A Morning Call On France

Hccont uvüiits iu the startling oareor of Napoleon III. havo so monopolizad publio ' attention, the lutcst chapter in lus ]fc has so lar surpassed in interest all pruoeding ones, that it appears alinost like revortingj to the history of a previous aga to dweil on a few of the episodes in his eariiar lifo. Comparatively few among the thotlsati ds of Euglishmen who read with koenest sorrow eaoh sad detail in the last campaign of him "hut yesterday a king" know anything of the gallant bui quixotic attempt made by Louis Napoleon Bonaparto to place hiniself at the head of tho French nation exactly thirty years ago ; is thore 8 not an inoident in his lifo, from earliest infanoy, that cn fail to prove interesting at a orisia when all Europe is ringing with the name of the fallen Emperor, a brief account of his ill-stnrred descent on the French coast in 1840, as oarrated lo the writer by the captain of the vessel whioh carried him across the Ghannel, may prove worthy of perusal, and tend to elucidate the passion of nmbition, the "pride of place," which has culuiioated in the dectruotion of his dynnsty. On the 2d of Auguxt, 1840, th steamer Edinburgh Caetle was hired by a party ol French gentlemen "to jjo on a pleasure excursión." Tho bargain wni made at Rye, where the vessel was lying, and the termo offered were so liberal - a hundred guineas a week - that oot the lightt'st objoction was raised on tho part ot her owners or captain - the lutter,fno doubt, thinking hiraeelf lucky at sueh an agreeable interlude to the rnonotonj of ordinary coasiing voyages presenting itself. ïhough all tho movemonts of tbe Prince were most jealously watched by the government of "Louis Philüpo, there is not the slightest doubt that his Ministers were completely in tlie dark aR to tbe inreaded invasión. Thero is no reason to doubt th at our own government would hnvo promptly interfcred, had the j idea of euch an attempt transpired ; - and the explanation of the impnnity w i t h whicli the pleasuro party was allow ed to take ita departure frotn our shnron consists in the faet that, with one I tion, (Gen. Montholon), the Princo did not confide a singlo detail of tbe expedition to his adherents themseives until they were fuirly at sea. The party em barked on the evening of the 5th of Au gust, bringing with theni, much to the atonishmerit of the crew and Captain of tho Edinburgh Castle, a large tame eaglo. This absurd adjunct to an invasión hns always mported into tbo bistory of an expedition fraught with the biüercst disaster to its ambitious originator and his followers toraething of the ludicrous. The eaglo had been traiued to feed upon Prince Louis Napoleon's houlder; and it was thouglit by his adviser tliat when the French sokliers saw the iïiperial bird, after boing cast loose, soar i tho air, a-id return voluutarily to the nephew of the First Napoleon, all their sympathy for the empire, dorroant since the defeat of Waterloo, would bo awakened, and that they would rally round tho tri-color to a man. Whether this idea was chimerical or not, it ig impossible to state. Itappears ridiculous uough to us uudemonstrative Euglish. But ihe expectation was goon set at rest by the eg!o himeelf, who proved altogether indifferent to the notions assoeiiitcd with him ; for no sooner was he liberated on French soil thao ha spread his broad pinions to the breeze and, soariag iato the blue vault of heaven, sailed majestically away, totally oblivious of his bonefactor. Shortly after embarking, the Prince suraraoned tho whole of his adherents below to the saloon, where he unfolded to them his daring project, which was received with tho most enthusiastic appreeiation, amid crios of "Vive l'Empereur I" These strange sounds reached the ears of the captain on deok, and arou.'eá bis suspicions as to the chamoter of his passengere. The captain of the Edinburgh Castle at onoe made bagty arrangements for putting the vessel about, and returning to port. Meantime the Princo and his followers had donned the uniforms which had been sent on board with their baggage, and coming on deck in a body, disoovorod that tlioy were bcing oarried baok to England. Instantly the Comte Dunin (who was killed a few hours later), drwing a pistol, clapped it to the captain'i bead, and swore 6 terrible oatli that he would scatter bis brains on the dook ii hè did not implicitly oboy the orders given him. Pi nee Louis, who was now introduced to tho captain as the Kmperor of the French, iuterfered, and, deprecating any violenco, assured him that he would hold htm blameloss with the owners of tho vessel, and that, in the event of tho expedition proving euccessful, the fortunes of the Englishman who had brought him to the Freaeh coast sbould ever be the special caro of the Emperor. Yielding under protest, the Captain promised obedience, and in compliance with instruotious given him, ehaped the eteamer's courso for Boulogne harbor. To bo deceived, if not betrayed, by his adhorents, appears to be tho oonstant fate of Louis Napoleon. We all know how terribly he was misinformfid previous to the commencement of the present war. In a similar way the expedition of 1840 was planned under the most erroneous ideas of the actual number of adherents he might expect to fmd awaiting him on French soil, preparatory to making any attempt to shake the fidelity of the troops garriaoned at 13oulogne Tho Captain of the of the Edinburgh Castle coufirni8 this. He states : ''At about 3 a. m. on the 6th, I rooeived brdors to stand in for a little bay northward of Hologne, callod Wimereaux. - Here, as the morning broke, I discerned a small group of persons standing on the beach, evidently awaiting tho arrival of iny vessel. Fearing that I might get iuvolved in some unploasantness with the unplcasantües8 with the Frunch authori ties at Boulogne, I applied to the person who seemed to ba tho chief of the Etnperor's stafF, for infórmation. He bada nio be under no foar of any iinbrogliojwith tho municipal authorities. "Tbat littlcgroup yonder," he sa:d,"has not acsembled, as yon scem to imagine, tor any violatiou of the laws of the revI enne. Io it yon bcbold tbe nucleus of the ariny of tho empire." In effeot, the tiny band that awaitcd the landing of Xapoleon consiated ooly of a sabaltern and n mero handful of msn, vruo, wilh bis staff, formed hia sole oortege ae he marched from Wimereux to tbe Édinburgb Castle stcamiug slowly along the ooast, wbile all on board vrutolied witli koenest auxiety the üpshot of the Quixotic attempt, about to be mado by their passenger to wre9t a kingdom frora the grasp of a recognired monarchy by the aid of a name, a momory, and a tamo eagle ! It ie now a matter of history how the troops in garrison at lioulognu wavered and heaitated ; at oue moment stirred (u enthusiustic appreciatioD of hin cause by the remcrabrenoe of the Prinoe'a un ole, of Jeoa, and of Auaterlits ; at the ncxt recalled to a senre of duty to their overeign by the passionate appeal of the commandant, M. da Col Puygelier; how at longth (whether in anper or inadvertently, who hall guesa,) Louis Napoleon sbot a grenadier with lus pistol. Unhappy act ! It turned the tlde of popular fceliog acainst htm and hia followers, who nere drien down to tbe beach under a disoharge of musketry. The undaunted courage which tho Pnnoe Napoleon displayed on tbis ocoasion stampa him, in spite of all eubaequent insinuations to tho oontrary, as a man of tho most determined bravery. It wus with the greatest dirnculty that be oould be induced to ernbark in a boat and put ott to tho steamer. "Living or dead, ' he cried, "I will never quit Franca agaiu I" And it was l.y actual forcé that he was autually placed in the bont, which oapsized within fifty yarda of the sbors. ïhenensued n scène which, according to túe cuptain (f the EdinburKh Cast! must eror be a blot upnn rho humanity of tho French as a naliün. Kanget upon the o'.iffs were somo two thousanf troops - gardes mtionaleg, gendarme and infautry of ihe liüo. These, insteat of attempting to succor the unfortunata beinga who wero struggling tot the:r lives iu the water, pourod down on tbem continuous volleya of muskotry. Af. Faure, a devoted adberent of the Prince eauk fatal Ijr wounded ; a bullet pierced the bruin of another gentleman whon he had arrived vvithiu three hundred yards of the stcamer a third was drowned from exhaustion ; but where the loaden bail flew thiokest - where the angry wtters fairly seethod again as tbe bullets laibod them nito ioam- there ewnm Louis Napoleon, the unfürtunate sentative of a "principie, a cause, a defeat," aut Casar aut nullu ever hia motto, bravely battling wlth the waves Thriee a bullet struok him, but the only ínjury he received was a flesh woünd in the arm. Louis Napoleon was yet to lead to viotory, as Emperor, the troop who repulsed him. At last the firing oeased (from no mo tive of humanity, bilt to prevent the (ngitives ragaining the shelter of their vessel) ; boats were put off to piek up the survivors, among whom was Dr. Conneau, wlio, afier ohcerfully sharing tlie bíx years' subsequent iinprisoüment of Napuleon at Ham ; is now the comptiDion of hia second oaptivity. Wouüded ae ho was, the Princo still struggled gallaotly to reach the Edinburg Cnstle ; but it wag not to be. The worthy captain, who had watehed his efforls with the intensest interest, wa powerlees to rescue him ; and he was ifted into ooe of the custom-houBe bosta and taken on shore, a prigoner, witbin threo hours of Lis setting foot on Frenoh ;erritorv. ïhe illustriouí oaptive once safely dis )osed of, the vessel wbieh had brought litn over naturally ongrossed the atteniention of the French authoritiea, and ho Edinburgh Castle was speedily Josrded by a bevy of Gardes Nationale; )ut fortuuately for her commander, to whose oourtosy the writer is indebted for these reminiscencei of 'a morning oall' on France, the English Consul at Bouogne interested hitnaelf in h!a behalf, and fot the ship released from tht embargo laid on her, and ore Napoleon had left Boulogne for Paris, the Edinbnrgh Caslle was onoo more safe beneath tbe aegia of the Engliah flag at Dover.