Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-11-24
TnE FRENoH ELECTIONS.
From the Correspondence of the
London Times.

y
ond ballot ON Sunday. He began
by explaining that the object of his
visit was to throw a ray of light on
the acts which preceded the first
ballot, and he spoke with the au-
thority of accomplished facts on
the proceedings of the anti-Repub-
Hcans and on the bearing of the
Republican victory. After affirm
ing the right to free expression of
political convictions at the polls, he
remarked:
stIt is, unfortunately, but too true
that, not merely here, but in almost
every department of France, uni
versal suffrage has been subjected
to intimidation, constraint, misrep-
resentation. Terror has been soWn
broadcast, and in three days more
violence and arbitrariness have been
resorted to than even the Empire
practised twenty years ago. Yet,
in spite of these numberleSs obsta-
cles, the true France, the France
of S9-Democrati and patriotic
| France-has risen and discovered
the path of liberation. OF the 533
official candidates introduced to her,
the administrative network secured
the passage of only 1873; and, giv-
ing the majority of 1876 an endorse
nrent for the past and more ener-
geti0 mission for the future, France
sent il back, scarcely attenuated, as
the expression of her sovereignty
and definitive will. This majority
is now identical with France her
self. France was told it was for her
to pronounce on the conflict so inn
prudently and bluntly opened. The
voice of the country has been heard,
the various verdictS collectively
forming the will of the nation have
been collected, and what have you
seen since? Has it been deferred
to and obeyed? No, there has been
fortnight more of official coercion
and electoral campaigning, and it is
confessed that the object in great
part of the 10th of May was official
candidacy and administrative pres
sure to prepare for the General and
ACCOMPLISHMENT Council elections,
which seem the last plank of safety
of the Reactionary minority. It
matters little, however. Our adj
versaries may disregard few weeks
longer the authority of the judg- !
ment delivered by France; but the |
hour will come when, before the |
Chamber, it will be necessary to |
settle who is wrong and who is right,
who ought to triumph--the country
or the resistance of single man.
There is talk, now that our
opponents are vanquised, of forget |
fulness of the past, of negotiations |
to be entered upon, as if there had |
been merely kind of electoral |
comedy arranged beforehand, as if |
the destinies of the country had not |
been at stake, and as if the country
had not been almost everywhere |
covered with private and public
ruinS.0
After dwelling on the Interrupt
ton of business and industry conse-
quent on the 9th of May, and con-
trasting it with the peaceful course
of affairs previously, M, Gambetta
asked who could be so bad French
man as not to accept Government
securing order and industry at home
and peace abroad, and under which
a people were quietly flourishing.
This marvellous development was
arrested, he urged, by the sudden
dismissal of q very moderate Re
publican Ministry and Chamber,
chargeable with no act or vote COM
promising the general interests of
the country. Describing the Minis
try minority as parti-colored, inclu-
ding every hue but the Republican,
and describing the newly-installed
functiOnaries as instructed to carry
on the electoral campaign, M. Cam
BETA spoke of the league of all the
old parties agai st France and of
the clergy as (, ming their animosi-
ty, threatened with resistance even
to her decisions, in order to intimi-
date her, but she has replied, "My
policy is the policy of the last Cham
Der. The laws of administration i
demand are those demanded by it
the officials demand in all depart
ments are those always claimed by
that majority, without ever being
able to obtain them in a loyal and
complete fashion," Had she been
allowed real independence, had all
the elements of her decision been
put before her with liberty to read,
listen and reflect, almost the entire
Chamber would have been Republi-
can. Remembering the misstate-
ments, dismissals, vexatiOus inter
ference with the sale of newspapers,
the closing of cabarets, the natural
meeting place of working men, and
all the menaces thrown out one can
see what elections without coercion
would have been. 81 announced
the return of 400 Republicans, and
that figure would have been reached
or even exceeded, but had not
reckoned on theft and fraud, as in
the Vaucluse; or intimidation and
fraud, as in the Nord and the Pas de
Calais and elsewhere, the infOrma-
tion as to which, given by one of
the most respected Senators, makes
the blood boil with indignation.
The history of these elections, how
ever, will be written. The world will
see the value of the pretension to
have regularly obtained thirty or
forty seats taken by this furiousstorm
from Republican France. Yes, we
are about to write this history; we
are collecting the materials. You
will know with what mannuvres
those seats were won, and with what
face the leaders of this campaign
will venture to yindicate their acts.
we shall see on which side were not
only the heart and feeling, but the
probity and honor of France"
After glancing at the heap of cal
umnies piled on the country for five
months, the garhled quotations from
foreign newspapers, the ministerial
prediction 400 seats, M, Gamhetta
urged his auditors to Impress upon
the electors the humiliation of being
deceived and terrified by the boasts
and menaces of the former support
ers of Cesarism, who threatened
transportation, men whose names
should be taken down, for justice
would come for all, and accounts
would then ba settled between those
who had respected and those who
had disobeyed the law. He next
commented on the humiliating re-
appearance of supporters of the EN-
pire, which had thrice ruined and
deoimated Frances and he expressed
surprise at the co-operation extended
to them of honorable ROyalists who
had formerly opposed Cesarism.
He hoped that, as the Republic
strengthened itself by benefits to the