15 NOVEMBER 1873, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE state of affairs in France is bad. The Left Centre have deserted the Liberals, have accepted a proposal that Marshal MacMahon shall reign till the sixth year after the dissolution of this Assembly, and are far from inclined to a dissolution. They are talking about Constitutional laws, but they have, in fact, " gone in the knees," as almost all Girondists do. The Report is to be brought up on Monday, and as the debate may last some days, and M. Thiers will speak, there is just a chance that they may rally to him, and agree to a dissolution. If they do not, France is changed into a military despotism, headed by a man who says he will obey a hostile vote and retire, but will never separate himself from a Conservative Cabinet,—that is, De Broglie's. That is to say, there will be in France a despotism without security, without permanence, and without popular acquiescence.