Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1871-02-07
The National Assembly of France.

In the political parlance of the French peo-
pie, says the N. Y. World, National Assem-
bly, and Constituent Assembly are inter-
changeable phrases, meaning the same thing.
These forms of expression date from 1889,
when, after the assembling of the States Gen
eral, consisting of the representatives of the
three orders-no mobiles, clergy, and commoners-
the latter or tiers etat, insisted that the three
should deliberate as one body. and on the refu-
sal of the mobiles, set up for themselves, claim
ing to be the representatives of the French
people and called themselves the National As
sembly. This body, who were the architects
OF the french Revolution, are generally men
toned in history as the Constituent Assembly.
1t is such body, or one equivalent to it,
which is to be elected on the Sth, and assemble
On the 18th, of the present month, to recon-
struct the French government and confer upon
it authority to bind the nation in treaty of
peace.
The National Assembly will differ from the
Corps Legislatif, or the ordinary legislature, as
the constitutional conventions SO familiar in our
own politics differ from State legislatures. The
National Assembly, however, will possess more
power than our constitutional conventions, in
asmuch as its action will be final, while that of
an American constitutional convention is only
inceptive and preliminary. In this country a
new constitution is only draft possessing no
authority until it has been ratified by a vote of
the people. But the government framed by
the National Assembly will go into immediate
operation without awaiting the sanction of a
popular vote. The Constituent Assembly of
1889 made the most sweeping and fundamental
changes on its own authority, and the National
Assembly to be elected in this great conjunc-
ture will be clothed with similar powers.
The members of this Assembly will be cleo
ted on tomorrow, Wednesday, the 9Th, and
will meet at Bordeaux on Wednesday of next
week, the 18th. That body will have to accept
or reject the terms offered by the Prnssians
which embrace the cession of Alsace and Lor-
raine, with Belfort, in the Vosges; the pay
ment of 10000, 000 600 francs, the cesson of the
colony of the Pondchery, in the East Indies,
and the transfer of twenty drst-class frigates to
the German navy In prescribing these condi-
tons OF peace, Prussia warns all neutral pow
ers not to interfere, and declines even to listen
to suggestions on the part of other states. A
Berlin journal processes to know that there is
an understanding between Bismarck and Favre
as to the manner in which negotiations shall
proceed but all rests with the men who are to
act for France 10 that important assembly, and
who are to decide whether such peace can be
called honorable or not Gambetta, who speaks
as yet 10 the name of the Bordeaux govern
ment. calls it "a shameful peace, and in a
proclamation addressed to his countrymen urges
upon them the necessity of taking advantage
of the armistice to instruct the recruits, organ
ize for defense or for war, and rely upon re
publican assembly to conclude peace compat-
ible with 'sthe honor, rank, and integrity of
France"