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Leader (1850-1860), 25th May 1850, Edition Country of 1, Page 3, Mat 25, 1850.] ©ft* VLt&tttt* 195

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      Mat 25, 1850.] ©Ft* Vlt&Tttt* 195

      Mat 25 , 1850 . ] © ft * VLt & tttt * 195

      The State Of France. The Debate On The E...

      THE STATE OF FRANCE . The debate on the Electoral Reform Bill commenced in the National Assembly on Tuesday , The presentation of petitions against the measure occupied upw ards o f half an hour , sixty-one members having to present them . The discussion was opened by M . Lagrange , who opposed the urgency of the bill . " It was a violation of the constitution , and the urgency an aggravation . " It was a conspiracy againt the Republic . " You wish for an emeute , " he exclaimed , turning to the majority , ' we will not give you that s atisfaction , " M . de la Flotte followed , making his maiden speech , against the urgency . A division on the question of urgency gave a majority in its favour of 461 to 239 . Tne discussion on the merits of the bill w as then commenced by General Cavaignac .

      General Cavaignac said that art . 25 of the constitution declared that all Frenchmen aged twenty-one had a right to vote , provided they were in possession of their civil and political rights . Art . 26 declared that all Frenchmen were eligible , provided that they were twenty-five years of age , and enjoyed their civil and political rights . Those assertions being so made , did the constitution , when it declared that the electoral law should decide on what conditions universal suffrage was to be exercised , intend that any period of domicile was to be set forth ? He could not think so . He was of opinion that the constitution merely meant that the electoral law should regulate the exercise of the right of voting . The constitution

      gave the right of voting to all ; the present bill rendered ft restricted . The law would be dangerous or useless . The constitution was formed to provide against any attack on universal suffrage . M . Victor Hugo would take every opportunity to glorify the revolution of February . That revolution had two admirable thoughts , the abolition of death punishment , and the establishment of the universal sovereignty—a double victory , tending toward the regeneration of the social world , the first by clemency , the second by equality . It was a great thing thus to recognize the rights of all . The real glory of thi 3 proceeding consisted in its action upon what are called the lower classes . It was not

      the mere removing the electoral interdict which weighed upon a part of the country , but its profound policy consisted in giving a new hope to those who before had no hope but in revolt , in confounding the bourgeoisie and the proletarian in one broad sovereignty , taking the Gospel as the basis of policy , and bidding the sufferer to hope , the angry man to reason , so redeeming the poor , the disinherited , the sacred citizen . There was no grander formula than that of universal suffrage , which said to every man , thou art sovereign , be calm ; to the labourer , thy destiny is in the hands of those whom thou hast chosen , to whom thou hast expressed thy soul , know therefore how to wait . ( Ironical laughter and

      continual interruption for some time prevented M . Hugo from proceeding ' ) . M . Hugo continued : —Universal suffrage abolished insurrection . When it was proposed to take away the suffrage from the suffering classes , it was proposing to re-establish the right of insurrection . M . Hugo referred to the admirable calm with which the elections had been conducted , to their effect in restoring order , and denounced the new project as unworthy , mad , iniquitous , abominable , and anarchical . " Wherefore this useless , this foolish aggression ? Because it has pleased the people , after choosing you , to choose others ; because they have voted as they liked ; because they have the unheard-of insolence and audacity to advise you , instead of prostrating themselves at your feet . Therefore you would chastise universal suffrage , like the madman of history , who flogged the ocean . " He denounced

      the Ministers as revolutionists of the most dangerous kind . But the people would meet with a disdainful smile their petty law of reaction , which , mad and feeble , defied the spirit of the age , —their miserable attempt to tear with feeble nails the granite of universal suffrage . After analyzing the law , showing that it would disenfranchise whole classes of citizens , and among them the liberal professions , he showed that it would not even accomplish its objects . The electors remaining would avenge the electors suppressed . Let them get rid of what they would , the result would be the same ; for they could not get rid of their own faults , their incapacity ; they could not hinder the advance of time , for ever widening the distance between them and their age ; they could not get rid of the immense signification of the fact that they were seeking to go in one direction , while the nation was proceeding in another .

      M . Jules de Lasteyme cast a retrospective view on the miseries and ruin the revolution and revolutionists had entailed upon France , which rendered such a measure as this an imperious necessity . It was not unconstitutional ; the framers of the bill religiously respected the Constitution : else " the law would have been very different . " He maintained that the Government could not be too strongly armed , against the enemies of all power and society , and for that reason he voted in favour of the law . M . Pascal Duprat would abstain from all demagoguic expressions which might be construed into an appeal to revolt ; but he could not help stating that the bill violated the Constitution and the principle of uni-Yersal suffrage , that living law of the Republic .

      The discussion was resumed on Wednesday , after another half-hour ' s presentation of petitions . M . Bechard was " a partizan of universal suffrage , which he had advocated all his life . But universal and direct suffrage , exercised by electors twenty one years of age , without any restriction or guarantee , would be the most powerful auxiliary of the abettors of all the bad passions arrayed against society . For that reason it was he adopted the clauses of a bill , perfectly constitutional , which corrected some of the vices inherent in universal suffrage , " The residence required was a means of

      xecalling the urban superabundant population to the rural districts , which wanted hands . M . Bechard then contended that the fundamental principles of the bill were in perfect harmony with those of the common law and the constitution . Under a Republican Government guarantees of morality should be extremely severe . Individuals condemned for contempt of the law should be carefully excluded , and the citizen to whom the constitution granted an electoral ticket should feel that he received a certificate of morality . The number of individuals tried

      by the Correctional Courts amounted m 1845 to 197 , 913 , of whom 161 , 000 were males ; of these 18 , 000 were acquitted ; so that there remained 143 , 000 culprits ; and , from calculations he had made , he was inclined to believe that 1 , 300 , 000 individuals , legally excluded , participated in the elections . In conclusion , M . Bechard announced that he withdrew all the amendments he had presented to the Assembly , and urged his friends to follow his example , and submit to a similar sacrifice for the sake of the cause of order .

      M . Canet would proclaim that the law violated both letter and spirit of the Constitution , which stated that the sovereignty was vested in the universality of French citizens , and that no individual or fraction of the people could attribute to themselves the exercise of that sovereignty . This article certainly implied no exclusion . The 24 th article provided that the suffrage was direct and universal ; and the 25 th , that all Frenchmen , aged twenty- one years , were electors . The 25 th article added , that all Frenchmen , twenty-five years of age , and in the enjoyment of their civil and with

      political rights , were entitled to be representatives , - out any qualification of property or residence . The violation of the Constitution was , in his opinion , as clear as noonday . The real object of the bill was to exclude from the electoral franchise the operatives of the towns . It would likewise exclude the pupils of the schools of law and medicine , who , not residing in their families , could not , until three years after being received as doctors and lawyers , procure the certificate of their fathers to prove their three years' residence . The law would likewise disfranchise the pupils of the Christian schools and of the ecclesiastical seminaries .

      M . Montalembert asserted that it was false that they wanted to violate the constitution . They had respected it perhaps too much . " This I say boldly and frankly to them who affect to stand up for the constitution , that they have endeavoured to destroy it in spite of us . We have respected the constitution , and would fain constrain our adversaries to respect it , in order that all political parties might become habituated to bow before the law . " After M . Emmanuel Arago had spoken against the bill , the discussion on the general merits was declared to be closed . The discussion on the different articles commenced on Thursday .

      The Recall Of M. Drouyn De Lhuys Is Beli...

      The recall of M . Drouyn de Lhuys is believed to have been a trick of the Government ( probably arranged with Lord Palmerston ) , in order to divert attention from the electoral law . The language used by the French Conservative press shows that no serious rupture was contemplated ; and the conduct of the Minister of the Interior confirms the impression , he having forwarded the following telegraphic despatch to the prefects of departments almost at the very moment in which General de la Hitte announced the recall in the Assembly : — " THE MINISTER OP THE INTERIOR TO THE COMMISSARY

      EXTRAORDINARY . Paris , May 17 , half-past one p . m . " Paris continues to be tranquil . " The recall of M . Drouyn de Lhuys , on the occasion of the affair of Greece , has been received with enthusiasm by the Assembly . t " Everything guarantees to us , besides , that , notwithstanding that incident , the harmony between France aud England will not be disturbed . " Many petitions are in course of presentation to the National Assembly against the electoral law . That published by the Presse obtained in two days , at the office of that journal , 30 , 000 signatures .

      Scarcely a day passes without some punishments for selling or lending newspapers or pamphlets without license . The usual sentence is one month ' s imprisonment and a fine of 25 francs . M . Langroude , the director of the Voix du Peuplc , was sentenced by the Court of Assize of Paris on Monday to imprisonment for eight months , and to pay a fine of 2000 f ., for having published a seditious libel on the 8 th of April last . The director of the Dimocratie Pacifique was sentenced by the Court of Assize in Paris , on Tuesday , to six months' imprisonment and 1500 f . fine for a seditious libel , copied from the Voix du Peuplc , and insulting to the President of the Republic . The de

      director of the Voix du Peuple was se ntenced by - fault to one year ' s imprisonment and 3000 f . fine , for having originally published the article . La Nouvclle Ruche , a Socialist journal published at Perigueux , has been seized by order of the Attorney-General . The Presse states that no printer in Paris could bo found to print an article entitled The Situation , " by M . Louis Blanc , which was to have appeared in the last number of the Nouveau-Monde . The Re ' publique has reappeared in a half-sheet . The new printer applied the censorship on his own responsibility , and cut out all articles and nhrases likely to prove offensive to the government , in order that ho might not be visited with the calamity which has befallen M , Boulie , and lose his license . Tho Rfyufi .

      lique has therefore bee n obliged to wander in search of a third more enterprising printer . The Democratie Pacifique is in the same predicament . M . Miot has the honour of being the only unpaid member of the National Assembly ; as he manages to get censured once a fortnight , and thus loses the whole of his salary . M . Monduit , Major of the Eleventh Legion of National Guard , has been dismissed from that post by a decree of the prefect of the Seine , for having subscribed 50 francs to the papers interdicted from sale by M . Carlier . Several adjuncts of mayors have resigned . Several arrests have taken place ; and several visits of perquisition have been made in the last few days by the police .

      A clandestine manufactory of gunpowder was discovered in Montpellier on the 17 th instant . About 40 lbs . of gunpowder were seized , as also some sacks of sulphur , saltpetre , and charcoal . A letter from Macon of the 17 th instant announces that the miners at Creuzot have all returned to their work . The Constitutiohnel demands the dissolution of the national guard , the abolition of juries , and the suppression of the liberty of the press .

      The Roman Church. In Vienna Thenumber Of...

      THE ROMAN CHURCH . In Vienna thenumber of converts to Protestantism increases so fastthat the Protestant clergymen are scarcely able to receive the persons presenting themselves . This is the result of the exacting conduct of the Catholic clergy , consequent upon their resumption of privilege . The converts to the new «• German Catholicism " are still more numerous . On Sunday week more than 300 Catholics went over to the new demonination . The Italia says that clerical reaction is carried to an absurd extent in Tuscany . The word ' « God " is no longer to be used on the stage , The opera of Robert le Diable is to be called Robert I'Enrage .

      The Pope ' s Nuncio in Paris has addressed ^ a circular letter to the Bishops of France , announcing to them that the Pope having carefully considered the Bill on Public Instruction passed by the Legislative Assembly , and having been apprised of the religious scruples entertained by some prelates against sitting in the Superior Council with Protestant Ministers and a Jewish Rabbi , his Holiness recommends the Bishops to make all the sacrifices consistent with their duty in order to save society from the dangers to which it is exposed at the present moment . The

      Nuncio reminds the Bishops that France , at the commencement of the present century , gave an example of as severe a sacrifice in order to preserve and to restore the Catholic religion . His Holiness expresses his disapprobation of mixed schools , and exhorts the Bishops , in case such should be established in any diocese , to take measures to secure for the Catholic children the advantage of a separate school . " For , " says the Nuncio , " the Holy Father , bitterly deploring the progress which indifference in matters of religion has made in France as in other countries , and which

      has produced terrific evils by the corruption of the faith of the people , anxiously desires that on this important point all pastors shall profit by every opportunity carefully to instruct the faithful committed to their charge on the necessity of a single faith and a single religion , —truth being one , —to remind them , frequently of their duty , and to explain to them the fundamental dogma , that out of the Catholic church there is no salvation . "

      North America. The Cambria, After A Rapi...

      NORTH AMERICA . The Cambria , after a rapid run of twelve and a half days , brings New York letters to the 8 th inst ., and , by telegraphic despatch , via Halifax , accounts to the 10 th . Much interest had been excited by the publication of an unofficial letter from Sir Henry Bulwer to Mr . Chatfield , in which he writes that the United States Government is " a weak Government , and being suspected by the popular party , is ever afraid of seeming in favour of any policy that is unpopular . Thus , though its intentions may be trusted , its course cannot be relied upon . " The letter is guessed to be a hoax , but the New York Herald asserts that it is genuine" in Sir Henry Bulwer ' s handwriting . "

      , There has been little matter of importance in Congress . A proposition was made on April the 22 nd to substitute the meridian , of Washington for that of Greenwich ; it was referred to a ' committee of the whole . " The President had signed the bill accepting Mr . Grinnell ' s vessels to go in search of Sir John Franklin . Congress had declined receiving aresolution offered by Mr . Burt , democratic member for South

      Carolina , to terminate that article of the Convention between Great Britain and America which guarantees the maintenance of a squadron on the coast of Africa for the suppression of tho slave trade . A report , calling tho attention of the House to the necessity of securing the free navigation of the St . Lawrence river , was received , and referred to a " committee of tho whole . " The Compromise committee had reported , and the discussion would immediately commence . Tho rebellion in Honduras has been quelled , Guardiola ' a force of 000 men being completely dispersed ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 25, 1850, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25051850/page/3/