Constitutions, 538-543.]

[Footnote 443: Duguit et Monnier, Les
Constitutions, 290-292; Anderson, Constitutions,
560-561.]

*323. The Imperial Constitution, 1852.*--Meanwhile, March 29, 1852,
there had been put in operation a constitution,[444] nominally
republican, but in reality strongly resembling that in force during
the later years of Napoleon I. The substitution, later in the year, of
an emperor for a president upon whom had been conferred a ten-year
term was but a matter of detail. A _senatus-consulte_ of December 25,
made all of the necessary adjustments, and the constitution of 1852,
with occasional modifications, remained the fundamental law of France
until the collapse of the Empire in 1870. Upon the emperor were
conferred very extended powers. His control of the administrative
system was made practically absolute. He commanded the army and navy,
decided upon war and peace, concluded treaties, and granted pardons.
He alone possessed the power of initiating legislation and of promulgating
the laws. To him alone were all ministers responsible, and of (p. 300)
such parliamentarism as had existed formerly there remained not a
vestige, Of legislative chambers there were two: a _Corps legislatif_
of 251 members elected by direct manhood suffrage every six years, and
a Senate composed of cardinals, admirals, and other _ex-officio_
members, and of a variable number of members appointed for life by the
emperor. The powers of the Senate, exercised invariably in close
conjunction with the head of the state, were of some importance, but
those of the popular chamber were so restricted that the liberal
arrangements which existed respecting the suffrage afforded but the
appearance, not the reality, of democracy.[445]

[Footnote 444: Drawn up by a commission of five,
under date of January 14, 1852.]

[Footnote 445: The text of the constitution of 1852
is in Duguit et Monnier, Les Constitutions,
274-280; Helie, Les Constitutions, 1167-1171;
Anderson, Constitutions, 543-549. Summary in Block,
Dictionnaire General, I., 513-515. Cambridge Modern
History, XI., Chaps. 5, 10.]

*324. Constitutional Alterations, 1869-1870.*--Throughout upwards of
two decades the illusion of popular government was maintained as well
a