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HOMAGE TO COUNT FLORIAN WALEWSKI, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE FONDATION NAPOLEON AND DESCENDANT OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I
The Count Florian Walewski, vice-president of the Fondation Napoléon, died suddenly on 14 September, 2004. He was 67 years old.
Vice-president of the Fondation since 2000, he worked tirelessly for the modernisation of its administration and everyday running. He was particularly appreciated for his wealth of experience, his calm and his good-natured sense of perspective. Distinguished by his very frequent presence at the Fondation Napoléon, he had a great future ahead of him, which everyone looked forward to with great pleasure.
The requiem mass for Count Florian Walewski took place in Paris on 18 Septembre. His body was laid to rest in the cemetery in Iclon, in the Seine-Maritime département.
The Baron Gourgaud, the administrators and staff of the Fondation Napoléon would like to express once again their deeply felt condolences to the Countess Patricia Walewska, her children and grandchildren.
THIS MONTH'S BOOK
Parting the desert: the creation of the Suez Canal, by Zachary Karabell
Parting the Desert, the first book to be published in English on the fascinating story of the building of the Suez Canal since Lord Kinross's detailed study in 1969 (not to mention the McCullough's Path between the seas (1977) and Wilson's The Suez Canal (1977), is a synthesis of the long battle to build the canal.
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO
24 September, 1853, Rear Admiral Febvrier-Despointes officially took possession of Nouvelle-Calédonie in the name of Napoleon III.
In fact an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, Nouvelle-Calédonie or rather New Caledonia was discovered by the explorer, Captain Cook, in 1774, who named it in homage to his father's native country Scotland (Caledonia is another name for Scotland). British and French missionaries (Anglican and Catholic, respectively), undertook the conversion of the Melanesian population, also known as Kanak.
In May, 1864, the French government created a penal colony on the archipelago, to which were 'transported' Algerians (Moslems) and no fewer than 4,500 communards, including the schoolteacher, Louise Michel. By the time the penal colony was dismantled in 1897, more than 22,000 deportees had resided there.
Contemporaneously, an engineer discovered rich seams of nickel on the islands. Free immigrants, particularly from Alsace-Lorraine (a traditionally mining area), moved in to farm the land and to work the mines, and they soon outnumbered the Kanak.
Up until 1998, Kanak supporters of independence kept 24 September as a day of mourning.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
1 Vendémiaire, An XII (24 September, 1803), the decree of nomination to the order of the Légion d'honneur was promulgated: those named, about 2,000 in number, had all previously been awarded Armes d'honneur. The Légion d'honneur had been created on 19 May, 1802.
On the same day took place the last celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the First Republic (1792).
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
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THIS WEEK:
What's on
- Event: Napoleonic days in London
- Exhibition: Napoleon in Brazil
- Exhibition: Art booty in the Napoleonic period. The "French gift" to Mainz, 1803
- Conference: the Napoleonic Association autumn conference
- Exhibition: Bonaparte or Buonaparte
- Theatre: The Emperor's last battle, Shreveport, Louisiana
The monthly titles
- Parting the desert: the creation of the Suez Canal, by Zachary Karabell
- This month's painting, The Salle des Saisons in the Louvre, by Hubert Robert (circa 1802)
- This month's article: Palmerston's follies: a reply to the French 'threat', by Peter Hicks
- In the Collectors Corner, a clock, "Diogenes looking for an honest man", by Claude Galle
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