s might be. The country was prosperous and the government, if
illiberal, was on the whole enlightened. Discontent, none the less,
was not infrequently in evidence, and during especially the second
half of the reign the Emperor found it expedient more than once to
make some concession to public sentiment. In the later sixties he was
compelled to moderate the laws which dealt with the press and with
political meetings, and in 1869-1870 he was brought to the point of
approving a series of measures which gave promise of altering in an
important manner the entire governmental system. One was a
_senatus-consulte_ of September 8, 1869, whereby the sittings of the
Senate were made public, the Legislative Body was given the right to
elect all of its own officials, and the parliamentary system was
nominally re-established.[446] By reason of the fact, however, that
ministers were not permitted to be members of either the Legislative
Body or the Senate, and that they were declared still to be
responsible to the crown, the effects of the last-mentioned feature of
the reform were inconsiderable. By a _senatus-consulte_ of April 20,
1870, (approved by a plebiscite of May 8 following) there were adopted
still more important constitutional changes. In the first place, the
Senate, which hitherto had been virtually an Imperial council, was
erected into a legislative chamber co-ordinate with the Legislative
Body, and upon both houses was conferred the right of initiating
legislation. In the second place, the provision that the ministers
should be dependent solely upon the emperor was stricken from the
constitution, thus clearing the way for a more effective realization
of the parliamentary system of government. Finally, it was (p. 301)
stipulated that the constitution should thereafter be modified only
with the express approval of the people.[447] These reforms, however,
were belated. They came only after the popularity of the Emperor had
been strained to the breaking point, and by reason of the almost
immediate coming on of the war with Prussia there was scant
opportunity for the testing of their efficacy.

[Footnote 446: Text in Duguit et Monnier, Les
Constitutions, 307-308; Helie, Les Constitutions,
1314-1315; and Anderson, Constitutions, 579-580.]

[Footnote 447: The text of the measure of April 20,
1870, is in Duguit et Monnier, Les