The elections to the French Chamber leave the state of
parties very much as it was. The figures for those Deputies who have been returned on the first ballots are as follows :- Conservatives, 58; Nationalists, 13; Progressists, 40; Repub- lican Left, 59 ; Radicals and Socialist Radicals, 143 ; Inde- pendent Socialists, 11; and Collectivist Socialists, 29. Second ballots will be necessary in two hundred and thirty-three constituencies. The Prime Minister, M. Briand, has been returned with an-increased majority at St. Etienne, and all the other Ministers have already been re-elected except M. Millerand, who has to submit himself to a second ballot. There has been very little excitement, and a larger proportion than usual of the electorate did not go to the poll. The con- clusion is clear,—M. Briand's policy of conciliation and con- centration commends itself to the French people. They are attached to the Republic ; and while they are predominantly anti-clerical, they do not desire that anti-clericalism should be a political mania or an excuse for persecution. M. Briand's policy in dealing with the revolutionary methods of Labour and with Civil servants is also evidently approved. In the great cities of the South the Socialist vote has decreased. One very interesting and important point is that propor- tional representation has figured conspicuously in the campaign. M. Benoist, the protagonist of the system, has been triumphantly returned, while M. Pelletan, its avowed enemy, has barely escaped defeat.
