384 



FRANCE. 



The address "was presented to the emperor 

 on Feb. 1. The emperor, in reply, said, that 

 the debates upon the confirmation of the mem- 

 bers' elections and on the address had been long 

 and profound, and though they had taken near- 

 ly three months from the legislative business of 

 the House, they had not been useless. To an 

 impartial mind the result had been to annihi- 

 late the accusations which had been skilfully 

 spread. The Emperor then continued : 



" The policy of the Government is better appreci- 

 ated. We have a more compact majority, and one 

 more devoted to our institutions. These are great 

 advantages. After the fruitless efforts of so many 

 forms of government, the first want of the country is 

 stability. Nothing durable can be founded on an 

 ever-shifting base without consistence. For sixty 

 years liberty has become an army in the hands of 

 parties to overthrow the existing Government ; thence 

 have resulted incessant fluctuations power succumb- 

 ing; to liberty, and liberty succumbing to anarchy. 

 This must no longer exist. The example of recent 

 years proves the possibility of conciliating what has 

 long appeared irreconcilable. Eeally fecund progress 

 is the fruit of experience. Its advance will not be 

 hastened by systematic and unjust attacks, but by 

 the intimate union of government with a majority in- 

 spired by patriotism and unseduced by vain popular- 

 ity. Let us await, from agreement and from time, 

 such ameliorations as are possible. Do not let a de- 

 lusive hope of chimerical future unceasingly compro- 

 mise the present good which we have at heart to 

 consolidate together. Let us each remain in our 

 right sphere. You, gentlemen, enlightening and con- 

 trolling the progress of the Government, I taking the 

 initiative in all that may promote the greatness and 

 prosperity of France." 



The session of the Corps Legislatif was closed 

 on May 28, by its President, the Duke de Mor- 

 ny, who, in his closing speech, alluded to the 

 conciliatory part he acted, and invited all par- 

 ties to observe conciliation one toward another. 



In January, 1864, a great excitement was 

 produced by the discovery of a conspiracy 

 against the emperor's life. The police arrested 

 on Jan. 7th, four Italians, Greco, Imperatori, 

 Trabuco, and Scagloni. At their residences were 

 found a great quantity of English gunpowder, four 

 poignards, four revolvers, four air-guns of a new 

 and ingenious construction, phosphorus, percus- 

 sion caps, fuses several metres in length, and 

 eight hand-grenades, made on the Orsini pattern. 

 They had entered France at Mulhouse, whence 

 they were followed by the police to Paris. One 

 of the prisoners, Greco, with a readiness which 

 created a general distrust, avowed an intention 

 to assassinate, and confessed all the details of the 

 plot. According to his statements, he and his 

 accomplices had, in September, 1863, been sum- 

 moned to Lugano by Mazzini, with whom they 

 had been for some time in correspondence. It 

 was then and there arranged that they should 

 proceed to Paris to assassinate the emperor. 

 Mazzini gave them four shells, which he had re- 

 ceived or brought from England ; four shells of 

 a similar description which he had caused to be 

 made at Genoa, four revolvers, and four poig- 

 nards. On leaving Lugano, Mazzini gave him 

 4,000 fr., telling him he was going to London, 

 to await the result of the attempt, and then 



send him more money. Mazzini was conse- 

 quently included in the indictment, though he 

 emphatically denied all the statements of Greco. 

 Judgment on the conspirators was passed on 

 February 26th. Greco and Trabuco were con- 

 demned to transportation for life, and Impera- 

 tori and Scagloni to twenty years' imprison- 

 ment. 



Supplementary elections for the Corps Legis- 

 latif took place in two districts of Paris, and in 

 several provincial districts, in the month of 

 March. At most of the elections the Opposition 

 was successful. It gained, in particular, a sig- 

 nal victory in Paris, where its candidates were 

 two members of the provisional government of 

 the French Eepublic in 1848, Carnot and Gar- 

 nier Pages. Carnot received 9,938 votes against . 

 the government nominee, Pinard, for whom 

 only 3,378 persons voted. Gamier Pages had 

 11,721 votes recorded in his favor, while Levi, 

 one of the Paris maires put forward to oppose 

 him, only received 4,641. At Cambrai, Stievant, 

 the Opposition candidate, obtained 16,159 votes, 

 and Boitele, the government candidate, 13,425 

 votes. In July, elections for the renewal of the 

 Councils-General were held, with a result similar 

 to that of the general election in 1863. In a 

 number of large cities, the opposition elected 

 their candidates, and in some places, as Mar- 

 seilles, the government even desisted from re- 

 commending official candidates; but on the 

 whole, the government gained the official can- 

 didates in an overwhelming number of dis- 

 tricts. At the opening of the Councils-Gen- 

 eral several of the ministers who had been ap- 

 pointed by the emperor presidents of the coun- 

 cils, delivered speeches in which they prom- 

 ised the introduction of liberal reforms. Mr. 

 Rouher intimated that a new law would be 

 promulgated affecting the Councils-General, 

 which would have a largely decentralizing char- 

 acter. It would also be very liberal, and confer 

 upon the Councils-General the most entire au- 

 thority over departmental affairs, restraining 

 their subordination to the State solely to the 

 subjects affecting general interests, the unity 

 of the territory or the right of political sover- 

 eignty. The speech of Mr. Rouland, at Rouen, 

 expressed the same views. At St. Etienne, 

 the Duke de Persigny, who presided over the 

 Council-Gene'ral for the Department de la Loire, 

 gave a complete review of the theory of the 

 imperial constitution. He called Louis Napo- 

 leon " the founder of liberty in France." The 

 form of liberty he contended varied with every 

 free people. " The present physiognomy of lib- 

 erty, properly so called," said M. de Persigny, 

 " may be recognized by the striking signs of 

 the solidity and duration of government, which 

 it founds, and above all by the passion it in- 

 spires for great things." M. de Persigny then 

 demonstrated that the institutions of England 

 are not suitable for France, " it not being pos- 

 sible, he continued, " for authority or liberty to 

 remain in the hands of one class, as in England. 

 Instead of subordinating one class to another. 



