322 



FKANCE. 



part of the ministry, insisted on the demand 

 of the reporter of the committee, not for per- 

 sonal reasons, but because it recognized in it 

 the answer to an urgent want, and a pressing 

 appeal from the country. M. Lucien Brun 

 said he and his friends were anxious to have 

 the Political Electoral Bill discussed as soon as 

 possible, but he urged the Government not to 

 make the question of priority a cabinet ques- 

 tion. M. de Broglie again insisted upon the 

 importance of the vote, and the division was 

 then taken, the result being that the ministry 

 were in the minority. The hostile majority 

 was composed of the different sections of the 

 Left, with the exception of a very few Depu- 

 ties of the Left Centre, of eighteen Bonapart- 

 ists, almost the whole group, and more than 

 fifty Legitimists. Immediately after the rising 

 of the Assembly, the ministers gave in their 

 resignation, which was accepted. Marshal 

 MacMahon requested them to retain their port- 

 folios until their successors should be appoint- 

 ed. M. Buffet and M. d'Audriffet-Pasquier 

 both declined to undertake the formation of a 

 ministry. M. de Goulard agreed to try his 

 hand at forming a new cabinet, but was not 

 successful. On May 23d a new ministry was 

 at length constituted, consisting of the follow- 

 ing members : General Cissey, Vice-President 

 of the Council and Minister of War; Decazes, 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs ; Fourtou, Minister 

 of the Interior; Magne, Minister of Finance; 

 Callaux, Minister of Public Works; Grivart, 

 Minister of Commerce ; Camons, Minister of 

 Public Instruction ; Tailhaud, Minister of Jus- 

 tice ; Montagnac, Minister of the Navy. The 

 new ministry had no policy of its own ; it was 

 to avoid any conflict with the National Assem- 

 bly and to oppose none of the resolutions passed 

 by the National Assembly. It was supposed 

 to agree with the President, especially in favor- 

 ing the interests of the Church. 



The result of a supplementary election held 

 in the department of Nievre, on May 25th, 

 produced a more than usual excitement, as it 

 strongly impressed the public mind on the rapid 

 progress of Bonapartism. The department, 

 which in October, 1873, had elected a Kepub- 

 lican. now chose M. de Bourgoing, the cham- 

 berlain and equerry of Napoleon III., giving 

 him 37,599 votes against 32,157 cast for the 

 Eepublican candidate and 4,527 given to the 

 Legitimist. 



On June 1st the National Assembly began 

 the discussion of the municipal electoral law. 

 On June 8th it adopted, by 403 against 283 

 votes, Article I., which provides that the elec- . 

 toral lists have to be drawn up by a special 

 committee, consisting of the maire, a delegate 

 of the administration and a delegate of the 

 municipal council. To Article V., which fixes 

 the age of voters at twenty-five years, La- 

 fayette moved an amendment, substituting 

 twenty-one for twenty-five, and the amend- 

 ment was adopted by 348 against 337 votes. 

 On June 18th, the Assembly adopted an 



amendment, moved by Bardoux, which re- 

 tains the method of administration at pres- 

 ent used by the municipal councils, and rejects 

 the system of decentralization proposed by the 

 committee, which would add to the municipal 

 council an equal number of payers of the high- 

 est taxes. The majority of the committee now 

 desired to withdraw its report, but the minor- 

 ity at once took it up, and the Assembly, by 

 579 against 33 votes, adopted an amendment 

 by Berthauld, repealing three articles of the 

 report, which provided for the introduction of 

 the cumulative voting system. On June 22d an 

 amendment by the Left, that the Government 

 may elect municipal councils, but must in that 

 case order new elections within six months, 

 was rejected by 366 against 311 votes. On 

 June 28th President MacMahon, while review- 

 ing, in the Bois de Boulogne, 50,000 troops, 

 took occasion to define his policy with great 

 precision and force. After praising the troops 

 for their good appearance and their regular 

 movements, the marshal associated the army 

 with himself in the guardianship of order and 

 of the public peace, saying : " This part of the 

 mission which has been imposed upon me be- 

 longs equally to you. We will fulfill it togeth- 

 er to the end, maintaining everywhere the au- 

 thority of the law and the respect due to it." 

 The President's order of the day was received 

 with great applause by papers of all parties, 

 except the Legitimists. 



The Count de Chambord, on July 2d, issued 

 a new manifesto, which, however, failed to pro- 

 duce the least effect, and appeared to weaken 

 rather than to strengthen the prospects of the 

 Legitimists. The manifesto passed over in si- 

 lence the difficult question of the flag, declared 

 that the count would follow the call of the na- 

 tion, and govern with two Chambers, the sec- 

 ond of which would be elected by the people, 

 but that he would not allow barren politi- 

 cal debates in the Chambers. A motion by 

 Larochefoucauld in the National Assembly on 

 July 7th, for the restoration of the monarchy, 

 was promptly rejected, and the Government 

 suspended the Union, by which the manifesto 

 had been published. An order of the day pro- 

 posed by Lucien Brun, which censured the 

 suppression of the Union, was rejected by a 

 large majority; but, as the Assembly, on the 

 other hand, refused to adopt an amendment pro- 

 posed by M. Paris, and supported by the Gov- 

 ernment, the ministry offered its resignation. 

 The President refused to accept the resigna- 

 tion, but on July 9th addressed a message to 

 the Assembly, in which he called for speedy 

 action on those constitutional laws which he 

 regarded as indispensable for the fulfillment of 

 his Septennial powers. The ministry, on July 

 30th, explained the wishes of the President 

 more fully, designating as specially necessary 

 organic laws on the establishment of a First 

 Chamber, and the bestowal upon the President 

 of the right to dissolve the Second Chamber 

 with the consent of the First. On July 15th 



