BOOK question-Shall the Imperial dignity be re-established in the person of Prince Louis Napoleon? 1

IX.

In 1848 five millions and a half had elected the Prince; in 1851 his supporters had increased to seven millions and a half, and in 1852 they mustered nearly eight millions!

On the 1st of December, 1852, at night, through a thick fog, a procession, consisting of nearly two hundred carriages, and directed by torch-bearers on horseback, rattled through the deserted Bois de Boulogne to the Château of St. Cloud. The dignitaries of the new Empire were bearing to Prince Louis Napoleon the Imperial crown. The ceremonial took place with much pomp in the Gallery of Apollo. Surrounded by his household, already arranged in harmony with his new dignity, the Prince, in the uniform of a general of division, with his uncle Jerome in that of a marshal of France, and his cousin Jerome in sombre black, as became his equivocal position, took his seat upon the throne. In reply to M. Billault on the part of the Legislative Body, and of M. Mesnard on the part of the Senate, he who had just been addressed as Sire' for the first time, said :—

The new reign, which you inaugurate to-day, has not, like so many in history, originated in violence, conquest, or conspiracy. You have just declared it to be the legal result of the will of an entire people, who have consolidated in the midst of peace that which they founded in a period of agitation. I am full of gratitude towards the nation which, three times in four years, has supported ue with its suffrages, and which on each occasion has increased its majority to add to my power.

'But the more power increases in extent and in vital force, the more does it stand in need of enlightened men

The 'ayes' were 7,824,129; the 'noes,' 253,149; the votes cancelled as informal, 63,126.