salons during the Second
Republic -- The theatres and their skits on the situation -- "La
Propriete c'est le Vol" -- France governed by the _National_ -- A
curious list of ministers and officials of the Second Republic --
Armand Marrast -- His plans for reviving business -- His
receptions at the Palais-Bourbon as President of the Chamber of
Deputies -- Some of the guests -- The Corps Diplomatique -- The
new deputies, their wives and daughters.

I knew Louis-Napoleon, if not intimately, at least very well, for nearly
a quarter of a century, and I felt myself as little competent to give an
opinion on him on the last as on the first day of our acquaintance. I
feel almost certain of one thing, though; that, if he had had very ample
means of his own, the Second Empire would have never been. Since its
fall I have heard and read a great deal about Louis-Napoleon's
unfaltering belief in his star; I fancy it would have shone less
brightly to him but for the dark, impenetrable sky of impecuniosity in
which it was set. Mery said that Lamartine proclaimed the Second
Republic as a means of staving off his creditors; and the accusation was
justified by Lamartine's own words in the Assemblee Nationale itself on
the 11th of September, 1848: "Je declare hautement que le 24 Fevrier a
midi, je ne pensais pas a la Republique." To use a popular locution, the
author of "L'Histoire des Girondins" suspected, perhaps, that
Louis-Napoleon might take a leaf from his, the author's, book; for the
needy man, though perhaps not a better psychologist than most men, has a
very comprehensive key to the motives of a great number of his
fellow-creatures, especially if they be Frenchmen and professional
politicians. I am speaking by the light of many years' observation.
Furthermore, the pecuniary embarrassments of Louis-Napoleon were no
secret to any one. "I have established a republic for money's sake,"
Lamartine said to himself; "some one will endeavour to overthrow it for
money's sake." I am aware that this is not a very elevated standard
whereby to judge political events; but I do not profess to be an
historian--mine is only the little huckster shop of history.

It is more than probable that this was the reason why Lamartine told
Louis-Napoleon to go back to England, in their interview--a secret
one--on the 2d of March, 1848.

It was M. de Persigny who told me this many years afterwards. "The
Prince could afford