Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-09-19
THE GAZETTE.
MONDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 10, 1859.

TIE GALLEY SLAVES AT TOULON.
Ii is not to be expected that one can speak
Of Taulon without saying word of the gal
ley slaves or torcats. There are in the arse
nal and yard $500, who do all the heavy
work. They drag the materials about, and
some are employed in saving timber. The
worst are attachedin couples by heavy chains
passing round the ankles and waists, and
linked together. The better behaved are al
lowed to 30 singly, ironed in the same way,
with the exception of the connecting chain.
They are clothed in canvass trousers aud
shirts. branded with their numbers, and
woollcn Jacket. Those who arc condemned
for life wear a long green WOODEN peakless
cap, something like a nighteap with the top
cut of, and made square. On the front of
the cap is tin plate with the number of the
wearer punched out The convicts who are
condemned for number Of years are dis
tingushed from the others by red caps. and
those who have been more than once to the
Bagne by yellow sleeves to their jackets.
Their faces, close shaven, bronzed by ex-
posure to the sun, and brutalized by crime,
are fearful to behold, and their repulsiye APP
pearance is heightened by their hair being
notch short, in lines running round The head,
in order to facilitate their recognition should
they escape. At might they lie down on in
clincd lengths Of planking, without mattress
or covering, in twenties, or thirties, and an
iron rod is run through the leg chains of each,
So that no one can move without the rest
Their food consists of brown bread, not
all wheaton -four, soup, and haricots ct
EeceS, beans No wine or tobaccois allowed,
but the convicts are permitted to receive lOf.
a month from their friends, with which they
may purchase any eatable they please. The
greatest and most degrading punishment,
which must also be the greatest obstacle
to reformation, is claiming the men in cou-
pies. Youths over sixteen may be seen
chained to old men tanned with every vice.
Waking or sleeping the edmpaynons dc
Chaine are never separated until freedom or
death removes one Of them. In spite of the
hideous costume and revolving appearance
of the Eorcats there were some who still ex-
hibited traces of their position, whose CENT?
lity, so to speak, pierced through their
convict sarb. One in particular, standing
nearly six feet high, and who intently watch
ed the arrival Of wounded French soldiers
from Italy, struck me on account of the
grace with which he moved, bowling to the
guardians passing by, although his actions
were accompanied by the hoSrid clanking of
his chains. At the time Of my visit | was
told that there were then among the .torcdts
Colonel de Cercy, who commanded regi-
ment at Marseilles in 1851, who was charged
with the execution Of the coup ID etat in his
town, and who was subsequently convicted OF
escroqaerie; Capt. Doineau, Chefdan bureau
.4yab, convicted of having conspired to muir
der an Arab chief; Lieut. de Mercy, convic-
ted Of having unfairly and with premedita-
ton slain another officer when tipsy in a
duel: the chief army accountant (chef comp
Male,) who was sent to the Crimea, and tie
two managers of the bank of Toulon, and six
aJ6es land there are more who manage to
keep their former calling secret.
An eminent painter is chained to dis
tinguished member of the Paris bar, and be-
tween them they keep the accounts of one de-
partment Of the prison, while OF lawyers
and notaries there is no end. Among the
forcats are men of oil nations, as of all ranks
in society. We contribute our quota, one
nm Englishman, who was arrested at Calais,
with forged notes in his possession, and who,
there is every reason to believe, was guiltless
of any criminal intention. lie has recently
been brought to Toulon from Rochefort-is
comsumptive, and not allowed to wear fan
mel, although permitted to do so in Roche
fort. There is also hazy rumor of Brl-
fish peer Of the realm being among the TOR
eats, but as no one has ever seen him it may
be dismissed az q myth. To the present
Government of France is due the merit Of
endeavoring to deal with the great social
evil, the Bagnes, where vice stagnates and
grows more hideous, to be again let loose on
society. Penal settlements have been formed
in Africa and French Guiana, to which some
of the convicts have been removed. Toulon
is now the only Bagne; those of Rochefort and
Brest have been abolished, but still the work
goes on very slowly. :.
Three cargoes Of 500 each have been ship
ped of, vet their places are nearly all filled
up by new arrivals. Moreover, it would ap-
pear that the forcats cannot be legally
compelled to 90 unless they choose. They
were condemned to hard labor in the dock
wards and arsenals Of the State, and not to
Transportation. To coax them to 60 abroad,
they are promised that on their arrival they
shall be relieved of their chains and allowed
the free use of their limbs. But so great IS
their dread Of Lambessa and Cayenne, and
the craven fear Of death, that they prefer the
letters and horrors of the Bagne at Toulon
10 comparative independence at these two
French colonies. As one of their guardians
characterized them, "7ous ces assass'ns ct
role.rs sont ST laches ils ont pour dc mourn.
Times Correspondent.