20 DECEMBER 1851, Page 9

POSTSCRIPT.

SATURDAY.

The great point of interest in Paris yesterday was the vote which is to be given throughout France today and tomorrow on the " plebiscite" of the "nephew of my uncle." Notwithstanding the suppression of the Sick for counselling the Republicans to crowd to the voting-urn, the populace hare everywhere, in Paris and the towns, gone en masse to se- cure their voting-tickets. The crowds were so great on Thursday, that it was necessary to prolong the hours of business at the mairics. The re- sult, as regards the capital and some of the neighbouring departments, will be known on the 23d, but the official declaration will not be made till the 28th or 29th instant. The general belief is that there will'be an enormous majority for Louis Napoleon ; but both the measures taken to secure a favourable result, and the annoyance which is betrayed as to sonic of the votes already given by the army and navy, show considerable un- easiness at the Elysee.

In Paris every one of the Representatives lately set at liberty has been refused passports, and so prevented from going to his own department. We have already told generally the regime under which the press is suf- focated. The Dibats ventured on Thursday, for the first time since the coup d'etat, to give an opinion of its own on recent events, or any news of an original kind. This was the communication : what a change !—

"For two or three days past the news from the departments is completely reassuring. On every side, order has triumphed. On every side, thanks to the energetic and intelligent cooperation of the army, of the functionaries, and of good citizens, the hideous attempts of the democratic factions have been severely repressed. At the present moment tranquillity is reestablished on every point of the territory."

In the provinces, the regime may be judged by this extract from a well- informed person at Bordeaux, who says that political feeling runs very strongly there—

"A compact mass of electors besiege the doors of the Hotel de Ville every day to get their voting-tickets. The look of patient determination with which they wait for the turn, coupled with the well-known state of public feeling in the city, betokens anything but good to the Presidential cause. Complaints are made of the slowness with which the tickets are distributed. It is evident that the Government is afraid of the election here. So great is the terror felt of political discussion, that the authorities, after exhausting all ordinary modes of preventing the interchange of thought, have closed all the masonic lodges. Every barber in Bordeaux has been sent for to the police-office, and told that his shop will be shut up if a word of politics should be spoken in it. The Procureur of the Republic has had the shame- less effrontery to tell M. Lesparre, an influential man in his quarter, that if he votes in his canton he shall be sent to prison."

There is no doubt at all that the vote of the army is by no means so unanimous as was hoped by the Elysee. Three-fourths of the Fortieth Regiment of the Line have voted against Louis Napoleon, and there is talk of disbanding the regiment. It is said that the garrison of Metz has not given a favourable vote. But more important is the rumoured faltering of the great Algerian army in its allegiance to the de facto govermpent. The correspondent of the Morning Chronicle says- " Since the revolution of the 2d of December a strange mystery has been thrown over the effect produced by the 'grand measure' in the colony of Algeria. All we know for certain from the French papers is, that the colony has been placed in a state of siege, and that one or two proclamations have been issued by the interim Governor-General, announcing the new state of matters in the, mother-country, and calling on the troops to record their votes for or against the President But although the French papers are ex- tremely reserved on the subject, those of Genoa are more explicit. The Genoa papers of the 12th state that the revolution has been received by the army of .Africa with great coldness; that the troops have shown discon- tent with the whole proceeding, and more especially with the imprisonment of the Generals; and that the voting of the army, although done by open re- gistry, was by no means so favourabl eta the cause of Louis Napoleon as had pre- viously been expected. The Genoa papers of the following day repeat this news, with some additional details. Among other things, they state that the sol- diers, while voting, called out for the liberation of the Generals. At Paris, all our information on the subject is derived from the organs of the Govern- ment; but some of the friends of the Pr ident, while admitting that the result of the voting of the army of Africa is not brilliant, attribute the fact to the mismanagement of General le Pelissier."

A telegraphic despatch, sent from Paris at nine o'clock today, gives the following result of the army and navy votes—

Vote of the Army. Vote of the Nary. For 243,854 I For 14,675 Against .... 16,384 Against 4,830 Abstaining 845 Abstaining 417

The Paris correspondent of the Daily News, in a letter of last night's date, writes— "The Government is about to raise a loan of eight millions sterling. They are also going to abolish the octroi-duties, and the tax on wines. In order to supply the enormous deficit that will result from the latter measure, they intend to lay a heavy tax on the rich classes. I an not exactly informed as to the nature of the latter impost ; but it will be one that will not bear directly upon the working classes. The matter of the loan i kept as yet a profound secret, in order that it may not affect the elections unfavourably for the President."

Once more the liberation of Cavaignac is made doubtful. The corre- spondent of the Morning Chronicle says, on Thursday, that he finds his report was premature—

"It was quite true that orders were sent to Ham for the liberation of General Cavaignac ; but I have just seen a letter from a near relative of one of the prisoners, dated Ham, the 17th, which states that the General re- fused to accept his liberty, except upon condition that his companions in captivity should at the same time be set free. The consequence is, that General Cavaignac still remains a prisoner at Ham." It is now stated that M. Thiers is at Brussels ; and that Bing Leopold refuses applications to have him "passed on," or watched.