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"
The crime of Louis Bonaparte imposes great duties upon the
Representatives of the People remaining at liberty.
"
"
Brute force seeks to render the fulfilment of these duties impossible.
Hunted, wandering from refuge to refuge, assassinated in the streets,
the Republican Representatives deliberate and act, notwithstanding the
infamous police of the coup d'état.
"
The outrage of Louis Napoleon, in overturning all the Public Powers,
has only left one authority standing,--the supreme authority,--the
authority of the people: Universal Suffrage.
"It is the duty of the Sovereign People to recapture and reconstitute
all the social forces which to-day are dispersed.
"
"
Consequently, the Representatives of the People decree:--
ARTICLE I.--The People are convoked on the 21st December, 1851, for
the election of a Sovereign Assembly.
"
ARTICLE II.--The election will take place by Universal Suffrage,
according to the formalities determined by the decree of the
Provisional Government of March 5, 1848.
"
Given at Paris, in Permanent Session, December 4, 1851."
As I finished signing this decree, Durand-Savoyat entered and whispered
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