325] INTRODUCTION 27 



The shmtus-consulte of the 28 floreal of the year XII 

 (May 18, 1804) provided that "le gouvernement de la re- 

 publique est confie a un empereur, qui prend le titre dVm- 

 pereur des Frangais " and that " Napoleon Bonaparte, pre- 

 mier consul de la republique, est empereur des Frangais."^^ 

 The same decree provided for the heredity of the new 

 dynasty. By popular vote the decision of the Senate was 

 confirmed. " Out of 3,524,254 electors who registered their 

 votes in the books prepared for this purpose, 3,521,675 

 voted in favour of the proposal which called Napoleon to 

 the imperial throne. There were only 2,579 opponents."^' 



From 1848 to 1852 France was the scene of three plebis- 

 cites, which, in their consequences, made Napoleon Emperor 

 of the French and which, on account of their results rather 

 than their conduct, have served more than any other to 

 create for the plebiscite a place in European state and inter- 

 state affairs. 



By popular vote Louis Napoleon was elected President 

 of the French Republic in 1848.^^ The plebiscite of De- 

 cember 20, 1851, declared that "they [the people] want the 

 maintenance of the authority of Louis Napoleon, , . . "^^ 

 and by referendum of November, 21, 1852, the French 

 people confirmed the senatus-consulte conferring the heredi- 

 tary title of emperor upon Napoleon.®^ 



^^ Quoted by Aulard, p. 776. 



'® C. F. de Meneval, Memoirs Illustrating the History of Napo- 

 lean I from 1802 to 1815, New York, 1894, vol. i, p. 285. 



^° P. La Gorce, Histoire du second empire, loth ed., Paris, 1908, 

 vol. i, p. 3 ; Histoire de la seconde Republique frangaise, sth ed., 

 Paris, 1909, vol. ii, p. 2. 



"^ La Gorce, Histoire du second empire, vol. i, p. 12. 



"- Ibid., pp. 100-102. 



