M. Imbert de St. Amand furnishes in his volume on the epoch of Napoleon III a brilliant and variegated review of The Court of the Second Empire during the years 1856-1858 -- the three years of peace and pomp and greatness at home and abroad that separated the Crimean from the Italian war. These were the happiest years of the Empress, the most auspicious ones of the Emperor. The little Prince Imperial had been born, success and military glory had reconciled the whole nation to its ruler, the country was prosperous, and Napoleon III was the central and most important figure in international politics. At this time, M. de St. Amand tells us, he was a man of action, not the idle dreamer he has been so often represented to be: the broken-down, sick victim of destiny of 1870 cannot be traced in the successful ruler of 1856. He is a later, an entirely different creature. All the brilliant events of the three years covered by the book are described with M. de St. Armands well-known vivid coloring. The baptism of the heir to the throne, the coronation of the Czar, at which Morny played so important a part, the visit of the Prince of Prussia, who was to return again to the great exposition, and to receive Napoleons sword at Sedan, the visit to Queen Victoria -- all are sketched with the brilliancy they evoke. Then follow the attempt of Orsini, and, finally, the tour in Brittany. The author furnishes clear pictures of Morny, Persigny, and Cavour, amongst others, and leaves the reader at the end of the book with a profound impression of the brilliancy of that period, when not a cloud had yet appeared upon the horizon, and Bismarcks eye was still turned apprehensively towards Austria as the hereditary foe of Prussia. Like its predecessors, the book is well provided with portraits.
--The Book Buyer, Vol. 18
