Star. — London, England, 1815-12-12 00:00:00

THE EVENING STAR. LONDON. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1815. SENTENCE AND EXECUTION OF MARSHA L NEY. FRENCH PAPERS. ol I f i~ r CHAMBER OP PEERS. SITTING OF MONDAY, TDB 4TII OF DECEMBER. The taknost impatience pervaded th.t public mind yesterday relative to the fate of Marshal Ney, k being g.nerally believed that his Judges would come to a tine) cir;:ision without rising; the Chamber assembled et the hour appointed by their last adjournment, and this long-pending affair, at length took the direction to its ultimate result. The Chamber first decided that five.eighths of the Peers shioild concur in the sentence ultimately to be pronounced. (Tnis arose from a paper presented by the Advocates of the Marshal.) Eightespa witnesses appeared on behalf of the pro. secution ; a similar number for the accused, and se veral to speak only to particular facts. The Ministers of the Marine, of the General PuNee, and the Keeper of the Seals, occupied the Bench of Ministers. The Duke d'A:butera (who had been summoned) had written to the prosecutors and to the accused, stating that he was prevented from attending by severe ill ness; tl.is was admitted, on both sides, as sufficient' excuse.--'l'ie Witt. sses were ordered to retire, and theerg 4tiuti crininlynced : MArso 41 Ney, in replying to the first question, re serving io hims..lt, AS a means of defence, the stipula- tions of the 14,1itary Convention of the 3d of July. Mr. BeLan, in reply, observA, that this was fo reign to the p.oeteiing, and demanded that the re. stave should not be admitted. Being asked what the Minister of War had said to hem is his la4t audience ? he replied, in effect, that he' seferred his to the orders awaiting him At dni that be was urged to seek the audience of his istijesty, by the advice of imams itiends, as well as Ly the dictates of his own heart. He thought he had not said to the King that he would bring back B parte in an lion cage I he had said it was a silly act, and this proved he had the desire of serving the King in his heart—a desire which he had retained up to the 14th. On a Proclamation being shewn to him, and his being asked it he recognized, he replied, , 4 It is take, that which I read was not signed by we ; I defy them to produce one with my signature." He admitted that 'the proclamation read by him was ne.nly in the Wile ternis as that produced. He denied tha; any decorations were conveyed to hire with the letter of Bertrand, nothing was brought but the eagles, and they were not given to him ; he only knew the following morning that they had been ►eft v.ith some officers. Ile declared (in answer tea question) that he re-1 taided tl:e decorations of the ling when he received the emissaries of Bonaparte, and even when he ac-; crmpaaied Bonaparte to robtainbleau. He did not acknow.edge an order stated to have been given by him to M. de la Jeanctiere. This or der (Kati by the Chancellor) was to supersede the wiii e c.ick Ade by the eAglei and other Imperial tokens, pio:nibing wine and wooty to the officers and men, &c perhaps, however, this order was issued from hia klAt Mlor on eie morning of tl . .e HAI, but new ordris from Bertrand superseded them. lie never engaged any ofticer to pass over Ro raima:: ; only one ma& any objection—he rendered ample justice to that one who would not break his oath, btn chose to gibe in his resigoation. . He acknowledged the order he had given to arrest 'eve I.AI persons by directions from Napoleon. He a u siless,m4ay of the Peers wii:ch now sit iu this Chamber knnw that Bonaparte never would have pardoned a Marshal who should have arrested a Ge neral ; and tu.say were comprised in this order." . Alter many other questions, the hearing of wit now. con.mance d. Tise Duke tie Duras was the first ; Being sworn, he dep.'s( d that the Marshal had en tered the King's apartments, had kissed his Majesty's hand, and Lad said he would bring Bonaparte to Y4is it an iron cage. - The Marshal.—l do not exactly believe that ; but I well remember what tie- Duke de Duras said. The Prince of Poi:, (second witness) &poled to the same effect. The Count de Scey (formerly Prefect of B `s.lnecm) stated, that Ney said he had no orders to give him, nu arriving at his command ; that he only asked him to put the saddle horses in requisition ; he held dis courses extremely vehement against Bonaparte ; the disposition of the inhabitants was known to be ex. tremely good. Marshal Ney denied most of the allegations of the Prefect. The latter stated, that the Marshal had demanded money of him— I never asked you for money, MG 'The witness.—l - know not if the money demanded nUme in the name of the Marshal was for the service of the Kipg or for his own ; but I replied, I had no' fends at my disposal. The Marshal reminded the, Feefect of having written to offer to hint at Lons-le- Saulnier .500,000 francs. and that be had ermine d no want of them.— The Withal did not recollect this. The Marshal expressed great indignation at this point of the proceeding. M. d e F A verney deposed among other things. that on the 15th M March he found General Lecourbe at Poligny, and that the latter had said he had it from Marshal Ney that this event had been arranged for these three months; that the manner of distributing the troops by relolesu proved this, and that the same plan was pursuing in all points of Trance. Other points were spoken to by this witness of no very material weight. N. de Rochemont then gave his deposition, and his evidence tended to prove that up to the 13th in the morning the Marshal still acted in the interests of his Majesty. General Count de Bourmont was called in. In his first entrnination, he had strictly confined himself to answer the questions asked of him—if he now went into fur titer details, and aggravated the charges of his first deposition Marshal Ney had only to thank himself. ( Phis referred to some remarks previously made by the Marshal.) The General then made a most animated deposi tion, which called forth remarks of a similar kind from the Marshal. M. Berryer, (General de Bourmont having stated that the effect of the proclamation was to make the troops cry /rive Eaglets r!) begged the General to be asked it he had cried Viva le Rai 1 when the Mar shal read the proclamation. A murmur arose in the hall, and the question was decided to be improper. Numerous other witnesses were examined; and Marshal the Duke of Reggio was introduced, and deposited two letters from the Marshal m March last relative to the measures taken for the service of the King. Three others, to the same effect, and to the Duke d'Albufera, were also read ; after which the President adj.urned the Court until 10•MOITOW, at ten o'clock, A.M. INC OF THE sra DECEMBER. The Chamber opened at the appointed hour, the whole of the Peers being present. The hearing ot the witnesses for the prosecution was resumed. M. Magin, Commissary-General of the Navigation et Paris, deposed, that ou the 20th of March last he received from M. Labouleye, Knight of St. Louis, ac. a note, by which he informed him that Marshal' Ney had just arrived at bionterau ; that he was lodged at the public-house of "*", and that he had said in a roum of that public-house, that the return of N. polcon had been arranged at the Congress ot Vienna, through the Intel vention of Prince Talleyrand, as well as the return of the Archduchess Mails Louisa and her son. A. M. Dautin, another witness, confirmed the facts stated in the above deposition. The Marshal rose and declared to the Court that he knew no one at Monterau, not even the innkeeper at whose house be lodged, and that on passing dire' that town he had only spoken to the Sub-Prefect. M. Grisot, Captain in the 57th regiment, deposed, among other things, that Marshal Ney had assembled the Colonel and officers of his regiment at Landau, in April last, and after locking the door upon them, demanded if the Colonel had not some intruders in his regiment ? the Colonel replied not--and the Marshal, in consequence, sail—well, we cannot con fide in them in these circumstances ;—afterwards he made use of the most injurious expressions against the Family of the Bourbons.—The accused denied this, as being perfectly inconsistent to believe that a Mar shal of France would have needed that precaution to speak to his officers. Besides, I know not it the wit. ness has any interest in accusing me, and Witness.—l have no interest, Marshal. Several Peers.—You ought not to interrupt. The Accused.—l persizt that in my extraordinary commission, I only acted according to orders which I received s these f6r.i.l any injury to the Boutbon Princes, aad I never permitted myself the least ofn.uce against the King or any Person of his Au gust Dynas . y. M. de B.4incourt hal only by hearsay known of Marshal Ney's having the Proclamation of the 13th in his carriage, when he set out for Besancon. M. de Casse was introduced to give evidence, though the Lord Chancellor observed he could not be sworn, net having been enumerated among the witnesses in the proem; this witness (if such we may legally call him) confirmed the indecorous expressions stated to have been used by the Marshal at Landau. The witnesses in behalf of the accused were now heard. M. Caillce, furbishing-lace-manufacturer at the P:tlais Royal, was introduced. He deposed that Marshal Ney, arriving at Paris with Bonaparte, sent by his Valet-de-cliambre all his decorations to be changed. It was on the 25th of March that the Marshal had these articles, and that he had written them down it. his books ; he opened his 'register, and read the items. The MArsh4l..,Vois see, my Lord, that according to this reckoning I could not have had the decorations which the witnesses pretend I wore at Lans-le- Saulnier. The Chancellor asked the witness if he had not at Vie same perbd arranged for ill, accused a medal of the Legion of Honour. Witness.—No, ay Lord. M. Dem:, Aide•de-Camp to the Mirshal, de clared he had °tinned no alteration in the Mart.hal's decorations. M. Batardy, the MarshaPs Notary, deposed the same as in the previous interrogation; concluding by saying, when he quitted Marbhal Ney he had the firmest conviction that he was very sorry for Buna. pane's return, that he WAS determined to serve the King, and that M. Batardy always Entaii:ed opinion. The Duke of Maine, Peer of France, deposed that he found Marshal Ney with the best dispositions after the 9th of March. M. Philippe de Segur deposed, that nn the 7th of March (the day of Marshal Hey's arrival at Paris) the Marshal was absolutely in the best disposition. and possessed of sentiments worthy a General who, during twenty campaigns, had led the French arms to glory. M. de Sauran, Aide-de-Camp to his Royal High ness Momieur, deposed, that dining with Marshal Ney, a Proclamation was brought in—after reading it, the Marshal said, " the king writes not like this, it is thus we should write for the soldiery." He dic tated a letter, written by the Aitle-de•Cimp to Mon sieur, detailing the proposed mar.seuvres of the troops. The Chancellor asked, how it was possible, after so .wise and admirable a plan, he had nut waited the effect of his advice _ _ --- - The Marshal.—l was abandoned to myself when the tempest was bursting over my head. I was without instructions, without soldiers—every body separated from me and seemed to srek his own fortune. Madame Mory, a witness for the accused (the only female who had appeared in .he Chamber of Peers during this proceeding) deposed with muck clearness that an Italiats.Count, known to her at Dijon, had assured her that Marshal Ney displayed on the 16th or 17th of March, muds concern at the arrival of Bonaparte, and that he bad said to the C lint, that he was very happy he had had nothing to do with all these events, and of having been constrained to ticri fire to the lure of his country, his affections and his opinions. The Marshal declared he had not the honour knowing Mid itn.: blurry ; nor did he recollect the conectsatiiin st.tterl with the Italian Count. whose name even was unknown to him. Every stittiess tctiii:d to confirm the Marshal's in nocencv of all ple-concertion. A long discussion then arose as to the terms of the capitulation ol Parts. M. &Ilan replied at considerable length. At the request of the Advocate of the accused, the defence was posponed till to-marrow (this day ). SITTING OF THE deli DECEMBER. The Chamber of Peers having again met this morning in pursuance of their adjournment of la t night, the defence of the Marshal was commenced, by M. Berryer, who praised the conciseness of the pleading of M. Bellan, but stated that the defence could not be comprised within the same bounds. He engaged to maintain the pure text of the law. 1 owe, said he, kindness to my Sovereign who has permitted that the defence of the Marshal shall be puLiic and solemn, and made with the greatest posiblel.titticle. I owe it to yourselves, Messieurs the Peers, thanks for the necessary delay which you have assigned for the summoning the witnesses for the defence. Vitally, we are indebted to the accusers for having conceded that, up to the 14th of March, the conduct of the Marshal in face of the enemy of his King was with out reproach. He dwelt on the sentiments expressed by the Plentpotentiaties for the inter/1.0 safety of France; these were particularly addressed to the Mar shal. He undertook to prove, first, that the Marshal had not acted with premeditation ; and, secondly, that there WAS no law applicable to the crime imputed to him. He arrived at the facts; and fir►t those which preceded the 14th of March. He represented Bona parte marching from Cannes to Lyon; traversing that space in ten days, surrounded by a blind but enthu siastic multitude. He cited the Journals of the day. They stated that Bonaparte's emissaries had spread themselves every where, that they excited the people to revolt, and the soldiers to sedition. This state of things was what the address of the Deputies called, on the 16th of the month, an alarming crisis. It can not be denied that the Marshal was at Lons, in the midst of a frightful mass of dissention and anarchy. —He afterwards asked if subsequently to the 14th of March, any culpability could be attached to the acts done under this fatal influence—under this frightful empire ? It is proved that the side of uniting him self with Bonaparte was that for which the Marshal had the greatest repugnance. He recalled to mind that the Marshal had on the of April, 1814, said to the tyrant that the troops would no longer fight for him, nor follow him beyond the Lf.ne. lie cited a letter of the Marshal which recalle I the soldiers to their duty to the King. It was ill this state that the Marshal had learnt the return of Bo naparte. M. de Bourrnont, who, said the advocate, does not appear a very propitious witness for the Marshal, said himself that Bonapatte would not have pardoned what he had done, and that the Marshal replied, perhaps before six mnnths he will off with ray head. lie passed to the act of accusation ; and dis cussed it. He proved that Bonaparte mild not ele. vale the Marshal to greater honours than the King had done, . • He recalled the services of the Marshal, and asked. ,if he could imager have risked his glory with a mad• .^ than (Useful). He then went into a long deteil, ali tending to prove the glories of the Marshal, and his zealous fidelity to the King, up to the night of the 13th. lie then arrived at this fatal period. There are, in political, as in moral nature, events whose inexplicable causes seem to be reserved for the discern. meat of posterity alone; such were the circumstances of Marshal Ng at that time. Bonaparte escaped I from the Isle of Elba; those who ought to Lave w3tcheJ this audacious m in teemed to have fory,.it him—they had not seen him ;—he had tonctied French soil, all Europe was stupified. and how court: Marshal Ney alone defend himself front this sent ment On the 14th of March, the chance of 8U1.71- parte': success was only au enigma for Marshal N:y he knew the entry into Grenoble and to Lyons. then painted the Marshal as a stranger to politi t .,l calculations, as he always has been ; he only knex• fight against exterior enemies, and to defend the ritory. The Marshal no longer was master of his solutions, and every writer of common !env at;retd that all actions done in this state were nit to be stn.- buted either to the good or ill of him who did u. The Advocate then commented un v niou. other points of evidence, and scouted indignantly Lire term is which he had ben reported to have spoken of King. The first part of the defence here termimaed The Advocate continued : I believe I have corn. pletely justified the Marshal from all the events ante rior and posterior to the 14th of March last; yes; have seen him in April, 1814, dictating an abdication to the most absolute man—an abdication which we could hardly have hoped. You have seen hum, finally, the upright accuser of the faults of the Usur per at the !untie of Waterloo, and afterwards, in his letter to M. Fouche, obeying the Government, but idolising his country." He then proceeded to dere lope the legal arguments cf the case. After varion; remarks, he recalled the Treaty of 1514, aid th t Resolution i.l Congress of the 13th March, w;iicf commenced with these words " The Powers, fireei resolved to maintain the Treaty of Paris, &c. are re solved to lend to the King of France all the aids la cessary to re-stablish tranquillity in his States, stc.'. In consequence, the alliance was renewed with the King. On the 15th, they corroborated this nee Treaty—all the Powers concurred in it. M. Bellart.--I cannot suffer that another scanda shall be yet added to this cause. We are French— we proceed according to French laws; all the rest i useless and scandalous. They would built upon convention done at Paris, in which the King par took not. The Chancellor stated that the Peers had decree that the military convention was not to be admitte: in the defence. The Advocates were invited to tree, themselves within these bounds. M. Dupin urged chat, by the Treaty of the 20:i. of November, Sure-Louis no longer formed put France, the Marshal is not, if he wishes it, withie tie terms of the Convention ; but, be is in the rights c melt and modern history— (if Nureoneerinthe Asereelly. Yes, Gentlemen, in modern history we find mar examples of these rules; personages of the highest di; tinction have profited of new Conventions,—Mireve The Marshal. —Yes, Gentlemen, 1 am a Frencf man, and I will die as one. They have not bee willing to hear my defenders t I thank them for whi they have done fir me, and what they may still de but, I prefer not being defended at all, to being ire perfectly defended. I will do as Moreau did—appes to Europe and to posterity. M. Bellart spoke to prevent further delays. The Chancellor.—Defenders, you may use ever: argument,eseept such as the Chamber has ii.terdictai The Marshal.—Since the Chamber will nothear— (rner moyea:)—l forbid my advocates to add an: thing; the Chamber will judge me as they thin proper. The final Requisition was then read. The President.—Accused, have you a:ly observa dons to make on the requisition t The Marshal.—Nothing at all, my Lord. The witness ordered the Accused to retire, as we, as the witnesses and the auditory. From five o'clock the Chamber remained in der beration upon the judgment, and at a quarter before twelve they decided by majority, that Marshal NO was GUILTY Or HIGH TIMASON AGAINST TllB STATE 131 voices condemned him to DEATH, and i 9 vote for BANISIININNT. The Marshal was not present a the time the verdict was delivered. The Marshal was ordered rose sHor next day. PARIS, MEMBER 7. Yesterday, at five o'clock in the afternoon, %e'er Marshal Ney was going back to his Chamber, he me . one of his defenders, who was absorbed in grief. H' pressed him in his arms, saying—" What do yei mean ?—lt was not your fault.—We shall meet another world." When he entered his room, h' walked about for a few minutes. His connteminci was animated ; his gait and general appearance ail nounced din he bad taken a strong resolution, an' , that he was prepared for every thing. He then call'' for dinner, which he ate as usual. During his nwald: h th e eatt perceived ention otfhathtoasekontiolcunpldahccimd ,noenadr biro dignantly to a distance from him, saying—o IJo nor fear death." After dinner, he asked for a segar! which he smoked entirely. He then lay down, au ' d slept peaceably for two hours. About one cs' el " k In the morning the sentence of the Chamber of lie was read to him. He listened to it within' In