Our Paris Letter.

Manawatu Herald, 7 August 1894, Page 3

Our Paris Letter.

(FROM Otfß OWH COftRfifIPONDENf .) , i ,. I concluded my last le'oter bj gi?ing you the names of the members of the new Cabinet Dupuy, and as the latter gentleman who is now Premier ftaa the President, of the Chamber of Deputies; a b'ew. President had -to. bo. nominated, and M. Casimir-Pe'rier the just outgoing Premier was elected to the Presidency of the Chamber by 229 votes, against 187 given to M. Bourgeois. This election betrays a Singular state of feeling in.. the He; publican 1 majority of tlie Chamber; tt niust be rocolledtedj that the tJharriber aggregates 376 members; liienibers, . and that therefore M. basiniir-Perier owes His election to Birle-tiiird of tHe dunjericril strength of the Chamber. The votes given M. Perier and M. Bourgeois added together, amount to 416, and it thus follows that 160 members abstained from voting either for the Moderate Republican or the Radical candidate. After making allowance for the abstainers oil the Bight —that is on the Reactionary side of the Chamber— it follow^ that the number of independent Deputies, those not affiliated to either Republican party, may be estimated at between 140 and 150— a force sufficient to turn the scale at any parliamentary eoiitest, could it be called on to act as a single unit, which it cannot, the Independents, as their namo implies disdaining Parliamentary organization. It is therefore evident, that more than on fourth of the Republican majority do not know exactly, what policy they ought to pursue, and are simply " waiters on Providence," giving their votes as 11 the spirit moves them " on the spur of the moment. The consequence is, that the formation of a solid Republican majority in the present Chamber of Deputies is im i possible, and every Ministry, which ! 13 the emanation of that majority must necessarily be a Weak and feeble Ministry, whose duration is at the mercy of the chapter of accidents, j The ; late Premier, M. Casimir- j Perier, tried to form a moderate Republican Slihisfcry with the aid of the Independent. Republicans, and, failed in doing so, falling upon a question of trivial importance, and involving no serious political issue. The victors of the late Parliamen- i tary crisis, the Radicals, have been i equally unable to attract the " floaters " permanently to their standard, as M. Bourgeois, their candidate for the Presidency of the Chamber, could only muster 187 votes, all exclusively Radical. The conviction, that the Independents could not be relied on to support a Radical Cabinet, was no doubt the reason, why M. Bourgeois and M. Brisson refused the offers of the President of the Republic to form a Radical Government. The present Ministry, that of M. Dupuy, is the third that has been formed since the general election, and there is, as yet, nothing to show that the difficulties against which its predecessors struggled in vain, have disappeared or modified. The Independent members of the Chamber are, in fact, the Sword of Damocles hanging over the head of any Cabinet likely to be formed during the lifetime of the present Parliament.