The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-01

lndictable oftense hns been committed, the |
first person TO be informed of tiff the de- |
hnquent have not been arrested on the spot |
Ia the Commissaire do Police, with whom the |
complaint is lodged. There are eighty of these
commissaires in Paris, and their functions are
rather more extensive than those Of English |
inspectors Of police, for they may at their
discretion hberate prisoners who are simply
charged with drunkenness or riotous conduct.
-Four times day the commissaires send re-
ports 10 the Prefecture de Police, whence all
complaints are directly forwarded TO the Pro-
cureur-Imporial, or public prosecutor, who
Immediately issues against the parties accused
either a summons (ia0ndat do compdrutton)
OF a warrant Ch1dHddt ddmoneTJ. 1t needs
an incredible amount of tact and Judgment to
discharge the functions Of public prosecutor
with equity; but it cannot be said that rs a
rule the imperial procureurs come up to the
desirable standard. They are very ill-paid
class Their salaries vary from eco year in
country districts TO c2i0 year in large towns
and even tho procureurs-generals, or public
prosecutors-in-chie of whom there are but
twenty-eight in the whole empire,
receive only f6l0. These emoluments
are too small 20 tempt men who
have the slightest chance Of making their way
at the bar, and the Government is obliged to
select from among those who, however honest
and painstaking they may be, are, at best,
Procureur-Imperial and his deputies sit every
day and divide the business between them.
When a defendant appears to answer sum-
mons, or comes up in custody under warrant,
his examination is conducted in strict pri-
vacy; and the Procureur, who is often over
done with work, seldom takes more than
few minutes in deciding whether there are
grounds for n prosecution or not. If the
charge seems frivolous one, or il the prihaG
fdci6 evidence be insufficient, he may at once
dismiss the case; in the contrary event he hands
over the inculpe TO the examining magistrate,
or jtige dinstructiOR, who either lberates
the defendant on bail (though this is very
rarely done) or orders his provisory incarce-
ration under q HdHddt de d6pot. We may
remark that great latitude is always allowed
by French magistrates towards journalists
charged with press offenses, and towards men
in good social position indicted for such mis-
demeanors as duelling, assault, or rioting.
We may add, too, that although in press pro-
secutions the printer of paper is generally
indicted with the editor, and ,entenced to
month or two of confinement, il is not Gus
| tomary for the Procureur to insist upon the
| carrying out of the sentence. There are
| printers in Paris who, during the last twenty
| years, have had two or three years Of impri-
sonment meted ont to them in instalments,
and who yet have never slept a single night
| in gaol.
So much has been already written both in
| English and foreign papers concerning the
| slow-torture system TO which French justice
| has recourse in order Co screw confessions out
of prisoners, that we will say nothing more on
| the subject, further than To point out how
immense is the discretionary power confded
to juge dinstruction All that goes ON in
his study is a profound mystery to the outer
| world. There is no one to control his actions,
! and if it suits him to hush up u case, he may
| do so with perfect safety, without having any
thing unpleasant in the way of newspaper
comments to dread. Whether French eX-
amining magistrates ever do hush up cases
where influence is brought to bear upon them
| from high quarters is another question:; but
the bare fact that they should he able to abuse
these powers with impunity sufficiently
justifies the opinion of liberal Frenchmen
that the functions of the juge dinstruction
should be exercised openly, as in England.
After probationary term, which varies
according to the more or less difficulty there
may be in extracting the truth from him, a
prisoner is either committed straightway to
take his trial before the Tribunal of Cor
rectional Police, or, if the charge be one of
felony, is sent back to prison to await the de-
cision of the ChGnq6re des Misses en- Accusd-
tiOR, sort of judicial grand jury whose bu-
siness it is to see whether the indictments are
clear enough to warrant committal to the
Court OF AsSlze. The Tribunal OF Correctional
Police sits all the year round; the Court of
Assize hold two sessions month in Paris,
and four year in the twenty-seven other
Imperial courts. The difference between the
two jurisdictions is that in the former the
trial rests with three judges; whilst in the
latter the prisoner is arraigned before jury.
Most Englishmen who have visited Paris
must have been TO see the Correctional Tri-
bunals, rendered famous by the numerous
press trials of the Second Empire. They con-
sist of two chambers, the sixth and seventh,
both identical in appearance. There is q
rich, well-furnished look about them which
one is not always accustomed to find in
court of justice. The paper on the wall is
green, with large gold bees; all round tho
room runs carved wainscoting of oak; to the
right. on pedestal, is a marble bust Of the
Emperor; to the left, on fellow pedestal, q
handsome clock; and at the end of the room,
over the dais of the three judges, hfe-size
picture Of the Saviour on the cross. On the
right, of the judges dais, which is warmly
carpeted with thick green rug, is the dock
where the prisoner stands between two Rend-
armes; opposite it low pulpit, with q COM
Portable armchair for the public prosecutor;
down the centre of the court q sort of stops
alleys, with rows of seats on each side for
the public, like the pews in a church. The
trials in correctional police never last long.
; The judges adopt an aggressive tone in their
, questions which indicates pretty plainly that
, their opinion as to the prisoners guilt is made
, up beforehand. The public prosecutor, on
his side, never fails to observe that unless the
accused can prove his innocence his culpa-
bility must be taken for granted and 30 the
: trial generally ends in condemnation, which