'Roussell,' said Beaumont, 'is superior to his class. 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 généraux_, and, if they get there, on the _Corps législatif,_ 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 Ampère, '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 Jérôme 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 Ampère, 'I had rather have Jérôme than Louis Napoleon. He has more talent and less prudence. He would bring on the crisis sooner.