FRANCE. 



297 



Street Rioting. After the resignation of the 

 President riotous demonstrations against Ferry 

 took place in the streets. A crowd that sur- 

 rounded the Palais Bourbon was driven away 

 by the military and police. The deputies, 

 Camelinat, Due Quercy, and Basly, marched 

 at the head of a procession toward the Hotel- 

 de-Ville, and when they attempted to force a 

 passage through a squadron of the Garde Re- 

 publicaine, the soldiers charged into the crowd, 

 and striking with the flat side of their sabers, 

 soon put the mob to flight. Other crowds 

 were dispersed in like manner. There were 

 revolvers fired and stones thrown at the sol- 

 diers, but no one was killed on either side. 

 The Municipal Council met at six o'clock, and 

 passed a resolution expressing the conviction 

 that the election of Jules Ferry would lead to 

 the shedding of blood in the streets of Paris, 

 and civil war throughout France. 



The Presidential Election. The election took 

 place in the great hall of the palace of Ver- 

 sailles, on the afternoon of December 3. The 

 Opportunists were united in favor of M. Ferry, 

 while the Radicals had expected to support M. 

 de Freycinet. The Right had been expected 

 to give their votes to M. Ferry, but they deter- 

 mined to throw them away on Gen. Saus- 

 sier, who had declined to be a candidate, or 

 on Gen. Appert. In the Republican caucus, 

 M. Sadi-Carnot had been prominently brought 

 forward as a compromise candidate, yet the 

 friends of M. Ferry did not despair of gaining 

 monarchist votes, and electing him yet. The 

 first vote gave Sadi-Carnot 303 ballots ; Ferry, 

 212; Saussier, 148; de Freycinet, 76; Appert, 

 72; Brisson, 26; Floquet, 5; Anatole de la 

 Forge, Felix Pyat. and Pasteur, 2 each ; and 

 Spuller, 1. MM. Ferry and de Freycinet an- 

 nounced their withdrawal in favor of M. Car- 

 not. On the second vote M. Sadi-Carnot was 

 elected by 616 ballots, to 188 cast for Gen. 

 Saussier, 11 for Ferry, 5 for de Freycinet, and 

 1 for Pyat. 



The Tirard Cabinet. The Rouvier ministry 

 handed in their resignations to the new Presi- 

 dent, who had much difficulty in finding a 

 statesman who could form a Cabinet. M. Fal- 

 lieres declined to undertake the task. M. Gob- 

 let conceived the idea of uniting in the same 

 ministry men from the opposite wings of the 

 party, but gave up the attempt. On December 

 13 a Cabinet was formed from Opportunist ele- 

 ments, composed as follows : President of the 

 Council and Minister of Finance, Paul Emman- 

 uel Tirard, born in Geneva, of French parents, 

 in 1827, who established a wholesale jewelry 

 establishment in Paris, was a zealous Republi- 

 can under the Empire, a deputy in 1871, after- 

 ward a life-senator. Minister of Agriculture in 

 1879, and subsequently Minister of Finance; 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, L. E. Flourens ; 

 Minister of Justice, M. Fallieres ; Minister of 

 the Interior, Jean M. F. Sarrien, who held the 

 same portfolio under M. de Freycinet in 1866 ; 

 Minister of Education and Worship, M. Faye, a 



senator ; Minister of Marine and the Colonies, 

 Francois C. de Mahy, a native of Reunion ; 

 Minister of Public Works, M. Loubet; Minis- 

 ter of Agriculture, M. Viette ; Minister of 

 Commerce, M. Dautresme ; Minister of War, 

 Gen. Logerot, who was a colonel in the war of 

 1870, distinguished himself in Tunis in 1881, 

 was made general of division, and succeeded 

 Gen. Forgemol in the chref command. 



In President Carnot's inaugural message, read 

 in Parliament on December 13, he speaks of 

 himself as " one of the most modest servants of 

 France," and appeals to the patriotism of the 

 deputies to sustain a policy of " progress, rec- 

 onciliation, and concord." 



Attempted Assassination of Jules Ferry. The agi- 

 tation against M. Ferry during the presiden- 

 tial canvass prompted a desperate man, who 

 was desirous of noteriety, to attempt his life in 

 the lobby of the Chamber, on December 10. 

 He sent in his card, and when M. Ferry ap- 

 peared, while engaging him in conversation, 

 fired two shots from a revolver, but inflicted 

 only a slight wound. 



The Paris Municipality. A question under- 

 lying the political events of the year was the 

 old one of the right of the communes, notably 

 the city of Paris, to legislative autonomy. The 

 idea of local self-government, which inspires 

 with dread all the conservative elements of 

 French society, and has been resisted and re- 

 pressed by every means, because the hopes 

 of the Socialists and Revolutionists of every 

 shade are bound up in it, has made great prog- 

 ress in the past two or three years, and has 

 been adopted as a practical issue by a consider- 

 able section of the Radical party in parliament. 

 The elections for the Paris Municipal Council in 

 May resulted in a large increase in the Radi- 

 cal and Revolutionary elements in that body. 

 On July 27 the municipality voted to convene 

 a congress of municipal delegates, but the gov- 

 ernment vetoed the project. The President of 

 the Municipal Council nevertheless issued a cir- 

 cular inviting delegates of all French munici- 

 palities to meet on September 22, and the Min- 

 ister of the Interior again interfered, threaten- 

 ing to annul any resolutions passed in response 

 to the invitation. The fear of a Paris commune 

 and central mayoralty was the main motive 

 that deterred M. Grevy from calling on M. 

 Clemenceau to form a ministry in May, and 

 that governed the selection of the Tirard Cabi- 

 net in December. 



The Exhibition of 1889. The Republic re- 

 ceived negative replies from the monarchical 

 governments of Europe in response to its invi- 

 tation to participate in a world's fair at Paris 

 in 1889. The Czar of Russia directed his min- 

 ister to declare that the Russian Government 

 would take no part in festivities for the glori- 

 fication of a revolution, and would prohibit 

 Russian merchants and manufacturers from 

 having anything to do with it. The Ger- 

 man and Austrian Governments declined to 

 countenance the exhibition by any official 



