In the evening of the 9th inst. a body of troops
marched to the Fort of Ivry to conduct 468 prisoners
destined for transportation to the Rouen railway station.
In the dead of the night they were placed in a special
train, accompanied by their guards, and conveyed to
Havre, where they arrived early in the morning. They
were then immediately embarked on board a vessel
whose commander had orders to put them on board the
Duguesclin, lying off Brest, and awaiting their arrival
to set sail for Cayenne. Not one of them had been
subjected to a trial of any kind—not even before a court-
martial. Those who were seized in the streets during
the insurrection were carried off to the fort; and all
of them, who either failed in giving such an account
of themselves as to satisfy the police authorities, or who
had not friends sufficiently influential to obtain their
release, were ordered off to Cayenne without hesitation
or remorse. It appears that the only preparation
hitherto made for the reception of these prisoners in
Cayenne is the sending out of a considerable number
of wooden huts, and some agricultural implements.
The total number to be sent to Cayenne amounts to
2500 persons, including 150 political prisoners from
Paris, and a considerable number of liberated convicts.
The place of destination of these unfortunate persons is
in French Guiana, a slip of land extending along the
coast of South America, from two degrees to five degrees
north of the equator. They will be landed on a swampy
and pestilential island, separated from the mainland by
a river a league in width, and utterly destitute of the
resources of manual industry. The population of
Cayenne does not exceed 2000 whites, and 5000 negroes,
and the colony is quite unprepared for the reception of
a large immigration of men who have figured in the
political and social life of France.
Louis Napoleon has assumed the title of "Prince
President of the French Republic," and is addressed in
official documents as "Monseigneur."
The latest measure of the usurper has been the
confiscation of the property of the Orleans family. It was
preceded by a change in the ministry: M. Morny and
M. Fould, the ministers of the interior, having given
place to M. Persigny. The decree of confiscation
appeared in the "Moniteur" of the 23rd, and is to the
following effect:—The members of the Orleans family,
their husbands and consorts, and descendants, cannot
possess any property (moveable or immoveable) in
France. They are bound to sell within a year all that
belongs to them in the territory of the Republic; in
default, the sale will be made by the state. The dotation
in favour of his children made by Louis Philippe on the
7th of August, 1830 (two days before he accepted the
revolutionary crown), of the reversionary interest in all
the estates of the Orleans family, after his own life
interest, (a dotation asserted to be illegal, as an alienation
of "crown" property,) is cancelled; and the
following distribution is made of its value, about
200,000,000 francs; 10,000,000 francs to societies of
secours mutuels; 10,000,000 francs to the improvement
of the lodgings for the working-classes; 10,000,000
francs to the establishment of a crédit foncier; 5,000,000
francs to a benefit fund for the poor clergy; all the
officers, sub-officers, and soldiers in active service, will
receive a donative according to their rank in the Legion
of Honour—the legionaries, 250 francs; the officers,
500 francs; commanders, 1000 francs; grand officers,
2000 francs; grand crosses, 3000 francs; a national
palace will serve for an establishment for the education
of orphans and families whose heads have obtained a
military medal, which entitles them to a pension for
life of 100 francs. The Palace of Saverne will serve as
an asylum to the widows of high functionaries, civil as
well as military, who have died in the service of the
state; and the state is charged with payment of their
debts. The debts of the civil list of the last reign are
taken upon the state. The dowry of 300,000 francs to
the Duchess of Orleans is maintained.
Titles of nobility are restored; the decree of the
provisional government of 1848, respecting titles of
nobility, having been abrogated by a decree published
in the "Moniteur" of the 25th inst.
An instance of the persecution directed against the
old nobility has just been made public. The Marquise
D'Osmond, a Legitimist lady, who gives brilliant
réunions at her house on the Boulevard de la
Madeleine, received an official intimation from the Minister
of the Interior that politics were not approved of by the
government as a subject of conversation at parties, and
that as many other subjects gave equal scope for social
communication, there existed no necessity for discussing
the acts of the government. Consequently the marquise
was requested to intimate to her guests that they must
refrain from talking politics. Madame D'Osmond, after
receiving this notice, invited to her next party only
ladies; but the absence of the "lords of creation" did
not prevent the company present from exchanging the
freest criticisms possible upon the deeds of the government,
and in particular from venting their indignation
at the invasion of private society by such monstrous
prohibitions. The next morning Madame D'Osmond
received a note from M. de Morny begging her to name
which of her chateaux the marquise would prefer for
her country residence, as her sojourn at Paris any
longer for the present had become impossible; and
intimating that her return to the capital would not be
permitted without an express permission from the
President of the Republic.
The reign of terror in the provinces resembles the
worst days of 1793. In many parts of the country the
troops go out and beat the woods for men as if they
were hunting game. A detachment of the 35th
regiment, after a long chase, lately caught seventeen in a
forest at St. Thibery, in the Hérault, at two o'clock in
the morning. In the same neighbourhood the papers
speak of arrests by the dozen, and by the score, as
having been made by the military at Roujan,
Puisalicon, Caux, Neffies, and Pezenas. At Clermont,
Canet, St. Andre, Aspiron, and several communes of
Lodéve, cafés and public-houses without number have
been closed. In the Vaucluse a lieutenant of Gendarmerie,
at the head of some Gendarmes and 150 men of
the 54th regiment, have been very successful in making
captures. A man named Sauvan, who took to his heels,
was brought down by a grenadier. The ball entered
his back and came out at his belly. At Cuers the
sport seems to be left to the civil power. M. Girard, a
judge of instruction, is indefatigable there. Within
eight days he arrested 370 men, being about one-fourth
of the male population of the place. The gaoler at
Toulon was one day surprised at the visit of a large
column of men, who, struck with terror, and driven
to despair by the incessant harassing of the soldiery,
came to surrender themselves prisoners. He had not
room to lodge so much unexpected company, and, after
taking down their names, begged them to be good
enough to call again. This they did, and they were
ultimately stowed away somewhere. In the fort of
Lamalgue, at Toulon, there are now 1200 prisoners.
In the neighbourhood of Crest, the pursuit of political
refugees can only be compared to chamois hunting.
The country there is rocky, and several of the proscribed
have been shot at repeatedly by their pursuers.
The new Ministry is definitively constituted as
follows:—MM. Abbattucci, Justice; De Persigny,
Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce; Bineau,
Finances; De Saint Arnaud, War; Ducos, Marine;
Turgot, Foreign Affairs; Fortoul, Public Instruction
and Worship; De Maupas, Police; Casabianca, State:
Lefebvre Duruflé, Public Works. Meanwhile all
is gaiety at the Tuileries. On Saturday night, the
24th, the President gave a grand ball, at which
between four and five thousand persons were present.
The whole range of buildings was brilliantly illuminated.
The grand staircase was profusely adorned
with wreaths of flowers, which were continued into the
magnificent suite of apartments freshly repaired and
restored to all their original splendour for the occasion.
Notwithstanding the immense spaciousness of the
brilliantly illuminated halls, the crush was so dense
that people could hardly arrive by forming en queue
from the bottom of the staircase to the top in less than
half an hour. Uniforms bedaubed with gold, and
breasts plaited with orders, glittered on all hands.
Great numbers of English and Russian officers appeared
to be present, from the sprinkling of scarlet and green
coats and furred hussar jackets. Then all the various
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