EVANGELICAL CHRISTENDOM, CHRISTIAN WORK, AND The News of the Churches. ALSO A MONTHLY RECORD OF THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE "WHERETO WE HAVE ALREADY ATTAINED, LET US WALK BY THE SAME RULE, LET US MIND THE SAME THING."-PHIL. III. 16) VOL. XXXII.-NEW SERIES: VOLUME XIX. PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM JOHN JOHNSON, 121, FLEET STREET. EDINBURGH: JOHN MENZIES. DUBLIN: GEORGE HERBERT; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. R Evangelical Christendom. JANUARY, 1878. THE MONTH. AT length the clouds which have so long darkened the horizon of France have been dispersed. After a period of apparently invincible resistance on the part of the Marshal-President-a period full of anxiety and suspense to all classes of society, and fraught with the gravest perils to the State-the Chief of the Republic has at last recognized the necessity of deferring to the nation's will. Personal government has once more been exchanged for parliamentary, the right of the majority to rule has been conceded, and a Republican Ministry possessing the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies has entered upon office. When we consider that all that lies at the foundation of a nation's prosperity was at stake, it is truly matter for devout thanksgiving that this conflict has been brought to so pacific and satisfactory a close. The temper of the nation has been long and sorely tried, but it has stood the test of the trial. The institutions of the State were but young, but they have worked efficiently, and vindicated their power to compel, on the part of their foes, the practical acknowledgment of their supremacy. The moderation of the Republican party of all shades, comprising, as has now been fully proved, the bulk of the community, has been put, by great and continued provocation, to the severest possible test, and has proved itself equal to the emergency. It is, in fact, this moderation which has won the victory for the Republic. Had the temper of the people given way-had force been met by force, and illegality by illegality-the results now so happily secured had never been attained. It was because the passive resistance of the Chamber of Deputies kept strictly within the lines of the Constitution, the spirit of which had been so grossly violated by the De Broglie Cabinet and its allies, that that resistance was finally triumphant. Hence the satisfaction now felt by the friends of freedom throughout Europe at the solution of the crisis is not merely, or perhaps even mainly, because constitutional principles have triumphed, but specially because France has shown herself worthy of those principles-prepared for their adoption-ready on all points for their use. The events which have now drawn down on her the world's attention have amply proved that, reproached as she may have been in the past for fickleness and want of self-control, she is no longer amenable to such a charge, but, on the contrary, has indisputably shown that she has learned that lesson of self-government which is the secret of a nation's well-being, the source and basis of all its greatness and prosperity. We rejoice in this for France's own sake, but not for that alone. In all the elements and activities which determine the politics of Europe, France is, or should be, an important factor. Now that her internal policy is settled, she will be able to resume her proper place in European councils. Whilst the crisis lasted, her influence on Continental statesmanship was nil; and, had the crisis ended in the triumph of personal power, her influence in B |