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Thiers, the natural leader of the Republican party, had died, after a brief illness, within a few weeks of the election; and Gambetta, who had stepped into his place, was not only under prosecution for his famous "Ou se soumettre ou se demettre" speech, but was still regarded by a large section of moderate men as a wild man, a fou furieux, indeed, who could not be trusted with the fortunes of the party.
Accordingly, local magnates were preferred to the barristers and pressmen, whose oratorical and literary gifts usually carry the day in France; and more than 200 noblemen were elected. They were chosen not on account of their nobility and royalism, but because they were certain to vote against the fou furieux.
In time of peace his power over men would have raised him to the highest positions had his Bohemian exuberance of thought and speech been tameable. It was not. He scorned prudence in moderation at all times, and his behaviour, when the wave of Revolution at last carried him to power, gave point to the taunt of Thiers "c'est un fou furieux."
Each of the ironclads is provided with four 27 cm. guns and four 24 cm. ones, not counting the revolving guns, which constitute the small artillery reserved for fighting torpedo boats. The Furieux has two 34 cm. guns, and the Tonnerre and Fulminant each two 37 cm. ones. An endeavor is made, as far as possible, to practice firing such as is done in a naval action, that is, at moving targets.
The French writers make the following absurd remark, as to the cause of his fate: "Les Anglais, furieux d'avoir été vaincus par un Amiral François, firent fusiller l'Amiral Byng". It is now well known that he was sacrificed to an unprincipled ministerial faction.
As we go swiftly on we realize the appropriateness of the epithet ever applied to the Rhone. Truly in Michelet's phrase, 'C'est un taureau furieux descendu des Alpes, et qui court a la mer. If we are in haste to reach our destination in the heart of the Cevennes, the Rhone seems still more in haste to reach the sea.
But in course of time the gratitude of the country exhausted itself, and Thiers, who was old-fashioned in many of his opinions, and as opinionative as he was old-fashioned, did not make any new friends. He was specially detested by the Extreme Left, whose chief, Gambetta, he styled a fou furieux.
Our engraving represents one of these exercises performed by the Squadron of the North, which is of recent organization, and which consists of the three ironclads Marengo, Suffren, and Ocean, and three coast guards Furieux, Fulminant, and Tonnerre.
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