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The French Army Bill has passed by a final vote

of 199 to 60, a curiously large vote in opposition. All accounts from France concur in the opinion that the Bill is unpopular, that the peasantry hate it, and that the Emperor must go to war to show its necessity. It is even stated that Marshal Niel is immensely increasing the Artillery train, and that the National Guard is to be called out for drill at once. The statement about the Guard may be correct, and so may that about war, but we very much doubt the exceed- ing unpopularity of the Bill. France likes to be strong, and is convinced, chiefly by official circulars in the provincial press, that war is at hand. We must not take the opinion of Paris as a perfect guide.

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