M. Faure's troubles have not ended with his election. He
had to form a Ministry, and he decided to form one from all the Republican groups, including rather ex- treme Radicals. He asked M. Bourgeois therefore, who, though temperate, is a Radical, to be Premier, and M. Bourgeois trotted about for a whole week trying to collect a Cabinet. Combination after combination was made with the same result,—viz., that each man asked was ready to serve, but would neither accept the programme nor his colleagues. The rocks in the way were the Income-tax and the repeal of the Railway " Conventions," on both of which irreconcilable differences appeared. M. Bourgeois, for instance, M. Cavaignac, and the whole Radical party afe resolved on an Income-tax; but M. Cochery declared he could not consent, and M. PoincarC would not consent except upon impossible terms. On Thursday, therefore, M. Bourgeois gave up his mission in despair, and the President, by the latest accounts, has applied to M. Loubet and M. Ribot. That means a purely Moderate Ministry, and it is very doubtful if the Moderates have a real majority in the Chamber. If they have not, a Loubet Ministry will be beaten at once, as M. Dupuy was, by some vote hostile to the Conventions,—a subject which in- volves such weighty interests that it cannot be long postponed. We shall see how M. Faure extricates himself, and if he has any quality in him besides pleasantness.
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