NEWS OF THE WEEK.
NAPOLEON has gained rather more than the expected majority. The complete official returns will not be published till Monday, but it would appear that out of 101 millions of voters, a little abort of 9 millions have recorded their votes. According to the best returns, the number of votes given was 8,858,401, of which 7,308,535 were affirmative, and 1,549,866 negative, leaving a clear majority of 5,758,669 for the Emperor. This is less than his majority in 1852, but that fact proves little, as this election was very much more free. The fact in his favour is, that, without absolute compulsion or fraud, he has obtained seven-tenths of all votes upon the register ; the facts against him are, that in all the great cities of France the vote has been in the negative, that in Paris the vote was nominally 166,000 noes to 136,000 ayes, and really two to one, the abstainers in Paris being Republicans ; that of 300,000 soldiers who voted, about 50,000 were hostile ; and that the affirmatives include a considerable number of Orleanists, who vote not for him, but for the "liberal changes" mentioned in the question put. Taken as a whole, the vote must be held to mean that France in general deprecates revolution, but as Paris makes revolutions, and not France in general, that is not a final settle- ment of the question. The election, we should add, seems to have been fairly conducted. There was no overt coercion, and the vote of the soldiery, particularly at Angers, where the garrison gave a negative majority, proves that the right of being hostile was not violently suppressed.
