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13S8 T H E jjjg^jnSL^.__ .^. .,^ff o : ....
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ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.
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w PRANCE. {From our own Correspondent. '...
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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.
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Biographies Of German Pbxnces. ;No. Vr. ...
the wife , not widow , of the Prussian lieutenant , iLehmann , are also of a character not to be dilated upon here . In fact , to this chapter of the history ot the Hesse-Cassel dynasty we cannot do full justice from the very difficulty it presents of handling so prurient a subject . Let it suffice that , botli under the former and the present reign , the risings of the people , since 1830 , had their origin principally in the exasperation occasioned by the dissolute and reckless life of the Court , and the consequent ruin of the welfare of the State .
The reigning Elector , Frederick Williana I ., first assumed power by being installed as co-Ilegent with Ms father in 1831 . In this capacity he performed his full part in the persecution of distinguished and even moderate men , whom the Government sought to implicate in sham plots , and thereby to ruin . Thus Jordan , the eminent professor of Marburg , and deputy of the University to the Chamber of Cassel , was confined in a dungeon for an imaginary conspiracy—the mere invention of some ministerial knave- Jordan had been an nble
advocate of the Constitutionalist . cause , but had never taken part in any agitation of more advanced ideas . On the contraryv he was known for his disinclination to the latter movement . Yet , one morning , he was suddenly arrested , and shut up for no less than five years iu " preliminary imprisonment , " as a captive " under examination ! " This incident may serve to illustrate the guarantees of personal freedom which existed in Germany previous to 184 S . Such a state of things as this gave birth to the proverb of a man being- " condemned
to a life-long examination . " After the " preliminary" five years of ceaseless interrogation had expired , the formal sentence of another five years of penal confinement was passed upon him . It was our lot to behold Jordan when he emerged from his dreary dungeon—the worn shadow of his former self—bearing the traces of his sufferings but too plainly marked on his attenuated person . This was the treatment bestowed upon moderate men formerly holding a high position in the country .
In 1847 , the co-Regent fully assumed his father ' s place as sovereign . He took but a short time to render himself the dread and horror of his people . No wonder that in March , 1848 , his persecuted subjects were among the most infuriated of the German people against monarchic rule , andj with arms in their hands , threatened the Elector with an immediate overthrow of his throne if he hesitated to accept the popular demands . The haughty arroffance of the Prince , on that occasion , assumed
as absurd a form as was the case with Kiu" Louis of Bavaria , whose apostrophe to the " dirty " boots " we mentioned in a former article . The turmoil of the insurrection being at its hei g ht , a deputation came to the Elector , demanding from him the appointment of a new Ministry , aud offering as candidates the names of some men of the Opposition . Among these latter there happcued to be a certain Liberal who pursued the calling of a leather-merchant , but who , from his consistent liberal course , had won the sympathies of the advanced Constitutionalists . He
was therefore proposed to the Elector as one of the future members of Government . Ou hearing this , the Prince fell into a paroxvsm of rage , which he vented Upon those near him ia that peculiar abrupt language which seems characteristic of European aristocracy : — " Leather-merchant Minister ?" lie exclaimed— " Minister leather-merchant ? No leather-merchant Minister !—no Minister leathermerchant 1 " Anything more coherent than this his roval indignation would not Allow him to utter . He , however , had the mortification pf seeing the leather interest after all triumphant for a time .
In 1850 , the Electorate became the scene of an exciting constitutional struggle . The country , sick of the reactionary policy , the profligaoy and defalcations of Government , arose in its anger . The Chamber refused the supplies for the public expenses . The whole administrative machinery was stopped . The tribunals , the magistrates of the towns , tho very oanploy ^ a of the Elector turned against him . No man spoke a word in his favour . He fled from his capital to the frontier . It was a display , in miniature , of legal resistance on tho part of an entire population such as has seldom been
witnessed in history . The bayonets ot Austria and Bavaria , however , made at last an pnd of the matter . All the leaders had to seek safety inflight , to esoapo the consequences of a charge of high treason . Great exoiteraent was also occasioned lately when Haasenpflug , the execrated Minister of the Elector , who had tor many years squandered the public money , was convicted by a Prussian tribunal
of common fraud , forging of bills refeiTing to public expenses , conspiracy to cheat the State , and so forth , crimes committed by him iu one of his former administrative capacities . Seldom has a trial of a public man created more interest than this one did , directed as it was against a notorious embezzler of public property and violent reactionist . ' More recentl y the Hesse-Cassel dynasty has obtained fresh notoriety by the resumption of
prosecutions for " offences" committed in 1848 , —prosecutions against individuals hitherto left unmolested , ft seems that the old propensity of making political victims is again in progress of revival . The scandals of Court life also promise to renew their vicious vitality . This Hesse-Cassel dynasty , to all evidence , is one of the least capable of change for the better ; and we should not wonder if , in some new commotion , their fate would be the least to be envied .
13s8 T H E Jjjg^Jnsl^.__ .^. .,^Ff O : ....
13 S 8 T H E jjjg ^ jnSL ^ . __ . ^ . ., ^ ff : . ^^ : PBQEkBEtt l 8 ,-1858 ' .
Original Correspondence.
ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE .
W Prance. {From Our Own Correspondent. '...
PRANCE . { From our own Correspondent . ' ) Paris , Thursday , 6 ^ p . m . DE MO 2 JTA . LEMBERT ' s APPEAL . Ok Tuesday next the appeal of M . de Montalembert from the decision of M . Berthelin , of the Correctional Police , is to be heard , and that it will be successful no one believes . It is presumed the Crown lawyers - . will plead the pardon a 3 a kind of nolle prosequi ; whereupon the court will declare there is no case before it , and dismiss' M . de Montalembert's appeal . So for as tho public is concerned there will be an end of the matter ; but M . de Montalembert'a real punishment and sufferings will then begin , although he will neither go to
prison nor pay 1201 . fine . The English papers , I regret : o say , appear to think that by tlie promulgation of " pardon" the author of the Debate on India in the English Parliament is freed from further pains and penalties ; that the Emperor has retreated from the offensive position , and made such amends as it was in his power to do . They even go further ; and , while counselling M . de Montalembert to accept the " pardon " as an apology , and say no more about it , intimate that persistence in the appeal will be henceforth regarded by the-world as proof of a vain love of notoriety —as a morbid desire for martyrological distinction .
I am so confident of the gentlemanly feelings and love of fair play which pre-eminently distinguish the editors of English papers to feel sure that , when they learn the extraordinary position in which M . de Moiitalembert will be placed—so long as the Empire lasts—if the police judgment be suffered to remain recorded against him , they will be the first to approve and support his appeal . Shortly after Qrsini ' s culpable attempt , a law was passed at the beginningof the year , familiarly known as " la Loi dea Suspects , " according to which any one against whom a previous conviction may be recorded for political
offences is to be placed under the surveillance of the " haute police , " and is liable to various degrees of punishment ( imprisonment , banishment , or transportation to Cayenne ) without trial or judgment during the remainder of his life . Now , M . de Montalemburt comes within this category . Tho pardon merely liberates him from tho penalties of the judgment , but the judgment itself remains in full force so far as it operates to make his liberty dependent on the caprice of tho Government . Wore M . de Montalembert so ill-advised and so ignorant of tho
nature of the " Loi d 9 Suspects" as to follow tho advice of his English friends , he would immediately bo classed under the surveillance of the "haute police , " as naturally as butchers in Smith field used to brand tho ehcop they intended for slaughter . As few Englishmen hnvo any idoa of what is meant by the survoillunce of the high police , I will endeavour to explain some of its inconveniences , although conscious that my ignorance ^ will prevent mo from representing them in their true light . So soon as the judgment ia pronounced , it is forwardod with all tho documentary evidence , culled a " dossior , " to the police-office , to be produced on a future occasion as evidence against the party . M . do Montulombort will then be required to state whore ho proposes to roaido , and will bo informed that ho cannot change lib residence
without previously being authorised by the police . Ho will bo required to prosout himaolf onco a woek , maybo every morning , to tho Prefecture of Police to sign a register to prove that he has not loft the district assigned to him for his resldoncoj and should ho wish to go into tho country for a day oven ho must give notice to tho authorities , and provide himaolf with a special passport . Ho will be required to show himself to the policeman ami police oplet In order that his features may bo engraved upon their memories . Every police-station In Franco will receive Instructions of his being placed under surveillance , which algnlfioa that ho ia to bo narrowly watched . Night ana day a watch will be sot upon him . Opposite his doorway a spy will loiter in disguise , his servants will be compelled to report bis ovory action ,
and perhaps , the lacquey , to whom ho pavs 40 / a VM T will be in receipt of tenfold that amount from the noli Every letter addressed to him will he opened -md , one he gives to bo posted will be subjected to ' the IZ * operation . Should he wish to have a few friend T dinner he must apply to the police for permission 1 , ? will receive it solely on condition of receivine- an r spy at his table as a friend . Most Englishmen will S this punishment enough . But this surveillance is trifli in comparison with the other risks to which If rf Montalembert will be exposed if the judgment be nof quashed . Henceforward he is liable to be imprisoned ot transported to Lambessa without ' warning , and without his friends being informed , until his death , what harf become of him . u
Would any Englishman accept a pardon which places him in so terrible a position ? Would he not rather risk a great deal to obtain the reversal of the jud gment and his consequent liberation from the surveillance of the " haute police ? " I do not mean to say that AI de Montalembert will be subject to all these indignities and tortures , but he is liable to them , and that is enough to justify his appeal . Should Sir Francis B . Head or M . Leo Neulsort ( a-milcer he was called by a Cockney speaking French the other day ) , or the " base exception , " or " my grandmother , " be incredulous of the above statements , 1 shall be happy on a future occasion if you can afford the space in your columns , to furnish irrefragable evidence . 1 can give the name of a director of a public company here who receives some 200 t a year from the police for his reports : of an American
who also is employed by the police , and of numerous other cases . Nay , further , the " base exception " can learn from the "Citizen orthe United States , " who acted , on a recent occasion , as one of its extraordinary correspondent * , what kind of paymasters arc the Trench police authorities . The Leader was stopped last week , although some of your articles were reprinted in ( JaUynani—how impartial !—and the same fate awaits your issue of Saturday . FRENCH Otl . MIN . U . STATISTICS . The recent publication , ia your columns , of extracts from the statistics of crime in Kngland , ' will , perhaps ,
render a brief account of the criminal statistics of f ranee not altogether uninteresting to your readers , although , on a previous occasion , 1 gave . an abstractor the figures . I can feel no hesitation or delicacy in touching upon the subject , for although ' . the- gentlemen who direct a portion of the French press may aiVect to consider remarks upon the interior condition of the country as intrusive and malevolent—the latter being a favourite epithet for whatever does not accord with their viewstlie source from which 1 derive my information is the report of M . de Uoyer , Minister of Justice , to the Emperor , and which 1 ms already appeared in the columns of in
the Afoniteur . 1 presume this otlicial document was - serted in tho official journal of the . Empire for public information , and , in spite of the new interpretation given to the law by the trial of M . de Moivtalembert , I imagine comparisons mav be instituted , at least by Eng ^ lishmcn , for M . do Rover sets the example . This gentleman writes in his report : — " If , as there is room to hope , ( he criminal statistics , published by foreign . nation « , should shortly furnisli n . s with the means to compare with oxactituile that which passes in Franco under this head ( ' arrests before triul ) with what h practised in other countriesI do not fear to affirm that it will be
•«—, l / LUVl UUUUtl IU ^ j A W ^ •« w . -- _ ^ , - shown by this comparison that nowhere is inaiyiuuai liberty now moro respect c . l than in France ; am law , that nowhere arc the violations which it must su tor m the interest of society restrained within narrower limits . Tho number of accused arrested before trifl ' »« T ( irrclct pr & ventivemtnt ) , in 1850 , has been G 7 , < 11 Jot «« France . It is less , by 71 ) 1 , than tho number or arrests made ., in lH « fl , iu the town of London aiont . Before proceeding nny further , I am desirous fli h »«/
marking that the italics are M . do . Koyer own . must evidently have boon inserted with m oiitwii » place before tho eyes of tho public a contrast bajeej England and Franco , and It ia tor doing no more t » " thin that M . do Monlalombort id imprisoned . ' - handed justice would require that her Mmuur In 1 . m , M . do Koyer , should share M . de Moiilalombwt * aun goon , liut it would seem that tho author tics hew o y partake of Mrs . Mulapny ' s opinion when the con imrwon turns to thoir dirtudviiutngo . In the other urn rf highly OHteomoil , and no ottbrt , not ovon llie aaon truth , ia spared to ciioompnss ha in » titulioi > . J > , way , one is almost tompted to b .-lievo in » ih . ¦ aocond bight , for in hid Mrs . Muhprop liu h « w «> vcj world the representative , tho prototype «» ll ' ° ' \ for nfelmo . Tho curious in auoh innUor . i iimy 'ni 1 . V OI 1 CO thoir amusing speculations in invcst ^ t-fig "'" m i , lWp of English comedy on 1 ' roneh Imparlrtllim ; « " J Iinporator might not bo a bad thmim for tl » o « wq «
of tho lonrnod . Smellfungua . shol , i , l To return to M . Ue Iioyor and hw comparlrtoii . , « any of your roodor- think of tl . U goiitU'i"J » ' t thought of tho lady in Hftinlof * tmgody , tli" , ^ foarlng to nfflrni , l > o " doth protest too much , »* of bo charitable to auppoae ( lint the Frono i ™ " t \ Juatlco has not the roniotoat ooiiooptloii oi liberty , ami that ho Id totally | K I 0 Pftllt I ° f J ' roqulro pluco boyond tlip limits of tho empire . 1 ' "J ^ W no groat courage to " dare to Affirm" In tho w
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 18, 1858, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18121858/page/20/
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