ABSTRACT
The Second Empire was beginning to evolve from an authoritarian to a parliamentary regime. The government's treatment of men such as Littr and Renan seemed to argue that support for the Second Empire was incompatible with independent, critical thinking. In the 1850s, economic prosperity and foreign policy successes had given the regime a firm base of support, particularly among the wealthier classes. After 1860, a more troubled economic climate, a less favorable international situation, and a widening gap between the articulate members of French society and the government contributed to the weakening of Napoleon III's regime. The collapse of the Second Republic in 1851 was a setback for those who believed in the ideal of republican government, but few of them were won over to Bonapartist authoritarianism. In the more liberal atmosphere of the early 1860s, a republican counterculture hostile to the Empire gained strength in a number of institutions that were not completely under government control.
