The electors of the Var, hitherto considered followers of M.
Clemenceau, on Sunday elected " General " Cluseret, the Communist leader, at the second ballot. At least, fourteen thousand of them did, for sixty-seven thousand declined to go to the poll, and only three thousand voted for M. Cluseret's opponent. The occurrence is almost inexplicable except upon one theory, that M. Clemenceau's friends have gone Red, and that the Reactionaries thought such a choice would drive thousands all over France into their arms. That is probably an accurate calculation. Note carefully, however, that General Cluseret—he was a trained soldier once, though not a General—has put forward a definite proposal open to discussion. He asks for a Poor-Law,—that is to say, he proposes the imposition of a property-tax which shall be devoted to the payment of small pensions to all poverty-stricken persons beyond a certain age. That project could be licked by statesmen into a working law akin to our own Poor-Law, and we shall hear more of it, and of many similar suggestions.
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