819 



(derations, but because they were snro that 



the | .iiditioii of the municipalit'iett 



(mild not continue without endangering tlio 

 regular administration of the municipal d'lH- 

 . mid impeding the exercise of the central 

 ant hority. '1 ho Assembly having refused what 

 thc\ asked us 11 (iovcrnmeiit necessity, their 

 liiired, and their duty prescribed, 

 that liiey slioiihl resign. The President, M. 

 Uuii'i t, tin a read an order of the day express- 

 ing tlu- onfidenoe of the Assembly in the min- 

 It was signed by the Presidents of the 

 ureaux, in which the Right are in the 

 majority. M. Knoul Duval accused the minis- 

 "f being representatives of the monarch- 

 ical parties. Ho maintained that Marshal 

 MaoMahon ought to select his ministers from 

 among men not bound by party ties, and he 

 proposed an order of the day expressing these 

 views. M. Picard accused the ministry of tol- 

 erating attacks upon the republic. It ought 

 not to allow shouts to be raised of "Long live 

 the King! " or "Long live the Emperor! " nor 

 permit petitions to be signed in favor of the 

 Oomte de Chambord. After another speech 

 from the Duke de Broglie in defense of the min- 

 istry, M. Picard demanded the adoption of the 

 order of the day pure and simple. This mo- 

 tion was rejected by 855 against 316 votes. 

 The Assembly then voted in the ordinary man- 

 ner upon M. do Kerdrel's motion, expressing 

 confidence in the Government, which was 

 adopted by 379 votes against 221. M. Delsol, 

 a member of the Right, then moved that the 

 mayors bill should be taken up immediately. 

 This course was agreed to, the ministers with- 

 drew their resignation, and on January 20th 

 the Assembly adopted the law by 861 against 

 324 votes, after having voted down several 

 amendments. The chief speech against the 

 law was made by Louis Blanc, who declared it 

 to be a violation of the electoral law and irrec- 

 oncilable with the love for freedom, order, and 

 country. 



In view of the manifest impossibility to re- 

 store any form of monarchy at an early date, 

 the conservative party and the large majority 

 of the National Assembly rallied round the 

 " Septennate " of President MacMahon as the 

 best government attainable for the country 

 under the existing circumstances. The Presi- 

 dent himself abandoned his usual reserve, and 

 on February 4th, in a reply to an address from 

 the president of a commercial court, declared 

 his determination to preserve, uncurtailed, the 

 powers conferred upon him for the term of 

 seven years by the National Assembly, and to 

 enforce on all sides a due respect for the exist- 

 ing constitutional laws. The Legitimists were 

 divided on the best policy to be pursued; while 

 some never ceased to demand the immediate 

 restoration of Henry V., others believed that 

 his time had not yet come. The Duke de 

 Broglie, on many occasions, averred his desire 

 to maintain the Septennate, but also avowed 

 his intention to surround it with monarchical 



institutions. The new law on the appointment 

 of mayors was n--arded as the lirHt nt<-p in 

 this direction, which was soon to be followed 

 by a curtailment of the electoral franchise and 

 other similar measures. 



The new supplementary elections for the 

 National Assembly, which on Marcli 1st were 

 held in the departments of the Vaucluse and 

 Yicime, resulted in the election of Republi- 

 cans. One of the successful candidates waa 

 the old chief of the Radical party, Ledru-Rol- 

 lin, who, after having lived for more than 

 twenty years in exile and retirement, now re- 

 turned for the first time to an active political 

 life. As he was a candidate in the Vaucluse, 

 a department reputed to be the most " red " in 

 all France, his success was never doubted. 

 That he did not poll as large a number of votes 

 as his friends expected, was partly accounted 

 for by the fact that a large section of the Re- 

 publican party looked coldly upon his candi- 

 dature. The Paris Liberal journals, tbeSiecle, 

 XlXmeSUcle and firenement, protested against 

 it at first, fearing that his name, like that of 

 M. Barodet in Paris, in 1873, might scare mod- 

 erate Republicans, and encourage reaction. 

 Another reason why M. Ledru-Rollin has 

 scored 5,000 less votes than any Radical elect- 

 id there before him was found by his friends 

 in the existence of the reign of terror inaugu- 

 rated by the prefect. It was reported that a 

 great display of artillery and troops of the 

 line was made in the Vaucluse to intimidate 

 evil-minded electors, and that all the practices 

 of the empire in support of official candidates 

 were revived in favor of M. Ledru-Rollin's 

 opponent, the Marquis Biliotti. Of great politi- 

 cal importance was the election of a Republi- 

 can in the Vienne, which was considered a 

 "rural" stronghold. At the general elections 

 of February 8, 1871, this department re- 

 turned three anti-Republicans MM. Ernoul, 

 Murveilleux Duvignaux, and Rochethulon. 

 When, in July, 1871, a vacancy occured, 

 M. de Soubeyran, then a timid Bonapartist, 

 but at all events an anti-Republican, was 

 returned triumphantly by 82,000 votes against 

 some scattered voices for Republicans. Now 

 M. Lepetit, the Mtonnier of the Order of 

 Advocates of Poitiers, had come forward on 

 a decided Republican platform, backed by a 

 letter from M. Thicrs. His opponent was M. 

 de Beauchamp, the brother-in-law of the 

 wealthy M. de Soubeyran, who was charged 

 with spending 200,000 francs on the election. 

 The prefect and a number of new mayors, 

 substituted by Government for those elected 

 by the commune, did their utmost to support 

 M. de Beauchamp ; and yet the peasants, in a 

 district essentially agricultural, returned M. 

 Thiers's nominee, by 84,146 against 81,160 

 votes. The letter of Thiers in favor of the 

 candidature of Lepetit made a powerful im- 

 pression. The distinguished statesman warmly 

 recommended the efforts made for establishing 

 a moderate and lasting republic. lie declared 



