Year: 1875




be much surprised if this will not soon be
the Judgment OF his country.


NE NEW MAJORITY At VERSAILLES.


Little by little the constitution of France is
forming. The republic can scarcely be sub
jected to more dangerous trial than that
through which it has passed during this hrst
year of tho Septennate. 1t was put, by the
vote of hostile Assembly, into the hands ot
q hostile President. The majority which over
threw Theirs and appointed his successor did
not admit the existence of the republic. They
only coaesced in favor of q provisional gov
ernmeut, which should prevent NJ. Theirs from
establishing the republic, and should leave
the several fractions Of the Right free to plot
and intrigue for their respective pretenders.
Marshal MacMahOn was himself so cordially
opposed to the republican form that for
long time he avoided the very name OF
President of the Republic. If there had been
any possibility Of the peaceable and regular
establishment of the monarchy, or resto-
ration of the Empire, the best time
conceivable for it was during this past year,
with the Government in all its departments,
in the hands of an Assembly whose tenden-
cies were monarchical, an army under the
orders of q reactiOnary ministry President
who would rather have the child he was
nursing die than live, and Cabinet composed
in great measure of noblemen who frankly
detested the idea of republican government.
That this has not been accomplished, shows
how powerful has been tho pressure of public
opinion even upon the classes which seem
least affected by it, and how hopeless is the
attempt to reconcile the conflicting monarch
lcal parties in support of the monarchcal
principle. The coalition OF the cath of May
has been broken up by the conviction among
its respective factions that their work thus far
was not likely to profit their respective causes,
and by the final recognition on the part OF the
President and his Cabinet, that their only per-
manent majority in the Assembly must be
sought among the representatives of the ma
jOrity in the country.


The vote on Tuesday was important both
in what it effected and what it indicated.
NJ. Wallon's amendment giving to the Presi-
dent the power, by the advice and consent Of
the Senate, of dissOlving the Assembly is, of
course, one of the most weighty measures
ever presented to a deliberatiye assembly,
touching as it does the very foundations of
the structure of government. Taken in con-
nection with tho amendment Immediately af-
terward introduced by NJ. Dufaure, and yes
terday adopted by tho House, providing
for future notifications of the Constitution,
it gives form and character to the funda-
mental law, and leaves for subsequent discus
sion little more than matters of detail. The
government of France is the Republic. The
chief executive is a President to be chosen
for seven years. The law-making power Is to
be lodged in q Senate and an Assembly. The
President and the Senate shall have power to
dissolve the Assembly. The Constitution can
be modified by two-thirds majority
of both houses assembled in Congress.
There are many things connected with this
scheme which are open to criticism. but
its adoption is the breaking of the deadlock
between the Right and Left which has
paralyzed the constituent power and it is also
the recognition of the Republic. The vote by
which it was carried was, as we have said,
highly significant. The Right Center united
with the Left in body, and made a majority
absolutely overwhelming. 1t was the only
road open to the Right Center, and yet they
have hestated so long about taking it that
their final exhibition of good sense is some
thing of surprise. The splendid discipline
of the Left has once more given the most
satisfactory answer to those who have denied
them the power of organization and cohesion.
All fractions have united in voting for these
constitutional outlines which probably satisfied
none of them fully. Even NJ. Louis Blanc, who
a few days ago threw the Assembly into con-
fusion for moment by opposing the admis
sion of PresidenG into the scheme of the
Constitution, because the President of the
last revolution destroyed it, seems this time
to have been guided by better counsels and
to have voted with his party. When such
Frenchmen as he, by nature and habit ungov-
ernable because they are at once able, honest,
and narrow, are brought to see the necessity>of
compromise in political life, and of submit
ting their individual fancies to the judgment
of the greater number, it is a sign of good
omen to the future of the republic and of