\ *
S, T X
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PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851,
OR,
THE COUP D'ETAT OF NAPOLEON HI.
EUGENE TENOT,
EDITOR OF THE SIECLE (PARIS) AND AUTHOR OF " LA PROVINCE
KN DECEMBRE 1851."
TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRTEENTH FRENCH EDITION,
WITH MANY ORIGINAL NOTES,
BY
S. W. ADAMS, AND A. H. BRANDON.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON.
1870.
Entered according to Act of CongreM, In the year 1870, by
SHULXA* W. ADAMS,
In the Office of the Librarian of CongreM, at Washington.
RITIKAIDE, CAMBRIDGE:
PRIXTII) BI U. 0. UDU1HT03 A3D COMPACT.
CONTENTS.
TRANSLATORS' PREFACE .. ' v
AUTHOR'S PREFACE vii
ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS . . ' xiii
PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851 1
AUTHOR'S APPENDIX 281
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX 256
ALPHABETICAL INDEX 345
TRANSLATORS' PREFACE.
THE work of which a translation is herewith respect-
fully submitted, was first published in Paris, in July
1868, since which time it has reached its fifteenth
French edition. As the object of its author was to sup-
ply a long-needed, correct version of the acts of vio-
lence and unlawfulness whereby Louis Napoleon sup-
planted the Republic of France by the Empire of which
he became the head ; so the object of the translators has
been, to give to the " plain, unvarnished tale " a form
and style which should make it intelligible and popular
in the hands of American readers. It is for this rea-
son that they have added a copious appendix of histor-
ical, biographical, and explanatory notes. Some of
these may appear trivial and unnecessary, but it
seemed more desirable to explain very fully, than to
err, possibly, by the omission of anything that might
render the text more thoroughly understood. For the
same reason, they have added an Alphabetical Index.
The work has been translated into the Russian, Ger-
man, and Italian languages ; but this is believed to be
the first English version thereof.
M. Tenot states that he has not deemed it expedient
to comment unfavorably (to the French Government)
upon the facts which he has recorded in his work.
Nevertheless, it may not be amiss to remark, that his
publishers, in order to avoid the risk of public prosecu-
tion, struck out from the manuscripts of the author,
vi TRANSLATORS' PREFACE.
certain passages which even he, with all his pains to
keep within the French penal enactments relating to
the press, had ventured to submit for publication.
It seems to the translators, that a political crisis in
the Napoleonic regime will soon be reached. All the
under-currents of public opinion in France, especially
in the great cities, which in that country are the seats
of intelligence and education, and are least controlled
by the Romish priesthood, all the indications of pop-
ular sentiment, point to the approaching collapse of
the dynasty, the " Strong Government," heretofore
administered by Louis Napoleon, with the assistance
of a vast army of soldiers, and another army composed
of the clergy, and servile officials appointed by the
Emperor, and well paid (many of them for life) from
the national treasury. That the intelligent, thinking,
and patriotic people of France are Republicans, is
shown by the results of the elections of 1869. And
if the votes of the clergy, and of the underlings (civil
and military) of the government, be deducted from the
whole, there remains an Opposition majority. This is
notwithstanding the vast power and influence exer-
cised by the government, through its ministers, pre-
fects and police, over those who have the right of suf-
frage.
For these reasons, the present seems an opportune
moment for offering for perusal, by the American
reader who desires to be informed as to the origin of
the present imperial rule in France, a work which
shall contain, in a small compass, a true story of the
Coup <TEtat of President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.
S.W.A.
A. H. B.
January, 1970.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Two and a half years ago, I published the account
of the opposition which the Coup ffEtat of the 2d of
December met with in the Departments. (See Note 1.)
When writing that work upon " The Province in
December, 1851," I had in my mind a twofold pur-
pose :
1st. To furnish some useful materials to future his-
torians, by narrating important though contemporary
facts, in danger of being forgotten.
2d. To refute by a simple and impartial narrative,
supported by strong proofs, the tradition of the dema-
gogic " jacquerie " (Note 2) in the provinces in De-
cember ; a tradition which was becoming more and
more accepted as an incontrovertible historical fact.
This latter part of my task, I ought to say, more
particularly demanded my attention. I had been pained
by the odious accusations, of murder, pillage, rape, in-
cendiarism, with which it had been sought to blight the
Republicans, who in 1852 had made armed resistance
in the Departments, to the Coup cFUtat of December
2, and whom the Councils of War and the Mixed
Commissions had cast by thousands into Cayenne,
into Africa, or into exile.
A Republican myself, although I was then but a
vouth, I experienced, with the lively sensibility of
that age, a much deeper grief than I could express, on
viii AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
seeing that no one responded to these accusations.
How many times have I felt humiliated, afflicted, when
I saw those very persons who refused to believe in
them reduced to the impossibility of responding by
some positive proof, to those and God knows whether
they were numerous, who, in veritable good faith, re-
peated tales of revolting excesses, committed by bands
of " Jacques " (Note 2), led to murder and pillage by
demagogues, under the pretense of defending the Con-
stitution and the Republic against the Coup cTEtaL
When, twelve years later, various favorable circum-
stances had placed me in a condition to search out and
establish the truth concerning these events, to abate
this heap of calumnies, of shameless inventions, which
the majority of the French people had believed to be
true, I thought I should do a useful work by giving to
the public the result of my patient and (I have a right
to say it) conscientious researches.
The reception which a great number of men, as dis-
tinguished for character as for talent, gave 'to this work,
permitted me to believe that I was not mistaken.
Since the publication of the " Province in Decem-
ber, 18/>1," I have often been importuned to complete
that impartial study of the events of December, by
the account of the Coup cCEtat in Paris.
I hesitated for a long time, being conscious of my
inability in presence of so arduous a task ; one con-
sideration determines me to-day.
The years pass away. Almost seventeen have
flowed by since tlie 2d of December. A whole gener-
ation has grown up, that knows not, that cannot know,
how was accomplished that celebrated Coup <T Etat, the
beginning of tl-.-j nVime under which it lives.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. ix
Where shall it go in order to draw forth the exact
knowledge of the facts ? Where is the book, honestly
written, that relates these events ? The few accounts
published in France on this subject, in the first months
of 1852, are frightfully partial. Therein the facts are
drowned in a muddy mass of calumnies, falsehoods,
disfigured incidents, and mutilated documents. These
recitals can serve those only who have time and means
to separate the real from the false therein, while care-
fully governing each assertion through the application
of a sound and severe criticism. [It is in this manner
that I have myself proceeded. These recitals, whose
perusal often causes nauseas of disgust, have served to
establish for me certain facts which I knew from an-
other source, but which it was well to support by the
authority of writers who were admirers of the 2d of
December, and whose books or pamphlets had appeared
in France.]
I have resolved then, to relate the Coup d'Etat of
December at Paris. I make no pretense of writing a
history, in the complete and lofty sense of the term.
I relate the facts. I neither appraise nor judge them.
I seek not to ascertain whether the Coup d Etat was
rendered necessary by high considerations of public
safety, or whether its authors obeyed different mo-
tives. I do not inquire, moreover, whether that act
was or was not legitimate ; I no more blame than
praise the means made use of to execute it ; nor do
I controvert in the matter of the plebiscitum (Note 3)
of the 20th December. I show the figures, and give
the official speeches pronounced on that occasion.
My method consists then, in searching for the truth
of the facts ; in presenting them as far as possible under
X AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
their true light; in advancing nothing except upon
serious proof: in citing only exact documents, without
being in any manner engrossed with the results which
the reader might deduce therefrom, or with the judg-
ments that he might carry thence.
I proved sufficiently, I think, in " The Province in
December," that I was not of those who torture facts
in order to adapt them to a theory, or to the necessi-
ties of a case. When compelled to show the excesses
committed by men who formed part of the Repub-
lican bands, not only have I done so conscientiously,
but I think I have strengthened the colorings rather
than weakened them.
I am persuaded although many think the contrary
that a narrative of this sort, impartial, true, as far
removed from defamation as from apology, may be pro-
duced without inconvenience to-day. It seems to me
that it would be a grave insult to a government proud
of its origin, which is based upon two plebiscite* carried
by immense majorities ; which has governed, without
having had to repress either insurrection or serious
riot, for sixteen years ; which finds in universal suf-
frage, in each legislative election, a compact and de-
voted majority ; which has itself just proclaimed that
the time has come for crowning the consolidated edifice
of the institutions of 18f>2, by liberal reforms ; it
seems to me, I say, that it would be a grave insult to
that government to suppose it incapable of suffering a
conscientious and impartial narrative of the facts an-
terior to the plelitcitum of the 20th of December;
facts absolved (the expression is Louis Napoleon's) by
that plfbiscitum.
I might, before there was any question of the liberal
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xi
reforms of the 19th January have conscientiously
related the 2d of December in the Provinces without
engrossing the attention of the authorities the least in
the world. With still stronger reason I am convinced
that they will be no more concerned on seeing me
apply the same historical method to the narrative of
the 2d of December in Paris. I place this new work
under the protection of its elder.
One last word, after which 1 shah 1 release the reader
from these too personal preliminaries, which I thought
necessary, but which he is not bound to read to the
end if they appear idle to him.
I thought at first that it was proper to take for my
point of departure of the story of the 2d of Decem-
ber in Paris, the opening of the session of the Legis-
lative Assembly, November 4, 1851 ; the opening so
closely followed by the deposit of the proposition of the
Quaestors (Note 4). On due consideration, however,
I felt convinced that in proceeding in that manner I
should have missed the aim I had proposed to myself.
The reader would not have seen the chain of events
that had determined this decisive crisis ; the facts
would have stood out before him as an incomprehen-
sible enigma. I should have been unfolding before his
eyes a panorama in a camera obscura, of which, like
the monkey in the fable, I should have forgotten to light
the lantern.
The new generation, for whom I am writing, is al-
ready sufficiently acquainted with the Revolution of
1848, and from that time up to the presidential elec-
tion. Many first-rate works have been published to
that date. But I know of none where one can learn
of the events that transpired between the 10th Decem-
ber 1848 and the 4th November, 1851.
xii AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
These are the very events which prepared and
brought about the Coup oTJEtat. I have therefore de-
voted my first chapter to a succinct analysis of the
events of that period. Obliged as I am to present
only its most prominent features, it has not always
been possible for me to do so without letting my own
personal sentiments manifest themselves with regard
to these events. But the few appreciations which have
slipped into this first chapter have reference only to
facts that transpired considerably before the 2d of
December, concerning which, besides, I have not the
same reasons for withholding my judgment, that I
would have with regard to those that directly con-
cerned the Coup cCEtat itself.
EDG&NE T^NOT.
PARIS, July 14, 1868.
ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS.
CHAPTER I.
Critical Examination of the Constitution of 1848. The Establishment
of the Presidency. Two Rival Powers at the Head of the State.
Candidacy of Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte for the Presidency of
the Republic. His Letters and Speeches since the 24th of February.
* His Election. The Session for his Installation on the 20th of
December, 1848. Reactionary Movement on the part of some.
Election of the Legislative Assembly in May, 1849. The Royal-
ists predominate. Reactionary Measures. Speech of Louis Napo-
leon at Ham. His Message of October 31, 1849. The growing
Progress of Republican Feeling among the People. Partial Elections
of March and April, 1850. The Royalist Majority wishes to muti-
late Universal Suffrage. The Electoral Law of the 31st May, pre-
sented by the Government, in accordance with that Majority. Its
Dangers and Effects. Louis Napoleon's first Request for supple-
mentary Sums of Money for his own use. Speeches of the President
during his Journey through France. Emotion produced by them.
The Review at Satory. Commencement of the Conflict be-
tween the President and the Majority. Message of the 12th Decem-
ber. The President's Declarations of unalterable Fidelity to the Con-
stitution. Removal of General Changarnier. A Parliamentary
Storm. Declarations of Messieurs Baroche and Thiers. Refusal
of a new Request for more Money. Prophecies of a Coup d"tat to
happen early in 1851. Revision of the Constitution. Speech of
Louis Napoleon at Dijon. The proposed Revision is rejected.
Popular Feeling. The Red Spectre. The Coup dEtat about to
fall in the Vacation of the Assembly in 1851. Ministerial Crisis.
CHAPTER H.
The Assembly resumes its Labors. Respective Positions of the Par-
liamentary Parties. Presidential Message of November 4, 1851.
Louis Napoleon proposes the Repeal of the Law of 31st May. Impres-
sion produced thereby. Deposit of the Proposition of the Quaes-
tors. Nature of that Proposition. The Coup d'Etat is definitively
resolved upon. The Law of 31st May maintained. Discussion of
riv ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS.
the Proposition of the Qmestors. Session of the 17th November.
The Proposition rejected. HAS there been a Conspiracy of the
Bight against Louis Napoleon ? The President makes his Final
Preparations for the Coup <?Etat, at the moment when it is least ex-
pected. His Principal Confidants. Biographical Notices of them.
Meeting of Generals at the House of General Magnan. Plan
for the Execution of the Covp cFEtat. Arrangement of the Army.
" All IB Ready." 48
CHAPTER HI.
The Soin'e of December 1, 1851, at the Elysian Palace. The Manu-
scripts are carried to the National Printing-Office. Measures taken
by the Prefect of Police. The Palace of the National Assembly is
surprised at Night by Colonel Espinasse. Arrest of the Quaestors.
Messieurs Baze and General Lefl3. Concerning the Arrest of
General Bedeau The Arrests of the sixteen designated Represen-
tatives. List of Citizens arrested the same Night. The Presi- .
dent's Decrees. His Appeals to the People. Proclamation to the
Army. First Impressions of the Parisians. Attitude of the Peo-
ple. Hostility of the Middling Classes to the Coup d'etat. 89
CHAPTER IV.
The Morning of the Second of December. First Parliamentary Re-
sistance. The Protest at the House of Odilon Barrot. The Meet-
ing at Darn's. A few Representatives enter the Hall of the Na-
tional Assembly. Their Expulsion. Conduct of Monsieur Dupin.
Meeting at the Mayor's Office of the 10th District The Na-
tional Assembly constituted there. The Representatives arrested
and taken to the Barracks of the Orsay Quay. The Editors of
some Journals attempt to protest. Warrant of the High Court of
Justice. Conduct of the Representatives of the Left. Various
Meetings. The Committee of Resistance. It is decided to make
an armed Resistance. Agitation in the Evening of the Second of
December. 115
CHAPTER V.
Morning of the 3d December. The New Ministry, etc. Letter of
l/-on Fauchcr. Attitude of de Moray. Despatches from de Mor-
ny to General Magnan. Event of Saint- Antoine Street. The
First Barricade. Heroic Death of Representative Baudin. Agita-
tion of the Afternoon. Proclamations and Appeals to Arms. Or-
der of the Prefect of Police. Proclamation of the Minister of War.
The Combat begins here nnd there. Attitude of the People in
the Kvoning of December 3. The Commotion increases. Plan of
Military Operations adopted by the Government. 155
ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS. XV
CHAPTER VI.
The Morning of December 4. Barricades are raised. The Troops
abstain until Two O'clock. Immense Agitation. Despatch
from Monsieur de Maupas. Position of the Republicans. Twelve
Hundred Men against Thirty Thousand. The Attack is begun.
Bloody Combats in the Streets of St. Denis, Rambuteau, and Fau-
bourg St. Martin. Incidents on the South Side of the River. De
Maupas' Despatches. The final Combats. Heroic Death of Mon-
sieur Dussoubs. What happened on the Boulevards ? Investiga-
tion of the Truth of Accounts published to the Present Time. Rela-
tion of an English Officer. The Author's Conclusions. Resist-
ance crushed in the Afternoon of the 4th. Aspect of Paris the next
Day. What was the Number of the Victims ? 184
CONCLUSION.
Circulars and Decrees previous to December 5. List of the Represen-
tatives expelled by Decree. The Vote of December 20. Speech
of Monsieur Baroche. Speech of the Emperor. 241
PARIS IN DECEMBER 1851.
A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE COUP D'ETAT.
CHAPTER I.
BEFORE approaching the narrative of the events which
destroyed the Republican Constitution of 1848, it is proper
to say what that Constitution was, and by whom and how
it was applied, up to the second of December, 1851.
The fundamental law of the Republic (Note 5 *), defin-
itively enacted by the Constituent Assembly (Note 6)
November 4, 1848, was a compromise between the dem-
ocratic aspirations of France and its monarchical tradi-
tions. Profiting with skill by the impression produced
by the sad days of June, the reactionists of the Assembly
succeeded in introducing as much as possible of monarch-
ism into the Constitution of the Republic (Note 7). The
authoritative prejudices of a certain number of the Repub-
licans contributed also, in a great measure, to this result
That Constitution preserved intact all the despotic or-
ganism built up by the first Bonaparte after the 18th of
Brumaire (Note 8). It maintained absolute centralism,
which smothers all independence, all local life ; develops
functional action in exorbitant proportions ; paralyzes the
initiative freedom of citizens ; entangles all France in the
meshes of an immense net, whose strongest cord is at
the Ministry of the Interior.
1 The notes, indicated by figures, are found in the Translator's Appen-
dix; the fwfr notes of Mr. T&iot are found in the body of the work.
1
2 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
It confirmed for the Catholic Church the bastard regime
of the Concordat (Note 9). The clergy, the enemy of
democratic liberty, thus received from the Republic sub-
sidies oftenest destined to combat it (Note 10).
It preserved a magistracy for life, chosen by the ex-
ecutive power, kept dependent thereon by the hope of
advancement and honorable distinctions ; composed, more-
over, of men deeply hostile to the strengthening of repub-
lican democracy.
Finally, the institution most incompatible with the ex-
istence of a free republic, the permanent army, recruited
by conscription, was maintained (Note 11). Five hundred
thousand soldiers, having but one dogma, passive obedi-
ence, knowing but one law, the command of the recog-
nized chief, continued to encamp, in full peace, in the
heart of the disarmed nation.
Nor is this all. The Constitution of 1848 delegated the
plenitude of the executive power to a president, elected
by universal suffrage. It clothed him with very extensive
powers, superior even, in some respects, to those at the
disposal of sovereigns of several of the parliamentary mon-
archies. The president exercised the supreme authority
over the two great organized forces by means of which
France is held : the administrative army, and the army
properly so called ; five hundred thousand functionaries, and
five hundred thousand soldiers. Besides, in his origin,
he drew a considerable prestige and authority. The
president alone was incontestably the elect of the majority
of the people. While each member of the Assembly, in
fact, represented only the few thousands of electors who
had chosen him, the president received his investiture
from millions of citizens.
The Constitution opposed to the president a National
Assembly (Note 12) sovereign in financial matters, imposts,
and legislation; sovereign too theoretically at least
as to the direction of the external policy of the government.
THE CONSTITUTION OF 1848. 3
In principle, the president was subordinated to the National
Assembly. In the spirit of the Constitution, the Assembly
was to be the brain which thinks and commands ; the
president, the arm which obeys and executes.
The event of a refusal of obedience of the president to
the decisions of the Assembly, had been carefully antici-
pated by the Constitution. The National Assembly had the
right to accuse the president and his ministers and to send
them before a high court of justice.
It is true that the Assembly possessed no material means
of coercing the rebellious president ; it had reserved to
itself the moral force which results from a right inscribed
in a legal enactment, but it had given up all material power
into the hands of the President of the Republic.
It had judged that the grand principle of the separation
of the powers required that it should be so.
This unfortunate conception condemned the direction of
the Republic to a fatal dualism. The two rival powers
thus placed at the head of the state, would naturally tend
to enter into conflict. How dangerous might such a con-
flict become for the new institutions, if the president should
happen to be the inheritor of an ancient dynasty, rightfully
or wrongfully suspected of aspiring to the throne, whilst
the Assembly itself professed but a mediocre attachment for
the republican Constitution?
These considerations were very strongly developed, we
would fain say with a prophetic intuition by many of the
Republicans composing the Constituent Assembly. 1 The
majority overruled the point. It wanted a " strong power."
Notwithstanding the grave faults which might be charged
against it in a democratic point of view, the Constitution
was loyally accepted by the great majority of the Republi-
cans. It presented, in fact, divers precious advantages. It
instituted universal suffrage ; it guaranteed, essentially, the
i See the discussion on the Gr^vy Amendment, and later the Leblond
Amendment.
4 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
liberty of the press, and of public meetings ; it imposed a
serious sanction to the responsibility of the president and
of the representatives, by the limited duration of their
powers. The president was elected for four years only,
and the representatives for three. No president could be
reflected before an interval of four years. Finally, the
Constitution was not unchangeable. Each triennial Assem-
bly, arrived at its third session, had the right to decide the
revision of the fundamental pact, and to convoke for that
purpose a special assembly. One restriction only, and
withal a very sage one, was imposed upon this privilege.
The convocation of an assembly of revision could be de-
cided only by a majority of three-fourths of those voting.
A similar precaution exists in the United States, for the
adoption of any constitutional modification.
It would have seemed that this semi-monarchical consti-
tution, on account of the strength accorded to the executive
power, might have easily rallied the conservatives. It was
not so. Their work as soon as they came into power, con-
sisted in abolishing it, piece by piece. The principal reef
of the Constitution of 1848 was, as we have already said, the
probability of a conflict between the Assembly materially
powerless, and an ambitious president invested with the
disposal of organized forces.
The authors of the fundamental pact had thought to have
sheltered the Assembly from any attack on the part of the
chief of the executive power, by a very simple means, and
one which denoted, on the part of the Constituents of 1848,
a very implicit confidence in the excellence of human
nature. They had given as a bulwark to the National As-
sembly, two articles of the Constitution, the articles 68 and
48.
Here is the first of these articles:
" Art. 68. The President of the Republic, the ministers, the
agents and depositaries of the public authority, are responsible,
carh in hi* own department, for all the acts of the government
and its administration.
TREASON DEFINED. 5
" Every measure by which the President of the Republic dis-
solves the National Assembly, prorogues it, or puts an obstacle to
the exercise of its power, is a CRIME OF HIGH TREASON.
" By this single fact, the President is deprived of his functions,
the citizens are bound to refuse obedience to him, the executive
power passes ipso facto to the National Assembly, the judges of
the High Court of justice immediately convene under pain of for-
feiture of office, they convoke the jury in the place they designate,
to proceed in the trial of the President and his accomplices, they
themselves name the magistrates charged to fill the offices of pub-
lic ministry (Note 13).
" A law will determine the other cases of responsibility, as well
aa the forms and conditions of the prosecution."
Article 48 is thus worded :
" Art. 48. Before assuming his functions, the President of the
Republic takes, in the presence of the National Assembly, the
oath of the tenor following :
" In the presence of God and before the French people, repre-
ented by the National Assembly, I swear to remain faithful to the
democratic Republic, one and indivisible, and to fulfill all the
duties that the Constitution imposes upon me."
In order to appreciate the importance which the Con-
stituent Assembly attached to this last article, it is well to
recollect that the political oath had been abolished for all
the functionaries of the Republic ; the president alone was
excepted ; he alone was thus bound, so much more solemn
ought to be, in the minds of the authors of the Constitution,
the task which it imposed upon him.
It is known that the two principal candidates for the
presidency of the Republic, were General Eugene Cavaig-
nac (Note 14), the head of the executive power since the
24th of June, 1848 ; and the Prince Louis Napoleon Bona-
parte (Note 15).
It is not essential to the object of this work to dwell on
the first of these candidates ; it will suffice to say that in
the opinion of many enlightened persons, General Cavaig-
6 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
nnc, was perhaps, in his time, the man most capable of
suitably fulfilling the duties of a president without there
having been reason to fear any attempt at usurpation on
his part
The second candidate, Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte,
was the nephew of the Emperor Napoleon I., his heir in
virtue of the Scnatot Consultwn (Note 16) of Flordal, year
12 (Note 8).
His history, anterior to 1848, is well enough known for
it to be sufficient to recall its prominent features.
All his acts up to this epoch tended only to one sole aim :
to renew the pact which, in his opinion, the French people
had concluded in 1800 and 1804 with Bonaparte; a pact
which the foreign invasion had broken in fact, but not of
right This end Louis Napoleon had twice attempted to
attain : at Strasbourg in 1836 (Note 17) ; and at Boulogne
in 1840 (Note 18) by provoking military insurrections. It
seems that he had dreamed in his youthful years, of renew-
ing the great interview of 1815, between the soldiers and
the man of a hundred battles (Note 19), and of realizing
for himself by means of the troops of the monarchy of July,
a triumphal "return from the Isle of Elba" (Note 20).
His two attempts had completely failed. Judged and con-
demned by the Court of Peers, after the affair of Boulogne,
he had been imprisoned in the Fort of Ham (Note 21).
There he wrote much. His books, and his articles in the
newspapers, strongly imbued with democratic and liberal
ideas, were noticed ; but it would be quite inexact to say
that these writings had produced an effect of any weight
upon the minds of contemporaries.
It is known that Louis Napoleon had succeeded in escap-
ing from Ham, and that the revolution of the 24th of Feb-
ruary found him in Englond.
He hastened to Paris and addressed the following letter
to the Provisional Government :
REPUBLICANISM OF LOUIS NAPOLEON. 7
" PARIS, February 28, 1848.
" GENTLEMEN, The people of Paris having destroyed by
their heroism, the last vestiges of the foreign invasion, I arrive
from exile to take my stand under the flag of the Republic which
has just been proclaimed.
" With no other ambition but that of serving my country, I
come to announce my arrival to the members of the Provisional
Government, and to assure them of my devotion to the cause which
they represent, as well as of my sympathy for their persons.
" Accept, gentlemen, the assurance of these sentiments.
" Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE."
In spite of this spontaneous adhesion of Louis Napoleon
to the Republic, the Provisional Government did not
deem it prudent to permit him to sojourn in France, inas-
much as the National Assembly had not decided the fate
of the ancient reigning families, which the laws maintained
in exile.
Louis Napoleon returned to England. (Note 22.)
He left in Paris a few devoted friends, who exerted
themselves zealously to gather together a Napoleonic party.
Newspapers were started, pamphlets were circulated, and
every means of propagation were adopted, in order to popu-
larize the name of Louis Napoleon. The prodigious influ-
ence that the remembrance of the first Napoleon exercised
still over the people of the cities and the country, rendered
this work easy. Therefore, did it meet with a success as
rapid as it was considerable.
From the first days of May to those of June, the cry of
" Vive Napoleon " was often the dominant one in the popu-
lar agitations.
The National Assembly was concerned. Louis Napo-
leon sent to it the following letter from London :
" LONDON, 24th May, 1848.
" To THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY,
" Citizen Representatives : I learn by the newspapers of the
22d, that it has been proposed in the Committees of the Assembly
8 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
to maintain against me alone the law of exile, which has affected
my family since 1816. I come to ask of the Representatives of
the people, why I should merit such punishment ?
"Is it for having always publicly declared that in my opinion
France was not the property either of a man, of a family, or of a
party ? Is it because that, desirous of causing the principles of
the National Sovereignty to triumph, without anarchy or license,
which alone could end our dissensions, I have been twice victim of
my hostility to the government which you have overthrown ?
" Is it for having consented, through deference to the Provisional
Government, to return to a foreign land, after having hastened to
Paris at the first sound of the Revolution ? Is it, lastly, for hav-
ing refused, through disinterestedness, the candidacies to the As-
sembly, proposed to me, resolved never to return to France until
the Constitution should be established, and the Republic consol-
idated ?
" The same reasons which caused me to take up arms against
Louis Philippe (Note 23), would impel me, if my services were
demanded, to devote myself to the defense of the Assembly, the
result of universal suffrage.
" In presence of a king, chosen by two hundred deputies, I might
remember that I was the heir of an empire, founded by the con-
sent of four million Frenchmen. In presence of the National Sov-
ereignty, I cannot, and will not, reassert any other than my rights
as a French citizen ; but those I will claim unceasingly, with the
energy which gives to an honest heart the sentiment of never
having merited ill of the country.
M Receive, gentlemen, the assurance of my high esteem.
" Your fellow-citizen,
" Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE."
This letter, in which the declarations of adhesion to the
Republic, and the recognition of the rights of the Assem-
bly were so categorically affirmed, was not without its in-
fluence on the vote by which the laws of exile against
the Bonaparte family were abrogated by the Constituent
Assembly.
In the interval, Louis Napoleon was elected Representa-
tive of the people, in the partial elections by the Depart-
SPEECH OF LOUIS NAPOLEON. 9
ments of Charente Inferieure, of the Yonne, of the Seine,
and Corsica. He declined this mandate. Shortly after-
ward he was reflected by these four Departments, as well
as by that of the Meuse. He accepted, and took his seat
in the Constituent Assembly on the 26th December, 1848.
The speech he pronounced on this occasion, is remark-
able in divers respects ; it should not be omitted in this
work. Here it is, extracted from the Moniteur Officiel
(Note 24) :
" CITIZEN REPRESENTATIVES :
" I cannot permit myself to remain silent after the calumnies of
which I have been the subject. I desire to distinctly expose here,
and that on the first day on which I am permitted to sit among
you, the true sentiments which animate me, and which have
always animated me. After thirty-three years of proscription
and exile, I again find my country and all my rights of citizen-
ship ! The Eepublic has caused me this happiness, let the Re-
public receive my oath of gratitude, my oath of devotion, and let
the generous compatriots who brought me into this arena, be cer-
tain that I shall strongly endeavor to justify their suffrages, by
laboring with you to maintain tranquillity, that first necessity of
the country, and to develop the democratic institutions which the
people have a right to claim.
" For a long time, I have been able to consecrate to France
only the meditations of exile and of captivity. To-day, the course
in which you walk is open to me ; receive me, then, within your
ranks, my dear colleagues, with the same sentiment of .affectionate
confidence that I bring hither. My conduct, always inspired
by duty, always animated by respect for the law, will prove, in
the encounter of the passions which have sought to blacken me,
in order to proscribe me still, that no one here is more resolved
than I to devote himself to the defense of order, and to the en-
franchising of the Republic."
Two months after, Louis Napoleon was the candidate of
the " Party of Order," for the presidency of the Republic.
It is known that the influential men of the ancient mon-
archical parties had coalesced under that denomination. In
10 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
general, they sustained the candidacy of Louis Napoleon.
The all-powerful preoccupation at this moment amongst
the majority of the country, was the necessity of maintain-
ing order and of safely guarding public security. They
were still under the influence of the sanguinary days of
June.
The electoral manifesto of Louis Napoleon, dated the
27th of November, 1848, gave satisfaction to this senti-
ment, at the same time that it impressed, with a singular
energy, the strictly constitutional and purely republican
character of his candidacy. One may judge of this by the
following extract from his manifesto :
. . . . " There must be nothing equivocal between yon
and me. I am not an ambitious one, who, at times, dreams of
Empire and war, at times of the application of subversive theo-
ries. Brought up in free countries, in the school of misfortune,
I shall ever remain faithful to the duties which your suffrages
impose on me, and to the wishes of the Assembly.
" If I were elected President, I would recoil before no danger,
before no sacrifice, in order to defend society so audacioulsy
attacked. I would devote myself entirely, and without after-
thought, to the enfranchising of a Republic, wise in its laws, hon-
est in its intentions, great and strong in its actions.
" I would make it a point of honor to leave, at the end of four
years, to my successor, the power consolidated, liberty intact, and
a really accomplished progress."
The presidential elections took place the 10th of Decem-
ber, 1848. Louis Napoleon was elected. His election was
due much more to the prestige caused by the name of
Napoleon than to the support of the electoral committees
of the " Party of Order." It was, moreover, a sincere
election, made in full liberty, against the validity of which
no serious claim was ever raised. On the 20th December,
Louis Napoleon was installed President of the Republic.
The session of the National Assembly in which this mem-
orable act was accomplished, has its conspicuous place in
VOTES FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 11
our narrative. The following report is taken from the
Moniteur :
"NATIONAL ASSEMBLY,
" SESSION OF DECEMBER 20, 1848. PRESIDENCY OF CITIZEN
ARMAND MARRAST.
" CITIZEN WALDECK ROUSSEAU, Reporter of the Commis-
sion, charged with verifying the elections for the President of
the Republic.
" ' Citizen Representatives : The suffrages received throughout
the Republic, should be divided in the following proportions, among
the various Candidates designated, as established by the labors of
your Commission :
Votes cast 7,327,345
Of these Citizen Louis Napoleon Bonaparte has obtained 6,434,226
Citizen Cavaignac (Note 14) . . . . . . 1,448,107
Citizen Ledru-Rollin (Note 25) . . . . 370,119
Citizen Raspail (Note 25) 36,920
Citizen Lamartine (Note 25) 17,910
Citizen Changarnier (Note 25) 4,790
Votes lost 12,600
" ' Citizen Representatives : it is about six months since you pro-
claimed upon the threshold of this palace (Note 26) the Republic
arising from the popular struggles of the 24th of February. To-
day, you impress upon your work the seal of national ratification !
Have confidence ; God protects France.'
" CITIZEN GENERAL CAVAIGNAC, head of the executive
power. 4 Citizen Representatives : I have the honor to inform the
Assembly that the ministers have this moment remitted to my
hands their respective resignations.
" ' I have now remitted in my turn, into the hands of the Assem-
bly, the powers which it bad been kind enough to confide to me.
" ' The Assembly will understand, better than I could express
them, what are the sentiments of gratitude which the remembrance
of its confidence, and of its kindness toward me, will leave behind.'
(Very good I Loud and lively applause).
" THE CITIZEN PRESIDENT. The National Assembly ac-
cepts the resignation of powers, and grants a record thereof. I
now put to vote the results of the commission.'
(These results put to vote are unanimously adopted).
12 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
" THE CITIZEN PRESIDENT. The Assembly baa adopted the
results of the Commission. Therefore,
" * In the name of the French People :
" ' Whereas, Citizen Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, born in
Paris, fulfills the conditions of eligibility prescribed by Article 44
of the Constitution ;
" * Whereas, in the ballot opened over all the extent of the terri-
tory of the Republic, for the election of the President, he has united
the absolute majority of the suffrages.
"'By virtue of Articles 47 and 48 of the constitution, the Na-
tional Assembly proclaims him President of the French lie-
public, from the present day, until the second Sunday of the
month of May, 1852.
"'In accordance with the terms of the decree, I invite the Citi-
zen President of the Republic to be pleased to advance to the trib-
une (Note 27) in order to take the oath there.
(Citizen Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, President of the
Republic, ascends the tribune.)
" THE CITIZEN PRESIDENT OF THE ASSEMBLY. I proceed
to read the form of the oath :
"'In presence of God, and before the French people repre-
sented by the National Assembly, I swear to remain faithful to the
democratic Republic, one and indivisible, and to fulfill all the
duties which the Constitution imposes upon me.'
"TiiE CITIZEN PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, raising his
hand. ' I swear it ! '
"TiiE CITIZEN PRESIDENT OF THE ASSEMBLY. 'We call
God and man to witness the oath which has just been taken ; the
National Assembly takes oflicial notice of it, and orders it to be
transcribed in the journal, inserted in the " Moniteur," published
and posted in the form of the legislative acts.'
"TiiK CITIZEN PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC. ' I ask for
the word.' (Note 28.)
"TiiK CITIZEN PRKSIDK.NT OF THE ASSEMBLY. 'You
have the word.' (General marks of attention.)
"TiiK CITIZEN PHEHIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC. 'The suf-
frages of the Nation and the oath that I have just taken, command
my future conduct. My duty is traced out : I shall fulfill it as a
man of honor.
" ' I shall see enemies of my country in all those who attempted
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 13
to change, by illegal means, that which all France established.
(Very good ! Very good !)
" ' Between you and me, Citizen Representatives, there can be
no real disagreement ; our wishes are the same.
" ' I wish, like you, to reestablish society upon its bases, to con-
solidate democratic institutions, to seek out all proper means for
alleviating the sufferings of that generous and intelligent people
which has just given me so signal a testimonial of its confidence.
(Very good ! Very good.)
" ' The majority which I have obtained, not only moves me
with gratitude, but it will give to the new Government, the moral
force without which there is no authority.
" ' With peace and order, our country may rise again, heal its
wounds, bring back misguided men, and calm the passions.
" '. Animated by this spirit of conciliation, I have called around
me men, honest, capable, and devoted to the country, assured that
in spite of the diversities of political origin, they harmonize, in
order to concur, with you, in the application of the Constitution, to
the perfection of the laws, to the glory of the Republic. (Appro-
bation.)
" ' The new administration, on entering upon business, ought to
thank that which has preceded it, for the efforts which it has
made to transmit the power intact ; to maintain public tranquillity.
(Marks of approbation.)
" ' The conduct of the honorable General Cavaignac has been
worthy of the loyalty of his character, and of that sentiment of
duty which is the first quality of the head of the state. (Renewed
applause.)
" ' We have, Citizen Representatives, a great mission to fulfill : it
is to found a Republic in the interest of all, and a firm, just govern-
ment, animated by a sincere love of progress, without being reac-
tionary or Utopian. (Very good.)
" ' Let us be men of the country, and not men of a party, and
God helping, we shall at least do well, if we cannot do great
things.' "
(After this address, the whole Assembly rises, and re-
peatedly raises the cry, Vive la RepuUique ! Citizen Louis
Bonaparte goes to the bench where General Cavaignac
has been standing, and they shake hands.)
14 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
At the moment when the presidency of Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte commenced, the reactionary current which had
already been developed for several months against the
men and affairs of February, still preserved all its force.
This reaction was due to many causes, whose examina-
tion would draw us on too far. We shall limit ourselves to
some brief indications. The country had been badly pre-
pared for the operation of republican institutions ; it had
neither anticipated nor desired their advent ; if, the first
moment of surprise being past, the Republic had been
received with an enthusiastic impulse, sincere on the part
of many of those even who were soon to renounce it, that
sentiment, so unanimous in the months of March and
April, had lasted but briefly. The violence of the extreme
revolutionists of the 15th of May, the attacks of the author-
itative Socialists (Note 29) against the principle of prop-
erty, the horror produced by the lamentable struggle of
June (Note 30), had thrown back the masses towards "the
great party of order," organized by the old parliamentary
royalists, who entitled themselves " honest and moderate
republicans." The means of action of the reactionary
coalition had, nevertheless, not always been marked with
the stamp of honesty and moderation. The central com-
mittee of the party become famous under the name
Poitiert Street Committee had directed against the most
upright men of the republican party, a campaign of
pamphlets and calumnious libels, of which the committee
defrayed the expenses, and which were disseminated by
hundreds of thousands of copies.
Moreover, the intestinal divisions of the republican party
contributed very largely to cause this party to lose its for-
mer ascendency over the masses, whom universal suffrage
had rendered sovereign.
The elections of May, 1849, for the Legislative Assem-
bly, were held under this impression. Their result was
deplorable, as regarded the consolidation of the Republic.
CONDITION OF PARTIES. 15
Of the seven hundred and fifty representatives who com-
posed the Assembly, more than five hundred belonged to
the reactionary coalition. The Orleanists were there in
great number ; Legitimists also exercised a considerable
influence therein. (Note 31.)
There could scarcely be counted in the Assembly two
hundred and twenty to two hundred and thirty Republicans,
of various shades of opinion.
Perhaps it would be inexact to say that the royalist
majority of the legislature aspired to a violent overthrow
of the republican institutions. Strongly inclined to over-
turn the Constitution by hypocrisy, it would have recoiled
before a brutal violation. What it desired above all,
was to guaranty, at any cost, the maintenance of mate-
rial order, and of the private interests of the middling
class.
Unfortunately, a sad passion ruled this majority. It was
afraid of the people who had elected it ; it was afraid of
liberty ; it was afraid of universal suffrage ; it was afraid
of the Republicans. The idea that the latter might, in a
few years, take regularly, legally, the direction of affairs,
frightened it equal to an irremediable catastrophe.
It is to this sentiment, above all, that it is proper to
attribute the sad measures which aroused popular resent-
ments against the Legislative Assembly, and hollowed the
abyss into which it fell, dragging in its fall the Republic
and liberty.
At the beginning, the accord between Louis Napoleon
and the Assembly was complete.
The destruction by force of the Roman Republic, the
restoration of the temporal power of the pope, the vigorous
repression of the attempts of protest against that expedi-
tion of Rome, which the Republicans considered the viola-
tion of a principle inscribed in the fundamental pact, were
the first result of that cordial understanding between the
executive and the legislative power.
1C PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
It is not without interest to recall here, that the first
attack of Rome, the 29th of April, 1849 (executed con-
trarily to the wishes of the Constituent Assembly, sus-
pended after a formal vote of that Assembly), had been
recommenced by order of President Louis Napoleon, as
soon as he had known the result of the elections for the
Legislative Assembly.
The majority of the new Chamber had covered, by its
vote, this excess of power. The effort of protestation of
the Montague (Note 32), on the 13th of June, resulted only
in the proscription of a great number of republican repre-
sentatives.
From this moment commenced the unheard-of spectacle
of a republic, under which the quality of republican was a
cause of suspicion and persecution. The government gave
itself up to a careful purifying of the public administra-
tion.
Every functionary suspected of republicanism was re-
moved.
The remembrance of the prodigious number of unfortu-
nate primary instructors who were victims of this reaction,
in which clerical rancors were mingled with political hatred,
has not been forgotten. Prosecutions of the press mul-
tiplied ; democratic newspapers were seized under the
slightest pretext, while royalist or Napoleonic sheets en-
joyed an unbridled license. The prosecuted press found,
nevertheless, in the jury (its sole judge, by the terms of the
Constitution), a powerful guarantee ; thus it was able to
preserve up to the latest moment, a sum of liberty which
it has never since regained. Accusations of complots or
of secret societies, followed by long months of detention
preventive (Note 33), became for the Republicans a com-
mon occurrence. The departments were subjected to the
regime of the state of siege, under futile pretexts. All the
political laws passed in this period were monuments of dis-
trust and restraints. All liberties were trespassed upon ;
SPEECH AT HAM. 17
there remained of them that only which was covered by
the formal prescriptions of the Constitution. It was the
coryphcei of parliamentary liberalism, Thiers, Berryer,
Barrot, Mole, Montalembert, Falloux (Note 34), who
headed this work of insane reaction a blindness which
they were subsequently to expiate most cruelly.
Two incidents which it were well to note, occurred in
the latter part of 1849 : the speech of Louis Napoleon at
Ham, and his message of the 31st of October.
The President had wished to revisit the scenes of his
captivity. He was there received with solemnity.
In answer to a toast by the mayor of Ham, he pro-
nounced the following remarkable allocution :
" Mr. MAYOR : I am profoundly touched by the affectionate
reception which I receive from your fellow-citizens ; but believe
me, if I came to Ham, it is not through pride, but through grat-
itude. *
" I had at heart to thank the people of this town, and of the
environs, for all the marks of sympathy they never ceased to
show me during my misfortunes.
" The chosen one to-day of all France, since I have become
the legitimate chief of this great nation, I cannot glorify myself
for a captivity which had for its cause an attack against a regular
government. When one has seen how many misfortunes the
most just of revolutions bring after them, one can hardly realize
the audacity of wishing to assume to one's self the terrible respon-
sibility of a change. I do not therefore complain of having ex-
piated here, by six years of imprisonment, my temerity against
the laws of my country ; and it is with true happiness, that in
the very place where I suffered, I now propose a toast in honor
of the men who are determined, notwithstanding their convic-
tions, to respect the institutions of their country."
The presidential message of October 31, 1849, was a
veritable theatrical stroke. Louis Napoleon dismissed his
ministry summarily, and installed another, without its be-
ing possible to discover any political motive for this
change. The Barrot-Dufaure ministry (Note 35) had
2
18 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
governed in perfect harmony with the President and the
majority of the Legislative Assembly. The message ex-
plained this ministerial crisis only by vague reasons, un-
appreciable to the observer ignorant of the secret springs
which might determine the President of the Republic.
Here are some of the prominent passages of this mes-
sage :
u In order to re-strengthen the Republic, threatened on all sides
by anarchy, to assure order more efficaciously than it has existed
to this time, and to maintain externally the name of France at
the height of its renown, there must be men who, animated by
a patriotic devotion, understand the necessity of a firm and
unique direction, and of a plainly expressed policy ; who do not
compromise power by any irresolution ; and who are as preoccu-
pied with my proper responsibility, as with their own, and by
action as well as by word.
" . . . . France, uneasy because she does not discover how
she is directed, seeks the hand, the will, the flag of the elect of
the 10th of December A whole system triumphed
on the 10th of December, because the name of Napoleon is, in
itself, a programme. It means at home order, authority, relig-
ion, and the welfare of the Republic; abroad national dignity.
It is this policy, inaugurated by my election, which I intend to
cause to triumph, with the help of the Assembly and that of the
people. I intend to bo worthy of the confidence of the nation, in
maintaining the Constitution that I have sworn to
" Let us then restore authority, without disturbing true lib-
erty
" Let us strengthen religion, without abandoning any of the
conquests of the revolution " etc.
The surprise, we say, was general. The Barrot-Du-
faure ministry had given to the President the most ener-
getic and the most devoted concurrence. They had
together accomplished the Roman expedition, and the
elections for the Legislative Assembly ; they had together
resisted the Parisian demonstration of June 13 (Note
80) ; suppressed the insurrection of Lyons ; placed several
of the departments in a state of siege ; sent twenty-eight
CHANGE OF THE MINISTRY. 19
republican representatives before the High Court of Jus-
tice. They had raised up again the authority, strength-
ened religion by restoring the Pope to power equal to that of
a king ; and all these things had been accomplished in per-
fect harmony with the majority of the Legislative Assembly.
Contemporaries delivered themselves of the most diverse
comments upon this brusque manifesto.
The names of the new ministry signified absolutely
nothing. They were Messieurs d'Hautpoul, de Rayneval,
Ferdinand Barrot (not to be confounded with his brother
Odilon), Rouher, Fould, Bineau, Dumas, de Parieu, Des
Fosses (Note 36), all persons of quite inconsiderable note
in those days.
It was pretended, among other things, that the sudden
dismissal of the Barrot-Dufaure ministry had been caused
by the refusal of the principal members of the cabinet to
present to the National Assembly a plan for a law, asking
for a supplement of three millions for personal expenses,
in favor of the President of the Republic. The Consti-
tution had fixed his personal supply at six hundred thou-
sand francs per annum, and the Constituent Assembly, a
little before its separation, had granted him a credit of six
hundred thousand francs more, for personal expenses, a
sum which all the Napoleonic writers declared " misera-
ble." (Note 37.)
The Constitutionnel, directed at that time by Dr. Veron,
published a long article in order to refute these rumors.
It affirmed that the old ministry had, itself, intended to pro-
pose to the Assembly the grant of this supplementary
credit. M. Dufaure strenuously contested, in another
newspaper, the assertion of the Constitutionnel. This latter
sheet had just at this moment passed from the inspira-
tion of M. Thiers, to entire devotion to the interests of the
Presidency. 1
1 See, on this subject, and for whatever concerns the rumors of which
mention is made, the Nouveaux Memoires of Dr. Vuron, pp. 60-92. ,
20 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
The political line followed by the President of the Jle-
public and his new ministry, during the entire legislative
session which commenced at this time, is not less remark-
able considering the language made use of by Louis Napo-
leon in the message of the 31st October. The President
limited himself, as he had done since the convening of
the Legislative Assembly, to following the majority, and
governing in accord with it, in all important questions,
without showing any more than he had up to that time
" the direction, the hand, the will, the flag of the elect of
the 10th of December."
During this time, an important phenomenon, which per-
haps has not been sufficiently remarked, was produced in
the country. The republican idea gained among the peo-
ple, outside of Paris above all, infinitely more ground than
it had lost since the first months of 1848.
The retrograde excesses of the Legislative Assembly had
thrown back into the democratic movement the very
numerous and very influential fraction of the republican
party, which had sustained the policy of General Cavaig-
nac, and which, after the days of June, had contributed to
the reaction. The arrogance of the priest party, so pow-
erful in the Legislative Assembly, became intractable after
the Roman expedition had stimulated the Voltairian spirit
of the middling classes (la bourgeoisie). The effacing of
revolutionary extremes, joined to the growing progress of
liberal socialism (what is called to-day cooperation), to-
ward authoritative socialism, had facilitated a sincere recon-
ciliation between all the shades of the republican party.
The resolution, unanimously formed by the Democrats, to
peaceably await the general elections of 1852 ; to re-
nounce all appeal to violence ; to fortify themselves within
the Constitution ; to make use of the liberties still intact,
in order to enlighten universal suffrage; to propagate the
republican idea among the peasantry ; and so not to ex-
pect definitive triumph except from the regular working
RESULT OF THE ELECTIONS. 21
of republican institutions, this resolution, let us say, at
the same time that it disconnected the calculations of the
reaction, gave a new force to the democratic propaganda.
Besides, the Republicans displayed so much order, such a
fever for proselytism, that their triumph in the elections of
1852 no longer appeared doubtful. Such at least was the
opinion of their alarmed adversaries, as early as the first
months of the year 1850.
The partial elections of March and April, at Paris, and
in many of the departments, were favorable to the election
of the republican candidates.
At Paris, the divers shades of the democracy had fused
together. 1
The impression produced by these elections, which
showed what vigorous roots had already been thrown out
in the population, was extreme. On 'Change, the rentes
fell two and a half francs. (Note 39.) In the midst of the
royalist majority of the Assembly, there was a complete
panic ; people did not even stop to reflect on this very
natural consideration, which after all was but a partial de-
feat ; they believed themselves in peril.
The conservatives of the Legislative Assembly, so great
was their terror of a legal triumph of the Republicans in
1852, did not recoil before the idea of laying violent hands
on the basis of the Constitution itself, on universal suf-
frage.
Then was prepared the too famous law of the 31st of
May, 1850, which, by a stroke of the pen, struck out three
millions of electors !
In this decisive circumstance, occurred a fact which
the historian would be culpable in not bringing to light.
1 Monsieur Granier de Cassagnac (Note 38), in his "Sistoire de la chute
de Louis Philippe ' de la JRepublique ' et du Retablissement de I' Empire," p.
127, says on this subject: " Tke Parisian better classes voted a clean ticket,
carried away at the last moment by the newspaper which best represents
their vagaries and weaknesses." A note of M. Cassagnac names this
newspaper, it is the Siecle.
22 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
The President, Louis Napoleon, acted in accordance with
the majority. It has been said that he showed a very
great repugnance to this proposition to restrict universal
suffrage. The facts contradict this assertion. The min-
istry of the 31st of October, a ministry instituted, as the
presidential message said, to strengthen more especially
the personal responsibility of the President of the Repub-
lic, to show " the hand, the will, of the elect of the 10th of
December," this ministry claimed the honor of presenting
in the name of the executive power, the law which muti-
lated universal suffrage.
M. Baroche (Note 40), who had lately entered the cab-
inet, convoked at the Ministry of the Interior (Note 41),
on the 3d of May, a commission of seventeen members
chosen by the Assembly amongst the various shades of the
reactionary Right, in order to elaborate with haste the
new electoral law. We must here reproduce the names
of those who framed a measure which has exercised so
decisive an influence over the destinies of the second
republic. They were Messieurs Ben6it d' Azy, Berryer,
Beugnot, de Broglie, Buffet, Chasseloup-Laubat, Daru,
L(5on Faucher, Jules de Lasteyrie, Mole*, de Montalembert,
de Montebello, Piscatory, de Seze, General de Saint-Priest,
Thiers, and de Vatimesnil. (Note 42.)
The report was read the 18th of May, by LcSon Faucher,
its urgency declared, and its discussion commenced imme-
diately.
The ministry and the orators of the majority main-
tained, in spite of good sense and evidence, that their pro-
jected law did not violate the article of the Constitution
which guaranteed the right of suffrage, without conditions
of property, to every French citizen aged twenty-one years,
enjoying his civil and political rights. They based them-
selves upon this argument, worthy of the saddest teachers
of the Jesuitic school : that the regulating law of the 15th
of March, 1848, requiring for the registration of a citizen
THE LAW OF THE 31ST OF MAY. 23
upon the electoral list, six months' residence in the com-
mune (Note 43), they could, without infringing on the fun-
damental pact, insist on three years (why not twenty or
thirty ?) instead of six months.
The majority, carried away by its reactionary passions,
reflected upon nothing, listened to nothing. In vain the
republican orators demonstrated not only the unconstitu-
tionality, but also the flagrant absurdity of this project of
law, which was arbitrarily to deprive of their rights a mul-
titude of honorable citizens, the nature of whose profes-
sions prevented from residing three consecutive years in
the same commune ; vainly they demonstrated that the
mode of legally defining the domicile proved by a three
years' registration on the tax-list was an indirect rees-
tablishment of the electoral freehold, prohibited in formal
terms by the Constitution ; vainly they multiplied prophetic
warnings ; the majority passed the law.
This evident violation of the Constitution in one of its
fundamental features, radically changed the situation ; it
introduced into the country an element of deep perturba-
tion, left everything in doubt again, and challenged a civil
war which awaited only a question of time. The Republi-
cans, in fact, against whom this parliamentary coup d'etat
was directed, allowed the law of the 31st of May to pass
without material opposition ; but they did not disguise the
fact that if universal suffrage were not reestablished before
the general elections of May, 1852, they would consider
themselves as authorized to claim the right written in the
Constitution, with arms in their hands, if necessary.
In passing the law of the 31st of May, the reactionary
majority thought to have guaranteed social order against
the anarchists ; to have simply purified universal suffrage
by excluding therefrom what M. Thiers termed the " vile
multitude ; " it had destroyed itself.
Thenceforth, day by day, in the midst of this populace,
honest, timid, satisfied, eager for tranquillity, which com-
24 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
poses three quarters of the medium classes of France,
this evil, of which contemporaries have not forgotten the
prodigious intensity, the fear of 1852, continued to
increase.
It is unquestionable that a multitude of brave people,
losing all presence of mind, maddened by the furious
declamations of the reactionary press, believed in good
faith in the imminence of a frightful social cataclysm, and
the presence of hordes of barbarians among them, ready
to fall on their families and property.
It is not less unquestionable that these frightened ones
were ready to hail, as a savior, whoever should deliver
them from the " red spectre," from the free press, from the
tribune which had caused all the evil ; and who would
ward off, at whatever cost it might be, this fearful event
about to happen in 1852.
Nevertheless, the legislative session of 1850 had not
closed without leading to some clashings between the
majority and the President of the Republic. The parlia-
mentary chiefs of the Right had been unable to pardon
Louis Napoleon for his haughty language of the 31st of
October. The docility, apparent at least, with which he
had yielded to their views, during the whole session, and
above all, in the grand affair of the law of the 31st of May,
had been unable to disarm them.
The supplementary credit of three millions for personal
expenses, asked for by the President, was not granted until
after a discussion full of acerbity, and by the feeble ma-
jority of forty-six, in a vote of six hundred and sixty-two.
A few days later, the support furnished by the legitimist
section to the republican Left, carried the rejection of the
project of law giving the President (by investing him with
the appointment of the mayors in all the communes) the
few municipal privileges which still remained.
In the commencement of August, the Assembly was
prorogued until the llth of November following. The
THE PRESIDENT AT LYONS. 25
rupture from that time between the President and the
majority, was almost consummated.
In spite of the distinctness of his protestations of respect
for the Constitution and devotion to the Republic, Louis
Napoleon always passed, in the eyes of the greatest num-
ber, as an aspirant for the Empire. It was not admitted,
that having in hand so potent means for seizing the dicta-
torship, he could desist from dreaming of the 18th Bru-
maire.
The excesses of zeal of his partisans contributed, more-
over, to the entertainment of this sentiment of distrust.
The language of the Napoleonic journals Elysian (Note
44), as they were then called was as clear as possible.
They daily spat upon the Constitution, and demanded the
reestablishment of the Empire, under the transparent veil
of a prorogation of the presidential powers.
Louis Napoleon, however, had confined himself to a
system of reserve which did not warrant a direct accusa-
tion.
His message of the 31st of October, quite constitutional
too, had not been followed by any act which permitted to
be attributed to him the positive intention of making an
attempt upon the rights which the National Assembly held
under the Constitution.
Thus, great was the emotion, when, during the vacations
of the Assembly, people saw the President of the Republic
swerve with eclat from his circumspect attitude, and make
use of language whose menacing character was understood
by all contemporaries, although this language was accom-
panied by protestations against the idea of a coup d'etat.
It was in the course of a journey undertaken in the
departments, that those famous allocutions were pro-
nounced.
At Lyons, the President said :
" I am not the representative of a party, but rather of
the two great national manifestations, which in 1804 (the
26 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
establishment of the first empire) as in 1848 (the vote for
the presidency) wished to save, by order, the great princi-
ples of the French Revolution. Proud of my origin and
of my flag, I shall remain faithful to them ; I shall be
entirely for the country, whatever it may require of me,
abnegation or perseverance.
" Rumors of a covp fetal have perhaps reached you,
gentlemen ; but you have not believed them ; I thank you
for it Surprises and usurpations may be the dream of the
parties without support in the nation ; but the elect of six
millions of suffrages executes the will of the people ; he
does not betray them
u But, on the other hand, if culpable designs are revived
and threaten to compromise the repose of France, I shall
be able to reduce them to impotence, by still invoking the
sovereignty of the people, for I recognize in no one more
than myself the right to be called their representative."
At Cherbourg, toward the end of his journey, alluding to
the wishes everywhere expressed, to see great undertakings
of public works commenced, Louis Napoleon said :
" These results, so much desired, will not be obtained
unless you give me the means of accomplishing them ;
and these means consist wholly in your concurrence in
strengthening power, and in warding off the dangers of the
future.
" Why did the Emperor, in spite of war, cover France
with these imperishable works, which are found at every
step, and nowhere more remarkable than here ? It is be-
cause, that independently of his genius, he came in an
epoch in which the nation, tired of revolutions, gave him
the necessary power for repressing anarchy, combating fac-
tions, and causing the general interests of the country to
triumph ; externally, by glory ; internally, by a vigorous
impulse."
One can easily imagine the emotion produced by these
words and others analogous, pronounced at Besan9on,
THE REVIEW AT SATORY. 27
Rheims and Caen, if one will only remark that Louis Napo-
leon, President for four years, by virtue of the Republican
Constitution, had not even pronounced the word Republic ;
that Republic to the support of which he had. spontaneously
offered, on the 26th of September, 1848, his oath of gratitude
and devotion ; that he had not said one word of the respect
due to the Constitution, to which he had so solemnly bound
himself by oath, on the 20th of December ; that he seemed
in fact to have wholly forgotten the first magistrate of the
Republic, in order to bring again into the scene the aspirant
for the Empire.
The incidents which occurred at the close of the famous
review of the 10th of October, 1850, at Satory, raised this
emotion to the highest pitch.
The troops of the army of Paris had defiled before the
President ; the infantry, in admirable order, but silent, as
was proper under the military regulations ; the cavalry, on
the contrary, at a signal from some of their chiefs, vocifer-
ating immense acclamations of " Vive Napoleon ! " " Vive
1'Empereur ! "
The President, astonished at the silence of the infantry,
had then and there inquired into its meaning ; the result
was that General Neumayer, commanding the first division,
being consulted by the colonel of the fifteenth light infantry,
upon the question of compelling or allowing the soldiers to
cry " Vive Napoleon ! " " Vive 1'Empereur ! " had answered,
reminding them of the spirit and letter of the military reg-
ulation : silence under arms. Strange as it may appear to
those who reflect on the fact, that the cry of " Vive 1'Em-
pereur ! " was at that time a seditious cry, it is incontestable
that General Neumayer was deprived of his command by
the President of the Republic, for having prevented these
unconstitutional cries, by reminding his colonels of the
provisions of the military regulations. 1
l What we have just mentioned has never been contested even by the
most noted Bonapartist writers. See the previously quoted work of Granier
de Cassagnac, pp. 196, 197, vol. ii.
28 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
This dismissal caused a real scandal ; the Permanent
Commission of the Assembly was moved by it. as well as
by the other incidents to which we will presently refer. The
silence of General Changarnier, Commander-in-chief of
the Army of Paris, caused a great deal of astonishment.
The disgrace of General Neumayer seemed to strike directly
home to him, for no one could imagine that General Chan-
garnier would lend himself to the restoration of the Em-
pire, to the profit of Louis Napoleon. On the first of
December, General Changarnier at last broke silence, and
caused to be read to the troops under his command the
following order of the day :
" By the terms of the law, the army does not deliberate ; by the
terma of the military regulations, it must abstain from all demon-
strations, and utter no cries whilst under arms.
" The General-in-chief reminds the troops placed under his
command, of these regulations."
General Neumayer had been relieved of his command
as early as the 31st of October.
While these events were occurring, a Bonapartist asso-
ciation, famous at that time, the " Society of the Tenth of
December " (Note 45), filled Paris with the rumors of their
exploits. The members of this society did not limit them-
selves to manifesting their enthusiasm for Louis Napoleon
by unconstitutional cries ; it had happened with them,
many times, to assault with cudgels, citizens who permitted
themselves either to disapprove of their manifestations, or
simply to take no part therein.
The Permanent Commission of the Assembly committed
the error of taking too serious notice of the Society of the
Tenth of December. An absurd revelation, made by one
of the agents of the police, caused a belief for a moment,
in a conspiracy formed by some individuals of this society
to assassinate General Changarnier and the President of
the Assembly. (Note 4G.) The story was ridiculous ; the
MESSAGE OF NOVEMBER 12,1850. 29
proof of this was soon furnished, and the public laughed at
it at the expense of the Permanent Commission. (Note
47.) This occurred a few days previous to the renewal of
the labors of the National Assembly.
The session was to reopen in the midst of a situation
which had become more than delicate. The incidents
which we have just related, produced in some minds the
conviction that a coup cTetat of the President threatened
the National Assembly, and even the existence of the
Republic.
On the other hand, visits made by a great number of the
royalist majority to the aspirants of the two branches of
the Bourbon family, caused the Republicans to fear some
parliamentary complot, tending to an Orleanist or a Legit-
imist restoration.
The presidential message of the 12th November, 1850,
which was awaited with extreme curiosity, suddenly modi-
fied the situation.
Never since the solemn oath of the 20th of December,
1848, had Louis Napoleon affirmed with more energy, in
language more replete with honesty and loyal frankness,
his immutable resolution to respect the Constitution, and
to remain faithful to the pledge of honor he had given.
The reader will judge of it by the following lines :
"I have often declared," said Louis Napoleon, " when occasion
has been offered to express publicly my thought, that I would
consider as very culpable those who, through personal ambition,
would compromise the little stability which the Constitution guar-
antees to us. That is my profound conviction ; it has never been
shaken. The enemies of public tranquillity alone have been able
to denaturalize the most simple steps which arise from my posi-
tion
" The invariable rule of my political life will be, under all cir-
cumstances, to do my duty ; nothing but my duty.
" It is to-day granted to all, except myself, to wish the hasten-
ing of the revision of our fundamental law. If the Constitution
contains vices and dangers, you are all at liberty to expose them
to the view of the country.
SO PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
" I alone, bound by my oath, maintain myself within the strict
limits which it has marked out for me.
....' The uncertainty of the future, I know, gives rise
to many apprehensions, while awakening many hopes. Let us all
know how to sacrifice those hopes to the country, and let us busy
ourselves with its interests only. If, this session, you vote the
revision of the Constitution, a Constituent will come to amend our
fundamental laws, and to rule the fate of the executive power.
If you do not vote it, the people, in 1852, will solemnly manifest
the expression of its new desire. But whatever may be the solu-
tions of (he future, let us understand each other, in order that it
may never be passion, surprise, or violence, that shall decide the
fate of a great nation What interests me most, be
assured of it, is, not to know who shall govern France in 1852; it
is to employ the time at my disposal, so that the transition, what-
ever it may be, may be made without agitation and without trouble.
. . . . " I have loyally opened my heart to you ; you will
respond to my frankness by your confidence ; to my good inten-
tions by your concurrence, and God will accomplish the rest."
These noble words had an immense echo. They were
received with a confidence, of which the language of the
newspapers of the time still gives evidence. Who would
have dared to doubt the sincerity of sentiments expressed
in such terms ?
The incidents supervening during the prorogation were
almost forgotten. A sort of friendly transaction the
retirement of the minister of war, as compensation for
the displacement of General Neumayer appeared to
have put an end to the affair of the review at Satory. Up
to the month of January, 1851, good harmony seemed
quite reestablished between the President of the Republic
and the leaders of the majority of the Assembly.
On the 2d of January, a Napoleonic journal, La Patrie,
suddenly published extracts from instructions given to the
heads of the army of Paris, by the commander-in-chief.
Among other things appeared the following :
' Do not listen to the representatives.
GENERAL CHANG ARNIER REMOVED. 31
"Every order which does not proceed from the General-in.
chief, is null.
" Every requisition, summons, or demand of a civil, judicial, or
political functionary, is to be strictly disregarded."
These instructions had been prepared in 1849, at a mo-
ment when an armed struggle in the streets of Paris might
be feared. Nothing less resulted from the paragraphs we
have just cited, than a denial, more or less direct, of the
right which belonged to the National Assembly to guard
its own safety, and to require the troops necessary for that
purpose.
As early as the session of the 3d, representative Napo-
leon Bonaparte (Note 48), cousin of the President, pro-
posed a vote of censure against General Changarnier,
author of these instructions. It was quite evidently a
manoeuvre concerted in order to place the general and the
National Assembly in conflict ; but the manoeuvre was
clumsy.
General Changarnier declared that these instructions
were two years old, that their object had been to maintain
unity of command during combat, that they had been sug-
gested to him by the experience of the days of June, but
that they did not at all apply to the peaceable circum-
stances of the present time. He hastened to declare,
moreover, that he had never dreamed of contesting the
right of the Assembly, acting through the medium of its
officers, to require forthwith the troops necessary for its
safety.
The majority was too well convinced of the devotion of
the commander-in-chief of the army of Paris to the parlia-
mentary power, to stop at the proposition of Napoleon
Bonaparte. It passed on to the order of the day, testifying
its confidence in General Changarnier.
Eight days afterwards, the general was deprived of his
functions as commander-in-chief of the army of Paris.
Louis Napoleon thereby destroyed the only bar that
32 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
could protect the National Assembly from a military coup
(Tet'if, if such a coup d'etat should be attempted by the
head of the executive power. It was certain that while
General Changarnier maintained the chief command of the
troops stationed at Paris, the parliament had nothing to
fear.
The majority felt all the bearing of the blow that had
just been struck. Its distrust was aroused, its irritation
was extreme. But what could it do ? The measure taken
by the President of the Republic was perfectly legal ; he
had acted only by virtue of the regular powers which he
held under the Constitution.
A long debate followed in the Legislative Assembly.
Then it was that M. Thiers pronounced the famous phrase :
"1'Empire est fait" ("the Empire is made"). Then it
was, too, that the same orator bethought himself, rather
late, of the merits that the republican form might have,
and proclaimed the necessity of again becoming sincerely
attached to the Constitution.
M. Pascal Duprat (Note 49), had expressed the opinion
of the Republicans upon the conflict between the majority
and the President, when he said, some days before, to M.
Thiers himself, in the tenth committee (Note 50) of the
Assembly
" We have not much confidence in the devotion of Prince
Louis Napoleon to the Republic ; but we have still less
confidence in yours, and that of General Changarnier. We
did not witness the review at Satory without umbrage ; but
was it in order to defend the Republic that you went, dur-
ing that time, some of you to Claremont, others to Wies-
baden ? " 1
It was in the same debate that M. Baroche (Note 40),
then Minister of the President of the Republic, protested,
with indignant energy, against every suspicion of aspira-
1 It was at Claremont that the Princes of Orleans were then residing, and
the Count of Chambord had passed the autumn at Wiesbaden.
THE MINISTRY DISTRUSTED. 33
tion, for the reestablishment of the Empire. Here are
some extracts from this speech, pronounced on the loth of
January :
" If it be said," exclaimed M. Baroche, " that it cannot be dis-
guised that for some time there has been, on the part of the
authorities, a tendency to show little faith in our institutions ; to
consider as transitory and ephemeral the form of government
under which we live ; to sow in all the ranks of society the doubt-
fulness of the future; to extol the benefits of absolute government
and to aspire, in an indefinite future, to an imperial restoration, . .
. . I answer that the words of the President, who has sworn to the
Constitution on this tribune, and who has renewed that oath by
his message of November 12, 1850, repel very far from his mind
and from his heart, every thought of a return to the government
of the Empire. Have you not still in your memory the last sen-
tences of the message of November 12, in which in the most
energetic language, in language which is, as the President of the
Republic himself said, that of a man who has no other thought
but that of doing his duty, of a man who alone has taken the
oath to the constitution, recognizing in yourselves the right of
revising it in the legal forms ? He declares at the same time, that
as to himself, he has nothing else to do but to fulfill his duty, exe-
cuting it as an honest man, maintaining it against adversaries of
every nature, who might wish to modify it
" The President is the only one to whom thoughts of restoration
may not be attributed He has pledged his honor to
maintain the Republic; he will keep it, and the Assembly may be
assured that there is no need of any other guaranty than that
affirmation."
The Assembly, nevertheless, declared, with a majority
of 415 votes against 276, " that it had no confidence in
the ministry."
The 415 votes were composed of the entire Left, and of
about one half of the old majority.
Some days after this vote, a new ministry, constituted
January 24, 1851, introduced a request for one million
eight hundred thousand francs (Notes 37 and 51) of sup-
3
34 PARIS IX DECEMBER, 1851.
plementary credit, in favor of the President of the Repub-
lic, always for his personal expenses.
The request was badly received. The majority finally
divided on the question. February 10th, the endowment
asked fur was refused by 396 votes against 294.
Doctor Veron, then editor-in-chief of the Const itutionnel,
reveals to us, in his " Memoirs," that the pecuniary situation
of Louis Napoleon, and of most of his friends at that time,
was very precarious. At the moment when Commander
Fleury (Note 52), aide-de-camp of the President, was
going to fulfill a mission of trust in Africa (of which we
shall speak presently), four drafts of ten thousand francs
each, drawn by the President of the Republic, were refused
by a celebrated banker, a man of order nevertheless, and
in nowise hostile to Louis Napoleon. 1
Before recommencing the analysis of the parliamentary
events which followed the rejection of the endowment, we
ought to make room for some very curious revelations,
made a little after the 2d of December, by a Napoleonic
writer, M. P. Mayer, of facts which date back to the time
we have reached :
" Either we are greatly mistaken," says this writer, " or
the first germs of the Coup <fEtat which was to burst
forth ten months later were then sprouting, and gradually
became a settled resolve ; and we may say that if the
events of which we are retracing the history, have just
passed in fact before our eyes, in principle their necessity
had been recognized, and their hatching contemplated,
from the first month of the current year." 2
This assertion has not been disputed. M. P. Mayer
gives further on some details, infinitely valuable to be
known, upon what may be called the first preparatory
measures for the "events" which were to occur at a later
period. (Note 53.)
l Ntmttnvx .Wcmoiret ifnn Bourgeois de Paris, by Dr. V<5ron, p. 330.
* Ilutirire du 2 Decembre, by P. Slayer, p. 131.
HOW GENERALS ARE MADE. 35
At the time of the removal of General Changarnier, the
President might already, according to M. Mayer, count
upon the devoted concurrence of the army, taken as a
whole. There were, nevertheless, certain difficulties. M.
Mayer explains these difficulties, and the means employed
in order to remedy them, in so complete a style that it will
suffice to cite textually :
" But composed as the general staff still was (the generals alone
were to be feared), it perhaps did not offer sufficient guaran-
ties, for the oldest might lack boldness, and a great majority of
the youngest figured in the Parliament. A quite imperial idea
triumphed in this alternative, and M. de Persigny (Note 54), that
ardent and untiring champion of Bonapartism, consecrated him-
self with enthusiasm to the realization of that ingenious phrase,
carelessly thrown out by the President, and of which the expe-
dition to Kabila may, to-day, explain the depth and signification :
4 Suppose we were to make some generals ? '
" The seed was not wanting. One of the most brilliant officers
of our cavalry, the brave and sympathetic commander, Fleury
(Note 52), was instructed to appreciate courage, evoke devotion,
and give assurance of hopes. His mission was neither long nor
painful, major-generals, brigadier-generals, colonels, lieutenant-
colonels, none of those to whom his winning words pictured the
dangers of the country, had need of being convinced. All had an
equal horror of parliamentarism, socialism, etc
" It was thus that the younger officers became the elders, and
that the framework of the active army habituated itself to the
names of Saint-Arnaud, de Cotte, Espinasse, Marulaz, Rochefort,
Feray, d'Allonville, Gardarens de Boisse, de Lourmel, Herbillon,
Dulac, Forey, Courtigis, Canrobert, and some others." l (Note 55.)
Among other things insinuated in this curious passage,
M. Mayer gives it to be understood that the expedition to
Kabila had been undertaken solely in order to " make gen-
erals." What M. Mayer leaves to be guessed, another
Bonapartist writer states quite distinctly. It is M. Belou-
ino in his " Histoire d'un Coup d'Etat."
i Bistoire du 2 Decembre, by P. Mayer, pp. 131-133.
36 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
" There was needed," says he, u another Minister of War.
The choice fell upon General Saint- Arnaud. In order to
invest this general with the necessary authority for so ele-
vated a position, the war of Kabila was decided on, which
was to cover him with such resplendent glory. It is re-
membered that the Assembly set their faces against this
war," etc
Let us add to these details a final feature revealed by
the indiscreet author of the " Memoires d'un Bourgeois de
Paris."
" ' It would be very agreeable to the President,' said
M. Fleury to me, on his departure for Kabila, ' that the
rare merits and the approaching services of General
de Saint Arnaud in Kabila, be put in a fine and grand
light'" ....
As may be well imagined, the Constttutionnel, at that
period edited by Doctor Ve*ron, did not spare eulogy on
the " approaching services " which M. Saint-Arnaud had
been called upon to render.
It is sufficiently clear from these divers extracts, that as
early as the first months of 1851, the Coup cTJ&at was de-
termined upon in principle, and that Louis Napoleon was
already busy with the means of putting it in execution.
It is historically important to establish this fact
But let us return to the Legislative Assembly.
The rejection of the endowment was the final stroke
which brought the most complete confusion into the ma-
jority.
This Right side, so compact when it was proposed to
take vigorous measures against the Republicans, ultimately
lost its credit through miserable, intestinal quarrels. The
Legitimists caused the Creton proposition (tending to ab-
rogate the laws of exile against the princes of the ancient
reigning families) to be rejected, in order to prevent the
candidacy to the presidency of a prince of the family of
Orleans. The Orleanists, divided into two camps, that
INTRIGUES OF THE ROYALISTS. 37
is to say, Fusionists, partisans of a fusion between the
two branches of the house of Bourbon and pure Orlean-
ists, were openly tearing each other to pieces. The royal-
ist papers disputed brawlingly the succession of the Re-
public. The Napoleonic sheets continued their system of
attacks against the Constitution. The Const itutionnel pub-
lished during the month of April, a series of articles in
which, in contempt of the formal provisions of the fun-
damental pact, it incited the National Assembly to prorogue
by dictatorial decree the powers of the President of the
Republic for a period of ten years.
Meanwhile a new ministry had been constituted, of
which the principal members were, Messieurs Le*on Fau-
cher for the Interior ; Baroche, for Foreign Affairs ; Fould
for the Treasury ; Rouher, for Justice ; Buffet, for Com-
merce. (Notes 36, 40, and 42.) This cabinet had for its
ostensible aim to bring about a reconciliation between the
executive power and the majority, on the question of the
legal revision of the Constitution of 1848.
The Legislative Assembly had reached its third year of
legislation, and, by virtue of Article 3 of the Constitution,
it had the right to convoke an assembly of revision ; on
the condition, nevertheless, that the vote of revision should
have been rendered by the majority consisting of three
fourths of those voting.
In the autumn of 1850, the General Councils of the de-
partments had formally expressed their wishes on this
subject ; a general system of petitions, tending toward the
same end, had been organized by the agents of the ad-
ministration from this date. Its success had been notable,
but not such as they would have wished to call it. They
had obtained one million one hundred thousand signatures,
more or less authentic, of which less than four hundred
thousand asked for the prolongation of the authority of
the President of the Republic. This was in reality, even
admitting the authenticity of the signatures, a figure
38 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
scarcely equal to one third of the electors struck off by
the law of May 31, or to one tenth of the electors regis-
tered previous to that fatal law.
The wishes of the General Councils had not been much
more characteristic, concerning the prorogation of the
powers of the President Six only of these councils, out
of the ninety, expressed the desire for the abrogation of
Article 45, interdicting the reelection of Louis Napoleon,
before an interval of four years.
During all the month of May, 1851, the revisory peti-
tions kept flowing in to the office of the Legislative As-
sembly. The majority, hesitating at first, very soon be-
came again quite strongly attached to the idea of revision.
Messieurs Berryer, de Montalembert, Mold, de Broglie,
Odilon Barrot, and Dufaure (Notes 36-42), expressed
themselves energetically that way. We must render them
this justice, that the idea of resolving legally, peaceably,
the difficulties of the future a very honorable idea
was what actuated them.
On the 28th of May, the formal proposition was intro-
duced by M. de Broglie, in accord with the ministry. It
had been resolved upon in a meeting of the representa-
tives of the Right, called the " Pyramid-Street Meeting,"
which counted among its members, Messieurs Daru, de
Broglie, de Montalembert, Leon Faucher, Baroche, etc.
It was this moment, when the majority hardly reconsti-
tutel, in harmony with the cabinet, showed itself disposed
to vote for the revision which would have permitted the
abrogation of Article 45, it was this very moment which
was chosen by the President of the Republic, quite oppor-
tunely, for making a speech equivalent to a real declara-
tion of war against the National Assembly.
Louis Napoleon had visited Dijon for the inauguration
of a railroad. There, at a banquet given in honor of him,
he made use of the following language :
" France desires neither a return to the ancient regime,
A VIOLENT SPEECH. 39
whatever may be the form which disguises it, nor to fatal
and impracticable Utopian efforts. It is because I am
the most natural adversary of both of these that it has
placed its confidence in me
" In fact, if my government has been unable to realize
all the improvements it had in view, the fault must be laid
to the maneuvrings of the factions
" For three years, it may have been noticed, that 1 have
always been seconded by the Assembly when it has been pro-
posed to combat disorder by measures of restriction. But
when 1 have desired to do good, to ameliorate the condition of
the people, it has always refused that concurrence
" If France recognizes that none have had the ri,ght to
dispose of her, without her, France has but to say so; my
courage and my energy will not fail her. Since I have
been in power, I have proved how much, in presence of
the great interests of society, I was abstracted from what-
ever concerned me personally. The most unjust and the
most violent attacks have been unable to disturb my calm-
ness. Whatever may be the duties which the country
shall impose upon me, it will find me determined to follow
its will. And believe it truly, gentlemen, France will not
perish in my hands." (Note 56.)
The Minister of the Interior, M. Leon Faucher, who
was present at the banquet, was so fearful of the effect
which this threatening language was likely to produce,
that he started back precipitately for Paris, in order to
prevent the insertion in the Moniteur of the passages
aggressive against the Assembly, especially those that we
have underlined. They were nevertheless known, and they
produced an irritation all the more violent because the ma-
jority, by its attitude in the question of the revision, gave
the most evident marks of its good-will to the President. 1
i These passages are to be found in the newspapers of that time ; they
have been reestablished with some slight changes in the (Em-res de
Napoleon J1L, vol. iii. p. 21.
40 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
The language of Louis Napoleon should nevertheless not
surprise those who know that he had at this moment nearly
made up his mind, and that his principal business was the
" making of generals."
General Changarnier said on the tribune, June 3, re-
ferring to the speech at Dijon :
u There will not be brought to bear against the Assembly
a battalion, nor a company, nor a squad ; and it will be found
by the chiefs, that our soldiers are accustomed to follow
the way of duty and of honor. Mandataries of France,
deliberate in peace ! "
The President of the Republic must have smiled at this
language of General Changarnier. A near future was to
prove how greatly the illustrious general was mistaken as
to the disposition of the army, and as to the effects of pas-
sive obedience, all matters which Louis Napoleon esti-
mated with infinitely more accuracy.
The President of the Republic evidently had no doubts
upon the fate of the project for the revision, submitted to
the National Assembly. In this particular case the repub-
lican Left was master of the issue of the debate. The Re-
publicans had at their command about two hundred and
twenty votes, a number exceeding one fourth of those
voting, and consequently sufficient to defeat, by the terms
of Article 3, a vote of revision. Now, upon this question,
the Republicans were unanimous. Moderate Republicans,
those of the Mountain, Socialists, all considered it their
strict duty to oppose the revision so long as the law of the
31st of May should be unrepealed. They could not, in
fact, without betraying the sovereignty of the people,
consent that the Constitution of 1848, elaborated by a
Constituent Assembly, the issue of universal suffrage, be
revised by an assembly which had been produced from
a mode of suffrage enacted in formal violation of the
Constitution itself. The republican party could not, with-
out violating its fundamental principle, consent to any
VOTE UPON THE REVISION. 41
such transaction. General Cavaignac used the same lan-
guage on this occasion as the orators of the " Mountain."
Thus, the debate upon the revision could have for the
historian but a secondary importance, in spite of the pas-
sionate interest it excited, and the fine oratorical rivalries
of which it was the occasion. The result was inevitable.
The vote took place the 21st of July, 1851. Four hun-
dred and forty-six votes were cast for the revision, and two
hundred and seventy-eight against it. That was ninety
votes more than were requisite to constitute the quarter
sufficient to reject the proposition.
Nevertheless, instruction can be derived from the ballot ;
it is, that the majority had remained almost wholly favora-
ble to the revision ; and that, in spite of the threats con-
veyed in the speech at Dijon.
A certain number of Orleanists voted alone with the
Republicans. Among them were Messieurs Thiers, de
Remusat, Creton, Bedeau, Baze, etc.
Shortly afterward the National Assembly was prorogued
on the 10th of August. The parties remained, at the close
of this session, more bitter and more divided than ever.
The parliamentary majority who had received such rude
assaults from the executive power ; who felt themselves
threatened ; who believed, rightly or wrongly, in the plans
of usurpation devised by the President of the Republic ;
the majority, we say, had not even the idea of becoming
reconciled in this common peril, with the republican Left.
This latter, besides, suspicious, mistrustful, embittered by
the hostilities that had been manifested toward it since the
beginning, would with difficulty have yielded to an under-
standing. On the other hand, the republican party was
full of confidence in the future. Unity was reestablished
in its ranks. Although some recriminations upon the past
were often exchanged, according to their various views,
they had acted with no less unity for that since 1849, and
most of all since the law of May 31, 1850.
42 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
The unheard-of progress of the republican propaganda
Socialists, as they were termed by the reactionists in
the agricultural people of the centre, of the east, and of
the south, seemed the pledge of an assured triumph for
1852. The democrats made certain of obtaining, ere that
date, the abrogation of the law of the 31st of May.
They little feared the Coup cTEtat attributed to Louis
Napoleon. They shared the opinion of General Chan-
garnier as to the disposition of the army, and they placed,
above all, the most unlimited confidence in the attachment
of the people of Paris and of the departments, to the repub-
lican cause.
The attitude of the executive power, as well as that of
the royalist parties, toward them, were not taken in order
to diminish their confidence in the final triumph.
We must read the reactionary papers of the time, notice
the debates of the Chambers, look over the reports of the
courts, in order to obtain an idea, at the present time, of
the fears the monarchical parties manifested in presence of
the republican sentiment
In the course of this year, 1851, some wholly agricultu-
ral departments, far from the great centres, were declared
ungovernable by the executive power, and put under mar-
tial law : the Cher, Nievre, Drome, and Ardeche.
The departmental press of the " Party of Order " uttered
a great cry of alarm, "Socialism is winning the peas-
antry ! "
If the parliamentary chiefs of the Right were concerned
about the encroachments of the President of the Republic,
it is indisputable that the mass of their adherents saw no
peril except in the triumph of the " Reds " in 1852. (Note
57.)
The conservatives in the provinces felt themselves
outflanked. More than ever did they clamor for a
44 savior."
Some extracts from a famous pamphlet, the " Red Spec-
THE RED SPECTRE. 43
tre," by Romieu, will give an idea of the condition of mind
produced among a great number of Conservatives by this
epidemic fear of 1852. We cite textually :
" Charlemagne, placed between dying antiquity and the new
world which was being born, had founded the only solid system,
that of force leaning on faith. From his work, and without pre-
conceived design, arose the feudal regime; it is still the best of all
those that have been tried by Europe " (p. 32).
" It was not enough that the middling classes were gangrened
(sic) with this new evil, instruction without education ; it was
necessary to gain even the villages, and it was one of the wise
men of the time, M. Guizot (Note 58), whom the finger of Provi-
dence marked out for the accomplishment of extreme disorder.i
I shall not regret having lived in that sad epoch, if I am permitted
to see good faith drive out and fustigate the crowd, that cruel and
stupid beast of which I have always had a horror " (p. 91).
" This society of agents and shopkeepers is in agony, and if it
shall fortunately rise again, it will be because a soldier will have
charged himself with its safety. The cannon alone can settle the
questions of our age, and it will settle them, though it should come
from Eussia O citizen ! it is not you who repre-
sent order ; it is force alone, which is its symbol The
sword has become the civilizing element I tell you,
O citizen, that your part is finished. From 1789 to 1848, it
lasted but too long Social order has for its real and
sole support, not your ridiculous mass of codes, but the strong
rampart, bristling with bayonets and artillery, which is called the
army Whatever it may be, the part to be enacted
by the chief is simple. To assume, with a firm hand, absolute
dictatorship, and to substitute himself for all the writings which
have governed us for the past sixty years " (pp. 6094, passim).
To-day, inasmuch as seventeen years separate us from
that era of passion, it is difficult to comprehend the terrors
awakened by the approach of the elections of 1852. It
appears to us insensate, that the seeing transformed to a
majority, that republican minority whose principal chiefs
i Allusion to the law of 1833, relative to primary instruction.
44 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
were Michel (of Bourges), Charms, Cavaignac, Jules
Favre. Crdmieux, Victor Hugo, Quinet, Marc-Dufraisse
(Note 59), could seem to be a catastrophe which it would
be necessary to avert by sword and cannon.
It is, however, a fact, an incontestable fact, and one
without which the subsequent events would remain incom-
prehensible.
A month had not elapsed since the prorogation of the
National Assembly, when rumors of the Coup cTJZfat were
persistently spread abroad. This time the report did not
lack foundation.
It appears that the mission of Commander Fleury, in
Africa, had fully succeeded. The President could count
upon the concurrence of the generals of the army of Paris.
It had already General Magnan (Note 60) for its com-
mander-in-chief, he who was to take so active a part on
the 2d of December.
One of the Bonapartist writers, whom we have already
cited, M. Belouino, has given, on the subject of the Coup
(FEtat which was to be executed during the parliamentary
vacations, some very circumstantial details :
" All was ready on the part of the army," says M. Belouino,
M for the eventualities of a coup d'etat. It was on the point of
taking place, at the time of the last prorogation of the Assembly.
It would have been a fault, a grave fault, at that moment.
" France did not yet clearly enough discern the parliamentary
complete. It might have been believed that the Prince was act-
ing for a purpose of personal and ambitious interest. The Prefect
of Police at that time urged it strongly. Many persons devoted
to the Prince acted in the same way. It was mainly Generals
de Saint-Arnaud, and Majrnan, the general-in-chief, who caused
the abandonment of the project by making valid the reasons
which called for a d*lay of its execution.
' The President, his ministers, and some high functionaries,
knew the conspirators ; but that was not sufficient. By dissolving
the Assembly in full peace, he would apparently have acted ille-
gally. The Assembly might reunite in a town of the province,
THE ASSEMBLY WELL GUARDED. 45
issue its decrees there, and erect power against power. What
would it come to ? The least consequence would have been a
fierce civil war. Socialism would not have hesitated to provis-
ionally adopt the Constitution for its flag, and the parties of the
Assembly would have accepted the soldiers of the Jacquerie
(Note 2) for their defenders. Such were the powerful motives
invoked by those who opposed the Coup d'Etat during the
prorogation. The Assembly will quite sufficiently betray its
complots,' said General Magnan ; ' let us wait until it gives us the
helm.' " 1
Other Bonapartist writers, notably M. Mayer, and Dr.
Veron, have given, among the causes which led to the
postponement of the Coup d'Etat, a disagreement which
had supervened between the President of the Republic
and the Prefect of Police, M. Carlier. Jt was the latter,
it seems, who had elaborated and prepared, in its details,
the plan of execution, in concert with the author of the
" Red Spectre," Romieu, if we may believe Dr. Veron ;
but he did not admit that the reestablishment of universal
suffrage ought to enter again among the political measures
to be taken in the Coup tfEtat.
" M. Carlier," says M. P. Mayer, " had indicated to the
President the dangers of 1852, and the remedy which he
believed to be efficacious. Unfortunately, the restoration
of universal suffrage, that great and heroic justice which
saved the situation, seemed to him inopportune and im-
practicable. He withdrew." 2
Finally, another opinion attributes the delay of the
plans of the President to the energetic measures of defense
taken by General Bedeau, president of the Permanent
Commission during the prorogation of the Assembly.
Informed of what was preparing, the General had put
himself on his guard. He watched with extreme care
the Palace of the National Assembly, which he inhabited,
1 Ilistoire cTun Coup d'Etat, by Belouino, pp. 55, 56.
2 Bistoire du 2 Decem&re, by P. Mayer, p. 24.
46 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
and whose military guard obeyed him directly. lie had
already prepared a certain number of copies of decrees,
under the seal of the National Assembly, requiring certain
bodies of troops for the defense of the assembly, as well
as one appointing a new commander-in-chief for the army
of Paris. These latter details have been confirmed by
General Bedeau himself, as will be seen further on.
The President of the Republic, it has also been said,
essentially refrained from acting before having proposed to
the assembly the abrogation of the law of the 31st of
May, a law which had contributed more than all else to
the amassing of popular resentment against the royalist
majority of the legislature.
The ministerial crisis of the month of October, is in-
timately connected with the adjournment of the Coup
cTEtat, at the same time as with its preparation under new
conditions.
The Faucher-Baroche cabinet retired about the middle
of that month, and was replaced, after a ministerial inter-
regnum of ten days, by a cabinet composed of men par-
ticularly devoted to the fortunes of Louis Napoleon.
General de Saint-Arnaud, whose elevation had been pre-
pared for, as we have seen above, had the Ministry of
War. On the same day, M. de Maupas, Prefect of the
Department of the Upper Garonne, replaced M. Carlier
in the Prefecture of Police.
These two persons were already in the secret of what
was preparing.
At the moment when the National Assembly was about
to resume its labors, there was no noise but that about the
Coup dTEtat, which had failed to fall during the proroga-
tion. The newspapers entertained their readers with it;
in political circles it was the subject of every conversa-
tion. The entry of General de Saint-Arnaud into the Min-
istry of War, was interpreted as a new menacing symptom.
The singularly violent language of the Napoleonic press
FEARS OF THE COUP D'ETAT. 47
against the Assembly and against the Constitution, at the
same time as against the republican party, was not of a
nature to allay the general apprehensions.
It was in the midst of this deeply troubled situation that
the National Assembly commenced its session, on Novem-
ber 4th, 1851.
CHAPTER IL
IN the first preparatory meetings, held before the open-
ing session, the royalist majority had resolved to take
measures of defense against the projects attributed to the
President Most of the members of that majority were
convinced that the executive power conspired against the
Assembly, and that a violent dissolution of the national
representation was imminent. The republican minority
did not think differently from the majority on this subject.
There was, however, not the least attempt toward a recon-
ciliation between the two fractions of the Assembly.
The Republicans, instructed for a long period upon the
kind of sentiments professed by the Right with regard to
the Republic and the Constitution, distrusted the majority,
as much as they did the President himself. They feared,
for the most part, the plans of restoration attributed in
their party to the parliamentary chiefs of the Right, more
even than the fancies of a Coup cTEtat of Louis Napo-
leon. General Changarnier, the sword of the " White
Convention," seemed to them much more dangerous than
the President of the Republic.
It is nevertheless true to say, that in the common dan-
ger which threatened the Right and the Left of the Assem-
bly, it did not become the latter to take the first step
toward a reconciliation.
Treated as an enemy, decimated after the 13th of June,
184D, remaining alone in the gap, to defend the Constitu-
tion and the public liberties against the reactionary fury
of the majority, the republican minority had the right to
wait until its concurrence was asked for, by giving some
CONDITION OF PARTIES. 49
serious pledge of a return to the strict observance of the
Constitution.
The Right did not seem to have even thought of this.
It was from the army alone, that they thought of asking
for the means of defending themselves against an aggres-
sion of the executive power. Its estrangement toward the
Left, and its antipathy against the Republicans were such,
that that majority which was ready to fall back upon the
Constitution, did not depart for an instant from its ordi-
nary manifestations of hatred toward everything which
appertained to the Republic.
Some representatives of the " Mountain," M. Sartin
(Note 61) among others, had been victims during the va-
cation, of illegal arrests, or at least of attempted arrests,
in spite of the inviolable character with which the Con-
stitution covered them. The Right, which was to be less
than a month hence conducted to Mazas (Note 62) in
closeted carriages, received with sneers the claims of the
republican representatives, who demanded at least an in-
quiry into the acts of which M. Sartin complained.
As to a return to the Constitution by the repeal of the
law of the 31st of May, and the restoration of universal
suffrage, the portion of the Right who obeyed the influ-
ence of the parliamentary chiefs Thiers, Berryer, Barrot,
and de Falloux, were still far removed from such a
resolution. Reestablish universal suffrage, indeed ! That
was, it is true, assuring to Parliament the support of the
people, averting all eventuality of civil war ; but it was
renouncing the hope of obtaining in 1852 a monarchical
assembly of revision, who would legally restore royalty.
The Right could not yet resolve to sacrifice the hopes they
had founded upon restricted suffrage, as well as we must
say it upon the sword of the parliamentary generals. The
message of the President of the Republic was read on the
first day of the session, November 4. It was remark-
able for its ability.
50 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
Louis Napoleon did not hesitate to call to mind the
promises of fidelity to the Constitution he had so firmly
and warmly made the preceding year, under like circum-
stances :
44 Formerly," said he, " as in my last message, my words on
this subject I remember them with pride were favorably re-
ceived by the Assembly. I said to you : ' The uncertainty of the
future, causes, I know, many apprehensions while awakening
many hopes. Let us all know how to sacrifice those hopes to the
country, and be occupied only with its interests. If this session
you vote for the revision of the Constitution, a Constituent As-
sembly will come to repair our fundamental laws, and to regu-
late the fate of the executive power. If you do not vote for it,
the people in 1852 will solemnly manifest the expression of its
new desire. But whatever may be the solutions of the future,
let us understand each other, in order that it may not be passion,
surprise, or violence, which shall decide the fate of a great na-
tion.' To-day, the questions are the same, and my duty has not
changed."
The message concluded with a formal proposition to
repeal the law of the 31st of May, and to restore universal
suffrage in all its integrity. This was the decisive act of
the message, the boldest, but also the most skillful that
Louis Napoleon could have done at this moment The
issue of his ulterior plans depended in a great manner
upon the reception which would be given to this proposi-
tion. By refusing to adopt it, the Assembly irrevocably
forfeited its respect in the mind of the people of Paris,
it disrobed itself of the little moral force which still re-
mained to it
The proposed law tending to an immediate repeal of the
act of May 31, was introduced after the reading of the
message by M. de Thorigny, Minister of the Interior.
Urgency was demanded. The Left supported it energeti-
cally. The Right, which hesitated, was swayed by M.
Berryer. The urgency was rejected, but by so feeble a
majority that the vote had appeared doubtful.
RECEPTION OF THE MESSAGE. 51
The law was referred to the examination of the com-
mittee.
The republican minority had given a new proof of the
loyal manner in which it comprehended its duty toward the
fundamental law of the country. It had silenced its mis-
trusts and antipathy against Louis Napoleon ; it had not
hesitated to applaud the message. The democratic press
had given it a not less favorable reception.
During two or three days, the joy was great in the
republican party. It did not believe that the royalist
majority would carry blindness to the point of remaining
opposed to the public sentiment which so strongly mani-
fested itself with reference to that fatal law, the principal
cause of the perils that were threatening the country.
The reestablishment of universal suffrage dissipated
all that caused uneasiness to the Republicans, as well as to
the conservatives, for the advent of 1852. The simple
fact of having proposed it, seemed to prove that Louis
Napoleon was really disposed to strictly conform to the
pledges he had given December 20, 1848. The pacific
and legal strife of the popular vote was then to be entered
into around the urns (Note 63) of the ballot. The Consti-
tution was to perform its functions regularly ; a new legis-
lature, plainly republican, would take the place of that
which had so sadly marked its passage to power ; the elec-
tion of a president, simply citizen, reckoning neither em-
perors nor kings in his family, would complete the consoli-
dation of the institutions of 1848. Such were, for two or
three days, we say, the illusions which the message inspired
in the Republicans. They almost forgot the menacing
schemes which on the preceding day they still attributed
to the executive power, and seemed not to perceive the
undoubted symptoms of the reality of those projects ;
symptoms which did not escape the alarmed attention of
the members of the royalist majority.
The latter had generally considered the proposition to
repeal the bw of the 31st of May, as a challenge.
52 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
The President had made that law in harmony with them ;
he had desired his ministry to take the initiative in its
presentation; he had affected to consider it like a dike
opposed to the rising tide of demagogism, as the only
means of preventing the triumph of the Socialist- Demo-
cratic party in the general elections of 1852. With what
purpose had he just proposed to the Right to demolish
this rampart which they had erected in concert? The
suspicious minds of the royalist majority were not far
from believing in a secret understanding between the
President and the " Reds " of the Assembly. The idea
was publicly expressed, and however absurd it was, it did
not everywhere meet with unbelievers.
The Right, perfectly instructed as to the plan of a coup
d'etat which had failed to strike during the vacation, was
persuaded that this project was only postponed, and that
the proposition to repeal the law of the 31st of May, was
only a manoeuvre intended to facilitate its execution. We
are assured that General Changarnier thenceforth received
disclosures, more or less sincere, from the ex-prefect of
police Carlier ; disclosures which contributed not a little
toward convincing the General and his political friends, of
the existence of a complot of the executive power against
the Assembly.
A circular, dated October 28, which had just been ad-
dressed by the Minister of War, Saint-Arnaud, to the gen-
erals of the army of Paris, was interpreted as a grave
symptom of the intentions of the executive power.
We read in this circular some significant passages, such
as these :
" More than ever, in the age in which we live, can true military
spirit assure the safety of society.
" But that confidence which the army inspires, it owes to its
discipline!; and wu all know, General, that there is no discipline
fn an army in which the dogma of passive obedience shall give
way to the ri'^ht of examination.
THE MOTION OF THE QTLESTORS. 53
" An order discussed, leads to hesitation; hesitation to defeat.
" Under arms, the military regulation is the only law.
"Responsibility, which makes its power, is not divisible; i*
stops with the head from whom the order emanates ; it covers all
degrees of obedience and execution."
How can it be doubted, said the representatives of the
Eight, that it is intended to employ the army against the
National Assembly?
Not only does the Minister of War refrain from remind-
ing the military chiefs that their first duty is to respect the
law and to cause it to be respected but he almost assures
them of impunity if they act against it by executing illegal
orders emanating from a superior chief.
These, it would seem, were the motives which deter-
mined the Right to form a double resolution : in the first
place to maintain the law of the 31st of May, and secondly,
to assure themselves of military means, for resisting an
attempted coup d'etat.
It was in view of this last result, that the famous Prop-
osition of the Quaestors was deposited, on the 6th of
November.
Here it is, as it was brought forward for discussion, after
having been corrected by its authors, Messieurs Baze, Gen-
erals Lefld and de Panat (Note 64) :
" Shall be promulgated as law, made an army-order, and posted
up in the barracks, Article 6 of the Decree of May 11, 1848,
in the following terms :
"'Sole Article. The President of the National Assembly is
charged with watching over the internal and external safety of
the Assembly. In consequence, he has the right to require armed
forces, and all the authorities whose help he deems necessary.
" ' His requisitions may be addressed directly to all officers, com-
manders, or functionaries, who are bound to obey immediately
under the penalties of the law. ' "
In its primitive form, the proposition of the quaestors
contained, besides, a paragraph recalling the right of the
54 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
president of the National Assembly to appoint the com-
maudant-in-chief of the troops, charged with watching over
the safety of the representatives of the people ; and
another article gave to the president the power of dele-
gating this right of requisition, to the quaestors, or to one
of them.
It is well to note that the Bonapartist writers, speaking
of the proposition of the quaestors, mention only the
primitive text, and reason without taking into account the
modifications introduced by the committee in harmony
with the authors. 1
Some explanations are indispensable, in order to show
the real bearing and character of the proposition of the
quaestors.
Article 32 of the Constitution runs thus :
" The National Assembly determines the place of its meetings.
It fixes the necessity of the military forces established for its safety,
and disposes of the same."
The decree of the llth of May, 1848, reproduced in the
proposition of the quaestors, had not been abrogated by
the Constitution. Its validity had been recognized, more-
over, in May, 1849, by the executive power itself.
At this date, the right of direct requisition of the armed
power having been for a moment denied to the National
Assembly, the Minister had hastened to declare, in the
name of the President of the Republic, that he considered
the decree of the llth May, 1848, as being always in vigor.
The Assembly had ordained, May 10, 1849, in conse-
quence of this declaration, that articles 6 and 7 of the de-
cree, should be " made the order of the day of the army,
printed and posted by all the corps-commanders."
1 Among others, M. Grmnier de Cuaagnac, who gives the primitive
text, and pretend* to believe that it was on this text that the discussion of
the AnsemMy wa* engaged.
See the lliUtnre de in chute de Louit-Philippe, vol. ii. p. 306.
VIEWS OF THE ASSEMBLY. 55
From that time, these articles had remained posted up
in the barracks of the garrison of Paris.
The perfect legality, then, of the proposition of the
quaestors, was not disputable.
The only discussion possible would be on its opportunity.
The Republicans saw in it an unreasonable response to
the presidential proposition to repeal ,the law of the 31st
of May.
Many among them considered the proposition as a
manoeuvre on the part of the royalists in the Assembly,
whose object was to assure themselves of a military force,
by means of which the Right should successively relieve
itself of the President, and of the republican Left, in order
to establish a " White Dictatorship " (Note 65), the prelude
of a monarchical restoration.
It may be affirmed to-day that these fears were, at least,
prodigiously exaggerated.
The Right was neither numerous enough, nor above all
united enough, to attempt a parliamentary coup d'etat.
The radical divergence from the aim which existed among
its chiefs, did not permit them to come to a mutual under-
standing concerning so great an enterprise. The vote on
the proposition of the quaestors, moreover, would have fur-
nished no new strength to the majority, since this propo-
sition could have no other possible result but that of
strengthening, more formally, a right of the Assembly
which had not yet been seriously contested.
There are serious reasons for believing that the real
intentions were these :
" To impeach the President of the Republic, as soon as
the complot of the executive power against the Assembly
a complot which they believed to exist in reality
should be unveiled by some formal act
" To immediately elevate to the presidency of the As-
sembly, an energetic representative ; such, for example, as
General Changarnier. The pusillanimity of M. Dupin was
56 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
recognized by those even who persisted for two years in
investing such a man with a position for which he was so
little qualified in those stormy times.
" Then, to make ample use of the right of direct requi-
sition, and to surround the National Assembly with a body
of troops of the line, and of the National Guard (Note 66),
sufficient to check every attempt at resistance on the part
of the President Celebrated generals, such as Bedeau or
Lamoriciere, would have been invested with the command
of the forces requisite for the defense of the Assembly. It
was not doubted that their personal authority, their pres-
tige over the army, would produce a decisive effect at the
critical moment.
" The preponderance of the national representation being
thus assured, the dangers of usurpation of the President
averted, the majority would have used its ascendency in
order to vigorously maintain the law of the 31st of May ; to
accomplish the elections under the empire of that law ;
to crush ' demagogic ' resistance, if it supervened ; and to
proceed to a revision of the Constitution, which would leave
the field free to the hopes of the different monarchical sec-
tions of the Right"
One would be mistaken, however in supposing that these
ideas had passed to the condition of a distinctly formed
plan, strongly conceived, with a precise aim, its means of
execution rigorously resolved upon, as was the case at this
moment with the plan formed by Louis Napoleon. The
majority leaned toward the adoption of the line of conduct
which we have indicated ; but the ideas exchanged on this
subject between its principal members, were far from hav-
ing assumed a definite shape. Besides, in any case, the
majority does not seem to have been disposed to deviate
from the legal course.
During this time, irrevocable resolutions were formed by
Louis Napoleon.
We do not advance a too hazardous hypothesis, when
ACTION OF THE MINISTERS." 57
we say that the introduction of the proposition of the
quaestors must have caused him some satisfaction.
While the proposition contained nothing illegal, it was
not less evidently an act of defiance against the executive
power. The royalist majority seemed to take the initiative
of the attack. " It gave the helm " to the President,
according to the expression of General Magnan. Besides,
the situation was all the better, because that majority com-
mitted at the same time the irreparable fault of rejecting
the proposition for the integral reestablishment of universal
suffrage.
No one will be surprised, then, to learn from the recital
of M. Granier de Cassagnac, that "it was immediately
after the introduction of the proposition of the quaestors
that the President took his final measures for an evidently
very near event" l
These measures were taken, we know, very long pre-
viously, but the favorable occasion had not yet offered
itself.
At the moment in which the President was thus making
ready to attempt a coup d'etat, the Assembly was pursuing
its labors. The committee charged with examining the
project of law for the repeal of that of the 31st of May,
brought in its report. The majority was troubled. Many
of its members appeared struck with the intrinsic vices of
the law of the 31st of May, not less than with its political
dangers. The discussion upon the second reading was
entered upon on the 14th of November. The ministers
charged with supporting the proposition to reestablish
universal suffrage, Messieurs de Thorigny and Dariel
(Note 67), were men of extraordinary feebleness. Never,
perhaps, had such incapacity occupied the tribune. It
seemed and all the republican press openly said so
as if the government desired the reverse of its own propo-
1 Recit complet et authmtique des ewnements de Decembre, 1851, by M.
Granier de Cassagnac, p. 4.
58 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
sition. It was rejected, in fact, but by so small a majority,
that the vote had morally killed the law of the 31st of May.
There were three hundred and fifty-three votes for rejec-
tion, and three hundred and forty-seven for adoption. The
interchanging of three or four votes would have sufficed to
totally change the result.
Some days before this vote, the proposition of the quaes-
tors had been examined in the twenty-fourth parliamen-
tary initiative committee, to whom the original proposition
had been referred. The Minister of the Interior, de Tho-
rigny, and the Minister of War, General Saint-Arnaud, had
been heard. The minutes of the sessions of that com-
mittee reveal a curious incident In that of Monday
morning, November 10, the minutes show that the two
ministers declared they considered the decree of May 11,
1848, always in full vigor. M. Thorigny, Minister of the
Interior, said, to quote literally :
" The decree exists ; it is under the eyes of the troops ; all the
rights contained in Article 32 of the Constitution, and in the de-
cree are recognized. It is useless, then, to go beyond ; and the
voting of the proposition at the present time would give cause for
vexatious interpretations."
The next day, November 11, M. de Thorigny addressed
to the committee a letter countersigned by his colleague,
Saint-Arnaud, in which they denied having made, on
the preceding day, the declarations reported in the
minutes :
u I declare, then," said M. de Thorigny, " that in my
conviction, the decree of the llth of May, 1848, cannot be
considered as being still in force ; and I have not said a
word that could establish the contrary."
The committee, after having heard the reading of this
letter, and having again informed itself concerning the
minutes, declared unanimously, that it insisted upon the
perfect accuracy of the minutes containing the declarations
disowned by the two ministers.
CONDUCT OF SAINT-ARNAUD. 59
Evidently some one was lying (sic) in this matter. Be-
tween the affirmation of the thirty-two members of the
committee, including their president and their secretary,
Messieurs Vitet and de Melun and the denial of the
ministers, Messieurs de Thorigny and Saint- Ariiaud, the
reader will judge.
It was learned, at the same time with the denial by the
government of the right of direct requisition inscribed in
the decree of May 11, 1848, that General Saint-Arnaud
had just caused to be torn down, in all the barracks of
Paris, the copies of the decree which had remained posted
up there since 1849.
These latter incidents considerably modified the opinion
of a great number of Republicans concerning the proposi-
tion of the quaestors. Unanimous at the outset, having
nevertheless to discuss the opportunity, they divided in
presence of the claim of the President and the ministers,
of a right to deny a formal right of the Assembly, that of
directly requiring the forces necessary for its defense.
Some rallied on the proposition as rectified by the com-
mittee ; others, in very superior numbers, in the Assembly,
persisted in opposing it, through the fear of furnishing
arms to a royalist conspiracy, directed at once against
Louis Napoleon and the Republic.
The discussion had been appointed for the 17th of No-
vember.
It is well to remark here, that, as is confessed by all
Bonapartist writers who have spoken of these events, the
President had, at this moment, taken all his measures to
cause the troops to march against the National Assembly,
if the proposition of the quaestors should obtain the
majority.
The session of November 17, was full of trouble, anx-
ious, almost inauspicious. It was understood that a coup
d'etat, that is to say, civil war, with its result unknown,
might burst upon them at the termination of the delibera-
tion.
60 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
The Left at this moment held the majority in its hands.
The Right was radically divided. Independently of the
group of conservatives who rallied to Louis Napoleon, a
certain number of timid representatives, who generally
voted with the parliamentary chiefs of monarchical parties,
did not dare to support them in this case. The ancient
majority thus found itself parted into two fractions of about
equal strength ; the two hundred votes of the Left, then,
by going with the one or the other of the two fractions,
were to settle the fate of the proposition.
At the beginning of the session, General Saint- Arnaud,
Minister of War, combated the proposition of the quaes-
tors, by denying the right of direct requisition, and by con-
testing the actual validity of the decree of the llth of
May, 1848. His argument was limited to an assertion
of law : the Constituent Assembly, Sovereign Assembly,
had powers which did not appertain to the Legislative As-
sembly ; and to some special considerations : the right of
direct requisition would be contrary to the principle of the
separation of the powers ; would encroach upon the prerog-
atives of the President of the Republic ; and would intro-
duce elements of indiscipline and disorder into the army.
General LeflO, one of the quaestors, responded that, as
to the first point, it was inadmissible to deny to the Legis-
lative Assembly a right recognized in the Constituent pre-
viously to the promulgation of the fundamental pact, when
that assembly had become a really " legislative" one,
whose prerogatives would no longer differ at all from the
normal prerogatives accorded by the Constitution to ordi-
nary legislatures. The honorable General exclaimed very
strongly, in the very name of the army and of discipline,
against the assertion of M. Saint-Arnaud, concerning the
trouble which the proposition of the quaestors might carry
into the military organization.
Colonel Charras, representative of the republican Left,
then followed in the debate, in order to explain the mo-
A STORMY SESSION. 61
tives which compelled him to rally to the proposition of the
quaestors.
Some extracts from his speech, and from those subse-
quently pronounced, will permit the reader to better appre-
ciate the various feelings which agitated the republican
minds in this decisive circumstance, than if we limited
ourselves to a necessarily discolored analysis of that memo-
rable session.
We borrow the extracts which follow, from the official
report of the session :
M. CH ARRAS. " Gentlemen, in commencing what I have
to say to you upon the grave question which has come up
before you, I feel bound to make one declaration. It is,
that up to the moment when I read, following upon the
report of the committee, the declaration, or rather the
retraction made by the ministers at the moment when I
read that the executive power, through its organs, the
ministers of war and of the interior, denied to the Assem-
bly the right of power in its sovereignty to the defense
of that sovereign ty as it understands it, I changed my
opinion. Before, I would have voted against the proposi-
tion of the quaestors ; to-day, and after the declaration
renewed at this tribune by the Minister of War, I declare
that I shall vote for the proposition of the quaestors."
(Quite general marks of astonishment.) ....
" Up to this time, the right of direct requisition has
never been contested against the Assembly ; I call to wit-
ness the recollections of M. Odilon Barrot, who recognized
this right. Until to-day, this right of requisition has not
been contested by the government of M. Bonaparte, Presi-
dent of the Republic. To-day it is contested in the most
formal manner .... Upon the question of princi-
ple, put in this way : Has the Assembly to which the
French people has delegated the legislative power, yes, or
no, the right to guard its own safety, as it understands it,
as it believes well, as it believes necessary, as it believes
62 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
indispensable '". Upon this question thus stated, upon this
ground, I believe there cannot be produced the least disa-
greement in this Assembly, unless it is upon the benches
of the ministry
' That majority which, until now, had allowed to pass
almost without opposition the most important facts, I will
say it the most scandalous (Marks of approval from sev-
eral benches on the left), that have occurred, I have no
need of saying how nor where. If the least doubt existed
here, I would cite some names Satory .... (Ap-
probation on the left ; noise on some of the benches.)
** Why ! Is it not an unheard-of thing to have seen offi-
cers those who had shouted those unconstitutional words,
those factious words become the object of not less scan-
dalous favors ? (On the left : M It is true ! It is true ! ")
" Well then, I say, for myself, who follow very closely
all the movements which are made at the head, and even
in the body of the army of Paris, I say, that it is those
men who became conspicuous in acts of devotion to the
person of the President of the Republic, and I will say,
too, perhaps in their hatred of the Republic, it is those
men who are called to Paris, and to whom the highest
positions are confided. I say that at this hour in the draw-
ing-room%, I shall not say which, every one can guess,
they talk with unimaginable coolness, of what? Of
closing the doors of this Assembly, and proclaiming you
know what ! " (Various exclamations, smiles, and denials,
on the bench of the ministers.)
M. MICHEL (of Bourges), and several other members on
the left. " The drawing-rooms are not the people." ....
M. CIIARKAS. "Until there shall be an answer differ-
ent from that made by the minister, I shall regard as set-
tled that the right of the Assembly has been formally
denied." (The Minister of War makes a sign of denial.)
M. CHAKKAS. ''There is no need now of playing
upon words, and pretending to recognize a theory of right
COLONEL CHARRAS' WARNING. 63
in the Assembly, whilst in fact you have just said that you
do not recognize that right. As to the opportunity of the
proposition, I have already said that, as for myself, it results
entirely from the declaration made by the government,
there you find it, and nowhere else."
A MEMBER. " The enemy is in the ranks of the ma-
jority."
M. CHARRAS. " It is said that the enemy is there
(pointing to the Right) ; it is elsewhere as well."
M. MATH. " The most dangerous is there " (the
Right).
M. CHARRAS. " No ; I say in conclusion, I do not
believe that the majority is a more serious danger for the
Constitution and for the Republic, in the terms in which
the question is put to-day, than the President who sits in
power in the Elysian Palace. No ; I do not believe that a
more immediate, a more imminent danger can come from
its part, than that which may come from the place I have
just indicated. (Laughter.)
" But the majority is on the ground of constitutional
principles, on the ground of the independence of the As-
semblies. The majority is right. It is for that reason
that I will vote with it"
M. MICHEL (of Bourges) rose immediately to reply to
this speech. Prepossessed as were many others of his re-
publican colleagues, with the idea that the Republic had
no enemy more to be feared than the royalist majority, he
tried to attenuate the effect produced upon the Left by the
words of M. Charras.
He called upon the authors of the proposition to de-
nounce frankly and openly the complots of the executive
power, if they believed in the reality of these plots. And
he added :
"The question is upon theoretical dangers. Do you
know when you discovered these dangers ? You discov-
ered them on the 4th of November, when the law of the
64 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
31st of May was withdrawn. There is the danger! The
danger is that monarchy is menaced, and that the Repub-
lic commences to be inaugurated. That is the danger.
(Loud applause on the left.) You are frightened at Napo-
leon Bonaparte, and you wish to save yourselves through
the army. The army is with us, and I defy you, whatever
you may do, if the military power falls into your hands, to
choose any course which shall cause any soldier to- come
here for you, against the people.
" No, there is no danger ; and I permit myself to add
that if there were a danger, there is also an invincible sen-
tinel who guards you : that sentinel, I have no need of
naming it, is the people." (Strong applause on the left.)
The reporter of the Committee, M. Vitet, made the
most impolitic response to the words of M. Michel (of
1 lounges) that it was possible to imagine. He accused
him of intimate alliance with the President The impu-
tation was so evidently false that the Left was more than
ever persuaded that the proposition of the quaestors was
directed against it as well as against the President
M. Thiers tried in vain to repair the enormous blunder
committed by M. Vitet In vain he denounced the circu-
lar of General Saint- Aruaud, as an evident symptom of the
intention of the executive power to make use of the array
against the Constitution. The Left at least the major
part of it not only did not listen to him, but it drowned
his voice, and the orator descended from the tribune with-
out having finished his speech.
General Saint- Arnaud, who was getting ready at this
very moment to put himself at the head of his troops, and
to lead them against the National Assembly, if the vote
should be unfavorable to him, General Saint-Arnaud, we
say, judged it proper to make, after the interrupted speech
of M. Thiers, declarations of this kind :
44 1 am reproached for not having reminded the army of
respect for the laws and for the Constitution. It is not
my words that are interpreted, it is my silence.
SPEECH OF JULES FAVRE. 65
" Gentlemen, I know how to respect the laws, and I am
of those who know how to cause them to be respected,
more by my acts than by my words. But the soldier is not
a judge of the law. I have found it neither useful nor
worthy to recommend to chiefs the first of all duties
" I have not dreamed of causing the law to descend from
the heights where she resides, into an order of the day, so
as to place her there in a hypothesis of violation which is
not acceptable. Obedience to the laws ! that is the vital
principle of all society. Who, then, doubts it ? "
M. Jules Favre spoke the last word on the Left in this
decisive discussion. He affirmed, as M. Charras had done,
the right of direct requisition of the Assembly ; but he
added that there was no need of a new law in order to
affirm it :
" It happens," said he, " that the executive power con-
tests this right against you. What have you to do ? Affirm
it by a new law ? What ! Gentlemen, if it pleases the
executive power to contest the authority of the laws, would
it be necessary for you to make them over again ? The way
to escape from such a difficulty is to command the execu-
tion of the law.
" Insist on it to-morrow, and you will see that the Ex-
ecutive will yield. And if he does not yield, he will be
put in accusation." (Agitation in various senses.)
The orator concludes by putting this dilemma :
" One of two things : either you believe that the Execu-
tive conspires accuse him then ; or you feign to believe
that he conspires, and it is you yourselves who conspire
against the Republic, and this is why I do not vote with
you."
Soon after this speech of M. Jules Favre, the Minister
of War, Saint-Arnaud, pronounced some words, acknowl-
edging that it was by his orders that the placards of the
decree of May 11, 1848, had been removed from the bar
racks.
66 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
An inexpressible agitation seized the Assembly.
General Saint-Arnaud quitted the hall.
Here happens an extra parliamentary incident related by
M. Granier de Cassagnac :
u General St Arnaud," he says, " arose immediately from
his bench, and quitted the hall, after having directed a
significant look toward Marshal Magnan, Commander-in-
Chief of the Army of Paris, who was present during this
session, and who was in the same tribune as M. de Mau-
pas (Note 68), the Prefect of Police. As he approached
the door of the hall, the Minister of War answered laugh-
ingly to a colleague, who expressed his astonishment at
seeing him leave before the vote : ' There is too much
noise in this house ; I am going to look after the guard.'
And he went there, as he said ? " l
They proceeded to the vote.
The proposition of the quaestors was rejected by 408
votes against 300. More than one hundred and fifty Re-
publicans had voted against the proposition.
Among those who had joined the Right, were counted
(and this is a significant circumstance) the greater number
of the Republicans belonging to the army : General Cavaig-
nac, Colonel Charras, Captains Bruckner, Millotte, and
Tamisier. Many eminent members of the Left had voted
in the same way: Messieurs Marc Dufraisse, Edgard
Quinet, GreVy, etc.
The lionapartist historiographer, Belouino, says that on
learning the result of the vote, General Saint-Arnaud
exclaimed, " We could have dispensed with their help ! "
M. Granier de Cassagnac, on his part, says :
"This unexpected result at once put an end to all prep-
arations for resistance. ' It is, perhaps, better as it is,' re-
plied the Princf, ready to mount his horse, and his face
immediately resumed its habitual serenity." 8
tire dt la Chute de Louit Philijipt, etc., by Granier de Cassagnac, vol.
ii. p. 341.
I Ibi'l. p. 342.
THE MOTION REJECTED. 67
Thus closed this great debate, which, if the Left had
given its concurrence to the quaestors, would undoubtedly
have resulted immediately in the insurrection of the ex-
ecutive power, and open strife between the President and
the National Assembly.
Since the 2d of December, the question, Whether the
Left was well or badly inspired in not voting for the propo-
sition of the quaestors, has been often discussed in the
Republican party. It seems to us that the response
could not be doubtful. Colonel Charras had perfectly dis-
cerned the real peril which threatened the very existence
of the Constitution and of the Republic ; this peril was
not in the parliamentary Right, disunited, powerless,
incapable of undertaking and executing any serious
enterprise ; it was in the executive power, which disposed
of the army, and of all the forces of a centralized and
disciplined administration. It required the blindness
of passion not to see this. The Left, under the circum-
stances, was as clear-sighted as the Right had been in re-
fusing the reestablishment of universal suffrage. But it
will be said, the Coup tfEtat would only have been struck
a little sooner, on the 17th of November instead of the
2d of December. The thing is probable, almost certain ;
but a single observation will show that our estimation of
it is not at all weakened. On the 17th of November, in
the evening, the Assembly would not have been surprised.
It was on its guard. Its influential political men, the illus-
trious generals who formed part of them, could not have
been arrested, nocturnally, in their beds. The troops in
the service of the Assembly, having at their head such
men as Lamoriciere, Leflo, Changarnier, Bedeau, Cavaig-
nac, Charras, would have shielded the palace from a sud-
den attack. Who would dare affirm that, in these condi-
tions, the result of the conflict would not have been, in all
probability, very different ? The majority of the Republi-
can Representatives, who voted against the proposition of
the quaestors, were certainly men of energetic convictions,
l,S PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
whose devotion to the Republic never flinched before any
disaster ; but history, which renders homage to the recti-
tude of their intentions, cannot do otherwise than demon-
strate that on the 17th of November, they failed entirely
in political wisdom.
Before going further, let us analyze an assertion rela-
tive to this memorable crisis of the proposition of the
qusestore, which has been reproduced to satiety for the
last sixteen years. Had the parliamentary Right formed
a complot against Louis Napoleon ? Or putting it more
clearly, did this Right conspire with the intention of vio-
lently and illegally depriving the President of the Repub-
lic of those powers which he held by virtue of the Con-
stitution? Was the proposition of the quaestors the
means chosen in order to execute this complot ?
It has been noisily answered in the affirmative. It is
the favorite theme of Messieurs Granier de Cassagnac,
Belouino, Mayer, and other apologetic historiographers of
the Coup fEtaL
This affirmation, to the support of which only a sem-
blance of proof has ever been furnished, whereof we
shall speak by and by, does not bear examination.
One first consideration strikes the observer. It is that
the majority had no interest in illegally stripping Louis
Napoleon of a power which was to expire of course in
five months. The absence of interest in this regard is the
more evident, since Article 45 of the Constitution inter-
dicted the reflection of the President until after an in-
terval of four years. Thus, the adversaries of Louis Na-
poleon had but one thing to do in order to be relieved of
him, to hold to the execution of the provisions of the
law, and to await the term fixed by the fundamental pact ;
a term which would expire on the second Sunday of May,
1852.
The Ikmapartist writers who reason upon these mat-
ters, affect to believe that Louis Napoleon had received
HAD THE RIGHT CONSPIRED? 69
from the people other powers than those strictly deter-
mined by the Constitution, to which the President had
sworn obedience and fidelity. We refer them to the
words of Louis Napoleon himself. Let them re-read the
speech of the 20th of December, 1848, and the memorable
message of the 12th of November, 1850, and they will see
with what distinctness Louis Napoleon acknowledged that
he possessed no other powers than those which he held
under the fundamental pact of the Republic. Let us add
that this same fundamental pact gave to the National As-
sembly the right to put the President of the Republic in
accusation ; to declare his forfeiture of office in certain
cases, and to conduct him before the High Court of Justice.
The majority then, was exempted by the law itself, from
conspiring a violent despoiling of the President of the
Republic ; it could legally prefer charges against him, and,
in case of resistance, deprive him of his office.
Had the proposition of the quaestors for its object,
the giving to the majority the means of illegally over-
throwing the President ? Evidently not, since this propo-
sition only reaffirmed a right which the Assembly had
always possessed, although it had not had occasion to
make use of it since 1849.
The truth is, we have said it already, and the facts prove
it even to the most glaring evidence, that the majority,
having knowledge of the project of the Coup d'JEtat, mis-
carried during the parliamentary vacation, wished to
take defensive measures. It undoubtedly foresaw that
the President would attempt to dissolve it, and in that
case it was resolved to make use of the right of direct
requisition, in order to give strength to legality, and to
cause to be executed an impeachment warrant, or a decree
of forfeiture, if they should become necessary.
But that the Right had the intention, immediately after
the vote of the proposition, to cause the President of the
Republic and his ministers to be incontinently arrested, is
70 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
an assertion as really false as it is improbable. The Right,
which was no longer a majority this must not be forgot-
ten, which was separated by an abyss of spite and re-
ciprocal hatred, from the one hundred and eighty or two
hundred members of the republican Left, without which
it could no longer carry a single vote, this Right, com-
posed of two hundred and fifty members, divided among
themselves, looking toward different objects, would have
undertaken the illegal arrest of the President of the Re-
public, and of his ministers ! It would have attempted
this without a regular warrant, by means of battalions
hastily required, a few hours after the vote of the propo-
sition of the quaestors !
Let us repeat it once more ; yes, the Right intended to
avail themselves of the right of direct requisition in order
to resist an attack of the executive power ; yes, it foresaw
that attack, and some of the members had sketched out a
line of conduct in case it should be made ; but all this
constituted neither a complot, nor an attempt at one, nor
anything out of the strictest limits of legality.
It will be admitted in any case, that the affirmation of
this scheme for the arrest of the President and the minis-
ters, in case the proposition of the quaestors had been
voted, deserves, before obtaining credence, to be sup-
ported by some proofs, or at least by some positive indica-
tions.
The authority of M. de Cassagnac, assuring that such
was the project formed by the quaestors, is not, it will be
admitted without difficulty, a sufficient guaranty for his-
tory.
Here is the only proof that has ever been advanced.
It results from the facts revealed by the following article,
published in the Congtitiitionncl, December 16, 1851,
an article uniformly reproduced and accepted without dis-
pute by all the official narrators of the 2d of December.
We quote verbally :
THE DOCUMENTS SEIZED. 71
" The quaestors' houses were, as is known, the general head-
quarters of the coalition.
" As soon as the act of the 2d of December occurred, arrests
and searches were made among the quaestors. The quaestors
were arrested, their papers seized, especially at M. Baze's.
" The seizure of these papers has rendered evident the existence
of the complot.
" In fact, all the warrants relative to the direct requisition were
ready ; they have been seized : not only the minutes, but all
the duplicates, and originals, necessary for their communication
to all concerned ; all this was done unknown to M. Dupin
(President of the Assembly), but nevertheless clothed with the
seal of his office.
" The first warrant, that which confers upon a general-in-
chief the command of the troops charged with protecting the
National Assembly, is thus conceived :
" ' The President of the National Assembly
" ' Considering Article 32 of the Constitution, as follows :
" ' The Assembly determines the place of its sessions, decides upon
the importance of the military forces established for its safety, and
disposes the same :
" ' Considering Article 112 of the regulating decree of the National
Assembly, as follows :
" ' The President is charged with watching over the internal and
external safety of the National Assembly. For this purpose, he exer-
cises, in the name of the Assembly, the right confided to the legisla-
tive power by Article 32 of the Constitution, to decide upon the im-
portance of the military forces established for its safety, and to dis-
pose the same :
" ' Orders M to immediately take the command of all the
forces, as well of the army as of the National Gyard, stationed in the first
military division, in order to guaranty the safety of the National As-
sembly.
" ' Done at the Palace of the National Assembly, the day
of '
" SECOND WARRANT.
" ' The President of the National Assembly, etc.
" ' Considering Article 32 of the Constitution,
"'Considering Article 112 of the regulating decree, etc.
" ' Orders every general, every commander of a corps, or detach-
ment, as well of the army as of the National Guard, stationed in the
72 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
first military division, to obey the orders of General , charged
with assuring the safety of the National Assembly.
u ' Done at the Palace of the National Assembly, the day
, etc.'
" Such are the two warrants found at one of the quaestors'.
The first, which appoints the general-in-cbief, exists in two dis-
patches only : the one destined probably for the general-in-chief,
the other for the Moniteur.
" As to the warrant which was to be communicated to the heads
of the divisions and brigades, there had already been five copies
made of it. They are in the hands of the authorities.
' Is it clear that they held themselves in readiness for the event ?
They were waiting only for the day of the vote. Although the
National Assembly had at its disposal quite a great number of
employes, it did not trust to the activity of the numerous dis-
patch-clerks. It had wished that all had been regular, copied, and
stamped (Note 69) in advance. It only remained to supply the
names and dates left in blank. The warrants would thus have
been brought to the notice of whomever they concerned, in the
twinkling of an eye. Are there not, in all this, the preparations
for a sudden attack ? "
These documents, as the reader has undoubtedly re-
marked already, establish nothing more than precautions
taken by the National Assembly, in cose an attempt should
be made upon its safety. But, better yet, they do not re-
late to the proposition of the quaestors. The following
letter, addressed by General Bedeau to M. de Morny
(Note 70), furnishes an irrefutable proof of this. We say
irrefutable, because we do not think there will be found
one honorable person in France, to dispute the veracity of
a personal fact attested by the late General Bedeau.
Here is this letter :
" SIR, I learn that there have been found at M. Baze's some
documents impressed with the seal of the Presidency of the
National Assembly, and having for their object the requisition of
troops, in conformity with Article 32 of the Constitution, and
Article 1 12 of our regulations.
" These documents were prepared by my order, October 14
NO COMPLOT; ALL QUIET. 78
last, an epoch at which I was invested with the powers of the
Assembly, in the absence of M. Dupin.
" M. Baze, the quaestor, subordinated to the President, was only
the depositary of these documents.
" I was then quite determined to make use of my constitutional
right, and to fulfill my duty in guarding the Assembly, if, as I had
too justly cause to fear, that should be attempted against it, which
at a later period was accomplished.
" I have the honor, M. Minister, to salute you.
" (Signed) BEDEAU.
"FoKT HAM, December 19th, 1851."
Neither the Constilutionnel, the Moniteur, nor any other
French journal, published this correction.
It remains then, we think, superabundantly established
for the reader, that the stories of " Parliamentary corn-
plots " against the President of the Republic, do not rest
even upon the shadow of proof, and that they absolutely
lack probability. We shall not insist upon them further.
It appears natural to suppose that after the -rejection of
the proposition of the quaestors, the public should have
considered all eventuality of a coup d'etat as thenceforth
averted, unless new motives of conflict were produced.
That was in fact the general impression. It was evident
that the executive had nothing to fear from the legislature.
More glaring evidence of powerlessness had never been
furnished by a parliamentary assembly. By simply con-
sidering the respective situations of the two rival powers,
it was impossible to find the least pretext for a violent
aggression of the President against the National Assembly ;
nor could one suppose, that after the issue of the effort of
the 17th of November, the Right would think of recom-
mencing the initiative of the conflict.
Thus, in the days that followed the rejection of the propo-
sition of the quaestors, the rumors of a coup d'etat, so
strongly credited the preceding week, completely fell, or
at least, ceased to find believers.
Only casual attention was paid to the legislative labors
74 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
of the last week of November. They were nevertheless
not without interest The law of the 31st of May had in-
directly been almost repealed, and this time without inter-
vention on the part of the Executive. An amendment to
the communal law, reducing the electoral domicile from
three years to one year, was rejected by a majority of but
one vote.
It became more and more evident that a new proposi-
tion for the reestablish men t of universal suffrage, would
reunite the majority of the votes. This proposition would
shortly have been formulated, as well as a new proposition
for revising the Constitution.
There is reason to believe that the Left would have voted
for the revision, if the Right had voted for the ree'stablish-
ment of universal suffrage ; and the force of events seemed
to transport this double solution to the difficulties of the
moment
The legal solution of the crisis appeared assured.
The Assembly at the same time was disposed to examine
a project of law, transmitted by the Council of State (Note
71), concerning the responsibility of the President of the
Republic and of the agents of the executive power. An
amendment by M. Pradie", had introduced therein a very
distinct affirmation of the right of direct requisition, denied
by the ministers in the discussion of the 17th of Novem-
ber.
But these various projects had not yet gone beyond their
preparatory phase ; they were not even formulated in a
precise style, save the last, when the Coup <FEtat fell crush-
ingly. at the very moment when its coming had ceased to
be expected.
Our readers have seen, even by the declarations of the
Bonapartist writers, that the plan of Coup <?J%at, conceived
long before, carefully prepared several months previously,
definitively settled as long ago as the commencement of the
month of November there are even strong reasons for
WHO PREPARED THE COUP? 75
thinking that this epoch might be carried back to the mo-
ment of the entry of M. Saint-Arnaud into the Ministry of
"War, and of M. de Maupas into the Prefecture of Police,
had reached a stage of complete elaboration as far back
as the 17th of November. Parliamentary incidents could
thenceforth exercise only a secondary influence upon the
happening thereof, merely advancing or retarding its ex-
plosion by some days.
The moment has come to tell what was the plan of exe-
cution conceived by the President, and what persons had
contributed to its preparation.
M. Granier de Cassagnac, in his Recit complet et authen-
tique, p. 4, has said :
" Three men were the confidants of his idea :
" M. de Saint-Arnaud, Minister of War 5 M. de Moray, Repre-
sentative of the people ; and M. de Maupas, Prefect of Police.
Louis Napoleon made them acquainted with the immense dangers
that menaced society, and which each day aggravated ; he showed
them the plans he had formed in order to avert them, and asked
for their concurrence ; all three promised it : M. de Morny, for all
the political responsibility to be incurred as Minister of the Interior
(Note 41) ; M. de Saint-Arnaud, for the military operations; and
M. de Maupas, for the action of the police."
These details are nearly exact, but very incomplete. In
our days it is a well-known matter that the first confidants
of Louis Napoleon were, as long ago as the commencement
of 1851 not to go back any further, Messieurs de
Morny, de Persigny, and Commandant Fleury, one of the
aides-de-camp of the President of the Republic. The Coup
<Etat and the restoration of the empire have had no more
ardent promoters.
We are even assured that the influence of these three
personages has not been without effect upon the definitive
resolutions of Louis Napoleon.
"We regret that existing legislation condemns us to the
giving of a few dry biographical indications only, concern-
76 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
ing the men who played an important part in this so grave
feature of our history.
M. de Morny (Note 70) was born in 1811. The Diction-
naire de* Contemporains is silent concerning his family ;
it contents itself with saying that he was educated by the
Countess of Souza. He had served some time in the army
of Africa, under the monarchy of July (Note 72). On re-
signing in the army, he had made himself busy in indus-
trial matters ; then he had entered the Chamber of Depu-
ties as a ministerial candidate, M. Guizot being President
of the Council.
In 1851, M. de Morny was better known as a man of the
world, and as a speculator at the Bourse, than as a poli-
tician. Although he was noted for his skill in the art of
launching forth industrial enterprises, and of making pro-
ductive those valuables known as "shares," yet he was
reputed to have but a mediocre fortune. He was witty,
amiable, fascinating, bold, skeptical, wonderfully organized
for shining in modern society, under a quasi-absolute mon-
archy, and strongly enough tempered to take a decisive
part in the struggles necessary for erecting such a mon-
archy.
He was intimately bound to the President of the Repub-
lic. As long ago as 1849, he said to a person, who since
has often repeated the expression, " All this will end in a
coup d'etat, and it is I who will make it When you shall
see me arrive at the ministry, you will be able to say : Now
is the time." And in fact, he entered into the ministry on
the night between the 1st and the 2d of December, some
hours before the execution.
M. de Persigny (Note 54) had entered the army under
the Restoration (Note 73), and had attained to the grade
of sergeant He quitted the service in 1831. It was at
that date, according to the Dictifmnaire des Contemporains,
that he discontinued his name of Fialin, in order to as-
sume that of Persigny, a name which, according to the
THE PRESIDENT'S ACCOMPLICES. 77
same work, hacl formerly belonged to his family, but which
his father had never borne. Shortly afterward, M. de Per-
signy attached himself unreservedly to the fortunes of the
Bonapartes. M. Belmontet has recently narrated, in the
Legislative Assembly, how he recommended the young ex-
sergeant, Fialin de Persigny to-day, Duke, Senator, and
member of the Privy Council, to Queen Hortense, mother
of Louis Napoleon. M. de Persigny took an active part
in the enterprises of Strasbourg (Note 17) and of Bou-
logne (Note 18).
He figured before the Court of Peers, in the prosecution
which followed this last affair, and was sentenced under the
name of Fialin, alias de Persigny.
Freed by the Revolution of the 24th of February, he
organized the Napoleonic propaganda.
His old imperialistic convictions seemed to have wavered
for a moment only. He offered his candidacy to the Con-
stituent Assembly, and addressed to the electors of the
Loire, May 18, 1848, an electoral circular, of which the
following are passages :
" As to my opinions, I am going to expose them to you with
frankness. Yesterday, I sincerely believed that between mon-
archical customs of eight centuries, and the republican form, the
natural end of all political improvements, it was necessary to
follow an intermediate phase ; and I thought that the blood of
Napoleon, inoculated into the veins of France, might, better than
all other, prepare it for the regime of public liberties ; but after
the great events just accomplished, the regularly constituted Re-
public may count upon my most absolute devotion.
" I shall therefore be loyally and frankly Republican, etc. . . .
" (Signed) FIALIN-PEKSIGNY."
But this republican fervor lasted but briefly, and in
fact, M. de Persigny may claim the privilege of calling
himself one of the oldest and most persevering friends of
the Empire.
In the execution of the Coup (TEtat he took a less ap-
78 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
parent part than that of several other actors in that event,
but that part was serious ; besides he had amply labored
in preparing for its success.
Commander Fleury (Note 52) to-day General, Senator,
aide-de-camp of the Emperor, etc. appears to have played,
in the drama of the second of December, a much more
important part than contemporaries have generally sup-
posed.
In 1851, Commander Fleury was considered as a distin-
guished officer, possessing energy and boldness sufficient
for any case. He belonged to a well-to-do family of the
lesser Parisian bourgeoisie. After a very stormy early
youth, it is said, he had commenced the military career,
as a voluntary recruit His promotion had been rapid.
A man of pleasure, a sportsman by merit, knowing thor-
oughly whatever concerns horses, he had owed, it seems,
to this latter quality, his connection with the staff of the
President of the Republic.
It has been seen heretofore, that he had been charged, as
early as the first months of 1851, with finding in the army,
superior officers, disposed to associate themselves with the
fortune of Louis Napoleon, and to second him in his plans.
It was Commander Fleury, who, we are assured, brought
Brigadier-General Le Roy de Saint-Arnaud into relation
with the President of the Republic.
This officer (Note 55) had a very accidental career. For
various reasons we shall be very sparing of details on this
subject
He was a brigadier-general in 1848, and was in Paris on
the 24th of February. He commanded the forces which
guarded the Prefecture of Police. M. Gamier-Pages, in
his conscientious Hittoire de la Revolution de 1848, relates
that M. de Saint-Arnaud was accused by the soldiers of the
municipal guard of not having preserved all his presence
of mind, in the difficult moment that followed the surrender
of the Prefect of Police, to the people. However it may be,
THE PRESIDENT'S ACCOMPLICES. 79
the General, who narrowly escaped being massacred by a
furious crowd, and had owed his safety only to the devotion
of a few citizens, who wrested him from the midst of the
people, and conducted him to M. Gamier-Pages, who had
just been proclaimed Mayor of Paris, General de Saint
Arnaud, we say, had preserved the most bitter remem-
brance and the most violent rancor of the humiliation
which the Parisians had caused him to undergo.
It has been seen in the preceding chapter, how, accord-
ing to various Bonapartist writers, the war of Kabila was
undertaken in order to place General Saint- Arnaud in re-
lief, and how the officious journals of the Presidency were
invited to celebrate the exploits that the General was to
accomplish, all in such a way that his elevation to the
Ministry of War should not seem to be a too abnormal
measure.
We have it, however, from good source, that the nomina-
tion of M. de Saint- Arnaud to this ministry, was considered
by General Cavaignac, who had known him much in Africa,
as a certain indication that some military coup d'etat
was being prepared against the National Assembly. The
honorable General explained quite openly to his political
friends the reasons which led him to such a belief.
General Cavaignac was not mistaken. M. Saint- Arnaud
was even the only one of the Ministers of the 27th of Oc-
tober who had been initiated into the plans of the Presi-
dent.
M. de Maupas, Prefect of Police, whose concurrence was
of capital importance for the President, did not appear to
have been let into the secret of the plans of Louis Napo-
leon, until a little before his induction into the Prefecture.
It is not possible for us to give precise details upon this
subject. But what appears certain, is that when M. de
Maupas replaced M. Carlier in the Prefecture of Police,
he was not ignorant to what work he was called to give his
concurrence.
80 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
Another person, General Magnan commandant-in-
chief of the army of Paris, from the 15th of July, 1851,
must also be counted among the confidants and preparers
of the Coup fEtat.
M. Magnan (Note 60) had been an officer under tin- first
Empire. A colonel in 1831, he had been authorized to
enter the Belgian army, where he served some years. In
1840, he had reentered the French army, with the rank of
General. By a singular coincidence, he had figured as a
witness for the prosecution, in the trial of Louis Napoleon,
after the affair of Boulogne (Note 18).
His deposition is in the Moniteur of October 1, 1840.
It is too curious for us to refrain from citing a few ex-
tracts.
General Magnan commanded at Lille, at the moment
when Louis Napoleon was preparing to debark at Boulogne.
A friend of the Prince, M. Mesonan, who was connected
with General Magnan, had charged himself with sounding
the disposition of the latter. The General related before the
Court of Peers, concerning a first visit which he had re-
ceived from M. Mesonan, and continued in these terms :
44 The next day, June 1 7, Commander Meson an, whom I sup-
posed to have departed, entered my room, announced, as always,
by my aide-de-camp. I said to him, ' Commander, I thought you
had gone.' 4 No, my General, I have not gone; I have a letter
to give you.' ' A letter for me, and from whom ? ' ' Read,
my General.' I made him sit down, and I took the letter ; but
at the moment of opening it, I saw that the superscription was :
To Commander Mesonan. I said to him, ' But my dear Com-
mander, this is for you, it is not for me.' ' Read, my* General 1 '
I opened the letter and read :
" ' My dear Commandant, It is of the greatest importance that
you see the general in question immediately. You know that he
is a man of execution, and upon whom one may count. You know,
too, that he is a man whom I have set down to be, one day, Mar-
shal of France. You will offer him 100,000 francs from me, and
you will aak him at what banker's, or at what notary's, he wishes me
CHARACTER OF GENERAL MAGNAN. 81
to place 300,000 francs to bis account, in case be should lose his
command.'
" I remained stupefied. I was so overcome that at the moment
I could not find a word to say 1 The man whom I had received
at my house, whom I esteemed, and whom I believed to be es-
teemed, brought this letter right to me, without having ever spoken
to me of Prince Napoleon ; without, either in my conduct or in my
words, anything ever having given him any occasion for such a
communication 1
" Nevertheless, the indignation that I felt calmed itself. I
took the letter with trembling, and said, ' Commander ! to me
such a letter to me ! I thought I had inspired in you more es-
teem for me. I have never betrayed my oaths; I never will
betray them. But you are mad, Commander. My attachment,
my respect for the memory of the Emperor, will never make me
betray my oaths to the King.' I returned the letter to the com-
mander, telling him that it was a lost and ridiculous expedient.
The commander was troubled, pale, and uneasy. In spite of my
irritation, I pitied him. I confess I did not do my duty. It was,
to have sent to the Minister of War this letter, which to-day is
misused in order to make me pass for a denouncer."
In spite of this strange precedent in the relations of
General Magnan and Louis Napoleon, the general, in
1851, was no less disposed to heartily second the President
of the Republic in his enterprise against the National
Assembly. '
It was he who took upon himself the part of broaching
to the generals placed under his orders, the imminence of
the events. The matter is related as follows, by M. Belou-
ino, in the book already cited (p. 59) :
" Some time before the session of the 17th of November, Gen-
eral Magnan had assembled in his drawing-room all his general offi-
cers. ' Gentlemen,' he had said to them, ' it may happen that before
long your general-in-chief shall think it proper to bind himself
to a resolution of the highest importance. You will passively
obey his orders. AH your life, you have performed and under-
stood military duty in this way
" ' But whatever may occur, my responsibility will cover you. You
6
82 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
will receive no order which is not written and signed by me. Con-
sequently, in case of failure, whatever may be the government
which shall ask for an account of your acts, you will have only to
show, as your guaranty, the orders which you will have received.' "
M. Granier de Cassagnac tells of an analogous scene,
the same, undoubtedly, which he fixes on the 2Gth of No-
vember. Twenty-one generals, he says, had been assem-
bled in the parlor of their commander-in -chief, and
informed by him that the elect of the people would per-
haps make a forthcoming appeal to the sovereignty of the
nation, and to the devotion of the army. General Rey-
bell, speaking in the name of his colleagues, had responded
to this confidence, by affirming that the enthusiastic con-
currence of the army was won by Louis Napoleon.
" A warm acclamation," adds M. Granier de Cassagnac,
" followed the words of General Reybell. Each one's hand
sought the other's, and from that moment one might say,
with certainty, that France continued to rise from the
abyss." 1
M. Granier de Cassagnac says, besides, that the twenty-
one generals bound themselves by oath to keep secret
what had just passed between them, and that this secret
was so well kept, that he, M. Granier de Cassagmic, was
the first, after five years had passed by, to make known
" the existence and the results of that memorable meet-
ing." It seems evident that here M. de Cassagnac is
mistaken.
The scene revealed by him is no other than that which
M. Belouino narrated, some months after the Coup
(TJKtm, when his recollections were fresh ; a scene which
he fixed, undoubtedly with reason, on an evening anterior
to the session of the 1 7th of November. However it may
be, here are the names of these twenty-one generals :
Magnun, Con cmuse, Hubert, Sallenave, Carrelet, Renault,
See the Hiflaire rlr la Chute tie Louit PhUijipe, etc., by Granier de
(.'usagnac, vol. ii. pp. 8U1. 3l2, 303.
PLAN OF THE COUP D'ETAT. 83
Levasseur, de Cotte, de Bourgon, Canrobert, Dulac, Sau-
boul, Forey, Ripert, Herbillon, Marulaz, de Courtigis, Korte,
Tartas, d'Allonville, and Reybell (Note 74.)
It appears, however, that General Magnan did not suffi-
ciently enlist in the enterprise, so long as it was not possi-
ble to recede therefrom, in case of necessity. " He had
expressly asked," says M. Granier de Cassagnac (vol. ii.
p. 408), " not to be notified until the moment of making his
necessary arrangements and mounting his horse." Nor did
he act until fortified with the formal orders of his chief,
the Minister of War, which, according to the theory so
greatly in vogue at that moment in the army, sheltered
his responsibility and guaranteed him in case of failure.
Thus it was Messieurs de Moray, de Persigny, Fleury,
Saint- Arnaud, de Maupas, and Magnan, who were the first
confidants of Louis Napoleon, and with him prepared that
celebrated Coup tfEtat, which was to overthrow the Re-
publican Constitution of 1848, in order to substitute for it,
after a brief delay, the restoration of the Empire, and of
the Napoleonic dynasty.
A remark has been made which could not fail to strike
an observing mind : it is the absence from among the co-
operators in the Coup cTJZtat, of every personage who had
at that period conquered any authority in the country,
either by his political course, or by his military or civil
career, achieved with distinction.
The confidants of Louis Napoleon were men relatively
obscure, of talents almost unknown, having for the most
part to conquer their reputation and their fortune.
The plan of the Coup <?Etat was very simple, and pre-
sented infinitely less difficulty than has been pleased to be
said : Centralization, placing all the organized forces in
the hands of the President ; the dogma of passive obe-
dience, guaranteeing the concurrence of the subalterns if
the superior chiefs were gained ; it sufficed to secure these
latter. Now this had been already done long before.
84 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
With the concurrence of the Minister of War, of the
comraander-in-chief of the army, and of the Prefect of Po-
lice, the President had but to say the word, in order to be-
come absolute master of Paris, and with Paris, of France.
The principal measures considered were these :
1st The nocturnal arrest of the Representatives ;
above all, the generals whose influence seemed the most
to be feared. This was the part of the task reserved to
the Prefect of Police and to his agents.
_il. The nocturnal occupation of the Palace of the
Assembly ; distribution of the troops at the strategic
points of the capital.
3d. The printing and publication of the decrees and
proclamations of the President ; seizure of all the repub-
lican or parliamentary newspapers.
It was agreed that these various operations should be
accomplished in the night As it was winter, the moment
of execution was fixed between half-past five and half-past
six o'clock in the morning, the hour when Paris sleeps.
If these operations should succeed, the Assembly, de-
prived of its most energetic and influential members,
with the impossibility of convening at the place of its
sessions, could attempt only vain protestations. There
were good reasons for supposing that the people would
not move ; its contempt for the legislative majority, its
hatred of the Royalists, combined with the reestablish-
ment of universal suffrage, permitted, if not enthusiastic
approbation, at least non-interference to be hoped for.
The army of Paris, composed of carefully selected reg-
iments, commanded by chiefs upon whom the President
could rely, was numerous enough to oppose the most for-
midable resistance. It comprised not less than sixty thou-
sand men, who could be reinforced in twenty-four hours
by thirty thousand soldiers of the neighboring garrisons.
Louis Napoleon had neglected nothing, in order to pre-
pare the troops for seconding him in an enterprise which
the concurrnnro of vo *> v nlnne rendered possible.
HOW THE ARMY WAS WON. 85
Banquets had assembled at the Elysian Palace thou-
sands of officers and non-commissioned officers, at the table
of the President.
Allocutions (Note 75), of which the commentaries of
the barracks took care to extract the real sense, had pre-
pared the soldiers for the idea of a military revolution.
It was repeated to them that they had to retaliate upon
the Parisians the shame yet to be effaced, of the " gun-
stocks in the air " of the 24th of February ; it was par-
ticularly sought to revive among them the worship of the
souvenirs of the first Empire, and of the name of Napo-
leon, still so potent over the minds of the soldiers ; they
were entertained with continual incitements to that " mar-
tial spirit " which is tantamount to contempt of the mid-
dling classes ; hatred of the lawyer, of the man of discus-
sion ; disdain for all who do not wear the sword and obey
without words.
These, it seems, had succeeded very well.
An enthusiastic admirer of the Coup cTlStat, M. P.
Mayer, has given some interesting details, worthy of con-
sideration, upon the disposition made of the army :
" It is not a mystery to any one," says M. Mayer, " that follow-
ing the recall of General Changarnier, the staff of the army was
to be, and really was transformed, by the successive admission of
that youngest, most intrepid, most devoted generation, for whom,
and by whom, the immortal expedition of Kabila was executed,
veritable cadets of glory, almost all in possession at present of
the succession of their scrupulous and constitutional elders. Of
these cadets, the most illustrious was entitled to rise the highest
in rank, and thus it is that M. Leroy de Saint- Arnaud ....
was called to the general command of the army An
ardent nature, inflexible straightforwardness, M. de Saint-Ar-
naud professes like every other man born a soldier, the freest
contempt for the finesse of politics, and the combinations of par-
liamentarism" !
. . . . " The staff counted only those generals who were
determined to pass the Rubicon, or die."
l Histoire du 2 Decembre, pp. 37, 38.
86 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
What makes the discipline of our army, and con-
sequently its glory, is that in spite of civilization, of newspapers
and books, it has never had ideas but instincts ; it loves or it
hates, radically, completely, to the death and to frenzy ; and
above all, without phrases. The empire has well proved this." 1
Farther on, the same writer relates the following anec-
dote in order to support his opinion :
" We must say the army was not only convinced, but became
fanatical. The brave and witty colonel of the 7th Lancers, M.
Feray, told an anecdote that has the value of a real event. He
was with a battalion of his regiment in the vicinity of Chaillot.
There was brought to him one of the most notorious demagogues
of that commune, taken with arms in his hands, and his pockets
full of bullets. The colonel, wishing to try bow far his soldiers
would obey, called his two orderlies and said to them, shaking the
ashes from his cigar, ' You are to blow out that brigand's brains
for me : make him get upon his knees, and at the command Fire !
crack his head.' The two lancers coolly load their pistols, take
the man by his cravat, he twisting and crying ' Mercy ! ' put
their weapons to each temple, and await the command of the
colonel with the greatest calmness. * Take him along/ said M.
rYray, ' he is too cowardly to be shot by brave men like you.'
And he had him taken to the Prefecture of Police. ' What men,'
they said to M. Foray, when he related this incident ' My
whole regiment would have done the same,' replied the son-in-
law of Marshal Bugeaud."
On the 9th of November, the President of the Repub-
lic had assembled at the Elysian Palace the officers of
the regiments then lately arrived at Paris. The speech
he had addressed to them was not wanting in signification.
Here are some of the prominent passages :
" If the gravity of circumstances should again bring
them (these trials), and compel me to make appeal to
your devotion, it would not fail me, I am sure ; because,
as you know, I would demand nothing not in accordance
with my right, recoynized by the Constitution, with military
i //utoire du 2 Ditmbre, p. 164. Ibid.
THE POLICE COOPERATE. 87
honor, and with the interests of the country ; because I
have placed at your head men who have all my confidence
and who deserve yours ; because, if ever the day of dan-
ger should arrive, I would not do like the governments
that have preceded me, and I would not say to you,
' March ! I follow you ; ' but I would say, ' I march ;
follow me.' "
It seems that the words, " recognized by the Con-
stitution," which are in the text of the speech in the
Moniteur, had not been pronounced by Louis Napoleon.
M. Mayer says so in these terms : " The President did
not pronounce these four words, which the ministry caused
to be added through a scruple which everybody under-
stands. There was still a constitution." l
The army, which was to play the ruling part in the Coup
d'JZtat, being thus prepared and Arranged, it only re-
mained to be assured of the concurrence of the police.
This concurrence was indispensable, but with that of the
army it was sufficient. History should take note of this
remarkable particular: two forces alone made the Coup
tfEtat ; the army and the police. M. de Maupas was in
the confidence of Louis Napoleon. His agents, all care-
fully selected by M. Carlier we mean the superior
agents were ready to unite in every enterprise which
should be directed against parliamentary power, and
above all against the republican party.
% The secret of the preparations for the Coup d'JEtat was
very well guarded. That was the most difficult task.
The moment was wonderfully well chosen, fourteen
days after the rejection of the Proposition of the Quaes-
tors, when the public, so many times deceived by false
rumors of coup d'etat had ceased to longer believe in it.
An incident which might have awakened suspicions, did
not pass unperceived, but misunderstood.
The President of the Republic appointed a certain M.
l ffistoire du 2 Decembre, p. 22.
88 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
Vieyra Chief-of-staff of the National Guard of Paris. The
honorable General Perrot, Commander-in-chief of the Na-
tional Guard, immediately resigned, because he was not on
good terms with this person. The next day, the 30th of
November, General Lawoestine was appointed to replace
General Perrot. There is no reason for belief, nevertheless,
that he had been let into the secret of what was prepar-
ing. As to the new chief-of-staff, Vieyra, he was instructed
to take measures to prevent the National Guard from as-
sembling.
It was in those latter days, that the President made
sure of the concurrence of M. de Saint-Georges, Director
of the National Printing-office.
All was then ready for action.
CHAPTER III.
Louis NAPOLEON had chosen the 2d of December, the
anniversary of Austerlitz, for the execution of the Coup
On Monday evening, the 1st of December, he held his
habitual reception at the Elysian Palace. The crowd was
considerable.
" The Prince," says M. de Cassagnac, " appeared to his
guests with unchangeable calmness of mind, and with the
ordinary amenity of his manners. The most attentive
observer would not have discovered a cloud upon his brow,
nor preoccupation in his words." 1
Those of the ministers who were ignorant of what was
being prepared, were mingled with the confidants. The
new chief-of-staff, Vieyra, was present
Doctor Veron relates in his Memoirs 2 the following in-
cident :
" The Prince, with his back against a chimney-piece,
made a sign to M. Vieyra, colonel and chief-of-staff of the
National Guard, to approach, and said to him, low enough
to be heard by him only :
" * Colonel, are you firm enough to allow no lively emo-
tion to be seen upon your face ? '
" ' I believe so, Prince.'
" ' Well, it is for to-night ! . . . . Can you" assure
me that the call will not be beaten to-morrow ? '
"'Yes, Prince, if I have men enough to convey my
orders.'
1 Histoire de la Chute de Louis Philippe, etc., by Grander de Cassagnac,
vol. ii. p. 398.
2 Nouveaux Memoires cTun Bourgeois de Paris, pp. 343, 344.
90 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
" ' See Saint- Amaud. You must,' added Louis Napoleon,
' go to sleep to-night at the quarters of the staff officers.'
" ' But if I should be seen passing the night in an arm-
chair, in the staff-officers' quarters, that would cause aston-
ishment'
** ' You are right Be there at six o'clock in the morning ;
you will be warned. Let no one of the National Guard go
out in uniform. Go. No, not yet; you would seem to
have withdrawn by my order.'
" The Prince withdraws, and the Colonel goes on greet-
ing persons of his acquaintance, without it being mistrusted
that he had received so terrible a secret"
It is said that the first care of M. Vieyra was to cause
the drums of the National Guard to be bursted, an effi-
cient but not very heroic means of preventing the beating
of the call.
Toward eleven in the evening, the guests went away.
Only four persons remained : they were Messieurs de
Morny, de Saint-Arnaud, de Maupas, and Mocquart, chief
of the President's cabinet M. Mocquart, a particular
friend of Louis Napoleon, knew his plans, although he had
not played an active part in their execution.
M. de Morny had affected to show himself at the thea-
tre. Dr. Veron states that he appeared at about ten
o'clock, ' in one of the boxes of the proscenium of the
Opera Comif/tie, where every one could see him, very ele-
gant, and greeting all his friends with a cordial gesture."
The Doctor says, too, that during the interlude, M. de
Morny appeared in the box of Madame Liadieres, where the
following words were exchanged:
" M. de Morny," says she, " it is said that pretty soon the
President of the Republic is going to sweep out the Cham-
ber. What will you do ? "
" Madame," answered M. de Morny, " if there is a
stroke of the broom, I shall try to be where the handle is."
" With a little attention," Doctor Vcron adds, " though
THE FIRST OVERT ACT. 91
they were very far from dreaming of the peril that men-
aced them, General Cavaignac and General de Lamoriciere,
seated in an adjoining box, might have heard the question
of Madame Liadieres, and the response of M. de Moray." 1
A little before midnight, M. de Beville, one of the aides-
de-camp of the President, recently initiated into the plan
of the Coup cCEtat. entered the room where Louis Napo-
leon, de Moray, de Saint- Arnaud, and Mocquart already
were. M. de Be*ville was charged with the carrying of the
manuscripts of the decrees and proclamations to the Na-
tional Printing-office. It is said that Louis Napoleon had
written upon this bundle of papers, the word " Rubicon."
It does not appear that Commander Fleury was present
at this last council. It is assured, however, that he did not
remain inactive. What we are about to say of his part at
that moment, has been related to us by a person worthy of
credit, but we could not guaranty the perfect accuracy of
the details.
Commander Fleury, toward midnight, fulfilled a mission
of trust. A company of the Gendarmerie Mobile (Note 76)
had received orders to occupy the National Printing-office,
under any pretext whatever. This was the first material
act of the Coup d'Etat. M. Fleury watched its execution.
The march of the troop, and the occupation of the print-
ing-office being effected, without giving the hint to the
people, Commander Fleury had returned to the Elysian
Palace, in order to inform the President that all was going
on well.
Louis Napoleon then delivered the package of manu-
scripts to Colonel de Beville, who bore them to the
printing-office, where the director, M. de Saint-Georges
was waiting. The latter gave the order for the composi-
tors. The workmen had been engaged the day before for
an urgent task. The manuscripts were so cut into sections,
that the compositors could not discover the sense of what
l Nouveaux Memoires <? tin Bourgeois de Paris, pp. 344, 345.
92 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
they were composing. It is related, however, that in spite
of this precaution, there was a certain distrust on their
part, and a little inclination to refuse the work demanded.
But they obeyed, and remained, each of them under the
surveillance of two policemen, until all was finished. The
company of gendarmery who occupied the printing-office
were commanded by Captain Delaroche d'Oisy. His order
was simple, says M. P. Mayer : " To shoot all who should
try to go out, or to approach a window. Nothing clearer,
but nothing more necessary also."
The manuscripts being printed, and a great number of
copies struck off, they were carried, at about four or five
o'clock in the morning, to the Prefecture of Police (Note
77).
During this time, at the Elysian Palace, Louis Napoleon
wrote letters dismissing those of his ministers who were
not initiated into his plan. He likewise signed a decree
which appointed M. de Horny Minister of the Interior, in
place of M. de Thorigny.
It is told that at about this time, a certain hesitation
was manifested on the part of one of the persons engaged
in the enterprise (Note 17), and that the energetic inter-
vention of Commander Floury was not ineffectual in causing
this commencement of faint-heartedness to cease.
It probably was about half-past two o'clock, when the or-
der destined for General Magnan was signed. That order
reached him (according to M. Granier de Cassagnac) at
about three o'clock in the morning. At four o'clock, the
Minister of War, de Saint-Arnaud, and the Prefect of Po-
lice, de Maupas, were at their respective posts. M. de
Momy was preparing for the dismission of M. de Thorigny,
who mistrusted nothing.
Very soon M. de Maupas received the copies. The
habitual bill-posters of the Prefecture of Police were wait-
ing, quite ignorant of what they were to post up. The
documents were distributed to them, and they dispersed in
HOW AND WHOM TO ARKEST. 93
all directions, escorted by the police. It was then about
half-past six o'clock.
Incidents of great importance had already occurred in
the interval. It is known that one of the essential points
of the Coup tfEtat was the arrest of the representatives
and citizens whose influence was feared. This was that
part of the common task which fell to M. de Maupas espe-
cially. The number of persons to be thus arrested was
seventy-eight, sixteen of whom were representatives of the
people, inviolable by the terms of the Constitution.
" All alike," says M. Granier de Cassagnac, l " were
watched, and as if kept in sight by invisible agents ; and
not one of those agents suspected the real object of his
mission, all having received different and imaginary mis-
sions.
" The eight hundred police, and the detachments for
safety, had been ordered to the Prefecture of Police, on
the 1st of December, at eleven o'clock at night, under the
pretext of the presence in Paris of refugees from London.
At half-past three o'clock, on the morning of the second,
the peace-officers and the forty commissaries of police, were
convoked at domicile. At half-past four o'clock, all had
arrived and taken their stations in little groups, in separate
rooms, in order to avoid questions.
" At five o'clock, all the commissaries, one by one, de-
scended into the room of the Prefect, and received from his
mouth the full and entire secret of the truth, with the
necessary directions, instruments, and orders. The men
had been adapted, with special care, to the kind of opera-
tion intrusted to them ; and all departed, full of zeal and
ardor, resolved to accomplish their duty at every cost No
one failed in his promise."
One of the things that will undoubtedly most surprise pos-
terity, in the events we are narrating, will be the unanim-
ity of the forty commissaries of police, in joining in the
l In his Rtidt Compkt et Atithenliyue, etc., p. 5.
94 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
plans confided to them by M. de Maupas. It was requisite
that they should become accomplices, in an act qualified by
Article 68 of the Constitution as the crime of high treason.
It was -required that they should arrest inviolable repre-
sentatives, an act which the Constitution equally qualified
as a crime. None of these magistrates was ignorant of
the law. Yet none hesitated. The Prefect of Police de-
livered them warrants of arrest, prepared in advance, all
uniformly grounded upon the accusation of " complot
against the security of the State, and of the keeping of
arms of war." '
M. Mayer, who professes a special admiration for M. de
Maupas, says on this subject :
- He needed above all, that warmth of heart, that enthu-
siasm of devotion, of which youth but excites the impulses.
What responsibility, to sign his name, without any hesita-
tion, and in time of peace, to the order for the arrest of
generals and representatives, who were considered the
military and parliamentary glories of France ! " l
Among the representatives to be arrested, were four
of the most illustrious generals France possessed: Mes-
sieurs liedeau, Cavaignac, Changarnier, and Lamoriciere ;
two other superior officers of high distinction, General
Leflo, and Lieutenant-colonel Charras ; one of the glories
of the French tribune, M. Thiers. The other representa-
tives designated by the warrants, mostly Republicans (Note
78), all men of heart and of strong convictions, were,
Messieurs Haze, Qua-stor of the Assembly ; Beaume, Cap-
tain Cholat, Greppo, Lagrange, Miot, Nadaud, Roger (du
Nord), and Lieutenant Valentin (Note 79).
But before relating the details of these arrests, we ought
to tell how one of the most puzzling measures of the plan
of the Coup (f Etat, the occupation of the Palace of the
National Assembly, was accomplished.
The guard of the Assembly was composed of a battalion
1 Jlintoirc <ln 2 Di-cembre, p. 65.
PROWLING BY NIGHT. 95
of infantry of the line, which was changed every day, and
a battery of artillery. These troops were quartered in the
dependencies of the palace. They obeyed Lieutenant-
colonel Niol, the military commandant of the Assembly,
which office depended only upon the National Assembly
itself. The major of the guard, and the captain of the
battery, took their orders from Lieutenant-colonel Niol
alone. It was not thought of winning over the military
commandant of the Assembly ; his well-known character
did not permit that any one should propose to him an act
which he would have considered treason.
The occupation of the palace was, however, essential to
the success of the plan of the Coup <FEtat.
It was well known how far to count upon the firmness
of the President of the National Assembly, M. Dupin.
and it was cared little about; but the energy of the
quaestors, M. Baze and General Leflo, who, like M. Du-
pin, lodged in the palace, was feared. If they, as well
as Lieutenant-colonel Niol, were not taken by surprise,
they might close the gratings of the palace, and fortify
themselves there ; the troops of the guard kept by these
two superior officers, might resist, and the success of the
Coup d'Etat be more than compromised.
A colonel of infantry, initiated in the project of the
Coup (fEtat M. Espinasse (Note 55), then command-
ing the 42d of the line was charged with the exe-
cution of the surprise of the palace. A battalion of
his regiment had been designated, on the 1st of December,
for guarding the Assembly. The commander of this bat-
talion was not informed of anything ; he received his or-
ders, as usual, from Lieutenant-colonel Niol. Toward
midnight, General Leflo reentered his apartment, after
having assured himself, as he had done for some time,
that the guards and sentry were stationed conformably to
the habitual directions. At two o'clock in the morning, the
major of the guard, while making his round, observed
96 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
movements to and fro. The first captain-adjutant had
been ordered out of the palace by Colonel Espinasse,
without plausible reason. The major, uneasy, sought to
enter the apartment of the military commandant; he
could not find his bedroom. New indications having
alarmed him still more, at about half-past five o'clock in the
morning, he recommenced his search for Lieutenant-colonel
O'
Niol, found him at last, and communicated to him his mis-
trusts. The military commandant arose in haste ; it was
too lute. The first captain-adjutant had opened the gate,
on the side toward University Street, to Colonel Espinasse,
who had already penetrated the palace with the two other
battalions of his regiment The major of the guard, going
out from Colonel Kiel's, perceived his colonel at the head
of the soldiers, in the passage leading to the President's
house (Note 80). He ran toward him, and said:
' My Colonel, what do you come here to do ? "
To take the command, and to execute the orders of the
Prince."
" O, you dishonor me, Colonel ! "
Saying this, the loyal officer tore off his epaulets, broke
his sword, and cast them all at the feet of M . Espinasse. We
regret that we do not know his name. [We have learned
his name since the publication of the first editions of this
book ; this loyal soldier was M. Meunier.] Dr. Ve"ron
says in his Memoiret, that this soldier resigned as early
as the next day, and renounced his rank, rather than con-
cur in what was being accomplished.
Colonel Espinasse had ordered him aloof, through his
grenadiers, and, guided by one of the policemen attached
to the service of the Assembly, had rapidly proceeded to-
ward the apartment of the military commandant of the
palace. Lieutenant-colonel Niol had not finished dressing
himself. They pounced upon his sword. " You do well
to take it, 1 ' said be to Colonel Kspinasse, " for I should have
run it through your body." They arrested him.
ARREST OF THE QILESTORS. 97
All this had occurred with extreme rapidity. The two
battalions of the 42d relieved all the guards, and occupied
all the outlets of the palace. The artillery of the guard
retreated without making a show of resistance.
Thus, that memorable coup de main was accomplished.
M. de Persigny, who had watched its execution, ran to
the Elysian Palace, to announce its success.
At the same time with M. Espinasse, the two commissa-
ries of police charged with arresting the quaestors, entered
the palace. 1 One of these commissaries, M. Primorin, fol-
lowed by a certain number of policemen, and supported by
a company of the 42d of the line, arrived at the door of
M. Baze's apartments. He rang gently. A female ser-
vant came to open the door. The police sprang inside,
and penetrated to the bedroom of M. Baze. The Repre-
sentative, suddenly aroused, was putting on his dressing-
gown. They threw themselves upon him. M. Baze, in-
dignant, protested in the name of his parliamentary
inviolability, and cried Treason! The police listened to
nothing. M. Baze, whose anger made him ten times as
strong, resisted with unspeakable energy. Madame Baze,
half clothed, ran to a window to call assistance ; the police
laid their hands on her. Her exasperated husband con-
tinually struggled. Overpowered at last by the police, he
was carried, or dragged, almost absolutely naked, to the sta-
tion on the side next to Bourgogne Square. There only, was
he able to dress himself. Half an hour afterwards, a car-
riage conducted him, under escort, to the Mazas prison.
M. Bertoglio was the Commissary of Police instructed
to arrest General Leflo, the colleague of M. Baze in the
quaestorate. The well-known energy of the General, ren-
dered this task not less difficult than that which M. Pri-
morin was executing at the same moment. The General
was asleep. M. Bertoglio, followed by his agents, pene-
trated the room in which the young son of the General, eight
i Of the Assembly.
98 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
years of age, was lying. The child awoke. M. Bertoglio
reassured him, and told him that he had an important com-
numication to make to the quaestor. The child, without
distrust, conducted M. Bertoglio and his policemen into the
bedroom of his father. The General sprang out of bed ;
they threw themselves upon him. He protested with ex*
treme energy and indignation. He appealed to the loyalty
of the soldiers present, and struggled and resisted as long
as possible. Madame Lefio, suffering, and five months en-
ceinte, was present at this deplorable scene. The young
son of the General, victim of a pang beyond his age, con-
jured the police not to hurt his father, whom he sobbingly
reproached himself with having given up by his simple
imprudence. Nevertheless, the General became calm ;
dressed himself in his uniform, and told M. Bertoglio that
he would follow him. Arrived at the foot of the stairs,
the General found himself facing Colonel Espinasse, who
was watching the arrest He apostrophized him with ve-
hemence, characterizing the part he was enacting in terras
of quite military bluntness. M. de Cassagnac adds, in his
Recit : " Colonel Espinasse imposed silence, and the sol-
diers crossed their bayonets upon him." It would be more
exact to say that Colonel Espiuasse tried to impose silence,
for the intrepid General did not cease to appeal to the loy-
alty of the soldiers, who filled the palace of the Assembly,
until the moment when thrown into a hackney-coach,
among several policemen, he was carried off to Mazas.
General Leflu has often related the response which he re-
ceived at that time from a superior officer of the 42d. We
will repeat it ; it is characteristic of the dominant sentiment
in the ranks of the army on the 2d of December. " What ! "
said General Leflo, on perceiving that officer, " You, an
old soldier ; you consent to become an accomplice in trea-
son ; to lay your hands upon your chief? " " Go," replied
the officer ; " we have enough of lawyer-generals and gen-
eral-lawyers."
ARREST OF GENERAL CHANGARNIER. 99
It was then between half-past six and seven o'clock
in the morning. A display of a considerable number of
troops was maintained about the approaches of the National
Assembly, and of the Elysian Palace, where the President
was. The Ripert brigade occupied the Palace of the
Assembly, the 42d regiment of the Hue forming part of that
brigade ; the Forey brigade occupied the Orsay quay ; the
Dulac brigade was massed in the Garden of the Tuileries ;
the de Cotte brigade was in the Place de la Concorde ; the
Canrobert brigade was posted in Marigny Avenue, and
around the Elysian Palace ; the Reybell brigade of lancers,
and General Korte's division of cuirassiers, were massed
in the Elysian Fields (Note 81). These troops, entirely
united under the hand of Louis Napoleon, so to speak
did not amount to less than twenty-five thousand of infan-
try, and six thousand of artillery.
While the surprise of the Palace of the Assembly was
being effected, and the quaestors were being arrested under
the circumstances that have been mentioned, other pro-
jected arrests were made with the same success. "We will
not relate them all in detail ; all these cases are analogous ;
neither do we consider it necessary to insist upon the
notorious falsity of certain accounts of these arrests, pub-
lished by divers admirers of the Coup <TEtat, some weeks
after the events. The contempt of honest people has long
since done justice to the productions of the pretended his-
torians, whose specialty, after each revolution, or each re-
action, indifferently, is to slabber upon the vanquished.
The arrest of General Changarnier (Note 25, ante), who
was particularly feared on account of his authority over
the army, and of his well-known energy, was considered
the most important. The Commissary of Police, Lerat,
and Captain Baudinet of the Republican Guard, were
charged with this duty. They were two bold men, perfectly
fitted for this mission. They were accompanied by fifteen
of the police, equally well fitted, and by forty soldiers of
100 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
the Republican Guard. General Changarnier, who had
for a long time kept upon his guard, no longer mistrusted
anything. The private communications of ex-Prefect of
Police Carlier, we are assured, had persuaded him that the
Coup (TEtat was indefinitely postponed.
Commissary Lerat presented himself, at a few minutes
after six o'clock, at the door of the General's house, No. 8,
in the street of the Faubourg Saint-Honor^. The door-
keeper refused to open. While one of the police was talk-
ing with and detaining him, the commissary and his men
entered the house by a grocery which was kept beside the
main door of the entrance. The doorkeeper had already
given the alarm, but the police precipitated themselves into
the main stairway. Upon the landing of the second floor,
they met the servant of the General, with a key in his hand ;
they wrenched it from him, it was that of the apartment
The commissary opened the door. The General, barefooted,
in his shirt, appeared with a pistol in his hand ; they threw
themselves upon him, and disarmed him. Some moments
afterward he was thrown into a carriage and taken to
Mazas, under the escort of the mounted Republican Guards.
The task of arresting the illustrious General Bedeau
(Note 82), a man of the noblest character, of the greatest
probity, of the most remarkable talents that have ever
adorned the French army, this task, we say, had fallen
to the Commissary of Police Hubault, Jr. The General
lived at No. 50 University Street
M. Granier de Cassagnac says he used cunning with the
the doorkeeper, and succeeded in reaching the door of the
General's apartment without the alarm having been given.
The details that are to follow may be considered as being
but the reproduction of the account which the General him-
self gave, somewhat later, of the circumstances of his ar-
rest 1
i Compare our version with that of M. Granier de Camagnac, in hia Recit
CompUt tt Autheiiti'fut, etc., pp. 9, 10. This time, the official narrator has
not too much disfigured the physiognomy of the scene.
ARREST OF GENERAL BEDEAU. 101
M. Hubault, Jr. rang the bell. The General's servant,
who opened the door, thought it was M. Valette, Secretary
to the President of the Assembly, and went to the bedroom,
announcing " M. Valette." The commissary kept close
behind, followed by five or six policemen, went up to the bed
of the General, who was hardly awake, and said to him : u I
am commissary of police ; I come to arrest you."
" I doubt it. You are probably ignorant that I am a
Representative of the people ; the Constitution shelters me ;
you cannot arrest me ; it would be a crime."
" I know who you are, but I have a warrant, and I do
not know but there has been a flagrant crime."
" Yes, the flagrant crime of sleeping ; but tell me your
name."
" I am Hubault, Jr., Commissary of Police."
" I know your name ; it has been honorably mentioned
several times ; but since you are a magistrate, your duty is
to cause the law to be respected and not to violate it To
arrest me would be an outrage."
M. Hubault then read the warrant for arrest, signed by
de Maupas. General Bedeau, hearing the words " corn-
plot," " and keeping arms of war," invited M. Hubault to
put the official seal upon the papers. The commissary re-
fused, and summoned the General to rise without making
resistance. " I am in force," he added.
" Had it pleased me to resist you," replied M. Bedeau,
" I know what it is to risk my life, and yours would have
lasted no longer. Make these people go out ; I am about
to dress myself."
The General dressed himself with " desperate " slowness,
according to the expression of M. de Cassagnac. He
wished to gain time until it was day. The noise of his
arrest spreading in the vicinity, he hoped to be delivered
by the people. "When he was at last clothed, he stood
back against the fire-place, and said to the commissary,
with perfect calmness, " I have warned you of the constitu-
102 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
tional privilege that covers me ; I have tried to make you
understand the depth of the crime you are committing ;
now, go to the very utmost, if you will ; call in your men,
I will not go hence until I am dragged out"
M . Hubault, Jr. called his policemen, and commanded
them to seize the General. " See here," said M. Bedeau to
them, " dare you wrest from here, like a malefactor,
General Bedeau, Vice-President of the National Assem-
bly ? " The police hesitated for a moment M. Hubault,
Jr. set them the example : he seized the collar of the Gen-
eral ; the police then fell upon the Vice-President of the
National Assembly, and dragged him in spite of his resist-
ance to the carriage that was waiting at the door. General
Bedeau cried loudly, u Treason ! I am the Vice-President
of the National Assembly." Some passers-by had stopped.
The General saw them ; he told his name, and cried with
new energy, " Treason ! I am General Bedeau ! Help,
Citizens ! They are arresting the Vice-President of the
National Assembly ! "
Already the passers-by were grouping together; citizens
were running up with the intention of lending the General
a strong hand, when a swarm of policemen, with drawn
swords, sallied out from the Rue du Bac (Ferry Street) and
dispersed the crowds. The carriage into which the General
had been thrown, started off at a rapid rate, accompanied
by police.
Arrived at Mazas prison, General Bedeau appealed to
the loyalty of the soldiers of the guard. The latter did not
seem to understand what he said to them, and in reality
they did not.
General de Lamoriciere (Note 83) was taken by sur-
prise, almost as General Bedeau had been by Commis-
sary of Police Blanchet The police were in his bedroom
before he had had time to come to his senses. This oc-
curred in Las Cases Street, No. 11.
M. Granier de Cassagnac relates that the General, cast-
ARREST OF GENERAL DE LAMORICIERE. 103
ing his eyes upon the chimney-piece, inquired what had be-
come of the money that he had placed there. His servant an-
swered that he had put it in safety. Commissary Blanchet
took offense at the General's remark. " Who tells me you
are not malefactors?" replied M. de Lamoriciere. The
General, conducted in a cab with the police, passed the front
of the post of the Legion of Honor. He put his head to the
door, and tried to harangue the soldiers. Commissary of
Police Blanchet took a gag from his pocket and threatened
to gag M. de Lamoriciere if he said a single word.
M. de Cassagnac, who tells this incident, undoubtedly
feels taken with some scruple with regard to the gag, for
he limits himself to saying, " The commissary did not allow
him to offer a word, and remarked to him that he should
be compelled to treat him with rigor, if he should make a
new attempt."
The exact detail that we give has been many times af-
firmed by the General ; his living friends will bear witness
to it
Commissary of Police Courteille was instructed to
arrest Colonel Charras (Note 59, ante). The door of the
colonel's apartment, at No 14, in the Faubourg Saint-
Honore, was forced in. Having entered his bedroom,
Commissary Courteille sprang upon a double-barreled pis-
tol that was lying at hand. Colonel Charras reassured him.
' It is discharged," said he ; "I did not longer believe in the
Coup tfEtat ; it is fortunate for you that you did not come
some days sooner ; I would have blown out your brains."
We regret being unable to relate in detail all the inci-
dents of the arrest of Colonel Charras. We have them,
however, from a good source. The republican convictions
of the late lamented Colonel, inspired him, in that sad cir-
cumstance, with a language and attitude which Commis-
sary Courteille, if he still lives, has certainly not forgotten.
We shall pass rapidly over the other arrests ; not that
all did not present incidents worthy of interest, but because
104 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
we do not wish to fatigue the reader by the repetition of
details necessarily condemned to similarity of expression.
General Cavaignac (Note 14, ante) was arrested in his
house, No. 17 Holder Street, by Commissary Colin.
Commissary Hubault, Sr. seized M. Thiers (Note 34,
ante) at No. 1 Saint George's Place.
Is it necessary to say that the libellers, who have repre-
sented the illustrious parliamentarian as trembling, terri-
fied, like a child detected in a fault, have odiously lied ?
The attitude of M. Thiers was as worthy as that of General
Bedeau, which is saying not a little.
The disgusting details that have been given concerning
the arrest of Representative Greppo, the brave and honest
Lyonese workman, are as false, and even more odious.
This arrest was effected by Commissary Gronfier. "We are
convinced that the authors of these recitals will look at
them a second time before renewing them to-day, as the
calumniated are no longer the vanquished and exiled only,
against whom everything is permitted.
Lieutenant Valentin, a representative of the republi-
can Left, a young officer of rare energy, was surprised
as he sprang out of bed, by Commissary of Police Dour-
lens, and his agents. It never could be explained, other-
wise than by the treachery of a servant, how the police so
abruptly penetrated his bedroom.
M. Martin Nadaud, the mason, representative from
the Department of the Creuse, and particularly feared on
account of his influence over a part of the working popula-
tion, was arrested by M. Desgranges, Commissary of
Police. At his place they employed subterfuge. The
commissary pretended simply a visit, and prevailed upon
M. Nadaud to accompany him to his office. The repre-
sentative entered the carriage with the commissary and a
single policeman. It was during the journey that M. Des-
granges read his warrant, and announced to M. Nadaud
that he was taking him to Mazas.
TAKEN TO T^IE MAZAS PRISON. 105
Representatives Beaume, Cholat, Lagrange, Miot, and
Roger (of tKe North), were arrested at the same time that
their colleagues were.
All these prisoners were taken to Mazas.
A superior officer, Colonel Thie'rion, had taken command
of the prison by order of the President, dating from the
second of December. He had established himself there
at five o'clock in the morning. Troops of infantry, cav-
alry, and artillery, guarded the approaches. 1
M. Thierion had to bear more than one moral shock
that morning. The Representatives protested with energy
against their incarceration. Colonel Charras, perceiving
M. Thierion near the director of Mazas, sharply apostro-
phized him. " Here," said he, " is an officer of the army,
a Commander of the Legion of Honor ; this must be an
honest man ; I call him to witness the violence done to an
officer of the National Assembly ! " M. Thierion turned
away. Colonel Charras could not see his face, and for a
long time was ignorant of his name, and of his real quality.
At the same time with the sixteen representatives, of
whose arrest we have just given an account, the police
took to Mazas about seventy-eight citizens, known for the
energy of their republican convictions, and feared as
" chiefs of barricades."
Here are the names of some of them. 3
Among those whose names have not been cited, was
M. Deluc, who escaped the police, fought valiantly during
the following days, and succeeded, after the defeat, in
reaching Belgium.
While the arrests were being effected, M. de Moray
installed himself in the Ministry of the Interior ; politely
dismissed M. de Thorigny ; and got ready to telegraph
1 Histoire de la Chute de Louis Philippe, etc., by Granier de Cassagnac,
vol. ii. p. 402.
2 Here follow 41 names, which we do not reproduce here, as thej r are not
of interest to the foreign reader. Amer. Translators.
106 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
to all the prefects, the news of the work accomplished by
the President The author of this book has related in
another work La Province en Decembre, 1851, the
reception given in the departments to the dispatches of
M. de Moray.
All that we have just traced out was accomplished by
seven o'clock in the morning. At the same hour the bill-
posters had finished their task ; and there were to be read,
placarded upon the walls of Paris, the following official
documents :
IN THE NAME OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE.
The President of the Republic
Decrees :
Art I. The National Assembly is dissolved.
Art. II. Universal Suffrage is reestablished. The Law of
3 1st of May is abrogated.
Art III. The French people are convoked in their places of
election from December 14 to December 21.
Art. IV. Martial Law is established throughout the extent of
the First Military Division (Note 84).
Art V. The Council of State is dissolved.
Art. VI. The Ministry of the Interior is charged with the
execution of the present Decree.
Done at the Klysian Palace, the second of December, 1851.
Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
The Minittry of the Interior
" DE MORNT."
PROCLAMATION or THE PRESIDENT or THE REPUBLIC.
APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE.
Frenchmen ! The present situation cannot longer endure.
Ever)- day that passes aggravates the dangers of the country.
The Assembly, which ought to be the strongest support of order,
has become the principal seat of complots. The patriotism of
three hundred of its members has been unable to arrest its fatal
tendencies. Instead of making laws in the general interest, it
forges arms for civil war ; it strives after the power that I hold
directly from flic people ; it encourages all the evil passions ; it
AD CAPTANDUM VDLGUS. 107
compromises the repose of France. I have dissolved it, and I
make the whole people the judge between it and myself.
The Constitution, you know, had been made with the object of
weakening in advance the power which you sought to entrust to
me. Six millions of votes were a signal protest against it, and
nevertheless I have faithfully observed it. Provocations, the
calumnies, the outrages, found me immovable. But to-day since
the fundamental pact is no more respected by those even who
unceasingly invoke it, and since the men who have already lost
two monarchies wish to bind my hands, in order to overthrow the
Republic, my duty is to baffle their perfidious schemes, to main-
tain the Republic, and to save the country by invoking the
solemn judgment of the only sovereign whom I recognize in
France, the people.
I make then a loyal appeal to the entire nation ; and I say to
you : If you wish to continue this state of uneasiness, which de-
grades us and compromises our future, choose another in my
place ; for I do not desire authority that is powerless to do good,
renders me responsible for acts I cannot prevent, and chains me
to the rudder when I see the vessel bearing toward the abyss.
If, on the contrary, you still have confidence in me, give me
the means of accomplishing the grand mission which I hold from
you.
That mission consists in closing the era of revolutions, by sat-
isfying the legitimate wants of the people, and by protecting
them against subversive passions. It consists, above all, in crea-
ting institutions that survive mankind, and that finally are the
foundations upon which something durable may be based.
Persuaded that the instability of authority, and the preponder-
ance of a single assembly, are permanent causes of trouble and
discord, I submit to your suffrages the following basis of a Con-
stitution, which the assemblies will develop at a later period :
1. A responsible head elected for ten years.
2. Ministers dependent upon the executive power alone.
8. A Council of State, formed of the most distinguished men,
preparing laws, and supporting their discussion before the Legis-
lative Body.
4. A Legislative Body, discussing and voting the laws, elected
by universal suffrage, without balloting for lists, which falsifies
the election.
108 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
6. A second Assembly, formed from the celebrities of the coun-
try ; a preponderatiag power, guardian of the fundamental pact,
and of the public liberties.
This system, created by the First Consul at the beginning of
the century, has already given France repose and prosperity ; it
would guaranty them to her again.
Such is my profound conviction. If you share it, declare the
same by your suffrages. If, on the contrary, you prefer a govern-
ment without strength, monarchical or republican, drawn from I
know not what past, nor from what chimerical future, answer
negatively.
Thus then, for the first time since 1804, you will vote with full
knowledge of the case ; well knowing for whom, and for what.
If I do not obtain the majority of your votes, then I shall con-
vene a new assembly, and I shall remit to it the mandate I have
received from you.
But if you believe that the cause of which my name is the
symbol, that is to say, France, regenerated by the revolution
of 1 789, and organized by the Emperor is always yours,
proclaim it by consecrating the powers which I ask from you.
Then, France and Europe will be preserved from anarchy, all
obstacles removed, rivalries will have disappeared ; for all will
respect, in the decision of the people, the decree of Providence.
Done at the Elysian Palace, the second of December, 1851.
Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
PROCLAMATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC TO
THE ARMY.
Soldiert ! Be proud of your mission ; you will save the coun-
try ; for I rely upon you, not to violate the laws, but to cause the
first law of the land to be respected ; the national sovereignty,
of which I am the legitimate representative.
For a long time you suffered, like me, obstacles that opposed
both the good which I wished to do toward you, and the demon-
strations of your sympathy in my favor.
These obstacles are broken. The Assembly sought to make an
attempt upon the authority which I bold from the entire nation;
it has ceased to exist.
I make a loyal appeal to the people, and to the army, and I
say to them : " Either give me the means of assuring your pros-
perity, or choose another in my place."
PROCLAMATION TO THE ARMY. 109
In 1830, a3 In 1848, you were treated as if conquered. After
having dishzjhored your heroic disinterestedness, they disdained to
consult yo^r sympathies and wishes ; and nevertheless you are
the elite ofiBhe nation. To-day, in this solemn moment, I desire
that the an&y should make its voice heard.
Vote the*n freely as citizens ; but, as soldiers, do not forget
that p^sive obedience to the orders of the head of the govern-
ment is the rigorous duty of the army, from the general down to
the soldier. It is for myself responsible for my deeds before the
people and before posterity to take the measures which seem
to me indispensable for the public good.
As to yourselves, remain unshaken in the rules of discipline
and honor. Aid the country by your imposing attitude, to man-
ifest its will with calmness and reflection. Be ready to repress
every attempt against the free exercise of the sovereignty of the
people.
Soldiers ! I do not speak to you of the remembrances that my
name calls up. They are engraved upon your hearts. We are
united by indissoluble ties. Your history is my own. There is
between us in the past a community of glory and misfortunej;
there will be in the future a community of sentiments, and re-
solves for the repose and grandeur of France.
Done at the Elysian Palace, the second of December, 1851.
Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
THE PREFECT OF POLICE TO THE INHABITANTS OF PARIS.
Inhabitants of Paris ! The President of the Republic, by ini-
tiative courage, has just baffled the machinations of the parties,
and put an end to the pangs of the country.
It is in the name of the people, in their interest, and for the
maintenance of the Republic, that the event has been accom-
plished.
It is to the judgment of the people, that Louis Napoleon Bona-
parte submits his conduct.
The grandeur of the act causes you to sufficiently comprehend
with what imposing and solemn calmness the free exercise of
popular sovereignty should be manifested.
To-day, then,' let order be our flag ; let all good citizens, ani-
mated like myself with love for the country, lend me their con-
currence with unfaltering resolution.
110 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
Inhabitants of Paris ! Have confidence in him whom six
millions of suffrages have raised to the first magistracy of the
country. When he calls the entire people to express its will, the
factious alone could wish to place obstacles in its way.
Every attempt at disorder, therefore, will be promptly and in-
flexibly repressed.
Paris, the second of December, 1851.
The Prefect of Police.
DE MAUPAS.
If we had not interdicted ourselves from all judgments,
all opinions concerning the act of the second of December,
we should dwell at length upon these proclamations and
and decrees.
But, as we have circumscribed our task within the nar-
row limits of a simple narrative, our comments will be con-
fined to the elimination of that which, in these proclama-
tions, exercised an immediate effect in some material way,
upon the current of events we have still to trace out
The reader will undoubtedly have been struck with the
following prominent features :
1. The law of the 31st of May is abrogated ; universal
suffrage is reestablished. .
2. The act of the second of December is determined
upon because of the complots of the royalist majority : it
is directed against the men who have already lost two monar-
chies, and who wish to overthrow the Republic.
3. The President has but one object : to maintain the
Republic, and to save the country by making an appeal to
the sovereignty of the people.
The proclamation to the soldiers alone has a different
character. The imperialist idea is disclosed therein, but
it is extremely veiled.
It is essential to note these observations if one desires
to comprehend the subsequent events.
What was the impression produced upon the Parisian
populace, by the reading of the proclamations, and by the
news of the events of the night ?
IMPRESSION ON THE MASSES. Ill
Here witnesses are abundant. Whilst coming from the
most varied sources from approvers as well as from ad-
versaries of the Coup cTJZtat, they agree in a remarkable
manner.
It is certain that, from the first moment, the act of the
President was very differently looked upon by the people
and by the bourgeoisie.
Most of the laboring people saw in the Coup cHZtat, and
in the proclamations, only the points that we have made
prominent : the reestablishment of universal suffrage ; the
fall of the royalist majority ; and the preservation of the
Republic. The sentiment of violated law concerned them
but little. Undoubtedly there were numerous exceptions,
but we are noting the dominant impressions.
Treated as enemies by the majority of the Legislative
Assembly ; despoiled, to the extent of millions, of their
right of suffrage ; accustomed to seeing their ideas, their
aspirations Utopian, if you please spit upon in the
tribune by the parliamentary chiefs of the Right; per-
suaded, among other things, that the majority conspired for
a monarchical restoration, the laboring men remained indif-
ferent, when they saw the old majority driven out by the
President. Besides, fostering, since June, deep rancors
against the middling classes, who had shown themselves
unmerciful toward them, they did not deem it a duty to
interest themselves to an unusual degree in what appeared
to them, at first, as a simple quarrel between Louis Napo-
leon and the middle classes. It may be said that the first
impression of the popular masses was summed up in this
phrase, real or apocryphal, attributed to Representative
Lagrange : " It is well played."
Moreover, the people, in the morning, knew only of the
arrest of Thiers, Changarnier, Lamoriciere, Cavaignac, and
those whom they considered enemies. It was at a much
later period, when the suburbs (faubourgs) learned that
the executive power struck at the advanced Republicans
much more vigorously than at the parliamentary royalists.
112 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
These first popular impressions were modified in a great
measure the next day ; nevertheless, up to the last day
we mean up to the 5th of December, they prepon-
derated.
The liberal bourgeoisie, on the contrary, felt itself di-
rectly assailed by the Coup cTJStat. Thus, it may be said
that with the exception of the ultra-conservative portion,
the middle class in Paris pronounced itself against the
President
Surprised at first, stupefied, disconcerted by the ex-
traordinary success of the measures of the night, yet the
bourgeoisie was not slow in the recovery of its senses, and
proceeded to discuss the matter.
A historiographer of the Coup cTJEtat, from whom we
shall have to borrow considerably, Captain Mauduit,
in his book entitled Revolution Militaire du 2 Decembre, re-
lates, with a simplicity which is the guarantee of his sin-
cerity, the impression produced upon him, on that first day,
by the language and attitude of the bourgeoisie. M. Mau-
duit perambulated the boulevards :
' I walked," says he, " winding about in the midst of that
throng of good company, studying its mind, its intentions, its
wishes. Its sentiments were evidently hostile to the President,
and to the army. I deplored this, for there were present a great
number of persons for whom the uniform should always have a
sacred character, whatever may be the trial to which the man who
wears it may have to submit I .... The spirit of party
should never go so far as to despise the virtue of military duty.
. . . . But alas I in our days, what virtue is sheltered from
political hatred ? " (p. 149.)
There, where the laboring people had seen only the re-
establishment of universal suffrage, the Republicans of the
middle class saw clearly the military dictatorship, the in-
definite suspension of all liberty, and the restoration of the
Empire, after a brief delay. Nevertheless, as it is not a
NEWSPAPERS SUPPRESSED. 113
habit of the Parisian bourgeoisie to struggle violently and
openly, ere the laboring people shall have given a sign of
material resistance the anger of the middle class was
exhaled in verbal protests, in cries of " Vive la Constitution !
Vive la Republique / " a sort of resistance little feared by
those who control sixty thousand devoted bayonets. It is
known that such measures had been taken that the call of
the National Guard could not be beaten. These measures
attained their object. The National Guard, which might
have spontaneously assembled in the mean time, showed
itself nowhere. It must be added, also, that the Parisian
bourgeoisie, struck with the apparent isolation of Louis Na-
poleon no man conspicuous in politics, no distinguished
general having given him his concurrence, did not
believe in the success of the Coup cTEtat. The remem-
brance of the results of the previous enterprises of Louis
Napoleon, at Strasbourg and at Boulogne, came so often to
their minds, that it was candidly expected to see some su-
perior officer suddenly supervene as Colonel Talandier
did in the barracks of Fincmat, at Strasbourg, who
would recall the troops to obedience to the legal power,
the National Assembly, and who would abruptly terminate
what many people persisted in looking upon as ridiculous
foolhardiness.
But it is unnecessary to dwell longer upon these diverse
impressions of the Parisian populace. The account of the
subsequent facts will fully bring them to view.
The republican newspapers might, without doubt, have
modified the first sentiments of the working people. Meas-
ures had been taken to reduce them to silence. As early
as eight o'clock in the morning, the printing-offices of all
the republican journals, as well as those of a great num-
ber of conservative sheets, were occupied by armed forces.
The National, the Siecle, the Republique, the Revolution,
the Avenement du Peuple, whose influence was most feared,
could not publish a single number.
8
114 PARIS IX DECEMBER, 1851.
Publication was permitted to the Constitutionnel and
the Patrie alone, sheets which for a long time had urged
on the Coup cTEtat and the restoration of the Empire.
During the first hours of the morning when the people
surprised, agitated by so different impressions, grouped
together around the placards, commenting upon them,
eagerly received the news of the night some incidents
worthy to be related in detail occurred in the palace of
the National Assembly, and a little later at the mayor's
office of the tenth district
CHAPTER IV.
THE President of the National Assembly, M. Dupin, was
still sleeping when Colonel Espinasse, already master of
the palace, supervised the arrest of the quaestors. As we
have already said, Louis Napoleon and his confidants, tak-
ing Dupin's energy for just what it was worth, were not
concerned about him. M. Granier de Cassagnac informs
us * that Colonel Espinasse came in person to advise M.
Dupin, " in very courteous terms," of what was occurring.
M. Dupin had the courage according, also, to M. Gra-
nier de Cassagnac to cause the Representatives, his col-
leagues, to be immediately convoked at their domiciles.
As early as eight o'clock in the morning, a certain num-
ber of members of the Left, among whom were Michel (of
Bourges), Pierre Lefranc, Versigny, Dupont, Theodore Bac,
etc., had assembled at the house of their colleague, M.
Yvan, one of the secretaries of the Assembly. They were
unanimously of opinion that it was necessary to try all
means of resistance. Messieurs Bac and Yvan were in-
structed to ascertain what the members of the majority
meant to do. They called upon M. Benoit d'Azy, one of
the vice-presidents, M. Leon Faucher, and lastly upon
Odilon Barrot, successively.
These steps did not end in any precise result M.
Benoit d'Azy seemed but half inclined to act. M. Le"on
Faucher, a minister of the President of the Republic but
a few weeks before, was quite depressed. He said, with
the accents of despair, " The projects I have combated
so much, have become realities ! Go and rejoin your
i Histoire de la Chute de Louis Philippe, vol. i. p. 409.
116 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
friends ; I go to rejoin my own. We must try to do what
shall be possible in the common interest" M. Odilon
Barrot was absent ; but Madame Barrot, who received the
republican representatives, communicated to them a pro-
test already signed by several of their colleagues. This
protest had been prepared shortly before, in a meeting at
M. Barrot's house, by a certain number of representatives
of the Right. Here is the tenor thereof:
" In view of Article 68 of the Constitution,
" Whereas, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, violating his oaths and
the Constitution, has dissolved the Assembly, and has employed
the public forces for the consummation of this outrage,
' The undersigned members of the Assembly, having proved
the violence made use of by the orders of the President, against a
lawful meeting of the Assembly, and the arrest of its officers and
several of its members,
" Declare, that Article 68 of the Constitution indicates to each
citizen the duties which be has to fulfill.
" Therefore, the President is declared destitute of his functions.
u The High Court of Justice is convoked. Every citizen is pro-
hibited from obeying the orders of the forfeited authority, under
pain of complicity therein.
" The Councils General are convoked, and will assemble imme-
diately ; they will appoint a commission from among themselves,
charged with providing for the administration of the departments,
and corresponding with the Assembly in such place as it shall
have chosen for its meetings.
" Every general receiver, collector, or holder of any public
moneys whatever, who shall give up the funds in his hands, upon
any other order than that emanating from the regular power con-
stituted by the Assembly, will be responsible from his own prop-
erty, and, if necessary, punished with the penalties of complicity.
" Done and decreed the 2d of December, 1851.
M (Siijned) Odilon Barrot, Chambolle, de Tocqueville, Gustave
de Beaumont, Dufaure, Etienne, Mispoulet, Oscar Lafayette, Lan-
juinais, Hippolyte Passy, Piscatory, de Broglie, Duvesquier de
Hauranne, de Corcelles, d'Hespel, de Luppe", de Seze, Quillier
de la Tourhe,Yaudore', Chaper, Saint-Heuve, Bocher, de Laboulie,
Vitt-t. <!< Montigny, de Montebello, Thuriotde la Rosiere, Mathieu
de la Krdorte. Victor Lefranc, licnjamin Delessert," etc.
EXPULSION OF REPRESENTATIVES. 117
At the house of M. Daru, Vice-President of the National
Assembly, a little afterward, a much more numerous meet-
ing was held. The house inhabited by M. Daru, in Lille
Street, was but a short distance from the palace of the
Assembly. The representatives who had assembled there,
decided to repair to the National Assembly. They arrived
at about ten o'clock at Bourgogne Place. The 42d of the
line, commanded by M. Espinasse, constantly occupied the
approaches of the palace. The soldiers crossed their bayo-
nets upon the representatives. The latter insisted. M.
Daru, the vice-president, was violently repulsed ; M. Mou-
lin, one of the secretaries of the Assembly, received a con-
tusion upon his head ; M. de Larcy was slightly wounded
by a bayonet thrust in the thigh ; M. de Talhouet had his
coat pierced. The representatives retired, and met again
at M. Daru's house.
During this time, or rather a little before the exact
hours are difficult to fix, a certain number of representa-
tives, profiting by an order badly understood, had suc-
ceeded in entering by the small door of the President's
house (of the Assembly), in University Street, and in intro-
ducing themselves into the hall of the sessions of the
National Assembly. There were thirty or forty of them,
among whom were a certain number of Republicans. A
decree of forfeiture had been prepared and signed, when
M. de Morny, warned of their presence, gave the order to
cause the palace to be evacuated. President Dupin had
not yet appeared.
Colonel Espinasse directed M. Saucerotte, commandant
of the gendarmerie mobile, to execute the orders of M.
de Morny. That officer presented himself in the hall of
sessions, by the right lobby, followed by a detachment of
soldiers.
At the sight of the armed force, the representatives pro-
tested with vehemence. M. Monet thus addressed Com-
mandant Saucerotte :
118 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
" You cannot be ignorant that this inclosure is exclusively
reserved to the deliberations of the National Assembly ;
that no armed body has the right to enter it but by virtue
of a requisition from the President of the Assembly."
"I have a formal order from my superior," responded the
officer ; " I summon you to retire."
u Such an order is a crime," replied M. Monet ; " by
executing it you render yourself an accomplice in an out-
rage severely punished by the criminal code." M. Monet
then read to the troops Article 68 of the Constitution.
Commandant Saucerotte took no notice of it, and caused
the soldiers to advance. The representatives shouted,
Vive la Republique ! Vive la Constitution ! and were dragged
from the hall only after having been violently wrested from
their seats. General Leydet, a republican representative,
an old man seventy-five years of age, showed in this sad
circumstance a moral energy which had survived the wane
of his physical powers.
In the meanwhile, two representatives, Messieurs Canet
and Favreau, had gone to find President Dupin ; they had
literally pushed him nearly into the chamber of sessions ;
they were in the room known as the Casimir Perier Hall
(Note 85), at the moment when the soldiers entered,
crowding and dragging out the thirty or forty representa-
tives expelled from the chamber of sessions. M. Dupin
stopped here, or was compelled to stop. Representative
Desmousseaux de Givrd passed him his scarf (Note 86).
M. Dupin stammered a few words to the troops about the
respect due to the Constitution.
The effect produced by his words was, so to speak, pho-
tographed in the brutal remark of a soldier to one of his
comrades a remark heard and related by President Bril-
lier (Note 87), " That's all gammon ! "
M. Granier de Cassagnac adds, that addressing himself
to the venerable General Leydet, who was vehemently
haranguing the soldiers, M. Dupin said,
EXPULSIONS AND ARRESTS. 119
" It cannot be, General, that you are ignorant of, or de-
spise the respect due to the order of a soldier ; these troops
have a chief; let us address ourselves to him."
M. de Cassagnac does not tell how the old Republican
responded, and this omission is really a sorry one ; for, if
M. Dupin used this language, General Leydet must have
reminded him of the sentiment of his dignity, as President
of the National Assembly, in terms which people would
like to know.
But what is well known, is, the last word pronounced on
this memorable occasion, by President Dupin, one of the
successors of Boissy d'Anglas (Note 88). Being strongly
apostrophized by the representatives, who reproached him
with his cowardice, M. Dupin responded, " We have the
right, that is evident ; but these gentlemen have the power.
There is nothing for us to do but to go away." And say-
ing this he turned upon his heels.
The troops had no order to arrest the representatives.
They were limited to driving them out of the palace. In
Bourgogne Place, some of the expelled Messieurs Fay-
olle, Treillard-Laterisse, Paulin-Durrieu found Repre-
sentatives Arbey, Toupet des Vignes, and General Radoult-
Lafosse in the hands of the soldiers, whom they had just
tried to harangue. They protested against the arrest.
Colonel Gardarens de Boisse of the sixth regiment of the
line, ordered the seizure of these also. They were arrested
and taken prisoners to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
where they were soon joined by Messieurs Eugene Sue,
Benoit (of the Rhone), and Chanay, also prisoners (Note
89).
Those of the representatives driven from the palace of
the Assembly who yet remained free, soon learned that
their colleagues, assembled at M. Daru's, proposed to re-
pair to the mayoralty of the tenth district, in order there to
constitute themselves, in a regular way, a National Assem-
bly. They directed themselves to that quarter.
120 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
A half score of republican representatives went to the
house of M. Cremieux, which was near by. Scarcely had
they arrived there when a strong detachment of police,
supported by troops, surrounded the house, and arrested
all of them. Conducted as prisoners, between two ranks
of bayonets, these representatives came near being rescued
at the height of Pont Neuf (New Bridge). Some citizens
recognized M. Cremieux ; they gathered in crowds around
the escort; the republican Representative Malardier
(of the Nievre), whom chance had taken to this point, put
on his scarf, and excited the people to rescue the prisoners.
If the leader of the escort had not taken some energetic
measures, which checked the unarmed crowd, he certainly
would not have conducted his prisoners further.
In the mean time, the representatives were flowing into
the mayoralty of the tenth district That edifice, demol-
ished now, was situate on the left bank of the Seine, in Gre-
nelle Saint-Germain Street, near the cross-roads of the Red-
Cross (carrefour de la Croix-Rouge). All the members of
the Dam meeting were there. At this place they were
joined by most of those who in the morning were at the
house of M. Odilon Barrot, and by many other representa-
tives who came singly. Toward eleven o'clock in the morn-
ing nearly three hundred members had assembled. Most
of them belonged to the Right; there were, however, a
certain number of Republicans among them.
The hall in which they were assembled formed a rectan-
gle, at the extremity of which was a table occupying its
whole width. The office was established at this table.
Quite a considerable number of citizens some of whom
were of the National Guard, in uniform had formed in
groups at the foot of the hall, manifesting the intention of
putting themselves at the disposition of the Assembly. At
eleven o'clock in the morning it was organized.
The report of this last and so interesting meeting, was
compiled through the care of two of the ordinary stenog-
MEETING OF THE EXPELLED. 121
raphers of the Assembly. This report has already been
published several times in France ; especially by M. Mayer, 1
a few weeks after the event. There exist two versions
thereof, not differing otherwise than in some insignificant
details. We shall give that which has seemed to us the
most complete.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.
(Extraordinary Session of December 2d, 1851, held in
the great room of the mayoralty of the tenth district, at
eleven o'clock in the morning.)
The directory is composed of Messieurs Benoist d'Azy
and Vitet, Vice-Presidents ; and Chapot, Moulin, and
Grimault, Secretaries.
A lively commotion reigns in the hall, where about three
hundred members are assembled, belonging to all the
political shades.
THE PRESIDENT, M. VITET. " The session is open."
SEVERAL MEMBERS. " Let us lose no time."
THE PRESIDENT. "A protest has been signed by
several of our colleagues ; here is the text of it"
M. BERRYER. "I think it is not proper for the As-
sembly to make protests. The National Assembly cannot
repair to the ordinary place of its sessions. It assembles
here. It ought to pass an act of the Assembly, and not a
protest. ('Very goodl' and applause.) I ask that we
proceed as a free Assembly, in the name of the Constitu-
tion."
M. VITET. u As we may be expelled by force, is it not
well that we immediately convene in another place of ses-
sion, either in Paris, or outside of Paris ? "
NUMEROUS VOICES. " In Paris 1 In Paris ! "
M. BIXIO. "I have offered my house."
M. BERRYER. That will be the second object of our
deliberations ; but the first thing to be done by the Assem-
1 Histoire du 2 Decembre.
122 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
bly, which is already sufficiently numerous, is to enact by
a decree. I ask leave to remark upon the decree."
M. MONET. "I beg leave to speak concerning an as-
sault that has been made." (Noise and interruption.)
M. BERRTER. "Let us lay aside all incidents. We
have, perhaps, but a quarter of an hour to ourselves. Let
us render a decree. (* Yes ! Yes ! ') I ask that by the
terms of Article 68 of the Constitution
u Whereat, He has placed an obstacle to its authority
" ' The National Assembly decrees that Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte has forfeited the Presidency of the Republic ;
and that in consequence, the executive power passes in full
right to the National Assembly.' (Very lively and unani-
mous concurrence. ' To the vote ! ')
" I ask that the decree be signed by all the members
present" (Yes ! Yes !)
M. BECHART. "I second that request"
M. VITET. " We are to remain permanent"
THE PRESIDENT. "The decree will be immediately
printed by all the means at command. I put the decree to
vote." (The decree is adopted unanimously, with mingled
cries of Vive la Constitution ! " " Vive la loi!" Vive la Re-
publigue ! ")
The decree is prepared by the directory.
M. CHAPOT. " Here is a plan of a proclamation which
has been proposed by M. de Falloux."
M. DE FALLOUX. "Let it be read."
M. BERRTER. " We have other matters to attend to."
M. PISCATORY. " The true proclamation is the de-
cree."
M. BERRTER. " It is a private meeting in which a
proclamation is made. We are here in regular assembly."
SEVERAL VOICES. " The Decree ! The Decree ! Noth-
ing else ! "
M. QcENTrN-BxccnART. "It must be signed."
M. PISCATORY. "A suggestion how to hasten the
work. We must circulate sheets which we must sign. We
THEY VOTE TO CALL FOR TROOPS. 123
will afterwards annex them to the decree." (Yes ! Yes !)
The sheets of paper are circulated in the Assembly.
A MEMBER. " We must give the order to the Tenth
Legion to defend the Assembly. General Lauriston is
present."
M. BEBRTER. " Give a written order."
SEVERAL MEMBERS. " Let the call be beaten ! "
An altercation takes place at the end of the hall, between
certain representatives and citizens, whom the former wish
to withdraw. One of the latter cries out :
" Gentlemen ! In an hour, perhaps, we shall be slain for
you ! "
M. PISCATORY. "One word; we cannot. ....
(Noise) Listen ! Pray listen ! We ought not,
we do not, wish to exclude auditors. Those who come will
be very welcome. A sentence has just been spoken which
I accepted : ' In an hour, perhaps, we shall be slain in be-
half of the Assembly.' We cannot receive many persons ;
but those for whom there is room ought to remain here.
(' Good ! Good ! ') The tribune is public by the Constitu-
tion." (Marks of approval.)
DECREE.
PRESIDENT VITET. "Here is the decree of requisi-
tion : ' The National Assembly, conformably to Article 32
of the Constitution, requires the Tenth Legion for the de-
fense of the place of sessions of the Assembly.'
" I consult the Assembly."
The decree is voted unanimously ; a certain agitation suc-
ceeds the vote. Several members speak at the same time.
M. BERRYER. "I beseech the Assembly to preserve
silence. The directory, which at this moment is preparing
the decrees, and to whom I propose to remit all the author-
ity for the different measures to be taken, needs calm-
ness and silence. Those who wish to make a motion will
be heard afterwards. But if every one speaks, it will be
impossible to be heard." (Silence is reestablished.)
124 PARIS IN DECEMBEB, 1851.
A MEMBER. 4i l ask that the Assembly remain perma-
nent until forces are sent If we were to separate before
the forces arrive, we could not again assemble."
M. LEGROS-DESVEAUX. "Yes! Yes! Permanence."
M. FAVREAD. "I ask leave to state what occurred
this morning in the Assembly. The Minister of the Navy
had ordered Colonel Espinasse to cause the halls to be
vacated. There were thirty or forty of us in the confer-
ence-room. We declared that we were going to the hall
of sessions, and that we should stay there until they dared
expel us. Some one went to find M. Dupin, who came,
and found us in the hall of sessions. We gave him a
scarf, and, when the troops presented themselves, he asked
to speak to the chief. The Colonel appeared, and M.
Dupin said to him :
" ' I feel that I have the law, and I speak in its language.
You display here the muniments of force. I protest.' "
M. MONET. " Present at this scene, I ask for the in-
sertion in the minutes, of the act of violence that was com-
mitted against us. After the reading of Article G8 of the
Constitution, which I gave upon the invitation of my col-
leagues, I was seized bodily, and violently torn from my
desk."
M. DAIIIREL. " We, who received bayonet-thrusts, are
not surprised at that"
Messieurs Odilon Barrot and de Nagle, arrive in the
hall, and affix their signatures to the decree of forfeiture.
The President directs Mr. Hovyn-Tranchere to admit
certain representative* detained at the door.
M. PISCATOUY. "I ask the Assembly to receive the
report of a fact which seems to me important I went to
look after several of my colleagues who could not enter.
The peace-officers told me that the mayor (Note 90) had
given orders not to admit any one. I betook myself to
the mayor's house, and he said to me, ' I represent the
executive power, and I cannot allow the representatives to
RELEASE OF MEMBERS DEMANDED. 125
enter.' I made known to him the decree which the As-
sembly had passed, and told him that there was no other
executive power than the National Assembly (Approba-
tion), and I withdrew. I thought it was well to make that
declaration in the name of the Assembly. (' Yes ! yes !
Very good ! ') Some one says to me in passing, ' Make
haste ! In a few moments the troops will be here.' "
M. BERRYER. " I demand, provisionally, that a decree
order the mayor to leave the entrances to the hall free."
M. DE FALLOUX. " It appears to me that we do not
provide for two contingencies that seem to me very proba-
ble : The first is, in case your orders shall not be exe-
cuted ; the second, in case we shall be expelled from here.
We must agree upon another place of meeting."
M. BERRYER. " With the outsiders present, we should
be doing what would be of little use. We can easily no-
tify each other where we may meet. (' No ! No ! ') A pro-
visional decree "
THE PRESIDENT. " M. Dufaure has the floor. Si-
lence ! Gentlemen ; the minutes are hours."
M. DUFAURE. "The observation just made is quite
correct. We cannot openly designate our place of meet-
ing. But I ask that the Assembly confer upon its direc-
tory the right of selecting it It will notify each member
of the place of meeting, in order that each of us may go
thither. Gentlemen we are now the only defenders of
the Constitution, of the right, of the Republic, of the
country. (' Yes ! yes ! Very good ! ' Cries of ' Vive la Re-
publique'). Let us not be wanting in ourselves ; and if we
must succumb before brutal force, history will relate that
to the latest moment we resisted by all the means that
were in our power." (Bravos, and applause.)
DECREE.
M. BERRYER. "I move that a decree of the National
Assembly order all directors of prisons and jails to de-
126 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
liver, under penalty of forfeiture, the representatives who
have been arrested."
This decree is put to vote by the President and unan-
imously adopted.
GENERAL LAURISTON. " The Assembly is not in a
place of safety. The municipal authorities pretend that
we have forced the doors, and that they cannot allow the
mayoralty to be occupied by us. I know that the police
agents have gone to warn the authorities, and that shortly
imposing forces will compel us to vacate the hall."
A representative arrives, and cries, " Let us make haste,
there are forces coming." (It is half-past twelve, noon.)
AL Antony Thouret enters and signs the decree of for-
feiture, saying, " Those who do not sign are cowards."
At the moment of the announcement of the arrival of
the armed force, a deep silence prevails. All the mem-
bers of the directory mount their seats, in order to be
seen by the whole of the Assembly, and by the command-
ers of the troops.
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'Azr. " Silence, gentlemen !"
The chiefs of the troops do not present themselves.
M. ANTONY THOURET. " Since those in charge of
the mayoralty do not enter this hall, in order to dissolve
this meeting, which is the only lawful one, I ask that the
President, in the name of the National Assembly, send a
deputation who will summon the troops to retire, in the
name of the people." (Yes ! yes ! Very good !)
M. CANET. "I ask leave to be one of the party."
M. BKNOIST o'Azr. "Be calm, gentlemen. Our duty
is to remain in session and wait."
M. PASCAL DUPRAT. " You will defend yourselves
only by revolution."
M. BKURYKR. "We shall defend ourselves through
the right"
DIVERS VOICES. "And the law, the law; no revolu-
tion."
HOSTILE TROOPS ARE COMING! 127
M. PASCAL DUPRAT. " We must send into all parts
of Paris, and principally into the suburbs, and tell the
people that the National Assembly exists ; that the As-
sembly has at hand all the power of the law, and that in
the name of the law, it makes an appeal to the people.
It is your only means of safety." (Agitation and noise.)
SEVERAL MEMBERS at the end of the hall. " They are
coming up ! they are coming up ! " (Sensation, followed by
profound silence.)
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'Azr. " Not a word, gentle-
men, not a word ! Absolute silence ! It is more than invi-
tation, permit me to say ; it is an order."
SEVERAL MEMBERS. " It is a sergeant ; it is a sergeant
whom they are sending."
PRESIDENT BENOIST o'Azr. "A sergeant is the rep-
resentative of public force."
M. DE FALLOUX. " If we have no force, let us at
least have dignity."
A MEMBER. "We shall have both." (Profound si-
lence.)
THE PRESIDENT. " Remain in your places ; think that
all Europe is looking upon you."
President Vitet, and M. Chapot, one of the secreta-
ries, approach the door by which the troops are about to
enter, and advance as far as the landing. A sergeant and
a dozen of the Chasseurs of Vincennes of the 6th battal-
ion, occupy the upper steps of the stairs.
M. Gre"vy, of Charency, and several other representa-
tives, follow Messieurs Vitet and Chapot. Some per-
sons, strangers to the Assembly, are also upon the landing.
Among them, M. Beslay, an old member of the Constit-
uent Assembly, is seen.
PRESIDENT VITET, addressing the sergeant "What
do you wish ? We are assembled by virtue of the Consti-
tution."
THE SERGEANT. " I execute the orders that I have
received."
128 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
PRESIDENT VITET. "Go speak to your chief."
M. CHAPOT. u Tell your major to come up here."
A minute afterwards, a captain, acting as major, pre-
sented himself at the head of the stairs.
THE PRESIDENT, addressing that officer. "The Na-
tional Assembly is in session here. In the name of the
law, in the name of the Constitution, we summon you to
retire."
THE COMMANDANT. -7- u I have orders."
M. VITET. " A decree has just been rendered by the
Assembly, which declares that by virtue of Article 68 of
the Constitution: Whereat, the President of the Re-
public obstructs the exercise of the rights of the Assem-
bly, the President is destitute of his functions ; all the
officers and depositaries of public power and authority are
bound to obey the National Assembly. I summon you to
withdraw."
THE COMMANDANT. "I cannot withdraw."
M. CHAPOT. " Under penalty of forfeiture, and of
treason to the law, you are bound to obey, under your per-
sonal responsibility."
THE COMMANDANT. "You know what a mere instru-
ment is ; I obey. Nevertheless, I will go and report
immediately."
M. GREVT. "Do not forget that you owe obedience
to the Constitution, and to Article 68."
THE COMMANDANT. "Article 68 was not made for me."
M. BESLAT. "It was made for every one ; you must
obey it"
President Vitet and M. Chapot reiinter the hall. M.
Vitet reports to the Assembly what has just passed be-
tween himself and the major.
M. BERRTER. "I ask that it be immediately declared,
not only by act of the directory, but by a decree of the
Assembly, that the army of Paris is charged with the
defense of the National Assembly ; and that it be en-
IMPEACHMENT TRIAL ORDERED. 129
joined upon General Magnan, under penalty of removal,
to place troops at the disposal of the Assembly." (Very
good ! )
M. PASCAL DUPRAT. " He no longer commands."
M. DE RAVINEL. " It is Baraguey-d'Hilliers (Note
91) who commands." (No ! no ! Yes it is ! yes it is !)
SEVERAL MEMBERS. " Summon the general, without
mentioning the name."
PRESIDENT BENOIST o'Azr. " I consult the Assembly."
The Assembly being consulted, unanimously votes the
decree.
M. MONET. "I ask that there be sent to the President
of the Assembly, a duplicate of the decree that has been
rendered, pronouncing the deposition."
SEVERAL MEMBERS. " There is no longer a president ;
there is one no longer ! " (Agitation.)
M. PASCAL DUPRAT. " Since we must say it, M. Du-
pin has acted cowardly. I ask that his name be not pro-
nounced." (Considerable uproar.)
M. MONET. "I meant the President of the High
Court. We must send the decree to the President of the
High Court."
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'AZT. " M. Monet proposes
that the decree of deposition be sent to the President of
the National High Court. I consult the Assembly."
The Assembly being consulted, adopts the decree.
M. JULES DE LASTETRIE. "I shall propose to you,
gentlemen, to render a decree ordering the commandant
of the army of Paris, and all colonels of legions of the
National Guard, to obey the President of the National
Assembly, under penalty of forfeiture ; so that there may
not be a man in the capital who knows not what his duty
is, and that if he fails therein, it is treason against the
country." (Very good ! very good !)
M. DUFRAISSE. "And the commandant of the Na-
tional Guard of Paris."
9
130 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'AZT. "It is evident that the
decree proposed applies to all functionaries and command-
ants."
M. DUFRAISSE. " We must specify."
M. PASCAL DUPRAT. "We have to fear in the De-
partments the spreading abroad of the vexatious decrees
published this morning by the President of the Repub-
lic. I ask that the Assembly take some sort of measure
for bringing to the knowledge of the Departments the
attitude that we have taken here in the name of the Na-
tional Assembly."
SEVERAL VOICES. "Our decrees! our decrees are
what is wanted ! "
M. DE RESSEOUIER. "I move that the directory be
instructed to publish a proclamation to France."
VARIOUS VOICES. "The decrees alone ! the decrees! "
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'Azr. " If it be possible for us
to publish the decrees, all is accomplished ; if not, we can
do nothing."
M. ANTONY THOURET. " We must send emissaries
into Paris. Give me a copy of our decree."
M. RIGAL. -I ask that all necessary measures be
taken to have our decree published."
FROM ALL PARTS. " That is done ! that is done ! "
A MEMBER. "I move that the telegraph be put in
requisition."
M. DE RAVINEL. " Let the director (Note 92) be
prevented from communicating with the Departments, ex-
cept in order to transmit the decrees of the Assembly."
M. DCFRAISSE. " I ask, if the Assembly think it use-
ful to order it, that a decree be made, which shall pro-
hibit all disbursers of the public funds from delivering the
same, upon the orders of the present public functionaries."
(That is done ! that is done ! It is comprised in the de-
cree.)
M. COLFAVKU. " As the decree says that all the at-
tributes of the executive power pass to the Assembly."
GENERAL OUDINOT'S APPEAL. 131
M. DE MONTEBELLO. " The pecuniary responsibility
is of right"
M. ANTONY THOURET. " It seems to me that the As-
sembly ought also to take into consideration the position
of our colleagues, the generals at Viucennes." (Note
93.)
FROM ALL PARTS. " That has been done ; there is a
decree made upon the motion of M. Berryer."
M. ANTONY THOURET. "I beg pardon of the Assem-
bly ; it was because I came too late."
GENERAL OUDINOT. " Never have we experienced
the -necessity of surrounding our president with more def-
erence, submission, and consideration, than at this mo-
ment. It is well that he be invested with a kind of dicta-
torship, permit the expression. (Objection on the part
of some of the members.) I retract the expression if it
awakens the least susceptibility. I mean, his word should
obtain immediate respect and silence. Our strength, our
dignity, are wholly in unity. We are united ; there is no
longer in the Assembly a Right side, nor a Left side. (Very
good ! very good !) We all have fibres to the heart ; it is
all France that is wounded at this moment." (Very
good !)
" A single word. When the president thinks he ought
to delegate one, or several of us, for any mission what-
ever, let us obey him. As for myself, I shall fully obey
him. I wish it to be understood that all motions are to
pass through the directory. Otherwise, what will happen ?
That as M. Antony Thouret just did motions will be
reproduced, right in themselves, which have already been
made and passed. Let us lose no time ; but let everything
pass through the directory. Let us obey the president.
As for myself, I submit to his orders with the greatest ac-
quiescence." (Very good !)
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'AZY. "I believe that the
strength of the Assembly consists in preserving a perfect
132 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
unity. I propose, conformably to opinions just expressed
to me by several of the members, that General Oudinot
(Note 94), our colleague, be invested with the command
of the troops." (Very good ! very good ! bravo !)
M. TAMISIER. "Undoubtedly General Oudinot, like
all of out colleagues, will do his duty ; but you ought to
remember the Roman expedition, which he commanded."
(Uproar ; numerous objections.)
M. DE RESSEGDIER. "You disarm the Assembly a
second time."
M. DAMPIERRE. " Be silent; you are killing us."
M. TAMISIER. " Let me finish ; you do not under-
stand me."
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'AZY. " If there are divisions
among us, we are lost"
M. TAMISIER. " This is not a division ; but what au-
thority will he have over the people ? "
M. BERUYER. " Put the motion to vote, M. Presi-
dent"
M. PASCAL DUPRAT. " We have among our col-
leagues a man who, under other circumstances, less diffi-
cult to be sure, knew how to resist the aggressive ideas
of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. He is M. Tamisier."
(Exclamations and noise.)
M. TAMISIEK. "But I am not known; what would
you have me do ? "
M. PISCATORY. " In mercy, let us vote. Let it be
well understood what I am deeply convinced of, that
M. Tamisier, when he opposed the name of M. Oudinot,
did not wish to lead to a division among us."
M. TAMISIER. "No, I swear it! I did not concur,
because I feared lest that nomination should not produce
upon the people of Paris the effect which you anticipated
from it"
GKNKRAL OUDINOT. " I am ready to submit to what-
ever orders may be given to me for the safety of my coun-
try. Thus, I shall accept any command."
A NEW COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 133
FROM ALL PARTS. " The vote ! the vote ! The nom-
ination of General Oudinot."
The Chamber being consulted, passes a decree appoint-
ing General Oudinot commander-in-chief of the troops.
GENERAL OUDINOT. "One word only. M. Presi-
dent, and my colleagues, I cannot decline any honor.
That would be insulting my companions in arms. They
did in Italy they will do everywhere their duty. To-
day ours is marked out : it consists in obeying the orders
of the president, because those orders will be derived
from the rights of the National Assembly under the Con-
stitution. (Very good !) Order, then ; General Oudinot
will obey. If he were wanting in popularity, he would
have acquired it here even." (Very good ! very good !)
M. DE SAINT-GERMAIN. "I ask that the decree ap-
pointing General Oudinot, be prepared immediately. It
is necessary that he have a copy of it."
THE MEMBERS OF THE DIRECTORY. "It is being
prepared."
While the members of the directory were preparing the
decree, General Oudinot approached M. de Tamisier, and
exchanged a few words with him.
GENERAL OUDINOT. "I have just offered to M. de
Tamisier, the position of chief-of-staff. (Very good !) He
accepts. (Very good ! very good ! Enthusiastic cheers.)
I ask the president to cause to be immediately made
known to the troops of the line the honor which you have
just conferred upon me." (Very good !)
M. DE TAMISIER. " Gentlemen, you have given me
a very difficult task, which I was not ambitious for. But
before starting to execute the orders of the Assembly,
permit me to swear that I go to defend the Republic."
(Various voices, Very good ! Vive la Republique ! Vive
la Constitution /)
At this moment the members who were near the door,
announced that an officer of the 6th battalion of chas-
seurs (Note 95) was arriving with new orders.
134 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
General Oudinot advanced towards him, accompanied
by M. de Tamisier. The latter read to the officer the
decree appointing General Oudinot general-in-chief of
the army of Paris.
GENERAL OUDINOT, to the officer. u We are here in
virtue of the Constitution. You see that the Assembly
has just appointed me commander-in-chief. I am Gen-
eral Oudinot ; you are bound to recognize his authority ;
you owe him obedience. If you should resist his orders,
you would incur the most rigorous punishments. You
would be immediately taken before the courts. I order
you to withdraw immediately."
THE OFFICER (an under-licutenant of the 6th chas-
seurs of Vincennes). " My general, you know our posi-
tion ; I have received orders."
Two sergeants, by the side of the officer, pronounced
some words, and seemed to encourage him to resistance.
GENERAL OUDINOT. " Be silent, you ! Let your chief
speak ; you have not the right to speak."
ONE OF THE SERGEANTS. " Yes, I have the right."
GENERAL OUDINOT. " Silence ! Let your chief
speak."
THE UNDER-LIEUTENANT. M I am only the second in
command. If you wish, make the first in command come
up."
GENERAL OUDINOT. " So you resist ? "
THE OFFICER, after a moment's hesitation. " Posi-
tively."
GENERAL OCDINOT. "A written order is to be given
you. If you disobey it, you will suffer the consequences."
(A certain movement occurs among the soldiers.)
GENERAL OUDINOT. "Chasseurs! you have a chief;
you owe him respect and obedience. Let him speak."
A SKROKANT. " We know him ; he is a brave man."
GENERAL Oi;i>ixoT. "I have told him who I am; I
ask for his name."
Another under-officer wishes to speak.
A PARLEY WITH THE CHASSEURS. 135
GENERAL OUDINOT. " Be silent, or you will be bad
soldiers."
THE OFFICER. "I am Guedon, sub-lieutenant of the
6th battalion of chasseurs."
GENERAL ODDINOT, to the officer. "You declare then,
that you have received orders, and that you are waiting for
the instructions of the chief who gave you the com-
mand ? "
THE UNDER-LIEUTENANT. " Yes, my general."
GENERAL OUDINOT. " That is the only thing that you
have to do."
General Oudinot and M. de Tamisier reenter the hall.
It is a quarter past one.
GENERAL OUDINOT. "M. President, I receive the
two decrees which you give me : one, the command of the
troops of the line ; the other, the command of the Na-
tional Guard. You have been pleased to accept upon my
motion, M. de Tamisier as chief-of-staff of the troops of
the line. I beg you to be pleased to accept M. Mathieu
de la Redorte as chief-of-staff for the National Guard."
(Very good !)
SEVERAL MEMBERS. "It is for you to make that
choice ; it is among your powers."
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'Azr. " Exercise your right ;
but since you communicate to us your idea in this regard,
I believe that I respond to the sentiment of the Assem-
bly, when I say that we approve of your choice." (Yes !
yes ! Very good !)
GENERAL OUDINOT. " So you recognize M. Mathieu
de la Redorte as chief-of-staff of the National Guard ? "
(Marks of assent.)
PRESIDENT BENOIST o'Azr, after waiting for some
time. "I am told that some persons have already gone
out. I do not suppose that any one wishes to withdraw
before we shall have seen the end of what we may do."
FROM ALL PARTS. " No ! no ! Permanence."
136 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
M. BERRTER, reentering the hall with several of his
colleagues. " Gentlemen, a window was open. There
were many people in the street I announced from the
window that the National Assembly regularly convened,
in numbers more than sufficient for the validity of its
decrees, had declared the deposition of the President of
the Republic ; that the superior command of the army,
and of the National Guard, was confided to General
Oudinot, and that his chief-of-staff was M. de Tamisier.
There were acclamations and cheers." (Very good !)
M. Guilbot, commander of the 3d battalion of the 10th
legion of the National Guard, presented himself in uni-
form at the door of the hall, and declared to General
Oudinot that he came to place himself at the disposal of
the Assembly.
GENERAL OUDINOT. " Good ! good ! commandant ; it
is a good example ! "
M. Balot, commander of the 4th battalion, without uni-
form, made the same declaration.
After some moments, two commissaries of police ap-
peared at the door of the hall, and, upon the order of the
president, advanced to the directory.
ONE or THE COMMISSARIES (the oldest). "We have
orders to cause the halls of the mayoralty to be vacated ;
are you disposed to obey that order ? We are the man-
dataries of the Prefect of Police."
SEVERAL MEMBERS. " We have not heard."
PRESIDENT BENOIST o'Azr. "The commissary tells
us that he has orders to have the hall vacated. I ask the
commissary this question : Does he know Article 68 of
the Constitution ? Does he know what are its conse-
quences ? "
THE COMMISSARY. " Undoubtedly we are acquainted
with the Constitution ; but in the position in which we
find ourselves, we are obliged to execute the orders of our
superior chiefs."
A PARLEY WITH POLICE-OFFICERS. 137
PRESIDENT BENOIST o'Azr. "In the name of the
Assembly I read to you Article 68 of the Constitution."
President Vitet read it in these terms :
" Every measure whereby the President of the Republic dis-
solves the National Assembly, prorogues it, or obstructs its man-
date, is a crime of high treason. By this single act, the President
is bereft of his authority ; citizens are bound to refuse him obe-
dience. The executive power passes in full right to the National
Assembly. The judges of the High Court of Justice assemble
immediately, under pain of forfeiture of their office; they con-
vene the jurors in such place as they may designate ; they them-
selves appoint the magistrates charged with fulfilling the functions
of the officers of the courts."
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'AZT, to the commissary. "It
is conformably to Article 68 of the Constitution, the read-
ing of which you have just heard, that the Assembly,
prevented from sitting in the ordinary place of its sessions,
has met together in this place. It has passed the decree
which is now to be read to you."
President Vitet reads the decree of deposition, conceived
as follows :
THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.
DECREE.
The National Assembly, in extraordinary session, at the may-
oralty of the 10th district.
By virtue of Article 68 of the Constitution, which is as fol-
lows
Whereas, the Assembly is prevented by violence from exercis-
ing its authority,
Decrees : Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is deposed from his office
as President of the Republic.
Citizens are bound to refuse him obedience.
The executive power passes in full right to the National As-
sembly.
The judges of the High Court of Justice are bound to assem-
138 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
ble immediately, under penalty of forfeiture of office, in order to
proceed to judgment upon the President of the Republic aud bis
accomplices.
In consequence it is enjoined upon all functionaries, and depos-
itaries of public power and authority, to obey all requisitions
made in the name of the Assembly, under penalty of forfeiture
and treason.
Done and prescribed unanimously, in public session, the 2d of
December, 1851.
For the President, prevented.
BRNOIST D'Azv, VITKT, Vice-Presidents,
GRIMAULT, MOULIN, CHAPOT, Secretaries ;
and all the members present.
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'AZT. " It is by virtue of this
decree, of which we can give you a copy, that the Assem-
bly is convened here, and that it summons you, through
me, to obey its requisitions. I repeat to you, that law-
fully there exists at this moment but one sole authority in
France : it is that which is in session here. It is in the
name of the Assembly, its guardian, that we require you
to obey. If armed force, if usurping power opposes vio-
lence to the Assembly, we are bound to declare that we
are in our right Appeal is made to the country. The
country will respond."
M. DE RAVINEL. " Ask the commissaries for their
names."
PRESIDENT BENOIST o'Azr. "We who are speaking
to you are Messieurs Vitet and Benoist d'Azy, Vice-Presi-
dents ; Chapot, Grimault, and Moulin, Secretaries of the
National Assembly."
THE OLDEST COMMISSARY. " Our mission is painful.
We have not even complete authority, for at this moment
it is the military power which acts ; and the steps we are
taking are in order to prevent a conflict which we would
have regretted. The Prefect had directed us to come and
invite you to withdraw ; but we found here a considerable
ARRIVAL OF WARRANTS OF ARREST. 139
detachment of the chasseurs of Vincennes, sent by mili-
tary authority, which alone pretends to have the right to act.
The steps we are taking are officious, and in order to pre-
vent a harsh conflict. We do not pretend to judge upon
the question of law ; but I have the honor of admonishing
you that the military authorities have strict orders, and that
they will very probably execute them."
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'AZY. "You understand per-
fectly, sir, that the invitation to which you at this moment
give an officious character, cannot produce any impression
upon us. We will not yield except to force."
THE YOUNGEST COMMISSARY. " M. President, here is
the order which has been given to us, and, without waiting
longer, we summon you, right or wrong, to disperse.''
(Loud murmurings.)
SEVERAL MEMBERS. " The names ! the names of the
commissaries ! "
THE OLDEST COMMISSARY. u Lemoine-Bacherel and
Marlet."
At this moment an officer arrives, an order in his hand,
and says : " I am a soldier. I receive an order ; I am bound
to execute it Here is this order :
" ' COMMANDANT : in consequence of orders from the Minister
of War, cause the mayoralty of the tenth district to be immedi-
ately occupied, and arrest, if necessary, the representatives who
shall not instantly obey the order to separate.
' The General-in-chief, MAGNAN.' "
(Explosion of murmurs.)
SEVERAL MEMBERS. " Very well, let them arrest us.
Let the order be given to arrest us."
Another officer penetrates the hall, an order in his'hand.
He approaches the directory and reads an order, conceived
as follows :
" The general-in-chief directs to permit those represen-
tatives to go out of the mayoralty who shall oppose no
140 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
resistance. As to those who shall be unwilling to obey
this injunction, they will be arrested immediately, and
conducted, with all possible deference, to the prison of
Mazas."
FROM ALL PARTS. " Let us all go to Mazas ! "
M. EMILE LEROUX. " Yes ! yes ! Let us all go on foot"
PRESIDENT BENOIST D'AZT, to the officer. " You
present yourself here with an order. We ought, in the first
place, to ask you, as we already have the officer who first
appeared here, if you are acquainted with Article 68 of the
Constitution, which declares that every act of the executive
power to prevent the meeting of the Assembly is a crime
of high treason, which causes to cease, at the very instant,
the authority of the chief of the executive power. It is by
virtue of its decree, which declares the deposition of the
President, that we are acting at this moment If we have
no forces with which to oppose " . . . .
M. DE LARCET. "We oppose with the resistance of
the law."
PRESIDENT BENOIST o'Azr. u I add, that the Assem-
bly, compelled to provide for its safety, has appointed Gen-
eral Oudinot commandant of all the forces that may be
called to defend it"
M. DE LARCET. " Commander, we make an appeal to
your patriotism as a Frenchman."
GENERAL OUDINOT, to the officer. "You are the
commander of the 6th battalion ? "
THE OFFICER. "I am commander for the time being ;
the commander is sick."
GENERAL OUDINOT. "Well, commander of the 6th
battalion ; you have just heard what the President of the
Assembly has said to you ? "
THE OFFICER. " Yes, my general."
GENERAL OUOINOT. " That there is for the moment no
other power in France but the Assembly. In virtue of that
power, which has delegated to me the command of the army,
and of the National Guard, I corne to declare to you that
THE REPRESENTATIVES DRIVEN OUT. 141
we can obey only through constraint and compulsion the
order which interdicted us from remaining assembled. In
consequence, and by virtue of the rights which we hold
from it, I order you to vacate, and to cause your troops to
vacate the mayoralty.
" You understood, commander of the 6th battalion ; you
understood that I gave you the order to cause the mayor-
alty to be vacated. Are you going to obey ? "
THE OFFICER. " No ; and this is why : I have received
orders from my superiors, and I am going to execute
them."
FROM ALL PARTS. " To Mazas ! to Mazas ! "
THE OFFICER. "In the name of the orders of the
executive power, we summon you to dissolve this very mo-
ment."
DIVERS VOICES. "No, no! There is no executive
power. Expel us forcibly ; use force ! "
Upon the order of the commandant, several chasseurs
penetrated the hall. A third commissary of police, and
several policemen, entered likewise. The commissaries and
police seized the members of the directory, General Otidi-
not, M. de Tamisier, and several of the representatives,
and conducted them almost to the landing of the stairs.
But the latter place was constantly occupied by the troops.
The commissaries and the officers ascend and descend, in
order to obtain and bring orders. After about a quarter
of an hour, the soldiers open their ranks. The representa-
tives, always conducted by the commissaries and the police,
descend to the court General Forey presents himself;
General Oudinot speaks to him a moment, and returning
toward the members of the Assembly, says that General
Forey answered, " We are soldiers ; we know nothing but
our orders."
GENERAL LAURIS.TON. " He ought to know the laws
and the Constitution. We, too, have been soldiers."
GENERAL ODDINOT. "General Forey pretends that
he is bound to obey only the executive power."
142 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
ALL THE REPRESENTATIVES. u Let them take us ; let
them take us to Mazas ! "
Several of the National Guard, who are in the court,
cry out, every time the door is opened, in order to let the
officers pass, who are going and coming, u Vive la Repub-
Uque ! Vive la Constitution ! "
A few minutes pass. At last the gate is opened, and
the police order the members of the directory, and of the
Assembly, to form in procession. Presidents Benoist and
Vitet declare that they will not go out, except by force.
The police take them by their arms, and cause them to
enter the street The secretaries, General Oudinot, M.
de Tamisier, and other representatives, are conducted in
the same manner, and they are formed in procession be-
tween two lines of soldiers. President Vitet is held by
the collar, by a policeman. General Forey is at the head
of the troops, and directs the column. The Assembly, as
prisoner, is escorted in the midst of cries of " Vive la R-
publique ! Vive la Constitution ! " uttered by citizens who are
in the streets and at the windows, as far as the barracks of
Orsay Quay, following Grenelle, Saint-Guillaume, Neuve
de rUniversite*, FUniversite', and Beaume streets, and Vol-
taire and Orsay Quays. All the representatives enter the
court of the barracks (Note 96), and the gate is again
closed upon them. It is twenty minutes past three o'clock.
Upon the proposition of a member, they proceed, even in
the court, to call the informal roll. Messieurs Grimault,
secretary, and Antony Thouret, call the roll, which shows
the presence of 220 members, whose names are as fol-
lows :
MM. Albert de Luynes, d'Andigne de la Chasse, An-
tony Thouret, Arene, Auclren de Kerdrel (Ille-et-Vilaine),
Audrcn de Kerdrel (Morbihan), de Balzac, Barchou de
Penhoen, Barrillon, Odilon Barrot, Barthelemy Saint-
Ililuire, Bauchard, Gustavo de Beaumont, Bdchard, Beha-
guel, de Belvuze, Benoist d'Azy, de Bernardy, Berryer, de
NAMES OF REPRESENTATIVES. 143
Berset, Besse, Beting de Lancastel, Blavoyer, Bocher,
Boissie, de Botmiliau, Bouvatier, de Broglie, de la Broise,
de Bryas, Buffet, Caillet du Tertre, Callet, Camus de la
Guibourgere, Canet, de Castillon, de Cazales, Admiral
Cecile, Chambolle, Chamiot, Chanpanhet Chaper, Chapot,
de Charancey, Chassaigne, Chauvin, Chazant, de Chazelles,
Chegaray, de Coislin, Colfavru, Colas de la Motte, Coquerel,
de Corcelles, Cordier, Come, Creton, Daguilhon-Pujol,
Dahirel, Dambray, de Dampierre, de Brotonne, de Fon-
taine, de Fontenay, Deseze, Desmars, de la Devansaye,
Didier, Dieuleveult, Druet-Desvaux, Abraham Dubois, Du-
faure, Dufougerais, Dufour, Dufournel, Marc Dufraisse,
Pascal Duprat, Duvergier de Hauranne, Etienne de Fal-
loux, de Faultrier, Faure (Rhone), Favreau, Ferre* des
Ferris, de Flavigny, de Foblant, Frichon, Gain, Gasselin,
Germoniere, de Gicquiau, de Goulard, de Goyon, de Grand-
ville, de Grasset, Grelier-Dufougeroux, Grevy, Grillon,
Grimault, Gros, Guillier de la Tousche, Harscouet de
Saint-George, d'Havrincourt, Hennecart, Hennequin,
d'Hespel, Houel, Hovyn-Tranchere, Huot, Joret, Jouannet,
de Keranfleck, de Keratry, de Ke"ridec, de Kermasec, de
Kersauron-Penendreff, Leo de Laborde, Laboulie, Lacave,
Oscar Lafayette, Lafosse, Lagarde, Lagrene*e, Laine, Lan-
juinais, Larabit, de Larcy, J. de Lasteyrie, Latrade, Lau-
reau, Laurenceau, General Lauriston, de Laussat, Le-
febvre de Grosriez, Legrand, Legros-Desvaux, Lemaire,
Emile Lerdux, Lespe"rut, de Lespinois, Lherbette, de Lin-
saval, de Luppe, Marechal, Martin de Villers, Maze-
Saunay, Meze, Armand de Melun, Anatole de Melun,
Merintie, Michaut, Mispoulet, Monet, de Montebello, de
Montigny, Moulin, Murat-Sistriere, Alfred Nettement,
d'Olivier, General Oudinot de Reggio, Paillet, Duparc,
Passy, Emile Peau, Pecoul, Casimir P^rier, Pidoux, Pi-
geon, de Pioge, Piscatory, Proa, Prudhomme, Querhoent,
Randoing, Raudot, Raulin, de Ravinel, de Re*musat, Re-
naud, Resal, de Resseguier, Henri de Riancey, Rigal, de
144 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
la Rochette, Rodat, de Roquefeuil, des Rotours de Chau-
lieux, Rouget-Lafosse, Rouilk'-, Roux-Carbonel, Sainte-
Beuve, de Saint- Germain, General de Saint-Priest, Sal-
mon (Meuse), Sauvaire-Barthelemy, de Serre, de Ses-
maisou, Simonot, de Staplante, de Surville, de Talhouet,
Talon, Tamisier, Thuriot de la Rosiere, de Tinguy, de
Tocqueville, de la Tourette, de Treveneuc, Mortimer-Ter-
naux, de Vatimesnil, de Vandoeuvre, Vernhette (He"rault),
Vernhette (Aveyron), Vezin, Vitet, de Vogue".
The call being finished, General Oudinot begs the rep-
resentatives, who are scattered about the court, to assemble
around him ; and he makes them the following communi-
cation :
" The adjutant, who has remained here, in order to take
command of the barracks, has just received an order to
have rooms prepared, into which we shall have to retire,
considering ourselves as in captivity. (Very good.) Do
you wish me to have the adjutant come here ? (No ! no!
no ! It is useless !) I am going to tell him that he may
execute his orders." (Yes, that's right ! )
A few minutes afterward, the rooms being prepared,
several representatives entered them. The others re-
mained in the court (Note 97.)
The report of this memorable session will call up many
reflections. Faithful to our own task of the simple narra-
tor, we shall be sparing of comments.
The imperialist writers who have related it, affirm that
its nature is such as to cause disgust of parliamentarism.
The reader will decide for himself.
The Republicans have criticized, from a point of view
diametrically opposite, the conduct of the representatives
of the Right, who formed the immense majority of the
Assembly.
They reproach them for having talked when it was
necessary to act; for having lost two hours of precious time
VOLUNTARY PRISONERS. 145
in vain formalities; for not having made an immediate
appeal to the patriotism of the people ; for not having sur-
rounded themselves with a sufficient number of the National
Guard, under arms, since it would have been so much
more easy to assemble, by displaying a little activity, as
many would have hastened spontaneously, and as the colo-
nel of the 10th legion, M. de Lauriston, was a member of
the Assembly ; for not having given the signal of resist-
ance, with arms in hand, while it was so easy to have done
so, and since the first shots might have exercised a deci-
sive impression upon the hesitating people. They reproach
them above all, for the cries, " To Mazas ! Let them take
us to Mazas ! " which seem to them unworthy of the
National Assembly. Once more, let the reader judge.
We shall tell further on what was the fate of the rep-
resentatives taken prisoners to the barracks of Orsay Quay.
Let us note, in passing, that the number was increased, at
about four o'clock in the afternoon, by members who came
and voluntarily constituted themselves prisoners, with the
intention of sharing the fate of their colleagues. Among
them were Messieurs Bixio, Victor Lefranc, and Valette.
The latter said to the police, who hesitated to admit him
among the prisoners : " But I have a right, for two reasons,
to be arrested to-day : I am a representative of the people,
and a professor of law."
An incident happened pending the session at the mayor-
alty of the tenth district, which might have considerably
modified the result. It has been little noticed. Toward
ten o'clock in the morning, a considerable assemblage had
formed in the square of the Medical College. The young
men who composed it, warned by the presence of the rep-
resentatives at the mayoralty of the tenth district, formed
in procession, to the number of twelve to fifteen hundred,
with the intention of going to render assistance to the
National Assembly. At the moment they were debouch-
ing into the square of the Church of Saint-Sulpice, in order
10
146 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
to commence operations in Vieux-Columbier Street (Note
98), they were charged by a strong detachment of the
mounted Municipal Guards, who pressed them into the
neighboring streets, and compelled them to turn back.
Although these young men were unarmed, no one can say
that their presence around the mayoralty of the tenth dis-
trict, had they been able to reach the place, might not have
rendered infinitely more difficult the arrest of the repre-
sentatives in a body.
During this same morning, the republican journalists
tried to unite, and renew the memorable example given by
their predecessors, in analogous circumstances, on the 26th
of July, 1830, after the publication of the ordinances.
A preliminary protest was prepared in the offices of the
Revolution, signed by Messieurs Xavier Durrieu, a former
representative, Kesler, Gasperini, and Merlet, who were
editors of the newspaper, and by some other citizens. To-
ward noon, a meeting, in which nearly all the republican
press was represented, was held in the office of the Siecle 1
in Croissant Street. There a united protest was framed ;
it was agreed to try all possible means, in order to publish
the newspapers which had been seized. These resolutions
had but little effect The printing-offices were occupied by
soldiery. Nevertheless, a considerable number of procla-
mations, and appeals to arms, were printed by means of
types and dies, carried away almost under the eyes of the
police, from the printing-office of the Siecle, and removed
to a neighboring house, where one of the editors of that
paper was then lodging. A great number of them were
likewise printed in the office of the Presse (Note 99).
Representative Noel Parfait succeeded in carrying away
several hundred copies, without arousing the suspicions of
the soldiers aii'l police, stationed like sentinels at the ap-
proaches of thu printing and editorial offices of the journal.
i It means the "Age," and its present chief editor is the author of this
work. Translator!.
THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE. 147
Similar acts must have been accomplished in some other
printing-offices; for the decrees of the Assembly at the
mayoralty of the tenth district, the appeals to arms of the
republican Left, as well as the warrant of the High Court
of Justice, were spread abroad in the night of the 2d-3d
of December, and posted up by thousands of copies.
We have just spoken of the High Court of Justice. Be-
fore going further, it is proper to tell the part of that
supreme tribunal of the Republic during the day of the
2d of December.
Did the High Court assemble spontaneously ? Or did
it rather wait for a communication of the decree passed at
the mayoralty of the tenth district ? We should be unable .
to say, both versions having been given by narrators who
seemed to be well informed. Whatever the case may have
been in this respect, the High Court convened in one of the
rooms of the Court of Errors, in the Palace of Justice ;
deliberated, and rendered the following judicial order:
" The High Court : Considering the placards printed and
posted upon the walls of the capital, and especially that one
purporting that : ' The President of the Republic,' etc
' The National Assembly is dissolved,' etc The said
placards being signed : Louis Napoleon Bonaparte ; and lower
down : The Minister of the Interior, Morny ; '
" Whereas, these acts, and the employing of the military force,
by which they are enforced, would constitute the case provided
for by Article 68 of the Constitution
" Declares : That it be forthwith organized ; and that there is
cause for proceeding to the execution of said Article 68 ; it ap-
points M. Renouard, Counsellor of the Court of Errors, to be its
prosecuting attorney ; and adjourns to to-morrow, for the contin-
uance of its operations.
" Have signed the register: Hardouin, President;
" Pataille, Delapalme, Aug. Moreau, Cauchy, Judges.
44 Present, the two Associate Judges, Qudnault and Grandet.
" BERNARD, Recorder-in-chief."
This order differs perceptibly from that which was pla-
148 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
carded through the care of the Republicans, and which
alone has been reproduced in the accounts of the Coup
cTEtat published in France up to this time. The order,
when taken cognizance of, had the effect of an arraignment
of high treason against the President, and the convocation
of the high jurors. The version which we reproduce is
borrowed from a good source.
We will complete, according to information from the
same source, the record of the operations of the High
Court.
" The same day at five o'clock, the same judges, being assem-
bled at the residence of their president, showed that, by order of
M. de Maupas, Prefect of Police, three commissaries of police,
accompanied by peace-officers, and by a detachment of the Re-
publican Guards commanded by a lieutenant, had invaded the
council-room, and summoned the High Court to disperse under
penalty of being dissolved by force, and its members imprisoned.
The High Court had protested, and declared that it yielded to
force only.
M The 3d of December, the High Court convened at the Pal-
ace of Justice, at noon, as the registers still say. M. Renouard,
who had been notified of the order of court of the day before,
was introduced, and declared that he accepted the functions of
prosecuting attorney.
41 The court officially received his declaration, and, inasmuch
as material obstacles to the execution of its process continued, it
adjourned."
We thought that this account, dry, in recorder's style,
denoting the judicial origin of the document, would not be
without interest to the reader.
There is, however, one point to which we must return.
The High Court, in session on the 2d of December, was
summoned to dissolve by armed force. The troops were
led by M. de Montour, aide-de-camp of the Minister of the
Navy (Note 100). The soldiers penetrated, with 6xed
bayonets, inside the bar of the court, where the magistrates
were then sitting. M. Mayer 1 relates the incident, and
1 Pape 91.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROMENADE. 149
adds some reflections which are worthy to be quoted, if
only for curiosity's sake :
" Two commissaries," he says, " accompanied by some of the
municipal guards, entered the court-room, and enjoined the ju-
rists to withdraw, under pain of immediate arrest. The Court
obeyed, without saying a word, with that sentiment of individual
duty which, in the dangers of the public cause, speaks even more
loudly to the heart of a magistrate than the clearest right and the
plainest law ! "
The members of the High Court, let us say, before tak-
ing leave of them,J;o trouble ourselves about them no more,
experienced no detriment on account of their murmurs
of resistance to the Coup Etat. They retained their seats
in the Court of Errors, and might have been seen a little
afterwards, at the Palace of the Tuileries, taking an oath
of fealty to the Prince President (Note 101).
Before relating what the representatives of the Left did
during this day most of whom appeared neither in the
National Assembly, nor at the mayoralty of the tenth dis-
trict, let us say a word concerning a promenade made in
the morning, by Louis Napoleon. He quitted the Elysian
Palace, mounted, surrounded by a numerous staff, in which
was noticed the ex-King Jerome Bonaparte, uncle of the
President (Note 102), Marshal Excelmans, the Count of
Flahaut, Generals de Saint-Arnaud, Magnan, de Lowoes-
tine, Dautnas, etc. He passed the front of the troops, who
continued to occupy the positions we have indicated. He
was greeted with lively acclamations. Pushing further on,
toward the interior of Paris, the President passed through
a few streets, but was not tardy in reining up to return to
the Elysian Palace. If he had counted upon a triumphal re-
ception on the part of the Parisian populace, he was unde-
ceived. Although he had scarcely passed beyond the quays
and streets near the Tuileries, which were occupied by
troops, the compact crowd who saw this brilliant staff pass
by, looked on with coldness. If there was not decided hos-
150 PARIS IN DECEMBER, J?51.
tility in its attitude and cries, there was still less enthu-
siasm.
At the height of the Font-Royal (Note 103) this state-
ment may be considered certain the cortege of the Presi-
dent was greeted with the dominant cry, " Vive la JRepub-
lique ! " with which were mingled here and there acclama-
tions to the Constitution and the National Assembly. The
crowd seemed unsympathizing ; nevertheless, when the
President approached, saluting with a gesture, the mass
uncovered their heads.
The President returned to the Elysian Palace, retired
to his cabinet, whence he transmitted his orders to the
ministers ; and, save a short review passed in the after-
noon of the same day, he did not go out again until all was
finished.
The republican Left of the Assembly had not felt it
their duty to join with the Right Most of its members
had thought that all attempt at legal resistance we mean,
surrounded with legal formalities, as at the mayoralty of the
tenth district would be powerless; that there was but
one sole means of saving the Republic : to call the people
to arms, and to resist with ball and powder.
The first meeting of the Left, small in numbers, was held
in Blanche Street, or the Chausse'e d'Antin, at the house of
M. Coppeus. There were members of every shade of the
republican party. There were noticed Messieurs Victor
Hugo, Michel (of Bourges), Schoelcher, Emmanuel Arago,
Drives, Charamaule, Joigneaux, Chauffour, Baudin, etc.
(Note 104).
M. Victor Hugo proposed to give, immediately, the sig-
nal of resistance. Several members seconded him, saying :
Let us immediately descend into the streets, with our
scarfs upon us, and commence the combat." Most thought
it would be better to temporize still. They brought into
view this incontestable fact, that the people had seen in
the proclamations of the President, only the reestablishment
A REPUBLICAN PLACARD. 151
of universal suffrage, and the appeal to the national sover-
eignty; that the Coup tTEtat agitated the working-class,
but did not cause it to be indignant ; that consequently, it
was necessary to employ the following day and night in
acting individually upon the groups ; to try by all possible
means to spread and placard proclamations emanating
from the republican representatives. This counsel was
adopted. M. Victor immediately prepared an appeal to the
people, which two young men undertook to have printed,
and which was in fact placarded in the evening, in a great
number of copies. M. Mayer 1 has reproduced this first
placard, which was conceived as follows:
" Louis Napoleon is a traitor !
" He has violated the Constitution !
" He has placed himself outside the law !
"The republican representatives remind the people and the
army of Articles 68 and 110 of the Constitution, conceived as
follows :
" Article 68. Every measure whereby the President of the
Republic dissolves the Assembly, prorogues it, or obstructs the
exercise of its authority, is a crime of high treason. By this
simple fact, the President is bereft of his functions ; citizens are
bound to refuse him obedience.
" Article 1 10. The Constituent Assembly confides the defense
of the present Constitution, and the rights which it makes conse-
crated, to the National Guard and to the patriotism of all French-
men.
" The people, henceforth and forever in possession of universal
suffrage the people, who have no need of any prince in order
to bestow it, will know how to chastise the rebel.
" Let the people do their duty ; the republican representa-
tives march at their head.
" Vive la Republique I Vive la Constitution ! To arms !
"Signed: Michel (of Bourges), Schoelcher, General Leydet,
Mathieu (of the Drome), Lasteyras, Brives, Brey-
mand, Joigneaux, Cbauffour, Cassal, Gilland, Jules
Favre, Victor Hugo, Emmanuel Arago, Madier de
Montjau, Mathe, Signard, Roujat (of the Isere),
Viguier, Eugene Sue, de Flotte."
l Hisioire du 2 Decembre, pp. 120, 121.
152 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
The members assembled at M. Coppen's separated, after
having appointed a rendezvous elsewhere. At two o'clock
in the afternoon, a certain number were at Bouvallet's, in
the Boulevard du Temple. M. Michel (of Bourges) ha-
rangued the crowd who covered the boulevard. The police
being warned, hastened toward the Bouvallet house, but
could not arrest any of the representatives.
A new and very numerous meeting of the Left, among
whom were most of the representatives of the Montagne,
was held at M. Beslay's, an old constituent of the Assembly.
M. Joly (of Toulouse), directed the deliberations. The
colonel of the 6th legion of the National Guard, M. For-
estier, was present At the end of half an hour, the meet-
ing had to disperse, in order to escape the troops which
arrived, guided by spies.
Other partial meetings were held that day. We shall
not pause to consider them. Let us rapidly pass to that
one in which the taking up of arms on the morrow was de-
cided upon. A certain number of representatives were, at
eleven o'clock in the evening, at the house of their col-
league, Lafond (of the Lot), on Jemmapes Quay. There
it was that the Committee of Resistance was elected. Its
members were, Representatives Victor Hugo, Carnot, Jules
Favre, Michel (of Bourges), Madier-Montjau, Schoelcher,
and de Flotte.
The house of M. Lafond (Note 105), seeming to be too
much exposed to visits from the police, the members to-
ward midnight betook themselves to Popincourt Street, to
the house of M. Frederic Cournet, an old officer of the
navy, and a tried Republican.
A confusion of names, which at first deceived the repre-
sentatives who arrived at the house of Cournet, equally de-
ceived the police and a battalion of troops charged with
arresting them, and was the cause of the deliberation being
held without impediment. Some agents of the secret police
saw representatives entering the house of a M. Cornet,
BARRICADES TO BE ERECTED. 153
which was but a few steps from the house inhabited by
Fre'de'ric Cournet. They ran for armed force, and mi-
nutely searched the Cornet house, while more than fifty rep-
resentatives, and a great number of journalists, officers of
the National Guard, workmen, and citizens of divers pro-
fessions, including some of the most energetic of the repub-
lican party, deliberated in quiet close at hand.
It was decided that as early as the morning of the next
day, the representatives were to repair to the populous quar-
ters, and themselves commence the barricades. Some work-
men of the Faubourg Saint- Antoine, assuring that the dis-
trict would revolt if the representatives of the Montague
would give the signal, a certain number of the latter fixed
a rendezvous for the morrow at the Roysin rooms, a socialist
coffee-house, situated in the great street of the faubourg.
A number of intrepid citizens likewise promised to repair
thither, and kept their word, as will be seen further on.
At one o'clock in the morning the meeting dispersed.
The aspect of the capital in the evening of the second,
already differed sensibly from what it had been during the
first hours of the day. The commotion was quite lively on
the left bank (the south side of the Seine), in the Latin
Quarter (Note 106). On the right bank, considerable
crowds covered all the line of the boulevards. There the
news of the day was commented upon with ardor. The
people became aroused and irritated through the vehement
words of the republicans, and began to assume a hostile
attitude. In the wealthy quarters, on the Boulevard des
Italiens above all, the groups formed by the elegant throng
noisily manifested their opposition to the Coup d'JStat.
Toward five o'clock, at nightfall, the brigade of General
Korte took a military promenade, from the Madeleine
Church to the square of the Bastile. " It cleared the way
for the whole extent of the boulevards," says M. Granier
de Cassagnac, " without finding other resistance than the
154 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
suppressed menaces of the bourgeoirie of the rich quarters,
and the vain insults of il\e jeunesse doree." 1
M. de Cassagnac adds, that Commander Fleury en-
countered a gunshot the same evening, near the Porte
Saint-Martin. It is an error of date ; that incident hap-
pened only in the evening of the next day. Not a percus-
sion-cap was exploded before the morning of the third.
A certain number of representatives, prisoners in the
barracks of Orsay Quay, among them Messieurs Gustave
de Beaumont, Vatismenil, General Oudinot, General Lau-
riston, de Falloux, Piscatory, de Montebello, etc.,were trans-
ferred that evening to Mont Vale"rien (Note 107). At the
moment when they were compelled to enter the cellular
prison-vans, M. de Montebello recognized, it is said, the
chief of the escort, Colonel Feray, and said : " Gentle-
men, to-day is the anniversary of the battle of Austerlitz ;
and here is the son-in-law of Marshal Bugeaud, making
the son of Marshal Lannes (Note 108) enter a convict
wagon."
Toward midnight, the city had resumed its wonted phys-
iognomy.
l Hiituirt de la Chute de Lauit Philippe, etc., vol. U. p. 424.
CHAPTER V.
ON the 3d of December, Paris seemed tardy in its
awakening. The weather was dark and rainy. The shops
opened slowly. There was little moving about.
The troops soon resumed their positions of the day before.
The first division of the army of Paris, commanded by
General Carrelet, having under his orders Brigadier-gen-
erals de Cotte, Canrobert, de Bourgon, Dulac, and Rey-
bell, occupied the approaches of the Tuileries and the
Elysian Palace. This division comprised six regiments of
infantry of the line, a regiment of light infantry, a bat-
talion of dismounted chasseurs, two battalions of the mov-
able gendarmery, three battalions of artillery, two regi-
ments of lancers, and a few detachments of engineers.
The cavalry of reserve, two regiments of riflemen, two of
cuirassiers, and one of dragoons, kept in the rear of the
infantry, near the upper part of the Elysian Fields. They
were commanded by Generals Korte, Tartas, and d'Allon-
ville.
These various forces amounted to more than twenty
thousand men, of all arms.
The second division, commanded by General Renault,
and Brigadier-generals Sauboul, Forey, and Ripert, occu-
pied the quarters on the south bank of the Seine. This
division comprised seven regiments of infantry of the line,
two battalions of dismounted chasseurs, three batteries of
artillery, and some detachments of engineers ; forming a
total of about seventeen thousand men.
The third division had for its chiefs General Levasseur,
and Brigadier-generals Herbillon, Marulaz, and de Cour-
156 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
tigis. The troops comprised six regiments of infantry of
the line, two regiments of light infantry, a battalion of dis-
mounted chasseurs, artillery, and engineers. This consti-
tuted a force of about eighteen thousand men. This
division occupied the City Hall (Hotel de Ft'fle), and the
surrounding quarters, as far as Vinccnncs. The Marulaz
brigade was stationed in Bastile Place ; the de Courtigis
brigade, partly at the city entrance du Trone, and partly at
Vincennes.
Such were, independently of the municipal guards, the
police, and the troops which might be called from the
neighboring garrisons the forces that were to be braved
by the few handfuls of Republicans resolved to engage in
the armed conflict
It was on the morning of the 3d of December, that
the new ministry of Louis Napoleon was definitively con-
stituted. Here is its composition :
De Moray, Minister of the Interior.
De Saint-Arnaud, Minister of War.
Fould, Secretary of thfi Finances.
De Turgot, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Rouher, Minister of Justice.
Ducos, Minister of the Navy and the Colonies.
Fourtoul, Minister of Public Instruction.
Magne, Minister of Public Works ; and
Durufte, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. (Note
109.)
On the same day, there was published, in the Moniteur,
the list of a Commission, called Advisory, instituted by the
President of the Republic.
This list contained the names of certain members of the
conservative section of the Assembly, who had sustained
the policy of the Elysian Palace up to the 2d of Decem-
ber, but whom it had not been judged advisable to consult
before appointing them members of this commission.
I fence, several refusals, which produced a certain sensa-
tion.
THE ADVISORY COMMISSION. 157
M. Ldon Faucher, a former Minister of the Interior,
was of the number. He immediately addressed the fol-
lowing letter to Louis Napoleon. Our text perfectly agrees
with that given by M. Mayer in his Histoire du 2 Decem-
bre, p. 197.
" M. President : It is with painful astonishment that I see
my name figure among those of the members of an Advisory
Commission which you have just instituted. I did not suppose I
had given you the right to do me this wrong. The services I
have rendered to you, believing that I was rendering them to the
country, perhaps authorized me to expect from you another kind
of recognition. My character, in any case, was deserving of more
respect. You know that, in a career already long, I have no
more belied my principles of liberty than my devotion to order.
I have never participated, either directly or indirectly, in viola-
tion of the laws ; and in order to decline the mandate which you
confer upon me without my consent, I have only to remind you
of that which I have received from the people, and which I still
retain.
"LEON FAUCHER."
Doctor Veron says a great deal in his Memoires, of this
Advisory Commission, which he calls the " list of the can-
didates to power, to place, to honor."
" The number of those devoted and courageous ones of the
next day, increased daily," adds the Doctor, " in proportion to the
increasing certainty of the complete victory of Louis Napoleon.
Some, after having solicited the day before the honor of being
inscribed upon that list, wrote the next day to the Minister that
their name might be erased therefrom ; then asked that it might
be restored, according to the news and agitations of the day." l
More than one official personage will recognize himself
in this sketch. We ought to say, however, that none of
those persons whose letters of refusal have been published,
has since rallied to the new regime.
The definitive list of the accepting members of the Ad-
* Memoires <tun Bourgeois de Paris, tome vi. p. 186.
158 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
visory Commission was not published until toward the
15th of December. There were found in it but few par-
liamentary names of any notoriety, other than those of
Messieurs Montalembert, Baroche, and Billault (Note
110.)
In spite of the success of the previous day, although the
whole of the 2d of December passed away without any
material resistance having been made to the Coup cTEtat,
its ultimate success was strongly doubted, not only in the
Parisian populace, but even among the most exalted par-
tisans of the President
Almost none, save the general officers of the army, had
openly adhered to the Coup <TEtat.
The Elysian Palace had received so few visitors the day
before, that Louis Napoleon and his first confidants re-
mained apparently isolated.
The centre of the government was not, it is true, at the
Elysian Palace. It was at the Ministry of the Interior, in
the cabinet of M. de Morn y. Every one has heard speak
of the coolness, resolution, and presence of mind displayed
by M. de Morny in these circumstances. We believe,
however, that the preponderance of his role has not even
yet been sufficiently appreciated. We have no fear of
being mistaken, in saying that the act of the 2d of De-
cember was indeed decreed by Louis Napoleon, but that
it was executed by M. de Morny. In proportion as the in-
timate details of what transpired during those days at the
Elysian Palace shall become known, we shall see more
and more plainly what we premise, touching that immense
part which reverts to M. de Morny, in the success of the
Coup (TEtat.
Doctor Vcron, who saw M. de Morny at work during
the critical moments, has left some precious revelations.
It is to be regretted only, that the Doctor was afraid of
pushing his indiscretions too far.
" It wa there too " (at the Miuiitry of the Interior), he Bays,
TREPIDATION OF OFFICIALS. 159
" that bad news arrived. The rumor spread at first, that Gen-
eral Castellane and the garrison of Lyons, did not recognize the
Coup d'Etat. A new train coming from Lyons, fortunately con-
tradicted this false rumor. I went morning and evening to the
Ministry of the Interior, and there I was a witness of more than one
scene the recital of which would be an indiscretion. More than
one countenance paled and lengthened at the least alarm. More
than one person murmured between his teeth, ' Barricades
are being raised everywhere, .... that is the way they
always commence. You will see that this will end like the 24th
of February.' Others asked with a feverish anxiety, of those
going to and fro ' Are the people with us ? What will the
suburbs say ? Can we count upon the army ? ' M. de Morny, I
must say here in order to do homage to the truth, M. de Morny
and a few resolute friends who surrounded him, reassured all
these tremblers, who quite willingly kept themselves in the vi-
cinity of the outer doors."
The Prefect of Police, M. de Maupas, was far from hav-
ing preserved the same sang-froid as M. de Morny. The
latter was obliged to intervene more than once, in order to
rectify the ideas of M. de Maupas, a little troubled by the
difficulties of the situation. The dispatches exchanged
between the Ministry of the Interior and the Prefecture
of Police, which have been published by Doctor Veron,
while evidently incomplete, furnish very curious indica-
tions in this connection.
M. de Maupas does not seem to have been more fortu-
nate in the choice of the items of news brought to him by
his agents. The following despatch, which he addressed
to General Magnan, in order to inform him of the plans
of resistance of the Republicans, affords quite an inter-
esting sample of this :
THE PREFECT OF POLICE TO GENERAL MAGNAN.
" December 2. Evening.
" The Socialist sections will commence at six o'clock in the even-
ing. The principal quarters are, for the barricades, the fau-
bourgs of the Temple, Marceau, Saint- Antoine, and the city-gate
160 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
(barriere) du Trone. The sections are convoked for ten o'clock ;
at a quarter to eleven each one will be at his post.
" The arms are bomb-shells carried in the hand. The 44th
will be with them ; three hundred men follow it crying, ' Vive
la Republique Sociale, et pas de Pretendant I '
" They intend to ring the alarm-bell ; in several of the churches
they are having the bell-ropes cut.
The night will be very serious and decisive. It is planned to
get at the Prefecture of Police. Keep some cannon at my dis-
posal ; I shall ask you for them if it shall be necessary.
" 1 J . S. Your troops are in want of provisions at several
points ; it is often for want of comfort that troops are disposed to
flag. (The brigade of General Forey.)
' They want to sound the tocsin. I have ordered the bell-
towers to be occupied." *
Nothing of all this had the shadow of a foundation.
The dispatches of M. de Moray to the same General
Magnan are otherwise significant M. de Horny directed,
even to the military operations. Here are three dis-
patches that seem to us to be worthy of interest :
THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR TO THE GEXKRAL-IN-
CHIEF.
" PARIS, December 2, 1851.
" The patrols of the night are not good ; they are few in num-
bers, easily surrounded. It would be better not to see any troops
at all, or to see more of them. This fatigues them uselessly.
" I maintain my system with obstinacy. The police alone are
to spy out the plans ; the troops to act with violence if those plans
are carried into execution. But cumbersome patrols never prevent
anything ; they simply render the use of the troops less efficacious
the next day.
" Signed : MORNY."
i Despatch published by I>r. \Vron, in his Memmret (Tun Bourgeoit dt
Parit. All those thmt we shall ite further on, whether of the Prefect of
Police, T of the Ministry of the Interior, are borrowed from the same work.
Their authenticity has never been questioned.
DE MORNY'S DISPATCHES. 161
THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR TO THE GENERAL-IN-
CHIEF.
"PARIS, December 3, 1851.
" Word is sent to me from the Prefecture of Police, that some
too-feeble troops are surrounded. How happens this fault, instead
of letting the insurgents go to work quite in earnest, and serious
barricades be formed, so that we may afterward crush and destroy
the enemy ? Take care not to wear out the troops in skirmishes,
so as not to have them at the decisive hour.
"Signed: MORNY."
THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR TO GENERAL MAGNAN.
" PARIS, December 3, 1851.
" I repeat to you that the plan of the rioters is to tire out the
troops so as to get them cheap on the third day. That is the way
it was on the 27th, 28th, and 29th of July, 1830; and the 22d,
23d, and 24th of February, 1848.
" Let us not have the 2d, 3d, and 4th of December, with the
same conclusion. The troops must not be exposed ; make them
enter and lodge in the houses. With a few troops at each street-
corner, at the windows, a whole quarter is kept in respect. ITiave
met many little useless patrols. The troops will be harassed. By
making them rest in private houses, they repose, and intimidate a
whole quarter. It seems to me we are following the old errors.
The provisions are unworthily served ; provisions are plundered.
" I leave you to these reflections. It is only by wholly refrain-
ing, surrounding a quarter and taking it by famine, or by invading
it with terror, that war will be carried on in the city.
" Signed: MORNY."
The reader has not forgotten that a certain number of
the representatives assembled in the house of Frederic
Cournet, had appointed a rendezvous in the Faubourg
Saint-Antoine.
Before retracing this episode of the days of December,
made famous by the death of Representative Baudin, it is
proper to say from what sources are drawn the informa-
tion in accordance with which we make up our account
This is the more necessary since, up to the present time,
11
162 PARIS IV DECEMBER, 1851.
no truthful narrative of that event has been published
in France.
The historiographers, apologists for the Coup cTEtat,
have limited themselves to the reproduction of the version
of the newspapers of the time, without giving themselves
the trouble of examining those accounts, improvised upon
n dits, and without even taking care to correct certain
points contradicted by other details published later in those
same newspapers.
We have been able to obtain a communication of the
facts in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, the account being
prepared by a man whose mere name makes it reliable,
M. Schoelcher, a witness and actor of those events. The
well-known character of M. Schoelcher, the esteem which
his political enemies themselves profess for him, amply
justify the value that we attach to his testimony.
Besides, we have seriously examined his narrative ; we
have consulted other ocular witnesses, whom we might
name if necessary, and who have confirmed for us the
scrupulous exactness of the details given by M. Schoel-
cher.
A little before eight o'clock in the morning, certain rep-
resentatives of the people, on foot, ascended the great
street of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, directing them-
selves toward the Roysin saloon, where the rendezvous
had been appointed.
The workmen of the faubourg were standing in numer-
ous groups in front of their doors, talking about the events
of the day before.
The representatives, without great success, addressed
them stirring exhortations :
44 What ! " said they, " are you doing nothing ? Why
are you waiting ? Is it the Empire that you wish ? "
44 No, no," responded most of the workmen ; " but why
should we fight? They give us universal suffrage! . . .
And then what could we do ? We have been disarmed
since June ; there is not a gun in the whole faubourg."
AN ATTEMPTED RESCUE. 163
Some, but in small numbers, promised to act. An inci-
dent, little known, occurred in the mean while to chill the
slightly combative disposition which the republican repre-
sentatives met with in the district.
Nine or ten omnibuses, laden with arrested representa-
tives, passed under the escort of lancers. These prison-
ers were being transferred from the barracks of Orsay
Quay to Vincennes. " Those are representatives that they
are carrying away ! " some exclaimed ; " let us rescue
them ! " We know how sudden are the impulses of popu-
lar throngs. A movement took place in the groups. Some
intrepid men sprang forward. The first omnibus was
stopped. Representative Malardier and Fre'de'ric Cournet
were among those who had thrown themselves at the heads
of the horses. Immediately, they saw some representa-
tives incline toward the carriage doors. They were mem-
bers of the Right, who, beside themselves with bewilder-
ment, begged the people not to rescue them.
The indignant crowd did as they were desired. " You
see very well that there is nothing to be done with those
folks!" said one of the men of the people, who had
sprung at the horses' heads with great earnestness, to M.
Cournet .
This extraordinary incident at the outset (it is rarely
that one sees prisoners opposed to being set free) will not
surprise the reader, who remembers the cries uttered the
day before at the mayoralty of the 10th district: " To Ma-
zas ! Let them carry us all to Mazas ! "
Toward half-past eight o'clock, a certain number of Re-
publicans, determined to give the signal of resistance
among them fifteen or sixteen representatives of the people,
assembled at the Roysin saloon. Among the representa-
tives were Messieurs Baudin, Bouzat, Brillier, Bruckner,
Charamaule, Dulac, Esquiros, de Flotte, Madier de Mont-
jau, Maigne, Malardier, Schoelcher, etc. Among the citi-
zens who had joined them were Messieurs Jules Bastide,
164 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
Alphonse Brives, Charles Broquet, Xavier Durrieu, Fre*-
doric Cournet, Kesler, Lejeune (of the Sarthe), Amnble
Lemaitre, Maillard, Ruin, Leon Watripon, and others.
There had been, it appears, a misunderstanding about
the hour fixed upon. Some among those who had prom-
ised to come arrived too late.
However this may be, toward nine o'clock the repre-
sentatives and their friends, in all forty persons, sallied
from the Roysin saloon. The representatives had put on
their scarfs. They appeared in the great street of the
Faubourg Saint- Antoine, crying, " To arms ! to the bar-
ricades ! Vive la Republique ! Vive la Constitution ! "
In a few moments a hundred workmen had joined them.
The mass, however, remained inactive, if not indifferent
The mustering ceased at the corner of Cotte and Sainte-
Marguerite streets. They commenced the task of con-
tructing a barricade, without even inquiring whether the
position was well selected. A great cart, two small car-
riages, and an omnibus, that were passing, were succes-
sively stopped, detached, and upset There were no other
materials employed ; not a stone from the pavement
In a few minutes the frail barricade was constructed. It
did not even wholly bar the great street of the faubourg,
very wide at this place. Those who constructed it were
still without arms.
The remembrance of that first barricade of December,
which was to be wetted with the blood of Representative
Baudin, has remained among the most sorrowful, but at
the same time among the proudest souvenirs of the repub-
lican party.
The men who erected it did not by any means dream
of inducing a struggle which was likely to succeed imme-
diately. In the midst of a people who were apathetic, with-
out arms, without real shelter, placed between two masses
of troops, several thousand soldiers encamped at the two
extremities of the faubourg, they had and could have
THE FIRST BARRICADE ERECTED. 165
had but one sole object: to sacrifice themselves, make
appeal to the soldiers, show them the representatives of the
people, to be slain should it be necessary, in order
that the blood poured out might arouse the combatants.
What was really noble in that action, whatever judg-
ment may be formed upon the political ideas inspiring it,
has commanded the respect of several among the most
furious enemies of the republican party. In the work of
M. de Cassagnac, already cited, 1 it is said : " What could
the isolated and rare devotion of a few montagnard depu-
ties accomplish : like Baudin, of the Ain, who had been
killed the day before, and like Gaston Dussoubs, of the
Vienne, who was to be killed on the morrow ? No real
hope of conquering, or even of resisting, with their own
resources then," etc.
Certainly, a barricade had never presented so extraordi-
nary a spectacle. Upon it were seen soldiers of the same
political faith, a hundred men whom the hazards of birth
or the accidents of life had placed in every degree of what
is called the social scale. The workmen, artisans, and
small shop-keepers, formed the greatest number, as always.
But mingled with them in this feeble group, a veritable
resume of French democracy, were counted two men who
had exercised the highest functions of the State : an ex-
Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Jules Bastide, and an under-
secretary of the Ministry of the Navy and the Colonies,
M. Schoelcher; an excellent writer, to whose talent the
works of exile have added a new eclat, M. Alphonse Esqui-
ros ; journalists of merit, Messieurs Xavier Durrieu, Kes-
ler, and Watripon; a distinguished officer of the army,
Captain Bruckner ; two old lieutenant-commanders of the
national navy, de Flotte and Cournet ; a physician, M.
Baudin ; lawyers of talent, Messieurs de Montjau, Brillier,
Bourzat, etc.
The various sections of the republican party were also
represented there. At the side of Socialists, Montagnards,
iVol. ii. p. 246.
166 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
and the " Reds," as they were then called, one might see
and he was not the least active one of the most moder-
ate members of the Left, M. Charamaule (of the I!.- rank).
The barricade was already formed, when some went to
look for arms. The crowd possessed, in all, three muskets
that had been taken from some soldiers passing singly.
They then went, the representatives at their head, to the
guard-house situated in the middle of the faubourg, near
Montreuil Street. It was occupied by a half-score of sol-
diers under the orders of a sergeant ; they allowed them-
selves to be disarmed without much resistance. There,
some one indicated the post of the Marche-Noir as being
able to supply a few muskets more. The soldiers there
were disarmed in the same way, without accident
They returned to the barricade.
Representatives Alphonse Esquiros, Madier de Montjau,
and some others, then separated from the principal group,
with the purpose of going, in company with some friends,
to attempt to bar the faubourg in the direction of the Bar-
riere du Trdne, so that the first barricade might not be
taken in the rear, by the troops stationed on the side of
the avenue of Vincennes.
Some moments afterward, it was about half-past nine
o'clock, three companies of the 19th regiment of the
line, detached from the Manila/, brigade, which occupied
Bastile Square, slowly ascended the street of the Faubourg
Saint-Antoine. They were led by Major Pujol. The
advance company was commanded by Captain Petit As
soon as they were within range of the barricade, some of
the citizens who had joined the representatives withdrew,
considering resistance an act of folly, in view of the imper-
fect condition of the barricade and the want of arms,
twenty-two muskets for a hundred men.
The representatives mounted the upset carriages, and
M. Schoelcher said, addressing himself to those who re-
mained : " Friends, not a shot until the line has opened
TROOPS ARRIVE: DEATH OF BAUDIN. 167
fire. We are going to it; if it opens fire, the first dis-
charge will be upon us. If it kills us, you will avenge us.
But until then, not a shot."
Eight representatives were standing upon the barricade :
Baudin, Brillier, Bruckner, de Flotte, Dulac, Maigne, Ma-
lardier, and Schoelcher. They signaled to the soldiery to
halt. Captain Petit responded by a negative sign. Seven
of the representatives then descended, and walked toward
the troops. They were unarmed, in single file, and wore
their official scarfs. The soldiers halted instinctively. M.
Schoelcher commenced speaking : " We are representatives
of the people," he cried ; " in the name of the Constitution
we ask for your concurrence in order to cause the law of
the country to be respected. Come with us. It will be
your glory."
" Silence 1 " answered the captain ; "'I will not hear you.
I obey my superiors. I have orders ; retire, or I will fire."
" You can kill us ; we will not flinch. Vive la Repub-
lique ! Vive la Constitution ! " the seven representatives
answered, with one voice. The officer had the arms
brought to a " ready," and commanded, " Forward ! "
Several of the representatives, believing that their last
hour had come, held their hats in a manner indicating that
death was welcome, uttering a new cry of " Vive la Repub-
lique ! " But the officer did not give the order to fire.
Nine ranks of soldiers passed successively, marching to-
ward the barricade, and turning aside from the representa-
tives without harming them. The latter continued to
adjure them to unite with themselves.
Nevertheless, some soldiers, more impatient than the
others, repulsed the representatives, menacing them with
their bayonets. A quartermaster took aim at M. Bruck-
ner ; but upon a word, calm and worthy of the representa-
tive, he raised his piece and discharged it in the air. At
the same instant, a soldier made a pass with the bayonet
at M. Schoelcher, in order to force him backward rather
168 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
than to thnist him, as M. Schoelcher himself says. Un-
fortunately, one of the Republicans who had remained
upon the barricade believed, undoubtedly, that the soldiers
were really shooting the representatives. He lowered his
piece, and fired. A soldier fell mortally wounded. The
head of the column, which was not more than three or four
paces from the barricade, responded by a general dis-
charge.
Representative Baudin (Note 111), who had remained
standing upon one of the carriages, and who continued to
harangue the soldiers, fell crushed, three balls had
shattered his skull.
A young man of the people, who was standing at Bau-
din's side, a musket in his hands, fell at the same time,
mortally wounded. We have been unable to learn the
name of this intrepid workingman, whose blood was min-
gled with that of the representative !
An incident had saddened the last moment of Baudin.
Some minutes before the arrival of the troops, he appealed
to a group of workingmen. One of them said to him :
" Do you think we wish to be killed, in helping you to
retain your twenty-five francs per day ? "
" Remain here a minute, my friend," replied Baudin,
with a bitter smile, " and you will see how one dies for
twenty-five francs ! "
The body of the representative was taken up by the sol-
diers, and carried to the Morgue. The young working-
man who had fallen by the side of Baudin, and who still
lived, was taken up by one of the Republicans present, M.
Ruin, who transported him, at the peril of his life, to a
house in the vicinity.
The troop had fired but once. It cleared the barricade,
and went into Cotte and Sainte-Margue*rite streets, follow-
ing some citizens who hurriedly retreated before them.
All these incidents occurred in less time than has been
required for their relation.
REPRESENTATIVES APPEAL TO ARMS. 169
The seven representatives who had advanced to the
front of the soldiers, had remained alone in the middle*
of the street. They did not see their colleague fall.
Some workmen soon approached ; together they bore
the body of the young soldier of the 19th, which had re-
mained lying upon the roadway, to the hospital Sainte-
Harguerite.
This pious duty being accomplished, the representatives
separated into two groups. Messieurs Schoelcher, Malar-
dier, and Brillier, continued to pass through the faubourg,
calling the people to arms. A battalion with cannon ap-
proached. Workmen drew the representatives into a court,
whose doors they closed. The troops having passed, the
representatives recommenced their journey, accompanied
by M. Sartin, who had just rejoined them. They went
through Charonne Street, rallying a few men around them.
At the Basfroid cross-roads, five or six workmen tore up
the pavement in order to commence a barricade. But the
voices of the representatives found but a slight echo.
" They greeted us from the doors and windows," says M.
Schoelcher ; " they swung their hats and caps ; they re-
peated with us, Vive la Republique ! but they did noth-
ing more. It must be confessed, indeed, that people would
not stir ; they had made up their minds."
After about an hour of vain attempts, the representa-
tives quitted the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in order to go
and rejoin their friends in other quarters of Paris, where
resistance was tried with more success.
The noise of the events which had just transpired in
the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, spread rapidly throughout
all the city, increased as always by public rumor. The
news that Representative Baudin had been killed while
giving the signal of resistance, produced in the quarters
more remote from the scene of action a much more pro-
found impression than in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
From that moment the agitation increased, and soon ac-
170 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
quired considerable proportions. Crowds gathering from
parts, and from hour to hour, above all in the central sec-
tions, assumed a more menacing attitude. Between the
boulevards, Temple and Saint-Denis streets, and the
quays ; in this, at that time inextricable entanglement of
populous, narrow, and crooked streets, eminently favorable
to a war of barricades, armed groups, still rare but full
of audacity, were now to be encountered for the first
time. The proclamations and appeals to arms of the
Left were openly placarded in these quarters. Barricades
began to rise in Saint-Denis, Aumaire, Gren^ta, Transno-
uain, Bourg 1'AbbtS, Beaubourg, and other streets. But
they were mostly individual attempts, improvised without
general plan, without understanding between the divers
groups.
Those of the republican representatives who urged re-
sistance and appeared in the assemblages, were not agreed
as to the opportunity for open and violent conflict ; while
several (those who had gone to the Faubourg Saint-An-
toine, and others still, among them the illustrious poet
Victor Hugo) were of opinion that it was important to
commence barricades immediately, and to resist with fire-
arms. Others thought it would be best to temporize still ;
to wait until the people appeared better disposed, etc.
Hence, a thousand different counsels that crossed each
other in the various assemblages, and often paralyzed the
good-will of the most resolute. It was rumored about
that a committee of resistance, composed of republican
representatives, was constituted. Many passed long hours
in search for this committee, whom it was so much the
more difficult to join, because its members mostly acted
individually in different quarters.
However, while many Republicans have complained
because on that day of the 3d, the inactivity of some, the
counter-orders of others, compromised the success of re-
sistance, it is incontestable that the movement increased
VICTOR HUGO'S APPEAL TO ARMS. 171
singularly in the afternoon of that day, and that the ap-
pearance of Paris became more and more sombre.
In the rich quarters about the Boulevard des Italiens,
there were the same noisy demonstrations as the day be-
fore, still more emphatic. Some charges of cavalry were
executed in order to disperse the throngs ; there was, how-
ever, no effusion of blood on that day, in those quarters.
North of the Seine, the agitation had reached the Fau-
bourg Saint-Marceau, whither Representative de Flotte
had gone, after the death of Baudin.
At Belleville, 1 Representative Madier de Montjau and
M. Jules Bastide succeeded in causing a commencement
of hostilities. Barricades were begun. An appeal to arms,
whose language has been preserved, was printed and pla-
carded in great numbers of copies. It was conceived as
follows :
"To ARMS!
" The Republic, attacked by him who had sworn fealty thereto,
most defend itself and punish the traitors.
"At the voice of its faithful Representatives, the Faubourg
Saint-Antoine is aroused and combating.
" The Departments await but a signal, and it is given.
" Up, all those who wish to live and die free !
" For the Committee of Resistance of the Montagne; the dele-
gated Representative of the People,
" A. MADIER MONTJAU."
The warrant of the High Court of Justice was likewise
printed and distributed by thousands of copies, especially
in the wealthy quarters. In the streets in the vicinity of
Saint-Martin Square, people gathered around an appeal to
arms, audaciously placarded by some young men. This
document is not signed ; but the style of Victor Hugo, by
whom it was in fact prepared, will be easily recognized
in it.
i In the northeast corner of Paris. Trantlatort,
172 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
"To THE An MY!
" SOLDIERS !
" A man has juit broken the Constitution.
" Look toward the true function of the French army. To
protect the country ; to propagate revolution ; to deliver the
people ; to sustain nationalities ; to free the continent ; to break
chains everywhere ; to defend the right everywhere ; these are
your part among the armies of Europe. You are worthy of the
great battle-fields.
" Return to yourselves ; reflect ; recognize yourselves ; rise up
again. Think of your generals arrested
" Soldiers ! if you are the Grand Army, respect the Grand
Nation.
" We citizens ; we representatives of the people, and your
representatives ; we, your friends, your brothers; we who are
the law and the right ; we who array ourselves before you,
stretching out our arm to you, and which you strike down. . .
do you know what it is that drives us to despair ?
It is not our blood which is flowing away ; it is, to see ....
NOBLE APPEAL OF A COMMITTEE. 173
" If you persist, do you know what history will say of you ?
She will say
" French soldiers ! cease to assist
" PARIS, 3d December 1851."
We believed that we might legally give this revolution-
ary piece in extenso, by reason of its being a historical
document. Several proclamations, as violent in expres-
sion, have been reproduced in France without trouble.
Nevertheless, a scruple seized us at the last moment, and
we substitute points for the too emphatic passages. (Note
112.)
A very active group, having numerous relations with
the working population, had organized during the day,
and ardently urged forward resistance. They were, prin-
cipally, Messieurs Leroux, representative of the people ;
Desmoulins, typographer ; Gustave Naquet, a political ref-
ugee who had just arrived from London, at the risk of
being recognized on the frontier ; Boquet, Notre", and
some delegates of the laboring associations. It was to
this group that the preparation of a very remarkable doc-
ument, which was placarded in the evening, was due.
M. Mayer, who has reproduced it in his work, says that
it was spread about in profusion. Here is the text of
it:
" To THE WORKINd PEOPLE !
" Citizens and Companions ! The social pact is broken !
" A royalist majority, in concert with Louis Napoleon, vio-
lated the Constitution on the 31st of May, 1850.
" In spite of the. magnitude of that outrage we were waiting
for the general election of 1852, in order to obtain a signal repa-
ration thereof.
174 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
" But yesterday, be who was the President of the Republic
effaced that solemn date.
Under pretext of restoring to the people a right which no
one could take from them, he wishes in reality to place them
under a military dictatorship.
" Citizens, we will not be the dupes of this shameless artifice.
" How could we believe in the sincerity and disinterestedness
of Louis Napoleon ?
" He talks of maintaining the Republic, and he casts the Re-
publicans into prison.
' He promises the reestablishment of universal suffrage, and he
has just formed an Advisory Council of the men who mutilated it.
" He speaks of his respect for the independence of opinions ;
and he suspends the newspapers, he invades the printing-offices,
he disperses popular meetings.
He calls the people to an election, and he puts them under
martial law. He contemplates we know not what perfidious
legerdemain, which would place the elector under the scrutiny of
a police kept in pay by him.
" He does more : he exercises a coercion upon our brothers of
the army, and violates the human conscience in forcing them to
vote for him, under the eye of their officers, in forty-eight hours.
" He is ready, he says, to resign his power ; and he contracts a
loan of twenty-five millions, binding the future, under the prod-
uce of the imposts, which indirectly affect the sustenance of the
poor.
" Falsehood, hypocrisy, perjury I such is the policy of this
usurper.
" Citizens and companions 1 Louis Napoleon has outlawed him-
self. The majority of the Assembly, that majority which has
assaulted universal suffrage, is dissolved.
" The minority alone maintain a legitimate authority. Let us
rally around that minority. Let us fly to the deliverance of the
republican prisoners; let us gather in the midst of us the repre-
sentatives faithful to universal suffrage; let us make for them a
rampart of our breasts; let our delegates come and increase their
ranks, and form with them the nucleus of the new National As-
sembly !
" Then, united in the name of the Constitution, under the in-
spiration of our fundamental dogma, Liberty, Fraternity, Equal-
THE PREFECT OF POLICE ALARMED. 175
ity, in the shadow of the popular flag, we shall easily get the
advantage of the new Caesar and of his praetorians.
" THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF ASSOCIATIONS.
" The proscribed Republicans come within our walls again, in
order to second the popular efforts."
Two despatches from M. de Maupas to M. de Moray,
dated the afternoon of the 3d, will now show how the
Prefect of Police regarded the situation on his part.
THE PREFECT OF POLICE TO THE MINISTER OF THE IN-
TERIOR.
" Four o'clock, December 3.
" Here is the word of order which the delegates are sending at
this very moment to all sections : ' Everybody to the Faubourg
Saint- Antoine, and to that of the Temple, this evening ! Ledru-
Rollin, Causidiere, Mazzini (Note 113), will be in Paris to-mor-
row morning at six o'clock at the latest. Let us not deceive our-
selves ; it is the great struggle of 1852, which we have to fight in
December 1851.'
" I am assured that the Prince de Joinville debarks at Cher-
bourg; that his brothers will try to penetrate France at other
points (Note 114). Cherbourg then is essential to be watched
over. For my part, I am going to keep watch of the approaches
to Paris.
" Madier de Montjau is killed ; Schoelcher seriously wounded.
We shall find in our enemies, when they shall have recovered
from the first shock, the resolution of despair.
" Barricades at the Medical College. The Moniteur calls for
work immediately.
" The representatives of Pyramides Street are trying to renew
to-day their session of yesterday. I do not believe they are hos-
tile ; nevertheless, I would like to have your advice as to what
action to take.
" The Prefect of Police,
" DE MAUPAS.
" P. S. The truth as to the situation. The sentiment of the
masses is the safest element of wise and good resolutions ; at the
same time it is the most imperative duty for the Prefect of Po-
lice. I ought to say, then, that I do not believe that the popular
sympathies are with us. We find no enthusiasm anywhere. Those
176 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
who approve of us are lukewarm ; those who fight us are inex-
pressibly hostile. The good side of the medal whose reverse I
have just given you, is : that at all points, chiefs and soldiers,
the troops seem decided to act with intrepidity. Thia was proved
this morning. It is there that our strength and safety lie. For
my part, however pessimist I may be, I firmly believe in suc-
cess." ....
THE PREFECT or POLICE TO THE MINISTER OF THE Iw-
TERIOR.
"PARIS, December 8, 1851, four and a quarter o'clock.
" They are commencing barricades in Rambuteau Street, at the
height of Saint-Denis and Saint-Martin streets. Vehicles have
been stopped.
" It is affirmed that Madier de Montjau is not dead, and that
he is among the groups. The cry ' To arms I ' is raised at the cor-
ner of Grendta Street. The point of general assemblage at this
moment is in the quarter of Saint-Martin. It seems certain that
a troop, chosen from among men of action, is convoked in arms,
at about five o'clock, in Saint-Martin's Square, and that the lead-
ers of this troop have announced that the question would be as
to proceeding to the President's house. It is pretended, too, that
the Rouen patriots are arriving, and that Ledru-llollin is in the
outskirts of the city.
M For the Prefect of Police, at this moment at the Council of the
Ministtrt.
"THE DELEGATED COMMISSARY OF THE GOVERNMENT."
Toward three o'clock, the bill-posters of the Prefecture
of Police placarded the two proclamations following,
which would suffice alone to cause the real condition of
Paris at this moment to be appreciated.
The first is from M. de Maupas :
" WE, PREFECT OF POLICE, ETC.
M Order as follows :
44 ART. 1. All assembling together is strictly prohibited. It
will be entirely dispersed by force.
A K i . 2. All seditious cries, all public reading, all placarding
of political writings not emanating from a regularly constituted
authority, are likewise prohibited.
CAPTIVES ARE TO BE SHOT. 177
" ART. 3. The agents of the public force will attend to the
execution of the present order.
" Done at the Prefecture of Police, December 3, 1851.
" The Prefect of Police,
"DE MAUPAS.
" Examined and approved,
" The Minister of the Interior,
"Dfi MORNY."
The second proclamation emanated from the Minister
of War, M. de Saint- Arnaud :
"INHABITANTS OF PARIS!
" The enemies of order and society have entered into conflict.
It is not against the government, against the elect of the na-
tion, that they combat, but they desire pillage and destruction.
" Let good citizens unite, in the name of society and of men-
aced families.
" Remain calm, inhabitants of Paris ! No useless curious peo-
ple in the streets. They impede the movements of the brave
soldiers who protect you with their bayonets.
" As for myself, you will find me always unshaken in the deter-
mination to defend you, and to maintain order.
" The Minister of War by virtue of the law of the state of
siege
" Orders : Every individual taken constructing or defending
a barricade, or with arms in hand, WILL BE SHOT.
" Major-General and Minister of War,
"DE SAINT- ARNAUD."
The order of M. de Saint-Arnaud was without example
in the history of our civil troubles since the commence-
ment of this century.
We do npt mean by this that prisoners had never been
shot in the wars of the streets. We should be answered
by evoking the souvenirs of April, 1834, under Louis
Philippe ; and of June, 1848, under the Republic. But the
execution of disarmed prisoners had always been, in those
lamentable instances, spontaneous acts of rage, retalia-
tion, cruelty if you please committed by exasperated
12
178 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
soldiers or national guards, drunken with the fury of the
conflict What had never been seen, was a Minister of
War ordering in advance, publicly, openly, the condemna-
tion to death and execution, without other legal form than
a discharge of musketry, of every individual taken construct-
ing or defending a barricade, or with arms in hand.
As to the law of the state of siege, had in view by M. de
Saint- Arnaud, it is hardly necessary to say that it did not
contain, and never has contained any provision of that
sort.
Besides, these proclamations, so threatening, far from
abating the commotion, contributed perhaps to give it a
more lively impulse.
What is indisputable is, that these placards were posted
at about three o'clock, and that at four o'clock volleys of
musketry began to be exchanged in the streets where we
have indicated the construction of barricades.
An ocular witness, very credible, has related to us a
curious fact which he had occasion to remark, in the
morning of the next day, on the subject of the effect pro-
duced by these proclamations.
The order of M. de Saint- Arnaud was placarded at cer-
tain points where barricades arose ; and the Republicans
who took part in their construction had not even taken
the trouble to tear down these bills.
They could read, and they did read, posted upon the
walls that supported their barricade, the order which
threatened them with death and summary execution, if
they should have the misfortune to be captured.
At half-past four o'clock, General Herbillon started from
the City Hall Square (Hotel de Ville) at the head of a
column composed of a battalion of dismounted chasseurs,
and two battalions of the line, with one piece of cannon.
It passed through Temple and llambuteau streets, as far as
the Church of Saint-Kustache, scouring the neighboring
streets by its detachments. The barricades were carried
everywhere without serious resistance. The citizens who
SKIRMISHES IN OLD PARIS. 179
had constructed them had instinctively adopted as their
tactics, to harass the troops, scarcely defending the barri-
cades, but reoccupying them in the rear of the troops ;
thus fatiguing the soldiers by continual alarms.
Up to nine o'clock in the evening there was in all these
quarters a series of skirmishes, some of which were quite
active. A barricade in Aumaire Street was resolutely de-
fended ; another likewise near the National Printing-office.
The movable gendarmery took this latter. Toward nine
o'clock in the evening an armed assemblage, which appears
to have been quite numerous, more than a hundred men,
had reoccupied the barricades of Grene*ta, Transnonain,
and Beaubourg streets. A real combat was entered into
at this point. Colonel Chapuis had attacked the barricades
in front with a battalion of the third regiment of the line.
He met with a very active resistance, until a battalion of the
sixth of the line, light infantry, Boulatigny commanding,
debouched upon the rear of the defenders of the barricades,
and placed them between two fires. A certain number fell,
fighting. From sixty to eighty were captured, and several
of them were immediately shot. General Magnan says, in
his official report, " All the obstacles (in Beaubourg Street)
were carried on the run, and those who defended them
were put to death." 1
While the discharge of firearms was resounding in those
quarters of the centre of old Paris, the republican repre-
sentatives at liberty continued to meet together and con-
cert matters. The Committee of Resistance had issued
several provisional decrees, which it had procured to be
printed. One of these decrees bestowed upon Baudin the
honors of the Pantheon (Note 115); another convoked the
electors to choose a sovereign assembly, etc.
At five o'clock in the evening, quite a considerable meet-
ino- took place at the house of M. Landrin. There were
O
noticed, besides the several representatives whom we have
already named, Messieurs Gamier-Pages and Marie, old
1 Passes par les Armes.
180 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
members of the provisional government ; M. J. Bastide,
Messieurs Etnile de Girardin (Note 116); and Napoleon
Bonaparte (to-day Prince Napoleon), cousin of the Presi-
dent
There, the events of the day, and the course of conduct
to be taken, were considered. M. Emile de Girardin pro-
posed, it is said, that all the representatives remaining free
constitute themselves prisoners, and that a general refusal
to do duty (greve) be organized, until the fall of the Presi-
dent A very spirited altercation arose after this proposi-
tion, between Messieurs Emile de Girardin and Michel
(of Bourges). Nothing, it seems, was decided upon in this
meeting, save the framing of a new proclamation, conceived
in the most energetic terms, which was signed by all the
representatives present, the signature of him who to-day
is Prince Napoleon, being comprised therein. This at
least is what persons worthy of belief have affirmed to us.
In a second meeting, at M. Marie's, some resolutions were
passed. It was determined there, it seems, to take an active
part in the armed resistance which was becoming more
serious. Besides, the sentiments of the populace seemed
so far modified, that hope of success, confidence in the issue
01 the crisis, to those even who the day before were most
afflicted by the attitude of the people, was restored to
them.
All the Republicans who traversed Paris in the evening
of December 3, affirm even to-day, that no revolutionary
movement had ever seemed more potent, on the first day
of conflict, than that which was being manifested at this
moment
The most enthusiastic writers upon the Coup cTEtat,
have not disguised the fact that on the third, in the even-
ing, the groups that formed and re-formed upon the boule-
vards, from the Chauss'e d'Antin to the Faubourg du
Temple (Note 117), and especially in the adjacent streets,
in spite of the patrols and the charges of cavalry, presented
the sombre and menacing aspect of the Parisian throngs in
A CHARGE BY THE LANCERS. 181
the first part of the great revolutionary days. Rumors of
bad news for Louis Napoleon mostly false were re-
ceived with avidity. The few persons who dared, in the
midst of the throngs, express opinions favorable to the
President, were threatened, maltreated even.
The incitements of the Republicans who traversed, the
streets, aroused, on the contrary, cheers and acclamations.
An old constituent, now dead, M. Xavier Durrieu, who
wrote some time after the event, said : " Upon my honor, I
declare, that from seven o'clock until midnight (the 3d of
December), all my hope had returned. I almost believed
the revolution assured I was present dur-
ing the last hours of the reign of Louis Philippe ; I was
strongly identified with the events which led to his fall ;
but in truth, never had I met with .... " We
cannot finish the quotation literally ; but the meaning is,
that M. Durrieu had never, even in February, seen a mass
so strongly inclined to revolution.
It is not without interest now to transcribe a passage
from the book of the military writer, the enthusiast of the
2d of December, M. Mauduit ; a passage relating an inci-
dent of that evening of the 3d. It will be seen that the
impressions felt by these two men, with opinions so diamet-
rically opposed, confirm the reality of the facts such as
they appeared to us, that is to say, the feeling of hostility
toward the Coup d'Etat, on the part of the people, in the
evening of the 3d of December.
" December 3d," says M. Mauduit, " at about half-past six
o'clock in the evening, Colonel Rochefort, of the First Lancers, re-
ceived orders to start, "with two squadrons only, in order to main-
tain the boulevards unobstructed, from the Rue de la Paix to the
Boulevard du Temple. That mission was all the more delicate,
because he had been prohibited from repressing by force other
cries than those of ' Vive la Republique democratique et sociale ! '
" The colonel, foreboding what was to happen, had warned all
his detachment not to be astonished by the crowd to be passed
through, and by its utterances. He directed his lancers to remain
182 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
calm, impassible, up to the moment when he should order the
charge ; and, once an engagement commenced, to show no mercy
to any person whatever.
44 Scarcely arrived upon the boulevards, at the height of the Rue
de la Paix, he found himself in the presence of an immense tide of
people, manifesting the most marled hostility, under the mask of
the cry of, * Vive la Repitblique !.'.' ' Those lawful exclamations
were accompanied by menacing gestures.
44 With eyes and ears open, ready to order the charge upon the
first seditious cry, the colonel continued to march thus, on the
walk, followed by frightful yells, as far as the Boulevard du Tem-
ple.
" The colonel having received orders to charge all the groups
he should encounter upon the roadway, availed himself of a mili-
tary trick ; the result of which was the chastisement of a certain
number of these vociferators in overcoats.
44 He masked his squadrons for a few moments, in an uneven
piece of ground near the Chateau d'Eau, in order to distract their
attention, and to make them believe that he was occupied in the
direction of the Bastile Square. But suddenly making a half-
turn, without being perceived, and ordering the buglers and the
advance-guard to enter the ranks, he went marching on at a walk,
until the moment when he found himself in the densest part of that
compact and incalculable crowd, with the intention of PIRRCINO
WITH THE LANCE all who should oppose his passage.
44 The most audacious, emboldened perhaps by the pacific demon-
Oration of these two squadrons, placed themselves in front of the
colonel, and caused the insulting cries of ' Vive F Assemble Na-
tionale '.!! A bat let traitres ! ' (Long live the National Assembly 1
Down with the traitors !) to be heard. Recognizing in this cry a
challenge, Colonel Rochefort launched like a furious lion into the
midst of the group whence it arose, cutting, thrusting, and lancing.
There remained QUITE A NUMBKR OF DEAD UPON THB GROUND.
44 In these groups, but/ew individuals in blouse* were found.
44 The lancers bore this severe moral test with admirable calm-
ness. Their confidence was not shaken by it a moment, etc.
' Returning to the Place Venddme, ///. mission accomplished,
Colonel Rochefort hastened to report the matter to Major-General
Carrelet"
tlfiltiaire du 2 Dtctmbrt, par It Capitaint IT. Afaudvit, pp.
176, 177, et 178.
RESULT OF A COUNCIL OF WAR. 183
At midnight, Paris seemed to have become calm again.
Certain people in governmental places believed that all was
finished.
It was on that evening that Generals Bedeau, Cavaignac,
Changarnier, Lamoriciere, and Leflo, as well as Messieurs
Baze, Charras, and Roger (of the North), were conducted
to the northern railway station, in order to be transported
to Ham, the old prison of Louis Napoleon.
On that fearful night, whilst the movement of resistance
was growing, and threatened to inaugurate (as M. de
Morny communicated to General Magnan) the days of the
2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th of December, the counterparts of the
26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th of July, or the 22d, 23d, and
24th of February, on that night, when it was of capital
importance to choose a line of conduct, a great military
council was held, at which were present, the Minister of
War, Saint-Arnaud ; the General-in-chief, Magnan ; the
principal generals of division of the army of Paris ; M. de
Morny, and probably also, the President of the Repub-
lic, although we could not affirm this latter particular.
There, M. de Morny caused the plan of operations to pre-
vail, which he had recommended with so much persistence
to M. Magnan. It may be summed up as follows : To con-
centrate the troops in great masses, care for them, feed
them well, keep them from coming into contact with the
people, withdraw the too feeble posts, dispense with patrols,
allow the barricades to be constructed. Then, the moment
for action being carefully chosen, to attack unexpectedly,
with compact forces, and crush all resistance.
The last sentence of one of the dispatches of M. de
Morny to General Magnan, has not been forgotten : " It is
only by holding aloof, by surrounding a quarter and taking
it by famine, or by invading it with terror, that urban war-
fare (guerre de vitte) will be carried on." This plan was
adopted. The continuance of this narrative will show with
what exactness it was followed.
CHAPTER VI.
ON Thursday morning, December 4, the agitation com-
menced early. The attitude of the people did not belie
the hopes which the Republicans had formed in the even-
ing of the previous day.
The throng was soon immense, at the ordinary points of
gathering. From the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle to the
Chateau d'Eau, and in all the neighboring quarters, the
crowds were enormous. The working-men predominated
there ; their sentiments seemed quite modified since the
last two days ; the revolutionary movement was gaining the
masses. Armed men showed themselves in groups. The
appeals to arms, printed in the night, were read loudly.
The throng applauded.
The strangest rumors circulated. At times, people
talked of the escape of arrested generals, who were said to
have succeeded in rallying some regiments in a neighbor-
ing department, and who would march against Paris ; at
times of the triumphant popular insurrection, it was said at
Rheims and at Orleans. Later, it was the contradictory
news, but not less greedily received, of the summary exe-
cution of General Bedeau and Colonel Charras. This was
false, but it was believed. There were likewise related a
thousand details concerning the shootings that had followed
the combats of the day before ; upon the throttling of pris-
oners, massacred in cold blood. Some announced the
approximate arrival of the Republicans exiled since 1849.
Some said that General Neumayer the general disgraced
after Satory had pronounced in favor of the National
Assembly, and was arriving at the head of his troops.
THE BANK OF FRANCE DESPOILED. 185
These rumors found so much credence in the multitude,
that the Prefect of Police himself, to whom his agents
brought it, was tempted to believe in the reality of some of
them, as will be seen further on.
The excitement which the announcement of such mat-
ters produced in the public, is conceived without difficulty.
A rumor of a different character, quite peculiar, also cir-
culated, was so persistently affirmed, and so generally
accepted as true, that the government was disturbed about
it.
It was said that twenty millions ($4,000,000) had been
removed from the Bank of France (Note 118), by order of
the President of the Republic. It was added that part of
that considerable sum had been distributed among the
principal cooperators of the Coup a" Mat some mentioned
the figures of the sums given to such or such ones, and
the remainder, it was assured, was dispensed since the pre-
vious day, in largesses to the troops.
The newspapers published, a little later, letters from
Messieurs Casabianca, a former Minister of the Finances,
and d'Argout, a director of the Bank of France, which
opposed the most formal denial to these assertions. The
latter declared that a sum of twenty or twenty-five millions*
due to the state by the bank, and whose payment might
have been required at, this moment, had not been with-
drawn. Nevertheless, these rumors left so many traces,
that several years after the event M. Granier de Cassag-
nac judged it necessary to respond by the recital of a fact
until then unknown.
" The truth," he said, " about the disbursements to the soldiers
during the days of the 2d, 3d, and 4th of December, is much more
simple and much more noble.
" When the Prince decided, on the evening of the 1st of Decem-
ber, to save society by a decisive measure, he had remaining of all
his personal fortune, of all his patrimony, a sum of fifty thousand
francs ($10,000). He knew that in certain memorable circum-
186 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
stances, the troops had flapped before the riot for want of provis-
ions, and more starved than vanquished. He took, then, up to
the last crown-piece, what he had left, and charged General Floury
to go, brigade by brigade, and man by man, and distribute this
last farthing to the soldiers, conquerors of the demagogues." *
(Note 119.)
In the first hours of the morning, M. de Maupas caused
a new proclamation, more significant than the preceding
ones even, to be posted up :
"INHABITANTS OF PARIS !
' Like us, you desire order and peace : like us, you are impa-
tient to have done with this handful of factionists, who have raised,
since yesterday, the flag of insurrection.
" Everywhere our courageous and intrepid army has overthrown
and vanquished them.
" The people have remained deaf to their provocations. There -
are nevertheless measures which the public safety requires.
" Martial law is decreed.
" Making use of the powers which it gives us, we, the Prefect of
Police, order :
"Article 1. The movement of all vehicles, public or private,
is prohibited. There will be no exceptions but in favor of those
employed in supplying food to Paris, and in the transportation of
materials.
" Pedestrians, standing in the public streets, and forming in
groups, WILL BE DISPERSED BY FORCE WITHOUT A PREVI-
OUS SUMMONS.
" Let peaceable citizens remain in their lodgings. There will be
serious peril in violating the provisions decreed.
44 The Prefect of Police,
"Da MAUPAS.
"PARIS, December 4, 1851."
M. P. Mayer, in his Histoire du 2 Decembre, has com-
mented upon this proclamation, in terms which deserve to
be reproduced :
" At daybreak," he says, " the Prefect of Police posted up the
1 flitt'iire de l>i Chute tie Luuit-Pliilijipe, tome ii. pp. 433, 434.
STRONG BARRICADES ERECTED. 187
following proclamation (the proclamation follows). For every-
body except the deaf and blind, it was intended to mean, and did
mean : ' There is to be a great battle to-day ; let those who do
not wish to be killed, not go upon the field of combat.' This docu-
ment is, and was, an answer to all the reproaches of inhumanity,
and all the evocations of innocent blood poured out, that parties,
since the fatal combat of the boulevard Poissonniere, have sought to
bring upon the government." 1
But let us not anticipate concerning what M. Mayer calls
" the fatal combat of the Boulevard Poissonniere."
All the troops having been withdrawn, as agreed in the
military council, nothing opposed the construction of bar-
ricades. As early as nine o'clock in the morning, they
arose in great number, in the streets comprised between
the boulevards and the quays, and Montmartre and Tem-
ple streets ; likewise in the Faubourg Saint- Martin, as far
as the approaches to the canal. That portion of the popu-
lar mass which in times of revolution scarcely moves until
the third day, did not yet act, but it revealed its sympathy
with those who acted. The latter were the elite of the
intrepid Republicans in Paris, as well of the people, as of
the bourgeoisie.
A formidable barricade was constructed at about eleven
o'clock, in Saint-Denis Street, in sight of the boulevard.
It was flanked with obstructions of less importance, that
barred all the neighboring streets. Little-Carreau Street
was already at the same hour intersected by five or six
barricades. There were more still in Jeuneurs and Tique-
tonne streets, and in nearly all the streets that open from
that side into Montmartre Street. In the centre, toward
Greneta Street, all the barricades overthrown by the troops
in the evening of the previous day were reerected and
fortified. Quite a number of them were seen in Saint-
Martin Street, in the approaches to the market of that
name. A very strong one was constructed as far up as
i Page 151.
188 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
the Conservatory of Arts and Trades. Temple Street, in
the part adjoining the boulevards, was cut by them ; also
the small streets near by. Toward the quays, between the
H6tel de Ville and the Church of Saint-Eustache, all the
streets were covered with improvised intrenchments. The
cloister of Saint-Merri, celebrated in the revolutionary
demonstrations of June, 1832, was barricaded.
At the corner of Temple and Rambuteau streets, a for-
midable barricade was erected, almost as well constructed
as that of Saint-Denis Street
Toward noon, barricades were commenced even on the
boulevards. A quite considerable one was erected on
the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, some twenty metres from
the gate Saint-Denis. (Note 120.)
In front of the Theatre du Gymnase, another obstruction
was begun, but remained quite imperfect A few capsized
vehicles, garnished with materials of demolition accruing
from public urinals that the crowd had thrown down,
formed at this point an advanced post, where about fifteen
armed men were stationed.
At the same hour, toward noon, the mayoralty of the
5th district, in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, was
taken without great resistance by a crowd of Republi-
cans, mostly working-men. We can name among them ;
citizens Laurens, an old sergeant of artillery ; A. Gay,
Edouard Baudoin, Bourdon, and Favrelle. Most of these
citizens were transported to Africa some months later.
There have also been mentioned among those who fig-
ured a little later in the barricades of the Faubourg Saint-
Martin : citizens Dcnis-Dussoubs, he who died like a
hero a few hours later ; Artaud, Lebloy, Longepied, and J.
Luneau, a lieutenant of the republican guard, retired be-
cause of his democratic principles, and who had gone to
the barricades, dressed in his uniform. There were found
at the mayoralty of the .Oth district, three hundred mus-
kets, and ammunition. It was the drum-major of the le-
FEELING OF THE NATIONAL GUARD. 189
gion who voluntarily indicated the cellar in which this
deposit of arms was found.
During this time, other groups traversed the quarters
of the centre, principally the warehouse streets, asking
for arms. The bourgeois donated their guns willingly.
Thus it was that many arms of the fifth legion of the Na-
tional Guard passed into the hands of the Republicans
disposed to fight. The impulse was already strong enough
in those quarters for the famous inscription, u Arms
given " which is scarcely seen until the moment of trium-
phant insurrection, to be read upon the doors and shop-
fronts of all those streets. A correspondence which may
be read in the Moniteur, between M. de Morny and Gen-
eral Lowcestine, commander of the National Guards,
adds faith to what we advance concerning this. Here is
an extract from the letter of De Morny, dated Decem-
ber 7 :
To THE SUPERIOR COMMANDER OF THE NATIONAL GUARDS
OF THE SEINE.
" PARIS, December 7.
" General: In several quarters of Paris some proprietors
have had the indecency to put upon their doors, ' Arms given.'
One would conceive that one of the National Guard would
write, Arms wrested by force, in order to shelter his responsibil-
ity. I have ordered the Prefect of Police to have these inscrip-
tions effaced, etc.
"Signed : DE MORNY."
General Lowoestine responded the same day, designat-
ing the 5th legion as the one whose arms had been thus
given. It was disbanded immediately.
From the Boulevard Montmartre to the Chausse"e d'An-
tin, in a section which is rarely seen to sympathize with
revolutionary movements, the multitude was great, and a
prey to extreme agitation. The " Yellow-gloves," accord-
ing to the expression of M. Granier de Cassagnac, ap-
plauded resistance. The detailed aides-de-camp, the re-
190 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
connoitring platoons, that broke through this well-
dressed mass, were received with cries of anger : "A bat
let traitres ! A bat Ut Prctorient ! " (" Down with the trai-
tors ! Down with the Pretorian cohorts ! ") A staff-officer
was assaulted at the corner of the Rue de la Paix (Peace
Street), unhorsed, and had difficulty in escaping from the
crowd, who were disposed to treat him roughly.
" The revolt," says AI. de Cassagnac, " had found, if not
partisans, at least auxiliaries, in a part of the lettered and
well-to-do younger class, belonging either to the press or
to the commerce of Paris. These young people filled with
tumult the richest and most elegant part of the boulevards,
where it had not seemed probable that communism was to
expect such a diversion." *
The same writer has said elsewhere : " When the dead
bodies of the rioters were gathered up, what were found
to be in the majority ? Malefactors and Yellow-gloves." a
The word " malefactors," is here, like M communism," a
little higher up. It is an honest and moderate style of
designating the men of the people who fell on the 4th of
December. We have under our eyes a list very incom-
plete, it is true, but the only official one that has been
published of the dead of that day. Of one hundred and
fifty-three names inscribed thereon, many belonged to the
middling class : merchants, lawyers, retired business men,
land-owners ; many also are names of working-men. He
who has cast this posthumous insult upon them male-
factors would be shamefully embarrassed in the presence
of that funereal list, were he compelled to say which of
those dead deserved, on account of his public or private
life, to be tarnished with the name of " malefactor."*
But let us continue our narrative.
The agitation was not concentrated in the quarters of
1 Hutairt de la Chute <lt I^oHu-Phili/tpe, etc., vol. ii. pp. 427, 428.
Rf.cit C'mipltl et Authtntit/tit, etc., p. 38.
See thix lit in the Appendix.
DE MADPAS CALLS FOR CANNON. 191
which we have just spoken. Attempts at barricades were
made at many other points. In the quarters south of the
Seine, gatherings were numerous. Some young men in
the schools tried repeatedly to raise barricades, especially
in La Harpe, Saint- Andre-des-Arts, and Dauphine streets,
and at the Buci cross-roads.
The Faubourg Saint -Antoine became aroused. Bar-
ricades were formed there which de Courtigis' brigade
destroyed only by employing force.
Some were also commenced near the upper part of the
Faubourg Poissonniere ; several quite strong ones at the
Chapelle-Saint-Denis. At Montmartre, and at the Batig-
nolles (Note 121), the commotion was also very violent
The following despatches of M. de Maupas show how
threatening the situation appeared to him :
THE PREFECT OF POLICE TO THE MINISTER OF THE Ix-
TEKIOR.
" Thursday, December 4, 1851, one and a quarter o'clock.
" The tidings are becoming quite serious. The insurgents are
occupying the mayoralties ; the shopkeepers are delivering their
arms to them. The mayoralty of Ward V. is occupied by the
insurgents. They are fortifying themselves at this point. To
allow them to increase now would be an act of great imprudence.
Now is the moment for striking a decisive blow. The sound and
the effect of cannon are necessary; and they are needed immedi-
ately. Let the rumors not spread that there is indecision in the
authorities ; that would be giving a useless moral force to our
enemies.
" The Prefect of Police.
" Signed: DE MAUPAS."
THE PREFECT OF POLICE TO THE MINISTER OF THE IN-
TERIOR.
" Thursday, December 4.
" The barricades are assuming great proportions in the quar-
ter Saint-Denis. Houses are already occupied by the mob ; they
192 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
are firing from the windows. The barricades go up as high as the
second story. We have had nothing so serious yet" 1
M. de Moray, as Doctor Veron states, had pushed per-
sonally a reconnaissance toward the quarters in arms. Re-
entering the Ministry of the Interior, "and finding his
waiting visitors pale, frightened at this news that numer-
ous barricades were raised in Paris, he said to all, with an
animated gayety : * How now ! Yesterday you wanted
barricades ; they are making you some, and you are not
pleased at it' " a
A little later, toward one o'clock undoubtedly, he ad-
dressed a despatch to General Magnan, in which are no-
ticed these words : " I am going, in accordance with your
report, to have the political societies of the boulevards
closed. STRIKE STRONGLY IN THAT DIRECTION."
. In fact, the moment had come in which the plan of
campaign revealed by the despatches of the 3d, from M.
de Morny to General Magnan, and definitively resolved
upon in the military council of the day before, might be
executed with full success.
The barricades were in fact already numerous, and suffi-
ciently strong for their defenders to be tempted to accept
combat The number of the latter was not considerable
enough for the result of the conflict to be doubtful ; but
they formed a nucleus of elite, comprising the most ener-
getic men of the republican party, workmen and bourgeait.
Should it be vouchsafed to them to keep up during one
day more the warfare of skirmishers, their numbers were
to increase tenfold, and the morning of the morrow
would have found them formidable. By enveloping the
quarters in which they were entrenched with great masses
of troops, by attacking with vigor, what revolutionary
Paris accounted the most intrepid men could be crushed
by a single blow.
l Krproducwl in the Mi-moiru <tun Bouryeoit de Parit, by Dr. V<5ron.
3 Vol. vi. p. 210. Pages 208, 200.
WINES LAVISHED UPON THE TROOPS. 193
The occasion was opportune for the conduct of " urban
warfare," as M. de Moray understood it
By " striking strongly " in the boulevards, they were
going to cut short the bourgeois opposition. They would
not have to fear seeing the next day, as in February, the
uniforms of the National Guard mingled with the blouses
and overcoats of the insurgents.
The soldiers, quite refreshed, kept since the previous
day away from contact with the people, bountifully sup-
plied with provisions and wines, were in as good humor as
the government could desire.
It certainly was correct to say, that in 1830 and 1848,
the want of material care had strongly contributed to
the depression of the morale of the troops. The adminis-
tration had carefully provided that a like accident should
not be repeated. We read, among other details, in the
Moniteur Parisien of the 6th of December : w Wines, eat-
ables, were lavished upon them." This newspaper is
speaking of the soldiers who encamped on the boulevards
on the evening of December 4. But it is quite legitimate
to believe that they did not wait for the issue of the con-
flict, in order to entertain the soldiers. A thousand ocu-
lar witnesses still live, who saw, in the morning, the troops
in position in the Champs-Elysees, eating and drinking
copiously. Several soldiers present told us, a few years
later, that in the matter of the contribution of material
comforts, great things were done that morning.
Nor were there any longer, isolated in the quarters in
arms, feeble posts, detached patrols, to the attack upon
which the previous revolutions had owed their first suc-
cess, and the troops their first cause of demoralization.
The employment of these military tactics, different from
the old errors, was certainly the determining cause of the
disaster to the Republicans. Several of those who es-
caped safe and sound from the struggle of the afternoon,
have told us that the revolutionary movement seemed to
13
194 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
them, in the beginning of the day, more serious than it
had on the 23d of February.
The Committee of Resistance had assembled in a neigh-
boring house of the boulevards. Favorable news flowed
in to them. One of the members of the Committee has
related some significant details, " Paris has started ! '
said, on entering, a veteran of the revolutionary struggles,
who had just traversed several quarters of the capital.
w Now let a regiment hesitate, or a legion fall out, and
Louis Napoleon is lost ! " cried M. Jules Favre, struck with
the growing progress of the popular excitement.
It seems that at the Prefecture of Police, the impres-
sion was hardly different, as to the well-understood facts.
We have seen above, this passage of the dispatch of M.
de Maupas : " To allow them (the barricades) to increase
now, would be an act of great imprudence
The noise, and the effect of cannon, are necessary, and
they are needed immediately."
General Magnan says also, in his report inserted in the
Moniteur,
" At noon, I learned that the barricades were becoming for-
midable, and that the insurgents were intrenching themselves
there. But I bad decided not to attack until two o'clock, and,
unwavering in my resolution, I did not advance a moment sooner,
whatever importunities were urged for it."
Toward one o'clock, the barricade between the Theatre
du Gymnase and the Porte Saint- Denis (Note 118, ante)
was almost finished. A young woman, standing between
two armed workingmen, at the summit of the barricade,
read an appeal of the representatives of the Left. The
throng applauded. A member sought to penetrate the
mayoralty, in what to-day is Drouot Street, asking for
arms. On the boulevards Montmartre and des Italiens,
an immense crowd, very animated, shouted : " Vive la Re-
pvMtf/iit ! Vive la Constitution!" mingled with cries di-
rectly offensive, for the President of the Republic.
GENERAL MOVEMENT OF TROOPS. 195
However, upon the whole line of the boulevards, from
the Theatre du Gymnase to the Madeleine Church, no
armed men were seen, and there were no traces of barri-
cades.
A little before two o'clock, the troops commenced their
movement.
Carrelet's division debouched from the Place Vendome,
and from the Madeleine (Note 122), in the following or-
der : at the head, the brigade of General de Bourgon ;
then the brigades of Generals de Cotte and Canrobert.
These infantry troops were supported by several batteries
of cannon and howitzers, with twelve or fifteen mortars.
The cavalry of General Reibell, two regiments of lancers,
brought up the rear of the column.
General Dulac's brigade, belonging to the same division,
took position at the Pointe Saint-Eustache, near the great
markets \Halks). The regiments composing it were sup-
ported by a battery of artillery.
Major-general Levasseur formed the Herbillon and
Marulaz brigades in columns, in the approaches to the
Hotel de Ville, and took position in the outlets of Temple,
Saint-Martin, and Saint-Denis streets. v
The de Courtigis brigade got in readiness to quit the
Barreire du Trone, in order to sweep the barricades that
had just been erected in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
On the south side of the Seine, General Renault, with
his division, occupied the Luxembourg (Note 123), the
square of the church of Saint-Sulpice, the Odeon (the-
atre), the Pantheon (Note 114), Maubert Square, and also
covered the college-district, and the Faubourg Saiut-Mar-
ceau. The Prefecture of Police, situated in the Cite,
(Note 124), was guarded by imposing forces.
If the reader has not lost sight of the position of the
barricaded quarters forming the centre of resistance, he
will see that the Republicans who had taken up arms,
were about to be assailed and enveloped by a converging
196 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
movement of the brigades of Bourgon, de Cotte, and Can-
robert on one side, and the brigades of Dulac, Herbillon,
and Manila/, on the other. There were not less than
thirty thousand men, acting in masses, whose onset they
were to brave.
It will be asked, without doubt, what was the number
of the armed citizens who occupied the barricades ? How-
ever difficult it may be to form such an estimate, it is not
impossible to arrive at an approximate figure.
It is agreed that there were a hundred combatants at
the Porte Saint-Martin ; about one hundred and fifty at
the great barricade in the street of the same name ; a like
number at the approaches to the Conservatory of the
Arts and Trades ; two hundred and fifty at most, in the
Faubourg Saint-Martin ; seven or eight groups of fifteen
to twenty men each, in the little streets leading toward
Montmartre Street ; some groups of the same force, in
those that border on Temple Street, near the boulevard.
That is to say, from eight hundred to nine hundred men,
in the positions which were to receive the onset of fifteen
thousand soldiers of the brigades of Bourgon, de Cotte,
Canrobert, and Reibell.
On the opposite side, facing the quays, between the
great markets (Holies) and the Hotel de Ville, there was,
at the great barricade of Rambuteau Street, an assemblage
of about two hundred men, flanked in the neighboring
streets, by divers groups of from fifteen to twenty com-
batants each : at the very most four hundred armed men,
in the face of the three brigades of Dulac, Herbillon, and
Marulaz.
It is hardly below the truth to estimate at a total of
twelve hundred armed men, those of the Republicans who
prepared themselves for combat.
As fast as the troops of Carrelet's division defiled into
the boulevards, the crowd that covered the roadway fell
back upon the sidewalks, and massed together upon the
THE COMBAT BEGINS. 197
corners of the adjacent streets. It looked upon the pass-
ing soldiers, sometimes in silence, sometimes crying,
" Vive la Republique ! Vive la Constitution ! " At some
points more emphatic cries were heard : " A bas les preto-
riens ! A bas Soulouque!" (Note 125.) At two o'clock,
Bourgon's brigade, which formed the head of the column,
arrived within a few paces from the first positions of the
Republicans. The fifteen or twenty men who kept them-
selves in ambuscade behind the overturned vehicles near
the Theatre du Gymnase, had not abandoned their post,
notwithstanding the enormous mass of troops that marched
toward them. A piece of cannon was aimed and fired at
the little barricade. The first ball passed over. The Re-
publicans responded by a few shots. These, as well as
can be determined, were the first exchanged during the
day. The infantry, the 33d and 58th of the line, was
shortly after launched forward by General de Bourgon.
It rapidly carried the barricades of the boulevard, near
the Porte Saint-Denis ; swept with musketry all the por-
tions of boulevards comprised between the Faubourg
Saint-Denis and the Chateau d'Eau ; then, turning to the
right, became engaged with the barricaded quarters through
Temple Street.
De Cotte's brigade followed soon after this movement.
The 72d of the line, supported by several pieces of can-
non, penetrated into Saint-Denis Street, where the great
barricade, of which we have spoken, was erected. The
line was abruptly checked by the most energetic resistance.
During this time, a part of the infantry of General de
Cotte, all of the brigade of Canrobert, and the cavalry of
General Reibell, remained massed upon the boulevards
Bonne-Nouvelle, Poissonniere, Montmartre, and des Ital-
iens.
Suddenly, toward three o'clock, a fearful fusillade, min-
gled with cannonading, resounded through all that line of
boulevards, where neither barricades nor insurgents had
been perceived up to that time.
198 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
The account of that event, forever lamentable, which
was to exercise so decisive an influence, and to be so pro-
lific in disaster, deserves a separate narration, made with
special care. We limit ourselves to the hour in which the
event occurred, reserving the part of returning to it fully
when we shall have completed the account of those mili-
tary operations prosecuted independently of the actions of
the boulevards.
General de Cotte, whose brigade had received orders to
take the barricades of Saint-Denis Street and the streets
adjoining, soon came to direct, personally, the attack upon
the formidable obstacle which arrested the 72d of the
line.
The barricade was formed at the point where Saint-
Denis Street describes a curve. It could not be breached
by cannon-balls without raking adjoining houses. Con-
sisting, moreover, of masses of paving-stones, it was of
unusual solidity.
Its defenders communicated, through an alley, with their
comrades who were guarding the barricades of Saint-Mar-
tin Street They had established a foundery for bullets,
and an ambulance, in the alley. The tri-colored flag of
the post of the Arts et Metiers floated at the top of the
barricade.
Here were one hundred and fifty men of rare bravery.
We regret our inability to give with certainty the
names of any of them. Among them have been men-
tioned, however, M. Carlos Forel, a representative of the
people ; and M. David, a professor, who was killed.
During an hour's time, four pieces of cannon, in battery,
on the roadway of the boulevard, fired without relaxation,
with shot and shell. The barricade was breached, but they
could not cause its defenders to loosen their hold. Several
soldiers of the Cth artillery were wounded at their guns.
The 72d infantry of the line, vainly attempted several
assaults with the bayonet One of them was murderous.
TROOPS REPULSED WITH LOSS. 199
The colonel, and the lieutenant-colonel of the regiment
dismounted in order to infuse zeal into their grenadiers.
They led them at the pace of the charge, to within a few
steps of the barricade.
The Republicans, who had reserved their fire, received
them with a veritable hailstorm of bullets. Colonel Quil-
ico fell, seriously wounded; the lieutenant-colonel was
killed outright ; three other officers, and more than thirty
soldiers had fallen, killed or wounded. Almost at the
same moment, General de Cotte had his horse killed un-
der him.
The 72d of the line, repulsed in disorder, was led back
to the boulevards. The Republicans, it is said, standing
upon the barricade, saluted the retreat of their enemy with
an immense acclamation : " Vive la Republique ! "
It was not until nearly four o'clock, when the columns
of troops who were operating in the lateral streets threat-
ened to take them in the rear, that the group of brave
men abandoned the position they had so valiantly de-
fended.
During this time, the 15th light (infantry,) had carried,
successively, the barricades of the Petit- Carreau and the
adjoining streets, but not without having encountered resist-
ance. This regiment had fifteen or twenty men hors du
eombat. A barricade in Jeuneurs Street, defended by
thirty men, resisted vigorously.
The Canrobert brigade defiled in the rear of de Cotte's
brigade, took position at the Porte Saint-Martin, and at-
tacked the quarter.
The nearest barricades, attacked at first by cannonade,
were carried by the bayonet, by the 5th battalion of chas-
seurs of Vincennes. They were defended by citizens who
had taken possession, toward noon, of the mayoralty of
the fifth ward. At the barricade raised at the corner of
Vinaigriers Street, the resistance was particularly obstinate.
The chasseurs of the line were repulsed several times,
200 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
and succeded in causing the fall of the obstruction, only
by flanking it by the lateral streets. Lieutenant Luneau,
of the old Republican Guard, distinguished himself in the
midst of the Republicans, by extraordinary bravery. Al-
though his uniform made him more conspicuous for the
shots of the chasseurs of Vincennes, it is told that, disdain-
ing to shelter himself, he stood upon the heap of paving-
stones forming the barricade, his sword in one hand, and
a pistol in the other, directing the defense with as much
tang-fraid as intrepidity.
The Republicans suffered cruel losses. Many were
killed in fighting ; others were captured ; some, it is said,
were shot in the mayoralty of the fifth ward; others,
finally brought to a stand upon the banks of the canal,
were killed before having been able to gain the quarters
beyond.
The 5th battalion of chasseurs, commanded by M. Le-
vassor-Sorval, had suffered, on its part, quite serious losses.
Twenty-two men, among them two officers, were killed or
wounded. General Magnan, in his report, gives a great
eulogy upon the valor displayed by this troop ; a eulogy
which reverts, by repercussion, to those against whom they
had to combat, and whose number was infinitely inferior.
General de Bourgon's brigade, which we left entering
Temple Street, descended that street, carrying the barri-
cades, and searching the whole quarter, until it had ef-
fected its junction with the column started from the Hotel
de Ville. It had more than one combat to offer in the in-
terval. The newspapers of the time have all told us, that
in Phe"lippeaux Street, a score of young men, armed with
muskets of the National Guard, arrested for some time a
regiment of the line which had debouched from Temple
Street, supported by a battery. This handful of young
men fought with extreme obstinacy. " They perished to
the last one," says the Constitutionnel of December 6th.
Perhaps this is exaggerated ; but the publication of such
BRAVERY OF THE PEOPLE. 201
details in the officious newspapers of the 2d of Decem-
ber, well demonstrates, it seems to us, the impression
produced upon the victors by the intrepidity of the van-
quished.
While these events were transpiring in the streets in the
vicinity of the boulevards, the Dulac, Marulaz, and Her-
billon brigades penetrated the barricade-quarters, starting
from the opposite direction, thus inclosing the Republicans
in a circle of iron.
General Dulac quitted the square of Saint-Eustache at
about two o'clock, and rushed to the attack of the barri-
cades of Rambuteau and the contiguous streets, with
columns formed from three battalions of the 51st regiment
of the line, Colonel Lourmel, and two other battalions,
one of the 19th, the other of the 43d, supported by a bat-
tery of artillery. The Herbillon brigade, in two columns,
debouched through Temple and Saint-Martin streets.
General Marulaz operated in the same way, through Saint-
Denis Street. Three or four hundred Republicans, divided
into little groups, occupied the barricades on that side.
They fought no less valiantly than those who faced the
boulevards. The cannon commenced the work, and the
bayonet finished it. In Rambuteau Street, a formidable
barricade made the counterpart of that of Saint-Denis
Street. An omnibus and several carriages, carefully
stocked with paving-stones, gave it considerable solidity.
One of the historiographers of the Coup tfjEtat, whom we
have already cited, M. Belouino, appears to have pos-
sessed some circumstantial details concerning this barri-
cade. He says there were a hundred veterans of the
" barricade-wars " present ; " old hired murderers of Cau-
sidiere (Note 112, ante), making admirable shots;" with
whom were fighting according to the same writer
young men, enthusiastic for liberty ; an artiste of the fu-
ture, who fell valiantly, struck fairly in the breast; chil-
dren of fifteen years, having hardly sufficient strength to
shoulder a musket
202 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
The resistance of this little group was deadly. During
three fourths of an hour, says M. Belouino, the cannonade
and musketry resounded frightfully. The barricade,
breached by balls, was at last carried, covered with the
corpses of a great number of its defenders. M. Mau-
duit, the military historian of these events, relates that he
visited the next day the theatre of that struggle :
Arrived," says he, " at Rambuteau Street, I directed myself,
as the public did, in the procession, toward Saint-Eustache ; and
did not tarry on seeing all heads turned upward, and eyes fixed
upon several houses ; particularly upon that forming the corner of
Temple Street, and which in fact was riddled. At its base were
still found the fragments of the omnibus that had served for the
foundation of the barricade, the cause of all this havoc. The
omnibus was demolished by cannon-balls, all filled as it was with
paving-stones, and served to supply the bivouac during the night.
" A company of grenadiers, of the 43d regiment of the line,
occupied the four corners of Rambuteau and Temple streets. At
each window a grenadier was seated upon a chair, having a
loaded musket, and ready to fire upon the least hostile gesture of
that populace, more restrained than satisfied with what it saw.
The faces were gloomy." *
Nevertheless, a certain number of armed Republicans,
who occupied the barricades between Saint-Denis and
Montmartre streets, had been able to escape from the con*
verging movements of the troops, and rallied in the Place
des Victoires.
In a few moments they had barricaded, feebly, it is
true, du Mail, Pageviu, des Fosse's-Montmartre, and other
streets. The 19th regiment of the line, commanded by
Colonel Courand, assaulted them before their means of
defense were complete, and dispersed them after a few
minutes of musketry. Some barricades attempted, a little
later, in Saint-IIonorci, Poulies, and the little streets adja-
cent, by a few men of spirit, who could not make up their
minds for a defeat, were carried by the troops in posi-
tion at the Palais Royal (Note 126).
1 Ilttolutwn Ifilitaire du 2 Dcccmbre, pp. 209, 270.
ALARM OF THE PREFECT OF POLICE. 203
Whilst from two o'clock until five, the musketry and
cannon thundered on the boulevards, and in all those cen-
tral sections of Paris, scoured in every direction by thirty
thousand soldiers, noteworthy incidents occurred at other
points in Paris.
In the Latin Quarter, some groups of young men kept
the division of General Renault hard at work. Barricades
were rudely formed here and there, and shots were ex-
changed, especially in La Harpe Street
An audacious group, toward three o'clock, caused great
alarm at the Prefecture of Police.
M. de Maupas, who was easily alarmed (it was M. de
Moray who so stated, that same day, in a dispatch to
General Magnan), M. de Maupas believed himself in
peril.
The following dispatches exchanged between the Pre-
fecture of Police and the Ministry of the Interior, show
this:
THE PREFECT OF POLICE TO THE MINISTER OF THE IN-
TERIOR.
" Thursday, 4 December.
" Barricades in Dauphine Street ; I am surrounded. Notify
General Sauboul. I am without forces ; I do not understand the
matter at all."
THE PREFECT OF POLICE TO THE MINISTER OF THE IN-
TERIOR.
" Thursday, 4 December.
" It is said that the 12th"dragoons is arriving from Saint-Ger-
main, with the Count of Chambord (Note 127) in its ranks as a
soldier.
" I believe little of it."
ANSWER OF M. DE MORNY.
" And I do not believe in it at all."
THE PREFECT OF POLICE TO THE MINISTER OF THE IN-
TERIOR.
" Thursday, 4 December.
11 Gatherings at the Pont Neuf (New Bridge) ; shots on the
204 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
Quay aux Flours (Note 128) ; compact masses in the vicinity of
th Prefecture of Police. They are shooting through a grating.
What am I to do ?"
ANSWER OF M. I>E MORNT.
" Respond by firing through your grating."
THE PREFECT OF POLICE TO THE MINISTER OF THE IN-
TERIOR.
" Thursday, 4 December.
" My duty requires that my cannons and battalions be sent to
me. Is it General Magnan who refuses to send them ? "
THE PREFECT OF POLICE TO THE MINISTER OF THE IN-
TERIOR.
" Thursday, 4 December.
' ' 1 am reassured for the moment The riot of Saint-Martin
Street is crushed ; but I am not reassured as to the Prefecture of
Police, upon which the insurgents will fall back, after defeat"
The twenty or thirty young men who thus put the Pre-
fecture of Police in alarm, by a few shots fired almost out
of range, hardly surmised that they were so redoubtable.
Some of them, then students, who in our days have con-
quered an honorable notoriety in journalism, have since
related how great was their surprise when, after several
years, the dispatches which we have just read, revealed by
Dr. Veron, apprised them of the effect produced by their
diversion.
At the same moment, the musketry resounded on the
whole line of quays, from the Hotel de Ville to the Chat-
elet (Note 129). M. Mauduit, an ocular witness of this
incident, has related it in the following manner :
" The left of the column of General Marulaz still touched the
Pont d'Arcole (Arcola Bridge), when several silly shots came
from the windows of Pelletier Quay, against the 44th regiment,
and the lino of skirmishers which commandant Larochette bad
stationed before the Hotel de Ville, in order to protect its ap-
proaches.
" The whole square, as well as Pelletier and Gevre quays, as
DEATH OF THE PATRIOT DUSSOUBS. 205
far as the Chatelet, were instantly under fire ; and from the ex-
tremity of Louis Philippe's bridge, I believed for more than a
quarter of an hour, and believed in truth, that I was present at a
most serious combat. More than twenty thousand cartridges were
burnt, thousands of window-panes broken, but only a few men
killed or wounded in the two camps, the Socialists having exe-
cuted their attack only with forces scattered in the houses, and
too insufficient to attempt a demonstration upon the Hotel de
Ville."
At nine o'clock at night, a hundred Republican com-
batants, rendered desperate by the effect produced upon
the Parisian population by the events of the day, above
all, by the events of the boulevards, which we shall pres-
ently relate, resolved not to survive the disaster of the
Republic, had gathered together in Montorgueil Street.
They had rebuilt the barricades, and prepared themselves
for a final struggle. Among them, was Denis Dussoubs,
brother of the representative from the Haute- Vienne.
An ardent soul, a loyal heart, Denis Dussoubs had es-
poused republican convictions ; and his life, for the past
ten years, had been but a struggle for their triumph.
His brother, the representative of the people, being con-
fined to his bed by a serious malady, Denis Dussoubs, by
a heroic usurpation, had arrayed himself in his official
scarf, and for the past two days had valiantly made it
good with his person. In the Faubourg Saint-Martin, he
had not quitted the barricades until the last moment.
Escaped through a miracle, from the columns of General
Canrobert, he had rejoined, in the narrow streets that wind
about on the heights of the Petit-Carreau, that group of
desperate ones who longed to fall with their arms in their
hands.
The colonel of the 51st regiment of the line, M. de
Lourmel, who encamped at the Pointe Saint-Eustache, was
warned of the presence of a last remnant of armed men,
at a little distance from his position. He detailed the 2d
battalion of his regiment, Jeannin commanding, in order
206 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
to dislodge them. At the first barricade, Dennis Dussoubs
presented himself alone, without arms. A recent accident
to his right arm would not have even permitted him to
make use of it With a trembling voice, he addressed an
appeal to the soldiers. His voice was heard, says M. Belou-
ino, throughout the whole quarter. " Unfortunate sol-
diers," said he, " you must be madmen, to act as you have
been made to ; come to us ! "
The commander, moved by the sorrowful tone of Denis
Dussoubs, more even, perhaps, than by his words, conjured
him to retire, and not to attempt a useless resistance.
After having vainly harangued the soldiers still more,
Denis Dussoubs went back toward the barricade. He
turned round, uttering a last cry of " Vive la RepuUique ! "
when certain soldiers, firing without any order having
been given, killed him, with two bullets in his head. He
fell, and immediately expired.
It has been written abroad that the commander ordered
the firing. M. Schoelcher, who had circumstantial infor-
mation concerning this sad episode, affirms, in the most
positive manner, that the commander, on the contrary,
would have preserved Dussoubs, and that the discharge
occurred without any word of command having been pro-
nounced.
The three first barricades were cleared by the soldiers,
on the run. At the fourth, a terrible contest was entered
into. It was short but bloody. It was there, said the his-
toriographers of the Coup cTEtat, that most of the dead
bodies in fine clothes were taken up.
Frightful scenes followed the capture of this barricade.
M. Mauduit permits them to be guessed, by these words,
which we quote literally :
' On the 4th," be says, " at 9 o'clock in the evening, a column
of the 51st carried, not without losses, all the barricades that had
just been constructed in Montorgueil and Petit-Carreau streets.
Searching visitations were also immediately ordered in the wine-
PRISONERS PUT TO DEATH. 207
shops ; a hundred prisoners were taken there, most of them still
having their hands blackened with gunpowder, an evident proof of
their participation in the combat. Why not then apply to a good
number of them the terrible provisions of martial law? " l
Those provisions had been placarded by M. de Saint-
Arnaud, in his proclamation of the 3d : " Every individual
taken constructing a barricade, or with arms in hand, WILL
BE SHOT."
It has been said that more than twenty of the prisoners
of Montorgueil Street were immediately shot We could
not affirm whether this number is exact. Gen. Hagnan
says in his report, that forty insurgents were killed at this
barricade, but he does not specify how many were killed
fighting, and how many were shot after being captured. It
is related that two of the executed escaped by a miracle.
One of them, M. Voisin, counselor-general of the Haute-
Vienne, had been shot, and left for dead upon the spot.
Received by an old woman, he was taken to the Dubois
Hospital. In spite of his fifteen wounds, he was saved. In
the month of March, he was convalescent. The police
got possession of him ; he was imprisoned in Fort Ivry,
and later was deported to Africa.
These details have been given by several of his com-
panions in captivity, who received them from his lips. 8
Doctor Deville also has related, that a few days before
he was himself arrested, he had noticed in the Charite'
(hospital), in the care of M. Velpeau, a wounded man,
brought from the barricade of Montorgueil Street, who
had been shot, after having been captured, and who still
survived in spite of eleven wounds. This was, said M.
Deville, a man from Rouen. We find, elsewhere, cited
among those of the Republicans who succumbed at the
same time with Denis Dussoubs, the name Paturel (of
1 Revolution jMilitaire, p. 248-
2 We borrow this account from that of M. Schoelcher. See, in the Ap-
pendix, a letter correcting the details of the fact which we borrowed from
M. Schoelcher's Note, in his popular edition.
208 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
Rouen) ; it is undoubtedly the wounded man seen at the
Charite, by Dr. Deville.
The reader will understand, that if we insist upon facts
of this kind, it is because it is of real historical interest
to ascertain whether the order of General Saint- Arnaud
was, as might be supposed, only a menacing measure, a
simple means of intimidation, or whether indeed, that un-
heard-of order was really carried into execution.
Now, the quotations already made, and those which are
to follow, establish but too well the fact of the summary
shootings of prisoners.
We would remark that the newspapers, or the books
whence we borrow the subjoined extracts, having been
published in the absence of all liberty of the press, the
government may be considered as itself acknowledging the
reality of the facts therein enounced.
Gen. Magnan said in his official report, speaking of the
barricades of lieaubourg Street,
" All the obstructions were carried on the run ; those who
defended them were slain."
The Moniteur Paritien, of December 6, related the fol-
lowing fact :
" An old guardian of Paris, recognized as having formed part
of the band of Montagnards (Note 32, ante), of Sabrier and Cau-
sidiere (Note 113, ante), in 1845, was passing at about two o'clock,
this afternoon, over the bridge Saint-Michel, and was threaten-
ing the Republican Guards who were there aa sentinels. Being
arrested, and taken to the Prefecture of Police, there were found
upon him munitions of war, and two poniards. As he opposed
a vigorous resistance to the guards who were conducting him,
persisting in his threats, and proffering cries of death to the agents
of authority, the commander of the post had him $hot by two of his
soldiers, in Jerusalem Street. He had a wound on his right arm,
and his hands were still all blackened by the gunpowder of the
barricades."
In a list of the dead not belonging to the army, pre-
CAPTIVES SUMMARILY EXECUTED. 200
pared by the care of M. Trebuchet, chief of the bureau of
health, at the Prefecture of Police, a list whereof we
shall say more further on, there are found six " NAMES
UNKNOWN," with this mention : " Whose identity could not
be established, executed, or found dead upon the barri-
cades."
The Moniteur Parisien, already cited, says in an article
published under the title, " The Fifth Day " :
" A woman, carrying twenty-five poniards, was arrested this
evening, and shot by the soldiers of the 36th of the line." (Note
130.)
M. Mauduit (in his book, the Revolution Militaire, p.
238), narrates this fact :
" An individual, a carrier of arms under his blouse, having been
arrested at the moment he wished to force the countersign, was
shot at the entrance to Pont Neuf (New Bridge), and his body
cast into the Seine, etc His name was Berger, a
gardener at Passy. He survived his wound, and dared to protest
his innocence, saying that his carbine was unfit for service, whilst
it was loaded."
The same Captain Mauduit says, p. 240 :
" There was nothing serious in the Cite (Note 124). All was
limited there to one rioter killed, and three individuals arrested,
bearers of arms, munitions, proclamations, or false news,
and ivho were shot and thrown into the river." (Note 131.)
La Patrie of the 14th December, published a letter,
signed Vincent N , corporal in the chasseurs, wherein
the following is read :
" At the second barricade, in a house whence most shots were
fired, and which we entered, we found more than 300 insurgents.
We might have bayoneted them; but as the Frenchman is always
humane, we did not do so. It was only those who would not sur-
render, WHO WERE IMMEDIATELY PUT TO DEATH. In One
room we found some who asked for pardon, crying, " We
have done nothing ; we are preparing remedies for the wounded."
But they took care to hide several moulds, and five or six leaden
U
210 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
forks or spoons, with which they were casting bullets. WE
KILLED ONE INDIVIDUAL, who said as he fell, 'Don't kill me,
for it would be unfortunate to die for ten francs'
" I was much afraid of the riots of Paris. I always believed
that people fought for one party or the other ; or else against
the workingmen who demanded labor. But there were not found
among these individuals a workingman worthy of figuring in the
category of laborers. They were men who were actuated by
money, and who fought without knowing for who, nor why. They
sought only to plunder. The intelligent workingmen, a* well as
the inhabitants, denounce them themselves, or cause them to be
taken. The people are pleased only when they see the troops
guarding their houses.
" We passed several nights outside, upon the boulevards. But
we were not unfortunate. All the inhabitants emptied their cel-
lars, in order to give wine to the soldiers, made soup, and gave
wood to warm us all the night. People cried from all parts,
Don't spare them ! Shoot them down.' "
Although all the details contained in this letter do not
seem worthy of credit, it appears to us, nevertheless, suffi-
ciently characteristic to be reproduced.
We close by two other quotations, of a little different
bearing, but still worthy of interest
M. Mayer says :
" General Herbillon caused the insurgents brought to him, of less
than twenty years of age, to be whipped and delivered to the
police."
After which, the Bonapartist writer adds :
" The benignity of the son of IJortense (Louis Napoleon), com-
municated itself, like his absolute will, to the lowest agents of the
popular government." *
M. Mauduit relates an episode which forms the counter-
part to this :
" A company of light-horsemen, of the 51st Regiment, posted
in Mettlay Street," he says, " was warming itself with the frag-
ments of an omnibus that had served as the base of a barricade.
1 Hutvire flu 2 Dtccmbrc, j. 165.
PUNISHMENT OF A GAMIN. 211
The wheels and the pole had burned, when, about an hour past
midnight, the soldiers began the task of breaking up the body of
the vehicle, in order to throw it upon the fire. A gamin, who had
squatted himself therein at the moment of the capture of the
barricade, came out of it.
" ' Here is another of them ! ' exclaimed the light-horseman.
' We must shoot him, for certainly he fired upon our brethren.'
" They searched him, and under his frqpk they discovered a pis-
tol and a dagger. The light-horsemen took him to the captain,
to receive his orders, and this is the punishment they inflicted
upon him. Near by, the dead body of a bugler of the dismounted
chasseurs, killed in the attack upon the barricades of the Arts-et-
Metiers, had been placed in a house. Near this bugler were the
corpses of two men of the people.
" ' You are to ask pardon of this bugler, and upon your knees,'
said the captain to him. ' It was not I who killed him,' answered
the urchin, sobbing. ' How do I know that ? And besides, you
have killed others of them, perhaps. So, ask his pardon, or else ! '
.... And the gamin knelt down and asked pardon of that
unfortunate soldier. 'That is not all. Now you are going to
pass the rest of the night with your comrades and their victim;
and later, we shall see what is to be done with a little ragamuffin
of your sort.'
" And the door was closed upon him. But either from remorse,
or the terror from finding himself thus alone in the darkness, and
side by side with three corpses, the gamin soon knocked violently
at the door, conjuring them to rescue him from the moral punish'
ment which was inflicted upon him.
" The captain, believing the lesson hard enough, let him out,
and sent him to his parents."
We must now recur to the events that had happened
in the boulevards Bonne-Nouvelle, Poissonniera, Montmar-
tre, and Des Italians.
Of all the episodes of the days of December, there are
none that have left a deeper impression upon the memory
of the Parisian people. There are none that have been
more the subject of private conversation ; upon which more
oral details have been possible to be gathered ; but at the
same time there are none upon which less has been writ-
ten.
212 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
For seventeen years, only a few rare allusions thereto
have been made in books or newspapers. It seems that
these facts, accomplished in broad daylight, in sight of Paris,
in the finest and richest quarters of the capital, are con-
sidered a mystery whose divulging should be interdicted.
The officious narrators of the Coup tCEtat are sparing of
details. Some glide rapidly over the facts ; others relate
only a very few matters, but devote themselves to irrelevant
comments, employing for the purpose of alluding to an
event which they do not describe precautions of language
that do not seem justified by anything in their account.
We shall try to clear up the truth concerning that pain-
ful event ; we are going to do this by bringing together the
various indications that we have been able to gather here
and there, in what has been published in France ; and per-
haps we shall succeed, by a rational criticism of what has
been said, in establishing what really was the fact
Let us take first the report of General Magnan. The
commander-in-chief of the army of Paris hardly makes an
allusion to the events of the boulevards, even in very vague
terms :
41 The crowds," lie says, " that essayed to re-form upon the
boulevards, were charged by the cavalry of General Reibell, who,
at the height of Montmartre Street, experienced quite a sharp
volley of musketry."
Not a word more. Nothing that reminds one of cannons,
of the firing of shells upon the Hotel Snllandrouse, and
upon the store of Billccoq ; a shower of bullets falling upon
the house-fronts, from the Gymnase as far as the Bains
Chinois, upon more than eight hundred metres of boule-
vard !
M. Granier de Cassagnac, who wrote several years later,
said :
" A remarkable itidilcnt sipnali/ed the passage of these troops
uj>on the interior bouh-vard (Note 132). At the moment when
the I'eibell brigade was just reaching the Boulevard Montmartre,
EFFECTS OF THE FIRING. 213
without striking a blow, some shots, fired by gloved hands, came
from several houses. It halted for a moment, and, aided by the
sharp-shooters of Canrobert's brigade, who poured a terrible fire
upon the windows, it opened the doors of the hostile houses by
cannonade. The lesson was short but severe, and from that mo-
ment the elegant boulevard understood it as such." 1
Thus, to M. Granier de Cassagnac, the event of the
boulevard is nothing but a u remarkable incident ; " a short
but severe lesson given by the troops, to the "Yellow-
gloves " who had fired upon them. We shall see that M.
P. Mayer, who wrote on the day following the event, and
whose Napoleonic enthusiasm does not yield to that of M.
Granier de Cassagnac, is nevertheless very far from look-
ing upon facts in the same way. He speaks of " fifty or
sixty unfortunate victims ; " of " an eternal mourning " that
" will sadden the country and humanity ; " of " innocent
and irreparable blood."
But let us quote verbally :
" Following closely upon the battle of the 4th, in which inoffen-
sive passers-i>y were victims of the terrible fusillade of the brigades
of Reibell and Canrobert, the most monstrous exaggerations were
current in Paris and France. People talked of hundreds, of
thousands even, of persons massacred in cold blood, by soldiers
drunken with .gunpowder and blood These calum-
nies have not been refuted," etc. 9
An analysis follows, of the list of the dead, prepared by
M. Trebuchet, chief of the Bureau of Health at the Prefec-
ture of Police ; a list, according to which, says M. Mayer,
the total of the dead not belonging to the army should be
one hundred and ninety-one ; not one more.
Having said this, M. Mayer continues in the terms fol-
lowing :
" This is too many, undoubtedly, and an eternal mourning will
sadden humanity and the country with the remembrance of the
1 Histoire de la Chute de Louit-Philippe, etc., vol. ii. pp. 428, 429.
2 Histoire du 2 Decembre, pp. 167, 168.
214 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
FIFTY or SIXTY unfortunate victims of the snare into which the
slayers and the slain fell at the same time ; for this murderous dis-
charge was but the response to shota fired upon the soldiers by
people who were calculating to profit by the massacre.' Un-
doubtedly innocent blood it irreparable, and cries out for justice in
the hearts of good citizens ; while bad passions cry out for ven-
geance. Nevertheless, this misfortune which might have been
still more immense had neither the excessive proportions that
malevolence has loaned it, nor the atrocious character which the
victorious demagogy, for example, has not failed to give to its tri-
umph. If anything, in short, could extenuate this disaster &nd
we shall not say this in order to console, but to reassure the pub-
lic grief, it is, that the conscience of the government had the
sorrowful satisfaction of having foreseen at early as the day before,
and of having done everything, at least, in order to prevent this
inauspicious eventuality. The proclamation of the Prefect of Po-
lice said clearly to every one : ' Do not go upon the boulevards ;
do not mingle with the groups, for they will be dispersed by arms,
and without a previous summons.' It is beyond all doubt, that if
the troops, assailed from so many parts at once, had not deter-
mined to instantly and exemplarily crush the insurrection, the
civil war would have lasted longer. This is saying all ; and, in the
eyes not of the people of property, who did not wait until the
next day in order to decide, but of the feeble and uncertain
justifies all." 1
Eight months after the event, the Moniteur Universel pub-
lished, in its number of August 30, 1852, the following note,
which certainly refers to the events of the boulevards :
" The government does not trouble itself about insults. It does
not respond to them. But when the question is concerning facts,
audaciously and outrageously disfigured, its duty is always to re-
establish the truth.
" The Times (London), convicted of premeditated disparage-
ments, defends itself only by new calumnies. In its issue of the
2th of August, it pretends that after the 2d of December, twelve
hundred inoffensive and unarmed persons were murdered by
drunken soldiers, in the streets of Paris. The refutation of such
a calumny is found in its very exaggeration.
fc l Ilittoirt du 2 Z>tcem6re, pp. 170, 171.
THE MONITEUR'S MISSTATEMENTS. 215
" Everybody knows that the official abstract fixes the number
of persons killed during the insurrection, at THREE HUNDRED
AND EIGHTY ; even that is quite too many, without doubt. As
to the number accidentally wounded, by good fortune it hardly
exceeds EIGHT or TEN.
" In presence of positive documents, opposed to lying assertions,
let people judge of the candor of journalism."
Probably the inconsistency has already been noticed,
which exists between the official figure, three hundred and
eighty, of the killed, and the one hundred and ninety-one,
giVen by M. P. Mayer, in accordance with the abstract of
M. Trebuchet. It is clear that the government, when it
published that note, had no interest in increasing the num-
ber of its victims. We ought, therefore, even though there
were no other consideration, to accept it in preference to
that of one hundred and ninety-one, given by M. Mayer.
Nevertheless, this enormous discrepancy does not diminish
the authority of the list of M. Trebuchet. That employe
established and registered what he saw ; he inscribed upon
his list the names of the dead who were presented to him.
But he did not see all. The one hundred and fifty-three
names arranged upon his list constitute a document of none
the less interest, and one that will serve us usefully in our
research for the truth concerning the facts of the boule-
vards.
The note of the Moniteur, for example, contains a very
singular statement : " As to the persons accidentally
wounded, by good fortune the number hardly exceeds eight
or ten."
If the word " wounded " is to be taken very literally, we
can object only to improbability ; for no abstract of the
persons wounded has come to our knowledge. But, if by
that euphemism the Moniteur meant to designate the inof-
fensive victims accidentally killed, that is another matter.
The list of M. Trebuchet, however incomplete it may be,
would furnish the proof of the inaccuracy of the assertion
216 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
We find upon this list, nine names of women ; one of a
child of seven and a half years ; seven of men accompanied
by this note : " JSlltd at home" Finally, out of one hundred
and fifty-three persons killed, whose names are inscribed in
this abstract, nearly sixty are indicated as having fallen on
the boulevards Bonne-Nouvelle, Poissonniere, Montmartre,
and Des Italiens, and in some adjacent streets, where
neither barricades nor insurgents ever showed themselves.
This number is already sensibly reconcilable with that of
" the fifty or sixty unfortunate victims " of whom AI. Mayer
speaks.
We may already conclude therefrom, that in the eyes of
that writer, those killed upon the boulevards were inoffen-
sive persons accidentally struck.
We are already far, both from the dry mention made
by General Magnan, and the disdainful allusion of M. de
Cassagnac. But let us continue our quotations.
Captain Mauduit, the author of the book already cited,
" Revolution Militaire" saw with his own eyes, not the oc-
currence, but the theatre of the occurrence, a few hours
later. His testimony is valuable. M. Mauduit had gone
out, at four o'clock in the evening, seeking to join his son,
an officer of General de Cotte's staff.
u On the 4th, at eight o'clock in the evening, I determined," he
says, " to venture toward the street of the Chaussde d'Antin. In
Delorme Alley, I found one of my old regimental comrades, who
said to me : ' You could not traverse the boulevard, my dear
friend, without erjwsing yourself to pistol-shots, or lance thrusts, on
the part of tlif reddles stationed at each street-corner. The boule-
vards are streirn with (had ftodiet,' etc. I went on my way alone
toward the boulevard ; at long intervals some belated individuals
were returning to their houses ; but no curious people, no groups
talking in the doorways, as is usual in like cases a lugubrious
axpfct eceri/irtiere ! ' Don't go near the boulevards," said a passer-
by, in a low voice, who was returning thence, and whom 1 found
in the middle of Michodiere Street ; ' They are firing at every one
who passes' ' Thank you, sir, for your good advice,' I answered
CAPTAIN MAUDUIT'S NARRATIVE. 217
him, ' but I must go to the Chaussee d' An tin at any cost.' I con-
tinued, and crossed the boulevard at the height of the Bains Chi-
nois.
" Quite a considerable crowd, struck with consternation, had con-
gregated at the outlet of Mont-Blanc Street. There they were
listening to the account of an individual who had just seen, he said,
arranged upon the aspbaltum adjoining Aubusson's great de"p6t,
thirty corpses, well dressed, and among them that of a woman. A
thrill of terror was dominant in this group, and seemed to paralyze
every one ; for each withdrew in silence, after having received his
part of the sinister news of the moment.
" At last I arrived at the house of my son ; he had not yet ap-
peared, etc.
" I retraced my steps, with the firm intention of reaching his
brigade But impossible. The boulevard was every-
where intercepted. One could not even approach a vedette in
order to obtain the slightest information from him.
" Upon regaining Michodiere Street, a gentleman came to me
and asked me to accompany him. ' What frightful misfortunes,
Sir,' said he, ' and how many more frightful misfortunes still, unless
all honest men unite, in order TO ARREST THIS HORRIBLE
BUTCHERY in sending to supplicate the President of the Repub-
lic to renounce his Coup d'Etat, and resign his authority ! . . . .
To-morrow all Paris will be under arms, and the streets covered
with barricades.' ' I do not believe anything of it," I answered ;
' the combat has been too vigorously accepted and sustained by the
soldiers, to allow the Parisians any illusions upon the issue of a
prolonged struggle. The Parisian population has never shown
itself roysterous, except in the presence of adversaries feeble in
number, irresolute in their plans, and ready to yield the field of
battle to them. It will not be the same with the President of the
Republic, nor with the army, which, is devoted to the accomplish-
ment of his work. To-morrow Paris will be in its stupor ; I do
not dispute that ; but in nowise tempted to prolong the struggle.' " *
" The victory remained with Napoleon Let us
draw, readers, let us draw a funereal veil over the numerous vic-
tims of our discord, who lay stretched out here and there, from
Tortoni's to the Porte Saint-Denis, and sometimes assembled in
'2
1 Pages 225, 226.
2 Page 257.
218 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
The same writer describes the aspect of the boulevards
on the morning of the next day :
" At the entry of the Faubourg Poissonniere, the boulevard pre-
sented a picture of the most frightful disorder. All the houses
were riddled with bullets; all the window-panes broken ; all the
street urinals demolished, and their ddbris of bricks spread here
and there upon the roadway. The broken limbers of artillery
were still burning at a bivouac-fire, which at this moment was
consuming the remnant of a wheel.'
" Here I am, upon the boulevard, which I ascend in the direc-
tion of the Madeleine Church. Almost all the houses of the bou-
levard Boune-Nouvelle, and particularly those of the corners of
Poissonniere and Mazagran streets, are riddled by bullets ; and
few window-panes have escaped the storm. In the Boulevard
Poissonnibre is still seen, upon the steps of Aubusson's great depot,
a sea of blood, which it would have been as well to have pre-
vented, by removing the twenty-Jive or thirty corpses that had been
ranged there, and left exposed there, during twenty-four hours, to
the gaze of a consternated public. A musket-shot fired from this
vast establishment at the head of General Canrobert's column,
caused these Jiiixfortunes. Masons are busy repairing the breaches
made in the front of this fine house,* by the grape-shot and can-
non-balk" 3
It very evidently results from these quotations, that the
cannonade and musketry had been directed with fury
against the houses of the bouvelard ; that the roadway was
strewn with corpses ; that they were seen lying from Tor-
toni's as far as the gate Saint-Denis, nearly a kilometre
of distance, sometimes in groups ; that twenty-five corpses
were heaped up before the Hotel Sallandrouze ; that sev-
eral hours afterward, the vedettes occasionally fired upon
pedestrians ; that the consternation was general and deep
among the people.
Now let us see again under what circumstances these
sad deeds were accomplished.
The hour when the firing upon the boulevards com-
i Page 200. 2 A carpet-store. Trantlaton. Pages 273, 274.
WHAT CAUSED THE FIRING? 219
menced has been very precisely established by several
witnesses. It was at three o'clock. As will be seen further
on, the firing was almost instantaneous along the whole line.
Now, at three o'clock in the afternoon, it was already an
hour since the troops had defiled, or were stationed upon
the boulevards, from the Rue de la Paix (Peace Street) as
far as the Porte Saint-Denis. For one hour the crowd
saw them passing ; the windows were filled with the curi-
ous, the balconies likewise. No accident had been
caused.
General de Bourgon's brigade had already exchanged
several shots with the armed Republicans at the barricades
near the Porte-Saint Denis ; it had continued its march as
far the Chateau d'Eau.
At the same hour, the battery of de Cotte's brigade, and
the 72d of the line, of the same brigade, had brought can-
nonade and musketry to bear against the barricade of
Saint-Denis Street The remainder of de Cotte's brig-
ade was still in the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle. Canro-
bert's brigade was most, if not all of it, in the boulevards
Poissonniere and Montmartre. The movable dismounted
gendarmes were in the direction of the Boulevard des
Italiens. The cavalry of General Reibell followed. At
three o'clock they were as far up as Lepelletier Street,
in the Boulevard des Italiens.
At this moment the cannon was very distinctly heard in
the direction of the gates Saint-Denis and Saint-Martin.
But the throng that was on the sidewalks of the boule-
vards and in the adjacent streets, had remained there for
about one hour, separated from the troops by barely a few
steps, without any act of hostility being produced on the
one part or the other. It is essential that this be noted.
It has never been said that there were in this throng
any men ostensibly armed, nor the least barricade in the
street.
It is true some had cried, upon the arrival of the sol-
220 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
diers : " Vive la Republique ! Vive la Cvrutitution ! A bas
le s traitre* ! A bat let Pretoneru ! " But were these hos-
tile cries persisted in when, for an hour, ten thousand
soldiers had occupied the boulevard? This is at least
very improbable.
M. P. Mayer, in the passages quoted above, appears to
have two somewhat contradictory ideas as to the causes
that led to the disaster.
At times, he seems to say that only the requirements of
M. de Maupas had been executed : " To disperse by force,
without summons, the gatherings of pedestrians in the
public thoroughfare." At times, he insinuates that the
provoking agents (Republicans, of course) had fired upon
these soldiers, ranged at a few paces from the inoffensive
crowd, in order to elicit a murderous response, which
should lay innocent victims upon the street. This odious
calculation had for its object " the making of a profit out
of the massacre."
We shall presently see whether the facts permit cre-
dence to be accorded to such an atrocious supposition, to
whose support, moreover, M. Mayer furnishes no proof.
It has not been forgotten that General Magnan made men-
tion of a u considerably sharp firing," experienced by the
cavalry of General Reibell, at the height of Montmartre
Street ; and that M. Cassagnac speaks on his part of shots
fired by gloved hands."
M. Mauduit, more explicit, says somewhere:
" .... At the Porte Saint-Martin, I regained the line
of the boulevards, which I followed this time as far as the Madeleine.
The habitual population of (his sojourn of the strollers, will retain
for a long time the; remembrance of the charges of the First Lan-
cers ; and will know that if there is courage in fighting upon a
barricade, one does not always fire with impunity from the rear
end of a brilliant saloon, and even masked by the breast of a
pretty woman, against a troop armed only with lances and pistols.
More than one bravo of that kind paid dearly for his insults
WHY DID THE CAVALRY ATTACK? 221
and volleys, after the Jarnac fashion (Note 133). More than one
amazon of the boulevards paid dearly likewise for her impru-
dent complicity in this new kind of barricade May
they profit by it in the future ! " 1
Admitting for a moment the reality of this fusillade of
the " Yellow-gloves," masked by " pretty women," it is
clear that it applies only to the Boulevard des Italiens,
where,,at three o'clock, the cavalry of General Reibell were
stationed. It in nowise explains the terrible fusillade, and
simultaneous cannonade of Canrobert's brigade, in the
boulevards Montmartre and Poissonniere. It has been
seen above that Captain Mauduit attributed the misfortunes
accruing at this point, to a single shot fired from the car-
pet warehouse of Aubusson upon the head of General
Canrobert's column.
The same writer explains elsewhere, in a very different
manner, without shots, the murderous charge of the First
Lancers, in the Boulevard des Italiens. We read on pages
217 and 218 of his book :
" At the height of Taitbout Street, he (Colonel de Rochefort
of the First Lancers) perceived a considerable gathering, as well
at the entrance of the street as upon the sidewalk near Tortoni's.
These men were all well dressed. Several were armed. At sight
of him, the war-cry (adopted during the last two days), was
sounded : ' Vive la Re'publique I Vive la Constitution ! A has le
Dictateur /' At this last cry, swiftly as lightning, with a single
bound, Colonel Rochefort leaped over the chairs and the walk,
landed in the midst of the group, and immediately cleared the
space around him. The lancers precipitated themselves closely
behind him. One of his adjutants felled two individuals with his
sabre In the twinkling of an eye, the gathering was
dispersed. All fled precipitately, leaving a good number among
them on the spot. The colonel continued his march, scattering
all whom he encountered; and thirty dead bodies remained upon
the street, almost all covered with fine clothes."
Here, it was not shots that provoked the onset ; it was
l Revolution Militaire, p. 278.^
'2'2'2 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
the cry " A bcu le Dictateur ! " M. Mauduit, it is true, adds
that there were some armed men in the group.
This is very improbable. It would have been insensate
to have shown themselves in arms, upon the walk of Tor-
toni. in presence of the masses of troops that covered the
boulevards. Besides, whatever else may have been, the
military historian does not say that a single shot was fired,
and the contrary is inferable from his narrative.
Let us now pass to the only account, at all circumstan-
tial, that has ever been published in France on this sub-
ject It is simply the version to be found in the news-
papers of that epoch. It is not without interest to remark,
that it was inserted at the same time, in terms almost
identical, in the Patrie and the Corutitttiionnel, two semi-
official sheets (Note 134).
We first transcribe what concerns the events of the
Boulevard des Italians :
" Yesterday was signalized by an unfortunate incident, on the
Boulevard des Italians. We have some of the facts in detail.
44 During the passage of the First Lancers, of the Keibell brigade,
and the movable gendarmery, several shots were fired from differ-
ent houses, and several lancers were wounded. That regiment
responded, and fearful and natural, but necessary havoc, resulted
therefrom,
44 The individuals who were in those houses were more or less hit
by the shots from the troops. The soldiers, upon the order of
their chiefs, were thereupon compelled to enter, with violence,
several houses, and especially the Cafe de Paris; the Maison d'Or;
the Cafe Tortoni ; the Hotel de Castillo; the Petite Jeannette;
and the Cafe du Grand Balcon (Note 135). They seized mus-
kets whose, breeches were still warm. The individuals found in
these establishments were arrested. Two working tailors, sus-
pected of having fired from the house of the tailor Dusautoy, No.
2 Le{>elletier Street, were likewise arrested, and would have been
shot, but for the intervention of General Lafontaine.
The Cercle du Commerce (Commercial Club), which occupies
the great balcony of the second floor of this same house, and
which i* < -oiiijior-ed of notabilities of the army, of industry and
MISSTATEMENTS OF NEWSPAPERS. 223
authority, freeholders, capitalists, merchants, generals, all
honorable men, came near being a victim to its proximity to
the tailor. The bullets of the lancers unfortunately struck two
distinguished members of this club, General Billiard and M. Du-
vergier. The former was wounded in his right eye by a splinter;
the latter, more seriously, in his left thigh."
Here are certainly precise statements, which explain
how General Magnan was able to speak of the quite sharp
attack of musketry experienced by the cavalry. They
have but one fault : that of being false, save in what con-
cerns the two members of the Cercle du Commerce
wounded ; the houses rummaged with violence ; " the in-
dividuals therein more or less hit " ; and the havoc, to be
regretted, caused there.
The proof of the falsity of the other, the most impor-
tant details, those which would justify the explanation of
M. Magnan, and that of M. Granier de Cassagnac, as well
as that of the two newspapers, is found in these same
sheets.
The Constitutionnel wrote two days afterwards :
" We said, by mistake, that a shot was fired from the house of
the Cafe de Paris We hasten to rectify that error.
Nothing of the kind happened at the Cafe de Paris
A similar disclaimer is made for the Maison Doree, and the Cafe"
Tortoni. We hasten to accept it.
" The Cafe du Grand Balcon in the Boulevard des Italiens,
has been designated as one of the points whence the troops were
fired upon. No act of that nature was done in that house."
" It was in consequence of an error, quite excusable in such a
case, that the workshops of M. Dusautoy, tailor, upon the boule-
vard, were the object of a visit of search on the part of the
troops. The sentiments of M. Dusautoy, as a man of order, are
known The error was recognized a few moments
afterward." (Note 136.)
Corrections of the same kind were made concerning the
Hotel de Castille, and the warehouse of the Petite Jean-
nette. It was proved, therefore, that not a shot had been
224 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
fired from the houses designated by the newspapers. If it
be considered that these corrections were made at a mo-
ment when the press was subjected to a veritable and rig-
orous censorship, it will be admitted that we should con-
sider them as the establishment of a positive fact.
Had any one fired upon the lancers from other points
than from the houses designated ?
If really, as the Patrie affirmed, several soldiers of that
corps were wounded, the matter would not be doubtful.
But we possess the detailed list, regiment by regiment,
of the soldiers killed or wounded in the days of Decem-
ber, the official list, and we can positively state that
not a single lancer was either killed, or even wounded.
The historian cannot hesitate, then, to strongly doubt if
any shot was fired upon that cavalry of General Reibell
which laid so many corpses upon the roadway of the boule-
vard.
What, unfortunately, it is not possible to doubt, is, the
murderous effect of the charges of the lancers, and the
volleys of the transitory geudarmery. It is sufficient, in
order to be convinced on this point, to cast a glance at M.
Trebuchet's list of the dead. Thereon are found the
names of Uiiriy-three persons, with the information that they
were killed on the Boulevard des Italiens, or the Boule-
vard Montmartre.
Now, we repeat once more, this list is very incomplete.
It contains but one hundred and fifty-three names, while
the Moniteur computes at three hundred and eighty, the
number of the victims. Let us add, besides, that M. Tr&-
buchet does not indicate the place where fell those whose
names are inscribed upon his funereal list, except to the
number of seventy or seventy-two thereof. No indication
permits us to say with precision, how many among the
three hundred and ten others killed, according to the figures
of the Mvnitenr, also fell upon the boulevards. If the pro-
portion was the same for the general total as for those in-
THE MASSACRE AT SALLANDRODZE'S. 225
scribed upon the list of M. Trebuchet, we should reach the
number of two hundred dead bodies upon the boulevards
Bonne-Nouvelle, Poissonniere, Montmartre, and Des Ital-
iens.
Let us now pass to the accounts of two semi-official
journals, concerning the facts of the Boulevard Poisson-
niere. It was there, above all as has already been seen
by various quotations, that the cannon-balls, the grape-
shot, arid the fusillade of the infantry, perforated divers
houses and riddled their fronts.
Here is the item, couched in terms almost identical,
which appeared, like the preceding, in the Constitutionnel
and the Patrie :
" On the boulevards Montmartre and Bonne-Nouvelle, shots
were likewise fired upon the soldiers of the 72d of the line, from
several houses ; and in particular from a house facing the Cercle
de F 'Union (Union Club), and the Cercle des Strangers (For-
eign Club), from the Tolbecque House, from the Hdtel Lannes,
in which are the carpet stores of M. Sallandrouze, and from the
other neighboring houses.
" The colonel and the lieutenant-colonel of this regiment were
dangerously wounded, and an adjutant was killed. Some soldiers
were wounded.
" A volley from the skirmishers, supported by a howitzer, was
instantly directed against the houses whence the shot was fired.
The windows, the fronts, were partly destroyed. Then detach-
ments entered the interior, and put to death all individuals found
concealed there. Six individuals in blouses, discovered behind the
carpets that they had piled up in order to avoid the bullets of the
troops, and to fire upon them without danger, were shot upon
the steps of the Hdtel Lannes, at present the depot of the Sal-
landrouze manufactory.
" Several scenes of the same nature occurred in the vicinity of
the Varietes Theatre, and the troop did justice to its murderers."
There are in this account falsehoods not less apparent
than in the one that we reproduced above concerning the
Boulevard des Italiens.
In the first place, shots could not have been fired from
15
226 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
the houses designated, upon the 72d of the line, which at
three o'clock was fighting in Saint-Denis Street, with the
Republicans who were defending the formidable barricade
of that street
It was while pushing their troops to the assault of that
barricade, that the colonel and lieutenant-colonel of the
72d of the line fell.
No adjutant was killed. The official list of the soldiers
killed or wounded, which we have under our eyes, con-
tains but one officer killed, the lieutenant-colonel of the
72d of the line.
The proprietors of the houses designated by the news-
papers, protested, like those of the Boulevard des Italiens,
and caused the assertions put forth by the two semi-official
sheets to be rectified. M. Beaumeyer, director of the
Sallandrouze establishment, affirms that not a shot was
fired from the Hotel Lannes. His letter is in the news-
papers of the time. No one disputed his affirmation. M.
Billecocq, shawl-merchant, whose house was beside that of
M. Sallandrouze, affirmed likewise and his affirmation is
all the less suspicious because he approved the Coup
cTEtat that no shot was fired from his house. His house,
nevertheless, was, like the Hotel Lannes, perforated by
cannon-balls and riddled by a shower of bullets.
There is no doubt that the firing of the soldiers of Gen-
eral Canrobert at this point was terrible. The appear-
ance of the places next day, as described by Captain Mau-
duit, amply demonstrates this. The same writer said too,
speaking of the events of the Boulevard Poissonniere :
" General de Cotte's soldiers, electrified by the volleys of mus-
ketry, also opened fire, but at random ; they continued it during
eight or ten minutes, in spite of the efforts of the general and
his aides-de-camp to arrest so useless an expenditure of ammuni-
tion, which could make only innocent victims ; for certainly no
combatant could li ive been tempted to show himself at the win-
dows during this fearful storm." 1
1 Ri-wAnlum Atilit.iirt. ]>. 2S8
A COMBAT IN A BOOK-STORE. 227
The Moniteur Uhiversel published, some days later, the
detailed account of one of the scenes witnessed during
the invasion of the houses of the boulevard by the sol-
diers :
" A bookseller, M. Lefilleul, established several years ago upon
the Boulevard Poissonniere, was busy closing his shop a little be-
fore the drama of the 4th of December, when a pistol-shot
fired by a clerk in the vicinity, at a bugler of the line, caused
the crowd which was pressing against him to scatter, and left a
free passage for the insurgent to enter his store. The latter was
closely followed by the bugler, who succeeded in stretching him
dead behind a counter, but who himself fell upon the dead body.
Other soldiers, who came to the assistance of the bugler, wounded
the unfortunate bookseller who saw nothing, and who was
taken for an adversary in the abdomen. A terrible struggle
was engaged in, between M. Lefilleul and a captain. The former
was wounded twice more, in the thigh and arm ; but the latter
fell dead under the strokes of the soldiers who sought to defend
him.
" M. Lefilleul, who in spite of his wounds still maintains his
strength and his sang-froid, took advantage of this terrible mo-
ment to free himself, and quitted the store, leaving three corpses
there. It is hoped to save the life of M. Lefilleul, who is an hon-
est merchant, quite a stranger to the political passions."
This account must be true, taken as a whole. It how-
ever contains one inaccuracy. It is not possible that the
captain mentioned therein was killed. The official list of
soldiers killed or wounded makes no mention of any cap-
tain killed.
Though the facts we just cited enable one to get a
glimpse of many things, to already comprehend some
features of the drama of the boulevards, they are in-
sufficient to give a view of the whole. And if we pos-
sessed no other documents, we should forego presenting a
quite exact account, and seeking a plausible explication of
this sad catastrophe.
Fortunately for the historian, there exists a narrative of
228 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
the acts of the boulevards, written by an ocular witness,
placed in the best circumstances for well observing, and
afterward recounting with scrupulous exactness. This wit-
ness is an officer of the English army, Captain William
Jesse, who was lodging, on the 4th of December, in a
hotel situated on the corner of Montmartre Street and the
boulevard. From this point the prospect extends from
one side as far as the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, from
the other as far as the Boulevard des Italiens. The ac-
count of Mr. Jesse is extremely precise, touching what the
narrator saw with his own eyes ; and extremely reserved
as to that which he knows by hearsay only. One will be
struck with the Britannic calmness and sang-froid which
characterizes this recital. This document has all the more
value for us, who are looking simply for the truth, since
Captain Jesse, a gentleman of perfect respectability, has
among other merits the inestimable one in such a case of
being absolutely a stranger to the political passions in play
in these events. The letter in which he retraces what he
saw on the 4th of December, was inserted in the well-known
English historical collection, the Annual Registrar. It had
at first appeared in the Times of December 13, 1851.
We translate, following the text as closely as possible.
We have substituted points for some lines of Captain Jesse's
reflections, wishing to limit ourselves to the reproduction of
the pure and simple report of facts observed by him (Note
. . . . " [At two o'clock, when approaching the extremity
of the Rue Vivienne, I obserred the troops passing along the
boulevard, which they cleared, driving the people into the side
streets, who ran down it, crying out, ' Sauvez rout.' I sought
refuge with my wife, in a shop, and subsequently reached my own
house. At three o'clock, returning from the Place de la Bourse,
it was with the greatest difficulty I got back again. The guns
had been distinctly. heard for some time in the direction of the
Faubourg St. Denis, 1 and the passage of troops that way con-
i This wax, as we have already said, the attack of De Cotte's brigade
CAPTAIN JESSE'S ACCOUNT. 229
tinucd for a quarter of an hour after I came back. Having writ-
tea a note], I went to the balcony at which my wife was standing,
and remained there watching the troops. The whole boulevard
as far as the eye could reach, was crowded with them, principally
infantry, in subdivisions at quarter distance, with here and there
a batch of twelve- pounders and howitzers, some of which occu-
pied the rising ground on the Boulevard Poissonniere. The
windows were crowded with people, principally women, trades*
men, servants, and children, or, like ourselves, the occupants of
apartments. The mounted officers were smoking their cigars,
[a custom introduced into the army, as I have understood, by the
Princes of the Orleans family, not a very soldierlike one, but
at such a moment particularly reassuring, as it forbade the idea
that their services were likely to be called into immediate requi-
sition. Of the Boulevard des Italiens I could see but little, on
account of the angle I have mentioned ; but in the direction of
the Porte St. Denis I could see distinctly as far as the Boulevard
Bonne-Nouvelle]. Suddenly, and while I was intently looking
with my glass at the troops in the distance eastward, a few mus-
ket shots were fired at the head of the column, which consisted of
about three thousand men. In a few moments it spread, and
after hanging a little came down in the boulevard in a waving
sheet of flame. So regular, however, was the fire, that at first I
thought it was a feu-de-joie for some barricade taken in advance,
or to signal their position to some other division, and it was not
till it came within fifty yards of me, that I recognized the sharp
ringing report of ball-cartridge ; but even then I could scarcely
believe the evidence of my ears, for as to my eyes, / could not
discover any enemy to f.re at, and I continued to look at the men
until the company below me were actually raising their firelocks,
and one vagabond, sharper than the rest a mere lad without
either whisker or moustache, had covered me. In an instant I
dashed my wife, who had just stepped back, against the pier be-
against the great barricade of Saint-Denis Street, and perhaps too that of
the barricades of the Faubourg Saint-Martin. It is not impossible that
General Canrobert's advance-guard, the 5th battalion of Viacennes Chas-
seurs, had commenced that attack, whilst the bulk of the brigade was still
on the boulevards Bonne-Nouvelle and Poissonniere. Several Repub-
licans, who fought in the barricades of the Faubourg 'Saint-Martin, are con-
fident that the chasseurs began firing at half-past two, if not sooner. One
of the survivors repeated this to us quite recently.
230 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
tween the windows, when a shot struck the ceiling immediately
over our heads, and covered us with dust and broken plaster. In
a second after I placed her upon the floor, and in another a
rolley came against the whole front of the house, the balcony and
the windows ; one shot broke the mirror over the chimney-piece,
another the shade of the clock ; every pane of glass but one was
smashed, the curtains and window-frames cut, the room, in short,
was riddled. The iron balcony, though rather low, was a great
protection ; still five balls entered the room, and in the pause for
'reloading I drew my wife to the door, and took refuge in the
back rooms of the house. The rattle of musketry was incessant
for more than a quarter of an hour after this, and in a very few
minutes the guns were unlimbered and pointed at the magazin
of M. Sallandrouze, five houses on our right What the object or
meaning of all this might be, was a perfect enigma to every indi-
vidual in the house, French or foreigner; some thought the troops
had turned round and joined the Reds ; others suggested that
they must have been fired upon somewhere, though they certainly
had not from our house or any other on the Boulevard Montmar-
tre, or ice must have seen it from the balcony. Besides which, in
the temper in which the soldiers proved to be, had that been the
case, they would never have waited for any signal from the head
of the column, eight hundred yards off. This [wanton] fusillade
must have been the result of a panic, lest the windows should have
been lined with concealed enemies, and they wanted to secure
their skins by the first fire; [or it was a sanguinary impulse
either motive being equally discreditable to them as soldiers in
the one case, or citizens in the other. As a military man, it is
with the deepest regret that 1 feel compelled to entertain the lat-
ter opinion]. The men, as I have already stated, fired volley
upon volley for more than a quarter of an hour without any re-
turn ; ! they shot clown many of the unhappy individuals who
remained on the boulevard, and could not obtain an entrance into
any house ; some persons were killed close to our door, and
their blood lay in the hollows round the trees the next morning,
when we passed at twelve o'clock. [The soldiers entered houses
whence no shots came ; and though La Palrie, the newspaper of
1 Compare with what Captain Maoduit nays, of the effort* of General
de Cotte to repress the useleM fusillade of his soldiers on the Boulevard
Bonne-Nouvellc.
INCIDENT RELATED BY V. HUGO. 231
the Elysee, pretended to specify them by name, it was in a subse-
quent number obliged to deny its own scandalous imputations.
" But let us admit that a few shots were fired from two or three
houses on the other boulevards, that a few French soldiers were
killed, was that a reason for this murderous onslaught on the
houses and persons of their fellow-citizens, to the extent of nearly
a mile of one of their most populous thoroughfares ? The loss of
innocent life must have been great, very great, more than ever
will be known, for the press is more free now in Russia than in
France. The Boulevards and the adjacent streets were at some
points a perfect shamble ; but I do not mean to state what I have
heard and ascertained of that loss, for I do not wish to make the
picture darker than it need be ; it has been engraved by the bay-
onet in the minds of the people inhabiting this quarter of Paris,
who cannot but dread for the future the protection of their own
soldiers.]
" I am sir, your obedient servant,
" WILLIAM JESSE,
"Late Captain Unattached.
"MAISONETTE, INGATESTONE, ESSEX, December 12." (Note 137.)
After this luminous account, it seems to us easy, by
connecting it with all that has been already quoted, to
arrive at an exact understanding of the manner in which
the facts occurred.
At three o'clock the troops were stationed, or were
slowly defiling, with frequent haltings, on the boule-
vards. The crowd which surrounded them was especially
curious, but nevertheless in general unsympathetic. Cries
hostile to the President were heard at some points, often
also derisive laughter, pantomimes, directed at the soldiers.
We have seen above this detail, given by Captain Mauduit,
that the limbers of a broken gun-carriage had served
for fuel for the bivouac fires of the troops in the Boule-
vard Poissonniere. We have read, in a writing of M.
Victor Hugo, published abroad, that these limbers were
broken in a false maneuvre of the drivers of the artillery ,
toward two and a half o'clock, near the corner of the Fau-
bourg Montmartre, at the rising of the Boulevard Pois-
232 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
sonniere, and that the crowd became quite merry at their
expense. " You see they are drunk ! " cried a workman.
This fact had appeared doubtful to us ; but the coincidence
of the observation made by M. Mauduit, who saw the
fragments of these limbers burning, has modified our
sentiment The incident related by M. Victor Hugo must
be true. No doubt it has no great significance; but it
seems well to note it, as contributing to establish the
attitude of certain portions of the crowd in presence
of the soldiers. The latter, greatly excited against the
populace, exaggerating without doubt the degree of its
hostility, the mind haunted by the terrible " war of the
windows " in June, imagined themselves to be under the
blow of a sudden aggression. It is certain that they sup-
posed the houses filled with invincible enemies ready to
fire ; they believed themselves hedged in by ambush ; they
were in one of those conditions of nervous super-excite-
ment in which men with difficulty preserve their sang-froid,
and, if they are united in great masses, yield, by an irre-
sistible impulse, to suddeu movements ; witness so many
panics, apparently inexplicable.
This mental condition of the soldiers massed upon the
boulevards on the 4th of December, was it aggravated by
physical causes, by excesses of aliment and beverages ?
This has been claimed with so much persistence, that the
general government believed it necessary to deny it in its
official organ. We do not think it can be disputed that
the troops were, on that day, infinitely better cared for
than ordinarily.
But may one attribute to this cause a preponderating
influence upon the deeds of the boulevards ? We think
not The masses of troops stationed at other points had
been not less well treated, and nothing similar happened
there.
The arrangement of troops being such as we have stated,
what Mr. Jesse saw is very naturally explained.
TROOPS FIRE WITHOUT PROVOCATION. 233
Shots were fired at the head of the column in the Boule-
vard Bonne-Nouvelle (Note 137 a) ; the forward platoons
responded, riddling the windows with bullets. The mass
was shocked as with electrical commotion. No more doubt
on the part of the soldiers, " the war of the windows "
was commencing ! And, platoon by platoon, they fired in
succession upon the groups standing by : upon the specta-
tors of the balconies and windows, perforating those im-
aginary enemies with bullets !
Vainly most of the officers (this has been proved by a
great many) sought to arrest this impulse. For a quarter
of an hour it was a veritable tempest of fire and lead,
from the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle as far as that of the
Italians.
M. Mauduit has written some lines that well confirm
our own views. "We transcribe them again :
" The soldiers of General de Cotte, electrified by the fusillade
which surrounded them, also opened fire, but at random, and con-
tinued it for eight or ten minutes, in spite of the efforts of the
general and of his aide-de-camp to arrest so useless an expendi-
ture of ammunition, which could make only innocent victims."
We have also heard it related, but we could not guar-
anty the fact, that an officer of artillery threw himself in
front of the howitzer that was bombarding the Hotel Sal-
landrouze, in order to arrest that insensate canonnade.
The reader imagines the frightful spectacle which the
boulevards must have presented, above all during the
early moments of the catastrophe. When that " sheet of
waving flame " (according to the expression of Mr. Jesse)
was seen to descend, the crowd rushed, stricken with ter-
ror, toward the doors of the houses ; toward the outlets of
the adjacent streets, a prey to a too legitimate frenzy.
The shower of bullets fell in part upon these horrified
groups. They were seen to bend beneath the storm, to
fall upon the sidewalks and door-sills. Some of the
wounded arose, and reeled, only to fall again.
234 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
One of the persons hit, who survived in spite of two
serious wounds, said : " It seemed as though a large water-
spout was coming from the Boulevard Poissonniere, twist-
ing and breaking in its passage the men, and the trees
planted along the boulevards." The person whose words
we quote, was a few steps from the Varietes Theatre, in
front of the house then bearing No. 5 of the Boulevard
Montmartre. He fell suddenly, with a group of six or eight,
three of whom became corpses.
Many too were hit in the windows and interiors of
rooms, by the bullets that ricochetted against the walls.
But let us no longer insist upon this lamentable picture.
After this quarter of an hour or twenty minutes of storm
of musketry, those of the officers who had tried to arrest
the disaster, nearly regained the mastery of their soldiers.
The major part of the infantry of Canrobert's brigade de-
filed toward the Faubourg Saint-Martin. Upon the boule-
vards there remained only the lancers of General Reibell,
and, it seems, the gendarmerie mobile.
Isolated shots were heard for a long time after. This
sad fact, no longer produced by panic and feverish impulse,
is but too well established.
Let us now recall some sentences from an extract cited
above, from Captain Mauduit, the military writer so de-
voted to the Napoleonic cause :
" You cannot cross the boulevard," said to him, several hours
afterward, an old officer, his repiment.il comrade, " without expos-
ing yourself to pistol-shots or lance-thrusta from the scouts sta-
tioned at each street-corner; the boulevards are strewn with dead
bodies."
" A passer-by, whom M. Mauduit met a little further on, said
to him in a low voice,
" ' Dont go upon the boulevards, they are firing upon every one
who passes.' "
The Honorable M. Jules Simon, at present a Deputy of
the Opposition (Republican), for the Department of the
HOW DID THE FIRING COMMENCE? 235
Seine, wrote a few days afterward to a newspaper of
another town, a letter, which was published, and in which
were found these details :
" In Montmartre Street, toward four o'clock, an unarmed, inof-
fensive group, not crying out, was fired upon. A man fell ; we
raised him up ; he was only wounded ! Three paces distant,
another was dead. A woman had her arm broken by a bullet. I
returned by Richelieu Street. I saw a soldier take aim, and fire
upon a window."
We have further, as to the events of the boulevards, to
examine but a single question. How did the fusillade com-
mence at the head of the column ?
It has been seen that it extended from the troops sta-
tioned in the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle to those who occu-
pied the Boulevard des Italiens, as if one had ignited a
train of powder.
It seems to us extremely probable that one or several
shots must have been fired at the forward platoons of Gen-
eral Canrobert's column.
The Moniteur, in the account of the drama enacted at
the bookstore of Lefilleul, speaks of a pistol-shot fired by
a clerk at a bugler of the line. Some have likewise spoken
of shots discharged from the upper windows of two houses
situated on the south side of the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle,
between the sentry-post in front of the Gymnase Theatre
and the corner of Clery Street. These assertions have
nothing in common with the story published by the news-
papers, of the firing done from the Boulevard Poissonniere,
especially from the Hotel Sallandrouze, an invention whose
falsity the newspapers themselves acknowledged.
The reader will remark that less than an hour before,
there was fighting at this point. The brigade of De Bour-
gon had skirmished some time with the Republicans, con-
tinuing as far as the barricades on this side the Porte
Saint-Denis.
They were still fighting at three o'clock, and very
236 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
sharply, in the streets a little distant from that part of the
Boulevard Bonnc-Nouvelle. At this point, the troops were
already, so to speak, in the enemy's country.
Thus, there are strong presumptions for believing that
some of those isolated shots, suddenly heard so distinctly by
Captain Jesse in the direction of the head of the column,
were fired by insurgents, perhaps by some of those who
had already fought at the same place, against De Bour-
gon's brigade.
Such should be, it seems to us, the accidental cause of
that panic (the expression seems to us applicable, although
it is not the most ordinary sense- of the word), of that
panic, we say, which being instantly propagated in the
mass of troops stretched along for nearly a quarter of a
league to the rear, caused such frightful misfortunes.
This is, at least (until proof to the contrary and revelation
of facts unknown at present), the only explanation we
could admit
The reader will perhaps be surprised that we do not take
due account (in a moral and judicial point of view) of this
woeful event, without example in the history of our modern
civil conflicts. He will perhaps be surprised, too, that we
do not inquire upon whom its responsibility falls. We will
remind him that we are voluntarily circumscribed in the
narrow limits of a simple narrative of facts. We do not wish
and we would have it so that we were able to do
more. The time to judge of what we are relating has not
yet come.
The impression produced in Paris by this fatal event
was immense, beyond all that may be imagined. The news
spread rapidly, augmented by public rumor. The unspeak-
able fright of those who escaped was transmitted to the
masses, and it congealed them. There was, as early as the
evening of the 4th, a stupor, a universal prostration.
A witness, little suspected of exaggerations in this re-
A GLOOMY PICTURE. 237
gard, Captain Mauduit, whose Bonapartist enthusiasm is
unlimited, has established the existence of that impres-
sion. We have already cited some passages of his book,
which confirm what we advance. We propose to conclude
with other extracts :
" As early as 7 o'clock on the morning of the next day, the
5tb, I recommenced my historical peregrinations. Few inhabi-
tants had yet hazarded going out. The aspect of the quay, from
the Hotel de Ville as far as the Champs-filysees, was sombre. The
few passers-by whom I met bore upon their features the impress
of inquietude, some even of stupefaction ."*
" At the debouching of all the streets, and as far as the Bastile
Square, was found a platoon of cuirassiers, all having strolling
scouts, with hanging sabre, like the dragoons, and a pistol in
hand. The entrances to Tortoni and the Maison Dorde, were
occupied by the same groups as on the two preceding days, and
almost as compactly; but the faces there were dark and gener-
ally sullen, and not defiant as on the evening before. The anger
was concentrated, but not calmed. 2
" An expression of stupor was revealed in the countenances of
all. People did not accost each other except with hesitation and
in order to inquire uneasily, ' How will it end ? ' There were
few faces not at least gloomy; some depicted concentrated anger
and rage, and expressed themselves half whisperingly, or breathed
only hatred and revenge ! . . . . against the President,
against the generals, and against the plumes." 3
The Moniteur Parisien, a semi-official journal, also said,
speaking of that next day, the 5th of December :
" The stores and houses remained closed all the day, upon the
line of the boulevards, which continued to be occupied militarily
by the brigades of Generals Reibell and Marulaz. Travelling
was interdicted. Within the memory of man the boulevards had
never presented so lugubrious an aspect."
The revolutionary movement, which was initiated in the
first half of the 4th day of December with so much power
that it seemed as if it was to carry the entire city with it,
was therefore broken.
l Revolution Militdire, p. 261. a Ibid, p. 264.
* Ibid. pp. 273, 274.
238 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
The battle waged in the old streets of the central quar-
ters, had crushed the elite of the men of action of the
republican party. The half, if not more, of those who had
fought, were killed, wounded, or captured.
The catastrophe of the boulevards, striking the city with
an unspeakable thrill of terror, had done the rest
The survivors of the barricades, and the representatives
of the people, who tried, on the morning of the 5th, to
recommence the agitation, ran against a populace frozen
with fright Some barricades, raised on the left bank of
the Seine, at the Carrefour de la Croix-Rouge, on the
right bank, at some points in the faubourgs, especially at
the Barriere Rochechouart, were abandoned without com-
bat at the approach of the troops.
' The insurgents," says Marshal Magnan, in his official
report, " dumbfounded by the result of the day of Decem-
ber 4, no longer dared to defend their intrenchments."
A gloomy and silent throng gathered together during
the whole day of the 5th, before the palings of the Cite
Bergere, in the Faubourg Montmartre.
A great number of corpses, some say thirty-five, others
say sixty, had been placed in rows in the passage. They
were of the unfortunate fallen of the day before upon the
boulevards. Most of them wore the garb of the mid-
dling classes. Two or three were women.
Later, these (or others, we do not know exactly which)
were transferred to the Northern Cemetery. They re-
mained there some time, half shrouded, the head bare, in
order that they might be recognized by their families.
What was the number of victims in those days of the
3d and 4th of December ?
The official and officious statements give but little light
on this point, save in what concerns the army.
M. Granier de Cassagnac, 1 says 175 dead and 115
wounded. He borrows these figures from a report of the
Prefect of Police.
i Vol. ii. p. 433.
HOW MANY WERE KILLED? 239
M. Mayer * gives different figures, according to the esti-
mates of M. Tre'buchet, who, he says, would swear before
God and man that his list was exact. These figures are
191 killed and 87 wounded. It is hardly necessary to
notice the colossal improbability of these latter figures.
The Moniteur of August 30, 1852, already cited, gave, as
resulting from the official showings, the number of 380
killed.
It is a pity that the Moniteur did not think it proper to
tell upon what documents it relied, in order thus to contra-
dict the figures of 175 of the Prefect of Police, and 191
of the Chief of the Bureau of Health.
In presence of such contradictions, the historian should
refrain, if he does not possess other authentic sources of
computation. All that we can say is, that the number 380
seems to us still very small in view of the grave indica-
tions which we gather from divers directions. But there
is no occasion for insisting upon this subject.
As far as the army is concerned, the official figures have
never been disputed. There were, on the 3d and 4th of De-
cember, one officer and twenty-three soldiers killed. Three
other soldiers subsequently died from their wounds. That
is, in all, twenty-seven military persons killed. This num-
ber, brought into juxtaposition with the 380 non-military
persons killed, as is confessed by the Moniteur, is not a fact
to weaken the opinion of those who think that the unfor-
tunate victims of the boulevards must have been greatly
superior in number to those of the combatants killed upon
the barricades.
The number of military persons wounded was consider-
able, in proportion to that of the dead. It reached the
sum of 181, of whom seventeen were officers.
We shall make a final remark upon these losses suffered
by the army. If we deduct therefrom the seven or eight men
put hors de combat in the skirmishes of the 3d of December,
* Page 169.
240 PARIS IX DECEMBER, 1851.
and the four or five others who appear to have been wounded
by the bullets of their comrades on the Boulevard Bonne-
No UYC lie, it is established that more than 190 men were
killed and disabled in the attack upon the barricades in
the afternoon of the 4th of December. If we bear in
mind that the troops always commenced (see the report of
General Magnan) by breaching with cannons the impro-
vised defenses of the Republicans, before assaulting them
closely ; that the number of the defenders of the barri-
cades did not exceed 1,000 or 1,200 men, indifferently
armed, it will be admitted that the total of about 200
soldiers killed or wounded (a considerable number, regard
being had to the small number of Republicans fighting), is
an incontestable proof of the energetic resistance of the
latter. (Note 138.)
CONCLUSION.
WE might here discontinue this study of the Coup
cTEtat of the 2d of December, at Paris.
As early as the 5th, the triumph of Louis Napoleon was
assured. The republican Constitution of 1848 existed no
more, except as a souvenir.
We shall, however, briefly sum up the acts accomplished
between that day and the one on which the result of the
Plebiscitum (Note 3, ante), of the 20th of December, was
proclaimed.
The Moniteur of the 5th published a decree, signed the
day before, specifying that the vote upon the " Appeal to
the People " would take place in the communes (Note 43),
by secret ballot, and not by a vote upon the public regis-
ter, as it had been indicated in the proclamation of the
2d, as a souvenir, undoubtedly, of the mode of voting
adopted in 1804, by Napoleon I. (Note 139).
The army had, nevertheless, voted in this manner, within
forty-eight hours. The roll had been called, and officers,
under-officers, and soldiers, had successively signed upon
a register, their Yes, or their No.
The result was, 303,290 voting Yes, and 37,359 voting
No ; 3,626 military electors had abstained. For the navy,
the list furnished, 15,979 votes of Yes, and 5,128 of No;
486 sailors had abstained (Note 140).
On the 8th of December, a proclamation of Louis Napo-
leon to the French people appeared. The President felic-
itated himself with the appeasing of the troubles, invited
the citizens to vote, and thanked, in particular, the Paris-
16
242 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
iun workingmen for the good spirit which they had
evinced.
Let us point out a prominent feature of that proclama-
tion : the name Republic did not occur in it
On the same day, a decree (not abrogated yet) was
signed, giving to the government the power of deportation
to Cayenne (Note 141), as a measure of public safety ; that
is to say, without the judgment of a court, to deport the
formerly-condemned who had left their places of banish-
ishment, and the individuals recognized guilty of having
formed part of a tecret society.
During those same days, and almost without interruption
up to the following month, innumerable arrests were made
in Paris. In less than a week, the prisons, and the forts
detached from the fortified circuit (Note 142), were encum-
bered with prisoners. Their number exceeded several
thousands. Save with very rare exceptions, they belonged
to the different shades of the republican party. The quota
of the Parisian bourgoitie in this multitude of captives, was
enormous; out of all proportion with what it had been
since the beginning of the century. The workingmen,
however, were in the majority. Some one said there was
" a coat for each blouse." This is nearly the truth, but not
of absolute accuracy.
On the other hand, the representatives of the Right (the
Royalists), incarcerated on the 2d, were nearly all set at
liberty.
The only ones among them who were stricken, belonged .
to the Orleanist party (Note 31). A decree temporarily
exiled with Generals Bedeau, Changarnier, Lamoriciere,
and Leflo Messieurs Duvergier de Hauranne, Cre"ton,
Haze, Thiers, Chambolle, Remusat, and Jules de Lasteyrie
(Note 143).
This decree v.-as not published until after the 20th of
December ; but it enters into our subject as an immediate
consequence of the Coup (tEtat.
THE REPRESENTATIVES EXILED. 243
The republican representatives were stricken in great
numbers.
Five of them were designated by decree for deporta-
tion to Cayenne. These were Messieurs Marc-Dufraisse,
Greppo, Mathe, Miot, and Richardet (Note 144). It must
be said, however, that M. Miot alone was deported, to Af-
rica, and not to Cayenne.
M. Mathe had succeeded in escaping, and Messieurs
Dufraisse, Greppo, and Richardet received an order for
exile at the moment they were expecting to start for Gui-
ana. It has been said, but we do not know whether the
statement is correct, that this commutation of penalty was
decreed upon the solicitation of Madame George Sand
(Note 145). What is certain is, that the representatives
were absolutely ignorant that that step, or any other, had
been taken in their behalf.
At the same time as for Messieurs Dufraisse, Mathe", and
Richardet, an order for exile commuted the penalty of a
certain number of Republicans of Paris, and of a neighbor-
ing department, the Loiret, who were already in the road-
stead of Brest, on board of the ship that was to transport
them to Cayenne. Among them were Xavier-Durrieu, the
old representative to the Constituent Assembly ; two mem-
bers of the legislature, Michot-Boutet and Martin, repre-
sentatives of the Loiret ; an old prefect and former mem-
ber of the Constituent Assembly, M. Pereira, of Orleans ;
some well-known men of letters ; the fabulist Lachambeau-
die ; Hippolyte Magen, and Kessler, journalists ; one of
the most distinguished members of the medical faculty of
Paris, Doctor Derville, son of the representative of the
Upper Pyrenees, etc. (Note 146.)
Six republican representatives were punished with pro-
visional exile, by the same decree as for Generals Bedeau,
Changarnier, etc. These were Messieurs Pascal Duprat,
Victor Chauffour, General Leydet, Edgar Qtiinet, Antony
Thouret, and Versigny (Note 147). M. Emile de Girardin
244 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1861.
was stricken at the same time with his republican col-
leagues, with whom he had made common cause for some
time theretofore.
Sixty-six other representatives, all Republicans, were
exiled by special decree* Here are their names, in the
order adopted by the Monitcur (Note 148) :
Edmond Valentin, Paul Racouchot, Agricol Perdiguier,
Eugene Cholat, Louis Latrade, Michel Renaud (of the
Lower-Pyrenees), Joseph Benoit (of the Rhdne), Joseph
Burgard, Jean Colfavru, Joseph Faure (of the Rhone),
Pierre Charles Gambon, Charles Lagrange, Martin Na-
daud, Barthelemy Terrier, Victor Hugo, Cassal, Signard,
Viguier, Charrassin, Bandsept, Savoye, Joly, Combier,
Boysset, Duche", Ennery, Guilgot, Hochstuhl, Michot-Bou-
tet, Baune, Bertholon, Schoelcher, de Flotte, Joigneux,
Laboulaye, Bruys, Esquiros, Madier-Montjau, Noel Par-
fait, Emil Pean, Pelletier, Raspail, Theodore Bac, Bancel,
Belin (Drome), Besse, Bourzat, Brives, Chavoix, Dulac,
Dupont (of Bussac), Gaston Dussoubs, Guiter, Lafon,
Lamarque, Pierre Lefranc, Jules Leroux, Francisque
Maigne, Malardier, Mathieu (of the Drome), Millotte,
Roselli-Mollet, Charras, Saint-Ferrdol, Sommier, Testelin
(of the North).
Article 2 of the decree, signed Louis Napoleon, and
countersigned de Moray, threatened the individuals (the
very word used) mentioned above, with deportation, if they
reentered the French territory. It was toward the middle
of December that the famous mixed commissions were or-
ganized by a ministerial circular. They have sometimes
been compared to the Provost Courts of the Restoration.
This assimilation is not just, according to our ideas. The
Provost Courts were a species of court-martial, judging
summarily, but in short judging ; admitting contradictory
debate, and defense in public audience. The mixed com-
missions of 18.02 decided without legal process, without
the hearing of witnesses, without adverse debate, with-
MARTIAL LAW DECLARED. 245
out defense on the part of the accused, without public
judgment, the fate of thousands and thousands of Repub-
licans. The scale of penalties pronounced (in secret) by
these commissions, was graduated from the " espionage of
the High Police," up to deportation to Cayenne (Note
149).
During the first fifteen days of December, the Moniteur
often published decrees, putting in a state of siege divers
departements, in which resistance to the Coup <Etat had
commenced. The number of these placed under military
regime, exceeded thirty on the 20th of December ; or more
than a third part of France.
Three extraordinary commissioners, invested with plen-
ary powers, had been sent, M. Carlier, the ex-Prefect of
Police, into the Allier, the Cher, the Nievre, and the Yonne ;
M. Maurice Duval, into the departments of the West
(Bretagne and Vende'e) ; and M. Berard into the Somme.
Their mission was very short ; they were recalled at the
end of eight days.
Decrees succeeded each other rapidly in the Moniteur ;
also ministerial instructions. Toward the middle of De-
cember, that one was rendered which placed the avocations
of hotel-keeper, saloon-keeper, and coffee-house keeper,
under the requirement of special authority, previously ob-
tained.
The army, as was natural, was largely recompensed.
Decorations and promotions were numerous (Note 150).
The days of December were counted as campaigns to all
soldiers whose regiments had concurred in repressing the
resistance to the Coup d'Etat at Paris, or in the provinces.
The Catholic clergy was overwhelmed with kind atten-
tions and favors (Note 151). It responded to them by an
adherence to the Coup cTElat, whose unanimity and en-
thusiasm called to mind that of which it had given proof
after the 24th of February, 1848, when it blessed the
trees of liberty, and preached the alliance of the Gospel to
246 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851.
the Democracy. The causes were very different, but the
enthusiasm of the Catholic clergy had remained the same.
As early as the first days, a decree had transformed the
Pantheon (Note 115, ante) into the Church of Sainte-Gene-
vifcve.
Among the official documents of that period, one may
read a certain circular of M. de Morny, concerning the
observance of the repose prescribed by the Church, on the
holy Sabbath day, which breathes the most perfect Catho-
lic piety and fervor (Note 152).
We have told how, on the morning of the 2d of Decem-
ber, measures were taken for preventing the independent
press from continuing its publications. Those measures
were regulated some days later. Many newspapers were
definitively suppressed. The only important republican
journal that could recommence its publication, the Siecle
(Note 153), was condemned, for a long time, to the record-
ing of the various news and official documents only. It
was interdicted, not only from discussing the conditions
under which the popular balloting was about to commence,
from setting forth the reasons which should induce one to
vote such or such a way ; but it could not even inscribe at
the head of its columns, " We vote No" It was the same
with all the organs of the independent press. M. P. Mayer
stated the truth concerning the situation of the press after
the 2d of December: "The Moniteur" he says, "spoke
then ; and in the unanimous silence of the old dead press, that
also of the Coup fEtat, the official journal, became," etc.
The ballot for the Plebiscitum was opened. The opera-
tion was generally accomplished in the midst of the great-
est material calm.
The result gave 7,439,216 yeas, and 640,737 nays. The
null ballots numbered 36,880.
The official abstract does not give the number of those
abstaining. But it may be deduced from this fact, that
the electoral lists of 1849, which were taken as the basis
VOTE ON THE PLEBISCITUM OF 1851. 247
for the entries after the 2d of December, stated the num-
ber of electors to be 9,618,057. There should therefore
have been about 1,500,000 of the absentees.
In order to complete the account of the Coup cTEtat, we
ought to give the result of the balloting in the capital.
The number of electors registered in the twelve districts
of Paris, was 291,795. The number of those who voted
was 216,693.
The votes cast were divided as follows :
Yeas, 132,981)
Nays, 80,691 [-216,693
Null, 3,021 )
There had been 75,102 absentees. The number of yeas
was still less than half of the number of electors entered.
The general result of the Plebiscitum was solemnly pre-
sented to Louis Napoleon, on the 31st of December, by the
Advisory Commission charged with canvassing the votes.
Two speeches were pronounced on this occasion ; the
first by M. Baroche (Note 40), the second by Louis Napo-
leon. We proceed to reproduce them verbatim, according
to the Moniteur. They are the natural conclusion of an
account of the Coup dUEtaL
M. Baroche, after having given the President an abstract
from the register of the Advisory Commission, which estab-
lished the results of the Plebiscitum, such as they are given
above, spoke as follows :
" M. PRESIDENT, When making an appeal to the French
people, through your proclamation of the 2d of December, you said :
' I no longer wish an authority which is powerless to do good, and
which binds me to the rudder when I see the yessel running toward
the abyss. If you have confidence in me, give me the means to
accomplish the grand mission which I hold from you.'
" To this loyal appeal, made to its conscience and to its sove-
reignty, the nation has responded by an immense acclamation,
by more than seven million four hundred thousand suffrages.
" Yes, Prince ; France has confidence in you ! She has confi-
dence in your courage; in your exalted reason; in your love for
248 PARIS IN DECEMBER, 1851-
her ! And the testimonial which she has just given you of this, is
so much the more glorious because it is rendered after three yean
of a government of which it thus sanctions the wisdom and patriot-
ism.
" The elect of the 10th of December, 1848, has he shown him-
self worthy of the trust which the people conferred upon him ?
Did he well comprehend the mission that he received ?
" Inquire of the seven millions of votes which have just con-
firmed this trust, adding it to a greater and nobler mission.
" Never, in any country, has the national will so solemnly man-
ifested itself! Never has a government obtained a like approba-
tion; had a broader base, an origin more legitimate, and more
worthy the respect of all people ! (Murmurs of approval.)
" Take possession, Prince, of that authority which is so glori-
ously deferred to you.
" Make use of it, in order to develop, by wise institutions, the
fundamental bases which the people themselves have consecrated
by their votes.
" Reestablish in France the principle of authority, too much
shaken for sixty years past, by our continuous agitations.
" Combat without relaxation those anarchical passions that at-
tack society, even in its foundations.
" It is no longer odious theories only that you have to pursue
and repress ; they are changed into deeds, into horrible at-
tempts.
" Let France be at last delivered from those men always ready
for murder and pillage; from those men who, in the nineteenth
century, bring horror into civilization, and seem, while awakening
the saddest remembrances, to carry us back five hundred years
into the past. (Lively assent.)
" Prince, on the 2d of December you took for your symbol
France regenerate*! by the Revolution of 1 789, and organized by
the Emperor : that is to say, a wise and well regulated liberty; a
strong authority respected by all.
" May your wisdom and your patriotism realize that noble
thought ! Render to this country, so rich, so full of life, and of
the future, the greatest of all possessions order, stability, confi-
dence. Restrain, with energy, the spirit of anarchy and revolt.
" You will thus have saved France, preserved all Europe from
immense peril, and added to the glory of your name, a new and
imperishable glory."
SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT. 249
(These words are followed by unanimous and significant marks
of approbation.)
Louis Napoleon thereupon spoke :
" GENTLEMEN, France has responded to the loyal appeal
which I made to her. She has comprehended that / went outside
of legality only to reenler into the right. More than seven millions
of suffrages have just absolved me; justifying an act which had no
other end but that of sparing to France, and to Europe, perhaps,
years of trouble and misfortunes. (Demonstrations of approval.)
"I thank you for having officially shown how national and
spontaneous was that manifestation.
" If I congratulate myself for this immense adhesion, it is not
through pride, but because it gives me the strength to speak and
to act as is befitting the chief of a great nation like our own.
(Repeated cheers.)
" I understand all the grandeur of my new mission. I do not
mistake as to its grave difficulties. But with an upright heart,
with the concurrence of all estimable men, who, as well as you,
will enlighten me with their lights, and sustain me with their patri-
otism, with the tried devotion of our valiant army, in short, with
that protection which to-morrow I shall sincerely pray heaven to
grant me still (prolonged sensation), I hope to render myself
worthy of the confidence which the people continue to repose in
me. (Approbation.) I hope to assure the destinies of France, by
founding institutions which respond at once to the democratic in-
stincts of the nation, and to that universally expressed desire of
having henceforth a strong and respected government. (Warm
concurrence.) In fact, to give satisfaction to the exigencies of the
moment, by creating a system which constitutes authority without
wounding equality, without barring any way of improvement; that
is, to establish the real basis of the only edifice capable of support-
ing, later, a wise and beneficent liberty."
(Cries of Vive Napoleon ! Vive le President ! are heard, etc.)
The reader who is curious for piquant and instructive
comparisons, has only to refer back to chapter I. of this
book. He will there find manifestos, letters, and speeches,
which may profitably be re-perused after the above (Note
154).
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
List of a certain number of non-military persons killed on
the 3d and th of December, prepared by M. Trebuchet,
Chief of the Bureau of Health, at the Prefecture of
Police :
[The author here gives a list containing not only the
name, occupation, and address, but the street and number
of house of each, with the place where each was killed, or
died in consequence of wounds received. We do not deem
it necessary to copy these details in full, more especially as
the list is of but a portion of the citizens killed. We have,
however, taken the trouble to classify them, giving the
number of each sex and occupation, and the result gives
some facts and figures worthy of contemplation. Trans-
lators^]
Whole number on the list ...... 159
Of these there were men and boys . . . 150
Women 9
Of the men, there were of clerks, capitalists (rentiers),
householders, each, 7 ; of those whose names and occupa-
tions are UNKNOWN, 7 ; merchants, 6 ; carpenters, shoe-
makers, employes, servants, each, 5 ; laborers, coachmen,
each, 4 ; jewelers, house-painters, cooks, tailors, glovers,
saddlers, masons, each, 3 ; druggists, lawyers, decorative
painters, florists, cabinet-makers, carriage-makers, waiters,
sculptors, dyers, curriers, butchers, barbers, porters, toy-
dealers, each, 2 ; sheriffs clerk, ex-representative, ex-sub-
prefect, clerk of court, professor, teacher of languages,
254 APPENDIX.
lawyer's clerk, count (Poninski), architect, draughtsman,
perfumer, bookseller, founder, turner, newsdealer, builder,
paper-dealer, lace-maker, baker, lapidary, button-maker,
stone-cutter, bitumen-dealer, broker, wine-dealer, door-
keeper, agent, shade-maker, color-grinder, hatter, milkman,
harness-maker, tinner, carman, paver, gas-lighter, without
occupation, child of seven years, each, 1.
Of the women, there were shop-women, 2 ; char-women
(femmes de menage), 2 ; landlady, corset-maker, embroiderer,
dressmaker, unemployed, each, 1.
A RECTIFYING LETTER.
To M. EUOKNE TfeNor:
Sir, Here are the principal inaccuracies which have slipped
into the account of an episode that is personal to me, and which
you reproduce according to M. Schoelcher.
I am indicated under the pseudonym of Voisin, under which
I was really known at that time, and with the qualification of
Counselor-general of the Department of the Haute- Vienne.
In reality, my name is Mandavy ; and I was a notary in the
department mentioned.
It is quite correct that I was captured after having fought for
the defense of the Republic ; that I was summarily shot ; and
was deported after my recovery. But that execution took place,
not at the barricade of Montorgueil Street ; but rather, at that of
the Faubourg Saint-Martin, near the mayoralty of the then 5th
ward.
Shot first, then pierced all over while on the ground, by sabre-
bayonets (one of these perforated my lung, making a wound that
for along time was believed to be mortal), I was not received
by an old woman ; but by dint of energy, I was able to raise my-
self, and, aided by the old doorkeeper of the mayoralty, to reach
the ambulance established there, where I was received by the
resident attendants, who gave me the first care. The firemen,
whoso quarters are contiguous to the mayoralty, were able at a
given moment to extricate me from the brutalities of the soldiers
(who believed me quite dead), and to carry me clandestinely to
the Dubois hospital.
I authorize you, sir, to make such use as you shall judge proper
APPENDIX. 255
of the above corrections, in the interest of the truth ; advising
you at the same time, notwithstanding my sincere desire to adhere
to the personal satisfaction of a duty fulfilled, that I always ac-
cept, whatever may be the consequences thereof, the responsi-
bility of all my acts.
Be pleased to receive, sir, the sincere expression of my best
fraternal sentiments.
P. MANDAVY.
BOULEVARD SAINT DENIS, 26.
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
[Many of the Biographical Notices contained herein, are abridged from
those of Yapereau's Dictionnaire da Contemporaint. Some of the political
definitions are taken from the Dictioimaire General de la Pulitique, by
Maurice Block.]
Note 1, p. v. In France the whole territory is divided
into eighty-nine Departements, or Prefectures. Each is
governed by a Prefet, or Prefect, and takes its name from
some river, mountain, sea, or coast, etc. The Depart-
ments are divided into Arrondissements, or Sub-prefec-
tures, governed by a Maire or Sub-prefect
Note 2, p. v. The Jacquerie is a name first given to the
revolted peasantry, in 1538. The word is derived from the
term Jacques- Bonhomme (James Simple), which had been
derisively bestowed upon peasants. They were often
called " Jacks " (Jacques) when spoken of as a class.
Note 3, p. vii. The Plebiscitum (Plebiscite) was orig-
inally a resolution voted upon by the Plebes, the third order
of the Roman citizens. In France it is a name given,
since the first Republic, to a resolution submitted by the
government to the citizens, for their ratification by vote.
Thus, whenever a constitution, or an amendment thereof,
a Senatus Consnltum (see Note 16), or a vote for the
Presidency is submitted to the people for their suffrages,
it becomes a Plebiscitum.
Note 4, p. xi. In Rome, the Qtusstor was one of the two
officers charged with the guardianship of the Treasury.
In France, under the Republic, the Qitesteurs were two
officers "charged with the keeping and auditing of the Ac-
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 257
counts of the Service of the Assembly," and were elected
by that body, each term. Now, they are appointed by the
Emperor, and their office is in the Palace of the Depu-
ties.
Note 5, p. 1. The Republic of 1848 was the second
government of that form in France ; the first Republic is
reckoned to include the successive regimes of the National
Convention, the Directory of five members, and the Con-
sulate of three ; that is, from the close of the Legislative
Assembly, September 21, 1792, to the coronation of Bo-
naparte as Emperor, in 1804.
Note 6, p. 1. The Constituent Assembly was the name
given to the ' States-general " at the time that body con-
vened in 1791, and constituted and decreed the first French
Constitution. In 1848, the body of nine hundred mem-
bers which sat in legislative convention until the forma-
tion of the Constitution of that year, assumed the old
title, Constituent Assembly.
Note 7, p. 1. Since the history of the Constitution of
France is closely associated with that of the Coup d'JEtat,
it seems well to submit the following resume of the mate-
rial changes therein from the first.
The Constitution of September 3, 1794, was formed
from the body of Decrees theretofore issued by the Legis-
lative, or Constituent Assembly. It declared, substantially,
that all men are equal before the law ; all are equally ad-
missible to all dignities, offices, and public employment;
all have the natural and indefeasible right of property,
safety, and resistance to oppression. No man can be ac-
cused, arrested, or detained, except in cases determined
by the law, and according to the forms which it has pre-
scribed The source of all sovereignty resides
in the Nation. The law is the expression of the general
will, and all citizens have the right to assist in its forma-
tion ; either personally, or by their representatives. Every
public agent is responsible to society for his administration.
17
258 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
An auxiliary decree, passed by the Assembly in accord-
ance with the principles of this Constitution, provided that
the royal veto merely suspended the operation of a law
for two legislative terms ; and that whenever the Assem-
bly should formally require the execution of a law, such
law was thereupon to be executed without a previous sub-
mission of the same to the king for his approval.
At this period, citizenship was attained at the age of
twenty-five years, provided the elector paid a direct tax
equal to the price of three days' labor.
This Constitution, and the subsequent dethronement of
Louis XVI., prepared the way for that of June 24, 1793,
which was submitted to the people, and by them almost
unanimously ratified, the votes having been 1,801,908 affir-
matively, and 11,610, negatively. It provided for a Repub-
lic, at whose head was an Executive Council consisting of
twenty-four members, elected by the people. This coun-
cil had no power of veto, but was bound to execute all the
laws of the Legislative Assembly. The Deputies, or mem-
bers of the Assembly, were elected for one year. Citizen-
ship was attained at the age of twenty-one years.
Turbulence and terrorism were still rampant, and in
October, 171K3, the Convention declared this Constitution
" suspended." Soon afterward, a Committee of Public
Safety, consisting of twelve members, reappointed every
three months, was invested with a dictatorship.
The Constitution of August 22, 1795, was adopted by
a large vote of the people. The head of the executive
power was a Directory, consisting of five members elected
by the Legislative Body ; one member retiring from office
each year to give place to a new member. The Directory
had the power to appoint generals-in-chief, frame treaties
to be ratified by the legislature, etc. The legislative
power was vest< d in a " Council of Five Hundred " men,
aged at least thirty years, whose term of office was one
year each, and a Council of Elders (Ancient), of two hun-
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 259
dred and fifty men, at least forty-five years of age, and
married or widowers. These two branches formed the
Legislative Body (Corps Legislatif). Citizenship was at-
tained at twenty years of age, provided the elector paid a
direct tax, or exercised a mechanical calling, and could
read or write. This Constitution was more moderately
republican than the preceding one.
The Constitution of December 13, 1799, was adopted
almost unanimously by the people. Napoleon Bonaparte
(through the perfidy and cooperation of some of the mem-
bers of the Council of Five Hundred) had overthrown
the Directory, vested the executive power in three Con-
suls, and appointed himself " First Consul." At that time
the people were always ready for a change, and the eclat
of Napoleon's name was potent to produce a hasty popular
sanction of his acts of usurpation. The new Constitution
provided for the continuance of the Consulate created by
Bonaparte, and for the maintenance of him in the First
Consulship. The Consuls were to hold office for the term
of ten years ; the First Consul to have the power to ap-
point the high military and civil officers ; to declare war ;
and to conduct the diplomacy of the nation. Also, to ap-
point the members of the Council of State (then first or-
ganized), whose duty it was to frame laws on behalf of the
Consuls, to be submitted to the Legislative Assembly.
The legislative power was placed in a Senate consisting
of eighty members, at least forty years of age, holding
office for life, and elected by their own body ; a Tribunate
consisting of one hundred members, at least twenty-five
years of age ; and a Legislative Body consisting of three
hundred members, of at least thirty years of age each.
The Constitution of August 4, 1802, was a senatorial
decree (senatus-consulte)^ formed by the Council of State
above mentioned, and submitted to the people for their
ratification. It being a Bonapartist idea, it was almost
unanimously adopted. It made Bonaparte First Consul for
260 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
life, with power to appoint his successor. It authorized
him to appoint senators for his own reasons, until the num-
ber should reach one hundred and twenty (it was eighty
before) ; and it enabled him to appoint a Privy Council
(or cabinet as we would say), of eight members. The
Tribunate was diminished from one hundred to fifty mem-
bers.
All this paved the way for the Constitutional Amendment
of May 18, 1804, which was likewise almost unanimously
adopted by the people. By this, Bonaparte was made Em-
peror, and the heirship to the imperial crown was declared
to be in his lineal descendants of the male line, and failing
those, in the descendants of his brothers Joseph and Louis ;
the first older than Napoleon, and the second younger.
The Amendment of February 5, 1813, was not submitted
to the people ; it referred to the Regency of the Empire in
case of the death of Bonaparte, who was then about to
commence a new military campaign. It established a
Council of Regency.
The Constitution of April 6, 1814, was a decree of the
Senate, reciting the fall of Bonaparte, and declaring Louis
Stanislaus Xavier, brother of Louis XVI. (executed in
1793), to be King of France, under the title Louis XVIII.
This decree was not submitted to the people. The law-
making power was vested in the Senate and the Legislative
Body. Many of the republican principles resulting from
the Revolution of 1789, were reaffirmed, and some whole-
some provisions were established.
The "Constitutional Charter" of June 14, 1814, was
framed by a committee appointed by Louis XVIII., and
submitted to the allied powers (who at that time held and
occupied Paris), for their approval. They ratified it, but
the people were allowed no opportunity to do so. The
charter was, however, quite liberal in some of its provis-
ions.
On the 22d of April, 181. r , the people, by a nearly unani-
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 261
mous vote, again modified their organic law. This was
during the " hundred days " of Bonaparte's escape from
the isle of Elba, and reappearance in France. It declared
the warrior reinstated as Emperor, and possessor of the
throne from which he had just pushed the Bourbon king.
Another change, not ratified by the people, was made
June 29th, 1815. By this, the crown of which Louis
XVIII. had been temporarily dispossessed, was declared
restored to him ; this was one of the results of Waterloo.
In 1825, Louis XVIII. was succeeded by his brother,
called Charles X. The ' Revolution of July," 1830,
dethroned the latter ; and on the 14th of August, in that
year, a constitutional charter was made and ordained. It
fixed the succession to the regal crown in Louis Philippe,
then the head of the Orleans, or younger line of the Bour-
bon dynasty.
The Constitution made by the National Assembly, of
November 4, 1848, resulted from the compulsory abdica-
tion of Louis Philippe, which had occurred on the 24th of
February in that year. A provisional government had
been installed on that day, and on the 5th of March fol-
lowing it had issued a decree, convoking the citizens to elect
nine hundred representatives to a national assembly. Citi-
zens of twenty-one years of age could vote, and all of twenty-
five years of age were eligible to office. The election was
held April 23d, and the Assembly met on the 4th of May.
It appointed a committee of eighteen members to frame a
constitution, which was adopted November 4, by a vote of
seven hundred and thirty-nine in favor of, and thirty against
it. It established a Republic, and it was the first constitu-
tion that had provided for universal suffrage. The repre-
sentatives to the Assembly were elected for three years,
and they had the right to elect the Vice-President of the
Republic, and the members of the Council of State. The
latter had previously been appointed by the sovereign.
They held office for six years. The composition of the
present Council of State is given in Note 71. a
262 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
The other principal features of the Constitution of 1848
are mentioned by M. Te*not, in chapter I.
It is to be remarked that although this Constitution was
never voted upon directly by the people, it had been almost
unanimously voted for by their representatives, elected
for that purpose.
On the 2d of December, 1851, President Louis Napo-
leon Bonaparte, having overthrown the existing govern-
ment on the night before, issued an " Appeal to the
People," convoking them to vote upon the ratification of
his Coup cTJEtat. This Plebiscitum (Note 8), was voted
upon on the 20th of December, and there were 7,439,216
ballots cast, with the syllable " Yes " printed thereon, and
640,737 with the syllable " No " ; about 1,500,000 voters
having abstained. This Plebiscitum was promulgated
December 31st the same year.
The Constitutional Amendment of January 14, 1852,
was the work of the Senate, and was not submitted to
the people. It contained the substance of the propositions
enumerated in the " Appeal " above mentioned, and pro-
vided for the maintenance of Louis Napoleon in the presi-
dency for ten years. He had been elected for four years,
and his official term would have closed on the second Sun-
day of May, 1852, when, by the terms of the existing Con-
stitution, he would have been compelled to wait for an
interval of four years, before being again eligible. The
Senate and Legislative Assembly provided for by this
amendment, are described in Note 12 of this Appendix.
The Constitution of December 25, 1852, declared Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte to be Emperor of France, with the
imperial title, Napoleon III. It had been passed in the
Senate (appointed by the Emperor), in the form of a Sen-
atus Consultum (Note 1C), on the 7th of the previous No-
vember, by a vote of eighty-six to one, and voted by the
people on the 22d and 2'3d of that month.
As late as the 29th of March, 1852, the President had
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 263
publicly said : " Let us preserve the Republic ; it menaces
no one, and it may reassure all the world. Under its ban-
ner I wish to inaugurate anew an era of forgetfulness and
of conciliation ; and I call, without distinction, all those
who wish to frankly concur with me in the public good."
A second Senatus Consultum, of December 25th, pro-
mulgated its revision ; it makes the Emperor President of
the Senate, etc.
The Amendment of July 17, 1856, relates to the Re-
gency of the Empire, a son having been born to the Em-
peror on the 16th of March previous. That of May 27,
1857, relates to the election of Deputies, or members of
the Assembly ; that of May 4, 1860, to the powers of
the Senate ; that of December 2, 1861, to the discussion
in the Senate of the Budget of the Empire.
All amendments which have been made to the Constitu-
tion of 1852, have tended to invest the Emperor with addi-
tional powers.
Note 8, p. 1. The 18th of Brumaire corresponds with
the 8th of November of the Gregorian Calendar. The
" 18th Brumaire, year VIII.," of the Republican Calendar,
for in 1791, the French Legislative Assembly reformed
the Calendar, will always be remarkable in the history
of France, as the day on which Bonaparte overthrew the
Directory, and established the Consulate, making himself
the " First Consul." The nature and circumstances
of this operation were something analogous to that of his
nephew, in December, 1851.
For the convenience of such as may have occasion to
refer to the Republican Calendar, we have prepared the
following tabular form of the same. The months were
numbered and named as below :
1. Vendemiaire (Grape-harvest), from Sept. 21 to Oct. 20, 1791.
2. Brumaire (Misty) . . . . " Oct. 21 to Nov. 20, "
8. Frimaire (Frosty) . . . . " Nov. 21 to Dec. 20, "
4. Nivose (Snowy) . . . . " Dec. 21 to Jan. 19, 1792.
264 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
5. Pluviose (Rainy) . . . from Jan. 19 to Feb. 19, 1792
6. Ventost (Windy) . . . . " Feb. 20 to March 20, "
7. Germinal (Sprouting) . . . March 21 to April 19, "
8. Floricd (Flowery) . . . . " Apr. 20 to May 20, "
9. Prairial (Grassy) . . . . " May 21 to June 18, "
10. Messidor (Harvesting) . . " June 19 to July 18, "
11. Thermidor (Heating) . . " July 19 to Aug. 18, "
12. Fructidor (Fruitful) ..." Aug. 19 to Sept. 20, "
Note 9, p. 2. The Concordat (agreement) of 1801, was
the result of a convention between Napoleon Bonaparte,
then First Consul, and Pope Pius VII. It was much
like that concluded between King Francis I. and Pope
Leo X. in 1517. The religion of the Roman Catholics was
guarantied for France, but the control was transferred from
the Pontificate to the French Government
In 1812, Bonaparte imprisoned the same Pope, at Fon-
tainebleau, for eighteen months, in order to compel him to
sign a renunciation of his temporal authority. He had pre-
viously, at the time of his coronation as Emperor, at which
Pius VII. officiated, received the kindly blessing of the
afterwards persecuted Pope.
Note 10, p. 2. By the terms of the Concordat (Note
9), which still is in force, the religion of France is directly
governed by the state. Thus, the French Government
appoints the archbishops and bishops, and they are after-
ward canonized by the Pope. The priests are appointed
by the bishops.
Probably not less than nineteen out of every twenty of
the clergy of France are Roman Catholics ; so are the
members of the imperial family. The Grand Chaplain of
the Emperor (he is assisted by a bishop and eight ab-
bots) is the Archbishop of Paris, who is likewise a mem-
ber of the French Senate for life. The cardinals of
France are likewise senators ex-officio. Practically, there-
fore, the Romish faith is maintained as that of the Church of
France ; but preachers, of whatever denomination, are paid
and controlled by the general government. (See Note 151.)
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 265
Note 11, p. 2. The annual draft (tirage au sort), is
applicable to all able-bodied men who have attained the age
of twenty years. Those who are drawn, unless they procure
substitutes, enter the military service for seven years, in the
active list, followed by two years in the reserve list. The
regular army of France is now about 250,000 men.
Note 12, p. 2. The present National Assembly, or more
properly the Legislative Body (Corps Legislatif), consists of
two hundred and ninety-two members, called Deputies,
elected by the people, for the term of six years ; the elec-
tions since the Coup oTEtat having been held in the years
1857, 1863, and 1869. (As to the relative political strength
of each party in that body, see Note 154). They receive
a salary of 12,500 francs ($2,500) each per session, and
there are sometimes several sessions in the same year.
Their president, until 1869, was appointed by the Em-
peror, and his salary is 100,000 francs ($20,000) per an-
num ; their two vice-presidents were likewise appointed
by him until 1869, and they receive a salary of 60,000
francs ($12,000) each per annum. Their sessions are held
in what was formerly the Palais Bourbon (see Note 26),
and the ministers of the Emperor appear in the chamber
from time to time, and take part in the debates.
The Senate consists of about one hundred and seventy
members, appointed by the Emperor for life. They get an
annual salary of 30,000 francs. Among them are the nine
marshals of France, the two admirals, the six cardinals, the
Archbishop of Paris, three of the chamberlains to their Maj-
esties, their First Surgeon, their Grand Master of the Sta-
bles (the Ecuyer), the Grand Hunter, the Grand Master
of Ceremonies, and three aides-de-camp to the Emperor.
We suppose all these officials draw their pay for each office
they hold. The Princes of France, arrived at the age of
eighteen years, are also senators. Of this class there hap-
pens to be but one at present, Napoleon Joseph, the cousin
of the Emperor.
266 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
The president of the Senate (salary 100,000 francs) is
also appointed by the Emperor ; so are the vice-presi-
dents. The senatorial sessions are held in what was for-
merly the Palais du Luxembourg, which see in Note 128.
The Council of State (see Note 71), and the Ministry
or Cabinet, are not branches of the legislative depart-
ment, but are auxiliary to the executive power.
Note 13, p. 5. The Public Ministry (Ministere Ptiblt'c),
is a name given to the body of officers connected with the
higher courts, for the maintenance of order therein, and
the execution of the mandates of the judges.
Note 14, p. 5. General Louis Eugene CAVAIGNAO
was born in 1802, and was a graduate of the celebrated
Polytechnic School of Paris. In the African campaigns
his bravery and skill had obtained for him promotions
from the rank of major to that of brigadier-general. In
1848, he was elected a member of the Constituent Assem-
bly, and in May in that year, he was elected Minister of
War by the Assembly's Executive Committee. During
the insurrection of June, in consequence of the terrorism
which prevailed, the same committee resigned, and invested
General Cavaignac with absolute dictatorship, when he
took strong measures for quelling the revolt which had
almost become a revolution. The number of insurgents
behind street-barricades was estimated to be sixty thou-
sand ; the National Guards were worse than useless, being
little better than insurgents themselves. The General was
unable, by promise, or by proclamation, to cause the re-
volters to submit to the then unstable government ; and
he was compelled to attack them in their defenses. The
result was a loss of two thousand of the insurgents killed ;
two representatives of the Assembly ; the Archbishop of
Paris ; five generals ; many officers of a lower grade ; and
fifteen hundred soldiers.
After the suppression of the insurrection the General
resigned his extraordinary authority, but the grateful As-
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 267
sembly reinvested him with it, and gave him the title
" Chief of the Executive Power." He maintained public
order during the discussion and until the adoption of the
new Constitution.
Upon the election of Louis Napoleon to the presidency,
he resumed his seat in the Chamber of Deputies, where
he so strongly manifested his desire for the maintenance
of universal suffrage, that he was said to have considered
it invested with a sort of divine right
With the Coup <EEtat General Cavaignac was impris-
oned (as narrated in chapter III.) in the Fortress of Ham.
After a time he was released, and elected a deputy to the
Legislative Assembly, but he refused to take the oath of
fealty to the Napoleonic Constitution.
In 1857, while living in retirement at Mans, in the east-
ern part of France, he was again elected a deputy, but
he died before entering upon the duties of his office. His
remains were brought to Paris for interment, and the
grief produced by the loss of the great and good citizen
was very generally manifested, although the funereal hon-
ors due to his worth and station were not permitted.
At a recent public distribution of diplomas, by the
Prince Imperial, to members of the graduating class of
one of the colleges of Paris, a son of the late General
Cavaignac, being invited by the Prince to step forward
and receive a prize from his hands, refused the proffered
honor ; whereat he was publicly cheered, and the mother
of young Cavaignac, taking occasion to say that he had
shown that he was an honor to the name of his late father,
quitted the hall with the high-minded young man.
Note 15, p. 5. Charles Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE,
now the Emperor of France, with the title Napoleon III.,
was born April 20, 1808, in the Palace of the Tuileries, in
Paris. His father. Louis Bonaparte, was the second below
the first Napoleon in age, and the youngest but^ one of
the five brothers. C. L. N. Bonaparte was born two years
268 TRANSLATORS* APPENDIX.
after his father became King of Holland, 1806, and two
years before he abdicated the throne of that kingdom,
1810. The ex-king died at Florence in 1846. The
mother of C. L. N. B. was Hortense, a daughter of Jose-
phine (the first wife of Napoleon I.) by Alexandre Beau-
harnais.
On the 29th of January, 1853, C. L. N. B. married
Dofia Maria Eugenia de Guzman y Porto-Carrero, Count-
ess of Teba, and daughter of the Count of Montijo, " one
of the grandees and senators of Spain." Of this marriage
there was born, March 16, 1856, Eugene Louis Jean
Joseph Napoleon, who is the only child, and the heir-pre-
sumptive to the throne. The said E. L. J. J. N. Bonaparte,
by senatorial decree, bears the title a Prince Imperial."
Note 16, p. 6. The Senatus Consultum (Senatus-con-
tulte} was originally a decree of the Roman Senate. In
France, the name was at first given to resolutions of the
" Conservative Senate" of the first empire; at present it
may be called a Senatorial Decree, having relation to the
organic law of France.
An illustration of the nature and scope of the Senatus
Consultum, is afforded by that one of 1866, which forbids
the members of the Legislative Body (see Note 12) to dis-
cuss the Constitution, and fixes, as it were, a seal upon
the lips of the representatives who would otherwise debate
upon it
Note 17, p. 6. The "Affair of Strasbourg," in 1836,
was an attempt on the part of Prince Napoleon (then liv-
ing with his mother, at Arenenberg, Switzerland) to incite
a mutiny of the soldiers of the barracks of Strasbourg
against their superior officers ; or perhaps more correctly,
to provoke an insurrection against King Louis Philippe, in
the hope that it would result in his own attainment to the
throne of France. It does not seem that he could have
been essaying to establish a republic, for he had said as
long ago as 1832 (in his Reveries Politiguet), that he would
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 269
wish for a republic " if the Rhine were a sea, if virtue
were always the sole motive, and if merit alone came to be
a power."
But undoubtedly he would have been glad to have it
appear that he was favorable to a free government, for just
before the affair in question he had said, " France is dem-
ocratic, but she is not republican," etc.
The Duke of Reichstadt (son of the first Napoleon)
had died in 1832, and Prince Napoleon had set his heart
upon being possessed of the throne of his late uncle, of
which he was the Napoleonic devisee. Accordingly, this
enterprise, more rash than bold, was undertaken with the
assistance of M. Fialin, alias de Persigny (Note 54),
Colonel Vaudry, one of the officers in command, Madame
Gordon, a sympathizing actress, and some others. Noth-
ing more than a great commotion seems to have been ac-
complished. The attempt was claimed to have failed
because of the rumor being suddenly started that the
" Prince " was really the son or nephew of Colonel Vau-
dry. There must have been much misunderstanding
among the soldiers, for some of them greeted the Prince
with shouts of " Vive VEmpereur ! " others, " Vive Napo-
leon II! " and still others, " Vive le Roi! "
M. Fialin de Persigny made his escape, but the Prince
and Madame Gordon and some others were captured.
At the time of his arrest, the Prince wore a great decora-
tion on his breast, and epaulets upon his shoulders ; these
were torn off by Colonel Talandier, and trampled upon ;
but it is said that the Prince did not unsheath his sword in
defense of these emblems of martial dignity.
For this indiscretion the Prince was ordered to go to
America. Previous to starting, he received some pocket-
money from the offended but magnanimous king whom he
would have deposed.
Note 18, p. 6. The "Affair of Boulogne," August 6,
1840, was planned and begun in England, and was another
270 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
attempt to incite an insurrection against King Louis
Philippe. Notwithstanding the ignominious failure of the
first one, and the providing him with a free passage to
and residence in America, by the said Louis Philippe, the
Prince does not appear to have hesitated at the thought of a
second disgrace, nor at a feeling of ingratitude such as
might be presumed to be in him under the circumstances,
toward his sovereign and benefactor.
The Boulogne in question for there are several places
of that name in France is a seaport town near the
Straits of Dover. It was but a few hours' sail from the
English coast, and there were arsenals well stocked with
the munitions of war, and barracks in which were sol-
diers whom he had been " educating " for some time,
through his agents. Accordingly, the Prince, with Fialin,
surnamed de Persigny (Note 54), General Montholon, a
companion of Bonaparte at St. Helena, Dr. Conneau,
now a senator and First Physician to the Emperor, and
some sixty others, sailed from London, having previously
calculated so as to arrive at Boulogne when the tide should
be high, shortly before daybreak. They were on the
steamer Edinburgh Castle, chartered for that purpose, and
were well supplied with arms, and were disguised as sol-
diers of the French National Guard ; even their military
buttons had been expressly manufactured for them at Bir-
mingham. It was not, however, until the steamer was at
sea that the Prince informed his companions where he was
going. Then it was ihat he had them summoned together
upon the deck, and said in a speech to them, " My friends,
I have conceived a project which I could not confide to
all of you ; for in grand enterprises secrecy alone can in-
sure success. Companions of my destiny, it is to France
we are going
" And if I am seconded, as I have been led to hope,
as true as the sun shines upon us, in a few days we shall
be in Paris, and history will say that it was with a handful
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 271
of brave men such as you, that I accomplished this great
and glorious enterprise ! "
The steamer having come to an anchorage at a little
distance from the landing, the invading party were taken
ashore in boats which had been carried for that purpose.
It was about five o'clock in the morning when they reached
the barracks ; the party, having at their head the Prince,
and a person bearing a flag, with a live eagle belonging to
the Prince perched thereon, followed by General Mon-
tholon, three colonels, a major, a captain, some other offi-
cers and the soldiers with Fialin de Persigny, etc. At
the barracks they found two companies of soldiers, who at
sight of the Prince and the eagle, and on a speech being
made to them, rallied around them with considerable real
or pretended enthusiasm, crying " Vive la Liberte! Vive le
Prince Napoleon ! "
Presently a captain in command of the barracks ar-
rived, and then what confusion ! Some of the invaders
ran one way, and some another. The Prince took to the
boats. Some of his companions were fired upon while in
the water ; one was killed ; and all, including the Prince,
were captured. But one person was wounded by the in-
vaders, and he, a soldier, was accidentally shot by the
Prince before any general firing had commenced.
For this affair, the Prince was tried before the Court of
Peers, defended by Berryer (Note 34), and Barrot (Note
36), and condemned to imprisonment for life. He was
taken to the fortress of Ham on the day after his trial,
where he remained for more than five years. In May,
1846, he escaped in the guise of a working mason, through
the assistance of his old friend, Dr. Conneau, a fellow-pris-
oner, who had been permitted to attend him medically
and went to England.
Note 19, p. 6. The interview here referred to was that
which Bonaparte had after his return from the Isle of
Elba, during the " hundred days" in which he kept Louis
XVIII. from the throne, and maintained himself thereon.
272 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
Not* 20, p. 6. The Isle of Elba had been ceded to
Bonaparte in 1814, by the allied powers, and he had
promised to remain thereon for the future. He in fact
stayed there about ten months. The island was afterwards
given to Tuscany, whose coast it adjoined.
Note 21, p. 6. Ham is a canton in the Department of
the river Somme, in the North of France. After the
dethronement of Charles X., some of his ministers were
imprisoned there.
Note 22, p. 7. It was during this period of Louis Na-
poleon's sojourn in England that he was qualified and
sworn as a " special constable for the preservation of the
public peace, and for the protection of the inhabitants,
and security of the property within the Parish of Saint
Clement Danes, and elsewhere within the said district ;
such appointment to continue in force during the period
of two calendar months from the date hereof." It was on
account of the Chartist demonstrations in April, 1848.
One of the translators of this work, who was qualified and
sworn in the same capacity, on the same occasion, fre-
quently saw the Prince while on the "beat" adjoining his
own.
Note 23, p. 8. We suppose this " taking up of arms
against Louis Philippe," has reference to the affair of Bou-
logne, mentioned in Note 18.
Note 24, p. 9. The Afoniteur Universel was established
in 1789, as the official organ or gazette of the govern-
ment. Its then editor, Mr. Panckoucke, was father of the
present editor, or rather of the editor of the journal which
bears the same name; for in 1869 the government estab-
lished a nno organ, with the title Journal OfftcieL
The Muniteur has always been skillful in adapting its
tone to the exigencies of the moment, opportune in aban-
doning the sovereign whose fortunes were waning, and in
making love to the one whose star was plainly in the as-
cendant and near the governmental zenith. The following
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 273
illustration of this wonderful adaptability was published in
the Paris newspapers at the time the Moniteur was itself
abandoned by the government.
When Napoleon I. escaped from Elba in 1815, the Mon-
iteur, then the organ of Louis XVIII., thus chronicled the
progress of the returning exile, from day to day :
"The Anthropophagist has escaped" "the Corsican
Ogre has landed " " the Tiger is coming " " the Mon-
ster has slept at Grenoble " " the Tyrant has arrived at
Lyons " " the Usurper has been seen in the environs of
Paris " " Bonaparte advances toward, but will never
enter the capital " " Napoleon will be under our ram-
parts to-morrow " and lastly, " His Imperial Majesty
entered the Tuileries on the 21st of March, in the midst of
his faithful subjects."
Note 25, p. 11. Alexandre Auguste LEDRD-ROLLIN was
born in 1808. Although a lawyer by profession he has
been a prominent editor of legal periodicals and of his-
torical publications. In 1839 he suffered four months' im-
prisonment, and was fined three thousand francs for having
publicly spoken his republican sentiments. He thereafter
became the leader of the smallest or most ultra section of
the " Left " or republican side of the Assembly, and gradu-
ally came to be an advocate of Socialism (see Note 29).
He was so strongly interested in the promulgation of his
" reform " ideas, that he sacrificed his pecuniary interests
through neglecting his clients, and devoting his attention
exclusively to his proposed public measures.
Upon the abdication of Louis Philippe, he hurried to the
Chamber of Deputies, and entering at the moment when
the majority were about declaring a regency in favor of the
Duchess of Orleans (the daughter of the abdicating mon-
arch), he mounted the tribune, and by veritable main-
strength, prevented that consummation. He then and
there parried the violent assaults made upon him, and de-
clared that inasmuch as the fugitive king had not nomi-
274 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
nated a regent before his abdication, he could not nominate
after that event, as he then lacked the requisite official
capacity. He permitted M. de Lamartine to explain and
advocate a plan for a provisional government, but he al-
lowed no one to advocate the regency.
Under the temporary government of 1848 he might
almost have become a dictator, but he was content with
being Minister of the Interior.
In the subsequent elections a reactionary turn had made
him far less popular than M. de Lamartine, whose repub-
licani^m was of a more moderate stamp. For the Presi-
dency he was the candidate of the Socialists. In 1849 he
became the leader of the insurrection against the ' Viola-
tors of the Constitution ; " but being defeated by the sol-
diery he remained concealed more than three weeks, in
the vicinity of Paris, whence he fled to England. There
he has been a conspicuous member of the school of Repub-
licans to which Kossuth. Mazzini, etc., belong. In June,
1870, he was permitted to return to Paris.
Francois VINCENT RASPAIL was born in 1794. His
republicanism became manifest in his early years, and he
was thrice dismissed from employment as a teacher for
this cause. He afterwards studied for the bar, but subse-
quently devoted his attention to the physical sciences.
When but twenty-nine years of age, his democracy was
judicially pronounced to be treason, and he was accord-
ingly sentenced to death, but never was removed from
prison to be executed. From this period until 1830, he
wrote and published several works of considerable import-
ance in the natural sciences.
In the Revolution of 1830, he was pleased with the fall
of Charles X., but fought against the accession of Louis
Philippe. The latter, however, offered him the position of
Conservator-general of Museums, an office which was
created expressly for him. His republicanism became so
radical that it led to successful prosecutions against him,
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 275
when he openly avowed his sentiments, and his terms of
imprisonment therefor amounted to about seven years in all.
He once said in a court-room, during a trial, that " the
citizen who should ask from poor France the sum of
14,000,000 francs ($2,800,000) for his annual personal al-
lowance, ought to be buried alive in the ruins of the Tuil-
eries." He was referring, of course, to the sum proposed
to be allowed to the King of France. For this outspoken-
ness he was fined 500 francs, and sentenced to fifteen
months' imprisonment
From 1830 to 1837, being most of the time in prison, he
published more scientific works.
When the Revolution broke out in 1848, he was the first
to get possession of the City Hall (the Hotel de Ville) in
Paris, and had proclaimed a republic, before the arrival of
the members of the Provisional Government. He refused
to accept office, but he established a paper called " The
People's Friend," with the motto " God and country ; full
and entire liberty of thought ; unrestricted religious toler-
ation ; universal suffrage."
He took part in the compulsory reading of a petition in
favor of Poland, in the Constituent Assembly, in May, 1848.
This occasioned his arrest on the charge of having caused
the violent dissolution of that body, and he suffered five
years' imprisonment therefor. It was during this period,
and when, of course, he could not have acted in any official
capacity, that he was elected a deputy to the Assembly,
and received 36,226 votes for the presidency of the Repub-
lic. At the end of this last term of incarceration, having
been in prison fifteen years in all, he went to Belgium,
where he remained until quite recently.
In May, 1869, he was elected a deputy to the French
Legislative Body, where, although he is seventy-five years
of age, it is believed that he will advocate with vigor and
persistence his cherished doctrines of reform and liberty,
much to the terror of the partisans of the Empire.
276 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
Alphonse DE PRAT de LAMARTINE was born in 1792.
As a poet, author, and historian he is universally known,
but of these attributes it is not our province to speak.
In 1848 he was probably more widely famous as a
political orator and leader than any other person then liv-
ing. He was an earnest advocate of real republican doc;
trines, and his influence was almost unlimited. But at a
later period, he was believed to be in a conspiracy with
Ledru-Rollin, against the established Republic, for selfish
purposes. He admitted that he was against the govern-
ment, but said he opposed it " as the lightning-rod opposes
the storm." He, nevertheless, suddenly fell from the high
eminence to which he had arisen in the popular mind, as
is shown by the much diminished majority by which he
was elected a deputy for the second term of the Assembly,
and by the small vote he received for the presidency. He
had always used his eloquence in assuaging popular excite-
ment, and in calming the rising passions of the multitude ;
and perhaps this fact, in the end, made his republicanism
seem weak and doubtful. Certainly, he was not sufficiently
prominent at the date of the Coup cTjEtat, to be an object
of the persecutions of the government
He died in February, 1869. His wife, an English lady
of talent and wealth, is still living. When the government
directed the funeral expenses of M. de Lamartine to be
paid from the treasury of the state, she declined the
proffered honor.
General CHANGAUNIER was a Royalist in principles, but
when the Republic was established, he felt it his duty to
stand by it and give it his strong support. On the morn-
ing of December 2d (as will be seen in chapter III.), he
was arrested and imprisoned. By a decree of January 9,
1852, he was compelled to quit France, and he took up
his abode in Belgium, where he stayed until recently. He
is now in Paris. Previous to the persecutions of the pres-
ent government, he had been made a grand officer of the
T/cgiou of Honor.
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 277
Note 26, p. 11. This palace was originally a ducal man-
sion of the Bourbon family. Its construction was com-
menced in 1722, but it was not completed when the Revo-
lution of 1789 occurred. At that time it was plundered ;
in 1795 it was occupied by the Council of Five Hundred ;
under the first Empire it was the hall of the Legislative
Assembly. With the general restoration of 1814 it was
restored to the Prince de Conde", a Bourbon, and descend-
ant of the Great Conde ; and in 1830 it fell to the possession
of the Duke d'Aumale. It was subsequently purchased by
the government for the use of the Legislative Body, whose
sessions are still held therein. It is on the south bank of the
Seine, and directly opposite to the famous Place de la Con-
corde,
Note 27, p. 12. In the Chamber of Deputies there is an
elevated stand in front of the president's desk, for the use
of orators addressing the Assembly. This stand is called
the Tribune.
Note 28, p. 12. "1 ask for the word" (Je demands la
parole), is analogous to our own parliamentary expression,
" Mr. President," and is the ordinary way in which a
member indicates his desire to address the Assembly.
Note 29, p. 14. It was a party of Socialists who, on the
31st of May, 1848, entered the Chamber of Deputies,
overpowered and dispersed the Assembly in something
like Cromwellian fashion, and, under pretext of reading a
petition in favor of Poland, declared a provisional gov-
ernment. They were led by Louis Blanc, Raspail, Ledru-
Rollin, Barbes, and others (see Note 31).
Note 30, p. 14. The struggle here referred to, is that
commencing June 22, 1848, during which the insurgents
maintained themselves behind the barricades in the streets
of Paris. The strongest of these were in the Place de la
Bastille, the public square on which stood the Bastile until
its demolition in 1789.
Note 31, p. 15. The political parties here mentioned still
exist, as distinctly separate in their views as at that period.
278 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
The Legitimists are those " who maintain the heredi-
tary principle of the crown, from male to male, in the
order of primogeniture, in the royal house of Bour-
bon." They favor the accession to the throne, of the
Count of Chambord (Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie
Dieudonne"), Duke of Bordeaux, and son of the late Duke
of Berri, who was the second son of Charles X. (see
Note 127), and they would invest him with the royal
title " Henry V." He is known to be strongly in favor of
sustaining the temporal power of the Pope by the army of
France. He has been married twenty-two years, but has
had no children. He represents the heirship of the older
line of the Bourbons.
The Orleanists favor the accession of Louis Philippe
Albert d'Orleans, Count of Paris, and son of the late Fer-
dinand, Duke of Orleans, who was the first son of the late
King Louis Philippe. Probably his title would be Louis
Philippe II. This Prince, with his brother, the Duke of
Chartres, served upon the staff of General McClellan, in
the late war of the United States (see Note 114).
The Republicans desire a Constitutional Republic, like
that of the United States. The Socialists are a branch of
this party, the name having been first introduced in 1830.
It is said that they desire " a clean sweep of whatever ex-
ists, to put everything into rubbish laws, manners, creeds,
guaranties of persons and property." Whatever diversi-
ties of views there may be among them as to details,
" they are agreed upon one point, the formal condemna-
tion of societies, as at present constituted ; and the neces-
sity of arranging upon their ruins an order of things more
conformed to the instincts of man and to his destiny in
this world."
At present there are also the " Officials," or those who
support the Emperor in all cases ; and the Third Party
( Tierx-jmrti), who are generally favorable to the Empire,
but desire a much more liberal administration of its
powers. Most of the latter are old Royalists.
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 279
Note 32, p. 16. Formerly the Girondins, or more
aristocratic side of the Convention, occupied the seats on
the left of the president's desk ; but they were called the
" Right," because, when the desk had been previously on
the opposite side of the Chamber they were the right, and
the name was retained as a souvenir of the old one.
The Jacobins, and Cordeliers, who actually occupied the
right side, were called the " Left."
The name Montagne (mountain) was given to the most
revolutionary party, who occupied the highest seats in the
Chamber. Those on the lowest seats were said to be on
the " plain," the " marsh," etc. Subsequently the Montag-
nards (mountaineers) divided into Jacobins, Hebertists,
Moderates, and Indulgents, and fought against and de-
stroyed each other. The left side of the Chamber is at
present occupied by the Republicans.
Note 33, p. 16. The Accusatory Arrest (Detention pre-
ventive), is the name given in France to a kind of arrest
and imprisonment without bail. The " Judge of Instruc-
tion " is the magistrate who may always issue a warrant
therefor, "by his sole will, without the requisition of a
peace-officer ; without furnishing a copy of the warrant ;
without announcing the nature of the offense ; and with-
out citing the law violated. He alone measures the dura-
tion of the imprisonment: no legal limit is fixed. From
the fearful moment of the arrest, the fate of the prisoner
is absolutely at the discretion of the Judge of Instruction."
No recompense is allowed to the prisoner if he is ulti-
mately discharged. In 1790, a provision of the law al-
lowed an indemnity in such cases.
Note 34, p. 17. ALPHONSE THIERS was born at Mar-
seilles in 1797. He is a member of the National Acad-
emy, a historian, an orator, and a statesman. He was one
of the strong leaders in the movement which resulted in
the dethronement of Charles X., at which time he was
editor of the National. In the Council of State, under
280 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
Louis Philippe, he was a leader of the Left-centre, and M.
Guizot (Note 58) of the Right-centre, and their contests
were bitter and severe.
In 1848 M. Thiers became as violent an enemy of Louis
Philippe, as he had previously been his efficient ministerial
friend. In the National, for which he still wrote, he de-
clared himself to be " of the party of the Revolution."
But he did not desire the Republic. In the Assembly he
voted for Louis Napoleon for the presidency, although he
had previously opposed him.
After his imprisonment at the time of the Coup cTEtat,
he was conducted by the government to Frankfort-on-the-
Rhine. He returned to France a few years afterward,
and in 1863, was elected an Opposition deputy to the Leg-
islative Body. In 1869 he was reflected to that office,
and will be a vigorous opponent of the government Not-
withstanding his age, he is an active and energetic worker,
and maintains his reputation as one of. the first orators of
France.
Pierre ANTOINE BEKRYER was born in Paris in 1790;
his ancestry was German, the old family name having
been Mittelberger, which indicates that they were from
among the mountains. Like his father, he was a distin-
guished member of the legal profession. When he fore-
saw the downfall of the first Napoleon, he hastened to
proclaim the advent of the Bourbon Restoration, displayed
the white cockade, and announced his joy over the ap-
proaching doom of the Emperor. Thereupon he was or-
dered to be arrested, fled to Nantes, and remained con-
cealed for a time. During the " hundred days," he took up
arms against Bonaparte, but he afterward took ground
against the violence of the Royalists ; saying that it was
" a shame for the victors to gather up the wounded of the
battle-field, and carry them to the scaffold." With his
father, he ably and earnestly defended Marshal Ney before
the Court of Peers, and was even suspected and accused
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 281
of having abandoned the cause of the Restoration. In
1850 he defended President Louis Napoleon against at-
tacks which he then supposed to be groundless ; he had
formerly defended him in the trial for the Affair of Bou-
logne.
Although he had been hostile to the government of
Louis Philippe, and a strong Legitimist (Note 31), he
sought, after the Coup d'JZtat, to coalesce the two branches
of the Bourbon family. In 1852 he was elected Chief of
the Bar of Paris ; in 1854, member of the French Acad-
emy ; in 1863, a deputy (with M. Thiers) for the Depart-
ment of the Mouths-of-the-Rh6ne. In 1858 he defended
the Count de Montalembert (see next name) when tried
for " exciting hatred and contempt against the government
of the Emperor ; " in 1861 he combated (in behalf of
Mr. Patterson of Baltimore) the succession of the ex-
King Jerome Bonaparte (see Note 102).
He died in 1869, with the reputation of having been
one of the first orators of his time.
C. F. de Tyron, Count of MONTAXEMBERT, was born in
London in 1810. His father was a peer of France ; his
mother was English. From 1830 to 1840 he advocated
the cause of Greece, Syria, and Ireland. In the Assem-
bly of 1849 he voted in favor of the expedition to Rome?
and was often the antagonist of Victor Hugo. He pro-
tested against the arrest of the deputies on the 2d of
December, but he afterward became a member of Louis
Napoleon's Advisory Committee. In 1858 he was fined
and imprisoned for having " excited hatred and contempt
against the government of the Emperor." He has since
lived in retirement, and written several politico-religious
works. He died in March, 1870.
A. F. Pierre, Count of FALLOUX, has remained faith-
ful to the Royalist cause, to which his family is indebted
for its nobility. After the Coup d'Etat, which he feebly
opposed, he withdrew from political life, and has since
been engaged in agricultural pursuits.
282 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
Hatthieu Louis, Count MOL, born in 1780, was a son of
the President Mole who perished upon the scaffold of the
Revolution. The first Napoleon had made him " Count
of the Empire," etc. With the Restoration he became an
ardent Royalist, and when the Emperor returned from
Elba, he told him that it was a political blasphemy that
the Emperor Napoleon held his crown by the wishes and
choice of the French people." He was in the ministry of
Louis Philippe, and while there was constantly attacked
by Thiers and Guizot, who had fraternized and become
leaders of the Left. He supported Louis Napoleon for
the presidency, but resisted his measures after the Coup
(TEtat. He died in retirement in 1855.
Note 35, p. 17. J. A. S. DUFACRE, a lawyer by profes-
sion, was a councilor of state, and a minister, under
Louis Philippe. In 1848 he joined the Republicans.
Since the 2d of December he has lived in retirement.
Note 36, p. 19. Alphonse Henri, Marquis of HAUTPOUL,
was an officer in the army of the first Napoleon, and a
Royalist under the Restoration. Under Louis Philippe
he became a lieutenant-general and a peer of France.
In 1848 he remained in retirement until the Republic was
established, when he became a Royalist member of the
Assembly. In 1852 he was appointed Grand Referendary
of the new senate, and in 1854 a marquis. He died in
1865.
A. G. de RATNEVAL was the French representative to
the Pope in 1849, at which date His Holiness was a fugi-
tive. After the reestablish ment of the latter through the
aid of the French army, M. Rayueval became the Ambas-
sador to Rome. He died in 1858.
Victoire FERDINAND BARKOT had been an assistant
attorney to Louis Philippe. He was one of the counsel
for Prince Napoleon, after the Affair of Boulogne (Note
18). In 1852 he was made a commander of the Legion
of Honor; in 1853 a senator.
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 283
EUGENE ROUHER was a Royalist in the Assembly of
1848. He called the Revolution of that year " a catastro-
phe," and defended the law of the 31st of May. In 1852
he was appointed President of the Council of State (Note
71) ; in 1860, Commander of the Grand Cross of the
Legion of Honor; and in 1863, Minister of State in the
Emperor's cabinet. He held that office until July, 1869,
and his influence was such in the administration of the
government, that the latter (in French the Gouvemement)
was often facetiously called the fiouhernement, by the Op-
position. He is now President of the Senate.
ACHILLE FOULD is the son of a wealthy Israelite.
Under the present government he has been a Minister of
State, senator, and Minister of Finances. In politics he
had been a Royalist, but has generally devoted his atten-
tion to questions of finance, and the construction of pub-
lic works. It was he who caused the New Opera of Paris,
which has already cost the government about $10,000,000,
to be included among the national institutions. He is a
member of the Institute, and a commander of the Legion
of Honor.
J. M. BINEAU was by education a civil engineer. In
the Assembly he allied himself with the coalition against
the Republic. He was at first Louis Napoleon's Minister
of Finances, then a senator by his appointment He has
been decorated with the Grand Cross of the Legion of
Honor. He died in 1855.
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, born in 1803, is the son of the
Republican mulatto and general, Alexandre Davy, whose
mother was a negress named Tiennette Dumas. Her
name has been inherited and adopted by her quadroon
grandson. Of his multitudinous writings, historical, ro-
mantic, and dramatical, it is not within our plan to speak ;
many of them have spoken for themselves.
As a politician, M. Dumas has not been prominent ;
but he has been at least moderately republican. He was
284 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
a companion of Garibaldi in his campaigns and battles of
1860. In 1848 he published a newspaper called the
Liberte, which had but a brief existence. In 1852 he fled
to Belgium on account of troubles both political and pe-
cuniary. Since his return to France he has remained
neutral in politics.
M. L. P F. ESQUIBOU de PARIEU is a lawyer by pro-
fession, and too* a moderate Republican in 1848. He de-
sired the President to be elected by the Assembly rather
than by the people. He approved of the perpetual ban-
ishment of the family of Orleans. In 1852 he was ap-
pointed Vice-President of the Council of State, and he
has been decorated with the Grand Cross of the Legion
of Honor.
R. J. DKSFOSSS was a captain in the navy when elected
a deputy in 1848. At that time he was a Royalist. In
1853 he was appointed a vice-admiral, and in 1855, a
senator.
Note 37, p. 19. It will be seen that the new President,
while receiving $240,000 per year, wanted an augmenta-
tion of his allowance, sufficient to raise it to $840,000.
So great progress has since been made in this direction,
that the Emperor now gets 25,000,000 francs, or $5,000,-
000 ; that is, a sum two hundred times as great as the
salary of the President of the United States. Besides,
the Imperial family have an annual allowance of about
$450,000. Then, they have the free use of fifteen palaces,
with their officials, appurtenances, and accessories. The
Grand Master of their Majesties' Stables, the Grand
Hunter, the Grand Marshal of the Palace, each get $12,-
000 annually for those officet alone ; while the latter gets in
addition S>,000 as a marshal of the army, and $6,000 as
a senator, for life ; and the other two get $5,000 each as
majors-general, and $6,000 as senator each. And so,
many of the other functionaries of the Emperor's house-
hold get pay in several official capacities (See Notes 150,
151).
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 285
Note 38, p. 21. Adolphe de GEANIER having been born
in the village of Cassagnac, we suppose it is from this cir-
cumstance that he has given himself the title " de CAS-
SAGNAC." (The de is usually added to a name in order to
indicate that the person is of a noble family, and is in fact
the sign of nobility in France.) He has been for many
years an active contributor to political newspapers. Under
Louis Philippe he conducted one in the interest of the
government, called the Globe. Under the Republic of
1848 he remained in comparative obscurity, but after the
Coup cPEtat he emerged therefrom, and became an active
Bonapartist. He is now a deputy from the South of
France.
Note 39, p. 21. The name Rente is given to the interest
or annuity upon a perpetual debt due from the French
government. While the State may redeem it at its op-
tion, it may not be redeemed at the option of the creditor.
Rentes are offered at so much per five francs' worth ; that
is, an offer is made to redeem a rente or interest, worth
five francs per annum (the principal being one hundred
francs), at four francs. If the offer of four francs is ac-
cepted, the rente is said to have depreciated twenty per
cent.
Note 40, p. 22. Pierre Jules BAROCHE is a lawyer by
profession. Under Louis Philippe he was an active en-
emy of M. Guizot ; under the Republic of 1848 he voted
with the Royalists. He favored the law prohibiting pub-
lic meetings ; that requiring newspapers to be printed
upon stamped paper ; and that of the 31st of May. After
the Coup cTEtat, he became one of the most subservient
of Louis Napoleon's satellites, and was rewarded therefor
by being appointed President of the Council of State,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Keeper of the Seals, Knight
of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, etc. He
was in 1869 Minister of Justice and Worship, and sen-
ator.
286 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
Note 41, p. 22. The Ministry of the Interior is in
France a very important part of the cabinet It is charged
with the control of the prefects, or governors of the De-
partments (see Note 1) ; the execution of the laws relating
to the elections ; the organization of the national and
municipal guards ; the direction of the police ; the bureau
of telegraphs, etc.
Note 42, p. 22. Denis BENOIST, Viscount of AZY, was
a Royalist of the Legitimist section, but he strongly pro-
tested against the Coup cTEtat. In February, 1870, he
was offered and accepted an important office from the Em-
peror.
A. AUGUSTE Count BEDGXOT, was a peer of France,
under Louis Philippe. He became a member of Louis
Napoleon's Advisory Committee. He died a few years
ago.
A. C. L. VICTOR, Count of BROGLIE, lost his father by
the guillotine of the Revolution. He never admired the
Bonapartes, and he welcomed the Bourbon Restoration.
After the Coup cTEtat he went into retirement, since which
he has published several works. He died in January, 1870.
J. L. BUFFET is a lawyer by profession, and a Royalist
in politics. He is now a deputy in the Legislative Body,
and votes, we believe, with the Third Party (Note 31).
Justin PRUDENT, Marquis of CHASSELOUP-LAUBAT, was
a brigadier-general in 1848. In 1853 he was made a ma-
jor-general. He died in 1863.
Napoleon, Count DARU, was born in 1807, and was held
at his baptism in the arms of Napoleon and Josephine.
Although a peer of France by descent, he voted with the
Republicans in the Assembly of 1848-1851, of which he
was part of the time vice-president After his imprison-
ment of the 2d of December, he went into private life.
In 1809 he was elected an Opposition deputy to the Legis-
lative Body. In January, 1870, he became a member of
the ministry of the Emperor, but resigned in the following
May.
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 287
The Marquis LASTEYRIE was a grandson of the late
Marquis of Lafayette, the military friend of Washington.
He was exiled, but returned under the amnesty of 1859.
Napoleon LANNES, Duke of MONTEBELLO, was born in
1801, and is a son of the Marshal Lannes, killed at the
battle of Essling. Louis XVIII. made him a peer of
France, but he never sat as such, except as an Orleanist
after the fall of Charles X. After the Coup cTtat he
lived retired for a time, but in 1858 he was appointed
Ambassador to Russia, and in 1862 a senator. Probably,
therefore, he is reconciled to the Emperor.
T. E. A. PISCATORY, in politics a Royalist, has lived re-
tired skice the 2d of December. So too have VATIMES-
NIL, de SEZE, de Guignard, Count of SAINT-PRIEST, and
Le'on FAUCHER. The latter died a few years since. He
had been very influential in the cabinet of Louis Philippe.
Note 43, p. 23. A Commune is a division of an Arron-
dissement, and subdivision of a Departement. Communes
are subdivided into Cantons.
Note 44, p. 25. These newspapers were called " Elysian "
from their having been in the interest of President Napo-
leon, who at that time resided in the Elysian Palace. The
latter took its name from the fact of its proximity to the
Elysian Fields (Champs-Elysees). It had been occupied
by Madame de Pompadour (a mistress of Louis XV), by
the allied sovereigns in 1814, and by the first Napoleon
in 1815.
Note 45, p. 28. The " Society of the Tenth of Decem-
ber " was so called because of its organizing with reference
to the 10th of December, 1848, the day of the election in
which Louis Napoleon was chosen President. Its object
was to put him in possession of supreme power.
Note 46, p. 28. A. M. J. J. DUPIN is a lawyer by pro-
fession, and an Orleanist in politics. He was one of the
executors of the will of Louis Philippe. As president of
the Assembly, he feebly opposed the Coup cTEtat. In the
288 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
language of Victor Hugo, " He carried his thunderbolt
iu his pocket, and would have got in himself if he could."
In 1857 the Emperor appointed him Attorney-general at
the Court of Errors, and senator. He is decorated with
the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.
Note 47, p. 29. The Permanent Commission was a body
of nine or eighteen members, chosen by the nine commit-
tees (Burecmx) of the Assembly, in order to report the
result of deliberations upon the proposed laws referred to
said committees.
Note 48, p. 31. His full name is Napoleon Joseph
Charles Paul Bonaparte. He is a son of Jerome Bona-
parte (Note 102), by his second wife, the Princess Fred-
erika, daughter of the King of Wurtemberg, and was born
in 1822, in Trieste, Illyria, about fourteen years later than
his cousin the Emperor. His youth was mostly passed
in the Komagna and Florence. In 1848 he came to Paris
for the purpose, as he said, of rallying to the Republic.
In the Assembly he generally voted with the Royalists,
and he opposed the banishment of the family of Orleans.
He remained politically inactive for a time after the Coup
cTJEtat, which he did not seem to approve, but in 1852 he
was invested with the title " Prince of France," senator,
etc. In 1H59 he married Louisa Theresa Maria Clotilda,
a daughter of Vittorio Emmanuele II., at present King of
Italy, by whom he has had three children.
In the Crimean and Italian wars, where he had been
given superior command at his own request, he did not
distinguish himself, owing (as he said) to his ill health.
In the senate he opposed the maintenance of the temporal
power of the Pope, much to the annoyance of the Em-
peror. The latter, in a letter published id 1865, so sharply
reproved the Prince for his independent course, that he
resigned the vice-presidency of the Privy Council, and
the presidency of the Kxjxmtion UniverseUe^ then being
prepared. He did not however resign his senatorship, this
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 289
being an office to which a salary of six thousand dollars
annually, for life, is accessory. In 1861 he visited the
United States, had an interview with President Lincoln
and his cabinet, and with General Beauregard and others
of the rebel army.
When in Paris, he resides in the Palais Royal (see Note
126). He closely resembles the first Emperor, while
Louis Napoleon resembles him not at all.
Note 49, p. 32. Pierre PASCAL DUPBAT is an active
and influential Republican. With the Coup <FEtat he was
first imprisoned, then banished. He has since been, until
quite recently, a professor in the college of Lausanne,
Switzerland.
Note 50, p. 32. At present, the Legislative Body is di-
vided into nine committees {Bureaux), each electing its
own chairman and secretary, for one month.
Note 51, p. 33. This sum, equal to about $360,000, was
in addition to the $840,000 already granted to the Pres-
ident ; and would therefore make his salary reach the sum
of $1,200,000 (see Note 37).
Note 52, p. 34. M. Fleury was wounded in the head, in
the course of his ventures in connection with the Coup
(fEtat. His services to Louis Napoleon were rewarded by
his appointment to the following offices, which he still
holds : Aide-de-camp to the Emperor ; Ecuyer, or Grand
Master of the Emperor's Stables, salary $12,000 ; Senator,
salary, $6,000 ; General of the First Division, salary $5,000 ;
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, annuity, $600, etc.
Lately it was proposed to make him the Roman Ambas-
sador.
Kinglake says (Invasion of the Crimea, vol. i. p. 156,
Harpers' edition), " It seems that the man who was the
most able to make the President act, to drive him deep
into his own plot, and fiercely carry him through it, was
Major Fleury If Prince Louis Bonaparte was
bold and ingenious in designing, Fleury was the man to
19
290 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
execute. The one was skillful in preparing the mine and
laying the train ; the other was the man standing by with
a lighted match, and determined to touch the fuse
It would seem that from the moment when Fleury became
a partaker of momentous secrets, the President ceased to
be free." He also says (p. 163), referring to de Maupas,
we suppose : " Fleury, they say, got into a room alone with
the man who wanted to hang back, and then locking the
door and drawing a pistol, stood and threatened his agita-
tated friend with instant death if he still refused to go on."
Note 53, p. 84. M. Despois, evidently not a " Napole-
onic writer," had said of President Napoleon in a brochure,
published in 1848, and addressed to " M. Louis Bona-
parte " : " his Democracy is that of the Roman Emperors."
Was he wrong ?
Note 54, p. 35. J. G. VICTOR FIALIN, called de PER-
SIGNY, was born in 1808, and was politically a decided Roy-
alist at first This, however, did not prevent him from be-
ing an accomplice of Louis Napoleon, in the affairs of Stras-
bourg and Boulogne (see Notes 17 and 18). He is now a
most decided Bonapartist In 1852, he married the daugh-
ter of Joseph Napoleon Ney, Prince de la Moscowa (from
the battle of Moskowa River, in Russia), who was a strong
partisan of the family, to whom he and his father (Marshal
Ney) were indebted for their noble title. He succeeded
M. de Morny, the same year, as Minister of the Interior,
and was also appointed senator. He was sent ambassa-
dor to London in 1855. In I860, he again became Minis-
ter of the Interior. In 1863, the Emperor made him a
duke.
Note 55, p. 35. General de SAINT-ARNAUD, afterwards
a marshal, lost Ills life in the Crimean War. Strange to
say, he died under the care of a physician whom the Em-
peror had dispatched for his special treatment. There had
been some private quarrels between Saint-Arnaud (whose
name had once been Leroy) and the Emperor ; there had
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 291
been mutual accusations, recriminations, and threats, of
which Parisians whisperingly speak, but do not venture to
openly converse. And so, they speak of the mysterious
manner of the departure from this life of Leroy, or Saint-
Arnaud, and of the equally inexplicable disappearance of
his specially attentive Doctor. Did Saint-Arnaud compel
the Doctor to take some of the same medicine which he
had been giving him ? Is the rest of the story true, and
did the Doctor and Saint-Arnaud leave the world nearly
at the same time, from the tent of the latter ? We know
nothing about the matter, and do not undertake to say
what were the facts ; but many people in Paris answer
these questions affirmatively. We dare not believe these
reports, and only mention them in order to make known
the fact of their existence.
Colonel ESPINASSE was promoted brigadier-general for
his services on the 2d of December, and was soon afterwards
placed upon the personal staff of the Emperor. In the
Crimean War, he was promoted to the grade of major-
general. In 1858, he was appointed Minister of the Inte-
rior, and senator. He lost his life in the war in Italy, in
1859.
General d'ALLONViLLE became a major-general in the
Crimea, in 1855, and a Grand Officer of the Legion of
Honor.
General HERBILLON was made a major-general a few
days after the 2d of December. In 1856, he was deco-
rated with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor ; in
1863, he was appointed senator.
General FORET was made a major-general immediately
after the Coup d'JStat, and was given the Cross of the Le-
gion of Honor ; in 1854, he was made Grand Officer ; and
in 1859, he received the Grand Cross, and was appointed
senator.
In 1862, he was placed in command of the forces sent
to Mexico ; he arrived there in September of that year.
292 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
In the following July he was appointed Minister Plenipo-
tentiary to the government which he was fighting with
two divisions of the French army. He sequestrated the
property of Mexicans who did not join the French cause.
After the capture of Puebla he was made a marshal. He
established a Provisional Government for Mexico ; it being
a triumvirate, consisting of General Almonte (a Mexican
who had been Minister to the United States and to
France), the Archbishop of Mexico, and General Palas.
He soon afterward left General Bazaine in command, and
returned to France.
Fran9ois CERTAIN, or CAXROBERT, had become a briga-
dier-general in 1850. After the Coup dEtat, in which
his services to the Prince-President were very important,
he was sent, with almost unlimited authority, through the
Departments of France, in order to study and report upon
the political situation. In the Crimean War he was in-
vested with the chief command, after the death of Saint-
Arnaud, in 1854. In 1855, he resigned the command,
because, as it is said, he could not agree and cooperate
with Lord Raglan. The next year he was appointed a
marshal. He is said to have fought well at Magenta and
Solferino. In 1861, as a member of the Senate, he voted
against the further maintenance of the temporal power of
the Pope. Of course, he has been decorated with the
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.
Note 56, p. 39. This remarkable speech presents no
slight analogy to that equally famous one of the then
President Johnson, at Washington, in 1867, we believe,
wherein he speaks of the Congress as a M body hanging
on the verge of the Government" Like President Napo-
leon, he claimed to be the chosen defender of the rights of
the people. The Congress of the United States, and the
National Assembly of France, were represented to be the
parts of their respective governments most to be feared.
Note 57, p. 42. The Reds (Rouges) were the most com-
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 293
bative faction of the Republicans. In the bloody days of
June, 1848, they displayed the Red Flag above their bar-
ricades, and many wore a red handkerchief about their
heads.
Note 58, p. 43. Fran$ois Pierre GUILLAUME GUIZOT
was born in Nimes, in 1787. He published his Annales de
V Education as long ago as 1811. In 1812, he was a pro-
fessor of modern history. Soon he commenced the trans-
lation of various works from the English and the German.
Under the restored regime of the Bourbons, he was Secre-
tary-General of the Department of Justice, and Councilor
of State to Louis XVIIL, and a member of the Chamber
of Deputies in 1830. Under Louis Philippe he was Minis-
ter of Public Justice, Minister of the Interior, and Minister
of Foreign Affairs. He fell from public life with the fall
of the last-named monarch, and followed him to England.
Since his return to France, he has been content to live in
retirement Notwithstanding his great age, he looks to
be quite vigorous. In his religion he is Protestant, but
strangely enough, favors the maintenance of the tem-
poral power of the Pope. As a minister, he is one of the
very few Frenchmen who are accused of having con-
stantly sought to maintain France at peace with all the
world.
Note 59, p. 44. Colonel CHABRAS had been Under-Sec-
retary of State, in 1848, and in the interim of the Pro-
visional Government, had acted as Secretary of War.
After the Coup d'Etat, being taken from prison, and ban-
ished the country, he lived first in Belgium, then in Switz-
erland. In the latter country, he wrote and published a
history of the campaign of Waterloo. He died in 1865.
Gabriel Claude JULES FAVRE, born at Lyons, in 1809,
is well-known as one of the first orators of France. His
republicanism was made known as early as 1 830 ; he hav-
ing, on the day before the fall of Charles X., demanded
the abolition of royalty, and the establishment of a Con-
294 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
stituent Assembly. lu 1831, he took up arms with the
National Guards. In the Revolution of 1848, he was ap-
pointed General Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior.
In the Assembly, his seat was often vacant, owing to his
attendance upon judicial trials, etc., he seeming at times to
consider the interests of his clients to be superior to those
of the State. When at his desk, he did not always vote ;
and when he voted, it was not always in concurrence with
his party. Upon the question of acknowledging the ser-
vices of General Cavaignac, while at the head of the Pro-
visional Government, he abstained from voting. He voted
in favor of increasing the personal allowance of Presi-
dent Napoleon (see Notes 37 and 51) ; and of the expe-
dition to Rome. He seems to have subsequently repented
of the latter vote.
He was reflected to the Assembly in 1869, where he
leads the Left Centre in that body.
Isaac ADOLPHE CREMIEUX, born in 1796, is a lawyer
of great ability. As long ago as 1830, he defended a min-
ister of Charles X. before the Court of Peers. At that
time, his views were known to be liberal. In the Revolu-
tion of 1848, he pronounced himself in favor of the
Republic, after having sought in vain to establish the
regency of the Duchess of Orleans. He was made Minis-
ter of Public Justice, which office he filled to the satisfac-
tion of all but the extremists of each party. As a repre-
sentative, he voted with the Democrats. After the impris-
onment which he suffered in connection with the Coup
cTEtat, he returned to his profession, where he is very
successful. In the election of May, 1869, he scarcely failed
of election as a democratic representative, having but a
minority of 2G3 votes, in a total of 26,115.
VICTOR Marie HUGO, born in 1802, was a son of a gen-
eral and governor of some of the important provinces of
Spain, under Bonaparte. His mother was a " Vende"ean
brigandess ; " hunted and driven through the wooded
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 295
portion of the Vendee, known as the Bocage, with Madames
Bouchamp and La Rochejaquelin. (The Vende'eans were
a party in the Department of the River Vendee, who
revolted against the Republic in 1793.) Much of Victor
Hugo's youth was passed in Italy and Spain. His merits
as a poet and romancer are everywhere known, and it does
not come within our plan to speak of them. His repub-
lican inclinations became manifest in the Revolution of
1830 ; and in 1832, his play entitled " Le Roi s'amuse" was
interdicted upon the stage, ostensibly because of its im-
morality, but really because of its political effect. In 1841,
he became a member of the French Academy. In 1845,
he was made a peer of France by Louis Philippe. In the
Assembly of 1848, he generally voted with the radical
Democrats, and he opposed the banishment of Louis Blanc
(himself a member at that time) and others, for the affair
of the 15th of May (see Note 29). He soon became one
of the foremost orators of the democracy, and incessantly
attacked the policy of Louis Napoleon. He founded a
newspaper called the Evenement, which was prosecuted and
condemned to death. After the Coup cTEtat, he went to
the Isle of Jersey, where he still resides, sending thence
the romances for which he is deservedly famous, and occa-
sionally launching a bold and scathing literary attack upon
the French Emperor. Two of his sons, living in Brussels,
are editors of the Sappel, one of the most " irreconcil-
able " republican newspapers in the French language.
EDGAR QUINET is as remarkable as a writer and trans-
lator as he is as a politician. In 1847, he left a professor's
chair in the College of France, to take u seat in the As-
sembly. There he voted with the radical Democrats.
Being expelled after the Coup d'Etat, he went to Brussels,
where he published several works. In Paris, in June,
1869, he published a brochure, entitled " The Awakening
of a Great People," which, as a republican address, has
created a great political sensation.
296 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
Note 60, p. 44. Pierre Bernard MAONAN was at first bred
to the law ; but in 1809, being then eighteen years of age,
he entered the army of Bonaparte. In 1835, he had be-
come a marshal. He was so strongly attached to Louis
Philippe, that he was the only general officer who accompa-
nied his daughter, the Duchess of Orleans, to the palace of
the Assembly, when it was proposed to invest her with the
regency, after the abdication of her father. In 1849, he
was elected a representative to the Assembly, but he was
inactive there. In 1851, he became one of the most ser-
vile instruments of Louis Napoleon ; for which he was
rewarded by being appointed Senator, Grand Hunter,
Grand Master of the Grand Orient, and given the Grand
Cross of the Legion of Honor. There is no doubt, how-
ever, that he began to waver at one period in the days of
December, when the success of the Coup cTEtat seemed
doubtful ; and that it required some threats on the part of
General Fleury to procure his further cooperation. He
was untruthful at times, and this is sufficient to prove that,
as a soldier, he was also timid in presence of danger. He
died in 1865.
Note 61, p. 49. M. Sartin had been arrested without
the authority of the Assembly ; and the law provides that
no member of the Assembly " shall be prosecuted, or
arrested criminally, during the continuance of the session,
without the previous authority " of that body.
Note 62, p. 49. The Mazas Prison is in the eastern
part of Paris. It is semi-circular in form, with a large
hall in the centre, around which are arranged 1,200 cells.
It is used exclusively for the confinement of persons await-
ing trial.
Note 03, p. 51. In France the repository of the ballot
is usually a square box of wood ; but the name urne is re-
tained from the fact that formerly the urn was the ordi-
nary receptacle of the ballot.
Note G 1, p. 53. M. Le Fi,6 had been made a brigadier-
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 297
general, and had been decorated with the Cross of the
Legion of Honor, in 1848. In the same year he had exe-
cuted a diplomatic mission to St. Petersburg. Being first
imprisoned, then banished, after the 2d of December, he
remained abroad until the amnesty of 1859.
D. S. J. PHILIPPE, Viscount de PANAT, had been an Au-
ditor in the Council of State, under the First Napoleon.
From 1810 to 1827 he fulfilled various foreign missions.
In 1827, 1839, and 1848, he was elected a representative
to the Assembly. After his liberation from the imprison-
ment of the 2d of December, he lived in retirement. He
died in 1860.
Note 65, p. 55. The " White Dictatorship " (Dictature
blanche) was a name given to the Legitimist attempts
made from time to time to reinstate the royal regime. It
probably owed its name to the fact of its having the
" white cockade " as the badge of its party. But the dic-
tatorship referred to never had a real existence.
Note 66, p. 56. The National Guard was a citizen sol-
diery, first organized in 1789 as a home-guard, at the
inception of the Revolution. It was again authorized in
1827, by Charles X., and reorganized in 1830, at the time
of his dethronement In July, 1869, several of its bat-
talions were disbanded, because of the strong republican
element which had revealed itself in the ranks.
Note 67, p. 57. P. F. E. T. L. de THORIGNT was Advo-
cate-General to Louis Philippe, and was removed from
that office by the Provisional Government of 1848. After
the Coup <TEtat, he became one of Louis Napoleon's Con-
sulting Committee. In 1852, he was made a councilor
of state, and in 1853, a senator.
Alfred DAVIEL had been an advocate-general to the
Court of Charles X. In 1854, he was appointed President
of the Council of State. He died in 1856.
Note 68, p. 66. Charlemagne EMILE DE MAUPAS was
a lawyer by profession. He was a sub-prefect under the
298 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
Guizot Ministry of 1845. In 1848, he was removed by
the Provisional Government, whereupon he became an
ardent Bonapartist. He was rewarded for his complicity
in the Coup cTEiat by being placed at the head of the
Ministry of the General Police (an office created expressly
for him), appointed a senator, and ambassador to Naples.
In addition, he was decorated with the Grand Cross of
the Legion of Honor.
The following scrap from his personal history affords a
good illustration of his knavish character :
In July, 1851, M. Maupas, then Prefect of the Depart-
ment of the Upper Garonne, thought it best that thirty-
two persons (three of whom were members of the Council
General of the Department) should be arrested and im-
prisoned on a charge of conspiracy against the govern-
ment The law-officers of the department saw no grounds
for the charge, and refused to arrest. M. Maupas (or de
Maupas, as he persisted in calling himself) then deliber-
ately proposed to secretly introduce forged papers tending
to criminate the parties, and fire-arms, grenades, etc., into
the houses of the accused, for the purpose of supplying
the proofs which were requisite in order to sustain his
charges. His proposition was rejected with scorn, and he
was ordered to report to the Minister of the Interior, in
Paris. M. Le*on Faucher gave him the rebuff which he
deserved. He then went, as it seems, and told his griefs to
President Louis Napoleon, in whom he found a sympathiz-
ing friend. And why not? Was he not just the man
whom the Prince wanted for his new Prefect of Police ?
At any rate, he was initiated into the schemes of the Prince-
President, and in October he made him his Prefect of the
Seine.
NU CO, p. 72. In France all legal documents, adver-
tisements, political newspapers, etc., require to be printed
on stamped paper. Newspapers pay one cent of stamp
duty for each sheet and no deduction is made for sheets
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 299
spoiled and rendered unsalable in printing. The French
government derives an income of about $2,000,000 annu-
ally from newspapers, periodicals, etc.
Note 70, p. 72. Charles Auguste Louis Joseph, Duke
de MORNY, was born in 1811, and brought up by the Count-
ess de Souza, but who his parents were is a disputed ques-
tion. Perhaps it was partly from his remarkable resem-
blance to Louis Napoleon (they might almost have been
taken to have been twins), that his very close family rela-
tionship to the latter has been claimed by many, and is
still maintained with persistency.
He seems to have received a military education, and
while in the barracks to have studied theology and meta-
physics. At all events, he was able in 1838 to embark
successfully in the manufacture of beet-sugar. In 1842
he was a " conservative progressionist " in the Assembly.
In 1849, he was a strong monarchist in the same body. In
1852, he, with Fould, Magne, and Rouher, withdrew from
the ministry, in consequence of the passage of the decree
sequestrating the private property of the family of Or-
leans ; but the last three returned to the cabinet, while
de Moray became a representative to the Assembly. In
1854 and 1863 the Emperor appointed him president of
that body. From 1856 to 1857 he was ambassador to
Russia ; in that country he is said to have married " a
daughter of a Russian lord, one of the greatest families of
the country." On the very day of the Coup d'Etat he was
decorated with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor,
and in 1862 the Emperor gratefully bestowed upon him
the title of duke. He died, suddenly, in 1865. It is
among the on dits of Paris that he died in consequence of
personal violence received at the hands of General Can-
robert, because of too intimate relations with the general's
wife.
Note 71, p. 74. The Council of State is constituted as
follows : There are forty - four ordinary councilors, ap-
300 TRANSLATORS* APPENDIX.
pointed by the Emperor ; seventeen who are members ex
officio, such as the Princes of France above eighteen
years of age (the cousin of the Emperor), the eleven min-
isters of the Emperor's cabinet, the Emperor's secretaries,
etc., seven extraordinary councilors ; forty masters of peti-
tions, or reporters ; eighty auditors ; a secretary-general,
and a president appointed by the Emperor (in case he
does not preside himself), with a salary of 100,000 francs.
The councilors get a salary of 25,000 francs each. The
Council of State is divided into six sections, each presided
over by a councilor appointed by the Emperor. It frames
the bills presented by the government to the Legislative
Body, and it regulates the public administration. Its ses-
sions are held in the magnificent palace of the QuaidOrsay.
The Cabinet or Ministry, is composed of the eleven
ministers, secretaries to the Emperor. They are at the
heads of the following offices respectively : Department
of State (abolished in 1869) ; Department of Justice and
Worship ; Mansion of the Emperor, and the Fine Arts ;
Department of War ; Department of Finances ; Depart-
ment of the Navy and the Colonies; Department of For-
eign Affairs ; Department of Agriculture, Commerce, and
Public Works ; Department of the Interior ; and Chief
of the Council of State. Their salary is 100,000 francs
each. They are presided over by the Emperor, and their
meetings are usually held in the palace in which he resides
for the time being (see Note 12).
Note 72, p. 76. The "Monarchy of July" was that
which resulted from the Revolution of July, 1830, when
the dynasty of the elder branch of the Bourbon family
descended from Louis XIV., and was ended by the de-
thronement of Charles X. ; and the younger or Orleans
branch succeeded, in the person of Louis Philippe, a de-
scendant of Philippe, a younger brother of the aforesaid
Louis XIV.
Note 73, p. 76. The Restoration is included between
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 301
the period of the accession of Louis XVIII., in 1814, and
that of the fall of Charles X., in 1830.
Note 74, p. 83. M. CARRELET was a commissioned offi-
cer in the closing campaigns of Bonaparte. For his part
in the Coup d'Etat he was appointed a senator, and given
the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.
M. RENAULT was compensated for his part in the Coup
d'Etat by being made Grand Officer of the Legion of
Honor. In 1859 he was appointed a senator.
M. LEVASSEDR was a major-general under the Provis-
ional Government of 1848. His complicity in the Coup
d'Etat was rewarded by making him a Grand Officer in
the Legion of Honor. In 1855 he was appointed a sen-
ator.
M. KORTE, who was also a major-general under Cavaig-
nac, was given the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor,
and appointed a senator. He died in 1862.
M. TART AS had been a member of the body-guard of
Louis XVIII. in 1814. In 1848 he was a Royalist mem-
ber of the Assembly. His part in the Coup d'Etat pro-
duced his promotion to the rank of major-general.
M. REIBELL, a colonel just before the Coup d'Etat, was
promoted to major-general a few days after it.
Some of the other officers mentioned in this connection
are named in Notes 55 and 60. No doubt all of them
were well paid for their agency in the perpetration of the
Coup d'Etat; and no doubt too they well understood in
advance that their cooperation was to obtain for them pro-
motions, civil appointments, decorations, etc.
Note 75, p. 85. The Allocution (allocutio) was originally
a harangue of a Roman emperor to his soldiers. Perhaps
the author had this in mind when he used the word as
found in the text.
Note 76, p. 91. The Gendarmerie of Paris is a body of
about four thousand four hundred officers and men, over
six hundred of whom are mounted, and all armed and
302 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
drilled like the infantry of the army. They are not, how-
ever, a portion of the army, but are under the orders of
the Prefect of Police ; and like the police proper, their
function is to maintain the quiet of the city, and public
order.
Note 77, p. 92. The Prefecture of Police in Paris is
the central office for the Department of the Seine, includ-
ing several towns adjoining Paris. Besides the gendarmerie
(mentioned in Note 76) and the police, the prefect has the
direction of the firemen (who in Paris are armed as sol-
diers), the city guard, and the prisons of Paris. There are
eighty commissaries of police under his command.
Note 78, p. 94. The fact that so large a proportion of
those arrested and deported (as will be seen further on)
were Republicans, and that many of the Royalists were
given or tendered official positions soon after the period,
makes it very manifest the Coup was directed not merely
at the Assembly, but at the Republic itself, upon which it
fell with so fatal effect. And it is inexplicable that so
many of the French were deluded into the belief that the
Emperor was animated by a desire to preserve the Repub-
lic intact See Notes 97, 140, 150, 154.
Note 79, p. 94. J. D. BAZE was a lawyer by profession.
In 1830 he was elected to an important command in the
National Guard. As a politician he was a Legitimist.
His opposition to the schemes of Louis Napoleon is well
told by M. Tenot. Under the amnesty of 1859 he re-
turned from his exile which had followed the Coup cFEtat.
In the election of 18G9 he received a large vote as an Op-
position candidate to the Legislative Body.
F. J. Eugene CHOLAT received a military education. In
the Revolution of 1848 he was chief-of-staff of the Na-
tional Guards of Lyons. In the Assembly he was a strong
Republican, and he signed the Article of Impeachment
presented by Ledru Rollin against Louis Napoleon. For
opi>osing the Coup <VEtat he was expelled from France,
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 303
and his name was stricken from the army list. He died in
1861.
Louis GREPPO was a superintendent of silk-works at
Lyons, when elected to the Assembly in 1848. He signed
the article impeaching President Louis Napoleon of the
unauthorized siege of Rome. After the Coup cTJEtat he
sought refuge in England; latterly he has returned to
France, and been re-arrested.
Charles LAGRANGE distinguished himself as a naval offi-
cer in 1823. In 1834 he was sentenced by the Court of
Peers (before whom he ably pleaded his own cause) to im-
prisonment for life, for his leading part in the insurrection
of Lyons. After a time he escaped from prison and went
abroad, but he returned in 1848 and took a leading part
in the revolution of that year. He is said to have fired
the first pistol-shot, on the 23d of February, which opened
the combat that resulted in the downfall of Louis Philippe.
On the next day he, with M. Marchais, got possession of
the Hotel de Ville, and proclaimed the Republic. He per-
sonally received the document of abdication of Louis
Philippe. He was elected colonel of the 9th Legion of
Honor, and in the following June was overwhelmingly
elected a representative to the Assembly. After the Coup
cTJEtat he lived successively in Belgium, England, and
Holland, in which latter country he died in 1857.
Jules MIOT is a druggist of Paris. Being a strong re-
publican member of the Assembly, he was deported to
Africa after the Coup (FEtat. He returned under the am-
nesty of 1859. In 1869 he received many votes as a can-
didate to the Assembly.
Martin NADAUD was a working mason. In the Revolu-
tion of 1848 he was a leader among the Republicans, and
in the Assembly was a Socialist. After the Coup (TEtat
he remained for a time in exile, but has since returned to
Paris.
Edward, Count ROGER (of the Nord), held several
304 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
diplomatic offices under Louis Philippe. In the Assembly
of 1848 he joined the Republicans. After his imprison-
ment of the 2d of December, he retired to private life.
Note 80, p. 96. The President's house here referred to,
is that of the presiding officer of the Assembly, whose
magnificent mansion adjoins the western side of the palace
of the Legislative Body.
Note 81, p. 99. The Quai d'Orsay is the quay on the
south side of the Seine, in front of the palaces of the
Legislative Body and the Council of State, and opposite to
the Place de la Corcorde (where Louis XVI., Marie An-
toinette, and some two thousand eight hundred other per-
sons were guillotined during the Revolution), and to the
Jardin des Tuileries. Three bridges cross the Seine along
this quay. The Garden of the Tuileries extends from the
Palace of the Tuileries (where the Emperor usually re-
sides) westward to the Place de la Concorde, or Peace
Square. The Elysian Fields (Champs Elysees) extend
from the latter to a point a little west from the Avenue
Marigny ; the latter bounding the Elysian Palace on the
west
Note 82, p. 100. Marie Alphonse BEDEAU received a
military education. In 1844 he had risen from a commis-
sioned officer, to the rank of lieutenant-general, by reason
of his many services in the African campaigns. In 1847
he was Governor of Algeria. In 1848 he was one of the
five generals under command of General Cavaignac, at
the head of the troops required to suppress the insurrec-
tion of June. The Provisional Government afterwards
placed him at the head of the Ministry of;. War. Being
elected to the Assembly, he was chosen vice-president of
that body, and he was then a moderate Republican. After,
the Coup dEtcit he was imprisoned at Mazas, and at Ham,
whence he was banished from France. He lived in Bel-
gium until the amnesty of 18o9, when he returned to his
home in Vertou, where he died in 1863. In 1847 he had
been made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor.
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 305
Note 83, p. 102. Christophe Louis Leon Juchault de
LAMORICIRE received a military education. From 1 830
to 1847 he distinguished himself in eighteen campaigns in
Africa, and had reached the grade of lieutenant-general
and been made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor.
He captured the Emir of Algeria, and delivered him into
the hands of the Duke d'Aumale, then governor of that
colony. In the mean time (1846) he had been elected a
member of the Assembly, and when he finally took his
seat there, he favored the then existing dynasty. At the
eruption of the Revolution of 1848 he favored the regency
of the Duchess of Orleans, and nearly lost his life while
fighting in her behalf in the streets of Paris. He refused
to accept office under the Provisional Government until
General Cavaignac became the head, when, being next
under him in command, he rendered great service in the
days of June, and ultimately became Minister of War.
Being elected a second time to the Assembly, he voted
with the moderate Republicans, and was a persistent op-
ponent of the policy of Louis Napoleon, and a strong sup-
porter of the Constitution. After the Coup cTEtat he was
taken from the prison of Ham, and conducted by police
across the Rhine, to Cologne. He thereafter lived in Ger-
many, Belgium, and England, refusing to return to France
under the amnesty of 1859. In 1860 he was authorized
by the French government to go to Rome, and take com-
mand of the Papal troops there, most of whom were for-
eigners. These were attacked by the Italian Generals
Fanti and Cialdini, routed, and General Lamoriciere was
captured. He claimed that he had been made the victim
of much deception. He died in 1865, at his chateau in
Amiens.
Note 84, p. 106. The army of France is divided into
six great divisions, or " commands," the first having its
headquarters in Paris. A seventh command is in Algeria,
with its headquarters at Algiers.
20
306 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
Note 85, p. 1 18. The " Casimir Perier Hall " was named
in honor of the distinguished Minister of War of that
name. One of the representatives arrested on this occa-
sion bore the same name, and was a son of the minister.
He was one of the opposition candidates to the Assembly
in 1869.
Note 86, p. 118. The president of the Legislative Body
wears a red scarf over the right shoulder, and extending
below the waist on the left side.
Note 87, p. 118. President BRILLIER, of the Isere, was
a radical republican member of the Assembly, and we
suppose his presidency was that of the legislative Commit-
tee elected by the nine bureaux of the Assembly.
Note 88, p. 119. Count BOISST D'ANGLAS was president
of the National Convention in 1795, under the Directory,
and by his firmness saved it when attacked by seditionists.
Note 89, p. 119. Edmond FATOLLE was a lawyer by
profession, and a democrat in politics. After his release
from prison at Mont-Valerien, he returned to his profes-
sion.
P. 0. DCRRIEU was a radical opponent of Louis Phi-
lippe. Under the Republic of 1848 he was a radical Demo-
crat. Since the Coup d'Etat he has not mingled in poli-
tics.
Toupet DESVIGNES was a moderate Republican. Since
the Coup d'Etat he has lived in retirement.
P. T. RADOULT de la FOSSE (General Radoult) served
in the army of the First Napoleon, and became a briga-
dier-general in 1842. In the Assembly he was a Royalist
He has lived in retirement since the Coup d'Etat.
Maria Joseph SUE, called EUGENE, was born in Paris in
1804, and baptized in the arms of the Empress Josephine
and Prince Eugene Bonaparte. His father was at that
time a surgeon in the army of Bonaparte, and M. Sue
afterwards followed the same profession, until the death of
his father in 182'J. It was then, when he had become
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 307
possessed of his father's large fortune, that he turned his
attention to literary matters, which gave him that wide
celebrity his name has acquired. Many of his romances
are well known in foreign lands.
In 1848 M. Sue announced himself to be a Republican
and Socialist, and on becoming a member of the Assembly
in 1850, he voted with the radical Democrats. After the
Coup tfEtat he was imprisoned for a time, then banished
France. He went to Aunecy, in Savoy, where he died in
1857. In 1839 he had been decorated with the Cross of
the Legion of Honor.
Joseph BENOIT, born of a peasant family, became a super-
intendent of silk- works. In politics he is a Democrat In
the Assembly of 1848 he voted for the Article impeaching
Louis Napoleon. He was reflected in 1850. Since the
Coup cTJStat he has lived in Switzerland.
Note 90, p. 124. There is a mayor (Maire) for each of
the twenty Arrondissements of Paris. Each has a separate
office or mayoralty ; each is appointed by the prefect of the
department, and is subject to removal by that officer, who
is always an instrument of the Minister of the Interior, who
in turn is a most efficient instrument of the Emperor.
Note 91, p. 129. Achille, Count BARAGUEY D'HILLIERS,
is a son of the general of that name, who died with the dis-
pleasure of Bonaparte upon him, in 1813. In 1843 he had
attained the rank of lieutenant-general, for services in the
African campaign. In 1844 he was placed upon the re-
serve list, for a reverse at Constantine, Algeria. He com-
manded a division of the army of the Republic of 1848, but
shortly afterward became a royalist member of the Assem-
bly. After the election of Louis Napoleon he became one
of his strongest partisans, and aided him materially in the
Coup d'Etat. He has been rewarded therefor by being
made a marshal of France, senator, and vice-president of
the senate.
Note 92, p. 130. The telegraphs of France are under the
308 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
control of the general government ; the magnificent office
of its administration of telegraphs is guarded by soldiers.
In Paris, some of the electric wires are under ground, some
run through the immense sewers, and generally they are in
places not easily accessible to insurgents.
Note U3, p. 131. Vincennes is a city of about fifteen
thousand inhabitants, and is about a league east of Paris.
The fortress in which these generals were imprisoned was
at first a strong castle of Louis the Young, in 1137. But
one of the original towers of stone remains, and that is the
one through which those entering the fortress must pass.
This entrance is barred by a portcullis, outside of which is
a drawbridge across the moat of forty feet in depth and
eighty feet in width, extending around the fortress. The
donjon (this is the part in which the prisoners of state are
confined) is a structure of remarkable strength, in spite of
its antiquity. Its walls are seventeen feet thick, and it
requires an ascent of two hundred and forty-two steps to
reach its battlemented summit In 1422 Henry V., then
King of England and France, died in this donjon, which
was his citadel. In 1431 Henry VI., also King of England
and France, lived in it, and it has been taken and lost by
the English several times. The dreadful crimes and tor-
tures perpetrated and inflicted in this old prison-castle,
make it almost equal in interest to the famous Tower of
London.
At present the garrison here consists of about five thou-
sand soldiers. One of the most important arsenals is here.
Note 94, p. 132. N. C. V. OUDINOT, Duke of Rezzio, was
a SOD of the marshal of that name who was made a duke
by the First Napoleon. In 1814 he was a major of cavalry
in the army of Honaparte. Under Louis XVIJL he be-
came* a brigadier-general. He did not rally to the stand-
ard of Bonaparte dm ing the Hundred Days. After the fall
of Charles X. he remained inactive until 1835, when he
entered the African campaigns, and in 1842 became a
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 309
lieutenant-general. In the same year he was elected to the
Assembly, where he voted with the opposition. In 1848
he was reelected thereto, when he voted with the Republi-
cans. In 1849 he commanded the troops which besieged
and captured Civita Vecchia and Rome. Returning to the
Assembly he continued to oppose the policy of Louis Na-
poleon. After his release from the imprisonment which
followed the Coup tfEtat, he lived in retirement, and died
in 1863.
M. TAMISIER, his chief-of-staff of the 2d of December,
had been an engineer in the army. Being banished France,
after his imprisonment, he went to Switzerland and re-
mained there until the amnesty of 1859.
Note 95, p. 133. The Chasseurs, or Hunters, are mostly
mounted, and form a part of the light-cavalry service.
They have an elegant uniform, consisting of a closely fit-
ting jacket of green, embroidered with white, pantaloons
of bright red, a bearskin cap, and Wellington boots. They
are elegantly uniformed, equipped, and mounted, the result
of which is that they possess more martial pride than real
patriotism.
Note 96, p. 142. The barracks in question are for cav-
alry, and were constructed as quarters for the body-guard
of the First Napoleon. Since the Coup d'Etat, some half
dozen splendid and costly barracks of stone, and as orna-
mental in style as some palaces, have been built in Paris ;
and most of the new boulevards have been laid out with
special reference to forming straight and broad thorough-
fares from barrack to barrack, or from barrack to impor-
tant central point or public building. Some even say that
there are subterranean roadways between the barracks,
and it may be that some of the immense sewers would
serve as such.
Note 97, p. 144. At this part of our narrative, it seems
well to pause, for the purpose of making a brief analysis of
the operations completed, and of forming an estimate of
their purpose and effect.
310 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
It appears that previous to making any arrests, a list of
seventy-eight persons to be seized and imprisoned, had
been prepared. Most of these were Republicans. Sixteen
of the number were representatives in the Assembly ; and
of these (as nearly as we can ascertain) eleven were re-
publican members. All were inviolable by the terms of
the Constitution. By the same Constitution President
Louis Napoleon (whose term of office would have expired
in the following May) would have been compelled to wait
for four years before being again eligible to the Presidency.
This explains why he desired a revision of the organic law.
He pretended to be anxious for the repeal of the law of
the 31st of May, because it restricted universal suffrage ;
but it has been seen that that law was passed at the request
of himself and his ministers. There is little doubt that it
would have been repealed, but for the imperious and dis-
respectful manner in which its repeal was demanded. The
Assembly would not repeal it on compulsion. This pleased
the President ; it was a part of his scheme, for it furnished
him with a pretext (all he had) for dissolving the Assembly
by force. But as will be seen by-and-by, his Coup fell
most heavily upon those who had always been opposed to
the obnoxious law, the Republicans. So much the more
evidence that the overthrow of the Republic (notwithstand-
ing the disavowals subsequently made) was the real object
of Louis Napoleon. The act of the First Napoleon on the
18th of Brumaire, which is sometimes called ihejirst Coup
cTEtat, had for its object the overthrow of the Republic and
the erection of an Empire in its stead. So did the second
Coup (TEtnt mean autocracy instead of democracy.
Of the sixty-two citizens arrested in accordance with the
list above mentioned, M. Tenot gives the names of forty-
one who " were known for the energy of their republican
convictions." The next step was the suppression of the
five republican newspapers, and the leaving undisturbed
the two journals which were favorable to the restoration of
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 311
the Empire. Then followed the expulsion by the bayonet
of representatives, met in private dwellings because they
could not meet in the Assembly's chamber. Then the ar-
rest of nine representatives in the street near the Palace
of the Assembly. Some of these were Republicans. Then,
ten republican representatives were arrested at the house
of M. Cre*mieux, one of their number. Then the two hun-
dred and twenty representatives at the mayoralty of Ward
No. 10. These were mostly Legitimists and Orleanists
(whose arrest had not been previously contemplated), with
some Republicans who had escaped from other places
attacked by the troops and the police. These two hun-
dred and twenty representatives were joined at the bar-
racks by others whose number is not known. Among
them were twelve who had been cabinet ministers, and nine
of them had been of Louis Napoleon's appointment. There
were such men as Berryer, O. Barrot, Benoist d'Azy, the
Duke of Broglie, the Duke of Montebello, Chambolle,
Dufaure, de Hauranne, de Lasteyrie, General Lauriston,
General Radault-Lafosse, General Oudinot, de Reinusat,
Admiral Cecile, and the admired writer, de Tocqueville.
Attempts were made to arrest other representatives,
mostly Republicans, assembled in private houses.
It must be said, in favor of the representatives at the
mayoralty of Ward No. 10, that though nearly all were
Royalists, and might with considerableVeason have declared
the presidency vacant, and that the Count de Chambord
(on the part of the Legitimists), or the Count of Paris (on
the part of the Orleanists), had of right succeeded to the
head of the government yet no revolutionary measure
>was attempted. Whilst Louis Napoleon was overturning
the government, in violation of law and order, they took
no illegal steps, even in order to save it. Had they acted
otherwise they might at least have rendered the success of
the Coup cTEtat much more difficult and doubtful. They
might long before have impeached and convicted the Presi-
812 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
dent ; they might have u made some generals " by inaugu-
rating a war in Africa for that purpose ; they might have
made " appeals to the people," etc.
However, they were not so harshly treated as the Repub-
licans were. While there were two hundred and fifty-five
representatives arrested (if we have correctly brought the
figures together), there were but eighty-eight subsequently
exiled or banished, and of these seventy-seven were Repub-
licans. After this we can judge whether the President was
sincere, when he said in his appeal to the people, "My
duty is .... to maintain the Republic."
Note 98, p. 146. This was but a few rods distant from
the place where the representatives were in session. In this
vicinity the streets are narrow and crooked, and had the
students been able to enter the Rue du Vieux-Columbier,
they would have been near enough to have rendered their
forces auxiliary to the crowd of citizens then surrounding
the representatives in rapidly increasing numbers.
Note 99, p. 146. The office of the Presse still remains
where it was at that time, and it is a non-political journal.
We suppose it was so in 1851, and that would account for
its not having been occupied by the troops.
Note 100, p. 148. In France the head of the naval de-
partment is a " Minister of the Navy and the Colonies,"
who has the administration of all maritime matters, the
colonies, and the military ports. It is difficult to see why
he should have exercised military powers in Paris during
the days of the Coup cTEtat, unless the President invested
him with " a little brief authority " in order to pander to
the vanity which he (like most of the President's subordi-
nates) most likely possessed to an inordinate degree.
Note 101, p. 149. The author seems to have fallen into
an error, or probably was misinformed, in regard to the
"oath of fealty" which the judges of the High Court are
said to have made " to the Prince-President" The truth
is that the judges had been appointed for life, and the oath
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 313
originally taken by them was never renewed until after the
reestablishment of the Empire, in 1852. They continued
to be judges by virtue of their original qualification for the
office.
Notwithstanding the evidence of the minutes of the
court, as quoted by M. Tenot, we have the authority of a
gentleman connected therewith (whose name we are re-
quested not to mention), for the correctness of the follow-
ing version :
" In the morning the members of the court had assembled at the
house of their president, and had decided that they would repair
to the Palais de Justice for the purpose of organizing the court,
and of designating a person to act as prosecuting attorney. They
accordingly met in the council-room of that building, and the
recorder was already writing the judicial order quoted by M.
Te"not, by which the court was organized, when the Prefect of
Police sent a commissary to authoritatively order the High Court
to dissolve. It was upon its refusal to do so, that some minutes
later, three commissaries of police, accompanied by peace-officers
and a detachment of soldiers (a part of this detachment having at
its head a lieutenant and a commissary of police), entered the
hall of deliberations and caused it to be vacated, at the very mo-
ment when the last signature had been affixed to the record of
deliberations, intrusted to the care of the recorder.
" The members of the High Court expected also to be taken to
Mazas Prison, for some friends were in the Galerie Saint-Louis
awaiting their exit in order to warn their families. But there
was nothing of the kind. That part of the detachment which had
not penetrated the hall formed in lines, and the seven magistrates
had to pass between them in order to go out from the gallery. No
arrest took place, and this explains why the members of the High
Court were able to meet again in the evening, at the house of
their president, and the next day at the Palace of Justice, in order
to countersign the acceptance of M. Renouard, whom they had
appointed prosecuting attorney.
" The rapid march of events, and especially the Plebiscitum of
approval, voted by the people on the 20th and 21st of December,
did not permit the High Court to carry to any conclusion what-
ever, its order of organization."
314 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
We add the following concerning the previous history of
the members.
M. Hardoin (not ffardouin, as M. Te"not writes it) had
been a member of the Court of Errors since 1842. M.
Pataille had been a liberal member of the Assembly in
1827. Under Louis Philippe he had been Attorney-Gen-
eral and President of the Royal Court, and since 1841 a
member of the Court of Errors. He died in 1857. M.
Delapalme had been a member since 1847. M. Moreau
was appointed in 1 849 ; and M. Gauchy in the same year.
M. Bernard, the Recorder or Greffier, was a liberal mem-
ber of the Assembly in 1848. He died in 1858. M. Re-
nouard, the Attorney or Procureur, had been a Peer of
France under Louis Philippe. Since 1848 he has been
a councilor, but has devoted most of his time to the writ-
ing of legal and educational works.
Note 102, p. 149. Jerome Bonaparte, King of West-
phalia from 1807 to 1813, was the youngest of the five
brothers of the Bonaparte family : Napoleon having been
the second, and Louis, father of the President, the fourth
in age. In 1803 Jerome married Miss Elizabeth Patterson,
of Baltimore, Maryland. His brother Napoleon declared
this marriage null and void, ostensibly because Jerome was
under age, but really because he had not married into a
royal family, for many regal marriages are contracted
when the parties are under age, and some even when they
are mere children. In 1805 a son, Jerome Napoleon, was
born of this marriage, at London, the mother not having
been permitted to land in France. In 1807 Jerome mar-
ried his second wife (the first one still living), the Princess
Frederika, daughter of the King of Wurtemberg, that elec-
torate having been made a kingdom by Napoleon the year
previous. Of this marriage Jerome, Count of Montfort,
was born in 1814, and died at Florence in 1817 ; Napoleon
Joseph Charles Paul (see Note 48) in 1822 ; and Mathilde
La-titia Wilhelmine, Countess of Montfort, in 1820. The
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 315
latter married the Russian Prince Anatole Demidoff in
1841 ; but no children have been born of this marriage,
and the parties have separated by mutual consent. Her
half brother, the aforesaid Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte
(whom the imperial family persist in calling plain " Mr.
Patterson ") married Miss Susanna May, of Baltimore.
He died at Baltimore, in July, 1870. A son of this mar-
riage, Jerome, is a commissioned officer of the Chasseurs
cTAfrigue, and we suppose he is in Algeria.
In 1852, Jerome Bonaparte was appointed Governor of
the Hotel des Invalides, or military and naval asylum. He
died in 1860 in consequence, as it is said, of a debauch*
and his remains were placed under the great dome of the
Invalides.
Note 103, p. 150. The Pont Royal is a bridge across the
Seine ; its northern end is at the southwest corner of the
Palace of the Tuileries, and its southern is near the bar-
racks of the Quai d'Orsay, where the representatives were
imprisoned.
Note 104, p. 150. Victor SCHOELCHER has been promi-
nent almost from his boyhood, as a writer and worker in
the republican cause. As an advocate for the abolition of
slavery, he has visited the islands of the West Indies
(twice), Mexico, the United States, Egypt, Greece, Tur-
key, Western Africa, and other countries ; and has written
and published various works, setting forth the evils of the
institution as observed by himself, and demanding the
freedom of the slaves. In 1848, he became Minister of
the Navy under the Provisional Government, and he issued
a proclamation, or decree, declaring the principle of eman-
cipation. He also caused the appointment of a commission
to prepare the law of that year, abolishing slavery. He is
said to have caused the abolition of flogging in the navy.
He was afterwards elected to the Assembly by the grateful
inhabitants of the islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe.
There he always voted with the Democrats. He fought
316 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
against the Coup cTEtat, in the barricades, as stated by the
author ; and when further resistance was useless, he went
to England, where he still lives.
Emanuel ARAGO is of a literary family, and until about
twenty-five years of age, was occupied in writing various
works of poetry and prose, which were published with suc-
cess. He afterwards fitted for the bar, and was very suc-
cessful there. In 1839, he defended Barbes and Martin
Bernard, the republican leaders of the limited insurrection
of that year. In 1848, he took a leading part in the Pro-
visional Government, especially at Lyons, where he was
commissary-general. In 1849, he was sent to Berlin as
minister, where he interceded in behalf of the Poles. Re-
turning to Paris after the election of Louis Napoleon, he
opposed the expedition to Rome, and in general voted
with the radical Democrats. After the Coup <f Etat, he
retired to private life. In 1869, he was elected a repre-
sentative by the Democrats.
Jacques BRIVES has always been republican in politics.
In the reign of Louis Philippe, he was of the school of
Ledru Rollin. In 1848, he was a commissary-general of
the Republic. He was an opponent of Louis Napoleon,
and .demanded his impeachment after the Roman expedi-
tion. After the Coup <CEtat, he went to Brussels, where
he still lives.
II. M. V. ( 'H.\ i: \ M.\ i i.i. is a lawyer by profession. In
1834, he was an Opposition member of the Assembly. In
1848, he was an active Republican, and a commissary of
the Provisional Government In the Assembly, he was an
ardent democrat. Since the Coup cTEtat, he has lived in
retirement
Pierre JOIGNEAUX is distinguished as a politician, a jour-
nalist and an agriculturalist Some republican articles
written by him, caused his arrest and imprisonment by the
government of Louis Philippe. In 1848, he was a strong
and active republican member of the Assembly, and a
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 317
persistent opponent of the policy of Louis Napoleon. Had
an election for the Presidency been permitted in 1852, he
would have been a prominent candidate therefor. After
the Coup d'Etat, he lived for a time in Belgium, and pub-
lished several valuable works there. Since his return to
France, he has been occupied with literary matters.
Victor CHA.UFFOUK was a professor of law previous to the
Revolution of 1848. Elected to the Assembly, from Stras-
bourg, he became one of the strong opponents of Louis
Napoleon, and demanded his impeachment after the siege
of Rome. Since the Coup <FEtat he has lived in retire-
ment, and published several works.
Note 105, p. 152. The Quai de Jemmapes is near the
northeast corner of Paris, and along the Canal Saint-Martin.
The Rue de Popincourt, to which the meeting afterwards
adjourned, was further eastward, and near the outskirt of
the city.
Note 106, p. 153. The Latin Quarter (Quartier Latin),
is in the southeastern part of the city, and embraces the
district containing the colleges, medical and other profes-
sional schools. It is nearly the oldest portion of Paris,
and many of the streets are narrow and crooked, besides
being " up hill and down dale." It is a favorite quarter
for the erection of barricades.
Note 107, p. 154. Mont Valerian is about five miles
southwest of Paris. On its summit once stood a Benedic-
tine chapel, whence its name is derived. Now the same
place is occupied by a strong fortress, built in 1841, at a
cost of about a million dollars.
Note 108, p. 154. Bugeaud was made Duke of Isly, for
having won the battle of that name in Africa. Marshal
O
Lannes had been made Duke of Montebello, in honor of
the battle of that name in Italy, won by the French in
1800. He lost his life in the army of Bonaparte, at the
battle of Essling, in Austria.
Note 109, p. 156. L. F. ETIENNE, Marquis de TURGOT,
818 TRANSLATORS' APEENDIX.
is of a family made noble by Louis XVI. He received a
military education. In 1832, he became a Peer of France.
In 1848, being a Royalist, he remained in comparative
obscurity ; but after the election of Louis Napoleon, he
became an active Bonapartist, and quite concurred with
him in the Coup <TEtat. In 1852, he was appointed a
senator. In 1853, he was sent as Minister to Spain, where
he fought in a duel with Pierre Sould, the United States Min-
ister to that government, and was seriously wounded. In
1858, he was made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor.
J. E. T. Dccos was a ship-owner of Bordeaux, the town
of his birth. Elected to the Assembly in 1834, he re-
mained there until 1848. In 1849, he became an ally of
Louis Napoleon, and aided in the removal of General
Changarnier. As Minister of the Navy, he caused the
transportation of prison bagnios to Cayenne, for the locking
up of the convicts there. In 1853, he was appointed a
senator. He died in 1855.
Hippolyte N. H. FORTOUL was a literary character, and
had been a dean and rector of the Faculty of Letters, of
the town of Aix. In 1848, he became a Bonapartist mem-
ber of the Assembly. In 1853, he was appointed senator ;
in 1855, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. He died
in 1856.
Pierre MAGNE is a lawyer by profession. He held sev-
eral important offices under the Guizot Ministry of Louis
Philippe. In 1848, he was a Royalist On the day before
the Coup cTEtat, he was appointed Minister of Public
Works; in 1852, a senator and councilor of state; in
1854, Minister of Finances, which he still is, and Grand
Cross of the Legion of Honor.
N. J. LEFEBVRE-DcRUFLi (whose last name is borrowed
from his wife) was a manufacturer of cloths. In 1849, he
was a Royalist in the Assembly ; he subsequently became
an ally of Louis Napoleon. In 1852, he was appointed a
senator, and Officer of the Legion of Honor, and after-
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 319
wards a Commander, then a Grand Officer. (See Notes
36, 55, and 70, for the other names.)
Thus all of Louis Napoleon's new ministers were mon-
archists ; and yet he was trying to " maintain the Re-
public."
Note 110, p. 158. Auguste A. M. BILLAULT, a lawyer
by profession, entered the Assembly in 1837. In 1840, he
was in the Thiers Ministry of Louis Philippe ; and subse-
quently in the Assembly, he was an opponent of the Gui-
zot Ministry. In 1850, he voted in the Assembly with the
Democrats, but being reflected in 1852, he allied himself
with the government, and was appointed president of the
reconstructed chamber. In 1854, he succeeded M. de
Persigny as Minister of the Interior, and was also ap-
pointed senator. In 1857, he was given the Grand Cross
of the Legion of Honor ; in 1863, he was called to the
Ministry of State. He died the same year, with the repu-
tation of having been one of the great orators of France.
(See Notes 34 and 40 for the other names.)
Note 111, p. 168. In the winter of 1868-1869, some of
the Republicans in Paris proposed to erect a monument,
by subscription, to the memory of M. Baudin ; for the mar-
tyr rests without a stone to indicate the place of his sepul-
ture. Some of the newspapers having advocated the
movement, and opened their columns to the publication of
the names of the donors, their editors were arrested and
fined, on the ground, we believe, of having published arti-
cles of a seditious character.
M. George Baudin, a brother of the martyr, was a can-
didate of some of the Republicans, for the Assembly, in
the elections of 1869. He failed to be elected, but an
equally radical Republican was elected in his stead.
Note 112, p. 173. The translators have made consider-
able effort to obtain the proclamation of M. Hugo, of
which M. Tenot quotes but a part. But neither M. Tenot,
nor his Parisian publishers, are in possession of it ; nor
320 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
have they been able to ascertain where it might be found,
in order that it might be published in full in this trans-
lation.
It may not be improper to say (as it was told to the
translators without any injunction of secresy), that M.
Tenot had intended to publish more of the document in
question than appears in this work ; but that certain pas-
sages, which seemed to his publishers to be likely to sub-
ject them to prosecution if published, were stricken out
from the manuscripts by them, for the purpose of avoiding
said risk of prosecution.
Note 113, p. 175. Marc CAUssiDifcRE, the builder of the
barricades of Lyons, in 1834, and of Paris in 1848, and a
republican member of the Assembly of the latter year,
died in Paris, in 1861, a few days after his return from his
long exile in London.
Joseph (or Giuseppe) MAZZINI, the Genoese Republi-
can and revolutionist, although more than sixty years of
age, is yet vigorous enough to be feared by most of the
monarchies of Europe.
Note 114, p. 175. Francois FERDINAND PHILIPPE Louis
Marie D'ORLANS, Prince of Joinville, was born in 1818,
and is the third son of King Louis Philippe and Marie
Aim-lie. He was educated for the navy, becoming a lieu-
tenant therein in 1836. In the capture of Vera Cruz,
Mexico, in 1838, his skill and bravery caused his promo-
tion to a captaincy, and his decoration with the Cross of
the Legion of Honor. In 1845, he bombarded Tangier, and
captured Mogador in Algeria, and was promoted a vice-
admiral therefor. When his father abdicated the throne,
in 1848, he was still in the naval service, at Algiers, where
his younger brother, the Duke of Aumale, was in military
command, and acting as Governor of Algeria. The two
brothers resigned their respective offices, and embarked
for England, and there joined their father at Claremont
The Prince has two children : the oldest, a daughter, born
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 321
in 1844 ; the youngest, a son, with the title Duke of Pen-
thievre, born in 1845. The latter entered the Naval
Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1861.
As to the Count of Paris, son of the late Ferdinand
Duke of Orleans, and nephew of the Prince of Joinville,
see Note 31.
Note 115, p. 179. The Pantheon is on the highest ground
in the Quartier Latin (Note 106), and was originally a
church, dedicated to the name of St. Genevieve, the patron-
ess saint of Paris. It was commenced by Louis XV., in
1764, and modeled after the plan of St. Peter's, at Rome.
Its cost of construction and repairs have amounted to
about six millions of dollars. In the Revolution of 1789,
the monuments of some of the illustrious deceased, whose
remains were here, were desecrated, and in 1848 the insur-
gents occupied it as head-quarters.
Note 116, p. 180. Emile de GIRARDIN was born in Switz-
erland in 1802. He is one of the oldest and most influ-
ential journalists and political writers of France. He had
edited nearly a dozen newspapers and periodicals previ-
ously to 1839, and had been four times elected to the
Assembly, and as often rejected because he was not born
in France. He was admitted thereto in 1842, and became
an Opposition member. In 1848, he entered the Palace
of the Tuileries, and personally demanded, received, and
proclaimed, the abdication of Louis Philippe. He pub-
lished the newspaper called the Evenenient, with Victor
Hugo, whom it was claimed he had won over to repub-
licanism. After the Coup (tEtat, M. de Girardin remained
in exile until 1856, when he returned to Paris, and married
the Countess of Tieffenbach. He is now the editor of the
Liberte, and the champion of M. Olivier, the Emperor's
present chief adviser.
Note 117, p. 180. The Faubourg du Temple was origi-
nally the suburb in which the old temple of the Templars
(now demolished) was situate. In 1851, it was one of the
21
322 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
most densely peopled parts of Paris, and it is now near the
centre of the city. The Rw de In Chausste cFAntin is not
along an embankment, as its name might indicate, but is a
closely built and populous street, running nearly north from
the centre of the Boulevard des flattens, the most fashion-
able street of Paris.
Note 118, p. 185. The Bank of France was chartered in
1803 ; it has the exclusive privilege of issuing notes paya-
ble to the bearer at sight, until the year 1897. It also dis-
counts bills of exchange, and advances money on govern-
mental bills of account, etc. Like the Bank of England,
it is directed by a " Governor and Company." It issues
the only paper money of France, in denominations the
smallest of which is 50 francs in value. It does a business
of about $600,000,000 annually.
Note 119, p. 183. Concerning the mooted question as to
whether deposits were taken from the Bank of France, for
distribution to the soldiers, or for some purpose not yet
revealed, the translators are able to state : The fact that
a large quantity of money was removed from the Bank of
France, on the day in question, was related to the transla-
tors by a party who assisted in its removal. The narrator
was mounting guard at the time (if we remember rightly
he was one of the Municipal Guard), when a common cov-
ered cart arrived, said to have been " by order of the Presi-
dent," with an escort of soldiers. Into this cart the nar-
rator saw the bags and kegs deposited, and the cart driven
away.
Of course, the translators would not divulge the name
of their informer (now a respectable 'citizen of Paris), as
that would probably subject him to trouble from the impe-
rial authorities. It may be added, however, that he holds
a position of trust under the French government, upon
which he is dependent for his support.
Note 120, p. 18S. The Porte Saint-Denis (St Denis'
Gate), is really a triumphal arch, built in 1672 (in honor of
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 323
the victories of Louis XIV.), on the site of the old city gate
called St. Denis. The Porte Saint-Martin is a similar edi-
fice, erected at about the same time. These great and costly
arches of stone are about a third of a mile apart, and, like
the old tower gates whence they were named, each stands
astride a roadway, at its place of intersection with the bou-
levard.
Note 121, p. 191. The Montmartre, or Mars' Hill, is an
elevation rising some 300 feet above the level of the Seine.
It is about three miles west from the centre of Paris.
The Batignolles is the name of a district (formerly a sepa-
rate town), lying between Montmartre and the centre.
Note 122, p. 195. The Place Vmddme, or Duke of Ven-
dome's Square, is but a few rods northwest of the Garden
of the Tuileries. It is here that the famous column in
bronze, surmounted by the statue of Napoleon, stands.
The Madeleine, or Church of Mary Magdalene, is a splen-
did edifice, modeled much after the Athenian Parthenon. It
was originally designed for a " Temple of Glory." It
stands a few rods northwest of the Place de la Concorde.
Note 123, p. 195. The Luxembourg takes its name from
the duke who once owned this palace. It was afterward
purchased by Marie de' Medici, the wife of Henry IV. It
has been enlarged since it became the property of the
government, and a portion of it is now used for the ses-
sions of the Senate.
Note 124, p. 195. The Cite (city), is the name given to
that part of Paris which is on the largest of the two
islands in the Seine. On this island, whose high embank-
ment wall makes it resemble a fortress, are located the
Cathedral of Notre Dame ; the Hotel Dieu, or old hospi-
tal ; the great barracks of the Garde de Paris ; the Com-
mercial Court ; the Court of Errors ; the municipal and
police courts, in the Palais de Justice ; the prisons of the
Conciergerie, where Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, Robes-
pierre, and the Girondins, were confined ; the Prefecture
324 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
of Police, etc. Ten bridges connect this island with the
opposite shores.
Note 125, p. 197. Faustin Soulouque, the black French
Emperor of Hayti, had acquired his official authority by a
sort of coup d'etat, in 1848, when President of the Hay-
tien Republic. He put to death the leading Republicans,
and inaugurated terrorism. After this, like Louis Napo-
leon, he was almost unanimously elected emperor ! How-
ever, his reign terminated ignominiously in 1859, a counter-
revolution overthrowing the Empire, and reestablishing the
Republic, of which Geffrard became the President
Note 126, p. 202. The Palais Royal is the palace origi-
nally built by the Cardinal de Richelieu, but which ultimate-
ly came into the possession of Louis XIV., and was confis-
cated, in the first revolution, as the property of the Duke
of Orleans. It is now the residence (in winter) of Prince
Napoleon, cousin of the Emperor. It is a few rods north-
westerly from the Palace of the Louvre, and the eastern
part of the Palace of the Tuileries.
Note 127, p. 203. The Count of Chambord (see Note
31) first publicly announced his aspirations for the throne
of his uncle, Charles X., at London, in 1843. The Revo-
lution of 1848 found him at Frohsdorf, near Vienna, with
his mother. From that place, he visited Cologne, Ems,
and Wiesbaden, near the French frontier, and received
his partisans, of whom M. Berryer was the leader. At
the latter place, a fusion between the two branches of the
Bourbon family was attempted. It does not appear that
he has ever sought to make good his title to the throne by
an appeal to violence and armed force.
Note 128, p. 204. The Quai aux Fleurt, is a quay on
the northern side of the Cite (Note 124), and it takes its
name from the fact that a ^ower-market is held there on
certain days of each week.
Note 129, p. 204. The Chatelet, was the name of a
former court of justice and prison, standing in the square
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 325
of the same name. It was about midway between the
Palace of the Louvre, and the Hotel de Ville, or city hall.
The latter is nearly opposite to the Cathedral Notre Dame,
with the river Seine between.
Note 130, p. 209. The order of General de Saint-Ar-
naucl authorized the shooting of women, for it comprised
" every individual ; " and by implication, the captors were
to be the summary executioners.
Note 131, p. 209. The practice of throwing the corpses
of victims into the Seine dates from a period much ante-
rior to the present century. When Charles IX., in 1572,
perpetrated the infamous massacre of St. Bartholomew,
some twelve hundred of the bodies of the murdered Cal-
vinists were cast into the Seine, in the vicinity of this same
bridge. They drifted upon an island some two miles be-
low, and lay unburied " not being worthy of a Christian
burial " until the effluvia therefrom became intolerable.
Note 132, p. 212. The interior boulevards extend
around the heart of the city, on the site of the ancient
bulwark, or fortified wall. Some of the exterior bou-
levards extend around the city, but in general they do not
mark the former position of a fortified wall, but rather of
a boundary-wall.
Note 133, p. 221. In 1547, Guy de Chabot, Lord of
Jarnac, fought in a duel with La Chataigneriac, and van-
quished him by unexpectedly striking him behind the
knee. Hence, a foul blow is sometimes called a " Coup de
Jarnac" which would not be a bad name for the Napo-
leonic Coup cTJEtat.
Note 134, p. 222. The Patrie and the Constitutionnel,
are still published daily in Paris. Both are in the inter-
est of the government.
Note 135, p. 222. The Cafe de Paris, and the other es-
tablishments mentioned, are among the largest, most fre-
quented, and most respectable saloons for which Paris is
celebrated. Anything in the nature of a riot, or violent
demonstration, would be very unlikely to occur therein.
326 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
Note 136, p. 223. M. Dusautoy is not only " a man of
order," but he is an extensive contractor for clothing for
the French army, and furnisher to the Emperor per-
sonally.
Note 137, p. 228. We have taken the trouble to copy
the extracts from Captain Jesse's letter, from the London
Times itself, thus avoiding the risk of inaccuracy, which
would be liable to result from a double translation. We
have also included in brackets [ ], the passages which M.
T^not did not deem it prudent to publish in Paris.
Note 1 38, p. 240. In this struggle, the handful of devoted
and patriotic Republicans fought, if we consider the circum-
stances, " like brave men, long and well." But what could
they accomplish against the army of trained soldiers who
had been bribed, or compelled to fight them with the means
and appliances of war ? In other days, the Republicans
had united in advance, and opened the attack in accordance
with some sort of matured plan. But now, the very man
who had the army and navy in his hands, and who had
been constantly declaring that it was he who was to
" maintain the Republic," burst upon the heads of the un-
warned, unguarded, and unarmed Republicans, in the
night, as suddenly and furiously as the tempest that smites
and overwhelms a ship that was becalmed at sea ! We
could not refrain from making this brief remark, which is
rather the statement of a fact than a comment upon the
nature thereof.
Note 139, p. 241. The voting on that occasion was
upon the proposition to make Napoleon Bonaparte an
Emperor.
Note 140, p. 241. Several circumstances had concurred
in producing that effect upon the minds of the soldiers,
which is indicated in the result of their balloting. In his
" Proclamation to the Army," the President had taunted
the soldiers with having been " treated as vanquished, in
1830 and 1848," because their suffrages had not been con-
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 327
suited, although (as the President said) they " were the
elite of the nation." Then, he made it appear that he was
their special friend, by investing them with the ballot (just
what the Republicans had long desired to do), and by
"making generals" from among the younger officers.
Flattery and promises had their prevailing influence. The
dogma of " passive obedience " was diligently impressed
upon their rather plastic consciences ; and this, too, in
connection with their ratification of the misdeeds of their
commander-in-chief, the President.
But the question, after all, was whether they should
ratify their own conduct, as well as that of their President ;
for they were to decide by ballot whether the Coup tfEtaJt
was justifiable, and to vote no would be voting for their
own condemnation, since it was mainly through themselves
that the work of unlawfulness and violence had been ac-
complished.
Finally, the military eclat of the name Napoleon was
sufficient to eclipse that of any other person ; and in the
army, it seemed to be believed (and the belief is not yet
obsolete there), that Louis Napoleon is entitled to the
most unlimited deference and fealty, because he is the
nephew* of his distinguished uncle, and claims to be his
counterpart as well as successor.
Note 141, p. 242. Deportation to Guiana first com-
menced in 1795. At that time, the National Convention
had sentenced some of its own members to deportation.
In September, 1795, the Directory deported two of its
members, three generals, and the editors of thirty-five
newspapers, to Sinamary, in Guiana. Banishment in cer-
tain cases, dates as far back as the year 1 670.
Note 142, p. 242. The fortified wall around Paris is
about forty feet high, of solid masonry, and rises from a
moat about twenty feet in depth. The detached forts are
seventeen in number, and are within cannon-range of the
wall. These fortifications which thus far have served
328 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
only as prisons for the French people were built in the
reign of Louis Philippe, at a cost of about $50,000,000.
Note 143, p. 242. M. CR&TON was an Orleanist mem-
ber of the Assembly, and as such had persistently com-
bated the Democrats. Since the Coup cTEtat he has
been neutral in political matters.
DUVERGIER DE 1 l.\i KANM. was associated with MM.
Guizot and de Remusat, as editor of the Globe, from
1824 to 1827. In 1837, he published a work upon the
44 Principles of the Representative Government," in which
he laid down the maxim that " Le Roi regne, et ne gouverne
pas" (the King reigns, and does not govern). As a mem-
ber of the Assembly, he was a Royalist Since his re-
turn from the exile following his imprisonment, he has
been occupied upon his 44 History of Parliamentary Gov-
ernment in France."
Charles Fran9ois Marie, Count de R^MDSAT, is a son of
the duke of that name, who was a chamberlain of Bona-
parte. He has been successful as a writer of legal works.
Under the reign of Louis Philippe he was one of the
44 principal soldiers of M. Thiers," and ultimately was,
with the latter, among the ministers of that king. In the
Assembly, from 1848 to 1851, he was a leading orator of
the Royalists. Since the Coup cTEtat he has continued
his literary labors.
(For the other names, see Notes 25, 34, 42, 64, 79, 82,
83.)
Note 144, p. 243. Felix MATH was educated to the
bar. In 1834 he fled to Belgium, in order to avoid arrest
for complicity in the revolt of that year. As a member
of the Assembly he voted for the impeachment of Louis
Napoleon, for causing the siege of Rome without legisla-
tive authority. In 1848 he was at the head of the depart-
mental administration of the provisional government.
After the Coup d Ktnt he abstained from politics. He
died in 1857. (See Note 79 for other names.)
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 329
Note 145, p. 243. Madame Amautine Lucile Aurore
DUDEVANT, commonly known under the pseudonym
GEORGE SAND, was born in Paris in 1804. She is the
daughter of Maurice Dupin, an officer of the First Napo-
leon, who died in 1808, through a fall from his horse.
When eighteen years of age, she married a M. Dude-
vant, a son of the baron of that name. She separated
from her husband in 1831, and turned her attention to
literature, translations, painting, drawing, ornamental work,
etc. At that time she often attended at theatre, dressed
in male attire. About the same year (1831), she pub-
lished her first work, in company with Jules Sand. At
this time her publishers gave her the pseudonym " George
Sand," which she has since retained. In 1835, she made
the acquaintance of Michel (of Bourges. member of the
Assembly), and acquired from him, and from Pierre Le-
roux, her strong republican and socialistic convictions.
In the Revolution of 1848, she wrote much for repub-
lican journals, and even established a weekly newspaper
called " The People's Cause," besides writing two political
pamphlets. She also translated, from the Italian, Maz-
zini's book, " The Republic and Royalty in Italy." Since
that epoch, she has devoted her talents to romance and
the drama.
We should not omit to state, that her girlhood was spent
partly in the Chateau of Nohant, and partly in the con-
vent of the English Augustines in Paris.
Note 146, p. 243. Xavier DURRIEU is quite celebrated
amongst the political and philosophical writers of France.
Since his banishment he has lived part of the time in
England, and part in Spain.
Pierre LACHAMBEAUDIE, quite an elegant writer, since
his exile has lived in Brussels, where he has supported
himself through the publication of his literary works.
Note 147, p. 243. Antony THOURET was born in
1807, and was educated for the bar. In 1830 he wrote
380 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
articles for the " Republican Society of the Friends of the
People." These cost him more than thirty prosecutions,
and upward of one hundred thousand francs in fines, be-
sides five years of imprisonment As a member of the
Assembly of 1848, he exercised a powerful and control-
ling influence. Although a radical Democrat, he was con-
ciliatory and calm. Since the Coup <TEtat, we believe he
has remained, at first in compulsory, afterward in volun-
tary exile.
Note 148, p. 244. Among these sixty republican rep-
resentatives, will be noticed the names of many who are,
or have been an honor to their country. Some have not
been conspicuous, and yet were equally as good citizens
and legislators. We give a brief remark concerning
some of them.
PERDIGDIER was a writer ; LATRADE was a civil engi-
neer, and has since been employed as such in Spain ;
RENAUD, a strong advocate of universal suffrage, went to
Spain, and declined to avail himself of the amnesty of
1859 ; SAVOYE, a lawyer and scholar, was a graduate of
the University of Heidelberg, and a fine writer ; since his
expulsion, he has lived in England and Belgium. BACNE,
a civil engineer, had a brother exiled at the same time ;
BERTHOLON, formerly editor of the newspaper called the
" Censor," was one of the representatives who made the
" Appeal to the People." M. de FLOTTE was an officer of
the navy, and an able political writer ; after the Coup
d'Etat he distinguished himself with Garibaldi, in his ex-
pedition against Sicily. M. LABOULATE is everywhere
known as one of the first political and legal writers. Al-
phonse ESQUIROS, one of the ablest political and philo-
sophical writers, was elected a member of the Legislative
Body in 1869, a Republican. PEAK was a lawyer and
journalist ; BAC, a brilliant advocate, is since dead ; BAN-
CEL, an orator, became a professor in the University of
Brussels; in 186U, he was elected a radical republican
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 381
member of the Legislative Body, M. Olivier, the present
chief adviser of the Emperor, having been defeated as the
candidate opposed to him. M. Bancel will be one of the
most eloquent and influential members of the Assembly.
BELIN, a lawyer, repudiated an offer to return to France
shortly afterward. BOURZAT was called the " Poor-man's
Lawyer." BRIVES, was a commissary-general under the
Republic, and editor of a paper called the Universal Vote.
DUPONT was a lawyer and editor of several newspapers.
Gaston DUSSOUBS was a brother of Denis, who was killed
whilst defending the barricade. GUITER was a journalist*
councilor-general of a department, and commissary under
the Republic. LEFRANC was a lawyer and editor of tal-
ent ; LEROUX, a fine writer, and translator of German ;
MAIGNE, was a brother of the Parisian journalist and
professor imprisoned shortly before. MATHIETJ (of the
Drome), an earnest worker in the republican cause, after-
ward lived and wrote in Switzerland ; he is now dead.
SOMMIER was a prominent literary character. As to Cho-
lat, Benoit, Lagrange, Nadaud, Hugo, Baune, Schoelcher,
Joigneau, Raspail, and Colonel Charras, see the Notes
referring to them respectively.
These republican representatives, added to those al-
ready exiled or deported, make the whole number amount
to seventy-seven. The eleven others exiled were Or-
leanists, making eighty-eight of both parties.
Note 149, p. 245. The espionage here referred to is
that known in the French code as the " Surveillance de la
Haute Police" It is " a relegation into a place deter-
mined upon by the government ; and in case of disobedi-
ence to the administrative requirements, it may be changed
into transportation for from five to six years." It amounts
to an imprisonment within certain territorial limits, with a
requirement to " report " at stated times, to the officer hav-
ing the " surveillance " of the party upon whom it has been
imposed. It is a creature of the existing regime, having
been decreed December 8, 1851.
332 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
There are also mouchardt, or spies, dressed like ordinary
citizens, who are employed by the police to observe the
conduct and overhear the conversation of suspected par-
ties. Mouchards can be procured, at certain offices es-
tablished for that purpose, by the payment of a few francs
per day to the supplying office.
Note 150, p. 245. The army was not only the recipient
of u decorations and promotions," but other rewards were
given: such as nobility for the officers, and the military
medal for the soldiers. The decorations referred to were
those of the Legion of Honor, and the promotions were
military. Hence, we may classify the honors and bounties
conferred upon military (and civil) favorites as follows :
1st NOBILITY. The Constituent Assembly in 1791,
abolished all titles of nobility, and provided for the pun-
ishment of any who should assume such a title. The idea
of dispensing with hereditary titles was probably borrowed
from the provision relative thereto in the Constitution of
the United States. But in 1806, Bonaparte, then Emper-
or, wished to bestow various honors of this kind upon his
officers, and a decree was passed creating a nobility, and
punishing all who should assume rank therein without
previous imperial permission. Hence, there are many
nobles whose titles were conferred by Bonaparte, either
upon themselves or upon their father or grandfather.
But the present Emperor is not slower than the first was,
in turning to good account this prime instrument of favor-
itism. It appears from the " Imperial Almanac " for 1869,
that there are three princes, six dukes, eleven marquises,
twenty-one counts, eight viscounts, and twenty-two barons,
attached to the " Household of their Majesties, the Em-
peror and the Empress, and His Highness the Prince Im-
perial." These attaches (with others not nobles) are in-
vested with the functions of superintendents, prefects,
governors, and quartermasters of the palaces, grand, first?
and ordinary chamberlains to their Majesties' chamber
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 333
service, physicians and surgeons, masters of the imperial
stables, hunters, masters of ceremonies, aids of ceremonies,
aides-de-camp, adjutants, etc. Most of these are, or have
been, officers of the army. There are also many ladies
holding corresponding rank, included in the retinue of the
Empress. Besides, there are many nobles in the Senate,
Council pf State, and other positions of honor, and yet
others living simply as nobles. The number of these we
have not taken the trouble to ascertain.
2d. MILITARY PROMOTIONS. Of these it is not neces-
sary to say much. In France, this power (and that of
original appointment) is with the Emperor alone, from
the lowest commissioned to the highest general officer.
The power is most potent, in order to produce the concur-
rence of the officers with the executive. There are at
present nine Marshals of France (the highest rank in the
army), each receiving as such, an annual salary of six
thousand dollars; seven of them, commanding corps
(Farmee, receive twenty thousand dollars each. The major-
generals and brigadier-generals are in proportionate num-
bers, for the immense army of France. Many military
officers are also paid salaries for non-military positions
which they hold. The French army and navy cost about
$170,000,000 annually. (See Note 37.)
3d. THE ORDER OP THE LEGION OF HONOR. This is
another of the creatures of the First Napoleon. In 1802,
he being then First Consul, he founded the order of the
Legion d'Honneur, for the purpose, mainly, of making use
of it in conferring distinction upon whom he pleased,
among the officers of his army. At that time, the " deco-
ration " consisted of the effigy of Bonaparte, placed in the
centre of a star of five points. Under the Restoration,
this effigy was replaced by that of Henry IV. The Re-
public of 1848 restored the Cross of Bonaparte.
The order is divided into five classes, of which the low-
est is the Chevalier. Then follow the Officer, Commander,
334 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
Grand Officer, and Grand Cross, consecutively. Each
grade has its particular badge or decoration ; the cheva-
lier having a silver star (or cross, as it is called) suspended
by a red ribbon ; the officer a golden star, with red ribbon
and rosette ; the commander a golden star with a broader
red ribbon, worn about the neck, the ribbon of the chev-
alier and officer being attached to the left breast ; the
grand officer, a diamond cross, without a ribbon ; the
grand cross, a broad ribbon crossing the breast from
right to left, to the left end of which a large and elabo-
rately wrought golden cross, or star, is attached.
In place of these decorations, the fellows of the order
wear, when in their ordinary dress, a knot of red ribbon
in the left lappel of the coat, for the chevalier ; and a
rosette of the same to indicate either of the other grades.
In the streets of Paris, one will meet every day, many
men with these badges of their fellowship of the order.
There were in 1868, according to the official report for
that year, 66 grand crosses ; 295 grand officers ; 1,500
commanders ; 6,000 officers ; and 54,000 chevaliers. The
Emperor is the " Grand Master " of this Grand Legion,
and none are admitted therein without his authority. He
has under him, for the administration of its affairs, a
grand chancellor, a secretary-general, and a council of ten
members. Of those admitted from the army and navy, the
chevaliers receive 250 francs per year for life ; the officers,
500; the commanders, 1,000; the grand officers, 2,000;
and the grand crosses 3,000 francs. It probably costs the
government about $3,000,000 annually to keep the fellows
of this order in pay. Then each fellow is entitled to mili-
tary salutes in life, and military honors upon his decease.
An oath of fealty is required from each French fellow
of the order.
4th. The MILITARY MKDAL is bestowed upon officers
and soldiers of the army by the Emperor, upon the sugges-
tion of the Minister of War. In the case of soldiers, this
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 335
carries with it a pension of 100 francs for life. Other
special medals, such as the Crimean, Italian, etc., are
awarded for each campaign. Even the shootings of Re-
publicans in the streets of Paris, during the days of
December, 185-1, were called a " campaign " for the pur-
pose of receiving medals, as the author says.
Note 151, p. 245. As we have already said, the Em-
peror and Empress are Roman Catholics. For the service
of their chapel there are an archbishop (salary $10,000
yearly as such, and $6,000 as senator for life), a bishop,
and seven abbots. The clergy are paid by the govern-
ment, and there are more than a thousand of the Catholic
clergy in Paris alone. The schools are mostly directed by
the brothers and sisters of the convents. Since 1852, the
" Budget of Worship " has cost the government about
$160,000,000. The occupation of Rome, in order to main-
tain the Pope secure, has cost $9,500,000. In short, there
seems to be hardly a limit to which the Emperor would
not go, in order to " favor the clergy," who in turn aid
very materially in strengthening the sway and influence
of their imperial protector. (See Note 10.;
While on the subject of the clergy, it is worth while to
examine briefly the operation of the pontifical establish-
ment at Rome, the special protege of the French Emperor.
In 1846, Mastai Ferretti, of Sinigaglia, an Adriatic sea-
port, was installed in the Vatican as successor to the papal
throne, with the title Pius IX. On the 14th of March
1848, he published an ordinance or statutory decree, de-
claring his government changed from a papacy to a con-
stitutional monarchy of two chambers. The first of the
sixty-nine articles of the ordinance declared that the
Sacred College would constitute a senate above these
chambers, and would be inseparable from the pontificate.
On the 9th of February following, the Roman Constitu-
ent Assembly, by a vote of one hundred and forty-three
against five, declared Pius IX. bereft of his functions as a
336 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
temporal sovereign, and shortly afterward it promulgated
the Constitution of the Republic. In that organic law,,it
was declared that u the head of the Catholic Church will
receive from the Republic all the guarantees necessary to
the independent exercise of the spiritual poVer." So the
Pope was not only tolerated, but protected by the Repub-
lic in his legitimate sphere. From that time, the separa-
tion of the Church from the State would have been per-
manent but for the intervention of the French government
But Louis Napoleon, President of the French Republic,
desired it to be otherwise ; and by the 12th of April, 1850,
had reinstated the Pope in the Vatican.
On the 12th of September, 1849, a convention between
the Pope and the French government had arranged for
the formation of a new papal government The latter
was to consist of a Council of State of nine members,
appointed by the Pope ; a cabinet of five ministers, ap-
pointed by the Pope's Prime Minister or Secretary of
State, Cardinal Antonelli. The latter was to be presi-
dent of the aforesaid Council of State. Subsequently, the
whole territory outside of Rome was divided into four
legations, administered by legates of the Pope ; the lega-
tions into provinces, governed by papal delegates ; the
provinces into governments, administered by papal coun-
cilors; and the governments into communes, administered
in part by ecclesiastical deputies, elected by the people,
but primarily by a magistracy of elders, appointed by the
Pope.
Thus, the head is the Pope; the Prime Minister is
Cardinal Antonelli ; the President of the Council of State
is likewise Cardinal Antonelli ; the Minister of Finances
and th Minister of War are prelates ; the Apostolic
Chamber (which controls the disbursements and funds of
the government) is presided by the cardinal camerlinffo, or
vice-pope ; and the legates and delegates are both cardi-
nals and prelates.
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 337
This is the government established at Rome in 1850, by
Louis Napoleon, in place of a Republic, and still main-
tained by the army of France. It was for this that he
besieged Rome without the authority of the French Na-
tional Assembly ; proclaiming at the same time with much
flourishing of trumpets : " I sum up thus, the reestablish-
ment of the temporal power of the Pope : General am-
nesty, secularization of the administration, the Napoleonic
Code, and liberal government." It is not to be wondered
at that many members of the Assembly were in favor of
impeaching the President, after this military and political
exploit, very much in the nature of a filibustering expedi-
tion. But at that time the Republicans were in a minor-
ity in the Assembly, hence the failure to impeach and
convict the anti-republican President of the Republic.
The efforts of Louis Napoleon to maintain his pleasant
relations with the Pope, remind us of the speech of the
First Napoleon to the Egyptian Turks, wherein he assured
them that he intended to become a Mussulman.
Note 152, p. 246. In point of fact, the Sabbath never
was so generally given up to violent recreation and
noisy demonstration in Paris, as it has been under the
present regime. M. de Morny's recommendation, that the
Sabbath be observed as a day of " repose," did not mean
much, if we take into consideration the fact that horse-
racing, under the auspices and patronage of the Em-
peror, is commonly indulged in on Sundays, in the public
race-grounds about Paris.
Note 153, p. 246. The Siecle (the Age) was the jour-
nal of which M. Te"not is now the principal editor. It is
now the organ of the liberal Republicans of Paris. The
editors of this journal (which has never been violent in
its attacks upon the existing government) have some-
times been imprisoned and fined for editorial articles,
inimical to the acts or the policy of the Empire. As
late as June 26, 1869, two editors of the Siecle were fined
22
838 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
five hundred francs each, and imprisoned for one month
and two months respectively, in punishment for certain
political articles published therein.
It is well to remind the reader that in- France, the
author of a political article inserted in a newspaper, is
required by law to affix his name thereto. In this way,
the government may always know who dare to criticize its
action, and be enabled to maintain an espionage over them.
Sometimes a perquisition, or unexpected examination of
the private papers of an individual, is made by the police,
in order to find and seize articles written but not yet pub-
lished. The police, at times, go so far as to follow up a noc-
turnal rummaging of the private premises, by seizure of the
victim in his own household, and his induction to prison to
await trial, on a charge of writing seditious articles.
On the other haud, the newspapers are compelled to pub-
' lish, in a conspicuous part of the sheet, any denial or ex-
planation proceeding from the high officers of the govern-
ment For instance, if the Judge of Instruction (who has
the right to arrest and imprison without accusation, trial,
or bail) were to be charged by some newspaper with hav-
ing refused to allow a prisoner to see his friends, or to
write to them, the judge aforesaid might send a com-
munique to the editor of the newspaper, denying or explain-
ing the charge ; and however long the communique might
be, the journal would be bound to publish it gratuitously.
At the same time, the person who had made the com-
plaint and been compelled to add his name thereto, might
himself be made to suffer imprisonment for having " pub-
lished false news," or for " exciting hatred and contempt
against the government ; " or indeed, without any specific
charge, his arrest might be made.
French newspapers are prohibited, under penalty, from
publishing accounts of judicial trials of political cases, or
of prosecutions lor violating the press-laws of France.
Note 154, p. 249. At the epoch in which the author
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 339
closes his account, the treason and violence of Louis Na-
poleon had been ratified, and he (as he himself expressed
it) had been "absolved" from the legal consequences
thereof. This had been done by the votes of those who
were dumbfounded and perplexed, or intimidated ; those
who had been bribed by office, money, or favor (see Notes
140, 150, 151) ; and those who supposed they were voting
for the truest friend to the Republic, or at least one who
would prove to be the counterpart of the first Napoleon.
One fact must be borne in mind : in those days the people
little understood the real nature and atrocity of the Coup
d?Etat of December, and comparatively few of them have
become aware of these until within the last two or three
years. Meanwhile, the victims still living and not in ex-
ile, have almost forgotten their wrongs, or have, for various
reasons, been unable to sufficiently impress the enormity
thereof upon the common understanding.
On the 25th of December, 1852, Louis Napoleon was as
completely invested with the imperial crown of France
as his uncle, the First Napoleon, had been in 1804. The
2d of December had resulted, like the 18th of Brumaire,
in the French Empire. In round numbers, seven millions
of electors had voted for the Empire ; three-fourths of a
million against it ; and two millions had refrained, or been
unable to vote.
Whither has popular sentiment been tending since that
election in 1852 ? Does the yoke of empire rest easily
upon the necks of the French people ? Let us examine
the votes of Paris, which is called the " heart of France."
VOTES OF PARIS.
For the Government. for the Opposition.
1852 132,000 1852 . . . 86,000
1857 110,000 1857 . . . 101,000
1863 83,000 1863 . . . 149,000
1869 55,000 1869 . . . 210,000
340 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
An election is held but once in six years. In 1852, the
majority for the Government was 46,000. In 1869, the
majority for the Opposition was 150,000. In 1852, the
Republicans and Oppositionists were but about one third
of the voters of Paris ; in 1869, they were nearly four
fifths of them. This has been the result in the capital,
where Louis Napoleon is best known ; where he has lav-
ished most of his " improvements ; " and where one fourth
of the electors are said to be employes of the government.
Like results have been obtained in the large cities, such
as Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes, Dijon, Nimes,
Saint- Etienne, Montpellier, Havre, Lille, Strasbourg,
Rouen, etc. It is conceded that in the cities of France,
people have unusual facilities for education, while in the
rural sections gross ignorance prevails. Thus, it appears
from official reports of the magistrates to the Minister of
Public Instruction, in 1866, that in some districts the
proportion of persons who were unable to sign their names
to the registry of marriages, births, and deaths, was 67 in
100 for the men, and 98 in 100 for the women 1 The illit-
erate and priest-ridden classes of the benighted districts,
vote for the existing government and counteract the votes
of the enlightened cities. For this reason, the voting
districts of cities are sometimes extended into the country,
so as to include the suburban and rural population ; thus
causing a municipal candidate of the Opposition to be
defeated by the ballots of the ignorant peasantry, who
are sure to be in favor of the " official " candidate.
But notwithstanding the political tnaneuvres on the
part of the government ; notwithstanding the overwhelm-
ing majority cast in 1852, in favor of the decree making
Louis Napoleon emperor ; he who thus became the head
of a great empire, under anomalous, but, as he supposed,
auspicious circumstances, has lost much ground in each
of the three general elections (1857, 1863, and 1869) held
since that epoch. In 18f.!, there were less than four and
TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX. 341
a half million votes favorable to the government, whilst
there were more than three and a half millions in opposi-
tion thereto. In a vote of 8,098,565 in the aggregate, the
government received a majority of but 755,517 votes. If
we deduct the million (the computed number) of military,
civil, and other employe's of the government, from the
majority, it follows that the independent voters favorable
to the Empire are in a minority, and this minority repre-
sents the ignorant and superstitious classes.
If we look at the composition of the Assembly (Corps
Le*gislatif) since 1852, we find surprising (though not cor-
responding) losses in the number of the imperial, or " offi-
cial " members of that body. In 1857 (the first election
for deputies under the Empire), the opposition counted
but five members out of two hundred and ninety, or one
fifty-eighth of the whole ; in 1863, they had twenty-two
members, or one thirteenth of the whole ; in 1869 (about)
seventy-seven members, or probably one third of the whole,
and among them are the first orators and statesmen of
France.
The reason of this defection from the " strong govern-
ment," is to be found in the growing conviction of the
wickedness and deception in which it had its origin, and in
the mismanagement and injustice which have resulted
thereunder. It would be easy to demonstrate at length
that abundant causes exist for the increasing hostility to
the Empire, and to the French Emperor personally,
but not having contemplated an exhibition of those causes,
we content ourselves with subjoining a summary of the
expenses, in round numbers, as estimated by competent
authorities, of certain of the prominent enterprises of the
present government of France :
The overthrow of the Republic of Rome, and its oc-
cupation by a part of the French army, has cost,
to July, 1869 $9,200,000
342 TRANSLATORS' APPENDIX.
The War of the Crimea, instigated by Napoleon
H, cost France 269,600,000
The War of Italy, in 1859 (left for Prussia to finish,
in 1866), cost France 75,600,000
The invasion of Mexico, and attempt to change
that Republic to an Empire, cost France . . $170,000,000
(Mexico owed France $12,000,000, less than two
thirds as much as she owed England.)
The military and naval warfare against China,
Cochin China, and Japan, have cost .... 58,400,000
Svrian.campaigns 4,000,000
Total cost of Foreign Wars $586,200,000
To this immense bill of expenses, many heavy items
may be added, which we need not suggest to the reader.
Thus, the " Budget of Worship " alone has cost the French
government $160,000,000, since 1852 ; and the army and
navy cost from $160,000,000 to $180,000,000 annually.
INDEX.
N. B. The figures refer to the page, except when preceded by the word " Note.'
ALLOCUTIONS to the Army, 85.
Arago, Representative, 150, 151,
Note 104.
Army of France, its devotion to the
President, 2, 35 ; how raised, Note
11; its generals, 35, 82, Note 74;
its contempt for civilians, 85; an-
ecdote of the, 86; favors to the,
245, Note 150; proclamation to
the, 108; divisions of the, Note
84; vote of, on the appeal, 241.
Army of Paris, review of the, 27;
instructions issued to the, 30 ; how
stationed Dec. 2d, 99 ; Dec. 3d, 155.
Arrest of Representatives, 94, 119,
120, 142, Note 97; of Quaestors,
97, 98; of citizens, 105; mostly
Republicans, 242.
Assembly, the Constituent, 1, Note
6. See ASSEMBLY, NATIONAL.
Assembly, Legislative. See ASSEM-
BLY, NATIONAL.
Assembly, National, the law-mak-
ing power in 1848, 2, Note 12 ; in
favor of a strong power, 4 ; main-
tains Prince Napoleon in exile, 7 ;
repeals the law of exile as against
the Bonapartes, 8; speech of
Prince Napoleon in the, 9; ses-
sion of Dec. 20th, 1848, 11; polit-
ical parties in the, 15; the Con-
servatives in the, 21 ; votes of the,
on increasing the salary of Presi-
dent Napoleon, 24, 33; on revis-
ing the Constitution, 38,41; de-
bate in the, as to the functions of
the, 60; session of the, at the
mayoralty of District No. X, 121 ;
decree of the, removing the Pres-
ident from office, 122; requiring
troops, 123; demanding release
of Representatives, 125; convok-
ing the High Court of Justice for
trial of impeachment of the Pres-
ident, 137; arrest of members of
the, See ARREST ; previous to
1848, Note 7, 257-262.
Bank of France, unlawful removal
of deposits from the, 185, Notes
118, 119.
Baroche, Minister, Note 40; au-
thor of law restricting suffrage,
22; speeches of, 33, 247.
Barracks of Paris, Note 96; of
d'Orsay Quay, 142.
Barricades in the Faubourg Saint-
Antoine, 164; distinguished men
who defended the, 165; positions
of various, 170 ; at the Porte Saint-
Denis, 187, Note 120; in Rambu-
teau Street, 201.
Barrot, Odilon, Minister, 17, 38>;
meeting at house of, 116.
Batignolles, the, 191, Note 121.
Baudin, Representative, 150, 168,
Note 111; death of, 168.
Baze, Quaestor, 41, 53; arrest of,
97; exiled, 242, Note 79.
Bedeau, General, Qusestor, 41, 45;
344
INDEX.
arrest of, 100; letter of, 72; ex-
ited, 242.
Denver, Representative, 17, 22,
88, 50, Note 34 ; attitude of, Dec.
2.1. 122-136; arrested, 142.
Bonaparte, Napoleon, See NAPO-
LEON I.
Bonaparte, Jerome, 149, Note 102.
Bonaparte, Prince Napoleon, cousin
of the President, Note 48; in
the Assembly, 31 ; at first opposed
the Coup <TEtat, 180.
Bonaparte, Prince Louis Napoleon,
Note 15; early life of, 6; in the
" Affair of Strasbourg," Note 17;
in the "Affair of Boulogne,"
Note 18; reveries and writings of,
6; in England, Note 22; letter of
to the Provisional Government, 7 ;
letter from London, 7; return of
from exile in England, 8 ; elected
a Representative, 8; speech of, in
the Assembly, 9; pretended de-
votion of, to the Republic, 6, 8, 9,
10; a candidate for the Presiden-
cy, 5, 6, 9, 10; electoral manifesto
of, 10; elected President, 10, 11.
See also PRESIDENT and NAPO-
LEON III.
Boulevards of Paris, Note 132; inci-
dents of the, 171, 212, 216, 218.
Boulogne, the affair of, 6, Note 18.
Bourbons, the family of, fears of
a restoration of, 29 ; the partisans
of, 37.
Bouryroitie, the Parisian, attitude
of, 20, 112; arrest* of, 242.
Broglie, Representative de, 22, 38,
Note 42.
Brvmttire, the 18lh of, 1, Note 8.
Cabinet, the Emperor's, 2*35, Note
71.
Cannonade, 220-235, and jxiuim.
Cannon*, required by de Mnupas,
191,204.
Canrolwrt, General, 35, Note 55;
terrible firing by brigade of, 226-
235.
Cassagnac, Granier de, Note 38; a
Bonapartist writer, 54; an apolo-
gist foi the Coup <ttat, 68; a
mistake of, 82.
Cavaignac, General, Note 14 ; nom-
inated for the Presidency, 5, 11 ;
speech of in the Assembly, 11 1 a
Republican, 20; arrest of, 104.
Cayenne, deportation to, Note 141 ;
names of some sentenced to, 242.
Chambord, the Count of, 32, Note
127, 277.
Champs Elytta, the, 99, Note 81.
Changarnier, General de, Note 25 ;
a candidate for the Presidency,
11 ; coure of, after the review at
Satory, 28; a Royalist, and sword
of the "White Convention," 48;
general order of, to the army of
Paris, 31 ; speech of, 40 ; arrest of,
99,275; exiled, 242.
Charras, Colonel, Note 59 ; famous
speech of, in the Assembly, 61;
arrest of, 103; incident concern-
ing, at Mazas Prison, 105; ex-
iled, 244.
Chasseurs, the, 133, Note 95.
die, the, Note 124 ; troops in, 195.
Clergy, the Catholic, the Presi-
dent's favors to, 2, 245, Notes 10,
151.
Commission, the Advisory, 156,
167.
Commission, the Mixed, 244, 245.
Commission, the Permanent, 28,
29, Note 47.
Committee of the Assembly, 32,
Note 50.
Committee of the Associations, no-
ble appeal of the, 173.
Committee of Public Safety, 257.
Committee, the Poitiers Street, 14.
Committee of Resistance, the, 152;
its appeal to arms, 171 ; meeting
of, 194.
INDEX.
345
Communes, 23, Note 43 ; mayors of
the, 24.
Complot, the Right accused of be-
ing in, against the President, 68-
70; warrants of arrest on the
ground of, 94.
Concordat of Napoleon I., the, 2,
Notes 9, 10.
Confidants of the President, the,
75, 83.
Constitution of France in 1848, the
author's remarks upon, 1-5 ; re-
sume of history of, Note 7 ; Presi-
dent's oath to support the, 5, 12 ;
republican in form, but not in
spirit, 1 ; maintained the Catholic
Church, 2 ; an unremovable mag-
istracy, 2 ; a permanent army, 2 ;
gave the President supreme au-
thority, 2 ; provided for his im-
peachment, 3 ; instituted univer-
sal suffrage, 3 ; liberty of the press,
and of public meetings, 4 ; pro-
vided for election of President
once in four years, 4 ; made the
ministry responsible, 4 ; defined
treason, 5 ; provided for troops to
defend the Assembly, 54, 71 ; trial
by jury in prosecutions for viola-
tions of the press-laws, 16 ; the
President the only official required
to make oath to support the, 5 ;
how amended, 4; the President's
declarations of fidelity to the, 18,
29, 33, 50, 69 ; his violation of the,
22 ; his omission to refer to the,
27, 87 ; his proposition to revise
the, 30 ; his request for a new one,
107 ; devotion of the Democrats
to the, 20, 48, 67 ; hostility of Na-
poleonic journals to the, 25, 37,
47 ; of the Conservatives, 4, 21-23,
49 ; the Royalists would not openly
violate the, 15, 56 ; M. Thiers de-
sires to return to the, 32, 64 ; dis-
cussion on the question of revis-
ing the, 38, 40 ; vote thereon, 41 ;
basis of that proposed by the Presi-
dent after the Coup cfEtat, 107 ;
the various changes in since 1791,
256-262.
Constitutionnel,the newspaper, course
of, 36, 37 ; unfairness of, 73 ; not
suppressed, 114.
Consulate, the, 258.
Councils-General, the attitude of in
1850, 37, 38.
Council of State, the, 74, 107 ; how
constituted, Note 71 ; 258, 260 ;
when first organized, 259.
Council, Executive, 257.
Council of Elders, 257.
Council of Five Hundred, the, 257.
Council, the Privy, 259.
Council of War, 183.
Court of Peers, trial of Persigny be-
fore the, 77.
Court of Justice, the High. See
HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE.
Coup de Etat, the, denounced in ad-
vance by Louis Napoleon, 26 ;
feared by the Assembly, 29 ; pre-
dicted by a Napoleonic writer, 34 ;
when determined upon, 36 ; new
rumors of, 44; postponed, 45 ; final
measures for, when taken, 57 ;
people had ceased to suspect the,
73 ; general plan of the, 75, 83,
84 ; who promoted the, 75, 83 ;
how regarded after its crisis, 111-
113 ; of Napoleon I., 310.
Cre"mieux, Representative, 44, Note
59 ; arrests at house of, 120.
Creton, the Proposition of, 36.
Dam, Count, 22, Note 42 ; in a meet-
ing of the Right, 38. <
Decorations. See LEGION OF HONOR.
Decree of President Napoleon, 106; Of"
the Assembly, declaring the Pres-
ident removed from office, 122 ; re-
quiring troops, 123 ; release of Rep-
resentatives, 125 : convoking High
Court of Justice, 137.
346
INDEX.
Democrats, the. See REPUBLICANS.
Departments of France, Note 1 ;
thirty under martial law, 245.
Deportation. See CAYENNE.
Detention Preventive, 16, Note 33.
Dictatorship, the White, 55, Note 65.
Director}-, the, 857.
Documents, seizure of, 71.
Dufaure, Minister, 17-19, 38, Note 35.
Dupin, President of Assembly, cow-
ardice of, 55, 118, 286, Note 46.
Duprat, Pascal, Note 49; speech of, 32.
Dusautoy, the Tailor, 222, 223, Note
136.
Dussoubs, Denis, death of, 205, 206.
Editors, meeting and protest of, 146 ;
exiled, 243.
Education, lack of, outside the great
cities, 340.
Election of December, 1848, 10 ; of
May, 1849, for deputies, 14, 15 ; of
March and April, 1850, 21 ; of
1851, 246, 247 ; of 1857, 1863, and
1869, Notes 139, 140.
Electors, qualifications of, Note 7.
Empire, aspirations of the President
to, 25 ; Notes 53, 78.
Empire of Hayti. See SOPLOUQUE.
Empress of the French, 267, Note 15.
England, Louis Napoleon in, Note 22.
Espinaose, Colonel, 35, Note 55 ; com-
mands the troops that besiege the
Palace of the Assembly, 95.
Espionage, Note 149.
Esquiros, Representative, 165, Note
148.
Exiles, names of some, 242-244, Note
143.
Faucher, L/'on, 22, 37-39, Note 42 ;
. attitude of, 115 ; patriotic letter of,
157.
Favre, Jules, 44, Note 59; speech of,
in the A-->-inMv, 65 ; resists the
Coup <C Mat, 151, 152.
Fleury, Commander, 34, 30, 44, Note
52 ; aide-de-camp, 75 ; history of,
78 ; he persuades one of the faint-
hearted, 92, Note 52.
Forey, General, 35, 141 ; in Mexico,
Note 55.
Forts around Paris, as prisons, 242,
Note 142.
Fould, Minister, 19, 37, Note 86.
Gamin, punishment of a, 211.
Gendarmerie Mobile, the, 91, Note 76.
Generals, how made, 35 ; names of
those confided in, 82, Note 74.
Girardin, Emile de, 180, Note 116 ;
exiled, 243.
Guard, the National, 56, Note 66 :
not allowed to assemble, 88, 90,
113 ; some appear in uniform, 120 ;
and furnish arms to citizens, 189.
Guizot, Minister, 43, Note 58.
Ham, the Fortress of, 6, Note 21 ;
speech of the President at, 17.
Hautpoul, Marquis de, 19, Note 86.
High Court of Justice, 137, Note 101 ;
session of, for trial of impeach-
ment, 147 ; dispersed by armed
force, 148 ; warrant of, 171.
Hilliers, Baraguey-d', 129, Note 91.
Hdtel de Ville, the, Note 129, occu-
pied by troops, 156.
Hugo, Victor, 44, Notes 69, 112 ;
proposes armed resistance, 150 ;
his appeal to the army, 172 ; ex-
iled, 244.
Impeachment of the President, how
provided for, 3 ; of Louis Napo-
leon, 137.
Insurgents put to death, 207-210 ;
cast into the Seine, 209, Note 181;
whipped, 210.
Insurrection of June 30, 1848, 18,
2G5, Note 30 ; at Lyons, 18.
Interior, Ministry of the, 22, Note 41.
Jacquerie, the, viii., 45, Note 2.
Jesse, Captain, letter of, to the Lon-
don Timet, 228, Note 137.
INDEX.
347
Joinville, Prince de, 175, Note 114.
July, the Monarchy of, Note 72.
Kabila, the expedition to, 35, 36 ;
. object of the, 79.
Lamartine, Alphonse de, 11, 275,
Note 25.
Lamoriciere, General de, Note 83 ;
arrested, 102 ; exiled, 242.
Latin Quarter, the, Note 106 ; com-
motion in, 153 ; barricades in, 203.
Law of 31st of May, passed at request
of Louis Napoleon, 21, 22, 52 ; by
the royalist majority, 23, 52 ; re-
peal of, demanded by Louis Napo-
leon, 50 ; opposed by Royalists, 51 ;
and advocated by Republicans, 51 ;
annulled by proclamation, 106.
Leflo, General, 53 ; speech of, 60 ;
arrest of, 97 ; exiled, 242.
Left, Party of the. See REPUBLI-
CANS, etc.
Legion of Honor, the, 245, Note 150.
Legitimists, the, 15, 16, Note 31.
Legislative Body, 107, 258, Note
12. See also ASSEMBLY.
Louis Napoleon. See BONAPABTE,
etc.
Louis Philippe, King, 261, Note 7.
Luxembourg. See PALACE.
Madeleine, Church of the, 145, Note
122.
Magnan, General, commands the
army of Paris, 44, 45 ; history of,
80, Note 60 ; part of, in the C&up
cFEtat, 81 ; order of, to expel rep-
resentatives, 139.
Magne, Minister, 156, Note 109.
Manuscripts of the President, how
printed, 91.
Martial law, proclamations of, 106,
245.
Maupas, De, Prefect of Police, 46,
Note 68 ; an accomplice of Louis
Napoleon, 79 ; placards the Presi-
dent's Appeal, 92 ; issues warrants
to arrest representatives, 93 ; is-
sues a proclamation, 109 ; timidity
of, 159 ; despatches of, 175, 176,
203, 204 ; issues ordinances, 175 ;
extraordinary proclamation of,
186 ; Fleury's persuasion of, 290,
Note 52.
Mayors, 124, Note 90.
Mazas, the prison of, 49, Note 62 ;
Representatives imprisoned in, 97-
105, passim.
Mazzini, the Italian Patriot, 175,
Note 113.
Medals, Military, Note 150.
Message, Presidential, of October,
1849, 17, 18; of November 1850.
29 ; of November 1851, 50.
Mexico, the French attempt in, 291,
292, 342.
Michel, Representative, speech of, 63.
Ministere Public, 5, Note 13.
Ministry, the Barrot-Dufaure, 17;
of d'Hautpoul, etc., 17, 19; of
January, 1851, 37; of December
3d, 1851, 156, Note 109.
Mole", Count, 17, 22, 38, Note 34.
Afoniteur, the, Note 24 ; course of,
39; unfairness of, 73; interpola-
tion of, into a speech of the Presi-
dent, in his favor, 87.
Montagne, the, Note 32 ; protest of
against the attack on Rome, 16 ;
in the Assembly, 40, 49 ; a meet-
ing of, dispersed by troops, 152;
at the barricades, 165.
Montalembert, De, 17, 22, 38, Note
34.
Montebello, De, 22, Note 42; car-
ried to prison, 154.
Montmartre, 191, Note 121.
Mont-Valrien, the fortress of, 154,
Note 107.
Moray, De, minister, 75 ; history of,
76, Note 70 ; the chief actor in the
Coup tTEtat, 158 ; the " Broom "
story, 90 ; instructions of, to the
848
INDEX.
Gencral-in-chief, 160, 161 ; his fa-
vors to the clergy, 246.
Mountain, the. Bee MONTAGNK.
Nadand, Representative, arrest of,
104 ; exiled, 244.
Napoleon I., Note 7 ; originator of
despotic element, 1 ; reference to,
by Louis Napoleon, 26, 108 ; gov-
ernment of, 269, 260.
Napoleon II. Notes 7, 17.
Napoleon III. Note 15 ; salary of,
Note 87 ; the wife of, 268 ; the
ware of, Note 154 ; results of rt-
gime of, Note 154. See alto, BONA-
PARTE, PRINCE Louis NAPOLEON,
and PRESIDENT.
Napoleon, Prince. See BONAPARTE,
PmNrE NAPOLEON.
National Printing-office, 88 ; occu-
pied by troops, 91.
Navy, Minister of the, 148, Note 100.
Newspapers, persecution of repub-
lican, 16 ; suppression of republi-
can, 113, 240 ; great freedom al-
lowed to royalist and Napoleonic,
16, 25, 37 ; entitled to trial by
jury in 1848, 16 ; misstatements of,
223, 224 ; must be stamped, Note
69.
Niol, Colonel, capture of, while
guard ; ng the Assembly, 96.
Nobility, titles of, 245, Note 150.
Orleinists, the, 15, 37, 41 ; political
principles of, Note 31 ; exiled, 242.
Orleans, the Princes of, 32, Notes
31, 114.
Oudinot, General, Note 94 ; speech
of, 131 ; made general-in chief,
132 ; carried to Mazas prison, 142.
Palac<- of the Elys<-e Napoleon, 86,
89, Note 81.
Palace of the Legislative Bo<ly, 94-
99, Note 20.
Palace of the Luxembourg, 195,
Note 123.
Palace of the Senate. See PALACE
OF THE LUXEMBOURG.
Palace of the Tuileries, 149, Note
81.
Palais Royal, 202, Note 126.
Pantheon, The, 195, Note 114 ; trans-
formation of, 246.
Paris, the army of, 27, 30 ; votes of,
247, 262.
Paris, the Count of, Note 31. See
ORLEANS.
Parties, political, Note 31.
Party of Order, the, 9, 14, 42.
Persigny, De, his part in the Coup
(tZtat, 85, 75, 76 ; history of, 77,
Note 54.
Plebiscitum, meaning of, Note 8 ; of
1851, 241, 246.
Police, the, doings of, 87, 93.
Police, the Prefect of, 46, 79, 84,
Note 77.
Pont-Royal, the, incident a*, 150,
Note 103.
President of the Assembly, 121-140 ;
how appointed, Note 12. See Du-
PIN.
President of France, powers of the,
2, 4 ; oath of office of the, 5, 12 ;
treason of, how tried, 5.
President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (
speech of, accepting the Presidency,
12, 13 ; attacks the Republic of
Rome, 15, 16 ; mutilates universal
suffrage, 21, 22 ; messages of, 17, 18,
29,50 ; asks for increase of salary,
24, 83, Notes 37, 51 ; aspires to
the Empire, 25 ; speech of at Ham,
17 ; at Lyons, 25 ; at Cherbourg,
26 ; at Dijon, very violent, 39 ;
forgets the Republic, 27 ; pecuni-
ary embarrassment of, 34 ; he
" makes generals," 35 ; final meas-
ures of, for the Cwp tf Etat, 57 ;
conference with, in the Elysian
INDEX.
349
Palace, 86; decree of, dissolving
the Assembly, declaring martial
law, etc., 106 ; appeal of to the
people, etc., 106; his new Consti-
tution, 107, 108 ; impeached, 137 ;
a promenade of, 149 ; wishes to
" preserve the Republic," Note 7,
262. See PRINCE and NAPOLEON
HI.
Prince de Joinville. See JOINVILLE.
Prince Imperial, 267, Note 15.
Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.
See BONAPARTE, NAPOLEON III.,
and PRESIDENT.
Prince Napoleon. See BONAPARTE.
Prisoners, summary execution of,
179, 206-208 ; whipping of, 210.
Proclamation of the President, 106,
108 ; of republican representatives,
151 ; of Saint- Araaud, 177 ; of De
Man pas, 186.
Proposition of the Quaestors. See
QU.ESTORS.
Public Ministry, the. See MINIS-
TERS PUBLIC.
Quaestors, the, functions of, Note 4;
arrest of, 97, 98.
Quaestors, the, proposition of, opposed
by Republicans, 55; Vote upon,
66.
Quinet, Representative, 44, Note 59 ;
exiled, 243.
Rambuteau Street, combat in, 201,
202.
Raspail, F. V., 11, 273, Note 25; ex-
iled, 244.
" Reds," the, 42, 52, Note 57.
" Red Spectre," the, 24, 42.
Rentes, how affected, 21 ; explained,
Note 39.
Representatives, functions of, 4 ; poli-
tics of, in 1848, 15; before the
High Court of Justice, 19 ; promi-
nent republican arrested, 94;
forced by the bayonet, 117;
dragged from the Hall of Sessions,
118 ; arrested, 119, 120, 142 ; meet-
ings of, 150, 152 ; carried to Mont-
Vale'rien, 154; at the barricades,
165; appeal to arms of, 171; exile
of, 242-244.
Republic of France, Notes 5, 7 ; for-
gotten by the President, 27, 242.
Republic of Mexico. See MEXICO.
Republic of Rome. See ROME.
Republicans in the Assembly, 15, 20,
21; principles of, 277, Note 31;
persecuted by the President, 16,
Note 78 ; removed from office, 16 ;
vote of on revising Constitution,
40; on repealing law of 31st of
May, 42; feeling of in 1851, 48;
on the proposition of the Quaes-
tors, 55; arrested, 94, Note 97;
meeting of, 163 ; at the barricades,
165, 167; exiled, 243, 244. See
REPRESENTATIVES, MONTAGNK,
SOCIALISTS, etc.
Revolutions of 1789, 1830, 1848,
Notes 7, 30, 72.
Right, Party of the, Note 32. See
ORLEAJUSTS, etc.
Rochefort, Colonel, the Lancers of,
181, 221.
Rollin, Ledrn, candidate for Presi-
dency, 11, Note 25.
Rome, Republic of, attacked by Presi-
dent Napoleon, 15, 16, Note 151.
Rouher, Minister, 19, 37, 282, Note
36.
Royalists, the, in the Assembly, 15 ;
panic of, 21; feeling of in 1851, 48,
49; set at liberty, 242. See also
ORLEANISTS, LEGITIMISTS.
Saint-Antoine Street, combat in,
161-169.
Saint-Arnaud, General de, 35, Note
55 ; Minister of War, 36, 44, 46 ;
circular letter of, 52; untruthful,
59; in the Assembly, 60, 64; re-
mark of, 66 ; history of, 78 ; Cavaig-
350
INDEX.
nac's opinion of, 79 ; bloodthirsty
proclamation of, 177.
Saint-Denis Street, combat in, 197-
199.
Salary of the President, 19, 83,
Notes 37, 51 ; of certain officials,
Notes 12, 51.
Sand, Madame George, 243, Note
145.
Satory, the review of, 27.
Schoelcher, Representative, 150, 151,
Note 104; at the barricades, 165,
167; exiled, 244.
Seine, the river, bodies cast into, 209,
Note 131.
Senate, the French, 259, Note 12.
Senatus Consultum, 6, Note 16.
Suck, the, 14C, 246, Note 153; sup-
pressed, 113, 246.
Socialists, the, 14, 40, 42, Notes 29,
31.
Society of 10th December, the, 28,
Note 45.
Soulouque, Emperor, 197, Note 125.
Speeches. See PRKSIDENT, etc.
Strasbourg, the affair of, 6, Note 17.
Sue, Eugene, 119, Note 89.
Suffrage, Universal, guarantied by
Constitution of 1848, 2; opposed
by Royalists, 22, 23; mutilated
by Louis Napoleon, 22, 23.
Surveillance of the police, 245, Note
149.
Telegraphs of France, Note 92.
Thiers, Representative, Note 34; in
the Assembly, 17, 22, 23, 32, 41,
64; arrest of, 104; exiled, 242.
Thorigny, Minister, 50, 57, Note 67.
Timtt, The London, estimate of
killed, 214.
Treason, what constituted, 5.
Tn'-buchet, the list of, 215, 224.
Turgot, Minister de, 156, Note 109.
Yincennes, the Chasseurs of, 133,
Note 95; fortress of, 93.
Vote for President Napoleon in 1848,
11; on his appeal, 241, 246 ; for the
second empire, 262; Republic of
1793, 258. See ELECTIONS, and
Notes 7, 139, 140.
Warfare, Urban, de Moray's instruc-
tions for, 161.
Wars, cost of Louis Napoleon's,
Note 154.
Wines, lavished upon the troops, 193.
Woman, put to death, 209.
Women, how many killed, 216.
"Yellow Gloves," the, 189, 190,
213.
ERRATA.
On page 92, for " Note 17," read Note 52.
On page 233, omit the reference to " Note 137 a."
On page 283, omit the reference to Alexandre Dumas, and read in lieu
thereof. " Jean-Baptiste Dumas, the then Minister of Agriculture and Com-
merce, was, and is, a distinguished writer and lecturer on chemistry. He
had been elected a representative to the Assembly, in May, 1849."
Tenot/Eugene i. e. Pierre
Paul Eugene, 1839 7 OC .. .
Paris in December,
00425 4023