The Sun. — London, England, 1820-09-08 00:00:00

`. - .tow*, They felt, that in the progress of this cause they were not to make themselves a party to the inquiry : but to pursue it according to their Lordships' instructions, fairly, candidly,' mid honestly. having said thus much in behalf' of himself and his Learned Colleagues, the duty . now devolved upon him of pointing their Lord shiPs' attention to Abe leading facts, as disclosed 41 the evidence before them. The difficulty - *hie!? to encounter, in performing this cluti . ;* wai as their Lordships must be aware • s. greatly ang.mented by the circumstance that, as 14 , :ernWs COunsel for the Queen - had yet to . it answer to the case, he. was left, with ,any knowledge of any of the arguments with ttich they meant, to combat. the proviSions of er of any of the facts upon - which the Vefence of her 'Majesty the Queen mainly 143 . 1.61:' All that he, could, therefore,'do in the verforrnance of .his present duty, was to en force upon their "Lordships' attention the manner in which the case, at, present stood, and hOw the evidence' adduced.made out and supported the in the *preamble of -the Bill. He trolled, that upon reference to that evidence, which he would nbt now', give their Lordships the trouble'of reading,' they Would find the pre amble mainly sustained. Before he impressed the leading . facts upon their Lordships' memory, he ipegged to state, that be should carefully ab ttain from either mis-statement or exaggeration. difq s -wa.s.not to impose on or influence ,by zany distorted statement ; all that was required of ilitn..WaS, that he should sum up the evidence with t.tuth . ,and accuracy, and then point out how it appliedto the charges upon which the Bill was fontide.d. it were . not expected of him,to in car anyAarge of this rnis-statement, still less, he hoped, was ,it ,expected of him to use the slightest , expression derogatory from the station a i netdignity of her Majesty the Queen, No.such expression should escape.his lips. The Queen was here on trial before their Lordships ; one side. ' and that the case against her, had only been heard. He therefore was bound, in strict law, and so were their Lordships, to consider her Ma jesty innocent of those foul charges ascribed to her, until. they heard her defence. None could pronounce .her guilty until their Lordships' vere diet decided and justified that imputation.. He and his Learned Friends had been charged with scattering calumnies abroad, and throwing dirt against the character of the Queen ; but though this charge had been insidiously disseminated, he, and those with,liim, .felt guiltless of the irn p;itation. They had throughout stated nothing - r - thich they had reason to believe would not be se:tigactorily proved. If calumnies had been uttered they belonged to another. quarter ; that qtarter alone ought to be called upon to account fgt. them. When he, and those with him, were tho..s_ charged with scattering calumnies which he 4orv,scornfully repelled, they felt themselves en tiged. to - retort upon the real authors of those ca lumnies,—those who charged the Counsel in atructed by their Lordships, with being suborners ofßerjury ; nay, he did not stop even .there, but wba,charged every -witness who. had appeared at tkoix tordahips' TAIT., with being both a calum ciatOr and -perjurer. Let thOse, then, who scattered such calumnies, be called upon to an swer them, and not they who were the victims of them. ft had beewsaid, that the opening state meat of his earned Friend the Attorney-Gene ,ral, had not been subsequently sustained in evi -denoe, He beggedleave-to.eontradict that asses and would. do so withofit troubling their Lordships to enter into. much detail of . 04 proof adduced at their Lordships' Bar. only:ask of -their Lordships to cast ,tkeir recollection over alie major part of the facts disclosed in evidence,,:.:and;when they aid so, he should only. appeal to..th,e iMpulse of . their own honourable feelings at the moment, and ask them to.say, iftiot only the substance,of the statement which". it was the painful, task .of his Learned Fridini to, make, bad riot been fully proved, but, whether in additipn, nearly the whole A:)f.the de , tOta ; hadoot beefi made out and supsated by evi dence. Before he : . went further, he- would beg •,.• leave to call their Lordships' attention to the na ture of the charge set forth in the preanible of the,Bi3l.. of Pains and Penaltie.S against her Ma • jesty the Queen. That preamble began by Stat ing:that her Majesty, in the year 1814, had,`,in I4i4n, engaged, in the capacity of a menial ser-, want, a man, named Bartolomo l3ergami ; that she .hati,:imuiediately after that tithe,•committed-dis, graPPful and unbecoming: familiarities with that person ; that she had raised him in her household, and loaded ithal, with horiours.;, that .3he had placed several mernbersof.,his family in various situations oflrenournnd rankeabout her persona and that she bad afiersvardscied on for it considerable period an adulterottsklatercourse with hint. That was the. " head andffaut" of the charges against the Queen, as contained in the preamble of the Bill, and it wis r his "duty to ask their Lordships if that charge bad not been substantially maiie out in : evidence ? InTerforming this . duty he conceived he.should acting in a manner most grateful to their Lord ships and moat-; nelo - cive to the end in view .by being as perspicuous as•poSsible : and as he con sidered (hit rioNng would tend.more to.that per . spicuity . tban tracing her Majesty in all her va ..--riettg-inovenaents from the time of her first arriv - iner at Milan up .to : the present day, he should -immediately enter, upon that course,-and.steadily I . follow it up to the conclusion of his task. , !tap- pear e s that her Majesty at Milan .took into her service a person of the,name of Bergamii that she remained there Zor some time and then proceed.. eA to Lisle.' ft appears that a boy of the nam e , o f Austin was in the habit of sleeping in her Ma jesty's room, that then for the first time she said • the. boy, was too old,and ds!sired he should ho re moved from her room. On the, night, after his arrival she went to the, Opera. It.will be neces, spry to attend, to the ,Management of the rooms, for* is very material. It appears that there was a communication, by ,a private passage, between the room of Bergarni 'and the Princess, .:4ne of Use w itnesses'. states, that on the idot. on'whi lae 4 Majesty went to the Opara: "she_ appeared_ ouch agitated; that she Came out alone from the Opera, went into the Cabinet near Bergami's room, gave directions about the hop Austin, and returned shortly. Here the Learned Solicitor 'preyed `the of their Lordships to the observation of the 'twitness, for - -it was natural that she should make observations,lier curiosity being exci`ted.. She d-esicribes the situation of the beds, that one ha,d the appearance of not being sleptrin -and the -other had the appearance of being slept in by two persons. But witness goes farther,and swears that there were stains' on the bed, of a character to indicate that an intercourse, such as is charged, had tali.en place. Can any man after this doubt that the crime of adultery has been committed ? He begged to remind their Lord ships that -adultery is seldom fully proved, that it is not committed with open doors, and that in all the cases which, in his experience, he had seen,'lte did not recollect a single case distinctly proved. He would not detain their Lordships by detailing the occurrences of the first night which her Royal Highness' passed at Naples ; but the evidence respecting the second night on which she -was there clearly shows an adulterous intercourse between her Royal Highness and Bergarni. Mademoiselle . Dumont was on that night going along the corridor, between the Princess's and Bergarni's . , room. She sees Bergami in' his shirt coming towards her and to wards the Princess's room. 'lt was impossible for her not to know the object of his doing so, and be did the only thing that a person in her situation could do—she left the corridor that she might not be an obstacle to the purposes of Ber gat6i, and when she afterwards returned the door of her Royal Highness's room was closed. He knew this rested upon the testimony of one wit ness, whose credit he should not now speak of, but of which be should hereafter satisfy their Lordships. Here the Leanied Solicitor referred to a passage in the evidence of Mad. Dumont. In addressing himself generally to the evidence of Louisa Dumont, the Learned Gentleman re marked, that he was aware of the observation which would be.ruade by the Queen's Counsel : . . they would say, " these facts are strong, bu they rest upon the testimony of Dun-tont, and she is unworthy of credit." To suck an obser vationhe would say, " The circumstances.are of a nature which renders them easily disprOYed if they are false ;" and this answer he should have occasion to apply to the evidence oil more occa sions than one. He should-now advert ,to the masqued ball given by the Princess to the then Sovereign of Naples, Joachim Murat. It appear ed that her Royal Highness on that night assum ed three different characters. •Pn -her first dress ing fora character, she was assisted by her cham bermaid, Dumont; that was perfectly natural; but, on' her Royal Highness retiring to her room to dress for a second character, it seemed, that of all persons in the world, her courier was select ed"--this same Bergami was selected, to 'dress her for a character which left part of the person ex posed. This circumstance was, of itself, suffi cient to warrant any conclusion ; and it was not a little remarkable, that the Queen's Counsel, Mr. Williams, who very ably cross-examined the witness that, spoke to this - fact,--that•Mr. Wil liams contented himself with asking whether per sons of rank and distinction had not attended'the mas q uerade in question. No doubt theydid. It was no part of the charge against the Queen that she had given an entertainment to Murat ; but the charge was that, she had introduced her courier, Bergami, into her dressink chamber 'on that. occasion. This Mr. Williams well knew, and he very prudently and,:tery ably shrunk, as it were, from the substance of the charge.. But, then it may be said on the part of the Queen, that this is not adultery, and that the charge of adultery must be proved; but to prove the charge, it is not necessary, he contended, to give direct evidence of the guilty fact; it was sufficient if facts were proved which in their appearance, and in their necessary consequence, inferred the fact to a man of:plain common sense. To require _positive proof ,would be. idle, and would defeat ,the- ends, of justice-in: nine cases out of., ten.' ''o come the conclusion required, it would beprOper to look at the of, Bergami, with respectAo. her Royal Highness. He was her co p rier,- footman ) the man who waited.behitid - her cltair and stood behind her carriage. The tonclusion, he . contended, was irresistible.. The 'Learned Gentle Man then passed on to the•circurns(atice of B.'s illness occasioned by a kick 'from' a Irorse, 'and submitted that the course taken by the Pri ncess .on that occasion was the most prudent, with the view to a gratification of her • passions with. Bergami. The Witness who proved her conduct was Majocci, and it was really amusing to notice the artifice to which her Counsel were compelled to resort, in order, if possihle, to shake the dence of Majoeci. He would here fearlessly de clare, that notwithstanding . the cross-examitiat ion of this man, the .most severe he ever witnessed ; across-examination too, upon an'evidenc,e, as to facts, .embracing.in . point of :period, nearly three • years, and in point of space three quarters of the globe ; yet the 'Queen's Counsel had not been able to elicit a single contradiction from him. To be sure there was the highly 'diverting answer of Non mi recordo,!' which the Queen's Counsel had endeavoured to bear repeated as often as possible, and to that end he was sure it had , not escped their Lordships, that the most trifling and unnecessary. ques tions had been'put. - The object was, of course, `to throw a degree of dis,credit upon the, wit • nesses, from the circumstance of the idiomatical re petition of: the answer. . These were artifices feces .fitted fOr offerings, to ordinary understandings but he (Mr. Solicitor General) knew' be was r7d dressing an enlightened and august AsSembly, and he had no: fear for the consequence of such miserable attempts. He then took a general re, .view of Afajo&VieVidenCe, - and contended thal ids name alone entitled .him, to credit., He was corroborated i n the main circumstances; though,,' not in all of ...them, and that was all which could . be reasonably- required in .a -case of this kind. gut the Queen's Counsel had, cal led*most of iheae circumstances trifling..;.lle - cOuld not call .it tri lling. If he saw a Princess walking arm' in arm on a terrace with her foOtman, and in habits of general intimacy with him, he could come to but one conclusion as ..,to the nature of their inter course. BeforeShe_ left NipleThe was reminded of one remarkable fact, which he had nearly for- gotten : indeed the facts were so numerous, thaV ,to, remember,: them all was kmpossibleN - That •Wki now p*ticvlo a rl* al 1 u 4AI , was her Majesty's private visit to the Theatre, San Carlos. . Was it possible to suppose that what had been stated with respect to her visit to the Theatre was an invention. Could any of their Lordships suppose it to be a fabrication ?. He thought it impossible . for any one to come to such a conclusion. What were the circumstances of that visit ? -She desired to go to the Theatre in private. The wife of the heir apparent to 'the Crown of England, at that time in the exercise of the sovereign power in'this country, must visit the theatre in private. To' this he had no objection. She might visit the Theatre in as much privacy as she pleased, but couid she choose no respectable persons from her suite ? Could she select no attendants but her footman and her chambermaid to accompany.her? She must, however, go in private, accompanied by nobody but her footman and her chamber maid ; they passed from the House by a back door in the garden, traversed the terrace, and went to the Theatre in a hired carriage. There, in consequence of the reception which she me with, it appeared that she had made but a very short stay. Could two constructions be put on conduct like this ? Could any man believe what had been stated on this subject to be an inven tion ? 'Whatever might be said of the witness Du mont, with a view of calling 'her character in question, could any man go the length of suppos ing this tale to be invention altogether ; 'and if they believed the facts true, to what conclusion must they necessarily come,as to the intercourse which subsisted between her Royal Highness and the Courier ? He had already brought to the recollection of their Lordships the circumstances which had occurred at Genoa. When she arrived there the whole of ,the English persons that had formed her suite had left her, with the exception of Dr. Holland:—Sir W. Gell, Mr. Keppel Cra ven, Captain Hesse, Lady Elizabeth Forbes, and Lady Charlotte Lindsay, had all left her Royal Highness. What were the arrangements made at Genoa with respect to the bed-rooms ? It appeared that the Princess's apartment was separated from . the chamber of Bergami only by a luggage room ; and also that there was an intimate communication betweln both. Op posite the apartment of her Royal Highness was that of Dumont, her chambermaid. It was added that the key of .the anti-chamber door was turned every night, which barred the access of Dumont. The latter had afterwards • heard the locked door open, when some person . was passing from her Royal Highness's room to Bergami's room. During one whole month, it was also in evidence, that her Royal Highness's bed had never been slept in, though it was tumbled so as to have the appearance of having been used ; and in consequence the witness Du•- mont left off making the bed, and only smoothed the sheets. From this circumstance what con clusion could their Lordships form, except that an adulterous , . intercourse had taken place be tween the Princess and her courier ? Another circumstance. was deserving of remark at Genoa. There' was a:Small cabin .adjoining the room where the Princess breakfasted, and it was proved that Bergami,. breakfasted with her, by the testi mony both of Majocci and Dumont. Who waited in this cabinet near the saloon ? Majocci, it appear ed, was the. attendant one day, , hut Louis Ber garni; the Courier's brother, on the other. When their Loidships were told that no reliance could be placed on the corroborative testimony of Majocci and Dumont, why was not Louis Bergand brought forward to disprove it ? He challenged the Learned Counsel for the'Queen, and he had other challenges to 'make in a future stage,_, to call •Lonis Bergami to their Lordships' bar, and see if his evidence ceuld refute it. Bev 2garni had obtained suchinfluence with the Queen, that, it became to every one too apparent. — "The. first thing-likely to be done by such a per son in his situation, when he had obtained an in fluence in heribind, was to render that influence beneficial to 'connexions ; as by acting thus lie-not Only Wotild benefit them, but'confirtn• his ascendancy, so as perhaps to render it difficult to shake it . off. Who, accurding - ly, did Bergami take occasion to introduce to the Princess's house at Genoa—his mother,,his sister, his brother, and even his infant child ;.•histikot the mother of his child, though the infant was.,only three years .old, and needed its mother's care i ;. , 44od when the Princess. came, • the mother, who happened to he, in the house, was suddenly sent off.' 4 Was .this any T thing like the natural connexion 'Vet tWe_ll:9• . miql* . ico4;‘heiiervant ? Dumont testi. frO i4 . t she. s'/Oik:.tsa,-Ltibk: after •.a house for the Princess at 'some di.stNarlOicoss genoa, : because of its, distance, and beCanse‘:;itr.cwas away from til6 'English who visited, thlise pats.. From yoUr Lordships•will have observed, • we pro ceed to - Milan, where'. Lady Charlotte Lindsay had.joined her Royal 'Highness, but that Lady soon quitted her, and afterwards no English were left retained in • her 'suite. Even in this case; could the wife of the Heir Apparent of this country still . find•,no English Lady, or no foreign. Lady to attend her ? Who, however, was se lected to attendthe Princess ? The person chosen as her Lady in Waiting was the Countess of Oldi, who could - neither speak properly in French nor Italian, was quite'unqualified to occupy the si • tuation of.. Lady of Honour, • and therefore could only be intended . to screen 'the inter course that was going on. • These incidental facts,- let it be repeatect, which cannot be inva lidated, are the beSt confirmation of the; whole case.; and•that individual must be wilfully blind 'whO'persists• in shutting his yes to them. It will be recollected, • that at Milan her Royal ,Highness wore- a blue silk dress; which Bes•gami .afArwards'yut on one morniti. - at an: early hour, makh it 't b 'cl thatout of' her tge e .earname bedroom, which was disclosed on the occasion of I throwing the window up. Another circumstatO,' deserved attention. When at Venice, her Roy a l Highness took up her lodgings at the Hotel d'Ary gleterre, and here the occurrences whiih toolt place served to confirm phtfacile. Accorisling to the practice in those parts after crenner aieweller came kNto exhre l attrotive stares, wh~ll the ert.p - AhasZotilti . erlthatqavhia,lingle/ing af', ter the company departed, she put upon the neck of Bergami, who squeezed her hand, and they-re: tired together. And who, let it be remarkeol was the witness of this scene ? Why the tirio f witness, whose testimony. went to confirm .that the preceding ones, who had lived for fourteell .years in the family at least;. and if only this e'rr' cumstance was not contradicted, it would be possible to reTieve her Royal Highness froill the imputations cast upon her in the preambl e .' of the Bill. Now, from Milan the Princ es s next proceeded‘to Bellenzoria, where exactly the same arrangements and familiarities were 013 , served. On the visit to General Pino's was stated Bergami went into the Princess's be d room; and no cross-examination was attempt ed Lor e with regard to' this point, except by their Lor‘ v ships, who found the intercourse of nearly thr same character of the . rest of the story. But be r Royal Ilighness.now proceeded to the Villa VII' lani, where the same. things as before were o h" served to take place, and where, .according to the evidence of Majocti, the Princess's bed Nrs s not slept in. They now reached Villa d'Este' and here he wished to direct their Lordships' at i " tention to the situation of the apartments, will° was precisely the same as in other cases, ther e being here also a private passage to Bergarni! room; and when her Royal Highness was lei` on retiring by Dumont, the latter was locked out , while Bergami's chamber still renfained in conevi r nication with the inner rooms. Upon her F ete from their Grecian tour, it. appeared that tl' e Princess had changedher room, there being 13l communication with the apartment of Beret° A new opening or door was. also made, and M I ; ing the whole timeof her residence, facilities 0° existing were prepared with a particular vied They must, in estimating this extraordinary Cat consider the circumstances attogether,—how t'", parties conducted themselves towards each otbeg;. what familiarities passed, whether they behave , like man and wife, and so on ; and then co elude, from all this, whether such facilities 31'1 freedoms were not indicative of an adulte.:l s intercourse. Let them take even all the f ac . spoken to between the Princess and Bergan ii,° i; occurring at the Villa d'Este, upon the t es t many of a body of witnesses, not contradict'i) nor disproved ,by any one,—see her Highness and the courier arm in arm, wal; ing alone—the Princess pulling the courie r , the flap of his coat, when getting up, and rnalije; him sit down—embracing together—and if O c t , transactions were testified of two persons ill o , dinary life, he was confident that no Jury, Court, would refuse to come to the-conclao°l that an adulterous intercourse hid taken pw e , between them. Not to rest the matter he a l however, there were other things which clic/ 1 : f ; admit of a doubt ; yet to save their Lords ll ,„` r : both . fatigue and time, he should select s or t given points as, a specimen of the whole. T be t , - , Lordships must remember what was testified, o , the witness who had been employed in repai rl :e the grotto at the Villa d'Este. Witness said distinctly heard persons in a room adjoinillg,,p it, talking anti laughing; when he went ro l ; 0 , to ascertain what was passing, there he vered two figures of Adam and Eve, having m e 'd leaves before them, which fig-leaves. the and Bergami were putting aside, and the while: After such a frolic as this, '°'` was to be inferred he would leave it to c ° o : most sense to decide. In illustration of this/ ro , would refer once more to the letter once P r e duced on a trial before Sir William Scott, l' s o held that no woman who had not comm ittedo adulterous act, in such circumstances, vo o .d , have written so to any man. Let their ships here recall to recollection the staterob,p of Galdini, who accidentally went ups stairs, sv iil 4 he found Bergami and the Princess both sit set on a sofa with her neck uncovered. In anl o il case, through opposite doors, the Princess Bergami were seen embracing each other. e‘ , trusted their Lordships had not forgotten tli e o # currence at th e lake of Rettozia, where the P e re p bathed, and in which there ~was a canoe, { ro il' Beigami and the Princess were seen issuillg tie d' the water and getting into it. So strong, did he consider the testimony that had rec, e a ti been adduced at their Lordships' bar, °foci e was beating the air, and nothing more, to r 0 0 by anticipation the arguments to be employ e the other side. If, therefore, this evidenc e dii not ultimately beat down, if it was 1143 t proved, if it was not essentially w eakev e g el i many parts,' it was, in his opinion, the Ft!) that in, similar cases had eve been adduce tint Court of Justice. But, hastening to cl i r e d stances more marked and peculiar, he wi s 10` recall their Lordships' recollection to wh it , s tie t : taken place in Sicily. The parties in cP l „`" had embarked on board his .Majesty'3 r en t Leviathan, for Messina, when an arran f iti s : `'was made by Captain Briggs, such as a oic' -Naval Officer would: naturally make, b - the females of her Royal Highness's , suite rj ...o ; placed in the cabins next her, and the rneipec, distance from her. What was the consetliboaP( Her Royal Highness, when she came ° 0 did not approve of the distribution 10.'r,001( 'Capt. Briggs ; she altered it, by placing 1 3 , e to so , t ' o - cabin next her own. He did not intennoAlt that by this alteration of cabins it was inte o u r o pursue an adulterous course, but there 14'0 e ,re,t, tb ' .by night, in the Princess's cabin, an t, 'mity to that of Bergami might have W . "' w her e , 'The parties next proceeded to P a lernl° , , ‘ , l3 og t , as also at Messina, the same relative j oie V III merit of apartments was adopted ; a nd ' 1 01) t ter place her Royal Highness called Dln l.l ,4 , lt ,dr c i i, Sleep, wh'en in bed, and passed in her through. Eergami's room. Again, let th- e . ships lookat _the parting scene.between2 i ; i° cess Bergami, on his asking leas' Mess 'asc 1.1,0y E Wishi as liriti With, It we and 1 Lor, /Act II ? Si reo Was a da thi