The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-12 00:00:00

THE BRITISH PRISONERS IN TURKEY.

Colonel O'Reilly (Hassan Bey) and his follow prisoners
for the affair of the Mezrab Arabs, arrived on Monday
from Ili yrout, and were at once conducted to the Zaptieh.
Their case bids fair io be a test one as to some
points `of privilege aris'ng cut of the capitulations. The
British prisoners have entrusted their defence to a member
of the local English bar, who on Monday proceeded to the
Zaptieh, accompanied by a consular dragoman, to see his
clients and receive their instructions. The Minister of
Police, however, refused the necessary permission, and on
further application yesterday to the Grand Vizier, his High-
ness also declined to permit the interview. As "freedom
of defence" is one of the most boasted modern reforms
of Turkish jurisprudence, it is difficult to understand
why, in this instance, the privilege should be refused.
The effect, however, of the vizierial inhibition can only
be temporary, as a demand for the transfer of the whole
of the British prisoners to our own gaol has since been ad-
dressed to the authorities. This being a clear treaty right,
it will no doubt be insisted on by the embassy, and, once in
the custody of Mr. Judge Francis, the militant Bey and his
fellow unfortunates will be sure of fair play. The further
question of their trial may then arise. In this again, the
strict letter of the treaty gives the jurisdiction to our own
court ; and in the cases of the two Americans of the party,
Porte rumour says that Mr. Morris has alrea ly claimed the
right for his own consulate. The lax custom of recent years
has suffered this particular privilege to fall into abeyance,
and for obvious reasons the Porte may possibly resist its re-
vival. The case, however, promises to be a "leading" one
in capitulation law, and we shall therefore note its incidents
carefully.—Levant Herald.

The Daily News unearths a new specimen of the liter&
ture which is now provided for the "lower classes."
Those, it says, who have an eye to detect the tricks of
tricky art know full well that there are two trite methods
of hero manufacture common to entrap litterateurs : one
is, to elevate some inordinate social scoundrel into a
moral nobleman, and the other, to invest some eccentric
type of conventional nobility with a predilection for this
or that vulgar villany. True, the aggrandisement
of the low, and debasement of the high, are merely
the rhetorical forms of all burlesque writing ; yet
what is the great bulk of the romantic literature of modern
times but human nature sentimentally burlesqued ? We
should have believed "the force of prurience could no
further go " than the boiling point it had already reached
in popular literature, had we not, in our wanderings,
lighted upon the first number of a new penny serial,
entitled " The Crimes of the Aristocracy," a tale
which, according to the allurements of the title-
page, is to consist of a series of " strange
events, undiscovered murders, and other crimes,
compiled from important documents stolen from among
the private papers of his Royal Highness the Prince
Consort, upon the night of the 14th of December, 1861, by
a footman in her Majesty's service !" "It must be true,"
the poor half-educated shop-boys and work-girls, for
The difficulties which have beset the authorities in Spain
whom such vile trash is intended, will say, " I see it in a
have been of a universal character ; they have produced a
book;" for, of course according to their notion, the
revolt at:Cad ;z, and Madrid itself has only narrowly escaped.
scribe who, with such ostentatious honesty, confesses
that the documents were stolen, would—like Jack The mob of unemployed and, to say the truth, half-starved
labourers and artisans was for some time
Sheppard in the novel—" never stoop to tell a lie!'
satisfied with getting wages and doing nothing
But the title-page of this extravagant hotch-
for them ; but even that period of contentment has
potch of audacity, indecency, and stupidity, mingled with
passed. The multitude are weary of idleness, and have
a very strong dash of bad grammar and bad spelling, is
sought excitement in fighting—notoriously the most
mild as Dutch cheese to the matter of the work itself—
attractive employment to a people in want of an occupa-
the kindly object 6f which is (as the horror loving author
tion. The Spanish Revolution, says the Times correspon-
explains in a high-flown digression) " to display, in all its
dent, has been for the last two months going through its
revolting ghastliness, the inner life of the rich,"
Jack Cade period. The people had made good its title to
and "with a fearless hand cast aside the glitter"
bear arms. It had lived in the free exercise of its "right
(though we are afraid the theatrical gentleman will
to work " the right to work as little as it pleased,
find this casting aside glitter rather harder labour than
and to get as high wages as it listed. To begin with
he has a mind for) " and tinsel which surrounds (sic)
Madrid, Escalante supplied his Majesty the Mob with
the modern gilded calf called`society ;'" whilst,
50,000 muskets ; the Junta converted the city into a vast
a few pages further on, we are informed, with the same
w
contemptuous disregard of the Queen's English—which is workshop, where the said Majesty was allowed 7i reals,
probably regarded as part of the aristocratic institutions or about is. Td. a day, upon merely entering his name on
the rolls of the municipality, and whether he carried a
of the country—" Vice and Sin, of the most revolting de-
musket, or handled a spade, or simply did nothing. Ever
scription " (they like it revolting, says the writer to him-
since that happy day the bands of " armed people" and
self as he pens the phrase), "is practised openly among
the gangs of "working people" have been our trouble,
our aristocracy" to which, in our ardour, we cannot help
our terror, our puzzle. Whatever happened in Madrid
exclaiming, "Is they !" The " introduction" to the tale
became the rule upon which some thousand other comma-
assures us that in Windsor Castle there is a "suit (sic) of
nities in Spain modelled themselves. The Revolutionary
rooms," formerly occupied by the Prince Consort, " the
Juntas lived long enough to see the inevitable cease-
existence of which is known to none but the em
quences of their bungling work ; both they' and the more
initiated." Now, in one corner of one of these rooms,
regular authorities who took their p
cabinet laces have been ever
accordingsnd in " the bustle and confusion attendant (sic) to the prologue to the story, " there is an Indian
since earnestly and incessantly striving to rink that work,
,"
on the death of the Prince" this cabinet, we are informed, but it was evident from the beginning that the knot was
tangled beyond all untying skill, and that the sword alone
was broken open, and •several "very valuable documents
could afford the final solution. Endeavours were made to
were abstracted "—documents, indeed, containing secrets
neutralise one evil by the other. The citizen was at first
and information affecting not only the honour, but the life,
paid as a soldier. He was offered the same pay as a work-
of some of En gland's proudest and most aristocratic nobles !"
man. It was hoped to empty the barracks by filling the
These "very valuable documents" ultimately came, of
workshops ; but the monster had " many beads." It had
course, into the possession of the most learned and
many hands, many whims, also, and changing moods,
punctilious editor, through the instrumentality of one
which all had to be humoured. It had " the mastery
Joseph Laxmor, " Commission Agent," and formerly
of the situation." The lion was loose, and care should be
footman in her " Majesty's service," who is made to con- taleen not to anger him till he had been safely coaxed
fess, in erticulo Inortie, that he had stolen them. On read-
back behind the bars of his cage. What this heroic Pro-
ills!' over these private papers, however, the magnanimous
visional Government has had to put up with, what. despe.
author declares he found " such a gigantic mass of
rate shifts its civil and military governors, its police agents,
turpitude laid bare before the gaze " that he
and its municipal authorities had to resort to to avoid
determined—on burning them forthwith, one would pro-
collisions, it would hardly be possible to imagine.
bably imagine. But nu'. the brave and patriotic soul
These causes have well-nigh brought about a conflict
determined rather to " let the people become aware of the
in Madrid. An outbreak at the Puerta del Sol had
innermost lives of our rulers, and fearlessly expose them
become so imminent that the members of the Government
as they are ;" and accordingly the pure and higliminded
had warned their families on no account to venture out
patriot proceeds to sell, weekly, the said "very valuable"
into the streets, and a large force had been prepared to
and "revolting" documents, for the low charge of one
meet the people. The encounter there was averted by
penny. mutual forbearance ; but in Andalusia, as we have seen,
The Daily News, in considering how this kind of thing
the rising has assumed alarming proportions. The same
may best be suppressed, thinks it better not to stop the
writer observes : " I cannot believe that either republi-
sale. "There is but one antidote for all this poison, and
canism or reaction had anything to do with it. It was
that is the education of the taste of the people ;for until ,
merely the people, the proletariat, standing up for
the mental palate be taught, like the moral one, to dis-
what it conceived to be its own right. That right
tinguish good from bad, the inculcation of the ability to
had been admitted and practically sanctioned by
read merely must be the same as putting a razor in the
the authors of the revolution under the pressure of
hands of a madman—to give the poor wildbrain the means
its first necessities ; but evidently the exercise of
of cutting his own throat." that right is not compatible with the existence of
any society such as men have hitherto been able to orga-
nise. Work is man's duty as well as his right. All he can
claim is freedom to seek work wherever he may find it,
and on the best terms the work itself may command. If
the State undertakes to supply the work, and the workman
is to name his own terms, the work itself will soon be
infinitesimal and the terms exorbitant. The Madrid popu-
lace have been as yet very far from feeling that they
could have everything their own way. Yet they have
been strong enough to obtain seven reals for work the
worth of which would never be computed at two reals
Now, if reels sprung from inexhaustible sources, a com-
munistic Government might, by taking the money where-
ever it might be found, keep up the national workshop
to the end of time. But the stubborn fact is that reals
are the produce of so much work. Unless somebody
do that work, the stock of reals will soon be exhausted,
and the State will still be under necessity either of en-
forcing work or allowing society to perish." The whole
history of the last two months may be summed up by
referring it to the behaviour of a Government living in
perpetual fear of the people. It was not because the
people were formidable, or the Government weak, but
because it was deemed unadvisable, however it might be
necessary, to " draw a line somewhere."
A correspondent of the Constitutionnel, however, states
that there can be no doubt of the participation of the
Republicans in the movement. Junco, a well-known
Republican, and commander of a battalion of volunteers,
is amongst the insurgents. On the other hand, it is well
known that several very rich and important personages of
Seville and Cadiz, devoted partisans of the fallen Govern.
ment, have given the movement their aid, and have allied
themselves with the Republicans, in order to overturn the
Provisional Ministry.

THE OUTBREAK IN SPAIN.

BOROUGH OF MARYLEBONE.—A paragraph has
appeared stating that a fresh election was about to take
place in Marylebone, that both Liberals and Conservative
were preparing for a contest, and it was expected that Mr.
Milner Gibson was to be brought forward. We have
authority for stating that there is not one word of truth
in this statement. It is the pure imagination of the
author.

Lord Stanley has addressed a letter to Mr.
Rassarn, wherein he speaks of that gentleman's services in
Abyssinia in the highest terms, and concludes with the fol-
lowing still more satisfactory announcement : —" The suffer-
ings which you all underwent have been deeply deplored
by her Majesty's Government, and as some compensation,
therefore, as well as a testimony of appreciation of good
service, they have resolved to present a sum cf £5,000 to
yeursey and sums of £2,000 each to Dr. Blanc and Lieut.
Prideaux."

In the Court of Common Pleas yesterday an action
was brought by Mr. Bardul, one of the Abyssinian cap-
tives, against Mr. Rotten, of Piccadilly, publisher,
to recover damages for a libel contained in his
book,' " Abyssinia anditsP
passage eople;or,L
Life in
of Prester John ;" the principal complainedthoef being
one which alleged that the plaintiff had forged a letter from
King Theodore to the Emperor Napoleon. When the cause
was called on, the counsel for the defendant apologised, and
withdrew the charge
Limited liability companies are bad enough, an
many thousands know to their sorrow, but the case .of
unlimited corporations is considerably worse ; witness, fot
instance, the case of the " Agricultural Cattle Insurance
Company." Notice has been given in this case, which has
been before the Courts of Chancery for the last twenty
years, that the Master of the Rolls will make a further
call of £250 on each £2O share, and £62105. on each share
of £lO. There is surely room for some reform in the
winding-up business of the country, when scandals such as
these are permitted to exist.—Railway News.

THE NEW PALACE OF JUSTICE. —With regard to
the new Palace of Justice which, is one day to grace
London there are told some queer tales. It has been a
joke for some weeks past that one man only has been
clearing the chosen site. " One whose house commands a
view of the ruins in the Strand " writes to the Daily Eew,
as follows :—"Sir,—lt may be interesting to the public to
know that the one man who for some weeks has been en.
deavouring to cleat the site for the above has at last dis-
appeared, and a solitary disconsolate-looking policeman
may now be seen wandering over the ruins in the Strand."
ANOTHER METIIOFOLITAN RAILWAY. The
inhabitants of Oxford-street will shorty be asked to pasi
judgment on a scheme for carrying an underground rail-
way from the Marble Arch, along Oxford-street and
Holborn, to the Geller:11 Post-office. According to Mr.
Hawkshaw, there would be nine stations on the line, alink
a third of a mile apart. The railway would be worked by
stationary engines, and thus, by dispensing with tln
locomotive, the vibration would be reduced to a minimum
It is not propcsed to interfere with the traffic of Oxfuri%
street during the period of the escavations.
The screw steamship Teutonia, Captain Meyer,
from Hamburn left ITa.vre on the 4th instant with mails,
passengers, and cargo fer Havana and New Orleans.
The .North German steamship lines are extend-
ing. One has just Leen established between Hamburg
and Valparaiso, Chili.
I)UNVILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re-
commended by the medical profession in preference to French
Brandy. Supplied in casks and cases for home use or exports
tion. Quotations on application to Messrs. Danville and Co.,
Belfast; or 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand, London W.O —[Ad
vertisement.]