NATIONAL CONVENTION.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 221, 12 July 1848, Page 3

NATIONAL CONVENTION.

The following is the text of the decree respecting the elections and the convocation of the Nutional Assembly, of which we have already given the substance :—: — " The Provisional Government of the Republic, desiring to remit as booh as possible to a definitive Government the powers which it exercises on behalf and by the coiiimntid of the people,, decrees— " Art I.— The electoral assemblies of cantons arc convoked for the 9th April next, to elect representatives of the people to the Nalional Assembly, which is . to declare the constitution. " Art. 2,— The election shall be on the basis of population. " Art. 3.— The total number of representatives of the people shall be 900, including Algeria and the Ficnch colonies. " Art. 4. — They shall be divided between the departments in the proportion set forth in the following table. A.it. s.— The suffrage shall be direct and universal* Art. 6. — All Frenchmen aged twenty-one years, icsident in the commune for six months, and not de. prived of or suspended from the cxccrcisf of civic lights by a judicial decision, are electois. " Art. 7. — All Frenchmen aggd twenty- five years, and not deprived of or suspended from the exercise of civic rights, are qualified to be elected us rcpresenta* tives. " Art. B.— The ballot shall be secret. " Art. 9.— A1l the electors shull vote at the chief place of their cantons, by balloting lists. Each li.st shall contain as many names as are representatives to be elected in the department •' The examination of the votes shall take place at the chief place in the canton, and the declaration of them at the chief town of the department. No person can be nominated a representative of the people if he have not 2,000 votes. "Art. 10.— Each representative of the people shall receive ;m indemnity of 25f, a day for the duration of the gegM a.

"Art. ll,— An instruction of the Provisional Government shall regulate the details of the execution of the pvesi'nt deeice. "Ait. 12.— The National Constituent Assembly shall open on the 20th of Apiil. "Art HI. — The piesent decree sh.ill ho immediately sent to all the dcp.nlmcnts, and published and plar carded in all the communos of the Republic. " Done at Paiis, in the Government Council the slh of March." (Signed) liy the members ol the Piovisional Government. The .schedule annexed to the decu-c give* th° number of rcpicsont.itives to be choscu. Total— 9oO»

The Provisional Government has established an organ of its own, entitled La Rrpuhhque. We quote its leading article, which explains tin; line of polity it is to advocate. The Redactcur-in Chef is M. Eugene Barest c : — " Tho title and mottoes of our paper sufficiently crplain what this journal will be. We desire liberty, progress, nnd order ; but nbove nil, we desire that the Inws which restrict the liberty of thought, of speech, of writing, and of meeting for political and other purpoies, be for ever aboluhcd ; that the interests and rights of everybody, rich ai wnll as poor, bo equally rcupccted and effectually maintained by institutions in harmony with the necessities of the age anil the desires of the present period ; that all ctiwns who share the burdens of France be electors, and even eligible ; that gratuitous education be supplied to all LVencb. children; that mateiial and intellectual labour be organised on new bases ; that the relations of masters and yorktnen be definitively muued ; that the diftVrenl; brunches of agriculture, truile, nnd commerce, receive the ameliorations which they claim ; that science, literature, and the aits be protected ns they ought to he in France, an enlightened notion, uhicli has so long marched at the head of European intelligence. We desire, in a word, thut our citizens may be va.uu ; that: they may occupy all offices for which they ure qualified ; that they rany enjoy all political lights ; nntl that they may be for ever emancipated from the curte of want and misery ! Five la Rijmbhquc ? '