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    That they have been there subjected to forced labours ' travaux forces ') ? That , like galley slaves , they have been compelled , at least for a certain period , to cut their hair and to "wear ; he letters ¦ * ' T . F . " and the very -word " galley slave " [ yritten in capitals on the upper leather of their shoes ? That , fox the first months of their sojourn , they have inclusively lived on metitel and couac , which was the liet of the blacks before the abolition of slavery ? That they have been made liable to corporal punishnents of the most cruel and humiliating kind , being put : o the rack on certain occasions ; that is , being tied to a [ take -with , thick ropes around their arms , legs , neck , > elly , and breast—a punishment lasting , according to he circumstances , from four days at the least , to a fortlight at the most ?

    That lately , two of them , for some talk at wliich one if the overseers had taken offence , were dealt with as rile criminals ; and , on their being reluctant to submit ; o an ignominious punishment , had their bodies bruised vith blows , their beards torn off , and their arms bound io fast as / to cause the blood to gush forth ? That none of those unfortunate men can escape but it the peril of their lives—a consideration that did not prevent many attempts of this kind , one of which proved ' atal to a man of highly commendable character ? In fine , that the system of secret transportation to Cayenne has been going on till the present time ? These are the charges . They were stated with the greatest possible precision , and minutely circumstantiated . : ¦ ' ' .. ¦ . " " . ;; . ¦ .. ¦ ' , ¦ ¦ ¦ ; Let Us now look to the answer . Nothing could be aaore confused : vague , and ' contradictory .

    1 . To present the transportation to Cayenne as an act of mercy is really a barbarous joke . 2 . The confirmation of the fact that the political prisoners are compelled to manual labour as well as the galley slaves is to be found in . this phrase of the Moniteur •— . ' . ' The obligation of work common to nil has in theory been understood in a uniform manner—that is to say , the compulsory right of the authorities went as fains imfmsonment . " That , in fact , the most submissive among the political prisoners should have been treated with less severity is natural enough ; but it must be Observed that , under such circumstances , those who are

    the most harshly treated ave precisely the most honourable characters , because strongly impressed with the sense of the injustice done to them , and preserving in the midst of their misfortunes the pride of their former condition , they are unwilling basely to crawl into the favour of their enemies , and to beg for their indulgence by degrading themselves . Nor does it require a very deep insight into the laws of human , nature to know that it is the insolent madness of the all-powerful and all-ruling to look upon the self-respect of a morally free man as a crime . In the eye of oiie "whose power is beyond control not to kneel -when he passes amounts to rebellion .

    3 . The Moniteur , in its answer , touches on none of the particular points which go so far to prove that the condition of the political prisoners is not at all unlike that of the galley-slaves . " The labour of the formats is strictly compulsory ; " so is the labour of the political prisoners , according to the above-mentioned avowal of the Moniteur itself . " It is always gratuitous ; " so was the labour of the political jirisoners at the time we received the first letter published by the English press , as formally stated in the following lines : — "At present the

    With respect to -what took place on board the Eryg-one it is no business of mine to refut « the statements of the official organ of the French Government , as I neither knew nor said anything about it . As regards the fact of the political prisoners living side by side with ordinary criminals , the Moniteur states that there ia in Guiana a whole class of common felons who had nothing to do with politics ; these were " occasionally located on one and the same island with the political prisoners , but never beneath one and the same roof . " This assertion may be true , but it is quite irrelevant and uncalled fox . It has aiever been asserted that the class of those -who are merely common convicts and

    the other class are lierded together in Guiana . The question is whether in the political class itself men of honour do not live side by side with liberated galleyslaves , whom , in the < lark confusion of the covj ) d'&at , it -ivas thought fit by the military commissions to condemn , on a pretence of plots or risings , so as to degrade the rest by their contact . If we are to believe the Moniteur , such -would be the case , for it says , " Even among these—the political prisoners favoured with the indulgence of the Emperor—there wore many whose antecedents , in a criminal point of view , were deplorable . Their descriptions swarm -with statements that would have justified the classification of them either with old offenders previously discharged , or with convicts . "

    Ihe Mvmteur is glad to call to mind that among those deported to Cayenne many have been condemned by the Republic itself . In the first place , by the word " many" the Monitaicr means some nineteen or twenty . Secondly , —the Republic never sent any political prisoner to Cayenne . The selection of Cayenne as a political penitentiary belongs entirely and exclusively to the Imperial regime . Such among the insurgents of June as were condemned by the Republican Government were sent to Algeria . As to the motives for which they were removed from Algeria to Cayenne by the present Government , these motives arid the proceedings used on the occasion , will be fully appreciated by the English public , if it happen to hava read a letter '

    pubhshed of ¦ late in several papers , which runs thus ' : — " One of the thirty-eight prisoners signing the document addressed to -M . Louis Blanc is personally known to me —viz ., M . lafont . Hi . Lafont , strange to say , up to the present moment , is ignorant of his crimo , has no knowledge of his accusers , and is equally unacquainted with his judges- The regular court of justice that condemned him altogether forgot so trifling a matter as instituting any legal procedure against him , and , moreover , did not give himself the unnecessary trouble of communicating to him his sentence . ¦ .... . . . After lying for some time in the casemates of Fort cTIvry , he was despatched on board , the Christophe Colomb , and disembarked as a convict at Algiers , the 22 nd of March , 1862 . .... First , he had to live in the camp of -Doneva , then

    3 ic was sent , with ananj' of his fellow-sufferers , undei military escort , to the Bourdika , a French colony notorious for its nnhealthines 3 . Lafont , aware of the fate that awaited him , stepped out of the ranks , and , in a loud voice , cried , ' You are sending us to death . ' For this . ... lie was tried at Algiers—this time in public court—and sentenced to one month of curccrc duvo ; but when he had finished his time , another secret tribunal condemned him—for what reason never transpired—to transportation to Cayenne . He suddenly disappeared . Only by his signature to the letter of the thirty eight have we heard that Lafont is still among the living . I will go no further . Let public opinion decide . 1 remain , sir , your obedient servant , Louis 13 i , a . xo .

    political prisoners may be said to be actually starving ; and while their tormentors benefit by their tilling , embanking , building , they me left ; without remuneration , almost without food . " That there is somo difference between the labour of the galley-slaves and that of the political prisoners , as to the productive value , is easily conceivable . Men like journalists , physicians , barristers , or merchants , can hardly lie expected to work manually with much success , even when ill-treated in case of failure .

    4 . Tliis phrase of the Governor of Gufann— " From the summit of Royal Island we can see with the naked eye all that is going on in Devil ' s Island , " shows how diflicult . it must be to escape from a place of such a description . But , difficult as it is , the ntteinpt is still more dangerous . If the prisoner do not succeed in baffling the vigilance of ' the overseer ? , he incurs a mo . sl severe penalty . If he succeed , ho has to put to sea at night in whatever boat he mny have secured , without knowing whither he goes , ¦ without even knowing whether he will be lucky enough to find land The death of the unfortunate Mayor of Beziers is a tragical comment upon the dangers with whicli such uiulcrtnkinys are always attended . Jt is much lo bo regretted that tho Mofuteur should not have doomed it worth while , to ¦ reconcile what it nays of tho mild treatment the prisoners enjoy with their desperate anxiety to fly from it at any

    cost . 5 . One or tlio questions put to tho French Government was thin : —" Is it true that not longngo a workman m Paris disappeared , on a sudden , and so mysteriously that his family was finite unaware of whut had become of him ? Is it true that , upon inquiries , it wan iound the man had been- sent to CayunnoV" On thin point wo have . still to wait for an answer . TIiup , of tho accusatio n * put forward in the letter of two thirty-eight , not a Mingle one can bo considered tu have xeally boon met by the Momttw .

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    reprobating the atrocities of the border ruffians , and the tyranny of the pro-slavery party . He observed : "In this country , for the last few years , the Government has been the chief obstruction to the common weal . Who doubts that Kansas would have been very well settled if the United States bad let it alone ? The Government armed and led the ruffians against the poor farmers . I do not know any story so gloomy as the politics of this country for the last t-wenty years , centralizing ) ever more manifestly found one spring , and that a vast crime , and ever more plainly , until it is notorious that all promotion , power , and policy are dictated from one source—illustrating the fatal effects of a false position to demoralize legislation , and put the

    best people always at a disadvantage ; one crirno always present , always to be varnished over , to find fine names for , and we free statesmen , as Accomplices to the gnilt , ever in the power of the grand offender . Language has lost its meaning in the uniA'ersal cant . Representative government is really misreprosentative ; Union is a con ^ spiracy against the northern states , which the northern states- ' are' to have the privilege of paying for ; the adding of Cuba and Central America to the slave marts is enlarging the area of freedom . Manifest destiny , democracy , freedom , fine names for an ugly thing . They call it otto of rose and lavender—I call it bilge-water . It is called chivalry and freedom—I call it the taking of all the earnings of a poor man , and the earnings of his

    little girl and boy , and the earnings of all that come from him , his , children ' s children for ever . But this is union , and this is democracy ; and our poor people , led by tbe nose by these fine words , dance and sing , ring bells , and ike cannon , with every new link of the chain which is . forged for their ' -limbV by the plotters in the Capitol . What are the results of law and union ? There ia no imion . Can any citizen of Massachusetts travel in honour through Kentucky and Alabama and speak his mind ? Or can any citizen of the southern country , who happens to think kidnapping a bad thing , say so ?" The speech concluded thus : — " Fellow citizens , in these

    times , fall of tie fate of the Republic , I think the towns should hold town meetings , and resolve themselves into committees of safety , go into permanent sessions , adjourning from week to week , from month to mojith . I wisb / we coiild send the Serjeant-at-Arms to stop every American who is about to leave the country . Send home every one who-is abroad , lest he should find no country to return to . Come home and stay at home , -while there is a country to save . When it is lost , it will be time enough then for any who are luckless enough to remain alive , to gather up their clothes and depart to some land where freedom exists . "

    Mr . William T . Colernan , President of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee , has been arrested in New York at the suit of . James H . iVIaloney , one of the exiled , and has been ' held to bail in the sum of 50 , 000 dollars . The danger from yellow fever is considered over in Now York . The suspected vessels have been allowed to come up to quarantine anchorage from tho south-west spit . Sir . George Peabody has declined the public dinners tendered to him by New York , Philadelphia , Boston , and other cities , which desired to do honour to his efforts to promote international good fooling between Great Britain and the United States .

    Mr . Corwhie , the commissioner sent to Panama to report upon the massacre of tho California passengers , concludes his report with a recommendation that ponseslsion be taken of the Isthmus . lie asserts that the present Government is responsible for the outrage , and ought to pay a fine of 5 UD , 000 dollars ; and that it i » either unable or unwilling to protect passengers / The Government of Panama , on the other hand , imputes a bad animus to Mr . Want , the American consul ; asserts that many of the Califorhian passengers uro very violent ; admits its own weakness ., owing to the constant refusal of foreign residents to pay their taxes ; states tlu » t thorfl has been an increase of lVirco since the riot ; and . promises to make jriat reparation for any proved injury . Money in in demand at New York , but sufttciently in abundance for sound commercial purposes . Blocks arO depressed , tho recent rir ^ e having been succeeded by a decline .

    AMERICA . It is anticipated that the Presidential election in Pennsylvania , to take place during the present month , will terminate in the huoccss of Fremont . The slave states , however , in all profcnbillty , will vote for liuchnnnn : the chances for Filhnorc seem to lie doubtful . In the course of this October , also , tlio election for the Governor of Now York State is to take place . " Tho new Governor of Kunsns , " says an American correspondent of the Timvs , Vims entered upon the duties of his office with an address full of peaceful professions and exhortations to the settlors to cease strife , to lay down the sword , and resume the plough . Hut it recognizes tlio Missouri Legislature , Jind points to that ns the only means of relief . When it is remembered

    that one of the qualification : ) for an doctor to' vote upon the choice of members of thin Legislature is nn oath to support the Kansas Nebraska Bill , tlio Fugitive Slave Law , and tho acts of tho territory , it i . s plain that the Free State men h . ive little to hope for . Jlo also issued a proclamation disbanding tlie volunteer militia , which has attempted to enforce the territorial laws under the ; directions of his predecessor , enjoining all the Free Stato men to disband at once or <| iiit , the territory , and commanding all male citizens between eighteen and fortylive to organize at once into a militia , and to hold themselves in rcadiiu'sB to bo Miiuinonod into the Murvico of the United State * . Kobiimou and Uki other Kttito prisoners have boon released on bail , and tlins for the moment peace is restored in Kansas . " Mr . Emerson , I ho coluhnitud CK .-ayi . sf , lia . s made a speech at Cambridge ( U . , S . ) on th < j Kansas question ,

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    October 11 , 1856 ] THE IEADEE . ggg

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    THE ORIENT . 1 NUIA . Tins last mail from India brings scarcely any news of importance . Oude is < iuiet , and the Sautlmln arc porfcctly tranquil , being in a great measure dinjiirited by a famine from which they are Buffering , as onuof tho consequences of last year ' s risings . There hnvu been nomo disturbances nt I ' esluiwur , wbero a couple of troopers were , attacked , while patrolling , by some fellows in ambush , who wounded them so ( severely that one has einco died . —Mr . Cope , of Lahore , has been condemned by tho authorities of the Punjaiib , and by the Supreme Government ( though without u formal trial ; for concealing ^ with felonious intent , a box of jewels intended for the Paris Exhibition . — The ; Hunk of ftcngal has further roduccd Hh rates of discount and interest ono por cent , nil round ; and bullion and specie are abundant . CHINA . Tho rcbelH continue to advance . They have taken Tan-yang , uml arc thua brought into proximity with

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 11, 1856, page 963, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2162/page/3/