sincere," she answered, "so far that if Austria would have submitted without war, to a sacrifice which would have satisfied the Carbonari, he would have accepted it. The least favourable conditions on which he would have remained at peace with her would have been the erection of Lombardy and Venetia into a separate kingdom, under a Prince of the House of Hapsburg, probably the Archduke Maximilian, with an Italian army and ministry, perfectly independent of Austria. What he would have liked better would have been to put those provinces under the Duke of Leuchtenberg, Eugène's grandson. This would have suited Russia, and perhaps may be the ultimate solution. But I know I can affirm with perfect certainty that he is resolved, first, that they shall not remain Austrian; and secondly, that they shall not be united to Piedmont. He hates Piedmont as constitutional, as a neighbour too strong to be a slave, and because the king has treated him from time to time somewhat roughly. As to the freedom or the prosperity of these provinces, when once they cease to be Austrian, or indeed as to the welfare of any part of Italy, he is utterly indifferent." has resumed, to a certain extent, his fatalism. "His real motive, which towers high above all the others, is his hatred of Austria—a hatred bred in his very bones, a hatred which began in his early infancy, which was fostered during all his early childhood and youth, which made him a conspirator and a Carbonaro when most boys are thinking only of their games or of their lessons. "On the 24th of December, 1848, a fortnight after he had been elected President, I called on him at the request of the Italians in Paris, to ask him what he intended to do for Italy. "Tell them,' he said, 'that my name is Buonaparte, and that I feel the responsibilities which that name implies. Italy is dear to me; as dear, almost, as France; but my duties to France passent avant tout. I must watch for an opportunity. For the present I am controlled by the Assembly, which will not give me money and men for a war of sentiment, in which France has no direct immediate interest. But tell them my feelings are now what they were in; and repeat to them that my name is Buonaparte.' Can he wish," I said, "to give free institutions to Italy?" "I believe," she answered, "that he does. I believe that he has a sympathy for freedom; though, where he himself is concerned, it is overruled by his desire of power. He likes to be absolute himself, but he wishes all who are not his subjects to be free. Then he desires most eagerly every thing that he thinks will give him posthumous fame. Imagination is his predominant faculty. I have often said that nature meant him to be a poet. He would have been a great one. Like most men of imagination, he lives in the future. As a child, his desire was to become an He has no moral historical character. sense; he does not care about le bien ou le mal, ça lui est égal, on plutôt il n'en conçoit pas la différence; nor dees he care much about present reputation, except as an instrument. He begins now to expect to fill as many pages in history as his uncle has done, and he hopes that they will be brighter; at least that they will be darkened by fewer shadows. And if he believes, as I have reason to think he does, that the man who founds free institutions in Italy will be praised a thousand years hence, he will do it. He will do it if he hopes that history will accept it as a sort of compensation for his having destroyed such institutions in faut rien brusquer. A qui attend tout France." arrive à point, à qui va trop vite tout manque.'" Sunday, May 13, 1860.-I called on Mdme. R. "The Emperor's great ambition now," she said, "is reputation as a historian and an archæologist. He is writing a life of Julius Cæsar, and spends in collecting materials for it every minute that he can spare." "The materials," I said, "lie in a comparatively small compass." "Ay," she answered, "but it is to contain an essay on the military organization of the Romans, and a general view of its progress, from the tomb of the kings to that of the emperors. He sent, a few days ago, for M. Maury, of the Institut, took him into his closet, showed him the materials which he had got together, made him read what he had written of an introduction, and asked for candid criticism. Maury says that it was well done, though incomplete, and frankly pointed out the parts requiring further attention." "Can he read Latin ?" I asked. "Fluently," said Mdme. R.; "and Greek not ill. He is far above par as a scholar." "I supposed him," I said, "to be idle. That is the character given to him by all his ministers and secretaries whom I have known, and I have known several." "He is idle," said Mdme. R., "in matters of administration. He hates detail, and he hates discussion. But he is fond of study, and very fond of writing. His ministers complain that, since he has taken to biography and antiquities, they cannot get audience or even signatures from him." Monday, May 21, 1860.-I called on Mdme. R. I told her that I heard that Naples was intended for Prince Napoleon. "I know nothing of it," she answered. "What would England say?" "We cannot wish," I replied, "to see Buonaparte viceroys substituted for legitimate sovereigns. Do you think that Louis Napoleon would make many sacrifices, or run any great risks for such a purpose?" "I do not believe," she answered, "that at present he is willing to make sacrifices or to run risks for any purpose whatever. Things in Italy are going too fast for him. His policy is dilatory and expectative. He has often said to me: Il ne "The malicious world," I said, "would call that a sign of his Dutch blood." "The world," she said, "would talk nonsense. He has not a drop of Dutch blood. In the beginning of July, 1807, Napoleon effected a reconciliation between Hortense and Louis. They met at Montpelier, and spent three or four days, as was usually the case, in quarrelling. She went off in a pet to Bordeaux, where the Emperor was on his way to begin the seizure of Spain. She passed a few days with him, and then returned at the end of July to her husband at Montpelier. He has many little bodily tricks resembling those of Louis. Louis never looked you in the face; when he bowed it was not like anybody else, it was an inclination of the body on one side. He kept his hands close to his sides. Louis Napoleon has all these peculiarities. In the April of the following year Hortense was frightened and taken ill suddenly, and Louis Napoleon was born on the 20th of April, twelve days before he was expected. On this pretext, Louis, in 1815, tried to get a divorce, but of course failed. He was jealous of Hortense, bribed all her servants to watch her, and often said of Louis Napoleon: Ce n'est pas mon enfant;' but he was half mad, and, I believe, said so only to tease his wife. At one time he took possession of Louis Napoleon, and became exceedingly fond of him, which would scarcely have been the case if he had really doubted his legitimacy. He "Louis Napoleon, indeed, was an attractive child. He was gentle and intelligent, but more like a girl than a boy. He is a year older than I am. He was shy, and has continued to be so. hates new faces: in old times he could not bear to part with a servant, and I know that he has kept ministers whom he disliked and disapproved only because he did not like the embarras of sending them away. His great pleasures are riding, walking, and, above all, fine scenery. I remember walking with him and Prince Napoleon one fine evening on Lansdowne Hill, near Bath. The view was enchanting. He sat down to admire it, 'Look,' said he, 'at Napoleon, he does not care a farthing for all this. I could sit here for hours.' "He employed me, some days ago, to make inquiries for him in Germany in connection with his book. Moquard wrote me a letter of thanks. Louis Napoleon wrote in his own hand these words, Ceci me rappelle les bontés qu'avait Mdme. R. pour le prisonnier de Ham. Les extrêmes se touchent, car les Tuileries c'est encore une prison.' "While the Duc de Reichstadt, and his own brother lived, he used to rejoice that there were two lives between him and power. What he would have liked better than empire would have been to be a rich country gentleman, with nothing to do but to enjoy himself." "You tell me," I said, "that as a child, he was gentle (doux). Is he so now?" "In appearance," she answered, "for he has great self-command; but au fond he is irritable. He is also very pertinacious, at least in his opinions. Hence he hates discussion, it annoys him and never convinces him. He cannot bear to see people 'triste' or discontented. "Here is the letter which he wrote to me the evening before his escape. He tells me that he has sent to me all his remaining manuscripts on artillery, and all the proof sheets of the printed portion, and begs me to keep them. I was then in Paris. "The instant I read it, I said to my husband, He is going to make his escape, he is making me his literary executrix.' "My husband laughed at me. morning at breakfast, the papers came in. I read aloud, Next "Yesterday Louis Napoleon Buonaparte made his escape from Ham.' "Bah!' said my husband, you are going back to the nonsense which you talked yesterday.' "I repeated, Yesterday Louis Napoleon Buonaparte made his escape from Ham.' "Don't talk stuff,' said my husband. "Read it yourself,' I answered. "The next day I got this letter from him in London. have been governed by one principle. I believe that from time to time-men are created whom I will call providential, in whose hands the destinies of their countries are placed. I believe myself to be one of these men. If I am mistaken I may perish uselessly. If I am right Providence will enable me to fulfil my mission. But right or wrong, I will persevere, whatever be the difficulties or the dangers. Living or dying, I will serve France.'" Here M. T. C. came in: she closed the book, but the conversation on Louis Napoleon continued. 66 66 My first introduction to him," said T. C., was in 1848, when I was prefect. He was then deputy and remarkably shy. The first time that he demanded la parole, he mounted slowly the steps of the Tribune, looked round him for a minute or two, and then descended without having uttered a word. Some time after he made a second attempt, and actually spoke, but very badly. I gave a reception to the whole Assembly. He nego tiated with me about his coming to it. He did not wish to be announced, as his name would draw all eyes upon him. It was agreed that he should come early, and that I should meet him in the passage, and lead him in without his name being mentioned - but he never came." "It has been thought," said Mdme. R., "that he was playing a part; that he was pretending to be stupid, as a candidate for the Papacy pretends to be dying. "I was with him," she continued, "when the Bill of the 31st of May, 1850, for the restriction of the suffrage was in discussion. I hear,' I said, "but I do not believe it, that you support this Bill.' "I do,' he answered. 666 “What,' I said, 'you the child of universal suffrage, do you support a limited suffrage?' "You understand nothing about it,' he replied, 'Je perds l'assemblée.’ "But,' I said, 'you will perish with the Assembly.' "I need not,' he writes, 'tell you the details of my escape, as you have them in the papers. My measures were so well "Not in the least,' he answered. taken that in eight hours I was in Bel-When the Assembly goes over the precgium, and twelve hours after in London. ipice, je coupe la corde.'” It seems a dream. Take care of my "In fact," said T. C., "the relations manuscripts and proofs. The first vol- between him and the Assembly were ume is finished, and may be printed from such, that one or the other must have the proofs." perished." "Here is another worth hearing. It "It seems to me," I said, "that if was written from London in 1847, in con- Cavaignac had been President the Resequence of a common friend having ac-public might have been saved." cused him of personal ambition. "So I thought at the time," answered "In all my adventures,' he says, 'IT. C., "and so I think now. Much de |