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pale and undecided, declared they would go for further orders. They retired, contenting themselves with blockading the passages leading to the apartment." The soldiers reappeared with two Commissaries of Police. "The Commissaries entered the room, and, amid the unbroken silence and total immobility of the Assembly, summoned the representatives to disperse. The President ordered them to retire themselves. One of the Commissaries was agitated, and faltered; the other broke out in invectives. The President said to him, 'Sir, we are here the lawful authority, and sole representatives of law and of right. We know that we cannot oppose to you material force, but we will only leave this chamber under constraint. We will not disperse. Seize us, and convey us to prison.' 'All, all!' exclaimed the members of the Assembly. After much hesitation, the Commissaires de Police decided to act. They caused the two Presidents to be seized by the collar. The whole body then rose, and, arm in arm, two and two, they followed the Presidents, who were led off. In this order we reached the street, and were marched across the city, without knowing whither we were going."

They were taken to the barracks of the Quai d'Orsay, and shut up there. "Night was coming on, and it was wet and cold. Yet the Assembly was left two hours in the open air, as if the Govern

ment did not deign to remember its existence. The representa

tives here made their last roll-call in presence of their shorthandwriter, who had followed them. The number present was 218; to whom were added about 20 more in the course of the evening, consisting of members who had voluntarily caused themselves to be arrested. Almost all the men known to France and to Europe who formed the majority of the Legislative Assembly were gathered together in this place. Few were wanting, except those who, like M. Molé, had not been suffered to reach their colleagues. There were present, among others, the Duc de Broglie, who had come, though ill; the father of the House, the venerable Keratry, whose physical strength was inferior to his moral courage, and whom it was necessary to seat on a straw chair in the barrack-yard; Odillon Barrot, Dufaure, Berryer, Rémusat, Duvergier de Hauranne, Gustave de Beaumont, de Tocqueville, de Falloux, Lanjuinais, Admiral Lainé and Admiral Cécille, Generals Oudinot and Lauriston, the Duc de Luynes, the Duc de Montebello; twelve ex-Ministers, nine of whom had served under Louis Napoleon himself; eight Members of the Institute; all men who had struggled for three years to defend society and to resist the demagogic faction.

"When two hours had elapsed, this assemblage was driven into barrack-rooms upstairs; where most of them spent the night, without fire, and almost without food, stretched upon the boards. It only remained to carry off to prison these honourable guilty of no crime but the defence of the laws of their country. For

men,

this purpose the most distressing and ignominious means were selected. The cellular vans in which forçats are conveyed to the bagne were brought up. In these vehicles were shut up the men who had served and honoured their country; and they were conveyed like three bands of criminals, some to the fortress of Mont Valerien, some to the Prison Mazas in Paris, and the remainder to Vincennes. The indignation of the public compelled the Government two days afterwards to release the greater number of them; some are still in confinement, unable to obtain either their liberty or their trial."

Nor was the High Court of Justice wanting in its duty at this crisis. It met on the 2nd, and formally drew up the following edict or judgment:

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The High Court of Justice, considering the 68th article of the Constitution, considering that printed placards commencing with the words The President of the Republic,' and bearing at the end the signatures of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and De Morny, Minister of the Interior, which placards announce, among other things, the dissolution of the National Assembly, have this day been affixed to the walls of Paris; that this fact of the dissolution of the Assembly by the President of the Republic would fall under the case provided for by the 68th article of the Constitution, and render the convocation of the High Court of Justice imperative;-by the terms of that article declares that the High Court is constituted, and names M. Renouard, Councillor of the Court of Cassation, to fill the duties of Public Accuser, and to fill those of Greffier, M. Bernard, Greffier in Chief of the Court of Cassa

tion; and to proceed further in pursuance of the terms of the said 68th article of the Constitution; adjourns until to-morrow, the 3rd of December, at the hour of noon.

"Done and deliberated in the Council Chamber. Present, M. Hardouin, President, M. Pataille, M. Moreau, M. de la Palme, and M. Cauchy, Judges, this 2nd day of December, 1851."

The new Ministry was composed of M. de Morny, Interior; Fould, Finance; Rouher, Justice; Magne, Public Works; Le Rouche, Marine; Casabianca, Commerce; St. Arnaud, War; Fortoul, Public Instruction; Turgot, Foreign Affairs.

On the following day, December 3rd, General St. Arnaud addressed a circular to the generals and chiefs of corps, in which he ordered that the soldiers should vote within 48 hours from the receipt of the circular, "Yes" or "No" simply, on the following proposition :

"The French people wishes the maintenance of the authority of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, and intrusts him with the powers necessary to frame a Constitution on the basis mentioned in his proclamation of the 2nd instant.'

At first it was intended that the soldiers should vote by ballot, but this idea was soon abandoned, and a safer mode was adopted for securing their adhesion. They were ordered to vote openly in their respective regiments, and thus the whole weight of authority and example was brought to bear upon those amongst them who might be disposed to answer in the negative the question propounded for their acceptance. The result was, that by an overwhelming majority the army voted in the affirmative.

In order more effectually to ex

tinguish the existence of the Legislative Assembly, Louis Napoleon ordered that the building called Salle Provisoire, erected after the revolution of 1848, in which they met after the coup d'état, should be destroyed. His next step was to promulgate a decree calling upon the people to exercise the right of universal suffrage, and declare whether they were willing to entrust him with the power to frame a new Constitution. It ran as follows:

66

Considering that the sovereignty resides in the universality of the citizens, and that no fraction of the people can attribute to itself the exercise thereof; considering the laws and decrees which have hitherto regulated the mode of appeal to the people, and particularly the decrees of the 5th Fructidor, year II., the 24th and 25th Frimaire, in the year VIII. of the Republic, the decree of the 20th Floreal, year X., and the Senatus Consulte of the 28th Floreal, year XII.; the President of the Republic decrees as follows:"

The decree then convoked the people in their districts, for the 14th instant, to accept or reject the following plebiscite :

"The French people wills the maintenance of the authority of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, and delegates to him the powers necessary to frame a Constitution on the basis proposed in his proclamation of the 2nd of December."

All Frenchmen aged 21, and enjoying their civil rights, were called on to vote. The period of voting was to be the eight days ending on the 21st instant.

At the same time a Consultative Commission was appointed in place of the Council of State, which was abolished; and a list appeared in

the official organs of the President, containing the names of the members; but many of these promptly declined the proffered honour, and publicly disavowed the authority to make use of their names as giving sanction to the usurpation.

The following spirited letter was written by M. Léon Faucher, and appeared in the columns of the Journal des Débats:

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"Mons. le Président-It is with painful astonishment that I see my name figure amongst the members of an Administrative Commission that you desire to institute. I did not imagine that I could have given you the right to offer me this insult. The services which I have rendered you, while believing I rendered them to the country, perhaps authorized me to expect from you a different return. any case, my character merited more respect. You know that during my career, already long, I never belied my principles of liberty, any more than my devotedness to the cause of order. I have never participated, directly or indirectly, in the violation of the laws; and to determine me to decline the mandate that you confide to me, I have only to recall that given me by the people, and which I yet retain."

And Count Molé also published a letter, in which he said," After having been this morning expelled from the residence of M. Daru, Vice-President of the National Assembly, with all the rest of my colleagues who had assembled there to protest against violence and oppression, I vainly attempted to join the members of the Assembly who had met at the Tenth Arrondissement." "I join fully in the conduct and acts of my col leagues assembled at the Mairie of

the Tenth Arrondissement, and if it had depended on me I should have shared their fate."

The 230 deputies who were arrested at the hotel of the Tenth Mairie were soon afterwards offered their liberty on condition that they would not act hostilely to the President; but they refused to make any such promise, and in a day or two they were all, with the exception of about fourteen, set free. Eight of the members arrested on the morning of the 2nd, viz., Generals Changarnier, Cavaignac, Lamoricière, Charras, Bédeau, and Leflô, and MM. Baze and Roger du Nord, were conveyed as prisoners to the fortress of Ham, where Louis Napoleon himself had been confined after his abortive landing at Boulogne in 1840.

On the 4th of December the President published the following decree :

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66 FRENCH REPUBLIC.

"In the name of the French People. The President of the Republic, considering that the mode of election promulgated by the decree of the 2nd of December had been adopted in other circumstances as guaranteeing the sincerity of election; but, considering that the essential object of the decree is to obtain the free and sincere expression of the will of the people; decrees-The articles 2, 3, and 4, of the decree of the 2nd of December are modified as follows:-Art. 2. The election will take place by universal suffrage. All Frenchmen aged 21 years, in the enjoyment of their civil and political rights, are called to vote. Art. 3. They must justify, either by their being inscribed on the electoral lists drawn up in virtue of the law of the 15th of March, 1849,

or by the accomplishment, since that period, of the conditions required by that law. Art. 4. The ballot will be opened during the days of the 20th and 21st of December, in the capital of each commune, from 8 A.M. till 4 P.M.

"The suffrage will take place by secret ballot; by yes or by no; by means of a bulletin, either manuscript or printed.

Done at the Elysée, the 4th of December, 1851.

"LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. "The Minister of the Interior,

"DE MORNY."

So sudden and unexpected was the blow struck by Louis Napoleon, and so skilfully had he taken his measures to overwhelm any resistance that might be offered to the execution of his scheme, that the inhabitants of Paris were paralyzed, and gazed at first in an attitude of stupid wonder at what was going on, without attempting any demonstration; but on the morning of the 3rd symptoms of disturbance began to appear. About 10 o'clock one of the members of the Assembly, M. Baudin, a member of the party of the Mountain, suddenly appeared on horseback in the Rue St. Antoine. He wore a travellingcap, and carried a naked sword in his hand, followed by six other representatives. The hour was that at which the workmen of the faubourg leave their workshops to breakfast.

M. Baudin's appearance attracted a great many groups; whom he harangued, and summoned to take up arms for the delivery of the representatives arrested, who were still at the prison of Mazas, in the neighbourhood. He was aided in his efforts by his colleagues, and soon the cry of "Aux armes!" was heard. A great deal

of agitation was the consequence; and many of the workmen ran about to look for arms. Their first attempt was made against the guardhouse of Montreuil, which they surrounded, and soon succeeded in disarming the few soldiers that were there, overpowered as they were by numbers and at a distance from all aid. Others of the insurgents set about making barricades. They succeeded in making two; which, however, were composed only of an omnibus, a dung-cart, and a cabriolet. Troops were soon dispatched to the scene, and the insurgents were without difficulty dispersed. But barricades now began to be formed in different places, and immense bodies of the military occupied the streets, patrolling the city in every direction. Next day the whole of the Boulevards Montmartre and des Italiens were lined by infantry and cavalry, and the head of the column was opposite a strong barricade erected in the Rue St. Denis. An attack was made upon this with artillery and musketry, and it was, after some sharp firing and considerable loss of life, carried. In the mean time, owing to some incomprehensible cause, whether it was panic, or, as was alleged, because a stray shot had been fired from one of the houses lining the Boulevards, the troops began a murderous fire upon the windows of the houses on each side of them along the Boulevards. Even cannon were directed against the houses, and the walls were shattered, while the unfortunate inhabitants fled for shelter to their cellars, or wherever they imagined they might escape the balls and shot. This onslaught was nothing but a murderous outrage, disgraceful to the character of the French

army, for they kept up a deadly fire upon peaceable citizens who offered neither attack nor resistance, and a great many innocent lives were lost.

A very interesting letter was published by an Englishman, Captain Jesse, who was an eyewitness of the scene that took place in the Boulevards, and from this we give a few extracts. Speaking of the events of the 4th of December, he said-" Before proceeding to relate the details of the events of this day, I will endeavour to explain the exact position of the apartments I occupied, and the extent of ground comprised within my view, and state the distances between the extreme points. From the northern extremity of the Rue de Richelieu to the Boulevard du Temple, the several Boulevards Montmartre, Poissonnière, Bonne Nouvelle, St. Denis, and St. Martin, form one unbroken line of about 2000 yards, running nearly east and west. The boulevards westward of the Rue de Richelieu turn from that point to the southwest, and the Boulevard Italien with that of Montmartre form at that point an obtuse angle, so that a person in the Café Cardinal, at the west corner of the Rue Richelieu, could only see a very few houses, and those on the north side, on the last-mentioned boulevard. From this café to my apartments, on the south side of the boulevard, three doors from the Rue Montmartre, the distance is rather more than 200 yards, and from this spot I had an uninterrupted view eastward for almost 800 yards-in short, nearly as far as the Porte St. Denis, where the more distant boulevards retire a little from the direct line. It is therefore to these 1000 yards

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