The Franco-Prussian War And Its Hidden Causes (1914) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: of the Emperor's promise inj;he letter of January 19, 1867, it was bitterly attacked in the Chamber, notably by M. Granier de Cassagnac, and was so lukewarmly defended by ministers that it would have been defeated, but for NapoieonVttetermination to support it despite the opposition of the Empress, and of M. Rouher himself.1 Despite the vigorous resistance of the inveterate partisans of the personal power of the sovereign, the years 1868 and 1869 witnessed the irresistible progress of Liberal ideas. Such incidents, among many others, as the founding of the Lanterne by Henri Rochefort (suppressed after the third issue) and the subscription in honor of Baudin, the deputy killed in the barricades in December, 1851 (in connection with which Gambetta delivered the great speech in defence of Delescluze, which made him famous in a moment), sufficiently indicated the trend of affairs. The International Association of Working Men made its appearance as a political factor. In anticipation of the elections of 1869, all the elements of opposition cooperated, save only the intransigent Royalists and the radical Republicans. In the 3d circumscription of the Seine, M. Ollivier, a typical representative of liberal reform, was opposed by M. Bancel, a no less typical representative of the revolutionary tradition. "Both were in the full maturity of age and talent. By a singular coincidence they had a similar past, both having suffered from the coup (f6tat and having livedid tales of exile. ButBancel, settled upon foreign soil, had remained in the legend of 1792, and had confined himself to disguising its commonplaces beneath eloquent phrases. Ollivier had speedily set himself free from the legend, and in his reconstituted mind had kept but one cult, that of liberty."1 1 The debates on this ...