BONAPARTE, PRINCE. 



BRAIIMO SOMAJ. 



89 



nenberg in Switzerland, and the young Prince 

 addressed his friends with considerable tact 

 and political ability in the following words: 

 "Should the people some day recall me to 

 power, I will force all honest men to rally 

 round the Empire, by erasing from the French 

 language the words exile and proscription. If 

 it could only be known what lessons I have 

 learned from tho past, what resolutions I have 

 drawn from experience of the events which 

 have passed under my own eyes, it would be 

 seen how well I understand that I must look 

 backward only for instruction and example, but 

 not for objects of vengeance or bitterness. A 

 great people is not to be governed by hatred or 

 revenge." When the British were defeated at 

 the Cape, and r enforcements were sent out, 

 the Prince resolved to join the expedition as a 

 volunteer. His desire was considered and well 

 discussed by those responsible for his actions, 

 and it was decided that he should apply to the 

 War Office for leave to serve in the army to 

 which he had for a time belonged. His request 

 was but partly complied with, and he went 

 out, not as he had asked to do as a soldier, but 

 as a spectator " to see as much as he could of 

 the war." His own reasons he gave in the fol- 

 lowing letter, dated February 25th : 



MY DEAR M. ROUHER : I am about to leave Europe, 

 and my absence may continue for some months. I have 

 too many faithful friends in France for me to remain 

 silent as to the reasons for my departure. For eight 

 years I have been England's guest. I completed my 

 education in one of her military schools, and have 

 kept up my connection with the British army by join- 

 ing it, ou several occasions, during its great manoeu- 

 vres. The war Great Britain is now carrying on at 

 the Cape of Good Hope has lately assumed a much 

 more serious aspect than it had previously. I felt 

 anxious to watch the operations, and I sail in two 

 days. 



In France, where, thank Heaven, party spirit has 

 not extinguished the military spirit, people will com- 

 prehend that I am anxious to share the fatigues and 

 dangers of those troops among whom I have so many 

 comrades. The time I shall devote in assisting in this 

 Ktni'_'i;le of civilization against barbarism will not be 

 lost to me. 



My thoughts, whether I am near or far, will con- 

 stantly turn toward France. I shall watch the phases 

 she will gradually pass through with interest and with- 

 out anxiety, for I am convinced that God protects her 1 



I trust that during my absence the partisans of the 

 imperial cause will remain united and confident, and 

 wifi continue to hold before the country the spectacle 

 of a party which, faithful to its doctrines, remains con- 

 stantly animated by the most ardent patriotism. 



Accept, mon cher Monsieur Eouhor, the assurance 

 of my sincere friendship. NAPOLEON. 



He set sail on February 27th. Having ar- 

 rived at the Cape, he was at first prevented 

 from taking part in the military operations 

 through illness, but afterward joined Lord 

 Chelmsford and shared in different skirmislies, 

 distinguishing himself by his courage. On 

 June 1st he set out with Lieutenant Carey, six 

 soldiers, and one friendly Zooloo, for a recon- 

 naissance. An attack was made on the party 

 when about ten miles from camp, in whicli the 

 Prince was killed. His body when found con- 

 tained seventeen assegai-wounds, but no bullet- 



wound. It was sent to England, where it ar- 

 rived on July 11 tli, and on tho following day 

 was deposited in the little church of St. Mary 

 at Chiselhurst beside the remains of his father. 

 His funeral was attended not only by his own 

 adherents, but by the royal family of Great 

 Britain and by many other distinguished per- 

 sons, while his mother received a large number 

 of expressions of sympathy and condolence from 

 all parts of Europe. By a strange coincidence, 

 the surgeon and physician who established the 

 identity of the corpse, Larrey and Corvisart, 

 were the sons of the surgeon and physician of 

 Napoleon I., and the Bishop who accompanied 

 Cardinal Manning to the house at Chiselhurst 

 was Las Cases, the son of the author of the 

 "Memoirs of St. Helena," the most faithful 

 friend of the great Emperor. In his will the 

 Prince constituted his mother his sole legatee, 

 charging her with attending to various legacies 

 amounting to 800,000 francs. At the close of 

 the will he says: 



I have no need to recommend to my mother to 

 neglect nothing in order to defend the memory of my 

 great-uncle and of my father. I beg her to remember 

 that as long as there shall be Bonapartists the imperial 

 cause will have representatives. The duties of our 

 house toward the country will not cease with my life. 

 At my death the task of continuing the work of Na- 

 poleon I. and Napoleon III. devolves upon the eldest 

 son of Prince Napoleon ; and I hope that my well- 

 beloved mother, in seconding him with all her power, 

 will give us who shall be no more this last and su- 

 preme proof of her affection. 



A proposition was made, and the sanction of 

 Dean Stanley secured, to erect a monument to 

 the Prince in Westminster Abbey. His rea- 

 sons for this consent were, that the Prince had 

 died in the service of the country which had 

 received him, and that the country had learned 

 to honor him personally for his blameless and 

 engaging character. This plan was bitterly 

 opposed by the Liberal papers, which had also 

 condemned the public military funeral of the 

 Prince as an insult to the French Republic, 

 and while regarding a monument in Westmin- 

 ster Abbey as the highest honor of its class 

 that could be rendered to the memory of men 

 or women of extraordinary merit, who had 

 done great service to the public, they declared 

 that all these conditions were wanting in the 

 Prince, and that " the English people are 

 heartily sick of the outburst of folly, adula- 

 tion, and falsehood that has followed the very 

 commonplace incident of an incautious volun- 

 teer being surprised and killed." 



The death of the Prince Imperial had a very 

 injurious influence upon the prospects of the 

 Bonapartist party, as Prince Jerome Napoleon, 

 who succeeded him as head of the family, was 

 greatly disliked by a considerable portion of 

 the party. (Bee FRANCE.) 



BRAIIMO SOMAJ. The Brahmo Somaj 

 of India is the most prominent and active 

 among the sects of high-born Indians which 

 are trying to cultivate a Brahmanism free from 

 the polytheism, superstition, and demonlsm 



