It appointed as commander of this force General
Changarnier, with whom the prince president had recently quarrelled,
and designated four of its members, whom it called _quoestors_, to
look into all matters relating to its safety.

The constitution was to be revised by this Assembly. Nobody cared
much about the constitution, which had not had time to acquire any
hold on the affections of the people, and Louis Napoleon had recently
acquired popularity with the turbulent part of the population of Paris
by opposing a measure calculated to restrict universal suffrage, and
to prevent tramps, aliens, and ex-convicts from voting at elections.
The prince president, who wanted, for his own purposes, as large
a popular vote as possible, was opposed to any restrictions on
the suffrage.

Such was the condition of things on Nov. 26, 1851, when Louis Napoleon
summoned the principal generals and colonels of the troops in and
around Paris to meet him at the Elysee. At this meeting they all
swore to support the president if called upon to do so, and never
to tell of this engagement. They kept the secret for five years.

Meantime the Assembly on its part was hatching a conspiracy to
overturn the president and send him to a dungeon at Vincennes;
while all who refused to support its authority were to be declared
guilty of treason.

The three men called the generals of the Army of Africa,--namely,
Cavaignac, Changarnier, and Lamoriciere,--were opposed to the prince
president. They were either Republicans or Orleanists.

Thus the crisis approached. Each party was ready to spring upon
the other. Again France was to experience a political convulsion,
and the party that moved first would gain the day.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE COUP D'ETAT.

"In voting for Louis Napoleon," says Alison, "the French rural
population understood that it was voting for an emperor and for
the repression of the clubs in Paris. It seemed to Frenchmen in
the country that they had only a choice between Jacobin rule by
the clubs, or Napoleonic rule by an emperor." So, though Louis
Napoleon, when he presented himself as a presidential candidate,
assured the electors, "I am not so ambitious as to dream of empire,
of war, nor of subversive theories; educated in free countries
and in the school of misfortune, I shall always remain faithful
to the duties that your suffrages impose on me," public sentiment
abroad and at home, whether hostile or favorable, expected tha