ed on misapprehension and mistake. Finally, that the immense majority of M. de Dalmas over his opponent was decisive of the question. They said,—

"A majority so imposing cannot be obtained on the ground of abuse of authority and influence. Individuals disappear in the infinite ramifications of universal suffrage. [We are translating literally.] There remain only the masses, whom it would be in vain to attempt to turn aside from the different currents that draw them in; and if, speaking strictly, one could comprehend a system of intimidation capable of making them abstain from voting, it is impossible to imagine an intimidation capable of making them vote contrary to their wishes."

The above was the substance of the report, in which not a word was said of the promises made, and the inducements held out, by the prefect and his subordinates, to the "masses" in the different communes, provided only they voted right (s'ils votaient bien), and which, considering the enormous amount of Government interference in France with matters which with us are left in the hands of parish vestries and local boards, were nothing short of bribery on the most extensive scale. The conclusion, however, at which the committee had arrived was vigorously attacked in the Corps Legislatif by M. Plichon, M. Picard, and others; and M. Picard, who was himself a member of the committee, said that the Count de la Riboisière, a senator and president of the Conseil général of Ille-et-Vilaine, had declared before them that, during the election, terror prevailed in the district of Vitré and Fougères, and had mentioned facts that proved that intimidation, fraud, and bribery (seduction) had been resorted to. But the most interesting part of the debate was a speech made by M. Baroche, President of the Council of State, who enunciated certain principles which go far to explain the conduct of the officials in the particular case complained of, and also to explain the majorities which the French Government is able to obtain at elections. After declaring that France was as honoured and as free now as she had ever been, he said

no

"While I proclaim the advantages of universal suffrage, I think there would be danger in abandoning it to itself, as one of the previous speakers has seemed to wish. During the continuance of restricted suffrage, certain electoral colleges did not contain more than 150 voters, and sometimes 76 or 80 votes were enough to return a deputy. One can understand that in presence of so small a number of electors, all occupying a certain social position, there was room for the intervention of the Government. But we must not forget that on the 18th and 19th of December last, 39,000 electors were convoked in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine to choose a deputy; and were they to be abandoned to themselves-that is to say, to all their local passions? The duty of the Government was to enlighten them, and it had the right to recommend publicly the Govern ment candidate. As a general proposition, I admit that it is a good thing that places should be represented by men locally known there; but all systems of electoral legislation have allowed that strangers may also be chosen. This is especially necessary in the case of local quarrels and dissensions; and the best mode of putting a stop to them is the introduction of a candidate who is a stranger. If the Government did not indicate its candidate-if it did not re

commend him to the electors-if it did not try and insure his success by all honourable means, it would be wanting to its own rights, and would fail in its duty. Universal suffrage, which declares itself with such an imposing appearance (avec un ensemble si admirable), when he who is to be elected is placed so high that all feel and know the interest they have in the choice they are about to make-[Oh, M. Baroche! we know well to whose election by seven millions you are now alluling.]-universal suffrage, I say, becomes less enlightened in proportion as the person to be elected is nearer to the electors. If, in that case, local passions were left without direction, universal suffrage might become, not, as some one mystification, but a great danger. The has improperly called it, an universal administration has its candidate. Again I say, it is its right and its duty. I, the organ of the Government, declare it without hesitation."

The question was put to the vote (by ballot) whether the report and recommendation of the committee should be adopted, and there appeared 123 in favour of it, and 109

licensed hawkers, and so are guilty of a misdemeanour.

The colportage law is part of the Loi du 27-29 Juillet 1849, sur la Presse, and is in the following terms: "All distributors or hawkers of books, writings, pamphlets, engravings, and lithographs, shall be obliged to be furnished with an authority (or licence), which shall be delivered to them for the department of the Seine by the prefect of police, and for the other departments by the prefects." And the penalty of contravention is fine and imprisonment. We cannot state that any French court of justice has actually held the distribution of electoral cards to be within scope of this law, but we know that individuals have been brought before juges de paix, and charged with it as a penal offence. And in one case a candidate was himself arrested for handing about his own cards in a marketplace! At a late election which took place for the arrondissement of Pont de l'Evèque, which embraces part of the coast of Normandy, the report was carefully spread that if the Government candidate did not obtain an imposing majority, there would be a general impressment of seamen, and that those who were known to exert themselves for the opposition candidate, would be compelled to sail in the expedition to China. And to such an extent was the system of Government interference carried, that none of the licensed victuallers (débiteurs de boissons) dared to receive the addresses and cards of the opposition candidate, and they positively refused them, knowing well that they were at the mercy of the prefect, who could, if he pleased, make them close their houses. In one of the communes of the arrondissement of Lisieux, the commissary of police threatened a distributor of some opposition tickets on the eve of an election, that if he did not desist, his son, who was away from his regiment on furlough on account of health, should be immediately recalled to active service, and of course the threat was effectual. Sometimes opposition placards are torn down by or in presence of the authorities, whose zeal, although

sometimes, as in the case of M. Thil, it overshoots the mark, is quickened by the hope of thereby recommending them to the favour of Government, the absolute dispenser of every kind of patronage in France.

We might go on multiplying such instances to an indefinite extent, but we think we have said enough to illustrate the way in which M. Baroche's maxim as to the necessity of not abandoning electors to themselves, and of enlightening them with respect to the performance of their duties, is practically understood and carried out by the authorities; and how universal suffrage may and does become universal "mystification." We have seen the enormous amount of influence, both direct and indirect, which the Imperial Government brings to bear upon elections-the promises, the threats, the frauds, which are employed to secure the return of the Government candidates; and how, then, can we accept the results as a fair test of the political opinions of a majority of the population? When the masses are told by their prefects, who have the power of verifying their own predictions, that unless they return a particular deputy, the roads of the commune will not be repaired, and the bridges not rebuilt, that the parish church will be allowed to fall into decay, and no public money will be spent on the district, how can we wonder that they vote as they are bid, and become passive instruments in the hands of Government. To us, we confess it seems to be little short of a miracle that any opposition should succeed, and we admire the moral courage of the men who venture to confront the serried phalanx of officials, with all their machinery of power, patronage, and means of annoyance at command. They run in a race where the competitors are so unfairly weighted as to make the chance of victory on the side of opposition almost impossible.

But it may be said that opposition members do sit in the Corps Legislatif-and how did they get there if the system at elections is such as we have described? We answer first, that it would not serve the purpose of the Imperial Government not

to have even the show of an opposition in the Chamber-that would be too transparent a mockery; and, secondly, public opinion is not so utterly powerless and dead in France as to make it safe to attempt such practices in the larger towns. It is therefore quite consistent with all we have here stated, that M. Emile Ollivier should be elected in Paris, and M. le Beschu de Champsavin rejected in Brittany.

We will, in conclusion, quote one or two passages from the writings of the present French Emperor, which deserve to be carefully studied, as containing the opinions of a man who, more than any other in Europe, has the power to convert his ideas into facts. In a short essay on the electoral system which he published in 1840, in L'Idée Napoléonienne, intended to be a monthly periodical, but of which only one number ever appeared, after proposing a system of electoral colleges based on universal suffrage, he says:—

"In a well-organised body two contrary currents must always be perceptible; one rising from the base to the summit, the other descending from the

summit to the base.

"This influence of the Government, which must be felt in the lowest classes of the people, and the authority of popular will, which even the head of the State must acknowledge, must act and react by mutual degrees in the ascending as in the descending current.

"When the people vote in a body in the public street, and give their suffrage directly, it is as if all the blood of the body rose to the head, and the consequence is discomfort, congestion, giddiness.

"Even the interests of the people are

inadequately represented, because reflection and judgment have no influence over the elections; only passion and

excitement of the moment direct the vote.

"A striking example of this truth presents itself in the democracy of the Swiss cantons. The people assembled in a body on the public place to choose their representatives; yet, though they enjoy. the plenitude of power, the retrogressive spirit is firmly implanted in the minds of the people in their Swiss cantons. There is no ancient prejudice which they do not sanction in their popular assemblies, and no improvement which they do not reject.

"In France just the contrary takes place. In our election system, founded on fear and privilege, the influence of the Government acts directly on the people, and this influence, which might nevertheless be enlightened and protective, acts by corrupting the consciences of the people, by deceitful promises, by making a real political traffic of the votes of the citizens."

Prince Louis Napoleon of the action Such is the character given by

of the Government on the electoral system twenty years ago. It then, according to him, corrupted consciences and trafficked in votes. At the present moment, Napoleon III. wishes the world to believe that under the Imperial regime it is "enlightened and protective." But, after the facts we have adduced, we leave it to every one who reads this article to declare whether the Emperor has not, in the above passage, pronounced his own condemnation, and given a true description of the system now practised in France; and whether universal suffrage and vote by ballot in that country are not a mockery, a delusion, and a snare."

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