Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 30th August 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 5, August 30, 1856.]

Page 5
Page 5
5 of 24

On this page

  • Text (3)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      America. Tiuc Latest Feature Of Tlio Pre...

      Washington has thought the story of sufficient import-* ance to deny , in conversation , that part of it which relates to the Government he represents . Mr . Cushing , the Attorney-General , in answering the application of the Californian Government for Federal assistance , argues that there is no evidence in the Governor ' s statements or in other authentic information that in what has occurred in San Francisco , there was committed or threatened any act of resistance or obstruction to the constitution , laws , or official authority of the United States ; and that the President is . only to be moved to action by the legislature of the state in which the insurrection exists , or of the executive of such state when such legislature cannot be convened , and when imminent or extreme public disaster can be averted only by such interposition of the Federal Government . He says the whole constitutional power of California has not been exerted . . We read of the election to Congress by Missouri of Mr . F . P . Blair , the first avowed opponent of slavery extension yet elected by a slave state . He was opposed , moreover , by a democratic pro slavery candidate , and by a candidate of the American party . On the 9 th inst . there was great excitement at quarantine in New York and the regions round about , arising out of the fact that there were then lying in the bay some hundred and twenty sail of vessels , most of which were from parts where the yellow fever existed at the time of their sailing . All persons engaged in these vessels are obliged to land at the health officer ' s wharf , and from thence they pass out of the gates into the village , or come up to the city , as they may wish . In consequence of this loose arrangement , one or two fatal cases of yellow fever had occurred outside the walls , and the inhabitants of the village had held a meeting , and formed a Vigilance Committee , whose duty it will be to prevent all persons from passing out of the gates into the village , and to oblige all those employed inside to remain inside or out . They were resolved that , if necessary , they would barricade the gates . A formidable revolution has burst out in St . Domingo , of which the details are not yet known . From Halifax we hear of a change in tha Canadian Ministry . Mr . Wilkins is appointed Judge , vice Judge Halliburton ( the author of Sam Slick ) , resigned . Mr . Henry is Provincial Secretary ; Mr . Archibald , Solicitor-General . The time for elections is unknown . Mr . Howe will stand for the township of Windsor . The American journals record the death of three gentlemen , whose names are known in Europe . The first is J . Griswold , Esq ., one of the oldest and most distinguished merchants in New York . He was well and widely known as the establisher of Griswold ' s line of New York and London packets . He died in his seventythird year . Another death is that of Mr . Charles Sedgwick , youngest son of the late Judge Sedgwick , of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts , and brother of Theodore , Henry , and Robert Sedgwick , all of whom , after lives of eminent usefulness , have gone before him , and of the favourite authoress who survives him . A third death is that of the Hon . Edward Curtis , a leading lawyer and politician .

      August 30, 1856.]

      August 30 , 1856 . ]

      THE LEADER . 821

      The Exiles Of Cayenne. Austria Does Not ...

      THE EXILES OF CAYENNE . Austria does not possess a monopoly in the savage treatment of political prisoners : tlie murder of Ciceruacchio and his friends is paralleled by the slow agonies and torture of French citizens , now wasting away in the poisonous climate of Cayenne . During the present week , a communication from M . Louis Blanc , printed in the daily papers , has lifted the veil which obscures that scene of suffering , and shown to us the victims of the coup d \ lat . We read as follows : — " In February , 1855 , I received a letter that was . signed as follows : — « Fassiliez , a political prisoner , transported in June , 1848 , and who haa now been working for fourteen months , like many others among his fellowrtufferers , under a chain forty pounds in weight , with a cannon ball at the end of it . ' " In that letter , dated ' St . Joseph , Island of Despair , Oct ., 1854 , ' the gratuitous and unheard-of acts of barbarity were stated which are inflicted at Cayenne upon men belonging to all classes of society , artists , tradesmen , workmen , barristers , physicians , farmers , journalists , scholars , those men having been violently driven out of their country not in consequence of any lawful judgment , but by the niero impulse of political passions . I was requested to lay before the civilized world the heartrending details , which 1 did as far as my power went . " Sinco that period , no change whatever appears to have taken place in the situation of these unfortunate people , who are subjected to forced labours ( fravaux force " *) on a . lonely rock , nurrounded by the Hea , al a distance of about GOOO miles from their native land . " M . Blanc then gives some extracts from u letter , of which tho main portiona appeared in the leader of February 23 rd , under tho head of " An Kpisodo of tho Second Empire . " He proceeds : — " Now , sir , horo ia a third letter , which haa now reached me : — ' " To M . Louis Blanc , thoso deported to tho French Guiana , with urgent request to inako public this appeal .

      a . . , , ^——• —¦________ December , 1851 . In this matter it must be allowed that they had the right on their side . It may certainly be declared that the present ruler of France was justified in forcibly terminating the then existing order of things , and it may be shown how prosperous and successful France has subsequently become . But those ¦ who resisted the coup d'etat cannot be condemned on any such ground . They were in their own right . They defended the Government which existed , and to which the powers ^ of the State had sworn allegiance . That it was expedient to break this oath and change the constitution may be true ; but still this does not affect the legality of resisting such an unauthorized measure . All jurists hold that the defence of a de facto Government is no political crime , and yet these men , or the few that are left of them , have expiated a few hours' resistance by nearly five years of misery . Ou the whole , we cannot but hope that something will be done to remove what we cannot but feel is a scandal to Europe . It is not now only that attention has been turned to what is passing in the swamps of South America , though the importance of European events and the hope that some change would take place have hitherto kept the English public silent . But now , in the name of humanity , we are obliged to speak . "

      " ' Those deported to the French Guiana make an appeal to the feelings of justice and humanity of all honest men , to whatever party they may belong . At the very moment when it is so much spoken in France of clemency and generosity , while so many families are lulling themselves with the hope of clasping to their hearts the dear ones whose absence they have so long lamented , the political victims are treated in the French Guiana in a manner worthy of the darkest ages of barbarity . It is certainly a painful task to unveil such an amount of iniquity , but how is it possible to pass over in silence the unjust and cruel behaviour of French officers towards their fellow-countrymen ? Let it be known , therefore , that we are unspeakably tortured , on the flimsiest pretences , while people , deceived by the solemn declarations of the French Government , think perhaps that every prison is open , and that we are at liberty . Let it be known , for instance , that , out of five men lately arrested for some talk it had been the fancy of an overseer to invent , two were tied to a stake and dealt with as the most vile criminals ! As they were reluctant to submit to an ignominious punishment , soldiers were called for , who , rushing upon the victims , bruised them with blows , tore off their beards , and , reckless of shrieks with which wild beasts would have been moved , bound them with cords so fast as to make the blood gush . " ' To relate all we suffer is more than we can possibly do . Our cheeks kindle with shame , and our hearts are bleeding . Suffice to say that , while the French Government has its clemency cried up everywhere , there are Frenchmen in Guiana who do gasp for life . Nor are they allowed the sojourn of the Island of Despair , horrible as it is ; barbarous administrators drag them violently on the continent , to compel them to alabour of eight hours a day in the marshy forests , from which pestilential vapours are continually rising . " ' We refused to submit to this outrage upon laws , to this-murderous attempt ; we claimed promised liberty ; the answer is , death—a magnanimous answer after the birth of a prince ! Is there , indeed , for us any other prospect but imminent death ? With no proper food , no garments , no shoes , no wine since February last , is there any chance that we should long be able to bear both the influence of an exhausting toil and a deadly climate ? Again , where is the law which assimilates political proscripts to galley-slaves ? From beneath the brutal force that weighs upon us , heaped up ^ together , almost breathless , but strengthened by the courage we draw from the sacredness of our cause , and our hope in the triumph of justice , we protest against the violence which is offered to us . May public opinion be moved at our misfortunes , and energetically rise against deeds so well calculated to bring to shame a nation reputed the most enlightened and civilized in the world . " ' Berbeje Alexandre , Gibert , Goret , Bodin , Jccegaly , Dalivie , Fernland , Soffroil , Pech , Guerard , Bonnasiolle , Salleles , Susini , E . Beaufour , Lacour , Bockensky , Lafond , Dime Gustave , Pelletier , Dessalle , Bijoux , Dore , Raymond , Meuniere , Cayet , Casnac , Frison , Patdouani , Labrousse , Ailhaud , Davaux , Bivors , Perrimond , Chaudron , Priol , Caudret , Caumette , Hollas . ' " These are the lines , sir , whose insertion in j-our columns I earnestly request , not as a republican—not even as a Frenchman—but as a man . For this is not a question of political feeling—it is one of simple justice and humanity . Let it be carefully remembered that the tortured " victims are men who have never been tried by any court , nor prosecuted by any form of law . It lies in vour power , sir , as I said on a similar occasion , that the " groan they utter from the place where they are , so to speak , buried alive , should be heard in the world of the living . The French press is gagged , and whoever has recently resided in France must of necessity know—as stated in a letter addressed by Mr . James Aytoun to the most influential paper of this country— ' That , when the press is controlled by an arbitrary government , every species of injustice , jobbing , and oppression may be perpetrated , uncommented upon , and even unknown , to the great majority of the population . ' " Such being tho case in France , tho liberty of the English press remains the only possible resort for the oppressed to have the justice of their complaints at least examined . I apply , therefore , to the English press , and that all the more confidently , since I read in tho Times but a few days ago : ' The press is emphatically the representative of tho people . If wisely directed , it guards tho interests of all classes and conditions of society , and has a right , in turn , to tho sympathies and assistance of all . ' —I remain , . sir , your most obedient servant " L'juis Br-AN < J . " The conclusion of a lending article in tho Times on the subject of this letter ia here appended , as showing that the most powerful and popular of our contemporaries is at length milking an approach to the views which have always been advocated iu the columns of this journal : — " Tho men who arc perishing at Cayenne are no Cutilincfl , for there wan no settled and venerable constitution to connpire against ; they arc merely those conquered in a political Htrifo in which they ntood on a moral equality with their antagonists , and are guilty only because they are unsuccessful . A largo proportion of theao men were transported , after a hurried tr ial or no trial at all , on tho occasion of tho couj ) d'itat of

      The Coronation Festivities At Moscow. Th...

      THE CORONATION FESTIVITIES AT MOSCOW . The approaching ceremonial at Moscow will be of so vast and gorgeous a character , and is attracting so much of the attention of Europe at this dull season of drowsy politics and holiday-making statesmanship , that the reader will probably be glad to have a little gossip on the subject . We therefore draw some details from the Berlin correspondence of the Times , in which we read : — " Some letters from a special correspondent whom the Kreuz Zeitung has sent to Moscow show that the preparations that I mentioned some weeks back as being carried on so actively in that old capital of the Czars are now complete . The thing that most strikes him in the first days of his visit there is the excessive cleanliness of the place . Every house seems to have been scrubbed and rubbed , and furbished and polished , till it has attained a degree of staring cleanness almost affronting , and which becomes actually so on finding that the cleansing process has as yet made no inroad on the interiors . The correspondent learns , at the cost of his patience , what many other travellers in Russia have learned before him , that the attendance a man gets in an inn is as much as he brings with him , anl no more . Russian travellers always bring their own servants with them , and in plenty ; their numbers , however , form no cause of inconvenience to the landlord , seeing that accommodation fcr the servants is something as uncalled for and superfluous as attendance on their masters . A gentleman ' s servant will pass entire days lounging on the threshold of the door , while his nights are got rid of as satisfactorily to himself under a bed occupied by somebody else . Mattresses and pillows are known to him only « s superfluous luxuries . The stable is a place of refuge to be resorted to by the coachman only hi extreme cases ; under normal circumstances he pours the oats for his horse or horses on to the floor of his kibitka , at the side of which his well-behaved animals stand and feed from the floor of the carriage , the driver himself reposing between them under the kibitka in the open courtyard . Even as far back as the beginning of this month it was matter of notoriety in Moscow that the A / if / li / iskijfossol ( the English Ambassador ) was going to bring with him from London an entire house , in which a ball is to be given , at which the Emperor will be present . On the Chotinski fields , where the entertainments for the people are to come off , preparations are being made for a musical entertainment , of which the chief peculiarity will lie in an obbliyato accompaniment of artillery , so arranged as to mark the time very distinctly . For the accompaniment of the National Anthom a buttery of guns is to be arranged , with electric wires running from their touchholcs to tho side of the rostrum , where tho director of the singers and players will stand , and strictly in accordance with the stroke of liis baton these guns will bo fired one after the other . This very tasteful and delicate performance , bo well calculated to charm all true lovers of music , was executed on a former occasion at Kulisch , under the late emperor , when the guns were discharged by percussion ; an officer gifted with an ear for music was entrusted with a hammer , and tho task of knocking off the discharges in due and correct time . From tho result of this gentleman ' s correspondence , it would seem that it cannot be too strictly enjoined upon correspondents to be careful of tho diet in Kussiu . Ilo describes one of th , e dainty dishes set before him , called batwinja , aa composed of liberal quantities of qirnns ( an infusion of sour black bread with thin acid beer ) in a tureen , to which are added aliced cucumbers , parsley , aulmon or other fish , and then cooled below tho masticating temperature of Western mouths by tho interposition of pieces of ice between those masses of pink salmon , black broad , and green vegetables . It is evident that tho largo quantities of thin , watery beer und indigestible crude eatables have had an evil effect upon hia stylo , and found their result in the contents of his letters . "

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 30, 1856, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30081856/page/5/