THE AMBUSH. CHAPTER I. "SECURITY" On December 1, 1851,
Charras shrugged his shoulder and unloaded his pistols. In
truth, the belief in the possibility of a coup d'état had become
humiliating. The supposition of such illegal violence on the part
of M. Louis Bonaparte vanished upon serious consideration.
The great question of the day was manifestly the Devinca
election; it was clear that the Government was only thinking of
that matter. As to a conspiracy against the Republic and against
the People, how could anyone premeditate such a plot? Where
was the man capable of entertaining such a dream? For a
tragedy, there must be an actor, and here assuredly the actor
was wanting. To outrage Right, to suppress the Assembly, to
abolish the Constitution, to strangle the Republic, to overthrow
the Nation, to sully the Flag, to dishonor the Army, to suborn
the Clergy and the Magistracy, to succeed, to triumph, to
govern, to administer, to exile, to banish, to transport, to ruin,
to assassinate, to reign, with such complicities that the law, at
last, resembles a foul bed of corruption. What! All these
enormities were to be committed! And by whom? By a
Colossus? No, by a dwarf. People laughed at the notion. They
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