To bear one's self worthily and make a fair appearance among all the illustrious executioners who have tortured mankind in the course of four thousand years, one must not have any mental hesitation between a general of division and a bass-drummer on the Champs-Elysees; one must not have been a constable in London; one must not have undergone, with lowered eyes, in the Court of Peers, the haughty scorn of M.Magnan; one must not have been called "pickpocket" by the English newspapers; one must not have been menaced with Clichy; in a word, there must have been nothing of the sneak in the man.
Monsieur Louis Napoleon, you are ambitious, you aim high, but you must have the truth told you.

Well, what would you have us do in the matter?
In vain have you, by overturning the tribune of France, realized, after your fashion, the wish of Caligula: "I would that mankind had but one head, so that I might cut it off with a blow;" in vain have you banished the republicans by thousands, as Philip III expelled the Moors, and as Torquemada drove out the Jews; in vain have you dungeons like Peter the Cruel, hulks like Hariadan, _dragonnades_ like Pere Letellier, and _oubliettes_ like Ezzelino III; in vain have you perjured yourself like Ludovic Sforza; in vain have you massacred and assassinated _en masse_ like Charles IX; in vain have you done all this, in vain have you recalled all these names to men's minds when they think of your name,--you are nothing but a rogue.

A man is not a monster for the wishing.
II From every agglomeration of men, from every city, from every nation, there inevitably arises a collective force.
Place this collective force at the service of liberty, let it rule by universal suffrage, the city becomes a commune, the nation becomes a republic.
This collective force is not, of its nature, intelligent.

Belonging to all, it belongs to no one; it floats about, so to speak, outside of the people.
Until the day comes when, according to the true social formula,--_as little government as possible_,--this force may be reduced to a mere street and road police, paving the streets, lighting the lamps, and looking after malefactors; until that day comes, this collective force, being at the mercy of many chances and many ambitions, needs to be guarded and protected by jealous, clear-sighted, well-armed institutions.
It may be subjugated by tradition, it may be surprised by stratagem.
A man may rush upon it, seize it, bridle it, quell it, and cause it to trample upon the citizens.
The tyrant is the man, who, born of tradition, like Nicholas of Russia, or of stratagem, like Louis Bonaparte, seizes for his own profit, and according to his caprice disposes of the collective force of a people.
This man, if he be by birth what Nicholas is, is the enemy of society; if he have done what Louis Bonaparte has done, he is a public robber.
The former has no account to settle with regular legal justice, with the articles of codes.

He has behind him, spying upon and watching him, hatred in their hearts, and vengeance in their hands, Orloff in his palace, and Mouravieff among the people; he may be assassinated by one of his army, or poisoned by one of his family; he runs the risk of barrack conspiracies, of revolts of regiments, of secret military societies, of domestic plots, of sudden, mysterious maladies, of terrible blows, of great catastrophes.