1-150-905 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage Images

'Napoleon Pour Rire!!', 1883. This cartoon shows France 'bonneting' the unfortunate Prince Napoléon Bonaparte - 'Plon-plon', as he was known. He was the head of the Bonaparte family, and was chosen to succeed Napoleon III, should the Bonapartist Party ever regain power, pending the majority of his son. Now that Leon Gambetta, the former Head of the Third Republic, had died, Prince Jerome had issued a Proclamation denouncing the Republic and claiming that he was the only fit person to lead France. This led to him being arrested and held in custody for a short time. Punch, however, said he should simply have been laughed at for his pretensions. From "Punch, or the London Charivari", January 27, 1883.