requisite to recognize and proclaim the necessity of remaining within the limits of legal action.

Meantime the defeated statesman maintained a calm demeanour. To some friends who were waiting for him at dinner on the day of his resignation he said, "I fall with my flag in my hand, after having rendered some service, and I give up my place à ceux qui vont se lancer dans les aventures d'une situation extrêmement grave. Je reprendrai ma place à l'Assemblée. Je tiens surtout au mandat qui me vient de la nation."

CHAPTER II.

New Government-Marshal MacMahon-Interpellation on Circular to Prefects— Prosecution of M. Ranc-Funeral of M. Brousses-Constitutional Bills-Interpellation by M. Jules Favre-Church on Montmartre-Commercial Treaty with England -Termination of the Session-Visit of the Shah-M. Ranc-Evacuation of France by the Germans-Visit of the Comte de Paris to Frohsdorf-Clerical reactionPilgrimages-Paray-le-Monial-Restoration Project-Negotiation with the Comte de Chambord-Politics of the Left-Provincial Elections-Letter of Comte de Chambord to M. Chesnelong-Meeting of the Assembly-Changarnier's proposition for ten years' prolongation of Presidential powers-Committee's Report-Presidential Message Debate on the seven years' prolongation, and victory of GovernmentMinistry remodelled-Interpellation by M. Léon Say-New Committee of ThirtyBill for appointment of Mayors-"State of Siege"-Provincial Elections-Budget of M. Magne-Trial of Marshal Bazaine-M. Thiers.

ON Monday, the 26th of May, the Duc de Broglie read before the National Assembly the following Message from the new President of the Republic :

:

"Called to the Presidency by the National Assembly, I have exercised my power by choosing a Ministry taken from your ranks. I am animated by a sentiment of respect for your wishes, and a desire always scrupulously to execute them. I believe the majority invariably constitutes the law in a parliamentary régime, and this is still more the case in the present instance, where, by virtue of the existing laws, the First Magistrate of the Republic is the delegate of the Assembly and the delegate of the law. The Assembly had two great tasks to fulfil, the liberation of the territory and the restoration of order in a state of society disturbed by the spirit of revolution. The first of these objects has been pursued amid the unanimity of the national representatives. We can say with truth the redemption of our territory has met with no opponent. It would have been impossible to accomplish it if the country had not lent itself to the task with heroic patience, and it has been ably conducted by a man from whom a disagreement on questions of home policy alone could induce you to separate. I rely upon you to complete this task. The excellent relations which the former Government had established with foreign Powers lead us to adopt

the same line of conduct. We desire the maintenance of peace and the reorganization of the army, which we shall actively persevere in effecting, animated only by a legitimate desire to repair the strength and retain the rank which belong to France. The home policy of the Government will be imbued with a character of social Conservatism. All the laws you have voted possess that characteristic. The Government is resolutely Conservative. We have numerous laws to enact. The bills on the reorganization of the army and municipalities and educational reform are drawn up, and I believe I have selected Ministers who are competent to discuss them. You will discuss the bills which you instructed our predecessor to submit to you and those already before you, and the Government will examine them and give you the result of their careful consideration. But previously to that the Government must act, and must introduce into and impress upon the Administration the spirit of Conservatism, and cause the laws to be respected by appointing agents who will make them respected and themselves respect them. The Government will not fail in this duty, and will defend society against all factions. The post in which you have placed me is that of a sentinel who has to watch over the integrity of your sovereign power."

The Ministry had been announced as follows:-The Duc de Broglie, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Vice-President of the Council; M. Ernoul, Minister of Justice; M. Beulé, of the Interior; M. Magne, of Finance; General Cissey, of War, ad interim; MM. Dompierre d'Hornoy, Batbie, Deseilligny, De la Bouillerie, and Pascal, to other posts. Though ostensibly a coalition ministry, composing a Bonapartist representation, the reactionist and "clerical" character of the new Cabinet was not to be mistaken. It was recognized on all sides that the political pilot of the State vessel was the Duc de Broglie, a Constitutional Monarchist by his antecedents, but disposed, as it now seemed, to go nearly the length of the Extreme Right. Marshal MacMahon had truly described his own position as that of a sentinel who had to keep watch and ward over the integrity of the sovereign power claimed by the Assembly. Whatever the majority of the Assembly might decide, that was rightfully law; and the Marshal-President, holding command over the army, was to see that the orders of the majority were carried out; consequently that now, while that majority was distinctly a Conservative one, no Radical counterplots and intrigues should thwart its policy. Marshal MacMahon, Duke of Magenta, was sixty-five years of age. A soldier of the Empire, he had never given his mind to political matters: but his character as a trustworthy officer and man of honour, above temptation and above corruption, had won him confidence from all who had needed his services in the late troublous times.

That the Conservative party did not intend their present triumph to pass into inaction was manifest within a very few days of their accession to power, first by the dismissal of some twenty Depart

mental Prefects and the appointment in their place of functionaries on whom the Right could depend; next by a circular addressed by M. Beulé, as Minister of the Interior, to the Prefects in general, instructing them as follows:-" That which the National Assembly expects before everything from the Government which it has instituted is a personal administration inspired by one thought, directed with precision, and placing itself openly at the head of the Conservatives. The Administration ought in all its grades to be the faithful representative of the restorative policy which alone can re-establish the country which has been so cruelly tried. Do not hesitate to state boldly upon which side are your sympathies. Invite all good citizens to unite, that they may strengthen themselves by the strict practice of the duties of public life. It is only by this firm conduct, and by the energetic maintenance of all Conservative principles, that we shall be enabled to constitute in France a true Governmental majority. From the present time enter into communication with those who are placed under your administration. The frankness of your attitude will suffice to elevate their moral position, to discourage anarchical tendencies, and to insure everywhere respect for the National Assembly and for the law. Let all those who desire to reorganize the country under the Presidency of the illustrious Marshal, whom the depositaries of the National Sovereignty have elected, know for certain that they will be resolutely supported and defended."

This was a strong indication of reactionist intentions on the part of the new rulers; but no specially unfavourable impression was made upon the public mind till, on Tuesday, June 10th, M. Gambetta addressed an Interpellation to the Minister of the Interior, touching the suppression of the Corsaire newspaper, and desired to know the authenticity of another circular, a "private" one, addressed confidentially to the Prefects in M. Beulé's name, and having for its object the relations of the Government with the provincial Press. "You are requested urgently," said this second circular, "to send me a report on the Press of your Department. The time has come for reassuming in this direction the authority and influence which an affectation of indifferent neutrality had destroyed. Mention the Conservative newspapers, or those susceptible of becoming such, whatever may be the section to which they belong, their financial position, and the price which they may attach to the friendly assistance of the Administration, the names of their chief editors, their present opinions, and their previous history. If you can converse with them, find out whether they would accept correspondence, and in what manner they would like to have it. We are going to organize an office for telegraphic and autographic news, which will be regularly addressed to you, and of which you will arrange the communications. In proportion to the amount of confidence with which the various newspapers will inspire you, and in order to do so, it will be wise on your part to form a Press department in your Cabinet, which will not be entrusted

to employés indigènes, or indigents." ("The word," M. Gambetta said, "is indistinctly written.") Give me your views on these various points. I rely on your tact. There could be no more delicate question, or one which must be dealt with with greater prudence and ability. Increase your connexion with the Press, and make yourself accessible to its representatives."

Noisy interruptions attended the reading of this circular. "If it is genuine," said Gambetta, " it supplies a measure of the extent of the moral disorder which is being organized." The Deputies of the Left were forward to testify their indignation. Turning to the Government benches, Gambetta said "You have been accused of being the protégés of the Empire, but now you are becoming its plagiarists, and even out-Heroding it." M. Beulé somewhat lamely objected to the interpretation put upon certain passages of the circular. He had asked, he said, for a list of the newspapers; it was his duty to ascertain the means at the disposal of public opinion; but he had not intended to take five or six hundred journals into his pay. The Left then brought forward as a motion-"The National Assembly, protesting against the circular of the Minister of the Interior, passes to the Order of the Day." To this M. Baragnon opposed, on behelf of Government, the Order of the Day, "pure and simple;" and, when put to the vote, a majority of 389 against 315 decided in his favour. Still the impression produced by the revelation that had been made was unfavourable; many Deputies voted with the Ministers, in order to save the country from another shock, but with strong disapprobation of the manner in which they had endeavoured to stifle public opinion. At the close of the sitting, M. Pascal, the Under-Secretary, who had had the actual drawing up of the circular, resigned his post; and, with the sacrifice of this scapegoat, the Government was free again to pursue its course.

That course continued to manifest its reactionary tendency. On the 12th of June, M. Buffet communicated to the Assembly two letters he had received, one from the Minister of War and the other from the Commandant of Paris, the object of which was to promote the prosecution of M. Rane, who, though now a member of the National Assembly, was, said General l'Admirault, justly liable for the acts committed by the Commune of 1871, of which he was a member, being in fact the only person closely connected with the Commune who had hitherto escaped prosecution. A Committee was appointed to consider the request.

M. Ranc, when summoned, declined to present himself before the Committee. He wrote a letter, in which he said: "I have shown that I do not fly from justice. I have been in Paris for the last two years, and have been elected Municipal Councillor. I have appeared as a witness before the Military Courts, which have pronounced upon the question of my guilt or innocence. I have since been elected Deputy by 90,000 votes, and the Assembly, by confirming the validity of my election, has recognized my complete eligibility. I decline to acknowledge the competency of the Com

mittee; to admit the judicial authority of the Assembly would be an offence against the integrity of universal suffrage." M. Baragnon presented the Committee's report on the 18th. It was proposed that as M. Ranc had chosen to absent himself from examination, authority should be given to the Governor of Paris to institute a prosecution against him.

A motion, brought forward by the Left, that a previous inquiry should take place, was negatived by a large majority, and the unconditional prosecution was voted. Meanwhile, M. Ranc prudently quitted the soil of France, and by his departure the Government was, at all events, freed from the presence in the Assembly of a dangerous member of the Extreme Left. Another partisan of that section, M. Brousses, representing the Department of the Aube, happened at this time to die; and his funeral, which took place on the 20th, was the occasion of important political excitement, bringing into collision the opinions, moral and religious, of the Extreme parties in the State. The friends of M. Brousses decided, probably in accordance with his own wishes, that the ceremony should be a purely "civil" interment, without any kind of religious form or observance. Now a decree had just been issued by the Prefect of the Rhone, enacting that notifications of deaths to the registrar should be accompanied by a declaration whether the burial would be with or without the participation of the ministers of a religion recognized by the State; that if without, then it must be performed at six a.m. from April to September, and at seven a.m. from October to March; that the funeral procession should select the most unfrequented streets, unless by special authorization from the Prefect. The decree at first hardly obtained credit, but when it appeared at full length in the papers, remarks were made of no flattering nature for Prefect Ducros and for the Government which countenanced him. "What!" exclaims in substance the principal Radical organ, "is this liberty and equality? Families who accept priestly discipline have the privilege of honouring their dead. For them the noonday hour, the spacious, well-inhabited streets, the numerous procession. The Freethinkers, who in Lyons are by far the majority, shall be otherwise disposed of. For their benefit Prefect Ducros has made a special law. At seven on a winter morning— that is to say, in the darkness of night-the children are to carry to the grave, through the narrowest and foulest thoroughfares of the city, the corpses of their parents dead without confession." And the journalist inveighed against "the frightful tyranny of the pretended Parliamentary Liberals, who, after three weeks of power, attack the liberty of civil interment." Papers of far more moderate politics, such as the Temps, did not scruple to use the word "persecution" as the only one that properly described such a decree as this. "The days of dragonnades are over, material violence is no longer resorted to against misbelievers or unbelievers, but it is sought to deprive them of the benefit of the law by recourse to vexatious administrative details."