366 



FKANCE. 



their agitations. The various radical groups, 

 of a more or less socialistic bent, had been 

 visibly kept in restraint by Gambetta. There 

 was a prospect that the center of gravity in 

 the government would now shift farther to 

 the left, and to the regime of the freethinkers 

 would succeed one of socialistic experiments. 

 With a make-shift ministry, a Chamber which 

 served only as a forum for wordy contests with 

 the foes of the existing order, and with the 

 wide-spread mistrust which Gambetta had fo- 

 mented, that the republic, constituted as it was, 

 was incapable of maintaining the interests 

 and dignity of France abroad or a stable order 

 at home, the situation was favorable for a coup 

 de main or revolution if any of the hostile 

 parties were able or willing to profit by it. 



A Legitimist agitation was set on foot in the 

 Vendee and the south of France, at Montpel- 

 lier, and the other strongholds of royalism. 

 There was talk of reorganizing General Oha- 

 rette's royalist legion, which in 1870 was re- 

 puted to number 8,000. Rumor exaggerated 

 the preparations into 1,500 Papal Zouave veter- 

 ans in Paris, and 33 legions organized as hunt- 

 ing-clubs in the country, with a treasure of 

 15,000,000 francs in London. The Count de 

 Chambord was expected to issue a manifesto. 

 A sudden damper was thrown upon the move- 

 ment by an unexpected act of Prince Napo- 

 leon, who, in order to forestall the Count de 

 Chambord and claim the position which his 

 party denied him, of head of the Bonapartes, 

 placarded on the walls of Paris and published 

 in the "Figaro," January 16th, a manifesto in 

 the form of an arraignment of the republic 

 and apology for his own position. 



On the same day on which this manifesto 

 was issued Prince Napoleon was arrested and 

 confined in the prison of the Conciergerie on 

 the charge of an " attempted act against the 

 safety of the state, for the purpose of chang- 

 ing the existing form of government." The 

 manifesto had no popular effect, but it rallied 

 to the prince the Bonapartist politicians, who, 

 on account of his republican principles and 

 radical sympathies, had sought to thrust him 

 aside in favor of his son, Prince Victor. 



Pretender Question. In the Chamber the mani- 

 festo was the signal for calling forth, not so 

 much the fears, as the antipathies, of the Re- 

 publicans against the Bourbon princes and the 

 socially powerful though politically prostrate 

 section of , the community which clung to the 

 principles of royalty and aristocracy. The Due 

 d' Aumale and his aspirations to the presidency 

 of the republic were more dreaded than " the 

 King" in Frohsdorf, or the discarded head of 

 the Bonapartes. A bill was at once brought 

 in by M. Floquet to banish from the soil of 

 France and the colonies, and deprive of all po- 

 litical rights, the members of families which 

 formerly reigned in France. Urgency was 

 voted by a large majority. A government bill 

 was presented by M. Fallieres, Minister of the 

 Interior, which would empower the Executive 



to expel from French territory any prince 

 whose presence might be considered dangerous 

 to the state, and, if an officer of the army, to 

 place him en disponibilite. The committee ap- 

 pointed by the bureaux to discuss the measure 

 at first reported a bill as rigorous as the Flo- 

 quet proposal, but finally agreed to a compro- 

 mise, incapacitating the members of dynastic 

 families for any electoral function or any civil 

 or military employment. M. Duclerc, the Pre- 

 mier, and Gen. Billot, Minister of War, refused 

 to accept the Fabre compromise, and the Cab- 

 inet, in consequence, resigned. Admiral Jaur- 

 reguibery, Minister of Marine, had already 

 tendered his resignation. President Grevy 

 simply accepted the resignations of the three 

 ministers who objected to a compromise, and, 

 upon M. Jules Ferry's declining to form a 

 Cabinet, intrusted M. Fallieres with the pre- 

 miership, January 29th. On February 1st the 

 bill passed by a vote of 355 to 142, 53 Repub- 

 licans voting with the minority, and 42 abstain- 

 ing, mostly because the bill did not go far 

 enough.* 



Interim Ministry. The Ministry of War was 

 offered to Gen. Campenon, a Gambettist, who 

 declined the office. It was accepted by Gen. 

 Thibaudin, who, though absolved by a council 

 of officers, was supposed by many to have 

 broken his parole in escaping from imprison- 

 ment in Germany and joining the army of the 

 national defense. At the time that the crisis 

 culminated, M. Duclerc was seriously ill, and 

 sent his resignation from a sick-bed. In the 

 midst of his first speech as Prime Minister, M. 

 Fallieres was also taken ill, overcome by anxi- 

 ety and loss of sleep. M. Fallieres was about 

 forty-four years of age. Like the other mem- 

 bers of the Duclerc ministry, he was new to 

 office, but passed for the ablest speaker among 

 them. Before entering public life he was a 

 lawyer in the small town of Nerac. The aged 

 M. Duclerc was well known and respected in 

 the Chamber, but had not the eminence and 

 weight of character which could command the 

 obedience of the majority. M. Deves, the Min- 

 ister of Justice, was not an eminent lawyer, 

 nor did M. Duvaux, Minister of Public Instruc- 

 tion, formerly professor in the Lycee at Nancy, 

 add to the authority of the Cabinet, though all 



* The princes of Orleans, who are retired from active ser- 

 vice in the army, though not deprived of their military rank, 

 by the pretenders' bill, were proscribed under the empire, but 

 returned to France in virtue of an amnesty law, passed in 

 1871. Prince de Joinville and Due de Chartres had served in 

 the Second Army of the Loire under assumed names, with the 

 knowledge of Gen. Chanzy, who sought in every way to ad- 

 vance their interests. The Prince de Joinville was discharged 

 and sent out of the country by orders of Gambetta., but the 

 Due de (Jhartres concealed his identity and was decorated 

 with the cross of the Legion of Honor. The Due de Nemours 

 and the Due d'Aumale figure on the army lists as generals of 

 division, having been advanced to that grade during the reign 

 of their father, Louis Philippe. At the time of the passage of 

 the act the Due de Nemours was in the reserve, the Due 

 d' Aumale was en disponibilite, the Due de Chartres was in 

 command of a regiment at Rouen, the Due d'Alencon com- 

 manded a battery of artillery, the Due de Penthievre had 

 resigned, and his father, the Prince de Joinville, retained 

 the rank which he had received by royal ordinance, of vice- 

 admiral in the navy. Of the Bonapartes, Roland, the son of 

 Pierre, held a captaincy in the line. 



