Year: 1873




The monarchical conspiracy against the Re-
public in France is for the present triumphant.
NJ Theirs has been defeated in the Assembly
and has resigned. Marshal MacMahon has
been elected President. The old Cabinet hold
over until their places can be supplied by the
appointment of persons more fIankly reaction
ary and moro pliable to the exigencies of the
Monarchical party. The first statesman OF
France, the only statesman of Europe whom
il is prOper to name in comparison with Bis
marck, has been dismissed from the place he
has filed with such glory and profit to the
country solely because of his fidelity to his
oath of Office; and his place is filed
by a soldier of the Empire, who has
up to this hour had no experience of public
life, and whose sole claim to the position is
that he is in chief command of the army, and
it is supposed can be influenced to take vio-
lent measures against the Republic. The re-
volt of a factious minority against the ma
tiOnal sovereignty is thus complete. 1t is
unnecessary to repeat that the Assembly at
Versailles long ago ceased to represent the
people of France. They were elected in the
agony and distress of the war; when the
country was overrun by the marauders, and
there was no opportunity for, the organization
and regular expression of public opinion. In
this state of things the landed gentry and men
of extreme conservative antecedents naturally
exerted disproportionate influence in the
elections.


When the deputies came together at BOr-
deaux, it began even then to be evident that they
were, as general thing far less advanced
than their constituents, and they shrank from
a monarchical restoration, feeling the danger
that lay in any attempt to thwart the popular
tendency. But they were nevertheless deter
mined to prevent, as long as possible, the
definite establishment of the Republic, and
the result was that often quoted Pact
of Bordeaux, the truce between the Republl-
cans and Conservatives, by which NJ. Thiers
assumed the Presidency, and the permanent
constitution of the country was to be post
poned until the payment of the indemnity and
the liberation of the territory had been accom-
plished We have all seen the steady and
wonderful progress of the true Republican
sentiment in France from that time. I'm
perialism, which made very respecta-
BILE fight in the first elections, has
almost entirely died away; only in Cor
sca and one or two northern districts is it
party worth serious consideration in q can
vass. The Comte de Chambord has always
come forward, at every critical moment, to
neutralize the plOttings of his friends
by some frank utterance of medieval
absurdity, until his name is scarcely meD-
toned without a smile. The Orleanists
have acted with their usual superhuous wis
dom, which has gained them no additional
hoo bnA fbair
ularity. All this time the Republic has grown
and prospered. The Government of NJ. Thiers
has secured peace and order in the interior,
and has maintained the national dignity
abroad, while executing a financial achieve
ment, in the payment Of the indemnity, which
would have been beyond the power
of any dynastic cabinet in Europe
At every special election the growing
strength of the orderly and reasonable
Republican sentiment was made more and
more evident The Radical Left in the AS
sembly contributed to this by their admirable
reserve and fOrbearance, always avoiding
angry discussion and leaving a monopoly of
violent and foul language to the noblemen
and gentlemen of the Right.


NJ. Theirs and his ministers, sure of this
IOydl pdtllOtiO buDpOiO uiduo p'CIy pObol-
bic concession to the Conservatives, and never
spared their sharp and sometimes bitter criticisms
of their most faithful adherents. But the Radi-
Gals, relying at last upon their own strength,
and determined to show it, took occasion in
the recent election in Paris to warn NJ. Thiers'
Assembly that concessions to the MOnarchists
had gone far enough. To patriotic and sensi-
ble men this warning would have been sufl-
cient; but the deputies of the Right are
too firmly welded to their prejudces to give
any attention to considerations of prudence or
patriotism. The repeated elections proved
clearly that the vast majority of the French
were Republicans, and that they were in sym
patby with the Government of NJ. Theirs just
ca flr as its action tended 10 tho cOu O..la-