Louis-Napoleon, PRINCE IMPERIAL / Signed Autographed Letter / His Father / Bismarck

  
Handwritten letter signed "Louis-Napoleon" [to Marie Trotter, according to an attached handwritten note] Camden Place, Chislehurst (Kent), March 25, 1871, 1 p. Touching letter, thanking his correspondent for her wishes on his fifteenth birthday - Louis-Napoleon takes the opportunity to give news of his father, Emperor Napoleon III, who had just been released from captivity by Bismarck. "I thank you for this kind letter that you sent me for my birthday, I will treasure it as everything that comes from you. You know how much I love you so I don't need to tell you all that I wish for you.

Thanks to God, the Emperor is now among us, I saw him again in good health and deeply moved, as were we all, by the warm welcome he received from the English nation. Believe, Madam, in my very affectionate feelings." Napoleon III had just been released from his captivity by Bismarck on March 19, 1871, following the crushing defeat of the French troops at Sedan a year and a half earlier. After reuniting with his family at Camden Place, southwest of London, the deposed emperor quickly received numerous prestigious visits, starting with that of Queen Victoria. This warm welcome from the English nation mentioned here contrasts with the fate reserved for the imperial family in France at the same time: On March 1, 1871, the National Assembly meeting in Bordeaux voted for the official deposition of Napoleon III and his dynasty, declaring him "responsible for the ruin, invasion, and dismemberment of France.

" Only six members of parliament voted against. The Emperor, now deposed, protested, accusing the Assembly of overstepping its powers, of substituting its will for that of the Nation, and demanding a plebiscite. However, the Third Republic would have to deal with a much more serious crisis, as the Paris Commune had begun on March 18, a week before this letter was written.

Former collection of Jean-Claude Lachnitt. The Prince Imperial Napoleon IV, ed. J-C Lachnitt, Périn, 1999, p.