It is rumoured in Paris that as soon as the
new French loan of £36,000,000 has been subscribed (January 22nd), the Cabinet will be reorganised. M. de Freycinet, who has just been elected to the Academy, will probably remain Premier ; but one or two Ministers will be got rid of, notably the Minister of Finance, M. Bouvier. The Chamber is not pleased with his Budget, most of the Deputies having pledged themselves against new loans and new taxes ; and there is an -uneasy suspicion abroad that the Minister jobs with the great surpluses left under his control. There is not a particle of substantial evidence for the accusation, but it helps to make the Ministry unpopular. France is, in fact, really seeking what cannot be found,—a Finance Minister who will restrain -expenditure, yet not restrain Deputies from obliging their constituencies with new grants for public works. M. Leon Say, it will be noted, has accused the Treasury of breaking faith by paying off bonds before the contract date. The charge seems true, but the Senate evidently thought that if the State creditors got their money in full, they ought not to -complain, and M. Say obtained no support for his superero- .gatory honesty.
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