two or three days,
however, all resistance was quelled.

Preparations were made for the election. The army voted first, and of
course its vote was nearly unanimous in favor of Louis Napoleon. The
popular election was to take place on Saturday and Sunday, the 20th and
21st of December. The simple question submitted was, whether Louis
Napoleon should remain at the head of the state ten years, or not. No
other candidate was allowed to be named. Louis Napoleon directed the
Pantheon to be restored to its original use as a church, and thereby, as
well as by other measures, secured the support of the Catholics. Count
Montalembert published a long letter, urging all Catholics throughout
France to vote in his favor. The election was conducted quietly--the
government discouraging as much as possible the printing and distributing
of negative votes. The returns have been received from 68 out of the 86
departments, and these give, in round numbers, 5,400,000 _yes_, and
600,000 _no_. His majority will probably be nearly 7,000,000, which is
more than he obtained in 1848.

The London papers state that a correspondence had passed between the
governments of England and France upon the subject of Louis Napoleon's
usurpation, in which the former urged a full and explicit declaration of
the President's intentions, and views, as necessary to satisfy the English
people in regard to what had already taken place. The replies are said to
have been evasive and unsatisfactory. It is stated, also, that Louis
Napoleon had directed a circular letter to be prepared, addressed to the
various governments of Europe, assuring them of his pacific disposition,
and saying that the step he had taken was necessary for the protection of
France against the enemies of order.

Marshal Soult died on the 20th of December at his chateau of Soult-berg.
He was born March 29,1769--the same year with Napoleon, the Duke of
Wellington, Cuvier, Chateaubriand, and Walter Scott, and was 82 years old
at the time of his death. He entered the army in 1785, and was
subsequently attached to the staff of Gen. Lefebvre. He took part in all
the campaigns of Germany until 1799, when he followed Massena into
Switzerland and thence to Genoa, where he was wounded and taken prisoner.
Set at liberty after the battle of Marengo, he returned to France and
became one of the four colonels of the guard of the Consuls. When the
empire was proclaimed in 1804 he was made Marshal of France. He
s