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Leader (1850-1860), 18th December 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1389, Untitled Article

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      that " nowhere is individual freedom now more respected than in France , " because no one would be permitted to cive a contradiction ; but it does require that ignorance , which gives audacity to men who are not very courageous , or else that abnegation which no man who respects himself would consent to . I may also suggest , for the enlightenment of M . de Royer , that an increase in the number of commitments does not necessarily establish an augmentation of crime , but often , as in the United Kingdom , an increased vigilance on the part of the police .

      I will now proceed to the consideration of the report itself , which embraces the quinquennial period terminating in 1856 , but to the earlier years I do not propose to refer . The report separates crimes from felonies or misdemeanours ( delits ) , and from simple police offences , and following the same division , it will be found that in 1856 the courts tried 4535 cases of crime , and convicted 4568 individuals . Compared with the results of 1854 this total shows a diminution of 990 cases , or 18 per cent . ; compared with 1855 it shows a diminution of 263 cases , or a little more than 5 percent . But this reduction Las reference solely to crimes

      The average proportion of heads of population to 1 criminal in all France was 588-5 in 1856 , and 5522 in 1855 . The heads of population to 1 criminal in each of the following departments were—in Corsica , 1891 ; Seine , 2454 ; Tarn-et-Garonne , 2972 ; Blame , 3235 ; L ) rome , 324 S ; Lozere , 3520 ; Bouches-du-Rhone , 3533 ; Vaucliise , 3736 ; Haute-Garonne , 3945 ; Gers , 4115 ; Aube , 4361 ; Cotes-du-Nord , 10 , 025 ; Vosges , 10 , 676 ; Bordogne , 10 , 737 ; Cote-d'Or , 11 , 004 ; Isere , 11 , 089 ; Cher , 11 , 244 ; Herault , 12 , 134 ; Haute-Saone , 13 , 016 ; Meurthe , 14 , 634 ; Ain , 18 , 546 , and Creuse , 34 , 861 . It would appear from this classification that , generally speaking , the agricultural districts of France produce more criminals than do the manufacturing ones , — 'leaving , of course , the department of the Seine out of consideration , which , from its comprehending the capital , is in an exceptional position .

      CRIMINAL TRIALS . Of the total number of persons tried—6124—in 1856 , 2108 had committed offences against persons , and 4016 against property . Among them 5007 were men and 1117 Women ; 3067 were unmarried , 3670 were married , and 387 widows or widowers . The classification according to age gave 893 under 21 years ; 3329 between 31 and 40 ; 1624 between 40 and 60 ; and 278 upwards of 60 years of age . Those born within the departments where they were tried numbered 4015 ; born out of , but inhabitants of the departments where they were tried , 1307 , and 802 were neither bom nor located in the said departments , or were without fixed habitation . Again , 3307 inhabited rural districts , 2519 urban districts , and

      298 had no fixed homes . Of the persons tried there were engaged in agricultural labour 2210 , trades ' workmen , 2043 ; domestic servants , 438 ; merchants , traders , lodging-house-keepers , and tavern-keepers , 620 ; members of liberal professions , 435 ; and vagabonds , people of no calling or occupation , 378 . The educational classification showed that 2698 were totally illiterate ; 2332 knowing how to read only , or imperfectly how to read and write ; and 346 of superior education . Of these 6124 accused committed for trial , the juries convicted 4568 , and acquitted 1556 . The punishments awarded oh conviction were- —46 sentenced to death ; 248 to hard labour for life ; 1051 to hard labour for fixed number of 3-ears ; 971 to solitary confinement ; 1 to banishment ; 2221 to imprisonment ; 6 to pay fines ; and 24 infants , under sixteen years of establishments

      age , acquitted , but sent to penitentiary . Of the 46 condemned to death , 17 were executed ; 1 ( a parricide ) committed suicide ; 27 were remitted to hard labour for life ; and 1 to solitary confinement for life . Moreover , 2945 were stated by juries to have in their favour extenuating circumstances . The assize courts judged , without the assistance of juries , 483 absent individuals accused of crimes , of whom 2 were acquitted , 22 condemned to death ; 27 to hard labour for life ; 287 to hard labour for stated periods of time ; 144 to confinement ; and 1 to civil degradation . This total included 200 robberies with violence ; 94 fraudulent bankruptcies ; 98 forgeries ; 35 rapes , &c . ; and 14 murders . This last catalogue presents as melancholy and curious a fact as any elicited by the report , for it proves that , in spite of passports and extraordinary police agencies , about one criminal in twelve manages to escape from

      ju . I proceed now to the second class of offences . In 1856 tho 261 correctional tribunals in France tried 181 , 610 cases , implicating 225 , 561 individuals . These totals show a reduction , as compared with 1856 , of 7905 cases , and of 8802 accused . The offences and accused are thus classed s- ^ -Persons charged with evasion of tickets-of-leavc , 3947 ; vagrancy , 6588 ; mendicity , 5232 ; rebellion , 3238 ; outrages and violences against public functionaries , 7601 ; offences against religion , and outrages towards its ministers , 238 ; assaults , 14 , 342 ; offences against decency , 3176 ; defamation , insults , calumnious denunciations , 4286 ; theft , 47 , 102 ; ordinary bankruptcies , 660 ; swindling , 3089 ; abuse of confidence , 3171 ; cheating as to thonnture , quality , and

      quantity of goods sold , false weights and measures , 12 , 329 ; dnmago and destruction of harvests , trees , enclosures nnd animals , 1561 ; political offences , 990 ; distribution of printed books , &e ., without authority , 2 l 5 ; unlicensed openingof public-houses and cafes , 1698 ; manufacture nnd possession of arms nnd gunpowder , possession nnd carrying of prohibited , woapons ( including lpadod walking-sticks ) , 464 ; offences against game-laws , 24 , 685 ; rural offences nnd marauding , 1329 ; smuggling , 2187 ; infringement of fiahory lnwa , 4599 ; employing poatagc-Btanips a socond time , 405-1 j other offences against tho postal laws , 101 ; infringement of forest laws , 55 , 782 ; violation of curriers laws , 1952 ; other offences , 10 , 985 . It ennnot fail to atriko tho render , I think , how many offenders of tho laws are created by the state ' s interference with tho liberty of tho subject and with tho laws of common sense . Tho absurd cuntom-Iiouso restrictions and fetters

      on tho press are tho cause of more , than one-tenth of tho total offences , while the gamo nnd forest laws , which Mr . Bright would have tho world believe are barbarous relies of feudalism confined to monarchical and aristocratic England , provoke nearly ono-third of tho whole minor crimes . Tho second usage of postage-stamps- — of which , by-tho-by , women are disproportionately guiltyla a ourloua feature : and tho Itoma of vagrancy and

      monagainst property , those against persons have increased by 89 , from 1613 in 1855 to 1702 . M . de Koyer congratulates himself on the fact that the augmentation has not occurred in the more serious of crimes against the person . The convictions of assassination , murder , and parricide have not varied , those for poisoning have decreased . But would not that state of society be better , and show more progress , wherein the crimes against the person had decreased , even if those against property augmented , than the ono in which the reverse occurs as shown in the report ? At all events it must be a safer if not a pleasariter one to live in .

      Out of the total number—4535—of cases tried , 203 were for assassination , 95 for murder , 30 for poisoning , 13 for parricide , and 190 for infanticide . I confess to great ignorance of the criminal law , and do not probabl } - sufficiently appreciate the nice distinctions implied by these divisions . The infliction of unlawful death , with what I believe lawyers in England call , in their Norman French , " malice prepense , " I have always fancied to be wilful murder , whether it be perpetrated on parents , or children , or by person , murder , or assassination . In that case the number of murders brought before the courts Would be 530 in 1856 . I have no means of

      knowing from the report how many charges for this dire offence were not proven ; but as I find the number of persons convicted to be greater than the number of cases —arising from two or moire persons being concerned in so ' me of the crimes—it may be fairly presumed that the number of criminals convicted was at least equal to the number of crimes charged . True , the report gives tea per cent , as the average acquittals pronounced on individuals charged with this crime , but this proposition will not enable us to arrive at an exact knowledge of how many murders were proven , nor of how many murderers were convicted . However , we shall be sure not to exaggerate if we deduct from the total number of cases tried the proportion of persons acquitted—ten per cent . —which would give 477 of these crimes proven . Now I find bv a short paragraph , published in the Times

      not long since , that in 1856 " the crimes in England , where convictions were obtained ^ included 31 murders . " If , for the sake of comparison , and to follow the example set by M . Royer , we contrast English and French criminal statistics under this head—taking , for the sake of round numbers , the population of England ( including Wules ) to bo 20 , 000 , 000 , nnd that of France to be 35 , 000 , 000 ^—it will be seen that the proportion in England is 1 murder to 645 , 161 inhabitants , and in France 1 murder to 73 , 375 inhabitants . If , again , we take equal amounts of population in both countries , it will be seen that 9 murders were committed in France to 1 in England during the year 1856 . Of course I do not vouoh for tho accuracy of these figures—they are what result from the official report ; and one will be curious to learn M . de Koyer ' s opinion of this contrast .

      The remaining crimes tried were thus classified : —76 for blows and wounds , followed by death , but unpremeditated , 62 for blows and wounds of serious n&turo , 54 for blows nnd wounds on a parent ( ascendant ) , 23 for rebellion and serious violenco towards functionaries , &c , 181 for rape ' and offences against decency on adults , 650 for similar crimes on infants , 45 for false witness and subornation , 58 for coining , 499 for forgery , 1886 for offences against property ( burglary , nnd with violence ) , 206 for incendiarism , 117 for fraudulent bankruptcies , and 1-18 for nil other crimes . Passing from tho nature to the locality of crime , it is shown that

      in fifty departments there was , in 1856 , a reduction ; in fourteen , a scarcely perceptible augmentation , and in twonty of tho rest an increase which reached beyond twenty per cent . Tho departments in which crime has increased are : —Tarn-ot-Garonno , 88 per cent } Hautea-AlpoB , 79 percent . ; Saone-et-Loirq , 77 percent . ; Bassos . Pyrc ' ntfos , 73 per cent . ; Pas-do-Calnis , « 8 pop cent . , Corsica , 63 par coot . ; Loirct , 48 per cent . ; Hautosl ^ 'ro ' nc ' os , 43 per cont . ; DrOmo , 43 per cont . ; Loz 6 ro , 38 percent . ; Aritfgo , 37 per cent . ; Nord , 86 percent ; Rhone , 34 per cont . ; Isero , 33 per cont . In tho department of tho Seine the number of criminals in 1856 was " 08 agniuet 690 la 1855 .

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      GERMANY . ( From our oxen Corespondent . ' ) December 15 . I vresume my letter of last week did not reach you by some irregularity . As regards news , it was no great loss , but as it treated of a subject which is still agitating the Hiinse towns , the only quarters of Germany where a cortain amount of free discussion ia tolerated , and aa tho matter slightly affects tho interests of Englishmen , it may , perhaps , not be amiss to recur to it . The object of tho agitation Is to g ive effect to the labours of the Gotba Congress , to which I have alluded in former letters , nnd to bring about the abolition of the guild ¦ ystem , which still flourishes in Gormuny as it did in tho profound ignorance of the middle ages . The Pruasinn questions banished tho subject of free trade and free

      labour from tho minds of tho commercial classes , but now they nppear disposed to lend an ear to the teachings of tho Congress . Although tho focus of tho agitation is tho Hanso towns , they have not originated it—it haa been forced upon them l ? y tho United States , whose Consul , some time back , claimed perfect reciprocity for American citizens in accordance with tho a /" ?'"™ ° , treaty entered into will * the Hunso towna in . 1828 . 1 UU treaty declares that it shall bo wholly lawful for the citlseus of both contracting parties to transact them-801 vos their own business by wholesale or retail lu all tho ports and placo * of the two countries-- " " ^ f \ JJ «* Americans should bo as free to buy nnd sell in the _ Ha » a towns ns citizens of tho latter are to do so in the United States . Notwithstanding tho perspicuity of tho terms of the treaty and its aelf-ovldent intention , tho authorities of the Ilauso towns had tho assurance to dispute

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      dicity are signs that France is seriously affected xvitl pauperism , which her statesmen pretend to ignore . Out of the number of persons—225 , 561—procecdei against , 156 , 880 were at the request of the public prose tutor ; 8819 by the public generally ; and 59 , 862 bj public administrations . The prosecutions resulted ir the acquittal of 20 , 146 accused ; the condemnation o ; 11 , 063 to imprisonment for one year and more ; ol 76 , 324 to imprisonment for less than a year ; of 114 , 281 to punishment by fines ; of 2156 infants , under 16 years of age , to houses of correction ; and of 1591 infants to be sent back to their parents . The total number of persons imprisoned- was , therefore , 89 , 543 . As far as it was practicable to ascertain , there were 6905 accused I T' . —— • m _ / v » _ a _ J ••!

      nnder 16 years of age , 18 , 214 between 16 and 21 , and 127 , 934 above 21 . Previous convictions were recorded against 40 , 345 of the accused , which is a larger number than in any preceding year . Commercial probity does not aeem to improve ; for , M . de Koyer says : "It is thus , in matters of fraud in commercial transactions , that old offenders increase every year in deplorable proportions . " " The results of the penitentiary system have not been favourable , according to the same authority ; and , so far , agree with recent experience in England . Nearly two-fifths of liberated convicts , who answer to English ticket-of-leave men , are taken up and tried again before the expiration of the third year of their farmhools

      liberation . The penitentiary colonies , or -sc , are stated to sshow fewer relapses to crime ; but that may result from their receiving the best , and the prisons the worst , cases . The third class of crimes , or simple police offences , brought before 2681 simple police-courts , included 402 , 914 judgments , which are 6417 more than in 1855 . The number of persons implicated in these cases was 533 , 195 , of whom 33 , 518 were acquitted ; 470 , 815 were punished by fines ; and 27 , 836 by imprisonment . With respect to 1026 the tribunals declared themselves incompetent ; 48 , 384 judgments were rendered in the absence of the accused—another instance of the efficacy of passports—and 2463 persons were imprisoned for non-payment of fines .

      Theof licers of justice in France are 18 , 484 . gendarmes , divided into 3399 brigades ; 1979 commissaries of police , 7009 agents of police , 2850 justices of the peace , and 34 , 155 rural guards . Before quitting this dismal subject , there is one correction of a popular error which I should be glad to be permitted to make . M . Alexandre Dumas , and other writers equally as veracious , affirm , and ninety-nine Frenchmen out of a hundred believe , that Englishmen are more prone to commit suicide than any other people of the globe . Now the number of suicides committed

      in France in 1856 was , according to the report of the Minister of Justice , 4189 , of which 3161 vrere men , and 1028 women . On the other hand , M . Buckle shows , in his work on Civilisation—quoting from the Registrar-General ' s Report—that during the same period in England the number of suicides was no more than 1182 . If we institute a comparison , as in the former instance , it will be seen that in France there is 1 suicide for every 8365 inhabitants , and in England only 1 for every 16 , 937 inhabitants ; so that for every Englishman , who makes away with himself there are two Frenchmen and a fraction that commit self-slaughter .

      The total number of persons convicted in 1856 of having violated the law in France , and who were punished , therefore , appears , from M . de Royer ' s report , to have been 708 , 634 , qr 1 to rather more than every 49 inhabitants .

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      No . 456 , December 18 , 1858 . 1 THE ¦ LEAPEB , ' 1380 ' '— '"• " _ . — —' ¦ ——^—^——*— ^^ ^^—* ^^^ ^^ ' ^^ " ^^ ^ W" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 18, 1858, page 1389, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2273/page/21/