he Exhibition is
commemorated by a cartoon, in which Leech shows us the famous Amazon
putting on her bonnet and shawl, chatting the while with Hiram Power's
Greek Slave, who, habited in "bloomer" costume, prepares likewise to
take her departure. Allusion to the bribery and corruption prevalent at
a notorious borough of that day is made in a sketch which depicts the
_Horror of that Respectable Saint, St. Alban's, at Hearing the
Confession of a St. Alban's Elector_.

THE COUP D'ETAT.

Remarkable results were destined to follow the year of unrest--1848.
Louis Philippe had been replaced in France by Louis Napoleon, who seems
to have been elevated to the Presidency of the Republic because he was
considered to be so absolutely harmless, the principle followed being
analogous to that observed at the election of a Pope, which has resulted
more than once in an unpleasant surprise for the cardinal electors.
Those who had formed a low estimate of his abilities, found that Louis
was no longer the "half-saved" youth of Boulogne and Strasburg; that he
had learnt some stern lessons in the hard school of adversity; that he
had developed, moreover, a firm and decided will of his own. We thought
it a hazardous experiment on the part of French Republicans, for Louis
held a craze on the subject of his uncle's "ideas," and the craze had
sufficient "method" to induce us to believe that he was the last man who
would have been selected to fill the presidential chair. As a refugee in
England, we had given him small credit for sagacity; and as an emperor
and a man, history has already said of him that he was cunning,
unreliable, and thoroughly unscrupulous. Although a comparison between
the two men is impossible, there was at least this similarity between
the two Napoleons, that both were indebted for their elevation to the
imperial purple to a revolution; here, however, all resemblance ceased.
The first Napoleon relied upon himself alone, while Louis was advised by
counsellors and adventurers wiser and more unscrupulous than himself,
and who were prepared to back his fortunes with a view of advancing
their own. At the close of 1851, Europe was electrified by the
unexpected and dastardly blow delivered by these men, and by means of a
"great crime," the history of which has been so graphically related by
Victor Hugo, Louis Napoleon, Prince President of the Republic, found
himself master of the destinies of France. The event is referred to by