as made a Marshal of France and
Duke of Magenta. After being ambassador at Berlin he was sent to
bear the emperor's congratulations to King William on his accession,
and to attend his coronation. He was again sent to Algeria as its
governor-general. He had already married Marie, daughter of the
Duc de Castries. She was very rich, and connected with some of
the most opulent bankers in Vienna.

Marshal MacMahon came back to France at the outbreak of the
Franco-Prussian War, and was given the command of the First Army
Corps; but the emperor insisted on commanding his own armies as
general-in-chief. The day before the surrender at Sedan, Marshal
MacMahon had been badly wounded, and had to resign his command
to General Ducrot. Ducrot being also wounded, it became the sad
duty of General Wimpffen to sign the capitulation. Marshal MacMahon
was taken as a prisoner to Wiesbaden, where he remained till the
close of the war. He got back to Paris forty-eight hours before
the outbreak of the Commune. A commander was needed for the forces
of France. M. Thiers chose Marshal MacMahon, who with tears in
his eyes thanked him for the opportunity of retrieving his lost
reputation and doing service for France. After he had collected
his army, which it took some weeks to bring back from Germany,
to equip, and to reorganize, his men fought desperately for seven
days, pushing their way step by step into the heart of the capital,
till on May 28, 1871, the marshal addressed a proclamation to France,
informing Frenchmen that the Commune was at an end. He then passed
out of public sight, eclipsed by the superior radiance of Thiers
and Gambetta. But as time went on, and it was determined by the
Monarchists to coalesce with the extreme Radicals and get rid of
M. Thiers, who was laboring to establish a law and order Republic,
the newspapers of both the Conservative and Radical parties began
to exalt the marshal's merits at the expense of "that sinister old
man," M. Thiers. After six months of this trumpet-blowing by the
opposition Press, the idea was planted in the minds of Frenchmen
that Marshal MacMahon was the statesman who might bring France
out of all her difficulties.

It was ascertained by the Monarchists that Marshal MacMahon would
accept the presidency if it were offered him, and would consider
himself a stop-gap until such time as France should make up her
mind whether the Comte de Chambord or some one else should be her
king.

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