THE FLIGHT OF EUGENIE. 303 caused the official newspaper to publish a rebuke. Imme- diately the Prince resigned all his offices and honors, though he still retained his life-membership in the Senate, where he made severe comments on the administration of affairs. The coldness between the Emperor and his shrewd but lazy cousin continued to the end. The Prince Imperial, in the will already mentioned, passed over his uncle Plon-Plon, and declared Plon-Plon's eldest son Victor the head of the party and heir to the Imperial pretensions. Prince Jerome, however, quietly ignored this will, and declared himself head of the family, but refused to become an Imperial pre- tender. For a few days in 1883 it seemed as if he were about to renew the claim to the leadership of France, and the Republican government put him in prison, where his unusual ardor soon cooled.
