Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1879 — FRANCE. [ARTICLE]

FRANCE.

Biography of the New President. Francois Paul Jules Grevy was bom Aug. 15,1813. He became an advocate at Paris, and acquired influence as an opponent both of Socialism and Bonapartism, and after the Febniary revolution was a member and Vice President of the Constituent and Legislative Assemblies from 1848 till Dec. 2, 1851. In 1848 he proposed that the Executive should be chosen by the National Assembly and hold office at its pleasure with the title of President of the Council of Ministers. In 1868 he was named battonier of the Order of Advocates. He was elected to the Corps Legislatif in 1868 and 1869, and in 1871 to the National Assembly by three departments, taking his seat for that of Jura, his old constituency. He was President of the Assembly from March, 1871, to April, 1873; but declined the invitation of President Thiers to serve longer in that capacity.

President Grevy’s First Message. President Grevy in his inaugural message to the Chambers says: “ The National Assembly in raising me to the Presidency of the Republic has imposed great duties upon me. I shall apply myself unremittingly to their accomplishment and shall be happy if, with the co-operation of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, I do not remain below the level of what France has a right to expect from my efforts and my devotion. Sincerely submitting to the great law of parliamentary government, I shall never enter into conflict with the national will, conveyed through its constitutional organs. In» the bills which it will submit to the vote of the Chambers and in the questions raised by parliamentary initiative the Government will be guided b; Yhe real wants and unmistakable wishes of the country. Inspired by a spirit/ of progress and appeasement it will devote particular attention to the maintenance of tranquillity, security and confidence, which are the benefits France most ardently desires and most imperatively needs. In the application of the laws which give to our general policy its character and aim the Government will be influenced by the spirit wherein those laws were dictated. It will be liberal and just toward all—the protector of all legitimate interests and the defender of all interests of the state. In its solicitude for those great institutions which are the columns of the social edifice, the Government will bestow a large share of attention upon our army, whose honor and interests will be constant objects of its most cherished preoccupation. Now that the two great powers of the state are animated by one spirit which is the same that actuates France, the Government, while taking account of rights acqnired and services rendered, will take care that the republic is served'by functionaries who are neitho its enemies nor its detractors. It wi? continue to maintain and develop the good relations which exist between France and foreign powers, and thereby contribute to the consolidation of general peace. It is by means of this liberal and truly conservative policy that the great powers of the republic, ever united and animated by one and the same spirit, and proceeding always with wisdom, will cause its natural fruits to be borne by the Government which France, taught by misfortune, has conferred upon herself as the only one that could secure her repose and usefully labor for the development of her prosperity, strength and greatness.” Gambetta’s Speech. In his inaugural address to the Chamber of Deputies, Gambetta eulogized the great citizen whom he had succeeded in the Presidential chair, and whose footsteps he was to follow. He promised impartiality in the discharge of his duties, a jealous regard for the freedom of debate; that he would protect the minority, and exact respect for the constitution. He said the republic has issued victories from party conflicts and must now enter on an organic and creative period. The Chamber must devote itself to scholastic, military, financial and j commercial reforms.

Ihe New Premier. William Henry Waddington, who has accepted the responsibility. of organizing the first Parliamentary Cabinet under President Grevy, is assuredly one of the most remarkable men not only of France but of the world. Scarcely less distinguished as a classical archaeologist than as a statesman, and possessing a thorough practical knowledge of the Turkish empire and other regions of the Levant, his accession to the chief post of responsibility in the French Government is a sure omen of an enlightened and vigorous foreign policy, which will restore France to the position she lost by the disastrous schemes of the imperial regime. M. Waddington has the advantage of being almost equally an Englishman and a Frenchman. He was entitled to choose either nationality, but the course of events has brilliantly justified that instinct which led him to designate himself from the land of his birth rather than from that of his education and ancestry. He was the son of a wealthy English cotton-spinner, was educated at Cambridge, settled in France, and has been prominently identified with the affairs of the republic for the past ten years.