On the eve of the general election of 1869, he published a manifesto, Le 19 janvier, on his policy.
The sénatus-consulte of 8 September 1869 gave the two chambers ordinary parliamentary rights, and was followed by the dismissal of Eugène Rouher and the formation in the last week of that year of a ministry of which Ollivier was really premier, although that office was not nominally recognized by the constitution.

The new cabinet, known as the ministry of 2 January, had a hard task before it, complicated a week after its formation by the shooting of Victor Noir, a Republican journalist, by Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor's cousin.
Ollivier immediately summoned the high court of justice for the judgment of Prince Bonaparte and Joachim Murat.
The riots following the murder were suppressed without bloodshed; circulars were sent round to the prefects forbidding them to put pressure on the electors in favour of official candidates; Baron Haussmann was dismissed from the prefecture of the Seine département.

The violent press campaign against the emperor, to whom he had promised a happy old age, was broken by the prosecution of Henri Rochefort; and on 20 April a sénatus-consulte was issued which accomplished the transformation of the Empire into a constitutional monarchy.
Neither concessions nor firmness sufficed to appease the "Irreconcilables" of the opposition, who since the relaxation of the press laws were able to influence the electorate.

On 8 May, however, the amended constitution was submitted, on Rouher's advice, to a plebiscite, which resulted in a vote of nearly seven to one in favour of the government.
This appeared to confirm that Napoleon III' son would succeed him and was a bitter blow to the Republicans.

The most distinguished members of the Left in the cabinet – LJ Buffet, Napoleon Daru and Auguste de Talhouët-Roy – resigned in April over the plebiscite.
Ollivier himself held the ministry of foreign affairs for a month, until Daru was replaced by the duc de Gramont, Ollivier's evil genius.
The other vacancies were filled by J.P. Mège and  Charles Ignace Plichon, both of them of Conservative tendencies.
On the eve of the general election of 1869, he published a manifesto, Le 19 janvier, on his policy. The sénatus-consulte of 8 September 1869 gave the two chambers ordinary parliamentary rights, and was followed by the dismissal of Eugène Rouher and the formation in the last week of that year of a ministry of which Ollivier was really premier, although that office was not nominally recognized by the constitution.
The new cabinet, known as the ministry of 2 January, had a hard task before it, complicated a week after its formation by the shooting of Victor Noir, a Republican journalist, by Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor's cousin. Ollivier immediately summoned the high court of justice for the judgment of Prince Bonaparte and Joachim Murat. The riots following the murder were suppressed without bloodshed; circulars were sent round to the prefects forbidding them to put pressure on the electors in favour of official candidates; Baron Haussmann was dismissed from the prefecture of the Seine département.
The violent press campaign against the emperor, to whom he had promised a happy old age, was broken by the prosecution of Henri Rochefort; and on 20 April a sénatus-consulte was issued which accomplished the transformation of the Empire into a constitutional monarchy. Neither concessions nor firmness sufficed to appease the "Irreconcilables" of the opposition, who since the relaxation of the press laws were able to influence the electorate.
On 8 May, however, the amended constitution was submitted, on Rouher's advice, to a plebiscite, which resulted in a vote of nearly seven to one in favour of the government. This appeared to confirm that Napoleon III' son would succeed him and was a bitter blow to the Republicans.
The most distinguished members of the Left in the cabinet – LJ Buffet, Napoleon Daru and Auguste de Talhouët-Roy – resigned in April over the plebiscite. Ollivier himself held the ministry of foreign affairs for a month, until Daru was replaced by the duc de Gramont, Ollivier's evil genius. The other vacancies were filled by J.P. Mège and  Charles Ignace Plichon, both of them of Conservative tendencies.
Émile Ollivier