Excerpt from The Public and Private History of Napoleon the Third, Emperor of the French: With Biographical Notices of His Most Distinguished Ministers, Generals, Relatives, and Favorites, and Various Details Descriptive of France Under the Second Empire Every age produces its master-spirits; and it is absurd at this late day to deny that Louis Napoleon occupies that position in reference to the present cen tury. It is equally evident that he has already fulfilled his mission; or that he has at least achieved the greater part of the brilliant or the tragical destiny which may have been allotted him. He has revived the defunct empire of the great Corsican; he has in herited his colossal power; and he now sits upon that perilous throne which was formerly purchased by the blood and tears of a continent. There is henceforth little more of consequence which Louis Napoleon can accomplish. He may indeed live in the enjoyment of his imperial state for some time to come; but beside this, the brief record of his future history will very probably comprise but one thing more: that he will either be dethroned, or be assassinated, or will die in his bed with all his blushing honors thick upon him. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.