FRANCE. 



309 



tion of the grounds which have led me to take this 

 decision. \ ou all know with what scrupulousness, 

 since the 25th of February, 1875, the day when the 

 National Assembly gave France a Republican Con- 

 stitution, I have observed in the exercise of the 

 power confided to me all the prescriptions of that 

 fundamental law. After the elections of last year, 

 I wished to choose as ministers men whom I sup- 

 posed to be agreed in opinions with the majority of 

 the Chamber of Deputies. With that idea, I have 

 successively formea two ministries. The first had 

 at its head M. Dufaure, a veteran of our political 

 Assemblies, one of the authors of the Constitution, 

 as much esteemed for the honesty of his character 

 as illustrious for his eloquence. M. Jules Simon, 

 who presided over the second, attached from all 

 time to the Republican form, wished, like M. Du- 

 faure, to reconcile it with every Conservative prin- 

 ciple. In spite of the loyal cooperation which I 

 have given them, neither of these ministers has 

 been able to form in the Chamber a compact major- 

 ity secured to his own ideas. M. Dufaure vainly 

 endeavored last year, in the last discussion on the 

 budget, to prevent innovations, which he justly re- 

 garded as very deplorable. The same defeat was 

 reserved for the President of the late cabinet on 

 very serious points of legislation, as to which he 

 had agreed with me that no modification should be 

 allowed. After these two attempts, equally devoid 

 of success, I could not take a step further in the 

 same path without appealing to or demanding sup- 

 port from another section of the Republican party 

 that which thinks the Republic cannot be firmly 

 established without having as a complement and 

 consequence the radical modification of all our great 

 institutions judicial, financial, and military admin- 

 istrations. This programme is well known. Those 

 who profess it are agreed on all that it contains ; 

 they differ among themselves only as to the suitable 

 time and means of carrying it out. Neither my 

 conscience nor my patriotism permits me to share, 

 even afar off and as regards the future, in the tri- 

 umph of these ideas. I do not think it opportune 

 either to-day or to-morrow, or at any period, that 

 they should prevail. They would only engender 

 disorder and the degradation of France. I will 

 neither try its application myself, nor facilitate its 

 trial by my successors. As long as I am the depos- 

 itary of power, I shall make use of it to the whole 

 extent of its legal limits to oppose what I regard as 

 the ruin of my country. But I am convinced that 

 the country thinks as I do. It was not the triumph 

 of these theories which it wished at the last elec- 

 tions. That is not what was announced to it by 

 those who took advantage of my name, and declared 

 themselves resolved to sustain my power. Were it 

 questioned anew, and in a way to prevent any mis- 

 understanding, it would, I am sure, reject this con- 

 fusion. I have had, then, this confusion. I have 

 had, then, to choose and it was my constitutional 

 right advisers who think like me on this point, 

 which is, in reality, the only one in question. I re.- 

 main none the less now, as hitherto, firmly resolved 

 to respect and maintain the institutions which are 

 the work of the Assembly from which I hold power, 

 and which have constituted the Republic. Until 

 1880, 1 am the only man who could propose a change. 

 I meditate nothing of the kind. All my advisers 

 are, like me, determined to conduct the institutions 

 loyally, and are incapable of striking any blow at 

 them. I offer these considerations to your reflection 

 and to the judgment of the country. To allay the 

 emotion caused by recent incidents, I shall invite 

 you to suspend your sittings for a certain time. 

 When you resume them you will be able, suspending 

 all other business, to apply yourselves to the discus- 

 sion of the budget, which it is so important to bring 

 soon to a conclusion. Meanwhile, iny Government 

 will watch over the public peace. At home it will 

 suffer nothing which woula imperil it abroad. It 



will be maintained, I am confident, notwithstanding 

 the agitations troubling one part of Europe, thanks 

 to the good relations we maintain and mean to keep 

 up with all the Powers, and to that policy of neutral- 

 ity and abstention which has quite recently been 

 explained to you, and which you have confirmed by 

 your unanimous approval. On this point no differ- 

 ence of opinion arises among parties. They all 

 desire the same end by the same means. The new 

 ministry thinks exectly like the old ; and, to attest 

 this conformity of sentiments, the direction of 

 foreign policy has remained in the same hands. If 

 imprudence of speech or of the press endangered 

 this accord which we all desire, I should employ all 

 the means the law puts in my power to prevent it, 

 and I appeal to the patriotism which, thank God ! is 

 never lacking in France in any class of citizens My 

 ministers are about to read you the decree which, 

 conformably with Article 24 of the Constitutional 

 Law of the 16th of July, 1875, adjourns the Chamber 

 for a month. 



In the Senate, upon the conclusion of the 

 reading of the message, M. Simon claimed the 

 privilege of speaking, on the ground that the 

 message necessitated a protest; but the Due 

 de Broglie objected, declaring the sitting over, 

 and the president so decided. In the Chamber 

 of Deputies, M. Fourtou was received with 

 menacing gestures, cries, and outbursts of 

 anger from both the Right and Left. M. 

 Gambetta tried to speak at the close of the 

 reading, but was compelled to sit down. The 

 Chamber was then prorogued until June 16th. 



The immediate result of the change of min- 

 istry was, that on May 22d, four days after 

 they entered into office, prefects in 62 depart- 

 ments were removed. Enforced resignations, 

 transfers, placing on the unattached list, and 

 all other known and even unusual proceedings, 

 were resorted to. 



After the session of the 18th, the Deputies 

 of the Left held a meeting, in which an ad- 

 dress to the country was adopted, and signed 

 by M. Thiers, M. Leon Renault, M. Germain, 

 and others of the most moderate Republicans, 

 who had hitherto kept aloof from all party 

 declarations. In this address they said : 



After the 24th of May. the nation will show, by 

 its coolness, patience, and resolution, that an incor- 

 rigible minority cannot wrest from it its own gov- 

 ernment. However painful this unexpected trial 

 may be which is disturbing the interests, and which 

 might compromise the success of the grand efforts 

 of our industry for the great and pacific Universal 

 Exhibition of 1878, whatever be the national anxiety 

 amid the complications of European politics, France 

 will let herself neither be deceived nor intimidated. 

 She will resist every provocation. The Republican 

 functionaries will remain at their posts, and await 

 the decree which separates them from constituen- 

 cies whose confidence they have. Those of our 

 countrymen who have been called into the Elective 

 Councils of the nation will redouble their zeal and 

 activity, their devotion and patriotism, to maintain 

 the rights and liberties of the country. We shall 

 enter into direct communication with you. We call 

 upon you to pronounce between the policy of re- 

 action and ventures, which overturns all that six 

 years have so painfully gained the wise and firm, 

 pacific and progressive po'icy which you have al- 

 ready consecrated. The trinl will not be long. In 

 five months at most France will spenk ; the Repub- 

 lic will issue, stronger than ever, from the popular 



