The exiles which followed their respect | logne. Because his uncle had carried the ive reigns were singularly in keeping with eagles of France in triumph over three their different characters. The part of continents, he taught a tame eagle to Louis Napoleon's career which followed swoop down on his hat for fresh meat. Sedan was scarcely less happy than that But he was not always ridiculous in his which preceded it. He grew stout at imitations. He managed his first election Wilhelmshöhe, and when removed to as President, in 1848, with admirable skill Chiselhurst he led the tranquil life of a and cunning. He swore oaths of allebourgeois retired from business, until his giance with the same imperturbable and peaceful end. But for Napoleon, the im- treacherous coolness which were so reprisonment on that bleak rock in a dis-markable in the founder of the family. tant sea was the fitting close of a tragedy One who reads the story of the 18th Brumore vast than human annals ever before maire and the Coup d'Étât of December recorded. The great myth ended in dark- is startled with the absolute similarity of ness and mystery, and the hero, unseen conditions and processes by which the by Europe, preserved to the last the fabu- two usurpers gained the supreme power. lous character with which friend and foe There was the same pretense of a conspirhad alike invested him. To the French acy, the same accusation of the legislapeople he was their Prometheus chained ture, the same corruption of the army, to a thunder-blasted rock on the vague the same outrage upon the civil authorilimits of the world, tormented by vul- ties; and to make the resemblance still tures, but still godlike in his pains. To more remarkable, the actor who played England he was an enemy of preternatu- the part of first assistant in the treason ral force and treachery, who could only was in the one case Lucien, and in the be kept from harmful activity by the in- other case De Morný. The candid reader violable bars of thousands of miles of sea. must admit that the nephew had bettered his instructions. The Coup d'Étât was a much more perfect and workman-like per His exile and death are therefore among the most picturesque and moving scenes of his history, and the English artist Hay-formance than the 18th Brumaire. The don painted the most fortunate of his portraits in that famous picture which represents the imprisoned conqueror looking out from his rocky realm, with unutterable thoughts, upon the dreadful and implacable sea, which even he could never tame nor conciliate. great Napoleon was lamentably weak before the Assembly, and his nephew, hiding himself in the Élysées, and pulling the strings of the plot, made a more satisfactory piece of work than the original which he followed. The wonder is that the same net, spread in the same way, in the sight of the same bird, should have twice secured its prey, unless we conclude that they were both "providential" men, and that France had need of such discipline. For pictures, as for men, there are advantages and disadvantages in being copies. They can never have the fire and spirit, the brilliancy and charm, of the original, but they can be more correct; they can profit by criticism, and avoid The resemblance in their marriages was the errors of the creating genius. Louis not so strong, though in this respect also Napoleon came into the world with his Napoleon III. pretended to follow copy. work marked out for him-to be as near- Eugénie de Montijo, Countess of Téba, ly as possible like his uncle in fate and was a beautiful woman of twenty-seven, achievements. He had scarcely any nat- who had had a youth of vicissitudes, and ural qualifications for the part; he was was well known in many capitals for her of a gentle and dreamy nature, not fitted, beauty, grace, and rank, which, having no one would say, for war or government. fortune to support them, gained her and But he had his name, his share in the in- her mother only the undeserved title of fatuation of France for the Napoleon le- adventuresses. The malice of party has gend, and an obstinate though quiet will raged fiercely against this lady's name, to be Emperor. He studied artillery be- but there is not a particle of proof to suscause his uncle did. He wrote a socialist tain it. Her ability, her affectionate debook because his uncle had written Levotion to the interests of her family, and Souper de Beaucaire in his youth. He her religious fervor are, so far as the parodied the descent from Elba with the world knows, as unquestionable as her ridiculous attempts of Strasburg and Bou- beauty and her personal charm. No queen in history has better fulfilled a queen's duty as leader of the fashions; and while she reigned, the dress of women was at once beautiful, decent, and convenient. Hers was the prettiest face, the most graceful bearing, the most winning smile, in all that dazzling court of the Tuileries. But she had a Spaniard's love of political intrigue, and an Andalusian's bigotry, and she contributed powerfully to engage her husband in the evil way that led his policy to Rome and his army to Sedan. There is a story told by Arsène Houssaye certainly no unfriendly chronicler that at the cabinet council called to decide the question of peace and war, after the final interview of Benedetti with King William at Ems, the peace party carried the day, and the Emperor went to bed. But the Empress, being left behind with the council, won over to her warlike views the gallant De Grammont and the absurd Leboeuf, and reversed the decision, and then went in triumph to the Emperor's chamber, where he was sleeping the sleep of the just, and gained his assent to the fatal declaration which was made next day by the jaunty De Grammont, with his hands in his pockets, and by Ollivier, with his coeur léger. The Empire attained its most resplendent bloom the year before its fall. In 1869 occurred the centennial anniversary of the birth of Napoleon, and the grand fête of the 15th of August was celebrated that year with extraordinary glare and tinsel. The Champs Élysées were like a region of fairy-land at night. The spout umph at the crest of the hill was transfigured by the magic of lime light into a vast dome of porcelain and mother-ofpearl, a temple standing in the midst of the opulence and art of new Paris, dedicated to the worship of the material splendor of Napoleonism. There were peace and plenty in the land, a submissive majority in the legislature. The old nobility had greatly overcome their hostility, and as for the people, when they were asked if they were content with the Empire, seven millions of them said Yes! Vol. LX.-No. 355.-2 corner panic-stricken groups were reading the bulletins, in which a false coloring was given to terrible defeats. A beaten army was rolling back toward Paris, shouting, as beaten armies always shout, "Treason," and the Emperor, stunned and helpless, abandoning the command to others, was muttering with the iteration of idiocy: "I have been deceived! They also have mitrailleuses!" A few days later the Empire was at its end. Dr. Evans, the famous American dentist, was entertaining some friends at wwww dinner for one must dine, though king- | little scoundrel, I'll teach you to say Vive doms are crashing like potsherds. A serv-la Prusse!" Others followed his examant enters and announces a lady, who in-ple, and before the astonished urchin sists on seeing him. He at last rises and could get his breath and insist on his stogoes out, somewhat petulantly, to see this ry, the carriage was out of sight. importunate, and when her veil is raised it discloses the beautiful face of the Empress, convulsed with grief and agitation. The mob is in the Tuileries again, after its old habit, and the Empress owes her life to two foreigners-an American, Evans, and an Italian, the Chevalier Nigra. The latter displayed a marvellous presence of mind. On entering a carriage near the Tuileries a street gamin recognized the Empress, and cried, "Voilà l'Impératrice!" Nigra cuffed him and said, "You Napoleon III., in surrendering to the King of Prussia, began his note with the words, "Having been unable to die with my troops." It is a strange fact that of all this race of warriors, the only one to whom a soldier's death has been allotted was the gentlest of them all, who was slain by savage enemies in a quarrel not his own. Except in its tragic close, his life ran in curious parallelism with that of the Duke of Reichstadt. Both were born in the purple, their advent heralded |