M. Grevy was elected President of the French Republic for
the second time on Monday, December 28th. His second term of office commences on January 31st, 1886, and con- tinues for seven more years. Should he resign or die in the interim, there is no provision for the appointment of a suc- cessor; but it is understood that Congress will meet and elect a new President, as if the vacancy had been caused by effiuxion of time,—an arrangement the more easy because a re-election need not occupy six hours. This one did not occupy quite three. The Congress, consisting of both Senate and Chamber, met at 1 o'clock, and after the Right had in vain attempted to protest against the invalidation of their elections, the vote was taken. The Members of the Right retired; and the remaining Members, mounting the tribune in succession, deposited their ballots one by one. The total majority required by law was reduced by the abstentions to 289, or half those present, plus one ; but the votes given for M. Grevy amounted to 457, or more than a clear half of the entire Con- gress, had all been present. M. Brisson, who refused to be a candidate, had only 68 votes ; 14 were given to M. de Freycinet, 10 to M. Anatole de la Forge (Extremist), 1 to M. Leon Say, and 1 to M. Pasteur, the experimenter on animals. There was, in truth, no serious opposition ; and there would have been none even had the Right not been too irritated to exert itself. Political feeling appears to have run high, and there was a scene in the Chamber when the protest of the Right was refused ; but the election itself was a tedious form, and the general public obviously took no interest in the result. M. Grevy, of course, accepted the election ; but is, it is said, wounded by the decrease in his majority, which is 100 less than in 1879.
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