376 



FRANCE. 



ber he stood in the line of succession to the 

 presidency of the republic. Though he was 

 warned by Gambetta's example, who accepted 

 the premiership under more hopeful circum- 

 stances, the call of public duty was too imper- 

 ative to be slighted. The Cabinet was formed 

 April 5 with the help of M. de Freycinet, and 

 was composed as follows : Minister of Justice 

 and President ef the Council, M. Henri Bris- 

 son ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. de Frey- 

 cinet ; Minister of the Interior, M. Allain 

 Targe"; Minister of Public Instruction and 

 Worship, M. Goblet; Minister of War, Gen. 

 Campenon ; Minister of Marine, Admiral Ga- 

 liber; Minister of Finance, M. Clamageran; 

 Minister of Public Works, M. Sadi Carnot ; 

 Minister of Commerce, M. Pierre Legrand ; 

 Minister of Agriculture, M. Herve-Mangon ; 

 Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, M. Sarrien. 

 M. Brisson, when a deputy, had enunciated 

 views in favor of secularizing the property of 

 the congregations, the separation of church 

 and state, the extension of municipal liberties, 

 a retiring fund for agricultural and industrial 

 laborers, and other advanced ideas. The Ex- 

 tremists gave him their ready adhesion. The 

 other groups, including the vanquished Oppor- 

 tunists, promised him their support without 

 demanding pledges or conditions. 



The ministers on the day they accepted office 

 were informed by M. Ferry that preliminaries 

 of peace had been signed with the Chinese 

 plenipotentiary (see ANNAM). Nevertheless, in 

 order to be prepared in case they were de- 

 ceived in a peace negotiated in a manner so 

 irregular, they asked for and obtained a war 

 credit of 150,000,000 francs. 



The new Cabinet contained no one of exten- 

 sive ministerial experience except M. de Frey- 

 cinet. To satisfy the Radicals, every member 

 of the late Cabinet was excluded. Henri Bris- 

 son, born July 31, 1835, was associated with 

 Ferry, Challemel, Spuller, and Allain-Targe", 

 on the "Temps" in 1869, was a prominent 

 member, of strong democratic opinions, in 

 the National Assembly of 1871, was President 

 of the Republican Union, and was chosen 

 Speaker of the Chamber by large majorities in 

 the last three sessions. Senator Charles Louis 

 de Saulces de Freycinet, born Nov. 14, 1828, 

 was a celebrated engineer, and conspicuous in 

 the organization of the national defense. After 

 making his mark as a debater, he became Min- 

 ister of Public Works in 1877, and afterward 

 of Foreign Affairs, retiring in 1882 in conse- 

 quence of his indecision in the Egyptian ques- 

 tion. He was a friend of Gambetta, but parted 

 company with the later Gambettists, as did 

 Brisson also. Allain-Targe" was another jour- 

 nalistic associate of Gambetta's. Clamageran, 

 born in New Orleans, in 1827, is a political 

 economist and jurist, who had charge of the 

 provisioning of Paris during the siege. Gen. 

 Campenon, in reassuming charge of the war- 

 office, was prepared to prosecute vigorously 

 the occupation of Tonquin. The French forces 



in Indo-China were increased and organized, 

 under Gen. de Courcy, as a complete army 

 corps, like the forces in Algeria. M. Clamage- 

 ran purposed bringing into shape the disordered 

 finances, by raising a loan and by extensive re- 

 forms and removals in the administration. The 

 Gambettists objected, and, as this plan was dis- 

 approved by his colleagues, he resigned his port- 

 folio, which was taken by M. Carnot. In the 

 conflict with Egypt and Great Britain over the 

 suppression of the "Bosphore Egyptien," M. 

 de Freycinet took a firm position with Nubar 

 Pasha. The French consul-general, St. Rene"- 

 Taillandier, was recalled from Cairo. The Eng- 

 lish Government supported Nubar at first, but 

 finally gave way, and the difficulty was settled 

 with an apology and the re- establishment of 

 the obnoxious newspaper. 



The Session of the Chambers. Upon the meet- 

 ing of the House of Deputies in January, M. 

 Brisson was re-elected President, and upon the 

 organization of the Senate, M. Le Royer was 

 again chosen to preside over that body. The 

 budget, which in former times was disposed 

 of before the 1st of January, was delayed three 

 months, the Government being carried on in 

 the mean while by a vote on account. A con- 

 flict was threatened between the Senate and 

 the Chamber, which grows more and more in- 

 clined to deny the right of the upper house to 

 co-operate in fiscal legislation. The Chamber 

 struck out appropriations in the draft budget 

 for canonries and theological faculties. The 

 Senate, asserting anew the doctrine that the 

 Chamber has not the right to abolish estab- 

 lished institutions by the method of withdraw- 

 ing supplies, reinserted the grants. The aboli- 

 tion of seminary scholarships and of the theo- 

 logical faculties, with them the ancient Sor 

 bonne of Paris, though the name continues to 

 be borne by the faculties of Arts and Science, 

 was approved by the Government, on the 

 ground that the Holy See declined to recog- 

 nize the faculties, and the bishops distrusted 

 them. The canonries, however, were retained. 

 After M. Brisson's acceptance of the premier- 

 ship, M. Floquet was elected Speaker. 



It was decided to repeal the paper duty, 

 supplying the deficiency by raising the price 

 of superior tobacco and cigars, but as this was 

 insufficient, the tax was continued until Dec. 1, 

 1886. The Senate voted against the repeal, 

 but upon its withdrawing its opposition the 

 Chambers were prorogued Aug. 6. The most 

 important enactments are described below. 



Scrntin de Liste. A bill for the election of all 

 the deputies of each department on a single 

 ticket was reported by the committee before 

 the close of the year 1884. It makes the num- 

 ber of deputies from each department propor- 

 tionate to the population, at the rate of one for 

 every 70,000 inhabitants. In 1881 scrutin de 

 liste was intended to open the path for M. 

 Gambetta's election to the presidency, by se- 

 curing his return at the head of a great num- 

 ber of departmental tickets. It then passed 



