In France, on the night between December 2 and 3, the president, Louis Napoleon, successfully plans and executes his famous _coup d'état_, making himself practically a dictator. Officers of the government and leaders opposing him are quietly arrested and locked up; later many are banished, including M. Thiers. The legislative assembly is dissolved and universal suffrage proclaimed. Paris being declared in a state of siege, there are barricades and sanguinary conflicts. On the 21st an election throughout France confirms Napoleon as president of the republic for ten years. In England, Lord Palmerston is dismissed from the ministry because of official indiscretion in expressing congratulations over events in France (see 1852). Death of Thomas Moore, Irish poet; in France, of Daguerre, inventor of first photographic process. =POPULATION--Washington, D.C., 40,001; Chicago, 29,963; New York, 515,547; London, 2,362,236; United States (census of 1850), 23,191,876; Great Britain and Ireland, 27,368,736.= =RULERS--United States, Millard Fillmore, President; Great Britain, Victoria; France, Louis Napoleon, President; Spain, Isabella II; Prussia, Frederick William IV; Russia, Nicholas I; Austria, Francis Joseph; Pope, Pius IX.= 1852 In France, on New Year's Day, the prince-president is installed with impressive ceremony at Nôtre Dame, and takes up his official residence at the Tuileries. He exiles opponents, reorganizes the National Guard, promulgates a new constitution, and restores titles of nobility abolished in the Revolution of 1848. The birthday of Napoleon I, August 15, is proclaimed a fête day. Meanwhile public sentiment develops in favor of the restoration of the empire and the Bonaparte dynasty. In November a national election results overwhelmingly in favor of imperial government. On December 2, anniversary of his _coup d'état_ and of the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon is crowned Emperor of the French under the title of Napoleon III. English colonial conquest is extended in South Africa, and in India the province of Pegu is wrested from the Burmese. Death of the Duke of Wellington and his interment in St. Paul's Cathedral; in Austria, of the premier, Prince Schwarzenberg; in America, of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay.