al 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. Not much in the north-east, where
there is little religion; and in the towns, where there is generally no
religion, their patronage of a candidate would ruin him. I believe that
nothing has so much contributed to Louis Napoleon's popularity with the
_ouvriers_ as his quarrel with the Pope. You may infer the feelings of
the lower classes in Paris from his cousin's conduct.'

'I study Prince Napoleon,' said Ampere, 'with interest, for I believe
that he will be the successor.'

'If Louis Napoleon,' I said, 'were to be shot tomorrow, would not the
little prince be proclaimed?'

'Probably,' said Ampere, 'but with Jerome for regent, and I doubt whether
the regency would end by the little Napoleon IV. assuming the sceptre.

'Louis Napoleon himself does not expect it. He often says that, in
France, it is more than two hundred years since a sovereign has been
succeeded by his son.

'On the whole,' continued Ampere, 'I had rather have Jerome than Louis
Napoleon. He has more talent and less prudence. He would bring on the
crisis sooner.

'On the 31st of October, 1849,' said Madame de Tocqueville, 'I was in
Louis Napoleon's company, and he mentioned some matter on which he wished
to know my husband's opinion. I could not give it. "It does not much
signify," he answered,