The historian of the future, undazzled by the glittering splendor of the Second Empire, and unbiassed by sympathy for the unfortunate widow and mother, will scarcely judge the Empress Eugénie as leniently as the critic of to-day, yet more fairly than those of her own realm who have tried to blacken her reputation by calumny. He will find palliation for her faults, not so much because they were the result of her origin and training as because they were more than counterbalanced by her better qualities, especially her warm-heartedness and dauntless courage. He will also recognize that, as the wife of a usurper, she was beset with complications to which a born princess would not have been exposed, and that, taking all things into consideration, she filled that difficult position with credit to herself and France.
Footnotes
[1]At his christening the Prince received the names Napoleon Eugéne Louis Jean Joseph, but was called, like his father, Louis Napoleon.
Appendix
The following is a chronological statement of the principal events during the career of Empress Eugénie and Louis Napoleon:
| 1808 | Birth of Louis Napoleon. |
| 1826 | Birth of Eugénie. |
| 1815-30 | Napoleon in exile. |
| 1831 | Revolt against the Pope. |
| 1840 | Descent upon France and Capture. |
| 1848 | Member of the National Assembly. |
| 1851 | Coup d’État. |
| 1852 | Elected Emperor. |
| 1853 | Marriage of Eugénie and Napoleon. |
| 1854-56 | Crimean War. |
| 1856 | Birth of the Prince Imperial. |
| 1859 | War with Austria. |
| 1862 | Interference with Mexico. |
| 1870 | War with Germany. |
| 1870-71 | Capture and Imprisonment. |
| 1873 | Death of Napoleon. |
| 1879 | Prince Imperial killed in Africa. |
LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Translated from the German by
GEORGE P. UPTON
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Historical and Biographical