Louis Napoleon has got a Ministry ; a Ministry which
has been received by almost the whole French press with scoffs and de- rision. With the exception of M. de Thorigny, who is understood to be Legitimist, the new Ministers are partisans of tho Elysee. The President has not succeeded in constructing a Parliamentary Cabinet—the three important, portfolios of the Interior, Justice, and Finance, are held by gentlemen who have no seats in the As- sembly. •
Not even those who are friendly to the new Ministers affect to
believe that they have any policy. The most favourable account that the Piesident's own mouthpiece vouchsafes, goes only to this extent, that they are more or less qualified by -their acquirements to fill their special departments. In less friendly phrase, the suc- cessors of Leon Faucher and his colleagues are men who have the boldness to accept of office and its emoluments as the puppets of Louis Napoleon, but no qualifications to fill it beyond some ac- quaintance with the forms of business.
Meanwhile, all parties agree to suspend final judgment till the President's message shall be made public. There is a good deal of the ludicrous in the President's telling all France so long beforehand, that he is labouring at the concoction of a mes- sage that is to set everything to rights, and bidding it wait till he -has got his words marshalled and his periods turned. The oracular hints of friends respecting this wonderful message begin to speak of its decided Liberalism in more ambiguous terms. It is no longer a repeal, but only a modification of the law of May, that is talked of. Present appearances might warrant a suspicion that the French President is about to take a leaf out of the book of our own Illinisters, and, after announcing a bold measure in general phrase, to bring out something infinitely small. As his chance of being legally reelected depends upon the Constitution's being modified, it is not likely that he will go their length and seek popular favour by recommending a bill that he knows will not pass.
Meanwhile, 'the majority of the Assembly look on in grim silence.
