After gaining the landlords of the new town to their side, they even
succeeded in convincing the little retail-dealers of the old quarter.
From that time the reactionary movement obtained complete possession of
the town. All opinions were represented in this reaction; such a mixture
of embittered Liberals, Legitimists, Orleanists, Bonapartists, and
Clericals had never before been seen. It mattered little, however, at
that time. The sole object was to kill the Republic; and the Republic
was at the point of death. Only a fraction of the people--a thousand
workmen at most, out of the ten thousand souls in the town--still
saluted the tree of liberty planted in the middle of the square in front
of the Sub-Prefecture.

The shrewdest politicians of Plassans, those who led the reactionary
movement, did not scent the approach of the Empire until very much
later. Prince Louis Napoleon's popularity seemed to them a mere passing
fancy of the multitude. His person inspired them with but little
admiration. They reckoned him a nonentity, a dreamer, incapable of
laying his hands on France, and especially of maintaining his authority.
To them he was only a tool whom they would make use of, who would clear
the way for them, and whom they would turn out as soon as the hour
arrived for the rightful Pretender to show himself.[*] However, months
went by, and they became uneasy. It was only then that they vaguely
perceived they were being duped: they had no time, however, to take any
steps; the Coup d'Etat burst over their heads, and they were compelled
to applaud. That great abomination, the Republic, had been assassinated;
that, at least, was some sort of triumph. So the clergy and the nobility
accepted accomplished facts with resignation; postponing, until
later, the realisation of their hopes, and making amends for their
miscalculations by uniting with the Bonapartists for the purpose of
crushing the last Republicans.

[*] The Count de Chambord, "Henri V."

It was these events that laid the foundation of the Rougons' fortune.
After being mixed up with the various phases of the crisis, they rose to
eminence on the ruins of liberty. These bandits had been lying in wait
to rob the Republic; as soon as it had been strangled, they helped to
plunder it.

After the events of February 1848, Felicite, who had the keenest scent
of all the members of the family, perceived that they were at last on
the right track. So she began to flutter