Foreign News: Senatorial Election

Excitement and surprise were absent factors in the Senatorial election which was held last week in conformity with the French Constitution*to elect one-third (116 seats) of the Senate.

Most of the retiring Senators were reflected and the new Senate, like the old one, will be predominantly Radical. Premier Poincaré captured 794 votes out of a possible 810 in the Meuse Department, which he took as a vote of confidence in him as a Senator and as Chief of the Government and in his reparations policy, “to which,” said he, “I shall consecrate all my efforts, with all the determination necessary, until a peaceful victory has been won and Germany has executed all her engagements under the Treaty of Versailles.”

Among the defeated Senators were M. Rivet, Vice President of the Senate; M. de la Marzelle, anti-immorality campaigner, who had a hand in removing Victor Marguerite, author of La Gargonne, from the roll of the Legion of Honor; M. Lafevre, noted Free Mason and ex-Minister.

Contemporary French politics has been dominated throughout the past year by the Ruhr situation. No hostile party to Premier Poincaré has raised its voice officially against French policy for fear of embarrassing the Government, although many parties are opposed to the method employed by the Premier. The period may be said to be one of patriotic party-abnegation.

Under the calm exterior, burning fires have been fanned to white heat. It is common knowledge that President Millerand and Premier Poincare are not on friendly terms, although their official positions prevent a complete break. The Radicals, who to a large extent control the Senate, and who are not to be despised in the Chamber of Deputies, are violently opposed to Poincaré’s German policy. The Royalists, although backing Poincaré, believe that the Premier has not gone far enough. And there is some discontent among the Republicans. These broadly stated facts are symptomatic of the concealed and fermented situation.

The real issues are over internal policy. M. Poincaré has interested himself almost exclusively in foreign policy, believing that the ills of France can alone be cured by a settlement of the reparations problem. With a general election in view for April, national politics are gradually pushing themselves forward and a political storm will surely break over the head of the present Premier of France.

Premier Poincaré allegedly has no internal policy. He has been urged to state what he will do by members of the Bloc National, which leans toward the Right without taking in the Royalists, and to which M. Poincaré belongs. His answers were found unsatisfactory, with the result that the leaders of the Block National went over his head and approached President Millerand direct, as it was the latter who, with ex-Premer Clemenceau, founded the Bloc in 1919, when Millerand made his famed Ba-Ta-Clan speech (so named from the Paris theatre in which the speech was delivered) which laid down the objects of the Bloc.

Last October M. Millerand, who, when he was elected President in 1920, stated that he intended to exercise to the full the powers which the office conferred upon him, made a speech defining the policy of the Bloc for the coming election. Ever since then it has become more and more patent that President Millerand is the real power in French domestic politics. M. Poincaré must choose between remaining faithful to the Bloc or joining the maturing Bloc Gauche, a task in which he is showing considerable hesitation.

* A Senator is elected by indirect voting for a period of nine years. Every three years one-third of the Senate retires, but can stand for reelection.