Produced by Clare Graham and Marc D'Hooghe at Free Literature (Images generously made available by the Internet Archive) HIS EXCELLENCY [SON EXC. EUGÈNE ROUGON] BY ÉMILE ZOLA WITH A PREFACE BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY SOLE AUTHORISED ENGLISH VERSION New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1897 CONTENTS PREFACE I. THE CORPS LÉGISLATIF II. RESIGNATION III. MADEMOISELLE CLORINDE IV. AN IMPERIAL CHRISTENING V. PASSION AND MATRIMONY VI. IN RETIREMENT VII. AT COURT VIII. RECALLED TO POWER IX. IN OFFICE X. A TRIP TO NIORT XI. IN COUNCIL AT ST. CLOUD XII. DEFECTION XIII. CLORINDE'S REVENGE XIV. TRANSFORMATION NOTES PREFACE We live at such high speed nowadays, and the Second French Empire is already so far behind us, that I am inclined to place _Son Excellence Eugène Rougon_ in the category of historical novels. In some degree it certainly belongs to another class of fiction, the political novel, which in Great Britain sprouted, blossomed, and faded away contemporaneously with the career of Benjamin Disraeli. But, unlike Disraeli's work, it does not deal with theories or possibilities. Whatever political matter it may contain is a record of incidents which really occurred, of intrigues which were matured, of opinions which were more or less publicly expressed while the third Napoleon was ruling France. In my opinion, with all due allowance for its somewhat limited range of subject, _Son Excellence Eugène Rougon_ is the one existing French novel which gives the reader a fair general idea of what occurred in political spheres at an important period of the Empire. It is a book for foreigners and particularly Englishmen to read with profit, for there are yet many among them who cherish the delusion that Napoleon III. was not only a good and true friend of England, but also a wise and beneficent ruler of France; and this, although his reign began with bloodshed and trickery, was prolonged by means of innumerable subterfuges, and ended in woe, horror, and disgrace.