"The Prisoner of Ham."
Napoleon III. obtained the title "Prisoner of Ham" under the following circumstances: On the death of the Duke of Reichstadt, son of Napoleon I. (July 22d, 1832), Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was the next heir, in the Bonaparte line, to the throne of France.
He was the son of Louis Bonaparte (brother of Napoleon I.), and Hortense Beauharnais (daughter of Josephine, first wife of Napoleon I.).
He came to Strasburg in 1836, dressed in the costume of an Emperor; he presented himself to the garrison and called upon them to support his claims to the throne.
He met with no encouragement and was soon arrested. Louis Philippe, king of the French, declining to bring him to trial, sent him to America.
This first attempt to restore the Empire and reinstate the Bonapartes excited only merriment, but, undiscouraged by failure, the would-be Emperor made an equally absurd descent upon Boulogne.
He landed there with a few followers and a tame eagle, expecting to arouse fascinating memories of the conquering eagles of Napoleon I.
He was again arrested, tried, and sentenced to be confined for life in the fortress of Ham, while the eagle was turned over as a laughing stock to the Zoological Garden at Paris. The Prisoner of Ham in time escaped and fled to England.
After the Revolution of 1848, when Louis Philippe had also taken refuge in England, the fugitive Napoleon, by a popular vote, was declared President of the new French Republic, Dec. 20th, 1848.
By a coup detat, on the plea of national necessity, Louis overthrew the Republican form of Government, and, by a popular vote again, became Emperor of the French, under the title of Napoleon III., Dec. 2d, 1852.
Thus Republicanism a second time sank under the Dictatorship of a Napoleon, and the "Prisoner of Ham" took up his residence in the palace of the Tuileries.
The rule of Napoleon III. was favorable to France. Towns and cities were greatly improved, especially Paris, which was almost rebuilt until it was the most beautiful city in the world. Manufacturing and commercial interests, also, were greatly extended. "The Empire is Peace" was proclaimed as the imperial maxim.
The Empire lasted, under Napoleon III., from 1852 to 1870. The chief events of his reign were the Crimean War, 1854; the War of Italy, 1859, and in 1867 the World's Fair, in Paris, the grandest exhibition of the industries of the world that had ever been devised.
The Empire was now at the height of its glory,--its downfall was rapid. Murmurs of discontent were soon heard; the Emperor had despotic power; liberty had been sacrificed; the debt was increasing, and too much expense was being lavished on the splendors of Paris; the health of Napoleon was failing--the Empire was in its decadence.
For some time a hostile feeling had been growing between France and Prussia; the jealousy of the French was aroused by the rapidly increasing territory and military strength of Prussia, whose aim was to consolidate the petty German States into one grand Empire, with Prussia at its head.
An excuse for war soon presented itself. Among the candidates for the vacant throne of Spain was Prince Leopold, of Hohenzollern, a relative of King William of Prussia. France protested against this extension of Prussian influence, and the Prince, to preserve peace, withdrew his claim. This did not satisfy France; she demanded a pledge from William that no prince of the House of Hohenzollern should be or ever become a candidate for the Spanish throne. This demand being refused, war was declared by France against Prussia, July, 1870. (See Vol. I.) The Franco-German war was the downfall of the Empire, and the "Prisoner of Ham" was for six months a prisoner of war. He died in England, Jan. 9th, 1873.