The Express.
London, England, 1866-09-07 00:00:00

SPAIN.

MADRID, Sm. 6.

The Queen of Spain intends visiting the Empress
of the French at Biarritz, after which her Majesty
will return immediately, and stay the remainder
of the month at Avila.

AMERICA.

(ay Amarric TILZGRAPH.)
NEW YORK, Sant. 5.

Gold, 1441. Exchange on London, 154 i. 5-20
United States Bonds, 112. Cotton, Middling Up-
land, 33.

The following telegram was received by Reuter's
Telegram Company (Limited) at 9.50 p.m. from
Mr. R. A. Glass, managing director of the Tele-
graph Construction and Maintenance Company
(Limited), Sept. 6 :

"VALENTIA, Barr. 8.

" Following received from Great Eastern at 2
p.m.: ' Canning to Glass. Ship's time, noon, lat.
49.47, long. 48.1.30. Cable paid out from splice,
555 miles ; distance run, 471.8 miles ; slack, 17.71
per cent. Tests perfect. Weather line. All going
on moat satisfactorily.' "

THE COURT-MARTIAL ON CAPTAIN JERVIS.
(By Overland Telegraph.)
SI3ILL, Auoner 29.
The summing up of the Judge Advocate in the
court-martial on Captain Jervis was delivered to-
day, and was of an impartial character.
The court decided in three hours, but their find-
ing has not been announced, pending its confirma-
tion by the Commander-in-Chief.

A POLICE COMMISSARY AND HIS
MISTAKE.

The peaceful town of Morlaix, in La Bretagne
Bretonnante, part of Brittany, was in a state of
great excitement last week, owing to one of the
moat extraordinary trials upon record. Nine persons
belonging to some of the most respectable families
of the place, including a lieutenant of the fire
brigade, named Le Roy, were indicted for giving a
eharivari—the best translation of which is " rough
music"—to the commissary of police. M. Jules
Fevre was brought down from Paris to defend the
accused. A deplorable mistake on the part of the
commissary of police was at the bottom of the affair.
A young girl of 17, whose parents are lodging-house
keepers at Morlaix, was employed by them to keep
the register of all persons sleeping in the house,
which people who let furnished lodgings are re-
quired to show to the police. Last June, the com-
missary being on the look-out for some book
hawkers suspected of vending unlicensed litera-
ture, asked this girl whether two persons whom he
named were in the house. She, for reasons which
do pot appear, said they were not ; and the
answer was untrue. When the commissary found
out that the men in question had been there, he
severely reprimanded the master and mistress
of the house, and they, to excuse them-
selves, threw all the blame upon their
daughter, awl authorised the comasissary to
" give her a lesson," or, as it is vulgarly said,
to " frighten her." He with this intention told
one of his agents to bring the girl to his office,
and keep her there till he came in. The man mis-
understanding his orders put the girl in the lock up
cell, called the violas, where she was detained, ac-
cording to some witnesses one hour, and according
to others three hours. This most unwarrantable
act caused some commotion in the town, but it
was speedily followed by something infinitely
worse. The commissary has obtained a reputation
for draconian severity in enforcing the laws placing
courtesans under the surveillance of the police.
His suspicious eye being now fixed upon
the young daughter of the lodging-house
keepers, he lent his ear to a malicious
information laid by one of the frail sisterhood,
accusing the poor lass of being one of them. There-
upon he inflicted upon her the last indignity which,
in the point of view of French manners, can be
inflicted upon a woman. He sent her a carte with
her name and number extracted from his registry
of bad women, and ordered her to attend the police
doctor every week. The parents proved, and the
commissary of police now admits, that there was
no shadow of ground for the imputation upon the
young girl. The thing got noised abroad, and
eteteris paribus produced as great a sensation in
Morlaix, as the affair of Wat Tyler's daughter
did in London, temp. Richard 11. On the 13th of
Auguattwoorthree hundred peopleassembled round
the commissary of police's house, hisaing, hooting,
and rattling pots and kettles. The three
gendarmes who constituted the public force of
the place were called out. They arrested a young
man aged 16, who was vociferating "Down with
the commissary." A disposition being shown by
the crowd to rescue this youth, the sub-prefect
ordered the three gendarmes to " draw swords."
Thereupon M. Le Roy, the lieutenant of Pompiers
—one of the dons of a country town—interposed,
stood between the gendarmes' horses and the mob,
and exclaimed, " They shall never draw upon
the people of Morlaix." He then spoke to
the major's adjoint, promised that if the prisoner
were given up the crowd would disperse quietly,
and without more ado went into the guardhouse
and brought him out. The people then went home,
and the streets became quiet. It was for the riot
and rescue under these circumstances that M. Le
Roy and eight of his fellow-citizens were indicted.
The public prosecutor made no account of the ex-
treme provocation, saw nothing but the breach of
the law and the misprision of authority, and called
for " severe repression." M. Jules Fevre argued
that in a case where the most flagrant and terrible
breach of the law had in the first instance been
committed by a representative of authority, the
citizens who had resented the outrage under feelings
of most righteous indignation should be treated
with the utmost indulgence. He represented that
none of the so called rioters had dune anything
more than make a noise. They had neither used
nor threatened violence. And as to the alleged
rescue by Lieutenant Le Roy, he might well have
thought that in his position he was acting as one of
the authorities, and exercising a wise discretion for
the sake of the public peace. The court, however,
found all the prisoners guilty, and passed sen-
tences upon them, which, under the circumstances,
must be considered severe. Some were sentenced
to a month's imprisonment, some to fifteen days,
and M. Le Roy to four days.
im