The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-02-26

;, cert was ended, and everything
a and around the Elysee was appal
q 'ntly buried in profound darkness
y single light in Louis Napoleon
l cabinet shed faint light on a smal
table, around which were seated th
: four men who were to play the chic
Z parts in the great dramatic Presi
! lent, De Morny, General St. Arnaud
aud Maupas, the Minister of Police
: rhey sent for General Magnan
J whose adhesion was doubtful. be
! cause he had treacherously abandon
ed Louis Napoleon when he attempt
= I'd to enter France by way of Stras
burg. AS soon, therefore, as he
understood what was in preparation,
he rose snd said: "Gentlemen, | am
yours. | will sign anything. But
rs | see the Minister of Warpresent.
| need not know any more; my dnty
is simply to receive my orders five
minutes before the action CON-
lmences.' This zeal was so very
ardent that Napoleon ordered Girls
icelli, who had been standing behind
the door, to follow the General and
not to lose sight of him till he was
recalled.
AS soon as the President and his
Ministers had signed the orders for
the next day, a Colonel was sent
with them TO the Government print
ing office, where company of the
Guards had already arrived, ready,
at his command, to surround the
building and to guard the printers
till they had struck off the procla-
nations which were to change in a
few hours the Republic into an EN-
piIe.
After the officer had left the room
Napoleon rose, opened large bu-
reau and drew from it four sealed
packages. The first he gave to De
Morny it contained half million
offrancs and his appointment as
Minister of the Interior. The new
EXcellency took both and Immediate
ly went TO the Department, to which
a company of riflemen had been sent
for his safety. The second package
was intended for Maupas; it was
quite large, and consisted OF lists of
all the representatives, Generals, lit
erary men and leading politicians
who were to he arrested during the
night; the same sum of money as
De Morny's accompanied these or
ders. The third package. the larg-
est of them all, was handed to Gen
eIal St Arnaud, Minister of War,
who found in it his half million OF
francs and list of large sums to be
distributed among the army in Paris,
from twenty thousand /
francs tor every General of division
TO five francs for the private soldier.
All these sums were paid out of a
''loan' which the Chief of the State
had compelled the Bank of France
To advance, granting the Directors
in return the privilege of extending
their capital by 600, ,000,000f The
fourth parcel, which was the small
est. c0ntaingf only one hundred
thousand frag.I, 10 be distributed az
the spot among the aides-de camp,
clerks and upper servants. The
new secret agent received his first
gratuity of twenty five hundred
francs as an earnest of what was to
come thereafter.
Paris, which had fallen asleep Re-
publican, awoke next morning Impe-
rial The oath of the President, the
Constitution voted by the people,
the laws of the land--all were set |
aside by single bold act OF a dar-
ing man half of the leading men of
France were imprisoned, transport
ed or eXiled--the other half bribed
or forced into acquiescence. Not (
without resistance, however for F,
ere long the streets Of Paris ran red |
with blood, and thousands sealed ,
with their lives their loyalty to the {
aw. The new Emperor sat grimly /
smiling at the same little table at {
which he had distributed the parts
IN the great tragedy ; and when Gen S
eral Magnan reported to him the c
manner in which the Parisians pro- L
.ested against his coup detat, he on a
y said, Let my orders be carried a
,ut." His cOmposure was marvel /
)us, for he knew perfectly well the a
'isk he was running; and while he f
appeared thus calm and confident e
before his friends, he ordered at the t
ame time the servants whom he had i
hosen for that purpose to saddle the i
lorse and make the carriages ready, Ii
md asked his adherents to take the a
emainIng twenty-five millions which t
Ie had obtained from the bank, to Q
nut them in one of the coaches and v
o hold himself in readiness to cross
he frontier.
CONCLUDED NEXT WEEK