The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-15
Proposed Restoration of the Senate in

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France.
Evidently the project for the creation Of
second Chamber is shortly to come forward in
France in a somewhat positive form, as the
response of the Duke de Broglie to the Com
mittee on the Constitutional Bills indicates
that some consideration of the subject will be
embodied in the report Of that committee
De Broglie assents, on the part Of the Minis
try, to the appointment Of members Of the
Senate either by the government or by the
Councils General, and this may be taken as
the latitude within which the committee will
confne itself in fixing the mode of creating
Senators; for to have the approval of the
government to this project is q necessary con-
dition Of its adoption, inasmuch as the repub-
icans, though committed in a general sense
to the system Of two chambers, have reason
to apprehend that Senate created at the
present time would be inimical to them and
would be simply the organization of one Of the
greater forces of public opinion against which
they have to struggle. If the appointment is
placed in the hands of the government it will
be return to the system of the Empire, but
in conditions more favorable to the creation Of
a Senate possessing attributes that might en-
title it to the respect of the country. Under
the Empire the appointment of Senators was
that was exercised with the least regard to the
intention with which the power was conferred,
and, instead Of being an assemblage Of the
chosen political wisdom Of the country, the
Senate was o mere hospital for admirers and
servants of the ruler, retired from more active
spheres of devotion OF funkyism. At the
present time there are on the stage many men
of political capacity brought forward in the
years oftrouble through which the country has
passed, of whom the Duke d'Audifret- Pas
quier is the type. Out of this sort of material
the Senate would be made by the present gov
eminent, and the result would be good, for it
would save to political life the acquired ex-
perience Of the recent conflicts, which might
be otherwise lost in the dissolution of the
Assembly. If the appointment is placed
with the Councils General the system vii !
be very nearly analogous to our own,
for the Councils General are in the various
territorial departments of France very much
what our legislatures are in the various States.
They are local governing and administrative
body. Thus Senate appointed by these
bodies and an Assembly elected directly by
the people would be nearly identical in their
representative character and in the distinction
between them with our Senate and House OF
Representatives. Perhaps the government
vote can carry the creation of Senate, though
it may need a little assistance from the mod
crate republicans Of the Left Centre, which
can be easily obtained by some delicate hints
as to who the government will probably ap-
point from that particular political quarter
if the appointment is placed with the govern
ment But the republicans will, in all ikeli-
hood, oppose the present re-establishment Of
the Senate, because it will be an addition to
the so-called conservative forces that resist
their propaganda, and because its creation,
though it may lead to the dissolution of the
present Assembly, which the republicans de-
sire, will further lead to the postponemen
perhaps indefinitely. of the elections TO,
another Assembly.