Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/269

BETWEEN THE CZAK AND THE SULTAN. 227 had made him a pretender to the throne of France, chap. his desire to imitate and reproduce the Empire XIV> supplied a point of contact between his theatric mania and what one may call his rational ambi- tion ; and the result was, that so long as he was in exile, he was always filled with a desire to mimic Napoleon's return from Elba, and to do this in his own person and upon the stage of the actual world. In some of its features his attempt at Strasburg in 1836 was a graver business than is commonly supposed. At that time he was twenty-eight years old. He had gained over Vaudrey, the officer commanding a regiment of artillery which formed part of the garrison. Early in the morn- ing of Sunday the 30th of October the movement began. By declaring that a revolution had broken out in Paris, and that the King had been deposed, Vaudrey persuaded his gunners to recognise the Prince as Napoleon II. Vaudrey then caused detachments to march to the houses of the Prefect and of General Voirol, the General commanding the garrison, and made them both prisoners, plac- ing sentries at their doors. All this he achieved without alarming any of the other regiments. Supposing that there really existed among the troops a deep attachment to the name and fam- ily of Bonaparte, little more seemed needed for winning over the whole garrison than that the heir of the great Emperor should have the personal qualities requisite for the success of the enterprise. Prince Louis was brought into the presence of the