The National Republican., 1885-11-17
THE FRANCHISE IN FRANCE.
johnny Crapnud at the Polls and What
He Does There.


PARIS, Oct. 24.-The Importance aud sig.
nifcance of the late elections render the
mode of conducting such affairs in this
country matter Of some interest In the
western republic. Paris was divided into
649 sections or voting places, and there were
nearly 200more provided for st. Denis and
Sceaux. AS the method of voting is the
same all over France a description of the
operation here will indicate how the French
elector votes. The polls are opened at In
the morning by a citizen selected by the
mayor OF the quarter. This presiding Off
ceris assisted by two wardens and secretary.
The voter delivers his ballot folded to the
presiding officer, who drops it into the urn.
If the ticket, which must be white con
tains any mark or sign whatever by which
the votercan be known 1t is thrown out when
the counting takes place. Electors can
write their lists or use printed ones, and
they can indulge in as much scratching"
as they like. Each voter must justify his
identity, either by an electoral card or by
witnesses who are electors in his ward.
Instead of counting the votes rs fast as
they are deposited during the day, so that
be but little work to do. the counting here
does not begin until all have voted, that Is
to say, until 6 o'clock. Then the presiding
officer calls upon q number of the electors
present to help in the counting. These
volunteers are divided into groups Of four.
One reads aloud the names and two Others
check them off on two separate lists pre-
pared in advance. The fourth assistant
copies the totals on to another list which
when finished is signed by all the counters.
This list, together with the irregular bal
lots, is delivered to the presiding officer,
who forwards 1t to the prefecture Of the
Seine. This cumbersome arrangement
works well enough in small community,
but in Paris, with eighteen lists and over
fective. When the polls were closed there
we've more than sixty sections where volun-
teer counters could not be obtained, and
the work in these sections did not begin
until the next day.
SOME IMPLEMENTS.
In some of the voting places there were
four sheets for the 300 names of the candi-
dates, and each recorder had to look over
these four sheets as fast rs q name was
called out. If all these names had been
printed on one sheet, much delay would
have been saved. Then there was numer-
Gus variety of "scratchedn tickets. A great
many ballots were written, while Others
were partly written and partly printed.
Some Intelligent electors had written one
name thirty-eight times, others had written
the whole thirty-eight thirty-eight times In
1871, the last time the scrutn de lste was
used for general election, II was four or
five days before the definite results were
known, and on the present occasion 1t was
thought that everything had been done to
| facilitate the counting, so that the exact re-
suit would be known the following day.
With that theatrical instinct SO implanted
in every Frenchman Il rehearsal OF the
voting had been tried. The pupils of one
| of the public schools went through all the
movements one day several weeks before
the election, and II was triumphantly an
nounced that the system worked to per-
| fection.
WHAT 1T AMOUNTED TO.
The result of the vote, excepting the de-
| paTtment Of the Seize and the colonies, is $50
reactionarles, 14 republicans, and 222 bal
cottages where second trial will be neces-
sary. If to this total of $50 we add the 3S
| deputies for the Seine and the 10 for the
colonies, we have the total OF 5SI, which is
the number Of deputies the new chamber
| will contain. or the $50 reactionarles elect
ed, there are only 52 Bonapartists; the
Others comprise pure legitimists, Oreanists,
and few clericals, who arc principally
noted for their anti-republlcan sentiments.
| uIb III MlllNu u htN-
| ond ballot will be necessary on the 18th In
stant and in forty-onc the republicans have
a strong majority. In the nine Others the
reuctonaries will make the struggle very
close one. Success will only come to the
republicans by strict discipline.
THE RESULT ANALYzED.
The results Of the elections have taken a
| great many persons by surprise. In the
last chamber there were so reactionists,
and although at the end of the campaign IL
was concedeS that they would gain few
seats the most sanguine man Of their own
| party never dared to express the opinion
| that they would double their number. The
| fact that they have on the first ballot Sc
cured $50 seats has caused dismay In the
} republican ranks, and each fraction OF the
party has thrown the blame on the other
The opportunists, who have been In power
/ the past four years, say that the bitter war
made by the radicals against NJ, Ferry and
his ministry has thrown the hesltating ones
into the arms of the conservatives The rad
iCals reply that the vote shows that the
country does not want any more Tonquln
expeditions, and is making the whole party
suffer for the faults committed by one
branch Of it, The causes of the sharp