P. S.—The details are given to me by the minister of war.
[Translation.]
Mr. François Pierre, charged with refractoriness, was regularly
arrested by the gendarmerie of St. Louis, (Moselle.)
The mayor of St. Louis and the local gendarmerie had not the duty to
appreciate, to judge of his remonstrances, and to pass upon the
question whether he was freed from the obligations of the law on
recruiting.
Their duty was to cause him to be taken at once, as the law directs,
to the general commanding the fifth military division at Metz. So,
in accepting as true the recital of the remonstrance, he could not
have been the object of any abuse of power.
If François had with him papers of value, which were damaged on the
way, the administration is not responsible for this accident; he
could have left these papers with his uncle, at whose house he was
arrested, or have intrusted them to the gendarmes of the escort. For
the rest, it was in an open wagon, and at his cost, he says, that he
was taken to Bitche.
The prison at Bitche is a military house of correction in which there
is no canteen, (public house.) This explains why François Pierre
could not get what he wished, although he was shut up in a hall set
aside especially for passengers. The principal agent was right in
objecting to his receiving from without aliments other than those
fixed by the rules. There would be too many abuses to contend with
if every one detained could at his pleasure modify the regulations
of the prison.
In fine, if at Bitche François received only half a loaf of bread and
water, it is because he chose to go before the dinner hour; for in
fact the military who are detained, have every day a ration of meat
and a strong soup. He says himself he only stopped one night.
The remonstrance again says, that at his expense he travelled by
railroad from Bitche to
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Sarreguemines. It is because he would have a place that pleased him;
because, according to the regulations, all men travelling under
escort of gendarmerie must travel by
rail.
The prison of Sarreguemines, where François passed two days and two
nights, is a civil prison, receiving military men passing on, but
subject to the supervision of the imperial advocate; thus it is
explained that the declarant, although arrested simply for a
military offence, would bave been searched and his papers
temporarily taken from him.
In fine, arriving at Metz, François was regularly shut up in the
military prison of justice. As he says himself, he was there
subjected to the rules, as other prisoners; and when he adds that he
asked in vain that they “would furnish, at his expense, something he
could eat,” that evidently signifies that he wanted something
besides ordinary prison fare. This ordinary, established by
regulation of 6th February, 1865, consists also of a ration of meat
and a good soup everyday, and may be improved by buying in the
kitchen certain provisions, the sale of which is allowed.
In brief, Mr. François, who was used to comforts, may have suffered
more than another the consequences of his arrest, but in reality was
not the victim of any ill-treatment.
