Twice before have French sovereigns yielded on the battle-field,
and become prisoners of war; but never before was capitulation so
vast. Do their fates furnish any lesson? At the Battle of
Poitiers, memorable in English history, John, King of France,
became the prisoner of Edward the Black Prince. His nobles, one
after another, fell by his side, but he contended valiantly to the
last, until, spent with fatigue and over-come by numbers, he
surrendered. His son, of the same age as the son of the French
Emperor, was wounded while battling for his father. The courtesy
of the English Prince conquered more than his arms. I quote the
language of Hume:-
"More touched by Edward's generosity than by his own calamities,
he confessed, that, notwithstanding his defeat and captivity, his
honor was still unimpaired, and that, if he yielded the victory,
it was at least gained by a prince of such consummate valor and
humanity. "[Footnote: History of England, (Oxford, 1826,) Cli.
XVI., Vol. II. p. 407.]
The King was taken to England, where, after swelling the triumphal
pageant of his conqueror, he made a disgraceful treaty for the
dismemberment of France, which the indignant nation would not
ratify. A captivity of more than four years was terminated by a
ransom of three million crowns in gold,--an enormous sum, more
than ten million dollars in our day. Evidently the King was
unfortunate, for he did not continue in France, but, under the
influence of motives differently stated, returned to England,
where he died. Surely here is a lesson.
More famous than John was Francis, with salamander crest, also
King of France, and rich in gayety, whose countenance, depicted by
that art of which he was the patron, stands forth conspicuous in
the line of kings. As the French Emperor attacked Germany, so did
the King enter Italy, and he was equally confident of victory. On
the field of Favia he encountered an army of Charles the Fifth,
but commanded by his generals, when, after fighting desperately
and killing seven men with his own hand, he was compelled to
surrender. His mother was at the time Regent of France, and to her
he is said to have written the sententious letter, "All is lost
except honor." No such letter was written by Francis,[Footnote:
Sismondi, Histoire des Francais, Tom. XVI. pp. 241-42. Martin,
Histoire de France, (genie edit.,) Tom. VIII. pp. 67, 68.] nor do
we know of any such letter by Louis Napoleon; but the situation of
the two Regents was identical. Here are the words in which Hume
describes the condition of the earlier:---
"The Princess was struck with the greatness of the calamity. She
saw the kingdom without a sovereign, without an army, without
generals, without money, surrounded on every side by implacable
and victorious enemies; and her chief resource, in her present
distresses, were the hopes which she entertained of peace, and
even of assistance from the King of England." [Footnote: History
of England, (Oxford, 1826,) Ch. XXIX., Vol. IV. p. 51.]
Francis became the prisoner of Charles the Fifth, and was conveyed
to Madrid, where, after a year of captivity, he was at length
released, crying out, as he crossed the French frontier, "Behold
me King again!" [Footnote: Sismondi, Tom. XVI. p. 277. Martin,
Tom. VIII. p. 90.] Is not the fate of Louis Napoleon prefigured in
the exile and death of his royal predecessor John, rather than in
the return of Francis with his delighted cry?