FKANCE. 



283 



did not confine himself to apply to the nation for ex- 

 traordinary powers, with a view to devising a remedy 

 for a temporary ailment, but that he set forth a whole 

 system ot government appropriate to the permanent 

 requirements of the country. He only consented to un- 

 dertake the burden of leading the destinies of France 

 on the condition that that system, reverting to the con- 

 sular tradition of the year VIII. , was favorably re- 

 ceived by the nation. Never was a condition more 

 explicitly stated nor more unanimously fulfilled. The 

 principles whence the Constitution is derived were, 

 therefore, the result of a freely-consented compact. 



But if these bases be fixed, if they cannot be modi- 

 fied without a plebiscite, the work itself involves pro- 

 gressive improvements ; it is perfectible. The Em- 

 peror openly proclaimed that fact as early as the 31st 

 of December, 1851, when he said he intended to inure 

 the country to the wise practice of liberty. Let us 

 add, that the decree of November 24, 1860, and the 

 letter of January 19, 1867, have fulfilled that promise. 



The Constitution of the 14th of January, 1852, has, 

 it is known, become the Constitution of the empire. 

 The ohange effected in the form of government has 

 resulted in abrogating or amending several articles 

 which were no longer in harmony with the new state 

 of things. It has appeared to us useless to point out 

 these differences. The intelligence of the reader will 

 at once supply that want. 



As for modifications of another order, they are the 

 result of various Senatus Consult! ; and, as they mark, 

 so to speak, the stages of the Emperor's Government 

 in the liberal path it has entered on, we will confine 

 ourselves to mentioning the most important, and enu- 

 merating the great measures which have been their 

 almost immediate consequence. 



We will mention (1) the act which has made public 

 in the papers the debates of the Senate, and has per- 

 mitted the reproduction in extenso by shorthand of 

 the discussions in the two Chambers ; (2) the sending 

 of ministers to the Chambers by special delegation ; 

 (3) the extension to the Corps Legislatif of the right 

 of amendment ; (4) the power attnbuted to the Senate 

 to send back to the Corps Legislatif, for fresh exami- 

 nation, bills which appear to it to be defective ; (5) the 

 voting of the budget by large sections ; (6) the aban- 

 donment by the Emperor of the power of opening, in 

 the absence of the Chambers, supplementary or ex- 

 traordinary credits ; (7) the law on the liberty of the 

 press;, (8) the law on coalitions, and (9) finally, the 

 bill which is now before the Legislature, and whose 

 object is the right of meeting. 



The whole of these ' dispositions emanate, so to 

 speak, from the womb of that Constitution, which 

 lends itself to every movement of liberty, and which, 

 in this respect, has been an innovation as hardy as 

 fruitful. To appreciate the liberal character of this 

 Constitution, we have only to compare it with the 

 Constitutions of preceding monarchies. 



An imperial decree in the Moniteur an- 

 nounced the abrogation of the eighteenth arti- 

 cle of the commercial treaty between France 

 and Mecklenburg. The concessions accorded 

 by the Zollverein to France were a reduction 

 to 20f. of duty on the 100 kilogrammes of wine 

 in casks and bottles, and to 20 per cent, on 

 cotton tissues, light, transparent white or pre- 

 pared, and 8f. 75c. on various other articles. 

 Another decree approved of the declaration 

 signed 21st February, 1868, between France 

 and Italy, concerning privileges granted to 

 French subjects in Italy and Italian subjects in 

 France. The subjects of either country shall 

 be respectively exempt from all service iD the 

 army, navy, national guard, or militia, from all 

 judicial or municipal functions, forced loans, 

 and military requisition. 



The ratifications of the treaty concluded be- 

 tween France and the kingdom of Siain were 

 exchanged in due form at Bangkok on the 24th 

 of November, 1867. On the following day M. 

 Duchesne de Bellecourt laid before the King 

 the presents sent by the Emperor Napoleon. 

 His Majesty testified his gratitude, and declared 

 that he was resolved to neglect nothing to 

 secure the good-will of the European govern- 

 ments. 



On the 16th of June a French outpost of 

 twenty-five soldiers, at Each-gia, Cochin China, 

 was surprised hy a roving party of 1,000 Anam- 

 ite robbers. Only one of the soldiers escaped 

 with his life, when this news reached the gar- 

 rison. Five days afterward, an expeditionary 

 for.ce, increased by bodies of native militia, 

 who volunteered their services, was sent out 

 to pursue the perpetrators of the massacre, 

 upon whom they inflicted severe loss. 



At the end of April the consul-general of 

 France in Tunis broke off diplomatic relations 

 with the Government of the Bey. The diffi- 

 culty was settled by a mixed commission, pre- 

 sided over by a Frenchman, and diplomatic 

 relations were renewed in May. 



The " Blue Book," published by the Govern- 

 ment in January, 1869, remarks, with satisfac- 

 tion, on the conclusion of the labors of the in- 

 ternational commission on the boundary ques- 

 tion between France and Spain. These labors, 

 which have continued for fifteen years, were 

 brought to an end at the very time when the 

 Spanish revolution broke out. It notices, also, 

 the settlement of the division of the Pontifical 

 debt with the Italian Government, interrupted 

 by the events of which the Eoman frontier 

 was -the theatre last year. The arrangement 

 concluded then was satisfactory to the Gov- 

 ernment of the Pope. The attempt since made 

 to suspend its effects afforded an occasion to 

 the Cabinet of Florence to declare its firm de- 

 sire to cause those engagements to be respect- 

 ed; and the approval given by the Italian 

 Parliament to the declarations of the minister 

 is regarded as unequivocal testimony of a 

 better state of public feeling. 



The following paragraph, in the "Blue 

 Book," relates to the Eastern question. After 

 mentioning the difficulties attending it, and 

 the necessity for Europe to maintain the state 

 of things as established by treaties, it says : 



Thus, when, in presence of the complications 

 which occurred between the Turkish Government 

 and the Cabinet of Athens, in consequence of the 

 Candiote question, Prussia took the initiative in a 

 proposition for submitting to the powers which 

 signed the treaty of Paris the difference which so 

 seriously menaced the tranquillity of the East, we did 

 not hesitate to recommend that combination to all 

 the courts interested. We have had the satisfaction 

 of seeing it accepted. Already, in the mean time, 

 the good offices rendered by a ship of the Imperial 

 Navy in the Greek waters had prevented all danger 

 of an immediate conflict between the naval forces of 

 Turkey and Greece. Since then a conference met in 

 Paris. Thanks to the spirit of conciliation with 

 which their labors were carried on, the plenipoten- 



