lt of the ballot. Louis Blanc gives the
result as follows:

Number of voters 252
White balls 229
Black balls 33

"Thus," he adds, "229 Deputies, who in ordinary times would have
formed a majority of but two voices, had modified the constitution,
pronounced the forfeiture of one dynasty, and erected a new one."

France contained between thirty and forty million inhabitants. Two
hundred and twenty-nine Deputies, with no delegated authority to do
so, decided upon the form of government for these millions, and chose
their sovereign.

When, several years after, the throne of Louis Philippe was
overthrown, an appeal to universal suffrage re-established the
Empire, and placed the crown upon the brow of Napoleon III. In this
act the voice of the nation was heard. The vote was taken throughout
the eighty-six departments of France, in Algiers, in the army, and in
the navy. The result was as follows:

Affirmative votes 7,844,180
Negative 253,145
Irregular 63,326
---------
Total 8,160,651

The action of the Deputies in choosing Louis Philippe king greatly
exasperated the Democrats. They endeavored to stir up insurrection
in the streets; but the journals were against them, and they had
neither leaders of any repute, organization, or money. A procession,
four abreast, marched through the streets to the Palais Royal, to
inform Louis Philippe of his election by their body to the throne of
France. The newly elected king feelingly replied:

"I receive with deep emotion the declaration you present to me. I
regard it as the expression of the national will; and it appears to
me conformable to the political principles I have all my life
professed. Full of remembrances which have always made me wish that I
might never be called to a throne, and habituated to the peaceful
life I led in my family, I can not conceal from you all the feelings
that agitate my heart in this great conjuncture. But there is one
which overbears all the rest--that is, the love of my country. I feel
what it prescribes to me, and I will do it."

According to Alison, in the Chamber of Peers eighty-nine voted "the
address to the Duke of Orleans to accept the throne, while ten voted
against it." But there was great informality in all these hurried
proceedings. "We will not," writes Lamar