The new President's Message to the Chambers is described
as containing nothing, but that is not quite true. It con- tains, in words which we give textually elsewhere, what is virtually a promise to accept any Ministers or any measures which the Chambers may approve. This, at least, is the interpretation placed upon them by all parties, and they of course reduce the President to a mere figurehead, which was not the intention of those who framed the Constitution. It is said that this position pleases M. Faure, who declares that his policy is " pacification," and that he represents the industrious democracy and their quiet labour ; and it is quite certain that the President who first applied to M. Brisson and then selected M. Ribot, can have few party convictions. It remains to be seen, however, how far he is prepared to go, and whether he does not believe that he can influence Ministers, even when he does not select them. For the present the Chamber seems content ; but there is a certain feeling of alarm abroad, the idea being that the Radicals may at last insist on a Ministry of their own, which might try Collectivist experiments. Meanwhile, it is acknowledged on all hands that M. Faure is good-natured, and in France bonhomie counts for much. There is nothing to be said against him, except that in the long line of French Kings and Presidents the man whom he most resembles is Louis XVI.
