A few incidents exhibit this movement. It was on the 30th of June,
while discussing the proposed reduction of the Army, that Emile
Ollivier, the Prime-Minister, said openly: "The Government has no
kind of disquietude; at no epoch has the maintenance of peace been
more assured; on whatever side you look, you see no irritating
question under discussion." [Footnote: Journal Officiel du Soir, 3
Juillet 1870.] In the same debate, Gamier-Pages, the consistent
Republican, and now a member of the Provisional Government, after
asking, "Why these armaments?" cried out: "Disarm, without waiting
for others: this is practical. Let the people be relieved from the
taxes which crush them, and from the heaviest of all, the tax of
blood." [Footnote: Journal Official du Soir, 2 Juillet 1870.] The
candidature of Prince Leopold seems to have become known at Paris
on the 5th of July. On the next day the Duc de Gramont, of a
family famous in scandalous history, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
hurries to the tribune with defiance on his lips. After declaring
for the Cabinet that no foreign power could be suffered, by
placing one of its princes on the throne of Charles the Fifth, to
derange the balance of power in Europe, and put in peril the
interests and the honor of France, he concludes by saying, in
ominous words: "Strong in your support, Gentlemen, and in that of
the nation, we shall know how to do our duty without hesitation
and without weakness." [Footnote: Ibid., 8 Juillet.]
This defiance was followed by what is called in the report,
"general and prolonged movement,--repeated applause"; and here was
the first stage in the duel. Its character was recognized at once
in the Chamber. Gamier-Pages exclaimed, in words worthy of memory:
"It is dynastic questions which trouble the peace of Europe. The
people have only reason to love and aid each other." [Footnote:
Ibid.] Though short, better than many long speeches. Cremieux, an
associate in the Provisional Government of 1848, insisted that the
utterance of the Minister was "a menace of war"; and Emmanuel
Arago, son of the great Republican astronomer and mathematician,
said that the Minister "had declared war." [Footnote: Ibid.]
These patriotic representatives were not mistaken. The speech made
peace difficult, if not impossible. It was a challenge to Prussia.