Bismarck added that "he was unwilling to pledge himself to recognise without distinction all the men whom France might be pleased to place at her head in succession." 1

The Duc de Broglie, deeply moved, sent a protest to Berlin. Prince Bismarck replied to M. de GontautBiron that " Count von Arnim having asked him for leave of absence on grounds of health, he authorised him to leave his post, since he would have no credentials to present." And the Chancellor let it be understood that this example would be followed by the Ambassadors of Russia, Austria, and Italy.

The Duc de Broglie feared to complicate the incident further. The French Ambassadors at Berlin, St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Rome, received fresh credentials, and the Ambassadors of the four Powers in Paris, formerly accredited to M. Thiers, were henceforth accredited to Marshal MacMahon. On June 10th M. Lepère, deputy for Political the Yonne and a member of the Left, opened the first political debate by putting a question to the Government on the subject of the

First

Debate

1 These words were aimed at Gambetta. See the despatches of M. de Saint-Vallier and the letters of M. de Gontaut-Biron in Libération du territoire (vol. ii. pp. 36, 60, 73,78, 82, 89, 99, 121, 130, 134, 206, 215, 271, 295, 303). Cf. Duc de Broglie, La mission de M. de Gontaut-Biron à Berlin, p. 110. As to the views of Prince Bismarck, see his despatch of December 20th, 1872, to Count von Arnim (Document in the Arnim case). On June 23rd, 1873, the German Chancellor telegraphed to the German Ambassador in Paris: "Your Excellency has succeeded in gaining an influence here with the Emperor-which has made it impossible for me to lay a positive injunction upon you to throw the whole weight of our policy in the balance in favour of M. Thiers, and it is in a great degree owing to this circumstance, as your Excellency cannot fail to admit, that the change of Government has been able to take place quietly and without having been resisted."

attitude adopted towards the press. The case in point was the suppression of the Corsaire, which, on the subject of the Barodet election, had opened its pages to a subscription which savoured of a Republican manifestation. This measure had been ordered by the military Governor of Paris in virtue of the state of siege, and for an attack upon "the established order." What is this "established order"? asked the speaker. "Is it Republican order? Then why prosecute a paper which supports it? Is it monarchical order? Then what is meant by the words of Marshal MacMahon affirming that nothing will be changed in the existing institutions?"

The Government, anxious to establish its position and to count its majority, had accepted the debate eagerly. M. Beulé, Minister of the Interior, of whom M. de Falloux said "that he was better known at the Academy of Fine Arts than in the parliament,” seemed sure of himself. He took M. Lepère's place at the tribune and made a famous speech, which at the first start nearly overthrew the Cabinet, and in any case ruined his own reputation as a Minister and speaker. After having defended the order which dealt with the Corsaire, he undertook to reply to M. Lepère's last question. The honourable deputy asks," he said, "what is the established order? Is it the same as under the previous Government? or has it been changed since the eminent M. Thiers went out of office? Is it a Republican order or a Monarchical order? You are aware, gentlemen, that we have made no modification in our institutions. The National Assembly which the nation chose on an unhappy day to save it fromAt these words,

laughter and ironical cheers broke out on the Left. "Yes! yes! Hear! hear!" they cried. "On an unhappy day! You are right! That is the truth!"

M. Gambetta overwhelmed the unfortunate M.

Beulé by reading aloud a very confidential " circular addressed to the Prefects by the Minister, in which they were directed to act upon the press of the provinces "by studying their financial situation and informing the Minister of the price which they might ask for a benevolent support of the administration."

"This is a plagiarism from the Empire," cried M. Gambetta.

M. Beulé at first defended the circular, then declared that "he had neither read nor dictated it." It was found to emanate from M. Pascal, UnderSecretary of State. The Right was embar

rassed.

Barely a fortnight after its formation, the Cabinet of the 24th of May was in danger.

M. Baragnon, coming to the rescue, demanded the order of the day pure and simple, declaring that it would not imply approval of all the terms of the circular. This order of the day was voted by 368 to 308.

The next day the debate received a sanction : M. Pascal, Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, sent in his resignation.1

This first engagement was of evil omen. The Ministry took its revenge, and collected its momentarily dispersed majority by demanding

1 Shortly afterwards, by a decree of August 9th, 1873, M. Ernest Pascal was appointed Prefect of the Gironde.

authority to prosecute M. Ranc, recently elected deputy for the Rhone, on account of his participation in the Commune. The manifestation was a platonic one, inasmuch as M. Ranc, without waiting for the vote of the Assembly, had crossed the frontier and taken refuge in Belgium. But to attack him was to aim at Gambetta, whose collaborator M. Ranc had been during the war. It was also thought profitable to give a warning note to universal suffrage, and M. Ernoul, Keeper of the Seals, replying to M. Cazot, did not conceal the fact that the election of M. Ranc "had drawn the eye of justice afresh to his position before the law." The authority to prosecute was granted by 467 to 140, the Left Centre voting with the Government.

The election of Dr. Turigny, deputy of the Nièvre, was invalidated on June 27th, under the pretext that, in a poster, signed in the course of the election campaign by eleven General Councillors,' the National Assembly had been insulted." 2

On the whole, in spite of the humiliation of M. Beulé, the Cabinet was executing the first part of its programme, and affirming its policy of resistance and social conservation in the face of the country.

II

Hostilities were opening in the country itself; on both sides, interests and convictions were shaken. Men perceived the approach of a crisis in which

1 The Conseil-Général is somewhat similar to an English County Council.-TRANSLATOR.

2 M. Turigny was re-elected on the 12th of October in the Nièvre by 39,872 votes against 28,253 given to his opponent, a Conservative.

the past and the future were about to collide. The incidents in parliament were only the outcome of the double impulse in opposite directions, which was taking place in the depths. In hearts and minds apprehension and cheerful anticipation reigned together. The inmost part of our being, or, to speak more correctly, that which constitutes actual being, Faith, urged men to actions.

The Civil

Lyons is a town of passions and mysFunerals ticism; where convictions are full of at Lyons energy and strength; its population was divided, and the first incidents were to take place there.

For some time civil funerals in that city had increased in number under the auspices of a free-thinking association, and had given rise to manifestations. M. Ducros, the Prefect, sent to Lyons by the Cabinet of the 25th of May, exercised the functions of Mayor in virtue of the exceptional arrangements applied to this town. He issued a decree on June 18th requesting relatives to notify at the same time as the death, "whether the burial of the deceased would take place with or without the participation of the officiating ministers of one of the forms of worship recognised by the State, and fixing the hour of burials made without the participation of any religion recognised by the law at six o'clock in the morning in the summer, and at seven o'clock in the winter," and imposing upon funerals of the latter kind the shortest transit to the cemetery from the house of death.

At the same time that the decree of the PrefectMayor of Lyons was officially known, an incident occurred at Versailles in connexion with the civil funeral of M. Brousses, deputy for the Aude.

When M. de Goulard, Vice-President of the