M. Casimir-Perier is supposed to have wished for defeat because
he intends to be a candidate for the Presidency, but it is more probable that he was tired of perpetual revolts in his own party, only overcome by the menace of resignation. He has now resigned definitely, and it is said that none of his Cabinet will take office. M. Carnot's idea is -to form another " concentration " Cabinet with all Republican -groups represented; but it is said that the Socialists demand too many seats. They loudly proclaim that the victory is theirs ; and, indeed, if the Opportunists cannot rely on the Right, they must obtain the support they need to secure a majority, from the Socialists. M. Bourgeois, who has been asked to form a Ministry, has refused, and it is believed that the next Cabinet must be far more Radical, not only than Casimir-Perier's, but than M. Dupuy's. The funds, there- fore, have fallen, and there is an undefined alarm as if some- thing sinister were about to happen. There is some reason for timidity, not because the Socialists can govern France, but because Frenchmen, once assured that they see the Red Spectre abroad, go politically mad with fear. The Socialists may find that, in overthrowing a Ministry which inspired con- fidence in all friends of order, they have done a very bad stroke of business for themselves.
