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that of manslaughter, a portion of the press, and especially the Marseillaise conducted by M. Rochefort, have assumed the guilt of the Prince, accusing him of wilful and premeditated murder, claiming the right of retributive assassination, denouncing the tribunal of justice by which he is to be tried, vilifying the whole Bonaparte family as assassins, and exciting the people and the army to revolt.

This is evidently not using the liberty, but the licentiousness of the press. The most seditious number of the Marseillaise was seized by the police. M. Rochefort is a member of the Legislative Body of France, and in order to prosecute him for his seditious libels, it was necessary to obtain the previous sanction of that body. The French Ministry asked for that sanction and it was granted. Many of the public journals in France and Great Britain, conceding the utterly licentious and unwarrantable degradation of the public press by M. Rochefort, still doubt the expediency of the measures taken against him. But while they admit that the French press must be brought into the subjection of liberty restrained by law, they do not suggest any other method than that proposed by the French Ministry.

There are four parties in France, two of which, occupying opposite extremes of political opinions, each believes that France belongs to it. The first is the Legitimist party, who hold that the government of France attaches by private inalienable right to the eldest living male of the elder Bourbon line. The second is the Red Republican party, who believe with Citizen Robespierre, whom M. Rochefort cited last week with enthusiastic unction, that the government of France belongs to any body of virtuous and tumultuous citizens who can obtain the control of Paris by force of insurrection. A third party is composed of Liberal Democrats, who wish to found a republic, issuing out of and based upon universal suffrage. The fourth party desire a Liberal Parliamentary Government of France, based upon public opinion as represented by universal suffrage, with a hereditary executive chosen by the nation. The principles of this party compel it to sustain the existing dynasty under its relinquishment of personal government, for every reason for an attack upon the executive of a parliamentary government wholly fails; and change of dynasty is revolution. It is thus with perfect consistency that statesmen whose first preferences were not for the Empire, and who were in opposition under the system of personal government, have loyally accepted office in the present Parliamentary Ministry, and that the Emperor has, with equal loyalty, accepted them as his Ministers. But no Liberal Parliamentary Ministry can successfully administer the government of a country so long as journalists like M. Rochefort are permitted to make daily publication of atrocious libels upon members of the Government, and to incite the mob and the army to revolt. This must produce a general, social, and political demoralization, in the face of which all civilized government will become impossible.

If this thing had happened in London, would not the police have seized the newspaper whose columns reeked with infamous assaults upon the Royal Family? Would not the offender have been expelled from Parliament? Would he not have been prosecuted for libel, and punished with the severest penalty of the law?

If the public press in France is to be brought into subjection to responsible liberty, it were ridiculous to begin with any but the greatest offender. Doubtless there are others amenable to the law, of more ability, of keener wit, and capable of being more dangerous than M. Rochefort; but up to the present time he has shewn himself the most violent and treasonable. The fate of free institutions in France will probably depend upon the issue of this attempt to reconcile the liberty of the press with the reign of law.

APPENDIX.

THE PROPOSED ALABAMA TREATY.

TEXT OF THE PROPOSED CONVENTION BETWEEN GREAT Britain and THE UNITED STATES, FOR The SettlemeNT OF ALL OUTSTANDING CLAIMS. SIGNED AT LONDON, JANUARY 14, 1869.

(The reader will bear in mind that this is a Convention for the settlement of private claims only, and does not include any claims of one government upon the other.)

WHEREAS claims have at various times since the exchange of the Ratifications of the Convention between Great Britain and the United States of America, signed at London on the 8th of February, 1853, been made upon the Government of Her Britannic Majesty on the part of citizens of the United States, and upon the Government of the United States on the part of subjects of Her Britannic Majesty; and whereas some of such claims are still pending, and remain unsettled; Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the President of the United States of America, being of opinion that a speedy and equitable settlement of all such claims will contribute much to the maintenance of the friendly feelings which subsist between the two countries, have resolved to make arrangements for that purpose by means of a Convention, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries to confer and agree thereupon, that is to say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable George William Frederick, Earl of Clarendon, Baron Hyde of Hindon, a Peer of the United Kingdom, a Member of Her Britannic Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs;

And the President of the United States of America, Reverdy Johnson, Esquire, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States to Her Britannic Majesty ;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE I.

The High Contracting Parties agree that all claims on the part of subjects of Her Britannic Majesty upon the Government of the United States, and all claims on the part of citizens of the United States upon the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, including the so-called "Alabama" claims, which may have been presented to either Government for its interposition with the other since the 26th of July, 1853, the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the Convention concluded between Great Britain and the United States of America, at London, on the 8th of February, 1853, and which yet remain unsettled; as well as any other such claims which may be presented within the time specifled in Article III of this Convention, whether or not arising out of the late civil war in the United States, shall be referred to four Commissioners, to he appointed in the following manner, that is to say: two Commissioners shall be named by Her Britannic Majesty, and two by the President of the Unite States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. In case of the death, absence, or incapacity of any Commissioner, or in the event of any Commissioner omitting, or declining, or ceasing to act as such, Her Britannic Majesty, or the President of the United States as the case may be, shall forthwith name another person to act as Commissioner in the place or stead of the Commissioner originally named.

The Commissioners so named shall meet at Washington at the earliest convenient period after they shall have been respectively named, and shall, before procceding to any business, make and subscribe a solemn declaration that they will impartially and carefully examine and decide, to the best of their judgment, and according to justice and equity, without fear, favour, or affection to their own country, upon all such claims as shall be laid before them on the part of the Governments of Her Britannic Majesty and of the United States, respectively; and such Declaration shall be entered on the record of their proceedings.

The Commissioners shall then, and before proceeding to any other business, name some person to act as an Arbitrator or Umpire, to whose final decision shall be referred any claim upon which they may not be able to come to a decision. If they should not be able to agree upon an Arbitrator or Umpire, the Commissioners on either side shall name a person as Arbitrator or Umpire; and in each and every case in which the Commissioners may not be able to come to a decision, the Commissioners shall determine by lot which of the two persons so named shall be the Arbitrator or Umpire in that particular case. The person or persons so to be chosen as Arbitrator or Umpire shall, before proceeding to act as such in any case, make and subscribe a solemn Declaration, in a form similar to that made and subscribed by the Commissioners, which shall be entered on the record of their proceedings. In the event of the death, absence or incapacity of such person or persons, or of his or their omitting, or declining, or ceasing to act as such Arbitrator or Umpire, another person shall be named, in the same manner as the person originally named, to act as Arbitrator or Umpire in his place and stead, and shall make and subscribe such Declaration as aforesaid.

ARTICLE II.

The Commissioners shall then forthwith proceed to the investigation of the claims which shall be presented to their notice. They shall investigate and decide upon such claims in such order and in such manner as they may think proper, but upon such evidence or information only as shall be furnished by or on behalf of their respective Governments. The official correspondence which has taken place between the two Governments respecting any claims shall be laid before the Commissioners and they shall, moreover, be bound to receive and peruse all other written documents or statements which may be presented to them by or on behalf of the respective Governments, in support of or in answer to any claim, and to hear, if required, one person on each side

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on behalf of each Government, as Counsel or Agent for such Government, on each and every separate claim. Should they fail to decide by a majority upon any individual claim, they shall call to their assistance the Arbitrator or Umpire whom they may have agreed upon, or who may be determined by lot, as the case may be; and such Arbitrator or Umpire, after having examined the official correspondence which has taken place between the two Governments, and the evidence adduced for and against the claim, and after having beard, if required, one person on each side as aforesaid, and consulted with the Commissioners, shall decide thereupon finally and without appeal.

Nevertheless, if the Commissioners, or any two of them, shall think desirable that a Sovereign, or Head of a friendly State, should be Arbitrator or Umpire in case of any claim, the Commissioners shall report to that effect to their respective Governments, who shall thereupon, within six months, agree upon some Sovereign or Head of a friendly State, who shall be invitei to decide upon such claim, and before whom shall be laid the official correspondence which has taken place between the two Governments, and the other written documents or statements which may have been presented to the Com. missioners in respect of such claims.

The decision of the Commissioners, and of the Arbitrator or Umpire, shall be given upon each claim in writing, and shall be signed by them respectively, and dated.

In the event of a decision, involving a question of compensation to be paid, being arrived at by a special Arbitrator or Umpire, the amount of such compensation shall be referred back to the Commissioners for adjudication; and in the event of their not being able to come to a decision, it shall then be decided by the Arbitrator or Umpire appointed by them, or who shall have been determined by lot.

It shall be competent for each Government to name one person to attend the Commissioners as Agent on its behalf, to present and support claims on its behalf, and to answer claims made upon it, and to represent it generally in all matters connected with the investigation and decision thereof.

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the President of the United States of America, hereby solemnly an sincerely engage to consider the decision of the Commissioners, or of the Arbitrator or Umpire, as the case may be, as absolutely final and conclusive upon each of such claims decided by him or them respectively, and to give full effect to such decision without any objection or delay what.

soever.

It is agreed that no claim arising out of any transaction of a date prior to the 26th of July, 1853, the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the Convention of the 8th of February, 1853, shall be admissible under this Convention.

ARTICLE III.

Every claim shall be presented to the Commissioners within six months from the day of their first meeting, unless in any case where reasons for delay shall be established to the satisfaction of the Commissioners, or of the Arbitrator or Umpire in the event of the Commissioners differing in opinion thereupon; and then and in any such case the period for presenting the claim may be extended to any time not exceeding three months longer.

The Commissioners shall be bound to examine and dec de npon every claim within two years from the day of their first me ting. It shall be competent for the Commissioners, or for the Arbitrator or Umpire if they differ, to decide in each case whether any claim has or has not been duly made, preferred, or laid before them, either wholly, or to any and what extent, according to the true intent and meaning of this Convention.

ARTICLE IV.

All sums of money which may be awarded by the Commissioners, or by the Arbitrator or Umpire, on account of any claim, shall be paid in coin or its

equivalent by the one Government to the other, as the case may be, within eighteen months after the date of the decision, without interest.

ARTICLE V.

The High Contracting Parties engage to consider the result of the proceedings of this Commission as a full and final settlement of every claim upon ei her Government arising out of any transaction of a date prior to the exchange of the ratifications of the present Convention; and further engage that every such claim, whether or not the same may have been presented to the notice of, made, preferred, or laid before the said Commission, shall, from and after the conclusion of the proceedings of the said Commission. be considered and treated as finally settled and barred, and thenceforth inadmissible (1).

ARTICLE VI.

The Commissioners, and the Arbitrator or Umpire appointed by them, shall keep an accurate record and correct minutes or notes of all their proceedings, with the dates thereof, and shall appoint and employ clerks or other persons to assist them in the transaction of the business which may come before

them.

The Secretary shall be appointed by Her Britannic Majesty's Representative at Washington, and by the Secretary of State of the United States, jointly. Each Government shall pay the salaries of its own Commissioners. All other expenses, and the contingent expenses of the Commission, including the salary of the Secretary, shall be defrayed in moities by the two Parties.

ARTICLE VII.

The present Convention shall be ratified by Her Britannic Majesty and by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and the ratifications shall be exchanged in London as soon as may be within twelve months from the date hereof.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto their respective seals.

Done at London, the fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.

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(1) The "general terms" of this Article V. would include every claim of either government upon the other, although no such claim could be submitted under the Treaty. It requires a lawyer's argument to show that they would not be nevertheless settled and barred under this Article.

Paris.-Printed by E. Brière, 957, Rue Saint-Honoré.

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