The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-07 00:00:00

A PLEA FOR O'DONIsTELL.

A letter from Madrid of the 31st ult., in the
Momiteur, says :—" In order to appreciate exactly
the events which have taken place in Madrid, the
manner in which the last change in the Ministry
occurred must not be lost sight of; whilst the
happy influence exercised by this change can alone
be understhood by a recollection of the state of
anarchy
tars, which the Peninsula has escaped. Mat-
as far as the Crown is concerned, have
followed a perfectly constitutional course. The
resolution which confided the chief power
to the hands of Marshal O'Donnell was
derived from the legal exercise of the preroga-
tive of the throne. The Ministry having offered
its resignation, in consequence of internal
dissensiens, her Majesty had at first hoped to
have succeeded in introducing the two marshals
into a new combination. Espartero having pro-
posed conditions which could not be accepted by
O'Donnell, this latter, before accepting the mission
iof forming a new administration, considered it
proper to remind the Queen of the great political
Influence exercised by the Duke do la Victoria.
The count himself represented to his colleague the
grave nature of the events which might accompany
that statesman's withdrawal, and employed sincere
efforts in endeavouring to persuade him to keep
the presidency of the Council. The Queen took
her decision only after having in vain endeavoured
to maintain Espartero's presence in her council ;
and it is undeniable that Marshal O'Donnell, on
his side, so far from having wished to supplant a
rival, neglected no measure which could ensure his
co-operation. Espartero positively refused ; and
then only did the Queen proceed, in virtue of her,
constitutional attributes, to form a new ministry to
replace that which had abandoned her amidst the
most complicated and serious difficulties. The ac-
counts of certain foreign journals, according to
which this change was accompanied by forms
savouring of a coup cl'etat, are founded therefore
on a completely erroneous appreciation of the facts
of this crisis. Doubtless Marshal O'Donnell was
compelled to recur to force in order to maintain
the royal authority ; but his conduct in this cir-
cumstance in no way affected the laws of the
country. He only suppressed an insurrection
which no measure nor word of the new ministry
could explain. Before having accomplished
any act, the minister was encountered by a vote
of distrust on the part of a minority of the Cortez,
and by musket shots which proceeded from the na-
tional guard united with the rioters of the fau-
bourgs. He was attacked instead of having been
the aggressor; and if that struggle, which he had
not sought, permitted him to substitute a conser-
vative policy for a revolutionary one, ho obtained
that position entirely by an entirely legitimate de-
fence. Those who, in reality, abandoned the
constitutional path, were they who failed to respect
the decision of the Queen, and attempted to sub-
vert by revolt a Ministry which was established in
a regular manner, and of the programme of
which they were still ignorant. It is thus,
we firmly believe, that history will judge the
respective conduct of the two parties which found
themselves in hostile presence in the streets of
Madrid and Barcelona. It is besides fortunate
for the Peninsula that the ultra faction of the
Progressist party should spontaneously have led to
its own destruction, and afforded an opportunity of
bringing to a close a system of disorganisation and
anarchy. It is impossible, in fact, not to admit the
gravity of a situation which the certain tolerance
of the demagogical party had created in the pro-
vinces, even more perhaps than at Madrid itself.
For two years, owing to the impotence of the admi-
nistration, subversive doctrines had been dis-
seminated without hindrance amongst the work-
ing classes. Last year the evil effects of such doc-
trines had been seen at Barcelona, and in a num-
ber of other localities of inferior importance. Inde-
pendently of acts which did not cease to give
neoofs of a hotbed of socialism in Catalonia, at the
smile period acts of violence of the same naturetook
place on a vast scale at Valladolid, Palencia, and
Rio-Seu. Threats against property, cries of death
against the rich in the most industrious provinces
of the kingdom, are proofs not only of the progress
of socialism during the last six months, but of an
organisation becoming stronger and stronger of the
juntas which directed that combined movement.
It is certain that it the military force has put down
these risings, the bad spirit of the civil administra-
tion was more calculated to encourage than to pre-
vent them. And even had the civil administration
been disposed to cause property and public order to
be respected, it found itself paralysed by the false
ideas which prevailed in the Cortes and by the un-
certain directions wh'sh were sent from Madrid. It
was thus that at Valladolid the persons most ar-
dent after pillage were liberated convicts, who were
allowed to be there by the fault of the police.
Thus also the insurgents of Madrid forced the pri-
sons to obtain additional assistance. Recourse to
such singular auxiliaries to defend a constitution
which had not been violated, and to repel a coup
d'ctat which had not been attempted, proves suffi-
ciently what suggestions the insurrection obeyed,
what was its real object, and with what danger it
would have menaced not only the royal authority,
but the whole range of the social order, had it tri-
umphed."

SHOCKING MURDER IN FRANCE.

(Front Galignanis Messsnye;•.)

The quarter of the Fauhourg St. Martin has just
been the scene of a frightful murder. About four
o'clock the morning before last the attention of the
porter of a house in the Rue de la Fidelite was ex-
cited by a noise in one of the upper stores. Fearing.
that seine of his lodgers were about to effect a clan-
destine removal, he got up awl went out of his
lodge to see what was going on. Scarcely had he
ascended a few steps of the staircase, when he met
a man, who is a clerk in a public administration,
named K--, who occupied a room above, bearing
on his shoulders the naked body of a woman with
the head cot off. On seeing the porter, and alarmed
at the cry which that person raised, the man threw
down the body, ascended hastily towards his room,
and jumped out of the window on the second floor
into the street. The upper part of a shop window
on the ground floor broke his fall, and he came
on the foot pavement without having received any
injury, and ran off as fast as lie could towards the
Faubourg S Danis. Few per Sons were in the
street at that hour in the morning, and no one
• consequently stopped him. Information having
been sent to the commissary of police, that func-
tionary was soon on the spot accompanied by a
medical man. It appears from the preliminary in-
vestigations that K— about two years ago fell
violently in love with a young girl, with whom he
had resided in the house for more than a year, but
she one day disappeared. After searching for her
for several months he at length discovered the
fugitive ; hut notwithstanding his earnest entrea-
ties she refused to renew her acquaintance with
him. It is thought, however, that on Saturday she
had come to K---'s room, and that during the
night was perpetrated the horrible crime of which
the circumstances are as yet but very imperfectly
known. The room on its being entered was found
in the greatest disorder, and everything covered
with blood. The head was found in a pail. It is
supposed that must have accomplished the
decapitation with a razor while his victim was
asleep. The age of the girl is considered by the
medical men to be about from 23 to 25,-but nothing
has yet been discovered to prove her identity. The
body was consequently removed to the Morgue.
It is supposed that ' fancYing that every one
was asleep in the • house, would have carried the
body into the street, and there left it, thus giving
•- an idea that the murder had been effected in the
public road, but the waking of the porterdiscon-
certed his plans. Rolehane intended to manage with
the head •is by no means clear. The police are
making a strict search for no. clue to him
. haS been had. The following him, but
details :
—The murderer's name is Poirier, his acre is 35,
and he was employed as office porter by the So'
te d' E migratio u Franco-Americaine, whose offices
are at that address. On Saturday the chief
em-
ployJs of the company, on the termination of. the
business of the day, said that they should go into
the country in the evening and stop till Monday,
and they left him in charge of the offices. la the
evening he wont out, and after stopping some time
-returned. with a young and pretty woman, who went
upitairs With him, the concierge making no objec-
tion. Tn the night the concierge, as already stated,
was awakened by a strange noise on the staircase.
He got up and found Poirier dragging down by the
legs the body of a woman with the head cut off.
The chemise of the victim was tied over the neck,
• probably to prevent the effusion of blood. The
concierge whose name is Ferrageau, horrified, cried
for his wife to come to him, and armed himself with
an
,old sword which ho possessed as a retired
Its then said to Poirier ..—" \Yr' / what
have you done ? You shall not pass!" What mat-
ters,"‘ ;aid "Potrier, "whether
iI
pass or not 9 I am
l
. avenged on a woman who has made me' suffer• a
good deal; and I have no wish to escape ! Arrest
me if you like !" lie,•his owever returned u p stairs,
and the concierge and h
the police. The police wife hastened to summon
at once proceeded to the
man's bed-room on the sixth storey, but did not
find him, nor any trace of the crime. They ac-
cordingly descended to the offices, the door of
which was open, and found that the murder had'
. been committed in a kitchen attached to them L
, ,
which fitted up as a bed-room. The first object
that attracted their attention was an iron balance
forming part of a letter copying press;
.and as it
::-‘ was covzred with blood, and Lai ball. aillicli2)3 to