The epoch between December 20, 1848, and the dissolution of the
constitutional assembly in May, 1849, embraces the history of the
downfall of the bourgeois republicans. After they had founded a republic
for the bourgeoisie, had driven the revolutionary proletariat from the
field and had meanwhile silenced the democratic middle class, they
are themselves shoved aside by the mass of the bourgeoisie who justly
appropriate this republic as their property. This bourgeois mass was
Royalist, however. A part thereof, the large landed proprietors, had
ruled under the restoration, hence, was Legitimist; the other part, the
aristocrats of finance and the large industrial capitalists, had ruled
under the July monarchy, hence, was Orleanist. The high functionaries of
the Army, of the University, of the Church, in the civil service, of the
Academy and of the press, divided themselves on both sides, although in
unequal parts. Here, in the bourgeois republic, that bore neither the
name of Bourbon, nor of Orleans, but the name of Capital, they had
found the form of government under which they could all rule in common.
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