The French general election has resulted in a large majority
for the present Ministers; so that M. Guizot enters on a new term of power. The exact figures are not yet known ; and even if they were, the working tendencies of the Chamber would not be ascer- tained, since it contains several new Deputies, whose precise shade of politics is doubtful. And we all know how the classifi- cation of a Parliament at the beginning may alter before the close : in this country, a Parliament classified as one elected to maintain the Corn-laws has finished by repealing them. But we be- lieve that M. Guizot has gained a real increase of votes. The turn of the French mind, just now, is towards material interests ; the citizens of Paris have at last tasted the delight of profitable tran- quillity; railroads and other enterprises having multiplied, the pacific and conservative class of shareholders has been propagated with great rapidity ; and M. Guizot, like Sir Robert Peel, is fa- voured by the commercial classes as a "safe " man. Peculiar spe- culations also hang upon the newly-elected Parliament in France : momentous contingencies are calculated as likely to occur within the period of its duration. Every chance is, that the life of the aged King will come to a natural close before another general election. The respectable classes have therefore extraordinary reasons for keeping affairs quiet and discouraging the elements of disorder. That general feeling favoured the tactic of the Minis- terial party ; which was, to gain strength at the expense of the two extreme parties—the Legitimist, and the Revolutionary or Republican. The plan succeeded ; and Ministers will begin the next session with as much ease as the absence of any great active purpose, and the effort to keep down an aspiring country to ne- gatives, can afford.
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