Cornu, wrote to Mieroslawsky, "I am a good Republican, and I can answer

for him." His friend of Ham, Peauger, a loyal man, declared, "Louis

Bonaparte is incapable of treason." Had not Louis Bonaparte written the

work entitled "Pauperism"? In the intimate circles of the Elysée Count

Potocki was a Republican and Count d'Orsay was a Liberal; Louis

Bonaparte said to Potocki, "I am a man of the Democracy," and to

D'Orsay, "I am a man of Liberty." The Marquis du Hallays opposed the

coup d'état, while the Marquise du Hallays was in its favor. Louis

Bonaparte said to the Marquis, "Fear nothing" (it is true that he

whispered to the Marquise, "Make your mind easy"). The Assembly, after

having shown here and there some symptoms of uneasiness, had grown calm.

There was General Neumayer, "who was to be depended upon," and who from

his position at Lyons would at need march upon Paris. Changarnier

exclaimed, "Representatives of the people, deliberate in peace." Even

Louis Bonaparte himself had pronounced these famous words, "I should see

an enemy of my country in any one who would change by force that which

has been established by law," and, moreover, the Army was "force," and

the Army possessed leaders, leaders who were beloved and victorious.

Lamoricière, Changarnier, Cavaignac, Leflô, Bedeau, Charras; how could

any one imagine the Army of Africa arresting the Generals of Africa? On

Friday, November 28, 1851, Louis Bonaparte said to Michel de Bourges,

If I wanted to do wrong, I could not. Yesterday, Thursday, I invited to

my table five Colonels of the garrison of Paris, and the whim seized me

to question each one by himself. All five declared to me that the Army

would never lend itself to a coup de force, nor attack the

inviolability of the Assembly. You can tell your friends this."--"He

smiled," said Michel de Bourges, reassured, "and I also smiled." After

this, Michel de Bourges declared in the Tribune, "this is the man for

The History of a Crime