The situation in France does not improve. There has been
no " event " this week, but M. Casimir Perier, the Minister of the Interior, has insisted upon resigning, annoyed, it is said, not only by the Protectionist policy of the Government, but by the President's interference in his department, and M. Leon Say, the Prefect of the Seine, will follow his example. The discontent in Paris is increasing, the Generals quarrel with the President, and a M. Treveneuc has introduced a measure authorizing the Coun- cils'-General to elect an Assembly if the present one is overawed or dispersed by force. As half France would obey the new authority, and the other half the new Assembly, this would mean civil war ; but the motion expresses in a concrete form the latent fear of Versailles that some fine morning the Army will interfere, will elect an Emperor, and will send the Assembly to the right- about. As that is expected, the presumption from French history is that it will not happen.
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