18 FEBRUARY 1871, Page 1
It is asserted that the Parisian election is due to
the abstention of the Respectables, who would not vote for the late Government, or its rival, the Reds. With very brief intervals, however, Paris has for more than half a century always sent up the strongest Opposition members it could find, usually Republicans. The Respectables are always accused of abstaining, but they always abstain, and the truth seems to be that now, as ever, " France is a monarchy with a republic for its capital."
