THE TABLET

A IVeekly Newspaper and Review W I T H S U P P L E M E N T .

D um VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.

From th e B r i e f o f H is H olin ess to The Tablet, June 4, 1870.

Vol. 50. No. 1964. L o n d o n , D e c e m b e r i , 1877.

P r ick 5d. B y P o st sJ^d fR K G lS T E R K D A T TH K G E N E R A L P O S T O F F IC E A S A N EW SPAPER

Paqe

C H R O N IC L K O F T H K W E E K t—

The Constitutional Conflict in France. — The Hostile Vote of the Chambers — The Difficulties o f the President.— The “ Constitutional Liberties ” in Belgium.— The Imminent Danger.— Expedients Proposed.— The Industrial Crisis and" its Consequences.— 'The War.— Servia and Greece.— Independence o f Roumania. — Lord Derby on the Neutrality of England. — Russian Losses and Gains.—-The Ottoman National 'Guard. — The Condemnation of the Extraordinary Credits. — Marriage and Domicile. — The “ Benevolent Society.” — The Stafford House Committee. . . 673

CONTENTS.

L k a d k r s :

Page

What the French Radicals Mean . . . . •• •• 677 The Roman Special Correspon­

dent o f the “ Times.” .. . . 677 The Debate on the Falk Law s . . 678 The Liverpool Black Book . . 679 The Bright Clauses of the Irish

Land A c t .................................... 680

Round the Winter Galleries . . 681 R bview s :

The Catacombs of Rome . . . . 682 The Written Word.. . . . . 683 Authority and Anarchy .. . . 684 The Contemporary Review . . 684

Page

S h ort N o t ic e s :

Picture Amateur’s Book . . . . 685 Eason’s Almanac ... . . . . 685 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :

Tha Archbishopric of Naples . . 685 The Bishop of Salford’s New

College . . . . .. . . 686 “ The Problem o f Catholic

Liberal Education ”

.. 686

Beverley School Statistics . . 687 African Missions . . . . . . 687 Asceticism or Spartanism .. 687 An In q u i r y .....................................687 R ome :— Letter from our own Cor­

respondent ......................... 689

D io c e sa n N ews

Westminster......................... Beverley . . . . Birmingham......................... Clifton Hexham and Newcastle . . N orthampton . . , , Salford ......................... Scotland.— Eastern District

I r e lan d

6gt 691 69* 692 693 693 694 694

Letter from oar own Correspondent ......................... . . 694 G en e r a l N ews ............................ 6g4

FRANCE. T

THE CONSTI­

TUTIONAL CONFLICT IN

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

HE conflict between the French Cham­

ber and the Executive has become a deadly quarrel. Months ago, when the alternative “ to submitor to resign ” was first put to the Marshal, we expressed our conviction that he would do neither, ■ but that he would attempt to govern with the support ■ 0! the Senate, and perhaps with a Cabinet taken from outside the Legislature. This is precisely what he has done, and the names of the new Ministers were gazetted on ■ Saturday. General de Rochebouet, till now General Commanding at Bordeaux, is President of the Council and Minister of War; the Marquis de Banneville, formerly Ambassador to the Holy See and at Vienna, has the portfolio of Foreign Affairs; M. Welche, an unsuccessful official candidate, is Minister of the Interior ; M. Lepelletier, o f Justice; M. Dutilleul, formerly of the Left Centre, but also an official candidate, of Finance ; M. Ozenne, of Commerce ; M. Faye, the well-known astronomer, another unsuccessful candidate, Minister of Public Instruction; Admiral Roussin, of the Navy and Colonies; and M. Graeff, of Public Works.

It would be difficult to find fault individually th e hostile with any 0f tjje members of the new Cabinet, ^chambers!5 ar,d ah that the Opposition papers could do was to fix on the fact that General de Rochebouet had been an officer on duty at the time of the coup d'etat in 1851. But the Chamber declared war on the Ministry collectively the first day of its existence. Ministers attended the sittings of both Houses, and in each House a Ministerial declaration was read; in the Senate by the President of the Council, and in the Chamber by the Minister of Justice. In this document the new Ministers announce their intention to “ hold aloof from all political struggles,” to put an end to agitation “ at a time of the year when it is of the highest importance to facilitate commercial transactions, on the eve of the great Universal Exhibition,” and to “ restore the good relations between the public powers which are necessary for the welfare of the State.” They will also “ religiously respect and cause to be respected the Republican Constitution which governs us,” and “ it will pass intact from our hands into those o f our successors the day when the President of the Republic shall judge the present discussions sufficiently allayed to take a Ministry from within the Parliament.” Nothing could be more modest or conciliatory in tone than this declaration, in which the new Ministry confesses itself, almost in so many words, to be a

N e w S e r i e s , Vol. X V I I I . No, 473.

Ministry of transition, whose only mission is to get through certain necessary public business until the conflict is “ sufficiently allayed ” to allow of the formation of a Parliamentary Cabinet. But this is not the view which the Chamber has taken of the situation. To allow the Government to get through this necessary business— that is, the passing ot the Budget— is to surrender the only weapon by the use of which the majority in the Chamber can hope to force the Executive to submission. Accordingly, while in the Senate the reading of the declaration was received by the Left in silence, and the House immediately proceeded to the election of M. Grandperret, who on the former occasion had not an absolute majority, as Life-Senator, in the Chamber of Deputies M. de Marckre immediately proposed to “ interpellate” the Government on its origin and constitution. The House insisted on the debate being taken at once, and M. de Marc^re made a very telling speech. He argued that the Ministry, though composed of men of merit, as it did not represent, and was not supported by, any public power emanating from the will of the nation, was the representatative only of personal government, and was, like its predecessor, a Ministry of resistance— the last of the Ministries of resistance, for during the last seven years France had been perpetually rolling this “ rock of Sisyphus,” which was always falling back upon her. He affirmed the real Conservatism of the majority, and declared its alleged Radicalism to be “ a ridiculous phantom.” If for this reason the Executive refused to act in harmony with it, the Opposition “ now said non possumus in its turn.” M. Welche then, after shaking hands with M. de Marchre, defended the Constitutional right of the President to take a Ministry from outside the Legislature, and, declaring that the present administration had no connection with its predecessor, protested that it had come to bring peace, not war, and, modest as it might be, was determined to do its duty, though he and his colleagues, like the Chamber, “ might have preferred another solution.” He begged therefore that the Chamber would receive it without condemning it beforehand. But after a speech from M. Floquet, who persisted in identifying the new Cabinet with that of the 16th of May, and another from M. Germain, of the Left Centre, who said that “ the country did not want the Ministry of the affairs of the 16th of May— it wanted the Ministry of the affairs of the nation, an Order of the Day, pure and simple, moved by M. Baragnon, was rejected by 322 votes to 207, and the following aggressive ordre du jour motive was carried by 323 to 208 :— “ The Chamber of Deputies, considering that by its composition the Ministry of the.23rd of November is the denial of the rights of the nation and of Parliamentary rights, and can only aggravate the crisis which the country has been passing through since