Our Paris Letter.

Manawatu Herald, 8 September 1894, Page 3

Our Paris Letter.

. (froji our own correspondent.) Paris, 17th July, 1894. The funeral of the late President Garnot passed over without any dirturbaiice of the public peace, and the greatest order prevailed throughout that imposing function, and credit mast be given to the calm self-restraint of the bulk of the population of the capital. The enormous mass of troops assisting at the funeral, which could not have

been much less than fifty thousand ; men, was moved with the most striking regularity • and precision, Which is much to the credit of General Saussierj the Military Commander of Paris. Nopoleon used to sayj tnat the test of generalship was to place a hundred thousand met! oil the Champ de Mars, and to get them off again without confusion. „ The French method of electing fcresldeiits oi ttie Republic ,htts both its advantages and its disadvantages, and it is difficult to say which pre-. dominate. The framers of the Constitution of 1875 were clearly animatedj beyond everything else, with fear of the executive power; and they sought to limit it an'cl circuttscfijte it in every .way. They know the, fickleness of a regime of universal suffrage, &M th«y feared thjk aclyeiit of a chief hostile to the Republic. Hence the election of the President by Parliament, and not by the popular vote, as in the American Republic. The regime of administrative Concentration, which both Monarchists and Republicans condemn when in opposition, aqd enthusiastically support when in power, gives enormous power to the Chief of the State, and hence the necessity of circumscribing that power within the narrowest possible limits. The consequence of this system was that all French Presidents — with one exception — have been weak executive officers, an 3 have not dared even to use the powers conferred upon them by the Constitution. At the present moment while the Republic is menaced by militant Anarchism, it seemed desirable that the President should at least use all his powers, and it was with this tacit understanding, that the new Chief of the State was elected. The Minister of Justice has submitted to the Chamber of Deputies a new law with reference to Anarchist I offences. He increases existing penalties, and transfers these crimes to the Police Correctionnelle. Anarchists' propaganda are punished by j imprisonment from three months to two years, and the publication of Anarchist trials is forbidden under a penalty varying from 500 to 10,000 francs. j The Ministerial Bill is now dis- j cussed by the Chamber of Deputies, and it is almost sure that the Bill will pass. The portion of the Bill, which oxcites most comment, is that restrictive of the liberty of the Press. Certain independent organs of public opinion profess to fear that the new laws would be a terrible weapon in other hands than the present ones.