70 



-APARTE, CHARLES L. N. 



was excluded from that body by Lninnrtino 

 and his colleagues for tim-, but took bit 

 eat la September, 1848, and became a candi- 

 date for UM office of President of France. * >n 

 Deoember 10. 1848, he WM elected President 

 for four yean, having received 6,563,834 rotes. 

 Hi* chief competitor was General Cuvaignae, 

 who obtained 1.409,168 rote*. He soon be- 

 came involved in contest with the Constitu- 

 ent Assembly, the Republican majority of 

 which regarded him with hostility or suspi- 

 cion. In April, 1849, be lent an army to 

 ROOM to intervene in favor of the Pope, who 

 bad been' expelled by the Republicans. The 

 French army took Rome, and continued to oc- 

 cupy that city until 18o. 



The Constituent Assembly dissolved itself; 

 and wa* tucceeded by the legislative Assem- 

 bly in May, 1849. Hero he encountered a 

 strong opposition. In May, 1860, the Assem- 

 bly restricted universal suffrage, and ordered 

 that a residence of three years in a commune 

 most be a qualification of voters. A long and 

 violent straggle with the President was termi- 

 nated by the eoup d'etat of December 2, 1861. 

 Having secured the support of the array, be 

 raised himself to the supreme power. The 

 Assembly was forcibly dinsolved, and the lead- 

 ing statesmen were arrested. Legislators and 

 felon*, statesmen and vulgar culprits, were 

 huddled together in the same vehicle, find con- 

 veyed to prison. Before the end of the year, 

 his acts were ratified by the form of a popular 

 election, and he was chosen President for ten 

 Tears. A new constitution was adopted in 

 January, 1853, and the legislative functions 

 were divided between two Houses, the Senate 

 and the Corps Legislatif, which, however, 

 were so organized that they offered little or no 

 check to bis absolute power. The question 

 whether be should take the title of Emperor, 

 was submitted to the vote of the people in 

 November, 1862, when, according to the offi- 

 cial report, nearly eight million* voted in the 

 affirmative. He assumed the title of Napo- 

 leon III., and, after making overtures to sever- 

 al of the reigning families of Europe for a 

 bride, which were rejected most peremptorily, 

 and la same cases with contempt, he finally 

 married a Spanish lady of great personal at- 

 trartioM, Eagtnie Marie do (iuzman. Countess 

 de Tebe, in January, 1858. Having formed an 

 alliance with England, and publicly annou 

 that Us policy was peace, he, in conjunction 

 with his now ally, declared war against Rutwia 

 in March, 1854, and sent an army to the 

 Crimea, After a long siege, the allies took 

 Sevastopol In September, 1866, and the war 

 was e4ed by the Treaty of Paris, in March, 



M. Among the events of this year was the 

 With of the Prince Imperial, Napoleon Eugene 



' Napoleon and Eugenie paid a visit 

 received with splendor 

 ueen recognizing them 

 guests, with great ap- 



in i-wi ^apoieon ami r:u 

 to England and were receti 



.- - .. t , ,, . 



and makiac tam her gnes 



parent cordiality. In 1858 an attempt was 

 made on the life of Napoleon by Or-ini and 

 bis fellow-conspirators. One great aim of Na- 

 poleon III. appears to have been t<> reconcile 

 the Fnneli people to the loss of liberty by 

 promoting their material prosperity, by splen- 

 did public improvements, and by gratifying 

 their passion for military plory. Accordingly, 

 as an ally of the King of Sardinia in the war 

 caused by the aggressions of Austria, he led 

 a large army into Italy in May, 1859. He 

 commanded in person at the battle of Solfe- 

 rino, where the Austrian* were defeated, June 

 24, 1669, and shortly after concluded the peace 

 of Villafranca. Among the rc.-ults of this 

 war was the cession of Nice and Savoy to 

 France by the King of Sardinia, who had ex- 

 temied his own dominions by the conquest of 

 Lombardy. Peking was captured by the allied 

 French mid English in 1860. In 1861 he 

 availed himself of the opportunity prcsc-ntid 

 by the breaking out of the civil war in Amer- 

 ica, to intervene in Mexico, and fitted out 

 against that republic an expedition which 

 hmdcd a well-appointed army under General 

 Forey early in 1862. After several victories 

 over the Mexican Liberals, the French forces 

 entered the city of Mexico in June, 1803. Na- 

 poleon offered the imperial crown of Mexico 

 to Maximilian of Austria, who accepted the 

 fatal gift, and was supported by a part of the 

 native population. The I'nited States refund 

 to acknowledge the Mexican Emperor, and 

 intimated to Napoleon that European powers 

 would not be permitted to establish monar- 

 chies by arms in North America. He accord- 

 ingly withdrew big army from Mexico about 

 tin- end of 1866. He doubtless sympathized 

 v ith the South in tbe war against the Union. 



The Emperor's prestige was greatly im- 

 paired by the events of 1806. He remained 

 neutral in the war between Austria and 

 Prussia, which war ho probably might hove 

 prevented; but, in the diplomatic contest 

 which ensued between France and Prussia, he 

 :ippcars to have found more than a match 

 in Bismarck. The French felt themselves 

 humiliated by the fact that so greet changes 

 in the mop of Europe should have been et!> c t- 

 ed without their agency or concurrence, and 

 condemned the policy by which France was 

 excluded from the hope of extension toward 

 the Rhine. After the battle of Sadowa, July 

 8, 1868, Napoleon offered himself as a me- 

 diator between the belligerent powers. The 

 Emperor of Austria ceded to him Venetia, 

 which was transferred to Italy. About the 

 loth of December, 1866, the French army 

 was withdrawn finally from Rome, and the 

 Pope thereupon addressed to Napoleon lan- 

 guage far from complimentary. Napoleon 

 mill Bismarck were involved in a dispute 

 about Luxemburg, which the former pnr- 

 1 of the King of Holland ; but the Prus- 

 sian* occupied a strong fortress in that piw- 

 incc, which they refused to relinquish. It 



