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Leader (1850-1860), 23rd October 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 22, 1134 THE LEA DEB. [No. 448, October 23,1...

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      France. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Pa...

      ¦ 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 Tank , in rushing to rise as high as you . Brunier warned you ' what an English father and an English- maiden would do , ' nothing stays you . You run , " you fly , 7 0 U 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 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 . Cheri—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 and mother are little worthy of interest , he , 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 eould be required in misfortune , and we lacked nothing , neither means to supply our wants , nor consolation in our unhappiness . An English merchant offered nie hospitality , that is to say , his house , his pitrse , and his hearft 1 took 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 reoount 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 binding of all engagements , the most sacred of all promises . On taking leave of my generous benefactor , I asked 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 1 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 fpr the violence of the Ang-lophobists , and reconciles us to erring humanity , when wo find English and French men animated by such noble sentiments , and bo fully alive to their duty one to another .

      In laying those painful details before your renders , my object has not been to obtain sympathy for a ense 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 the 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 mysterious necessities of tbe 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 casoe unfortunately , I cannot deem it beyond the collective wisdom of tho British Legislature to devise a moamre which , rocognising and allowing submission to the laws of the state whoso subject an Englishwoman may have married , would still maintain unto her all tho rights , privileges , and protection of hor 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 often than In England a more barter of bodies , in which there is no question of love and affection , and is therefore , to my mind at lenet , but a slight degree removed from prostitution . If anything , It is worse , from tho legality and ceremonies of the Church , bestowed upon it :. If foreigners choose to

      persist in this odious system , sacrificing the affections the heart before the golden calf , we cannot interfere , nor can we . prevent some of our unadvised sister * from occasionally becoming victims to the needy foreign fortunehunter . But we can always keep open the haven of the English law to all who may choose to return and claim its protection . . The Leader has again been stopped for the last two weeks in the post . "What for I cannot imagine , for both Galignani and the Moniteur quote you .

      1134 The Lea Deb. [No. 448, October 23,1...

      1134 THE LEA DEB . [ No . 448 , October 23 , 1858 ,

      Germany. (From Our Own Correspondent.) O...

      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 rav 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 t ! ay—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 programme is as follows :- — ourselves sincere and

      " We proclaim as 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 iii _ 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 latter 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 ( Abgeordneteii ) , and af 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 bo 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 .

      Srdly , Abolition of feudal police . 4 thly . Discontinuance of the exemption of feudal proprietors from paying the land tax . fithly . The issue of a law as to the responsibility of Ministers . 6 thly . Revision of the laws relating to the press , with tho object to protect the press and book trade against tho arbitrary interference of the Government . 7 tlily . The issue of the law promised in paragraph 20 of tho Constitutional Charter to regulate the 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 , Tho enjoyment of civil rights ia independent of religious confoasions . ' Othly . The revision of all laws which have hitherto authorised the interference of tho Government with the sentencos pronounced by tho legal tribunals .

      " Convinced that unless those nine points bo quickly decided the Constitution will never be productive of the rosults upon which the position of Prussia , tho maintenance of monarchy , and tho wolfaro of the people depend , wo have drawn up these ninq points , and will require of- our delegates that they ngreo with us therein , and that they will exert themsclvos to carry them into effect . We cannot , it is truo , foresee what other questions will bo brought boforo the Legislature during the next session , but wo trust ' tlioso delegates who agree with us

      in these nine points will bo guided in all other questions by tho same spirit . Wo expect and demand further of them that thoy will , as honoat men , novor loso sight of tho interests of tho country , and that they will havo tho courage unflinchingly to maintain tho lawful and tho right , and novor , from a weak disposition , to be submissive to tho high or tho low , to give their countonanoo to acts which they fuel in their consciences to bo unjust and arbitrary . They will best keep truo to tho oath which they have taken to ' tho King as delegates by roinaining faithful to tho . oath which thoy as well as ho havo taken to maintain tho Constitution , and finally thoy will do

      well to bear in mind the motto of Prussia ' s Kingg ¦ ' Every man his due ! ' " The journals in Prussia are chiefly occupied with the resignation of Mr . Westphalen , and criticisms upon his acts . The National Zeitung considers him as the embodiment of aristocratical selfishness of the Junker party who think of providing for themselves only , and of prol tecting their own rights and . privileges , while they permit 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 Vossische Zeitung says the colleagues of Mr . Westphalen deserve no better fate than he , 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 -n-fll 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 bear 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 in a . blaze . This box they insured in a London house for thirty 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 prison , 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 .

      Political Robeshadowikgs. Conservative D...

      POLITICAL rOBESHADOWIKGS . Conservative Demonstration in Essex . —At the anniversary of the Ilinckford Conservative and Agricultural Club ( one of the most important political societies in the eastern counties ) , at Castle Hedingham , the health of Major Beresford and Mr . Du Cane , the members for North Essex , being drunk , Major Beresford , in reply , reviewed the political history of the 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 matter ? . lie differed politically on many points with Lord Piilmerston , while with Lord Derby he agreed in most . He wished ho could add , as ho once was able to say , that no agreed with Lord Derby on all points , but he could not do so . Ho could not sympathise with all the measures and every principle of thoprespnt Government . Nevertheless , ho had supported tho Government when lie could , and he should continue to support them so long as thoy adhered to Conservative principles . Referring to the Reform question , ho said : — " It has been hinted that I am to tell you a great deal about the proinweu Reform Bill . However , you will got very little out oi W on tho subject . The subject is yet , as they any on tho turf , rather a dark one . You might as well taiK oi the winner of tho Derby noxt year as to . tell wlinc *¦»>> Reform Bill will beandunder those circumstances , *

      ; , shall wait for an authorised vertion of the bill . " «"' it is produced I trust und believe that I shall not in tnoi way which , in my opinion , will bo most n' ™ " * " ^ " * for tho great interests of tho nation , and » t tho sa no time for tho benefit of my constituents . " Mr . uu ^ " ' M . P ., said that ho would gladly give his support to any measure of reform which comprised , nmon 6 ° Jll 0 rJ " visions , a moderate and judicious extension of tlio »» v franchise , and hold out a bettor and fairer scope w i » elements of education , intelligence , property , nna : »> bors than thoy at prosojit possessed . ° h ' y ? , no-Smijth adviaod tho company to accept a moUcraw » form Bill , and counselled tho farmers to profit jy • oxporlonoo thoy had gained in tho refusal oi uw °

      ° MH . iKvAHT , M . P .-Tho member for the Dumfries Burghs has addrosflod a mooting of his constituonw . Ho said that , looking forward to tho political ^ J » ; ^ J confessed his inability to guoss what " 10 OS » r n ? . fld , n (> Dorby might havo In atoro for tho country . H «> »>« " " idea how far tho new Reform Hill of Lore Derby j ouW go . Ho believed that throo members of the £ jwne « Mr . Disraeli , Lord Stanley , and Sir J . ^ "'fiw ~ > ntfM inclined to go tolorably far they formed j W * bo called a liberal triumvirate in-th * oxisting Aamww

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 23, 1858, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23101858/page/22/