xtraordinary
virtues of the ever watchful republic. The ministers, who are
continually indulging in brief tours into the provinces, doing _en
petit_ what M. Carnot does _en grand_, are even more assiduous than
the president (because their political position is less secure,) in
sounding on all occasions the praises of the republic.

Nor is this ringing of the changes on the word republic confined to
the oratory of presidential and ministerial junketings. The obtrusion
is brought about in many other ways. Thus M. Carnot is always spoken
of in the newspapers and elsewhere as "the president of the republic."
M. Waddington at London is "the ambassador of the republic." The
district attorney is "the attorney of the republic." An official bust
of the republic is given the place of honor on the walls of the town
council chamber, the public schoolroom, and the courtroom. A new
bridge will have carved on its arches the monogram R. F. (Republique
Francaise) while the same familiar letters stare at you from the
fronts of all the public buildings erected since 1870.

The practice is impolitic, to say the least. We have already seen how
large and powerful is the body of enemies of the present institutions.
It is a mistake thus to force them to admit, at every turn, that they
are being governed by a regime which they detest. At a sitting of the
Chamber of Deputies, the Minister of Foreign Affairs declares that
"the government of the republic," not France, is negotiating this or
that matter. The Minister of the Interior is called upon to explain
some rather high-handed measure against obstreperous agitators, and he
informs the deputies that "the republic" will not permit laws to be
broken with impunity. The Minister of Public Instruction presents a
bill for the reorganization of the university system, and in his
speech in its support dwells on "the solicitude of the republic for
the education of the masses," thus exciting the opposition of a third
of the members of the Chamber. Some of the stormiest and most
disgraceful scenes that have occurred in the Chamber of Deputies
during the past twenty years are traceable to this foolish parading of
the word republic. The republican party could cut the ground from
under the feet of their opponents, and bring over thousands of fresh
recruits to the new institutions if they would only speak less of the
republic and more of France.[2]

[2] When, during the _Seize Mai_ crisis, MacMahon's