The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-06-17
Events I'm FrAnee-Dissolution Of thu
Chamber.

can be found q parallel to the scene we
chronicle to-day. There was no other
logical sequence to the steps hitherto taken
by Marshal Mac Mahon but the demand for
the dissolution of the Chamber Of Deputies.
| On May 16 the Chamber was prorogued be-
| cause 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 viii
of the majority, and Ministry is chosen
| that does not command the confidence
of the representative body--and that, in fact.
| is VIGOROUSLY hostile to that body-then
| the Ministry cannot survive single vote
| or, if it survives q vote, it must do SO in de-
fance of On opposing majority 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 process OF
coup d<tdt. In 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
coup Gftat, it mnst. to support Ministry
not in sympathy with the majority, avert
the possibility of q vote. This was done
in France under the terms of the latest
constitution, which authorizes the President
to suspend tho sessions of the Chamber of
Deputies for one month.
Conflict was thus averted by the decree of
May 16, and the President escaped
Al. A. g. of
ist1y voted down Immediately, as well as
the painful responsibility Of deciding
whether he should quietly accept what he
would certainly regard as humiliation, or
should resort to extra constitutional meas
ures-to force, in fact-to support his Minis
try 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 political sa-
gacity but assuming that it is his intention
to act on the law and within the law. the
clause of tho constitution referred to
afforded him q happy immediate escape from
q painful position. Led by mistaken con-
ception of duty to the country he
found himself suddenly in collision with
that law which was for him the
official declaration Of the will Of the coun-
try On the one hand was the humiliation
Of retreat on the other was possible ulti-
maUe success and treason To retire was to
cover himself with ridicule to 60 on in
volved the violation Of his oath-that is,
dishonor He was caught in parliamentary
Sedan from which he could only escape by
forcing his way across that moral frontier
the limit to his powers defined in the con-
stitution. In this difficulty the ''port and
happy haven" Of refuge was the right to
prorogue the Assembly for a month, and in
that month what might not happen? They
who inspired his policy convinced him, no
doubt, that the millennium would come
within those thirty days; that the republi-
cans would be awed by his irmness; that
they would relinquish the error Of their
ways; that the country would rush to sus-
tain another society 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 upon one more con-
stitutional nostrum. He is in the same
dilemma with which he began. His Min
istry will fall if it faces vote 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 dissolution in the same spirit
in which he decreed the suspension.
1t is fuller 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 SEN
ate on this point, as he is required 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 Bodies like the French
Senate are always, in the political sense,
cowardly. They are constituted to
moderate and soften extreme coun-
sells, and they perform this func-
ton by the simple process Of contrasting
the evils Of two given courses and choos-
ing the course that to q narrow-minded view
seems to threaten the least disturbance.
Senator'S, therefore, will not regard the pro-
posed action as one that is essentially revo-
lutionary, though covered by tho letter of
the constitution. They will not contem-
plate from the standpoint Of duty that
aspect of the case. They will rather
weigh the possible consequences Of their
refusal to cooperate with the Ministry.
What will the Marshal do if he does not, by
their assistance, secure a peaceable dissolu-
ton of Chamber in the presence OF which
he declares he cannot govern the country
with any hope of safety for con-
servative interests He has declared that
III .a.;x. l. 4LoA -,