The second ballot for the French Chamber took place last
Sunday in one hundred and fifty-four constituencies, thirteen in Paris and one hundred and forty-one in the country. In Paris, to the surprise of most people, the anti-Ministerialists were almost all rejected, even men like M. Guyot de Villeneuve
and Colonel Marchand suffering defeat. In the provinces, M. Labori, the famous advocate, was elected at Fontainebleau, and M. Paul Deroulede was defeated at Angouleme. The result of the second ballot has been to fortify the Left-Centre, for the new Members are mainly Radicals and Radical- Socialists, the Unified Socialists, when there was a three- cornered contest, having generally withdrawn their opposition. The new Ministry, therefore, enters upon the Session with a solid majority which will not only give it an overwhelming superiority as against the Opposition, but. will make it inde- pendent of the possibly rebellious elements in its own ranks. According to the latest figures, the Ministry will command two hundred and forty-six Radicals and Radical-Socialists, seventy-seven Left-Centre Republicans, and eighty-two Unified Socialists and Independents; while the Opposition will have sixty-four Right-Centre Republicans, who call themselves Progressives, and one hundred and seventeen Nationaliets and Reactionaries. M. Sarrien can thus count in normal times on a majority of two hundred and twenty-four, and of not less than sixty if his extreme Left should side with the Opposition.
