as the Assembly continued to exist, but with a restriction which required that he should give notice beforehand to the Speaker whenever he desired to speak in the Assembly. Just before the vacation he addressed to it a message in which he reiterated his declaration that the question of monarchy or republic was still open. Early in December he seemed inclined to leave the future constitution to the decision of the majority, but three weeks later he burnt his boats by avowing himself one of those to whom the existence of the Republic was a constant care.

The Monarchists now saw clearly that they could not count upon him to aid in bringing about a restoration; and they began to consider the possibility of combining the fleur de lis with the tricolour, and of replacing Thiers by the Duc d'Aumale, with the title of LieutenantGeneral of the Kingdom, as a prelude to re-establishing the monarchy. The Extreme Right declined to join without the consent of the Comte de Chambord, which was refused. In a fresh manifesto, dated January 25, 1872, he announced that he would never abdicate, insisted on the national principle of hereditary sovereignty, and declared that no one would ever induce him to become the legitimate King of the Revolution.' A further attempt was made to induce him to accept the tricolour, but he returned no answer. Thiers was more than ever confirmed in the course he had adopted. He informed his opponents that a conservative republic' was the only form in which their principles were capable of realisation, and that they must continue to give it a fair trial. In these circumstances they came to the conclusion that sooner or later he must be displaced.

During the summer the Duc de Broglie resigned the post of ambassador in London, and came home to direct the policy of the Right. When the Assembly met again in November, it soon became evident that a crisis was approaching. Thiers read a message in which he urged that events had founded the Republic, but that to discuss the causes which had brought it into existence would be neither safe nor profitable. He harped again on the phrase 'conservative republic.' In his 'Notes et Souvenirs' he states that the Right and Left Centres desired this, and were even anxious to offer him the Presidency for life, but he did not wish to die in harness.

The end of it all was the passage of a law, of which the most important effect was to curtail still further his right of speech by providing that, though he might address the Assembly, no debate should take place in his presence. The Bill was defended by the Duc de Broglie, and by Dufaure on behalf of the Government, and attacked by Gambetta and Louis Blanc, the Republicans having conceived a suspicion that Thiers was leaning towards a combination with the Right. It was finally passed on March 13 by 407 votes to 225. Thiers had done what he could to spoil the effect of Dufaure's speech by delivering another in which he applied himself to exposing the dissensions among the majority, who, as he maintained, were unable to restore the monarchy because there was only one throne, and three pretenders who desired to sit on it. This was not quite fair, since the Bonapartists had no chance whatever, and it was known to everybody that the sole representative of the monarchical principle was the Comte de Chambord, recognised as such by the princes of the Orleans family. It was necessary for him to take this line in order to explain his preference for the Republic, just as he found himself obliged to misrepresent the compact of Bordeaux in order to show that, while favouring republicanism in every possible way, he was not unfaithful to the promise he had given to betray neither Royalists nor Republicans.

Two days later a treaty was signed providing for the payment of the balance of the indemnity by September 5, and the complete evacuation of French soil a fortnight later. Jules Simon observed to Thiers: 'You may now repeat your Nunc dimittis.' Thiers replied, But they have no one'; to which the answer was, 'They have Marshal MacMahon.' Thiers rejoined, 'Oh, so far as he is concerned, I engage that he will never accept.' The adjournment took place on April 7, Grévy having seized an opportunity to resign the Speakership, in which he was replaced by Buffet. But for this change, it may be doubted whether the plans of the Monarchists for Thiers' overthrow would have succeeded.

Frequent republican gains at by-elections had pointed to the danger of delay; and during the vacation the deputies of the Right came to the conclusion that Thiers must be informed that he no longer possessed their

confidence. A pretext was furnished by changes in the Cabinet, which Thiers had now reconstituted almost entirely with Republicans of the Left Centre. The question was, whom to put in his place. D'Audiffret-Pasquier and Decazes were for making use of the Duc d'Aumale, whose election would have been a decided step towards monarchy; but the Extreme Right, obeying instructions from the Comte de Chambord, refused to co-operate. Thereupon the three groups united in the choice of MacMahon.

On May 19, 1873, a resolution, supported by 314 members of the Right was presented through the Speaker, framed in these terms:

The undersigned, in the conviction that the gravity of the situation requires at the head of affairs a Cabinet whose firmness will reassure the country, demand permission to question the Ministry regarding the changes recently made in its composition, and the necessity for the predominance of a resolutely conservative policy in the government of the country.' (Denis, iv, 245.)

It was proposed to fix May 23 for the discussion. This was accepted by Dufaure, who, at the same time, handed to the Speaker a draft constitution prepared during the vacation. The memorandum accompanying the draft, which was not read, but only published in the Official Gazette a few days later, was an exceedingly able and plausible composition, in which Dufaure proved to his own satisfaction that a republic was the only possible form of government for France, and maintained that the Cabinet had been commissioned by the Assembly on March 13 to frame a constitution. These assertions were in flat contradiction with his own language on March 1, when he expressly admitted that the moment had not come for deciding on the form of government, and had reserved to the Assembly the right of exercising its constituent powers whenever it should see fit.

When the fatal day arrived, Dufaure having announced that the President would take part in the discussion, Broglie in a powerful speech attacked Thiers for the encouragement constantly given by him to the Radical party. This was weakly replied to by Dufaure, whose thesis was that the best rampart against Radicalism

was the organisation of a republic. Nine o'clock on the following morning (May 24, 1873) was fixed for the appearance of the President. There was nothing new in the arguments with which he supported the necessity for establishing a republic, and for establishing it at once. He had previously made repeated use of these arguments both in public speeches and in private conversation; but the result was a foregone conclusion.

On the Assembly meeting again that afternoon, after a few words from Casimir-Périer, the closure was voted without further debate. The question then lay between the order of the day pure and simple, which would have been a vote of confidence in the Government, and the ordre du jour motivé regretting that the recent ministerial changes had not accorded to conservative interests the satisfaction they had the right to expect. The first of these was defeated by fourteen votes and the second carried by sixteen, showing that even the minority was beginning to fall away. The defeat of Thiers was, however, an accomplished fact. Dufaure promised that in an evening sitting he would announce the intentions of the Government. At 9 P.M. the Assembly met for the third time that day, when the proceedings were opened by an announcement from Dufaure that the Cabinet had resigned, and by the delivery of a letter from Thiers informing the Speaker of his resignation of the duties of President of the Republic. A resolution proposing acceptance was carried by 368 votes to 339, showing that the majority had in a few hours increased from sixteen to twenty-nine. As the saying goes, 'La victoire fait des prisonniers.' The Assembly then proceeded to the election of Thiers' successor; 392 votes were recorded, of which 390 were given for MacMahon, showing a further falling away of Thiers' adherents. This is the day which in history is known as the '24 Mai.'

Some difficulty was encountered by the victors in inducing MacMahon to accept the arduous duties which had been imposed on him. He was a soldier, not a politician, and sixty-five years of age. Thiers had in the course of the day pointed out to him the difficulties of governing a great country like France without experience of politics, and, above all, of the shifty contrivances necessary for the management of a majority. Vol. 210.-No. 418.

H

It required all the arts of persuasion on the part of the victors to overcome his repugnance to a task so little in accordance with the straightforward character of the soldier's calling.

No doubt Thiers felt himself the only possible man to guide the destinies of France. He deceived himself, moreover, as to the feeling of the Assembly, imagining that his Ministry, taken from the Left Centre, was a sufficient guarantee of his good intentions to satisfy the Conservatives, and hoping that he would be able to carry through his schemes for a constitution and the establishment of a republic, to be guided at the beginning by himself. During the short interval between the 19th and the 24th of May he believed, in spite of warnings from his friends, that he could count on a majority in his favour; and it is possible that votes had been promised him which were afterwards given to his enemies. In spite, too, or perhaps in consequence, of his talk with MacMahon on that eventful afternoon, he came to the conclusion that the Marshal had been conspiring with the Right to effect his overthrow; and he had relied on some language attributed to MacMahon to the effect that, having been Thiers' general, he would never accept a proposal to become the general of his adversaries. Thiers used to relate also that MacMahon had come to ask his advice about accepting the Presidency, and had even offered to refuse it if Thiers would withdraw his resignation. He never forgave either the Marshal or those who had planned his fall.

The verdict of history must be that his idea of a conservative republic was utopian, a contradiction in terms. A republic succeeding to a monarchy of any kind must be a new creature; it can have no roots in the past, and implies no ancient and respectable institutions to preserve. It throws on one side as antiquated and pernicious all the traditions which diffuse authority throughout all grades in the body politic in order to replace them by a logically conceived subordination of parts, which, being held together by no natural cohesion, require an absolute and concentrated authority at the summit, and less of real liberty in the parts than is characteristic of a moderate monarchy. For the greater part of his active political life he had been engaged in endeavouring to