M. Casimir Wrier has yielded to M. Carnot's importunity, sand
has formed a Ministry, in which the principal figures are General Mercier, as Minister of War; M. Raynal, as Minister of the Interior; M. Burdeau, as Minister of Finance ; and M. ,Spuller, as Minister of Instruction. All these, M. Burdeau -especially, are competent men, and the Premier himself takes the Portfolio of Foreign Affairs, The Ministry met the Chambers on Monday, and as the Cabinet is homogeneous, it was expected to give out a most distinct sound. The ,programme is, however, quite curiously vague, almost the only distinct promise being that the Ministry will remodel taxation so as to reach "acquired wealth." This is understood to mean that individual incomes will not be taxed, that being inqui- sitorial, but that corporate incomes will, they being already known. The justice of that arrangements—which, moreover, will not be a fruitful one—is not exactly patent; but it is true that the ownership of shares is more widely diffused in France • than in Great Britain. There is to be an increase in the suc- cession-duty, "moderate in the direct line." For the rest, the Cabinet is to do, vaguely, grand things—for example, "to combat Socialist doctrines not with disdain, but by the generous and fruitful action at the disposal of the State,"— that is, to bribe Socialists instead of imprisoning them. The courage of our valiant rural democracy" is to be restored, and their efforts "seconded." Foreign policy is "to be in- spired by what is commanded by the dignity of a nation, powerful enough to proclaim that it sincerely desires peace ; " "and internally it is the ambition of the Government to efface prejudice and to convince its adversaries." At this, all mankind will say "Hear, hear ! " but one would like to know a little how these excellent ends are to be secured. At present, the Government programme is perhaps a little too like the great Hindoo formula, that "the first duty of a good King is to nourish the good and put down the bad," which is very true indeed as a maxim, and utterly inane.
