84-733: The General Post Office , situated on the corner of Elizabeth and Bourke streets in Melbourne , is the former General Post Office for Victoria , Australia. Still owned by the Federal Government, the building appears on all major heritage lists: the National Trust of Victoria (Australia), the Commonwealth Heritage List , and the state of Victoria where it is noted for its fine and impressive architecture and historical significance. The location of
168-703: A Second Mexican Empire headed by Emperor Maximilian , brother of Franz Joseph I of Austria , was a complete fiasco. The Mexicans fought back and after defeating the Confederacy the U.S. demanded the French withdraw from Mexico—sending 50,000 veteran combat troops to the border to ram the point home. The French army went home; the puppet emperor did not leave and was executed. From 1861 to 1863 France embarked on colonising experiments in Cochinchina ( southern Vietnam ) and Annam ( central Vietnam ). The conquest
252-556: A modernizing regime. Historians have generally given the Second Empire negative evaluations on its foreign policy, and somewhat more positive assessments of domestic policies, especially after Napoleon III liberalised his rule after 1858. He promoted French business and exports. The greatest achievements included a railway network that facilitated commerce and tied the nation together with Paris as its hub. This stimulated economic growth and brought prosperity to most regions of
336-521: A basement. In 1913, it was decided to remodel the building, turning the sorting hall into a public postal hall, with entrances from both Bourke and Elizabeth Streets. Architect Walter Burley Griffin was hired to design the works. His plan was later modified by architect John Smith Murdoch of the Commonwealth Department of Works and Railways , and finally completed in 1919. One of Melbourne's major grand 19th century public spaces,
420-547: A continuation of the dynasty. In 1859, Napoleon led France to war with Austria over Italy . France was victorious and gained Savoy and Nice . The commercial treaty with Great Britain in 1860 ratified the free trade policy of Richard Cobden and Michel Chevalier , had brought upon French industry the sudden shock of foreign competition. Thus both Catholics and protectionists discovered that authoritarian rule could be favourable when it served their ambitions or interests, but not when exercised at their expense. France
504-399: A good railway system a high priority. He consolidated three dozen small, incomplete lines into six major companies using Paris as a hub. Paris grew dramatically in terms of population, industry, finance, commercial activity and tourism. Working with Georges-Eugène Haussmann , Napoleon spent lavishly to rebuild the city into a world-class showpiece. The financial soundness for all six companies
588-529: A half million in favour and only one and a half million against. However, the vote also signified divisions in France. Those affirming were found mainly in rural areas, while the opposition prevailed in the big towns. The Crimean War ended in 1856, a victory for Napoleon III and a resulting peace that excluded Russia from the Black Sea . His son Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was born the same year, which promised
672-581: A new Ministry of the Navy and the Colonies, and appointed an energetic minister, Prosper, Marquis of Chasseloup-Laubat , to head it. A key part of the enterprise was the modernisation of the French Navy ; he began the construction of fifteen powerful screw steamers ; and a fleet of steam powered troop transports. The French Navy became the second most powerful in the world, after Britain's. He also created
756-701: A new force of colonial troops, including elite units of naval infantry, Zouaves , the Chasseurs d'Afrique , and Algerian sharpshooters, and he expanded the Foreign Legion , which had been founded in 1831 and fought well in the Crimea, Italy and Mexico. French overseas territories had tripled in area; in 1870 they covered almost a million square kilometres, and controlled nearly five million inhabitants. While soldiers, administrators, businessmen and missionaries came and left, very few Frenchmen permanently settled in
840-432: A number of photography retailers and a considerable number of motorcycle dealers. The street has been the home of motorbike retailing in inner Melbourne since 1903, the longest-existing such area in the world. As well as Flinders Street station at the southern end, the western exit of Melbourne Central railway station is located at the intersection of Latrobe and Elizabeth Streets. A number of tram services run along
924-443: A plebiscite the supreme power, with the title of emperor, upon Napoleon III. The Legislative Body was not allowed to elect its own president or to regulate its own procedure, or to propose a law or an amendment, or to vote on the budget in detail, or to make its deliberations public. Similarly, universal suffrage was supervised and controlled by means of official candidature, by forbidding free speech and action in electoral matters to
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#17327825644991008-711: A third level, an attic level, and a taller and more ornate clock tower with sandstone sourced this time from the Grampians. This work was supervised by Peter Kerr of the Public Works Department and was completed in 1887 (leaving the Little Bourke Street end still incomplete). The Mansard roof originally intended for the central section of the Elizabeth Street facade was also constructed, as well as similar curved roofs as part of
1092-815: Is no war, my son will never be emperor." Napoleon III doubled the area of the French overseas Empire; he established French rule in New Caledonia , and Cochinchina , established a protectorate in Cambodia (1863); and colonised parts of Africa. He joined Britain in sending an army to China during the Second Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion (1860), but French ventures failed to establish influence in Japan (1867) and Korea (1866). To carry out his new overseas projects, Napoleon III created
1176-696: The American Civil War ended in 1865, by the apparent closing of the Roman question by the convention of 15 September , which guaranteed to the Papal States the protection of Italy , and finally by the treaty of 30 October 1864 , which temporarily put an end to the Second Schleswig War . France was primarily a rural society, in which social class depended on family reputation and land ownership. A limited amount of upward mobility
1260-681: The Army of Châlons , which, led by Marshal Patrice de MacMahon and the Emperor, attempted to relieve the Siege of Metz , where the largest French army lay entrapped. The army was repulsed by the Prussians, and retreated to Sedan, where it was surrounded and forced to surrender after the Battle of Sedan . Napoleon himself became a prisoner and Republican forces quickly took control of Paris. France, under
1344-522: The Danubian principalities . To extricate himself from the Polish impasse , the emperor again proposed a congress, with no luck. He was again unsuccessful: Great Britain refused even to admit the principle of a congress, while Austria , Prussia and Russia gave their adhesion only on conditions which rendered it futile, i.e. they reserved the vital questions of Venetia and Poland. The Emperor's support of
1428-839: The French Empire in North Africa , in East Africa and in French Indochina . Napoleon III also launched an intervention in Mexico seeking to erect the Second Mexican Empire and bring it into the French orbit, but this ended in a fiasco. He mishandled the Prussian threat, and by the end of his reign, the French emperor found himself without allies in the face of overwhelming German forces. His rule
1512-688: The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had proved the danger of half-measures. But when a concession, however narrow, had been made to the liberty of one nation, it could hardly be refused to the no less legitimate aspirations of the rest. In 1863, these "new rights" again clamoured loudly for recognition: in Poland , in Schleswig and Holstein , in Italy , now united, with neither frontiers nor capital, and in
1596-582: The Second and the Third French Republics . Ruled by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoleon III) , the period was one of significant achievements in infrastructure and economy, while France reasserted itself as the dominant power in Europe . Historians in the 1930s and 1940s disparaged the Second Empire as a precursor of fascism , but by the late 20th century it was re-evaluated as an example of
1680-475: The bourgeoisie might spread to the people. Napoleon believed that he would consolidate his menaced power by again turning to the labouring masses, by whom that power had been established. Assured of support, the emperor, through Rouher, a supporter of the absolutist régime , refused all fresh claims on the part of the Liberals. He was aided by international events such as the reopening of cotton supplies when
1764-526: The collectivist theories of Karl Marx and the revolutionary theories of Mikhail Bakunin , as set forth at the congresses of the International . These labour congresses defied official proscriptions, and proclaimed that the social emancipation of the worker was inseparable from his political emancipation. The union between the internationalists and the republican bourgeois became an accomplished fact. The Empire, taken by surprise, sought to curb both
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#17327825644991848-407: The senatus-consulte of 8 September 1869, a parliamentary monarchy was substituted for the Emperor's personal government. On 2 January 1870 Ollivier was placed at the head of the first homogeneous, united and responsible ministry. Although most of the country hailed this reconciliation of liberty and order, the republican party insisted on further reforms and liberties and demanding the overthrow of
1932-467: The 'grandes écoles.' The elite maintained their position while allowing social ascent through the professions for ambitious sons of wealthy farmers and small-town merchants. The ultramontane party grumbled, while the industries formerly protected were dissatisfied with free trade reform. The working classes had abandoned their political neutrality. Disregarding Pierre-Joseph Proudhon 's impassioned attack on communism , they had gradually been won over by
2016-569: The 20th century, adding telegraphic and telegram functions. The surrounding steps and clock tower are city landmarks and have prominently featured in meetings, protests, and Armistice Day and New Years Day celebrations. The building occupies the north-eastern corner of the Elizabeth and Bourke Street intersection. The design is a fine and elaborate example of Renaissance Revival , with its use of arcading, pedimented windows, and layers of attached and overlaid columns, piers and pilasters, employing
2100-511: The Assembly. His decisions were popularly endorsed by a referendum later that month that attracted 92 percent support. At that same referendum, a new constitution was approved. Formally enacted in January 1852, the new document made Louis-Napoléon president for 10 years, with no restrictions on re-election. It concentrated virtually all governing power in his hands. However, Louis-Napoléon
2184-722: The Catholic Church in France. The goal was to mobilise Catholic opinion and encourage the government to support the Pope. A major result of the Catholic ultramontane campaign was to trigger reforms in the cultural sphere, which also granted freedoms to their political enemies the Republicans and freethinkers. Although the Second Empire strongly favoured Catholicism, the official state religion, it tolerated Protestants and Jews, with no persecutions or pogroms. The state dealt with
2268-452: The Empire. The killing of the journalist Victor Noir by Pierre Bonaparte , a member of the imperial family, gave the revolutionaries their long desired opportunity (10 January). But the émeute (uprising) ended in a failure. In a concession to democratic currents, the emperor put his policy to a plebiscite on 8 May 1870. The result was a substantial success for Bonaparte, with seven and
2352-521: The Melbourne central business district, with land rising both to the east and west, and more gradually to the north. The street was built on top of a historic natural creek and has suffered numerous floods in Melbourne's history. Flash flooding south towards the Yarra River occurred in 1882, 1972 and more recently during the 2010 Victorian storms . The Elizabeth Street drain runs from Carlton in
2436-491: The Opposition, and by a gerrymandering in such a way as to overwhelm the liberal vote in the mass of the rural population. The press was subjected to a system of cautionnements ("caution money", deposited as a guarantee of good behaviour) and avertissements (requests by the authorities to cease publication of certain articles), under sanction of suspension or suppression. Books were subject to censorship. To counteract
2520-537: The Polish rebels alienated the Russian leadership. The visit of Tsar Alexander II of Russia to Paris ended in near-disaster when he was twice attacked by Polish assassins, but escaped. In Berlin, Otto von Bismarck saw the opportunity to squeeze out the French by forming closer relationships with the Russians. The success of the 1870 plebiscite, which should have consolidated the Empire, determined its downfall. It
2604-693: The United States. Napoleon helped finance the Confederacy but refused to intervene actively until Britain agreed, and London always rejected intervention. The Emperor realised that a war with the US without allies would spell disaster for France. Napoleon dreamed of building a French economic sphere in Latin America, centered on Mexico. He helped to promote rapid economic modernisation, but his army battled diehard insurgents who had American support. By 1863, French military intervention in Mexico to set up
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2688-660: The anxiety of those candid friends who were calling attention to the defective budget, the commercial crisis and foreign troubles. Napoleon again disappointed the hopes of Italy, allowed Poland to be crushed , and allowed Prussia to triumph over Denmark regarding the Schleswig-Holstein question . These inconsistencies led opposition leaders to form the Union libérale , a coalition of the Legitimist, Liberal and Republican parties. The Opposition gained forty seats in
2772-522: The better option, and outvoted, he backed down. The immediate issue was a trivial controversy regarding control of the Spanish throne. France was successful in the diplomatic standoff, but Napoleon wanted to humiliate the Prussian king, William I . Bismarck in turn manipulated the situation such that France declared war against Prussia on 15 July 1870 after major protests in France (however, Napoleon
2856-434: The building, especially the postal hall, on 10 September 2001. The redevelopment proceeded as planned, including the restoration of the postal hall, and a contemporary styled extension, reopening in late 2004 as a high-end fashion retail precinct. The redevelopment opened up a new link through the building to Little Bourke Street, and escalators in the new addition made the first and second floors easily accessible, and open to
2940-419: The characteristic order of Tuscan columns in the first level, Ionic columns in the second and Corinthian columns in the third. The use of Mansard roofs on central and end sections set slightly forward of the main walls add a French Second Empire flavour. A post office was first established in Melbourne on 13 April 1837, but it would not be until 1841 that a permanent post office building would be erected on
3024-475: The closure of the Melbourne GPO was first announced and various commercial schemes proposed amid some controversy, but none proceeded until 2001, when it was leased to developers for conversion into a shopping centre, with contemporary extensions to the still incomplete north end. Shortly after postal functions were moved into a smaller building on Little Bourke Street a fire severely damaged the interior of
3108-515: The colonies, except in Algeria . The colonial trade reached 600 million francs, but the profits were overwhelmed by the expenses. However, a major goal was the 'Mission civilisatrice', the mission to spread French culture, language and religion, and this proved successful. The rise of the neighbouring state of Prussia during the 1860s threatened French supremacy in western Europe. Napoleon, growing steadily weaker in body and mind, badly mishandled
3192-662: The country. The Second Empire is credited with rebuilding of Paris with broad boulevards , striking public buildings, and elegant residential districts for wealthier Parisians. Internationally, Napoleon III tried to emulate his uncle Napoleon Bonaparte , engaging in numerous imperial ventures around the world as well as several wars in Europe . He began his reign with French victories in Crimea and in Italy , gaining Savoy and Nice , and very briefly, Venetia (before in turn ceding to Italy ). Using very harsh methods, he built up
3276-509: The elect of the people as the representative of the democracy, ruled supreme. He himself drew power and legitimacy from his role as representative of the great Napoleon I of France , "who had sprung armed from the French Revolution like Minerva from the head of Jove ". The anti-parliamentary French Constitution of 1852 instituted by Napoleon III on 14 January 1852 was largely a repetition of that of 1848 . All executive power
3360-410: The elections of May–June 1863, and Adolphe Thiers urgently gave voice to the opposition parties' demands for "necessary liberties". It would have been difficult for the emperor to mistake the importance of this manifestation of French opinion, and in view of his international failures, impossible to repress it. The sacrifice of minister Persigny of the interior, who was responsible for the elections,
3444-427: The empire. One innovation was made, namely that the legislative body was elected by universal suffrage but had no right of initiative, all laws being proposed by the executive power . This new political change was rapidly followed by the same consequence as had attended that of Brumaire . On 2 December 1852, France, still under the effect of Napoleon's legacy, and the fear of anarchy, conferred almost unanimously by
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3528-527: The evolution of the absolutist or authoritarian empire towards the liberal, and later parliamentary empire, which was to last for ten years. The idea of Italian unification , which would inevitably end the temporal power of the popes , outraged French Catholics, who had been the leading supporters of the Empire. A keen Catholic opposition sprang up, voiced in Louis Veuillot 's paper the Univers , and
3612-462: The fiasco in Mexico. Napoleon did not know what he wanted or what to do, but the reverse was true for Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck , who planned to create a great new German nation, based on Prussian power, as well as resurgent German nationalism based on the systematic humiliation of France. After seeing the defeat of Austria , the Emperor demanded a conscription law. The parliament disagreed, maintaining that professionals would be always
3696-404: The first nine days of August, France experienced major losses. The Emperor handed power to the other generals and let them command, then telegrammed his wife, asking if he should return to Paris. His wife refused, and thus he only sent his son home. The French prime minister resigned, being replaced with a more effective military leader, who soldered the disorganised and demoralised French. He forged
3780-413: The full site, with a main floor fronted by arcades raised up on a stepped plinth (possibly due to the frequent flooding of Elizabeth Street), mansard roofed end and central pavilions, and a corner clocktower. Construction of this design ceased in 1867, without the northern half of the Elizabeth Street wing, the central mansarded portion or the mansarded roof to the tower. The grand hall, lit by a skylit roof,
3864-546: The hall of the GPO served as such during the 20th century, and the steps were a common meeting place. For a period, there was a tradition of celebrating the New Year on the steps of the GPO as the clock struck midnight. In the 1990s, Australia Post began a program of closing and selling or leasing out many of the large and historic post office buildings across Australia, moving post office functions into smaller shopfronts. In 1993,
3948-460: The increase of secret police activity and the imperial police lacked the omnipotence seen in later totalitarian states. Napoleon began by removing the gag which was keeping the country in silence. On 24 November 1860, he granted to the Chambers the right to vote an address annually in answer to the speech from the throne, and to the press the right of reporting parliamentary debates. He counted on
4032-598: The internal lives of Protestant communities. Napoleon III manipulated a range of politicised police powers to censor the media and suppress opposition. Legally he had broad powers but in practice he was limited by legal, customary and moral deterrents. By 1851 political police had a centralised administrative hierarchy and were largely immune from public control. The Second Empire continued the system; proposed innovations were stalled by officials. Typically political roles were part of routine administrative duties. Although police forces were indeed strengthened, opponents exaggerated
4116-409: The latter concession to hold in check the growing Catholic opposition, which was becoming more and more alarmed by the policy of laissez-faire practiced by the emperor in Italy. The government majority already showed some signs of independence. The right of voting on the budget by sections, granted by the emperor in 1861, was a new weapon given to his adversaries. Everything conspired in their favour:
4200-715: The leadership of Léon Gambetta , declared the establishment of the Third French Republic . Napoleon and Eugénie went into exile in England. Victory produced an onrush of German nationalism that Bismarck immediately seized to unite all of the German states ( except Austria ), thereby creating the German Empire , with the Prussian king as its emperor and Bismarck as chancellor. The new Germany was now continental Europe's dominant military force. Additionally, France
4284-590: The main streets in the Melbourne central business district , Victoria, Australia , part of the Hoddle Grid laid out in 1837. It is presumed to have been named in honour of governor Richard Bourke 's wife. The street is known as a retail shopping precinct. It is connected with key shopping and tourist destinations such as Bourke Street Mall , General Post Office , Melbourne Central Shopping Centre , Emporium Melbourne and Queen Victoria Market . The intersection of Elizabeth Street and Flinders street has been
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#17327825644994368-521: The middle classes and the labourers, goading both into revolutionary actions. There were multiple strikes. The elections of May 1869 , which took place during these disturbances, inflicted upon the Empire a serious moral defeat. In spite of the government's warning against the "red terror", the conciliatory candidate Ollivier was rejected by Paris, while 40 irreconcilables and 116 members of the Third Party were elected. Concessions had to be made, and by
4452-463: The new and unsuccessful attempt made at Frohsdorf in 1853, by a combination of the legitimists and Orléanists , to re-create a living monarchy out of the ruin of two royal families. The Empress Eugenie created a memorial to the Second Empire in England in the 1880s. Exiled in Farnborough, Hampshire, she turned her house at Farnborough Hill into a Bonapartist shrine, filling the interior with
4536-579: The north to the Yarra River in the south, carrying storm water from the inner northern suburbs and city centre. This drain is a significant source of pollutants entering the lower Yarra. Elizabeth Street is home to many historically important buildings, modern structures and works of art. These various works are listed on both the Victorian Heritage Register and National Trust of Australia . Elizabeth Street has been home to
4620-450: The north-west, Royal Parade to the north and Grattan Street to the East. This complex, high-traffic roundabout is further complicated by trams travelling through it on varying routes. Traffic lights were installed on the roundabout in 2011 to limit the dangerous complexity of the intersection, it having previously functioned as a normal roundabout . Elizabeth Street is the lowest point in
4704-417: The opposition of individuals, a surveillance of suspects was instituted. Felice Orsini 's attack on the emperor in 1858, though purely Italian in its motive, served as a pretext for increasing the severity of this régime by the law of general security ( sûreté générale ) which authorised the internment, exile or deportation of any suspect without trial. In the same way public instruction was strictly supervised,
4788-406: The opposition represented by Thiers was rather constitutional than dynastic, there was another and irreconcilable opposition, that of the amnestied or voluntarily exiled republicans, of whom Victor Hugo was the eloquent mouthpiece. Thus those who had formerly constituted the governing classes were again showing signs of their ambition to govern. There appeared to be some risk that this movement among
4872-407: The people, to function as supreme leader and safeguard the achievements of the revolution. He had so often, while in prison or in exile, chastised previous oligarchical governments for neglecting social questions that it was imperative France now prioritise their solutions. His answer was to organise a system of government based on the principles of the "Napoleonic Idea". This meant that the emperor,
4956-664: The post office is still used as a point of reference for the measure of distances from the centre of Melbourne. The General Post Office is historically significant as one of the foremost public buildings in Victoria, both architecturally and as the centre of postal communications for the Colony of Victoria , being the conduit of communication with other colonies, and the United Kingdom, the birthplace of most 19th century Victorians. It retained this central postal role for much of
5040-407: The public for the first time, with the old offices occupied by boutiques. Cafes occupied the delivery laneway on the east side, and part of the outer colonnade, while the hall itself was subdivided with glass walls into retail tenancies. This work was designed by Williams Boag architects, and won two Architect's Institute awards in 2005. A lift was added into the postal hall in 2010, but the development
5124-472: The remnants of the imperial collection (returned to her in early 1881) and reconstructing elements of the display at the imperial palaces before 1870. On an adjacent hill she created a spectacular Mausoleum, today St Michael’s Abbey, where the bodies of Napoleon III and the Prince Imperial were interred in 1888. The imperial crypt at Farnborough remains the only official monument to Napoleon III and
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#17327825644995208-486: The site of ongoing social and criminal issues in recent times. The street runs roughly north-south in-between Queen Street and Swanston Street . At the southern end the street terminates at Flinders Street station , whilst the northern end terminates at Grattan Street , north of the Haymarket Roundabout . Haymarket connects Elizabeth Street to Peel Street towards the south-west, Flemington Road to
5292-405: The site of the present GPO. In 1858 a design competition was held for a new General Post Office building, with the winners announced on Friday 7 May 1858. The competition was in two parts, Crouch and Wilson won first prize for their exterior design, while Arthur Ebden Johnson won second place for exterior, and also won second place for the interior arrangement. The first prize for the interior
5376-495: The situation, and eventually found himself in a war without allies. Britain was afraid of French militarism and refused to help. Russia was highly annoyed about French interference in supporting Polish rebels in the 1863 uprising . Napoleon had given strong support to Italy , but refused the demand for Rome, and kept French troops in Rome to protect the pope from the new Italian government, thus leading to Italian refusal to help. The United States remained alienated because of
5460-441: The small Protestant community of Calvinist and Lutheran churches, whose members included many prominent businessmen who supported the regime. The emperor's Decree Law of 26 March 1852 led to greater government interference in Protestant church affairs, thus reducing self-regulation in favor of Catholic bureaucrats who misunderstood and mistrusted Protestant doctrine. Their administration affected not only church-state relations but also
5544-445: The street, including route 19 trams to Coburg North , route 59 trams to Airport West and route 57 trams to West Maribyrnong . [REDACTED] Australian Roads portal [REDACTED] Media related to Elizabeth Street, Melbourne at Wikimedia Commons Second French Empire The Second French Empire , officially the French Empire , was the government of France from 2 December 1852 to 4 September 1870 between
5628-412: The substitution for the ministers without portfolio of a sort of presidency of the council filled by Eugène Rouher , the "Vice-Emperor", and the nomination of Jean Victor Duruy , an anti-clerical, as minister of public instruction, in reply to those attacks of the Church which were to culminate in the Syllabus of 1864, all indicated a distinct rapprochement between the emperor and the Left. But though
5712-433: The teaching of philosophy was suppressed in the lycées , and the disciplinary powers of the administration were increased. For seven years France had no democratic life. The Empire governed by a series of plebiscites. Up to 1857 the Opposition did not exist; from then until 1860 it was reduced to five members: Alfred Darimon, Émile Ollivier , Hénon , Jules Favre , and Ernest Picard . The royalists waited inactive after
5796-447: The tower, which, along with the increased height, gave the building much of its Second French Empire grandeur. The clock was made in Williamstown with parts from Glasgow. The clock plays 28 tunes. In the early years, it would play one tune every 15 minutes, all day and night. In 1906-7, the GPO was extended to the north in Elizabeth Street by five bays. The new façade matched the original design, although there were only two storeys and
5880-449: Was awarded to British architect Edward Rumsey. Johnson was then employed by the Public Works Department, and eventually construction started in 1861 on what was said to be Johnson's design, rather than the Crouch and Wilson design, which proceeded slowly and at great expense. In 1861 however, Johnson himself claimed that it was an entirely new design prepared by the Public Works Department. The 1861 design consisted of two storeys, taking up
5964-430: Was bloody but successful, and supported by large numbers of French soldiers, missionaries and businessmen, as well as the local Chinese entrepreneurial element. Mixed domestic gains and losses resulted from European policies. The support France gave to the Italian cause had aroused the eager hopes of other nations. The proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861 after the rapid annexation of Central Italy and
6048-579: Was designed as the mail sorting room; the public transacted all business outside, at window-counters opening into the arcade, with various counters designated for different purposes. It was constructed with bluestone from Brunswick quarries, and sandstone from Tasmania for the facade, including the Doric and Ionic columns . After 20 years, with the rapid growth of Victoria, the General Post Office became overcrowded, and A. E. Johnson designed
6132-739: Was ended during the Franco-Prussian War , when he was captured by the Prussian army at Sedan in 1870 and dethroned by French republicans. He died in exile in 1873 in England . On 2 December 1851, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte , who had been elected President of the Republic , staged a coup d'état by dissolving the National Assembly without having the constitutional right to do so. He thus became sole ruler of France, and re-established universal suffrage, previously abolished by
6216-407: Was entrusted to the emperor, who, as head of state, was solely responsible to the people. The people of the Empire, lacking democratic rights, were to rely on the benevolence of the emperor rather than on the benevolence of politicians. He was to nominate the members of the council of state, whose duty it was to prepare the laws, and of the senate, a body permanently established as a constituent part of
6300-404: Was feasible through the steadily improving educational system. Students from all levels of society were granted admission to public secondary schools, opening a ladder to sons of peasants and artisans. However, whether through jealousy of or distrust for the higher classes, few working-class families took advantage of education or wished to see their sons move up and out: very few sought admission to
6384-541: Was forced to give up the two border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine , and its humiliation lasted for generations. The structure of the French government during the Second Empire was little changed from the First . Emperor Napoleon III stressed his own imperial role as the foundation of the government; if government was to guide the people toward domestic justice and external peace, it was his role as emperor, holding his power by universal male suffrage and representing all of
6468-551: Was formally re-established on 2 December 1852, and the Prince-President became "Napoléon III, Emperor of the French". The constitution had already concentrated so much power in his hands that the only substantive changes were to replace the word "president" with the word "emperor" and to make the post hereditary. The popular referendum became a distinct sign of Bonapartism , which Charles de Gaulle would later use. With almost dictatorial powers, Napoleon III made building
6552-407: Was not a commercial success. The GPO was redeveloped again, reopening on 5 April 2014 occupied almost entirely by Australia's first branch of Swedish retail giant H&M , with crowds forming hours in advance. The cafes in the former delivery lane and the arcades remained in place, and the top (second) floor is occupied by offices. Elizabeth Street, Melbourne Elizabeth Street is one of
6636-595: Was not content with merely being an authoritarian president. Almost as soon as he signed the new document into law, he set about restoring the empire. In response to officially inspired requests for the return of the empire, the Senate scheduled a second referendum in November , which passed with 97 percent support. As with the December 1851 referendum, most of the "yes" votes were manufactured out of thin air. The empire
6720-762: Was not silenced even by the Syrian expedition (1860) in favour of the Catholic Maronite side of the Druze–Maronite conflict . Ultramontane Catholicism, longing for close links to the Pope in Rome, played a pivotal role in the democratisation of culture. The pamphlet campaign led by Mgr Gaston de Ségur, at the height of the Italian question in February 1860, made the most of the freedom of expression enjoyed by
6804-504: Was officially neutral throughout the American Civil War , 1861–1865 and never recognised the Confederate States of America . The Union warned that recognition would mean war. However, the textile industry needed Southern cotton, and Napoleon had imperial ambitions in Mexico, which could be greatly aided by the Confederacy. At the same time, other French political leaders, such as Foreign Minister Édouard Thouvenel , supported
6888-400: Was reluctant as he had become ill as well as being sceptical of the outcome), thus sparking the Franco-Prussian War . The French empire made the first move, as the Emperor led a charge that crossed the German border. On August 2, the French defeated a Prussian vanguard and occupied the town of Saarbrücken . Two days later, the Prussians launched an offensive that repulsed the French army. After
6972-538: Was solidified by government guarantees. Although France had started late, by 1870 it had an excellent railway system, supported as well by good roads, canals and ports. Napoleon, in order to restore the prestige of the Empire before the newly awakened hostility of public opinion, tried to gain the support from the Left that he had lost from the Right. After the return from Italy, the general amnesty of 16 August 1859 had marked
7056-417: Was thought that a diplomatic success would make the country forget liberty in favour of glory. It was in vain that after the parliamentary revolution of 2 January 1870, Comte Daru revived, through Lord Clarendon , Count Beust 's plan of disarmament after the Battle of Königgrätz . He met with a refusal from Prussia and from the imperial entourage. The Empress Eugénie was credited with the remark, "If there
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