THE FRENCH PRESIDENCY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2092, 19 February 1920, Page 4

THE FRENCH PRESIDENCY.

A SURPRISING CHANCE. In view of M. (Terncnceau’s surprising defeat, the following, comment by a London correspondent on his party's triumph at the recent French elections, is interesting: The general elections in Fratice have produced results comforting to millions beyond the borders of (he Republic, and vastly surprising to those who imagined that (hey would show a great increase in the power of the extreme Socialists and Radicals. Even to those who favoured the view that the parties, of flic- Ciemenceau “bloc” would he strengthened the results have come as a surprise. Possessing the best organisation in the country, and w(#rking it for all it was worth, the extreme Socialists have suffered a disastrous defeat,.having lost something like half their .strength in the, 'Chamber, while the best known of (heir leading personalities have gone down in defeat. XL. Longuet, who appealed for the suffrages of a decidedly “proletarian” district of Paris, has been completely “snowed under” with all his'colleagues of the Socialist list. All fourteen seats in that constituency have gone Repub-' | lican, the least" successful of whom ; polled 13,000 more votes than the Socialist loader. In brief, the elections have made it more or less (dean sweep of the friends r.f Bolshevistic Socialism, and have provided a grand demonstration of the political sanity of the overwhelming muss of Frenchmen after years of war and months of .disillusionment and dis-

tress. What adds immensely to the effect of such a demonstration is the history of the disappointment and the crushing 1 economic hardships which the nation has been called upon to endure in the course of the past year. Victory in the war has been followed by bitter experiences for the whole people. The fruits of military triumph have been far less than they were encouraged to expect; the progress of the country's recovery from the wounds of war have been painfully slow, and the difficulties generally, which the people have to face, are much greater than those we are "experiencing in England. It seemed to be “the golden moment” for preachers of the Socialism of class war, revolution and anti-patriotism, but proved the veryreverse. Judging by the results of this, the first election since flay, 1914, the Bolshevik baecilius has found French blood an uncongenial medium, for the voters have gone to the poll in numbers 'unapproached in recent" years, and' the elections may, therefore, be accepted as proof

of the temper : and purpose of French democracy. One other remarkable'feature of the elections is-Hie number of “new men” who have successfully appealed lO' the electorate. More than half the membership of the new Chamber is without .Parliamentary experience, and not a, few of those elected are strangers to public life in any form. For the rest- the results are a tremendous personal triumph for M. CTemenceau —one of the greatest ever achieved'by a French statesman —and for those who stand with him for ordered progress and concentration on the task of reconstruction.