Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 190.djvu/252

246 THE R. P. IN FRANCE.

battle for the R. P. (the representation in Parliament of all political parties in the country) has been commenced in earnest in the French Chamber. It has already resulted in the overthrow of the Monis Cabinet, and may cause the downfall of others. It is true M. Monis was not placed in a minority for opposing that reform, as he had from his bed sent a declaration to the Chamber adhering to the principle of the R. P., and the Ministers' votes were counted in the majority of 341 Deputies who rejected M. Malavialle's amendment, raising the previous question, supported by only 223 "Arrondissementiers" (the partisans of the maintenance of the small district voting). The victory of the proportionalists, including the members of the Government, was all the more unpalatable to the arrondissementiers because these latter had hoped to the very last moment that M. Monis, who was well known to draw inspiration from M. Combes the ex-Premier, and the most determined adversary of the R.P., would remain faithful to his previously expressed hostility to the reform. However, in his anxiety to retain office he unhesitatingly threw his opinions overboard in the same way as he had a few days before modified them on the question of the reintegration of the revolutionary railway strike leaders in the posts they formerly occupied. M. Monis gained the victory with the proportionalists as his allies, but only a couple of days later he was placed in a minority by the arrendissementiers on the question of the supreme command of the army, concerning which no one took any special interest. It was the revenge of the arrondissementiers, who had on all matters except the R. P. constituted a considerable portion of the Government majority. The determined opposition of the arrondissementiers to the adoption of the reform has created a dangerous situation from which, in the opinion of many politicians, no issue but the dissolution of the Chamber can be found. However, in reality the deadlock for useful legislation already existed previously, and had been clearly demonstrated by the fact that Parliament had not succeeded in even voting the budget for the present year, though it should have been adopted before the end of 1910. The 341 proportionalists who voted against the Malavialle amendment comprised Radicals, Radical-Socialists, Unified Socialists, and pure Socialists, usually supporting the Government, as well as moderate Republicans, Royalists, and Imperialists. The new Caillaux Ministry, representing what is called "republican