The ghostly shadow of a Parliament is about to assemble
in Prance, and "the Prince President" has anticipated its only pos- age semblance of a practical function, by decreeing a budget before It meets. Yes, a budget of 60,000,000/. decreed by the Autocrat ; so rapidly does paternal rule develop its blessings in that favoured -land.
Certain Republicans and exiles, among whom General Cavaignac stands foremost, have been elected. If not struck off the roll by the Prince-Presidential will, dare they sit P—that is a question of the day in the whispered discussions of Paris. It is to be hoped not. Cavaignac could only show himself to illustrate, by a new sacri- lee, the overwhelming power which keeps down France through fraud and terror. Or if suffered to sit, such a man as Cavaignac could accomplish nothing that would benefit the country : he could only by his opposition give a show of reality to the sham—a degree of countenance to the servile acts of the puppet majority; and in i doing so, he must incur the suspicion that, outwardly an opponent, he was covertly an accomplice. If he wants to protest, he can do so most eloquently by his absence. Patriots of all shades should lie unanimous in staying away, and leave to the set that the' 17surper is gathering around him to fill up his tableau, the una- nimity of subserviency ; and thus the protesters might utter their denunciations, by contraries, through the language of the President's own instruments.
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