NAPOLEON
PART V—Continued
PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON
By Anna Erwin Woods
In after years the Emperor Napoleon III often said to great personages who visited Paris during his reign: “Go to the Conciergerie; it is very interesting.”
Notwithstanding the sadness which filled his heart, the future sovereign of France retained his faith in his star. Madame Récamier, the friend who, at nightfall, in the Coliseum at Rome, had given words of sympathy to his mother, came to visit the captive. He had also the consolation of receiving a kind message from his father, King Louis.
At the Conciergerie, September 6th, 1840.
My Dear Father: I have not yet written you because I was afraid of causing you distress. But to-day, when I learn what interest you have manifested in me, I come to thank you and to ask your blessing as the only thing which now has any value for me. My sweetest consolation in misfortune is to hope that your thoughts sometimes incline toward me....
King Louis had always disapproved of what he considered the vain hopes of his son, and had never spared him censure or remonstrance. On October 7, 1840, the captive was sent from Paris to the fortress of Ham, condemned to be incarcerated there for life. He was carefully guarded; four hundred infantrymen occupied the barracks of the fortress and sixty sentinels, scattered on every side, obeyed strict orders.
In the beginning his captivity was solitary. After a time the government accorded him the precious favor of having three faithful friends beside him. Gen. Count de Montholon came of an old and distinguished family, a hero in the campaign in Italy, at Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, Wagram; at the Emperor’s side at Waterloo; accompanying him to St. Helena; and in whose arms he died. He was one of the executors of the Emperor’s will, and the depository of his manuscripts. Devoted to the nephew as he had been to the uncle, before the Court of Peers he spoke these words: “I received the Emperor’s last sigh; I closed his eyes; that is enough to explain my conduct.” He requested and obtained permission to be incarcerated with the prince. His wife accompanied him to the fortress of Ham, as she had done to St. Helena.
Dr. Conneau had been secretary to King Louis. He studied medicine in Florence and intended to establish himself in Paris as a physician, but after going to visit Queen Hortense at Arenensberg, he never left her. These words occur in the Queen’s will: “I give to Dr. Conneau a present of twenty thousand francs and a watch as a souvenir of his devotion in coming to attend me. I greatly desire that my son may retain him.” This last wish was piously observed. During the trial of her son, Dr. Conneau sat on the bench at his side; he had never left him, and asked to share his captivity. Blondel was not more faithful to Richard of the Lion Heart than Dr. Conneau to Louis Napoleon.