e of his
life's work may be summed up in one line--he conceived and organized the
Coup d'Etat. As such he was virtually the founder of the Second Empire.
In that task practice went hand in hand with theory; when the task was
accomplished, his inspiration was utterly at fault.

Historians have been generally content to attribute the principal role
in the Coup d'Etat, next to that of Louis-Napoleon, to M. de Morny. Of
course, I am speaking of those who conceived it, not of those who
executed it. The parts of Generals Magnan and De Saint-Arnaud, of
Colonel de Beville and M. de Maupas, scarcely admit of discussion. But
the fact is that De Morny did comparatively nothing as far as the
conception was concerned. The prime mover was undoubtedly De Persigny,
and it is a very moot question whether, but for him, it would have been
conceived at all. I know I am treading on dangerous ground, but I have
very good authority for the whole of the following notes relating to it.
In De Persigny's mind the whole of the scheme was worked out prior to
Louis-Napoleon's election to the presidency, though of course the
success of it depended on that election. He did not want a republic,
even with Louis-Napoleon as a president for life; he wanted an empire. I
should not like to affirm that Prince Louis would _not_ have been
content with such a position; it was Persigny who put down his foot,
exclaiming, "_Aut Caesar, aut nullus!_" That the sentence fell upon
willing ears, there is equally no doubt, and when the Prince-President
had his foot upon the first rung of the ladder, he would probably have
rushed, or endeavoured to rush, to the top at once, regardless of the
risk involved in this perilous ascent, for there would have been no one,
absolutely no one, to steady the ladder at the bottom. De Persigny held
him back while he busied himself in finding not only the _personnel_
that was to hold the latter, but the troops that would prevent the crowd
from interfering with the ladder-holders. It was he who was the first to
broach the recall of De Saint-Arnaud from Africa; it was he who drew
attention to M. de Maupas, then little more than an obscure prefect; it
was he who was wise enough to see that "the ladder-holders" would have
to be sought for in England, and not in France. "The English," he said
to Napoleon, "owe you a good turn for the harm they have done to your
uncle. They are sufficiently generous or sufficiently sensible to do
that good tu