page_title: Napoleon III
section_title: Growing opposition and liberal concessions (1860–1870)
hierarchical_section_title: Napoleon III / Social and economic policies / Economic policy / Growing opposition and liberal concessions (1860–1870)
caption_attribution_description: Description English: The life-size state portrait was completed by Alexandre Cabanel at the behest of the emperor himself. Napoleon III is seen standing, wearing haute couture instead of a military uniform: a black dinner jacket with a white shirt, black short trousers with black stockings and fitting leather shoes. This suit was fashionable at that time. His only decoration is the medal of the Legion of Honour on his left and the red sash across his right shoulder. His right hand rest comfortably on his right hip, giving an air of confidence. The only indication of his imperial status is the long red mantle with hermine and the golden imperial crown and sceptre resting on the table, on which Napoleon III is resting his left hand on. The gilded room is presumable one of the Tuileries Palace. At the time of completion, Cabanel was heavily criticised by many for depicting the emperor not grand enough, making him look rather short and stout. Since Napoleon III is also not wearing uniform, which would have lent him an air of grandeur, some even mocked Cabanel of painting a waiter, ready to serve supper. Nevertheless the painting was well received within the imperial family. Apparently the artist was able to capture the emperor so well, it was greatly appreciated by the Empress Eugenie, who hung the portrait in the private chambers of the Tuileries Palace. After the end of the Second Empire, she took the painting with her into exile, despite its large size. It is speculated why the emperor chose to depict himself in civilian rather than military dress. Napoleon III wanted to move away from a strict imperial rule more towards a more bourgeois, democratic society. The attempt to downplay the imperial aspect could also be in reaction to the fact that the Bonaparte family originally came from rather humble origins, compared to other, centuries-old European royal dynasties. The fact that he has his back turned to the imperial regalia and stands in civilian dress can be interpreted as a move forward into the future, almost as if stepping out of something. Speculations aside, it is not a coincidence that Napoleon III wanted to be painted without imperial military uniform but depicted more as a civilian statesman or a gentleman.
context_page_description: Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon I and cousin of Napoleon II, was the first president of France, from 1848 to 1852, and the last French monarch, from 1852 to 1870. First elected president of the French Second Republic in 1848, he seized power in 1851, when he could not constitutionally be re-elected, and became the emperor of the French. He founded the Second French Empire and was its only emperor until the defeat of the French army and his capture by Prussia and its allies in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. He worked to modernize the French economy, rebuilt the center of Paris, expanded the French overseas empire, and engaged in the Crimean War and the Second Italian War of Independence.
  Napoleon III commissioned a grand reconstruction of Paris carried out by his prefect of the Seine, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, and launched similar public works projects in Marseille, Lyon and other French cities. Napoleon III modernized the French banking system, expanded and consolidated the French railway system, and made the French merchant marine the second largest in the world.
context_section_description: Despite the economic progress the country had made, domestic opposition to Napoleon III was slowly growing, particularly in the Corps législatif (Parliament). The republicans on the left had always opposed him, believing he had usurped power and suppressed the Republic. The conservative Catholics were increasingly unhappy, because he had abandoned the Pope in his struggle to retain political control of the Papal States and had built up a public education system that was a rival to the Catholic system. Many businessmen, particularly in the metallurgical and textile industries, were unhappy, because he had reduced the tariffs on British products, putting the British products in direct competition with their own. The members of Parliament were particularly unhappy with him for dealing with them only when he needed money. When he had liberalized trade with England, he had not even consulted them.
  Napoleon's large-scale program of public works, and his expensive foreign policy, had created rapidly mounting government debts; the annual deficit was about 100 million gold-francs, and the cumulative debt had reached nearly 1,000 million gold-francs (1 billion in US readings). The Emperor needed to restore the confidence of the business world and to involve the legislature and have them share responsibility.
  On 24 December 1861, Napoleon III, against the opposition of his own ministers, issued a decree announcing that the legislature would have greater powers. The Senate and the Assembly could, for the first time, give a response to the Emperor's program, ministers were obliged to defend their programs before the Assembly, and the right of Deputies to amend the programs was enlarged. On 1 February 1861, further reforms were announced: Deputies could speak from the tribune, not just from their seats, and a stenographic record would be made and published of each session. Another even more important reform was announced on 31 December 1861: the budget of each ministry would be voted section by section, not in a block, and the government could no longer spend money by special decree when the legislature was not in session. He did retain the right to change the budget estimates section by section.
  The Deputies quickly took advantage of their new rights; the Emperor's Italian policy was bitterly condemned in Parliament, and anti-government amendments by the pro-Catholic deputies were defeated by votes of 158 to 91 in the Corps législatif and 79 to 61 in the Senate.
  In the legislative elections of 31 May 1863, the pro-government candidates received 5,308,000 votes, while the opposition received 1,954,000 votes, three times more than in the previous elections. The rural departments still voted for Napoleon III's candidates, but in Paris, 63 percent of the votes went to anti-government republican candidates, with similar numbers in all the large cities. The new Assembly contained a large opposition block ranging from Catholics outraged by the Papal policies to Legitimists, Orléanists, protectionists and republicans, armed with new powers given to them by the Emperor himself.
  Despite the opposition in the legislature, Napoleon III's reforms remained popular in the rest of the country. A new plebiscite was held in 1870, on this text: "The people approve the liberal reforms added to the Constitution since 1860 by the Emperor, with the agreement of the legislative bodies and ratified by the Senate on April 20, 1870." Napoleon III saw this as a referendum on his rule as Emperor: "By voting yes," he wrote, "you will chase away the threat of revolution; you will place the nation on a solid base of order and liberty, and you will make it easier to pass on the Crown to my son." When the votes were counted, Napoleon III had lost Paris and the other big cities but decisively won the rest of the country. The final vote was 7,336,434 votes yes, 1,560,709 votes no, and 1,900,000 abstentions. Léon Gambetta, the leader of the republican opposition, wrote in despair, "We were crushed. The Emperor is more popular than ever."
caption: Napoleon III in 1865
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