No. 110.
Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish
Paris, May 2, 1873. (Received May 15.)
Sir: Barodet is elected. The ex-mayor of Lyons is triumphant in Paris. His election over the Count de Rémusat by a majority of 45,000 has surprised friends and foes alike. Barodet received 180,146 votes; Rémusat, 135,405; while Baron Stoffel, the candidate of the imperialists and legitimists, only received 27,088. The election, which took place on Sunday last, was one of the most exciting ever known in Paris, but the most perfect order every where prevailed. Such is the admirable system of conducting elections in France, that, at this election in Paris, where nearly 350,000 persons voted, and at a time of great excitement, I cannot learn of a single arrest or a single altercation. You can hardly realize the extent of the interest which has been felt in all France, and to some extent over all Europe, in this election of members to the assembly, to fill vacancies not only in Paris, but in seven other departments. * * *
When the Count de Rémusat was first spoken of as a candidate there seemed to be but little opposition to him, and I wrote to you I thought he would be overwhelmingly elected. Under ordinary circumstances he would have been, for he is a man of liberal ideas, a friend of order, a very good republican, and a man most highly esteemed by the Parisian population. It soon became evident, however, that the great mass of [Page 253] the radicals of Paris were not satisfied with M. Rémusat, for they believed his election could not accomplish their object in rebuking the assembly and the objectionable ministers. Therefore in my No. 794, of the 11th ultimo, I qualified what I had said in my previous dispatch, and expressed doubts of Count de Rémusat’s success. The campaign once fairly opened, the radicals in Paris and in all the departments where the elections were to be held rallied to the cry of “The republic!” “Dissolution of the national assembly!” “Election of a constituent assembly!” “Respect for universal suffrage!” “No suppression of municipal liberties!” Care was taken not to have the canvass assume the shape of a manifestation against the government of M. Thiers, but it was against the assembly and the obnoxious cabinet ministers that the contest was to be made. Fighting under this banner the triumph of the republicans has been complete and overwhelming in seven out of the eight departments where the elections were held. In the eighth, Morbilan, in Brittany, the most benighted department in all France, being in the diocese of the Bishop of Vannes, and in some parts of which even the French language is not spoken, the “clericals” elected their candidate by a large majority. * * *
Perhaps the most significant election is that of Lockroy, the editor of one of the most extreme radical papers in Paris, as a member of the assembly from Marseilles. He is now in prison in Paris for some offense connected with the press.
There are to be elections to fill vacancies in four departments on the 11th of this month, and republicans are likely to be elected. Lyons is going to return the compliment to Paris by the election of Ranc, a Parisian, and editor of an extreme radical paper in this city. * * *
I have, &c.,