The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-02-25
The Outcome of the French Crisis.

After spending several days in fruitess ef-
forts to escape from the quandary in which
he was placed by the unexpected downfall
OF the FREYCINET Cabinet. President CAR
NOT is said to have persuaded NJ. ROUvIER
to undertake the formation OF new Minis
try. AS NJ. RoUv1ER was himself Minister
of Finance in the last Cabinet, and as 1t is
expected that three of his former col
leagues. NJ. DE FREYc1NET. NJ. RIBoT. and
NJ. constants. will retain their respective
portfolios of War. of Foreign Affairs. and Of
the Interior. the new Ministry will in all
likelihood be able to command the support
of tho 2ls members who constituted the
minority in last week memorable division
Before it faces the Chamber OF Deputies.
however. the new Ministry must gain the
good will or at least the transient toera-
ton OF one or the other wing OF last week 8
hostile coalition; and the dropping OF NJ.
FALL1EREs. the prosecutor OF the Arch
bishop Of AK. from the place Of Minister Of
Public Worship. looks like an attempt to
conciliate the Right. 1t is also possible that
NJ. CLEMENCEAU may have agreed to tenn
porarily keep his hands or the new Cabinet
for he is said to heartily approve Of the
management OF the War Offico by NJ. DE
| FREYcINET, and to be willing to leave the
army in that Minister'S hands until 1885,
when Russia counts on being ready for war.
But ne wishes NJ. DE FREYcINEr to confine
himself to military affairs. and not to make
himself responsible for measures tending to
the reconcilement Of the Catholic Church
with the republic. 1t is probably his knowl-
edge OF NJ. CLEMENcEAUs attitude that has
caused NJ. DE FREYCINET to firmly decline
President CARROTS request that he should
relieve him OF embarrassment by construct
ing new Cabinet.
The retention Of NJ. RIBoT In the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs as we'll as that OF NJ. DE
FREYCINET in the War Office will offer guar
| antees to Russia that there will be no change
in the European relations Of France and no
lessening OF her readiness to make good at
the proper time her promises by concerted
military operations. 1t is we'll understood
at Berlin that these two Ministers are the
most dangerous opponents which the Triple
Alliance has In France. NJ. DE FREYcINET
having shown himself better qualified than
any OF his predecessors since 1871 to organ
ize victory. and NJ. RIBoT being an out
spoken and implacable hater OF Germany
and Jealous promoter Of the league with
the northern autocrat. On the other hand,
the reservation Of the Ministry OF the In
terror for NJ. constants. who for the moment
comes nearest to answering the French
conception OF strong man. Is calculated to
discourage the Boulangists and Socialists
and to reassure the mass OF the bourgeois
and peasant propretors who SILVER at the
slightest interference with the fundamental
rights OF property and the safeguards Of
order. A Cabinet therefore. In which these
three men keep the places for which they
are particularly suited. seems to be an ideal
Cabinet. In view at once Of the exterior and
the internal requirements of France Such
ideal perfection. however, did not prevent
Cabinet. identical In the features Just
named with the projected Ministry, from
being upset last week.
Practically the only difference between
the old Ministry and the now Is that NJ.
FALLIEBEs has been made scapegoat and
that responsibility for dealing with the
Catholic question. which is the burning
question OF the moment, has been shifted
from NJ DE FREYcINET. who has had enough
of 1t. to NJ. ROUvIER. who will soon get his
fill. 1t must prove as impracticable for the
projected Cabinet as for the last to avoid
offending the monarchical Right on the one
hand. and the Jacobin Left on the other.
and thus to avert o second hostile combi-
nation OF those elements. However willing
NJ. CLEMENcEAU may be as patriot to leave
NJ. DE FREYcINET undisturbed In the War
Office. he could not control his own followers.
II he did not attack NJ. RouvIER the instant
the latter showed himself disposed to make
concessions to Catholicism. On the other
hand. no concessions that the new Premier
will dare to make will satisfy the majority
OF the French prelatss or Of their monarch
zeal supporters in the Chamber. who profess
to understand the interests OF the Catholic
Church In France better than the Pope him
self. 1t follows that in view OF the dstribu-
ton of party strength in the present legis-
lature. a new ministerial crisis can be a
question of only short time There can
be but one definite solution of President
CARNoT's difficulties. and that is the signal
change In the relative power Of PARTIES