The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-04-06 00:00:00

SHIPMENT OF COMMUNISTS TO
ENGLAND.

Mr. M. Barry, the secretary for the Society for the
Relief and Employment of Political Refuges, has sent
us (The Times), a copy of the correspondence which has
passed between him and the Foreign Office with refer-
ence to destitute French Communists arriving in Eng-
land. On the 21st of February he wrote to Lard Gran-
ville informing him that on Saturday. the 27th of
January last, eight men landed from the Diet 11 le packet
at Newhaven, seven of whom had been tried by French
courts-martial, and sentencedto various terms of banish-
ment from France. They were asked to what country
they preferred being sent, and all chose England.
Handcuffed and in charge of gendarmes, tl‘xy were
mat ched on board the English packet When on board
their handcuffs were stuck off by the gendarmes, who
then returned to the (Dieppe) pier. The packet started,
and in due time these eight men were landed at New-
haven. They were every one in rags, not a coin among
thou, and totally ignorant of English. As best they
could they made their way to London, subsisting
chiefly on turnips, beetroots, &c., which they begged
or stole from the fields by the roadside. These men ,
were in London, dependent on the bounty of their
less unfortunate, but still very poor compatriots. Ile
had seen them and exiduined their papers. He had
been informed (and had...partially verified the state
ment) that other batches had been sent over since
under similar circumstances. As there were 20,00)
prisoners still in the pontoons and coast fortresses, to
whom, it was understood, the option .1 choosing their
destination would be given, Mr. Barry suggested that
we might reasonably expect the speedy arrival in this
country of some thousands of men in the same destitute
condition as those whose case he had described. Mr.
Barry, in the name of the committee whom he repre-
sents, requested Lord :Iranville to represent to the
French Governtnent that the wholesale shipment to
this country of absolutely destitute and helpleas men
was calculated to provide for us sources of pecuniary
embarrassment and social disturbance. He also re-
minded Lord Granville of the course taken by our own
Government in a strictly analogous case. In addition
to paying the fares of our political offenders to America,
we gave each man a small sum to keep him a few days
till he got employment. This was all he asked the
French Government to do, and he believed that should
Lord Granville urge in a friendly way on the French
Government the propriety, or even advisability, of
adopting such a coulee, he would undoubtedly have
A the public q,piniora of the country with

A reply from the foreign Office, dated the sth of
March, stated that the attention of the French Govern-
ment ha i been called to the matter. Mr. Barry again
wrote to Lord Granville on the 9th of Marcia. He
expressed satisfaction with the action which had been
taken, but called attention tothe fact that in his previous
letter he had suggested a specific remedy for the evil
.omplained of, adding that he was exceriingly anxious
to kn^rr if Lord Lyono accompanied his remonstrance
with that sfiggostion or with any other, and if another,
what specific sugoestion.
ln reply Mr. Barry was Informed, in a letter from
the Foreign Office' dated the 14th of March, that Her
Majesty's Ambassador at Paris had received assurances
from the French Government to the effect that the
practice would be put a stop to of sending destitute
onnairmists to this country. •