FRANCE. 



FREEDMEN, REFUGEES, ETC. 313 



NO. 



.l.'partraenti 1,495,144 



it home 40.IM1 







i 



Army In Algeria 6,029 



Total 1,MO,700 



Most of the large cities voted, as on former 

 occasions, against the Government. The fol- 

 lowing li-t Drives the vote of some of the cities 

 which voted in the negative: 





As a considerable number of soldiers in Paris 

 had voted JVb, the Emperor addressed a letter 

 to Marshal Oanrobert, in which he says : " Such 

 absurd and exaggerated rumors have been re- 

 peated concerning the vote of the army in 

 Paris, that I am inclined to beg you to say to 

 the generous officers and soldiers that my con- 

 fidence in the army has never been shaken." 



On May 21st the Emperor met the Legisla- 

 tive Bodies in solemn assembly in the Salle 

 d'lttat, and received from a deputation of the 

 Corps Legislatif the result of the vote on the 

 plebiscitum. M. Schneider addressed the Em- 

 peror on behalf of the Legislative Bodies. The 

 Emperor, in reply, made a speech, in which he 

 said: 



Universal suffrage, the elements of which change 

 unceasingly, nevertheless accomplishes its purpose 

 always. It has for guides its traditions, the certainty 

 of its instincts, the fidelity of its sympathies. The 

 plebiscitum had for its sole object the ratification by 

 the people of constitutional reform. But, amid a con- 

 flict of opinions, and in the struggle with its oppo- 

 nents, its purpose became greater. Let us not regret 

 this. The adversaries of our institutions have made 

 the question one between the empire and a revolu- 

 tion. The nation has settled the question in favor 

 of that system which guarantees order and liberty. 

 To-day the empire is strong ; but it will show its 

 strength by its moderation. My government will 

 execute the laws without partiality or weakness. It 

 will not deviate from the line marked out for it. 



Respecting all the rights of its subjects, it will pro- 

 tect them all, and all their interests, without the 

 thought of dissenting votes or hostile manoeuvres. 

 But it will also cause the national will to bo respected, 

 and will hold it above all controversy. Freed from 

 the constitutional questions which have kept them 

 apart, its best spirits will now have but one purpose 

 to rally round the constitution which the country 

 has sanctioned. Honest persons of all parties will 

 now unite to soften the asperities of partisan passion, 

 to preserve social interests from the contagion of fulse 

 doctrines, and to augment by all lawful means the 

 grandeur and prosperity of France. We shall labor 

 to diffuse instruction to simplify administrative 

 measures, to introduce into the code ameliorations in 

 favor of the agricultural interest, and to develop pub- 

 lu 1 works, we shall give our time to the reduction 

 and best distribution of taxation. Such is our pro- 



gramme, which, if realized, will increase the progreM 

 i-i > iviiization. 



I thank you, gentlemen, for the aid you have given 

 mo on tin* occasion. The votci, which ratify thote 

 of 1848, 1851, and 1859, r.-uilirm your power*, and give 

 you, like mo, new force to work for the nation. Now, 

 more than ever, may we be fearlea* of the future ; 

 for who oppose the progressive march of the rtainu 

 \\ lii.-li a ^ivut people founded amid political troubles, 

 and which ia thai* fortified in uu era of peace and 

 liberty ? 



A new modification of the ministry took 

 place on May 15th, when the Duke de Gra- 

 mont was appointed as Minister of Foreign 

 A flairs, M. Mego, a deputy in the Corps Legis- 

 latif, AS Minister of Public Instruction, n: 

 Pliclion, also a deputy in the Corps LtV'i.-latif. 

 as Minister of Public Works. Tin- relations of 

 France to foreign countries hail, up to this 

 time, been of the most amicable character. On 

 June 20th the ministry, in reply to an inter- 

 pellation of M. Mouy, who regarded the rail- 

 road over St. Gothard as involving a danger 

 for France on the part of Northern Germany, 

 declared that the road was entirely harmless. 



On June 30th, during the discussion of the 

 military contingent for 1871, M. Ollivier de- 

 clared in the name of the Government that "the 

 preservation of peace at no time had been more 

 certain than just now." But, only a few days 

 after this declaration, the offer of the Spanish 

 crown to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern pre- 

 cipitated the country into a terrible war with 

 the whole of Germany, in the course of which 

 France was invaded by a powerful German 

 army, the Emperor captured, his dynasty over- 

 thrown, and a republic improvised. The prog- 

 ress of this war, with which the history of 

 France during the second half of the year is 

 to a large extent indissolubly interwoven, will 

 be treated in the special article on the GERMAX- 

 FBEircn WAR. 



FREEDMEN, REFUGEES, AND ABAN- 

 DONED LANDS (TnE BCBEAU OF). Presi- 

 dent Lincoln having signed the Proclamation 

 of Emancipation, January 1, 1863, a bill to es- 

 tablish a Bureau of Emancipation was intro- 

 duced into Congress. January 12th, but failed 

 to pass. A new bill was presented, December 

 14, 1863, and was passed in the House, March 

 1, 1864, by 69 yeas to 67 nays. The Senate 

 amended this bill by putting the Bureau under 

 the charge of the Treasury ; and, before any 

 agreement of the two Houses, Congress ad- 

 journed. On the 2d of February, 1865, a new 

 bill was agreed on in committee, which passed 

 the House, but was rejected by the Senate. A 

 conference was ordered ; and March 3, 1865, a 

 new bill was reported, passed by both Houses, 

 and approved by President Lincoln on the same 

 day. By the terms of this act, the Bureau was 

 to continue " during the present war of rebel- 

 lion, and for one year thereafter ; " and to it 

 were committed the supervision and manage- 

 ment of all abandoned lands, and the control 

 of all subjects relating to refugees and freodmen 

 from insurrectionary States, or from any district 



