FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164  
165   166   167   168   >>  
not allow himself to benefit by his shrewd observations at a moment when so much depended on strength, not vacillation and weakness. A vivid justification of the opposition to another Austrian princess sharing the throne of France is embodied in the lofty ideals (?) of the Emperor Francis to his daughter Marie Louise at Schoenbrunn after she had deserted Napoleon. He said to her:--"As my daughter, all that I have is yours, even my blood and my life; as a sovereign, I do not know you." The benediction, pure and big of heart, benignly expressed, is promptly qualified with kingly sternness; the orthodoxy being that so long as Napoleon was in power she was his daughter, all that he had was hers, including his life and blood, but now that he has fallen she must not thwart his wishes, and loyally share the fate of him who was the father of her son, who had given her unparalleled glory, and been so merciful to Francis himself. If she elected to be at all wifely and cling to her husband in his misfortune, then he would assert the sovereign, and as readily gore her as he would Napoleon if, in his patriarchal wisdom, he judged national interests were at stake. His spirit-crushing rhetoric had a real ultra-monarchical ring about it. But it was meant for other ears and a purpose other than that of making his daughter shudder. So far as she was concerned, he might have saved himself any anxiety on that score. She bowed her head in conformity, and swiftly cast her amorous eyes on Neipperg, a man after his and her own heart. This was the culminating event that brought her destiny with Napoleon to an end, though _he_ tried to avert it, and the causes are summarised in his own pathetic language, clearly expressed from time to time. His nephew, Napoleon III., taking a lesson from his folly, refused to be buffeted into political matrimony by any of the matchmaking factions. When his turn came he acted with independence and wisdom by ignoring the blandishments of meddling advisers and royal conventionalism, and elected to marry the lady on whom he had set his affections. Incidentally, it may be stated that Napoleon III.'s merits have been overshadowed by the greater genius of his uncle, but as time separates the reigns of the two men it will be realised that, though he was not looked upon as a great military general, he had genius of a different kind, and was unquestionably a great ruler, acting under somewhat changed conditions
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164  
165   166   167   168   >>  



Top keywords:
Napoleon
 

daughter

 

Francis

 

elected

 

expressed

 
genius
 
sovereign
 

wisdom

 
summarised
 

language


nephew

 

taking

 
pathetic
 

anxiety

 
concerned
 

making

 
shudder
 
conformity
 

culminating

 

lesson


brought

 

destiny

 

Neipperg

 

swiftly

 

amorous

 

ignoring

 

reigns

 

realised

 

separates

 

merits


overshadowed

 
greater
 

looked

 

acting

 

changed

 
conditions
 

unquestionably

 
military
 

general

 
stated

factions
 

matchmaking

 
matrimony
 
refused
 

buffeted

 

political

 
independence
 

affections

 
Incidentally
 

conventionalism