The New York herald., 1870-05-31
Cnriosities Of the PIebiscItary Vote In
Franco.

Franco.
The 9th of May, as the archivists Of the
Paris press remind us, has not always been
favorable to ruling ministries. 1t was on that
date, in 1921, that Roger d'Argenson died;
on that date, in 1885, the Due de Choiseul,
another French Minister, expired, and the
famous Marquis de Pombal, of Portugal, then
in power, gave up the ghost on that day in
1882. The ministry of Louis Philippe re-
ceived a fatal blow from the crisis that super
vened on the 9Th of May, 1S47. Within
year the King was in exile. The 9Th Of May
has been otherwise remarkable in French his
tory. On that day, in 1916, the old liberty of
separation from bed and board retained. 1t
has its revolutionary prestige, running back
to the Reign of Terror. Fouquier de Tinville,
the public accuser, alleged in the Red tribunal
of 1904 that the public farmers general
cheated the people, and on the 9Th Of May
they were beheaded; but on that very day,
one year later, he too felt the edge of the gull
lotine. Great accidents also have marked the
date; for on May 8, 1912, occurred the terri
BILE accident on the Versailles Railway, near
Paris, that cost the Admiral DUrville his lie,
after he had made two or three voyages around
the world in safety. The opposition party In
France will think the 9Th of May, 1870, the
worst episode of oil, for it brought to them
fearful overthrow. Although in the depart
ment of the Seine alone there were about
100 600 votes not cast, the Emperor's policy
received 100000, while in the Presidential
election of December 10, 1848, he, as Prince
Louis Napoleon, got of 433,632 votes regis
tered total of only 1913, 500, while Cavaignac
had 95,571 and 47,75S were scattering, with
81, 1903 not cast. Yet this was in the very
flush of the first popularity of his nomination.
In the district of M Theirs, strange to say,
the government had sweeping majority in the
late election, while, quite as curiously, in that
| of M. OLIVIER the commercial heart OF Paris,
| things went the other way, with 6,3l6 votes
| withheld. This result arose from reasons
depending rather upon the Olivier Ministry
| than upon the Emperor, and had to do with
mercantile dissatisfaction at certain special
measures. Marselles seems, with its excit-
| able and turbulent population, to have been
well worked by the Reds, for it gave thirty
| thousand nays against fourteen thousand vot-
ing yea. But, on the other hand, there were
| thirty thousand other votes not cast There was
an evident fear of revolutionary outbreak and
vengeance. In Paris the aspect of things was
peculiar. Several noted opposition leaders
| IA, fn kho innn al
the polls, and at the military barracks were
warned off at the point of the bayonet Hence
their clamors about the ''stufing" of ballot
boxes During the day there was tremen-
dous scare started by the story that cask OF
gunpowder had been found under the barracks
at the Chateau Eau; but upon investigation il
was discovered to be only harmless barrel
of tar left there by some workmen who had
been repairing the gas pipes. All sorts of dis.
quieting reports were put in motion, but with
out effect. The Emperors sudden death, the
fight of Eugene, the detection of the Paris
garrison, the general arrest of all the opposi
ton deputies and editors, the placing of Paris
under martial law, and an organized, premedi
tated massacre of citizens by the troops, wer
among the cdn0rds started during the voting
hours; but the day rolled by, and with it wha
was left of insurgent hopes. Hereafter thu
Sth of May will be marked with white ston'
in the imperial Napoleonc annals; for it rem
dered quite possible within reasonable period
what before seemed but distant visions, glori
GUS indeed, but shadowy in their remoteness
to wit: Bonaparte sceptres in Rome, in Flor
ence and in Madrid; the consolidation Of thu
Napoleon dynasty; the leadership and direc
control of the Latin race the Mediterranean
made, indeed, French lake, and one Of thes
days the orifamme or the tri-color futterin
from Mount Zion.