The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-31 00:00:00

THE JERSEY REFUGE. E'S.

(From the Morning Post of this 41,0 y.)
Whatever other charges these re I ugees may
bring against the English Governmei &t, assuredly
they cannot a?cuse it'of discourtesy.'
• A so-called " Declaration," publi Shed in the
French Socialist paper, L' Homme, or‘ Wednesday
last, and bearing the signature of M. Victor Hugo
and thirty-five other refugees, contai nil a series of
savage attacks on the Emperor Nap( ►le (ma, and con-
eludes by an earnest request to our U o vernment—
" Et maintenant expulsez nous !"
With commendable promptitude the Govern-
ment complied with this request : jn tress than a
week the refugees are expelled—

"If people will write—'Please to rin g -the bell,'
Common politeness makes one sto p and do it."
And in reading the Declaratioi t one cannot be
much surprised at the readiness s 'ith which the
operation has been effected. The pr e vious expulsion
ofPianciani, Ribeyrolles(whoni the- English printers
will persist in calling Rigmarole),. and Thomas, is
designated as a " Coup d'Etat ;" ' the English Go-
vernment is stated to have been the subordinate
agent of the French police, and ER gland annexed to
the French Empire. The intimate ally of our Queen
is charged with having ccuunittc .d perjury; with
having " sabro, mitraille, extern line massacre le
jour, et" fusille la nuit ;" with b aving suborne
les soldats, suborne les fonctionna ires, suborne les
magistrats, et vole lee biens de 7 Louis Philippe."
And the catalogue of accusationr► concludes with a
summaryi in w Victor luso ahowa' 4-.
bids a-I:livid-1 a o Aga Eze „

„,
he wrote it—” Haute trahison , faux serment, par-
jure, subornation des fonction) laires, sequestration
des citoyens, spoliation, vol zneurtre ;ce sont 15.
des crimes*"."

It was impossible that any Government having
the least regard for the maint nance of public de-
cency could do otherwise than u )lice such atrocious
ribaldry, in which the ludicro us so strives with
the disgusting, that one feels a difficulty in saying
to which class the Refugee ". Declaration" really
belongs. Our Government, act :ordingly, did notice
the publication ; and gave dire ctions to the Lieu-
tenant-Governor of Jersey to enforce the law of
the island, as had been done in a recent instance.
This simple and necessary pr oceeding is immedi-
ately declared to be a Coup d'Etat, and the appli-
cation of the old constitutional law of Jersey re-
presented as " Lynch law."
The impudent abuse of the land that shelters
them has been denied by ti le refugees to be a vio-
lation of hospitality. The: must be disciples of
the ancient sage who held i t praiseworthy to " eat
a man's mutton, drink his wine, and then to knock
his eye out." They deem it no breach of hospi-
tality to calumniate the 7 Alustrious Ally of Eng-
land—or, as some of their number have done, hold
him up as a target for the assassin's pistol. In
short, such is their men tal obliquity of vision—
such the utter absence o f everything like principle
—that measures of coercion, necessarily distasteful
to the Government of t t. free country, have become
an absolute and urgers' t duty.
If ever there was • a case in which the interven-
tion of law was indispensable, it is that of the
Jersey refugees.

(From th e Times of this day.)

Such proceedings as those of the democratic re-
fugees could have but one termination. In the
midst of a great arid momentous war, at the hour
of a triumph which must necessarily have added
new rancour to the defeated, and to those preachers
of liberty who so strangely sympathise with them,
the representativea of the Revolutionary party in
this country thought fit to call a meeting and to
utter harangues Which have surprised and alienated
all who before had some feeling for their cause. An
historian of our time once observed that, although
civilised Europe was threatened by no external
barbarivs, yet there existed in every continental
city meta whose theories and impulses would, if
victorious, plunge Europe into a barbarism darker
than that which Goths and Vandals brought with
them. He foresaw not at the time that Europe
would so soon be engaged in a contest for life and
death against the hordes of the North, nor could
he have imagined that the enemies from within
would practically join their strength with those
whose invasion the world was endeavouring to
stem. But so it has been. The assassination of
the French Emperor has been openly instigated
in a document read to a numerous assemblage
and published to the world in the columns of a
newspaper. Unfortunately for the refugees, they
gave their invectives to the public in the form
of a most insolent letter to the Sovereign whose
protection had been their safety and the ingra-
titude, as well as the indecency of their
conduct, was so flagrant that hardly a word
has been uttered in their defence. The editor
and principal writers of the journal L'llomme
were lately obliged to leave Jersey in obedience to
:1a order of the authorities. On this occasion the
other refugees published a bombastic proclamation,
dilating on the merits of the three journalists, de-
fending their principles, further attacking the
French Emperor, and concluding their defiance by
the words " And now banish us." It will give
little surprise to our readers to learn that the
British Government has felt it necessary to take
these men at their word. Probably from a convic-
tion that they are incorrigible, and that the only
change in their future operations will be to greater
secrecy, the Cabinet has determined to remove the
whole of them, to the number of 34, from the
island. They are commanded to leave Jersey
within a week.

If international law means anything, if alliance
is not an hypocrisy, if the great war in which we
are engaged is not a comedy to be lightly and care-
lessly considered, it was necessary for a State like
England to interfere in the present case. No com-
monplaces about hospitality and the right of exile
can be an answer to the question—,6 What shall
we do when there are men among us whom we
know to be plotting against our ally, and conse-
quently against ourselves?" It is said that the
exiles chose Jersey as a home for its cheapness.
We cannot but think that its proximity to the
French coast had much influence on those who
preferred it to an equally inexpensive residence in
the rural districts of Great Britain. At least, that
is the feeling which prevails in France. It has been
the impression that the refugees placed the focus
of their intrigues as near as possibly to the country
which they wished again to revolutionise. During
the time they have made Jersey their home M.
Vic tor Hugo and his comrades have never ceased
toinveigh against the ruler whom they deem their
enemy, and to boast that, though their persons
were banished, their speeches and writings could
not be prevented from entering their country. Was
the newspaper L'llomme more cheaply printed in
the Channel Islands than it could be in Westmin-
ster ? Was it written for 34 readers ? Nay, was its
circulation intended for the British empire at
all ? We believe that this journal, which has
now gained so evil a reputation, was published
solely with a view to a French circle of readers. It
was thought that the French origin of the inhabi•
tants of these little islands, and their intercourse
with the coast would be the means of disseminating
widely the arguments and intentions of the re-
fugees. They have betrayed the hospitality of this
country, violated the asylum it has given, in-
sulted its Sovereign, sought to break up the
alliance it has formed, and planned the death of
the ally it has chosen, and they must take the
consequences. Some of them may be men of
education, and accustomed in bygone days to a
high position in a most civilised capital ; but they
have forgotten all the lessons by which cultivated
minds rise superior to the prejudices and passions
of a mob. If poets, philosophers, and legislators
utter sentiments worthy only of the lowest pur-
lieus of Paris, they must expect that any claims
which their previous career may have given them
to the respect and forbearance of the world must
be at once forgotten. By their removal from Jer-
sey their plans only are interrupted : their safety
is not compromised. They may continue to live
in the freedom to which they have been always
welcome, and we trust that the lesson they have
received will be sufficient to deter, if not to reform,
them. The act to which the British Government
is now driven is one from which it has refrained,
though sorely provoked, for several years. It has
been no light offence which has thus called down
the interference of the most lenient of constitutions,
and the indignation of the most tolerant of nations.
We would how advise the democrats of all nations
to abstain from their wonted intrigues, and devote
themselves to more useful, though they may
con-
sider them lower, occupations. Thus they may .
regain something of the character they have , lost
if they persevere in their schemes a
worse thing
may befall them than a mere change of residence.

( From the Daily News of this clay. )
The political exiles in Jersey, who signed the
protest against the expulsion of the three gentle-
men connected with the journal L Homme, have
in their turn been ordered to quit the island before
the 2d of November. What crime have they oom-