National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-06-06
The New President OF France.
Marshal Mae MahOn, who Succeeds Presi.
dent Theirs.

=, Marie Edmo Patrice Maurice dc Ma
~ NJ hon, Duke of Magenta. better know
" as Marshal MacMahon, the distinguish
"a ed Marshal Of France, who has bee
n elected to succeed M. Thiers as Pres
dent of the French Republic, is I'll
/, descendant of an ancient Catholic fam
J. ly OF Ireland whose ancestors followe
: the fortunes of James H., the last {
the Stuarts, and after the fall of thu
q house emigrated to France. He wa
/ born at Sully, in the province of Saon
and Loire, on the 18th of July, 1906
His father was peer of France, and
, personal friend of Charles X, and n
such his son, young MacMahon, wa
admitted in the year 1926 to the roya
/. military school Of st. Cyr. Graduatin,
thence, he entered the army and mos
Immediately after proceeded to activ,
service in Algeirs, where heIdistinguish
ed himself. In December, 1888, h
was commissioned captain. He agair
served in the Algerian campaign o.
1897, and gained renewed reputation
especially in the assault on Constantine
From this time forth MacMahon's pro
motion was rapid. In 1916 he became
colonel, and in 1913 he attained the
grade of brigadier-general. Appointed
general of division in 1852, he com.
manded the Constantine division in
Africa until the year 1865 when he was
recalled to France by the Emperor
Napoleon and was placed in command
of Il division of infantry in Bosquet' S
corps in the Crimea. He gained addi-
tional laurels in this campaign, as it
was his division which carried the
formidable Malakoff as the siege of
Scbastopol upon the Sth of September,
1850, and held it against the prolonged
and desperate efforts of the Russians to
retake it. MacMahon was amply re-
warded for this service by his imperial
master. Already made officer Of the
Legion of Honor, in 1887, commander
in 1919, Grand Officer in 1858, he was
further honored, few days after his
capture of the Malakoff with the rank
of Grand Cross of the Legion, and
latter, on June a, 1856, with the
dignity of Senator of France.
General MacMahon commanded the
French expedition of 1857 against the
warlike Algerian tribe of Kabyles.
These he vanquished, and not long al
forwards was placed in command of the
entire land forces of Algeria. At the
outbreak of the Austro- Franco Sardi-
MAN war in 1859 MacMahon entered
the field in command of the second
corps of the French army of the Alps.
1t was in this war that his military
glory eliminated. He was the virtual
victor of the bloody field of Magenta,
fought on June 4, and received the sig
nal honor of being declared upon the
battlefield, by the Emperor Napoleon,
Duke of Magenta and Marshal of
France. In 1861 Marshal MacMahon
France in Berlin at the
coronation of William I'LL, now EN-
peror William, as King of Prussia Re
to France he was placed in
command of the Third Army Corps
vice Marshal Canrobert, and by i'm
perial decree of September /, 1864 he
was appointed Governor General of AL
geria. Upon the 10Th of September,
MacMahon, in proclamation which he
issued upon assuming command of the
colony, announced the plan of govern
ment which the Emperor sent him to
Algeria to put into practice. The pro-
gramme provided for a monarchy among
the Arabs, but the event proved it a |
failure. The French and European
which had been anticipa-
ted and hoped for never reached such
proportions as to justify the expecta-
lions of the Emperor. Colonization,
IN the contrary, was deferred by mimi
,al agricultural laws which were estab-
ished, and many of the colonists who
vent to Algeria, instead of abiding
here, crossed the Atlantic to America,
md especially to Brazil, which offered
hem at that period exceptional induce
nents in the way of agricultural advan-
ages.
Personal government of the strictest
lind prevailed in the French towns il.
Algeria under MacMahon's administra-
ion, and the severity of law and regu-
atoms which had sensibly diminished
n Paris was transferred to the Marshal's
ominions. The natives suffered the i,
orrors of famine, and cannibaism was
escorted to to furnish sustenance to the
tarvlng. 1t became necessary, SO nu-
lerous were the deaths from hunger, to I
stablish orphan asylums in Algeria to l
heller the children of the dead. The
ry of the wretched natives reached '
rance and subscriptions were opened l
| their behalf, and in March, 1868, ex-
appropriations were voted !,
)r the relief of the victims of the fam
10. Public opinion in France arose in
rotest against the horrors that dark 1
ned this period of French Colonial
oYernment. and serious charoes were R
Fought against MacMahon The only
suit of the agitation was that the idea
the Arab monarchy was abandoned b!
lthout entailinga more liberal govern n
ent in Algeria. la
The record of MacMahon's career !"
lrlng the recent war between France
I'd Germany, and subsequently as m m
of the Army of Versailles &
ainst the rising of the Commune in CO
iris, is familiar to all At the great
title and slaughter at Sedan that day
was wounded, and became a prisoner
the hands of the Germans, when the A,
nperor surrendered his army. He was es
recovered from his wound to IN
sumo command of the army which NJ. W
hers organized against the Commune DO
len Paris was taken. Politically, pc
arshal MacMahon has professed no t
rs or craftsmanship in the current COM ~,
cations of France. When questioned tr'
on the subject of his political afflia- g"
ms he has refused to give any salts
tory answer. 81 am soldier" he
uld reply, "and / will do my duty as me
of the army" in