New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-24
4 rIrpPY IN ER1NCE.

classes of constituents.
A FURRY IN FRINGE.
The French Deputies will not be satisfied
with anything less than absolute sovereignty
They allow the President of the Republic to
select a Premier from the OvercrOwdcd benches
of the Left, and that Premier to choose his
associates in the Ministry; but they look upon
the Ministry as a body Of clerks whom they
can discharge in a body or Individually. NJ.
de Freycnet's Cabinet, as whole, serves the
ignoble purpose of keeping out OF Office the
only political leader whose personal influence
with the country at large is undetermined
The Deputies have not desired to overturn II.
But thew are bent upon dismissing indivld-
ual members of the Ministry who Oiler resist
ance to their will When they voted against
the Government on the wine duties, they did
not intend to turn out the Cabinet but merely
to discipline the Minister of Finance ana pos
siby to discharge him outright. When they VoIeu
in favor of making judges elective they aimed
at NJ. Humbert, but not at his colleagues. III
like manner the new votes in the Chamber
are 70 he interpreted as signs of opposition to
the Minister of Interior and Worship, and not
as evidence OF any determination to be ria OF
the Cabinet as a whole. These votes on the
Paris Mayoralty make the third defeat when
the Ministry have suffered within six months,
but not one of those reverses has been intended
as Cabinet crisis. The Deputies wish to eXer-
else supreme control over every department OF
administration In order to do this they must
establish the precedent that Minister Is Il
servant, who can be dismissed at their own
Measure whenever he is not doing his work to
their own satisfaction.
The President of the Republic has been
throughout his career almost fanatical cham
pion OF the sovereignty OF the Legislature, Dui lie
has had the courage 20 offer strenuous resistance
to the entertainments OF the Deputies upon eX-
ccutive power. He did not accept NJ Say s
RESIGNATION alter the vote on the wine duties,
and he directed NJ IIumbert to retain his
portfolio, although it was plain that the
DEPUTIES expected him to retire from OF
fee The present crisis has been averted
through the Presidents personal influence,
although ii is not easy to understand now 20
decisive n vote as 27S to 172 has been explained
away rs implying anything less than lack OF con
fdence. If either VI. Humbert or NJ. Goblet
be allowed to resign while their associates
remain in Office the Deputies will carry their
point and have every memberof the Ministry mt
theirmercy If Il compromise has been arranged
whereby they can retain their portfolios ny
making equivOca concessions to the Chamber,
there Will be a momentary halt until another
assault can be planned. Unless the Premier and
his associates bluntIy tell the Deputies that
one of their members cannot he driven
| from Office without the Overturn of the
| whole Ministry, the languid and dis
p'Iited efforts which are made to protect
what Is nominaly known in France rs Cabl-
net Government will end in complete
surrender. Whatever NAV he the outcome OF
the last Ministerial furry, it would be
idle to suppose that the Deputies will abandon
pretensions wnich menace the independence of
the Executive Departments. They elect the
President Of the Republic; the Premier they
can dismiss by single adverse vote; the per
saual dependence Of each Minister upon their
pleasure will give them absolute supremacy
over administration as well as legislation.
These reflections tend TO Justify the course
Of VI. Gamhetta in making Cabinet question
of the Scrutn dc Listc. He was reprOachcd
| ii the time with forming Ministry of clerks
but they were executive, not legislative, clerks
| If they were Ministry of small men. they
went down with the dignity of a Grand Min
| is,rv. Their independence was not degraded
and their leader had not been false to his
convictions If he had abandoned temporarily
| the system Of electoral reform with which he
WAS identified, ne might have been in Office
| to-day, but his Ministers would have been
subjected to the same exasperating discipline
which has made the position of VI. de Frey
cinet's associates so discreditable, and his own
prestige with the people would have
rapidly disappeared. There are no con-
sttutional checks by which the Min
istry can restrict the supremacy OF
the Deputies They are not the advisers OF Il
| President elected by the people for definite
| term, like the Cabinet at Washington. Nor
are they an executive committee comprising
the leaders of the majority in the elective
| chamber ike the Government of the day in
| England They cannot take advantage of eX-
ceptonal acts OF prcrogative, nor subject the
Legislature to the restraints Of tradition or
precedent There is only one way i'll which
they can enlarge their own functions 1t is
by directing the policy and shaping the rea-
lions of political parties The Scrutin dc Listc
would have effected radical change in pOlit-
ical organization and might have tended TO
release the Ministry from their present con-
diton OF dependence.
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POLITICAL CONIRIBCIIONS.
| I. Quilt 4, I,va E..u bor,Ilv ,,oo.sgor,-