The Nationalist party in Paris has levelled a cunning blow
at the Government, which has fallen short, however. The President of the municipality, M. Grebauval, invited all the Mayors of the Communes of France, fifteen thousand in number, to a grand banquet at the Hotel de Ville, to which he did not invite either M. Loubet or his Ministers. He also invited the Lord Mayor of London, who in France is con- sidered a very grand personage indeed. The intention was to represent that "all France" having accepted the invita- tion of a Nationalist municipality, all France was hostile to the Government. Unfortunately, only sixteen hundred Mayors accepted, and though M. Grebauval tried to mend his manners by inviting the President, his invitation was not only refused, but M. Loubet, who can be nag when needful, delivered a counterstroke by inviting all Mayors and other notables to a grand banquet in the Tuileries gardens. There were no less than twenty-two thousand acceptances, and M. Grebauval, baffled and overcrowed, abandoned his project. His defeat suggests that the Republic is stronger in the provinces than was imagined. It also releases the Lord Mayor from a difficulty. Sir Alfred Newton had not the smallest idea of offering an affront to M. Loubet, yet it was difficult to withdraw an acceptance given in ignorance of the facts. Lord Mayors, it is said, should not be quite so innocent, but we do not see ourselves how Sir Alfred Newton could do otherwise than accept an invitation from the Lord Mayor of Paris. He could not interfere in the internal politics of France by refusing.
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