BONAPARTE, CHARLES L. N. 



was generally believed that war was im- 

 minent ; but the difficulty was settled by a 

 European Convention which met in London 

 in May, 1867, and decided that neither France 

 nor Prussia should retain possession of Lux- 

 emburg. The great International Exhibition 

 opened in April of that year, and every thing 

 seemed to promise an era of peace. In Feb- 

 ruary, 1868, the French army was raised to 

 1,200,000 men at least on paper and there 

 was much uneasiness in all the South of Eu- 

 rope, Queen Isabella of Spain being dethroned 

 in September of that year. The elections of 

 May and June, 1869, showed so strong a 

 popular feeling against imperial despotism, 

 that Napeleon made large concessions to the 

 people, announced his intention of giving up 

 his own theory of "personal government," 

 and of inaugurating something like constitu- 

 tional liberty. He gave the legislative body the 

 right to elect its own officers, to have partial 

 control over the expenditure of the public 

 money, the right of interpellation, and the 

 privilege to share with himself the power of 

 initiating laws. Ho proclaimed a general 

 amnesty for political offenses, in August, 

 1869. A new political constitution for France 

 was adopted on September 10, 1869. In 

 December of that year, he appointed Emile 

 Ollivier prime-minister, and requested him to 

 form a cabinet. "Designate persons," he 

 said, " wSo will, associated with yourself, 

 form a homogeneous cabinet, faithfully repre- 

 senting the legislative majority." This was 

 regarded as the end of personal government 

 in France, and the beginning or restoration of 

 constitutional liberty. But France was still 

 restless and uneasy, and as the last resort, to 

 quiet the national discontent, Napoleon re- 

 solved on war. On the 1st of July, 1870, the 

 Government asked the Corps Lfigislatif for 

 900,000 men. July 6th the CoMtitutionnel 

 declared that the enthronement of Leopold of 

 Ilohenzollern as King of Spain would be a 

 menace to France. On the same day there 

 was a debate on war in -the Corps Legislatif. 

 July 10th the army at Paris was ordered to 

 the Moselle, and Prussian troops were being 

 concentrated near Baden. July loth the dec- 

 laration of war by France was announced in 

 the Corps L6gislatif. Saturday, July 23d, a 

 skirmish near Saarlouis resulted favorably for 

 the French. On Sunday, the 24th, the Prus- 

 sians gained an advantage near Saarbruck. 

 July 27th, Eugenie, Napoleon being absent 

 with the army, was proclaimed Regent. On 

 the 3d of August there was another insig- 

 nificant skirmish at Saarbruck, at which the 

 Emperor and the little prince were present, 

 and the former telegraphed to the Empress 

 tlint Louis had " received his baptism of fire, 

 and that the soldiers wept at his tranquillity." 

 More stirring events followed. The French 

 were severely defeated at Worth, and retreat- 

 ed from the German frontier toward Paris, 

 while Bazaine was left to garrison Metz, and 



the connection between him and the French 

 army severed by the three days' fighting 

 around Gravelotte; the retreat toward Paris 

 still continued, as far as Rheims, when by 

 some fatal blunder the French army struck 

 northward, and on the 2d of September, just 

 forty-nine days after the declaration of war, 

 were overwhelmingly defeated at S6dan, and 

 the Emperor surrendered himself and his 

 army to the German King. He was assigned 

 to the palace of Wilhelmshohe as a prisoner, 

 and the war went on, but with continued dis- 

 asters to the French. On the 8th of February, 

 1871, when the preliminaries for a treaty of 

 peace were being considered, the ex-Emperor, 

 against whom a decree of decheance or de- 

 thronement had been pronounced by the 

 French Legislative Assembly, issued a procla- 

 mation from Wilhelmshohe, declaring that it 

 was impossible to abandon the destinies of 

 France to an unauthorized government. This 

 producing no apparent effect, he soon after 

 issued a second, declaring himself ready to 

 abide by the plebiscite. But France at this 

 time, and indeed thenceforward to his death, 

 had no occasion for his further services. After 

 the declaration of peace, he was set at liberty, 

 his imprisonment having never been irksome, 

 and on the 20th of March, 1871, he reached 

 England, where the princely residence of 

 Chiselhurst was placed at his disposal by the 

 Queen, and where the ex-Empress and the 

 young prince soon after joined him. His life 

 at Ohiselhurst was sufficiently quiet, though 

 one or two attempts were made to allow him 

 to enter France and rally his old friends about 

 him, but without success. He employed him- 

 sijf in writing, much of the time, and pub- 

 lished one or two pamphlets defending his 

 administration, and giving his views of the 

 management of the war. He had evidently 

 become convinced that the system of misap- 

 propriation of the public funds which he had 

 inaugurated, to cover his own lavish expen- 

 diture, had been secretly copied by his sub- 

 ordinates, and that he had actually not more 

 than half the force which he supposed to be at 

 his command when he declared war against 

 Prussia. His health, which for years had been 

 impaired, grew steadily worse in his exile, and 

 it became certain that he was suffering from a 

 very large calculus in the bladder. An opera- 

 tion was determined upon, and performed by 

 some of the most eminent surgeons in Europe, 

 but he did not rally fully from the shock, and 

 died after intense suffering. Besides the 

 works published early in his career, he was 

 the author of several books and pamphlets 

 which have been collected as "CEuvres de 

 Napoleon III." (5 vols., 1854-'59), and "CEuvres 

 militaires" (3 vols., 1856), and is supposed to 

 have been the writer of an anonymous 

 pamphlet on the " Causes which led to the 

 Capitulation of Sedan," published at Brus- 

 sels in 1870, and of one or two subsequent 

 pamphlets. His " Histoire de Jules Csar," of 



