e
country through a life spent in exile, inspired with the feeling of his
divine rights and their superiority to the will of democracy, he would
scarcely have ascended the throne before some conflict would have broken
out and the history of France would have registered one revolution more.

The duc de Broglie had considered it good form to resign after the vote
of November 20, but Mac-Mahon immediately entrusted to him the selection
of a second Cabinet. In this Cabinet the portfolio of Foreign Affairs
was given to the duc Decazes, a skilled diplomat, but the Legitimists
were offended by some of the cabinet changes and their dislike of the
duc de Broglie gradually became more acute. Finally, after several
months of parliamentary skirmishing the second Broglie Cabinet fell
before a coalition vote of Republicans and extreme Royalists with a few
Bonapartists, on May 16, 1874. The Right Centre and Left Centre had
unsuccessfully joined in support of the Cabinet. The nation was taking
another step toward republican control and the overthrow of the
conservatives.

From now on, Mac-Mahon's task became increasingly difficult. After the
split in the conservative majority it was necessary to rely on
combination ministries, representing different sets and harder to
reconcile or to propitiate. The result of Mac-Mahon's first efforts was
a Cabinet led by a soldier, General de Cissey, and having no pronounced
political tendencies.

Party differences were becoming accentuated. The downfall of the Broglie
Cabinet had been largely due to the extreme Royalists and the Orleanists
could not forgive them. The situation was made worse by differences in
interpretation of the law of November 20, establishing the "septennat"
of the marechal de Mac-Mahon. Some of the Monarchists maintained the
"septennat personnel," namely, the election of one specific person to
hold office for seven years, with the idea that he could withdraw at any
time in favor of a king. Others interpreted the law as establishing a
"septennat impersonnel," a definite truce of seven years, which should
still hold even if Mac-Mahon had to be replaced before the expiration of
the time by another President. Then, they hoped, their enemy Thiers
would be dead. The Republicans were, of course, desirous of making the
impersonal "septennat" lead to a permanent republic, and declared that
Mac-Mahon was not the President of a seven years' republic, but
President, for seven years, of t