BOOK VII.
THE ABSOLUTION:--SECOND PHASE: THE OATH I FOR AN OATH, AN OATH AND A HALF What is Louis Bonaparte?
He is perjury personified; he is mental reservation incarnate, felony in flesh and bone; he is a false oath wearing a general's hat, and calling himself Monseigneur.
Well! what is it that he demands of France, this man-ambuscade?
An oath.
An oath! Indeed, after the 20th of December, 1848, and the 2nd of December, 1851, after the inviolate representatives of the people had been arrested and hunted down; after the confiscation of the Republic, after the _coup d'etat_, one might have expected from this malefactor an honest cynical laugh at the oath, and that this Sbrigani would say to France: "Oh, yes! it is true! I did pledge my word of honour.

It is very funny.

Let us say no more about such nonsense." Not so: he requires an oath.
And so, mayors, gendarmes, judges, spies, prefects, generals, _sergents-de-ville_, _gardes champetres_, commissaries of police, magistrates, office-holders, Senators, Councillors of State, legislators, clerks, it is said, it is his will, this idea has passed through his head, he will have it so, it is his good pleasure; lose no time, start off, you to the registrar, you to a confessional, you under the eye of your brigadier, you to the minister, you, Senators, to the Tuileries, to the salon of the marshals, you, spies, to the prefecture of police, you, first presidents and solicitors-general to M.
Bonaparte's ante-chamber; hasten in carriages, on foot, on horseback, in gown, in scarf, in court dress, in uniform, gold-laced, bespangled, embroidered, beplumed, with cap on head, ruff at the neck, sash around the waist, and sword by the side; place yourselves, some before the plaster bust, others before the man himself; very good, there you are, all of you, none are missing; look him well in the face, reflect, search your conscience, your loyalty, your decency, your religion; take off your glove, raise your hand, and take oath to his perjury, swear fealty to his treason.
Have you done it?
Yes! Ah, what a precious farce! So Louis Bonaparte takes the oath _au serieux_.

True, he believes in my word, in yours, in ours, in theirs; he believes everybody's word but his own.

He demands that everybody about him shall swear, and he orders them to be loyal.