, 1875-02-27
THE DAILY NEWS ON THE FRENCH
CONSTITUTIONAL EMBROGLIO.

country which was exhibited in some of
the later utterances of NJ. PREvosT-PARA-
DOL. The general tone is simply that of
WEAKNESS and of disbelief in the possibility
of working out any permanent good by
the way Of politics. Even in revolution
there is probably little faith remaining in
the breasts of many people, and the bust
ness of politics seems to stand a great
chance of being thrust aside by the MAORI
ty as an unmeaning and barren trouble
and a mere nuisance. This is the temper
which ~favours Dictatorships, and there
can be hardly any question that if Marshal
IMAGINATION were to declare himself, like
ADDIsoN's CATO, weary of reflection"
and resolved that this should end it,"
his determination to supersede discussion
by the simple strength Of a military rnIe
would be welcomed by more than the
mere devotees of C9sarism. To the gene
raj public of France the conflicting claims
and appeals of Right and Left, Right Cen
tres and Left Centres, the supporters of
the personal Septennate and those who
hold to the impersonality ofthe Septennate,
the men who demand the Republic, the
men who are not unwilling to accept it,
and the men who only endure it in order
that they may find the means of extin-
gushing it-aIl these must seem as be-
wilderlng and tormenting as the cries of
the various sects of fanatics who surround
the distracted hermit in NJ. FLAUBERT's
Temptations of st. Anthony" The
sensation which at a certain stage OF a
perilous and toilsome mountain Journey
comeS over the.traveller, and makes him
willing to surrender every hope and chance
Tor the sake OF present rest and OF surcease
from the torment Of further struggle, is
apparently the state into which a large
proportion of the population of. France
have come, so far as political movement is
concerned. The events OF the next few
days may be critical in their effect on the
present Assembly, and even the present
system Of government. But the outer
public have seen Government succeed
Government and revolution follow revOlu-
ton, and nothing particular come of it.
They have discovered, like the phiIOSophl-
cal student, that the pavement of a Re
public wears out the boots as fast as the
pavement of a Monarchy, and that IS about
all that they have discovered. Therefore
they wait, with almost absolute indltter-
ence, the fate of NJ. DE VENTAv0N's mea-
sure. 1t matters little to the general pub
lie whether it passes or does not pass.
They expect to see the future wrapped in
as much uncertainty in the one case as IN
the other.
1t is hardly, perhaps, necessary to re-
mind our readers Of the purpose OF M. DE
VENTAvoN's Bill, which is to come on al
most Immediately for a second reading.
It proposes to give to Marshal IMAGINATION
the office which he at present holds tor
the remainder of the period defined by the
law of the goth of November, 1873-the
law establishing the Septennate- BY the
latter measure the Executive power was
entrusted for seven years to Marshal
IMAGINATION, to be exercised with the
title of President of the Republic" and to
be held under the present conditions, until
these "may have been modified by the
Constitutional Laws" The same decree
of the Assembly which established the
Septennate ordered the appointment OF a
Commission of Thirty, to consider the Con-
stitutional Laws necessary for defining the
powers of Marshal MAC MAHoN. The mea-
sure introduced by M. DE VENTAvoN IS
the scheme of this Commission Ct Thirty.
It renews, or we should rather perhaps say
CONFIRMS tho loose Of novzor Granted to