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Leader (1850-1860), 18th December 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1388, ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. —?—

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      Untitled Article

      the wife , not widow , of the Prussian lieutenant , Iiehniaim , are also of a character not to ; be dilated upon here . In fact , to this chapter of the history ot the Hesse-Cassel dynasty we cannot do full mstice from the very difficulty it p resents of handling so prurient a subject . Let it suffice that , both under the former and the present reign , the risings of the people , since IS 30 , had their origin prinoipally in the exasperation occasioned by the dissolute and reckless life of the Court , and the consequent ruin of the welfare of the State .

      The reigning Elector , Frederick Williain I ., first assumed power by beinj * installed as co-Regent with 4 iis father in 1831 . In this capacity he performed , his full part in the persecution of distinguished and even moderate men , whom the Government sought to implicate in sham plots , and thereby to ruin . ' Tnus Jordan , the eminent professor of Marburg , and deputy of the University to the Chamber of Cassel , was confined in a dungeon for an imaginary conspiracy—the mere invention of some ministerial knave . Jordan had been an able advocate of the Constitutionalist cause , but had

      of common fraud , forging of bills referring to public expenses , conspiracy to cheat the State , and so forth , crimes committed by him in one of his former administrative capacities . Seldom has a trial of a public man created more interest than this one did , directed as it was against a notorious embezzler of public property and violent reactionist . More recently the Hesse-Cassel dynasty has obtained fresh notoriety by the resumption of

      prosecutions for " offences" committed in 1 S 48 , —prosecutions against individuals hitherto left unmolested . It seems that the old propensity of making political victims is again in . progress of revival . The scandals of Court life also promise to renew their vicious vitality . This Hesse-Cassel dynasty , to all evidence , is one of the least capable of change for the better ; and we should not wonder if , in some new commotion , their fate would be the least to be envied .

      never taken part in any agitation of more advanced ideas . On the contrary , he was known for his disinclination to the latter movement . Yet , one morning , he was suddenly arrested , and shut up for no less than five years in " preliminary imprison ^ ment , " as a captive " under examination ! " This incident may serve to illustrate the guarantees of personal freedom which existed in Germany previous to 184 S . Such a state of things as this gave birth to the proverb of a man being " condemned to a life-long ¦ examination . " After the " preliminary" five years of ceaseless interrogation had

      expired , the formal sentence of another five years of penal confinement was passed upon him . It was our lot to behold Jordan when he emerged from his dreary dungeon—the worn shadow of his former self—bearing the traces of his sufferings but too plainly marked onhis attenuated person . This was the treatment bestowed upon moderate men formerly holding a high position in the country . . In 1847 , the corRegent fully assumed his father ' s place as sovereign . He took but a short time to render himself . the dread and horror of his people . No wonder that in March , ISiS , his persecuted

      subjects were among the most infuriated of the German people against monarchic rule , and , with arms in their hands , threatened the Elector with an immediate overthrow of his throne if he hesitated to accept the popular demands . The haughty arrogance of the Prince , on that occasion , assumed as absurd a form as was the case with King Louis of Bavaria , whose apostrophe to the " dirtyljoots " we mentioned in a former article . The turmoil of the insurrection being at its hei g ht , a deputation came to the Elector , demanding from him the appointment of anew Ministry , and offering as candidates

      the names of some men of the Opposition . Among these latter there happened to be a certain Liberal who pursued the calling of a leather-merchant , but who , from his consistent liberal course , had won the sympathies of the advanced Constitutionalists . He was therefore proposed to the Elector as one of the future members of Government . On hearing this , the Prince fell into a paroxysm of rage , which he vented upoa those near him in that peculiar abrupt language which seems characteristic of European aristocracy :-r ~ " Leather-merchant Minister ?" lie exclaimed— " Minister leather-merchant ? No leather-merchant Minister !—no Minister lcathcrmerchantr * Anything more coherent than this his royal indignation would not allow him tp utter . Ife , however , had the mortification of seeing the leather interest after all triumphant for a time .

      In 1850 , the Electorate became the scene of an exciting constitutional struggle . The country , sick of the reactionary policy , the j > rofligaoy and defalcations of Government , arose in its anger . The Chamber refused tire supplies for the public expenses . The whole administrative machinery was stopped . The tribunals , the magistrates of the towns , the very employe ' s of the Elector turned against him . No man spoke a word in hia favour . He fled from his capital to the frontier . It was a display , in miniature , of legal resistance on the part of an entire population such as has seldom been witnessed b \ history . The bayonets of Austria , and Bavaria , however , made at last an end of the matter . All the leaders had tp seek safety in ( light , to escape the consequences of a charge of high treason . Great excitement waa also occasioned lately when Hassenpflug , the execrated Minister of the Elector , who had tor many ycara squandered the public money , was convicted by a Prussian tribunal

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      and , perhaps , the lacquey , to whom lie pavs 40 / i v ' will be in receipt of tenfold that amount from tha Zv ^ ' Every letter addressed to him will bo opene ? and r one he gives to be posted will be subjected to u ,. ^? operation . Should he wish to have a few friJnS ? dinner he must apply to the police for permission 1 , 1 will receive it solely on condition of receiving a « m « py at his table as a friend . Most Engliahmen will t » nl ? tins punishment enough . But this surveillance i 3 trifl n » in comparison with the other risks to which M d Montalembert will be exposed if the judgment Le ' nnf quashed . Henceforward he is liable to be imprisoned or transported to Lambessa without warning , and without his friends being informed , until bia death , what hirf become of him . u

      Would any Englishman accept a pardon which places him in so terrible a . position ? Would he not rather risk a great deal to obtain the reversal of the judgment and his consequent liberation from the surveillance of the haute police ? " I do not mean to say that II ' de Montalembert will be subject to all these indignities and tortures , but he is liable to them , and that is en ou . 'h to justify his appeal . Should Sir Francis B . Head or M Leo Neulsort ( a-nulcer he was called by a Cockney speaking French the other day ) , or the " base exception , " or " my grandmother , " be incredulous of the

      above statements , I shall be happy on a future occasion if you can afford the space i n your columns , to furnish irrefragable evidence . I can give the name . of a director of a public company here who receives some 200 k a year from the police for his reports ; of an American who also is employed by the police , and of numerous other cases . Nay , further , the " base exception" can learn from the "Citizen ofjthe United States , " who acted , on a recent occasion , as one of h . s extraordinary correspondents , what kind of paymasters are the " French police authorities . The Leader was stop ped last week , although some of your articles were reprinted in Galiynani—how impartial !—and the same fate awaits your issue , of Saturday .

      FBANCE . { From our oion Correspondent . ') Paris , Thursday , Cj p . m . de mostalejibert ' s appkal .. ON' Tuesday next the appeal of M . de Montalembert from the decision of M . Berthelin , of the Correctional Police , is to be heard , and that it will be successful no one believes . It is presumed the Crown lawyers will plead the pardon as a kind of nolle prosequi ; whereupon the court will declare there is no case before it , and dismiss M . de Montalefhbert ' s appeal . So far as tho public is concerned there will be an end of the matter ; but M . de Montalembert ' s real punishment and sufferings will then begin , although he will neither go to

      prison nor pay 120 / . fine . The English papers , I regret to say , appear to think that by the promulgation of " pardon" the author of the Debate on India in the English Parliament is freed from further pains and penalties ; that the Emperor has retreated from the offensive position , and made such amends as it was in his power to do . They even go further ; and , while counselling M ^ de Montalembert to accept the " pardon " as an apology , and say no more about it , intimate that persistance in the appeal will be henceforth regarded by the world as proof of a vain love of notoriety—as a morbid desire for niartyrological distinction .

      I am so confident of the gentlemanly feelings and lo , ve of fair play which pre-eminently distinguish the editors of English papers to feel sure that , when they learn the extraordinary position in which M . de Montalembert will be placed—so long as the Empire lasts—if the police judgment be suffered to remain recorded against him , they will be the first to approve and support his appeal . Shortly after Orsini ' s culpable attempt , a law was passed at the beginningof the year , familiarly known as "la Loi dea Suspects , " according to which any one against whom a previous conviction may be recorded for political

      offences is to be placed under the surveillance of the " haute police , " and is liable to various degrees of punishment ( imprisonment , banishment , or transportation to Cayenne ) without trial or judgment during the remainder of his life . Now , M . do Montalembert comes within this category . The pardon merely liberates him from tho penalties of the judgment , but the judgment itself remains in full force so far as it operates to make his liberty dependent on the caprice of tho Government . Were M . de Montalembert so ill-advised and so ignorant of the

      nature of the " Loi des Suspects" as to follow tho advice of his English friends , he would immediately be classed under the surveillance of the " hauto police , " as naturally as butchers in Smithfieia used to brand the sheep they intended for slaughter . As few Englishmen have any idea of what is meant by the surveillunco of tho high police , I will endeavour to explain some of its inconveniences , although conscious that my ignoranc . o will prevent mo from representing them in their true light . So soon asthejudgmont is pronounced , it is forwarded with all the documentary evidence , callod a " dossier , " to the police-office , to bo produced on a future occasion as evidence against the party . M . do Montnloinbort will then bo required to state whore ho proposes to reside , and will be informed that ho cannot change his roBidenco

      without previously boinjr authorised by tlio police . Ho will bo required to presont himself once a week , inrtybo every morning , to tho Prefecture of Police to sign a register , to prove that ho lias not loft tho district usblgnod to him for his resideneo ; and ahould he wish to go into the country for a day even ho must give notico to tho authorities , And provide himself witli a special passport . He will be required to show himself to tho policemen and police spies in order that hia features may be engraved upon their memories . Every police-station in Fran . ee will receive instructions of hia being placed under surveillance , which signifies that ho is to bo narrowly watched . Night and day a watch will be sot upon him . Opposite his doorway a spy will loiter in disguise , his servants will bo compelled to report hia every notion ,

      FRKXCIl CKIMINAI . STATISTICS . The recent publication , i ; i your columns , of extracts from the statistics of crime in Knglnndj will , perhaps , render a brief account of the criminal statistics of France not altogether uninteresting to your readers , although , on a previous occasion , 1 gave an abstract of tlie figures . I can feel no hesitation or delicacy in touching upon the subject , for although the gentlemen ; who direct a portion of the French press may affect to consider remarks upon the interior condition of the country as intrusive and malevolent—tho latter being a favourite

      epithet for whatever does not accord with their viewsthe source from which I derive my information is the report of M . de Koyer , Minister of Justice , to the Emperor , and which has already appeared in the columns of the Moniteur . 1 presume this olficial document -was i nserted in the official journal of the Empire for pullic information , and ., in spite of the new interpretation given to tho law by the trial of M . de Montaloinbert , I imagine comparisons may be instituted , at least by Englishmen , for M . de Kovcr sets the example . This gentleman writes in his report : — " If , as there is room to hope , the criminal statistics , published by foreign nations , ahould shortly furnish us with the means to compare

      with exactitude that which passes in France under tins head (* arrests before trial ) with what is practised m other countries , I tlo not fear to affirm that it wil be shown by this comparison that nowhere is individual liberty now more respected than in 1 ' runce ; and nl * o , that nowhere lire the violations which it must sutler in tho interest of society restrained w > thiu narrower _ limits . Tho number of accusod arrested before trial ( inculptj arrt / tes prtccntivement ) , in 1850 , has been 07 , 711 > ' ' «« France . It is less , by 794 , than the number or arrests made , in 1855 , in the town of London atom . Dolbro proceeding any further , I am desirous oiramarking that tho italics arc M . do Hoyer s own . * ' «¦/ must evidently have been inserted with intuition to btwein

      pluoe before tho eyes of the public a contrast England and France , and it is for doing no mow tuw this that M . do Moiitaiombort id imprisoned . fcu » handed justice would renulro tliot her Minister in , lr « ii « , M . do Koyer , should sluiro M , do Moiitulmnbort a am goon . lint it would nooin that tho authorities h ""' W partake of Mrs . Muluprop'a opinion when tho eoiunwwm turns to their diaadvniitnga . In tlio other «»»« » highly esteemed , and no effort , not even the sftcriiu- ^ truth , is aparod to encompass its institution .- *) way , ono is almost tempted to b . liove in bho i < second sight , for in hi * Mr * . Malaproj * «" ' »»? » ' ) , "' world the representative , tlio prototype of t' » ° 1 f regime Tlio curious in such mattora may liui <»' their amusing speculation * ia Invoatltfiitlntf t » ° '" ' w - of English comody on French Imperialism j «»>« , Sw Imporalor might not bo a bad the . no for tho flwnuwuw

      of tho loarnod . Smollfungus . should To return to M . do Itoyor and his oonipnri . soi o < any of your readers think of thid fi n " »\* " , „ not thought of tho lady , in Hamlet ' * tragedy , thn > > , fearing to aulr . n , ho " doth protcnt too much , » o { bo olnfriUble to suppose that the Kwnoli M '"^ , Jiutico bus not tlio remotest conception oi 1 w liborty , and that ho is totally ignorant of ww » p-luce boyond tho limits of tho oinplro . "'" % /( /< , » r no groat courage , to » daro to nmrin" in tho

      Original Correspondence. —?—

      ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE . —?—

      Untitled Article

      1388 THE LEAD E H . [ No . 456 , December 18 , IR ^ ft

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 18, 1858, page 1388, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2273/page/20/