THE DEATH OF THE PRINCE IMPERIAL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5415, 23 June 1879, Page 2

THE DEATH OF THE PRINCE IMPERIAL.

The news of the death of tho Prince Imperial of France, when fighting as a volunteer in tho English ranks at the Cape, will be read with general regret, as ho has, since; tho lasf revolution in France, so identified himself with his adopted country that ho has coiuo to be regarded as a P7'ince of our own royal line. He met his death, not amid the sounding din of battle, contending with his country's enemies, but in an ambuscade of our savage Zulu foe, and the fact that lie was so willing to espouse our cause and fight with our soldiers must have further endeared him to the British nation . His father was England's host friend ; in his adversity he sought a sanctuary with us, and his remaini are interred in English ground. His only eon, the. Prince whose

death We annoiuice to-day, was but a boy When his father became .in exile from France after the Franco-Prussian war, and he was mainly indebted to English public schools for his education.*Narrowly escaping with his 1 life after'tha. disastrous battle of Sedan, 'he .prbssed^ from Ostend to . Dover**; and ,' sinoeV; thai time he lived amongst usj working with 1 ' the sons of our nobles and commoners at the Boyal Military Academy, atWoohvieh . He .showed not a little of the military genius of his great-uncle, Napoleon I, and he' quickly- passed/the highest; examinations in military t "soignee 1 -, . djdali-. fying Mmself, ' when still & mere yoiitli of nineteen) for a commission in either fclto Artillery or Engineers. At the time he left f on the Cape he had just passed his, twenty- third birthday. \ -While he lived quietly at Chislehurst, and showed .no feverish impatience for the crown of his father, there is little doubt that, even if his personal inclinations did not lead him in that direction, hia mother, the devoted but ambitious Eugenic, always looked to hint as the 1 future ruler of France, and Ceaselessly worked, aiid intrigued ,with that end uVyiolW. Round this youth the Impe rialists rallied, aiid did homage as to their sovereign. Now that he is gone the Imperialist cause must have sustained a crushing blow. True, Prince Joseph is left, but the adherents df the late Emperor will never rally round his cousin; Prince Joseph- has never been popular with the Imperialists, and his intrigues to. supplant the Prince Imperial estranged many Avho would otherwise: have been his friends. The sudden and unexpected death of the. .young Prince will work mighty changes in the politics of France. While .the -Imperial party will have lost' their mainstay, it is more than probable that the adherents of the Orleans, family will receive a great.accession of. strength. One of the three contending parties will in all : likelihood disappear from the field, or will be so weakened as to exercise little 1 influence on the course of events, and henceforth the battle will be between the Monarchists and the Republican^