tion for crime. The ground traveled over since our Saxon ancestors, incapable of holding property, walked about with the iron collars upon their necks, inscribed with the names of their owners, has been considerable. Personal freedom, property, political rights, a voice in the government, and finally, the control of the government, have all successively been acquired or "recovered" by adult male whites, from those who deprived them of those natural rights. The position of woman, until very recently, has not changed, and now slightly only in respect of property. A change has, however, been made in that direction, and none can doubt but that further progress is at hand.

In Europe, the emancipation of the males is more slow and fluctuating in its progress. In France, the popular will has been allowed to manifest itself only at times; and it is a peculiarity either of the French people or of their enthusiastic nature, that the vote is generally one way. Thus, under the right of suffrage acknowleged by the first revolution, the constitution of 1793 was adopted by 1,887,918 votes; that of 1795, by 1,801,918, with scarcely any opposition; that of 1797, which made Bonaparte consul for ten years, had 3,011,007 votes. In 1802, the question " shall Napoleon Bonaparte be consul for life?" was carried by 3,368,029 votes out of 3,557,885 votes. In 1804, the vote electing him Emperor gave him 3,572,329 yeas, against 2,569 nays. When English bribery and German valor succeeded in forcing the Bourbons back upon France, the property qualification imposed upon the right of suffrage nearly destroyed it. Under Louis Philippe, the citizen king, further restriction reduced the number of votes to 200,000, and finally, to 180,000, for the whole of France; while the number of office-holders was raised to 500,000, dependent on the king, or nearly three offices for every vote.

The revolution of February, 1848, restored, as did the old one, the right of suffrage to every male Frenchman of the age of twenty-one; and according to the census of 1846, the number of them in France is 11,026,381, or thirty-one per cent. of the whole population; and the votes for the constituent assembly indicated that the number of voters in each department varies less than two per cent. from the proportionate number of adult males.

The vote for Louis Napoleon resulted as follows:

Males over twenty-one years of age,

Votes for Louis Napoleon,

11,026,381

5,534,520

1,914,951

7,449,471

This showed an actual vote very nearly of the same proportion to the population of males as in the United States :-that is to say, in France, of one hundred persons, twenty-one voted; and in the United States, of one hundred white inhabitants, eighteen voted at the Presidential Election of 1840. At the election of 1848, there were cast 2,872,056-South Carolina giving no popular vote, and the white population in 1850 per census, less South Carolina, was 19,440,367; consequently, there were fif teen votes only to 100 whites. The French vote was, therefore, very large. On the 20th of December, mysterious movements were observable around the palace of the assembly. The first legion mounted guard, in fatigue order, before the peristyle. The representatives were discussing a printing project. M. Waldeck Rousseau asked permission to make his report on the presidential election. During the reading of this, Louis

Bonaparte entered the room, to receive his investure from the assembly. He was dressed in a plain suit of black, and wore the order of the legion of honor. General Cavaignac was seated in the presidential chair. After the reading of the report, he asked to address the house. He ascended the tribune, where he deposited the dismissal of the ministers, resigned his powers, thanked the assembly for its benevolence, and took his seat three benches below M. de Lamartine.

The assembly greeted him with their plaudits of adieu.

Louis Napoleon succeeded him at the tribune. M. Marrast read the form of the oath :

"In the presence of God, and before the French people, represented by the National Assembly, I swear to remain true to the Democratic Republic, one and indivisible, and to fulfill all the duties imposed on me by the constitution." "I swear it," said Bonaparte, raising his hand.

A salute of artillery then announced to the people the first intelligence of the ceremony.

The new President afterwards read a manifesto, in which the assembly applauded the following passages:

"We have, representative citizens, a great mission to accomplish, which is, to found a Republic in the interest of all, and a just and firm government, which shall be animated with a sincere love of improvement, without its being reactionary or utopian.

"Let us be the men of the country, not those of party, and with God's assistance, we shall, at least, do good, if we cannot accomplish great things." The assembly rose at the cries of "Long live the Republic!"

Louis Bonaparte descended from the tribune, and went direct to General Cavaignac, and shook him cordially by the hand. The assembly were moved at this spontaneous act, and applauded him for it. The constitution of France, adopted by the National Assembly, November 4, 1848, and which Louis Napoleon thus swore to support, provides――

“ART. 23—-Population shall be the basis for election.

ART. 24-Suffrage shall be direct and universal.

ART. 25-All Frenchmen aged 21, and in the enjoyment of their civil and political rights, are electors, without property conditions of any kind."

On this principle, the National Assembly which adopted the constitution was elected; and on the 10th December Louis Napoleon was elected President by the large vote enumerated. On the 15th March following, this assembly, elected by universal suffrage, passed a law chiefly making six months' residence in the commune prior to voting, a condition of the exercise of that right. This cut off 1,087,185 citizens from the right of voting. On the 31st May, 1850, the same assembly passed another law, making three years' residence in a commune requisite to exercise the right of voting, and making the payment of the tax personnelle et mobiliere, or poll tax and tax on rent, the proof of residence. The letter of the constitution forbids a property qualification of any kind; but this requires the payment of a tax as a proof of residence. The contribution personnelle and mobiliere is divided into two parts :-1. The personnelle is a kind of poll-tax, rated at three days' labor; the value of a day's labor is fixed by the Council-General of the Department; its maximum is lf. 50c., and its minimum 50 centimes per diem. This applies only to men from eighteen years and upwards; women and children are exempt. 2. The tax mobiliere is fixed according to the rent of a habitation, at the

rate of three per cent. on the rent, and is levied upon all rents from 200 to 2,500 francs, which is the maximum to which the per centage extends. No person pays less than 5 francs, nor more than 80 francs per annum for the tax mobiliere, for which the landlord of the house is responsible to government, and to whom the tenants are bound to produce on demand the receipts of their having paid their taxes. Persons living in furnished lodgings are not subjected to this tax.

The whole number of persons who paid these taxes in 1850 is 6,675,942; but from this number must be taken 1,651,968, comprising persons who, by reason of sex, age, and other disabilities, cannot vote, and there remain 5,023,974 voters, or less than half of the adult male French.

parison stands thus:

The com

Excluded.
None.
.. 1,087,185
4,350,419

The localities which lose the greatest number of voters under this rule, are precisely those which by their populousness are entitled to the greatest number of representatives. Thus the department of the Seine, embracing Paris, registered 406,929 votes under universal suffrage, and under the law of May 31, has but 138,365, losing 268,564, or two-thirds, while some rural districts only lose one-tenth of the number. Thus it results from this effort to restrain the right of suffrage, that the men who make revolutions and governments, that is to say, the ouvriers of Paris and the large cities, and whose numbers are the basis of representation, are precisely the men who are attempted to be excluded from the right of suf frage by this unconstitutional law. That those 268,864 Parisian barricade builders, supported by 4,000,000 of disfranchised citizens in other sections of France, will quietly submit, is not to be supposed for an instant. In New-York, a residence of six months in a ward entitles a citizen to vote. Suppose that the legislature should pass a law making a residence of three years necessary, and making the record of the tax list the only proof of that residence, how many would be entitled to vote, and how would it be submitted to? What is to be anticipated in revolutionary France, when such an outrage has been committed against one entire half of the voters? This infamous bill was carried by a fusion of all the parties opposed to the Constitution and to the Republic. The republicans debated in conclave on the passage of the bill, whether to wait patiently until 1852, and then assert their right to vote, or to descend then into the streets, and oppose by insurrection the usurpation of the assembly. They wisely determined by ten votes to wait. Now, the terms both of the President and the assembly expire in May, 1852, and the elections take place 30 days previous. The constitution provides as follows:

ART. 31.-The National Assembly is to be elected for the period of three years, to be then renewed entirely. Forty-five days, at least, before the end of the Legislature, a law shall be passed to fix the period of the new elections. If no law is passed within the prescribed time, the electors shall have full right to assemble and vote on the 30th day preceding the close of the Legislature. The new Assembly is convoked, and called to meet, by full right, on the next day after the day on which the trust of the old Assembly expires.

ART. 45.-The President of the Republic shall be elected for four years, and shall not be eligible for re-election until after an interval of four years. Neither shall the Vice President, nor any of his relations or kindred, to the sixth degree inclusive, be eligible for re-election after him, within the same interval of time. ART, 46.-The election shall take place on the second Sunday of the month

of May. If, in the event of death or dismissal, or from any other cause, a President be elected at any other period, his powers shall expire on the second Sunday of the month of May, in the fourth year following his election. The President shall be elected by ballot, and by an absolute majority of votes, by the direct suffrages of all the electors of the French departments, and of Algeria.

The present assembly opened May 28, 1849, and consequently expires May 28, 1852. The president was elected December 10, 1848, and consequently his time is up May 10, 1852, and the elections take place within thirty days of that expiration. Thus, precisely at the moment when the government ceases to be, it will be most required to enforce this electoral law against two-thirds of the adult males of Paris, and 4,000,000 disfranchised citizens of the departments, all determined to vote. The President, by the constitution, is not eligible for re-election, and those members who have sought to disfranchise their constituents, will have but little chance, at a moment when there is no government.

In this dilemma the President asks from the assembly a prolongation of his powers to enable him to preserve order. Fears of an insurrection induce many to coincide with his desire for an amendment of the constitution in this respect; others desire to strike out the clause forbidding his re-election; others wish to prolong his powers for 10 years. or for life; others, on the plea that the present constitution was never submitted to the people, wish to put the question of republic or monarchy to the people. In short, six or eight parties opposed to each, all desire to immolate the present constitution for the chance of advancing their own interests by a new turn in affairs, and all these see in the peaceful election of a new government under the present constitution, a consolidation of the republic, and diminished chance for a restoration of any phase of monarchy. The constitution, in providing for amendments, required a vote of 3 of the members, and on the passage of the electoral law the vote was 689, of which, 466 ayes, 223 nays. The majority represents those in favor of amending the constitution, and the minority, the republicans, who are determined at all hazards to stand by the constitution and prevent any amendment. The consequence must be, either a repeal of the obnoxious electoral law, and the peaceful election of a new government under the present constitution by universal suffrage, or an election by universal suffrage in spite of the law, at the hazard of frightful resistance to any attempts to suppress it.

The whole difficulty grows out of a monstrous attempt by unconstitutional means to restrain the right of suffrage, and this difficulty is created for the sole purpose of asking for power to suppress it. It is a strange scheme to violate a constitution by a law, and then ask to have the constitution amended to justify the law; although, to the disgrace of NewYork, it is not peculiar to a French assembly to violate a written constitution by a mere law.

The republicans of the assembly hold the balance of power, and make it impossible for the amendment to pass in a constitutional manner. This minority of the assembly represents the will of 4,300,000 disfranchised adult male citizens, and a considerable portion of the remainder, and they will now compel the majority to repeal that obnoxious electoral law, or openly attempt to seize upon absolute power. How much better is their position now, than if the republicans, yielding in 1850 to the voice of a minority of their number, had attempted violent resistance to the law. In that case republicanism would have been lost. It is now trium

phant, rallying to its support not only the people at large, but the friends of order, by forcing the monarchical majority into the position of lawbreakers. In the meantime petitions circulate in France for the revision of the constitution, and also for the repeal of the electoral law of May, 1851. The latter is, of course, a protest against the amendment of the constitution, and it receives an immense number of signatures; while that for the amendment of the constitution, although circulated by the authority of the government, proceeds slowly. It may be remarked as an indication of the state of affairs, that the petitions for amendment contain 61,700 marks of persons who cannot write their own names, and whose understanding must therefore be very ripe upon the question of constitutional revision. The republican minority of the assembly stands now in respect of their revision in the same relation to the nation that Louis Napoleon did as a candidate for the presidency.

The assembly had, in the presidential elections, thrown the whole weight of its influence in favor of General Cavaignac. It had thereby sacrificed itself. The election numerically had returned Louis Bonaparte, thereby constituting the National Assembly a defeated minority. Arithmetically speaking, it was defeated by five millions of suffrages. Hence a spirit of antagonism was engendered in the legislative power, while the executive power arose solely from the election.

Such is now again the case with the majority of the assembly-it throws its whole weight for a revision of the constitution, while there is no doubt but that the minority, which insists upon a repeal of the electoral law and adherence to the constitution, truly represent the will of the nation. M. Lamartine, who is again a royalist, or, more strictly speaking, in the transition state, favors the revision, and with his usual weakness attempts to find a parallel in what he calls a revision of the American Constitution in 1791. He says that the American Constitution then, as the French Constitution now, had existed three years, and that revision had become necessary in order to evaporate the discontents against the existing one. Nothing short of a most imaginative poet could find any resemblance between the "articles of confederation" and the present Constitution of France, nor between the great and regularly convened convention which devised our constitution, and the assemblage of factionists who, elected by universal suffrage to act as an assembly under a constitution, seek to resolve themselves into a convention to destroy it and enact another. His ideas of the American Constitution are of a piece with those he expressed last year in his work :"Atheism among the people," as follow:

"Washington and Franklin fought, spoke, suffered, rose and fell in their political life, from popularity to ingratitude-from glory to bitter scorn of their citizens, always in the name of God, for whom they acted; and the liberator of America died, committing to the Divine protection, first, the liberty of his people-and afterwards his own soul-to his indulgent judgment."

M. Lamartine, from an obscure position, became, through the revolution of 1848, the first man of the Republic. He could not stand the test, and the Republic rejected him. When Bonaparte received 5,400,000 votes, Lamartine got 17,000. A peaceful continuance of the Republic offers him no chances, and he desires a "new deal." He is not satisfied with the hand dealt him any more than the other revisionists, and they "go in for stocking all round." We trust that the small minority of Republicans will remain firm, and that France will attain her great want of universal suffrage, and a constitution in some degree permanent.