ion
of a permanent republic by the clearer specification of governmental
attributes. The majority of the committee were hostile to M. Thiers and
were determined to overthrow him. The Left was also growing dissatisfied
with his opposition to a dissolution. He found it increasingly difficult
to ride two horses. The committee of thirty wished to prevent Thiers
from exercising pressure on the Assembly by intervention in debates and
threats to resign. In February and March, 1873, it proposed that the
President should notify the Assembly by message of his intention to
speak, and the ensuing discussion was not to take place in his presence.
M. Thiers protested in vain against this red tape (_chinoiseries_). The
effect was to drive him more and more from the Assembly, where his
personal influence might be felt.

The crisis became acute when Jules Grevy, President of the Assembly, a
partisan of Thiers, resigned his office after a disagreement on a
parliamentary matter. His successor, M. Buffet, at once rigorously
supported the hostile Right. In April an election in Paris brought into
opposition Charles de Remusat, Minister of Foreign Affairs and personal
friend of Thiers, and Barodet, candidate of the advanced and disaffected
Republicans. The governmental candidate was defeated. Encouraged by this
the duc de Broglie, leader of the Right, followed up the attack,
declaring the Government unable to withstand radicalism. In May he made
an interpellation on the governmental policy. Thiers invoked his right
of reply and, on May 24, gave a brilliant defence of his past actions,
formulating his plans for the future organization of the Republic. A
resolution was introduced by M. Ernoul, censuring the Government and
calling for a rigidly conservative policy. The government was put in the
minority by a close vote and M. Thiers forthwith resigned. The victors
at once chose as his successor the candidate of the Rights, the marechal
de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta, the defeated general of Sedan, a brave and
upright man, but a novice in politics and statecraft. He declared his
intention of pursuing a conservative policy and of re-establishing and
maintaining "l'ordre moral."

FOOTNOTES:

[4] The fierceness of hatreds engendered by the Commune may be
illustrated by the following untranslatable comment by Alexandre Dumas
fils on Gustave Courbet, a famous writer and a famous painter: "De quel
accouplement fabuleux d'une limace et d'un paon, de qu