Bentley's Miscellany. MALMAISON. A REMINISCENCE OF THE OLD EMPEROR. In the autumn of the year 1848 I left Paris, to seek in the tranquility of St. Germain-en-Laye repose for my spirits, after the terrible events to which I had been an unwilling witness had passed away. I had seen the sack of the Tuileries -the throne carried upside down through the streets-and had listened night after night to the rattle of musketry, and the roar of cannon employed in that worst of scourges-civil war and I was too glad to change the scene. The autumn weather was lovely; they were gathering the vintage from the site of the old gardens of Henry IV., close on the Seine, and from the bank between the river and the celebrated terrace. The whole place is full of the memories of past dynasties, of the said Henry the Bearnais, of the Stuart exile kings, of the grand monarque, of the great Napoleon. About three miles from St. Germain, commanding a view of the sweet vine-clad banks of the Seine, rising up to the aqueduct of Marli, stands Malmaison, on a gentle eminence. I look back with feelings of mingled melancholy and satisfaction to the chance which led me, when I was at St. Germain, to make the acquaintance of General Montholon, the faithful friend and follower, and companion in exile at St. Helena, of the great Emperor. I was introduced by mutual friends to the general and his lady, at a moment when the events in which he was concerned were fixing the attention of all Europe. I was often with them, and thus became cognizant of many matters of importance and excitement, which few of my country people had then an opportunity of knowing. The Bonaparte fortunes began again to rise in the scale of destiny, and the successful canvassing of the faithful friend of the late Emperor gave great hopes that his nephew would attain the minor dignity of President of the French Republic. The evenings I spent at the Montholon villa were full of absorbing interest, being usually alone with the countess when the general returned from Paris. I heard the passing events of the day discussed without reserve. His mornings were devoted to receiving-in the capital-the addresses and deputations which poured in from every quarter to Louis Napoleon. So much did I hear of the prince," that my curiosity began to be much excited about him, never before having entertained an idea of his being anything above mediocrity, either in character or talent, if even he came, up to that. Whatever might have been the faults of General Montholon, he eminetly possessed the refined and polished manners of the French nobleman of the old school. Constant intercourse with the great world, as companion to the Emperor, had sharpened a naturally acute intellect, and endued it with a singular power of penetrating the motives and capabilities of his fellow-men. I could not explain to myself how such a man could have been so far deluded by Louis Napoleon as to embark with him in his mad decent upon Boulogne. Still less could I account for the apparent certainty he seemed to entertain of the ultimate success which would attend the prince's competition for the presidentship, against the tried and approved Cavaignac. One night, as we were discoursing unreservedly on the "signs of the times," I summoned courage to ask, point blank, what kind of person Louis Napoleon really was, boldly adding, that the rash adventures in which he had been engaged rather led me to the conclusion of his being an ambitious, but a very weak man. That he was ambitious the general did not deny, but with regard to his being weak, he kept repeating, in answer to my remark, "Point du tout-point du tout, je vous assure c'est un homme de moyens." He then went on to explain how he had cultivated and developed his talents to a high degree during his long imprisonment at Ham, of which he and madame had both been the sharers.* I could not refrain, however, from expressing once more my doubts as to the soundness of his judgment, whatever his In consequence of this imprisonment the general lost a fortune, which, at the death of his mother, he would have inherited. Being dead in law, because of his imprisonment, the fortune passed away to the next heir. talents might be. The general mused for a moment, and then said decidedly, "Je ne dis pas qu'il soit un homme comme son oncle, mais cependant c'est un homme de moyens, un homme d'une grande fermeté de volonté. et d'un courage qui ne connait pas la peur." How often since have these words come back to my mind! My evident scepticism made Madame Montholon smile, and when wishing me good-night, she said, in allusion to the discussion, "Well, then, you must come and judge for yourself. As soon as the prince reaches Paris he will, probably, come out here to pay me a visit; you must join our dinner-party, and meet him en petit comité, when people are always seen in the truest light." Accordingly, a few days after Louis Napoleon arrived in France, I received the following note from Madame Montholon, written hurriedly, just as she was setting off to Paris: "MY DEAR MISS R,-Entre nous, I am going to propose to the prince to return with us to-day. As you wish to see him, perhaps you will take your chance of his doing so, The worst that can happen to you will be to dine alone with us. and dine with him and ourselves. "Yours truly, "S. C. DE M." I was doomed to disappointment in this natural piece of curiosity. That morning, in the Chamber of the National Assembly, a disturbance occured of a nature that obliged Louis Napoleon to remain all day in Paris; and thus I lost the only chance of coming in close contact with a man about whom I had heard so much, and whom I longed to meet, in order to venture an opinion as to the part he was likely to play on the great theatre of European events. I never saw him until he was emperor; returning from the camp of Honvault into Boulogne, he and our late Prince Consort were riding side by side, engaged in easy and smiling discourse. ation and politeness, offered to escort me thither, being one of the privileged few, who had admission at pleasure. Accordingly we went next day. On approaching the former abode of the repudiated empress, I confess I was considerably disappointed, both by its style and magnitude; but all this was quickly forgotten; my attention was soon enchained by objects of intense interest, connected with the present and the past. An infirm and dejected-looking manservant, not over and above well dressed, came eagerly forward to open the gate for us, exclaiming as he did so, "Mon général! oh, mon général mais que je suis heureux de vous voir." The old nobleman greeted the vieux serviteur quite as cordially as he was received by him, though in a manner less demonstrative. They conversed a little together about changes that had taken place, and then the general, turning towards us, said with a faint smile, "Le pauvre diable was one of the dramatis personæ in the last great scene enacted here, which you are about to see represented on canvas, where he and I figure in the youth, and any good looks we possessed, thirtythree years ago." After loitering awhile in the grounds before the house, we entered it, and, preceded by our ancient escort, were ushered into the first reception-room, where, on the wall just facing the door, was placed the painting above mentioned, containing a group of eight or ten persons, likenesses from life, ranged round the figures of Napoleon and Queen Hortense, whom he was in the act of embracing, before bidding her and France an eternal farewell.. Under no other circumstances have I ever been so forcibly struck by those changes which impress the reflecting mind with the transitoriness of all worldly things, as on this occasion. On the canvas before us appeared General Montholon and our guide in the zenith of life In the course of conversation at din--though represented in a moment of ner, on the day in question, Malmaison agitation amounting to despair, yet happened to be mentioned, and on my those manly countenances were unexpressing regret that I had never seen the interesting residence of Josephine, which, having been purchased by Queen Christina, could only be visited by permission of the Spanish ambassador; General Montholon, with his usual consider touched by the corroding influences of prolonged sorrow. Beside me stood the living individuals, withered and broken down, not only by the pressure of accumulated years, but by the consuming effects of care and disappoint ment. I thought that little else in the mansion had a chance of calling forth emotions of similar interest, but in this I was mistaken. On leaving the pictureroom, we proceeded to survey the other apartments; there was not one of them which did not conjure up to the mind of his faithful follower some vivid reminiscences of what had taken place on the last eventful visit of the dethroned emperor. He hurried from chamber to chamber. "Here was the state apart ment in which the emperor had sought repose on the night previous to his departure. Here was the room which he himself had occupied, and here Bertrand had slept." Then he bewildered himself as to the various chambers which had been occupied by the rest of the small band of fugitives, and walked backwards and forwards from one to another, endeavoring to recal things more distinctly to his mind. This awakened the remembrance of much that had been said by different persons during those agonized hours which preceded the fatal one that banished them so many years from France. As the train of painful recollections rose thick and fast in this retrospect of bygone times-like the forms of the dead which come in the agitated slumbers of fever, flitting dimly before the mental vision-the old nobleman's countenance and manner became more clouded and perturbed, and I felt glad when we at last left the house and entered the pleasure-grounds behind it. He walked quickly, until we reached an alley near the entrance. "It was here," he said, mournfully, "that the emperor paced up and down for a few minutes previous to his departure." "Ay!" exclaimed he, excitedly, as if stung by some remembrance, "it was just on this spot that he stopped to say something to me aside, when about to get into the carriage which was to take him away for ever." After this he became silent, and we walked on farther into the wood; but soon he stopped suddenly. "Let us go home," he said, "for all is changed here quite changed; boundaries close one in on all sides, and everything has become contracted and circumscribed." This remark was strictly true as regarded the pleasure-grounds, which had been reduced to a much smaller compass, and in truth contained little to admire, either as to space or beauty. After we returned to St. Germain, I remained to dine with my kind friends. Among many scenes of varied excitement which I have passed through during my life, I have never spent a day so filled with themes of absorbing interest. Persons, entirely apart from my country and sphere, associated with a man whose name had once filled Europe with terror, seemed to rise before me, living and true-the present receded— and the great emperor and his train came up from the gulf of the past and filled the mind with an intense apprehension of their presence and reality. Not much was said during dinner while the servants were present, but when we returned to the drawing-room the floodgates of memory re-opened, and the tide of recollections continued to flow on, until the hour arrived when I had to take my departure. The excitement experienced by the old general in his visit of the morning caused a revulsion in his feeble frame, which created a feeling of extreme chilliness, and although in reality it was a mild autumn evening, he shivered with cold, and had a fire lighted -one piece of wood after another he kept throwing into the grate, until the flame became quite a great blaze, and then placing himself in front, on a musicstool, with his back turned to the fire, he continued holding forth to madame and to me about various singular occurrences and conversations that had taken place at St. Helena, more freely than he would probably have done with other people and under other circumstances. He dwelt much on the indescribable spell that bound all those who approached the emperor, whose name he never mentioned without a degree of emotion, amounting almost to tenderness. endeavored distinctly to portray his personal appearance, vividly describing the marble stillness of his countenance in a state of repose-the wonderfully piercing expression of his eye, when excited to attention by any person or thing-his sternness of demeanor towards those whom he either disliked or suspected. All this he ably contrasted with his perfect suavity among his friends, the lighting up of his features when awakened He into gaiety, and the singular fascination of his smile in addressing those to whom he was attached. "His power was irresistible!" exclaimed he, with animation; "where he bestowed his love it was impossible not to return it with intensity and devotion. Ney was a proof of the empire he gained over the affections of others, and I, whom he honored by calling me his son-I"-the old man's voice trembled in the singular conclusion of the sentence-"I loved him, as if he had been a woman." Nearly fifteen years have passed away since that interesting day, and many extraordinary changes have taken place which at the time were not anticipated, while others, more natural and more likely to happen, have strangely failed of being accomplished. General Montholon has followed his beloved master to the grave, and Louis Napoleon sits on the throne of France, which it is even possible he might not have attained without the skilful management and unwearying exertions of his uncle's old friend, whose devotion to the Bonaparte family proved his strongest principle of action, and but too truly showed itself as the mainspring of a long life. How completely this is recognized by the French nation may be easily imagined, for in naming the subject of the old general's faithfulness among themselves, they term it in words, perhaps more expressive than elegant, "la fidélité du chien." Bentley's Miscellany. TWO DAYS IN BATAVIA. Ar length the spice-breathing verdant coasts of Sumatra and Java emerged from the azure waves. Our frigate, the Gertrude, sailed into the Straits of Sunda. and proudly passed, with dilated canvas, one island after the other, perfect emeralds upon the sapphire-hued waters. There was great rejoicing on board, for we two hundred beings had been packed together like herrings quite long enough. The bay of Batavia, too, opened before us, a magnificent verdure-begirdled, almost circular basin, thronged with vessels belonging to all nations. When the anchor had been dropped, the troops on board our ship-for we had on board a fresh supply of recruits-were permitted to choose their own dinner, in honor of the festive occasion. A majority of votes decided for boiled potatoes and butter, and all set to work peeling the former in excellent spirits. An officer of health came on board, and granted our ship free intercourse with the surrounding ships and land. The excitement among the soldiers is momentarily augmented, for we have reached the land of wonders, and something strange must be at once discovered. The guard-ship sends a midshipman to inquire about passengers, landing, the length of passage, and any remarkable incidents. So soon as the report has been made, a boat is lowered from our frigate, and the captains, naval and military, go ashore, protected by an awning from the sun's heat. Native boats, of every sort and size, and filled with brown and yellow men, only covered as to the hips, and impelled by sails or peculiarly-formed paddles, flock upon all sides of the ship, and offer fruit and rice cakes for sale. Though they are forbidden coming on board, a lively trade is carried on. They hand up the wares in, baskets fastened to poles, and receive the value in exchange. Broken Dutch words and rapidly-learnt Malay figures and intimations facilitate the barter. The soldiers, not listening to the warnings of their officers, eagerly clutch at the unknown refreshment, at the pisang, the Nanka Wolandra, the Rambutan, and the pine-apples, and still more eagerly swallow their refreshing meat and cooling juice. The sellers ask for bread, an article they highly esteem. There is an abundant and superfluous supply in the bread-chest. It is fetched up in caps and buckets, and handed to the Malays and Chinese. They give in exchange for it whatever they think proper, and the troops, who are in no way interfered with, accept anything. As is natural, owing to the hurry and crowding, sundry biscuits fall into the water. At the same instant a huge caiman rises, several sharks come up with a golden green flash, and quarrel over the dainty morsels. The native boats put back with shouts and clamor. The soldiers have tasted the fruits of the country, and have now also seen some of its living creatures. latter beat almost audibly: all their energies seem to be concentrated in their eyes. The matting sails are slowly lowered, and one prahu after the other is pulled up to land. The troops leap ashore without bidding, feel firm ground under their staggering legs, stare at one another, can not understand their feelings, for they al feel intoxicated, and do not know whether to laugh and shout or to look serious. The awaiting officers give their newlyarrived comrades a hearty welcome : there are beakers full of sparkling wine, and a hearty, cheerful welcome in the land of the sun. The troops, after some trouble, are drawn up in two lines, and a freshly-baked loaf and half a bottle of wine are given to each man. They hastily swallow what they have unconsciously accepted. They have not the will and patience to eat and swallow. They are occupied with waking dreams. They stare around in amazement and doubt, as if all they see around them must suddenly disappear. They feel strange themselves in this strange entourage, in this realized world of fairy tales. The troops are urged by the noncommissioned officers to get ready for landing. One after the other arrives on deck, fully equipped and loaded, just as they quitted Harderwyk. All are in that cheerful temper with which men leave a prison, within whose bare walls they have been confined for three months. The drum beats for dinner, but the hitherto prevailing regularity is unheeded. The master bakers still try to give orders, but the lads consider their duties at an end. The fruit has stilled the appetite, and the longing to land overpowers every other feeling. The cook and his assistants grumble because their duties endure to the last moment, and are in return favored with far from flattering sobriquets, which the soldiers have learned from the sailors. From the shore arrive three large Malay prahus, with low bulwarks, each with a mast and an enormous matting sail they are the boats to land the troops, say the sailors. The troops rush to the side of the frigate turned towards the shore, while the sailors let down the At length they march off, with drums side-ladder. There is a constant row in front, into the Queen of the East, going on, for the sailors, either undesign- along the streets, on either side of which edly or through native roughness, upset stand palaces, half in the European, half every soldier who gets in their way. in the Oriental style, once the abodes of Without awaiting orders or keeping any the most golden splendor, and the most discipline, the troops.rush down the lad- luxuriant enjoyment of life, now magader into the prahu, which is pushed off zines and offices, where the merchant sits just as it appears in danger of sinking and cogitates, to whom the whole earth from overcrowding. A second takes its is merely a draught-board, with ships for place, and then the third: the officers counters; and, farther on, the new Bahave no occasion to see whether any one e tavia of the parks and porticoed villas, remains behind, for all are too anxious where the pallid European wife and the to escape from the cage. Last of all, the hot-blooded creole adorn themselves with officers descend in their turn, the only jewels, and are almost continually slumpersons who bid farewell to the crew. bering in order to awake again for wild passion, comparable in beauty to the first woman who issued from the Creator's hand-when at rest, gaily glistening snakes, but in their passion blood-sucking tigers. And there is the "Great House," the centre of the government, and in front of it the defiant lion of the Netherlands, which once drove the English up the Thames; and on all sides is a gleaming glory of plants and flowers; and here and there the heavy-horned buffalo; and along the road half-naked, barefooted brown men and women, carrying fruit and edibles in baskets hanging from long There is a short trip across the roads, during which all eyes gaze savagely at the caimans which cross the track, and then the prahus enter the river on whose banks Batavia is built. On the right and left are forts, with menacing cannon. And then come buildings, overshadowed by palm-trees, exotic plants of the most enormous dimensions, and beneath them the most extraordinary human beings, in waving garments and with flashing eyes. And lastly there is a quay built of bricks, and a group of officers upon it, gazing at the new arrivals, The hearts of the |