The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-09-16
The Galley slaves Of Toalen.

!, 1t Is not to be expected that one can speak o,
Toulon without saying word OF the galley
slaves or fWcats. There are in the arsenal and
yard 4,500, who do all the heavy work. They
drag the materials about, and some are EN-
ployed in saving timber. The worst are at
tached in couples by heavy chains passing
round the ankles and waists, and linked TO-
gether. The better behaved are allowed 10 go
sngly, ironed in the same way, with the ex-
eeption of the connecting chain. They are
clothed in coarse canvas trousers and shirts,
branded with their numbers and wooilen
jacket. Those who are condemned Tor LIE,
weara long green wooilen peakless cap, some-
thing like night-cap with the top cut OIL, ana
made square. On the front of the cap is q tin
plate with the number of the wearer punched
out The convicts who are condemned for n
number of years are distinguished 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 expo
sure TO the sun, and brutalized by crime. are
fearful to behold, and their repulsive appear
ance is heightened by their hair being notched
snort, In lines running round the head, in or
oct to facilitate their recognition should they
escape. AT night they lie down on inclined
lengths of planking, without mattress or COW
ering, 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 hdricots ct ftrex, beans. No wine or
tobacco is allowed but the cOnvicts are per-
mltted to receive 10f. 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 obs tacle to reformation, is chain.
ing the men in couples. Youths over sixteen
may be seen chained to old men tainted with
every vice.
Waking or sleeping the cdmpa gnons ae chains
are never separated until freedom or death re-
moves one of them. In spite of the hideous
costume and reyolting appearance of the for
ylarS hi D. f1lt
OF tnelr former position whose gentlity so to
speak, pierced through their convict garb One
Ill particular, standing nearly six feet high
ana VINO lntently watched the arrival of
wounded French soldiers from Italy struck
me on account of the perfect ease and grace
with which he moved. bowling to the guardians
passing by, although his actions We're accom-
panied by the horrld clanking of his chains
AT the time of my visit, l was told that there
We're then among the forcatS Colonel de Cercy
VINO commanded a regiment at Marseilles in
1851, who was charged with the execution of
the coup a. etdt IN his town, and who was SUBJ
sequently convicted of eSeroqaerie; !; Captain
Dolneau, Chef d. nm burjou Arab. convicted of
having conspired to murder an Arab chief;
Lieut.. de Mercy, convicted ofhaying unfairly
ana win Fermentation, slain another officer
Wnen tlpsy In duel the chief army account
ant tchef comptabie,) who was sent TO the Cri-
lnea, the two managers of the bank of Toulon,
ana SIX abbes, (and there are more who manage
10 keep their former calling secret)
IL
guished member of the Paris bar. and between
them they keep the accounts of one depart
ment OF the prison, while of lawyers and no.
taries there is no end; Among the forcats are
men of all nations, as of all ranks in society,"
10 the present government of France is due
the merit OF endeavoring to deal with the great
social evil, the Bagnes, where vice stagnates
ana grows more hideous, to be again let loose
on society. Penal settlements have been form
ed in Africa and French Guiana, TO which
some OF the convicts have been removed Tou-
lon 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 shipped
Oil, yet their places are nearly all filled up by
new arrivals Moreover, it would appear that
the forcatS cannot be legally compelled to 90
unless they choose. They were condemned to
hard labor in the dockyards and arsenals of
the State, and not TO transportation. To coax
them to go 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 fetters and horrors of the
Bagne at Touion TO comparative independence
al these two French colonies. As one of their
guardians characte terized them, So ToneeS asSas-
SiaS ct coteurs sot 81 iacheS lis orr poRr de ntou-
FR."-TfReS Correspondent.