The Times' correspondent g ave us some interesting facts in his
telegram of Saturday concerning the recent French Elections The Times' correspondent gave us some interesting facts in his telegram of Saturday concerning the recent French Elections which are not altogether of a reassuring nature. It appears that it was the largest popular vote taken since the election of 1848,—the first election of Louis Napoleon as President of the Republic,—but not quite so large as the popular vote of that year. In 1848 the popular vote polled was 7,893,000, but on Sunday week, in spite of the (small) increase in the population of France due to twenty-nine years, the popu- lar vote was only 7,773,000. Even this, however, was consider- ably greater than the popular vote of last year, which reached only 7,200,000, and the difference, indeed somewhat more than the difference, is due apparently to the pressure of tho Govern- ment. In 1876 the Reactionists polled only 2,884,000, while on Sunday week they polled 3,571,000, showing an additional number of 687,000 reactionary votes, a gain of nearly twenty-five per cent. These votes, however, were almost all screwed out of those who abstained from the poll last year, for the Republicans lost only 43,000 votes, or just one per cent., their total vote last year being 4,316,000, and this year 4,273,000. Thus while Ministerial pressure screwed a gain of twenty-five per cent, out of the indifferentists, it only converted one per cent. of the sincere Republicans. And perhaps this is, on the whole, as much as we ought to expect from human nature in such a country as France.
