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Leader (1850-1860), 27th February 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 198

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      for laws of public safety ! Do you not fear that the country may reply to you : — ' I have sacrificed for you ray liberties , my franchises , my traditions , all that . I had conquered with my blood , all that has made me glorious and illustrious among nations . I have made all these sacrifices for the sake of a little tranquillity , and now you want niore . But where will you stop ? If the ' power which you have had in your hands for so many years is not sufficient , this law will not satisfy you . You will be obliged to ask for others still more severe ; other and more terrible measures will follow until you come to the end of things . If with the peace which you have promised me I must be ever on the -watch , ever trembling , always struggling , I prefer the -watchings , the terrors , and the struggles of liberty

      to those of exceptional laws . ' Certain journalists who mislead power by their adulation have spoken of William III . in connexion with this bill . They have exhumed a very hackneyed parallel . It was first suggested after the Hundred Days , by Barrere , for Napoleon I . Chateaubriand had recourse to it for Louis XVIII . 5 it was often repeated for Louis Philippe , and now it is relied upon again . A very useful lesson may indeed be learned by studying the history of that great but dark personage . Why did he succeed ? Was it because in a barbarous age , and just after the termination of an atrocious regime , he maintained the laws of the Stuarts against the press , and two br three times suspended the Habeas Corpus Act—which , remember , is alwaj's suspended here , for we have never at any timo

      had guarantees for individual liberty ? Charles I . had done worse than William , and he fell . The Republic and Cromwell imitated him , and they fell . James II . outdid them all , and he fell . William III . succeeded , because he ' sanctioned the Declaration of Eights , and because he proposed the Bill of Pardons , in spite of his councillors , his Parliament , and the party which- had called him to the throne—a party which , after the unheard-of persecutions which it had su-ffered for years , had indeed grounds to be vindictive . ' This , ' says the illustrious Macaulay , ' was his best title to fame . ' , William III . succeeded because , at the end of his thirteen years' reign , he had deserved from the proud and powerful English people the appellation of ' The Restorer of Public Liberties . '"

      M . Granier de Cassagnac of course defended the measure , and affirmed that neither the first Empire nor the old monarchy had imprisoned nearly sq many persons for political or religious causes as the first Republic . ^ The Marquis d'Andclarre opposed the measurej which " he thought was dangerous and uncalled for , and would violate the principles of non-retroactivity and of the non-liability of the citizen to be removed from the jurisdiction of his natural judges . M . Riche , who said lie belonged in politics to the school of common sense ,

      supported the bill , which he conceived would not injure or menace well-conducted pel-sons . " Drawing-rooms would preserve their liberty of conversation , and the press its freedom of remark ; " (!) "it was the poniard alone which the Government desired to wrench from the hands of its enemies . " M . Plichon opposed the measure , and criticized its retroactive effect . Still , he admitted that society was menaced with perils , owing to " the profound demoralization of the masses , and the- propagation of frightful doctrines . " Ho thought , moreover , that the evil is encouraged by universal suffrage .

      M . Baroche , President of the Council of State , in explaining the bearing and effect of the bill , observed : — " Perpetual concessions , exaggerated respect for the scruples of jurists , and systematic tolerance , had in succession led two Governments to the abysses ' of 1880 and 1848 . The Empire would not imitate any such acts of weakness ; it knew that the attempt of the 14 tlvof January had been committed by some foreigners coming from oiher countries , and that the assassins had not exposed their lives without being sustained in their undertaking by some hopes of beholding their crime prove profitable to anarchy . Already on several points of the territory a certain anticipation of approaching disturbances had beon perceived : all the information received after the attempt of January 14 th had ( ended to prove the existence of such n state of thing" . For his part , ho dcaired neither to exaggerate nor to extenuate the evil i there still existed in France some remnants of the intmrrectionary bodies of 1848 , who received , no one could say

      how , myeierious intelligence , and towards . whom wore turned the regards of the abettors of disorder . Tho country could not remain exposed to tho enterprises of that incorrigible minority , and find Itself constantly held In check by a low factious malcontents , it waa necessary to render thorn powerless to do harm , and micli was the object of tho present bill . Tho Government WWW& di _ tJi _ Jittvc __{) eltlior a luw for tho suspected nor a measure of dnln . < lulSifSrlSl ~ cini [ r " a" < 5 tOr . — 'AHthnt'ifr-asked for was an arm to defend itself in tho fuco of day , and tho Legislative JJody , associated , as it was , so closoly with it in its polioy of reparation , could not refueo vthnt It waked . " On tho following tiny , tho various Articles wore considered seriatim . The first was opposed by M . LcgraixJ Qdu Nord ) , who thought it was vaguely and dubiously e * pr < sBMdj but it found a defender in M . Adolplio Dobeitayrne . Count i * q l'icrro , regarding the Government « a perfectly eatubllahcd , could not porcoivo any nocosuity

      for the bill . He wondered that people should have asked themselves what would have become of the country if the attempt of the 14 th of January had succeeded . " For his own part , he did not entertain the slightest doubt that the general cry would have been , 'EEmpereur est mort ! Vive VEmperewr P " M . Langlois , Councillor of State and Government Commissioner , contended that the act did not violate any great judicial principle . Art . I . was then voted . With respect to the Second Article , M . Baroche , President of the Council of State , said , in reply to certain charges of vagueness brought by the Marquis de Talhoet , that . " the bill had not in view to punish either regrets or reminiscences , or even hopes . He could declare that opinions expressed with more or less warmth of language epigrams or allusions—were not what the hill desired to reach . " M . Emile Ollivier , however , pressed for further explanations , and asked whether any censure on

      the G overnment might be safely expressed in a letter written to a friend in the interior . It appeared to him that the bill was designed to reach and punish the opposition that is to be found in the bosom of family circles . M . Baroche replied that nothing inquisitorial was intended by the article ( . the objectionable point in which was the use of the word ' manoeuvres' among the political offences which are to be punishable ) . " The fact of having written a letter which might have been seized did not constitute a manoeuvre , and , for his part , he could not conceive an extreme case which might never occur being brought forward as a sufficient reason for opposing a measure intended to defend such grave interests as those which were at stake . " M . Ollivier again insisted that " the bill reached every provocation made in a public place or in the press . That he perfectly understood ; but what he could not understand -was that it should be desired to reach the remarks exchanged

      between friends . " Articles 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 , having been adopted , M . Aym £ opposed Article 6 , which he thought unnecessary . Article 221 of the Penal Code permits the Judges in extreme cagf&to subject dangerous persons to the surveillance . of the police . The Sixth Article of the new law , however , was adopted , as were Articles 7 , 8 , and 9 . M . Gareau , in speaking of Article 10 ( which was voted like the rest ) , observed that at the moment of voting this most important measure he felt an indescribable sadness in coming forward to declare that lie could not accede to the bill . It was because he was more anxious than any other to behold the firm maintenance of the Empire that , he felt unable to vote a bill designated unfortunate by its supporters and disastrous by its

      oppo-. The bill in its ensemble was then put to the vote , and adopted by 227 votes to 24 .

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      CONTINENTAL . NOTES . That narrow and unchristian , feeling is to be condemned which regaras with jealousy the progress oi loreign . nations , and carea xof no portion ox the human race b'utthat to whicn itself belongs . Dim AuNOiiD .

      1 'KANCK . The Afoniteur publishes in its official column a Senuius Consultant , signed by M . Troplong , President of the Senate , and by the Secretaries , nnd approved by the Emperor , whose signature is also affixed , to the cifect that no candidate for tho ' Legislative Body can come forward unless , at least eight duys before the votiny commences , he bus made a formal declaration to the proper authorities that " ho swears obedience to the Constitution and fidelity to the Emperor . " Any candidate coming forward without having fulfilled such obligation is liable to the penalties prescribed by Article 0 of the law of July , 184 $ ) . A funeral servico was celebrated last Saturday at tho church of the Madeleine for the repose of tho soul of tho late Signor Lablaulic , whoso remains wore brought from Naples , where ho died , to bo interred in tho cemetery of Pero-ki-Chuiso , near those of his wife .

      " A young man of seventeen , a musician , named Charles Lofay , residing at bin father ' s house at 40 , Boulevard do Strasbourg , has appeared , " eftys . tho Daily News Paris correspondent , " at the bur of the Tribunal of Correctional Police , to answer a charge of' iiiaultoguinst tho person of tho Emporor . ' Tho proceedings being secret , tho words constituting tho alleged offence aro not known . Tho prisoner urged in oxcuao fox what ho had said , that ho was young and inexperienced . Tho court took into consideration this defence , and only sentenced him to two months' imprisonment , and a lino of fifty franca . " ,, JVI . do Porsigny , who had a long interview with Lord Gtmley on Sunday owning , has returned to London . —•^ Ie-48-almosfc-nfledle 8 S . to-ttlliido ,. to _ thq , r « ui ^^^ French pnpor . n on tho dofout of Lord Palmers ton on the " night or Friday woolc . Tliojournalfl aro of course unable to express anything olso than regret at tho success of Mr . Milnor Gibson ' s amendment . They adopt a moderate tone , however , und tho gonoral opinion Booma to bo that tho allianoo will not bo ondangorod by oxlstlug

      clroum-Their names , I am told , a * e MaiTlard , who was one of the Commissioners of the Provisional Government , and a candidate at the last election in the department of the Correze ; " Vinkin , who was Deputy-Procureur in Africa under the same regime ; and Hubbard , who was imprisoned for three years for the Ope ' ra Comi que plot , Hardly six months have passed since his release . It is also said that an actor of the Odebn js under arrest . The cause of these arrests is probably some indiscreet or violent language . "

      ITALY . The Gazzetta Popolare of Cagliari announces the arrest of the oldest bandit on the island , named Meluddu . He had been the terror of the district of Orosei since 1829 and had up to this time defied every attempt to arrest him , having chosen one of the most inaccessible mountains of Sardinia , called De Su Angiu , for his stronghold . He was at length arrested on the 28 th nit ., about midnight , by a party of carbineers , who had the" boldness to venture among the precipices of the mountain in utter darkness , though the rocks and paths were slipperv with frosr . Meluddu has many murders aud other crimes to answer for . An Englishman has been arrested at Genoa on a charge of being implicated in the attack on the French Emperor of the 14 th of January . His name is Darrell Hodges .

      The Sardinian Government has presented to the Chambers a bill on conspiracies against the life of the heads of foreign countries . Like the ill-fated bill introduced into our own House cf Commons by Lord Palmerston , this measure proposes an increase of punishment for those who conspire , and it also proposes to punish the defence of political assassination by imprisonment of from three to twelve months . The bill , moreover , increases the number of challenges of the jury allowed both to the Government prosecutor aud the accused .. The Italian refugees , Captain Palestfini and the bro - thers Pezzi , have been arrested at Genoa . A considerable number of arrests have been made at Palermo in consequence of the attempt in Paris of the I 4 th of January ; but no political trials have taken place . The fortifications atPalernio have been strengthened , and the Government seems to be taking precautions against a surprise .

      Pittet , a Swiss citizen living at ISaples , and for manyyears the confidential servant of the late Sir William Temple , has been ordered to leave the kingdom . He recently demanded payment of a debt from a countryman , who immediately denounced him to the police as a malcontent . He has therefore left for England . Two young students have -been arrested at Rome for carrying on a political correspondence with some inhabitants of the province of Ascoli . The Duke of Zitta lias been stopped on his way to Paris at Via Mai la , near the Lake of Constance , by a band of brigands , and plundered . He was travelling with the Duchess in a coach and pair . In the boot were found five thousand gold Napoleons , besides several valuable papers , and a brilliant set of diamond ornaments belonging to the Duchess .

      A tender , signed by Signor Bonelli , the well-known constructor of telegraphs , has been made to the English Government on behalf of a proposed company to be called * ' The Company of the Anylo-Indian Telegraph Mail . ' Tho lino is to puss from Malta to Alexandria .

      TUKK . IflY . Tho weather has been unusually severe in European Turkey , even as far south , a ' s Constantinople itself . " Fur more " than forty days , " suys the Times correspondent , " hills and dales , tho houses and streets , havo been covered with snow , and the Golden Horn down tho Arsenul-bridge repeatedly frozen over . Tho oldest inhabitants don ' t remember sueh u succession of cold wcuthcr . There uro , indeed , records of greater momentary uuhi , but none of such a continuation of it . In rending the local papers , you would almost lhink yourself in Kussia;—accounts of houses sunk undor tho weight of miow on their roofs , i ' oarful stories of wolves prom « nuUiiih r i " tho streets , the guard turning out with bayonets llxetl and charging tho hungry visitors , shophordo aud their flocks lost in tho snow-drifts , or devoured by tho . same hungry rovers , and othor similar horrors and wonders . " As a consequence of this imutmal state of the atnio . t |/ here , tho poor havo suffered terribly , and evon tho rich havo been ofnictod by yrippa , or iniiucMiza . Tho late events in Servia and tho disturbances in tho Horxegovina have indiicotl tho Government to appoint Etliom Pasha , Minister of Foreign AlFuira undor Kodschid ' s administration , aiul Kubuli Efi ' endi , chiuf of n section in . that departmont , as eoniniitmiunora to thosu countries . Tho insurrection in the Horssagovina continuos , and there havo'been some bovci'o encounters between tho i »" BurOTnto- » ucUtUoJL'MyltB , ^ CMs _ tLftttl ^ jy > Lt . ! . ' . < r Qult "" . '" " also had a sharp encounter with tho Montenegrins nonr- ^ - tho fortified town of I ' odgoritssa , on tho eastern froiUior of Monoenogro . Tho result Is not stated ; but sovoral wore killed and woundod on both sides , PRUSSIA . A vnst number of iiresents , including many of groat richness and some of humbler pretonsionH , have l > oon sent to tho Prince and Prhtoeaa Frederick-William . I ' various cities , towns , mid » JBatatcs' have contribut »« W

      stances . " Three mombtus of tho Paris bar , belonging to tho advanced Republican party , " flayu tho Purls correspondent of tho THmes , " were arrested on TucBday .

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      198 T H B LEADE R . ffio . 414 , February 27 , 1858 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 27, 1858, page 198, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2232/page/6/