FRANCE. 







and prerogatives, I know my duties of protection to- 

 \\unl mini'i-iiie-. I hope to be able unflinchingly to 

 combine them with the russet every one owes hero 

 to the Constitution and powers of tlio republic. We 

 may, we ouirht all of us now t fed that governments 

 of oombut Iwvo lived out their time. Our republic, 

 having at length issued victorious from the strife of 

 parties, mu.-t enter the organic and creative period. I 

 Deg you, moreover, gontlemen, especially to concen- 

 trate your nrdur, your intelligence, your talents, your 

 every effort on the great educational, military, finan- 

 cial, industrial, and economic questions before you, 

 the solution of whi-'h is legitimately expected by the 

 rifling generation, the anny, the producers, the whole 

 nation. Twice elected by universal suffrage, you have 

 obeyed the first of its wishes by saving the republic. 

 You will carry out the rest of its wishes by insuring 

 it, in accord with the Government, the benefits of 

 peace, the guarantees of liberty, and the reforms de- 

 manded by public opinion and founded on justice. 



In the Senate the Presidential message was 

 much applauded. The proposed memorial on 

 the site of the sittings of the National Assem- 

 bly from May to October, 1789, was then dis- 

 cussed. M. de Gavardie indulged in a tirade 

 against that body and the Revolution in gen- 

 eral, and offered to support the proposal if 

 Louis XVI.'s name was inscribed on the me- 

 morial as the restorer of French liberty. To 

 this M. Henri Martin replied that Louis XVI. 

 was to be pitied, but he had already a memo- 

 rial, the Chapelle Expiatoire, which successive 

 revolutions had respected. In the Chamber, 

 after M. Gambetta had read his speech and M. 

 de Marcere tbe President's message, the Fran- 

 co-Italian and Fran co- Austrian conventions 

 were ratified. 



A Cabinet Council was beld on February 

 llth, at which the amnesty bill was definitely 

 adopted, and the decrees appointing new pro- 

 cureurs-gen6rales and new commanders of the 

 army corps were signed. The amnesty bill 

 was presented to tho Chamber on the same 

 day. The amnesty was to apply to all persons 

 condemned for acts relating to the insurrec- 

 tion of 1871, who had been or might be lib- 

 erated or pardoned by the President within 

 three months after the passing of the act. On 

 the 13th the bureaus in the Chamber of Depu- 

 ties elected the Committee on the Amnesty 

 Bill. Seven of the members were favorable 

 to the Government measure, while four de- 

 sired a full and complete amnesty. The com- 

 mittee met on the 16th. It subsequently com- 

 municated with the Government, who consent- 

 ed to the introduction of a clause extending 

 the amnesty to all political crimes committed 

 before or after the insurrection of March 18, 

 1871. The bill as amended by the committee 

 and accepted by the Cabinet was as follows : 



1. The amnesty is accorded to all those condemned 

 for acts relating to the insurrections of 1871, and to all 

 those condemned for crimes or offenses relating to po- 

 litical acts who have been and shall bo liberated, or 

 who have been and shall be pardoned bv the Presi- 

 dent of the Republic within three months after the 

 promulgation of the present law. 2. The punish- 

 ments pronounced by default for the same acts may 

 be remitted by way of pardon. 3. From the promul- 

 gation of the present law the prescription of Article 

 637 of the Code of Criminal Procedure shall apply to 



acts relating to the insurrections of 1*71 which shall 

 not yet have been the (subject of coTidi-iniiatiuns by 

 default or oihcrwi-c. -1. Fn>m the date of the notin- 

 c:tti'>n of the letters of pardon virtually involving an 

 amnesty, the condemneVl persons who shall have re- 

 turned to Franco shall no longer enjoy the )*nefit of 

 Article 478 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 5. 

 The present law shall not bo applicable to persons 

 who, independently of the acts which it has in view, 

 shall have been condemned in person or in default for 

 common-law crimes or offenses of the same nature, 

 involving a sentence of more than twelve month*' 

 imprisonment. 



The debate on the bill began in the Cham- 

 ber on the 20th. The principal amendment, 

 that of M. Louis Blanc, proposing an uncon- 

 ditional amnesty, was rejected by 868 to 106 

 votes ; and, after some other amendments had 

 been disposed of, the Government bill, as 

 amended by the committee, was passed by 340 

 to 99 votes. The bill was placed on the table 

 of the Senate on the following day. On the 

 27th M. Rividre read the committee's report 

 on the bill. It declared that, while indulgence 

 should be shown, measures of defense and pro- 

 tection should be taken, and the committee 

 would not have agreed to a plenary amnesty. 

 Pity should neither in politics nor iu morals 

 stifle the voice of justice. On the other hand, 

 they rejected M. B6renger's counter-scheme, 

 because it did not even contain the word 

 "amnesty," and implied fears which there 

 was nothing to justify. They likewise rejected 

 M. de Gavardie's proposal that the Communist 

 ringleaders should be excluded from the am- 

 nesty, and a list of them be published by the 

 Government. They agreed to the bill as it 

 stood. The bill was discussed in the Senate 

 on the 28th, and, notwithstanding a vehement 

 speech from Victor Hugo, was carried by 163 

 to 86. 



In the Chamber M. de Marcere, Minister of 

 the Interior, replied to an attack on his con- 

 duct in relation to accusations made against 

 the police. On March 3d M. Clemenceau, 

 after hearing M. de Marcere's explanations, 

 moved an order of the day expressing the re- 

 gret of the House at the insufficiency of the 

 explanations. The Chamber then suspended 

 its sitting. On reassembling, the order of the 

 day pure and simple was proposed. M. C16- 

 menceau adopted it, as being virtually the 

 same as his own, and it was carried by a large 

 majority. M. Marcere thereupon resigned, and 

 was succeeded by M. Lepere, Minister of Agri- 

 culture and Commerce, who in turn was suc- 

 ceeded by M. Tirard. 



On March 8th M. Drisson presented to the 

 Chamber the report of a committee appointed 

 to consider the question of the impeachment 

 of the De Broglie Ministry. The report 

 charged the late Government with various un- 

 constitutional acts, and with an intention to 

 bring about a coup <Tetat. At the request of 

 the Government the debate was postponed 

 until the 18th. Marshal MacMahon wrote a 

 letter to President GreVy, in which he de- 

 clared that he assumed the responsibility for 



