The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-04 00:00:00

TILE PRUSSIAN POLICE.

An extraordinary prosecution is now going on in
Berlin, of which the following account will be in-
teresting :
The Court of Appeal of Berlin has just given its
decision in a case that has excited an unusual
degree of interest, not only in Prussia, but through.
out Germany. A director of the Berlin police, Al.
Stieber, having been charged with official miscon-
duct and abuse of his functions, the lower Court de-
cided that the evidence adduced was insufficient;
and on this ground of defective proofs of the
several heads of the accusation the case against
M. Stieber was dismissed. He was -not fully
acquitted, but the charges were held as "not
proven." Against this decision the prosecution
appealed to the Senat of the Criminal Court, and
the investigation was renewed before this higher
tribunal. The Procureur du Roi, M. Schwarek,
conducted the prosecution officially, and his address
to the Court contained a series of revelations of the
despotism and corruption of the Police Adminis-
tration in Berlin that have caused an extraordinary
sensation in filet capital. It is not that the public
are surprised by the allegations—that the police
was all-powerful, and that its power was abused
by its agents and officers, was too well known
befort ; but such an exposure of the system has
never yet been made on high official authority. In
support of the special charges against M. Stieber,
the Public Prosecutor asserts that the Prussian
Police Department has for several years sys-
tematically set itself above the law : that it has
arrested illegally and arbitrarily, imprisoned, and
detained in confinement any person it pleased, and
for indefinite periods of time; and that individuals
so arrested, without having any formal charge
brought against them, after the lapse of weeks or
months, have been released without judicial
ip qu iry.
In some cases persons politically suspected, after
having been thus arrested and imprisoned, have
been expelled from the Prussian territory without
even a semblance of a trial, It is stated also, that
in Berlin the police have frequently interfered in
the most imperious manner between the
opposing parties in questions of debt, and, by
threats of various kinds, have compelled them to
offer or accept terms of settlement that caused them
serious pecuniary loss and damage. In short, the
picture of the Prussian police, drawn by this official
pencil, is that of an imperimn in inzperio, continually
overriding the written law, vexatiously meddle•
some, irresponsible and tyrannical. The specific
facts that, in the case of M. Stieber, support the
more general allegations are as follow :—The Pub-
ljc Prosecutor states that when he was appointed to
his office in 1853, he found the law relating to free-
dom of the person (part of the constitution as settled
in 1850) had become a dead letter. He endeavoured
to enforce on the Police Department some degree of
observance of that law by den4anding that, in the
case of any arrest, the party should be brought
before a Juge d'lnstruction within the term legally ,
fixed. Conerences were held between the judicial
and the police authorities on this subject, but they
led to nothing. In the course of the discussions
M. Stieber, representing both the opinion and prac-
tice of the police, said the enactment of 1850 was
an absurd and stupid law, and that the 24 hours
it appointed as the time within which a prisoner
must be charged, in the first instance, before a
magistrate, was much too brief, and therefore the
whole law must be set aside ; and this the Police
Department has always done. The defective evi-
dence, however, has compelled the Court of Appeal
to confirm the first decision, and the case is dis-
missed. But the statements of the Public Prosecu-
tor have aroused so much public indication that
the Government has been obliged to act extra-
judicially, and a Ministerial order has deprived M.
Stieber of all his functions.

Baron Charles Dupin has just concluded the last
volume of the proceedings of the French commission on the
industry of nations. This important work is published by
the order of the Emperor Napoleon. The volume just pub-
lished treats of the productive forces of the East. It con-
tains interesting details on Russia in Asia, China, and

Japan.
The seventh volume of M. Frangois Victor Hugo's
translation of Shakspeare has just been published at Paris,

under the separate title " Les Amants Tragiques." It con-
tains "Anthony and Cleopatra" and "Romeo and Juliet,"
and, to the last-named play, an introduction, by M. Victor
Hugo, in which Italy, rising from the tomb, is compared to
the heroine.

Spring flowers are already making their appear-
ance. We (Chelnzsford Chronicle) have before us a little
bouquet of primroses and daises, gathered in the garden of
Miss Fitch, of Moulsham ; and a few days ago we saw a
bunch of ♦iolets ricked in the neighbourhood.
Advices from Vigo state that the Osborne had
arrived there on the 27th ult. to take in coal, after a very
rough passage. In the Bay of Biscay, on the 25th, the
Victoria and Albert and the Osborne encountered a terrific
gale with a very heavy sea. Both ships were obliged to
heave to, but as the weather moderated the Victoria and
Albert, with the Empress of Austria on board, kept her
course for Madeira, while the Osborne, with the imperial
suite, was obliged to put into Vigo. The Osborne had
received a good deal of damage, but would be ready to start
for Madeira on the 28th.

SCENE AT THE MOUTH OF THE TYNE.—SHIELDS
Monday.— Since yesterday at noon the inhabitants of this
seaport and the other seaport towns cn the north-east coast
have been kept in the greatest excitement by the arrival of
a large fleet of light vessels off their harbours in a strong
south-east gale. A fearful sea has been breaking across
the bar of the Tyne since yesterday morning, and the spec-
tacle presented by the immense numbei of vessels rushing
one after the other towards the port and dashing in upon
the rolling seas on the bar has been exceedingly exciting.
Above 200 sail of light vessels have reached the Tyne, and
as the harbour of Shields and the docks were crowded with
laden vessels before the arrival of this fleet, they are now
almost filled; and in the immense concourse of shipping,
the accumulation of a fortnight's foul weather, an idea may
be formed of the enormous trade of the north-east ports. Of
course, with such a mass of shipping crowding into the
port, great confusion has prevailed in the harbour all night,
and some damage has been done. This morning between 6
and 7 o'clock the Juno, of Southampton, in attempting to
take the bar, was driven on the rocks at Tynemouth. The
morning was too dark to allow the lifeboats to approach the
vessel in the positions lie was in with safety, though two of
them, fully manned, were out. The crew of the vessel,
however, were rescued by means of the rocket service, under
the charge of the Coastguard. Several vessels have had
narrow escapes from destruction since daylight this morn-
ing, but by admirable seamanship they have, fortunately,
all been got safe into port. The wind is still blowing hard,
and the sea is breaking furiously on the coast. Incleed,we
are experiencing very bad weather. The London, Lei th,
and other steamships are' again detained in port.
FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE MURDER A
TORRYBURN.—The tragic event took place in a public-
T
house in the village, occupied by the father of the deceased.
M'Cann had been drinking thero during the evenmg, and
having, after some time, shown signs of being considerably
the worse for what he had had, more d.rink was refused
him, although he asked repeatedly for it.. The,deceased,
twohaostwiabsr sainttying
more,by thase fibres Ihdseu,
gthhtenhad"
advised
hadM Ceannonu notg
.
M'Cann then raised his gun, and, taking aim at Debbie,
to which Bobbie replied, " I think you'll no do that." No
said, " If you say another word, you b----, I'll shoot you
sooner had the words passed his mouth than the gun went
off, its contents lodging in the abdomen, and causing so
large a wound that a portion of the intestines protruded.
The unfortunate man lingered on for about three hours,
and is stated to have repeatedly said, " M'Cann has mur-
dered me; you must see him apprehendFd." M'Cann, as
was stated, was apprehended the same night, and now Ho
in Dunfermline jail,".—Calft(onto Jltrcury,