Office of the Historian

No. 219.
Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish.

Legation of the United States,
Paris, March 1, 1875. (Received March 25.)
No. 1109.]

Sir: I have the honor to inclose you herewith the full text of the constitutional laws and the law of the senate recently enacted by the National Assembly.

I have, &c.,

E. B. WASHBURNE.
[Inclosure in No. 1109.—Translation.]

Text of the constitutional laws and law of the senate enacted by the French National Assembly February 25, 1875.

Paris, Friday, February 26, 1875—9.30 p.m.

The following is the text of the law on the organization of powers passed yesterday:

  • “Clause 1. The legislative power is exercised by two assemblies, the chamber of deputies and the senate. The chamber of deputies is elected by universal suffrage, under the conditions determined by the electoral law. The composition, mode of nomination, and functions of the senate will be regulated by a special law.
  • “Clause 2. The President of the Republic is elected by a majority of votes by the senate and chamber of deputies united in National Assembly. He is nominated for seven years, and is eligible for re-election.
  • “Clause 3. The President of the Republic has the initiative of legislation concurrently with the two chambers. He promulgates the laws when they have been voted by the two chambers. He watches over and insures the execution of them. He has the right of pardon; amnesties can only be accorded by law. He disposes of the armed force. He appoints to all civil and military posts. Every act of the President of the Republic must be countersigned by a minister. He presides at national ceremonies. The envoys and ambassadors of foreign powers are accredited to him.
  • “Clause 4. According as vacancies may arise after the promulgation of the present [Page 464] law, the President of the Republic, in cabinet council, nominates the councilors of state. Those so nominated can only be superseded by a decree adopted in cabinet council. The councilors of state nominated by virtue of the law of 24th of May, 1872, can only, until the expiration of their powers, be superseded in a manner prescribed by that law. After the separation of the National Assembly, the supersession can be pronounced only by a resolution of the senate.
  • “Clause 5. He may, with the assent of the senate, dissolve the chamber of deputies before the legal expiration of its term. In such event, the electoral colleges are to be summoned for new elections within three months.
  • “Clause 6. The ministers, as a body, to be responsible to the chambers for the general policy of the government, and individually for their personal acts. The President of the Republic to be responsible only in case of high treason.
  • “Clause 7. In the event of vacancy by death or any other cause, the two united chambers to proceed immediately to the election of a new President. In the meantime, the council of ministers to be invested with the executive power.
  • “Clause 8. The chambers to have the right, by separate deliberations, carried on in each of them, by an absolute majority of votes, to declare either spontaneously or at the instance of the President of the Republic, that the constitutional laws should be revised. After each of the two chambers shall have taken this resolution, the two unite into a National Assembly for such revision. Any deliberation revising the constitutional laws, either in whole or in part, to be carried by an absolute majority of members forming the National Assembly. Nevertheless, during the term of power granted by the law of November 20, 1873, to Marshal McMahon, such revision cannot be made save on the proposition of the President of the Republic.
  • “Clause 9. The seat of the executive power of the two chambers to be at Versailles.

The senate law is as follows:

  • “Clause 1. The senate is composed of 300 members, 225 elected by the departments and the colonies and 75 by the National Assembly.
  • “Clause 2. The departments of the Seine and the Nord to elect, each, five senators; Seine-Inférieure, Pas-de-Calais, Gironde, Rhone, Finistere, and Côtes-du-Nord, each, four senators; Loire-Inférieure, Saône-et-Loire, Ille-et-Vilainé, Seine-et-Oise, Isère, Puy-de-Dôine, Somme, Bouches-du-Rhone, Aisne, Loire, Mauehe, Maine-et-Loire, Morbihan, Dordogne, Haute-Garrone, Charente-Inférieure, Calvados, Sarthe, Herault, Bases Pyrénées, Gard, Aveyron, Vendée, Orne, Oise, Vosges, and Allier, each, three senators. All the other departments to elect two senators. The district of Belfort, the three departments of Algeria, the four colonies of Martinque, Guadeloupe, Reunion, and the French Indies to elect, each, one senator.
  • “Clause 3. No one to be elected senator unless he be a Frenchman of at least 40 years of age, and in full enjoyment of his civil and political rights.
  • “Clause 4. The senators of the departments and the colonies to be elected by an absolute majority, and conjointly, where there is more than one, by an electoral college, consisting of deputies, general councils, councils of districts, delegates elected by each municipal council among the electors of the commune.
  • “Clause 5. The senators nominated by the Assembly to be elected by an absolute majority of votes by scrutin de liste.
  • “Clause 6. At the beginning of the first session the department will be divided into three classes, each containing an equal number of senators. It will be decided by lot which class is to retire on the expiration of the first triennial period, and which on the expiration of the second triennal period.
  • “Clause 7. The senate to have, conjointly with the chamber of deputies, the right of initiating and framing laws. Nevertheless, financial laws must be first presented to and voted by the chamber of deputies.
  • “Clause 8. The senate may be constituted a judicial court to try either the President of the Republic or the ministers, and to take cognizance of plots against the safety of the state.
  • “Clause 9. The senate will be elected one month previous to the day fixed by the National Assembly for its dissolution. The senate will enter on its duties, and will constitute itself on the day that the National Assembly is dissolved.”