Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net A HISTORY OF THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC BY C. H. C. WRIGHT _Professor of the French Language and Literature in Harvard University_ WITH ILLUSTRATIONS [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY CHARLES H. C. WRIGHT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED _Published May 1916_ TO MY WIFE CONTENTS I. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR. 1 II. THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR--THE GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENCE (SEPTEMBER, 1870, TO FEBRUARY, 1871). 11 III. THE ADMINISTRATION OF ADOLPHE THIERS (FEBRUARY, 1871, TO MAY, 1873). 31 IV. THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE MARÉCHAL DE MAC-MAHON (MAY, 1873, TO JANUARY, 1879). 50 V. THE ADMINISTRATION OF JULES GRÉVY (JANUARY, 1879, TO DECEMBER, 1887). 75 VI. THE ADMINISTRATION OF SADI CARNOT (DECEMBER, 1887, TO JUNE, 1894). 96 VII. THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF JEAN CASIMIR-PERIER (JUNE, 1894, TO JANUARY, 1895) AND OF FÉLIX FAURE (JANUARY, 1895, TO FEBRUARY, 1899). 115 VIII. THE ADMINISTRATION OF EMILE LOUBET (FEBRUARY, 1899, TO FEBRUARY, 1906). 134 IX. THE ADMINISTRATION OF ARMAND FALLIÈRES (FEBRUARY, 1906, TO FEBRUARY, 1913). 159 X. THE ADMINISTRATION OF RAYMOND POINCARÉ (FEBRUARY, 1913-). 176 APPENDIX: PRESIDING OFFICERS OF FRENCH CABINETS. 187 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 193 INDEX. 199 ILLUSTRATIONS RAYMOND POINCARÉ _Frontispiece_ ADOLPHE THIERS 32 EDME-PATRICE-MAURICE DE MAC-MAHON 50 LÉON GAMBETTA 70 JULES FERRY 78 SADI CARNOT 96 MARIE-GEORGES PICQUART 124 RENÉ WALDECK-ROUSSEAU 136 [Illustration: Raymond Poincaré] A HISTORY OF THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC CHAPTER I THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR Two men were largely responsible, each in his own way, for the third French Republic, Napoleon III and Bismarck. The one, endeavoring partly at his wife's instigation to renew the prestige of a weakening Empire, and the other, furthering the ambitions of the Prussian Kingdom, set in motion the forces which culminated in the Fourth of September.