276 



FEANCE. 



force, in such a case, finds its support in the fact of 

 reason and conscience being fully satisfied. 



The text of the bill which was approved of 

 by the Council of State, on the 23d of March, 

 was as follows: 



ARTICLE 1. The law of June 22, 1854 Z and all other 

 provisions relative to workmen's service-books, are 

 and remain abrogated. The contract between the 

 directors of manufacturing establishments and their 

 men is subjected to the enactments of the common 

 law, and the terms may be stated in a book for the 

 purpose. A regulation of the public administration 

 will determine the conditions on which that docu- 

 ment may serve as a passport. 



ABT. 2. However, the provisions of the law of 

 March 18, 1806, relative to the service-books acquired 

 by the Lyons trade, will continue to be executed, as 

 well as the act of March 22, 1841, on the labor of chil- 

 dren in factories, and that of March 7, 1850, on the 

 account-books for weaving and spinning. 



The proposed transfer of a Belgian railway 

 to the (French) Eastern Company led, in con- 

 sequence of the prompt opposition of the Bel- 

 gian Chambers (see BELGIUM), to unpleasant 

 relations with Belgium, which, for a time, as- 

 sumed a threatening character. Belgium 

 showed itself willing to facilitate in every pos- 

 sible 'manner a closer commercial intercourse 

 between the two countries, but remained in- 

 flexibly firm in refusing to transfer to a French 

 company rights which, appeared to be fraught 

 with dangers to the independence of the coun- 

 try. In April, the Belgian minister, Frere- 

 Orban, went to Paris, to confer with the French 

 ministers, and succeeded in effecting a peace- 

 able settlement of the controversy. On the 

 27th of April a protocol was signed, insti- 

 tuting a joint commission to draw up tbe basis 

 of new treaties between the French and Bel- 

 gian railways. This commission finished its 

 work on the 9th of July, by declaring : " The 

 commissioners convinced that tbe aim to be at- 

 tained was to substitute for tbe treaties drawn 

 by the Eastern Company, the Grand Luxem- 

 bourg Company, and the company for the 

 working of the Dutch and Liegeois Luxem- 

 bourg Kailways, new combinations to facilitate 

 the development of the commercial relations 

 between Belgium, Holland, and France ; more- 

 over, inspiring themselves with the feeling of 

 conciliation that dictated the protocol of tbe 

 27th of April last, they bave carefully dis- 

 cussed and admitted, by a common accord, the 

 dispositions which, in their opinion, offered 

 mutual advantages to the economical interests 

 of both countries. Thus those dispositions 

 stipulate the organization of transit direct ser- 

 vices between the Antwerp port and Basel on 

 the one side, and between the Dutch frontier 

 and Basel on the other. The last service can, 

 with the Dutch Government's sanction, be 

 extended to Rotterdam and Utrecht. The 

 commissioners have formulated in the two 

 documents stipulations which, lay down tbe 

 bases of the treaties to be intervened be- 

 tween the Eastern Company, with the admin- 

 istration of the railways 'belonging to the 

 Belgian Government on the one side, and 



with the company for the working of Dutch 

 railways and Liegeois-Limburg line on tbe 

 other." 



A new election of the Legislative Body took 

 place on tbe 23d and 27th of May, amid great 

 excitement, which led to tumults in Angers, 

 Lille, Amiens, Toulouse, St. Etienne, Dijon, 

 Calais, Toulon, and other places. The oppo- 

 sition again carried the large cities, as Paris, 

 Lyons, Marseilles, and others, though the Gov- 

 ernment, on the whole, obtained a complete 

 victory. The opposition gained, however, 

 many new members; as, in addition to the 

 former leaders of the democratic opposition, 

 such as Simon, Favre, Thiers, a number of 

 ultra-radicals as Gambetta, a young lawyer 

 of great promise ; Bancel, who, in 1851, as a 

 defender of the republic against Louis Napo- 

 leon, had been exiled ; Easpail, a lifelong leader 

 in all republican conspiracies were elected. 

 Henry Eochefort, the editor of the Lanterne, 

 and later of the Marseillaise, was defeated at 

 the supplementary elections, held in those dis- 

 tricts, in which no candidate has obtained an 

 absolute majority; but when, in November, 

 new elections were held in a few districts, 

 in consequence of some of the members 

 having been elected in two places, Eochefort 

 was elected in one of the Paris districts, and 

 with him Emmanuel Arago, and Cremieux. 

 Emile Ollivier, who had forfeited the confi- 

 dence of the Liberal party, was defeated in 

 Paris, but elected in a country district. A 

 semi-official paper, La France, gave the follow- 

 ing statistics of the votes cast at the election 

 of May: Total number of votes registered, 

 10,315,523; actual votes, 8,098,565; of which 

 were cast: 1. For the official candidates of the 

 Government, 4,455,287; 2. For the third party 

 and other adherents of the imperial dynasty 

 who were not official candidates, 1,124,598 ; 

 3. For the candidates of the monarchical oppo- 

 sition, such as Orleanists, Catholic party, Le- 

 gitimists, etc., 786,020; 4. For Democratic can- 

 didates, but who are not Eadicals, 1,507,648; 

 5. For Eadical Democrats, 153,263; 6. Scat- 

 tered votes, 71,742. The votes of the first 

 and second classes, representing the combined 

 strength of the adherents of the Napoleonic 

 dynasty, together number 5,579,885 ; those of 

 the third, fourth, and fifth classes, represent- 

 ing the combined strength of the opponents 

 of imperialism, number 2,446,931. As regards, 

 however, the principle of u personal" in oppo- 

 sition to " constitutional " government which 

 had hitherto been the guide of the imperial 

 administration, the votes of the second class 

 were no less in opposition to the former policy 

 of Napoleon than those of the three follow- 

 ing classes; and in this sense the aggregate 

 vote of the opposition reached the large figure 

 of 3,643,271, against 4,455,287 votes cast for 

 the imperial policy. 



This partial success of the opposition at the 

 elections in May, and at the first supplementary 

 elections in June, called forth very excited and 



