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of the Government toward Labour, the extremists pressed for- ward with their plans for an unusually impressive Labour Day demonstration which as it happened to be but a day or two after the arrival of the peace delegates at Versailles, the authorities determined should be either peaceful or suppressed with the utmost vigour. Workmen employed in the following trades decided to come out: metal, building, shipbuilding, arsenals, miners, seamen, transports, dressmaking, theatres, concerts, mu- nicipal services. The postal and telegraph services only opened at 10 in the morning, and telephone operators struck for half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening. Elec- tricians struck for 2 hours. It was at first decided to hold no public demonstration and to restrict the programme to a series of private meetings. At the last moment, however, it was decided to march in procession from the Place de la Concorde to the Place de la Republique. The Government issued a prohibition of any such demonstration, and troops were massed round Paris.

The day ended with rioting of a serious nature. There were a number of casualties on both sides, and as a result of the vigour with which the Government maintained its authority, M. Jou- vaux, secretary of the General Confederation of Labour, resigned his position as a supplementary Labour delegate to the Peace Conference, and two other Socialists holding Government positions, M. Bouisson, Commissioner for Merchant Marine, and Compere-Morel, Commissioner for Agriculture, left their posts. The feeling left among the working-classes was one of great bitterness, and leaders did not accept their defeat. During the next two months strike after strike occurred, affecting all sorts of people from bank clerks and milliners to railwaymen and miners. It would be impossible to give any one reason for this discontent, which was due to both economic and political causes. The main factor of the first was the high cost of living, and of the second the faulty application of the ill-considered eight-hour-day bill, which led to a great amount of dispute in its interpretation, and with some piece-workers to a reduction of wages. In many cases the Confederation Generale du Travail found itself powerless to control the rank and file, who were inflamed by revolutionary propaganda, and by the circulation of quite un- justified statements that the Government intended to send large numbers of French troops to fight against the Russians.

These partial strikes continued throughout June, and the General Labour Federation decided, in unity with Italian labour, to proclaim a 24 hours' general strike in France on July 21. This strike was to be " a formidable warning to cease all armed inter- vention in Russia; to demobilize rapidly and without restriction; to reestablish constitutional liberties; and to grant full and entire amnesty." It was also to be considered as a declaration of war upon the high cost of living. This move met with such faint- hearted support from Labour itself, and aroused such violent protest from the rest of the community, that on July 20 the C.G.T. decided to abandon its action. They had the satisfaction, however, of seeing a defeat inflicted on the Government two days before that decision was arrived at. This adverse vote was taken on a question of food policy, and the Food Controller, M. Boret, resigned. Clemenceau appointed Noulens to succeed him, and again managed to obtain a majority.

Peace Treaty Criticism. The text of the Peace Treaty, and of the Franco-British and Franco- American Conventions accom- panying it, was tabled at the Chamber of Deputies on June 30. The Chamber at once nominated a Peace Committee to report upon the document, M. Barthou being elected its president. His report was submitted to the Peace Committee on Aug. 5. It recommended the ratification of the Treaty, but drew attention to some of the provisions for ensuring French security on the Rhine, pointing out that their application would call for constant vigilance. He also criticized the exclusion from the pact of the League of Nations of those clauses proposed by France with a view to increasing the safety of her Eastern frontier. There naturally could be no question of a rejection of the Treaty; but its reception by Parliament was lukewarm. Parliament felt that it had not been allowed to play a proper part in the deliberations which had produced the document, and certain sections, notably

the Right, were critical of the clauses dealing with the left bank of the Rhine and reparations. Tardieu, replying for the Govern- ment on Sept. 3, in the debate upon that report, outlined argu- ments which he subsequently developed at greater length in his book La Paix. The debates of that summer were academic or, at the most, preliminary to the storm of criticism which Clemen- ceau's work subsequently aroused. The Opposition had failed to upset the Government on economic questions; it was impossible for national reasons to try to do so on the Peace Treaty, and the House accepted the idea that Clemenceau would remain in power to " make " the approaching elections. The treaty was ratified by 372 votes against 52. There were 73 abstentions.

Elections of 1919. On Oct. 2 a General Election bill was tabled in the Chamber fixing the dates for the elections as follows: Chamber of Deputies, Nov. 16; Municipal Councils, Nov. 23; Mayoralty, Dec. 7; Councils General, Dec. 14; Senate, Jan. n 1920. At the beginning of Nov. Clemenceau, speaking in Strass- burg, made a programme speech which served as the rallying- ground for the widely diverse elements composing the bloc national. He made a fine appeal to all Frenchmen to realize that upon them depended whether they would in labour and tran- quillity reap the benefits of the peace they had won. He dwelt upon the necessity for stable government, based on a large and solid majority; and his electioneering cry he found in Bolshevism, which had, indeed, made considerable progress, but, as was shown by the result of the elections, was far from being a national danger. The elections were fought with some bitterness, especial- ly in the Seine, where Millerand and Barres were the chief candi- dates of the bloc national, and where Longuet, the leader of the Socialists, figured on a list with Capt. Sadoul, a French officer serving with the Bolshevist army, who had been condemned to death by French court-martial for treason. The bloc national, comprising the moderate elements of the Chamber, and many of the extreme Conservatives, swept the country. The results of the elections were: Conservatives and Liberal Action, in (a gain of 46); Progressives, 125 (a gain of 75); Left Republicans, 139 (a gain of 43) ; Radicals and Socialist-Radicals, 147 (a loss of 102) ; Socialist Republicans, 34 (a loss of 3); Unified and Dissident Socialists, 70 (a loss of 35).

Presidential Election: Resignation of Clemenceau. This new Chamber met on Dec. 8, when it gave a welcome to the 24 deputies elected for Alsace-Lorraine. On Dec. 18 M. Deschanel was reelected to the presidency of the Chamber by 478 votes out of 505. The Minister of Finance tabled two bills, one authorizing an additional credit amounting to 43 million sterling for the financial year 1919, and the other a vote on account for the first three months of 1920. The most important immediate business before Parliament was to proceed with the election of a successor to M. Poincare in the presidency of the republic. Clemenceau, although not anxious to fill that office, was nevertheless prepared to accept it as the result of a more or less unanimous vote. The election of Deschanel to the presidency of the Chamber gave Clemenceau's opponents an opportunity of urging Deschanel to stand, and both he and Clemenceau agreed to abide by the decision of the preliminary meeting of the Republican groups of the Chamber and the Senate. Clemenceau was narrowly defeated in this party ballot, and withdrew his candidature. M. Deschanel was elected President in the National Assembly of _ Versailles on Jan. 17 1920 by 734 votes out of the 888 cast. Clemenceau placed the resignation of his Ministry in the hands of the President of the republic on Jan. 18 and retired into private life. Millerand, who had taken the chief part in organizing the parliamentary elections, formed a Cabinet as follows: Millerand, prime min- ister and Minister for Foreign Affairs; L'Hopiteau, Minister of Justice; Steeg, Interior; Francois Marsal, Finance; Lefevre, War; Landry, Navy; Honnorat, Public Instruction and Fine Arts; Le Trocquer, Public Works and Transport; Ricard, Agriculture; Isaac, Commerce, Industry, Posts and Telegraphs; Sarraut, Colonies; Jourdain, Labour; Ogier, Liberated Regions; Maginot. Pensions and War Allowances; Breton, Hygiene.

The new President was installed in office on Feb. 18, and two days later M. Poincare was appointed president of the Repara-