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with No. 456, December 18, 1858.] THE LE...
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GEBMANY. (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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W Prance. {From Our Own Correspondent. '...
that " nowhere is individual' freedom now more respected than in France , " because no one would be permitted to give a contradiction ; but it docs require that ignorance , which gives audacity to men who are not very courageous or else that abnegation which no man who respects himself would consent to . I may also suggest , for the enlig htenment of M . de Royer , that an increase in the number of commitments does not necessarily establish an a ugmentation , of crime , but often , as in the United Kingdom , an increased vigilance on the part of the police . . ' . . , ¦•
I -will now proceed to the consideration of the report itself , which , embraces the quinquennial period terminating in 1856 , but to the earlier years I do riot propose to refer . The report separates crimes Trom felonies or misdemeanours ( delits ) , and from simple police offences , and following the same division , it will be found that in 1856 the courts tried 4535 cases of crime , and convicted 4568 individuals . Compared with the results of 1854 this total shows a diminution of 990 cases , or 18 per cent , ; compared with 1855 it shows a diminution of 263 cases , or a little more than 5 _ percent . But this reduction has reference solely to crimes
against property , those against persons have increased by 89 , from 1613 in 1855 to 1702 . II . de Royer congratulates himself on the fact that the augmentation has not occurred in the more serious of crimes against the person . The convictions of assassination , murder , and parricide have not varied , those for poisoning have decreased . But . would not that state of society be better , and show more progress , wherein the crimes against the person had decreased , even if those against property augmented , than the one in which the reverse occurs as shown in the report ? At all events it must be a safer if not a pleasanter one to live in .
Out of the total number—4535—of cases tried , 203 were for assassination , 95 for murder , 30 for poisoning , 13 for parricide , and 190 for infanticide . I confess to great ignorance of the criminal law , and do not probably eufliciently appreciate the nice distinction * implied by these divisions . The infliction of unlawful death , with what I believe lawyers in England call , in their ^ Norman French , " malice prepense , " I have always fancied to be wilful murder , whether it be perpetrated on parents , or children , or by person , murder , or assassination . In that case the number of murders brought before the courts would be 530 in 1856 . I have no means of knowing from the report how many charges for this dire offence were not proven ; but as I find the number of
persons convicted to be greater than the number of cases —arising from two or more persons being concerned in some of the crimes—it may be fairly presumed , that the number of criminals convicted was at least equal to the number of crimes charged . True , the report gives ten per cent , as the average acquittals pronounced on individuals charged with this crime , but this proposition w . ill not enable us to arrive at an exact knowledge of how man } ' murders were proven , nor of how many murderers were convicted . However , we shall be sure not to exaggerate if we deduct from the total number of cases tried the proportion of persons acquitted—ten per cent . —which would give 477 of these crimes proven . Now I fmd by a short paragraph , published in the Times not long since , that in 1856 "the crimes in England ,
where convictions were obtained , included 31 murders . If , for the sake of comparison , and to follow the example Bet by M . Royer , we contrast English and French criminal statistics under this head—taking , for the sake of round numbers , the population of England ( including Wales ) to bo 20 , 000 , 000 , and that , of Franco to be 85 , 000 , 000—it will be seen that the proportion in England is 1 murder to 645 , 161 inhabitants , and in France 1 murder to 73 , 375 inhabitants . If , again , wo take equal amounts of population in both countries , it will be seen that 9 murders were committed in Franco to 1 in England during the year 1856 . Of course I do not vouch for the accuracy of these figures—they are what result from the official report ; and one will bo curious to learn M . de Royer ' a opinion of thia contrast .
The remaining crimes tried were thus classified : —70 for blows and wounds , followed by death , but unpremeditated , 62 for blows and "wounds of serious nature , 54 for blows and wounds on a parent ( ascendant ) , 23 for rebellion and serious violence towards functionaries , & q ., 181 for rape and offences again * t decency on adults , 050 for similar crimes on infants , 45 for false witness and subornation , 58 for coining , 499 for forgery , 1886 for offences against proporfy ( burglary , and with violence ) , 200 for incendiarism , 117 for fraudulent bankruptcies , and 148 for nil other crimes . Passing from the nature to tho locality of crime , it ia shown that
in fifty departments thoro was , in 1856 , a reduction ; in fourteen , a scarcely perceptible augmentation , and in twenty of the rost an increase which reached beyond twenty per cent . Tho departments hi whloh crime has increased are : — Tarn-ot-Garonno , 88 per cent . ; Hautos-Alpos , 79 percent . ; SaGne-ot-Ijolre , 77 percent . ; BaBsea . Pyrtfnees , 73 per cent . » Pos-do-Calals , < J 8 per cent . 5 Corsica , 63 per cent . ; Loirot , 48 per cent . | Hautes-PyrtfiMfes , 43 per cent . ; DrOmo , 49 per cent . ) Lozere , 38 nor cent . ; Arl < 5 go , 37 per cent . ; Nord , 36 percent . ; Rli & no , 34 per cent . ; Iaore , 33 per cent . In tho department of the Soino tho number of criminals in 1856 was 708 against 690 in 1856 .
The average proportion of heads of population to 1 criminal in all France was 5385 in 1856 , and 5522 in 185 . ? . The heads of population to 1 criminal in each of the following departments were—in Corsica , 1891 ; Seine , 2454 ; Tarn-et-Garonne , 2972 ; Blame , 3235 ; Drome , 3248 ; Lozere , 3520 ; Bouches-du-Rhone , 3533 ; Vaucluse , 3736 ; Haute-Garonne , 3945 ? Gers , 4115 ; Aube , 4361 ; Cotes-du-Nord , 10 , 025 ; Vosges , 10 , 676 ; Dordogne , 10 , 737 ; Cote-d'Or , 11 , 004 ; Isere , 11 , 089 ; Cher , 11 , 244 ; Herault , 12 , 134 ; Haute-Saone , 13 , 016 ; Meurthe , 14 , 634 ; Ain , 18 , 546 , and Creuse , 34 , 861 . It would appear from this classification . that , generally speaking , the agricultural districts of France produce more criminals than do the manufacturing ones , —leaving , of course , the department of the Seine out of consideration , which , from its comprehending the capital , is in an exceptional position .
CRIMINAL TRIALS . Of the total number of persons tried—6124—in 1856 , 2108 had committed offences against persons , and 4016 against property . Among them 5007 were men and 1117 women ; 3067 were unmarried , 3670 were married , and 387 widows or widowers . The classification according to age gave 893 under 21 years ; 3329 between 31 and 40 ; 1624 between 40 and 60 ; and 278 upwards of 60 years of age . Those born within the departments where they were tried numbered 4015 ; born out of , but inhabitants of the departments where they were tried , 1307 , and 802 were neither born nor located in the said departments , or were without fixed habitation . Again , 3307 inhabited rural districts , 2519 urban districts , and
298 had no . fixed'homes . Of the persons tried there were engaged in agricultural labour 2210 , trades' workmen , 2043 ; domestic servants , 438 ; merchants , traders , lodging-house-keepers , and tavern-keepers , 620 ; members of liberal professions , 435 ; and vagabonds , people of no calling or occupation , 378 . The educational classification showed that 2698 were totally illiterate ; 2332 knowing how to read only , or imperfectly how to read and write ; and 346 of superior education . Of these 6124 . accused committed for trial , the juries convicted 4568 , and acquitted 1556 . The punishments awarded on conviction were—46 sentenced to death ; 248 to hard labour for life ; 1051 to hard labour for fixed number of years ; 971 to solitary confinement ; 1 to banishment ; 2221 to imprisonment ; 6 to pay fines : and 24 infants , under sixteen years of
dicity are signs that France is seriously affected pauperism , which her statesmen pretend to ignore . Out of the number of persons—225 , 561—proceeded against , 156 , 880 were at the request of the public prosecutor ; 8819 by the public generally ; and 5 . 9 , 8 G 2 . bypublic administrations ., The prosecutions resulted in the acquittal Of 20 , 146 accused ; the condemnation of 11 , 063 to imprisonment for one year and more ; of 76 , 324 to imprisonment for less thanayear ; of 114 , 281 to punishment by fines ; of 2156 infants , under 16 years of age , to houses of correction ; and of 1591 infants to be sent back to their parents . The total number of persons imprisoned was , therefore , 89 , 543 . As far as it was practicable to ascertain , there were 6905 accused
nnder 16 years of age , 18 , 214 between 16 and 21 , and 127 , 934 above 21 . Previous convictions were recorded against 40 , 345 of the accused , which is a larger number than in any preceding year . Commercial probity does not seem to improve ; for , M . de Royer says : "It is thus , in matters of fraud in , commercial transactions , that old offenders increase every year in deplorable proportions . " The results of the penitentiary system have not been favourable , according to the same authority ; and , so far , agree with recent experience in England . Nearly two-fifths of liberated convicts , who answer to English , ticket-of-leave men , are taken up and tried again before the expiration of the . third year of their farmschools
liberation . The penitentiary colonies , or - , are stated to show fewer relapses to crime ; but that may result from their receiving the best , and the prisons the worst , cases . The third class of crimes , or simple police offences , brought before 2681 simple police-courts , included 402 , 914 judgments , which are 6417 more than in 1855 . T ^ he number of persons implicated in these cases was 533 , 195 , of whom 33 , 518 were acquitted ; 470 , 815 were punished by fines ; and 27 , 836 by imprisonment With respect to 1026 the tribunals declared themselves incompetent ; 48 , 384 judgments were rendered in the absence of the accused—another instance of the efficacy of passports—and 2163 persons were imprisoned for non-payment of fines .
The officers of justice in France are 18 , 484 gendarmes , divided into 3399 brigades ; 1979 commissaries of police , 7009 agents of police , 2850 justices of the peace , and 34 , 155 rural guards . Before quitting this dismal subject , there is one correction of a popular error which I should be glad to be permitted to make . M . Alexandra Dumas , and other writers equally as veracious , affirm , and ninety-nine Frenchmen out of a hundred believe ) that Englishmen are more prone to commit suicide than any other people of the globe . Now the number of suicides committed
age , acquitted , but sent to penitentiary establishments . Of the 46 condemned to death , 17 were executed ; 1 ( a parricide ) committed suicide ; 27 were remitted to hard labour for life ; and 1 to solitary confinement for life . Moreover , 2945 were stated by juries to have in their favour extenuating circumstances . The assize courts judged , without the assistance of juries , 483 absent individuals accused of crimes , of whom 2 were acquitted , 22 condemned to death ; 27 to hard labour for life ; 287 to hard labour for stated periods of time ; 144 to confinement ; and 1 to civil degradation . This total included 200 robberies with violence ; 94 fraudulent bankruptcies ; 98 forgeries ; 35 rapes , & c . ; and 14 murders . This last catalogue presents as melancholy and curious a fact as any elicited by the report , for it proves that , in spite of passports and extraordinary police agencies , about one criminal in twelve manages to escape from
in France in 1856 was , according to the report of the Minister of Justice , 4189 , of which 3161 were menj and 1028 women . On the other hand , M . Buckle shows , in his work on Civilisation—quoting from the Registrar-General ' s Report—that during thesameperiodin England the number of suicides was no more than 1182 . If we institute a comparison , as in the former instance , it will be seen that in France there is 1 suicide for every 8355 inhabitants , and in England only 1 for every 16 , 937 inhabitants ; so that for every Englishman who makes away with himself there are two Frenchmen and a fraction that commit self-slaughter . The total number of persons convicted in 1856 of having violated the law in France , and who were punished , therefore , appears , from M . de Royer ' s report , to have been 708 , 634 , or 1 to rather more than every 49 inhabitants .
justice . I proceed now to the second class of offences . In 1856 tho 261 correctional tribunals in Franco tried 181 , 610 cases , implicating 225 , 561 individuals . These totals Bhown reduction , aa compared with ! 856 , of 7905 cases , and of 8802 accused . The offences and accused are thus classed : —Persons charged with evasion of tickets-of-leave , 3947 ; vagrancy , 6588 ; mendicity , 52 . 32 ; rebellion , 3238 ; outrages and violences agninst public functionaries , 7601 ; offences against religion , and outrages towards its ministers , 238 ; assaults , 14 , 342 ; offences against decency , 3176 ; defamation , insults , calumnious denunciations , 4286 ; theft , 47 , 102 ; ordinary bankruptcies , 660 ; swindling , 3089 j abuse of
confidence , 3171 ; cheating as to the nature , quality , and quantity of goods sold , false weights and measures , 12 , 329 ; damage and destruction of harvests , trees , enclosures and animals , 1561 ; political offences , 990 ; distribution of printed books , & c , without authority , 215 ; unlicensed opening of public-houses and cafes , 1598 ; manufacture and possession of arms and gunpowder , possession and carrying of prohibited , weapons ( including loaded walking-sticks ) , 464 ; offences against game-lawo , 24 , 085 ; rural offences and marauding , 1829 ; smuggling , 2187 ; infringement of fishery laws , 4599 ; employing postage-stamps a second time , 4054 ; other offences against the postal laws , 161 ; infringement of forest laws , 55 , 782 ; violation of
carriers' laws , 1952 ; other offonoos , 10 , 985 . It ennnot foil to strike the reader , I think , how many offenders of the laws arc created by tho state ' s interference with tho liberty of tho subjoct and with tho laws of common sense . Tho absurd custom-house restrictions and fottora on the press are tho cause of more than ouo-tonlh of tho total offoiicos , while tho game and foxest laws , which Mr . Bright would have tho world bulievo aro barbarous relics of feudalism confined to monarchical and aristocratic England , provoke nearly one-third of tho -whole minor crimes . The second uaago of poatngo-stamps ™ of which , by-tho by , women aro disproportionately guiltyis a curious feature ; and tho items of vagrancy and men-
With No. 456, December 18, 1858.] The Le...
with No . 456 , December 18 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 1389
Gebmany. (From Our Own Correspondent.' )...
GEBMANY . ( From our own Correspondent . ' ) December 15 . I presume my letter of last week did not reach you by some irregularity . As regards news , it was no great loss , but nsit treated of a subject which is still agitating the Hnnso towns , tho only quarters of Germany where a certain amount of free discussion is tolerated , and , as tho matter slightly affects the interests of Englishmen , it may , porhaps , not be amiss to recur to it . The object of tho agitation is to give effect to tho labours of the Gotha Oongress , to which I have alluded in former letters , and to bring about the abolition of tho guild ystoin , which , still flourishes in Germany as it did ia tho profound ignorance of the middle ages . Tho Prussian questions bimished tho subject of free trade and free
labour from the minds of the commercial classes , but now they appear disposed to loiul an oar to the teaohings of tho Congress . Although tho focus of the agitation is the Hanao towns , they havo not originated it—It has been forged upon them by tho United States , whose Consul , some time back , churned porfoct reciprocity for American citizens in acoorilmico with tho conditions of a treaty entered into with tho Hanso towns in 1828 . This treaty docluros that it shall bo wholly lawful for the cWns of both contracting parties V ™ " ®^ Kn solvos their own business by wholesale or retail in all the ports and plooe * of tho two countries- n short ,, that American * should bo as frco to buy nnd soil in tho Hans towns as citizens of tho latter aro to do so In the United Statoa Notwithstanding tho perspicuity of tho terms of tho treaty and its solf-ovident intention , thq authorities of tho Ilanso towns Und tho assurance to dispute
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 18, 1858, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18121858/page/21/
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