The first ballots in the General Election for the Reichstag
were held on Friday, and the results will probably be known before these words appear in print. We can therefore do nothing beyond chronicling the fact that on the eve of the elections there was the greatest uncertainty 'as to their out- come. Even the expectation of great Socialist gains has become modified during the last few weeks. In any case, however, the results of Friday's polls will give no more than an indication as to the final constitution of the Reichstag, and the next fortnight will see the usual hurried and opportunist bargainings between the parties in anticipation of the second ballots. The French Cabinet crisis is unlikely to have any appreciable effect on the elections in Germany. And this would probably have been the case even had M. Deleassee appointment as Foreign Minister proved permanent. It was evident when he accepted the Ministry of Marine that the German Government no longer held the violent views in regard to him which led to his resignation in 1905.
