Napoleon'S Son

On the 20th day of March, 1811, there was great rejoicing in Paris. The eventful day, which to all appearances was to crown the ambition of Napoleon, had come. The discharge of a hundred and one guns announced the fact that the "King of Rome" was born; the "King of Rome," for such, it had been proclaimed, would be the title conferred upon a son of the Emperor. The Parisians were in such a transport of joy that, a French writer of the time says, "they embraced and kissed each other in the streets." But the reign of the young "king who never saw his kingdom," was brief; it was summed up in the first three years of his life. On the 25th of January, 1814, Napoleon embraced his wife and child, whom he saw for the last time, and left the Tuileries to place himself at the head of his army. The Russian campaign was the beginning of a war which ended with the capitulation of Paris. On the 17th of April, 1814, Napoleon signed his abdication, and on the 28th embarked for Elba. On the 2d of May, Marie Louise and the King of Rome left France forever, and took possession of the palace of Schonbrunn, near Vienna, which had been assigned to them, as a royal residence, by Francis, Emperor of Austria and father and grandfather of the imperial refugees. Then followed Napoleon's return to France, his reign of "one hundred days," the fatal battle of Waterloo, and his second abdication, closing with the words, "My political life is ended, and I proclaim my son, Napoleon II., Emperor of the French. June 22d, 1815. Napoleon." Napoleon was banished to St. Helena, and the allied powers of Europe would not accept the son. Louis XVIII. was proclaimed King of the French, and the rights of Napoleon II. were forever set aside. The young prince was now a prisoner under the guardianship of his grandfather, the Emperor of Austria, by whom he was to be educated as a German prince. His title, "King of Rome," was now changed, 1815, to "Duke of Reichstadt," by which title he was subsequently known.

As a child, the Duke is said to have been a marvel of beauty, and without being anything extraordinary, he was from the first precocious. M. Foresti was his tutor for sixteen years, and by him he was most thoroughly and carefully educated. All his movements were full of grace and gentleness. He never ceased to speak French with a true Parisian accent, yet he learned the German language very rapidly and used it in the imperial family, speaking it as fluently as they themselves. He always maintained the most unbounded admiration for his father, and when informed of his death, July 22d, 1821, he wept bitterly, and shut himself up in his room for several days. He put on mourning, and wore it for so long a time that finally an imperial order was issued compelling him to suppress all tokens of grief. Time rolled on, but every year he spent the 22d of July in his own apartments. His first appearance in society was on the 25th of January, 1831, at a grand ball given by the British ambassador. There he became acquainted with Marmont, one of his father's marshals. The young Napoleon had a thousand questions to ask, and finally obtained permission to engage the Marshal to deliver him a course of lectures, the subject being Napoleon's campaigns. On the 15th of June, 1831, the young Duke was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of a battalion of Hungarian infantry. For one brief year he indulged in a dream of military glory, when signs of pulmonary disease began to develop; his voice became hoarse and he was subject to coughs and attacks of fever. Much against his own wishes, he was taken from his military pursuits and sent back to Schonbrunn to recuperate. The air and quiet of this country residence were beneficial, but the most dangerous symptoms of his disease returned after a time, and on the 22d of July, the day he had always kept sacred since his father's death, the Duke of Reichstadt breathed his last.

No guns were fired, but the intelligence of his death was received with profound sensation in France, for there were still many Frenchmen desirous of seeing the young duke seated upon the throne of his illustrious father. Among the other nations of Europe very little regret was expressed that an individual, however blameless in his private life, had been removed by death before an opportunity had arisen for him to become a disturber of the peace. He was buried in the Carthusian Monastery at Vienna, the Austrian Westminster Abbey, and his funeral was attended with the same forms and honors as that of an archduke of Austria. The international convention having deprived him of the name of Napoleon, in 1817, when conferring that of Duke of Reichstadt, his sepulchre bears the following inscription, by order of Francis II.:--

When in his cradle he was hailed by the title of King of Rome; he was endowed with every faculty both of body and mind; his stature was tall; his countenance adorned with the charms of youth, and his conversation full of affability; he displayed an astonishing capacity for study and the exercise of the military art. Attacked by a pulmonary disease, he died at Schonbrunn, near Vienna, July 22d, 1832."

His gorgeous cradle is preserved among the historical relics in the Museum of the Louvre.