Putnam patriot., 1909-05-07
Napoleon III.
REV IoiN a4naWnRlpaE.

Perhaps us n writer i'll the London Times suggests, nll lives ai euinence and great public activity are singular lives. At least, this can very well ee ssid of the life of Louis Napoleon, the centennial of whose birth was lately observed not oniy in France but in oth.
 he entered active life In exile; he at-
 tempted to seize the crown before he
 WAS strong enough to win IL. He failed, i,
 but his failure did not discourage him,
 and. finally, greatness came to him,
 and he might have been content had
 nai his ambition led him into his rash
 quarrel with Germany, which caused
 his final overthrow.
 Charles Louis Napoleon was horn in
 pnrislan mansion, now banking
 house of the Ro,hsehiids--on the after
 noon of Wednesday, April 2oth, ls,,s.
 He was the third and last child Of
 Louis lSonaparte, King of Holland.
 and ihe fourth of the Bonaparte broth.
 CTS. His mother was the beatiful but
 unfortunate Hortense, daughter of the
 Empress Josephine hN her first hus-
 band. The marriage of Louis \apo.
 poieon's parents WIS earnestly sought
 hy Josephine as a matter oi selfish po-
 iiey on her part, nut II was not a hap
 py one liorten>e, then sifl oi eight cen, had her heart Set upon another, while her husbands state of mind was such as he anerw ards described In his diary: Never was there ceremony NJ sad never lid two espoa,ed pet. sons feel nto,c NiNidlN A pfescntnent ot all the hufrafs at forced and ill-as- sorted marriage The Emperor, Ma loleon ,, and the Empress Maria Lou isa. were the rod.parents to the little Louis when he was christened in islu, al Euntaincblcau, and until the birth of the Emperor's own son, in isii, this child was the presumptiNe heir te the throne of trance-hui neither in lea lures, in form, nor in mental chafa.- lerlsties did he resemble any member of the BonsparIe family.
 After the catastrophe of Waterloo this singular child of destiny and his mother, then known as the nuchesse de St. Lu, went Ia reside al Constance, in Switzerland. \ year later the boy entered the college ot Augsburg and, in order To be near him, Hortense es- tahlished herself ia the chateau of Al where she spent the remain der of her life. The house Is now own- ei hs The Empress kagenie. II stands in the midst of wide hillside forest an expansion of the Rhine | where II leaves the lake opposite the i isle ot Richenau. tn the completion l of his literary studies, al Augsburg. 1 Louis chose the military life ot his ta- mily as his profession, deN oting him. | self to the artillery branch of the ser. i vice under the direction of one of Na l poleon's old commanders, He look hi> place among the common soldiers ol I the garrison, and wrote 10 his mother. 'Me muster al six o'clock in the tnern- lag. and march, drums heating, to the felsxoa. where we remain Ill noon. Al twelve we dine, al three Me afe al the folsgon tiil seven. During the en- ufe day we have barely two hours free, la which lime there are notes 10 copy And dta~iags to make. 2
 Ia lew ysaFs more. Louis Napoleon bus, with ais Ien-~tor he grew lp ,e copioas and interesting writer. l k pamphlet on the military and 10 Isleal condition of Switzerland earned im the friendship os the Swiss people, fld Two oI their santons coniere-t cn