All this while the sub-agitation in France increases, and a
project is on foot for a general strike of workmen throughout the Empire. It will probably fail, as the workmen have no Poor- law to fall back on ; but the workmen at Creuzot have again turned out, and though defeated, have returned to work mutter- ing ; the iron-workers of Fourchambault (Loire) are on strike, and placards have been posted in Paris calling on all artizans to imitate their example. Committees have been formed to guide the electors during the " plebiscitary period ;" the Liberal journalists of France have assembled in private sittings, and all meetings are to be allowed for a week previous to the vote. The agitation will be considerable, and as in a plebiscitum electoral circumscriptions do not matter, it is calculated that the vote may be 4,500,000 yeas to 3,500,000 nays, or that only half the popu- lation will vote at all. Either result would be most dangerous to the Empire ; and M. Rouher, it is said, advises his master to meet an adverse vote by a second ple'biscite and the simple question, "Napoleon or the Republic?" That, he thinks, would be decisive.
