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Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10763, 10 May 1911, Page 2

The son of Napoleon 1., the little Roi de Rome, as born at the Tuilleries on tin's day just a century ago, says the London correspondent of the Daily Telegraph on March 20. TVe learn from memoirs of that period that the event was hailed with the greatest enthusiasm. The citizens shouted with joy when they heard the report of the first mm, and they counted each breathlessly until the twenty-second report resounded, announcing the birth oC a boy, and then arose a tremendous cry of "Vive I'Empereur!'' The streets were already crowded. Workmen left their tasks, shops were closed, and such was the enthusiasm that total strangers shook hands with, and even embraced, each other. People sang, danced, and pave cheer after cheer. And the rejoicing all over France was quite as exuberant. The reason for all this excitement was that it was hoped that, now he had a son and heir, Napoleon would !>e content with all the laurels that he had won. and would settle down as a quiet family man. The cradle was the gift of the City of Paris, and nothing was omitted that could confer additional lustre on the auspicious event, old Court archives being ransacked for precedents. Had Napoleon accepted the omen and been satisfied with his conquests, the course of history might have run very differently, and quite another fate might have been reserved for the child whom he loved so- well.