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    THE HYDE PARK DEMONSTRATION . The defeat of the Government on the night of Fridayweek induced those who had the management of the proposed Sunday meeting in Hyde Park , condemnatory of the Conspiracy Bill , to issue placards during Saturday , stating that the demonstration would not take place . The opportunity , however , was too tempting to the « roughs' to be thus easily abandoned ; and accordingly the park on Sunday exhibited a large gathering of idle and disreputable fellows , who had come out of devotion to no other principle than the love of mischief . All respectable persons had to ' abide the pelting of a pitiless storm ' of stones and dirt ; and a few foreigners were roughly used on the assumption that they were French spies . Persons in carriages were vigorously hooted , the mob choosing to regard them as supporters of Lord Palmerston ' s bill . Some anxiety was felt as to the house of the French Ambassador , which is situated

    at Albert-gate ; but it was well guarded with police , and it should be mentioned to the credit of the rabble that an orator who threatened to smash M . de Persigny's windows was himself pelted and compelled to be silent . After a time , the mob was dispersed by a small party of mounted police , who made some captures . Several ruffianly fellows were examined at the Marlborough-street police-court on Mondaj ' , on charges of assault and pocket-picking , arising out of the previous day ' s demonstration . The police were a good deal injured by stones , and several of the passers-by had been roughly used . In the case of one of the scamps , who had maltreated a gentleman ( supposed to be a foreigner ) riding in a carriage with a lady , a remand was ordered in the hope that the gentleman would come forward . In other cases , various terms of imprisonment were ordered . The magistrate ( Mr . Beadon ) strongly denounced the callers of the meeting .

    It is , indeed , to be hoped that there will be no more of these Sunday gatherings in the parks . Experience has shown that they end in nothing but a condensation in one spot of the scattered ruffianism of the metropolis , wanton assaults on inoffensive persons , and collisions with the police . They do not reflect any genuine feeling on the part of the public , but , on the contrary , put a weapon in the hands of those who are only too willing to denv popular rights .

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    THE REFUGEE QUESTION . The following important document was communicated on Monday night to both Houses of Parliament : — : " Earl Cowley to the Earl of Clarendon . ( Received Feb . 21 . ) " Paris , Feb . 20 , 1858 . " My Lord , —Having learnt by telegraph that certain resolutions imputing blame to . Majesty ' s Government for not having made any reply to Count Walewski's despatch to Count Persigny dated the 20 th pf January had been affirmed by a majority of the House of Commons , I think it a duty to your Lordship to place on record , that although I have not been charged to make any official communication to the French Government in answer to that despatch , I have been enabled by your Lordship ' s private instructions to place before the French Government the sentiments , views , and intentions of her Majesty ' s Government far more fully , and I cannot but believe more satisfactorily , than would have been the ease had my language been clothed in a more official garb .

    " When Count Walewski ' s despatch was written , the irritation against the supposed apathy of England in a matter so important to Franco as the preservation of the Emperor ' s life was excessive . Rightly or wrongly , the idea prevailed that every conspiracy against his Majesty had been organized in England , and that the British laws gave security to the conspirators . No counterassertions on the part of her Majesty ' Government would have had any effect at that moment , and any official notice on the part of your Lordship of Count Walowski ' s despatch would probably have involved the two Governments in a controversial discussion more likely to liave increased than to have calmed the excitement which prevailed . If tho object was to soothe , it was important to let time exert its usual influence , and to reserve tlio official answer to Count Walowski's despatch until it was known whether Parliament would answer tho appeal which was to be made to it by her Majesty ' s Govornmont ,

    " But it ought not . to bo ignored that , while taking this prudent course , your Lordship lost no opportunity of informing tho French Govornmont , confidentially , of tho true bearings of tho question which had been raised . Your Lordahlp ' s language has boon , from the boginniiig of this unfortunate affair , clear and straigbtforwurd . I havo-now-yoni—Isordship ' s-letters-before- ' -merin-whioli ^ while vindicating , in language worthy of your Lordship ' s name , tho right of asylum which Groat Britain lias over uflbrdod to strangers of » U ranks and nation * , and while declaring , lit terms as explicit as they aro determined , the impossibility of infringing on that grout principle of our constitution , you show how utterly in * sufficient must any enactment bo to prevent men oi desperate miuda from entering upon desperate

    undertakings . As your Lordship ' s true , but very inadequate , organ , I have faithfully represented your feelings and your principles , and could I call upon the Emperor or upon Count Walewski as witnesses , neither , I feel certain , could belie " my words . " . 1 know not what may be the result of last night ' s vote ; but , at all events , I lose no time in stating my conviction that to your Lordship ' s judicious and prudent conduct at a very critical moment it is owing that , without the shadow of the sacrifice of a single principle , our relations with this Government have not received a shock which might have been fatal to the friendship which yet happily prevails between the two nations . —I have , &c , " Cowley . "

    The Palmerstonian advocacy of Louis Napoleon has taken a most extraordinary form this week . Mr . Edward Truelove , a bookseller in the Strand , near Temple Bar , has been apprehended and examined at Bow-street on a charge of publishing a pamphlet , by a Mr . W . E . Adams , entitled , Tyrannicide : Is it Justifiable f and sold at a penny . It advocates the doctrine political assassination in extreme cases , and it was contended by Mr . Bodkin , who appeared for the Crown , that Louis Napoleon is pointed at . No names , however , are mentioned ; but Mr . Truelove was remanded on bail .

    The adjourned examination of M . Simon Bernard , the Frenchman charged with being one of the conspirators in the plot for assassinating tlie Emperor , took place at Bow-street on Tuesday . The court was filled with auditors , and a large number of persons remained outside . Several French witnesses were examined to prove that M . Bernard transmitted to ' Mr . Thomas Allsop' ( who appears to be Felice Orsini ) , and ' a German named Pierey , ' certain pistols and explosive materials , through the agency of M . Outrequin . The oil-cloth which was wrapped round the parcel , when it was sent to M . Outrequin to be called for , was the same as that which enclosed the parcel despatched to France by M . Bernard , via the South-Eastern Railway . Testimony to ^ is effect having been received , Mr . Bodkin applied tor another remand of a week . Mr . Sleigh ( who appeared for the accused ) said he would not oppose the application . He continued : —

    ' " Mr . Bodkin had on the last occasion exclaimed , ' Why , my friend can ' t be serious to ask bail for a man who says he will shoot the first Frenchman , who molests him . ' But-it was a matter which had lately gained currency that there were in this country persons who had come for the purpose of attempting to attack or kidnap individuals of whose defenceless position they ^ might take advantage , and the prisoner had only said that if such persqns should pounce upon him he should defend himself as he was entitled to do . As for the correspondence with Outrequin , it related only to experiments in the dyeing of silks and manufacture of gas from tar , defendant being a chemist . AVliy was defendant to be treated with less kindness than our own

    countrymen ? Was it because he was a foreigner ? Were we afraid of any foreign Power ? " ( Here the learned counsel , whoso manner had been gradually growing warmer till it became passionate , was interrupted by a sudden , loud , and vehement clapping of hands in the court , of which no notice was taken by the magistrate or officers . ) ' •• He could not believe that an independent magistrate would allow any feelings to operate but a sense of his duty . Tho question was riot whether the man , was guilty , but whether , if admitted to bail , he would appear . That was the test . Ho was prepared with good substantial bail to any reasonable , or even unreasonable amount . He trusted the magistrate would deal with this case as with any other misdemeanour , though in fact and in truth it was a political prosecution . "

    Mr . Bodkin said he was sure tho magistrate would not require him to answer a speech which wns not intended to operate on his worship ' s mind , " but to have its effect in other places where sympathy with murder is taught and felt . " Mr . Jardine ( the magistrate ) observed that it was far from his wisli to keep the accused in custody simply because he is a foreigner ; but it was impossible to accept bnil . Since the previous examination , Mr . Sleigli had applied to a Judge in chambers to authorize the reception of bail ; but the Judge had declined to interfere with the discretion of tho magistrate . During tho examination , and when tUo prisoner wus bejing removed in tho vun , soind rough fellows who had assembled in tho street were rather noisy and turbulent .

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    THE 'PUBLIC SAFETY' BILL IN FRANCE . Tuk bill relative to Measures of Public Sufoty , arising out-of-tho-ttttumptod'U 8 HttHHiiuition-on-tlio-14 , th ~ ofJiinuury was submitted to the French Legislative Body on Thursday and Friday week , when a dtocusnion took place presenting several points of interest , to English readers . The first speech was that of M . Emllo Ollivier , one of ( ha Republican dopulios for Paris , who spoke hi a most remarkable and noble strain of daring . Ills remarks huvc been reported in full by the English papers , but of course not by tho French . Ho Bald i—

    " The bill violates all the principles which civilized nations are agreed to consider as of the essence of sound legislation . 1 . It violates the principle of the separation of powers . The judicial should always be separated from the executive power , for otherwise , says Montesquieu , ' the judge might be strong enough to become an oppressor . ' This bill surrenders the fortunes and liberties of citizens to three agents of the executive power ( Art . 10 ) . 2 . Before this tribunal of a totally new kind , those forms which even the most expeditious court of law cannot dispense with altogether disappear . There will be no examination , no confrontation with

    witnesses , no defence , no discussion , no publicity . The Minister of the Interior will be at once accuser , defender , and judge . 3 . Every penal law should clearly define the offence which it punishes . A law which doeg not do this is no law . Instead of being a safeguard it becomes a menace and a convenient instrument of oppression . In every country the people always prefer a severe law which is precise , to a mild law that is uncertain . Nothing terrifies them so much as the dread of what is ' unknown . ' There is not a single phrase in this bill which is not vague and susceptible of the most monstrous interpretations . It punishes those who ' publicly excite' ' in any manner whatever ; ' those who practise manoeuvres or keep up intelligence abroad ; and it sentences to banishment those against whom there are

    ' grave facts . ' 4 . It is a first principle that a man cannot be prosecuted a second time for an offence which he has expiated . Non bis in idem , say the criminal lawyers . The bill violates this principle , by subjecting to banishment and transportation those who , having been condemned in 1848 , 1849 , and 1851 , have already undergone their sentence . 5 . It does more—it affects them retroactively . It will be attempted to deny this ; the men of 1848 , 1849 , and 1851 , it will be said , will only come within the purview of the law if ' grave and new facts' shall be found against them . You will not allow yourselves to be deceived by this quibble ? What is meant by ' grave facts' ? Does the phrase mean the commission of any known offence ? No , for then you would not speak of ' grave facts , ' but you would use the fact is

    word crime or misdemeanour . Your ' grave something or other altogether uncertain , which you may fancy to be such according to times and circumstances . . . . If , as you affirm , there exist numerous secret societies widely disseminated , and which weave around you an invisible net , prosecute them . Against them you have already Draconian laws . If it be true that there are throughout the country wretches who meditate the ruin of society , punish them severely ; you are fully armed , either by the ordinary code , or by your special enactments . But no ; what you really want is to have additional powers against those who do not conspire , but who are displeasing to you , against those whom 3 'ou can reproach with no offence , and whom nevertheless you hold to be criminals in

    expectancy . It is against the ' expectants ' that you wish to strike . The word is a new one , and advantageously stands in the place of the old word suspects . Now these expectants , many of them at least , live by their labour , and to . banish them is to sentence them to misery and death . But further , you reserve to yourself the right to transport to Lambessa , or to our pestilential colony of Cayenne , any of the men of 1848 , 1849 , and 1851 , who ,, having been banished , may in a moment of despair set foot on their native soil without authorization . And not those men alone . . He who may use a false passport , who may have said a violent word to any functionary , who may have forgotten in some corner of his house a bullet or a musket , who may not have instantly quitted a group of people assembled in the street , and

    which ho had joined from curiosity ; the man in whose dwelling an enemy may have concealed a little fulminating powder ; he who in a letter , or perhaps in conversation , may have manifested discontent , expressed a blame , desired a progress , said a few manly words to cheer a friend in despair for the future , or may have called too soon for that liberty which is still promised us ; any ono , in short , who may have voted badly ( Interruption , and cries of Let him go on / ' ) , displeased a commissary of police , incurred tho hatred of a debtor or a discharged servant , or ono of those professional informers who never fail to appear on tho sceno when laws of this kind are passed—any and all of these will l > o liablo to tho operation of the proposed measure . That I undertake to prove stop by stop whom wo como to discuss tho articles separatoh ' . Yos , there is not ono of you

    whom I am now addressing , your children or your friends , who may not ono day find thcmsolvos caught in tho moshoH of this law . True policy—a policy really groat—must over keep itself subordinate to morality . A petty policy only sets morals at nought . And yet , oven according to the rules of this potty policy , your law is a bad ono . What ! You have governed tho country ~ for-4 nuoo ; oars . ;_ y , , pw ., ar ^ ropo ; you havo a numerous and higly disciplined army , an intelligent police , and an enormous budget . You have liiLcnooted tho capital with utrntcgetioal roads and at suitablo distances vou havo orootod citadels w thin tho walls . No liberty exist * . Tho most formidable liberty of all , that of " tho pross , Is now nothing more than tho right to say whatever may not displease' the Minister of tho Interior ; and yet you now oomo to ask

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 27, 1858, page 197, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2232/page/5/