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MACMAHON, MARIE

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 264 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MACMAHON, See also:MARIE EDM$ PATRICE See also:MAURICE DE, See also:duke of See also:Magenta (1808-1893), See also:French See also:marshal and See also:president of the French See also:republic, was See also:born on the 13th of See also:July 18o8 at the See also:chateau of See also:Sully, near See also:Autun. He was descended from an Irish See also:family which went into See also:exile with See also:James II. Educated at the military school of St Cyr, in 1827 he entered the See also:army, and soon saw active service in the first French See also:campaign in See also:Algeria, where his ability and bravery became conspicuous. Being recalled to See also:France, he gained renewed distinction in the expedition to See also:Antwerp in 1832. He became See also:captain in 1833, and in that See also:year returned to Algeria. He led daring See also:cavalry raids across plains infested with Bedouin, and especially distinguished himself at the See also:siege of See also:Constantine in 1837. From then until 1855 he was almost constantly in Algeria, and See also:rose to the See also:rank of See also:general of See also:division. During the See also:Crimean See also:War MacMahon was given the command of a division, and in See also:September 1855 he successfully conducted the See also:assault upon the Malakoff See also:works, which led to the fall of Sebastopol. After his return to France honours were showered upon him, and he was made a senator, Desiring a more active See also:life, however, and declining the highest command in France, he was once more sent out, at his own See also:request, to Algeria, where he completely defeated the See also:Kabyles. After his return to France he voted as a senator against the unconstitutional See also:law for general safety, which was brought forward in consequence of See also:Orsini's abortive See also:attempt on the See also:emperor's life. MacMahon greatly distinguished himself in the See also:Italian campaign of 18J9. Partly by See also:good See also:luck and partly by his boldness and sagacity in pushing forward without orders at a See also:critical moment at the See also:battle of Magenta, he enabled the French to secure the victory.

For his brilliant services Mac-Mahon received his marshal's See also:

baton and was created duke of Magenta. In 1861 he represented France at the See also:coronation of See also:William I. of See also:Prussia, and in 1864 he was nominated See also:governor-general of Algeria. MacMahon's See also:action in this capacity formed the least successful See also:episode of his career. Although he did See also:institute some reforms in the colonies, complaints were so numerous that twice in the See also:early See also:part of 1870 he sent in his resignation to the emperor. When the See also:ill-fated 011ivier See also:cabinet was formed the emperor abandoned his Algerian schemes and MacMahon was recalled. War being declared between France and Prussia in July 187o, MacMahon was appointed to the command of the See also:Alsace army detachment (see FRANCO-See also:GERMAN WAR). On the 6th of See also:August MacMahon fought the battle of See also:Worth (q.v.). His courage was always conspicuous on the See also:field, but the two-to-one numerical superiority of the Germans triumphed. MacMahon was compelled to fall back upon Saverne, and thence to See also:Toul. Though he suffered further losses in the course of his See also:retreat, his movements were so ably conducted that the emperor confided to him the supreme command of the new levies which he was mustering at Chalons, and he was directed to effect a junction with See also:Bazaine. This operation he undertook against his. will. He had an army of 120,000 men, with 324 guns; but large See also:numbers of the troops were disorganized and demoralized.

Early on the 1st of September the decisive battle of See also:

Sedan began. MacMahon was dangerously wounded in the thigh, whereupon General Ducrot, and soon afterwards General de See also:Wimpffen, took command. MacMahon shared the captivity of his comrades, and resided at See also:Wiesbaden until the conclusion of See also:peace. In See also:March 1871 MacMahon was appointed by See also:Thiers commanderin-See also:chief of *he army of See also:Versailles; and in that capacity he sup-pressed the Communist insurrection, and successfully conducted the second siege of See also:Paris. In the following See also:December he was invited to become a See also:candidate for Paris in the elections to the See also:National See also:Assembly, but declined nomination. On the resignation of Thiers as president of the Republic, on the 24th of May 1873, MacMahon was elected to the vacant See also:office by an almost unanimous See also:vote, being supported by 390 members out of 392. The due de See also:Broglie was empowered to See also:form a Conservative See also:administration, but the president also took an early opportunity of showing that he intended to uphold the See also:sovereignty of the National Assembly. On the 5th of See also:November 1873 General See also:Changarnier presented a See also:motion in the Assembly to confirm MacMahon's See also:powers for a See also:period of ten years, and to provide for a See also:commission of See also:thirty to draw up a form of constitutional law. The president consented, but in a See also:message to the Assembly he declared in favour of a See also:confirmation of his own powers for seven years, and expressed his determination to use all his See also:influence in the See also:maintenance of Conservative principles. After prolonged debates the Septennate was adopted on the 19th of November by 378 votes to 310. There was no coup d'etat in favour of " See also:Henri V.," as had been expected, and the president resolved to abide by " existing institutions." One of his earliest acts was to receive the finding of the See also:court-See also:martial upon his old comrade in arms, Marshal Bazaine, whose See also:death See also:sentence he commuted to one of twenty years' imprisonment in a fortress. Though MacMahon's life as president of the Republic was of the simplest possible See also:character, his See also:term of office was marked by many brilliant displays, while his wife was a See also:leader in all works of charity and benevolence.

The president was very popular in the rural districts of France, through which he made a successful tour shortly after the See also:

declaration of the Septennate. But in Paris and other large cities his policy soon caused See also:great . dissatisfaction, the Republican party especially being alienated by See also:press prosecutions and the attempted suppression of Republican ideas. Matters were at a See also:comparative deadlock in the National Assembly, until the See also:accession of some See also:Orleanists to the Moderate Republican party in 1895 made it possible to pass various constitutional See also:laws. In May 1877, however, the constitutional crisis became once more acute. A See also:peremptory See also:letter of censure from MacMahon to Jules See also:Simon caused the latter to resign with his colleagues. The duc de Broglie formed a See also:ministry, but See also:Gambetta carried a See also:resolution in the Chamber of Deputies in favour of See also:parliamentary See also:government. The president declined to yield, and being supported by the See also:Senate, he dissolved the Chamber, by See also:decree, on the 25th of See also:June. The See also:prosecution of Gambetta followed for a speech at See also:Lille, in which he had said " the marshal must, if the elections be against him, se soumettre ou se demettre." In a manifesto respecting the elections, the president referred to his successful government and observed, " I cannot obey the injunctions of the demagogy; I can neither become the See also:instrument of Radicalism nor abandon the See also:post in which the constitution has placed me." His confidence in the result of the elections was misplaced. Notwithstanding the great pressure put upon the constituencies by the government, the elections in See also:October resulted in the return of 335 Republicans and only 198 See also:anti-Republicans, the latter including 30 MacMahonists, 89 Bonapartists, 41 See also:Legitimists, and 38 Orleanists. The president endeavoured to ignore the significance of the elections, and continued his reactionary policy. As a last resort he called to See also:power an extra-parliamentary cabinet under General Rochebouet, but the Republican See also:majority refused to vote supplies, and after a brief See also:interval the president was compelled to yield, and to accept a new Republican ministry under See also:Dufaure. The prolonged crisis terminated on the 14th of December 1877, and no further constitutional difficulties arose in 1878.

But as the senatorial elections, held early in 1879, gave the Republicans an effective working majority in the Upper Chamber, they now called for the removal of the most conspicuous anti-Republicans among the generals and officials. The president refused to supersede them, and declined to See also:

sanction the law brought in with this See also:object. Perceiving further resistance tef be useless, however, MacMahon resigned the See also:presidency on the 3oth of See also:January 1879, and Jules See also:Grevy was elected as his successor. MacMahon now retired into private life. Relieved from the cares of See also:state, his See also:simple and unostentatious mode of existence enabled him to pass many years of dignified repose. He died at Paris on the 17th of October 1893, in his eighty-See also:sixth year. A See also:fine, tall, soldierly See also:man, of a thoroughly Irish type, in private life MacMahon was universally esteemed as generous and See also:honourable; as a soldier he was brave and able, with-out decided military See also:genius; as a politician he was patriotic and well-intentioned, but devoid of any real capacity for statecraft. (G. B. S.) MeMASTER, See also:JOHN See also:BACH (1852- ), See also:American historian, was born in See also:Brooklyn, New See also:York, on the 29th of June 1852. He graduated from the See also:college of the See also:City of New York in 1872, worked as a See also:civil engineer in 1873-1877, was instructor in civil See also:engineering at See also:Princeton University in 1877-1883, and in 1883 became See also:professor of American See also:history in the university of See also:Pennsylvania. He is best known for his History of the See also:People of the See also:United States from the Revolution to the Civil War (1883 sqq.), a valuable supplement to the more purely See also:political writings of See also:Schouler, Von Hoist and See also:Henry See also:Adams.

End of Article: MACMAHON, MARIE

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