The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-25 00:00:00

M. MIRES TV PRISON.

A letter in a contemporary says :—I hear truly
heartrending accounts of the sufferings of Mires in
Mazas prison, where he still is—for the statement
circulated by a lithographed correspondence of his
having been removed to an hospital turns out to be
untrue. He applied for this favour, but was re-
fused. Long solitary confinement has seriously
affected the mind as well as injured the health of
the great financier. His black hair has turned
very grey, and is falling off. The restrictions upon
interviews with his family, of which his wife com-
plained in a letter which was made public, still
continue. The cell in which he is confined is so
fetid that when his friends do see him they can with
difficulty stay more than a few minutes. The only
furniture is a rush-bottomed chair, a deal table,
and a small iron bedstead, which has to be turned
up in the daytime to give him room to move about,
so narrow is the dungeon which for three long
months has been the dwelling-place of the man
who was dragged from one of the most sumptuously
furnished palaces in Paris to be thrust into it.
All this while neither the prisoner nor anybody
else knows exactly of what he is accused. At
the time of his arrest it was rumoured that the
charges against him were of a ♦ery serious nature,
but now many say that at the worst his
offence was bailab:e, and he has offered bail to any
amount. However this may be, it does seem unne-
cessarily cruel to keep him so very long in such
a horrible place. Such treatment is certainly un-
usual, although the Moniteur, in answer to the
public murmurs on the subject, was pleased to say
a month ago that Mires was dealt with just like
any other prisoner in the like category. Th:s is
certainly not so. Even a murderer before his trial
is not treated so badly as M. Mires has been.
" Equality in the eye of the law " is doubtless a
good maxim, and one cannot but commend the
refusal of any indulgence which might enable a
wealthy prisoner to escape, or to destroy evidence
against himself.. But the regulations of French
prisoners are generally humane and considerate
towards untried persons, and admit of their enjoy-
ing all reasonable personal comforts, having regard
to their habits and station in life. Great facilities
are given, to exchange a prison for an hospital, to
people who are able to pay for the means necessary
for assuring their safe custody, and the slightest
medical recommendations are attended to in such
cases. It cannot be pretended that there was any
necessity for keeping Mires three months in the
miserable cell above described, and such imprison-
ment, if not necessary, is cruel. Bullier'a Corres-
pondence gave out lately that the Emperor himself
had expressed a wish that the trial might speedily
be brought on. I understand that a petition, signed,
by upwards of 600 shareholders in Mires under-
takings, who still have full confidence in him, was
presented to his Majesty the other day. „„
Since writing the above I find it announce
of A mow'
Temps of this evening that the Chamber
a of Cor-
rectional has sent M. Mires before the Tribe
rectional Police, and that his trialTwilln
come on in the early part ofJutnee.
grave a nature as
is a pregnant confirmation off
sho
charges against him are not
so
The Correctional
was supposed three monthesooc _
f misdemeanours,
Tribunal takes cognisavresas IY
hitherto fully expected
crhseAa,rsgeit,
and not of crimes.
.1t su r Vise es probablytanit
haves Tribunal: That before
itsh,ataiht
he
owould t
the
ee tprrinoesederetbrahuyteaityobhneepnmAoesfiisststiiibgzolaeyft Caebsoejuiuwrto.
is a court which
be-
causeth e
efaothrereeocwftiitolhlne:lpo
thet a
rcely ever returns a verdict of not guilty. Now,
thatsa the accusation against M. Mires is reduced to
the proportion of a misdemeanour, it will be more
than ever difficult to justify the cruelty of his long
preventive imprisonment.

DEATH BY LIGUTNING.—On Thursday evening
about 7 o'clock, Mr. F. Keen, head-keeper to Mr. H. Per-
kins, of Hanworth-park, was walking in the grounds with
his wife. They were overtaken by the storm. Mrs. Keen
held up her umbrella to shield herself and her husband
from the rain, when she was suddenly struck by the light-
ning and rendered senseless. She was conveyed in a cart
to a surgeon at Hampton' He pronounced lifo to be Tut°
extinct,