of the
glorious Empire. Prince Louis Napoleon, the eldest son of King Louis,
disagreed with the idea of his family. He looked upon the Emperor's
son as being an Austrian Prince, imbued with Austrian methods and
policy, and therefore dangerous to the best interests of France. This
Prince went so far as to hail with pleasure the crowning of Louis
Philippe. He died in 1831. In the following year his Imperial cousin
passed on too, and his demise was a great blow to the Bonapartists'
cause, and it well-nigh killed the aged Madame Mere, who had centred
all her hopes in him. Marie Louise announced his death, to his
grandmother and asks her to "accept on this sorrowful occasion the
assurance of the kindly feeling entertained for her by her
affectionate daughter," and here is the cold, dignified, crushing
reply from Madame Mere. It is dictated, and dated Rome, August 6,
1832:--

"Madame, notwithstanding the political shortsightedness which
has constantly deprived me of all news of the dear child whose
death you have been so considerate to announce to me, I have
never ceased to entertain towards him the devotion of a mother.
In him I still found an object of some consolation, but to my
great age, and to my incessant and painful infirmities, God has
seen fit to add this blow as fresh proof of His mercy, since I
firmly believe that He will amply atone to him in His glory for
the glory of this world.

"Accept my thanks, madame, for having put yourself to this
trouble in such sorrowful circumstances to alleviate the
bitterness of my grief. Be sure that it will remain with me all
my life. My condition precludes me from even signing this
letter, and I must therefore crave your permission to delegate
the task to my brother."

Never a word about the lady's relationship to her son or to herself.
Her reply is studiously formal, but every expression of it betokens
grief and thoughts of the great martyr whom the woman she was writing
to had wronged. There is not a syllable of _open_ reproach, though
there runs through it a polite, withering indictment that must
assuredly have cut deeply into the callous nature of this notorious
Austrian Archduchess who had played her son so falsely.

This wonderful mother of a wonderful family seems to have been the
least suspected of political plotting of all the Bonapartists. She
was respected by all, and revered and beloved by many. Crowned