NAPOLÉON III (1808-1873)

NAPOLÉON III (1808-1873)

Autograph letter signed « Napoléon » to Édouard Vandal
[Castle of] Wilhelmshöhe, 18 Dec[ember] 1870, 1 p. 1/2 in-8° on laid paper
Embossed with his initial “N” on top left corner, topped with an imperial crown, watermark “CRC”
Two words crossed off by the Emperor
Usual central fold mark

Held captive by Bismarck after the French defeat at Sedan, Napoleon III keeps hope of a return of the Empire

« Mon cher Monsieur Vandal,
On m’a remis hier vôtre lettre dont j’ai été très touché. Je suis heureux par ces temps de diffamations et de d’ingratitudes, de pouvoir compter sur des dévouements comme le vôtre. Je crois comme vous que les événements vont se précipiter et qu’il serait bon que tous mes amis se réunissent en différents points. Je voudrais donc que vous puissiez vous rendre à Genève. Vous y trouverez l’ancien préfet de police qui vous donnera tous les détails de la situation actuelle.
Lorsque vous y serez arrivé faites le moi savoir.
En attendant recevez l’assurance de mes sentiments d’amitié.
Napoléon »

Emperor deposed after the crushing defeat at Sedan on 2 September 1870 against Bismarck’s Prussian armies, Napoleon III was taken prisoner the next day. He left France for good to go to Prussia and be interned at Wilhelmshöhe Castle. He became the fourth French sovereign to be captured on a battlefield. In the following months, Napoleon III heard of the many Bonapartist demonstrations held in several departments and provinces of France, notably in Normandy, Charentes, Limousin and Corsica. He then counted on a possible direct consultation of the people on the nature of the next regime by the French authorities to restore the situation, while the new system of list voting crushed the Bonapartists, who were obliged not only to form a joint list with the monarchists but to do so in a modest rank, which only allowed the return of 20 of their elected representatives out of 675 in the Chamber.
On 1 March 1871, the National Assembly, which had met in Bordeaux, voted for the official deposition of Napoleon III and his dynasty, declaring him “responsible for the ruin, invasion and dismemberment of France”. The deposed emperor was freed by Bismarck on 19 March 1871. He will join his family and friends, exiled in England.

Édouard Vandal (1813-1889) was a State Councillor under the Second Empire from 1861 to 1870, and at the same time a General Councillor of the Bas-Rhin from 1867 to 1870, and remained close to the Emperor after the defeat at Sedan, as this letter shows. Count Vandal then became president of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique from 1871 to 1875.