ABSTRACT

The Second Republic ended its nominal five years upon the proclamation of the Second Empire. The Republicans had made a fatal mistake when they allowed the president to be elected by popular vote, thus bringing to his opportunity Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I and heir to his waning tradition and dimmed political rights. It is only fair to say that the officials of the Arab Bureaus were hated by many colonists whose land hunger and selfishness clashed with native interests, which it was the duty of the Bureaus to protect. An attempt to meet scarcity of land was the decree of April 26, 1851, which enlarged individual grants from twenty-five to fifty hectares, these to be made by the prefects. To do this it was necessary to go on taking lands from the natives by cantonment, or restraining them to tribal lands in actual use.