IV. Louis (1778-1846) was born at Ajaccio on the 2nd of September 1778.
His elder brother Napoleon supervised his education with much care,
gaining for him scholarships to the royal military schools of France,
and during the time when the elder brother was a lieutenant in garrison
at Auxonne Louis shared his scanty fare. In 1795 Napoleon procured for
him admission to the military school at Chalons, and wrote thus of the
boy:--"I am very pleased with Louis; he fulfils my hopes; intelligence,
warmth, good health, talent, good address, kindness--he possesses all
these qualities." Louis went through the Italian campaign of 1796-97
with Napoleon and acted as his aide-de-camp in Egypt in 1798-99. In 1802
the First Consul married him to Hortense Beauharnais, a forced union
which led to most deplorable results. In 1804 Louis was raised to the
rank of general, and entered the council of state in order to perfect
his knowledge of administrative affairs. In the next year he became
governor of Paris and undertook various military and administrative
duties.
After the victory of Austerlitz (December 2, 1805) Napoleon began to
plan the formation of a ring of states surrounding, and in close
alliance with, the French empire. He destined Louis for the throne of
Holland, and proclaimed him king of that country on the 6th of June
1806. From the first the emperor reproached him with being too easy with
his subjects and with courting popularity too much. The increasing
rigour of the continental system brought the two brothers to an open
rupture. Their relations were embittered by a violent jealousy which
Louis conceived against his wife. In 1808 the emperor offered Louis the
throne of Spain then vacant; but on Louis refusing to accept it the
honour went to Joseph. The dispute between Louis and the emperor
continued. In the latter part of 1809 Napoleon virtually resolved to
annex Holland, in order to stop the trade which the Dutch secretly
carried on with England. At the close of the year Louis went to Paris,
partly in order to procure a divorce from Hortense and partly to gain
better terms for Holland. He failed in both respects. In January 1810
Napoleon annexed the island of Walcheren, alleging that Louis had not
done his share in defending the interests of France at the time of the
British Walcheren expedition (1809). The French troops also occupied
Breda and Bergen-op-Zoom. Louis gave way on all the points in dispute;
but his acquiescence only postponed the crisis. After the collapse of
negotiations with Great Britain in the spring of 1810, the emperor again
pressed Louis hard, and finally sent French troops against the Dutch
capital. Thereupon Louis, despairing of offering resistance, fled from
his kingdom and finally settled at Toplitz in Bohemia. On the 9th of
July 1810 Napoleon annexed Holland to the French empire. Louis spent the
rest of his life separated from his wife, and in 1815 gained the custody
of his elder son. He lived chiefly at Rome, concerning himself with
literary and philosophic studies and with the fortunes of his sons.
Their devotion to the national and democratic cause in Italy in
1830-1831 gave him much pleasure, which was overclouded by the death of
the elder, Napoleon Louis, in the spring campaign of 1831 in the
Romagna. The failure of his other son, Charles Louis Napoleon
(afterwards Napoleon III.), to wrest the French crown from Louis
Philippe by the attempts at Strassburg and Boulogne also caused him much
disappointment. He died on the 25th of July 1846 and was buried at St
Leu. Under more favourable conditions Louis would have gained a name for
kindness and philanthropy, proofs of which did indeed appear during his
reign in Holland and gained him the esteem of his subjects; but his
morbid sensitiveness served to embitter his relations both of a domestic
and of a political nature and to sour his own disposition. His literary
works are unimportant. His sons were Napoleon Charles (1802-1807),
Napoleon Louis (1804-1831), and Charles Louis Napoleon (1808-1873),
afterwards emperor of the French as NAPOLEON III. (q.v.).
The chief works on the life and reign of Louis are le comte de
Saint-Leu, _Documents historiques et reflexions sur le gouvernement de
Hollande_ 3 vols., 2nd ed., Paris, 1820); F. Rocquain, _Napoleon I^er
et le Roi Louis, d'apres les documents conserves aux archives
nationales_ (Paris, 1875); Baron A. du Casse, _Les Rois freres de
Napoleon_ (Paris, 1883); A Garnier, _La Cour de Hollande sous le regne
de Louis Bonaparte, par un auditeur_ (Paris and Amsterdam, 1823); T.
Jorissen, _Napoleon 1'er et le roi de Hollande (1806-1813) d'apres des
documents authentiques et inedits_ (Paris and The Hague, 1868); V.
Loosjes, _Louis Bonaparte, Koning van Holland_ (Amsterdam, 1888); L.
Wichers, _De Regeering van Koning Lodewijk Napoleon_ (1806-1810)
(Utrecht, 1892); F. Masson, _Napoleon et sa famille_ (4 vols., Paris,
1897-1900).