Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/686

 528 General History of Europe paid the five billion francs in three years, and the country grad- ually recovered from the demoralization caused by the war. France also reorganized its army, requiring every Frenchman to serve five years in the active army 1 and fifteen in the reserve. 944. Constitution of the French Republic. The National Assembly had the further task of drawing up a constitution for France. There was much uncertainty for several years as to just what form the constitution would permanently take. But the monarchists quarreled among themselves and had no good candi- date for the throne. 2 As a result, those who advocated maintain- ing the Republic prevailed, and in 1875 the Assembly passed a series of three laws organizing the government. These have since served France as a constitution. The president is elected for seven years by both Senate and Chamber of Deputies meeting together. The real head of the government, however, is the prime minister. He and the other ministers form a cabinet, responsible to parliament, as in England. 3 945. The Republic and the Church. The Catholic clergy from the first had been hostile to the Republic, for the Republicans stood for such things as a national public-school system free from 1 This was gradually reduced later to two years' active service and eleven years in the reserve. In 1913, however, the term of active service was lengthened to three years, in order to keep pace with the increasing German army. 2 The monarchical party naturally fell into two groups. One, the so-called Legitimists, believed that the elder Bourbon line, to which Louis XVI and Charles X had belonged, should be restored in the person of the count of Chambord, a grandson of Charles X (see table, p. 480). The Orleanists, on the other hand, wished the grandson of Louis Philippe, the count of Paris, to be king. In 1873 the Orleanists agreed to help the count of Chambord to the throne as Henry V, but that prince frustrated the plan by re- fusing to accept the national colors, red, white, and blue, which had become so en- deared to the nation that it appeared dangerous to exchange them for the ancient white flag of the Bourbons. 8 The parliament of France differs from the Congress of the United States or the Parliament of Great Britain in the way it works. Instead of having two great parties there are about ten groups of members, each representing certain ideas. A few Monarchists still sit on the seats at the extreme right of the speaker's desk, or tribune. Next to them sit very conservative Republicans. The largest group is that of the " Radi- cals," or reformers, while at the left are quite a number of Socialists, representing the working classes. The cabinet must have the support of a majority in the Chamber of Deputies, as the house of representatives is called, which is elected every four years by universal male suffrage. The Senate is elected for nine years by a more complicated sys- tem, one hundred being elected every third year, and tends to be more conservative than the Chamber.