The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-15 00:00:00

0130
0 7 0

TFlltginT, LONDON?, TITURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, Is4o,

SLAV E TRADI.: IN EtiYPT.

ALEXANDRIA, SEPT. 6.--M it Yon 11411
r:esg,—On the 4th o` Soptember last I had the honour
to iay before your Highness -in addre.:s the del -
gates of the Anti-Shivery Convention, recently held io
London, expressive of the gr.itification it afforded that
body to learn that your Highness in your late expedi-
tion into Africa had prohibited the crime of man steal-
ing and the practice of paying the Egyptian troops sta-
tioned in Dongola, Sennaar, and Cordofan, in slaves, a
practice which, on the part of your authorities, had
hitherto been pursued without let or hindrance.
The communication I had the honour to lay before
your Highness further expressed an ardent hope that the
slave trade in every place that is subject to your autho-
rity would be entirely prohibited, and the great evil of
slavery itself ultimately abolished.
On the occasion of my presenting the address of the
Anti-Slavery Convention to your Highness, 1 observed
with feelings of unfeigned satisfaction the interest your
Highness evidently took in the question of the abolition
of the slave trade, and I fully understand that your
Highness is persuaded of the necessity that exists for the
total suppression of it.
\Vhiic this trade, however, continues (as I am sorr,
to find it does) to be a source of revenue to your High-
ness, it is vain to talk of its suppression at Sennaar.
find for each slave sold in the bazaars of Cairo and
Alexandria, a tax is paid to your Highness of one dollar.
and on the exportation of each slave another dollar.
Independently of these duties levied by your Highness
on the sale of men, there is a direct permission sold

to every Gellab to exercise his vile calling, and
become a member of the Company of Slave-dealers, in
the same way that the various classes of artisans,
bakers, butchers, shoemakers, &c. in Cairo and Alex-
audria are licensed, and obtain the privileges of a mono-
poly in the exercise of their respective callings--a license
which is called esseadof, and given to the Gellabs as to
any other Company, legally sanctioned by your High-
ness. It unfortunately happens that it is not in Egypt
only, but at Constantinople, and at Smyrna like-
wise, that this trade in human beings is turned
to the account of Government, and that a re-
venue is derived from it. A tax of two-and-
a half per cent. is levied by the Sultan on the sale of
every slave, or one pars in the piastre of the price o'
each, on the payment of which tax a paper, called the
" penjtk," or licence, is given to the Gel lab, and is re-
garded as evidence of the legality of the sale. Your
Highness must therefore feel that any application to
the Mufti at Constantinople to obtain his consent to the
change in the law which I have heard recently sug-
gested would be preposterous while the Grind Sicgnior
protects the trade and derives revenue from it.
Since I had the honour of conversing with your
Highness on this subject, I have visited the slave
markets of Alexandria and Cairo—the former frequently.
I have also anxiously inquired into the truth of the re-
ports we have received in England, of the cessation of
the slave-hunts on the part of your people in the upper
country, and consequently of the limitation of slavery,
and the hindrance of the trade in slaves.
I have made these inquiries of persons worthy of al.
confidence, of persons who had even recently returned
from Sennaar—of those who had actually accompanied
your troops in the African slave hunts ; and, expect-
ing to find the trade impeded, the imports diminished,
sad the markets depressed, I was grieved to find these
markets thronged with slaves, as heretofore, every notion
of decency outraged, as of old in the centre of your cities;
the women in these stalls, in many instances ex posed to the
public gaze, in a state of nudity, or exhibited to the
purchaser with a scanty covering round the loins, or a
greasy rug hanging about their shoulders—the unfortu.
nate creatures still subjected to the same catty-like
treatment, to the same exposure and examination of
their persons ; and moreover, on the authority of the
slave traders themselves, tLe continuance of the "bunts,"
and the extension of the ravages of the Egyptian plun-
derers, on the borders of Abyssinia, still going on.
It was with great surprise I discovered that the ex-
port of negro slaves from Alexandria to Constantinople
and Smyrna was still carried on under the protection
of European flags ; that one " cargo" of human beings,
only a few weeks ago, had been shipped on board at,
Austrian vessel for Smyrna, and that fraudulent decla
rations had been allowed to be made, in which the slave:
were described as the " servants" of the shipper.
And with no less wonder have I learned that withit
the last twelve months two slave hunts have been con-
ducted with all the regularity and parade of a large
military movement, and not only were connived at, but
were actually aided and abetted by the authorities of
your Highness at Sennaar and its neighbouring districts.
An opinion, notwithstanding. had of late become pre-
valent in England that you had taken such measures for
the ultimate abolition of the slave trade, as had already
sensibly affected slavery itself, or at least diniinished
the supply on which that system mainly dependee
for its continuance. It can hardly be imagined how
much error has been disseminated on this subject
amongst a class of persons not much accustomed to he.
deceived by the apologists of those who sanction slavery,
or give to its terrors the blandishments of an under-
stated acemisiat of its enormities, and a 'very exaggerate
one of the ''teps that have Veen tak&t' for their'preven.
tion. Nor will your Highness be able very readily to
comprehend the extent of our credulity, when you con
sider only for a moment the crowded state of the slave
markets of Alexandria and Cairo. At the present time
there are nearly 200 women and children exposed foe
sale in the slave markets of Cairo, and upwards of 100
in that of Alexandria. On the 30th of August, 1840
the following were the numbers in the slave market of
Cairo :

Abyssinian women
Ditto boys
• Negro women 75
Ditto boys

1,191
These returns were obtained from one of the principal
Gellabs of the slave market of Cairo ; and the following
from the general book of registry, kept by the same per-
son, of all the slaves brought from the upper country it
the year ending the 3) t of August, 1840 :
Abyssinian women . . . . 1,700
Ditto . children . . . . 120
Negro women . . . . . 3,000
Ditto children . . . . . 270

- 5,090
. 400

Eunuchs . • • .
Negro men of different countries, not brought
down to the markets of Cairo and Alexandria,
and sold in Sennaar, Daifour, &c.

5,000

10,490
So that the number of negroes captured by your people
in the different slave hucts during the year ending Or
31st of August, 1840, exceeded ten thousand.
Now, I have positive information that a large portion.
of this number were captured by inaurauding parties
composed chiefly of your soldiers, and consisting of
many as a thousand persons on a single occasion, cominv
from Sennaar so recently even as 1839 ; nay, more, that
your troops were paid even so lately with the slave
taken in one if those expeditions. My informant, a
German naturalist, who was at that period in the ser
vice of your Highness, and who accompanied you;
troops on these expeditions, has given me the details at
large, and of their fidelity there cannot be the slightest
doubt, corroborated as they are by the evidence of other
Europeans still in your employment..
This state of things, may it please your Highness, and
the atrocious mode in which these unfortunate countries
are ravaged by your Egyptian and Nubian subjects, tin
people of England will learn with extreme regret, arid
the members of the British and Foreign Ant:-Slavery
Society will lament to find that one solitary act of justice
to the negro race, performed by your Highness in your
expedition to Fezaglian—naincly, the liberation of the
slaves who were brought to you at that place, and the
verbal prohibition of the slave hunts issued to you;
officers on that occasion, so far as regarded the pay.
ment of your troops with the stolen men—has produced
no beneficial effects, and has not been follo.vi d up by
any other measures of bona fide efficacy th it are ea'eu-
lated or intended to put a stop to this abominable trade.
The members of the Convention will hear with sur-
prise that at Cartoon,:in the vicinity of Sennaar,
French soi distill/ Consular Agent, not regularly ap-
pointed, but for some years past permitted to retain the
title and to exercise the authority he assumed, a man
of infamous diorite' e--nevertheless, recently decorated
with the cross of the Legion of Honour, ofotfhselanvaems,eoonf
Ve:sier, is not only deeply engaged in this odious traffic,
but has for some years past been the proprietor of an esta-
blishment for the reception and " storeage"
the plan of the breeding farms of Virginia, kept up for the
purpose of supplying the Egyptian market with slave
dren of a tender age. It will be a matter of deep regr,t
as well as of surprise to that body, to learn that such
a miscreant should be suffered to settle in a place under
your authority, and that after a formal complaint pre-
ferred by the Doze of Wertemburg to the Congul-
Gen2ral of the French nation at Alexandria, detailing
the enormities of this man in the prosecution of his
odious trade, he should still be permitted not only to
remain under French protection, but be considered a ft
person to be recommended to the especial favour e: his
Sovereign for a mark of distinction, that commonty is,
or ought to be, the reward of merit.
It cannot be denied that it is in the power of your
Hii.h less to prohibit the crime of stealing men on the
part of your people, and the introduction of this species
of plunder into the countries over which you rule.
It would be in vain to tell the people of England that
the slave trade was to be tolerated in Egypt on the
ground of its legality. That plea can only be admitted
for its continuance by those who are utterly ignorant
of Mohammedan law. It would not be believed that
a prince
who has the power to triumph over the deepest
rooted prejudices of his people—to carry his victorious
armies into distant countries—to oppose successfully
the greatest obstacles that can be thrown in the way of
the accomplishment of his political designs, had not the
means at his command of abolishing this trade, and
putting an end to the evil practices that have grown
out of it.
Amongst these, perhaps, the most barbarous of all is

still tolerated, and even encouraged by your Highness
cruel, sangainary, and most atrocious practice of
mutilatine men for the empose of enhancing their value
t- e market, and, to the disgrace of Er, pt, this cowory
still continues to be the only part Of the Ottani In Le‘
pire where it exists.
The civilisation of Egpt, may it please your ll!gli-
ness, so long es this disgraceful crime is tolerated by
your functionaries, and sanctioned by your Highness's
purchase and employment of the stolen men thus muti-
lated, for the especial service of your private dwellings—
it will be in va:n to boast of.
One of the most devoted of the servants of your
Highness, Clot Bey, in his recent work on Egypt, states
that the practice_ continues as heretofore, that not much
above one-fourth part of the children who undergo this
operation survive it, and that the number of eunuchs
that are made every year is about 300. Some opinion
may then be formed of the waste of life that takes place,
of the hundreds it 4s necessary to kill to have the num-
ber that is here given of the survivors of it.
In conclusion, may it please your: Highness, I would
beg leave to recal the facts to which I have endeavoured
to direct your attention.
1. At the expiration of nearly fifteen years I have
visited Egypt for the second time, and I find slavery
and the trade in slaves unchanged in their character,
awl unrestrained by any measures of your Highness
adopted for their suppression.
2. 1 find the slave markets glutted with negro worm la
and children as heretofore.
3. 1 find the exportation of slaves from Alexandria
for Turkey, on board European vessels, carried on openly
at the present time:
4. 1 find the prices of slaves actually lowered by the
increase of the numbers brought down to Alexandria
and Cairo, and those slaves, childeen and women, sell-
ing from 600 to 1,500 piastres a head, or from six
pounds sterling to fifteen pounds each.
5. I find the slave hunts arc carried on by your
people, and even by your soldiers, as usual, and the
only prohibition that has been issued, is one given in the
presence of certain European Consuls at Fezaglian, that
never has been carried into effect.
6. I find-the same evils arising !min this nefarious
trade, and the same barbarous monopoly in mutilating
beings permitted as heretofore, and even encouraged by
•your authorities in Upper Egypt,
For the grievous wrongs that haie-beeti inflicted on
the people the promptest reparation -:is due to, Africa,
and permit me to add, the debt is one which, in justice
to yourself, your Highness cannot leave unpaid. When
[hat good work, which was commenced at Fezaghan, by
the liberation of the slaves that were brought before
you, shall be accomplished, as I pray it will be by the
immediate emancipation of every captive that is brought
into your country, the blessings of the -poor strangers
who have been so cruelly oppressed, and are at length
destined to be delivered by you from their sufferings,
will then plead for a benefactor, who, in the discharge
of the high duties committed to him, had endeavoured
to do that which was " just and equal to all men."
Such. may it please your Highness, is the humble
prayer of
Your Highness's most obedient Servant,
R. R. MADDEN.
To his Highness Mehemet Ali Pacha,
Viceroy of Egypt, Alexandria.

PEACE OR WAR QUESTION.

SPIRIT OF THE FRENCH JOURNALS OF

TUESDAY.

Generally speaking, the leading articles of the Paris
journals are without much interest. The Constitutionnel
replies to the leader of the Debats from which we gave
some extracts in our last number, but its answer is
merely polemical, and throws no new light upon the sub-
j•,•ct. The Constitutionnel repeats its former arguments
in support of the policy of the Cabinet, and charges the
Debats with a kind of jesuitism in its opposition, calling
•ipon it to declare itself openly the enemy of the Mi-
nistry, and not to conceal its enmity under the cloak
of impartiality. The Debats, again adverting to the
revolutionary cry which has been got up under Cie
pretext of enthusiasm in defence of national honour,
craws a melancholy, but probably, not an exagge-
rated picture of the success which has attended the
.fforts of propagandists and revolutionists. The success
has been (says the Debats) a success of terror, for where
enthusiasm for war has been created in one mind by
menacing cries and seditious pro Cessions, terror has been
instilled into fifty. Who (says the Debats) are the
men who with one hand agitate the country, and 'advise
it to plunge into universal war, and with the other push
.t towards the gulf • .of: revolution?: Where is their
Mirabeau or their Napoleon ? Where is their talent,
titer shedding torrents of blood,. and -inflicting upon
France all the .horrors of anarchy', to reconstitute a Go-
vernment, after having overthrown all existing institu-
tions ? " The anarchists," adds the `Debats, !‘ may stilt
')e able to inflict a great deal of- calamity upon tin.
nation, but we defy them to do anything else." The
Debats asks if it is possible,, after ,reading the exCitinF
ted seditious articles of some of the, joiiinals;, and
witnessing the frantic demonstrations of the •war
• party, who denounce as traitors, and _enver& .all:sihoir
•hey suspect of being dosirons of pence; nut to sup-
,ose that the reign of anarchy has commenced. "The
'aws," continues this journal, " are openly trampled
ion, the Charter, is despised, rolalty is insulted with
a total disregard for decency, and the Chambers are
lireatened with popular vengeance, if they'should dart
to deliberate as free agents. One is no longer per•
;nitted to have an opinion of one's own, and whoever
I a not for immediate war—universal war—is declares:

obe a partisan of foreign s'ates." The Debats con-
.;lutles by observing that its experience of past times
mikes' it a duty to point out to the Government and to
the country the present alarming symptoms ; but it is
evident from the whole of the article that the writer
loes not despair of finding good sense enough in the na-
tion to crush the hopes of the revolutionary faction.
rhe Siecle makes an appeal to those ultra-patriots, whr
triply the words coward and traitor to every man wlu
does not allow himself to be terrified by popular cla
mour from the exercise of the right of judging o
events by the standard of his own reason. The Siech-
isks, whether on the supposed eve of a contes'
rhis kind of division at home is calculated to increase
the strength of the people against their enemies
,abroad'? The Siecle then recommends that con-
tempt should be shown for the different calumnies
against public men, which are in circulation, amongst
Nbich the most general are a charge against M. Thiers,
that he is a partisan for war, and the revolutionising of
►Il Europe, in order to gratify some monstrous ambi-
tion ; and against the King, on the other hand, as at
advocate for peace even at the sacrifice of national
ionour. The Siecle asks, whether the nation are not

Ilike agreed to accept a peace, which---shotdelleaVe
the honour of France intact, or to reject conditions
Nhich would be accompanied with dishonour. This
question from the Siecle is of considerable importance,
'or it is the reputed organ of M. Odilon Barrot. This
Journal has not entirely lost the power to calm the
storm which it has assisted in raising : and having now
declared that peace pith honour is the object of the
party which it represents, and which party is very in-
duential in the Chamber of Deputies, it may fairly be
nterred that there is not in the extreme left a deter-

nination for war a tout prix ; but, on the contrary,
a disposition to accept peace, if it can be had without
the sacrifice of national dignity. The Quotidienne has
t vary long article on the state of public feeling, and thi
lforts of the revolutionists, in which, speaking of tilt
nausiusni for war, it says—" Every war of exaltation
enthusiasm, or fanaticism, ends fatally. National feel-
ing causes the success of war. The revolutionar:
spirit makes war formidable. This is somewhat diffe-
rent." The Quotidienne adds, ~ National feeling in
France is opposed to the revolutionary feeling, and this
s so true, that, since the invasion of the revolutionary
,pirit, there is nothing but selfishness in France. War
a a country of selfishness is impossible. What ! war.
hat is to say, the sacrifice of all private interests for
he gratification of M. Thiers, of any other selfish in-
crest at the head of society ! this would be too mud?,
,ven for the best patriots. War, when the feelings of
society are truly expressed by the Government, has soma
meaning, for national feeling is then inspired and go-
verned by a sense of common interest ; but war, when
the coteries, whose existence may cease to-morrow,
declare themselves the organs of national feel-
ng—such a war is a mere deception." It
of the present excitement, has only
would seem from this article that the Quotidienne,
a hick should be carried on by a
which certainly has not been idle in the creation
advocated a war
ment of its
own choice. . It is curious enough that all the organs of
he different parties have been ir,fluenced by similar
considerations. The National has cried " War, war,"
but has always taken care to add, that no other war
propaganda could be
than a war of revolutionary pro
suc-
cessful. The Capitole, which is also furious for war,
Govern
assures us, that only the Bonapartist propaganda could
succeed, and that war upon any other
Republicans,
be disastrous. Here we have Legitimists'
principle would
and Buonapartists, all shouting for war, and all under
the same pretext, es the maintenance of national
exhort
dig-
nity, and yet they are all as much disagreed in their
plans, and are in their principles as much opposed to
thuenyanwimeriliey,,going to war with them-
selves, and not with what they affect to call a common
each other, a s if
to
enemy. It is not surprism
should
and the Debats inquire
whether a cry for war raised by such organs can be
said to be the legitimate voice of the nation.
We extract the followin,► from the Revue de Pa,i; :
—" The events which have taken place in Syria have
imposed new duties on the policy 01 France. In the
presence of the execution, so hasty and so violent, of'
the Convention of Loudon' there wore new resolutions
to be taken, new eventualities to be foreseen. For the
last week the Cabinet has had to deliberate on all the
elements of a situation, the future circumstances of which
cannot but add to its gravity. Never was there greater
need of joining maturity of Counsel to energy of action.
Of all the measures brought on by the Ministers, the
meeting of the Chambers is the only one that is to re-
ceive an immediate execution. The speedy summoning 1
of the Parliament will have, we hope, for its effect, to I

die Government till the trit?ral force of which it

has need. Within a fortnight the Cabinet will d:mand
from the eoneurronce rif nur fundamental institutions

an assistance which it f el. to be n-ce,zsary. &ace
the 15th of July the policy of the Cabinet has

been composed of a series of eonsi:rvative arts,
which it has tried to maintain the position of
intact. In presence of a treaty which sensed to offer
the combinations and the frame-work of a coalition, the

Ministry has taken all the precautions and safeguards
which the most ordinary prudence suggested. It has
armed the country, but it has menaced no one. At no
point has it denounced hostilities ; on the contrary, it
has every where attempted to negotiate when the nego-
tiation appeared to be of any utility. Thus, M. Thiers
has just addressed a memorandum to Lord Palmerston

in answer to his note of 31st August ; and then, in a

despatch accompanying it, has protested with energy
against, the dispossession of Mehemet Ali ; and has

demanded that he should be freed from the effef.:ts of

the decree for dispossessing him ; that he should be
maintained in the possession of Egypt ; as a'so, that
the Allied squadrons should make no attempt against
the Turkish and Egyptian fleets which are in the har-

bour of Alexandria: There ig reason to believe that it

v.-pares with the views of the Powers which signed the
Convention of London, cot to give a new theatre to hos-
tilities at the present moment. Thev will content them-
selves with the demonstrations they have made in Syria,

and this winter the war will be confined to that country.
Ibrahim on his side cannot entertain the idea of march.

ing to Constantinople ; the rigours of the season which
is approaching. must hinder him from thinking of it. It

will be sufficient for him to defend Syria, and in the in-
terior of that province to strengthen all his means of re-
sistance. It is thus that for several months the parties
opposed to each other may remain in presence without
doing much ; and during this kind of forced armistice
diplomacy may intervene. There are strong reasons
why the Powers should not wish to execute the decree
of dispossession of Mehemet Ali. In case of the Viceroy's
being dethroned, who is to take his place? Who could re-
press the anarchy that would arise in Egypt, and against
which the nominal power of a Governor sent from Con-
stantinople wou!d form a very indequate barrier? Russia,
too, will exercise with regard to Egypt the same veto
against England that the latter Power has opposed to her
with regard to Constantinople. England will affect to re-
spect Egypt, just as Russia will avoid showing too much
haste wiJi regard to Constantinople. This momentary
moderation, which the force of things imposes on these
two Powers, may be taken advantage of to lay down
a limit beyond which the maintenance of the peace of
Europe would he impossible. This is what M. Tillers
has just done in his reply to Lord Palmerston. In
demanding the maintenance of Mehemet Ali in the
possession of Egypt, the French Cabinet does not
abandon any of the views and opinions which it has
emitted on thet ensemble of the Eastern Question ; it makes
no premature concessions concerning such or such a
part of Syria ; it does not pronounce for the moment
its opinion on these questions ; but it declares that, as
for Egypt, it will see a cause of war in the execution of
the dispcsession of Mehemet Ali. If Egypt is re-
spected, if the hostilities of the Powers do not go be-
yond the frontiers of Syria, France can continue to
negotiate, while she will protest against the Tcaty
of the Quadruple Alliance, and the commencement of
execution which it has received. She can offer her me-
diation, and intervene so far as to obtain for Mehemet
Ali more favourable conditions. But if the Powers
should go to extremities, if the unjust dispossession pro-
nounced by the Divan were executed, France could not
consider these violent attempts at dispossession as any-
thing else than a real case of war. It is true that hos-
tilities might not be denounced against herself direct,
but would it not be to insult and wound her if the
Viceroy, with whom France has been in relations of
close friendship for ten years, were attacked in the heart
of his power ? At the same time it cannot be too much
observed that, if France were to decide upon giving
Mehemet Ali positive assistance, she would not for
that declare war against Europe. She has very evi-
dently the right of protecting the Pacha ; and the
Four Powers, in signing the Convention of London,
had not the pretension of chaining France, or of tak-
ing away from her the liberty of action. If France
should next spring judge it apropos to lend the Viceroy
the assistance no longer of her counsels only, but also
of her ships and her soldiers, she would not be challeng-
ing any body, and it could only be said that she was de-
tending herself. If we are destined to make war, let us
make a political war, and not a revolutionary one ;
let us make a reasonable war, one worthy of the
genius of our country and our civilisation, and not a war
of savage propagandism. Some people think that by
:cuing loose the declamatory madness of revolutionary
phraseology, by calling the people to us, and by setting
up the pretension of applying to their ignorance and
their weakness the maxims and lessens of true liberty,
we shall gain them to our side. This is an error a de-
plorable error. We should on the contrary disgust
them. Propagandism is the most flagrant violation of
outnan right. It is the exercise of violence, it is the
abuse of strength, it is the Saturnalia of force. As for
repeating, as some men arc ceaseleisly doing, that we
Nish to extend our frontiers and to conquer the left
hank of the Rhine, nothing can be more useless, nothing
more dangerous. Foreign Governments know so weir
cite effect produced by tl.ese mad explosions, that lately,
at. Berlin, the Cabinet of Prussia had an article of one
of our Radical papers (in which the possible conquest
of the Rhenish provinces, which was called in it a Prus-
sian France, was broached) translated such distributed
in all the cafes and public places, where it provoked
the most violent irritation against us. Let us learn by
skill and moderation not to throw Germany in spite of
herself to the side of Russia."
M. Rothschild has aduressed the following letter to
the Constitutionne/, in consequence of some harsh ob-
servations made in that paper against his house :
“ TO THE EDITOII OF THE CONSTITUTIONNEL.

" I itiz, Oc'r. 12.
" Mr. Elitor—ln spite of my repugnance to draw
public attention on myself, I cannot do otherwise than
reply to an article which appeared in your paper of this
morning, in which my halm: is quoted in the strangest
manner ; the nature of your attacks makes it a duty
'or me to break a silence to which I am generally

inclined.
" On the faith of a Paris correspondence in the
Times, you designate me as having menaced the present
Cabinet with a formidable opposition, shculd war take
place. You add that I, an Austrian subject, and
Consul-General of Austria, care little for what is re-
quired by the honour and interests of France.' In
short, you terminate your article by this invitation : It
these reports are false, we have given M. Rothschild
the opportunity of contradicting them publicly, and of
proving to the country that he has not the pretension
of disposing of majorities and administrations.'
" What contradiction would you have me give, Sir,
to such a supposition? I cannot but feel astonished at
seeing men occupied in serious pursuits ascribe such
pretensions to me.
" I have never, at any time, opposed the Govern-
ment, for the very simple reason that I never wished to
play a political part. I am, as you say, a man of
finance. If I desire peace, I desire an honourable one
for France and for Europe, and in all circumstances
men of finance have their portion of services to render
to the country, and 1 bchevc that in that respect I have
never been found wisisting. 11 France is not my coun-
try, it is the birth-place of my chldron ; I have inhabited
it for thirty years, and have in it my family, my affix.
tions, and my interests.
‘' I do not doubt of your readiness to insert this
answer in your paper of to-morrow.
" I have the honour, Sir, to salute you with distin-
guished consideration.
"BARON JAMES DE ROTHSCHILD."