Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-09-13
THE RISE, PROGRESS AND FALL
OF LOUIS NAPOLEON.

! from the New York SUM-
The downfall of Napoleon I'LL
and his expulsion from France, ought
not to be regarded by him as a great
calamity, but rather as return to
his normal condition. For nearly his
whole life previous to l848 he twas
an exile, a wanderer, a pretcnder,
and good deal of charIatan.-
Born in April, 1903, the undoubted
grandson of Josephine, and the pu-
tative son of Louis, then King OF
Hollnnd, his earliest recollectiens OF
France and of his reputed uncle, the
Fist Napoleon, were the humilitating
retreat from Russia, the disasters
of Leipsic, the terrible struggle to
cover Paris in the winter of 1914,
and the final crash at Waterloo.
When Napoleon was banished to
st. Helena, the family of Hortense,
including Louis, then seven years of
age, were expatriated from France.
They first sought refuge in Switzer-
land, and ultimately at Rome. In
1880, when Louis PHILIPPE mounted
the throne Of France, Charles Louis,
then beginning to be known as Louis
Napoleon, asked permission to return
to France. But the willy Orleanist
King, not taking to the Bonapartes,
denied this request, and the next
year Louis Napoleon was banished
from Rome. He then made his way
to England.
Leading sort of vagabond life,
Napoleon, in October, 1886, then
skulking in the neighborhood of
Strasbourg, seduced the commander
of that fortress from his allegiance
to the house of Orleans, and the two
adventureres proclaimed revoln-
ton, with Louis Napoleon at its
head. This attempt to overturn the
throne of Louis PHILIPPE by proc
lamation turned out to be q ridicu-
lous failure. The Bonapartean wan
derer, then 20 years of age, was
arrested, tried by court martial, aud
condemned to die. Louis PHILIPPE.
however, committed his sentence to
Punishment beyond seas, and Charles
Louis came to the United States.
The sojourn Of the charlatan in
this country lasted about year.
He was here regarded as hummer.
In this city he was engaged in some
small broils, once got into the watch
house, borrowed money of eyerv-
body who would lend it to him, and
finally absconded to New Orleans,
leaving his debts unpaid. In the
latter city he became so far reduced
as to bring libel suit +; and, fantas-
tic to the last, claimed in his declar-
alton to recover $4,000 for actual
and $4,000 for sentimental dam
ages" whatever those might be-
Whether the suit was ever tried is
not known. From New Orleans he
returned to Switzerland, just in time
see his mother die in October, 1897.
While wandering about in Swift
erland, without visable means of
support, he was again banished from
that country, took refuge once more
in England. In August, 1910, he en-
acted the most ridiculous farce in
his checkered life. He chartered
small steamer at Margate, taking on
board fifty crazy followers and a
tame eagle, and sailed thence to b.
logne, where he landed, and dashing
into the public square, tame eagle in
hand, proclaimed a revolution and
republic. To crush his revolution
and arrest him was the work of
about an hour. He was tried for
treason and sentenced to imprison-
ment during life in the fortress of
Ham. Having remained there six
years, he got some one of the gar
rison to procure for him the disguise
Of workman, and in the twilight,
as the laborers left the fort, he went
out with the crowd, and for the
third time made good his escape to
England. After the Partisan revo-
luton of February, 1848, London
was affrighted by threatened ris-
ing of the Chartarists, who had
arranged to carry some monster Pc
titions to Parliament whereupon
the refugee from Ham, in company
with great throng, was sworn as a
special English constable to aid in
keeping the peace. Soon afterward
he was allowed to return to Paris,
where he was presently elected
member of the Constituent Assembly
of France, under the regime of Lam
artine and Cavaignac. How Louis
Napoleon became President of the
French Republic in December, 1848,
and how, three years later, by the
foulest treason, he became Emperor,
are too familiar to require any de-
tailed repetition.