The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-22 00:00:00

LOUIS NAPOLEON AT PAUL7'.

- (Prom the Times.)
No one can presume for a moment that Franco
believes in her own institutions. There exists at
present across the Channel a Constitution as clearly
defined and as elaborate as our own. At the head
of the Administration is an Emperor elected by
universal suffrage, the guardian of the laws, the
supporter of order, the chief of the forces by land
and sea. This Sovereign is assisted by a Council
of State, who prepare laws and advise on the ex-
ecution of them. Then there is a Senate, composed
of the most distinguished men of the country—the
Marshals, the AdmiralP, the Cardinals, and other
high dignitaries. Lastly comes the Representative
Body, chosen by the people on the very broadest
basis. Surely here is a Constitution which ought
to mean something, and to give some guarantees
for liberty. And yet it is but a name, a delusion,
the shadow of a shade. There is the Emperor firm
in his seat, and the army steady in its allegiance
and in its hatred of the Pariiian mob. These make
the Government—everything else is but a fiction
more or less serious ; and yet it would appear that
despotism must pay a certain homage to the shale
of departed freedom. In this age even absolute au-
thority must have its decencies. The Constitution
of 1852 must occasionally be brought into action,
not to attain any definite end, not to satisfy any
immediate demand, but to prove that the life has
not quite departed out of it. For some reason best
known to the rulers of France, it is thought.conve-
nient that mankind should not place the Govern-
ment of Paris in the same class as those of Berlin
or Vienna. The French Sovereign must appeal in
some degree to 1789 and to the new principles of
France, and"these aro more or less connected with
the preservation of democratic forms, however un-
meaning and ineffective they have become. Hence
the ceremony of a general election. It is a super-
stition of the dynasty. The appeal to the entire
people is part of the Napoleonian idea—something
to be kept up in form, -however it may be influen-
ced and perverted.

Every one feels raturally disposed to ask why
these elections take place at all. The Emperor had
a legislature as quiet and subservient as he could
possibly wish ; why did he not keep it ? True, its
term had expired according to the constitution ;
but what is the constitution but the offspring of his
own will,*a form of government which he establish-
ed, and which he may change ? Surely the planner
of the coup d'etat cannot be scrupulous as to the
rights of representative assemblies. Why this wond-
rous devotion to legality, so strangely contrasted
with the cavalier proceedings of Prefects all
through the country ? Here is a Government
which, on the eve of an election of the people's
representatives, prepares its own list of candi-
dates, enforces the choice of them by official ar-
ticles, by a vast organisation of functionaries, by
making known its intention to grunt liceuses, pri-
vileges, and places only to. those who support it ;
which " warns ' one of the most popular newspapers
in France for recommending the claims of Opposi-
tion candidates ; which, in fact, openly asserts its
right to control the choice of the people, and prac-
tically to nominate the representatives, and yet
this same. Government will not go one little step
further to save itself all this trouble, vexation, and
scandal. An Englishman would certainly think it
a much less stretch of authority for a Parliament to
prolong it own existence than for the Crown to com-
mand every county and borough to choose Govern-
ment members. We cannot at first see any valid
reason why a project of law should not have been
introducnd mo _Hying the Constitution so far as to
add another five years to the life of the late Repre-
sentative Body. It seems, however, that a defer-
ence to the principle of universal suffrage, a belief
that its occasional exercise, though really without
liberty or practical result, gives fresh strength to
the Imperial system, is among the most deeply
rooted feelings of the present ruler. The success of
past trials has naturally tended to strengthen this
prepossession. The vote of the people made him
President, President for life, and Emperor ; it pro-
duced the late Assembly, which has proved so obe-
dient and so adulatory ; it may well be expected to
confim his five yeare'policy by returningat his bidding
the same body of men who had before received his
approbation. Another reason for this appeal, or
pretence of an appeal, is the disquiet which ever
affects absolute authority. The very apathy of the
French has of la,,e made the Government feverish.
It has been terrified at the. stillness itself has made.
What could be the meaning of this wonderful
obedience, this portentous lull in the atmosphere ?
Was it the tranquility which is said to precede the
earthquake ? It would be a relief to break the
silence ; even a demonstration or a tumult would
be better than the broeding whch must be hidden
under such an unruffled surface.
It was, no doubt thought that at this period of
prosperity and commercial activity the elections
would pass off quietly. Certainly the Imperial Go-
vernment is conspicuous for the success of its policy
and the splendour of its fortune. It has since the
last- election humbled Russia, attached to itself
Austria, Prussia, and Sardinia, and established no
small influence in Spain. France has been intersected
by railways, which are worked with profit to the
shareholders and comfort to the public, trade has
increased enormously, private life has become luxu-
rious, and private ambition turned into a channel
which saves the Sate from all the dangers which
spring from unruly energies. In fact, the Etnperor
tiso powerful
s and
delfleict and
fairly
YPPcuolaruLge a his,
friends
iarewaoblet
greaterenem
i.estbcaonnftehsast
ofth aatnyhis i
good fortune has been
It might na-
turally be supposed that the former representatives
d b e again
to
o elected,
with just sufficient show of
opposition
the Court to declare that
woulenable
opinion was not dead in France. Those who were
not for the Government were at first unwilling to
be against it. The policy of abstaining from voting
was recommended to all who could not conscien-
tiously support a Government candidate. Both 171-
tramontanes, who hanker after the Bourbons, and
Democrats, who look forward to ano her Republic,
were for a time in favour of this course. But of late
a change has come over the political world. The
newspapers, the liberal circles, the old Constitu-
tional and Republican patties have resolved to
mako a demonstration. Of course, these different
sets quarrel among themselves by the agency of
their respective journals ; but still there his been
sufficient unanimity to enable the Liberals of diffe-
rent shades to put forward a threatening list of can-
didates. The men of 1848 are emerging from seclu-
sion, and appear once more on the stage. Cavaignac,
Bethmont, Carnot, Goudechaux, Lasteyrie, Rey-
nand, Garnier Pages, Jules Simon, Bastide, will
receive the suffrages of all the discontented of
Paris. In the departments several Constitutional-
ists and Republicans will try their fortune. Now
as to a practical effect—the actual election of an
Opposition candidate—of course, that is a matter in
which the Government is omnipotent. The cult dy
of the ballot-boxes and the proclamation of votes
are functions of the authorities, and we can scarcely
doubt the result. But these things can never be
kept entirely secret. By private communication
it will be known if any Opposition candidate re-
ceives a large number of votes, and the strength
of the parties disaffected to the Imperial power
will be pretty accurately tested. Under these
circumstances the Government has given symptoms
of something like alarm. The Prefect of the Seine,
and now the Minister of the Interior, have pub-
lished manifestoes in a tone of mingled defiance and
supplication, which cannot fail to produce a bad
effect. M. Hausmann addresses the electors of the
Seine with a heat which is both insulting to them
and undignified in himself ; while M: Billault's
message to the Prefects betrays no small apprehen-
sion, veiled under an hysterical affectation of con-
fidence. On the whole, we cannot believe that the
present elections will add much to the Imperial
prestige. It would have been wise to leave France
quiet while she was prostrate ; the chain neither
clanked nor burdened her ; now that she is bidden
to rise and dance in her fetters she must hear their
ill-omened sound, and feel their intolerable weight

(From the Daily News.)
Not a few French electors seem disposed to walk
into a net stretched for them by their Government.
Some mutter that they will not vote for a candi-
date unless they are made certain beforehand that
he will take the oath. A deputation of the electors
of the third Arrondissement of Paris have gone so
far as to wait upon General Cavaignac, and ask
him point blank whether, in the event of his being
elected, he would take it. It is evident that these
Marplots entirely misapprehend the immediate
object of the electoral movement. Independent
candidates are being brought forward, and electors
are called upon to support them, in order to afford
the friends of Parliamentary government in France
an opportunity to pronounce in its favour. To
ensure the registering of the greatest possible num-
ber of votes in favour of Parliamentary government
the best known and most trusted political leaders
are selected as candidates. The business of the
electors is to record as many votes as they possibly
can for these candidates, less for the puiposo of
ensuring their admission to the Corps Legislatif
than for the purpose of proving to the Emperor
and the world that Frenchmen have not renounced
their attachment to representative government ;
that they are still resolute to assert their right to a