The death of M. Burdeau left the Presidency of the
French Chamber vacant, and on Tuesday M. Brisson was elected President by 249 votes, against 213 given to M. M6line. The Paris correspondent of the Times, who is rather too fiercely Conservative for an impartial observer, describes this as a victory for the Radicals, because if the Ministry were over- thrown M. Casimir-P6rier would have, by etiquette, to con- sult M. Brisson ; but he forgets the "personal equation" too completely. M. Brisson is a strong Radical as to policy, but in action his rigid firmness is equivalent to Toryism. He will maintain inflexible order in the Chamber, and he was of all the Deputies the only one determined that the Panama scandal should be sifted to the bottom. It was the greatest relief to the corrupt when he resigned the Presidency of that Commission because he could not obtain sufficient powers. A man of that character is rarely a Radical in the bad sense, and we may be sure he will neither be partial to any fiery orator, nor guilty of any intrigue against the Ministry in power. No Tory would have suspected Mr. Bright in the Speaker's chair.
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