NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE contest between General Boulanger and M. Jacques for the vacant seat in Paris will be decided to-morrow ; but, owing to the enormous number of the electorate, which includes 400,000 voters, the numbers may not be known till Monday afternoon. It is fortunate that the delay is so short, for excite- ment has risen by degrees to blood-heat, and nothing but fear of the troops prevents serious commotions. Paris is literally, and not figuratively, plastered with 4,000,000 placards on which enormous sums have been expended, and every Associa- tion has passed resolutions for or against the candidates. The result is, however, quite uncertain, for not only does the ballot keep its secret, but it keeps it for this reason. Only the noisy reveal their wishes, and in so vast a constituency the noisy are to the silent perhaps one in ten. Forty thou- sand voices make a great clamour, but the voters are ten times as many. We have no opinion to offer on the chances, but we note attentively this fact. The Parisian recruits of the year went up on Wednesday for their " drawings," which settle for them the chances of exemption. Those who are drawn, some thousands, march away with their number in their caps, usually printed on a paper with en- gravings. The conscripts choose as they like amidst a great variety, and this year the vast majority chose the portrait of Boulanger. They lose their votes when enlisted, but the incident reveals the sympathies of their class.
