The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-22 00:00:00

FOREIGN INTELLIG ENC E

FRANCE.

PARTS, WEDNESDAY EVENING

The Gazette de France, -
Assent',lee Nationale—the twl; I.• .• !!-It4tr tau
third Fusionist—continue to advocate the L.,ybtelii
of " abstention" in tha forthcoming elections. The
Patrie, the Siecle, and the Journal des Debate, on
the contrary, are in favour of the electors coming
forward and exercising their political rights. The
Emperor would, I imagine, gladly see a fair num •
ber of people deposit their voting tickets in the urn,
Provided they were inscribed with the names of the
Government candidates. His desire is, no doubt,
that•the extinction of political life should not appear
as the consequence of his system, and that there
should he some slight show of opposition rather than
the indifference which is so prevalent. The Siecle
is naturally anxious that the men who are the
chiefs of the moderate Republicans should not by
any overnice scruples throw away any chance of
laying the basis of an opposition in the Leg,is•
lative Corps. The party generally is divided on the
question of the vote of allegiance, and, if their men
were returned, they would probably refuse to take
it The object which the Siecle has at heart
would, however, be attained—that of showing that
there still exists a Republican feeling among the
people which even a partial success would cherish
and extend.
The Gazette de France was long the advocate of
" an appeal to the people." Its advocacy, however,
was not so much owing to any value it set on the
popular will, but rather to its hostility to the
Orleans dynasty. The crown was given to Louis
Philippe by a certain uumber of deputies who had

no mission from their constituents to do so

denied that such a gilt was the act of the
nation, because the nation was never consulted.
Granting that the ordinances of July were as i!.
legal as described, still the person of the Sovereign
Was, according to the Constitution, inviolable,
and his ministers _alone were responsible; and

even admitting that Charles X. justly forfeited the
Throne, yet that throne was not vacant. He might
have abdicated, or might have been deposed, but

;there was yet the Duke of Bordeaux, who had no
'_share in theillegalities of his grandfather, whc• ought

not to be made responsible for them. A change
of dynasty was therefore a violation of justice and
,equity : it was still more outrageous as being the
act of an almost imperceptible minority in com-
parison with the great national tribunal before
whom the appeal, if any appeal, was jnatifiThle,
should be made in so extreme a case, and who alone
had the right to decide, The party represented by
the Gazette de France were doubtless persuaded
that the result of such an appeal would be the

restoration of the elder branch ; if any other
were anticipated we should probably never have
heard anything from them about the " appeal ,
to the people;" they would have defended
their cause on the great principle of Divine
right. The " appeal to the people" came how.
ever, in a way they least expected, and the
revolution of February showed that if the Orleans
Government had not taken deep root with the
people, the representative of legitimacy was com-
pletely ignored for all practical purposes. Neither
was the " appeal to the people" in December, 1851
the appeal meant by the Gazette de France, for it
did not produce the restoration of the elder Bour-
bons, but in the establishment of the Empire in
the person of one whose principal, if not whose
only, claim then was thathe was the nephew of ore
whose overthrow had been the triumph of legiti-
macy. The same insincerity which characterised
that party cry marks the conduct of the other
parties ; and universal suffrage, so long demanded
'by the ultra-Liberals, is only good so far as it gives
Ahem the supremacy.
The Siecle with much justice asks Legitimate
organs what has its party gained by systematically
're:tusing to exercise the rights of eitiz)ns 'I hat
pa rty kept completely 'aloof during a part of the
reign of Louis Philippe; for a long time after the
fall of Charles X. it refused to send deputies to
the Ch ambers; and even when a sort of
eempromioe took place, and Legitimists
took their seats, it was hardly ever with-
out a mental reservation to use their position for
the overthrow of the monarchy of July That
keeping aloof brought little advantage to their
cause ; and the only result was that, with the
exception of a few who are influenced by a point of
honour, or who are impatient to arrive at power, the
Count de Chambord is nearly as much forgotten as
if he slept with his forefathers. There is no party
which can with impunity remain long out of the
memory or sight of the people.
So far as can be
,judged from the present
feeling of the country the hallotting places do
not promise to be overcrowded by electors A
few of the larger towns may form an exception.
In,some cases the exhortations of the partisans of
"abstention,' whether Legitimist or Repuklican,
will b - attended to, but if it be on a large scale
it may aaf,sly be attributed to indifference to
the exercise of the suffrage, or to discouragement
In any case it wou,'d seem to strengthen the opinion
that the French do :lot yet understand the real
value of freedom, or arc' deficient in the energy,

perseverance, and moral cOurage necessary for its
attainment, and would justii'l7 us in coming to the
conclusion that the mild. despotism by which it is
now ruled is the best suited to it.

The agents of the Government will use every
exertion to present at the mairies a respectable
number of voters, and to avoid the riiicule of
mock elections. Like the Athenians of the early
times, the right of voting is considered by many as
a burden rather than a privilege. In those ancient
times a crier was obliged to go round to collect the
citizens to attend the assemblies, and those who
absented themselves were liable to a fine What ifthe
Emperor had recourse to such a a measure? There
was another, too, which might be tried on the pre-
sent occasion. We are told that the Athenian
police carried a rope, stained with ruldle round
the market and other public places, with which they
drove the idlersto the assembly, or marked them 1.1
they would not go, while at the same time they
blocked up the passages to prevent their escaping.
Might not a few squads of police or gendarmes be
advantageously employed in that patriotic duty?
There was also another mode employed still more
effective. Pericles introduced aregulation allowing
tlhe,fee of an obol to those who were early in their
attendance. The fee was increased to three obol
afterwards, and a ticket was given to them on
entrance, which entitled th.rn afterwards to de-
mand their money from the Thesmethetw. There
can be no degradation in the modern electors
accepting a similar remuneration. The members
of the legislature accept a fair allowance for the
services they renderta the country ; and is not the
I idependence of that body proverbial ? The sena-
tors themselves enjoy a handsome dotation--and
are they not the very pink of independence and
dignity? The Council of State itself serves the
country at so much per month. When legislators
and councillors do not refuse salary there is no
reason why the poorer electors should not have
their obo/i, for v The experiment is worth
trying. M. Iroplong would, perhaps, approve it,
as he is partial to finding analogies between the
Frenchiand the Athenians.
Despatches have been received from the French.
Consul at Panama. They give full details of the
situation of the country. It would appear from
these accounts that New Granada is net capable of
resisting the invasion prepared by the Americans,
who are likely to establish themselves without dif-
ficulty at Panama and Chagres.
It is said that a conference will be held in Paris,
composed of representatives of the various Powers
who have signed treaties of commerce with Persia,
in order to agree to an arrangement which will
apply to all the consular agents in Persia. The
conference will take place during the stay of the
Persian Ambassador in Paris.
It appears that the intention of postponing inde-
finitely the elections in the Danubian provinces
has been abandoned, in consequence of the repre-
sentations addressed by the representatives of the
Western Powers to the Kaimakans of Moldavia and
Wallachia, and that the elections will take place on