The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-11-04
Electoral Projects in France.

hict. There is always plenty Of animation
in that body but it is not often SO legiti-
mately divided on a point Of principle as
now neither has it often so definite policy
on either side in its debates. II is, indeed,
very prone to drift apt to see the vote for or
against given measures vary greatly under
the influences of the moment-a result
usually due to the absence of settled politi-
cal convictions on points where the applica-
ton Of party theories is not clearly seen.
In the division that is to become i'm
mediately prominent the Ministry is on one
side and all those Deputies who are pro-
fessedly republicans are on the other. There
are therefore, for the moment, distinct par
ties as to a certain measure-a government
party and an opposition party-and
it seems probable that the government
will notify its supporters that it deems the
conflict SO important that it viii stake its
retention Of office on the result. The
measure on which the division is thus made
is an electoral law. and the issue
turns on the preference Of the respec-
tive sides for the Scralin de iSte or
the Scqtin dsToadisSenent- that is to
say, for election by general ticket or by dis
tricts. In the election by general ticket, or
screttiR de hSte, as many representatives as
department is entitled to are voted for by
every voter. One man may thus vote for
eight or ten members. This is the system
now in operation, and the republicans wish
to continue it. BY the other system it is
proposed to divide the departments into
electoral districts, and to restrict the voters
of each district to the right TO vote for their
own member. This is the system the Min
istry favors. Readers can readily compre-
bend the points of distinction between these
two methods by the comparison of the French
departments to our States. If the whole
thirty three representatives Of this State
were voted for a State ticket, and we
should send to Congress q solid representa-
ton Of republicans or democrats, as one or
another Of these parties was dominant IN the
count Of the whole State, this would be the
same as the French Scy-utin dc GSte. But our
present system, by which the State is divided
into Congressional districts, and by which
defined portion Of the people elect their
own representative, is the same as the re-
form which the French government wishes
to introduce into their present clumsy sys-
tenn
1t is evident at glance which Of these
two systems is honestly and Justly repre-
sentative No doubt it is possible to carry
too far the principle Of electoral division in
representative government !; but within rea-
sonable limits its application is the only
means by which Legislative chamber can
be kept in sympathy with the public mind
or remain the real exponent Of popular aspi-
rations or impulses. If every neighborhood
sends its man, and these men, coming to-
gether, find themselves spontaneously in ac-
cord upon public policy, that policy is the
will Of the people but no such certainty as
l to the state of the public mind can ever be
reached where representation is practically
submitted to a committee Of distinguished
men, formally named at the polls-mere
perfunctory representatives. An incalcula-
BILE advantage Of the district system is that
it practically gives a substantial represen-
tation to the minority. Throughout the
years in which the democrats have been in
minority in this country they have, through
this system, retained good representation
in Congress. At one period, but for this
system, we should have seen the House of
Representatives absolutely in possession Of
the republican party. without a dissentient
voice TO what extremes Of political mad
ness that party might have gone if left with
out restraint may be judged by the wild
views Of its more extravagant leaders, who
were muzzled in all parliamentary emergen-
cies
Apparently however it is not from a
strict view Of the excellences Of one or the
other Of these systems that the French repre-
sentatives are divided on this issue. 1t is
rather from notions Of party expediency.
Republicans wish to retain the election by
general ticket because all the great cities are
republican strongholds, and will in many
cases give sufficiently large majority for
their party to overwhelm the vote of the
rural districts that are in the same depart
ment with them. Here again our own case
illustrates the result sought to be secured
If in the whole of this State outside of our
own city there were republican majorities in
all the Congressional districts that party
would secure twenty-seven Representatives /;
while the democratic vote in this
city, no matter how large the demo-
cratic majority might be, would give
that party but FIVE members But now
suppose the election were by general ticket,
as in France; then, though the whole State
outside this city should still be carried by the
republicans-even though the republicans
should carry the State by forty thousand
majority the voters Of this city, giving forty
three thousand democratic majority as in
1874, would step in and determine the repre-
sentation for the whole State In other words,
eighty-seven thousand persons, the number
IL i 1. - u