The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-04-20 00:00:00

THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION

EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH.

TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL OF
SIMON BERNARD.
SIXTH DAY.
CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT, APRIL 17.

The protracted trial of Simon Bernard, under the
special commission, as accessory before the fact to the
death of Nicholas Bettie, was resumed and concluded to-
day before the Lord Chief Justice, the Chief Baron
Mr. Justice Brie, and Mr. Justice Crowder.
The public, in anticipation of the verdict, assembled
in treat numbers, and evinced more than ordinary
anxiety to be present.
The prisoner was placed at the bar precisely at 10
o'clock. His features presented a rather more care-
worn expression than was to be traced during the earlier
stages of the trial, and the eager glances which he front
time to time directed towards the Inn-box, his constant
change of posture, the rapidity with which he penned
brief notes and forwarded them to his counsel, and the
impatient look which he frequently bestowed upon the
clock behind him betokened an amount of mental
anxiety which had not previously been remarked.

The names of the jurymen eying been called over,
The Lord Chief justice prooeeded with great care to
sum up the evidence.
Immediately at the conclusion of the summing up, and
before the jury had retired,
The prisoner, with much warmth of tone, vehemence
of gesture, and rapidity of utterance, exclaimed :—I de-
clare that the words which have been spoken, or quoted,
by the judge with reference to the balls are not correct,
and that the balls which were taken by Giorgi to Brussels
were not those which were used m Paris. I have
brought no evidence here because I am not accustomed
to compromise any person. I declare that lam not a
hirer of assassins, and that Audio, as he stated on his
trial in Paris, himself asked to be sent to Orsini. I
declare that I have not hired assassins, and that
of the blood of the victims of the fourteenth
of January there was nothing in my heart more
than in that of any one here. My only wish is to crush
despotism and tyranny everywhere. To effect that I
have conspired, and I will conspire ever, because it is; my
duty, my sacred duty, and the duty of every lover of
liberty to do so. But never, never will I be a mur-
derer. _ . _

At the close of this address, so unlike anything one is
accustomed to hear in a criminal court in this country,
the jury retired to consider their verdict, it being then
20 minutes to 3 o'clock. Precisely as the clock struck
4 intimation was given that the jury were returning, and
in an instant the loud ham of conversation, which had
prevailed for upwards of an hour, subsided into profound
silence. The prisoner re-appeared in the dock. The
judges entered and resumed their accustomed places on
the bench, and the jury answered to their names, the
prisoner, whose face was flushed with emotion, looking
wistfully in the direction of the jury-box, as if to dis-
cover by anticipation some faint omen of his fate.
The Clerk of Arraigns, addressing the jury,—.How
say you? Is Simon Bernard Guilty or Not Guilty?
The Foreman.—Not Guilty.
On the announcement of this decision a scene occurred
unexampled, perhaps, in an English tribunal. From the
gallery first, and then in an instant afterwards from the
floor of the court, proceeded a loud shout of exultation.
The cheering was again and again repeated—the excite-
ment was contagious—and many of the ladies of quality
' present waved their handkerchiefs in token of their de-
light. Vainly did the Lord Chief Justice endeavour by
voice and gesture to still the tumult, and as powerless
were the stentorian lungs of Mr. Harker, though exerted
to the utmost, to restore silence. The prisoner, who
was extremely excited, flourished his white pockethand-
kerchief over his head, and several times attempted to
speak. Bernard at length made a successful attempt to
be heard, and, addressing the jury, said, with much ve-
hemence of manner,—Gentlemen—That verdict is an
expression of the truth. lam not guilty, and it proves
that in England there is and always will be liberty,
which will crush tyranny, whatever and wherever it
may be. All honour to an English jury. (Renewed
cheers.) The prisoner was then removed from the dock,
and the applause having abated,
The Lord Chief Justice said,—Let the prisoner be
brought back.
Bernard again stood at the front of the cloak.
Mr. Simon, the prisoner's counsel, said,—l understand,
my lords, that there is another charge against the pri-
soner of s nature precisely similar to that just disposed
of, and which must be tried, if at all, upon the same
evidence.

The Attorney-General.—lt is not the intention of the
Crown to proceed with that charge. (Renewed cheers.)
The jury having been sworn, the clerk read the indict-
ment, charging the prisoner in the same terms as in the
former case with the murder of Eugene Riguer, who
also died in consequence of wounds which he received
on the night of the attempt on the life of the Emperor.
Bernard pleaded " Not Guilty."
The Lord Chief Justice, addressing the jury, said,—
In this case no evidence is offered on the part of the
Crown, and you will find a verdict of " Not Guilty."
The jury returned • verdict accordingly.
The prisoner was then removed from the bar, the
judges left the bench, and the audience gradually dis-
persed. The jury as they left the court, escorted by the
Under-Sheriffs, and proceeded to their hotel on Ludgate-
hill, received an enthusiastic ovation from the crowd
assembled in the Old Bailey. It was rtunoured on f3atur-
day evening that Bernard bad been discharged from
prison on bail, but on making inquiries at Newgate it
was found that this was not so, and that he still remains
, in custody pending the forthcoming prosecution for
conspiracy.

PA_RIS, SATURDAY EVENING.

The Dibats has the following .
" We have just received the Globe, which (vagina
Mr. Edwin James's defence of M. Simon Bernard. The
general tone of this defence is such that we dare not
reproduce it."