From 1852 to 1860 the second empire was a highly despotic government, strict censorship, drastic control of the elections by the govern ment, no right of initiative, of amendment, of interpellation for the Chamber, no public sit tings and no reports of the latter, etc. From 1860 to the end, the empire was, on the con trary, very liberal.
Napoleon III was obliged to alter his policy on account of the growing opposition of his people as a consequence of the Crimean War (1855), of the Italian War (against the Aus trians 1859), who held a portion of Italy. The Catholics especially were strongly opposed to the emperor in consequence of his policy toward the Pope, when he allowed the Italian king, Vittorio Emmanuele, to Seize the Pontifical States, thereby suppressing the temporal power of the Pope. Napoleon had to form a new majority from the ranks of the Liberals; the press was freed from former restraints, the elections were no longer controlled, meetings were allowed unconditionally. Nevertheless the emperor was steadily becoming unpopular; the °Roman Question)) became so entangled that all parties were dissatisfied; the Mexican War had a lamentable conclusion; toward Prussia, who was growing aggressive, Napoleon did not adopt any definite policy; weakness of character, indecision of mind were not what might have been expected from a Napoleon the very name of the great conqueror had acted upon the public mind as a sort of magic; but presently, for the second time within less than a century, the name of Napoleon was to be identified with a national catastrophe.
It is only fair, however, to say that in spite of many political blunders in his foreign policy, the districts of Nice and Savoie were given to France by Italy in exchange for the help of the French armies in the war against the Austrians which resulted finally in the unifi cation of Italy.
This is no place to relate in details the sad tale of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71; the world knows that France was defeated, that Alsace-Lorraine was wrested from the mother country and that an indemnity of five milliards francs had to be paid to Prussia.
After the capitulation of Sedan (2 Sept. 1870), the Corps legislatif assembled in Paris, deposed the emperor, and Republic waspro claimed by Gambetta, Jules Favre and Jules Ferry (4 Sept. 1870). A Gouvernement Pro visoire was established until the end of the war. Gambetta was the most prominent member of that government; he did wonders in organizing the Defense Nationale, raised new armies and wanted, in the teeth of insuperable difficulties, to continue the war.
After the capitulation of Paris (28 Jan. 1871), however, there was no hope left — the preliminaries of peace were signed, but they were to be ratified by the French people through their representatives. An Assembly (L'Assem blee Nationale), was elected in most exceptional circumstances; the republican candidates who had Gambetta at their head wanted the continu ation of the war, whilst the large majority of the nation was in favor ofpeace. The electors voted for the royalist candidates, and the ma jority in the Assembly was composed of 375 Monarchists out of 700 members. The treaty of Francfort was signed with Prussia (10 May 1871) ; the Commune de Paris (insurrection of the Parisians against the new government) was finally repressed and the way was cleared for a comparatively long period of peace, prosperity, democratic reforms and consolidations, the solidification of public and personal rights so much desired by the French people.
The Assemblee Nationale was composed of a majority of Monarchists, but they were di vided into two parties, the Legitimists and the Orleanists.
The former supported the Comte de Cham bord, a nephew of Charles X, that is to say of the Bourbons; the latter supported the Comte de Paris, a descendant of Louis-Philippe who belonged to the dynasty of the d'Orleans. Each of these two parties wanted the restoration to the throne of their respective candidates. In the meantime, Adolphe Thiers was entrusted with the executive power and received officially the title of President of the Republic (General Trochu had been the President of the Govern ment de la Defense Nationale). The Monarch ists however did not feel bound to accept the Republic as the definite form of the French government: Legitimists and Orleanists hoped that they might sooner or later come to an arrangement between themselves, but Thiers re fused to be a party to any restoration. Before the hostility of the Chamber, he had to resign his office and Marshal de MacMahon was elected in his place (1873). On the other hand the Comte de Chambord made himself very un popular by insisting that the national emblem should be the white flag (symbol of absolute monarchy) ; not only was he unpopular with the Republicans, which was a matter of course, but with all Monarchists as well, Orleanists and Bonapartists. The republican party was pin ing ground every day; in 1875 the constitutional laws of the present Republic were voted by the National Assembly, which broke up and was replaced by two constitutional Chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.