"legitimacy;" after which the magistrates took the oath. Each in
turn raised his hand. While they were swearing, M. Bonaparte, his back
half turned to them, laughed and chatted with his aides-de-camp, who
were grouped behind him. When it was over he quite turned his back upon
them, and they departed, shaking their heads, humbled and ashamed, not
for having done a base deed, but because they had had no chairs in the
ante-chamber.

As they were departing, the following dialogue was overheard:--"That,"
said one of them, "was an oath it was necessary to take." "And," said
another, "which it will be necessary to keep." "Yes," said a third,
"like the master of the house."

All this is pure servility. Let us proceed.

Among these first presidents who swore fidelity to Louis Bonaparte,
were a certain number of former peers of France, who, as such, had
passed upon Louis Bonaparte the sentence of perpetual imprisonment.
But why should we look back so far? Let us still proceed; here is
something even better. Among these magistrates, there were seven
individuals, by name, Hardouin, Moreau, Pataille, Cauchy, Delapalme,
Grandet, and Quesnault. Prior to the 2nd of December these seven men
composed the High Court of Justice; the first, Hardouin, was president,
the last two, deputy-presidents, the other four, judges. These men had
received and accepted from the Constitution of 1848 a mandate thus
conceived:--

"Article 68. Every measure by which the President of the Republic shall
dissolve the National Assembly, prorogue it or impede the performance
of its decrees, is high treason.

"The judges of the High Court shall thereupon immediately assemble,
under penalty of forfeiture; they shall convoke the jurors in such
place as they shall appoint, to proceed to the trial of the President
and his accomplices; they shall themselves appoint magistrates to
perform the functions of the national administration."

On the 2nd of December, in the face of the flagrant felony, they had
begun the trial, and appointed a procureur-general, M. Renouard, who
had accepted the office, to proceed against Louis Bonaparte on the
charge of high treason. Let us add the name of Renouard to the seven.
On the 5th of April, they were, all eight, present in the antechamber
of Louis Bonaparte; we have just seen what was their business there.

Here it is impossible not to pause.

There are certain melancholy thoughts upon which one must have the
strength to i