FRANCE. 



301 



The Radicals desired to leave the constitution 

 of the city unchanged. A member of tlie 

 Left (Lerryer) applied the expression "bag- 

 gage" to the report, a remark which the Mar- 

 quis de Gramont designated as " imperti- 

 nence." The President, Gr6vy, called the lat- 

 ter to order, whereupon the Right showed 

 such marks of disrespect, that the President 

 gave in his resignation. He was immediately 

 reelected by a large majority, but persisted in 

 his refusal to resume the chair. On April 4th 

 the Assembly elected the candidate of the 

 Right, Buffet, as President, by 304 votes 

 against 285, which were given to Martel. 

 Grevy took his seat among the members of 

 the Left. The ex-Maire of Lyons, Barodet, 

 against whom this law for the municipal re- 

 form of Lyons had been chiefly directed, was 

 Dominated by the Radical party as their candi- 

 date for the National Assembly, at a supple- 

 mentary election held in Paris on April 28th, 

 and he was elected by 180,146 votes against 

 135,467, which were given to Ch. de R6mu- 

 sat, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and 27,- 

 000 given to Colonel Stoffel, the candidate of 

 the Legitimists nnd Orleanists. At another 

 supplementary election, held on May 12th, the 

 Radicals elected four of the five deputies to be 

 chosen. 



These successes of the Radical party greatly 

 alarmed the Conservatives. A change in the 

 ministry, which occurred in consequence of 

 the resignation of the ministers Goulard and 

 Jules Simon, greatly increased their dissatis- 

 faction with the Government. Casimir Pdrier 

 was appointed Minister of the Interior, BeVen- 

 ger, Minister of Public Works, and Wadding- 

 ton, Minister of Public Instruction. Fortoul, 

 thus far Mitiister of Public Works, wns ap- 

 pointed Minister of Public Worship, which de- 

 partment was separated from that of Instruc- 

 tion. This reconstruction of the ministry, and 

 especially the appointment of Casimir P6rier, 

 indicated a design of the Government to se- 

 cure the support of the Left Centre, and to 

 proceed further in the permanent establish- 

 ment of the conservative republic. Accord- 

 ingly, the Right Centre, under the presidency 

 of the Duke de Broglie, on May 17th, passed 

 resolutions in behalf of the adoption of strin- 

 gent measures against the dangers of radical- 

 ism. On May 18th the Right, under the 

 leadership of De Larcy, concurred in the reso- 

 lutions of the Right Centre. When, therefore, 

 on the next day (May 19th) the Government 

 brought in a bill for the organization of the 

 public powers, accompanied by an eipote on 

 the necessity of establishing a regular republi- 

 can government in the place of the provisional 

 republic, the President of the Assembly, Buf- 

 fet, read an interpellation signed by 106 mem- 

 bers of the Right, in which a decidedly con- 

 servative policy was demanded. On May 23d 

 the Duke de Broglie attacked the Government 

 for its vacillation and its concessions to the 

 Radical party. On the following day (May 



24th) President Thiers himself explained and 

 defended the principles of his administration. 

 He had endeavored not to govern in the in- 

 terest of any one party, but for the benefit of 

 the whole country ; and he assumed the entire 

 responsibility for the reconstruction of his 

 ministry. The Conservatives declared them- 

 selves not satisfied with this declaration, and, 

 in the afternoon, Ernoul moved a resolution 

 that the Assembly express their regret that 

 the recent changes in the ministry did not af- 

 ford to the conservative interests the desired 

 satisfaction. The order of the day, proposed 

 by Minister Dufaure, was rejected by 362 

 votes against 348, nnd the motion of Ernoul 

 adopted by 360 against 344. President Thiers 

 at once gave in his resignation, and the same 

 was done by the ministry. A motion, made 

 by the Left, not to accept the resignation of 

 Thiers, was lost, by 368 against 339 votes. 

 By 890 votes Marshal MacMahon was then 

 elected President of the Republic. In reply 

 to the deputation which notified him of the 

 election, MacMahon declared that he accepted 

 the offered dignity, and that, with the assist- 

 ance of God, and with the support of the army 

 which would always be an army of the law 

 he would complete the work of the libera- 

 tion of the country and the restoration of 

 moral order. The new ministry appointed by 

 the President was composed of the following 

 members: Vice-President of the Council of 

 Ministers, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 Duke de Broglie; Keeper of the Seal, and 

 Minister of Justice, Ernonl; Minister of the 

 Interior, Benle ; Minister of Finances, Magne ; 

 Minister of War, General de Cissey; Minister 

 of the Navy, Vice-Admiral de Dampierre 

 d'Hornoy; Minister of Public Instruction, 

 Worship, and Fine Arts, Batbie ; Minister of 

 Public Works, Desseilligny ; Minister of Agri- 

 culture and Commere, De la Bonillcrie. The 

 Minister of War, Cissey, resigned after a few 

 days, and, in his place, General du Barail was 

 appointed (May 29th). Of the new ministers, 

 the Duke de Broglie was regarded as a mod- 

 erate Orleanist, Magne as a devoted, and Des- 

 seilligny and Dampierre d'Hornoy as moderate 

 Bonapartists; most of the others as Legiti- 

 mists. Nearly all, with the exception of 

 Magne, were believed to be decided Catholics. 

 In his first message to the National Assembly, 

 the new President announced that he would 

 loyally carry out the will of the majority of 

 the Assembly. 



The long negotiations for a fusion of the 

 two French branches of the Bourbon family 

 appeared at the beginning of the year so near 

 a successful close, that papers of both parties 

 announced the fusion as an accomplished fact. 

 The report proved, however, to be premature. 

 Count deChambord, in a letter to Bishop Dupan- 

 lonp of Orleans, one of the most active lead- 

 ers of the fusion party, declined to make the 

 least eencessions to the flag of the revolution, 

 and both the heads of the Orleans family and 



