A 
 A 
 
 i 
 
 : 
 
 o; 
 
 7 \ 
 
 2 [ 
 
 8 i 
 6 1 
 
 1 I 
 
 3 I 
 1 =
 
 'h 
 
 DETAILS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE ARREST, IMPRISONMENT 
 
 AND 
 
 LIBERATION, 
 
 OF 
 
 AN ENGLISHMAN, 
 
 BY 
 
 THE BOURBON GOVERNMENT 
 OF FRANCE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SOLD BY ROWLAND HUNTER, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH- YARD; 
 AND EFFINGHAM WILSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE. 
 
 Price As. 
 1823. 
 
 Q 8 i,
 
 AICHARD TAVU)R, PRJNTEE, 
 SUOE LANE. LONDON.
 
 CT 
 7 8^ 
 
 
 CC 
 
 < 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 >- 
 
 < Introductory Letter to Mr. Canning . v 
 ££ Details of my Arrest, Imprisonment, and Release 13 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Dale. 
 
 A Letter to the Mayor of Calais . Oct. Q , , Gb 
 
 B Letter to the British Vice Consul 
 
 at Calais . . . . — 7 . . 67 
 
 o C Letter to Sir Charles Stuart . — 8 , . 68 
 
 2 D His Answer . . • . — 14 . . 70 
 
 ° E Letter of the King's Advocate . —15 ..72 
 
 F My Reply — 15 . . 74 
 
 °- G Mandat d'Amener . . . — 16 . . 75 
 
 H, Refusal to obey ditto . . . — 16 . . 77 
 
 I Second Letter of the King'sAdvocate— 16 ..78 
 
 K My Answer . . . • — 16 . . 80 
 
 L Letter to Sir Charles Stuart . — 24 . . 81 
 
 M Letter to Mr. Canning . . — 24 . . 82 
 
 N Letter to Sir Charles Stuart . — 26 . . 85 
 
 O Letter from the Solicitor to the 
 
 Ambassy . . . . — 26 .. 86 
 
 g P Letter from Sir Charles Stuart . — 31 . . 87 
 
 Q Opinion of the BatonnierBillecocq — 31 ..88 
 
 or 
 
 x: R Letter to the Solicitor of the 
 
 Ambassy .... Nov. 3 . . 98 
 
 301036
 
 iv CONTENTS. 
 
 Date. Page . 
 
 S Second Letter to Mr. Canning Nov. 12 . . 99 
 
 T Proceedings at the Court of First 
 
 Instance . . . . — 12 .. 101 
 
 U Lettef of Sir Charles Stuart . — 14 . . 115 
 
 V Letter of the Ring's Advocate — 15 . . ib. 
 W Letter of Jos. Planta, jun. Esq. — 15 .. 116 
 X Letter to Mr. Canning . . — 21 ., 117 
 
 Y Letter from Mr. Planta . . Dec. 12 . . 121 
 
 1823. 
 
 Z Letter to Mr. Planta . . Jan. 3 . . 133 
 
 A A Letter from Mr. Backhouse . — 4 . . 134 
 
 BB Letter from Mr. Planta . — 13 . . ib. 
 
 C C Ditto — IS .. 135 
 
 D D Observations on the Character of French 
 
 Criminal Proceedings .... 137 
 
 EE Lines written in the prison at Calais . 145
 
 To the Right Honourable George Cannii^g, 
 His Majesty's Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I VENTURE to dedicate to j/ou the following pages. 
 
 Whatever I maj/feel of surprise or of regret at the de- 
 termination not to prosecute the demand against the French 
 Government for redress on national grounds, lam bound 
 publicly to express— and I do so with the utmost cor- 
 diality — my gratitude for those individual attentions to 
 my family and myself which have marked your conduct 
 throughout. 
 
 But I owe it to myself and I owe it to my country and 
 to mankind, to state the facts connected with my deten- 
 tion, imprisonment and release. 
 
 When you directed me to prepare a case for the Go- 
 vernment,— which case, I trust, completely removed the 
 shifting and shadowy ground, on which the French Ca- 
 
 b
 
 VI 
 
 hintt rested the one solitaiy Justification of their atrocity, 
 — viz. that there were charges against me which, if proved, 
 tmtild have authorized their conduct, — when, long after 
 this, you requested that I would avoid all public discus- 
 sion, lest it should embarrass your proceedings, — I ven- 
 tured to hope that remonstrance had been made, and that a 
 despotic faction would be taught, that a subject of England, 
 though absent froin his country, is still protected fiom vio- 
 lence by his country's influence. I know it has been a proud 
 triumph for the Ultras of France to have insulted an En- 
 glishman, and to have insulted him with impunity. They 
 have not scrupled to avow this ; and the avowal was, at 
 least, honest, though perhaps ill-timed. 
 
 Would I then precipitate my country into a vindictive 
 war to avenge the outrages I have suffered? Not I. 
 Neither on this, nor any other ground, could I contem- 
 plate, or would I attempt to justify, such a proceeding. 
 I abominate all war as most unwise and most unholy. I 
 preach no crusade against an innocent and unoffending 
 people. France is a country crowded with beings whom 
 I love and honour ; it has a thousand spots dear to my 
 recollections, and is blended with some of the brightest 
 mental associations of my earlier days. I no more think 
 of war as a consequence of severe remonstrance for in- 
 juries done by a Government, than I should contemplate 
 murder, in insisting on redress for the violation of legal 
 and acknowledged rights by an individual. J believed, 
 and still believe, that England had influence enough to 
 obtain the reparation of grievances committed on her 
 citizens; I thought that an unpopular and anti-na-
 
 Vll 
 
 Uonal Government, like that vDhich now oppresses France, 
 could not resist the strong representations of our Mi- 
 nistry/. If the Executive power of France were truly a 
 delegation from the national will, I know full well that 
 our Cabinet could not have made any impression by the 
 mere circumstance of its interference ; but, on the other 
 hand, under a Government really responsible to opiriion, 
 no such acts would be committed, nor could have to be ap- 
 pealed against. France is indeed humiliated in her help- 
 lessness and by her subserviency ; but England, whose 
 policy has hitherto been unfortunately too closely allied 
 with that of the oppressors of Europe — England has had 
 her share in the general degradation. It is right it should 
 be so. The consequences of her foreign policy remain, 
 as yet, undeveloped; by and by, they will burst upon her 
 in storms and terrors, unless, led by you in a nobler path 
 of glory, she again take her station at the head ofciviliza-^ 
 tion, as the advanced guard of freedom. 
 
 I have been persecuted, then — and most unjustly — by a 
 foreign Government; and, after being haunted by spies, 
 and tortured by secret questionings and solitary confine- 
 ment ; after the violation of all my papers and correspon- 
 dence, and the correspondence of others ; after all tlie 7na- 
 chitiations of busy hatred and daring violence to create or 
 to discover crime, I am turned adrift ; tfiere is not a sha- 
 dow of evidence against me — there never was in any stage 
 of the proceedings — the very crime for which I was to be 
 tried remains to be guessed at, and was unknozon even to 
 the Judges appointed to examine me ; and I am a citizen 
 of England. 
 
 b2
 
 Vlll 
 
 I expect to be accused of presumption in attaching s&^ 
 much importance to the case — however hard — of an ob-^ 
 scure and private individual: but ever?/ Englishman is 
 in some respects the representative of his countri/ ; and 
 the Englishman who is marked out by foreign aggression 
 as its victim is peculiarli/ so. What are international 
 rights, except as vested in individuals ? Is any line to be- 
 drawn of rank or wealth, beneath which protection is 
 not to descend ? If you. Sir, or any other distinguished 
 statesman, had been thrown into a dungeon, and kept 
 there during the good pleasure of a foreign power, 
 till some justification of the outrage should be extorted 
 from yourself, or until it should be discovered, that na 
 justification could be extorted, and you were then turn-^ 
 ed out of your prison-cell with the consoling communi- 
 cation, that you ought not to have been imprisoned at 
 all — would you have deemed it wise or proper that 
 your country should submit unmurmuringly to the 
 wrong? 1 like forgiveness as between man and man» — it 
 controuls, it subdues injuries ; but there is no magnani- 
 mity in a nation's inviting to outrages, for which it may 
 obtain— and ought to obtain — apology and redress, The 
 insult which has fallen on me may soon fall upon a prouder 
 and a higher head. Can we complain ? Has it not been 
 sanctioned already ? 
 
 It would be most unjust to attribute to a revengeful 
 temper the strong expressions which I have sometimes em- 
 ployed. My mind, aroused by a lively sense of wrong, 
 has been yet more excited by the pertinacity with which 
 that wrong has been persisted in and defended. I believe
 
 an exposition of the foul deeds of tyranny may tendtopre' 
 vent a repetition of Ihem; it may awake compunctiony 
 even if it bring about no decided reformation. Publicity 
 is the only zoeapon which belongs to the weak, and it w, 
 perhaps, the most effective at last. 
 
 On a review of all, I cannot but express my disappoint- 
 ment—I do not choose to use a stronger term — that an 
 outrage so extraordinary and so unprecedented, should 
 have been silently passed over by the British Govern- 
 ment. A license has now been given to all despotic 
 powers to make Englishmen the victims of any tyrannical 
 inflictions which their good pleasure may deem it ft to ex- 
 ercise. England has been smitten on the right cheek, and 
 has now turned round the other also. Self-esteem may 
 have exaggerated the individual case, yet the national 
 outrage was gross and flagrant. For weeks the interfe- 
 rence of the British Ambassador was treated with con- 
 tempt by that tottering and ephemeral Government, 
 which Great Britain had been the main instrument lit 
 creating ; and long after you had demanded from the 
 French Govermnent the motives of my arrest, you could 
 obtain nothing but vague, unsatisfactory and yerhal com- 
 munications. IVien, indeed, was the insult transferredfrom 
 me to the English nation. Yet whatever may be the cause, 
 I will not, I dare not, attempt to unravel it — you, distin- 
 guished, as we have been led to believe, for your high- 
 minded dignity of character ; you, who had most assu- 
 redly excited the expectation of the country, that you would 
 support and retrieve its sinking reputation, received the
 
 X 
 
 recorded acknowledgement, that I had been falsely and 
 
 arbitrarily imprisoned — and then -. ' r 
 
 J have left a blank which ought to have been otherwise 
 filled. 
 
 I cannot pretend to divine the secrets of cabinets, nor 
 to understand that profomid and mysterious policy which 
 is not to be measured by the common scale of right and 
 wrong— justice and oppression, tfuth and falsehood: — but 
 this I know, that there have been periods in our history, 
 when, indeed, the glorious pre-eminence in rank, in power, 
 in influence, which has been claimed for England in these 
 latter days, had never been thought of; — there have been 
 periods y I say, in our history, when it was no part of her 
 glory to abandon her citizens to the rage of tyrants, nor 
 to leave to posterity the record of insults she had brooked, 
 and outrages beneath which she had bowed her head. 
 
 It is not for me to suggest in what manner reparation 
 is obtainable. When States are in harmony with one 
 another, I imagine such harmony implies, that all mis- 
 understandings may easily be made the subject of ami- 
 cable adjustment. ^ 
 
 There is one subject to which I would fain refer, for it 
 has again and again been pressed on my attention, — and I 
 entreat you to believethat in introducing it novain or selfish 
 or hostile feeling influences my mind. It is the Alien Bill. 
 That Bill — that inhospitable and un-English Bill — was 
 constantly quotedagainst me in the progress of the proceed- 
 ings. When I complained of their illegality and violence, J 
 was constantly asked, " Whatprotectionfrom your laws has
 
 XI 
 
 a foreigner in England ? " Coidd I do aught hut hang 
 down mj/ head in silence? It was the second time that 
 this Bill had been used to justify acts of oppression and 
 outrage committed on mi/ person. It was employ ed against 
 me in 1820, in Spahiy when I zcas detained by the arbi- 
 trary mandate of a petty magistrate, who, however, after- 
 wards apologisedfor his mistake. The Alien Bill, — which 
 has scarcely ever been employed at all to banish those 
 against whom it was directed, — has been a constant wea- 
 pon to be used against Englishmen by other Governments. 
 Our own countrymen are its victims. We have forged 
 arms, useless for our own defence, but terrible when em- 
 ployed against us. Few individuah have had more ex- 
 tensive opportunities than myself for ascertaining the ge- 
 neral estimation of the English character through the dif- 
 ferent countries of Europe; and I may truly assert, that 
 no one circumstance ever tended so much to diminish our 
 national reputation, as the existence of the Alien Bill. To 
 England — -amidst the vicissitudes and calamities of poli- 
 tical events — men were accustomed to look as to a haven, 
 where the distant storm might be heard but dared not 
 reach. I know the terrors of the Alien Bill ha'ce been 
 exaggerated; but such terrors exist ; and whether they 
 have misrepresented, or not, the temper of the British Go- 
 vernment, certain it is, that the charm of perfect conf. 
 dence is broken; — this asylum, which was formerly sacred, 
 may now be violated. Who shall guaranty to the fugi- 
 tive stranger that it will not be violated? To be instru- 
 mental in removing this foul stigma on the character of
 
 Xll 
 
 my country^ I would cheerfully pass over again the days 
 of my imprisonment, even though they had been tenfold; 
 and should that imprisonment lead to a repeal of this most 
 obnoxious statute^ it would be to me a proud privilege so 
 to have suffered. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient humble Servant, 
 
 Hackney. Feb. 1823. JOHN BO WRING.
 
 DETAILS, 
 
 J. HERE are some persons who seem to have 
 an instinctive sympathy with every thing that is 
 oppressive^ merely because oppression is the 
 child of power ; they admire an arbitrary act, be- 
 cause it implies the existence of authority, and 
 think violence and outrage fit and proper exer- 
 cises, whenever they emanate from those who 
 are beyond the controul of opinion. The injus- 
 tice that can be contemplated and committed with 
 impunity, is to them infinitely more attractive and 
 more sacred than the honest and impartial ad- 
 ministration of equitable laws. ''The right of 
 the strong" is in their view no insult, dug out of 
 the barbarism of dark and despotic ages, but a 
 maxim consecrated by time, and not now to be 
 disputed or discussed. To such these pages are 
 not addressed.
 
 2 
 
 But to all besides. To men men of every 
 party, who, though they ditfer on a thousand 
 points, agree only on this, — that society should 
 provide for the security of all who do not violate 
 its laws, this statement appeals. 
 
 What is its object? To remove the mask of 
 hypocritical tyranny ; to dissipate the delusions 
 which may yet exist as to the character of the 
 legithnate and pateriial government of the Bour- 
 bons; to give vent to the expression of honest 
 indignation against despotic outrage ; and to ex- 
 cite and quicken our love and reverence for 
 every institution which has been erected by 
 wisdom and virtue, against the encroachments 
 of power or perfidy. It is fit that it should be, 
 seen on what a slender thread the security and 
 happiness of millions are suspended. It is right 
 that the secret underminings of a system of fraud, 
 slander, and violence, should be exposed and re- 
 corded, that the careless and the confident may 
 be cautioned, and the incredulous be undeceived. 
 
 I had been about a fortnight at Paris. The 
 object of my visit was purely commercial. My 
 intercourse with some of the noblest and most 
 highly gifted minds of France, could not, I well 
 knew, but be notorious to that police, which 
 tracks the footsteps of all who are honoured by 
 its attention, with the omnipresence of some of 
 the fiends of fable. I was indifferent to its pro-
 
 ,1 
 
 ceedings, and its anxieties and eager restlessness 
 only sei'ved to amuse me. Its ramifications pe- 
 netrate all the recesses of social life, and spread 
 the poison of distrust and alarm over society ; — 
 yet no apprehension of any thing- that could be 
 reported by its base and busy, or even its blun- 
 dering agents, ever disturbed my mind. 
 
 To possess the friendt?hip and the confidence 
 of those who stand in the first ranks of moral and 
 intellectual society is, I am aware, accounted a 
 crime by the present French Government ; but I 
 have never felt the shame ; and be it allowed me 
 to add, that every renewal of personal converse 
 has only served to strengthen those affections 
 and those sympathies, which grow brighter and 
 purer as time rolls on. 
 
 But my acquaintance at Paris was most as- 
 suredly not confined to individuals of any one 
 party. If a more complete communion of thought 
 and feeling have associated me more habitually 
 with the Liberals of France, — and certainly, as a 
 body, their mental endowments elevate them 
 greatly above their opponents, and, with one or 
 two brilliant exceptions, place them at the head of 
 the civilization and the literature of their country, 
 — I have been long, notwithstanding, on terms of 
 intimacy with many distinguished partisans of a 
 system which I deem most unfriendly to virtue, 
 nK)9t unfriendly to happiness. Yet differing on 
 
 b2
 
 many points, we have agreed mutually to respect 
 the convictions of each other, and there is ground 
 enough on which the thorns of politics grow not; 
 where we have plucked together the flowers of 
 knowledge, sharing with common enjoyment 
 their fragrancy and admiring their beauty. 
 
 On applying for my passport, after obtaining 
 the signature of the British ambassador, there 
 was some demur, and the police officer proposed 
 to give me instead of it, a carte de surveillance 
 for twenty-four hours. This being objected to 
 on my part, a council was held, and my passport 
 delivered to me. I had scarcely reached my 
 lodgings ere a stranger, dressed as a servant, in- 
 troduced himself and said, "My master has heard. 
 Sir, that you are about to depart for London, 
 and entreats you to take charge of his son, a lad 
 of fifteen years." "^'Who is your master?" I in- 
 quired very abruptly, '^'how does he know me?" 
 The spy, who must have surely been a novice in 
 his infamous profession, or had been taught his 
 lesson ill, answered, "'My master is of the house- 
 hold of the Count d'Artois : he heard accidentally 
 of your being about to start, and will be very 
 grateful if you will take charge of his son." I 
 told him I should probably not leave for a day or 
 two, that I had no carriage of my own, and that 
 «iy departure depended in some measure on my 
 fellow travellers. He left me, but returned the
 
 next day to say^ that his master would lend me 
 his own carriage if I would consent to be his 
 son's protector. He was very urgent to know 
 the time of my departure,, and asked if I would 
 receive his master. I said *^' Yes/' but that as I 
 should leave with some personal friends^ 1 could 
 not take charge of the lad. When he had gone 
 outj a gentleman who was with me, and who fol- 
 lowed him immediatelyj saw him deliver a report 
 to a man who stood at the end of the street^ who 
 went away towards the Place Carousel (Mon- 
 sieur's apartments), leaving the spy walking up 
 and down before my door, which was his station 
 during my abode at Paris. 
 
 In these interviews I concealed nothing of my 
 plans; for there was nothing that I wished to con- 
 ceal. That the spy reported my conversation . 
 with remarkable fidelity 1 had soon an opportunity 
 of ascertaining; for while I was being examined 
 by the Mayor at Calais, 1 perceived on his table 
 a report from Paris, in which these conversations 
 were minutely and accurately recorded. This 
 report professed to be from the Minister of the 
 Interior, and was headed by stating that the in- 
 formation obtained with respect to Bowring's 
 plans was — as followed. In the New Times of 
 October 22, (the semi-official Journal of the extra- 
 vagant Ultras) a communication from Paris says, 
 '* Bowring, who is in prison at Boulogne, is said
 
 '^ to have recently arrived from Madrid/' (I had 
 not been in Madrid since 1821) *'and to have 
 " lodged some time here in the neighbourhood 
 " of the Palais Royal, where the eye of the police 
 *' was kept on him and his associates." 
 
 In France there are several species of police, 
 which are wholly independent of, and often un- 
 known to, each other. That of the Ultra faction, 
 under whose surveillance I fell, which emanates 
 from the coterie of the king's brother and the 
 Duchess of Angouleme, (the Pavilion Marsan) 
 was then the most active and perhaps the most nu. 
 merous. In truth, the strength of the party con- 
 sists almost exclusively in the wonderful extent 
 of this dreadful system, a system which may seem 
 their security in their day of triumph, but which 
 in a moment of reverse may be turned upon 
 themselves, and deliver them over to hopeless and 
 to helpless perdition. 
 
 The scheme for forcing on me a fellow-travel- 
 ler, a boy of fifteen already trained to perfidy and 
 practised no doubt in all the arts of cunning and 
 hypocrisy, was worthy of those who planned it. 
 
 On the Ist of October I obtained my pass- 
 port, and on the same day a telegraphic order 
 was given for my detention at Boulogne or Ca- 
 lais. On the 2d or 3d the police received the 
 usual reports of my proceedings ; but they did 
 not meddle with me, nor impede my journey. It
 
 is most certain they had no charge against me ; 
 and at Paris^ where I was surrounded by friends, 
 they dared not arrest me without the specification 
 of crime ; the affair would have made some noise ; 
 the interference would have been immediate : 
 they wished to place me beyond the reach of 
 sympathy, and probably to throw the charge of 
 illegality on some of the inferior agents of de- 
 spotism ; while at Paris it would clearly appear 
 to have emanated directly from themselves. 
 
 I had with me a number, not a considerable 
 one, of sealed letters. Some of these 1 had found 
 on my table when I returned to my hotel to pre- 
 pare for my journey, and was completely igno- 
 rant as to the writers. The Portuguese Minister, 
 M. D'Oliveira, came to me a few minutes before 
 I left, to request I would take charge of his dis- 
 patches to the Portuguese Minister here ; which 
 I did most cheerfully. 
 
 I left Paris, on the 3d, with two valued friends, 
 by the common Diligence. We arrived at Ca- 
 lais on the 5th ; and when I applied at the police 
 office for a license to embark, there was a mo- 
 mentary demur, a list was referred to, my person 
 was closely scrutinized, and I discovered that 
 some communication had been made about me. 
 
 The English packet was on the point of start- 
 ing; so that it was impossible to get ready for that 
 day. No objection was made to the indorse-
 
 8 
 
 ment of my passport, or to the granting me a 
 license to embark : but on returning* to the inn, 
 the landlord informed me that the officers of the 
 police had been very inquisitive about my pro- 
 ceedings, and that I was closely watched. I 
 imagined it was wished to ascertain whether I 
 had any connexions at Calais, and that they pro- 
 bably desired to report on my having left the 
 country. It gave me, however, not the slightest 
 disquietude. 
 
 On the following day, at noon, I sent my bag- 
 gage down to the pier, and followed immediately 
 after. At the moment of embarkation my trunk 
 was seized, and I was stopped by the Commis- 
 sary of Police, who said " Come to the Mairie, 
 I have a communication to make to you." My 
 excellent friend Blaquiere (whose name I cannot 
 introduce without the expression of the warmest 
 gratitude and admiration, for the courage, ardor, 
 and devotion, with which he has pleaded my 
 cause, and watched over and consoled my suf- 
 ferings,) was with me at that moment, and ac- 
 companied me to the Town-house. It was there 
 I was told that there was an order for the exa- 
 mination of all my papers. As my luggage had 
 been regularly cleared at the Custom-house, I 
 resisted the mandate, and insisted that no re- 
 examination should take place, except in presence 
 of the British Consul, who was immediately
 
 9 
 
 sought by Mr. Blaquiere ; and meanwhile 1 re- 
 quired the production of the authority by which 
 I was detained. '' I have it not," said the Com- 
 missary of Pohce : but as I still persisted in 
 having it shown to me, he sent me, escorted by a 
 soldier, to the Mayor, with whom I remonstrated 
 on the subject of my detention, and to whom I re- 
 peated the demand, that the ground of that deten- 
 tion, or some authority for it, should be communi- 
 cated to me. '' 1 have it not," said the Mayor : 
 and, after some further altercation, he directed 
 the soldier to tell the Commissary that I might 
 see the order from Paris. The Commissary then 
 produced the telegraphic dispatch, dated (I think) 
 the 1st of October, directing the Authorities to 
 stop Bowring at the moment of his embarkation, 
 and to examine his papers, he being the bearer 
 of dispatches to the revolutionary party in En- 
 gland (porteur de depeches aux revolutionaires 
 en Angleterre). On tiie arrival of the British 
 Consul, my passport was taken from me. I 
 opened my trunk, after a formal protest against 
 the contemplated violation, and after a vain at- 
 tempt to induce the Consul to join his official 
 protest to mine. Interpreters were called in, to 
 examine such documents as were not in French; 
 the unsealed letters, and divers MSS. were read, 
 and restored to the trunk, when it was discovered 
 they contained nothing j)oIitical. My person
 
 10 
 
 was next examined ; and the result was^ that fif- 
 teen letters, one packet, and the Portuguese dis- 
 patches, were taken from me, besides an envelope 
 with my address, which contained two ridiculous 
 songs, one (which has been often published) on 
 the return of the King to France, of which 
 
 O, G'est le Roi— le Roi !— le Roi ! 
 
 is the burden ; and the other celebrating, in iro- 
 nical but execrable style, the birth of " the Child 
 of Miracle" — the Duke of Bordeaux. In the 
 same paper was an account of the death of the 
 young Lallemand, written in unintelligible and 
 barbarous English. These three MSS. had been 
 left at my lodgings, with the address which still 
 accompanied them, and had been thrown aside 
 by me almost without attention or inquiry. 
 
 When the examination was over, I asked for 
 my passport, as nothing had been found to com- 
 promise me in any way ; but it was refused, and 
 the Mayor said he should immediately commu- 
 nicate to Paris what had passed, by telegraph, 
 and he had little doubt I should be allowed to de- 
 part on the following day. Meanwhile a proces 
 verbal was drawn up of what had occurred, in 
 which I required him to insert that I protested 
 in the strongest manner against the violation of 
 international law, and of diplomatic privilege — 
 but declared my ignorance of the contents of the 
 sealed letters. I urged the British Consul to in-
 
 II 
 
 terpose^ which he refused to do^ and sat a silent 
 spectator of the whole. The documents seized 
 were then placed under an envelope; and after I 
 had written my name on each, to establish their 
 identity, they were sealed with the seal of the 
 Mayor, that of the Consul, and my own. 
 
 I left the Mairie unmolested; and as I had 
 been rather seriously indisposed, I quitted the inn 
 where I was, for the abode of my friend Bla- 
 quiere. I was led to expect that an answer would 
 be received from Paris in a few hours ; but as 
 none arrived, either on that day or the following-, 
 I addressed to the Mayor the letter, which will 
 be found in the Appendix, No. A. To that letter 
 a verbal reply was sent, stating- that he had no 
 power of interfering, being only the agent of 
 Government. Finding that I could make no im- 
 pression, I addressed a letter to the Consul (Ap- 
 pendix, B), in which I entreated him to come 
 forward and demand the person of a British sub- 
 ject detained without cause ; but I could not 
 prevail on him to interfere, though it would ap- 
 pear by the opinion of the Batonnier Billecocq 
 (Appendix, Q), that a prompt intervention might 
 have been effectual. 
 
 The delay of an answer from Paris excited 
 considerable anxiety in the minds of some of my 
 friends ; and they urged me to escape into Flan- 
 ders, by the coast, with a false passport, or to
 
 ]2 
 
 avail myself of the many smugglings boats 'vvhich 
 were then at hand^ — some of whose crews had 
 offered to escort me in safety. But I knew how 
 calumny might misrepresent^ and malevolence 
 avail itself of such a desertion ; and I determined 
 to await events. 
 
 On the 8th of October, a small g-uard of sol- 
 diers were distributed near and in the house 
 where I was ; and I soon received a message, 
 requesting my attendance at the Hotel de Ville, 
 to which I was conducted by a gendarme. I 
 found the Consul with the Mayor ; and the latter 
 then read me a telegraphic dispatch in the follow- 
 ing terms : '' Arrest Bo wring — Deliver him up to 
 the King's Procureur (Advocate) — Send on the 
 seized papers to Paris." The seals of the en- 
 velopes, which inclosed the seized papers, were 
 then broken, in order to show that they were the 
 identical papers taken from me ; and I was in- 
 formed I must proceed to the prison of Calais, 
 previously to being transferred to that of Bou- 
 logne. I first inquired the grounds of my arrest_, 
 but could obtain no other answer than '^'^ Such are 
 our orders." As 1 was then suffering extreme 
 pain from tooth-ach, and a face much swollen 
 and inflamed, I entreated that it might be allowed 
 me to remain at any apartments that should be 
 fixed on, under any guard that they might think 
 fit to place over me, and offered any guarantee
 
 13 
 
 that they chose to require ; as in the state of my 
 health the damp and loathsome prison of Calais 
 might be very dangerous to me. The Mayor 
 consented to this (and I do him but justice in ac- 
 knowledging his general courtesy) ; but the Com- 
 missary of Police, an inferior and in some re- 
 spects dependent functionary, insisted that no 
 such favour should be shown me, but that I should 
 only be allowed till twelve o'clock (it was then 
 about eleven o'clock) to get my luggage ready 
 for my prison -dwelling. Two gendarmes es- 
 corted me home, and I availed myself of the 
 short time allowed me to write to the British Am- 
 bassador, at Paris, the letter (Appendix, C). 
 The answer to that letter (Appendix, D) I only 
 received when my solitary con^finement, at Bou- 
 logne, ceased (Oct. 26) ; and it is important to 
 remark, this letter proves that the charge which 
 the French Government was then instituting 
 against me was, for facilitating the conveyance 
 of treasonable papers : they afterwards changed 
 their accusation to the offence of high treason 
 (Appendix, O) ; a third scheme of crimination 
 was, the assertion that I had plotted the rescue 
 of the victiins of the La Rochelle conspiracy ; 
 and a fourth, and final, that 1 had conveyed 
 sealed letters from France to England, against 
 the fiscal regulation (which does not appear to 
 have been ever confirmed by the King's Govern-
 
 14 
 
 ment, or ever applied to any individual,) of the 
 5 Prarial of the year 9 of the Republic. 
 
 I was led to the prison at Calais. It is a nau- 
 seous and disgusting place. The damp and 
 dreary apartment to which I was led^ was im- 
 bedded in filth, and appeared not to have been 
 occupied for many months. Some lines I wrote 
 there will show the then state of my mind^ and 
 of the place (Appendix^ E E). The bed which 
 was prepared for me was so filthy and so 
 disgusting, that I entreated I might be allowed 
 to remove to some other part of the prison, as I 
 certainly apprehended that to sleep in such a 
 place, ill as I was, might be dangerous even to 
 my existence. I was conducted to a room occu- 
 pied by a Frenchman who had stabbed another, 
 and two Englishmen, one accused of forgery, the 
 other's crime I knew not. Their conversations, 
 which partook of the character of their minds, 
 disturbed me through a great part of the night. 
 
 In every inquiry 1 had made, as to the motives 
 of my arrest, I could obtain no other answer than 
 a reference to the King's Procureur at Boulogne, 
 I was most impatient to be conveyed to his pre- 
 sence ; and the following day, escorted by two 
 gendarmes, I left the crowds, whom curiosity to 
 see me depart had gathered round the cabriolet 
 when I was seated for Boulogne. The expense 
 of the escort, &c. (about 50 francs) I was com-
 
 15 
 
 pelled to pay. On reaching- the house of the 
 Procureur, I underwent an examination ; but 
 I could obtain no information as to the charge 
 against me. The papers^ however^ respecting 
 me^ were in the Procureur's hands ; but nothing 
 resulted from the interrogatories which led to 
 any thing like crimination. He made several in- 
 quiries as to the objects of my visit to Paris, 
 which I told him were purely commercial. He 
 sought to ascertain who were the authors of the 
 songs found upon me — whether I had given 
 them publicity-— how I had obtained them, and 
 whether I approved of them, &c. ; to which I 
 replied, that I was as ignorant as he professed to 
 be as to their origin ; that they had been ex- 
 tensively circulated ; that they were in bad taste, 
 and such wretched compositions that I deemed 
 them wholly contemptible, and thought they were 
 written by the Ultras to throw ridicule on the 
 Liberals ; but that I had every reason to believe 
 these songs were left at my lodgings by some 
 agent of the police. He asked me who were 
 the writers of the seized letters, and v. hy I had 
 taken charge of them. I answered, they were 
 from a variety of individuals, some known to me, 
 and others unknown ; that 1 was wholly ignorant 
 of their contents, and could not be responsible 
 for them ; that I had taken charge of them as 
 other travellers did, and with the less hesitation.
 
 16 
 
 as it was most notorious that the correspondence 
 intrusted to the post-office was habitually vio- 
 lated, of which I had personal knowledge and 
 experience. He replied, that such remarks would 
 do me much harm. But I repeated to him, that if 
 he doubted, I had proofs to remove his scepticism. 
 As he could state no accusation, nor had disco- 
 vered any grounds of suspicion, I supposed I 
 should be instantly released, and was greatly sur- 
 prised to hear him direct the gendarme to con- 
 vey me to the prison {Maison d' Arret). I asked 
 on what charge ? He said, he had his instruc- 
 tions from Paris. He appeared not a little per- 
 plexed, and made out an order to the gaoler to 
 secure my person, as '' soup^onne d'ttre porteur 
 de lettres cachetees aux revolutionaires enAngle- 
 terre;" — an offence, which, if it were proved, did 
 not warrant imprisonment for a moment — as it 
 could only come under the cognizance of the 
 correctional police ; and of such an offence there 
 was no proof at all. 
 
 The King's Procureur soon felt that my com- 
 mitment was wholly illegal and unwarrantable ; 
 and when it was urged on him by my Counsel, 
 and the excellent British Vice-Consul, he did 
 not deny the irregularity. He knew there had 
 been a false imprisonment ; but he said that the 
 irregularity had been got over, — and how ? By 
 framing an accusation, with or w ithout evidence.
 
 17 
 
 which would justify the arrest and imprisonment. 
 To this all the cunning of the Minister of Jus- 
 tice, and of his inferior satellites,, was directed ; 
 and this became doubly necessary, when it was 
 found that the British Ambassador was interfering 
 to ascertain the cause of my incarceration. No an- 
 swer was ready; for no shadow of criminality — no 
 plea — no one suspicious circumstance, could be 
 alleged. In truth, no after-thought could repair 
 the original breach of law. The records of the 
 Maison d' Arret exist, and prove that I was thrown 
 into prison for an offence to which imprisonment 
 could not legally attach, if their testimony is re- 
 quired to strengthen that of the order which li- 
 berated me, and which declared that '' the crime 
 of which I was accused did not warrant my 
 being imprisoned." (Appendix, V.) 
 
 I was conducted then to prison, and kept for 
 some time in the outer apartment. The jailor, 
 who, though sufficiently rapacious, was on the 
 whole benevolent, seemed disposed to exact 
 what he could for the use of the only tolerable 
 apartment in the prison, which was his own 
 bed-room ; but I was told I could, in no case, 
 have it at night, and must share the common fate 
 of the prisoners, and be locked up in their apart- 
 ments. All complaint was of course unavailing, 
 and I was glad to get on any terms, and for any 
 part of the day, an abode less wretched than
 
 18 
 
 U.^at to which those who surrounded me were 
 condemned. Within the prison at Boulogne, as 
 in the majority of prisons in France, all crimes 
 are blended without distinction, and the allevia- 
 tions of imprisonment depend wholly on the pe- 
 cuniary resources of the prisoner. There the 
 debtor and the maniac are confounded v/ith tJie 
 felon and the murderer — the youngest pilferer 
 with the most practised thief— the innocent men- 
 dicant with the hardened ruffian. No employment, 
 but gambling; no habits, but drunkenness. For 
 spirituous liquors, sold by the jailor for his own 
 profit, I have seen the wretched inmates pawn 
 the most necessary articles of dress. There were 
 nakedness, and misery, and profligacy — and daily 
 masses, and great concern for the spiritual in- 
 terests of the prisoners. It were well if those, who 
 built a chapel there (as was lately done), had given 
 half its cost for the purchase of soup or straw. 
 
 At Boulogne, I was soon visited by the British 
 Vice-Consul, Mr. Hamilton, who watched all the 
 proceedings with unremitting attention, and alle- 
 viated, wherever he was able, whatever annoyed 
 or distressed me. When I was led through the 
 streets by the ragged soldiery, he represented the 
 indignity to the Authorities, and obtained the at- 
 tendance of the well-clad gendarmerie. Many 
 of the calumnies which were industriously circu- 
 lated concerning me, he denied and silenced.
 
 19 
 
 His personal attentions were unvarying and un- 
 wearied, lie went immediately to the King-'s Pro- 
 cureur, to ascertain how far I should be allowed 
 unrestrained communication with my friends; 
 and was solemnly assured that^ whatever steps 
 might be taken as regarded other individuals,, 
 access would always be allowed to him. In spite 
 of this promise^ when he returned to the prison 
 on the following day^ admission was denied him, 
 and he was told that the order for solitary impri- 
 sonment was absolute^ and admitted of no excep- 
 tions ichatever. 
 
 1 was fortunate enough to meet with another 
 friend at Boulogne — Mr. C. H. Hutchinson, the 
 Member for Cork. His and his lady's attentions 
 — delicate, active, generous — removed all the 
 irksomeness of imprisonment. It is delightful for 
 me to remember, and most grateful to my feelings 
 to record, the influence of their kind and honest 
 sympathies — and more especially as I knew they 
 subjected those who exerted them to the special 
 notice and particular hatred of the French Go- 
 vernment. Sir Robert Wilson had kindly (not 
 knowing that I had previously the honour of their 
 acquaintance) recommended me to the Hutchin- 
 son family, as soon as he was informed of my 
 imprisonment; and there is reason to believe that 
 his letter, which was sent by the Post, and was of 
 
 c2
 
 20 
 
 course read by the Police^ precipitated his re- 
 moval from France, 
 
 On the morning of the second day after my 
 arrival I was escorted to the Greffe, there to be 
 examined by the Juge d'Instruction. The Gref- 
 fier was present. I first required that the British 
 Consul, or some legal adviser^ should be allowed 
 to attend, in order that I (a stranger and a fo- 
 reigner) might not be unfairly dealt with : but 
 the request was peremptorily denied. I then 
 asked for an interpreter ; but in vain. I was told 
 that I understood the language perfectly, and re- 
 quired none. But I replied, that though I might 
 be well acquainted with colloquial French, I 
 knew nothing of legal technicalities ; nor would 
 I consent to cede a national right, as my silent 
 cession might be made a precedent, to the detri- 
 ment of some of my countrymen^ who were less 
 used to the language. Remarks were useless. I 
 renewed my protests against the violation of in- 
 ternational law — of diplomatic rights — and of 
 common hospitality. 1 asked what was the of- 
 fence I had committed ; but could obtain no sa- 
 tisfactory reply. " Your affair. Sir, is at Paris." 
 The examination proceeded. It referred wholly 
 to the letters seized, and was perfectly vague — 
 and, in fact, a mere copy of that I had undergone 
 before the King's Procureur. In most instances
 
 21 
 
 the questions were verbatim the same ; so that I 
 was obliged^ again and again, to refer to my 
 previous answers, and to complain of the unne- 
 cessary annoyance of requiring me to repeat 
 what I had stated but a few hours before. When 
 there was an end of these interrogatories, — a 
 most bombastical parade was made of the horror, 
 excited by the atrocious and defamatory outrages 
 against the sacred person of His Most Christian 
 Majesty, contained in some such phrase as 
 
 " He came in the enemy's baggage," 
 
 in one of the songs, — I said, I could not compre- 
 hend that loyalty which was so shattered and 
 shaken by a paltry joke. I was, in truths not a little 
 amused by the absurd fustian in which some of 
 the examination was wrapped up; and not the less, 
 as it was intended, no doubt, to bear testimony 
 to the zeal and devotedness, and pure ultraism, 
 of the Greffier and the Judge. 
 
 I was conducted back to prison, still in igno- 
 rance of the grounds of my detention ; but con- 
 vinced, from the nature of the examinations, 
 which were altogether vague and desultory, that 
 nothing like an accusation was at this time 
 framed. Several individuals called on me, and 
 offered their willing seiTices, for the diminution 
 of such evils as were within the reach of kind- 
 ness. But my intercourse with both friends and 
 enemies soon closed ; and the next day, in the
 
 22 
 
 morning", the jailor came to inform me that there 
 was a mandate for my beini^ kept au secret — in 
 solitary confinement — to be unbroken by any 
 human being-, or on any account whatever. I 
 was now convinced that it was intended to cri- 
 minate me capitally, if possible. Four proch 
 verbaux had been already made — two at Calais, 
 and two at Boulogne. I was perfectly certain 
 that not a tittle of criminatory matter existed in 
 them ; yet what might I not apprehend from a 
 Government that had pursued me with spies and 
 informers — that had violated all that is held sa- 
 cred between man and man ; that had imprisoned 
 me without accusation ; that had tormented me 
 by secret examinations, and that was now re- 
 moving me beyond the reach of sympathy ; and 
 endeavouring, by the foulest means, to discover 
 subjects for crimination, or perhaps determined 
 to create them ? Perjured witnesses — falsified 
 documents, would certainly be instruments as 
 honourable as those they had employed, and were 
 continuing to employ. They who had revived 
 the Lettres de Cachet would hardly scruple to go 
 further. What can arrest the furious impetuo- 
 sity of a fanatical minority, armed with arbitrary 
 power, and deeming brutal violence the essential 
 character of good and legitimate government? 
 
 The crowded state of the prison prevented the 
 orders for my seclusion from being absolutely
 
 obeyed^ except by day ; for at night I was shut up 
 as usual with the other prisoners, that is, with those 
 who could afford to pay to the jailor ten sous (five- 
 pence) per night, for the accommodation of a bed ; 
 the rest, without any distinction of crime, being al- 
 lowed only straw, and that in insufficient quantity. 
 My apartment was in a state of terrible dilapida- 
 tion; and from the grease and other materials be- 
 longing to a shoemaker, who was confined there, 
 and from a collection of stale butter, apples, and 
 fragments of food, was often exceedingly offen- 
 sive. A carpenter, a mild and amiable man, who 
 had been imprisoned for some smuggling trans- 
 action, fixed some pegs, on which I was enabled 
 to hang up my clothes. The same man had, at the 
 instigation of an old ecclesiastic, erected a neat 
 and commodious chapel for the unfortunate wor- 
 shippers, within the walls of the prison, as men- 
 tioned before ; and there I was accustomed to at- 
 tend sometimes, to listen to the feats of the saints 
 and martyrs of old time, — to drink in sound legiti- 
 mate doctrines, delivered no doubt with great ar- 
 dour, and for aught I know, resulting from strong 
 conviction. On one occasion the preacher nar- 
 rated the miraculous conversion of Clovis — a fero- 
 cious, perjured man-destroyer he, by the way— 
 and explained to his hearers that he was a most 
 valiant fighter, who " covered himself with glo- 
 ry," and who led on the Frenchmen of old times
 
 24 
 
 to gather (as tliey always gathered) the laurels of 
 victory : but once, when he was about to be 
 beaten back, and finding his prayers to his own 
 gods most unpropitiouSj he exclaimed " I'll try a 
 new God — the God of the Christians — the God of 
 my wife Clothilda." On a sudden a bright cross 
 appeared in the heavens ithat was a plagiarism 
 — but the prisoners were no professors of his- 
 tory,) — he dashed among the foe ; they fled at the 
 strokes of his mighty arm ; they were scattered 
 like dust in his presence. " And so, my beloved 
 hearers (said the priest), Christianity became 
 the religion of the Francs, and travelled down 
 even to you." The prisoners are not compelled 
 to attend the celebration of mass. I observed 
 that the young and the old were habitual wor- 
 shippers. The middle-aged seldom crossed the 
 threshold of the chapel, and dealt liberally the 
 appellations of bigots and lu/pocrites upon their 
 companions. In the prison the state of the women 
 is incredibly bad. There was among them one, a 
 poor maniac, who was in the habit of tearing off 
 her clothes till she was naked; she sat through the 
 day on a dunghill, which she had collected from 
 the filth of the prison, dashing her head con- 
 stantly against the prison wall : her body was 
 covered with sores and bruises, so as to be in- 
 tolerable and inapproachable, from its stench. 
 Her gestures were horrible beyond any thing I
 
 25 
 
 had ever witnessed ; and she sat, rotting, upon 
 the rottenness beneath her, the subject of all the 
 jests and ridicule of the wretches who surrounded 
 her. There was another woman, — driven to in- 
 sanity by a love affair, whose beauty, wild and 
 frenzied as it was, could not but instantly arrest 
 and fix the attention, — who had dressed herself in 
 fantastic finery, and who dealt out her measure 
 of scorn and contempt on the criminals who 
 laughed at and tormented her. They were all 
 mingled together — maniacs and prostitutes, fe- 
 male thieves and debtors. There is a Prison 
 Society at Paris ; the Bourbons are its patrons, 
 and they receive from time to time its laudatory 
 hommages. 
 
 The books I had with me, and those with 
 which I was furnished by the active kindness 
 of Mr. Hutchinson, made solitary confinement 
 very tolerable. I created around me a little 
 world of imagination, which I filled with beings 
 after my own heart. I felt as if allied, even 
 though remotely, to those illustrious sufferers 
 whom tyranny has from time to time incar- 
 cerated in its dungeons. In such moments, it 
 was consolatory to think how little power de- 
 spotism possesses to make its victim unhappy. 
 That thought is a prouder one than any that 
 usurping force could ever indulge. If I hated 
 tyranny before, the feeling became intenser
 
 26 
 
 then ; but the faculties of the mind get worn and 
 wasted under its influence. My heart seemed 
 burning' with the fires of in dig-nation^ which, 
 though subdued for a moment^ were rekindled 
 by habitual thoughts and passing circumstances. 
 What could be the motive for excluding me from 
 all communication ? Was it to deprive me of the 
 means of defence ? Was it to prevent me from 
 appealing to my Government ? Was it to pre- 
 pare my mind by harshness and cruelty for those 
 long and wearying examinations to which I was 
 to be subjected ? Imprisonment is in itself a 
 heavy infliction, especially when vice and misery 
 are the companions of the prisoner : but to be 
 cut off from every channel of sympathy, and 
 every species of protection — to be left in perfect 
 ignorance of the crime imputed, yet enabled to 
 ascertain by the nature of the confinement, that 
 the intentions of those in authority are of the 
 most malevolent character ; to feel innocence in 
 all its helplessness — to know that the laws give 
 no security ; and if they did, that despotism is 
 stronger than the laws, — is a situation not much 
 to be envied. 
 
 On the 16th of October, I received from the 
 King's Advocate the letter (Appendix, E). It 
 was unintelligible to me, for it required me to 
 decide on a place of trial, while I was in igno- 
 rance of my crime, and while I was shut out from
 
 27 
 
 the means of consulting- any lawyer to g-uide my 
 determination. I hardly knew if the statement, 
 that I might choose to proceed to Paris or re- 
 main at Boulogne, was communicated with a 
 hostile or a friendly intention. I had little dis- 
 position to be conveyed to Paris, from brigade to 
 brigade, and be deposited every night in the 
 common gaols on the road ; and that, too, at a 
 very serious expense (for I had already found my 
 confinement sufficiently onerous on that score). I 
 therefore wrote the letter (Appendix, F), and soon 
 received that from the King's Advocate (Appen- 
 dix, I), to which I immediately replied. — I could 
 only protest in the strongest terms against the 
 acts of the agents of the French Government, 
 and resist as far as I was able every disposition 
 to inflict any additional suffering, whether pecu- 
 niary or otherwise. I was not allowed to re- 
 ceive the answer, which I took for granted had 
 been sent to me by the British Ambassador, for 
 my guidance ; nor could I make a written or 
 verbal communication to M. Hedouin, who had 
 been appointed to watch over the proceedings, 
 and to protect me as far as he was able. I after- 
 wards learnt that the British Consul had come 
 from Calais, with a dispatch from Sir Charles 
 Stuart, which he was especially directed to de- 
 liver into my hands. Being refused admission 
 to me, he made a formal written demand to the
 
 28 
 
 King's Advocate, less strong, certainly, than the 
 circumstances required; which demand was met 
 by a decided refusal. The mandat d'amener 
 (Appendix, G) was served upon me by ahuissier. 
 It will be observed, that the document states at 
 the foot that I consented to obey it — the contrary 
 being the case ; but the after part of the decla- 
 ration was written before the huissier had visited 
 me at all. He also brought a formal certificate 
 of my refusal to proceed to Paris (Appendix, H), 
 and an order to the jailor to keep my person in 
 safety. I could obtain from him no information 
 as to the state of the proceedings, nor as to their 
 nature. 
 
 Thirteen days of uncertainty and of seclu- 
 sion had passed, when a gendarme summoned 
 me to attend him. He escorted me to the Greffe, 
 where I found the Juge d'Instruction accompa- 
 nied only by the Greffier. My names and titles 
 being asked, I began by protesting against these 
 secret proceedings, which I said resembled the 
 ''deeds of darkness" of the Inquisition, and that 
 they were abhorrent to an Englishman's feehngs 
 and such as he was unaccustomed to submit to ; 
 that if it were intended to extort from me confes- 
 sions to be used against my friends or acquain- 
 tances, if they supposed I had come to France to 
 act the part of a spy or an informer, they had mis- 
 taken my character. I then required that the Vice-
 
 29 
 
 Consul should be present at the examinations^ in or- 
 der to see that the legal forms were not violated : 
 this was peremptorily refused, after a consultation 
 with the King's Advocate, to whom my demand 
 was communicated. I then insisted on my right to 
 an interpreter, which was again denied, the Judge 
 deciding that my knowledge of the language was 
 such as to make it wholly unnecessary. I repeat- 
 ed as before, that whatever might be my know- 
 ledge of conversational French, I knew nothing 
 of the language of jurisprudence ; that as a fo- 
 reigner I had a right to an interpreter, and would 
 not cede the right lest a precedent should be esta- 
 blished, tobe used where the assistance of an inter- 
 preter mightbe all-important to an accused person, 
 and that it was to me most essential to have two 
 more eyes fixed on these secret and uncontrolled 
 proceedings. The appeal was in vain ; — the in- 
 terpreter was denied to me. I complained to the 
 Judgeof my situation in the prison, stating that the 
 King's Advocate had assured me that I should be 
 well treated, and have an apartment to myself. 
 He said, that nothing could be done for me, they 
 had had no Howards in France, and it was too 
 true that their prisons were miserable places. 
 He, however, listened with urbanity to all my ob- 
 servations, and often spoke of the painfulness of 
 the duty he had to discharge. He bore ray se- 
 verest remarks with patience and good humour.
 
 30 
 
 and often wandered into discussions with me on 
 subjects wholly unconnected with judicial affairs. 
 He saidj he had nothing- to do further than simply 
 to obey his orders from Paris ; that he had re- 
 ceived a Commission rogatoire, or questions on 
 which to examine me. These, I observed^ con- 
 sisted of about four folio pages ; and the interro- 
 gatories lasted about three hours. I told him 
 that I supposed the time was come in which I 
 might be allowed to know the nature of the ac- 
 cusation against me. He answered, that he only 
 knew that I was to be tried with Colonel Dentzel, 
 Colonel Fabvier, and others, and that I should pro- 
 bably be removed to Paris. It appears by these in- 
 terrogatories, that the suspicions against me were, 
 that I had been accustomed to hold intercourse 
 in England with a number of individuals disaf- 
 fected towards the Royal Family of France; that I 
 had on many occasions attended secret meetings 
 in England with General Lallemand, Col. Duver- 
 gier, and others of revolutionary politics ; that at 
 these meetings it had been decided to attempt 
 the rescue of the several traitors who were con- 
 fined in different parts of France; that I had come 
 to France with large sums, for the purpose of 
 bribing the jailors ; that I had furnished the 
 money with which the attempt was made to se- 
 duce the jailor of the Bicetre ; that I had held ha- 
 bitual intercourse at Paris with the families of
 
 31 
 
 Lady Oxford and Ladij Hutchinson, (families, it 
 was added, particularly distinguished for their 
 political intrigues,) and in their house, in the Rue 
 de Clichy, the plans for the rescue of the crimi- 
 nals referred to had been advanced and matured. 
 There were a number of inquiries as to my know- 
 ledfi-e of Colonel Fabvier — mv intercourse with 
 him in London and in Paris— my pecuniary trans- 
 actions, &c. 
 
 A more amusing tissue of absurdities and fic- 
 tions, hung upon some trifling fact which had 
 been got at through the Police, cannot well be 
 conceived. I often broke out into irresistible 
 laughter at the rapacious credulity and silly ma- 
 levolence of those who directed their proceeding's. 
 As to any thing- I had done in England, I said 
 I was not responsible to them ; it was true I had 
 received many an exiled Frenchman : I should 
 continue to do so ; for the man who has lost his 
 country ought to be looked on as every body's 
 fellow-citizen. Lallemand I had seen but once 
 in my life, and certainly never had any con- 
 versation with him on any political objects ; — the 
 story of the attempt to rescue the individuals con- 
 fined for treasonable acts, was a falsehood in each 
 and every particular. I had never heard of the 
 plot, but through the newspapers ; and never be- 
 lieved in it at all. I knew nothing of the parties to 
 be released, or of those who were said to have
 
 32 
 
 tried to release them. Prom no person whatever 
 had I received even a hint on the subject. As 
 respected Colonel Fabvier^ the inquiries were ex- 
 ceedingly minute. They pretended that he had 
 come to England specifically for the purpose of 
 plotting with me and others against the French 
 Government. The truth is, I had never seen the 
 Colonel till I met him at Lady Oxford's ; he has 
 been engaged in commerce of late yearS;, and he 
 interfered with singular generosity to protect the 
 signature of a friend from being dishonoured, and 
 I had occasion to see him more than once on this 
 subject. When all his papers were seized, my 
 card was probably found among them ; and on 
 this solitary ground it was imagined, that I might 
 be tacked to the action that was pending over 
 him ; though even against him there was not a 
 shadow of evidence, — how much less against me, 
 when the only fact stated was, that I had been 
 in Fabvier's company ! But Fabvier, — a strong- 
 minded noble citizen — he, who though a favourite 
 of Napoleon, opposed his aggressions on public 
 liberty, and refused (I believe he was a solitary 
 example among officers of his rank) to sign the 
 Acte Additionnel, — was marked out for persecu- 
 tion ; and whether criminal or not criminal, makes 
 no difference in the eye of despotic power. 
 
 It was clear it was not intended that the families 
 of Lady Oxford and Mr. Hutchinson should be
 
 33 
 
 openly designated as distinguished for theii* 
 political intrig'ues. This was marked between 
 brackets in the Commission Rogatoire, and was 
 meant as a sort of landmark for the Judge ; but he 
 did not perceive it^ and hurried on — over text 
 and notes — without consideration or scruple. 
 That a family of ladies^ distinguished indeed for 
 their talents and beauty^ should be considered as 
 a central point of conspiracy^and that plots should 
 be there carried on during the evening's conver- 
 sazione, would only seem credible to the fear- 
 haunted Ultras ; — they talk much of chivalry^ but 
 this is surely not very chivalric. As to the asper- 
 sions cast on Mr. Hutchinson, he will know how 
 and where to repel them. His attentions to me 
 have subjected him to much inconvenience, and 
 might have drawn down on him heavier ven- 
 geance; yet_, in contempt of the expressed threat- 
 enings of the fanatic faction and of their concealed 
 hatred, he did every thing that kindness could do 
 on my behalf and for my comfort. He was my daily 
 visitor, as soon as I had ceased to be au secret. 
 
 When the examination was over, I applied for 
 a copy of the proces verbal, which, however, I 
 could not obtain. On many occasions, the Judge 
 employed words which I had not used, wishing to 
 give them his own style of expression. I often 
 interrupted him, by saying, '' That was not my 
 language ;" his reply was '' Leave me alone — It 
 
 D
 
 34 
 
 will be all set right : " and once he said, " It does 
 not matter, you will not be tried for that." In the 
 whole of this interrogatory there was not even the 
 most distant reference to any of the papers seized 
 on me, so that I took it for granted -the original 
 charge was abandoned; and no doubt it would have 
 been abandoned, if the slightest fact could have 
 been extorted from me, on which an indictment 
 for a heavier crime could be hung. So httle mate- 
 rial for crimination was found in this examination 
 to connect me with Dentzel or Pabvier, that all 
 the after-interrogatories again reverted to the cor- 
 respondence^ and the subject of the rescue of the 
 conspirators was not once referred to afterwards. 
 
 After the procks verbal was closed, I asked to 
 be released from my solitary confinement. The 
 Judge hesitated ; when the Greffier said, '' The 
 secret may be taken off:" to which the Judge re- 
 phed; ''The order says, 'maybe' (pourra), not 
 ' must be,' " and proposed to refer it to the King's 
 Advocate : but on the Greffier's repeating that 
 the power was in his own hands, he directed an 
 order to be made out to the jailer, requiring him 
 to allow me to receive my friends. 
 
 I was immediately visited (on my return to the 
 prison) by the British Vice-Consul and several 
 other friends. I found that the most daring ca- 
 lumnies had been circulating about me by the 
 Ultra journals, at a time when they knew it was
 
 35 
 
 impossible for me to defend myself from their at- 
 tacks. I was urg-ed to answer them^ and to ex- 
 pose their mendacity ; but the task was too labo- 
 rious^ and would have been interminable. One 
 newspaper said, that when I heard of Sir Robert 
 Wilson's banishment from Paris, my courage 
 forsook me, I turned pale and trembled exceed- 
 ing-ly. Another declared, that I had been the 
 eulogist of all Napoleon's despotism : and a third 
 pretended that the most incendiary papers had 
 been found on me addressed to the soldiery. Of 
 these mis-statements I afterwards complained to 
 the Judge, who said, that as to the first, ' Aehad 
 never seen me tremble.' As to the last, I told 
 him that, if any one knew the contents of the 
 papers seized, it must be either an agent of the 
 police, who had deposited them in my lodgings 
 at Paris, or it must have been by his intervention, 
 as all the proceedings were secret, and the papers 
 ought never to have left his hands. The truth is, 
 the statement was wholly false, there being no 
 writings of the character stated. In the same 
 spirit of misrepresentation a report was circulated 
 by the gendarmerie^ Ihat no less than five trunks 
 of outrageous attacks upon the Government were 
 taken from me, and that I was escaping from the 
 country in disguise. This is the genuine system 
 of despotism. Truth, as far as truth will serve 
 
 d2
 
 36 
 
 its purposes^ but no further; and all the rest, 
 falsehood. 
 
 I found that the Portuguese Ambassador's dis- 
 patch had not been returned to that Minister. 
 I had sent off a messenger to tell him of the out- 
 rage committed on his diplomatic rights^ and he 
 immediately insisted on its being delivered to 
 him ; so that the French Ministry had no power 
 to say, that they believed his seal had been used 
 without his authority : but no attention was paid 
 to his demand. The seal was broken — the dis- 
 patches were taken out^ and sent to the Holy 
 Alliance at Verona; and after several days^ some 
 unimportant family letters^ which had been in- 
 closed with the dispatches^ were sent to M. d'Oli- 
 veira by M. Villele, but the dispatches were kept. 
 That diplomatic correspondence has been often 
 secretly violated is very notorious. I have known 
 one instance, in which the seal of one embassy 
 was used by mistake for that of another, when 
 the dispatches were hurried off by the examiners; 
 but such an open, undisguised, and insolent out- 
 rage as that committed on the Portuguese nation, 
 is, I beheve, novel in modern history. 
 
 One of my earliest cares on the removal of the 
 restrictions which prevented my communicating 
 with any person whatever, was to address the 
 British Government, entreating its prompt inter-
 
 37 
 
 ference to rescue me from the hands of oppres- 
 sion. I wrote to Mr. Canning the letter given 
 in Appendix M., and sent a copy of it to Sir 
 Charles Stuart (Appendix, L). My indignation 
 at the measures taken to obtain something like an 
 acknowledgement of guilt, and the disposition 
 manifested to inflict at all events as much suffer- 
 ing as possible, could only be strengthened by 
 the certainty that there existed no charge against 
 me. Espionage; denouncement; violation of the 
 common rights of hospitality, and the common 
 claims upon protection ; questionings and cross- 
 questioning : — were the instruments of the In- 
 quisition other than these in character, whatever 
 they may have been in detail ? I could not think 
 the more favourably of despotism merely because 
 it invoked the laws which it trampled on ; because 
 it clad itself in the robes of magistrates, or sat 
 upon the high seats of the tribunals. Unjust 
 governments are most furious and fanatical when 
 they are most feeble. Knowing little, they sus- 
 pect much. Surrounded by enemies, they shut 
 their eyes and stretch out their hands, and can 
 hardly fail to seize upon an individual, whose 
 opinions, — if they can manage to extort them, — 
 will not subject him to their heavy visitations. 
 
 After a few days I was again led forth to be 
 examined by the Juge d' Instruction. No refe- 
 rence, however slight, was made to the former 
 
 301036
 
 38 
 
 charge of my having plotted the release of the 
 conspirators of La Rochelle. A large packet 
 was produced, which the Judge told me con- 
 tained the letters seized on me — the identity of 
 which he required me to recognise. I observed 
 that the song?, &c. had lost their envelope ; to 
 which I requested his special attention, as the 
 hand-writing of that envelope might have en- 
 abled me to trace these papers to some agent 
 of the police, who had deposited them at my 
 lodgings ; or possibly, at all events, to have iden- 
 tified the bearer by means of the servants of the 
 hotel : these channels of detection were now 
 closed upon me. The letters were handed to me, 
 in order to prove that they had never been 
 opened, and certainly the seals appeared not to 
 have been broken; yet the Commission Rogatoire 
 referred to the contents of the letters — and as I 
 was able to look over the paper which the Judge 
 held in his hand, I found there were special in- 
 structions as to my examination upon their con- 
 tents. One of the letters had the indorsement, 
 '' This is from Colonel Fabvier;" and the ques- 
 tionings were most minute as to every person 
 and every thing referred to. Among the letters 
 were several from the Oxford family to different 
 individuals ; one from the Abbe Gregoire to the 
 African Institution, contahiing, I have reason to 
 believe, some valuable documents, which reflect-
 
 39 
 
 cd no honour on the Government of His Most 
 Christian Majesty; one to Mr. Charles Butler; 
 one to Sir Harcourt Lees^ from (I beheve) some 
 individual of the Arabassy at Paris ; and some 
 others of less importance. The dispatch of the 
 Portuguese Minister was not among them — that 
 had been already rifled,, and its contents had been 
 sent to Verona, to prove that the atrocious pur- 
 poses of the Allied Despots were already known, 
 and to engage them to hurl their thunderbolts 
 against the freedom and the well-being of the 
 Peninsula. 
 
 While the letters were being opened by the 
 Judge, I asked him how he could consent, in his 
 official capacity, to be the agent of acts which 
 would reflect infinite disgrace upon him as an in- 
 dividual. I told him that in England the viola- 
 tion of a seal was treated as an anti-social out- 
 rage, and would be punished as a crime ; that I 
 had heard he intended to cross the Channel, and 
 1 doubted whether the English Government — the 
 communications from whose official agents he 
 dared to violate — would not call him to account 
 for such acts ; and I questioned if his plea of 
 public duty would then avail him. He replied, 
 " It is to you. Sir, then that 1 should look for 
 protection ; and it is from you that I hope for 
 those explanations which will hold me excused 
 to those whose letters I am compelled to read."
 
 40 
 
 I objected to hear the reading of the letters 
 which had been confided to me. It seemed some- 
 thing like a participation in these disgusting pro- 
 ceedings : but my objections were not attended 
 to, and the Judge required me to give explana- 
 tions of all the parts he chose to fix on. I told 
 him he must apply to the writers — that it was a 
 new thing to require the bearer of a letter, who 
 knew nothing of its contents, to explain what its 
 author meant, or what the individual to whom it 
 was addressed understood by it. There was in 
 one of the letters (it was from a lady) some wit 
 poured out on the Army of the Faith and the 
 Urgel Regency. On these interesting matters 
 many a question was hung. Names I had never 
 heard of were introduced, and I was asked to 
 give their history. Of some individuals whom I 
 knew they required to be informed — where they 
 lived — how they lived — what they did, and what 
 they proposed to do. This examination lasted five 
 hours ; it lasted much longer than my patience. 
 
 I afterwards observed by the newspapers that 
 Colonel Fabvier was accused of having used in 
 the letters seized upon me, expressions hostile to 
 the French Government. I remember no such 
 expressions ; I beheve there were none such. 
 
 During my examination, I again entreated 
 that the article of the Code upon which they 
 were proceeding against me, might be pointed
 
 41 
 
 out. One of the clerks said it was not in the 
 Code — there was a Post-office regulation. The 
 only tangible accusation was_, after all^ that I had 
 sealed letters with me. '' What would you have 
 donC;, if M. Bowring- had deposited the fine^ and 
 insisted on being released.?" was a question after- 
 wards put to the Authorities. '' We should have 
 been embarrassed/' they replied ; " but we had 
 superior orders ! " Whatever was the irregula- 
 rity — whatever the injustice — they were trans- 
 ferred to other agents. 
 
 It would be not a little curious to revert to the 
 tone used by the pubhc press at different periods 
 of my imprisonment. The Courier of the 25th 
 of October, after giving some of the details which 
 will be found in the preceding pages, calls them 
 " absurd ;" and says, that doubtless the result 
 will prove, that the French Government would 
 never permit a violation of the rights and liber- 
 ties of an individual, without the strongest and 
 soundest motives ; — that the affair was going on, 
 and that at all events justice would be done to 
 Mr. Bowring. The result is now known ; the 
 strength and the soundness of the motives of the 
 arrest may now be weighed. Has justice been 
 done ? 
 
 Among the letters were some in other lan- 
 guages, and interpreters were summoned to trans- 
 late them. The prose writing found with the
 
 42 
 
 songs was ag-ain introduced ; and I remarked to 
 the Judg-Cj that it would be most unfair it should 
 be made intelligible in French^ while the English 
 was such as no Englishman could easily compre- 
 hend. I pointed out several passages to the in- 
 terpreter,, and asked what they meant ; he said 
 he supposed their meaning was so and so. The 
 consequence^ however^ was^ that unintelligible 
 nonsense^ which would only have excited a laugh 
 in England^ became a flaming overwrought piece 
 of violence4o be used^ as it was used, for intro- 
 ducing some fine declamatory bursts of loyalty 
 into the proccs verbal. In this way, expressions 
 of superlative horror, at outrages against the sa- 
 cred person of the King, and of laudatory admi- 
 ration af hisGovernment,spread over half a page, 
 introduced some frivolous question, to which the 
 answer was as simple as possible. In the letter 
 of Colonel Fabvier, there was a reference to the 
 negotiations going on with Lafitte's house, re- 
 specting the legacies left by Napoleon ; and the 
 inquiries on this subject (though I was perfectly 
 ignorant of any details) were very busy and par- 
 ticular. 
 
 After the examination of the 26th of October, 
 which lasted five hours, I was given to understand 
 that another and a final one would take place, 
 which would be much longer, in a day or two. 
 At this last examination, which was of a similar
 
 43 
 
 character to the rest^ I complained of the mis- 
 statements which were constantly circulated^ and 
 some of which implied a knowledge of circum- 
 stances which could not have transpired without 
 the connivance of some of the agents of power. 
 Many other statements had been made in the 
 French newspapers, which would seem to have 
 originated with me, and which were very likely 
 to be used against me. I wrote to Sir Charles 
 Stuart on this subject ; and engaged the Vice- 
 Consul to do the same, which I believe he did, 
 as his name, as well as my own, had been very 
 unceremoniously used. The Judge was accus- 
 tomed, where the questions had not come from 
 Paris ready prepared, to arrange them on the 
 previous day. Some of them were of a strange 
 character. There were inquiries, for instance, 
 about Las Cases' Memoirs of Napoleon — about 
 my friend Blaquiere's History of the Revolution — 
 and my old and estimable fellow-traveller (Count 
 Pecchio's) Six Months in Spain, and Three 
 Months in Portugal. Other questions were as 
 trifling as could be fancied. My answers were 
 seldom or ever given in the exact language I 
 used. Perhaps there was no bad faith in this ; 
 but certainly there was no evidence that the re- 
 corder of my replies had any very correct notion 
 of his duty. Once or twice the Judge remarked 
 that these interrogatories were only forms, and
 
 44 
 
 that every thing would be explained^ and pro- 
 perly understood hereafter. I said,, I could not 
 conceive the possibility of my being brought to 
 trial ; but the Judge answered^ that he had no 
 doubt I should be removed to Paris^ to be tried 
 there. I inquired on what accusation^ but could 
 get no satisfaction on that score. When the 
 examination closed^ the Judge said he was hear- 
 tily glad to have got rid of it ; and, in truth, I 
 heard that Magistrates, to whose lot it might have 
 fallen to interrogate me, had expressed publicly 
 their great satisfaction that I had fallen into 
 other hands. It is a strange fact, that through 
 the whole of the proceedings not the slightest 
 reference was ever made to the Portuguese Mini- 
 ster's dispatches, so shamelessly seized — so openly 
 violated. The Juge d' Instruction assured me 
 that he should not lose a moment in dispatching 
 the papers to Paris ; and I was informed the 
 Procureur had given a similar promise to my 
 Advocate. He declared at the same time that 
 I might calculate on a very speedy decision ; and 
 as the telegraphs had been at work for my arrest, 
 I hoped I might calculate on their co-operation 
 for my early deliverance. My expectation of 
 soon reaching the term of my imprisonment was 
 encouraged, too, by the knowledge that those who 
 were acquainted with the examinations and with 
 the documents, had declared that there was not
 
 45 
 
 a tittle of evidence to warrant my detention. I 
 ought, therefore, to have been released immedi- 
 ately — say by the end of October. But it was 
 obviously the intention of the Government to in- 
 flict as long a term of imprisonment as possible ; 
 and for many days after the examination had 
 closed, no steps whatever had been taken. I wrote, 
 and my Advocate, M. Hedoui'n, wrote repeatedly 
 to the Ambassador, and to M. Berry er fils, who 
 had been charged, I understood, with the conduct 
 of the case ; but no satisfactory information could 
 be obtained. 
 
 Meanwhile I received from Sir Charles Stuart 
 the opinion of the Batonnier Billecocq (Appen- 
 dix, Q). It is a mere apology for, and approval 
 of, acts of despotism. The Batonnier was hardly 
 likely to give an unfavourable report on the pro- 
 ceedings of the Government of him who put the 
 Baton into his hands, or to furnish any instru- 
 ment for attacking his masters. 
 
 The continued delay induced me to write a 
 second time to Mr. Canning. The letter will 
 be found in Appendix, S. 
 
 During the whole period of my confinement 
 Sir Charles Stuart had never been able to obtain 
 from the French Government a written statement 
 of their charge against me. The reason is clear 
 — they had framed no charge — they had found
 
 46 
 
 no materials for one ; and the best and most con- 
 sistent story they could make out^ on which to 
 rest the legality of my detention — and how ab- 
 surd and mendacious it is I shall soon expose — 
 will be found in the Appendix^ T. But the in- 
 terference of Mr. Canhing had no doubt become 
 urg"ent. He saw that he was trifled with. In 
 truth, the French Ministry could not but be 
 strangely embarrassed by the consideration,, that 
 after their high-sounding charges of treason and 
 other awful crimes^ they could find no proof 
 whatever of any crime at all. In England they 
 had been supported by a part of the press^ which 
 gave them credit for sagacity at least. They 
 had pledged themselves again and again, that 
 M. Bowring should have justice done him ; and 
 they supposed, perhaps, that they might add de- 
 lay to delay ; — and, by reminding the Ambas- 
 sador " that M. Bowring was in the hands of 
 the Tribunals," induce him to be silent. But 
 what could they say to Mr. Canning's reiterated 
 demand — " An accusation ; or set him free." 
 By Mr. Planta's letter (Appendix, W), it appears 
 that a positive assurance was at last obtained, 
 that a decision of the Court should be communi- 
 cated within a day or two. The Paris papers at 
 this time announced that an order was sent to 
 transport me thither.
 
 47 
 
 On the 15th of November, M. Hedouin came 
 to the prison — threw himself into my arms, and 
 said, '' You are free." And within an hour, I 
 received the communication from the King's 
 Advocate, which follows ; the original of which 
 may be found in Appendix, V. 
 
 No. 20,481. 
 
 Boulogne, 15th Nov. 1823. 
 Sir, 
 I inform you that, in consequence of a decree 
 given by the Chamber of the Council of the Tri- 
 bunal of First Instance, of the Department of the 
 Seine, on the 12th of this month, — bearing that 
 you, having disobeyed the decree of the 5th 
 Prairial, of the year 9, by being the bearer of 
 sealed dispatches or letters, are sent on this 
 charge before the Correctional Police ; and that, 
 notwithstanding, you shall be set at liberty, inas- 
 much as the punishmentof imprisonment does not 
 attach to the charge against you. I have, therefore, 
 ordered the jailer of the prison to set you imme- 
 diately free. 
 
 I salute you. 
 
 Caron de Fromentel, 
 King's Advocate. 
 
 On such a document^ it is not necessary to 
 make one observation.
 
 48 
 
 I paid my account to the jailer^ — by no means a 
 trifling one^ — and hurried away from the prison. 
 I had passed there many hours of illness,, but few 
 of alarm ; many days of indignation^ but none of 
 self-reproach. In the evening, I received from 
 Sir Charles Stuart the letter (Appendix, U), and 
 I was especially gratified by that part of it in 
 which he says, he waits the instruction of the Bri- 
 tish Government, as to the measures he should 
 take. It would appear, that the opinions obtained 
 by our Ambassador, had not convinced him of 
 the legality and propriety of the conduct of the 
 French Government. 
 
 There is in the statement against me made by 
 the substitute of the King's Advocate before the 
 Tribunal at Paris, invention to such little pur- 
 pose, and mendacity so clumsily applied, — the 
 facts are so distorted, the dates are so confound- 
 ed, my answers to the interrogatories are so tor- 
 tured and so falsified, that I shall take up the 
 " Conclusion" sentence by sentence ; — after this 
 leading remark. That the only fact by which they 
 attempt to connect me with the plot in question, 
 is by showing that I was acquainted with Col. 
 Fabvier ; that against the Colonel himself there 
 was no evidence whatever ; and that he was ulti- 
 mately acquitted of all participation. 
 
 '' Colonel Fabvier was in England at the end 
 of August."
 
 49 
 
 This is probably true; but I never saw the 
 Colonel in England, nor did I ever receive a let- 
 ter from him, nor did I know he was in England, 
 nor was I within 100 miles of any place he visited. 
 
 " He returned precipitately." 
 
 False, — the word is introduced only for the 
 sake of elTect : — he returned quietly, concealing 
 his visit from nobody. 
 
 " Bowring- followed him almost immediately to 
 Paris." 
 
 False : he had returned a long time before 
 I left England. I cannot ascertain at this mo- 
 ment, but I am persuaded the period of Fab- 
 vier's visit is incorrectly stated. 
 
 " Bowring arrived at Paris at the moment 
 when the plan for rescuing the prisoners was 
 agitated and followed up with most ardour." 
 
 This may be; and the French Government 
 knows the dates, no doubt, when the plot was 
 agitated and carried on with most ardour. I never 
 heard of the said plot. 1 did not believe in its ex- 
 istence. I doubt it now. 
 
 *' He acknowledges, that on his arrival he had 
 several interviews with Colonel Fabvier." 
 
 Not so ; I did not see Fabvier till some time 
 after my arrival. 
 
 " He assigns as a motive for these interviews 
 other objects than the plot at issue, but does not 
 justify his assertions." 
 
 E
 
 50 
 
 Most false — most wilfully false. I denied in 
 my interrogatories, that I had ever heard a word 
 from Fabvier on the subject of this plot, and de- 
 clared that from me, he had never heard a word. 
 I stated simply the subject of my interviews with 
 Fabvier, of which no doubt they found docu- 
 mentary proof, when they seized his papers. My 
 statements were susceptible of contradiction. In 
 examinations, which lasted nearly twenty hours, 
 they did not, they coiild not, detect a single mis- 
 statement. What I did not justify, why did they 
 not disprove ? 
 
 '' He left Paris as soon as the attempt to corrupt 
 the jailer had failed, and when justice was in pur- 
 suit of its authors and accomphces." 
 
 False again. The young men were executed 
 on the 21st September ; and, of course, the plot 
 for their escape must have failed before that date. 
 I left Paris on the 3d October. Why was I not 
 arrested when I apphed for my passport.? when 
 the spies gave in their reports of the 2d and 3d 
 of October ? when I reached Calais ? when my 
 papers were first seized } No ! the thought of 
 the possibility of attaching me to the Biceire plot 
 never occurred to the Ministry till Sir Charles 
 Stuart interfered. It was used as a forlorn hope 
 — and how forlorn ! 
 
 '' He was arrested at Calais, bearing a great 
 number of dispatches or sealed letters against the
 
 51 
 
 decree of the 5th PrairiaX year 9; and among' 
 thera^ one from Col. Fabvier to Count St. Mar- 
 san, a Piedmontese refugee, in which mysterious 
 relations and projects hostile to the Government 
 are treated of." 
 
 And Fabvier was in their hands, — and they 
 could find no matter for crimination ; — and they 
 never thought of this letter, — and Fabvier was 
 acquitted ! 
 
 " The bearer, too, of the wost outrageous 
 writings against the King, the princes of his fa- 
 mily, and his government." 
 
 At best, these writings were but bad jokes. 
 Where would the extra-superlative have been 
 found had they been good ones } 
 
 '■ Grave, however, as are the presumptions 
 arising from this concourse of circumstances^—" 
 
 In the arithmetic of despotism, a certain quan- 
 tity of zeros will make a unit. 
 
 " And though they may have made his arrest 
 necessary, they do not at present constitute suf- 
 ficient evidence to establish a legal suspicion," 
 
 By and by, perhaps, a something may be pro- 
 duced out of all these nothings. Tyranny may 
 grow a little stronger — the laws a little weaker. 
 Meanwhile, the threat may be held over me in 
 terrorem, should I venture again to seek '' protec- 
 tion under the paternal sway of the Bourbons." 
 
 Before I left Boulogne, I had occasion to see 
 e2
 
 53 
 
 several individuals of the Authorities. One blamed 
 me for not going- immediately to Paris^ when the 
 juandat d'amener came ; another said^ that had 
 I been a Frenchman I should not have got off so 
 easily. I called on the Procureur du Roi, who 
 frankly owned he had been exceedingly embar- 
 rassed throughout^ and that the only tangible 
 matter for which he could commit me (though he 
 had no right to commit me for that) was for being 
 the bearer of sealed letters. All the rest,, he said, 
 was very vague. The Juge d' Instruction assured 
 me, it was to him a very happy day when he got 
 rid of me ; and I was satisfied to see every where 
 a sense of shame excited by the disgraceful pro- 
 ceedings in which they had taken a share. ' Spi- 
 rits' more '^finely touched' would have refused to 
 lend their ministry. 
 
 Of my lawyer, M. Hedouin, I am bound to say 
 that he discharged his duties with all the disin- 
 terestedness of friendship, the ardour of strong 
 sympathy, and the ability of sober judgement. 
 I think more highly of his courageous zeal, be- 
 cause he is a partizan of legitimacy (let not the 
 word be mistaken!) and has done good service 
 to the royal cause. 
 
 On the 16th Nov. 1 reached Calais. The Com- 
 missary of Police, when I was about to embark, 
 said, " Vous Tn'avez traite d'une rnaniere san- 
 glante." I know not to what he referred ; for if 
 the disgraceful parts of his conduct had obtained
 
 53 
 
 publicity, it was not through me. I arriveil in 
 London on the 17th November, accompanying 
 the dispatches which communicated the informa- 
 tion of my hberation. Mr. Canning (1 remember 
 and I record the circumstance with pleasure and 
 gratitude) sent the very earliest notice of my re- 
 lease, both to my family at Hackney and to my 
 father in Devonshire. I mention this, because it 
 does no small honour to a Minister of State, that 
 he should thus have sympathized with the anxieties 
 of individuals whom he had never known, and 
 would probably never know. Such acts of kind- 
 ness make a deep impression; arid it is the deeper 
 where it is made on bosoms undisturbed by the 
 vicissitudes of political changes, and pursuing in 
 secrecy and solitude ' the noiseless tenor of their 
 way.' The feehng produced by the decision, 
 which announced my liberation, was almost una- 
 nimous : only one solitary exception has fallen 
 under my notice ; I will not drag it forth from it^ 
 obscurity. 
 
 I wrote immediately to Mr. Canning to advise 
 him of my arrival. My letter was very promptly 
 replied to, and Wednesday the 20th of Novem- 
 ber was appointed for an interview. 
 
 Mr. Canning's reception of me was markedly 
 polite and kind. He inquired after my health — 
 the nature of my confinement, and the treatment 
 I had experienced. He said, that in his inter-
 
 54 
 
 course with the French Ministry on the subject 
 of my arrest, he had only obtained vague and un- 
 written answers. He appeared impressed with 
 a sense of the violent measures under which I had 
 been suffering, but added, that the Ambassador 
 had not been able to put his finger on any one 
 act which bore the stamp of illegality. I said, that 
 thouffh no doubt the nature of French criminal 
 procedure was such as to give to despotism every 
 advantage it could desire, yet in my case it had 
 gone far beyond its legal boundaries. Mr. Can- 
 ning requested I would make out a statement for 
 the information of Government, and which he 
 would hand over to the legal authorities, " whose 
 opinions," he added, '' we look to on such occa- 
 sions as the guides of our conduct." I asked him 
 what he deemed the weak parts of my case, and on 
 what ground the French Authorities justified their 
 proceedings ? He replied, that they asserted that 
 although the charge now existing against me did 
 not warrant imprisonment, there had been an- 
 other, viz. that of plotting the escape of the pri- 
 soners from the Bicetre, for which I was legally 
 liable to imprisonment. I answered that the war- 
 rant under which I was imprisoned proved that 
 there was no such charge originally ; that of such 
 a charge there was not the shadow of proof ; and 
 that they might have accused me of any thing else, 
 however absurd or extravagant, in the same way.
 
 55 
 
 I mentioned instances of the interference of other 
 Governments, even where the proceedings against 
 their citizens had been warranted by the laws, yet 
 that was considered as no excuse for injustice or 
 atrocity. I ventured to add that, if no steps were 
 taken, a door would be opened to every species 
 of aggression ; and if (as is necessarily the case 
 under all bad governments) a native subject's ex- 
 clusion from all redress should be deemed a rea- 
 son for an EngUshman's exclusion, if he should 
 be unjustly treated, then all violence becomes 
 sanctioned, and fraud or force would have all the 
 character of legitimate authority. To avoid the 
 repetition of facts that were notorious to him, 
 I said I would confine my statement to the proofs 
 that there had been originally no accusation 
 against me which warranted imprisonment ; and 
 in consequence, I addressed to him on the follow- 
 ing day the statement in Appendix, X. It demon- 
 strates, I imagine, that there was no charge to 
 authorize the acts of violence of the French Go- 
 vernment ; that I was arrested merely in the hope 
 of extorting some evidence of any crime what- 
 ever that might be hit upon. On the 29th No- 
 vember I received a communication from the Fo- 
 reign Office, requesting my attendance. Mr. 
 Planta told me, it was Mr. Canning's desire that 
 I should abstain from any public discussion, lest 
 it should embarrass his proceedings. I said I
 
 56 
 
 wished to give the French Government an op- 
 portunity of repairing the wrong they had com- 
 mitted ; and as the tone of what I should pub- 
 lish would a good deal depend on the steps they 
 should takcj I should wait the result of the dis- 
 cussions. If the Cabinet of the Thuilleries were 
 disposed to make concessions^ and to offer repa- 
 ration for their haste and violence^ they would be 
 entitled to all the consideration which attaches to 
 an honest avowal of error; but if, after their own 
 acknowledgement of the wrong they had done^ 
 they should persist in denying redress, they would 
 only increase the weight and the number of their 
 acts of oppression, and merit no forbearance. 
 
 On the 12th December the letter (Appendix, Y) 
 and the accompanying documents were received 
 by me from Mr. Planta. The questions on which 
 the opinion of the French Advocates is founded 
 seem not to be very appropriate. I never deemed 
 that an oppressed Frenchman had any chance of 
 redress ; for that would imply the existence of a 
 liberal, instead of a despotic Government in 
 France. If redress were obtainable in the ordi- 
 nary course, I should not have needed the pro- 
 tection of the English Government. The prin- 
 ciple referred to in Mr. Planta's communication, 
 led me to suggest to him that the whole affair 
 would be placed on a false basis, if they once ad- 
 mitted that the aibitrary power of any Govern-
 
 57 
 
 ment whatever extended any further than over its 
 own citizens. I apprehend the opinions of the 
 two lawyers who were referred to^ are founded 
 on the documents furnished by the French Go- 
 vernment itself; for instance^ Appendix, T. 
 They had no pow er of consulting the records of 
 the jail at Boulog-ne, which would at once have 
 proved, that the arrest had been originally de- 
 fective and illegal. 
 
 Both of these Advocates pre-suppose that there 
 were originally suspicions of other specified 
 crimes ; this pamphlet will have shown such a 
 supposition to be unfounded. In the Opinion C, 
 the sympathy with tyranny which runs through- 
 out, and gives the document such a tone of com- 
 placent approbation of all the proceedings of the 
 French Government, will hardly excite any won- 
 der when coming from '^a most distinguished Ad- 
 vocate in official situation," to use Mr. Planta's 
 language. There is a great air of mystery in the 
 reference to the circumstances of the case. "^ There 
 has been error. Yes ! but every body must own, 
 the error was very near the truth : it could not 
 be nearer.' What does this mean, but that there 
 was something to support the accusation which 
 warranted imprisonment — something exceedingly 
 strong — closely pressing upon legal proof? I trust 
 the reader will refer to the public accuser's state- 
 ment (Appendix, T), and estimate honestly the
 
 58 
 
 value of our Advocate's opinion. The simple an>d 
 honest assertion of this estimable man of law^ that 
 no j)roofs of crime are necessary for a man's ar- 
 restj fails strangely on an Englishman's ear; but 
 the recommendation to bear the stripes of despotic 
 power with complacency and gratitude^ let htm 
 admire who may ; and the stout conclusion^ that 
 *' nobody in the world" has committed any thing 
 like an arbitrary act against Mr. Bowring, is be- 
 coming the advocate of, and the participator in^ 
 arbitrary power. The rest of the opinion is de- 
 livered up to the admirers of special pleading, for 
 their study and their approval. , 
 
 As I had received from many quarters an ex- 
 pression of disappointment at the delay of my 
 statement, I wrote (Appendix, Z) to Mr. Planta 
 on the 3d of January ; and on the following day 
 (Appendix,x\A) was requested to meet Mr. Planta 
 at the Foreign Office on theSth. My interview was 
 delayed to the 9th ; when Mr. P. read to me, from 
 a paper he held in his hand, what he stated to be 
 the decision of Government on my case ; which 
 was, as far as I recollect, to this purport — That 
 the question of grievance resolved itself into a 
 question of fact, whether or not I had been ille- 
 gally used ; and in the former case, that I had 
 my personal remedy in the Courts of Law; that 
 while I was the victim of persecution, they had 
 deemed it right to interfere, but that as I was
 
 59 
 
 now safe, they must abandon the affair to my 
 own management; promising me, however, their 
 countenance and support, in case I should deter^ 
 mine to bring an action. I complained of the 
 vagueness of this communication, and asked what 
 was the nature of the protection they proffered. 
 Mr. Planta said that they would direct the Bri- 
 tish Ambassador at Paris to see that I had every 
 privilege which a Frenchman would have — that 
 there should be no delay in the proceedings, &c. 
 I then said that it was certain a Frenchman could 
 obtain no redress for acts however despotic and 
 atrocious ; that the power of enforcing repara- 
 tion for injuries done was, in fact, the test of 
 good government, and made the distinction be- 
 tween despotic and constitutional rule ; that were 
 the Government of France a Government of law, 
 no aggrieved individual would require foreign 
 protection to have justice done him ; that I 
 had certainly considered they would never 
 admit the principle, that an Englishman might 
 be treated illegally and despotically with im- 
 punity, and that such would be a fatal pre- 
 cedent. Mr. Planta said, that Mr. Canning 
 had been guided in his opinion by the coun- 
 sel of eminent lawyers, both in England and 
 France. I then requested that I might be fa- 
 voured with a copy of the paper Mr. Planta had 
 read, as 1 was most anxious, on so important a
 
 60 
 
 subject^ not to misrepresent Mr. Canning's views; 
 and that I would not give them publicity in a 
 documentary form^, if any objection were felt to 
 such publicity. Mr. Planta agreed that he would 
 communicate to me very soon Mr. Canning's de- 
 termination^ with respect to a written declaration 
 of the decision of Government ; and on the fol- 
 lowing Tuesday (January 14) I received the 
 letter given in Appendix, B B ; and on the 
 19th, the final letter (Appendix, C C), which 
 closed the communications with the Secretary 
 for Foreign Affairs. 
 
 I did not quite anticipate such a termination. 
 At an early period I had told Mr. Planta that if 
 Mr. Canning thought there was no ground for in- 
 terference — if I had been used no worse than a 
 French subject might have been — every thing 
 would then be ceded, and the discussions might 
 terminate at once. He answered, that Mr. Can- 
 ning had wished to ascertain what would be the 
 situation of a French subject, for the purpose 
 of clearing his way, and only as a preliminary 
 measure. 
 
 I cannot go into an inquiry as to what might 
 have been the means of obtaining reparation. I 
 have recorded facts, which will present sufficient 
 materials to enable those who have devoted them- 
 selves to the study of international law, to point 
 out where the infractions have taken place, and
 
 6i 
 
 where and how the remedy is to be found. But 
 I must refer with particular pleasure and parti- 
 cular gratitude to three able letters which have 
 been published in the Morning Chronicle^ signed 
 E. S., where the subject is treated by one evi- 
 dently its master. 
 
 I have now discharged a duty which I owed to 
 society and to myself. These details will serve 
 to unveil the character of the Bourbon Govern- 
 ment of France. In these proceedings will be 
 remarked all the coward ferocity of the ruffian 
 towards the weak, — and the counterpart might 
 be easily drawn — in their exhibition of all the 
 prostrate servility of the abject towards the 
 strong. Such is the Government restored by 
 English influence — and this is the display of its 
 gratitude towards English citizens. It is a Go- 
 vernment standing in the midst of the tears it has 
 caused, and the blood it has shed. It is a per- 
 manent insult to civilization, — a black stain upon 
 humanity. It is the opprobrium of those who cre- 
 ated, and those who support it; and should be out- 
 lawed by the unanimous execrations of mankind. 
 Its capital and crowning crime has now been con- 
 summated. The invasion of Spain — an act whose 
 infamy no indignation can compass, and no lan- 
 guage sufiiciently pourtray — has been decided on. 
 Compared with this, all other atrocities look like
 
 62 
 
 virtues. But the mask is worn no longer — the 
 scabbard is thrown away. 
 
 I have been tempted a hundred times in the 
 course of my narrative to arrest its progress^ in 
 order to express ray proud and grateful feehngs 
 for that individual as well as that national sym- 
 pathy which my imprisonment excited. I will 
 refer to no exceptions ; they were so few^ as to 
 be wholly lost in the almost general voice of 
 indignation against the French Government. 
 The Ministerial Press, though at first disposed 
 to conclude that the actions of the iMinistry 
 of France could not be so despotic, as they ul- 
 timately proved to have been, showed on this 
 occasion such a fellow-feeling with their poli- 
 tical opponents, as did infinite honour to the 
 common character of the nation. I love my 
 country better, and honour it more, after what I 
 have witnessed ; and I have the bright consola- 
 tion of believing that the evil I have undergone 
 is infinitely less than the good which has resulted 
 to the great cause of human happiness. My 
 sufferings, in truth, have been quite lost in the 
 new sources of enjoyment which they have 
 opened to me. I should have been glad to have 
 communicated individual thanks to hundreds — 
 whose names, blended in my mind, with all the 
 elements of gratitude and pleasure, will often
 
 63 
 
 rush upon my memory and engage my habitual 
 thoughts ; but I must here^ and I must thus, dis- 
 charge the debt I owe them. 
 
 The explanatory and justificatory documents 
 which form the Appendix will^ I trust, have their 
 use ;- — those especially which show the nature of 
 judicial proceedings in France. Too little is 
 known in England of the state of penal jurispru- 
 dence among our neighbours, — and documentary 
 evidence, furnished by the officers of these courts, 
 is not accessible on all occasions. I fear their 
 tediousness, — but fear it less than the imputation 
 of having concealed any thing I possessed, which 
 might throw light on this singular affair, whether 
 I deemed it favourable or unfavourable to my- 
 self.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 [A] 
 Leller to the Mai/or of Calais, dated 6th October 1822. 
 
 Monsieur le Maire, 
 IJAT^S la position ou je me trouve, et voyant dans 
 ma personne les droits nationaux et Thonneur de 
 ma patrie comma de la votre compromis, je prendrai 
 la liberte de vous faire quelques observations pour que 
 Ton ne croie pas que je me suis soumis sans protesta- 
 tion a des mesures qui semblent peu analogues a 
 I'etat d'amitie et de paix qui, heureusement, existe 
 entre nos deux pays. 
 
 Mes papiers ont ete saisis, et vous en avez garde 
 quinze lettres et deux paquets. Je dois a la verite 
 et a moi-merae de vous annoncer, foi d'homme d'hon- 
 neur, que je ne connais rien de leur contenu. Ce 
 n'est pas que je craigne I'examen de ces documens, 
 leur contenuj je le repete, m'est inconnu, et quoi- 
 qu'il y ait parmi eux quelques lettres de mes amis par- 
 ticuliers, il y en a d'autres de personnes que je ne 
 connais gu^res; niais je devais et je dois m'opposer a 
 toute violation de la confiance placee dans celui qui 
 se charge des lettres d'autrui. 
 
 Vous prendrez, sans doute,M.le Maire, votre deter- 
 mination sur le sort des paquets saisis ; mais permettez 
 que je vous previenne combien mes interets souffrent 
 
 F
 
 66 
 
 de la detention de ma personne. Le seul retard d'un 
 jour que j'ai deja eprouve, m'a cte tres facheux et 
 onereux, et j'ose esperer de votre justice, car je n'ai 
 aucun motif de me plaindre de la mani^re dont vous 
 avez execute votre penible mission, que vous me per- 
 mettrez de m'embarquer sur le paquebot qui part 
 demain matin. Agreez, &c. 
 
 (Signe) John Bowrinc. 
 
 \_TransIation.'\ 
 
 Under the circumstances in which I am placed, — 
 international rights having been violated in my person, 
 and the honour of my country, as of your own, com- 
 promised, — I take the liberty of making some remarks, 
 to prevent the inference, that I have submitted with- 
 out protest to measures little analogous to the friend- 
 ly and pacific relations existing between us. 
 
 My papers have been seized. Fifteen letters and 
 two packets have been detained. It is due to truth 
 and to myself to declare, on my honour, that I know 
 nothing of their contents. It is not that I fear the 
 examination of these sealed papers, some of which 
 were delivered to my care by particular friends, and 
 others by individuals little known to me ; but I do and 
 must resist all violation of that confidence which has 
 .been reposed in the bearer of them. 
 
 You will of course determine on the fate of these pa- 
 pers. Allow me, however, to recall to your mind how 
 seriously my interests suffer from the detention of my 
 person. The one day's delay that I have already 
 experienced has been most annoying and injurious 
 to me ; and as I have hitherto had no cause to com- 
 plain of the manner in which you have executed your
 
 67 
 
 painful mission, I hope from your sense of justice that 
 I shall be allowed to embark on board the packet 
 which sails for England to-morrow morning. 
 Receive, &c. 
 (Signed) John Bowring. 
 
 [B] 
 
 Letter to the British Consul at Calais. 
 
 Sir, Calais, Sunday, October 7th. 
 
 In the very extraordinary situation in which I am 
 placed,— the rights of hospitality violated in my person, 
 my papers violently seized and arbitrarily examined, 
 — I deem it my duty to make an appeal to you for your 
 direct interference to protect my person and the per- 
 sons of my countrymen from the repetition of pro- 
 ceedings so illegal and so unused. My passport having 
 been taken from me, and the license to embark which 
 was granted me on my arrival, I have now no protec- 
 tion but yours, which I venture to hope will extend 
 over me its powerful shield. 
 
 Of the contents of the papers, which have been thus 
 wrested from me, I beg solemnly to assure you I know 
 absolutely nothing ; that from the Portuguese Mini- 
 ster was brought to me at the moment of my starting 
 by His Excellency himself, and the others were from in- 
 dividuals of whom I knew more or less, trusted to me 
 in the common intercourse of society. Against their 
 detention by the Police I protest, and trust that you 
 will also protest. My own detention is to me most 
 injurious, most seriously injurious; and I therefore 
 venture to hope that your authority will interfere to 
 
 f2
 
 68 
 protect your countrymen from being trampled upon 
 by acts of such despotic authority. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient humble Servant, 
 
 (Signed) J. Bowring. 
 Marshall, Esq. H.B.M. Consul at Calais. 
 
 P.S. As a vessel will sail to-night for England, I 
 trust you will have the goodness to represent my case 
 to the authorities, so as to enable me to proceed. 
 
 [C] 
 
 Letter to Sir Charles Sinart, H.B.M. Ambassador at 
 
 Paris. 
 
 Sir, Calais, Oct. 8, 1822. 
 
 I HAVE to entreat Your Excellency's immediate in- 
 terference on my behalf, in a case in which the rights 
 of hospitality, and the protection of my passport en- 
 dorsed by you, have been grossly and illegally vio- 
 lated. 
 
 I visited Paris for my commercial concerns, and left 
 it by the diligence on Thursday last. On my arrival 
 here, I obtained the endorsement of my passport, and 
 license for embarkation. When I reached the pier, 
 I was arrested by the Agents of Police, and con- 
 ducted with my baggage to the Mairie, where I was 
 told that an order from Government had arrived for 
 the examination of all my papers. I requested the 
 attendance of the British Consul, which was granted : 
 my trunk was opened, my papers were all read and 
 examined, and fifteen sealed letters, with two sealed 
 packets, one of them from the Portuguese Ambassa-
 
 69 
 
 dor at Paris to the Portuguese Minister at London, 
 bearing the arms of Portugal, and delivered into my 
 own hands by M. d'Oliveira himself, were forcibly 
 taken from me. 
 
 I beg leave to premise, that of the contents of all 
 or any of these letters or packets, I am wholly igno- 
 rant — a fact which I offered to depose upon oath. 
 Notwithstanding this, my passport was taken from 
 me, and after a detention of two days, I have been 
 delivered over to the gendarmerie, to be conducted to 
 Boulogne, and delivered up to the Procureur du Roi, 
 without any legal proceeding against me, wit'jout the 
 knowledge of any one circumstance to justify an act 
 so arbitrary and so atrocious. 
 
 I have now to put myself under your powerful pro- 
 tection, and to solicit your instant interference to 
 rescue my person from imprisonment, and to uphold 
 the important character of that nation you represent, 
 whose citizens have no longer any protection from the 
 laws. I have also to entreat that you will consult 
 with the Minister of His Faithful Majesty, as to the 
 means of vindicating those diplomatic privileges which 
 have been so wantonly violated in my person, by the 
 seizure of his official correspondence. 
 
 I have protested against acts which make your sig- 
 nature of no avail for the protection of British sub- 
 jects ; and though 1 know of no ground for the ap- 
 prehension that any part of the correspondence which 
 was entrusted to me bears a political character, I 
 have protested against the horrible principle, that the 
 bearer of a sealed letter, whose contents are unknown 
 to him, can be made responsible for those contents. 
 I submit all this to Your Excellency's consideration.
 
 70 
 My commercial affairs are dreadfully suffering from 
 this violent detention ; it is impossible to calculate 
 the consequences. I venture, therefore, to hope, that 
 Your Excellency will take instant and effective mea- 
 sures for my release ; and, referring to the report of 
 the British Consul, 
 
 I have the honour to be Your Excellency's 
 Most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) John Bowbing. 
 
 [D] 
 
 Sir Charles SUmrfs Answer. 
 
 Sib, Paris, October 14, 1822. 
 
 Having been apprised of the circumstances of your 
 arrest at Calais, I had already demanded an explana- 
 tion of the motives for this measure on the part of the 
 French Minister before your letter of the 6th October 
 reached me. 
 
 It appears by the answer I have received, that al- 
 though provided with a regular passport to proceed 
 from Paris to England, you are charged with having 
 facilitated the conveyance of treasonable papers to 
 England ; which charge warrants the proceedings the 
 Procureur du Roi is about to institute against you in 
 the Tribunals of the Department du Pas de Calais. 
 
 Having enjoyed the protection of the French Laws 
 during your residence here, you are of course amen- 
 able to the justice of the country for their infraction ; 
 and, unless I receive instruction from His Majesty's 
 Government to protest against the prosecution, I can 
 merely direct His Majesty Consul at Calais to watch 
 over the proceedings which are about to commence,
 
 71 
 and, to be careful that, as a British subject, you meet 
 with the same justice which would be granted to a 
 native under similar circumstances. 
 
 I have in the mean time submitted your case to His 
 Majesty's Government, and have requested instruc- 
 tion for my further guidance. 
 
 I am. Sir, 
 Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) Charles Stuart. 
 
 John Bowring, Esq. 
 
 This letter might serve as a text to many observa- 
 tions. In the 1st place,— The charge against me did 
 not warrant the proceedings of the French Govern- 
 ment, even according to French Law, setting aside 
 the international question. 
 
 2dly. "You have enjoyed the protection oHheFrench 
 Laws." This is bitterly ironical ;— the same sort of 
 protection which King Stork gave to the frogs. 
 
 Sdly. " As a British subject you will have the same 
 justice which would be granted to a native." Very 
 consoling this ! The Star Chamber itself would blush 
 for the Bourbon courts : and malevolence could desire 
 no greater revenge than the tender mercies dealt out 
 by the Ultra faction to their opponents. If the Sultan 
 at Constantinople should (for he has an English 
 Ambassador's authority) administer the same sort of 
 justice to our countrymen which he grants to his native 
 subjects, bow-string or impaling for instance, could 
 our Government venture to complain ? 
 
 In what, let me be allowed to ask, does the protec- 
 tion of the laws of France consist ? To be at the
 
 72 
 
 mercy of all that is arbitrary and violent ; to be dogged 
 about by hired spies and incendiaries ; to be treated 
 like a felon, without a single accusation of crime ; to 
 be subjected to solitary confinement, and confounded 
 with the vilest of mankind ; to be insulted by the 
 hired servility of the press, and tortured by the inqui- 
 sitorial questions of the magistracy — that is protec- 
 tion : and as for law, from tyrannical forms — from ju- 
 ries chosen by the Crown, or by the Prefet, who is 
 appointed by the Crown, and from Judges, who (with 
 rare exceptions) are the servile and willing slaves of 
 despotic will, what could be hoped for? 
 
 [E] 
 
 Letter from the Procureur du Roi. 
 
 No. 20,232. ' Boulogne, 15 8brc, 1822. 
 
 Je viens, Monsieur, de recevoir de M. le Procureur 
 du Roi, pres le Tribunal de lere instance du De- 
 partement de la Seine, un mandat d'amener decerne 
 centre vous par M. Mathias, Juge d' Instruction au 
 meme tribunal, le 14 de ce mois, et qui vous sera no- 
 tifi6 dans la journee de demain. 
 
 Je dois, k ce sujet, vous faire connoitre la disposi- 
 tion de Particle 100 du Code d'Instruction Criminelle, 
 suivant laquelle disposition vous pouvez n'etre pas 
 contraint de vous rendre a ce mandat, au quel cas je 
 decernerai contre vous un mandat de depot, dans les 
 vingt quatre heures de Texecution duquel j'en don- 
 nerai avis a M. le Juge d'Instruction Mathias, qui 
 ensuite requerra M. le Juge d'Instruction a Bou- 
 logne, a qui il transmettra les pieces, notes, et ren- 
 seigneraens relatifs aux faits dont vous etes inculpe,de 
 vous interroger a cet egard.
 
 73 
 
 Je vous invite a me faire savoir, a la reception de la 
 notification qui vous sera faite, si vous demandez h 
 profiter de I'article precitc du Code d'Instruction cri- 
 minelle. Je vous salue. 
 
 Le Procureur du Roi, 
 (Signe) Caron de Fhomentel. 
 A^ M. Bozcring, Maison d' Arret a Boulogne. 
 
 '[Translation.^ 
 
 Sir, Boulogne, 15th Oct. 1822. 
 
 I HAVE just received from the King's Advocate of 
 the Primary Tribunal of the Department of the Seine, 
 an order to produce you (or convey you) there, ema- 
 nating from M. Mathias, Judge of Instruction (preli- 
 minary examination) at the same tribunal. It is dated 
 the 14th inst. and will be notified to you to-morrow. 
 
 On this subject, I ought to make you acquainted 
 with the dispositions of the lOOdth article of the Code 
 of Criminal Proceedings, according to which you may 
 not be compelled to obey this order ; and if so, I shall 
 issue a warrant for your detention ; and within 24 
 hours of the execution shall give notice of the same 
 to the said M. Mathias, who will then require the 
 Judge of Instruction, at Boulogne, to whom he will 
 send the documents, notes, and informations, relative 
 to the facts with which you are charged, that he may 
 interrogate you thereupon. 
 
 I request you to inform n>e, on the receipt of the 
 notification which is about to be made to you, whether 
 you require to avail yourself of the benefit of the 
 article referred to. 
 
 I salute you. 
 (Signed) Caron de Fromentel.
 
 74 
 
 It will be observed, that all is mystery with respect 
 to the accusations against me — " the facts with which 
 you are charged," and nothing more. 
 
 " Vous pouvez n'^tre pas contraint." This is 
 most vague and unsatisfactory, and therefore wholly 
 in favour of despotism. It is not " vous ne pouvez 
 pas etre contraint." In Appendix [I] it will be seen 
 that the protection for the accused becomes weaker 
 still; and the words used are — "vous pouvez n'etre 
 pas contraint ainsi immediatement.^' 
 
 [F] 
 Mj/ Answer. 
 M. LE Procureur du Roi, 
 Je viens de recevoir votre billet. Je ne le comprends 
 pas tout a fait. J'espere qu'il me sera permis de voir 
 ou un avocat ou le Vice Consul Anglais. Je me 
 trouve enti^rement abandonne, prive des moyens de 
 communiquer soit avec mon Gouvernement, soit avec 
 ma famille. Je ne sais pas si cela est legal, mais c'est 
 bien cruel. Je ne fais aucun reproche a M. le Pro- 
 cureur du Roi, qui m'a traite avec bienveillance. J'ai 
 I'honneur de voi;s saluer. 
 
 (Signe) J. BowRiNG. 
 
 Boulogne, Maison d'Arrel, 168bre, 1822. 
 
 l^Translation.^ 
 I HAVE just received your note, which I do not per- 
 fectly understand. I trust I may be permitted to see 
 either a lawyer or the British Vice-Consul. I am 
 entirely abandoned, and shut out from the means of 
 making any communication either to my Government 
 or to my family. I do not know if this is legal, but it
 
 75 
 
 is most cruel. I do not complain of the personal con- 
 duct of the King's Advocate, who received me with 
 much consideration. I have the honour to salute you. 
 
 [G] 
 Mandat d'Amener. 
 'Lie Tribunal de Premiere Instance du Departement 
 de la Seine. 
 De par la Loi et le Roi. 
 Nous, Jean Jacques Mathias, Juge d'Instruction 
 pres le Tribunal de Premiere Instance duDepartement 
 de la Seine, mandons et ordonnons a tout Huissier 
 ou Agent de la force publique, d'amener par devant 
 nous, en se conformant a la loi, le sieur Bowring, 
 Anglais, de present detenu a Boulogne sur mer, pour 
 etre entendu sur les inculpations a lui faites. Reque- 
 rons tout depositaire de la force publique, de preter 
 main forte s'il en est requis pour I'execution du pre- 
 sent mandat par le porteur de celui-ci ; a I'effet de 
 quoi I'avons signe et scelle de notre sceau. 
 
 Fait au Palais de Justice a Paris, 14 8bre, 1822. 
 
 Mathias. 
 
 L'an 1822, Ici, 16 Octobre, a la requete de M. le 
 Procureur du Roi, pr^s le Tribunal de Premiere In- 
 stance du Departement de la Seine, scant a Paris, le 
 quel fait election de domicile en son parquet au dit 
 lieu, Je L. H. Guillain, Pere, Huissier, &c. &c., sou- 
 signe, signifie, et donne copie du mandat d'amener ci- 
 dessus au Sieur Bowring, Anglais, detenu enlaMaison 
 d'Arret a Boulogne, en parlant a sa personne, avec 
 sommation satisfaire, lequel m'a declare qu'il etait 
 pret a obeir au dit mandat, et se rendre par devant
 
 76 
 
 qui de droit. En ce qu'il n'en ignore, je lui ai au 
 dit lieu de la Maison d' Arret, et parlant comma 
 dessus, laisse copie du dit mandat, &c. 
 
 GUILLAIN. 
 
 [^Translation.^ 
 
 The Tribunal of First Instance of the Department 
 of the Seine. 
 
 By the authority of the Law and the King. 
 
 We, John James Mathias, Judge of Instruction at 
 the Tribunal of First Instance, of the Department 
 of the Seine, command and order to every Huissier or 
 Agent of the public force, to bring before us, according 
 to the formalities of the law, Mr. Bowring, an English- 
 man, now detained at Boulogne, to be heard on the 
 charges against him. We require all depositaries 
 of the public force to lend their aid, if required, for 
 the execution of the present order, by the bearer of 
 this. To which effect we have signed and sealed it 
 with our seal. 
 
 Done at the Palace of Justice, at Paris, the 14th 
 October, 1822. 
 
 Mathias. 
 
 In the year 1822, on the 16th October, at the re- 
 quirement of the King's Advocate at the Court of 
 First Instance, in the department of the Seine, sitting 
 at Paris, having chosen as the place of domicile his 
 official seat, I, L. H. Guillain, sen. sign, signify, and 
 give copy of the above warrant to the said Mr, Bow- 
 ring, an Englishman, detained in the prison at Bou- 
 logne, speaking to himself and summoning him ; on 
 which he declared that he was ready to obey the said 
 warrant, and to give himself up to the proper authori-
 
 77 
 ties. And that he may not be ignorant, I have, in the 
 said prison, left him copy of the said warrant, &c. 
 
 GUILLAIN. 
 
 This document states (I suppose it is only one of 
 these lesral fictions which are moral falsehoods) that 
 I declared I was ready to obey the summons of the 
 Judge of Instruction, and to appear before the lawful 
 tribunal, meaning, of course, the tribunal which re- 
 quired my removal to Paris. 
 
 In the order for my transfer to Paris, the plural is 
 used — " the charges against him :" but when I asked 
 the huissier what they meant, he only shrugged up his 
 shoulders, and moved off. 
 
 [H] 
 
 Refusal to ohey Mandate. 
 Nous, Procureur du Roi pres du Tribunal de 
 Premiere Instance, seant a Boulogne, vu le mandat 
 d'amener decerne le 14 de ce mois, par le Juge d'ln- 
 struction pres le Tribunal de 1 ere Instance du Departe- 
 ment de la Seine, centre Bowring detenu a Boulogne, 
 et legalement notifie par acte de ce jourd'hui au dit 
 Bo wring, qui declare refuser d'obeir, pour les causes 
 portees dans I'article 100 du Code d'Instruction Cri- 
 rainelle. Ordonnons au Concierge de laMaison d'Arret 
 au dit Boulogne, de recevoir et garder en depot jus- 
 qu'a nouvel ordre, le dit Bowring aux termes du 
 meme article. Fait au dit Boulogne, ce 16 Octobre, 
 1822. 
 
 Jean Baft. L. Max. Caron de Fromontel. 
 
 L'an 1822, au 16 Octobre, a la requete du meme
 
 78 
 
 M. le Procureur du Rol, sousigne, exhibe, notifie et 
 donne copie au dit J. Bowriiig, &c. 
 
 GuiLLAIN. 
 
 \^Translatwn.^ 
 
 We, the King's Advocate at the Tribunal of First 
 Instance, sitting at Boulogne, in consequence of the 
 Order issued the I4th of this month, by the Judge of 
 Instruction of the Tribunal of First Instance of the 
 Department of the Seine, for the removal of Bowring 
 detained at Boulogne, and legally notified to him by 
 an act of to-day ; which the said Bowring refuses to 
 obey, on the grounds stated in Article 100 of the 
 Code of Criminal Instruction, Order the Jailer of the 
 prison of the said Boulogne to receive and keep the 
 said Bowring until further orders. Done at Bou- 
 logne, 16th October, 1822. 
 
 John Bapt. L. Max. Caron de Fromontel. 
 
 The rest announces the notification of the above. 
 
 There is a strange anomaly between the documents 
 G and H. The first declares, falsely, my willingness 
 to obey the order for my transfer to Paris, — the se- 
 cond avows just the contrary. 
 
 [1] 
 
 Letter from the Procureur du Roi. 
 
 No. 20,233. Boulogne, 16 8bre, 1822. 
 
 Je vais, Monsieur, d'apres votre lettre de ce jour, 
 tacher de rendre plus clair ce que je vous ai ecrit hier 
 a la reception dumandatd'araener decernecontrevous. 
 L'effet de ce mandat est que vous soyez conduit a 
 Paris devant le Juge d'Instruction Mathias pour etre 
 par lui interroge sur les inculpations faites a votre
 
 79 
 
 charge. Aux termes de I'article 100 du Code d'ln- 
 struction Criminelle vous pouvez n'etre pas con- 
 traint de vous rendre ainsi immediatement a Paris, 
 et si tel est votre desir, vous devez I'exprimer par une 
 demande formelle a cette fin. En ce cas, je decernerai 
 contre vous mandat de depot, j'en donnerai avis a M. 
 le Juge d'lnstruction Mathias, et par suite il dele- 
 guera son collegue de Boulogue pour vous interro- 
 ger ici. Ce sont done vos intentions a cet egard que 
 je vous invite a me faire connoitre par ecrit. 
 
 Quant a I'autorisation de communiquer soit avec 
 un avocat, soit avec M. le Vice Consul Anglais, soit 
 avec toute autre personne, je ne puis vous accorder 
 cette autorisation,et,au surplus, dans I'etatdes choses, 
 toute conference avec des tiers serait absoluement 
 sans objet dans votre interet, au moins pour le mo- 
 ment. Je vous salue. 
 
 Le Procureur du Roi, 
 
 (Signe) Caron de Fromentel. 
 
 A" M. Bowring, Maison df Arret a Boulogne. 
 
 \_Translation.'\ 
 Sir, 
 
 I SHALL endeavour, according to your letter of this 
 day, to make my letter of yesterday, which communi- 
 cated the receipt of the order for the removal of your 
 person, more intelligible to you. 
 
 The object of this order is to transfer you to Paris, 
 in order that you may be there examined by M. Ma- 
 thias, the Judge of Instruction, on the charges exist- 
 ing against you. By the tenor of the lOOdth article of 
 the Code of Criminal Proceedings, you may not be 
 constrained to go to Paris immediately ; and if such
 
 80 
 
 is your wish, you must, express it by a formal demand 
 to that effect. In that case, I shall issue against you 
 a warrant of detention — and shall §;ive the Judge of 
 Instruction, M. Mathias, notice of the same, and he 
 will commission his colleague of Boulogne to inter- 
 rogate you here. Your intentions then, in this par- 
 ticular, I wish to have communicated in writing. 
 
 With respect to the permission to hold intercourse, 
 whether with a Lawyer, the British Vice-Consul, — or 
 any other person — I cannot grant it ; and besides, in 
 the present state of things, any conference with a 
 third person would be absolutely without any object, 
 for your service, at least for the moment. 
 I salute you. 
 
 The King's Advocate, 
 
 (Signed) Caron de Fromentel. 
 
 Nobody but a King's Advocate would have dreamed 
 that, in my then situation, a desire to be allowed com- 
 munication w ith, could be " absolutely without any 
 object", — and wholly unimportant to my happiness. 
 
 m 
 
 My Answer. 
 
 Maison d'Arret, 16 8brp, 18€2. 
 
 Ignorant les lois d'un pays etranger, prive de tous 
 les moyens de communiquer soit avec un avocat fran- 
 (jais, soit avec les autorites de ma nation,— je ne puis 
 que protester contre tous les actes de violence ex- 
 erces sur ma personne. Je m'oppose a ce qu'on m'en 
 mene par force a Paris ou ailleurs. L'on m'assure que 
 les lois me donnent la faeulte d'y resister. Je reclame 
 leur protection. Mon Gouvernement, qui tot ou tard
 
 81 
 
 sera instruit de tout, sauia soutenir la (lignite de son 
 caractere et les droits de mes concitoyens. 
 
 J'ai I'honneur de vous saluer. 
 
 (Signe) J. BowRiNG. 
 A^ M. le Procureiir dii Roi a Boulogne. 
 [^Translation. ~\ 
 
 Sir Prison of Boulogne, IGth October, 1822. 
 
 Unacquainted with the laws of a foreign country, 
 and shut out from the power of either consulting a 
 French lawyer, or any English authorities, — nothing 
 is left me but to protest against all the acts of violence 
 done to my person. I oppose any forcible removal 
 either to Paris or elsewhere. I am assured that the 
 laws authorize my opposition ; and I invoke the pro- 
 tection of the laws. My Government, which sooner 
 or later shall be informed of all that is passing, will 
 know how to vindicate the dignity of its character, 
 and the rights of my fellow-citizens. 
 
 I have the honour to salute you. 
 
 (Signed) J. Bow ring. 
 
 Letter to Sir Charles Stuart. 
 [L] 
 
 Sir Boulogne Prison, Oct. 24. 
 
 I HAD the honourto receive Your Excellency's letter 
 of the 14th, only yesterday. The Procureur du Roi 
 thought proper to prevent its reaching me in course. 
 
 The accusation against me, if any accusation really 
 exists, appears to have taken a new direction ; and 
 the attempt which- has been made to bring into it two 
 honourable and distinguished English families will 
 necessarily give rise to new discussions, to which I 
 
 G
 
 shall have the honour of calling Your Excellency's at- 
 tention, when my own case is disposed of. I beg leave 
 now to inclose a letter which I have just written to 
 Mr. Canning on the subject of my detention and the 
 present state of the proceedings. I trust the moment 
 is arrived, in which Your Excellency will deem it fit 
 to interpose decidedly and peremptorily on my behalf. 
 I feel obliged by what you have already done to 
 alleviate my situation, and for the personal interest 
 towards me which you have been pleased to express. 
 I should do injustice to my feelings, if I did not at 
 the same time mention the unwearied exertions of 
 the British Vice-Consul here. They have been un- 
 remitting—and will now be availing. 
 I have the honour to be 
 
 Your Excellency's obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) John Bowring. 
 
 His Excellencj/ Sh' Charles Stuart^ Sfc. Sfc. 
 
 [M] 
 
 Letter to Mr. Canning. 
 
 giR Boulogne Prison, Oct. 24, 1822. 
 
 After thirteen days of solitary and severe confine- 
 ment, I am permitted to address you. I have been 
 shut out from all communication with my Govern- 
 ment, my lawyer, or physician — with my family or 
 friends. During this imprisonment, an attempt was 
 made to remove me to Paris by a warrant from the 
 Judges there. I resisted, and resisted successfully, 
 under tlie protection of one of the Articles of the Code 
 de Procedure (the lOOth)^ which there was every dis- 
 position to violate. It would appear the Government
 
 S3 
 
 begins to feel that it has been too rash and arbitrary 
 in its proceedings. I have undergone another long 
 examination, secret as usual, and even the presence of 
 an interpreter denied, though formally demanded. 
 Four pages of interrogatories had been sent from 
 Paris ; not one question among them had a reference 
 to that revolutionary correspondence " of which I 
 was suspected of being the bearer," and on that plea, 
 and that plea alone, delivered over to the various 
 acts of outrage of which I have been, and still am, the 
 victim. I again inquired with what I was charged, 
 and demanded the act of accusation. None exists. 
 The ground previously taken even seems abandoned. 
 Some justification — some plea of justification, would 
 of course be expected by you, and a long series of 
 questions have been sent in consequence, some of 
 which they deemed might possib/j/\ead to a confession, 
 or a detection which might palliate their arbitrary 
 proceedings. They suspect me (they say) — though 
 they venture not to accuse me, as the proces verbal 
 will show — of being engaged in a plot with indivi- 
 duals (whom I had never seen), arranged in London 
 (from whence I was far distant at the time), to rescue 
 from prison (though I never heard «ven of the place 
 of their confinement) the young men who were lately 
 executed for political offences (with not an individual 
 of whom had I ever any, the slightest intercourse). 
 They suspect me of furnishing the pecuniary means 
 for their escape (though not 1,000 francs have passed 
 through my hands since I have been in this country). 
 The charge is as visionary as it is false— it is false in 
 the aggregate— it is false in every individual detail ; 
 but to support it, the whole machinery of a moral 
 
 G 2
 
 •84 
 
 torture (for the due operation of which a fortnight^s 
 sufferings are supposed to have prepared the victim) 
 is put in action, and it is expected to entrap some new 
 fact by a snare so widely and so artificially laid. Sir, 
 it is from this monstrous system of inquisitorial cun- 
 ning and violence, that 1 appeal to my country and to 
 you. Abandoned to the resources of my own mind — 
 a mind stronger, however, than all the strength of 
 tyranny — I have hitherto had to struggle with every 
 thing that artifice and oppression could direct against 
 me. Abandoned among criminals, without so much 
 as a single presumption, however weak, of crime. 
 
 It cannot surely be tolerated, that a man, and an 
 Englishman, is to be hunted from suspicion to suspi- 
 cion — each (baseless or absurd, till something shall 
 be found, or something shall be fancied, which may 
 serve to veil the original acts of violence. If so, the 
 ends of suspicious despotism are gained — the suffer- 
 ings are inflicted — the innocent object of dislike is 
 buried in his dungeon. This, Sir, cannot be done 
 with impunity. I have confidence in the dignity of 
 your character — I have confidence in the high spirit 
 of my country. Some redress will be demanded for 
 the past — some security will be obtained for the 
 
 future. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 
 With every sentiment of respect. Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) John Bowring. 
 
 To the Right Honourable George Cannings 
 His Britatiiiic Majesti/'s Secretary of 
 State for Foreign Affairs!, S^r. SjC.
 
 85 
 
 [N] 
 Letter to Sir Charles Stuart. 
 
 Boulogne Prison, 26th October , 1822. 
 hiR, 
 
 I DEEM it right to inform Your Excellency of the 
 progress of my extraordinary case, and to state that I 
 have been again before the Jifge cC Instruction nearly 
 two hours to-day, and he tells me I may expect an- 
 other examination of double the length on Monday. 
 To-day, in my presence, were opened the sealed let- 
 ters taken from me at Calais, — I suppose not for the 
 first time, for I observed one of them (given me by 
 Lady Oxford), of which I knew not the writer, was 
 endorsed " Letter from Colonel Fabvier." I aaain 
 protested against this violation of faith and honour ; 
 and declared, before the letters were read, that I knew 
 nothing of their contents. I believe, however, (not 
 that it can make any difference in my case,) that there 
 is no one letter which can possibly compromise either 
 me or any body else. The same trick, of attaching 
 my name to a plot for the rescue of the young men 
 from the Bicetre, is carried on ; — a charge, I repeat, 
 which those who imagined it knew to be most false 
 and wicked, and a mere blind for you and the British 
 Government. I am perfectly sure that, in this state 
 of things, you will require something more than a 
 vague, absurd, and visionary declaration — that Ihere 
 are suspicions against me. While they can keep me 
 thus in a common prison, from day to day, and from 
 week to week, their end is answered ; and they deem 
 it sufficient to say to you, " This affair is in the hands 
 of the Tribunals." But, be it allowed me to suggest, 
 lha,t they are bound to give Your Excellency a glear
 
 86^ 
 and distinct knowledge of tbeir accusations, and to 
 show you that I am not the victim of proceedings 
 purely arbitrary and unwarranted. Such are the pro- 
 ceedings under which I am suffering. I repeat, and 
 with earnestness and strengthened conviction, that 
 nothing has been done by the French Government, 
 but to bait with lies, in order to entrap a truth — but I 
 have nothing to conceal : and, though most abhorrent 
 to my mind, and to my sense of right, I have answered 
 honestly and truly all their interrogations. 1 am in 
 the hands of my country, and of you, my country's 
 representative ; and have the honour to be, &c. &c. 
 
 (Signed) John Bowking. 
 
 Sir Charles Stuart, H. B. M. Ambassador at Paris. 
 
 ro] 
 
 Extract of a Letter from the Solicitor to the Embassy at 
 Paris, dated October 26, 1822. 
 
 Sir Charles Stuart has evinced the steadiest 
 zeal for your protection and comfort ; but the nature and 
 form of the criminal or penal laws of this country 
 (most repugnant, certainly, to the feelings of an En- 
 glishman) will not allow of his doing more than he 
 has done, and will do, for your safety. 
 
 I think your trial will take place in Paris, where 
 the most able counsel are to be had ; and I submit to 
 you, however, that you will do well to have one from 
 the Cote Droit. I presume you are aware that you 
 are charged on suspicion of Cornplicite de Trahison.
 
 17 
 
 Litter from Sir Charles Stuart. 
 
 gjU Paris, 3l5t October, 181^2. 
 
 . I HAVE received your letters of the 24th and 2Gth of 
 October, together with the inclosure to which the 
 former refers ; and I have not only considered atten- 
 tively the statements they contain, but have taken 
 the opinion of different persons conversant in French 
 law upon the subject, which will be explained to you 
 at length by Mr. Manning. 
 
 Though the procedure adopted in your case is 
 wholly incompatible with the principles of English 
 jurisprudence, 1 am assured it is perfectly conform- 
 able to the law of France ; and that even if the Go- 
 vernment had consented to communicate officially to 
 this Embassy every circumstance connected with the 
 prosecution, ray interference could not produce any 
 change. 
 
 I trust, therefore, to the knowledge of Mr. Hedouin, 
 who, I presume, w ill be charged with the conduct of 
 your defence, to point out any irregularity, and to 
 keep me sufficiently informed, through His Majesty's 
 Consul, of tlie progress of the proceedings, to guide 
 the further representations it may be necessary to ad- 
 dress to the French Ministers on your behalf. 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) CiiAS. Stuart, 
 John Boioriug^ Esq.
 
 [Q] 
 
 Reponse aux Questions proposees. 
 
 Le droit des gens, dans tout pays civilise, a sesbornes 
 la ou commence la puissance d'action des lois de ce 
 pays. 
 
 En France, particulierement, les lois de Police et 
 de Surete obligent tous ceux qui habitent le territoire. 
 Cette regie de droit proclamce dans le titre prelimi- 
 naire du Code Civil, forme le premier paragraphe 
 de Particle 3 de ce Code. EUe ne souffre aucune con- 
 testation. 
 
 II est naturel, sans doute, qu'au moment ou 
 I'etranger, admis sur le territoire Fran^ais, eprouve 
 un trouble dans sa liberte par I'efFet de Faction pub- 
 lique, il tourne ses regards vers le protecteur que 
 son Souverain lui a donne, dans le Representant de ce 
 Souverain aupres de la France. II ne Test pas moins 
 que la soUicitude de ce representant s'exerce en faveur 
 de I'etranger, soit avec toute spontaneite de la part 
 du premier, soit parceque le second aura invoque son 
 appui. C'est ce qui constitue I'intervention diploma- 
 tique. 
 
 Mais une telle intervention ne saurait avoir ra^me 
 efficacitedans toutescirconstances,indifferarament nou 
 plus que dans tous les moments indefiniment. 
 
 Al'egard des circonstances, le succ6s de I'interven- 
 tion est possible dans les cas ou nul citoyen ne so 
 piaignant d'ailleurs ce fait n'est pas d'une nature 
 grave, ou bien I'individu offre, dans sa perspnne, un 
 caractere qui lie sa consideration, en quelque sorte^ 
 a la dignite du Gouvernement etranger au nom duquel 
 I'intervention en sa faveur a lieu.
 
 89 
 
 Quant aax momens, la difference est grande, ou, 
 pour mieux dire, elle est totale et decisive entre celui 
 ou I'etranger ne vient que d'eprouver le trouble dont 
 il se plaint, et celui ou par suite de ce trouble, il ar- 
 rive entre les mains de la justice publique. 
 
 Au premier cas, et taut que le reclamant n'est que 
 I'objet d'inquietudes vagues qui viennent de dieter 
 des precautions centre sa personne, sans que le mi- 
 nistere public Fait encore a sa disposition, une in- 
 tervention prompte et qui seconderait la nature, plus 
 ou moins legere, du fait, pourrait avoir I'effet d'arre- 
 ter une action publique dans son developpement le- 
 gal. 
 
 Mais une fois que I'etranger se trouve mis a la dis- 
 position du Procureur du Roi par suite d'un fait qui 
 engendre prevention de delit, toute force appartient 
 a la loi du pays. Une intervention, meme diploma- 
 tique, ne saurrait arreter Taction de cette loi. II faut 
 que les formes s'en epuisent, soit par le renvoi du pre- 
 venu, soit par la mise en accusation, et, par suite, en 
 jugeraent. 
 
 Un acte d'accusation, d'apres les lois de France, 
 ne saurait exister ni n'existe jamais qu'en resultat 
 d'une mise en accusation par celle des chambres d'une 
 Cour Royale, a qui I'attribution de mettre en accusa- 
 tion est donnee. C'est alors, seulement, que le Pro- 
 cureur General dresse ce que Ton appelle Facte d'ac- 
 cusation. JusqueKi, soit avant la decision dela Cham- 
 bre du Conseil de premiere instance, soit apres cette 
 decision, le prevenu connait seulement par les inter- 
 pellations qui lui sont faites, par le proces verbal qui 
 est dresse, par I'iiiterrogatoire ou les interrogatoires 
 qu'il subit, le genre de la prevention qui existe contre
 
 90 
 lui, et les causes apparentes qui out force a s'assurer de 
 sa personne. En uii mot, un prevenu n'a iii a s'eton- 
 ner, nia se plaindre qu'un acte d'accusation ne lui ail 
 pas etc remis, tant que la procedure n'est pas arrivee 
 a ce periode qu'il soit accuse dans les formes de la loi. 
 Car, tant qu'il n'est pas ainsi accuse, il n'est que pre- 
 venu. Aussi peut-il sortir d'affaire avec ce dernier 
 caractere seulement, par une decision de la Chambre 
 du Conseil du Tribunal de premiere instance, sauf 
 Topposition facultative au Procureur du Roi, ou a la 
 partie civile (au cas de plainte par un citoyen) dans 
 les vingt quatre heures de cette decision rendue. 
 
 Ni le droit des gens ni les lois d'un pays ne sont 
 offensees par les variations qui pourraient se remar- 
 quer dans les elemens de la prevention publique diri- 
 gee contre I'etranger. Que ces elemens demeurent 
 tels qu'ils auraient ete d'abord presumes et declares, 
 ou bien qu'ils se chargent de nuances plus fortes, ou 
 meme, enfin, qu'ils prennent un tout autre caractere 
 de criminalite, I'autorite publique n'en aura pas moins 
 legitimement use de son droit en s'assurant de la per- 
 sonne contre laquelle la poursuite a lieu. Avoir 
 d'abord, cru etre sur la trace de correspondances 
 ennemies du Gouvernement etabli, puis annoncer que 
 le fait signale une complicite de trahison, ce n'en est 
 pas moins rester dans les termes d'une grave inquie- 
 tude publique, par laquelle se justifient toujours les 
 precautions prises contre la personne, et la pour- 
 suite dont celle-ci devient I'objet, Supposons (et ceci 
 soit dit sans aucune intention de comparaison ou d'ap- 
 plication qui puisse affliger I'etranger que ces re- 
 ponses concernent), supposons la justice publique 
 rencontrant le meurtrc la ou elle ne recherchait que
 
 91 
 
 le vol, I'atteinte portee a la liberte de I'homme, la 
 poursuite contre lui n'en auront pas moins ete un 
 devoir et un droit de I'autorite publique. Le carac- 
 tere definitif de tel ou tel delit recherche par les 
 moyens de la loi, ne peut etre et n'est fixe bieii pre- 
 ciseraent que par le resultat de I'instruction : mais il 
 n'y a nulle violation du droit des gens, ni infraction 
 aux lois du pays dans la variation que peut subir la pre- 
 vention primitive. 
 
 On n'est pas necessaireraent criminel, encore moins 
 inevitablement condanmable pour avoir ete surpris 
 porteur de lettres attentatoires dans leur contenu, a la 
 surete d'un pays. Celui que la justice publique a saisi 
 dans cette situation, a pu ignorer I'objet de telles let- 
 tres : il faut, pour que le prevenu devienne accuse et 
 condanmable, qu'on acquiere contre lui la preuve de 
 la connaissance qu'il aura eue du fonds et du but 
 d'une pareille correspondance. Les explications qu'il 
 fournit sur les causes, plus ou moins naturelles, plus 
 ou moins innocentes, de la presence de serablables 
 pieces entre ses mains, out une grande influence sur 
 le sort de la prevention a laquelle elle I'ont expose. 
 Toute fois, conime le fait est trcs grave de sa nature, 
 celui qui en est prevenu ne saurait esperer d'etre 
 renvoye de la prevention, si ses explications ne sont 
 pas pleinement rassurantes. On ne veut pas dire qu'il 
 encoure, pour cela, une condamnation, mais seulement 
 que sa mise en accusation en devient plus probable, 
 sauf a ce que, devant la Cour d'assises, qui sera saisie 
 du jugement, il reussissa a faire eclater son innocence. 
 
 It seems rather extraordinary that the opinion of
 
 92 
 the Batonnier should have been consulted on the con- 
 duct of his Government. Such an opinion could not 
 but be influenced by his position : as an advocate in 
 case of trial, he was the first man to apply to ; but as 
 a counsel, on the illegality of the proceeding of the 
 French Ministry, the last. I do not accuse him of dis- 
 honesty, — but it must be vain to expect that he should 
 be uninfluenced by his interests and by his political 
 views. The questions referred to him do not appear. 
 
 [ Translation.^ 
 Answer to the proposed Questions, 
 
 The droit des gens, (international right — or law of 
 nations,) in all civilized countries, terminates where 
 the action of the local laws begins *. 
 
 * This only assumes the existence of what is disputed, and 
 avoids the question completely. An uncivilized country may 
 have better laws than a civilized one ; and civilization may 
 be accompanied with such laws as never were, and never 
 could be applied to any but native citizens. There can be no 
 law of nations, according to the Batonnier. The law of na- 
 tions is the protection of foreign individuals against arbitrary 
 acts. Arbitrary acts may be sanctioned by local law — surely 
 international law is the only protection against them. 
 
 The sound principle is, and can only be, this — that a fo- 
 reigner is entitled to justice. A subject citizen is supposed 
 equally to be entitled to it ; but he has no power to enforce it 
 This situation of things constitutes despotism — that is, where 
 wrongs can be inflicted for which there is no redress ; but a 
 foreigner has other protection than the imperfect security of- 
 fered by the local Government. He has a representative 
 specially appointed to watch over his interests, and to see 
 that he is not treated unjustly. A man may be impaled in
 
 93 
 
 In France particularly, the laws of police and safety 
 are binding on all who inhabit the territory. This is 
 proclaimed in the preliminary title of the Civil Code, 
 and forms the first paragraph of the third article of 
 the code. This principle admits of no discussion *. 
 
 It is no doubt natural that a foreigner, admitted to 
 the French territory, and finding his liberty interfered 
 with by the action of the law, should look towards the 
 protection which his Sovereign has given him in the 
 representative of that Sovereign in France. It is not 
 less natural that the solicitude of this representative 
 should be exerted in favour of the foreigner, whether 
 it be spontaneous on the part of the former, or in- 
 voked by the latter. This is what constitutes diplo- 
 matic interference f . 
 
 But such an interference cannot be equally success- 
 ful in all circumstances indifferently, nor at all periods 
 indefinitely. 
 
 Turkey — knouted to death in Russia — or hanged in Austrian 
 Italy — and all according to the laws — and yet be innocent, 
 since the laws give arbitrary power to the Judges. Now, 
 were such laws applied to Englishmen, would the legality of 
 violent outrages be held a sufficient excuse for them? 
 
 A more complete warrant for despotism can hardly be con- 
 ceived, than this opinion of M. Batoanier Billecocq. That 
 it should have satisfied an English Ambassador, is surprising. 
 
 * Police and safety laws — Avhat are they ? Where are 
 they to be found ? In what respect were they broken by 
 me ? There was no irregularity in any of my papers. 
 
 t But diplomatic interference is perfectly chimerical. It 
 can neither prevent wrong, nor remedy wrong, nor obtain 
 reparation for wrong. The foreigner in France is subject to 
 all the freaks of uncontrolled and uncontrollable despotism — 
 unless indeed, according to what follows, his rank entitles 
 him to some special consideration.
 
 94 
 
 As regards circumstances, the success of the inter- 
 ference is possible, where — there being no opposition 
 on the part of any citizen — the fact is not of a serious 
 character — or when the individual himself offers, in 
 his own person, a character which attaches him, by 
 his rank *, in some sort to the dignity of the foreign 
 Government in whose belialf the interference takes 
 place. 
 
 And with respect to time, the difference is great, 
 or rather it is every thing ; it is decisive, as between 
 the first moment when the foreigner experiences the 
 restraints of which he complains, and the moment 
 when, in consequence of those restraints, he is deli- 
 vered up to public justice f. 
 
 In the first case, and while the petitioner is only 
 the object of vague suspicions, which require mea- 
 sures to be taken against his person, before the public 
 minister has him in his hands — a speedy interference, 
 guided by the character, more or less serious, of the 
 accusation, might have the effect of preventing public 
 proceedings in their legal course :|;. 
 
 * Aristocratical absunlity has gone to great lengths in 
 France: — but that rank alone should entitle a man to justice, 
 and to protection against aggression, may sound very sweetly 
 to an Ultra's ear ; but to one accustomed to admire the equal 
 administration of the laws, such a state of things has no charms 
 whatever. 
 
 t A very pretty chance, this, for protection ! The time 
 between the arrest and the commencement of the proceedings 
 depending wholly on the will of the Magistrate. 
 
 ;]: In my case the Telegraph was employed. In an hour 
 and half tlie Ministers could communicate what I conld only
 
 95 
 
 But when the foreigner is once in the hands of the 
 King's Advocate, in consequence of any fact which 
 engenders a suspicion of crime *, all authority is 
 vested in the laws of the country. An interference — 
 even a diplomatic one, cannot oppose the progress of 
 the laws. The proceedings must go on, and be ter- 
 minated, either by the discharge of the suspected, or 
 by the bill of indictment — and the trial which follows. 
 
 An act of accusation (indictment), according to thie 
 laws of France, cannot exist, and never does exist, 
 but in consequence of a charge brought forward {mise 
 €n accusation) by one of the Chambers of the Royal 
 Court, to whom the department belongs. It is only 
 then that the King's Advocate prepares what is called 
 the indictment. Up to that period, whether before 
 the decision of the Chamber of First Instance, or 
 after that decision, the accused can only know the 
 nature of the charges against him, and the apparent 
 causes which have led to his arrest, — by the interpel- 
 lations which are made — by the proces verbal which 
 is recorded, and by the questions which are asked. 
 In a word, a suspected person ought not to be sur- 
 prised, nor to complain, if no act of accusation is re- 
 mitted to him till the proceedings have reached the 
 
 convey in two days. It would appear as if the f>ench Go. 
 vernment had determined to shut out the possibility of diplo. 
 raatic interference — I being in the hands of justice (as they 
 call it) long before the Ambassador could know of my de- 
 tention. 
 
 * A fact zshich engenders a suspicion of crime. Cer- 
 tainly no Minister need scruple about arresting whom he 
 pleases, when such a vague generality as this is sufficient to 
 excuse him.
 
 96 
 period when he is to be accused according to the forms 
 of the law. For till he is so accused, he is but sus- 
 pected ; and he can only be released from the latter? 
 imputation by a decision of the Chamber of the 
 Council of the Tribunal of First Instance — always 
 excepting the facultative opposition of the King's 
 Advocate ; or (where a citizen interferes) be made 
 subject to a civil action, within twenty-four hours 
 after the decree is given*. 
 
 Neither the law of nations, nor the laws of the 
 country, are broken by the variations which may take 
 place in the elements of the proceedings against a 
 foreigner — whether those elements remain what they 
 were presumed and declared to be— or whether they 
 assume darker shades— or even change altogether 
 their character of criminality ; still the public au- 
 thority will not less properly have used its right in 
 seizing the person against whom proceedings are di- 
 rected. To have first been in the pursuit of corre- 
 
 * I deem it necessary to make no comment upon this part 
 of the Batonnier's opinion. If it be sound, an Eastern Sa- 
 trap might envy a Minister of France his despotic power.— 
 What follows has the same character. A man may, hy a 
 variation of the elements of the proceedings, be examined 
 on every charge that the penal statutes record, or the fancy 
 can create. When no evidence can be found on one, he may 
 be driven to defend himself from another. His crime is in- 
 definite while his persecutor chooses to have it so ; and when 
 it is stated and disproved, or unproved— another crime may 
 be taken up, and the wretch be compelled to run the inqui- 
 sitorial gauntlet again. This the exemplary Batonnier tells 
 the British Ambassador is law— and Englishmen must sub- 
 mit to it.
 
 9t 
 
 spondence inimical to the established Grovernmeni ; 
 next, to announce that the facts point to a participa- 
 tion in treason ; this is not the less to be within the 
 bounds of serious public disquiet, which will always 
 justify the precautions taken against the individual, 
 and the proceedings of which he is the object. Let 
 us suppose (and be it said without any intention of 
 comparison or of application, which may wound the 
 foreigner, whom these answers concern) — let us sup- 
 pose that public justice should find murder, where it 
 was in pursuit of larceny — the attack on the liberty of 
 an individual, and the proceedings against him, would 
 be equally a duty and a right of public authority. The 
 definitive character of any crime, which is pursued by 
 the agency of the law, cannot be, and is not fixed pre- 
 cisely, till after the examination (instruction) ; but 
 there is no violation of the law of nations, nor infrac- 
 tion of the laws of the land, by the variations which 
 the primary charge may undergo. 
 
 There is no necessary criminality, and yet less in- 
 evitable condemnation, in being the bearer of letters 
 whose contents are dangerous to the safety of the 
 country. He who is arrested in such circumstances, 
 may be ignorant of their object. In order that the 
 bearer should be accused, and liable to be condemned, 
 a proof must be obtained of his knowledge of the na- 
 ture and the objects of such a correspondence. The 
 explanations which he gives on the causes — more or 
 less likely — more or less innocent — of his being pos- 
 sessed of such documents, will have a great influence 
 on the suspicions against him. But in every case, as 
 the charge is very serious, he who is suspected of it 
 must not hope to be released from the suspicion, if his 
 
 II
 
 98 
 
 explanations are not amply satisfactory. It does not 
 follow hence, that he will be certainly condemned, but 
 only that his committal (tnise en accusation) becomes 
 more probable, unless he should be able, at the as- 
 sizes, to make his innocence appear. 
 
 m 
 
 Extract of a Letter to the Solicitor to tJie Emhassi/, 
 
 I AM in the hands of arbitrary and insolent despo- 
 tism, and complaint is unavailing. M. Hedouin has 
 already written to M. Berryer, junior, on some of the 
 violations of legal forms. A despotic Government may 
 treat its own subjects despotically ; but I have never 
 heard that it has the same power over a stranger. 
 The Police and Surete regulations are subservient to 
 the forms of justice — not superior to them. 
 
 If the French Government can proceed, as they have 
 proceeded, and if it is an answer to an acknowledged 
 and atrocious outrage, that the victim is in the hands of 
 the tribunals, any individual may be thrown into a dun- 
 geon, and kept there during the good pleasure of the 
 Government, — punished beforehand, till malevolence 
 can satiate itself. A month has already passed — Is it 
 not monstrous that I am not to know zohi/ I am de- 
 tained ? I have undergone six private examinations, 
 in which there has not been the shadow of a fact to 
 criminate me. I have been compelled to listen to the 
 contents of letters of which I had been the bearer, 
 though there was not among them a paragraph which 
 had any reference to me, or of which I had any, the
 
 99 
 
 slightest knowledge ; nor a paragraph for which any 
 of the writers could be in any Avay responsible to the 
 Tribunals. By and by I shall make, I trust, a more 
 earnest appeal. 
 
 In the course of things, our un-English Alien Act 
 is again and again referred to. Bad as it is, compared 
 to this, it is the sting of a wasp to the wheel of Ixion. 
 
 Boulogne Prison, 3d Nov. 1822. 
 
 [S] 
 
 Second Letter to Mr. Canii'ms:. 
 
 »• 
 
 Sir, Boulogne Prison, l'2t!i Nov. 1822. 
 
 My first duty is to thank you, which I do most cor- 
 dially, for the kind attention and ready interference, 
 which my extraordinary arrest and arbitrary detention 
 have obtained at your hands. 
 
 But five Weeks have already elapsed since I was 
 consigned t6 this offensive prison, and I have not the 
 prospect of deliverance, though up to this moment 
 no accusation has been preferred. I was arrested by 
 a proceeding which was, in fact, nothing but a letire 
 de cachet. I liave been dragged forth to six secret in- 
 terrogatories ; the answers to the last of which went 
 to Paris nearly a fortnight ago. No construction can 
 torture any thing which these interrogatories have 
 elicited into a charge against me ; yet they still treat 
 me as a criminal, not daring to bring forward an ac- 
 cusation of crime. 
 
 Whatever may be the power of a Government over 
 its own subjects, it can have no possible right to make 
 
 u 2
 
 100 
 a stranger the victim of pure and unqualified despo- 
 tism : and to be told, as I have been told, that I am 
 not treated worse than a native Frenchman vv^ould 
 have been, is a miserable answer for one who has 
 been habituated to see so many unhappy beings lin- 
 o-erino- from month to month in these abodes of misery, 
 not knowing the cause of their arrest. An English- 
 man, however, may expect— I am sure he may expect 
 it, from the known firmness of your character — an 
 interference, strong enough to protect, and bold 
 enough to rescue him from injustice, whatever form 
 it may take, or whatever name it may assume. While 
 delay can thus be added to delay, and one wretched 
 subterfuge be allowed to replace another, an unac- 
 cused prisoner's sufferings are indefinite, and may be 
 rendered interminable. If an innocent and oppressed 
 Englishman is to be placed beyond the reach of his 
 Government — if the eye of inquiry may not penetrate 
 his cell— nor the arm of his country's dignity be 
 stretched out for his protection— then, indeed, I must 
 bow my head in silence, as I should in China or 
 Japan. 
 
 But, Sir ! I am in your hands, and in the hands of 
 my country. The question is to be decided in my 
 case, whether an Englishman, protected by his pass- 
 port, and unaccused of crime, may be thrown into a 
 dungeon, and kept there as long as it suits the good 
 pleasure of his enemies. Whether, a Jirst suspicion 
 and a second suspicion having been dissipated, he may 
 be detained there, to be tormented by inquisitorial 
 torturings, on the vague hope of extorting some third 
 subject of accusation. Whether his very opinions are 
 to be caavassed, and the sanctuary violated even of
 
 101 
 
 his secret thoughts. On this subject I dare not ex- 
 press all my indignation ; it is tempered, indeed, by 
 the assurance that my case has excited your attention 
 and your serious interference ; and it is rather to re- 
 cord my conviction, that it cannot be abandoned by 
 you, than to convey a doubt or a fear, that I again in- 
 trude. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your grateful obedient servant, 
 
 John Bowring. 
 
 To the Right Honourable George Cannings 
 His Britannic Majestt/^s Secretarj/ of 
 State for Foreign Affairs, <J^t. S^c, 
 
 [T] 
 
 Tribunal de Premiere Instance du Departement de 
 la Seine. 
 
 Ordonnance rendue en la Chambre du Conseil. 
 
 Copie. Nous Juges composant la Ire Chambre du 
 Tribunal de Premiere Instance du Departement de la 
 Seine, reunis en la Chambre du Conseil conformement 
 a I'Article 127 du Code d'Instruction Criminelle, 
 
 Vu les pieces du proces et I'instruction faite centre 
 Margues, le Lt. Colonel Dentzel, le Col. Fabvier, 
 Guille Latouche, Bowring, et le Vaillant inculpes de 
 tentative de corruption du concierge de Bicetre pour 
 faire evader les condamnes de la conspiration de la 
 Rochelle, et encore contre Bowring prevenu de con- 
 travention a I'arret du 5 Prairial an 9 ensemble les 
 conclusions de M. Dehaim, Substitut de M. le Pro-
 
 102 
 
 cureur du Roi du Tribunal de Premiere Instance du 
 Departement de la Seine, tendante a ce que Margues, 
 le Lt. Colonel Dentzel, le Col. Fabvier, et GuilleLa- 
 touche soient renvoyes en Police Correctionelle sur 
 le fait de la tentative de la corruption qu'il soit de- 
 clare n'y avoir lieu a suivre contre le Vaillant, et que 
 Bowring soit renvoye en Police Correctionelle pour 
 le fait de contravention. 
 
 Ou'i le rapport de M. Jacque Jean Matliias, I'un 
 des Juges d'Instruction pres ce Tribunal : 
 
 Attendu qu'il en resulte en ce qui touche Margues, 
 qu'il a etc ail-ete au moment ou il comptait dix mille 
 francs au concierge de Bicetre, qu'il a reconnu que 
 cette somme lui avait ete remise pour seduire ce con- 
 cierge, et qu'elle faisail partie d'une somme de soix- 
 ante mille francs qui devait etre comptee au dit con- 
 cierge lors de la remise qui serait par lui faite des con- 
 damnes, qu'independamment de cette somme de soix- 
 ante mille francs on devait faire au concierge une pen- 
 sion viagere double de son traitement, et une a son 
 oncle autre pension viagere de trois a quatre mille 
 francs vieillard infirme qui demeure avec lui, et dont 
 I'existence se serait trouvee compromise avec la 
 sienne ; que le projet de faire evader les 4 condamnes 
 fut agite pour la premiere fois au Kremlin chez le trai- 
 teur Belhomme, ou il se trouva a diner avec Dentzel 
 ex Lt. Col. d'un corps ou Belhornme avait servi ; que 
 la proposition lui ayant etc faite par Dentzel de pro- 
 fiter de I'acces que sa qualite de chirurgien interne 
 du Bicetre lui donnak dans la prison pour favoriser 
 I'evasion des condamnes, cette proposition lui inspira 
 d'abord de la defiance, parce qu'il n'avait jamais vu 
 le Lt. Col. Dentzel, et qu'il ne consentit a ce qu'il y
 
 10.9 
 
 flit donnc suite qu'autant qu'eile liii serait renou- 
 vellee par un ami coramun qu'il indiqua, ce qui eut 
 lieu; que dcs lors plusieurs rendezvous s'engage- 
 rent successivement cliez cot ami commun qu'ii n'a 
 pas voulu nommer; qu'uiie reunion plus nombreuse 
 eut lieu sur le bord de la riviere a sept heures du soir 
 au dessus de la verrerie de la Garre a cinquante pas 
 dans les terres; que le Lt. Col. Dentzel taisait partie de 
 cette reunion, et qu'un individu y avait etc interpelle 
 sous le nom du Col. Fabvier, et consulte sur les mo- 
 yens d'evasion ; que c'est dans cette reunion que le 
 projet qui ne lui avait d'abord ete presentc que com- 
 me un acte d'liumanite, a pris dans la bouche du 
 Col. Fabvier et du Lt. Colonel Dentzel un caractere 
 politique ; qu'on y a fait aussi Fobservation qu'il 
 manquait quinze niille francs sur les soixante nulle 
 francs qu'on devait promettre au concierge, et que ces 
 MM. sans dire ou ils les prendroient, annoncerent 
 qu'ils etaient bien surs de se les procurer ; que la re- 
 union dont il s'agit fut suivie le lendeniain d'un 
 dejeuner aux Maronniers a la Rapee ; qu'il fut con- 
 venu que Margues s'y rendroit de son cote avec 
 deux de ses amis, et le Lt. Colonel Dentzel du sien, 
 pour n'etre pas vu ensemble^ et qu'ils se placeraient a 
 deux tables differentes; qu'en se rendant de Bicetre a 
 la Rapee Margues avait remarque un cavalier se pro- 
 menant sur la rive gauche de la Seine, et qu'apres 
 avoir passe la riviere et s'etre rendu aux Marroniers, 
 Dentzel lui avait dit que ce cavalier etait le Colonel 
 Fabvier, qui inspectait les lieux, ct notamment le 
 cabaret dit dn Garde de Chasse, ou il avait ete projette 
 que Margues donnerait a diner au concierge avant 
 qu'il ne fut arrete ; que ce diner aurait lieu a
 
 104 
 
 Bicetre ; qu'aprcs le dejeuner Margues, ses deux 
 amis et le Lt. Colonel Dentzel sortirent ensemble, 
 et se promenerent en saivant I'entrepot des vins et 
 le boulevard exterieur de la barriere du Trone ; 
 et que Dentzel remit de I'argent a Margues pour 
 acheter le din deaux trufFes et le vin de Champagne 
 avec lesquels ils devaient donner a diner le lende- 
 maia au concierge de Bicetre ; que le lendemain ce 
 diner a eu lieu dans la chambre de Margues ; que 
 Guille Latouche et le Concierge y assisterent seuls ; 
 que trente mille francs avaient ete remis a Margues 
 par I'intermediaire d'un de ses amis dont ilne voulait 
 pas faire connaitre !e nom pour le cas ou le projet 
 viendrait de recevoir de suite son execution ; mais que 
 Tarrivee imprevue de I'inspecteur de la prison ayant 
 interrompu les ouvertures qu'ils faisaient au con- 
 cierge, et I'ayant oblige a les ajourner, il avait rendu 
 les trente mille francs a celui qui les lui avait confies; 
 enfin que les dix mille francs qu'il comptait au con- 
 cierge lorsqu'il fut arrete lui avait etc remis par 
 rintermediaire d'un autre de ses amis qu'il ne vou- 
 lait pas noramer plus que les precedens ; mais que ni 
 I'un ni I'autre de ces jeunes gens eleves en chirurgie 
 comrae lui n'avaient pu fournir de pareilles sommes 
 de ses deniers, qu'il presumait qu'elles pouvaient leur 
 avoir ete remises par le Colonel Fabvier ou par le 
 JL/t. Colonel Dentzel, qui eux memes les tenaient d'unei 
 source plus elevee. 
 
 En ce qui touche le Lt.-Col. Dentzel. 
 
 Attendu que le diner cliez Belhomme n'est pas nie 
 par lui, que ce fait et les entretiens particuliers qu'il 
 a eu avec Margues et Guillce Latouche, sont d'ail- 
 leurs attcstes tant par Margues que par Belhomme et
 
 105 
 
 sa femnie, et qu'uu autre temoin a remarque, qu'ils 
 mettaient dans leur conversation tant de chaleur et de 
 mystere, qu'il avait pense qu'il etait question d'une 
 affaire d'honneur entre Margues et Dentzel ; que la 
 reunion du bord de la riviere, confirmee par Margues 
 dans sa confrontation avec Dentzel, n'a point ete des- 
 avouee par lui ; et que le rendezvous du lendemain 
 aux Maronniers de la Rapee a etc prouvee par la de- 
 claration du Sicur Petit, qui a dejeune avec Dentzel 
 a la table voisine de celle ou dejeunaient Margues et 
 sesamis ; qu'enfin dans sa confrontation avec Margues, 
 Dentzel a formellement declare qu'il a co-opere a la 
 tentative d'evasion, et qu'il se reservait de s'en expli- 
 quer aux debats. 
 
 En ce qui touche le Col. Fabvier. 
 Attendu que sa presence dans la reunion qui a eu 
 lieu sur le bord de la riviere est attestee par Margues, 
 que si I'obscurite n'a pas permis a Margues de distin- 
 guer les traits du Col. Fabvier, et s'il s'est trouve par 
 consequent dans Timpossibilite de le reconnattre, il 
 resulte par plusieurs declarations par lui faites et ci- 
 dessus analisees, que le Col. Fabvier faisait reelle- 
 ment partie de cette reunion, ce qui n'a pas etc des- 
 avoue par le Col. Dentzel. 
 
 En ce qui touche Guillee Latouche. 
 Attendu qu'il resulte des declarations des temoins, 
 qu'il etait avec Margues et Dentzel chez Belhomme, 
 et admis dans leurs entretiens confidentielles, qu'il 
 a d'ailleurs assiste au diner donne par Margues 
 au Concierge de Bicetre, et lors duquel ont eu lieu 
 les premieres tentatives de corruption, et qu'enfin sa 
 disparition fait presumer qu'il n'a rien a opposer pour 
 sa justification.
 
 106 
 
 En ce qui touclie Le Vailiant. 
 
 Attendu que la perquisition faite a son domicile n'a 
 rien produit, et qu'il n'existe pas de charge contre lui. 
 
 En ce qui touche Bowring. 
 
 Attendu que le Col. Fabvier s'est rendu a la fin 
 d'Aoiit en Angleterre, dont il est revenu precipitam- 
 ment, que Bowring- a suivi presque inimediatement le 
 Col. Fabvier a Paris, qu'il y est arrive au moment ou 
 le projet d'evasion des quatre condamnes etait agite 
 avec le plus d'ardeur ; qu'il a ete oblige de reconnaitre 
 qu'il son arrivee il avaiteu plusieurs entrevues avecle 
 Col. Fabvier, qu'il assigne a la verite a ces entrevues 
 une cause etrangere au projet dont il s'agit, mais dont 
 il ne justifie en aucune maniere ; qu'enfin il est re - 
 parti de Paris aussitot que la tentative de corruption 
 du Concierge ayant echoue, la justice s'est raise a la 
 poursuite des auteurs et complices decette tentative ;. 
 qu'il a ete arrete a Calais, charge d'un grand nombre 
 de depcches, ou lettres cachetees, en contravention a 
 I'arret du 5 Prairial, An ; au nombre desquelles 
 se trouve une du Col. Fabvier au Comte St. Mar- 
 san, refugie Piemontais, dans laquelle il est question 
 de relations mysterieuses et de projets hostiles contre 
 le Gouvernement, et porteur des ecrits les plus out- 
 rageans contre le Roi, les Princes de sa famille, et le 
 Gouvernement; mais que quelque graves que soient 
 les presomptions qui naissent de ce concours de cir- 
 constances, et quoiqu'elles aient du rendre son ar- 
 restation necessaire, clles ne constituent pas quant a 
 present des charges suffisantes pour etablir une pre- 
 vention legale. 
 
 Attendu que des faits ci-dessus, il resulte qu'il y a 
 charges suffisantes contre Margues, le Lt. Col, Dentzel,
 
 107 
 
 le Col. Fabvier, et Guillce Latouche d'avoir de com- 
 plicite tente de corrompre par proraesses, ofFres, dons, 
 et presens le Concierge de la Maison de Bicetre, et 
 par consequent un functionnaire public, agent d'un 
 prepose d'une administration publique pour obtenir 
 revasion de quatre individus condamnes a la peine 
 capitale, qui etaientsous la garde, dclit previi, et puni 
 parl'Article 179 du Code Penal. 
 
 La Chambre conformement al'Article 130 du Code 
 d'InstructionCriminelle renvoie les nonimesMargues, 
 le Lieut. Col. Dentzel, le Col. Fabvier, et Guillee 
 Latouche en Police Correctionelle pour y etre juges 
 conformement a la loi. Declare qu'il n'y a rien a 
 suivre contre le Vaillant. Declare qu'il n'y a rien 
 a suivre contre Bowring relativement au chef de la 
 tentative de corruption seulement; mais attendu que 
 Bowring se trouve en contravention a I'arrete du 5 
 Prairial An 9, comme porteur de depeches ou lettres 
 cachetees, renvoie en chef Bowring en Police Correc- 
 tionelle, et ordonne neanmoins sa niise en liberte, at- 
 tendu que la contravention dont il est prevenu n'em- 
 porte pas la peine d'emprisonnement. 
 
 Donne acte au Ministre de ses reserves de pour- 
 suivre les auteurs et distributeurs des ecrits outraffe- 
 ans pour le Roi, la famille royale, et le Gouverne- 
 ment, lesquels ecrits ont ete saisis sur Bowring. 
 
 Ordonne en consequence, que les dits ecrits re- 
 steront deposes au Greffe du Tribunal comme pieces 
 du proces pour en etre les auteurs et distributeurs 
 poursuivis conformement a la loi, et pour etre les 
 poursuites reprises contre Bowring dans le cas ou il 
 auroit lui-meme public ces ecrits, ou participe a leur 
 publication en France. Donne acte egalement au
 
 108 
 
 Ministre Public de reserve centre tous auteurs ou 
 complices de la tentative de corruption. 
 
 Fait en la Chambre du Conseil le 12 Nov. 1822. 
 
 (Signe) Mathias Bergeron d'Anguy, 
 
 Guillon d'llnas Grandet, 
 
 Pour copie conforme 
 
 Le Procureur du Roi, 
 
 (Sign6) Jacquinot Pamplune. 
 
 [ Translation.^ 
 
 Tribunal of First Instance of the Department of the 
 Seine. 
 
 Ordonnance issued from the Council Chamber. 
 
 Cop}/. — We the Judges of the Fifth Chamber of the 
 Tribunal of First Instance of the Department of the 
 Seine, united in the Council Chamber according to 
 the 127th Article of theCode of Criminal Proceedings; 
 Having examined the documents of the charge and the 
 evidence against Margues, Lieut. Col.Dentzel, Colo- 
 nel Fabvier, Guille Latouclje, Bowring and Le Vail- 
 lant, charged with an attempt to corrupt the jailer 
 of the Bicetre, in order to obtain the rescue of the 
 persons cpndemned for the conspiracy of La Rochelle, 
 and further against Bowring charged wiih a breach of 
 the decree of the 5 Prairial of the year 9 ; and having 
 heard the demands of M. Dehaim, substitute for the 
 King'sAdvocate, That Margues, Dentzel, Fabvier, and 
 Latouche shall be handed over to the Correctional Po- 
 lice for the attempt to corrupt ; that it be declared there 
 is no cause for further proceedings against Le Vail-
 
 109 
 
 lant, and that Bovrrliig" be handed over to the Correc- 
 tional Police for the breach. 
 
 Having heard the report of Mr. James John Mathias, 
 one of the Judges of Instruction of this Tribunal, and 
 seeing- that, as far as regards Margues, he was arrest- 
 ed while counting 10,000 franks to the jailer of the 
 Bicelre, and that he has owned and declared that this 
 sum had been given to him to bribe the said jailer, 
 and that it formed a part of 60,000 franks to be paid to 
 him when he should deliver up the condemned: That, 
 independently of this sum of 60,000 franks, an annuity 
 was to be given to the jailer of double the amount of 
 his salary, and another annuity of 5 to 4000 franks to 
 his old infirm uncle, whose existence was connected 
 with his own : That the project for effecting the es- 
 cape of the four condemned persons was first agitated 
 at the Kremlin in the house of Belhomme (traiteur) 
 where he dined with Dentzel, ex-Lieut. Col. of a 
 corps in which Belhomme had served : That the pro- 
 position having been made him by Dentzel to avail 
 himself of the access which his situation as a medical 
 man gave him to the prison to favour the escape of 
 the condemned : That the proposal first excited his 
 mistrust,as he had never seen Lieut. Col .Dentzel, and 
 that he only consented thereto on condition of its 
 coming through a common friend whom he named; 
 and it was so done : That from this time several ap- 
 pointments were made at the house of this mutual 
 friend, whom he refuses to name, and that a more 
 numerous meeting took place on the banks of the ri- 
 ver at 7 o'clock in the evening above the glass-house 
 of La Garre at the distance of 50 feet from the river : 
 That Dentzel was one at the meeting: That an indivi-
 
 110 
 
 dual was tljere called by the name of Col.Fabvier, and 
 consulted about the means of escape : That it was at 
 this meeting that the project which was at first pre- 
 sented only as an act of humanity, took a political cha- 
 racter from the lips of Col. Fabvier, and Lieut. Col. 
 Dentzel: That the observation was made that 15,000 
 franks were wanting- to make up the 60,000 which 
 were to be promised to the jailer; and that these gen- 
 tlemen, without stating where they were to be obtain- 
 ed, declared they were quite sure of obtaining them : 
 That this meeting was followed by a breakfast the next 
 day at theMarronniers a la Rapee : That it was agreed 
 that Margues should come with two of his friends 
 from his side and Lt. Col. Dentzel from his, in order 
 not to be seen together, and that they should place 
 themselves at two different tables : That in going from 
 the Bicetre to La Rapee, Margues had remarked a gen- 
 tleman riding on the left bank of the Seine, and that 
 after having passed the river and reached the Maron- 
 niers, Dentzel said that it was Col. Fabvier inspect- 
 ing the spots, and especially the cabaret called of the 
 Guards de Chasse, where it, had been projected that 
 Margues should give a dinner to the jailer before it 
 was decided that it should be at the Bicelre : That 
 after breakfast Margues, his two friends, and Lieut. 
 Col. Dentzel, went out together and walked by the 
 wine-stores, and the outer boulevard of the Trone 
 Barriere ; and that Dentzel handed money to Mar- 
 gues to buy the truffled turkey, the Champagne, with 
 which a dinner was to be given to the jailer of Bi- 
 cetre : That this dinner took place next day in Mar- 
 o-ues' chamber : That Guille Latouche and the jailer 
 were then alone: That 30,000 franks had been given to
 
 Ill 
 
 Margues by the intervention of one of his friends, 
 whose name he would not communicate, till the pro- 
 ject coald be carried into effect ; but that the unex- 
 pected arrival of the prison inspector having- interrupt- 
 ed the offers which were made to the jailer, and having 
 obliged him to adjourn them, he returned the 30,000 
 franks to the person from whom he had received them ; 
 in a word, that the 10,000 franks which he was count- 
 ing to the jailer at the moment of his arrest had been 
 handed to him by the mediation of another of his friends, 
 whom he would not name any more than the former: 
 but that neither of these young people, being surgical 
 students, could have furnished such sums from their 
 own resources, and that he presumes they had been re- 
 mitted by Col. Fabvier or Lt. Col. Dentzel, who had 
 themselves received them from a higher source. 
 
 In what regards Lieut. Col. Dentzel : 
 
 Whereas the dinner at Belhomme's is not denied by 
 him: that this fact, and the particular interviews which 
 he has had with Margues and Guille Latouche, are at- 
 tested alike by Margues and Belhomme and his wife, 
 and that another witness has declared there was so 
 much of warmth and mystery in their conversation, 
 that he imagined it referred to some affair of honour 
 between Margues and Dentzel : That the meetinf on 
 the banks of the river, confirmed by Margues when 
 confronted with Dentzel, has not been disavowed by 
 him, and that the rendezvous of the next day at 
 the Marronniers de la Rapee has been proved by 
 the declaration of M. Petit, who breakfasted with 
 Dentzel at the next table to that where were Mar- 
 gues and his friends : and finally. That Dentzel, when 
 confronted with Margues, formally declared that he
 
 112 
 
 had co-operated for the rescue, and reserved other ex- 
 planation till the trial. 
 
 And in what regards Colonel Fabvier : 
 
 Seeing that his presence at the meeting which took 
 place on the banks of the river is attested by Margues 
 and though the darkness prevented his distinguish- 
 ing the features of Col. Fabvier, and it was in conse- 
 quence impossible for him to recognise him, it results 
 from several of his declarations, and from the above 
 statements, that Colonel Fabvier was really present ; 
 which is not denied by Colonel Dentzel. 
 
 In what respects Guille Latouche : 
 
 Seeing that it results from the declaration of the 
 witnesses, that he was with Margues and Dentzel at 
 Belhomme's, and admitted to their confidential com- 
 munications — that he was also present at the dinner 
 given by Margues to the Bicetre jailer when the first 
 attempts at bribery were made ; and, finally, that his 
 disappearance proves that he has nothing to offer in 
 his justification. 
 
 In what concerns Le Vaillant : 
 
 Seeing that the search made at his dwelling has pro- 
 duced nothing, and there is no charge against him. 
 
 In what regards Bowring : 
 
 Seeing that Colonel Fabvier went to England at the 
 end of August, from whence he returned precipitately : 
 That Bowring followed him almost immediately to 
 Paris, and arrived there at the moment when the 
 project of releasing the four condemned persons was 
 pursued with the greatest eagerness : That he has 
 been obliaed to own that on his arrival he had several 
 interviews with Col. Fabvier : That he has assigned, 
 in truth, to those interviews, a cause remote from the
 
 113 
 
 project, but does not, by any means, justify his state, 
 ments : That, finally, he left Paris as soon as the at- 
 tempt at bribery had failed and that justice was pursu- 
 ing its authors and accomplices : That he was arrested 
 at Calais, bearing a great number of dispatches or 
 sealed letters, in breach of the decree of the 5 Prairial 
 of the year 9, in the number of which was one from 
 Col. Fabvier to Count St. Marsan, a Piedmontese re- 
 fugee, which treats of mysterious relations and plans 
 hostile to the Government, and bearer of the most 
 outrageous writings against the King, the Princes of 
 his Royal Family, and the Government. But however 
 serious the presumptions maybe which result from this 
 concourse of circumstances, and though they may have 
 made his arrest necessary, they do not constitute for 
 the present sufficient evidence to establish a legal 
 charge. 
 
 Seeing that it results from the above facts that there 
 are sufficient charges against Margues, Lt. Col. Dent- 
 zel. Col. Fabvier, and Guillee Latoucbe, of having con- 
 spired to corrupt, by promises, offers, gifts, and pre- 
 sents, the jailer of the Bicelre prison, and in conse- 
 quence a public functionary, agent of the public ad- 
 ministration, to obtain the escape of four individuals, 
 condemned to capital punishment, who were in his 
 keeping: a crime, described and punished by the 179th 
 Article of the Penal Code. 
 
 The Chamber, conformably to the 130th Article of 
 Criminal Instruction, hands over the said Margues, Lt. 
 Col. Dentzel, Col. Fabvier, and Guillee L/atouche, to 
 the Correctional Police, to be judged according to the 
 law : 
 
 Declares that there is no ground against JLeVaiilant : 
 
 I
 
 114 
 
 Declares that there is no ground for proceeding 
 against Bowring 
 
 With respect to the accusation of the attempt at 
 bribery only ; but seeing that Bowring in breach of 
 the decree of the 5 Prairial, year 9, is the bearer of 
 dispatches or sealed letters, hands him over on this 
 charge to the Correctional Police, and orders that he 
 shall be set at liberty as the said breach does not bear 
 the penalty of imprisonment : 
 
 Allows the public Minister to reserve the right of 
 pursuing the authors and distributors of the writings 
 outraging the King, the Royal Family, and the Go- 
 vernment, which writings have been seized on Bow- 
 ring : ... 
 
 Orders, in consequence, that the said writings shall 
 be deposited in the Archives of the Tribunal, as docu- 
 ments in this cause, that the authors and distributors 
 may be pursued according to the law : and that the 
 action may be recommenced against Bowring, if he 
 himself should have published these writings, or have 
 participated in their publication in France : 
 
 Allows the public Minister his rights against all au- 
 thors or accomplices in the attempt at bribery. 
 
 Done in the Chamber of Counsel, 12th November, 
 
 1822. 
 
 (Signed) Mathias Bergeron d'Anguy, 
 
 GuiLLON d'Ilnas Grandet. 
 
 Certified copy, 
 
 (Signed) Jacquinot Pamplune, 
 
 King's Advocate. 
 
 'o 
 
 I might say much on the misstatements strung toge- 
 ther here. It appeared on thp trial, that Margues had
 
 115 
 
 never received more than forty francs froi^i Dentzel : 
 that Margues never said that Dentzel had paid him the 
 sum referred to : that Fabvier had never been present 
 at any of the meetings, nor had he even been in the 
 neighbourhood : and that the pressing importunities of 
 the Juge (T Instruction had extorted falsehoods from 
 the lips of the witnesses. 
 
 [U] 
 
 Letter from Sir Charles Stuart. 
 
 Sir Paris, i4th Nov. 1S22. 
 
 I HAVE at length received from the Gardedes Sceaux 
 the accompanying copy of the Resolutions of the 
 Chamber du Conseil of the Tribunal de Premiere In- 
 stance in his Department, upon your case, and I am 
 happy to observe, that they find there is no ground 
 for proceedings against you ; and that you are libe- 
 rated under the restrictions which are pointed out. I 
 congratulate you upon a result which restores you to 
 the society of your family and friends ; and I wait for 
 the further orders His Majesty's Government may 
 think it expedient to send me upon the subject. 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) Charles Stuart. 
 
 [V] 
 
 No, 20,481. Boulogne, 15 9bre, 1822. 
 
 Je vous previens, Monsieur, qu'en consequence 
 d'ordonnance rendu par la Chanibre du Conseil du 
 
 i2
 
 116 
 
 Tribunal de le instance du Departeraent de la Seine 
 le 12 de ce mois, et portant que, vous trouvant en con^ 
 travendon a I'arr^te du 5 Prairial an 9, comnie por- 
 teur de depeches ou lettres cachetees, vous etesrenvoye 
 sur ce Chef en Police Correctionelle, et que neanmoins 
 vous serez mis en liberte, attendu que la contravention 
 dont vous etes prevenu n'emporte pas la peine d'em- 
 prisonnement. Je prescris au Concierge de la Maison 
 d'Arret d'effectuer aussitot votre elargissement. 
 Je vous salue. 
 
 Le Procureur dii Roi, 
 (Signe) Caron de Fromentel. 
 
 II n'y a pas de difficulte d'apres la lettre qui pre- 
 cede, a ce que le passeport de Monsieur Bowring lui 
 
 •soit reniis. 
 
 (Signe) Caron de Fromentel. 
 
 [W] 
 
 Letter from Joseph Planta^ Esq. 
 
 Sir, Foreign Office, l^ov. 15, 1822. 
 
 I AM directed by Mr. Canning to acknowledge the 
 receipt of your letter of the 12th instant, and to as- 
 sure you (as indeed you appear to be well convinced) 
 that your case has not been out of his contemplation. 
 Mr. Canning received yesterday from Sir Charles 
 Stuart a dispatch, conveying a positive assurance on 
 the part of the French Government, that he (Sir 
 Charles) should certainly be made acquainted with 
 the result of the deliberations of the Chambre de Prie- 
 raiere Instance in the course of a day or two at the 
 furthest.
 
 117 
 
 It is confidently hoped, therefore, that there will 
 be no further delay in bringing the charge against 
 you to an issue. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) Joseph Planta, Jun. 
 
 [X] 
 Third Letter to Mr. Canning. 
 
 London Fields, Hackney, 
 Sir, 21st Nov, 1822. 
 
 I BEG leave to send you the following statement of 
 some of the facts connected with my arrest and impri- 
 sonment, proving the illegality of the original seizure 
 and subsequent detention of my person. 
 
 I left Paris on the 3d of October, by the diligence, 
 and reached Calais on the 5th. On the 6th, having 
 been furnished with proper licenses for embarkation, I 
 went down with my baggage to the pier, and was 
 there stopped by the Commissary of Police, who con- 
 ducted me with my portmanteau to the Mairie, and 
 stated that he had orders to examine my papers. I 
 dispatched a friend to the British Consul, requiring 
 his presence, — and demanded the authority by which I 
 was stopped. This they declined to produce ; but on 
 a personal application to the Mayor, he directed that 
 it should be shown to me. It was a telegraphic dis- 
 patch from the Minister of the Interior, requiring 
 him to examine my papers, I being " suspected of 
 bearing letters to the revolutionists in England" (soup-
 
 118 
 Sonne (Ttlre porleiir de lelircs oux rcxoliitionnaires en 
 Angleterre) ; and this dispatch, which, it cannot but 
 strike you, gives no directions for my arrest, was con- 
 firmed by a similar communication by the Post of the 
 same date. (I think it was dated Paris, 1st of October.) 
 My papers were, in consequence, examined, and se- 
 venteen sealed letters and packets taken from me ; 
 among them, the dispatches of the Portuguese Mi- 
 nister at Paris to the Portuguese Minister here. 
 Among my own papers nothing was found of a poli- 
 tical character, excepting two songs and a fragment in 
 bad English, which had been left at my lodgings in an 
 envelope ; — and no attempt was then made to detain 
 my person, though my passport was not delivered to 
 me, and 1 was ordered to wait the decision of the Mi- 
 nister at Paris. The papers seized were then depo- 
 sited in theMairie,— and on the 8th of October, another 
 (elegrapliic dispatch, in answer to that which had an- 
 nounced the detention of the letters, &c. arrived, and 
 was communicated to mo by the Mayor, to whom I 
 had been a second time conducted by the gendarmerie. 
 It was in these words — " Arrest Bowring. Deliver 
 him over to the Procureur du Roi. Send on the seized 
 papers to Paris." I was then conducted to the loath- 
 some prison of Calais, and on the following day was 
 removed to Boulogne, and taken to the abode of the 
 Procureur du Roi. I underwent an interrogatory on 
 the 9th, which referred to nothing but the dispatches 
 and papers seized. I asked the Procureur du Roi what 
 was the charge: against me, which he said, was beingthe 
 bearer of scaled letters; and he directed me to be 
 escorted to the prison at Boulogne, giving an order to
 
 119 
 the jailer, for the receipt of my person, in these words, 
 — " Receive Bowring — arrested on suspicion of being 
 the bearer of sealed letters to the revolutionists in 
 England." Of this warrant, a copy may be obtained 
 from the jail books. On the following day I was again 
 led forth to be interrogated by the Juge d' Insiruclion. 
 The interrogatory concerned nothing but the papers 
 seized — and he informed me that I was confined for 
 having broken the fiscal decree of the year 9, pro- 
 hibiting the conveyance of sealed letters. On the Uth 
 I was put into solitary confinement, and deprived of 
 all means of communication whatever. It would ap- 
 pear by Mr. Pianta's letter, of the 17th October, to 
 Mrs. Bowring, that up to that period no other accu- 
 sation had been thought of by the French Government. 
 On the 23d of October, I was again interrogated by 
 the Juge (T Inslruciiony and was told, fi)r the first time, 
 that 1 was suspected of being concerned in a plot for 
 the liberation of individuals who had been executed 
 for political offences, with sundry other persons, and 
 among them the families of Lady Oxford and Mr. 
 Hutchinson ; — though for such a charge there was not 
 the slightest shadow of evidence, as my unreserved an- 
 swer to every interrogatory must have demonstrated. 
 I was at Paris a fortnight after the execution of the 
 young men, whose liberation they pretended I had en- 
 deavoured to cff'ect. I obtained my passport on the very 
 day on which the order was sent to examine my papers 
 at Calais. Some difficulty was made in giving me a 
 passport; and on the 2d of October a spy of the Police 
 came to my lodgings, whose report I saw lying on the. 
 Mayor's table at Calais : so it ca mot be pretended
 
 120 
 that the cause of my arrest was any other than that 
 originally mentioned. In truth, though I underwent 
 two or three interrogatories afterwards, the second 
 charge was never again referred to ; and the subse- 
 quent questionings related to a variety of matters 
 wholly arising out of, or pretending to arise out of, the 
 contents of the sealed letters,— the obvious intention 
 being to make me accountable for their contents. A 
 fortnight elapsed after the last interrogatory, before 
 any reply was received from Paris. It came in the 
 form that is known to you. " To the accusation 
 against you the penalty of imprisonment does not at- 
 tach, and you are ordered to be set at liberty." It is 
 most clear that every after attempt at crimination was 
 only intended to veil the illegal and arbitrary arrest — 
 the result of an anxiety to justify it in the eyes of a 
 Government, whose prompt interference on my behalf 
 surprised and perplexed them. Their hesitation — 
 their refusal to communicate the grounds or the nature 
 of their proceedings to His Majesty's Ambassador, 
 showed that I was to be punished, not for any thing 
 they had found, but for something they had yet to 
 seek. The opinion of M. Hedouin, chosen by Sir 
 Charles Stuart, on the recommendation of M. Berryer, 
 junior, and of every French lawyer whom I have con- 
 sulted, is, that my right to redress is obvious and irre- 
 sistible. The circumstances of my case are so out- 
 rageous in their origin and progress, and so disgraceful 
 to the French Government in their close, that I can 
 hardly doubt your suggestions will produce a prompt 
 recognition of my right to reparation. I am most 
 proud to think that my country's honour and dig-
 
 121 
 
 nity, so cruelly wounded in my person, are in hands 
 like yours ; and with perfect confidence in your inter- 
 ference, 
 
 I have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 John Boavring. 
 
 The Right Hon. George Cannings 
 His MaJeslT/'s Secretarj/ of State 
 for Foreign Affairs, Sfc. 
 
 [Y] 
 
 Letter from Joseph Plania, Esq. 
 
 Sir, Foreign Office, Dec. 12, 1822. 
 
 I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Canning to inform 
 you that Mr. Canning, having instructed His Ma- 
 jesty's Ambassador at Paris to obtain the best legal 
 opinions of the French Bar, as to the redress to which 
 a French subject would be entitled, in case of impri- 
 sonment similar to yours, and as to the mode in which 
 such redress should be sought, Sir Charles Stuart has 
 caused to be submitted to two of the most leading 
 Advocates in the Courts of Law at Paris (one of them 
 in official station, the other in confidence and employ- 
 ment of the popular party), the three questions which 
 you will find in the inclosed paper A; to which have 
 been returned the answers in papers B and C. The 
 names of the Counsel are omitted in these copies ; but 
 if you have any wish to know them, and will take the 
 trouble to call, or send any friend of yours to the 
 Foreign Office, I shall be happy to communicate 
 
 them. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 (Signed) Joseph PiiANXA, Jun.
 
 122 
 
 (A.) 
 
 lere Question — L'arreslation de M. Bowring a-t- 
 elle ete legale ou justifiable d'apres la jurisprudence 
 Fran^aise, ou les lois de police et de surete ? 
 
 Snde — Si M. est d'avis que les lois du pays 
 
 ne justifient point I'arrestation dans les circon- 
 stances annoncces, ces memes lois ofFrent-elles a, M. 
 Bowring le remcde d'une action en dommages in- 
 tcrets centre Tofficier public qui I'a arrete, ou celui 
 qui l^a fait arreter, et qui est la personne responsable 
 en parcil cas ? 
 
 3me — Quand mcme M. serait d'avis que Far- 
 
 rcstation ait etc justifiable par les circonstances spe- 
 ciales de Tespece, et que cette arrestation ait etc la 
 suite d'une denonciation privce, ou des soup9ons de 
 la haute police (I'un et I'autre raal fondcs comme il 
 est constant), M. Bowring pourrait-il toujours avoir 
 recours a Taction indiquee avec Tespoir de succes 
 devant les Tribunaux Fran^ais ? 
 
 (B.) 
 Sur la premiere question le Conseil ne voit rien 
 dans les pieces qui lui sont soumises, qui signale au- 
 cune irregularite dans I'arrestation de M. Bowring. 
 Le Conseil n'a point ici a examiner si notre legis- 
 lation criminelle ne serait pas susceptible de grandes 
 ameliorations. II n'a point a s'expliquer comme pub- 
 liciste ; mais comme avocat, dans son opinion particu- 
 liere il pense que la liberie individuelle en France 
 aurait besoin d'autres garanties que celles qui ex- 
 istent ; mais n'ayant a se prononcer que sur ce qui est 
 et non sur ce qui dcvrait ctre, il declare qu'on n'a rien 
 fait a I'egard de M. Bowring, que ce qu'on aurait
 
 123 
 
 pu se permettre dans les menies circonstances a I'e- 
 gard d'un Fran^ais. 
 
 Sans doiite et en derniere analyse, M. Bowring ne 
 s'est trouve coupable d'aucune crime ou delit qui 
 put legitimer apres coup la rigueur dont d'abord il a 
 ete I'objet. L'ordonnance de la Chambre du Conseil 
 elle-meme le reconnait, piusqu'elle present sa mise 
 en liberie par le uiotif que la contravention dont il 
 reste finalement prcvu n'eniporte pas la peine d'em- 
 prisonnemcut. 
 
 Mais il n'en est pas moins vrai, que si tel a ete le 
 resultat final de I'arrestation, il parait par Fordon- 
 nance que dans Forigine M. Bowring avait ete soup- 
 ^ohne d'autres delits, sans doute il est cruel pour 
 des pareils soup^ons, lorsqu'en suite ils ne se trouvent 
 pas fondcs, de perdre d'abord sa liberte. C'est une 
 rigueur queje n'approuve point in ahslraclo; mais dans 
 Fetat actuel de notre legislation rien n'est plus fre- 
 quent que ces sortes d'arrestation ; et M. Fabvier, 
 dont M. Bowring otait soup^onnc d'etre le complice, 
 en est une preuve frappante. II a ete reconnu inno- 
 cent, et cependant il n'en a pas moins 6i6 captif jus- 
 qu'au jour de jugement qui Fabsout et meme quel- 
 ques jours au delii pour attendre que le ministre public 
 eut laissc passer le delai d'appel. i 
 
 Ainsi tout en deplorant qu'un homme reconnu non 
 coupable ait ete cependant prive de sa liberte pen- 
 dant un terns plus ou moins long, il faut reconnaitre 
 que dans Fespcce Farrestation n'a rien eu d'illegal, 
 rien qui ne fut autorise par la loi contre M. Bow- 
 ring, rien qui de fait n'ait etc pratique a Fencontre 
 d'un Fran^ais egaleuient victime de preventions qui
 
 124 
 
 se sont tr6UT(^eS n'avoir eu auctni fondement, M. le 
 Col. Fabvier. 
 
 Sur la seconde question, le Conseil desirerait qtie 
 ilos lois autorisassent un recours en dommages mt6- 
 rets contre tout officier public qui usant nial de son 
 pouvoir aurait imprudemment porte atteinte k lali- 
 berte d'un bomme citoyen ou etranger : mais telle n'est 
 point la legislation en France. D'une part la loi 
 n'autorise pas Taction d'un citoyen contre un fonc- 
 tionnaire, que lorsque ce fonctionnaire a agi en con- 
 travention foTinelle de la loi ; et ici il n'apporte d'au- 
 cun vice de forme dans la mode d'arrestation ; d'atr- 
 tre part elle ne permet cette action que sous le bon 
 plaisir du Conseil d'Etat auquel d'apres I'article 75 
 de la Constitution Imperiale de Tan 8 il faut recourir 
 pour obtenir TautOrisation de poursuivre le fonction- 
 naire dont on se plaint, et qui n'accorderait cer- 
 tainement pas dans Tespece, parce qu'il n'existe pas 
 de preuve que ceiix des fonctionnaires qui ont con- 
 couru a Tarrestation aient exccde ses pouvoirs. 
 
 Sur la troisieme question le Conseil pense que sd 
 Tarrestation de M. Bowring n'a eu lieti que par suite 
 des denonciations privees, il pent obliger le Ministere 
 Public a lui faire connaitre ses dcnonciateurs, et que 
 dans ce cas il aura contre ceux-ci une action en dom- 
 mages. Ce droit est formellement garanti aux ac- 
 cuses reconnus innocens par Tarticle S58 du Code 
 d'Instruction Criminelle. 
 
 (C.) 
 Copie. — Rtponses aux Questions proposces. 
 
 l^e_L'arrestation de M. Bowring a etc parfaite- 
 ment conforme aux lois de police et de surete, qui en
 
 125 
 
 France obiigent tous ceux qui habitent le territaire 
 nationaux ou etrangers indistinctiveraent. Que M. 
 Bo wring ait etc arrete par suite d'une denonciation 
 expresse contra sa persoijne ou d'oflUce Jjar les agens 
 superieurs ou inferieurs de la police administrative 
 ou judiciaire, peu importe, pourvu que des indices 
 suffisantes aient explique cette raesure a son 6gard, 
 quelque rigoureuse qu'elle ait pu Jui paroitre. Ce 
 serait un etrange erreur que de eroire qu'il faille ne- 
 cessairement des preuves toutes fortes pour s'assurer 
 de la personne d'un individu. S'il en etait ainsi, la 
 plupart des vrais coupables dans tons les pays echap- 
 peraient non seulement a la condamnation, mais 
 meme a I'examen — et ainsi se trouveraieut compro- 
 mis les plus graves inter^ts de toute societe civilisee 
 et eomproniis perpetuellement. 11 suffit dans nos 
 lois, corame il doit suffir en effet, que des indices au- 
 torisant presomption forte existent dans le cours de 
 la recherche d'un delit pour que les Magistrats s'as- 
 surent de la personne d'un Citoyen. C'est lu ce que 
 dit par ses dispositions notre Code d' Instruction Cri- 
 minelle. En celail y a sans doute quelquefois un mal- 
 heur pour I'innocence ; mais I'interet du plus grand 
 nombre exige le sacrifice individuel du meeontente- 
 ment ou du ressentiment d'une erreur commise. Les 
 circonstances qui concernent M. Bowring dans I'or- 
 donnance qu^il rHy a lieu a suivre contre lui et de mise en 
 liberie de sa personne rendue par la Chambre du Con- 
 seil du Tribunal de premiere instance de la Seine 
 sont d'une nature telle que les Magistrats, loin 
 d'etre recherchables a I'occasion de I'arrestation de 
 cet etrajiger, auraient encouru le reproche de man-
 
 126 
 
 quer a leurs devoirs s'ils eussent neglige la mesure 
 dont il a ete momentanement I'objet. On ne re- 
 tracera pas ici ces circonstances ; mais on invite M. 
 Bowring ou ses Conseils Anglais a mediter sur cha- 
 cuned'elles ; etlors merae qu'en fait il y a eu erreur, 
 tons devront finir par reconnaitre que jamais n'aurait 
 ete plus voisine de la verite. 
 
 M. Bowring doit regarder done comme constant 
 que I'arrestation, qui lui a laissc un sentiment si 
 douloureux, trouve sa justification dans les lois de 
 France, et ne sauroit engendrer contre qui que ce 
 soit au monde le reproche d'un acte arbitraire exerce 
 envers lui. 
 
 2rfe — II n'en est pas douteux que si I'arrestation 
 dont il s'agit ne se trouvait pas pleinement justifiee 
 par I'ensemble des indices qui en sont devenus la 
 cause, et qui des lors out place la mesure dans le 
 cercle de faits et des actes legaux, M. Bowring en 
 fut en droit d'agir en dommages interets contre ceux 
 qui avaient dispose illegalement de sa libertd, ou 
 contre ceux qui auraient fourni des indices faux et 
 mensongers contre lui. Mais comrae on a vu plus 
 haut telle n'est pas sa position, il a existe des indices, 
 des indices graves et mcme les plus graves. Ces in- 
 dices resultent de faits contants qui ont suffi pour de- 
 terminer legalement d'arrestation. Tout est dit par 
 la; I'idee d'une action en dommages interets s'evanouit 
 des lors qu'il a existe des raisons legales d'arreter la 
 personne. 
 
 II convient toute fois a faire connaitre a M. Bow- 
 ring une distinction necessaire qui ont ete a faire au 
 cas suppose. Si un acte arbitralrement attentatoire a
 
 127 
 
 sa liberie eut cte commis par les magistrals, c'elait 
 Taction en prise a partie qui lui eut apparlenu. Celle 
 en dommages inlercts n'eut etc son droit que contra 
 I'auteur de la denoncialion par suite de la quelle 
 sans motifs legaux son arrestation eut lieu. 
 
 Seme. Toutes les fois Tarrestation se demontre 
 justifiee par les lois speciales el generales comme 
 dans le cas particulier ; ni la denoncialion privee qui 
 aurait etc faile, ni encore moins la legitime suspicion 
 de la haute Police par resultat desquelles I'arresla- 
 tion de la personne aurait ele ordonnee, ne pourrait 
 ouvrir un droit soil a Taction a prise en partie soil a 
 Taction en dommages interets. On sent assez que Tin- 
 ter^l public commandant des mesures propres a as- 
 surer sa conservation, el la loi aulorisant ces mesures, 
 Tevenemenl d'une reconaissance d'insuffisance des 
 charges conlre un prevenu ne saurait avoir la puis- 
 sance de lui creer un moyen de reparation. 
 
 On a explique plus haul comment chacun devoit 
 supporter eel inconvenient de Tetal social rachet6 par 
 tanl d'autres avantages ; eel inconvenient au surplus 
 dont lui-meme il profile toutes les fois qu'une grave 
 inquietude publique force le magistral a s'assurer d'un 
 citoyen qui plus lard est reconnu n'avoir pas merite 
 que sa liberie lui soil plus long temps ravi. 
 
 En accordant loule son attention aux reponses que 
 ses questions avaient provoquees, M. Bowring finira 
 on Tespere par les approuver lui-meme. EUes lui sont 
 faites avec une entiere conviction que chacun^ d'elles 
 est la seule qu'il put obtenir de quiconque porte le 
 nom de jurisconsulte en France. 
 
 Paris, ce 4 Dec. 1822.
 
 128 
 
 l^Translation.j 
 (A.) 
 Question 1. Has the arrest of Mr. Bowring been 
 legal and justifiable by the French jurisprudence and 
 by the laws of the police and safety ? 
 
 2. If Mr. is of opinion, that the laws of France 
 
 do not justify the arrest under the specific circum- 
 stances, do the same laws afford Mr. Bowring the 
 remedy of an action of damages against the public 
 officer who arrested him, or against him who caused 
 him to be arrested; and who is the responsible person 
 in this case ? 
 
 3. Although Mr. should be of opinion, that the 
 
 arrest was justifiable under the special circumstances 
 of the case, and that the arrest was caused by a secret 
 denunciation, or by the suspicions of the high police, 
 (both ill-founded, as it now appears,) could Mr. Bow- 
 ring still have recourse to the aforesaid action, with 
 any hope of success from the French Tribunals? 
 
 (B.) 
 Upon the first question, the Counsel perceives no^ 
 thing in the papers submitted to him, v/hich indicates 
 any irregularity in the arrest of Mr. Bowring. The 
 Counsel has not at present to examine if our criminal 
 laws would not admit of great amelioration. He has 
 not to explain himself as a writer on public law, but 
 as an Advocate. In his private opinion, he thinks that 
 the IfJberty of individuals in France requires other se- 
 curities than those which exist ; but having to pro- 
 nounce upon what is, and not what ought to be, he 
 declares that nothing has been done to Mr. Bowring
 
 129 
 
 but what might have been done to a Frenchman in 
 similar circumstances. Undoubtedly, upon investi- 
 gation, Mr. Bowring has not been found guilty of any 
 fault or crime, which could afterwards justify the 
 rigour with which he was treated in the first in- 
 stance. The decree of the Council Chamber itself ac- 
 knowledges that it orders his liberation, because the 
 infraction of the law, of which he was finally convict- 
 ed, did not subject him to imprisonment. 
 
 But it is equally true that, though such has been the 
 result, it appears from the decree that Mr. Bowring 
 was, in the first instance, suspected of other crimes. 
 Doubtless it is cruel to deprive a person of his liberty 
 for suspicions, which in the end prove unfounded ; — 
 it is a rigour I do not approve in abstractor but in the 
 existing state of legislation, nothing is more frequent 
 than arrests of this kind ; and M. Fabvier, whose ac- 
 complice Mr. Bowring was suspected of being, is a 
 striking proof. He has been declared innocent, and 
 was nevertheless a prisoner till the day of the decision, 
 when he was acquitted, and, indeed, for some days 
 after, in order to ascertain if the Public Minister 
 would appeal against the said decision. 
 
 Whilst, therefore, I regret that a person found in- 
 nocent should lose his liberty for a longer or shorter 
 period, I must nevertheless acknowledge that in the 
 mode of arrest there has been nothing illegal, or which 
 was not authorized by the law, against Mr. Bowring ; 
 nothing, in fact, which has not been practised against 
 a Frenchman, — who has been equally the victim of 
 unfounded suspicions, — M. Fabvier. 
 
 Upon the second Question, the Counsel could wish 
 that our laws authorized an action of damages against
 
 130 
 
 every public officer, who, abusing his power, should 
 wantonly interfere with the liberty of any man, citizen 
 or foreigner ; but such is not the law in France,. In the 
 first place, the law does not permit the action of a citi- 
 zen against a functionary, unless this functionary shall 
 have acted in formal contravention of the law ; and 
 in the present instance there has been no informality 
 in the mode of arrest. And secondly, this action can 
 only be pursued by permission of the Council of State, 
 which by the 75th Art. of the Imp. Const. An 8, 
 must be applied to for authority to prosecute a func- 
 tionary, against whom a charge is made ; and this au- 
 thority would certainly not be granted in the present 
 case, there being no proof of the functionaries con- 
 cerned in the arrest having exceeded their powers. 
 
 Upon the third Question, the Counsel thinks that if 
 Mr. Bowring's arrest is the result of secret denuncia- 
 tions, he can oblige the public officer to reveal to him 
 his informers, against whom he may bring an action 
 of damages. This right is formally secured to persons 
 accused, who may be declared innocent, by the Art. 
 358 of the Code of Criminal Instruction. 
 
 (C.) 
 
 Copy .—* Ansuse7S to the proposed Questions. 
 
 1. Mr. Bowring's arrest has been strictly conform- 
 able to the laws of the police and safety, which in 
 France apply equally to natives and foreigners re- 
 siding in the kingdom. It is immaterial whether Mr. 
 Bowring has been arrested in consequence of a secret 
 denunciation against his person, or from the suspicions 
 of the superior or inferior agents of the administrative
 
 131 
 
 or judiciary police, provided that sufficient grounds 
 have been assigned for this measure, however rigorous 
 this may seem to him. 
 
 It would be a strange mistake to suppose, that full 
 proofs must be obtained before arresting an indivi- 
 dual. If such were the case, the greatest part of those 
 really guilty would, in every country, escape not only 
 condemnation, but even examination; and thus the 
 greatest interests of civilized society would be com- 
 promised. It is sufficient for our laws, as indeed it 
 ought to be, that grounds for strong presumption ap- 
 pear in the course of inquiry into a crime to authorize 
 the magistrates to secure the person of a citizen. This 
 is what our code of Criminal Instruction declares by 
 its dispositions. This, no doubt, may be a misfor- 
 tune for the innocent ; but the interest of the greatest 
 number requires from an individual that he should 
 sacrifice his discontent or resentment for any error 
 which may be committed. The circumstances concern- 
 ing Mr. Bowring, in the decree of the Tribunal de la 
 Premiere Instance de la Seine, that there were no 
 charges against him, and that he should be set at liberty, 
 are of such a nature that the magistrates, far from being 
 !)lameable for the arrest, would have incurred the re- 
 proach of being wanting in their duty, had they neglect- 
 ed the measure from which he has momentarily suffer- 
 ed. Those circumstances will not be here repeated ; 
 but Mr. Bowring and his English Counsel are desired 
 to reflect upon each circumstance, and every one must 
 finally acknowledge, that though it has proved a mis- 
 take, it was impossible to be nearer the truth. 
 
 Mr. Bowring should therefore be assured, that the 
 arrest which has caused him such a painful sentiment,
 
 132 
 
 is justified by the laws of France, and cannot authorize 
 against any one the reproach of having acted arbitra- 
 rily towards him. 
 
 2. Without doubt, if the arrest we are speaking of 
 had not been justified by the evidence, which was the 
 cause of it, and which thus placed the measure amongst 
 legal acts, Mr. Bowring might bring an action of da- 
 mages against those who had illegally restrained, or 
 those who might have arrested him illegally, or furr 
 nished false evidence against him : but, as Ave have seen 
 already, such is not the case ; there have been grounds 
 — strong grounds — indeed the strongest grounds. These 
 result from facts detailed sufficient to justify the arrest. 
 This comprises the whole case. The idea of an action 
 of damages must be abandoned from the moment legal 
 grounds for arresting a person exist. 
 
 It is desirable, however, to make known to Mr. Bow- 
 ring a necessary distinction to be made in the supposed 
 case. If an act, arbitrarily attacking his liberty, had 
 been committed by the magistrates, he should have his 
 redress by an action en prise a partie. That for damages 
 could only have been his right against the author of 
 the denunciation, in consequence of which his arrest 
 took place, without legal motives. 
 
 In all cases vvhen the arrest is proved to be justifi- 
 able by the general and special laws, as in this parti- 
 cular case, neither the private denunciation Tvhich may 
 have been made, and far less the legitimate suspicion 
 of the high police, in consequence of which the arrest 
 has been ordered, can open a right of action, whether 
 en prise d partie, or for damages. It is sufficiently 
 clear, that the public interest requires the measures 
 necessary for its preservation ; and as the law autho-
 
 OO 
 
 rizes these measures, the circumstance of insufficiency 
 of evidence against a suspected person, gives him no 
 means of redress. It has been explained above, how 
 every body is bound to bear this inconvenience attach- 
 ed to the social state, which is repaid by so many be- 
 nefits — this inconvenience, be it added, which turns 
 to his own advantage, when serious alarm forces the 
 magistrate to seize the person of a citizen, who may be 
 hereafter found to deserve that his liberty should not 
 be longer taken from him. 
 
 By giving all his attention to the answers which his 
 questions have excited, Mr. Bowring, it is hoped, will 
 finish, by approving them himself. They are made 
 with an entire conviction, that no other would be given 
 by any individual in France, who bears the name of a 
 lawyer. 
 
 Paris, Dec. 4, 1622. 
 
 Letter to Mr. Plania. 
 
 5, Jeflfery Square, St. Mary Axe, 
 Sir, January, 3, 1823. 
 
 I HOPE my impatience will not be deemed intrusive, 
 if I inquire whether any further intelligence has been 
 received from Sir Charles Stuart. 
 
 If the state of things is such as to promise ultimate 
 redress, I should regret to have excited premature 
 discussion, by any publication on the subject of the 
 outrage ; and if the same feeling exist in Mr. Can- 
 ning's mind as before, I would by no means give a 
 motive for observation or controversy.
 
 134 
 
 May I venture to trouble you with the inclosed for 
 Mr. Hamilton, whose kind services I cannot refer to 
 without special gratitude ? 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 &c. &c. 
 
 (Signed) J. Bowring. 
 
 Joseph Pliuila, Esq. 
 
 [AA] 
 
 Mr. Backhouse has the honour, in the absence of 
 Mr. Planta from town, to acknowledge the receipt of 
 Mr. Bowring's letter of yesterday, and to say, that 
 Mr. Planta will be happy to see Mr. Bowring at this 
 Office on Wednesday next, on the subject on which 
 Mr. Bowring has written to him. 
 
 Foreign Office, Jan. 4, 1823. 
 
 [B B] 
 
 Mr. Planta presents his compliments to Mr. Bow- 
 "ring, and with reference to his request to receive a 
 communication in writing, on the subject treated of 
 in his interview with him on Thursday last, begs to 
 acquaint him that Mr. Canning will have no objection 
 to direct such a communication to be made to him ; 
 but that he must first look through all the papers, as 
 it will be some days before it can be transmitted to 
 hilt). 
 
 I'oit'ign Office, Jan. 13, 1823.
 
 135 
 
 [CO] 
 Letter from Mr. Planta. 
 
 Sir, Foreign Office, Jan. 18, 1893. 
 
 Having mentioned to Mr. Canning your request to 
 receive in writing the substance of the communication 
 which I made to you by his desire last week, he directs 
 me to say, that he has not the smallest objection to my 
 so addressing you; but that as what I stated to you 
 on that occasion related only to that part of his cor- 
 respondence with His Majesty's Ambassador at Paris, 
 which had taken place subsequently to the last com- 
 munication which had been made to you, it may be 
 more satisfactory to you, that this letter should refer 
 to the whole course of that correspondence. 
 
 It appeared to Mr. Canning, from the moment at 
 which he was made acquainted with your detention 
 and imprisonment, that the questions arising out of 
 that event, for the consideration of your Government, 
 were, 
 
 1st, Whether any thing had been done in your case, 
 which was not warranted by the laws of France ? 
 
 2dly, Whether, if the charges in your case should 
 turn out to be unfounded, you being a British sub- 
 ject, would stand in the same situation as a French 
 subject, with respect to the means (if any) of obtain- 
 ing legal redress ? 
 
 Upon the answers to these questions, it appeared to 
 Mr. Canning to depend, whether there was a case for 
 the extraordinary interference of your Government- 
 Such an interference would not, he apprehended, be
 
 136 
 
 justified by any harshness or impeVfection in the state 
 of French law, provided that law was impartially ad- 
 ministered in your case. 
 
 With these views, His Majesty's Ambassador at 
 Paris has been instructed, from time to time, not only 
 to apply for every information from the French Go- 
 vernment, but to propound to lawyers of the greatest 
 reputation, in Paris, (one of them high in official situ- 
 ation, the other eminently distinguished in the party 
 opposed to the Government,) certain queries, the an- 
 swers to which show, that, whatever may have been 
 the grounds of charge or suspicion against you, nothing 
 was done in your case, to which a French subject, 
 under the like charge or suspicion, would not have 
 been liable, and that whatever remedy a French sub- 
 ject might have, if proceeded against unjustly on such 
 charge or suspicion, is equally open to you. 
 
 Communication has been made to you of these que- 
 ries, and of the answers to them. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it does not, of course, ap- 
 pear to Mr. Canning (advised, as of course it is his 
 duty to be, by legal authority) that there is any ground 
 for resorting in this case to the extraordinary course 
 of a direct diplomatic remonstrance from Government 
 to Government. Undoubtedly no such remonstrance 
 would be admitted in this country, in a case where 
 proceedings against a foreigner had been conducted 
 agreeably to the laws of England. 
 
 You need not now be informed, that notwithstand- 
 ing the necessity under which your Government felt 
 itself of ascertaining carefully the grounds, on which 
 alone claim for redress could be rested, before any 
 such claim was brought forward, there has been no
 
 137 
 
 remission of a constant and jealous attention to all the 
 proceedings in your case, or of repeated application 
 to the French Government to bring- them to the point 
 of trial or release. In like manner, if you should now 
 think proper to resort to any course of legal proceed- 
 ing which may be pointed out by the French lawyers, 
 you shall receive every countenance from your Am- 
 bassador at Paris : meaning, thereby, that he shall be 
 instructed to watch the proceedings, and to take care 
 that your quality of a foreigner in France does not ex- 
 pose you to denial or delay of justice. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) Jos. Planta, Jun. 
 John Boioring, Esq. 
 
 . [DDl 
 
 The following are some of a series of details 
 showing the state of criminal judicature in France. 
 They were written during my imprisonment by a 
 highly valued and intelligent French friend — one of 
 the many chivalric adventurers who entered the lists 
 on my behalf ; and their publication was arrested by 
 my return. I should have been glad to have trans- 
 lated the whole ; but his kind and ardent sympathies 
 have often led him too far. The contrast between 
 the French and English forms is very striking. 
 
 In England. In France. 
 
 Arrest. Except injlagrante Arrest. The Telegraph an-
 
 133 
 
 In England, 
 delicto^ the warrant must be 
 signed by a magistrate — must 
 bear the name and descrip. 
 tion of the individual, and 
 state the grounds of his ar- 
 rest. 
 
 Detention. The accused 
 must first be examined by 
 the Magistrate, who may re- 
 lease him on bail, except in 
 some peculiar cases, in which 
 the right is reserved to the 
 Judges of the King's Bench. 
 The accused may see his 
 relatives, friends, and soli, 
 citors : he is not co-erced 
 or chained, unless he com- 
 mit acts of violence. 
 
 Examinations. The exami- 
 nation is only of the witnesses. 
 The accused may volunteer a 
 confession, explanation, or 
 defence ; but he is always 
 cautioned against prejudicing 
 himself : the examination is 
 public and in the presence of 
 the accused, who is in prac 
 tice, though not of right, as- 
 sisted by his attorney or coun- 
 sel, if he pleases. After the 
 examination, the Magistrate 
 either commits the accused to 
 prison to be tried at the next 
 assizes, or sets him at liberty 
 upon bail to secure his ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 If there is any reason to 
 doubt the validity of the com- 
 mitment, the prisoner may 
 have his writ of Habeas Cor- 
 pus, and apply to any Judge 
 of the superior courts for his 
 discharge. 
 
 In France. 
 nounces ' Arrest Boboring,' 
 and he is arrested. 
 
 Detention. The Magistrate 
 cannot release on bail (Arti- 
 cle 113 of the Code). The 
 accused are kept iu solitary 
 confinement as long as the 
 Magistrate chooses. The ex- 
 clusion of all persons is abso. 
 lute. They may be loaded 
 with chains at the caprice of 
 the Magistrate. These abuses 
 are not sanctioned by the 
 laws, but they exist. 
 
 Articles 55, 127, 133. A 
 Judge of Instruction^ placed 
 in the communal arrondisse- 
 ment, examines secretly and 
 separately both the accused 
 and witnesses. These inqui- 
 sitorial interrogatories are re- 
 newed as often as the Judges 
 of Instruction please. When 
 they are over, the proces ver- 
 baux (details) are presented 
 to the Chamber of Counsel, 
 composed of three persons^ of 
 which the Judge is one ; and 
 if any one of the three think 
 that the charge is sufficiently 
 established, the Chamber de- 
 clares this and sends the do- 
 cuments to the Advocate- 
 General at the Royal Court, 
 that the proceedings may be 
 forwarded. The Judges of 
 Instruction are of the lowest 
 class, and immediately de- 
 pendent on the Government.
 
 139 
 
 In England. 
 Accusatio7i. The bill or 
 indictment is found by the 
 Grand Jury of the next as- 
 sizes, composed of 12 jury, 
 men at least, and 23 at most. 
 These are taken from a list of 
 24 of the piincipal landed 
 proprietors of the county. 
 This list is made and renew- 
 ed by the Sheriir(«« annual 
 officer loho has no paj/, and 
 is alzoui/s a large landed 
 proprietor of the countij) at 
 each of the county assizes. 
 The Grand Jury examines 
 the accusation or indictment 
 and the documents, hears the 
 witnesses, and after this finds 
 or throws out the bill ; in 
 which latter case the accused 
 is discharged, as he is also if 
 no bill or accusation be pre. 
 sented against him to the 
 Grand Jury. 
 
 Assizes. The Judges (two 
 at least) are chosen from the 
 bench, and occupy the high- 
 est judicial situations, to which 
 they are appointed for life, 
 and are not removable : their 
 principal duty is, in truth, lit- 
 tle more than seeing the strict 
 observance of all the formal 
 requirements of the law ; the 
 rest i? with (he Jury. 
 
 In France. 
 
 Accusation. Article 218. 
 The Jury of Accusation has 
 been replaced by a section of 
 the Royal Court, called the 
 Chamber of Accusation {de 
 mises en accusation) com- 
 posed of five Judges. 
 
 222, 225. The Advocate- 
 General having examined the 
 documents transmitted to him , 
 transfers them to the Cham- 
 ber of Accusation, requiring 
 an indictment to be framed. 
 The Chamber, solely on these 
 documents, without seeing ei- 
 ther the accused or the wit- 
 nesses, Avithout any other 
 communication whatever, is 
 compelled to pronounce at 
 one sitting whether an indict- 
 ment shall be framed ; if so, 
 the accused is transferred to 
 the assizes. 
 
 The Judges depend entirely 
 on the Government : the ac- 
 cused, up to this period of 
 the proceedings, cannot de- 
 cidedly know of what he is 
 accused, nor who are his ac- 
 cusers, nor be confronted 
 with the witnesses, nor bring 
 forward any testimony in his 
 favour. 
 
 Assizes. The Judges are 
 named by Government, and 
 are absolutely dependent on 
 it. They are five, one is the 
 president. Their functions 
 will be hereafter described.
 
 140 
 
 In England. 
 
 Jury. The King prepares 
 a list, which cannot be more 
 than 72 nor less than 48 free- 
 holders to a small amount, 
 taken indifferently from the 
 list of freeholders of the 
 county. The same Jury list 
 serves for all the trials to 
 be held at the assizes; and 
 from among these the 12 who 
 remain after each party has 
 challenged those to whom he 
 has ground of objection form 
 the Jury. This list may be 
 wholly quashed on challenge, 
 if the Sheriff be in any way 
 interested or liable to par- 
 tiality from accidental cir- 
 cumstances. Where this is 
 the case, the Jury list is made 
 by the Coroner of the county, 
 an officer elected by the suf- 
 frages of all the freeholders. 
 
 A foreigner has a right to 
 have half the Jury consist of 
 foreigners. 
 
 In France. 
 
 Jury. The Prefect of every 
 department — a mere creature 
 of Government, receiving a 
 salary, and removable at 
 will, makes out a list of 60 
 jurors, which he chooses from 
 almost any rank. He sends 
 this list to the President of 
 Assize, equally dependent on 
 Government, who strikes out 
 according to his own caprice 
 24 of them. 
 
 The reduced list is then re- 
 turned to the Prefect ; and 
 out of the 36, 12 are chosen 
 by lot. An example shall be 
 given of the scandalous way 
 in which these lists are made 
 up. The direct influence of 
 the Crown in the formation 
 of Juries, has, in truth, been 
 claimed at the tribune as an 
 essential prerogative of mo- 
 narchy ; but no remarks will 
 have half the eloquence of a 
 simple list of jurors appointed 
 to try political offences, 
 the 12 were selected to try 
 (no Jess than 38 individuals) 
 
 Council of Prefecture, and 
 
 The 36 jurors from whom 
 the conspirators of Saumur 
 were as follow : 
 
 1 Des Places des Essarts, 
 Knight of St. Louis 
 
 2 De Tudert, ditto 
 
 3 Dela Brosse, Colonel of the Staff of National Guard, 
 and ditto 
 
 4 De Boitragon, ditto 
 
 .5 De Montigny Pelletier, ditto 
 ,,. 6 De Chesse, ditto 
 
 7 De Greaume, formerly Grand Prevot of La Vienne, 
 and ditto 
 
 8 De la Sayette, ditto 
 
 9 De Lusignan, ditto 
 
 10 De Menou, Tobacco Commissioner, and ditto 
 
 11 De Vaucelles, Knight of St. Louis and the Holy Ghost
 
 141 
 
 12 Du Vigier de Mirabal, ditto, and Captain in the Na- 
 tional Guard 
 
 13 De Montegu, ditto 
 
 14 De Lalande, ditto 
 
 15 De la Cote Balthon, Mayor of Charais 
 
 16 De Pindre, ditto of Pindre 
 
 17 De Ferre, ditto of Montere 
 
 18 De Ceris, ditto of Ceveaux, a Vendean officer 
 
 19 De la Prade-Martin, ditto of Lnssac 
 
 20 Des Courtils, ditto of S. Maurice 
 
 21 De Villemort, ditto of Villemort 
 
 22 Collet, ditto of d'Archingy 
 
 23 De Clam, ditto of his Commune 
 
 24 De Sages Bichier, Commissioner of Tobacco 
 
 25 D'Anglure, Director of Taxes 
 
 26 De la Salle Morin, Ex-Brigadier of the Body Guard * 
 
 27 Du Patural 
 
 28 De Morthorae, a Vendean officer 
 
 29 De Savatte 
 
 30 The Marquis of Volvire 
 
 31 De Rouhaut 
 
 32 De la Mardiere 
 
 33 De la Saliniere -• 
 
 34 Breant 
 
 35 D'Eveille 
 
 36 Venault. 
 
 That is to say, 30 nobles ; of whom 14 are Knights of St. 
 Louis, 9 Mayors, 8 Place-holders ; only 4 who are not of 
 noble families, of whom 1 is a Mayor. 
 
 I?i England. In France. 
 
 Challenge. The challenge Challenge. Articles 399, 
 may be applied to all the list 402. The challenges may be 
 of jurors on account of in- applied as the names are 
 terest or partiality in the of- called over; but they cannot 
 ficer who made it. — Indivi- be more than 24, if the 36 are 
 dual challenge may be em- present, or more than 18 if 
 ployed on any of the five foL only 30 are present. These 
 lowing accounts : challenges are equally divided 
 
 1. Propter honoris respec- between the King's Advocate 
 turn : the superior rank of the and the accused ; but if the 
 juror. number of the jurors present 
 
 'i. Propter defechim: ^\'?Lr\i is uneven, the accused have 
 of qualification required in a one challenge more than the 
 juryman, as absolute depend- accuser.
 
 142 
 
 In England. 
 ence, servitude, or being an 
 alien. 
 
 3. Propter affectum : sus. 
 picion of partiality. 
 
 4. Propter delictum : any 
 circumstance affecting the ho- 
 nour or credit of the juror. 
 
 5. Peremptory challenge : 
 in case of felony and high trea- 
 son, which may be made with- 
 out the assignment of a motive 
 by the accused : only a limit- 
 ed number of these last chal- 
 lenges are allowed, independ- 
 «itly of challenges to which 
 one of the above motives may 
 be attached. The whole list 
 of jurors may thus be ex- 
 hausted, or they may not at- 
 tend ; and in that case the list 
 may then be completed by the 
 by-standers {tales de circam- 
 stantibits), such persons hav- 
 ing the proper qualifications, 
 aad being eqaally submitted 
 to challenge. 
 
 Trial. The opinions of the 
 Jury decide. They are the 
 masters of the trial. The 
 King's Attorney or Counsel 
 can only state the case in 
 support of the accusation, 
 and call witnesses to establish 
 it. He has no judicial au- 
 thority, being the Counsel 
 conducting the prosecutor's 
 case. The witnesses are cross- 
 examined by Counsel for the 
 accused. The Judges keep 
 order, watch over the legal 
 forms, explain the law to the 
 Jury, and can in no cause 
 shun publicify. The benefit 
 
 /// France. 
 
 Whatever be the number 
 of the accused, they have no 
 greater number of challenges 
 than if there were but one. 
 Thus in the Saumur affair 
 there was only one challenge 
 for three individuals. 
 
 But if the King's Advocate 
 renounces his right of chal- 
 lenge, it does not revert to 
 the accused, who cannot on 
 that account challenge a 
 greater number. 
 
 Thus, of the 60 jurors 
 which the Government origi- 
 nally selects by its Prefects, 
 24 may be challenged by its 
 President, and 12 by its Ad- 
 vocate-General or Royal. The 
 accused may only challenge 
 12 in all. What a fearful 
 chance ! 
 
 Trial. Articles 267,270. 
 The presiding Judge is the 
 sovereign of the trial. He 
 has a discretionary power, 
 which he employs as he 
 pleases for the discovery of 
 the truth, or for the prolon- 
 gation of the trial. 
 
 276,330. The King's Ad- 
 vocate and the Advocate-Ge- 
 neral share this power : they 
 insult the accused, interrupt 
 the barristers, impose silence, 
 punish them, even deprive 
 them of their robes, and in- 
 timidate witnesses at plea- 
 sure. The trial of the Ro.
 
 143 
 
 In England. 
 of every doubt is given to the 
 accused. He is not examined ; 
 and if he chooses to say any 
 thing, is always cautioned by 
 the Judge against committing 
 himself or prejudicing his de- 
 fence by any unguarded ad- 
 missions. 
 
 In France. 
 chelle conspirators (as they 
 were called) is pregnant with 
 remarkable examples ; but 
 they may also be found in 
 the Saumur affair, to which a 
 reference has been already 
 made. 
 
 Two witnesses, M. Bail- 
 largeau, merchant at Saumur, 
 and M. Bourgoin, a wine 
 merchant, wore summoned on 
 bt^half of Dr. Cafte, who was 
 tried as a participator in the 
 above plot. The first de- 
 clared that Caffe was invited 
 to breakfast with him on the 
 24th February (the day on 
 which Saumur was attacked) ; 
 that he came between 12 and 
 1 o'clock, and continued with 
 him till between 4 and 5. 
 
 The public accuser, or Ad- 
 vocate - General, Mangin 
 Cainville, rose up and inter- 
 rupted the witness, proclaim- 
 ing that it was notorious that 
 the deposition of the witness 
 was false. 
 
 M. Baillargeau reasserted 
 its truth, and offered to con- 
 firm it by the testimony of no 
 less than eight persons. 
 
 " Hold your tongue," ex- 
 claimed Mangin, and imme. 
 diately demanded the arrest 
 and trial of M. Baillargeau 
 for perjury. The Cffurt ac- 
 ceded to the demand. 
 
 The second witness con- 
 firmed the testimony of the 
 first : he too was arrested. 
 
 Caffe was condemned to 
 death ; but before his sen-
 
 144 
 
 In Ensland. 
 
 Verdict. The Jury pro. 
 nounces the verdict, vere die- 
 turn. 
 
 If there is not unanimity 
 for the condemnation, the ac- 
 cused is absolved. — The En- 
 glish principle is, that no 
 man is to be taken to be 
 guilty whom 12 of his equals 
 do not unanimously pro- 
 nounce so. 
 
 In France. 
 
 fence was confirmed by the 
 Cassation Court, the two wit- 
 nesses were tried and pro- 
 nounced not guilty. 
 
 CatFe's execution was, how- 
 ever, proceeded in ; but at the 
 moment when he was to he 
 led to the guillotine, he de- 
 stroyed himself. 
 
 Such is the administration 
 of justice by French tribu- 
 nals I 
 
 Verdict. Articles 348, 351. 
 The Jury declares the ac- 
 cused guilty or innocent. If 
 the opinions are equal, the 
 accused is declared not guilty. 
 If there be a majority of one 
 for the condemnation, the 
 Judges pronounce like jurors, 
 and their majority decides. 
 
 This is the system of criminal proceedings in 
 France, which the French Government would apply 
 to the stranger, too, who chances to visit that now un- 
 happy land : so that the Englishman who, according 
 to the laws of his country, cannot be condemned but 
 by the honest and unanimous verdict of twelve free 
 and independent fellow-citizens, may be sacrificed in 
 France by the vote of ten individuals chosen by the 
 Government, and often directly dependent upon it, and 
 connected with its affairs, even though seven such in- 
 .dividuals should declare him to be innocent. 
 
 If such a system could not be tolerated in a season 
 of tranquil peace and prosperity, how much less is it 
 to be endured in a time of revolutions, when the brands
 
 145 
 of discord are burning ; when conflicting parties are 
 engaged in active combat; and especially when an im- 
 placable faction attacks every thing, however sacred, 
 which threatens to disturb its tottering feebleness ; 
 and when the administration of justice is nothing bet- 
 ter than its open profanation ? 
 
 [EE] 
 
 Calais Prison, Oct. 8, 1822. 
 
 I HAVE marched up and down this foul abode. 
 
 And read its tales of misery : 'tis a book 
 
 Crowded with vice and virtue — with the excess 
 
 Of vice and virtue. Heroes have been here, 
 
 Who sit on heavenly summits now, and walk 
 
 In the free fields of bliss. I will not ask 
 
 What crimes have crowded here; for men are wont 
 
 To err most strangely when they talk of crime : 
 
 The vilest go unscourged ; but I have seen 
 
 More valour and more truth in these black cells 
 
 Than ever honoured many a mighty one 
 
 Whom million slaves have worshipped. I'll look 
 
 round 
 And moralize, and for a moment chase 
 The memory of wife and children — thoughts 
 Too bitter for a prisoner, and for one 
 Whose prison is not in his father land. 
 The cold walls on one side were mouldered o'er, 
 And the damp sweat exuded. Stains of blood 
 Were sprinkled on the other : filth of years 
 Covered the floor. There was a sickening stench. 
 Nauseous as the plague's breath. The bars, the bolts 
 
 L
 
 146 
 
 Seemed made for giants ; and the heavy keys 
 
 Were shaken, as with a malevolent joy, 
 
 By the unhearted keeper. Vermin tribes 
 
 Luxuriated : it was a palace to them. 
 
 I imaged to myself the various minds. 
 
 That had left transcripts on these prison. walls ; 
 
 But some had been erased, as if rebuke 
 
 Had cried "Shame" to the conscience; some were 
 
 left 
 Broken, or finished tremblingly. Remorse, 
 Or fear, or levity, had checked the hand ; 
 Yet like Belshazzar's silent warning, they 
 Spoke loud as thunder. One had written there, 
 " Take ye my life who took my hope away." 
 Another told his history : " I was born 
 " In Brabant and was happy : I had filled 
 " A soldier's place with honour, but I fled, 
 *' Deluded by a false one's charms, and built 
 " My heavy pile of misery. Oft I turned 
 " An ear of deafness to the voice of truth, 
 " And whelmed me in my own most obstinate will. 
 " Thy coward penitence is worthless now. 
 " O miserable mortal ! bow thy head, 
 " Sufi^er and sink." The line was blended there 
 With other exclamations : " What ! is this 
 *' A fit abode for virtue ? linked to crime, 
 " Married to infamy. Great Heaven ! I swear 
 " I swear the charge is false ! " and so it was : 
 'Twas but the agony of a youthful soul 
 Dreading contamination. One had drawn 
 Rude boughs of intertwining olive. One 
 Had sketched a drooping ash, bent o'er a stream, 
 And huns: gold weisfhts unon its branches : " Men
 
 147 
 
 " Are bowed by circumstance." 'Twas eloquent : 
 
 I felt it, and I looked again ; I saw 
 
 There was an altar hid behind the tree, 
 
 On which a fire was burning. 'Twas a dream 
 
 Of the pure days of youth. " Man is trained 
 
 " To perfect wisdom but by perfect woe — • 
 
 " Thou must be more unfortunate ! " How oft 
 
 Have I, with listening ear and busy sense, 
 
 Waited upon your moralizers ! Come, 
 
 Classical proud one ! Come and show a page 
 
 In all thy catalogue, so rich in lore. 
 
 As this cold wall. There were two trembling lines 
 
 From one just hurrying to the scaffold : " I 
 
 " Now end my course and perish. It were sweet 
 
 " To die in England ! " Carved upon the floor, 
 
 There were most strange and hieroglyphic forms. 
 
 Which spoke of British captains — British crews. 
 
 Captured and there confined. Some humourous jests 
 
 Were blended — had my mind been tuned to mirth. 
 
 I was not mournful — 1 could not be gay. 
 
 I heaved no sigh — I could awake no smile : 
 
 Wife, children — perhaps. I'll muse no more. Alas! 
 
 / am a prisoner. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by Richard Taylor, 
 Slioe-Laue, Luiuloa.
 
 Works recenlhj published. 
 
 SPECIMENS OF THE RUSSIAN POETS, 
 
 translated by John Bowring, F.L.S., and Honorary 
 Member of several Foreign Societies, with Biogra- 
 phical and Critical Notices. Second Edition, with 
 Additions. 
 
 Printed for G. and W. B. Whittaker, and R. Hunter, Lon- 
 don ; and Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON THE RESTRICTIVE 
 AND PROHIBITORY COMMERCIAL SYS- 
 TEM, from the MSS. of Jeremy Bentham, Esq. 
 By John Bowring. 
 
 Sold by G. and W. B. Whittaker, R. Hunter, and 
 Effinffhara Wilson. 
 
 In the Press 
 
 The Second Volume of SPECIMENS OF 
 RUSSIAN POETS, by the same Author. 
 G. and W. B. Whittaker. 
 
 Also, 
 
 MATINS AND VESPERS, with HYMNS and 
 OCCASIONAL PIECES, by the Same. 
 
 G. and W. B. Whittaker, and Rowland Hunter. 
 
 SPANISH REVOLUTION. 
 
 Just published, 
 
 By G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave-Maria Lane, Ludgatc 
 Street, in one thick volume, 8vo, illustrated with a Map, 
 price 18s. boards, 
 
 AN HISTORICAL REVIEW of the SPANISH 
 REVOLUTION ; including some Account of Reli- 
 gion, Manners, and Literature in Spain. By Edward 
 Blaquierf, Esq. Author of "Letters from the Me- 
 diterranean," &c. 
 
 LETTERS FROM SPAIN AND PORTU- 
 GAL ; containing various Details on the Civil and 
 Political State of the Peninsula ; its Means of resist- 
 ing Foreign Invasion ; Anecdotes of Public Charac- 
 ters ; with an Appendix of Official Documents; and a 
 striking Likeness of General Riego. By Count 
 Pecchio, an Italian Exile. In octavo.
 
 9 8^ €
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 ID- 
 
 im- 
 
 ^tSt 
 
 «^ 
 
 Form L-9-20))(-S.'
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 728 613