Hortense muss sich dem Tod ihres Sohnes stellen, während sie versucht, ihren anderen zu retten.
This is the story of how Hortense Bonaparte’s sons were lured into an unwinnable revolution, by the lever of their good intentions, which resulted in the death of her beloved son, Napoleon Louis.
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On the day of my arrival in Pesaro, they came to tell me that the Austrians were advancing, that the retreat was going to be through Ancona, and that the Bologna authorities had already passed to go there.
Would you believe, in this great misfortune which overwhelmed me, that it was still necessary to admit that it could be even more appalling.
It was almost to be congratulated that this disease, so acute, that this inflammation of the chest had swept away my poor child so suddenly!
Otherwise, to save him from the Austrians, we would have had to put him dying in a carriage, and that he would’ve felt in the midst of the anguish of death, the powerlessness to act, and the fear of defeat and slavery!
His brother, who had not left him, would no doubt have been taken with this inanimate body. This is the height of the misfortune with which I was threatened, if the Austrians had entered two days earlier, as they had announced they would in their diplomatic notifications.
Instead, my poor child could still dream, while dying, of the success of the cause he had embraced.
The entire city of Forli attended his funeral. This place made it a priority to show its regrets and to take him to a chapel, where he was left until his father came to retrieve his body.
The next day, it was in the power of the enemy. It would be easy to think that my misfortune was so complete, that I could not imagine a greater one.
My strength was exhausted: in the state I was in, you couldn't think of getting into a carriage, and yet you had to flee.
The prefect of Pesaro asked to speak to me. “The Austrians are advancing," he said, "and, moreover, we see sails in the Adriatic, which can land troops on the coast of Sinigaglia.”
So there was no longer a possible safe place for me, and I still had a son to save!
Electrified by this idea, courage is reborn; I ask for horses, and I am carried in time by a carriage. I arrive at night in Fano and the next day in Ancona.
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C’est l’histoire de la façon dont les fils d’Hortense Bonaparte ont été attirés dans une révolution impossible à gagner, par le levier de leurs bonnes intentions, qui a entraîné la mort de son fils bien-aimé, Napoléon Louis.
Dies ist die Geschichte, wie die Söhne von Hortense Bonaparte durch den Hebel ihrer guten Absichten in eine nicht gewinnbare Revolution gelockt wurden, die zum Tod ihres geliebten Sohnes Napoleon Louis führte.
