The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1870-08-04
NAPOLEON ILL.,, EMPEROR OF THE
FRENCH.

1nGNCns
Facts that are Stranger than Fiction
Tho Doubtful ''Nephew Of his I'm
cle,' and his Romantic Career-Forty
YearI Of Exile and WanderinE-Spas.
modtc Attempts at Mounting thu
Throne-Prince, President, Dictator
andEmperor at Last--The Napoleon
1c Idea OF Democracy and Imperial
ism.
From the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph,
With the career of tho French EN-
peror, who has at last appealed to arms
to put some bounds to what he consid.
ers the grasping policy of the Prussiau
King, the people of this country are
more familiar than with that Of his an
tagcnist. A brief outline of the lead.
ing events of his romantic life, how.
ever, will net be without interest.
HIS QUESTIONABLE PARENTAGE AND EARLY
Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
is the third eon of Queen Hortense, the
daughter Of the Empress Josephine by
her first marriage, and husband of Louis
Bonaparte, younger brother Of the first
Napoleon, and at one time king of Hol.
land. Presumably, also, he is the son
Of the ex-Kipg Of Holland; but grave
doubts of his claim to this distinction
have been frequently expressed. Queen
Hortense, like all the females of the
Beauharnois family, had the reputation
of being not over scrupulous in the
favors she extended to the gay noble.
men and soldiers by whom she was sur.
rounded, and the scandal of more than
half . century has credited the pater-
nal parentage Of her third son to a Ger.
tain Count Flahault, with whom she
was very intimate, aud BY whom she
had son, the late Due de Morny.
This scandal has been strengthened by
a singular resemblance between Count
Flahault and the present Emperor Of
the French.
He was born, however, in tho midst
Of unquestionable surroundings, having
first seen the light in the Palace of the
Tuileries, on the goth of April, 1903.
This renders him about eleven years
younger than the hard-featured, stern.
eyed monarch who is glaring at him
fiom across the Rhine. The first Ma
poleon' had been one of his sponsors at
baptism, and received him into high
favor from the day Of his birth. AT:
ter the return from Elba, be was taken
by his uncle to the Champ de Mars,
and there, at the age Of seven, present.
ed to the deputies of the people and
the army. When Napoleon embraced
him for the last time at Malmaison,
previous to his departure for St. Helena,
both were much affected, the child
wished to follow his uncle, and being
paclfed with great difficulty by his
mother.
AN EXILE AMONG THE ALPS.
Going into exile with the rest Of the
Bonaparte family, Queen Hortense and
her son, after living for time at Hugs.
burd, took up their abode in Switzer'
land, where Louis was admitted to clti.
zenship, permitted to serve in the
Swiss army, and studied gunncry at the
Military Academy on the shores Of
Lake Thuu. The elevation Of Louis
Philippe to the throne by the revolu.
ton Of July, 1880, caused him to ap
ply, first for permission to return te
France, and then to serve as a private
so|dicr in the French army, both o.
which requests we're refused.
A wANDERER ON THE CONTINENT AND IN
ENGLAND.
In 1881 he and his older brothe,
settled in Tuscany, and took part il
the insurrectlon at Rome. His broth
er died On the 18th Of March, and he
escaped to England. In short time
he retired to the castle Of Abrensberg
in Thurgau, Switzerland, devoting his
leisure in 1925 to literary labors
and publishing successfully "Polit.ca
Reveries," "Political and Military Con
siderations on Switzerland" and q
"Mauual of Artillery" in the first
named work he declared his bsliet that
France could be regcnerated only BY
one of Napoleon's descendants, as they
alone could reconcile republican prin'
ciples with the military aspirations o.
the nation.
He BECOMES HEIR OF THE r1Rsr NAPOLEON
Before Louis Philippe was firmly e.
tablished on the throne the DUO d.
Reichstadt, the imbeccile son Of tb'
first Napoleon, was on tho point of be
coming the leader Of a disafected part,
in France but his death and that 0,
his eldest cousin transferred the heir
ship Of the ex;leof St. Helena to Louis
whose hopes Of ultimately ascending
the throne, when once aroused never
abated.
THE ArrEnPr upon srRAsBoURa.
IN the early part Of 1885 his design
became evident, and, after maturing
HI plans, be left Ahrensberg ID juno
1909 Co. 12al1An 12alann IA. ..,. ......,,..