LIST OF PAPERS. No. 1. Consul Crossthwaite to Lord J. Russell One Inclosure. 2. Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell Three Inclosures. 3. Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell Four Inclosures. 4. Consul Crossthwaite to Lord J. Russell One Inclosure. 5. Lord J. Russell to Lord Bloomfield 6. Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell Five Inclosures. 7. Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell One Inclosure. 8. Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell 9. Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell One Inclosure. 10. Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell Two Inclosures. 11. Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell One Inclosure. 12. Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell 13. The Rev. J. Anderson and others to Lord J. Russell : : : : : : : : : Correspondence respecting the Arrest and Imprisonment of Captain Macdonald at Bonn. No. 1. Consul Crossthwaite to Lord J. Russell.-(Received September 17.) My Lord, Cologne, September 15, 1860. I AM requested to transmit the inclosed letter to your Lordship from Captain G. Macdonald, a British subject, at present confined in the jail at Bonn. I have been engaged during two days investigating the matter, and endeavouring to induce the authorities to accept bail for the Captain's appearance. The statement made by Mr. Macdonald is in accordance with the reports which are circulated with respect to the occurrence, and it appears that he was undoubtedly justified in endeavouring to retain possession of his own and of his friends' places in the railway-carriage, in consequence of which he has undergone so much suffering. I have sent a full report of the proceedings to Lord Bloomfield, and have called his Lordship's attention to the fact that Captain Macdonald had already been in jail four days, and that up to 4 o'clock this afternoon the "Verwahrungs-Befehl," or warrant for his detention, had not been received by the Governor of the Prison. According to the law of Prussia, any individual arrested by the police must be examined by the Juge d'Instruction, who must sign the warrant ("Verwahrungs-Befehl ") within twenty-four hours at the latest. In this instance a British subject has been deprived of his liberty without the formality of the law being fulfilled. The trial of Captain Macdonald is to come on, as I understand, on Tuesday next, when I purpose attending to watch the proceedings. My Lord, Inclosure in No. 1. Captain Macdonald to Lord J. Russell. The Prison, Bonn, on the Rhine, Prussia, MAY I beg your attention to the following facts? I will state them as briefly as possible, in the hope that you will lay them before the Queen. I started from Mayence last Wednesday, with my sister-in-law, her husband, nurse, and child. When the train stopped at Bonn, the gentleman and nurse and child got out for some refreshment. Some strangers came into the carriage, then a gentleman and lady got in, thus filling the carriage. I told him, in [93] B French, that the two places next the door were taken, pointing to them. My sister told him so in German, but he did not move. I then called the conductor, and told him, and when my friend and the nurse came up I pointed them out to the gentleman who had taken our places. He became most insolent. I told him he must move, pushing him lightly on the shoulder, whereupon the railway official came furiously up to me to pull me out. I pushed him back, and was immediately seized by three or four men who had entered the carriage from the opposite door, and thrown out of the door on to the platform. The lady who was with me was also treated in a very rough manner. After the train went off, and we were in the Telegraph Office, the same railway official came pushing up to me (without any provocation), in the most insolent manner. I pushed him back, and was immediately surrounded by all the officials of the place, and treated, shaken, in a most savage manner. Being by myself I was entirely at their mercy. I was taken before a police officer, accused of striking and kicking the railway people, and marched off to prison, where I was searched, all my money, watch, &c., taken from me, and locked up in a cell. I could not get anything to eat (though I had not tasted food since that morning), and in the morning when I again asked for food, they brought me some stuff which (when I tried to eat it) made me sick. The next day, some officials came to me, and they took down what I had to say (through an Interpreter), and told me I should be put on my trial perhaps next Tuesday, but they could not say for certain. In the meantime I am kept a close prisoner here, only allowed to see any one for half-an-hour in a-day, and that in presence of the Governor, and even that indulgence requires a special order. Our Consul came to see me yesterday. He says the punishment of the offence I am charged with must be imprisonment, the least a fortnight, and the most two years, and that they will not take into account the punishment I am now undergoing; that I have no chance of justice, as the officials of the railway all pull together, and no one can speak for me, as the train at once went off. But the principal person here told the Consul you can claim me as an English subject, and Member of Her Majesty's Household (which I am), and thus put an end to the matter. Our Consul has advised me to write this letter to you. If I was in an English prison, with cleanliness about me, I would not ask you to lay this, my humble request, before Her Majesty, as I have no desire to seek notoriety; but being locked up every night in a chilly cell, in a foreign land, not under standing their language, with other prisoners, and their dirty habits, is no small punishment to an English officer and gentleman, and so I take the liberty of troubling your Lordship with this unavoidably long letter. If I am treated thus before I am even tried, how shall I be treated when condemned? I would willingly undergo any punishment if there was any chance of bringing the fellows to justice, but I am told there is not the slightest. I state, upon my honour, that I did not strike the man, for two reasons, 1st, because I know how jealous foreigners are about a blow, and, 2ndly, because my sister was with me, who would have fainted at the sight of a blow. (Signed) I have, &c. G. V. MACDONALD, Exon, Her Majesty's Royal Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard, and late Captain 19th Regiment. P.S.-My offence is simply against the railway people, and not against the police, so that they have no interest in detaining me. The Governor is as civil as his duty will permit, but I am much too proud to ask for any indulgence not willingly accorded. G. V. M. |