The Committee appointed by the French Assembly to con- sider
the Electoral Law has sent in a report deciding strongly in favour of the scrutin de lige—that is, the election of all members for each Department by a single vote—as necessary to elevate the voters above local ideas and to prohibit local corruption. Aware, however, of the strength of Conservative prejudice upon the subject, or anxious to allow the Cabinet a loophole of retreat, they have proposed as a compromise that all departments re- turning less than nine members shall use the scrutin d& liste, and all departments above that the scrutin d'arrondissement. This proposal, under stress of circumstances, may be accepted, but acute wire-pullers like M. de .Broglie are not likely to be deceived as to its operation. All the rural districts will retain the scrutin de lisle, and will therefore elect men nominated by the party chiefs, while all the great cities will elect by arrondissement, which in them makes no manner of difference. No scheme could be better devised to further the interests of the Republican party.
