The French Government was nearly overthrown on Tuesday. The Deputies
met in a state of irritation on account of the scene at Carmaux, which ought, according to the Radicals, to have been ended by a sequestration of the mines ; and, ac- cording to the Conservatives, to have been an occasion for sharp repression. On Tuesday, therefore, no less than five proposals were brought forward, two censuring and three de- fending the Cabinet ; and the one which was most welcome to M. Loubet—the Order of the Day—was roughly defeated by a vote of 449 to 38. The Premier therefore bestirred himself, compelled the chairman of the Mining Company to consent to arbitration, and, putting up the Minister of Works to announce that arrangement, snatched a complete, if temporary, victory. He only obtained it, however, by allowing himself to be made the arbitrator, which will make him a target for both sides ; and he has not contented the miners at all. They rejected arbitration on the following day, and only gave way when they found that Deputies who favoured them insisted on the sub- mission. We have explained the conduct of the Government at some length elsewhere.
