NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE new Committee of Thirty at Versailles has reported on the Supplementary. Constitutional Laws. It accepts them as a -whole, but recommends that the President shall not declare war -without the consent of the two Chambers ; that treaties of peace shall not be finally ratified without a Parliamentary vote ; that the 'Chambers shall be convoked on the demand of one-third of the Members plus one, instead of an absolute majority ; that in case of the death or resignation of the President of the Republic, -the two Chambers shall immediately assemble of full right ; and that neither Chamber shall sit alone, except in the contingency of the President dying during an election. Then the Senate may assemble, and assume all power except the legislative. These provisions seem moderate, and will pro- bably be accepted, but some of them place in a strong light the excessive reluctance of French statesmen to appoint a Vice- President. They evidently think he would not endure his posi- tion, and would immediately become a pivot of intrigue. The dread of such a personage is quite curious, as in the United States the difficulty has been to save the Vice-President from too 'complete a political extinction.
