NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE most serious news which has come from France for some time—serious, we mean, from the point of view of Frenchmen who want to reach stability on the present lines of French policy—is that the movement for prolonging the powers of the Chamber is growing in strength. The Paris correspondent of the Times says that M. Poincare is himself opposed to the movement, and we can well believe it ; for, although the movement is organized in his nominal interests, no thinking man can fail to see that it is a policy of desperation, and, as such, a confession of the gravity of the situation. Highly placed persons are said to be helping the movement on the ground that it would be dangerous to hold the general elections at the appointed time, because of the confusion Created by the fall of the franc. The life of the French Parliament was, of course, prolonged during the War, but it is admittedly a much more rigorous taking of powers to apply the precedents of war to peace. * '
