Part 10 (1/2)
Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, to give this personage his full name, was a son of Louis Bonaparte, once king of Holland, and Hortense de Beauharnais, and had been recognized by Napoleon as, after his father, the direct successor to the throne. This he made strenuous efforts to obtain, hoping to dethrone Louis Philippe and install himself in his place. In 1836, with a few followers, he made an attempt to capture Strasbourg. His effort failed and he was arrested and transported to the United States.
In 1839 he published a work ent.i.tled ”Napoleonic Ideas,” which was an apology for the ambitious acts of the first Napoleon.
The growing unpopularity of Louis Philippe tempted Louis Napoleon to make a second attempt to invade France. He did it in a rash way almost certain to end in failure. Followed by about fifty men, and bringing with him a tame eagle, which was expected to perch upon his banner as the harbinger of victory, he sailed from England in August, 1840, and landed at Boulogne. This desperate and foolish enterprise proved a complete failure. The soldiers whom the would-be sovereign expected to join his standard arrested him, and he was tried for treason by the House of Peers.
This time he was not dealt with so leniently as before, but was sentenced to imprisonment for life and was confined in the Castle of Ham. From this fortress he escaped in disguise in May, 1846, and made his way to England.
The revolution of 1848 gave the restless and ambitious claimant a more promising opportunity. He returned to France, was elected to the National a.s.sembly, and on the adoption of the republican const.i.tution offered himself as a candidate for the presidency of the new republic. And now the magic of the name of Napoleon told.
General Cavaignac, his chief compet.i.tor, was supported by the solid men of the country, who distrusted his opponent; but the people rose almost solidly in his support, and he was elected president for four years by 5,562,834 votes, against 1,469,166 for Cavaignac.
The new President of France soon showed his ambition. He became engaged in a contest with the a.s.sembly and aroused the distrust of the Republicans by his autocratic remarks. In 1849 he still further offended the democratic party by sending an army to Rome, which put an end to the republic in that city. He sought to make his cabinet officers the pliant instruments of his will, and thus caused De Tocqueville, the celebrated author, who was minister for foreign affairs, to resign. ”We were not the men to serve him on those terms,” said De Tocqueville, at a later time.
The new-made president was feeling his way to imperial dignity.
He could not forget that his ill.u.s.trious uncle had made himself emperor, and his ambition instigated him to the same course. A violent controversy arose between him and the a.s.sembly, which body had pa.s.sed a law restricting universal suffrage, thus reducing the popular support of the president. In June, 1850, it increased his salary at his request, but granted the increase only for one year - an act of distrust which proved a new source of discord.
THE ”COUP D'ETAT” OF 1851
Louis Napoleon meanwhile was preparing for a daring act. He secretly obtained the support of the army leaders and prepared covertly for the boldest stroke of his life. On the 2d of December 1851 - the anniversary of the establishment of the first empire and of the battle of Austerlitz - he got rid of his opponents by means of the memorable COUP D'ETAT, and seized the supreme power of the state.
The most influential members of the a.s.sembly had been arrested during the preceding night, and when the hour for the session of the House came the men most strongly opposed to the President were in prison. Most of them were afterwards exiled, some for life, some for shorter terms. This act of outrage and alleged violation of plighted faith by their ruler roused the socialists and republicans to the defense of their threatened liberties, insurrections broke out in Paris, Lyons, and other towns, street barricades were built, and severe fighting took place. But Napoleon had secured the army, and the revolt was suppressed with blood and slaughter. Baudin, one of the deposed deputies, was shot on the barricade in the Faubourg St. Antoine, while waving in his hand the decree of the const.i.tution. He was afterwards honored as a martyr to the cause of republicanism in France.
Napoleon had previously sought to gain the approval of the people by liberal and charitable acts, and to win the good will of the civic authorities by numerous progresses through the interior. He now stood as a protector and promoter of national prosperity and the rights of the people, and sought to lay upon the a.s.sembly all the defects of his administration. By these means, which aided to awaken the Napoleonic fervor in the state, he was enabled safely to submit his acts of violence and bloodshed to the approval of the people. The new const.i.tution offered by the president was put to vote, and was adopted by the enormous majority of more than seven million votes. By its terms Louis Napoleon was to be president of France for ten years, with power equal to that of a monarch, and the Parliament was to consist of two bodies, a Senate and a Legislative House, which were given only nominal power.
FROM PRESIDENT TO EMPEROR
This was as far as Napoleon dared to venture at that time. A year later, on December 1, 1852, having meanwhile firmly cemented his position in the state, he pa.s.sed from president to emperor, again by a vote of the people, of whom, according to the official report, 7,824,189 cast their votes in his favor. That this report told the truth, many denied, but it served the President's purpose.
Thus ended the second French republic, by an act of usurpation of the strongest and yet most popular character. The partisans of the new emperor were rewarded with the chief offices of the state; the leading republicans languished in prison or in exile for the crime of doing their duty to their const.i.tuents; and Armand Marrast, the most zealous champion of the republic, died of a broken heart from the overthrow of all his efforts and aspirations. The honest soldier and earnest patriot, Cavaignac, in a few years followed him to the grave. The cause of liberty in France seemed lost.
The crowning of a new emperor of the Napoleonic family in France naturally filled Europe with apprehensions. But Napoleon III, as he styled himself, was an older man than Napoleon I, and seemingly less likely to be carried away by ambition. His favorite motto, ”The Empire is peace,” aided to restore quietude, and gradually the nations began to trust in his words: ”France wishes for peace; and when France is satisfied the world is quiet.”
Warned by one of the errors of his uncle, he avoided seeking a wife in the royal families of Europe, but allied himself with a Spanish lady of n.o.ble rank, the young and beautiful Eugenie de Montijo, dutchess of Teba. At the same time he proclaimed that, ”A sovereign raised to the throne by a new principle should remain faithful to that principle, and in the face of Europe frankly accept the position of a parvenu, which is an honorable t.i.tle when it is obtained by the public suffrage of a great people. For seventy years all princes' daughters married to rulers of France have been unfortunate; only one, Josephine, was remembered with affection by the French people, and she was not born of a royal house.”
The new emperor continued his efforts as president to win the approval of the people by public works. He recognized the necessity of aiding the working cla.s.ses as far as possible, and protecting them from poverty and wretchedness. During a dearth in 1853 a ”baking fund” was organized in Paris, the city contributing funds to enable bread to be sold at a low price.
Dams and embankments were built along the rivers to overcome the effects of floods. New streets were opened, bridges built, railways constructed, to increase internal traffic. Splendid buildings were erected for munic.i.p.al and government purposes.
Paris was given a new aspect by pulling down its narrow lanes, and building wide streets and magnificent boulevards - the latter, as was charged, for the purpose of depriving insurrection of its lurking places. The great exhibition of arts and industries in London was followed in 1854 by one in France, the largest and finest seen up to that time. Trade and industry were fostered by a reduction of tariff charges, joint stock companies and credit a.s.sociations were favored, and in many ways Napoleon III worked wisely and well for the prosperity of France, the growth of its industries, and the improvement of the condition of its people.
THE EMPIRE IS PEACE
But the new emperor, while thus actively engaged in labors of peace means lived up to the spirit of his motto, ”The Empire is peace.” An empire founded upon the army needs to give employment to that army. A monarchy sustained by the votes of a people athirst for glory needs to do something to appease that thirst. A throne filled by a Napoleon could not safely ignore the ”Napoleonic Ideas,” and the first of these might be stated as ”The Empire is war.” And the new emperor was by no means satisfied to pose simply as the ”nephew of his uncle.” He possessed a large share of the Napoleonic ambition, and hoped by military glory to surround his throne with some of the l.u.s.ter of that of Napoleon the First.
Whatever his private views, it is certain that France under his reign became the most aggressive nation of Europe, and the overweening ambition and self-confidence of the new emperor led him to the same end as his great uncle, that of disaster and overthrow. He was evidently bent on playing a leading part in European politics, showing the world that one worthy to bear the name of Napoleon was on the throne.
The very beginning of Louis Napoleon's career of ambition, as president of the French Republic, was signalized by an act of military force, in sending an army to Rome and putting an end to the attempted Italian republic. These troops were kept there until 1866, and the aspirations of the Italian patriots were held in check until that year. Only when United Italy stood menacingly at the gates of Rome were these foreign troops withdrawn. They had r.e.t.a.r.ded, perhaps, for a time the inevitable union of the Italian states into a single kingdom; they certainly prevented the establishment of a republic.
In 1854 Napoleon allied himself with the British and the Turks against Russia, and sent an army to the Crimea, which played an effective part in the great struggle in that peninsula. The troops of France had the honor of rendering Sebastopol untenable, carrying by storm one of its two great fortresses and turning its guns upon the city.
WAR WITH AUSTRIA
The next act of war-policy by the French emperor was against Austria. As the career of conquest of Napoleon had begun with an attack upon the Austrians in Italy, Napoleon III attempted a similar enterprise, and with equal success. He was said to have been cautiously preparing for hostilities with Austria, thus to emulate his great uncle, but lacked a satisfactory excuse for declaring war. This came in 1858 from an attempt at a.s.sa.s.sination. Felice Orsini, a fanatical Italian patriot, incensed at Napoleon from his failing to come to the aid of Italy, launched three explosive bombs against his carriage. The effect was fatal to many of the people in the street, though the intended victim escaped. Orsini while in prison expressed patriotic sentiments and a loud-voiced love for his country.