No. 217.
Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish.
Paris, February 9, 1875. (Received February 27.)
Sir: Two more elections took place on Sunday last, to fill vacancies in the Assembly; one in the Seine-et-Oise (Versailles) and the other in the Cotes-du-Nord, (Brittany.) In the former department, Mr. Valentin, the republican, was elected by about fourteen thousand majority over the Due de Padoue, the imperialist candidate. The Count de Kératy ran as a sort of wild candidate, and obtained four thousand votes. A great effort was made in this department by the Bonapartists to elect the Due de Padoue, who is a very rich man, and also had great influence there, and it was believed by many would succeed. In the Côtes-du-Nord there is no choice. Admiral Kerjégu, the legitimist, who heads the poll, has forty-two thousand, while Mr. Foucher de Careil, the republican, has thirty-seven thousand five hundred, and de Goyon, the Bonapartist, has thirty-four thousand votes. These results are on the whole very satisfactory to the republicans.
The probability is that at the next election, which takes place on Sunday, the 21st instant, in the Côtes-du-Nord, a coalition will be formed between the Bonapartists and the legitimists, in order to beat the “radical.” That can only be done, however, by the Bonapartists going over to the legitimists, which will be a very bitter pill.
I have, &c.,