Star. — London, England, 1816-04-26 00:00:00

f f Le e s ione, is to wet at itetight the 51'h prin. "Col social order ; t he f orm in which the pretett 'n ; s urged does not at all change Its nature. We op. , se the. entering this Protest or Declatation on the ,ecord. D u p t x ,the Advocate of the . Englishmen) lintained that no French Jaw praibited the corrt ,ition of a Jury half of Frenchmen and half of ro tors. It 'was a questton entirely new, , which be discus.ted, a ; they, might or iht not be night fairly ' ed gAnst the accused howev e r , renounce aid he discussion, but in renouncing it they wish their leclaration to be recorded. They will one day re-, a t to their country, and they do not wish to expose hems eleeF to the reproach of having sacrificed the ight which eminently belongs to an English citizen— lot of maintaining, even in chains, the prerogatives a free man. Id. t he Avvocare GENERAL.—.TO say that they n b in it to be tried by the French law, is to say, that obey did not submit, the trial could not take place. It is this pretension which I repel for the national o n ear and interest. It matters little whether in your beans ynn submit to the French legislation : you are o btained to it by necessity. Crime is a thiing yarly belenging to local jurisdiction. The offence l es committed in Frince : the prosecution of it be hests exclusively tó the French law : English prise. a n therefore, stand On your defence I —(Acensis slefente lama. Toe Ca u ' r , after , short deliberation, pronounced t i e following decision r=-4. Because every offence (omitted in a territory is an object of jueiatte:ino, and beranse tlte exception demanded by the English r i:nners is not allowed by nay construction of the ( minal code of Ftance, the Court declares that there n o g round for Cie recording, at the request of the Delish prisenets, the declaration now made by them: the Court, therefore, orders the trial to proceed." Here the Clerk read the arret of the act of accusa tion drawn up by the Procureur-General Bellart Tne reading lasted more than two hours.—(Both these pieties have already appeared in THE STAR, with the exception of on e passage, which is as follows, and purports to be an account of an extract in Sir Robert Wilson's letter to Lord . Grey He does not dis semble the unpleasant consequences of his enterprise : he was not ambitieui to' be imprisoned, or to lose his commission : but he was resigned on both points.— He had conceived the idea of communicating what be had done to a great personage, •in order to avoid the reproach of .a clandestine conspiracy : he even asks advice on this subject, He appears to have Sac mined information of great importahce, but waits in a sure conveyance to send it to his correspondent. He had learned, by the confidents of the Duke of Fehre, that Soult was on the first list of the pro. scribed, and had written to apprise him of it."] The Anvocaez GENERAL retraced rapidly ti.e fac.s of the indictment, and fixed the attention of the jury on the principal points : he Applied bimstlf pat ocu larly to the distinction in the cases of the different - inseam. Some have to answer for a crime : others loran ofts:nce only. He remarked that the Chaniber of Accusation had remi:ted to Me three Englishmen the charge of having conspired against the legitimate government of France. I now leave (saki hi-) the facts to d;velope themselves : it is right that yoti hold receive your fist impressions from the eel- Limo. You will observe with .coolness, and deter mine with u ootliess. I need not veil you, gentlemen of the Jury, that justice, whose impass:ve organ you are, has no regard to the distincti estahatied in society : weak or posscr:ul, rich or poor, natives or foreigners, in all tie accused justice sees only men : it khows nothing of their quality, it wishes to know their actions : hat what more can I add to the dignie lii sentiments which yob entertain for your functions: When the question concerns equity, justice, honour, I need use no further recommendation to a French jury. Madame de Lavalette, the young lady her dattOter, and their old ' female domestic, have not liczn suinmone I here as witnesses at the request of the ptibiic prosecutor, but of the prisoner Elerle : there fere they will not be heard till after the charges are gone through. The PRESIDENT here successively interrogated elte accused : their answers referred to the details already given in the indictment. We pass over in silence the long interrogatories of Eberle, and the debate which they gave rise to be tween him and Kerguidec, as no new fact resulted horn them. Eberle still appeared to labour under the most unfavourable presumptions, while the keeper of the prison was only so tar culpable, that he had omitted some precautions which he did not think ne cessary, and had shown sensibility when he should have shown only vigilauce. Tears dimmed his sight a gaoler should never weep. the PRESIDENT made the following observation - to the gaoler On the 20th of December, being informed by one of the Advocates-General that the execution of the convict Lavalette was to take place next day, you went to consult M. the Count Angles, Prefect of Police. You said to him, s Madame La valette is in the prison : must I tear her from the arms of her husband ?' M. the Count Angles said to Po, ' I give you no advice ; see your superiors: it h for you to know what are the duties of your situa. trio, You are a man : but you are a gaoler.' Ido not say, added the President, what - you might to have done : but at least you should have redoubled your vigilance." The President then addressed himself to M. Bruce : Q. How long have you been in France ?—About thirteen months. Q. You remained Eere during the stay of Bona parte?..—Yes, I left Paris a' '0 hours after Bonaparte, when he went w take the command of the army. I did not think it right that an English gentleman should remain in a country which had commenced hostilities against his own. 2. It appears that you returned to Paris, and were here on the 28th of June ?—lt was because Marshal Sachet, who commanded that part of the frontier Which I wished to pass, refused to let me pass, in spite of a letter which I wrote to him, and I was O bliged to return to Paris. I _9. You wrote also to Madame the Duchess of Sr. whom you called Zmperial Highness, although rut Government had never recognised Bonaparte as ?—lt was true I wrote such a letter ; I gave ms that tide, because it was the one she bore. Q. You were connected with several persons in the DuiVite, confidence of Bonaparte , p articularl y the of Vicenza?—lt is Uue; but Ido not SCE what , • • r 1 relation tbestilitest'ens bare to . the affair of Lavalette. It is not for the accused to judge of the merit or of the object of the questions addressed to hits' : the-President has a discretionary power of putting What qiiestions he thihks proper. Was there not found at your house the original of the answer of the Duke 'of Wellington to Marshal Ney. You took a very lively interest in Marshal Ney ?—Yes a very lively ;Merest : I do not blush to own it. 'The most lively interest during his trial. Q. Was it to you that the first overture was made of the plan of transporting Lavalette out of France, and of the plan rat concealment ?—There was no ques tion. of concealment, for that was no longer possible. [The PRE•IDENT explained the judiciary sense of the word recite. It was, to shelter a man from pro secution, to withdraw him from the power of the law, by concealing him, either for a short or along time.] The accused. hi re recounted the manner in which he. had been tnystesiously solicited to co operate in the Right of Lavalette from Paris. H possible, said he, I would have diktat his escape by myself alone, tot I could not repulse A man who had put his life into my hands. 1, however, obtained his c mrsent to conf•ide his 'secret to one of my friends. I spoke to one Itiend, who gave me a charge to another. I will not name these it tends ; they se name themselves. Q: It was you who received Lavalette at the house of Captain Hutchinson ?—I received him when he was conducted to the house of that person whom r I have not named. [Hutchinson, 'ho was close to Bruce, bade *slim name him.] PItESIDENT.—This discretion is very uselesc, for Messrs. Hutchinson and Wilson have denied nothing, .IS you know by the publiCation of those pieces which have been circulatedin a manner so contrary to our practice. You know that Lavalette passed the night at the House of Captain Hutchinson, and that Hutch inson does not deny it. Bauer..—lt was not myself who engaged Hutchin son, who authorizes me to pronounce his name, to re ceive M.. de Lavalette. General WlLsnm (rising).—lt was I. The PRESIDENT to M. Bruce —Thet;!. was found at the house of M. Wilson a memorandum of an ex pense of two hundred francs eccasioned by Lava lette's jontney. M. WILSON.—M. Bruce paid t';is sum, and sent MC the memorandum at my request. The PRESIDENT then interrogated M. Hittchinsolin, who agreed to all the facts that concerned him. It ' was at his home that Lavalette slept on the night from the 7th to the Bth of . I.innary. There is no trace of the retteet of Lavalette between this period and the 20th of December preceding. Q (To Hutchinson) —You escorted Lavalette ? es, on horseback. O. You wished, no doubt, to serve your friends ? --got so I was actuatA by a sentiment of hu manlty. Q. But you did not take a partictilar interest —an interest of the heart, in this projtct, because Jilt gave .a inemorandurn of your expensis to General Wilson —I did SO, being desired to do so:s but I neverthe less wok great interest in Lavalette. The l'iiesioesT to General Wiis , in.—Did you know Lavalette before his escape ?—Never. Q. You Logan to serve in Egypt ?",--Nu : I began service in Flanders. Q. But you have served in Egypt?—Yes, Si'. s 2. You have spread through Eilrope, by a cele braLed work, violent susp;eions apinst the morality of certain agents of Bonaparte in Egypt :—lt is true : I said that which I be.ieved tu be tr uth. Tice accused here declared that it was himself alone who made all the di - spositions. and took all the mea• sutes for the escape of Lavalette ; he confirmed all the facts related in the act of accusation ; he added, that Lavalette was dressed in an English uniform covered with an English great coat , a nd m ounted with a hat of the English form. Bruce here laid hold of the military cap of Hittc:luson, and sheaved it to the President, saying it was such as that. Q. (To Wilson)—You knew that Lay:date was condemned to death by a Jury ?—Yes, certainly ; it was his condemnation that render.d my assistance necessary. Q. You know the crime for which he was con demned, for having suppressed the Procl.imetions of the King, fur having on the '2oth of March put him self in correspondence with the usurper, and :or hav ing co-operaied in the return of Bonaparte ?—We are not agreed as to his crime. I believe that Bonaparte undertook this enterprise without any connection in France. Q. It is not my business to institute a political con- 1 troversy. Lavalette was condemned for having vio= lently seized a public authority ; foe having corres ponded with Bonaparte, and stopped the King's pro. clamations ; and fur having deceived the inhabitants of France as to the trut situation of Paris ?—Much less of politics than of humanity entered into my con duct. Brace, in speaking to me about Lavalette; ad dressed himself to my heart. I dare flatter myself that his hope and confidence in me have not been de ceived. Sir Robert declared further, that Mr.'Hutch. inion did nothing but by his influence, and that, in what he then did, he was guided by no political feel ing whatsoever, but only by motives of humanity. , Having said this, he sat down. The Court then proceeded to the examination of witnesses. The f-rst person implicated by their de. positions was Eberle, the head turnkey = and the fol lowing facts were Roved against him: Monsieur Roquette, junior, the gaoler, Bodiscao the keeper, and several turnkeys, confirita the cir cumstances detailed in the indictment, and which particularly inculpated Eberle. It seemed to. reselt from the whole of these depositions, that Eberle had left opbn all the doors between the Chamber of Lava. tette and the great wicket in the first part of the pri son ; that at the moment when the bell rang, and he went up to the chamber to receive the order to bid the chairman be ready, the disguise was already completed. It is difficult to admit that he did not perceive it. Instead of obeying the order'whiCh lto. queue, jun. gave him to run immediately atter the chair, he directly came back to the prison, and went, with ridiculous precaution to shut in Madame Lava. lette, saying, she at least should not come out with out good orders : and while the Minister of Polite was interrogating the gaoler on the circumstances of the 'escape, Eberle said it was very easy to distill visit Madame de Lavalette from her husband.-r• There was half a bead difference between the" -.--.-- - - , Why, asked oquette," did you. not nuke that re- Mark when it might have been useful? Oh! marry! answered Eberle, my principal was there, and I had nothing to say. , Almost the whole defence of this culprit . was con• fined to giving the lie to the witnesses, and to repeat, " it is a falsehood : within", can be more false." It is proper for that interesting class of poor citi. aeons who have no other means of existence except hard and daily labour, to preserve • with care the des position of Brigaud, a working mason. Guerin, called Marengo, the usual chairman of Madame Lavalette, proposed to him to take the place of his tomiade, who probably was not aale to aid him that day. Brigaud copsented, and after seve ral journiee carried tladame Lavalette to the Con. ciergerie, and waited for her with 'Guerin at the guard-house of the gendarmerie : a little before the coming out from the prison, Bencit Lonneville comes and offers him a glass of wine, and says to him— " You will have perhaps a little greater weight than at coming, but you must go with speed ; there are 2.; 1 louis to be earned."—" Twenty.five louii," says Bri- Faud ; " what is to be done for that ? Such a sun. is not offered without a cause : I am an honest man ; hive a wife and children; I will not brine them into trouble."—" Yoe are then a 'Cone brine the worst ttrins in the French langtiage]: money should be e :reed when it can."-- 4, l a m a poor man, bet Ido 1 I not rr:sh to gain my subsistence except by honest la i hour. '••••• 44 Bab !" said the other ; " What do y o u ri s k w; en Monsieur tells you there is no danger ? Come, 1 :: ess) F ia,!' said. he, " leave all this stu ff ; come along I with me: some mi , chief will happen to you : I am I g t th e n gstrhaopmwe h e i ' th an h d e w ns i e th d ttiolastuhpepothrtrethwedc,h)%avinr.the lea. He returned home, and acquainted his wife with the offer which had been made t 6 him, and with his refusal. You have done well, said she. The next day he learned that she chairmen were imprisoned— that Lavalette had escaped : Oh I I have done well, said he. The witness chewed a great deal of emotion, and even shed tears et the necessity of inculpating his comrade Guerin. We preserve as much as we can the tone of frank ness and nature which the witness exhibited in his de position. Gentleman, he said, weeping, do not be I offended with me it I did not give information at the Itime : I was beside myself. Marengo, coetinued Brigaud, brought me the wages for my job, aill said to me, you were wrong in leaving us : it was on: what you th'iugle:: the chair was stopt on the qn !.7, and it i:44 miss who was within. However, if you are examined, you have no occasias to say that money was OS red to you. " Hear • n,e, answered I, I ah tndoned the job yesterday : do'nt implicate me, or I sh.r." tell :he truth." . From 311 this it apre:ited th.it this Brigand was an honest fellow ; and. the President, on dismissing him, addressed,. to him the following flittering words : " You have given a ;;:eat example of honesty : you I have`proved by your conduct that loaour and pro bity are to be found in the lowest classes—continue this conduct—maintain , our vrifir and briag up yam chilsiren iti these honourable principles, and believe that, soon or late, ever, irs this work!, virtue finds its recompens...." The evidence fur the • prosecution being gene 11:reealis the viuiesses for the del.enc:r were called. Tite viafc of 2.r gars repeats i. p-irt: of the decal:: I given by her husband. Guerin and Bilmit Bonneville oppose to this double declaration an absolute dela il. N. B. It de,erves to iro remarked, that the deser tion 'of Brigand having compelled the valet-dc. chambre to seek speedily for another chairman, La valette remained tour minutes' in the sedan-chair at. the very gate of !tie Conciergerie—they must have appeared to him very long ones. After some other wan ssA, whose testimony was quite insignificant, Mad true I.avalette was iotrodne eel. Her .entranct , was announced by a murmur, expressive of the interest and curiosity of the audience. When she appeared, Wilson, II utchinson, and Bruce, saluted her will a profound bow. The emotion and mental distress of Madame La valette were so pleat, that, when interrogated, she could scarcely articulate her own name ; and when asked her age, she replied, " 27, I believe." After having cellected her ideas for some moments she said—" Ihe (listless which I feel does not pro ceed from any fear, but from a kind of alarrn on see ing myself before a tribunal, and amidst so large an • audience." The PRESIDENt.—Madame, it is not public justice which has summoned you here ; it is some of the accused who have invoked your testimony. Madame LAVALETTE.—i declare that the persons who have called me, contributed in no respect to the escape of M. Lavalette: no one was in my confi dence ; I alone did the whole. Some details wera asked of her as to certain cir cumstances which, though minute in appearance, might throw light on several facts of the accusation. ^She replied, that she did not recollect them, and as signed for her defect of memory an excuse winch will be easily admitted :•••f 4 At that moment, (she said) I was too much occupied with the execution of my plan to pay attention ta what was passing around me." M. CLAVKAU, Eberle's,Counsel, requested her to fix precisely the moment of the disguise ; and to state whether it was already executed when Eberle came to receive his last orders ? Madame Lavalette, who was unaware of the con sequences of her answer, said —" at that moment the disguise was completed, because M. La valette had ' . got offs" The Paramiter.—l will put ta Madame only one question. Have you ever known or seen these Geri: tlemen (the English), or any one of them ? ' They immediately rose, and Madame Lavalette, 'after having looked at them for a moment, declared, that she had never known nor before. seen them. Mademoiselle Lavalette was then introduced : as she was not. quite 14, the administering the oath to her was dispensed with. She answered to the first questions in so feeble a voice, and her embarrassment •ppeared so painful, that the President, atter asking the consent of the prisoners, signified that she might withdraw. The Court rose at half-past five, and was adjourned till to-morrow, at nine. • M. Claveau is Counsel lot Eberle4 M. Moque, for the gaoler -Roquette ; .M. Menguin, for Bonneville; and 11. Wpm,• for the dim tnglishmen. St.COND DAY, 11DISDAY, APitiis tt. This day the examiaation of witnessed was cond. nued. The Colonel of the Staff Grisenoir, and the Major of gendarmerie Jensac, attest, the one verbally, at 4 the other in writing, that, having been charced,with the command and internal s uperintendence of the Conciergerie durin7 Marshal Nu's trial, they slw Roquette constantl7 exercise and recommend the , _ most eXaCt vigilance; and these witnesses were con vinced that the attachment of this gaoler to h:s du. ties was suppfted and increased by Lis excellent principles and opinions. Similar testimony WAS &et.. for him by sr:et-11in-- spectors of Pelice. Tile widow Dittoit, aged 7'2, corfrclentlal women of Madame I etvalette, called for the , accused, declared . that she did not recollect any of the circtrustaeces which preceded or :Iccompani ., l the fact of the escape ; . ,he did not even recollect whb the per.eon wes that iatroduted her e Wenn permissirin into the Chemher of the convict. It was in vain some of the Judge: and Jorymen prase ,1 her with Ttestiors—in vain the Pre. sidAit reminded hee of the oath she had taken. se.e persisted in saying, Cleo a severe indisposhicn pre vented her from retaining any recollection. M. tt e President, unwilling that she should perjnre herself, dismissed her, obsvezing- 44 Something, I kuaw net what, prevents me from arming the hands of justice against you." . The woman Gorse, a neighbour of Eberle's wife, , stated, that, at the period of the entrance of the allied troops into Paris. the wife of the accused spewed her a sum of WOO fr. about which she appeared alarnae?!, ._ and consulted her as to the means of plating it in ; safety. ' . Laporte, one of the ordinary chairmen of Madame Lavalette, and who, on the day of the escape, had been replaced by Brigaut, deposed, that the day after, when he asked Brigaut why he had not finished hiss job, the latter made no mention of offers having been, made to him, but excused himself by saying, that two days before he had made A severe journey, which had strained him.—lle n e ended the exarnination of the witnesses, upon which M. Ilya, the Advocate-General, rose and ad. dressed the Court : " A criminal, he observed, n convict, has escaped from justice : happy for hen it he escape freer re. . ea,,ese, and it he can and a plane whe-e he may •hew with serenity a forehead whieh the j•oliciel thritidar has se:tilled : a wife has screed her husband ; let it f:e the subject of her joy, pr i oeidecl the act which has • done her honour shell not enmpromise any nee. it ' is easy to acentro ter the cle!re which some rr the 7'7. Cilieili on whose fate yen have to p7oncullce , tunic 'Q 1 this enterprise ; their sentiments. their duties, their interests, explain tile pert which they pleyed: tort hew !rep a st:as it tit::: these three fercieners ;ye hzeee %%in ? W /la: was the netere of t t le interest witieh they took in teeing the conv;ct. ? •17,,y seere neither t. e relative,, the friends ; nor even the scretainter:es of Lavalev.e. I .Vill they say that the; acree: trim views el hutnathy ? ' 4 But how charectetize that ?7'lll:ini:y wlich Cis. plays itse.ilonly iiy a coritereet of pit lie oni:!r, and the infraction ot te... laws ? ileev ae i eeciate that he. ma ne intention, it the cerresceeieeice et tt.e accused I :loves, that hatred ot nor law; is in thcir hearts ; than our repose is orliens arid !i.3:;1 - re .Isla :0 C l em ;i; th. T Slai Wit tat that escape :any teelfg nett en- reitrie;cs ta l aatho,iiy. :1 seditious means of torn:into; a revitiU nein ? if this act, feeble in ite•if, was a sot I. ef itiitia tive of the prej-ct, it became the ditty of pelaUc jus tice to search it to the bottom, and to trace to you the machination to its very toete,. The Alvocate.Gene ral applied bimseltin the first instance to compare and appreciate the facts relative to the escape of Lava. tette, and with great order and precision ma: ked the share which each of the accused had in the act, and the motive which might have actuated him. He die. tinguished, with the most judicious equity, betweem crime and simple (4.:nce ; and essignel to each, as it were, the punishment which he incurred; Without, however, depriviug aity one priemer of the hope of the indulgence of the jury. Ile then naturally came to the effence of concealing the convict, aid it was here drat the three Englishmen came upon the stage. 4' The tiest part rif this afreir, he said, is intelligi ble enough. An the frets have a resemblance tO every-day occurrences. We have a woman who sjves her husband—a wend who neglects his charge—anoe then - who allows himself to be c.orro?ted—a dortwoic who devote; himself for his nw.t,•r—lnd a me; canary who is seduced by the attractant: vt a great teihe. The origin of all this is to be found, not in the yin. ciples, but in the pess:ons and affections of men.-:. liitherto we have tee:minted a history—we now come to a romance. Yon have been seized with this ' t e e . ; ; you have put this first question to yottrae:ves—svhy were the English engaged in this affair ? Their inter. ference cannot he explained on or .:iiiery princr,sles. They themselves declare and protest on their horioer, that, before their participation in the crime, they did trot knew the individual in whose service they t e.. cued all their effdt's. We are hound to believe their assertions,. but it is incnmhent on them to explain the motives of their conduct. One of them- (namely , 13ructe), who was the first conalent in this affair. will. declare, that, advertised of the retreat of La valette in Paris by an anonymous letter, in which i Ihe himself received compliments, he believed, ac cording to the declarations of the said letter, that he was the only person who could save him. At first his pride was flattered ; then his natural. sensib;iity was excited ; and, hot of all, his understanding was exalted by discover ing in the escape of Lavalette so mething romantic, and even miraculous, which powerfully struck his imagination, and impressed pis heart. Tire other (Hutchinsen) did not feel the , same decided warmta of talky. It was, in his mind, a sentiment of humanity which exerted' itself in the cause t.f Lavalette : he only yielded to the desire of saving an unfortunate tnan. The third (Sir Robert Thomas Wilson) derives the motives of his conduct from higher considerations. He imagines that .the honour of his own government would have been de. r;oyed, if a sentence of the royal court of Paris was executed. He does not concern himself with the rights of sovereignty, or the unquestionable authority of the judicial power in France over the French su - ject. Ah ! truly these are cemn on rules. Theca. pitulation of Paris, however, is his law. It has been viol aed, and he conceives it to be his duty to clear his goverament of the opprobrium which that viola. ti u Lasts tit In it. Thus the convict was to irrsaved , - •