The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-25 00:00:00

Procurateur Moller while in the performance of his
official duties.

The extenuating circumstances were declared to
apply in a less degree in the case of Parry, who
was fined 100 thalers, or five weeks' imprisonment,
in default.
The other three were fined 25 thalers each, 0
nine days' imprisonment in default.

111. DE MORNY AND TrIE ROMAN

RAIL WAYS.

PARIS, DEC. 24.
Speculators, stock-jobbers, and the commercial
public generally have been much taken up with
occurrences which took place towards the close of
the last week and the whole of this, and which
have brought the name of M. Mires, the contractor
for the Turkish loan, prominently forward. I have
refrained from alluding to the subject until now,
from an unwillingness to meddle with the internal
affairs of a private firm so long as these affairs did
not come in some official or tangible form before the
public. As these matters will probably give rise
to some inquiry in the approaching session of the
Legislative Corps, and as they have been made the
topic of frequent discussion in the Cabinet Councils,
and have assumed a constitutional and legal
character, it is impossible to pass them over any
longer in silence.
From the different versions that circulate it would
appear that M. Pontalba, who is well known in
Parisian society, had various transactions with M.
Mires in the Roman Railways, of which the latter
u the director. Those transactions were very ex-
tensive, and no doubt promised to be highly advan-
tageous to all the parties concerned had they con-
tinued to act together throughout. A rupture,
however, took place, for what reason or on
what grounds I am not so accurately informed ;
but the consequence was that a claim was made
by M. Mires on M. Pontalba to the amount Of
1,500,000 f. or 1,600,000 f., or between £60,000 and
£70,000, and an immediate settlement demanded.
The justice of the claim was disputed in whole or
in part, and M, Pontalba met it by certain charges,
which he drew up in due form, and placed in the
kends of the Procureur. A summons was issued to
M. Mires to appear before the Juge d'lnstruction.
The summons was complied with ; he appeared, but
declined to answer the questions put to him. The
affair having assumed a form other than a merely
private transaction, an attempt was made to settle
the difference between the parties, and through, 1
believe, the instrumentality of M. Periere, I‘l.
Mires either greatly reduced or withdrew altogether
his demand on M. Pontalba. The matter having
been formally brought before the law officers of the
Crown, it was judged that whatever settlement may
have been come to between the parties, it should
not and could not be held to stay proceedings that
had already commenced with the Juge d'lnstruc-
tion. The affair was brought before the Council of
Ministers on Saturday last, and discussed in pre-
sence of the Emperor, who presided. Some of the
Ministers, and two or three legal authorities,
alleged that no authority could stop the regular
course of justice, and that a private arrangement
should not act as a bar. No Government in France
hsd so interfered since Napoleon 1., who quashed
the decision of a Court in 1810, but the effect
on the public mind was such that even he never
ventured to repeat the usurpation. The Mini-
sters who took this view did not pretend to prejudge
the question, but they demanded that out of defer-
ence to any private influence the regular course of
law should not be arrested. No decision was come
to on that occasion. The next day or the day after
a person deeply interested for one of the parties had,
it is said, an audience of the Emperor, and let it be
understood that if matters were pushed to an eX'
treme the party attacked would be compelled, ill
self-defence, to make public certain facts which
would show the participation in these and other
transactions of certain' persons who fill very high
offices in the State.
The question whether the law officers of the Growl),
should be ordered to desist from proceeding further
with the matter has twice or thrice been before the
Cabinet during the present week, and among those
who demonstrated the illegality of staying pro'
ceedings on the ground of private arrangement*
Messrs. Baroche, Delangle, and Rouher—the first
President of the Council of State, with a seat in the
Cabinet, the second Minister of Justice, and both
first-rate lawyers, and the last Minister of Public
Works—are said to be prominent. Another Cabinet
Council was held yesterday, but I am unable to
state whether any decision was come to.
The person whose beneficent action is said to
be felt in this as well as other matters of the kind
is M. de Morny. It is possible that his intervention
in so many enterprises, great and small, which held
out advantage to the projectors, is founded on the
best motives,—it may be, pure benevolenoe, and
desire to promote the happiness of mankind in
general, and of the French people in particular;
but the fact is that there is hardly anything too
vast or two minute for his watchful care. It 10
like the trunk of the elephant, which can pick a
pin from the ground or lift a cannon. No one is A
prophet in his own country, and unfortunately, the
generation with which M. de Morny's lot is cast he
not so deeply convinced as he himself and his corn'
panions are of the sincerity of his benevolence, or
of the immense advantage of his schemes to the
country or to the Imperial government. If the
Emperor has any doubt on this subject (and it is
difficult to suppose he has), he may ask his Minis-
ters what their opinion is of the influence which
the public is led to believe sweeps everything before
it. He may ask the senators what are the whisper'
ings in the Luxembourg, or the rumours and mur'
mure heard in the committee-rooms, and on the
benches under the President's chair, in the ante'
chambers of the Palace, and in the very Council-
room where the Ministers meet to deliberate.
And let the Prefect be called upon to repeat what
is brought him by his agents of the remarks
current in the workshops of the faubourg. He
will hear much of that one grasping influence which
beats down all others, before which everyone quails,
of the things which that influence is used to pro-
mote, of the belief that the protection of one is in'
dispensable to the success of every project or specu-
lation, great or small, legitimate or otherwise, and
of the astonishment of the public how the Emperor 'e
naturally strong mind seems to recoil before the
man who carries almost everything before him.
Several members of`the Senate and Legislative
Corps are of opinion that such things should net
any longer go.on without an attempt to check them'
and that the authority of the Government and the
prestige of the Sovereign ought not to be lowered 11
public estimation, even to satisfy M. de Morny and
his coterie. They regard the decree of the 24th 0;
November as seriously meant, and they are resolved
to make the experiment. In virtue of that decree,
they may in the debate on the Address treat ?l
topics connected not only with foreign but domestic
policy. Domestic policy is comprehensive enough
to embrace many objects; and information will
probably be asked as to the manner in which the
interests of the public, in an industrial and comma'
vial point of view, have been cared for in several'
recent transactions. The press will, of course, ne,
be prevented from commenting upon what pasevi
I merely echo the general opinion in saying till
neither decrees, nor reforms, nor concessions, viPO
have their due weight with the public, so long Lae
one fatal influence predominates. Even under
Restoration, the Sovereign could overcome his ape%
or postpone his private feelings to the just demon
)f his people. When the intrigues of the ultra
Royalist party—very different, after all, from th°!/
now in question—disturbed the legitimate action u)
Government, excited the hostility of the Chamber::
and scandalised the public, Louis XVIII. did 13
hesitate to remove his own brother, the Collo;
l'Artois, from the command in chief of the Nation_e.
Guard on the requisition of his Minister, the Dux'
Decazes.
p r orNt' need cwoimthminertchiaellassttawteeeokf. France
proved within the last week. Letters
rheeaesivnedotfriol
froth
the provincial markets state that there has beene
'nanifestf'al
is
linrgenoffiairnketd,
the amounthowever,
tbusinessFeted. It
retaet
sealers are those who complain most. The ',ve
fficial Custom returns confirm this unfavourau.4
tatement. The falling off in the Customs' dutl:o
luring the 11 months of the present year,l:l
compared with the two preceding years, is olu
greater than was anticipated.