Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/806

 800 MAcMAHON cal tribes. This was speedily put down, and a more conciliatory policy was adopted. Mac- Mahon vindicated his course in the senate, Jan. 21, 1870, and repeatedly offered his resigna- tion, which was not accepted. At the outset of the Franco-German war, in July, 1870, he was posted near Strasburg, in command of the first corps. A division under Gen. Abel Douay, which formed his advance guard, rash- ly exposed itself to an attack by the Germans near Weissenburg, and met with a disastrous defeat, which was the first French reverse (Aug. 4). To retrieve this loss MacMahon advanced, and took up his position at Worth. Its main points were speedily carried by the overwhelm- ing forces under the Prussian crown prince, and MacMahon was utterly routed (Aug. 6), thousands of his troops and most of his artil- lery being captured, while the German cavalry pursued his almost panic-stricken detachments through the passes of the Vosges mountains. He rallied them with great difficulty, and re- treated to Chalons. Here he was joined by the emperor, and the remnant of his soldiers, numbering barely 18,000, were reenforced to the extent of about 100,000. With this force he was ordered by Palikao to march to the re- lief of Bazaine at Metz, and to cooperate with that general's army. MacMahon is said to have been desirous of moving in the direction of Paris instead of Metz, and to have marched on only in obedience to imperative orders. He had not advanced far when one of his most important corps under Gen. Failly was surprised and defeated at Beaumont (Aug. 30), driven beyond the Meuse, and compelled to retreat toward Sedan, where MacMahon con- sequently massed his forces. The Germans opened the battle at dawn, Sept. 1, and at 7 A. M. MacMahon was disabled by a slight wound in the thigh. He resigned his com- mand to Ducrot, who was at once superseded by Wimpffen. MacMahon took no personal part in the capitulation, though he assumed the whole responsibility for the march on Se- dan, and the catastrophe which resulted from it, before the committee at Versailles (Sept. 4, 1871). During the trial of Bazaine in 1873, testimony was produced in regard to an alleged despatch of Bazaine to MacMahon, intended to arrest the progress of the latter toward the east ; but he denied having received it. After the surrender he was allowed to remain on his parole in a Belgian village for the recovery of his health, and subsequently in Wiesbaden, un- til the preliminary treaty of peace in Febru- ary, 1871. Early in April he was appointed by Thiers commander-in-chief of the Versailles troops operating against the commune of Paris. After his final victory over the latter (May 28) he remained in command in the capital till July 1, when Ladmirault succeeded him as gov- ernor of Paris. He declined to be a candidate for the national assembly at the supplementa- ry election of July 2. In January, 1872, when Thiers proposed to resign, MacMahon called upon him, in behalf of the army, to remain in office. On the retirement of Thiers in conse- quence of an adverse vote in the assembly, May 24, 1873, the presidency was offered to MacMahon. At first he hesitated to accept it, and reminded Thiers that he had repeatedly, in the course of their frequent and amicable intercourse, volunteered the pledge that he would never supersede him. Thiers intimated that he had never accepted such a pledge ; and finally, when Buffet, president of the assembly, appealed to the marshal's patriotism, he yield- ed, and before night sent to the assembly a formal letter of acceptance. The duke de Broglie was made prime minister. The first presidential message (May 26) declared that " the government was resolutely conservative and determined to defend society against all factions," and closed with the words: "The post in which you have placed me is that of a sentinel who has to watch over the integrity of your sovereign powers." The military and the legitimists speedily gained ground, however, receiving many offices. On the reopening of the assembly, Nov. 5, the president urged the adoption of measures for the greater stability of the government, and it was proposed by Changarnier, as chairman of a committee of nine appointed by the assembly for the regu- lation of the presidential term, to extend it to ten years. MacMahon on Nov. 17 rejected this conclusion, but declared his willingness to ac- cept a seven years' prolongation of his powers; and a vote taken in the night of Nov. 19-20 reduced the term to seven years, known as the septennate. The defeat of the electoral bill on May 16, 1874, broke up De Broglie's cabinet, and the unavailing efforts of M. de Goulard and others to form a new administration in- tensified the crisis. MacMahon put an end to it on May 22 by the unexpected appointment of Gen. de Oissey as premier, and by selecting as his other ministers mostly monarchists and imperialists, all more or less obnoxious to zeal- ous republicans. This anomalous condition of the executive branches was little calculated to allay the agitation in the assembly and the press, and MacMahon in vain demanded early in July a thorough and permanent organization of his authority. Another ministerial diffi- culty in the same month resulted in the sub- stitution of Bodet for Magne as minister of finance, and of Chabaud de la Tour for Four- toul in the interior. The repeatedly urged motion for the dissolution of the assembly was rejected on the same day (July 24), together with Oasimir Perier's constitutional bill ; but that body adjourned from Aug. 13 to Nov. 30, after appointing a permanent committee to sit during the recess. The Bonapartists, legiti- mists, and Orleanists, each seeking to make MacMahon their instrument, soon became dis- satisfied with him in proportion to the failure of their conflicting schemes. He is most dis- trusted by the liberals on account of his al- leged ultramontanism and its supposed influ-