FRANCE. 



311 



on your acts. It has always afforded them a rigorous 

 sanction, and it is not immediately after the magnifi- 

 cent elections which have just taken place for the 

 municipalities that your entire community of ideas 

 and principles with universal suffrage can be con- 

 tested. 



On February 6th the Chamber disposed of 

 the Press Bill, subject to a second reading, 

 provisions punishing seditious crimes, obscure 

 articles or illustrations, defamation and in- 

 sults to foreign sovereigns or embassadors hav- 

 ing been agreed to. A clause proposing the 

 visitation of insults to the republic with from 

 three to twelve months' imprisonment was, 

 after prolonged discussion, rejected by 287 

 votes to 187, on the ground that the repub- 

 lic was " strong enough to defy insults." On 

 the 15th the stipulation was agreed to (by 

 253 votes to 222) that "no foreign journal 

 shall be excluded from France except by decis- 

 ion of a Cabinet council." 



On February 7th the Chamber went on 

 with M. Naquet's Divorce Bill, the discussion 

 of which was awaited and followed with in- 

 tense anxiety and interest. Divorce, expunged 

 from the code civile by the religious reaction 

 of 1816, has ever since been replaced in France 

 by an old law restored, allowing only judicial 

 separation (separation de corps). M. L6on 

 Renault, reporter to the committee, vindicated 

 the measure as a revival, not of the law of 

 1792, which he disapproved, but that of 1803. 

 It restricted divorce, when desireH by but one 

 of the consorts, to cases of adultery, maltreat- 

 ment, or insult, and condemnation to degrad- 

 ing punishments ; while divorce by mutual con- 

 sent was by it subjected to various conditions, 

 such as the acquiescence of the children, the as- 

 signment to them of one half the property, etc. 

 As a compromise with traditional scruples, it 

 proposed the indissolubility of the second mar- 

 riage of divorced persons, and admitted judi- 

 cial separation as still obtainable. M. Renault 

 urged in behalf of the new measure that di- 

 vorce, far from favoring heedless marriages, 

 would strengthen tottering unions, while the 

 marriage of the adulterous would be forbidden; 

 and that judicial separations were increasing 

 in France more rapidly than divorces in other 

 countries, the rate of the former being nine 

 per 1,000 marriages, and that of the latter but 

 four per 1,000. 



An amendment modifying the system of 

 judicial separation was combated by M. Na- 

 quet himself. M. Cazot, Minister of Justice, 

 said that religious considerations were foreign to 

 the debate, and that scrupulous Catholics might 

 still have recourse to separation de corps ; that 

 divorce would do away with forced celibacy, 

 diminish the number of illegitimate offspring, 

 and encourage the creation of new families; 

 that the question at issue was whether certain 

 exceptional circumstances ought not to be sac- 

 rificed to the preservation of the institution of 

 marriage the key-stone of social existence; 

 that matrimony was no ordinary contract, but 

 one which, though founded on the free-will of 



the parties, when once entered into became in- 

 dissoluble ; and that permanence was what the 

 parties had in view when taking the marriage 

 vow, nor would any one have then thought of 

 divorce but for M. Naquet's project, which, if 

 sanctioned, would determine a marked increase 

 of improvident unions, bearing in them the 

 germs of corruption and dissolution, and dis- 

 courage tolerance and reciprocal concessions iu 

 existing marriages. The clause repealing the 

 law of 1816 was rejected by 261 votes to 225, 

 and the reform of the judicial separation sys- 

 tem left as the only possible modification of 

 the present state of things. 



The result of the municipal elections in Jan- 

 uary was favorable to the republicans. 



Early in the same month were announced 

 further incursions of Tunisian tribes in Alge- 

 ria, which the Bey was powerless to prevent ; 

 and in April the hostile movements of the 

 Kroumirs against the French troops determined 

 the appropriation of 5,695,000 francs' for an ex- 

 pedition, of which General Forgemol was ap- 

 pointed commander. On the 20th M. Roustan, 

 the French Consul-General in Tunis, informed 

 the Bey that he would be held responsible for 

 any effusion of blood that might occur; the 

 Island of Tabarca was occupied by the French 

 troops on the 21st, and on the 25th the mili- 

 tary operations commenced against the Krou- 

 mirs. The suzerainty of the Porte over Tunis 

 was asserted in a note addressed by the Turk- 

 ish embassador to the French Government; 

 and on May 9th a circular was issued by the 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, declaring that the 

 only object of the Tunisian expedition was to 

 insure the safety of Algeria. 



On the 15th M. Jules Ferry announced to 

 the Chamber the " happy diplomatic settle- 

 ment of the Tunisian question," and expressed 

 the hope that the treaty * concluded with the 

 Bey would be regarded as " securing legitimate 

 interests without exceeding the limits of jus- 

 tice and moderation." Toward the end of the 

 month the operations against the Kroumirs 

 terminated successfully; but the insurrection 

 of the Algerian tribes, one of which was ably 

 commanded by Bou-Amena, seemed to fore- 

 shadow further troubles. An additional ap- 

 propriation of 14,000,000 francs for the Tunis- 

 ian expedition was asked for by the Minister 

 of War on June 9th, and voted July 9th. On 

 the 19th Marseilles was the scene of a disturb- 

 ance growing out of a quarrel, with the Italian 

 residents, about the French policy in Tunis. 



The defeat of the scrutin de listed bill (re- 

 jected June 9th by 148 votes to 114), and, in 

 the August elections, his ill success in his own 

 Belleville constituency, of which, though ill 

 requited, he has ever been the dauntless cham- 

 pion, were grave rebuffs to M. Gambetta,J 

 whose supineness and embarrassment as pre- 

 mier after November 14th filled France and the 

 world with surprise. 



* For the text of this treaty, see page 809. 



t See SOKUTTN DE LISTE. p. 807. 



t See QAMBETTA, Leon Michel, p. 813. 



