The Express.
London, England, 1852-11-25 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 25, 1852.

FRANCE.

PARIS, TUSIDAY EVINDIO.
Considerable excitement prevails to-day in many
quarters of Paris. Thu impression is general, not
only that the ballot for the empire has been a gigan-
tic swindle, but that the fraud practised has been so
gross, so overdone, that it will be impossible to pre-
vent such an exposure as will convince the most
credulous. The first question suggested by a glance
at the official returns is—how does it happen that
whereas in December, 1851, there were 394,069
registered electors in the department of the Seine
there are only 315,501 ? The official answer is, thai
the voting lists contained the names of a large
number of dead persons, and of persons who had lost
their right of voting in Paris, and that just befog*
the election orders were given to revise the lists
carefully, in order that the abstentions might
not be made to appear more numerous than
they really were. This is not considered
a sufficient explanation to account for the
disappearance of 60,000 electors from the register is
less than a year, more especial) yas it is notorious
that election cards have been thrust upon everybody
that would take them, and that the maithe have ie
numberless instances issued certificates to all comers
without asking the usual questions. Tho conclusion
drawn, therefore, is, that tho number on the register
has been diminished in order the easier to make it
appear that almost all the electors have voted. So,
according to the returns, they have. The Moniteur
gives the following as the definitive result of the
ballot for the department of the Seine :

Number of registered electors 315,501
Number that voted
Yes
No
To show the extent of the triumph achieved in fa-
vour of the etpire, the Moniteur then publishes the
following comparative table :
Comparative tAble of the votes of Paris on December 10,
1848 ; December 20, 1851; and November 22, 1052 .
Yee. No.
December 10, 1848
December 20, 18.51
November 22, 1852
Now the people of Paris having witnessed the
comparatively deserted state of the polling booths on
Sunday and Monday, and knowing from the ex-
pressed intentions of their friends and neighbours
that a large proportion of them abstained from vot-
ing, refuse to believe that the whole adult male
population of this city and the suburbs, wanting
45,000 only—or, in other words, more than
eight men out of every ten—took part in
this vote. Elections have been so frequent
in l'aris that the general aspect of the streets and
polling-places, when the mass of the people really
turn out to vote, is too well known to be mistaken.
It is notorious that, on the 21st and 22nd, the polling
was almost everywhere languid. But, leaving gene-
ralities, I am assured that the inhabitants of many
sections of the different arrondissements are prepared
to prove that the vast majority of the electors of
their districts stayed at home, while the official re-
turns represent almost the entire population se
having voted. I learn from a source in which I
place implicit confidence that all, or almost all, the
workmen in several large establishments, the names
of which have been furnished me, agreed to abstain;
that it is notorious they did abstain; that in many
instances they alone form the majority of the elec-
tors in the sections to which they belong, and that
they are astounded this morning at seeing official
returns from which it would appear that two-thirds
of them must nut only have voted, but have voted in
the affirmative. I send the names of some of the
principal establishments to which I have alluded.
They are the well•known manufactories of MM.
Facet, at St. Duca; °Quin, at Batignolles; Sandford
and Varral, in the Avenue Trudaine; the Gas-works,
in the same avenue; lkrosue, Cail, and Co., the
engineers ; Latfitte, Cuillard and Co., Rue Notre
Dame des Champs ; Deco/ger, in the same street; and
M. Cave, the engineer, in the Faubourg St. Denis.
To these are to be added, the mechanics employed in
the engineering departments of the Lyons, Orleans,
Northern, and Western Railway stations, and the
cellarmen at Bercy. The men employed in the
above establishments are well known to be in the
habit of sending subscriptions to the refugees in
London ; their number is not less than 15,000 ; they
loudly protest they have not voted, and if their
statement be true, the returns of the votes in
their sections must be false. Some days
since the Moniteur, in answer to M. Victor
lingo's direct charge, published a statement with the
view of proving that any fraud in the ballot was im-
sible. That statement appears in my letter pub-
lished in the Express of November 19, and a
cursory perusal of it will suffice to shilw that fraud in
the election is not only possible, but easy, and, under
the circumstances, probable. The mayor presides at
the election. Now, there are in Franco 36,000 mayors,
all nominated by the government. He is assisted by
four municipal councillors, elected upon the "go-
vernment candidate" system. The presence of three
out of the above five while the voting is going on, is
thconly security against puttingbuiletins into the box.
In the evening the ballot box is sealed and deposited
is the mayor's house. The doors and windows of
Me room where the box is are also to be sealed.
There is no such thing as a watch kept by independ-
ent electors. The whole thing is in the hands of
flestionaries, who are expected to get votes—
Imwestly if they can, but to get votes. Under these
dreemstences the question is whether it is impossible
that the seals should be broken in the course of the
light, and fresh seals put on, without any one who
would be inclined to make a noise about it, knowing
anything of the matter. In whatever mode a fraud
Bog be effected, the belief, whether well founded
ee net, that the returns are fictitious is, I repeat,
universal. The moat determined imperialists cannot
look you in the face and maintain the contrary.
They laugh, shrug their shoulders, and say that
anarchy is at the door, and that society must be
saved. Que esign-cous

An incredible farce has been performed at Am-
boise. Abd-el-Kader expressed a wish to vote for
the empire; and the mayor, in defiance of all law
and decency, provided a special ballot box, in which
the Emir and the Arabs of his suite deposited bulletins.
The Prefect of the Seine has decided that the
general summing up of the votes of Paris, and of
eighty communes of the department, shall take place
at the Hotel de Ville, on Thursday, at 10 o'clock.
The operations will be public.
At the Bourse to-day public securities were dealt
in as follows :—Four-and-a-Half per Cents. 106 f. 60c ;
and rimed at 106 f. 90c. for the account; Three per
Cents. 85f. ; and for the account closed at 84f. 60c.
Orleans Railroad new shares, 1,1001'.; Versailles,
(left bank) 376 E; Paris and Rouen, 990 E; Rouen
and Havre, 530 E ; Strasburg and Bale, 390 E; Paris
and Strasburg, 88M.; Paris and Lyons, 965 E; Lyons
and Avignon, 8051. ; Western, 766 f. ; Northern, 900 E
Dicier to Gray, 690 f. ; Caen and Cherbourg, 6521.
601.; Dijon and Besancon, 620 f.; Bordeaux and
Cette, 642 E 50c.; Dieppe and Focamp, 370 f. ; Bor-
deaux and Teste, 3001.; Centre of Italy, 1,020 f.

PARIS, WI:DNS/DAT EVIIMINO.
The Afoositeur publishes partial results of the votes
in a great many departments. The figures are of no
interest. It appears from them that almost every-
where in town and country nearly all the electors
went to the poll, and that the "noes" are univer-
sally in a ridiculous minority. The only important
demonstrations in the way of abstention hitherto re-
corded are at Marseilles and Lyons. At Mar-
seilles (in 24 sections out of 25) the
numbers stand thus—registered electors, 37,591;
voted, 17,758; yes, 15,560. At Lyons tho numbers
givenare—registered electors, 125,321 ; voted, 88,091;
yes, 77,374 ; no, 9,315. It would appear from the
tables of the Moniteur that a serious opposition had
been encountered in the Ardennes, the figures being
" Yes," 20,900; and " No," 11,000. But I have no
doubt this will turn out to be a mistake, and that
the minority is only 1,100. The wonderful number of
votes shown by the returns is the more extraordinary
when we consider the state of the weather through-
out France during Sunday and Monday. Two such
thoroughly bad days in succession are of rare
occurrence. I send two or three telegraphic
despathes, from places widely distant from each
other, which will give you some idea of the diffi-
culties of locomotion which the enthusiasm of the
French people had to encounter.
Votes of the Army up to the 24th :
Ayes 203,600
Noes 6,765
Navy—Aye 5....
Noes
The definitive results of 20 departments are above
those of the 20th December.