The object of this war is to restore Italy to herself, and not to cause her to change masters. We shall then have, upon our frontiers, a friendly people who will also owe to us their independence.On the 10th of May the emperor, after having appointed the Empress Eugenie regent during his absence, and having solemnly confided her and also their son to the valor of the army, the patriotism of the national guard, and to the love and devotion of the entire nation, was prepared to leave the Tuileries for his Italian campaign. It was five o'clock in the afternoon of a beautiful May day. The carriage of the emperor, an open barouche, stood before the grand entrance of the palace. A brilliant retinue of carriages, filled with the military household of the emperor, was also in line in the court-yard. A mounted squadron of the
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persons attempted to break open the door of the shattered vehicle, Eugenie, supposing them to be the assassins, with their poniards in their hands, then herself before the emperor, that with her own body she might protect him from the dagger-thrusts.
Before this attempt at assassination Eugenie was greatly beloved by all France.
But the heroism which she manifested on this occasion added to that love emotions of profound homage and admiration.
Even the imperial throne was strengthened by the conviction that the empress was equal to any emergency; and that, should disaster darken upon the empire, as in the past, Eugenie, unlike Maria Louisa, the “daughter of the Caesars,” would develop the imperial nature with which God had endowed her, and would be equal to her responsibilities, however weighty they might be.
On the 3d of May, 1859, the emperor announced to the French people that he was about to leave France, to take command of the army of Italy.
In the announcement he said:
S. M. Betts and Company. Hartford, Conn. 1871.
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