M'MAHON, SIR ARTHUR HENRY (1862- ), K.C. I.E. (1906), G.C.M.G. (1916), British soldier and administrator, was born on Nov. 28, 1862, the son of General C. A. M'Mahon, F.R.S. He was educated at Haileybury and entered Sandhurst. In 1883 he joined the army, and later, having joined the Indian political department, was in 1901 appointed revenue and judicial commissioner in Baluchistan. After holding several administra tive posts, he was from 1911 to 1914 foreign secretary to the Government of India. In 1913-14 he was British Plenipotentiary for the treaty regarding Tibet, between England, China and Tibet. In 1914 he became first high commissioner for Egypt under the British protectorate. In 1919 he was British commissioner on the Middle East International Commission (Peace Conference).
MacMAHON, MARIE EDME PATRICE MAURICE DE, duke of Magenta ( I8o8--1893), French marshal and president of the French republic, was born on July 13, 1808, at the château of Sully, near Autun. He was descended from an Irish family which went into exile with James II. Educated at the military school of St. Cyr, in 1827 he entered the army, and served in the first French campaign in Algeria. He gained distinction in the expedition to Antwerp in 1832. In 1833 he returned to Algeria. He led daring cavalry raids across plains infested with Bedouin, and distinguished himself at the siege of Constantine in 1837. He was almost constantly in Algeria until 1854. MacMahon commanded a divicion in the Crimean War, and in September 1855 he conducted the assault upon the Malakoff works, which led to the fall of Sevastopol. Declining the highest command in France, he was once more sent out, at his own request, to Algeria, where he completely defeated the Kabyles. After his return to France he voted as a senator against the unconstitutional law for general safety, brought forward in consequence of Orsini's abortive at tempt on the emperor's life. MacMahon distinguished himself in the Italian campaign of 1859. Partly by good luck and partly by pushing forward without orders at a critical moment at the battle of Magenta, he secured victory. For this MacMahon received his marshal's baton and was created duke of Magenta. In 1861 he represented France at the coronation of William I. of Prussia,
and in 1864 he was nominated governor-general of Algeria. Mac Mahon's administration was unsuccessful and when the ill-fated 011ivier cabinet was formed, the emperor abandoned his Algerian schemes and MacMahon was recalled.
In 187o MacMahon was appointed to the command of the Alsace army detachment (see FRANCO-GERMAN WAR). On Aug. 6, MacMahon fought the battle of Worth (q.v.). He was com pelled to fall back upon Saverne, and thence to Toul. The em peror then gave him supreme command of the new levies which he was mustering at Chalons, and he was directed to effect a junc tion with Bazaine. This operation he undertook against his will. He had an army of 120,000 men, with 324 guns ; but large numbers of the troops were disorganized and demoralized. Early on Sept. I, the decisive battle of Sedan began. MacMahon was dangerously wounded in the thigh, whereupon General Ducrot, and soon after wards General de Wimpffen, took command. MacMahon shared the captivity of his comrades, and was interned at Wiesbaden.
In March 1871 MacMahon was appointed by Thiers com mander-in-chief of the army of Versailles; in that capacity he sup pressed the Communist insurrection, and successfully conducted the second siege of Paris. On the resignation of Thiers on May 24, 1873, MacMahon was elected president of the Republic by an al most unanimous vote. On Nov. 5, 1873, General Changarnier pre sented a motion in the Assembly to confirm MacMahon's powers for a period of ten years, and to provide for a commission of thirty to draw up a form of constitutional law. The president consented, but in a message to the Assembly he declared in favour of a confirmation of his own powers for seven years, and expressed his determination to use all his influence in the maintenance of Conservative principles. After prolonged debates the Septennate was adopted on Nov. 19 by 378 votes to 310. There was no coup d'etat in favour of "Henri V.," as had been expected, and the president resolved to abide by "existing institutions." One of his earliest acts was to receive the finding of the court-martial upon his old comrade in arms, Marshal Bazaine, whose death sentence he commuted to one of twenty years' imprisonment in a fortress.