New-York tribune., 1876-03-04
PARIS IN ELECTION TINE.

| THE NEW sENATE-M. GAMBETTA AND CLERICAL
! EDUCATON-EX-MlNIsTER BUFFET5 PERSONAL
| OUTIINEs-M DE- GIRARDIN on THE DUTY or
| FRANCE E-BONAPARTIsT FANCHs-THE LATE
FREDERICK LEMAITRE.
| IFROM REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRTBUNB.l
| PARIS. Feb 11.-There is just at present lull
| in the political storm. The elections for the
Senate came of ON the 30th of last month,
and those for the Assembly occur on the 2Oth
of the present one. You yourselves learn the
| facts in these cases few hours later They
were such in the Senatorial elections as to crafty
! people who feel at liberty to take on the whole, a
cheerful view of republican institutions. There
were more Moderate Republicans elected, fewer
Radicals, and very much fewer Bonapartists, than
| had been feared. The great news of the day. in-
| deed, was the defeat of the BonaraTtists, who
muster at the largest estimate, but forty Senator'S
The election in Paris was of paler hne than had
seemed likely. Victor Hugo was successful but
only a second ballot, and Louis Blanc was
beaten. The latter however, is standing for the
Assembly, the famous NJ. Barodet, whose election to
the Assembly just extinct produced such scandal,
| having gallantly withdrawn TO make room for him.
But VI. BaTOdet has since begun TO oppose another
candidate, and a wiser man than himself in another
arrondissement. How the forthcoming elections
| will turn out no man can tell, and believe the
oldest political observers decline to risk any prophe-
cies. The results on the 30th of January in
measure a surprse-they gave the Monarchists at
once less to exult in and less to raise the cry of
alarm abont than these gentlemen had 1T may be
said-hOpod II may be that in this same direction
those Of ten days hence will be even better.
NJ. Gambetta has just been making an eloquent
speech at Lillehis age he is less than 40l having
excluded him from the senatOrship. Ii is all very
l. Il,
commits the liberal programme to antagonism TO the
new Catholic University. NJ. Gambetta denounces
in violent terms the admission of the Church TO
share in the superior instruction. This is point on
which many sagaci0us Republicans distinctly differ
with hnn-lt has brought down upon him, for in
stance, the animadversions of the Journal ds
DtJ0ts, which for some time past has been treating
him with abundant respect. To give tho Church
leave 10 bring mp emigT6s," as Gambetta says,
within the state, to torn citizens who arr no ctl-
lens and with whom il is a matter of conscience 10
plot aud conspiTe against it-ths may be very fairly
represented suicidal. Certainly there is no such
cruel knot for liberal party 10 have to unite as the
question how far it afford To appear inlOlcrant,
and the history Of Republicansm in France s asso-
cated with 20 many ugly doings against the Church,
that the question il peculiarly difficult here. IL
should of course be settled in perfect indifference to
though VI. GaInbctta declares that it is matter
with which considerations of liberty and tolerance
have nothing To do-a matter of simple self-preser-
yation-it is inevitable that some people should ask
themselves whether the remedy is not worse than
the disease. II / were n Fronchman | am in
cined tu think that / should feel more at my
raso in rcpublic in which the Catholic
party was allowed TO carry ON, in competition
with the Sorbonne and the College de France. as
successful and satisfactory university il could,
than ina a republic in which 1t was silenced and
muZzcd aud forced 10 disseminate its instruction
through private channels. 1t is hard indeed, to im-
agine Catholic university, with the full light OF
our current audacity of opinion beating down upon
it, proving very dangerous. | mdulped, however.
inst above in very fantastic hypothesis. Heaven
forbid-for simple entertainments sake-that any
one who ha. the good fortune not Ia be "A Frcnchman
.hould become one even in thought, a the present
hour They arc q sadly peIplcved people, and find
the spectacle Of the various conflicting cmbodimens
of opinion which here and there encounter much
more interesting than the mOnotOnous interest of
having responsible bundle If doctrines and stick
ing TO it. without at all pleading guilty to the
charge of that exaggeraton of versatility known as
being of the opinion of the last speaker, | never
hear political sympathy strongly expressed with
ont desiring at least 10 understand ito get inside
II the speakers mind. circumstances, and
antecedonts. The other day lady was talking
10 me of q gentleman whom she had ceased
tor some time 10 see-ho was 50 violent a Republican.
lie had none but Republicans AZ hls house, and they
were all horrible people. "No French people," Size
added in a moment, are Republicans-at least no
one that any one secs" This seemed TO me in its
way quite sublime, aud it was certainly eXcusabc to
lcsire to pass half an hour in place warm and
mug and free from uncomfortable drafts as this
ladys moral consciousness. An evening or two later
| was in room into which NJ. Buffet presently en-
tered aud lady with whom was talking bade me
turn and look at him. 4" / believe" she said in mo-
ment very softly aud sweety, that h Buiet Is the
best man on earth" Certainly if you don't dislike
the Vice-Prcsideut of tho Council very much, you
Won will probably love him; but it, n an impartial
observer you happen to be looking at him in the
.lcsh YOU will probably feel certain irritation at
hearing him spoken of tcndcrly. Not that he
~ not very we'll worth turning round to look
AZ, anywhere; but his physiOgnomy expresses
the beau ideal of toughness.. lie looks like
fine sixteenth century print; his face, which
il full of dignity and refinement, is as it were,
masterly piece Of wood-engmying Beneath the
cut on a scroll in old, quaint letters ought to be
written-obstinacy. VI. Bullets countenanee ex-
hibits this quality in truly heroic proportions and
again. "a saw | should have been thankful for a
glimpse of the intellectual economy of my compan-
ion who found il sympathetic. | do not know
exactly what to say of gentleman whom | lately
encountered, and who. being literary critic of
much cmincncc, had for many years delighted mo
by his writings. On my asking how he felt about
the elections" oh, IL is done tins time, decidedly,
II Is DONE he answered in the most mournful ac-
cents. I'VE are Americanizngl Yes, it's done"
And he proceeded TO affirm, with an air of detection