had the great mass of the people to back him, he is at least too able a
man, be certain, if not too honest a man, to have dared what he has
dared. You will see the result of the elections. As to Paris, don't
believe that Paris suffers violence from Louis Napoleon. The result of
my own impressions is a conviction that _from the beginning_ he had the
sympathy of the whole population here with him, to speak generally, and
exclusively of particular parties. All our tradespeople, for instance,
milkman, breadman, wine merchant, and the rest, yes, even the shrewd old
washerwoman, and the concierge, and our little lively servant were in a
glow of sympathy and admiration. 'Mais, c'est le vrai neveu de son
oncle! il est admirable! enfin la patrie sera sauvée.' The bourgeoisie
has now accepted the situation, it is admitted on all hands. 'Scandalous
adhesion!' say some. 'Dreadful apathy!' say others. Don't _you_ say
either one or the other, or I think you will be unjust to Paris and
France.

The French people are very democratical in their tendencies, but they
must have a visible type of hero-worship, and they find it in the bearer
of that name Napoleon. That name is the only tradition dear to them, and
it is deeply dear. That a man bearing it, and appealing at the same time
to the whole people upon democratical principles, should be answered
from the heart of the people, should neither astonish, nor shame, nor
enrage anybody.

An editor of the 'National,' a friend of ours, feels this so much, that
he gnashes his teeth over the imprudence of the extreme Reds, who did
not set themselves to trample out the fires of Buonapartism while they
had some possibility of doing it. 'Ce peuple a la tête _dure_,' said he
vehemently.