THE COLLAPSE OF THE THIRD NAPOLEON.*

FROM the standpoint of essentials, as contrasted with non., essentials, this book is provokingly, and, indeed, preposterously-.

large. The main object of the author is to tell how and with)

whose help the Empress Eugenie escaped from Paris to England. One volume of very modest dimensions woulft have amply served to narrate this story ; whereas we have two volumes of nearly seven hundred pages in all. In

some respects, however, the garrulity which these sevenD hundred pages represent is interesting, if not historically important. The Third Empire has, since its collapse at. Sedan, been such an object of ferocious attack by historical satirists and novelists, from Hugo, Zola, and Daudet downwards, that there is something of the pleasure of

reaction in finding at this time of day Napoleon III. spoken of kindly and eulogistically as he is by men like the author and editor of this book, who, being Americans, were outside the corrupt crew, the leading spirits in which: were Morn), and Persigny. As is well known, the Third.

Empire had great attractions for citizens of the United States, who had neither time nor inolination to penetrate beneath. the surface of its gaiety. Dr. Evans's first association with Napoleon was purely professional; he became Court dentist. The Emperor, it seems, "had extremely delicate teeth—an inheritance from his mother, he told me ; and being more than usually sensitive to pain—this condition of hyper- aesthesia, as Corvisart and Nelaton termed it, was generalised and especially pronounced towards the close of his life—he suffered greatly from the least inflammation, and in conse- quence frequently required my professional assistance." At that time, when dentists were of no social standing, and, when they were sent to attend a patient, were expected to enter the house by the backstair like tailors, Napoleon's marked civility to Dr. Evans went to his heart. So the late Dr. Crane's view of the relations between Emperor and professional adviser need not be taken with many grains of salt :—

" Dr. Evans's long and close attachment to Napoleon III. and his family, the confidential relations he maintained with other sovereigns and princely houses, and his large and intimate acquaintance among the men and women who, from 1848 to 1870, were the governing powers in Europe afforded him unusual opportunities of observing the evolution of political ideas and institutions in France, and the conditions and the causes that immediately preceded and determined the fall of the Second French Empire, as seen from within ; and supplied him also with facts and very valuable information concerning the same subjects as seen, or gathered in, from without. No man, moreover, was better acquainted than he with what may be termed the moral atmosphere of the several Courts to which, for so many years, he was professionally attached."

As has already been said, Dr. Evans seems to have been little interested in and little affected by the sinister aide of

the Empire. He passes over the coup d'etat as if it were hardly worth considering. His testimony to the personal

kindliness and courtesy of the crowned adventurer merits some attention, because it is so obviously sincere "In those early days, all who knew him intimately wished to

follow him I have sometimes thought that the Emperor owed his singular power of winning the sympathy and affection of those with whom he had spoken, although but once, to the softness of his voice and to a peculiar hesitancy of manner— especially when opening a conversation—which might be taken for diffidence, the most delicate form of flattery that one man can offer to another. When misfortunes befell his friends, or bereave- ment came to those who were near to him, the Emperor never failed to console them with kind words or to remember them by acts of gracious consideration His manner never changed. Whether Prince-President or Emperor, in victory or defeat, he was always the same; and he was also the same in all his relations and intercourse with men, both in official and in private life. In return, every one who knew him personally was drawn towards him by a strong sentiment of sympathy and affection. The devotion of his followers after the affairs of Strasbourg and Boulogne bears witness to this."

Dr. Evans, who tells at length the familiar story of the events that preceded Napoleon's marriage, does not exaggerate the political importance of the Empress Eugenie

"No two persons, in certain respects, could be more unlike than were the Emperor and the Empress. The Emperor would do pre. riyd by Edward A. Evans Recollections of the sacona "mat Crane, M.D. 2 vole. London : T. Mahe& "nothing,excePt after long reflection, and kept his opinions care- Italy to himself. The Empress, on the other hand, expressed 'herself on every subject with absolute freedom, and was inclined to act impulsively. She was aware of this herself, and has often been heard to say after talking freely—too freely= Don't tell the Emperor what I have said—for I should get a scolding!"

Again :— " The Empress had no personal political ambition. She was only ambitious for her husband and for her son. She was the reverse of what is called a political woman; she was too sincere, candid, unreserved, and sympathetic for such a role. Her moral personality was too distinctly and too strongly pronounced to permit her to play a part in which dissimulation and flexibility are the indispensable conditions of success. She was in all respects a most womanly woman—womanly but not weak, for her powers of physical endurance and her moral courage were alike remarkable—and was very often so directed by the impulses of her heart as to make light of reasons of State even in the most serious circumstances."

The story of the flight of the Empress from Paris is a simple one. On the morning of Sunday, September 4th, 1870, it was known that Napoleon was a prisoner in the hands of the Germans. The Empress was still Regent, and was no doubt

desirous to stand by her duty. But a street disturbance was quite sufficient to overthrow the Government. Eugenie, sitting in a room at the Tuileries, learned from the shouts of a mob that the Republic had been proclaimed, and that she was to some extent the object of public detestation. The Austrian and Italian Ambassadors came to her at the Tuileries imploring her to flee from Paris. With the help of Charles Thebin, first valet,

-then treasurer, to her husband, who, singularly enough, had helped in his escape from the fortress of Ham in 1846, she was got out of the palace and into a cab with her reader and 'companion, Madame Lebreton. They first tried the house of a Councillor of State, but he was from home. The American Legation was suggested, but the Empress decided the matter.

"I will go to Dr. Evans. He is an American also, but with no political responsibilities ; besides, he is an old friend." So the cab was driven to Dr. Evans's house in the Avenue Malakoff. He was out dining at the time, but he soon came in with his friend Dr. Crane. "When I stepped into the room and found myself standing in the presence of the Empress Eugenie my astonishment can hardly be imagined. Perhaps you are surprised to see me here,' said the Empress. You know what has taken place to-day—that the Govern- ment is in the hands of the Revolutionists." Dr. Evans and his friend threw themselves heartily into the project of escape, though in their opinion death would be the result of failure. It was resolved to make for Deauville, near Havre, where Mrs. Evans was spending a holiday. There was available a pass- -port "made out for a well-known English physician and a patient, which after having been viseed at the Prefecture of Police had not been called for." At half-past five on Monday morning the dentist's landau came to the door :—

"We left the house dressed as we were the evening before. Not a bag, not a package even of toilet articles did we carry. The Empress had on a black cashmere dress, over this a dark- coloured thick mackintosh, a narrow white collar about the neck, dark gloves, and a round black Derby hat, to which was attached a plain black veil. Not the slightest attempt had been made to disguise her person."

The first danger, at the Porte Maillot, where the landau was called to a halt, was easily surmounted by Dr. Evans leaning out and telling the officer of the guard that he was an American living in Paris and well known in the neighbourhood, and that he was going to spend the day there in the company Of some friends. After that the party—the Empress passed as the invalid sister of the dentist, Dr. Crane as doctor, and

Madame Lebreton as nurse—had some discomforts, including the passing of a night at a wayside inn, but no serious diffi- 'eulties. They reached Deauville on Tuesday afternoon,

• embarked on Wednesday evening in Sir John Burgoyne's -yacht Gazelle,' and, after a stormy passage, arrived at Ryde

about four on the following morning. As a Royal flight the • escape of the Empress was not a specially exciting event, and even a Carlyle could hardly have made it the subject of a prose epic. None of the Republican chiefs wished the fugitive to be arrested, much less guillotined :—

"It is a pleasure to me to say that not only the adherents of the Empire, but a great many Monarchists, together with some of the most ardent Republicans, among whom I wish to mention In particular the Comte de Paris and M. Gambetta, expressed *heir gratitude to me afterwards in the warmest terms for having placed the Empress beyond the reach of the insults of the Paris The Empress's dislikes do not seem to have been very numerous. One of them is not inexcusable :— "In a conversation I had not long ago with the Empress, referring to General Trochu she spoke of the solemn promise ho had made to her and how he betrayed her that same day. And then in the kindly way she has of finding excuses for the conduct of her political enemies, she said, 'But I really believe he thought it was his duty to act as he did, that the Empire was an obstacle, that he was moved by no personal ambition to side with the revolutionists, but that it was entirely a matter of conscience with him.' In fact, I said, smiling, Your Majesty considers him

to have been a conscientious traitor.' Yes,' she replied, apparently amused at the incongruity of the words, 'a con- scientious traitor."

More " Memoirs " of Dr. Evans may be published. It is to be hoped that they will be as interesting as these, but editorially better compressed.