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CHAPTER XVIII.
THE VERIFICATION OF MORAL LAWS
The carnage of the Boulevard Montmartre constitutes the originality of
the coup d'état. Without this butchery the 2d of December would only
be an 18th Brumaire. Owing to the massacre Louis Bonaparte escapes the
charge of plagiarism.
Up to that time he had only been an imitator. The little hat at Boulogne,
the gray overcoat, the tame eagle appeared grotesque. What did this parody
mean? people asked. He made them laugh; suddenly he made
them tremble.
He who becomes detestable ceases to be ridiculous.
Louis Bonaparte was more than detestable, he was execrable.
He envied the hugeness of great crimes; he wished to equal the worst.
This striving after the horrible has given him a special place to
himself in the menagerie of tyrants. Petty rascality trying to emulate
deep villainy, a little Nero swelling himself to a huge Lacénaire; such
is this phenomenon. Art for art, assassination for assassination.
Louis Bonaparte has created a special genus.
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