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

A PLEA FOR O'DONNELL.

A letter from Madrid of the 31st ult., in the
Moniteur, 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 understood by a recollection of the state of
Mat-
Snatchy
which the Peninsula has escaped. Mat-
ters, as far as the Crown is concerned, have
follovred 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
dissensions, her Majesty bad at first hoped to
have succeeded in introducing the two marshals
into a new combination. Espartoro having pro-
posed conditions which could not be accepted by
O'Donnell, this latter, before accepting the mission
of forming a new administration, considered. it
proper to remind the Queen of the great political
influence exercised by the Duke de la Victoria.
The count himself represented to his colleague the
grave nature of the events which might accompany
that statesman's withdrawal, and employed sineete
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 Eapartero's presence in
,lier council ;
and it is undeniable that Marshal 0 Donnell, on
his side, so far from having wished to supplant a
rival, neglected no measure whiFh 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 d'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 tho 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, he 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
proofs of a hotbed of socialism in Catalonia, at the
same period acts of violence of the same nature took
place on a vast scale at Valladolid, Palencia, and
Rao-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 if 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 which 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'etat 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.

(Prom Gutiinctuis Messenger.)

The quarter of the Faubourg 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 SOlllO of his lodgers were about to effect a clan-
destine removal, he got up and 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 cut 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 he could towards the

Faubourg St. Denis. Few persons 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 lie
had resided in the house for more than a year, but
:.the ono day disappeared. After searching for her
for several mouths he at length discovered the
fugitive ; but 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 founil in a pail. It is
supposed that K-- must have accomplished the
decapitation with a razor while his victim was

asleep. The ago of the girl is considered by the
medical men to be about from 23 to '25, but nothing
body
wag yetbeen discovered to prove her identity. The
consequently removed to the Morgue.
It is supposed that K—, 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 tevrewa,king of the porter discon-
certed his plans.
means
intended to manage with
the head is by no sh.clear. The police are
making a strict search for but no clue to him
has boon had. The following are additonal details :
—The murderer's name
ntioeiricr, his age is 35,
and he was employed as
Inert p?rter by the So-
ciete d'Emig,ration Franco-A
are at that address. On
chiefSatiirda'anyethwehoseoffices
em-
ploys of the company, on the termination
go into
f em-
the
business of the day, said that they shoud of
the country in the evening and stop till
and they left him in charge of the offices. In the
evening he went out, and after stopping timesome--e
• returned with a young and pretty woman, who
went
upstairs with him, the concierge making no objec-
tion. In 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 Ferragesu, horrified, cried
. for his
awifewo :do
whichcome t
heo him, and armed himself with
• an old
sol-
dier.' _ 1-,40,
done? You
---e then id possessed as a retired sol-
to Poirier :—"Wretch ! what
terse" have Ysoaa
pdrierou shall not pass!" "What mat- ,
were,
a"whether I pass or not ? I am
avenged on a
good deal, and I huavene who has made me suffer a
however,
wish to escape ! Arrest
me if you like !"
and.
his wife
returned up stairs,
and the concierge
at
nenhastened to summon
the police. The police proceeded to the
man's bed-room on the storey,sixthee
find him, nor any trace of .the e" but did not
door of
cordingly descended to the offirciernse. They ac-
mt4ueVer had
which was open, and found that the'
been committed in a kitchen attached&sot othile'ta'
which is fitted up as a bed-room. The
that attracted their attention was an iron balance
forming part of a letter copying press; and as
was ooliered .7:itii blood, and Lai 2.Zir adherir, to.