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732 T HE I* E A I) E B. [No. 384, Axjght...
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t-SWESSH^^ ^ 8«LF BESPOUSIBI.B FOK HOHB....
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Theie is no -learned man but will confes...
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M. LEDRU ROLLIN AND THE FRENCH GOVERNMEN...
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Sir,—Decidedly the late signal victory o...
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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. It is impossi...
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J^ta.u fc t ' Z^t ^iffi—Z-— *
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1857. lir
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^uliManx. a —
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There is nothing so revolutionary, becau...
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THE INDIAN REVOLT. Another Overland Mail...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
732 T He I* E A I) E B. [No. 384, Axjght...
732 T HE I * E A I ) E B . [ No . 384 , Axjghtst I , 1857 .
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T-Swessh^^ ^ 8«Lf Bespousibi.B Fok Hohb....
t-SWESSH ^^ ^ 8 « LF BESPOUSIBI . B FOK HOHB . ] ¦
Theie Is No -Learned Man But Will Confes...
Theie is no -learned man but will confess he hath mu h profited by reading controversies , has senses Wakened , and his judgment sharpened If . then , i be profitable for him to read , why should itnot , at Iesi 3 % betolerablefor his adversary to writeT-MiiroN .
M. Ledru Rollin And The French Governmen...
M . LEDRU ROLLIN AND THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) July 29 , 1857 . « ib , —Will you kindly allow me to direct your attention to the subjo ined statement , published by four o £ you r daily c ontemporaries , and likewise to the -fact that the Times , after a most uncalled for , and unwarranted attack against me , unworthy by its -very tone of a grave organ of public opinion , has declined to publish my answer , which I handed to the ^ Editor . . ... xi ,-Under every reserve of my right against tnis paper , I to-day simply ask : is this English fair play ? Is this what the Times calls a decent and honest use of its immense power ? I remain , sir , Tour most obedient servant , Ledru Roixin . 8 , Acacia-terrace , St . John ' s Wood .
Sir,—Decidedly The Late Signal Victory O...
Sir , —Decidedly the late signal victory of the democratic party in Paris has disturbed M . Bonaparte ' s mind , and is about throwing him into enormities . His thoughts are troubled by fright and terror . Yesterday the ghost had the name of Beranger , ¦ whose glorious remains he would have escorted to their resting place by an army of 30 , 000 men , each soldier carrying sixty cartridges and provisions for a three days ' campaign , and directed by this ferocious order : — " On them , they are barbarians ( sus aux barbares ) ; let them be crushed , as they were on the 2 nd of December . " And who were these barbarians ? The 250 , 000 republican electors of Paris . To-day it is by means of a dark and appalling plot he strives to terrify public opinion , and ,- with that ¦ w ell-known obstinacy of his , he takes up again the scheme he had imagined four months ago , when he despatched to me an agent provocateur whom I . had to expose to public shame and confusion . Thus , as might hare been the case under the tyrants of ancient Greece and Rome , my name is placed upon a list of proscription , ¦ without—I emphatically affirm it—my ever having known or seen any of the so-called conspirators in the hands of M . Bonaparte ; without my ever having , directly or indirectly , communicated with any of them in any way whatever . This I state as a fact , an undeniable fact . But what of that ? The active share I took in the last elections was quite sufl ^ cient to instil into M . Bonaparte ' s mind an increased dose of hatred and a burning wish to satisfy his spite aud vengeance at my expense .. Before any regular and free Tribunal , I solemnly swear , his public accuser , deprived , not only of all evidence , but even of the slightest adminicle or shade of probability , would not dare to face me . A regular Tribunal ! That , of a certainty , is not what M . Bonaparte is in search of ; whilst , on the other side , before a mock Court of Justice , where the absent accused is tried without knowing anything of the proceedings , depositions of witnesses—ay , of the ) very indictment brought in against him—where there is neither jury nor defence- —if he were even charged with having pocketed the steeples of Notre-Darno or Westminster Abbey , ho would helplessly and unavoidably bo convicted' —for the sole reason of his being absent and contumacious . Such are , by a remnant of barbarity , the dispositions of the Imperial Code—vastly different , in this respect , frora the English law . Thus M . Bonaparte would be tho sole winner , and his scheme is obvious . It runs to the following effect : — " Being already condemned for life , in vain would you , by your presence , seek to avert a second condemnation . Once I get hold of you , your doom i & sealed , and nothing shall save you from rotting in my dungeons . " A contrivance of that kind would , indeed , bo most convenient . It would bo sufficient to find in France throe of those judges , who , after having indicted M . Bonaparte for the crime of high treason , degraded themselves to becoming his Wides t and , abroad , a Government cowardly enough to oxecuto their commands , in order to banish from tho lust resting-place on earth the last asylum open to political exiles . Civilization itself would , henceforth , become a suhjeqtof regret and a bane , for , under the eway of the Greek and Roman tyrants of old , a few corners of safe concealment in fustuessos and wildernesses were Hi least loft to honoat patriots . In the same measure as extradition in matters of
ordinary crimes stands in conformity with common law , and deserves to be hailed as a blessing of peace and enlightenment—so , extradition applied to political offences would be a stain upon civilization and a scourge to humanity . The nation capable of granting it , for the sake of whatever earthly considerations or momentary expediency , would infallibly lower itself to the lowest stage of ignominy . " But this is no question of politics , " I am told , "but of murder . " Of murder ? Indeed ! Where , then , was murder committed ? Where was it even attempted ? The accusation itself dares not utter the word of a " commencement of execution . " What it talks of is a plot , a conspiracy ( complot )—a different thing altogether , since the most Draconian law has embodied the principle that , as long as no real attempt is made , the conspirators may have altered their mind . Besides , when you speak of a plot ( complof ) , you necessarily name a political crime , the expression complot , in French law , being only and exclusively applied to political matters . I defy the most acute of the Imperial lawyers to quote a case , a single one , where it ever was used in a different sense . Murder , you say 2 We have heard of such , indeed , but not in the present instance . I , for one , know of an attempt at murder committed at Strasbourg , in 1836 , by M . Bonaparte . Let him answer the question : —Was he given up by Switzerland when lie went there to shelter himself ? Did iioble and powerless Switzerland not prefer , on the contrary , rushing to arms rather than to abandon him ? I have a precise knowledge of another attempt at murder committed by the same ftf . Bonaparte at Boulogne in 1840 . Well , then , was the fugitive from Ham , the guest of England , surrendered to the French Government ? Nay , was he at least expelled from the British soil , at the urgent and reiterated request of Louis Philippe , then in close and cordial alliance with this country ? These were attempts at murder of undeniable reality ; the last of them at least duly and fully established before a tribunal , judging not in the absence , but under the very eyes , of the accused ; murders by which M . Bonaparte was preluding to and initiating the deliberate violation of a sworn constitution , the wholesale butcheries and massacres on the Boulevards on the 4 tli of December , the proscription of a hundred thousand families- ^ -all of them crimes for which the Times has gratified him with the names of perjurer , butcher , and assassin ; whilst on the other hand in the present circumstance , let it well be borne in mind , the accuser himself does not go so far as even to allude to a commencement of action .
" Still , at any rate , no government granting Hospitality to exiles can possibly allow them to conspire upon its territory and involve it in war with a friendly power . " Undoubtedly not . But there is no need of doing so . It is to the credit of the law of this country to have , in its wisdom , provided for such an emergency , and armed Government with the necessary powers of prosecuting the culprits before the English courts of justice . A ' memorable instance is on record from the times of the First Bonaparte . Moreover , in the sitting of the House of Peers , of March 4 , 1853 , the most eminent statesmen and lawyers , Lords Lyndhurst , Brougham , Aberdeen , and the Lord Chancellor , have eloquently expounded and corroborated the constitutional principles under the shelter of which there is no necessity of recurring either to extradition , or even to an Alien Bill , but merely to apply to foreigners the commott law of England . In conclusion , the pretended plot being affirmed to have originated in London—if in consequence of it I were to be comprised in a prosecution ut all , it is the common law of England 1 do invoke , to it I appeal . In return for the hospitality given to me by Great Britain these eight years , I feel in duty bound openly to meet justice , and to enlighten it respecting my conduct . I myself , then , ask for a trial before an English Tribunal and Jury . There , at all events , something more will be required than an inveterate hatred ; there , I feel sure , I shall meet with every guarantee of a fair , an unbiased , and independent trial—a British Court of Justice , a nutive Jury ; to judge me with the serenity nnd uprightness of free men , England owes to herself even more than to me . For should England submit to execute without verification—let me not term it a judgment —( I have already said it , no such thing exists in political matters in France but a degree of spite and revenge ) , England would not strike me- —since , by making a martyr of me , she would yet afford mo an opportunity of serving tho cause I have been defending my whole life—England would wound herselfherself alone 'would she cover with opprobrium before history . No ambiguity , then . The French Government , by using the word complot , have themselves acknowledged that they rest their accusation upon a politico , ! fact , an exclusively political ftuit , since tho word complot has , in the French juridical language , no other meaning , The question , therefore , is ono of political extradition , tho bearing of which is not confined within
the narrow bounds of individual or even national interests , lofty though they may be , but a question which involves the highest principles of liberty justice , morality , and human conscience . ' London , July 25 . Ledru Rollin .
Notices To Correspondents. It Is Impossi...
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters wo receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessaril y for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . Communications should always be legibly written , and on one side . of the paper only . If long , it increases tiro difficulty of finding space for them .
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Saturday, August 1, 1857. Lir
SATURDAY , AUGUST 1 , 1857 . lir
^Ulimanx. A —
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There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...
There is nothing so revolutionary , because there-i « nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep ' things fixed wlien all the-world is by thevery - lswofits creation in eternal progress . —Dii . As bold . ¦ ?
The Indian Revolt. Another Overland Mail...
THE INDIAN REVOLT . Another Overland Mail brings us little further news than that matters remained pretty much in statu quo with reference to previous accounts . General Barnard was believed to be still sitting before Delhi on the 17 th of June . Two desperate sorties had been repulsed with heavy loss to the besieged ; but no active operations appear to have been attempted on the part of the Government force . This is to be regretted : not merely for the honour of the British arms , but because so unlooked-for a delay will sorely try the temper of the country at large , and put Asiatic fidelity to a test almost too severe for endurance . Much inconvenience to the public service , as well as loss to individuals , may also be expected to arise from the interruption of postal communications and the plunder of valuable property in . transit . Ab a juncture when the regular police can no longer rely on immediate military support , every district , every line of road , will swarm with local marauders—the escaped formats of civilization , to whom every ill wiud blows good . It is difficult for us , at such a distance , to form correct opinions as to General Bahnaud ' s military conduct ; aud to venture upon minute criticism would bo positively unfair . But we mentioned , in our last notice of the subject ( a fortnight since ) , that , the chief cause assigned for postponing an immediate attack on Delhi was the want of a battering train ; aud it has since been rumoured that ammunition is scarce in the camp of the besiegers . Now , aa regards waiting for heavy guns , we are well aware that a resolution to abide the delay had been adopted by superior authority before the chief command devolved on G-eneral Barnard , who is , therefore , justly free of all responsibility on that score . Neither do we suppose that tho same ollicer can , in any way be held blamable for other shortcomings in a force which ho was summoned to join and assume command of at a moment ' s notice . But what does occur to us as being very strange , and remarkably open to comment , is th « circumstance that Meorut should have been inadequate to furnish the very small moans doomed necessary to ensure a speedy and certain success in operating against the stroug-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 1, 1857, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01081857/page/12/
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