The Nationalists of Paris are wild with delight. They carried
on Sunday nine seats in the Municipal Council, the most violent among them proving exceptionally popular, and they think, therefore, that Paris as a whole is with them. They do not dominate the Council, but they hope that with the aid of the Royalists, the Bonapartists, and the Anti- Semite fanatics they may make action impossible without their consent. It seems certain that large sections of Parisians are for the moment anti-Republican, but they can do nothing without the Army, and all over the country the municipal elections have ended in Nationalist defeats. The total result, therefore, is that an insurrection would be hopeless unless the soldiery joined it, and that the Chambers will remain, on the whole, friendly to the Republic. The situation would still be dangerous if Paris retained its old ascendency, but, for reasons stated elsewhere, we believe that this is waning. Swift intercommunication enlarges a capital without strengthening its hold on the Executive.
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