The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-03 00:00:00

TREATMENT OF FRENCH POLITICAL

EXILES AT CAYENNE..

The following article, apparently an official an-
swer to the statements made by M. Louis Blanc
and his friends respecting the treatment to which
political exiles are subject at Cayenne, was pub-
lished yesterday :

(From, the Afoniteur.)
Although certain calumnies are refuted by their own
grossness, it is nevertheless good sometimes to oppose
them by direct explanations. An endeavour has been
made through certain publications to make foreigners be-
' lieve that the men sent to Guiana had been the victims of
the worst treatment, both during the voyage and since
'heir arrival at Cayenne. The following is the answer to
thin accusation. An idea truly philenthropic presided, it
is well known, in the suppression of the bagnes and the
establishment of Cayenne. It was justly considered that
the convicts of the baguet+, encumbered in France within
confined and unhealthy spots, might be much better
treated in a colony, where they could amend their lives
and become useful. To this category, by virtue of the
decree of Dec. 8, 1851, were added the men that formed
part of the secret societies, the majority of whom Were
released criminals. Since the commencement of transpor-
tation to the present moment, the number of individuals
sent to Cayenne and belonging to the self-styled political
category, has amounted to 320, a number which, from the
last returns, was reduced to 180. The diminution wasi ow-
ing to rather numerous escapes, to successive discharger+
through feelings of indulgence, and to 52 deaths, rece4led
in this category over a period of more than tour year's, a
number that may surprise by its small amount, when we
refit ct that yellow fever has prevailed to an extraordinary
degree in Guiana under its epidemic form. Duriog the
stay of tho,e individuals in Guiana, the administration of
the colony, far from deserving the slightest reproach on
the score of hard treatment, has, on the contrary, ex-
tended its care, consideration, and forbearance, as far
as possible. This has been attested even by letters from
the interested parties themselves. This class of prisoners
has never been confounded in the penitentiaries with the
others, either on the isle of La Mere or on that of St.
Joseph. They have always had special establishments
assigned to them. For a long time they were main-
tained without being required to perform any regular
work. This tolerance had necessarily its limit. It is a
minority that has set itself in a state of opposition to the
regulation appointing work in the penitentiaries—a work
for the rest regulated in every essential condition, so as
not to impair either their health or strength.
The clemency of the Emperor has been already ex-
tended, as we have just seen, to a not inconsiderable
number of the prisoners reported to be penitent, or who
were only known for their continued submission to the
system to which their rebellion bad subjected them.
Even among these, however, there were many whose
antecedents, in a criminal point of view, were deplor-
able. Their descriptions swarm with statements that
would have justified the classification of them either
with old offenders previously discharged or with con-
riots. There are among them, we are fain to admit it,
many that have been condemned, not by the present
form of government, but by that of the republic itself.
Let it not be forgotten, in fact, that Algeria bad re-
ceived, in virtue of a law passed in 1850, the most dan-
gerous portions of the insurgents of June, 1848, and that
a certain number of these men were merely sent from
Algeria to Guiana as a change of place, the reason being
their own bad conduct in the establishments of Northern
Africa.

From the beginning the persons transported to Guiana
in virtue of the decree of Dec. 8, 1851, have been scru-
pulously lodged apart from the convicts, and only
momentary meetings caused by circumstances have
ever occurred between the old offenders and the
so-called political offenders, many of which last
had been discharged criminals themselves. The meet-
legs, for the rest, consisted in the location of them on one
and the same island, but never beneath one and the same
roof. The obligation of work, common to all, has a
theory been understood in a uniform manner, that is
to say, the compulsory right possessed by the authorities
went so far as imprisonment, and everywhere the priso-
ners have been bound, awarding to their capabilities and
strength, to work in erecting dwellings and in gardening.
But in fact, it may be said, that the so-called political
class have enjoyed a large relative amount .of liberty.
Many have received leave to reside at large upon bail,
either in the town of Cayenne or in the quarters ; those
who were confined either on the isle of La Mbre, close
to Cayenne, or on the isle of St. Joseph (one of the isles
du Salut), have only taken a secondary pact in the labour.
At a later period, under the administration of Rear-
Admiral Bonard, this class or category, always except-
ing the men out on boil, were as.embled on the third isle
du Salut of the Devil's Island, the rule being laid Amen
that those who should show themaels molt—dangerous
by their resistance to the orders of the authorities were
to be sent on board the hulk Castor, and there detained
under strict discipline. Rear-Admiral Bonard thus
described the system in force for the individuals sent to
Devil's Island, in his correspondence of March and
April, 1866:
"i have specially assigned to them the Devil's Island,
where a few trials at gardening had been made, and some
huts raised. I have supplied them with materials for
the completion of their abodes, upon whieh they have
set to work with all the ardour that novelty inspires.
Devil's Island is at this moment under the vigilant eye
of M. de Richerie, without a single guard or gendarme.
I have merely taken the precaution of removing from
them the boats, and every other means of escape. One
of their own number has been called to take the super-
intendence of this turbulent population. Everything is
going on well at present. I dare not hone for anything
permanent and properly organised on the pert of these
eccentric and fickle-minded persons. I have been able
to ascertain this without risk, and the arrival of the
Castor, with its cells of confinement, enables me even
to remove from this little colony all the fomenters of dis-
order, should any such make their appearance. Resig-
nation, then, has become the order of the day, and for
the present, alone, without guards, without gendarmes,
upon Devil's Island, they can freely discuss their theo-
ries, provided they submit to the authority of that one
of their own body whom. I have made responsible. As
yet they appear content, and enjoy good health. They
are working with a will at the construction of their cot-
tages, and at their gardens and poultry-yards, with a
view to improve their condition. Every other day they
receive an allowance of provisions to last f )rty-eight
hours ; they themselves distribute the portions and dress
their provisions. From the summit of Royal Island we
can see with the naked eye all that is going on in Devil's
Island."
If this were the proper place to compare the amount
of work imposed upon these transported convicts with
that which is the lot of the convicts, properly so called,
in the penitentiaries of Guiana, it would be evident that
there is no analogy between the treatment and condition
of those two classes of persons. The labour of the for-
cats Is prescribed to them, it is strictly compulsory, it
is always gratuitous, and really of a pro3uctive kind,
and it has always been exacted from them with as much
regularity as the trying influences of the climate would
allow. It is by the hands of the forcats that the estab-
lishments of the Isle Royal, the Montagne d'Argent,
and the Comte, have been formed. In the two first of
these, the temporary wooden structures for barraCks and
hospitals, the temporary magazines, defensive works,
pumps, and cisterns, have been replaced almost entirely
by edifices or buildings of brick and stone. In the third
place two establishments have been formed, at St. Marie
and St. Augustin, and at thii time two others are in
course of formation. There Were in June, 1856, on the
Isle Real, 919 forcats, all white men ; on the Isle La
Mere, there were 221 ; at the Montagne d'Argent there
were 189, andin La Comte there were 838; besides which,
in July, two fresh drafts, numbering about 0041 seen,
were introduced at the Montague d'Argent. It is by
the labour of these criminals, assisted by two or three
hundred persons under judicial punishment and about a
hundred and fifty negro convicts, that the penintentiaries
have actually been formed, and that they are carried on
under the able and persevering management of the
officers and agents charged with their direction. The
necessary conditions of their constitution, with the cruel
embarrassments caused by the yellow fever and the
climate in general, will account for their agricultural
labours, without their having been neglected, being still
to some extent unproductive. As regards the class of
convicts said to be transported for political offences, it
may be said that, with rare exceptions, they have come
to Guiana only to exhibit their idleness and their useless.
ness there.
As for their treatment on board ship, the captain of
the Erigone gives some detailed particulars, the precise-
ness of which will serve completely to refute the false
accusations that have been made.

The clothing supplied to them at starting was not
uniform, but it was such as to prove the care which has
been taken to clothe the persons transported differently
from the foreats ; they had given to them pantaloons,
paletots, bought from the Brest outfitters, woollen
shirts, and boots or shoes taken on board in the ship
stock. Their food was the same as that of the crew and
of the detachment of troops on board, and no vessel
sailed nithout a commission having tested the good qua.
lity of its provisions. Their water was taken from the
same tanks which contained the water furnished to all
the others, even the officers of the staff. Who will be-
lieve that the Erigone carried some provisions specially
laid in which were damaged, and which were set spirt
for the food of the persons transported ? Such an im-
putation refutes itself. Each class of passengers Deco-
pied Feparate quarters, and toe men bad no communi-
catim with each other. Every precaution was taken to
.1 Prevent a mutiny, but, happily, we had no occasion to
have recourse to such means; they showed themselves
submissive and obedie.ot to the prescribed orders. As
for their health I spared no pains to secure it. The
portholes were regularly opened at sunrise aril closed at
sunset. By such means, and thanks to the fine weather
we enjoyed during the voyage, I arrived at the anchorage
of Cayenne on the 27th of June without a single person
on the sick lkst."
These last words, "not one on the sick list," include
everything, and are a complete answer to everything.
They clearly disprove the assertion that each prisoner
on board was allowed a space of 90 centimetres. The
passengers on board the Erigone were 400 persons ; the
vessel had also the craw of 101 men, and 50 soldiers
And watebnien. The Erigone was an old 44 gun frigate,