The Prince drawled a few contemptuous words, looking at the carpet; he spoke of his "legitimacy;" after which the magistrates took the oath.

Each in turn raised his hand.

While they were swearing, M.Bonaparte, his back half turned to them, laughed and chatted with his aides-de-camp, who were grouped behind him.

When it was over he quite turned his back upon them, and they departed, shaking their heads, humbled and ashamed, not for having done a base deed, but because they had had no chairs in the ante-chamber.
As they were departing, the following dialogue was overheard:--"That," said one of them, "was an oath it was necessary to take." "And," said another, "which it will be necessary to keep." "Yes," said a third, "like the master of the house." All this is pure servility.

Let us proceed.
Among these first presidents who swore fidelity to Louis Bonaparte, were a certain number of former peers of France, who, as such, had passed upon Louis Bonaparte the sentence of perpetual imprisonment.
But why should we look back so far?
Let us still proceed; here is something even better.