Punch (14.1848)

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC AND THE FINE ARTS.

(From Our Oicn Corretpondatf. ■

We are informed that, M. Lamartine, the Minister lor Foreign
Affairs, has written the following important letter (how the copy was
obtained, the reader will not have 1 he bad manners to inquire) to the
Spanish Ambassador at Paris :—

" Paris, Hotel des Efrangers, April 10.

" Your Excellency,—The Provisional Government of the Republic
desires that its relations with all countries shall be those of blithest
tionour, and most scrupulous honesty. Animated by these feelings,
I have the satisfaction to acquaint >our Excellency that Marshal
Soult has received an order to place in the hands of your Excellency
all the Spanish pictures brought by him from Spain in the days of the
Empire, always excepting those pictures for which the Marshal can
show a proper receipt, in full of all demands.

"The Marshal has further received orders to hold himself in readiness
to accompany the pictures to Spain, and to superintend their hanging
in their old familiar places.

" Deign, your Excellency, to receive, &c, &c,

" His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador!' " Lamartine."

CONTEMPT OT THE COUNTY COURT.

The treatment of Mr. Pollett, lately brought
before the House of Commons, proves that
inability to pay a debt amounts, by County
Court Law, to contempt of Court, and is
punishable in the same manner as petty
larceny.

We propose that, by way of warning to
persons on the brink of insolvency, the
Court should be appropriately decorated,
and that the judges of County Courts,
jjHj'jj'j i| 1,1 " *\ iQ passing sentence, should recite in full

the particulars of the punishment to which
that offence is liable. As, for instance ;—

" John Tomkins. After a full and patient investigation, you are
convicted, to the satisfaction of a judge and jury of your country, of the
heinous crime of Contempt of Court, in neglecting to pay a debt. You

are well aware that your inability to pay is no excuse. The sentence
of the Court upon you is, that you be taken from this place to the
House of Correction, and there be imprisoned, and kept to hard labour
for five da\ s. You shall be first conducted to
a lock-up house, where your pockets must
be unbuttoned, and your whole dress
searched; and you shall not be suffered to
open your lips. A pint of gruel shall be given
you to drink, and a bit of dry bread to eat;
and these materials shall form your diet during
your imprisonment. You are to sleep at night,
under inspection, upon a low iron bedstead,
with a bed of straw, three blankets, and a rug.
At six in the morning you shall be compelled
to take your bed and I ed-clothes under your
arm, and be paraded with rogues and vaga-
bonds for half-an-hour around the prison-yard.
You shall next breakfast on bread and gruel;
and after that you shall be searched again.
Thereupon you shall be taken, together with
thieves and pick-pockets, and forced to strip
and bathe with them in the same bath.
When you come out, you shall be clad in
coarse blue clothing, and your own dress shall
be taken away from you. A ticket shall be

sewn on your right arm and back ; and, having POKTRAIT 0F A >■ p00K uebtob."
suffered these indignities, you shall be set to

work at the picking of oakum with a crew of the vilest convicts. But,
your punishment is not to end here : for your hair is to be cut off, and
your whiskers aie to be shaved close to your face; and, may your degra-
dation be an example to all others in your unfortunate circumstances."

The above is a literal description of the punishment inflicted on Mr.
Pollett, for being unable to pay a debt of two pounds. The impres-
siveness of the sentence of the County Court would be much enhanced
were it thus delivered in detail—the. judge, we may suggest, putting on
a black cap. The humanity and justice of County Court law would
also be displayed ad/antageously to an enlightened public. Neverthe-
less, we are afraid that such sentences will hardly operate to the
suppression of the contempt of County Courts.

Printed by William Bradbury, of No. 6, York Place, Stoke Newingtnn. and Frederick Mullett Evans,
of No. 7, Church llow. Stoke NewiDiftcn, both in the County ot Middlesex, Printers, at th ir Office,
in Lombard Street, in the Precinct of Whitffriars, in the City of London, and Published by
them at No. 85, Fleet Street, in the Parish of St. Bride, in the City of Lonuoo. -■Satubday*
Afbil 15th. 1848.