AN EMPEROR'S BROTHER.*
t COMMUNICATED. J AMONG the most interesting figures at the Court of Napoleon III., the secret brother of the Emperor—the Duo de Morny—was sure to attract an historian's fancy, owing to the mystery of his birth, the splendour of his fortune, and his personal success both in politics and in
society. While examining family papers unpublished until now, and the secret records of the &trete, kept at the Ministbre de l'Interieur, M. Frederic Lone° has found the elements of a very complete study which is to include the character and the official acts of the statesman as well as the picture of the circles in which he lived.
The secret of his birth is known to us, and in his life- time people already know that Morny was the son of Queen Hortense. and Count Charles de Flabaut. He, moreover, boasted of descending through his grandmother, Madame de Souza, from Talleyrand, and through his great-grandmother; Adble Fillortl, from King Louis XV. Brought up at Madame de Souza's house, he spent the first years of his life in an atmosphere still wholly impregnated with the perfumes of the eighteenth century, having before his eyes nothing but examples of elegance, fine wit, and sweet urbanity, influences which left their mark on bins throughout his life.
In 1884 he was sent as aide-de-camp to General Trees! in Algeria, where he behaved bravely, deeming courage a necessary elegance. The son of Queen Hortense came back from Africa with a growing halo of glory. Some lucky speculations in the "agar trade and his entrance into Paths- tient as a Deputy in 1842 settled him comfortably in life. But after the Revolution of 1848 he was obliged to make a fresh start. While still uncertain as to the best plan to follow in order to achieve his ambitious designs, he for a short time looked towards Frobsdorf, in spite of the little faith he had in the future of a Monarchy. He had a slight hesitation, which we discover in a fragment of the Diary of Princess Melanie of Metternich (Augusf; 1848). During a visit be paid to Prince Clement de Metternioh he spoke to him of the necessity of calling Henry V. to the throne of France. ' But be chose another path, and turned Bonapartist at the first dawn of Napoleon M.'s high fortune. No powerful feeling, but merely common interests, caused the two brothers to draw closer each to the other. A mutual and obliging acquaintance, Bacciochi, invited them both to his house 1849, at a time when Morny had just been returned as Deputy for Puy-de-Mme. Few words were spoken, but from that day between these two men a tacit good under- standing was begun without their having needed to exchange either ()labs or signatures. When Louis Napoleon, owing to the illusions of the people, had been made President, his brother clung to him. It is certain that the first idea of the coup d'erat was hinted by Morny, and that he carried out with deliberate coolness all the intrigue of this drama, Indeed, be perhaps indulged too much in advertising his new- born zeal, The Prince-President complained about it to some familiars of Isis, and particularly to Fleury, who took upon himself to warn Morny of his mistake.
es d'INPITEW : 44ttiprate liforryy at Its Soci4U du qecostt Pnyire. Par Irr6 6rie Lolide. Paris: lo i'aul. [7.3
Before trying to give a direction to the public mind, it was necessary first to inspire confidence. Morny was too shrewd a diplomatist not to understand the necessity of keeping in the background while waiting for the time when he could safely assume more ascendency and power. That time was near.
One morning Peraigny came and suggested that Ile should take a hand in the Bonapartist revolution. Moray was personally requested to go and dismiss the Minister for the Home Department, Thorigny, and to take his place,—a picturesque scene which has already been described by that clever writer, Paul Ginisty. During his short stay in the Home Office he had taste enough to abstain from useless severity. Having too much self-control to succumb to the giddiness which seizes upon weak souls, he only felt skin-deep, so to speak, the dazzled sensation of the power he had got through his own audacity and tact. Besides, he did not enjoy it very long. Too many envious men desired his fall, and Horny was clever enough to avail himself of the first honourable pretext to retire.
At that time the hierarchy of allessee and demi-albums was being made ready, and Horny had too openly aspired to be recognised as a member of the Imperial Family. The memory of Queen Hortense, rashly called to mind, bad caused Louis Napoleon to return to his previous prejudices at the time when the clever pressure of his brother during the preliminaries of the coup &Rat had excited his anxiety. Kept up by Jerome Napoleon, Maupas, Saint-Arnaud, Persigtsy, and Fleury himself, the estrangement grew, and the Minister for the Home Department again became merely the Deputy for Puy-de-Dome. He availed himself of it to go on 'Change again, to become once more a speculator and a tradesman, and to plunge rashly into all sorts of enterprises and more or less dubious partnerships. He thus bided his time till the month of July, 1854, when the Emperor called him to the presidency of the Corps Legislatif, an important post, and an easy one too, suited to his qualities of tact, management, and discern- ment. Horny succeeded wonderfully in this new role without giving up his trade enterprises, thus creating the new type of the speculator in office. He was to be reproaohed later'with the misuse of this traffic in influences, which originated the famous legend of the corruptions of the Second Empire, so freely exploited by the opponents of Bonapartism.
The possibility of a war with Austria, then considered imminent, rendered France desirous, if not of a formal alliance with Russia, at least of her benevolent neutrality. Morny, the most eminent personage of the day, was con- sequently appointed Ambassador Extraordinary of France to St. Petersburg. He set out about the last days of July, 1856. We know the marvellous success of that embassy, which revived the splendour of French diplomacy of old. A worthy successor of the famous noblemen of former times, the Comte de Horny by his pomp and elegant luxury drew all eyes at the Court of Russia. Alexander II., himself an acknow- ledged charmer, was won over by this radiant sympathy. The brother of Napoleon adroitly availed himself of those friendly dispositions in order to establish serious and lasting connexions between the Czar and the Emperor, and he knew how to promote the interests of his own country with perfect tact and wonderful suppleness. He came back to Paris, proud to bring home his young wife, Princess Sophia Troubetzkoi, who belonged to the upper aristocracy of Russia, and made easy for her husband the entrance into a social circle which flattered his vanity. He took up again, under most favourable conditions, the presidency of the Corps Legishstif. Those were the most glorious days of his career. Having reached the highest pitch of his political influence, be ruled in the Emperor's shadow, almost as effectively as did the Emperor himself. He was made a Duke in 1862 through the gratefulness of Napoleon, who did not forget the services done to him, though at times the burden galled him. Clouds had gathered between them several times, and one day in a fit of ill-temper the Emperor went the length of saying, " I am dragging my two cannon-balls, Horny and Persigny," although be afterwards regretted it. Through the force of circumstances more, perhaps, than the ties of affection, Horny remained the 'Emperor's chief confidant.
He occupied with authority the post given him, presiding in a calm, firm way over the proceedings of a rather dull Assembly. According to the expression of one of his contemporaries who saw him at work—FM. de Beissieu—he
was a master in the art of Blackening and gathering up the reins.
The daily meetings of the House had not dulled his taste for society, and be entertained his guests with the utmost elegance. His love.for the pleasures of the mind inclined him to become the Maecenas of letters and the fine arts. His Sympathy protected all writers, and his friends he chiefly chose in intellectual circles. He took care to engage as his secretaries such men as Ludovio Hal6vy and Alphonse Daudet; the latter was later on to leave a striking picture of Iforny's tragical end, disguised as the death of the Duo de Mora, in the Nabab, with regard to which it was right to overthrow the legend countenanced by the famous novelist. "Daudet, the present Duo de Morny lately said, only saw events from. the antechamber." Morny did not die, as was generally thought, of his excesses, but of an acute panereatio affection, caused by an extreme nerve strain, which undermined and exhausted his strength. Nobody about him thought he was dangerously the doctors, nor the Duchess, who kept going into society and repeating, "You are over-anxious about your health," whenever the Duke spoke of retiring from the State affairs. However, his strength failed him, but be kept to himself the secret of his bodily troubles, maintaining through it all his calm and dignified attitude. A council of savants gathered around him, but nobody could tell the cause of his illness, though Morny complained of pains in the region of his liver.
On the morning of February 28th, 1868, on awaking the sick man bad seen a slender thread of blood trickling from his mouth.* He understood that he was drawing near his end, sent for his valet de eltambre Henri and said to him : "Henri, you must let me be. I am going to die. I have only a few hours left to get ready for death." His last moments of lucidity ho spent in receiving the friends be had sumreoned,— Itoqueplan, Ludovic Halevy,' Daru, Daugny, Cremieux, who Met in his bedroom Flahaut, La Palette, and Rouher. He recognised them all, and held out his hand to them. " How quickly it comes," be wbispered. Then he put that question reveeled the aims of the public man: " What are they saying about it all in Paris ? " Morny conversed with his wife for about an hour, and then bade his four little children good-bye. On March 7th, in the evening, people heard at the Tuileries that the Duke was dying. The Emperor and Empress hastened to his bedside. After they had entered his bedroom, and Napoleon, much moved, had taken his brother's hand in Morny did not recognise him. The Empress knelt down and prayed. After half-en-hour's waiting they both withdrew into the next room. The fever having subsided, Flahaut bent Over his son's bed. "The Emperor has come ; be is still here; don't you wish him to come back P " " Yea, yes, I should like him to," he murmured. Napoleon came into the room Qin. The bystanders had stepped aside. In low yoices the two brothers exchanged a few words. But the dying man again began to rave. The Emperor left the room sobbing and hiding his eyes with his handkerchief. About one o'clock m the morning the death-struggle began. At seven o'clock, when the physician-in-ordinary to Moray came in, Henri having told him "The Duke is dying," he and the physician softly came busk to the illustrious patient to take a blister off him. At the same instant MOTTIY Portly sighed and expirect Speaking of the Doc de Morny, one might agein fitly MID the word! uttered on the death of his great-grandfather, Talleyrand, " He died like a well-bred man " al eat more en lionims gni sail vivre). He was fortunate enough to make WS exit from this world's stage at a time 0011 propitious to his repntetion as an ever-lucky pivot.. A mighty thrill ran Over Europe, and the Imperial Government was speeding to its ruin unawares. We cannot say it too often,---the last proof of skill on Moray's part was to pass away in the
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