496 P. S. Reinsch likely that he will modify his decision. He has thereby clearly en- tered upon the policy of doing away with representative institutions in the tropics. And in general, English statesmen have at present little but criticism for the policy of Lord Derby, whose Liberalism they consider decidedly unpractical. In France too there are many indications of a changed attitude of the public mind on questions of colonial politics. Formerly the ideal of assimilation was proclaimed as the national policy almost without a dissenting voice. In the expose des motifs die Si'iiatiis- considte de i8§^, we find this statement : " L'assimilation progress- ive des colonies a la mere-patrie est dans la nature des choses, dans le voeu legitime des populations, et peut-etre aussi dans les devoirs du gouvernement metropolitain." The commission of forty-five members nominated by the National Assembly at Bordeaux in 1 87 1 voted : " Prenons pour devise : Assimilation politique des colonies a la mere-patrie." ' During the two decades that followed, all the important organic laws of France were applied also to the colonies. The colonial commission appointed by Admiral Pothuau in 1878, and that named by Minister Duclerc in 1882, both pro- nounced in favor of assimilation, as did also the Colonial Congresses of 1889 and 1890. But within the last decade a new tendency has made itself felt. Already in 1888, Minister Dislere's scheme for further assimilation of the old colonies by erecting them into depart- ments was defeated in the parliament. The troubles in the Antilles as well as the disappointment which the French attempts at legal assimilation suffered in Annam have led many politicians to question the wisdom of the traditional policy. Moreover the experience of the French with Tunis, where they have used the system of a protectorate without assimilation, has been so much more satisfac- tory than in Algiers or Indo-China, that the lesson has impressed it- self strongly upon the minds of statesmen and publicists. In 1898 M. D'Estournelles de Constant introduced a bill for the suppression of the parliamentary representation of Senegal, French India, and Cochin-China. He believes that the system is so firmly fixed in the Antilles that, for sentimental reasons, it may there be allowed to continue, but he strenuously opposes the extension of the prin- ciple to the other colonies." M. Doumer, Governor-general of Indo- China, in his report to the Minister of Colonies in 1900, discourages the idea of legislative and social assimilation.'* M. P. Leroy-Beau- lieu, too, believes in administrative and financial decentralization 'March 2S, 1870. Cited in Schoelcher, Polhnique Cohmiale, I. 1 6. 2 D' Estournelles de Constant, Contre la Representation Coloniale, in La Revue de Paris, January I, iSgg. 'Cited in U. S. Consular Reports, Dec, igoo, p. 496.
