cratic
usurpation, and he demanded the privilege of taking his position, as a
French citizen, beneath the tri-color of France.

No reply was returned to this letter. It is said that the spirit and
energy it displayed magnified the alarm of the king, and increased his
urgency to remove the writer, as speedily as possible, from the soil of
France.

On the 6th of May Hortense and her son left Paris, and proceeded that
day to Chantilly. Travelling slowly, they were four days in reaching
Calais, where they embarked for England. Upon their arrival in London,
both Hortense and her son met with a very flattering reception from
gentlemen of all parties. For some time they were the guests of the Duke
of Bedford, at Woburn Abbey. Talleyrand, who was then French ambassador
at the Court of St. James, with characteristic diplomatic caution called
himself, and by means of an agent sought to ascertain what were the
secret plans and purposes of Queen Hortense.

Several months were passed very profitably in England, and as pleasantly
as was possible for persons who had been so long buffetted by the storms
of adversity, who were exiles from their native land, and who knew not
in what direction to look for a home of safety. While in this state of
perplexity, both mother and son were exceedingly gratified by receiving
from the Canton of Thurgovia the following document, conferring the
rights of citizenship upon the young prince. The document bore the date
of Thurgovia, April 30th, 1832.

"We, the President of the Council of the Canton of Thurgovia, declare
that, the Commune of Sallenstein having offered the right of communal
citizenship to his highness, Prince Louis Napoleon, out of gratitude for
the numerous favors conferred upon the canton by the family of the
Duchess of St. Leu, since her residence in Arenemberg; and the grand
council having afterwards, by its unanimous vote of the 14th of April,
sanctioned this award, and decreed unanimously to his highness the right
of honorary burghership of the canton, with the desire of proving how
highly it honors the generous character of this family, and how highly
it appreciates the preference they have shown for the canton; declares
that his highness, Prince Louis Napoleon, son of the Duke and Duchess of
St. Leu, is acknowledged as a citizen of the Canton of Thurgovia."

The prince, in the response which he made in the name of his mother and
himself, expressed their gratitude for the kindn