The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-04-13
THE FRENCH SENATE.
something ADOu, Iss I,,s.,ssy, Con.'l ra'on and

something AbOuh llS HlHtorys COnHtt tttuttOh "hN
In view of the present agitation in Paris
over the proposition Of the Emperor to ma
terially modify the powers and privileges of
the Senate, the following from the Pd@ Mai
Gazette will be read with Interest,"
SO many changes have come over France
during the last few months that people were
not astonished to see the Senate suddenly
bestir itself and eviRce Jealous interest in
public affairs-a zeal which has ended in
calling upon the Assembly more attention
than it possibly desired A year ago busy
Senate would have been a novelty, for il was
a maxim carefully inculcated upon the august
assembly by Government, and religiousy ac-
cepted as postulate by the nation at large,
that the last subject to which any well-regu-
lated Senate ought to turn its thoughts is that
of public business--or, indeed, for that mat
ter, any other business than that duly chalked
out for it by the discriminating wisdom of
Ministers Had it not been for the 30, ,000f.
which every Senator was in the habit
of receiving each year in quar-
terly instalments, there were few
Frenchmen who would have thought it worth
while to remember that their country was
blessed with an Upper Assembly at all. But
ASSOC, ,000f. multiplied by 1903, 600, 000f., the
senatorial institution was one of those bless
ings that make themselves felt; aid this oc-
to cross over to the left bank of the Seine,
and try to discover what sort of a political
body it could be that consumed so much
money and made so little noise. There was
something of holy mystery about the assem-
bly,. 1t held its sittings in an old historical
palace associated with gloomy memo
ries of Richelieu, the Terror of 93-when
it had served as a prison-the trials OF Ney,
of Polignac, and of Louis Napoleon; the
of ba nt1lY do p
Corduroy lectures of 4S, and many other
events equally dismal and distressing. All
these sittings were private. Once or twice a
week-but oftener once than twice--a
few broughams and coaches would
rumble up the Rue de Tournon
and roll slowly under the archway of M rie
de Medici's mansion, bearing eX- cabinet
ministers, ex-prefects, ex-generals, and ex-
judges, with here and there an archbishop.
They all had kind of family likeness, and
the same uncomfortably conscious look of
being shelved; the hveliest were the arch
bishops, who, if report said truly, spoke much
the loudest when they got inside. Now and
then when the venerable procession of Ex-es
had terminated one or two quicker
broughams would rattle up with solemn per-
sonages discernible through the windows.
These were ministers, very sleek and well-to-
do, come down to make belief to explain
things which nobody there wanted to know,
and to titillate the venerable Ex-es by talk of
independence, patriotism, disnterestedness,
and other properties quite useless as times
went as well as dangerous. Nobody was ad-
mitted to the privilege of hearing or seeing
what went on within the ancient walls; but
if one liked to go on the morrow there was a
verger to show one the session-room where
the Senators had been debating the preced-
ing day. This was better than nothing. The
room was very sumptuous and imposing; in
deed, it is doubtful whether the sight of SO
much green and gold and such fine empty
benches did not leave a more striking i'm
preston than could have been gathered by
the spectacle of M. Rouher at the tribune
and the whole hundred and twenty Senators
appauding his utterances with both hands.
Besides, if visitor was imaginative it was
not very difficult to conjure up senatorial
sitting, speeches., applause, and all-the
verger was communicative and gave one help
if needful. There, on the first tier of the
amphitheatre to the right of the Presidents
seat, sat the cardinal archbishops in their
scarlet robes, and a little farther off Mon
seigneur Darboy, not yet cardinal though
anxious to be, and attired more humbly in O
violet cassock. Towards the centre clump
of field marshals, all gold lace, moustache, and
loyal sentiments Next them the admirals;
above them and in the shade of the
hemicycle the group of fallen Ministers, pen
SlV6 ana 1nOurnIul; III corner inc seal
whence the famous Marquis de Boissy used
to prophesy the invasion of England; in an
opposite corner the bench whence NJ Sainte
Beuve started up on memorable occasion tc
make his chivalrous defense of Ernest Renan
facing these seats and overlooking the arm
chair Of the President, an array of silen
statues representing legal worthless of The
past. 1t was to the shades Of these worthe'
that senators run short of inspiration were il
the habit of appealing by abrupt apostrophes
AS there were no journalists in the tribune
to litter, it was allowable to explain now anC
then: Messieurs, j'invoque ces grand
hommes don't Ia sagesse preside nos delibe
rations." Or this, at the moment of voting
with an elegant wave of the hand aloft:-
''Messieurs, n n'oubfez point que ces six sage
vous contemplent." Nowadays it is not sur
how far this figure of rhetoric would succeed
those journalists respect nothing.
The French Senate is the fifth assembly O
the kind that has been instituted since tn
Revolution. Previously to 1889 there wer
some Peers, but as their main privilege con
sisted in holding their tongues until the
were asked to speak, it can scarcely be sal
that their functions were either onerous {
themselves or very important to the country
During the Constituent debates of 100
the question as to whether there should
two Chambers or one was OF all the knott
points of the time that which gave rise to t1
longest discussions. Mirabeau, whose opinion
auctuated, ended by becoming partisan
the English system; but he was in a minorit,
The intractable spirit of the mobiles had irr
fated the revolutionary legislators, and it WI
eventually decided that there should be bl
l. 4 IL