NEWS OF TILE WEEK
THE French political kaleidoscope is still moving while we write. M. Laval has failed, and a Govern- ment may or may not be in being when these lines are read. M. Bouisson did well to maintain his resignation, for his defeat in the Chamber -by 2 votes was quite as genuine as his subsequently announced win by 12 votes., • There was no miscount; for the system which allows French deputies- to ." revise" their votes is merely a device to enable them to pacify their constituents, and does not affect the Official result of a division. Suspicion had been roused against the new' Cabinet partly by the ominous reticence of its official declaration and the ever- suspect personality of M. Caillaux. But the defeat was due also to a deep-lying peculiarity, of the present Cham- ber's composition, which is that, though the Left can never form a Government, it has always a majority to throw a Government out. This is because more than half the Left—consisting of the Communists and official Socialists—is pledged not to join with other groups in supporting a Government, yet ready enough to vote with them on the Opposition side. Hence the extreme difficulty in carrying on any positive policy. The dangers of such a situation are obvious. If a crisis wantonly Precipitated is prolonged it makes extra-Parliamentary action all but inevitable. The events of February, 1934, Should be warning enough of that.
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