A
provisional
government
was
set
up
and
a
republic
proclaimed.
The
government
issued
a
right-to-work
declaration
and
set
up
national
workshops
to
relieve
unemployment.
The
vote
was
extended
to
all
adult
males
-
an
unprecedented
move
for
its
time.
All
was
not
plain
sailing,
though.
By
the
time
elections
were
held
in
April,
a
new
tax
designed
to
ameliorate
the
financial
crisis
had
antagonized
the
countryside.
A
massive
conservative
majority
was
re-elected,
to
the
dismay
of
the
radicals.
Three
days
of
bloody
street
fighting
at
the
barricades
followed,
when
General
Cavaignac,
who
had
distinguished
himself
in
the
suppression
of
Algerian
resistance,
turned
the
artillery
on
the
workers.
More
than
1500
were
killed
and
12,000
arrested
and
exiled.
A
reasonably
democratic
constitution
was
drawn
up
and
elections
called
to
choose
a
president.
To
everyone's
surprise,
Louis-Napoléon,
nephew
of
the
emperor,
romped
home.
In
spite
of
his
liberal
reputation,
he
restricted
the
vote
again,
censored
the
press
and
pandered
to
the
Catholic
Church.
In
1852,
following
a
coup
and
further
street
fighting,
he
had
himself
proclaimed
Emperor
Napoléon
III.
