The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY "EVENING, AUGUST 5,

these claims to the ref/lied and consideration of any
Government, for refusing to comply with the man-
date to use his exertions to unseat his friend, he
was first called upon for his resignation ; and
with proper self-respect, having refused to resign,
he was dismissed.

He felt, therefore, called upon to state to his
fellow-citizens the facts of his abrupt dismissal, in
order to prevent malevolent suppositions and inju-
rious suspicions. This he did in a letter, in which
he gives the following account of the transaction :-
4, Called upon a year ago to direct, in future elec-
tions, universal suffrage against M. PLICHON, our
present Deputy to the Legislative Corps, I informed
the authorities that I never would be false to the
dictates of my heart; but that I should remain
neutral in the contest, and confine myself to the
pure and simple distribution of the voting tickets
in favour of the Government candidate, who, by the
way, is to the present moment completely unknown
to us ; but that I could not belie my intimate con-
victions, and act and speak publicly against the
man who for thirty years past has been my per-
sonal friend."

One would have thought that neutrality would
have been all that even the Government of the
Second Empire would have asked of any returning
officer, but it seems that the temptations of power
are as irresistible in political slave owners as in
those of the Southern States of America. Happily
in this case the slave can refuse to remain in the
master's service; that liberty is worth something;
it is at least open to him to quit his position, and to
tell every one why he does so. M. VERHAEGHE,
with prudence, or with truth, it is impossible in
England to say which, throws the blame of the whole
affair on the subordinates, and professes his fidelity
to the supreme authority. Adverting to the conso-
lation afforded him by the flattering conduct of the
whole population since his dismissal, he adds—
" And I have, too, the right to proclaim my devoted-
ness to the Empire, and to deplore the blindness of
those who, thinking that they serve it, raise up
against it a crowd of enemies in the very places
where the public mind was contented, and when
all hearts blessed the august hand which has given
to France order, glory, and peace." Possibly the
dismissed Mayor is a sincere Bonapartist, if not,
we must regret that he could condescend to such
adulation. We mention it to show how determined
the Toryism of France must be to have its way
at elections; since the Mayor of thirty-two years
standing, whom neutrality would not excuse, was
either a sincere friend of the Empire, or what the
Empire perhaps values quite as mecb, one quite
ready to black the Imperial shoes.
It hardly needs be added that to compare really
free voting, under a largely extended suffrage, with
what is called free voting in France, is a simple ab-
surdity. The only wonder is that the ballot effects
there what it does. That it should be unavailing
against the influence which the innumerable
Government servants in every petty town of
France are compelled to use against popu-
lar candidates is not surprising. Every offi •
cial's retention of his post, and his hope of keeping
his friends and family in otherposts, or of procuring
them, depends on his unscrupulous zeal for the
Government candidate. In the country the electors
are grossly ignorant and superstitious, and the
working classes view Louls NAPOLEON rather as
an arch-socialist than anything else, and are favour-
able to a ruler who undertakes to employ and feed
them. And yet, with all these influences to work
with, the ballot-box cannot be made to lie, or the
people compelled to vote against their convictions.
They do get in a minority of very able men, whose
ability alone compels the attention, and often mo-
difies the conduct, of the Government.. We believe
it to be a fact which no sophistry can evade, that
notwithstanding every prefect and every mayor
who does not endeavour to thrust the Government
candidate down the throats of the people will be
unceremoniously dismissed, yet to the ballot-box
is due the whole of the talent or genius to be found
in the Corps legislatif of France. Higher praise
it could hardly earn.