[
88]
... If France has voted for him-as it were in intoxication, it is an intoxication in which all engagements are to be remembered, and after which their fulfilment will be insisted upon.
While all this seemed true at the time, and there was but little either in
France or the rest of
Europe upon which to base a forecast of history, the condition of public affairs had by no leans reached a state of stable equilibrium.
While the party of resistance had got control in
Germany, and a solidarity of the German people had been defeated for the present by the rivalry between
Prussia and
Austria and the distrust of the other principalities, order was not yet fully re-established.
Italy and
Hungary were still in a state of turmoil.
The pope had not yet returned to the Vatican nor regained his freedom of action, and yet the revolution was everywhere on the wane.
Peace reigned throughout
France, the long agony was over, and the new president was quickly though prematurely inaugurated on December 20th, installed in the
Elysee National, and surrounded by a cabinet, of his own choosing.
Dana, in describing this ceremony, says:
... The president-elect was dressed with unusual elegance in a black coat with a white waistcoat and white kid gloves, much as if he had been going to a wedding.
His heavy, rather sensual, and very ordinary features, relieved by a thick moustache, were at the same moment animated by the emotions natural to the scene, so that there was really something remarkable in his appearance.
On his left breast was noticed the grand cross of the Legion of Honor.
He ascended the tribune, and as M. Marast read the oath, raised his right hand.
After he had taken it and the proper formalities with regard to its announcement to the nation were accomplished, he proceeded to read his inaugural speech in a firm voice but with little impressiveness.
This
