The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-30 00:00:00

Zbtrb Vitlititin

FRANCE.

The following is a full -report of the Ministerial
explanations on the subject of the treatment of the
Spanish refugees, given in yesterday's sitting of the
Assembly :
At 2 o'clock, M. Corbon,iVice-President, took the
chair, when M. Joly ascended the tribune to address
questions to the Ministry relative to the affairs of Spain.
M. Joly said that he had been charged by Spanish
refugees to lay their grievances before the National As-
sembly. Immediately after the revolution of February,
the Spanish Government sent to Berlin a Minister
Plenipotentiary, General Zarco del Valle, to offer
the co-operation of Spain in the event of
the formation of a new coalition
.against France. On
arriving at Paris the General heard that a revolution
was imminent at Berlin, and having consulted his Go-
vernment he was instructed to proceed on his mission,
but to report that his object was to examine
certain fortifications. General Zarco del Valle was well
received at the Prussian Court, and having delivered
his message, he succeeded in prevailing on Frederick
William IV. to recognise the sovereignty of the Queen
of Spain, which result he could not otherwise have ob-
tained. The French Government was well aware of the
real nature of his mission; but instead of resenting the
hostility of Spain, it gays her a mark of friendship,
by appointing Chargo d'Affaires in Madrid M. de
Lesseps, who, as Consul of France at Barce-
lona, participated in the two reactionary move-
meta:s which took place in that city. Since then a new
cordial understanding commenced between the Spanish
and French Governments, and it soon became so
intimate that the latter stationed on the frontier a
s'ucial commissary, named Labriere, who had filled the
?sane funcaons under the Ministry of M. Tbiers. The
duty of that functionary was to watch the intrigues
te aetest the Queen's Government, and to remove into the
iaterier of France the Progreseista or Republican ene-
mice of her Catholic Majesty. 'That functionary had
nate& himself the agent, and he could add the accomplice,
c" :he wholesale murders perpetrate I of late at the
„setlii.e side of the Pyrenees. He had repaired to Figue-
rtm end Puycerda, on the Spanish ter, story, to concert
eneeieures with the Catalonian authorities. It was owing
t) his exertions that M. Escosura and two Spanish
...-ttleers were arrested and conducted to the citadel
Perpignan. M. Escosura was formerly a member
of the Spanish Cabinet, and being hostile to General
a'arvaez had been apprehended and confined in the fort
of St. Marguerite, at Cadiz, until the departure of a
vessel, which was to transport him to the Philippine
Islands. M. Eecosura escaped and sought refuge on
board a French vessel, which safely landed him in France.
The papers found in his Possession were transmitted to
the Spanish Ambassador, in Paris, who forwarded them
to Barcelona. On receipt of those documents, three Cap-
• tains of the Spanish army were arrested at Barcelona,
tried by court-martial, sentenced to death, and executed.
The Cabinet of the Republic, he regretted to say, fol-
lowed towards Spain precisely the same line of policy
as its predecessor under the monarchy. The other fact
denounced by M. July referred to the revolt of 69 re-
cruits and deserters, embarked on board a vessel at
Santander, who brought the vessel into Panillac. After
being detained there prisoners for some time, they were
delivered up to the Spanish Consul of Bordeaux, who
sent them back to Santander, where they have been sen-
tenced by court-martial to the galleys. AL July trusted
that the Minister for Foreign Affairs would be able to
reply satisfactorily to those two chat ges.
M. Bastide, Minister for Foreign Affairs, sail that
Lesseps had been appointed Charge d'Affaires at
Madrid by M. Lamartine, on account of his noble con-
duct at Bercelona during the bomb trduient of 1843. As
regarded the charge of following the policy of the pre-
ceding Government, he replied that, in his opinion, it
was the interest of France to have no distinct policy in
Spain. Ever since Louis XIV. a system of intrigue
had been pursued with respect to that country, which he
reproved. lie followed the directions laid down by M.
Lamartine, which consisted in countenancing no
party or lottery in Spain, and maintaining relations with
her founded on mutual sympathy and fraternity. As re-
spected the documents alluded to by lel. Joy, and which
were said to have served to convict three officers at
Barcelona, the accusation was totalle unfounded. The
refugees, whose names were mentioned, had, it was true,
been arrested, because they were conspiring on the
French territory against the Queen's Government, and
their papers seized. Those papers had been sent
up to Paris, and he had refused to commu-
nicate them to the Spanish Ambassador. They
hail been placed under seals by his orders; they
still remained unopened, and had been read by nobody,
not even by himself. He affirmed it on his honour.
M. Dufaure, Minister of the Interior, replied, that
peace existing between France and Spain imposed upon
both duties which France could not refuse to fulfil. If,
after the revolution of February, no precautionary
measures had been adopted on the Spanish frontier,
it was because the Queen had granted an amnesty,
which permitted the refugees to return to their coma-
. try. But, when it was ascertained that the am-
-- -nesty was not general, France, in virtue of the
principles of the law of nations, took measures
to disperse the bodies of refugees who assembled
• on the frontiers in order to invade the country, and
seized the arms and ammunition they had collected on
• deiarent points for that purpose. N. Ledru Rollin
3d been the first to order those measures, and his con-
. • -et had been subsequently imitated by his successors,
e:esers. Recurt and Senate. It was the latter who ap-
a anted the Special Commissary, al. Laari re, on the
• . e September last, for the surveillance of ;he six Iron-
, departments, end who gave him the necessary in-
.- aetions. M. Dufaure then read two circulars ad-
. sit-: aced by him to the frontier authorities, reminding
tee-• a of the obligations they owed a friendly nation, and
• recommending them impartiality and moderation. M.
Escosur a had been removed to Chaumont, on his arrival
iri France. M. Escosura subsequently asked to be al-
lowed to proceed to the south of France. Hie demand
was acceded to, but he was forbidden to reside in any
of the frontier departments. M. E-cosura paid no at-
tention to the prohibitien, and repaired to Perpignan,
where he opened relations with the disaffected on the
• other side of the frontier. M. Escusura was arrested
and his papers were seized and forwarded to the Ministry
of the Interior. M. Dufaure, considering them a mere
depot placed in his hands, never op- i.eit them. A few
days ago he had delivered them to the Minister of Fo-
reign Affairs, who brought them back to him the even-
ing before, unopened, as he had received them. Those
papers had neither been seen nor touched by the Spanish
Ambassador, and they could not consequently have served
to convict the three officers shot at Bareelons.With regard
to the schooner Montanesa, brought into Panillac by 69
soldiers, who had forcibly seized the vessel, this affair
had occurred before his accession to the Ministry. But
the documents he had found in that department proved
that his predecessor had acted as he should have done
himself under similar circumstance,. Those refugees
hae not landed on the French territory; they were on
board a Spanish vessel, and France had-no control over
them. M. Dufaure, in conclusion, maintained that
France could not suffer civil war to be organized in
her territory against a friendly power, and would con-
tinue to fulfil the duties imposed upon her by inter-
. national laws. The utmost moderation, however, was
recommended to the French authorities, and many re-
fugees were even allowed to reside on the frontier. M.
Salamanca had applied for leave to remain eight days at
Pau. M. Dufaure had consented to it, provided he re-
turned immediately to Paris. M. Salamanca, however,
had not kept his word, and was still at Bayonne.
M. Job, replied that the Minister of the Interior and
Foreign Affairs might not have opened or read the
papers seized on by M. Escosura and his companions;
but that M. Labriere had not been influenced by the
same scruples, and must have taken copies of them,
for the sentence of the court-martial stated in po-
sitive terms that the documents, which served to con-
vict the three officers, had been deciphered, thanks
to the key found among the papers of a central
junta that met in France. M. July asked M. Dufaure
if he could pledge himself for the morality of M. La-
briere, and if he was aware of his having been concerned
in a fraudulent musket contract with the notorious
Vidocq, for which he had been tried by the Court of
. Correctional Police.
M. Senart, former Minister of the Interior, said that
• on the 25th of September he had appoiuted a special
Commissary on the Pyrenean frontier, whom he had in
. etzucted to exercise a close surveillance in the six adjoin-
ma. departments, and to oppose all facts contrary to the
taw of nations. then explained the part he had taken
trio affair oft Montanesa, and the incident having
• rnainated, the Abseil:l,bl commenced the discussion on
a_c estimates of the nevi ]commenced

XTRA ORDINARY
One of the most extraordinarELOPEMEN T.
-nat has probably ever been heaveOfnesof elopement
this present
me engaging the attention of the publil !tt
surrounding districts, and proves thsaltn•Preston and
locksmiths," for in the present instancleove brokelaughs
gs
-otigh iron bars, removed bolts and lastenint and
f
iriied the eye and strict surveillance of the keepers o
,vatic asylum.
On Saturday se'nnight the village of Chorley, usually
30 quiet, undisturbed, and unexcited, except by every-
day occurrences, was thrown into a state of extraor-
dinary commotion by the following romantic adventure:
About two years ago, Dr. J. Seed obtained a license
for opening his residence as a private lunatic asylum, and
he received as a patient a young lady, about 23 years of
age, named Elizabeth Durie, and daughter of the late
Captain Durie, of Astley Hal', near Manchester. She
was considered to be of unsound mind, and incapable of
taking care of herself or property. The latter, it is
stated, was about 3,000/. a year.
Some time back, a groom, nun( d Ellis Norris, laid
siege to the hi art of the cook at Br,:iigh Hall, where his
master used frequently to visit, butt finding that ho
was not so warmly received as i.o hail anticipated
le would be, he tranaferrA d his affections to
_Miss Durie, whom he frequently saw looking
ia it of the windows whilst he was waiting for
his master. When ho found that he could treat
with her, that her heart beat responsively, and her eyes
a 1 )oked love to eyes that spoke again," he plied his suit,
and for twelve months he has continued to visit and
solace the imprisoned virgin. ha managed to do
by applying, 'Death the pale glimmer of the moon, a
ladder to her window, and, on taking leave of her, con-
cealing it in a disused coal-pit.
At length a marriage, but first of all an elopement,
vas concerted. A license was procured by Norris, who
is said to hie eairried it about with him for nearly six
-weeks. The-might of Friday week was the time ap-
pointed for their flight. and the young Lothario hurried
off to Brough.liall. Having arrived there the young
ad) • appeared.at the window, threw out her bonnet, de- t
seen, led by the ladder, and was speedily in her lover's