FRANCE. 



319 



under Napoleon, and regarded as the ablest 

 leader of the Bonapartist party, was elected 

 from Corsica, and a Republican from the de- 

 partment of Eure. In the latter part of the 

 month a large number of Legitimists paid a 

 visit to Belgium to show their respect to the 

 Count de Chambord. (See BELGIUM.) 



At the beginning of March, the Minister of 

 Finance, Pouyer-Quertier, gave great offence 

 by his testimony in favor of the Bonapartist 

 Janvier de la Motte, ex-Prefect of the De- 

 partment of Eure, who was on trial at Rouen, 

 charged with embezzlement of funds for the 

 relief of France. Dufaure and other members 

 of the Cabinet threatened to leave unless 

 Pouyer-Quertier resigned. After a protracted 

 consultation of the Cabinet, Pouyer-Quertier 

 presented his resignation, accompanied with a 

 statement of his action in testifying in favor 

 of M. de la Motte before the court at Rouen. 

 The President appointed Goulard, the Minister 

 of Agriculture and Commerce, as the succes- 

 sor ad interim. 



The payment of two milliards of the war in- 

 demnity, together with the interest to date, on 

 the remaining three milliards, was completed 

 at Strasbourg on March 7th. This gave France 

 entire control of six departments, allowing 

 her to maintain as large a military force as she 

 desired. 



On March 8th the Assembly rejected the 

 proposition of Deputy Brunet (one of the dep- 

 uties for the city of Paris and a member of 

 the Left) to erect on the hill of Trocadero a 

 temple to Jesus Christ as a testimony to be- 

 lief in God necessary for the national re- 

 generation. 



On March 14th the Assembly adopted the 

 bill establishing special penalties against the 

 International. The bill enacts that any 

 Frenchman joining the International Society, 

 or any similar association, shall be liable to 

 imprisonment for from three months to two 

 years, and to a fine of from fifty francs to one 

 thousand francs. He will also be liable to lose 

 his civil and family rights for a maximum of 

 ten and a minimum of five years. The im- 

 prisonment is increased to five years, and the 

 fine to two thousand francs, for a Frenchman 

 or foreigner who is a functionary of the Inter- 

 national, or in any way propagates that soci- 

 ety's doctrines. Such persons are, moreover, 

 liable to remain under police supervision for a 

 subsequent period of from five to ten years. 

 Abettors of members of the International are 

 rendered liable to from one to six months' im- 

 prisonment, and to be fined from fifty francs 

 to five hundred francs. The principal speech 

 in favor of the bill was made on March 13th by 

 Minister Dufaure. He described the Interna- 

 tional as a permanent menace to European 

 society. The fact of a large number of in- 

 surgents being members of the International, 

 proved the complicity of the society in the 

 origin of the Paris insurrection. Dufaure de- 

 tailed the subsequent atrocities of the agents 



of the International, who were the instigators 

 of the attempts to establish the Commune at 

 Lyons and Marseilles. He refuted the objec- 

 tions against the bill, grounded on its special 

 and exceptional character, and the argument 

 that the bill would magnify the importance 

 of the International. The law was also ne- 

 cessary as a warning to misguided Frenchmen, 

 who joined the International in ignorance of 

 its real character and aims, and unaware that 

 they thereby abjured their country, and be- 

 came blind slaves to a despotism far worse 

 than the alleged grievances from which the In- 

 ternational pretended to deliver them. Jules 

 Favre stated that he had always opposed and 

 condemned the International, but he consid- 

 ered that the present bill was illegal and inex- 

 pedient, and argued that justice forbade ex- 

 ceptional laws. He warned the Assemby that 

 a violation of legislative principles might es- 

 tablish a dangerous precedent. The Assembly 

 rejected the counter-proposals of Berthaud 

 and Pressense", and adopted the first and prin- 

 cipal clause of the bill by 501 votes against 

 104. 



Numerous petitions having been addressed 

 to the National Assembly in behalf of a res- 

 toration of the temporal power of the Pope, 

 the debate on these petitions was fixed for 

 March 22d. Bishop Dupanloup, of Orleans, rose 

 to open the discussion, which had attracted 

 large crowds of spectators to the galleries, but 

 yielded the tribune to President Thiers, who 

 deprecated a discussion which he declared 

 could not by any possibility serve the interests 

 of the Holy See. He assured the deputies 

 that the policy of the Government on the Ro- 

 man question, as announced last year, was un- 

 changed. The independence of the Holy See 

 was dear to France, who had always defended 

 and would continue to defend it. But any 

 discussion now of the petitions before the 

 Chamber would seriously embarrass the Gov- 

 ernment, while it could not benefit the Holy 

 Father. Bishop Dupanloup said he would not 

 insist on speaking after the appeal made by 

 the President. Easily reconciling the feelings 

 of a bishop with the feelings of a Frenchman, 

 he comprehended the respect due to the mis- 

 fortunes of France. The policy which had 

 proved fatal to France, had also been fatal to 

 the See of Rome. The Assembly then, by a 

 large majority, decided not to continue the 

 debate. 



The proposal to tax raw materials was, at 

 the close of March, abandoned for the present, 

 the committee having devised resources suffi- 

 cient to meet all financial demands. 



On March 30th the Assembly took a recess 

 until the 22d of April. 



On May 4th the Duke d'Audiffret-Pasquier 

 presented to the National Assembly the re- 

 port of the committee on contracts for arms 

 and ammunition, concluded by the military 

 administration in England, from the 28th of 

 July, 1870. The report proposes the appoint- 



