The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-02-20

Ernest Picard, Minister OF the Interior.
Jules Simon, Minister of Public instruction.
Edouard II. Lambrecht, Minister of Com
merce.
General Charles Leao, Minister of War.
Admiral Pothuan, Minister of Marine.
Jules Dufaure, Minister of Justice.
Louis Joseph Buffet, President of the Council.
Below we give sketches of the men in whose
hands the destiny of France is placed for the
time.
Louis Adoiphs, eth Thlsrs, Prssidsn, of the Proyi
M. Louis Adolphe Theirs, who has been placed
at the head of the Provisional Government, was
horn at Marseilles on April 16, 1897 He was at
FIRST intended for the army, but finally turned
his attention to the law, and graduated at AK
in 1920. His success at the bar was so meagre
that he soon abandoned the profession and went
to Paris, intent upon literary career. In Sep
tember, 1921, he arrived at the capital, and soon
became contributor of political articles to the
Constitutional, by which he made his way into
a leading and influential position. In January
1880, he established the National, in which he
advanced the most extreme views in regard to
the policy of Charles X, and during the exciting
events of July of that year took prominent
part, proposing the Duke of Orleans for King
Louis Philippe rewarded him with an appoint
ment as Assistant Secretary in the Department
of Finance, and at the same time he was elected
to the Chamber of Deputies from the city of
AK. He soon made his power felt. In
October, 1882, he became Minister of the
Interior from which position he was
soon transferred to the Ministry of Commerce
and Public Works. After considerable vicissi-
tudes he became President of the Council and
Minister of Foreign Affairs on February %,
1886, and was thus at the head of the Govern
ment. His failure to persuade the King to adopt
a liberal home policy, and an energetic foreign
policy, led to his resignation on August 25. For
nearly four years thereafter he was a leading
spirit of the opposition but again became Pre-
mier on March 1, 1910. He again found the
King averse to vigorous policy, and was forced
to resign on October 80, to be succeeded by his
old rival Guizot. He remained in the opposition
until the fall of Louis Philippe who again called
him to Office in the last days of his reign, but too
late to avert the overthrow of his throne.
He became a member of the Constituent AS
sembly for Paris, in June, 184S, and voted for
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte for President of the
French Republic. He gradually became dis
gusted with the policy of the Prince President,
however, and on the occasion of the coup detdi
was arrested, kept in prison for a week, and
after an exile of six months, returned to France
to keep out of politics for some years. In 1863
he was elected to the Corps Legislatif from
Paris, and remained a member of that body
down to the outbreak of the war with Prussia.
During this period he was the recognized leader
of the Orleanist party, and one of the most in
huential opponents of the Empire. He vigor-
ously assailed the course of the Gov
ernment in going to war with Prussia,
declaring that the latter power SHOULD have been
attacked when she attempted the union of the
I'm NUha Uor hou
been legitimate and France would have been
sustained" He gave a hearty support to the
Government, however, when the war was fairly
under way, and on August 81 accepted posi-
tion on the Committee of Defense, which he
had previously refused. On the downfall of the
Empire, in September last, he made fruitless
effort to secure the appointment of provisional
government by the Corps Legisatlf, but after
his failure devotedly supported the efforts of
Fayre and his colleagues, although refusing to
become a member of the Government of
National Defense.
During the long series of disasters to the
national cause which ensued, NJ. Theirs devoted
all his time and energies to the cause of peace
On September IL he started on visit to the
courts of London, Vienna, and st. Petersburg
but failed to secure any concerted action in
behalf of peace On October 80 he entered
Paris by permission OF the German auIhorltles
in the interest of an armistice and had severa
conferences in turn with NJ. Favre, Count Bis
marck, and the Prussian King. These negotia
tions were fruitless by reason of a fata
disagreement on the question of revictual
inc Paris. and NJ. Theirs was forced
70 remain inactive until after the capitulation o
Paris. He was then, on February s, elected ;
member of the Constituent Assembly from
eighteen different departments, his vote in Pari
being, however, only lO2, GOO, while Louis Blan'
led the poll with $4,000 votes. All France a
once turned towards him as the man to b
placed at the head of affairs until regular gov
ernrent could be established. On the 10th hi
name was proposed in the Assembly for Chic
Executive, and on the following day he wa
elected President of the Provisional Govern
ment, with power 10 nominate ministry. ID