New-York tribune., 1881-09-11
THE FRENCH ELECTIONS.
SCENES IN AND ABOUT PARIS.

MAYORALTY-A FRENCH RETURNING-BOARD-
GAMBETTAs ALLEGED MAJORITY OF oNE-How
THE NEW WAS RECEIvED-TIIE ELECTIONS IN
CENTRAL PARIS CLEMENCEAU's swEEPING TRi-
UMPV--AN OVATION TO THE DEMOCRATIC
IEADER-THE VOICE OF THE PREss-THE FU-
TURE OF oPPORTUNIsM.
FROM TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNEl
PARIS, Aug. 26.-A stranger visiting Parls might
have thought last week that Beleville represented
all France Public nterest concentrated IN an
extraordinary degree upon that Mount Aventine of
French Den ocrocy. The riot at Charonne had
startled the whole Nation. Gambettas total alb
sence of self-mastery astOnished even more than
the violence of the plebeians who refused TO give
him hearing If that violence had not showed
that Gambetta's popularity the wane. it
would not have caused surprise. But it
revealed an entirely new situation, for which
only few sagacious observers were
prepared. The universal question which after the
Charonne trouble presented itself to the press and
the newspaper readers was tins: Will Gambetta
be returned for Belevlllef His followers all said
he would be victorious. The articles of the Repub-
lioue F,dncdse which were written to conceal from
the provinces what had taken place in the shed in
CastePs wood yard, went on the assumption that
the rioters there 800 suborned ruffans
Gambetta himself apostrophizing those who
would not allow him to deliver his Grafton, said
1--WE shall on the 21st of August that you are
has come and gone. 1t shows that the rivals of the
great orator have 10000 electors behind them on
'the Mount Aventine"
Ispent the greater part of Sunday at Belleville
and went there in rapid carriage to witness the
proclamation of the candidate whose name issued
victorious from the ballot-boxes. Voting took
place in sectional bureaus and at the Mayoraty.
When the sections were closed in the evening" the
deal boxes, euphoniously designated as "urns,"
nla
dence, which is magnificent and brand-new palace,
standing in the Place des Pvrenees This place is
the apex of a wide angle formed by the
boulevard de la Republique and the Rue des
Pyrenees, two Handsomely planted avenues of
great breadth. affordng splendid perspectives
Houses are not yet built along them, un-
less in q very irregular manner The May
orally is vast and commandingv arranged in
side. 1t has triangular court round which the
corridors and vestibues all run. The adminstra-
tive offices all communicate with them and their
windows, which are lofty, open on beautiful gar
dens. On Sunday night there were gathered in the
streets which enclose this civic palace its court and
gardens compact groups of men and women who had
left their children at home. riot probably having
been apprehended although the voting had been
performed with good order and tranquility. But if
the babes were relegated TO their cots, dogs were
not sent to their hutches. l never a greater
number of mOngrels of all Sizes ages and mcongru-
crosses. A brute which was 6 mixture Of an
intrusive King Charles and basset hound kent
running between the feet of electors and
snared and snapped when he was stood upon
Discussions sometimes interrupted
by the howlings of less resentful quadrupeds which
had come to grief in the crush. The love of the
French lower orders in cities fo dogs and cats is re-
markable. Exiguous as s the artisans dwelling
he and his wife often find room to offer hospitality
to masterless dogs which they find roaming about
the streets at night in state of destitution.
The quiet of the morning had disappeared. There
was much patent excitement and fever when / got
to the Place des Pyrenees at 10 o'clock at night
M. Gerard, the Mayor, had ordered all the seats to
be taken from the court and the space in front
of the Mayoralty, and the gardens to be locked
Those who are familiar with the working classes
here know that thev more apt to
grow Quarresome sitting than standing
An employe of the Mayoraty, who
had informed me of this precaution, also tolo me
that to make out the time wine would have been
fetched if the seats were available, and that in
drinking it citizens would wrangle. Elderly women
were in great numbers AS the gas light was brill
lant we could well see how the multitude was c m
posed Ishould be very sorry to call those gray
haired toothless, wrlnked and decrepit human be-
ings hags, crones beldames. They had done
their duty in ife l am sure, and their hearts,
no doubt had been pierced by sorrows
they were full of enthusiasm and hope
in the Days of February, and intoxicated with war
like feeling in the more stormy Days of June. They
had witnessed the siege, and had anticipated at the
election of the Commune a millennarian period of
Justice aud fraternity and liberty, and though
they had drunk and to the dregs a very bitter cup
though many of their illusions had been violently
dispelled, their faith in retributve and distributa
justice had not died out.
There was palsied old woman who leaned on an
iron railing with whom / got into chat Her
husband was shot in the Days of June, and her son
badly wounded. He was only boy but brave as a
lion, and volunteered to defend a barricade.
grandson died in New-Caledonia, whittier he was
sent by Versailles court-martial. His death hap
pened six weeks before the last amnesty bill was
passed. IT, said the old woman, Gambetta had not
Jagged behind Victor Hugo and Louis Blanc per-
haps my poor boy, who was hero, would have
voted for him to-day.
The ballot-boxes which arrived from the sections
were opened in a large hall known as La Sale des
Marriages ct des Fetes- Each box was guarded by
policemen, by the assessors who sat beside the
presidents of sections at the taking of the votes
ana by members of the committees of rival candi-
dates. The latter watched closely the opening of
the boxes and the unfolding of the bulletins Nearly
1000 persons were in the where this operation
went on. They were exclusively of the rouober
sex. Pipes and bad cigars were freely smoked. The
atmosphere suffocating.
NJ. Gerard. the Mayor of Beeville, is an intimate
friend OF NJ. Gambetta. and did all that lay in him
to secure his return The vote of the section of the
Mayoralty, one could have known was Opportunist
from the vexed looks of some extreme Radicals who
watched group of scrutateurs headed by M. Gerard
when they engaged in classifying the bulletins
They seemed to convey their yexed feeling to the