The Express.
London, England, 1861-03-07 00:00:00

THE MIRES AFFAIR.

The Monikur contains the following report to the
Emperor from the Minister of Justico, cower:gag the affair
of :

" Paris, March 4.
" Sire,—A judicial act with which public attention is
greatly occupied has recently taken place. On the requi-
sitions of the Procureur-Imperialof the Tribunal of First
Instance of Paris, the Milker Mires has been arrested. This
measure, which was called for by the gravity of the charges
against him, and the importance of the interests compro-
mised, has made a peat sensation. It has given ries to
several judgments in the courts of law, and, as
always happens in such cases, calumny has endea-
voured to increase its proportions. The rumour pre-
vaiht that by acts of suspicious generosity, Mirds
has been able to create fur himself protectors suffi-
ciently powerful to save him- -if the accusations against
him should be verified—front the chastisement of justice ;
that third parties, whom their situations not only inter-
dicted from touching gains which caunot be avowed, but
even from engaging in the legitimate operations of com-
merce and manufactures, clandestinely associated them-
selves to his destiny ; that the evil is so general, and so
peat that the government, at the risk of mein the guilty,
has 'resolved to smother the affair, preferring rather to
avoid a scandal of which the results are incalculable, than
to expose the sores created by corrvptiun. These assertions
implicate in such a way the honour of justice and of
the government, that I think it necessary to point
them out immediately to your Majesty • but I do
so, not bemuse I feel the necessity Of defending
the magistracy against suspicions of connivance or weak-
nem, for the public conscience disavows such an insult
on them. Everybody in Frame—friends, enemies, and in-
different—knows and proclaims that no consideration turns
aside the magistrate front his duty; that before him, as
before the law, all citizens are equal ; and that, though
be exercises with moderation and reserve his redoubt-
able ministry, the guilty never escape his action, entertain-
ing as he does the salutary idea that if the necessities of re-
mession are at times painful, the impunity of recognised
faults is a dishonour fur justice and a danger for society.
But what cannot be tolerated is that an upright government
should be accusal of the design of acting a veil over acts
which are subjected to the severities of the penal code. I
would confine myself, if public opinion had need be reassured
against such suppositions, to repeating the terms in which
your Majesty at the moment the prosecution commenced
traced the conduct of the magistracy. ' I desire that in
this sad affair justice shall probe things to the bottom reso-
lately, and without any personal considerations. Suspicion
now floats over everybody, and the innocent are consequently
I compromised in a general accusation which does not desig-
nate the guilty. It is iudispensablethat light Abell be thrown
on the affair.' Sire, the magistrates are acting inconformity
with your intentions. The investigation is being made with
• scrupulous care, and with patience which no obstacles dis-
concert. All the accounts, all the papers are subjected to a
severe examination. Nothing will escape the investigatioos
of justice, and light will be thrown on the affair. If, con-
trary to my expectations, the aocteations which party spirit
has raised, and which are spread by inconsiderate sod
malignant persons, do not fall before the investigations com-
menced, justice will not fail in its minion.—l am, &c.,
" INLIANGLX..