FRANCE. 



315 



works. While seeking to reconcile important 

 uu<l justly-demanded liberties with the rights 

 of the state and the necessary prerogatives of 

 tin executive power, it will submit proposi- 

 tions with regard to the grunting of degrees for 

 superior education and the composition of the 

 municipalities. The programme says in con- 

 clusion : " It is not without emotion that we 

 approach the tirst session of the Legislature 

 under a constitutional republic. We foresee 

 the difficulties it may present, but we presume 

 to hope that they will be overcome through 

 your confidence in the superior and loyal wis- 

 dom of the President of the Republic, through 

 the constant agreement of the two Chambers, 

 and the general and passionate desire to see 

 France rise again, rendered great by liberty, 

 order, and peace." The message produced a 

 general impression of satisfaction among the 

 members of the Republican party. The closing 

 paragraph of the message was greeted with 

 cheers by the Lett and the Centres. On March 

 16th M. Ricard, Minister of the Interior, was 

 elected a life-senator in the place of Larochette. 

 On March 18th M. Waddington received the 

 professors of the faculties and lyceums of 

 Paris, on which occasion he addressed the fol- 

 lowing words to them : 



" Gentlemen, I wish to inform you of my 

 programme, the programme of my ministry 

 as far as it concerns public instruction. I de- 

 sire freedom of instruction ; I consider it now, 

 and have always considered it, necessary. But, 

 with regard to the granting of degrees, it is 

 my firm intention to restore this right to the 

 state. The state only must possess the privi- 

 lege of granting degrees. I have always held 

 tin- same opinion on this point." On the 23d 

 M. Waddington introduced a bill in the Cham- 

 ber of Deputies, abrogating the clauses of the 

 university law which permitted faculties un- 

 connected with the state to grant degrees. 



On March 21st Victor Hugo read a motion 

 in the Senate, proposing a general amnesty for 

 all acts committed during the reign of the 

 Commune. This motion created considerable 

 excitement among the members of the Right, 

 one of whom, M. Paris, shouted, "Do you 

 propose amnesty even for the murderers of 

 the hostages ? " To which M. Hugo did not 

 reply. M. Dufaure proposed that the motion 

 be declared " urgent." He said : " Among 

 those to whom the proposal applies are some 

 who regret the excesses into which circum- 

 stances led them. By their toils and their re- 

 grets they have merited clemency. The Presi- 

 dent will exercise the right of pardon in their 

 favor. But for those who committed crimes, 

 and who, while remaining enemies to society, 

 employ upon the frontiers the most ingenious 

 means for introducing in France writings 

 which calumniate society and the Government, 

 amnesty is impossible, and the ministry will 

 oppose it." " Urgency " was voted unani- 

 mously. In the Chamber of Deputies a simi- 

 lar motion was introduced by M. Raspail. 



This for a time caused a very spirited debate, 

 the Bonapartists bitterly attacking tlit- motion, 

 and demanding the names of the deputies who 

 signed it. One of their number, Paul de Ca- 

 saguac, said, "We wish to know the members 

 who composed the Pantheon of assassins," to 

 which M. Perin, of the Left, replied, u The 

 assassins of the coup d'etat owe some indul- 

 gence to the assassins of the Commune." M. 

 Ricard, Minister of the Interior, proposed that 

 the amnesty motions be declared urgent, but 

 added : " The Government opposes all propo- 

 sitions for amnesty. It firmly intends to cause 

 the decisions of the tribunals to be respected. 

 It would be dishonoring the country to treat 

 the criminals of the Commune as victims of 

 political discord." AIM. Raspail and Brisson, 

 of the Left, opposed the motives for declaring 

 urgency advanced by the Government. They 

 claimed urgency solely in the name of human- 

 ity. M. Ricard asked whether it would be 

 humane to raise false hopes in the minds of 

 relatives of the prisoners. He said the Presi- 

 dent would reconcile his duties to the country 

 with the rights of humanity. " Urgency " was 

 finally voted unanimously. On March 29th 

 MM. Ricard and Dufaure gave evidence be- 

 fore the Senate's committee on the amnesty 

 proposals. They pointed to documents show- 

 ing that the majority of the convicts persist- 

 ed in considering themselves political martyrs, 

 and felt no regret for their crimes. The return 

 of such men to society would constitute a pos- 

 itive peril. The sentiments evinced in pam- 

 phlets, journals, and speeches, by refugees 

 abroad, also showed that they, if permitted to 

 return to France, would bring back sentiments 

 of hatred even more vehement than were dis- 

 played during the Commune, and the intention 

 of accomplishing so-called necessary reparation. 

 Therefore, it was absolutely impossible to think 

 of either partial or general amnesty in favor 

 of such persons. The Government, however, 

 wished largely to exercise clemency toward 

 those who desired to live peaceably, and would 

 take measures to bring about the extensive ex- 

 ercise of President MacMahon's right to par- 

 don immediately upon the rejection of the 

 amnesty motions. On March 30th the Senate 

 arranged the method for the partial renewal 

 of its membership every three years, as pre- 

 scribed by the constitutional laws. The de- 

 partments are divided, according to alphabeti- 

 cal order, into three categories, each repre- 

 sented by seventy -five senators. The first cat- 

 egory comprised the departments from Ain to 

 Gard, including the colonies of Algeria, Gua- 

 deloupe, and La Reunion. The second com- 

 prised the departments from Garonne to Oise, 

 including the colonies Constantino and Mar- 

 tinique. The third took in the departments 

 from Orne to Yonne, including the colonies 

 Oran and Pondichery. Lots were then drawn 

 to decide the order in which the senators of the 

 three categories must seek selection. The result 

 was that the senators in the first category ore 



