THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE
 
 F^LIX FAURE, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC.
 
 THE 
 
 EVOLUTION OF FRANCE 
 
 UNDER THE 
 
 THIRD REPUBLIC 
 
 BY 
 
 BARON PIERRE DE OUBERTIN 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 
 
 BY 
 
 ISABEL F. HAPGOOD 
 
 35tuticm 
 
 WITH SPECIAL PREFACE AND ADDITIONS 
 
 AND 
 
 INTRODUCTION BY DR. ALBERT SHAW, EDITOR OF 
 "THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS" 
 
 ' Of XHK 
 
 JTBS3IW 
 
 NEW YORK: 46 EAST UTH STREET 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO^IPANY 
 BOSTON: 100 PURCHASE STREET
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1897, 
 BT T. Y. CROWELL <fe CO. 
 
 XortoootJ 
 J. 8. Gushing & Co. - Berwick & Smith 
 Norwood Man. U.S.A.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 JUST a hundred years have elapsed since the first 
 French Republic attained apparent stability, with high 
 prestige and virtual paramountcy throughout Europe. 
 The political fortunes of France since that time have 
 been full of a strange and seemingly capricious variety. 
 As one looks back, however, over the course of things 
 since the revolutionary neriod, it becomes plain not 
 only that the last quarter of the hundred years has 
 been by far the best epoch for the French people, but 
 also that the caprice and contradiction of French politi- 
 cal history have been rather upon the surface of events, 
 while the real life of the nation has unfolded by proc- 
 esses of development which make the present order 
 in some true sense the logical and necessary outcome 
 of all that has gone before. It has not been the task 
 of our author in the present volume to treat of the 
 entire century. He finds it desirable, nevertheless, 
 briefly to recite his philosophy of the political evolu- 
 tion of France since the first Napoleon. His views 
 seem to me to disclose not merely a typical French 
 aptitude for generalization and the rationale of things, 
 but further than that a justness of judgment and a 
 reasonableness that inspire the utmost confidence. 
 
 In his prefatory remarks M. de Coubertin frankly 
 admits the difficulties under which the writer of con- 
 temporary history must labor ; but he also claims, very 
 rightly, a number of peculiar advantages as respects 
 
 iii
 
 iv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the sources of information. The present volume seems 
 to me a most admirable instance of the judicious use of 
 the current mass of available material, by a student 
 and observer whose methods are thoroughly workman- 
 like, whose temper is well-nigh perfect, and who pos- 
 sesses a scientific habit of accuracy combined with an 
 artistic sense of proportion. M. de Coubertin has 
 given us what is at once a discussion of the nature 
 and workings of the French political system, and a 
 vivacious narrative of the principal events in the politi- 
 cal and general history of France since 1870, with an 
 analysis of the contemporary life and character of the 
 French people. The first French edition of this work 
 (IS Evolution Franpaise sous la Troisieme R6publique) 
 made its successful appearance in Paris some months 
 ago. It 'is to be observed that the present edition 
 translated for American and English readers by Miss 
 Isabel F. Hapgood with her well-known fidelity and 
 skill has been extended and revised at various points 
 by the author himself, in order to adapt it the better 
 for America and the English-speaking world. Thus 
 M. de Coubertin has wisely added many notes which 
 supply names, dates, and political details, while also 
 assigning more space to personal characterizations of 
 the men whose names are entitled to appear prominently 
 in a history of these recent times in France. | The Baron 
 de Coubertin is abundantly competent thus to give the 
 revisory touches that would adapt his work for students 
 and general readers in the two great English-speaking 
 lands, because he knows both England and America 
 remarkably well, and is in closer sympathy and rela- 
 tionship with Anglo-Saxon life and institutions than 
 almost any other of his fellow-countrymen. 
 
 Although still a young man, M. de Coubertin has
 
 INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 acquired a broad point of view through wide travel and 
 deep study. He is peculiarly qualified, therefore, to 
 interpret the institutions of his own country for the 
 benefit of Americans or EnglishmenT? No foreigner 
 could have written certain chapters in this book with 
 the insight that the author displays. On the other 
 hand, no Frenchman not exceptionally familiar with 
 the history, politics, and social life of America and 
 England could, in the writing of a book like this, have 
 rendered a direct service to English-speaking readers 
 while primarily addressing his own countrymen. The 
 international and comparative cast of mind has come 
 to be as second nature with M. de Coubertin, a thing 
 that can be said of very few Frenchmen. In that re- 
 gard he is the De Tocqueville of our day. Quite as 
 De Tocqueville, now more than sixty years ago, visited 
 the United States and England in order to write books 
 which should interpret American democracy and Eng- 
 lish life to the Frenchmen of the '30's who had just 
 placed Louis Philippe on a "throne surrounded by 
 Republican institutions," even so M. de Coubertin has 
 for some years past been busily studying and interpreting 
 to the young men of the Third Republic certain phases 
 of English and American life which he has believed 
 might well be incorporated into the French scheme of 
 existence. M. de Coubertin is a philosophical observer 
 and a constructive reformer ; and since he is one of 
 the really notable and remarkable young men of our 
 day, belonging also peculiarly to the student world, 
 it is fitting that something of his life and career 
 should be known to Americans. 
 
 \{"Tne Baron Pierre de Coubertin is the scion of a 
 family now old in France, where it has been domiciled 
 for somewhat more than four hundred years. It came
 
 vi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 originally from Italy, by favor of King Louis XI., who 
 conferred honors and titles upon the head of the house. 
 The family came to be known by the name of Couber- 
 tin some time after 1650, by virtue of the fact that its 
 principal seigneurie was situated at Coubertin, near 
 Versailles, in the renowned valley of Chevreuse. The 
 Baron Pierre de Coubertin, with whom we have to do, 
 was born on the 1st of January, 1863. His life and 
 career have thus far been noteworthy chiefly on the 
 educational side. He was educated in Paris, first at 
 the Jesuits' da} r -school in the Rue de Marat, known as the 
 ficole Saint Ignace, and afterwards in the University of 
 Paris, where he obtained successively the degrees of 
 bachelor of arts, bachelor of sciences, and bachelor 
 of law. He also took a post-graduate course in politi- 
 cal science at the Ecole des Sciences PolitiquesV 
 
 It was in 1884, when only twenty-one years of age, 
 that M. de Coubertin began his visits to England, 
 with the prime object of acquainting himself inti- 
 mately with the life of the great public schools, 
 Rugby, Eton, Harrow, and the others of that type. He 
 had become strongly convinced that there was an ele- 
 ment in English education that was sadly lacking in 
 the French schools. Obviously and conspicuously, the 
 English training in athletics, and the English devotion 
 to outdoor sports and exercises, were almost totally 
 unknown in the French lyceums and collegiate insti- 
 tutes. But Coubertin clearly perceived that some- 
 thing even more serious was concerned than the mere 
 question of physical culture. \ He understood that in 
 the rowing, football, and cricket of the English schools, 
 and all their other games, contests, and field-day exer- 
 cises, there was involved an element of moral discipline 
 and strength that supplied in some sense a key to the
 
 INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 enlistment of American interest in this ambitious pro- 
 ject for a modern quadrennial tournament of games and 
 sports that should be open to amateurs particularly 
 those of the student class from all nations, was much 
 facilitated by M. de Coubertin's second visit to the 
 United States, which occurred in 1893. He had the 
 honor to come again with a commission from his gov- 
 ernment ; for he had been appointed one of the organiz- 
 ing committee of the French section at the World's 
 Fair, while also designated by the World's Fair authori- 
 ties at Chicago as one of the honorary heads of the 
 Congress on Higher Education. 
 
 ^He improved this opportunity to visit the Pacific 
 coast, where he inspected the University of California 
 at Berkeley, the Leland Stanford University, and other 
 institutions. In each of these two California univer- 
 sities, as well as at Princeton, and in Tulane at New 
 Orleans, M. de Coubertin founded a debating prize 
 that will make his name familiar to many future gener- 
 ations of American students. This prize takes the 
 form of an annual medal awarded to the best student 
 debater on some subject relating to French politics or 
 political history. M. de Coubertin's object in found- 
 ing these very interesting contests in forensics was to 
 promote, among the educated young men of the United 
 States, a better acquaintance with France through a 
 discussion of French politics every year in several uni- 
 versities. Before leaving this country in the autumn 
 of 1893 he had aroused a very general interest, espe- 
 cially in the college world, in his plan for the Olympic 
 games. 
 
 A little later, in the early weeks of 1894, he was 
 actively at work in England holding conferences and 
 forming his committee for the promotion of the idea of
 
 xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the quadrennial athletic tournament. In June of that 
 year the subject was taken up by a great conference or 
 congress, held at the Sorbonne in Paris, a dozen or 
 more nations being represented. King George of the 
 Hellenes sent his best wishes; and the eight-day confer- 
 ence, with its accompanying fetes and sports in the 
 Bois du Boulogne, was fairly successful, resulting in 
 the formation of an international committee to carry the 
 Olympic plan into effect. It was decided that the first 
 games should be held in Greece in 1896, with the 
 further understanding by common consent that the com- 
 petitions of 1900 would be held at Paris as a feature of 
 the proposed international exhibition, while somewhat 
 more vaguely it was anticipated that the games of 1904 
 would be held in the United States. M. de Coubertin 
 then betook himself to Athens, with the result of form- 
 ing an enthusiastic Greek committee and perfecting 
 plans for the first games, with the Crown Prince of 
 Greece as presiding officer for the occasion. The 
 games as they actually occurred at Athens in 1896 at- 
 tracted a world-wide attention ; and the illustrated 
 articles in which they were described in the periodical 
 press of every part of the civilized world would fill a 
 number of volumes. 
 
 ^Meanwhile, M. de Coubertin had been married to 
 Mademoiselle Rothan, daughter of the late M. de Rothan, 
 who was a distinguished ambassador and well-known 
 author. In the past two years his pen has been unusu- 
 ally busy ; for, besides the present work on France 
 under the Third Republic, he has completed a volume 
 on his recent travels, entitled Souvenirs cTAmrique et 
 de Grrece. Furthermore, he has contributed a number 
 of important articles to the leading French journals and 
 reviews, besides a series for the (American) Review of
 
 INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 Reviews, and still other literary work. As illustrat- 
 ing M. de Coubertin's thoroughness as a student and 
 worker, I may be permitted to remark that at my sug- 
 gestion he has written some of his articles in English. 
 To have acquired English after attaining manhood, and 
 to be able not merely to read and speak the language, 
 but to write it for publication with full command of 
 vocabulary and with an excellent use of idioms, is an 
 unusual thing, particularly for a Frenchman. M. de 
 Coubertin's mastery of English is simply an indication 
 of his earnestness and persistence in all things to which 
 he may have set his hand. 
 
 Our author's study of the political history of his own 
 country during the past quarter-century would seem to 
 me to show a rare talent for political and institutional 
 history. For the very reason that he belongs to the 
 new generation, and did not therefore participate in 
 the events that followed the catastrophes of 1870, he 
 finds it the easier to render even-handed justice to all 
 the men and parties that were active at that time. I 
 have not read any book which shows with such convinc- 
 ing logic as M. de Coubertin's the relation of one 
 movement in French politics to another. His charac- 
 terization of men is remarkably just and felicitous. 
 Thiers, MacMahon, Gambetta, Jules Ferry, Gr^vy, De 
 Freycinet, Jules Simon, Carnot, Boulanger, Cl^men- 
 ceau, these and many others stand out in clear relief, 
 and one feels that with a few skilful touches the au- 
 thor has given us true and trustworthy portraiture. 
 Furthermore, his study of constitutional modes and 
 parliamentary methods shows a remarkable power of 
 analysis and discrimination. 
 
 Nothing could be better in its way than his argument 
 for parliamentary government as tending by virtue of
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 its very instability and fickleness to ghp the Republic a 
 real security. With ministerial rigidity there might 
 in France be danger of revolution ; but where it is so 
 easy to make and unmake ministries, the popular emo- 
 tions expend themselves harmlessly, and the great 
 mechanism of government goes on undisturbed. M. 
 de Coubertin of course lays due stress upon the value 
 of the permanent organization of governmental busi- 
 ness, under chiefs who do not change, and who owe 
 their loyalty to their bureaus or departments and to 
 the country itself, rather than to parties or ministries. 
 Our author would certainly not be so optimistic and 
 easily satisfied as to extol the constant changing of cabi- 
 nets as the ideal arrangement ; for he would not fail to 
 admit that better results would be secured from a 
 higher degree of ministerial stability. Nevertheless, 
 he makes a strong argument to show that, thus far in 
 the life of the Third Republic, the quick responsiveness 
 of ministries to the veerings of public opinion as ex- 
 hibited in the chambers has made for strength rather 
 than for weakness. 
 
 For the vitality of the Third Republic lies precisely 
 in the fact that it has been an essential unfolding of 
 the latent capacities of the nation itself for its own 
 self-ordering and self-direction, an Evolution, as M. 
 de Coubertin happily phrases it in the title of his book. 
 If the Republic had been a creation rather than an 
 evolution, it might have come to disaster. If indeed, 
 as some men wished, the Third Republic had been 
 placed under the guarantees of a rigid constitution, 
 which, like our own American organic law, could not 
 be changed at any point without processes practically 
 requiring years of discussion and an almost unanimous 
 consent in the end, the lack of elasticity would have
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 provoked revolution, and the very object sought for 
 would thus have been lost. As our author shows, the 
 Empire, through the force of events, ceased to exist 
 on the 4th of September, 1870. But the organized 
 political life of the French nation went on ; and the 
 Republic was the only normal possibility. It was 
 simply the nation governing itself under a formula 
 for which no adventitious claims were asserted, and 
 which the nation was at perfect liberty to reject at 
 any moment it chose. 
 
 After a little time, the organization of the Republic 
 began to take on a higher degree of differentiation. A 
 second chamber seemed to correspond well to the facts 
 and conditions of the national life, and a Senate was 
 provided. This has thus far shown itself a valuable 
 balance-wheel, because less impulsive than the Chamber 
 of Deputies, more sober and deliberate in its methods, 
 and more stably representative of the main trend of the 
 nation's best opinion and intelligence. It has been 
 capable of firm influence, while avoiding, for the most 
 part, the obstructive and irresponsible attitudes that 
 have in recent years so justly brought criticism upon 
 the American Senate and the English House of Lords. 
 Our author shows himself thoroughly appreciative of 
 the value of the Senate in the mechanism of the Third 
 Republic. 
 
 The practical evolution of the office of the Presidency, 
 from M. Thiers and Marshal MacMahon, through the 
 long period of M. GreVy, down to the assassination 
 of President Carnot, is presented most instructively. 
 Nothing better illustrates M. de Coubertin's method 
 in this volume than his treatment of just such a sub- 
 ject. There is not a paragraph devoted to abstract 
 discussion of the question of presidential responsibility,
 
 xvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 or the relation of the head of the state to the prime 
 minister and the cabinet ; but every delicate phase of 
 that very important matter of constitutional law and 
 practice is set forth, with all the author's unfailing 
 lucidity, by the more attractive method of concrete 
 narration. Thus we are shown how the able, experi- 
 enced, and conscientious Thiers conceived of the nature 
 of his presidential duties ; and the principles involved 
 are duly revealed as the events recited by our author 
 brought these principles into evidence and caused them 
 to be tried and discussed. M. de Coubertin's light 
 upon the character and aims of Marshal MacMahon 
 is especially welcome, because its high praise of the 
 man himself, as a patriot with an unfailing sense of 
 his duty under the constitution as President, is tem- 
 pered at all points by full recognition of the errors of 
 judgment which MacMahon undoubtedly committed. 
 
 One's confidence, indeed, in M. de Coubertin's com- 
 petency as historian of the Third Republic increases 
 from page to page, as one notes the evidences of fair- 
 ness, and sees how calm and objective is his discern- 
 ment. It is so rare a thing to find the sympathetic 
 faculty and the constructive imagination, conjoined 
 with the trained and alert employment of the critical 
 habit of mind. It is this combination of gifts, sym- 
 pathy to interpret, imagination to unify and correlate, 
 analytical insight to make just distinctions, together 
 with industry in research, accuracy in detail, and the 
 sense of form, proportion, and style, that has given 
 me a high regard for the work of this author, and a 
 belief that it is entitled to international recognition. 
 
 But to return from the author to his present work, 
 it is enough perhaps to remark that we are led step 
 by step in the course of the narration to see how, from
 
 INTRODUCTION. xvii 
 
 a Republic which stood for self-government in the sim- 
 ple form of the National Assembly, there came to be 
 definitely evolved the two chambers with their appro- 
 priate functions ; the presidency with its influence and 
 dignity ; and the cabinet, responsible not to the presi- 
 dent but to the legislative chambers, representing the 
 governmental policy of the day, and yielding, with a 
 responsiveness that from some points of view might 
 seem demoralizing, to the demands of public opinion 
 as expressed through the deputies. It was the purpose 
 of Gambetta, whose qualities and patriotic services are 
 fully appreciated by our author, to consolidate factions 
 into main parties, in order to give more meaning and 
 dignity to parliamentary cabinet government. He be- 
 lieved that much could be accomplished in that direc- 
 tion by the mere electoral device of choosing deputies 
 in groups on general department ticket, rather than 
 singly in the arrondissements. But parties are not the 
 outcome of mere election arrangements. Greater sta- 
 bility in French cabinet government must needs come 
 by the slower evolutionary processes, working in the 
 sphere of public opinion. The late M. de Laveleye, in 
 conversations upon this point some years ago, assured 
 me that he was one of many European students of com- 
 parative constitutional government who had lost faith 
 in the system of parliamentary responsibility. He 
 preferred the American system of a cabinet responsible 
 to the president, doing executive tasks for a fixed term, 
 and carrying on their work in their own offices without 
 either the right or the duty of appearing from day to 
 day in the legislative chambers, there to seek support for 
 policies, or to initiate, defend, or explain. But if the 
 parliamentary system has its disadvantages, and we 
 certainly have 90 occasion to seek its introduction in
 
 xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the United States, there is much force in our author's 
 answer. This continual process of the making and 
 unmaking of cabinets, far from evidencing the weak- 
 ness and uncertain footing of the republic, is the best 
 present device for enabling the ship of state to keep its 
 buoyancy and seaworthiness. Under such a system, 
 the republic itself comes to be an object of common 
 loyalty and patriotism. Assaults which might, under 
 other conditions, be directed against the State are 
 merely aimed at the captain and the crew. 
 
 Obviously, however, a good deal of incidental harm 
 results from too frequent changes of the captain and 
 the crew, even though such facility of change may make 
 it sure that nobody will attempt to scuttle the ship. 
 For the change of captain means often the shifting 
 of the ship's course, and the abandonment of one de- 
 sired port for another. These inconveniences are par- 
 ticularly to be noted in respect of the country's external 
 relations. They have made it comparatively difficult 
 for the Third Republic to take and hold its place in 
 the councils of Europe. They have made alliances 
 more difficult to arrange and maintain, and they have 
 caused some regrettable mishaps in the field of diplo- 
 macy, while also rendering colonial expansion more preca- 
 rious and uncertain. Thus France at a critical moment 
 sacrificed her equal influence in Egypt ; and England, 
 with her greater stability of policy, seized the advan- 
 tage. Thus again Jules Ferry was discredited through 
 a misapprehension of the value to France of his great 
 colonial policy, at the very time when of all men his 
 retention at the helm was most important for the fut- 
 ure of France. In the further evolution of the French 
 Republic, therefore, it would seem likely that a way 
 will be found to give firmer tenure and better opportu-
 
 INTRODUCTION. xix 
 
 nity to the administration of the day. It would seem 
 likely also that the Third Republic will continue to pur- 
 sue the policy of developing provincial and local life in 
 France by further relaxing the bonds of centralization. 
 The absolute denial of local home-rule under the First 
 Empire had in the main survived until the establish- 
 ment of the present Republic. Reforms in that field 
 can be safely urged, with advantages to the national life 
 that will grow constantly more apparent. 
 
 The gradual fading out of the monarchical factions in 
 France until all dynastic pretensions had become harm- 
 less, is well shown by our author through the happy 
 method of his narrative. His treatment of the Bou- 
 langer episode is rounded, complete, and just ; although 
 it would seem to me that his recital at this point falls a 
 little short of its accustomed vividness. He does not 
 perhaps quite reveal the depth of the momentary dis- 
 may and apprehension that fell upon loyal republican 
 hearts in France when Boulanger won his great elec- 
 toral victory in the Department of the Seine and stood 
 at the summit of his brief popularity. I happened to be 
 in Paris through that season, with opportunities which 
 brought me somewhat behind the political scenes ; 
 and I shall not soon forget that turbulent night at the 
 close of the election, when tried and dignified repub- 
 lican leaders gathered their families about them in 
 uncontrollable tears, and when such cool-headed and 
 veteran statesmen as the late Senators de Pressense 
 and Jules Simon admitted to me that they expected 
 to be banished from France within six months. But 
 if M. de Coubertin has not made the climax, or the 
 apogee, as he calls it, quite dramatic enough, he has 
 certainly drawn the anticlimax in true and firm lines. 
 For h.e shows us how quickly, under the strong hand
 
 XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of M. Constans, the hollo wness, vulgarity, and fraud of 
 the Boulanger plot were revealed to a disillusioned and 
 disgusted country. Wholesomely, at that moment, the 
 great exposition of 1889 served to give public opinion a 
 new rallying-ground, and to show through its splendid 
 object-lessons how much France had to be thankful and 
 hopeful about, in her new industrial, social, and educa- 
 tional life. 
 
 Thus the Republic had faced the fascinations of a 
 Man on Horseback, and rejected them with due con- 
 tempt. It is not likely that another candidate for 
 power will soon appear in that pretentious and dis- 
 credited r<51e. The Panama episode is nearer to us, 
 and it does not belong in so complete a sense to his- 
 tory as does the Boulanger incident. Our author has 
 discussed it with due reserve and with a justifiable dis- 
 position to defend the honor of the Republic against the 
 wholesale aspersions that were so common in England 
 and Germany. Certainly the Panama affair was de- 
 plorable ; but it does not follow that it revealed uni- 
 versal corruption in French political life, or that many 
 of the influential and eminent men of France were im- 
 plicated either in the giving or the taking of bribes. 
 The investigation of the so-called Wilson scandal, which 
 exposed the practice of selling such coveted prizes as 
 the Cross of the Legion of Honor, and the subsequent 
 inquiry into the Panama transactions, have been whole- 
 some in their results, and have in no sense left the 
 Republic discredited. They have shown, on the con- 
 trary, that the Republic will not screen or countenance 
 those types of the corrupt adventurer that had not 
 found the atmosphere of the Second Empire altogether 
 forbidding. The standard of public honor is higher 
 to-day than ever before in France, and the admijiistra-
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxi 
 
 live organization is more efficient by far and more 
 worthy of respect and confidence than under any former 
 regime. 
 
 I must beg to commend especially M. de Coubertin's 
 account of the diplomacy of the Third Republic. M. 
 Waddington's attitude and policy at the Congress of 
 Berlin in 1878 form a bit of history that our author evi- 
 dently regards with particular pleasure. Waddington's 
 open and honorable methods were sharply in contrast 
 with those of certain other men in that notable council. 
 The review of French experience in the acquisition of 
 colonial empire forms another chapter in this volume 
 highly worthy of note. Our author does not believe 
 that it is necessarily the business of republics to play 
 a purely humble and domestic r61e while the monarchi- 
 cal governments are engaged in spirited and adventur- 
 ous rivalry with one another for the honor and profit 
 that may belong to the control and development of 
 territories lying beyond the home domain. It is with 
 more zeal, perhaps, than is betrayed in any other part 
 of the volume that M. de Coubertin defends the policy 
 of Jules Ferry in Indo- China, lauds the steps which 
 resulted in the Tunis protectorate, outlines a great 
 possible North African Empire for French enterprise to 
 create and develop, and points out the lessons that 
 ought to be learned, for the more prudent management 
 of the Tonquin and adjoining Asiatic possessions, from 
 the errors of the past. Of the more recent economic 
 policies of his country our author gives a very intelli- 
 gent account, with a cautious but confessed support of 
 JVL^JVleline's policy of protection. 
 
 If M. de Coubertin has shown himself easily at home 
 in his discussion of political and diplomatic affairs, he 
 is pre-eminently sure of his ground in his chapters upon
 
 xxii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the progress and work of education in France, and 
 upon the position and influence of the Church. He 
 shows conclusively in both these spheres the steady 
 adjustment of methods to the needs and ideals of the 
 Republic. The improvements in French education have 
 been most noteworthy ; while in its turn nothing has 
 been more remarkable than the changed attitude of 
 the Roman Catholic Church, at the direct instance of 
 Pope Leo XIII., towards democratic institutions as 
 embodied in the present French Republic. In the chap- 
 ters on the army, and on industrial society and the 
 workingmen, one finds revealed the principles which 
 are working towards social and economic equality, and 
 are unquestionably giving a socialistic trend to the 
 operations of government. In his chapter upon the 
 ideas and habits that mark the French race at the pres- 
 ent day, he answers very fairly those sweeping foreign 
 criticisms which conclude that the French position is 
 utterly hopeless because the stock is morally and physi- 
 cally decadent. 
 
 To answer these grave charges involves on our 
 author's part a discussion of the literary tendencies of 
 France, and an inquiry into the facts touching domestic 
 life and morals. His conclusions are thoroughly hope- 
 ful. He believes that the spirit of the Republic is 
 making for a new era of wholesome and ennobling liter- 
 ary activity. The immorality of which France stands 
 accused is not an inherent and general condition ; but 
 on the contrary the general tone of the nation's life is 
 sound and virile. That stationary condition of popu- 
 lation which has seemed to so many observers to mark 
 at least a relative decline of the French among the 
 great peoples of the earth, is attributed by our author 
 for the most part to purely economic conditions, that is
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxiii 
 
 to say, to the laws and customs regulating the trans- 
 mission of property and to related causes. 
 
 The argument has frequently been made that France 
 cannot possibly succeed as a colonizing nation because 
 she lacks the necessary overflow of population. Our 
 author's reply would be that " external France," under 
 properly inviting conditions, might furnish precisely 
 the opportunity that would lead to a change in existing 
 habits and customs, and result in the appearance of a 
 surplus population. In Canada, with room for expan- 
 sion, the French stock is remarkably prolific and vigor- 
 ous, with no symptom of decline when compared with 
 the English stock. Colonial possessions abroad, under 
 certain conditions, might prove inviting to French- 
 men, whose love of home and reluctance to migrate are 
 surely no reprehensible traits, and it is conceivable that 
 the growth of an external French empire might result 
 in a race stimulus that would affect in a favorable way 
 the future growth of the nation. 
 
 ALBERT SHAW. 
 
 NEW YORK, May, 1897.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. THE EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC .... 1 
 
 The 4th of September, and the National Defence. The 
 Assembly of Bordeaux. The Communist Insurrection : Paris 
 recaptured by the French. First Symptoms of Recupera- 
 tion. Decentralization : Party Spirit. 
 
 A 
 
 II. THE EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC (Conclusion) . 26 
 
 M. Thiers, Head of the State, and Prime Minister. The 
 Message of November 12, 1872. The First Presidential Crisis. 
 
 Fusion, and the White Flag. How the Monarchists helped 
 to make the Republic. Violent Debates. The Discipline of 
 the Republicans, and the Legislative Elections. 
 
 IH. THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY 53 
 
 The Constitution of 1875: Unforeseen Stability. The 
 Beginnings of the Parliament. Preludes of a Coup d'lStat. 
 
 Appeal to the Country, and the Electoral Campaign. A 
 Futile Attempt. Return to Normal Life. The Exposition 
 of 1878. The Marshal resigns. 
 
 IV. THE ALARM OF 1875, AND THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN 79 
 
 Composure and Abstention. A Triple Alternative. The 
 Conference of London. M. de Bismarck's Ideas. Inter- 
 vention of Europe. At the Congress of Berlin: the First 
 Partition of Turkey. Disinterestedness appreciated. The 
 Difficulties of Republican Diplomacy. Formation of the 
 Triple Alliance. 
 
 V. TUNIS AND EGYPT 107 
 
 A Forced Conquest. Measures well taken and badly ap- 
 preciated. The Treaty of Bardo. Lies and Calumnies. 
 France in Egypt. The Condominium. Arabi and the Na- 
 tionalists. Tergiversations of France : the English bom- 
 bard Alexandria and occupy Cairo. The " Great Minister."
 
 xxvi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGK 
 
 VI. THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY 135 
 
 Governmental Anarchy. The " Long Ministry." Legis- 
 lative Work is resumed. Angry Quarrels between the 
 Extremist Parties. The Revision of 1884. Energy of Jules 
 Ferry. His Asiatic Policy. March 30, 1883. 
 
 VH. COLONIAL FRANCE 162 
 
 Three Colonial Empires. A National Tradition. Ob- 
 stacles and Labors. France beyond the Sea in 1872, and in 
 1891. West Africa. Madagascar. French Asia. Prob- 
 lems of Indo-China. Administrative Errors. The Slug- 
 gishness of French Commerce. The Educational Question. 
 
 Vm. THE CRISIS (1885-1889) 198 
 
 The Majority melts away. The Elections of 1885 : a Reac- 
 tionary Half- victory. Mistakes and Blundering. A Brave 
 List of Appropriations. Minister Rouvier. General Bou- 
 langer's First Exploits. Unexpected Scandals. Election 
 of M. Carnot. The Committee of the Rue Seze. Exposi- 
 tion of 1889. The Supreme Court. The Elections : the End 
 of Boulangism. 
 
 IX. THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC 239 
 
 The Workingmen's Congress in Berlin. The Empress 
 Frederick in Paris. Cronstadt. A "Novel Situation." 
 The General Tariff of the Custom-houses. The Monarchists' 
 *"Last Card." False Calculation. Financial Ways. 
 The Elections of 1893. Minister Casimir-Pe'rier. The Rus- 
 sian Fleet at Toulon. National Mourning. 
 
 X. THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH 272 
 
 Church and State. Religious Policy. The Congress of 
 Mechlin, and the Encyclical Quanta Cura. The Designs of 
 Leo XIII. The Toast of Algiers. Constitution of the Re- 
 publican Right. Political Evolution, and Social Evolution. 
 The Encyclical Rerum Novarum. Resistance: Declara- 
 tion of the Cardinals. Immovability of the Sovereign Pon- 
 tiff. The Results. The " Great Problem." 
 
 XI. EDUCATION 308 
 
 Primary Instruction. The Results of Secularization. 
 The Teacher. Insufficiency of Moral Instruction. Ger- 
 manic Pedagogy. Schools : Primary, High, and Profes- 
 sional. Secondary Instruction : the Imperial and the Mouas-
 
 CONTENTS. xxvii 
 
 tic Stamp. Overdriving. The Education of Character. 
 Schools for Girls. University Revival. Students and Pro- 
 fessors. The Rights of the State. 
 
 XII. THE NATION ARMED 346 
 
 A New Spectacle. Patriotism throughout the Ages. Its 
 Modern Formula. Contradictory Problems. A Work of 
 Perseverance and of Confidence. The Effect on the Nation. 
 
 Officers and Soldiers. Diverging Tendencies. A Social- 
 istic Lesson in Things. Ideal and Patriotism. 
 
 XIII. IDEAS AND HABITS 367 
 
 The Survival of Ideas. Foreign Judgments on France. 
 The Worship of Form. Unhealthy Scientific and Literary 
 Stagnation. Influence of Democracy on Letters and Lan- 
 guage. The Awakening : Taine and Renan. Retaliation on 
 Immorality. The French Family and the French Woman. 
 
 Decrease of Population. The Law of Succession, and 
 Malthusianism. 
 
 XTV. THE SOCIAL QUESTION 391 
 
 Errors of Valuation. An Unprecedented Experience. 
 Universal and Simultaneous Progress. Political Action: 
 Congress and Elections. Strikes. Anarchists. Intellec- 
 tual Mediums. Obstacles: Petty Proprietorship. Alle- 
 manists, Broussists, Guesdists, Blanquists. Syndicates. A 
 Second Night of August 4.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ANY one who undertakes to analyze contemporary 
 history runs the risk of 'finding that the title of Histo- 
 rian is deliberately refused to him. The historian must, 
 above all things, be impartial. Is this chief quality 
 which public opinion demands from him compatible with 
 the narration of events of which he has been the wit- 
 ness, and upon which there has not, as yet, descended 
 that rational calm which time alone brings in its train ? 
 Does not man, who is inclined to judge according to his 
 passions, rather than according to justice, of that which 
 nearly concerns him, require the distance of age for a 
 proper survey of facts in their true proportions ? And, 
 in conclusion, are not the elements of information lack- 
 ing? The archives fill slowly; they deliver up their 
 treasures only when those persons who have been play- 
 ing the leading parts upon the stage have finally disap- 
 peared from it. The writer who is so audacious as to 
 try to sum up the play as soon as the curtain has fallen 
 upon it should distrust his ability to collect the docu- 
 ments which would permit him to reconstitute with 
 exactitude that which he has not seen, and to hold in 
 check that with which his memory furnishes him ; he 
 must look for controversies, even for contradictions, of 
 which the effect will be to injure his work by still fur-
 
 XXX PREFACE 
 
 ther diminishing the confidence which it may inspire in 
 those who read it. 
 
 Such objections deserve to be seriously scrutinized. 
 They are not irrefragable, however, and they lose much 
 of their weight if one pauses to consider how greatly 
 the study of contemporary history nowadays differs 
 from what it was possible for it to be fifty years ago. 
 The annals of monarchy were full of the unexpected ; 
 the events therein always bore the stamp of the sover- 
 eign will: either that of the monarch, or that of the 
 ministers to whom the monarch delegated or abandoned 
 the exercise of power. Athwart the march of events 
 the human soul was perceptible, always influenced by 
 surroundings and circumstances, yet acting in a thor- 
 oughly individual manner. Democratic history, on the 
 contrary, is full of logic ; it is made by peoples, and not 
 by men; there is a sort of fatality and mathematical 
 rigidity in the way in which everything is linked 
 together, and the slow forces, the irresistible currents, 
 which characterize it have deep origins and remote 
 results. 
 
 To what, then, is the part of the historian reduced? 
 There are no secrets to fathom, no dark designs to disen- 
 tangle ; the statesmen whose politics he studies are not 
 obliged to surrender to him the details of their private 
 life ; he sees in them only the servants of the democ- 
 racy, summoned to execute its orders far more than to 
 inspire its conduct. Day by day the press has noted 
 their words and their deeds ; he has only to make his 
 choice from this mass of thoroughly illuminated facts, 
 to separate that which is of importance from that which 
 is not ; to estimate the greater or less value of each
 
 PREFACE. xxxi 
 
 piece of information. He operates like the chemist 
 who separates substances from one another ; he ana- 
 lyzes the combination, and has nothing to say as to 
 its being good or bad. 
 
 If he have but held himself aloof from the battles 
 which his pen is about to describe, his quality of 
 spectator is of service to him, rather than a disadvan- 
 tage. It procures for him sources of information and 
 means of authoritative criticism which his successor 
 will not possess. History must be studied either at 
 very short range, or at great distance ; the inter- 
 mediate period is less favorable for sound judgments ; 
 it often happens that contemporaries possess a per- 
 spicacity which astonishes their descendants ; in this 
 century Mirabeau and Alexis de Tocqueville have 
 given striking examples of this, and many private 
 documents which have been brought to light by the 
 publishers of Memoirs prove that the generation of 
 1789 had a clearer and more exact conception of the 
 Revolution, of its consequences and its action, than 
 that which immediately followed it. 
 
 When it is a question of contemporary history, one 
 must confine himself to the changes which have taken 
 place within a definite period. The period which we 
 are about to study has been particularly fruitful in 
 changes. The Third Republic has beheld the accom- 
 plishment of a general evolution in ideas, habits, 
 political forms, social relations. In order to find the 
 origin of this evolution, we must go back to the gloomy 
 days of 1792, when popular right rose up and faced 
 monarchical right. The latter is the more ancient of 
 the two, and lies at the base of all power ; but, in the
 
 xxxii PREFACE. 
 
 course of centuries, it has undergone numerous eclipses, 
 and has consented to numerous abdications. It would 
 be vain to seek in the terrible and majestic events 
 which filled the end of the eighteenth century, and the 
 opening years of the nineteenth, in France, for any 
 appearance of logic ; all is confused and troubled ; 
 the languor of the nation, the exceptional genius of 
 one man whom circumstances never ceased to favor, 
 the intoxication of glory, the terror of anarchy, all 
 concur to make this epoch a masterpiece of history ; 
 far from serving as a bond between the past and the 
 future, as has been asserted, it had no connection with 
 either the one or the other. The Empire is a vast 
 administration which solves none of the problems that 
 the Revolution had propounded, but which imprisons 
 the French people in an inextricable network of arti- 
 ficial combinations and principles : and Napoleon gone, 
 the fetters remain. 
 
 The conflict begins with the Restoration. Louis 
 XVIII. has the perception of liberal needs ; the true 
 representatives of the nation, the liberals, are endowed 
 with the perception of monarchical authority ; Gen- 
 eral Foy 1 and his friends conceive, in a very precise 
 manner, the formula of constitutional royalty, and they 
 put it in practice in a perfectly loyal way, but the 
 political self-exiles and the reactionaries interfere : 
 they will not hear to a compact between monarchical 
 right and popular right ; they perceive only the duel 
 between "legitimacy" and the Revolution, and as 
 Charles X. is their man, the conflict becomes acute ; 
 the revolution of 1830 results. Beginning with that 
 
 1 See the Letters of General Fov.
 
 PREFACE. xxxiii 
 
 day, the Republic is the necessary government of 
 France because it is the most perfect representation 
 of popular right, and because monarchical right no 
 longer exists. Louis XVIII. , who was its incarnation, 
 could sign a compromise with the people ; Louis 
 Philippe cannot ; he is nothing more than a crowned 
 President of a Republic ; that is the way in which it 
 is understood by those who have contributed the most 
 to his accession. During his whole reign Louis 
 Philippe toils to become king ; he almost succeeds, 
 by dint of his wisdom and his cleverness, but the 
 origin of his power weighs upon him ; his dynasty 
 does not take root in the national soil. The throne 
 of July is at the mercy of the slightest storm, one 
 might almost say, of the smallest wave. 
 
 In those days the forward march of democracy ap- 
 peared clearly to certain choice spirits as a providen- 
 tial, universal, durable fact. " A great democratic rev- 
 olution is taking place among us," wrote Alexis de 
 Tocqueville ; l " some persons look upon it as a new 
 thing, and, taking it for an accident, they still hope 
 that they may be able to put a stop to it, while 
 others consider it as irresistible, because it seems to 
 them the most uninterrupted, the most ancient, and 
 the most permanent fact which we know in history." 
 
 And, in another place : 2 " For whom should this 
 study [on American democracy] be profitable and in- 
 teresting if not for us, who are being dragged along 
 day by day by an irresistible movement, and who are 
 
 1 "Democracy in America " (De la Democratic en Amerique). Intro- 
 duction. 
 
 a/bid., Vol. II.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 walking blindly on, perhaps towards despotism, per- 
 haps towards a Republic, but certainly towards a demo- 
 cratic social state ? " 
 
 Public opinion suffered this hesitation between a 
 Republic and despotism ; the form of government 
 which was about to be imposed upon France, and 
 which was to mark the last halt before the accom- 
 plishment of her new destiny, is again anticipatively 
 defined by De Tocqueville with the surety of pro- 
 phetic vision ; it is d, Napoleonic idea Jacobin, radical, 
 socialistic to-day. It is " an immense and tutelary 
 power l which undertakes of its sole responsibility to 
 secure the enjoyment of the citizens, and to watch 
 over their fate. It is absolute, detailed, regular, provi- 
 dent, and gentle. It would resemble paternal power 
 if, like the latter, it had as its object the preparation 
 of men for manhood ; but, on the contrary, it seeks 
 only to keep them fast held in childhood : it likes to 
 have the citizens enjoy themselves, provided they think 
 of nothing but enjoyment. It gladly labors for their 
 happiness, but it wishes to be the sole agent thereto, 
 and the sole arbiter thereof ; it provides for their 
 safety, foresees and secures their needs, facilitates their 
 pleasures, conducts their principal affairs, directs their 
 industry, regulates their manner of inheritance, divides 
 their heritage : why cannot it relieve them entirely of 
 the trouble of thinking and the torment of living? 
 I have always believed," adds the illustrious writer, 
 " that this sort of regulated servitude, sweet and peace- 
 able, might be combined, better than people imagine, 
 with some of the external forms of liberty, and that 
 
 1 De la Democratic en Amtrique, Vol. III.
 
 PREFACE. XXXV 
 
 it would not find it impossible to establish itself under 
 the very shadow of the sovereignty of the people." 
 
 The revolution of 1830 was waged against the old 
 order of things, of which an offensive renewal, more 
 apparent than real, alarmed the nation. The revolution 
 of 1848 was waged against the middle classes, who had 
 taken upon themselves the part of vanguard of democ- 
 racy, and had afterwards misunderstood it. 1 But the 
 Republic had the triple misfortune to recall bloody 
 memories, to alarm Europe, and to be surrounded in her 
 cradle by the most generous, and, at the same time, the 
 least reassuring of Utopias. In vain did she have liberty- 
 poles blessed ; people did justice to her intentions, but 
 they did not believe in her future. In order to estab- 
 lish herself in a stable manner, it was necessary to free 
 herself "from the formidable fellowship of the Con- 
 vention." 2 The men of 1848 could not do it; the 
 country people and the petty middle classes of the 
 towns vaguely felt their interests menaced in their 
 hands. They were seized with fear at the shadow of 
 the first barricade. Louis Napoleon presented himself 
 as the defender of order ; he was received with cheers. 
 
 It is puerile to represent the Empire as having been 
 established in spite of the country, against the will of 
 the citizens. The truth is that the coup d'tat, the 
 master-stroke in State policy, had the approbation of 
 the majority, and that the exiles which accompanied it 
 appeared, to more than one upright mind led astray by 
 terror, as a sad necessity. 3 Time was needed, before 
 
 1 E. de Pressense, VarUtes Morales et Politiques, Paris, 1886. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 Twenty-seven thousand seven hundred and sixty-four citizens passed
 
 XXX vi PREFACE. 
 
 it was possible to perceive their real uselessness, and 
 before the assassinating character of the 2d of Decem- 
 ber manifested itself in broad daylight. Fear can 
 found nothing solid and durable, and as, after all, 
 Napoleon III. was not a tyrant, the imperial institutions 
 were speedily shaken by liberal infiltrations ; it became 
 necessary to cover them up with a layer of parliamen- 
 tarism, in order to consolidate them. The Emperor, 
 deprived of unscrupulous counsellors, returned of his 
 own volition to the suggestions of his revolutionary 
 past. 
 
 The Republic once more appeared as the fated goal ; l 
 nevertheless, no one could foresee that the throne would 
 crumble, not in the inoffensive effervescence of a popular 
 revolt, but on a field of battle where France, alone, 
 without resources, would find herself grappling with a 
 redoubtable and resolute enemy. 
 
 The history of the Third Republic ought to be pre- 
 ceded by a study upon the society of the Second Empire, 
 upon those who formed the "ruling class" from 1852 
 to 1870 ; the contrast between that society and the 
 "new strata" which followed it explains the consoli- 
 dation of the Republic. "The society man, with his 
 frivolous disdains, almost always passes, without per- 
 ceiving it, close to the man who is on the high road to 
 
 before the mixed Commissions after the 2d of December, 247 passed 
 through the council of war, and 626 through the police office ; 239 were 
 transported to Cayenne, 9563 to Algeria ; 959 were expelled : 636 were 
 "removed," and 2818 were assigned fixed residences in the country. 
 (Statistics published on the occasion of the vote for six millions for life- 
 pensions to the victims of the coup d'ttat, March, 1881.) 
 
 1 " The only revolutions which succeed are those which are made in 
 advance in hearts and minds, and are ordered by the logic of history." 
 (E. de Pressense.)
 
 PREFACE. xxx vii 
 
 create the future ; they do not even belong to the same 
 set ; now, the common error of society people is to 
 believe that the set which they see constitutes the 
 whole world." 1 "The ruling class of the Empire was, 
 pre-eminently, a syndicate of protection guilty of much 
 egotism, and with a taste which was dangerous to 
 immobility ; it could be said of each one of the syndicate 
 members, that, isolated, he is a stranger to the destiny of 
 all the others ; his children and his special friends form 
 for him the whole human race ; as for the rest of his 
 fellow-citizens, he is close beside them, but he does not 
 see them ; he touches them, but he does not feel them." 2 
 The spirit of solidarity, on the contrary, closely 
 united all those who, perceiving that a new era was 
 about to dawn, feeling that the country was on the point 
 of " becoming enamoured of checks and guarantees," s 
 labored to render themselves worthy to govern it, 
 when the day should come. The latter had faith ; they 
 firmly believed that " free institutions are the only ones 
 which can be sure of not dying." 4 They were moder- 
 ate, and did not admit, so far as the Revolution was 
 concerned, that theory of the " lump " which has been 
 impetuously formulated since. They repudiated the 
 " Jacobin religion," and proclaimed its numerous points 
 of contact with the " Bonapartist religion." Calling to 
 mind that " the Jacobins were the best prefects of the 
 Empire," they repulsed, with all their might, "that 
 
 1 E. Renan, Saint Paul, Ch. VIII. 
 
 2 Alexis de Tocqueville, De la Democratic en Am&'ique, Vol. HI. On 
 the excess of centralization and individualism, see M. Laboulaye's amus- 
 ing satire, Le Prince Caniche. 
 
 8 Jules Ferry, DLicours et Opinions, Vol. I. 
 * Ibid.
 
 xxxviii PREFACE. 
 
 narrow and unhealthy devotion to the men of the 
 Terror," 1 which was becoming the fashion among the 
 advocates of authority. 
 
 And above all they worked. There were distin- 
 guished minds in both camps ; in one only was work 
 held in honor. The other gave itself over to pleasure 
 and to repose ; there no one sought progress except in 
 so far as it added to the enjoyment of life. 
 
 When the fatal hour for the imperial form of govern- 
 ment sounded, the Republic had its staff in readiness ; 
 the nation did not know it ; among men she perceived, 
 at first, only radicals and demagogues ; in doctrines, 
 she noted only the extreme, the most violent ; therefore, 
 she did not, at once, yield; she demanded sacrifices of 
 ideas, proofs of political perception ; she wished to have 
 her confidence restored. 
 
 No other party had prepared itself to enter upon the 
 inheritance. In default of attachment to the imperial 
 dynasty, the majority of the royalists had a taste for the 
 things of the Empire ; they liked its manner of govern- 
 ing, and regretted, with all their hearts, that their 
 Prince had not understood how to be the first to make 
 use of it. The " preservative alliance " which was 
 formed, later on, between the partisans of the divers 
 monarchical forms of government, was not as artificial 
 as, for a long time, it was believed to be. The pre- 
 servers were divided in name far more than by the 
 nature of their solutions of the problem ; their desires 
 blended on the majority of the points. 
 
 By a strange irony of fate, they powerfully aided 
 in the strengthening of the Republic, by forcing the 
 
 1 Jules Ferry, Discours et Opinions, Vol. I.
 
 PREFACE. XXXIX 
 
 republicans to wisdom, and by abandoning to them the 
 positions only little by little. First the Chamber of 
 Deputies escaped from their grasp, then the Presi- 
 dency, then the Senate, then the Departmental and 
 Communal Assemblies. The Republic absorbed the 
 marrow of their doctrines ; she assimilated that which 
 she found in them of utility to herself, and thus trans- 
 formed the preservers into rebels. Her strength has 
 lain, in great part, in the fact that, at no moment, had 
 she great confidence .in herself. Monarchies always 
 believe that they are deeply anchored in the affection 
 of the people, because the monarch lives isolated from 
 his people by the courtiers. The Republic, on the con- 
 trary, believed herself to be less stable than she really 
 was. She knew not complete security, and when her 
 successive victories had discouraged her original adver- 
 saries, she beheld the disturbing elements which had 
 just been reduced to silence on the right enter again 
 upon the scene on the left. At the same time .that the 
 restoration of the monarchical state of things daily 
 appeared more improbable, and that the very persons 
 who had the most reasons for desiring it had lost con- 
 fidence in the future, the Revolution, with its absolute 
 doctrines, and its violent methods of procedure, once 
 more became the ideal of a whole party, which made use 
 of its name, and seemed more and more disposed to aban- 
 don legal x ways in the pursuit of its claims. That is 
 the state of affairs at the present hour, when these 
 lines appear. The author will refrain from closing 
 with the word "progress." That is too definitive a 
 term, and one which the experience of successive gen- 
 erations has often effaced from the summit of monu-
 
 xl PREFACE. 
 
 ments where the enthusiasm of contemporaries had 
 inscribed it. 
 
 Progress is relative ; it may exist between one his- 
 torical period and another period without the public 
 thing coming to perfection, between one nation and 
 another without the world being improved. The for- 
 ward march of humanity is so slow, so impeded ! So 
 many mists lead it astray ! so many obstacles retard it ! 
 so many evil encounters force it to retrace its steps ! 
 In general, a nation is progressing if the germs within 
 it continue to develop freely ; if the institutions which 
 govern it are suited to it, if they favor that develop- 
 ment ; if the men who direct it are equal to their task, 
 if they throw the future wide open to it without allow- 
 ing it to lose sight of its past. 
 
 This harmony between yesterday and to-morrow, 
 then, is the criterion of progress. Every period of real 
 national progress forms a sort of point of connection 
 between what has preceded and what is about to fol- 
 low. Whatever may be the appearances and the prob- 
 abilities, it would be foolhardy to say that the present 
 form of government fulfils these conditions. We stand 
 at the turn of a century, where too much uncertainty 
 weighs upon our destinies to authorize such language ; 
 but in no way, except by putting end to end the diverse 
 facts which compose her history, can it be seen that the 
 Third Republic has regarded herself as the heir of all 
 France ; she has repudiated none of the national tra- 
 ditions ; she has reversed them, in more than one 
 instance. In any case, she has furnished a new proof 
 of the justice of the thought which our old poet Ron- 
 sard so prettily expressed :
 
 PREFACE. xli 
 
 The Frenchman seems a verdant willow ; 
 The more he is cut, the more he sprouts. 
 He puts forth more branches, 
 He acquires vigor through his own injury. 1 
 
 1 Le Fran9ais semble un saule verdissant ; 
 Plus on le coupe et plus il est naissant. 
 D rejetonne en branches davantage 
 Et prend vigeur dans son propre dommage.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 FELIX FAURE, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC . . Frontispiece 
 JULES FAVRE, MEMBER OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NATIONAL 
 
 DEFENCE 12 
 
 MARSHAL MACMAHON, Due DE MAGENTA, AND SECOND PRESI- 
 DENT OF THE REPUBLIC . 36 3 *f 
 
 JULES GRETY, THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC . . 60 
 AD. THIERS, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC . . . 84 S "^ 
 
 CH. DE FRETCINET, MINISTER AND SENATOR .... 125 
 JULES SIMON, MINISTER, SENATOR, AND MEMBER OF THE 
 
 FRENCH ACADEMY 151 
 
 CARDINAL LATIGERIE, ARCHBISHOP OF CARTHAGE AND OF 
 
 ALGIERS . 190 
 
 GENERAL BOULANGER, MINISTER OF WAR .... 214 
 
 JEAN CASIMIR-PERIER, FIFTH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC . 234 
 
 A. RIBOT, DEPUTY AND PRIME MINISTER 260 ',' - 
 
 JULES FERRY, DEPUTY, PRIME MINISTER, AND PRESIDENT o 
 
 THE SENATE 284 
 
 LKON GAMBETTA, DEPUTY AND MINISTER, AND PRESIDENT or 
 
 THB CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES 309 
 
 M. SADI-CARNOT, FOURTH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC . . 359 
 
 ERNEST RENAN, OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY .... 377 
 
 H. TAINE, OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY 390
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE UNDER 
 THE THIRD REPUBLIC. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EAKLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 * 
 
 The 4th of September, and the National Defence. The Assembly of 
 Bordeaux. The Communist Insurrection : Paris recaptured by the 
 French. First Symptoms of Recuperation. Decentralization : Party 
 Spirit. 
 
 IN the series of revolutionary days which the annals 
 of modern France contain, the 4th of September, 
 1870, occupies a place apart. On that date, the Empire 
 was not overthrown ; it ceased. The attempt has often 
 been made, in the interests of party which it is easy 
 to discern, to represent the 4th of September as the 
 deliberate and prearranged enterprise of a group of 
 factionists. Such an enterprise could not have been 
 prepared in secret, or accomplished without resistance ; 
 the very facility with which the change of government 
 was effected indicates, not only how unstable were the 
 imperial institutions, but also how little people expected 
 to see them disappear so rapidly. 
 
 The legislative body, it is true, contained republicans 
 who had never concealed their opinions, or ceased to 
 struggle, with the view of giving to the future a direc-
 
 2 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 tion conformable to their desires. But patriotism and 
 interest equally counselled them not to hasten a catas- 
 trophe which was destined to be prejudicial to the cause 
 of peace, as well as to that of the Republic. "We did 
 not wish," one of them has said, " that the government, 
 which is the ideal of our political life, should be inaugu- 
 rated amid fortuitous circumstances." Nevertheless, in 
 the expectation of the disaster, which all sensible men 
 foresaw from that time on, the opportunity for a sort 
 of " Committee of National Defence " was faced among 
 the deputies. The names of Mr. Schneider, President 
 of the legislative body, of General Palikao,. Minister 
 of War, 1 and of General Trochu, Governor of Paris, 
 seemed to unite the approbation of all. It was under- 
 stood that, if it became necessary to create a govern- 
 ment, it should be done as " anonymously " as possible, 
 so that "the legal order might be continued," 2 without 
 compromising the future, or openly breaking with the 
 past. The Empress' regency was not regarded as a 
 serious solution of the difficulty, and the agitation 
 which the dynastic interests kept up around the throne 
 seemed to have no echo in Parliament. 
 
 The disaster came, and even among the most pessi- 
 mistic no one had foreseen that it would be so tragic 
 and so complete. When the news of the capitulation 
 of Sedan had been communicated by the Empress to 
 the Minister of War, General Palikao imparted it to the 
 Chamber, not without some suppressions ; there was a 
 
 1 The ministry over which General Palikao presided had succeeded to 
 Ollivier's ministry on August 9. It comprised MM. Henri Chevreau, 
 Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne (Foreign Affairs), Admiral Rigault de 
 Genouilly, Magne, Grandperret, Brame, Cle'ment Duvernois, and Je'rume 
 David. 
 
 2 Deposition of M. Jules Ferry, before the Commission of Inquiry on 
 the Procedures of the Government of the National Defence, instituted in 
 1872 by the National Assembly.
 
 EARLY TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 3 
 
 night session, in the course of which Jules Favre, in 
 the midst of a glacial silence, offered a proposition of 
 dethronement. The majority of that Chamber was 
 devoted to the Empire; the greater part of the depu- 
 ties owed to it their warrants; many had obtained that 
 warrant with the aid of the official candidacy which, 
 for a long time, had violated the results of universal 
 suffrage. Nevertheless, not a voice was raised within 
 the walls of Parliament to defend the dynasty and its 
 chief. Every one felt that they were doomed. The 
 fragility of the bonds which united France to the Em- 
 pire appeared in plain colors ; they were no longer the 
 bonds of centuries which had united it to royalty ; the 
 Bourbons were dear to them, after a fashion, as a 
 married pair are dear to each other, when their union 
 has been blessed by the civil law and the Church, who 
 behold numerous children clustering around them, and 
 who have behind them the memory of a long existence 
 whose joys they have tasted, and whose woes they have 
 borne together. The revolutionists of 1830 and of 1852 
 did not understand this, and, in their folly, they thought 
 that all Orleans and Bonaparte required to implant them- 
 selves in the destinies of the country was legal conse- 
 cration, that " national will " of which, nevertheless, the 
 ballot affords only an imperfect expression. In reality, 
 simple contracts had intervened between France and 
 the Second Empire as between France and the Monarchy 
 of July : the first had been denounced because Louis 
 Philippe had refused to sanction a reform in the elec- 
 toral law ; could the obligation to denounce the second 
 be avoided on the morrow of Sedan ? 
 
 It was popular indignation which proclaimed the 
 Republic. A considerable throng, whose attitude was 
 at once calm and resolute, invaded the legislative body,
 
 4 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 there, in a manner, seized upon the deputies of the 
 opposition, and dragged them to the City Hall, with- 
 out interrupting traffic in Paris, without even opposing 
 the departure of the Empress, who, at that very hour, 
 was leaving the Tuileries, without any appearance 
 whatever of resistance on the part of the functionaries 
 and the soldiers. It is reported that the Prefect of the 
 Seine, M. Alfred Blanche, when he saw M. Gambetta 
 appear in his office, said to him: "I was expecting 
 you," and withdrew. The whole of the 4th of Sep- 
 tember is summed up in this remark. Since morning 
 the Republic, represented by these citizens who made 
 their way peaceably along the quays to the Municipal 
 Building, had been " expected. " 
 
 The embarrassment of those whom circumstances 
 in this fashion thrust into power was great. They 
 were conscious of their terrible responsibility, and ac- 
 cepted it in no spirit of levity. Moreover, they were 
 compelled to offer energetic resistance to the "impa- 
 tient," as they called, by euphemism, those men of 
 disorder whose votes they had obtained, but whose 
 violent passions they did not share. Milliere and Deles- 
 cluze were already at the City Hall, eager to undertake 
 a revolutionary crusade. The germ of the Commune 
 already existed in certain quarters of Paris; the 18th 
 of March might have served as the morrow of the 
 4th of September; there was no room for evasion. 
 The deputation of Paris constituted itself a " Govern- 
 ment of National Defence." 1 It was composed of 
 MM. Emmanuel Arago, Cremieux, Jules Favre, Jules 
 Ferry, Gambetta, Garnier-Pages, Glais-Bizoin, Pelle- 
 tan, Ernest Picard, Jules Simon, and Henri Roche- 
 fort. General Trochu was called to preside over the 
 
 1 Journal Officiel de la Rtpublique Franqaise, du 5 Septembre, 1870.
 
 EARLY TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 5 
 
 government, M. Etienne Arago was appointed Mayor of 
 Paris. 1 
 
 A double task was imposed upon the new rulers: that 
 of organizing the internal defence by appealing to all 
 willing men; that of soliciting abroad the intervention 
 of the European powers. " Surround yourselves," 
 wrote Gambetta to the prefects on September 5, " with 
 citizens animated, like yourselves, with the immense 
 desire to save the country. Strive, above all, to win the 
 aid of all wills, in order that, in one unanimous effort, 
 France may owe her salvation to the patriotism of her 
 children." And, a few days later, Jules Favre, ad- 
 dressing a circular to our representatives abroad, urged 
 them to redeem the responsibility of France in the eyes 
 of the sovereigns to whom they were accredited. 
 "There is not a sincere man in Europe," he said, 2 
 "who can affirm that, had she been freely consulted, 
 France would have made war on Prussia." 
 
 The proclamation of the Republic had excited, in the 
 country districts, a lively enthusiasm ; a great many 
 Frenchmen, moved by the memories of 1792, and inca- 
 pable, at that tragic moment, of measuring the differ- 
 ence between the two epochs, expected from it a sort 
 of miraculous awakening, and imagined that unforeseen 
 forces were about to spring from the earth to repulse 
 the enemy. They felt the soul of the nation emerging 
 from its lethargy, and repeated with the Strozzi of 
 Lorenzacchio : " If the Republic were nothing more 
 
 1 The presence of Rochefort, whom they had gone to seek in his prison, 
 did not imply radical tendencies on the part of his colleagues. Rochefort 
 was the deputy from Paris, and this title gave an aspect of legality to the 
 government formed by the union of those who upheld him. Many of the 
 moderate, however, who feared the talent and the influence of Rochefort, 
 considered it preferable to have him " inside rather than outside." 
 
 2 Circular of September 17, 1870.
 
 6 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 than a word, that word is something, since nations 
 rise up as it passes through the air." 
 
 For a moment, events seemed to justify the wild 
 hope. Gambetta announced himself as the second 
 organizer of victory ; at the summons of his voice, 
 which rarely, later on, found noble accents, confidence 
 rose again in souls, and hatred against the invader 
 drew all hearts together. "Not an inch of our terri- 
 tory ! Not a stone of our fortresses ! " Jules Favre had 
 said, and that haughty reply was repeated by each man 
 in the depths of his own being. A great wave of 
 patriotism had swept over France, solidifying it, as in 
 northern regions, those vast stretches maintained by 
 their immobility in a state of liquidity, and which a 
 cold breath congeals in an instant. It was a heroic 
 struggle. All the generous and noble ardor of the 
 Gallic blood awoke : there was but one flag now ; after 
 the young men, the elderly men enlisted, with joy in 
 their eyes, happy to fight for a cause so just and so 
 holy ; and when, at last, the ruin was complete, when 
 Paris besieged was on the point of perishing with 
 hunger, when they were compelled to lay down their 
 arms and confess defeat, France had the consolation of 
 being able to assert, as in the time of Francis I., that 
 all was lost, "save honor." 
 
 People had cherished no fewer illusions concerning 
 the attitude of foreign powers than they had with 
 regard to the strength of our improvised battalions. 
 Europe heard with satisfaction of the first Prussian 
 victories ; our wild and exuberant conduct had dis- 
 pleased all governments ; 1 the war of Italy even had 
 
 1 The anti-French manifestations were tolerably numerous. In the 
 course of the war there were defections which echoed sadly through the 
 heart of the nation; among others, the visit to Versailles of Cardinal
 
 EAELT TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 7 
 
 left rancor in the hearts of the Italians, and, at the 
 first moment, not a single person could be found to 
 deplore our fate. Later on, the efforts of the French, 
 their unconquerable faith, commanded esteem and ad- 
 miration ; none the less clearly did Europe show her 
 intention to abstain from intervention. The capitula- 
 tion of Sedan, nevertheless, had not failed to cause un- 
 easiness in certain of the neutral powers ; they feared 
 lest the equilibrium, re-established for a moment, should 
 be again destroyed by too complete a victory on the 
 part of Germany. But these powers did not wish to 
 intervene in favor of a government which, as yet, 
 inspired them with no confidence. Such was the im- 
 pression which M. Thiers brought back from his sad 
 pilgrimage over Europe, a pilgrimage undertaken on 
 the morrow of the 4th of September, and in the course 
 of which he gathered from the sovereigns and their 
 ministers only vague condolences and promises with- 
 out import. Italy, moreover, had taken advantage 
 of our. embarrassment to makeJlome its centre and the 
 coronation of its unity, and rrince Gortchakoff had 
 profited by it to announce the abrogation of the treaty 
 of 1856, the result of the unlucky Crimean War. 
 
 The prolongation of the struggle, which won for us 
 only private sympathies, help for our wounded, and 
 gifts of money sent from abroad by charitable associa- 
 tions, had as a consequence the exasperation of the 
 victor. Prince Bismarck has long been represented as 
 having been forced into war by the Prussian military 
 party. He himself has given people to understand 
 
 Ledochowski, and the incongruous message of General Grant, President 
 of the United States, addressed to the Federal Senate, and in which he 
 exalted the German Empire. The President so far forgot himself as to 
 send to Versailles, on the day following the proclamation of the Empire, 
 a telegram of congratulation to Emperor William.
 
 8 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 that he had been forced to seem exacting. The ex- 
 traordinary destiny of the Iron Chancellor reserved for 
 his old age the bitterness of the vanquished, and in this 
 way the world has learned, by a confession from his 
 own mouth, that in order to render inevitable a con- 
 flict which he deemed necessary for the realization of 
 his plans, Prince Bismarck had not hesitated to forge 
 a telegram. 1 
 
 Blinded by the sense of his own merit, the Chancel- 
 lor was not able, in this case, to rise above his passions. 
 Nevertheless, it was not impossible to perceive the in- 
 stability of the situation which must result from a war 
 imprudently prolonged. "When the material war 
 shall have ceased," wrote M. de Mazade, 2 pronouncing 
 judgment on the future, "the moral war will begin, 
 never more to end. There will be no peace between 
 France and Germany ; it will be, at the most, an agi- 
 tated truce, full of hostility and resentment, in the 
 bosom of which the interests and the relations of the 
 two countries will be perpetually in peril ... a barrier 
 will have been built ; commerce, industry, intellectual 
 communications will suffer from it ; all Europe will feel 
 the results of this great trouble cast into the centre of 
 the continent ; even after the dismemberment with 
 which we are threatened, France will never be so 
 greatly mutilated as not to remain a great nation : she 
 will collect herself, she will become enlightened by her 
 misfortunes, she will recover her strength and her 
 genius. . . . Who shall say that Germany will not be 
 forced, one of these days, to render an account of an 
 abuse of the victory, of which she will experience the 
 
 1 This tardy, almost posthumous revelation, has causecHess emotion in 
 France than in other countries; the English press, in particular, has been 
 very severe in its criticism of an act which nothing can render legitimate. 
 
 2 Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique, Fevrier, 1871.
 
 EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 9 
 
 fatal results in future crises, that in any case may drag 
 her politics into all the affairs of the world ? " M. de 
 Bismarck did not perceive this ; on the other hand, 
 this attitude on the part of Germany has had some 
 beneficial consequences for us. The state of armed 
 peace may have weighed heavily upon our finances, 
 and may even have paralyzed, at different times, our 
 national life. Who will dare maintain that it has not 
 aided in the work of reconstruction, by preserving all 
 wills in unity, by commanding the representatives of 
 the people to wisdom and prudence, by warding off the 
 dangers of too complete confidence and security ? Ger- 
 many certainly has kept up among us a fruitful emula- 
 tion, and has prevented the ardor of our early days 
 becoming extinguished. 
 
 The members of *the government of the National 
 Defence made haste to appeal to universal suffrage, 
 and to make it approve of the acts which concern for 
 public safety had caused them to perform. But fate 
 decreed that they should be forced to sacrifice to cir- 
 cumstances the doctrines which they had always pro- 
 fessed ; they found themselves compelled to govern 
 without control, to maintain military discipline in all 
 its rigor, and even to make use of that submission of 
 an act to the people (plebiscite), which they had so 
 energetically condemned under the preceding govern- 
 ment. 1 As early as September 8, the electors had been 
 convoked for the 16th of the following October, for 
 
 1 As soon as the surrender of Metz was known, a revolt broke out in 
 Paris ; this was during the day of October 31. The government triumphed 
 over it; but, as it felt that it had suffered a shock, and as it did not wish 
 to summon a municipal council, which would have led to the establish- 
 ment of the Commune, it had recourse to the plebiscite ; 550,000 favorable 
 votes against 60,000 rendered its position solid, and helped it to enforce 
 obedience.
 
 10 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the purpose of electing a Constituent Assembly ; a few 
 days later, the summons was advanced to the 2d of 
 October. 1 But M. de Bismarck had too much interest 
 in preventing the gathering of an Assembly which 
 would have legalized the internal situation of France, 
 and by that very means have facilitated her relations 
 with other nations, to lend himself to a truce of arms. 
 As early as September 10, M. Jules Favre had written 
 to him, requesting an interview. 2 It took place on 
 September 19, and was renewed on the following day. 
 The Chancellor had taken pains to confirm 3 the exact- 
 ness of the impressions which the representative of 
 France carried away from Ferrieres ; the conditions 
 upon which he consented to an armistice were such 
 as precluded even discussion. Supported by the popu- 
 lation of Paris, the government opposed a plea in bar, 
 and adjourned the elections. 
 
 Paris was invested, and a delegation composed of 
 MM. Cremieux, Glais-Bizoin, and Admiral Fourichon 
 held session at Tours. On October 7, Gambetta set 
 out from Paris by balloon, crossed the Prussian lines, 
 and joined the delegation. He had the warrant to 
 organize the defence, and -not to hold the elections.* 
 Now the state of men's minds was not the same in the 
 country districts that it was in Paris, where everything 
 was summed up in this: to hold their own until the 
 country districts could raise the siege of the capital, 
 
 1 Decree of September 16, 1870. 
 
 2 Report of M. Jules Favre upon the interviews of Haute-Maison, and 
 Ferrieres, in the Officiel, September 23, 1870. 
 
 3 In a reply to the Report of M. Jules Favre, which he wrote on Sep- 
 tember 27, aud had inserted in a German newspaper. It was copied in the 
 Officiel, on October 18. 
 
 4 At Tours they had waited for Gambetta's arrival before coming to a 
 similar decision. On the receipt of the news as to the conditions exacted 
 by M. de Bismarck, M. Cre'mieux had postponed the elections.
 
 EARLY TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 11 
 
 or until foreign intervention should impose an armistice 
 upon the Germans. In the country, the absence of a 
 legal government was more keenly felt. The adjourn- 
 ment of the elections was there looked upon as a grave 
 mistake. It was so, in fact ; it gave M. de Bismarck 
 the chance, in the presence of the provisional character 
 of the institutions, to affect an ironical indifference 
 between the Republic and the Empire, and to declare 
 that he was ready to sign a treaty of peace with which- 
 ever should make the best offer. 
 
 It does not come within the scope of this study to 
 reconstruct, even as a summary, the history of the 
 gloomy days during which France contended, with the 
 German armies, foot by foot, for her territory. Others 
 have written it in detail, and with talent. 1 The gov- 
 ernment of the National Defence was, after all, only 
 the introduction to the Republic, an introduction 
 written with blood, in the shadows. The men who 
 had the burdensome honor of forming a part of it 
 beheld, as they should have expected, their acts and 
 their intentions calumniated ; it is difficult to pretend 
 that they did not, in great part, justify their conduct 
 in their testimony before the Committee of Inquiry 
 instituted by the National Assembly. In any case, it 
 should be recognized as a fact that they saved the honor 
 of France by organizing resistance to the death, that they 
 flinched before none of the responsibilities which their 
 introductory step had caused them to incur, and that they 
 sincerely endeavored not to be a partisan government. 
 
 They became so, in spite of themselves. In the long 
 run, political questions regained the upper hand; the 
 solidarity which, during the struggle against the Em- 
 
 1 See, especially, M. Albert Sorel's remarkable work on L'Histoire Diplo- 
 matique de la Guerre Franco- Allemande.
 
 12 TEE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 pire, had united them to the radicals, the chimerical 
 schemes which they had, at times, admitted into their 
 programmes, their whole fighting past, fettered their 
 movements, and when the communistic insurrection 
 broke out, which added to the horrors of a foreign war 
 those of civil war, an attempt was made to hold them 
 responsible ; people forgot that during six months they 
 had held the elements of disorder in an attitude of re- 
 spect ; they were reproached with not having managed 
 to annihilate them. An unjust movement of reaction 
 arose against them, which swept them from power ; 
 some, like Gambetta, Jules Ferry, Jules Simon, were 
 destined to regain it, and to give proof therein of the 
 most lofty political qualities ; others, like MM. Cre- 
 mieux, Garnier-Pages, Glais-Bizoin, did not reappear 
 in the front rank. 1 
 
 One of the most worthy, Jules Favre, was also one 
 of the most culumniated. His popularity was great 
 on the 4th of September ; he paid very dearly for it. 
 Destiny condemned him to set his name at the bottom 
 of the fatal treaty of peace which dismembered his 
 country, and his country was the thing which he loved 
 best in the world. His enemies discovered in his 
 private life a sore spot not thoroughly healed, reopened 
 it, and pried into it with barbarous cruelty. They 
 turned into ridicule his outbursts of feeling in the 
 presence of the conqueror, and the delicacy of his 
 modesty remained unappreciated. 2 The end of his 
 
 1 M. Jules Ferry, appointed Prefect of the Seine by M. Thiers, on May 
 26, 1871, was replaced, on June 5, 1871, by M. Le'on Say, and appointed, in 
 the following year, Minister of France at Athens, whence he returned to 
 fill his post of deputy on the fall of M. Thiers. M. Ernest Picard was 
 Minister at Brussels. M. Emmanuel Arago occupied, for years, the post 
 of Ambassador at Berne. General Trochu retired, and from that time on 
 lived in privacy. 
 
 2 Jules Favre, by E. de Pressense'. Journal des Debuts, August, 1880.
 
 JULES FAVRE, MEMBER OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE 
 NATIONAL DEFENCE.
 
 EARLY YEAES OF THE REPUBLIC. 13 
 
 career was a way of Calvary, and yet in his corre- 
 spondence only one protest a very mild one is to 
 be found, wrung from his courage by his sufferings. 1 
 
 He was, in short, the first victim of those currents 
 of popular calumny which, cleverly worked by influ- 
 ential and malevolent men, struck to the ground more 
 than one good servant of France under the Third Re- 
 public. More than one of these, also, has already found, 
 through a revolution of public opinion, the rehabilita- 
 tion which his memory merited. 
 
 Gambetta, whom France had hailed with acclama- 
 tion, was not, as yet, the prudent, wise, and thoughtful 
 man who presided over the Chamber of Deputies later 
 on. The great ideas which haunted his brain could 
 not take the place of that experience, that " knowledge 
 of difficulties " which men acquire more or less rapidly, 
 according to their degree of intelligence and tact, but 
 which are never innate in them. Six months of a dicta- 
 tor's power had intoxicated him : when the elections 
 came, he wished to render ineligible all those who had 
 served the Empire ; the resistance of his colleagues was 
 required to prevent his entering upon that path ; he 
 retired, out of spite. 
 
 His hour was not come. The man upon whom all 
 eyes were now centred possessed the double advantage 
 of having a political past, and yet of being in nowise 
 compromised by the fallen government. He had been 
 a great minister, or, at least, many persons regarded 
 him as such ; he had become a great writer ; his atti- 
 tude on the eve of the declaration of war and his jour- 
 
 1 " It is a real advantage to abate somewhat the good opinion which one 
 is tempted to entertain of oneself. I enjoy this, and I did not wait for the 
 defeat to do it. I should desire nothing, did I not, occasionally, fall to 
 thinking that the unrelenting animosity which does me honor deprives me 
 of the power to be useful." (Jules Favre, Conferences et Melanges.)
 
 14 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 ney through Europe, in search of foreign sympathy, 
 made of him a great citizen. He wore on his brow 
 the halo of wisdom, and France felt that she had in 
 him a moral authority which would compel respect. 
 M. Thiers was elected twenty-eight times, and the echo 
 of this popular vote beyond our frontiers was all the 
 greater because it was impossible to misconstrue the 
 spontaneity of it. 1 
 
 The elections took place, in fact, in a sort of twilight. 
 Parties had not had time to reconstitute themselves ; 
 no understanding between the citizens had been pos- 
 sible ; how could they agree upon the names of candi- 
 dates, and concoct precise programmes? Each man, 
 as he canvassed for votes, could merely give his own 
 opinion, and promise his good-will. Means of com- 
 munication, which had been imperfectly re-established, 
 and the presence of the enemy, tended, necessarily, to 
 keep politics apart from this great electoral consulta- 
 tion, and one might have thought, at first, that this 
 would prove of benefit to the country. A happy elec- 
 ticism was, in fact, the dominating note of the elections. 
 Lyons sent, at the same time, Jules Favre, General 
 Trochu, MM. Mortemart and de Laprade ; Bordeaux 
 sent M. Thiers, the Due Decazes, Generals Changarnier 
 and d'Aurelle de Paladines. .These men had in view 
 nothing but to settle in the best possible manner a dis- 
 astrous situation, and then to take the greatest care of 
 their country during her convalescence. Peace once 
 signed, and the first financial difficulties which would 
 result therefrom overcome, was not the programme 
 which presented itself to well-intentioned men ex- 
 
 1 In 1830, M. Royer-Collard had been elected seven times, and M. de 
 Lamartine, in ISiS, nine times. The electors of 1795 had given to M. Pelet 
 de la Lozere the election in thirty-seven colleges, and to M. Thibaudeau 
 in thirty-two-
 
 EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 15 
 
 tremely simple ? Would it not be the duty of all, set- 
 ting aside their own preferences, to "put their hand 
 to this common task which was to embrace our military 
 reconstitution, our internal reorganization, and the en- 
 ergetic reform of public education?" 1 Was it not 
 necessary "to accustom oneself to doing useful things 
 modestly, simply in order that one might learn to do 
 manfully great things when the hour should come?" 2 
 
 Nevertheless, simple as was the programme, the As- 
 sembly of Bordeaux did not adopt it unanimously. 
 Rather was it perceptible that it contained uneasy and 
 turbulent minorities who sowed "stormy misunder- 
 standings " in its bosom. At first, the responsibility 
 of peace was not accepted with sufficient loyalty. One 
 would have preferred to see, under these painful cir- 
 cumstances, the Assembly in mourning voting silently : 
 what more eloquent protest before the universe than 
 such mourning and such silence? Now it appears 
 that, in certain groups, an effort was made to shirk, in 
 some degree, the responsibility of that peace which 
 was being imposed upon them, as though with a con- 
 cealed intention to make use of it later on, in the in- 
 terests of a party. The nation itself was destined to 
 disappoint these perfidious calculations, of her own 
 initiative. The treaty of 1871 never suffered the fate 
 of the treaties of 1815. Men knew that it was inevit- 
 able : the people were convinced that everything had 
 been done to make its conditions less harsh, and that 
 unless the national dignity were humbled, its repre- 
 sentatives could have done no more. 
 
 "I call that Frenchman a good citizen," says Prevost- 
 Paradol, "who rejects none of the forms of free gov- 
 
 1 Ch. de Mazade, Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique. 
 
 2 Ibid.
 
 16 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 eminent, who does not tolerate the idea of troubling 
 the repose of his country by his ambitions and his 
 personal preferences, who is neither intoxicated nor 
 disgusted by the words republic or monarchy, and who 
 confines his demands to one single desire : that the 
 country shall itself regulate its own destiny by the 
 means of assemblies freely elected, and of responsible 
 ministers." 1 It is perfectly certain that such was the 
 dominating spirit among the electors of the National 
 Assembly ; it was not so among those elected : a cer- 
 tain number of deputies, new to politics, belonged 
 to that class of country squires who had sulked 
 at the Empire and been jealous of the Parisians, 
 and who passed one half of their existence in hunt- 
 ing, the other half in regretting the former state of 
 things. 
 
 By their side sat several over-excited republicans 
 who could not pardon the 4th of September for having 
 occurred without their assistance, and who tried to ex- 
 aggerate the doctrines of the most conspicuous men of 
 their own party. The former owed their warrant to 
 the influence which their landed estates assured them 
 in the country districts ; the latter, to the effect pro- 
 duced, in certain quarters, by their violent declama- 
 tions and their fallacious promises. Both sets were 
 " intoxicated or disgusted by the words republic and 
 monarchy." Thus, from the start, the situation was 
 clearly defined in the form which it was destined to 
 preserve for twenty years ; the Republic found itself 
 called upon, on the very first day, to realize that equi- 
 librium which was to be the condition of its existence, 
 by seeking in the support of the moderate parties a 
 safeguard against the exaggerations of the extreme 
 1 La France Nouvelle, by Prevost-Paradol.
 
 EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 17 
 
 parties, against the irreconcilable opposition of the 
 monarchists, and against the ultra views of that radi- 
 calism of which Ernest Picard had so justly said, in 
 1869, that it "was not a policy, but an attitude." 
 
 The Assembly was on the point of entering energeti- 
 cally upon its work, when the communist insurrection 
 broke out in Paris. This filled the measure of our mis- 
 fortunes. In spite of the attempts which have since 
 been made to attribute to this movement a socialistic 
 and humanitarian character which it never possessed, 
 time, which softens most things, has detracted noth- 
 ing from the horror of the gloomy memories of 1871. 
 The assassination of Generals Lecomte and Cle'ment 
 Thomas, the second siege of Paris, the orgies and buf- 
 fooneries of the Commune, the massacre of the last days, 
 and that filthy and bestial ending in blood and petro- 
 leum passed over France like a nightmare. French 
 hands tore from its pedestal the Vendome Column, that 
 monument made of bronze painfully conquered for the 
 glory of the country by simple soldiers, obscure heroes 
 whose very names we do not know; the tricolored flag, 
 under whose folds they had fought, was ruined on the 
 soil of Paris along with the column, and the Prussians, 
 under whose eyes this had taken place, rejoiced, for the 
 defeat surpassed their expectations, since ignominy 
 crowned it. The population of Paris endured the 
 Commune rather than took part in it; it had fallen 
 " from the summit of the most immense illusions which 
 a besieged population had ever conceived, into a reality 
 which unfortunately it had been impossible to reveal 
 to it in advance." 1 Enervated by sufferings and 
 anguish, it had not been able to free itself from the 
 
 1 Testimony of M. Jules Ferry on March 18, before the Committee of 
 Inquiry.
 
 18 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 action of a staff of idle cosmopolitans, either criminal or 
 insane, who were trying to take advantage of a situa- 
 tion unprecedented in modern history. An eclipse of 
 authority 1 had delivered Paris into their hands ; it was 
 necessary to besiege the capital, and seize it by force. 
 
 The country, invigorated and fortified by its re- 
 cent misfortunes, grouped itself resolutely around M. 
 Thiers. The army, without hesitation, 2 fulfilled its pain- 
 ful mission. Some deputies and municipal councillors 
 wished to summon, at Bordeaux, a sort of congress of 
 municipalities, which should arbitrate between Paris 
 and Versailles. But the government repelled this 
 dangerous proposition, and prohibited any demonstra- 
 tion. It was not born solely from the desire of certain 
 radicals to depend upon the cities to counterbalance the 
 influence of those who were called " the Versaillais," 
 and whom they considered too " rural." Many persons 
 who were destined to receive enlightenment, through 
 the fall of the Commune, as to its origin and tendencies, 
 were mistaken as to its scope. This conflict between 
 the citizens of one nation would cause, it seemed to 
 them, a. fissure in the unity of France ; they asked them- 
 selves whether the country would remain compact after 
 the shock, and they feared to see deep cracks make 
 their appearance on its surface, the symptoms of dis- 
 integration. To-day, the war of 1870 and the events 
 which followed it no longer appear to us as anything 
 
 1 See the despatches exchanged in the course of the day of March 18, 
 between M. Jules Ferry, Mayor of Paris, General Valentin, Prefect of 
 Police, and the ministers. In spite of M. Jules Ferry, who held his ground 
 energetically in the City Hall, and was the last to leave it, the barracks, 
 the Prefecture of Police, and, at last, the City Hall itself were evacuated, 
 one after the other, at the incomprehensible command given, and several 
 times repeated, of General Vinoy. 
 
 2 On March 18, the troops, at many points, fraternized with the in- 
 surgents.
 
 EARLY TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 19 
 
 more than a violent but passing crisis, and not the most 
 violent or the most dangerous which France has under- 
 gone ; one must go back in thought to that troubled 
 epoch, in order to understand the state of mind of those 
 who had just passed through it, and the terrible per- 
 turbation which they still retained from it. 
 
 This second part of the crisis had marked moral ruins, 
 which presented themselves to join the material ruins, 
 and rendered the work of reconstruction still more dif- 
 ficult. It was clearly evident that France lacked " the 
 first condition of being a free State, the most simple 
 perception of law." In the case of all, there was "a 
 veritable outburst of individual fancies, a wild desire to 
 do what one had no right to do," 1 the product of that 
 systematic isolation between citizens, of those individ- 
 ualist theories, established and propagated by the Em- 
 pire, which found its own advantage therein. From 
 another point of view, the Civil War laid bare in tragic 
 wise "that work of demoralization which was going 
 on in the bosom of society. It was hardly suspected. 
 France was living in the height of luxury, of comfort and 
 equivocal pleasures, while underneath were being devel- 
 oped those ideas of an abject materialism, those cupidi- 
 ties, and those confused hatreds which have weakened 
 the sense of country as much as the moral sense." 2 
 The responsibility for this was thrown upon the Inter- 
 nationale, to which Jules Favre called the attention of 
 our representatives abroad in a diplomatic circular, 
 that appeared at the precise moment when "the 
 Brethren" of Belgium, England, and Switzerland had 
 associated themselves in the work of the Commune, 
 glorifying its crimes. 
 
 1 Ch. de Mazade, Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique. 
 
 2 Ibid,
 
 20 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 The immediate results of the Commune were an in- 
 crease in the expenses which we should be obliged to 
 face, and an aggravation of M. de Bismarck's hostile 
 designs. The chancellor could not let slip the op- 
 portunity which was offered to him of still further 
 accentuating the evident state of disorganization and 
 demoralization in France ; he made haste to declare 
 that the Prussians would continue to occupy French 
 territory until the German government should deem 
 that " order was sufficiently restored, in France as well 
 as in Paris, to assure the execution of the obligations 
 which had been contracted." 1 
 
 It might have been foreseen that the excessive cen- 
 tralization of the Second Empire would provoke, in the 
 very beginning of the new order of things, a movement 
 of reaction which would manifest itself in the form of 
 some legislative proposition. In fact, one of the fun- 
 damental laws of the Third Republic, one of those which 
 have, probably, exercised the most influence upon its 
 future, came under discussion when peace had barely 
 been re-established : that called the law of the General 
 Councils, which was reported by M. Waddington. 
 However, the movement in favor of decentralization 
 did not spring from a reaction alone ; it was of ancient 
 date. It dated from the Restoration, from the epoch 
 when MM. de Serre, de Martignac, Royer-Collarcl, had 
 pronounced in favor of local liberties. In 1861 Odilon 
 Barrot had extolled them again. 2 In 1863 M. Be'chard 
 had submitted to the public important studies upon 
 this subject. In a celebrated letter addressed to M. 
 Rouher 3 Napoleon III. himself had recognized the ne- 
 cessity of a reform, but he had immediately furnished 
 
 1 Official Documents. 2 Etudes Contemporaines. 
 
 s Dated June 25, 1863.
 
 EARLY YEAES OF THE REPUBLIC. 21 
 
 an antidote to his thought, by appearing to wish that 
 some of the prerogatives of the Minister of the Interior 
 should be transferred to the prefects. Nevertheless, 
 he granted his patronage to the work of Fre'de'ric Le 
 Play, a work of which decentralization constituted, in 
 a way, the alpha and the omega. 
 
 Then it was that a group of men from Lorraine worked 
 out the famous Programme of Nancy : among them were 
 men of very diverse opinions, republicans, members of 
 the liberal Union, royalists. 1 These men proceeded to 
 a sort of general consultation of opinion. It seemed 
 as though they were about to declare a crusade against 
 " the State," that fiction which held its credentials from 
 a bureaucracy infatuated with itself, and propagated by 
 the silliness of all the doctors of science in the adminis- 
 tration. 2 All those people who were to be made to believe 
 " that there are somewhere, in Paris, and in the prefec- 
 tures, men better informed as to communal affairs, and 
 more competent to judge than the persons interested 
 themselves," 3 were about to rise up in rebellion against 
 a state of things of which they had felt all the disad- 
 vantages. 
 
 One curious point the law which reorganized the 
 General Councils was vigorously attacked on the ex- 
 
 1 MM. Volland, Larcher, Cournault, de 1'lSpee (who died tragically, as 
 Prefect of the Loire) , the Comte de Lambel. 
 
 2 Letter from M. Jules Ferry to the authors of the Programme of 
 Nancy. 
 
 3 "The Commune is only a collective peasant, vegetating in poverty 
 and dependence. Those who, desirous of breaking old oppositions, have 
 broken the country into crumbs have forgotten that moral beings, like 
 animated bodies, require air to breathe, room to live. The little communes 
 (and they are innumerable) have remained real children: large or small, 
 however, in the eyes of the law every commune is a minor. Lawsuits, 
 works, revenues, affairs of the highways and streets, and common lands, 
 everything is regulated at the chief town, even at the Ministry." (Jules 
 Ferry, La Lutte Elector ale en 1863.)
 
 22 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 trenie Left, which caused it to be said that "nothing 
 loves centralization like a radical, on condition that he 
 can make use of it." Even on the Left it sowed uneasi- 
 ness : M. Ernest Picard anticipated overwhelming dis- 
 asters ; M. Thiers did not seem favorably disposed 
 towards these rash measures. Notwithstanding, the 
 law was passed with several amendments, so conscious 
 were men of the accuracy of M. Ernoul's saying : 
 "Do not you feel that in France the extremities are 
 cold?" M. de Treveneuc, who remembered the 2d 
 of December, proposed that the General Councils 
 should take the place, by uniting together, of the 
 national representation, in case the latter should be 
 dissolved by some violent measure ; that question was 
 postponed. 1 
 
 The first signs of our recovery had not been slow to 
 reveal themselves. The first questions which were laid 
 before the Assembly had been financial questions. From 
 a little more than ten milliards of francs, the French 
 debt was to mount at a bound to twenty milliards. 
 What savings could fill such an abyss ? M. Pouyer 
 Quertier proposed a first loan of two milliards. Paris 
 alone surpassed by five hundred millions, and all France 
 by a milliard and a half the necessary subscription. With 
 
 1 A little later on it was decided in the affirmative. Nevertheless, it is 
 not very probable that the occasion to make use of this arrangement will 
 ever present itself, for it assumes some violent action operating directly 
 contrary to the will of the nation. In the neighborhood of May 16, sev- 
 eral General Councils officiously considered the possibility, and very 
 vaguely at that, of making use of the prerogative which the Treveneuc 
 law conferred upon them. But no one seems to have troubled himself 
 about it later on, at the time of the Bonlanger adventure. 
 
 As for politics, men were firmly determined to keep it entirely apart 
 frum their discussions. As early as the session of August, 1872, several 
 political desires were expressed, but outside of the sittings. The first ap- 
 pearances of the General Councils were, on the whole, very modest, 
 practical, and reassuring.
 
 EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 23 
 
 the subscriptions from abroad live milliards, and more, 
 of the war debt were procured. In the following year 
 (1872) the Minister of Finance betook himself to Ber- 
 lin for the purpose of negotiating there the anticipated 
 liberation of our territory ; on June 29, 1872, a second 
 treaty, signed at Versailles, settled the details. At the 
 same time, a second loan was decided upon, of three 
 milliards and a half, which was covered fifteen times 
 over. Paris subscribed 14 milliards ; the country dis- 
 tricts, 10 ; England, 334 millions ; Holland, 170 ; Stras- 
 bourg, 44, and Mulhouse, 22. This event excited lively 
 enthusiasm. " Without doubt," wrote M. de Mazade, 1 
 " such a loan, at the price at which it has been issued, 
 that is to say, at about six per cent, is a very good piece 
 of business . . . but, as a matter of fact, whatever may 
 be the advantages, money does not rush forward with 
 such eagerness for a financial operation alone ; a phe- 
 nomenon which exhibits itself in such proportions is no 
 longer a simple financial event." 
 
 Already, unfortunately, the public mind was turning- 
 aside from these serious questions in search of others 
 more sensational and more attractive. The entrance 
 of Victor Emmanuel into Rome, a manifesto from the 
 Comte de Chambord, 2 a speech by Gambetta at Bor- 
 deaux, and a book by General Chanzy on the second 
 army of the Loire, the entrance of Littre to the French 
 Academy, followed by the noisy resignation of Monsei- 
 gneur Dupanloup, the election of the Due d'Aumale in 
 the department of Oise, of the Prince de Joinville in 
 that of Haute-Marne, and the questions as to whether 
 they would occupy their seats as deputies, or would 
 
 1 Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique. 
 
 2 This manifesto, dated July 5, 1871, was described as " artless abdica- 
 tion " ; it excited great enthusiasm in certain circles.
 
 24 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 abstain from appearing at the Assembly, all these 
 petty events strongly excited public opinion. 
 
 On August 31, 1871, at the instance of M. Rivet, the 
 title of President of the Republic had been conferred 
 upon M. Thiers, for a period of three years. The only 
 object of this was to set right his position in the eyes 
 of foreign countries, and of France, which he repre- 
 sented to them. M. Rivet's proposition had been carried 
 by 480 votes against 93 ; but what frivolity of mind had 
 been betrayed by the stormy discussions for which this 
 palliative proposition furnished the pretext ! While 
 the first elections to the General Councils l were taking 
 place in the midst of universal indifference, and were 
 remarkable chiefly for the number of those who abstained 
 from voting, Bonapartists and radicals began a vigor- 
 ous campaign in favor of dissolving the Assembly. 
 Recovery seemed to lend strength only to the parties, 
 and that in order that they might the better wage battle 
 with each other. On the Right, the only thought was 
 to keep a monarchy " ready made." The royalists, in 
 their claims, associated the re-establishment of the 
 Pope's temporal power and the Caiiist restoration in 
 Spain on the return of Henri V. They multiplied their 
 pilgrimages to Lourdes, and to La Salette, as well as to 
 Antwerp, when the Comte de Chambord was passing 
 that way. The Bonapartists audaciously raised their 
 heads ; one day, M. Rouher was heard to deliver him- 
 self, in the open Chamber, of a panegyric on the Second 
 Empire, to which, however, the Due d'Audiffret-Pas- 
 quier replied in accents of indignant eloquence. Both 
 parties seemed anxious, above all, " to work at dishonor- 
 ing the government of the National Defence." 2 
 
 1 October 8, 1871. 
 
 2 E. de Pressense, Varies Morales et Politiques. Paris, 1886.
 
 EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 25 
 
 The advanced republicans, also, were lacking in wis- 
 dom. It became necessary to prohibit their celebrat- 
 ing, by rejoicings, the anniversary of September 4, 
 and to remind them that " if the 4th of September re- 
 calls the fall of the Empire, it also recalls the fall of 
 France at Sedan." Gambetta made his tour of France. 
 Angers, Havre, Saint-Etienne, Grenoble, and Annecy 
 heard him in turn. He was not always perfectly in- 
 spired. His speech at Grenoble, in particular, was such 
 as to make M. Thiers declare that our liberation would 
 be impeded by it. " The harm which the speech at 
 Grenoble has done to industry and business," he said, 
 "can be represented by enormous figures." 1 Several 
 officers who had been present at the demonstration were 
 punished ; at the same time, the municipal agents who 
 had exceeded their duties were suspended. Finally, as 
 a measure of state policy, Prince Napoleon was invited 
 to leave France, where his presence inflamed political 
 hatreds. This satisfied no one. On the one hand, the 
 government was accused of crime in keeping the func- 
 tionaries of September 4 ; and on the other hand, it 
 was reproached with maintaining or replacing the func- 
 tionaries of the Empire. 
 
 In this contest M. Thiers' credit rapidly vanished, 
 and his authority declined. 
 
 1 A few days later he. declared before the permanent committee of the 
 Assembly that this speech " had made the Republic lose more ground than 
 it could have been made to lose by the hand of all its enemies." There 
 was an evident exaggeration in this assertion.
 
 26 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. (Conclusion.) 
 
 M. Thiers, Head of the State, and Prime Minister. The Message of 
 November 12, 1872. The First Presidential Crisis. Fusion, and the 
 White Flag. How the Monarchists helped to make the Republic. 
 Violent Debates. The Discipline of the Republicans, and the Legisla- 
 tive Elections. 
 
 THE exceptional point in M. Thiers' position was 
 that, while head of the State, he was also Prime Minis- 
 ter. 1 He had acquired the habit of interfering in the 
 smallest discussion, and every moment he kept putting 
 the question as to confidence. On many points he was 
 in harmony with the majority of the Assembly ; but 
 when he encountered a few opponents, his old auto- 
 cratic habits got the upper hand again, and he was not 
 in the least sparing of his disdain for those who did 
 not share his opinion. It has irreverently been said of 
 him that " he had the temper of a nervous woman, or 
 of an old spoiled child. " 2 Without going so far as 
 that, it must be admitted that his language very often 
 wounded and shocked the Assembly. 
 
 1 M. Thiers' life is too well known to make it necessary to dwell long 
 upon it in this place. Under the Restoration, he had created oppositions : 
 the Monarchy of July was, in part, his work. It was he who gave the 
 signal for the movement which bore Louis Philippe to the throne. Later 
 on, he became Prime Minister, and although his administration was not 
 marked by any particular cleverness on his part, or by any happy results, 
 he acquired great renown in a very short time. His historical works. 
 I'Histoire de la Revolution and I'Histoire du Consulat et de V Empire, are 
 well known, works which possess great beauty of style, but the exactness 
 of whose judgment and statements may be questioned. 
 
 2 Joseph d'Ar9ay, Notes intdites sur M. Thiers. Paris, 1888.
 
 EAELT TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 27 
 
 The Assembly, in its turn, wounded and shocked 
 the President. 1 He would have liked less noise and 
 more work. According to a barbarous expression of 
 M. Jules GreVy, they were constantly "objectioning." 
 During the session there was a perpetual interchange 
 of questions, sterile agitation, " a deafening noise." 
 M. Thiers' character acquired additional acerbity ; the 
 more so that, in this withering atmosphere, he was con- 
 scious of being in perfect accord with the country in 
 the efforts which he made to thrust aside political 
 questions, and to make questions of business the order 
 of the day. And he always found before him the coa- 
 lition of monarchists and radicals, anxious, above all 
 things, not to allow themselves to be appeased, and to 
 maintain opinion in a state of uncertainty, of uneasi- 
 ness favorable to the hopes of their parties. 2 The head 
 of the State thought only of raising the credit of his 
 government by wisdom and moderation, not only with 
 France, but also with foreign nations, and was irritated 
 because his simple and patriotic programme did not 
 win the support of all, and that men could think more 
 of their party than of their country. 
 
 Certainly, he was quite right ; but men do not always 
 allow themselves to be guided by the most lofty motives, 
 nor by the rules of the purest logic. There certainly 
 were in the Assembly as the future proved the ele- 
 ments of a majority of moderates. M. Thiers did not 
 sufficiently exert himself to consolidate it and render 
 it capable of life. He had formed his ministry in a 
 manner but little in conformity with parliamentary 
 
 1 M. Grevy was then President of the Assembly. 
 
 2 " The Assembly," wrote Jules Ferry afterwards, " was a great school 
 of reticence. Nothing was done there except by circuitous paths." (Cor- 
 respondance de Jules Ferry. Letter dated November 17, 1877.)
 
 28 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 usages, and was incarnating a Republic of the very 
 special sort, which has for its corner-stone a man of 
 Providence. He did not perceive that he had ceased 
 to be that man of Fate as soon as the national life had 
 resumed its normal course. They kept him, it is true, 
 in a very dangerous state of illusions, by appealing to 
 him under all circumstances, as they would have done 
 to a dictator. When elections of a rather advanced 
 type took place, one after the other, in the Nord, 
 Somme, Yonne, a procession of delegates belonging to 
 different shades of the Right solemnly came to the head 
 of the State, at Versailles, to request him to take 
 "measures of preservation." The Republic under 
 M. Thiers was, accordingly, in the highest degree, a 
 personal government. 
 
 On January 19, 1872, when the Assembly refused to 
 sanction the tax on raw materials, the head of the 
 State sent in his resignation. It became necessary 
 that a new vote should annul the preceding one, and 
 that the deputies should take a step with regard to M. 
 Thiers which resembled an act of penitence. A little 
 later came the law of military reorganization. He took 
 un active interest in it, and discussed its provisions 
 with ardor. His ordinary claims were still further ex- 
 aggerated when it was a question of anything which 
 concerned the army, 1 by everj'thing which his histori- 
 cal labors had taught him with regard to Napoleon's 
 strategy. " He occupied himself minutely with all the 
 details of the War Administration; the army of Paris 
 did not make a single movement without his orders." 2 
 
 1 General Le Flo, Minister of War, is credited with this charmingly 
 ironical bit of wit: " M. Thiers' military knowledge causes considerable 
 inconvenience, through the deference which it exacts and the suscepti- 
 bility which it creates." 
 
 2 Jules Simon, Le Gouvernement de M. Thiers.
 
 EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 29 
 
 As for the despatches, they all passed under his eye. 
 He wished to know, moment by moment, the state of 
 France, and that of Europe. " So long as Jules Favre 
 was Minister of Foreign Affairs," says M. Jules Simon, 1 
 "he lodged him in his own house, in order that he 
 might have the news more speedily at hand : every day 
 he had conferences with the Minister of the Interior 
 and with the Minister of Finance. He made the gov- 
 ernor of the Bank and the great financiers come to 
 him." 2 It is plain that the former minister of Louis 
 Philippe, now become head of the State, did not prac- 
 tise the famous maxim with which he had paralyzed 
 the governmental initiative of his sovereign : " The 
 King rules, but does not govern." Nevertheless, it was 
 under the shelter of this principle, which conceals a 
 piece of profound wisdom beneath its apparent lack of 
 logic, that the Presidency of the Republic was destined 
 to acquire the prestige which it enjoyed later on. 
 
 In spite of all that has been said to prove it, it does 
 not appear certain that M. Thiers conceived, from the 
 very beginning, the firm intention to establish the Re- 
 public. This was, evidently, one of the solutions of 
 the question which he had in his mind; but it was not 
 the only one, and everything indicates that the mon- 
 archists, by constantly refusing him the means of gov- 
 erning, inspired him with the resolve to seek in a 
 definitive Republic that support which a provisional 
 Republic did not afford him. This solution, moreover, 
 was forced upon many men who were separated by 
 
 1 Jules Simon, Le Gouvernement de M. Thiers. 
 
 2 " Only two ministries remained outside the scope of his meddling and 
 his superintendence," M.Jules Simon wittily adds, "Justice, because it 
 is not good to interfere with the affairs of M. Dufaure; Public Education 
 and Religion, because he relied, for these two points, upon the prudence 
 and intelligence of the minister."
 
 30 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 their past from republican doctrines, but who placed 
 concern for the national interests above everything else. 
 In the course of the long debate over the revision of the 
 acts of the administration before and during the war, 
 the Due d'Audiffret-Pasquier, General Chanzy, and 
 others had very clearly defined what political course 
 they intended to follow, drawing their inspiration only 
 from the immediate needs of France and adjourning 
 every question which was likely to hamper the recovery 
 of the country. Others, taking into consideration the 
 succession of governments in France, went further. 
 " In the course of almost an entire century of succes- 
 sive revolutions," wrote M. Casimir-Perier, 1 " all forms 
 of government have been tried, turn and turn about, 
 save one, that of a regular Republic, loyally accepted 
 by the majority of the nation, served without prejudice 
 on the one hand, and without weakness on the other. 
 This trial remains to be made ; let us make it coura- 
 geously and honestly." 
 
 Such is the programme which M. Thiers decided 
 upon. 
 
 The message at the opening of the Assembly, on 
 November 11, 1872, expressed in terms of luminous 
 clearness, urged that body to a " great and decisive " 
 session, in the course of which the " desirable and neces- 
 sary character should be imprinted on the Republic." 
 " France," said M. Thiers to the agitators of the Right 
 and of the Left, "does not wish to live in a state of 
 continual alarm ; " and every one understood that that 
 simple statement of an undeniable fact constituted a 
 demand, in due form of law, upon the representatives 
 of the nation. 
 
 1 M. Casimir-Perier was the son of Louis Philippe's minister, and father 
 of the future President of the French Republic.
 
 EARLY TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 31 
 
 The emotion and din caused by this message were 
 considerable : M. de Kerdrel became the interpreter 
 of the feelings which agitated the Assembly, when he 
 called for the nomination of a committee which should 
 prepare a reply to the President's manifesto. In the 
 meanwhile, after stormy debates, an order of the day 
 was passed which censured the doctrines set forth at 
 Grenoble by Gambetta, and expressed, on the other 
 hand, the traditional confidence in the government. 1 
 The committee soon made known its conclusions. 
 M. Thiers had declared : " The Republic will be con- 
 servative, or it will not be at all," and, at the same 
 time, he had called for the prompt organization of the 
 public powers. The committee ended in the prepa- 
 ration of a law "touching ministerial responsibility," 
 and, by way of counterpoise, with the adoption of 
 measures "against radicalism." It was not necessary 
 to be very perspicacious to divine that this second con- 
 clusion was the only one to which any importance was 
 attached. " A -fighting government " must be created ; 
 M. Batbie's entire report is summed up in that phrase. 
 The ministry could not accept such a legal demand ; it 
 carried the day, but by a majority of only thirty-five 
 votes. 2 
 
 This debate has an importance which has not been 
 understood, and which was not presented, later on, by 
 either the famous Wallon amendment, nor by the pas- 
 sage of the constitutional laws. In reality, it was on 
 that day that the liberal and parliamentary Republic 
 received from the Assembly its true consecration ; the 
 support of the illustrious citizen, upon whom the coun- 
 try had set her confidence, and whose faults and petti- 
 
 1 Three hundred, on the Right and the Left, abstained from voting. 
 
 2 Three hundred and thirty-five votes on the Right condemned him.
 
 32 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 nesses could not diminish his merit, secured the victory, 
 which, moreover, was facilitated by the intestine quar- 
 rels of the partisans of the monarchy. 
 
 They seemed to understand it on the Right ; from 
 that day forth, M. Thiers became the common enemy. 
 The royalists of the undiscoverable Chamber ex- 
 claimed, in 1816, that M. de Richelieu, M. Decazes, and 
 Louis XVIII. had conspired together " to ruin every- 
 thing." The conservatives of the National Assembly 
 saw in M. Thiers a "traitor to the conservative cause." 
 
 The extreme Left, on its part, repudiated this moder- 
 ate Republic ; in their eyes it was not the true Re- 
 public. Garibaldi, from the seclusion of his island, 
 protested against the label which M. Thiers had at- 
 tached to his government. Petitions in favor of the 
 dissolution of the Assembly were circulated ; at Ver- 
 sailles combinations, committees, motions, questions, 
 began again worse than ever. 
 
 The parties accused each other, reciprocally, of hav- 
 ing torn up "the Bordeaux compact," which in this 
 manner, by a singular mirage-like effect, acquired a 
 retrospective importance. This ended the year 1872, 
 which had, moreover, been fertile in all sorts of events : 
 in the month of September, an interview had taken 
 place between the three Emperors ; a radical, cosmo- 
 politan congress, for " the emancipation of labor," had 
 been held at The Hague, and the arbitration of Switzer- 
 land had put an end to the famous " Alabama " conflict 
 between England and the United States. When one 
 reflects upon what has become of the Triple Alliance, 
 socialism and arbitration, he begins to think that our 
 deputies did not turn their attention to the objects 
 which were most worthy of it. 
 
 It was the country which undertook to furnish some
 
 EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 33 
 
 electoral indications capable of throwing light upon 
 this obscure situation ; its immediate will was confined 
 to this, to avoid all new revolutions. As the conserva- 
 tives gave it, on this score, no security, it elected repub- 
 licans. Marseilles sent M. Lockroy, and the Rhone, 
 M. Ranc. Gironde, the Jura, Nievre, Loir-et-Cher, and 
 Haute-Vienne chose republicans of more or less ad- 
 vanced type. But the most important event was the 
 election of M. Barodet at Paris. The former Mayor of 
 Lyons, M. Barodet, was the candidate of the " reds," as 
 the advanced republicans were then called ; his com- 
 petitor was M. de Remusat, the Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs, a man of fine and distinguished mind, but not 
 much known to the masses, and misunderstood by the 
 ultra-republican parties. The encounter between these 
 two competitors, of so different a stamp, and, it must 
 be confessed, of such unequal value, excited public 
 opinion to the highest degree. The electoral duel 
 between M. Jacques and General Boulanger, on Janu- 
 ary 27, 1889, alone may serve to give an idea of the 
 feverish intensity of the struggle. 1 
 
 M. Barodet was elected, as General Boulanger was 
 destined to be later on, by that portion of the popula- 
 tion of Paris whose good qualities and defects are so 
 strangely combined that strangers have never been able 
 to understand them. Heroic in time of war, capable of 
 displaying in a crisis as much calmness as it puts of joy- 
 ous turbulence into its pleasures, it excels in grasping 
 the fine shades of things, and in amusing itself there- 
 with. It does not raise an opposition to the govern- 
 
 1 The conservatives would not vote for the Minister of Foreign Affairs 
 of the Republic, the personal friend of the head of the State. At the last 
 moment they improvised the candidacy of General Stoffel, who drew away 
 27,000 votes. M. Barodet was elected by 180,000 votes; his rival received 
 only 135,000. 
 
 7)
 
 34 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 ment ; it teases, embarrasses, vexes it ; it is neither 
 logical nor persevering, never troubles itself about the 
 morrow, and apprehends badly the relation between 
 cause and effect. It is not without analogy to the 
 ancient populace, of which it possesses not the sangui- 
 nary appetites, but the injustices and frivolities. 
 
 This Paris has long made itself felt by the country 
 districts, and through the country districts, by Europe. 
 Centralization, dear to the imperial government, has 
 added still further to its influence, and one may say 
 that the Third Republic is chiefly remarkable for the 
 importance which it has restored to provincial life and 
 institutions. From the beginning, the " fear of Paris " 
 manifested itself among the moderates of the National 
 Assembly. They did not wish to take the government 
 back there ; they shrank before the danger of extend- 
 ing the municipal franchises, and the members from 
 Paris have not ceased to occupy in Parliament, and 
 before the government, a place apart, made up of a 
 little respect and much distrust. 
 
 And, although experience reassured the timid, although 
 later events have demonstrated the falsity of the signs 
 indicated by the Parisian barometer, people have not 
 lost the habit, in moments of trouble, uncertainty, and 
 anguish, of turning towards the great city, as they ask 
 themselves, " What does Paris think of it ? " And 
 Paris replied by a word of command which France no 
 longer obeys. 
 
 The crisis which every one foresaw, and which broke 
 out on May 24, 1873, was paradoxical in this respect, 
 that, on the one hand, when the country heard M. 
 Thiers' appeal, it sent him, to found the Republic, men 
 of the Left party, whose advent hastened its fall ; and 
 that, on the other hand, by giving him a successor less
 
 MARSHAL MACMAHON, DUG DE MAGENTA, AND SECOND PRESIDENT 
 OF THE REPUBLIC.
 
 EAELY TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 35 
 
 attached to the republican form, the monarchists con- 
 tributed to the strengthening of the government whose 
 definitive establishment they wished to prevent. 
 
 A slight disagreement between M. Jules Simon, 
 Minister of Public Education, and his colleagues, caused 
 the ministry to be recast at the assembling of Parlia- 
 ment after the Easter holidays. MM. Casimir-Pe'rier 
 and Berenger entered the Council. This caused the 
 Right some uneasiness, and the battle began, under the 
 form of obstructive questions which had already be- 
 come the custom. The Due de Broglie led the assault. 
 For the last time M. Thiers set forth his policy, and 
 proved the necessity of the Republic which arose from 
 the impossibility of the monarchy. He rallied no one 
 to his cause, not even from the ranks of those who 
 were hesitating ; but he had, at least, the good fortune 
 to be able to make his retreat with a frank, precise 
 speech, whose perfect sagacity the future was destined 
 to emphasize. 
 
 The Assembly rejected the order of the -day pure 
 and simple, 1 modestly asked for by the ministers, 
 and set about demanding with a certain persistence, 
 under an indirect but pressing form, that resignation 
 which a few months earlier it had refused to accept. 
 The letter came ; M. Thiers had, perhaps, expected to 
 provoke another procedure as flattering to his self-love 
 
 1 "The Assembly," said the order of the day which was moved, "im- 
 pressed by the constitutional projects which have been presented in virtue 
 of one of its decisions, considers it of importance, for the sake of reassur- 
 ing the country, that a resolutely conservative policy shall prevail in the 
 government, and regrets that the recent ministerial modifications should 
 not have afforded to conservative interests the satisfaction which they had 
 a right to expect." The order of the day having been rejected by a ma- 
 jority of sixteen votes, the Assembly announced that it would sit in the 
 evening, and adjourned, " to await the communications from the govern- 
 ment."
 
 36 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 as it was useful to his projects ; but the proposal that 
 the resignation of the head of the State should be 
 refused mustered only a respectable minority. Then 
 the Left retired, leaving only 392 voters, and 390 
 votes elected as President of the French Republic 
 Marshal MacMahon, the victor of Magenta, the illus- 
 trious soldier whose bravery was universally known. 
 The monarchists did not even suspect that they had 
 just consecrated the existence and assured the working 
 of the republican form of government. 
 
 For the first time since Louis XVIII. people beheld 
 the transmission of power in France effected with the 
 most complete calmness, with surprising rapidity, with- 
 out the slightest stoppage or even the slightest falter- 
 ing in the governmental machine. The country had 
 grown too unaccustomed to such a spectacle not to appre- 
 ciate highly the regimen which furnished it. By elevat- 
 ing to the supreme rank a marshal of France, created 
 Due de Magenta by the Empire and well known for his 
 severely conservative opinions, the Right had meant to 
 confide to him the peculiar mission, if not of stifling the 
 Republic, at least of putting a stop _to the diffusion of 
 republican ideas and doctrines. Now, the mass of the 
 nation reasoned in quite a different manner, and, when 
 it saw a loyal soldier accept the Presidency, it concluded 
 that the Republic would incur no danger in his hands. 1 
 
 The tension relaxed in the country, and there was a 
 sort of movement of general sympathy. The electors 
 
 1 In Europe, especially in the Courts of the North, people pretended 
 to regard the election of May 24 as a new revolution. Prussia did not 
 content itself with a notification from the head of the State ; she demanded 
 fresh credentials from the French ambassador. England, more accus- 
 tomed to parliamentary ways, raised no difficulties, and all Europe was 
 soon forced to recognize the fact that nothing was really changed in 
 France.
 
 EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 37 
 
 lent only an abstracted attention to the harangues of 
 their representatives, who boasted, on the Right, of 
 having brought France to a halt on the brink of an 
 abyss, and lamented, on the Left, over the sight of the 
 Republic in the hands of the reactionaries. For a 
 moment it might have been thought that a party policy 
 was about to predominate in the councils of the Presi- 
 dent, 1 but these fears were speedily dissipated, and a 
 brilliant reception was given, without reserve, to the 
 Shah of Persia, who reviewed our young army at Long- 
 champs at the very moment when the last Prussian 
 soldiers were quitting France ; the joy of liberation 
 counted for a great deal in the enthusiasm with which 
 the Oriental monarch was received. 
 
 On September 5, 263,000,000 francs were paid, com- 
 pleting, in capital and interest, the five milliards of 
 the war levy. The Bank of France was left with a 
 reserve in coin of more than 700,000,000 francs ; for the 
 space of two years the commercial world had been pro- 
 ceeding from one surprise to another. French elasticity 
 surpassed all expectations ; the bank-note had suffered 
 no depreciation, and the premium on gold remained 
 insignificant. 2 
 
 In the meantime, a rather important event had taken 
 place. On July 5, the Comte de Paris, grandson of 
 King Louis Philippe, and, consequently, the head of the 
 younger, or the Orleans branch of the Bourbons, had 
 
 1 A rather tardy prosecution was ordered against one deputy, M. Ranc, 
 for his participation in the Commune, and unjustifiable police measures 
 were taken at Lyons, against civil burials. The marshal had summoned 
 the Due de Broglie to the Quai d'Orsay; M. Magnac to the Ministry of 
 Finance; M. Beule to the Ministry of the Interior; M. Ernoul to that of 
 Justice ; M. Batbie to that of Public Education. 
 
 2 It is just that the honor of this result should be attributed, in large 
 part, to the preceding government and its commercial policy.
 
 38 TEE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 betaken himself to Frohsdorf, in Austria, the residence 
 of his cousin, the Comte de Chambord, grandson of 
 King Charles X., the head of the elder branch of the 
 Bourbons, and, consequently, the sole legitimate pre- 
 tender to the throne of France in consonance with the 
 law of succession in force under the ancient monarchy. 
 Since the revolution of 1830 no reconciliation had 
 taken place between the two branches of the Bourbons; 
 but, as the Comte de Chambord was then fifty-three 
 years of age, had been married, for many years, to the 
 Austrian Archduchess d'Este and had no children, and 
 as the elder branch was destined to become extinct at his 
 death, the moment had arrived for the Comte de Paris, 
 who had become the legitimate heir, to seal the recon- 
 ciliation. Therefore the prince decided to go and greet 
 his cousin, the only representative of the monarchical 
 principle. His uncles, the Due de Nemours, the Prince 
 de Joinville, and the Due d'Aumale, approved of this 
 step. The prince took it opportunely, with tact and 
 simplicity, and, from the emotion which it produced in 
 France, it was possible to calculate that the chances 
 of restoration had doubled in four-and-twenty hours. 1 
 The republicans were somewhat alarmed by it : some 
 of them recalled M. Thiers, whose services they 
 had slighted ; others, more radical, made advances 
 to Prince Napoleon, whose anti-clericalism charmed 
 them. 
 
 A question came up, of secondary importance in 
 
 1 While M. Lucien Brun, soon followed by MM. de Sugny and Mer- 
 veilleux du Vignaux, betook themselves to Frohsdorf, the legitimists 
 busied themselves in getting ready the " King's equipages." These car- 
 riages, which long remained unused in the workshop of a carriage-maker, 
 were, at last, bought by the Court of Greece, and came in play at the 
 marriage of the Duke of Sparta to Princesse Sophia, the sister of Will- 
 iam II.
 
 EARLY TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 39 
 
 appearance, but its consequences were serious. The 
 flag of the ancient monarchy, which Louis XVI. had 
 discarded, under the pressure of the revolutionists, 
 which Louis XVIII. had reinstated, at his restoration 
 in 1814, was the white flag sown with golden lilies. 
 Louis Philippe, on the contrary, when he became king 
 of France, in 1830, adopted the tricolored flag, blue, 
 white, and red, which had been the flag of the Revo- 
 lution and of the Empire. It had not been meddled 
 with since 1830. The Comte de Chambord was forced 
 to make his choice, and his followers were divided on 
 this question. People were not slow to perceive that 
 they were divided also on many others, since, behind 
 the color of the flag, were concealed profound diver- 
 gences of opinion and irreconcilable antagonisms. M. 
 Chesnelong, royalist senator, had been "charged" by 
 the head of the party to confer on this subject with the 
 Comte de Chambord ; but he brought back from his 
 long interviews with the pretender neither a solution 
 of the difficulty, nor even a hope of solution. Nothing 
 was either accepted or refused : the ambiguous situa- 
 tion remained in its entirety. It was merely known 
 that the prince was sufficiently attached to his flag, 
 and had sufficiently manifested his feeling to impart 
 to the acceptance of the tricolored flag, on his part, all 
 the appearance of a concession made to the Revolution. 
 Would he, in his turn, decide that " Paris is, assuredly, 
 worth a mass?" The whole question lay there; and 
 for any one who knew the rigidity of his principles, it 
 did not seem at all likely that the Comte de Chambord 
 would yield. In fact, he announced, in a celebrated 
 letter, that he clung to the white flag, and thus caused 
 to vanish the dream of restoration which his faithful 
 followers had conceived.
 
 40 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE, 
 
 A legend has been formed on this subject. The 
 prince has been represented as the victim of the awk- 
 wardness of his followers, as not having been able, 
 of himself, to estimate the condition of France. One 
 is at liberty, to-day, to wonder whether, on the con- 
 trary, he did not perceive, much more clearly than his 
 partisans, the whole state of the case, as often happens 
 with those who look on from afar, and from a height. 
 Whatever criticisms may have been deserved by his 
 programme, set forth in magnificent language, but in 
 very vague fashion, in his letters and manifestos, it is 
 impossible to mistake the fact that the Comte de Charn- 
 bord held, regarding his mission, a view which was, at 
 the same time, both very lofty and very just. He 
 wished to be the king of all, and preferred not to reign, 
 rather than to reign, like Charles X., Louis Philippe, 
 and Napoleon III., over only a fraction of the nation. 
 He divined that need of harmony, union, appeasement, 
 which came to light later on. At no price would he 
 have a combination, because he felt very strongly that 
 the day of combinations had passed, and that hence- 
 forth nothing durable could be founded without the 
 unanimous, free, and well-considered consent of the 
 deep masses of the nation. This consent did not exist. 
 Perhaps the Comte de Chambord cherished the hope 
 that it would exist some day ; l but this illusion was 
 speedily dissipated. In any case, France may feel 
 grateful to him for not having prolonged, by a restora- 
 tion which could not have endured, the uncertainties 
 and expedients of the preceding governments. When 
 he died, ten years later, he carried with him to the 
 tomb the respect of all parties ; thanks to him, the 
 
 1 His ulterior anxiety seems to have been to reserve the future ; he 
 repeatedly requested his partisans not to bind him by their acts.
 
 EAELY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 41 
 
 House of Bourbon underwent none of those adventures 
 and compromises which, too often, have marked the 
 decline and disappearance of great royal races. 
 
 At the hour when the destiny of France was being 
 thus debated between Salzburg and Versailles, the 
 famous trial of Marshal Bazaine was going_ on at 
 Trianon ; l in the course of one hearing, the defendant, 
 by way of exculpation, argued that he had acted in the 
 presence of a void, since there no longer existed any 
 government, either Empire or anything whatever. 
 " Excuse me," interrupted the Due d'Aumale, " France 
 remained." 
 
 That is precisely what good citizens thought, anxious 
 not to allow the country to become the prey of factions. 
 In the presence of a power without a fixed duration, 
 Bonapartists and legitimists rivalled each other in their 
 zeal for working at its enfeeblement. The majority 
 of the Prince Imperial, celebrated at Chislehurst on 
 March 16, 1874, and several electoral successes 2 which 
 they had just won, emboldened the former ; the latter 
 had faith in Providence and declared that they were 
 sure of the morrow. The confidence which the char- 
 
 1 Marshal Bazaine was accused of having signed, at Metz, a shameful 
 capitulation; of having delivered over to the enemy one of our chief 
 fortresses, with all the army therein, without having even attempted to 
 exhaust the means of defence at his disposal. It was evident that he had 
 acted thus, with the view of aiding, later on, in the re-establishment of 
 the Empire, hy hastening the advent of peace, and of securing for himself 
 a brilliant future under the reign of the son of Napoleon III. There was 
 no doubt as to his treason. He was condemned to death, but his penalty 
 was commuted to perpetual imprisonment. Nevertheless, after the lapse 
 of a few years, he succeeded in making his escape, and took refuge in 
 Spain, where he died. 
 
 2 The year 1874 beheld the ranks of the Bonapartists swelled by the 
 elections of M. de Burgoing in Nievre, of M. Le Provost de Launay in 
 Calvados, of the Due de Mouchy in Oise, of the Due de Padoue, who 
 received 45,000 votes, in Seine-et-Oise.
 
 42 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 acter of the head of the State inspired had given birth 
 to the idea of " prolonging his power," and the vote of 
 November 20, 1873, organized the seven years' term of 
 the presidential office. 
 
 The situation was identical with that under M. 
 .Thiers. The marshal, like his predecessor, found 
 himself obliged to maintain the Republic, and to try 
 to organize it; with a perspicuity and a perseverance 
 worthy of all praise, he never ceased to insist upon 
 this point. When, during a visit to the Chamber of 
 Commerce of Paris, he was told of the anxieties of the 
 Parisian manufacturers : "The National Assembly," he 
 said, " has entrusted to me the power for seven years. 
 My first duty is to superintend the execution of this 
 sovereign decision. Therefore, have no anxiety; for 
 seven years I shall know how to compel the respect 
 of all for the order of things which has been legally 
 established." This language the marshal refers to in 
 a letter, and afterwards in an order of the day to the 
 army, after a review in the Bois de Boulogne ; then 
 again, at the approach of intermission, in a message 
 which was very clear and almost autocratic in its form, 
 in which he enjoined upon the Assembly the necessity 
 of making an end of their quarrels. In the course of 
 a journey in the West, he replied to the President 
 of the Chamber of Commerce of Saint-Malo, in these 
 abrupt and significant words : " You have just said 
 that there is no government ; you are mistaken, there 
 is one; my government." A little later, at Lille, he 
 appeals "to the moderate men of all parties," and 
 renews, in his message at the opening of the Assembly, 
 the same declarations. 
 
 The marshal's immovableness ended in imparting to 
 his ministry a little spirit of steadiness and stability,
 
 EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 43 
 
 in which it seemed to be deficient. 1 The Vice-Presi- 
 dent of the Council 2 proclaimed, in a circular to the 
 prefects, that the seven years' term, like the charter 
 of 1830 in earlier days, was henceforth "a reality," 
 and, later on, accentuating his declarations, he an- 
 nounced to the Chamber that "free from all engage- 
 ments to any party whatever, it was with the aid of 
 all that he desired and meant to govern." 3 The Cus- 
 todian of the Seals, M. Depeyre, ventured to remind 
 the Attorney-Generals that " the powers of the marshal 
 and their duration" were "beyond all controversy." 
 Such declarations scandalized the royalists ; neverthe- 
 less, the name of the Republic was always omitted 
 from them ; it seemed beyond the strength of the 
 ministers to employ it, and they indulged in the 
 strangest circumlocutions for the purpose of avoiding 
 the necessity of writing or uttering it. 4 
 
 Their successors did not put an end to this singular 
 situation. When the ministry was overthrown, in the 
 month of May, 1874, 6 and M. de Goulajd's laborious 
 negotiations, with a view of forming a liberal ministry 
 with the support of the two Centres, had come to 
 nothing, 6 General de Cissey accepted the presidency of 
 
 1 Just as the vote on the seven years' term was to be taken, it was 
 altered: it now comprised, together with the Due de Broglie, MM. the 
 Due Decazes, de Fourton, de Larcy, Magne, and Depeyre. 
 
 2 The head of the government, the Prime Minister, then bore only the 
 title of Vice-President of the Council, as the Presidency was more really 
 exercised by the President of the Republic then than it is at present. 
 M. Dufaure was the first President of the Council. 
 
 8 Official Documents of the Republic. 
 
 4 The Marquis de Noailles, our ambassador at Rome, ventured to men- 
 tion the Republic in a letter addressed to the electors of Bayonne, and they 
 dared to demand his recall, which, of course, the government did not grant. 
 
 5 By 381 votes on the Left and the Extreme Right, against 317. 
 
 6 See the details of these negotiations, which depict the state of mind 
 of the different groups in question, in the Souvenij'S de la Prtsidence du 
 Marechal de MacHahon, by Ernest Daudet.
 
 44 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the working Cabinet, in which figured a certain number 
 of members from the preceding Cabinet, and a few 
 newcomers. 1 The marshal, whose conviction had not 
 been disappointed, still waited for that constitution 
 the guardianship of which had been entrusted to him 
 before its birth, and the Assembly, whose prestige and 
 authority were rapidly waning, wasted precious time 
 in idle debates. The question of the municipal elective 
 franchise raised tempests. 2 M. de Lacombe proposed 
 the "grand electoral college of 1820," and M. Chesne- 
 long talked of the "notabilities," and of the "most 
 heavily taxed," to whom he would have been willing 
 to join the "delegates" of universal suffrage. 
 
 M. Casimir-Perier did not succeed in his attempt to 
 extricate the Assembly from chaos ; one proposition of 
 the most unexpected sort followed on the heels of an- 
 other : restoration of the monarchy, nomination of the 
 marshal to the post of Lieutenant-General of the king- 
 dom, extension of the powers of Parliament for a period 
 of seven years, separation of the Assembly into two 
 distinct Chambers. The monarchists were beside them- 
 selves over the recent elections to the municipal council 
 of Paris, in which extreme democracy, represented by 
 MM. Floquet, Clemenceau, and so forth, reckoned fifty 
 elected out of eighty. People pretended to see every- 
 where the occult influence of M. Thiers, and to speak 
 of the marshal as a mere manager. In short, men 
 lived in a sort of legal anarchy where the minorities, in 
 the interest of party, insisted in retaining a permanent 
 right of moral sedition. 3 
 
 1 M. de Cumont, who did not distinguish himself in the department of 
 Public Education, and M. Tailhaud, who gave vent in Ardeche to the most 
 artlessly unconstitutional language. 
 
 2 M. Jules Ferry took considerable part in this long discussion. 
 8 Ch. de Mazade, Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique.
 
 EARLY TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 45 
 
 MM. de Laboulaye and Wallon offered two amend- 
 ments ; the first, expressed as follows : " The govern- 
 ment of the Republic is composed of two Chambers, and 
 one President," was rejected ; the second was adopted, 
 by the vote of the majority : its text, more precise than 
 that of the first, differed from it only by a subtle shade. 
 " The President of the Republic," said the Wallon amend- 
 ment, "is elected by the Senate and the Chamber of 
 Deputies, joined together in National Assembly. He is 
 elected for seven years, and is eligible for re-election." 
 
 The adversaries of republican rule assumed to con- 
 sider the Wallon amendment as having settled the 
 question as to the form of the government, and they 
 took pleasure in repeating that the Republic had gone 
 into effect only through the vote of the majority. The 
 preceding pages have already done justice, in advance, 
 to such an interpretation. 1 
 
 The birth-pangs .of the Constitution were painful ; 
 men proceeded blindly in the midst of surprises and 
 contradictions. The law concerning the Senate, ac- 
 cepted in detail, was rejected as a whole ; dissolution 
 again proposed would have been, at such a moment, 
 equivalent to a formal confession of weakness. It was 
 rejected. From the excess of evil a reactionary govern- 
 ment was born at last ; reasonable and moderate men 
 recovered themselves, and on February 25, 1875, the 
 constitutional laws were passed, not without a combat, 
 not without a great many amendments, counter-propo- 
 sitions, interruptions, difficulties. 2 All expedients were 
 
 1 Another fact which shows the Wallon amendment in its true light is 
 that the ministry voted against it ; had it been a question of modifying 
 the existing order of things, the most elementary tact would have forced 
 the ministers to abstain from voting. 
 
 2 The majority was 181 votes out of 689 ; the vote shows what majority 
 remains of the asserted establishment of the Republic.
 
 46 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 considered lawful to hamper or delay the vote. But 
 the Assembly, hitherto so divided, suddenly discovered 
 that it had the strength to impose a wise and moderate 
 solution. The Left, with a remarkable sense of disci- 
 pline, abstained from replying to the attacks of those 
 who reproached it, as did M. de Castellane, with " be- 
 traying universal suffrage," by giving as electoral 
 basis to the future Senate suffrage in two degrees. 
 For many, in fact, this was a real sacrifice. " It is 
 hard, nevertheless," said one of the radicals who had 
 agreed to it, "to see our principles upheld by our 
 adversaries and opposed by ourselves." 1 
 
 1 The terms Right, Left, Centre, have always been peculiar to the 
 French Parliament. Though complicated in appearance, their meaning is 
 very clear ; they form the colors of the political rainbow. At the epoch 
 which we are studying, the Left is made up of republicans, of divers 
 shades, but all attached to the republican form of government. The 
 Extreme Left consists of the radicals who derive their inspiration, more or 
 less, from the memories of the Jacobins of 1793. In the same way the 
 Right is the camp of the monarchists, followers of the Bourbons, the 
 Orleans, or the Bonaparte house, and the Extreme Right combines those 
 who remain attached to the institutions of the old form of government, 
 and who would like to see the privileges of the nobility and the clergy 
 restored in the form in which they existed before the taking of the Bastille. 
 The Centre comprises the reasonable, the moderate in views ; on the one 
 hand, those who, without being wholly republican, will accept the Repub- 
 lic frankly, if they see that such is the wish of the country (this is the 
 Left Centre) ; on the other hand, those who would go as far in the path 
 of liberal and democratic concessions, but who will find it difficult to 
 renounce the monarchical form of government. Such, at the present 
 moment, is the state of the parties; later on, the classification will become 
 simplified. Under Jules Ferry, there will remain only the Left, grouped 
 around the great minister, and the Right, consisting of all those who 
 oppose him, all the monarchists; they will, falsely, call themselves con- 
 servatives, since far from preserving, they seek only to destroy that which 
 exists. Their adversaries will designate them by a juster epithet, the 
 reactionaries, which is the one that I shall employ, by preference. Right, 
 Extreme Right, Conservatives, Reactionaries, Boulangists later on, all 
 these are equivalent to designating by different names one and the same 
 category of men, those who desire the power of a single man, and heredi- 
 tary power, the monarchy, in short, in one form or another. Later on, in 
 conclusion, there will be the mugwumps, former monarchists converted to
 
 EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 47 
 
 Among the wisest was Gambetta. He reckoned as 
 dear no compromise to which he could loyally con- 
 sent, if he might but attain to that goal which, at the 
 moment, dominated all others. As M. de Pressense 
 has very well expressed it, 1 it was on that day that 
 Gambetta "was truly the second founder of the Re- 
 public. The victory which he won over the Assembly 
 he had first won over himself, by sacrificing everything 
 in his programme which could not be immediately 
 realized." When the Constitution was passed, a gov- 
 ernment to apply it was required ; the ministerial 
 crisis, by its continuance, threatened to compromise 
 everything ; Gambetta was not afraid to enter into 
 negotiations with M. Bocher, President of the Right 
 Centre, to help him in constructing a Cabinet, since 
 M. Bocher refused the power himself. 2 And, finally, 
 it was M. Gambetta who dared to explain, in an open 
 faubourg of Paris, the work which had just been ac- 
 complished, and boldly to assert his share of the re- 
 sponsibility in that work. He defined the Senate as 
 "the Grand Council of the communes of France," 
 and made his electors accept institutions tainted by 
 a distinctly liberal and anti-jacobin character. 
 
 The Right Centre was not backward in the matter 
 
 the Republic and to the Extreme Left, the Socialists. The President, in 
 the French Chamber, sits facing the deputies or senators ; thus he has the 
 members of the Right on his left hand, and vice versa. What has been 
 said concerning the Chamber of Deputies may be applied to the Senate, 
 with this difference, that the senators belong to a more moderate average 
 of opinion, and do not allow themselves to be so often carried away 
 towards extreme ideas. The Constitution of 1875 fixes the age for 
 entrance to the Senate at not less than forty years. 
 
 1 Varie'te's Morales et Politiques, by E. de Pressense. 1 volume. Paris, 
 1886. 
 
 2 The Cabinet which was formed was that of M. Buffet, whose col- 
 leagues were the Due Decazes, General Cissey, Admiral Montaigne, 
 MM. Caillaux, Dufaure, de Meaux, Wallon, and Leon Say.
 
 48 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 of wisdom ; it had voted, MM. de Broglie, Decazes, and 
 Audiffret at the head. The Due d'Audiffret-Pasquier, 
 elected, by a great majority to the presidency of the 
 Assembly, made a speech there which created a great 
 stir. In their circulars, MM. Dufaure and de Cissey 
 recommended respect for the Constitution. The sup- 
 plementary laws formed the object of the labors of a 
 parliamentary committee. Its president, M. de La- 
 vergne, analyzed^ the last events in the following terms : 
 " We have been led," he said, " by a concurrence of im- 
 perious circumstances, to give a republican form to the 
 government. All good citizens should rally round it, 
 since the sovereign Assembly has pronounced upon it. 
 Let us show, by the wisdom and firmness of our deci- 
 sions, that we understand how to conquer our divisions 
 for the sake of maintaining order and liberty at home, 
 as well as for the sake of preserving peace abroad." 
 Words devoid of enthusiasm, but without subterfuge, 
 which were to be encountered sixteen years later on 
 the lips of the " mugwumps " of 1892. 
 
 M. de Laboulaye, who drew up the report of the sup- 
 plementary laws, did not conceal how much they had 
 borrowed from the monarchy. He recognized the fact 
 that they were conferring upon the Republic "the 
 guarantees of constitutional monarchy, in the form in 
 which we have practised it for the last thirty years," 
 and he added : " If among the republicans there are 
 any who think that we should have gone further, they 
 will do well to consider that France, after having passed 
 through the Empire, feels the need of becoming accus- 
 tomed, once more, to a constitutional government. It 
 is a delicate task to acclimatize political liberty among 
 vis, and one which requires much prudent management." 
 Such was not the opinion of M. Louis Blanc, who went
 
 EARLY TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 49 
 
 about in public assemblies " proclaiming the rights of 
 the absolute," nor of M. Naquet, who expressed to the 
 electors of Aries, Marseilles, and Toulon the fears with 
 which the constitutional transactions recently agreed 
 upon inspired him. 
 
 General attention was already 1 concentrated on the 
 approaching elections. Despite the intervention of 
 Gambetta, who favored the election at large, the elec- 
 tion by district had been established. In the first place, 
 the Assembly chose seventy-five senators for life. An 
 understanding between the Extreme Right and the Left 2 
 discarded almost all the moderates, and favored the 
 republican candidates. Then came the turn of the 
 senators with temporary warrants. The proclamations 
 addressed to the electors displayed, in general, a pru- 
 dent liberalism. MM. Leon Say, Feray, and Gilbert- 
 Roncher announced, in Seine-et-Oise, the following 
 programme : " Unreserved adherence to the Constitu- 
 tion ; the clause concerning revision to be regarded as 
 a door opened to the improvements of the republican 
 government, and not as a means of overturning it ; the 
 exertion of every effort to preserve our country from 
 
 1 Aside from the debate upon the liberty of higher education, which 
 ended in the institution of mixed juries for the conferring of University 
 degrees (see the remarkable speeches made by Jules Ferry, on June 11, 12, 
 1875), the session was verbose and empty. M. Burgoing's election was 
 declared void, fourteen months after it had taken place ; the inquiry had 
 revealed Bonapartist tricks of a disquieting character. Otherwise, symp- 
 toms of increasing calmness were multiplied throughout the country. 
 The marshal continued to circulate through France, replying in familiar 
 and happy fashion to the speeches which were addressed to him. Cardinal 
 Bonnet, Generals Lebrun and Ducrot uttered words of peace, and at 
 Arcachon M. Thiers furnished the formula of the day: "The Republic has 
 been decided upon 'by vote," he said; "the only thing now left for us to 
 do is to make a success of it." 
 
 2 See the details of the negotiations in regard to this understanding 
 in the Souvenirs de la Prtsidence du Marechal MacMahon, by Ernest 
 Daudet.
 
 50 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 any sort of revolution whatsoever." The same ideas 
 were expressed, in Aisne, by MM. Waddington, Henri 
 Martin, and de Saint- Vallier. 
 
 In opposition to this very clear language was out- 
 lined the provisional policy, agitated and nervous, of 
 M. Buffet. He saw civil war ready to break out at any 
 moment ; in his eyes, the insurrectionary bands were 
 only waiting for a " weakening " of the public powers. 
 Nothing justified these fears : General Chanzy, Ad- 
 miral Pothuau, MM. Casimir-Perier, Laboulaye, de 
 Maleville, and L. de Lavergne had just been elected 
 senators. The amnesty demanded by M. Naquet had 
 found adversaries on all sides ; but M. Buffet did not 
 perceive these things. His uneasy temper was sud- 
 denly exhibited by his categorical demand upon M. 
 Leon Say that he should disavow the senatorial list 
 upon which his name appeared. 1 This rating brought 
 about an unforeseen crisis: the Minister of Finance 
 wished to resign, followed by M. Dufaure. The mar- 
 shal became alarmed, and, on this occasion, did not fear 
 to interfere directly, over the heads of his ministers ; 
 he exposed the policy of the Cabinet in a very uncon- 
 stitutional but well-written proclamation, in which he 
 declared that he was the guardian of the Constitution, 
 as well as of the conservative interests. M. Leon Say 
 remained. 
 
 The senatorial elections took place on January 30, 
 1876. M. Buffet came to grief in the Vosges, his na- 
 tive country ; forty Bonapartists succeeded in Gironde, 
 Charente-Infe'rieure, and Corsica ; several radicals were 
 elected in the Bouches-du-Rhone district, Var and 
 
 1 The Prefect of Police, M. Leon Renault, candidate for deputy in the 
 district of Corbeil, explained to his electors his reasons for adhering to the 
 Republic, and M. Buffet demanded his resignation.
 
 EARLY TEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 51 
 
 Drome ; the pure legitimists were ousted ; all the rest 
 belonged to the moderate element. M. de Freycinet 
 was the first to be elected in Paris, where Victor Hugo 
 was only the fortieth, in spite of his grandiloquent epis- 
 tle, " from the delegate of Paris to the delegates of the 
 thirty-six thousand communes of France." In short, 
 the result of this great national consultation was a 
 Senate whose composition assuredly disconcerted more 
 than one calculation, and dispelled more than one illu- 
 sion, which remained, nevertheless, "a tolerably close 
 expression of a complicated situation, the living repre- 
 sentation of the serious and permanent currents of 
 public opinion." 1 
 
 The electoral agitation increased at the approach of 
 the legislative elections. On this occasion Gambetta 
 displayed a marvellous and fruitful activity ; he spoke 
 at Aries, at Lille, and everywhere prepared the way for 
 the triumph of his ideas by the skill and the modera- 
 tion with which he defended them. The ballot of 
 February 20 emphasized and surpassed that of Janu- 
 ary 30, although it did not have throughout France the 
 character which could have been desired in the inter- 
 ests of the Republic. In some departments, especially 
 in Paris, " a disproportionate share " was conceded " to 
 the violent and exclusive interests." 2 Nevertheless, the 
 general impression which resulted was "an impression 
 of peace and of order in the established government." 3 
 Gambetta was elected in Paris, Lille, Marseilles, and 
 Bordeaux. So were M. Thiers and M. Dufaure, the 
 one at Paris, the other at La Rochelle. The Due De- 
 cazes, opposed at Paris by the imperialist candidate, 
 
 1 Ch. de Mazade, Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique. 
 
 *Ibid. 
 
 Ibid.
 
 52 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 M. Raoul Duval, was elected on the second ballot. 
 The elections of March 5 put the finishing touch to 
 the success of the republicans. The most striking 
 person who suffered defeat on that day was M. Buffet, 
 who had taken so personal an interest in the struggle. 
 His friends failed in the north and in the south. He 
 retired, followed by M. de Meaux, and M. Dufaure 
 came into power. 1 
 
 On March 8, 1876, in the Hercules Hall at Versailles, 
 the President of the National Assembly announced, 
 that, the staffs of the Senate and of the Chamber of 
 Deputies being now formed, the powers of the Assembly 
 had come to an end. M. Dufaure, on assuming the 
 executive power, promised, in the name of the marshal, 
 that " he would use it, with the help of God and the 
 assent pf the two Chambers, only in conformity to the 
 laws, for the honor and the interests of our well-beloved 
 country." 
 
 1 His colleagues were the Due Decazes, General Cissey, Admiral 
 Fourichon, MM. Leon Say, Waddington, Teisserenc de Bort, Christophe, 
 and Ricard. The latter, who died soon after, was replaced by M. de 
 Marcere.
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAT. 53 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 -THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY. 
 
 The Constitution of 1875 : Unforeseen Stability. The Beginnings of the 
 Parliament. Preludes of a Coup d'Etat. The Appeal to the Country, 
 and the Electoral Campaign. A Futile Attempt. The Return to Nor- 
 mal Life. The Exposition of 1878. The Marshal resigns. 
 
 THE organization of the public power in France has 
 been entirely transformed eleven times since 1789, 
 without reckoning the modifications of details, or the 
 simple changes of form, such as the senatorial decree 
 of the Year XII. or the revision of the charter of 1814 
 in 1830. 1 
 
 The first National Assembly began by chopping down 
 all the institutions which surrounded the monarchy, 
 and gave birth to the Constitution of 1791 to replace 
 them. Too deeply imbued with the dogma of the separa- 
 tion of powers, the members of the Constituent Assembly 
 produced a work characterized by distrust and isolation : 
 the ministers, kept out of Parliament, the sovereign, 
 hampered in the exercise of his most elementary pre- 
 rogatives, could not govern alongside an assembly itself 
 unique and isolated in its powers. The Constitution 
 of 1791 was condemned to death from its very birth. 
 The Convention tried to substitute for it another in 
 which the representative system was reconciled with 
 
 1 The constitutions, properly speaking, are ten in number : those of 
 1791, 1793, of the Year III., of the Year VII., of 1814, the Additional Act, the 
 charter of 1815, the constitutions of 1848, 1852, 1875. Changes of form 
 took place in 1804 and in 1830, and organic modifications were effected in 
 1793 and in 1869. So, in all, there have been fourteen changes.
 
 54 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the direct exercise of the national sovereignty. Con- 
 dorcet presented the report in February, 1793 ; but, in 
 the meantime, Girondist ideas had ceased to please even 
 before they had been applied, and it was a Jacobin con- 
 stitution which was proclaimed on June 24 of that year. 
 Popular ratification of the laws constituted its princi- 
 pal original feature ; this shadow of a regular form of 
 government soon disappeared before the revolutionary 
 government established by the decrees of October 10 
 and December 10, and the Committee of Public Safety 
 remained alone invested with all powers. 
 
 The Constitution of the Year III., which was reported 
 by Boissy-d'Anglas, contained metaphysical digressions 
 inspired by the Social Contract. It established two 
 councils of the same origin : the Council of the Five 
 Hundred, which was to propose laws, and the Council 
 of the Ancients, which was to discuss them, without 
 having the right to amend them. The executive power 
 was vested in the Directory. If nothing of the chi- 
 merical projects of the Year III. lasted, it is but just to 
 remark that the great organic laws which were passed 
 at this same epoch still serve, to-day, as the foundation 
 of our administration. 
 
 In the Year VII. Sieyes reappeared with a whole 
 hierarchy agreeable to the eye, running from the " lists 
 of notabilities " drawn up by the electors, and from 
 which the functionaries were to be chosen, to the Grand 
 Elector, a magistrate without authority, who was to 
 preside over the proper working of the Constitution. 
 Bonaparte accepted the lists of notabilities, which he 
 regarded as inoffensive, but replaced the Grand Elector 
 by the First Consul, of whom the Senatorial Decree of 
 the Year XII. made a hereditary emperor. 
 
 Then came a long period of parliamentarism : the
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY. 55 
 
 charter of 1814, replaced during the Hundred Days 
 by the Additional Act, was re-established in the follow- 
 ing year ; in 1830 it underwent several modifications of 
 slight importance, and then lasted into 1848. Then 
 bombastic preambles, grand principles, hollow generali- 
 ties, which had charmed the legislators of the end of 
 the preceding century, made their appearance again. 
 The Constitution of 1848, drawn up by Marrast, Du- 
 faure, Dupin the elder, Tocqueville, Odilon Barrot, 
 Conside*rant, Vaulabelle, Lamennais, was promulgated 
 on November 7, "in the presence of God, and in the 
 name of the people." It was stated that "the French 
 Republic was one, democratic and indivisible " ; that it 
 had as its foundations " family, labor, property " ; that 
 it " recognized rights anterior and superior to the 
 positive laws," all things excellent in themselves, but 
 rather silly. 
 
 The Constitution of 1852 was, above all else, anti- 
 parliamentary, and directed against the Assembly, 
 which was reduced, under the name of "legislative 
 body," to the most modest and insignificant sort of a 
 part. It lasted eight years. As early as 1860 the Em- 
 peror was led to grant publicity to the debates, and the 
 right to vote an address in reply to the speech from the 
 throne; two Ministers without functions represented 
 the government with the deputies. A great uprising 
 of public opinion having made itself felt in the elections 
 of 1863, the right of the question (interpellation), and 
 the presence of the ministers in the legislative body 
 were conceded (January, 1867). And, finally, the Sen- 
 atorial Decree of September 8, 1869, established true 
 ministerial responsibility and voting upon the budget 
 by sections. Hence the government which ratified the 
 appeal to the nation of May 8, 1870, resembled that of
 
 56 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 1830. Universal suffrage and the responsibility ^ 
 wholly fictitious, by the way of the sovereign consti- 
 tuted the only differences. But there was not time to 
 try the experiment, and the liberal Empire succumbed 
 at Sedan, together with the absolute Empire. 
 
 While passing in review, as rapidly as possible, this 
 collection of constitutional texts, it is impossible not to 
 be struck by the fact that, out of four hundred years of 
 our national existence, 1 the two parliamentary constitu- 
 tions (that of 1814-1830, and that of 1875) lasted fifty- 
 four years, while the other eight constitutions lasted, in 
 all, fifty years ; that is to say, their average duration 
 was a little more than six years. Never have the 
 merits of a parliamentary form of government been 
 emphasized in history in a more clear and indisputable 
 manner than by this fact. While fairly illogical in 
 itself, the parliamentary form was better suited than 
 any other to a century of transition, and it alone was 
 able to guide Europe, and France in particular, from 
 the monarchy by right divine, to pure democracy. This 
 impression is still further accentuated if one compares 
 the texts of the constitutions which have just been 
 enumerated. The greater part of them, hastily pre- 
 pared to meet the needs of a cause or of a man, bear 
 the imprint of the most complete governmental inex- 
 perience. Great periods with swelling phrases, ingen- 
 ious or learned combinations, do not take the place of 
 the knowledge of men and the exact idea of the needs 
 of the epoch. It is in this point, in particular, that the 
 Constitution of 1875 differs so completely from those 
 which preceded it. 
 
 Instead of forming a compact work, single, elaborated, 
 and accepted at a dash, it is, in a way, dispersed into 
 
 1 These lilies were written in 1895.
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAT. 57 
 
 three constitutional laws distinct from each other. We 
 have seen, moreover, in what a practical spirit it was 
 drawn up and how its character of compromise per- 
 mitted its joint-authors, who held very diverse opinions, 
 to unite in preparing it. 
 
 At its foundation is established a very broad electoral 
 system, since to the qualification of French citizenship 
 it suffices, for electoral rights, to add the age of twenty- 
 five years, and a residence in one commune of one year 
 and six months. Thus the electoral question, which 
 is so troublesome in other countries, has been settled; it 
 is impossible to go further unless suffrage be granted 
 to women, which public opinion does not seem disposed 
 to claim very soon. The Chamber is entirely renewed 
 every four years. It is probable that the mode of elec- 
 tion will undergo still further transformations, since 
 the quarrel between the general election and the district 
 election has lasted since 1817. As for the party plat- 
 form (mandat imptlratif), that ulcer of parliamentary 
 life, " the strong organization of parties and the eleva- 
 tion of political customs " l are the only safeguards which 
 can be set up against it. 2 
 
 In the beginning, men had dreamed of considerable pre- 
 rogatives for the Senate ; on the contrary, in practice, 
 its part has been circumscribed in a greatly curtailed 
 manner ; so curtailed, in fact, that some politicians per- 
 mitted themselves to be induced to regard it as a use- 
 less piece of machinery. Later on, circumstances proved 
 the nature of its utility. In fact, it was to be feared 
 
 1 A. Ribot, Coursfait a I'ficole des Sciences Politiques (unpublished). 
 
 2 The mandat impe'ratif (party platform) , which played a prominent 
 part in the elections of 1881, is simply the instructions given to the deputy 
 by his constituents to vote in such or such a way, and the obligation 
 accepted by the deputy to make his vote conform to the requirements of 
 his constituents.
 
 58 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 that the Senate, also, would try to overthrow ministries, 
 and to demand that ministers should be held to equal 
 responsibility before both Chambers. This was a serious 
 danger ; it was only perceived after it had been averted. 
 It appeared, in principle, as if irremovability ought to 
 constitute a rampart against thoughtless impulses ; it 
 was nothing of the sort, and eventually it was found 
 possible to discard it without regret. On the other 
 hand, the elective franchise, ingeniously combined in 
 such a manner as to make all the municipal communes 
 of the country take a share in designating the senators, 
 has given the results which were expected from it. 
 But partial renewal and the longer term of office have 
 contributed, even more than its diversity of origin, to 
 make of the Senate an Assembly entirely distinct from 
 the Chamber, and thoroughly in harmony with the part 
 which events were destined to assign to it. 
 
 The President is irresponsible, and it is the National 
 Assembly which elects him for seven years ; he did not 
 seem very well armed against the exactions and arbitra- 
 riness of Parliament except through his right to force 
 a fresh consideration of laws which had been passed ; 
 and even this privilege remained unused, and certain 
 deputies were, perhaps, ignorant of its existence. The 
 right of dissolution is exercised by the President, in 
 company with the upper Chamber. The head of the 
 State communicates with the senators and the deputies 
 through the medium of messages, and presides over the 
 Council of Ministers. 
 
 The ministers may be more or less numerous; the 
 Constitution does not fix their number ; it confines 
 itself to declaring that they are responsible ; they are 
 so, individually for their own administration, and collec- 
 tively for their policy. Such, very briefly summed up,
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY. 59 
 
 are the institutions which the National Assembly of 1875 
 gave to the country after four years of waiting, and 
 without any enthusiasm whatever. No one seemed to 
 believe in their durability. " We certainly have occasion- 
 ally seen statesmen promise perpetuity to their political 
 creations," said M. de Mazade wittily ; " but M. Buffet 
 is the first to begin putting ashes on the brow of the 
 constitution which he has helped to make, by reminding it 
 of its fragility, and of the probable briefness of its exist- 
 ence." 1 On the Left, also, men felt anxious. While 
 calling attention to the fact that " difficulties and crises 
 are the living woof of free governments," Jules Ferry 
 said, with a certain melancholy : " Nothing is quickly 
 done, nothing goes by steam in the working of a govern- 
 ment of three powers. It is the slowest of all motors ; 
 it requires much time and many efforts to work and to 
 produce. The rapid processes of which modern mechan- 
 ism boasts are not its portion ; it is a government which 
 earns its daily bread, but in the sweat of its brow." 2 
 At least every one felt the necessity of making these 
 institutions live. "The Constitution of 1875," wrote 
 Jules Favre, 3 " is far from being perfect ; its scrupulous 
 maintenance is, nevertheless, one condition of public 
 safety. Not to permit any one to touch it, not to touch 
 it oneself, are two correlative rules of conduct drawn 
 from the same principles : the necessity of stable institu- 
 tions, and the duty of protecting them by their own force 
 against all attacks. When this great and salutary example 
 shall have been given, we shall have taken another step 
 along the path wherein free governments hold them- 
 selves erect. England preceded us long ago in that 
 
 1 Ch. de Mazade, Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique. 
 
 2 Letter to the journal, La Gironde, June 10, 1876. 
 8 Conferences et Melanges.
 
 60 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 path; she has found therein repose, honor, and pros- 
 perity. Let us strive to imitate her wisdom." 
 
 Never did gloomy prognostications receive from time 
 and circumstances a more absolute refutal. Conflicts 
 between the head of the State and Parliament might 
 have been apprehended ; the more so as M. Thiers had 
 under very peculiar circumstances, it is true im- 
 parted a dangerous course to the institution of the 
 Presidency. Marshal MacMahon was almost constitu- 
 tional ; M. GreVy was completely so, and every distrust 
 was extinguished, so far as the Elyse'e was concerned. 
 As for the Council of Ministers, it was, by its very in- 
 stability, the safety-anchor of the new order of things. 
 There exists in the French temperament one serious 
 defect which brings in its train a whole cohort of un- 
 pleasant consequences. Public opinion, with us, has 
 a mania for responsibility. Under the impulse of any 
 emotion whatever, or of any unforeseen event, public 
 opinion always attacks some one, and is only appeased 
 after having executed its victim even if he be an 
 innocent man. It resembles those men of irascible 
 temper, who, in order to conquer their rage, smash a 
 piece of furniture, and immediately regain calmness 
 and lucidity. When a people has such dangerous 
 habits, only a ministry can be offered to it to over- 
 throw. For if it has a responsible head of the State, 
 and attacks him, it becomes a revolution. 
 
 A number of ministerial crises which occurred under 
 the rule of 1875 spared us revolutions : the causes 
 which brought them about were often trivial, but a 
 public opinion which is not master of itself cannot be 
 reasoned with, and these crises played the beneficent 
 part of a safety-valve. On the other hand, it is not 
 quite correct to say that they disorganized the admin-
 
 JULES GREW, THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC.
 
 r -y o IH "*^S 
 [UII7BRSIT7]
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY. 61 
 
 istration ; that may have been the case in the begin- 
 ning, but the mischief was soon repaired. In the 
 majority of the ministries, the minister, beyond his 
 political part as member of the government, does not 
 do much more than peep into the portfolio of which he 
 is the nominal custodian. Directors and heads of of- 
 fices, who enjoy stability and authority, accomplish an 
 identical task and in the same spirit under a different 
 chief. This explains how it has been possible to under- 
 take great reforms, and carry them to a successful end, 
 slowly and steadily. 1 
 
 In this practical application of the Republic, every- 
 thing was unforeseen and paradoxical. An Assembly 
 with monarchical origins and tendencies founded the 
 Republic ; a constitution whose provisional character 
 was proclaimed by the very persons who had drawn it 
 up has surpassed, in its duration, all the " definitive " 
 constitutions to which it succeeded. The conflicts 
 between the two Chambers and the Presidency, which 
 seemed probable, did not take place, and harmony was 
 established between the three powers, each of which 
 assumed a different character. An uneasy turbulent 
 public opinon has, at last, found in ministerial respon- 
 sibility the safety-valve which it needed, and under 
 the external appearance of instability, a remarkably 
 stable form of government has been established, and 
 has flourished. 
 
 In 1876 the first efforts of the new Chamber, pre- 
 sided over by M. Jules Grevy, and of the new Senate, 
 which had called the Due d'Audiffret-Pasquier to the 
 chair, did not presage any such happy results. No 
 
 1 This state of things appears in a fair way to be modified in the direc- 
 tion of a more personal action of the minister in the business of his 
 department.
 
 62 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 tradition had been outlined, as yet ; discipline was 
 lacking in the parliamentary groups. Experience, also, 
 was lacking and good- will did not supply its absence. 
 This good-will was expressed by the multiplicity of 
 propositions due to the initiative of the deputies. The 
 Chamber of 1876 came together with an inexhaustible 
 supply of projects in stock. Military organization, 
 administration, magistracy, education, religion, rail- 
 ways, government of property, each man had his own 
 improvements to propose on each subject. 
 
 " There is not a day," says M. de Mazade, " that M. 
 President Grevy, a man full of patience, does not have 
 to register in its proper place some new production of 
 parliamentary measures, and a convenient device has 
 been hit upon to reconcile all interests, to eliminate the 
 element of self-love in the authors of the propositions 
 without binding oneself to anything : it is, to take 
 them into consideration. At the present moment, 
 there are more than eighty committees occupied in ex- 
 amining a multitude of motions." 1 Nevertheless, the 
 Chamber was sufficiently ministerial. The majority 
 did not have to be "sought" ; it "offered itself," in a 
 manner. "The aptitude for government carried the 
 day in proportions truly unexpected " 2 in the republi- 
 can ranks. A proof of this presented itself when the 
 question as to the election of mayors again came under 
 discussion. The republicans, on the report of Jules 
 Ferry, accepted a compromise, with the sole object of 
 not impeding the movements of the ministry. 3 Cer- 
 
 1 Ch. de Mazade, Revue des Deux Monties. Chronique. 
 
 2 Jules Ferry, Discours et Opinions. 
 
 8 It was a question of abrogating the law of January 20, 1874, and of 
 returning to the law of 1871, which did not reserve to the central power 
 the right to appoint mayors except in cities of more than twenty thousand 
 inhabitants, and in the capitals of districts. As the government had im-
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY. 63 
 
 tain advanced groups had come to an understanding 
 with the Extreme Right to perpetuate the confusion, 
 prejudices, and the eternal and useless quarrels of 
 parties. The Republic of all the rest of the world 
 certainly was not theirs ; but while M. Tirard de- 
 manded the suppression of the embassy to the Holy 
 See, and MM. Clemenceau and Raspail, upholding the 
 proposal of amnesty, declared that the " Versaillese " 
 themselves were in need of amnesty, M. Gambetta, 
 who had become president of the committee on the 
 budget, brought to the cause of order his vibrating 
 eloquence, and did not fear, in the heart of Belleville, 
 to describe the Commune as " a criminal insurrection." l 
 Nothing in the internal condition of the country 
 justified the sort of anguish, of wild perturbation, which 
 the conservatives felt in presence of the republicans ; 
 nothing unless it were their profound ignorance of their 
 ambitions and their plans. At no time has a more pro- 
 found and less well-founded divergence of sentiments 
 between the two parties been seen. The repugnance 
 which the marshal had felt in confiding the power to 
 M. Jules Simon, 2 the deputies felt, in their turn, in try- 
 
 prudently bound itself on this question, a compromise was the result: the 
 central power had the right to nominate in the capitals of the depart- 
 ments, of the districts, and of the counties. 
 
 1 It is but just to add, that with this disposition displayed by the great 
 tribune not to make his words and his acts harmonize together any too well, 
 he proposed, at the same time, the abandonment of the trials for deeds con- 
 nected with the Commune. The Chamber accepted this measure, with 
 modifications ; the Senate rejected it, and this was the cause which occa- 
 sioned the fall of the Dufaure Cabinet. 
 
 2 The question in point was, to ascertain whether the Constitution 
 authorized the Senate to reinstate the appropriations which the Chamber 
 had vetoed. " The fact is," says M. Ribot (Cours fait a I'Ecole des Sciences 
 Politiques, unpublished), "that in nearly all countries the upper Chambers 
 never raise the question of the budget : this is the established usage. If 
 the lords have made a timid and accidental attempt to act against this
 
 64 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 ing to follow the new chief of the Cabinet, even when 
 the latter defended their dearest principles. M. Jules 
 Simon was, assuredly, more truly a conservative than any 
 one of those who adorned themselves with that title and 
 refused him their votes. He gave proofs of it every day. 
 On the Left, they demanded that functionaries hostile 
 to the form of government should be weeded out. There 
 had been veritable scandals in several departments, and 
 this weeding-out was indispensable, but an effort was 
 made to make it too complete. Jules Simon energeti- 
 cally resisted. " If I were to listen to you," he said to 
 the advanced republicans, " I should introduce into 
 French customs that American rotation in office which 
 is cause of so many evils." A conflict over the annual 
 appropriation having arisen between the Chamber and 
 the Senate, the Minister defended the rights of the 
 upper House. It was impossible to set his acts in con- 
 tradiction to the words which he had uttered on coming 
 into power. He had declared that " he was profoundly 
 republican, and profoundly conservative." No one 
 could cherish ill-will against him for being conserva- 
 tive, nor feel uneasy because he was a republican. The 
 chances of a monarchical restoration had retreated so 
 greatly during the preceding four years, that with the 
 exception of a few enthusiasts no one any longer 
 dreamed of calling the form of government into ques- 
 tion ; the urgent agreed to wait, at least, until the end 
 of the seven years' term. 
 
 custom, they were unable to succeed in it, and the reform was not effected. 
 In France, the peers have never done more than docilely record the 
 annual appropriation." Gambetta maintained, that in the case in ques- 
 tion, the maximum was fixed by the deputies ; the senators could diminish, 
 but could not augment the items set down in the budget. This arrange- 
 ment was founded upon a subtle interpretation of the text of the constitu- 
 tional law.
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY. 65 
 
 No ! the conflict whose preludes were beginning to 
 enervate public opinion had other causes. For a long 
 time it was thought that the Marshal President, shar- 
 ing the uneasiness of the persons about him, had enter- 
 tained the very singular and very widely disseminated 
 idea, that the liberal ladder led, inevitably, to the abyss 
 of anarchy, and that on its slippery steps no republican, 
 not even the best-intentioned, would be able to stop the 
 country ; that, imbued with this conviction, he had re- 
 solved to apply the brake, so to speak, to the forward 
 march of public opinion, but that, through lack of deci- 
 sion and of self-confidence, he had not carried out his 
 plan, and had allowed himself to be vanquished by 
 more resolute adversaries. But there is one point 
 which rises above everything else, and upon which it 
 is impossible to be mistaken, now that the true charac- 
 ter of the crisis of the 16th of May has become clearly 
 apparent. It was not a political, but an essentially 
 religious crisis. 
 
 After Pius IX., crowning the work of his long pon- 
 tificate, had offered to the world " an intellectual Csesar- 
 isin, as the only remedy, as the solution vainly and long 
 pursued in the disorder of all things," l in France a new 
 Catholicism was beheld, no longer the same which our 
 fathers had known and loved, marching, on all sides, 
 to the assault of modern society ; it had assumed pre- 
 cise form in the gloomy days of 1870. Feeble or 
 terrified minds had accepted with ecstasy its consoling 
 visions and its surprising prophecies ; new devotions 
 had arisen; a strange idolatry formed its foundation. 
 As formerly, in Phrygia, under Marcus Aurelius, the 
 expectation of some mystical renovation hypnotized 
 souls ; scenes of illuminism and of ecstasy occurred 
 
 1 Jules Ferry, Speech delivered on June 3, 1876.
 
 66 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 every moment. " Innumerable little books spread wild 
 ideas everywhere ; the good people who read them 
 thought them more beautiful than the Bible." J When 
 calm was restored after the war, a number of sanctua- 
 ries, previously unknown, threw open their doors to 
 the faithful. The clergy maintained an attitude of 
 reserve. Strange to say, it was the laity who had led 
 the movement, organized the pilgrimages, disseminated 
 the Gospel. They seemed desirous of confiscating 
 religion, and of making it their own private property. 
 Their headquarters were at the Monastery of Paray- 
 le-Monial ; they dragged thither the deputies, and were 
 angry because the Due de Broglie and M. Beule did 
 not go there to make their devotions. M. du Temple 
 and M. de Belcastel played in the Assembly the part 
 of lay bishops ; they did their utmost to get passed the 
 law asserting the public utility of the construction 
 of the basilica of Montmartre, and there came near 
 being a solemn vote " consecrating repentant France to 
 the Sacred Heart of Jesus." No doubt, more than one 
 good Christian was sad over these exaggerations, as he 
 thought of the reaction which they must, of necessity, 
 entail. 
 
 It soon came, in fact, and there was a "disastrous 
 emulation between the clerical spirit and the radical 
 spirit. " 2 Both have their pontiffs and their trusty fol- 
 lowers ; the radical religion believes that it has received, 
 since 1793, the gift of miracles and the gift of tongues. 
 
 Clericalism, unjustly so called, since laymen have had 
 more to do with it than the priests, has quartered itself, 
 in succession, on two fields of battle, both badly chosen, 
 the temporal power of the Pope, and national educa- 
 
 1 Kenan, Marc-Aurele et la Fin du Monde Romain. 
 
 2 Ch. de Mazade, Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique.
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY. 67 
 
 tion. From 1872 to 1887, the claims made in favor of the 
 temporal power were incessant. They were multiplied, 
 without any account being taken of the difficult cir- 
 cumstances in which we found ourselves, or the most 
 elementary signs of common sense. Petitions were 
 circulated, even in the primary schools, and some were 
 couched in terms offensive to the government of King 
 Victor Emmanuel. Prelates, carried away by their 
 zeal, made this question the theme of their pastoral 
 charges, and the Bishop of Nevers went so far as to 
 organize in his diocese a manifestation against a law 
 which the Italian Parliament had just passed, and to 
 propose to the mayors in his diocese that they should 
 take part in it. It seemed as if clericalism were above 
 and outside of all law. With every passing day its 
 freaks in the direction of agitation became more dis- 
 turbing to the future of the country and to its good 
 name abroad. 
 
 At last the storm broke; a question was raised in 
 the Chamber concerning the " ultra-montane intrigues." 
 On that day Gambetta gave way to violence ; while 
 protesting that he had no intention of attacking the 
 Concordat, he depicted the episcopal body in rebellion 
 against the government, and denounced it to public 
 opinion in these celebrated words : " Clericalism that 
 is our enemy ! " This phrase exercised a great and in- 
 jurious weight over a whole epoch. Clerical politics 
 and religion are two very different things ; he was 
 just in not confounding them, and combating the one 
 without attacking the other ; he was even clever in 
 protecting himself from the one by the other. The 
 French clergy likes to be on the side of the govern- 
 ment; it might have been won, by treating it well, 
 and by not forcing it to bear the blame of the excesses
 
 68 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE, 
 
 committed by the laity. The opposition, by the same 
 stroke of policy, might have been deprived of one of 
 its most formidable weapons ; it is the religious ques- 
 tion which has permitted the monarchical parties to last 
 so long. 
 
 The reply of M. Jules Simon to the question was 
 such as moderation and reason dictated; it was evi- 
 dent that the government represented the opinion of 
 the country on that grave subject. 1 Nevertheless, the 
 debate ended in a very unsatisfactory manner. The 
 order of the day, which was passed without reaching 
 the Cabinet, was not of a nature to facilitate his task. 
 This took place on May 4. Twelve days passed, in a 
 state of undefined uneasiness: men talked of a stroke 
 of state policy, a coup d'Stat, without believing in it, 
 because, after all, nothing abnormal or disquieting had 
 taken place. But on the morning of May 16, the mar- 
 shal addressed to M. Jules Simon an angry and, in 
 every way, improper letter, in which he withdrew from 
 him his confidence. In a few moments the contents 
 of the letter were known throughout Paris, where 
 it caused troubled surprise. A ready-made ministry 
 sprang out, as it were, from a trap. The Due de 
 Broglie was its President ; MM. de Meaux, de Four- 
 tou, and a Bonapartist senator, M. Brunet, were his 
 colleagues. 2 
 
 A message of prorogation was addressed to the 
 Chambers : " I am none the less firmly resolved to-day 
 
 1 A recent incident had furnished him with an occasion for acting at 
 once with firmness and with prudence ; a pontifical bull, instituting a 
 " chancellor of the University of Lille," had been declared null and void ; 
 btit while refusing to recognize it, because it was contrary to the laws, 
 the government had not yielded to the pressure of the hasty, who de- 
 manded, with loud cries, that the free University of Lille should be closed. 
 
 2 General Berthaut and the Due Decazes retained their offices.
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY. 69 
 
 than yesterday," said the head of the State, "to respect 
 and uphold the institutions which are the work of the 
 Assembly from which I hold my power, and which has 
 set up the Republic. Until 1880 I am the only person 
 who can propose a change, and I do not intend to do 
 anything of the sort ; all my councillors are, like my- 
 self, determined loyally to put in practice the institu- 
 tions, and are incapable of aiming any blow at them. " * 
 It is not certain that the President's "councillors" 
 shared, on this point, the opinion which he expressed 
 with so much assurance. As for his conscience, it 
 reproached him with nothing. Alongside of the re- 
 publican watchword, which he had accepted without 
 mental reservations and which he was observing with 
 a fidelity "proceeding both from the delicate feelings 
 of a gentleman and from the passivity of the good 
 gendarme," 2 he considered no less imperious another 
 unwritten watchword which he interpreted with the 
 prejudices of his class and under the dominating in- 
 fluence of the circles which surrounded him. This 
 was the clerical and conservative order of the day in 
 the sense which the clericals attributed to this expres- 
 sion. In their eyes, the marshal was not the sole 
 guardian of public order ; he was still the defender 
 of certain ideas, the protector of certain groups. There 
 
 1 M. Ernest Daudet, in his Souvenirs de la Prtsidence du Martchal 
 MacMahon, asserts that the 16th of May was the personal and spontaneous 
 act of the marshal. No one said to him : " The hour has come for action : 
 act." The discussions in the Chamber exasperated him, and of his own 
 prompting he wrote the famous letter. But, on the other hand, M. Daudet 
 admits that this act had many co-workers : " The imprudent counsels of the 
 Right, and the sterile violences of the Left, had," he says, "raised the 
 head of the State to a white heat." As for the Due de Broglie, he was not 
 very enthusiastic at first. M. Daudet puts into his mouth this phrase : 
 "We have been thrown clumsily into the water, and we must swim." 
 
 2 Jules Ferry, Discours et Opinions, Vol. II.
 
 70 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 were opinions to which he ought not to allow expres- 
 sion ; there were men to whom he ought to bar the way. 
 They repeated this to him every moment. Had he 
 been left to himself, he would have been a model Presi- 
 dent ; as he was incessantly worried by the people who 
 surrounded him, he lost the proper sense of his own 
 situation, of the origin of his power and of the nature 
 of his prerogatives. Hence the honest clearness of his 
 language, and the lack of conformity between his words 
 and his actions. When in the course of his journeys 
 he replied to addresses, or sent a message to the country, 
 it was he himself who spoke or wrote ; others, too often, 
 acted in his name. But all political influences, all those 
 which were exercised in the name of a fixed party, 
 found him unshaken ; he had consented to be the 
 President of the Republic ; to betray the Republic 
 would have caused him horror ; to serve Bonapartist 
 or legitimist interests would have been to betray it. 
 The influence exercised in the name of religion found 
 him quite differently disposed ; in that quarter he was 
 vulnerable ; in that quarter, also, action was incessantly 
 brought to bear, and the marshal yielded to it all the 
 more readily because, in resisting the republicans, he 
 imagined that he was still being of use to the Re- 
 public. 
 
 The act which he had just perpetrated, moreover, re- 
 tained in his eyes the character of legality: in demand- 
 ing of the Senate the dissolution of the Chamber, he 
 did not exceed his prerogatives; at the most, he over- 
 stepped them a little by discharging the ministers on 
 his own authority. But if the Constitution remained 
 intact in form, the spirit of it was, manifestly, vio- 
 lated; the 16th of May was or tried to be, for it suf- 
 fered shipwreck a moral stroke of state policy (coup
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAT. 71 
 
 It was directed at ideas, rather than at men; 
 it aimed to hit doctrines, not institutions. Conse- 
 quently, it was for several days misunderstood; at 
 first, the country thought it a rather abrupt appeal 
 from her chief, who was consulting her in all frankness, 
 for the purpose of obtaining from it indications of a 
 clearer and more decisive course to steer. The excite- 
 ment increased in proportion as the attitude of the gov- 
 ernment contributed to emphasize the character and 
 scope of the enterprise. Men found themselves, with 
 amazement, face to face with an energetic and malevo- 
 lent attack upon public opinion, made with the object 
 of controlling and capturing it. The clergy joined in 
 it with ardor. The marshal had a policy ; he spoke of 
 it on every occasion, even to the army, 1 through the 
 strange incoherence of his disturbed judgment. The 
 ministers assumed an attitude of battle. " We have 
 not your confidence, you have not ours," M. Fourtou 
 said audaciously, from the tribune of the Chamber. 
 People had thought it was a caprice; it was a platform. 
 Everywhere in the country districts men formed cir- 
 cles, seized the newspapers ; the prefects had ingen- 
 iously discovered a means of eluding the law of 1875. 2 
 They removed the mayors, and a barefaced pressure 
 was brought to bear on the functionaries who retained 
 their posts. " Alongside of the official demonstrations, 
 by which people declare that they wish to remain on 
 
 1 At the review in the Bois de Boulogne. 
 
 2 From a speech made on July 19, 1883, in the Senate, by M. Martin- 
 Feuille'e, Keeper of the Seals (Ferry Cabinet), in connection with the law 
 suspending the irremovability of magistrates, it would result that, in five 
 months, at the epoch of May 1C, there were 2700 prosecutions of the Press, 
 more than a million francs of fines imposed, and forty-six years of prison 
 applied to journalists. As for the removals, between May 24-29, 127 sub- 
 prefects and lieutenant-governors had been replaced ; in two months, 
 M. Fourtou removed 217 prefects and sub-prefects.
 
 72 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 constitutional ground," says M. de Mazade, 1 "there is 
 in progress a whole system of operations which is grad- 
 ually thrusting the government out of the regular 
 ways, separating the personal power of the marshal 
 from the Constitution, threatening the country with 
 fresh crises, with repeated dissolutions, if it does not 
 vote right." In the face of all these illegalities, there 
 was but one thing left for the majority to do: to pre- 
 sent for re-election the 363 who had voted against the 
 ministry of May 16. 
 
 When summer came, the Councils General assembled, 
 as a matter of form, as the Parliament had not voted, 
 for 1878, the direct taxes which the departmental as- 
 semblies have to distribute in their August session. 
 As the time for the elections drew near, they had 
 been fixed for October 14, the limit of delay allowed 
 by law, official candidacy became more and more 
 scandalous. The notice, " Candidate of the govern- 
 ment of Marshal MacMahon," figured on white paper 
 in the mayors' offices. 2 The administration was lavish 
 in its appeals to the zeal of its representatives, follow- 
 ing up the public circulars with confidential circulars 
 which modified them; 3 at the same time, the bishops pub- 
 lished electoral charges, inviting the faithful to march 
 to the polls, as to the fulfilment of a religious duty. 
 
 But in spite of searches and repressions, the govern- 
 ment did not succeed in persuading the country that 
 MM. Be'renger, Ldon Renault, Laboulaye, Dufaure, or 
 Leon Say were dangerous revolutionists. At first 
 sight, the results of the day of October 14 appeared 
 rather indistinct ; but it was soon perceived that the 
 
 1 Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique. 
 
 2 The white posters, as is well known, are the official notices. 
 8 Jules Ferry, Speech in the Chamber, November 14, 1877.
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY. 73 
 
 reactionary party had suffered a terrible defeat. The 
 pressure exercised in its favor had won it only forty 
 seats, and the republican majority remained over one 
 hundred. 1 A deviation of 700,000 votes out of 10,000- 
 000 registered and of 7,000,000 voters, represented the 
 difference of forces in the two camps. 
 
 This long crisis injured both the Constitution and 
 the Universal Exposition of 1878, which opened in the 
 following spring. Commerce and industry suffered 
 from it ; uncertainty and stagnation reigned every- 
 where. Nevertheless, in certain circles, men did not 
 shrink from the responsibility of prolonging this un- 
 fortunate state of affairs, to the detriment of the coun- 
 try; the ministers did not immediately retire, having 
 in view, perhaps, the possibility of another dissolution 
 which the extreme parties demanded. It became neces- 
 sary to overthrow the Cabinet; then, twenty days later to 
 overthrow the working Cabinet which was made up, on 
 November 23, under the presidency of General Roche- 
 bouet, and with which the Chamber refused " to enter 
 into relations, in view of the fact that it saw in the con- 
 stitution of this Cabinet the disavowal of parliamentary 
 principles." 2 At last, breaking away from the baleful 
 advice of his immediate circle, the marshal became 
 himself again and decided to summon M. Dufaure, who 
 formed a ministry with the aid of MM. de Marcere, 
 Le*on Say, Bardoux, Waddington (Foreign Affairs), de 
 Freycinet, Teisserenc de Bort, Admiral Pothuau, and 
 
 1 363 against 158 was the old Chamber, in the great days ; 320 against 
 210 is, pretty nearly, the new Chamber, when it is complete. (Ch. de 
 Mazade, Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique.) 
 
 2 Journal Offlciel. The deputies, at the same time, refused their sanc- 
 tion to credits opened by decrees in the absence of the Parliament, and 
 the committee on appropriations refused, until further orders, to present 
 any report on the direct taxes. This energetic attitude conquered all the 
 resistance of the Elysee.
 
 74 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 General Borel. This was the return to normal life, the 
 re-entrance "into parliamentary verity, into the safe 
 practice of the institutions." 1 The extremists of the 
 Right saw in it a "capitulation in the face of the 
 enemy." But the nation, delivered from all anxiety 
 and reassured, joyfully returned to its business. All 
 was at peace : Marshal Canrobert went to' represent 
 France at the funeral of Victor Emmanuel; a little 
 later, the Catholic world greeted with acclamation the 
 accession of Leo XIII. to the pontifical throne, and 
 many were under the impression that a new era was 
 beginning for the Church. At Versailles, M. de Frey- 
 cinet, Minister of Public Works, presented the famous 
 plan which bears his name and which had for its object 
 the completion of the network of railways and naviga- 
 ble streams ; finally, the Exposition opened on May 1, 
 1878; its success, the national wealth and vitality of 
 which it furnished so dazzling a proof, the visits of 
 royal princes which the marshal received, the profound 
 impression made upon Europe by the spectacle of our 
 very rapid recovery, all contributed to restore calm 
 and security to men's minds. 
 
 Nevertheless, the noise of violins and the glare of 
 illuminating lamps did not prevent them from keeping 
 their eyes riveted upon the senatorial elections of Jan- 
 uary 5, 1879, because, as was most justly said, on the 
 results produced by this ballot depended, in great part, 
 the future of the new order of things. 2 The republi- 
 
 1 Speech of M. Bardoux, Minister of Public Education. On the other 
 hand, the message of December 15 formally recognized the irresponsibil- 
 ity of the President, the responsibility of the ministers, and the sovereignty 
 of universal suffrage, that " judge without appeal " ; this was the form of 
 disavowal inflicted by the marshal upon the doctrines of which they had 
 tried to make him the representative. 
 
 2 M. de Freycinet visited Normandy, then the Nord, in company with
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAY. 75 
 
 can plan of campaign consisted in discarding all the 
 senators elected who had voted, on May 16, for the dis- 
 solution of the Chamber. On October 27, 1878, the 
 municipal councils nominated their delegates ; from 
 that moment, the character of the elections of Janu- 
 ary 5 could be foreseen ; they were, at the same time, 
 both conservative and republican, in this sense, that 
 the newly elected belonged to the moderate shade of 
 opinion, while remaining firmly constitutional. The 
 chief point was, that thenceforth the Republic had in 
 the upper Chamber a majority of sixty votes. 
 
 This would have been the proper moment for all the 
 extreme views of the Left to lay down their arms ; but 
 it often happens, in such circumstances, that exactions 
 increase with success ; the divergences of view between 
 the ministry and the majority became more clearly 
 defined and more emphatic. The majority demanded 
 the suppression of the Roman Catholic universities, 1 
 secularism, free and obligatory primary education ; 
 that unauthorized monastic companies should be pro- 
 hibited from teaching; that the ministers of May 16 
 should be impeached ; amnesty and the weeding out of 
 functionaries. The government was disposed to grant 
 only the resumption by the State of the right to bestow 
 university degrees ; obligatory and semi-gratuitous pri- 
 
 M. Leon Say, then the Sud-Ouest ; he spoke much concerning public 
 works, and a little about politics. His language was moderate in tone, and 
 he never ceased to appeal to the true conservatives, exhorting them to 
 rally their forces. Gambetta was making pilgrimages also, and received 
 triumphal ovations. He launched at the Romans a new war-cry against 
 clericalism, the inopportuneness of which he seemed himself to regret. 
 He tried, nevertheless, to seem as ministerial as possible, and to render 
 more easy for M. Dufaure and his colleagues their daily task. 
 
 1 Four free departments of law had opened their doors in 1875 ; they 
 were established at Paris, Lyons, Lille, and Angers. The creation of other 
 departments had been announced, but professors, rather than money, 
 proved to be scarce.
 
 76 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 mary education ; the suppression of the letter of obe- 
 dience that took the place, in the monastic orders 
 which were engaged in teaching, of the certificate of 
 capacity ; large measures of clemency ; and a limited 
 weeding out. These concessions were deemed exces- 
 sive, on the Right ; in reality, they were very satisfac- 
 tory, and amply fulfilled the needs of the moment. 
 On the 14th of January, the ministry defended its plat- 
 form and obtained an order of the day, which contained 
 more distrust than confidence. 1 
 
 A ministerial crisis was expected ; what came was 
 a presidential crisis. The government had resigned 
 itself to the necessity of pronouncing a certain number 
 of dismissals, nearly all of them justifiable, but which 
 might have been effected in a less brutal manner, and 
 with a more just feeling of services rendered. On Jan- 
 uary 25, M. Leon Say brought to the Council a decree 
 dismissing divers functionaries in the department of 
 Finance. After a brief resistance, the marshal affixed 
 his signature. Again he signed, on the 28th, the dis- 
 missal of the Minister of Public Worship, M. Tardif, 
 presented to him by M. Bardoux ; but when General 
 Gresley made known to him the changes which he pro- 
 posed to effect in the commands of the army corps, 2 the 
 
 1 Gambetta had suddenly left the ministry, under the influence of a 
 petty spite. General Borel had retired, because he was not able to defend, 
 in a proper manner, from the tribune, the interests of the army, and the 
 marshal had preferred, for the post of Minister of War, General Gresley, 
 rather than General Farre, Gambetta's candidate. This \vas merely a 
 wound to self-love, but it was added to many others. As President of the 
 Committee on Appropriations, Gambetta should have been invited to the 
 marshal's official dinners, at the Palace of the Elyse'e ; but he was not, and 
 could not justly resent it. The decidedly too aristocratic following of the 
 head of the State spared neither disdain nor sarcasms to the " new strata." 
 
 2 Five commanders of army corps were dismissed ; five others, Gen- 
 erals Bataille, Bourbaki, du Barail, de Lartigne, and de Montaudon, were 
 placed on the retired list.
 
 THE SIXTEENTH OF MAT. 77 
 
 marshal refused to have anything to do with it, not, as 
 has been asserted, in violent and angry terms, but in a 
 tone which indicated that his mind was made up, and 
 that his will was irrevocable. 
 
 On January 30 the Council of Ministers assembled 
 at Versailles to listen to the reading of the message by 
 which the President withdrew from his functions. A 
 few hours later, M. Jules Grevy was proclaimed Presi- 
 dent of the French Republic by 563 votes out of the 
 670 cast. Just at the moment when the result of the 
 vote was reported to him in his apartments, M. Grevy 
 received a visit from Marshal de MacMahon. "I 
 wished," said the illustrious soldier, " to be the first to 
 greet the head of the State." The scene bore the 
 imprint of a truly republican simplicity. 
 
 M. Grevy had not calculated upon the difficulties 
 which awaited him. If the rapidity and dignity with 
 which the transmission of the presidential power had 
 again been effected was of a nature to make a favorable 
 impression upon Europe, on the other hand, the acces- 
 sion to the supreme rank of a plain lawyer, sprung from 
 the ranks of the people, marked too great a stage in 
 the forward march of French democracy not to arouse 
 abroad certain anxieties and certain susceptibilities. 
 With noble frankness, M. Grevy asked the marshal 
 for his aid, and the latter did not hesitate. 1 
 
 Thus ended the second Presidency of the Republic. 
 The government emerged from it greater and stronger. 
 No one but the marshal was capable of accrediting the 
 
 1 The marshal interposed, in person, with several ambassadors, on 
 behalf of his successor, of whom he spoke to them in particularly eulogis- 
 tic terms; he also wrote to certain of our representatives abroad. The 
 Marquis d'Harcourt, the Comte de Saint- Vallier, General Le Flo, the Comte 
 de Vogue", Admiral Jaures had, in fact, either resigned or announced their 
 intention to resign.
 
 78 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE, 
 
 Republic to the emperors and kings of whom his title, 
 his rank, and the military glory which surrounded him 
 rendered him almost the equal. At home, being pos-_ 
 sessed of liberal instincts, as he had already proved 
 under the Empire, his chief fault was too great mod- 
 esty. He had not sufficient confidence in his own 
 judgment. His first steps in his governmental career 
 showed him to us obstinately pursuing the establish- 
 ment of something definite, claiming that constitution 
 which had been promised to him. He made the 
 16th of May, because he had been led to believe in 
 an imaginary danger which France was incurring. 
 Under bad advice, he fell into the trap which had been 
 set for him, and did not become himself again until he 
 had "torn asunder that veil of passionate arguments 
 which had been stretched before his eyes." 1 In 
 reality, he was "haunted by anxiety for legality," 2 
 and ironical fate condemned his memory to bear the 
 burden of arbitrary measures, for which he was hardly 
 responsible. 
 
 A new period now began, a period of latent, under- 
 ground working of which superficial observers were 
 able to detect only the colorless character. As Gam- 
 betta had just said: 3 "The era of dangers was at an 
 end; that of difficulties about to begin." The hour 
 had arrived for considering "what is ripe, what is 
 urgent, what must wait, what must be discarded, what 
 must be resolutely condemned." 
 
 1 Ernest Daudet, Souvenirs de la Prtsidence du Martchal MacMahon. 
 
 8 Speech at the banquet of the commercial travellers, at the Grand 
 Hotel (January, 1879) .
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 79 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE ALARM OF 1875, AND THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 
 
 Composure and Abstention. A Triple Alternative. The Conference of 
 London. M. de Bismarck's Ideas. Intervention of Europe. At 
 the Congress of Berlin ; the First Partition of Turkey. Disinterested- 
 ness appreciated. The Difficulties of Republican Diplomacy. Forma- 
 tion of the Triple Alliance. 
 
 THE foreign policy of France from 1870 to 1889 is 
 summed up, in the eyes of many persons, in two 
 words, composure and abstention. This is, in fact, 
 the very wise formula which the country enjoined 
 upon her representatives ; our defeat, and the arduous 
 toil which it enforced upon us, counselled a reserve the 
 necessity of which was rendered still more imperious 
 by the fact that the Republic was obliged, on nearly 
 all her frontiers, to handle with great caution the sus- 
 ceptibilities of monarchical feeling. But a country 
 cannot control foreign affairs as easily as the finances 
 or the administration, and the orders which it issued 
 were not rigorously observed. No sooner was the 
 Franco- German War ended, than Europe began to busy 
 itself with the attitude which our diplomats would 
 assume, and with the direction which they would im- 
 part to our foreign policy, so thoroughly was it under- 
 stood that a great nation cannot maintain itself in an 
 isolated position, even if the form of its government 
 forbids it to negotiate alliances with neighboring 
 States. The most autocratic monarchies, those most 
 thoroughly imbued with the doctrines of divine right,
 
 80 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 have been led, by the force of circumstances, to come 
 to terms with revolutionary governments, which they 
 had tried to ignore, or with which they had, at first, 
 endeavored to hold only distant and cautious relations. 
 But such was not the case with the Third Republic, 
 regularly and legally constituted. 1 Therefore, French 
 statesmen running counter to the sentiments of prudent 
 reserve which directed public opinion, and which, more- 
 over, facilitated their task, took care not to exhibit 
 towards Europe an indifference and independence which 
 would have injured the interests with which they were 
 entrusted. 
 
 The probabilities of the future pointed, in 1871, 
 towards an alliance with Austria. It was felt to be 
 plain sailing, to the regret of our conquerors, and the 
 memory of Sadowa effaced that of Solferino. The simi- 
 larity of their destinies was bound to draw together, it 
 appeared, two nations which a fortuitous war had ren- 
 dered enemies, between whom friendship and esteem had 
 continued to exist. 2 Italy, by her official ingratitude, 
 which was not offset by the devotion of some of her sons ; 
 England, by the exaggerated caution of her neutrality; 
 Russia, by the simultaneousness of her action, which had 
 made evident her understanding with Prussia, had 
 fallen under our suspicion. Properly speaking, noth- 
 
 1 The idea expressed by Admiral La Ronciere-Le Xoury, that " the form 
 of her government prohibited France from resuming her place in the 
 European concert," was shared, in the beginning, by many of the republi- 
 cans, who grieved over it, but saw no way of remedying it. Of course, the 
 command of the Mediterranean squadron was taken away from the 
 admiral for having permitted himself such a piece of folly in public. (1875.) 
 
 2 It is to be observed that, in spite of her long participation in the 
 Triple Alliance, Austria has no enemies in France ; the Emperor Francis 
 Joseph is the only one of the sovereigns in the Triplicate who could come 
 to visit us, with a certainty that he would be received with sympathetic 
 deference. (Note of 1895.)
 
 THE CONGBESS OF BERLIN. 81 
 
 ing separated us from Austria, and on more than one 
 point our interests were identical ; on none were they 
 opposed. 
 
 Now three alliances, or, rather, three understandings, 
 since the word "alliance" implies a firm compact, 
 have been possible ; precisely those which immediately 
 after the war appeared the most improbable ; while 
 at no time has the Franco-Austrian alliance had the 
 slightest chance of realization. The first was the 
 understanding with England : it allured a certain con- 
 tingent of politicians, of liberal and thoughtful minds ; 
 it was, without doubt, the least brilliant, perhaps the 
 most rational and the most solid. 1 The second is the 
 understanding with Russia ; statesmen in whom France 
 takes pride 2 foresaw it, and made preparations for it by 
 new methods ; it was sealed between the peoples before 
 it was merely agreed upon between governing powers ; 
 but the distinct will of Alexander III. gave it the 
 sanction without which it would have had no results. 
 The third was the understanding with Germany. 
 Jules Ferry was accused of having sought it ; perhaps, 
 in fact, it did, for a moment, allure the soul of the 
 great patriot ; it would have speedily restored the fort- 
 unes of France, and at the same time have assured 
 the peace of Europe ; it was a work of audacious deli- 
 
 1 It is curious to recall what Gambetta said about it in the Chamber, 
 on July 18, 1882, in connection with the affairs of Egypt. "Well," he 
 exclaimed, " I have seen enough things to tell you this: Never break the 
 English alliance, even at the cost of the greatest sacrifices. It is not for 
 the purpose of humiliating, of lowering, of diminishing French interests 
 that I favor the alliance with England ; it is because I believe, gentlemen, 
 that they can be effectively defended by this union, by this co-operation 
 alone. If there is a rupture, all will be lost." 
 
 2 It is just to mention, likewise, that private initiative which did much 
 towards bringing about a current of Franco-Russian sympathy ; in the 
 front rank of private influences must be placed that of Mine. Adam.
 
 82 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 cacy, which required the absolute confidence of the 
 nation in the man who should dare to undertake it ; as 
 a matter of course, it included the revision of the treaty 
 of Frankfort. 
 
 Problems of a less lofty order presented themselves 
 simultaneously with those which have influenced us to 
 recast our diplomacy ; it was necessary to find men 
 qualified to represent the Republic in the courts of 
 Europe, without being forced to seek them in the ranks 
 of the adversaries of the government ; on the other 
 hand, it was necessary to reconcile the policy of secu- 
 larization, put in operation at home, with the protection 
 of Roman Catholic interests which were intimately 
 bound up, abroad, with our national interests. Al- 
 though the telegraph, railways, and the progress of 
 democratic ideas have modified the conditions in which 
 it works, yet diplomatic action, such as is practised in 
 Europe, remains a question of persons. The choice 
 of an ambassador, his social position, his tact, his quali- 
 ties of mind, settle the reception which is accorded to 
 him, and also the person of the sovereign whose envoy 
 he is, of the minister whose ideas he represents. Swit- 
 zerland and the United States form the exception, no 
 doubt ; but can they be compared with France, which 
 has so long a monarchical past, such extensive fron- 
 tiers, and so many points of contact with the States 
 which surround her ? The diplomats of the other coun- 
 tries all represent men, not institutions. How could 
 Germany, Russia, Austria, be forced to admit that ob- 
 literation of the man in favor of the institution which 
 is the fundamental dogma of the Republic, without 
 hampering the action of our ambassadors ? 
 
 As for the Roman Catholic inheritance, it complicated 
 the task of the representatives of France in the same
 
 AD. THIERS, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC.
 
 U1U7ERSITY
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 83 
 
 degree as the monarchical inheritance. No one dreamed 
 of repudiating it; but could any one accept it in its en- 
 tirety ? On the very day after it was accomplished by 
 force, and with all the appearances of a violation of 
 right, the fall of the temporal power of the Popes 
 aroused the wrath of the Roman Catholic universe. 
 Time alone could assuage the ill-will by proving that 
 the spiritual power of the Holy See had been strength- 
 ened by that fall. Until that time should arrive, great 
 circumspection was imperatively necessary. Our agents 
 would have no influence as defenders of Roman Catholic 
 interests at a distance, except in so far as France and 
 the Holy See should maintain friendly relations, and pre- 
 cisely the hostility of the clergy and the clericals against 
 the Republic seemed destined to bring about a tension 
 perhaps a momentary rupture between the Vatican 
 and the Cabinet of Paris. 
 
 Many other difficulties of detail had accumulated 
 beneath the feet of our diplomats ; among the rest, the 
 following, which might appear particularly formidable 
 to them : their acts would be interpreted and judged 
 quite differently in the French Parliament from the 
 way in which they would be interpreted and judged by 
 the public opinion of the peoples among whom they 
 resided ; the point, of view would never be the same ; 
 the deputies would be unable to divest themselves, for 
 the purpose of considering foreign policy, of the habits 
 of mind with which they decided domestic affairs ; for, 
 it must be said, if the republican party had prepared 
 itself to govern at home, it had made no preparations 
 to negotiate abroad ; but a scheme of diplomacy cannot 
 be invented, and diplomats cannot be extemporized. 
 
 Sagacity, patriotism, made everything easy ; but 
 none the less, when we consider the arduousness of the
 
 84 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 task must we pay homage to those who accepted it 
 with self-devotion, and fulfilled it with skill. 
 
 On September 9, 1870, Jules Favre, Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs of the National Defence, had " entreated 
 M. Thiers to go and solicit the aid of the British 
 Cabinet." 1 Of all the European powers, England was 
 the one which remained most indifferent to the over- 
 throw of a throne, and her interest seemed to be not to 
 permit Germany to abuse her victory. It was natural 
 to appeal to her, in the first place ; but M. Thiers did 
 not wish to go to London without also going to Rome, 
 to Vienna, to St. Petersburg, chief of all. Had he the 
 unexpressed idea that, as the necessary head of the gov- 
 ernment which was on the point of being established, 
 it was desirable that he should " present the Republic 
 to Europe in his person " ? 2 This plan was not felici- 
 tous. It was a sentimental policy ; M. Thiers was a 
 bad diplomat ; he did not conceal well his private 
 thoughts, and too great a confidence in his own prestige 
 prevented his adopting the language and the manners 
 of the chancellors' offices. Moreover, the undertaking 
 was beyond the strength or talent of any one. 3 
 
 Europe assembled at London, but it was for the 
 purpose of revising that treaty of 1856, which we had 
 imposed upon Russia fifteen years earlier, and which 
 
 1 Debidour, Histoire Diplomatique, Vol. II. 
 
 2 76 id. 
 
 3 It has been asserted that, during M. Thiers' journey, the Comte de 
 Chambord, who represented Foreign Affairs in the delegation of Tours, 
 had succeeded in arousing the susceptibility of England, by making her 
 fear that M. Thiers had entered into engagements with Russia. The 
 English government, it is said, even made a proposal which was very 
 well received by Italy and Austria, and which " aimed at a regular media- 
 tion between the belligerent parties." M. Thiers, ou his return to Tours, 
 is said " to have caused the failure of everything by his obstinacy in cling- 
 ing to the Russian system." These facts, accepted by M. Debidour in his 
 Histoire Diplomatique, should be received, it seems to us, with caution.
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 85 
 
 now weighed in the balance of our fate. Far from 
 dreaming of coming to the aid of France, Prince 
 Gortchakoff did his duty, after all, as a Russian, by 
 taking advantage of the circumstances to liberate his 
 country from the shackles applied to her ambitions. 
 The conference of London opened on January 17, 1871; 
 M. de Bismarck invented the most petty sort of pro- 
 ceedings to prevent Jules Favre from leaving Paris, 
 and he seemed to rejoice that France's signature would 
 not figure at the foot of the act of revision of the treaty 
 of 1856. The conference overcame his resistance ; it 
 adjourned repeatedly, by way of expressing its explicit 
 desire to have a French plenipotentiary take part in the 
 labors. 1 But it was its no less explicit will that the 
 discussion should not be allowed to transgress its 
 bounds which had been fixed in advance ; the majority 
 of the plenipotentiaries had received, on this point, 
 very precise instructions from their governments, and 
 in this way Lord Granville's good intentions with 
 regard to France were paralyzed. 2 The London con- 
 ference was, none the less, useful to our national in- 
 terests ; in order thoroughly to understand this, one 
 must imagine to himself the consequences which would 
 have been entailed by a forced absence under such 
 solemn circumstances, at a moment when, in the 
 presence of the disaster which we had suffered, Europe 
 was wondering whether we should ever succeed in 
 wholly recovering from it. 
 
 There is no doubt whatever that Prince Bismarck, by 
 
 1 It was not until March 13 that the Due de Broglie was able to ratify 
 the acts of the conference, iu the name of France. 
 
 2 Lord Granville had insinuated that " at the end of the conference, or 
 even after one of the sessions, the representative of France, taking ad- 
 vantage of the presence of the plenipotentiaries, might submit to them 
 some question of interest for his country."
 
 86 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 causing, through his excessive demands, the prolonga- 
 tion of the struggle to the last extremities, cherished 
 the hope of reducing France to the rank of a secondary 
 power ; he had this more at heart than the possession 
 of Alsace-Lorraine. An augmentation of territory was 
 nothing in comparison with the perspectives which 
 opened out for the German Empire by the disappear- 
 ance of France from the concert of great powers. 
 This illusion, which he was slow to renounce, and which 
 he appears to have entertained contrary to all evidence, 
 explains the brutality of his policy. When, at last, 
 his eyes were opened, his bad temper came near provok- 
 ing a new war ; that is what was called the alarm of 
 1875. When Europe interposed, he suddenly recon- 
 ciled himself to seeing France maintained in her former 
 rank, and confined himself to remaining on the defensive 
 towards her, not without an eye, perhaps, to the possi- 
 bility of coming to an understanding with her in the 
 distant future. 
 
 This strange series of evolutions is outlined in the 
 correspondence of the chancellor with Count von Arnim, 
 his ambassador to France. In January, 1872, on the 
 arrival of Prince Orloff at Paris, M. de Bismarck wrote 
 to M. von Arnim : "I beg that Your Excellency will not 
 permit yourself to be led astray by the rumor of sym- 
 pathy for France which has preceded the prince, nor 
 by the declarations of M. de Remusat, but that you will, 
 on the contrary, regard and treat Prince Orloff with 
 all confidence, as the sure friend of Germany. As I 
 have known him for many years, I cannot share the 
 fear that the adulation which will, probably, surround 
 him at Paris will bring about a change in his senti- 
 ments. The national Russian feeling is very strong in 
 him, and that constrains him to maintain good relations
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 87 
 
 with us." 1 On May 12 he asserted that "the party 
 in favor of the Bonapartist Empire is, probably, the 
 one with whose assistance one can most reasonably 
 natter oneself that he can establish tolerable rela- 
 tions between France and Germany." 2 The despatch 
 of December 20 following is one of the most instruc- 
 tive. It is plain that the chancellor desires that M. 
 Thiers shall be upheld until the treaty of Frankfort 
 shall have been executed. He was already afraid lest 
 it should become necessary " to draw the sword again," 
 and his preferences now appear turned towards the 
 Republic. He fears, if royalty be re-established, that 
 he shall be forced by other European cabinets "to 
 favor the development of the monarchical germ by mak- 
 ing to the monarchy concessions which would have 
 been refused to the Republic." Moreover, the monarchy 
 would render France "capable of concluding alliances." 
 As for the republican platform, the chancellor pleas- 
 antly rallies M. von Arnim upon his fright on this 
 point. " If France," he says, " were to play in the 
 presence of Europe a second act of the uninterrupted 
 drama of the Commune (a thing which I do not desire, 
 from motives of humanity), it would help to make the 
 Germans feel still more strongly the benefits of a 
 monarchical constitution, and would augment their at- 
 tachment to the institutions of the monarchy." 3 But 
 M. d' Arnim would not be convinced, and his procedures 
 brought down upon him, on June 9, 1873 (shortly after 
 the fall of M. Thiers), bitter reproaches for having 
 managed to acquire personal influence over the Emperor 
 William, and to interest him in the cause of the mon- 
 
 1 Hippeau, Histoire Diplomatique de la Troisieme Rtpublique, 
 
 2 Napoleon III. was still living at this date. He did not die until 
 January 9, 1873. 
 
 8 Hippeau, Histoire Diplomatique de la Troisieme Rtpublique.
 
 88 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 archy. "You have prevented our throwing all the 
 weight of our influence into the scales in favor of M. 
 Thiers," writes the chancellor. 1 This whole correspond- 
 ence proves how difficult M. de Bismarck found it to 
 separate the Republic from the Commune in his own 
 mind. The reconstruction of the army did not seem 
 possible to him without the monarchy; the idea of a 
 well-balanced, rational Republic remained foreign to 
 him. On the other hand, our recovery already mani- 
 fested itself before his very eyes ; he could not help 
 seeing it ; so his attitude became more and more bel- 
 ligerent. " We are ready," he wrote, in a later despatch, 
 " to fight the war over again, as soon as the presumptu- 
 ous acts of France force us to it." He recommended 
 the ambassador not to take any pains to win the sym- 
 pathy of the French, whose "every government, to 
 whatever party it belongs, will regard revenge as its 
 principal mission." And fortified by the interview of 
 the three Emperors which had taken place in Berlin, he 
 thought he had a right to demand from the government 
 of the marshal, that, henceforth, we would regard " as 
 definitive the political condition of Europe." 2 In a 
 word, during this whole period it seemed " to be a part 
 of the policy of Berlin to maintain difficulties with 
 France, and not to permit of their being stopped, or 
 coming to a solution." 3 On November 26, 1873, imme- 
 diately after the organization of the seven years' term, 
 the Due Decazes took the department of Foreign Affairs, 
 which he was destined to conduct for four years. 
 Shortly afterwards, he was led to state from the tribune * 
 the policy of the government with regard to Italy, and 
 
 1 Hippeau, Histoire Diplomatique de la Troisieme Republique. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 Ernest Daudet, Souvenirs de la Prtsidence du Martchal MacMahon. 
 
 4 In reply to a question by M. du Temple. Session of January 20, 1874.
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 89 
 
 he defined France's double role in these words : " To 
 surround with pious respect, with sympathetic and 
 faithful sympathy, the august Pontiff to whom we are 
 united by so many bonds, by extending that protection 
 and that solicitude to all the interests which are con- 
 nected with the spiritual authority, with the indepen- 
 dence and the dignity of the Holy Father ; to maintain, 
 without ulterior designs, with Italy such as circum- 
 stances have made it, the harmonious, pacific, friendly 
 relations which the general interests of France recom- 
 mend, and which will also permit us to guard the great 
 moral interests with which we rightly occupy our at- 
 tention. We desire peace," added the Due Decazes, 
 " because we believe it to be necessary for the greatness 
 and the prosperity of our country ; because we believe 
 that it is ardently desired, ardently demanded by all. 
 In order to assure it, we shall work without relaxation 
 to dispel all misunderstandings, to forestall all conflicts, 
 and we shall defend her against all vain declamations, 
 against all regrettable incitations, from what quarter 
 soever they emanate. Let no one tell us that we are 
 compromising the honor and the dignity of France. The 
 honor and dignity of France cannot be compromised ex- 
 cept by political adventurers, who would inevitably lead 
 her to the commission of a weakness or a folly." 
 
 The form was happy, the idea wise. It was of the 
 utmost importance to cut short, without delay, the 
 compromising manoeuvres of the wild enthusiasts, 
 who were combining in one worship Pius IX. and 
 Don Carlos, and who never took their eyes off of Rome 
 except to gaze at the Spanish frontier, where the pre- 
 tender was trying to regain his throne, arms in hand. 
 All the more important was it to clear the government 
 from responsibility, because Germany was not disinter-
 
 90 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 ested either in the question of Italy, or in the Spanish 
 question. "I do not for an instant doubt," Prince 
 Bismarck is said to have remarked at this epoch, "that 
 the revenge which is desired in France will be led up 
 to by religious complications in Germany. They wish 
 to paralyze German unity. An influential party of the 
 Roman Catholic clergy, who receive their orders from 
 Rome itself, serves French policy because with it are 
 bound up the efforts at restoration in the States of the 
 Church." 1 It was the epoch of the Kulturkampf. 2 
 
 There were times when the chancellor seemed no 
 longer master of himself ; one would have said that 
 bursts of wrath deprived him of his habitual lucidity 
 of mind. If we may trust a confidential remark, ex- 
 changed in March, 1875, between Count von Munster, 
 German ambassador in London, and Comte de Jarnac, 
 our representative, it is to " the nerves of M. de Bis- 
 marck " that we must attribute the anxieties and agita- 
 tions of this period. It does not appear improbable, 
 to any one who remembers the attempts at intimidation 
 directed against Belgium in consequence of a trivial 
 accident ; 3 the demand made upon Italy to modify the 
 
 1 Hippeau, Histoire Diplomatique de la Troisieme Rtpnblique. 
 
 2 As early as 1871 the Roman Catholic division of the Ministry of 
 Public Worship had been suppressed. In the following year, the Jesuits 
 had been expelled. Finally, on January 11, 1873, the four laws known as 
 those " concerning the Defence of civilization," whicli were passed on the 
 24th of the following April, were presented. As for Spain, M. de Bismarck 
 energetically upheld the government of Marshal Serrano, and busied him- 
 self with making Europe recognize it, perhaps through fear of seeing cleri- 
 calism established there with Don Carlos. It was under the inspiration of 
 Germany that Marshal Serrano took up the frontier incidents, and ad- 
 dressed demands to France on the subject of the protection granted to 
 Carlist refugees. The Due Decazes managed to calm the dispute, and 
 soon afterwards, the restoration, headed by Alphonso, changed the face 
 of things. 
 
 8 A Belgian coppersmith had written to the Archbishop of Paris offer- 
 ing to assassinate M. de Bismarck, if the money were forthcoming.
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 91 
 
 law of guarantees, 1 because of a pontifical letter from 
 Pius IX., which gave displeasure at Berlin; the foolish 
 repression which followed the attempt upon the Em- 
 peror at Kissingen ; the prosecution of the director of 
 the G-ermania against the Bishop of Nancy and the 
 thirty-six priests who were guilty of having read, from 
 the pulpit, his pastoral letter. 2 But it was after the 
 National Assembly had voted the law of military 
 grades (March 12, 1875) that events seemed to be on 
 the point of coming to a crisis. Recriminations, quar- 
 rels over the question of armaments, were multiplied 
 without reason, and a newspaper campaign of unprece- 
 dented violence began in Berlin ; the journals were, 
 evidently, obeying the word of command. The Vicomte 
 de Gontaut wrote to the Due Decazes, expressing 
 his uneasiness, and the minister notified M. Gavard, 
 our charge d'affaires in London (Comte de Jarnac 
 had just died), and General Le Flo, our ambassador in 
 St. Petersburg. Every day the marshal's govern- 
 ment expected to be attacked ; it had been decided 
 that our troops should immediately retreat beyond 
 the Loire, and that France should appeal to Europe 
 against this violation of right. It was thought that 
 the moment had arrived, when Prince Hohenlohe 
 presented himself at the Quai d'Orsay as the bearer 
 of a serious communication from his government 
 relative to our armaments, "which annoyed Ger- 
 many." But, very luckily, neither Count Andrassy, 
 nor Prince Gortchakoff, nor Lord Derby, nor Mr. Dis- 
 raeli fell into the trap which was set for them. It was 
 but too evident that France had given to Germany no 
 
 1 The law of guarantees regulates the relations of the Italian govern- 
 ment with the Holy See. 
 
 2 France and the Holy See had not yet proceeded to map out anew the 
 dioceses which had been dismembered by the annexation.
 
 92 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 cause of discontent. They soon learned that Lord 
 Odo Russell had intervened at Berlin, and, on the other 
 hand, General Le Flo transmitted, from St. Petersburg, 
 a formal promise of support. 1 Public opinion, which 
 knew nothing of these negotiations, was instructed by 
 the Times. In a celebrated correspondence, dated from 
 Paris, and inspired, it is said, by an influential member 
 of the ministry, the English journal unveiled the Prus- 
 sian plan, which consisted in "entering France, invest- 
 ing Paris by a rapid march, and taking up a position on 
 the table-land of Avron, for the purpose of imposing a 
 new treaty which should restore Belfort to Germany, 
 limiting the number of the standing army, and exacting 
 a contribution of ten milliards payable in twenty years^ 
 with interest at five per cent, and without the anticipa- 
 tion of payment being allowed." This was the appli- 
 cation of a formula dear to the German military party, 
 and which may be summed up as follows : " Making an 
 end of France is not only an opportunity to be seized, 
 but it is also a duty towards Germany and towards 
 
 1 It was said that Queen Victoria had directly intervened with the 
 German Emperor. It is very probable. In any case, on the 24th of the 
 following May, Lord Hartington having interrogated the Prime Minister 
 on this subject, Mr. Disraeli replied : " It is true that the ministry advised 
 Her Majesty to address representations to the government of the German 
 Emperor in relation to the state of the relations between France and 
 Germany. The object of these observations was to rectify some inaccu- 
 rate ideas, and to assure the maintenance of peace. These observations 
 received a satisfactory reply." William I., who did not read the news- 
 papers much, is said to have been ignorant of what was going on, and 
 heard of it through Count Schouvaloff, the Russian ambassador in 
 London, who stopped at Berlin on his way back to his post. In spite of 
 his chancellor's denials, the Emperor speedily divined the author, and his 
 secret motives, as is indicated by the remark which he addressed to M. de 
 Gontaut towards the end of the crisis: "They have tried to make mis- 
 chief between us. but it is all over now." See the narration of these 
 events found in the papers of M. Charles Gavard and published by the 
 Correspondent (November, 1893).
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 93 
 
 humanity." The article in the Times caused a pro- 
 found sensation in Europe ; the indignation was gen- 
 eral ; M. de Bismarck feigned astonishment, everything 
 calmed down as if by magic, and the nations breathed 
 freely once more. When the Emperor of Russia 
 arrived in Berlin, on May 11, the crisis was already 
 averted, but his influence was, none the less, exercised 
 in the direction promised to the Due Decazes, and the 
 words which he uttered made the chancellor under- 
 stand the danger to which he would expose himself 
 by trying to mix the cards again. 
 
 Throughout this whole affair the Due Decazes showed 
 a versatility, decision, energy, and dignity for which 
 men were very grateful to him, and which were, never- 
 theless, misunderstood. The minister's detractors even 
 went so far as to assert that France at that time had not 
 been " directly menaced " by Germany, and this was v 
 done for the purpose of ridding themselves of all grati- 
 tude to him. History will declare, quite on the con- 
 trary, that he understood how to adopt a line of conduct 
 which was equally removed from presumption, which 
 would have deprived us of the sympathies of other 
 nations, and from pusillanimity, which would have 
 compromised the honor of France. 
 
 In the month of June, of that same year, 1875, fertile 
 in events and in misunderstandings, an insurrection 
 broke out in Herzegovina, and rapidly invaded Bosnia, 
 Servia, and Montenegro. Austria, who was most 
 directly interested, was the first to intervene, 1 but she 
 did not succeed in triumphing over Ottoman inertia ; 
 
 1 She published, on November 30, the "Andrassy note," which de- 
 manded moderate satisfaction, but in a rather imperious tone ; it was a 
 question of religious liberty, and of the amelioration of the lot of Chris- 
 tians. The Turkish government received the note with an air of deep 
 concern and shelved it.
 
 94 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 so that, in the spring of 1876 the situation, which 
 had been growing worse every day, had become very 
 serious, a general effervescence had manifested itself 
 in the East ; the consuls of France and Germany were 
 assassinated at Salonica ; the Servians, beaten at all 
 points, appealed to Europe, and an insurrectionary 
 movement having broken out in Bulgaria, between 
 fifteen and twenty thousand Christians were massacred. 
 This iniquitous repression unchained the wrath of 
 public opinion, without, however, bringing the govern- 
 ments into harmony. England refused her assent to 
 the memorandum of Berlin, which the three chancellors 
 had drawn up, and which France and Italy had im- 
 mediately accepted. At Constantinople, comedy was 
 mingled with the drama. According to a picturesque 
 expression, the Sultan Abd-ul Azis had "been suicided'*; 
 his successor, Mourad V., was playing the part of a con- 
 stitutional monarch ; by way of furnishing proofs of its 
 reformatory intentions, the Porte proclaimed a parlia- 
 mentary constitution and assembled a " High Council," 
 to which it gravely submitted the propositions of the 
 European plenipotentiaries assembled in conference on 
 the shores of the Bosphorus. 1 Of course, the High 
 Council rejected them. The Porte reckoned on time 
 and luck to extricate it from its scrape. But pacific 
 as were the intentions of the Emperor of Russia, he 
 could not allow Servia, "that vanguard of the Slavic 
 world," to be crushed, nor the Christians to be mas- 
 sacred in Bulgaria without coming to their rescue. On 
 February 1, 1877, Prince Gortchakoff published a 
 diplomatic circular in which were summed up the 
 negotiations which had taken place, and which had 
 
 1 The conference opened on December 23, 1876, and sat until January 
 20, 1877.
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 95 
 
 resulted in a checkmate ; Russia asked from Europe 
 the warrant to act in its name. A protocol, signed at 
 London on March 31, was addressed to Turkey ; it 
 was a sort of ultimatum, to which, at Constantinople, 
 they opposed a plea in bar. All attempts at concilia- 
 tion having been exhausted, the Emperor declared war 
 on April 22. 
 
 There is no need to recount here all the fortunes of 
 the Russo-Turkish War ; it proved that the Ottoman 
 Empire the " sick man," as it was called in the chancel- 
 leries still had at its command marvellous reserves of 
 strength and of military valor. The siege of Plevna, 
 the names of Skobeleff and of Osman Pasha, gloriously 
 dominate this bloody period. 
 
 Europe watched with anguish its successive phases; 
 it was reassured only when it became evident that the 
 conflict would not spread. The smell of powder made 
 it shudder ; it resembled a sentry standing guard over 
 a powder-magazine and a stack of burning hay. Men 
 had become accustomed to the thought that the general 
 conflagration which was so much dreaded would have 
 its origin in the neighborhood of Constantinople, and 
 that the Eastern Question contained the germ of all 
 the evils with which the West felt itself to be menaced. 
 
 France, in these circumstances, had preserved a very 
 particular circumspection ; thus the Due Decazes had 
 requested our agents and representatives to observe 
 the rules of the strictest neutrality ; l nevertheless, he 
 had given special instructions to M. Chaudordy, order- 
 ing him to manifest Russophil sentiments in the measure 
 which was compatible with the general interests of the 
 country. England, also, remained neutral ; when the 
 rout of the Turks was complete and the treaty of San 
 
 1 Circular of April 25, 1877.
 
 96 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Stefano had established their defeat, they seemed to 
 perceive in London that they had waited too long, and 
 they hastened to make up for lost time ; the British 
 government established itself on the Isle of Princes, 
 opposite Constantinople, threatened to occupy the Dar- 
 danelles, and openly made preparations for war, calling 
 the reserves in England to arms and transporting 
 Indian troops to Malta. Russia felt that she was not 
 sustained by Germany, and was obliged to submit to 
 an international Congress assembled at Berlin the 
 clauses of the treaty which she had just imposed upon 
 Turkey, and several of which appeared exaggerated. 1 
 
 The Congress of Berlin differed greatly from those 
 diplomatic conferences to which the Eastern Question 
 had been so often submitted and which had not been 
 able even to regulate its least important incidents. It 
 was a great assembly; the powers were represented at it 
 by their most skilful statesmen, Prince Gortchakoff, 
 Lord Beaconsfield, Prince Bismarck, Count Andrassy. 2 
 For the German Empire it was the first solemn act of 
 European arbitration ; it was, also, for the French Re- 
 public her first entrance into the company of the great 
 powers. M. Waddington, 3 Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 
 1 This abandonment of Germany was keenly felt at St. Petersburg. 
 Russia asked from Germany the service which she had rendered to her in 
 1870, the liberty of proceeding to the very end without having to fear 
 intervention. But " M. de Bismarck made it impossible for Russia to pick 
 up the gauntlet which England had thrown down." (Debidour, Histoire 
 Diplomatique, Vol. II.) 
 
 2 The plenipotentiaries were: for England, Lord Beaconsfield, Lord 
 Salisbury, and Lord Odo Russell: for Germany, Prince Bismarck, M. de 
 Bulow, and Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfiirst ; for Austria, Count Andrassy, 
 Count Karolyi, and Baron Haymerle; for France, M. Waddington, Count 
 de Saint- Vallier, and M. Deprez ; for Russia, Prince Gortchakoff, Count 
 Schouvaloff, and Councillor d'Oubril : for Italy, Count Corti and Count 
 de Launay; for Turkey, Caratheodory Pasha, Mehemet All Pasha, and 
 Sadoullah Bey. 
 
 3 M. Waddington had accepted the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 97 
 
 would not entrust to any one the charge of speaking 
 in the name of France On this occasion. But before 
 betaking himself to Berlin, he was bent upon clearly 
 defining before the Chamber the policy of frankness 
 and equity by which he intended to be guided, that 
 policy "of clean hands" to which Gambetta had al- 
 ready laid claim. Although it was not very fruitful 
 in immediate results, yet the majority, in Parliament as 
 well as in the country, had the good sense to content 
 themselves with it; it was disapproved only by the 
 professional patriots, always ready to compromise their 
 country under the pretence of guarding its dignity. 
 
 Once more it came to pass that the most honest 
 attitude was the most clever ; we derived a real profit 
 from this Congress of Berlin, where our representatives 
 gave proof of the qualities which had been lacking in our 
 preceding government, disinterestedness, sagacity, 
 calmness. People were agreeably surprised to see that 
 the Republic was so little like what they had augured. 
 Moreover, M. Waddington had made sure that certain 
 subjects would be reserved, that neither the question of 
 Egypt, nor that of Syria, would come under consider- V 
 
 in the second Dufaure ministry, formed in December, 1877, and which 
 lasted thirteen months. He became President of the Council immediately 
 after the election of M. Grevy, left MM. de Marcere, Leon Say, de Frey- 
 cinet, and General Gresley in possession of their posts, and added MM. 
 Le Royer, Jules Ferry, Lepere, and Admiral Jaureguiberry. M. Wadding- 
 ton, in spite of his English name, belonged to a prominent family of 
 manufacturers, which had been settled in France for over one hundred 
 years. Only, in contrast to many of his cousins, who are wholly French 
 in their ways and their language, M. W. Waddington received a part of 
 his education in England, and was connected, for several years, with the 
 University of Cambridge. He spoke English admirably, and retained certain 
 English habits with which his enemies bitterly reproached him. Never- 
 theless, he was a good and loyal servant of France. Member of the Insti- 
 tute, by reason of his much-esteemed works on Numismatics, he finished 
 his career as ambassador of France in London, a post which he occupied 
 for nearly ten years.
 
 98 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 ation, and that the protectorate exercised by France 
 over the Holy Places would not be, in any way, dis- 
 cussed. 1 At the Congress he was careful not to provoke 
 an " offer of compensation," but forewarned the pleni- 
 potentiaries, and Lord Salisbury in particular, of the 
 contingency of French intervention in Tunis. The neu- 
 trality of England was thus secured for us, and when, 
 later on, our troops disembarked in Tunis, the threats 
 of Italy awoke no echo in Europe and our action 
 aroused no resistance on the part of the other powers. 
 M. Waddington intervened again on behalf of Greece, 
 whose representatives were admitted, on his demand, to 
 a share in the sessions of the Congress. It is one of the 
 traditions in France to uphold the Greeks. Some 
 momentary ill-temper was displayed, on this point. It 
 was said that we had raised the G-reek question. But as 
 the Greek question formed one chapter in the Eastern 
 Question, and certainly not the least important, it was 
 impossible to reopen the latter without touching upon 
 the former. From the moment that the Congress 
 recognized the independence of Servia, Roumania, and 
 Montenegro, the least that it could do for Greece was 
 to give her " expectations " and a promise of mediation 
 between her and Turkey. A protocol of the Congress 
 
 1 England had been forced to consent to this ; it is said that, unable to 
 flatter herself that she could obtain Egypt, she had secretly proposed to 
 Austria an uuderstanding by which they were to exercise a sort of joint 
 moral protectorate over the Ottoman Empire; if this be a fact, it is not 
 surprising that the Emperor Francis Joseph and Count Andrassy should 
 have repelled so impudent a proposition. In any case, England directly 
 procured for herself " a choice morsel." On June 4 a secret treaty was 
 signed between her government and that of the Sultan ; it had reference 
 to the island of Cyprus, which was immediately occupied. The terms of 
 this treaty were peculiar in this respect, that England stipulated for 
 reforms " in the Asiatic provinces of the Ottoman Empire," in compensa- 
 tion for the administration of the island of Cyprus, which she consented 
 to undertake.
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 99 
 
 recommended to both a speedy understanding for the 
 settling of the boundary lines. The understanding did 
 not take place. Thessaly and Epirus gave occasion, 
 on the part of Greece, for certain claims which Turkey 
 would not admit under any pretext whatsoever. 
 
 Moreover, this was not the only disappointment to 
 which the Congress of Berlin gave rise. Without going 
 so far as to assert that the Congress seemed to have 
 been convoked "for the purpose of breeding quarrels 
 between all the great powers, and even among many of 
 the smaller powers," l it must be conceded that this 
 " first partition of Turkey " 2 did not seem to be of a 
 nature to assure the general peace. Austria could only 
 occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina, as she had been au- 
 thorized to do, after a desperate struggle, in which her 
 adversaries were morally supported by Hungary ; the 
 Albanian populations granted to Servia and Monte- 
 negro revolted ; an insurrection broke out in Macedonia, 
 and another in Roumelia. Repeated alterations were 
 necessary ; a conference assembled in Berlin, on June 
 16, 1880, to complete what the Congress had sketched 
 out, and to modify the defective parts of its work; it 
 only half succeeded. In order to execute the decision 
 which gave to Montenegro the little port of Dulcigho, 
 it became necessary to assemble considerable inter- 
 national forces in the Adriatic ; the " naval demonstra- 
 tion " of Dulcigno was reckoned among the most ridicu- 
 lous of happenings, and emphasized the incomplete and 
 precarious character of the concessions made on both 
 sides. As for the Hellenes, they were dropped without 
 much sense of shame, after they had received a great 
 deal of attention, and France was guilty of the awk- 
 
 1 Hippeau, Histoire Diplomatique de la Troisieme R6publique. 
 
 2 Albert Vandal, Cours de I'ficole des Sciences Politiques.
 
 100 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 wardness of causing them a great disappointment after 
 having given them a great deal of hope. 1 
 
 It will be useful for us to cast a rapid glance at the 
 state of Europe immediately after the Congress of Ber- 
 lin. It happens that at certain turning-points of the 
 century, nations meet like promenaders in a garden ; 
 then it is that groups are recast, and, for a moment, all 
 combinations become possible. Such was the case with 
 the Europe of 1879. 
 
 1 After having been upheld by M. Waddington and by M. de Freycinet, 
 the Hellenes found themselves rather neglected by M. Barthelemy Saint- 
 Hilaire, as it appears from three circulars dated December 24, 28, 1880, 
 and January 7, 1881; these circulars were unexpectedly published by the 
 Presse of Vienna, and the Morning Post of London, and gave rise to 
 parliamentary debate provoked by M. Antonin Proust. Russia and 
 England, who were ready to uphold Greece, in company with France, felt 
 our unjustifiable retreat with much keenness, and the British government 
 gave publicity to two despatches, from the Blue Book, of its representa- 
 tive in Athens, one of which, dated August, 1880, was couched in these 
 terms: " France's disposition to abandon, or at least to modify the active 
 part which the government of the Republic was to take with the object of 
 settling the Greek frontiers in conformity with the decisions of the Con- 
 ference of Berlin, that disposition being made evident by the tone of the 
 French press, by the delay in the arrival here of the French officers 
 entrusted with reorganizing the Greek army, by the sudden retreat of the 
 French squadron, and by the non-fulfilment of the promise made by the 
 French government to furnish thirty thousand rifles to Greece, has 
 caused a feeling of disappointment throughout that country." In fact, 
 not only had the Thomassin mission set out, under the pretext that the 
 German government was furnishing, at the same time, officers to Turkey 
 and that a collision might occur ; but when Greece asked permission to 
 buy munitions of war, M. de Freycinet informed his war colleague (con- 
 fidential letter of July 27, 1880) " that by reason of the interpretations to 
 which this act might give rise, at that moment, the President of the 
 Republic and the Council of Ministers thought it preferable to abstain." 
 It was afterwards learned that the contractors employed by Greece were 
 buying, in our arsenals, rejected material ; the government cancelled the 
 sales, and stopped the vessels when they sailed. This whole incident 
 is significant, in that it shows an anxiety to preserve the peace which, 
 though very laudable in great things, became, when applied to details of 
 such secondary importance, greatly exaggerated, and came near incurring 
 the risk of compromising the national dignity.
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 101 
 
 In Germany, M. de Bismarck was pursuing the series 
 of his evolutions. Down to 1866 he had associated 
 himself with the conservatives for the purpose of per- 
 fecting the military power of Prussia; after 1866 he 
 had formed an alliance with the democracy and estab- 
 lished universal suffrage, with the object of having 
 within his reach a truly national opinion to which he 
 could appeal at need. From 1870 to 1878 he had gov- 
 erned with the liberal party against the ultramontanes ; 
 he now made approaches to the latter, with the purpose 
 of securing the triumph of his political economy, and 
 of waging war against socialism. The resistance of 
 the Reichstag had in store for him a series of surprises 
 and vexations. After the alarm of 1875, he had sud- 
 denly accustomed himself to the idea of a France of the 
 first magnitude, which should continue to figure in the 
 constellation of the great powers ; soon he would be 
 seen negotiating with Leo XIII., and ordering his rep- 
 resentatives at Constantinople to keep step with French 
 diplomacy. 
 
 England underwent a salutary crisis ; Lord Beacons- 
 field's " imperial policy " had completed its ravages ; 
 war had been begun in India and in South Africa ; the 
 Afghans and the Zulus did not seem disposed to give 
 up a struggle which was turning to their advantage ; 
 in Burmah there were murders to avenge. The situa- 
 tion was very grave in Ireland, and relations with Rus- 
 sia were more strained than ever. It required some 
 courage on Mr. Gladstone's part to resume power under 
 such conditions. Upheld by the good sense of the 
 masses, he restored liberty to the Transvaal, evacu- 
 ated Afghanistan, and became reconciled with Russia 
 (1881). 
 
 The Empire of the Tzars was also traversing a
 
 102 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 troubled period, nihilist plots, assassinations of high 
 functionaries, bloody disturbances, demonstrations of 
 students, followed each other in tragic succession. The 
 old bureaucratic party, hardened, given to spying, full 
 of abuses, and devoid of justice, had succeeded in 1863 
 in stopping the reformative progress of the early years 
 of Alexander II. 's reign, and from that time forth it 
 was in control. And, on the other hand, in Asia there 
 was a continual march forward of the Russian generals, 
 exceeding their instructions and involving the action 
 of the government without too greatly pledging its re- 
 sponsibility towards Europe. 1 As for Italy, she bore 
 away from the Berlin Congress only jealous regrets. 
 The attitude of Leo XIII. and of Bismarck, which 
 alternately flattered the Quirinal and the Vatican, dis- 
 turbed her, and in spite of the rejection by the French 
 Chambers of the Franco-Italian treaty of Commerce, 
 negotiated by the ministry of May 16, under conditions 
 so favorable to Italy, Francophobe sentiments were not 
 yet developing in the Peninsula. 
 
 The situation of France seemed much more favorable 
 than that of her neighbors. She had at her head an 
 illustrious soldier, all surrounded with the glory and 
 the prestige that monarchies appreciate most of all: the 
 glory and the prestige which are harvested on the field 
 of battle. She had just given, at the same time, proofs 
 of her political sagacity at the Congress of Berlin, and 
 of her incredible national vitality at the Paris Exposi- 
 
 1 It was in this manner that General Tchernaieff had captured Tash- 
 kend ; that Samarcand had been annexed ; that Skobeleff had conquered 
 Khokand ; that, in 1871, General Kolpakoff had occupied Kouldja just as 
 his government was offering her services to China to help her chastise the 
 rebels of that province, and then kept Kouldja. 
 
 On March 4, 1870, the Tzar decreed the annexation of the Khanate of 
 Khokand, which was only seven degrees from the frontier of the Punjaub.
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 103 
 
 tion ; she had managed to realize, by maintaining the 
 Due Decazes at the Quai d'Orsay for four years in 
 succession, a governmental stability which had not been 
 expected from the Republic. All this made an impres- 
 sion upon Europe, which had not understood the lesson 
 of May 16, and did not feel how thoroughly this pros- 
 perous situation was, at the same time, provisional. 
 It became necessary to resume the march of progress, 
 and that the Republic should accomplish its work. A 
 government is not stable if the men who impart to it 
 its life are not inspired by the principles upon which 
 they ought, logically, to depend. But monarchical 
 Europe did not perceive this necessity. The events 
 which followed were a sad surprise to her. The elec- 
 tion of M. GreVy, the instability of the Ministers of 
 Foreign Affairs, the violent language of the deputies, 
 the weeding out of functionaries, the expulsion of re- 
 ligious bodies: she saw no rational motive for these 
 things ; it seemed to her that the government was los- 
 ing its hold, that men's minds were going astray, and 
 in the stormy audacity of the municipal council of Paris 
 she perceived the threat of a second Commune, more 
 to be dreaded, and better obeyed. 
 
 The war in Tunis set us at variance with Italy, and 
 Egyptian affairs with England ; in addition, there 
 was the Hartmann affair, which rendered Russia ill- 
 disposed. 1 For our diplomacy it was a period of 
 effacement, and of incessant difficulties besides. The 
 representatives of France were inclined to exaggerate 
 
 1 It was a question of a refugee accused of participation in the attempt 
 at assassination at Moscow ; the identity was not established ; we refused 
 extradition. The departure of Prince Orloff, which coincided with this 
 affair, caused it to be supposed that the imperial government was angry 
 with us about this ; but Hartmann betook himself to London, and was not 
 further disturbed there (1881).
 
 104 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the prudence which was enjoined on them from Paris, 
 because they themselves doubted the stability of those 
 in whose names they spoke. Patriotically, they tried 
 to diminish, at least, the effect of the minor measures 
 which made the other nations uneasy, and to impress 
 upon their foreign offices the idea that France did not 
 consider that republican doctrines formed a proper 
 object of export commerce on the part of her govern- 
 ment. They were not always thoroughly well seconded 
 in their task by the young men who fulfilled the func- 
 tions of secretaries and attaches under them, and some 
 of whom, who had remained in the career under a 
 government which they served with regret, sometimes 
 showed themselves oblivious of the respect which was 
 due from them to the head of the State and to his 
 ministers. A diplomatic and consular reform was 
 carried out by M. de Freycinet, concerning the con- 
 ditions of entrance and of advancement, as well as the 
 members of the staff, and bore its fruits. 1 
 
 In conclusion, one last source of difficulties arose 
 from the fact that not everything was transacted 
 through our agents. In a debate which took place in 
 the Chamber, M. Pascal Duprat pointed out as a cause 
 of uneasiness and distraction the current idea that " the 
 government does not govern entirely, that exalted 
 influences, more or less legitimate, are placed by its 
 side," and Gambetta, being thus put on his defence, 
 retorted by a heated and ringing impromptu speech. 
 
 1 It had been long decided upon, in principle: the Committee on 
 Appropriations of 1872 had given its attention to this matter; later on, 
 the Due Decazes appointed a committee which worked out the regulation, 
 called the regulation of 1877 ; but the first reform suffered still further 
 delay, in spite of incessant demands, and of the fact that the discussion of 
 the appropriations for Foreign Affairs gave rise, every year, to very lively, 
 and sometimes just attacks.
 
 THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN. 105 
 
 The accusation was not without foundation. The 
 meddling was plain, but inevitable. At that moment, 
 France regarded Gambetta as the real head of the 
 State ; the confidence of the nation was, little by little, 
 thrusting him into power, and he had about him, with- 
 out even the need of any encouragement on his part, 
 a sort of government in embryo, and a budding diplo- 
 macy, alongside the official diplomacy and government. 
 This distrust on the part of Europe neutralized, in 
 great measure, the happy results which the attitude of 
 France at the Congress of Berlin should have produced ; 
 it ended in the formation of the Triple Alliance. A 
 few years later, the existence of this anti-republican 
 league was indiscreetly proclaimed at Montecitorio by 
 M. Mancini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy ; the 
 fact of its formation had disturbed political circles ; at 
 Budapest and Westminster it had created anxiety, 
 and, at last, the Due de Broglie interrogated M. 
 Challemel-Lacour, who then presided over our foreign 
 relations. The minister's reply was full of acuteness 
 and urbanity, as well as of pacific pride ; he terminated 
 his speech in these words : " A nation like ours, a coun- 
 try like France, which has been conquered, and which 
 is recovering itself ; a country which finds in its energy, 
 in its will, in its toil, in its indomitable hope, the means 
 of maintaining itself upright, in the rank which the 
 centuries have assigned to it ; a country which, on 
 emerging from repeated and terrible crises, is resolutely 
 building itself up again, and which, after having ex- 
 hausted the divers forms of monarchy, is building it- 
 self up upon foundations conformable to its genius and 
 to its needs but new to the bosom of monarchical 
 Europe ; a country which is condemned, by its geo- 
 graphical position, to keep up at great cost a consider-
 
 106 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 able defensive force, and which is compelled, by the 
 very nature of things, to be always on the alert, and 
 which is surrounded by States which are young and, 
 consequently, ambitious and prone to take offence, 
 such a country must not feel astonished if the world 
 cherishes various dispositions towards it. It would be 
 very wrong to try to ignore the fact, and there would 
 be danger in misapprehending it. But, gentlemen, 
 these dispositions may change, and we hope that they 
 will change. Yes, we are firmly confident that they 
 will be modified, in time ; we believe that the strength- 
 ening of our institutions, the wisdom of our conduct, 
 the precision and frankness of our policy, and the good 
 use which we shall know how to make of the parlia- 
 mentary or other liberties which our institutions assure 
 to us, we hope that all these things may modify the 
 dispositions of which I speak, and that, perhaps, more 
 speedily than we suppose." 1 This programme of 
 "smiling perseverance" was, after all, that of our 
 ambassadors and our ministers ; they devoted them- 
 selves to remaining faithful to it, and contributed not 
 a little to the realization of M. Challemel-Lacour's 
 heartfelt prayer. France will never forget it. 
 
 i Speech of M. Challemel-Lacour in the Senate (May 1, 1883).
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 107 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 
 
 A Forced Conquest. Measures well taken and badly appreciated. The 
 Treaty of Bardo. Lies and Calumnies. France in Egypt. The 
 Condominium. Arabi and the Nationalists. Tergiversations of 
 France: the English bombard Alexandria and occupy Cairo. The 
 "Great Minister." 
 
 OUR colonial conquests cannot stand without a pro- 
 logue, the comprehension of which is indispensable for 
 those who wish, with adequate knowledge of the situa- 
 tion, to estimate results and weigh responsibilities. 
 Unfortunately, the public too often takes its seat only 
 at the beginning of the first act, and, through having 
 missed the prologue, misunderstands the play. 
 
 In all the distant regions where the Republic has 
 founded its rule or consolidated its establishments, it 
 has acted in virtue of title-deeds which it was more or 
 less to our advantage to enforce, but whose antiquity 
 or authenticity could not be doubted ; intervention has 
 generally been the consequence of anterior events which 
 public opinion committed the mistake of ignoring, but 
 which the government and the parties interested took 
 good care not to allow to lapse into oblivion. 
 
 The fall of the Bey's government in Tunis * so far 
 
 1 At the head of the works which should be consulted on Tunis must 
 be quoted that of Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, minister plenipoten- 
 tiary, deputy from Sarthe, which he published under the pen-name of 
 P. H. X. ; its title is : La Politique Franqaise en Tunisie . le Protectorat 
 et ses Origines. Paris, Plon, 1891. The work of M. Narcisse Faucon must 
 also be cited, La Tunisie avant et depuis I' Occupation Francaise, for which 
 M. Jules Ferry wrote a Preface.
 
 108 TEE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 as it was an independent government was inevitable ; 
 the necessity for its abrogation has been summed up in 
 the phrase, "The Beys could neither throw off our in- 
 fluence, nor obey it," which is strictly true. From the 
 day when she definitely established herself in Algeria, 
 France could not permit Tunis that prolongation of 
 Algeria to become a hot-bed of anti-French propa- 
 ganda, and, on the other hand, the combined efforts of 
 Turkey, England, and Italy were bound, of necessity, 
 to bring about that result. 
 
 "The Porte," says M. Guizot in his Memoires, "for 
 a long time, cherished the desire to bring about in 
 Tunis a revolution analogous to that which it effected 
 in earlier days, in Tripoli, that is to say, to deprive the 
 regency of Tunis of whatever hereditary independence 
 it had won, and to transform the Bey of Tunis into an 
 ordinary pasha. Almost every year a Turkish squadron 
 emerged from the Sea of Marmora, to make a more or 
 less menacing demonstration on the coast of Tunis. It 
 was of the greatest importance to us that such a plan 
 should not succeed; instead of a weak neighbor, such 
 as the Bey of Tunis, whose interest lay in living on 
 good terms with us, we should have had on our eastern 
 frontier, in Africa, the Ottoman Empire itself, with its 
 persistent claims against our conquest and its alliances 
 in Europe. . . . Every time that a Turkish squadron 
 approached or threatened to approach Tunis, our ves- 
 sels sailed for that coast, with orders to protect the Bey 
 against every undertaking on the part of the Turks." 
 
 These lines of M. Guizot are significant, and bear 
 witness to the ulterior designs which the monarchy 
 of July already entertained with regard to Tunis. 
 Louis Philippe received the visit of the Bey Achmet, 
 who astonished the French by his Oriental luxury ; a
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 109 
 
 military mission was sent to him, to reorganize his 
 army. When, later on, a contingent from the Bey 
 took part in the Crimean expedition, it was not out 
 of affection for the Ottoman rule. 
 
 England had other motives for intervening, less le- 
 gitimate, but no less pressing ; her interest, of course, 
 counselled her to prevent other nations from doing in 
 the Mediterranean what she had done at Gibraltar and 
 at Malta, that is to say, of seizing one of those posi- 
 tions which command the principal courses followed 
 by vessels, and give to those who hold them a prepon- 
 derance to which they could not otherwise lay claim. As 
 for Italy, she counted very numerous representatives in 
 Tunis, who had shared her ambitions and her anxieties, 
 and who had worked, according to their strength, for 
 its unification. Having become a great power, it was 
 easy to foresee that she would show her interest in them. 
 Were not they securing to her the means of founding a 
 colony, without expending too much, or exposing her- 
 self, and of thus imitating the other great powers, her 
 neighbors or her rivals ? 
 
 England's representative in Tunis, Mr. Wood, was 
 one of those prudent and audacious agents who live 
 in a state of lying in wait for a conquest to effect, an 
 advantage to seize, and who would consider their career 
 badly fulfilled if it were not summed up in some ag- 
 grandizement of territory or of power for their country. 
 The ideal of the French agent is, too often, negative ; 
 he aspires to " cause no trouble " to his government, 
 not to " get into difficulties," and his hierarchical supe- 
 riors encourage him in this attitude by the fear which 
 they exhibit of having to face an unforeseen responsi- 
 bility, or settle a delicate case. England, on the con- 
 trary, assures to her representatives to whom she confides
 
 110 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 distant posts an independence and a stability which en- 
 able them to act freely, without asking incessant and 
 minute instructions from London. The Foreign Office 
 rejoices in their initiative, and takes good care not to 
 impede their action ; and if circumstances compel it 
 to disavow excess of zeal on the part of a function- 
 ary, one thing is certain, that this disavowal will 
 be magnificently compensated. We have frequently, 
 and in all parts of the world, met such athwart our 
 path, and it must be confessed that they have managed 
 to inflict more than one check and mortification upon 
 our policy. 
 
 In Tunis, Mr. Wood first busied himself with tight- 
 ening the bonds of vassalage which were supposed to 
 unite the Bey to the Sultan ; to place Tunis again 
 under the yoke of Constantinople was to keep her at 
 a distance from France. Then he made advances to 
 the Italian consul, and made use of his colleague the 
 better to combat us. He urged him on, trying to 
 compromise him, and to make him take up some posi- 
 tion which should involve the future. Circumstances 
 seemed to favor his designs : France was not in a state 
 to keep an effective watch upon her Mediterranean in- 
 terests ; she was at war with Germany, and fortune was 
 deserting her arms. The institution of the international 
 financial commission, which had seemed certain to in- 
 jure her, preserved her, on the contrary, from the loss 
 of her influence ; the statu quo was maintained by the 
 mere fact of the international character which the con- 
 trol of Tunisian finances had assumed, and when, after 
 the war, Italy, judging the moment to be favorable, 
 threatened armed intervention, England decided that 
 matters had altered their aspect, and that, perhaps, it 
 was more urgent to hinder the encroachments of tri-
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT, 111 
 
 umphant Italy than those of conquered France. So 
 she interposed. Moreover, she perceived the possi- 
 bility of more desirable acquisitions, and this perspec- 
 tive disposed her delegates at the Congress of Berlin 
 to receive with good- will the overtures of M. Wadding- 
 ton. A little later, Mr. Wood was recalled ; feeling 
 that it had been cheated, the Italian government sent 
 to Tunis M. Maccio, and gave him orders to make 
 the effort to recover lost ground. He found there 
 M. Roustan, who, since 1875, had represented France, 
 and had been preparing the way for her. 
 
 Contest was soon forced upon us as a necessity : the 
 years 1880 and 1881 passed in open anarchy ; both 
 weakness and ill-will reigned on the part of the Bey, 
 and of his ministers ; the Kroumirs in revolt made 
 frequent incursions ; everything augured a speedy re- 
 vival of Mussulman fanaticism coinciding with an ad- 
 vance of the Panislamic party ; bloody episodes, like 
 the massacre of the Flatters column, indicated the 
 danger of the French allowing themselves to be sur- 
 prised. A prompt and decisive intervention might pre- 
 vent many evils in the future. The government, when 
 enlightened as to the situation, had no right to hesi- 
 tate. It captured the Chambers with a demand for an 
 appropriation, unfortunately insufficient. The almost 
 unanimous vote 1 of Parliament, the friendly attitude of 
 Germany, the very faultless attitude of England, re- 
 lieved our diplomacy of all anxiety ; Italy, discouraged, 
 recalled M. Maccio, and public opinion transferred its 
 wrath to Minister Cairoli, who was overthrown. 
 
 General Farre, Minister of War, very sagaciously 
 ordered preparations which were criticised because they 
 
 1 Fifty abstained from voting on the Right, and M. Delafosse stated 
 objections in the name of several voters.
 
 112 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 appeared to be out of proportion with the effort which 
 was to be undertaken. The surrender was, in fact, of 
 the promptest description ; Bizerta was occupied ; the 
 Bey, surprised and put out of countenance by the in- 
 difference and the refusals to receive his protest which 
 he encountered in Europe, signed the treaty on May 12, 
 1881. M. Roustan was appointed Minister Resident. 
 Two grave mistakes were then committed : we con- 
 sented that the French troops should not enter Tunis, 
 and the moral effect produced upon the Arabs by this 
 unfortunate concession was considerable ; in the second 
 place, the expeditionary force was hastily sent home, 
 without its having been taken into consideration that 
 the Bey's surrender did not imply that all danger had 
 been averted in the South ; in this manner, the effects 
 of the prudent conduct on the part of the Minister of 
 War were annulled. 
 
 In spite of the fact that circumstances appeared so 
 favorable, it was not without a certain uneasiness that 
 the government had resigned itself to making the con- 
 quest of Tunis. It is impossible to study the brief his- 
 tory of this expedition, even in a superficial manner, 
 without perceiving that its principal interest lay in 
 the manner in which the new political and military 
 machinery of the French Republic would work on this 
 occasion. Herein, precisely, lay the cause for uneasi- 
 ness felt by the members of the Cabinet. The ques- 
 tion of war or peace is one of the most delicate which 
 can be raised under a parliamentary system of govern- 
 ment. In fact, it is difficult to find in a Parliament 
 sufficient patriotism and self-abnegation absolutely to 
 silence the interests of party (unless, of course, it is 
 a question of a truly national struggle, in defence 
 of the soil of the fatherland). On the other hand.
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 113 
 
 affairs of war require prompt, secret action, decisions, 
 which cannot be handled by a numerous assembly ; the 
 deputies find themselves called upon to give or refuse 
 their approbation to the acts of the government, and 
 the freedom of their vote is hampered by this very 
 fact. Approbation entails their responsibility in a 
 manner which may be contrary to their conscience ; 
 disapprobation incurs the risk of augmenting the forces 
 of the enemy by decreasing those of their own country. 
 A strong minority pronouncing against a war loan sows 
 distrust in the ranks of the national army, while the 
 enemy is, by that very fact, encouraged to resistance. 
 Such inconveniences are avoidable only if a sentiment 
 superior to parties rules the Assembly. Such would 
 have been the case, in France, if it had been a ques- 
 tion of Germany ; such could not be the case from the 
 moment when Tunis was in question. 
 
 It was difficult to criticise the treaty whose terms 
 the government submitted to the Chambers ; it perpet- 
 uated important results acquired without great effort ; 
 the policy which had inspired it was vulnerable upon 
 one point only, it might be claimed, with some show 
 of reason, that the conquest of Tunis would bring all 
 Europe down upon us. The opposition did not fail to 
 give battle on that ground, and, for the first time, men 
 heard formulated, in the French tribune, that contra- 
 diction between the colonial policy and the continental 
 policy which was destined, in the future, to cause so 
 many vexations to our colonists, by leading us to sacri- 
 fice the interests of some portion of our empire beyond 
 the sea to the desire to oblige a friend, or to the fear of 
 displeasing a grumbler. 
 
 The attacks of the opposition found an unexpected 
 echo in public opinion. The press of the Right, and
 
 114 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 that of the Extreme Left, set their wits to work to dis- 
 cover in the expedition " shady secrets." There was 
 talk of jobbery and rotten business, and while Germany, 
 Austria, and Spain were sending congratulations to the 
 French government, General Farre and M. Barthelemy 
 Saint- Hilaire saw themselves scoffed at and scorned 
 every day, in the most offensive terms, by their fellow- 
 countrymen. 1 They were accused of betraying the 
 interests of their country to the profit of Germany; 
 they were called "humble servants of M. de Bis- 
 marck " ; there was no sort of rudeness or folly which 
 was not uttered about them; even serious men became 
 uneasy. In the Senate, the Due de Broglie constituted 
 himself the interpreter of the rumors which represented 
 the government as having decided to occupy Tripoli 
 after Tunis. 
 
 It was much worse when it was learned that the prin- 
 cipal effort still remained to be made, and that an 
 Arabian revolt was rising from the depths of the South, 
 like the breath of the simoom, menacing not only Tunis, 
 but all our possessions in Algeria. There was talk of 
 abandoning the new conquest, just as, at the accession 
 of Louis Philippe, there had been talk of abandoning 
 Algiers. A majority of thirteen votes, which included 
 the ministers themselves, saved the protectorate. And 
 just then the elections were drawing near. An out- 
 
 1 They went so far as to reproach the government for not having man- 
 aged to associate England and Italy with France, in a common action 
 against the Bey. MM. Clemenceau, Delafosse, and Cuneo d'Ornano dis- 
 tinguished themselves by their exaggerations, while Rochefort, to whom 
 amnesty had just been extended, laughed immoderately in his journal. " A 
 strange, wanton, translunar thing," he wrote, " is, that there are no 
 Kroumirs. The Ferry Cabinet offered thirty thousand francs to any per- 
 son who would procure one for it, that it might exhibit him to the army." 
 And the Parisians began, 'very merrily, to "search for the Kroumir." 
 This game was very fashionable on the boulevards.
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 115 
 
 break of violence signalized the opening of the electoral 
 period. 1 
 
 In the meanwhile, our soldiers had courageously re- 
 sumed the road of the regency ; though more serious, 
 this second expedition was, nevertheless, less bloody 
 and less costly. 2 
 
 Sfax was bombarded and taken ; Gabds was seized, 
 then Kairwan, the holy city, upon which a concentric 
 march in three columns was effected. Soon the whole 
 country was occupied ; the artillery was equal to its 
 task, and the administrative service worked in such a 
 manner as to inspire confidence in the future ; abroad 
 specialists watched with interest this first trial of our 
 new arms. Public opinion in France considered the 
 political battle more instructive and more interesting. 
 
 The elections gave a powerful majority to the Jules 
 
 1 " The fatal expedition to Tunis, which the government has been glad 
 to envelop in obscurity, has not only had as a consequence the general con- 
 flagration of Africa, but has also set all Europe against us, to the great 
 joy of Germany." These words, taken from the manifesto published by 
 the " deputies of Paris," MM. Louis Blanc, Barodet, Clemenceau, and de 
 Lanessan, may serve to give an idea of the pitch to which the electoral 
 violences rose. 
 
 2 The ministry was open to attack, above all, for its methods of pro- 
 cedure. The expedition cost, in all, four millions for the first phase, and 
 13,431,000 francs for the second. " Rarely," says M. d'Estournelles, " and 
 to-day it is an incontestable fact, was a similar enterprise less onerous." 
 Thus, the serious criticisms, like those of M. Buffet in the Senate, were 
 levelled not at the sum, but at the manner of procedure ; transfers had 
 been effected. Levies had been made for what was lacking for the expedi- 
 tionary force, on the loans appropriated to the normal support of the army 
 in France. The government replied, that, while the expenses of the 
 expeditionary forces were greater than those entailed by its maintenance 
 in France, they were not different in nature. The Senate condemned 
 M. Buffet by 170 votes against 95. Such a vote made an impression. Never- 
 theless, some uneasiness was felt with regard to the government's theory, 
 which was dangerous in practice ; for, with such a system, the whole mili- 
 tary appropriation voted for a state of peace may be applied to the state 
 of war, and dispense with the sanction of Parliament, only to enter on a 
 struggle which may be great with consequences.
 
 116 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Ferry Cabinet, to all appearances, since they collected 
 at the Palais-Bourbon 454 republican deputies. We 
 shall see what warrant these newly elected members 
 had received, and how the ministry, far from being 
 strengthened thereby, was weakened. But that which 
 no one could logically have expected was the continua- 
 tion, so far as Tunis was concerned, of a state of things 
 which the agitation of the balloting had alone rendered 
 comprehensible if not excusable. The press had so 
 thoroughly envenomed the quarrel that the expedition 
 was turned into ridicule. People continued to look upon 
 it as "an electoral war." When, on October 28, 1881, 
 the new Chamber came together, the president by 
 seniority rose, and asked for a little silence. " He de- 
 sired to have read an important telegram which the 
 government had received from Tunis." They listened. 
 " Kairwan is in our hands. The insurrection is on the 
 eve of being extinguished. We have accomplished 
 this without bloodshed in a few weeks." How was 
 this news received? By a burst of laughter. The 
 president is astonished ; the laughter grows louder. 
 Hilarity, peals of laughter, noisy hilarity, the news- 
 papers report. Some one calls out : " The comedy has 
 turned out a fizzle ! " The laughter was louder than 
 ever. Kairwan fell heir to the privilege which the 
 Kroumirs had enjoyed of amusing Paris, and the hilar- 
 ity lasted for several days. On the Extreme Left and 
 on Right, this is a means, which is not yet exhausted, of 
 weakening the government. The countersign is inability 
 to listen seriously when the name of Tunis is uttered. 
 People are still laughing on November 5, when M. Ferry 
 has the imprudence to say: "We have put down the 
 insurrection at Sfax." They laugh when he speaks of 
 the victories of Ali-Bey, when he announces that the
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 117 
 
 Tunisian army has fought us. If we refer to the ac- 
 counts of these memorable sessions, there is nothing but 
 laughter at every moment : approving laughter, if it be 
 a question of an interruption, or of an attack from the 
 opposition, laughter and ironical applause; and grins, 
 if it be a question of a reassuring statement emitted 
 by a minister. When M. Amagat ascends the tribune, 
 on November 15, and makes his first speech on the 
 Tunisian question, the prescribed forms of speech are 
 lacking to describe the wild merriment which seizes 
 upon the Chamber. At every word the Journal Officiel re- 
 cords : " Laughter and exclamations, prolonged uproar, 
 continuous noise, increasing noise, boisterous hilarity." 1 
 Every day the generals were vilified, and the war ad- 
 ministration was called incapable and venial. MM. Cle"- 
 rnenceau and Naquet called the expedition a "manoeuvre 
 of the money-market." 2 "What you call a manoeuvre 
 of the money-market," retorted Jules Ferry, in indigna- 
 tion, "I call a stroke of good luck for France. Had 
 we refrained from it, there would not have been a suffi- 
 cient number of just reproaches, of maledictions, to dis- 
 charge at us." 
 
 The attitude of the Italian press, the journey of King 
 Humbert to Vienna, and the demonstrations of sym- 
 pathy between Italy and Austria seemed to justify 
 those who insisted that, by entering Tunis, we had 
 thrown Italy into the arms of Germany. We may per- 
 mit ourselves to wonder whether all precautions had 
 been taken to spare the susceptibilities of the national 
 
 1 Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, La Politique Franqaise en Tu- 
 nisie. 
 
 2 In L'Intransiyeant, Rochefort depicted " our colony in Algeria three- 
 quarters lost, while our soldiers strew their corpses along the roads." He 
 stigmatized "the ministerial idiocy," and called the government "a 
 cabinet of Natural History, a band of swindlers, imbeciles, impostors."
 
 118 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 sentiment in the Peninsula, and if even the different 
 acceptable solutions had been the subject of a suffi- 
 ciently profound preliminary examination. It might 
 not have been impossible to find, for Italy, under some 
 form or other, a compensation which would, at least, 
 have softened her regrets and paralyzed her rancor in 
 the future. But the opposition, with' us, did not speak 
 that language of moderation, and seemed to care little 
 to support its course with arguments of high value. 
 The most absurd accusations, the most improbable 
 calumnies, were those which had the best chance of 
 producing an effect and causing the most damage. 
 
 Nevertheless, a movement of evolution took shape in 
 the ranks of the majority ; it began to feel grateful to 
 the government for the responsibilities which the lat- 
 ter had not been afraid to assume. But the minis- 
 try which it thought it had received the mission to 
 uphold had not been formed ; it existed only behind 
 the scenes, and the men who occupied the ministerial 
 bench took on, in the eyes of the deputies and of their 
 constituents, a sort of vague aspect of usurpers. They 
 were waiting for Gambetta. 
 
 As for Gambetta, he listened only to the voice of 
 patriotism ; he defended the government, and received 
 355 votes against 68, and 124 who refrained from vot- 
 ing, an order of the day conceived in these terms: 
 " The Chamber, resolved on the complete execution of 
 the treaty signed by the French nation, passes to the 
 order of the day." This triumph designated him more 
 clearly than ever as the choice for head of the State. 
 Jules Ferry understood it and resigned. 1 
 
 The Tunis business had, as its epilogue, the Roustan 
 trial. We have seen how " the attacks of Elntransi- 
 
 1 The Jules Ferry Cabinet had been in power since September 18, 1880.
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 119 
 
 geant had become more and more violent, in proportion 
 as the situation grew complicated." 1 Soon Rochefort 2 
 no longer confined himself to attacking the ministers ; 
 he set upon M. Roustan, whom he called " their associ- 
 ate, their accomplice." At the end of September Eln- 
 tramiyeant announced with great pomp, that it had 
 " discovered the secret of Tunis," and began its revela- 
 tions. In order the better to act upon the public, he 
 warned it that the secret had been betrayed to the 
 journal by "a diplomat." He took good care not to 
 mention his name. Later on it was found out of whom 
 he was speaking, "a former secretary of the Bey, 
 Mohammed Arif Effendi, who" had died three years 
 before the expedition, and who could be exhumed 
 without any risk." 2 
 
 The government lost patience, and requested M. Rou- 
 stan to prosecute Ulntransigeant. In this lawsuit there 
 was put on trial the new law concerning the press, of 
 which Article 45 took away from the police court the 
 judging of crimes of insult and defamation against a 
 public functionary, and invested therewith the jury. 
 The campaign was very cleverly conducted ; all M. Rou- 
 stan's enemies, all those whose interests had been in- 
 jured by his energy, seized upon so fine an opportunity 
 for vengeance. The jury, put out by this throng of 
 strangers who rose up before them, perturbed by the 
 singular attitude of M. de Billing, acquitted ISIntransi- 
 geant, which triumphed insolently. 
 
 The Parisians thought this charming : frivolous and 
 sceptical dilettanteism, which for so long was the state 
 of mind among the frequenters of the Boulevard, was 
 infinitely diverted by it. National questions were not, 
 
 1 Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, La Politique Franqaise en Tu- 
 nisie. 2 Ibid.
 
 120 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 as yet, looked upon with that respect which they were 
 destined to inspire later on, even in the most giddy- 
 pated; at the sight of this unchaining of petty pas- 
 sions, this deluge of lies and calumnies, this fickleness 
 of the public mind, more than one republican must 
 have asked himself with anguish what would become 
 of a system of free discussion among a people still so 
 little master of its judgment. 
 
 Rochefort, already celebrated under the Empire, 
 nominated deputy for Paris, and, as such, a member 
 of the government of the National Defence, was a noble 
 gone wrong, whose real name was the Marquis de 
 Rochefort de Lucay. His biting and Parisian spirit, 
 his fiendish dash, have, at times, rendered him the idol 
 of the crowd. For years, he has been writing every 
 day in his newspaper, ISIntransigeant. The evil which 
 he has wrought is incalculable, because of the talent 
 with which he has always contrived to clothe his false 
 and bad ideas. As he was implicated in General Bou- 
 langer's plot, he managed to flee before he could be 
 arrested, and took up his abode in London, whence, for 
 years, he daily telephoned his "editorial" to Elntran- 
 sigeant. President Felix Faure pardoned him shortly 
 after his election. 
 
 The preceding details were necessary in order to 
 determine the state of public opinion at a decisive 
 moment of our history, at the epoch when the Repub- 
 lic, duly established in fact, was undertaking to assimi- 
 late itself definitely in France. If they are afflicting 
 to read over, on the other hand, they permit us to 
 take stock of the progress which has been made since 
 then ; and this comparison authorizes confidence and 
 hope. 
 
 The government did not weaken ; M. Roustan, en-
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 121 
 
 ergetically upheld, returned to his post, where he 
 finished carving for himself, in the history of the 
 regency, a tolerably fine place, to console him for his 
 vexations. On December 1, 1881, Gambetta, having 
 become Prime Minister, had to explain to the Chamber 
 about the loan of 28,900,000 francs, the demand for 
 which Jules Ferry had presented on the eve of his 
 retirement. He outlined, in magnificent style, the 
 system of the protectorate, and four hundred votes 
 approved his programme. It was, in fact, a protecto- 
 rate which we were on the point of establishing, thus 
 breaking with the customary routine of our colonial 
 ways. France, made wise by the deplorable errors 
 committed in Algeria, was about to try this system 
 of material, administrative, and moral superposition 
 which succeeds so well with colonizing peoples, and 
 of which she was speedily to realize the benefits in 
 her own case. The wise and judicious reforms which 
 were effected under MM. Roustan, Cambon, and Mas- 
 sicault are well known, and the manner in which 
 Tunis rapidly reached a degree of prosperity is still 
 unknown to our other dependencies beyond the sea. 
 At the very moment when France found herself en- 
 gaged in a struggle with the difficulties engendered by 
 her action in Tunis, events were taking place in Egypt 1 
 which were about to force her to the unpleasant alterna- 
 tive of interfering in a conflict replete with consequences, 
 or of abandoning the sort of moral protectorate which 
 she exercised over the land of the Pharaohs. It is not 
 easy to define otherwise the bonds which unite France 
 and Egypt. They have existed since the day when 
 an illogical and unexpected but fruitful idea led Bona- 
 
 1 Consult M. Borelli's interesting volume, entitled : Ghoses d'figypte, 
 1883-1895.
 
 122 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 parte to the foot of the Pyramids. They have been 
 consolidated by the progress of a new science, Egyp- 
 tology, which remains to this day almost exclusively 
 French; and the piercing of the Isthmus of Suez, which 
 seemed as if it ought definitely to consecrate the friend- 
 ship of the two countries, is a private enterprise due 
 to French genius and French capital. Only once has 
 France intervened with a purely political aim: in 1841, 
 at the time of the Convention called the Convention of 
 the Straits, which secured the khedival throne to the 
 descendants of Mehemet Ali. One may say that our 
 interests in Egypt are interests of a special character ; 
 the glory of an illustrious captain, the labors of numer- 
 ous learned men, the gifted enterprise of a great citizen, 
 have drawn us thither and retain us there. These are 
 powerful motives, less powerful, however, than those 
 obligations of a purely material character resulting 
 from the presence in a distant land of colonists who 
 are clearing and developing the value of a virgin soil, 
 and who count upon the protection of the mother-country 
 in case of peril. It is easily comprehensible, then, that 
 France should have had, with regard to Egypt, a policy 
 of sentiment, and a policy of calculation, and that, at a 
 given moment, these two policies should have found 
 themselves in opposition to each other. If the absence 
 of good judgment and of practical sense, of which the 
 government and public opinion gave proof in these 
 circumstances, ought to be pardoned, it can only be in 
 consideration of this duality of interests. 
 
 The extravagances of the Khedive Ismail, the finan- 
 cial difficulties which were daily growing worse, had 
 instigated, in 1876, the unification of the Egyptian debt 
 and the establishment of the foreign superintendence. 
 But, in 1878, the Egyptian government had found it-
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 123 
 
 self unable to fulfil its engagements. M. Waddington, 
 thinking that the circumstances did not authorize France 
 to intervene alone, had then conceived the idea of joint 
 action on the part of France and of England. Thus 
 was created the system of rule called that of the con- 
 dominium. European ministers were added to the 
 Cabinet presided over by Nubar Pasha, and divers 
 measures of economy were adopted. Among these 
 measures there was one whose consequences were not 
 sufficiently foreseen. It concerned the army ; a part 
 of the troops were dismissed, and twenty-five hun- 
 dred officers were placed on half-pay. This gave rise 
 to the first troubles, and was the point of departure 
 for the formation of a nationalist military party. This 
 party, upon which we might, perhaps, have depended 
 for support with success, 1 rapidly acquired influence 
 and prestige. At its head was a clever and active man, 
 named Arabi ; he succeeded in deceiving many of his 
 fellow-countrymen as to the motives of his action ; they 
 followed him, and he soon felt himself strong enough 
 to organize a military demonstration (September 11, 
 1881), the result of which was that Cherif Pasha was 
 forced to convene an "assembly of notables." The 
 Assembly listened to the lesson which was suggested 
 to it, demanded a national Parliament, and the right to 
 vote the appropriations. Gambetta had just come into 
 power in France ; he urged Lord Granville to inter- 
 vene ; in spite of his repugnance, the latter consented 
 
 1 MM. de Freycinet and Barthelemy de Saint-Hilaire, the successors 
 of M. Waddington, did not seem to understand what interest France could 
 have in acting in this manner ; the only functionary who did understand 
 it, M. de Ring, was turned out, and the nationalists returned to the sup- 
 port of Turkey. More fortunate than M. de Ring, Sir Edward Malet, the 
 representative of England, succeeded in forcing the hand of his govern- 
 ment, and induced it to encourage Arabi on the sly.
 
 124 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 to the presentation of an identical note, which was 
 placed, on January 7, 1882, in the hands of the 
 Khedive's ministers. "The two governments," said 
 the note, "inasmuch as they are closely associated in 
 the resolve to ward off, by their joint efforts, all causes 
 of complication, external or internal, which shall 
 menace the government established in Egypt, do not 
 doubt, etc." 1 The Porte, of course, protested, saying 
 that " nothing can justify the step taken with regard 
 to His Highness Tewfik Pasha, the more so as Egypt 
 forms an integral part of the possessions of His Majesty 
 the Sultan, and as the power conferred on the Khedive 
 . . . essentially pertains to the domain of the rights 
 and prerogatives of the Sublime Porte." But this protest 
 would have remained inoperative, had not the fall of 
 the Gambetta ministry suddenly taken place on January 
 26, and thereby put an immediate stop to the move- 
 ment of intervention which they were beginning to 
 sketch out in Paris. Tergiversation began again ; the 
 winter of 1882 passed, without their having arrived at 
 any solution of the problem. Arabi became more and 
 more popular, and felt that he was better and better 
 obeyed ; he organized a sham plot against himself, 
 collected together a court-martial, and caused the 
 pretended culprits to be condemned with such severity 
 that the consuls were obliged to interfere to persuade 
 the Khedive to commute the sentence. 
 
 On May 25, at last backed up by the presence of the 
 fleets of their respective countries, which had just cast 
 anchor in front of Alexandria, M. Sienkevicz, the 
 Consul-General of France, and Sir Edward Malet 
 demanded of the Khedive the dismissal of his ministers 
 
 1 This note was clue to the initiative of Gambetta ; this has been proved 
 by the Yellow Books.
 
 CH. DE FREYCINET, MINISTER AND SENATOR.
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 125 
 
 and the removal of Arabi. Tewfik seemed to yield, 
 and the ministry resigned ; but a few days later, Arabi, 
 restored to his posts, recovered an almost dictatorial 
 power. Then the Porte came on the scene, and sent 
 to Egypt an official commission entrusted with the 
 re-establishment of order. Dervish Pasha was at the 
 head of it. This was almost a solution of the problem ; 
 at least it was an expedient, and perhaps the best, to 
 provoke the intervention of Turkey and to support it. 1 
 But M. de Freycinet preferred to have recourse, in his 
 desire to avoid complications, to that expedient which 
 is so well worn that it is equivalent to a confession of 
 impotence, the assembling of an international con- 
 ference. This was a proceeding appropriate to Otto- 
 man sluggishness ; nevertheless, the Sultan did not 
 appoint any representatives. He no longer admitted 
 the interference of Europe in his quarrel with a vassal, 
 and claimed the right to settle it alone. The con- 
 ference opened at Constantinople on June 23. On 
 June 10, four days after Dervish Pasha had set foot on 
 the soil of Egypt, the massacre of three hundred Euro- 
 peans had stained Alexandria with blood, and England, 
 emerging from her state of irresolution, and now re- 
 solved to interfere, made preparations for the combat. 
 On July 11, while the plenipotentiaries at Constanti- 
 nople were pacifically deliberating, presided over by 
 
 1 M. Delafosse pointed it out to the Chamber on June 1 ; but the 
 government seemed to have no plan and no idea upon this point. In the 
 course of the discussion, M. de Freycinet let slip imprudent words which 
 bore witness to too keen an anxiety not to expose himself to complica- 
 tions. "You have just delivered over to Europe," cried Gambetta, "the 
 secret of your weakness ; henceforth it will suffice to intimidate you to 
 make you consent to anything! " The publication of the English Blue 
 Books has corroborated, it must be confessed, all that had been suspected 
 concerning the spirit of indecision which the government exhibited during 
 this period.
 
 126 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Count Corti, the Italian ambassador, Admiral Seymour 
 began the bombardment of Alexandria. As Admiral 
 Conrad had received orders to withdraw from Egypt 
 with the French squadron, the English had not hesi- 
 tated to act alone, and to place Egypt face to face with 
 an accomplished fact, the fact of war, which had not 
 been preceded by any declaration of hostilities, and 
 which was not justified even by the tragic event which 
 had been its moving cause. 
 
 The character of the crisis had now been made clear : 
 at the beginning, England and France had hesitated 
 between the desire of not having to share if things 
 turned out well, and the fear of having acted alone if 
 things should turn out badly ; at the same time they 
 had seen Arabi, the chief of the nationalist party, 
 defend the prerogatives of the Sultan, and the latter 
 officially disavow him, while his representatives en- 
 couraged him in secret. Then while the uncertainty 
 waxed in France, England had, little by little, grown 
 accustomed to the idea of the heavy responsibility 
 which her intervention would entail. Without troub- 
 ling herself further about the conversations which the 
 diplomats at Constantinople continued to exchange, 1 
 she thenceforth marched straight to the goal. With 
 
 1 The conference continued its labors without any brilliancy ; it did not 
 occupy itself with the bombardment of Alexandria, which embarrassed it, 
 but drew up a note, called the Note of July 15, which requested the 
 Sultan to occupy Egypt with an army, with the consent of the powers. 
 The Porte, on thinking the matter over, consented to take part in the dis- 
 cussions; everything had to be begun all over again. At last, they con- 
 fined themselves to a declaration of a Platonic understanding with a view 
 to maintaining the freedom of the canal. The attitude of Lord Dufferin 
 at the conference had grown more accentuated every day ; at last he 
 announced, on July 30, that the English troops would not withdraw, but 
 that, under certain conditions, England would accept the "aid" of 
 Turkey.
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 127 
 
 us, men's minds began to get warmed up ; certain 
 journals, forgetting the encouragement which they had 
 addressed to England, three months earlier, now ac- 
 cused her of treachery. The attitude of M. de Lesseps, 
 who himself undertook to defend his canal, and had 
 obtained from Arabi the promise that freedom of navi- 
 gation upon it should not be impeded, excited enthu- 
 siasm ; the more so as men awaited, in vain, from the 
 governing powers a direction, or any declaration what- 
 soever which should satisfy the national self-love, at 
 least. M. de Freycinet demanded appropriations for 
 the arming of the fleet, protesting the while, it is true, 
 that he would not use them. 1 When it was put to the 
 vote, the appropriations were refused. Every one was 
 in a bad humor, because each one appreciated his own 
 share of the guilt, as well as of the forced inconsistency 
 between their secret desires and their actions. If the 
 government failed in its duty by not guiding, they 
 could have compelled it, in a certain way, to intervene, 
 by voting it larger appropriations than it asked for. 
 And at that date there was still time for this ; the 
 troops of the Indian army had not yet disembarked at 
 Suez. 2 The truth is, that the deputies recoiled before 
 the very responsibility which they reproached the min- 
 isters for not assuming ; and when the latter had re- 
 
 1 When the discussion of the appropriation came up, M. de Freycinet 
 found himself the target for almost general attacks. He recognized the 
 fact that, henceforth, France had "definite grievances" which gave her 
 " the right to intervene," but he again showed his repugnance to entan- 
 gling himself in a path which he regarded as dangerous. His attitude was 
 blamed in the" Senate ; on July 25, the committee, though it ended by 
 adopting the appropriation, addressed to the government, through the 
 organ of its chairman, M. Scherer, an energetic reprimand. On July 29 
 the appropriations were rejected, and the Cabinet resigned. M. Duclerc 
 assumed the power. 
 
 2 The disembarkation took place at the beginning of August,
 
 128 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 signed, no one dreamed that a ministry of intervention 
 could reasonably be formed. The danger was too plain ; 
 and, in case of intervention, 1 the attitude of Europe 
 was too uncertain. In the beginning, they had not 
 foreseen what the issue of the conflict would be ; still 
 less had they foreseen with what incredible indifference 
 the powers would watch it unfold itself. " Neither 
 veto nor warrant," M. de Bismarck had said, and this 
 countersign was put into literal execution. A few 
 years earlier Russia, by too closely approaching Con- 
 stantinople, had aroused the protests of all ; this time, 
 England threw her regiments upon the banks of the 
 Nile, and not a remonstrance was heard. 
 
 In the night of the 19th-20th of August, 1882, Sir Gar- 
 net (afterwards Lord) Wolseley, Commander-in-Chief 
 of the British forces, occupied Port Said and Ismailia, 
 closed the canal, for the purpose of disembarking his 
 troops, then opened it again to navigation, announcing 
 his intention to pay for the transit, by way of indem- 
 nity. Had this forcible action been followed up by a 
 prompt march forward, the English would not have 
 encountered, at Ramses and at Gassanin, the rather 
 serious resistance which the time lost in forming the 
 convoys allowed to be organized. On September 23, 
 the battle of Teb-el-Kebir opened to them access to 
 Cairo, and, as early as the 17th, Lord Dufferin informed 
 the Porte that henceforth it would be useless to send 
 troops ; at the same time, England let it be understood 
 that the condominium had ceased to exist. 2 France was 
 
 1 This feeling was shown at a session of the Chamber on February 23, 
 1882, when M. Francis Charmes considered the opportunity of a French 
 military intervention, and again, at the session of May 11, following, when 
 the question of the pretended plot against Arabi came up. 
 
 2 In Cairo, a comic act terminated the drama. Arabi was brought be- 
 fore the court ; it was difficult not to condemn him to death. The English
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 129 
 
 offered, by way of compensation, the presidency of the 
 Commission of the Public Debt. M. Duclerc, President 
 of the Council, refused it ; as he was anxious, above all 
 things, to settle present difficulties, and to hold the 
 future in reserve, he abstained from making a counter- 
 proposal. In the month of January, 1883, he announced 
 to the Chamber that the negotiations had ceased, and 
 that France would retain her full and entire liberty of 
 action with regard to Egyptian affairs. 
 
 What could she do with it ? Egypt seemed lost to 
 her. Lord Granville had informed Europe of the 
 result of the campaign, and had had his declarations 
 followed up by a few brief statements as to the neu- 
 tralization of the canal, the reorganization of the Egyp- 
 tian army, and of the public offices ; the powers had 
 received this communication without showing either 
 surprise or displeasure. But it came to pass that the 
 conquest was not organized without vexations and inci- 
 dents of all sorts, and that even in England a certain 
 number of men in political life insisted that Egypt 
 should be evacuated as soon as order was re-established 
 there. At the end of 1883, just as a part of the troops 
 were on the point of being sent home, a disaster which 
 befell General Hicks at the head of a body of Egyptian 
 regulars against the Soudanese insurgents, permitted 
 the British government to countermand the partial 
 evacuation ; in 1884, it was the Mahdi who served as 
 
 stepped in, took possession of his person, and installed him at Ceylon. 
 They succeeded, at the same time, in screening all his accomplices from the 
 judgment of the court-martial. This equivocal conduct gave rise to the 
 thought that Arabi had played traitor, and that a secret compact had been 
 entered into by him and England. Among the English, it was a current 
 pleasantry to say that the battle of Teb-el-Kebir had been won by the 
 "cavalry of Saint George." This was the name which they gave to the 
 gold pieces, worth a pound sterling each, upon which was the effigy of 
 Saint George striking down the dragon.
 
 130 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 pretext, and this pretext, at least, was serious : every 
 one knows how General Gordon shut himself up in 
 Khartoum, and how the expedition sent to his relief 
 arrived too late to save him. On April 21 of that 
 same year (1884), Mr. Gladstone convoked a confer- 
 ence, to the extreme indignation of the ultra party, to 
 discuss Egyptian affairs. 1 Jules Ferry cleverly seized 
 upon this occasion to propose the establishment of an 
 international superintendence, under the shadow of 
 which we might have been able to re-establish our influ- 
 ence. The indifference of Europe caused this plan to 
 come to naught ; the conference was not a success ; no 
 one spoke at it. Evidently, the governments which 
 had permitted England to triumph alone in Egypt 
 were not inclined to aid her now that she found her- 
 self struggling with difficulties there. But England 
 made up her mind, and remained in Egypt ; we could 
 only work at the maintenance of the statu quo, and pre- 
 vent fresh encroachments. 2 
 
 Such are, too briefly summed up, the events which 
 caused France to lose a part of the prestige which she 
 had acquired, abroad, during the preceding years, and 
 which so deeply disturbed her relations with England. 
 
 1 Mr. Gladstone had always shown very little enthusiasm with regard 
 to new conquests in general, and to that of Egypt in particular. In a 
 declaration made to the House of Commons on February 8, 1882, he 
 repulsed the idea of an exclusive intervention, admitting not only France 
 but also the other powers to a participation therein. He was, therefore, 
 logical with himself, when he returned to the idea of a collective interven- 
 tion, as soon as the adventure threatened to become tragic in consequence 
 of the violent awakening of Mussulman fanaticism. 
 
 2 In 1883 England concluded with the Porte an agreement whose 
 clauses aggravated the condition of affairs, and, in a certain way, legal- 
 ized the presence of her troops on the banks of the Nile. The energetic 
 interference of M. Flourens was exercised just in the nick of time ; the 
 Comte de Montebello, our ambassador at Constantinople, communicated 
 to the Porte a sort of ultimatum, and the agreement negotiated by Sir 
 Drummond Wolf was rejected.
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 131 
 
 Our abstention might have been as well understood in 
 Europe as our action ; there were serious reasons for 
 acting, and there were equally serious reasons for 
 abstaining from action. What caused surprise, and 
 even uneasiness, because they were regarded as 
 proofs that the French government was crumbling, 
 were the half-measures, the violences of language which 
 were not followed up by any energetic act, those petu- 
 lant insults, as of a spoiled child, by which it made up 
 for the disappointments suffered. The balance of do- 
 mestic affairs during the year 1882 was not of a nature 
 to heighten confidence. 
 
 The French, as yet but little accustomed to the exer- 
 cise of an impersonal system of government, and inclined 
 to believe in men of destiny, had grown used to the idea 
 that Gambetta held in reserve for them marvellous pro- 
 gress, admirable reforms, and that all the smiles of fort- 
 une rested upon him. The legislative elections of 1881 
 had contributed to strengthen this impression ; prepared 
 and carried out by Jules Ferry, they were, in the eyes of 
 all, the prelude to the arrival of Gambetta at power, and 
 when it was known that the Republic had gained fifty- 
 three seats in them, it was known at the same time that 
 the Gambetta ministry was made. 
 
 The President of the Chamber, on his side, was pre- 
 paring himself for the part to which he felt himself 
 called ; he assumed more and more the manners of a 
 party leader upon whom already weigh the coming 
 responsibilities of power. Sagacity and reason were 
 mingled in his speeches with those superb outbursts of 
 the heart which made him translate into his daring 
 language the thought of all, so that " one really heard 
 in him the echo of the national conscience." 1 At 
 
 1 Hippeau, Histoire Diplomatique de la Troisieme Rtpublique.
 
 132 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Cahors, on May 28, 1881, he had again taken up the 
 defence of the Senate, which was threatened by the 
 ultra-republicans ; he beheld it, he said, " growing, 
 with each renewal, in democratic and liberal force," 
 and he added these prophetic words : " Perhaps we 
 shall become accustomed to finding therein supreme 
 resources which you will be happy to have." If, at 
 Tours, on August 4, and at Belleville, he had an- 
 nounced himself as being in favor of a partial revision 
 of the Constitution, it was because he considered it 
 well, by sacrificing a few articles of lesser importance 
 from the text of the Constitution, to cause the whole 
 to be consecrated afresh by an assembly of which the 
 majority should be, this time, plainly republican. 1 At 
 this date Gambetta was as conservative as a republican 
 could be ; a breeze of moderation was blowing over the 
 country ; in the desiderata of the electors moderation in 
 the solving of problems stood on a level with republi- 
 can stability. 2 All, therefore, was in readiness for the 
 formation of the "great ministry." It was called thus 
 before it was born. 
 
 1 It was with the same feeling, and in order that the republican party 
 might present a solid front to the electors, that Jules Ferry, at Nancy, on 
 August 10, had also accepted the principle of a partial revision. 
 
 2 This tendency had shown itself in the municipal election of Paris, in 
 January, 1881, even more than at the legislative elections in the autumn. 
 M. ^douard Herve, one of those elected in January, outlined a movement 
 of truce, if not of mugwumpery. M. Dugue' de la Fauconnerie had openly 
 come back to his allegiance. (See his letter to his constituents in the 
 France of January 23.) " The army of a monarchical party," he said, 
 " is composed of petty functionaries who cannot expose themselves every 
 day to dismissal, and of hard-working men who require, for their subsist- 
 ence, that things should go on. . . . There is but one part for us to play, 
 which is both useful and worthy of us : it is to take our stand frankly on 
 the ground of things as they are." At his re-election, which followed his 
 resignation, he found himself opposed by a royalist, the Comte de Levis, 
 and by a republican, M. Bansart des Bois. As he had fewer votes at the 
 first ballot, he withdrew at the second, in favor of his republican rival,
 
 TUNIS AND EGYPT. 133 
 
 It was formed on November 14, 1881. Gambetta 
 had chosen for his colleagues General Campenon, MM. 
 Allain-Targe", Waldeck-Rousseau, Rouvier, Raynal, 
 Antonin Proust, Cazot, Paul Bert, Gougeaud (Navy), 
 Dev^s, and Cochery. For the first time men got, as 
 by an object-lesson, a notion as to the solidarity of a 
 Cabinet; this was homogeneous. Great things were 
 expected of it. The Times saluted it by saying that 
 "it would mark an epoch in European history." Now, 
 nothing of the sort came to pass. The majority showed 
 themselves jealous of its work ; it would not admit that 
 which, eleven years later, it was to claim from M. 
 Casimir-Pe'rier, namely, that the Prime Minister should 
 have a policy of his own, and should apply it ; it con- 
 fused this preponderance of the head of the government 
 with dictatorship, and seemed to fear lest the one should 
 lead to the other ; so that, after having spent five years 
 in thrusting a man into power, it turned him out at the 
 end of two months, only to grant his successor that 
 which it had refused to him. 
 
 Political customs were not sufficiently formed to 
 permit Gambetta to govern as a man of his breadth 
 could govern ; that is to say, as an autocratic Prime 
 Minister. Autocratic he was by temperament ; he had 
 proved it in 1870, and he continued to " lean to the side 
 of that centralization which all of our governments have 
 faithfully transmitted, and which prevented the devel- 
 opment of local liberties, and, above all, of individual 
 liberties." 1 But his patriotism dominated all else; he 
 constituted a supreme guarantee against all evil ambition, 
 
 through a proper sense of electoral discipline. It is to be noted that the 
 language of M. Dugue de la Fauconnerie in 1881 will be found, in 1887, on 
 the lips of M. Raoul Duval, and in 1891, on those of M. Piou. 
 
 1 E. de Pressense, Varittes morales et politiques. Gambetta. 1 vol. 
 Paris, 1880.
 
 134 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 against every plan which was not honest and upright. 
 The man who had, on many occasions, sacrificed his 
 ideas and his preferences in order to make for the 
 Republic a larger and more solid foundation ought not 
 to have been suspected of aspiring to dictatorship ; it 
 was only necessary to understand that the coat of the 
 other Prime Ministers was not made for him, and to 
 permit him to cut out one which should fit him. 
 
 He left the ministry without having been able to act, 
 never to return to it. Death claimed him on the last 
 night of that year, 1882, which was so disappointing to 
 France. They gave him an incomparable funeral. His 
 last speech had been upon Egyptian affairs, and had 
 been inspired by his ardent patriotism. He had not 
 governed, but, as M. de Pressense* has said, "he had 
 twice or thrice had the honor to make the heart of 
 France speak through his mouth." 1 That is an honor 
 which surpasses all others. 
 
 1 E. de Pressense, Varietes morales et politiques. Gambetta. 1 vol. 
 Paris, 1886.
 
 THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY. 135 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY. 
 
 Governmental Anarchy. The "Long Ministry." Legislative Work is 
 resumed. Angry Quarrels between the Extremist Parties. The 
 Revision of 1884. Energy of Jules Ferry. His Asiatic Policy. 
 March 30, 1885. 
 
 THE crisis of January 26, 1882, reverberated long, 
 especially in the country districts, and its consequences 
 were considerable. The politicians gave themselves 
 up to controversy on the theory of government, the 
 nature and prerogatives of ministerial power, parlia- 
 mentary responsibility ; the voters, surprised and dis- 
 illusioned, allowed themselves to fall into a state of 
 apathy of which the adversaries of the Republic took 
 advantage ; 1 in the Chamber men entangled themselves 
 in bitter recriminations. The government which had 
 succeeded to that of Gambetta had no opinion as to 
 anything, not even as to the central mayoralty of Paris. 2 
 When the irremovability of the magistrates came 
 under discussion, whether it should be suspended 
 or suppressed, it allowed the principle of election of 
 judges to be voted. 3 We have seen what its attitude 
 
 1 Republican abstentions from voting in the municipal elections caused 
 350 to 400 communes to pass into the hands of reactionist administrations. 
 
 2 It was the Chamber which, by a vote of 256 against 153 against the 
 Deves-Casimir-Perier order of the day, setting forth that it was " opposed 
 to the creation of the central mayoralty," gave a hint to the government. 
 
 3 The committee appointed to consider the framing of a law presented 
 a report, in 1883, which decided upon the establishment of the suffrage in 
 two grades, but the disposition of the Chamber had changed ; it returned 
 to its vote of the preceding year, and the election of magistrates was no 
 longer in question.
 
 136 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 was during the Egyptian business, and how its conduct 
 was censured in the Senate ; the Senate presented a 
 contrast to the Chamber by the serenity with which it 
 studied the reform of the code of examining criminals. 
 The passage of M. Scherer's report, to which allusion 
 was made in the preceding chapter, ran as follows : 
 " Gentlemen, the regret which the conduct of the 
 Cabinet has caused us has not been inspired alone by 
 hesitation or contradictions in the management of for- 
 eign affairs, but we have sometimes asked ourselves 
 whether the uncertainty of its conduct did not proceed 
 from an exaggerated anxiety as to the parliamentary 
 position ; without being, in the least, insensible to the 
 difficulties which the conditions of modern society op- 
 pose to the exercise of power, it seemed to us that the 
 surest means of securing a majority was clearness of 
 views and authoritative convictions. A contemporary 
 statesman said to me : ' The great misfortune of our 
 times is, the fear of responsibility ' ; he might have 
 added, that public opinion is better governed by form- 
 ing it than by following it, and that it can be formed 
 only by energy of initiative." 
 
 A few days later (July 29, 1882), Minister Freycinet 
 was defeated on the question of the appropriations for 
 Egypt, by 417 votes against 75. After long parleying, 
 the Duclerc Cabinet was formed. 1 The talent and good- 
 will of the new President of the Council and of his 
 colleagues could not cope with a situation which had 
 no way out. The Committee on Appropriations was in 
 disorder ; M. Allain-Targe^s scheme of appropriations, 
 modified from top to bottom by M. Le"on Say, was 
 laboriously made up again by M. Tirard. In front of 
 
 1 It comprised MM. Deves, Duvaux, Fallieres, Herisson, Tirard, Pierre 
 Legrand, Cochery, de Mahy, General Billot, and Admiral Jaureguiberry.
 
 THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY. 137 
 
 them they had the Extreme Left, which continued to 
 entertain in public opinion very dangerous errors, 
 demanding the separation of Church and State and the 
 suppression of the Senate. These exaggerations re- 
 stored some hope to the reactionaries ; there were royal- 
 ist demonstrations in the country districts, even some 
 appeals to civil war, while at Montceau-les-Mines the 
 first dynamite cartridge was exploded. 
 
 The year 1883 opened in a disturbing manner. The 
 death of Gambetta caused consternation among the 
 republicans of the government ; at the same time, it 
 severed the only bonds which attached to the Republic 
 certain Conservatives who had been fascinated by the 
 energy of the man now dead and the breadth of his style 
 in speaking. Prince Napoleon published a manifesto, to 
 which, very awkwardly, was attributed an aim which it 
 did not possess. 1 At last M. Duclerc fell ill, and was 
 forced to resign, soon followed by General Billot and 
 by Admiral Jaure'guiberry. M. Fallieres acted as Presi- 
 dent of the Council, without even filling the vacancies 
 in the Cabinet, so precarious was the ministerial com- 
 bination felt to be. 
 
 On all sides the desire was exhibited to emerge from 
 the provisional, to escape from " combinations," to 
 have a policy to follow, even though it were mediocre. 
 Industrial associations sent addresses to the head of 
 the State ; the Union of Workingmen's Syndicates 
 demanded from him the constitution of a "durable 
 
 1 This manifesto, pasted upon the walls of Paris during the night, and 
 signed " Napoleon," was nothing more than a long arraignment of the 
 Republic, ending with an appeal to the people. Some radicals pretended 
 to be greatly alarmed thereat, and busied themselves with bringing up 
 the "question of the princes." On February 9, the Chamber of Impeach- 
 ments declared that there was no occasion for prosecuting Prince Jerome 
 Napoleon.
 
 138 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 ministry, resolved to defend the Republic against all 
 violence, from whatsoever quarter it might come, 
 decided to achieve its ends " ; a ministry " which should 
 resolutely take the initiative in the social reforms which 
 have so long been promised to us in vain, and which 
 should be able to make the Republic respected in Europe 
 and throughout the world." 
 
 Jules Ferry, determined to defend the Republic and 
 to attain his ends, was that man. The majority re- 
 garded his return with satisfaction, because they felt 
 that in him they had their true, and, henceforth, their 
 only leader. The minority was divided between the 
 fear of receiving blows, and the pleasure of dealing 
 them. A fighting minister answered to their comba- 
 tive instinct ; and above all others they preferred that 
 one to whom, at least, they could not refuse the esteem 
 which his life and the sincerity of his convictions in- 
 spired. Only he remained in their eyes the man of 
 Article 7, the instigator of the " religious persecution," 
 and they cherished the hope of taking vengeance some 
 day for that past which was so keenly felt. Jules 
 Ferry was not popular in the country districts ; he was, 
 and always remained, incomprehensible to the masses. 
 To tell the truth, the unpopularity which eventually 
 became attached to his name could not have been 
 propagated had the people known the man who was 
 its object ; but to the day of his death they failed to 
 understand him, as often happens to pioneers. We 
 shall have occasion, in a later chapter, 1 to present 
 
 1 National Education. Jules Ferry was thrice Minister of Public 
 Education, from February 4, 1879, to November 14, 1881 ; from January 
 30 to August 7, 1882 ; from February 21 to November 20, 1883. The prin- 
 cipal laws to which he appended his name are these : that of August 7, 
 
 1879, on the establishment of primary normal schools ; of February 27, 
 
 1880, on the Supreme Council of public instruction; of March 18, 1880, on
 
 THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY. 139 
 
 an estimate of Jules Ferry's work as Minister of Pub- 
 lic Education ; it offers a great character of unity, 
 and even of moderation, but it was set forth without 
 the precautions which would have been advisable, and 
 imposed with a certain abruptness ; then it came to 
 pass that the head of the University said gentle things 
 in a violent manner. Later on he learned to make a 
 better choice of expressions, his retorts were less trench- 
 ant, and he exhibited more skill in self-control. In 
 1883 a belligerent impression was still lingering from 
 his first ministerial term, which helped to group around 
 him, in the second, the whole body of republicans ; the 
 worse side of him attracted them, and they were unable 
 to divine his better side. Recent events, the wrath 
 which they felt at the check and then at the death of 
 Gambetta, engendered in them the desire for a harsh 
 and decisive struggle, from which the Republic should 
 emerge in final triumph, after having hurled to the 
 earth all her enemies. With Gambetta, they would 
 have been glad to make peace ; with Jules Ferry, they 
 were anxious to fight. The President of the Council 
 resumed the portfolio of Public Education which was 
 so dear to him, and which he did not exchange until 
 somewhat later for that of Foreign Affairs ; he sur- 
 rounded himself with colleagues who belonged to the 
 moderate party, 1 and immediately set to work. The 
 
 the bestowal of degrees, and the liberty of higher instruction ; of Decem- 
 ber 21, 1880, on the secondary instruction of young girls ; of June 16, 1881, 
 on the certificates of capacity for primary teachers ; of June 16, 1881," on 
 free primary instruction; of March 28, 1882, on obligatory primary in- 
 struction ; of March 20, 1883, on the augmentation of grants and advances 
 for the treasury of the schools. 
 
 1 He entrusted Foreign Affairs to M. Challemel-Lacour, the Navy to 
 M. Ch. Brun, War to General Thibaudin ; we shall see under what con- 
 ditions these three portfolios changed hands shortly afterwards. His 
 other colleagues were MM. Waldeck-Rousseau, Martin-Feuille'e, Tirard,
 
 140 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 ill-timed zeal of an exalted functionary, on the occasion 
 of the manifesto published by Prince Napoleon, had 
 created an agitation in connection with the " question 
 of the princes." Jules Ferry, who was in haste, first 
 of all, to put an end to this movement which he consid- 
 ered useless and dangerous, retired the Due d'Aumale, 
 the Due de Chartres, and the Due d'Alen9on from 
 active service. He felt some regret, no doubt, but 
 he did not hesitate over it ; in his eyes, it was of 
 secondary importance. In practice, everything, in his 
 opinion, fell into two categories : necessary measures, 
 which he defended with a tenacity, a perseverance, a 
 strength of will which no other statesman ever sur- 
 passed ; and secondary measures, to which he very will- 
 ingly sacrificed his personal preferences. This explains 
 the accusation of weakness for which this very strong 
 man sometimes found himself the target. Moreover, it 
 was his opinion that, in the existing condition of the 
 two Chambers and of the republican party, "the fron- 
 tier of the majority might be moved greatly for- 
 ward, and to a great distance in the direction of the 
 Left." 1 
 
 Every time that the radicals found themselves face 
 to face with a new grouping of the ministry, they pre- 
 sented a proposal of amnesty, in order to take a census 
 of themselves, and to inspire the Cabinet with salutary 
 fear. This time the amnesty was rejected by 381 votes 
 against 84. It was soon seen that this ministry did 
 not resemble the others, that it intended to rule, and 
 possessed the means of doing so ; it had an opinion to 
 give on everything, and it dreaded no debate. The 
 
 Meline, Raynal, Herisson ; the last-named held a more advanced shade of 
 opinion. 
 
 1 Speech at the banquet of the National Circle, March 9, 1883.
 
 THE JULES FEERY MINISTRY. 141 
 
 law suspending the irremovability of the magistrates, 
 the laws about professional syndicates, about the second 
 offence of criminals, about the election of consular 
 judges, the liberty of funerals, the creation of fortress 
 artillery, and the protection of minors, gave rise to ex- 
 haustive and brilliant discussions. As several bishops 
 censured and prohibited the manuals of civic education 
 which the University had approved, Jules Ferry took 
 occasion to state his ecclesiastical policy, which re- 
 mained, though with less ardor than during his first 
 ministry, respectful towards religion, but distinctly 
 anti-clerical. The Council of State, when consulted as 
 to the legitimacy of the suspension of episcopal salaries, 
 in case of rebellion against the State, pronounced an 
 opinion in the affirmative, and M. Martin-Feuillee, 
 Minister of Justice and of Public Worship, when called 
 upon to take part in the debate opened in Parliament, 
 did so in terms which left no doubt as to the anxiety of 
 the government not to permit any encroachment upon 
 the civil power. 1 
 
 Financial problems forced themselves upon the atten- 
 tion of those in power. It was no longer possible to 
 realize the programme which M. Ldon Say, Minister of 
 Finance in the Freycinet Cabinet, had drawn up in 
 three words : " Neither conversion, nor issue, nor re- 
 sumption." The conversion from five per cent to four 
 and a half per cent was imperatively necessary. On 
 this occasion Jules Ferry made an important speech 
 which displayed the many capacities of his mind. 2 
 
 1 It is to be observed that the language of M. Martin-Feuillee, on this 
 occasion, in nowise differs from that uttered, later on, under analogous 
 circumstances, by M. Ribot and M. Casimir-Perier ; the theory of the gov- 
 ernment upon this point remained much the same. 
 
 2 Conversion, said the explanation of the motives of the projected law, 
 is accomplished in fact ; it only requires sanction. The five per cent loan,
 
 142 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Then came the debate on the contracts with the rail- 
 ways. The negotiations, which were opened as early 
 as the month of March by M. Raynal, did not come to 
 an end until June and July. It was a question of 
 obtaining from the companies the reimbursement in 
 advance of the sums which they owed, together with a 
 modification of tariffs, either for passengers or for 
 merchandise, modifications which would lower the 
 sum-total of receipts ; moreover, it was necessary to as- 
 sociate them with the construction of the new network. 
 But the companies are not all on the same footing. 
 Some have never had recourse to guaranteeing interest ; 
 others would be unable, even at the present time, to 
 balance their accounts without subsidies from the State. 
 From the moment when it became an imperative neces- 
 sity to break with the system of blind confidence which 
 had been followed since 1878, and confess the inability 
 
 issued in June, 1871, at 82.50, at 84.50 in July, 1874, was at par beginning 
 with 1875. Since then it has been quoted at from 115-120 francs and 
 to-day it is in the neighborhood of 114. That is to say, the price of money 
 is sufficiently low to prevent the investor seeking five per cent any longer 
 from government bonds. On the other hand, he evidently expects con- 
 version ; for if he did not, the five per cent bonds would be quoted at a 
 price equal in proportion to that of the three per cents, or about 132 
 francs. Why should the government refuse the profit of this legitimate 
 operation? M. Allain-Targe demanded the conversions at three per 
 cent ; bat that would have augmented the nominal capital of the debt by 
 nearly three milliards, and deprived the State of the profit of the succes- 
 sive conversions. It was also foreseen that the forty-one per cent would 
 soon win the quotation of the six per cent, or very nearly that. " Under 
 these conditions, demands for reimbursement at par are not to be feared, 
 for it is inconceivable that any one should prefer to have 100 francs in 
 ready money rather than receive from the government a new bond which 
 can be sold any day for 110 or 111 francs." At last, in order to give free 
 scope to the new four and one-half per cent loan, it was proposed to 
 guarantee it, for five years, against all fresh conversions. The commis- 
 sion raised the limit to ten years, and prepared for partial future conver- 
 sions by the expedient of drawing lots, and issuing the four and one-half 
 per cent bonds in series.
 
 THE JULES FEEET MINISTET. 143 
 
 of the State to defray the expenses with which it had 
 been saddled, the simplest expedient would have been 
 the immediate cessation of the works which had been 
 undertaken for the execution of the Freycinet plan. 1 
 But, by acting thus, grave political economic and 
 strategic interests were left in suspense. Hence the 
 contracts were courageous and useful. 
 
 Certain of the stipulations did, it is true, appear to 
 be a little illusory ; the amount of profits beyond whose 
 limit the State was to begin to share with the share- 
 holders was lowered, but it is doubtful whether that 
 sum was ever exceeded ; reductions of tariff or improve- 
 ments of working-stock would have been more easily 
 carried out. The maintenance of the right of resump- 
 tion seemed illusory, also ; for the indemnity to be paid 
 for the material and stock became the greater since the 
 State would no longer have any claims upon the com- 
 panies, as the latter freed themselves from their debts 
 beforehand. And finally, the guarantee of the interest 
 existed none the less for having been transformed ; the 
 competition of the State system, or simply the expenses 
 which would fall upon the companies to the account of 
 the new lines, for the most part unproductive, would 
 effect a reduction of the receipts, and the State would 
 find itself forced to make up that difference between 
 the real profits and the dividends guaranteed. In spite 
 of this, " without being so advantageous for the State 
 as one might have supposed, at first sight, the contracts, 
 it was said, represented the maximum of possible con- 
 cessions on the part of the companies, in view of the 
 deplorable conditions under which the State had allowed 
 itself to be driven to the wall before contracting with 
 
 1 Out of 44,000 kilometres of railways decided upon, there were still 
 only 29,369 in operation.
 
 144 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 them and from the moment when it would not resign 
 itself to putting a stop to the works." 1 
 
 Setting aside the violent declamations against the 
 "plutocracy" and "industrial feudalism," the accusa- 
 tions of trickery and of "bribery," which certain jour- 
 nals acquired the habit of launching against the govern- 
 ment at haphazard, an assault was made by those who 
 advocated the purchasing of the railways by the govern- 
 ment. Among these, M. Allam-Targe* ingeniously 
 maintained that it would be sufficient to buy in the 
 Orleans line, in order to break the formidable group of 
 the six great companies; the Orleans line which, "touch- 
 ing the West, dominating the South, running parallel 
 with the Paris-Lyons, would have authorized all experi- 
 ments, all improvements, outside the narrow bounds of 
 private interest." In spite of the repugnance of many 
 deputies to cast a vote with which they might be 
 reproached later on, a modest majority of 200 votes up- 
 held the government for the vote of the six contracts, 
 and the Ferry Cabinet emerged with honor from this 
 laborious session, having won back its majority without 
 sacrificing any part of its programme, and without hav- 
 ing been thrown into the minority on any important 
 point. 2 The elections to the General Councils were 
 influenced by this result ; in eight departments the 
 majority passed from the Right to the Left ; only one 
 socialist was elected, in Nie'vre. 3 
 
 1 M. Andre Daniel, L'Annde Politique, 1883. 
 
 2 A single ballot made a personal attack on the Minister of Marine, 
 who being, moreover, in bad health, resigned, and was replaced by 
 Admiral Peyron. 
 
 8 After the elections of 1874, the General Councils comprised 1469 repub- 
 licans, and 1531 conservatives ; after the elections of 1877, 1607 republi- 
 cans, and 1393 conservatives ; after the elections of 1880, 1906 republicans, 
 and 1004 conservatives ; after the elections of 1883, 2129 republicans, and 
 869 conservatives.
 
 THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY. 145 
 
 The enemies of the ministry would gladly have 
 attacked its foreign policy ; but they feared to offend 
 public sentiment, which was beginning to show sensi- 
 tiveness on that point. On March 13, 1883, M. Mancini 
 had given the Italian Parliament to understand that a 
 regular alliance united Germany, Austria, and Italy. 
 This revelation had made the tour not only of the uni- 
 versal press, but also of the parliaments of Europe. At 
 Budapest M. Tisza had been questioned ; at West- 
 minster, the government had been called on to explain, 
 and we have already seen the fine reply which M. 
 Challemel-Lacour made to a question that was put to 
 him on this subject by the Due de Broglie. The 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs now found his footsteps fol- 
 lowed up by English diplomacy, which was anxious to 
 counteract our action ; J on the* other hand, our colonial 
 awakening seemed to win for us the sympathy of Ger- 
 many, either because Prince Bismarck was pleased to 
 descry upon the French horizon anxieties and, perhaps, 
 distant complications, or because he cherished the hope 
 of future annexations which would be easier to Ger- 
 manize than Alsace-Lorraine. Consequently, great sur- 
 prise was caused by the abrupt attacks of the German 
 press, called forth by the journey of the Minister of 
 War in the East. The members of the Reichstag were 
 suddenly convoked, while the newspapers gave them- 
 selves over to a perfect flood of insults and calumnies 
 
 1 Not only in Tunis, in the matter of the suppression of capitulations, 
 but also in regard to the appointment of the Governor of Lebanon ; the 
 powers of Rustem Pasha were on the point of expiring; he had shown 
 himself very hostile to France, who opposed their renewal. The candidate 
 presented by the Porte was accepted by France, Germany, Austria, and 
 Italy; rejected without plausible pretexts by England and Russia, who 
 were favorable to Rustem Pasha. France, backed up by Austria and 
 Germany, overcame this opposition.
 
 146 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 against France ; the Diritto, the Daily News, and even 
 the Epoca, joined in the campaign headed by the Nord- 
 Deutsche Zeitung. The Times was the first to perceive 
 that there was no justification for it. However, pub- 
 lic opinion in France was not stirred by it, and the 
 press preserved a surprising calm. The Reichstag 
 received notice of a simple commercial treaty with 
 Spain, and everything calmed down. These alarms, on 
 which so many conjectures were based, seemed to have 
 been casts of the lead with which the chancellor was 
 fond of taking soundings of public opinion, in order 
 that he might judge of its inflammability ; they pos- 
 sessed the double advantage, in his eyes, of keeping him 
 well informed, and of maintaining in the rest of the 
 universe the impression that France alone menaced the 
 general repose. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Extreme Left organized, on the oc- 
 casion of the visit to Paris of the King of Spain, a 
 demonstration which furnished the press with an unfort- 
 unate opportunity to destroy the good effect produced 
 by its attitude. As Alphonso XII. 's journey to Austria 
 and Germany had seemed to arouse some feeling in 
 France, the young sovereign, who was very fond of our 
 country, decided to stop there on his way home. He 
 came there from Berlin where, according to custom, 
 Emperor William had appointed him to be the honorary 
 colonel of a German regiment. Now, this regiment 
 was in garrison at Strasbourg. Nothing more was 
 needed to permit the instigators of disorder to accom- 
 plish their detestable work. Alphonso XII. arrived on 
 September 29, in Paris, and traversed the capital ac- 
 companied by insults ; he was nicknamed the " Uhlan 
 King." The President of the Republic was obliged to 
 call upon him, and beg him to accept the apologies of
 
 THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY. 147 
 
 France, and consent to be present at the state dinner 
 given in his honor at the fillyse'e. The King consented, 
 and remained in Paris until October 1. This painful 
 incident aroused indignation abroad, while all good 
 Frenchmen were heartily ashamed of it. 1 
 
 Jules Ferry did not waste his time in recriminations ; 
 only one minister, General Thibaudin, had refused to go 
 to meet the King of Spain on his arrival ; he demanded 
 his instant resignation, and replaced him by General 
 Campenon. Henceforth, war was declared between the 
 President of the Council and the radicals. The latter 
 got up tumultuous meetings, in which the impeach- 
 ment of the ministry was voted for, a wholly inoper- 
 ative resolution which necessarily increased its credit 
 with those of moderate views. 2 Moreover, the moment 
 was badly chosen for party quarrels and internal dis- 
 sensions ; a European war might break out any day. 
 Russia and Germany were at odds everywhere in the 
 East ; in Bulgaria, in Servia, in Roumania, in Greece, 
 Germanophil tendencies were opposed by Slavophil ten- 
 dencies, and all minds were strained with the expec- 
 
 1 The desire to overthrow the ministry made itself apparent through 
 the fictitious patriotic anxieties put forward by the organizers of the 
 manifestation. The famous Petite France of Tours, the organ of M. Wil- 
 son, son-in-law of the President of the Republic, published despatches from 
 its " special correspondent " of Mont-sous- Vaudrey, declaring that M. 
 Grevy had refused to receive the King of Spain, and that the President of 
 the Council was trying to force him to it. Here, also, must be noted the 
 satisfaction shown by certain organs of the Right, although the responsi- 
 bility of this incident falls principally upon the Extreme Left. The Pays 
 went so far as to appeal to foreign intervention to extract us from the 
 " republican hole," and congratulated the " happy mortals " governed by 
 the German Emperor. This time, party hatred had been sufficiently 
 strong to cause men to forget their fatherland. 
 
 2 At Havre, on October 14, Jules Ferry made a great speech, in which 
 he declared that he was ready to maintain the struggle. The radicals 
 were encouraged, on their side, by the success which they achieved in 
 four partial elections.
 
 148 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 tation of some event which should set fire to the 
 powder. 
 
 The opposition felt more at ease on the subject of the 
 colonies ; the very nature of the interests at stake, the 
 distance to the theatre of hostilities, allowed it to agi- 
 tate public opinion, and to suggest to it that " policy of 
 the hare on her form, who sees things in exaggerated 
 shape, and sees them indistinctly," l from which our 
 colonies have so greatly suffered. Moreover, the Presi- 
 dent of the Council gave a handle to criticism, by the 
 sparing amount of his communications ; he felt that, in 
 order to accomplish his work, he was compelled to act, 
 in a manner, without the knowledge of the masses, be- 
 cause he knew them to be densely ignorant of African 
 and Asiatic affairs, and hostile to distant enterprises 
 which could not be converted into immediate profit. 
 But with a little more art and apparent good-will, 
 above all, by displaying more readiness to communicate 
 news, he might have calmed their impatience. But on 
 this occasion, when Parliament reassembled, on October 
 23, 1883, it found itself enlightened by an exposition 
 of the situation of affairs in Tonkin, so luminous, so 
 frank, so precise, that it was impossible, in view of the 
 growing exactions of China, to refuse to the govern- 
 ment the support which it needed. 2 The appropriations 
 were voted, and the year ended with the capture of 
 Son-Tay. 
 
 The labor question also served as a battle-ground. 
 
 1 Jules Ferry, Le Tonkin et la Mere Patrie. 
 
 2 Jules Ferry, in a manner, forced the Extreme Left to take to the 
 tribune the question which it had announced, and which miscarried; 325 
 members, against 15o, carried a vote of complete confidence. In the 
 ballot for the Tonkin appropriations, the Right abstained from voting. 
 Marshal Canrobert in the Senate, Monseigneur Freppel in the Chamber, 
 alone voted "for the flag."
 
 THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY. 149 
 
 At the beginning of 1884, propositions tending to 
 "ameliorate the lot of workingmen" followed each 
 other with incredible copiousness. Men affected to be- 
 lieve in a general crisis which was paralyzing commerce 
 and manufactures ; while precisely the last months 
 of the year 1883 had been marked by a sort of revival 
 in business. 1 Mutuality, socialism, either Christian 
 or atheistic, the reform of the taxes, protectionism, 
 everything was discussed. Jules Ferry defended the 
 liberty of work. " We think," said he, " that the only 
 profound social reforms are those which begin by the 
 reform of ideas and manners, and which have their 
 source in individual activity, initiative, and foresight. 
 What, then, is the part which the State plays? Is it 
 that of substituting itself for individual initiative and 
 foresight ? No, it is that of encouraging, aiding, sub- 
 sidizing, if necessary, their development ; never of sub- 
 stituting itself for them." All these obstacles did not 
 impede legislative work ; it was accomplished with more 
 rapidity than under other ministries which had been 
 less attacked, so greatly do a firm will and a definite 
 line of conduct facilitate the successful working of a 
 government. The municipal law was promulgated on 
 April 5 ; 2 there were still important discussions on 
 primary instruction ; laws were passed concerning the 
 conditional liberation of convicts, the sale of the Crown 
 diamonds, the creation of six schools for the children of 
 soldiers ; a convention was concluded with the Bey of 
 
 1 It is just to state that this revival did not last ; a little later it became 
 necessary to consent to a loan of 350,000,000 francs, which was subscribed 
 for only three and a quarter times over. 
 
 2 It contained a clause of considerable range, which certainly has not, 
 so far, resulted in any great profit, but which, nevertheless, holds the 
 germ of a beneficent revolution : the power granted to the communes of 
 any canton of uniting their efforts for enterprises undertaken at their 
 joint cost, in the public interest.
 
 150 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Tunis for the conversion of the Tunisian debt. The 
 municipal elections of the 4th and llth of May, 1884, 
 gave satisfactory results ; l abroad, as well as at home, 
 the Cabinet which had just concluded the treaty of 
 Tien-Tsin was solid and respected. 
 
 Jules Ferry had promised a partial revision, in order 
 to satisfy what he regarded as a profound current of 
 public opinion. 2 He warded off the general revision 
 which the radicals demanded, and himself presented 
 (March 24, 1884) the project for a law which limited 
 to four points the modifications which could be made 
 in the Constitution ; the form of government was 
 definitely settled, and placed beyond the range of any 
 discussion whatever ; its constitutional character was 
 withdrawn from the law which regulated the manner of 
 election of senators; 3 the legislative prerogatives of 
 both Chambers were definitely regulated ; and, finally, 
 the paragraph which ordered public prayers 'at the re- 
 assembling of the Chambers was suppressed. The 
 Congress opened at Versailles, in the month of August; 
 regrettable scenes took place ; the most unexpected 
 amendments were proposed with the only too evident 
 object of preventing settlements, of confusing the de- 
 ba^tes, and of casting discredit upon the Assembly. A 
 Byzantine discussion sprang up as to the great and the 
 little " quorum " (that is to say, the number upon which 
 the majority was to be calculated ; calculated upon the 
 legal -total of the congressional forces, it was 429 votes ; 
 
 1 The conservatives retained their places; the radicals lost, to the ad- 
 vantage of the moderate's. In Paris, the situation remained much the 
 same. The Council comprised 34 autonomists, 27 opportunists, 7 inde- 
 pendents, 10 reactionaries, 1 possibilist socialist, 1 revolutionary socialist. 
 
 2 No doubt, also, for the purpose of relieving the numerous deputies 
 who had inscribed the revision upon their electoral platforms. 
 
 3 This law was destined to be modified, later on, like an ordinary law. 
 and the irremovability of the senators suppressed.
 
 JULES SIMON, MINISTER, SENATOR, AND MEMBER OF THE 
 FRENCH ACADEMY.
 
 TJSIVBRSITT
 
 THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY. 151 
 
 calculated upon the real total, it was only 420 votes). 
 But when the adversaries of the ministry failed to pre- 
 vent the Congress fulfilling its mission, they described 
 it as a " defiance hurled at democracy," and published 
 a noisy manifesto of protestation. For the first time, 
 Jules Ferry had appeared not undecided, but as if he 
 had lost his bearings ; 1 perhaps he was astonished at 
 that isolation which was beginning for him and which 
 he learned, later on, to bear so valiantly. In propor- 
 tion as the minister waxed greater, and his energetic 
 figure stood out more and more from the low relief of 
 the government, a void was created around him ; in the 
 case of certain of his adversaries, opposition degener- 
 ated into rage; among his former partisans, jealousy made 
 its ravages; in addition, there was that general inca- 
 pacity for supporting in a free and consecutive manner 
 any government whatever. As persuasion and reasoning 
 did not act with sufficient effect, it became necessary to 
 employ force, that force of language which bends wills, 
 but does not prevent their rising again afterwards. 
 Men obeyed Jules Ferry grumblingly, and in the long 
 run this resulted, in the ranks of the majority, in the 
 impression of slavery, which left behind it dull ran- 
 cors in their hearts. A pungent chapter of parliamen- 
 tary psychology might be written about the Chamber of 
 1881. History will say of it, that it never was able to 
 understand, or to second, with full good-will, the man 
 who was the finest incarnation of the sentiments of the 
 majority among its members. 
 
 1 This was the epoch when the law of divorce, eloquently combated by 
 Jules Simon, was being discussed in the Senate, and when the Chamber 
 was studying the organization of the three years' service, and passing the 
 first protectionist law raising the duties on sugars which had been lowered 
 in 1880. These great evolutions, both military and economical, do not 
 appear to have been the object of sufficiently consecutive attention on the 
 part of the President of the Council.
 
 152 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 As colonial instincts had awakened, little by little, 
 appropriations asked for for Madagascar were granted 
 without excessive hesitation ; on the other hand, there 
 was a tendency to let go the prey for the shadow, to 
 abandon Tonkin for the sake of intervening in Egypt. 
 Tonkin was too far away ; the movements of our troops 
 there could be followed only through the medium of 
 fantastic information of chroniclers who were badly 
 prepared to guide the public. The surprise of Bac-Le, 
 the bombardment of Kelung, caused emotion in Paris ; 
 the departure from Shanghai of the Chinese plenipo- 
 tentiaries (August 18, 1884), and the ultimatum pre- 
 sented by M. Patenotre, suggested hints of a general 
 and merciless war between France and China. For 
 lack of knowledge as to what the river Min was, and 
 in what manner it was defended, the admirable mili- 
 tary feat accomplished by Admiral Courbet at Fou- 
 Tcheou was not appreciated, at first. One would have 
 said that between Tonkin and Paris all proportions 
 became distorted, all fears exaggerated, and that all 
 judgments went astray. A single fact dominated the 
 situation, and it was brutal and clear to every eye : 
 France was at war with a great power, without Par- 
 liament having been called upon to give its opinion. 1 
 To-day we can estimate with cool heads the chain of 
 circumstances ; but it will readily be imagined that a 
 certain amount of emotion reigned, at the moment, in 
 face of a situation which could not be explained. 
 
 Europe kept her eyes riveted on France ; the strug- 
 gle manfully maintained by Jules Ferry to organize 
 
 1 At the news of the capture of Fou-Tcheou, M. Barodet, President of 
 the group of the Extreme Left, wrote to the President of the Republic, 
 demanding the immediate convocation of Parliament. M. Grevy replied, 
 in a strictly constitutional manner, that he would transmit the letter to 
 the President of the Council, who, alone, was responsible.
 
 THE JULES FEEEY MINISTRY. 153 
 
 parties and found a true parliamentary government 
 interested her ; but, above all, she noted, with an in- 
 describable sensation of curiosity, the sort of relaxation 
 which could be divined in the relations between France 
 and Germany. This relaxation, which had already 
 been marked in the affairs of Tunis, 1 had been accentu- 
 ated at the London conference upon Egyptian affairs, 
 a conference, moreover, which ended without re- 
 sults. It was plain that M. de Bismarck viewed 
 with sympathy our efforts at colonization ; he became 
 colonial himself, and took possession of the Came- 
 roons and of Angra-Pequena, and again routed the 
 diplomats by one of those right-about-faces in which 
 his genius delighted. 2 What the enemies of the 
 minister already pretended to call the Franco-German 
 understanding was further denned by the convoca- 
 tion of the Conference of Berlin for the commercial 
 freedom of the African rivers, the Niger and the 
 Congo. This conference opened on November 15 and 
 proceeded to important partitions. 
 
 Nevertheless, the parliamentary battle became, with 
 every passing day, more arduous to maintain. For 
 the sake of winning back those who hesitated, and of 
 obtaining the appropriations for Tonkin (sixteen mill- 
 
 1 Germany had been the first to renounce her privileges, judicial and 
 other; as early as the spring of 1882, she sent a new Consul-General, the 
 explorer Nachtigal, who went to Bardo in the carriage of the Resident Gen- 
 eral, in order to be presented by him to the Bey. Germany, therefore, did 
 not content herself with urging us on to an expedition which might turn 
 out profitable to her ; by its consequences she upheld us after our success, 
 as she did before it. This ceremony made its mark in the annals of the 
 protectorate ; shortly afterward, Lord Granville, in his turn, ordered the 
 English consul not to address himself to the Bey's government otherwise 
 than through the medium of the Resident General of France. 
 
 2 Nevertheless, this did not prevent his joining his colleagues of Russia 
 and Austria, M. de Giers and Count Kalnoky, as usual. The interview 
 took place on September 15, 1884, at Skiernievicz (Russian Poland).
 
 154 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 ions were necessary at the end of 1884, and forty-three 
 millions for the year 1885), Jules Ferry was obliged 
 to order the publication of all the diplomatic archives 
 which related to Tonkin ; no one could find anything 
 in them with which to quarrel ; 1 the firmness, clear- 
 ness, and moderation of the President of the Council 
 secured for him a majority of 100 votes, but at the 
 price of what efforts ! This majority resembled a 
 troop of schoolboys in the schoolroom : it had to be 
 watched constantly, and a state of defence, at once 
 friendly and severe, had to be maintained towards it. 
 Thanks to a vote unexpectedly taken, the Extreme 
 Left had, with the support of the Right, established 
 direct universal suffrage for the election of senators; 
 the moderates were seized with keen anxiety when this 
 unforeseen result was announced. The peril was great. 
 Without the loss of a moment, the President of the 
 Council carried to the Senate the law which re-estab- 
 lished the suffrage of two degrees, and bringing it 
 before the Chamber, he got them to revoke their de- 
 cision ; six days sufficed for this new sort of campaign. 
 On January 1, 1885, the ministry entered upon the 
 third year of its existence ; 2 in the senatorial elections 
 of January 25, it won a fresh triumph ; the radical 
 advocates of revision failed, and the moderate repub- 
 licans gained twenty-two seats out of thirty-seven. 3 A 
 conflict over the appropriations, between the two Cham- 
 
 1 M. Clemenceau had violently attacked the President of the Council, 
 accusing him of having altered an important document afterwards. It 
 turned out that the whole affair was confined to this insignificant correc- 
 tion: " I believe that peace is possible," in place of " I am convinced that 
 peace is possible." 
 
 2 M. Maurice Rouvier had just been appointed Minister of Commerce, 
 in the place of M. Herisson. A little later, General Campenon gave up the 
 War portfolio, which was taken by General Lewal. 
 
 8 Only 67 senators out of 300 remained on the Right.
 
 THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY. 155 
 
 bers, and the passage of the law establishing general 
 elections filled up the early months of the year, the 
 last of the Jules Ferry Cabinet. It had not been 
 possible to vote upon the budget for 1885 at an op- 
 portune moment ; a peculiar expedient was adopted, 
 the receipts were voted upon apart from the expenses. 
 After having, with great difficulty, reconciled the 
 Chamber and the Senate on the question of certain ap- 
 propriations which the upper Assembly would not con- 
 sent to suppress, 1 the President of the Council busied 
 himself in the attempt to get general elections accepted. 
 Though hostile to this reform in 1881, he now perceived 
 the great favor which it enjoyed in public opinion, 
 and did not deem it advisable to oppose it any longer. 
 The law was passed by 402 votes (337 republicans and 
 65 monarchists) against 91 (71 republicans and 20 
 monarchists). 
 
 On March 25 the despatch from General Briere de 
 1'Isle, dated Hanoi, reached Paris : the loss of men 
 which it foreshadowed was relatively large (260 men 
 and 7 officers killed or wounded) ; the excitement was 
 keen. On the following day, March 26, M. Delafosse, 
 in questioning the Cabinet, termed the Tonkin expe- 
 dition "the most foolish and criminal of enterprises," 
 and, although a fresh telegram had greatly diminished 
 the scope of the preceding one, only 259 votes against 
 209 pronounced in favor of the order of the day, pure 
 and simple ; the majority was crumbling away. On 
 
 1 It was a question of the seminary scholarships, the salaries of the 
 Bishop of Guadeloupe and of the members of the Chapter of Saint-Denis, 
 and, finally, of the Theological Faculties. The appropriations for the 
 department of Public Worship that year felt the effects of the anti-clerical 
 anxieties of the Chamber of Deputies. As soon as the budget of 1885 was 
 settled, M. Tirard brought in that for 188G, in order that it might be voted 
 upon before the elections.
 
 156 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 March 28 arrived the news of the evacuation of Lang- 
 son, which was corrected, in the same manner, on the 
 following day, by a more reassuring telegram. But 
 wild panic had seized upon the deputies. The govern- 
 ment decided to ask Parliament for two hundred mill- 
 ions, and to send to Tonkin ten thousand men taken 
 from the Algerian contingent, or recruited by means 
 of voluntary enlistments. The groups put their heads 
 together ; the lack of composure was general. The 
 astonishing idea occurred to some one of requesting 
 the President of the Council to resign before the ses- 
 sion, by way of a public apology. The presidents of 
 the Republican Union and of the Democratic Union, 
 who applied to him in this sense, were not well re- 
 ceived. Jules Ferry intended to appear before the 
 Assembly, with his head held high. On March 30, in 
 fact, he brought in the demand for appropriations and 
 uttered the following words : " In order not to inject 
 into a debate which should remain exclusively patriotic 
 and national any consideration of secondary rank; in 
 order to unite in a common effort all those who, upon 
 whatever bench they sit and to whatever opinion they 
 hold, set the greatness of the country and the honor 
 of the flag above everything else, we announce to you 
 that we shall not consider the voting of the appropria- 
 tions as, in any sense, a vote of confidence, and that if 
 the energetic policy to which we invite you is approved 
 by you, in principle, you shall freely decide, by a later 
 vote, to what hands you wish to confide its execution." 
 The deputies did not heed this language ; they no 
 longer had any idea of what the situation demanded ; 
 they overwhelmed the minister with insults. That 
 day the Palais-Bourbon presented the most disgraceful 
 spectacle ; a little while before, the terrible news of
 
 THE JULES FEERY MINISTRY. 157 
 
 the fall of Khartoum, the heavy responsibility for 
 which was borne by the British government, had been 
 received at Westminster with a calm dignity that the 
 whole body of public opinion had reflected ; the con- 
 trast was all the more distressing for the friends of 
 France. Only 149 republican votes defended Jules 
 Ferry against the coalition of 306 votes which fear and 
 hatred arrayed against him. 1 
 
 A few hours before his fall, as to which he had 
 cherished no illusions, Jules Ferry had presided over 
 the opening meeting of the conference for the neutral- 
 ization of the Suez Canal. Several weeks earlier, the 
 final act of the Conference of Berlin had scored 
 another success for our diplomacy. The President of 
 the Council left France strong and respected abroad ; 
 at home he remained the true leader of the majority; 
 people understood him thoroughly when they saw his 
 successor continue his policy, in spite of himself, and 
 lay claim to it. Moreover, public opinion was educated 
 up to the mark in a few days. The telegram which 
 arrived from Hanoi on April 1 said: "The evacuation 
 of Langson, in consequence of the wounding of Gen- 
 eral de Negrier, seems to have been a little over-hasty ; 
 the situation is, on the whole, better than the exag- 
 gerated reports which have been coming in here for 
 the last four days gave reason to anticipate." 2 On 
 April 2 the news came that for the last five days 
 Admiral Courbet had occupied the anchorage of the 
 Pescadores. At last, on April 4, it became known 
 that the preliminaries of peace had just been signed 
 
 1 A proposal to impeach him, supported by M. Delafosse, was, fortu- 
 nately, discarded. 
 
 2 Colonel Herbinger had lost his composure to such a degree that Gen- 
 eral Briere de 1'Isle regarded it as his duty to submit his conduct to a 
 committee of inquiry.
 
 158 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 at Paris between France and China on the basis laid 
 down by France, and without China having been led 
 through the Langson affair, to heighten her preten- 
 sions. These negotiations had been in progress, se- 
 cretly, since March 22, between M. Billot, director 
 of political affairs, and M. Campbell, the representa- 
 tive of the Celestial Empire. It would have sufficed 
 for Jules Ferry to make them public to justify himself, 
 but he had preferred to maintain silence, as much 
 for the purpose of attaining success as through disdain 
 for his enemies. 
 
 He felt " worn out," and acted accordingly. Had he 
 not summed up his meaning on that point, by saying : 
 " I know well that this system of incessant attacks, of 
 daily battles, wears men out ; but what are men good 
 for, if not to be worn out for the good, for the beauti- 
 ful, for republican liberty, for country ? " And later 
 on, he was to write the following profoundly patriotic 
 lines: "When a political man leaves behind him any 
 durable works, he must make up his mind to set down 
 his popularity with profit and loss." 1 Such maxims, 
 which he put in practice, to the best of his ability, did 
 not spring from an excess of resignation, still less from 
 any lack of sensibility. There were times when he 
 winced, in spite of himself, under these shafts : " Do 
 not they know," he cried, in the Chamber, in the 
 autumn of 1884, "that, instead of reaping what, in 
 former days, was called the joys of power, one finds, 
 after all, only a constant struggle, and, what is the 
 worst bitterness of all, for a heart which is in the right 
 place, tne tempest of hatreds unchained, and friend- 
 ships lost all along the road, calumnies inconceivable, 
 which nothing tires? And you believe that power 
 
 1 Jules Ferry, Tonkin et la Mere Patrie.
 
 THE JULES FERRY MINISTRY. 159 
 
 thus wrested possesses any virtue and value in itself ? " 
 Since his death, since the innermost Jules Ferry has 
 become better known to us, we divine that he had a 
 delicate nature, from which, as he himself said, with 
 serene melancholy, "the roses budded inwards." At 
 the present day, a sinister light illumines that long way 
 of the cross which he had to traverse. The attempt 
 at assassination, of which he came near being the vic- 
 tim, caused him less pain than the incessant insults, 
 the caricatures, the nameless mud which Paris flung 
 beneath his feet. Then hatred grew weary, oblivion 
 came, and, at last, the hour of justice sounded. By 
 calling him to preside over them (1893), during the 
 last three weeks of his life, the senators rendered pos- 
 sible that long ovation which republican France led 
 behind his coffin ; she recognized him, at last, as one 
 of the noblest of her sons, the one who had proclaimed 
 that " democracy and the Republic are the goal of all 
 modern progress, and ought to concentrate in them- 
 selves everything that was good, or great, or useful 
 in the past." 
 
 The work of Jules Ferry was threefold : he restored 
 the idea of parliamentary government, and made it 
 firm ; he turned the national activity and the national 
 attention towards the colonies, and created an "ex- 
 ternal France " ; and, finally, he made instruction and 
 education the firm bases of the Republic. " The gov- 
 ernment," he said, " must be a lighthouse, which lights 
 and guides, and not a sort of twilight where all opin- 
 ions blend." But his autocracy always remained par- 
 liamentary and liberal. " I cannot endure the idea," 
 he exclaimed at the National Circle, on March 9, 1883, 
 "that the French democracy should not be able to 
 tolerate parliamentary organization. What ! Every
 
 160 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 one admits that the parliamentary form of government 
 is the most noble, the most generous, the most favor- 
 able to liberty. It is the daily battle, the peaceful 
 battle, which shields the people from street battles ; it 
 is well-studied, progressive reform ; ... it is authority 
 constantly held in control ; it is government founded 
 upon the widest publicity. Universal suffrage, democ- 
 racy, would be incompatible with this ideal. By as- 
 serting that, gentlemen, you injure democracy and 
 universal suffrage." 
 
 Before following up the vicissitudes of the crisis 
 which the fall of the Ferry ministry opened up to the 
 country, we will cast a glance at the general aspects of 
 the colonial policy, of that vast enterprise whose utility 
 France seems, at last, to have comprehended, and to 
 the pursuit of which she seems to be in the way pas- 
 sionately to attach herself. In order to realize it, con- 
 tinental peace was necessary. Jules Ferry, like all 
 clear-sighted minds, considered the maintenance of 
 peace as the first requisite of the future. He under- 
 stood that a war, even a victorious war, would have 
 acted as a stop-cock applied to that gigantic labor of 
 France, the manufacture anew of her implements, and 
 the restoration of her fortune. But he did not com- 
 prehend any state of things between France and Ger- 
 many but peace or war. He thought, no doubt, with 
 Washington, that " the nation which gives itself over 
 to continual sentiments of love or hatred towards an- 
 other becomes, in a way, the slave of its hatred or its 
 love," and every form of slavery was repugnant to his 
 nature. As for those who, ignorant of his grandeur 
 of soul, and of the profound love which he felt for his 
 country, reproached him with having stretched out his 
 hand, over the graves of our soldiers, to their con-
 
 THE JULES FEREY MINISTRY. 161 
 
 queror, he replied to them by this simple desire, ex- 
 pressed in his will : "I ask," he said, "that I may rest 
 at Saint Die", in that cemetery whence the blue line of 
 the Vosges is visible, and whence my faithful heart 
 will continue to hear the moan of the vanquished." 
 There, in fact, reposes the great patriot, the great citi- 
 zen who was, with Gambetta, the true founder of the 
 Republic.
 
 162 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 
 
 Three Colonial Empires. A National Tradition. Obstacles and Labors. 
 France beyond the Sea in 1872, and in 1894. West Africa. Mada- 
 gascar. French Asia. Problems of Indo-China. Administrative 
 Errors. The Sluggishness of French Commerce. The Educational 
 Question. 
 
 THE French nation is laboring at the erection of 
 its third colonial empire. The first was created by 
 Francis I., Henri IV., Coligny, Richelieu, and Colbert, 
 destroyed by Louis XIV. and Louis XV. The second, 
 outlined under Louis XVI., found its development 
 hampered and its future ruined by the Revolution. 
 The third is, almost exclusively, the work of the Re- 
 public. 
 
 " External France " is of distant date ; it was born 
 of the isolated efforts of those hardy conquerors who 
 were driven beyond the frontiers by their spirit of ad- 
 venture and of enterprise, their taste for danger, and 
 their love of glory. That is a very noble origin. 
 Other peoples have early had the instinct of com- 
 merce, and the legitimate desire for wealth ; l coloni- 
 zation has been, for our people, rather a career for 
 audacity than a career of interest ; the French have 
 always sought to expend therein their virile force, 
 rather than to acquire fortune ; and we shall see that 
 this characteristic of their colonial activity has sur- 
 
 1 See M. Leroy-Beaulieu's remarkable book, on Colonisation chez les 
 Peuples Modernes.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 163 
 
 vived the very profound transformation of the national 
 character ; to-day one still finds more readily men who 
 are ready to volunteer for perilous missions than for 
 lucrative undertakings. 
 
 The period from 1365, which extends from the epoch 
 at which several establishments already existed in 
 Guinea, until 1628, the date of the first conflict in a 
 distant land with England, is filled with extraordinary 
 feats of arms, with individual deeds of prowess, which 
 are stamped with the impulse of primitive instincts and 
 of unreasoning ambitions. Jean de Be"thencourt takes 
 possession of the Canary Islands (1402) ; Jean Cousin 
 attempts the discovery of the East Indies (1488). 
 Paulmier de Gonneville, Denis de Honfleur, Thomas 
 Aubert, Jean Parmentier, surnamed " the great French 
 Captain," Adalbert de la Ravardie"re, and many others 
 whose names are almost forgotten, were also notable. 
 There are also the avengers ; like the brave Ango, who 
 captures three hundred vessels, and, ascending the Tagus, 
 imposes peace on John III. of Portugal, guilty of having 
 sunk French ships in Brazilian waters (*1539) ; or, again, 
 like that gentleman of Mont-de-Marsan, of Gourgues, 
 who, setting out from Bordeaux with two hundred men, 
 on August 2, 1567, to avenge the nine hundred French- 
 men massacred two years earlier by the Spaniards, in 
 Carolina, 1 immolates nearly four hundred of the latter in 
 his turn, and returns home with contented heart. All 
 these men were preparing, without themselves suspect- 
 ing the fact, the future expansion of France, and 
 flaunted their splendid recklessness and their joyous 
 brutality across the new world which loomed up on 
 the horizon. 
 
 1 Ribeau of Dieppe, sent to Florida by Coligny, had baptized the laud 
 which he visited by the name of Carolina, in honor of King Charles IX.
 
 164 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Francis I., when he founded Havre (1537), is the 
 first to point out that this expansion is the "affair of 
 the King," which, at that epoch, was equivalent to say- 
 ing : a national question. Coligny, later on, never 
 wearies of forming expeditions ; he sends Jacques 
 Cartier to Cape Breton, Villegageux to Brazil, Jean 
 Ribaut to Florida. Several houses are founded, several 
 societies are organized for the development of the riches 
 which are revealed. There is one in Algeria, about 
 1525, whose object is coral fishery. In 1582 the Nor- 
 mans, expelled from Guinea by the Portuguese, unite 
 their efforts and establish themselves at Saint Louis 
 de Senegal, and, in 1598, de Chastes, Governor of 
 Dieppe, appointed by Henri IV. Lieutenant-General 
 of America, forms, with gentlemen of Rouen and of La 
 Rochelle, a trading company. 
 
 The situation becomes definitely outlined : North 
 America has attracted audacious youth, as the magnet 
 attracts iron ; it is to become the field of European 
 cupidity ; scarcely has Champlain founded Quebec 
 (1608), and discovered the Great Lakes (1614-1615), 
 than his security is menaced. The English, established 
 in Virginia ever since the time of their first voyage 
 thither, have taken advantage of the regency of Marie 
 de Medici to ravage Acadie ; in 1628 they attack 
 Canada. Quebec, of which they have taken possession, 
 is restored at the peace of Saint-Germain (1632), but 
 the war kindled 011 the banks of the Saint Lawrence 
 will not cease for more than a century and a half. 
 
 In 1661, when Montreal was founded, New France al- 
 ready counts about twenty-five hundred Europeans ; in 
 the following year, it becomes the property of the Crown, 
 and the company of the Hundred Associates is dissolved. 
 The governor and the officers sent out by the metropolis
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 165 
 
 form the centre of a society which studies fine manners, 
 and strives to be polished ; and, during this time, 
 adventurers, whose race has not died out, whose ardor 
 does not decrease, plunge deep into the West, to the 
 very foot of the Rocky Mountains : Louis Jolliet, 
 Pere Marquette, explore Arkansas and Wisconsin ; La 
 Salle descends the Mississippi to its mouth, and takes 
 possession of Louisiana in the name of Louis XIV. The 
 death of Colbert, in 1683, marks the apogee of our 
 colonial empire. During the last twenty years, to 
 Martinique and to Guadeloupe (conquered between 
 1625 and 1635 by d'Enambuc and his companions), we 
 have added Sainte Lucie, Saint Barthelemy, Dominique, 
 and San Domingo. 1 Madagascar, under the name of 
 1'Isle Dauphine, had become the property of the Crown ; 
 Pondichery and Chandernagor had been founded, and 
 the India Company had been reorganized on better 
 bases. 2 It was not so much the death of Colbert as that 
 of the great Mongol Emperor, Aurung-Zeb, which 
 happened in 1717, that caused the decline of French 
 India. The power of Aurung-Zeb held in respect the 
 English, Dutch, and Portuguese traders ; when it van- 
 ished, the English company and the French company 
 found themselves face to face, and having become landed 
 powers, they pushed their rivalry even to armed con- 
 flict. 
 
 In America, numbers triumphed ; we had about fif- 
 teen or twenty thousand colonists, while the English 
 already numbered two hundred thousand ; they took 
 advantage of the war of the League of Augsburg 
 
 1 French buccaneers had established themselves in San Domingo. 
 Colbert was wise enough to protect them. 
 
 2 Henri IV. had founded, in 1(504, a trading company for Hindustan. 
 The India Company was created by Richelieu ; in 1642 it occupied Reunion 
 Island.
 
 166 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 (1690), then of the war of the Spanish Succession, to 
 attempt to subdue us ; the treaty of Ryswick (1697) 
 left things in the same state as before, but that of 
 Utrecht (1713) deprived us of Newfoundland, Arcadie, 
 and the Hudson Bay Territory. France, at least, found 
 compensation in Louisiana, where colonization was 
 making strides, and in Maurice Island, which, aban- 
 doned by the Dutch, 1 was granted to the India Com- 
 pany (1721), and beheld, under the skilful government 
 of La Bourdonnais, the cultivation of its soil extend 
 and cities spring up on its shores. The treaty of 
 Utrecht did not, however, discourage the inhabitants of 
 Newfoundland. Between 1713 and 1744 their number 
 rose from twenty-five thousand to fifty thousand, and, 
 by the establishment of a line of forts on the Ohio, they 
 maintained frequent communication with their fellow- 
 countrymen in Louisiana, saving themselves up, in a 
 manner, for a more happy future. During this time, 
 great things were being accomplished in Hindustan, but 
 it became evident that the heedlessness of the King and 
 his ministers, and the ignorant indifference of public 
 opinion, were rendering sterile all the efforts of our 
 colonists. In 1739 the Mahrattas, under Ragoglu, 
 their chief, had been forced to retreat before Dumas, 
 Governor of Pondiche*ry, who was succeeded, two years 
 later, by the illustrious Dupleix. When the war of the 
 Austrian Succession broke out in Europe, its results 
 were felt afar. But Dupleix, reinforced by La Bour- 
 donnais, seized Madras, won the victory of San Thome 
 (1747) with two hundred Frenchman over a hundred 
 thousand Hindus, and, finally, gloriously defended 
 Pondiche'ry against the English (1748). In this year 
 
 1 The Dutch had named it after Maurice of Nassau. Under French 
 rule it became 1'Isle de France.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 167 
 
 the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed, and Louis 
 XV., who was making war "like a king and not like a 
 merchant," restored Madras ! 
 
 In 1750 the war over the succession to the Deccan 
 and the Carnatic was resumed. Dupleix, La Touche, 
 and Bussy crushed the Mahratta cavalry in four succes- 
 sive combats. Dupleix was powerful ; with five prov- 
 inces, he had formed upon the shores of Orissa a 
 regular kingdom, with Mazulipatam for its capital ; 
 the British flag no longer floated over Madras. Then 
 intrigue effected at Versailles what cannons had not 
 been able to accomplish in Asia. Louis XV. recalled 
 Dupleix (1754), and Godchen, his successor, signed a 
 treaty with the English by which the two companies 
 renounced "their possessions," and forbade each other 
 to intermeddle, thenceforth, in the affairs of India. In 
 the following year, the Seven Years' War broke out. 
 From that moment forth the French arms were every- 
 where beaten back. Montcalrn wins only a single 
 victory at Carillon, but the British fleet continues to 
 ascend ; the hero is routed and killed on the Plains of 
 Abraham. Quebec capitulates and, in spite of the fine 
 defence of M. de Levis, the forts are reduced, one after 
 the other. During this time, Olive has taken Chander- 
 nagor (1757), Bussy has been made prisoner at Vanda- 
 vachi, and the unfortunate Lally-Tollendal, Godchen' s 
 successor, capitulates in Pondichery (1761). 
 
 The peace of Paris is signed in 1763 ; French India 
 is done for ; 1 the few factories which our conquerors 
 
 1 Some French soldiers of fortune made another attempt, with the aid 
 of the native princes, to stop the progress of the English ; some of them 
 mere adventurers, who sought only to enrich themselves, like General 
 Perron and La Martiniere ; others, true patriots, like that Raymond, 
 formerly an officer under Lally, who organized an army corps, in European 
 style, for the Nizam, in 1795 ; he had eighteen thousand men trained after
 
 168 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE, 
 
 restore to us will have for us, henceforth, only a his- 
 torical value ; in the rest of the world we lose Can- 
 ada, half of Louisiana, Saint Vincent, Dominique, and 
 Se'ne'gal. . . . 
 
 The first French colonial empire is at an end ; only 
 a few scattered fragments of it remain. This great 
 effort has suffered shipwreck, and yet the colonial 
 sap is not exhausted ; it can be felt close at hand, 
 and the government of the metropolis, this time, will 
 watch its budding with friendly interest. Louis XVI. 
 is on the throne, a much misunderstood monarch, 
 whose capacities were paralyzed and whose defects were 
 thrown into relief, by fate. He it was who, as early 
 as 1768, sent afar Bougainville ; Bougainville, who 
 reconnoitres Pomotu, Tahiti, New Guinea, and who 
 will have for his successors La Pe'rouse (1787) and 
 d'Entrecasteaux (1791). l During the war in America, 
 the Bailiff de Suffren wins the victory of Madras, re- 
 takes Pondiche'ry, 2 and in 1783 the treaty of Versailles 
 restores to us Senegal and Tabago. It is the epoch 
 when Benoiwski, by making his famous attempts at 
 colonizing Madagascar, prepares the way for our action 
 in the future, and when Bishop Pigneau de Behaine 
 negotiates, between Louis XVI. and the Emperor Gia- 
 Long, that singular treaty which though it was not 
 put in operation has served as the point of departure 
 
 the French manner, and bearing the colors of the Republic. Raymond 
 perished in 1798, having been assassinated by his enemies at the Nizam's 
 court; this ended the French influence at Hyderabad; he was interred 
 there and honored as a demigod. 
 
 1 La Perouse discovered the Friendly Islands, the Norfolk Islands, 
 touched at Botany Bay, and died at Vanikoro. D'Eutrecasteaux passed 
 through the same archipelagoes in search of him, and touched at Van 
 Diemen's Land. 
 
 2 Pondiche'ry, restored at the peace of Paris, had again escaped from 
 our grasp.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 169 
 
 for our establishment in Indo-China. The legal ex- 
 istence of the colonies begins in 1792 ; the Legislative 
 Assembly grants to them the right of representation 
 in Parliament. Thus the Isle de France and Reunion 
 take a hearty share in the great national uprising ; 
 they organize a vigorous resistance to the English, 
 while Victor Hugues, despatched to the Antilles by 
 the Convention, succeeds in driving them out of Gua- 
 deloupe and Sainte Lucie. Did Napoleon cherish any 
 ulterior views with regard to the colonies? In any 
 case, he would have lacked both leisure and the forces 
 to apply to them ; for the second time the policy of 
 expansion perished, crushed by the continental policy ; 
 the treaty of Paris of 1814, like the treaty of Paris 
 of 1763, left to external France nothing but ruins. 
 If circumstances should permit the resumption, for the 
 third time, of the distant work, would the nation and its 
 rulers be able to profit by the lesson; to choose clearly 
 between the one party and the other ; to will, with firm- 
 ness, that European peace which is indispensable to 
 every enterprise of colonial expansion ? Such was the 
 problem to which the past had set the limits. It has 
 not been waste of time to cast a glance over that 
 past, and to recall, in this place, its principal vicissi- 
 tudes. Our colonies constitute one of the most power- 
 ful bonds which unite the France of yesterday to the 
 France of to-day. In attempting to render them great 
 and prosperous, the Republic has remained faithful to 
 national traditions. 
 
 When the first wounds of 1870 had healed over, and 
 we were approaching the end of that convalescence 
 whose brevity surprised and disquieted our enemies, 
 the statesmen in whom the country had confidence 
 began to ask themselves to what quarter it was proper
 
 170 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 that they should direct its reviving life. Many reasons 
 presented themselves for choosing colonial expansion. 
 Jules Ferry, more than any other man, felt the neces- 
 sity of this. He took care to explain his meaning to 
 the Chamber one day when an attack against the 
 whole colonial policy was being made through his 
 person. 1 "In Europe, such as it has become," said 
 he; "in the competition of so many rivals which are 
 springing up around us, some by military and maritime 
 improvements, others by the prodigious development of 
 their populations; in a universe thus constituted, the 
 policy of reserve and abstention is the highway to 
 decadence. . . . To shine without acting, without 
 mixing in the affairs of the world, by holding aloof 
 from all combinations, by regarding every expansion in 
 Africa or in the East as a trap, as an adventure, 
 to live thus is to abdicate ! " All the States of Europe, 
 in fact, were launching out, one after the other, in the 
 path of foreign conquests and of aggrandizement of 
 their commercial horizons. To abstain from this was 
 not only to wrong the country, but to give occasion 
 to the enemies of the Republic to render it responsible 
 for the stagnation which would result therefrom. 2 On 
 the one hand, the obstacles were numerous and diffi- 
 cult to overcome. And, in the first place, shall we ever 
 
 1 It was on July 1, 1885, a few months after the fall of the Jules Ferry 
 Cabinet; it was a question of the appropriations for Madagascar, the de- 
 mand for which had not been withdrawn by M. Brisson, the new President 
 of the Council. 
 
 3 "I understand well the monarchical parties," continued Jules Ferry, 
 in the speech quoted above; "when they wax indignant at seeing the 
 French Republic undertake to do anything but exercise the policy of 
 reserve, of pot-luck, pardon me the expression, they do not hide from 
 us the fact that they think a policy capable of grand designs and of grand 
 thoughts is an appanage of monarchy; a democratic government, in their 
 eyes, is a government which humbles everything, politics as well as the 
 rest."
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 171 
 
 succeed in interesting the country, in durable fashion, 
 in an enterprise which it will not have the means of 
 controlling day by day, and for the results of which 
 we must wait long? Had not indifference been the 
 cause of past lack of success? In short, a certain 
 unpopularity has always attached to colonizations. 
 With Voltaire, people had perceived in Canada only 
 "roods of snow." Louisiana had excited the fancy 
 of the Parisians, and that poor Dupleix had beheld 
 himself turned into ridicule, to such a degree, says one 
 of his historians, 1 "that moral tales and comic operas 
 were founded on him and on his projects." More 
 recently, what firm will and what coherence of purpose 
 had been required to render popular the army of Africa, 
 whose conquests so often came near being abrogated 
 by " the hesitations, the weaknesses, the limited views, 
 the ignorant, narrow, or declamatory policy of the duly 
 qualified Chambers." 2 These examples were far from 
 encouraging, and, without foreseeing that party spirit 
 would make of Tonkin the "lists of our discords," 3 
 a stubborn fight was to be expected, whose issue would, 
 perhaps, remain for a long time uncertain. 
 
 The first effect of the apathy and indifference of 
 public opinion with regard to the colonies is the diffi- 
 culty of finding good functionaries to administer, and 
 good colonists to develop their value. The English 
 send out to a distance picked men, whom they clothe 
 with real authority, and whose duties are well remu- 
 nerated as well as respected. The French colonial func- 
 tionary, on the contrary, considers that he is exiled, 
 his career is held in small esteem ; he remains in the 
 background. As for the colonist, he must have an ex- 
 tremely rare dose of courage to undertake his stern 
 
 1 M. de Saint-Priest. 2 Jules Ferry, Le Tonkin et la Mere Patrie. 3 Ibid.
 
 172 TEE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 task, and, in order that he may succeed therein, par- 
 ticularly favorable chances. Many persons assert that 
 the Frenchman is, by nature, a bad colonist. Nothing 
 is less proved. 1 But the education which he receives 
 gives him the appearance of being so, in any case. It 
 breaks his initiative, represses his energy, trains him 
 to fear and to obedience ; in a word, shapes him to the 
 exact reverse of what is fitting in the future colonist. 
 
 Lastly, before launching out in colonial enterprises, 
 it was of importance to find out what was to be the 
 economical policy of the Republic. If the mother- 
 country is at liberty to choose between protection and 
 free trade, is she at liberty to apply the system of her 
 choice to her dependencies beyond the sea ? Without 
 free trade, the greater part of the colonies cannot pros- 
 per, and many cannot even exist. " The manufacturers 
 of the mother-country never succeed in supplying lib- 
 erally the market from which they have driven out 
 their foreign competitors, and by no longer selling 
 anything but the national products, the merchants in 
 the colonies vegetate and languish." 2 If the repub- 
 lican Chambers were induced to establish a protective 
 tariff, and from certain signs, one might predict that 
 possibility, without being a pessimist, what would 
 become of the colonies? 
 
 All these question marks, all these uncertainties, all 
 these reasons for fear in the future, did not paral}'ze the 
 activity of the "colonials." They had faith in their 
 
 1 Tocqueville wrote, in Democratic en Ame'rique, Vol. II., these lines, 
 which remain true to this day: "I myself have seen, in Canada, the 
 Englishman, master of the commerce and the manufactures, spreading 
 out on all sides and crowding the Frenchman into too narrow limits." 
 But the Canadians are placed in conditions of real inferiority by the moral 
 and intellectual repression from which they suffer. 
 
 2 J. Chailley-Bert, La Colonisation de VIndo-Chine.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 173 
 
 work, and, seconded by bold travellers, who acted as 
 scouts, they have created a French Africa and Asia 
 upon which we may be permitted to cast a glance of 
 pride, although what has already been accomplished is 
 but little in comparison with that which remains to be 
 done. 
 
 In 1872 we possessed, in Africa, Algeria, where the 
 military colonization dreamed of by Marshal Bugeaud 
 had utterty failed, where the lack of care and the in- 
 capacity of the administration rivalled the unfortunate 
 institution of the Arab offices in extinguishing all in- 
 itiative, and clipping the wings of all private enter- 
 prise ; Algeria, which weighed upon the finances of the 
 mother-country instead of relieving them, 1 and which 
 had to its credit only the fact that it had trained good 
 officers and maintained the vigor of the troops. Our 
 claims upon Tunis, its neighbor, had been discreetly 
 formulated by the monarchy of July ; the Second Re- 
 public and the Empire had confined themselves to not 
 renouncing them. We still had Se'ne'gal, whence life 
 seemed to have disappeared, where, between 1817 and 
 1854, thirty-one governors had followed one after the 
 other, bringing no unity of plan, no attempt at general 
 improvements, so that, in reply to the demands and 
 the complaints of the Bordeaux merchants, it ended in 
 the despatching thither of General Faidherbe, who re- 
 established safety, founded the post of Me*dine, and 
 constructed fortified works on the river. Further 
 down, towards the South, French factories had been 
 
 1 According to the report presented to the Senate by M. Pauliat, for 
 the appropriations of 1891, Algeria, between 1830 and 1880, cost a little 
 more than five milliards, and brought in 1,260,018,754 francs; in 1891, 
 added the report, it cost more than eighty-six millions; now, with forty- 
 six millions a year, England administers her colonies, that is to say, one- 
 sixth of the globe, and three hundred and sixty million inhabitants.
 
 174 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 established in 1843 at Grand Bassam and at Assinie, 
 on the Ivory Coast. In 1870 these posts were evacu- 
 ated, and it was a merchant of La Rochelle, M. Verdier, 
 who, by taking the title of Resident, succeeded in pre- 
 serving Grand Bassam to France, in spite of the efforts 
 of the Governor of the English Gold Coast. Still 
 further away extends the Slave Coast, the maritime 
 front of the Dahomey country ; there, again, individual 
 efforts had brought about happy results, such as the 
 foundation of Grand Popo (1857), the establishment 
 of the protectorate at Porto Novo (1863), and, finally, 
 the cession of Kotonou by the King of Dahomey. 
 Then the protectorate, left without organization or re- 
 sources, was abandoned ; the English even tried to 
 annex the territory of Porto Novo, but without success. 
 Finally, a French Congo was founded in 1839 by Com- 
 mander Bouet-Willaumez, who signed with Chief Denis 
 a preliminary treaty, which was made definitive, in 
 1844 ; in 1849 the establishment of Libreville had been 
 created ; later on (1862), our authority was extended 
 over the Ogooue*, and over all the territory com- 
 prised between that river and the Gaboon; du Chaillu, 
 Walker, de Compiegne, and Marche had explored the 
 country. They had had no encouragement from 
 France ; no one knew what they were going to do 
 "off there." No one paid much attention to them. 
 
 Very different is the aspect of these same regions 
 twenty years later. Behind Senegal a vast empire is 
 in process of formation, which will abut, on one side, 
 upon Algeria, and on the other upon the French Congo. 
 This gigantic work had its birth in 1879, through the 
 creation of the advance post of Bafoulabe' ; between 
 1881 and 1887, under Colonel Borgnis-Debordes and 
 Commander Combes, the work of penetrating inward
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 175 
 
 was pursued with vigor by the foundation of the ports 
 of Badurnbe', Kita, Bammako, Koundou, Niagassola ; 
 in 1888 Kanani was reached, the port of Timbuctoo ; 1 
 then Lieutenant-Colonel Gallidni and Commander Arch- 
 inard extended our influence as far as the sources of 
 the Niger, and placed under our protectorate the States 
 of Ahmadou and Samory. Dahomey is in our hands. 
 The brilliant expedition of General Dodds (1892) 
 ended in the capture of Abomey, and the overthrow of 
 a dynasty whose very name inspired terror in the bend 
 of the Niger. Finally, the French Congo has been 
 greatly developed, thanks to the efforts of M. de Brazza 
 and his colleagues ; we have acquired there, by a series 
 of treaties, a great number of territories beyond the 
 original limits. But then arose the disputes with the 
 European powers who had become our neighbors. Our 
 new empire encloses Portuguese Guinea, the English 
 factories of Sierra Leone, the American Republic of 
 Liberia, 2 the British Gold Coast, the German territory 
 of the Cameroons, and is conterminous, for a long dis- 
 tance, with the independent Congo State ; not to 
 mention the isolated establishments which fortuitous 
 circumstances or the whims of travellers have sprinkled 
 along the shores of western Africa, and over which float 
 the various flags of the European nations. 
 
 The compact of August 5, 1890, consecrated, after 
 a manner, the existence of the French- African West. 
 
 1 Colonel Bonnier entered Timbuctoo in 1894. 
 
 2 The Republic of Liberia was created with an aim which was both 
 philanthropic and interested : it was believed that it might become a great 
 centre for the material and intellectual emancipation of the blacks of the 
 Soudan, while, at the same time, it would attract the blacks of the South- 
 ern States of the Union in America; by "returning them to their native 
 land " the negro question, which weighs upon the future of the United States, 
 would be solved in a peaceful manner. But the negroes have no desire to 
 leave America, and that plan has failed.
 
 176 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 England and Germany, by disposing of the sultanate 
 of Zanzibar, had infringed anterior rights, whose exist- 
 ence had been almost forgotten, even by France her- 
 self ; they were remembered in the nick of time, and 
 compensation was demanded. They consisted of the 
 " Hinterland " (the interior) of Se'ne'gal and of Guinea, 
 with access to Lake Tchad, which thus became the 
 grand central square of civilization in the bosom of the 
 Black Continent. There is, no doubt, some degree of 
 childishness in this partition of immense territories, in- 
 completely explored, badly defined, and which solemn 
 diplomats assign to one or another by drawing straight 
 lines on a map that lies outspread before them. The 
 very next day after he had been indulging in this ex- 
 ercise, Lord Salisbury made fun in public, in a very 
 pleasant manner, of his own way of acting. Neverthe- 
 less, it is not so tame an operation as it might appear. 
 These are annexations " which a persevering diplomacy 
 cultivates afterward as germs of claims and rights in 
 the future." 1 Moreover, were the " conquistadores " 
 (conquerors) much more ridiculous when, in the name 
 of their sovereign, they took possession of a land or of 
 an ocean whose limits they did not know? 
 
 Skilfully conducted negotiations have caused these 
 difficulties of delimitation to end, so far as we are 
 concerned, for the most part, in success. 2 But strive 
 
 1 Speech made in the Senate, April 5, 1895, by M. Hanoteaux, Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 2 Among the most recent conventions, we may cite the Franco-German, 
 of February 4, 1894, which fixed the frontier between the Cameroons and 
 the French Congo ; and the Convention of August 14, 1894, between France 
 and the Congo Free State, which came about in consequence of the claims 
 which the Anglo-Congo Convention of May 22, of the same year, had 
 called for on the part of France. Therein it was stipulated that England 
 " took on lease " certain Congo territories, among others a strip twenty- 
 five kilometres in width, which ran from Lake Tanganyika to Lake Albert- 
 Edward. The importance of such a stipulation can readily be imagined.
 
 COLONIAL FEANCE. 177 
 
 as she may to keep the peace between the agents who 
 represent her in the Dark Continent, Europe will be 
 only partially successful in her efforts thereto ; either 
 it is the Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries 
 who, forgetting their mission of Christian fraternity, 
 arm the people subject to their influence against each 
 other; or it is the French, English, German, Portu- 
 guese holders of grants who seek to harm each other, 
 not so much through commercial rivalry as through 
 race jealousy. The result is, that even between men 
 of the same race arise deplorable conflicts, and that 
 petty jealousies are displayed where unity of action 
 alone could insure any progress. 
 
 In all its enterprises of conquest and of exploration, 
 the government has been well backed up by private 
 initiative. The French committee on Africa, and 
 other similar societies, have rendered it the most 
 praiseworthy and the most disinterested assistance ; 
 the Chambers of Commerce, the Geographical Socie- 
 ties, great daily journals and even mere private citi- 
 zens, have defrayed the expense of expeditions whose 
 results have been considerable. But all these sacrifices, 
 all this devotion, have been inspired by the love of 
 country, or of science, or by the ambition to perform 
 some generous act, and to acquire a fame of good 
 quality. Now, it is agricultural, industrial, and com- 
 mercial enterprises which, more than all else, enrich 
 colonies. But if the French are ready to give their 
 blood for the cause of civilization, or for the aggran- 
 dizement of the national domain, they appear less dis- 
 posed to risk their money to procure for their new 
 possessions that beneficent "irrigation," which alone 
 will insure their development. 
 
 After French Africa and Asia, Madagascar const!-
 
 178 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 tutes the third important portion of our present empire 
 beyond the sea. As has already been said, our rela- 
 tions with that great African island do not date from 
 3 r esterday. The Normans established themselves there, 
 and, nearly three centuries ago, the India Company 
 had some unfortunate experiences there ; l Colbert took 
 an interest in it, but did not succeed in interesting 
 public opinion therein. 2 French agents prepared there, 
 by their innumerable mistakes, the massacre of their 
 fellow-countrymen (1672), and Louis XIV. in vain 
 decreed the annexation of Madagascar (now become 
 the Dauphin's Island), by a series of orders which bear 
 the date of 1686, 1719, 1720, and 1721 ; the Malagasy 
 would not permit themselves to be allured. The ad- 
 venturers had better success. The history will be re- 
 called of that corporal Labigorne who married Queen 
 Be"ty and reorganized the commercial relations be- 
 tween Madagascar and the Isle de France (1750- 
 1767). After him came M. de Modave and Bdniowski, 
 whom d'Aiguillon protected, and whom the Malagasy 
 wished to proclaim king. The Convention installed 
 a Resident at Tamatave. 3 The Restoration took pos- 
 
 1 The representatives of the French company, Prouis aud ^Itienne de 
 Flacourt, did not manage to make the inhabitants accept them ; the latter, 
 in particular, rendered himself odious to them by his severity. After it 
 was reorganized, by Marshal de la Meilleraye, the company made a fresh, 
 but fruitless, attempt in Madagascar. In 1671 the company restored the 
 island to the King of France. 
 
 2 Colbert attempted, by an original innovation, to create a current of 
 public opinion in favor of Madagascar. He disseminated pamphlets and 
 issued appetizing advertisements. He even got up a subscription, and 
 put down the King and the princes at the head of the list. 
 
 3 It is to be noted that, in spite of the difficulties which the Convention 
 encountered in the interior and on the frontiers, it found time to turn its 
 attention to the colonies, and never dreamed of abandoning them. The 
 "colonial sentiment" did not exist among the members of the Conven- 
 tion, who were anxious, above all, to remain faithful to their principles, 
 to suppress slavery, and to emancipate humanity wherever they could.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 179 
 
 session of Tintingue (1829) ; Louis Philippe evacuated 
 it. No government seemed to care to draw closer the 
 bonds which united Madagascar to France. But none 
 dared finally to sever them. A favorable opportunity 
 presented itself to Napoleon III. Three French trad- 
 ers established in the island, MM. de Lastelle, Laborde, 
 and Lambert, had acquired a great position with Queen 
 Ranavalo and her son. The establishment of the pro- 
 tectorate was then easy, but the Emperor, wholly en- 
 grossed with his continental policy, wished to take 
 England in as half -partner in the business which was 
 proposed to him. For a long time the English had 
 been seeking an opportunity to lay hands on Madagas- 
 car. In 1816 Governor Farquhar had informed the 
 Governor of Bourbon that he regarded Madagascar 
 as a dependency of the Isle de France. His act was 
 disclaimed, so intenable was the claim, but his manoeu- 
 vres were secretly encouraged. Lord Clarendon, to 
 whom the imperial government thus threw open the 
 door, despatched to the island the Methodist Ellis, who 
 organized British missions, where, under the pretext of 
 a religious propaganda, anti-French action was exer- 
 cised. The missionary Pickersgill (18771881) fol- 
 lowed him. The hour was come to act or to evacuate. 
 In 1883 Admiral Pierre seized Majunga and Tamatave; 
 the next year, Admiral Miot blockaded the coasts, 
 while Admiral Galiber, and afterward M. Patrimonio, 
 entered into laborious negotiations with the Hovas. 
 The English nursed in the latter the delusion that 
 
 Nevertheless, it was a sort of merit on their part, that they paid atten- 
 tion, at that very troubled epoch, to the fate of distant lands which they 
 might have emancipated without feeling themselves bound to aid in their 
 defence. This, assuredly, constitutes the principal claim to glory on the 
 part of the Convention, this care to lose none of the national territory, 
 and to preserve everywhere its integrity.
 
 180 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Europe was favorable to them ; J consequently, they 
 themselves broke off the parley as soon as they descried 
 the possibility of a ministerial crisis in France, or of 
 a refusal by Parliament of the appropriations asked 
 for by the government. At last a treaty was signed, 
 which ceded to us Diego-Suarez Bay, and established 
 our protectorate. England recognized the clauses in 
 1891 ; but in order to vanquish the last lingering re- 
 sistance of the Hovas, to deprive them of the last 
 illusions and establish the French domination beyond 
 the possibility of dispute in Madagascar, an expedition 
 was necessary; it is now being carried out. 2 There 
 is no doubt that the great African island is capable of 
 becoming, in the hands of a power which shall under- 
 stand how to develop its wealth, a magnificent source 
 of prosperity. We shall see what are the conditions 
 indispensable for the planting and success there of 
 French colonization. 
 
 The origins of French Asia are equally distant. The 
 first Roman Catholic missions to Tonkin date from 
 1625. In 1684 the India Company caused one of its 
 agents, Le Chappelier, to explore it ; others of its rep- 
 resentatives followed him in 1735, 1748, and 1749. 
 At last, in 1787, a treaty was signed at Versailles 
 between the French plenipotentiaries and the son of 
 
 1 In 1882 the Hova government had sent to Paris its Minister of For- 
 eign Affairs. This functionary, deceived as to the attitude of the other 
 powers, and believing that he could execute a sensational, theatrical sur- 
 prise, abruptly broke off negotiations, and set off one evening for Berlin ; 
 he was surprised and chagrined to find himself turned out of doors there. 
 
 2 Nothing affords better proof of the change of opinion which has taken 
 place in the matter of colonial expeditions than the unanimity with which 
 certain appropriations have been granted, and the enthusiasm which ac- 
 companied the embarkation of the Madagascar expeditionary corps. The 
 triumphal return of General Dodds from the Dahomey expedition had 
 already indicated a change in the disposition of public opinion.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 181 
 
 the deposed Emperor, Gia-Long, aided by the Bishop 
 of Adran, Pigneau de Be'haine, the instigator of this 
 treaty. King Louis XVI. bound himself to restore 
 to his throne the Emperor of Annam, who, in return, 
 ceded the archipelago of Poulo-Condore, the bay and 
 city of Tourane. As the Revolution prevented Louis 
 XVI. from keeping his engagements, the bishop took 
 charge of them in place of his sovereign. He chartered 
 vessels, engaged officers and engineers, reorganized the 
 army and the fleet of Gia-Long. Not only did the 
 latter recover his inheritance, but he extended his rule 
 over the whole of Tonkin, where the French engineers 
 erected the very fortifications which our soldiers have 
 since been compelled to capture in the face of a thou- 
 sand perils. The death of the prelate-patriot, who 
 had remained the confidential adviser of Gia-Long, 
 marked the decline of the French influence (1798); 
 half a century elapsed, and the memory of Pigneau de 
 Behaine was pretty thoroughly effaced when, in 1858, 
 in consequence of the massacre of French and Span- 
 ish missionaries, and the defeat of a peaceful mission 
 entrusted to M. de Montigny, Admiral Rigault de 
 Genouilly, at the head of a Franco-Spanish expedition, 
 took possession of Tourane, then of Saigon (1859). 
 In 1852, after several victories of our arms, which were, 
 moreover, dearly bought, the celebrated Tu-Duc con- 
 sented to sign the treaty of Saigon. 1 An embassy 
 despatched to Cambodia obtained from Norodom the 
 establishment of the French protectorate. And finally, 
 Captain Doudart de Lagre'e, having explored the course 
 of the Mekong and traversed Laos, recognized the 
 
 1 By this treaty, the three provinces of Mytho, Bien-Hoa, and Saigon, 
 and the archipelago of Ponlo-Condore were ceded to us ; the three other 
 provinces of Lower Cochin China were occupied in 1867.
 
 182 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Song-Koi or Red River as the natural way by which 
 China could be penetrated. 1 
 
 After the war of 1870, "the Tonkin question" im- 
 mediately presented itself ; it could not be eluded, un- 
 less we closed to our possessions of Indo-Chma every 
 outlet towards the interior, and unless we abandoned 
 to others the precious advantages which were within 
 our reach. A trader, M. Dupuis, installed himself at 
 Hanoi, where he was molested by the Annamites ; 
 during that same year, Admiral Dupr6 entrusted a 
 mission to naval Lieutenant Gamier. Gamier had 
 with him two gunboats and one hundred and seventy- 
 five men ; the hostile attitude of the mandarins led to 
 his capturing Hanoi, then to occupying the whole delta. 
 The Annamites then called to their assistance the Black 
 Flags, the remnants of the Chinese bands of the Tai- 
 Pings, and in an attack upon the citadel of Hanoi, 
 Gamier was killed. 
 
 Admiral Dupr6 was one of those enthusiasts whom 
 Tonkin so completely captivates. He wrote to the 
 Minister of Marine, on July 28, 1873 : " I am ready, 
 if any doubt lingers in your mind and in that of the 
 government, to assume the entire responsibility of the 
 consequences of the expedition which I am planning, to 
 expose myself to the danger of being disavowed, to a 
 recall, to the loss of the rank to which I believe I have 
 some right. I ask neither approbation nor reinforce- 
 ments ; I ask you to allow me to act, with the liberty 
 of disavowing me if the results which I obtain are not 
 those which I have presented to you." But the Cabinet 
 which was presided over by the Due de Broglie was not 
 very colonial in sentiment ; they decided to evacuate 
 Hanoi and the delta, and to accept the compact, enti- 
 
 1 Captain de Lagree died at Yunnam, in 1868.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 183 
 
 tied the compact of 1874, which established an incom- 
 plete protectorate, and nourished the germs of conflict 
 in the future. 1 The results of this compact have defi- 
 nitely condemned the policy which dictated it. An 
 energetic intervention would have warded off many 
 evils, and spared many later losses of men and money. 
 From 1875 to 1883 was an uninterrupted period of 
 journeys 2 and explorations, but the horizon was darken- 
 ing ; the court of Hue* became reconciled to the Tsong- 
 Li-Yamen, and sent to Pekin embassies and gifts. In 
 1882 Marquis Tseng announced in Paris that China 
 would not regard the Convention of 1874 as valid ; he 
 received from Gambetta a clear and categorical reply, 
 which M. de Freycinet soon afterwards repeated. 
 "France," said the minister, "has no explanation to 
 make to China." Unfortunately, the party of decision 
 did not prevail with sufficient completeness ; uncertain- 
 ties, hesitations, could be felt. M. le Myre de Vilers, 
 after having exhausted all means of conciliation, beheld 
 the situation growing aggravated, and sent to Tonkin 
 Commander RiviSre, who seized Hanoi. During this 
 time, our minister at Pekin, M. Bouree, had brought 
 about the acceptance there of a treaty project, which 
 created a neutral zone between China and Annam, and 
 
 1 The President of the Republic recognized the sovereignty of the 
 Emperor of Aunain and his entire independence of any foreign power, and 
 bound himself to aid and uphold him, in case of need. The Emperor bound 
 himself, in return, to conform his external policy to that of France, and never 
 to sign any political treaties without having informed the French govern- 
 ment thereof beforehand. Divers clauses dealing with details, some of 
 which were advantageous to commerce, completed this treaty, but did not 
 correct the vague and confused character of the principal clauses. 
 
 2 It is to be noted that no distant conquest was ever better prepared 
 for from the point of view of knowledge of the country ; but the narra- 
 tives of travellers left public opinion, in general, indifferent in France, 
 while in England our progress was watched with jealous and uneasy 
 attention.
 
 184 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 contained, on the part of France, a stipulation that she 
 should respect the territory of Annam. M. Bouree was 
 disclaimed and recalled ; but Commander Riviere, who 
 had reconquered the delta, should have been all the 
 better supported. The Black Flags were formidable 
 enemies ; in France, they were not yet taken seriously. 
 On April 19, 1883, Commander Riviere was killed ; 
 thirty dead and fifty-five wounded fell around him. 
 
 On this occasion repression was prompt. Admiral 
 Courbet was given the command of a naval division, 
 and General Bouet that of the troops to be landed. 
 The bombardment and capture of the forts of Thuan- 
 An, situated at the mouth of the river Hue", sufficed to 
 intimidate the government of Annam, 1 which sued for 
 peace. The treaty of August 25, 1883, sanctioned the 
 protectorate of France over Annam and Tonkin ; 2 but 
 we then found ourselves face to face with China, which 
 had gradually substituted herself for Annam, and now 
 sent reinforcements to Tonkin without any pretence of 
 secrecy. Admiral Courbet took sole command ; we 
 were conquerors at Hai-Dzuong and at Sontay. In the 
 beginning of 1884, sixteen thousand men arrived from 
 France under the command of General Millot ; Bac- 
 Ninh was taken on March 12, Hong-Hoa on April 13, 
 Tuyen-Quan on June 1 ; one might have thought that 
 the treaty of Tien-Tsin, signed by M. Fournier on May 
 11, would put an end to hostilities. Nothing of the sort. 
 China is not a centralized country ; provincial autonomy 
 there is great ; so war began again at one point as 
 
 1 Tu-Duc had just died, leaving the throne to Hiep-Hoa, who, shortly 
 afterwards, was poisoued and succeeded by Kien-Phuoc. 
 
 2 The treaty sanctioned, in addition to France's right to occupy the 
 forts of Thuan-Au, the annexation of the province of Binh-Thuan to our 
 possessions of Cochin China, and the delivery into our hands of the custom- 
 houses of Annam.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 185 
 
 soon as peace was established at another point ; the 
 imperial government profited by this situation, and 
 sought to prolong it. Negotiations were in progress 
 simultaneously at Pekin and at Hue, and even at 
 Pnom-Penh, where Norodom experienced the efforts at 
 revolt which M. Thomson's energy speedily quelled. 1 
 The surprise of Bac-Le (June 23) proved that all was 
 not over ; satisfaction was demanded of China, which 
 granted nothing. Then it was that Admiral Courbet 
 ascended the river Min, destroyed the Chinese fleet of 
 twenty-two vessels and two thousand men (August 
 23), then the arsenal of Fou-Tcheou (August 24), 2 and 
 executed that marvellous descent of the river in which, 
 capturing in reverse order the fortified posts, the bat- 
 teries, and the forts of the Mingan pass, he successively 
 dismantled all these works. China lost, in addition to 
 her fleet and her sailors, more than 25,000,000 francs ; 
 only ten Frenchmen were killed. Kelung, in the island 
 of Formosa, was in our hands, and in Tonkin, General 
 Briere de 1'Isle had taken possession of the important 
 positions Kep and Chu. The promulgation by Eng- 
 land of the Foreign Enlistment Act did not impede our 
 progress. 3 In the beginning of 1885, Admiral Courbet 
 occupied the Pescadores islands, and blocked Pe-Tche- 
 Li, while General Briere de 1'Isle forced the Chinese to 
 raise the siege of Tuyen-Quan. When one studies in 
 
 1 Norodom protracted the execution of the promised reforms, and refused 
 to permit the establishment of a customs union with the rest of Indo- 
 China. M. Thomson forced him to concede it; slavery was definitely 
 abolished, and the system of individual property was finally set up. 
 
 2 See Maurice Loir, L'Escadre de I' Admiral Courbet. 1 vol. 
 
 3 This act prohibited the belligerents from supplying themselves with 
 provisions, munitions of war, and coal, in the ports of the British Empire ; 
 under color of neutrality, this measure could only embarrass the French ; 
 the government avoided it, by creating coaling-stations at Obock, Mahe, 
 and Pondichery.
 
 186 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 its entirety that fine campaign, fulfilled with strategic 
 skill, with valor and victories, he understands how the 
 surprise of Langson, whose importance was swelled out 
 of all proportion by party hatreds in France, was power- 
 less to restore the confidence of the Chinese ; the latter 
 had been vanquished on all sides. The incident did 
 not retard peace ; the preliminaries were signed at 
 Paris on April 4, as we have seen ; the final treaty, 
 negotiated by M. Patenotre, was signed at Tien-Tsiu 
 on June 9. Annam and Tonkin, definitively with- 
 drawn from Chinese influence, passed under the un- 
 contested sovereignty of the French Republic. 
 
 We have already sufficiently pointed out, in connec- 
 tion with Tunis, the errors of speech, the exaggerations, 
 the calumnies, the suspicions to which party spirit had 
 lent itself in the discussions of colonial affairs ; it is 
 useless to revert to the subject, except to call attention 
 to the fact that the success won in Tunis did not re- 
 dound to the profit of Tonkin ; the " Tonkinese " were 
 the target for attacks of unprecedented violence, for 
 the most lying accusations. 1 Then time did its work, 
 and, in the presence of the unanimity of the most 
 unforeseen and least suspicious testimony, men were 
 forced to yield to the evidence, and recognize in Tonkin 
 "one of the richest parts of Indo-China." 2 Its mines, 
 its delta so fitted for the culture of rice, its mountain- 
 ous regions, where immense herds of neat-cattle and 
 
 1 It was asserted in the press, in books, and even in the tribune of the 
 Chamber, that the expedition had cost a milliard and a half, and 36,000 
 men. Now, on December 1, 1889, the expenditures amounted to exactly 
 334,802,379 francs, and the loss of men, from 1883 to 1889, reached a total 
 of 9067. (See Jules Ferry, Le Tonkin et la Mere Patrie.) 
 
 2 J.-L. de Lanessan, L' Expansion Coloniale de la France. 1 vol. 
 Paris, 1886. See also the articles published by Prince Henri d'Orleans.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 187 
 
 sheep could be raised, its salubrious climate, all con- 
 tribute to make of it a land essentially favorable to 
 colonization. So it was decided, as Jules Ferry hap- 
 pily expressed it, to receive Tonkin into the great 
 French family, not without "sulking" at it a little, 
 and men consented to cast a glance upon the map of 
 the Far East, in order to see its limits and divine its 
 needs. They are very plainly written there ; the geog- 
 raphy of those regions is, in fact, eminently sugges- 
 tive, and makes clear, at first sight, the European 
 rivalry which is in question. Indo-China is not com- 
 posed only of Tonkin, of Annam, and Cochin China, 
 that is to say, of that portion of territory, narrow and 
 not very fertile, which the natives have compared, with 
 all truth, to a stick bearing two bags of rice. Indo- 
 China comprises, in addition, besides Cambodia, which 
 is under our domination, the kingdom of Siarn and 
 Burmah. These different countries are traversed by 
 numerous waterways, and chiefly by four great rivers, 
 the Irrawaddy, the Menam, the Mekong or Cambodia, 
 and the Song-Koi or Red River. A very extensive 
 mountain system extends along their northern borders, 
 and a question depends thereupon which transcends all 
 others, that of the entrance to China. 
 
 China has always been the objective aim of all the 
 European powers : merchants, engineers, manufact- 
 urers, have rivalled each other in their zeal to get its 
 gates opened to them. For a long time, the union of 
 Europe against China was complete ; the Western 
 powers acted in concert, and drew from their good 
 understanding an immense force before which Chinese 
 immobility was, finally, forced to yield. 
 
 After 1870 things changed; Germany and Italy 
 entered upon the stage; thence arose diversities of
 
 188 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 interests, which had their echo in the Far East ; and 
 as the mandarins and the privileged classes greatly 
 feared the invasion of European civilization (the tele- 
 graph and railways could not but diminish their power 
 by strengthening that of the Emperor), China was 
 more hermetically closed than ever against the influ- 
 ence of the West. By a sort of instinct, the evicted 
 powers sought to establish themselves on the border 
 provinces. The English cast their eyes upon Burmah. 
 Besides the fact that, with its mountains rich in mines, 
 its fertile plains, and its forests, Burmah might, in 
 their hands, become a magnificent colony, it facilitated 
 for them the access to the Yunnam. 1 We had a com- 
 mercial treaty with King Thebaw, a convention signed 
 on January 15, 1885, which confirmed and completed 
 the previous convention. The displeasure in England 
 was very keen, and the conquest of Burmah was im- 
 mediately decided upon. An ultimatum was addressed 
 to Mandalay, and an English army invaded the Bur- 
 mese territory. 2 In France, we were in a period when 
 the advocates of colonies confined their ambition to 
 Tonkin ; there could be no question of intervening in 
 Burmah. But Burmah once captured, the English 
 did not find themselves much more advanced. They 
 
 1 The Irrawaddy is navigable from Rangoon at its mouth, to Bhamo, 
 situated on the southern frontier of Yunnam, 500 kilometres north of 
 Rangoon. 
 
 3 It is impossible not to observe the analogy between the Burmese 
 expedition and that of Tonkin ; the lack of enthusiasm on the part of 
 public opinion, the importance of the struggle, the duration of hostilities, 
 the tardiness of pacification, interrupted by a series of checks, the num- 
 ber of troops which took part in the two expeditions, all concur to render 
 this analogy striking, even to the Dacoits, who played in Burmah the part 
 of the Black Flags in Tonkin. On one point only was there a divergence : 
 in England public opinion remained calm, coldly discussed the opportune- 
 ness of the measures taken, and in no way impeded the liberty of action 
 of the government and its representatives.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 189 
 
 wished to reach the Chinese town of Ssu-Mao, situated 
 on the frontier of Yunnam, and to the west of Tonkin. 
 This could be effected only by constructing a very 
 costly line of railway, which would infringe, morally 
 at least, the territory of Siam. 1 France w r as, in a man- 
 ner, forced to intervene at Bangkok, and to encounter 
 England there. Every one knows under what condi- 
 tions this intervention took place, how Admiral Ru- 
 mann, crossing the bar of the Menam, went up and 
 imposed upon the King of Siam an ultimatum which 
 the latter was obliged to accept, and how negotiations 
 were opened between France and England with the 
 object of preventing the dreadful conflicts to which 
 contact, excess of zeal, and too ardent ambition might 
 give rise. 
 
 It is not our duty to pronounce upon the amount of 
 foundation of certain claims which were raised on both 
 sides, or to blame or praise the policy which has been 
 followed on still more recent occasions. The future 
 will reveal whether it was wise to make French Asia 
 participate, in a manner, in political acts of an exclu- 
 sively European character ; that is a state of things 
 which may become either advantageous or dangerous, 
 according to the current of events, which is still un- 
 fathomable. Our African possessions adjoin regions 
 over which float foreign flags ; but French Asia is far 
 more exposed ; in the neighborhood of China, Japan, 
 Australia, and English India, it would suffer severely 
 from the consequences of a European war ; the system 
 of alliances which seems fated to be formed in the Far 
 East is, for her, a permanent menace. 
 
 1 The kingdom of Siam is not homogeneous like Annam and Cam- 
 bodia; it comprises a considerable number of principalities which are 
 more or less independent of the court of Bangkok.
 
 190 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 If it is impossible to misunderstand the grandeur of 
 the colonial work accomplished by the Republic, it is 
 difficult not to see, at the same time, its defective sides, 
 and not to be struck with the fact that such an effort 
 ought, under normal conditions, to have produced an 
 entirely different set of results. The principal inno- 
 vation which has been introduced into our colonial 
 ^methods is the application of the protectorate. It has 
 been tried in Tunis. There it has not only, according 
 to the profound saying of Cardinal Lavigerie, " saved 
 us the expense of a religious war," it has, chief of all, 
 forced us to renounce " that spirit of system, that taste 
 for hurried reforms, for improvised settlements, that 
 assimilating and revolutionary mania," which are worse 
 enemies to the colonies than war itself and the hostil- 
 ity of conquered races. " It is because we have not 
 understood how to take into account either the force 
 of the past, or the resistance of social classes," Jules 
 Ferry wrote ; 1 " it is because we have believed in the 
 universal virtue and almost magic property of our laws, 
 of our institutions, of our administrative processes, that 
 we have adopted so many false measures in Algeria. 
 The protectorate is modest enough ; it does not build 
 upon a flat surface. The mother-country, released, 
 thanks to it, of the responsibilities of direct govern- 
 ment, allows it to go its own way, take its own time. 
 As no revolution is demanded of it, it has no tempta- 
 tion to raise one. It is in the very surroundings, the 
 guardianship which is entrusted to it, that it is obliged 
 to find its means of governing." Assuredly, we may 
 conclude that if "the protectorate only has well-de- 
 fined and coherent views, and the system does not 
 
 1 Preface written by Jules Ferry for M. Narcisse Faucon's book on La 
 Tunisie.
 
 CARDINAL LAVIGERIE, ARCHBISHOP OF CARTHAGE AND OF ALGIERS.
 
 UBIVBBSITT
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 191 
 
 change as often as those who are charged with apply- 
 ing it," this form of rule is destined to become "the 
 favorite type of our colonial acquisitions." But it is 
 hardly necessary to call attention to the fact that the 
 rule of the protectorate ought to differ very widely, 
 according as it is applied to the populations of West 
 Africa, who possess so rudimentary a notion of govern- 
 ment and administration, or to the peoples of Indo- 
 China, among whom the respect for traditions, and 
 attachment to ancient institutions, is so profoundly 
 rooted. An empire as extensive and as varied as ours 
 cannot be governed from Paris by telegraph; the at- 
 tempt to do so was childish. The administration of 
 the mother-country has often exhibited an ignorance 
 which was equalled only by its good-will. Instead of 
 considering French Asia as a whole, it has long held to 
 the idea of " separate protectorates," which General de 
 Courcy tried, in vain, to resist. The result of this was 
 a complete absence of coherence in ideas : each Resi- 
 dent or Governor- General acted according to his own 
 pleasure, allowing clauses of the treaty of 1884 to fall 
 into desuetude, or attempting to apply them, in accord- 
 ance with circumstances or with his own preconceived 
 ideas. Between _1883 and 1891, there were twenty 
 Residents or Governor-Generals, seven superior Resi- 
 dents in Annam, and eight in Tonkin. 1 They were 
 often chosen lightly, but it was wrong, once they 
 were chosen, to recall them too quickly and too easily. 
 What respect, in a people which cherishes such an idea 
 of authority as does the Indo-Chinese race, can a man 
 inspire who, in the lofty function with which he is 
 charged, remains exposed to all the fluctuations of poli- 
 tics, and who is suddenly deprived of his prestige and 
 
 1 J.-L. de Lanessan, La Colonisation Franqaise en Indo-Chine.
 
 192 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 of his power by a telegram, which may be justified in 
 Paris, but is incomprehensible in Hanoi ? Add to this 
 the rivalry between civilians and soldiers, between the 
 militia and the regular army, and also that detestable 
 prejudice which has consisted in depriving ourselves 
 of the aid of the mandarins. " To propose to the Anna- 
 mites, either in Tonkin or in Annam, to make them 
 happy by suppressing the mandarins, is to run counter to 
 all their ideas, to all the principles introduced into their 
 minds by their education." 1 However, "in practice, it 
 may be stated, that the majority of functionaries, re- 
 cruited by us outside the circle of educated Annamites, 
 are less deserving than the others, are less honest, less 
 conscientious, in the accomplishment of their duties." 2 
 The protectorate exercised in Annam has long "con- 
 sisted in a sort of disdainful juxtaposition of the pro- 
 tecting government and the protected government." 
 The results have been such as might have been fore- 
 seen : " permanent discontent, misery on the side of the 
 protected party, a financial deficit on the side of the 
 protector, absence of useful works, discomfort of com- 
 merce, weariness on the part of the mother-country." 3 
 
 Not content with keeping its functionaries under its 
 close dependence, the administration of the colonies 
 undertakes to give them the most detailed orders, and 
 to foresee, apparently for the sake of sparing them 
 the trouble, the slightest contingencies. There is in 
 existence a circular, dated 1893, addressed to the gov- 
 ernors of the colonies, which orders them to buy in 
 France everything which they require, with an accu- 
 rate list of all the towns where the purchases are to 
 be made : bricks at Bordeaux and at Marseilles, salt 
 
 1 J.-L. de Lanessan, La Colonisation Franqaise en Indo-Chine. 
 
 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 198 
 
 pork at Havre, straw and hay elsewhere. Thus " Indo- 
 China, whose whole soil is made of brick-clay, and 
 which produces enormous quantities of rice, must buy 
 its stores of bricks and rice in France ! " 1 Not only 
 does it never occur to any one that it would be of use 
 if those who are connected with the central adminis- 
 tration would visit the colonies, but those who have 
 visited them are, generally, regarded with distrust, as 
 though they had, as a matter of course, brought back 
 thence with them subversive ideas, dangerously auda- 
 cious projects, erroneous views, which those persons who 
 have never quitted Paris escape. A sort of essentially 
 town-bred lounger spirit reigns in the government of- 
 fices, as well as in one whole section of Parliament, 
 " which consists in judging African and Asiatic affairs 
 exactly from the same judicial or administrative point 
 of view as if it were a question of a commune in metro- 
 politan France." The concession to a colonization 
 company of certain rights over a vast extent of uncul- 
 tivated territory causes spasms of indignation, as if 
 any one were speaking of "alienating such provinces 
 as Beauce, Normandy, or Languedoc." 2 And this con- 
 cession, once obtained, does not even ensure security 
 to the grantees ; it may happen that it is withdrawn 
 from them, under some more or less frivolous pretext. 
 
 But the administration is not alone responsible for 
 private listlessness, and if it does much to hamper the 
 colonist and little to encourage him, the latter, it must 
 be confessed, does not find within himself, in general, 
 those reserve stores - of force and energy which he 
 needs. Neither does he find in his fellow-countrymen 
 
 1 J.-L. de Lauessan, La Colonisation Fran<;aise en Indo-Chine. 
 
 2 Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, Les Compagnies de Colonisation. Journal des 
 Dfbats (March 7, 1895). 
 
 o
 
 194 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the help which might make up for his own deficiencies ; 
 this last leads us to say a few words on French commerce, 
 and its relations with the different parts of the world. 
 
 The value of our external exchanges has varied, 
 during the last few years, between seven and eight 
 milliards. 1 The commercial movement is most intense 
 between England and France : 1,393,000,000 francs in 
 1894. Belgium (850,000,000 francs), Germany (635,- 
 000,000 francs), the United States (513,000,000 francs), 
 come next ; then Algeria (407,000,000 francs), Russia 
 (305,500,000 francs), Spain (285,000,000 francs), Eng- 
 lish India (225,000,000 francs), Italy (219,000,000 
 francs), the Argentine Republic (218,000,000 francs), 
 Switzerland (196,000,000 francs). 2 China comes after 
 Turkey, after Brazil, after Austria, with an amount 
 hardly over 100,000,000 francs. As for Indo-China, it 
 holds a mediocre rank, with the other countries of the 
 Far East. We have no more dealings with Japan than 
 we have with Uruguay and Colombia put together 
 (62,000,000 francs), less with Australia (58,000,000 
 francs) than with Hayti (63,000,000 francs), less with 
 the Dutch Indies (about 23,000,000 francs) than with 
 Saint Pierre and Miquelon (33,000,000 francs). These 
 figures are conclusive ; they prove that, on the one hand, 
 French commerce does not bear competition well, and 
 that, on the other hand, it is not clever at opening 
 new outlets for itself, or at taking advantage of those 
 which are formed outside of its immediate range. 
 
 1 In 1894 the total did not exceed 6,928,500,000 francs, though it had 
 reached 8,190,000,000 francs in 1890, and 8,838,000,000 francs in 1894. 
 
 2 In 1889 the commercial relations with Spain were expressed by a 
 movement of exchanges amounting to 550,000,000 francs ; with Switzerland, 
 332,000,000 francs ; with Greece, 55,000,000 francs. It is impossible not to 
 take notice of these unfortunate effects of reductions in the customs duties 
 brought about by the return to a protective tariff.
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 195 
 
 Neither do French ship-builders seem to perceive the 
 augmentation of maritime traffic. Two German lines 
 and seven English lines, with two hundred and twenty- 
 six steamers, representing 530,232 tons, plough the 
 seas of China and Japan, where France is represented 
 only by one subsidized company ; not a single service 
 of freight steamers exists between our principal ports 
 and the Far East. 
 
 In the course of his journey round the world, M. 
 Ernest Michel had an interesting conversation with a 
 French engineer, M. Bonjean, at the cotton factory of 
 Petropolitana, which he has summed up in these terms. 1 
 "French machines," said M. Bonjean to me, "are 
 dearer, but their products are better, and, in the long 
 run, they effect a small economy ; but it is difficult to 
 deal with French houses, because they are slow or 
 tricky, and, in any case, they lack practical sense. 
 You see these patterns : they represent the machines 
 mounted and taken apart, with the pieces all numbered. 
 If I require an extra piece, all I have to do is to write 
 to Manchester and mention the number, and the piece 
 conies to me by the first steamer; but if a French 
 house is in question, nothing of the sort happens. I 
 am obliged to make a drawing of the piece, to give its 
 dimensions, and frequently they will need fresh expla- 
 nations which entail the loss of months, and at last the 
 piece arrives, perhaps incomplete, or badly adaptable. 
 I have had a hundred occasions to place important 
 orders in France, either for railways or for manufact- 
 ures ; I have failed ; when I telegraphed, they took a 
 month to answer me, because such or such an inspector 
 was on a journey, and while I was waiting, the business 
 was ruined. When I inquired prices or estimates, they 
 
 1 A travers I' Hemisphere Sud, by Ernest Michel. 1 vol. Paris, 1887.
 
 196 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 answered that they could not furnish them at once, and 
 they sent them six months later. On the other hand, 
 if I go to the North American or to the Englishman, he 
 shows me models, and I make my choice. If I want 
 another, he makes it for me without delay ; he gives 
 me estimates. Intelligent and serious men are not 
 lacking in France ; it is certain that if they only knew 
 what is going on in the world, they would organize 
 their business better, they would get rid of a little 
 of the functionary idea and routine, and would place 
 themselves in a position to contend advantageously, 
 at the different points of the globe, with the manu- 
 factures of their neighbors. Up to the present time, 
 the Frenchman remains at home, and reduces the world 
 to Europe." 
 
 This whole passage was worth quoting; it consti- 
 tutes a criticism, unhappily but too well founded, on 
 French industry, which preserves, no doubt, on the 
 European markets its great position, but does not ex- 
 ert sufficieiii effort to secure for itself the new out- 
 lets that foreign countries and colonial France have 
 placed within its reach. French manufactures t and 
 commerce have remained timid, slow of movement, 
 uneasy and routine in character. While waiting for 
 the reforms already accomplished to bear their fruits, 
 and until other and more extensive reforms be recog- 
 nized as necessary, could we not, without fear, allow 
 free play to foreign initiative and capital? The impor- 
 tant -thing is not to permit a state of stagnation to 
 establish itself in a colony, and, above all, in a young 
 colony which might be prosperous. It has been said : 
 In the eyes of a protected people, the protecting nation 
 cannot legalize its intervention otherwise than by en- 
 riching and developing the country. There is, no
 
 COLONIAL FRANCE. 197 
 
 doubt, some danger in abandoning to foreign hands 
 great territorial expanses, or even the superintendence 
 of the principal industries, 1 of the most important com- 
 mercial houses. Nevertheless, those are dangers which 
 can be warded off, inconveniences which one can suc- 
 ceed in neutralizing. Again the important point is, 
 that life intense life, the life of action, of enterprise, 
 of novelty, of audacity shall circulate in overflowing 
 streams throughout the colony. In France, all the 
 " colonials " are agreed to recognize the fact that 
 such is the goal, not yet attained, upon which their 
 efforts should be concentrated. The third French 
 colonial empire is founded; it has been well planned 
 and well conquered ; it now remains for us to develop 
 its full value. We shall succeed therein by dint of 
 a large measure of decentralization, and a return to 
 a more liberal economical policy. We shall succeed, 
 also, by giving to our functionaries independence and 
 stability, and by ceasing to impose upon the natives 
 our complicated legislation, by striving to train the 
 future colonists to independence and enterprise. This 
 is a long task ; above all, it is an educational task. 
 
 1 M. Tirman, studying the law of progression of the different races at 
 the present time represented in Algeria, has calculated that within twenty 
 years Algeria will have 395,000 Frenchmen, against 440,000 foreigners 
 (Italians and Spaniards principally) and 5,000,000 natives; in forty 
 years, 710,000 French, against 940,000 foreigners and 7,000,000 natives ; 
 in sixty years, 1,280,000 French, against 2,000,000 foreigners and 10,000,000 
 natives. Will Algeria, French in fact, be injured by the preponderance 
 of foreigners in her territory? We may doubt it, from the circumstance 
 that they are not all of the same nationality, and belong to countries 
 of origin so different as Spain and Italy. In the same manner, it 
 would be foolish to perceive danger in the share which the people of 
 Mauritius are taking in the work of colonizing Madagascar, and the more 
 so, as the latter have preserved French sympathies under British rule.
 
 198 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CRISIS (1885-1889). 
 
 The Majority melts away. The Elections of 1885 : a Reactionary Half- 
 victory. Mistakes and Blundering. A Brave List of Appropriations. 
 Minister Rouvier. General Boulanger's First Exploits. Unex- 
 pected Scandals. Election of M. Carnot. The Committee of the 
 Rue Seze. Exposition of 1889. The Supreme Court. The Elections : 
 the End of Boulangism. 
 
 I. 
 
 WHEN the emotion and wrath of the first moment had 
 subsided, the deputies, who had overthrown the Jules 
 Ferry ministry, and public opinion, which had gone 
 astray in their wake, felt a presentiment of the difficul- 
 ties and perils which the Republic would speedily be 
 called upon to face. Jules Ferry was the only man 
 capable of gathering a true majority in the midst of 
 the existing Chamber. Except for him, recourse could 
 be had only to concentration, badly upheld in Parlia- 
 ment, misunderstood by the nation, and whose discredit 
 was about to be increased by a series of unfortunate 
 experiences. On April 6, 1885, after long parleying, 
 M. Henri Brisson accepted the presidency of the Coun- 
 cil 1 and the ungrateful task of preparing the legislative 
 
 1 He had for colleagues : MM. de Freycinet, Allain-Targe, Carnot, 
 Goblet, Demole, Pierre Legrand, Sarrien, Herve' Mangon, General Cam- 
 penon, and Admiral Galiber. Nearly all the civil ministers in this Cabinet 
 were politicians. M. de Freycinet and M. Carnot, who were destined, a 
 little later on, to play leading parts, the one as Minister of War, the other 
 as head of the State, were engineers. M. de Freycinet belonged to a noble 
 family of the south of France. Gambetta had associated him with him- 
 self at Tours, during the war of 1870, and the interest which M. de
 
 THE CRISIS. 199 
 
 elections. M. Brissbn belonged to the advanced shade 
 of republican opinion ; but if he had blamed the policy 
 of his predecessor, he did not try to avoid to the 
 detriment of France's honor and interests the re- 
 sponsibilities which resulted for him therefrom. Only 
 concessions of detail could be made to the radicals ; the 
 Pantheon became disaffected on the occasion of Victor 
 Hugo's funeral, and in his indulgence for the manifes- 
 tations of May 24, which had set up seditious signs 
 along the highway, M. Allain-Targe* established a 
 distinction, which has remained famous, between flags 
 and banners. But when it became necessary to obtain 
 
 Freycinet cherished for matters relating to the army dated from that 
 period. His firmness of character was not, unhappily, equal to his ex- 
 treme intelligence. On the other hand, this was what distinguished 
 M. Carnot: a nobility of heart and a rectitude of judgment which are 
 rarely met with in such a degree shone in him. Graduated, like M. de 
 Freycinet, from the Polytechnic School, he early became a deputy for the 
 Cote d'Or, his native province. The future President was the grandson 
 of "the great Carnot," of the revolutionary epoch; his father had been 
 minister in 1848. Thus it came to pass that the three generations of this 
 illustrious family were connected with the three Republics which have 
 governed France. M. Goblet, a lawyer of talent, and who afterwards 
 became one of the leaders of the radical socialist party, had a rather 
 chimerical mind. M. Henri Brissac, now President of the Chamber of 
 Deputies and head of the ministry, enjoyed a reputation for austerity 
 which arose, chiefly, from the rigidity of his mien and of his ideas. The 
 ministers, with rare exceptions, were always chosen from the Parliament 
 more frequently from among the deputies than from among the sena- 
 tors. Of course, once chosen, they had the right to be present at the sit- 
 tings of the Chamber to which they belonged, as well as to those of the 
 one to which they did not belong, and they spoke, without discrimination, 
 from the tribune of either one. The Senate always contained a certain 
 number of retired functionaries, former military men, former prefects, 
 wealthy business men, and so forth. But in the Chamber, during the 
 whole duration of the present Republic, three categories of men have pre- 
 dominated, lawyers, physicians, landed proprietors. As a rule, the first 
 were moderate republicans, the second radicals, and the last monarchists. 
 There have been, also, civil engineers, a few journalists, and one or two 
 ecclesiastics. The type of the professional politician does not exist in 
 France.
 
 200 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the sanction of the Chambers to the protectorate treaties 
 signed in 1884 at Hue* and Pnom-Penh, when a pro- 
 posal of amnesty in favor of political criminals and a 
 demand for the impeachment of Jules Ferry and his 
 colleagues were presented on the tribune, the Brisson 
 Cabinet found arrayed before it the Right united to the 
 Extreme Left, and found itself sustained by the mass 
 of the Ferry forces. They supported him against their 
 will, it is true, and with a sort of disdainful repug- 
 nance, accepting from him no guidance, and stimulated 
 rather by the attacks of the opposition than by the 
 authority of the government. This majority, more- 
 over, took form again only to melt away afresh at every 
 moment; parliamentary enterprise took advantage of 
 this to give itself full scope ; never was there seen such 
 an abundance of projects for laws ; the greater part, of 
 doubtful opportuneness, tended, by their originality, to 
 fix in public the name, hitherto obscure, of the deputy 
 to whose initiative they were due. 
 
 The general elections were about to take place; in 
 proportion as they approached, the uncertainty as to 
 their probable result increased. The opposition had 
 serious wrongs to bring forward ; the conservative party 
 was without doubt a prey to divisions, which enfeebled 
 it; but the Orleanists, the Victoriens, the Jeromists, 
 could come into accord for the purpose of destruction ; 
 on that ground recent events rendered an understanding 
 easier. Thus the most enthusiastic advocates of the 
 general elections, those who had hoped that, by estab- 
 lishing it, universal suffrage would be emancipated, 
 politics removed from local influences, and the electors 
 brought to vote for ideas rather than for men, even 
 these felt their confidence shaken and asked themselves 
 whether, by hastening reform, they had not forestalled
 
 THE CRISIS. 201 
 
 the hour when the state of electoral habits would permit 
 it to bear all its fruits. Everything is not accom- 
 plished when a progressive step is decreed; it must 
 also be within the scope of those to whom it is to be 
 applied. While continuing to admit, in theory, the 
 superiority of the general elections, many now thought 
 that it would have been better to retain the district 
 elections, and fell to regretting their vote. 1 
 
 It was plain that the electors, on voting day, felt 
 that they had lost their bearings and had gone astray ; 
 their embarrassment could be divined at the sight of 
 that of the candidates; the political groups tried to 
 unite against the common enemy, and, searching their 
 platforms for the points upon which there was com- 
 munity of sentiments on the one side and on the other, 
 were quite naturally led to draw up vague and colorless 
 manifestoes, where the only thing that was noticeable 
 was that which was absent ; or they fashioned incredi- 
 bly motley lists, of such a nature that it was impossible 
 for honest electors to drop them in the ballot-box with- 
 out having introduced into them a good many modifica- 
 tions. The "Republican Alliance" of the radical and 
 progressist committees of Paris, presided over by M. 
 Tolain, published a manifesto whose moderate tenden- 
 cies turned out to be almost falsified by the platform 
 which was coupled with it; the list of candidates 
 patronized by the Alliance ran from M. Fre'de'ric Passy 
 
 1 In the district elections (scrutin d'arrondissement) the department 
 is divided up into electoral circles called arrondissements ; each circle 
 nominates a deputy. The general election (scrutin de liste) , on the con- 
 trary, assumes, as its name implies, that the electors vote for a list of 
 deputies, instead of for a single deputy. If one department has the right 
 to eight deputies, the number of deputies being calculated on the nu- 
 merical basis of the population, every elector in that department will 
 inscribe on his ballot eight different names. The advantages and the 
 inconveniences of the two systems are immediately apparent.
 
 202 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 to M. Lockroy, passing through MM. Spuller, Ranc, 
 and Brisson. 1 The radicals of more advanced hue drew 
 up the "platform of the Rue Cadet," wherein something 
 was said about "the sovereignty of universal suffrage " 
 and "laws for the protection and emancipation of 
 labor." Nevertheless, it could be seen that the Senate 
 and the Presidency of the Republic no longer figured 
 among the institutions to be suppressed. The danger 
 apprehended sobered down the least wise, with the 
 exception, of course, of those who consider absolute 
 extremes of views not only as the most sacred of duties, 
 but as the basis of all fruitful politics. Such persons, 
 assembled in a "Central Committee of the radical- 
 socialistic republicans of the Seine," published a "pre- 
 cise " platform. An opinion as to its precision may be 
 formed from the following summary : There is no longer 
 either Senate, or President, or minister; there are only 
 plain functionaries appointed by a single Assembly and 
 always subject to revoke by it. The Commune shall be 
 autonomous, the magistracy elective, education entire, 
 taxes progressive ; there shall no longer be any appro- 
 priations for public worship, no more death penalty, no 
 more standing armies, no more inheritance in direct 
 collateral line, no more difference between the natural 
 and the legitimate child; functionaries shall be pecu- 
 niarily and personally responsible ; the property of reli- 
 gious bodies shall be confiscated; all contracts which 
 have alienated public property (mines, canals, railways) 
 shall be revoked. ... It is difficult to say what our 
 descendants will think of such a conception of " public 
 affairs." Perhaps, one of these days, some of these 
 ideas will be regarded as reasonable and capable of 
 
 1 For the details of the electoral candidacies, see I'Annde Politique, 
 by Andre' Daniel, for 1885.
 
 THE CRISIS. 203 
 
 realization ; but at the time when they were thus for- 
 mulated, they represented only that silly adoration of 
 logic and of the absolute which has so often rendered 
 sterile the finest and most solid qualities of the French 
 mind. 
 
 The Left Centre also lacked guidance and unity of 
 action. M. Ribot, 1 in the Pas-de-Calais, M. Francis 
 Charmes, in Cantal, united to the opportunists, and 
 frankly admitting that some mistakes had been com- 
 mitted, endeavored to bring about the union of the 
 republicans; in Seine-et-Oise, on the other hand, the 
 "liberal republican committee," in which people were 
 astonished to find MM. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire and 
 Le*on Say, published a manifesto in which reference 
 was made to "persecuting fanaticism," and in which 
 the "Republic of the opportunists " was represented as 
 a "permanent deficit and squandering." This state- 
 ment was not without analogy, in its violence, with 
 that which seventy-six deputies who had come out 
 from the Right had made public on September 2, and. 
 at the bottom of which ten of their colleagues had 
 refused to sign their names. 
 
 The partisans of the princes entreated them to main- 
 tain silence, in order that a favorable indistinctness 
 might hover over the future. A central committee, 
 presided over by M. Lambert de Sainte-Croix, exhorted 
 the electors to make the greatest haste to " stop France 
 on the steep road to ruin and anarchy." There was no 
 
 1 M. Ribot was a lawyer. Later on, he played a prominent part as 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs, of the Interior, and of Finance. M. Francis 
 Charmes was the second of three brothers, all of whom enjoyed their 
 hour of celebrity, either as writers or as deputies. We have frequently 
 mentioned already MM. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire and Leon Say, both 
 members of the Institute. M. Leon Say, grandson of J.-B. Say, who died 
 recently, was an economist and financier of great distinction.
 
 204 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 mention of future solutions of the governmental prob- 
 lem. " Each man hides his flag, each one conceals to 
 which party he belongs," said Prince Napoleon of the 
 conservative union, in a letter to a friend, to whom he 
 was explaining his reasons for abstaining. The fact is, 
 that in order to unite upon one list MM. de Cassagnac, 
 Decazes, Keller, Haussmann, Edouard Herv^, de Mun, 
 and Robert Mitchell, 1 it was impossible to be otherwise 
 than vague and lacking in precision. 
 
 The elections took place on October 4; 176 reac- 
 tionaries and 127 republicans were elected; 270 seats 
 remained to be balloted for again. The Nord, the 
 Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Calvados, Eure, Finistere, the 
 Landes, the Upper and Lower Pyrenees, Indre, Tarn- 
 et-Garonne, Ardeche, and Aveyron were conquered by 
 the reactionaries. In Paris only 4 deputies were elected 
 out of 38 ; the Cle'menceau list received, on an average, 
 150,000 votes, and the Tolain list 105,000. The revo- 
 lutionists received 26,000 and the conservatives 87,000. 
 But while the disappointment of the republicans, far 
 from degenerating into panic, rendered the union of 
 their ranks more complete, the reactionaries appeared 
 to be intoxicated with their triumph. M. de Cassagnac 
 revealed too early " the mental reservations " of his 
 
 1 M. de Cassagnac, the son of a former prefect under the Empire, a 
 mad reactionary, had founded a journal, VAutorite, which he still directs, 
 and which has always been a party organ not over-scrupulous in its choice 
 of arguments, and very violent in its expressions. The Due Decazes had 
 played, under the presidency of Marshal MacMahon, the part which is 
 already familiar. M. Keller was a legitimist. M. Haussmann, by his very 
 name, was a feudal retainer of the Empire. M. Edouard Herve, member 
 of the Academic Fran9aise and manager of an Orleanist sheet, the Soleil, 
 was the friend of the Comte de Paris. As for M. de Mun, a former cavalry 
 officer, he had been long enough on the retired list to found the work of 
 the Catholic circles of workingmen, from which much was expected, from 
 a religious point of view, and whose effect has not been great. Evidently, 
 it would be difficult to form a less homogeneous group.
 
 THE CRISIS. 205 
 
 friends, and public opinion, which at bottom remained 
 hostile to every form of revolution, had time to recover 
 itself; the vote by ballot of October 18 only returned 
 25 reactionaries against 244 republicans. From the 
 numerical point of view, the situation was much the 
 same as in 1877, but the moral check was more serious ; 
 it struck at institutions through men. 1 
 
 The opposition on the Right now comprised 65 
 Bonapartists, 73 monarchists, and 64 reactionaries of 
 undecided shade; 2 the Left, 107 radicals and 275 re- 
 publicans, of whom at least 75 inclined to radicalism. 
 Beginning with the very first sittings, it was easy to 
 see that M. Brisson's appeal, which courageously ex- 
 tolled a business policy, would not be listened to. As 
 soon as Tonkin came again into question, the Right 
 and the Extreme Left came to an understanding. The 
 government proposed to carry over into the year 1886 
 certain appropriations which had passed the vote in 
 1885, had not been expended, and would complete the 
 sum necessary for 1886. A coalition, which ran from 
 MM. Raoul-Duval and Dompierre d'Hornoy to MM. 
 Cle'menceau and Rochefort, decided upon the appoint- 
 ment of a committee of thirty-three members charged 
 with examining in detail everything which was done 
 in connection with Tonkin; twenty-six deputies who 
 favored evacuation and seven who were opposed to it 
 were elected, and the committee, dividing up at once 
 
 1 It may be interesting to compare the totals of the republican and 
 reactionary votes in the elections of 1876, 1877, 1881, and 1885; the figures 
 are as follows : 
 
 1876 4,028,153 republicans ; 3,202,335 reactionaries. 
 
 1877 4,367,202 republicans ; 3,577,882 reactionaries. 
 
 1878 5,128,442 republicans ; 1,789,767 reactionaries. 
 
 1885 4,. n >27,162 republicans ; 3,541,384 reactionaries. 
 
 2 It is to be noted that the principal leaders, MM. de Broglie, Decazes, 
 de Meatix, de Fourtou, had not been able to secure re-election.
 
 206 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 into three sub-committees, military, diplomatic, and 
 economical, presided over by MM. Lockro} r , Andrieux, 
 and Boysset, set ardently to work. It was not only in 
 Tonkin and abroad that these events caused excitement ; 
 they aroused the most energetic protests in the country 
 districts, and under the pressure of public sentiment 
 confusion arose among the abettors of the plot. The 
 dismissal of General Brie're de 1'Isle, who was entirely 
 favorable to Tonkin and constituted an exoneration for 
 Jules Ferry, added to their embarrassment. Other tes- 
 timony was brought forward which made it impossible 
 for the committee to propose evacuation ; nevertheless, 
 it did propose it, in very circuitous language; the 
 reports presented by M. Pelletan for Tonkin, and by 
 M. Hubbard for Madagascar, were not of a nature to 
 facilitate either the pacification of Indo-China or the 
 happy issue of the negotiations with the Hovas. The 
 sad debate lasted through four sittings, from the 21st 
 to the 24th of December. The Right received almost 
 with insult the only one of its members, Monseigneur 
 Freppel, who pronounced in favor of the appropriations ; 
 M. Cle'menceau sought subterfuges for the means of 
 presenting his plan. The President of the Council, 
 who had spoken with much energy and nobility before 
 the committee, repeated his declarations ; on the 24th, 
 at ten o'clock at night, the appropriations were carried, 
 by 274 votes against 270; the absence of twenty-four 
 sick deputies on the Right had saved Tonkin. 
 
 It was a bad year for all the world: twice Europe 
 had believed war to be imminent; quarrels had been on 
 the verge of breaking out between England and Russia, 
 between Germany and Spain; finally, the Servians 
 and the Bulgarians had come to blows; Alphonso XII. 
 was dead, and an Austrian regency was established at
 
 THE CRISIS. 207 
 
 Madrid. The badly secured succession in Holland, 
 the Constitution of Denmark endangered, the question 
 of Ireland, which was becoming more pressing day by 
 day and more difficult of solution, all this darkened 
 the political horizon. For France the year 1886 was 
 not to bring either ameliorations or changes. " The 
 year 1886," says M. Andr6 Daniel, 1 "was, at home, a 
 year of ambiguities, fertile in trifling incidents, sterile 
 in practical results; abroad, a year of apprehension 
 and incoherence. The Freycinet Cabinet spent eleven 
 months in trying to get its balance; it wasted its 
 strength, its time, and its credit in the effort to detach 
 from the Extreme Left half a hundred votes, and it did 
 not succeed; it is impossible to discern what leading 
 thought inspired her foreign policy." 
 
 The Freycinet Cabinet, which assumed power on 
 January 7, 1886, 2 inherited a situation which might 
 well have discouraged the bravest ; the Chamber, upon 
 which the unlucky and obscure influence of M. Cle- 
 menceau 3 continued to weigh on the Right, and on the 
 Left the unacknowledged intrigues of unconstitutional 
 ambitions presented the most insecure sort of ground 
 for a government to adventure upon ; it required M. de 
 
 1 Andre Daniel, VAnnte Politique, 1886. 
 
 2 It comprised MM. Baihaut, Demole, Sarrien, Develle, Granet, Lock- 
 roy, General Boulanger, and Admiral Aube. MM. Goblet and Sadi-Carnot 
 had retained the posts of Public Education and Finance, and M. de Frey- 
 cinet had taken, together with the presidency of the Council, the port- 
 folio of Foreign Affairs, to which he had joined the countries of the 
 protectorate. On December 28, 1885, M. Jules Gre'vy had been re-elected, 
 by 457 votes out of 589, President of the French Republic for seven years. 
 
 8 Though a doctor of medicine, M. Georges Clemenceau did not practise 
 his profession long. Politics attracted him. He managed the Justice. 
 He took pleasure in machinations, in shady and tangled organizations. 
 Eventually, the numerous passions which he had provoked, the interests 
 which he had betrayed, the persons whom he had compromised, turned 
 against him, and disqualified him for public life.
 
 208 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Freycinet's incomparable dexterity to steer between the 
 reefs, to embroil the contradictors, to ward off blows, 
 and to obtain the passage of the double-faced orders of 
 the day, wherein ambiguity veiled the lack of confi- 
 dence. The Servo-Bulgarian conflict was a subject of 
 uneasiness ; the economical crisis, from which the whole 
 world had been suffering since 1882, was another. 
 Strikes in the United States, modern Jacquerie (peas- 
 ant risings) in the mining region of Chaiieroi, troubles 
 in England, seemed to presage a social revolution. In 
 France the Decazeville strike had been stained with 
 blood by the assassination of the representative of the 
 mining company, M. Watrin, and the act in itself ter- 
 rified public opinion less than the savage scenes amid 
 which it took place. And in spite of this the country, 
 far from being weaned from the Republic, as it had 
 appeared to be at the time of the elections, was coming 
 back to it little by little. 1 It could be felt that the 
 reactionary current of 1885 was already stopped; the 
 fact became certain when one-half of the general coun- 
 cillors were to be replaced (August, 1886); as the law 
 compels the departmental Assemblies to keep out of 
 politics, universal suffrage could designate the conserva- 
 tives without a constitutional shock resulting there- 
 from. Nevertheless, the results were rather favorable 
 than otherwise to the republican party. 2 This was all 
 the more interesting because these elections were in 
 progress at the moment when the ill-timed expulsion of 
 the princes had just taken place. Nothing afforded a 
 
 1 On February 14, Ardeche, Corsica, the Landes, Lozere, elected 
 republican deputies. 
 
 2 Out of 1434 councillors nominated, 1002 were republicans and 432 con- 
 servatives ; the ballot resulted in a victory for 987 republicans and 449 
 conservatives. This meant for the former the loss of fifteen seats only 
 (two new cantons had been created).
 
 THE CRISIS. 209 
 
 better proof as to the degree in which the country would 
 henceforth remain indifferent to dynastic agitations. 
 
 In this affair the government acted with imprudence 
 and with levity; at the beginning of his ministry, 
 M. de Freycinet had himself rejected the law of expul- 
 sion which the radicals presented. Had the festival 
 given on May 15, by the Comte de Paris, on the occa- 
 sion of the marriage of his daughter, Princess Ame'lie, 
 to the Prince Royal of Portugal, Duke of Braganza, 
 changed the situation ? No one could seriously assert 
 that; the republicans, by making this marriage the 
 pretext for a law of defence for republican institutions, 
 very awkwardly emphasized one of the favorite argu- 
 ments of the partisans of a monarchical form of govern- 
 ment. At that epoch, when the Republic had not as 
 yet definitely emerged from its isolation in Europe, 
 the royalists could logically recall the fact that alli- 
 ances between reigning houses facilitate and create 
 alliances between peoples and between governments ; 
 it seemed, moreover, that there were other examples 
 within reach, and the force of this argument was even 
 admitted by a fair number of republicans, who confined 
 themselves to asserting that this inferiority was com- 
 pensated for by the other advantages which the repub- 
 lican form of government offers. Moreover, as it was 
 difficult to expel, because of a simple reception, all the 
 princes and princesses belonging to families which had 
 reigned in France, they stopped short at a half-way 
 measure which only struck at the pretenders to the 
 throne and their male heirs in the order of primogeni- 
 ture. This repeal of the Salic Law, and this consecra- 
 tion of the order of succession to the throne, constituted 
 a second and no less serious blunder. They committed a 
 third: the princes who belonged to the army, the Due de
 
 210 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Chartres, who had fought so nobly in 1870, the Due 
 d'Aumale, whose name will ever remain bound up 
 with the history of the conquest of Algeria, were 
 struck from the rolls. The Due d'Aumale wrote to 
 the President of the Republic a letter of protest, incor- 
 rect as to form, noble and upright as to matter. The 
 government was obliged to reply by an order of ex- 
 pulsion, and the prince, on leaving France, made it a 
 royal gift: he willed to the Institute, of which he was 
 a member, the restored chateau of Chantilly and the 
 marvellous collections amassed there. 1 
 
 The fact that these occurrences had not exercised 
 any influence upon the result of the elections, and that 
 no excitement had made its appearance in the electoral 
 circles, opened the eyes of some conservatives; one 
 of them, M. Edgar Raoul-Duval, set about founding a 
 "republican Right"; he did not succeed; that honor 
 was destined to fall to others. But the remarkable 
 speech which he made during the discussion over the 
 appropriations of 1887 remained, as it were, a monu- 
 ment of political good sense and honesty. 2 
 
 This budget of appropriations deserves a place apart 
 
 1 In complete contrast with this chivalric conduct did the attitude of 
 General Boulanger, Minister of War, stand out ; while under the command 
 of the Due d'Aumale, the general had, in former days, written him sev- 
 eral letters which contained more of the courtier spirit than of hierarchi- 
 cal military respect. These letters were published ; at first, the Minister 
 of War denied having written them, and was speedily convicted of false- 
 hood. 
 
 2 The step taken by M. Raoul-Duval responded to the need which was 
 more and more plainly manifest to the eyes of all men in political life. 
 "Will they understand, at last," Jules Ferry had said, on August 18, at 
 the opening session of the Council General of the Vosges, " that, outside 
 of the Republic, frankly and resolutely accepted, there is nothing for con- 
 servatives who are worthy of the name, either in the way of a serious 
 political part to claim, or of effective action to exert upon great national 
 interests? " The same ideas, taken up later on by M. Waldeck-Rousseau, 
 inspired him with one of his most eloquent speeches.
 
 THE CRISIS. 211 
 
 in the rather colorless history of the Republic's budgets, 
 because of the courageous sincerity with which it was 
 prepared by the Minister of Finance, M. Sadi-Carnot. 
 A year earlier, in June and July, 1885, an exhaustive 
 discussion upon French finances had taken place before 
 Parliament. 1 It had been established that the public 
 debt (20 milliards) came entirely from the previous 
 governments, and that the Second Empire alone fig- 
 ured there to the amount of 12 milliards ; that, on the 
 other hand, the redeemable debt (6 milliards) was of 
 republican origin, but that half of it had been devoted to 
 making over the munitions of war and the other half to 
 public works ; and, finally, that the floating debt, which 
 amounted to 1,400,000,000 francs, comprised 726,000,- 
 000 francs of deficit anterior to 1870. 2 It is not a waste 
 of time to recall these figures here, because of the exag- 
 gerated and unjust criticisms which the parties in oppo- 
 sition daily bestowed upon the republican finances. On 
 the other hand, the fact that, in three annual budgets, it 
 was possible to effect an economy of 75,000,000 francs on 
 ordinary expenses, and that the supplementary appropri- 
 ations had been brought down from 200,000,000 francs 
 in 1882 to 30,000,000 francs in 1884, and the additional 
 fact that in the budget for 1887 M. Carnot had been able 
 to make a fresh saving of 50,000,000 francs on the dif- 
 ferent ministerial departments, indicate to what a pitch 
 the squandering had attained, and what was the cost 
 price of that famous administration which Europe is 
 supposed to envy us. 
 
 These 50,000,000 francs did not cover the deficit 
 which the Minister of Finance had to face. The total 
 
 1 M. Carnot, already Minister of Finance, had taken part in it, as well 
 as MM. Amagat, Daynaud, de Soubeyran, deputies, Fresneau, Blavier, 
 senators, and Jules Koche. 
 
 2 Andre' Daniel, I'Annte Politique, 1885. Official Documents.
 
 212 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 receipts for 1885 had been 37,000,000 francs short of the 
 calculations in the budget, and 5,000,000 francs below 
 the corresponding product of 1884; the first two months 
 of 1886 already showed a yield inferior by 23,500,000 
 francs to the estimates of the budget, and by 15,500,- 
 000 francs to the corresponding yield of 1885. Hence 
 there was a shortage of 206,000,000 francs, and the 
 government had promised not to issue a loan, not to 
 impose any ne\v taxes, and to consolidate the extraor- 
 dinary budget with the ordinary budget. 
 
 M. Carnot obtained 76,000,000 francs by the reform 
 of the tax on liquors, by doubling the price of licenses, 
 and raising the tax on alcohol from 156 to 215 francs a 
 hectolitre. He proposed to take the other 80,000,000 
 francs on the strength of Chapter V. from the Ministry 
 of Finance, created by the National Assembly for the 
 cancellation of the six years' bonds. M. Carnot asked 
 leave to turn into a public debt the 466,000,000 francs 
 of six years' bonds, that is to say, to issue government 
 bonds, and wished to make it complete at once ; there- 
 fore he issued 1,466,000,000 francs of permanent bonds 
 at three per cent, in order to cover, at the same time, 
 152,000,000 francs of short-term bonds which the gov- 
 ernment had been authorized to create to provide for the 
 extraordinary expenses of 1886, 105,000,000 francs of 
 extraordinary expenditure indispensable to complete the 
 national armament, and 750,000,000 francs destined to 
 reimburse the Caisse des De'pOts, in a word, to " release 
 the floating debt." That certainly was a sincere and 
 honest budget ; it arraigned " the dangers and obscurity 
 of our finances, and simplified public book-keeping." 
 
 1 The loan took place on May 10 ; the State offered to suhscribe for 
 18,947,367 francs. The subscriptions amounted to 401,819,513 francs. Thus 
 the loan was covered more than twenty times. But this success none the 
 less indicated stagnation in business.
 
 THE CRISIS. 213 
 
 But the Committee on the Budget stopped at a half- 
 way measure, and consented only to the issue of 500,- 
 000,000 francs. Then, by gradually rejecting this and 
 accepting that, it threw the whole project out of balance 
 and proposed, at the last moment, to place a tax on the 
 revenue. 1 The disorder was complete ; the Minister of 
 Finance wished to resign ; he only retained his portfolio 
 from patriotic motives, in answer to the entreaties which 
 were made to him. The budget as a whole had been 
 sent to the committee ; never was such incoherence 
 displayed ; reductions, assessments, and reforms, all 
 equally unexpected, were voted for. 2 The suppression 
 of the sub-prefects, which had been decided upon 
 against the advice of the government, led to its fall. 
 The ministry left behind it the memory of a career 
 which was far from brilliant. Its undertakings in 
 general had not been lucky; its hand had been heavy 
 at Chateauvillain, 3 and had sinned by its lightness in 
 the East. 4 No one regretted it. M. Goblet, who had 
 
 1 It was in the course of this debate on the budget that, on November 6, 
 188G, M. Raoul-Duval made the great speech which has been referred to 
 above. 
 
 2 The Tonkin appropriations united only 269 votes against 245. 
 
 3 The question concerned the closing of a chapel which had been 
 opened, without permission, in a factory. The fact that the proprietor of 
 the factory greeted the gendarmes entrusted with the duty of closing the 
 chapel by firing several shots from his revolver indicated the absence of 
 the spirit of the gospel on his part, but did not justify the gendarmes in 
 returning the fire by volleys which cost innocent persons their lives. 
 
 4 The Servo-Bulgarian dispute once settled, Greece had remained 
 armed, strong in her honest rights, and still waiting for the promised com- 
 pensations, and maintaining her claims, which it was plain that Europe 
 would once more refuse to sanctify. M. de Freycinet wished to intervene 
 in a friendly manner, and sent M. Delyannis, by our minister, M. de Mouy, 
 a note in which France begged Greece to win the sympathy of Europe by 
 not furnishing a pretext for a fresh conflict in the Balkans. The note was 
 delivered on April 23; on the 25th the Greek Cabinet yielded, and on the 
 26th the ministers of Germany, Austria, England, and Russia were informed 
 of it ; but that same evening, without taking any notice of France's action,
 
 214 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 just rendered services to public education, assumed the 
 presidency of the Council, and obtained the vote of 
 two monthly instalments. 1 His language, at once firm 
 and modest, won sympathy for him and somewhat 
 reduced the tension of the situation. The relaxation 
 did not last long ; the partial elections continued to 
 prove that the country was still attached to the Repub- 
 lic. But in the Chamber, the debates bore witness to 
 the presence of unconstitutional parties, whose passions 
 the apparent gravity of the situation abroad did not 
 suffice to calm. 
 
 There had been a sort of rustle of arms throughout 
 Europe. M. de Bismarck pretended to fear the influ- 
 ence of General Boulanger, whose attitude, it is true, 
 had its alarming aspects, although the amplitude of his 
 projects for military reorganization 2 indicated rather 
 proximately peaceful intentions. In reality, the chan- 
 cellor wished to obtain the passage of the military term 
 of seven years ; in order to effect this, by the way, he 
 was forced to have recourse to the dissolution of the 
 Reichstag and the intervention of the Pope. Never- 
 theless, these rumors of war, these envenomed attacks 
 
 they presented an ultimatum, before which M. Delyannis refused to bow. 
 On May 7 the representatives of the four powers left Athens. M. de Frey- 
 cinet, instead of, at least, leaving M. de Mouy there, requested him to 
 come and "confer " with him, while Europe, in defiance of her word and 
 her obligations, established a blockade on the coasts of Greece. M. de 
 Freycinet's policy had been lucky with the Vatican. Leon XIII. put an 
 end to the negotiations which China had entered into with the view of 
 getting a nuncio sent to Pekin ; in that way France would have lost the 
 influence which the protectorate of the Roman Catholic missions gives her 
 in the Far East. 
 
 1 MM. Sarrien, Dauphin, Berthelot, and Flourens formed the new Cabi- 
 net, with the former colleagues of M. Goblet. 
 
 2 General Boulanger had withdrawn the projects for laws which his 
 predecessors had presented, and had replaced them with a sort of general 
 code, which established the unity of origin of the officers. In Alsace, fif- 
 teen protesting deputies (protestaircs) were elected.
 
 GENERAL BOULANGER, MINISTER OF WAR.
 
 THE CRISIS. 215 
 
 on the part of the German press, the uneasiness dis- 
 played on the various money markets, might, by their 
 very frequency, act upon public opinion, or at least 
 render it nervous and irritable. Nothing of the sort 
 came to pass. France endured this new trial with 
 every appearance of the most haughty calm; 1 and 
 when the deplorable Schnaebele incident occurred, the 
 nation's dignified attitude and the composure of the 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Flourens, were suffi- 
 cient in themselves to win the mastery over M. de 
 Bismarck's unjustifiable provocations. The chancellor 
 had exceeded all bounds : armaments in Germany, ex- 
 pulsions in Alsace, a campaign of the press, every- 
 thing had been brought into play. In the end, Europe 
 clearly perceived whence came these projects of assassi- 
 nation against her peace. Meanwhile in France men 
 began to understand the danger which would be incurred 
 by leaving the Ministry of War any longer in the hands 
 of General Boulanger; his ways were suspicious; one 
 could detect in him an anxiety to attract attention of 
 which none of his predecessors had furnished an exam- 
 ple. The popularity which he already enjoyed in cer- 
 tain circles was disquieting for the future. Men asked 
 themselves whether the Republic was about to enter 
 upon an era of "pronunciamientos." 
 
 The Cabinet was overthrown on May 17, 1887, on a 
 question of appropriations ; the whole Right, insensible 
 to an appeal which M. Goblet had indirectly addressed 
 
 1 M. Flourens did not belong to the Parliament ; he only became 
 deputy later on, when he was minister; this is a rare occurrence. He was 
 sought out in the Council of State, where he had made a specialty of the 
 study of the questions of foreign policy which were submitted to that body 
 for examination. M. Flourens was a clever minister, but he seems, since 
 that date, to have arrogated to himself too great a share in the conclusion 
 of the Franco-Russian alliance, which was not so much his work as he 
 would like to have it supposed.
 
 216 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 to it, ,and to a certain firmness of character of which he 
 had given proof, 1 voted against him; on the Left, the 
 desire to turn General Boulanger out of power caused 
 numerous defections in the ministerial ranks. The 
 crisis was particularly long and difficult to unravel. 
 Out of a spirit of opposition, the Extreme Left upheld 
 the Minister of War; never had it shown itself more 
 cross-grained or less tractable ; all its efforts seemed to 
 tend to complicate the question and to render it impos- 
 sible of solution. It certainly was one of those parties 
 which "would lose ten republics, were there ten to 
 lose, and which will never be surpassed in the art of 
 precipitating democratic institutions upon the declivity 
 of irremediable fall, where no halt is possible." 2 By 
 getting rid of General Boulanger, we should draw down 
 upon us the reproach of having yielded " to the fear of 
 Germany." This reproach could already be foreseen 
 upon the lips of radicals and monarchists ; it required 
 courage and vigor to brave it. M. Rouvier sacrificed 
 himself, and formed a homogeneous Cabinet, around 
 which he invited all men of order and good-will, with- 
 out distinction of opinions, to group themselves. 3 
 
 We had not heard the last of the ex-Minister of War. 
 On leaving the Rue Saint-Dominique, General Boulan- 
 ger, contrary to custom, had launched an order of the 
 day at the army; in it he spoke of "returning to the 
 ranks," which assuredly was far from his thoughts. 
 When he set out for Clermont-Ferrand, where he had 
 
 1 M. Goblet had, in particular, dissolved the municipal council of 
 Marseilles, which had adjourned its meeting of March 18, in honor of the 
 anniversary of the Commune. 
 
 2 E. de Pressense, Varies Morales et Politiques. 1 vol. Paris, 1886. 
 8 M. Rouvier chose as his colleagues MM. Fallieres, Spuller, de Heredia, 
 
 Dautresme, Barbe, Mazeau, Barbey, and General Ferron ; he kept the 
 portfolio of Foreign Affairs in the bauds of M. Flourens.
 
 THE CRISIS. 217 
 
 just been appointed to the command of a corps, the 
 Patriots' League, and the newspapers, La Lanterne, 
 IS Intransigeant, prepared for him a noisy ovation ; the 
 railway station was invaded ; the general lent himself 
 complaisantly to these manifestations ; his portraits 
 were scattered everywhere about in profusion; he in- 
 fused ostentation into his most simple acts; at the 
 review on July 14, the Parisians practised shouting, 
 " Long live Boulanger ! " which was to become the rally- 
 ing-cry of all the discontented. At the same time, cer- 
 tain administrative disorders of the preceding Cabinet 
 were discovered; in the Navy, 19,000,000 francs of ex- 
 pense incurred without an appropriation; in the Post 
 Office, thirty-seven employees appointed at the last mo- 
 ment, in defiance of all regulations ; in the department 
 of Commerce, posts created and salaries distributed out 
 of the funds of the Exposition of 1889. 1 The radicals 
 took a great deal of pains to make people believe in 
 the existence of a secret compact between the ministry 
 and the Right. In reality, there had been nothing but 
 a laxity which was very necessary to make the govern- 
 mental wheels work well. Moreover, the ministers 
 retorted with deeds rather than in words : by the pres- 
 entation of the budget of 1888, which contained 129,- 
 000,000 francs of reductions, and which was regarded as 
 simple and luminous; by diplomatic successes in Con- 
 stantinople, where the energetic instructions given to 
 M. de Montebello led to the rejection by the Sultan 
 of the Drummond Wolf Convention, 2 in Madagascar, 
 where the question arose of the exequatur of the con- 
 suls, and in England, where negotiations were in pro- 
 gress concerning the New Hebrides and the Windward 
 
 1 Andre Daniel, I'Annte Politique, 1887. 
 
 2 See above, the chapter entitled : " Tunis and Egypt."
 
 218 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Islands. 1 In short, the situation appeared to be in a 
 way to improve, at home as well as abroad; neither 
 the vote on the three years' military service, nor the 
 attempt to mobilize an army corps, undertaken with 
 success by General Ferron, 2 had prevented the amelio- 
 ration of our relations with Berlin, so that the inci- 
 dent of Raon-sur-Plaine was quickly adjusted to the 
 satisfaction of France. And in conclusion, when the 
 municipal council of Paris invited the other councils 
 of the communes of France to send delegates, with a 
 view to taking concerted action to organize the " true " 
 centenary of 1789, its decision was annulled. Every- 
 where activity, zeal, enterprise, were exhibited; men 
 witnessed a real governmental revival ; it coincided, it 
 is true, with a sort of recoil on the part of the conserva- 
 tives, who were worried lest things should go too well 
 for the ministry, and lest the Republic should profit by 
 them as well as the country. 3 
 
 But an unforeseen circumstance suddenly changed 
 the aspect of things, and an abyss yawned, into which, 
 it might have been thought, the Republic would pres- 
 ently sink. On October 7 the dismissal of Brigadier- 
 General Caffarel called attention to a traffic in crosses 
 of the Legion of Honor, to which many references had 
 repeatedly been made by the newspapers, without any 
 
 1 France recovered her liberty of action there, which had been lost 
 through a previous convention. 
 
 2 This project was due to the initiative of his predecessor. General 
 Ferron also brought forward important projects of law, completing the 
 6th division of independent cavalry which had never been organized, 
 creating eighteen new regiments of territorial infantry, improving the 
 status of re-enlisted under-officers, and so forth. 
 
 8 The Comte de Paris chose this moment to launch a manifesto with 
 Caesarian tendencies. The divergence of views among his councillors was 
 reflected in the prince's expression of his thoughts, as he, in turn, vaunted 
 the benefits of liberty and of despotism.
 
 THE CRISIS. 219 
 
 one attaching much importance to their accusations, 
 which were, for the most part, anonymous and lack- 
 ing in preciseness. In the course of a search made at 
 the residence of a certain woman named Limouzin, who 
 had organized a regular agency for the purpose of this 
 detestable traffic, compromising letters were discovered 
 from M. Wilson, the son-in-law of the President of the 
 Republic. The news did not cause great surprise in 
 the parliamentary world; M. Wilson had long been 
 regarded with suspicion. But among the masses the 
 excitement was great. As usually happens in such 
 cases, revelations were multiplied, were quick and 
 overwhelming. The government tried in vain to resist 
 the demand for a parliamentary investigation which 
 was presented by M. Cuneo d'Ornano; it was passed 
 by 338 votes against 230. A few days later, a demand 
 for leave to prosecute M. Wilson was unanimously 
 carried. 
 
 Public opinion grew exasperated when it learned 
 before long that, while the affair was under investiga- 
 tion, two of M. Wilson's letters had been abstracted 
 from the file, and two others substituted. 1 From that 
 day forth, it was felt that nothing could prevent the 
 head of the State from being irreparably tainted by the 
 moral decadence of a member of his family. Accord- 
 ingly, people began to talk of his resignation in terms 
 which made it next to impossible for him not to hand it 
 in ; the pressure of all the politicians was added to that 
 of public opinion, but in vain. Then, for the sake of 
 reaching the President, the ministry was overthrown 
 (November 19, 1887). But M. GreVy would not 
 understand; he busied himself with forming a new 
 
 1 M. Gragnon, Prefect of Police, who was responsible for this, was 
 immediately dismissed and replaced by M. Leon Bourgeois.
 
 220 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Cabinet. Meanwhile popular agitation increased; a 
 surge formed, like that which on the open sea precedes 
 certain tempests. The situation presented some anal- 
 ogy with that of February 23, 1848; very fortunately, 
 the Chamber displayed composure and restraint, and 
 repulsed the attacks upon parliamentary liberties which 
 were proposed to it. 
 
 M. Gre'vy fought for his power, step by step. His 
 evasions augmented the peril. At the same time the 
 parties were engrossed with the question of his suc- 
 cessor, which was virtually open. The first indica- 
 tions gave rise to the idea that Jules Ferry would be 
 elected, and from that moment the radical " leaders " 
 transgressed all bounds; they wished to organize a 
 riot, and held a conference with M. Derouldde, the 
 founder of the Patriots' League, the man who advo- 
 cated revenge at any price, the valiant soldier and dis- 
 tinguished poet, who had not received from Heaven 
 the gift of wisdom as his heritage, and whose pranks 
 and excesses of language came near, more than once, 
 causing the country serious harm. Very unpatrioti- 
 cally certain men among them even talked of going 
 over to M. Gre'vy, and retaining him in power rather 
 than allow Jules Ferry to attain to it. This movement 
 did not escape the President, who appeared disposed to 
 take advantage of it, and, in spite of reiterated prom- 
 ises, again put off sending his letter of resignation. 
 At this news the excitement was intense; the sena- 
 tors and deputies, with much dignity, contented them- 
 selves, nevertheless, with suspending their sittings, 
 "while awaiting the communication which had been 
 announced." 
 
 The message came at last; it concealed badly both 
 anger and resentment, and contained several phrases
 
 THE CRISIS. 221 
 
 which were out of place from the pen of a President 
 who was politically irresponsible. But no one stopped 
 to weigh its phraseology. Attention was concentrated 
 upon the election of the new President: the numerous 
 preparatory meetings left face to face, at the opening 
 of Congress, the candidacies of MM. Jules Ferry, 
 Floquet, de Freycinet, Brisson, and Carnot. The first 
 ballot gave no result; in the second, 515 republican 
 votes raised to the Presidency of the French Republic 
 the grandson of the man who had organized the victory. 
 The effervescence immediately subsided, and every one 
 returned to his own affairs. 1 Europe, which was watch- 
 ing with anxiety the development of a crisis that she 
 believed to be big with peril for France, beheld with a 
 sort of stupor this unexpected proof of the solidity and 
 elasticity of the republican constitution. It waited 
 with a curiosity which was shared by France the acts 
 of the new President. M. Carnot was a distinguished 
 man ; he bore an illustrious name ; he had been a skil- 
 ful and honest minister; but his modesty and the very 
 nature of his services had not marked him out in public 
 opinion ; he was inferior in notoriety to his recent com- 
 petitors ; what was known of his character disposed to 
 sympathy, and the French believed in him when he said 
 to them, in his presidential message, "All the strength 
 and devotion that I possess belong to my country." 
 The future was destined to give to these words, which 
 to-day are engraved on bronze and marble, an august 
 and bloody significance. 
 
 The man who passed out of sight, after nine years of 
 
 1 The insults showered upon M. Jules Ferry had, nevertheless, a 
 lamentable result. In the Chamber of Deputies, a fanatic fired a shot at 
 him. The ball, by a miracle, was flattened against his breast; but it 
 caused a rupture, nevertheless, which is said to have hastened the death 
 of the illustrious statesman.
 
 222 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the Presidency, had lost his right to the nation's grati- 
 tude. His eclipse, which was unique, and every- 
 thing inclines one to the belief that such it is, is of 
 such a nature that his memory will never be completely 
 exonerated from it. None the less, M. GreVy's Presi- 
 dency rendered considerable services to the Republic, 
 as much by its duration as by its pacific character. 
 Later on men learned on how many occasions the mod- 
 erating influence of the head of the State had been 
 exercised upon those who surrounded him. M. GreVy 
 possessed a very penetrating mind, tact, and that pla- 
 cidity which is produced by a non-sceptical conception 
 of the world. The traditions which he succeeded in 
 establishing around his lofty function were easily modi- 
 fied into a more supple, more charming, more generous 
 form. The Presidency now, at least, rose above the 
 fluctuations of parties, which had grown used no longer 
 to drag it into their quarrels. This was an immense 
 advantage. M. Thiers had exercised a too personal 
 power ; the marshal, although more constitutional, had, 
 especially after the 16th of May, sown distrust around 
 the Elyse"e. M. GreVy did not even use all the politi- 
 cal prerogatives with which the Constitution endowed 
 him ; he seemed to desire to confine himself to the part 
 of the " Chief Magistrate " rather than head of the 
 State. It was this attitude which, by depriving the 
 enemies of the presidential office of their complaints 
 against the institution, permitted M. Carnot, without 
 transgressing legal bounds, to play, for the greater good 
 of the Republic, a more active and more brilliant part. 
 
 II. 
 
 The difficulties at home, which had been accumulat- 
 ing ever since 1885, were not smoothed away by the
 
 THE CRISIS. 223 
 
 great change which had taken place. The Chamber 
 remained in a state of decomposition and had no power; 
 the voting went by haphazard. Public opinion was in 
 a stationary and languid condition, which showed itself 
 in the partial renewal of the senators on January 5, 
 1888. As for the ministry, formed without any pre- 
 cise tokens, it had no hold on Parliament. 1 
 
 As the budget of 1888 was naturally behindhand, 
 recourse was again had to the monthly instalments, and 
 again incoherence ruled all deliberations. The plan 
 which M. Yves Guyot reported raised the tax on col- 
 lateral inheritances and on liquor licenses ; this system 
 was rejected. The committee refused to consider the 
 appropriations for public worship, for whose mainten- 
 ance, fortunately, the Chamber voted; but that for 
 Tonkin was pitilessly refused. This anti-patriotic vote 
 led to the resignation of the under-Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies, M. Felix Faure, and caused keen 
 feeling. The Chamber was obliged to retreat from its 
 position, but instead of accepting the sum proposed, 
 which was 20,000,000 francs, they reduced it to 19,800,- 
 000 francs, and contented themselves with this slender 
 satisfaction to their self-esteem. 
 
 The time was not propitious for such pranks. A 
 peril, upon which the enemies of the Republic were 
 calculating with joy, was increasing. On February 28, 
 1888, various partial elections took place. General Bou- 
 langer obtained, as if by accident, 12,500 votes in Loire, 
 11,000 in Maine-et-Loire, 16,000 in Marne; electoral 
 placards had been distributed in his name ; the journal 
 La Cocarde had just been set up, with what money no 
 
 1 M. Tirard, President of the Council, had formed only a working 
 Cabinet, with MM. Fallieres, Flourens, Sarrien, de Mahy, Faye, Loubet, 
 Viette, and General Logerot.
 
 224 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 one knew, but with what intention every one under- 
 stood. 
 
 The distributions of emblems, of portraits, and of 
 songs became more abundant every day. Soon the 
 rumor began to circulate that General Boulanger had 
 abandoned his post and had come thrice to Paris with- 
 out permission, but that, in order to do so, he had had 
 recourse to a shameful disguise. At first no one would 
 believe it, so unworthy did such conduct appear on the 
 part of a French soldier. But the evidence had to be 
 accepted. The Minister of War put the general on the 
 retired list (March, 1888) , and the latter, immediately 
 throwing aside his mask, showed himself in Paris sur- 
 rounded by MM. Rochefort, Derouleide, Michelin, Laur, 
 Laisant, Laguerre. He stood in the Aisne, and re- 
 ceived 45,000 votes, and a "Republican Committee of 
 National Protest" was founded to exploit his popu- 
 larity. 
 
 M. Tirard had announced that Boulanger would be 
 brought before a committee of inquiry composed of his 
 peers. The committee met on March 26, at the Mili- 
 tary School, under the presidency of General FeVrier, 
 and unanimously declared that there had been sufficient 
 cause for placing Boulanger on the retired list. Public 
 opinion did not immediately accept this decision ; a cry 
 of injustice was raised. Taken with the rest, this was 
 a serious symptom. The army, by the voice of its chiefs 
 of most authority, proclaimed that a superior officer had 
 failed in his duties ; it rejected him as unworthy, and 
 people hesitated to ratify the verdict! 
 
 A few days later, a hurried vote on the revision of 
 the Constitution, as to which no one seriously cared 
 anything, overthrew the Cabinet. The radicals came 
 into power ; as if by an irony of fate they were to follow
 
 THE CRISIS. 225 
 
 closely the end of their work of disintegration and ren- 
 der evident their incapacity for government, to which 
 their theories, as well as circumstances, condemned 
 them. 1 During this time an agglomeration of political 
 adventurers was forming around the "Committee of 
 the Rue de Seize," awaiting favors and places, and the 
 "conservative youth" wore the red carnation, the em- 
 blem of its dictatorial tendencies. It was in good taste 
 to be a Boulangist; in the drawing-rooms of Paris the 
 general reaped a harvest of smiles and also as it was 
 discovered later on subsidies for his cause. With 
 gaze impenetrable, with the peaceful manner of a man 
 who feels himself not inferior to his destiny, however 
 great it may be, he moved easily in the midst of the 
 most eccentric party that ever was collected around a 
 politician. 
 
 On April 8 Boulanger was elected in Dordogne by 
 59, 500 votes against 36, 000. On April 15, in the Nord, 
 he received 176,000 (among which there were a great 
 number from the Right). He appeared twice on the 
 tribune of the Chamber, then noisily resigned, to pre- 
 sent himself simultaneously in the Nord, Charente- 
 Infe'rieure, and Somme for election. One hundred and 
 thirty thousand votes in the first of these departments, 
 57,000 and 77,000 in the other two, were again cast for 
 him. It was now the royalist leaders, MM. de Mackau, 
 de Ldvis-Mirepois, de Mun, de Breteuil, who gave him 
 
 1 M. Floquet became President of the Council, and chose for his col- 
 leagues MM. de Freycinet (War), Goblet (Foreign Affairs), Ferrouillat, 
 Peytral, Deluns-Montaud, Viette, Lockroy, Pierre Legrand, and Admiral 
 Krantz. Shortly before, the Russian ambassador had, at last, been au- 
 thorized by his government to maintain relations with the President of 
 the Chamber, who, from that day forth, was regarded as of ministerial 
 rank. It is well known that, in his youth, M. Floquet had permitted him- 
 self to utter insulting words against the Tzar Alexander, when that sov- 
 ereign was passing through Paris, as the guest of Napoleon III.
 
 226 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 their support; the clergy followed. In the conservative 
 ranks only a few rare independents expressed the indig- 
 nation. The rumor was in circulation that the Comte 
 de Paris had joined hands with the adventurer, but 
 nothing definite was yet known on that point. Bou- 
 langer took good care not to put an end to an equivo- 
 cal situation which served his ambitious designs. His 
 duel with the President of the Council, and the ridi- 
 cule which attached to having been wounded, he, a 
 general, by a lawyer, the strange staff with which 
 he surrounded himself, his solemn and empty mani- 
 festoes, nothing seemed capable of lessening his 
 popularity. 
 
 The situation abroad was disquieting. In the month 
 of March the old German Emperor had died, leaving 
 his throne to his son, now become Frederick III., and 
 the rescript addressed to Prince Bismarck by the new 
 Caesar had astonished the world. " While indifferent to 
 the brilliancy of great actions which bring glory," said 
 the Emperor, " I shall be satisfied if, later on, it is said 
 of my reign that it was beneficent for my people." But 
 he who uttered these noble words was himself at the 
 gates of the tomb. A marvellous effort of will had kept 
 him up long enough to assume the crown. Already his 
 strength was failing. A few months later he died, and 
 thenceforth the fate of Europe lay partly in the hands 
 of a young prince, of whom nothing was known except 
 that he seemed to take too much interest in military 
 matters, and to live for war alone. 
 
 Not everything at home was obscure and troubled: 
 the President of the Republic had undertaken a trip 
 through the provinces ; his affability, his kindness, the 
 extremely correct manner in which he filled his lofty 
 station, won all hearts, and the republicans with satis-
 
 THE CBISIS. 227 
 
 faction beheld this sterling popularity increasing. As 
 for the senators, they seemed to have escaped the de- 
 pressing influence of their surroundings ; they remained 
 calm and sensible, like genuine "conscript fathers." 1 
 Just then M. Floquet was preparing a plan for revising 
 the constitutional laws, which tended to nothing if not 
 to discredit the Senate, in anticipation of the time when 
 it could be suppressed. The President of the Council 
 really was not lucky; he understood no better how 
 to appease social hatreds than to conciliate moderate 
 public opinion, and spoke to all in ambiguous and 
 bombastic language which in no way recalled his ad- 
 dresses, full of taste and elegance, as President of the 
 Chamber. Strike followed strike, in Amiens, Troyes, 
 the mines of the Loire, in Limousin. It must be con- 
 fessed that never had a head of the government found 
 himself in such an inextricable situation. But why 
 was he there ? Therein, precisely, lay the paradoxical 
 side of the situation. The radicals themselves began 
 to understand that energetic concentration was the sole 
 anchor of safety, and that this concentration could be 
 effected only on moderate grounds. At last the min- 
 istry succumbed, in the course of the debate over the 
 unlucky project of revision. It had just lost the final 
 electoral battle. On January 27 General Boulanger 
 had been elected in Paris, by 244,149 votes (of which 
 between seventy and eighty thousand were from the 
 Right), against 162,419 given to his opponent. This 
 opponent was M. Jacques, President of the General 
 Council of the Seine. The different fractions of the 
 republican party, by uniting upon him, had given him 
 the right to call himself the " candidate of the Repub- 
 
 1 The senatorial electors themselves shared in the calmness of the 
 upper Assembly, as the partial elections in Eure-et-Loir prove.
 
 228 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 lie." 1 The check had only the greater significance. 
 Many persons believed on the eve of that memorable 
 day that the parliamentary system of 1875 had received 
 its death-blow, and that dictatorship was at the doors. 
 Abroad, where the opinions of Parisians are gladly ac- 
 cepted as those of all France, no one doubted it. But 
 Boulangism had a very powerful and eminently Pari- 
 sian adversary, which it had not occurred to any one 
 as necessary to take into calculation. It was the Uni- 
 versal Exposition of 1889. 
 
 When the government of the French Republic an- 
 nounced its intention to celebrate by a Universal Inter- 
 national Exposition the centenary of 1789, this decision 
 caused embarrassment in Europe. There could be no 
 doubt, in the mind of any national man, as to the 
 legitimacy of the celebration of such an anniversary. 
 Assuredly, no one could have understood how France, 
 even if it had been monarchical, could abstain from 
 rendering homage to the great and noble ideas under 
 the impulse of which a necessary and beneficent evolu- 
 tion had been inaugurated, whose character had, unfort- 
 unately, been transformed by the course of events into 
 a bloody revolution. As early as 1886 the German 
 Prince Imperial (afterwards Frederick III.), when he 
 received M. Antonin Proust at Berlin, lauded in his 
 presence the intention of our government, which was 
 already known, and spoke of 1789 as a "great date," 
 whose centenary was worthy of being celebrated. 2 In 
 fact, the French Revolution long ago entered into the 
 domain of history, and princes have made peace with 
 its memory. As for their peoples, they have not for- 
 
 1 " One does not vote for a prefix," M. de Cassagnac said. " It is the 
 prefix of the Republic," his adversaries retorted. 
 
 2 Les Capitales du Monde : Berlin, by M. Antonin Proust.
 
 THE CRISIS. 229 
 
 gotten what they owe to it. One might almost main- 
 tain the paradox that in this case foreign nations 
 ought to have taken the first steps ; the French Revo- 
 lution is like fire; all the world warms itself from 
 it; the one who sets it off is the only one who burns 
 his fingers. 
 
 Nevertheless, Europe had not sufficient confidence 
 in our wisdom to feel quite sure as to the manner in 
 which we intended to celebrate the centenary. She 
 was vaguely conscious of the "lump" which M. Cle*- 
 menceau put into words later on, and wondered whether 
 our invitation did not expose it to seeing us confound 
 in one and the same outburst of patriotic enthusiasm 
 the 5th of May and the 10th of August, and celebrate 
 the centenary of 1793 together with that of 1789. 
 When the foundations of the buildings of the Champ- 
 de-Mars began to rise above the ground, it became 
 necessary to arrive at a decision, and the chancelleries 
 held consultations. They almost unanimously agreed 
 upon a very elastic formula, which consisted in accept- 
 ing France's invitation, while appearing to refuse it. 
 Then we beheld committees formed in the foreign 
 capitals for the purpose of securing the participation 
 of the European monarchies in the Paris Exposition; 
 the governments which had declined to be officially rep- 
 resented hastened to lend their countenance to these 
 committees, and thereby to show their good-will and 
 their desire to aid in the success of the enterprise. 
 
 Thus they arranged for themselves a door through 
 which they could enter and emerge from the Champ-de- 
 Mars without compromising themselves. All would 
 depend upon the attitude of the French government, 
 the language of its representatives when the inaugura- 
 tion drew near. Moreover, in certain circles the impres-
 
 230 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 sion lingered, that in choosing the date of 1889 the 
 Republic had desired to satisfy the demands of the 
 radicals, and that it was resolved to find a pretext for 
 postponing the opening of the Exposition until 1890, 
 thus separating it from the centenary properly speak- 
 ing, which would have smoothed away all difficulties. 
 The Republic was not guilty of that weakness ; it un- 
 derstood that the absence of a few embroidered coats 
 would not deprive its Exposition of much brilliancy, 
 and was philosophical enough to pass over the slight 
 wound to its self-esteem which these official abstentions 
 might cause it. 1 
 
 On May 5 the President of the Republic betook him- 
 self to Versailles with the ministers and the great bodies 
 of the State. A ceremony stamped with simple dig- 
 nity, which everywhere produced the best impression, 
 took place in the Gallery of Mirrors. There they cele- 
 brated, in moderate terms, the great memories evoked 
 by the centenary. On the following day, the splendors 
 enclosed in the Champ-de-Mars were thrown open to 
 the public. Those who, distantly or closely, had taken 
 part in the great work, had let it be understood that 
 the Exposition buildings would exercise an irresistible 
 attraction upon the popular imagination. But they 
 
 1 Even in France people paid comparatively little heed to these ques- 
 tions of forms. A very insignificant little group had assembled in the 
 beginning to organize an "agitation" against the centenary. After sev- 
 eral debates around a green table, the men who composed it, finding no 
 echo in the country, and forced to acknowledge their impotence, separated. 
 A few devout persons, who quivered with anguish before the "modern 
 Tower of Babel," and a few narrow-minded artists, who reproached 
 M. Eiffel with "dishonoring Paris," presented honest petitions, which 
 were civilly buried in the administrative pigeonholes. As for the 
 dilettanti of public opinion, they were all absorbed in the acts and gest- 
 ures of General Boulanger, and the Exposition acquired importance in 
 their eyes only when they learned that M. Carnot would drive to the inau- 
 guration in an open carriage with postilions.
 
 THE CRISIS. 231 
 
 said it under their breath, with a remnant of uncertainty 
 and a sort of uneasy hesitation. When the flag floated 
 from the Eiffel Tower, when the scaffoldings had disap- 
 peared, and in the resplendent gardens the water began 
 to flow in the fountains, all the world in Paris knew 
 that the reality surpassed the dream. 
 
 Everything had seemed to conspire against the Expo- 
 sition; everything now seemed to aid in its success. 
 One festival followed another, without being disturbed 
 by a single mishap. A series of scientific, literary, and 
 artistic congresses drew to Paris the intellectual flower 
 of the universe. The head of the State and his minis- 
 ters, as well as Dr. Chautemps, President of the Mu- 
 nicipal Council, exerted themselves to the utmost to do 
 the honors of the capital ; as all their deeds and speeches 
 were distinguished by the most perfect tact, as order 
 was not disturbed in a single instance, Europe felt its 
 fears vanish; on the heels of the Shah of Persia an 
 unprejudiced monarch the King of Greece and many 
 princes entered the Elyse'e. The Lord Mayor came over 
 to represent England, and was the guest of the Paris 
 municipality at the H6tel de Ville. The nations did 
 not cease to manifest their sympathy; in certain coun- 
 tries the parliaments by a vote disclaimed the attitude 
 of the sovereign. 
 
 But of all the solemnities which marked this happy 
 epoch, none made so deep an impression as the recep- 
 tion of foreign students; 478 foreign delegates and 218 
 delegates of the Faculties of France assembled at Paris 
 from the 2d to the 12th of August, 1889. Everywhere, 
 in those days of mirth, were seen " the satin cap of the 
 University of Bologna, the felt hat of the scholars of 
 Padua, the long scarf of Geneva and Lausanne, the 
 braided cap of Liege and Brussels, and the silver-
 
 232 THE EVOLUTION OF FliANCE. 
 
 fringed cap of the graduates of Oxford; the divers 
 emblems of the Universities of Edinboro', Lund, 
 Upsala, Copenhagen, Florence, Co'imbre; the doublet, 
 sword, and spurred boots of the students of Buda- 
 pest." 1 They were especially admired at the inaugu- 
 ration of the new Sorbonne, where all the university 
 banners of the world defiled before the President of the 
 Republic. 
 
 Then it was that public opinion learned that France 
 possessed students. It learned many things, this frivo- 
 lous and garrulous public opinion, which too often 
 judges monuments by their facades. For a moment it 
 was astounded, and speechless, as it were, in the pres- 
 ence of sympathy and praise. It asked itself whether 
 it were not the plaything of a dream ; if this science, 
 this genius which revealed itself from all quarters, 
 these rising energies, these vast and profound labors 
 which suddenly came to light, if all this was real, 
 and our own. 
 
 Such were the meaning and range of the centennial 
 festivals. Probably the men who had been its pro- 
 moters had not foreseen this. They had thought it 
 useful to recall great revolutionary memories ; it was a 
 hundred years of the past which they had intended to 
 set again before the eyes of France. In vain had the 
 men of 1789 been cast in bronze to adorn the public 
 squares; in vain had all which could recall their ex- 
 ploits been collected in museums ; in vain had it been 
 repeated in every key that they had found the world 
 out of joint and with a vigorous thrust had set it right 
 for a series of ages, all this was said without convic- 
 tion, as if to acquit their consciences, and the throng 
 
 1 The festivals of the University of Paris. Supplement to the Bulletin 
 of the General Association of students.
 
 THE CRISIS. 233 
 
 did not listen. All absorbed with the joy of resurrec- 
 tion, it compared present prosperity with the anguish 
 of the past; it experienced that "sentiment of life and 
 pride which Lazarus must have felt when he rose from 
 the grave. " : How far away was that unlucky day when 
 the French, vanquished, despairing, had found them- 
 selves face to face with "a whole France to be made 
 over! " 2 This work had been accomplished in the twi- 
 light; the Exposition suddenly set it forth in broad 
 daylight. 
 
 So it came to pass that, by virtue of having tasted for 
 the space of several months the very great and very 
 noble joy of commanding the attention of the world, 
 the French citizen set to reading over with care the 
 ballot which was slipped into his hand, and when he 
 had read it, he flung it aside and took another. Cer- 
 tain disillusions, noisy criticisms, some of which seemed 
 justified, a sort of uncertainty and hesitation in the 
 management of affairs, had ended by shaking his confi- 
 dence in that republican staff which he had long main- 
 tained in power against all men ; he now felt that the 
 system of government under which this grand dis- 
 play of science and labor had been prepared did not 
 deserve to be disowned on the eve of victory. The 
 masses had felt this at the mere sight of the Exposi- 
 tion; the elect, by study ing ^details, arrived at the same 
 conclusion. Both had noted that barometric situation 
 which is called prosperity. A backward glance showed 
 them the road which they had travelled in a slow but 
 continuous march, the progress realized in almost all 
 the branches of human activity. They regained confi- 
 dence in the Republic ; thus was eliminated the morbid 
 
 1 E.-M. de Vogue, A travers I' 'Exposition. 
 
 2 E. Zola, La Debacle.
 
 234 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 principle which had given birth to Boulangism. It now 
 remains for us to narrate how the bark which bore 
 Boulanger and those who had followed his rapid fortune 
 suffered shipwreck. 
 
 On the day following that upon which his election in 
 Paris had crowned the series of his electoral triumphs, 
 the general betook himself to Tours to draw up the 
 platform of his future government. He did it in shady 
 and equivocal terms which made no precise statements, 
 and consequently bound him to nothing. He was in 
 no great hurry, moreover, to behold any solution inter- 
 posed, and desired nothing so much as that he might be 
 able indefinitely to prolong this "preface to his reign," 
 in which he delighted. The struggle between him and 
 the members of the Cabinet seemed unequal. M. Tirard 
 had again become Prime Minister; together with the 
 presidency of the Council he had taken the portfolio of 
 Commerce. 1 He was the minister of the Exposition; 
 it was upon M. Constans that the part of the general- 
 in-chief of the political forces devolved; his it was to 
 choose his battle-ground, to fortify his positions, to 
 regulate the attack for the grand battle of the autumn. 
 M. Constans was looked upon as an energetic and skil- 
 ful man; he showed himself equal to his reputation. 
 His first measures immediately conveyed an idea of the 
 conception which he had of his part. He hesitated not 
 to prosecute the League of Patriots, 2 nor to discourage 
 
 1 The President of the Republic had had M. Tirard summoned after 
 the failure of a combination of Meline, Ribot, and Casimir-Pe'rier. The 
 ministry comprised MM. Spuller (Foreign Affairs), Constans, Rouvier, 
 de Freycinet, Fallieres, Thevenet, Yves Guyot, and Admiral Krantz, who 
 died shortly after, and was replaced by Admiral Jaures. 
 
 2 Atchinoff, a Cossack adventurer, disclaimed by Russia, had installed 
 himself at Sagallo. The neighborhood of Abyssinia rendered possible 
 intervention on the part of Italy. So Atchinoff was ordered to withdraw, 
 and refused. Our cruisers, with a little too much precipitation, then bom-
 
 JEAN CASIM:R-PERIER, FIFTH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC.
 
 THE CRISIS. 235 
 
 the labor agitation organized by the "syndicates and 
 independent collective groups of the Seine," nor to open 
 the doors of France to the Due d'Aumale, nor to sus- 
 pend the secularization of the asylums which had already 
 been ordered, nor, above all, to demand the passage of 
 a law to regulate the procedure of the Senate sitting as 
 a Supreme Court of Justice. He caused some surprise 
 at first. Among those who were most disquieted at the 
 spectacle of the progress of Boulangism, many were 
 still ignorant of the share of responsibility which Gen- 
 eral Boulanger had therein, his corruption, his far- 
 reaching calculations, his manoeuvres ; they wondered, 
 while they felt conscious of his guilt, how the Senate 
 would succeed in proving a criminality of intentions 
 alone. The unexpected retirement of the attorney- 
 general, who refused to prosecute the accused, trans- 
 formed this doubt into excitement. With that profound 
 sense of justice which is innate in it, the French people 
 asked themselves whether, in order to save the Repub- 
 lic, a sort of deliberate judicial error were not about to 
 be perpetrated. It was Boulanger himself who under- 
 took to reassure them. He took flight, with Rochefort 
 and Comte Dillon, 1 who were implicated, as well as 
 himself, in the prosecution. The Boulangists were 
 thunderstruck, and emphasized by their attitude the 
 accusation which their leader had just furnished against 
 
 barded his encampment; five or six men were killed. It was an unfortu- 
 nate incident. The League of Patriots immediately opened a subscription 
 to indemnify the families of the victims, and published a violent protest 
 against the government. The league was prosecuted, and an inquiry 
 revealed its secret organization ; in consequence of this discovery, de- 
 mands for authority to prosecute were lodged against MM. Naquet, Tur- 
 quet, Laguerre, and Laisant, deputies, members of the governing council. 
 1 Boulanger fled to Brussels ; on April 24, at the request of the Belgian 
 government, he left Belgium and went to London, where he remained for a 
 time.
 
 236 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 himself, and on April 4 the demand for authorizing 
 the prosecution of Boulanger was passed by 333 votes 
 against 199. On April 12 the Supreme Court assem- 
 bled, and the trial began. 
 
 In the republican party instinctive and absolute 
 union came about; the shades were effaced, good-will 
 became general. The deputies hastened to facilitate 
 the passage of the appropriations. 
 
 Moreover, the situation was good. The first four 
 months of 1889 showed a surplus of 19,000,000 francs 
 over the income from the indirect taxes in 1888, and 
 the Minister of Finance had doubled his authority over 
 Parliament by his attitude in the affair of the Discount 
 Bank. 1 District elections had been re-established, at 
 the proposal of the preceding Cabinet; a law prohibit- 
 ing multiple candidacies was passed. The republican 
 army had on its flanks the new group of the liberal 
 union, which, presided over by M. Barboux, former 
 president of the corporation of barristers, was joined 
 by conservatives who were hostile to the dictatorship. 
 The monarchist Right was openly making the campaign 
 with the Boulangists. 2 In the country, certain reac- 
 tionaries drew up, with the aid of the clergy, the 
 "memorials of 1889," in which they summed up their 
 demands. As for the Boulangists themselves, they did 
 
 1 The fall of the Discount Bank and the suicide of its manager came 
 near entailing financial disasters. With remarkable promptness and en- 
 ergy, M. Rouvier saved the market of Paris by getting the Bank of 
 France and private banks to advance the funds necessary to indemnify 
 the depositors, the creditors of the bank. 
 
 2 His manifesto was stamped with violence and exaggeration ; together 
 with the signatures of the Due de Doudeauville, the Marquis de Breteuil, 
 MM. Jolibois, de Mackau, de Cassagnac, Leon Chevreau, Delafosse, and 
 de Martimprey, it bore those of MM. de Mun and Jacques Piou. The hesi- 
 tation on the part of their electors to believe in the evolution which brought 
 them to the Republic shortly afterward will be readily understood.
 
 THE CRISIS. 237 
 
 not seem to be satiated with uproar and scandal. Their 
 deputies had become regular commercial travellers for 
 the dissemination of disorder ; they tried to get them- 
 selves arrested in the electoral meetings and to get 
 themselves expelled from the sittings of the Chamber, 
 because they looked upon this as an excellent advertise- 
 ment. 1 The departmental elections for the renewal of 
 half the General Councils dealt them their first blow. 
 Boulanger, by a manifesto in imperial style, set him- 
 self up as a candidate in 80 cantons, selected with great 
 care out of the 1439 which were electing general coun- 
 cillors. He was elected only twelve times, and after 
 balloting it was perceived that the republicans retained 
 the majority in 74 councils out of 90. The trial before 
 the Supreme Court dragged on slowly. The senatorial 
 Right, after having declared itself incompetent, retired ; 
 but when Attorney-General Quesnay de Beaurepaire's 
 charge to the jury became known, there was no longer 
 any doubt as to Boulanger's condemnation, and every 
 one understood his haste to put the frontier between his 
 judges and himself. The speech would certainly have 
 gained much had it been briefer; and had it contained 
 only convincing and proved facts : some of them were 
 insufficiently attested. But the crime against the 
 Republic stood out from the collection of testimony 
 presented with such clearness that it was impossible to 
 
 deny it, if one had the least straightforwardness. 
 
 
 
 1 The sittings of June 22, 25, 27, 29, and of July 3 were reckoned among 
 the most uproarious and the most indecent. In order to give an idea of 
 the pitch to which the marks of violence rose, we may quote the words of 
 M. Laisant, uttered in the course of a political meeting, and which resulted 
 in their author being brought before a court-martial, as head of the terri- 
 torial army, and dismissed from the service : " If war were declared, I would 
 not take up my post facing the enemy, because I know that I should have 
 behind me men like Constans and Thevenet. . . . Who knows if they 
 will not, one of these days, hand their country over to foreigners! "
 
 238 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 The elections took place on September 22 and Octo- 
 ber 6, 1889; the first ballot gave 300 results: 230 
 republicans, 86 royalists, 52 Bonapartists, and 22 Bou- 
 langists were elected. At the second ballot, thanks to 
 their discipline, the republicans got in 129 of their 
 men against 51 reactionaries. Thus the Chamber con- 
 sisted of 359 republicans and 211 reactionaries. The 
 desertion which took place from the ranks of the latter 
 was more accentuated, beginning with the day after the 
 elections, both by the strangeness of their alliance and 
 the importance of their defeat. These friends of a day, 
 between whom no bonds existed, unless those of ambi- 
 tion and rancor, parted cursing each other. Each party 
 threw upon the other the responsibility for their bank- 
 ruptcy. Boulanger installed himself at Jersey, aban- 
 doned and disgraced. He departed from history through 
 the back door ; he was to quit life, two years later, in 
 the fashion of a hero of romance, after having given 
 proof of incapacity for which he will be pardoned, and 
 committed against patriotism a crime for which no 
 amnesty exists. 1 
 
 1 The settlement of the affairs of " the great national party " continued 
 to furnish food for the public press. There were scandals, revelations, 
 duels. At Paris, on April 27, 1890, at the time of the municipal elections, 
 the Boulangists, who were, at that time, facing towards the radical Left, 
 made a last effort. They only succeeded in getting two of their men nomi- 
 nated against 65 republicans, and 13 conservatives. In the Chamber, when 
 the certificates of election were verified, 23 reactionaries or Boulangists 
 were invalidated ; only 11 were re-elected.
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 239 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 The Workingmen's Congress in Berlin. The Empress Frederick in Paris. 
 Cronstadt. A "Novel Situation." The General Tariff of the 
 Custom-Houses. The Monarchists' "Last Card." False Calcula- 
 tion. Financial Ways. The Elections of 1893. Minister Casimir- 
 Pe'rier. The Russian Fleet at Toulon. National Mourning. 
 
 IT was easy to foresee that the electoral victory won 
 by the Republic under decisive circumstances would 
 have numerous effects; but it may be said that all ex- 
 pectations were inferior to the reality. It was the two 
 most conservative powers of the universe the Mus- 
 covite Autocracy and Pontifical Ctesarism who were 
 the first to bow before it and seek its alliance. Such 
 an important event re-echoed, necessarily, at home ; the 
 result was the annihilation or the disabling of the 
 unconstitutional parties, from which the Church with- 
 drew her support. From the very first moment it was 
 plain, through several moderated votes of the conserva- 
 tive deputies, and through their attitude towards the 
 visit of the head of the State, who continued to journey 
 about France, everywhere received with open arms and 
 with acclamation, that the time for thoughtless ultra- 
 views was passed. But they would not have abandoned 
 their preferences, no doubt, and would have left to the 
 next generation the task of forming a regular republican 
 Right, if the initiative of the Holy See had not turned 
 away from them a great many Roman Catholic electors.
 
 240 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 We shall have occasion to study this great movement, 1 
 which, by common consent, is accepted as the starting- 
 point for the speech addressed in 1890 by Cardinal 
 Lavigerie to the officers of the French squadron. 
 
 Another result of the republican victory was to assure, 
 at last, that stability to the ministry which had been 
 attained only by Jules Ferry, from 1883 to 1885, and 
 the secret of which seemed to have been immediately 
 lost. M. de Freycinet, who assumed the presidency 
 of the Council at the beginning of 1890, and kept it for 
 two years, had already been at the head of the Ministry 
 of War since the month of April, 1888. 2 He had been 
 received there with mistrust. Many persons could not 
 easily reconcile themselves to see a civilian minister at 
 the head of the army ; on the other hand they recalled 
 the very unsatisfactory manner in which, on various 
 occasions, he had guided the diplomatic interests of 
 France. But this time a new man was revealed in him ; 
 completely devoted to the professional interests in his 
 charge, he surrounded himself with the most authori- 
 tative councillors, 3 and carried on with coherence and 
 method a work of great magnitude. It does not enter 
 within the scope of this study to estimate the technical 
 value of that work, but it must be noted that, if M. de 
 
 1 See Chapter X. : " The Republic and the Church." 
 
 2 M. Tirard, who was seeking an occasion to resign, took as his pretext 
 a hostile vote of the Senate connected with the expiration of the treaty of 
 Commerce of 1861, between France and Turkey. M. de Freycinet formed 
 the new Cabinet, with MM. Rouvier, Barbey, Yves Guyot, who retained 
 the portfolios of Finance, Navy, and Public Works, Leon Bourgeois (Public 
 Education), Ribot (Foreign Affairs), Develle (Agriculture), Jules Roche 
 (Commerce) , and Fallieres (Justice) . M. de Freycinet retained his port- 
 folio under the ministries of Loubet and Ribot ; he remained for five 
 years (from 1888 to 1893) at the head of the department of War. 
 
 8 Shortly after the advent of Minister Freycinet, General de Miribel 
 became head of the general staff of the army.
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE EEPUBLIC. 241 
 
 Freycinet's 1 administration aroused criticism, it found 
 in the army itself its warmest advocates. 
 
 It was the first time in many years that the presi- 
 dency of the Council had been combined with the port- 
 folio of War; Europe did not take alarm thereat; it 
 understood wonderfully well that the peace party had 
 just triumphed in France, and that the prosperity of 
 the Republic constituted henceforth one of the guaran- 
 tees of general tranquillity. She saw at the same time, 
 with pleased surprise, that if military matters were 
 maintained in Germany in the first rank of imperial 
 interests, William II. had neither said nor done any- 
 thing which would permit of one's attributing to him 
 warlike ulterior designs ; quite on the contrary, he ex- 
 hibited an unexpected solicitude for the laboring 
 classes. The famous rescripts of February 4, 1890, 
 consecrated in a certain way the importance and the 
 urgency of the labor question, and in order the better 
 to prepare for its solution, convoked in Berlin an inter- 
 national conference. France, on being invited to take 
 part therein, replied by an acceptance couched in wise 
 and dignified terms, and stamped with the prudent 
 reserve which was dictated from the political as well 
 as from the moral point of view. 2 
 
 The debates were extended and serious ; the partici- 
 pants labored honestly and discreetly. But, judging 
 from the manner in which, shortly afterward, the 
 Emperor wheeled about, abandoned the "labor policy," 
 and declared war on the socialists, it seemed as if he 
 
 1 At the review of Poitiers, which terminated the grand manoeuvres of 
 1892, General de Cools, in a burst of enthusiasm, proclaimed M. de Frey- 
 cinet "the great statesman, the great citizen who has devoted all his 
 efforts and all his life to the reconstitution of the national army." 
 
 2 France sent five delegates, among whom were MM. Jules Simon and 
 Burdeau.
 
 242 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 had convoked the Conference of Berlin less through 
 interest for the toilers than for the sake of emphasizing 
 the difference between his policy and that of Prince 
 Bismarck, for the purpose of astonishing the world, or 
 to pave the way for reconciliation with France. What 
 gave some color to this last supposition is that, less 
 than a year after the Conference of Berlin, in the month 
 of February, 1891, the Empress Victoria, widow of 
 Frederick III., arrived in Paris semi-incognita. The 
 avowed object of her journey was to invite the French 
 painters to take part in the Exposition of Berlin, but 
 men agreed in interpreting this as an advance made to 
 the French Republic by William II. 1 
 
 It was a decisive moment; the policy of reserve ceased 
 to be possible, the hour had come to make up our minds. 
 For the last time the Republic found itself free to choose 
 between three eventualities, which had been outlined, 
 one may say, as early as the termination of the war of 
 1870 : a relaxation of enmity towards Germany, an un- 
 derstanding with England, the alliance with Russia. 
 The Emperor William made a mistake in exposing him- 
 self, according to the expression which is attributed to 
 
 1 It is almost certain that M. Herbette, ambassador of France, only 
 with difficulty and at the last moment obtained information of the pro- 
 ject conceived by the young Emperor, a project which had immediately 
 captivated the noble and generous character of his mother. The sover- 
 eign arrived incognita, but she stayed at the German Embassy, whence 
 Count Munster soon sent out invitations which bo re the note: "To have 
 the honor of meeting Her Majesty the Empress Frederick." Thence- 
 forth, it was difficult to maintain the complete incognito, and a call from 
 M. Carnot became imperative. The Empress understood this, and, anxious 
 to make things easy, she gave notice at the Quai d'Orsay that, if the head 
 of the State would leave his card upon her the next day, he would not 
 find her at home, and that she would then call upon Mme. Carnot. This 
 procedure was novel, and as ingenious as it was incorrect. Was the proto- 
 col drawn up, or did the attitude of the ex-Boulangists, of M. Deroulede 
 and his disciples, inspire alarm in the government? At all events, it was 
 thought best to regard the incognito as complete.
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 243 
 
 him, to the risk that the French would not return " the 
 bow which he made to them. " If the Empress Frederick 
 had wished to make a simple sojourn of pleasure in 
 Paris, 1 her visits to the artists, her strolls through our 
 museums, would have been watched by the public with 
 nothing but the kindly sympathy prompted by the char- 
 acter of the sovereign, by her mourning, her well-known 
 sentiments, and the memory of her noble husband. But 
 people believed they could feel that her mission was to 
 try to efface the past and to pledge the future. If Will- 
 iam II. was well inspired in choosing his mother for 
 the messenger of peace, he had perhaps given his mes- 
 sage a too precise and pressing form, which was bound 
 of necessity to awaken painful memories, to reopen 
 wounds badly healed. The occasion was such a fine 
 one for the professors of false patriotism and the ring- 
 leaders of the populace, that for a long moment anxiety 
 reigned. The very imminence of the peril, the exact 
 knowledge that the slightest caprice would unchain the 
 dogs of war, and the fear of the terrible responsibility 
 which would result therefrom for them, restrained their 
 zeal. The Empress quitted Paris without accident. 
 The artists considered themselves authorized to with- 
 draw their promise, and to decline an invitation which 
 contained nothing flattering for the national self-esteem. 
 Throughout Europe there was astonishment and dis- 
 pleasure at this fit of unseasonable nervousness. A 
 representative of Marshal MacMahon had previously 
 been seen to salute Emperor William I. at Metz, and 
 later on a French military mission, under the lead of 
 
 1 The German ambassador committed the imprudence, while taking the 
 sovereign to visit the palace of Versailles, of making her traverse the 
 park of Saint-Cloud, where the burned ruins of the chateau still existed. 
 Public opinion, already nervous, took offence at this.
 
 244 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 General Billot, had been seen to march behind his 
 coffin, when it would have been such an easy matter 
 not to send any one to Metz, and to have ourselves rep- 
 resented at the imperial funeral by a civil delegation. 
 The cool reception given to the Empress Frederick 
 seemed as inexcusable as the insult dealt to the King 
 of Spain on his return from Berlin in 1885. 
 
 The chancelleries took careful note of the only inter- 
 esting consequence of this awkward incident ; every 
 system of relaxing enmity between France and Ger- 
 many had become impossible ; France showed her de- 
 sire to remain isolated, rather than not find, in a firm 
 and fraternal alliance with another nation, the equiva- 
 lent of what she herself could give. England and 
 Russia remained to aspire to this alliance. They 
 had been much impressed in England by the defeat of 
 Boulangism, the success of the Exposition, and the re- 
 sults of our colonial policy. The English press was 
 unanimous in its expression of sentiments of admira- 
 tion. " The national energies of France are awakening 
 to new life, and the simultaneous development of its 
 activity from the intellectual, the material, and the 
 moral point of view is visible," said the Daily News; 
 " the work of the Republic will have been great ; it has 
 accomplished marvels for the country." The English, 
 practical people, were particularly sensible to the finan- 
 cial service which we rendered them in the beginning 
 of 1891, by that loan of 75,000,000 francs in gold 
 advanced from the Bank of France to the Bank of 
 England after the ruin of the Argentine finances. 1 
 
 1 This act of capitalistic internationalism did not displease the so- 
 cialists; it emphasized the solidarity of the "bourgeois," and rendered 
 legitimate that of the proletariats. When questioned on this subject, 
 M. Laur, Minister of Finance, was approved by 419 votes against 29. 
 M. Rouvier had all the necessary authority to exercise such a policy;
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 245 
 
 Long before it was known what the French fleet was 
 to do at Cronstadt in that same year of 1891, negotia- 
 tions had taken place between the French Embassy in 
 London and the British government on the subject of 
 a "pledge of friendship," which England desired to 
 give to her "powerful neighbor." The Queen, who 
 had acquired the habit of coming nearly every year to 
 pass a few weeks during the winter in the south of 
 France, and met there with the warmest welcome, de- 
 sired to express her gratitude. It was then decided 
 that the French fleet, commanded by Admiral Gervais, 
 after having visited Stockholm, should go to Ports- 
 mouth. 1 Under any other circumstances, the recep- 
 tion which was given to our sailors in Sweden and 
 England would have passed for very warm ; but the ef- 
 fect was effaced by the explosion of enthusiasm and the 
 tremendous manifestation which rendered the meeting a-t 
 Cronstadt the point of departure, for France, of a new era. 
 On the morrow of the day when William II. was 
 rejoicing at being able to proclaim the renewal of the 
 Triple Alliance, the Franco-Russian understanding was 
 
 with him surpluses had reappeared in our budgets. The quotations on 
 the Exchange demonstrated the excellence of the public credit. Thus, for 
 the issue of bonds bearing perpetual interest at three per cent, on Janu- 
 ary 10, 1891, the State, which asked for 869,000 francs, was offered fourteen 
 milliards and a half. 
 
 1 The negotiation was brought to definite terms during the stay in 
 England of the Emperor William. His almost triumphal entry into 
 London, his attitude at Guildhall, the rumors of England's accession to 
 the Triple Alliance, displeased moderate public opinion. M. Waddington 
 cleverly allowed a shadow of this to be seen, and the invitation was sent 
 to the French squadron. Our vessels were already at sea, and soon the 
 news of Cronstadt reached Paris. The ministry found itself in great per- 
 plexity; the English invitation could not be refused, and, on the other 
 hand, it was feared that the full scope of the Cronstadt festivities would 
 be weakened if they were given a sequel, and, above all, in British waters. 
 The tact and dignity of Admiral Gervais and of his officers triumphed 
 over the difficulties of the situation.
 
 246 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 suddenly sealed, with a simplicity and a spontaneity 
 which showed to what a point the sympathies and 
 interests of the two peoples were in accord. A single 
 obstacle had prevented the Tzar from bringing about 
 this understanding earlier in the day, his uncertainty 
 as to the governmental future of France. Now the 
 Republic had been put to the proof; it put itself for- 
 ward with all the marks of a definitive government ; it 
 had become possible to enter into closer bonds. This 
 was felt to be realized when the acclamations of the 
 Russian nation had been sanctioned by official demon- 
 strations and by an interchange of significant telegrams 
 between the Emperor and the President of the Republic. 
 The effect produced in France was great. It was 
 peace afterward as before ; but instead of a peace forced, 
 and therefore hard to bear, it was to be henceforth de- 
 liberate peace, freely agreed to. This change ought 
 to be enough, according to M. de Blowitz's expression, 
 "to restore the national good humor." On the occasion 
 of the grand manoeuvres of the East, which for the first 
 time brought together four army corps, M. de Freycinet 
 spoke, in his capacity of head of the government, of the 
 "new situation" made for the country. There certainly 
 was something new in Europe. It was this, that 
 France had taken her place in it again. Our enthusi- 
 asm somewhat overstepped the proper limits ; the chords 
 of the Russian Hymn were mingled with all sorts of 
 festivities, even those the most foreign to politics, 1 and 
 there was sentimentality in the eagerness with which 
 the Russian loan was taken up in the month of October, 
 
 1 Many General Councils honored themselves by addressing to the 
 President of the Republic a respect which was well deserved for his part 
 in the conclusion of the Franco-Russian understanding. The conserva- 
 tives joined in it.
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 247 
 
 1891; some sceptical persons called attention to the 
 fact that Russia was rather prompt in claiming the 
 price of her good offices, but the sojourn in Paris of 
 the Chancellor of the Empire, M. de Giers, and of the 
 Grand Dukes Alexis and Vladimir, proved that, the 
 loan once taken, she did not intend to go back on her 
 pledged word. 
 
 The year 1891, which beheld a political alliance sub- 
 stituted for the isolation of France, beheld, by a keen 
 contrast, France substitute an almost complete economi- 
 cal revolution for the system of commercial treaties. 
 This was the work of M. Meline, deputy for the Vosges, 
 former minister, President of the Chamber, a man of 
 incontestable talent and of rare strength of will. With 
 a gentle perseverance which nothing wearied, he had 
 endeavored to obtain the formation of a protectionist 
 majority and the establishment of that general custom- 
 house tariff at which the Chambers had been working 
 during the year 1891, and which went into force on 
 February 1, 1892. The movement dated from afar. 
 The law on sugars, passed in 1884, which raised the 
 duties that had been lowered in 1880, had been, in a 
 certain way, the first protective law. It favored the 
 sugar industry, and changed the basis of the tax, caus- 
 ing it to fall no longer on the manufactured products 
 but on the beet-root, whence came a profit arising from 
 the difference between the legal presumption as to the 
 yield of the beet-root and its actual yield. Moreover, 
 it established for two years an additional tax of seven 
 francs on all foreign sugars. This extra tax was re- 
 moved in 1886. In the interval taxes had been estab- 
 lished equally (1885) upon foreign cereals. M. Meline 
 took a great deal of trouble to convert his colleagues of
 
 248 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the Ferry Cabinet to his doctrines ; the latter had con- 
 sented to propose raising the import duties on cattle, 
 but had refused to do as much for cereals. It was 
 parliamentary initiative which assumed the responsi- 
 bility of this, and immediately a majority presented 
 itself which the Cabinet no longer tried to resist. The 
 duty of three francs was passed. 
 
 In the following year, although the duties of 1885 
 had already brought about a diminution of two-thirds 
 in the importations, the protectionists wished to go 
 further. Beaten at first, by a weak majority, they took 
 their revenge by causing the rejection of the convention 
 with Italy, which the government proposed to substi- 
 tute for the Navigation Treaty of 1862, that had expired. 
 In 1887 a raise of five francs was voted, then an addi- 
 tional duty on cattle. All these concessions were not 
 obtained without battles. Numerous were the objec- 
 tions and hesitations, even among the ministers, who 
 were resigned, by the fact of their presence in the gov- 
 ernment, to feel the influence of the consequences of the 
 protectionist current, which kept on gaining strength. 
 
 Many deputies had received from their electors a sort 
 of imperative order, and the votes bore witness to it; 
 they differed from ordinary votes, and the interests of 
 the department took precedence over those of party. 
 The duty of five francs was decided by forty-three 
 departments against twenty-two. There were only 
 twenty-five whose representatives were divided on this 
 important debate. 
 
 The year 1888 was a year of economical re-birth ; the 
 vineyards were in great measure restored, many foreign 
 markets were reconquered by French commerce, and a 
 great improvement was noted in the yield of the taxes. 
 Nevertheless, the import duties were raised on corn,
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE. REPUBLIC, 249 
 
 then on ground rye and on rye flour. At the begin- 
 ning of 1890 M. Meline 1 was able to found an "agrarian 
 group " in the Chamber. Our treaties of commerce were 
 on the eve of expiring; it was understood that they 
 were not to be renewed, at least not on the same basis. 
 They were denounced, and the labor connected with 
 the preparation of a general custom-house tariff was 
 begun. Inquiries were made of the councils, commit- 
 tees, chambers, and syndicates; the results were col- 
 lated, and summed up by the supreme councils of 
 Commerce and Agriculture. The Chambers insisted 
 on the necessity of concluding new treaties. We had 
 two milliards' worth of importations of raw materials, 
 they said, against 600,000,000 francs' worth of corre- 
 sponding exportations. On the other hand, we sell 
 1,700,000,000 francs' worth of manufactured articles 
 against 600,000,000 francs' worth of purchases. What 
 would become of us without treaties ? 
 
 A law was passed subjecting raisins to the same rule 
 as wines, augmenting the import duties on corn, rice, 
 and millet, but finally an abatement was admitted of 
 the duties on Tunisian products, in spite of the oppo- 
 sitions of the representatives of Algeria. It was not 
 in France alone that the tide of protection was rising. 
 The United States had adopted the McKinley Bill, 
 which was equivalent, so far as the formalities with 
 which importation was surrounded, 2 to complete prohi- 
 bition. On March 10, 1891, a new law modified, for 
 the tenth time in seven years, the system governing 
 
 1 M. Meline had occupied the President's chair, at the Palais-Bourbon, 
 for the sp&ce of the Floquet ministry. He has since become President of 
 the Council of Ministers. 
 
 - The principal clauses of the McKinley Bill had reference to the presen- 
 tation of authentic invoices and certificates, as to the origin of the products ; 
 disputes were to be carried before an exclusively American tribunal.
 
 250 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 sugars. Nevertheless, Switzerland and Belgium had 
 replied to our denunciations of treaty by denouncing 
 in their turn every sort of treaty which united them to 
 France, and even the conventions which regulated navi- 
 gation and artistic and literary property. Some annoy- 
 ance was felt by M. Meline's close friends. Certain of 
 these persons had been so simple as to believe that they 
 could shut themselves up in the fortified stronghold of 
 protection without exposing themselves to reprisals on 
 the part of other countries. 
 
 When general discussion came on, the government 
 showed itself disposed to consider the two tariffs "as 
 the basis of commercial relations to be established 
 between France and foreign powers: the minimum 
 tariff for those who would make certain concessions, 
 and the general tariff for those nations which would 
 not consent to any." 1 But it did not wish to engage 
 itself not to make treaty below the minimum tariff. 
 The first part of the debate ended according to the 
 wishes of the government, which demanded the exemp- 
 tion of raw materials, so indispensable to our industries ; 
 but after that the debate continued in a manner unfav- 
 orable to its programme of "moderate tariffing." 2 
 
 The general tariff was approved on July 18, 1891, by 
 387 votes against 110. In the Senate, the tariff was 
 accepted and defended with still more resignation and 
 still less confidence than in the Chamber. 3 The exam- 
 
 1 Speech of M. de Freycinet, President of the Council, made in the 
 Chamber of Deputies on May 22, 1891. 
 
 2 When the turn of the discussion on the colonial tariff came, it was 
 assimilated to the general tariff as to its import duties into the colonies, 
 and the advantage of half duty for the entry into France of colonial wares 
 was granted. 
 
 3 The product of the taxes for 1891 surpassed all expectations by more 
 than 100,000,000 francs, and the corresponding receipts and expenditures by 
 nearly 107,000,000 francs ; so it may be said that France found herself in
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 251 
 
 pie set by France found few imitators. But it brought 
 about a certain tension of relations and bad humor 
 between her and her neighbors. On December 7 the 
 Cabinets of the Triple Alliance communicated to the 
 Chambers of Rome, Berlin, Vienna, and Budapest 
 the treaties just signed, which proposed, by a lower- 
 ing of custom-house tariffs, a Tariff Union of central 
 Europe. As the squadrons despatched by way of an 
 embassy now constituted a sort of diplomatic navy, so 
 the means of drawing closer political alliances was to 
 be sought in commercial understandings. 
 
 Without pretending to pronounce a premature judg- 
 ment upon the work of protection, it is permissible to 
 furnish, as an epilogue to this brief analysis, the words 
 uttered in the course of the discussion by a representa- 
 tive of Beauce: "The definitive solution of the agra- 
 rian problem does not lie in the custom-house ; it is to 
 be found in science, in the augmentation of the yield 
 through perfecting methods." Many of those who con- 
 tributed to the establishment of the tariff share this 
 view, and think that the custom-house is an expedient 
 and that science alone holds the solution. 
 
 Contrary to what had so often been seen, it was not 
 the majority which first fell to pieces ; strange to say, 
 it was the ministry which got tired of being supported. 
 M. de Freycinet and some of his colleagues, at a time 
 of less peaceable parliamentary labor, had contracted 
 the habit of balancing, and sometimes it happened that 
 they treated the large and confiding majority which 
 they had before them as unstable mixtures of groups 
 upon which they had formerly been forced to seek a 
 
 full industrial flight. On the other hand, provisions were made in view of 
 the approaching change of system, so that it is difficult to regard these 
 figures as normal.
 
 252 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 precarious support. Suddenly they were again attacked 
 by the fear of being compromised by the Pope or anxiety 
 lest they should lose the secret of the famous policy of 
 concentration. By a singular aberration, they selected 
 the moment when Leo XIII., addressing an encyclical 
 letter to the Roman Catholics of France, enjoined upon 
 them adherence to the Republic, l to bring in the project 
 for a law concerning associations, which contained the 
 germ of a veritable persecution of the religious bodies. 
 A Cabinet capable of engaging in such an enterprise, 
 in the midst of a period of pacification, 2 deserved the 
 fate which the Chamber dealt out to M. de Freycinet 
 and his colleagues. 
 
 After long parleying, it was M. Loubet, senator, 
 who proceeded to a sort of remodelling of the Cabinet. 3 
 Perhaps it would have been a propitious moment at 
 which to appeal to new and young men. For a long 
 time the same personages had been seen passing their 
 portfolios to each other, executing chassis back and 
 forth which were often lacking in opportuneness ; the 
 prestige of the government could but suffer from this. 
 Circumstances were on the point of bringing about this 
 political purification under awkward conditions. 
 
 1 Shortly before, the Pope had granted to M. Judet, of the Petit Journal, 
 an interview which made a good deal of commotion. 
 
 2 The incidents which had taken place in Rome in October, 1891, during 
 the pilgrimages of French workingmen, and which we shall touch upon 
 hereafter, were of no importance except that they gave the Italians an 
 occasion to display their bad feelings towards France. The French govern- 
 ment, on this occasion, did not show itself equal to its task. 
 
 8 The crisis was long ; MM. Rouvier and Bourgeois had tried in vain 
 to solve it. M. Loubet took the portfolio of M. Constans; MM. Barbey, 
 Fallieres, and Yves Guyot were replaced by MM. Cavaignac, Ricard, and 
 Viette. Shortly after M. Cavaignac, injured by a vote of the Chamber 
 which ordered him to place the naval forces under the command of the 
 head of the land army during the Dahomey expedition, resigned. M. 
 Burdeau succeeded him, and confided the command of the expedition to 
 Colonel Dodds.
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 253 
 
 The municipal elections of May 1, 1892, l and the 
 departmental elections of July 31 and August 7, 2 had 
 shown the constantly growing progress of republican 
 opinion ; the centenary of Valmy and that of September 
 22, 1792, had been brilliantly celebrated; on June 14 
 French government stocks reached par ; finally, during 
 his triumphal journey in the East, M. Carnot received 
 a visit from the Grand Duke Constantine, 3 who came 
 to greet him in the name of the Tzar, and the brill- 
 iantly conducted campaign in Dahomey ended, on 
 November 17, with the capture of Abomey. This 
 series of happy events showed the stability of the 
 Republic, its credit, its prestige, and the force of its 
 arms; and, in spite of all, a dull uneasiness spread 
 abroad, which did not proceed solely from the anar- 
 chistic crimes of which Paris was the theatre; 4 their 
 frequency, their tragic character, might inspire terror 
 in some persons and diminish the number of foreign 
 visitors to Paris, but it had speedily been understood 
 and the anarchists had themselves perceived the fact 
 that not by such means is "an end to be put to 
 bourgeois society." There were other things: there 
 
 1 They gave the following results : Before the elections, there were 
 20,642 republican municipal councils, against 15,402 reactionary; after 
 the elections, there were 23,524 republican municipal councils, against 
 12,409 reactionary. 
 
 Twenty-two capitals of departments or districts remained in the hands 
 of the reactionaries, against 336 directed by the republicans. 
 
 2 They gave a net gain of 181 seats to the republicans. 
 
 8 The Emperor of Russia was then at Kiel with the German Emperor. 
 The visit of Grand Duke Constantine was regarded as intended to remove 
 all political significance from the interview at Kiel. 
 
 4 There were four explosions between February 29 and March 27. 
 Then, when Ravachol was captured, the restaurant Very, the scene of his 
 arrest, was blown up. Then the anarchists tried to destroy the offices of 
 the Carmaux Company, whose workmen were on strike ; but the bomb 
 was carried to the police station of the Rue des Bons-Enfants ; there it 
 burst, and injured many victims.
 
 254 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 was a certain press, born with Boulangism, which 
 had grown up with it and had survived it ; there was 
 the nervousness of public opinion, which had become 
 accustomed to Rochefort's sensational news, to his 
 witty and caustic calumnies, and continued to spy out 
 seasoning and shady machinations in the undercurrent 
 of politics; and, in conclusion, there was that anxiety 
 to find conspirators everywhere, which M. Ribot had 
 pointed out as early as 1883. The revelations of 
 M. Terrail-Mermeix, an obscure follower of General 
 Boulanger, who had hastened, after the breaking up 
 of the party, to effect a right-about face, had made 
 known the strange conventicles in which royalists 
 and Boulan gists had taken part. The story of the 
 three millions of francs for electoral purposes, given 
 by the Duchesse d'Uzes, seemed at first sight a fable 
 devoid of all appearance of truth. Then the details 
 were made more precise, and soon people were forced 
 to believe it. Out of devotion to the royalist cause 
 and to the person of the Comte de Paris, the Duchesse 
 d'Uzes had placed a sum of three million francs at 
 the disposal of the royalist and Boulangist electoral 
 committees, which were making the campaign to- 
 gether. The royalists were only too ready to believe 
 that Boulanger would consent to play the part 
 formerly played by Monk in England, or, at least, 
 that if he would not consent to it, he might be 
 treated in such a manner as to compel him thereto. 
 These romantic adventures had at first amused, then 
 caught the popular imagination, which had become 
 rather nervous. 
 
 When an affair came up like that of melinite (1891), 
 the public seized hold upon it, took a passionate in- 
 terest in it, with eagerness for unexpected details.
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 255 
 
 A multitude of journals supplied them day by day, 
 and, when circumstances were favorable thereto, hour 
 by hour. This public was delighted to learn that M. 
 Laur, from the lofty height of the tribune, had poured 
 forth insult upon M. Constans, then Minister of the 
 Interior, and that the latter, in indignation, had slapped 
 his insulter's face; 1 it was in ecstasies over M. Dru- 
 mont's violent diatribes, and regarded as very ingenious 
 the unworthy suspicions directed against a remarkably 
 virtuous and upright man, one of the best servitors of 
 his country, M. Burdeau; 2 and it took an interest in 
 the efforts made to impeach the President of the Repub- 
 lic, though he appeared to be entirely out of reach. 
 They set their wits to work to "discover" M. Carnot, 
 by attributing to him marked political preferences, un- 
 constitutional meddling, or some secret design intended 
 to secure his re-election. 3 
 
 These manoauvres found most sympathy with the 
 population of Paris; in the country they were taken 
 up by those young squires who, having received no 
 inheritance save hatred of the Republic, would have 
 liked to see it superseded by a system of government 
 more inclined to favor their noble indolence. The 
 opposition of the Right sought the means to utilize 
 
 1 This incident occasioned several encounters with fists in the Cham- 
 ber: this day was called, " the day of face slapping." When the sitting, 
 which it had been necessary to suspend, was resumed, M. Constans made 
 his excuses for having yielded to a very legitimate impulse of anger. 
 
 2 M. Burdeau, who brought in the bill concerning the renewal of 
 charter for the Bank of France, had concluded upon its adoption. 
 Drumont accused him of having been bribed by the Rothschilds. He was 
 prosecuted, and being unable to furnish the slightest proof of his state- 
 ment, he was severely condemned. M. Burdeau died President of the 
 Chamber in 1894; he never could be comforted for having been sus- 
 pected. 
 
 8 People had already begun to talk of it, although more than two years 
 had yet to elapse before the end of the seven years' term.
 
 256 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 this unfortunate tendency to calumny; it was on the 
 lookout for some enormous scandal which would put 
 the government in the wrong. That would be its last 
 card ; it might as well be played at once. 
 
 The Panama Company had failed, and this failure 
 had fallen heavily on small savings; the enormous 
 magnitude of the sums swallowed up in this disaster, 
 the persons compromised, certain indications which 
 prompted a suspicion of criminal acts, all contributed 
 to give to this affair an exceptional scope. So they 
 determined to make use of it; the plot was organized 
 in the greatest secrecy, and on November 21, 1892, 
 M. Delahaye, deputy for Indre-et-Loire, mounted the 
 tribune with a very mysterious air for the purpose of 
 insinuating that the republican party, rotten to the 
 core, had devoured in subsidies and in bribes money 
 subscribed for piercing the Isthmus of Panama. The 
 death of a financier of bad reputation, Baron J. de 
 Reinach, which took place on the eve of the question 
 and under conditions which led to the belief that it was 
 a suicide, emphasized the opportunity in a dramatic 
 manner. In the Chamber men were immediately united 
 in the unanimous desire, either feigned or real, to 
 "throw light on the subject." The President of the 
 Council, M. Loubet, whose honesty rose in revolt, the 
 republican deputies anxious to justify themselves with- 
 out delay, the socialists, happy at hitting "infamous 
 capital," the monarchists, rejoicing in the harm done 
 to the Republic, were all in accord; the culprits, if 
 any there were, shouted more loudly than the rest. A 
 committee of inquiry was appointed, presided over by 
 M. Brisson ; they demanded an autopsy on the body of 
 Baron de Reinach, and in the meantime the ministry 
 was overthrown, as it had expected to be. A new re-
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 257 
 
 arrangement of the Cabinet took place on December 5, 
 under the presidency of M. Ribot. 1 
 
 Then it was that the sensational revelation of the 
 Figaro intervened. There was a story concerning a 
 nocturnal visit made to Dr. Cornelius Herz by MM. 
 Rouvier, Cle'menceau, and Baron de Reinach, a few 
 hours before the death of the latter. The public at large 
 heard for the first time the name of the American advent- 
 urer whose extraordinary influence had long been known 
 in the world of politics, without any one being able to 
 unravel the cause thereof. 2 So far as M. Rouvier was 
 concerned, the statement was correct; he had acted im- 
 prudently by undertaking he, the Minister of Finance 
 to serve the interests of M. de Reinach, but his inter- 
 vention had been usefully exercised in many analogous 
 cases ; his share in the affair of the Discount Bank, or 
 in that of the Society of Deposit and Current Accounts, 
 had won him the praise of capitalists, and the fall on 
 Exchange caused by the news of his resignation pro- 
 claimed with sufficient clearness the gratitude which 
 these men owed to him. M. Rouvier, feeling that he 
 was harmed, resigned, and M. Tirard took his port- 
 folio. In the meantime MM. Charles de Lesseps, 
 Marius Fontane, Cottu, and Sans-Leroy were arrested, 
 and trials were ordered in the cases of MM. Emmanuel 
 
 1 MM. Brissou and Casimir-Perier had failed in their attempt to form a 
 Cabinet. M. Ribot retained his former colleagues ; he confined himself to 
 replacing MM. Ricard and Jules Roche by MM. Charles Dupuy and 
 Siegfried. M. Dupuy took Public Education ; his predecessor, M. Leon 
 Bourgeois, had the seals. M. Siegfried entered the Ministry of Commerce. 
 
 2 It was in this manner that Dr. Herz had been raised, in 1886, to the 
 dignity of grand officer of the Legion of Honor. M. de Freycinet, who 
 was called to account for this nomination, was much embarrassed to find 
 an explanation. Dr. Herz was a type of the rotten American politician, 
 a type unknown in Europe : corruption was, for him, not only a weapon 
 but a sport. He did not content himself with making use of it ; he took 
 pleasure in it. 
 
 s
 
 258 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Arene, Dugue" de la Fauconnerie, Antonin Proust, 
 Jules Roche, and Rouvier, deputies, Be'ral, Devs, 
 Albert GreVy, Le"on Renault, and The'venet, senators. 
 
 From that day forth there was an uninterrupted suc- 
 cession of scandals ; everything was strange ; the Com- 
 mittee of Inquiry assumed the airs of a court of justice ; 
 no one knew any longer where justice resided, at the 
 courts or in the Chamber. The deputies suspected each 
 other and displayed "austerities to suit the occasion." 1 
 M. Andrieux published a fictitious list of "check- 
 takers," procured no one knew where, and to which no 
 name was appended; there was a gap in the document 
 where the name should have been, and through it the 
 most monstrous calumnies could pass. Public opinion 
 allowed itself to be caught by this coarse farce, and 
 every one set about discovering the name of this M. 
 X , as to whom M. Andrieux pretended unwilling- 
 ness to give any explanation; no one knew what to 
 invent; one day it was a question of an ambassador 
 accredited to the government of the Republic, and the 
 next day of a person nearly connected with the head of 
 the State. 
 
 All these calumnies had their echo abroad; sover- 
 eigns felt themselves in peril of being insulted in the 
 persons of their representatives, and the German press 
 insinuated, in high glee, that henceforth it would be 
 sufficient to send plain charge's d'affaires to the Repub- 
 lic. It became necessary to demand excuses from the 
 Swiss government for a serious insult to France during 
 the carnival of Berne. 2 A despicable attempt to dis- 
 
 1 Words uttered in the Chamber by M. Ribot, President of the Council. 
 
 2 An international cavalcade contained a group representing France ; 
 the head of the State and his ministers were shown handcuffed, and being 
 led away by gendarmes.
 
 A. RIBOT, DEPUTY AND PRIME MINISTER.
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 259 
 
 credit it was aimed at the Savings Bank and came near 
 causing a panic. 1 Every moment we felt that we had 
 been betrayed; now a journal, an agency for political 
 news, was denounced as having been sold abroad. 
 The most resounding accusation was formulated against 
 M. Cle'menceau, by M. De'roulede, in terms of indig- 
 nant eloquence ; the leader of the radical party paid, 
 on that day, by seeing all hands forsake his, for the 
 immoral pleasure which he had enjoyed of gambling in 
 politics as men gamble on 'Change, of feeding public 
 opinion on dangerous chimeras, of continually impeding 
 the progress of business ; his whole political existence 
 had had but one aim, to destroy, and but one means, 
 intrigue. Men are most often moved by the ardent 
 desire to surpass, to supplant each other; this man was 
 not anxious to win himself, it sufficed him to prevent 
 others from winning ; he desired only a negative power, 
 and loved to exercise it unexpectedly; his morbid 
 dilettanteism impelled him to paralyze undertakings, 
 to discourage sincere effort, to sow distrust, to raise 
 obstacles, to arouse hatreds, to utilize grudges; the 
 qualities of his mind rendered his action formidable, 
 for pure logic seemed to guide his mind, and the pre- 
 cision of his language redoubled its force; thus he 
 succeeded in imposing his rule upon groups formed by 
 
 1 The question of the Savings Bank had formed the object, in the pre- 
 vious year, of a proposed law. In 1875 the sum-total of deposits did not 
 exceed 680,000,000 francs. In 1891 it was 3,655,000,000 francs ; this result 
 was explained by the distrust caused by the financial disasters, and by the 
 facilities granted to depositors ; the foundation, in 1881, of the Postal Bank, 
 the establishment of 2000 instead of 1000 francs as the maximum deposit, and 
 so forth. Petty capitalists used the Savings Bank as a definitive invest- 
 ment, the interest being high, instead of a temporary place of deposit. 
 M. Siegfried proposed, in an amendment which bore his name, to author- 
 ize the Bank of Deposits to employ the resources which came from the 
 Savings Banks in direct loans to communes.
 
 260 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 chance, which afterwards disbanded, rather confused 
 at having taken part in the unlucky work. 
 
 In a short time most of the members of the govern- 
 ment had been changed; one man after another was 
 disqualified, sometimes for errors more or less grave 
 but well denned, again for unimportant peccadilloes; 
 the mania for accusation had so upset all minds that 
 no one could any longer distinguish the true from the 
 false, or reprehensible acts from those which had been 
 simply awkward or inopportune. The ministry under- 
 went a transformation; the President of the Council 
 took the portfolio of the Interior; MM. de Freycinet, 
 Loubet, and Burdeau resigned; 1 people did not fail to 
 say that they felt "compromised." These successive 
 "disembarkations" both diverted and puzzled the gal- 
 lery gods ; not appreciating the swaggering manner in 
 which M. Ribot withstood the storm, they reproached 
 him with acrimony for every impatient movement, for 
 the slightest nervousness; nevertheless, he did not 
 weary in unmasking the odious calculation of those 
 who had provoked this painful crisis, or in bidding 
 the republican majority recover their calmness and 
 composure. 
 
 The President of the Chamber was not re-elected; 
 Floquet was reproached with having dictated to the 
 Panama Company its liberality to the press, and to 
 have recommended to it certain journals which were 
 favorable to the Republic in preference to others : M. 
 Casimir-Pe'rier was elected in his place. 2 As for the 
 President of the Senate, he voluntarily and without 
 plausible pretext quitted the post which he had so long 
 
 1 M. Develle passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ; General Loi- 
 zillon and Admiral Rieuuier replaced MM. de Freycinet and Burdeau. 
 
 2 M. Casimir-Pe'rier was replaced as Vice-President of the Chamber 
 by M. Felix Faure.
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 261 
 
 occupied. These changes overwhelmed with delight 
 the organs of the unconstitutional parties, who drew the 
 inference that ingratitude is the essence even of the 
 Republic ; they enlarged upon this philosophical theme, 
 by making much of examples, and contrasted the eager- 
 ness, from antiquity down to our own time, to recom- 
 pense for services rendered, which distinguishes mo- 
 narchical governments, with the indifference which 
 democracy shows to those who have most faithfully 
 served it! Unfortunately, by attributing to Jules Ferry 
 the inheritance of M. le Royer, the senators gave the lie 
 to this declamatory thesis ; death seemed to be waiting 
 until the justice of his fellow-countrymen should put 
 an end to the ostracism which weighed upon him before 
 it struck down the great statesman. Three weeks later 
 Jules Ferry died suddenly, and his obsequies assumed 
 the character of a great national reparation. 1 In the 
 midst of all these perturbations, the voice of the pon- 
 tiff was again raised; in a letter addressed to M. de 
 Mun, the Pope upheld his former instructions and 
 implicitly condemned the enterprise of the enemies of 
 the Republic. 
 
 This enterprise was about to suffer shipwreck; their 
 calculations proved to be false; by cleverly stringing 
 along the revelations and scandals, they had flattered 
 themselves that they would be able to keep public opin- 
 ion in good working order until the elections ; they had 
 counted upon the resistance of the government, imagin- 
 ing that the few failings of which they had obtained 
 proofs were only the vanguard of an immense multitude 
 of faults and felonies whose traces they would discover 
 one after the other. Far from shunning the light, the 
 government had aided in shedding it upon the subject, 
 
 1 M. Challemel-Lacour followed him as President of the Senate.
 
 262 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 and on the whole a result was reached which was quite 
 opposed to that which had been aimed at. Even admit- 
 ting that some of the decisions to the effect that there 
 were no grounds of prosecution, rendered in favor of 
 certain members of Parliament included in the trials, 
 were dictated by too great indulgence, 1 the result was 
 far from that general accusation launched against an 
 entire party, from that general suspicion in which 
 almost the whole republican party had been massed 
 together. On the other hand, the Panama trial had 
 revealed strange financial ways and made known the 
 moral decrepitude of a portion of society which did not 
 busy itself with politics, and in whom the thirst for 
 money had obliterated the sense of honor and of duty. 
 In the light of this sinister discovery, what has been 
 named "anti-Semitism" suddenly assumed a significance 
 and a field of action ; despite the guilty exaggerations 
 and the malicious exaltation of its instigators this move- 
 ment of revolt was explicable and almost excusable. 
 Only it was easy to divine that the masses, always 
 inclined to simplification, would end by overwhelming 
 Jews and Christians with the same disdain, and would 
 extend to capitalists in general the responsibility for 
 the detestable practices which had just been revealed 
 to them. The result of this could not be other than a 
 progress of socialistic ideas, and a force of argument 
 added to those which the advocates of the limitation 
 of private fortunes already wield. The political world 
 
 1 The mandates for non-prosecution once issued, the trial began on 
 March 8, before the Court of Appeals in Paris ; MM. Charles de Lesseps, 
 Baihut, former minister, and Blondin were severely condemned ; the rest 
 were acquitted. In vain had the effort been made at the court of trial to 
 turn an incident raised by Mme. Cottu's testimony into an argument 
 against the Minister of Justice, M. Le'on Bourgeois ; the latter immedi- 
 ately resigned and defended himself in terms which left no doubt as to 
 his sincerity.
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 263 
 
 had been the most aimed at ; it was the least injured. 
 An attempt had been made to establish the venality of 
 the " new strata " ; the outcome had been to demonstrate 
 their resistance to a temptation of whose force and fre- 
 quency the public, up to that time, had been ignorant ; 
 instead of proving that many votes had been sold, it 
 was proved that there had been a great many purchasers 
 of votes, which is a very different matter. 
 
 As the Panama effervescence subsided, a ministerial 
 crisis arose, and M. Charles Dupuy became President 
 of the Council. 1 In his statement, read before Parlia- 
 ment, this brief phrase was noticed, which formulated 
 with abrupt and noble frankness the moral to be drawn 
 from recent events : " One lesson, nevertheless, stands 
 out from these trials ; it is that a competency and fort- 
 une are acquired only by labor, and are preserved only 
 by correct habits and dignity of life." No one was 
 better qualified to pronounce these fine words than the 
 new head of the Cabinet, who, sprung from the hum- 
 blest rank, had behind him a life of uprightness and of 
 honest toil ; 2 but there were many who had the right to 
 repeat them. In democracies the attraction exercised 
 by power may lead men to consent to compromises with 
 
 1 The monthly instalments voted at the end of 1892 having been 
 exhausted, it had been necessary to vote more ; a financial battle broke 
 out between the two Chambers, and the Cabinet was overthrown. After a 
 fruitless attempt by M. Meline, M. Charles Dupuy formed the new Cabinet. 
 MM. Develle, Viger, Viette, General Loizillon, and Admiral Rieunier kept 
 their portfolios. M. Poincarre assumed that of Public Education, M. Pey- 
 tral of Finance, M. Guerin of Justice, and M. Terrier of Commerce. 
 
 2 M. Charles Dupuy, the son of a simple peasant, had contrived to 
 raise himself, by his merit, to a professorship, and then to the functions 
 of rector of Academy, the highest which are at the disposal of the Minis- 
 ter of Public Education. Then it was that he became a deputy; as the 
 position of rector was not compatible with his warrant, he was obliged to 
 leave it. But he continued to be particularly interested in educational 
 matters, and made it his specialty in the Chamber. Afterwards, he be- 
 came Minister of Public Education, then President of the Council.
 
 264 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 their consciences and to flatter the passions of the 
 populace, to whom, after all, each man is responsible. 
 In France another danger exists : power preserves the 
 forms and appearances of the monarchical state of 
 things ; those who govern receive not only the trust of 
 authority, they inhabit sumptuous palaces, honors are 
 paid to them, they escape in a way from their habitual 
 circle, and during the whole duration of the functions 
 which have devolved upon them by the will of the 
 majority, whose delegates they are, their material exist- 
 ence is embellished and transformed; these are advan- 
 tages to which human nature is prone to accustom itself 
 rapidly and to renounce with difficulty. If we take 
 account of those who have abandoned without hesita- 
 tion, if not without regret, the gilded decorations of 
 their official residences, to resume a narrow, modest 
 life, we shall see that the Third Republic has been 
 served with a disinterestedness which many a monarchy 
 has not known. 
 
 The mania for accusations died out with the affair 
 known as that of the forged papers. The journal La 
 Cocarde announced one day, with great uproar, that it 
 was in possession of the gravest sort of documents, 
 which had been abstracted from the English Embass}^ ; 
 the editor even let it be understood that the theft had 
 been organized through his activity. Very stupidly 
 M. Millevoye took these documents to the tribune of 
 the Chamber and read them; his communication was 
 greeted with tremendous laughter, so plainly did the 
 ridiculous exaggeration of the language and the absurd- 
 ity of the ideas bespeak the falsity of their origin. The 
 deputies were rather ashamed of having listened to these 
 silly stories, and public opinion of having allowed 
 itself to be taken in by them.
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 265 
 
 Calmness had been restored to men's minds when the 
 electoral period opened. The leaders and the important 
 men of each party had their word to say. MM. Casi- 
 mir-Pe'rier, Constans, and Spuller sounded the moderate 
 note, and M. Goblet struck the key-note for " govern- 
 ment socialists." M. L^on Say spoke like an old liberal 
 and M. d'Haussonville like an impenitent monarchist; 
 the constitutionals entered upon the scene under the 
 very loyal leadership of Prince d'Arenberg, their lieu- 
 tenant-colonel. 1 M. Dupuy declared that he felt assured 
 as to the success of this great national conference ; his 
 good temper and good sense pleased the country, which 
 was charmed to find at last a man who was sure of him- 
 self ; confidence was, perhaps, the quality in which his 
 predecessors had been most deficient, therefore it was 
 all the more appreciated in him. Nothing disturbed 
 the serenity of the President of the Council: neither 
 the disorders incited by the students, who, seconded, 
 then outdone, by the workingmen on strike, set one 
 quarter of Paris into revolution for the space of two 
 weeks, 2 nor foreign complications which might involve 
 very energetic action on the part of the French fleet in 
 Siam. 3 
 
 1 The nominal leader of the party was its founder, M. Jacques Piou. 
 
 2 A certain effervescence had shown itself in the Latin Quarter, in con- 
 sequence of a sentence of punishment pronounced upon several students, 
 who were guilty of having exhibited indecent costumes at the ' ' Ball of 
 the Four Arts." The police interfered with brutality: during a charge 
 directed against the cafe d'Harcourt, an inoffensive young man, M. Nuger, 
 was accidentally killed by an object thrown by a policeman ; this was the 
 signal for regular riots which were repeated for several days, and were 
 repressed in a violent manner. The general association of students dis- 
 claimed responsibility by a proclamation. In consequence of these events, 
 M. Loze, Prefect of Police, was provided with a diplomatic post, and 
 succeeded by M. Le'pine. 
 
 8 Admiral Humann forced the passes of the Menam, and dropped 
 anchor in front of Bangkok ; an ultimatum was presented to the King of 
 Siam, and accepted by him.
 
 266 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 The elections took place on August 20 and Septem- 
 ber 3, 1893 ; they returned to the Palais-Bourbon 311 
 government republicans, 122 radicals, 35 mugwumps, 
 58 reactionaries, and 49 socialists. The Republic 
 gained sixty seats ; the persons who had had the chief 
 share in putting on the boards the Panama tragi- 
 comedy, MM. Delahaye, Andrieux, Drumont, failed 
 of re-election, together with MM. Naquet, Maurice 
 Barres, and Saint-Martin, waifs of Boulangism. M. 
 Cldmenceau, also, was returned to private life, while 
 MM. Burdeau, Jules Roche, Rouvier, Ardne, and all 
 the ministers obtained the renewal of their warrants 
 and important majorities. 
 
 Never before had universal suffrage pronounced its 
 verdict so plainly; but its verdict was accentuated 
 without being modified ; it was still the same negative 
 reply given to the agitated and to the "ameliorators," 
 always the same countersign of wise, slow progress, 
 the same repugnance for violent solutions, the same 
 distrust of the absolute. Never was there an institu- 
 tion more attacked and more maligned than universal 
 suffrage ; the reactionaries beheld in it the primal cause 
 of all the evils over which they grieved ; it represented 
 for them what freemasonry represents to the clergy. 
 But at the same time they still cherished the hope of 
 some great change which might be effected, thanks to 
 it ; they anticipated its inconsiderate rages, its change- 
 ableness, and could not foresee the rigid perseverance 
 of which it bore the marks. 1 "Isolated individuals 
 
 1 "Universal suffrage is the honor of the masses, legal life for all," 
 Jules Ferry had said in 1863; "it is in it that we must, henceforth, live, 
 hope, and helieve; even as an enemy we must love it. It has been said of 
 governments that they are not tents of repose ; we must think of liberty, 
 that it is not alone a portico to victory." (Jules Ferry, La Lutte Electorate 
 en 1883.)
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF TEE EE PUBLIC. 267 
 
 who take part in an election," said Aristotle, "will be 
 less able to judge than the wise men; but, in their 
 union, they will be worth much more." It was re- 
 served for the Third Republic to demonstrate how true 
 this saying has remained through all the ages. Uni- 
 versal suffrage has taken the present government from 
 the hands of its founders, and has guided it amid 
 numerous and formidable obstacles until it reached 
 maturity. Thrice has the pressure of men and circum- 
 stances been brought to bear upon it without causing it 
 to deviate from its path; neither in 1877, nor in 1889, 
 nor in 1893, has it been possible to obtain from it the 
 condemnation of the republicans ; it had shown in 1885 
 that it knew how to appreciate their faults and did not 
 remain insensible to them; but why a revolution where 
 a hint was sufficient ? 
 
 In order to explain their successive defeats, 'the 
 opponents had recourse to the easy reproach of official 
 interference; there was some interference, it is true, 
 thanks to that administrative centralization which gives 
 to the prefect, the representative of the minister, a 
 greater authority than that pertaining to the minister 
 himself; when the prefect desires to exhibit zeal, or 
 when his own opinions carry him further than the 
 instructions which he has received, he has within his 
 reach weapons of which he can make improper use; but 
 however energetic may be his action, it is, neverthe- 
 less, exercised in a restricted sphere; the number is 
 considerable of those whom it does not reach, and upon 
 whom, on the contrary, is exercised the action, some- 
 times far more powerful, of the great landed proprietors, 
 the rich manufacturers. Ever since 1877, moreover, 
 the government has loyally endeavored to secure the 
 liberty of elections, and comparison with foreign coun-
 
 268 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 tries will lead any fair-minded man to the conclusion 
 that universal suffrage is in France to-day as free as 
 public life, still so imperfect, permits it to be; it is 
 more free, in any case, than restricted suffrage ever 
 was. 
 
 On October 13, 1893, the Russian fleet entered Tou- 
 lon, bringing to France a new message of friendship ; the 
 demonstrations of sympathy between the two nations, 
 while less spontaneous than at the epoch of the Cron- 
 stadt interview, were grander, and of more vivid sig- 
 nificance; henceforth it was impossible to deny the 
 existence of a durable agreement between the Muscovite 
 Empire and the Republic ; Europe showed her chagrin, 
 and certain correspondents of foreign journals at Paris 
 injected ' L into their description of the Franco-Russian 
 entertainments all the malevolence of which they were 
 capable. The people of the capital did, it is true, 
 mingle with their enthusiasm a little childishness, and 
 the national dignity suffered, sometimes, from its too 
 joyous demonstrations. It managed, at least, to sus- 
 pend them to watch the passage of the solemn funeral 
 procession of Marshal MacMahon ; behind the coffin of 
 the former President of the Republic, all armies were 
 represented in a unanimous homage which was ad- 
 dressed to the entire nation ; it found therein the just 
 recompense of many labors, and of many efforts. 
 
 At the beginning of the parliamentary session, a new 
 ministry was formed. M. Casiniir-Perier appeared to 
 be the man required ; it was expected that he would 
 give a new prestige to the presidency of the Council. 
 Up to that time the head of the Cabinet had been almost 
 the equal, in power and authority, of his colleagues ; 
 both came to an agreement and settled upon a common 
 programme. The inconveniences of this method had
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE EE PUBLIC. 269 
 
 been recognized, and it was considered desirable to 
 modify it in the direction of British parliamentary 
 practice ; it was the place of the " premier " to have his 
 programme, and to find colleagues who would apply 
 it. M. Casimir-Perier, then, assumed power, 1 and his 
 predecessor, M. Charles Dupuy, exercised in his place 
 the functions of President of the Chamber. He dis- 
 tinguished himself there under tragic circumstances. 
 On December 9, 1893, an anarchist named Vaillant 
 hurled from the galleries of the hall of session a bomb 
 whose terrible effects were lessened by a providential 
 chance ; there were some wounded, but no dead. 2 As 
 the bomb filled the hall with smoke, and startled those 
 present, President Dupuy uttered these simple words, 
 thenceforth historical : " Gentlemen, the sitting is in 
 progress. . . ." The deputies remained in their places, 
 and the deliberations 3 were hardly interrupted. Such 
 incidents, painful and alarming as they were, could not 
 diminish the impression of beneficent calm which per- 
 meated all minds. Every one felt that the period of 
 great political battles was over, and that dynastic oppo- 
 sitions had lost all their foundations. 
 
 Here, on the threshold of the year 1894, which was 
 to be clouded by a great national sorrow, we will close 
 this study ; to carry it further would be to incur the 
 risk of encroaching on the uncertain future. The events 
 
 1 M. Casimir-Perier took the post of Foreign Affairs. MM. Raynal, 
 Burdeau, Spuller, Antonin Dubost, Viger, Marty, Jonnart, General Mer- 
 cier, and Admiral Lefevre were his colleagues. M. Maurice Lebon occu- 
 pied the post of Secretary of State for the colonies. Later on, a ministry 
 of the colonies was created, whose first incumbent was M. Boulanger, 
 senator. 
 
 2 The most grievously wounded was M. L'Abbe Lemire, deputy of the 
 Nord. 
 
 8 Most of the foreign parliaments sent to the French Chamber and to 
 its president the expression of their sympathy and admiration.
 
 270 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 which marked it have not ceased to produce their ef- 
 fects ; but there is one whose consequences manifested 
 themselves so instantaneously that we are able to esti- 
 mate their value even now. The crime of June 24, 
 1894, conferred upon the Republic the supreme con- 
 secration ; the wretches who conceived it had not 
 dreamed of the counter-shocks of eternal justice. After 
 having presented an example of all public and private 
 virtues, President Carnot was preparing, on the com- 
 pletion of his task, to surrender into other hands the 
 lofty functions which he had exercised since 1887. He 
 considered himself happy in having consecrated to his 
 country, according to his promise, all the strength and 
 devotion which he possessed, and intended to remain 
 faithful to the Constitution by not accepting a renewal 
 of his power. For the last time, in the streets of Lyons, 
 he was tasting the joy of sincere acclamations and of a 
 popularity which was becoming daily more emphatic. 
 He had just made one of those thoughtful speeches in 
 which one was certain to find an appeal to concord, a 
 reason for being hopeful for the future, or for believing 
 in progress. In that city which was keeping holiday, a 
 wretch who had never seen him advanced to meet him 
 and when he caught sight of him killed him. 
 
 His friends and his enemies have said of him that he 
 was honest; but that word ought not to have for him 
 the same meaning as for others ; he was honest, in fact, 
 with a rare and exquisite honesty which extended to 
 every moment of his existence, and to all the manifes- 
 tations of his thought, with an honesty so pure, so 
 upright, so absolute that France sometimes forgot to 
 notice it, as if she found it quite natural to have for 
 chief the most virtuous of her sons. 
 
 History will recount in detail the services rendered
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLIC. 271 
 
 by President Carnot to his country, the prestige with 
 which he understood how to surround his functions, 
 the discreet but efficacious influence which he exercised 
 upon his ministers, his love for his country, his careful 
 encouragement of undertakings, his sympathy for young 
 people, his serene confidence in difficulties, and his in- 
 vincible faith in the destiny of his country. It will 
 narrate, above all, that he has deserved to serve his 
 country after his death, for his blood has crimsoned the 
 summits of the Republic. The men of humble origin 
 who have made it were all rendered great by the 
 dagger of Caserio, and ancient Gaul felt, as she gathered 
 round that tomb, that her new destinies and her free 
 institutions had received baptism before the eyes of 
 nations and of kings.
 
 272 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Church and State. Religious Policy. The Congress of Mechlin, and the 
 Encyclical Quanta Cura. The Designs of Leo XIII. The Toast of 
 Algiers. Constitution of the Republican Right. Political Evolution, 
 and Social Evolution. The Encyclical Rerum Novarum. Resistance : 
 Declaration of the Cardinals. Immovability of the Sovereign Pontiff. 
 The Results. The " Great Problem." 
 
 IT was in the logic of things that a conflict should 
 break out between the Third Republic and the Roman 
 Church, not that Roman Catholicism and democracy 
 are incompatible, but because the long and passionate 
 struggle directed by the Roman Catholics of France 
 against republican institutions must, necessarily, lead 
 to reprisals. What, on the other hand, was not difficult 
 to foresee was, that Rome would find in republican 
 France a fulcrum to accomplish an evolution towards 
 democracy. 
 
 Religion, which patronized the old system of govern- 
 ment, was reduced by Napoleon to the part of the 
 patronized, and the Concordat riveted the chains which 
 fettered it to the State ; that great act put an end to a 
 situation full of perils, but it contained the germ of a 
 serious moral misapprehension. Napoleon and his suc- 
 cessors considered religion as a State service, and the 
 bishops and priests as functionaries charged with ren- 
 dering it stable ; the bishops and priests regarded them- 
 selves as independent dignitaries, treating with the 
 State as equal powers. Hence the intermeddling of 
 the clergy in politics, which our various governments
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 273 
 
 have by turns favored and combated, according to their 
 origin or their tendencies. On neither side was a claim 
 of neutrality made ; it was understood that the Church 
 of France was governmental or in opposition ; it never 
 entered any one's head that it could remain neutral. 
 "Under the sceptical and indifferent government of 
 Louis Philippe," wrote M. de Montalembert, in 1863, 
 " the clergy regained a portion of the legitimate influ- 
 ence which the favors of the Restoration had caused it 
 to lose ; " and the great writer added these prophetic 
 words: "If a new revolution were to break out to- 
 morrow, one shudders at the thought of the ransom 
 which the clergy would have to pay for the illusory 
 solidarity which has seemed to reign for several years 
 between the Church and the Empire." In fact, after 
 having greeted with enthusiasm the revolution of 1848, 
 after having blessed the liberty-poles and sung heartily 
 the Domine salvamfac rempublicam, the French priests 
 rallied round the Empire and beheld it crumble with 
 regret ; they also took an active part in the struggles 
 of the early years of the Republic, and so long as the 
 form of government remained in question, they tried to 
 aid in a restoration of the monarchy. 1 May 16 found 
 in them warm partisans; they openly compromised 
 themselves in the electoral battle, and defeat left them 
 face to face with republican grudges, summed up in 
 Gambetta's celebrated saying : " Clericalism, that is 
 the enemy ! " But clericalism was not Christianity. 
 It has been excellently defined: "Politics muffled in 
 
 1 See the pamphlet of M. Pichon, deputy of the Seine, on La Diplomatic 
 de VEglise et la Troisieme Rtpublique. Therein the author studies the 
 character of three prelates of entirely different origin, temperament, rela- 
 tions, and opinions, Monseigneur Dupanloup, and Cardinals Pic and Bon- 
 nechose; he shows them united in a common opposition to the republican 
 form, for the benefit of three different monarchical solutions.
 
 274 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the mask of religion." 1 Even after the 16th of May, 
 it would have been possible for the clergy, if not to 
 regain the good graces of the government, at least to 
 secure its friendly neutrality, by separating its cause 
 plainly from that of the monarchy. But to act thus 
 was to deal a fatal blow to all the pious works which 
 royalist money had supported, almost unaided, up to 
 that time. 2 In the ranks of the lower clergy many 
 desired, nevertheless, adhesion to the Republic; epis- 
 copal influence deterred them. 3 The French secular 
 priests are, in a way, infinitely respectable ; their habits 
 are pure, but their intellectual development is insuffi- 
 cient ; in their seminaries they undergo the tyranny of 
 an education based on the ideas of another age, which 
 does not strengthen the body, does not form the char- 
 acter, and fills the mind with vague formulas. But 
 while in the country curate there frequently reappear, 
 under the scholastic varnish, the strong qualities of 
 uprightness and good sense of the peasants from whom 
 he has sprung, the bishop, isolated from his fellow-men, 
 finds again in the rather solemn luxury of his palace, 
 in the homage of which his person is the object, a sort 
 of dimmed image of the part which his predecessors 
 played under the ancient monarchy; if it does not react 
 against his every-day impressions, he comes to imagine 
 
 1 E. Spuller, L'fivolution Sociale et Politique de I'Eglise. 1 vol. Alcan, 
 1893. 
 
 2 This was plainly visible later on, when Cardinal Lavigerie gave the 
 signal for rallying round the Republic. The contributions of the faithful, 
 by the aid of which the illustrious prelate supported his African labors, 
 underwent a decided diminution ; it was the same with the Saint Peter's 
 Pence, so far as France is concerned, when Leo XIII. had stated with pre- 
 cision his attitude with regard to the Republic. 
 
 8 The curate of a little town in Normandy was the first to utter in 
 public words of adhesion to the Republic which Cardinal Lavigerie, in his 
 turn, uttered in 1891, and which produced such a sensation.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 275 
 
 that he has the right to exercise, and sometimes that he 
 really does exercise, an influence upon public affairs ; 
 he is thus led to give his advice on everything, to deal 
 with electoral and diplomatic questions, to make aston- 
 ishing distinctions between the laws, some of which he 
 pronounces to be wise and others infamous, 1 and finally 
 to write those letters or those pastoral charges wherein 
 he sets forth, with a sort of unconsciousness, his con- 
 ception of the civil organization, and addresses to the 
 public powers remonstrances or exhortations which are 
 more than a century behind the times, as to the ideas 
 and the habits of the present day. It is true that, as 
 the nomination of bishops results from an agreement 
 between the government and the Holy See, the Minis- 
 try of Public Worship ought to be held responsible for 
 the selections which it makes, and which are then sub- 
 mitted for approbation to the Pope. The present epoch 
 has seen a certain number of liberal, patriotic priests, 
 animated by an apostolic zeal for good and filled with 
 the spirit of charity ; but such men have not always the 
 qualities requisite for administering a diocese. The 
 directors of Public Worship 2 have had occasion, more- 
 over, to discover that the bishop rarely continues his 
 character as priest, and that many ecclesiastics, rightly 
 regarded as moderate in their opinions, become after 
 
 1 See the harangue addressed by the Bishop of Angers to M. Andre 
 Lebon, Minister of Commerce, in the course of one of his journeys (1895). 
 
 2 The directors of Public Worship do not share the fate of the ministers, 
 their hierarchical superiors; they generally belong to the Council of State 
 and maintain good relations with the clergy, but the functionaries who are 
 placed under their orders, embittered by continual contact with a social 
 circle of which they understand neither the cast of mind nor the language, 
 have too often paralyzed the good intentions of their chiefs, and have pre- 
 vented harmony from reigning between the management and the church. 
 The directors of Public Worship have been, since 1870, MM. Tardif, Lafer- 
 riere, Castagnari, Flourens, Bousquet, and Dumay.
 
 276 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 their elevation to the episcopate autocratic and ultra in 
 their views. It is not necessary to seek the cause for 
 this elsewhere than in the influence exercised upon 
 them by the tokens of respect and veneration shown to 
 them by the laity, who demand in return from their 
 bishops their aid in political struggles. 
 
 When the clericals find themselves turned out of 
 power, they turn naturally to education; for it is by 
 extending their domination over young people that they 
 can pave the way for the return of their governmental 
 influence. In France the primary school, which was 
 destined to become in a way the corner-stone of the 
 Republic, was in the hands of the priests. Could it 
 remain there ? It is a prerogative of republican tradi- 
 tions to develop education by all possible means. The 
 Republic of 1848 did not fail to do so ; but, surrounded 
 by the good wishes and the sympathy of the clergy, to 
 whom it brought liberty with the end of a regimen of 
 suspicion and stifling, it did not think it necessary to 
 secularize the schools. 1 The republicans of 1876, on 
 the contrary, had a very definite impression that the 
 schools would be the vulnerable point upon which the 
 reactionaries would concentrate their efforts, the fissure 
 through which they would attempt to introduce the 
 pickaxe into the new edifice. Their principal anxiety, 
 therefore, was to secularize them and to transfer them 
 to trusty hands. Had the question been propounded a 
 little less brutally, 2 had the Roman Catholics, on the 
 
 1 See the circulars of M. Hippolyte Carnot, then Minister of Public 
 Education. 
 
 2 " Everybody now knows that M. Jules Ferry's plans were submitted 
 to the Council only as a matter of form, that the other ministers barely 
 heard them read, without exactly comprehending their scope and the 
 sensation which they were fated to create." (Revue des Deux Monties. 
 Chronique.) This assertion appears greatly exaggerated.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 277 
 
 other hand, formulated their demands in a less aggres- 
 sive tone and imparted to their resistance a less violent 
 air, the reform would not have been accomplished in so 
 radical a manner; many compromises would have been 
 obtained, which liberal minds have regretted their ina- 
 bility to introduce into the law ; such as, for example, 
 the power of the Minister of Public Worship to intro- 
 duce religious instruction into the schools once a week, 
 outside of recitation hours. 1 Absolute neutrality can 
 exist only in theory ; by seeking to render complete the 
 separation between religious instruction and general in- 
 struction, between the priest and the schoolmaster, the 
 latter has, in a way, been incited to regard the rep- 
 resentative of the ecclesiastical authority in the light 
 of his personal adversary. This resulted, especially in 
 the small rural communes, in strained relations, which 
 sometimes degenerated into open hostility. Such, as- 
 suredly, was not the object of the legislator, who was 
 
 1 In June and July, 1882, during the debate upon the law concerning 
 secondary education, Jules Ferry repulsed, in the following terms, the 
 proposition which bore upon forbidding ecclesiastics to teach, a propo- 
 sition which was supported, among others, by M. Madier de Montjau : 
 "Yes, it was persecution of the clergy which ruined the French Revo- 
 lution. That is the lesson of history, and in spite of your objections, 
 every one who has reflected in the least upon these things is ready to 
 recognize the fact. We told you so, when we began with you the struggle 
 against clericalism ; we said in the Senate : Our policy is anti-clerical ; it 
 will never be anti-religious. ... If you wish to take education away 
 from the priests, it is not because they are functionaries, it is because 
 their doctrines alarm you. Well, you will not get the better of their 
 doctrines by thrusting the clergy outside the law, or, as you have said, by 
 trying to get the better of them. You will rid yourselves of the teach- 
 ing clergy, but you will be obliged to rid yourselves also of Roman Catho- 
 lic lay teachers. Thus it is with Roman Catholicism that you will have to 
 wage war. Well, that is a policy which we shall never adopt, and this I 
 say in harmony at least I think so with the great majority of my 
 party ; that is a policy which I reject with all the forces of my republican 
 conscience, with all the forces of my liberal soul, and of my faith in truth, 
 in reason, and in justice."
 
 278 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 anxious that the reform should not be applied as rapidly 
 as it had been conceived, but progressively, in such a 
 way as to respect as far as possible rights already 
 acquired. 
 
 On the field of secondary education the battle, though 
 more underhand, was none the less fierce. There, in 
 fact, one was no longer confronted by the secular 
 clergy, democratic in origin and more easily won over 
 to republican views; one found oneself face to face 
 with the religious bodies, rich and powerful, proud of 
 the important part which they had played in the past, 
 and in advance, in many points of detail, of the Uni- 
 versity in the line of pedagogical reforms. No doubt 
 they might be reduced to a state of impotency by a 
 direct or indirect prohibition to teach; not only all 
 favors, but all positions, might be reserved for young 
 men, who would justify this by their presence for a 
 minimum number of years in the State lyceums and 
 colleges; and, finally, the system of university estab- 
 lishments might be improved in such a manner as to 
 render them capable of entering into serious competi- 
 tion with the ecclesiastical establishments. It is infi- 
 nitely honorable to the republican party that it adopted 
 this last solution of the difficulty, which was the slow- 
 est and most laborious, but also the most just and the 
 most liberal of the three. The second, advocated at 
 different times by the radicals, was never considered; 
 the first seems to have haunted for a moment the mind 
 of Jules Ferry, but he was not slow to perceive how 
 contrary such a policy was to the traditions and the 
 foundations of the republican government. Moreover, 
 how was a distinction to be established and maintained 
 between the authorized and the unauthorized religious 
 bodies ? " Authorization is a formality which has fallen
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 279 
 
 somewhat into desuetude, because, far from insuring to 
 the religious orders who provided themselves therewith 
 a privileged situation, it augmented their burdens, and 
 subjected them to an irritating supervision on the part 
 of the State. An unauthorized religious body neces- 
 sarily escapes all precise definitions. It is not recog- 
 nized, that is evident, and does not ask to be ; it has 
 no collective character and does not show itself under 
 any civil form. The religious persons who compose it 
 come under the common law. They have its burdens 
 and its responsibilities ; they have also its advantages 
 and prerogatives. In what way are these bodies illegal 
 because they are not authorized ? How is their authori- 
 zation necessary, since those who belong to them remain 
 under the common law ? " l Objections were raised to 
 the anti-human character of the contemplative orders, 
 to the unpatriotic education given by some of the 
 teaching orders, and, finally, to the social danger re- 
 sulting from the accumulation of wealth in convents. 
 Many Christians consider that the contemplative life 
 has been wrongly introduced into Christianity, which 
 is a religion of action, but it does not follow that the 
 State has any right whatever to meddle, and to force 
 the doors of modern Port-Royals. More important still 
 is the question of education ; but there, again, on what 
 principle can intervention be grounded, and in what 
 manner is it to be exercised? If one deplores that a 
 whole class of young Frenchmen are reared in ideas 
 which do not appear to be those that would render them 
 most competent to serve their country, these ideas are 
 not, nevertheless, such that they can be dealt with as 
 one deals with miasmas, by isolation and antiseptic 
 treatment; it is primarily a question of a "state of 
 
 1 Ch. de Mazade, Revue des Deux Mondes. Chronique.
 
 280 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 soul," and states of souls are not to be regulated either 
 by circulars or by laws. As for the wealth in the pos- 
 session of the religious bodies, however great it may 
 be, and the statistics give us information upon this 
 subject, 1 it is not possible to descry therein a peril; 
 the State has every means of defending itself, and such 
 laws that the law of " accretion " permits of its re-estab- 
 lishing the equilibrium between the taxes of the reli- 
 gious bodies and those of its other citizens. The tax 
 on accretion is even exaggerated in certain cases. It 
 is reckoned according to the number of establishments 
 which a community possesses. Whenever a nun dies, 
 each establishment pays the tax. Now it is not the 
 wealthy orders which are the most affected, because the 
 "Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul," and the "Little 
 Sisters of the Poor," for example, have many different 
 establishments, and all their property goes for the 
 benefit of the poor. It is iniquitous to make so heavy 
 a tax rest upon them. 
 
 From primary and secondary education, the conflict 
 extended to higher education. But higher education 
 has made remarkable progress during the last thirty 
 years, for its progress is that of science itself. In that 
 field the ecclesiastical professors had allowed themselves 
 to fall far behind, to such a point that the question was 
 asked whether any harmony between science and faith 
 were possible. This is a vital question; it has been 
 passionately discussed. M. Taine, in a celebrated pas- 
 sage of his last work, contrasted the " two pictures " : 
 " that of science, which is still in process of execution, 
 
 1 From statistics drawn up at the instigation of Gambetta, it appears 
 that the known real estate owned by the religious bodies, authorized or 
 otherwise, represented, in 1881, uW of the whole French territory, and 
 reached a purchasable value of 712,538,980 francs. The taxes paid 
 amounted to 157,495 francs, or 0.022 per cent.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 281 
 
 and on the way of advancement," whose painters "work 
 from nature, and make continual comparisons between 
 their painting and the model," and that of faith, dif- 
 ferent in conception, in development, in methods. 
 " Hence," said he, " in the soul of every Roman Catholic 
 arise combat and painful anxieties : Which of the two 
 conceptions must be taken as a guide ? For every mind 
 which is sincere and capable of embracing both simul- 
 taneously, each of them is irreducible to the other. 
 With the vulgar mind, incapable of thinking of them 
 together, they dwell side by side, and do not clash, 
 except at intervals and when, in order to act, a choice 
 must be made. Many intelligent, educated, and even 
 learned persons, notably the specialists, avoid bringing 
 them face to face, since the one is the support of their 
 reason, the other the guardian of their conscience; 
 between them, and for the purpose of preventing pos- 
 sible conflicts, they interpose in advance a party wall, 
 a water-tight partition which prevents their meeting 
 and jostling each other. Others, clever politicians or 
 persons who are not very clear-sighted, try to bring 
 them into harmony, either by assigning to each its own 
 domain, or by joining the two domains by phantom 
 bridges, by wraiths of staircases, by those illusive means 
 of communication which the dissolving view of human 
 speech can always set up between incompatible things, 
 and which furnish man, if not with the possession of a 
 truth, at least with the enjoyment of a witty sally." l 
 This is perfectly exact ; but the question remains un- 
 touched, since the problem is to learn whether it is with 
 Christianity that science is incompatible, or with the 
 Roman Catholics, such as they are to-day. 
 
 1 H. Taine, Les Origines de la France Contemporaine. Le Nouveau 
 Rtyime.
 
 282 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 The clericals tried to attack higher education by 
 founding Roman Catholic Universities 1 and by organiz- 
 ing scientific congresses. Many of them think that it 
 would have been better to take positions in the State 
 Universities and in the general congresses, instead of 
 shutting themselves up in institutions or in discussions 
 of an exclusive character. But the creation of Regional 
 Universities was one of the articles of that programme 
 of decentralization which, during the last years of the 
 Empire, and under the influence of Le Play, had won 
 many adherents among the great rural proprietors ; on 
 the other hand, the most exalted envied the victories 
 won by the clerical party in Belgium, and attributed 
 to the Roman Catholic University of Louvain a large 
 share in paving the way for these victories. As for the 
 idea of convoking an assembly of "Roman Catholic 
 learned men," it had its birth at Rouen in 1885. It 
 was decided to exclude from the deliberations of the 
 future congress all language and matters of discussion 
 which had not been accepted beforehand by the com- 
 mittee. 2 Far from audacious as was this plan, it was 
 attacked by certain Roman Catholic organs, which 
 insisted upon seeing in it "a deliberative assembly, 
 seeking to fix principles of exegesis, to set boundaries 
 to science and dogma, to cause to prevail certain very 
 
 1 It must be noted that the theological faculties were suppressed under 
 the influence of ultramontane tendencies. Jules Ferry, President of the 
 Council, explained himself in the following terms, before the Senate, in 
 February, 1885. "Gentlemen, I am one of that small number of persons 
 who take an interest in the theological faculties. As Minister of Public 
 Education, I made the most sincere efforts to put life into that institution. 
 In order to succeed, I ought to have had the aid of the bishops and of the 
 Roman court. But the Holy See does not care about it, and as for the 
 bishops, with the exception of the Bishop of Rouen, they share the views 
 of the Court of Rome, which distrusts the liberal instruction of the theo- 
 logical faculties and prefers the courses of the seminaries." 
 
 2 Compte rendu des Travaux du Congrts, Vol. I.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 283 
 
 broad standards of interpretation of the Scriptures. 1 
 The first congress brought together eleven hundred 
 members ; there was a second, a fe\v years later. Their 
 action was of the smallest ; by thus isolating themselves 
 to discuss subjects which belong to all the world, the 
 Roman Catholics condemned themselves to their own 
 society. They seemed to confess that their faith did 
 not agree with the data of modern science. In the 
 same way, their anxiety to keep not only the child, but 
 the young man also, apart from those of their comrades 
 who have received a different education, has been inter- 
 preted to their discredit ; in this way they give rise to 
 the idea that religion is powerless to make a profound 
 impression upon souls. 2 
 
 It is not alone because they believe themselves to 
 be in possession of the only and sole truth, that the 
 Roman Catholics have often given proofs of extreme 
 views, and of intolerance with regard to men and ideas, 
 it is also because they exaggerate chiefly in France 
 their numerical power; to tell the truth, it is difficult 
 to estimate it. M. Taine has justly remarked that 
 " faith increases in the restricted group, and diminishes 
 in the large group." Nevertheless, although the Roman 
 Catholics of France are far from being so ardent, so 
 bellicose, as their brethren of Belgium, and reckoning 
 only those who fight, one runs the risk of making a 
 mistake as to the force which they represent in the 
 nation ; on the other hand, to analyze the state of the 
 religious spirit of the nation itself, taken as a whole, 
 
 1 Compte rendu des Travaux du Congrts, Vol. I. 
 
 2 Young people feel a certain indifference towards religious things. 
 Monseigneur Hulst confessed it, saying: "Never have there been more 
 young people reared in a Christian manner, never have there been fewer 
 who are ready to devote themselves to a holy cause and to sacrifice to it 
 their amusement." (Le Correspondant.)
 
 284 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 is a relatively easy matter. The first years of the 
 Republic were marked, as we have seen, by an outbreak 
 of very peculiar mysticism. France was consecrated to 
 the Sacred Heart; pilgrimages were multiplied, new 
 devotions were created and pursued, under color of a 
 unification of liturgy, a more complete and more defini- 
 tive subjection of the Gallic Church to the Roman 
 Church. These exaggerations evidently displeased the 
 country and had a great share in turning it towards 
 the men of the Left, to whom it gave the command to 
 oppose the intermeddling of the priest in the govern- 
 ment, and at the same time to guard against all measures 
 of persecution. The men elected did not always fol- 
 low exactly the commands of their constituents. They 
 allowed themselves to be induced, if not to persecute, 
 at least to harass. We find in the municipal law of 
 1884, as well as in the school law and the military law, 1 
 evident traces of the sectarian spirit. In Parliament 
 there are excesses of anti-clerical zeal; one day the 
 stipends of the seminaries are suppressed; another day, 
 the salary of the Archbishop of Paris is reduced, or the 
 form of oath is modified so that the name of God is 
 excluded. 2 But the initiative of the deputies stopped 
 
 1 It is well to recall the fact that, when the proposal to abrogate Arti- 
 cle 20 of the military law of July 27, 1872, which exempted students in 
 theological seminaries and their teachers, came before the Chamber, M. 
 Paul Bert brought in the bill, MM. Jules Ferry and Constans defended 
 with great energy, but in vain, the prerogatives of the clergy. 
 
 2 In the Senate, in March, 1882, Jules Simon represented his amend- 
 ment passed the preceding year, but not accepted by the Chamber, and 
 directed towards inscribing in the school law the words : " Duties towards 
 God and towards country " (which were inscribed, moreover, in the regu- 
 lations by the Supreme Council). " It is repugnant to me, a former pro- 
 fessor," said he, "to see a law for education, and especially for primary 
 education, from which the name of God has been expunged ; it shocks me, 
 it grieves me. During the active period of my life we all had that belief 
 in God. We regarded it as our first duty, as legislators, to write God into 
 our laws, as it was our first duty as republicans to avenge the Republic
 
 JULES FERRY, DEPUTY, PRIME MINISTER, AND PRESIDENT OF 
 THE SENATE.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 285 
 
 there. During the first part of the present period some 
 of them proposed, in an indefinite manner, the suppres- 
 sion of the French Embassy to the Vatican and the 
 separation of Church and State; these persons were 
 the first to rejoice when the majority decided against 
 them, so thoroughly did they feel themselves to be out 
 of harmony with the universal opinion. This universal 
 opinion is resolute and persevering; little by little it 
 effaces from programmes those reforms whose emptiness 
 and sterility it perceives. It understands that if the 
 separation were to be effected, "there would be discord 
 in the bosom of every family, and greater disunion 
 among the French than at any other epoch. How long 
 would such a crisis last ? No one can tell. As it is 
 not the nature of crises to last, the country would wish 
 to put an end to it. Very speedily- men would again 
 begin to talk of religious pacification, of necessary ap- 
 peasement." 1 The expulsion of the religious bodies 
 found no echo in the country ; after a while they were 
 allowed to return; public opinion is informed, and 
 silence settles down upon that subject; it is satisfied 
 .with the assurance that the "government of the priests " 
 will not be established; all the ministers give it that 
 assurance, one after the other: M. Martin-Feuille'e, 
 M. Ribot, M. Casimir-Pe"rier. It felt grateful to 
 M. Fallieres for causing the rejection of Paul Bert's 
 proposition, which aimed at alienating, for the benefit 
 of the school treasury, the landed estates apportioned 
 to the service of Public Worship in excess of the stipu- 
 lations of the Concordat. It generally is grateful for 
 all the conflicts which it is spared, and it demands the 
 
 for all attacks made upon it when it was called impious ; we demand it 
 also for our soldiers, and we believe that when we say to a man : ' March 
 in front of the grape-shot,' it is good to tell him that God sees him." 
 1 Eug. Spuller, L'Evolution Politique et Sociale de VEglise.
 
 286 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 statu quo, which it feels alone can maintain religious 
 peace. What the Frenchman desires is, that he shall 
 not be forced " to go to mass. " Observe that the peas- 
 ants, who never enter a church, insist upon possessing 
 one so that they can have their children baptized there, 
 can be married there, can bear thither the bodies of their 
 dead relatives ; the enlightened man, the superior mind 
 who gets along without a formal worship, desires, for 
 his part, that the worship which he no longer needs 
 shall remain within his reach. Such sentiments are 
 nowhere so strongly developed as in France; they 
 answer to the most profound tendencies of the Gallic 
 soul, which is captivated by death, and takes pleasure 
 in contemplating, during a joyous life, the disquieting 
 and grand perspectives of the world beyond. " Our 
 country," says M. Spuller, "does not wish to risk its 
 repose in an interminable series of religious quarrels 
 and difficulties. It is neither sufficiently Roman Catho- 
 lic nor sufficiently Protestant for that, nor even free- 
 thinking enough. It wants religion, but in its own 
 way ; it takes from it, and it leaves ; what it asks of 
 the priests is that they shall remain in their churches ; 
 it has a horror of them as soon as they emerge thence, 
 and it goes thither to seek them as soon as they shut 
 themselves up there." 1 
 
 On February 8, 1884, Pope Leo XIII., who for six 
 years had occupied Pius IX. 's place on the apostolic 
 throne, addressed to the French bishops his first letter 
 of conciliation, exhorting them not to show hostility to 
 the government. 
 
 This was, as it were, the distant signal of the decided 
 evolution which was in preparation. The Church at 
 that epoch resembled those parliamentary governments 
 
 1 Eug. Spuller, L' Evolution Sociale et Politique de VEglise..
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 287 
 
 where, through the natural and regular working of the 
 institutions, the parties succeed each other alternately 
 in power, and where a powerful, liberal minority, 
 constantly growing stronger, seems certain to replace 
 before long the reactionary majority. Only, in the 
 case of the Church, the currents are so concealed, the 
 very person of the Pope, in his moral omnipotence, 
 plays so preponderating a part, that unless one keeps 
 a very close watch he cannot always foresee events. 
 The reactionaries had received the new dogmas with 
 acclamations, had accepted the Syllabus with enthusi- 
 asm; the great movement inaugurated by Lamennais, 
 Lacordaire, and Montalembert seemed finally to have 
 perished. Lamennais, who was imprudent in his lan- 
 guage, had by his impatience paved the way for his own 
 defeat, and had discouraged his allies. Lacordaire, 
 having sown the good word, withdrew among the 
 young, and tried to train them with a view to the 
 battles to come. Montalembert held his peace, and 
 allowed the retrograde current to spend its force. 
 Only once did he speak again. It was at Mechlin, on 
 August 18, 1863. There was a great assembly there 
 of two or three thousand Roman Catholics, among^them 
 Cardinal Wiseman, Cardinal Ledochowski, M. Cochin, 
 and others. 1 "The Roman Catholics," exclaimed 
 Montalembert, " are everywhere inferior to their adver- 
 saries in public life, because they have not yet made up 
 their minds about the great revolution which has given 
 birth to the new society, the modern life of nations. 
 They feel an insurmountable mixture of embarrassment 
 and timidity in the presence of modern society. They 
 have not yet learned either to know it, or to like it, or 
 
 1 On this subject, see an interesting article by M. de Molinari in the 
 Revue des Deux Mondes, September 15, 1875.
 
 288 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 to frequent it. Many of them still belong, in heart, in 
 spirit, without being aware of it, to the old order of 
 things, that is to say, to an order which admitted 
 neither civil equality nor political liberty nor liberty 
 of conscience; that old order of things had its great 
 and its beautiful side. I do not undertake to judge it, 
 still less to condemn it; it is enough for me to be 
 cognizant of one defect in it, a capital defect; it is 
 dead! it will never be resuscitated any where. " "This 
 renunciation," he said in another place, "must not be 
 tacit and sincere. It must become a common matter of 
 knowledge to the public ; public protest must be made, 
 clearly, boldly, on every occasion, against any idea 
 of return to that which irritates or disturbs modern 
 society. Even if my respectful voice," said Montalem- 
 bert in conclusion, "penetrates to those lofty regions 
 where protracted errors may have such sad consequences, 
 it cannot be mistaken there for the voice of audacity or 
 of imprudence : God gives to frankness, to fidelity, to 
 uprightness, a tone which can neither be counterfeited 
 nor misunderstood." The appeal was not heeded. 
 On December 21, 1863, the Pope expressed to the 
 Archbishop of Mechlin his sharp displeasure; in the 
 following year appeared the encyclical Quanta Gura 
 (December 8, 1864), in which Pius IX. characterized 
 as the " liberty of perdition " the right of citizens " to 
 disseminate publicly and abroad their thoughts, either 
 by word or through the press." 1 This demonstration 
 
 1 There was another Congress in 1866, in which Monseigneur Dupan- 
 loup, M. de Falloux, and Father Hyacinthe Loyson took part ; the dis- 
 cussions were stormy ; it became necessary to dissolve the Congress. The 
 Congresses of Poitiers and of Rheims, in 1875, brought together only parti- 
 sans of the Syllabus. Monseigneur Nardi was heard there against the 
 diffusion of education, and M. de Mun made a brilliant but paradoxical 
 apology for the Middle Ages.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 289 
 
 of Mechlin was the most celebrated; but others took 
 place which showed that the liberal flame was still 
 smouldering under the ashes, as if to feed some grand 
 conflagration in the future. In the meanwhile, on the 
 other side of the ocean, there was growing up that 
 American Roman Catholicism which was to astonish 
 the old world with its daring. Tocqueville had already 
 noted that the Roman Catholics 1 "formed the most 
 republican and most democratic class in the United 
 States," and thence he had concluded "that it is wrong 
 to regard the Roman Catholic religion as a natural 
 enemy to democracy; and that when the priests are 
 once turned out, or withdraw from the government, as 
 they do in the United States, there are no men who, 
 by their beliefs, are more disposed to carry into the 
 political world the idea of equality of conditions." 2 
 When the American dollar began to form a consider- 
 able part of the Peter's Pence, the Church beyond the 
 sea attracted attention; it was perceived that it drew 
 its strength from a return to primitive Christianity. 
 One of its most eloquent representatives, Monseigneur 
 Ireland, Archbishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota, ex- 
 pressed the spirit which animates it in the following 
 terms: "Give room for the action of each person. 
 There is no necessity that the layman should wait for 
 the priest, or that the priest should wait for the bishop, 
 or that the bishop should wait for the Pope to follow 
 his own road. The timid move in herds, and the brave 
 march in single file. . . . The religion which is needed 
 to-day does not consist in chanting fine anthems in the 
 stalls of a cathedral, clothed in gold-embroidered orna- 
 
 1 When he visited the United States, there were one million Roman 
 Catholics out of fifteen million inhabitants. 
 
 2 A. de Tocqueville, De la D6mocratie en Amtrique, Vol. II.
 
 290 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 ments, while there is no multitude either in the nave 
 or in the side aisles, and while the world outside is 
 dying of spiritual and moral inanition. Seek out men, 
 talk to them, not in stilted phrases or by sermons in 
 the style of the seventeenth century, but in burning 
 words which find the road to their hearts at the same 
 time as to their minds." 1 These "burning words" 
 should be placed alongside the following passage from 
 de Tocqueville: "Nothing is more revolting to the 
 human mind, in times of equality, than the idea of 
 submitting to forms. Men who live in such times 
 endure figures with impatience; symbols appear to 
 them as childish artifices, which are used to veil or 
 array to their eyes truths which it would be more 
 natural to show to them unclothed and in broad day- 
 light; they remain cold at the sight of those cere- 
 monies, and are naturally inclined to attach only a 
 secondary importance to the details of worship. Those 
 who are entrusted with regulating the external form of 
 religions in democratic countries should pay thorough 
 attention to these natural instincts of the human intel- 
 ligence in order that they may not fight against them 
 unnecessarily. ... A religion which should become 
 more minute, more inflexible, and more burdened with 
 petty observances at the same time that men are becom- 
 ing more equal, would soon behold itself reduced to a 
 troop of passionate zealots in the midst of an incredu- 
 lous multitude, while an aristocratic people is always 
 inclined to place intermediary powers between God 
 and man." 2 
 
 It is therefore erroneous to believe that the evolution 
 
 1 Speech delivered in the cathedral of Baltimore, on November 10, 
 1889, at the hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Roman 
 Catholic hierarchy in the United States. 
 
 - A. de Tocqueville, De la Democratic en Amtrique, Vol. III.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 291 
 
 of which the French Republic serves as centre and 
 pretext has as its first and sole cause the personal moods 
 of the Sovereign Pontiff; it has been Catholic, like the 
 Church itself, that is to say, universal, and that is why 
 we may think, with M. Spuller, that this evolution " is 
 called upon to decide as to an entirely new direction of 
 human societies." 1 It applies to the one set of things 
 as well as to the other, and is only the culmination of 
 the long and persevering efforts of the liberal party. 
 At the beginning of his pontificate, Leo XIII. hesitated 
 for some time before he perceived in a precise manner 
 what the interests of religion dictated. He recalled 
 the Germanic Holy Roman Empire and believed that 
 monarchical power, isolated, and fortified by its very 
 isolation, was about to resume charge of directing the 
 world; hence his attitude toward Germany. Pius IX., 
 his predecessor, had re-established liturgical unity, mul- 
 tiplied the apostolic vicarships, and created in a certain 
 way the religious press and Roman Catholic journalism, 
 but he left the Holy See in the most difficult relations 
 with the majority of the princes, as with the majority 
 of the Cabinets, of Europe. These faults had to be 
 repaired without compromising the results already 
 attained. Where was the strength to be found upon 
 which to lean? The German Csesar and the Gallic 
 democracy stood face to face, incarnations of the two 
 powers which to-day contend for the universe. Leo 
 XIII., having maturely reflected upon the state of 
 affairs, placed his hand in that of the Republic. The 
 act appeared so sudden and created such a sensation 
 that it disconcerted all parties, to such a degree that 
 "in the beginning no one could or would believe it." 
 It was necessary to emancipate Roman Catholicism 
 
 1 A. de Tocqueville, De la Democratic en Amtrique, Vol. III.
 
 292 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 from monarchical tutelage. 1 Leo XIII. resolved to 
 extricate it at the same time from the influence of the 
 rich, by taking out of their hands the Gospel, pre- 
 eminently the book of democracy. He judged that the 
 time was come to teach laboring men "not only their 
 duties, which are dinned into their ears, but also their 
 rights, of which up to that time the clergy had spoken 
 to them only in hints, with bated breath." 2 He saw 
 that " men made in the image of the Creator are con- 
 sidered by other men as parts of a machine, or beasts 
 of burden," and understood that "until their material 
 condition is improved, it is useless to talk to them of 
 the supernatural life." 3 
 
 France was in a condition to serve the Pope's plans, 
 as soon as he had settled upon them. America was too 
 far away, too isolated ; the priests there are reputed to 
 have a manner of their own of interpreting religion and 
 of putting it in practice. Words and deeds assume a 
 different meaning on the other side of the ocean. In 
 England, the spirit of independence and of individual 
 enterprise is so general, that a large measure of liberty 
 is accorded to her, even in the theocratic domain. The 
 blow must be dealt nearer the centre of the Roman 
 
 i " By allying itself to a political power, religion augments its hold 
 over some men," says de Tocqueville (De la Democratic en Amtrique), 
 " but it loses the hope of reigning over all. As long as a religion depends 
 only upon the sentiments which are the consolation of all miseries, it can 
 draw to itself the heart of the human race. Mingled with the bitter 
 passions of this world, it is sometimes constrained to defend allies fur- 
 nished to it by self-interest rather than by love, and it must repel as 
 adversaries men who often love it still, while they combat those to whom 
 it is united. Should Roman Catholicism finally succeed in escaping from 
 the political hatreds which it has aroused, I have little doubt that that 
 same spirit of the century which seems so opposed to it would become 
 very favorable to.it, and that it would suddenly make great conquests." 
 
 2 Speech delivered at Baltimore, October 18, 1893, by Monseigneur 
 Ireland, Archbishop of Saint Paul. 
 
 s Ibid.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 293 
 
 Catholic world, where liberal doctrines are fashioned 
 alongside of intolerant doctrines, where men are not 
 afraid to teach, in certain circles, that " liberalism is a 
 sin," where exalted enthusiasm and blind conservatism 
 walk side by side and elbow each other. France, more- 
 over, had beheld the dawn of religious democracy half 
 a century before; since that time the Republic had 
 conquered it, without breaking the bonds established 
 between the clergy and the State. And, in conclusion, 
 pontifical action there was both near and powerful. 
 Hence it was the best field for evolutions, as soon as 
 quarrels of a secondary rank should have been appeased, 
 as soon as the words of peace had been exchanged be- 
 tween the Ministers of Public Worship and the rulers. 
 The latter aided in the work of pacification, but nega- 
 tively, and the Sovereign Pontiff now grasped the fact 
 that he alone, as M. Gre>y had written to him, could 
 exert himself therein both actively and effectively. 1 
 
 1 The reference is to a letter addressed to Leo XIII., in the month of 
 June, 1883, by the President of the Republic, in response to one which he 
 had received from the Pope ; this correspondence, which was kept secret, 
 was known only after the death of M. Gre'vy ; it was regarded as having 
 done honor to his tact and his perspicacity. The Pope asked the Presi- 
 dent to interfere, as far as possible, to stop the progress of anti-religious 
 ideas. "Your Holiness," he replied, "complains with justice of anti- 
 religious passions ; they certainly do exist, together with the opposite senti- 
 ments of the great majority of the French people ; but can one mistake 
 the fact that these passions, which I repel, have sprung principally from 
 the hostile attitude of the clergy toward the Republic, either at its advent, 
 or in the struggles which it had to undergo, later on, to maintain its exist- 
 ence, or in those which it still endures, day by day, against its mortal 
 enemies? In this sad conflict of opposing passions, I can, unfortunately, 
 do but very little with the enemies of the Church. Your Holiness can do 
 a great deal with the enemies of the Republic. If you would deign to 
 maintain them in that political neutrality which is the great and wise 
 intention of your pontificate, you would cause us to take a decisive step 
 toward that very desirable assuagement." It will be noticed that this 
 letter was written in the spring of 1883, and that Leo XIII. 's, to the 
 French bishops, which is mentioned above, bears the date of February 8, 
 1884.
 
 294 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 From time to time a crisis arose which upset his plans ; 
 Boulangism came near ruining his success completely, 
 because of the clerical support which it had won. In 
 spite of this, the psychological moment had arrived; 
 to wait longer was to expose himself to the danger of 
 failing, perhaps irremediably. 
 
 On November 12, 1890, Cardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop 
 of Carthage and Algiers, Primate of Africa, received in 
 his episcopal palace Admiral Charles Duperre* and the 
 officers of his squadron. At the end of the dinner which 
 he gave to his guests, he made a speech, and in a few 
 brief and resolute words he stigmatized the conduct of the 
 so-called conservatives, who " offer to the enemies who 
 are watching us the spectacle of our ambitions and of our 
 hatreds, and cast into the heart of France that discour- 
 agement which is the precursor of final catastrophes." 
 
 In order the better to set forth the prelate's words, 
 the band of the White Fathers played the Marseillaise. 
 When this detail became known, it caused even more 
 surprise than the speech itself. The Marseillaise still 
 remained for conservatives the sanguinary hymn, the 
 echo of the guillotine ; many republicans had long hesi- 
 tated to accept it as the national air. Since 1889 people 
 had become accustomed to hear it frequently, but no 
 one dreamed that the Republic was so near to imposing 
 it upon Europe. The royalists were disconcerted ; they 
 had at first supposed it to be a caprice ; but when they 
 beheld the cardinal still further emphasize his declara- 
 tions in a letter to the priests under his charge, they 
 got the impression that it was a deliberate, well-con- 
 sidered act, authorized, no doubt, by the Pope. Never- 
 theless, they thought that the Roman Curia, which is 
 always prudent, would confine itself for the time being 
 to this hint; their illusion was of short duration.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 295 
 
 There soon appeared a letter of approbation addressed 
 by Cardinal Rampolla "to a French Bishop." The 
 doctrinal and impersonal character of the document 
 deprived it of none of its importance. 
 
 These events speedily brought forth fruit. The 
 desire for reconciliation came to light in the speeches 
 at the opening of the General Councils (August ses- 
 sion), and the reassembling of the Chambers witnessed 
 the formation of that republican Right which had been 
 talked of for so long; it bore only the name of "inde- 
 pendent," and the platform drawn up by its leader, 
 M. Jacques Piou, was full of gaps and of omissions; 
 but the impulse was given. At the same time reap- 
 peared that plan for a "Roman Catholic party" con- 
 ceived by Lamennais and Montalembert, and which 
 M. Guibert, 1 in 1853, had combated in a famous pas- 
 toral charge. MM. Chesnelong, Keller, and de Mackau, 
 with M. de Mun 2 and Cardinal Richard, Archbishop of 
 Paris, founded "the union of Christian France, " which 
 was to constitute its embryo. The monarchists, feeling 
 themselves attacked, tried to separate their cause from 
 that of the Church, in order to conceal what the Church 
 was attempting to do on its side. M. d'Haussonville 
 at Toulouse, and M. Herv6 in the Soleil, returned on 
 their own account to Gambetta's formula, and repu- 
 diated the "government of priests." It became the 
 fashion to establish a distinction which the Syllabus 
 had not foreseen, between the Pope talking of religion 
 and worthy of heed, and the Pope talking of politics 
 and deserving of no attention. 
 
 1 Afterwards Archbishop of Paris. 
 
 2 M. de Mun had already tried, immediately after the elections of 1885, 
 to found a Roman Catholic party ; but he received no encouragement in 
 this undertaking either from the conservatives, intoxicated by their half- 
 victory, or from the good-will of the clergy.
 
 296 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 In the spring of 1891 appeared the famous encyclical 
 Rerum Novarum. Social evolution was sketched along- 
 side of political evolution ; to tell the truth, the former 
 was much the more ancient. "Christian socialism" 
 had for a long time made recruits among the French, 
 and its progress had been sufficiently rapid and suffi- 
 ciently important to lead Monseigneur Freppel, MM. 
 Lucien, Brun, Claudio Jannet, and the Due de Broglie 
 to join together for the formation of a Roman Catholic 
 society of social economy, intended to counteract the 
 action of M. de Mun and his partisans. 1 Nowhere in 
 the encyclical Rerum Novarum is there to be found " a 
 practical solution of the complex, irritating, and pain- 
 ful questions which constitute what is called socialism. 
 The Pope therein defends individual property, inheri- 
 tance, the principle of the liberty of transactions, and 
 even the independence of the individual with regard 
 to the State." 2 But the fact that the head of the 
 Roman Catholic Church should dare to tread upon this 
 dangerous ground was a sufficient sign of the times ; on 
 the other hand, workingmen were taken to him, and 
 the Vatican welcomed them with open arms ; Cardinal 
 Lange'nieux, Archbishop of Rheims, organized working- 
 men's pilgrimages. In 1885 several hundred Christian 
 employers went to salute the Pope, followed, two years 
 later, by twelve hundred of their workmen. In 1889 
 and 1891 these demonstrations were repeated, and in 
 the basilica of Saint Peter, M. de Mun proclaimed Leo 
 
 1 It is to be noted that the founders of this society had all, more or less, 
 supported the doctrine of the intervention of the State: Monseigneur 
 Freppel, in 1886, had demanded it, with M. de Mun, in the question of 
 regulating the hours of labor in workshops ; M. Chesnelong, in that of the 
 prohibition of night labor for women and children ; M. Claudio Jannet and 
 M. Keller, in that of the establishment of obligatory rest on Sunday. 
 
 2 Eug. Spuller, L'fivolution Sociale et Politique de I'J&ylise.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 297 
 
 XIII. the " workingman's Pope." In the wise and 
 discreet speech with which he replied to M. de Mun, 
 Leo XIII. expressed a wish for " a certain restoration 
 of the moral principle in problems relating to the 
 amelioration of the social condition of workingmen." 1 
 This coincided, as M. Spuller remarks, with a marked 
 evolution in French socialistic writers. Little by little 
 they withdrew from the purely economical socialism of 
 Karl Marx, the scientific coloring of which had allured 
 them at first, and which after all was reduced to the 
 quest of immediate and strictly practical amelioration 
 of material existence. They returned to a more general 
 and more generous conception of socialism, that which 
 tends " to the realization of greater amount of the ideal 
 in the establishment of a society which shall be, as 
 a whole, more just, more enlightened, and more fra- 
 ternal." "It is in vain that the socialism of Karl 
 Marx offered itself to the masses as armed with all the 
 resources of the most pressing argumentation and the 
 most rigorous mathematical calculations. It did not 
 speak sufficiently to the agitated heart, to the enthusi- 
 astic mind, of the laboring masses to hold them attentive 
 and sympathetic for long." 2 
 
 These workingmen's pilgrimages, organized to hasten 
 the social evolution desired by Leo XIII., came near 
 ruining the political revolution which he was endeavor- 
 ing to realize at the same time. The members of the 
 " Roman Catholic youth " had accompanied the working- 
 men pilgrims to the Vatican in 1891. The ceremonies 
 came to an end when a sort of Francophobe riot broke 
 out in Rome. A very slight incident provoked it; in 
 the course of a visit made by the young pilgrims to the, 
 
 1 Bug. Spuller, L'Evolution Politique et Sociale de I'figlise. 
 Ibid.
 
 293 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Pantheon of Agrippa, where stands the tomb of Victor 
 Emmanuel, one of them, it is said, wrote in the visit- 
 ors' book these words: "Long live the Pope!" Like 
 a fire along a train of gunpowder the news spread 
 through the city that the memory of Victor Emmanuel 
 had been insulted by the French. A public sheet, 
 printed as if by enchantment, and whose " improvised " 
 numbers were fairly snatched from hand to hand, com- 
 mented upon the fact with so much pleasure and zeal 
 that it was difficult not to suspect premeditation, a 
 deliberately planned trick. Not only in Rome, but in 
 all the cities of Italy, there was an explosion of anti- 
 French rage, in the face of which the Paris Cabinet was 
 somewhat lacking in energy. The Minister of Public 
 Worship, by a letter to the bishops, interdicted pil- 
 grimages, for the time being, which was generally 
 approved of ; but one would have liked to see the 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs speak, at the same time, to 
 the representatives of King Humbert in language suited 
 to the occasion. 
 
 To the ministerial missive, couched in rather curt 
 terms, Monseigneur Gouthe-Soulard, Archbishop of 
 Aix, replied by a document so violent that it seemed im- 
 possible not to prosecute him. The prelate appeared, on 
 November 21, 1891, before the first chamber of the Court 
 of Appeals of Paris, and was condemned, with extenuat- 
 ing circumstances, to pay a fine of three thousand francs. 
 Cardinal Richard had offered him the hospitality of his 
 palace. Monseigneur Gouthe-Soulard received the con- 
 gratulations and the allegiance of nearly sixty bishops. 
 Never, probably, had the deplorable state of mind of 
 the French Episcopal body asserted itself in so startling 
 a manner ; never had the misunderstanding engendered 
 by the Concordat been more clearly apparent. Incon-
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 299 
 
 siderate expressions were noted from the sober and aca- 
 demical pen of Monseigneur Perraud, Bishop of Autun, 1 
 and Monseigneur Isoard, Bishop of Annecy, who had 
 been the first to give his adherence to the declarations 
 of Cardinal Lavigerie, tried to establish the absolute 
 independence of the bishops with relation to the civil 
 power. The counter-shock made itself felt in the 
 Chamber, which discussed (December 11, 1891) a query 
 as to the "clerical manoeuvres." The language of 
 some of the deputies was equal to the occasion, and one 
 wondered whether pontifical diplomacy had not received 
 a supreme check, and whether anything remained of 
 the Archbishop of Algiers' generous enterprise except 
 the memory of a chimerical hope, ironically belied by the 
 course of events. But the Pope had made up his mind to 
 employ patience, gentleness, and obstinacy, means of 
 action which almost always triumph in the end when they 
 are enlisted in the service of a rational and timely idea. 
 Up to that time, the upper clergy had withstood him 
 with a merely passive resistance ; it now entered upon 
 the path of open resistance ; Cardinals Desprez, Arch- 
 bishop of Toulouse, Place, Archbishop of Rennes, 
 Foulon, Archbishop of Lyons, Langenieux, Archbishop 
 of Rheims, Richard, Archbishop of Paris, drew up a sort 
 of long arraignment against republican institutions, 
 which was called "the Cardinals' declaration," and 
 which was made public on January 22, 1892. The 
 recent precepts of the Holy See were therein combated, 
 
 1 " Beyond the praetorium where you are about to take your seat," 
 wrote Monseigneur Perraud to the Archbishop of Aix, " behind those mag- 
 istrates who will be not a little surprised to see you appear before their bar 
 for trial, all France will stand. It is to her that you will speak." At the 
 conclusion of the affair, Monseigneur Gouthe-Soulard published a book 
 entitled : Mon Proces, mes Avocats. It was noticed that the telegram which 
 he sent to Cardinal Rampollia remained unanswered.
 
 300 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 not in form, but in spirit. The reply of the Sovereign 
 Pontiff, dated February 16, restored the question to the 
 ground whence they were trying to remove it. " Ac- 
 cept the Republic, that is to say, the established power 
 which exists among you," it said ; " respect it ; submit 
 to it as representing the power which comes from God. 
 ... In politics, more than in any other domain, un- 
 expected changes come about . . . ; these changes are 
 far from being always legitimate in their origin ; it is 
 even difficult for them to be so. Nevertheless, the 
 supreme standard of the public good and public tran- 
 quillity compels the acceptance of these new govern- 
 ments, established in fact in the place of the previous 
 governments which no longer exist. Thus the ordinary 
 rules as to the transmission of power are suspended, 
 and it may even happen that, in the course of time, 
 they will be abolished." 
 
 On February 19, Leo XIII. addressed an encyclical 
 letter to the Catholics of France ; on the very day 
 before, a new question had come up, in the Palais- 
 Bourbon ; the declaration of the cardinals had been 
 noisily debated there, the Freycinet Cabinet had fallen 
 under the united blows of the radical Left and the 
 royalist Right. No one any longer doubted that we 
 were face to face with a perfectly matured plan, the exe- 
 cution of which would be prosecuted with inflexible will, 
 that would not allow itself to be disheartened by any 
 difficulty. Nevertheless, opposition increased, on the 
 Right as well as on the Left. Cardinal Richard pub- 
 lished a pastoral letter in opposition to the views of the 
 encyclical. That season, there were contradictory lect- 
 ures in some of the churches; they caused much tumult. 1 
 
 1 At Saint-Merri the lectures of Father Le Moigne on " the solution of 
 pauperism, Marxism, possibilism, nihilism," provoked such disorders that
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 301 
 
 The bishops did not set the example of submission. 
 They knew that the Pope desired to see them abstain 
 in the electoral struggles. Monseigneur Baptifolier, 
 Bishop of Mende, wrote to the priests of his diocese 
 recommending them to exert as much influence as 
 possible on the votes of the municipal electors who 
 were about to be called upon to choose representatives. 
 " Understand well," he said, " that if a candidate 
 appointed by you should propose and get adopted an 
 anti-religious measure, you would be responsible for 
 that measure before God, before the Church, before 
 your own conscience, and you would be forced to accuse 
 yourself, in confession, of having put into power a per- 
 secutor of the Church." 1 The Archbishop of Avignon 
 and his suffragans published a collective mandate, in 
 flagrant violation of the Concordat, which interdicted 
 this sort of demonstration ; and, finally, a fresh inter- 
 vention on the part of Leo XIII. became necessary 
 to effect the dissolution of the " Union of Christian 
 France," which now resisted him indirectly. 
 
 On the Left, men felt rather disturbed at "having 
 to defend the political staff, without having to defend 
 
 it became necessary to suspend them. These disorders were renewed at 
 Saint-Joseph, and also in many provincial towns, at Nancy, Beauvais, and 
 Marseilles. The subjects chosen, in general, smacked but little of the 
 religious character. 
 
 1 In a pamphlet designed for propagandist use, the same prelate had 
 said : " Confessors have the right to refuse absolution to parents who do not 
 heed this prohibition, and who shall confide their children to those schools 
 of perdition disapproved by the Church." Monseigneur Gouthe-Soulard 
 wrote, in the same strain, in 1892: "You must not forget, my very dear 
 brethren, that you belong to the Church Militant. Without exaggeration, 
 I do not believe that it has ever undergone a more clever, more satanic, 
 more cunning war." These last lines should be compared with those 
 written by Monseigneur Turinaz, Bishop of Nancy: "I wonder if ever a 
 tyranny at once so odious and so hypocritical, so absurd and so dishonora- 
 ble, has been forced upon a Catholic clergy and a Catholic country in the 
 last nineteen centuries." Such exaggerations confuse the imagination.
 
 302 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 republican institutions," l which ceased to be attacked. 
 The new converts contributed to maintain distrust by 
 their exaggerations of language and the pretensions 
 which they displayed, parading the zeal of a neophyte 
 for the Republic, or proclaiming their firm intention 
 to work at its transformation, and to drive beyond its 
 border those who had founded it. They appealed to 
 universal suffrage and, very foolishly, felt surprised 
 that old republicans should be preferred to them, or 
 that they should be called upon for a few proofs of 
 sincerity and a little service, like plain soldiers. 
 
 Little by little calm returned, the storm abated, and 
 it was evident that pontifical enterprise had strength- 
 ened the Republic, and dealt the last blow to monarchi- 
 cal hopes. It was immediately perceived that this 
 enterprise had, at the same time and without solving 
 them, raised several vital questions, which may be 
 briefly summed up before we close this chapter. There 
 is one which dominates all others. When Leo XIII. 
 declared that " Catholics ought to fight for truth and 
 virtue, wherever they are able, and associate them- 
 selves with men who, although full of uprightness and 
 honesty, are still outside the Church," 2 did the Sover- 
 eign Pontiff lay down one of those rules of conduct 
 inspired by circumstances, which are, so to speak, pro- 
 cedures of parliamentary tactics ; or did he formulate 
 a great principle, a sort of new dogma, of which he per- 
 ceived the necessity, and which, moreover, satisfied the 
 instincts of his liberal spirit ? But in that case, it is 
 no longer an evolution, it is a revolution. It is Roman 
 Catholicism suddenly joining Reform ; it is the grand 
 charter of emancipation given to the Church ; it is the 
 
 1 Eug. Spuller, L' Evolution Politique et Sociale de VEglise. 
 
 2 Letter to the Bishop of Grenoble.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 303 
 
 liberty to act, almost the liberty to think officially ac- 
 corded to all believers, and that less than twenty-five 
 years after the Vatican Council ; it is, also, the door of 
 Roman Catholicism reopened to many men who had 
 withdrawn from it with regret, in the belief that it 
 was decidedly incompatible with the century. 
 
 Religions pass successively through three states, 
 superstition, logic, and philosophy. While superstition 
 reigns, all is form, words, images, minute devotions, 
 fragmentary beliefs ; worship appears to be definitive, 
 because of the importance which is attributed to it ; 
 every breach of its prescriptions seems more grave than 
 the breach of the moral law itself. With those who 
 understand religion in that way, there may exist a cer- 
 tain superficial tolerance, produced by natural good 
 nature or suavity of character, but intolerance neces- 
 sarily exists in the background. Men are generally 
 very well satisfied, and conceive a glorious idea of them- 
 selves, when they pass from the state of superstition to 
 the state of logic. The thought of professing a rational 
 religion, compatible with their exact knowledge, charms 
 them and elevates them in their own eyes. In reality, 
 there is no such thing as a rational religion ; the Prot- 
 estants, who believe in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, 
 God made man, do not believe anything more ra- 
 tional, from the human point of view, than the Catho- 
 lics, who profess that this incarnation is daily renewed 
 in the mass. A really rational religion would exclude 
 all idea of worship, and would consist only in a set of 
 rules for upright living. Beyond this, one attains to 
 the serene regions of philosophical religion. Those 
 who dwell therein take care not to appeal to their rea- 
 son, which they feel to be weak, vacillating, imperfect ; 
 they think that the grandeur of the human spirit lies
 
 304 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 in its perpetual effort to mount towards the light, and 
 not in poor results, laboriously amassed ; they dare not 
 think that the world beyond can be subjected to the laws 
 which govern humanity. Worship, for them, falls into 
 the secondary rank. It has, no doubt, been asserted 
 that, no matter how lofty the intelligence of a man, no 
 matter how vigorous his genius, no matter how exten- 
 sive his acquirements, he remains as remote from the 
 divinity as the most ignorant and the least gifted of his 
 brethren; he has not approached God, they say, any 
 more than one approaches the sun by climbing a hill ; 
 he is still the abject being, the " worm of earth " upon 
 whom the Scriptures lavish humiliations, and to whom 
 they recall the feebleness of his nature. But, in reality, 
 science is a divine road whereon each mile-stone passed 
 brings us nearer the Supreme Being, and permits us to 
 conceive him more perfectly. The way is long, but 
 the distances traversed may count. The eye of the 
 learned man apprehends and perceives that which the 
 ordinary man neither perceives nor comprehends. His 
 genius elevates him, according to Saint Augustine's 
 strong expression, 1 "from the understanding of God's 
 visible works to that of invisible grandeurs." 
 
 Is Christianity, then, about to claim for its own those 
 men who have received from it their inspiration accord- 
 ing to the spirit, instead of recognizing as its children 
 only those who take part in the celebration of its mys- 
 teries ? Of such men, particularly in France, there are 
 legions. 2 Reason, which the Frenchman so readily 
 obeys, has finally established the necessity of the 
 
 1 The City of God. 
 
 2 The Third Republic has had great citizens who were regarded as 
 adversaries of religion, while they really possessed the Christian spirit in 
 the highest degree. Among these, Auguste Burdeau deserves to be men- 
 tioned in the front rank.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 305 
 
 religious sentiment. Science has shown that it is 
 powerless to take its place. If one glances about him, 
 he perceives how profound is the religious sentiment 
 in our epoch. Never has the moral sense been so de- 
 veloped, never have moral principles been more fully 
 admitted or practised. Is all this the preface of some 
 new form of religion, or is Christianity on the point of 
 catching up with, by a forced march, audaciously under- 
 taken, those popular masses which are plunging into the 
 future without it ? A most interesting question ! In 
 short, the point is to discover whether the spirit of 
 tolerance is going to act upon souls, after having forced 
 its way through institutions ; and how slowly ! Plato ', 
 did not know, and " in the ancient republics there was 
 not a head of the State who even imagined that it was 
 possible to incorporate in the law a clause which gave 
 citizens the right of exercising whatever religion they 
 preferred." " During the whole duration of the Roman 
 domination," says M. Gaston Boissier, " I see not a 
 single wise man, were he a sceptic like Pliny the Elder, 
 a free-thinker devoid of all prejudices like Seneca, an 
 honest and gentle philosopher like Marcus Aurelius, 
 who appears to have suspected that equal rights might 
 be granted to all the religions of the Empire." 1 If it 
 has taken so long to establish tolerance in society, it is 
 not surprising that it should have required so long for 
 it to take possession of hearts. We have returned to 
 the epoch of the edict of Milan, 2 when " a party was 
 formed composed of moderate, humane persons, friends 
 of religious peace, who would have liked to have 
 Christianity included in that sort of fusion of all 
 creeds which had come about at Rome after the Em- 
 
 1 Gaston Boissier, La Fin du Paganisme, Vol. I. 
 
 2 Issued by Constantine (June, 313).
 
 306 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 pire," l and for which, seeking a term which should 
 befit all, the word divinitas was used. 
 
 Here then is a first point : will evolution unfold 
 itself even to the end, entailing incalculable conse- 
 quences, 2 or will it constitute only a generous, Utopian 
 attempt, destined to miscarry? Has Leo XIII. thor- 
 oughly attained his aim in France, which was to sepa- 
 rate religion and politics? Has he not, rather, separated 
 religion from the monarchy only to invest with its pos- 
 session the parliamentary Republic? The Concordat, 
 and the habits which have taken root since it has been 
 in force, do not permit of a veritable emancipation of 
 religion, such as has been effected in the United States. 
 And then, in the United States, what is the future to 
 be ? The power of the Roman Catholics there has in- 
 creased to such a degree as to disturb certain classes of 
 citizens, who are already banding together to root it 
 out. Moreover, the liberals are not unopposed there : 
 the Jesuits are hostile to them. America has in store 
 for our descendants, no doubt, the same surprises, from 
 a religious point of view, that she has caused us, from 
 a social point of view. Had we not been told that the 
 social question could not spring up upon that happy 
 soil? 
 
 In any case, one fact remains : the majestic effort 
 made by Pope Leo XIII. to turn his Church towards a 
 
 1 Gaston Boissier, La Fin du Paganisme. 
 
 2 Those who are inclined to object that the last Roman Catholic dog- 
 mas are incompatible with this evolution of the pontifical idea, must be 
 reminded that the Council of the Vatican (1870) was opened and suspended, 
 but not closed, by Pius IX., and that it remains for it to complete, by the 
 adoption of the plan De Episcopis, the plan De Summo Pontitice, which 
 has placed the Sovereign Pontiff above the entire body of bishops and of 
 the whole church (Eug. Spuller, L'fivolution Politique et Sociale de I'fiff- 
 lise) . It is, therefore, possible that the work of the Council may be resumed 
 and modified in the future.
 
 THE REPUBLIC AND THE CHURCH. 307 
 
 new world ; the French Republic has served as the 
 operating cause. This subject is, evidently, one of those 
 which the historians of the future will be most inclined 
 to discuss, either because they will seek therein the 
 origin of a great movement whose blossoming they 
 will witness, or because they will affirm that they have 
 discovered the causes which have prevented its coming 
 to anything.
 
 308 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE, 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 Primary Instruction. The Results of Secularization. The Teacher. 
 Insufficiency of Moral Instruction. Germanic Pedagogy. Schools: 
 Primary, High, and Professional. Secondary Instruction: the Impe- 
 rial and the Monastic Stamp. Overdriving. The Education of 
 Character. Schools for Girls. University Revival. Students and 
 Professors. The Rights of the State. 
 
 THE reform of the three degrees of education under- 
 taken by the Third Republic presents this special feat- 
 ure, that its unity is only apparent. The aim pursued, 
 the means employed, and the results attained essentially 
 differ, according to whether it is a question of primary 
 education, secondary education, or higher education. 
 The reform of primary education has aroused violent 
 controversies, and has necessitated, on the part of the 
 nation, important pecuniary sacrifices ; great results 
 were expected from it, which have been slow of ac- 
 complishment ; in consequence of their not having 
 been preceded or accompanied by an equivalent reform 
 in ideas and habits, the result has not fully answered 
 the expectations of those who instituted the law. More- 
 over, circumstances have transformed the school ques- 
 tion into a political question, and thus the undertaking 
 was perverted at the very outset. Secondary education 
 has been improved after a series of gropings and of ex- 
 periments in details. The competition of the free es- 
 tablishments has, perhaps, been of the greatest service ; 
 but no one either cherished great ambitions for it or 
 showed audacious generosity towards it. And. in con-
 
 EDUCATION. 309 
 
 elusion, higher education has undergone a radical trans- 
 formation which, discreetly but resolutely pursued, was 
 discerned by the public only at the moment when it 
 was winding up the reconstitution of the regional uni- 
 versities. 
 
 There was an element of foolish confidence in the 
 ardor with which the republicans undertook the reform 
 of primary education. In a famous speech made at 
 Belleville on August 12, 1881, Gambetta called the 
 school " the seminary of the future," " That thing 
 whence should issue forth citizens fully qualified to 
 cope with the difficulties of life, and prepared also for 
 the service of France abroad." All those who toiled 
 with him at the elevation of the nation shared his en- 
 thusiasm ; they were fond of repeating to themselves 
 that the German schoolmaster had paved the way for 
 avenging Jena, and they beheld the vision of the 
 younger generations grouped around teachers solely 
 bent upon making their pupils participants in their 
 hopes for the future, upon rendering them fit for the 
 holy tasks, the heavy toils which seemed to be in store 
 for them. In order to execute this programme, it was 
 necessary, first of all, to effect a unity of thought and 
 feeling, a sort of " collective soul," which should be that 
 of young France. At that moment, religion and mon- 
 archy were too closely united to allow of the Republic's 
 confiding, with safety, the education of its sons to the 
 teaching religious orders ; but, on the other hand, re- 
 ligious passions were too greatly overexcited, the ex- 
 cesses of some Roman Catholics had attracted too much 
 attention to the "clerical peril," for secularization to 
 take place with that calmness and deliberation which 
 were fitting. The republicans did not perceive the
 
 310 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 danger of mixing politics and education ; the generous 
 and rather Utopian ideas which inspired them concealed 
 this danger ; they did not take sufficient pains to main- 
 tain their school law above the quarrels of the day. 
 
 The law suppressed the "letter of obedience," a 
 simple certificate delivered by the head of a religious 
 body, and which took the place of a diploma of capacity 
 for the recipient. This privileged treatment consti- 
 tuted a profound injustice towards secular institutions; 
 it is astonishing that such a system could have sub- 
 sisted so long. The Roman Catholics did not under- 
 stand to what a degree the letter of obedience shocked 
 the most legitimate instincts of democracy; it would 
 have been clever on their part to accept its suppres- 
 sion ; the energy which their representatives expended 
 in defending the principle therein involved invited re- 
 taliation, and augmented animosity to such a degree 
 that the majority completely expunged from the school 
 law everything that had reference to religion. 1 The 
 adjustments which the liberals had intended to intro- 
 
 1 Passed by the Chamber in 1880, it was amended by the Senate. Jules 
 Simon caused the words: "Moral and civic instruction," to be replaced 
 by the words : " Duty towards God and towards the Fatherland." We have 
 mentioned that an amendment was introduced, with a view to allowing 
 the Departmental Council the power of " authorizing the ministers of the 
 different religious denominations or their delegates to give religious 
 instruction in the schoolhouses, on Sunday, or the other vacation days, 
 and once a week, after the evening school session." The Chamber rejected 
 these modifications, and the Senate was compelled to yield before the 
 expression of its opinion, and give it up. (See the preceding chapter, 
 "The Republic and the Church.") A number of teachers, drawing their 
 authority from one of M. Duvaux's circulars, dated 1882, took it upon 
 themselves, in the C6tes-du-Nord, to teach the Catechism in school, out of 
 class hours. When questioned on this subject, in November, 1891, M. Leon 
 Bourgeois, Minister of Public Education, declared that he saw nothing 
 reprehensible in this ; but if the ecclesiastical authorities continued, in 
 certain dioceses, to add to the Catechism chapters concerning electoral 
 duties and the degree of obedience due to the civil authorities, he would 
 prohibit that practice.
 
 LEON GAMBETTA, DEPUTY AND MINISTER, AND PRESIDENT OF 
 THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.
 
 UUIVBRSIT7
 
 EDUCATION. 311 
 
 duce in it would not, perhaps, have sufficed to effect 
 peace, but they would have hastened it ; in any case, 
 they would have impeded the movement in favor of 
 free schools, and kept education from becoming a cause 
 of discord in the bosom of the nation. In short, we 
 must not lose sight of the fact that (as we have said 
 in the preceding chapter), if the French are not devo- 
 tees, still they do not admit the idea of an education 
 which is totally devoid of religious sense. Thus it 
 came about that a great many of them sent their chil- 
 dren to free schools, although they did not approve of 
 the end aimed at by the founders of those schools. 
 
 In 1890-1891 there existed in France 81,990 primary 
 schools, of which 67,318 were public schools, and 14,672 
 were private schools. Out of this number 63,419 were 
 secular, and 18,571 were schools under the charge of 
 religious bodies. There were also 3899 public schools 
 under the charge of ecclesiastics. 1 But, on October 1, 
 1891, the time-limit for the secularization of boys' 
 schools expired. In Parliament, and outside it, people 
 were curious to learn the results of the secularization 
 of schools, which had been going on for the last ten 
 years. An inquiry was ordered; the documents col- 
 lected were entrusted to a committee of statistics, 
 charged with interpreting them, and drawing from 
 them the proper conclusions. The report of that com- 
 mittee, drawn up by M. Levasseur, member of the 
 Institute, referred to the period of 1879-1889. In the 
 first place, it was ascertained that there were about 
 200,000 more pupils registered than before ; competi- 
 tion will always prove beneficial ; but the struggle 
 between the Church and the State had, on the other 
 
 1 The whole number of mixed schools (boys and girls) was 19,380, of 
 which 13,472 were kept by teachers.
 
 312 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 hand, resulted in the disappearance of the greater part 
 of the private lay schools : about 1800, containing 
 100,000 pupils, had perished during that period. As 
 for the secularized schools, they represented a figure of 
 5063; in competition with them 2839 free schools of 
 the religious bodies had sprung up. Before seculariza- 
 tion, the 5063 schools counted up 648,824 pupils ; after 
 secularization, they had only 495,963, showing a loss of 
 152,861 pupils, while the recently founded free schools 
 had gained 354,473.! 
 
 Many of these free schools have been founded and 
 continue to be supported by men who are mixed up in 
 political struggles, or by associations like the Society for 
 Education and Instruction, whose publications suf- 
 ficiently set forth their spirit ; they have, in general, a 
 distinctly antj^republican character. But moral in- 
 struction is there given under the religious form, which 
 is the one best understood by the masses ; it may not 
 be impossible to teach morals apart from any religious 
 idea, although the attempts in that line, so far, are not 
 at all encouraging ; but, in order to undertake it, with 
 what vigor of mind must not one be endowed ! What 
 extensive knowledge must not one possess ! Neverthe- 
 less, that is what is required of very young persons, 
 who have hardly had the corners smoothed off in their 
 passage through the normal school for teachers, and 
 who would hardly be in a state themselves to receive 
 the very delicate instruction which they are entrusted 
 with giving to others. In order to build the schools 
 
 1 The principal teaching orders are : the Brothers of Christian Schools, 
 who have schools in 751 localities of France ; the Brothers of Lamennais, 
 who have 337 (of which 302 are in Bretague, where they give instruction 
 to 42,000 children) ; the Marist Brethren (299) ; the Brothers of Saint 
 Gabriel (124) ; the Brothers of Saint-Viateur (119) ; the Marianists (85). 
 (Annuaire de la Jeunesse, 1894.)
 
 EDUCATION. 313 
 
 which were needed, the representatives of the nation 
 did not spare the public money ; l their zeal has often 
 found expression in exaggerated expenditures and use- 
 less luxury ; but no one would dream of criticising the 
 " educational palaces " which they have reared, if one 
 felt sure that the said palaces served to form the citi- 
 zens for whom Gambetta longed. But it was not enough 
 to build schools, nor even to dra\v up programmes, 
 it was necessary, in addition, to form educators ; no 
 one thought of that, or, at all events, no success has 
 been scored in that direction ; in the programmes, a 
 place has been made for moral and civic instruction, 
 without a suspicion that, in order to teach patriotism 
 and honesty, it does not suffice that the instructor 
 should be merely honest and patriotic. 
 
 The young teachers who have thronged to offer their 
 services generally possess an education of doubtful uni- 
 formity, a superficial judgment which easily runs into 
 temerity, an incomplete moral culture, and a profes- 
 sional education which amounts to almost nothing. 
 "Too hasty studies," the director of a normal school 
 has said, "are fatally superficial; no assertion of the 
 master or of the manuals can be submitted to any 
 serious superintendence. The pupil never sees more 
 than one side of things, the one which is presented to 
 him. . . . The little which he knows about a question 
 is, for him, too often, the whole question ; thus he has 
 a tendency inconsiderately to express rash opinions 
 and absolute judgments on men and things. In the 
 schoolroom he often perpetrates stupendous follies, in 
 a dogmatic tone, which seems to defy all contradiction, 
 and it is pitiful to hear him express extreme opinions 
 
 1 The budget of Public Education in 1893 was 176,000,000 francs, of 
 Which 125,000,000 francs were for primary instruction.
 
 314 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 on social, political, and religious matters, which have 
 no longer any mysteries for him, after he has read a 
 score or more of lines in some wretched little journal." 1 
 In order to mitigate the over-severity of this judgment, 
 we must recall the fact that numerous exceptions do 
 honor to the corps of teachers ; we must also recall the 
 self -sacrifice which inspires their deeds. 2 
 
 They certainly did not lack good advice. " Do not 
 believe," they were told, "that your superiors will 
 weigh you by the weight of the parchments which your 
 pupils have won ; attach less importance to winning a 
 diploma or a certificate, more importance to good in- 
 stincts and to moral education. The best master is 
 not he who adorns himself with the greatest number of 
 successes in competitions ; but he whose school has 
 trained the largest number of good men." 3 They 
 were frequently exhorted in this manner, but they are 
 not brought up in a way to render them capable of 
 understanding it, still less of putting it into practice ; 
 always, and in spite of everything, they retain the im- 
 pression that they have a political task to fulfil ; that 
 once provided with a post, they will be obliged to fight 
 against certain influences, to defend certain ideas ; in- 
 stead of the word "secular," signifying neuter, non-con- 
 fessional, it has acquired, when the primary school is in 
 question, the sense of anti-religious, so that "a school 
 ceases to be secular if the name of God is uttered 
 there." 4 
 
 1 Le programme des Ecoles Normales, by E. Devinat, director of the 
 Normal School. (Revue Ptdagogique, Aotit, 1892.) 
 
 2 It is well known that it was the teachers themselves who demanded 
 the suppression of exemption from military service by which they profited. 
 
 3 Advice to Teachers, taken from a Departmental School Bulletin. 
 
 4 Le Temps, October 4, 1894. It is comprehensible that things will 
 change only when the prefects shall have been deprived of the power of
 
 EDUCATION. 315 
 
 The adversary cherishes the same perverted judg- 
 ment; everything good and useful which the school law 
 contains has been forgotten : the principle of compulsory 
 and gratuitous attendance which it consecrates, and 
 which is so strictly in conformity with the aspirations 
 of democracy; the wisely settled programmes, that ar- 
 dent will to act well which animated the reformers, 
 their care to soften transitions by secularizing the 
 schools only little by little, all have been forgotten. 
 Everything has disappeared before the politico-religious 
 controversy which the law stirred up, and behind which 
 have taken shelter all the rancors, all the hatreds of 
 the past : only one thing has been seen in the law, 
 the amendments which are not there. 
 
 The "moral and civic" instruction which it insti- 
 tuted has intrinsically nothing anti-religious about it. 
 Matthew Arnold, the celebrated English writer, relates 
 how, while visiting the communal schools of Paris, he 
 was present at the customary examination which the 
 master applies to very young children : l "To what do 
 we owe this beautiful schoolroom, these benches, these 
 pretty pictures?" In place of the traditional: "To 
 God," the pupil replies in more precise words: "To 
 the Fatherland." Arnold withdrew in surprise, admir- 
 ing the antique simplicity of this teaching. Who can 
 maintain that the disappearance of the word " God " 
 here corresponds to an impious thought ? But when 
 it is a question of explaining to the child his duties 
 "towards his family, towards servants, towards our 
 
 appointing teachers, and the inspectors of academies shall have been 
 emancipated from the guardianship of the prefects. Until that time, the 
 teacher will be chosen for motives other than scholastic, and will remain 
 a political agent. 
 
 1 Programme of the intermediate course (9-11 years) , and the upper 
 course (11-13 years).
 
 316 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 equals," or ''the elements of social morals, as of 
 justice, of charity, of fraternity," l the master finds 
 himself embarrassed. Therefore, in the detailed pro- 
 grammes of the sections, the words : " Duties towards 
 God," have been discreetly replaced. Permission being 
 thus given, the schoolmaster is afraid to make use of 
 it : his teaching would be facilitated only if he could 
 take God as the centre of his reasoning. But, admit- 
 ting that his personal convictions do not deter him, his 
 self-interest prohibits it : he is afraid of compromising 
 himself and confines himself to reading two or three 
 phrases out of some text-book or other ; they fall, cold, 
 formal, dead, so to speak, into the child's mind, and 
 remain sterile there. It may be said that at this mo- 
 ment, in France, moral instruction hardly exists in the 
 public schools ; an indirect, but valid proof of this is to 
 be found in the criminal statistics. While inaugurat- 
 ing, with a remarkable speech, a recent international 
 sociological congress, Sir John Lubbock, Chancellor of 
 the University of London, and member of the House of 
 Commons, recalled the great educational efforts accom- 
 plished by England since 1870, and very legitimately 
 attributed to them the improvement, which he took 
 pleasure in acknowledging, in criminal statistics. "The 
 average number of persons ordinarily in our prisons," 
 he said, " has fallen from 12,000 to 5000. The annual 
 average of persons condemned to prison for grave 
 crimes has fallen from 3000 to 800. With regard to 
 crimes committed by young persons, the result is sur- 
 prising, and the annual number of young persons 
 condemned has fallen from 14,000 to 5000." It is im- 
 possible to misconstrue the close relation proved by 
 
 1 Programme of the intermediate course ($-11 years), and the upper 
 course (11-13 years).
 
 EDUCATION. 317 
 
 these figures between education and criminality. They 
 are of a nature to rejoice those who believe in the 
 beneficent influence of popular education, upon habits 
 and ideas ; but we are forced to admit, at the same time, 
 that French criminal statistics prove an alarming in- 
 crease in the number of crimes and misdemeanors, es- 
 pecially of those committed by very young persons, so 
 that, " far from agreeing to celebrate and bless, as in 
 England, the diffusion of education, many minds have 
 come to doubt its virtue, and others, more violent, to 
 denounce it even as a scourge." 1 
 
 Must God be reinstated in the primary school ? The 
 question has been timidly put ; 2 no reply to it has as yet 
 been made ; but it is doubtful whether the reply will be 
 in the negative. Little by little, the public are begin- 
 ning to see that this question has nothing to do with 
 that of the secularization of the teaching corps. The 
 religious orders, once ejected from the schools, will not 
 return to them; but people are beginning to perceive 
 that everything in their pedagogical outfit is not suit- 
 able for expulsion, and that even if the time has come 
 to dispense with their assistance, it will be more diffi- 
 cult to dispense entirely with their doctrines. 
 
 It is not alone the system of moral teaching, but also 
 the system of general teaching which has produced a 
 certain disenchantment; here, it is true, the evil is less 
 and the remedy more within reach. Too much has been 
 expected from the mere contact of science, from the 
 beatific contemplation of nature, not only for the train- 
 ing of the pupils, but also for the preparation of the 
 teachers. There has been an excess of museums, of 
 
 1 Le Temps, October 3, 1894. 
 
 2 See M. Brunetiere, Instruction et Education. (Revue des Deux 
 Mondes, 1895.)
 
 318 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 monographs ; this gift of pedantic Germany is not 
 readily adaptable to the French spirit, which is fitted 
 to feel the influence of ideas and of men far more than 
 that of things. Without admitting, with M. Francisque 
 Bouillier, that "the pupils before 1871 knew as much as 
 those who have succeeded them, if not more than the 
 latter, since the reign of pedagogy," 1 one wonders 
 whether they did not understand better that which 
 was taught them, and if the few notions very irregu- 
 larly implanted in their minds did not germinate there 
 more readily than is possible to the carefully labelled 
 and catalogued notions with which they are stuffed 
 nowadays. 
 
 As for nature, it does not exercise a direct and im- 
 mediate influence upon the child any more than does sci- 
 ence. The human soul is covered with a sort of animal 
 varnish, of which it must first be divested. " Some even- 
 ing, take several of your pupils," writes M. Buisson, the 
 very distinguished director of primary education, " a few 
 paces beyond the last house in the village, at the hour 
 when the sounds of toil and of life die away, and make 
 them raise their eyes to the starry sky. They have 
 never seen it; they have never been struck with that 
 thought of innumerable worlds, and of the eternal order, 
 the eternal movement of the universe. Arouse them 
 to these new ideas! ..." These are beautiful illu- 
 sions. To be impressed with the thought of the eternal 
 order of things, one must have already thought much 
 and learned much. Another thing which shows that 
 we have been on the wrong road is the deplorable 
 apathy into which those who have been most assiduous 
 in their attendance upon school, and who have seemed 
 
 1 M. Fr. Bouillier, La Pedagogic et les Pedagogues. (Correspondant. 
 August 25, 1891.)
 
 EDUCATION. 319 
 
 to profit most by its instruction, fall after school. 1 One 
 must avoid making his observations upon the effects of 
 the school law in the cities, on the children of working- 
 men, who live in conditions where the opportunities for 
 self -instruction are already more numerous, and where 
 education is more appreciated. It is in the little towns, 
 the villages, the hamlets, that the consequences must be 
 studied. The peasants, after all, represent the great 
 mass of the population ; and if they remain in igno- 
 rance, while the other classes of citizens become edu- 
 cated, a profound fissure will be made in the very heart 
 of the nation. But there is a fact which strikes all im- 
 partial minds : the education which is so generously 
 disseminated does not penetrate the rural districts. 
 The children finish their lessons, and even receive a 
 certificate of having completed their studies, but they 
 make upon those who examine them the impression of 
 a pedagogical fiasco. One feels that they have retained, 
 that they have not comprehended, and what they have 
 retained, they forget as soon as school is over. Ought 
 we not to return to those courses of adult education in- 
 stituted by the Convention, and should not the mission 
 of the schoolmaster in every commune be to give such 
 a lesson, once a week, for the citizens, without distinc- 
 tion of age or of sex ? It is sad to think that, after the 
 lapse of a hundred years, we are still at that point. No 
 one reads books ; no one reads anything but newspapers. 
 There is an absolute famine of lectures ; the rural mu- 
 nicipalities do not dream of organizing any even on 
 technical subjects of immediate utility. 
 
 Alongside of primary instruction, higher primary 
 
 1 Since these lines were written, a congress has been held at Havre 
 (September, 1895), with a view of studying the organization of education 
 for adults.
 
 320 THE EVOLUTION OF FBANCE. 
 
 instruction has been created, almost complete. 1 "It is 
 not college degenerated," said M. Ch. Dupuy, in one of 
 his ministerial circulars, "but school perfected. The 
 question is, to associate a complement of general in- 
 struction with a beginning of professional instruction." 
 The programmes for it have been drawn up in a manner 
 to respond to this happy definition. Modern history, 
 commercial geography, living languages, information as 
 to common law and political economy, book-keeping, 
 and some manual occupations, are ingeniously super- 
 posed in the programme of the primary school. The 
 probable destiny of the children who frequent these 
 schools is, " to fulfil some one of the numerous average 
 employments which agriculture, commerce, manufact- 
 ures, offer to the toilers, with the prospect of a more or 
 less easy, but always modest position." 2 In 1891, 2353 
 boys and 1240 girls presented themselves for scholar- 
 ships at the upper primary schools ; in 1893, 2705 boys 
 and 1265 girls. In 1889, 7869 pupils finished the 
 schools for boys ; a detailed abstract permits us to 
 verify the fact that the various professions chosen by 
 these 7869 boys were thoroughly in keeping with the 
 object aimed at. About 20 per cent went into trade, 27 
 into manufactures, 7 into agriculture, 6 into teaching ; 
 3 per cent went into banks, 1^ into railways, 2 into the 
 army, 4 into the administration ; 7 per cent passed into 
 the special preparatory schools for various professions. 
 For a moment it had been feared that the pupils of the 
 upper primary schools would go to swell the number, 
 already very great, of candidates for employment under 
 the State. In 1889, out of 7869 only 294 followed that 
 
 1 It now numbers 236 schools aiid 528 complementary courses. The 
 upper primary schools were reorganized by the decree of January 21, 1893. 
 
 2 Ch. Dupuy, Circular of 1895.
 
 EDUCATION. 321 
 
 path. Hence that fear was not justified ; there was 
 cause for congratulation. It furnished the proof that 
 the upper primary school answers to a need, and that 
 it has been organized in the proper manner. 
 
 As a municipal school committee has been instituted 
 in each commune to superintend and encourage school 
 attendance, so a committee of patrons has been insti- 
 tuted for each upper primary school, whose office it is 
 to watch over the material interests of the scholars and 
 the good discipline of the school itself. Therein lies a 
 complete embryo of organization, 1 the development of 
 which will render the greatest services, if the thought 
 which gave birth to it is not departed from. The upper 
 primary school can be made a centre of culture which 
 will play the part, in many places, that the primary 
 school has not understood how to fill, or been able to 
 fill. An experiment which is useless and dangerous if 
 it is to be generalized, but interesting if it remains 
 unique, was made in 1888. Twenty-two young men, 
 from fourteen to sixteen years of age, chosen from the 
 best pupils in the upper primary schools of Paris, were 
 placed in a special class of the Charlemagne Lyceum, 
 to receive a classical education ; the object was to 
 ascertain whether it was possible for young men to 
 prepare in three years for the degree of Bachelor of 
 Letters. Moreover, the city of Paris has created at the 
 College Rollin scholarships for outside students, es- 
 
 1 It is, unhappily, certain that, in spite of the progress accomplished, 
 everything in France is, more or less, superficial. The French feel the 
 need of external harmony rather than of real progress. A minister thinks 
 he has done great things when he has written numerous circulars ; and 
 official intelligence too often indicates as accomplished that which has 
 only been decided upon. In democratic times, the really rapid and pro- 
 found results are obtained by the efforts of collective bodies formed out- 
 side of politics and of functionaries. 
 
 Y
 
 322 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 pecially reserved for the picked pupils from the upper 
 primary schools. 
 
 By the side of upper primary instruction, but having 
 more than one point of contact with it, professional 
 instruction waxes strong. The law of December 11, 
 1880, regulated, under the name of manual schools of 
 apprenticeship, the public or free schools founded with 
 a view to developing technical knowledge in young 
 men who intend to enter manual professions, and as- 
 similated to them the upper primary schools in which 
 exist courses or classes of professional instruction. 
 People thought they had noticed that the value of the 
 workman, in almost all the trade-guilds, had a tendency 
 to degenerate. It was this which led the public powers 
 to take up this very important question. The State 
 created three national professional schools, at Voiron, 
 Vierzon, and Armentieres (1886-1887). Many manu- 
 facturing cities had forestalled it ; that is what gives 
 to this instruction a thoroughly special character, and 
 assures to it a fertile future. 1 The impulse has been 
 chiefly local ; old foundations have been developed, 
 like the famous Ecoles de la Martiniere, at Lyons, cre- 
 ated by the legacy of General Martin, who was born at 
 Lyons in 1735, and died at Lucknow in 1800, after 
 a peculiar life; or the Chambers of Commerce have 
 taken action, such was the case with the French 
 school of hosiery, founded at Troyes, in 1888 ; or even 
 individual enterprise has been displayed, the principal 
 of the College of Saumur has succeeded in this manner, 
 
 1 These schools were under the supervision of the Ministry of Com- 
 merce and the Ministry of Public Education. The law of 1882 concerning 
 finances settled that the upper primary professional schools which have 
 industrial and commercial sections should be under the jurisdiction of the 
 Ministry of Commerce and should take the name of Practical Schools of 
 Commerce and Industry.
 
 EDUCATION. 323 
 
 in creating, at his own expense, in connection with his 
 college, an industrial school. Hence these schools pos- 
 sess that which is generally lacking in our public educa- 
 tional institutions, diversity. They avoid that mania 
 for unity, uniformity, which has paralyzed so many 
 efforts and so much good-will. The danger is, that by 
 dint of regulations, decrees, and circulars, they may, 
 eventually, be rendered more and more like each other, 
 and deprived of all their elasticity. 
 
 A large number of private societies aid in the distri- 
 bution of instruction. There are : the Society for Ele- 
 mentary Education, founded in 1815 by Carnot ; the 
 Polytechnic and Philotechnic Associations, which date, 
 the one from 1830, the other from 1848 ; the French 
 Union of Young People, created in 1875 ; the Academ- 
 ical Society of Book-keeping, of Marseilles ; the Philo- 
 mathical Society of Bordeaux, created in 1808 ; the 
 Industrial Society of Amiens ; the Society for Profes- 
 sional Education, of the Rhone ; the Circle of Commer- 
 cial Studies, of Limoges, and many others. Never will 
 these societies be too numerous or sufficiently active. 
 It is of importance that the old countries of Europe 
 should cross a difficult pass. The knowledge which the 
 least of citizens possesses elsewhere is not yet suffi- 
 ciently complete or disseminated with them. Much 
 science elevates, a very little science intoxicates. If 
 popular education is not to be pushed further, all that 
 will have been accomplished is to excite cupidity, to 
 inflame hatreds, and to lead souls astray. 
 
 When the University of France finally accepted the 
 system of competition for its establishments of second- 
 ary education, and when, setting itself face to face with 
 the religious establishments, it said to them : " I will
 
 324 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 take your pupils away from you by doing better than 
 you," it won one of those victories over self which lie at 
 the root of all revivals, and which authorize all hopes. 
 Many, nevertheless, remained sceptical, and wondered 
 how the University would manage to reform itself, 
 a condition indispensable for conflict and triumph. 
 
 The University is a secular body founded by Napo- 
 leon in view of a precise and petty task, that of plac- 
 ing the young men of a whole country in the same 
 harness. Its founder was not content with giving it 
 regulations ; he fabricated for it a state of mind, which, 
 for an association, is the crowning impediment to all 
 progress, to all evolution. He breathed into it that 
 spirit of hierarchy which renders obedience passive and 
 command brutal, and assigned to it a desperately narrow, 
 uniform, and flat road, wherein to move. He installed 
 it under the shadow of his protecting power, habituat- 
 ing it to act only at his order, and assuring to it the men- 
 tal repose which irresponsibility brings. The fascination 
 exercised by Napoleon's genius ; his simple, if not noble, 
 conception of education ; the great lassitude which the 
 revolutionary drama left in its wake ; and, in conclusion, 
 old habits of monastic rigidity, of sombre discipline, 
 and of preventive imprisonment, had as their result 
 that this plan was understood and realized, point by 
 point. Of all the imperial institutions no other received 
 a deeper and more indelible impress from its founder. 
 It may be said that the destiny of France would have 
 been modified had her pedagogy been different. The 
 establishments of secondary instruction have fulfilled 
 their programmes and broken the successive genera- 
 tions which have been entrusted to them. The govern- 
 ing classes have displayed the most complete inability 
 not only to direct the country, but even to direct them-
 
 EDUCATION. 325 
 
 selves. That formidable lesson, the war of 1870, was 
 needed to awaken the nation, to rouse it from its torpor, 
 to restore to it that sense which nothing any longer 
 imparted to it, virile life, the art of willing and of 
 action. 
 
 In the history of the doctrines of education which our 
 grandsons will write, the colorless strangeness of the 
 period which is now coming to an end will appear with 
 far more distinctness than it appears to our eyes. It will 
 be explained only by the disorders which scientific dis- 
 coveries have wrought in the conditions of the material 
 life of individuals, and also by the slow yet incessant 
 rising of the democratic tide which has hypnotized 
 minds and disturbed ideas. Otherwise, how are we to 
 conceive of this indifference with regard to the train- 
 ing of man, when we know that upon that training 
 depends the future of the nation and the greatness of 
 the race ? One can easily understand that the Middle 
 Ages should have been on the point of erecting into a 
 pedagogical maxim the 'scorn of the body, 1 since their 
 tendency was to place the ideal of life beyond the limits 
 of this world, and to offer eternal good things as the 
 supreme goal to the efforts of the living. But that, in 
 an age when competition is so sharp and so universal, 
 when all forces are needed in order to succeed, when 
 life is incessantly compared to a battle, a whole portion 
 of the human being should be neglected ; that the aim 
 should be only to equip the mind, without steeling the 
 character, or developing the corporeal balance, this, 
 indeed, is calculated to daze the imagination. 
 
 And yet so it is. No one, for a space of many years, 
 perceived that the Lyceum was an honest nursery of 
 
 1 But it is well known how virile was the education of the knights who 
 were the " governing" classes of those days.
 
 326 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 conscientious routine officials, condemned to mediocrity, 
 made to be led. Those who occupied themselves with 
 pedagogy did not seem to suspect that anything could 
 be done about it ; they published incredibly empty 
 works, without inspiration, without genius, without 
 even originality, wherein the anxiety to discipline, to 
 break, to conquer, was exclusively displayed. 1 When, 
 in England, was accomplished that marvellous trans- 
 formation of scholastic education which is the prime 
 and fundamental cause of all the aggrandizement of 
 power which the British Empire has enjoyed in recent 
 times, no one in France dreamed of investigating the 
 secret of it. A few isolated appeals had, it is true, 
 rung out here and there, but no one would see in these 
 manifestations anything more than the complaint of a 
 dreamer, or the fantastic fears of a wild enthusiast. 
 
 Nearly everybody, in the universities, was satisfied 
 with his lot. The professors already possessed and 
 the same trait most honorably distinguishes them to-day 
 unbounded devotion, absolute dignity of life, and the 
 consciousness that they were toiling at a thankless but 
 noble task. They suffered less from the slenderness of 
 their means than from their lack of consideration ; if 
 they could not, of themselves, rise to a conception of 
 their pedagogical part superior to the current of ideas 
 which was bearing them along, they at least preserved 
 a certain independence of judgment ; they also pre- 
 served certain democratic preferences mingled with 
 some habits of mind which were rather censorious, and, 
 at times, somewhat Voltairian. 2 
 
 Such was the staff which the Third Republic found 
 in office, and whose sympathies it cost her no trouble 
 
 1 See the work of Monseigneur Dupanloup, De I' Education. 
 
 2 See Victor de Laprade, L'Education Homicide.
 
 EDUCATION. 327 
 
 to win. As for the lyceums and colleges, they shared 
 in the general dilapidation of the scientific establish- 
 ments. It is true that grand and unpractical build- 
 ings had been erected here and there ; but behind the 
 cut-stone facades the cabinets of physics remained 
 empty, the chemical laboratories were deserted. 1 
 
 First of all, programmes were attended to. Second- 
 ary instruction had long been uniform in France ; it 
 included the study of Greek and Latin, ended with 
 the class in philosophy, and had as its sanction the 
 degree of Bachelor of Letters. In 1852 what was 
 called bifurcation was created. Thus those pupils 
 who finished the third degree, and who were more espe- 
 cially gifted in the scientific line, could take the degree 
 of Bachelor of Sciences, the goal of their studies, in 
 two years instead of three. In 1863 M. Duruy insti- 
 tuted special secondary instruction. It has been said 
 of the famous minister that he was " a precursor of the 
 Republic " : and, in point of fact, by virtue of his 
 belief in progress, of his conception of education and 
 public manners, M. Duruy belonged entirely to the 
 reforming and innovating period which opened at the 
 close of the war. M. Duruy's was a fine education, 
 antique in its nobility and simplicity. Napoleon III. 
 had valued it, the more so as he felt that it was not 
 fitted for honors, and inflexible in the presence of 
 flattery. There exists a celebrated engraving, which 
 represents M. Duruy, during the gloomy days of 1870, 
 enrolled in the National Guard, and mounting guard 
 in front of the Ministry of Public Education, where he 
 had so long resided as minister. Nothing more plainly 
 shows to what a degree the learned historian of the 
 Greeks and the Romans had assimilated to himself the 
 1 See M. O. Greard, Education et Instruction. 4 vols.
 
 328 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 grandeur of soul of those men of whose labors he had 
 rendered himself the contemporary and the friend. 
 The creation of special secondary instruction ought, in 
 his opinion, to insure to the young men who intended 
 to devote themselves to agriculture, to manufactures, 
 or to commerce, rapid teaching without either Greek or 
 Latin. The principal advantage of this course of in- 
 struction consisted in having its duration reduced to 
 four years ; but, in 1881, a fifth year was added, and, 
 in 1886, a sixth. Thus special instruction lost its 
 motive of existence. On the other hand, unanimous 
 complaint was made of the unfortunate influence ex- 
 ercised by the degree of Bachelor upon classical 
 studies. 
 
 The Superior Council of Public Education had before 
 it a peculiarly delicate task : from the aggregate of 
 complaints, criticisms, plans, wishes expressed on all 
 sides, nothing stood out distinctly which might serve 
 to guide them ; the very object to be attained remained 
 indistinct. Every one felt the need for reforms; nobody 
 knew in what direction they should be accomplished. 
 Ingenious and alluring arraignments had been drawn 
 up against classical studies ; war had been declared 
 upon them by the universities themselves ; 1 they 
 tried their hand at freedom of thought, and drew up 
 plans for improvement with all the good-will and 
 awkwardness which distinguish recently emancipated 
 minds. They extolled the exact sciences, discounting 
 the effects of a hidden philosophy, even of an unpub- 
 lished scheme of morals of which these exact sciences 
 
 1 See M. Raoul Frary, Question du Latin. The advocates of letters 
 replied to this, with M. Michel Breal, that "it would be pure madness to 
 labor with our own hands to destroy the studies with which our whole past 
 is so intimately bound up." (De I' Enseignment des Langues Anciennes, 
 by M. Breal.)
 
 EDUCATION. 329 
 
 were supposed to contain the precious germs ; 2 and, 
 above all, knowledge was no longer appreciated, ex- 
 cept by quantity, so that programmes continued to be 
 increasingly overweighted, technical vocabularies grew 
 ever longer, examinations were multiplied, and the 
 prospect that France would be subjected in the future 
 to the Mandarin system was plainly discernible. 
 
 Perhaps the task would have seemed less laborious 
 had the Superior Council chanced to be differently 
 constituted; if, by the side of the representatives of 
 official pedagogy, they had been clever enough to 
 make room for the representatives of all the great 
 social interests. 2 But the University had not yet 
 reached the point where it allowed itself to be affected 
 loy influences from without. The ancient spirit of the 
 institution still weighed so heavily upon its assemblies, 
 that those who sat in them could not but feel some 
 alarm at the idea of taking counsel from men who did 
 not belong to their corporation, who did not hold, on 
 many points, the same views, did not have the same 
 habits of thought, were disposed to consider things 
 from a different angle. But when parents are kept 
 aloof from what concerns the education of their chil- 
 dren, and are invited to the lyceums only on the occa- 
 sion of a few rare and solemn festivals, they lose interest 
 in what goes on there. They have been told : We are 
 
 1 " It [science] matures the character by communicating to it, as by a 
 sort of contagion, the fixedness of natural laws. It teaches it both obedi- 
 ence and liberty, by emancipating it from inferior tutelage to bow it before 
 the sole respectable authority ; it delivers it from superstitions, and gives 
 it true independence, by subjecting it to one sole master. Moreover, sci- 
 ence is a poetry and a religion ; it makes the soul quiver with the noble 
 thrill of the immense and the eternal, and by making it greater, elevates 
 it, and thereby purifies it." Berthelet, La Crise de V Enseignment Secon- 
 daire. La Science Educatrice. (Revue des Deux Mondes, May 15, 1891.) 
 
 2 A resolution to this effect was formulated by M. Joseph Reinach in 
 one of the discussions relating to the appropriations for public instruction.
 
 330 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 going to rear your children; do not interfere in any 
 way, and they have taken this advice literally. Only 
 one thing affects them strongly, examinations. To 
 lose a year for the lack of a few points in marks seems 
 to them the supreme misfortune, and they are not 
 wholly wrong in this age of regulated competition 
 when, in many careers, worth and individual effort do 
 not take precedence of seniority. Add to this the in- 
 cessant progress of science, the succession of discoveries 
 which modify points of view and transform methods, 
 and it is readily to be understood that, even at the 
 moment when public opinion began to feel anxious 
 about overdriving, the University proceeded, with the 
 firm intention of lightening its programmes, still fur- 
 ther to overload them! 
 
 As soon as overdriving was mentioned, the Acad- 
 emy of Medicine decided that the matter pertained to 
 its domain, and that an incursion on its part into the 
 realm of public education would be legitimate on every 
 score. But neither the Academy of Medicine nor the 
 Superior Council suspected that there was something 
 more in this than a question of programmes ; before 
 deciding that the brain was being overworked, it was 
 not unprofitable to recall the fact that the muscles were 
 not working enough, so that the proper equilibrium was 
 destroyed. It was private enterprise which was put in 
 operation, on this occasion, to organize physical exer- 
 cises in the very heart of the University, and, at first, 
 rather against its will, and to remind people that 
 moral education can be inculcated with physical edu- 
 cation, and that, in any case, no moral education is 
 accomplished with instruction alone. 
 
 In the lyceums religion occupies an accessory and 
 little valued place ; but this is not subject, from the
 
 EDUCATION. 331 
 
 moral point of view, to the same inconvenience as in 
 the primary school. The lyceum boy has often re- 
 ceived from his family an impress of religious faith, 
 of severe virtue, or, at least, of sturdy patriotism. 
 Rarely does it happen that his conscience is not 
 awakened. What he lacks is character ; he is not 
 taught to exercise his will ; he is not allowed the use 
 of his liberty; he is not exercised in enterprise, in 
 decision, and how can the masters do this when they 
 themselves are dependent to excess, inspected, super- 
 intended, swaddled, so to speak? 1 If the free estab- 
 lishments had understood how to organize this training 
 of character, even in a restricted measure, to throw 
 clown walls, render life easy and joyous to the chil- 
 dren, to accustom them progressively to liberty, noth- 
 ing could have saved the lyceums, neither the money 
 generously voted to rebuild their antiquated walls and 
 to improve their arrangements and furniture, nor the 
 sacrifices agreed upon for the sake of reducing the 
 price of board, augmenting the number of scholarships, 
 facilitating the access to secondary instruction for all. 
 But although they were engaged in open warfare with 
 the University, the free establishments shared in its 
 
 1 An impulse of reform arose in the midst of the University ; supported 
 by the power and authority of M. H. Marion, Professor of Pedagogy in the 
 Faculty of Letters of Paris, a number of head masters and professors have 
 made fortunate beginnings ; nevertheless, it is impossible to foresee what 
 will become of their undertakings. They certainly do contain the germ of 
 a transformation, but its development is opposed by the false advocates of 
 reform ideas. See the works of M. Marion, and especially his Report to 
 the Committee charged with the investigation of the proper improvements 
 to be introduced into the system of the establishments for secondary 
 instruction, 1889. As for instruction itself, a greater liberty is permitted 
 to-day to the person who gives it; he is held less narrowly imprisoned in 
 the bonds of tradition ; his talent and his success will win pardon for 
 many bold experiments which would have appeared doubtful a few years 
 ago.
 
 332 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 spirit and its traditions ; the majority confined them- 
 selves to adding to its pedagogical methods a very 
 strongly enforced religious action ; they feared equally 
 the spirit of liberty and the spirit of innovation. 
 
 During the ten-year period from 1876-1887, the 
 state establishments for secondary education had gained 
 10,907 units ; from 1887 to 1891, they lost 6188. The 
 population of the academies and colleges was, in 1887, 
 89,902, and in May, 1891, it was only 83,714. Four- 
 fifths of this diminution occurs in the boarding-school 
 section. During this period the ecclesiastical establish- 
 ments have never ceased to grow, in slow but constant 
 progress : from 309 in 1876, with 46,816 pupils, they 
 rose to 349 in 1887, and 352 in 1891 ; at the latter date 
 they had 51,287 pupils. It is proper to add 139 small 
 seminaries, with more than 20,000 pupils. These fig- 
 ures permit us to establish the fact that the pupils lost 
 by the State have not passed over to the ecclesiastical 
 establishments, since the latter have gained only 1200 
 pupils, while the State has lost 6000. J Many reasons 
 can be assigned to explain this loss : the decree of 
 1887, which raised the price of school fees, the enor- 
 mous progress of professional and utilitarian instruc- 
 tion. But it is certain that the insignificant amount 
 of moral education, the too exclusive anxiety for suc- 
 cess in examinations, and the neglect of the condi- 
 tions propitious for the formation of character and 
 for the development of manliness count for much. 
 
 If the zeal of the teaching religious bodies has 
 been stimulated thereby, we cannot express too much 
 admiration for the manner in which the University 
 
 1 As for free secular education, its fall has been rapid : 494 secondary 
 establishments and 30,000 pupils were set down to its account in 1876. In 
 1887 it reckoned up 302 establishments and 20,000 pupils; in 1891, 250 
 establishments and 15,000 pupils.
 
 EDUCATION. 333 
 
 has accepted the consequences. In vain has the pos- 
 sibility of obtaining protective legislation been sug- 
 gested to it ; it has not even requested that the 
 decrees of 1880, which temporarily disorganized the 
 colleges of the Jesuits, should be applied again. 1 It 
 has contented itself with the weapons of liberty which 
 it had nobly chosen. Only, the warfare continues to 
 be stern though subdued, and that is why the Univer- 
 sity men were not particularly pleased by the appeal 
 to " the new spirit " expressed in 1893 by M. Spuller, 
 their grand master at that time. 
 
 The Republic has done more for the secondary edu- 
 cation of girls than for that of boys. It may almost 
 be said that it has created it. The history of the 
 education of girls is that of indefinite delays which 
 the administration, on the one hand, political insta- 
 bility on the other, have opposed to progress long 
 admitted to be indispensable. The Constituent As- 
 sembly proclaimed the principle of equality of the 
 sexes in the matter of education. Lakanal got the 
 Convention to decree that every primary school should 
 be divided into two sections, one for the boys, with 
 a schoolmaster ; the other for girls, with a school- 
 mistress. 2 Nothing practical resulted from this deci- 
 sion ; it remained a dead letter. The statute of March 
 17, 1808, which settled the basis of the Imperial Uni- 
 versity, made no mention of schools for girls. A 
 report, drawn up in 1810 by Mme. de Genlis for the 
 Emperor, proved negligences and abuses without num- 
 ber. The same proofs appeared again, twenty-one 
 
 1 In 1865 the Jesuits possessed in France 14 establishments of secondary 
 instruction with 5074 pupils. In 187<> they possessed 27, with 89, 131 pupils. 
 
 2 Decree of Brumaire 27, Year III. (November 17, 1894).
 
 334 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 years later, under the pen of M. de Montalivet, ad- 
 dressed to King Louis Philippe. 1 An ordinance of 1836 
 finally settled the conditions under which schools for 
 girls might be established ; but only under the Second 
 Republic was the obligation of the communes to estab- 
 lish them made a part of the law. The battle over 
 secondary instruction lasted for a long time thereafter. 
 No doubt, Mme. Campan had conceived vast projects 
 which she might, for a short time, have believed to be 
 on the verge of realization. But Napoleon did not 
 appreciate them in the least, and restricted himself to 
 a more modest plan for the houses of the Legion of 
 Honor. Outside of the religious boarding-schools, 
 which were very numerous towards the middle of the 
 present century, there existed only series of lectures, 
 which enjoyed considerable popularity for a time ; most 
 of them aimed rather at inculcating a taste for study 
 than at conveying instruction. Though due to private 
 initiative, they gradually won official favor ; the Uni- 
 versity lent its professors, and even granted the hospi- 
 tality of the Sorbonne. At last the time arrived for 
 creating a regular system of secondary instruction for 
 girls. This was the object of Camille See's bill, which, 
 presented to the Chamber in October, 1878, and 
 amended by Paul Bert, ended, under the ministry of 
 Jules Ferry, in the law of December 21, 1880. 2 
 
 This law raised tempests ; the moderation and the 
 wisdom of its principal provisions were misunderstood. 
 
 1 " A certain number of schools ranged among the schools for boys," 
 wrote the minister, " comprise children of both sexes. Everything leads 
 us to believe that the schools especially designed for girls have been left in 
 a situation still more deplorable than those designed for boys." 
 
 2 See, on this subject, the very interesting statements of M. Gre'ard, 
 Vice-Rector of the Academy of Paris, in the third volume of his work, 
 Education et Instruction.
 
 EDUCATION. 335 
 
 One would have said, to hear the harangues of its ad- 
 versaries, that it was setting up a system of education 
 based upon a monstrous assimilation between woman 
 and man. In reality, it carried on the pedagogical 
 traditions of Mme. de Maintenon, from which the foun- 
 dresses of the religious boarding-schools had swerved. 
 Scarcely had it been promulgated, when a normal 
 school was opened at Sevres, for the purpose of putting 
 it in practice, and then twenty-five plans for establish- 
 ing academies for girls were adopted, and negotiations 
 were opened with numerous municipalities with a view 
 to increasing the number of these establishments. The 
 utility of a legislative measure is gauged by the eager- 
 ness to make use of it displayed by the citizens. 
 
 Another advantageous point under a democracy is, 
 that the law is called upon to consecrate the happy 
 initiative of its citizens. The reconstitution of the dis- 
 trict universities furnished an occasion for this ; but 
 such an occasion presents itself so rarely in France, 
 that the legislator seems to hesitate to grasp it, as if 
 the undertaking alarmed him by its audacity and its 
 novelty. Nevertheless, the idea was not novel, and had 
 not been regarded as audacious in less propitious times. 
 
 In 1815 Royer-Collard drew up an ordinance, by 
 which the Imperial University vanished to make room 
 for seventeen regional universities. .This ordinance 
 never saw the light. He who had conceived it was 
 sufficiently liberal to appreciate the scope of such a 
 reform, and to discount its advantages ; but the majority 
 of Frenchmen would have discerned in this act only a 
 deliberate reaction against the preceding system. More- 
 over, the regional universities could not live ; they 
 lacked everything. It seems that Guizot and Victor
 
 336 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Cousin desired to take up. Royer-Collard's plan ; but 
 the unpopularity which then attached to any attempt 
 at decentralization paralyzed their good-will. The law 
 of 1850, which destroyed the University, in so far as it 
 was a corporation enjoying a monopoly and an endow- 
 ment, did not create universities ; it confined itself to 
 organizing, in the stead and place of this corporation, 
 the department of Public Education, that is to say, 
 state education alongside of free education. M. Duruy 
 found himself pretty much in the same situation as 
 M. Guizot. Nevertheless, he fpunded that School of 
 Higher Studies, the first basis of reform, which was 
 truly a focus of university spirit, if not of university 
 life. It was after 1870 that the awakening took place. 
 The part which the German students had played in the 
 re -establishment of the Empire was suddenly perceived, 
 and, by comparison, men ascertained that France had no 
 students. 
 
 Let us understand the matter clearly. She had nine 
 thousand students, against twenty-two thousand in 
 1893. The difference is great in quantity ; but in 
 quality it is immense. The nine thousand followed 
 several courses, or, rather, they were inscribed with a 
 view to certain examinations ; they prepared them- 
 selves for these examinations, isolated, abandoned; they 
 studied ; they were not students. That which, above all 
 else, characterizes students is solidarity, solidarity in 
 work, in amusements, in effort, in emotion ; solidarity 
 not only with the older or younger comrades who come 
 and go, but with the masters in the passionate quest 
 of scientific progress. An individualistic university, 
 where every man should work only at his own advance- 
 ment, and should think only of his own future, would 
 be, in some sort, an institution contrary to nature. Far
 
 EDUCATION. 337 
 
 from producing collective force, it would engender des- 
 iccation and disintegration. Whenever the young men 
 of a country are agglomerated in a place of work, if 
 that place is a focus of national life, there exists an 
 excess of solidarity among those who are collected 
 there. It is a certain criterion ; for, in order to have 
 sufficient solidarity in work, that solidarity must, of 
 necessity when young men are in question be ex- 
 cessive in amusement. Clever nations attribute extreme 
 importance to the merry demonstrations of their stu- 
 dents ; they rarely have cause to repent. 
 
 About 1875 wise statesmen felt that France lacked 
 force in this direction ; but they then imagined that 
 a change in the University organization would suffice 
 to remedy the defect. M. Waddington prepared a bill 
 which created seven universities by grouping together 
 academies, those of Caen, Paris, and Rennes being joined 
 to form the University of Paris, those of Grenoble, 
 Dijon, and Clermont, entering into the University of 
 Lyons, and so on. The plan was doubly imperfect: 
 in the first place, because a university, in order to 
 lead its true life, must not be cut up into bits, and in 
 the second place, because the name does not make the 
 thing, and before having universities, it was necessary 
 to train- students. M. Waddington's law suffered the 
 fate of Royer-Collard's ordinance : it remained buried 
 in the official pigeonholes. The government could not 
 do much in this matter, and the work which it desired 
 to accomplish was destined to fall to the lot of eminent 
 men who, anxious only to raise the standard of public 
 education, had already toiled long, outside of all politi- 
 cal fluctuations, at the development of faculties. M. du 
 Mesnil was one of these men ; Albert Dumont was another, 
 zealous, persevering, indefatigable. Other workers fol-
 
 338 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 lowed, who, more fortunate, beheld the crowning of 
 the edifice : M. Liard, the eminent Director of Supe- 
 rior Instruction, who has himself set forth the his- 
 tory of this question ; M. Lavisse, whose eloquence has 
 so often thrilled the young members of the schools ; 
 and others still, less conspicuously placed, but whose 
 action and influence have been no less forcibly exerted 
 in a more restricted sphere. 
 
 It was necessary to reconstruct buildings, plans, im- 
 plements, and to make over programmes also. The 
 buildings were insufficient; in many places they were 
 unsuitable. The outfit was incomplete, and, in some 
 cases, did not exist at all. The plans of work required 
 enlargement. The programmes were not in accord 
 with the state of science, especially \vhere medicine 
 and the degree of licentiate of letters were concerned. 
 The transformation began, very modestly, about 1879, 
 at Lyons, at Douai, at Bordeaux, at Paris, and at Mont- 
 pellier. 
 
 In less than three years there were groups of stu- 
 dents here and there; the germ of reformation was 
 multiplying. Parliament did not refuse the requisite 
 loans, which were, however, very moderate. In 1883 
 'an investigation was instituted. A question was put 
 to the persons interested : Is there any reason for 
 transforming the faculties into universities analogous to 
 those which exist abroad ? The reply from the ma- 
 jority of the faculties was : Yes. The temptation to 
 present a law in reply to these expressed wishes again 
 presented itself. " But," said M. Liard, " we were 
 wise enough to wait a little longer. It was deemed 
 better to place the faculties in a position to prove their 
 university vocation. To that end, they were granted a 
 liberty which they had never hitherto known, mediums
 
 EDUCATION. 339 
 
 of common life which were entirely new, and they 
 were told : Live and act. The universities will be the 
 goal and the recompense." 1 In truth, the decrees of 
 1885 restored to the faculties that civil personality 
 which had ceased to exist in fact, if not in law. The 
 General Council was created, a sort of university 
 senate which, in each academy, exercises scholastic, 
 scientific, administrative, financial, and disciplinary 
 attributes. The end was pursued, successively, of con- 
 centrating the masters in the bosom of each faculty, 
 and of concentrating the faculties in the bosom of each 
 academy ; and meanwhile, the concentration of the 
 students was being effected on the other hand. The 
 object was not so much to create pecuniary resources, 
 as to multiply the bonds which united the faculties to 
 the cities, to the districts, to the citizens. In Lyons 
 the society of the Friends of the Lyons University was 
 founded, inspired by the spirit of enterprise which dis- 
 tinguishes that great city. Montpellier was already 
 looking forward to the opportunity afforded by the cele- 
 bration of its sixth centenary to assert the intensity 
 and the vitality of its university aspirations. But the 
 public had not yet been taken into their confidence. 
 The newspapers said nothing. Consequently, people 
 grew indignant when they saw MM. Berthelot and 
 Spuller transport to Lille the faculties of law and 
 letters which were living in isolation at Douai. Peo- 
 ple cried out against centralization in the presence of a 
 measure preparatory to the most complete and most 
 frank effort at decentralization which France has seen 
 carried out in this century. 
 
 "The experiment has now been going on for five 
 years," wrote M. Liard in 1890, " and in more than one 
 
 1 L. Liard, Universitts et Facultes.
 
 340 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 respect it has succeeded beyond the most optimistic 
 hopes. The moment of consecration cannot be long 
 delayed. To the fact must be added the right. It is 
 not, please to observe, a simple affair of words, or of 
 local vanity. We must not say : Such as they are 
 to-day, with their General Councils, our faculties possess 
 a life which will bear comparison with that of univer- 
 sities abroad. They will possess but a title the more 
 on the day when they become universities. No ; two 
 essentials are wanting in the groups which they now 
 form, unity and personality. These groupings are 
 maintained, no doubt, because they rest upon good- 
 will and upon a hope ; but they constitute only a 
 transitory, not a definitive state. Each one of the 
 elements of which they are composed is stronger than 
 the whole, which is a contradiction. It has legal unity, 
 the group has not ; it has civil personality, the group 
 has not." 1 
 
 On July 22, 1890, the government brought into the 
 Senate a bill for a law relating to the constitution of 
 universities. The debate opened on March 10, 1892 ; 
 a year and a half had passed in collecting the opinions 
 of the learned world, and, above all, in listening to the 
 complaints of towns which deemed themselves wronged. 
 The majority of the senators was hostile ; once more 
 local interests carried the day over general interests. 
 Nevertheless, the question is only postponed ; it is 
 hardly possible to elude it. In any case, Article 7 of 
 the law of Finances, of April 28, 1893, by ordaining 
 that " the body formed by the union of several faculties 
 of the State in one academic department is invested 
 with civil corporateness," has put an end to the un- 
 fortunate anomaly pointed out by M. Liard. In the 
 
 1 L. Liard, Universitts et Facultes,
 
 EDUCATION. 341 
 
 meantime, excellent progress has been made. The 
 university cities have made large sacrifices : " Lyons 
 has spent seven million ; Bordeaux, three ; Grenoble 
 has given 720,000 francs for its faculties, and Caen 
 about 900,000. Since the year 1876, 211 professor- 
 ships, 200 complementary courses, and 129 lectureships 
 have been created, in the old faculties, and in the 
 faculties of medicine and law recently instituted." 1 
 Finally, the nature of instruction has been modified. 
 "Where professional anxieties reigned, more science 
 has been introduced, and a professional task has been 
 set to the faculties which did not possess it." 2 The 
 students have become the associates of the professors. 
 " They no longer receive science ready-made ; they 
 aid in making it ; they take part in the researches, the 
 gropings, the investigations, of their masters." 3 
 
 They have united their own efforts by founding as- 
 sociations which the public powers have ingeniously 
 encouraged. The General Association of the Students 
 of Paris, founded in 1884, reckoned, in 1893, nearly six 
 thousand active members. 4 It played an active part in 
 1889, at the inauguration of the palace of the Sorbonne, 
 which attracted to Paris the representatives of the uni- 
 versities of the world. Its delegates have participated 
 in more than one international scientific solemnity. If, 
 on other occasions, it has surprised and discouraged 
 some of its protectors, and led to a current of public 
 opinion less favorable to their views, the fault lies in 
 that cynicism which has too long dominated young 
 Frenchmen, and against which they find it difficult to 
 react, because the preceding generation does not render 
 
 1 Paul Melon, L'Enseignment SupMeur et I'Enseignment Technique en 
 France. - Ibid. 
 
 3 Report of M. Ch. Duruy on the appropriations for public education, 
 1893. * Annuaire de la Jeunesse, 1894.
 
 342 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the slightest aid. In this respect, the presence in 
 Paris, and in other large cities, of numerous foreign 
 students must be regarded as a benefit ; twenty years 
 ago their number was insignificant ; at the present 
 time it is considerable. Their influence will not prove 
 unavailing ; they learn to know a France which was 
 unknown in their own homes, and they give to the 
 Frenchmen, their comrades, a more just notion of the 
 rest of the world. 
 
 It must not be imagined that the district universities, 
 once reconstituted, will enjoy absolute independence. 
 The system of emancipation to which they aspire would 
 appear intolerable to the Senate of Cambridge or to the 
 President of Yale : they will be able to think and act 
 more freely, and that is much. But they will not be 
 able to escape the action of the State, which will hence- 
 forth be exercised upon public education in France in 
 an all but irremediable manner. At the advent of the 
 Third Republic it was still an open question whether the 
 State would, or would not, assume a definitive prepon- 
 derance over free instruction ; the Republic has settled 
 it in the affirmative. It was not obliged to do so, by 
 its principles; circumstances, rather, have led to that 
 result. Free instruction obstinately resisted ; at times, 
 it presented the illusion of a half-victory, but it was 
 only an illusion. When the political hatreds which 
 play off the free primary school against the public pri- 
 mary school shall have finally subsided, the former 
 will disappear, because its means of subsistence will be 
 exhausted : it will receive no more money, and will 
 excite no more enthusiasm. The attempts which have 
 been made, with a view to creating free higher instruc- 
 tion at Paris, Angers, Lille, Lyons, and Toulouse, have 
 ended in disappointment, and there, again, politics serve
 
 EDUCATION. 343 
 
 as a support. Only one foundation has prospered, the 
 free school of political sciences of Paris. This assur- 
 edly is one of the finest creations of the present time ; 
 but its success, like its origin, is exceptional. 
 
 As for secondary instruction, besides being, by nature, 
 fictitious and conventional, and apt, in consequence, to 
 undergo the most radical metamorphoses, it is important 
 to note that no serious and consecutive effort has yet 
 been made by the State to exclude its rivals. We have 
 already pointed out that the University had nobly ac- 
 cepted the combat with equal weapons, but if one of its 
 great teachers were to take the initiative in protective 
 legislation, the majority of public opinion would hardly 
 criticise him ; it certainly would not rise in revolt, so 
 indifferent has it become to the fate of free education. 
 Hence, it considers that education is a State service. 
 
 The tendency to invest the State with a pedagogical 
 role seems to be increasing in our day : in whatever 
 direction one turns, one perceives the primary school 
 directed, inspected, or coveted by the State ; 1 but this 
 tendency is not new. Theologians have long encour- 
 aged it ; Saint Thomas Aquinas admits, in plain terms, 
 the right of the State. 2 The "laws and statutes " of the 
 University, made and promulgated on September 18, 
 1600, by " the order and will " of King Henry IV., im- 
 plicitly proclaim it. 3 In the time of Louis XIV., the 
 
 1 It is to be noted that the Anglo-Saxon world does not escape the gen- 
 eral current on this point. Moreover, if the movement has been more 
 tardy and slow in England, it is because private industry forms the citi- 
 zen there after a definite type, which is the same for all. Under an appar- 
 ent diversity of appearances, we may say that unity is realized to such a 
 degree that the State would not be able to render it more complete. 
 
 2 Contra Impugnantes Religionem. 
 
 8 Even disagreement between the State and the Church is provided for. 
 Article 23 specifies that, in the teaching of the faculty, "nothing shall be 
 contrary to the rights and dignity of the King and of the realm." (Com- 
 payre, Histoire Critique des Doctrines de I'fiducation en France, Vol. II.)
 
 344 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 theory remains the same. 1 At the approach of the 
 Revolution, men descanted learnedly, and not without 
 pedantry, on everything which concerned education. 
 The majority of the great thoughts and the wild 
 schemes of the Convention have already been announced 
 and discussed. Diderot and Helvetius agreed in their 
 protests in favor " of a national and civil system of edu- 
 cation entrusted to the hands of laymen, and directed 
 by the State." 2 And Turgot declares that "the study 
 of the duties of a citizen ought to form the founda- 
 tion of all other studies." 3 President Holland, in his 
 " Plan for Education in Universities and Colleges," 4 
 proposes that all establishments created by the private 
 enterprise should be subordinated to the official colleges, 
 and, by the decree of August 6, 1779, the court of 
 Paris orders that, in all cities where there are colleges, 
 the masters of boarding-schools shall be obliged to take 
 thither " all their boarders who are studying the Latin 
 language, beginning with the fifth class." It is evident 
 that old France was not liberal in the matter of edu- 
 cation. Therefore there is no reason for astonishment 
 if modern France -has allowed the State to assume 
 the pedagogical preponderance. Neither would there 
 be any reason for excessive alarm, if it were merely a 
 question of science. It is impossible to enslave science ; 
 henceforth it dwells on inaccessible peaks. But educa- 
 tion comprises something more than cultivation of the 
 mind ; in order to make a man, liberty is needed. Per- 
 haps power will belong, in the future, to collective bodies, 
 
 1 See Memoire sur les Ordonnances. 
 
 2 Compayre, Histoire Critique des Doctrines de I 'Education en France, 
 Vol. II. 
 
 8 Memorials to the King. 
 
 4 Presented on May 13, 1768, to the assembled Chambers of the Parlia- 
 ment of Paris.
 
 EDUCATION. 345 
 
 whose humane ideal will have been lowered by material 
 anxieties, or by too prolonged and too harsh a strug- 
 gle for existence ; and these collective bodies will 
 relax university authority ; what use will they make 
 of it?
 
 346 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 
 
 A New Spectacle. Patriotism throughout the Ages. Its Modern For- 
 mula. Contradictory Problems. A Work of Perseverance and of 
 Confidence. The Effect on the Nation. Officers and Soldiers. 
 Diverging Tendencies. A Socialistic Lesson in Things. Ideal and 
 Patriotism. 
 
 IT has been related that when, in the port of Cron- 
 stadt, Alexander III. came to pay a visit to the French 
 fleet, and reviewed the crew of the admiral's ship, he 
 uttered these words, which were repeated to a French 
 ear : " I did not think that the sailors of a Republic 
 could have such discipline." If this remark was not 
 actually made, we may affirm that the Emperor of 
 Russia thought it, and, with him, all the princes and 
 superior officers who accompanied him. On the day 
 when the imperial host of the French Republic received 
 that impression, its founders, the men of will and per- 
 severance who had erected it upon ruins, and had con- 
 solidated it amid a thousand storms, received the supreme 
 reward of their energy and their devotion. Certainly 
 not because glory and military conquests were the chief 
 aim of their efforts, or because they had set their am- 
 bition on creating a more formidable army than circum- 
 stances demanded, but because the fact of their having 
 succeeded in creating this army for the defence of their 
 native land, and the protection of the nation, constitutes 
 the greatest moral victory that a people has ever won 
 over itself, and proves that its patriotism is equal to all 
 difficulties and superior to all perils.
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 347 
 
 Tocqueville, calling to mind the dangerous influence 
 of the military spirit on democracies, expressed a truth 
 which no one had yet dreamed of contradicting. The 
 aristocratic officer of former days was a person of con- 
 sequence, independent of his rank, while promotion is 
 the only source of consideration and honor for the demo- 
 cratic officer, and war offers the only opportunity for 
 promotion. Thus it comes about that the armies of 
 nations which are the most attached to peace are those 
 which are the most anxious for war. "These oppos- 
 ing inclinations of the -nation and the arrny subject 
 democratic societies to great dangers ; their armies 
 often display uneasiness, grumble, and are dissatisfied 
 with their lot." 1 "This weakness of democratic re- 
 publics in crises," says the distinguished writer, in 
 another place, " is, perhaps, the greatest obstacle which 
 presents itself to the foundation of such a Republic in 
 Europe. In order that a democratic Republic should 
 exist without difficulty among a European people, it 
 would be necessary that it should be established simul- 
 taneously with all the rest. If it should ever come to 
 pass that a democratic Republic, like that of the United 
 States, were founded in a country where the power of a 
 single person had already been established, and had been 
 accepted among the customs, like administrative centrali- 
 zation in the laws, I do not hesitate to say that, in such 
 a Republic, despotism would become more intolerable 
 than in any of the absolute monarchies of Europe." 2 
 
 The United States themselves were the first to con- 
 tradict Tocqueville. Their distant situation and their 
 isolation seemed to favoj the maintenance of peace. 
 But in their midst existed a germ of war, which armed 
 
 1 A. de Tocqueville, De la De'mocratie en Ame'rique, Vol. III. 
 ' 2 A. de Tocqueville, De la De'mocratie en Ame'rique, Vol. II.
 
 348 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 against each other the two halves of the nation, distinct 
 in race, traditions, and interests. After that gigantic 
 struggle of four years' duration, no one would dare 
 assert that dictatorship is impossible, because the dic- 
 tator was there at hand, with a party ready to acclaim 
 him, and no scruple to stop him. It came within a 
 few votes of the people abdicating into his hands. 
 Probably the dictatorship would not have lasted, but 
 how many disasters it might have accumulated in a 
 short time ! 
 
 France was much more exposed than the United 
 States ; her liberal attempts had suffered shipwreck, 
 and, on two occasions, she had endured, for fairly 
 long periods, the yoke of a single man. The repub- 
 lican system of government of 1870 had not, more- 
 over, had time to harden ; men found themselves 
 forced to organize the army simultaneously with lib- 
 erty. It was an alarming task, and alarming to such a 
 degree that it must have inspired more than one per- 
 son with secret terror. Was there no way of elud- 
 ing it ? Without dreaming of disarmament, was it 
 not possible to hint that, under the new rule, military 
 matters would be relegated to the background ? How 
 greatly would the release from this anxiety have 
 facilitated the establishment of democratic institu- 
 tions ! But the republicans repulsed the temptation. 
 They accepted all the consequences, all the difficul- 
 ties of the situation. Country came first, the Repub- 
 lic second. Their example was followed, and a very 
 noble and very simple alliance soon was sealed be- 
 tween them and their adversaries. Every time that 
 the professional interests of the army were at stake, 
 men voted as Frenchmen, without distinction of party. 
 
 This result is due to the transformation of patriot-
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 349 
 
 ism, which has become a sort of national religion. 
 This religion must be studied, because its part in 
 the present period has been so great that we may 
 compare its effects on the moral world to the action 
 which the practical application of steam and elec- 
 tricity have exerted upon the material world. Only, 
 if the thing is new, the word itself is old. It has 
 so often been employed at haphazard, that patriotism 
 appears like an untransformable sentiment, forming 
 part of the very patrimony of humanity. It is nat- 
 ural for man to respect his parents, to love his chil- 
 dren ; it seems no less natural that he should love 
 his country. One does not reflect that he has not 
 always had a country, that the Judaic tribe, the 
 Roman family, the Greek city, the Frank kingship, 
 were not in the least the equivalents of what we 
 to-day call country-fatherland. 
 
 Ancient Egypt could not have known patriotism. 
 " Between the sea and the first cataract, to Philee, 
 five or six different countries could be mapped out," 
 writes M. Marius Fontane. 1 The idea of fatherland 
 could not be formed in the mind of such a people, 
 and had the notion of grandeur through unity made 
 its way into the brain of a few, the rivalries of the 
 great would have combated this illogical innovation. 
 Thus, "as soon as war was mentioned, at least half 
 the men whose age rendered them fit for service made 
 haste to take refuge in the mountains, out of reach 
 of the recruiting agents." 2 The Jewish people knew 
 patriotism under the form "of a national God, iden- 
 tified with the nation, victorious with it, vanquished 
 with it, its double, the personified genius, the spirit 
 
 1 Marius Fontane, Les figyptes. 
 
 2 Maspero, Sous le Regne de JRamses II.
 
 350 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 of the nation, in the sense which savages attribute to 
 the word spirit. " 1 Greece was a confederation of cities, 
 over which soared an idea, that of the superiority of 
 the race, and of its predestination. That alone suffices 
 to efface, at times, their divergences, to cause barriers 
 to fall, and to raise up a Greece unified, for the mo- 
 ment, to face the stranger ; but it was the productions 
 of their genius, the golden legends of their past, which 
 the Greeks loved and defended against the "barba- 
 rians." At Rome there is an emblem, a sort of flag ; 
 it is the emblem of the Roman might, of that power 
 exercised by a handful of citizens, at first over a coun- 
 try, then over a collection of countries, and, at last, 
 over a whole section of the known universe. The for- 
 mula Senatus populusque Romanus does not represent a 
 fatherland, but a state of things. The Empire, which 
 comes next, is not a nation either ; it is an administra- 
 tion. Vercingetorix is a patriot ; he has a presenti- 
 ment of a moral power which shall be formed both 
 from the soil and from the blood. He is unable to 
 define it, and obeys it instinctively. He is still too 
 close to invasions which drag masses of men across 
 continents, and deprive them of all idea of territorial 
 stability, all notion of any connection whatever between 
 man and place, of a secret understanding between the 
 earth and the soul. In the Middle Ages France begins 
 to become something precise, at least in the heart of 
 her children. " She flings herself into the crusade," 
 charging herself " with the actions of God against the 
 infidel." 2 On her road she creates kingdoms and prin- 
 cipalities ; Jerusalem, Cyprus, Athens, Constantinople, 
 have, for a time, French sovereigns ; knights go and 
 
 1 E. Renan, Histoire du Peuple d' Israel, Vol. I. 
 
 2 E. Lavisse, Vue Gdne'rale de I'Histoire de V Europe.
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 351 
 
 found a Christian state in Portugal, or chase the Sara- 
 cens and the Greeks from the south of Italy. The 
 expansion is effected in the name of a religious, feudal, 
 chivalric France. But men like Etienne Marcel are 
 there, to demonstrate that the true idea of fatherland 
 is still confused; that culture of mind, the most emi- 
 nent qualities, do not suffice to elevate the individual 
 to the conception of the collective mass to which he 
 belongs. It is rather among the humble, the insignifi- 
 cant, that this conception exists in a state of embryo. 
 Not to mention Jeanne d'Arc, who remains incompre- 
 hensible through the nature of her inspiration even 
 more than through the success of her attempt, have 
 not Guillaume 1'Aloue, Philippe Le Cat, 1 Bochier, and 
 oil those who locally take part in the national deliver- 
 ance, at the bottom of their own hearts something like 
 the sensation of fatherland which is about to be born ? 
 And, later on, when the monarchy has become the cen- 
 tral point, when " the loyalty of the nobility and the 
 love of the people towards the sovereign take the place 
 of patriotism," 2 in the obscure ranks of the soldiers 
 who die for dynastic interests, beyond the figure of 
 the King there appears, no doubt, that of country, but 
 uncertain, without precise outlines, without determinate 
 color. They divine rather than see it ; yet, neverthe- 
 less, they owe to it the consolation of feeling that their 
 blood, shed in thankless causes, will fertilize the future. 
 Patriotic monarchs, like Louis XI. and Charles V., are 
 no more. Louis XIV. loves France, as Napoleon will 
 love her, later on, because he possesses her, and not 
 because he springs from her. The great chieftains 
 change their country ; they go and come, from one 
 
 1 Simeon Luce, La France pendant la Guerre de Cent Ans. 
 
 2 E. Lavisse, Vue Generate de I'Histoire de V Europe.
 
 852 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE, 
 
 nation to another, practising the trade of military and 
 diplomatic adventurers, like Eugene de Savoie and 
 Mazarin. Then, on the approach of the Revolution, 
 when issue forth countries in their modern form, the 
 enlightened classes which detach themselves from roy- 
 alty rise to the idea of humanity as they seek their 
 path. " Our writers of the eighteenth century," says 
 M. Lavisse, "have rediscovered humanity, lost since 
 the days of Plato, of Seneca, and of Marcus Aurelius, 
 or, at least, replaced during the Middle Ages by the 
 ecclesiastical idea of Christianity, and, later on, by the 
 political idea of Europe." 1 
 
 In Germany it is the same. "The question is always 
 of humanity ; the idea of country is lacking." 2 Leib- 
 nitz conceived it and expressed it, but its pan-Germanic 
 tendencies found no echo ; he spoke a language which 
 the masses did not understand. Lessing writes that 
 " the reputation of patriot is the last " to which he 
 would aspire ; he proclaims himself " a citizen of the 
 world." "Country, patriotism, are mere words," writes 
 Goethe, in 1772, " nothing but words. If we find a place 
 in the world where we can be tranquil with our posses- 
 sions, a field to nourish us, a house to shelter us, have 
 we not there a country ? " 3 " Patriotic interest," writes 
 Schiller, in 1789, 4 " has a value only for those nations 
 which are not yet mature, for the youth of the world." 
 Kant and Fichte mark a slow transition ; Stein alone 
 gets a clear glimpse of the German fatherland. 6 But 
 it is in 1814, and he is still so far in advance of his 
 compatriots, that the whole of that portion of his work 
 
 1 E. Lavisse, Vue Gentrale. de VHistoire de V Europe. 
 
 2 Levy-Bruhl, L'Allemagne depuis Leibnitz. 
 8 Annonces Savantes de Francfort. 
 
 4 Letter to Koerner. 
 
 6 Levy-Bruhl, L'Allemagne depuis Leibnitz.
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 353 
 
 remains incomprehensible. It is Hegel who will pro- 
 claim the State, " the absolute reality," and will say that 
 " the. individual has no objectivity, verity, or morality 
 except at such time as he is a member of the State." 
 Among us, in 1788, the patriots keep their eyes fixed 
 on the States-General which are about to assemble ; they 
 await the hour to dare. Among the renunciations of 
 the night of August 4, many are sincere. This is plain 
 when hours of gloom arrive. All do not flee. Those in 
 whom the notion of the modern fatherland is completely 
 formed feel where their duty lies, 1 and perform it. They 
 are, it is true, only a handful. The great majority emi- 
 grates ; among the emigrants some seek only safety, 
 and lead, outside of France, a life of privation and toil 
 not devoid of dignity, but the rest bear arms against 
 their country, and willingly agree to restrict its boun- 
 daries for the benefit of the strangers who shall aid them 
 to restore the throne. Among the latter are crimi- 
 nals who know what they are about ; there are, also, 
 many stupid persons, who have understood nothing, 
 learned nothing, and who continue to see in France 
 only the domain of the King whose humble servitors 
 they are. Every one agrees, at the present day, in rec- 
 ognizing that country was on the side of the Conven- 
 tion. " In vain were the revolutionists disciples of the 
 philosophers, and in vain did they follow general prin- 
 ciples and make laws of pure reason ; they declared the 
 national soil sacred and indivisible, treated invasion as 
 
 1 General de Marbot, at the beginning of his Mtmoires, devotes several 
 lines to his father ; behind this physiognomy, barely discerned, one divines 
 an "advanced" mind, which accepts patriotic duty quite naturally, al- 
 though he does not espouse all the illusions of his contemporaries. More- 
 over, the career of that Comte de Virieu who played so noble a part at 
 the siege of Lyons, and always placed country above royalty, has been 
 described with a desire to excuse his liberalism. (See the Roman d'uii 
 Royaliste, by the Marquis, Costa de Beauregard.) 
 2 A
 
 354 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE 
 
 a sacrilege, proclaimed with tragic enthusiasm and the 
 voice of the alarm-bell the duty of all toward their 
 country in danger." l " The principle of all sovereignty 
 is lodged in the nation . . . ; the law is the expression 
 of the general will. All the citizens have the right to 
 contribute, either in person, or through their proxies, 
 to its formation," says the Declaration of Rights. The 
 nation, thus denned, presents an absolute contrast to the 
 States of days gone by. 
 
 Henceforth true patriotism exists. In America, it 
 sprang spontaneously from the very nature of things. 
 " In proportion as conditions become more equal, each 
 man in particular grows more like all the others, fee- 
 bler, smaller. One becomes used no longer to regard 
 the citizens, and to consider only the people ; one for- 
 gets individuals, and remembers only the species." 2 In 
 Europe, it was the French revolutionists who created 
 it, by reaction against the old regimen. But the Revo- 
 lution was exhausted by its own effort, and while other 
 peoples are slowly assimilating the idea of fatherland 
 and the principles of liberty which France instilled into 
 them, France herself distorts the one and forgets the 
 others. The imperial epic threw everything into con- 
 fusion, embroiled everything. It dazzled eyes and dis- 
 ordered minds. A form of patriotism appears, brutal, 
 unjust, despotic, which surrounds itself with hatred and 
 jealousies, and will engender terrible reprisals; the right 
 of nations is violated, institutions are overthrown, glory 
 is fabricated with blood and injustice. Henceforth, to 
 be a patriot will consist less in elevating oneself than 
 in humbling others. Patriotism will be founded upon 
 scorn, instead of resting upon "respect for countries." 
 
 1 E. Lavisse, Vue Generate de I'Histoire de I' Europe. 
 
 2 A. de Tocqueville, De la Dtm.ocra.tie en Amtrique.
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 355 
 
 Thus understood, a special name has been conferred 
 on it ; it is called chauvinism. The chauvin loves 
 noise, vain protestations, grand phrases, magnanimous 
 attitudes, irreconcilable poses. He does not in the least 
 understand " the long memory of ancestors, the joy of 
 meeting again our own soul in their thoughts and in 
 their actions, in their history and in their legends ; the 
 joy of forming a part of a whole whose origin is lost in 
 the mist, and whose future is undefined." 1 Sometimes 
 the national hymn excites him ; but he does not hear its 
 melody singing constantly at the bottom of his soul. 
 On great occasions, the flag arouses his enthusiasm ; 
 but he does not preserve the reflection of its colors all 
 day long, in the depths of his eyes. Very different is 
 the true patriot. His portrait has been admirably 
 sketched by M. de Vogue, in a speech made at the dis- 
 tribution of prizes at the College Stanislas. "What- 
 ever may be your varied pursuits," said the eminent 
 academician to his young auditors, " I know what 
 object in common will give you the most pleasure : it 
 is the greatness of France. When you have an active 
 profession, ask yourselves each evening : What have I 
 done to-day for the greatness of France ? Try to set 
 down some action to this special account every day, 
 and, during this moment of examination, listen to what 
 the old mother, who surrounds you with her arms in 
 the shadow, is saying: Child, I have made thee 
 with long-protracted sufferings ; for the last fifteen 
 centuries my fairest sons have toiled to prepare for 
 thee the supreme pride of bearing our name ; to me 
 thou owest 'the sweet, free cradle where life smiles 
 more radiantly than elsewhere ; thou goest forth to 
 pursue thy particular aim, to seek thy contentment, 
 1 E. Lavisse, Discours aux fitudiants.
 
 356 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 ease, glory, riches ; nothing can be more legitimate. 
 But subtract for me something from thine effort. I 
 ask of thee not merely the offer of thy blood in great 
 perils, that is too easy. What I ask of thee is more 
 difficult, the daily sacrifice of an idle inclination, of a 
 prejudice, of an intolerance, of a part of thine individ- 
 ual tastes and desires, that, at this cost, thou mayest give 
 me the elements which are indispensable to my strength, 
 union, private peace, the certainty of being obeyed." 
 
 Of patriotism thus understood, the Republic has 
 made, in France, a sort of dogma ; she imposes it : she 
 regards it as a crime not to believe in it. How will 
 this be judged by our descendants ? Everything is 
 evolution in this universe, whether it be a question of 
 material conditions or of moral laws. Patriotism, like 
 religion, will change its nature again. Will it embrace 
 certain groups of nations, then humanity as a whole, 
 regarded from a certain philosophical angle ? No one 
 can presume to say. But one thing is certain, that it 
 represents, for the present time, a force of incalculable 
 range, much greater than modern societies have had at 
 their disposal ; and it is probable that none of the 
 larger forms which it may assume in the future will be 
 as productive of enthusiasm. The former were too 
 narrow ; the latter will be too vast. 
 
 We have mentioned that the republicans, nobly ac- 
 cepting the responsibility of the faults which others 
 had committed, renounced the prospect, dear to many 
 among them, of suppressing standing armies, and re- 
 placing them with national militia troops. But what- 
 ever may have been the sentiment of self-abnegation 
 which dictated to them this conduct, the problem re- 
 mained none the less arduous, to make the Republic
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 357 
 
 and the army live side by side in the beginning ; one 
 by the other, later on. It was necessary to combine 
 elements which seemed irreconcilable : the annual vote 
 of a heavy war appropriation with the revival of the 
 national wealth ; a very powerful and highly respected 
 military power with a civil power which could live 
 only by moral force, and had not yet had time to 
 acquire it ; professional science and skill with the 
 number of units; a term of service sufficiently long, 
 and as equal as possible for all, the liberal professions 
 being duly protected ; a system of foreign politics 
 necessarily pacific and circumspect with the ambitions 
 and ardors which flow from permanent contact with 
 arms ; soldiers who, springing from the bosom of the 
 nation, were to bear with them to the regiment the 
 republican idea, with leaders many of whom retained, 
 at the bottom of their hearts, sympathy with the sys- 
 tems of government now vanished, and remained im- 
 bued with the spirit and the traditions of monarchical 
 armies. 
 
 Again, it was Gambetta who dictated the course to 
 be pursued. His determination not to permit the intro- 
 duction of politics into the army was manifested from 
 the beginning, with entire clearness. When he spoke 
 of the army, it was at Belleville, on that August 12, 
 1881, when he gave proof of every sort of courage, 
 it was felt that, leaving behind him on the threshold 
 his calculations as a politician, his passions as member 
 of a party, he penetrated into a temple, as it were, 
 where dwelt the very soul of the fatherland ; his lan- 
 guage and his gestures expressed respect and faith. 
 The command was obeyed, because it was given with 
 authority and with a loftiness which placed it beyond 
 all dispute. There were revolts. When he tried to
 
 358 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 place General Miribel at the head of the general staff, 
 Gambetta alarmed his followers. Incapable of looking 
 afar and aloft like their leader, they did not understand 
 -that the army would, willy-nilly, republicanize the men 
 who should consecrate - to it their existence, and that 
 solely through the effect of the sentiment of duty. 
 Other incidents, on divers occasions, gave rise to fears 
 as to the duration of that harmonious equilibrium which 
 was the amazement and the admiration of Europe. It 
 was feared lest the army should compromise peace, or 
 that politics should compromise the army ; but no ! 
 nothing weakened the discipline of the soldiers, or the 
 devotion of the citizens. At times of the harshest 
 quarrels, of the hottest electoral battles, the military 
 question in its essence, if not in its details, remained 
 above party, where Gambetta had raised it aloft on 
 that first day, in the place where nations deposit their 
 arks of the covenant. 
 
 With still greater wisdom, those who governed sup- 
 pressed the anti-republican remarks which escaped the 
 generals between two manreuvres. The ministers and 
 the head of the State himself contented themselves 
 with the rather curt and sometimes rather disdainful 
 salutes which they received from the military authori- 
 ties. For a long time the name of the Republic was 
 pmitted from the formal addresses and the orders of 
 the day ; certain radical newspapers waxed indignant 
 over this, and raised a cry of treason ; in high places 
 confident serenity was maintained. It was known that 
 the lawyers and men of humble extraction, raised to the 
 highest posts' in the State, often by talent, but some- 
 times, also, by luck, must lack prestige with the gen- 
 erals ; nevertheless, no one doubted the absolute devotion 
 and patriotism of the latter. The day came when Presi-
 
 M. SADI-CARNOT, FOURTH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC.
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 359 
 
 dent Carnot, at the end of the grand manoeuvres, could 
 review the troops, and when the enthusiastic crowd 
 hailed him with acclamations. The higher officers 
 grouped themselves about him, touched, at last, by 
 the enlightened solicitude, the unalterable confidence 
 shown by the Republic to its soldiers ; and when the 
 Republic gave the French army the Russian army as 
 its sister, their hearts were won ; they forgot that the 
 commander-in-chief was a civilian ; moreover, destiny 
 had in store for him, as recompense, the death of a 
 soldier. 
 
 During the five-and-twenty years that France has 
 lived in a state of armed peace, her regiments have 
 been renewed sufficiently often to permit of one's mak- 
 ing an attempt to form a general judgment as to the 
 results attained ; results numerous and sufficiently un- 
 expected, on one point, at least. Three classes of citi- 
 zens have passed under the flags, peasants, working- 
 men, and men of the middle class ; and many genera- 
 tions of officers have risen to the intermediate grades, 
 either from the schools or from the ranks. We 
 may reckon that, below the grade of commander, the 
 past is mingled with the present, so far as the influ- 
 ences experienced are concerned, while above, it is, 
 indeed, the new army. This army is, in origin, 
 national, and founded on equality, in the highest de- 
 gree. If there remained, under the shelter of the petty 
 provincial peculiarities which still exist, any leaven of 
 real discord between the men of the North and the 
 South, of the East and the West, it has melted away 
 through contact. Unity was effected long ago ; the 
 finishing touch has been put to it ; it has, in a manner, 
 been polished. Prejudices have grown weaker ; minds 
 have opened to new conceptions ; local interests have
 
 360 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 lost their importance. The result has been a great good 
 for the nation in general ; the peasant needed to be 
 withdrawn from the stupefying influence of the soil ; 
 the workingman from the deceptive mirages of the 
 theorists who indoctrinate him ; the man of the middle 
 class from the isolation which his rank or his fortune 
 create for him. The promiscuousness of the regiment 
 has effected this ; the tasks accomplished, the punish- 
 ments undergone, the forces expended side by side, in 
 a perpetual rivalry of good humor and energy, have 
 amalgamated the young men, taking away from them, 
 for a space, the notion of all that divides them. 
 
 But, individually, the physical and moral effect has 
 not been the same for all. For the middle classes obli- 
 gatory service has been the safety-anchor. Rendered 
 anaemic by the exclusively cerebral and anti-hygienic 
 education which he has received, the young Frenchman 
 of the well-to-do classes often possesses just enough 
 strength and health to resist the first fatigues of mili- 
 tary life, but he emerges therefrom transformed, unrec- 
 ognizable, hardened, and rested, his limbs strengthened, 
 and his brain soothed. The novelty of his existence, 
 the desire to become a non-commissioned officer as soon 
 as possible, have been his moral safeguards, and of his 
 service under the flag he preserves the memory as of 
 something rough and healthy which has deliciously 
 refreshed his life. 1 The peasant and the workingman 
 do not draw from it the same advantages; they have 
 not, like their comrade, excess of mental action which 
 makes them appreciate the physical fatigue that is 
 imposed upon them ; they serve to the best of their 
 ability, but without taking a very keen interest in what 
 
 1 The effect might be made greater by a more intelligent and better 
 superintended exercise of hygienic laws.
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 361 
 
 they learn, and their hours of leisure are employed in 
 a lamentable manner. When work is over, they are 
 turned out into the street. Where can they go? What 
 are they to do? No one cares anything about them. 
 Their soldier's task is done ; no one gives a thought to 
 the fact that they are men, and that the " whole life " 
 is due to them during the whole time of their stay in 
 the regiment. The officer rarely has any perception of 
 that part of .his mission. 1 He is entirely absorbed in 
 his professional duties. In some of the cavalry regi- 
 ments there is even a tendency to rate the horses before 
 the men ; in any case, the officer looks at the men only 
 from the point of view of the profession, and of the 
 services which they will have to render to the country. 
 He would feel intimidated, and think himself ridiculous, 
 if he had to undertake the part of educator. But that 
 is precisely what is needed. Never has a finer field for 
 education been thrown open to persons of good-will. 
 If garrison life is sometimes monotonous, if one feels, 
 at times, exasperated and discouraged by the perpetual 
 preparation for a war which always recedes into the dis- 
 tance, what a source of interest, of emotions, of satisfac- 
 tion, would not one find in the effort to exercise souls as 
 well as muscles ! With such a task to accomplish, what 
 cause for fear would there be in that particularist spirit 
 which, more than is generally suspected, injures the 
 army, by sometimes uniting in over-close bonds, in 
 routine, the officers of one branch, of the same rank, of 
 the same origin ! 
 
 If the army is, in fact, morally a unit, it must be 
 admitted that the body of its officers is professionally 
 divided. Infantrymen, cavalry, artillerymen, cherish 
 
 1 See the celebrated article which appeared in the Revue des Deux 
 Mondes under the title: " Du role social de I'offlcier."
 
 362 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 complaints and prejudices against each other. They are 
 exclusive, inclined to look at things in a petty way. 
 Sometimes these sentiments, which ought to exist only 
 in the subaltern ranks, where one would be more dis- 
 posed to regard them as excusable, are displayed at 
 the very summit of the hierarchy, and exert an influ- 
 ence on the acts of. the minister himself. The spirit of 
 comradeship thus assumes a regrettable and injurious 
 form. As for the engineers' corps and the commissariat 
 department, the "fighting" officers regard them as being 
 of a distinctly inferior rank, occupied in performing 
 the domestic service of the army. They do not think 
 much of the officers of the reserve. They look upon 
 the latter as vulgar " civilians " who will never be 
 turned into military men by either the regulation term 
 or their too easily acquired gold braid. 
 
 Another cause of discord has been introduced among 
 them : it is science. The immensity of the effort ac- 
 complished by the peoples of Europe, to enable them 
 to put in the field, should occasion require, innumerable 
 masses of powerfully armed men, has led to the creation 
 of what may be called the trade of war. Everything 
 has converged towards a double end: to increase the 
 action of death-dealing engines of war, to facilitate 
 the movements of troops ; to augment the force of the 
 blows, and the motive powers of the combatants. Hence 
 the officer's sphere of interest is immoderately enlarged. 
 Everything connected with railways, balloons, elec- 
 tricity, chemistry, mechanics, is within his province. 
 The scientific inventions which are not of utility in 
 preparation for battle, or in battle itself, are easily reck- 
 oned up. They are piled up, one upon another, throwing 
 strategy into the background. There is only one thing 
 whose place they cannot take : personal courage, cool-
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 363 
 
 ness, bravery. And behold, two types of officer im- 
 mediately find themselves face to face, and little fitted 
 to collaborate in the same work : the laborious officer 
 utilizes the leisure of peace to acquire as much knowl- 
 edge as possible, certain that he will always find a 
 use for it; the officer of active temperament tolerates 
 in garrison life only that which reminds him of the life 
 of camps and disdains the purely intellectual part of 
 his task. The same diversity exists in the sea-army 
 between the man who aspires only to plough the seas, 
 and the man who aims at guiding torpedo-boats or seeks 
 the practical formula of a submarine vessel. 
 
 Neither sort can endure a long period of peace. 
 Waiting, necessarily, entails lassitude. Therefore, un- 
 less a European war be provoked, one must reckon upon 
 a relaxation in the zeal of officers. This relaxation would, 
 infallibly, have come about, had it not been for the 
 colonial expeditions, on the one hand, Tunis, Tonkin, 
 Dahomey, to make the impulsive learn patience ; on 
 the other, a rather large military appropriation to per- 
 mit of incessantly experimenting, of modifying, of im- 
 proving, and thus keeping up the zeal of the workers 
 and seekers. The often undecided attitude of the Ger- 
 man government must also be noted, always aggressive 
 as to one part of German opinion. The menace has 
 been diminished, at times, but it has never completely 
 ceased. Had it been more restrained, more unalterable, 
 France would have become enervated, in the long run ; 
 had it been less so, relaxation would have supervened. 
 Thus it will be seen what service Germany has ren- 
 dered us by maintaining the French army in a per- 
 manent state of moral mobilization, so to speak, and 
 thereby giving to the Republic the time and the means 
 to establish itself solidly. Without the army, the
 
 364 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Republic would have been weak abroad, and in France 
 a government which is weak abroad has no future. 
 With the army, on the contrary, the Republic ran the 
 risk of being ruined at home, for the benefit of some dic- 
 tatorial power or other. The consciousness of the peril 
 which existed on our frontiers alone has had the power 
 to discipline the nation. 
 
 That, it is true, is a service of negative value. It 
 could not enter into the plans of the victor to aid the 
 vanquished to recover his rank, and we have seen that 
 if M. de Bismarck showed himself favorable to the Re- 
 public, it was because he deemed it less capable than 
 the monarchy of setting about the revival of France. 
 Too late he perceived his error. But Germany's in- 
 fluence in turning France into a military power has 
 had two other consequences, one of which has given 
 rise to numerous dissertations, while the other seems 
 to escape notice. The first is the excessive augmen- 
 tation of the taxes which weigh upon the nation be- 
 cause of obligatory armament. Germany, it is true, 
 suffers therefrom as well as France, and more than she, 
 as its wealth is less considerable, and its credit less 
 robust. The second is the progressive habituation of 
 the citizen to socialistic organization, and this habitua- 
 tion is going on more rapidly in France than in Ger- 
 many, because the French army is more democratic, 
 and more imbued with equality than the German army. 
 When socialism is in question, people never seem to 
 think of anything but propaganda by the idea ; but 
 propaganda by the form is far more active. Men are 
 anxious to know whether the diffusion of theories is 
 rapid or slow ; they forget to observe whether their 
 practical application is partial or local. The socialistic 
 idea meets, perhaps, one adversary out of ten ; the
 
 THE NATION ARMED. 365 
 
 hostility of the nine others arises from the fact that 
 they believe in the impossibility of applying it. But 
 it is difficult not to perceive that, by becoming a real- 
 ity, the doctrine of the armed nation, so long treated 
 as chimerical, has done more than any other sort of 
 preaching to aid the advent of socialism. 1 
 
 The organization of France, at the present time, is 
 unique. Nothing of the sort has ever existed ; it has 
 never even been admitted that it could exist. Russia 
 and Germany are military monarchies. France is a 
 democracy which has not war as its object, which, on 
 the contrary, is attached to the labors of peace, and 
 maintains in the first rank of her anxieties the develop- 
 ment of her intellectual resources, of her wealth, of her 
 social improvement. But the citizens of this democracy 
 have consented, for the last twenty years, to deduct, for 
 the collective good, a heavy share of their possessions, 
 of their activity, of their liberty, and this consent is so 
 unanimous, and so definite, that the young Frenchman 
 feels a sort of solace to his conscience in satisfying a 
 draconian law which his high spirits and his good-will 
 incessantly ratify. On entering the army, he knows 
 that, barring unforeseen circumstances, he will not have 
 to fight ; but he prepares to defend his native land. 
 The confidence of the country is made up, in part, of 
 his strength and his zeal, and it is enough to pay it for 
 its trouble. 
 
 Suppose, now, that the country, no longer threatened 
 by dynastic ambitions, asks him to enrich her instead 
 of to defend her, to wield an implement for her in place 
 of a weapon ; suppose that military service should as- 
 
 1 See in the Deutsche Revue, March 1, 1893, a very curious letter from 
 Baron de Courcel, former ambassador of France to Berlin, in reply to an 
 inquiry as to the possibility of disarming.
 
 366 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 sume a distinctly industrial character (and the trans- 
 formation is not, perhaps, as distant or as delicate to 
 effect as you think), what change will have taken 
 place? From the moment that it is a service com- 
 manded in the name of France, to go and make a 
 machine, to set up a timber-work, to mix mortar, is, 
 at least, quite as noble as to clean out a stable, to fur- 
 bish up a belt-buckle, or to black boots. If the love of 
 country has been strong enough to turn out so many 
 good soldiers from young men of such diverse origins, 
 situations, habits, and intelligence, who will dare to 
 say that the same love of country will not be able, in 
 case of need, to turn out from them good workmen ? 
 Given the habits of discipline and obedience acquired 
 in the army by the young generations, we may affirm 
 that two-thirds of the nation are ready to accept indus- 
 trial service as soon as it is established. 
 
 Our military organization is, therefore, for the French 
 people, an immense lesson in socialistic things. Only, 
 if the socialists wish to have the doctrines which are 
 dear to them draw profit therefrom, they ought not to 
 lose sight of the fact that this organization rests, in 
 part, upon self-devotion, abnegation, and the spirit of 
 sacrifice, in part upon the love of country. " Ideal and 
 Patriotism " ought, then, to be the countersign. Under 
 the present circumstances, given the state of soul of the 
 nation and the vast experiment which is in progress, 
 the socialists could not commit a greater mistake than 
 to insist on the material character of the reforms which 
 they desire to accomplish, and to accept the compromis- 
 ing support of the internationalists and the men with- 
 out a country.
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 367 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 . 
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 
 
 The Survival of Ideas. Foreign Judgments on France. The Worship of 
 Form. Unhealthy Scientific and Literary Stagnation. Influence of 
 Democracy on Letters and Language. The Awakening: Taine and 
 Renan. Retaliation on Immorality. The French Family and the 
 French Woman. Decrease of Population. The Law of Succession, 
 and Malthusiauism. 
 
 THE task of searching out the connection between 
 the ideas and the customs of a people has often been 
 undertaken. Such a task, arduous enough when it re- 
 lates to the past, really surpasses the power of contem- 
 poraries. The connections exist ; they are close ; but 
 in order to know them, it would be necessary to be able 
 to determine what are the ideas of the people whom 
 one wishes to study, at some precise moment of their 
 history. Precisely therein lies the difficulty. It has 
 been said that " survival is a law in the psychology of 
 peoples. Ideas formerly dominant continue to express 
 themselves long after they have lost their efficacy, and 
 a man continues to employ the same language, although 
 he may have begun to act, sometimes without being 
 aware of it, in accordance with other principles." 1 
 This truth has often been misunderstood. It does not 
 apply to the great movements of reform, which have 
 agitated the world, but to the slow transformations of 
 public life. In revolutionary times, the idea precedes 
 the act, although the act often outstrips the idea ; but 
 
 1 Levy-Bruhl, L'Allemagne depuis Leibnitz.
 
 368 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 in evolutionary times, it comes to pass that the theory 
 is not enounced, and, sometimes, is not even formed, 
 until after the practice, and in accordance with that. 
 Hence contradictions calculated to bewilder the his- 
 torian between the social state and the artistic or 
 literary productions of a nation. These contradictions 
 are still further augmented in the case of the French 
 nation. More than any other she has been subjected, 
 in the course of the present century, to incessant agita- 
 tions, to abrupt changes. Her accession to modern 
 civilization has been painful and troubled ; her quest 
 for equilibrium has been injured by the very efforts 
 made to obtain it ; her march towards science has been 
 hampered, her conception of the moral law warped by 
 men and circumstances. It has happened that she has 
 lost sight of the object to be attained, and has no longer 
 known whether an object any longer existed anywhere. 
 Logically, nothing should have remained standing, after 
 so many shocks, of that which forms the true power of 
 a collective body, to wit, agreement as to certain gen- 
 eral principles of conscience and judgment. 
 
 The foreigner who studies contemporary France is 
 moved to believe that such an agreement no longer ex- 
 ists. His reason suggests it to him ; the documents 
 which he consults confirm him in the belief. History, 
 literature, and statistics unite, in his eyes, to condemn 
 the French citizen ; he decides that he is ungovernable 
 and dissolute, powerless to make the race progress, and 
 to organize anything definite. National prosperity, he 
 says to himself, never has sprung from political insta- 
 bility ; never has virtue lived in thorough harmony 
 with immorality. But immorality and instability are 
 a double cancer with which France is attacked. There- 
 fore, her destiny is irretrievably ruined. Such is the
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 369 
 
 conclusion of many works published beyond our fron- 
 tiers which have aroused our ire, and have made us be- 
 lieve in the existence of a deliberate plan to decry us, 
 when their authors were simply guilty of too condensed 
 an analysis and too rigorous deductions. How often 
 have we not challenged, as inspired by hatred, the tes- 
 timony of writers who have endeavored to judge us 
 according to the documents furnished by ourselves, 
 and classified according to scientific methods ! Their 
 reasoning was not false, neither were our recrimina- 
 tions unjust. We are conscious of being better than 
 the portraits which are drawn of us, but these portraits 
 are painted with the colors fabricated by our own acts ; 
 in order, therefore, to arrive at a sound judgment con- 
 cerning us, it must be admitted that the manner of life 
 and the habits of mind of the French people have long 
 been at variance, and that there are two co-existent 
 Frances, one of which amuses itself over what the other 
 writes, without putting it into practice. In spite of 
 the fact that such a duality of national existence is not 
 rare in our annals, 1 it is difficult for the mind to accept 
 it. As for our public habits, we have belied the pre- 
 dictions of our detractors. The preceding pages con- 
 tain the narrative of events which are well calculated 
 to disconcert them ; the most illustrious among them, 
 Prince Bismarck, was the first to make the mistake, and 
 it is sufficient to glance through the organs of public 
 opinion abroad to gather expressions of opinion whose 
 inexactness has speedily been emphasized by facts. But 
 
 1 At the moment of the great Revolution, remarks M. Goumy (La 
 France du Centenaire, 1889) , France presented an extraordinary spectacle : 
 "Her arms had rendered her so strong that she imposed peace on two of 
 the great powers allied against her, and those who governed her had made 
 her so wretched that she had neither administration, nor finances, nor 
 justice, nor police."
 
 370 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 when private habits are in question, it is more difficult 
 to present the proofs. It can be attempted only in an 
 indirect manner, by casting a rapid glance at the evo- 
 lution undergone in the last twenty-five years by those 
 great propagators of error or of truth, books and news- 
 papers, and by that fundamental institution of the 
 modern nation, the family. 
 
 It is superfluous to mention the beauty and extent of 
 France's literary patrimony ; but it is not profitless to 
 call attention to the fact that the recent centuries have 
 taught us to talk and to write, rather than to think. 
 Precise traditions remain to us on this point. The 
 worship of form has nothing but faithful disciples 
 among us. The subjects have varied, from one epoch 
 to another ; the anxiety to set forth things in a deli- 
 cate, elegant, eloquent manner has remained almost 
 invariable. Therein lies the common relationship be- 
 tween the very different works produced by French 
 genius, which extreme nobility and extreme meanness 
 have inspired, turn and turn about. The duel of great 
 sentiments and petty passions is characteristic of French 
 literature ; sixty years ago, it broke out again with 
 feverish intensity. Under the monarchy of July, the 
 battle was sharp. The condition of science remained 
 stationary ; fruitful ideas and generous impulses were 
 repressed ; great minds revolted ; but the durable works 
 which came from their pens were not understood by a 
 public which was essentially materialistic in its tenden- 
 cies and narrow in its aspirations. Imaginative litera- 
 ture triumphed. Commonplace souls took pleasure, 
 by contrast, in the recital of adventures which they 
 would not have had the audacity to face, and no one 
 more enjoys books which are not virtuous than a citi- 
 zen who is virtuous in spite of himself. The gate of
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 371 
 
 immorality was thrown open by a poet of rare charm, 
 whose influence has since been immense and general. 
 Everybody who can read has been affected thereby. 
 Alfred de Musset's work has served as the book of 
 devotions one might almost say the breviary of a 
 whole generation. It contains poison for all ages and 
 all natures, for the simple and the refined, for youth 
 and for mature age. 
 
 Under the Second Empire, the struggle ceased. Pub- 
 lic opinion no longer cared anything for higher educa- 
 tion: "It contented itself with the licentiates of law 
 and the doctors of medicine which it furnished . . . ; 
 practical needs were satisfied." 1 In the damp obscurity 
 of their underground laboratories, a few learned men 
 were preparing the future : no one even ridiculed 
 them. Writers of genius sought a publisher ; only the 
 writers of romance found one. The sickly analysis of 
 physical love infested the romance ; debauch and adul- 
 tery served as the theme of all tales. Poisonous sub- 
 stances cannot be absorbed with impunity. The higher 
 classes became rapidly corrupt. Good and evil were 
 constrained to live in contemptible promiscuity. Ideas 
 became gangrened. The strangest theories were ad- 
 mitted, especially in educational matters. Certain 
 errors of conduct were considered as a salutary experi- 
 ence for young men, and the indulgence which was 
 publicly proclaimed with regard to those who thus 
 learned "to know life" was mingled with some disdain 
 for labor and virtue. The theatre served to set forth 
 subversive theories on marriage and the family. Art 
 aspired to a facile ideal of voluptuous levity. French 
 thought was lulled to sleep as in a vague re very pro- 
 duced by opium. A curious fact ! The terrible year 
 
 * L. Liard, Universites et Facultta.
 
 372 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 brought neither remedy nor change. The war ended, 
 the same taste, the same sort of reading, the same 
 amusements, reappeared. Only the press, now become 
 free, furnished one outlet the more for that unhealthy 
 prose which abroad was currently denominated "French 
 prose," and the influence of democracy was exercised 
 in a stronger and more direct manner. 
 
 Democracy spurs on to overproduction, and overpro- 
 duction brings in its train a whole troop of ill-omened con- 
 sequences ; social consequences in the first place. How 
 many dreams unrealized, how many disappointed ambi- 
 tions, which turn into bitterness, so far as society is con- 
 cerned ! Many are the writers who are misunderstood and 
 who deserve to be, but, convinced of their own genius, go to 
 swell the ranks of the discontented, and form the staff of 
 revolution. The press brings out many failures ; books 
 bring out still more. On the other hand, those who suc- 
 ceed have neither security nor repose. They must live in 
 a state of constant activity in order to preserve from the 
 caprices of fortune their painfully acquired popularity. 
 They are constrained never to pause on the upward path, 
 if not of fortune, at least of advertisement. This adver- 
 tising they obtain by many means. The black pessimism 
 of their conclusions draws attention to them, as well as 
 their choice of eccentric or repugnant subjects. " There 
 is a very strange school nowadays in the theatre, in 
 poetry, in romance," writes M. Legouve. 1 "The object 
 of the leaders of this school is the study of the human 
 soul, but in this study, they devote their attention only 
 to what is morbid. For them, moral health, simple and 
 natural sentiments, do not count." As soon as their 
 notoriety permits them, they mount the stage them- 
 selves, and substitute themselves for their work. Stroll- 
 
 1 E. Legouve, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. (Le Temps, July 9, 1895.)
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 373 
 
 ing-player behavior in literary life is without bounds ; 
 a romancer of renown who changes his residence as- 
 sumes the airs of the chief of a mission ; he communi- 
 cates his itinerary to the public in advance, in order to 
 give time to the foreigners whom he is going to visit to 
 prepare glorious receptions for him ; the frontier once 
 passed, he keeps up telegraphic communication with the 
 newspapers of his own country, and addresses to them, 
 after each banquet, bulletins of victory which remind 
 one of those from the Grand Army. On the lower 
 rungs of the ladder of celebrity, men have recourse to 
 reviews of mutual admiration, the joint-authors of which 
 burn incense to each other in turn, in the most serious 
 manner in the world. They call each other, among 
 themselves, " powerful men," and when one of them in 
 a pamphlet pours out against society the gall with 
 which his soul is filled, it is said of him that he is " the 
 fatal adversary of the institutions of the century." 
 These perpetual exaggerations, which no one escapes, 1 
 impoverish the language. There are epochs when 
 everything is clearly stated, and words serve only to 
 express ideas. There are other epochs when words take 
 the place of ideas, when an effort is made to arrange 
 them in an ingenious, a piquant, a harmonious manner. 
 And, in conclusion, there are epochs when ideas seem 
 complicated to such a degree that there are not enough 
 words in existence to translate them. New ones are 
 invented ; they are borrowed from foreign languages. 
 The writer piles them up in painful gradations. It 
 
 1 A poet, member of the Acade'mie Francaise, exclaims, in response to 
 the question put to him by a journalist: " I, a deputy, would I go and 
 drown myself in the torrents of public saliva! confound myself in the 
 rabble of chatterers and impostors!" When an Academician permits 
 himself to use such expressions, one cannot feel surprised that common 
 mortals abuse them.
 
 374 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 seems to require an excessive effort in the direction of 
 simplification, to enable him to put his idea within the 
 reach of the reader. If one takes the trouble to force his 
 way through this phantasmagoria, the central thought 
 appears quite simple, quite easy to say, reduced to that 
 which, in former days, would have been very briefly 
 expressed. To read some of our modern authors, you 
 would think you were being carried back to the palmy 
 days of scholasticism, so great is the pleasure they take 
 in mixing everything up. 1 
 
 It is impossible to say how much time would be re- 
 quired before the excess of such evils would bring about 
 a reaction. Literary currents are formed with extreme 
 slowness. Moreover, the French tire less quickly than 
 others of what amuses them. Hence the revival which, 
 for several years past, has manifested itself in the in- 
 spiration and the aims of a great many of their writers 
 is not a sign of reaction. It is the direct result of the 
 diffusion of the scientific method. It is customary to 
 assert that science has made marvellous progress during 
 the last century. The fact is undeniable, but it is not 
 fact but method which has entirely modified the condi- 
 tions under which the faculties of the human mind are 
 exercised, and has opened to it indefinite perspectives ; 
 it is not results, it is the process. Men have learned 
 that if imagination sometimes creates beauty, criticism 
 alone reduces it to truth. Analysis and synthesis have 
 been applied to all classes of phenomena, and, while dis- 
 coveries in the natural order of things were being multi- 
 plied, in the social order, valuable sources of information, 
 
 1 Decadence and symbolism are only forms of this disease of language, 
 produced by the exaggeration of terms and the necessity for constantly 
 reinforcing them. Thus it comes to pass that of a vivid work it is said 
 that it is " bleeding with life," and that a captivating story becomes " as 
 interesting as a flow of lava."
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 375 
 
 hitherto unproductive, have been utilized, so that the 
 past has been elucidated as well as the present. Com- 
 pare Bossuet's Discourse on Natural History, and Fustel 
 de Coulanges' The Ancient City. These books appear 
 to have been written by beings of a different essence, 
 whose brains were not even of the same make. Exami- 
 nation, discussion, comparison of texts, the study of 
 the exact value of words, precision of reasoning, rigid- 
 ity of deductions, are the roads by which, henceforth, 
 one marches on to certainty. 
 
 This revolution in the workings of thought is, as- 
 suredly, the characteristic of the nineteenth century. 
 It has taken place, in great part, outside of France, and 
 almost without France's knowledge. Lulled by decep- 
 tive mirages, and satisfied with the easy productions of 
 their luxuriant imagination, the French ignored, until 
 the approach of 1870, the rising tide of science beyond 
 their frontiers. The very word was strange to them; 
 they employed it as the synonym of exact sciences. 
 Very fortunately, a handful of picked men, attracted 
 precisely by that which repelled the crowd, namely, the 
 sternness of the labor and the austerity of the subject, 
 had gone in search of the new Grail, and had brought 
 it back to their native land. It is to them that France 
 is indebted for being able rapidly to regain lost ground 
 and time, and to escape an intellectual Sedan. 
 
 At the head of these men, the first by virtue of genius 
 and of the influence which he exercised, is Hippolyte 
 Taine. That influence is very different from what it 
 was, at first, believed to be ; it may be said of Taine 
 that what he produced is nothing in comparison with 
 what he has aroused. By introducing, for the first 
 time, demonstrations and precise formulas into an 
 order of facts which did not seem to admit of them
 
 376 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 Taine imparted to the positive tendencies of his time 
 " a sort of algebraic notation which has doubled their 
 power." 1 He has presented man as the product of the 
 race, the surroundings, and the moment, and his favor- 
 ite argument was : " That there is a fundamental force, 
 a ruling faculty, whose personality, once grasped and 
 well located, develops fully like a flower, and the work 
 of art which follows is explicable as a natural fruit." 2 
 The positivists and the pessimists felt grateful to him 
 for his demonstrations, believing them to be their own. 
 But he hesitated at no sacrifice of ideas to attain to the 
 truth, and he proved, eventually, that he understood 
 how to pursue it under any disguise, and in any place, 
 so that the most diverse schools have been able to lay 
 claim to being connected with him, and his works fur- 
 nish reinforcements to all armies. This is a very rare 
 occurrence, and one which could not fail to produce 
 an impression by its novelty. Taine began to write in 
 the days of decadence, when men doubted everything, 
 except the legitimateness of doubt, so that doubt had 
 gradually come to be a negative religion, and even in 
 order to be reckoned among the deniers one had to 
 recite a credo. But negation could not satisfy men for 
 long ; they were tired of denying ; they could not 
 believe, but they longed to know. Taine proved that 
 it was possible to learn apart from any preconceived 
 idea, from any principle laid down a priori; that to this 
 end it sufficed to go straight ahead, paying attention 
 to the smallest pebble in the road, and avoiding no 
 obstacle, permitting no impediment. Such a method, 
 even if it produced no direct results, contained the 
 germ of unlimited improvement for him who should 
 put it in practice. 
 1 A. Sabatier, Taine. (Le Temps newspaper, March 7, 1893.) 2 Ibid.
 
 ERNEST RENAN, OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY.
 
 UFIVBRSITr
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 377 
 
 But these things were not known outside of a small 
 circle of open and audacious minds. Science could not 
 win young Frenchmen without being dressed up and 
 rendered attractive. This was the work of Ernest 
 Renan. In the style of Taine, " the epithet was always 
 an argument : everything was directed towards in- 
 structing and convincing; nothing was sacrificed to the 
 desire to please or to charm." 1 In that of Renan, the 
 poet appeared behind the learned man. "His erudi- 
 tion furnishes him with new and profound views ; it 
 opens to him, on all sides, those distant perspectives 
 which seem to extend into infinity the subjects of which 
 he treats." 2 At the beginning of his career he estab- 
 lished his reputation as a learned man by important 
 works ; in that way he acquired the right to speak the 
 aerial language of a poet. No one understands so well 
 as he how to mingle the fancies of ingenious supposi- 
 tions with the exact data of learning. The wealth of 
 his imagination brightens up the links of his real logic, 
 as dreaming divides life. He will be reproached, it is 
 true, for the great liberty which he takes with some 
 documents ; he breaks them, crumbles them up, " to 
 adjust them to his plan and to compose from them, as 
 in a stained-glass window," 3 the figure which he has 
 conceived. It will be asked whether that which Ger- 
 man criticism has left standing in the line of monu- 
 ments of information concerning the history of Israel 
 does not constitute a " canvas with meshes too large 
 to support embroidery, and which can be filled in only 
 by visions." 4 Abroad, people are even thoroughly 
 
 1 A. Sabatier, Taine. (Le Temps newspaper, March 7, 1893.) 
 
 2 Speech of M. Boissier at the Academic Frai^aise (session of January 
 26, 1894). 
 
 3 Challemel-Lacour, Speech on his reception into the Acade'mie Fran- 
 9aise (session of January 26, 1894). 4 Ibid.
 
 378 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 horrified at him ; but in France, confidence is not 
 shaken, and the enchantment is complete. Taine had 
 introduced science, and now, behold, Renan has bap- 
 tized it. Henceforth, it is French. Every one desires 
 to betake himself to her as soon as his code of worship 
 can accommodate itself to delicacy of form, subtilty 
 of sentiment, and admits of external grace and har- 
 mony. And so powerful is the current created by 
 the two influences of Taine and Renan, that it brings 
 about a deviation of all literature of a higher order. 
 Those who resist are dragged along with the rest. 
 The result- is that one comes to recognize the fact 
 that everything can be acquired; that talent, and even 
 genius, needs cultivation. Intellectualism, "that per- 
 version of the mind which reduces us to seeking in life 
 only the spectacle of life," 1 receives a serious blow. 
 The law of labor ceases to admit of exceptions : ro- 
 mancers, like philosophers, are subject to it. Psychol- 
 ogy vanquishes them. No doubt, they write pages on 
 pages to analyze the frivolities of vulgar love ; their 
 favorite heroes are useless, weak men, who measure 
 themselves, sound themselves, contemplate themselves, 
 who lose themselves in the labyrinth of their meagre 
 thoughts and reason about the petty shivers which 
 thrill over their flesh. In the cleverest of these 
 writers, he who wields language with the most talent, 
 Maupassant, one would seek in vain for a general type 
 capable of lasting after the fashion of his garments 
 had passed away. Nevertheless, there is effort, there 
 is research and labor. Moreover, the good seed devel- 
 
 1 Henry Berenger, L'Effort. " The intellectual man of our genera- 
 tion," says Henry Berenger, " is a more complex and elaborate being. He 
 has exhausted all alternatives of modern thought, and he is satisfied with 
 none of them. A lucid dryness has slowly crystallized his soul, but he 
 suffers from it, he sometimes dies from it, and therein lies his noi>ility."
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 379 
 
 ops. Daudet had already stigmatized certain vices, 
 without furnishing a conclusion to his satires. Bour- 
 get clearly decides in favor of the restoration of the 
 moral law, 1 and Zola points out the necessity of a 
 change in social relations. On the borderland of im- 
 aginative literature, almost as much read, and quite as 
 much appreciated, appear those who, in company with 
 M. Eugene de Vogue and in his train, " try to heal 
 moral infirmity instead of winning a noisy victory over 
 it," 2 and, in conclusion, there are the apostles of an 
 idea, of a doctrine, Lavisse, Desjardins, Wagner, 
 who catch a glimpse of some good, and wish to convert 
 it into reality. In proportion as inspiration rises, 
 language grows pure. There, again, the action of 
 Renan exerts a powerful influence. " A great writer 
 leaves behind him something more durable even than 
 his writings," M. Gaston Boissier has said, speaking of 
 Renan ; " it is the language which he has used, which 
 he has rendered flexible and moulded to his uses, and 
 which, even when wielded by other hands, always pre- 
 serves something of the turn which he has imparted 
 to it." These qualities of language, which appeal so 
 strongly to the French, contribute one force the more 
 to neo-idealism, stopping short on the lips of many a 
 reader Voltaire's old jest, which is always ready to 
 spring from them. 
 
 But, in spite of everything, unhealthy literature does 
 not die. It is not crushed. It draws its strength from 
 habit, that second nature. Instead of descending from 
 on high, it now ascends from below, where the company 
 of its disciples has increased enormously. The porno- 
 graphic now maintains its rights everywhere. In the 
 
 1 See, especially, Terre Promise. 
 
 2 Gaston Deschamps, Chronicle of Le Temps newspaper.
 
 880 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 newspapers, politics and commerce are restricted, in 
 order to make room for it, and the most celebrated 
 romance-writers feel themselves obliged to offer sacri- 
 fices to it, that they may have the right, later on, to 
 say honest and serious things. Note that it no longer 
 has anything of that Gallic wit dear to our ancestors 
 and which was the expression of their joy in living, 
 and of the frankness of their sensations. It is neither 
 humorous nor frank ! In former days, moreover, there 
 were many sources of mirth. Nowadays there is noth- 
 ing but this. Hence, there is something nervous, 
 studied, about laughter ; it wearies and often nau- 
 seates. Obscenit} 7 overflows in image and in song. 
 The law has been obliged 1 to interfere, but private 
 initiative does not back it up. " The league against 
 license in the streets" is approved; but no one joins it, 
 for fear of being ridiculed. Assemblages of boys and 
 of young men are, necessarily, the most affected. In 
 the colleges, the evil which M. Sainte-Claire Deville 
 exposed twenty years ago has not cured itself, and no 
 remedy has been applied. Moreover, how is it to be 
 remedied? The outside air penetrates within the col- 
 lege, and that air is vitiated. The young man is aware 
 of his elder's mode of life ; he enjoys it in advance. It 
 is thrust upon him by the double attraction of that 
 which is forbidden, and that which is within reach. 
 Having become free, he gets intoxicated with the rest, 
 and then bears a stain upon his brow and something 
 like a burden on his life. Long after he has renounced 
 
 1 In 1882, in view of the great abundance of obscene publications and 
 pornographic books, the Chamber passed a law which invalidated the gen- 
 eral provisions of the law concerning the press, in order to admit of a 
 prompter and more efficacious prosecution of obscene publications. (See 
 an article by M. J. Darmesteter, in the Revue Bleue, March 2, 1889, on the 
 vile literature which disgraces France.)
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 381 
 
 evil pleasures, the evil thought abides with him. He 
 has returned to the straight way, but he regrets the 
 tortuous path. Duty has claimed him again, but the 
 memory of his dissoluteness charms him. 
 
 For it is a fact ; he does renounce evil pleasures ; he 
 does return to the straight way ; duty does claim him 
 again. His life is lightened and regulated. Who ef- 
 fects this miracle ? France. France cures him by the 
 influence of her long centuries of virtue and honesty, 
 to whose unconscious impulsion he submits ; by the 
 force of familiar bonds, whose meshes gently close in 
 around him ; by the suggestion of the noble instincts 
 and the great traditions whose awakening takes place 
 within him. " Silent martyrs, mute sacrifices to justice 
 and to honor, battles which have no witnesses, victories 
 which have no triumphs," writes M. Jean Honcey, 1 
 " we pass you by without divining your existence, and 
 yet it is through you that we live." It is certainly 
 thus that the Frenchman lives upon France. The na- 
 tion has been so strongly cemented that that which 
 would disintegrate any other nation scarcely makes any 
 impression upon her. The year 1870 gave a collective 
 proof of this, so to speak; the power of resistance of the 
 French family furnishes an individual and daily proof 
 of it. If the foreigner, of whom we spoke a while 
 ago, not content with searching and annotating written 
 documents, wishes to verify their exactness by living 
 documents, he will pause in surprise before this baffling 
 problem, and if he is conscientious, being unable to 
 solve it, he will hold his peace. The fact is, moreover, 
 worthy of remark ; those who know France superficially 
 or study it from a distance, always find a thousand 
 things to say about her ; they expose her faults, re- 
 
 1 Jean Honcey, Souffles Nouveaux.
 
 382 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 form her institutions, discover the how and the why 
 of her errors. But those who have lived there a long 
 time, and have penetrated into the details of her exist- 
 ence, take care not to pronounce a general judgment. 
 They are alarmed by the contradictory elements which 
 must be reconciled in order to do justice to that peo- 
 ple, at once so mobile and so stable, so frivolous and so 
 profound, so sceptical and so imbued with faith. Above 
 all, they cannot distinguish how the division between 
 good and evil is effected in them ; the line of separa- 
 tion remains invisible. Almost everywhere, they ob- 
 serve corruption of manners, at the same time that they 
 admit the force and union of the family. 
 
 This has not changed ; for centuries its foundations 
 have been the same ; on repeated occasions, one might 
 have thought that they were shaken ; local and transi- 
 tory causes have produced that illusion ; but neither 
 political revolutions, nor economical disturbances, nor 
 even the vices whose ravages the ruling class has often 
 undergone, have appreciably distorted the French family. 
 It still rests, to-day, on respect for the wife, on the con- 
 fiding tenderness of the children, and the veneration of 
 the dead, and on love of country. These are qualities 
 of which no country can claim the monopoly. That 
 they exist elsewhere is certain ; perhaps, even, if they 
 are viewed separately, it will be found that others pos- 
 sess them in a superior degree. Our detractors say- 
 and there is some truth in their criticism that the 
 manner in which Frenchmen treat women is more com- 
 patible with gallantry than with true respect ; the re- 
 lations between parents and children appear to them to 
 be stamped with roguish tenderness ; they regard the 
 religion of mourning and of the cemetery as both vague 
 and formal, and the attachment to the domestic hearth,
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 383 
 
 in its rather petty narrowness, in their eyes, imposes 
 restraints upon great ambitions and bold enterprises. 
 
 Very different, assuredly, is the family type analyzed 
 by Le Play, which rests squarely on the strict observance 
 of what he has called the eternal decalogue. Therein 
 the action of the father preponderates, and his authority 
 is absolute. The children are allured to the practice 
 of manly virtues ; death is regarded as a normal acci- 
 dent, and the flitting of the young birds from the nest 
 as the inevitable law. With us, a greater space is 
 allotted to passion, to sentiment, to dreams ; the con- 
 ception of life is different; life itself is less austere 
 and more attractive. This is because the influence of 
 woman is powerfully exerted. Eloquent pages have 
 been written about the Frenchwoman, which it is im- 
 possible to sum up otherwise than by recognizing a 
 very simple and very large fact ; while in other coun- 
 tries the " woman " movement is constantly becoming 
 more accentuated, and is already producing some dis- 
 array on the border of the family, in France, it in- 
 cessantly miscarries ; its declamatory demonstrations 
 provoke nothing but hilarity. The repugnance to 
 favor every attempt to emancipate the weaker sex is 
 even shown with regard to the modifications which it 
 would be useful to introduce into the legislative texts, 
 and whose consequences would alarm no one. 
 
 The Frenchwoman will take good care not to re- 
 nounce, for the sake of acquiring an illusive equality, 
 the domain of which she herself has fixed the limits, 
 the part which she has chosen to play, the sovereignty 
 of which she has secured to herself the usufruct. She 
 has managed to transform marriage by introducing 
 into it habits of fellowship, a harmonious equilibrium, 
 an insight into each other's soul, a fusion of sentiments,
 
 384 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 which do not seem to have existed in the world before 
 her advent. She counts no sacrifice too dear for the 
 sake of attaining the goal which she appoints to her- 
 self, the absolute and complete possession of her hus- 
 band ; and in her desire to please him, to be always at 
 his side, she avoids not the opprobrium which may attack 
 him, although by exposing herself to them she often 
 causes herself to be falsely judged. Her children be- 
 long to her, above all ; she does not give them to the 
 city, to the race ; she gives them to herself to love 
 them, to pet them, to procure for them that for which 
 she herself thirsts above all others of her kind, happi- 
 ness. She possesses neither the heedlessness of the 
 azure-skied South, nor the resignation of the foggy 
 North ; she takes pains to chase away the clouds, to 
 put aside the storm ; she loves her sun all the better 
 because it is, in some small degree, her own handi- 
 work ; tears come only for the purpose of communi- 
 cating to her religious fervor a precise significance 
 which consists in obtaining, in the world beyond this, 
 recompense for lost happiness. 
 
 Such is the subtle, complex, delicate being the analy- 
 sis of whom should precede every study consecrated 
 to our country. Foreign sociologists who neglect this 
 indispensable preface go astray in the edifice which 
 they have forgotten to illuminate. Nevertheless, they 
 lay their hand upon an accusing document, and brand- 
 ish it victoriously ; the table of statistics on population 
 stands for them as the criterion of a definite certainty ; 
 between its lines of figures they find room for all the 
 vices of which the great social decadences have trans- 
 mitted the memory ; they call attention to the fact 
 that the decrease in the excess of births over deaths is 
 not, in France, an accidental phenomenon which one
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 385 
 
 can assign to secondary and transitory causes, for that 
 decrease is accentuated in a fairly regular manner. 1 
 France, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
 occupied the second place among the nations of Eu- 
 rope ; to-day she stands in the fifth rank. Austria 
 outstripped her twenty years ago. Germany, which, 
 in 1870, had the same number of inhabitants, now 
 reckons up thirteen millions more, in spite of emigra- 
 tion which, every year, has deprived her of a large 
 contingent ; and finally, England, whose area repre- 
 sents only three-fifths that of France, and which fur- 
 nishes colonists to an immense empire, surpasses the 
 French total by about three hundred thousand. How 
 is such inferiority to be explained? Even admitting 
 that the life of peoples exactly reproduces the life of 
 men, youth, manhood, old age (and this is an inge- 
 nious and seductive hypothesis, at first sight, though 
 historical criticism demonstrates its falsity), can it be 
 said that France's old age has begun ? A nation in its 
 decline could not draw from a catastrophe such as that 
 of 1870 such elements of renovation. It is not on the 
 threshold of decrepitude that one undertakes such a 
 task, sustains such an effort. And yet the brutal fact 
 is there. It is impossible to reject the evidence ; the 
 French race appears to be smitten with relative 
 sterility. 
 
 Although this problem, which is the chief one of our 
 future, has not attracted public attention as much as 
 it should have done, numerous physicians have been 
 consulted, and their diagnoses do not agree. Some lay 
 the blame on immorality ; others, on alcoholism ; others 
 
 1 In 1881, for the last time, it surpassed 100,000. In 1882 it fell to 
 97,000, and declined, in 1888, to 44,772. Then, for the space of three years 
 (1890, 1891, 1892), the deaths exceeded by 38,000, 10,000, and 20,000. 
 Then the excess of births reappears, but always to a small extent. 
 2c
 
 386 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 still, on the civil code and the law of inheritance. We 
 have just seen how superficial immorality remains in 
 France, and how it finds a true antidote in the family. 
 As for alcoholism, it does not stop the progress of 
 population in other countries where its ravages are 
 still more cruelly exercised. Why should it be other- 
 wise within our borders ? There remains that " forced 
 partition " which the law imposes, in every generation, 
 upon private fortunes. Those who have not read the 
 works of M. Le Play will have difficulty in conceiving 
 how a legal statute can cause in the life of a people 
 the perturbations which the distinguished writer has 
 pointed out. But reasoning explains it, and experi- 
 ence proves it. 
 
 Systems of inheritance belong to three principal 
 types, founded on the abstention of the legislator, or 
 on the double character of his intervention. Under 
 the rule of the system which may be called "forced 
 preservation," the family property (habitation, rural 
 domain, factory, customers in trade) passes entire to a 
 single heir, without the proprietor intervening in the 
 choice of his successor. Under the most usual form, 
 this system gives the property to the eldest of the male 
 children. This is the custom of " primogeniture " of 
 ancient France. It still exists in Italy, Hanover, 
 Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, in certain districts of 
 southern Germany, and of German Switzerland. Trans- 
 mission intact to one of the younger sons has prevailed 
 among the peasants of many Austrian provinces. The 
 custom of absolute primogeniture, without regard to 
 sex, reigns in the Basque provinces, and was even pre- 
 served until recent years in Lavedan and Beam. Cer- 
 tain distinctions, based on the nature and the origin 
 of the property, are sometimes admitted ; thus forced
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 387 
 
 preservation applies in Scotland only to the real estate, 
 in German and Scandinavian lands to the goods re- 
 ceived in heritage. If it has sometimes succeeded in 
 securing social stability and peace, forced preservation 
 has, nevertheless, earned some just criticisms ; it has 
 been reproached with enfeebling the right of property 
 by reducing the proprietor to the rank of a life-tenant, 
 and of investing with homes and workshops men who 
 were unworthy of it. So far as France is concerned, 
 this system, accepted with favor by public opinion, so 
 long as the privileged class was raised above the rest 
 by its virtue and its services, became odious when the 
 nobility of the court was no longer anything^ but a 
 cause of scandal. Moreover, it was unequally prac- 
 tised. In the ancient constitution of the Ile-de-France, 
 and of the Orleanais, forced preservation upheld exclu- 
 sively the families of noble birth ; on the contrary, in 
 the provinces of the Centre, the South, and in Nor- 
 mandy, it applied to all. The " forced partition " sys- 
 tem, according to which the property must be divided 
 among many heirs appointed by law, has never worked 
 in so exaggerated a fashion anywhere as in France in 
 1793. It extended even to the illegitimate children, 
 and no testamentary disposition was permitted. The 
 civil code softened this harshness somewhat. Partition 
 exists in Russia, but only for patrimonial property, 
 and the male children there are privileged, in addition. 
 In certain parts of Spain, also, and of Portugal, it 
 exists, in many cantons of Switzerland, in Turkey, in 
 the States of Barbary ; but everywhere softened in prin- 
 ciple as well as in application. And, finally, Belgium, 
 Holland, and the Rhenish Provinces, where it was in- 
 troduced with the civil code, have retained it. Savoy 
 replaced it, between 1815 and 1860, by liberty of testa-
 
 388 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 mentary disposition ; modern Italy has come back to 
 it, in part, notably by a recent law intended to parcel 
 out the great estates of the Roman families. In 1703 
 the English Parliament, aspiring to destroy the power 
 of the Irish Roman Catholics, applied it to them by 
 a special law. It was also with a destructive intention 
 that the men of 1793 established it ; their feeling is 
 clearly indicated by the discussion which arose in this 
 connection in the heart of the Convention. Finally, 
 under the denomination of " testamentary liberty," are 
 grouped the systems of inheritance under which the 
 owner can freely dispose of at least one-half of his 
 possessions. They are numerous ; many are the com- 
 binations by which the legislator can extend or restrict 
 the right of the testator. In default of him, custom 
 intervenes. Thus in England, in the case where there 
 is no will, a law, which sums up the most widely ex- 
 tended usages, gives the whole of the real property 
 to the eldest of the male children ; but this law does 
 not abrogate local customs ; all are recognized, pro- 
 vided that they do not violate testamentary liberty ; 
 it is only a law db intestat. 1 According to the logic 
 of things, forced partition ought to have a double 
 effect : it assures to the child a part, almost fixed in 
 advance, of the paternal inheritance ; it thus gives him 
 sufficient security to reduce in him the sense of effort, 
 and to relieve him of the necessity of creating a posi- 
 tion for himself. On the other hand, it forces the 
 father to devise to his children a divided fortune, 
 
 1 One error, widely disseminated, consists in reckoning England among 
 the countries which hold to the right of primogeniture. England is, in 
 reality, a land of free testamentary disposition ; the designation of the 
 heir is not permitted beyond the second remove, but the habit in certain 
 families, of renewing it with each generation, transforms it into perpetual 
 designation of the second heir, and produces the illusion of the right of 
 primogeniture.
 
 IDEAS AND HABITS. 389 
 
 lessened in consequence, and even compromised, if a 
 commercial or manufacturing enterprise is in question, 
 which does not endure division ; hence the father is 
 incited to limit his own prosperity. Hence the devel- 
 opment of the system of public functionaries, a repug- 
 nance to colonize, and, in general, to be enterprising, 
 and a progressive lowering of the number of the popu- 
 lation. Such is certainly the case in France ; the 
 accessory causes, if any there be, cannot conceal the 
 principal cause. It alone can explain the abuses of 
 Malthusianism. 
 
 Moreover, statistics furnish other convincing data ; 
 on studying them, one perceives that the poorest depart- 
 ments are those where the births occur in the largest 
 numbers, and from a work recently published by a com- 
 petent man, it appears that in Paris the birth-rate de- 
 creases in inverse ratio to the price of house-rent. 
 The French have given to Malthus his naturalization 
 papers ; the practical application of his precepts is, 
 moreover, openly avowed by many of them. The peas- 
 ants, the agricultural laborers, whose habits of economy 
 are lauded, and with good reason, save only with a 
 single aim in view : to assure the future of their 
 children, and to assure it as thoroughly as possible. One 
 would say that their private opinion must be that the 
 following generation will not be . able to add, by its 
 labor, to what it has received by inheritance. They 
 wish to bequeath to their son not the little hoard which 
 would enable him to " get his foot in the stirrup," but 
 the big hoard which shall make him the equal of the 
 bourgeois in whose employ the father was. This is 
 because social equalization is fictitious ; the law effects 
 it, in theory ; in practice, in custom, it does not exist 
 anywhere. The various classes persist ; a man can pass
 
 390 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 more easily from one to the other than formerly, that is 
 all. " In the great social staircase," says M. Taine, 1 
 comparing the palace of ancient France to the structure 
 reared by the Revolution, " there were many stories. 
 Each man could mount the rungs of his own, but could 
 not ascend higher. . . . Strictly speaking, a man born 
 on the upper levels of one story sometimes succeeded 
 in climbing the lowest rungs of the next story, but 
 there he halted. In short, the people of the lower story 
 regarded the- upper story as inaccessible for them, and, 
 moreover, as uninhabitable." The comparison is just ; 
 but if the whole edifice is open to all, each story pre- 
 serves its own very special physiognomy, none the less : 
 the language which is spoken there, the costumes worn, 
 the manners affected differ from those in use on the 
 other stories. It is not talent, still less is it virtue, 
 which makes rank ; it is not even what one possesses ; 
 it is, above all, what one spends. By renouncing 
 certain habits of existence, a man unclasses himself. 
 "Above a certain amount of income, of gain, or of 
 salary, life becomes possible. Below that point it is 
 impossible." People have been known to commit sui- 
 cide because their property had fallen below a certain 
 minimum ; 2 every day one sees people limit their fami- 
 lies, rather than restrict their style of living. In the 
 lower classes, as in the higher, the course of reasoning 
 is identical : some have only one child, in order that 
 they may bequeath to him more ; others will have none 
 at all, that they may not impoverish themselves. Such 
 is the true and sole cause of this stagnation in the 
 French race, so contrary to ancient traditions, to the 
 whole national past. Unfortunately, the invalid is 
 afraid, and the physicians falter. 
 
 1 H. Taine, Les Origines de la France Contemporaine. 
 
 2 C. Wagner, La Vie Simple.
 
 H. TAINE, OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY.
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 391 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 
 
 Errors of Valuation. An Unprecedented Experience. Universal and 
 Simultaneous Progress. Political Action : Congress and Elections. 
 Strikes. Anarchists. Intellectual Mediums. Obstacles : Petty Pro- 
 prietorship. Allemanists, Broussists, Guesdists, Blanquists. Syndi- 
 cates. A Second Night of August 4. 
 
 " LYCURGUS' second and boldest institution was the 
 partition of landed property ; for the inequality between 
 the inhabitants was so terrible, that it even constituted 
 a danger to the city ; the majority was so poor that they 
 had not a single inch of land, and all the property was 
 in the hands of a small number of private individuals. 
 ... It was immediately put into execution. He 
 divided the land of Laconia into thirty thousand por- 
 tions, which he distributed to the people of the country, 
 and of the territory of Sparta he made nine thousand 
 parcels, which he distributed to a corresponding num- 
 ber of citizens. . . . He abolished all gold and silver 
 money, and ordained that only iron coin should be 
 used, and this he had made of so great weight and so 
 little value that it required a cart and two oxen to carry 
 a sum of ten mina, 1 and a whole room wherein to store 
 it." This passage from Plutarch has long seemed fitted 
 to delight the hearts of the adversaries of socialism, and 
 to vex its friends. In fact, it evokes the memory of an 
 unsuccessful attempt to establish equality of conditions 
 among men, and this attempt is one of the most radical 
 
 1 The mina was worth ninety-three francs (about $18.00).
 
 392 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 which has ever been made. Others, less famous, have 
 not turned out more fortunately. Society rests upon 
 these successive checks. It does not believe in social- 
 ism ; it considers that it has been condemned by experi- 
 ence as well as by reason, and watches its progress with 
 much more curiosity than anxiety. But appearances 
 must have been very strong to mislead Gambetta him- 
 self, and to have led him to deny the existence of the 
 social question. By referring to that ringing speech, 
 which dates but from yesterday, we can measure the 
 road traversed, and come to the conclusion that public 
 opinion has been far from paying to social ideas the 
 attention befitting so great a movement. 
 
 In order to follow well its different phases, the first 
 requisite would have been to guard oneself against any 
 contact with the past ; for nothing in the past permits 
 of our forming any conclusion as to the possibility or 
 the impossibility of socialistic organization. If social- 
 ism is impossible, it is because it bears within itself the 
 germ of a capital incompetency, because it is in opposi- 
 tion to some great sociological law, as yet undiscovered ; 
 but it is not because the experience of mankind has pro- 
 nounced against it. Its fundamental doctrines have 
 been applied only locally and partially, while, by their 
 very nature, they exact universality of time and of 
 place. It may be said of socialism that it will become 
 universal or that it will not exist at all. The great 
 inventions which have shortened distances for the indi- 
 vidual and suppressed them for thought ; modern in- 
 dustry which has agglomerated workers and has made 
 them more dependent upon each other ; science which 
 has emancipated minds ; democracy which has permeated 
 manners, all these changes alone have rendered pos- 
 sible the convincing experiment of socialism.
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 393 
 
 On the other hand, the word itself is apt to produce 
 confusion, because it is employed in an absolute sense, 
 by pushing to an extreme, and even to absurdity the 
 ideas which it expresses. 1 Hence, one gets a glimpse 
 of " a social state wherein all individual effort will be 
 stifled, where each one of the workers will rest, sleep, 
 and eat, at the word of command of the superiors set 
 on guard over food, work, recreation, and the perfect 
 equality of all." 2 It is rather puerile to reason in this 
 manner. One must not forget that the socialists are 
 not all communists dreaming of " the absorption of all 
 property and all enterprise in the omnipotence of the 
 State," 3 and that many of them simply aim at a collective 
 intervention with the object of re-establishing in society 
 an equilibrium which is always on the point of being 
 destroyed. In 1840 M. Thiers uttered, in the Cham- 
 ber, these amusing words : " Do you think that rail- 
 ways will ever supplant stage-coaches ? " And all the 
 deputies burst out laughing at the enormity of the sup- 
 position ! In our day, the state of the public mind in 
 certain circles is not without analogy with that of the 
 deputies of 1840. Nevertheless, we need give but one 
 glance to perceive the progress accomplished by the 
 socialists, a progress which is invested with precisely 
 that character of universality without which, as we 
 have said, socialism would have neither sense nor 
 scope. 4 In Germany, the socialist party which, in 
 
 1 See M. Richter's famous pamphlet, Oil Mene le Socialisme. 
 *Le Temps (1895). 
 
 3 Sigismoiid Lacroix (the Radical). 
 
 4 Socialism appears to be the natural fruit of civilization which has 
 reached a certain degree of advancement. It is identical for all the 
 nations of the world which have attained to that degree, and manifests 
 itself under a different form only in those countries which have not at- 
 tained to it, Russia, for example, and Turkey ; on the other hand, it rises 
 superior to political constitutions. Its most powerful and formidable
 
 394 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 1871, received 101,927 votes, and 355,670 in 1874, got 
 1,800,000 in 1893, and its representatives in the Reich- 
 stag are no less in number than 46. England, that 
 land of individualism, has seen its trades-unions give 
 in their adherence to the collectivist platforms of 
 the congresses of Belfast and Norwich (1893), and 
 eleven workingmen members enter Westminster. The 
 Belgian Parliament includes 29 socialists ; the Danish 
 Folkething has 61 ; the federal Senate of the United 
 States, 22. In France, the socialistic candidates had 
 only 90,000 votes in 1890; in 1893 they receive 500,000, 
 and 60 of their men were elected. " At the end of a 
 hundred years, the order of things which sprang from 
 1789 has to face adversaries more rancorous and more 
 implacable than were the privileged classes, a hundred 
 years ago, towards the Revolution which dispossessed 
 them." 1 It is interesting to ask oneself how, particu- 
 larly in France, we have come to such a pass, and by 
 what means such a situation can be unravelled. 
 
 Socialistic action has been triple, political, intellect- 
 ual, and violent. Political means have produced great 
 results. Though decried by the impatient, they have 
 ended, in a short time, in the formation of an impor- 
 tant parliamentary minority ; the ballot and congresses 
 have done more for the cause of the social revolution 
 than strikes and dynamite. 
 
 In the municipal elections of 1881, 57 collectivists 
 
 adversary, Bismarck, could not subdue it; the liberty which it enjoys in 
 England is no more favorable to it than the hostility with which it is con- 
 fronted in Germany. 
 
 1 When he received a reporter of the Journal, in 1892, M. Crispi made 
 to him this melancholy declaration : " The middle class (bourgeoisie) is 
 strongly attacked ; it seems destined not to endure as long as the feudal 
 power. This affords matter for gloomy meditation, especially when one 
 reflects that the education of the fourth Estate has not been completed." 
 (.Le Temps, December 26, 1892.)
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 395 
 
 and communists presented themselves as candidates in 
 Paris ; their platform permitted the establishment of 
 municipal workshops, the suppression of the police, and 
 a revenue tax. They received, in all, 14,174 votes, and 
 not one of them was elected. In August, 1893, an 
 effort was made, on the occasion of the elections for 
 the General Councils, and a socialist one only was 
 elected in the Nievre. In 1885, for the general elec- 
 tions, the party drew up a manifesto which was any- 
 thing but explicit ; it spoke of the ' ' Versailles reac- 
 tion," and the anxiety " to wrest the Republic from the 
 wealthy " was only sketched in the background. The 
 socialists did not disturb the festivities of 1889 ; not 
 knowing what Boulangism was about to bring forth, 
 they postponed their projects ; soon they lost the hope 
 of seeing the parliamentary Republic sunk in a civil 
 war with the middle classes, and they no longer ex- 
 pected from any one but themselves the realization of 
 their theories. The year 1891 beheld "a significant 
 separation effected between the defenders and adversa- 
 ries of paternal government." 1 In 1892, at last, the 
 socialists had a grand battle with the municipality, the 
 result of which "figured up 160,000 votes, 736 mem- 
 bers elected, and 29 city halls carried by assault." 2 
 Since that date, we may consider that the socialists 
 form a political party which will exercise an influence 
 on general politics. In fact, on the approach of the 
 elections of 1889, a genuine concentration to their ad- 
 vantage took place. The vanguard of the radical party 
 came over to them. At the end of an important meet- 
 ing held at Albi, M. Millerand writes : " The revolu- 
 tionary socialist fractions have grasped the utility of 
 
 1 Andre Daniel, L'Annte Politique, 1891. 
 
 2 Manifesto of the Guesdist party in 1893.
 
 396 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 electoral action. They have proclaimed the necessity 
 of union. All that remains is, to pass from words to 
 deeds. In this country there is a great mass of disap- 
 pointed electors who have made their escape from the 
 lists and groups which have so long restrained them. 
 Socialism can and ought to rally them. It will not fail 
 in its task." l It is an epoch of conversions on the Left. 
 M. Jaures, who returns from the Left Centre, and M. 
 Goblet, who comes from nearer by, are among the cate- 
 chumens. The former is a university man, a professor 
 endowed with remarkable talent, and no less remarka- 
 ble activity, and always ready to place both at the 
 service of the socialistic idea. The latter, whom 
 we have seen in power, has been, by turns, an ad- 
 vanced republican, then a radical, and, most of all, 
 progressist. Ideas become modified in the socialistic 
 sense, but with a certain moderation and relative slow- 
 ness. In the speech which he made at Bordeaux, in 
 May, 1893, the latter declares that, instead of allying 
 themselves with the opportunists, true radicals must, 
 henceforth, ally themselves with the socialists, on the 
 sole condition that these last named "shall distinctly 
 repudiate violence, and demand the triumph of their 
 ideas only through legal and pacific means," and, also, 
 that they shall cease to discard the idea of country. 
 The ballot gives an unforeseen and surprising result ; 
 the socialist candidates obtain 599,588 votes. Never- 
 theless, public opinion is not alarmed. 
 
 During this period, international good understanding 
 progresses by means of congresses : national congresses, 
 where the representatives of one people try to come 
 into harmony, with a view to facilitating, later on, the 
 good understanding between nations, and international 
 
 i The Petite Rtpublique Fran<;aise, April 25, 1893.
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 397 
 
 congresses, where the effort is made to lay the founda- 
 tions of that understanding. In France we are very 
 much behindhand in organizing congresses. The one 
 which the socialists attempted to assemble in Paris, on 
 the occasion of the Exposition of 1878, was prohibited 
 by the Prefect of Police. The majority of public opin- 
 ion approves of governmental strictness ; up to a cer- 
 tain point, it shares the distrust of the Senate with 
 regard to the workingman, when the question of cer- 
 tificate-books comes up (1883) ; 1 it sides with Jules 
 Ferry when he defends the liberty of labor, in that 
 great debate on the social question, which was opened 
 in the Chamber in 1884. 
 
 Beginning with 1891, 2 congresses multiply in num- 
 ber. In 1892 the Congress of Marseilles is marked 
 by important debates ; the celebrated Liebknecht is 
 heard to utter formidable words, proving that, on the 
 other side of the frontier, socialist convictions do not 
 weaken Germanic sentiment. Bebel still further em- 
 phasizes Liebknecht's attitude by the declarations to 
 which he gives expression in the following year, before 
 the Congress of Zurich (1893). The mirage of uni- 
 versal union and fraternity vanishes ; nationality, on 
 the contrary, is strongly marked in the vote of the dele- 
 gations, without the desire of effecting an understanding 
 between the working classes of all countries, an 
 understanding very necessary to their hopes, being 
 
 1 Certificate-books for workmen had been suppressed by the Chamber, 
 the Senate consented to the suppression of the obligation, but mentioned 
 the workman's right to have a certificate-book, which amounted to re- 
 establishing the right of the employer to demand that the workman should 
 produce it. 
 
 2 Between 1878 and 1891, there was a long series of congresses organized 
 in France by different socialist groups. These congresses are important 
 only because of the manifold divisions of opinion which were there repre- 
 sented. We shall return to this subject shortly.
 
 398 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 weakened thereby. It is a curious moment ; the 
 dreams, chimerical hopes, sentimentalities, which have 
 so long sustained the socialists, make way for calcula- 
 tions, reasonings, practical resolutions. During this 
 same year, the international congress of miners is held 
 at Brussels ; the English delegation, which comprises 
 eminent personages, holds its warrant from 340,000 
 syndicated miners. 1 Bristol witnesses the assembling 
 of the Congress of British co-operators, while Rheims 
 and Toulouse show hospitality to socialist assemblies. 
 
 Still more active is the year 1894. There are : 
 four congresses of the general Union of the Working- 
 men of Spain, and the Fourth Congress of the Spanish 
 working party, which follow, one the other, at Madrid, 
 in the month of August ; the Thirty-fourth Congress of 
 the Trades-Unions of England, 2 which opens at Nor- 
 wich ; the Fifth Congress of the Italian socialist party, 
 which is held in September at Imola, while in October 
 German socialism assembles for the seventeenth time 
 at Frankfort. In France, congresses take place at 
 Tours, Dijon, and at Nantes (the Twelfth Congress of 
 the French workman's party). M. Jules Guesde, who 
 recapitulates all these manifestations with undeniable 
 vitality, exclaims : " A party which, from one end of 
 Europe to the other, presents the spectacle of such 
 unity as this, is a party to whom the morrow belongs. 
 . . . None of the great social transformations, none of 
 the real revolutions which have changed the face of 
 the world in the past, has ever been preceded by the 
 
 1 Out of a total of 650,000 possessed by Great Britain. 
 
 2 As we have said above, the trades-unions pronounced in favor of 
 collectivism. In 1893 they had displayed strong tendencies in this direc- 
 tion; in 1894 they had, by a very large majority, "invited their two 
 million members to vote, at legislative and municipal elections, only for 
 those candidates who had accepted the collectivist programme."
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 399 
 
 general manifestation of such a common state of 
 minds." 1 
 
 This quest after an international understanding no 
 longer has anything secret or shady about it ; is it for 
 this reason that less attention is paid to it ? Fantastic 
 tales singularly exaggerated the danger so long as it 
 was only a question of a handful of agitators formed 
 into a secret society. Now that social claims are put 
 into words, in broad daylight, by a large mass of citi- 
 zens, security seems to be restored to their adversaries. 
 The annual demonstration, called the demonstration of 
 the first of May, whose importance arises, in great part, 
 from the peaceful character which it has borne so far, 
 is the result of the efforts towards unity of aim, and the 
 similarity of means. It is, at the same time, a general 
 review of the socialist forces. One finds some difficulty 
 in taking it seriously. Nevertheless, those who saw 
 John Burns 2 in Hyde Park, London, on May 7, 1893, 
 harangue, from a cart transformed into a tribune, the 
 100,000 disciplined men massed around him, were able 
 to convince themselves that the " Platonic " character 
 of the demonstration was quite apparent. 
 
 Of violent means the mildest is the strike, when it 
 ends without bloodshed. In France it has rarely been 
 stained with blood ; its legitimacy was, none the less, 
 disputed. 3 The right was denied to the workingmen to 
 
 * The Matin, September 14, 1894. 
 
 2 The English, being practical people, carry over the demonstration to 
 the first Sunday in May, in order to avoid unnecessary waste of time. 
 
 8 The strike is an ancient fact in the world. It existed in Egypt, under 
 Ramses II. It is to be observed, that, in France, during the last century, 
 it had already assumed most of its present characteristics. In 1724, as 
 M. Franz Funck-Brentane relates in the Revue Retrospective, a number of 
 printers having been summoned from Germany to Paris by master-printers, 
 a lowering of wages ensued, and a general protest. A young workman, 
 Francois Thomiuet, twenty-three years of age, was at the head of the
 
 400 THE EVOLUTION OF FKANCE. 
 
 defend their interests by a simultaneous cessation of 
 labor; such an act seemed a crime against society. 
 With still more reason were they denied the right to 
 strike for a moral cause. The "point of honor" has 
 often provoked their resistance. This was notably the 
 case in the celebrated strike of Carmaux. The work- 
 ingmen were contending for their political liberty ; the 
 company was contending for its right of directorship ; l 
 it used it awkwardly, but it existed, none the less. 
 Under any other circumstances one would have admired 
 the remarkable spirit of solidarity, the power of self- 
 sacrifice for an idea, of which the Carmaux strikers 
 gave proof. But passion blinds, and their conduct was 
 censured in an unjust and thoughtless manner. 
 
 In 1892 there were 261 strikes in France, which 
 affected 500 establishments and 50,000 workmen. In 
 1893, 634 strikes affected 4386 establishments and 
 170,123 workmen ; the latter lost, on this account, 
 3,174,000 days' labor. On the other hand, 5 coalitions 
 of employers were organized : 3 by butchers and 2 by 
 bakers. Out of the 634 strikes, 443 affected one estab- 
 lishment only ; 72 affected from 2 to 5 ; 30 from 6 to 10 ; 
 
 movement; he was seized, and was imprisoned in secret, in the Petit-Cha- 
 telet for many months. That same year the hosiers struck because their 
 wages had been reduced. The syndic of the merchant-hosiers asked the 
 Comptroller-General to proceed with rigor against the " plotters." Strike, 
 coalition, assessments to maintain the strike, threats, attacks 011 the liberty 
 of labor, everything passed off as in our day. Only the arbitrary order 
 of imprisonment got the better of the ringleaders. 
 
 1 It is to be noted that the same case presented itself at Saint-Denis ; 
 the employers, being wiser, afforded to the workman elected as Mayor 
 every facility for discharging the duties of his office. It will be remem- 
 bered that the origin of the conflict at Carmaux was the election to the 
 mayoralty and to the District Council of the workman Calvignac, and the 
 discharge by the company of this same Calvignac, without any other plau- 
 sible reason than the dignity which had been conferred on him by universal 
 suffrage.
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 401 
 
 only 7 strikes affected more than 100 establishments ; 
 24.5 per cent were crowned with success ; 32.5 per cent 
 ended in a compromise; 43 per cent ended in defeat. In 
 the majority of cases the strike was caused by a demand 
 for an increase of wages, or by a preliminary reduction ; 
 58 strikes arose out of sympathy for the discharge of 
 workmen, or from other causes of the same nature. The 
 force of resistance was considerable : 59 strikes lasted 
 from 15 to 30 days ; 68, from 30 to 200 ; 7 lasted more 
 than 100 days. 1 A "general strike" has often been talked 
 of as a formidable weapon, which would serve to para- 
 lyze the march of affairs in the world ; but this weapon 
 would turn first against those who forged it. However, 
 that is a drawback which is common to nearly all 
 strikes. "The time for strikes is over," said John 
 Burns at Hyde Park, on May 7, 1893, thereby indicat- 
 ing that there are other means, efficacious and less dan- 
 gerous, for attaining the object aimed at. Moreover, 
 it must be borne in mind that, in a great number of 
 cases, the workmen have not acted of themselves or 
 wholly of their own volition. Even before the social- 
 ists succeeded in forming a compact group in the heart 
 of the French Parliament, there existed commercial 
 travellers who dealt in strikes, who were always ready 
 to betake themselves to a place where a conflict threat- 
 ened to break out. The celebrated type of the carpet- 
 bagger, created in the Southern States of America by 
 the emancipation of the negroes, was reproduced among 
 us with the difference that the French carpet-bagger 
 was often a man of convictions, and sometimes slipped 
 in a bit of good advice among a great quantity of bad 
 advice. 
 
 Even the most spiritless strike must be ranked among 
 
 1 Statistics of the Ministry of Commerce, copied in Le Temps.
 
 402 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 the class of violent means, because it always causes some 
 damage. But it is not always spiritless; it has brought 
 about real financial disasters which have affected the 
 innocent ; it has even occasioned the greatest unhappi- 
 ness, individual crimes, barbarous repression, and so 
 forth. The scale of violence continues to ascend even 
 to the "propaganda by deeds," dear to the anarchists. 
 Nothing belies the theory that a contradiction exists 
 between the anarchist conception, in which there is no 
 longer any State, and the collectivist conception, in which 
 the State is everything. But one finds some difficulty 
 in demonstrating the non-existence, in practice, of a 
 bond between the collectivists and the anarchists. Mr. 
 Herbert Spencer has said that the doctrines of the 
 communists may bring about " a return to the struggle 
 for existence, such as exists among brutes." 1 It ap- 
 pears that an anarchist press existed from the epoch of 
 the explosions at Montceau-les-Mines (September, 1882). 
 The trial of Prince Krapotkin, and of his "compan- 
 ions " implicated in the proceedings, proved this. Men 
 were already enchanted with the prospect of blowing up 
 "speculators, capitalists, and the middle classes"; but 
 anarchy seems to be a state of mind rather than a sect. 
 It has acted ; it has written little. The most interest- 
 ing document in which its theories are expounded is 
 the declaration read by Emile Henry, on April 29, 
 1894, before the jury which condemned him to death. 2 
 This declaration is remarkable in more than one re- 
 spect. Therein one clearly follows the genesis of the 
 social hatred which develops in the hearts of the re- 
 volters, but one does not gather the slightest elucida- 
 
 1 Letter addressed to Le Figaro, dated January 24, 18&4. 
 
 2 Simile Henry confessed the authorship of the crimes of the Rue des 
 Bons-Eufants and the Cafe Terminus.
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 403 
 
 tion as to the solution which they have in view ; on the 
 other hand, one does perceive the traces of an incom- 
 mensurate pride which completely blinds them as to 
 the consequences of their acts. " I have desired to show 
 to the middle classes," exclaims Emile Henry emphati- 
 cally, "that henceforth there are no more complete 
 joys for them ! " It is evident that the " companions," 
 as they call themselves, are, in a manner, hypnotized by 
 the mystery with which they surround themselves, by 
 the conversations which they hold with each other, 
 by a sort of faith in their mission, if one may employ 
 such terms in speaking of such criminals. The proof 
 of this is, that, once they step out of their circle, 
 once they are torn away from its deleterious interests, 
 they perceive things from a different angle. Antoine 
 Cyvoct, who was condemned to death in 1883, in con- 
 sequence of an explosion in the Cafe Bellecour, in 
 Lyons, and had had his sentence commuted to per- 
 petual hard labor, sent to his friends, from the lie Nou, 
 in January, 1894, a letter in which, after having de- 
 clared his sympathy with them, he said to them : 
 " Wrench yourselves away from that sort of over- 
 excitement which prevents your having a clear view of 
 the goal at which you aim ; resist that sort of tendency 
 to take the bit in your teeth, which leads you to the 
 worst excesses, and understand at last that it is not by 
 deeds of violence, which arouse universal reprobation, 
 that revolutions are prepared, but by winning hearts, by 
 captivating minds. Tell yourselves, plainly moreover, 
 that if the last member of the middle classes were to 
 die to-morrow, things would not be any the more ad- 
 vanced; for you would still have against you thousands of 
 workers, whom it would be necessary to convert to your 
 principles before you could think of applying them."
 
 404 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 " To win hearts and captivate minds," is precisely what 
 neither politics nor violence can compass. The sensible 
 socialists are perfectly well aware how precious for this 
 task is " intellectual " action. While democratic insti- 
 tutions and also military service develop the spirit of 
 equality, the contact of extreme misery and of exagger- 
 ated fortunes has developed the spirit of pity. The 
 co-existence, in the city, of wealth and poverty is so 
 universal and so ancient a phenomenon, that one is 
 accustomed to regard it as an evil which cannot be 
 remedied, and the hatred of the poor for the rich is no 
 longer suitable at the present time. The articles of 
 Pere Peinard hardly approach, in the bitterness of 
 their demands, the Sibylline poets. 1 At certain epochs, 
 nevertheless, and in certain countries, one would say 
 that hatred was soothed, and that the claims become 
 less brutal and less thoroughgoing. This takes place 
 when wealth is fixed, when those who help earn money 
 can see it spent before their eyes, and can, in a manner, 
 control its employment. The peasant attached to the 
 soil, the workman busy in the factory, revolt far less 
 against inheritance which transmits property, or against 
 the boss who drains the profits of industry, than against 
 the sort of anonymous form in which the wealth, ob- 
 tained by their efforts, is circulated. Almost all the 
 
 1 " The rich, in order to augment their domains, and to obtain for 
 themselves servitors, pillage the wretched. Ah! If the earth were not 
 fixed so far from the sky, they would contrive that the light should not be 
 equally shared by all. The sun, purchased with gold, would no longer 
 shine for any but the rich, and God would have been forced to make 
 another world for the poor." (Vol. III.) M. Gaston Boissier (La Fin du 
 Paganisme) cites, in addition, this dream of the future which must have 
 disturbed more than one brain: "The land will then be parcelled out 
 among all the people. It will not be divided by limits, it will not be 
 enclosed in walls. There will no longer be either beggar or rich man, 
 either master or slave, either small or great ; there will be no kings or 
 chieftains : everything will belong to all men." (II. 320.)
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 405 
 
 aristocracies of the past have been killed by absentee- 
 ism; and in our day, absenteeism is worse than ever 
 before. Another germ of social hatred is stock-jobbing 
 under its multiple forms; it permits of the rapid amass- 
 ing of fortunes, without the right of possession, which 
 results from its sense of legal transmission or regular 
 labor, being perceptible to the masses. Thus a sort of 
 financial feudal state has been created ; society " bears 
 with all its weight upon a single pillar, the pillar of 
 money." l " On the one hand," writes Leo XIII., 
 drawing a picture of social ills, 2 " on the one hand, 
 omnipotence in opulence ; a fraction which, absolute 
 master of industries and commerce, turns aside the 
 course of riches, and makes all springs flow into it ; a 
 fraction which, moreover, holds in its hand more than 
 one department of public administration. On the 
 other, feebleness with indigence ; a multitude which, 
 with ulcerated soul, always gives rise to disorder." 
 
 Not only does excess of luxury result in the increase 
 of poverty itself, by diminishing the resources which 
 might be employed by the rich to assuage it: it also 
 renders it more difficult to endure. The inequality of 
 conditions does better than merely make an impression 
 on the mind ; it explains itself philosophically and 
 economically ; but this sort of party wall between the 
 lavish squandering of some and the absolute destitution 
 of others, cannot long subsist without superinducing a 
 current of rebellion which drags along with it the fort- 
 unate as well as the disinherited, thanks to that innate 
 sense of justice which the passions sometimes obliterate 
 in man, though they never succeed in entirely effacing 
 
 1 E.-M. de Vogue, L'Heure Prtsente. (Revue des Deux Mondes, Decem- 
 ber 15, 1892.) 
 
 2 The encyclical Rerum Novarum.
 
 406 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 them. Thus it comes about that the ringing formula 
 launched by Tolstoy has found an echo in all circles, 
 and that the "religion of human suffering" has gathered 
 together disciples culled from all churches, even from 
 that of incredulity. " A tacit, unconscious conspiracy 
 has been formed between people whom everything sep- 
 arates, from the proletariat which hurls itself blindly 
 against the social machine, even to the patented conduc- 
 tors of that machine. The conspiracy begins with hatred 
 at the bottom, and ends in vague pity at the top ; it 
 unites the efforts of the man of action, and the favor of 
 the man of thought ; it draws together, unwittingly on 
 their part, all those who suffer from the old order of 
 things, all those who enjoy it and despise it ; by paths 
 the most diverse, it urges them on, pell-mell, to the 
 same goal, the goal aimed at by the one set, dreaded by 
 the other, which marches towards it in spite of itself." 1 
 
 The party of social revolution has endeavored, by 
 political means, to get possession of the government ; 
 its success has been rapid and important ; by violent 
 means it tried to frighten capital, and seems not to have 
 succeeded ; by intellectual means, at last, it has infil- 
 trated itself into public opinion. To what extent? 
 The future alone can tell us that. 
 
 In France two capital obstacles bar its path, in a 
 manner more apparent than real, perhaps : the first is 
 the development of small holdings of landed property ; 
 the second is the domestic dissensions which exist in 
 her very bosom. 
 
 The territory of France represents 52,857,000 hectares, 
 of which 49,561,861 are under agriculture. Great cult- 
 ure (domains of from 40 to 300 hectares) is repre- 
 
 1 E.-M. de Vogue, L'Heure Prtsente. (Revue des Deux Mondes, Decem- 
 ber 15, 1892.)
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 407 
 
 sented by 142,088 farms ; l middling culture (from 10 
 to 40), by 727,222 ; petty culture (from 1 to 10), by 
 2,635,030 ; and, in conclusion, very petty culture (less 
 than one hectare), by 2,167,667. 2 Half the population 
 of France lives by agriculture ; one-quarter, by manu- 
 factures; one-tenth, by commerce; f our one-hundredths, 
 by the so-called liberal professions ; six one-hundredths 
 live without occupation of any sort. 3 The statistics of 
 the administration of direct taxes set down at 8,454,000 
 the number of rural and urban properties in France. 
 There are about 4,900,000 rural proprietors, and the cul- 
 tivators who develop their own property are, in round 
 numbers, 2,150,700 against 468,000 farmers and 194,400 
 who work on half shares. The system of petty holdings, 
 which is, moreover, of very ancient date in France, 4 is 
 not undergoing diminution. The number of proprie- 
 tors who cultivate their own land was only 1,812,573 in 
 1862 against v 2,150,700 in 1882. 
 
 These few figures possess an eloquence of their own ; 
 they show that the industrial population has no strength 
 in comparison with the agricultural population, but that, 
 on the other hand, nothing could resist any movement 
 which the agricultural laborers and the industrial 
 
 1 From the number of hectares under great culture must be deducted 
 the departmental and communal property, and that belonging to asylums, 
 religious congregations, railways, charity bureaux, and so forth, about 
 5,000,000 hectares. 
 
 2 Report of M. Tisserand on the decennial investigation of 1882. 
 
 3 Mines, quarries, factories, industrial works, give occupation to 
 1,130,000 individuals; petty industries, 6,093,000. Commerce includes 
 789,000 bankers, clerks, wholesale merchants; 1,895,000 shopkeepers; 
 1,164,000 hotel-keepers, cafe-keepers. Railways and the merchant marine 
 give occupation to 800,000 persons ; State employments, 805,000 ; the num- 
 ber of persons who live on their incomes is 1,849,000. 
 
 4 See Les Populations Rurales de la France, by M. Baudrillart; Les 
 Voyages en France, of Arthur Young; and Leroy-Beaulieu, La Petite 
 Propriete" Fonciere en France et a I'fitranger. (Revue des Deux Mondes, 
 February 15, 1888.)
 
 408 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 laborers should agree upon together. Is such an agree- 
 ment feasible ? Therein lies the whole question. The 
 socialists do not appear to have hit upon a formula 
 which permits them to set in opposition the two types 
 of territorial property. But they are seeking after such 
 a formula, 1 and the very term "peasant property," of 
 which they are beginning to make use, indicates the 
 object of their strivings. They must conquer, on the 
 one hand, the aversion of the petty proprietor for those 
 whom he calls the " sharers," and, on the other hand, 
 bring about a compromise between the irreconcilables 
 of the party, who were still proclaiming, at the recent 
 Congress of Dijon (1894), the inalienability of land. 
 They flatter themselves that they shall attain this double 
 result without much delay. It is the fashion to say that 
 the petty proprietor regards the large estate which ad- 
 joins his as safeguarding his rights, and that, in this 
 manner, he is induced to defend it against all attacks. 
 It is doubtful whether this sentiment exists beyond the 
 possible extension of which the petty proprietor discerns 
 the possibility ; he gladly cherishes the prospect of aug- 
 menting his own possessions ; he does not ask that the 
 vast domain which he will never own shall be protected. 2 
 Moreover, his powerful neighbor often oppresses him, 
 by hemming him in and annihilating him ; their inter- 
 ests are not identical ; they are united, but it is possible 
 to separate them. As for the extremists of communism, 
 they will lay down their arms on the day when it shall 
 have been proved to them by facts, that the absolute 
 which they proclaim is precisely the obstacle which 
 
 1 See the articles of M. Jaures in the Dfyeche de Toulouse (October, 
 1893). 
 
 2 This was wittily expressed by a deputy whose personal revenues 
 amounted to about 40,000 francs, when he demanded the imposition of a 
 special tax on fortunes which exceeded 2,000,000 francs.
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 409 
 
 stands in the way of the realization of their plans ; such 
 is the reasoning of the "government socialists." 
 
 Neither do they disquiet themselves over the divisions 
 and subdivisions into groups and subgroups which 
 weaken socialism, and help to inspire its adversaries 
 with confidence. A glance at the state of affairs in the 
 French socialist camp will afford a better comprehension 
 of the security of both parties. 
 
 The workingmen's congresses which were held in 
 Paris in 1876, and in Lyons in 1878, were composed 
 almost exclusively of the advocates of the co-operation 
 and mutualism preached by Prudhomme ; they repu- 
 diated collectivism and the employment of force. 1 But 
 M. Jules Guesde, by his influence, which was already 
 great, succeeded in getting collectivist resolutions passed 
 as early as 1871 (Congress of Marseilles); and in the 
 following year, at the Congress of Havre, the definitive 
 rupture took place. Jules Guesde had brought back 
 from London, with the same respect as Moses when he 
 descended from Mount Sinai, the new tablets of law 
 drawn up by Marx and Engel ; his journal, ISEgalite, 
 played an important part. Still, his preponderance was 
 not recognized by all. The amnestied members of the 
 Commune, who had returned from Noumea, looked on 
 him rather as an intruder. 2 Paul Brousse and Joffrin, 
 the latter very popular in his party, announced them- 
 selves as " possibilists," that is to say, somewhat in the 
 nature of opportunists in method. They succeeded in 
 
 1 Their leader was M. Barberet, afterwards chief of a bureau iu the 
 Ministry of the Interior. 
 
 2 Jules Guesde, whose real name is Mathieu Basile, had done nothing 
 but manage a newspaper at Montpellier, and had supported Gambetta's 
 candidacy there in 1871. It was known that he had expressed disapproba- 
 tion of the massacre of hostages, and had done homage " to our brave 
 soldiers who can fight, but who never assassinate."
 
 410 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 bringing about a new secession in 1882, at the Congress 
 of Saint-Etienne, being aided therein by the small suc- 
 cess which the socialist candidates had scored at the elec- 
 tions of 1881 ; 303 groups remained at Saint-Etienne ; 
 32 groups, under the direction of Jules Guesde, emi- 
 grated to Roanne. The Congress of Marseilles had 
 divided the country into six regions, which had for 
 their capitals, Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Lille, 
 and Algiers. The federation of the North alone re- 
 mained Guesdist ; the others followed Paul Brousse. 
 But Paul Brousse was a learned man, a man of letters ; 
 he admitted political action, which that same Congress 
 of Marseilles had virtually condemned by deciding that 
 the deputies and the municipal councillors could not 
 form part of the national committee placed at the head 
 of the party. 1 Paul Brousse and his friends got the 
 Congress of Paris (1883) to suppress this clause. This 
 gave rise to a grand battle. One congress followed 
 another ; each anathematized the others ; the rebellious 
 syndicates entered the lists against the managers ; and 
 in addition to the Blanquists, who from the begin- 
 ning had remained independent, three distinct groups 
 were formed, the Allemanist, the Broussists, and the 
 Guesdists. 1 
 
 The Allemanist party, so called from its leader, Jean 
 Allemane, is officially styled: the Workingman's Social- 
 ist Revolutionary party. It is remarkable for its 
 anonymousness and its discipline. Allemane. who 
 enjoyed great influence in the quarter of Folie-Meri- 
 cour, in Paris, 2 is a modest man. He has taught his 
 
 1 See the remarkable articles of M. de Seilhac published in the Revue 
 Bleue of September 7 and 21, October 5, and November 2, 1805, from 
 which are borrowed the greater part of the details which we have given 
 here. 
 
 2 In 1893 the Allemauists received 50,000 votes in Paris.
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 411 
 
 disciples to distrust politicians, to impose upon the dep- 
 uty of their choice the formality of a " blank " resigna- 
 tion, which places the man elected under the permanent 
 domination of his electors. He favors strikes, which 
 he calls "war with folded arms," and believes in the 
 superiority of economical methods. The Allemanist 
 federations are four in number : that of the Centre 
 (Paris) comprises sixty groups of social studies, and 
 twenty syndicates and corporate groups; that of Ar- 
 dennes (Charleville), sixty groups or syndicates, the 
 principal one being the syndicate of the four thousand 
 weavers of Sedan ; that of the East (Dijon), and that 
 of the South (Bordeaux), each of which represents 
 forty groups. The Broussists, who call themselves the 
 Federation of the Socialist Laborers of France, rule in 
 many quarters of Paris and in Touraine ; they are 
 hostile to strikes. Paul Brousse, whom the extreme 
 views of Marx repel, is a State socialist ; he professes 
 the " let-alone " doctrine. According to him, the pub- 
 lic services are becoming, one after the other, general 
 and gratuitous ; all that is needed is to aid the move- 
 ment ; when all shall have been transformed, that is 
 communism. 
 
 The Guesdist party (the French workman's party) 
 is the personal work of Jules Guesde, a man of high 
 intelligence and of rare energy, which nothing daunts. 
 When he was abandoned at Saint-Etienne, he managed 
 to lay the foundations of a new grouping, purely politi- 
 cal, it is true, and to which the syndicates do not give 
 in their allegiance. It is divided into the federation of 
 the South (Bordeaux), of the West (Nantes), of the 
 East (Troyes), of the Centre (Paris), and of the 
 North (Lille). It numbers 833 groups, of which 192 
 belong to the North alone. The organization is rather
 
 412 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 unsettled, it is true, a little superficial ; but the activity 
 is great, and the results are undeniable. 
 
 As for the Blanquists (the central revolutionary 
 committee), they form the true party of the Revolu- 
 tion, for whom all means are good. Their centre of 
 action is in the department of Cher ; the federations of 
 the Cher and the Allier give it, with its Paris groups, 
 a total of about 35,000 adherents. The divergences 
 are numerous, as will be perceived ; but if one may 
 judge from the votes of the socialist deputies in the 
 Chamber, they do not perceptibly interfere with a good 
 understanding. " At the present time," writes M. 
 Vaillant, "only shades of opinion separate the social- 
 ists, in theory ; so far as ideas are concerned, modern 
 socialism is the same in all countries, and for all par- 
 ties." 1 And M. Vaillant further pens the following 
 lines, which furnish interesting food for thought, in 
 that they show the state of mind of one of the most 
 prominent citizens of the party : " Resolutions are 
 merely political and social crises, which eliminate from 
 the social order its obsolete elements, release for a new 
 evolution the elements accumulated by the progress of 
 events and of manners, to the free development of 
 which the foregoing system formed an obstacle, surviv- 
 ing, by the organized force of its government, of its 
 privileged class, the conditions which had created it, 
 and which, by their disappearance, bring about its fall. 
 Assuredly, the further we proceed, the greater will be 
 the part played by the will of man and the organized 
 force of the socialist party in ulterior determinations, 
 but on the condition that they are exactly in accord with 
 the historical development, with the social evolution 
 which it will find it easy to precipitate, but impossible to 
 
 1 Letter to M. de Seilhac. (Revue Bleue, November 2, 1895.)
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 413 
 
 oppose or allay. As to the time, the duration of the 
 phases, the stages to be traversed, we can say nothing." 
 However incomplete and imperfect may be this sketch 
 of the conditions under which socialism is developing 
 in France, it is sufficient to establish the importance 
 and the continuity of the movement. How is it possi- 
 ble to imagine that such a movement can be stopped, 
 or forced back, or even that it will become extinct of 
 itself ? Good sense tells us that it must end in a modi- 
 fication of the social state, which, however, does not 
 imply the complete disappearance of present society, or 
 the substitution therefor of the collectivist city. The 
 solutions which we can descry are three in number : 
 either a power which will treat with capital on equal 
 terms will be formed by association ; or the law estab- 
 lished by the delegates of the greatest number will in- 
 tervene to redress the wrongs of chance and of heredity ; 
 or, lastly, a voluntary understanding will be effected, 
 by means of concessions mutually agreed upon. The 
 tendency to syndicates in France is tolerably large ; of 
 course, it cannot be compared to that which, in Eng- 
 land, settled the formation of the trades-unions. 1 On 
 July 1, 1893, there existed 4448 professional associa- 
 tions, 2 637 more than in 1892. In the space of one 
 
 1 The reader will remember that, in the beginning, the trades-unions 
 were treated with distrust by the public powers, and deprived of the 
 guarantees which are essential to the existence of every society. A series 
 of outrages having occurred, which alarmed public opinion, a grand com- 
 mittee of inquiry was instituted, which proposed the system of absolute 
 liberty. Later on, the trades-unions became " one of the recognized bases 
 of social peace in England." 
 
 1898. 1892. 
 
 Number. Members. Number. Members. 
 
 Syndicates of employers 1397 114,176 1212 102,649 
 
 Syndicates of workingmen 1926 402,125 1589 288,970 
 
 Syndicates, mixed 173 30,052 137 18,561 
 
 Syndicates, agricultural 952 352,883 863 313,800
 
 414 THE EVOLUTION OF FRANCE. 
 
 year the members of syndicates had increased in num- 
 ber from 723,680 to 900,236, or an augmentation of 
 176,156. 1 In 1885 the workingmen's syndicates num- 
 bered 221 ; now there are 1926 of them. In 1884 there 
 were 20 unions. Now there are 117 ; 2 28 or 29 labor 
 exchanges centralize the action of about 400 syndi- 
 cates. And finally, around the syndicates are grouped 
 creations of all sorts, orphanages, schools, intelligence 
 offices, disputed claims offices, bulletins, and reviews. 
 But the effort in the direction of mediation is small ; 
 societies for consumable commodities rose, between 1892 
 and 1893, only from 38 to 43, and the societies of pro- 
 duction from 12 to 16. 3 The Frenchman has inveterate 
 habits of individualism ; he never has recourse to asso- 
 ciation except when he cannot do otherwise ; he has no 
 instinct for it. When an institution prospers in France, 
 he always seeks the man or the men to whom its guid- 
 ance is due. The idea of collective and anonymous 
 force, produced by a superposition of individual efforts, 
 remains foreign to him ; he has to reason with himself 
 in order to believe in it. That being the case, it seems 
 very difficult for the association of workingmen to be- 
 come sufficiently powerful in France to thrust itself on 
 the public powers and on employers in a decisive and 
 durable manner. 
 
 The law is not like an association ; it does not have 
 to be acclimatized. The Frenchman is accustomed to 
 respect it and to obey it. Let a radical majority 
 
 1 Report of the Minister of Commerce on the development of profes- 
 sional associations during the year 1892-1893. This report concerns only 
 the associations constituted in conformity with the law of 1884 ; many are 
 not. Consequently, the figures are very small. 
 
 2 Of which 29 are employers; 61 workingmen ; 11 mixed; 16 agricult- 
 ural. 
 
 8 Le Temps, January 5, 1894.
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 415 
 
 establish a really progressive tax, one which shall ac- 
 tually limit private fortunes, not one which oppress- 
 ing means most of all leaves the small and the great 
 face to face with each other, the socialists will only 
 have to perfect the tool after their own ideas ; and 
 as it represents a doctrine which i's just in theory, the 
 progressive tax will be enacted without revolt. If it 
 is destined to ruin the country, it will take the country 
 some time to find it out. Moreover, it will be envel- 
 oped in a complete legal network calculated to restore 
 the equilibrium, for the benefit of the less fortunate, 
 of the less intelligent, and, without doubt, also, of the 
 less laborious. But one assertion can be made at pres- 
 ent, and that is, that the law tends to become more 
 and more minute, and more and more provident; it 
 looks after everything, tries to regulate everything, to 
 penetrate everything. The solution of the social ques- 
 tion by the law appears to be the most probable ; it 
 would, also, be the least desirable. 
 
 Conciliation alone remains ; at the point which the 
 struggle between the classes has reached, whose very 
 existence the optimists try in vain to deny, the hy- 
 pothesis seems ironical. One cannot imagine the two 
 parties face to face, signing a sudden truce, renouncing 
 their claims, and exchanging, for the second time, a 
 "kiss of flirtation." Moreover, if the well-to-do class 
 were to find their road of Damascus, and were to return 
 to the notion of the duties which are consistent with 
 the possession of fortune, the abyss excavated between 
 it and the laboring class would not be filled in, never- 
 theless. It is too late to restore what Le Play calls 
 bossism. The boss is no longer sufficiently unques- 
 tioned to permit of his offering it to his workmen, nor 
 sufficiently powerful to force it upon them. Participa-
 
 416 THE EVOLUTION OF FBANCE. 
 
 tion in the profits is, in their eyes, only alms, if it is 
 not a charter of equality. The very fine enterprise of 
 lodgings for workingmen ought, in order to succeed, 
 to constitute a remunerative investment, and from that 
 moment it belies its object of social upraising. These 
 things are only expedients of real value, but very tran- 
 sitory. Charity is an avowal. " In the practice of 
 it," writes Edouard Rod, 1 with enthusiasm, "there lies 
 a confession of injustice which an upright spirit can- 
 not accept ; is it not criminal hypocrisy to correct the 
 iniquity of fate by abandoning the minor part of one's 
 superfluity ? We have duties, or we have not. If we 
 have not, let us drink, eat, and enjoy ourselves, with 
 our eyes shut to the miseries the sight of which would 
 spoil our joys, safely entrenched in a fortress of ego- 
 tism. If we have any, let us not think that we fulfil 
 them by a partial sacrifice of ourselves, let us not de- 
 ceive our conscience by half concessions. We must give 
 ourselves wholly, our pleasures, our hearts, and our 
 goods. . . . Give everything to the poor, and follow 
 me. One can only obey or disobey the stern com- 
 mand ; if one does not do all, he has done nothing." 
 Even understood in this sublime fashion, and prac- 
 tised with equal strictness, charity would solve noth- 
 ing. What is needed is, to find the "formula which 
 might be substituted for ancient injustices, without 
 relying upon fresh injustices," 2 and, having found it, 
 to apply it by common consent. What is needed is a 
 second night of August 4, less tardy and more precise. 
 But the well-to-do class does not yet know whether it 
 is necessary " to combine resistances, or to argue about 
 concessions." 3 
 
 1 Edouard Rod, Le Sens de la Vie. 
 
 F. Magnard (Le Figaro, March 20, 1893). Ibid.
 
 THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 417 
 
 The hour for learning this is about to sound. The new 
 generation is aware of it ; it foresees in its march that 
 it is approaching a peak ; thence it will obtain a view 
 of the vast territories which constitute the twentieth 
 century. The dawn is very pale. It knows not 
 whether the day which is coming is to be a cold win- 
 ter's morning, or a spring noon-day. But it is reso- 
 lute ; its step remains firm ; it does not allow its gaze 
 to wander backward over the valleys which have dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 And the spirit of France is with it. 
 
 2E
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abd-ul Azis dies, 94. 
 
 Acadie, 166. 
 
 Adam, Mme., 81. 
 
 Africa, French, 173. 
 
 African rivers, commerce on, 153. 
 
 Alencon, Due d', 140. 
 
 Alexander II., 102; HI., 81, 346. 
 
 Alexandria, massacre and bombard- 
 ment, 125, 126. 
 
 Algeria, 108, 114 ; errors in, 121, 194. 
 
 Allain-Targe, M., 133, 136, 144, 199. 
 
 Allemane, Jean, 410, 411. 
 
 Alphonso XII., insulted in Paris, 146. 
 
 Alsace-Lorraine, 86, 145. 
 
 Amagat, M., 117. 
 
 Ambassadors, 82. 
 
 America, French in, 164 seq. 
 
 American politician, 257. 
 
 Anarchism, 402 seq.; outrages, 253, 
 269. 
 
 Andrassy, Count, 91, 93, 96, 98. 
 
 Annam, 182, 184, 186. 
 
 Arabi Pasha, rises to head of a 
 party, 123 ; popularity increases, 
 124; sham plot, 124; bombarded 
 in Alexandria, 126 ; routed at Tel- 
 el-Kebir, captured, and sentenced, 
 128. 
 
 Arago, Emmanuel, 4, 12. 
 
 Arago, Etienne, 5. 
 
 Arbitration, 32. 
 
 Army, crisis over changes in, 76; 
 346 seq.; and the Republic, 348, 
 356; politics and the, 357, 358; a 
 new, 359 ; service in the, and the 
 middle classes, 360 ; and the lower 
 classes, 360; officers in the, 361; 
 watchfulness in the, 363; and 
 taxes, 364 ; and socialism, 364, 366. 
 
 Arnim, Count d', 86. 
 
 Arnold, Matthew, 315. 
 
 Asia, French, 189. 
 
 Assembly, Constituent, summoned, 
 10 ; dissolved, 52. 
 
 Audiffret-Pasquier, Due d', 24, 30, 
 48; chairman of Senate, 61. 
 
 Aumale, Due d', deputy, 23 ; 38 ; epi- 
 grammatic remark, 41 ; retired, 
 140 ; 210, 235. 
 
 Aurelle de Paladines, d', deputy, 14. 
 
 Austria, 80, 81, 82, 93 ; occupies Bos- 
 nia and Herzegovina, 99; 114. 
 
 Balkan insurrection, 93, 94. 
 
 Bardoux, M., 73, 74, 76. 
 
 Barodet, 33, 115, 152. 
 
 Basilica of Montmartre, 66. 
 
 Batbie, M., 31, 37. 
 
 Bazaine, Marshal, 41. 
 
 Beaconsfield, Lord. See Disraeli. 
 
 Belcastel, M. de, 66. 
 
 Belgium, 90, 194. 
 
 Berenger, enters Council, 35, 72. 
 
 Berlin, Congress of, 96. 
 
 Bert, Paul, 133, 284. 
 
 Beule', M., 37, 66. 
 
 Bey of Tunis, 107 seq. 
 
 Billing, M. de, 119. 
 
 Births and deaths, 384 seq. 
 
 Bishops, 274 seq.; oppose the Pope, 
 298, 300. 
 
 Bismarck, Prince, 7 ; forges tele- 
 gram, 8; prevents gathering of 
 Assembly, 10 ; increases disorgan- 
 ization of France, 20 ; tries to pre- 
 vent Jules Favre's appearance at 
 London Conference, 85 ; hopes to 
 make France a secondary power, 
 86 ; the brutality of his policy, 86 ; 
 correspondence with Count d'Ar- 
 
 419
 
 420 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 nim, 86; cannot conceive of a 
 rational republic, 88 ; his attitude 
 increasingly belligerent, 88; his 
 efforts to precipitate another war, 
 88 seq.; his "nerves," 90; is 
 checked, and feigns astonishment, 
 93; abandons Russia, 96; at Con- 
 gress of Berlin, 96; establishes 
 universal suffrage, 101 ; his watch- 
 word as to Egypt, 128 ; smiles upon 
 France, 145, 153 ; becomes colonial, 
 153 ; 214, 215 ; his error, 364, 369. 
 
 Blanc, Louis, 48, 115. 
 
 Blanche, Alfred, 4. 
 
 Blanquists, 410, 412. 
 
 Bocher, M., 47. 
 
 Bonaparte, 121, 272, 324, 334. 
 
 Bonapartists, electoral successes, 41 ; 
 49; 50. 
 
 Bordeaux, Assembly of, 15 : compact, 
 32. 
 
 Borel, General, 74, 76. 
 
 Boulanger, General, 207, 214-217, 223- 
 238. 
 
 Boulangists, 254. 
 
 Bourbons, 3; reconciliation of 
 branches, 37; restoration made 
 impossible, 39. 
 
 Bourgeois, M., 240, 262. 
 
 Bourget, Paul, 379. 
 
 Brame, 2. 
 
 Brazza, M. de, 175. 
 
 Briere de 1'Isle, 155, 185, 206. 
 
 Brissac, Henri, 199. 
 
 Brisson, Henri, 198, 221. 
 
 Broglie, Due de, leads against Thiers, 
 35 ; enters Council, 37 ; 43, 48, 66 ; 
 forms Cabinet, 68; 85, 105, 114, 
 296. 
 
 Brousse, Paul, 410, 411. 
 
 Brunei, M., 68. 
 
 Budget, of 1887, 211; of 1888, 223. 
 
 Buffet, M., 47; his nervous policy, 
 50; defeated, 50, 52. 
 
 Burdeau, M., 255, 260, 266. 
 
 Burgoing, M., 41, 49. 
 
 Burmah, 188. 
 
 Caesarism, 291. 
 
 Caillaux, M.,47. 
 
 Campan, Mme., 334. 
 
 Campenon, General, 147, 154, 198. 
 
 Canada, 168. 
 
 Canrobert, Marshal, 74, 148. 
 
 Capitalists, 262. 
 
 Caruot, M. Sadi-, 198, 199, 207, 211 ; 
 elected President, 221 ; 226 ; opens 
 Universal Exposition, 230; 255; 
 assassination of, 270 ; his character 
 and services, 270; 359. 
 
 Carolina, 163. 
 
 Casimir-Perier, pere et fits, a real 
 Republic, 31 ; 35, 44 ; 133, 234, 260, 
 265, 268, 285. 
 
 Cassagnac, M. de, 204. 
 
 Castellane, M. de, 46. 
 
 Centre, meaning of the term, 46. 
 
 Challemel-Lacour, M., his speech on 
 the Triple Alliance, 106 ; 139, 145, 
 261. 
 
 Chamber of Deputies, election to, 
 51, 115; renewed every four years, 
 57 ; meets, 61 ; prorogued by 
 President MacMahon, 69; elec- 
 tions, 72, 204; its position in re- 
 gard to Tunisian matters, 113 ; its 
 laughter as to Tunis, 116; suffers 
 in contrast with British Parlia- 
 ment, 156, 157 ; poor fitness of, for 
 colonial expansion, 171; disorder 
 in, 255 ; bomb explodes in hall of, 
 269. 
 
 Chambord, Comte de, issues mani- 
 festo, 23; is reconciled to Comte 
 de Paris, 38 ; adopts white flag, 39 : 
 his wise views, 40 ; death, 40 ; 84. 
 
 Champlain, 164. 
 
 Changarnier, General, deputy, 14. 
 
 Chantilly, 210. 
 
 Chanzy, General, Army of the Loire. 
 23; 30. 
 
 Chartres, Due de, 140, 210. 
 
 Chateauvillain, 213. 
 
 Chauvinism, 355. 
 
 Cherif Pasha, 123. 
 
 Chesnelong, M. de, 39, 295. 
 
 Chevreau, Henri, 2. 
 
 China, France at war with, 148, 155, 
 180-186 ; loses Annam and Tonkin, 
 186; the door of, 189; 194. 
 
 Christians massacred, 94. 
 
 Christophe, M., 52. 
 
 Church and State, 285. 
 
 Cissey, General de, 43, 47, 48, 52.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 421 
 
 Clemenceau, M., 43, 63, 114, 115, 117, j 
 154, 204 seq., 257; gets his wages, j 
 259, 266. 
 
 Clergy, maintains reserve, in New 
 Catholicism agitation, 66. 
 
 Clericalism, a misnomer, 66; Gam- 
 betta opposes it, 67 ; defined, 273 ; 
 its work and methods, 272 seq. 
 
 Colonial empires of France, first and 
 second, 162-169. 
 
 Colonial policy of France, as to 
 Tunis, 107 ; contradiction between 
 continental and, 113. 
 
 Colonies, from 1365 to 1628, 163 seq. ; 
 in America, 164 seq. ; in India, 166 
 seq.; poor financial showing of, 
 173; in Africa, 173; empire form- 
 ing there, 174 ; in Madagascar, a 
 great acquisition, 180; in Asia, 
 180-186 ; too many official changes 
 in, 191 ; parochial spirit and jeal- 
 ousy in France regarding, 192 ; the 
 evils regarding the, and the reme- 
 dies, 195-197 ; 205 ; 250. 
 
 Colonists and explorers, French, 163 
 seq . 
 
 Commerce of France, 194. 
 
 Commercial treaties, 247 seq. 
 
 Commune, germ of, 4; established, 
 17 ; described, 21 ; a second, feared, 
 103. 
 
 Concordat, 67, 272, 285, 298, 301, 
 306. 
 
 Condominium, 123, 128. 
 
 Congress of Berlin, 96 ; a real profit 
 from, 97. 
 
 Conrad, Admiral, 126. 
 
 Constans, M., 234, 255, 265, 284. 
 
 Constantinople conference, 125. 
 
 Constitutions, ten in number, 53 seq. 
 
 Constitution of Third French Repub- 
 lic, birth, 45 seq. ; amendments, 31, 
 45; described, 56 seq.; composed 
 of three constitutional laws, 57; 
 refutes its critics by success, 60; 
 a stable form of government, 61 ; 
 proposed revision, 132. 
 
 Consular reforms, 104. 
 
 Corti, Count, 126. 
 
 Courbet, Admiral, 152, 157, 184, 185. 
 
 Courcy, General de, 191. 
 
 Cremieux, 4, 10, 12. 
 
 Crime and education, 316, 317. 
 Cronstadt, 245, 246. 
 Cyprus, 98. 
 
 Daudet, Alphonse, 379. 
 
 David, Jerome, 2. 
 
 Debates, publicity of, conceded, 55. 
 
 Debt of France, rises to twenty 
 
 milliards, 22 ; five milliards raised 
 
 to reduce it, 22; second loan a 
 
 perfect success, 23 ; war levy fully 
 
 paid, 37; 212. 
 Decazes, Due, 14, 43, 47, 48, 51, 52, 
 
 88, 89-91, 103, 204 ; his efforts to 
 
 save France, 93. 
 Decentralization, movement in favor 
 
 of, 20 ; Le Play's work, 21 ; 197. 
 De Giers, M., 153. 
 Delafosse, M., 114, 125, 155, 157. 
 Delescluse, 4. 
 Depeyre, 41. 
 
 De'roulede, M., 220, 224, 259. 
 Dervish Pasha, 125. 
 Deves, M., 133. 
 Diplomacy, the Republic made a 
 
 new, suited to its needs, 83; ef- 
 
 facement, 103; reform, 104; the 
 
 French and English "agent" 
 
 compared, 109. 
 Discount Bank, 236. 
 Disraeli, Mr., 91, 92, 96, 101. 
 District elections, its nature, 201; 
 
 236. 
 
 Divorce, law of, 151. 
 Don Carlos, 89. 
 Duclerc, M., 129, 136, 137. 
 Dufaure, M., first president of the 
 
 Council, 43; 47, 48, 51; head of 
 
 cabinet, 52; 72; forms another 
 
 ministry, 73. 
 Dufferin, Lord, 126, 128. 
 Dumont, Albert, 337. 
 Dupanloup, Monseigneur, resigns 
 
 from the Academy, 23 ; 273. 
 Duperre', Admiral, 294. 
 Duprat, Pascal, 104. 
 Dupre, Admiral, 182. 
 Dupuy, Charles, 263, 265; coolness, 
 
 269. 
 
 Duruy, M., 327, 336. 
 Duvernois, Cle'ment, 2.
 
 422 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Eastern Question, 95 seq. 
 
 Economic revolution, 247 seq. 
 
 Education, 66; 75; Jules Ferry's 
 work as Minister of, 139, 159; 141 ; 
 and Catholic Church, 276-283, 301 ; 
 in the Third Republic, 308 seq.; 
 primary, 308; secularization of, 
 309 seq. ; number of primary 
 schools, secular and otherwise, 
 311; free schools, 312; poor teach- 
 ers, 313, 314; politico-religious 
 controversy, 315 : crime and, 316 ; 
 teaching about God, 317; apathy 
 after school life, 319; higher pri- 
 mary, 319 ; professional or techni- 
 cal, 322 ; societies for, 323 ; secon- 
 dary, 323 seq. ; Napoleon and, 
 324; onesidedness of, in pres- 
 ent-day France, 325 ; desire to 
 "break" by, 324, 326; charac- 
 ter of the professors, 326 ; Duruy's 
 work in, 327 ; programmes, 327 
 seq. ; classical studies, 328 ; at- 
 tempts at reform in, 328, 329; 
 overdriving and physical exercises, 
 330 ; failure in schools to produce 
 character, 331 ; state and ecclesi- 
 astical schools, 332 ; secondary, for 
 girls, 333-335 ; university, 335-345 ; 
 students and solidarity, 336; new 
 departure in university, 337 seq.; 
 General Council of, created, 339; 
 progress in university, 341. 
 
 Egypt, the connection of France 
 with, 121 ; and Bonaparte, 121 ; the 
 two policies of France in, clash, 
 122 ; foreign superintendence es- 
 tablishment, 122 ; Suez Canal, 122, 
 126 seq.; Arabi Pasha, 123 seq.; 
 France and England send fleets to, 
 124 ; massacre at Alexandria, 125 ; 
 Alexandria bombarded, 126; Glad- 
 stone calls conference, 130. 
 
 Egyptian debt, 122. 
 
 Eiffel Tower, 230, 231. 
 
 Empress Frederick, 242, 243. 
 
 England, 80, 81, 84; threatens to 
 occupy Dardanelles, 96; Egypt and 
 Cyprus, 98 ; affairs in, 101 ; and 
 Tunis, 109 seq.; how she treats 
 her agents, 109 ; joint action with 
 France in Egypt, 123; bombards 
 
 Alexandria, 126; declares her in- 
 tention to remain in Egypt, 126; 
 accused of treachery, 127; state- 
 ments as to policy, 129; pretexts 
 to remain in, 129; in Burmah, 188; 
 194; and the Republic, 244; wel- 
 comes French fleet, 245 ; crime in, 
 316; education in, 326; inheri- 
 tance in, 388. 
 
 Epee, de 1', 21. 
 
 Ernoul, M., 22, 37. 
 
 Europe, dismayed at Russo-Turkish 
 War, 95; apathetic, 128, 130; its 
 peace threatened, 147 ; her eye on 
 France, 152 ; launching out in for- 
 eign conquest, 170 ; dark days in, 
 206. 
 
 Exposition, Universal, at Paris, 73, 
 78, 102 ; its good effect, 228 seq. 
 
 Extreme Right, 63. 
 
 Extreme Left, 114, 116, 137, 146, 154, 
 200, 216. 
 
 Faidherbe, General, 173. 
 
 Faith and Science, 304, 305. 
 
 Fallieres, M., 137, 240, 285. 
 
 Family, the French, 381 seq. ; its 
 strength and stability, 382; and 
 woman, 383. 
 
 Farre, General, 111, 114. 
 
 Fatherland, France and, 350 seq. 
 
 Faure, Felix, 120, 223, 260. 
 
 Favre, Jules, offers proposition of 
 dethronement, 3 ; member of Gov- 
 ernment of National Defence, 4 ; 5; 
 has interview with Bismarck, 10; 
 swept from power, 12; victim of 
 calumny, 13 ; deputy, 14 ; calls for 
 stability of government, 59 ; 84. 
 
 Ferry, Jules, member of Government 
 of National Defence, 4 ; falls, 12 ; 
 reappears in public life, 12 ; de- 
 scribes Commune, 21; 44; speeches, 
 49, 59 ; 62, 65, 81 ; his government 
 assailed, 116, 117 ; resigns his min- 
 istry, 118 ; 121, 130 ; his second Cab- 
 inet, 138 seq.; misunderstood, 138 
 seq. ; retires the Princes, 140; his 
 basis of action, 140; an anti-cler- 
 ical, 141 ; his Cabinet triumphs, 
 144; at war with radicals, 147; 
 successful as to colonial policy,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 423 
 
 148 ; defends liberty of work, 149 ; 
 passes important laws, 149; con- 
 cludes treaty of Tien-Tsin, 150; 
 his revision of the Constitution, 
 150 ; scenes at the revision confer- 
 ence, 150; his power over men, 
 151 ; his battle becomes harder, 
 153; procures general elections 
 law, 155 ; falls, 157 ; his policy con- 
 tinued by his successor, 157; his 
 character, sufferings, and work, 
 157 seq. ; brings about peace with 
 China, 158 ; attempted murder of, 
 159, 221 ; honor at last, and death, 
 159; on colonial expansion, 170; 
 on the protectorate, 190, 198, 220, 
 221, 261 ; on education, 276-282, 284. 
 
 Finance, 211 seq. 
 
 Financial problems, 141. 
 
 Flag, the tricolor, 17, 39; the lilies, 
 39. 
 
 Floquet, M., 43, 221, 225, 227, 260. 
 
 Flourens, M., 214 seq. 
 
 Foreign policy of France, 79 seq. 
 
 Fou-Tcheou, 152, 185. 
 
 Fournichon, Admiral, 10, 52. 
 
 Fourtou, de, 43, 68, 71. 
 
 France, lacks first condition of a 
 free State, 19 ; debt of, increases to 
 twenty milliards, 22 ; loans sub- 
 scribed to wipe out debt, 23 ; com- 
 pared with other countries as to 
 foreign representatives, 82 ; main- 
 tains her rank as a power in spite 
 of Bismarck's policy, 85, 86 ; its 
 honor and dignity, 89; "making 
 an end of," 92 ; strictly neutral in 
 Russo-Turkishwar,95 ; disappoints 
 the Hellenes, 99, 100; situation 
 in, after Congress of Berlin, 102 ; 
 Europe distrusts, 103 seq. ; joins 
 Triple Alliance, 105 : her position 
 stated, 105; opposes Turkey in 
 Tunis, 108 : establishes protecto- 
 rate in Tunis, 121 ; interferes in 
 Egypt, 121 seq. ,' joint-action with 
 England in Egypt, 123 seq. ; sends 
 fleet to Egypt, 124 ; fleet with- i 
 drawn, 126 ; wakes up as to Egypt, j 
 127 ; claims liberty to act there. ! 
 129; loses prestige, 130; negatives 
 English agreement with Porte, j 
 
 130 ; in political disorder, 135 seq. ; 
 attacked by German press, 145 ; at 
 war, without consent of Parlia- 
 ment, 152; easier relations with 
 Germany, 153; colonies and colo- 
 nists of, 162 seq. ; in rivalry with 
 England in the New World, 165 
 seq. ; in Hindustan, 165 seq. ; lack 
 of good colonists and officials in, 
 171; is forming an empire in 
 Africa, 174; more patriotic than 
 commercial, 177 ; secures Annam 
 and Tonkin, 186; commerce of, 
 194; paucity of freight steamers 
 of, 195 ; men of, dilatory, 195 ; tur- 
 moil in, after the fall of Ferry 
 Cabinet, 198 ; in the power of the 
 radicals, 222 seq. ; finds that it has 
 students, 232; takes her place in 
 Europe again, 246 ; in trouble with 
 scandals, 256-264 ; demands excuse 
 from Switzerland, 258 ; neutral in 
 religion, 285; the best field for 
 new plans of the Church, 292 ; su- 
 perficiality in, 321 ; university of, 
 323 ; the governing classes of, and 
 the war of 1870, 324, 325 ; second- 
 ary scholars in, 332; students in, 
 336, 341 ; unites all parties on the 
 army, 348; and fatherland, 350 
 seq. ; and patriotism, 354 seq. ; in 
 armed peace, 359 ; its organization 
 unique, 365; and socialism, 366, 
 394 ; incessantly agitated, 368 ; de- 
 cried, 368; a dual, 369; a country 
 of literary form, 370; oblivious of 
 the new science, 375 ; Taine and 
 Renan in literature of, 375 seq. ; 
 pornographic literature, 379 seq. ; 
 cures the evil, 381; the family in, 
 381 ; woman in, 383 ; decrease of 
 population in, 384-390 ; inheritance 
 in, 38(J ; birth-rate and house-rent, 
 389; division of occupations in, 
 407 ; people of, individualistic, 414. 
 
 France, New, 164 seq. 
 
 Franchise, electoral, 57. 
 
 Francis Joseph, Emperor, 98. 
 
 Frederick III., 226-228. 
 
 French Congo, 174-176. 
 
 French empire in Africa, a, 174. 
 
 French slowness, 195.
 
 424 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 Frenchwoman, the, 383. 
 
 Freycinet, M. de, elected as first sen- 
 ator for Paris, 51 ; enters Cabinet, 
 73 ; the plan which bears his name, 
 74, 143 ; 97 ; reforms of, 104 ; 123, 
 125; his Cabinet resigns, 127, 136; 
 198 ; forms Cabinet, 207 ; falls, 213 ; 
 221, 225 ; Cabinet again, 240, 241 ; 
 falls, 252; 260. 
 
 Functionaries, dismissal demanded, 
 75 ; and Marshal MacMahon, 76. 
 
 Gambetta, Leon, member of Gov- 
 ernment of National Defence, 4 ; 
 leaves Paris for Tours by balloon 
 during siege, 10; organizes de- 
 fence, 10 ; retires, out of spite, 13 ; 
 makes tour of France, 25 : cen- 
 sured by Assembly, 31 ; second 
 founder of the Republic, 47; 49; 
 active in the work of the elec- 
 tions, and his ideas triumphant, 
 51 ; elected four times, 51 ; charac- 
 terizes the Commune, 63; 64; is 
 violent in the Chamber, 67 ; war- 
 cry against clericalism, 75 ; leaves 
 ministry, 76 ; advises English alli- 
 ance, 81; "clean hands," 97; on 
 his defence, 104; real head of 
 State, 105; patriotism, 118, 133; 
 made Prime Minister, 121, 123, 133 ; 
 falls, 124, 133; 125; the people rest 
 on him, 131 ; but at last reject him, 
 133; his death, 134: E. de Pres- 
 sense' on, 134; 137, 309, 357, 392. 
 
 Garibaldi, 32. 
 
 Gamier, Lieutenant, 182. 
 
 Gamier-Pages, 4, 12. 
 
 Gavard, Charles, 92. 
 
 General Councils, reorganized, 22; 
 elections to, 24; composition of, 
 144. 
 
 General elections, 200 : its nature, 
 201. 
 
 Germany, 81, 82; abandons Russia. 
 96, 114 ; press of, attacks France, 
 145. 194. 
 
 Gladstone, Mr., 101, 130. 
 
 Glais-Bizoin, 4, 12. 
 
 Goblet, M., 198, 199, 207, 214, 215, 
 225, 265, 396. 
 
 God, name of, 284. 
 
 | Gontaut, Vicomte de, 91, 92. 
 j Gordon, General, 130. 
 
 Gortchakoff, Prince, 7, 85, 91, 94; at 
 Congress of Berlin, 96. 
 
 Goulard, M. de, 43. 
 
 Gouthe-Soulard, Monseigneur, 298. 
 
 Government of National Defence 
 formed, 4; an introduction to the 
 Republic, 11. 
 
 Government, changed without fric- 
 tion for first time since Louis 
 XVIII., 36; transformed eleven 
 times since 1789, 53; parliamen- 
 tary form contrasted with others, 
 56 ; harmony between Chambers 
 and President, 61 ; crisis of 16th 
 of May essentially religious, 65: 
 return to safe path, 74 ; beginning 
 of third presidency sees govern- 
 ment stronger, 77; a defect in, 
 104; impersonal, not familiar to 
 France, 131; the theory of, 135; 
 form of, definitely settled, 150; 
 Jules Ferry on parliamentary, 
 159. 
 
 Graudperret, 2. 
 
 Grant, General, congratulates Em- 
 peror William, 7. 
 
 Granville, Lord, 85. 
 
 Greece, 213. 
 
 Greeks, 98-100. 
 
 Gresley, General, 76, 97. 
 
 Grevy, President of the Assembly, 
 27 ; a safe man, 60 : President of 
 the Chamber of Deputies, 61: fi2; 
 elected third President of the Re- 
 public, 77 ; his humble birth, 77 ; 
 apologizes to Alphonso XII., 14ii: 
 152; re-elected, 207; family dis- 
 grace, 219 ; resigns, 220 ; his char- 
 acter and work, 222 ; on the 
 Church and the Republic, 293. 
 i Guesde, Jules, 409, 411. 
 
 i Guizot, M., on Turkey and Tunis, 
 108. 
 
 Harcourt, Marquis de, 77. 
 
 Hartington, Lord, 92. 
 
 Hartmann, 103. 
 
 Herz, Dr. Cornelius, 257. 
 i Hicks, Pasha, 129. 
 : Hohenlohe, Prince, 91.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 425 
 
 Holy See, 83, 91, 275. 
 Hugo, Victor, his low rank as sena- 
 tor, 51. 
 
 Ideas, and habits, connection be- 
 tween, 367; and life, at variance 
 in France, 369; gangrened, 371; 
 and words, 373. 
 
 Impeachment demanded by Left, 75. 
 
 India, French in, 166 seq., 194. 
 
 Indian army at Suez, 127. 
 
 Inheritance, law of, 386. 
 
 Internationale, 19. 
 
 Interpellation established, 55. 
 
 Investment of Paris, 10. 
 
 Ireland, Archbishop, 289, 292. 
 
 Italy, steps against, by the clericals, 
 07 ; 80,88,90 ; accepts memorandum 
 of Berlin, 94 ; threatens France, 98; 
 102, 103 ; and Tunis, 110, 117 ; 194 ; 
 anti-French rage in, 298. 
 
 Jarnac, Count de, 90, 91. 
 
 Jaures, Admiral, 77. 
 
 Jaures, M., 396. 
 
 Jaure'guiberry, Admiral, 97, 136, 137. 
 
 Joinville, Prince de, elected deputy, 
 
 23: 38. 
 Jolliet, Louis, 165. 
 
 Kairwan, 115, 116. 
 
 Kalnoky, Count, 153. 
 
 Kerdrel, M. de, opposes Thiers, 31. 
 
 Khartoum, 130, 157. 
 
 Khedive Ismail, 122. 
 
 " King's equipages," 38. 
 
 Kulturkampf, the, 90. 
 
 Labor. See Socialism. 
 
 Laboulaye, M. de, his constitutional 
 
 amendment, 45; 48, 72. 
 Lacombe, M. de, 43. 
 Lacordaire, 288. 
 Lamennais, 288. 
 Lapracle, de, deputy, 14. 
 Larcy, de, 43. 
 
 i. ;i Konoiere-Le Noury, Admiral, 80. 
 La Salle, KM. 
 Lavergue, M. de, 48. 
 Lavigerie, Cardinal, 190, 274, 294. 
 Lavisse, M., 338. 
 League of Patriots, 234. 
 Lecomte, General, murdered, 17. 
 
 Le Flo, General, his witty remark, 
 26 ; 77, 91, 92. 
 
 Left, the, 22, 31, 32, 34, 36 ; meaning 
 of the term, 46 ; 59, 64 ; makes ex- 
 treme demands, 75 ; 205, 284. 
 
 Left Centre, meaning of the term, 
 46; 203. 
 
 Legion of Honor, 218. 
 
 Legitimists, 41 ; ousted, 51. 
 
 Leo XIII., becomes Pope, 74 ; 101, 102, 
 252, 261, 286, 291, 296, 297, 299-302, 
 306, 405. 
 
 Lepere, 97. 
 
 Le Play, 386. 
 
 Le Royer, 97, 260, 261. 
 
 Lesseps, Charles de, 257, 262. 
 
 Lesseps, F. de, 127. 
 
 Liard, M., 338, 339. 
 
 Liberia, 175. 
 
 Liberty of speech, 288. 
 
 L'Intransigeant, 118, 119, 217. 
 
 Literature, writers, not thinkers, 370 ; 
 great sentiments and petty pas- 
 sions, 370 ; immorality, 371 ; under 
 the Second Empire, 371 ; the study 
 of the human "soul," 372; exag- 
 geration in, 373; the scientific 
 method, 374; the new Grail, 375; 
 Taine's influence in, 376 ; Kenan's 
 work in, 377 seq. ; descent of, and 
 efforts to raise it, 378 seq. ; porno- 
 graphic, 379 seq. 
 
 Littre, elected to the Academy, 23. 
 
 Local liberties, 20; Gambetta and, 
 133. 
 
 Lockroy, M., 33, 202. 
 
 London conference, 84 seq. 
 
 Loubet, M., 252; falls, 256; 260. 
 
 Louisiana, 165 seq. 
 
 Louis Philippe, 108. 
 
 Lyceum, 325. 
 
 Lycurgus, 391. 
 
 Maccio, M., 111. 
 
 Macedonia, 99. 
 
 MacMahon, Marshal, elected Presi- 
 dent of the Republic, 3(i ; his efforts 
 to ensure stability of government, 
 42 seq. ; unconstitutional letter, 50 ; 
 60 ; his supposed idea, 65 ; pro- 
 rogues Chambers on the Kith of 
 May, 08 seq.; the result of re-
 
 426 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ligious influence and a violation 
 of the constitution, 70; coup d'etat 
 aimed at ideas and doctrines, 71 ; 
 allows scandalous candidacy, 72; 
 his party defeated, 73; breaks 
 from his advisers, 73 ; ends crisis, 
 74; refuses to remove or change 
 army officers, 76 ; resigns the 
 Presidency, 77 ; greets his succes- 
 sor, 77 ; remarks on his character, 
 78 ; funeral, 268. 
 
 Madagascar, 152, 165, 168, 177. 
 
 Magnac, M., 37. 
 
 Magne, 2, 43. 
 
 Mahdi, the, 129. 
 
 Malet, Sir Edward, 123 seq. 
 
 Malthusianism, 389. 
 
 Marcere, M., 52, 73, 97. 
 
 Marion, H., 331. 
 
 Marquette, Pere, 165. 
 
 " Marseillaise," 294. 
 
 Martignac, de, 20. 
 
 Martin, Henri, 50. 
 
 Martin-Feuillee, M., 139, 141, 285. 
 
 Marx, Karl, 297, 409, 411. 
 
 Massacres, in Bulgaria, 94 ; at Alex- 
 andria, 125. 
 
 Maupassant, Guy de, 378. 
 
 May 16, 1879, crisis of, 65, 68, 273, 
 274. 
 
 Mazade, M. de, declares perpetual 
 moral war with Germany, 8 ; re- 
 marks on constitution, 59; on 
 Chamber, 62 ; on prorogation, 72. 
 
 Meaux, de, 47, 52, 68. 
 
 Meline, M., 247, 249. 
 
 Memorandum of Berlin, 94. 
 
 Mesnil, M. du, 337. 
 
 Metz, surrender of, 9. 
 
 Michel, Ernest, on French slowness, 
 195. 
 
 Military spirit in democracies, 347. 
 
 Milliere, 4. 
 
 Ministerial crises a safety-valve, 
 60. 
 
 Ministerial responsibility estab- 
 lished, 55. 
 
 Ministers, number not fixed, 58; a 
 safety-anchor, 60: office more po- 
 litical than ministerial, 61 : shift- 
 ings of, 252. 
 
 Ministers first sit in legislature, 55. 
 
 Ministry, demand for a stable, 138; 
 
 stable ministry at last secured, 
 
 210. 
 
 Miribel, General, 358. 
 Montaigne, Admiral, 47. 
 Montalembert, 287, 288. 
 Montceau-les-Mines, 137. 
 Mortemart, 14. 
 Mourad V., 94. 
 Mun, M. de, 295, 296. 
 Municipal Council of Paris, 103, 150, 
 
 218. 
 
 Municipal, franchise, 44; law, 149. 
 Munster, Count de, 90. 
 Musset, Alfred de, 371. 
 
 Nancy, Programme of, 21. 
 
 Napoleon I. See Bonaparte. 
 
 Napoleon III., 3; letter to Rouher, 
 20; 179. 
 
 Napoleon, 'Prince, invited to leave 
 France, 25 ; 31 ; publishes mani- 
 festo, 137, 140. 
 
 Naquet, M., 49, 117. 
 
 National education, and clericalism, 
 66; free, demanded, 75. 
 
 Navy, 346 seq. ; sailors of, at Cron- 
 stadt, 346. See, also, Army. 
 
 Nemours, Due de, 38. 
 
 New Catholicism, the, 65. 
 
 Noailles, Marquis de, uses word 
 " Republic," 43. 
 
 Note of July 15, 126. 
 
 Nubar Pasha, 123. 
 
 Orloff, Prince, 86, 103. 
 Osman Pasha, 95. 
 Ottoman inertia, 93. 
 
 Palikao, General, 2. 
 Panama scandal, 256-263, 266. 
 Paris, besieged and taken, 18 ; mob 
 
 at, insults Alphonso XII., 140. 
 Paris, Comte de, is reconciled to 
 
 Comte de Chambord, 38 ; 218. 
 " Parisian barometer," the, 33, 34. 
 Party hatred, 18<>. 
 " Party platform," 57. 
 Patriotism, 354 seq. 
 Peasants, and the Church, 286 ; and 
 
 the school, 319 ; 389, 407, 408. 
 Pelletan, 4.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 427 
 
 Persia, Shah of, 37. 
 Picard, Ernest, 4, 12, 22. 
 Pius IX., 65, 89, 90, 288, 291. 
 Plevna, 95. 
 
 Pope, spiritual power of , 83, 89 ; tem- 
 poral power of, 24, 66, 83. 
 Popular indignation and the Repub- 
 lic, 3. 
 
 Population, 384-390. 
 Porte, protests against action in 
 Egypt, 124 ; sends commission to 
 Egypt, 125. 
 
 Pothuau, Admiral, 73. [150 
 
 Prayers in Chamber discontinued, 
 
 Presidency, established, 24; term 
 
 fixed at seven years, 42, 58; 
 
 powers and privileges, 58; crisis, 
 
 76; 202. 
 
 President of the Republic, title con- 
 ferred upon M. Thiers, 24; Mac- 
 Mahon elected, 36; Gre'vy elected, 
 77 ; Sadi-Carnot elected, 221. 
 Press, prosecutions of, 71 ; law, 119. 
 Prevost-Paradol, defines a good citi- 
 zen, 15. 
 
 Priests, intermeddling of, 284. 
 Prince Imperial, his majority, 41. 
 Princes, expulsion of the, 209. 
 Protection, 247 seq. 
 Protectionist law, first, 152. 
 Protectorate, 121, 190 seq. 
 Proust, Antonin, 100, 228. 
 Prussian plan for new campaign, 92 
 Public opinion in France, 60. 
 Public worship, directors of, 275. 
 Pupils, in schools, 332. 
 
 Quertier, M. Pouyer, 22. 
 
 Radical platform, a, 202. 
 Railways, contracts for, 142; pur 
 
 chase of, 144 ; 393. 
 Rampolla, Cardinal, 295. 
 Ranc, M., 33, 37. 
 Raoul-Duval, M., 210. 
 Raspail, M., 63. 
 Reinach, Baron, 256, 257. 
 Religion, states of, 303. 
 Religious bodies, real estate of, 280 
 
 expulsion of, 285. 
 Remusat, M. de, defeated by Baro- 
 
 det, 33; 86. 
 
 Renan, Ernest, his work, 377 seq. 
 
 lenault, Le'on, 72. 
 
 lepublic, proclamation of, 5; the 
 condition of its existence, 16; a 
 true, called for, 30; is estab- 
 lished, 31; its working assured, 
 36 ; unwillingness to use the word, 
 43 ; obliged to be careful of the feel- 
 ings of neighboring monarchies, 
 79; a rational, foreign to Bis- 
 marck's mind, 88; enters for the 
 first time the company of the great 
 powers, 96; takes advantage of 
 title-deeds in colonial matters, 107, 
 169; undertakes to assimilate it- 
 self, 120; colonial work of: its 
 grandeur and its defects, 190 : re- 
 action against, 198 seq. ; finances 
 of, 211 ; " candidate of," 227 ; cele- 
 brates 1789, 228 seq. ; and regains 
 confidence of the people, 233; 
 electoral victories of, 238, 253, 266 ; 
 treatment of officials of, 264 ; the 
 value of universal suffrage to, 266 ; 
 and Roman Catholicism, 272 seq. ; 
 and the primary school, 276-278; 
 and secondary education, 278, 279 ; 
 and higher education, 280-283; is 
 the centre of a new evolution, 291 ; 
 is chosen by the Pope, as better 
 than Cffisarism, 291; and the 
 Church : M. Grevy on, 293 ; Cardi- 
 nal Lavigerie approves the, 294; 
 the French bishops oppose the Pope 
 and the, 298 ; pontifical strengthen- 
 ing of the, 302; and education, 308 
 seq. ; adopts the public school, 342 
 seq. ; and the army, 348 ; and patri- 
 otism, 354 seq. ; and standing army, 
 356 seq. ; the problems of the, 357 ; 
 the army and the, 357-359. 
 
 Restoration, the, and decentraliza- 
 tion, 20. 
 
 Revolution, the French, 228, 229. 
 
 Ribot, M., 203, 240, 257, 260, 285. 
 
 Ricard, M., 52. 
 
 Rigault de Genouilly, Admiral, 2. 
 
 Right, the, 28, 30-32, 35, 36 ; mean- 
 ing of the term, 46, 74, 76 ; 113, 116, 
 154, 200, 203, 205, 225, 227, 255. 
 
 Right Centre, meaning of the term, 
 46.
 
 428 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Roche, Jules, 240, 258, 266. 
 
 Rochebouet, General, 72. 
 
 Rochefort, Henri, 4, 5, 114, 117 ; his 
 " revelations," 119; his name, char- 
 acter, and career, 120; 205, 224, 
 235, 254. 
 
 Rod, Itaouard, 416. 
 
 Roman Catholic Church, and the Re- 
 public, 272 seq.; and the Empire, 
 272, 273; and education, 276-283, 
 309, 310 ; and secondary education, 
 278, 279 ; wealth of orders of, 280 ; 
 and higher education, 280-283 ; con- 
 gress, 282, 283, 288 ; its numerical 
 power, 283 ; the Sacred Heart, 284 ; 
 zeal against, 284; peasants and, 
 286 ; and modern life, 287 ; and 
 liberty of speech, 288; in the 
 United States, 289, 292; strikes 
 hands with the Republic, 291, 294 ; 
 France the best field for new ac- 
 tion of, 292; advice of M. Gre'vy, 
 293 ; " party," 295 ; and socialism, 
 296; the French Bishops of, 298, 
 299, and the Pope's reply, 300 ; and 
 Reform, 302; teaching orders of, 
 312. 
 
 Roman Catholic, Universities, 75 ; 
 282; interests, 82, 83 ; inheritance, 
 82. 
 
 Rome, entered by Victor Emmanuel, 
 23. 
 
 Roumelia, 99. 
 
 Roustan, M., Ill, 112, 118-120. 
 
 Rouvier, M., 216; his ministry, 217, 
 218 ; falls, 219 ; 240, 257, 266. 
 
 Royer-Collard, M., 14, 20, 335, 336. 
 
 Russell, Lord Odo, 92. 
 
 Russia, 80-82; asks warrant from 
 Europe, 95 ; declares war on Tur- 
 key, 95 ; defeats Turkey and makes 
 treaty, 95 ; troublous times in, 101 ; 
 goes forward in Asia, 102 ; 103, 194 ; 
 at one with France, 246, 253, 268. 
 
 Russo-French understanding, 245. 
 
 Saint-Hilaire, Barthelemy, 100, 114, 
 
 123, 203. 
 
 Saint- Vallier, M. de, 50, 77. 
 Salle, La, 165. 
 Salonica, 94. 
 San Stefano, treaty of, 95. 
 
 Savings Bank, 259. 
 
 Say, Leon, Prefect of the Seine, 12; 
 47, 49, 50, 52, 72, 73, 76, 97, 136, 
 141, 203, 265. 
 
 Scandals, 256-264. 
 
 Scherer, M., report, 136. 
 
 Schneider, M., 2. 
 
 Schools, 311, 320. 
 
 Schouvaloff , Count, 92. 
 
 Science, and faith, 280, 304, 305 ; 329, 
 374 seq. 
 
 Sedan, 2, 56. 
 
 Senate, 45 ; suffrage, 46 ; elections, 
 50; composition, 51 ; success of its 
 constitution, 58; elections of Jan- 
 uary 5, 1879, 74 ; a republican suc- 
 cess, 75; threatened, 132; its calm- 
 ness, 136; 137 ; 202, 227, 235. 
 
 Senators, age for entrance, 47; for 
 life, 49 ; irremovability discarded, 
 58, 150, 227. 
 
 September 4, 1870, 1, 25. 
 
 Serre, M. de, 20. 
 
 Seymour, Admiral, 126. 
 
 Sfax, 115, 116. 
 
 Siam, 189. 
 
 Sienkevicz, M., 124. 
 
 Simon, Jules, 4; remark as to M. 
 Thiers, 29, 35; forms a Cabinet, 
 63 ; a conservative, 64 ; resists the 
 Left, 64; on "ultra-montane in- 
 trigues," 68; loses the confidence 
 of the President and falls, 68; 151. 
 
 Skobeleff, General, 95. 
 
 Social Contract, 54. 
 
 Socialism, 32, 296, 364, 366; Lycur- 
 gus' experiment, 391 ; universal or 
 none, 392; real and sham, 393; in 
 Germany, England, etc., 393, 394 ; 
 its progress in France, 394 ; a 
 socialist party, 395 ; congresses, 
 397, 398, 409; the first of May, 
 399 ; strikes, 399 seq. ; carpet-bag- 
 gers, 401; "propaganda by deeds," 
 402; anarchy, 402; absenteeism 
 and stock-jobbing, 405; the "pil- 
 lar" of money, 405; the progress 
 of, and the obstacles, 406 ; "peas- 
 ant property," 408; parties in, 
 409 seq.; importance of, and ulti- 
 mate success, 413; professional 
 associations, 413; and law, 414;
 
 INDEX. 
 
 429 
 
 and conciliation, 415 ; and charity, 
 416. 
 
 Spain, 90, 114, 146, 194. 
 
 Spuller, M., 234, 265, 269, 333, 339. 
 
 Strikes, 227, 399 seq. 
 
 Students, reception of foreign, 231 ; 
 336,341,380; riots, 265. 
 
 Suez Canal, 123, 126 seq. ; neutrali- 
 zation of, 129, 157. 
 
 Switzerland, 82. 
 
 Syllabus, 287, 288. 
 
 Taine, Hippolyte, on science and 
 faith, 280 ; 375, 390. 
 
 Taxes, 364. 
 
 Teachers, poor, 313, 314. 
 
 Teisserenc de Bord, M., 52. 
 
 Tel-el-Kebir, 128. 
 
 Temple, M. de, 66. 
 
 Tewnk Pasha, 124, 125. 
 
 Thibaudin, General, 139, 147. 
 
 Thiers, his pilgrimage, 7 ; supersedes 
 Gambetta, 13 ; elected many times 
 as deputy, 14 ; doubts in regard to 
 General Councils, 22; title of Pres- 
 ident of the Republic conferred 
 upon, 24; loses credit, 25; his 
 character and work, 26 seq., 31; 
 his meddling in military affairs 
 and in those of the ministries, 28, 
 29; lukewarmness as to the Re- 
 public, 29; his final programme, 
 30 ; resigns the presidency, 35, 38, 
 44; gives a formula, 49; deputy, 
 51, 60 : goes to London conference, 
 84. 
 
 Thomas, Clement, murdered, 17. 
 
 Tien-Tsin, treaty of, 184, 186. 
 
 Tirard, M., 63, 136, 139, 223, 224, 234, 
 240, 257. 
 
 Tocqueville, de, on religious forms, 
 290 ; 292, 347. 
 
 Tolerance, 305. 
 
 Tolstoy, 406. 
 
 Tonkin, 152 seq. ; losses in, 155 seq.; 
 the struggle in, 180-186 ; protecto- 
 rate over, 183; becomes French 
 possession, 186; its wealth, 186; 
 205 seq . 
 
 Tour d'Auvergne, Prince de la, 2. 
 
 Trades-unions. See Socialism. 
 
 Treveneuc, M. de, 22. 
 
 Tricolor, 17, 39. 
 
 Triple Alliance, 32, 80, 105, 145, 245, 
 251. 
 
 Tripoli, 114. 
 
 Trochu, General, 2, 4, 12, 14. 
 
 Tunis, 98, 107 seq. ; works on, 107 ; 
 France and, 108; England and, 
 109; Italy and, 109; financial con- 
 trol, 110; anarchy in, 111; invaded 
 and occupied by French, 111 ; mis- 
 takes in, 111 ; treaty, 112 ; second 
 expedition to, successful, 115 ; cost 
 of expeditions to, 115 ; question of, 
 a subject of excessive hilarity in 
 Chamber, 117; protectorate in, es- 
 tablished with eminent success, 
 121; conversion of debt, 150; Ger- 
 many and England recognize 
 France in, 153 ; 190. 
 
 Turkey, insurrection and massacres, 
 93 seq. ; at war with Russia, 95; 
 and Tunis, 108 seq.; 194. 
 
 " Ultra-montane intrigues," 67. 
 United States, 7, 82, 194, 249, 289, 292, 
 
 306, 347. 
 
 Universal Exposition of 1878, 73, 78. 
 Universal suffrage, 154, 160, 200, 
 
 266-268. 
 University of Lille, 68; of France, 
 
 323, 331, 332, 336 seq. 
 Universities, 75, 278, 282. 
 
 Vaillant, M., 412. 
 
 Vendome Column, destroyed, 17. 
 
 Versailles, treaty signed at, 23. 
 
 Victor Emmanuel, enters Rome, 23 ; 
 death, 74, 298. 
 
 Victoria, Queen, 92. 
 
 Vinoy, General, his strange com- 
 mands, 18. 
 
 Vogue, Comte de, 77. 
 
 Vogiie', M. de, 355, 379. 
 
 Waddington, M., 20, 50, 52, 73, 336; 
 at Congress of Berlin, 96; his 
 family and career, 97; 123. 
 
 Waldeck-Rousseau, M., 133, 139. 
 
 Wallon, M., 47. 
 
 Wallon amendment, the, 31 ; adopted, 
 45.
 
 430 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 War, and Parliament, 112, 115, 117 ; 
 Alexandria bombarded, 126; in 
 Tonkin, 148, 155 seq., 180-186; in 
 Africa, Hindustan, and America, 
 165 seq.; cost of, in Tonkin, 186; 
 in Dahomey, 252, 253; ancient 
 nations and, 349 seq.; a trade, 
 362. 
 
 "William, Emperor, 87, 241, 242. 
 
 Wilson, M., 147, 219. 
 
 Wolseley, Lord, 128. 
 
 Woman suffrage, 57. 
 
 Wood, Mr., English agent in Tunis 
 
 109 seq. 
 Workingmen's, pilgrimages, 296-298, 
 
 congresses, 397, 398, 409. 
 
 Year III., constitution of, 54 ; organic 
 
 laws still survive, 54. 
 Year VII., constitution of, 54. 
 
 Zola, Emile, 379.
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 000658610 1