Is M. Bonaparte a dictator? We see no impropriety in answering yes. _Praetor maximus_,--general-in-chief? the colours salute him. _Magister populi_,--the master of the people? ask the cannons levelled on the public squares. _Pro numine observatum_,--regarded as God? ask M. Troplong. He has appointed the Senate, he has instituted holidays, he has provided for the "safety of society," he has driven a sacred nail into the wall of the Pantheon, and he has hung upon this nail his _coup d'etat_. The only discrepancy is, that he makes and unmakes the law according to his own fancy, he rides horseback without permission, and as to the six months, he takes a little more time. Caesar took five years, he takes double; that is but fair. Julius Caesar five, M. Louis Bonaparte ten--the proportion is well observed. From the dictator, let us pass to the despot. This is the other qualification almost accepted by M. Bonaparte. Let us speak for a while the language of the Lower Empire. It befits the subject. The _Despotes_ came after the _Basileus_. Among other attributes, he was general of the infantry and of the cavalry--_magister utriusque exercitus_. It was the Emperor Alexis, surnamed the Angel, who created the dignity of _despotes_. This officer was below the Emperor, and above the Sebastocrator, or Augustus, and above the Caesar. It will be seen that this is somewhat the case with us. M. Bonaparte is _despotes_, if we admit, which is not difficult, that Magnan is Caesar, and that Maupas is Augustus. Despot and dictator, that is admitted. But all this great _eclat_, all this triumphant power, does not prevent little incidents from happening in Paris, like the following, which honest _badauds_, witnesses of the fact, will tell you, musingly. Two men were walking in the street, talking of their business or their private affairs. One of them, referring to some knave or other, of whom he thought he had reason to complain, exclaimed: "He is a wretch, a swindler, a rascal!" A police agent who heard these last words, cried out: "Monsieur, you are speaking of the President; I arrest you." And now, will M. Bonaparte be Emperor, or will he not?