Napoleon III and the French Second Empire
Napoleon III and the Second Empire
IN THE SAME SERIES
General Editors: Eric J. Evans and P. D. King
Lynn Abrams
Bismarck and the German Empire 1871–1918
David Arnold
The Age of Discovery 1400–1600
A. L. Beier
The Problem of the Poor in Tudor and Early Stuart England
Martin Blinkhorn
Democracy and Civil War in Spain 1931–1939
Robert M. Bliss
Restoration England 1660–1688
Stephen Constantine
Lloyd George
Stephen Constantine
Social Conditions in Britain 1918–1939
Susan Doran
Elizabeth I and Religion 1558–1603
Christopher Durston
James I
Eric J. Evans
The Great Reform Act of 1832
Eric J. Evans
Political Parties in Britain 1783–1867
Eric J. Evans
Sir Robert Peel
Dick Geary
Hitler and Nazism
John Gooch
The Unification of Italy
Alexander Grant
Henry VII
M. J. Heale
The American Revolution
Ruth Henig
The Origins of the First World War
Ruth Henig
The Origins of the Second World War 1933–1939
Ruth Henig
Versailles and After 1919–1933
P. D. King
Charlemagne
Stephen J. Lee
Peter the Great
Stephen J. Lee
The Thirty Years War
J. M. MacKenzie
The Partition of Africa 1880–1900
John W. Mason
The Cold War 1945–1991
Michael Mullett
Calvin
Michael Mullett
The Counter-Reformation
Michael Mullett
James II and English Politics 1678–1688
Michael Mullett
Luther
D. G. Newcombe
Henry VIII and the English Reformation
Robert Pearce
Attlee’s Labour Governments 1945–51
Gordon Phillips
The Rise of the Labour Party 1893–1931
John Plowright
Regency England
Hans A. Pohlsander
Constantine
J. H. Shennan
France Before the Revolution
J. H. Shennan
International Relations in Europe 1689–1789
J. H. Shennan
Louis XIV
Margaret Shennan
The Rise of Brandenburg–Prussia
David Shotter
Augustus Caesar
David Shotter
The Fall of the Roman Republic
David Shotter
Tiberius Caesar
Keith J. Stringer
The Reign of Stephen
John Thorley
Athenian Democracy
John K. Walton
Disraeli
John K. Walton
The Second Reform Act
Michael J. Winstanley
Gladstone and the Liberal Party
Michael J. Winstanley
Ireland and the Land Question 1800–1922
Alan Wood
The Origins of the Russian Revolution 1861–1917
Alan Wood
Stalin and Stalinism
Austin Woolrych
England Without a King 1649–1660
LANCASTER PAMPHLETS
Napoleon III and the
Second Empire
Roger Price
London and NewYork
First published 1997
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
©
1997 Roger Price
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0–415–15433–2 (Print Edition)
ISBN 0-203-13424-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-17920-X (Glassbook Format)
In memory
of
Ralph Gibson
(1943–1995)
Contents
Chronology
xv
2 Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte,
President of the Second Republic
12
3 The authoritarian Empire
25
4 Liberalisation
39
5 Defeat and collapse
59
Bibliography
67
ix
Preface
Ralph Gibson originally planned to write this book. Just before he died he was concerned that he would be unable to fulfil his commitment and gently reminded me that I had been preparing a book on the Second Empire for longer than either of us cared to remember. I hope that Ralph would have been happy with the result. It is written in memory of a very fine man, a considerable scholar and a very good friend.
Ralph arrived in this country from Adelaide as a young Rhodes Scholar in 1965.
He returned to take up an appointment at the University of Lancaster in 1969 and remained there as Lecturer and, subsequently, Reader in History and French
Studies until his untimely death in 1995. During this time he established an international reputation as a historian with such notable publications as
A Social
History of French Catholicism, 1789–1914
(Routledge 1989);
Landownership and
Power in Modern Europe
(in collaboration with Martin Blinkhorn, Harper-Collins 1991); ‘The French nobility in the 19th century’ in J. Howorth and P. Cerny (eds)
Elites in France
(Pinter 1981); ‘Missions paroissiales et re-christianisation en Dordogne au 19e siècle’ (
Annales du Midi
1986); ‘Hellfire and damnation in nineteenth-century France’ (
Catholic History Review
1988); ‘De la prédication de la peur à la vision d’un Dieu d’amour’ in
Le Jugement, le Ciel et l’Enfer dans
l’histoire du christianisme
(Presses universitaires d’Angers 1989); ‘Why Republicans and Catholics couldn’t stand each other in nineteenth-century France’
in F
.
Tallett and N. Atkin (eds)
Religion, Society and Politics: France, 1789–1945
(Hambledon Press 1991); ‘Le Catholicisme et les femmes en France au 19e siècle’
(
Revue d’Histoire de l’Eglise de France
1993); ‘The intensification of national xi
consciousness in modern Europe’ in C. Bjorn
et al.
(eds)
Nations, Nationalism and
Patriotism in the European Past
(Copenhagen, Academic Press 1994); ‘Théologie et société en France au 19e siècle’ in J.-D. Durand (ed.)
Histoire et théologie
(Beauchesne 1994); and ‘Female religious orders in nineteenth-century France’ in F. Tallett and N. Atkin (eds)
Catholicism in Britain and France
(Hambledon Press 1996). The invitation to make a substantial contribution to G. Cholvy (ed.)
Matériaux pour l’histoire religieuse du peuple français, 19e–20e siècles,
Vol. III (Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques 1992) offered clear recognition by French historians of his status both as a regional historian of the Dordogne and as an expert on religious history. If he had lived longer, Ralph would have amply confirmed his growing reputation with the two other major books he was working on: studies of
Women, Faith and Liberation: Female Religious
Orders in nineteenth-century France
and of
Religion et Société: le diocèse de
Périgueux au 19e siècle
(a massively expanded version of his French doctorate).
Sadly, we shall be deprived of these, and of Ralph’s witty and informed
conversation and his unique sense of fun.
xii
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank, in particular, Francesca Gibson for her kind assistance.
Heather McCallum of Routledge and the series editors Eric Evans and David King were very encouraging and made helpful suggestions for revision of the first draft.
The manuscript was carefully read and commented upon by: Colin Heywood of
Nottingham University; Olena Heywood of the Open University; Aled Jones, my colleague in the Department of History and Welsh History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth; and by Heather Price, whose constructive criticism, as
always, was invaluable. Richard, Siân, Andy, Emily and Hannah provided help –
and happy distractions.
xiii
Chronology
1848
23–24 February Revolution and the establishment of the Second Republic;
introduction of manhood suffrage
23 April
Election of a Constituent Assembly to prepare a new constitu-
tion
4 June
By-election victory by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte
13 June
Debate in the Assembly on whether to admit the Bonapartist
pretender to the throne as a deputy; admitted but resigns
23–26 June
Popular insurrection in Paris crushed
17 September
Louis-Napoléon re-elected
10 December
Election of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte as President of the
Republic
1851
2 December
Seizure of power by means of a military coup
21 December
Plebiscite ratifying extension of president’s power
1852
14 January
Promulgation of new constitution
17 February
Press decree
xv
29 February
Election of
Corps législatif
25 March
Decree banning gatherings of more than 20 persons
27 March
End of martial law
21 November
Plebiscite on the re-establishment of the hereditary empire
2 December
Establishment of the Second Empire
1853
23 January
Haussmann appointed Prefect of the Seine
1854
27 March
France and Britain declare war on Russia
1856
16 March
Birth of the Prince-Imperial; remaining political prisoners
amnestied on condition that they accept the regime
30 March
Signature of Treaty of Paris ending the Crimean war
1857
21 June
Election of new
Corps législatif
1858
14 January
Attempt to assassinate Napoléon by four Italians led by Orsini
27 February
