"Vie *pectator, jfebruarp 160, 1850
FRANCE.—M. Cartier wages unmitigated war with Socialism ; whether with the simple object oe-suppressing that political development, or of covering less abstract designs, is a matter of speculation even in Paris. He has issued another long proclamation, a complete political essay, to the Commissaries of Police on their duties in reference to approaching elections. Premising the phrase "I do not ask you to use your authority in favour of one candidate more than another," he proceeds to require of them that they " prevent delusion, rectify false ideas, and establish the truth of faCts." They must point out how the word Socialism has become a confusion of lying hypocritical ideas—has degenerated into a revolutionary pretext, and become the mere flag of demolition ; must show honest men of what elements the party who propagate Socialist writings is composed—the idle and envious intrigans of all ranks, who have nothing to lose and everything to gain by anarchy. Quoting the language of the President, that " the duty of every, government is to combat false ideas and to direct those which are true, by placing itself boldly at the head of them," " our duty is pointed out to us in these lines. Let us prove, gentlemen, that the Police is not merely a vigilant and repressive authority ; it is a moral magistracy."
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