M. Batbie has brought forward in the French Assembly the
new Electoral Law, as prepared by the Constitutional Committee. Its provisions are all intended to be restrictive of universs,r suffrage, and of the right of the people to select representatives for themselves. No man is to vote of right till he is twenty-five, and is born in the Commune, or has resided three years, or has paid personal taxes for one year, if a native, and three if a new settler. These restrictions do not, however, apply to employis who, unlike the soldiers, are not debarred the vote. The voting is what we call "single-seat," a candidate standing for each arrondissement, or if the arrondissement is populous, for each 100,000 souls. No candidate can present himself unless he is thirty, or an elector of the district, unless, indeed, he is a former member for the district, or a present Minister. We have pointed out elsewhere that M. de Broglie has probably made the Republic inevitable, but may mention here that by depriving all soldiers on service of their vote, while leaving it to all employa, he, has dis- posed the soldiers who think on politics, to follow any party save his own. Ile wants to save his patient by cutting out his sinews,— risky surgery, at best.
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