M. Clemenceau is as much alarmed as M. Goblet, so
much alarmed that he has agreed, in a speech at Toulon, to accept M. Floquet's Revision scheme, restrictive clauses and all. That decision is greatly at variance with his policy, and is forced on him, as he admits, by his fear that the fall of M. Floquet might be followed by a Ferry-Boulanger Administra- tion. He is, he confesses, greatly alarmed by the success of Bonlangism, which he identifies with general reactionary feeling, and he calls on all Republicans to rally round the Government, which he praises as more truly Republican than any of its predecessors. He is in favour of a still further "weeding out" of clericals from all offices, and suggests that there are many taxes now pressing on the peasantry which might be placed on the shoulders of the rich. He does not, however, name the tax to be thus shifted, or the class which is to bear it, and may find that the vague threat implied has alienated more votes than it has gained. Special taxes on "the rich" do not frighten only the rich, but all who hope to be rich, a much more numerous class.
