In Paris the great political interest is the contest between
M. Thiers' Foreign Minister, M. de Remusat, and the ex-Mayor of Lyons, M. Barodet, for the Department of the Seine, which is to take place to-morrow week. There is a third candidate, a M. Libeman (a merchant), put forward by the Right, on the double ground that on the 4th of September, 1870, he strove to save the Legislative Assembly, and that during the Commune he did his best to guard the chapel called the Expiatory Chapel of Louis XVL,—which probably means, as the Dibats points out, that he is Imperialist, since to defend the Legislative Assembly on the 4th of September 1870 took a good deal of courage and zeal. M. Libeman, however, is not seriously put forward. His name is only meant to catch the votes which the Members of the Right might be too scrupulous to give to M. Barodet, for whose suc- cess they avowedly wish, as it would be a serious defeat to the Government. A good many of the Moderate Radicals have lent their support to M. de Remusat, in spite of the pre- ference of the Siecle and the Republique Francaise and of M. Gambetta himself for the Lyons candidate. MM. Car- not, Arago, and twenty others of the Moderate Radicals, are amongst these, and the Left Centre will of course support M. de Rdmusat unanimously. The Government are sanguine of victory, and it seems really more likely than last week. The blow, if they fail, will be very serious.
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