Louis

LOUIS NAPOLtON, whose full name was CHARLES LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, and his titular designation, Napoleon Emperor of the .M.eneh, was b. at Paris, in the palace of the Tuileries, April 20, 1808. He was the third son of Louis Bonaparte, brother of the first emperor. Sec BONAPARTE FAMILY. His birth was ceiebrated with great rejoicings throughout France, as that of an heir to the imperial throne, for by the lavr of succession (dated 28th Floreal, year 12, and 5th Frimaire, year 13), the crown, in default of direct descendants of the emperor himself—and he at that time had none— could be inherited only by the children of two of his brothers, Joseph and Louis. But Joseph was also childless, and the sons of Louis, in consequence, became heirs apparent. After the restoration of the Bourbons, the ex-queen Hortense, mother of Louis Napoleon, went into exile, carrying with her her two sons, Napoleon Louis and Louis Napoleon. Since 1810 she had been separated from her husband. Louis received his early education in the castle of Arenenberg, on the shores of lake Constance, where his mother resided. He was furnished with the best tutors that could be got, and was far from proving a slothful pupil. At the gymnasium of Augsburg, he displayed quite a passion for history and the exact sciences. His love of athletic sports was equally conspicuous: he was one of the best fencers, riders, and swimmers in the whole school. In Switzerland, his incli nation and aptitude for military strategy, especially in artillery and engineering, was first developed. He even served for some time as a volunteer in the federal camp at Thun, and at a later period in his life wrote a .hfanuel d' Artillerie (Zilrich, 1836). In 1830, when an insurrection broke out in the pontifical states, Louis Napoleon and his brother took part in it. The latter died at Forli, and Louis Napoleon himself fell danger. ously ill at Ancona, and was only saved by the tender devotedness of his mother. The Austrian occupation of Ancona forced them to quit the city secretly; they proceeded to France, but their incognito being betrayed, they were expelled by Louis Philippe, after a few days, and crossed over to England, whence they soon retured to Switzerland. Such, however, was the charm of Napoleon's name that the chiefs of Polish insurrec tion offered him, in 1831, the command of their legions, " as the nephew of the greatest captain of all ages," and also the crown of Poland. The capture of Warsaw by the Rus sians, however, put a stop to further proceedings in this matter, and Louis Napoleon once more turned to his silent and somber studies. The death (July 22, 1832) of the duke of Reichstadt, sometimes called Napoleon IL, only son of the first emperor, opened the future to his ambitious hopes; and even his supporters admit that, from this date forward, his whole life, speculative and practical, was devoted ,to the realization of what now became his " fixed idea;" viz., that he was destined to be the sovereign of France. Between 1832 and 1836 he published several works, which not only kept him prominently before the French public, but evoked a considerable amount of political and intellectual sympathy. We may mention his Reveries Politiques; Projet de Constitution; Deux Mots d M. de Chateaubriand ear la Duehesse de Berri (in verse); and Considerations Politz'ques et .11filitaires sur la Suisse. In 1836, believing in the instability of the throne of Louis Philippe, and in the general disaffection of the bourgeoisie, encour aged also by the proofs of vivid attachment to his person displayed by nearly the whole of the democratic party, but, above all, confiding in the grandeur of those memories which his name recalled, he, with a few associates, among whom WRS the comte de Persigny, since better known, made his famous attempt at a coup d'etat at Strasbourg. It was, as the world knows, a ludicrous failure. Louis Napoleon was taken prisoner under humiliating circumstances, and after some days conveyed to Paris; but the gov ernment of Louis Philippe was afraid to bring a Bonaparte to trial—as in such a case it could not rely upon the impartiality of a French jury—and in consequence shipped him off to America. The illness of his mother soon caused bim to return to Europe. He found her dying; two months later, he received her last sighs (Oct. 3, 1837). Although the affair of Strasbourg had naturally- enough caused many people to doubt the talent and particularly the judgment of Louis Napoleon, still Louis Philippe, who was, politi cally speaking, an extremely timid monarch, dreaded some new conspiracy, and, in con sequence, the French government demanded of Switzerland the expulsion of the obnoxi ous prince from its territories, N. Mole actually enjoining the French ambassador to request his passports in case of a refusal. Switzerland was violently agitated, and was almost on the point of going to war for the distinguished refugee (who was, in fact, a Swiss citizen), when the latter resolved to prevent a rupture by leaving his adopted country. He now proceeded to England, and settled in London. With certain mem bers of the British aristocracy, h3 came to live on a footing of considerable intimacy, and there can be no doubt that he was also an object of languid wonder and interest to the community generally, but he impressed nobody with a belief in his future and his genius; nay, Englishmen erred so far as to suppose that the "silent man " was merely " dull." In 1838 lie published in Loudon his Idies Napoleoniennes, which, read in the light of subsequent events, are very significant. Europe generally regarded them as idle dreams; but in France the book went through numerous editions. In 1839 Louis Napoleon was in Scotland, and took part in the celebrated Eglinton tournament. Next

year (1840), taking advantage of the sentiment aroused by the bringing home of the ashes of his uncle from St. Helena, he made another attempt on the throne of France at Boulogne. It was as grotesque a failure as ths one at Strasbourg, and undoubtedly provoked a certain feeling of contempt for its author in the mind of the general public. Captured on the shore, while endeavoring to make his escapt to the vessel that had brought him from England, Louis Napoleon was again brought to trial, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment in the fortress of Ham_ Here he composed several works: Aux 'Mines de l'Empereur; Fragments Itistorigues; Analyse de la Question de Suisse; Reponse d M. de Lamartine; and Extinction du Pauperisme; wrote political articles for the democratic journals, and actually took part in editing the Dictionnaire de la Conversation, a, valuable French encyclopwdia. After an" imprisonment of more than five years, he made his escape (May 25, 1f346), by the help of a Dr. Conneau, in the disguise of a workman, and gained the Belgian frontier, whence he returned to England. The revolution of Feb. (1848) caused him to hurry back to France, where he professed himself devoted to the views of the provisional government; the latter, however, requested him to leave the country. This he promised to do; but being elected deputy for Paris and three other departments, he took his seat in the constituent assembly, June 13, 1848. A stortny debate followed, and on the 15th he resigned his seat, and, either from policy, or patriotism, left France. Recalled to France in the following September by a quintuple election, he once tnore appeared in the assembly, and at once, through the agency of his zealous associates, commenced his candidature for the 'presidency. The masses were—rightly or wrongly —thoroughly in his favor. Out of seven and a half million of votes, 5%562,834 were recorded for prince Louis Napoleon; gen. Cavaignac, who was nearest to him, obtaining only 1,469,166. This fact is declared by the partisans of the emperor to be an absolute proof of his popularity, for at this period he had neither power nor rnoney to force or bribe opinion. On Dec. 20 he took the oath of allegiance to the republic. For a fevr days concord seemed to be re-established between the different political parties in the assembly; but the beginning of the year 1849 witnessed the commencement of a series of struggles between the president and his friends on the one side, and the majority of the assembly on the other—the latter being profoundly penetrated with the conviction that Louis Napoleon was not devoted to the interests of the republic, but to his own. The French expedition to Italy and the siege of Rome were, above all, the causes of violent discussion in the chambers. This anarchic condition of things, in which, how ever, the president tenaciously held his ground, was summarily put a stop to by the famous or infamous (for opinions differ) coup d'etat, Dec. 2, 1851. The principal actors in this midnig,ht deed were the presidect himself, M. de Morny, M. de Maupas, and gen. St. Arnaud. The circumstances that marked it were of necessity odious and even atrocious; and there cannot be the shadow of a doubt that it engendered in the mind of Europe a distrust of the honesty of Louis Napoleon, which, perhaps, was never during his life wholly removed. His success was certainly magnificent, but the cost was also enormous. The feeble attempts at an armed resistance in Paris were put down by the military, who were favorable to the president, and under the command of his accom plices. A rigorous system of repression was put in force both in Paris and in the departments, and the deportation to Cayenne and Algeria became painfully familiar to the European public. France, as a whole, however, whether wearied of the incom petent democrats, or (as Kinglake supposes) " cowed" by the terrible audacity of the president, appeared to acquiesce in his act; for when the vote was taken upon it on the 20th and 21st of the same month, he was re-elected president for ten years, with all the poWers lie demanded, by more than 7,000,000 suffrages. His enemies affirm they were obtained by terrorism, and of course the same value cannot be placed upon this as on the previous expression of national confidence. Louis Napoleon was DOW emperor in fact; nothing was wanting but the name. This was assumed exactly a year after the soup d'etat, in accordance, as it appeared, with the actual wish of the people. Among the events of his subsequent reirrn were the conspiracies against him (1853), the attempts at assassination (by Pianori, 18,55, and Orsini, 1858), the Anglo-French alliance and the Crimean war (1854-56), the Franco-Italian war (1859), and the Mexican campaign (1863). In 1870 Louis Napoleon declared war against Prussia; and, after several terrible defeats, he surrendered himself a prisoner at Sedan in September. Till the conclusion of peace lie was confined at Willielmshohe. In 3Iar., 1871, he joined the empress at Chiselhurst, Kent; and resided there till his death, on Jan. 9, 1873.-1111853 the emperor married Eugene 3.Iarie, countess of Montijo. Their son, Eugene Louis Jean Joseph, prince imperial of France, was born Mar. 16, 1856. He was in the field with his father in 1870, but after the fall of Sedan escaped to England, where lie entered the Woolwich military academy, and in 1875 completed with distinction a regular course of study. Volunteering to serve with the English artillery in the Zulu campaign of 1879, he was killed in June, when reconnoitring, by a party of Zulus in ambush.