L.E. CABTNRT NOIR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 71, 22 March 1872, Page 4

L.E. CABTNRT NOIR.

o (From the Pall Mall Gazette.) A pamphlet hy M. Emile Lambry, an employe in tho French post-office, recently published in Paris, gives some curious details about the " Cabinet Noir," as the department for openiog letters from suspecled persons is called iv France. Letters were opened under Charles K. and Louis Phillippe, but under the Second Empire the Cabinet Noir acquired on importance previously unknown. The dishonorable office of head opener of letters was occupied by a man named Simonel, who from M. Lam bry 's account, seems to have been singularly well fitted for the post he held. At first Simonel only stopped letters in obedience to a list sent to him by the Prefectcr of Police. These letters were put in a bag and forwarded to the prefecture, where tbey were opened and read, as the Prefect of Police had, aud still has, like the Home Secretary with us, a legal right to open any letters he thought fit, But M. Simonel had not been long in office when he was allowed to go a step further, and to open and read letters biros -If, on condition, it would seem, that he concealed the fact of their having been tampered with from those to whom they were addressed. Simonel's way of proceeding was as follows : — When a suspected letter fell into his hands he insprted the point of a very thin knife, specially made for the purpose, under the seal ; then by dint of steady pressure, and thanks to the skill acquired by long practice, he removed the seal whole and without tearing the envelope. The letter read, and if necessary copied, Simonel slightly warmed the bottom of the seal, so as to melt the wax sufficiently to attach it again to the paper. By this means he was enabled, to defy detection. When letters were fastened with gum or a wafer it was still easier to open them; a few drops of hot water were all that was npcessary. Foreign mail-bags passing through Paris were not respected any more than letters to be delivered in France by the unscrupulous Simonel, who had armed himself with a collection of the seals of every foreign Government. He was even provided with different sorts of foreign string, in order to disarm suspicion. It was only in extreme cases, however, that he went so far as to cut the string with which mail-bags from abroad are fastened, as he generally contrived to strain it enorigh to allow him to open the bag and take out the contents. No letters were safe from his prying eyes, and even M. Rothschild's financial correspondence was read by the indefatigable head of the " Black Cabinet," who was also in the habit of opening all the Empress's letters to her friends, and submitting them to her Imperial husband.