And so the republic drifted.

There are times when it is well to drift; and in this case it has proved most satisfactory.
Not alone the rulers, but the nation itself, was in doubt as to the sort of government it wanted, or how to attain it after it knew.

It was experimenting with that most difficult of arts, the art of governing.

An art which England had been centuries in learning, how could France be expected to master in a decade?
And when we consider the conditions and the elements with which this inexperience was dealing, the dangerous element at the top and the other dangerous element beneath the surface, the ambitions of the princes, and the volcanic fires in the lowest class; and when we think of the waiting nation, hoping, fearing, expecting so much, with a tremendous war indemnity to be paid, while their hearts were heavy over the loss of two provinces; when we recall all this, we wonder, not that they made mistakes and accomplished so little, but that the government moved on, day by day, step by step, calmly meeting crises from reactionaries or from radicals, until the confidence of the world was won, and the stability of republican France assured.
From 1893 to 1896 was a period of colonial expansion for France.

The Kingdom of Dahomey in Africa was proclaimed a French protectorate.
Madagascar was subjugated, and in 1895 the Province of Hiang-Hung was ceded by China.
In the year 1894 Sadi-Carnot was assassinated in the streets of Lyons by an anarchist, and M.Faure succeeded to the presidency.
A political alliance between France and Russia was formed at this time.
It was also during the presidency of M.Faure that the agitation commenced in consequence of what is known as the _Affaire Dreyfus_.
Captain Alfred Dreyfus, an Alsatian and an artillery officer upon the general staff, was accused of betraying military secrets to a foreign power (Germany).