Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1885 — Napoleon’s Judgment. [ARTICLE]

Napoleon’s Judgment.

It was during the unsettled times that preceded the great French revolution of 1848 that one of Mr. Rogers’ breakfasts was attended by Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, afterward Napoleon III.; Dr. What ely, the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin; Lord Willian Pitt Lennox, the son of the Duke of Richmond, and myself. The talk of the breakfast-table turned a great deal upon French politics and the probability, more or less imminent, of a revolutionary outbreak in Paris, consequent upon the unwise opposition of Louis Philippe and his too obsequious Minister.

In reply to a question I told the Prince that Beranger, who knew the temper and sympathized with the opinions of the people, had predicted the establishment of a republic, consequent upon the downfall of the monarchy, within less than a twelvemonth. Prince Napoleon remarked that “if there were barricades in the streets ot Paris, such as those by which his way to the throne was won in 1830, the King would not give orders to disperse the mob by force of arms.” “Why do you think so?” asked Mr. Rogers. “Ihe King is a weak man, a merciful man. He does not like bloodshed. I often think he was a fool not to have me shot after the affair of Strasbourg. Had our cases been reversed, I know that I would have had him shot without mercy.” I thought little of this remark at the time, but in after years, when the exiled Prince became the powerful Emperor, my mind often reverted to this conversation, and I thought if King Louis Ptylippe had done what the Prince considered he ought to have done—aqd as he would have been fully justifieilFby law, civil and military, as" well as by state policy, in doing—the whole course of European history would have been changed.— Gentleman's Magazine,