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ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE, — ?—: — ¦ ¦ • . .
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FRANCE . ( From our own Correspondent . ") Paris , Thursday , 6 j p . m . Contrary to all expectation , the French Government have not yet announced their decision with respect to the admission of foreign iron for ship-building purposes , and to the Francisation of foreign-built vessels on the payment of moderate duties , moderate at least in comparison to -what . they formerly were . JDe facto France has relapsed to a state of prohibition , and trade is completely paralysed . Still I cannot think the relapse will be allowed to continue , and what confirms me in the belief that we are on the eve of progress towards free trade isthe silence of the Moniteur and all the public
, journals , including the organs of the prohibitionists . Had it been intended that the decrees should not be extended , the Moniieur would have announced the fact for the information of commerce , and the prohibitionists , under the leadership of Messieurs Burat , Diibois , Veuillot , and Charle 8 de Lesseps , alias -, —well , I will not tell his secret—would have shouted Io paeans ! in discordant chorus . They would have deadened our ear 3 with songs of triumph . As it is , they never so much as allude to the decree , and if they keep silence it is because they have secured the orders of the Government not to touch upon the subject , or because they are ignorant of the real determination of their rulers , or I should speak in the singular number , and say Emperor . They may be
afraid to scream to-day , lest to-morrow should prove their ignorance of what passes in the upper regions , and change their , notes of joy into grievous lamentations . Or it may be that the Emperor hesitates to encounter the unscrupulous and unfair opposition of the prohibitionists to his government . They have threatened him directly and indirectly with the withdrawal of their support , and have all but " gone to offer service to his enemies . " The Legitimist party was never so rampant and withal so insolent as to-day , since they have received into their ranlrs certain great manufacturers . It may perhaps be going too far to say that actual deserbeen
tion has taken place , but in reply to overtures it has stated that the prohibitionists would not behold with displeasure the return of the son of St . Louis if he carried out the commercial and economical policy of Colbert , and confided the direction of public affairs to anti-English statesmen . The policy of the Restoration , ana " that in particular of M . de Chateaubriand , are in particular favour with the prohibitionists , and probably white cockades are not altogether unknown . If such be the case , you can better imagine than I can describe how jubilant are the absolutists , ultramontanes—owls and bats of French Society .
Contradictory as it may appear to say , it is nevertheless true , that the Emperor , although occasionally possessed of great firmness , has long intervals of indecision . He is decided , quick to reflect , and prompt to act by fits and starts ; and then comes a long spell when he . will neither go one way nor the other . It was this alternating decision and indecision which , during the presidency , drove some ministers to despair , and induced others to imagine they might lend him as they willed ; and if such was his characer then , he is not likely to have improved when nearly two lustra have gathered on his head , and the gout has made n lodgment in his nether person . But after making every allowance for personal character , the present uncertainty is as
inexcusable as it is deplorable . It would be unpardonable presumption in any individual to tell the Government of a foreign state to do this or to leave that undone , but at the same time it may be permitted to point out tile evils which flow from the present uncertain state . Importers of English iron into Franco can now neither accept nor refuse orders , and I am continually applied to for advice to enable them to obtain accurate information . Manufacturers of goods' In which iron enters are in precisely the same position . They cannot take new orders , and are obliged to allow their stocks to become gradually exhausted , without daring to renew them . Shipbuilders and engino-makera at Havre , Nantes , and other ports ore in a like predicament , and trade generally is brought into a state of complete dead-lock . The same applies with equal force to shippers o goods , cither outwarda or inwards . But the
not pay protective dues ; and that this is the belief of all can be proved by the fact that many are now here making arrangements to find capital to enable them to increase their works and produce on more economical conditions . ¦ " ; ¦ * Paris is just entering upon the gestation of speculation . Old familiar faces that had disappeared from the Bourse and Alley ( Passage de l'Opera ) aie to be met with now , smirking and happy in illusion , as formerly . Mires , the Jew donor of Madonnas to Christian churches , is moving heaven and earth—I believe his faith does not extend to the existence of another place—to put worshiof
himself in readiness Ito profit by the revived p the Golden Calf . Unfortunately , he paid a very heavy price to Madame Mufioz for the concession of the Roman railways ; and , like most Papal commodities , they prove very unmarketable . Somehow or another people do not seem to care for them at all ; and all the pufling in his twin papers , the Constiluiionnel and the Pays , cannot make the shares float . Down they go—down , down . What makes the ponderability of the Roman railway shares so very annoying just now to M . Mires is , that there is an expectation of the concession of railways in Algeria being shortly accorded . As a waiter for good things , he and ottersi io ueposit
has put himself forward , , near , two millions sterling as caution-money . Where it is to come from is a wonder . Of course , I have no doubt of the gentleman ' s perfect solvency and extraordinary command of capital . He is , I believe , a Croesus ; but let him be never so rich , I doubt his power to produce two millions sterling in a week . The Austrian guarantee of 7 per cent , has swept Paris clear of all disposable funds . In addition to M . Mires there is M . Isaac Pereire competing for the Algerian concession , and between them there is war to the knife ; and above these two financiers hovers far aloft the great God of
Money , M . de . Rothschild , between whom and the other two there are unpardoned injuries and bitter blood . " When Greek meets Greek , then comes the tug of war ;" but no poet seems to have imagined the deadly strife that must ensue when Jew contends with Jev >' . Whatever the upshot of the struggle may be , the public will probably be amused and instructed . But it would be an unfortunate conclusion if the concession were granted to mere speculators , to be made the object of gambling transactions on'Change . France and Algeria would both suffer . I should mention as a favourable circumstance to M . de Rothschild , that he is stated to be associated with M . Talabot , the most eminent engineer in France . I see by the Tunes , arrived to-day , that Prince Napoleon is announced to start next March . Nothing , I believe , is positively fixed . The Reine Hortense is being fitted up for his reception , and there is every probability of his going next month to visit the province confided to his care . To return to the marriage case at Pan , which I was obliged to interrupt in my last letter at the point where Cheri posted off , after the receipt of the communication of the English girl , in hot haste to secure her supposed
presented that her 4000 / . was lodged with Coutts , and that her luggage , including a piano and two horses , had been sent to the Paddington station en route for Pau After the marriage was celebrated , the wedding fees , amounting to Gl . 18 s ., had to be paid , and this souschef in a prefecture , this nobleman , this' Cheri , had not even so much as a ten-pound note , but was compelled to have recourse to the ¦ Wife ' s fortune , like the neediest pauper adventurer that ever figured in a police-court . A cheque was drawn on Coutts , returned , and represented by Alice Ellen , according to the statement of Che ' ri's advocate , to want the noble autograph of her husband . Somehow or another the money was probably paid by the "irl ' family . Next , the three proceeded to Beauchamp ibbson the
Hotel , Malvernj kept by a Mr . G . In course of time the bill , about 501 ., was presented , and another cheque given on Coutts , which was returned with no effects , and Cheri was cast into Worcester gaol . Then CheYi ' s friend , Adrien deT * * *—for nobles appear to be as plentiful in Pau as blowflies on carrion—was despatched to London to set matters right . He went with Brunier , the French hotel-keeper , to Coutts , where the pair ran the risk of being given in charge , if Brunier , according to his letter , had not been known to Mr . Coutts ( moi qui e " tais connu de M . Coutts ) . To have this acquaintance Brunier must evidently be a spirit-rapper . And this is only one of the many examples of boasting and lying which abound in the prosecution .
I think it will be apparent to every impartial reader that the girl told a falsehood in the first instance—suggested by the lies in Che ' ri ' s letter—to preserve her honour and induce the individual to fulfil the promise of marriage under which she had been seduced . The first falsehood led to others , and upon the face of the report of the trial I unhesitatingly acquit her of any intention to concoct conspiracy or fraud . Even after the imprisonment which she knew must inevitably lead to the discovery of her deception , she appears to have been fondly attached to her unmanly seducer and mercenary wrotePardon in the
husband . In one letter she , " me , name of Heaven ! pardon me , I begupon my knees ! " and in another , " All the morning I have waited for a letter from you ; I now know that you will not write to me . O Cheri ! 1 beg of you to forgive me . Tell me that you love me . I have no one to console me . In the name of Heaven , write ! forgive me , I pray on bended knee . I would go to see you if you would let me ; I am ill , but that is nothing . " And yet a girl who could write so touchingly in her remorse , the thing CheYi did not hesitate to allow his friend Brunier and his advocate to call " an abominable woman , " a " horrible woman . "
Nor did falsehood and slander stay here ; for the family of Cheri circulated the report in Pau that the girl was enceinte by the curate of Ledbury , who had celebrated the marriage . Cheri appears to have been liberated from prison by the generosity of the Malvern hotelkeeper , who , when he discovered this nobleman Be ' arnaia , withdrew his claim , and made a present to CheYi and his noble family of the debt which they , although moving in the high society of Pau , could not discharge . I should Say , from the letter of Mr . Gibbson ' s lawyers , the girl was ope of three daughters of a small farmer , and is entitled to a legacy of 807 ., so that her pecuniary
dower of 4000 ? . CheYi was accompanied by a friend , Adrien , both ignorant of the English language , and both bent on securing English portions . These twin Ccelebs in search of "wives , or rather of marriage portions , proceed to that most respectable portion of London , Pantonstreet , where they take mine host , an individual of the name of Brunier , into confidence . Brunier professed _ to have an intimate and complete knowledge of English society , and he it was who wrote the dastardly slander upon English maidens referred to in a preceding letter : — - " For the last sixteen years I have learned to know
prospects were bettor than those of Cheri ' s by that amount , since he had nothing but debts ; even if an English yeoman ' s daughter , if of pure life , were not too good to espouse a trumpery , penniless Count from the Lower Pyrenees , who was withal a liar , though his grandmother boasted " his grandfather was a king ' s doctor , and his uncle officer in the body-guard of Charles X ., then Monsieur , brother to Louis XVIII . " I should bo sorry for the reader to suppose that the con-r duct of CheYi and family has met with general approbation or sympathy . Some there are , like the weekly nonsense-writer for the Sidcle , who affect to think it
the English father and the English maiden ; you cannot imagine what these two creatures are capable of doing , the one to avoid giving money , and the other to catch a husband . " This slanderous experience has probably been gathered from what takes pluce in the neighbourhood of the Hayivmrkct , maybe nearer home * , so that his more intimate acquaintance with the officers / of the Society for the Protection of Females might possibly bo attended with public good . However , Brunier ' s advice to CheYi to bo cautious , if it were givon , proved unavailing , and off the latter started for Ledbury ; and here I lot the advocate of ChoYi speak , in order that the reader may see how improbable is the story : — " The reception which awaited them ( ChoYi and friend ) fulfilled the hopes which tho lottera gave . ChoYi was presented to his new family , tho sister of his afliancod , who was said to be married to a doctor , condosccndcd to come from her country-seat and convey in a carriage ) , with rich livtiry servants , tho young couple , which tho simple formalities of tho English law wore to unite for pvor . " After Chtfri ' s advocate , lot us hoar how Chun ' s friend doscribos the poor girl ' s family ;—" Tho most abject poverty exists in hor family , her sister is undor servant in a pothouse at Worcester . " It is impossible to reconcile statements so contradictory—one or other must bo false —and it does not say much for the Pau society in which ChoYi and friend moved , that they could mistuko a pothouao wench for a carriage lady . Another proof of falsehood is apparent : How could tho poverty bo concealed , and whore could tho carriage And livery servants be procured ? Wo now como to tho most mysterious part of tho affair . According to the statement of Chdri ' a advocate , after tho innrriugo ceremony was completed , Alice Ellen , with ChoYi and friend , went to pass tho honeymoon At Malvorn , and the wife had previously
revery hard that ChcYi should have missed the dower . But there are plenty of men in France , and womenwhom I take to bo the most manly portion of the population—who look down with loathing contempt upon the dower-huntcr from Pau , and pity tho unfortunate girl . Even in court , CheYi and family were exposed and held up to public scorn by tho unfee'd advocate of the girl * This gentleman , nnd I am happy to be able to glvo his name , in hope that it will bo romomberod elsewhere—M . Dauzon—said : — " ChoYi do X . wont to England in the hopo of finding there a brilliant fortune , and married . Ho found nothing but misery , and then ho abandoned his wife , and now seeks through his futhor tho dissolution of hia marrioge . I plead for tho unborn child
rather than for tho mother . Tho father ( of ChoYi ) knowall , ho gave hia consent . What griof inspires a similar position , in which aro reflected all tho meanness of our ago ! Horo is a young man belonging to a respectable family ( honnGto but not noble ) , he has already achieved by hiinsolf , by his labour , a modest position , butrospootablo , and auddonly , to grow tho sooner rich , to onjoy directly , ho tramples under foot all convenances , ana marries a sorvant . Ho lias tritfllckod for a fow crowns . Don ' t lot any one cast slinmo and infamy upon my ansxx " ?• c 1 ii ^» m wM srs & h ~ £ r £% » r us
strangest part of tho whole affair is that tho prohibitionist ironmasters aro tho wor 3 t off . Thoir customers do not know whether iron will bo allowed to ooine in or not on old terms , or whether it may be shortly admitted on muoh moro favourable conditions . Tho consequence is , they do not purchase more than they absolutely require from day to day . Instead of tho nonoxtonsion of the decree last Sunday bringing high prices and largo ordors , tho very rovoree has ensued . Prices havo fallen , ordors almost entirely coaaed , and atoqk accumulated . Meanwhile , I know that tho ironmasters ara preparing f or activo competition with Belgian and English iron . Whatever they may say or affoot to think , they know that prohibition will Bhortly bo interred and that protection will Boon follow . I do not moan to say that iron will outer froo , but that it will
Untitled Article
No . 448 , October 23 , 1858 . 1 THE LEADER . 1133
Original Correspondence, — ?—: — ¦ ¦ • . .
ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE , — ?— : — ¦ ¦ . . ¦
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 23, 1858, page 1133, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2265/page/21/
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