Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-02-23
Inc PRESIDENTS Or FhArCe.


the 'resiueH'.
Since the Establishment of the third
French republic, Sept 4. 1870 to the pres
cnt moment, there have been seven presi |
dents. The Government of National De-
fence continued from that date until 1871, |
when Louis Adolphe Theirs was elected !
president The terms of the seven prcs |
dents have been as follows: |
Louis Adolphe Theirs, lS71-73. |
Marshal MacMahon, lS73-79
+. j. =. Jules Grevy, 1S79-6. !
II. Sadi-Carnot, 1884.
Casimir Perer, June 1894. January. 1895. |
Francois Felix Faure, 1889
Emile Loubet elected Feb. IS, 1890.
The full term is seven years Theirs was
president two years; MacMahon, six years;
Grevy, one full term and two years of his
second term; Carnot was assassinated af-
ter six and a half years service; Cash |
mir-Pcrier resigned after seven months, !
and Faure was president four years and
one month.
The death of President Faure and the
choice of his successor by the Senate and
Chamber Of Deputies in joint session
direct attention TO the measure of in
fuenoe Which the head of the State may
exercise in France under the existing
regime. In order to gauge that influence,
it Is ncedful to examine first, the text of
tho present constitution, and then the
workings of II as these have been modi- |
hed by successive political changes. 1T
must at the outset be kept in view that
the constitution Of 1875 was framed by tho
Versailles Assembly. in which the ant
Republicans possessed IL large majority.
lnasmuch, however. as the Legitimist /
Orleanist and Bonapartist components of
the majority were unable to agree upon
a candidate for the throne, they accepted
ny way of compromise Republican
regime. This they intended to be pro-
NisOnal. and the proofs of their inten-
mi in1 in, hn mi
This aimed at combination, essentially
temporary and impracticable, of the par
hamentafy system. best eXempliied in
England, with the presidential system, Of
which the United States presents the
model. Nominally the president was to be
invested with all the powers belonging to
an American chief magistrate, together
with one important function, TO be mem
toned presently, which our President does
not possess. That is to say, he was to he
the commander-in-chicf Of the Army a.d
Navy. He was to represent the state In it's
dealings with foreign Powers, and no act
of the national legislature was to be valid
without his signature. On the other hand,
no administrative act of his, whether re-
ating to military or civil affairs, was TO
be binding unless countersgned by min
ster who for his part was to he account
able TO the national Legislature. The
French constitution does not say that
ministers are responsible alone to the
Chamber of Deputies. and. although this
has been the prevailing practice, the
Senate has more than once, successfully
asserted coordinate power of control
over presidents cabinet
We pass to the one particular IN which
the powers of French chief magistrate
theoretically transcend those OF an Ameri-
can President and resemble those which
are lodged in British sovereign. We
refer to that provision Of the constitution
of 1915 which gives the President the
right, when he can obtain the assent of
the Senate, to dissolve the Parliament and
order a new election of the Chamber of
Deputies. The anti-Republican majority
in the Versailles Assembly. after they had
made Marshal MacMahon chief magis-
trate, supposed that they had taken eff
fectual precautions to assure the co-opera-
ton of the Senate with the reactionary
president, by choosing one fourth of the
senator's for life and delegating the cleo
ton of the rest to very narrow consti-
tuencies. This precautionary device work.
ed once, and only once. In May, 1877, Presi-
dent MacMahoE abruptly dismissed
ministry which enjoyed the confidence of
the Chamber of Deputies, and in defiance
OF the wishes Of that body, appointed n
reactionary cabinet, headed by the Due de
Brogle and NJ. de Rourtou. Then, with the
consent of the Senate. wherein the re-
actionistS still retained a ma jority, he dis
country At the general election in the
succeeding October Il large majority of
Republicans were returned to the Cham
Der of Deputies, and thenceforth Marshal
MacMahon was compelled to accept a
cabinet which could command the support
of the popular branch of the Legislature
Nor was this all. The Republicans were
soon strong enough to bring about a meet
ing of the two chambers in joint session
At Versailles for reWsional purposes and
to enact amendments of the constitution
whereby no life senators were to be APP
pointed thereafter, and whereby the con-
stituencieS Of the elective senators were
to be greatly widened. Since that time the
reactionary element In the Senate which
Is composed, by the way, of 800 members,
has been gradually eliminated, until it is
now wellrtgh extinct. In the Senate, as
at present constituted, the Opportunists,
or rather the Moderate Ia more compre-
hensive appellation), have an overwhclm-
ing majority, only a small number OF
seats having beer secured by the Radicals
and Socialists although these last-named
groups have, of late years, been strong
enough in the popular chamber to secure
/ the appointment of two prime minister's
| to Wit: NJ Bourgeois and NJ. Brisson.
The practical outcome, therefore of the
constitution of 1870 s regards the cxecu-
tive, is this Never but once has a Presi-
/ dent been able to secure the Senates CO.
operation in an endcavor to thwart the
wishes of the Chamber of Deputies II is
probable, indeed, that when NJ. Bour-
geos was premier, the majority of Moder-
atcs in the Senate, exaspcrated as they
were by the attempt of the cabinet to
carry through an income tax. had they
been requested. would have authorized the
Chief Magistrate to dismiss the ministry.
dissolve Parliament and order a new gem
/ eral election. AS matter of fact, it
: proved unnecessary to resort to such ex-
pedient lnasmuch as the Senate
snglehanded, by rejecting indispensable
appropriations, showed itself able to force
, the Bourgeois ministry to resign.