2023-08-01 10:58:40
It is probably one of the most pitiful coup attempts in the history of France. Of those that we forget almost instantly as they were doomed to failure. On August 5, 1840, while the sun had not yet risen, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte landed from England with about sixty men on the beach at Boulogne-sur-Mer. Its objective is simple: raise the local garrison, 250 men strong, then go to Paris to overthrow King Louis-Philippe. Despite the failure of a first coup in Strasbourg four years earlier, the man was convinced: the popularity of his late uncle, Napoleon I, would be enough to rally the army first, then the people. He even provided 100,000 francs in gold coins to distribute to onlookers so that they shout “Vive l’Empereur”.
The failure is equal to the absurdity of this plan: Louis-Napoleon is immediately arrested and condemned a few months later in relative indifference. “At the time, we took him a bit for a conspiracy maniac, even his father, the King of Holland, disavowed him”, specifies Juliette Glickman, historian specializing in the Second Empire and author of Louis-Napoleon Prisoner, from the fort of Ham to the gold of the Tuileries *. The conspirator is sent to Fort Ham, in the Somme, to serve his sentence. This 15th century fortress having been bombarded by the Germans during the First World War, one can only imagine today its surrounding walls almost 16 meters high and 11 meters thick, or the great tower and its 33 meters in diameter.
Relatively comfortable conditions of detention
Inside, however, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte enjoys relatively comfortable conditions of detention. Besides his bedroom, he has an office with a large library and a laboratory. He can also ride on horseback within the walls of the fort, maintain a small garden, and even receive visitors. Alexandre Dumas, George Sand, deputies or notables rush to be received by the late emperor’s nephew. “Political prisoners benefited from a relatively lenient detention regime and when you have such a prestigious name, you benefit from more generosity”, specifies Juliette Glickman. He will even have, during his detention, two children with the seamstress.
The building in which Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was detained, right in the middle of Fort Ham – Les amis du château de Ham
In September 1845, after five years of detention, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte asked for leave to go and visit his dying father. “The power was not against his release, on condition that he asks for a pardon, explains Juliette Glickman. But he formally refuses, because that would have amounted to a partial recognition of his guilt. The prisoner then undertakes meticulous research work on the escapes. According to the historian, two hold her attention. First that of the criminal Vidocq, who in 1805 slipped away from his jailers thanks to his mistress, by making him wear workman’s clothes. And that of the Count of Lavalette who, in 1815, fled thanks to his wife: during a visit, the couple exchanged their clothes. She took her place in the cell while he left prison dressed as a woman.
Disguised as a worker
Luck smiled on Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in the spring of 1846. Major repairs were undertaken in the fort, particularly in the prisoner’s apartments. The fort is well guarded – a garrison of 400 soldiers is present on the spot, and about sixty are responsible for watching over the illustrious prisoner daily – but the return trips of the workers are legion. The plan is simple: impersonate one of them. In the early morning of May 26, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte therefore shaved his mustaches, put on a blouse and clogs identical to those worn by the workers and made up his face to appear less pale.
In a letter he sent to the editor of the Progress, the prince says that his faithful valet, Charles Thérin, brings brandy to the workers at 6 a.m. to divert their attention. But the door to his “cell” is guarded by three jailers, two of whom are still on duty. “So we had to pass in front of them first, then cross the inner courtyard, in front of the commander’s window. Arrived there, it was necessary to pass the counter where the orderly and a sergeant were, a porter and finally a post of thirty men, ”writes Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte.
An accomplice inside the fort, another at his side
To pass unnoticed, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte dismantles a board from his library, puts it on his shoulder and descends from his apartments. “In the yard, he meets two latecomers masons, writes the journalist from The Daily in June 1846. They will recognize that the fugitive is not one of them, but Charles [Thérin] goes straight to them and scolds them for their laziness. At the same time, in the prince’s apartments, a second accomplice, Dr. Conneau, made believe that he was ill. During his interrogations, he confides that to “keep the soldiers away, he had made a mannequin covered with a coat which he laid down in bed”, assures The Constitutional in its edition of July 11, 1846.
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Having arrived safely outside the fort, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte joined his faithful valet in the adjoining cemetery. He is waiting for him with a horse-drawn carriage. They will change in Saint-Quentin, then take the train in Valenciennes. Direction Brussels. The alert is given at the end of the afternoon but it is already too late, the fugitive is in Belgium. “What is crazy is that on the quay, there was a former soldier from the fort who recognized Charles Thérin but not Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte “Blows Juliette Glickman. And to add: “We can ask ourselves the question of whether he really fled or if we let him go. The fact that no one is surprised that a worker leaves the site when the others arrive is surprising. The press of the time was also surprised. “With the help of this disguise, he managed, without encountering any difficulty, without arousing any mistrust, to cross the gates and the drawbridge of the citadel”, notes the journalist from the La Rochelle Lighthouse. Still, two days after his escape, here he is in London. He will never be judged. His accomplices will be sentenced to symbolic sentences, three months for Conneaud, six months in absentia for Thérin.
From “Imperial simpleton” to President of the Republic
For two years, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte resumed his social life in England, but always with his eyes fixed on France. In 1848, when a revolution drove King Louis-Philippe from the throne to establish the Second Republic, he saw it as a good way to return. The one who, after the failed coup of 1840, was nicknamed “the imperial simpleton” or “the stuffed turkey of Boulogne”, gained in popularity. While in prison, Napoleon’s nephew wrote several books on the major questions that agitated the people, the property tax, the workers’ cause. Progressive newspapers opened their columns to him. His essay The Extinction of Pauperism brings him wide notoriety in working class circles. “It was a fairly easy book to read, with little sentences that were easily remembered, he had a sense of the formula”, specifies the historian. He shouts to anyone who will listen that his detention in Ham was his “university”.
Far from serving him, his detention, then his escape, made him known in France. By escaping the surveillance of dozens of soldiers, he ridiculed the regime. “In France, we like when we have the opportunity to make fun of the power in place. And then there is something romantic. His writings fuel his campaign to become an MP. In 1848, he was elected in four constituencies (it was possible at the time). Two years later, he became President of the Republic with 74% of the vote. Then in December 1851, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup and restored the Empire a year later. “In the last years of his reign [qui s’achèvera en 1870], the image of his escape changes within the population, specifies Juliette Glickman. Her romantic side disappears, she is presented as the harbinger of her cowardice on the battlefield. He is the one who flees. »
* “Louis-Napoleon Prisoner, from Fort de Ham to the gold of the Tuileries” by Juliette Glickman, Aubier, 2011.
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