Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/276

234 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 III. chap. It was natural that a man thus constituted XIV 1_ should be much inclined to linger in the early stages of a plot ; hut since it chanced that by his birth and by his ambition Prince Louis Napoleon was put forward before the world as a pretender to the throne of France, he had always had around him a few keen adventurers who were willing to partake his fortunes ; and if there were times when his personal wishes would have inclined him to choose repose or indefinite delay, he was too considerate in his feelings towards his little knot of followers to be capable of forgetting their needs. His over- In 1851, motives of this kind, joined with feel- turestothe . ... . in i t •!• gentlemen nigs ot disappointment and oi personal humilia- at the time tiou, were driving the President forward. He had when he was President, always wished to bring about a change m the Constitution, but originally he had hoped to be able to do this with the aid and approval of some at least of the statesmen and eminent generals of the country ; and the fact of his desiring such concurrence in his plans seems to show that he did not at first intend to trample upon France by subjecting her to a sheer Asiatic despotism, but rather to found such a monarchy as might have the support of men of station and character. But besides that few people believed him to be so able a man as he really was, there attached to him at this period a good deal of ridicule. So, although there were numbers in France who would have