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

The Recent Disturbances at Geneva.

W e (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 Clow 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
__ld E. „„,,t„• than rmrs: we felt convinced that our poli-
tical adversaries would raise their voice ►ouutr 1.1.111 U U., c I,
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 forget they were not able to
prevent it.
Our expectaticns :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 Council of State, to supply a vacancy occasioned in
that body by SI. Challet-Venel, who had been called upon
to perform the duty of Federal Councillor. There were two
candidates—M James Fazy and M, Arthur Cheneviere.
The presiding officer of the election was M. Amberny, who
belongs to the party of 31. Fazy. Before the opening of the
poll the election committee of the Independents had requested
M. Amberny'a 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 ct those voters whom
they had ascertained to be dead, although appearing on the
ofLial 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 31.
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
thu Central Committee, insisted upon the election being
annulled. Ile 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 on 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 theta. At half-past one o'clock the
assembly left the Molard, and went in procession to the
Hotel de 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.

theOi s Crowd o 4
]savingt
h they
y
When the delegates were admitted, 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 satis-
faction in their power to citizens whose complaints appeared
to them well founded ; but, added they, " What can we do I'
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
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
ta ealr g
totehse
ifroudned.
the Council of State promised to use their utmost influence
personally with their friends in the committee, in order to
hnes d w
induce them to revoke the decision they had come a
t to.
While they were conferring together, M. Araberny
had, with great warmth and feeling, expressed to the
assembled citizens the grief and deep stupefaction he
the
waiting iCr
oopuanf ci
ei ln
toi
yf
for State,
a n
had experienced in finding the committee deaf to his
solicitations, and refttsihe• 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 be forthwith declared valid. They
imagined that the Council of State, or, at least, some of its
members, Were aware beforehand of tho 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 largo body of citizens, took
pains to explain to the crowd that the Council of State, in
refusing to pronounce the election valid, were 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
should 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 premised 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 sympa-
thy for fellow-citizens who had been the viciims 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 ennezed extract of the
proces•verbal of the election for a member of the Council of
State, which took place on Aug. 21." "11,101 voting papers
were given out, and 11,054 returned. The committee de-
clared valid 11,025. M. A. Cheneviere obtained 5,077 votes.
In consequence of a protest against the decision of the com-
mittee, its President, M. Amberny, has again called it to-
gether to reconsider the matter.

"S. AUCO3f7TUN't Chancellor."
This! reE;olutiou wa3 read aloud before the Hotel de
Ville by a Commissary of Police, who immediately set out

to publish it, wording to custom, in the different quarters
of the town, preceded by three drummers, and accompa-
nied by two ushers in their official uniform, and followed
by a crowd of citizens who fell into procession, leaving the
courts and neighbourhood of the Hotel de Ville completely
deserted. It was then half-past 3 o'clock. The procession
crossed the streets of the Hotel de Ville, the Rue Ver-
daine, &c., reached the Pont des Berguis, and on arriving
at the other end of the bridge turned to the left and entered
the Place Chevelu. During the whole of their course they
were frequently saluted with cries;of " Cheneviere for ever,"
to which they answered by similar cries. Nowhere where
they met by any hostile demonstration,
There was nothing, therefore, to prepare this peaceable
procession for the strange spectacle which awaited its ar-
rival on the Place Chevelu. On the right, and rushing from
the bottom of the Ruo Cendrier, a dozen men, armed with
muskets, and commanded by a public functionary, made
their appearance and posted themselves at the entrance of
the street. The head of the procession was not more than
five paces from the armed men when one of them lowered
his musket and fired upon the mass which had crowded
into the narrow street. This shot wounded two persons, and
immediately induced the citizens who had been so brutally
attacked to move rapidly forward. They endeavoured to
get hold of the muskets carried by the band who were
running away, and thus reached the Place Chantepoulet,
but on entering that " Place" they perceived on their left,
drawn up in a line, about 80 individuals armed with mus-
kets, and two cannon were placed so as
.to command the
whole of the street. At this sight, while one portion of the
citizens were reforming themselves in procession behind the
Commissary of Police and the drummers, the greater num-
ber remained scattered over the " Place," viewing with
astonishment an armed body of this description, whose
criminal intentions they could not believe in. Their illu-
sion was of no long duration.

Among those persons of whom the procession was com-
posed, some were of opinion that they should march on, and
not allow themselves to be stopped in the peacable exercise
of their rights as citizens, by the formidable obstacle which
barred their path; others, on the contrary, considered that
what had taken Omen in the Rue du Cendrier, showed to
determined to go
they said to advance would be madness, that, being unarmed,
it would be rushing not to a combat, but to a butchery ; " it
is true we have no arms" replied ono of them, "but it is
that which constitutes our strength." The opinion of the
most prudent finally prevailed. It was decided that the
procession should remain where they were, and that the
Commissary of Police alone, with his escort of drummers
and ushers should proceed to meet the armed band, and
summon it to disperse. This was accordingly done. The
Commissary of Police had proceeded half way between the
head of the procession and the top of the street when one of
the armed men signed him to stand aside. At the same
moment three or four musket shots were fired in the air,
and these were immediately followed by the discharge of
musketry, which, directed from about 150 paces upon the
crowd, scattered in the street and on the "Place," struck
down several citizens, three of whom were mortally wounded.
The armed band then marched down the street directing
their fire on the crowd that was running away, not even
sparing those who were lifting up the victims of one of the
most infamous guct-a-pens of modern times. It was nearly
four o'clock.

The first shots fired in the Rue du Cendrier had already
determined the retreat of the greater part of the procession,
which, after having re-crossed the bridge, proceeded rapidly
towards the Hotel de Ville. On their way there the noise
of the discharge of musketry in the Rue Chantepoulet
reached their ears, and immediately the cry "To Arms I"
arose from this unarmed crowd, in momentary expectation
of being pursued by the assassins who had plundered the
arsenals of the Saconnex. The last remains of the proces-
sion came up some minutes later, with an account of the
murders which had just been committed, it became urgent
to provide for the public safety, and the gendarmes on
guard at the arsenal of the Hotel de Ville, having refused
to open the gates, ladders were raised against the windows
by the citizens, who by this means penetrated into the
arsenal, and divided among themselves the muskets
that were found there. A few barricades were soon raised in
order to defend the approaches of the Hotel de Ville, but
the citizens who were thus arming to defend themselves
against any fresh attack, less well provided than their as-
sasins, had not at their disposal the ammunition of the
State; they were without powder or ball. They had, how-
ever, muskets and bayonets, the alarm bell was rung, the
yenerale was beat, and they calmly waited to be attacked. The
attack did not, however, take place. The assassins, exult-
ing at their victory, contented themselves with barricading
the bridges, with placing cannon there, and firing musket-
shots from time to time on the passers by.
At a quarter before 6 the battalion of recruits encamped
near the town (which the citizens who were in possession of
the Hotel de Ville had suggested to the Council of State to
call in) made their appearance. The same citizens had
already declared their readiness to destroy the
,barricades
which they had erected, and to lay down their arms, upon
condition that those who occupied the portion of the
town on the right bank of the Rhone would on their side
lay down their arms, and also destroy their barricades,
Ono of the members of the Council of State, which subse-
quent to the firing had been prevented from leaving the
Hotel de -Ville, had proceeded to the bands who occupied
the bridges, and had proposed this simultaneously disarma-
ment, to which they had acceded. The recruits accordingly
occupied, without meeting with any resistance, the post of
the Hotel de Ville, and the citizens were thus relieved, by
the presence of a regular force, from the fear of any fresh
attack, and although not numerous or with much expe-
rience, resolved and prepared to do their duty, they went
home, counting upon the arm of the law to chastise the
crime, and only asking from the magistrates, whose friends
have just assassinated theirs, the application of those laws
without which no society could exist even for an hour.
As regards the assassins who promised to lay down their
arms, during the whole of the night they paraded the
streets, firing their muskets, forming patrols, and mounting
guard upon the theatre of their exploits.
Wo might add numerous details to this statement. We
could mention the names of some of the men who joined
company with the assassins whom they had provided with
weapons ; we could tell you what voice, still more criminal
and more cowardly, urged on miserable fanatics to dishonour
the banner of their party. But justice has commenced its
work, and we shall not inflict upon ourselves the sad task of
anticipating its revelations.
For the Independent Committee,
The President, Cm D.I.II3LAS.
The Secretary, Tx, RILLIET.
Geneva, Aug. 27.