New-York tribune., 1871-10-21
FRENCH REPUBLICANISM.

DITION OF PARIS.
IPpoh TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or THE Ik,bUShI
PARIS, Sept. 29-No other law passed Dy Vhe
Versailles Assembly 40 aborOusly ana long
as the one on the Departmental Councils 'C0''
traux No other Is 30 long Of so lsborious readhg
reminds one Of Bradshaws Guide 1t counts Sone n"u
dred artcles with 30 many interquacatons as 10 COM
plicate their Interpretation, not O say seemingly co
dict each others meaning occasion. Originating WIN
the reactionary Rurals opposed generally Dy N'puO-
can members IL underwent ts long, tOrtuoes pS"@ge'
grave and sometimes curously sudden turns OF
ton-now to meet the demands OF Liberals now 10 a'ou
the resistance Of Government. The result OF comFro
mi,es ndecisiye provisional In character 1t still marks
movement In the right direction; s an attempt az
Constitutional Reform not very good In It's knn DuC
an excellent kind Under the last Lower EmplIe' u"
system Of Capitalization completed by the Ral Napoeon
and accented as convenient instrument OF governing
by all subsequent regmeshad become more etnclehty
destructive Of departmental vitality than even no IN
tended Steam had brought distant Projects within
hours electricity within ten minutes Of the ruling CHER
at Paris When they were separated by Weezs' or
brought to close communication only by poshorses ana
the clumsy semaph0re some liberty OF Judgment ana oI
action as TO local detail needs be left to local
proconsuls and their local advisers Watt and Fulton
and the other time-kiers had changed all that
theoretically the Councils-General were elected IN
each department vote funds necessary for the depart
mental administration. Practically, and with rare lnd'
ydua exceptions, the members were the prenomnated
land of course successfully candidates OF the Central Gov
ernment They voted equally, Of course, what the TIC
feet was advised advise Their other functions were
chiefly of the applausve and digestive ORDER ecnonRtno
Projects cry of Wire PEmpreur dancing at his WfeS
ball and eating the prefectoral dinner. prominent
feature of the new law is the institution OF sDeparten
tal CouEi,so itself named, think, by tho Councl
from among the members Of its own BODY. Inc Nounoh
ia now to have the right Of aloting taxes Tor local eA
pendture and the Commission Is invested win man! "
the prerogatives formerly retained by the Cenra Gov
ernment and exercised without other control Oy 'he
Pretect You may be little surprised after this state
ment 10 learn on the authority Of the law In question
and of the actual Government that the elections 10 pe
held on the 9Th Of next month for the new Councillors are
in no sense poltical And therefore tho mhser Vi '
Interior refuses electors permission OF puDc meet
ipgs And the Minister Of Justice suiiciently clearly
makes known that any attempt at such preliminary
poitcal meeting is q prOsecutable ofense, ana its
promoters will be prosecuted 1t Is but fair 10 note
on the ohcr hand that Government by the organ or tS
Musters as explicitly forbds It's prefectora and lesser
agents to exercise any material or moral pressure Oh
electors They not to crowd nor coax Being clIZcs
they may vote being officials, they may not De Vo'eu
for Why not presume, what the various OppOsluohs
will not that this is honest 1t Is polite at least Judg-
ing from the sum OF such declarations OF candidates as
have vet been published the cheerful resigned or ten
tatye acceptance Of the Republic, or Republic OF inc
Theirs estate set forward as title to election here
and there notorious partisan OF the last or some ono
of the precedingy lost causes-Bonapartlst k"uher'
Legstlmist Comte du Deuge. Orleanist Dnc dAumhie'
Many who themselves accepers to-day OF the
Rcpublic as 1t is doubtless accepted the Empire IN It's
tmc and of anything good that dripping In those
dovs II does not follow that they are conSp.rng I'm
peass or that they will be any less faithful TO the K
public II it can stand without them than they were 10
tho Empire Nor yet does 1t follow that they or their
adherents are purely despicabe from moral point OF
view or from the working level Of political views They
are not maliciousy bad. They are respectable SILVER
Urav folks with stakes In the country which OF all
things tho prayer their nid souls threading any and
every never underdone sacrcia stake may not DC
pulled up They the conservatives sincere In ther
way with no profound prncples-though no profound
" wicked ones Dante tells what luck they fall on
hereafter who lived without blame or praise mingled
with that abect corps OF angels who neither rebel
lious nor faithful" But they for this wOrd-and
Theirs Is
It will not be strange II we hear less OF the Bona
parist conspiracy" after the October elections are over
OF persons actively Intriguing for tho return OF that un
fortunate male of Sedan and Marguerite Beenger to the
throne Of Henry Ffths ancestors the number is very
limited Whether that obsequious magistrate supreme
ly Judged Devienne (whose funeral prematurey an
nounced last week. death having made mistake In favor
OF relative Of the family name cares for his res
Oration doubtful 1t s pretty certain that many or his
old DeneuclarleS 40 hob uP
against hcm and their places are opened to them and
their promoton is kept open for them by the present
Government Theirs does not mean to force them into
opposition resusctate their Napoleonsm by lnenacngy
charging them with it, and change to foes humble SER
wants and ready accompces With all its more or less
sincere npartiaity and honesty NJ Thiers's Republican
Government from its venerable Presidential chief down.
ward sets against that party In the provinces, and
ats on it as It were hero in Paris this sitting part not
entirely OF NJ Therss choice TO his ease. He would
transfer the seat Of Government hither aware as long
practiced Partisan, that, though it 10 well enough as
momcntary expedent at the moment OF violent unruy
struggle and downfall, to "st on the ead. as sidewalk
councillors advise for scared terrified horse, 1t is no
true means Of getting in the long rum that Paris is
the head and can be much more easily and
safely controlled sat by than on. He Is fur
lively moving in ministries, ETC.. from Yer
sailles since tho adjournment. But the Rurals won't
abear it. The last thing they did was to impose though
doubtfuy legal effective check on his right to raise
the state Of siege, underhich the city still rests and
this not any rational fear Of revolutionary but from
provincial jealousy Of metropolitan Paris.
The population is disarmed. The armed police is as
numerous II not moro numerous now than in NapO-
Icons time The military garrison is as great. What
with killed. prisoners, and fuuves during and since the
Commune the population Of the dangerous aubourGs
is diminished by at least $1,000 workingmen. The late
crazy cries uttered by Ministers at Versailles taken up
by an gnorantly contemptuous then pitiably ai-
frghted aud ptably vengeful French bourgeois,
in and out Of press and reSchoed by their shrekng
congeners throughout the respectable wordcries about
the handful" OF mscreants that at least eloquey
uttered by Jules Favrepauvre JnesO quick rising to
the cry that the thousands strong handful-strong
enough 10 hold the place months against Of the
finest armies France ever had-was all composed Of
iders escaped jail birds and foreigners all these pre-
lenses of feeble, improvident Government Of @ COW
ardy runaway or trembngy resting local bO~r0eoise,
and Of selfish preudiced social CASTE are equally false
Take one officially furnished proof; of the thirty odd
thousand prisoners swept up like much waste rubbish
by the Government scavengers Of Paris Is now official
" stated in definite ciphers that the number Of for