THE PLIGHT OF EUGENIE. 301 a sweet and gentle child, with more likeness to his mother than to his father. On that occasion the throne-room of the Louvre was crowded with the great officers of state, of the army, and of the imperial household, who made their obeisance to the child. Five years later he was a cadet in the English military school at Woolwich. There he was studious and virtuous, and seemed oppressed with his im- perial birth and destiny. He was a Napoleon — he might yet be an Emperor. When he reached manhood, still frail and delicate, yet with a determined spirit in a gentle soul, he longed for an opportunity to prove that he too belonged to a race of heroes. He longed to practice that game of war which he had studied. He could not do so in Europe — he could not enlist in the army of France, for its government would not allow him, and he dared not fight against the flag which represented his country. But afar in Africa there was a war against savages, and in it he found his opportunity. His feelings are shown in some letters which have been published : " I desire to dispel the doubts which have on some occasions been manifested con- cerning the energy of my will. . . . When one belongs to a race of warriors, it is only with the steel in your hand that you can prove what you are." So the little Prince, with soul too great for his delicate body, went forth to meet his fate — so different from his dreams. Lord Chelmsford, the English commander, was charged to take special care of the adventurous knight. Nobody believed that there was any real danger. But in his first encounter with the Zulus, the Prince was separated from his companions, and fell under the spears of the ruthless savages. He, the least warlike of the Bonaparte family which had deluged Europe with blood, was the only one to fall on the field of battle. His will shows how difficult it is for a family that has once tasted power to accept the common lot, or even to believe that they are unnecessary.
