Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-06-23
Events in France---DissOIutiO of the
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tiict in France progresses. In the |
history of no other nation can be |
found a parallel to the scene we
chronicle to-day. There was no |
other logical sequence to the steps !
hitherto taken by Marshal MacMa-
hon but the demand for the disSolu-
ton of the Chamber of Deputies. |
On May is the Chamber was pro-
rogued because within the limits of
Parliamentary government that was
the only condition of safety for the
Ministry. If it is assumed that the
government is inspired by the will
of the majority, and Ministry is
chosen that does not command the
confidence of the representative
body-and that, in fact, is notorious
ly hostile to that body-then the
Ministry cannot survive a single
vote, or, if it surviveS q vote, it must
do so in defiance of an opposing ma
jority and through the Executive
taking the responsibility to set aside
the primary assumption as to the
will of the majority and substituting
his own will by the recognized pro-
cess of a coup detat. In a case,
therefore, where the conflict has not
attained that height of passion which
leads to the adoption of extreme
measures, and where consequently
the government is not prepared to
resort to a coup d'etOt, it must, to
support Ministr not in sympathy
with the majority, avert the posi-
bility of a vote. This was done in
France under the terms of the latest
constitution, which authorizes the
President to suspend the sessions of
the Chamber of Deputies for one
month.
Conflict was thus averted by the
decree of May 16, emo khe President
escaped thereby the modification of
seeing his Ministry voted down inn
mediately, as we'll as the painful re-
spOnsibility of deciding whether he
should quietly accept what he would
certainly regard as a humiliation, or
should resort to extra constitutional
measures force, in fact-tO sup
port his ministry against the known
will of the country as declared in the
Chamber. No one has yet doubted
the Marshal's fidelity to his oath of
Office, though there is wide range
for different opinions as to his pOlit-
zeal sagacity; but assuming that it
is his intention to act on the law and
within the law, the clause of the
constitution referred to afforded him
a happy immediate escape from
painful position. Led by amistaken
conception of duty to the country
he found himself suddenly in coils
ion with that law which was for
him the official declaration of the
will of the country. On the one
hand was the humiliation of retreat;
on the other was possible ultimate
success and treason! To retire was
to cover himself with ridicule to
go on involved the violation of his
Oath-that is, dishonor. He was
caught in a parliamentary Sedan
from which he could only escape by
forcing his way across that moral
frontier the limit to his powers de-
fined in the constitution. In this
difficulty the "pOrt and happy ha-
ven" of refuge was the right to pro-
rogue the Assembly for amonth, and
in that month what might not hap
pen? They who inspired his policy
convinced him, no doubt that the
millennium would come within those
thirty days; that the republicans
would be awed by his firmness; that
they would relinquish the error of
their ways that the country would
rush tOSustain another sOciety-saver,
and more of that sort. They did
not fail to assure him that they
could in the meantime so fill all the
administrative departments that
they might defy the future, however
events should turn.
At the end of the thirty days,
however, the President is forced up
on one more constitutional nOstrum.
He is in the same dilemma with
which he began. His Ministry Will
fall if it faces 1vVOte unless he de
clares his indifference to votes and
all other facts of that nature. He is
not prepared for either contingency,
and consequently resorts to dissOlu-
ton in the same spirit in which he
decreed the suspension. 1t is full
Ter application of the same remedy,
but he cannot apply it alone. He
must have the consent of the Senate.
He has requested the concurrence of
the Senate on this point, as he is re-
quired to by the constitution, and
the Senate has referred the subject
TO the appropriate committees. It
has been doubted whether it will
sustain the ministerial policy. Bod
les like the French Senate are al
ways, in the political sense, cow
ardly. They are constituted to mod |
crate and soften extreme cOunselS,
and they perform this function by
the simple process of contrasting the |
evils of two given courses and chOOs- |
ing the course that to a narrow
minded view seems to threaten the |
least disturbance. Senators, there
fore, will not regard the proposed |
action as one that is essentially rev.
dictionary, though covered by the |
letter of the constitution. They will |
not contemplate from the standpoint |
of duty that aspect of the case. They |
will rather weigh the possible con-
sequences of their refusal to cO-Ope- |
rate with the Ministry. What will |
the Marshal do if he does not, by |
their assistance, secure a peaceable |
dissolution of Chamber in the pres |
ence of which he declares he cannot |
govern the country with any hope |
of safety for conservative interests ? |
He has declared that he will resign. !
In that resignation they would see
every conceivable calamity. They |
cannot tell what may follow; but !
consulting their fears they will dwell |
upon the worst form events may |
take, and will even apprehend that |
in a new revolution the very Senate
itself might be swept away. This |
is the shape their speculations will |
take if they even believe that the
Marshal will simply resign. But |
suppose he should not reSign-sup- |
pose a new military despOtism shall |
fOllow-with what favor will the !
head of a State regard a body that
placed itself in his way?
These are the considerations that |
will affect a body in which enthusi-
asm does not exist, and in which
age and experience have rather Gull
tiVated time-serving shreWdness
than broad political wisdom. But
if by the consent Of the Senate this
difficult Chamber ceases to be an OBJ
stacle to the Ministerial policy,
what then? Then there must be a
new election within three months.
All will turn on the result of that
election. No party was ever more
confident of its real strength in the
country than the republicans now
are i'm France nor was there ever q