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Leader (1850-1860), 23rd October 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1134, Untitled Article

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      ¦ when you can only allege the deceits of a girl of low rank , who was in her station , in the ideas of her education and of her rank , in rushing to rise as high as you - Brunier ¦ warned ' you ' ' what' an English father and an English maiden would do , ' but nothing stays you . You run , you fly , you fear lest another should rob you , not of the wife , but of the money , and three days after your arrival , you marry a servant —and what servant , great God ! A whole romance has been- built upon this marriage , which it is sought to annul . They have spoken of a brilliant reception , of bell-ringing , four-horse coaches , all things impossible for whosoever knows a little of English manners ; but

      sist in this odious system , sacrificing the affections OI the heart before the golden calf , we cannot interfere , no r can we prevent some of our unadvised sisters from occasionally becoming victims to the needy foreign fortunehunter . But we can arrays keep p , p . en the haven of the English law to all who may choose to return and claim its protection . The Leader has again been stopped for th e last two weeks in the post . What for I cannot imagine , for both Galignani and the Moniteur quote you .

      they have not hesitated before calumny , and insinuated that the young woman I defend is enceinte by the English minister who celebrated the marriage . I protest against these rumours , which they have not dared to circulate in court . No ; she is enceinte , but by you , M . Che ' ri—enceinte because you swore to her that she should be your wife— -because you took her to your bed and made her your wife . What a position is that of this unhappy woman , rejected in England as the wife of a Frenchman , and amenable to the French law ; rejected in France by her husband and family , who shut the door against her ; and then the child that is about to be born , whom his father cursed before birth , what name is he to bear ? - ^ -what civil status is he to have ? If the

      father arid mother are little worthy of interest , ne , the unborn child , has a right to all your care . " Before the important bearing of the questions raised by M . Dauzon , allow me to give his motives for defending the girl ¦ without reward , and which are as honourable to him as they are to an English merchant : — " Nearly ten years ago the hazards of a troubled life , which had cast me on the shores of South America , called me back to France , and I turned back , seeking over the ocean the path which led to home , that is to say , affections regretted . Off Jamaica , our vessel , driven by contrary currents , was wrecked on a reef before an uninhabited island , and it was not till after a long night passed in anguish and in danger that we were able to make land , where ,

      gnawed by hunger , parched with thirst , and burned by the rays of an ardent sun , we were four days waiting for succour . An Anglo-American brig , attracted by our signals , took us off , and landed us at Jamaica , without anything more than we had on when wrecked . We were received by men whose hearts taught them everything that could be required in misfortune , and we lacked nothing , neither means to supply our wants , nor consolation in our unhappiness . An English merchant offered me hospitality , that is to say , his house , bis purse , and hia heart . 1 tcok all , hoping to return them one day . To relate to you the attentions that were paid , the delicate considerations that surrounded me , the kindness , almost maternal , bestowed upon me , would be to recount the devotion of one whose modesty

      would be offended by the recital . Allow me to recal to mind a word which has been for me the most biuding of all engagements , the most sacred of all promises . On taking leave of my generous benefactor , I aske . d him to permit me to recognise the sums he had advanced me . 'No , ' said he , smiling , ' I have done no more than my duty . Keep me in your memory , and if ever in your course through life you meet with an Englishman who is unfortunate , do for him what I have done for you : that is all I ask . ' Gentlemen , I found Madame de X . ( the English girl ) unfortunate , and I have defended her : that has been the interest of my debt . " It almost consoles us for the violence of the Anglophobists , and reconciles us to erring humanity , when we find English and French men animated by such noble sentiments , and so fully alive to their duty one to another . In laying these painful details before your readers , my object has not been to obtain sympathy for a case of individual hardship , and still less to gratify a source of curiosity . I am desirous of directing the attention of our legislators , and more especially the champions of woman ' s rights , to the urgent necessity that this case proves to exist for making some alteration in our laws relating to women married to foreigners . According to the present system in England , the British subject who marries an alien , loses all her British rights , and becomes tbe subject of her husband ' s state . The country of her birth is henceforward a foreign land to her , and happy ¦ will she be if her tongue be not like an . unstrung viol " evermore . - I do not pretend to be initiated into the mystorious necessities of the law , but being a frequent ¦ witness of the miseries English mothers who have wedded

      aliens have to undergo , and how defenceless and hopeless is their position in too many cases unfortunately , 1 cannot deem it beyond the collective wisdom of the British Legislature to devise a measure which , recognising and allowing submission to the laws of the state whose subject an Englishwoman may have married , -would still maintain unto her all the rights , privileges , and protection of her free English birth ; allowing them thus to remain in abeyance if necessary ,, but reasserting them whenever called upon so to do . Marriage in France . is infinitely more otyen than in England a mere barter of bodies , in which there is no question of love and affection , and is therefore , to my mind at least , but a slight degree removed from prostitution . If anything , It is woruo , from the legality and ceremonies of the Church bestowed upon it . If foreigners ohooeo to per "

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      GERMANY . ( From our ' own Correspondent . ") October 13 . All Germany is now waiting for the result of this day's meeting of the Prussian Diet with an interest that has not been observed for these last eight years . I shall not be able to give your readers an account of this day's doings , because my letter must be despatched before they can be known and committed to paper . I do not know whether it is of such import ance to your readers , but I , for my part , regard the question both in its progress and settlement as a matter of no more consequence than as one of the trifles that help to make up the sum . It is all labour in vain—a day—an hour—which cannot now be very far off , will lay all prostrate , and everybody knows it . In -the absence of news of any great and general interest , perhaps it would be as well to give your readers the election programme of the Constitutional party in Silesia—it will enable them to see the desires with which the Liberals are animated . The

      well to bear in mind the motto of Prussia ' s Kings : * Every man his due ! ' " The journals in Prussia are chiefly occupied with-the resignation pf Mr . Westphalen , ' and criticisms upon big acts . The National Zeitun ' g considers him as the embodiment of aristocratical selfishness of the Junker party who think of providing for themselves only , and of pro ' tecting their own rights and privileges , while they j . ermit the other classes of their countrymen to be trodden down by the iron foot of police tyranny . The National

      hopes that the country has now seen the last of the Junker party , of which it has had a surfeit . It would be more tolerable to be governed by the bureaucracy , loaded as its members are with contempt , than by the honourable knights who have just surrendered the government . The Vosswche Zeitung says the colleague * of Mr . Westphalen deserve no better fate than lie , and expects that the Prince is only waiting for the confirmation of the Regency by the Diet to give them all their dismissal .

      The impatience of the journals and the people -will hardly be gratified . It is neither customary nor politic in Prussia to change a Ministry all at once as in England ; and although , no doubt , every one of the present Cabinet ought to be disposed of as quickly as possible , yet it is probable that they will depart one by one at intervals . Should , however , the Prince decide upon . turning them out of office at one swoop , it may be taken as evidence of great exasperation against them . The loss of the steamer Austria has naturally caused great sensation , and as so many have lost relations , and friends , it is not surprising to hear doubts expressed as to the stated origin of the fire ; more especially as it is known that the American steamer Ariel was nearly

      being destroyed through a conspiracy to defraud an insurance company . The villanous conspirators -were a watchmaker and a commercial clerk , who constructed a box between them , filled with lucifer matches and shavings , and disposed in such away , that the rolling of the ship or the contact of other substances would have produced a friction , and set the contents of the box iu a blaze . This box they insured in a London house for tbirty or forty thousand dollars . By the merest accident in the world they were discovered before the steamer had got out to sea , and they are now in priTon , i . e . if they have not been permitted to escape , and transport themselves . There is a facility , I think , in escaping from German prisons , and thereby hangs a tale which I must reserve till a future occasion . - «

      programme is as follows : — . " We proclaim ourselves as sincere and steady supporters of the Prussian monarchy , because we consider it as being the only form of government suitable for Prussia , and we are at the same time equally sincere and steady supporters of the Constitution , because we perceive in the conscientious adherence to it by Crown and people the surest means of guarding our country against dangerous convulsions , of maintaining the monarchy , and of strengthening Prussia's position in Germany . We therefore acknowledge the existing constitution as the highest right of the country to which we are conscientiously bound , and we will not endure any change backwards , i . e . we will not alter it in any degree for

      the sake of ancient customs , rights , and laws , but rather change the latte in accordance with it , that all customs and laws of the country may be brought more and more in unison with it . We declare ourselves hereby most unflinchingly opposed to the reintroduction of a distinction of rank in the House of Delegates ( Abgeordneten ) , and of any election law based upon the same , but we are , on the other hand , convinced that Constitution and Legislature are to be carried out according to the really practical requirements of the country . These requirements we consider to be chiefly the following—1 st . Freedom of election and security against any interference on the part of the Government , namely , by legal electoral districts . 2 ndly . The reform of the provincial and district charters ; the parochial and municipal regulations , with the view to bring them

      into accord with the principles of self-government . 3 rdly . Abolition of feudal police . 4 thly . Discontinuance of the exemption of feudal proprietors from paying the land tax- ' 5 thly . The issue of a law as to the responsibility of Ministers . 6 thly . Revision of the laws relating to the press , with the object to protect tho press and book trade against the arbitrary interference of the Government . Vthly , The issue of the law promised in paragraph 20 of tho Constitutional Charter to regulate tho whole system of education upon tho basis of paragraph 20 , * Science , and its doctrines are free . ' 8 thly . Fulfilment of paragraph 12 of the Constitutional Charter , ' The enjoyment of civil rights is independent of religious confessions . ' Dthly . The revision of all laws wliich have hitherto authorised the interference of the Government with tho sentences pronounced by tho legal

      tribunals . " Convinced that unless these nine points be quickly decided the Constitution -will never be productive of tho results upon which the position of Prussia , the maintenance of monarchy , and the welfare of tho people depend , we have drawn up these nine points , and will require of our delegates that thoy agree with us therein , And . that thoy will oxert themselves to carry them into effect . " Wo cannot , it is true , foresee what other questions will be brought before tho Legislature during tho next session , but we trust those delegates who agree with us

      in these nine points will bo guided in all other questions by the same spirit . We expect and demand farther of them that they will , as honest men , never lose sight of tho interests of the country , and that thoy will have tho courage unflinchingly to maintain tho lawful and the right , and never , from a weak disposition , to bo submissive to tho high or the low , to give their oountenanoe to acts which they fool in their consciences to bo unjust and arbitrary . They will boat keep true to tho oath which thoy have taken to tho King as delegates by remaining faithful to tho oath which they as well ns ho havo taken to maintain the Constitution , and finally they will do

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      POLITICAL EORESHADOWTJS'GS . Conservative Demonstration in Essex . —At the anniversary of the Hinckford Conservative and Agricaltutal Club ( one of the most important political societies in the eastern counties ) , at Castle Hedingham , the health of Major Beresford and Mr . D . u Cane , the members for North Essex , being drunk , Major Beresford , in reply , reviewed the political history of tho last few months . He acknowledged that Lord Palmerston had shown a promptitude and determination with regard to the suppression of the mutinies in India which had induced him to

      give him his independent support in regard to such matters . He differed politically on many points with Lord Palmerstou , while witii Lord Derby he agreed in most , lie wished he could add , as he once was able to say , thnt ho agreed with Lord Derby on all points , but he could not do so . He could not sympathise with all the measures and every principle of the present Government . Nevertheloas , he 'had supported the Government when he could , and he should continue to support them so long as they adhered to Conservative principles . Boforrinc to the Reform question , he said : — "It has been hinted that I am to tell you a great deal about tho promised Reform Bill However , you will get very little out ot me on the subjeot . The subject is yet , as they sny on the turf , rather a dark one . You might as well tails ot tell whftt the

      the winner of the Derby next year as to Reform Bill will be ; and , under these circumstance's , i shall wait for an authorised version of tho bill . >> ue » it is produced I trust and believe that I shall not m that way which , in my opinion , will bo most advantageous for the great interests of the nation , and at tiio samo time for the benefit of my constitueuta . " Mr . Da cane . M . P ., said that he would gladly give his support to any measure of reform which comprised , among otnor provisions , a moderate and judicious extension of tho county franchise , and held out a bettor nnd fuirer scope to two elements of education , intelligence , property , and numbers than they at present possessed . Sir W . 1 Jo ^ - >~ Smijth advisod the company to accept a modonUo reform Bill , and counselled the farmers to nroilt |> y » " oxnorienco thoy had guinod in tho refusal of the es .

      Mk . e \ vart , M . P .-Tho member for tho Pum * / Burghs hns addressed a mooting of hid constituents . He said that , looking forward to tho political future , nu confessed his inability to guess what roousures i < oru Derby might have in store for the country . Ho hn no idea how far the now Reform Bill of Lord Derby wouia go . He believed that throe members of tho 0 »» ln (" Mr . Disraeli , . Lord Stanley , and Sir J . PaUingtoi -- w ore inclined to go tolerably fair ; thoy formed what in M » be culled a liberal triumvirate in Mm existing Adniinw-

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      1134 THE LEADER . [ No . 448 , October 23 , 1858 ^

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 23, 1858, page 1134, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2265/page/22/