France, and indeed Europe, have been agitated this week by
a rumour of M. Thiers' illness, which seems to have been well founded. He was confined for a day or two to his room by a severe bronchial attack, which threatened at one moment to be- come inflammatory. He recovered, however, and is now reported as well as usual. His enemies in the Assembly took advantage, however, of his illness, to introduce a proviso into the Consti- tutional Bill that he should have no veto upon a vote affecting the Constitution—a proviso which will be of importance whenever the Assembly is about to be dissolved. The proviso was, how- ever, accepted by the Ministry, and M. Thiers probably thinks that if he can guide the elections his veto will not be wanted, and if he cannot he will not be the person entrusted with power to use it. Any constitutional measure bad enough to require a veto would also, under the provisional system, require a resignation.
