SGB Chapter 349

## Chapter 349: Napoleon’s Direct Relatives

Night had fallen, and Louis Bonaparte, after a busy day, returned to the Golden Lion Inn in a carriage.

Due to his sensitive status, he wasn’t assigned to deal with the Liverpool City Council and the Port Authority like Arthur, instead, he was tasked with supervising the cholera prevention efforts.

It was unclear whether the £200,000 Liverpool city renovation project was having an effect, or if the various departments in Liverpool were feeling guilty about Arthur’s assassination attempt and were making amends in other areas.

In any case, Louis had a good look around today, and the cholera prevention work was being done quite well.

Apart from strictly enforcing the regulations outlined in the “Cholera Prevention Manual,” the Liverpool Health Committee had also painted crowded or dirty areas, and large amounts of lime were being thrown into sewers and drains for disinfection.

Moreover, they were cleverly drawing inspiration from cholera control experiences in India, where it originated.

Hindus often burn resinous substances. Incineration, which produces a strong, pungent, and foul-smelling smoke, is their traditional method of combating diseases or plagues.

In Britain, however, the municipal authorities, under the advice of experienced doctors, replaced resin with asphalt, tar, or sulfur for burning.

Of course, this practice had to be carried out by professionals. A few days ago, the Oxford Health Committee, in an attempt to prevent disease by burning tar barrels, accidentally caused a tragic street explosion.

The Liverpool authorities, extremely sensitive to explosions, were determined to prevent another incident in the city, so they had to grit their teeth and switch from cheap tar to more expensive sulfur.

They were quite clear about when to save money and when not to.

At Arthur’s suggestion, the wells in the cholera outbreak areas were also sealed off, ostensibly for the purpose of investigating the source of the disease.

Several local porter breweries in Liverpool generously took on the responsibility of providing clean and reliable drinking water to residents near the wells. One brewer even excitedly published an infectious speech in the local newspaper:

“We were at a loss during the cholera outbreak. We didn’t know what to do. But when the Health Committee notified the Liverpool Beer Association a few days ago that Liverpool beer seemed to have therapeutic effects, we decided to step up without hesitation. We have become wealthy thanks to this city of Liverpool. Our wealth comes from the public’s recognition of our products. If Commissioner Hastings insists that beer can save Liverpool, then why should we refuse to offer this cure to the citizens of Liverpool? I hereby announce on behalf of the Liverpool Beer Association that all our beers will be sold at half price during the cholera outbreak, and those supplied to the Health Committee for the relief of our poor compatriots will be provided at cost. Fellow citizens, have you lost your jobs due to port isolation? Don’t worry, even if you live in the poorhouse, you can have at least two free beers from the Health Committee every day!”

Although Louis wasn’t very knowledgeable about medicine, he felt that while these brewers were engaging in some false advertising, they did provide a lot of clean drinking water and even proactively donated to the Health Committee’s medical funds. Therefore, there was no need to trouble them.

Besides, there were plenty of people who would be happy to give them a hard time. The clergymen were practically on the verge of losing their minds over the brewers’ “beer cures.” Even before the cholera outbreak, they often listed alcohol consumption as an unforgivable sin in their pronouncements. They always held a relentless attitude towards advertisements that encouraged drinking.

Recently, they had even turned their attention to Arthur, who had closed the wells and provided beer instead.

They mocked the young Scotland Yard detective, calling him a “British royal barrel rolling down from London along the tracks, with a St. Edward’s badge even hanging from the label.”

However, Arthur wasn’t too concerned about the clergymen’s attacks. After all, in this small island of Britain, everyone, from God, Jesus, to the King, was subject to criticism. Not getting scolded would make you seem out of place.

Furthermore, the clergymen were actually right about some things. Drinking to excess wasn’t a good habit. Arthur even found some merit in the clergymen’s other claims.

Putting everything else aside, at least these extremely rigid and long-lived conservative figures were truly worth learning from in terms of their lifestyle.

If the timing wasn’t right, Arthur might even consider supporting their advocacy for the abolition of alcohol, opium, gambling, prostitution, and so on.

But for now, in order for the brewers to generously cooperate with the preventive work, he could only let the clergymen rant in their church announcements for a while longer.

The British royal barrel with the St. Edward’s badge on the label was naturally larger than ordinary barrels, and it could easily hold all the clergymen of Liverpool.

Louis returned to the inn, briefly greeted his colleagues, and headed straight for Arthur’s room on the second floor.

However, before he could knock on the door, he saw Alexandre Dumas swaying past him.

The French胖子 joked playfully, “I advise you not to go in. Maybe the Criminal Investigation Department’s healthcare budget for this year is still overflowing.”

“Huh?” Louis raised an eyebrow, a strange smile playing on his lips. “No way. Has Arthur picked up Liverpool habits so quickly?”

Dumas shrugged. “How do you know he picked it up in Liverpool? Maybe it’s a London habit. Working for the government really makes people corrupt. The speed at which it corrupts is almost like hell. Look at our Hastings detective. If his supporters knew what he’s become, I wonder how disappointed they would be.”

Louis just laughed in response. “Come on, Alexandre. Byron, Paganini, these people’s private lives are far more chaotic than Arthur’s. I told you, a brilliant artist who can write books and play music can’t possibly be too neat in matters of the heart. It’s not a scandal, after all, he didn’t sell himself as pure, and people appreciate him for his talent.”

With a playful smirk, Louis gently pushed open the door. “Let me see, it should be over by now?”

But the situation in the room was clearly disappointing.

A sofa, a desk, a tea set, a chair. Everything in the room was normal, except for the inexplicable absence of a coffee table.

Perhaps there were some anomalies in the room, but Louis, after being exposed to the smell of sulfur for an afternoon, couldn’t tell if there were any strange scents in the room that shouldn’t be there.

Arthur, who was reading, looked up at the door. “Alexandre, Louis, you two are just in time.”

“Hmm? What’s up?”

They walked over to the desk, familiar with the routine. Louis poured a cup of tea while Dumas directly picked up the plate with snacks.

“Oh?” Before Arthur could speak, Dumas, with his keen eyesight, noticed the book in his hand. “Napoleon’s biography? I didn’t expect you to be interested in this kind of book.”

Louis, upon hearing the title, couldn’t help but take a closer look at the cover. He shook his head with a sneer. “These biographers are all making things up. Some of them have never even met Napoleon. How much of what they write can be considered factual? Arthur, if you want to learn about Napoleon, you’d be better off asking me directly.”

Arthur closed the book. “Of course I know you’re much more reliable than a biographer. And this book wasn’t bought by me, it was left by a lady who came to see me today.”

“Oh… a lady…”

Louis’s eyes changed. He smiled and said, “Is she a fan of Napoleon? That’s actually quite normal. Many ladies admire powerful men like Napoleon. After countless centuries, the world finally has a successor to Caesar and Alexander the Great. So it’s normal for ladies to have a preference for him. You know, although there are still many ladies who admire him now, it’s still far fewer than when he was alive.”

Arthur, holding his teacup, asked, “I remember that besides Josephine, he also had relationships with many lovely ladies. What was his first love called… Oh! Right, Eugénie. Désirée Eugénie Clary, the daughter of the wealthy French merchant family Clary. Napoleon even wrote her a book called “Clisson and Eugénie,” using a novel to express his love. It sounds quite romantic.”

Louis nodded. “That’s right. My uncle started his rise from Eugénie. Her sister later married my uncle Joseph Bonaparte, becoming the Queen of Naples and Spain. You remember my uncle, right? The one who lives in Regent’s Crescent.”

Arthur nodded slightly. “Sounds complicated.”

“Of course, sorting out the Bonaparte family relationships is very messy.”

Louis said, “But my uncle’s first love was quite important to him. If Eugénie hadn’t secretly given him 98 gold coins, my uncle, as an ordinary little officer, wouldn’t have been able to reach Paris in time. Naturally, there wouldn’t have been the Brumaire coup, and there wouldn’t have been Napoleon Bonaparte I, Emperor of France.”

Arthur asked, “So, Napoleon was a heartbreaker? It seems like after he fell for Josephine, he dumped his first love. However, he always felt guilty about it, so he arranged a promising husband for his first love. And that husband later became the adopted son of King Charles XIII of Sweden, and after gaining power, he turned against Napoleon, leading Sweden to join the anti-French coalition. And Napoleon’s first love, Eugénie, became Queen of Sweden, and her son became the Crown Prince of Sweden? What’s this? A mixture of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Hamlet,” but for ladies?”

Alexandre Dumas burst into laughter. “Perhaps I can write a novel based on this story.”

“Uh…”

Louis didn’t know how to answer this awkward question, so he changed the subject. “That’s all from the last generation. But looking at it now, Eugénie’s fate is definitely better than marrying my uncle. My uncle did many wrong things in his relationships with women. Many of the ladies who had relationships with him were actually quite good. Not just Eugénie, the Polish lady was also very good. My mother said she was a very kind and gentle person, much more tolerant than my grandmother.”

“Your grandmother?”

“Oh…” Louis explained. “You probably don’t know. Napoleon’s Empress Josephine is my grandmother. My mother is the child of Josephine and her previous husband, Alexandre de Beauharnais. She married my father, Napoleon’s fourth brother, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the former King of Holland, at my grandmother’s urging.”

“My God!” Arthur covered his forehead, feigning astonishment. “I thought the mess in Portugal and Brazil was chaotic enough, but the Bonaparte family is also like this?”

“It’s nothing big.”

Louis scratched his nose. “You know, noble affairs are always chaotic. There are too many vested interests involved. To be honest, sometimes I envy ordinary families. At least there’s not as much pretense as in court. I’m not denying… my mother and father’s marriage… wasn’t very happy, but they were both good parents. They just weren’t suitable for each other.”

“Hmm…” Alexandre Dumas, upon hearing this, suddenly had a strange look in his eyes, and his lips twitched.

Arthur looked at him curiously. “Alexandre, what’s wrong?”

“Ah…” Dumas turned his head to the side, pointing to the landscape painting on the wall. “Very nice painting. I didn’t notice it before. The owner of the Golden Lion Inn has good taste.”

Louis, seeing this, glared at Dumas with displeasure. Although Arthur didn’t know why Dumas was laughing, he knew perfectly well.

The胖子 was questioning his bloodline.

Because his mother had a brazen extramarital affair with Count Charles Joseph de Flahaut, rumors spread throughout the streets of Paris – Louis Bonaparte wasn’t a Bonaparte, but his bloodline came from the de Flahaut family.

As for why it was the de Flahaut bloodline, it was because Count de Flahaut had always been considered the illegitimate son of French Ambassador Talleyrand.

Therefore, if this was true, then Louis would be Talleyrand’s grandson.

This was something Louis absolutely could not accept.

It was already painful enough to admit that he wasn’t a noble Bonaparte. If he was also Talleyrand’s grandson, he would have to jump into the Thames River and kill himself.

To this end, young Louis had repeatedly questioned his mother about who his father really was.

And his mother’s answer was always reassuring. He was a noble Bonaparte.

But even though that was what she said, the bloodline issue was always a knot in his heart.

He also often compared portraits of his father and uncles, trying to find similarities, but sadly, he did resemble his mother more.

Arthur also noticed Louis’s emotional change.

Since being released from the prison cell by Scotland Yard, this was the first time he had noticed the young man becoming so dejected.

To take care of his emotions, Arthur could only suppress his curiosity and steer the conversation back to the main topic.

“You just mentioned Napoleon’s lover, the Polish lady. Is she doing well?”

Louis, seeing Arthur asking, had to put aside the unpleasant matter for the time being. “Madame Marie Walewska was indeed a very gentle woman, and her fate was far more bitter than my uncle’s first love. If I remember correctly, she was from the Polish noble family of Raczyńska, and she was married off to Count Swałewski, who held a high position in Poland, just after she came of age…”

“Isn’t that good?”

“If you only look at power, then it’s indeed good.”

Louis said, “But at that time, Count Swałewski was already over 70 years old, while Madame Walewska was only 18. But although Madame Walewska was reluctant, she still upheld her duty as a wife after marriage. When my uncle led his troops to invade Warsaw and fell in love with her at first sight, she refused to violate basic Catholic morality. She refused my uncle’s advances many times.”

Alexandre Dumas was surprised. “Oh, this seems like a lady of integrity. But why did she eventually fall into Napoleon’s arms?”

“Hmm…”

Louis shook his head. “It’s not that she fell into my uncle’s arms, but that the Poles pushed her into Napoleon’s arms. After Poland was partitioned by Prussia, Russia, and Austria, they had been constantly trying to restore the Kingdom of Poland.

Therefore, when those Poles discovered that Napoleon was in love with Marie, they began to send people to persuade her. All the patriots of Poland came out, and they all wrote letters to persuade Marie. They said: ‘If you were a man, you would give your life for your country. As a woman, you can make other sacrifices. Although the sacrifice will be painful, you must force yourself to do so.’

Moreover, Marie’s husband, Count Swałewski, also began to persuade her, and he willingly signed a divorce agreement with her, willingly giving her to Napoleon. From this point on, Marie finally began to accept my uncle.

She lived in Paris and gave my uncle a son. Out of respect for the Poles and Marie, the child was not given the Bonaparte name, but instead took the name of the old count – Walewski. My uncle promised Marie that when Poland was restored, the child would become the King of Poland.

And Marie’s reward for my uncle was a lifetime of unwavering devotion. Even when Josephine was dethroned as Empress and my uncle decided to marry the Austrian princess, she never said a word of complaint or anything out of line. She was truly a very kind and considerate lady, even my mother, who was lively and picky, spoke highly of her.”

Arthur, hearing this, nodded slightly. He opened the cover of “Napoleon’s Biography” and pointed to the name on it. “I understand Marie’s story. But what about her child, the King of Poland? Is he in London now?”

(End of Chapter)