, 1865-07-28
(From the London Times, June 29.)
THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND
OPPOSITION CANDIDATES.

kdIICu ObC " LlOSC uIS 01u liz II
ing defeats which, like thunder in a clear
sky, surprise and startle US much more
than in proportion to their actual import
ance. 1t seems strange that a Govern
ment so strong in the support of public
opinion, at the head of so vast a military
force, and possessed Of q system of adj
mlnistrativc organization u%nrivalled in
any country at any period of the worlds
history, and putting forth the whole of
its power to the utmost extent IN the
most INSCRIPTIONS manner or every oc-
casion, should not be able to command
the majority in every electoral district,
and stranger still that, after the Govern
ment has discovered such success to be
often beyond lis power, it should still
continue to provide its adYersaries with
the opportunity of from time TO time in
flicting upon it fresh and disastrous de-
feats.
In the Department of the Puy de Dome
the Government candidate, M. Meyna-
der, has been defeated by the candidate
of the Opposition, NJ. Girot-PouZoI, by a
majority of two thousand. The vacancy
was occasioned by the death Of the Duke
de Morny-not only a supporter, but the
principal representative Of Government
itself in the Legislative Assembly. One
would suppose that a constituency train
ed under such q man was perfectly to be
relied on. But no sooner is it emancipa-
ted from the oyerpowering personal in1u-
ence of its representative than it passes
over TO the other side, and casts in its lot
with II few men who carry on what seems
l~.~Ion- o~->o-;t;oO L. H. o-o.
will. Several causes were alleged for
this defeat, which was long since predict
ed by our French correspondent. In the
first place, the Project, in his circular TO
the electors, stated that whoever they
elected would succeed to, but not replace,
M. de Morny, a prophecy which seems to
have offended the electors and worked
out its w accomplishment in Il dltfe-
rent sense from the one anticipated,
since the successor of NJ. de Morny will
throw his weight into the contrary scale,
M. Girot-Pouzol is a grandson Of a mem
Der of the Constituent Assembly of 1889,
a son of a member of the Constituent
Assembly Of 1848, a native of the pro-
vince OF Auvergne, and, what seems
to be a passport to popularity, an OBJ ect
Vi dlkdCh W buC IIlIINub AAC
is in favour of reducing the price TO be
paid for exemptions from military service,
of a reduction Of the army, Of increased
means of transport, and of new outlets
for trade. He desires gratuitous educa-
ton, the decentralization of Government,
the election of Mayors from among the
municipal councillors, the freedom Of the
Press, and the abolition of exceptional
laws concerning it. The electors Of Au-
vergne have given their suffrages. not for
a man, but for a system, and that system
is Numerically opposed to the existing
maxims Of Imperial Government. Near
the town of Clermont stands the elevated
plateau of Gergovia, where Julius Caesar
met with a severe check from the Gauls,
and the same neighbourhood has now
witnessed a more peaceful, though almost
equally decided, reverse to the fortunes
of his modern successor.
It is q proof how impossible it is to
understand the real condition of a coun-
try where the Press is not free,-where