The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-08 00:00:00

The Recent Disturbances at Geneva.

We (Times) have received the following report of
the Independent Committee, addressed to the Swiss
people, upon the attempt of the 22d of August :
Dear Confederates,—An outrage, committed in daylight,
in the presence of a hundred witnesses, on the 22d August,
has caused blood to flow in our city. We fancied that such
an outrage would call down upon it universal reprobation.
Our indignation was great, but we were convinced that the
indignation of those whose flag had just been dishonoured
would be greater than ours ; we felt convinced that our poli-
tical adversaries would raise their voice louder than ours to
condemn those who inflicted upon them the opprobrium of
calling themselves their friends ; we felt convinced that the
magistrates of our republic, powerless to protect, would at
least be the first to take in hand the cause of the victims,
and would endeavour, by publicly condemning and repri-
manding the crime, to make us fcrget they were not able to
prevent it.
Our expectations have been deceived. The Council o
State of the Republic and Canton of Geneva has addressed
a report to the Federal Commissioners upon the events of
the 22d of August, in which the order of facts is misstated,
the facts themselves falsified, so that it is simply a plea in
favour of the assassins. it is for you, dear confederates, to
decide whether the men who have sworn to maintain intact
the honour of our republic have kept their oath, We do
not wish to know what sentiment they obeyed when they
constituted themselves the advocates of the assassins; but
they impose upon us a sacred duty the task which they
feared to fulfil, and it is in the name of the Canton of Geneva
that we come, dear confederates, to make an appeal to your

justice.
The facts are as follows :
On Sunday, Aug. 21, an election took place for a member
of the Couneil of State, to supply a vacancy occasioned in
that body by M. Challet-Venel, who had been called upon
to perform the duty of Federal Councillor. There were two
candidates—bl. James Fazy and M, Arthur Cheneviere.
The presiding officer of the election was M. Amberny, who
belongs to the party of M. Fazy. Before the opening of the
poll the election committee of the Independents had requested
M, Amberny's authority to place in the hands of the officers
for the distribution of the voting papers a list or lists drawn
up by the committee, of the names cf those voters whom
they had ascertained to be dead, although appearing on the
official register, or notoriously absent from the country, and
therefore incapable of voting.
Some few unimportant squabbles took place during the
two last hours of the election. Both parties seemed equally
confident of obtaining the majority. The following morn-
ing the casting up of the votes began at 8 o'clock, and as it
proceeded the chances of success varied. At about 11 o'clock
M. Fazy seemed likely to carry it, and his friends were
already loud in their triumphs ; but after that time the
number of votes became more and more favourable to M.
Cheneviere, who, at the close of the proceedings, was found
to have beaten M. Fazy by 337 votes, which result was re-
ceived with great uproar in the hall on the part of M, Fazy's
partisans.
Then M. John Perrier, who was one of the members of
the Central Committee, insisted upon the election being
annulled. He grounded his demand upon the fact that the
list of electors abroad or dead was made use of to check the
returns of one of the officers for the distribution of the voting
papers. It was in vain that M. John Perrier was told that
the President of the Election Committee had authorised the
employment of the lists ; it was in vain the President him-
self asked that the name of any one citizen should be given
who had been prevented from voting in consequence of those
lists against which M. Perrier had raised his voice; it was
in vain he declared that in his opinion the election was legal
from the beginning to the end, and was perfectly valid ; it
wos in vain that he appealed to the feelings of equity of his
own political friends, who formed the majority of the com-
mittee. M, John Perrier was unable to quote a single in-
stance tending to invalidate the election ; but he persisted,
nevertheless, in his demand. The partisans of M. Fazy
ranged themselves ou his side, though not without hesita-
tion on the part of many of them ; and the committee, ex-
ceeding their powers, and thus violating the Constitution,
refused to record the decision of the electoral body. It was
learnt with stupefaction that the committee did not choose
to render valid an election which was against M. Fazy.
The announcement of this arbitrary decision of the 17 par-
tisans of M. Fazy, who formed the majority of the commit-
tee, was not long in spreading through the town. The in-
dignation was general, and the Independents repaired to the
Molard to protest against this unconstitutional decision.
Certain speakers gave expression to the feelings of the
public. All of them exhorted the people to beware of de-
viating from the path of legality, but at the same time to
claim before the authorities redress for the outrage which
had been inflicted upon them. At half-past one o'clock the
assembly left the Molard, and eyelet in procession to the
Hotel do Ville to lay before the Council of State their de-
mands—namely, that the result of the election should, in
accordance with custom, be proclaimed. The request of the
assembly was presented by a few citizens chosen for that
purpose, and who had to wait a long time before being ad-
mitted to the presence of the Council of State, who at first
did not consider they were numerous enough, and who after-
wards were deliberating with M. Amberny, the President
of the Election Committee.
When the delegates were admittel, they expressed to the
Council of State, with firmness and with great moderation,
the wishes of the assembly whose spokesmen they were.
Their moderation was not difficult, for the magistrates
whom they addressed seemed to lament as much as they
themselves lamented the decision of the committee. The
members of the Council of State concurred in considering
the decision as arbitrary, as having been dictated by un-
justifiable party spirit, and as having excited a feeling of
animosity which they could not be expected to share, but
which they admitted was natural and legitimate. They
expressed themselves as quite disposed to afford every :sa
faction in their power to citizens whose complaints appeared
to them well founded ; but, added they, " What can we do ?
It is no duty of the functions of the Executive to render
the election valid." The delegates admitted that the law did
not vest the Council of State with the confirmation of elec-
tions, and what they only asked for was that the result of
the election should be proclaimed, and further that it
should be announced that the General Election Committee
would be immediately called together to reconsider the fatal
decision they had come to. This re-assembly of the COM*
mittee had already been resolved upon by the Council of
State, as the end of their conference with M. Amberny, in
which conference the President of the Election Committee
had warmly expressed his opinion on the conduct of the
members of the committee. Furthermore, the members of
the Council of State promised to use their utmost influence
personally with their friends in the committee, in order to
induce them to revoke the decision they had come to.
On leaving the Council of State, the delegates found
the crowd waiting impatiently for an answer to their de-
mands. While they were conferring together, M. Amberny
had, with great warmth and feeling, expressed to the
assembled citizens the grief and deep stupefaction he
had experienced in finding the committee deaf to his
solicitations, and refusing to confirm an election which
he considered as perfectly valid. The crowd were not
satisfied with the decision at which the Council of State, in
unison with the delegates, had come to ; their desire was
that the election should bo forthwith declared valid. They
imagined that the Council of State, or, at least, some of its
members, were aware beforehand of the decision of the com-
mittee, and they thought that what the Council of State had
permitted to be done it might very properly undo. The
delegates, in conjunction with a large body of citizens, took
pains to explain to the crowd that the Council of State, in
refusing to pronounce the election valid, wore acting ac-
cording to law, and that it was not right, in order to correct
one illegal act, to commit another ; that on no account
shonld there be any departure from the path which had
hitherto restrained public indignation within legal bounds.
They repeatedly asserted that the members of the Council
of State had promised to support their views before the
Electoral Committee, which would be immediately called
together; that besides this, in the event of the committee
failing them, recourse might be had to the Grand Council
and to the Federal authorities. They added that the Coun-
cillors of State had, without exception, shown their eympa-
thy for felios -citizens who had been the victims of a great
injustice. Finally, the crowd accepted, and even received
with some cheers, the following resolution :—" The Coun-
cil of State resolves to publish the annexed extract of the
prom-verbal of the election for a member of the Council of
State, which took place on Aug. 21." " 11,164 voting papers
were given out, and 11,054 returned. The committee de-
clared valid 11,025. M. A. Cheneviere obtained 5,577 votes.
In c Aisequence of a protest against the decision of the corn-
mitt ce, its President, M. Amberny, has again called it to-
getl ter to reconsider the matter.
S. AtiCOMMUN, Chancellor.''
This resolution was read aloud before the Hotel de
Viii to by a Commissary of Polite, wily immediately set out

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