The demeanour of the Reactionaries under trial before the Senate
remains defiant. M. Deroulede was so insolent when interrogated, calling the President "unworthy" and "a Pana- mist," that he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment ; and they all, while denying illegality, acknowledge themselves enemies of the Constitution. They expect, it seems evident, to be released by a revolution. A more serious symptom still is the discontent of the workmen, who in several depart- ments of France are denouncing masters as tyrants, and threatening to march on Paris and extort justice. Indeed, one body in the Doubs, variously estimated at from eight hundred to fifteen hundred, actually set out, and was only stopped by a body of soldiers who ordered them to return to their homes. The idea seems to be to imitate the historic march of the Marseillais, and so serious does the Ministry of the Interior consider the movement that special guards are posted outside Paris on many roads to prevent such bodies reaching the city. We can see no evidence that work is slack or worse paid than usual, but we do see signs that the companies which have almost superseded private employers are harsher—or shall we say more military P—in their dealings with the men. They know less of them person- ally, and are less afraid of exciting enmity. The workmen, it must be remembered, though they have not the numerical weight they have in England, are still, unless eoerced by the soldiery, masters within the cities.
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