6pettator, iBetember 40 1852
ON the 2nd of December, 1852, Louis Napoleon " accepted " the Empire of France, as on the day of which Thursday was the anniver- sary he laid violent hands on the capital and assumed unlawful power. From this time, therefore, the conspirator and usurper is wrapped in the imperial purple, and deference will be claimed for the "majesty" of France, self-intruded among the Sovereigns of Europe, History will never forget, indeed, that on the 2nd of December, 1851, Louis Napoleon subverted that constitution which he had sworn to maintain; that against the capital of his own country, which had readmitted him from exile, he secretly arrayed a traitor army; and that the hand which snatched arbitrary power was reddened with the blood of French citizens, of the unoffending and the gentle as well as the strong and the resisting.
Previous page
