The prospects of the new Government were as dis- couraging
as could well be. The franc continued to fall and the Parisian Press, when not violently abusive, offered the coldest of cold comfort. The group of M. Louis Mann which did so much to turn out M. Briand and M. Caillaux, was hostile to their successors. Though the voting in the Chamber seems to Englishmen at any rate quite incalculable, no one would prophesy majorities for M. Herriot. The question of foreign credits alone seemed insuperable for him as he had put himself in direct opposition to the Committee of Experts. His Government included M. Painlevc at the War Office and two members from outside the old Cartel des Gauches. He met the Chamber on Wednesday and promised a financial policy of economy : to help the exchange and avoid dependance on foreign support, all capital held abroad must be brought home, under penal- ties if necessary. He can hardly have expected the Chamber to be satisfied. He was defeated by fifty-three votes and resigned. As we go to press M. Poinear6 is trying to form a Government.
