SIMON.
995
the committee on the organisation of labour. In March^ 1&19, he was elected a member of the Council of State^ and he resigned his seat as representative (April) ; but on the reconstitution, on the 29th of June> by the Legislative Assembly, of the first half of that Council, he was not retained on it, and consequently he found himself removed from public life. After the coup d'etat M. Simon's course of lectures on philosophy at the Sorbonne was suspended, and as he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Empire, it was assumed that he had resigned his professorship. In 18G3 he was sent to the Corps Legislatif from the 8th circonscription of the Seine. He was returned by that circonscription and also by the 2nd circonscription of the Gironde in 1869, when he elected to represent the latter constituency. M. Simon soon became the chief of the £e- publican party. He ranked high as an orator, and in the discussions on treaties of commerce he proved himself to be an able political eco- nomist and an earnest advocate of Free Trade. On the formation of the GK)vemment of National De- fence he took the post of Minister of Public Instruction, Public Wor- ship, and Fine Arts. After the armistice he was sent to Bordeaux to see that the decrees relating to the elections were carried out in their integrity, and not with the modi- fications introduced by M. Gam- betta. At the elections of Feb. 8, 1871, M. Simon's candidature failed at Paris, but he was re-elected a representative of the department of the Mame in the National Assem- bly.' He classed himself among the members of the Left, and was chosen by M. Thiers to take in the Cabinet of Conciliation formed Feb. 19, 1871, the portfolio of Public Instruction. He held it till May, 1873, when he resumed his seat among the mem- bers of the Left, who made him their President. On Dec. 16, 1875, he was elected a Senator for Life.
In Dec. 1876, M. Dufaure resigned, and a new Ministry had to be formed, which, according to constitutional principles, must rest upon a Par- liamentary majority. The President sent for M. Jules Simon, who became Premier, holding, with the Presi- dency of the Council, the portfolio of the Interior. The cabinet lasted till May 16, 1877, when Marshal MacMahon sent M. Simon a letter which was, in fact, nothing less than a dismissal from office. M. Simon went inmiediately to the Marshal and tendered his resignation, which wiis accepted. M. Simon was elected a member of the French Academy in Nov. 1875, in the place of the Comte de B^musat, and was for- mally received into that learned body June 22, 1876. M. Jules Simon vigorously opposed the Bill introduced by M. Ferry in 1879 for the suppression of the non-autho- rized religious*, congregations. In April, 18^, the French Academy elected him a member of the new Supreme Educational Council, and on Nov. 11, 1882, he was elected permanent Secretary of the Aca- demy of Moral and Political Science, in the place of M. Mignet. Among his works are : — " Du Commen- taire de Proclus sur le Tim^e de Platon," 1839, one of his two theses for the degree of doctor; "£tude sur la Th^dic^e de Platon et d'Aristote," 1840 ; " Histoire de l'£cole d' Alexandria" 2 vols, 1844- 46, 2nd edit. 1861; "Le Devoir," 1854; "La Religion Naturelle," 1856 ; " La Liberte de Conscience," 1859; "La Libert^," 2 vols, 1859; " L'Ouvri^re," 1863 ; " L'ficole," 1864 ; " Le Travail," 1866 ; " L'Ou- vrier de huit ans," 1867; "La Politique Eadicale," 1868 ; " La Peine de Mort," 1869; "Le Libre- Miange," 1870; "Souvenirs du 4 Septembre," 1874; " Le Gou- vemement de M. Thiers, 8 f^vrier, 1871—24 mai, 1873," Paris, 1878; and " Dieu, Patrie, Libert^," 1883; He has also brought out editionr, with important introductions, of the 3 8 2
