THE NEW FRENCH MINISTRY.
GREVY has succeeded for the moment. His steady,
not to say obstinate determination to drop General Boulanger and to bar out M. Ckimenceau, almost compelled the more Conservative elements within the Chamber to supply him with a " Ministry of Affairs." If he had been defeated, he would, it is now known, have resigned ; and after a resig- nation so forced, the new President must have appointed a Cl6menceaa-Boulanger Administration. The Right and the Opportunists alike dreaded that result, partly because it might lead to a premature war with Germany, but chiefly because it would make Radicalism dominant in France, with the Army to protect it ; and accordingly, M. Rouvier at last succeeded in bringing a Ministry together. It fell almost to pieces in the first five minutes, General Saussier, the new Minister of War, and M. Bousquet, the Minister of Justice, resigning at once when informed that the Cabinet would proceed with the Bill which abolishes exemptions from the conscription; but General Ferron, an officer with some experience of office under Gambetta, accepted the all-important portfolio of War, and the Ministry were enabled to lay their programme before the Chamber. It is almost a colourless one, except upon two points,—a definite pledge that expenditure shall be reduced this year by £2,400,000, and a less definite promise that the Military Bill shall be proceeded with. The latter is most offensive to the Right, but they could not desert the Government so soon, and after a short but angry debate, the Order of the Day, proposed by M. Rouvier, was carried by a majority of 20 if we take Republicans alone, and of 150 if we include the entire Chamber. To accept the Order of the Day is, of course, only to signify that the Government may proceed to business ; but the Ministry hope to carry the Budget and part of the Military Bill, and then to adjourn the Chambers, thus ensuring to themselves some months of power. They admit humbly that there is not much in them, but they plead that they are good men, very diligent, and quite independent of any wire-pullers. It may be questioned if they are safe. The economies in their Budget will deeply offend individual Deputies, the friends of General Boulanger are exasperated to fury, and are able to say that he retired in a strictly constitutional manner, and the Military Bill lies like a rock ahead in mid-channel. Indeed, it is hardly possible to see how it can be evaded. It may be taken as certain that on a test vote the Government has not a trustworthy Republican majority, and it must therefore, merely to exist, conciliate the Right. The Right, which has, it is said, been counselled by the Comte de Paris not to allow M. Cldmenceau to accede to power, is willing to be conciliated, and if M. Bouvier would make certain concessions, would gladly support him ; but then, the con- cessions demanded are precisely those which cannot be made. The Right are unable, both from conscientious feeling and from the pressure of their electors, to support or to endure the clauses of the Military Bill which send all students for the priesthood into barracks, there, as the Church believes, to be corrupted. They therefore ask that the Military Bill may be modified, and, indeed, assert that they promised their "benevolence " to M. Bouvier under a distinct pledge to that effect. M. Bouvier, however, denies this, and General Ferron, when speaking in support of the programme, emphasised the resolution of the Government to claim all seminarists for the ranks. The Right cannot put up with this decision, and if the Government is firm, will leave it to the mercy of the Republicans, who, though united against the priesthood, are on every other subject, including the Budget, at daggers drawn. So certain is confusion from this cause, that Mgr. Freppel, a devotee of the Right, made a despairing effort on Thursday to effect a compromise, proposing that as it would be most dangerous to discuss military questions just now, with the Continent so suspicious, the whole Bill should be left over until next Session. He made a most powerful speech, full of valid excuses for delay ; but the Government resisted, and the two Republican parties, united under the influence of their common hatred of the Clericals, defeated the Bishop by a vote of no less than 368, nearly a hundred in excess of a full half of the House. The Military Bill must therefore go on ; and if, in the course of the discussion, the Opportunists—who are as anti-religions as their rivals—and the Radicals between them do not manage to taunt the Right into a fury of obstinacy, it will be a new phenomenon in France. The quarrel between the parties on the Income-tax is nearly as bitter as the religious one ; and as a Budget of some sort must be passed, the Radicals may have good reason for their belief that even as a Ministry of Affairs the present combination cannot last. If it does not, the situation will again be most serious, for a strong Ministry will be impossible, and the Conservatives will begin to shout that the Constitution has failed. Indeed, they are doing it now, and one of the many difficulties in M. Grdvy's path is their conviction that if it can be made to fail, the road will at last be clear for the return of the legitimate King. They mistake, doubtless ; but their determination to upset Govern- ment after Government is permanent, while their decision to support this or that Premier is only temporary. The truthis, the chasm between the parties in France is so deep, that unless one of them can secure a majority, every Government must be unstable ; and the cool finesse of the experienced President only averts one crisis at the expense of another, and still more severe one. With incredible exertion and pains, he has got a Ministry together ; but it is sitting on a two-legged stool, and is further weakened by the transfer of all warlike or Chauvinist enthusiasm to the side of its adversaries. The manoeuvring has been very clever, but its total result is a weak Conservative Ministry, and a belief among the populace that the best soldier in France has been dismissed from power because he is too much of a patriot and a Radical.
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