The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-04-27
FRANCE.
The PIebiscitum and Its History.

From. the Liuerpool Journal April 13.
The Emperor of the French is about once
more to appeal to universal suffrage. In 1S49,
in 1851, and in 1852 twice, universal suffrage
has served Louis Napoleon. He is going to
try it yet fifth time. Article thirty-two of
the Constitution of the 14th of January, 1852
which, with the notifications of various
SenGtuS C0nSuJtG, is the present Constitution
of France, runs as follows:-"All modifca
tions in the fundamental bases of the Consti
tuition, such as they were laid down in the
proclamation of the I'd of December 0851),
and adopted by the French people, shall be
submitted to universal suffrage" This ap-
peal to universal suffrage is known
In France as pIe5isctte, from the
Latin compound word 9ye6SS-scitum or
ple6SScitHm = law made by the common
consent of the people, without the interven-
ton of the Senate or the legislative power.
The article referred to occurs in chapter four
of the Constitution, limiting and defining the
powers of the Senate, by which the espe-
cial guardianship of the Constitution is COM
mitted to that body. Article twenty-seven,
for instance, says that the Senate regulates
by Sendtus C0nSaItltna ''all that has not
been provided by the Constitution, and which
is necessary for its march, and ''the sense of
the articles of the Constitution which give
rise to different interpretations.
The fondness of the Emperor for the pie
biscite may be very easily accounted for. By
this process he and his uncle got all they ever
acquired of supreme power in Fronce. What
his special object in the present appeal may
| be is not on the surface, but it may be men
toned that the name of M. Rouher, regarded
as the Mephisto of the present situation, is at
! the foot of the Constitution of 1852, and per-
! haps he, too, has constitutional scruples.
| What if the vote should be less than the
votes of 1S4S, of 1851, and of 1852? What
! if the vote should be adverse? Such conside-
rations do not enter into the theory of pLe6tS-
cites Since the execution of Louis XVI there
have been several appeals to the pIebiScitG in
France on constitutional points. The first
was on the constitution of 1893, when the
Mountain party, having finally conquered the
Girondists in the Convention, set about the
completion of the constitution which the
Girondists had begun, said to be the handi-
work of Condorcet. This constitution, which
was filled up with rapidty that contrssted
with the slowness of the Girondists in elabo-
rating constitutions, regulated the number of
representatives in the National Convention,
ordered annual elections and established trial
by Jury. This constitution was submitted to
pteb6Scite, and approved by 1,S01, ,918 against
IL, ,010 votes. The ardor of the convention in
constitution buildingwas, however, greater than
its desire to put the constitution into effect
The constitution, SO approved, was in fact
never acted upon. Two years afterwards,
subsequent to the death of Robespierre
and the downfall of the Jacobins, the Ma
tional Convention again applied itself to Con-
stitution making 1t employed upon the work
that experienced hand Ahbe Steyes, with
Cambaceres and others; and on the 23d of
June, 1895, there was submitted by Busy
D'Anglas bran new Constitution. This Con
stitution created two chambers-theC Council Of
Ancients (250) and the Council of the Five
Hundred, who in their turn elected five per-
sons called the Executive Directory, known
as the French Directory. This Constitution also
was submitted to pLebiScite and approved by
1 ,O57, $50 votes against 49,957. More fortu-
nate than the constitution of 1898, it did
work 1t endured for four years-till the
famous eighteenth Brumaire which brought
on the scene Napoleon Bonaparte, who made
very short work of the Ancients, the Five
Hundred, and the constitution. Napoleon, in