The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 26, 1858.

ignored on other points. It is, therefore, of vast
importance' that he should be enabled to defend
himself before the tribunal by which he
may be subjected to the greatest inconvenience
and annoyance. But owing to an absurd
technicality, a piece of official " red•tapism," he is
not permitted to be present when the witnesses are
examined and 'the case investigated. He cannot
defend himself, nor can the jury form an estimate
of his derneanour or the state of his mind. The
magistrates have refused to permit the accused to
be brought before the coroner and jury, and the
cause. of public justice and the interests of the
accused are both greatly prejudiced by the unfair
Paid unwarrantable obstruction interposed in the
vriny of complete justice.
Many attempts have been made to get rid of
this striking anomaly, but iu vain. It is even said
that the Secretary of State has not the power to
order the accused to be brought up before the
coroner and jury. If such be the case, an act
should be forthwith passed to remedy the
flagrant grievance, and to afford the relief
which the common sense of the nation
sees to be so urgently demanded. Th e coroner
of Middlesex has taken a leading part in the con-
test. He has justice and equity on his side, and we
have no doubt that the Secretary of State for the
Home Department will render his aid to get rid of
the crying evil. The case of the unfortunate
maniac charged with the murder in Queen-square
has exhibited the matter in the strongest point of
view, and Mr. Secretary.WALPOLE will be prepared
to introduce a measure which will henceforward
prevent the recurrence of so great. scandal.

THE BOMBAY MAILS.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

SOUTHAMPTON, FRIDAY MORNING.
The Ripon, steamship, Captain Powell, has ar.

rived.

She left Alexandria the 11th ; Malta, 15th ; and
Gibraltar, 21st ; and she brings 30 passengers,
one package specie, value not stated; 1,430 bales
silk, 141 boxes of shawls, 181. barrels of dates, &e.
Passed the steam-ship Indus, on entering Malta
and the Tagus, off Lisbon..

THE MONTALEMBERT FINE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sir,—An opportunity is now afforded the Bri-
tish public of showing their opinion of the result of
the trial of M. Montalembert by opening a franc
subscription from anytime thousand individuals de-
sirous of recording their sympathy.—l am, &c:-,
London, Nov. 25. I. Q.

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, Nov. 25

The Princess Alice dined with her Majesty yesterday;
also the following visitors, who arrived in the afternoon :
Vice-Admiral W. F. Martin, Lieutenant-General Knollys,
Major-General Sir George Wetherall, and Major-General
Sir Edward Lugard. The party also included the lion.
Mrs. Biddulph.
The following arrived in the afternoon, and had audiences
of her Majesty, to which they were respectively introduced
by the Right lion. Sir E. B. Lytton, her Majesty's prin-
cipal Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Hon. Chas.
Tupper, Member of the Executive Council, and Provincial
Secretary of Nova Scotia; the Hon. Robert Barry Dickey,
Member of the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia ; Wm.
A. Henry, Member' of the House of Assembly of Nova
Scotia; the Hon. Charles Fisher, Member of the Executive
Council, Attorney-General, and First Minister of New
Brunswick ; and the Hon. Albert J. Smith, Member of the
Executive Council of New Brunswick.

LATEST ;NEWS.

THE INDIAN EMPIRE.

The Atlantic Royal Mail Steam Navigation Com-
pany have received the following :
" The steamship Indian Empire has not been at
sea one month. She, was at Halifax by our last
advises undergoing repair of damages caused by a
brig running foul of her

MARSEILLES, Nov. 24..
The King of Wurtemberg, who arrived by rail-
way, left soon after for Nice.
The Journal de Monaco states that brilliant
offers have been made to the Government of
that country by Piedmont, but that the Prince-
Sovereign has refused every kind of cession.

VIENNA, Nov. 25.
The Emperor and Empress will arrive this
evening from Katargis.,
It is reported that the Caimacan of Moldavia
has resigned.

FRANKFORT, Nov. 25.

The Bank has reduced its rate of discount
from 5 per cent. to 4 per cent. The Bourse is
firm.

FRANCE.

PARIS, THURSDAY, Nov. 25.
M. Boulay (de la Meurthe), formerly Vice-Presi-
dent of the French Republic, died yesterday.
It is stated that Count de Montalembert will ap-
peal against the verdict of the Tribunal of Correc-
tional Police. -„

BOURSE, Nov. 25.—The market was very flat
at the opening, further sales having been pressed
in Threes, which went down from 74f. 25e. to 74f.
10c., but afterwards rallied to the former price ;
Mobilier varied from I,olof. to 1,020 f. ; Austrian,
645 f. to 646 f. 25c. ; Lyons, 875 f. to 877 f. ; Orleans,
1,402 f. 50c. ; and Southern; 585 f. to 587 f. 50c.
The following are the last quotations

4I per Cents. 96 2S
Do. end month 96:50
3 per Cents 74 10
Do. end month 74 10
Bank. Shares. 3160 --
Credit:Mobili . 1010
Do. Account

Crtldit Fonder 680
Beltian 41
Piedmontess (5)
Roman 95 50
Austrian
Spanish Threes
dome Debt 42 25

RAILWAYS.

Cash. Account.
Orleans
Northern ,.. 992 50 .. 995
New ditto — .. 837 50
Lyons and Mediterranean 875 --.. 87: 50
New ditto
Geneva 630 .. 630
Midi -- -- • • _..
Southern
.
Western 610 .. 611 25
Eastern' 702 50 .. 702 50
Grand Central
Sardinian . 455 ..
Austrian . • . • • 646 25 .. 646 25
'.
Exchange on London at sight, paper, 25f. 121 c. ; three
months, paper, 24f. 9716. ; money, 24f. 95c.

THE PORT OF VILLAFRANCA.
A correspondent sends the following from
.Nice,
dated the 22d :—" The vacant building comprised
in the darse of Villafranca, 'which, according to the
explanations given by the Turin journals some
months back, had been ceded by the Sardinian Go-
vernment to an Odessa steam navigation company,
has been taken possession of by the commander of the
Russian naval force in Villafranca, for the service
of the Imperial navy.. The premises actually ceded to
the latter are of little importance in themselves,
but it is perfectly understood ,that all the accom-
modation offered by the arsenal of Villafranca is
at the disposal of the Russian navy. Instead of
repairing in Toulon or other southern ports, these
vessels will in future profit by the resources of the
deserted Sardinian-port, which will also become
the habitual rendezvous of the. Muscovite flag in
the Mediterranean. The material advantages ob-
tained by Russia are of no great account, for they
were to have been found in any friendly port; but
it is possible that the political influence whiqh will
accrue to her by this measure may be of greater
import. Hitherto the movements of the Russian
ships of war in the Mediterranean have been sub-
mitted to general' attention, and the absence of any
central point of action deprived their presence of
political signification. But the very nature of this
retired port, with its splendid bay, is calculated
to awaken mistrust in others, and inspire
mischievous ideas in Russia, even if they do, not
exist, if .Villafranca has been really patro-
nised at St. Petersburg with the sole view of fa-
cilitating the movements of the Imperial navy. In
this out of-the-way port, the ships of Russia, dis-
persed over the south, might concentrate, With the
best prospect of being unperceived by those
mowers who have, nothing to gain by the extension
of Russian influence over the members of the Greek
Church in these waters. It could not be supposed
that the sudden concentration) in the bay of Villa-
franca of a strong Russian squadron would at the
present moment give moderation to the politicians
of the lonian Isles'', or would improve the relations
existing between the Sultan and his Greek subjects.
'Not an objection could be raised by the most
fanatical Russophobe to the fact of Russian ves-
sels repairing at Villafranca, and of thus availing
themselves of resources otherwise condemned to
decay. But it certainly is desirable in the in-
terest of all the great Powers save France, that the
number of Russian vessels in the port should be sub-
jected to restriction. A friendly request addressed
to the Sardinian Cabinet would doubtless provoke
that measure. I have excluded France, not from
a supposition that French and Russian interests
could possibly work together in the East, but from
the simple fact that the presence of a Russian fleet
in the Mediterranean depends entirely on the state
of the diplomatic relations existing between the
Governments of Paris and St. Petersburg. When
these relations are warm, it is to be implied that
an identity of policy exists on' many' important
points ; consequently, the presence of a Russian fleet
could excite no apprehensions. But should those
relations cool down, common prudence would lead
Russia to withdraw her vessels from the Mediter-
ranean mousetrap. France, therefore, has little or
no cause for anxiety ; but the same cannot be said
of other powers. , It, will probably be remarked by
the partisans of Russianpolicy-in-the F.astthat the'
advantages conferred on Russia at Villafranca are
no more than those enjoyed by the United States
at Spezzia. This reasoning is absurd ; for who
would venture to place on the same footing the
American vessels which cruise in the Mediter-
ranean, representing no traditional policy, and
appealing to no popular passion, with the fleets
which Russia, the champion of the Greek Church
in the East, concentrate in Villafranca? The
Russian vessels at present in Villafranca are the
Retrizan, a screw 84, and ,the Polkan, screw fri-
gate. These vessels will, I am informed, proceed
to-morrow to Genoa, where they will await the
arrival of the Grand Duke Constantine, whom they
will accompany back to Villafranca. It is said that
other Russian war vessels have received instruc-
tiong to rendezvous at Genoa, and that the Russian
High Admiral will quit that port at the head of a
very resrectable squadron, to Which it is, possible
a couple of Sardinian war vessels will join them-
selves. The darse of Villatrauca—l need scarcely
say—remains entirely in the possession of
Sardinia, and the only control exercised by the
Russian Government is over the building ceded to
it as a storehouse? The Russians possess the
right of placing sentinels over this building
during the landing or shipment of stores ; but the
arsenal which, by the bye, comprises a wet dock,
a careening basin, a sail manufactory, a rope walk,
a barrrack, and other buildings, is in the hands of
the Sardinian garrison, some 2,000 bayonets strong.
I mention this circumstance because it is very pos-
sible that extravagant statements may travel
abroad with respect to the extent of the
privileges accorded to Russia by Sardinia.
Were a restriction placed on the strength of
the Russian naval force in the bay of Villafranca,
not a soul would have reason for just complaint,

but in the state of uncertainty which at present
prevails in the East, it would be imprudent, on the
part of those who have contrary interests to defend
and another policy to vindicate, not to bestow
attention on every act that contains the elements
of possible complications. I may add that the
Turin semi-official journals will very probably con-
test the statement of this cession, the exact truth
of which must, however, be revealed in the course
of the approaching session. I may conclude by
stating that the visit of the King of Prussia is
again uncertain, for the medical advisers of that
monarch display as much hesitation as his former
ministers."

TRIAL OF M. 3IONTALEMBER7I

(From the Correspondent of the Daily .News.)

PARIS, WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

Having had the extreme good fortune to obtain
a ticket of admission to the trial of Count de Mont-
alembert, I am able to tell you something about it,
but I cannot pretend to give anything worthy the
name of a report. The most accomplished of your
parliamentary reporters would, I fancy, be able to
do but poor justice to two of the finest forensic
speeches ever pronounced at the bar in any country
in the world, if he were deprived of the power of
taking notes. The use of pen or pencil was, as you
are aware, absolutely interdicted on this occasion to
all but the judges and counsel concerned. I, there-
fore, with none of the habits or experience of a re-
porter, can- only jot down such loose and disjointed
fragments of a discussion which lasted six hours as
my unassisted memory will enable me to recall ;
and, moreover, I write under the disadvantage of
being tired to death with the heat of the court and
the excitement of the scene I have witnessed. I

will promise to be accurate, as far as I go. Deeply,
indeed, do I regret that the magnificent speeches of
MM. Berryer and Dufaure will in all probability
be lost to the world. Few things would give me
more intellectual pleasure than to read them at
leisure, word for word as they were pronounced.
But unless there was a Government short-hand
writer concealed somewhere behind the panels of
the court they were not taken down. I know
they were not written beforehand, and neither
of the distinguished advocates made more than
three or four short notes while the trial was going
on. I have heard all the most distinguished advo-
cates of the present day in England, and I think I
am not carried beyond the bounds of sober judg-
ment by the enthusiasm of the moment, when I
offer the opinion that none of them, in point of
eloquence of the highest order, are at all compara-
ble to either M. Berryer or M. Dufaure. Berryer,
quivering with contagious passion, and yet never
for a moment forgetting the legal points of his
case during a speech of three hours, was one of the
finest sights I ever saw in my life. Dufaure, re-
garded as a mere lawyer, is probably the greatest
now at the French bar, but he is much more than
a mere lawyer. His severe logic and concentration
remind me somewhat of the late Sir William Fol-
lett ; but he is much more eloquent, his action is
more varied . and dignified, and he has humour,
which Follett had not. No one can hear him speak
and doubt that he is what his whole career, and the
universal testimony of his friends (and even of his
enemies, if he have any), testify him to be—an
honest man.

The sixth chamber of the Tribunal of Correc-
tional Police, in which Montalembert was tried, is
a newly built handsome room, adjoining the pre-
cincts of the Sainte Chapelle. It is small, not much
larger than the old Vice-Chancellor's Court. in
LinColn's-inn, but more lofty. I should think
it would hold at the utmost 208 people. I
am anxious now, as at all times, while fairly
exposing, as matter of contemporary history,
the characteristics of the repressive system
upon which the present French government is
founded, not to represent things as worse than they
are. I have in former letters explained that the
principle of publicity in the administration of jus-
. tice, which the government professes to observe, is
all but nullified in the case of a political trial,which
takes place in a room so small as to hold but very
few people. To this small room, no one, speaking
generally, is admitted but by tickets extremely
difficult to be had; the use of pen or pencil in court
is prohibited, and the sentence of condemnation or
acquittal is all that the journals are allowed to pub-
lish. The justification of these rules in the view of
the French government is that a report of a trial
for a political libel propagates the libel a thousand-
fold and creates scandal, and that the restricted
audience permitted to witness the proceedings is
still numerous enough to prevent all the abuses of
justice rendered "in a corner." It is needless to
say that we English think these reasons insufficient ;
but I readily admit that the French Government,
which, of course, acts upon them, is entitled to
some credit ,for the relatiVe fairness with which the
patronage of giving tickets of admission was exer-
cised to-d 4. The mere fact of my having been
present sluiws that none of those severe measures
were adopted, which might easily have been taken
had it been intended, in defiance of all decency, to
compose the audience exclusively of people ready
to applaud an unjust judgment. Ten tickets
were presented to M. de Montalembert him-
self ; and, although he would naturally have been
glad to have had more to distribute among his
numerous relatives and friends, and his colleagues
of the Academy, the number, considering the
limited area of the coin t, was certainly not illi-
beral. A fair sprinkling of the junior bar, some-
where about 20, chosen by lot, obtained places, and
there were among the auditory many people well
known not to be admirers of the present dynasty.
The truth is, that the despotism, the harshness,
and the duplicity of French political institutions are
as yet tempered by old traditions, and a lingering
desire to reconcile the preservation of some of the
forms of liberty with a denial of the substance.

At five minutes before 12, Count de Montalem-
bert entered the -court, accompanied by the Duke
de Broglie and Odillon Barrot. He took his seat
in the front row of the bar, bet Ween his counsel,M.
Berryer, and M. Dufaure, counsel for M. DOuniol,
the gerant of the Correspondant. M. Douniol sat
on the bench immediately behind him. At this
moment every seat in court was occupied, and the
slighestrip of space railed off at the end, which by a
pleasant fiction is supposed to belong to the public,
was crowded to excess by well-dressed people stand-
ing. I believe some four or five people, who had
waited at the doors from 8 o'clock in the morning,did;
obtain admission without. tickets to this small space,
just by way of tribute to the principle that the epurt
was open. At 12 preCisely the judges took their.
seats..; There were four of them, and not three only,
as I was led to expect yesterday. Their names are
M. Berthelin, the president ; MM. Laisvaux and
Benoit, judges of the Tribunal of the First Instance ;
and M. Glandaz, a supernumerary or apprentice
judge (fogy sqppleant). On the bench there was a
large array of judges, of different courts, and among
them M. Benoist chamfy, the president of the Tri-
bunal of-the First Instance. Seven or eight mem-
bers of the corps .diplomatique sat on privileged
seats under the bench. ' The disappointment among
the many grandes dames of the Faubourg .St. Ger-
main, who had'asked for tickets, must have been
immense. There were very few ladies in court. I
observed the Countess of Montalembert, with one
of her daughters and a friend, and Madame Arthur
Bcrryer. There were not more than four' or five
other ladies in court. Two priests were present,
but the two bishops who, according' to one story,
were to have escorted M. de Montalembert, did not

appear.
The proceedings commenced by M. President
Berthelin warning the auditory that no marks of
approbation would be permitted—a warning which
it will be seen in the sequel Was not attended to.
He then called on the defendant, Douniol, who, in
answer to the interrogatories put to him, said merely
that he was the responsible editor of the Corre-
spondant ; that M. de Montalembert's article was
published without his seeing it during his absence,
he having full confidence in the persons left to con•
duct the journal ; and that he had no observations
to offer. - - _

M. de Montalembert, on being asked the usual
preliminary questions, said that his name was
Charles (he did not mention his English Christian

name of Forbes), that he was 48 years of age, an
ex-peer of France, and a member of the French
Acadeniy, and that he was horn in Paris. (It
been stated in some recent biographies that he was
born in London.) He answered all the questions
put to him with the greatest frankness and the most
perfect sang froid, never for a moment shrinking
from the responsibility of anything he had said in
his article, and never failing to detect the import
of any insidious suggestion made by the Pre-
sident. He admitted that he admired the present
political institutions of England, and regretted that
France had lost them; but he denied that he had
" attacked" French institutions, in any sense for-
bidden by the law. He admitted that when he
spoke of his joy at a temporary escape in England
from "pestiferous miasma and corrupt atmosphere,"
he alluded to miasma and atmosphere in France
but he totally denied that he meant to say that he
and his friends alone were honest men, and that the
eight millions of Frenchmen who had voted for the
Emperor were cowards. When asked whether he
should not think it an insult to say to anyone in a
drawing-room that " their ideas of happiness and
honour were very- different," he said, " Yes, if I said so
to a person's face ; but when I say so of a class of per-
sons whom I do not expressly designate, I do not
transcend the limits which have always been per-
mitted." He denied that the fair construction of his
expression about a "gov ern ment of an ante-chamber"
applied to the Emperor. He had denounced in a
general way flatterers and sycophants, of whom
there were as many now as there had been in all
time. Ile had particularly denounced those
flatterers who had been the obsequious followers of
every dynasty. With regard to his having said
that the press was " gagged," that was a mere
statement of an undeniable fact. Not only were
there legal warnings, but it was notorious that only
within the last two days the journals of Paris had
received an order, altogether extra-legal, command.
ing them to abstain from commenting on certain
subjects.
The ProeLreur Impe;ial, M. Cordouen, then pro-
pronounced his requisitoire, or speech, for the
prosecution. It was weak beyond description.
Chair d'Estrange, the " Procureur-General
Imperial," who sat half hidden behind one of the
judge's chairs looked vexed beyond measure
at the poor exhibition which his inferior officer
made. Etiquette prevented him from speaking
himself, as he belongs to a superior court. The bar,
anxious to see a fair forensic fight, lamented that
the gentlemen who performed the duties of public
prosecutor was not more nearly on a par with the
illustrous 'advocates of the defence.
M. Cordouen, feeling probably that he had very
little to stand upon in regard to the specific pas-
sages of the article in the Correspondant, on which
his indictment was founded, relied especially upon
the general spirit of the writing compared as a whole.
He accused M. de Montalembert of having praised
England for the express purpose of disparaging
France by contrast. Englishmen, he said, had their
good qualities and their faults, but one merit they
had incontestably—they always spoke well of their
country. No Englishman would have been capable
of drawing any such contrast to the disparagement
of his own country as M. de Montalembert had done.
He indulged in a few commonplaces about parlia-
mentary government having broken down in France,
the immense popularity of the Emperor, and the
necessity of a strong Government. England, he
said, could support liberty, because her dynssty
was founded nearly 200 years ago, whereas that of
France was only 60 years old. No young dynasty
had ever been so liberal, so moderate, so indulgent,
as that of Napoleon 111. He cited laws of William
111. against the press, which he said remained in
force in England till 1771, and which were more
severe than any now in France. The manifest in-
ference from this part of his argument was that
France must wait 150 years or more before she
would be fit for free institutions. France, although
not parliamentary, had representative institutions,
which constituted a free Government. He concluded
by apostrophising M. de Montalembert as a man
having lost the feelings of a Frenchman, and said,
repeating the expression three times, " You have
laid France prostrate at the feet of England ;‘ you
have struck France in the face ; yes, struck her in
the face—unworthily struck her in the face."
M. Berryer, on rising, said that no one could have
so well answered the charge made against M. de
Montalembert as M. de Montalembert himself; but
that he had promised not to speak, and to confide
his defence to his counsel, because they were per-
suaded that the law.was -altogether on their side.
He described the prosecution as " unjust, unfounded,
ill-advised, and, he was going to say—rash." He
desired to accept the proposition of the Procureur
Imperial, that M. de Montalembert's article must
be judged of as a whole, and not from miserable
details, and the strained interpretation of here and
there a strong expression dropped from the pen of
a vivacious writer. The spirit of the article was
not an attack upon anything French, but a genuine
admiration of English free institutions, produced
by hearing a splendid debate in the English Par-
liament on one of the grandest questions which
ever occupied a deliberative assembly. He here
pronounced a most eloquent eulogium on the con-
duct of the English Parliament and nation on the
occasion of Lord Ellenborough's resignation on ac-
count of his answer to Lord Canning's despatch,
and said that M. de Montalembert, who at twenty-
one had made a brilliant defence of himself in the
Chamber of Peers for having founded a free school
with Abbe Lacordaire—M. de Montalembert,
whose whole life had been passed in Parliamentary
struggles for religion and liberty, as he understood
them, must naturally look back with regret to in-
stitutions which France had but very recently lost.
On M. Berryer saying that to affirm that France

did not now possess liberty was not an attack upon
the Government, but merely the assertion of a
notorious and undeniable fact, be was interrupted
by—

The President, who said—" Maitre Berryer, the
defence is free, as you have seen ; but you are now
going too far, you are repeating at the bar the very
offence with which M. de Montalembert stands
charged ; and that cannot be permitted."
M. Berryer, with a gesture of eloquent astonish-
ment, continued—" Must I then throw up my brief?
Have I lost my reason and conscience ? DO I un-
derstand what the court means ? Can it be that a
counsel is to be construed as attacking the govern-
ment because he will not say that black is white.?
Why, it is the boast of the government that it has
bartered liberty for order—and it has done so it says
with the consent of the French people ; and that I
am not here to deny. Yes, France has repudiated
her own liberty. That is a fact which some people
may and others may not regret ; but it is not rational
to hold it an "offence in any one to state the simple
fact that liberty does not now exist." M. Berryer
then examined in detail the different heads of the
accusation, and argued that no one of them was
borne out by any passage in the article. With re-
gard to M. de Montalembert's severe remarks upon
servile flatterers and hangers-on of ante-chambers,
it was no attack upon the present government, but
upon a class of men who existed under all govern-
ments. He and his immediate friends were men
who had taken leave of ambition, and refused offered
honours ; but if he were in the habit of frequenting
the ante-chambers of palaces he was sure that he
should find lit them now the same faces which he
remembered years ago among the fawning adulators
of former governments. Coming to the most im-
portant count in the indictment, that of an attack
on " the rights of the Emperor under the constitu-
tion and the principle of universal suffrage," he
would prove to demonstration that there was no
scrap of law to support it. This accusation was
entirely based upon a law of 1849, passed to pro-
tect from attacks and insults the constitution of the

Republic with a President for four years. How
could that law be applicable to the empire ? Would
it be replied, by analogy ? This was his answer.
In 1819 a law couched in somewhat similar lan-
guage was passed to prote4 the charter of the re-
storation granted by Louis XVIII. of his sovereign
will and mere motion by virtue of "his rights by
birth." Louis XVIII. swore to maintain this char-
ter, and he kept his oath. (Laughter and sensation
in court.) When the revolution of 1830 took place,
it never occurred to any lawyer or statesman that

the 1 aw of 1819, made for a charter so granted by
kii lg by right of birth, could be applicable to the
cons titutional monarchy of the _Poi des Francais,
and accordingly Louis Philippe's Go vernment passed
ane w law to a similar effect. ...gain, in 1848,
whe nwe had a single sovereign assembly, a law
-was passed for the protection of that constitution ;
nd when, in 1849, the form of government was
again changed, though not in any such
rad,:ca 1 manner as it was subsequently in
1852, another law was passed to meet the
circur, stance. If the present Government
had ;neglected to renew that law it was
their Own fault ; but that was no reason why
they sl could dispense with all law, and, acting upn
purely arbitrary principles, condemn a man merely
becansf_t he was obnoxious. He concluded by a
brilliai it and impassioned peroration, which I will
not at empt to quote from.

Whe:n M. Berryer sat down, loud, numerous, and
simultn.neous cries of " Bravo" burst forth from the
lower ei id of the court. The President ordered the
police to turn out any one who had joined in the
manifesto tions if they could find him, and threat-
ened to c, sear the court if the outrage should be
repeated. 31. Villemain, the perpetual Secretary
of the Acactemy, approached M. Berryer, and
squeezing hand said, " You were never in your
life finer, eith,l at the bar or in the tribune,"
At this stage the court rose for half an hour.

An arrangen lent was made that the Procureur
Imperial should. reply to M. Berryer, and that M.
Dufaure would. then say a few words for M.
Douniol, and rcply upon the whole case.

The Procureu r Imperial's reply, which did not
last more than a quarter of an hour, was even less
effective than his opening speech. He scarcely
touched the specific charges of the prosecution or
powerful answer that had been made to them.
He reiterated his assertion that French institutions
were -better than English ones, and that' it was
anti-French to say the contrary. He taunted M.
de Montalembert with having formerly voted for
shutting up the Paris clubs, and asked whether
his admiration for England led him to approve of
English political meetings—institutions to -which
the English people were more attached than any
other. lit' cited, as instances of the immense dan-
ger of such meetings, some of the rhodomontade
which " discussion forum" men sometimes indulge
in, and which in England excites no attention
whatever. He fastened upon an expression of M.
de Montalembert, cautioning England against over-
confidence in her own strength, and advising her
to keep up a naval and military force proportioned
to the large forces of despotism, and founded upon
it the absurd charge that M. de Moitalembert
wished to see a war, and would take part with
England against his own country.
M. Dufaure, after a few words of excuse for M.

Donnie' (a mere working tradesman, who was

lately a compositor), on the ground of his good cha-
racter andactual ignorance of the article for which
he was responsible, severely reproved the Procureur
Imperial for the levity and incompleteness of his
speeches for the prosecution. He (M. Dufaure)
could find nothing in them seriously deserving of
an answer. The Procureur Imperial seemed to
think that reading here and there a passage from
the article in a most cursory way was a sufficient
formality to justify a condemnation, without pointing
out, as he was bound to do, the particular passages
which fell within the scope of the laws referred to
in them. If the Procureur had read the article
carefully he would have seen that the leading
dea of it was to defend the religious policy
of the Correspondant against that of the Uni-
vers and the legitimist journals, who decried
the English alliance and extolled the cut-throats ef
Cawnpore and Lucknow. M. de Montalembert had
replied to four furious articles of the Univers
which had appeared but a short time be-
fore the number of the Correspondant now in
question. He denounced the ultramontane and
retrograde policy of the Univers with burning
indignation, and said that the Correspondant de-
fended national religion such as it had been on'
dcrstood by all the noblest and best men in France
for ages against journals who gloried in the mas-
sacre of St. Bartholomew, and justified the revoca-
tion of the Edict of Nantes: As an instance of the
little thought which the Procureur Imperial had
besto wed upon the case, he said that the charge Of
M. de Montalembert having alluded to the Empe-
ror when he talked of a " government of an ante-
chamber," refuted itself. If there was a man whose
habits were self-reliant and solitary, it was the
Emperor. That he might say of him, without being
wanting in proper respect. The Emperor was wont
to decide most important qnestions without taking
much counsel, and often quite against the opinions
of those nearest to him. His former Ministers
(turning towards M. Odillon Barrot) can tell us
little about this. (A laugh.) M. Dufaure reca-
pitulated and reinforced with crushing logic the
arguments of M. Berrycr, showing that the la',
of 1849 could not be applicable to the present
imperial constitution. It would be a strange
thing, he said, if M. Montalembert were to
be condemned for having lamented the
loss of liberty of the press, liberty of the tri-
bune, &c., under a law passed for the express
purpose of protecting those very institutions front
attacks. He referred with humour to the caprici-
ous nature of universal suffrage, which in the course
of a very few years had sanctioned a republic with
a sovereign chamber, a republic with a chamber and
a president for four years with concurrent powers,
a modified republic with a president for ten years,
and finally the present empire. If to regret some
of the results of universal suffrage was to be con-
strued as an attack upon its principles, there were
few men in France who had not attacked it within
a very short time. He read a passage from Mon-
tesquieu narrating that, when receiving the hospi-
tality of a foreign country, he felt a peculiar interest
in and regard for the people and institutions of that
country. M. de Montalembert had been actuated
by the same sentiment when in England. As to the
expression which had been much objected to, that
France was in leading•strings (tutelle), the same
thing had been said with regret over and over again
by many eminent men. On this subject M. Dufaure
read' a passage from a speech lately pronounced by
Prince Napoleon at Limoges, in which," speaking in
favobr of decentralisation, he used that very word
tutelle, and regretted that there was so much of it
in France. He further observed that there
Was not a word in the article contrary to the
Emperor's policy as regards England. His re-
gret that there was not a greater approach
to similarity in the institutions of the two
countries only showed that he wished to see the
alliance established on a lasting basis. So far
from his being anti-French, he showed his love for
his country, and paid a compliment to his country-
men, when he expressed his belief that France was
worthy to enjoy light, liberty, and freedom.
At six o'clock the judges retired to deliberate,
and at seven returned into court and delivered the
following judgment :

The Court sentences the Count de Montalembert
to six months' imprisonment and a fine of 3,000 f.
Douniol to one month's imprisonment and a fine
of I,ooof.

Orders both defendants jointly and severally to
pay the said fines.
Acquits them of the other heads of the accusa-
tion.

Condemns them jointly and severally in the
costs of the trial.

And fixes the duration of imprisonment in

lefault of payment at one year.

The Peninsular and Oriental steamer Malta on
Saturday will take out £227,145 in silver, and 650 sove-
reigns for Bombay.

The East Kent Railway Company, in a circular
issued yesterday regarding a division of their shares into
two classes, announce the completion of the line to Can-
terbury is expected in eighteen months, and that the section
between Faversham and Canterbury will most likely be
opened next autumn. The sectionb6tween Canterbury and
Dover is to be finished within two years. The establish-
ment of a new continental line will then have been effected
at an outlay not exceeding £2,000,000, and Canterbury?
Ramsgate, Margate, Sandwich, and Deal will have been
brought about 20 miles nearer London. Between London as d
Dover the saving will be about 11 miles. A branch from the
East Kent line, to be completed in 12 months, will at the same
time shorten the distance to Whitstable and Herne Bay by
30 miles, and an inexpensive line of 10 miles from fltrno
Bay to Margate, to be obtained next session, will effect a
like reduction, in the route to the latter place.