Rid of the cares of state I give my whole time, or that which I can spare from my work as deputy, to study. Your brotherin-law, Count Kapnist, a very enlightened and lovable man, will give you news of me, for I often see him, and always with pleasure. He will tell you that I give all my attention to my work, and that I do not get in the way much of those at the helm.

I received your letter with great pleasure, and am glad that you remember me so affectionately. You have witnessed part of my long and hard working life both from a distance and near at hand, and you have been able to judge of the sincerity and constancy of my opinions. In all good faith, I have wished for and endeavored to establish a constitutional monarchy.

Belonging to a good family of the magistrature, connected with a rich industrial family of good standing before the period. of the Revolution, educated in a college of the first empire, there was nothing to dissuade me from a liberal monarchy, everything on the contrary, bound me to it, my parents, my education, which was both of a liberal and a military character, and lastly my own inclinations.

PRINCES ARE CRITICIZED.

I would have accepted it from Charles X., from Louis Philippe, and even from Napoleon III. But these three princes, with the best intentions no doubt, but with deplorable blindness, did everything that lay in their power to prevent its success. The true idea of a liberal monarchy is that the prince should efface himself in order that those unto whom power has been delegated may follow the lead of the country. But every one of them wanted to govern in accordance with his own views, with quite good intentions, but in such a manner as to offend every national instinct.

Charles X. thought he had the church to defend; Louis Philippe wished to please Europe in order to obtain her support; Napoleon III. wanted to give himself something of the air of his famous uncle-they all three pursued obstinately their own intentions in direct opposition to the trend of the country. The result was the fall of the monarchy on three successive occasions, after which a further trial of it was impossible.

It would be necessary to have seen the condition of affairs in Bordeaux to recognize to what extent I allowed circumstances to govern my course of action. They turned to me because there was nothing else they could do. I was not beloved by the Royalists because they knew that I should never be a passive instrument in their hands.

LIBERALS SYMPATHETIC.

The Liberals were sympathetically inclined, but they feared my former monarchic leanings; they all put up with me, each party reserving to itself the right to desert me should I show any leanings to any of the three existing parties. I had neither a soldier nor a silver crown with which to face the 800,000 foreign soldiers who were masters of France. It was in such a situation that I had to govern, maintaining my balance between all parties, not one of which gave me frank support.

I crushed a furious insurrection, which had got the upper hand in a capital armed to the teeth; I got rid of the Prussians by keeping my engagements, entering into financial operations which had no precedent, and finally I succeeded in restoring a little order and much confidence. Seeing the work I was doing, the Republican party took heart and supported me, but I was furiously attacked by the Royalists; I let them do and say what they pleased, giving my entire attention to freeing the country.

But once the liberation obtained, I was compelled to close on the three Monarchist parties and to compel them either to accept. the republic, which I considered the only form of government possible, or else to establish a monarchy, if they thought themselves capable of undertaking the task. They preferred the latter alternative and I gave them an absolutely free hand. They failed utterly, and proved completely that the republic was the only possible solution.

The situation at present is certainly a difficult one, with a country which has accepted the republican form of government and a government that hates the republic. The results are unfortunate disagreements which may some day lead to serious dangers. With wisdom it may be possible to meet the situation. The great thing is to do everything possible to preserve peace. Your emperor, who is profoundly respected in France, desires peace, and he is right. But Slav sympathies are disquieting Europe to some extent; she would regard with despair a rupture brought about by Oriental agitations.

Believe me, everybody desires peace, and be assured that in spite of our misfortunes we are not those who need it most. May we all preserve peace with dignity. I have written to you at length, as to an old friend, and believe me, the kindly feelings which you bear toward me are fully returned, I should be very happy if you could come and sce us. I am spending three months in Switzerland in order to go on with my book. If the fancy should take you to travel a little in Europe, I would enjoy to talk with you of the whole universe-no less. · Adieu. Adieu. A. THIERS.

(Christian Science Monitor.)

FRANCE A REPUBLIC AGAIN.

When the nations of Europe discover that competent rulers born with a genius for governing, like Peter the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Washington, and Lincoln, are not necessarily born in the family of kings or emperors, like the demoralized Charles II. of England and the dissipated Charles X. of France, they will cease placing little puppets on thrones simply on account of their ancestors.

The better element in France outside of Paris, as well as in it, must assert itself, as its like does in the United States, and place the government above the plane of non-Christian nations. Respect should be shown to all sects, giving equal freedom and action. No amount of ability and public service can make up for an utter lack of principle and morality on the part of those charged with the various duties of administering the affairs of government. No republic, nor any other government can long stand on a foundation other than justice and morality.

THIERS ELECTED PRESIDENT, 1871.

Until Louis Adolphe Thiers, called the "Liberator of the Territory," became president of the restored republic, August 3, 1871, the instability of republican institutions in France, vacillating through the fickleness of the people and the plotting of pseudo kings and emperors and their adherents, calling themselves monarchists, and the inability of the nation to maintain a government of this character, discredited republicanism and served the purpose of the Holy Alliance, formed by the Emperor of Austria, the Czar of Russia, and the King of Prussia and backed by Metternich and all monarchists generally, to check such promulgation in Europe and throughout the world.

It has been stated that France under a republic was less loyal to Christianity than under the old monarchical system. There is no reason why this should be. Republicanism in the United States and Switzerland and other republics shows as much respect for religion as is shown in other governments. If there is any lack of religion it is not on account of the form of government, but of atheism and the demoralization of the people, who would be the same under a monarchy. Of the forty ministries which came into existence in France from 1870 to 1900 none lasted more than twenty months, "according to the season at which they assumed the reins of power."

The ministry of M. Poincaré established January, 1912, was the forty-fifth since 1875, 37 years.

THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE.

The present constitutional laws of France provided only for the bare organization of the public authority, and can be amended virtually at will by the legislature; while the constitutions of Switzerland, Germany and the United States go into great detail, and that of the United States only with the greatest difficulty. The result is that the French constitution although written and technically rigid, bears from the point of view of rigidity in far closer resemblance to the constitution of England than that of the United States. (A. Lawrence Lowell).

"In the preparation of the English texts of French Constitutional and organic laws use has been made of the translation of Professor Charles F. A. Currier, issued as a supplement to the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science of Fear 1893.

The following extracts relating to the Constitution of France were taken from Walter Fairleigh Dodd's work on Modern Constitutions, University of Chicago, 1912:

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC

POWERS.

(February 25, 1875.)

Article 1. The legislative power shall be exercised by two assemblies: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

LAW RE-ESTABLISHING SINGLE DISTRICTS FOR THE ELECTION OF

DEPUTIES.

Article I. Arts. 1, 2, and 3, of the law of June 16, 1885, are repealed.

Article 2. Members of the Chamber of Deputies shall be elected by single districts. Each administrative arrondissement in the departments, and each municipal arrondissement at Paris. and at Lyons, shall elect one deputy. Arrondissements the population of which exceeds one hundred thousand inhabitants shall elect an additional deputy for every one hundred thousand or fraction of one hundred thousand inhabitants. Arrondissements in such cases shall be divided into districts, a table of which is annexed to the present law and shall only be changed by law.

Article 3. One deputy is assigned to the territory of Belfort, six to Algeria, and ten to the colonies, as is indicated by the table. (See Jouvenal Official, Feb. 14, 1889, modified July 22, 1893 and March 30, 1902.)

Article 4. On and after the promulgation of the present law, until the renewal of the Chamber of Deputies, vacancies occurring in the Chamber of Deputies shall not be filled.

LAW ON PARLIAMENTARY INCOMPATIBILITIES.

(December 26, 1887.)

Until the passage of a special law on parliamentary incompatibilities, Acts 8 and 9 of the law of November 30, 1875, shall apply to senatorial elections.

Every officer affected by this provision who has had twenty years of service and is fifty years of age, at the time of his ac

ceptance of the office as senator, may establish his rights to a proportional retiring pension, which shall be governed by the third paragraph of the law of June 9, 1853

ORGANIZATION OF THE SENATE.

(December 9, 1884).

Article I. The senate shall be composed of three hundred members, elected by the departments and the colonies.

The present members, without any distinction between Senators elected by the National Assembly or by the Senate and those elected by the departments and colonies, shall retain their offices during the time for which they have been chosen.

Article II. The department of the Seine shall elect ten

senators.

The department of the Nord shall elect eight senators.

The following departments shall elect five senators each: Cotes-du-Nord, Finistere, Gironde, Ille-et-vilaine, Loire, LoireInferieure, Pas-de-Calais, Rhone, Saone-et-Loire, Seine-Inferieure.

The following departments shall elect four senators each: Aisne. Bouches-de-Rhone, Charente-In ferieure, Dordogne, Haute-Garonne, Isere, Maine-et-Loire, Manche, Morihan, Puyde-Dome, Seine-et-Oise, Somme.

The following departments shall elect three senators each: Ain, Allier, Ardeche, Ardennes, Aube, Aude, Aveyron, Calvados, Charente, Cher, Correze, Corse, Côte d'Or, Creuse, Doubs, Drôme, Eure, Eure-et-Loir, Gard, Gers, Hérault, Indre, Indreet-Loire, Jura, Landes, Loir-et-Cher, Haute-Loir, Loiret, Lot,