The Councils-General in France are now beginning to hold their
usual sessions, and M. Lepbre, the Minister of the Interior, has wisely assured them that they will be quite at liberty to discuss M. Jules Ferry's Education Bill, and its bearing on the country, without any interference on the part of the Govern- ment. Nothing shows the steady confidence of the country in the Republic more than this fact,—that though there have been no general elections for the Conseils-Generaux, four more of them have now a Republican majority, than had such a majority at their last sessions. There were then fifty-three of these Councils with a Republican majority, and there are now fifty- seven. So steadily, as the proverb goes, does success succeed. These Councils-General will probably perceive that nothing would illustrate the strength of the Republic so much, as its steady refusal to retaliate on Ultramontanism the policy of Ultramou to nism.
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