The Express.
London, England, 1851-08-25 00:00:00

certainty which weighs upon the public mind would ;
be removed; that, inasmuch as the new elections
would be made to the rallying cry of re-
vision, the opinion of the country would
be knbwn beyond contradiction as soon as the
elections were over.' It might be thought 'that' it
• being so important to know the real opinion of the I
country that such extraordinary measures were to be
taken to ascertain a religious adherence to that
lopinion whatever it might bed would be one of the
benefits held out. But this is not so at all. If it
should turn out that a socialist majority should
I elected, the great advantage. sacs M.:Delamarre,
would be this, that if the state of public opinion is
such that the socialists triumph in 1831, it is clear
that they would have been still more successful in
11842. It will be highly advantageous to know the
painful truth now, because the President and the
Assembly can then come to an understanding and
take the necessary measures fur the safety of society.
Having still six months of power before them, they
would be able to venture on a bolder course than
they could do in the last moments of their existence.
What this course would be M. Delamarre thinks it
better not now to say. But this is evident, that
Ihe gravely proposes that France should bet
asked by the government to proceed, under
the unheard of conditions of compulsory voting and
military supervision, to elect an assembly six months
. before it is wanted, upon these terms, that if the
• elections please the present government the Assembly
is to sit hereafter as a sovereign legislature, but if
the elections shall not be pleasing. the government
will consider how best to prevent them from having
I effect.
M. Delamarrc indulges in various subsidiary con-
jectures of possible consequences, leading to the re-
election of the President, without any of those strong
measures at which he only darkly hints. If, he says,
a socialist assembly were to be elected, the prevent
assembly would be so frightened that perchance they
would, after all, vote the revision by the
legal majority. Ile forgets that after De-
cember this would be impossible, because
there would not remain time enough for the three
readings and the legal intervals required by the
constitution. But. suppose this little difficulty
got over, the objection occurs at once that
the people, who, upon the hypothesis, would
have elected a socialist Assembly, would pro-
bably send a socialist constituent assembly to revise
the constitution in a socialist sense. But M. Dela-
mom foresees this objection, and ingeniously answers
it by saying that the terror which he has assumed
would have been experienced by the present Assembly,
would so communicate itself to the people that a =-
action would take place, and they would certainly
elect a majority of the party of order the next time.
Again, supposing, as M. I Wlatnarre has every reason
to hope, that the elections which lie proposes in
December should turn out Elysean, even the Moun-
tain might then be brought to vote for revision, in
order to curry favour with the people, and secure
their re-election as members of a constituent. Such
is the wonderful optimism with which M. lielamarre
looks forward to all eventualities. I will only add
that the Bulletin de farts of this evening treats the
letter as a most important political event, and ad-
heres to it most warmly.