27 AUGUST 1870, Page 2

The Chamber, however, as a body has shown no hesitation

in voting any necessary decrees. It has called out all old soldiers, married or unmarried, is willing apparently to force all Gerdes Mobiles into the Army, and its Military Committee proposes to enrol all men whatsoever from 20 to 35 years of age. This would involve the arming of the whole youth of France, and is certain to be resisted by the Government, which fears social war—not without reason, the poor accusing the rich of treason—and may be rejected on the ground of impossibility. Government has not arms sufficient to fight the Germans. The Chamber itself has rejected a proposal to abolish the law which forbids the private manufacture of arms, fearing that the permission would be used to arm the great towns.