[7] The Chamber, on May 12, had expressed itself in favor of the publicity of meetings of municipal councils, during the absence of the Minister of the Interior. On May 15, it had passed the second reading of a law, opposed by Jules Simon, on the freedom of the press.
[8] In France only official posters may be printed on white paper.
CHAPTER V
THE ADMINISTRATION OF JULES GRÉVY
January, 1879, to December, 1887
The resignation of the maréchal de Mac-Mahon was followed by the immediate gathering, in accordance with the constitution, of the National Assembly, which chose as President for seven years Jules Grévy. The new chief magistrate, elected without a competitor, was already seventy-two, and had in his long career won the reputation of a dignified and sound statesman, in whose hands public affairs might be entrusted with absolute safety. He represented a step beyond the military and aristocratic régime which had preceded him. The embodiment of the old bourgeoisie, he had, along with its qualities, some of its defects. Eminently cautious, his statesmanship had been at times a non-committal reserve more than constructive genius. His parsimony soon caused people to accuse him of unduly saving his salary and state allowances, while his personal dislikes led him to err grievously in his choice of advisers, or rather in his elimination of Gambetta, to whom circumstances now pointed.
Jules Grévy hated Gambetta, undeniably the leading figure in the Republican party since the death of Thiers, and neglected to entrust to him the formation of a Cabinet. Thiers himself had shown greater wisdom. He, too, had disliked the raging and apparently futile volubility of the young tribune during the Franco-Prussian War, but Thiers got over calling Gambetta a "fou furieux." On the contrary, just after the Seize-Mai and before his own death, when Thiers was expecting to return to the Presidency as successor to a discredited Mac-Mahon, he had intended to make Gambetta the head of his Cabinet. For Gambetta with maturity had become more moderate. Instead of drastic political remedies he was gradually evolving, as already stated, the policy of "Opportunism" so closely linked with his name, the method of gradual advance by concessions and compromises, by taking advantage of occasions and making one's general policy conform with opportunity.
If Gambetta, as leader of the majority group in the Republican party, which had evicted Mac-Mahon, had become Prime Minister, it is conceded that the precedent would have been set by the new administration for parliamentary government with a true party leadership, as in Great Britain. Instead, Grévy entrusted the task of forming a Ministry to an upright but colorless leader named Waddington, at the head of a composite Cabinet, more moderate in policy than Gambetta, who became presiding officer of the Chamber of Deputies. The consequence was that, after lasting less than a year, it gave way to another Cabinet led by the great political trimmer Freycinet,[9] until in due time it was in turn succeeded by the Ministry of Jules Ferry in September, 1880.