316 



FRANCE. 



I U L UVMU-lLiti vF* VI.V^-'WAV**"^ - 



of the nation would be a resistance to the Con- 

 stitution itself, and that a fresh dissolution 

 could only be resorted to after a session which 

 had raised new questions on which the country 

 had not already pronounced. 



Official decrees were issued on September 

 22d, ordering the elections on October 14th, 

 the second ballots for October 28th, and the 



fanlts of eovernments which had fallen into all declarations of policy would be read, in 

 ladness before falling to pieces; but while order not to allow the publication of outrages 

 pretended saviors had themselves perished, against the chief of state, violent languages, 

 and sometimes drawn France into the abyss, menaces, or falsehoods. 



she had always extricated herself. He en- In the beginning of October, M. Gambetta 

 ioined the electors to insist on the principle issued his manifesto to the electors of his ar- 

 that the elected head of the Executive could rondissement, in which he repeated his famous 

 govern only with the cooperation of both expression that the President would have to 

 Chambers and of ministers approved by the " submit or resign." For this offense a second 

 maiority that taxes voted only by one Cham- prosecution was begun against him, and he was 

 ber could not be legally collected; that after again sentenced to three months'^ imprison- 

 the holding of elections, resistance to the will ment and a fine of 4,000 francs, a similar pen- 

 - * *-* ^ a lty having been imposed upon him previously 



for a speech delivered at Lille. 



The elections took place on October 14th, 

 and resulted in a victory for the Republicans, 

 although not so complete as had been expected 

 by some. Exclusive of the four colonial Dep- 

 uties, 315 Republicans and 199 official candi- 

 dates were chosen, while in 15 cases a second 

 ballot was necessary. Of the 

 Republicans, 291 sat in the last 

 Chamber, and 24 were new men. 

 Of the official candidates, 140 

 =g were in the last Chamber, and 59 



were new men ; of these 21 were 

 Bonapartists, 15 Legitimists, 4 

 Orleanists, and 21 MacMahonites. 

 The Left had lost 53 seats and 

 gained 17; the Bonapartists los- 

 ing 10, and the Royalists 7. As 

 to the geographical distribution 

 of these gains and losses, it may 

 be observed that, dividing Franco 

 into four tolerably equal parts, 

 the Republicans gained 12 seats 

 and lost 12 in the northeast ; 

 gained 1 and lost 13 in the south- 

 east ; gained 1 and lost 14 in the 

 southwest, besides two losses in 

 Corsica, which is now completely 

 in the hands of the Bonapartists. 

 Northeastern France would have 

 become nearly exclusively Repub- 

 lican but for the loss of 4 seats 

 in the Nord, another in the Ar- 

 dennes, and 2 in the eastern half 

 of the Pas-de-Calais, all lying so 

 close together that the Repub- 

 licans may be said to have lost 

 the belt of territory on the Bel- 

 gian frontier. On the other hand, 

 they gained sufficient seats in the 

 remainder of the section to coun- 

 terbalance this loss, and to re- 

 tain an overwhelming preponderance in north- 

 eastern France, whose vicinity to Germany 

 renders foreign policy a vital question. The 

 southeast, bordering on Italy, likewise remain- 

 ed Republican, though the preponderance was 

 not so decided ; and the loss of 4 constituencies 

 out of 7 in Vaucluse, which had veered round 

 from Radicalism to Legitimacy, was not set 

 off in the adjoining departments, but was, in- 

 deed, further swollen. In the northwest, which 

 in the late Chamber was mainly anti-Republi- 



CHTTBCH OP NOTRE DAUB, BEAR VIEW, PARIS. 



meeting of the Chambers for November 7th. 

 The Minister of Justice followed up these 

 decrees by a circular to the Procurenrs-Gene- 

 raux, in which he reminded them of the chief 

 regulations for electioneering. He mentioned 

 among these the right of a judicial or admin- 

 istrative official present at any meeting to 

 order it to disperse, as alsoTheTiability for de- 

 livering an illegal speech. He directed that 

 electoral circulars and placards must bear the 

 official signature of the candidate, and said that 



