The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-26 00:00:00

irtir, GENERAL ELECTIONS IN FRANCE.

rAErz, TUESDAY.

The result o the contest in Paris is very remark.
able. The struggle has excited unprecedented inte-
rest, has been conducted with remarkable order,
and has had a decisively unanimous issue. The
proportion of votes given was 'very large. In the
first circumscription in 1863 24,003 votes were given; in
1869 the number is 35,000. In the second circumscription
the numbers are respectively 21,000 and 32,000 ; iu the
third, 28,000 and 36,000 ; in the fourth, 23,000 and 33,000 ;
in the fifth, 26,000 and 37,000, and so on throughout. The
number of electors has, indeel, increased also.; hut, I need
hardly say, not in this proportion. NotwiLlistanding
the immense ininiber of voters whose suffrages had to be
taken in.two ilays— a vast army of 300,003 men in Paris
alone—no disturbance arose ; everywhere the electors have
behaved irreproachably, and both Liberal and official
journals agree that the election reflects the greatest credit
on the city of Paris. The result has been a " Red" vote.
The extreme men have been preferred in almost
every circumscription. In the first, Carnot, a
republican of advanced views, an excellent rtpre-
sentative, one would have thought, for this Republican
city, has been easily beaten by Gambetta, the extreme
Radical, who has recently risen to fame by his splendid
eloquence. Carnot was a good deputy ; everybody
respected him ; but the Parisians felt that if their
cause, be it good or bad, is to prosper, it must be entrusted,
not merely to men who represent it, but to men who
can eloquently plead for it. Hence the overwhelming
defeat of Carnot in the third circumscription. Bancel
has beaten Emile 011ivier, the leader of the Tiers-Parti.
The decision of this most important contest amounts to
nothing less than a declaration of war to the knife between
Paris and Imperialism. Emile 011ivier thought that France
might accept the Empire if grievances were redressed—
liberty conceded. Paris, for its part, maintains that the
Emperor is an enemy with whom no compromise is possible,
and therefore none shall be attempted. Instead of the
moderate, but by no means Imperialist 011ivier, the third
circumscription has returned the most furious Radical in
all France, Bancel, member of the Provisional Govern-
ment of 1848, a politician who will take the oath of allegiance
only with the avowed intention of breaking it, and who
enters the Corps L4gislatif only the better to secure the
fall of the present Sovereign. Picard, Jules Simon, and
Pelletan, all advanced Republicans, have been elected.
In the other circumscriptions the battle will have
to be fought over again ; but the contest will
be only between one form of opposition and
another. In the second circumscription M. Thiers
has obtained 13,300 votes ; Deviuck, the chocolate maker,
10,404; and D'Alton Shre, the aristocratic Republi-
can, 8,000. The latter will retire, and then M. Thiers
goes in easily. In the fifth the struggle is between
Raspail and Gamier Pees, both extreme men. The
official candidate is nowhere. In the seventh Jules Favre
and Rochefort, one a shade redder than the other, will
fight for the seat. The official candidate, a shoe-
maker, who can neither read nor write, met with
the fate his ignorance merited. It is only in
the sixth circumscription that an official candidate has
made anything like a fight. There the representative of
the Government was M. Cochin, an able man, and of very
powerful influence. If an Imperialist could ges
in anywhere for Paris, it was in this section.
But Jules Ferry, the Republican, gained 12,916 votes,
Cochin got 12,470, and Cuiroult, another Republican,
4,F51. At the next trial the Liberals will con-
centrate on Ferry, and then what chance will

Cochin Lave ? The second balloting takes place
on Sunday and Monday week, the 6th and 7th of June.
A t the second ballot, which is necessary Vi henever no can-
didate gets more than half the total number of votes
polled, the majority, be it half or not, is decisive.
The important question, " What has the country done ?"
can hardly be answered yet. Some returns have not been
received whilst I write, in others the contest has
been indecisive, and a second test will be neces-
sary. But enough is known to enable certain re-
sults to be stated with perfect confidence. Almost
all the moderate men, no matter of what party,
have been defeated. France has recognized only the
two extremes—the Imperialists and the Republicans.
In the last Parliament and its predecessors there were
representatives of various shades, Imperialist, Orleanist,
Legitimist, Tiers-Parti, and Republicans of various
shales. In the Parliament of 1869-75 there
will be only the first and thelast of these—a circum-
stance which irresistibly prompts the reflection,
les extremes se touchent. The Orleanists and the
Legitimists have vanished. M. Thiers, the leader of the
former party, will doubtless get in for Paris, though not
so triumphantly as the extreme candidates. lie has been
beaten by large majorities in no less than five provincial
constituencies -at Lisle, Marseilles, Morlaix, and in two
circumscriptions of the Vienne. All his lieutenants have
failed absolutely. Casimir-Perier, de Broglie, Remusat,
d'Audiffret, Pasonier, Bocher, Pr6vost-Paradol,Lambrecht
Duchritel, De Witt, Decazes, and Jaubert have tried and
have not succeeded. The most fortunate of them received
only the sn:al number of votee. The Orleanist
party formed only a very small fraction of the last
Chamber, but this time it is doubtful whether it
will be represented by more than a unit. The route
is complete. The Legitimists arc in even worse case. I
believe that not a single representative of the Count de
Chambord will find his way to the Corps L6gislatil. The
election of 1869 has ended in the disappearance of these
once powerful parties from the political stage.
The Government has gained 196 seats, and the Opposi-
tion 26 ; the remainder are doubtful of unknown. The
official candidates, as might have been expected, will once
• more be in a large majority. But the Opposition will be
much more formidable than in the last Chamber, for it
will be homogeneous, and it will be slightly larger. It
will consist almost wholly of Republicans, and mostly of
extreme Republicans. The great towns have followed
the example of Paris. Lyons has chosen Bancel
and Raspail ; Marseilles has given a large majority
i o
for Gambetta, who must prove the victor at the
second test. In the
vuotftoeitsihrtehr whiche
circumscription
rec u m
threesuc.
er pe
Opposition
the
spread
official
candidates,
is
first,the b
amongst these three must be decisive when con-
centrated on one. Bordeaux and Nantes have
equally pronounced for the Radicals. The Jura
has again elected the Liberal, whom, to the astonish-
ment of everybody, it chose a short time age. M. Emile
011ivier has been successful in the Var. The fullstrength
of the Opposition cannot be even approximately estimated
until the numerous indecisive elections are fought over
again. But it is certain that it has gained by the contest.
Even the Patric admits this.

TILE REASSEMBLING OF PARLIAMENT.

Mr. Glyn, the Liberal "whip," has Iznies a similar to
Mr. Gladstone's supporters in the House of Comihoris,
announcing that a division will be taken on the third
ree4big of the Irish Church Bill on Monday evening, and
weltering requesting the attendance of Liberal members
on that occasion to support the Government. Divisions
are also expected on Thursday evening on important
features of the Budget. krt