monarchist assembly which had established the Republic. It had
been in existence nearly five years. The elections to the
Senate gave a small majority to the Republicans. Those to the
Chamber of Deputies (February, 1876) gave about two-thirds of
its 532 seats to Republicans, mostly moderate Republicans. The
ministry to which the leadership of this assembly was soon
confided, was therefore naturally a ministry of moderate
Republicans. M. Dufaure was prime minister, and M. Léon Say
minister of finance. ... The Dufaure ministry was not
long-lived, being succeeded before the year 1876 closed, by a
ministry led by M. Jules Simon, a distinguished orator and
writer. The tenure of French cabinets in general has been so
little permanent under the Third Republic, that in the
nineteen years which have elapsed since the fall of the
Empire, twenty-five cabinets have had charge of the executive
government. ... Few events had marked the history of the Simon
ministry when, suddenly, in May, 1877, the President of the
Republic demanded its resignation. Much influenced of late by
Monarchist advisers, he had concluded that the moderate
Republican cabinets did not possess the confidence of the
chambers, and, feeling that the responsibility of maintaining
the repose and security of France rested upon him, had
resolved, rather than allow the management of the affairs of
the country to fall into the hands of M. Gambetta and the
Radicals, to appoint a ministry of conservatives, trusting
that the country would ratify the step. A ministry was
organized under the Duke of Broglie, and the Chamber of
Deputies was first prorogued, and then, with the consent of
the Senate, dissolved. The death of M. Thiers in September
caused a great national demonstration in honor of that
patriotic statesman, 'the liberator of the territory.' The
result of the ensuing elections was a complete victory for the
Republicans, who secured nearly three-fourths of the seats in
the new Chamber. The Marshal, appointing a ministry composed
of adherents of his policy who were not members of the
Assembly, attempted to make head against the majority, but was
forced in December to yield to the will of the people and of
their representatives, and to recall M. Dufaure and the
moderate Republicans to office. The year 1878 therefore passed
off quietly, being especially distinguished by the great
success of the universal exhibition held at Paris. ... At the
beginning of 1879 elections were held in pursuance of the
provisions of the constitution, for the renewal of a portion
of the Senate. ... Elections were held for the filling of 82
seats. Of these the Republicans won 66, the Monarchist groups
16. This was a loss of 42 seats on the part of the latter, and
assured to the Republicans a full control of the Senate. It
had also the effect of definitively establishing the Republic
as the permanent government of France. The Republican leaders
therefore resolved to insist upon extensive changes in the
personnel of the Council of State and the judiciary body. ...
When they also proposed to make extensive changes in other
departments, Marshal MacMahon, who foresaw the impossibility
of maintaining harmonious relations with the cabinets which
the Republican majority would now demand, took these new
measures as a pretext, and, on January 30, 1879, resigned the
office of President of the Republic. On the same day the
Senate and Chamber, united in National Assembly, elected as
his successor, for the constitutional term of seven years, M.
Jules Grevy, president of the Chamber of Deputies a moderate
Republican who enjoyed general respect. M. Grévy was 71 years
old. M. Gambetta was chosen to succeed him as president of the
Chamber. The cabinet was remodelled, M. Dufaure resigning his
office and being succeeded by M. Waddington. In the
reorganized ministry one of the most prominent of the new
members was M. Jules Ferry, its minister of education. He soon
brought forward two measures which excited violent discussion:
the one dealing with the regulation of superior education, the
other with the constitution of the Supreme Council of Public
Instruction. ... In March, 1880, the Senate rejected the bill
respecting universities. The ministry, now composed of members
of the 'pure Left' (instead of a mixture of these and the Left
Centre) under M. de Freycinet, resolved to enforce the
existing laws against non-authorized congregations. The
Jesuits were warned to close their establishments; the others,
to apply for authorization. Failing to carry out these
decrees, M. de Freycinet was forced to resign, and was
succeeded as prime minister by M. Ferry, under whose orders
the decrees were executed in October and November,
establishments of the Jesuits and others, to the number of
nearly 300, being forcibly closed and their inmates dispersed.
Laws were also passed in the same year and in 1881 for the
extension of public education, and a general amnesty
proclaimed for persons engaged in the insurrection of the
commune. In April and May, 1881, on pretext of chastising
tribes on the Tunisian frontier of Algeria, who had committed
depredations on the French territories in Northern Africa, a
military force from Algeria entered Tunis, occupied the
capital, and forced the Bey to sign a treaty by which he put
himself and his country under the protectorate of France. ...
{1395}
The elections, in August, resulted in a Chamber composed of
467 Republicans, 47 Bonapartists, and 43 Royalists, whereas
its predecessor had consisted of 387 Republicans, 81
Bonapartists, and 61 Royalists. In response to a general
demand, M. Gambetta became prime minister on the meeting of
the new Assembly in the autumn. ... But his measures failed to
receive the support of the Chamber, and he was forced to
resign after having held the office of prime minister but two
months and a half (January, 1882). On the last day of that
year M. Gambetta, still the most eminent French statesman of
the time, died at Paris, aged forty-four. ... The death of
Gambetta aroused the Monarchists to renewed activity. Prince
Napoleon issued a violent manifesto, and was arrested. Bills
were brought in which were designed to exclude from the soil
of France and of French possessions all members of families
formerly reigning in France. Finally, however, after a
prolonged contest, a decree suspending the dukes of Aumale,
Chartres, and Alençon from their functions in the army was
signed by the President. Some months later, August, 1883, the
Count of Chambord ('Henry V.') died at Frohsdorf; by this
event the elder branch of the house of Bourbon became extinct
and the claims urged by both Legitimists and Orleanists were
united in the person of the Count of Paris. During the year
1882 alleged encroachments upon French privileges and
interests in the northwestern portion of Madagascar had
embroiled France in conflict with the Hovas, the leading tribe
of that island. The French admiral commanding the squadron in
the Indian Ocean demanded in 1883 the placing of the
northwestern part of the island under a French protectorate,
and the payment of a large indemnity. These terms being
refused by the queen of the Hovas, Tamatave was bombarded and
occupied, and desultory operations continued until the summer
of 1883, when an expedition of the Hovas resulted in a signal
defeat of the French. A treaty was then negotiated, in
accordance with which the foreign relations of the island were
put under the control of France, while the queen of Madagascar
retained the control of internal affairs and paid certain
claims. A treaty executed in 1874 between the emperor of Annam
and the French had conceded to the latter a protectorate over
that country. His failure completely to carry out his
agreement, and the presence of Chinese troops in Tonquin, were
regarded as threatening the security of the French colony of
Cochin China. A small expedition sent out [1882] under
Commander Rivière to enforce the provision of the treaty was
destroyed at Hanoi. Reinforcements were sent out. But the
situation was complicated by the presence of bands of 'Black
Flags,' brigands said to be unauthorized by the Annam
government, and by claims on the part of China to a suzerainty
over Tonquin. A treaty was made with Annam in August, 1883,
providing for the cession of a province to France, and the
establishment of a French protectorate over Annam and Tonquin.
This, however, did not by any means wholly conclude
hostilities in that province. Sontay was taken from the Black
Flags in December, and Bacninh occupied in March, 1884. The
advance of the French into regions over which China claimed
suzerainty, and which were occupied by Chinese troops, brought
on hostilities with that empire. In August, 1884, Admiral
Courbet destroyed the Chinese fleet and arsenal at Foo-chow;
in October he seized points on the northern end of the island
of Formosa, and proclaimed a blockade of that portion of the
island. On the frontier between Tonquin and China the French
gained some successes, particularly in the capture of
Lang-Sön; yet the climate, and the numbers and determination
of the Chinese troops, rendered it impossible for them to
secure substantial results from victories. Finally, after a
desultory and destructive war, a treaty was signed in June,
1885, which arranged that Formosa should be evacuated, that
Annam should in future have no diplomatic relations except
through France, and that France should have virtually complete
control over both it and Tonquin, though the question of
Chinese suzerainty was left unsettled. ... It was not felt
that the expeditions against Madagascar, Annam, and China had
achieved brilliant success. They had, moreover, been a source
of much expense to France; at first popular, they finally
caused the downfall of the ministry which ordered them. That
ministry, the ministry of M. Jules Ferry, ... remained in
power an unusual length of time,--a little more than two
years. Its principal achievement in domestic affairs consisted
in bringing about the revision of the constitution, which,
framed by the Versailles Assembly in 1875, was felt by many to
contain an excessive number of Monarchical elements. ... In
1885, after the fall of the Ferry cabinet, a law was passed
providing for scrutin de liste; each department being entitled
to a number of deputies proportioned to the number of its
citizens, the deputies for each were to be chosen on a general
or departmental ticket. In the same year a law was passed
declaring ineligible to the office of President of the
Republic, senator or deputy, any prince of families formerly
reigning in France. ... In December the National Assembly
re-elected M. Grévy President of the Republic. In the ministry
led by M. de Freycinet, which held office during the year 1886,
great prominence was attained by the minister of war, General
Boulanger, whose management of his department and political
conduct won him great popularity. ... The increasing activity
of the agents of the Monarchist party, the strength which that
party had shown in the elections of the preceding year, and
the demonstrations which attended the marriage of the daughter
of the Count of Paris to the crown prince of Portugal, incited
the Republican leaders to more stringent measures against the
princes of houses formerly reigning in France. The government
was intrusted by law with discretionary power to expel them
all from France, and definitely charged to expel actual
Claimants of the throne and their direct heirs. The Count of
Paris and his son the Duke of Orleans, Prince Napoleon and his
son Prince Victor, were accordingly banished by presidential
decree in June, 1886. General Boulanger struck off from the
army-roll the names of all princes of the Bonaparte and
Bourbon families. The Duke of Aumale, indignantly protesting,
was also banished; in the spring of 1889 he was permitted to
return. Meanwhile, within the Republican ranks, dissensions
increased. The popularity of General Boulanger became more and
more threatening to the cabinets of which he was a member. An
agitation in his favor, conducted with much skill, caused fear
lest he were aspiring to a military dictatorship
of France. ...
{1396}
In the autumn of 1887, an inquiry into the conduct of General
Caffarel, deputy to the commander-in-chief, accused of selling
decorations, implicated by Daniel Wilson, son-in-law of M.
Grévy, who was alleged to have undertaken to obtain
appointments to office and lucrative contracts in return for
money. M. Grévy's unwise attempts to shield his son-in-law
brought about his own fall. The chambers, determined to force
his resignation, refused to accept any ministry proposed by
him. After much resistance and irritating delays he submitted,
and resigned the presidency of the Republic on December 2,
1887. On the next day the houses met in National Assembly at
Versailles to chose the successor of M. Grévy. ... The most
prominent candidates for the Republicans were M. Ferry and M.
de Freycinet; the former, however, was unpopular with the
country. The followers of both, finding their election
impossible, resolved to cast their votes for M. Sadi Carnot, a
Republican of the highest integrity and universally respected.
M. Carnot, a distinguished engineer, grandson of the Carnot
who had, as minister of war, organized the victories of the
armies of the Revolution, was accordingly elected President of
the French Republic. ... The chief difficulties encountered by
the cabinet arose out of the active propagandism exercised in
behalf of General Boulanger. ... His name ... became the
rallying-point of those who were hostile to the parliamentary
system, or to the Republican government in its present form.
Alarmed both by his singular popularity and by his political
intrigues, the government instituted a prosecution of him
before the High Court of Justice; upon this he fled from the
country, and the dangers of the agitation in his favor were,
for the time at least, quieted. On May 5, 1889, the
one-hundredth anniversary of the assembly of the
States-General was held at Versailles. On the next day,
President Carnot formally opened the Universal Exhibition at
Paris, the greatest of the world's fairs which have been held
in that city."
_V. Duruy,
History of France,
pages 666-677._
ALSO IN:
_H. C. Lockwood,
Constitutional History of France,
chapter 7, and appendix 10._
_J. G. Scott,
France and Tonkin._
_F. T. Marzials,
Life of Gambetta._
_E. W. Latimer,
France in the 19th Century,
chapters 18-20._
_Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science, March, 1893, supplement._
FRANCE: A. D. 1877-1882.
Anglo-French control of Egyptian finances.
See EGYPT: A. D. 1875-1882 and 1882-1883.
FRANCE: A. D. 1884-1885.
Territorial claims in Africa.
The Berlin Conference.
See AFRICA: A. D. 1884-1889.
FRANCE: A. D. 1892-1893.
The Panama Canal scandal.
See PANAMA CANAL.
FRANCE: A. D. 1893.
Election of Deputies.
Elections for a new Chamber of Deputies were held in France,
ending on Sunday, September 3, 1893. The resulting division of
parties in the Chamber is stated as follows: "Opportunists
[those, that is, who would shape political action by
circumstances--by opportunities--and not by hard and fast
principles], 292; Converted Monarchists [who accept the
Republic as a fixed fact], 35; Unconverted Monarchists, 58;
and Radicals, including Socialists, 187. As the Converted
Monarchists will vote with the Government, there will be a
heavy Government majority to begin with; but ... it is not
perfectly reliable, and is singularly deficient in marked
men."
_Spectator, Sept. 9, 1893._
----------FRANCE: End----------
FRANCESCO MARIA, Duke of Milan, A. D. 1521-1535.
FRANCESCO SFORZA, Duke of Milan, A. D. 1450-1466.
FRANCHE COMTÉ.
In the dissolution of the last kingdom of Burgundy (see
BURGUNDY, THE LAST KINGDOM: A. D. 1032), its northern part
maintained a connection with the Empire, which had then become
Germanic, much longer than the southern. It became divided
into two chief states--the County Palatine of Burgundy, known
afterwards as Franche Comté, or the "free county," and Lesser
Burgundy, which embraced western Switzerland and northern
Savoy. "The County Palatine of Burgundy often passed from one
dynasty to another, and it is remarkable for the number of
times that it was held as a separate state by several of the
great princes of Europe. It was held by the Emperor Frederick
Barbarossa in right of his wife; the marriage of one of his
female descendants carried it to Philip the Fifth of France.
Then it became united with the French duchy of Burgundy under
the dukes of the House of Valois. Saving a momentary French
occupation after the death of Charles the Bold, it remained
with them and their Austrian and Spanish representatives. ...
But, through all these changes of dynasty, it remained an
acknowledged fief of the Empire, till its annexation to France
under Lewis the Fourteenth. The capital of this county, it
must be remembered, was Dole. The ecclesiastical metropolis of
Besançon, though surrounded by the county, remained a free
city of the Empire from the days of Frederick Barbarossa [A.
D. 1152-1190] to those of Ferdinand the Third [A. D.
1637-1657]. It was then merged in the county, and along with
the county it passed to France."
_E. A. Freeman,
Historical Geography of Europe,
chapter 8, section 5._
FRANCHE COMTÉ: A. D. 1512.
Included in the Circle of Burgundy.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1493-1519.
FRANCHE COMTÉ: A. D. 1648.
Still held to form a part of the Empire.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.
FRANCHE COMTÉ: A. D. 1659.
Secured to Spain.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1659-1661.
FRANCHE COMTÉ: A. D. 1674.
Final conquest by Louis XIV. and incorporation with France.
See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1674-1678;
also, NIMEGUEN, PEACE OF.
----------FRANCHE COMTÉ: End----------
FRANCHISE, Elective, in England.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1884-1885.
FRANCIA, Doctor, The dictatorship of.
See PARAGUAY: A. D. 1608-1873.
FRANCIA.
See FRANCE: 9TH CENTURY.
also, GERMANY: A. D. 843-962.
FRANCIS
(called Phœbus), King of Navarre, A. D. 1479-1503.
Francis I. (of Lorraine), Germanic Emperor, 1745-1765.
Francis I., King of France, 1515-1547.
Francis I., King of Naples or the Two Sicilies, 1825-1830.
Francis II.,
Germanic Emperor, 1792-1806;
Emperor of Austria, 1806-1835;
King of Hungary and Bohemia, 1792-1835.
Francis II., King of France, 1559-1560.
Francis II., King of Naples or the Two Sicilies,
A. D. 1859-18.61.
Francis Joseph I., Emperor of Austria, 1848;
King of Hungary and Bohemia, 1848-.
{1397}
FRANCISCANS.
See MENDICANT ORDERS,
also, BEGUINES, ETC.
FRANCO-GERMAN, OR FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR, The.
See FRANCE: A.. D. 1870 (JUNE-JULY), to 1870-1871.
FRANCONIA: The Duchy and the Circle.
"Among the great duchies [of the old Germanic kingdom or
empire of the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries], that of
Eastern Francia, Franken, or Franconia, is of much less
importance in European history than that of Saxony. It gave
the ducal title to the bishops of Würzburg; but it cannot be
said to be in any sense continued in any modern state. Its
name gradually retreated, and the circle of Franken or
Franconia took in only the most eastern part of the ancient
duchy.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1493--1519.
The western and northern part of the duchy, together with a
good deal of territory which was strictly Lotharingian, became
part of the two Rhenish circles. Thus Fulda, the greatest of
German abbeys, passed away from the Frankish name. In
north-eastern Francia, the Hessian principalities grew up to
the north-west. Within the Franconian circle lay Würzburg, the
see of the bishops who bore the ducal title, the other great
bishopric of Bamberg, together with the free city of Nürnberg,
and various smaller principalities. In the Rhenish lands, both
within and without the old Francia, one chief characteristic
is the predominance of the ecclesiastical principalities,
Mainz, Köln, Worms, Speyer, and Strassburg. The chief temporal
power which arose in this region was the Palatinate of the
Rhine, a power which, like others, went through many unions
and divisions, and spread into four circles, those of Upper
and Lower Rhine, Westfalia and Bavaria. This last district,
though united with the Palatine Electorate, was, from the
early part of the fourteenth century, distinguished from the
Palatinate of the Rhine as the Oberpfalz or Upper Palatinate."
E. A. Freeman,
Historical Geography of Europe,
chapter 8, section 1.
See, also,
ALEMANNI: A. D. 496-504.
FRANCONIA, The Electorate of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1125-1152.
FRANCONIAN OR SALIC IMPERIAL HOUSE.
The emperors, Conrad II., Henry III., Henry IV., and Henry V.,
who reigned from 1024 until 1125, over the Germanic-Roman or
Holy Roman Empire, were of the Salic or Franconian house.
See GERMANY: A. D. 973--1122.
FRANKALMOIGN.
See FEUDAL TENURES.
FRANKFORT, Treaty of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1871 (JANUARY-MAY).
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN, Origin of.
See ALEMANNI: A. D. 496-504.
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: A. D. 1287.
Declared an imperial city.
See CITIES, IMPERIAL AND FREE, OF GERMANY.
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: A. D. 1525.
Formal establishment of the Reformed Religion.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1522-1525.
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: A. D. 1744.
The "Union" formed by Frederick the Great.
See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1743-1744.
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: A. D. 1759.
Surprised by the French.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1759 (APRIL-AUGUST).
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: A. D. 1801-1803.
One of six free cities which survived the Peace of Luneville.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1801-1803.
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: A. D. 1806.
Loss of municipal freedom.
Transfer, as a grand duchy, to the ancient Elector of Mayence.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1805-1806.
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: A. D. 1810.
Erected into a grand duchy by Napoleon.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1810 (FEBRUARY-DECEMBER).
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: A. D. 1810-1815.
Loss and recovery of autonomy as a "free city."
See CITIES, IMPERIAL AND FREE, OF GERMANY;
and VIENNA, THE CONGRESS OF.
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: A. D. 1848-1849.
Meeting of the German National Assembly.
Its work, its failure, and its end.
Riotous outbreak in the city.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1848 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER)
and 1848-1850.
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: A. D. 1866.
Absorption by Prussia.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1866.
----------FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN: End----------
FRANKLIN, Benjamin, and the early American Press.
See PRINTING: A. D. 1704-1729.
FRANKLIN, Benjamin: His plan of Union in 1754.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1754.
FRANKLIN, Benjamin:
Colonial representative in England.
Return to America.
See PENNSYLVANIA: A.D. 1757-1762;
and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1765-1768, 1766, 1775 (JANUARY-MARCH),
and (APRIL-JUNE).
FRANKLIN, Benjamin: Signing of the Declaration of Independence.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (JULY).
FRANKLIN, Benjamin: Mission to France:
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1776-1778, 1778 (FEBRUARY),
1782 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER).
FRANKLIN, Benjamin:
Framing of the Federal Constitution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787.
FRANKLIN, The ephemeral state of.
See TENNESSEE: A. D. 1785;
and 1785-1796.
FRANKLIN, Tennessee, Battles at and near.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (FEBRUARY-APRIL: TENNESSEE),
and 1864 (NOVEMBER: TENNESSEE).
FRANKLIN, OR FRANKLEYN, The.
"'There is scarce a small village,' says Sir John Fortescue
[15th century] 'in which you may not find a knight, an
esquire, or some substantial householder (paterfamilias)
commonly called a frankleyn, possessed of considerable estate;
besides others who are called freeholders, and many yeomen of
estate sufficient to make a substantial jury.' ... By a
frankleyn in this place we are to understand what we call a
country squire, like the frankleyn of Chaucer; for the word
esquire in Fortescue's time was only used in its limited
sense, for the sons of peers and knights, or such as had
obtained the title by creation or some other legal means."
_H. Hallam,
The Middle Ages,
chapter 8, part 3, with note (volume 3)._
FRANKPLEDGE.
An old English law required all men to combine in associations
of ten, and to become standing sureties for one another,
--which was called "frankpledge."
_W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 5, section 41._
{1398}
FRANKS: Origin and earliest history.