X. PIERRE NAPOLEON (1815-1881), son of Lucien Bonaparte, was born at
Rome on the 12th of September 1815. He began his life of adventure at
the age of fifteen, joining the insurrectionary bands in the Romagna
(1830-1831); was then in the United States, where he went to join his
uncle Joseph, and in Colombia with General Santander (1832). Returning
to Rome he was taken prisoner by order of the pope (1835-1836). He
finally took refuge in England. At the revolution of 1848 he returned to
France and was elected deputy for Corsica to the Constituent Assembly.
He declared himself an out-and-out republican and voted even with the
socialists. He pronounced himself in favour of the national workshops
and against the _loi Falloux_. His attitude contributed greatly to give
popular confidence to his cousin Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III.), of
whose _coup d'etat_ on the 2nd of December 1851 he disapproved; but he
was soon reconciled to the emperor, and accepted the title of prince.
The republicans at once abandoned him. From that time on he led a
debauched life, and lost all political importance. He turned to
literature and published some mediocre poems. In January 1870 a violent
incident brought him again into prominence. As the result of a
controversy with Paschal Grousset, the latter sent him two journalists
to provoke him to a duel. Pierre Bonaparte took them personally to
account, and during a violent discussion he drew his revolver and killed
one of them, Victor Noir. This crime greatly excited the republican
press, which demanded his trial. The High Court acquitted him, and
criticism then fell upon the government. Pierre Bonaparte died in
obscurity at Versailles on the 7th of April 1881. He had married the
daughter of a Paris working-man, Justine Eleanore Ruffin, by whom he
had, before his marriage, two children: (1) Roland Napoleon, born on the
19th of May 1858, who entered the army, was excluded from it in 1886,
and then devoted himself to geography and scientific explorations; (2)
Jeanne, wife of the marquis de Vence.
Descendants of Jerome: 11. Prince Napoleon (Plon-Plon).
XI. NAPOLEON JOSEPH CHARLES PAUL, commonly known as Prince Napoleon, or
by the sobriquet of "Plon-Plon,"[1] (1822-1891), was the second son of
Jerome Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, by his wife Catherine, princess of
Wurttemberg, and was born at Trieste on the 9th of September 1822. He
soon rendered himself popular by his advanced democratic ideas, which he
expressed on all possible occasions. After the French revolution of 1848
he was elected to the National Assembly as a representative of Corsica,
and (his elder brother, Jerome Napoleon Charles, dying in 1847) assumed
the name of Jerome. Notwithstanding his ostensible opposition to the
_coup d'etat_ of 1851, he was designated, upon the establishment of the
Empire, as successor to the throne if Napoleon III. should die
childless, and received a liberal dotation, but was allowed no share in
public affairs. Privately he professed himself the representative of the
Napoleonic tradition in its democratic aspect, and associated mainly
with men of advanced political opinions. At court he represented the
Liberal party against the empress Eugenie. In 1854 he took part in the
Crimean campaign as general of division. His conduct at the battle of
the Alma occasioned imputations upon his personal courage, but they seem
to have been entirely groundless. Returning to France he undertook the
chief direction of the National Exhibition of 1855, in which he
manifested great capacity. In 1858 he was appointed minister for the
Colonies and Algeria, and his administration aroused great hopes, but
his activity was diverted into a different channel by his sudden
marriage in January 1859 with the princess Marie Clotilde of Savoy,
daughter of Victor Emmanuel, a prelude to the war for the liberation of
Italy. In this war Prince Napoleon commanded the French corps that
occupied Tuscany, and it was expected that he would become ruler of the
principality, but he refused to exert any pressure upon the inhabitants,
who preferred union with the Italian kingdom. The next few years were
chiefly distinguished by remarkable speeches which displayed the prince
in the unexpected character of a great orator. Unfortunately his
indiscretion equalled his eloquence: one speech (1861) sent him to
America to avoid a duel with the duke d'Aumale; another (1865), in which
he justly but intemperately protested against the Mexican expedition,
cost him all his official dignities. Nevertheless he was influential in
effecting the reform by which in 1869 it was sought to reconcile the
Empire with Liberal principles. The fatal war of 1870 was resolved upon
during his absence in Norway, and was strongly condemned by him. After
the first disasters he undertook an ineffectual mission to Italy to
implore the aid of his father-in-law; and after the fall of the Empire
lived in comparative retirement until in 1879 the death of Napoleon
III.'s son, the Prince Imperial (see XIII. below), made him direct heir
to the Napoleonic succession. His part as imperial pretender was
unfortunate and inglorious: his democratic opinions were unacceptable to
the imperial party, and before his death he was virtually deposed in
favour of his son Prince Napoleon Victor, who, supported by Paul de
Cassagnac and others, openly declared himself a candidate for the throne
in 1884. He died at Rome on the 17th of March 1891. In the character of
his intellect, as in personal appearance, he bore an extraordinary
resemblance to the first Napoleon, possessing the same marvellous
lucidity of insight, and the same gift of infallibly distinguishing the
essential from the non-essential. He was a warm friend of literature and
art, and in a private station would have achieved high distinction as a
man of letters.
His eldest son, Prince Napoleon Victor Jerome Frederic (b. 1862), became
at his death the recognized head of the French Bonapartist party. The
second son, Prince Louis Napoleon, an officer in the Russian army,
showed a steadier disposition, and was more favoured in some monarchist
quarters; in 1906 he was made governor of the Caucasus.