been given in Parliament were not chimerical. The Imperialist and Monarchical agitation assumed such threatening proportions that a law banishing from the country the chiefs of families having reigned in France, and prohibiting all the members of those families from serving in the Army or Navy, was promulgated on 23rd June 1886. At that moment General Boulanger was already War Minister. Professing to be actuated by the most elevated republican principles, he sought to increase his popularity by expelling the Duc d'Aumale from France on the ground that he had insulted the President of the Republic by addressing him a letter in which he said, among other things, it was beyond the President's power to deprive officers of their military grades, and that consequently in spite of all he remained "General, Prince Henri d'Orleans, Duc d'Aumale." It is needless to relate the rapid march of events which led to General Boulanger — soon, in spite of this incident, suspected of at least connivance with the Monarchists — presenting himself as candidate for election as Deputy in so many departments at the same time in the autumn of 1888, and a little later, on 27th January 1889, in Paris, where he was elected by 244,070 votes against 162,520 polled by the republican candidate, M. Jacques. That was the culminating point of the General's career, and had he on that Sunday evening marched on the Elysée at the head of the immense multitude who acclaimed him, it is doubtful whether the Republic would have survived the blow. However that may be, the Senate and Chamber hastened to repeal the electoral law instituting the Scrutin de Liste, which had facilitated the plebiscitary movement, and to substitute for it the discarded Scrutin d'Arrondissement. That measure, which was voted by the Chamber on 11th February 1889, and quickly ratified by the Senate, also provided against any renewal of the attempt at a plebiscite by prohibiting candidates from presenting themselves for election in more than one electoral district at a time.
Since then the Republic has been so greatly consolidated in France that none but small minorities refuse to regard it as the definitive form of government. However, it is curious to note that if its continued existence runs any danger, the peril comes from the Scrutin d'Arrondissement, the mode of electing Deputies which may be said to have been readopted in 1889 to ensure its prolonged existence. Little by little, and especially during the last ten or dozen years, the corruption and favouritism it engenders have assumed such proportions that discontent has become general. And that is not astonishing, because, thanks to it, the anti-religious Masonic majority in Parliament maintain their creatures in power though they do not represent the majority in the country. Their tactics are as simple as they
