New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-29
THE FRENCH ELECTIONS.

IAE fUEANCH LLkCIIONS.
The French Chambers are on the eve cf adj
iOurnment. The estimates have been voted
| and the work of the session has been practi-
cally finished, the only question on which a
| division of opinion has arisen between the
| Chambers being the compulsory Education
bill. The amendment relating to the re-
lgious duties of schOolmasters has been re-
iected by the Lower Chamber, and unless
the Senate recedes from its position, this inn
| portant measure upon which so much labor
has been expended will fall through. The
session has been one of unbroken industry.
The circuit which was opened on the morrow
| of the political crisis which followed the re-
| dictionary intrigue of the 10th of May
has been virtually closed. Amnesty has
| been granted for political offences, the
| Legislature has been restored to Paris,
| the army has been reorganized, National edu-
| cation has been placed on an entirely new
| basis, the antiJesuit DEGREES have been en-
forced, public works have been promoted, the
customs schedules have been revived, mags-
tracy and judicature acts have been debated,
ana changes have been wrought in foreign
policy and in every department of public life.
Only one clause of the Constitution has been
| altered, and the Scrutin remains as il was
The Legislative term of the Deputies has drawn
to close, and the 1858, whose reelection Gam
BETA predicted in tones Of triumph four wears
ago, return to their constituencies after u ca
reer which has been, on the whole, well filed
The general elections have apparently been
| advanced for political reasons. The policy of
| foreign adventure upon which the Ministry
has entered proves to be so expansive that
| the leaders regard it as only prudent to
make an early appeal to the country
Every day renders the position of the
present Ministry more uustablc-this week
it has escaped crisis by a very narrow ma
jority-and the change of Cabinets on the eve
OF popular election would be unfortunate for
the dominant party. The political groups
which formed so compact a majority when the
present Deputies were elected have become
more and more unmanageablc, and the great
| leader whose overmastering influence was felt
| by every constituency III 1877 has not been the
same man since the rejection Of the Scrutin de
Liste the Cahors pageantS and his defeat in The
| Lower House. The Ministry has shown good
| judgment in shortening the interval between
tho adjournment and the elections for its
efficiency is already impaired and tho insta-
| biity of the majority upon which it has been
depending for support has become apparent.
The vltallzing energies which have made
French Repubcanism what it is have been
derived from tho body of representatives
elected directly by tho people, and those
energies need to be stimulated by the action
of the popular will and the pressure of fresh
blood and new ideas ut the centre of political
power. That centre is the Chamber of Depu-
ties. The Senate has recently asserted its indie
pendence by rejecting the Scrutin de Listo and
amending the Compulsory Act, but the supren,-
| acy of the Lower House cannot be seriously
questioned. The Senators have 10000 con-
stitucnts and the Deputies 10000 900.
National sovereignty expresses itself with an
uncertain sound in the Senate, where the great
centres of population are brought down to n
level with villages containing u few hundred
Inhabitants. In the halls OF the Deputies,
where the great battles of the Republic
have been fought, its true voice is heard
1T is never prudent to forecast the results of
a popular election. The defeat of The Beacons-
field Government last year was as great n sur
prise as the downfall of the Gladstone Govern
ment had been in 1874. The public will il
swayed by many impulses, the strength of
which is never suspected until they have
| been powerfully cxerted For eyerv old
prejudice that may have been overcome
, IN France new one may have been cx-
cited; for every constituency whose morbid
dread of revolutionary excuses nav have been
dispelled there may be another that has been
rudely awakened from the hopes and illusions
OF progressive ropublicanism and in place
or the social question which once frightened
tho oourgeolsic radicalism may have new tcrrors
for conservative classes that are no longer To he
duped by Opportunsm. Rash even unto madness
would be the prophet who could discern in tbe
signs OF the times any tokens of tho downfall
OF Republicanlsm. Its achievements have hoen
80 positive, its successes so brilliant, that the
French people cannot have lost faith in n causo
and in party which have voiced their hest
aspirations What tho elections will make
clear is whether the voice of the present
Chamber is attuned to tho best thought of tho
Nation. Who Will say whether the Republ-
cansm OF the next Chamber will be more
| conservative or moro progressive than the
Republicanism of the present Chamber? That
is question which it will not be prudent for
the closest observer to answer in advance Of
the elections.