In general they are
bad politicians. It is seldom difficult to get their votes for the
nominee of the prefect. They dislike to vote for anyone whom they know,
especially if he be a gentleman, or be supported by the gentry. Such a
candidate excites their democratic envy and suspicion. But the prefect is
an abstraction. They have never seen him, they have seldom heard of his
name or of that of his candidate, and therefore they vote for him.
'Lately, however, in some of my communes, the peasants have adapted a new
practice, that of electing peasants. I suspect that the Government is not
displeased.
'The presence of such members will throw discredit on the _Conseils
generaux_, and, if they get there, on the _Corps legislatif,_ much to the
pleasure of our democratic master, and they will be easily bribed or
frightened. Besides which the fifteen francs a day will be a fortune to
them, and they will be terrified by the threat of a dissolution. I do not
think that even yet we have seen the worst of universal suffrage.'
'What influence,' I asked, 'have the priests?'
'In some parts of France,' said Beaumont, 'where the people are
religious, as is the case here, much.
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