It is supposed that M. Grdvy will have greater trouble
than usual in forming an Administration. M. Clemenceau, the only untried leader of a party, still declines to take office, probably because he could not fulfil hie Colonial and financial pledges by abandoning Tonquin and imposing an Income-tax; and the President is therefore compelled to fall back on M. de Freycinet. M. de Freycinet, however, does not know where to find a Finance Minister, or where to make the reductions rendered necessary principally by his own extravagance, and is, besides, perplexed with the grand Boulanger question. If he offers General Boulanger the Ministry of War, that officer will be considered a "necessary man," and will be regarded abroad as a potential Dictator, a conviction not tending to peace. If, on the other hand, the Premier leaves the General out, the Irre- ooncilables threaten a descent into the streets, the fire-eaters will aoeuse the Government of truckling to Germany, and the private soldiers will be seriously discontented. Even the peasantry will not be pleased, for though they may not want war, they are glad to see the lot of the conscripts, who are their own children, ameliorated; and General Boulanger's orders have made them more comfortable. It remains to be seen which way
the decision will go, but the latest accounts are in favour of General Boulanger's dismissal. We oonfees we doubt, remem- bering the Lohengrin incident, whether the Government is prepared to face the population of the capital.
