aused great indignation among genuine republicans, and,
indeed, throughout Europe. This was the part he took against the
Republic of Rome.

Pio Nono, having been elected pope in 1846, had started on his
career as a liberal pontiff and ruler; but before 1848 he had
disappointed the expectations of all parties, and had fled from
Rome to Gaeta, where Ferdinand, king of the Two Sicilies (commonly
known as King Bomba) had also taken refuge. Lamartine, at the time
his power ceased, had been fitting out a French army to lend help
to the Romans if they should be attacked by the Austrians, and if
need were, to protect the pope, who before his flight was supposed
to be opposed to Austrian domination. Louis Napoleon ordered General
Oudinot, who commanded the French forces, to disembark his troops at
Civita Vecchia, and either to occupy Rome peaceably, or to attack
the revolutionists. A battle was fought, and the French worsted;
but they ended by gaining the city and holding it, putting down
the Roman republicans, and handing the city over to Austrian and
papal vengeance on Pio Nono's return.

The new president, anxious to strengthen his popularity in the
provinces, made several tours. Everywhere, as the nephew of his
uncle, he was received with wild enthusiasm. He was not a man to
captivate by his manners on public occasions, neither was he a
ready speaker; but he looked his best on horseback, and above all,
there was in his favor, among the middle class of Frenchmen, a
very potent feeling,--the dread of change.

As a deputy, before his election by the country as its president,
he used to sit in the Chamber silent and alone, pitied by some, and
neglected by all. Silence, indeed, was necessary to his success, for,
"silent and smoking, he matured his plans." One of the first things
he did when he became president was to attempt to get possession of
all papers in the archives concerning his conduct at Strasburg
and Boulogne.

There had been a new Assembly elected. It had few of the old republican
leaders in it, but the Left and the Right and half the Centre were
opposed to the prince president. The Left in the French Chamber
means the Red Republicans; the Right, those members who are in
favor of monarchy; the Centre, the Moderates, who are willing to
accept any good government.

One of the objects of this Assembly, which foresaw that a _coup
d'etat_ might be at hand, was to get command of a little army for
its own protection.