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THIERS, LOUIS A. 



TODLEBEN, FRANZ E. 



upon which the entire withdrawal of the Ger- 

 man armies from French soil was conditioned. 

 M. Thiers labored so well in this work, and in- 

 spired so enthusiastic a popular cooperation 

 with his efforts, that not only was no default 

 made in the payment of the immense in- 

 stallments that were required, but most of 

 them were paid before they were due, and the 

 final payment was made some time before the 

 period specified in the treaty had expired. M. 

 Thiers had always been known as a Constitu- 

 tional Monarchist, and an advocate of the pre- 

 tensions of the house of Orleans. He was, 

 however, a strong opponent of the Second Em- 

 pire. His views relative to the form of gov- 

 ernment best for France were partly modified 

 by his experience as Chief of the Executive, 

 and he declared himself in his message of No- 

 vember, 1872, in favor of the Republic, as the 

 form of government acceptable to the majority 

 of the people, and the only form that could be 

 upheld in the existing condition of the coun- 

 try. This declaration produced a coalition of 

 the monarchical parties against him, which grew 

 stronger as his attitude in favor of the definite 

 establishment of the Republic became more 

 distinct. Various circumstances strengthened 

 the combination, and an adverse vote was 

 passed against M. Thiers by the Assembly, 

 under the pressure of which he resigned the 

 office of President of the Republic, May 24, 

 1873. He resumed his place as a member of 

 the National Assembly, but he did not after- 

 ward take an active part in political discus- 

 sions, although he was always ready to give 

 the Republicans the benefit of his counsels, un- 

 til the exciting events which followed Presi- 

 dent MacMahon's dismissal of the ministry on 

 the 16th of May, 1877, brought him forward 

 again as the central figure of French politics. 

 After the dissolution of the Assembly in June, 

 1877, the Republicans turned to M. Thiers as 

 the one man whom all the people could trust, 

 and as their destined leader. Through all the 

 exciting events which followed, till his death, 

 he was looked to with confidence as the states- 

 man who could and would be called upon 

 to lead the country out of the difficulties in 

 which a mistaken policy had involved it. His 

 death was at first regarded as a great blow to 

 the hopes of the Republicans, as it left no man 

 conspicuous in their ranks who was not liable 

 to the distrust of the conservatives as of too 

 radical tendencies. The apprehended disaster 

 to the prospects of the party was partly re- 

 moved by the discovery among M. Thiers's 

 papers of the draft of a manifesto written with 

 express reference to the situation of the coun- 

 try, which described in the strongest terms the 

 dangers of the course which the government 

 was pursuing, and advised a persistent adher- 

 ence to the conservative republic. The leaders 

 of the party adopted the programme of M. 

 Thiers, and practised the moderation he recom- 

 mended, and the Republicans were saved from 

 defeat. 



All parties united in testifying to the dis- 

 tinguished services M. Thiers had rendered the 

 country. He was universally acknowledged, 

 with the deepest expressions of gratitude, to 

 have been the man to whom, above all others, 

 France was indebted for the restoration of 

 peace, for final deliverance from the Germans, 

 and for the opportunity to recover itself. Presi- 

 dent MacMahon issued an order on hearing of 

 his death, recommending that all divisions 

 should for a time disappear in order, by a great 

 national demonstration, to pay honor to him. 

 The government desired to give him a public 

 funeral, but Madame Thiers preferred to keep 

 the control of the arrangements in her own 

 hands. Letters of condolence were sent to his 

 widow from all the heads of the house of Or- 

 leans, from Queen Victoria, from the ex-Queen 

 of Spain, from the Sultan of Turkey, from 

 Prince Gortchakoff, from the Count von Wes- 

 dehlen, expressing the personal respects oi 

 Prince Bismarck, from Marshal Serrano, and 

 Castellar, of Spain, and from other eminent 

 dignitaries of several nations. 



THOMPSON, RICHAED W., Secretary of the 

 Navy, was born in Culpepper County, Va., 

 in 1809. In 1831 he went to Louisville, Ky., 

 and soon after removed to Lawrence County, 

 Ind., where he taught school for a while. In 

 1834 he was admitted to the bar and was 

 elected to the Indiana Legislature, to which he 

 was reflected in 1835. He afterward served 

 two years in the State Senate, of which he 

 was president pro tern. In 1840 he was a 

 presidential elector, and advocated the elec- 

 tion of General Harrison. He was again a 

 presidential elector in 1844. He was a repre- 

 sentative in Congress from 1841 to 1843, and 

 from 1847 to 1849, when he declined to be a 

 candidate for reelection. He afterward re- 

 sumed the practice of the law in Terre Haute. 

 He was a presidential elector in 1864 and dele- 

 gate to the Republican National Convention of 

 1868. He has written many political platforms 

 and acquired a wide reputation as an excellent 

 platform-maker. The resolutions adopted by 

 the Chicago Convention in 1860 were written 

 and read by him. He was chairman of the 

 Indiana delegation at the Cincinnati Conven- 

 tion in 1877, and in an effective speech he 

 brought the name of Senator Morton as a can- 

 didate before the convention. When Presi- 

 dent Hayes organized his cabinet, Mr. Thomp-- 

 son was made Secretary of the Navy. 



Mr. Thompson is the author of " Papacy and 

 the Civic Power," published in 1876. 



TODLEBEN, FRANZ EDUARD, a Russian 

 general, was born May 20, 1818, in Mitau, 

 as the son of a merchant. He entered the 

 school of cadets in Riga in 1829, went from 

 there to the school of engineers in 1838, and 

 four years later entered the cadet battalion of 

 sappers, "where he soon attracted the attention 

 of his superiors. Up to 1846, he was employed 

 in building the fortifications of Kiev, and then 

 fought for three years in the Caucasus. Dur- 



