THE CABINET NOIR.

Southland Times, Issue 1553, 19 March 1872, Page 3

THE CABINET NOIR.

♦■' (From the Pall Mall Gazette.) j A pamphlet by M. Emile Lambry, an employe in the French Post-office, recentJy published in Paris, gives some curious details about the " Cabinet Npir," as the department for opening letters from suspected persons is called in France. Letters were opened under Charles K. and Louis Phillippe, but under the Second Empire the Cabinet Noir acquired an importance previously unknown. The dishonorable office of head opener of letters waa occupied by a man named Simonel, who, from M. Lambry '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 from the Prefecture of Police. These letters were pufc in a bag and forwarded to the prefecture, where they were opened and read. This proceeding was not illegal, as the prefect of police had, and 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 himself, 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 inserted 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 gf the seal, so as to melt the wax sufficiently to attach it again to the paper. By this means be 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 necessary. Foreign mail-bags passing through Paris were not respected any more^than letters to be delivered in France by the unscrupulous Siraonel, 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 enough to allow him to open the bag and take out the contents. No letters were safe from his prying eyes, and even M. Kothschild'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. A few years ago M. Vandal, the last Director- General of the Post-office under the Empire, was interpellated in the Corps Legislatif with regard to the existence of the " Cabinet Noir," on which occasion he indignantly denied that any department for the opening of letters existed at the Hotel des Postes. Five deputies were named at M. Vandal's request t to inspect the Postoffice personally, and certify to the correctness of his statement. Of course when they came to make their inspection M. Vandal was careful to show them all the departments of the Post-office, except the " Cabinet Noir." M. Lambry affirms that the opening of letters in Paris ceased with the Second Empire — a statement which may or may not be correct.