we had raised it to the height of our popular mandate; you teach us to consider it as a dead letter, since you are the first to violate it. As soon as the Chamber shall be organized you must expect to be interpellated on this subject; and afterwards a demand of impeachment for a breach of the Constitution will be made by the majority, if that majority shows itself worthy of its prerogatives."

But at a meeting of the Deputies of the Left in Paris, a manifesto was drawn up in which they stated their reasons for not repairing to the Chamber on the 26th of October. They said,—

"In proceeding there we should of necessity provoke a manifestation of which no one could, in present circumstances, regulate the march and the extent. But we have no right to deliver up to chance the fate of liberty now reviving.

"When a great revolution-one eminently pacific-has been commenced; when day by day its inevitable dénouement is more clearly perceived, there would be a great want of tact in furnishing to the Government any pretext whatever to regain strength from a riot.

"If the authorities trample under foot the Constitutional rules which it has itself traced out, the Democracy has for the moment only one thing to do-to take note of such conduct. That Constitution which the Government thinks fit to undo with its own hands we have been obliged to submit to, and we ought not to attempt to restore it by taking up its defence.

"In this situation we have resolved to wait for the actual opening of the next session.

"Then we shall call the Executive to account for this new insult to the nation.

"Then we shall show by the very experiment which has been made during the last three months that the personal power, while pretending to give way in presence of the public reprobation, has never ceased to act and speak in the character of a master.

"Then we shall pursue on the ground of universal suffrage and national sovereignty-the only one that can henceforth subsist-the work of democratic and radical reform, the flag of which has been placed by the people in our hands."

This manifesto had twenty signatures, including those of MM. Jules Favre, Gambetta, Garnier Pagès, Pelletan, Picard, and Jules Simon.

It was feared that some disturbance might take place on the 26th of October, and every precaution was adopted by the Government; but the day passed off without the slightest disorder, and the only result was that the Parisians laughed at the disappointment of a few excited Republicans.

During the autumn the Emperor had an attack of illness, which became the fertile source of alarming rumours. We believe that it was nothing more than neuralgia and rheumatism; but he was obliged to abstain from all public business for some time, and physicians were daily in attendance upon him. It was a current report that his Majesty intended to abdicate, for which we need hardly say

there was not a shadow of foundation; and the complete re-establishment of his health soon put an end to the wild speculations which his illness had occasioned.

On the 15th of November, the Prussian Ambassador on presenting his credentials to the Emperor said, "By using all my efforts to maintain and cement the friendly relations and good understanding which so happily exist between the Courts and the Governments of France and Prussia, and also of the North German Confederation, and which, being based upon mutual interests, the two countries so cordially desire to develope, I shall only be obeying the express wish of my Sovereign."

The Emperor replied, "I appreciate the sentiments which you have expressed to me in the name of your Sovereign. Like him, I wish to maintain good relations between the two Governments, and to forward the development of friendly relations between Prussia, the North German Confederation, and France. I cannot but congratulate myself on the choice made by the King in sending you to Paris, and I beg you to rely upon the kindly reception you will find among us."

As it is interesting to know what are the objects and policy which the Opposition in France has in view, we give some extracts from a manifesto which was signed and published by twenty-seven Deputies of the Left in the month of November. They said,

"The Administration cannot continue to hold the function, of which it has made a scandalous use, to define and rearrange the electoral circumscriptions, as that right belongs only to the legislature.

"Voting should be freed from the trammel of a preliminary oath, and from all intervention on the part of the authorities. Its honesty should be guaranteed by municipal independence. In that respect all impartial minds are agreed.

"The undersigned do no more than obey the public voice when they demand by a Bill the election of mayors, and require that Paris and Lyons shall be again placed under the common law.

"They should, at the same time, assure liberty of action to the municipalities, and deliver them from their present paralyzing tutelage. "Electoral liberty and municipal freedom would be ineffective if the intolerable privileges which shield public functionaries were maintained. Here again public opionion is unanimous, and the Bill which will repeal Art. 75 of the Constitution of the year VIII. will only give a legitimate and tardy satisfaction.

"The same may be said of the abrogation of the military lawthat measure which, containing a double menace against peace and against liberty, exhausts the country by depriving it of its most fruitful resources. It ought to disappear and give place to a system arming the nation for the defence of the country and of its free institutions.

"As the sanction of this system, the right of declaring war should be deferred to the national will.

"In our eyes those reforms are the vital condition of order and progress, and in order to prepare them the Press must be free from its impediments. To suppress the caution-money and the stamp, to re-establish trial by jury, to decree the freedom of printing and bookselling, is what the Opposition has long since demanded, and what we shall propose in virtue of the right of initiative.

"Finally, we shall demand the abrogation of Art. 291 of the Penal Code, and call for liberty of association, as well as for the revision of the law on public meetings, in order to abolish the arbitrary provisions which, by humiliating and limiting the exercise of an essential right, irritate men's minds and give rise to causes of conflicts, always to be regretted."

A fresh election for Paris took place in November, and amongst those who were returned were MM. Crémieux, Rochefort, Arago, and Glais-Bizoin. We have already mentioned that M. Rochefort had been condemned par contumace for a seditious libel to fine and imprisonment, and when he crossed the Belgian frontier to present himself as a candidate to the electors, he was arrested; but the Minister of the Interior, M. Forcade de la Roquette, having ascertained the pleasure of the Emperor, ordered a safe-conduct to be made out for M. Rochefort, to be valid during the whole period of the elections.

The new Chambers were opened by the Emperor in person on the 29th of November, when he delivered the following Speech from the Throne:

"Messieurs les Sénateurs,

"Messieurs les Députés,

"It is not easy to establish in France the regular and peaceful exercise of liberty. Some months back society seemed to be menaced by subversive passions, and liberty to have been compromised by excesses committed by public journals and at public meetings. Every one was asking how far the Government would push its policy of long-suffering; but already the good sense of the public reacts against culpable exaggerations. Impotent attacks have only had the effect of showing the solidity of the edifice founded by universal suffrage; nevertheless, the uncertainty and disquietude which exist in the minds of the people cannot endure, and the situation requires more than ever frankness and decision. We must speak without any circumlocution, and declare loudly what is the will of the country. France desires liberty, but liberty united with order. For order I will answer. Aid me, gentlemen, to save liberty; and to attain this object let us keep at an equal distance from reaction and revolutionary theories. Between those who pretend to preserve every thing without change and those who aspire to overthrow every thing, there is a glorious ground to take up. When I proposed the Senatus Consultum of last September as the logical sequence of previous reforms and of the declaration made in my name by the Minister of State on the 28th of June, I meant resolutely to inaugurate a new era of conciliation and progress. In seconding me

in this path you have been unwilling to be renegades to the past, to disarm power, or to overthrow the Empire.

"The measures which the Ministers will submit for your approbation all bear a sincerely liberal character. If you adopt them, the following improvements will be realized:-The mayors will be selected from among the Municipal Councils, excepting in special cases for which provision will be made by the proposed enactment. At Lyons, as well as in the suburban communes of Paris, the formation of these councils will be committed to universal suffrage. In Paris itself, where the interests of the city are linked with those of the whole of France, the Municipal Council will be elected by the Legislative Body, which is already invested with the right of settling the extraordinary budget of the capital. Cantonal Councils will be instituted, principally with the object of uniting the communal power and of directing its employment. Fresh prerogatives will be granted to the General Councils, and even the colonies will participate in this movement of decentralization; and, lastly, a Bill enlarging the circle in which universal suffrage works will determine the public functions compatible with a seat in the Chamber. To these administrative and political reforms will be added legislative measures of more immediate interest for the people-viz. for the more rapid development of gratuitous primary instruction; the diminishing of legal expenses; the removal of the demi-decime wartax, which weighs upon the registration duty in matters of succession; the affording greater facilities of access to the savings-banks, and the placing them within the reach of the inhabitants of rural districts through the aid of Treasury agents; a more humane regulation of infant labour in manufactories; and an increase of the salaries of subordinate officials. Other important questions, no solution of which is as yet ready, are being considered. The agricultural inquiry is concluded, and useful propositions will result from it as soon as the superior commission shall have given in its report. Another inquiry has been commenced with reference to the octrois. A Customs Bill will be submitted to you, reproducing those general tariffs to which no serious exception has been taken As regards those tariffs which have provoked loud complaints from certain branches of industry, the Government will not bring forward any scheme until it has obtained enlightenment from all the sources of information calculated to assist your deliberations.

"The statement of the situation of the Empire presents satisfactory results. Commerce is not at a standstill; and the indirect revenues, whose natural increase is a sign of prosperity and confidence, have produced up to the present thirty millions of francs more than last year. The current Budgets show notable surpluses, and the Budget for 1871 will allow of our undertaking to effect an improvement in several branches of the public service, and to make suitable grants for public works. But it is not enough to propose reforms, to introduce savings in the finances, and to administer affairs in an effective manner. It is also necessary that by a clear

and firm attitude the public bodies, in accordance with the Government, should show that the more we widen the paths of liberty, the more we are determined to preserve the interests of society and the principles of the Constitution intact and superior to all acts of violence. It is the duty and within the power of a Government which is the legitimate expression of the national will to cause that will to be respected, for it has both right and might upon its side. "Turning from home affairs, if I gaze beyond our frontier, I congratulate myself on seeing foreign Powers maintaining with us friendly relations. Sovereigns and nations desire peace, and they are engaged in advancing civilization. Whatever reproaches may be made against our century, we have certainly many reasons to be proud of it. The new world suppresses slavery; Russia liberates her serfs; England does justice to Ireland; the littoral countries of the Mediterranean seem to be once more calling to mind their ancient splendour, and from the assembled Catholic Bishops at Rome we can only expect a work of wisdom and conciliation.

"The progress of science brings nations together. While America joins the Pacific with the Atlantic Ocean by a railroad 1000 leagues in length, and in all parts capitalists and thinkers agree to unite by electric communication the most distant countries of the globe, France and Italy are about to clasp hands through the tunnel of the Alps, and the waters of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea already mingle by means of the Suez Canal. All Europe was represented in Egypt at the inauguration of this gigantic enterprise, and if the Empress is not here to-day, at the opening of the Chambers, it is because I have been desirous that, by her presence in a country where our arms were once rendered illustrious, she might testify to the sympathy of France towards a work due to the perseverance and genius of a Frenchman.

"You are about to resume the extraordinary session interrupted by the presentation of the Senatus Consultum. After the verification of the elections the ordinary session will immediately commence. The great bodies of the State, closely united, will come to an understanding to apply faithfully the latest modification made in the Constitution. The more direct participation of the country in its own affairs will constitute for the Empire a fresh source of strength, and the Representative Assemblies will have henceforth a larger share of responsibility. Let them use it for the promotion of the greatness and prosperity of the nation. May the various shades of opinion disappear when required by the general interest, and may the Chambers prove equally by their enlightenment and their patriotism that France, without again falling into deplorable excesses, is capable of supporting those free institutions which are the honour of civilized countries!"

M. Schneider was re-elected President of the Legislative Body by a large majority over two competitors, M. Leroux and M. Grévy.

In the course of a discussion on the question of a disputed elec