M. de Belcastel, a leading French Legitimist, has published in
the Univers a somewhat noteworthy letter to his party. He pro- nounces for a speedy dissolution. He says the Assembly was well-meaning, and with a man of genius who understood it would have worked wonders ; but no such man was forthcoming, and the Assembly, " like all Assemblies, womanly rather than manly," had a weakness for Parliamentary Government. It was this
which caused the failure of the attempt to seat the Comte de Chambord. M. de Belcastel therefore calls on the Assembly, which has already sat for five years, to dissolve itself voluntarily, so that there may be no suspicion of Revolutionary victory, "no violent or premature death." If the Legitimists will vote in that sense, a speedy dissolution is certain, in spite of the selfish reluctance of so many Liberals to lose their seats.
