The situation of France is always striking. This is because its people
are always being struck with a succession of Napoleonic ideas. They
labor, for example, under a constant _coup d'etat_. Their Press is the
victim of a regular _coup de main_; their Strikes are daily evidences of
_coups de mains_; their Legislature suffers continually from _coup de
théâtre_; and their Emperor is perpetually threatened with a _coup de
grace_. The energies of Frenchmen are not imprisoned; no, they are only
_couped_.
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