The debate in the French Chamber of Deputies did not
finally close without a glance at the state persecution of the press ; and though it was but cursory and meagre, one startling fact was dis- closed. The Attorney-General is charged with having written a letter to delay certain prosecutions at Riom, in order to give time for an alteration of the ,jury-lists, which would be so disposed as to make acquittal almost impossible. The Home Minister denied the existence of such letter ; but he admitted that some letter had been written, and be refined to explain what were its contents. As an auxiliary measure to the violent suppression of a free press, therefore, is an undermining of trial by jury. And while these acts are doing, nobody speaks out, except editors and printers and the parties vdto are personally concerned. Some believe that this seeming apathy_of the French conceals a hidden fire which is ready to burst forth: but it rather looks as if they did not comprehend what liberty is--as if they could only contemplate it as the object of some military or theatrical display. Liberty with them is, not the tutelary genius of peaceful institutions, but the goddess of Re- volution.
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