 Ferry attempted to use the occasion to demand an emergency credit to reinforce the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps.The debate that followed was one of the most vitriolic in France's political history.On the morning of 30 March, a deputation from the "Union républicaine" and "Gauche républicaine", the two groups which accounted for the bulk of Ferry's support during the undeclared war with China, pleaded with the premier to resign before the debate.