M. Gambetta was re-elected President of the Assembly on Tuesday,
when the French Chambers met in Paris,—for the first time,.since the Franco-German war,—but by a smaller number• of votes than on any previous occasion. -Of -the 533 Members, only 308 deposited voting-papers ; and of these, only 259 voted for M. Gambetta, or rather less than a majority of the whole House. Last year he had 314 votes, or more than a majority of the whole House, and the falling-off is attributed to the dissatisfaction of the Republicans with M. Gambetta's course in refusing to form a Government, and preferring to pull the strings of the Government from -the comparative retirement of the Speaker's post. As a matter of fact, however? only 267 Republicans had returned on Tuesday, when the vote was taken, so that of those who had returned a very small proportion withheld their votes. Possibly their delay in returning was a • sign of cooling enthusiasm for M. Gambetta, for certainly the Republican Vice-Pre- sidents received very languid support even from those who had come back,—the votes of less than a third of the Chamber. And certainly some disunion in the ranks appears to be fairly inferred from the vote on the postponement of certain elections,-173 Republicans voting for postponement, while 119 Conservatives and 94 Republicans voted together against it. But why should we expect the Republicans of France all to pull heartily together, when we never expect the Liberals in England to do the same P
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