FRANCE. 



321 



party were considerably increased by the im- 

 pressive speeches which Gambetta made on 

 a tour through Southeastern France. The 

 greatest sensation was produced by the speech 

 made at Grenoble on September 26th, in which 

 Gambetta severely criticised the conduct of 

 Thiers in prohibiting public celebrations of 

 the anniversary of the First Republic (Septem- 

 ber 22d). He also attacked the Bonapartists 

 and the National Assembly, and advocated the 

 return of the seat of government to Paris. 

 The journals of the Conservative parties, in- 

 cluding those advocating the policy of Thiers, 

 severely blamed the speech of Gambetta. The 

 Blen Publique, which is considered the semi- 

 official mouth-piece of Thiers, closed an article 

 on the subject with the words, "This speech 

 has done the republic more harm in a few days 

 than its declared enemies have been able to 

 do." As five officers of the garrison of Gre- 

 noble had taken part in a banquet in honor of 

 Gambetta, the Journal Officiel published a note 

 recalling the fact that the duty of the Army of 

 the Interior consists in defending the law and 

 maintaining order, which excludes all political 

 demonstration, and it is necessary that none 

 who have the honor to wear the uniform 

 should ever forget this. The Minister of War, 

 therefore, as soon as he learned the serious mis- 

 conduct of the officers, decided that he would 

 at once transfer them to another regiment, 

 and they were to undergo sixty days' arrest 

 upon joining their new regiment. It was 

 credibly reported that the Russian minister, 

 Timachef, in the coarse of a conversation with 

 President Thiers, said with regard to the radi- 

 cal demonstrations in Grenoble that, if France 

 became the " hearth " of European revolution, 

 "the powers heretofore friendly with France 

 would extinguish this hearth." The repre- 

 sentatives of Germany and Austria were said to 

 have made similar representations to France. 



Louis Blanc, like all the radicals of France, 

 agreed with Gambetta in demanding a prompt 

 dissolution of the National Assembly, but he, 

 also, in a letter addressed to the republicans 

 of Avignon, opposed the appointment of any 

 President of the republic. Louis Blanc says 

 that a presidency would always be the counter- 

 feit of royalty, placing the country perpetually 

 between a Tenth of August and an Eighteenth 

 Brumaire. 



On October 13th President Thiers ordered 

 Prince Napoleon and his wife, the Princess 

 Clotilde, who were on a visit to the prince's 

 friend, Maurice Richard, at Millemont, to quit 

 the French territory. As a protest of the 

 prince was of no avail, he addressed a letter 

 to the Procureur - General (dated Prangins, 

 October 14th), in which he demands legal 

 redress against the Minister of the Interior, 

 the Prefect of Police, the director of the Cabi- 

 net of the Prefect of the Police, and M. Cle- 

 ment, police commissary, whom he declares to 

 be guilty of violating his personal liberty, an 

 offence punishable by Article 114 of the Penal 



VOL. xn. 21 A. 



Code. The prince points to his character as a 

 French citizen, and shows that he is not under 

 the ban of any law of exile, that he is in full 

 enjoyment of his civil and political rights, and 

 is a member of the Council General of Corsica. 

 He came to France to arrange for the educa- 

 tion of his sons, and was provided with a regu- 

 lar passport. The prince adds that he vainly 

 demanded from those who arrested him the 

 production of their warrants, or any statement 

 of the crime or offence wherewith he was 

 charged. Vainly, also, did he request to be 

 taken before a civil or military judge. If the 

 present step has no result, the prince declares 

 that he will seek for redress before the proper 

 tribunals. The Procureur- General replied, on 

 October 24th, that a minister for his official 

 act could only be impeached by the National 

 Assembly. 



The views of the Legitimists received another 

 official expression in a letter written by the 

 Count de Chambord, on October 25th, to M. la 

 Rochelle, a member of the Assembly, in which 

 he says that France can only be saved by a 

 monarchy, and protests against the establish- 

 ment of a republic, which would be the com- 

 mencement of social anarchy. The Count de 

 Chambord denies that any difference exists 

 between the party of violence, which promise 

 peace to men while declaring war against God, 

 and those more prudent persons who obtain 

 the same end by more covert means. He ap- 

 peals to the energy of Frenchmen who really 

 love their country, to counteract the weakness 

 and timid compromising conduct of others, and 

 to oppose a frank policy to a policy of fictions 

 and lies. He declares that France at heart is 

 Catholic and monarchical, and says: "We 

 must guide France to the haven safely. Nothing 

 can make me deviate from my path. I do not 

 retract one word, nor regret a single act of 

 mine ; they have all been inspired by love for 

 my country. Let us have confidence in the 

 mission of France. Europe and the papacy 

 have need of her, and an old Christian nation 

 like ours cannot therefore perish." 



Among the important acts of the Govern- 

 ment during the time when the Assembly was 

 not in session, belong the appointment of a 

 Supreme Council of War, and a new circular 

 on educational reform from the Minister of 

 Public Instruction, Jules Simon. The Council 

 of War, whose appointment was announced by 

 the Journal Officiel, on October 7th, consists 

 of Marshal MacMah on, Marshal Canrobert, Gen- 

 eral Ladmirault, the Duke d'Aumale, Admiral 

 de la Ronciere le Novory, and M. Ozenne, and 

 it is charged with the organization and admin- 

 istration of the army, but not with the direc- 

 tion of military movements. The circular of 

 Jules Simon, which is addressed to the direc- 

 tors of Lyce" es established by the state, suggests 

 and recommends important modifications in 

 the methods of instruction, suppresses some 

 branches and introduces others, and finally 

 holds out a prospect of a more complete reform 



