As we have always expected, the Bonapartists are still in
disorganisation. They held a caucus on Saturday, which was but thinly attended, only 64 Senators and Deputies, out of 115 who call themselves Bonapartists, being present. Even amongst this minority of the party there was difference of opinion, twenty-two of those present voting for an amend- ment which implied an oblique censure on Prince Jerome. Of the majority who stayed away from the meeting, many pro- bably were absent in order to avoid giving in their adhesion to the Prince,—a course they foresaw as inevitable. The truth is, that amongst the popular following of the Bonapartist party, Clericalism is far more potent than amongst the leaders, and hence the loss of spirit due to the accession of so pronounced an anti-Clericalist as Prince Jerome to the head. of the party. Prince Jerome is, in fact, inevitable, but for the present an inevitable evil ;—so much so, that M. Granier de Cassagnac has committed, so far as in him lay, a sort of Bonapartist suicide, by labouring to prove that the principle of the pl4biscite may be applied to get rid of Prince Jerome, and to substitute any other chief whom the people may prefer,—whether a Bonaparte or not. However, on the whole, the Bonapartists accept destiny ; and Prince Jerome, in this case, is destiny. But they accept this destiny languidly, and without the fervour that should animate a popular superstition.
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