Dear Sirs;
Today is a day of mourning. A giant passes, and the lessers squabble like vultures.
Yours somberly,
R-g. de Baie.
Well, I can see that all my readAARs are as divided as the Louisianais Senate. That's a good sign that my scenario had at least an element of plausibility to it
The Opinions of those Supporting a Monarchy:
Damn, he died again.
The dynasty has not ruled enough, do not let it end now!
Yours, Enewald
Dear Sir:
First of all...WHY!!!!!!!!!! Poor Napoléon. He should have lived many long years without his incarceration in St Helena...He can't have died without making some grandiose improvement of Louisiane!
But now...Napoleon II is the only logical choice the empereur could have made.
Yours,
General Hoth
ps: a small typo: it's Marie Louise, not Marie Thérèse.
Dear Gen. Hoth,
Napoleon probably would have lived longer without the poor conditions on St Helena. But...given that the New Orleans swamp is probably not very healthy either, and that he died of stomach cancer, this seemed appropriate. I also wanted to make sure he didn't dominate the AAR. There are new pastures to move on to!
Thanks for the correction!
Dear Sir
Is this not a good opportunity for us to put the troubles of the Revolution behind us and bring back a monarch form the house of Bourbon. They would of course have to accept the authority of the elected senators in the making of laws and approval of the budget.
On a separate matter, thank you to your technical correspondants for their advice. I will endeavour to restrict the number of readers (and hence bandwidth used) of the aforesaid
family history by not writing anything too interesting.
Yours faithfully
Mr A Alfredian
Dear M. Alfredian,
A Bourbon restoration? That's a novel idea, and one I hadn't even considered. The Mexicans are about to offer their crown to Ferdinand VII (which he'll refuse), so it's not all that far-fetched. Maybe in another universe!
Dear Sir,
Only a personification of order and justice, crystallised in Emperor Francois can save us from the turmoil of "Democracy", and it is imperative that Francois should sail for his Republic at once!
Yours,
Mssr. S. Phalanxia
I can only say the past few updates have been amazing, but the last update his me a little irked (though in a playful style). If the Prince Imperial is crowned the Emperor Lousiana, it is not the same as my Prince Imperial who is the Emperor of the French, Protector of the Italians, etc...
Good updates and I really do like the AAR, especially the newspaper updates that offer a lot of additional tidbits of information. Truly glad I accepted an ambitious project into Writing with the StAARs.
Thanks for your kind works, TeckoR! Don't worry, the Napoleon II of my timeline is a different character altogether to yours. I think M. Phalanxia may be disappointed!
Dear Sir;
I believe the best course of action would be to elect a man of skill that could lead Louisiane to greatness to the station of Lord Protector. A person that would prepare the nation for the inevitable return of the Bonapartes. Among such people would be none other than Jean Lafitte, Jacques Villere or perhaps one of the late Empereurs veteran soldiers? In any case, I support Joseph Bonaparte for the throne. We need an experienced patriot to be emperor, not a germanised youngster.
Yours,
Mr Gabriel Valjean
Wow! You're really not flagging in your support for Captain Lafitte, are you? I think the shipping community of Lousiana and the US might not share your enthusiasm.
Your assessment of the youngest Napoleon is shared by many. His only real qualification is birth.
The calls for a 'True Republic':
Dear Sir,
The Emperor is dead! Long live the Republic!
Now that Bonaparte has died the people of Louisiana have no need to appoint a new tyrant, they have nothing to gain from it. Do not listen to the Bonapartists! Bonapartism (ie the Populist Militarist Monarchism) can only succeed in a situation in which the autocrat is both politically agile enough to be in tune with the people and strong enough in military affairs to ensure that he can bring the victories that are demanded from a militarist society and regime. The King of Rome is none of these things. He is a young boy, being used by Bonapartist politicans for their own gain.
Let the Republic be proclaimed. Long Live Lousiana!
Yours, Tommy4ever
The King of Rome's youth are both an attraction and a repulsion for the Republicans - why have a monarch if he's going to be near-useless? On the other hand, he could make the perfect puppet for the liberals' own interests.
Dear Sirs
Is it not true that the fair land of Loisianne enjoys self government to this day only because it was designed as a single man's prison? Is also not true that this man is now dead, and his story is now for historians and memoirists to tell? and that while we debate on the effete trappings of monarchy, our guarantors debate our future?
Let us not fool ourselves. When Bonaparte emerged, he was given the duty to protect the patrie and the Revolution. When he became encharmed by titles and sceptres and crowns, he lost his path and his mission. When he proclaimed the freedom of the peoples of Europe, thrones trembled and empires collapsed. When he put in charge of those same peoples his incompetent relatives and generals, the same men who now have been proposed as new rulers of our fair country, men who hid their insignificance behind long names and fake credentials of nobility, his own throne trembled and his own empire collapsed. For, like the hero of old, whose strength came when his feet touched his mother the earth, Bonaparte had his power not from his genious nor from his "imperial" heritage, but from the contact with the people of France and their Revolution. A contact he terminated, when he betrayed that revolution.
From the forests of the North to the swamps of its utter South, this land doeas not bode well for thrones and monarchs. Let us declare a Republic now, in order not only to defend the recent achievements of our people, but to stay on goood terms with at least one power, and one with the greatest stake at our perseverance or distruction, namely the United States of America. With patriots in Italy and Spain rising in arms to reclaim the freedoms they have been promised, and Greece, cradle of civilization but also of freedom and democracy, revolting against its Ottoman tyrannts, this is not the time to go back. If the sparks of revolution become a fire, then Europe will once again be showing a friendly face to Loisianne. If not, then we will be best posited to profit from its freest thinkers and bravest soldiers.
And then we can eradicate the plague of slavery in our own soils.
with regards most sincere,
D. de Salvator
Dear Sir
I agree wholeheartedly with Fadi_Efendi. It is time for a republic to emerge. The very fact that future of Louisiana hangs in the balance because of one man's passing should prove that monarchy is not the way. We cannot tie our fate to the fickle health of a single man. More importantly than even this, the United States is indeed on our border, and what a border it is. We share one of the world's longest with the Americans, and that alone should make us wary of being too fervent in our desire to distinguish ourselves from them, lest they decide to make us admit our similarities by the barrel of the gun.
Sincerely,
Robert Bobbington, recent immigrant from across the border I speak of
Relations with the US are foremost in everyone's mind. Even GB is less of a threat than the very close Americans. Thankfully, their opinion of the Bonapartes is not as hostile as London's, although most in Washington would certainly despise a return to 'Bonaparte Monarchism'. I think an absolute Emperor is out of the question, for sure.
On Slavery
slavery? Isn't slavery already abolished? In real life, he abolished it in 1815 during the 100 days. In know there were no 100 days but he planned to do it since 1813.
Since the Haiti revolt has been supressed, I was just guessing that slavery is still allowed.
Haiti was a special, if hypocritical, case. It's illegal almost everywhere else.
Unfortunately, slavery still persists in the new Republic. It was one thing for Napoleon to bow to liberals and abolish the slave trade in 1815 in OTL, but the situation here is quite different. From my own research, not only did St Domingue (Haiti) have slaves before its revolution, but Martinique and Guadeloupe did not pass emancipation laws until 1848, and the Louisiana territory contained slaves in 1803. All told, in 1836, at the game's start, slaves make up something like 53% of all inhabitants (including the Indians in Upper Louisiana)! Given the importance of the plantations to the economy, there's going to be a hard fight to give up the institution...
