Second empire

At first (until 1860 ) Napoleon III was an almost autocratic monarch . The Senate , the Council of State , ministers , officials , even mayors of communes (the latter, on the basis of laws of 1852 and 1855, which restored the centralization of the first empire) were appointed by the emperor . The legislative body was elected, but the elections did not take place between free and equal rivals, but between an official candidate who enjoyed the support of the entire government mechanism and his opponent, who at the same time acted as an opponent of the government ; electoral gatherings were banned as an infringement of freedom of election; distribution of selective proclamations was not permitted; ballots were counted by the mayor, that is, a government official who almost always had the full opportunity to falsify election results. Finally, from deputies , and since 1858, even from all candidates for this title, an oath of allegiance to the emperor was required. In view of all this, the Republicans did not have representatives at all in the first legislative body; few have refused to take the oath.

Before the election of 1857, the Minister of the Interior, Billo, announced to the prefects that “with a few exceptions, the government considers it fair to submit to re-election all the members of the chamber, which helped the emperor so well and served the country so well”. Nevertheless, in the legislative corps of 1857–63 there were 5 republicans who agreed to swear (Darimon, Olivier, Guenon, J. Favre , Picard; the last two were elected in 1858 instead of the refusal of the oath of Carnot and Gudshaw).

There was almost no opposition in the legal press, and it could not be; it was conducted only by emigrants ( V. Hugo and others) from abroad. The emperor believed and declared that his empire was a continuation of the empire of Napoleon I; however, there was a huge difference between them. Napoleon I approved many of the gains of the revolution, consolidated the fall of feudalism; he relied on the peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie and in the eyes of all of Europe, and partly of France, was a product and manifestation of a revolutionary spirit. Napoleon III, having achieved power through a coalition of various elements up to and including socialist elements, was the keeper of the altar, order, property; at the same time, he was the heir to the monarchy of Louis Philippe and relied on the alliance of the upper bourgeoisie with the nobility and the church.

The main business of the government was to encourage the construction of railways (by 1860 - 9,430 km, by 1870 - 17,460 km), the establishment of joint-stock companies, the establishment of various large enterprises, etc. The Stock Exchange flourished during Napoleon III as it did under Louis -Philippe.

The economic policy of Napoleon III is very different from the policies of previous governments, not excluding Napoleon I. Until then, France was a country of increased protectionism ; Napoleon III was a staunch supporter of free trade , whose implementation was, however, difficult; Napoleon stated that "customs protection is necessary, but it should not be excessive." In the years 1853–55, although not without protest from the usually obedient legislative body, he reduced the customs rates on coal, iron, steel, wool, that is, items primarily needed by industry; this caused great displeasure in some of the industrialists whose support Napoleon valued.

In the following years, the decline affected agricultural products: wine, livestock, and alcohol. In 1860 , taking advantage of the right granted to him by the constitution of 1852 , Napoleon concluded, without the approval of the legislative body, a trade agreement with England , by which the forbidden rates on goods imported from England were canceled, and patronage rates were reduced mainly to 25% ad valorem; England responded with an even more significant drop. This agreement was followed in 1862 by a similar agreement with Belgium .

France opened a new era in trade policy. The legislative body had to put up with a fait accompli, and even bring the general tariff into some conformity with the convention; To do this, it was necessary to lower duties on the skin and other objects. Despite the discontent of some industrialists, there is no doubt that these measures were caused by the interests of industry, and therefore the state, and played an important role both in strengthening French industry and in increasing the total amount of national wealth during the second empire.

By the end of Napoleon III’s reign, France had steam engines that developed 320,000 forces — five times more than at the beginning of the reign; she tripled coal consumption and brought it to 20 million tons; this is due primarily to the growth of the metallurgical as well as textile industry.

Growth of the agricultural industry was also important. The volume of foreign trade by 1869 increased to 6,225 million francs (3,153 - imports, 3,075 - exports).

The numerical growth of the working class, consistent with the growth of industry, continued into the whole board; but the situation of the workers did not improve. The wages of factory workers rose, in general, by 30-40%, but at the same time, prices for apartments and food rose no less, if not more; however, in most factories, the working day decreased slightly, albeit without the direct involvement of legislation: the law of 1848, which established the maximum working day at first at 10-11 hours, then raised the standard to 12 hours, was never applied in practice due to the lack of a supervisory authority ; on paper, it remained valid, but Napoleon III did not think either of the application or of its expansion.

Nevertheless, under Napoleon III, an important measure was taken in favor of the workers: granting them the right to strike in 1864 (the law of 1791 prohibited alliances and strikes of both owners and workers, but the coalitions of the first spread already during the July monarchy and were patient in spite of law, coalitions of workers were strictly prosecuted). Such a single measure did not satisfy the workers, and they in the mass soon abandoned their faith in Napoleon III.

The Italian policy of Napoleon III, which led to the war with Austria, caused great irritation of the pope and clerics. Fearing to lose all support among the people, Napoleon III began to make some concessions to the liberals, at first very weak and cautious. In 1860, the legislative body was given the right to respond with addresses to throne speeches; since 1861, verbatim reports of debates in the legislative body and the Senate have been made; however, the attitude of the authorities towards the press has softened somewhat.

The new press law on May 11, 1868 abolished prior authorization, warnings and prohibitions in an administrative order, but retained urgent or final prohibitions in a judicial proceeding; the stamp duty has been reduced to 5 (in Paris) and to 2 (in the province) santims from a newspaper sheet. In 1867, the legislature was given the right to interpellation.

In 1868, a law was passed permitting gatherings, in particular political ones, on the occasion of elections, but no later than 5 days before the elections. All of these concessions few satisfied; however, thanks to them, a party of liberal imperialists was formed, at the head of which stood one of the "five" opposition deputies in the legislative corps of 1857–63 - Emil Olivier .

In the 1863 election , the struggle was fought vigorously by both the opposition and the government. The Minister of the Interior of Persigny warned the newspapers of the warning, forbade and harassed the election committees, and finally addressed the prefects with a circular in which, describing the flourishing position of France, liberated by the emperor from the state of anarchy and poverty, into which she had been plunged by the rhetorical regime, he attacked a coalition of anger, hatred and enmity, counteracting all the great endeavors of the empire. “The vote,” the minister concluded, “is free, but to prevent the population from being deceived by skilfully composed speeches and ambiguous professions de foi, point out those candidates who inspire more confidence in the government; let the population know where the enemies are and where the friends of the empire are, and let it speak freely, with knowledge of the matter. ”

Despite such receptions and in some places on falsification of elections, out of 267 deputies 35 representatives of the republican and monarchical opposition passed; the clergy almost everywhere voted against official candidates. Among those selected were Carnot, Ferry, Garnier-Pages, J. Simon, Thiers , E. Olivier, Picard, J. Favre , Pelltan, Berrier. The election result led to the resignation of Persigny.

The failure of the Mexican expedition and the attempt to annex Luxembourg to France, as well as the severe deficit caused by Napoleon III’s aggressive policy, increasingly contributed to the growth of discontent.

The new press law, which did not reconcile with the government, only led to a feeling of indignation in the press. In 1868, new periodicals appeared, which systematically fought with the government; between them, the “Lanterne” of Rochefort quickly gained immense popularity and became a major social force, stood out with its sharpness and boldness of tone, the viciousness of sarcasm. The government has brought several trials against Rochefort, ending in a guilty verdict; Rochefort fled to Belgium, from where he continued his literary campaign with impunity. His magazine, banned in France, diverged, however, in a huge circulation. Elected to the legislative body in 1869, he was given the opportunity to return to his homeland and transfer his editorial activities there.

In 1868, a demonstration was organized at the grave of Deputy Boden, who was killed on December 3, 1851 at the barricade, where bold speeches were made against the government with threats of rebellion; the demonstration was followed by an announcement on the subscription to the Boden monument, made by several newspapers. The government hastened to bring to trial the editors of these newspapers (Deleclus, Schallmel Lacour and others); in court, their defenders — Arago, Cremieux, Laurier, and especially Gambetta , who became famous after this trial — did not try to defend the defendants at all and set up a platform from the bar for a decisive attack on the government, which they called criminal, whose “mad” rage they cursed and threatened with severe retribution.

Around the same time, there were numerous strikes by workers, intensifying bitterness against the government.

In May 1869, new legislative elections took place. The government resorted to some of the previous methods of struggle, added to them the bribery of several newspapers, but nevertheless, the relative freedom of the press and the right of electoral assembly greatly facilitated the work of the opposition. Republicans spoke separately from the monarchists, exposing their own program developed by Gambetta: it demanded the widespread use of universal suffrage for parliamentary and local elections, the abolition of the Senate, guarantees of personal freedom, compulsory secular education, separation of the church from the state, destruction of the standing army, etc. It held 59 candidates (including Gambettu and Rochefort) and, more importantly, gathered 3.5 million votes in the names of its supporters against 4.5 million government votes.

Everything proved that the empire would collapse if it did not change its policy. Even the composition of the legislative body forced them to make concessions. Bonapartists in it were divided into three parties: 1) the extreme right or the Arcadians (along Arkad Street, where they gathered), who wanted repression and war with Prussia, 2) moderate Bonapartists and 3) the right center, who wanted a liberal empire. Behind them came the left center or the monarchists, the radicals and the extreme left; the latter was represented by Rochefort and Raspay . The left, in alliance with the liberal Bonapartists, made up the majority.

The emperor refused the services of his main associate, Rouer , who was since 1849 either the Minister of Justice, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of State or the Chairman of the Council of State, and suggested that Olivier compose a homogeneous cabinet, which he executed on January 2, 1870 .

Olivier's first major affair was new constitutional reforms that strengthened parliamentary rights; then a plebiscite was organized on the following question: “The French people approve of the liberal changes made in the constitution since 1860, and approve the Senate Consultant on April 20, 1870.” Since the plebiscite was to serve as an expression of confidence in the government, the whole opposition campaigned for negative answer to the question. The government invited officials to "develop feverish activity" to collect as many affirmative votes as possible. Despite this, the opposition nevertheless gathered 1,500,000 negative against 7 million government votes. The new constitution did not have time to enter into force.

Partly in order to divert public attention from internal troubles, partly in the hope of covering up defeats with military laurels in Mexican, Luxembourg and other matters, Napoleon III, under pressure from the extreme right (which was protected by Empress Eugene ), led an aggressive policy towards Prussia , ended in war . The war clearly revealed all the fragility of the empire; from the very beginning, it took an extremely unfavorable turn, and on September 2, 1870, Napoleon III himself, with a whole army, surrendered to the Prussians.

When news of this came to Paris , it caused an outburst of indignation. At a night meeting of the legislative corps on September 3-4, J. Favre proposed to proclaim the deposition of the emperor and elect an interim government, the same was demanded by a crowd of people in the streets. In the morning, the people burst into the chamber, and Gambetta, on behalf of the people's representation, announced that "L. Napoleon Bonaparte and his dynasty ceased to rule in France." The republic was proclaimed by the same crowd in the town hall and without any election, par acclamation, a provisional “government of popular defense” was appointed, which included all the deputies of Paris (Arago, Cremieux, Ferry, Favre , Gambetta , Garnier-Pagés, Pelltan, Picard, J Simon, later Rochefort and some others.). They immediately divided the portfolios among themselves. The military governor of Paris, General Trochu , was left at his post; Empress Eugene hastily fled from Paris; the empire collapsed without finding defenders. At the same time, similar events took place in Lyon , Marseille , Bordeaux and other cities, where a republic was also proclaimed, which would be called the third republic .

• Smirnov A. Yu. Empire of Napoleon III. - M .: Eksmo , 2003. - ISBN 5-699-03261-4

• Vodovozov V.V. , Kareev N.I. , Richter D.I. , Shokalsky Yu.M. , Sternberg L.Ya. France // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 extra. ) - SPb. , 1890-1907.