The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-25 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 25, 1858.

Jo sign tatrtspoitbenct.

PARIS, Wednesday.
THE appeal case of the Count de Montalembert was
heard yesterday by the Imperial Court, and ended
by the sentence upon him being reduced from six
to three mouths' imprisonment, and by the fine of
1201. being maiutained. The reduction of the im-
prisonment tool. place in consequence ot the Court
having acquitted him of one of the three charges of
which he was convicted before the inferior tribunal,
—namely, that of "attacking the rights and autho-
rity which the Emperor derives from the Constitu-
tion and from universal suffrage." He consequently
remains condemned,-1, for "exciting to hatred and
contempt of the Government ;" 2, " attacking the
respezt due to the laws." In pardoning the Count
immediately after the judgment of the tribunal, the
Emperor, who, in French parlance, acted on " his
own inspiration alone," without consulting any
Minister or legal adviser, undoubtedly did an illegal,
or more properly speaking irregular, act; inasmuch
as be assumed the condemnation to be definitive,
whereas it was only, so to speak, preliminary. On
this point legal friends tell me there are not two
opinions at the bar. Consequently to have legal
value the pardon must be renewed. But perhaps
the Government may not think it consistent with its
dignity to renew the grace, seeing that it was so
scornfully rejected. Still there is no likelihood that
the judgment will be acted on. It is debated
whether or not the condemnation as it stands
subjects Count de Montalembert to the " law of
suspects," that is, renders him liable to be exiled to
Cayenne or Algeria. The discussion, however, is of
no practical utility, seeing that if his personal liberty
and his pane remain untouched, the Government
will nut think of relegating him to an unwholesome
colony. But a legal friend tells me that, in virtue of
a law passed in the time of the Republic, the Count
will for a certain period be liable to be deprived of
the glory of shouldering a musket as a National
Guard, and of making one of the huge mob which
constitutes universal suffrage. These deprivations,
however, do not seem hard to bear.
The anxiety to be present at the beating of the
case was very great, though perhaps not so much so
as ou the first occasion ; and as on that occasion no
one was admitted without tickets, no one was allowed
to take notes, and no report of the proceedings has
been published. As in the first trial, too, M. Dufaure
and M. Berryer were counsel for Count de Monta-
lembert, but their speeches, though marked with all
their usual eloquence, were subAantially only a repe-
tition of those they delivered before the Correctional
Tribunal. M. Chaix d'Est Ange, Procureur•Genera:,
acted as public prosecutor; and he, I learn, not only
supported the prosecution with great vehemence, but
said some very sharp things of the Count, and some
still sharper of England. He even, I hear, spoke
with positive antipathy of our country, ridiculed the
High Court of Parliament, and went the silly length
of congratulating himself that he was absolutely
ignorant of English, and could not even pronounce
the name ot John Bright!
Sir F. Head is quite right in complaining of the
language which a portion of the English press thinks
fit to employ towards this country, and especially
towards the Emperor. It excites, as is natural, great
indignation in governmental circles here, and is not
admired by any party, except, perhaps, a few rabid
Red Republicans, because after all it is not compli-
mentary to the French nation. Personally, the
Emperor treats it, if not with contempt, at lead with
indifference ; but lie cannot help feeling that it is an
ungracious return to bo faithful an ally of England
as he has been, and he cannot help seeing that he
would gain great popularity by resenting it. Do
your contemporaries, yes or no, want to plunge France
and England into war? Do the bulk of the people
who thoughtlessly applaud them wish to see war?
If so, the coarse abuse of the French Emperor and
people which we have witnessed of late is intelligible,
and we may predict that persistence in it will sooner
or later bring about the object sought. But if the
maintenance of peace be desired, nothing can be more
silly, mischievous, dangerous, than such language.
The accounts that reach this city from Italy cause
decided uneasiness in political circles. At Milan, at
' Pavia, at Venice, demonstrations against the Aus-