Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/412

 400 FRANCE out the country and in the legislature. Presi- dent Thiers vigorously supported the bill ; and when, on Jau. 19, the assembly rejected it, he sent in his resignation (Jan. 20). This the assem- bly almost unanimously begged him to retract ; and he finally consented to continue in office, as did also the ministers, who had resigned with him. On Feb. 2 the assembly passed a bill authorizing the government to inform Eng- land and Belgium of the termination of the commercial treaties existing with those nations. On March 7 the payment of two milliards of the war indemnity was formally completed at Strasburg ; and, in accordance with the terms of the treaty, the German troops at once evac- uated a large portion of the occupied territory. After a long debate, the army bill proposed by the government, providing for the enforcement of compulsory service, fixing the term of service at five years, and making other provisions, was adopted on June 22. On Aug. 20 the sessions of the general councils of the French depart- ments began ; and their proceedings, though of course principally devoted to the discussion of departmental affairs, gave incidentally addi- tional evidences of the strength of republican sentiment and the improbability of success for the monarchists. This evidence was strongly confirmed by the results of the supplementary elections held on Oct. 21. The assembly never- theless, on reconvening after a recess from Aug. 4 to Nov. 11, showed a strongly conserva- tive tendency, and monarchical projects again became conspicuous in political discussions, but without result. A fusion of the right and right centre added to the conservative strength. On Nov. 18 an exciting debate took place as to whether the government had sufficiently en- deavored to suppress the radical movements in the provinces, especially the demonstrations excited by Gambetta. Thiers defended his ac- tion and demanded a vote of confidence ; but the unsatisfactory manner in which this was car- ried gave rise to a new disagreement between the president and assembly. This was greatly increased by the report (Nov. 26) of a com- mittee appointed to draft an address in reply to the president's message, in which that docu- ment was sharply criticised. Thiers again threatened resignation, but the matter was compromised by the adoption (Nov. 29) of a proposition for the appointment of a commit- tee of 30, who should prepare a bill strictly defining the relations of the executive and the legislature to one another, and otherwise regu- lating the responsibility of different branches of the government. This committee was cho- sen on Dec. 5. On the 10th a manifesto was published by members of the left (including Gambetta, Cremieux, and other leaders), de- manding the dissolution of the national assem- bly, as the means of diverting the evils threat- ened by the conflicts of party in the existing tody, and the election of a new legislature. Petitions to the same effect, received from the departments, were rejected by the assembly on the 14th. On the 19th the assembly reject- ed a motion for the abolition of duties on raw material. The beginning of 1873 put an end to many of the plans of the Bonapartist party, which had been the weakest of the con- tending factions in the assembly and the coun- try; for on Jan. 9 the ex-emperor Napoleon died at Chiselhurst, England. Immediately after, there began at Versailles the prolonged discussion and negotiation excited by the re- port of the committee of 30 on the president's powers and the powers of the assembly. Be- ginning with the proposition to permit the president only to address the assembly on cer- tain specified occasions, and otherwise restrict- ing his privileges, the constitutional project of the committee was 'several times modified on account of Thiers's disagreement with it. Du- ring the long debates concerning it Thiers sev- eral times made threats of tendering his resig- nation. On March 13 the committee's report was finally adopted by the assembly in a modi- fied form. On the 15th a new agreement with the Germans regarding the remainder of the indemnity was signed, providing for the pay- ment of the whole during the year 1873, and the withdrawal of the German troops during the same period. A bill for the exile of the Bonaparte family was passed March 29. On April 27 supplementary elections were again held, resulting in the choice of several prominent radicals. During the month of May President Thiers made a number of changes in the min- istry, which, as they were not accepted as suf- ficiently conservative by the members of the right, placed him again in sharp opposition to that portion of the assembly, and precipitated the decisive conflict which had so long been threatening between the executive and the majority of the legislature. Thiers himself brought about the crisis by urging in an address to the assembly on May 24 the definitive estab- lishment of the republic. This definition of his policy and that of the new ministry had indeed been forced upon him by an interpella- tion presented by the right, with the evident intention of compelling a vote upon his expla- nation, which should be decisive in regard to the continuance of himself and the ministry in power. Accordingly, no sooner had the presi- dent ended his address than the right present- ed an order of the day refusing to consider the form of government as under discussion, and regretting that the new ministry did not afford sufficient guarantees of a conservative policy. This, which was equivalent to a vote of want of confidence, was passed by the close vote of 360 to 344. Thiers and the ministry at once sent in their resignations, which were accepted ; and Marshal MacMahon was in the same sitting chosen president of the republic. The impor- tant events of MacMahon' s administration have thus far been comparatively few. For a time after his election, and especially during the summer, there seemed a probability that the efforts of the legitimists to restore a monarchy