A new turn has been given to the Presidential question
in Prance by a political scandal, which has assumed such a shape that General Cavaignac has felt obliged to grapple with it. It is the revival of a charge against him, that at the time of the June insurrection, he, being then Minister of War, disobeyed the in- junction of the Provisional Government, to bring down a strong body of troops upon Paris. This was reproduced in a pamphlet about to be published by M. Barthelemy St. Hilaire, but previously hawked about in manuscript : M. Cavaignac has challenged the pamphleteer and his supporters, including members of the Pro- visional Government, to meet him in the Assembly ; and this day is fixed for the " interpellations." Cavaignac must crush his accusers, or fall; he is a lost man, unless he win a great victory. Meanwhile, flattered by rising hopes, M. de Lamartine is at last among the avowed candidates for the Presidency.
