The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-13
From the New York Herald.

In France, the Napoleonic legend still
survives the dismal actualities of the
fall Of the second empire It's lustre
has never been dimmed among the
French peasantry, whose fathers gave
thelr votes for Louis Bonaparte against
Gen. Cavalgnac. believing it was the
great emperor who had come back. 1t
was in the rural electorate that Law the
chief strength of the second empire.
and the peasant still preserves a vague
memory or tradition of the reign bf Ma
poleon III. as a period Of prosperity.
having some connection with the revo-
luton. which in a dim former time put
down the seignoriaI privileges of the
chateaux. But the sentiment has not
within recent years found open express
sion at the ballot box
Since 1893. indeed, the royalists, or
followers of the Due d'Orleans, and the
fmperialists. followers of Prince Vic
tor, acting under the advice of the
pope, have stood as the rallied" or
independent Republican party. There
were thirty-five of these returned to
the chamber Of 1893. Their present
strength is forty. out of a total of 563,
with possibly slight majority Of i'm
per1allSts over monarchists.
But even before 1893, the centenary
year of BOnapartes first achievemnt
at Toulon, there had become literary
and dramatic revival of the Napoleonic
legend which had it's effect upon the
secret sentiments of the electors in
Paris and throughout France. During
the first twenty years Of the republic
the memory Of the f1asco at Sedan re-
manned the great safeguard against a
revival Of Napoleonism
PARTISANS WERE DISCOURAGED
The death of the Prince Imperial dis
in the streets. In the study Lanfrey
and Taine had completed the work of
iconoclasm. But the Boulangist move
ment revealed that Caesarism was ever
latent in the French nature, while it's
failure only showed that Caesar had
not yet appeared Boulanger had
proved too vulgar an upstart, and
neither of the then representatives of
the monarchial and imperialistic tradt-
lions, the courteous, amiable and reac-
tionary Comte de Chambord and the
reputedly timorous Prince Napoleon,
whose surname PlonPlon was said to
have been given to him as an onoma-
topoetic Renaissance of the cannon
balls which he dreaded-these two gen
tlemen were neither of them the typical
man on horseback.
But the Panama scandals, with their
revelations of the serene and shame
less turpitude of politicians, cast such
discredit upon the republic that only
the disillusion and lassitudes following
the Boulangist failure prevented the
eme1 gence of pretender bearing at
least SO martial and popular a name
as Bonapa The Napoleonic cult, in
deed waxed stronger but still retained
its distinctive feature as a literary
rather thar a political ebullition Of
feeling. 1t would seem, however, that
the still more disheartening Dreyfus
revelations have suddenly projected
Bonapartism from literature into life.
The Herald has told of the astound-
ing imperialist demonstrations which
a week or two ago attended the repre-
sentation at the Nouveau theater in
Paris Of a drama entitled The King
of Rome" The hero of this drama, It
is needless to remind the reader, was
that unfortunate son of Napoleon l.,
whom the Bonapartists call Napoleon
II. Frequent cries of "Vive Temper
eurp' "Vive Prince Victor!' interrupt
ed the performance, and merged the
audience into one vast enthusiasm of
sobs and cheers at its close.
And now comes the death of the
to the situation and to make almost
anything possible.
A POSSIBLE COUP D'ETAT.
Does all this mean that the star Of
Prince Victor has arisen in the sullen
sky of France? Does 1T mean a third
empire, with fifth Napoleon at it's
head?
And why Napoleon "?
1t may be necessary for some read
ers to brush up their history. Nobody,
of course needs to be reminded who
Napoleon l. was. Napoleon II. was the
great emperor's son by his second wife,
Marie Louise of Austria, who, born In
1911, was given the title of king of
Rome, and died Duke Of Reichstadt,
in 1882. AS he survived his father elev-
en- years, and as that father had once
sought to abdicate in his favor, he is
known as Napoleon II. Napoleon III
was the nephew Of Napoleon 1. The
prince imperial, as the heir of
Napoleon Ill, was Napoleon
". When the prince imperial died in
1879, there was some dispute as to~who
should in future be the recognized
of a restoration Of the empire, should
become emperor. Article II. of chapter
e Of the senatus consultum enacted In
1870, the last year of the reign Of the
third Napoleon, had declared that in
default Of legitimate or adopted heir,
Prince Napoleon Bonaparte, son of
Jerome Bonaparte. the younger BROTH
er of Napoleon l., and his heirs male
by order of primogeniture, should be
called to the throne
But the prince imperial in his last
will had designated the eldest son Of
Prince Napoleon. Prince Victor, as his
successor. This caused dissentions to
arise in the party, the larger section
looking to Prince Napoleon as. the new
head OF the family, while others recog-
nized Prince Victor. The dispute was