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“The Funny French Republic”
Uncle Sam. "What is the use of having a President?"
Gend'arme. "Ne le comprend pas."
The specific topic of this cartoon is (as the poster announces) the arrest of
M. Du Verdier, president of Paris's municipal council, for insulting the French
president, General Marie Macmahon. Uncle Sam joshes the French policeman that the
freedom to ridicule the nation's chief executive is the best thing about having
one. The gendarme's inability to understand Uncle Sam's point expresses a
gulf between the two nation's acceptance of free speech and political tolerance;
or, in the words of a Harper's Weekly editorial of June 9, 1877,
"the French incapacity of comprehending a republic."
The broader context of the cartoon, of which Du Verdier's arrest was one
episode, was the political crisis of "le seize mai" (May 16). In
the wake of France's loss in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Napoleon III
was deposed and the Third French Republic established. When President
Adolphe Thiers resigned in March 1873, the dominant conservative faction
installed General Marie Macmahon as president for a seven-year term. He
had served with distinction in the Crimean War (1853-1856), the Italian War for
Independence (1859), the Franco-Prussian War, and the defeat of the Paris
Commune (1871). Besides his military accolades, Macmahon was a devout
Catholic and supported the proposed restoration of the French monarchy, two
institutions which French republicans opposed.
The division of the French monarchists into two factions--those backing the House of Bourbon and
those favoring the House of Orleans--produced a stalemate that prevented the return of monarchy to the
nation. Instead, in 1875, the National Assembly adopted a new constitution
that allowed for a Chamber of Deputies (lower house) elected by universal
manhood suffrage, a Senate (upper house) elected indirectly, a president
chosen by both bodies, and a council of ministers. The National Assembly then dissolved itself and
elections were held in 1876.
Voters returned a large republican majority to the Chamber of Deputies, and
in December of that year, the republican deputies forced President Macmahon to
ask Jules Simon, a republican and a former minister in the Thier's
administration, to form a government as premier (prime minister). Clashes developed between
the Simon administration and clerical (pro-Catholic) parties, and Simon purged
the government of conservatives. In reaction, Macmahon essentially
dismissed Simon on May 16, 1877. Simon, with his strong support in the
Chamber of Deputies could have resisted the president, but decided to resign the
next day. Macmahon then chose conservative Albert de Broglie as premier
and gained the Senate's approval to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies (June 25,
1877).
The crisis raised the great national question of whether a premier's
ministry was responsible mainly to the president or the Chamber.
New elections were held and voters returned a majority of republicans to
the Chamber of Deputies, which then cast a "no confidence"
vote against de Broglie's government. Its successor conservative
government, under Caietan Rochebouët
also soon failed, in December 1877, compelling Macmahon to allow a largely
republican ministry headed by Jules Dufaure, a conservative
republican. On January 5, 1879, republicans assumed control of the
Senate as well, provoking Macmahon to resign a few weeks later on
January 28. The French national government had evolved into a
parliamentary system, and the office of the presidency thereafter became
primarily a ceremonial post.
Robert C. Kennedy
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