Taken as a whole, this Constitution was a clever compromise between the democratic and autocratic principles of government.  Having its roots in manhood suffrage, it delegated very extensive powers to the head of the State.  These powers are especially noteworthy if we compare them with those of the Ministry.  The President commissions such and such a senator or deputy to form a Ministry (not necessarily representing the opinions of the majority of the Chambers); and that Ministry is responsible to the Chambers for the execution of laws and the general policy of the Government; but the President is not responsible to the Chambers, save in the single and very exceptional case of high treason to the State.  Obviously, the Assembly wished to keep up the autocratic traditions of the past as well as to leave open the door for a revision of the Constitution at any time favourable to the monarchical cause.  That this Constitution did not pave the way for the monarchy was due to several causes.  Some we have named above.

Another and perhaps a final cause was the unwillingness or inability of Marshal MacMahon to bring matters to the test of force.  Actuated, perhaps, by motives similar to those which kept the Duke of Wellington from pushing matters to an extreme in England in 1831, the Marshal refused to carry out a coup d’etat against the Republican majority sent up to the Chamber of Deputies by the General Election of January 1876.  Once or twice he seemed on the point of using force.  Thus, in May 1877, he ventured to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies; but the Republican party, led by the impetuous Gambetta, appealed to the country with decisive results.  That orator’s defiant challenge to the Marshal, either to submit or to resign (se soumettre ou se demettre) was taken up by France, with the result that nearly all the Republican deputies were re-elected.  The President recognised the inevitable, and in December of that year charged M. Dufaure to form a Ministry that represented the Republican majority.  In January 1879 even, some senatorial elections went against the President, and he accordingly resigned, January 30, 1879.

In the year 1887 the Republic seemed for a time to be in danger owing to the intrigues of the Minister for War, General Boulanger.  Making capital out of the difficulties of France, the financial scandals brought home to President Grevy, and his own popularity with the army, the General seemed to be preparing a coup d’etat.  The danger increased when the Ministry had to resign office (May 1887).  A “National party” was formed, consisting of monarchists, Bonapartists, clericals, and even some crotchety socialists—­in fact, of all who hoped to make capital out of the fell of the Parliamentary regime.  The malcontents called for a plebiscite as to the form of government, hoping by these means to thrust in Boulanger as dictator to pave the way for the Comte de Paris up to the throne of France.  After a prolonged crisis, the scheme ignominiously collapsed at the first show of vigour on the Republican side.  When the new Floquet Ministry summoned Boulanger to appear before the High Court of Justice, he fled to Belgium, and shortly afterwards committed suicide.