346 



FRANCE. 



supported the motion from their different 

 standpoints, and were joined by the followers 

 of M. Clemenceau, now an opponent of his 

 cousin Boulanger, whom he first lifted into 

 power, yet committed to the principle of re- 

 vision. The changes of Government have in- 

 variably been produced in recent years by such 

 a temporary combination of the greater part 

 of both the Royalist parties with the Radicals 

 for the sake of overturning an Opportunist 

 Ministry, or with the Opportunists in order to 

 oust one that is dominated by the Advanced 

 Left. The Chamber in 1888 was divided into 

 seventeen separate factions, viz., the Legiti- 

 mists, whose Pretender is Don Carlos or Don 

 Jaime ; the Fusion Legitimists, under the Due 

 de la Rochefoucauld ; the Pliilippists, who 

 have accepted the manifesto of the Comte de 

 Paris; the Compromise Royalists, represented 

 by Baron de Mackau and M. Piou ; the Vic- 

 torian Bonapartists; the Jeromist Bonapart- 

 ists ; the Bonapartists pure and simple ; the 

 Left Center, led by M. Riband ; the Oppor- 

 tunists, whose leader was Jules Ferry ; the 

 Advanced Left, under M. Brisson and M. Gob- 

 let ; the Radicals, under M. Floquet and M. 

 Clemenceau; the Extreme Radicals, of whom 

 M. Millerand was the chief; the Old Conven- 

 tion School, led by M. Madierde Montjau ; the 

 Possiblists, under M. Basly and M. Came'linat; 

 the Boulangists, who had a spokesman in M. 

 Laguerre; the Rational Radicals, led by M. 

 Maret; and the Anarchists, who had now 

 an able representative in Parliament, Felix 

 Pyat, elected by the great constituency of the 

 Bouches-du-Rh6ne. 



The Floqnet Cabinet. The President of the 

 Chamber, M. Floquet, who had undertaken to 

 form a cabinet in May, 1887, but had failed, 

 again accepted the task when called upon by 

 President Carnot. He was then thought to 

 be a stumbling-block in the way of the coveted 

 alliance with Russia, because he once shouted 

 Vise la Pologne in the presence of the Czar 

 Alexander II, but a show of courtesy by Baron 

 Mohrenheim, the Russian minister, had re- 

 moved that disqualification. The list was not 

 completed till April 3, as M. Loubet, who 

 agreed to retain the portfolio of Public Works, 

 and M. Ricard, who accepted that of Justice, 

 found that they could not agree to the revis- 

 ion paragraph of the ministerial declaration, 

 and withdrew. As finally constituted, the 

 Cabinet was composed as follows : President 

 of the Council and Minister of the Interior, 

 Charles Floquet ; Minis'ter of War, Charles de 

 Freycinet ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Rene 

 Goblet ; Minister of Marine and the Colonies, 

 Admiral Krantz; Minister of Finance, Posts 

 and Telegraphs, M. Peytral; Minister of Public 

 Instruction, Fine Arts, and Worship. Edouard 

 Lockroy ; Minister of Public Works, M. De- 

 luns-Montaud ; Minister of Justice, M. Fer- 

 rouillat; Minister of Commerce and Industry, 

 Pierre Legrand ; Minister of Agriculture, Fran- 

 cois Viette. 



The Premier was an advocate in Paris and 

 a 'prominent Republican during the empire, 

 joined the Commune, was a deputy in 1871, 

 resigned when unable to effect a reconcilia- 

 tion between the Government and the Com- 

 mune, became president of the Municipal 

 Council, re-entered the Chamber in 1876. and 

 acted with the Extreme Left; was appointed 

 Prefect of the Seine by Gambetta in 1882, and 

 worked in complete harmony with the Munici- 

 pality until he was compelled to resign because 

 of his sympathy with the autonomist demands 

 of the Parisians, was elected a deputy in Octo- 

 ber, 1882, and was chosen President of the 

 Chamber when M. Brisson became Premier in 

 1885. He presided over the Chamber with 

 dignity and impartiality, rebuking the Radicals 

 for wishing to oppress their colleagues when 

 they moved to hold a session on Good Friday, 

 and openly condemning the vote in favor of 

 revision. The Cabinet was one of the Radical 

 Left, to which group MM. Floquet, De Frey- 

 cinet, Goblet, Lockroy, and Viette belonged, 

 while M. Peytral was a member of the Ex- 

 treme Left, and recently the sponsor of Felix 

 Pyat before the electors of Marseilles, who re- 

 turned that Socialist to the Chamber by a large 

 majority. The other three civilian members 

 were Moderate Liberals. The War Ministry 

 was given to M. de Freycinet because lie had 

 always coveted that portfolio, having held it 

 in the Provisional Government of 1870, and 

 having fallen out with Gambetta because it 

 was refused him by the latter. The selection 

 of a civilian, and especially a statesman so 

 volatile and fond of innovation, was viewed 

 with distrust, as was also the appointment to 

 the Foreign Office of M. Goblet, who when 

 Premier had joined Gen. Boulanger in a plan 

 for a military demonstration in connection 

 with the Schnaebele affair, which was vetoed 

 by President Grevy. 



" Republican concentration " was the watch- 

 word of the new Government. The ministe- 

 rial declaration was non-committal in regard 

 to the questions of separation of church and 

 state, Paris self-government, and the progress- 

 ive income tax; and in regard to constitutional 

 revision the Government asked to be intrusted 

 with the duty of indicating the propitious 

 moment to begin a work of such importance, 

 which was destined to place the political organi- 

 zation in complete harmony with republican 

 principles. A bill was promised with refer- 

 ence to associations as a preliminary to the 

 definite regulation of the relations of church 

 and state. Among the financial measures to 

 be considered, was a scheme for remodeling 

 the liquor and the succession duties. The bills 

 to augment the military forces, that had passed 

 the Chamber and were to be considered by 

 the Senate, were described as a means of se- 

 curing the respect due to the nation, and as a 

 guarantee for the maintenance of peace, calcu- 

 lated to prepare conditions favorable to the 

 celebration of the centenary of 1789. 



