ative and strong reign by an act of weakness. People sometimes contrast the firmness of Henri V with the ability of Henri IV. "The passionate love which I bear my subjects," said Henri IV, "makes everything honourable for me that is possible." On that point I will concede him nothing; but I should like to know what lesson would have been taught any one imprudent and venturesome enough to persuade him to renounce the standard of Arques and Ivry? You belong, sir, to the province where he came into existence, and you will be, with me, of opinion that he would speedily have disarmed his interlocutor by saying with his Béarn vigour, “My friend, take my White Flag; it will always lead you to the path of honour and victory." I have been accused of not holding the valour of our soldiers in sufficiently high esteem, and this at a moment when I do but aspire to confide to them all that I hold most dear. Is it, then, forgotten that honour is the common patrimony of the House of Bourbon and the French army, and that on that point a misunderstanding is impossible between them? No, I do not ignore any of my country's glories, and God alone, in the depth of my exile, has seen the tears of gratitude I have shed each time that the children of France, whether in good or evil fortune, have shown themselves worthy of her. But we have a great work to accomplish together. I am ready-quite ready-to undertake it when so desired-to-morrow, this evening, this moment. This is why I wish to remain entirely as I am. Enfeebled to-day, I should be powerless to-morrow. The issue at stake is none other than that of reconstructing society, deeply disturbed, upon its natural bases; of energetically ensuring the reign of law and order, of restoring prosperity at home, concluding lasting alliances abroad, and, especially, of not fearing to employ force in the service of order and justice. They speak of conditions! were any required of me by that young Prince whose honest embrace I experienced with so much happiness, and who, listening only to the dictates of his patriotism, came spontaneously to me, bringing me in the name of all his family assurances of peace, devotedness, and reconciliation? They wish for guarantees! were any asked of that Bayard of modern times on that memorable night when they imposed upon his modesty the glorious mission of

tranquilizing his country by one of those words of an honest man which reassure the good and make the wicked tremble? I, it is true, have not borne, as he did, the sword of France on twenty battlefields; but for forty-three years I have preserved intact the sacred deposit of our traditions and our liberties. I have, therefore, a right to reckon upon equal confidence, and I ought to inspire the same sense of security. My personality is nothing; my principle is everything. France will see the end of her trials when she is willing to understand this. I am a necessary pilot, the only one capable of guiding the ship to port, because I have for that a mission of authority. You, sir, are able to do much to remove misunderstandings and prevent weaknesses in the hour of struggle. Your consoling words on leaving Salzburg are ever present to my mind. France cannot perish, for Christ still loves His Franks; and when God has resolved to save a people, He takes care that the sceptre of justice is only put into hands strong enough to hold it.

131. Law of the Septennate.

November 20, 1873. Duvergier, Lois, LXXIII, 363-368.

This law was enacted after the failure of the attempt to restore monarchy. (See No. 130.) Opposed by the two extremes, it was passed by a combination of centre groups, each group voting for it out of motives peculiar to itself. The document should be studied in connection with No. 124, as it became with what was carried over from them a sort of provisional constitution.

REFERENCES. Seignobos, Europe Since 1814, 200: Andrews, Modern Europe, II, 353-354; Bodley, France, I. 281; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XII, 14-15.

I. The executive power is entrusted for seven years to Marshal de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta, dating from the promulgation of the present law; this power shall continue to be exercised with the title of President of the Republic and under the existing conditions until the modifications which may be effected therein by the constitutional laws.

2. Within the three days which shall follow the promulgation of the present law, a commission of thirty members shall be selected, in public and by scrutin de liste, for the examination of constitutional laws.

132. Documents upon the Establishment of the Republic.

These documents, with those aliuded to in them, show the manner in which the Third Republic became definitively established. The first two show the status of the matter during 1874. Document A represents the program of those who desired that the Republic should be proclaimed at once; document B, that of their opponents. The difference between the two should be carefully noted and each should be compared with what was finally adopted (No. 133). The National Assembly was unable to come to a decision upon the issue presented by the two documents. It rejected document A after having once given it an indirect sanction, but it did not adopt the positive program of document B. When the Assembly met again in January, 1875, the republicans finally succeeded in accomplishing indirectly what they had failed to do directly. This was done by amending document B. Several amendments only slightly different in meaning were offered and beaten. Document C is a type of these amendments. Document D, the amendment finally secured, was passed by a vote of 353 to 352. The difference in meaning between document C and D should be carefully noted, and likewise the character of the change effected in document E through the adoption of the amendment.

REFERENCES. Seignobos, Europe Since 1814, 200-201; Andrews, Modern Europe, II, 354-356; C. F. A. Currier, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Supplement, March, 1893, 20-32; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XII, 16-18.

A. The Casimir-Perier Proposal. June 15, 1874. Journal Officiel, June 16, 1874 (Vol. 1874, 4050).

The National Assembly, wishing to put an end to the anxieties of the country, adopts the following resolution:

The commission upon the constitutional laws shall take as the basis of its labors upon the organization and transmission of the public powers:

I. Article I of the project of law deposited May 19, 1873, thus expressed: "The Government of the French Republic is composed of two Chambers and of a President, head of the executive power;"

2. The law of November 20, 1873, by which the Presidency of the Republic has been entrusted to M. Maréchal de MacMahon until November 20, 1880;

3. The consecration of the right of partial or total revision of the Constitution, in the forms and at the dates which the constitutional law shall determine.

B. The Ventavon Proposal. July 15, 1874. Journal Officiel, July 16, 1874 (Vol. 1874, 4955).

The commission has the honor to propose to you: in the first place, to reject the proposal of M. Casimir-Perier upon which urgency has been declared; in the second place, to vote in the form of the rule the following articles of the constitutional law:

1. Marshal de MacMahon, President of the Republic, continues to exercise with that title the executive authority with which he is invested by the law of November 20, 1873.

2. He is responsible only in the case of high treason. The ministers are collectively responsible before the Chambers for the general policy of the Government, and individually for their personal acts.

3. The legislative power is exercised by two Assemblies: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

The Chamber of Deputies is selected by universal suffrage, under the conditions determined by the electoral law.

The Senate is composed of members elected or appointed in the proportions and under the conditions which shall be regulated by a special law.

4. The Marshal President of the Republic is invested with the right to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies. In that case, a new election shall be proceeded with within the space of six months.

5. At the expiration of the term fixed by the law of November 20, 1873, as in case of vacancy of the presidential authority, the council of ministers immediately convokes the two Assemblies which, met in congress, decide upon the measures to be taken.

During the continuance of the powers entrusted to Marshal de MacMahon, revision of the constitutional laws can be made only upon his proposal.

C. The Proposed Laboulaye Amendment. January 28, 1875. Journal Officiel, January 29, 1875 (Vol. 1875, 768-769).

The Government of the Republic is composed of two Chambers and of a President.

D. The Wallon Amendment. January 29-30, 1875. Journal Officiel, January 30, 1875 (Vol. 1875, 798).

The President of the Republic is elected by the plurality of the votes by the Senate and by the Chamber of Deputies met in National Assembly.

He is selected for seven years. He is re-eligible.

133. The Constitutional Laws and Amendments.

Translations, C. F. A. Currier, Supplement to the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social science, March, 1893, 4230.

These documents taken together constitute the present written constitution of France. Their real character may be best brought out by a series of comparisons. (1) They should be compared with the constitutions which created some of the preceding governments of France, particularly those of 1830 (No. 105) and 1848 (No. 110) for the preceding parliamentary régime and the preceding republic. (2) A comparison with a typical written constitution such as the American federal constitution will emphasize one characteristic feature. (3) By comparing the scheme of government with the actual government of England other important characteristics will be revealed.

REFERENCES. Seignobos, Europe Since 1814, 202-204; Lowell, Governments and Partics in Continental Europe, I, 11-14; Bodley, France, I, 263-270; Coubertin, Evolution of France under the Third Republic, 53-61; Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XII, 19-21.

A. Law upon the Organization of the Senate. February 24, 1875. Duvergier, Lois, LXXV, 54-62.

I. The Senate consists of three hundred members: Two hundred and twenty-five elected by the departments and colonies, and seventy-five elected by the National Assembly.

2. The departments of the Seine and of the Nord clect each five senators.

The following departments elect four senators each: Seine-Inférieure, Pas-de-Calais, Gironde, Rhône, Finistère, Côtes-du-Nord.

The following departments elect three senators each: Loire-Inférieure, Saône-et-Loire, Ille-et-Vilaine, Seine-et-Oise, Isère, Puy-de-Dôme, Somme, Bouches-du-Rhône, Aisne, Loire, Manche, Maine-et-Loire, Morbihan, Dordogne, Haute-Garonne, Charente-Inférieure, Calvados, Sarthe, Hérault, Basses-Pyrénées, Gard, Aveyron, Vendée, Orne, Oise, Vosges, Allier.

All the other departments elect two senators each.

The following elect one senator each: the territory of Belfort, the three departments of Algeria, the four colonies: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Réunion and the French Indies.

3. No one can be senator unless he is a French citizen, forty years of age at least, and enjoying civil and political rights.