Henri Rochefort continues his agitation against England for the murder
of Olivier Pain, and on Saturday held a meeting of five thousand Communists, which "branded Wolseley, Kitchener,. and the other agents of the British Government" as assassins, and declared the French Government contemptible for no securing expiation. The respectable Parisian journals denounce or ridicule the meeting ; but the French Government is scarcely cordial on the matter. It does not believe, of course, that Pain was executed ; but it does believe that the shouts of the French mob help to embarrass the English position in Egypt, and regards that embarrassment with favouring eyes. Its object, in short, is to make of France an obstacle to any free action of the English in Egypt. It is resisting English efforts at Constantinople for that end only. If it does not take care, it will come to the end of English patience at last. The regular course for this country is to bear all manner of embarrassments, partly from indolence, and partly from an uncertainty of conscience, and then to take unexpectedly determined action. Certainly, the Republicans are removing carefully any restraint which Englishmen might feel from their good-will to France. If Paris, without provoca- tion, exhibits this kind of temper, England need not consider whether Paris will be provoked by any course of conduct. She is for the moment resolved to be provoked.
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