Nine Members of the Left Centre, including four who were
Ministers under M. Thiers, dined with Marshal MacMahon on Thursday. This is held to portend the adhesion of the Left Centre to the Constitutional Laws. The incident is rather a small one to build such a structure on, but if the Constitutional Laws create a Republic with a seven-years Presidency, if the Government is modified by the dismissal of M. de Broglie and the Minister of the Interior, and if all thought of conspiracy is aban- doned, the Left Centre might by possibility lend its adhesion. We greatly doubt the report, but it is possible that M. de Broglie is too Clerical for existing circumstances, and quite certain that M. Thiers has published a letter declaring the Republic the only possible form of government, and calling on the constituencies to send up moderate Liberals, " to enlighten, but not to menace " the Assembly. Supposing M. de Broglie defeated by the seces- sion of the Legitimists, Marshal MacMahon would have only two options,—to strike a coup d'ilat, or to send for M. Thiers, and permit him to force on a dissolution.
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