own houses and taken to prison. The
representatives of the people were hurried through the streets, and
suddenly immured where their voices could be no longer heard. At the
same time a strong force of soldiers was stationed near the Tuileries.
The offices of the liberal newspapers were seized and closed, and the
Government printing presses were employed all night in printing the
proclamation with which the walls of the city were covered before
morning. With the coming of daylight, Paris awoke and read:

1. The National Assembly is dissolved;

2. Universal suffrage is re-established;

3. The Elective Colleges are summoned to meet on December 21;

4. Paris is in a state of siege.

By the side of this proclamation was posted the President's address to
the people. He proposed the election of a president for ten years. He
referred the army to the neglect which it had received at the hands of
former governments, and promised that the soldiery of France should
rewin its ancient renown.

As soon as those members of the Assembly who had not been arrested
could realize the thing which was done, they ran together and
attempted to stay the tide of revolution by passing a vote deposing
the President from office. But the effort was futile. A republican
insurrection, under the leadership of Victor Hugo and a few other
distinguished Liberals, broke out in the city. But there was in the
nature of the case no concert of action, no resources behind the
insurrection, and no military leadership. General Canrobert,
Commandant of the Guards, soon put down the revolt in blood. Order was
speedily restored throughout Paris, and the victory of the President
was complete. It only remained to submit his usurpation to the
judgment of the people, and the decision in that case could, under
existing conditions, hardly be a matter of doubt.

In accordance with the President's proclamation, a popular election
was held throughout France, on the twentieth and twenty-first of
December, at which the Coup d'Etat was signally vindicated. Louis
Napoleon was triumphantly elected President, for a period of ten
years. Out of eight millions of votes, fewer than one million were
cast against him. He immediately entered upon office, backed by this
tremendous majority, and became Dictator of France. In January of
1852, sharp on the heels of the revolution which he had effected, he
promulgated a new constitution. The instrument was based upon that of
1789, and