In 1849 on the anniversary of the great Napoleon’s death, a memorial mass was solemnized at the Invalides, the old uniforms of the veterans adding their pathos to the impressive scene as the officers knelt while Louis visited the tomb of his illustrious predecessor. On the first anniversary of Louis’ election a splendid banquet at the Hôtel de Ville expressed the people’s satisfaction. Three years later, on New Year’s Day, the guns of the Invalides fired ten shots for every million of votes that assured Louis’ position for ten years more. A Te Deum of gratitude was sung at Notre Dame, the choir chanting “_Domine, salvum fac praesidentem nostrum Napoleonem_.” The religious celebration was followed by a ball given by the Prefect of the Seine at the Hôtel de Ville. Realizing that the chances of success in Paris upheavals usually were with the side which the army favored Louis did his best to make himself popular with the soldiers. In the spring of this same year a series of brilliant festivals gave them recognition--a distribution of flags on the Field of Mars, a ball in honor of the army, a banquet at the Tuileries to the officers, and a banquet of twenty-four hundred covers to the students of the Military School. The proclamation of the empire was hailed in Paris with enthusiastic demonstrations. The citizens gave Bonaparte an almost solid support (208,615 votes out of 270,710), decorated the city with such inscriptions as “Ave Cæsar Imperator,” and with elaborate illuminations. Napoleon’s entry into the city was a spectacle such as the Parisians always have loved. Heading a splendid array of soldiers he rode into town from Saint Cloud, ten miles out, and, hailed by the guns of all Paris, he entered the city under the Arc de Triumphe de l’Étoile, and then went down the Champs Élysées to the Tuileries. The new emperor’s decision to have no formal coronation but to give its cost, $50,000, to hospitals and orphanages throughout France, warmly endeared him to his subjects. The Exposition of 1855 was a drawing card for Paris. By the side of the monumental affairs into which these exhibits have grown the arrangements seem simplicity itself. Yet Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the royal children spent a happy week visiting the Palais de l’Industrie and being entertained by plays at Saint Cloud, fireworks and a ball at Versailles, a ball at the City Hall, a review of troops on the Field of Mars. When the queen drove to visit Notre Dame and the Sainte Chapelle the decorated streets were lined with enthusiastic crowds. Like his great predecessor Napoleon III’s vision saw a noble Paris, and at once he set about improvements which would beautify the city, give work to the poor, make the _bourgeois_ forget his limitation of their power in the municipality, and compensate the suburbs now included within the city limits for the increase of their taxes.