who went to Zimmerwald to discuss peace with German Social- ists, daily insulted in the Chamber the ideals for which his coun- trymen were dying at the front, it was easy for a tactician such as Briand to profit by the indignation aroused.
Reconstruction of the Ministry. These political considerations, and the necessity for the Loan of Deliverance, subscriptions for which were opened on Oct. 5, being undisturbed by political trouble, kept the Chamber more or less quiet until November. The difficulties of the country were, however, steadily growing; and it was apparent that the Government had lost the fund of energy and foresight with which it had started. Economic trou- bles were becoming extremely irksome; practically nothing had been done, save by dead-letter decree, to stamp out hoarding; transport, both by rail and sea, had been allowed to lapse into chaos, except for military purposes. In the early part of Nov. the Government, conscious of its shortcomings, and anxious to fore- stall parliamentary criticism, as well as to meet the growing pub- lic indignation, appointed M. Claveille, the head of the Western State railway, to be Director-General of Transports and Imports. An under-secretaryship of State for civil and military food sup- plies was also created, and the post was entrusted to M. Joseph Thierry. A number of food restrictions were also decreed, most of which, except in the remoter districts, remained very much a dead letter. On Nov. 28 all these matters of discontent, to which were naturally to be added the course of eastern affairs, the question of effectives (the 1918 class registration had been voted six days previously), and the High Command, brought about a further secret meeting of the Chamber. At the meetings, which occupied nine days, criticism of the Government was outspoken, and it was only after promising a smaller Ministry and reorganization of the High Command that Briand was able to obtain a vote of confidence. In his reconstructed Ministry Briand remained prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs; Ribot at Finance; Adml. Lacaze at Marine; Malvy at the Interior; Viviani stayed in the Ministry with the consolidated portfolios of Justice, Pub- lic Instruction and Labour; Clementel took over the new port- folio of National Economy (Commerce, Industry and Agricul- ture); Herriot became Minister of Transport and Supplies; Albert Thomas, Minister of Armaments; Doumergue, Colonies; Loucheur, Under-Secretary for Armaments; and Gen. Lyautey was transferred from Morocco to the Ministry of War.
A Ribot Ministry. This new combination had a brief and exciting existence. Accusations of dictatorship were made as soon as Briand, thinking to meet the Chamber's demand for firmer government, asked for power to settle a number of ques- tions by decree. Both the deputies and the senators held a num- ber of secret sessions, in which nearly every one of the Govern- ment's acts was vehemently criticized by speakers on all sides; and, early in 1917, it was clear that the Ministry could not long continue to face the growing hostility of Parliament. It died of anaemia. Its leader, wearied by the strain of office, and harassed almost beyond bearing by incessant criticism, partly no doubt patriotic, and also without doubt very largely politi- cal, could no longer see his way clear through this very dark period in the war. He lacked the reserve strength of character and the men required to deal with economic difficulties and to stir the country out of the war-weariness which was creeping over it. The immediate cause of his collapse was the resigna- tion of Gen. Lyautey, a straightforward soldier with a horror of politics, and the supple compromises of the politicians. He re- signed on March 14, after voicing his distrust of secret sit- tings. Briand failed to find a successor to him, and the whole Cabinet went on March 17.
M. Ribot met the Chamber four days later with a Ministry in which there were not many changes. It was composed as follows: Ribot, prime minister and Foreign Affairs; Viviani, Justice; Painleve, War; Adml. Lacaze, Marine; Thomas, Munitions; Thierry, Finance; Malvy, Interior; Steeg, Public Instruction; Desplas, Public Works; Clementel, Commerce; Fernand David, Agriculture; Viollette, Supply; Leon Bourgeois, Labour. This new combination was slightly more Radical than its predecessor, and its chief point of interest was the nomination of Painleve
to the Ministry of War. When the Briand Ministry was recon- structed in Dec., Painleve declined that portfolio, and joined the Left in criticism of Briand's war-leading.
The Army Command. One reason for this refusal had been the appointment of Gen. Nivelle to the High Command, and it was inevitable that one of the first things to be undertaken by the Government was a reorganization of the army command. Gen. Nivelle had prepared plans for a general offensive to be started on the Champagne front at Easter-time. He was allowed, after much criticism from the" Ministry of War and from other commanders, to proceed with his arrangement in a modified form. Although the offensive produced some fruit, in the shape of prisoners and guns captured and territory re-won, it failed en- tirely in its main objective. Gen. Nivelle complained bitterly that the responsibility for this failure lay on the shoulders of M. Painleve, whom he charged with having intrigued against him with generals under his command, and with having, by exaggerat- ing losses sustained by the French in the operations, undermined the confidence of the troops in his leadership. He also charged the Government with not having done its duty in repressing the pacifist and seditious propaganda in the rear, which had affected the moral of some of his troops.
Gen. Petain was appointed to the chief command on May 15, Gen. Foch becoming chief of the general staff with very extensive powers. May and June were filled with labour troubles of a very wide-spread nature. They coincided with mutinous develop- ments among the troops at the front, and with the demand of the Socialists for passports for Stockholm to take part in the pro- posed international meeting for the discussion of peace. It was evident that behind all this agitation there were foreign men and foreign money. Labour troubles were smoothed down, a num- ber of concessions being granted in the way of shorter hours; the military troubles led to the execution of a good many of the ring- leaders, and also to attempts being made to improve the system of leave, and to release the older men from service at the front. Public opinion, which had been rendered very uneasy by these many signs of weakening moral, both military and civilian, became even more alarmed as the result of M. Caillaux's activi- ties in preparing the way for peace. An attack delivered in the Senate by M. Clemenceau upon the way in which Malvy, the Minister df the Interior, had allowed a whole number of anti- patriotic organs to carry on pacifist and pro-German campaigns in France brought matters to a head.
Painleve Premier. By the end of Aug. the position of the Government had become impossible. M. Malvy resigned on Aug. 31, and a week later the whole Cabinet followed suit. The Socialists refused to support Ribot in forming another Cabinet. He had incurred their enmity by refusing to allow their delegates to attend the Stockholm meeting, and they made the continued presence of any of their number in the Government dependent upon utterly inacceptable conditions of control, which, had they been put into effect, would have made the Government the prisoner of a Socialist Soviet system. Painleve, however, found more favour in their eyes; but he refused to exclude Ribot from the Ministry, and, in spite of Socialist and Socialist-Radical opposition, the latter stirred up by M. Caillaux, retained him as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The new Ministry was Radical and Socialist-Radical in a more pronounced degree than any previous war Cabinet. Its birth was attended by intrigue and bitter party feeling. It represented the last and despairing effort of the old Radical gang and the Socialist extremists to save themselves from the advent to power of Clemenceau, whose fearless exposure of M. Malvy's backslidings had earned him tremendous popu- larity in the country. Painleve was too closely identified politi- cally with Malvy and his friends for it to have been possible for him to control the gathering storm. When he became prime minister, the first of the long series of treason scandals had been opened up. Almeyreda had died in prison; Bolo was in gaol; and more than one member of the Chamber of Deputies was involved in suspected dealings with enemy subjects.
Clemenceau in Power. When, on Oct. 5, a definite accusation of treason was made against M. Malvy, the days of the Painleve
