FRANCE. 



309 



ligious orders expelled from Germany from 

 settling there, and to sternly discountenance 

 all attempts to foment clerical agitation against 

 Prussia. 



The National Assembly reassembled on May 

 llth, after nearly a two months' recess. On 

 May 13th a resolution was passed, by 370 

 against 279 votes that no further elections 

 be ordered for members of the Assembly un- 

 til the general elections for the new Chamber 

 are held. The number of seats vacant in the 

 Assembly was at this time 15. On May 18th, 

 Minister Dufaure submitted a bill regulating 

 the relations between the public powers. It 

 provides that the Senate and Chamber of 

 Deputies shall meet annually in January, and 

 sit at least five months in the year. The Pres- 

 ident of the Republic may communicate with 

 the Chambers by message. The Chambers 

 are obliged to reconsider any decision if the 

 President makes a request to that effect. The 

 President and ministers can be impeached only 

 'by the Chamber of Deputies, and must be 

 tried by the Senate. M. Dufaure also intro- 

 duced a bill relative to the organization of the 

 Senate. It provides that elections for Sena- 

 tors shall be ordered by decree, which must 

 be issued six months before the day appointed 

 for the holding thereof. A motion was made 

 by the minister that the bills be referred to the 

 Committee of Thirty. The Left opposed the 

 motion, and urged that the bills be referred to 

 a special committee. M. Dufaure's motion was 

 defeated, whereupon M. Batbie announced that 

 the Committee of Thirty resigned their func- 

 tions. M. Laboulaye, a member of the Com- 

 mittee of Thirty, objected that M. Batbie had 

 no right to tender the resignations of the entire 

 committee. The Duke d'Audiffret-Pasquier, 

 President of the Assembly, declared that the 

 resignation of the committee was unprecedent- 

 ed. The committee should first meet and con- 

 sider the subject, and those of its members 

 who propose to resign should inform the pre- 

 siding officer of the Assembly of their inten- 

 tion. A few days later, M. Laboulaye and 

 the remaining members of the Committee of 

 Thirty also resigned. The election of a new 

 committee was completed on May 26th. The 

 new committee is composed of twenty mem- 

 bers of all sections of the Left, four sup- 

 porters of M. Wallon, and six deputies of the 

 Right. The Left voted in the six deputies of 

 the Right, so that this section might be repre- 

 sented in the committee. 



On June 1st the Duke d'Audiffret-Pasquier 

 was reflected President of the National As- 

 sembly. The vice-presidents and secretaries 

 were also reflected. 



On June 5th the National Assembly began 

 the discussion of the important bill of superior 

 instruction. M. Laboulaye, in the name of 

 the special committee, recommended that the 

 principle of complete liberty be recognized, 

 and, in particular, full freedom be also granted 

 to the Church. A motion by M. Ferry, that 



the academical degrees be only granted by the 

 state, was on June 14th rejected by a vote of 

 369 against 323, and on June 17th an amend- 

 ment of M. Paris was passed by 54 votes, pro- 

 viding that the degrees be awarded by a board 

 of examiners which shall consist half of state 

 and half of free professors. 



On June 21st, a grant of $120,000 to pro- 

 cure a worthy representation of France at the 

 United States Centennial Exhibition was voted 

 by the Assembly without opposition. 



On June 21st the Assembly began the de- 

 bate on the public powers. The measure was 

 opposed by M. Louis Blanc, because he held 

 that it would confer royal prerogatives and 

 have a tendency to organize a monarchy. M. 

 Montjau also spoke against the bill. The opin- 

 ions expressed in the utterances of these depu- 

 ties appeared to be repudiated by the Left, 

 whose vexation was much increased by the 

 ironical cheers with which the Right greeted 

 the enunciation of the extreme Republican 

 views. On. June 22d M. Buffet announced 

 that the Government would not make known 

 until the second reading the disposition of the 

 measure with regard to which it disagreed 

 with the committee. He then replied to some 

 of the remarks made on the previous day by 

 M. Louis Blanc and M. Madier de Montjau. 

 The attacks by those members on the consti- 

 tution and the ministerial programme of the 

 10th March were somewhat tardy. That pro- 

 gramme, M. Buffet added, should not be de- 

 parted from while he remained at the head of 

 the cabinet. It was quite true that the pub- 

 lic powers bill did not intrust the President 

 with the same powers as were conferred upon 

 an American President, but to do so it would 

 be necessary to alter all the existing laws, as 

 there was no political'analogy between France 

 and the United States. General du Temple, a 

 Legitimist Deputy, created great confusion by 

 some intemperate remarks, in the course of 

 which he insulted Minister Buffet and the Duke 

 d'Audiffret-Pasquier, President of the Assem- 

 bly. He declared MacMahon equally guilty 

 with Napoleon III. for Sedan. The speaker 

 was called to order and silenced by the inter- 

 position of the House. The first reading of 

 the public powers bill was ultimately voted 

 by a show of hands. On July 7th the bill was 

 passed to a third reading by 546 yeas to 97 

 nays. 



On July 22d the National Assembly, by a 

 vote of 470 against 155, agreed to adjourn 

 from the 4th of August to the 16th of Novem- 

 ber. 



On July 27th the President promulgated the 

 law on superior instruction. 



On July 29th M. Raoul Duval, in the. As- 

 sembly, asked the Government why the United 

 States had not paid to French citizens the in- 

 demnity due them for losses sustained during 

 the civil war, while the claims of other for- 

 eigners had been settled. The Duke Decazes, 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, in reply, said the 



