The New French Government.
FRANCE begins to extricate herself from the chaotic condition in which she has been for half a year. The representatives of the whole nation, elected by universal suffrage, have met as a National Assembly, and have chosen a provisional government, of which that veteran statesman of France, Adolphe Thiers, is the President. Only a few organs of the Red Republicans advocated the continuance of the lawless state which is now ended, and insisted to the last that no election should be held until the last man of the invading army had been expelled from French soil. It has all along been the opinion of most candid observers that the Government appointed in Paris in September should be repudiated whenever an appeal would be made to the whole people; and this expectation has now been verified. The composition of the National Assembly is in itself a disapprobation of the course pursued by Gambetta, Rochefort, and their associates. All the foreign governments have hastened to recognize the new government. Germany, in particular, has dispelled the anxiety which was felt by many German Liberals and many liberal sympathizers with the course of Germany all over the world, lest she should use her whole influence for the overthrow of the republican form of government, and the restoration either of the Orleans or the Bonapartes. She unreservedly recognizes the administration of Thiers as the only lawful government of France, and thus pays a much more real and substantial homage to the principle of national sovereignty than the fanatical Red Republicans have ever done. The conduct of Germany and the other Great Powers of Europe implies the assurance that should France, through a Constituent Assembly, declare her preference for a republican form of government, her decision will be respected by all other countries of Europe. The republican form of government has as yet not been adopted by the great European nations; but its real basis, the principle of national sovereignty and the right of every people to dispose of its own destinies, is silently admitted by princes, as well as peoples, and when the true representatives of republican principles shall succeed in converting the undoubted majority of one of the European peoples to the republican creed, no great resistance to the establishment of a republic need be feared on the part of any foreign power. The first utterances of the National Assembly of Bordeaux were not in favor of any particular form of government, but in favor of a harmonious coöperation of all moderate parties for the establishment of a provisional government possessing the confidence of the people. For the present, the maintenance of a republican administration naturally commended itself to the Assembly as a necessity, and it very judiciously chose a man who has been all his life long a firm adherent of moderate republican principles, M. Grevy, as its Provisional President. He received the votes not only of his own party, but of all the other parties, with the exception of the Red Republicans, and probably of a few ultras of the Bonapartists and Legitimists. On the other hand, the moderate Republicans did not hesitate to vote for M. Thiers as Provisional President of the Republic, though he has always been, and is believed still to be, an adherent of the Orleans family. In the ministry chosen by Thiers, the moderate Republicans and the Orléanists are about equally represented. Thus these two parties united are at present in the ascendant. Their union, of course, cannot last long, and one of them must sooner or later seize the reins of the Government. At present, the Orléanists are believed to have the best prospect. While our paper is going to press, nothing is yet known about the conditions of peace. The general opinion is, that France cannot and will not refuse to accept the ultimatum which Germany may propose. As Germany will not prolong the armistice which will expire in the course of the present week, the momentous question of peace or war will be decided before our next number is issued.—The Methodist.