Chamber, went to the seat of General Cavaignac and shook him warmly by the hand. This act was greeted by the Assembly in the heartiest manner, by the clapping of hands.

The sitting was then suspended for a short time. The President of the Assembly, on resuming the chair, stated that, by a communication just made to him by the President of the Republic, M. Odillon Barrot had been charged to compose a new Ministry, and that as soon as it was formed, the fact would be communicated to the Assembly by a message.

The President of the Republic then left the Assembly, accompanied by Odillon Barrot and other Representatives; after which the Chamber rose, many of the members hastening out before the adjournment was announced from the chair.

December 29. The ministry of the President is composed of the following names: Odillon Barrot, Minister of Justice, and President of the Council, in the absence of the President of the Republic; Drouyn de l'Huys, Minister of Foreign Affairs; M. Leon Faucher, Minister of the Interior; General Rulhières, Minister of War; M. de Tracy, Minister of Marine and Colonies; M. Falloux, Minister of Public Instruction and Worship; M. Lacrosse, Minister of Public Works; M. Buffet, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce; M. Hippolyte Passy, Minister of Finance. Some resignations followed the first selec

tions; but these are the present members of the Ministry.

It is believed that Drouyn de l'Huys, M. de Tracy, and M. de Falloux, voted for General Cavaignac. Their call to the new Cabinet is regarded as

a generous and graceful act.

All the Ministers are persons known. I will say of the one to be the organ of intercourse with other nations, that my previous knowledge of him, as far as it has extended, has given me the most favorable impressions of his highly eminent qualities and accomplishments.

The election of Louis Napoleon has not, perhaps, been as unexpected to observers on the spot, as to those beyond the limits of France. When an amendment was proposed pending the discussion of the Constitution, for changing the part which provided for the election of President by the direct vote of the people, so as to give the National Assembly the power of electing him, and that amendment was rejected, it was considered the forerunner of the result now witnessed; though so overwhelming a vote for the successful candidate was hardly anticipated by anybody. All perceive that it clothes him with great power to do good. General Cavaignac lost ground with the Socialists and Red Republicans, by the part he acted in the Insurrection and during the siege; for, although their numbers were not

great throughout France, their activity was great, and many of them had very sharp intellects, and worked with unbounded zeal towards their objects. Moreover, the belief which more especially began to prevail after the vote on the above amendment, which was strong for rejecting it, that Louis Napoleon would be chosen, added daily to his strength; of which, doubtless, his name was at the root.

1849.

January 1. The President of the Republic has taken as his residence the Palais Elysée Bourbon.

By an official communication to the Foreign Ambassadors and Ministers, they were informed that he would receive them this morning. As the new Chief Magistrate of France under a constitution to commence its operation under his executive auspices, the entire Diplomatic Corps would naturally desire to offer their compliments and congratulations on the proof he had received of his country's confidence; and it may be supposed it would be desirable on his part to have an early opportunity of making their acquaintance. Accordingly, the corps went, and were severally presented to him in due form. Most of them were personally unknown to him. This was my case. Our presentations were made by his Minister of Foreign Affairs. He spoke a few words to me, as to all, the occasion not leading to much conversation with any. I had seen him before;

but only in the Assembly from the Diplomatic box, and imperfectly. In stature below rather than

above the medium height, yet robust; a subdued carriage; a thoughtful countenance; a blue eye, in repose rather than vivid, and darker in complexion than the French generally: this was his appearance to me to-day.

The Palais Elysée Bourbon was a favorite residence of the Emperor Napoleon. He went there as soon as he reached Paris, after his final defeat at Waterloo, himself the first to bring the news of it. Some accounts say that such was his fatigue from his rapid flight that he could not at first articulate, but threw himself on a bed in a state near to exhaustion; yet speaking somewhat incoherently of the necessity of a dictatorship in his favor.

And who were in that Palace now? In looking round, strange reminiscences obtruded themselves. You saw the representatives of Austria, of Prussia, of Sardinia, of Bavaria, of Saxony, of Wirtemberg, and of Switzerland; of Spain, the Italian States, and Portugal; of Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium; of German states and principalities, hardly to be counted up, whose kingdoms he had overrun; whose territories he had invaded and despoiled; the blood of whose subjects had been made to moisten half Europe during his wars of self-aggrandizement, which grasped at all Europe; his cannon seating his own family, some against their will and

remonstrances, on the thrones he overturned. All these kingdoms and states and principalities-I can hardly have named too many, when even the little free Hanse towns did not escape-were forced to yield to him; were doomed to see their people mustered at the roll of his drum, to help him fight his battles against their interests and their duties. Some were humiliated past description; all sorely aggrieved, under pretexts which ambition, with armies at its back, is never at a loss in alleging, and knows how to smooth over and gild. Now, I saw the representatives of them all coming together to offer their congratulations to the nephew of that deposed conqueror; the nephew himself an exile less than a year ago, and previously a prisoner twice condemned, and apparently left without hope. What a sight! Not often has the wheel of Fortune turned so marvellously. I did not chance to see the Minister of Russia in this representation of crowned heads and other sovereignties of Europe assembled in honor of the nephew. Perhaps he was away for reasons I was not acquainted with; or my eye may have missed him, so many were there.

The Ambassador of England could not be missed. His presence was too memorable in the history it recalls, ever to be forgotten. He was the sole person in the group, as far as Europe was concerned, whose nation never bent the knee to Napoleon; the only one who from the beginning