It is silly to try to predict what eight hundred
and eighty Frenchmen, all wild with excitement, and sharply hurried by the situation, may possibly do, but it is impossible not to think for a moment about M. Faure's successor. If the Republican majority in Congress are wise, and know of a General whom they can trust, they will elect him President. That would soothe the Army, break the swords of the Pre- tenders, and give the country time to grow reasonable over the Dreyfus case. If they desire to continue the situation with a rather stronger President, they will elect M. Dupuy. If they desire only a strong-willed civilian who knows affairs, they will choose M. Meline, the leader of the Protectionists. It is, however, quite possible that the impulse which induced the Deputies to appoint M. Deschanel, a brilliant and ambitious man of good character, President of the Chamber, may induce them also to elect him President of the. Republic. M. Brisson is. we fear, too austere to be chosen. There is, of course, the off-chance that one of the Pretenders may see in the vacancy his chance, and may strike for it successfully ; but there is no evidence as yet that any one of them, or any General devoted to one of them, is resolute enough to stake his life or liberty for a throne. Not one of them, it must be remembered, is urged on by the kind of poverty from which Louis Napoleon suffered in 1848.
