On Friday week the French Government was defeated in the
Chamber by seven votes and afterwards resigned. The debate concerned the command of the Army in war, General Goiran arguing that it would be impossible for one man to control the whole Army, and that whoever might be Generalissimo would be forced to look to the Government for guidance ; but this subject was only used as a pretext to get rid of the Government. The real cause of dissatisfaction, the Times correspondent says, was the policy of proportional representation to which M. Monis had committed himself. There is no doubt a good majority for electoral reform, but several Radical deputies feared that they would lose their present support in their constituencies if the exact proposals approved by M. Monis were adopted. M. Monis was never expected to remain long in office, but his serious accident and the loss of M. Berteaux, the most enthusiastic of his Ministers, made his career as Prime Minister even shorter and more barren than it might have been. He leaves office with the Budget yet unpassed and the Marne and the Aube still seething with discontent at the vacillating conduct of the Government in delimiting the wine districts.
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