The Sun.
London, England, 1814-12-30 00:00:00

1.14.ENV4A PAPERS.

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' • ticiAninF.lt Cr 17111tY'rir.s.---SerTiNG or Site !lilt Dec.
- - . STATE i'llisoNF..B.s.
M. Skatelon ,•froin the Committee 'of Petitions,
presented a• report. Nineteen old prisoneri of
State, he said, among W/10111 were Major=General
Desoldo Grissollei, and other old officers, repre-
sented to the Chamber that they had been de-
tained intlitferent state prisons for a considerable
space t• .f time. Some of them had been impri-
soned for 10, 11, 12, and 13 Consecutive years
ur•-: of them for 15 years.
The petitmers were most of then at first t 6n-
fined in the castle of Vitacennes ; but the eight
strAig castles designated by the late Government
not being sufficient to contain the.immense num-
hur-of prisoners of their class, several of them had
been -distributed into various ordinary prisons.
The ptilioners were sent to Saint -Pelagic and
Bieetre; where a separate quarter was established
for' them, worse in every respect, _they say, than
the State peiions which they left., They had been
all interrogated as prisoners of State by Count•
Solivcs, pursuant to the Decree of the ad of
March, 1810.
The 33d article of that Decree imported that
there should be granted /o such of these prisoners
as should require it, a sum of two francs per day,
as allowance, besides the ordinary maintenance,
which it appeared was fixed by the Police at a
sum o?: two francs.
The 19 petitioners bad written frequently to the
Duke of Rovigo, Minister •of Police, to,demand
this sum, but had never received it. Their claims
had no effect, and they were deprived. of every
thing. Several of their unfortunate .comrades
were dead of misery. They themselves have lost
their health, and expended all .that,ronained to
them, after sacrificing a part to obtain soine„ coin,.
munication but of doors. • They say that the -Ali:,
'sister touched the four francs allAssved them, and
appropriated them to his own use; they, there-
fore, consider him responsible, and demand: tlo
he should pay %dna is due. They think, that at,.
all events, that Minister should-he Inadu responsi:l .
Me for the violatints• of the decree of whip!, the
execution was entrusted to him ; thoy demand that
either he he condemned to pay them, whqt was:
their dne, because he received the amount, or that
the State should give them that indemnity.which
they have in vain demanded of the oh! Directors,
General of Police, since the restoration. .
Major-General Grisolles has also preferred • 4
steond petition, cc-I-training details and a, new
demand relating exclusively to himself: He had
been tried as .a Vendean, in the year 12, before a
Special Commission, and. unanimously acquitted;
but this judgment, which. would have been
carried .intii execution in 24 hOurs, had he heed
found guilty, did not -obtain for him his liberty.
Ile was conducted to the Templejrcno whence he
was taken, after three years of sufferings and. out-
rage, to be plunged in a dark and unwholesome
enngeon bf the Ilicetre. He declares, that, fur i
years he tats subjectO ut..eVery species of perse-
entiOn and torture.' He was.put on his arriv:tl
(such are his own words), into ast raitsvaistcoat, an
inStrnme-tit Of torture designed for raving maduteti ;
-in' t his state he was dog-ged intda dungeon;- there
the' very firSt day be was -tied ,neck acrd heels in
such a v.-inner, that he could not raise his head
half and inch. •His couStitution; naturally Strong,
disappointed the hopes of his persecutors; ,ttrey
• had recourse,;silys the petitioner, tl.nring the.. se-
/stunt' Winter of his confinement in• the Biectre, to
i-.. 1 refineui nt. in erueltrso atrocious (lc -ording to
his own expre-‘sionst". that the history of prisons
--aKordSim•parallel •to it. litey had the interior
of his thingeon, Alii-ch:l--ias but.7eight feet square,
pew plas'ter'ed, in order- to,hasten his,tlesyuction.
Ilere. •they shit; iron up.. the, very day after th. 2
ve*-41cnieti-had finished ; to. his compiaints they
drily replied', it signifies nothingthere you
in-oat:remain:" 'Every part of his badly was c'tJ-e,IIY
effected. Hiss 4:fight ill particular was'Aripaired ;
It has contiiined weak ever since ; : and such, he
addi„ svitt h1:3.-state, that the physiciiin, whmn his'
cries brought to his•assistanceoinrsOint`tittempt
anything.for his relief in so unwholesome a place.
Crimes ofAlle most atrocious nature,, murders in'ttl
poisonings'''. tire sttited by him to have been per-,
ptltrated in *this: piison.
.The -King'S..attorney
'n'ent thither-Icy Orderof the Grant! Judge ,to _,talie
his'ileelarations and draw up' a report. •Eltamioa7
' f;this took' place, but they -were quashed, accord-
.ing to the petitiotict , through the kit:lilt-11:7e of the
Old police, ‘Ol-i-it interest it was to•witlihold such
• horrors from the cognizance .of jAwice. Ile,
therefore, prayed the, Chamber to .1-Wug them to
pithishinent, and to cause the proceedings formerly
inStittited tor that purpose tir-,be con.titltica:
Snell' was a succinct analysis of' these-t wo--;peti.
thins: 'The Committee,. said M. Sartelon,..exr
' perienCed the mosc*rainful feeling, in reading
them. Personal liberty..was the most. valuable
tight of _social Mate:, :.Political iiberty had fur its
ininciyal object to secure its maiutetlance. When
politicaTliberty :was attacked and destroyed, the
ohket Sias almost ':always. to violate personal
liberty; • The greatest:crime .which conic! be cont-
lnitteil:in a state which has laws, especially in a
constitutional monarchy, is „the violation of civil
liberty,--- , - , ..- .
_, .
- ' he chart Ar--which we owe to ourgood King hap-
pily'g ti.:e il, us froin-these abuses; he will never asstri I
the lih'eily or Prenchislen of whonilte is the father.
.4. Ili, idnisters will nes:ATWish, or at least cannot
eih'ct it.' The gill elcatribers.-are in headiness to
'support !the benefil:etit-yiews•pf:the,king,:in order
- to--accuse -:.1-ndluttlge• 't hose whoshoold 'dare to pr0,,;(1.i
,,;(1.i be, iraiooi, zirhitraxily arrest,-and -imprison a
Fri!nch- citizen. N.cs•stibjeet
.of. _the,--kin., can be
t -e,
. arre;:ted, butt hi 1 imtle,;of art qrikr of fr„.i.est, land
, ..
• iu otr'er-. to he b-rought to trial within the period
peeserilred by law. itll•other arrest) all other. intr
prisiyfimetlt•is illegal, am!-will; certainly h(;.1)„p;„1,,
ed•inTranc.t, sellce'Ver be the aitthoy,Of the 0i,L.,.
,
siven for sa.n.th perrTiose. ..- . ' ~.,„..
gut what canitot•trowt. take dace •,,jiy ;it I.:;a,t:
with impunity; unquestionab,iy.-4.: er, oop t:i. t is,
-ei:
• iiireclpo e vrninent.:. Viviilt.b....tjeleii.,ll-it!le (!}.l._ltAi
s tii-ot ion -bf the•year S c,p0,411; ,-.;i1,1,q40i.V.L.,5ec1i,-7.:
Eities for pet‘shnot4iiter ty it 400,. it w iit•,itiiVi.re to'''.
lush foe. -1 ii-tTe•- ex i steel ii,l,-iki;,il4.2,A ctriAl t ItT.;
cllleii: that -.Of Pe rsonai. 14-11)ert,y,',...:-Afliq it yi:.,s,
--ihring tilt (?•xigrettee..pf,slits4.:cqnytitqOna,l enl'et- '
toent!s, that there -was-andaeidilt y ''fished and
.„....-,;„ ~.

iws'Oft-t4 ;Iv otir kvAirs, lir &Tee of
-the 3d of March, 1810) of which the airee lines ,
tolitain a complete code of tyranny :.
Considering that there is a tertank nunibtA 'of our soh-
:lea's ietrtiised to state prisons, whom it is not totavenicut to
bring to tali nor to set at liberty, &c." 4t4"
What resections did not such a.statt of things.
excite ?
But the Committee, in perforinineg a. sacred
icif proclaiming and- defending the
principle,/ of personal liberty b- woilld a , with
rcligions•eare, every thing. that might excite re-
action in• public opinion. France is reconciled
herself.:. after .-so many calamities, ,:dte
breathes iigain under the government of a legiti-
mate king. ObliviOn of the past isrpromiSed by •
him. The constitutional charter guarantees our
rights'. The late government is tis.if it had never
been ; and may deem itself happy, were it in our
power to forget the calamities it inflicted.
The following- are the conclusions' which the
Committee has come to on the' two petitions
deem it certain from the inquiries they have
,
made, that the petillaters did nOt':reeeive the
money Which. should have been allowed them for
their maintenance in pursuance* of the decree of
the its March, 1810 : also that their names %ver,
not entered on the list of those for whom such
funds were provided :—I bat the late Minister, ei-
ther from -want of adequate funds, or from- smne
other cause, constantly refused to grant the pe-
titioners the 4 francs which the -ibove decree as-
signed to them.
This was doubtless very-nu.olst and erne; -treat-.
ment : they were entitled to eomiirain of it. The'
law was violated in regard t-,-; them_; this can ad-
mit of no doubt. •
After•-•the rest-oration, they iipplied- to the- Di:
rector-6eueral of
.t_he Police of the :kingdom.
that the held ‘of-tlie'late Govern-*,
inenthard not phiced at Olt' di•pusrll'Of Ole Duke
of Hot i,o limns siiftieient t it the !illy of. all. the
plisoriers of state. Ileexpr:sse;f :his regret to
the petilioner,,
_that it was not :at that moment
tit. hi por% tr. them ;'but he invited
them to prtfer their ciai!'.is to thc trilana IS egaillst.
fit' 1)1(1 , ageuts of (.;overintieot,---ci.ii-Cus Which
Would necessarily I.e
• NeVertheless„-fs it was po<.:siblethat the Police
might latterly ha-ve funds tin to grant
relief- to the,pjtiii.onets, and as additional proofS
"might be pre/retired, Which had hitherto escaped
the present pulleemagistr,ites, tt e Chani'der ‘eoil;(1
probably think that it \vas, proper to send back to
GOeserumetit. petition 'of tlicSii s:ate-pti-
sont:rs.. As to, the separate petition of -M. (-via-
solles, relative to the cruelties he had expe-
1-411qt:14.and the emitinuation 'of the 'pros-em-
lions ordered by the 'Grand Jii‘L-e, it riould .be
proper to send that also to the Government.—
c....inies of. which complaint is wade are pro-
for.by the laws.. If proved, they Must be
punished. - •1'
The petitioner seems to have thought that the
Charter of thet4thof June retitle-red the old Mi.
sisters as well .as ibt!.new,linpeacliable by the
t een Chambers. This was-a nti;t:ilie.- The
,Con-
:antioa of the year B:contained enactments quite
different. Alinilters.and Agents ,Of .the de--
.parted• Government: coubl-not be aceusedloracts
done in the. exercise
,of their functions, but by
order of the Sovereign, given iii the Coutil of
.Stme. it was the King, therefore, whoth the
petitioner should address, and not the Cliamar„
as time Pulse of -Rovigo. former Minister of Po-
lice, Was- nut impeachable by it altos ~ and as a
deelsiou'of the Sovereign was• previously neces-
sary:. From these considerations, the Committee
proposed.that the petitions should he sent to Go-
vernment. The Chamber decided accordingly.

roLi( r, INTELLIGENCE.

ii011"-NTILEF:f.

DA,RIXG,SIIII,.ET Itnal3Eny.—Vesterilay
Payne onglit to the Office from St. Cle.
incnt's,Watel.i-hotise, chargiNl with being con-
cerned kith Allot Ler map, in committing a hi; i-
wav,robhery at Til!lpk-I,mr, op Wednesday night.,
Charles Dz;y, a Ada 13:yeiir'S of ago, a
servant to Mr. John Befeves-,. a jewelli-r, of St.
Paul's Church-yard, stated, that on Yir.eshrelUfay
night, about ten o'clock, as. he ,was returning
home through Temple-bar, whet: lie Was nucler the
gatewi;ly or the 13:ir, he was seized b'y the pri-
soner and another twin ; the
.prisnuer held
while the other man forced hisit-melt nut of his
pocket, and ran oil with it ; the prisoner conti-
nued holding him, and
.kuncked him down Into
the carriage way, and be, then ran off; he fol.-.
lowed hint, and the prisoner happening to- rim
among some watclintri, they secured him.
Mr. Benjamin Bennett, of Wood-street, Cheap-
side, said he was passing Temple-bar at the time.
the robbery was Committed, and saw two men
hustle the boy, and fidlowed the prisoner had
knocked the prosecutor clown,. and was rnnhing
aad came Up with bun just as lie had got
among the watchmen,. and charged hint with be
ing the man who had robbed the boy, and assist-
ed in steuring bun. lie ITas fully committed to
NetVgate for trial.