A Ministerial Crisis in France, iSyd 765 person coming to town send him to me. As to funds, — orders may either be drawn on the Quarter Master General here, or if you prefer it, I will send you any amount you may require in an order on the Agent at Hamburgh, for which you may render an account hereafter. On this point let me know your wishes. May it not be worthy of enquiry whether Arms of some sort could not be picked up in Augusta. Get some Merchant to enquire. I annex the orders you require. In haste y" truly Rob. Y. Hayne. P. S. There is no objection at all to your taking com:' of the Reg'. As to the encampment, it must not be ordered, and if by gen! consent I think it had better not exceed one or two companies at a time. ( To be continued. ) J. A Ministerial Crisis in France, iSj6. Ix 1873 France was passing through one of the most redoubtable crises of her domestic histoiy. Thiers had succeeded in freeing French territory from the last consequences of the Prussian invasion and was enjoying the country's approbation when the Monarchist majority of the Assembly decided to reward his services by depriving him of the Presidency of the Republic. The unpopularity thus rashly incurred by the Monarchists was destined irretrievably to ruin their hopes. On May 24, the Royalists managed to secure the election of Marshal de MacMahon as President of the Republic, and the Due de Broglie became prime minister. In November 1873 the National Assembly was called upon to discuss a bill, historically known as the " Septennial Bill," and de- signed to prolong Marshal de MacMahon's tenure of power for a period of seven years. During the debates M. Jules Simon spoke with a thrilling and fiery eloquence that surpassed all his previous oratory. He vehemently protested against conferring such powers on a man who personified no tradition and whose past could boast of no special glory, who had neither the prestige of the Comte de Chambord and the Comte de Paris, both of royal race, nor the genius of Napoleon. In spite of this impassioned protest, the pro- longation of the Marshal's tenure of power was voted as a conse- quence of the failure of the Monarchist plans of amalgamation ; and, after the elections of 1876, which were a definitive success for the Republican party, Marshal de MacMahon formed a cabinet with M. Dufaure as prime minister. Nine months later, namely in December 1876, M. Dufaure's
