FRANCE. 



281 



reluctance of the Minister to carry through the 

 decrees against the religious communities with 

 that degree of energy winch his colleagues and 

 the majority of the Republican party demanded. 

 He was succeeded by M. Constans, the under- 

 secretary in the Department of the Interior. 

 On September 23d the Premier, M. de Frey- 

 cinet himself, with Admiral Jaureguiberry, 

 Minister of the Navy, and M. Varroy, Minister 

 of Public Works, resigned, and were succeeded 

 by M. Jules Ferry, heretofore Minister of Public 

 Instruction, who was appointed Premier ; M. 

 Barthe'lemy St.-Hilaire, who in place of M. de 

 Freycinet became Minister of Foreign Affairs; 

 Vice- Admiral Cloue, as Minister of the Navy; 

 and M. Sidi Carnot, as Minister of Public 

 Works. The new Ministers are all in favor of 

 a more radical policy against the religious 

 orders, and against the influence of the Church 

 upon the national system of education, than their 

 predecessors, and all are among the intimate 

 friends and supporters of M. Garnbetta. The 

 new Prime Minister, M. Jules Ferry, declared 

 at once, in a circular to the diplomatic agents 

 of France, that there would be no change in 

 the foreign policy of France. (For biographi- 

 cal notes on M. Jules Ferry, see " Annual Cy- 

 clopaedia " for 1879, p. 387, and, for a biographi- 

 cal sketch of M. Barthelemy St.-Hilaire, " An- 

 nual Cyclopaedia " for 1875, p. 316.) 



M. Jean Antoine Ernest Constans, the new 

 Minister of the Interior and of Public Worship, 

 was born in 1833, and was formerly Professor 

 of Roman Law in Toulouse. M. Sidi Carnot 

 is a member of the well-known family which 

 has given to France a number of distinguished 

 advocates of republican sentiments. He was 

 heretofore under-secretary in the same Min- 

 istry of which he has now become the chief. 

 Vice- Admiral Cloue" has heretofore not taken 

 an active part in political life, and was, at the 

 time of his appointment, President of the Hy- 

 drographic Committee. 



The National Assembly resumed its sittings 

 on January 13th. Both in the Senate and the 

 Chamber of Deputies the oldest member pres- 

 ent acted as temporary president. In the 

 Senate the presidency devolved upon M. Gaul- 

 thier de Rumilly, who was eighty-seven years 

 of age, and in the Chamber of Deputies upon 

 M. Desseaux, who was ninety-one years of 

 age. Both belong to the Republican party, 

 and expressed a wish that the coming session 

 might contribute to the strengthening of the 

 republic. The Chamber of Deputies reflected 

 on January 13th, M. Gambetta, and the Senate, 

 on January 14th, M. Martel as president. In the 

 Chamber of Deputies, of the 533 members, only 

 308 deposited voting papers, the Right, as 

 usual, abstaining, and of these 308, 49 resorted 

 to blank papers, or inserted names at random, 

 so that M. Gambetta, though reflected, re- 

 ceived only 259 votes, or slightly less than half 

 the House, whereas a year ago he received 314. 

 The Left comprises about 380 members, so that 

 about 70 Republicans held aloof, while 50 vir- 



tually voted against him. The Extreme Left, 

 with the aid of the Bonapartists, elected M. 

 Madier de Montjau, a questor, to the exclusion 

 of M. Gailly, of the Left Center, and they also 

 gained one of the secretaryships at the expense 

 of the Left Center. M. Martel received 168 

 out of 208 votes. On January 16th the state- 

 ment of the new Ministry respecting their 

 intended policy was read in the Senate and 

 Chamber of Deputies. The Ministers say that 

 the recent change in the Cabinet indicates no 

 change in the prudent and measured policy 

 which is best suited both at home and abroad 

 to the condition of the country, but merely 

 signifies that France may henceforth advance 

 with decision in the path of necessary reforms 

 and successive improvements. The Ministry 

 propose to ask the Senate to go on with the 

 Public Instruction Bills which have already 

 been adopted by the Chamber; to proceed 

 with the reorganization of the magistracy, and 

 the reform of the personnel of the adminis- 

 tration ; to adopt the bill of their predecessors 

 respecting the right of meeting ; and to prepare 

 a bill on the subject of the press. Nothing 

 was said about an amnesty. The Easter vaca- 

 tion of the Chambers began on March 21st, and 

 lasted until April 20th. 



On May 25th M. Le"on Say was elected Presi- 

 dent of the Senate, in place of M. Martel, who 

 resigned on account of ill health. He presided 

 for the first time on June 14th. His inaugural 

 address, which reviewed the constitution and 

 growth of republican principles in France, was 

 received with applause. 



On November 9th, at the first meeting of 

 the Senate and the Chamber after the recess, 

 M. Jules Ferry, the President of the new 

 Cabinet which had been formed in September, 

 read the declaration of the Government, in 

 the course of which he stated that the Cabinet 

 did not intend to apply the decrees to the con- 

 gregations of women. Among the first laws 

 which the House would have to consider, M. 

 Ferry mentioned those relative to education, 

 the reform of the magistrature, and the laws 

 on the press and the right of public meeting. 

 The declaration of the Government was re- 

 ceived with applause from the Left, and laugh- 

 ter from the Right, when M. Ferry pronounced 

 the name of liberty. 



The discussion of the Ferry Bill on the Su- 

 preme Educational Council, which had been 

 introduced on March 15, 1879, and had created 

 so great an excitement in that year,* was begun 

 in the Senate on January 23d. On the next 

 day the Duke de Broglie spoke against the 

 bill, which would exclude the religious element 

 from the Superior Council, and would be a 

 first step in the path of revolutionary fanati- 

 cism. On January 26th M. Jules Ferry de- 

 fended the measure, and read a secret memo- 

 randum drawn up by the framers of the bill of 

 1860, and which had been submitted to the 



* See "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 18T9, p. 390. 



