ter. In the parish of Belleville, M. Gambetta's electoral division, "the Communist feeling, and all the burning hatred and thirst for vengeance it has left behind," were represented as being "as strong as ever, and always hoping for and biding their time."

M. Gambetta's prosecution by the Government resulted in a sentence of three months' imprisonment and a fine of 2,000f. Such was the punishment awarded to the Radical leader by the Correctional Tribunal of Paris, for having declared at Lille that if the President of the Republic refuses to abide by the verdict of the nation he must either submit or abdicate. This it pronounced to be an insult to that functionary, and the sentence was confirmed by the second trial on September 22.

Marshal MacMahon returned to Paris from his tour in the provinces on September 16, and the next day there was an extraordinary meeting of the Senate to consider the President's Manifesto to the French people in view of the elections. It was published throughout France on September 19, countersigned by the Minister of the Interior. The text of this document was as follows::

"Frenchmen,-You are about to be called upon to nominate your representatives to the Chamber of Deputies. I do not assume to exercise any pressure upon your choice, but I feel bound to dispel any doubt upon what you are about to do. What I have done is this: For the last four years I have maintained peace, and the personal confidence with which I am honoured by foreign Sovereigns enables me daily to render our relations with all Powers more cordial. At home, public order has never been disturbed for a moment, owing to the policy of concord which brought around me men devoted, before all things, to their country. Public prosperity, momentarily arrested by our misfortunes, has recovered its elasticity; the general wealth has increased, notwithstanding the heavy burdens borne by the people; the national credit has been strengthened; and France, peaceful and confident, at the same time sees her army-always worthy of her-reconstituted upon new bases. These great results were, however, threatened with danger. The Chamber of Deputies, daily throwing off the leadership of moderate men, and more and more dominated by the avowed leaders of the Radical party, at length forgot the share of authority which belonged to me, and which I could not allow to be diminished without implicating the honour of my name before you and before history. Contesting at the same time my rightful influence in the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies aimed at nothing less than substituting for the necessary equilibrium of the public powers established by the Constitution the despotism of a new convention. The situation was no longer permissible. Exercising my constitutional right, and in conformity with the opinion of the Senate, I dissolved the Chamber of Deputies. It is now for you to speak. They tell you that I seek to overthrow the

Republic; but you will not believe it. The Constitution is entrusted to my guardianship; and I will make it respected. What I look for from you is the election of a Chamber which, raising itself above party rivalries, should occupy itself above all things with the country's affairs. At the last election an abuse was made of my name. Among those who then proclaimed themselves my friends, many have not ceased to oppose me. People still speak to you of their devotion to my person, and assert that they only attack my Ministers. Do not be duped by this artifice. To frustrate it my Government will designate among its candidates those who alone are authorised to make use of my name. You will maturely consider the bearing of your votes. Elections favourable to my policy will facilitate the regular conduct of the existing Government, they will affirm the principle of authority, sapped by demagogy, and will assure order and peace. Hostile elections would aggravate the conflict between the public powers, as well as impede the course of business and maintain agitation; and France, in the midst of these fresh complications, would become for Europe an object of distrust. As for myself, my duty would increase with the danger. I could not obey the mandates of the demagogues. I could neither become the instrument of Radicalism nor abandon the post in which the Constitution has placed me. I shall remain to defend Conservative interests with the support of the Senate, and shall energetically protect the faithful public servants who, at a difficult moment, have not allowed themselves to be intimidated by vain threats. Frenchmen, I await with full confidence the manifestation of your sentiments. After so many trials, France desires stability, order, and peace; and with God's help we will secure to the country these benefits. You will listen to the words of a soldier, who serves no party and no revolutionary or retrograde passion, and who is guided by nothing but love for his country."

In this Manifesto Marshal MacMahon invited again the very dilemma to which allusion has already been made. He would not rule, he said, in effect, by a majority in the Chamber if that majority should be a majority of Radicals; nor would he abandon the post in which the Constitution had placed him. And in this way he was, said the Times, "heaping up humiliations for himself. cutting off his own retreat, while it is morally certain that he will have to retreat at whatever cost of dignity and influence." The expression of opinion by the French papers was various. The Bonapartist Pays said: "It is a noble and proud address, and we praise and approve it without reserve." The Ultramontane Monde considered it "an affirmation" for its party and "a menace for the factions." The France, a Republican paper, remarked "This was the language of the Manifesto of Napoleon III., countersigned by M. de Persigny; but it is not that of the Queen of England, or of the King of the Belgians, or of the King of Italy. None of these Sovereigns, when they consult their

peoples, have the exorbitant presumption to impose their will on them, and forbid them to take a different view."

Official decrees fixed the elections for October 14, and the second ballots for October 28, and the meeting of the new Chamber, as well as the Senate, for November 7. The Minister of Justice supplemented these decrees by a Circular to the Procureurs-Généraux, reminding them of the laws that regulate electioneering. The signature of every candidate was to be attached to his electoral circular, and all declarations of policy would (he reminded them) be submitted to censorship for the repression of violent or seditious language. Great bitterness was manifested by political parties in the electioneering contest; and M. de Marcère, an ex-Minister of the Interior, under Marshal MacMahon, told his constituents that the whole policy of the Government was hostile to the Republic.

On September 23 France lost another of her eminent men. On that day died M. Le Verrier, the well-known astronomer, whose investigations had been of the highest practical value; but probably, he will be remembered best by his share in the discovery of the planet Neptune.

CHAPTER III.

FRANCE-continued.

M. Thiers' Posthumous Address-The Elections-Marshal MacMahon's Second Manifesto-Electoral Addresses-Result of the Elections-Opening of the New Chamber-M. Albert Grévy's Resolution-Debate on the Resolution-The Resolution carried-The Senate interpellate the Government-Government Triumph in the Senate-The De Broglie Ministry resign-The New Ministry-The Chamber will hold no relations with them-The Duc d'Audiffret-Pasquier warns the PresidentSubmission of Marshal MacMahon-He takes a Moderate Republican MinistryMarshal MacMahon's Message-Termination of the Crisis.

M. THIERS was dead, but his spirit was yet to exercise a mighty influence upon French politics; for just as a most momentous electioneering contest was about to begin, his counsels were again read and pondered throughout the length and breadth of the land. This voice from the grave (as it seemed almost to be) came in the shape of an address by M. Thiers, ostensibly to the electors of the ninth arrondissement of Paris; but it was really intended for the benefit of electors generally, in the coming election of deputies for the National Chamber, which was to be held on October 14. It discussed with caustic humour, irresistible logic, and intense patriotism the political situation; and so apposite was it that it almost seemed written in answer to Marshal MacMahon's Manifesto. In this address M. Thiers vindicated the late Chamber, explained his reasons for giving a preference to a Republican form of government, and showed the impossibility of establishing a Monarchy.

He referred to the political anomaly of the time, viz.: a Republican Constitution and an anti-Republican personnel; strongly denounced the authors of the crisis of May 16, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the nation. "Let us," he said, "make the Republic the honest, wise, Conservative Republic, which is not impossible; for it began when the interested heirs of the destroyed Monarchies came to agitate it, and to cause mad and criminal threats to resound in our ears. And you, electors, cause these despisers of all truth to understand for the last time, decisively, the truth which will be the result of your vote: the Nation alone is Sovereign. The Republic is the form of government by means of which its sovereignty is exerted." And, finally, his last words to France, in which he embodied great principles in a few sentences, were these:-"The only wise and useful end which the nation can put to this crisis may be summed up thus-national sovereignty, Republic, liberty, scrupulous legality, liberty of worship, peace. Such, my dear electors, are the opinions of my whole life, those of our 19th century, which will mark the history of France and of humanity, and which I conjure you to endorse on this solemn occasion. A thousand calumnies are about to assail me. You will reply to them by your suffrages, which have never failed me for nearly half a century."

The electoral campaign opened amid great political excitement, and it was observed that the fury of factions never burnt more fiercely. The Government entered into the contest just as the Empire and the other governments of France had done before it. It used its great power, and hesitated at no means to secure the election of its own candidates; and the French clergy, even of the highest rank-as the Archbishop of Bourges and the Bishop of Orleans--made vehement appeals to the electors, and spoke of Conservative Republicans as if they were all one with the most violent radical democrats. "There is," said the Times, "a military party which has no scruples respecting the sanctity of the law. The Bonapartist journals openly call on the Marshal to break it, if he can retain power in no other way. One of the darkest features of French life is the existence of a party which ostentatiously expresses its contempt for all Parliamentary compacts and its reliance on nothing but the sabre. There are men only too ready to put sinister questions to ministers of war and commanders of army corps. The necessary effect of such intrigues is to lessen the moderation of the Republicans themselves, and the change is peculiarly well seen in the new temper displayed by so Conservative a politician as M. Littré. Hitherto he has preached the necessity of compromise; but, as our Paris correspondence shows, he now speaks in a very different strain. Since,' he says, 'a war of extermination' has been declared against the Republicans, it is necessary for them also to go on to the end. A complete Republican victory would inevitably lead to lamentable retaliations against the ministers, the officials, and the parties who seek, as

M. Littré thinks, to get rid of the Republic and restore the King or Emperor' at the cost of any political convulsions."

On the evening of October 11 the ministerial papers published a second Manifesto by Marshal MacMahon, and which was as follows:

"Marshal MacMahon, President of the Republic, to the French People.

"Frenchmen,-You are about to vote. The violence of the Opposition has dispelled all illusions. No calumny can any longer disguise the truth. No, the Republican Constitution is not in danger. No, the Government, however respectful towards religion, does not obey alleged Clerical influences, and nothing can draw it into a policy dangerous to peace. No, you are not threatened with any return to the abuses of the past. The conflict is between order and disorder. You have already pronounced. You will not, by hostile elections, plunge the country into an unknown future of crises and conflicts. You desire tranquillity insured at home as abroad, the accord of the public powers, security for industry and business. You will vote for the candidates whom I recommend to your suffrages. Frenchmen, the hour has arrived. Go without fear to the poll. Respond to my appeal, and, as for me, placed by the Constitution in a post which duty forbids me to abandon, I will answer for order and peace.

"The President of the Republic, Marshal MacMahon, Duc de Magenta."

The electoral addresses that appeared at this time with those of the Chiefs of the Opposition would fill a volume. A summary only of the most important of these can be here chronicled.

M. Gambetta declared his confidence in the result of the elections. He said:-"My profound conviction, based on sure promises, allows me to declare without rashness, a week before the voting, that France, in spite of all the manoeuvres directed against the freedom of her votes, will repudiate the administrative pressure, will scorn the official candidature and its agents, and will thrust far from her Royalists, Cæsarists, Clericals, the knaves as well as the violent; she will condemn dictatorial policy, she will leave the Chief of the Executive Power, transformed into a plebiscitary candidate, no other alternative but to submit or resign; for as for ourselves, sure of the support of the country thus solemnly declared, we shall know how to cause its will to prevail over the opposition of a powerless and incorrigible minority. Without passion, without weakness, without vehemence, we will do our duty. The union of all good Frenchmen, Liberals, Republicans by conviction or by birth, labourers, peasants, burgesses, the world of work and of thrift, will keep us discreet, and will render us invincible for the country and the Republic."

Both M. Gambetta and the printer of his address were sum