498
GR^VY.
of Ceylon, Jan. 8, 1872. WMle occupying this position, Mr. Gre- gory restored the King's palace at Kandy, one of the most splendid of oriental edifices. He resigned the Governorship of Ceylon in 1877.
GEliVY, Francois Paul Jules, President of the French Republic, was bom, according to the usual statements, at Mont-sous- Yaudrez, in the Jura, Aug. 15, 1813, but the register of his birth proves that he was born in 1807. He was educated in the College of Poligny, afterwards studied law in Paris, and in due course was admitted an advocate. He took part in the Revolution of July, 1830, and was subsequently much employed at the bar as a defender of members of the Radical party who were charged with the commission of political offences. In 1848 he was appointed Commissary of the Provisional Government in his department, and was returned to the Constituent Assembly, heading the list of the successful candidates for the Jura. As a member of the Committee of Justice and Vice- President of the Assembly, M. Gr6vy frequently ascended the tribune, and proved himself to be one of the most able speakers among the democratic party. While maintaining an inde- pendent attitude, far removed from the Socialists and not so far from the Mountain, he usually voted with the extreme Left. Above all, his name is connected with a Radical amendment on the question of the Presidency. He proposed that arti- cles 41, 43, and 45 of the Constitution should run in the following terms : — " Article 41 . The National Assembly delegates the executive power to a citizen who receives the title of Pre- sident of the Council of Ministers." " Article 43. The President of the Council of Ministers is appointed by the National Assembly by secret ballot, and an absolute majority of votes.'* "Article 45. The President of the Council is elected foy an unlimited period. The appointment ia always revocable." This amend-
ment was rejected by 633 votes to 158, at the sitting of Oct. 7, 1848, when the Assembly decided that the President of the Republic should be elected by universal suffrage and hold office for four years. After the election of the 10th of December, M. Gr^vy opposed the Government of Louis Napoleon, and protested against the expedition to Rome. After the coup d'4tat, he held aloof from politics, and confined himself to the practice of his profession. In 1868 he was appointed bditonnier of the order of Advocates, and the following year he was again re- turned as Deputy for the Jura. On Feb. 17, 1871, M. Gr^vy was elected President of the National Assembly, then sitting at Bordeaux, and now removed to Versailles, and in dis- charging the duties of this important office, he displayed remarkable tact, judgment, and moderation. He resigned this office in April, 1873, when he was succeeded by M. Buffet. In Oct., 1873, he published a pam- phlet, entitled, "The Necessary Go- vernment," in which he declared that " France has been transformed, and has become a pure Democracy ; " that " her first mistake was not to have founded a Constitutional Mo- narchy when she possessed the ele- ments of one J '* and that " her second mistake would be to attempt to establish it when those elements no longer exist." At the general election of Feb., 1876, he was re- turned to the National Assembly by the arrondissement of D61e in the department of the Jura, and on the meeting of the Chamber he was elected its President. He was re- elected by the new Chamber of Deputies, Nov. 10, 1877, and again in Jan., 1879. After the resignation of Marshal MacMahon, M. Gr^vy was elected President of the Re- public for seven years on Jan. 30, 1879, when 563 votes were recorded in his favour, 99 being given to General Chanzy (against his will), 5 for M. Gambetta, one each for Genei*al Ladmirault, the Due d'Au-
