ess and of enlightenment.
Consequently, she did not fail to further a project whose real aim was
to deal the great republic, then struggling in the throes of civil
war, a decisive stab in the back. She approved of the war with China,
and condescended to enrich her private apartments with the spoils of
the Summer Palace. But her pet project, the one that she had most at
heart, was the war with Prussia. The now historical phrase, "This is
_my_ war," was uttered by her to General Turr soon after the outbreak
of hostilities. And when, an exile and discrowned, she first sought
the presence of Queen Victoria, she sobbed out with tears of vain
remorse, "It was all my fault. Louis did not want to go to war: 'twas
I that forced him to it." Poor lady! bitterly indeed has she atoned
for that unwise exercise of undue influence. The holy crusade of which
she dreamed against the enemies of her Church and of her husband's
throne ended in giving her son's inheritance to the winds.

Nor was her domestic life a happy one. She loved her husband;
and indeed Napoleon III. seems to have possessed a rare power of
attracting and securing the affections of those about him. Few that
came within the influence of his kindly courtesy, his grave and gentle
voice, but fell captive to the spell thus subtly exercised. He made
many and warm personal friends, even among those who were hostile to
his politics and his dynasty. And by three women at least he was loved
with a fervor and a constancy that no trial could shake. One of these
was the Princess Mathilde, his cousin and once his intended wife;
another was Mrs. Howard; the third was his wife. But, like many men
who are much loved, Louis Napoleon was incapable of anything like
genuine and constant love for any woman. His passion for his lovely
empress was as brief as it had been violent. He vexed her soul and
tortured her heart by countless conjugal infidelities. She resented
this state of affairs with all the vehemence of an outraged wife and a
jealous Spaniard. It is said that she once soundly boxed the ears of
the distinguished functionary who filled in her husband's household
the post that the infamous Lebel held during the latter days of the
life of Louis XV. Twice she fled abruptly from the court, unable to
bear the presence of insolent and triumphant rivals, and the ingenuity
of the fashionable chroniclers of the day was taxed to invent
plausible pretexts for her sudden journeys to the Scottish