Ten French journalists accused of mutilating the reports of speeches
in the Chambers, contrary to law, have been sentenced to fines of 1,000 francs, or six months' imprisonment. They had done nothing except publish quotations, whereas the law requires publication in extenso. It is said that the Emperor was annoyed by this prosecution, but in the new Bill on the Press, which he undoubtedly revised, a journal is still made liable to fines, the lowest of which, with costs, is 480/., for any paragraph Government may choose to prosecute ; trial by jury is refused, and total sup- pression is permitted. M. Pelletan declares in the Corps Ltigislatif that of the seventy political journals of Paris only three are prosper- ing and five more paying their expenses ; that the taxes on a paper with a circulation of 45,000 amount to 40,000/. a year, and its divisible revenue to only 4,0001.,—he is speaking of the Delats, — and that under the new law " journalists will fall one after another in the judicial arena, the gladiators of thought, exclaiming, ' Ave Cmsar I moriluri to salutant.' " That exquisite bon mot goes into the Moniteur, but if M. Pelletan published it under his signature in the Debats he would be fined.
