4. A legislative body, to discuss and vote the laws, elected by universal suffrage, not, however, on a general ticket, which violates the principle of popular election.

5. A second assembly, composed of the most distinguished men of the nation; a preponderating power, guardian of the fundamental compact and of the public liberties.

This system, created by the First Consul at the commencement of the century, has already given France repose and prosperity; it will guarantee them still. Such is my profound conviction. If you share it, declare it by your suffrages; if, on the contrary, you prefer a government without power, monarchical or republican, borrowed from I know not what chimerical past or future, reply negatively.

Thus, then, for the first time since 1804, you will vote with a knowledge of the case, knowing well for whom or for what. If I should not obtain the majority of your suffrages, then I shall bring about the meeting of a new assembly, and shall surrender to it the commission I have received from you; but if you believe that the cause of which my name is the symbol· that is, France regenerated by the Revolution of 1789, and organized by the emperor is still your cause, proclaim it by sanctioning the powers which I ask of you. Then France and Europe will be preserved from anarchy; obstacles will be removed; rivalries will have disappeared; for all will respect in the decision of the people the decree of Providence.

Given at the Palace of the Élysée, the 2d of December, 1851.

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

Although Louis Napoleon, by the coup d'état of December, 1851, secured an extension of his presidency for ten years, he was not satisfied until he had won the title of Emperor. In September, 1852, he undertook a tour through the southern provinces in order to test public opinion. Many suggestions had reached him, encouraging him to assume the imperial crown, and frequently on his journey he was received with the

cry, "Long live the emperor!" In his speech at Bordeaux, October 9, 1852, he definitely announced his belief that France was ready for the abolition of the second republic.

Bordeaux

The purpose of this journey, as you know, was to see for 221. Louis myself our beautiful provinces of the south and familiarize Napoleon's myself with their needs. It has, however, given rise to a much address more important result. Indeed, and I say it with a candor (October 9, 1852) as far removed from arrogance as from false modesty, never has a people testified in a manner more direct, spontaneous, and unanimous, the longing to be freed from anxiety as to the future by concentrating in a single person an authority which shall accord with their desires. They realize now both the false hopes with which they have been deluded and the dangers which threaten them. . .

France to-day encompasses me with her sympathies because I do not belong to the group of dreamers. In order to benefit the country it is not necessary to resort to new systems, but, above all, to establish confidence in the present and security for the future. This is why France seems to wish to revert to the empire.

peace

There is, nevertheless, one apprehension, and that I shall set Napoleon's at rest. A spirit of distrust leads certain persons to say that policy of the empire means war. I say, the empire means peace. France longs for peace, and if France is satisfied, the world is tranquil. Glory is rightly handed down hereditarily, but not war.

I concede, nevertheless, that, like the emperor, I have many conquests to make. I would, like him, conquer, for the sake of harmony, the warring parties and bring into the great popular current the wasteful and conflicting eddies. I would conquer, for the sake of religion, morality, and material ease, that portion of the population, still very numerous, which, in the midst of a country of faith and belief, hardly knows the

Drecents of Christ.

222. Dr. Evans's characterization of

to render navigable, canals to finish, and our network of railroads to bring to completion.

This is what I understand by the empire, if the empire is to be reëstablished. These are the conquests which I contemplate, and all of you who surround me, who, like myself, wish the good of our common country, you are my soldiers.

Many interpretations have been given of the character of Napoleon III, but there is none more interesting than that by his close friend and warm admirer, Dr. Evans (his American dentist), from whose work on The Second French Empire this extract is taken.

The Emperor wished to see France great and prosperous. But the dream he cherished was that Europe and the world might be at peace; and his hope, his ambition, was that it Napoleon III might be his destiny to lay the foundations of a future reign of justice among men. In 1854 he said: France has no idea of aggrandisement; I love to proclaim it loudly; the time of conquests has passed never to return, for it is not by extending the limits of its territory that a nation is to be henceforth honored and to become powerful; it is by making itself the leader of generous ideas and by causing the sentiment of right and justice to prevail everywhere." And he continued to say these things to the end of his life - striving all the while to make real what he was profoundly convinced ought to be governing principles in a well-ordered State. . .

Napoleon
III's solici-

tude for the
common

people

His philanthropy manifested itself in innumerable ways, and in his dealings with every one, no matter how humble his station in life. His grandeur never weighed heavily with him. A democrat at heart, he loved to talk with the common people—the soldier, the peasant, the workingman; he was always willing to listen to their complaints and ready to relieve them when he could.

One day, when he was inspecting some buildings that were being erected by his direction, an aide-de-camp informed him that the workmen seemed to be discontented. "What is the matter?" said the Emperor. "Well,” replied the officer,

after hesitating a moment, "they say that you and everybody
about are drinking champagne, while beer is thought to be
good enough for them." The Emperor made no reply, but .
slowly and alone walked forward, and, approaching a number
of the men who were standing together in a group, said,
"Good morning, my friends." Then, after a few pleasant
words, he continued: "Ah, they have given you beer, I see.
Come, let us have a glass of champagne!" And when the
champagne, which he then ordered, had been brought and the
glasses of all had been filled, calling out to the foreman, and
touching glasses with him, he said, "My best wishes," and,
turning to the others, Your good health, my friends!"

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All of this was done and said with such perfect ease and naturalness, such entire sincerity, that it went straight to the hearts of these men, who felt that the Emperor was not like other emperors and kings, but was, as they expressed it, "one of us." And yet, although approachable at all times and absolutely free from haughtiness, when he was most familiar there was in his manner a dignity which caused those with whom he was speaking to understand that he was still the Emperor.

mankind

Never was a ruler judged more falsely than Napoleon III. Napoleon He loved mankind and was always thinking of ways in which loved he could benefit the people or make some one happy. On one occasion, after he had spoken of the condition of the laboring classes in France, and the measures that ought to be taken to raise the standard of living among the people generally, I ventured to say to him, Why! your Majesty is almost a socialist, your sympathies are always with the poor; their welfare would seem to concern you more than anything else." "It ought to," he replied. Was he not worthy of the title given to him by the people - "L'Empereur des Ouvriers "?

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But it must not be supposed that the Emperor, deeply interested as he was in ameliorating the condition of the poor, sought to find in fanciful speculations and theories remedies for the want and suffering which he deplored. "No ameliora

tion of the lot of the laboring classes is possible" he said

Denuncia- The Emperor has been bitterly denounced by his political tions of the adversaries, who have applied to him nearly every name in Emperor the vocabulary of ineptitude and of crime. These names, however, are not to be taken seriously; they never were by those who uttered them. They are not characterizations. They merely indicate the state of mind of those who made use of them; for, as Paul Louis Courier has told us, “imbecile," rascal,' thief," "assassin," are in France the conventional epithets which writers and speakers apply to a person when they simply wish to say they do not agree with him. But very few of the Emperor's calumniators have failed to recognize the amiable character of the man.

22 ee