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the use of a written election law to secure the independence of the voter, if it is constantly violated in practice by a whole army of Government officials? The liberties of France would have a better chance if the Emperor had the legal right to nominate directly a simple majority in the Chamber, and he were to leave the minority to the free choice of the electors, without the slightest interference on the part of the prefect and his subordinates. As matters stand at present, he returns his own creatures, under the mask of deputies freely chosen by the people.

When the ballot-box was opened at Louvigné-du-Désert, although only 771 persons had votes, it was found that there were 780 tickets in the box, and in almost every commune similar discrepancies occurred. This shows that there was fraud somewhere; and after the narrative of facts we have given, we think it will not be difficult to decide whether it was on the part of the voters or the officials. It reminds us of a passage in the speech of the facetious deputy Guerrazzi in the Sardinian Parliament a short time ago, who said, "At Lavenzo the number of voters registered was 402, and out of the urn came 476 votes. Talk of the miracle of the loaves and fishes!"

The final result of the contest was

that M. de Dalmas was returned by an immense majority over M. le Beschu, the numbers being

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The total number of electors in the list was 39,404, so that 9997 abstained from voting.

Upon these facts M. le Beschu addressed a Protestation to the Corps Legislatif against the return of M. de Dalmas, and prayed the Chamber to annul the election of a representative in the united arrondissements of Fougères and Vitré that took place on the 18th and 19th of December 1859. He offered to prove by witnesses on oath, before commissioners to beappointed, the facts which he had averred in his protest, in case the Chamber should not consider the circulars of the prefect and his subordinates, and

the matters of public notoriety mentioned in the protest, sufficient to induce the Chamber to declare the election null and void.

M. le Beschu's petition was referred to a committee of the Chamber, and a sort of preliminary inquiry was held by them, at which M. le Beschu and several other persons were present, and statements were made both on behalf of the petitioner and also of the authorities implicated. The result was, that the committee, by a majority of 19 to 12, agreed to report to the Chamber that the commission of inquiry prayed for ought not to be granted, and that M. de Dalmas should be declared duly elected to serve "for the third electoral circumscription of the department of the Ille-et-Vilaine." This gave rise to a spirited debate, which will be found reported in the Journal des Debats of the 24th of March last, and which is well worthy a perusal. The report of the committee went at considerable length into the allegations contained in M. le Beschu's protest, and declared that the circular of M. Thil, the sub-prefect of Fougères, which we have quoted at length, was regrettable, and evinced a degree of zeal which nobody could approve of. That it was, however, the isolated act of a public functionary, without authority from his superiors; and owing to the late period at which it appeared, it could have had no influence on the result of the election. That the facts alleged by M. le Beschu were not within his own personal knowledge, but rested on the information given him by others. "And what danger there was to truth in the passage from mouth to mouth of such statements, and how many alterations they might have undergone before they reached him!" (The committee here seems to have forgotten that M. le Beschu's application was to have these very statements verified upon oath by persons who could speak from personal knowledge.) That besides, in one particular affecting the Archbishop of Rennes, M. le Beschu had, in the opinion of a majority of the committee, been shown to be inaccurate, and therefore his other statements ought to be received with great caution, as found

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

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"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

"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 no 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 proposi tion, 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 tha 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 recommend 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 alluding.]-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 has improperly called it, an universal administration has its candidate. Again mystification, but a great danger. The 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

against it.* So M. de Dalmas was declared duly elected, and the souschef du cabinet de l'Empereur now sits in the French Chamber as representative of the third circumscription of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine. Although we have selected the case of M. le Beschu for the purpose /of giving a detailed account of the proceedings at the election at which he was a candidate, it must not be supposed that it is an isolated or exceptional instance. We have before us documents which prove that the interference at elections of the employés of Government in France, and the unscrupulous use by them of all the influence which their position gives them, is the constant and habitual practice. In a memoire or "case," drawn up in June 1857 by M. Jules Brame, who was a candidate at a general election in the Department du Nord, and whose opponent was M. Descat, the former deputy for the district, we find the prefect, M. Besson, addressing the mayors of the electoral district in a circular, in which he said

"The Government of the Emperor, to whom the country owes its grandeur and prosperity, recommends (désigne) M. Descat to the choice of the electors."

And in another circular he said that to vote for M. Brame would be

"An unjustifiable act, unworthy of the loyalty of the population. Let us not,"

he continued, "accustom the country to

ingratitude. It is a pernicious example,

which can only compromise the future. The Government of the Emperor, in its sense of justice for services rendered, recommends to you M. Descat. You will, M. le Maire, I am sure, exert yourself to the utmost extent of your power to do all that is necessary to insure the success of his election..

..

It must be

made generally known that opposition candidates have not the power to realise the promises they make. It must be made known that, in rejecting M. Descat, the electors are voting against a Government which has done everything for their prosperity, and which they would attempt to enfeeble by giving votes which would be an act of hostility to wards it. To vote for M. Brame

is to give support to the enemies of the country, who are not afraid to raise up their heads."

In this contest it was curious to see the eagerness with which both the candidates asserted themselves to be Protectionists, and the indignation with which each repelled the calumny that he was favourable to Free Trade. Thus M. Descat, in an address to the electors, said

"I am well known to you; nevertheless, malevolence hawks about (colporte) calumnies against me with such unwearied pertinacity that I owe you an explanation. It is said that I ama Free-Trader. It is an ENORMITY, against which my past life and all my interests alike protest."

On the eve of the election, M. Brame was attacked in an article of a local newspaper, and charged with having forged a document for electioneering purposes. M. Brame naturally wished to give an instant denial to so odious an accusation, but he was actually told by the Procureur Imperial that he was too late, and that as the twenty days allowed by law, during which time alone a candidate is permitted to issue placards and notices relative to his election, had just expired, he could neither placard his denial on the walls, nor insert a paragraph in the newspapers, declaring that the charge was false. So that, according to this, a man who ventures to oppose a Government candidate in France may, at

ces relative

the most critical moment, just before the election, be made the object of the most calumnious attacks-carefully reserved until the twenty days in which he is permitted to address the electors have elapsed-and he is not to be allowed even the liberty of denying them.

Another ingenious mode of stifling opposition at elections is to prevent as far as possible the cards of the obnoxious candidate from getting into the hands of the electors. This is

done by attempting to put in force the law relating to colportage, and declaring that all who distribute the cards or tickets are acting as un

* This was a large minority, but it must be remembered that the vote was taken by ballot. It shows that the case was a flagrant one-so flagrant that even a submissive Chamber could hardly suffer it to pass.

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 passiveinstruments 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 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 a system of electoral colleges based on universal suffrage, he says :

appeared, after proposing

"In a well-organised body two con

trary 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

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."

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