THE COUP D’ETAT OF 1851.

With the overthrow of Louis Philippe in 1848, what is known as the Second Republic, was established in France.  On the tenth of December, in that year, a president was elected in the American manner for a term of four years.  To the astonishment of the whole world, the man so elected was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who had since the downfall of Napoleon been prisoner, exile and adventurer by turns.  In the course of President Louis Napoleon’s administration, matters came to such a pass between him and the National Assembly that one or the other must go to the wall.

In the early winter of 1851, a crisis came on which broke in a marvelous manner in the event called the Coup d’Etat.  The President made up his mind to conquer the Assembly by force.  He planned what is known in modern history by pre-eminence the stroke.  He, and those whom he trusted, made their arrangements secretly, silently, that the “stroke” should fall on the night of the second of December.  On that evening the President held a gay reception in the palace of the Elysee, and after his guests had retired, the scheme was perfected for immediate execution.

During the night seventy-eight of the leading members of the Opposition were seized at their 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.