Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-22 00:00:00

Hotel de Ville, not to speak of the statues and
caryatides inside and out, committing the same
offences, and informing, the eleCtors that the
" deputies of another period, and another order of
ideas, will expose them to agitation and uneasiness.
Now, be well assured of the fact," he says, " agita-
tion and uneasiness recoil above all on these
who work," and that " many of the candidates
of the Opposition, open adversaries of the
Imperial Constitution, only seek your suf-
frages in order openly to repudiate them." The
Prefect of the Seine commits the same sin
of rash judgment for which the Siecle has been
punished, and it is the more inexcusable as it is
committed by a public functionary, without whose
consent and aid, at least so say some of his friends,
the Emperor himself could not well got on. As the
to the " honourable independence" attributed by
Prefect to the outgoing deputies, the less said about,
that the better. This passage may be a lel'e of
sly scarcasm at the Lower House; but the, words
quoted above have produced a very indifferent
effect, and, as the Siecle has received a warning,
the least that can be done is to put the Pre-
fect en penitence.
Those who suffer most during the trying period of
the elections are, beyond all doubt, the Prefects of
departments. The Minister of the Interior's cir-
cular was meant to point out the line they were to
follow, but many of them appear to be at sixes and
sevens. Some gave too liberal an interpretation to
it ;'others too restrictive a sense—and not a few
exhibit an unnecessary excess of zeal. When they
are taken too sharply to task by the Minister, why
it is some comfort that they can fall upon the sub-
prefects and mayors—as Fag, in the Rivals,
practises on the " Boy" what he himself has just
received from his master. The Afoniteur, of to-
morrow will contain a second address from the
Minister of the Interior with the view of further
enlightening the electors on universal suffrage, and
on the object of the movement on the part of the
Opposition. It is rather vigorous and decisive in
style, and is superior, as it is much longer, then
M. Haussman's. It will be posted up in all the
public thoroughfares at the same time that it ap-
pears in the Moniteur.
The division of the democratic party on the
choice of candidates, giving a foretaste of what
would occur if it were again in power, continues
as strong, and apparently as hopeless, as ever The
Siecle patronizes M. de Laboulaye, of the Debats;
the Debats does the same good turn for Prudhon's
representative, M. Darimon ; the Presse, with a
wry face, however, accepts General Cavaignao,
whom it hardly pardons for having put its chief
editor under lock and key, without sentence of
judge, or trial by court, in 1818, while certificates
of approval are accepted from M. Degoussie a
decided Democrat, who, by way of proving his
love of liberty, equality, and fraternity, proposed,
also in 1848, to take up the ;journalists ten masse,
and keep them where they give trouble no more. I
spoke of attempts at reconciliation between the
rival sections of the Opposition ; they lave been
fruitless, and the 'only result I fear is, that they
dislike and ridicule each others' candidates as bit-
terly as before. The Sieele has made the public
merry with its sarcasm on what it calls the " Nee-
CatholicisnPeof M. Jules Bestide, one of the thun-
derers of the defunct National, and Min ister o f some-
thing or other under the Marrast regime in
1848. M. 'Jules Bastide gets quite-red in the face,
puts his hand on his hip, snaps his fingers, shows
very plainly that he forms a verylow estimate of
his brother Democrat's judgment, and begs 'very
seriously that the Siecle " will not attribute to him
religious or political opinions which he does not en-
tertain!' 'ln the meantime the Simile, the Journal des
Debats and the Presse—aria junctain uno—maintain
their list; the first boldly, the-second timidly, as
if it trod upon eggs; the third grudgingly;
while the electoral committee, whose organs are
the Couzrrier de Paris, which has by a happy
inspiration laid aside its name 'La Verite, ter-which
it had no claim, and the Estafette, maintain theirs,
give no sign of reconciliation, and take care to
announce that it has no connection with the
establishment over the way, viz , the Siecle Not
only have both parties refused to make any
sacrifice that would lead to an arrangement, or
abandoned an iota of their pretensions, but they
have began to use hard words towards each other.
Amid outpourings of peace and fraternal love
are heard reproaches, menaces, and charges of in-
triguing. At one moment we are led to expect
disclosures of a more serious kind, and curiosity
was reused by hints -about documents that would
confound their opponents. The Estafette denounced
the " Coalition" (the 'Sleek, Debats, and Presse) of
having violated its engagements to the " Commit-
tee of Ancient Representatives" (13s Anciens, as they
are now 'termed).; but the Siecle has not yet
taken up the challenge.; while, on the other 'hand,
the " Ancients" have shrunk from giving a de-
cided contradiction to the Siecle, who re
preached them with being the orginal cause,
of quarrel. The men who won the revolution of
February, reinforced by the Conservative DeZats,
have a batch of fifteen candidates for the ten
electoral districts of Paris, five of whom—namely.
.Cavaignac, Bethmont, Carnot, Goudchaux, and
Lasteyrie, are accepted by both fractions of the
party; the ten others are the apples of die-
cord. MM. Laboulaye, Darimon. Varin,
011ivier, and whoever is to take the place
of Reynau, who has withdrawn, are the
preferred of the Debats, the Siecle, and the Presse,
while the "Ancients" meet them with MM. Jean
Reynaud, Gamier Pages '(the eminent Finance
Minister of the Provisional Government), Bastide,
Jules Simon, and Pelletier. These lest are, in the
press, only supported by the Estafette, and the
ex-Verite (Courrier de Paris), but they have at their
backs a score or so of democratic leader's who
were most of them functionaries under the Re-
public.

On the other hand, we have the Socialists, who
apparently do not warmly approve of the policy of
either M. Louis Blanc, to whose circular or
pamphlet I alluded yesterday, recommends, from
his distant and safe retreat, that it should
be impressed on the candidates "as the con-
dition of the suffrages they may obtain
that there should be produced in France, not
merely a superficial agitation but a profound and
lasting emotion. That the elected of the people
shall not, on the opening of the Legislative Corps,
confine themselves to the refusal of the oath, but
that the refusal shall be accompanied by reasons
for not taking it. Should they be interrupted the
elected of the nation must insist—if menaced they
' must resist—until, brute force intervening, they
are clutched (empoignes)"
M. Louis Blanc anticipates a great moral effect
from that proceeding, and a terrible check to the
Government. If the recusants are proceeded against,
why the worst that can happen is that they shall
join the refugees in London. "It belongs to our
friends in France," he adds, " to decide to what
point it is possible to realize the proj ec t in question,
and what are the precautions which should be
taken to ensure its success. In any case, the
difficulty would not be to gather together a
sufficient number of bold men in a country where
there always have been thousands of citizens
ready to immolate, for the public good, or for a
vigorous faith, their fortune, their repose, their
family, their life. The people of France, every
page of our modern annals, bear testimony to their
inexhaustible devotedness, and if the leaders of the
bourgeoisie wanted to be recalled to the sentiments
of their duty, they need only read once more the
history of their fathers." Example, they say, is
better than preaching. Why does not M. Louis
Blanc, who makes light of " repose, family, life,"
in comparison with civic duty, just make a run
over to Paris incognito, and suddenly place him-
self at the head of the manifestation which he SP
fervidly recommends ? The effect would be
great, and if it were possible 'that so daring a
taniPle nirit needed encouragement, then, is the
ex
of Custius and other ancient worthies,
who gavel the noble example of self-sacrifice
under circa stances nearly as hopeless. The
:71
allusion to the leaders of the bourgeoisie"
(Messieurs de la Bou:vgeoisie) is evidently a hit at
the Siecle, not to spear' of the Debats ; and it
is additional evidence of ths4 division of the Re-
publican party. All these corenaing interests and
rivalries do not, I fear, promise t 2 IQ f(?; the