302 



FRANCE. 



the bulk of the Orleanist party were not 

 ready yet fur an unconditional surrender. 

 The negotiation* for a union wore, however, 

 continued, and on the 5th of August the chief 

 of the house of Ocleans, the Count de Paris, 

 took the decisive step and paid to the Count 

 de Ohambord a visit at the letter's residence 

 at Frobsdorf, in which he formally and unre- 

 servedly recognized the head of the elder 

 Bonrbon line as the only legitimate claimant 

 t > the throne of France. This important act 

 hod received the approval of all members of 

 the house of Orleans. The Duke de Nemours 

 and the Count de Chartres had been foremost 

 iu advo.-vitin:; it. As the Duke d'Aumale, as 

 the president of the court-martial which had 

 to try Marshal Bazaine, could not leave Paris, 

 the Prince de Joinville offered to accompany 

 the Count de Paris. He preceded the latter to 

 Frohsdorf, and arranged the ceremonial. The 

 Connt de Chambord awaited the Count de 

 Paris in his talon, received him standing, 

 reached out his hand to him, seated him-elf. 

 while at the same time he asked his guest also 

 to be seated. The Count do Paris iu his own 

 name and in the name of all the members of 

 his house paid his respectful homage to his 

 majesty King Henry V., not only as the head 

 of the house of Bourbon, but as the only rep- 

 resentative of the monarchical principle in 

 France, and expressed the hope that the time 

 would come when the French nation would 

 understand that its salvation was only in this 

 principle. The Count do Chambord embraced 

 his cousin, and un the same day returned the 

 visit. 



It was expected that this fusion of the two 

 branches of the house of Bourbon would soon 

 be followed by the formal proclamation of Henry 

 V. as King of France. The prominent men of 

 the party, among them the Duke de Broglie, an- 

 nounced the restoration of royalty as near at 

 hand. It was hoped that the Connt de Cham- 

 bord would 15 nd it compatible with his ultra-con- 

 servative principles to conciliate the moderate 

 Liberals and all the vacillating elements which 

 were not unconditionally opposed to his return, 

 by some concessions. These hopes wore rudely 

 cot short by a letter which the count, on 

 October 27th, addressed to a prominent Legiti- 

 mist, M. do Chesnelong. In this letter tin 1 

 count declares that he will never consent to 

 become the legitimate king of the Revolution, 

 to sacrifice his honor and to inaugurate the 

 restoration of monarchy by an act of weak- 

 ness. He refers to the fact that the Count do 

 Paris made his submission to the legitimate 

 king contingent on no conditions nnd that the 

 -offer of the presidency to Marshal MacMahon 

 was likewise unconditional. He claims the ri^lit 

 of expecting the same confidence, anil of inspir- 

 ing the same feeling of security. " My person," 

 the prince says, "in nothing; my principle is 

 every thing. France will see the end of all t rials 

 M soon as she will understand this. I am the 

 pilot who alone is able to lead the vessel into 



the port. France cannot perish, for our Sa- 

 viour still loves his Frenchmen, and, it' God 

 has decreed the salvation of a nation, he sees 

 to it that the sceptre of justice is placed in 

 such hands only as are strong enough to carry 

 it." 



This letter fell like a bombshell among the 

 royalists. When the National Assembly met, 

 on November 5th, all idea of an iinnit 

 restoration of the monarchy under Henry V. 

 had been abandoned, and the best expedient 

 was thought to be, to prolong the powers of 

 President MacMahon. The Right favored nn 

 extension of the presidency of MacMahou to 

 ten years, the Bonapartists preferred to limit 

 it to five years ; the President himself declared 

 in favor of seven years. In his message to 

 the National Assembly, the President strongly 

 expressed his desire that the proposal to de- 

 termine the duration of his power should be 

 discussed and voted upon before the other 

 constitutional bills. Immediately after the 

 reading of the message, a motion made by 

 (iciu-ral Changarnier, in the name of the en- 

 tire Right, to prolong the powers of tin- IVc-i- 

 dent for a period of ten years, was declared to 

 bo urgent, and referred to a special commit- 

 tee ; while a motion by the Bonapartist Kchas- 

 seriaux, to take on January 4, 1874, a general 

 vote of the French people on the question, 

 whether the empire or tho Bourbons should 

 be restored, or the republic be maintained, 

 was not taken into immediate consideration. 

 The special committee of fifteen, to which 

 the motion of Changarnier had been referred, 

 and in which tin- Left happened to have a 

 majority, declared itself in favor of discussing 

 the constitutional bills, before the prolonga- 

 tion of tho powers of the President (to which 

 in that case they were not opposed) should bo 

 granted. The National Assembly, on Novem- 

 per 19th, rejected the amendment of the Bona- 

 partist Echasscrianx, which was supported l>y 

 Rouher, and a member of the extreme Left, 

 Naquet, by 499 against 88 votes, and on No- 

 vember 20th adopted, by 373 against 310 votes, 

 the amendment offered by Depeyre, which 

 provides for a prolongation of the powers of tho 

 President to seven years, and for the appoint- 

 ment of a committee of thirty, for preparing 

 a report on tho constitutional bills. Imme- 

 diately after the adoption of this amendment, 

 the ministry offered to tho President their res- 

 ignations. The President requested thorn to 

 remain in office until ho could reconstruct the 

 cabinet. This took place on November 25th. 

 The Duke do Broglie remained the Vice-i'n-i- 

 dent and the head of tho Council ; the Bona- 

 partist MaL'iie retained tho important depart- 

 ment of tho finances; of the other incmher-i 

 of the old cabinet, Du Barail, De Fourton, 

 Deselli^ny, nnd Dampierre d'Hornay, likewise 

 entered the new. Of the new members of 

 the cabinet, the Duke <lc Deeazes was Mini-tcr 

 of Foreign Affairs; Depeyre, Minister of Jus- 

 tice; De Larcy, Minister of Public Works. 



