Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1859-01-12
Tron he lorion fHe', Sg'sRs'' a.
I Q Trial OF Montalembert

Neil VIII 20 hNfQiu lltnushohs Wv NoHu NhV
the news Of some sad symptom Of distant
epidemic. To-day they occupy the pnblic
lmind q, England they will pass from US TO
,he llee States of The Continent they viii be
read lar and wide through the eities NJ the
Atlantic, they will be repeated among the pop
ulaiions Of the Southern Ocean; but wherev-
er they pas they VII produce prevailing
sentiment OF deep enmmisemtiOn. IL is not
| Monialtmbcu. out France, thnt will be pitied.
Ever, one will ask himself "Whn, can be the
condition Of country where such things can
he, and where no one cries aloud r. i is rs IL
we saw rat Cnlwing humnn form which
did not slarl. II may be trance, il may be
death, hut il is nnt active vitality. Perhaps it
is the silence unl lHaction OF nhjea, terror, but
there is scOTcclynn instance Of u Etcat nation so
I silently pros,m,e Men must now remember
what Frenchmcn were before they can feel an
interest in what they yet may be Mouinlem-
bert goes lotih 10 prison, and no voice is rOis'
| ed no patriot leaders come together 10 protest,
no flying sheet tells the story Of his trlal-the
/ very mob are afraid 10 shout.
/ But the same 70 , hangs upon the oppressor
MS upon The oppressed. The description OF
! tins judicial proceeding reads more like
meeting Of cOnspiralOrs than like State trial.
| When Power masquemdas rs Justice, il has
been usual to borrow robes Of dignity, and eX-
hibit the majesty Of law in some great hall,
where crowds nigh, assemble and the scene
and The example might be imposing and i'm.
pressiye. Bu, the Nonialembert trial takes
place in room like London police.ollice;
The audience are carefully admitted by tickets
and passwords. There is deed to be done
which, so far as is possible, shall be done priv
ily. No man may ia notes A scrap OF
paper and pencil are signs oil dlsofIectaton
and endanger instnn! expulsion. The seats Of
honor By the bench are occupied by those who
have distinguished themselves ouly under the
Imperial regime. We may he sure that the
lcket.holders in the small area Of the court
are, so far as may be, siauuca Imperiasts.-
1t is well imagined. Berryer and DuIaure
must be heard, and it will be- inconvenient to
deny them reasonable license bot their
voices will not be allowed to penetrate beyond
that room. Outside. the Imperial! will has |
laid an interdct upon France. "You may |
tell them that the Judges are seated, and you
may tell them again that the prisoners have !
been condemned. This is enough for France |
to know" Yet, with all these precautions,
there was demeanor about the Bench which |
was not that of security The President evil
dently doubted from the beginning that France
could supply even small roomful of .parti: !
sans Jealous against the accused. lie saw in
every face an enemy, aud commenced by q
warning of pains aud penalties against all
who should dare TO applaud. Soon afterwards
his nervous ear caught sound which no one
else had noteds and again when Berryer had
concluded his oraton, the rrepressible instinct /
TO applaud for moment ovcrcame all appre-
hension of the Presidents wrath The Judge
was right in his suspicion that il was impossi-
Bile TO pack an audience which would sympa-
thze with this prosecution. 1t was quite i'm
possible that any one could hear even the
statement of the case as it came from the
counsel without being convinced
that the incriminaed passages were but an ell
oquent repetition o! the commonpIaces OF poe.
try and history. They contain only passing
allusion to the corruption oc Courts; a gentle
snecr at the progressive spirits who believe IN
universal suffrage; an assertion OF the un-
doubted truth, that Canada now has political
and municipal institutions which France once
had, but which France retains no longer; and
an assertion of the fact which, if it wanted
any confirmation, is made notorious by this
that in France "no one speaks
but by permission" These phrases picked out
of AN article of 70 pages from the counts of
his indictment and the justification for his i'm
prisonment. i
No tyranny that the world has seen everfas-
sumed this form. The most absolute and un-
rulers have never yet prosecuted
history. Livy, Mt the Court of Augustus,
could write of the expulsion Of the Tarquins
and celebrate the deeds of the Republic, and
Tacitus could compose an euoey on the free
institutions of the Germans, and circulate it
under the patronage of Vespasian and Domi-
tian: but a French nobleman at Paris may
not say that he speaks only by permission, and
and must not write it in periodical that
France once had constitutional Institutions,
and another nation hard by still retain them.
The doctrines under whir,b .NCnoaTaynbert has
been .cDddemned proceed upon an assumption
hat, the Government of France being des-
,otism, any mention of freedom is an attack
,pon its existence; that the laws are so bad !
hat to state them is to expose them to con-
empt; and thatSthe Court of the Emperor i, !,
o corrupt that general expressions against
orruption need no application to wound the 7
reat officers { of the Empire. Under such
octrnes life apd property can never be safe. Il
10 man can guard his common conversation o
gainst these rSmote constructions. Monta- L
,mbert's article might be very disagreenb!e to a
lie Emperor, and doubtless was so, but if it
libel the BbIiothe9Ye lmperiale is full of a
bells and it will be oriSy fair to quiet people n
Ito desire TO keep far from, Lambessa and Ca m
enne TO make over its contents TO the Bains m
hinois. Under ibe prescott regime such a,
,olSs az Platarci's Liucs, 81 Ikswas Aqui- tr
rs, Mnitana, DtRegc, all the hisSsfies Of te
rance and all the Greek Classics, 1esfss be OF d
use hlf "a i.1-an patis in haiaL.,aist We I'm