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NAPOLEON III. 244 NAPOLEON III. d il. de Chateaubriand sur la duchesse de Berri (in verse) ; and Considerations i>olili<{UC!s el militaires sur la Suisse. In 18.JU, bi-lieving in tlic weakness of the July nionartliy, he un- dertook at Strassburg a eou/i which was so absurd a failure that it covered him with ridi- cule. He was sent to America, but returned to Europe on account of his mother's illness. She died October 3, 1837, and soon afterwards the French Glovernment asked for his expulsion by Switzerland. He went to London, where, in 1S38. he published the Idees Xapoleoniennes, which had considerable circulation in France. In 1840 he made at Boulogne his second attempt to l>rinj; about a military uprisinj; in his favor, but this was as complete a failure as its predecessor. He was imprisoned in the fortress of Ham. where he wrote several works, some political articles, and had a share in editing the Diclionnaire de la conrersuiion. lie escaped from Ham, May 25. 1840, and made his way to the Belgian frontier and thence to England. lie hastened back to France when the Revolution of 1848 broke out, but, although he professed devotion to the Pro- visional Government, he was distrusted and asked to leave the country. Notwithstanding liis prom- ise to do this, he obtained an election to the Xational Assembly for Paris and three other departments. He took his seat on June 13, 1848, but resigned on the loth, after a stormy debate, and left France. He was, however, elected from live departments in September, and returning became a camiidate for the Presidency. He re- ceived .T.odU.OOO votes in the election of December 10, 1848, his closest op|)onent, (ieneral Cavaignac (q.v. ), having 1,500.000. Tie entered upon his ollice on Decemlier 20th. His Presidency was a continuous contest with the majority in the As- sembly, who continued to doubt the sincerity of the President's devotion to the Kepublic. This disturbed condition was ended by the coup d'rtat of December 2, 18.51. a thoroughly Napoleonic stroke, carried out with blunt disregard for law or political honesty, by the President himself, assisted by Jlorny, Maupas, and Saint. rnaud. The cost of success was the estal)lishment of a repressive tyranny maintained by military force. France submitted to the new ruler, who promised to restore the glories of the past. On December 20th-21st the President was reelected for ten years by more than seven million votes. i)ractieally without opposition. He had revived the ])lebiscite. used with such effect by his uncle — a plebiscite so managed that the issue was a foregone conclusion. In the same way. when he had himself proclaimed Emperor, as Napoleon HI., just a year after the coup d'f'tat (December 2. 1852), it was maile to appear that this also was in accordance with the popular will. The new Emperor had studied his uncle's methods and attempted to imi- tate him na far as circumstances and his own ability would permit, but he only won for him- self the Tiame of Napoleon the Little. He pos- sessed ability, hut it was that of the politician rather than of the statesman. He lacked the dash and rapidity of decision which were the chief elements in nceomplishing the vast schemes of the first Napoleon. N"apoleon III. hesitated in deciding upon a policy and in carrying it out when once determined. Ponspirncies against him developed as early as 18.53 and three attempts were made to assassinate him. by Pianori and BcUamare in 1855. and by Orsini (q.v.) in 1858. Napoleon III. was looked upon coldly by the 'legitimate' sovereigns of Eurujie, but the aim of his foreign policy was to make France again dominant in European all'airs and himself the general arldter of the Continent. To check the similar ])rclcn>ions of Nicholas 1. of Russia in Eastern iCuroiK', be joined England in protecting Turkey against Ilussiaft aggression, and France took the leading' jiarl in the Crimean War (q.v.). The pacilicatiou which followed and the adjust- ment of the Eastern Question (q.v.) were ar- ranged by a congress at Paris. (See P.Ris, Trea- ties OF.) The three Eastern Powers. Russia, Prussia, and Austria, which were the strongholds of legitimacy ami autocracy, as against the de- UKK-racy of Frani-e and England, were Napoleon's natural opponents. In the Crimean War he ad- ministered a lesson to one of them. By befriend- ing Italy, which under the leadership of Sardinia was struggling to free itself from Austrian op- pression, lie found an opportunity to strike at Austria and to uphold in the most marked man- ner his favorite jiolitical hobl>y, the princiide of nationalities. He encouraged Cavour (q.v.) in the advocacy of Italy's cause at the Congress of Paris, and, though the attempt of Orsini u])on the Emperor's life almost destroyed the cordial rcialions that had l)een cultivated between the Courts of Paris and Turin, under Cavour's shrewd management the Emperor finally became more friendly than ever. The two held a private con- ference" at Plombi^res, .July 20, 1858, at which Napoleon agreed to support Sardinia in case of an attack by Austria. Cavour at once f<irced Aus- tria into aggressive action, and Na]iolcon. now half repentant of his engagement, took the field. The Italian cani])aign of 1850. in which Napoleon showed himself utterly incapable of military lead- ership, was marked bv two great battles. Ma- genta and Solferino, won by the Allies. Napo- leon then selfishly closed the struggle by the preliminaries of Villafranca. (See Cavour and It.vi.y. ) He exacted from 'ictor Emmanuel the cession of Nice and Savoy, although he had failed to deliver Venetia and the duchies. His later re- lations with Italy were disturbed by the fact that be felt cmIUmI u'ikiu to uphold the Pope in his temporal possessions, and thus clashed with the national ambition of the Italians for complete unity with Rome as the cai)ital. The protection of French troops was only withdrawn from the Papal States when war with Prussia had begun. During the Civil War in the I'nited States ( I8(il- (!5) Napoleon took an active part with the Eng- lish Coveiiimeiit in the diplomatic intrigues against ttn' riiitcd States. He took advantage of the disturbed condition of Mexican all'airs and of the preoccupation of the Inited States to revive his uncle's dream of a Latin-.Xmerican empire uniler French protection, by establishing the .rchdiikp Maximilian on the new imperial throne of Mexico by means of French bayonets. Secre- tary Seward warned the French Emperor that the flovcrnmiMlt of the Inited States could only con- sider this as an infringement of the Monroe Doc- trine and an unfriendly act. but no attention was paid to this jirotest until the termination of the Civil War made it possilile to si-nrl Cen- eral Sheridan with an army of seasoned troops to the Mexican frontier, when the French troops were removed and the unstable Mexican Empire collapsed (I8fi7). This struck a great blow at the prestige of the Emiicror. In 181)304, when