To the amazement of the Ministers, and indeed of the
whole country, H. Casimir-Perier did not accept the resigna- tions tendered. On the contrary, he informed M. Dupuy that he must retain power for a time, for that he himself had determined to resign the Presidential Chair. M. Dupny protested, and other influences were brought to hear to prevent so dangerous a resolve ; but M. Casimir-Perier was obstinate, and on Wednesday his formal letter of resignation was read to both Chambers. In this document, which was received in the Chamber in comparative silence, but in the Senate with jeering interruptions, H. Casimir-Perier declares that "the attempt to mislead public opinion had succeeded ; " that his twenty years of public life had not convinced Republicans of the sincerity and ardour of his political faith; that for six months a campaign of insult had been waged against him as well as against Parliament and the
Magistracy ; that he could not acknowledge it to be his duty to bear such insult, and that he consequently laid down his functions. "Perhaps in doing so I shall have marked out the path of duty to those who are solicitous for the dignity of power, and the good name of France in the world." The whole civilised world may be said to have condemned this letter, which reveals a character essentially weak and even childish in a man supposed to be strong, and which is indeed hardly to be reconciled with its writer's previous career. No explanation, however, except inability to bear insult, and extreme melancholy caused by overwork in details, has as yet been offered, and if there is a secret history behind, it has not been guessed. There was, of course, no option for the Chambers except to receive the resignation, and elect a successor, all executive power passing in the interim under the Constitution to the Council of Ministers,—that is, in fact, to M. Dupuy and General Mercier.
