The Duke d'Aumale achieved his first success as a Parliamen-
tary orator in the French Assembly on Tuesday, in a speech on the new Army Bill, which commanded attention, and a good deal of applause from the Centre and Right. He declared himself for compulsory service and for the abolition of substitutes. He regretted the dissolution of the old elite regiments, the only pro- posal of General Trochu's book on Army reform which had been adopted, and in the Duke's opinion the only one which General 'Trochu had made without adequate reason. He was very emphatic in descanting on the defects of improvised armies, even those improvised by the great Napoleon himself. But his great bit was a eulogy on the Tricolour flag,—nominally against the Communists who substituted the red flag, really against the adhe- rents of the white flag,—the Tricolour, "long the emblem of victory, as it is now the emblem of concord and union." The Duke has gained a higher position in France by that moderate success in the Assembly.
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