314 



FRANCE. 



play concord and devotedness to the country. 

 The Chamber of Deputies elected M. Grevy 

 its president by 462 out of 468 votes. The 

 vice-presidents were MM. Lepere and Kameau, 

 two thorough Republicans ; M. Bethmond, an 

 old Left Centre man, and Count Durfort de 

 Civrac. In the Senate the Duke d'Audiffret- 

 Pasquier was chosen president by 205 votes. 

 There was no serious opposition. The vice- 

 presidents chosen were MM. Martel and Du- 

 clerc, Republicans, who headed the poll ; and, 

 after them, the Conservatives General Lad- 

 mirault and M. Andreu de Kordrel. Jules 

 Simon, who was a candidate, was badly beat- 

 en. The secretaries chosen were the Count de 

 Saint- Vallier and M. Scheurer Kestner, Re- 

 publicans. The questors elected were MM. 

 Baze, Toupet des Vignes, and General Aurelle 

 de Paladines. The ministerial statement was 

 read simultaneously in the Senate and Cham- 



VILLA KUGKNIK, BIABBITZ, FEANCB, 



ber on March 15th, by M. Dufaure in the for- 

 mer, and by the Duke Decazes in the latter. 

 Speaking in the name of the Council of Minis- 

 ters, it says : " The Republican Government, 

 already founded, has been completed by the 

 election of two great Assemblies, which con- 

 stitute with that government the entirety of 

 the public powers. Universal suffrage has 

 sanctioned the great constitutional results ac- 

 complished by the last Assembly. Power can- 

 not have a higher origin in human society; 

 never was a government more legitimately es- 

 tablished." After referring to the terms of 

 the presidential proclamation of the 13th of 

 January, which maintained that the existing 

 institutions ought not to be revised until they 

 had been subjected to an honest trial, the 

 ministerial statement says: " These wise 

 words will be our constant rule. The greatness 

 and the future of our country depend upon 

 the loyal practice of the constitutional laws, 

 and we shall be faithful to the liberal con- 

 servative spirit which has inspired them. In . 

 our relations with you, and in the preparation 

 of future laws, we shall insist upon fidelity 

 from our subordinates. The public function- 



aries will second our views by making the re- 

 public understood and appreciated. We shall 

 tell them that the republic, more than any 

 other government, needs to repose upon the 

 sacred laws of religion, morality, and family 

 rights, upon respect for the inviolability of 

 property, and upon labor encouraged and 

 honored ; lastly, that it will reject those war- 

 like adventures in which governments have 

 too frequently engaged." The statement pro- 

 ceeds to explain the condition of the finances. 

 It states that the budget will be brought for- 

 ward, balanced without any increase of taxa- 

 tion, and therefore without imposing upon the 

 tax-payers any new sacrifice, yet at the same 

 time insuring the reimbursement of the debt 

 due to the Bank of France. It adds : " Our re- 

 lations with foreign powers have in no way lost 

 their amicable and pacific character. France 

 has joined in the efforts made to put a stop 

 to the disturbances in the 

 western provinces of Tur- 

 key. We still retain a hope 

 that the agreement of the 

 great powers jointly af- 

 firming their respect of 

 treaties and their attach- 

 ment to peace will bear 

 fruit. No power has suf- 

 fered more than we from 

 the civil war which has 

 desolated Spain, and none 

 could see it brought to a 

 conclusion with more live- 

 ly and sincere satisfaction 

 than ourselves. This pa- 

 cification of the public 

 mind at both extremities 

 of Europe, and the ar- 

 dent desire for peace by 

 which all peoples and all governments are ani- 

 mated, will be favorable to the prosecution of 

 the pending commercial negotiations. The ap- 

 proaching expiration of the treaties of com- 

 merce compels us to lay down a new econom- 

 ical regime, to which our commercial relations 

 with foreign countries will henceforth be sub- 

 ject. We shall seek to spare industry the per- 

 turbations to which it has been subject, as well 

 as any future modifications of the tariff, by 

 persevering in the wise policy of free trade. 

 The reconstruction of our military status is 

 gradually being effected, and you will have to 

 settle the rules by which the administration of 

 the army and staff are to be regulated." The 

 declaration then calls the attention of the 

 Chambers to the depreciation and scarcity of 

 the naval stores, and states that the alterations 

 made in naval construction have induced the 

 maritime powers to undertake fresh burdens 

 for the purpose of keeping pace with the im- 

 provements of naval architecture. France is 

 compelled to enter upon the same path, while 

 proceeding with resolution and prudence. The 

 Government will endeavor to give a well-con- 

 sidered impetus to the execution of public 



