The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-21 00:00:00

THE SPEECH OF M. JULES FA.VBE.

On placing the resignation of the late Ministry in the
hands of the Assembly, M. Jules Favre said .—" In thus
placing the powers of the Government of the National
Defence in the hands of the representatives of the country,
I perform a most pleasing duty. Ever since we under- .
took this responsibility it has been our earnest desire to
hive the opportunity of meeting the representatives of
the people face to face. We are now placed in most sad and
unfortunate circumstances, but thanks to your patriotism,
and to that unity of feeling to which I am convinced I
shall not make a vain appeal, and which is dictated to us
alike by the misfortune, the good sense, and the interests
of our dear country, we shall succeed in binding up our
wounds and in achieving our future regeneration. (Loud
applause.) This great work is entrusted to your hands, gen-
tlemen. As for us, we are nothing further, except that we
are ready to give an account of all our actions, fully con-
vinced that you will acknowledge they were all inspired
by the loyalty which will characterise your deliberations,
and you may be sure that no other thought will influence,
us in the explanations which we shall give
you. In awaiting the construction of a new Power
which will be the real legitimate power to decide the
destinies of France, I have the honour to make this declara-
tion to the Assemhly. The members of the National
Defence Government in their own names and that of their
colleagues, have the honour to give up their
authority into the hands of the President of
the National Assembly. They will remain at
their post for the purpose of maintaining order
and watching over the execution of the laws until they
have been regularly superseded. Each Minister gives in
his resignation on condition that his successor is appointed
by you, and until that time arrives, which I trust will be
shortly, each enters into an engagement to fulfil
his duty. My duties allowed me to come
before 'you as soon as possible. During most
painful circumstances into which I shall enter further on,
I named the Bth of February as the period of the election
of the French deputies, and the 12th for their day of
meeting. It seemed almost impossible to carry this out,
but I depended on the patriotism of the Chamber, and I
was convinced that in requesting them to make this
stupendous effort we should not meet with refusal. The
best proof that I was right in my conjectures is that you
are here now. I was anxious that we should be ready at
the appointed time for the credit of the Government,
which I represented before you, before the enemy, and
before Europe. For this reason I came to Bordeaux from
Paris. I ask permission to return in a few days to
my post, where I have some difficult tasks to perform. I
cannot give more precise explanations in the midst of the
complications in which we are involved, but you will
realise that having began the work on our own responsi-
bility, we would not relinquish it until we could hear from
you what judgment you had formed of our conduct. Our
first cares as it is our first duty (and I. need not consult
you in a matter upon which you are certain to be unani-
mously agreed) will be to inform those with whom we are