3-021-482 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Elections in Paris: a meeting in a fashionable quarter, 1869. Men-only meeting of voters. 'For the past fortnight Paris has been in a fever of excitement over the pretensions of the many candidates seeking election to the Corps Législatif...the indoor meetings...present a strong contrast in the different arrondissements of the city. In the western quarter, for instance, and in the neighbourhood of the fashionable boulevards they are attended by journalists, flaneurs, financiers, and dealers in articles de luxe. The place of meeting will be some elegant concert-hall, rich in ornamentation; while, as to the tone of the speeches, this will be courteous, even if the speaker should exhibit more than the customary national vivacity; the Commissary of Police and his shorthand writers - invariable attendants at all public meetings in France - will on their parts, find their duties little else than sinecures. It is an election meeting such as this, held on the Salle de l'Alcazar, in the Rue Faubourg Poissonnière to discuss the merits of the different candidates presenting themselves for election in the 4th Circumscription, of which a representation is given'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.