The new French Cabinet, rendered necessary by the resignation of
M. Waldeck-Rousseau, has been formed more rapidly than usual. M. Brisson and M. Bourgeois having declined, M. Combes accepted the Premiership, and in a few hours the list of the Ministry was completed. M. Delcasse remains as Foreign Minister, and General Andre as Minister of War; while M. Rouvier, said to be the most skilled financier in France, having agreed to propose an Income-tax, takes charge of the Treasury ; M. Valle is Minister of Justice, and will, he promises, probe the Humbert affair to the bottom ; and M. Camille Pelletan is Minister of Marine,— the remaining Ministers being stout Radicals hitherto of less eminence. Their programme was produced on Tuesday, and consists of pledges to reduce the period of military service to two years, and to reform the administration of military justice; to carry out the Law of Associations with- out fear or favour; to remove malignant opponents of the Republic from office ; and to reintroduce equilibrium in the finances, partly by rigid economies, especially in the Army and Navy, and partly by superseding certain ancient taxes by "a general Income-tax," which, however, will not be progressive. We have discussed this programme elsewhere, and need only mention here that it was received with enthusiasm by the majority, but with dead silence by the Opposition of all shades. There are signs of a fierce struggle being at band, and a sharp sentence is attributed to President Loubet : "I am not here for my own pleasure, and I will not go for the pleasure of other people."
