The Constitutionalists of the Right behaved adMirably in the Senate
in relation to this Bill. They preferred for themselves a somewhat less stringent clause than the clause of the Govern- ment as to the contingency of an insurrection or war commencing during the period which must elapse between a dissolution and the next convocation of the Chambers. They were defeated by a combination of some of the Right with the supporters of the Government, but nevertheless, instead of turning round and trying to defeat the whole Bill which they bad failed to alter in their own sense, they supported the Bill loyally after their defeat, even in the form in which M. Dufaure presented it. The consequence was that the Bill passed the Senate ultimately by the large majority of US against 100. This vote is a guarantee against any further dead-lock between the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, unless, indeed, the majority in the Chamber should be too much elated by their victory, and press unreasonably. on the Conservatives,—an event which is not, we hope, very probable. It is reassuring in the highest degree for the prospectsof Constitutional government in France, to find that not only can the Liberal-party be self- restrained and moderate in a time of peril, but that the Conser- vatives have also produced a party of moderation, who will join hands with the moderates of progress, and save the country- from either extreme of violence,—the violence of innovation, or the violence of reaction.
Previous page
