Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1851-12-16
THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE, AND
THE ELECTORAL LAW.

N. Y. Evening Post of Nov. ~.
at relates to the abrogation Of the law OF
Nav 81, 1850, substituting restricted suffrage
for the universal suffrage under which the first
elections of the President of the Republic and
the members of its legislature were held. No
distinct reason is given for the Inconsistency of
now demanding the repeal of a law which elgh-
teen months since he desired to see enacted.--
He admits that he gave his appreciation to the
measure when his cabinet presented it. lie 'ac-
knowledges the salutary effects which have been
produced by it, but he does not point out what
those salutary effects were; he insists upon the
necessity of re-establishng universal suffrageat
the present time, but he does not show any pres
cnt necessity for universal suffrage which did
not exist in as high degree at the time when
the law for its abrogation was passed. In this
respect the message is pitiably bald and incon-
elusive. m sfs H7.
The President, it is true, affirms that no one
foresaw that the law of May 3lst would disfran-
chise three millions of electors. 1t is surprising
that an assertion of this nature should be found
in the message. The French President if he
paid any attention to public affairs and the spec
ulations of public men and Of the public jour-
nails, must have once known, and ought not to
have forgotten, that the number of persons
whom the law would deprive of their rights and
votes, was calculated at the time, and that three
millions stood among the most moderate estim-
ates of the disfranchisement. Others made the
number of voters who would lose their rights
to be five millions; some we believe, estimated
the names that the law would strike from the
list of electors at still greater number. 1t is
extraordinary that the President should now
come forward, like a man awakened from q
lo1l Il ataIo inf ,fof.n
rs a reason for changing the law.
"The narrow and exclusive nature of the pres
ent electoral law of France, will perhaps be bet
ter understood on a perusal of the following
abstract of some of its provisions which we find
in London print, the Daily NewS:
"By the law of the 3lst of May, no man is
entitled to exercise the franchise unless he can
prove himself to have had domcile for three
years in one given district. In the first place,
this mere condition of domicile for so long a
period excludes the young, the active, the adven-
turous, altogether from the electoral urn. The
artisans who crowd from country to town new
er obtain a three years fixed domicle till they
marry and that is late in life
"Those who have not domicile of their own
but who as workmen, servants, sons, or clerks,
inhabit the household or annexed building of a
master, may enjoy the franchise, but only on
their master or parent choosing to come forward
to procure it for them.
/" Here are two large classes eliminated from
the suffrage. Still there would remain house,
hold suffrage for persons of three years fixed
residence, but for another qurk in the French
law. According to it, there is but one way of
proving domicile-that of having paid in it the
personal or furniture tax. The mode in which
this tax is levied is as follows: The total a.
mount being fixed, it is distributed between the
different departments and communeS, and GER
tain quota assigned to each, according to their
population and property. This quota is again
distributed amongst the inhabitants able to pay
the tax and the distribution is made by the
mayor, functionary completely in the hands of
government, and greedy for its honors. Louis
Napoleon, in his message, boasts of having dis
missed some five hundred of them. The may
or may exclude from the list of rate-payers, and,
of course, from the electoral lists, whomsoever
he peases. And, as a rule, if any citizen or ar
tisan has ever received succor from a bureau de
bien traiSance in hard times, which is universal
ly the case when man has nothing but his earn
ings to depend on, and when he is seized with
sickness, this man is always struck from the list
of rate -payers. Thus, in the department du
Nord, manufacturing district, one-half of the
adult male population were excluded from the
rate-paying lists, and would be, of course, depri-
we'd of the franchise. We have a somewhat sim
liar case in our ten-pound househoiders, for so
many of whom the landlord undertakes to pay
the rates, charging the poor tenant in the rent,
but excluding him from the franchise. Suppo-
sing this done, not to save trouble and seek
economy, but for an organized political purpose
of narrowing the franchise, and you have the
French law of May in all its odium and its ex-
clusiveness."
:" The operation Of these provisions was no
such impenetrable mystery at the time the law
was passed as the President pretends. 1t was
rs clearly seen by the opponents Of the law, and
doubtless as well understood by those who pro-
posed it, as it now is. 1t is remarkable that the
necessity for restoration of the right Of sufE-
rage to the disfranchised does not seem so i'm
portant to the President in eecting members of
the National Assembly as in electing Presi-
dent. 1t may require residence of three years,
he grants, to qualify the elector to vote under
standingly for representation of his district,
but no such qualification, he thinks, is necessary
to enable him to distinguish who is worthy of
his preference as President.
The nature of the call for change is sufi-
GENTLY apparent. The President is manfestly
influenced by the motives which he takes so
much pains to deny-motives of personal inter-
est and ambition. The electoral law was chan
rod in 1Qk0 ond ,,,;ll;oa. .:.:...