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FRANCE 399 the prosperity and credit of the country ; and on the same day he nominated the following ministers, who were confirmed : foreign af- fairs, Favre; justice, Dufaure; interior, Pi- card ; instruction, Jules Simon ; public works, De Larcy ; commerce, Lambrecht ; war, Le- fl6; marine, Admiral Pothuau. To this list Pouyet-Quertier was added as minister of finance, Feb. 24. A commission, the active members of which were Thiers, Favre, and Picard, was appointed to negotiate with the Germans. They arrived at Paris Feb. 21, to- gether with a supervising committee of 15 members of the assembly; and on the 26th the preliminary treaty of peace was signed at Versailles. It contained the following provi- sions : France ceded to Germany the greater part of Alsace and Lorraine (see ALSACE-LOE- EAINE); it agreed to pay as war indemnity five milliards of francs, one milliard during 1871, the remainder within the next three years ; the German troops should be gradually withdrawn from French soil as the indemnity was paid, so that the last force should leave it with the last payment ; the indemnity should carry an interest of 5 per cent, till paid ; the French troops should withdraw and remain beyond the Loire until the conclusion of a final treaty of peace (except garrisons for Paris and the other fortified towns) ; the inhabitants of Alsace and Lorraine should enjoy for a certain period (afterward fixed at six months) certain privileges in respect to trade ; the negotiations for a definitive treaty of peace should begin at once at Brussels. These conditions were ac- cepted and the preliminary treaty confirmed by the assembly March 1, by a vote of 546 to 107. In the same session the deposition of Napo- leon and his dynasty was formally declared. A special stipulation, also accepted with the treaty, had provided for the entry of the Ger- man troops into a part of Paris, which, how- ever, they were immediately to evacuate on the acceptance of the full treaty by the as- sembly. This triumphal entry took place on March 1 and 2. On the 3d, the news of the acceptance being received, the Germans again withdrew. The arrangements for the negotia- tion of final peace were now complete. On the 12th Versailles was evacuated also, and the assembly at once transferred its seat from Bordeaux to that city. But Paris had not yet ended its suffering. The withdrawal of the enemy was almost immediately followed by the uprising of the populace and the rule of the commune ; and for nearly two months the un- fortunate capital endured a second and even more terrible siege at the hands of the French themselves. (See COMMUNE DE PAEIS, II.) Only at the end of May was order restored, and the whole country in a condition of ac- tual peace. The definitive treaty with Ger- many, the conditions of which were substan- tially the same as those agreed on at Versailles, had been signed at Frankfort on the 10th of May. The first measures taken by the assem- 333 VOL. vii. 26 bly after the conclusion of the war (besides the negotiation of a most successful loan of 2,500,000,000 francs) tended naturally toward the more permanent constitution of the gov- ernment. The only matter bearing upon this hitherto decided had been the law providing for more liberal measures in the communal and municipal governments and elections, which was passed by the assembly on April 14. The legitimist and Oiieanist parties in the assembly at once became conspicuous in the discussion. On June 8 the proscription of the Bourbon and Orleans princes, which had been in force respectively since 1830 and 1848, was revoked ; and on Dec. 19, after a stipula- ted delay for confirmation, the latter took the seats in the assembly to which they had been elected. The count de Chambord, the Bour- bon claimant of the throne, though he at first returned to France, soon after issued a procla- mation declaring that he could resign none of his claims, and would not abandon the white flag of the Bourbons ; and this done, he re- turned to his residence at Frohsdorf. It soon became evident that for the time being, at least, no other form of government than the republic could be adopted. The elections held July 2 to fill vacancies in the assembly resulted in the great majority of cases in the choice of republican members ; and the tendency of even conservative opinion was also in this direction. On Aug. 12 the members of the left centre in- troduced into the assembly a bill prolonging the presidency of Thiers for three years, con- ferring upon him the official title of " president of the French republic," and providing for the appointment by him of a ministry responsible, like himself, to the assembly. The bill also secured to the assembly the constituent power, thus enabling it to undertake subsequently the discussions of plans for the permanent consti- tution of France. After a violent debate, this proposition passed on the 31st. On Oct. 12 a supplementary treaty with Germany was signed at Berlin, providing for some details, and ma- king some few changes in regard to the ceded territory. At the beginning of 1872 the dis- cussions as to a permanent form of government were renewed. Supplementary elections held on Jan. 7 resulted in the choice of four radi- cals, nine moderate republicans, and four con- servatives. The conservatives now held the ascendancy in the assembly, and the advocates of a monarchical government for a time seemed likely to develop sufficient strength to carry through their plans. Toward the end of Jan- uary the count de Chambord published another manifesto, in which he again asserted his right to the throne. But neither party was strong enough to insist upon any decided measures ; and the only really effective legislative action was that referring to the material affairs of France. In January a tariff bill was submitted to the assembly by Pouyer-Quertier, imposing many new duties and taxes on raw materials, which provoked great opposition both through-