The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-31 00:00:00

FRANCE.

-We have received the following despatch :
PARIS, FRIDAY, Jan. 30, 9 a.m.
After three hours deliberation, the Court of
Caseation has rejected Verger's appeal.

PARIS, THURSDAY.
The appeal of Verger came on before the Court
()e
Sassation to-day. The proceedings opened at
Co"-Past 11 o'clock, and the crowd. was nearly as
usiderable as on the day of the trial at the Court
of Assize M. Legagneur, Counseller at the Court
three
Cessation, presented his report, explaining the
turee points on which the sentence was sought to
..,13 reversed, and which wert put forth in the paper
Presented by M. Morin in support of the appeal
M. Morin, on the part of the appellant, then
addressed the Court. The appeal of a convict
Betenced to capital punishment, he said, was one
those cases which no member of the bar could
refine to undertake; humanity, justice, and the
traditions of the bar imperiously required a defence..
difficult
been entrusted by the Court with that
the
task, he should endeavour to perform it to
e hest of his ability, and master the painful
emotions to which it would give rise. He was the
Th
ereencouraged to do so as, on the presentoccasion,
e only question was one of law, and to that he
th°llld address himself before that Supreme Court,
legal
judicial Senate, the guardian and protector of
forms, the conservator of the authority and
Purity of the law. Ho had nothing whatever to
say
f on the crime itself of which the prisoner was
repeat found guilty by the Court below. He could only
with every man of sense that it was
abominable. A virtuous prelate stabbed to the
eart during a religious solemnity, and by the
hand of a priest whom he had relieved in his
necessities; who was in the act of blessing him
Whole he knelt among the crowd. Even now, he
( Morin) could not understand how the prisoner
ela,ld have committed such a crime—a crime
c1"ell had produced stupefaction among the
?rgY and among society at large. It was a
lirTle unprecedented, without explanation,
lees by insanity. He did not plead madness
4t"
the moment of the act ; that was the duty
✓▪
the prisoner's counsel at the Court of Assize,
alnd that "duty he had scrupulously performed.
t
was not permitted to him to discuss that
question after the verdict of guilty had been pro-
elleced. He would maintain tbat there was mad-
e!" now which required a suspension, and he
would be authorised to do so by the fundamental
13rieciples which he put forward in the case of the
lIPPeal of the convict Gilbert, and which were
eg'ilfirtezed by the remarkable judgments of the
"ourt of Cessation on the 25th January, 1839 ; for
at Whatever period mental derangement disclosed
itself the
,judge ought to pause from proceeding
against an unfortunate wretch who had neither the
the
of his crime and of his situation, nor
;,,,e sentiment of the rights and duties of defence.
e'e Should, perhaps, be required to produce proofs
,-'ad juridical documents. He confessed he had
:eerle—he had no proofs but the scandalous violence
tluich had outraged witnesses and judges alike, at
,"e„ moment they exhibited the most admirable
Ttence—violence so extravagant as to necessitate
e removal of the accused from the court—of the
eeused, who was on his trial for his life He would
„°t here appeal to his own personal opinions, nor
the manifestations and scientific opinions which
lie constantly met with, because it was errone-
ously believed that he was bound to prove
insanity, so far as he could judge from public
opinion, It was only, then, to the examination
of the prdceedings themselves that his arguments
'would refer. The question was this:—Had the
Forms
and delays required by the law for the
sacred right of defence been observed since the
decision of the court for putting the accused on
his trial, and which decision had been main-
tained? This is what he could, and what he was
bound to dispute in the development of his
arguments
explained his arguments for annulling the sentence. M. Morin
h
grounds for supporting the
a
The first related to the constitution of
the Court of Assize. He admitted that conform-
ably With the letter of the law, and with the
flecree of the Court of Cessation of the 15th of
November, 1855, the chief president might preside
at the Court of Assize by retaining as first asses
aor the president named by the keeper of the seals,
but, he asked, was not an ordinance necessary for
the sake of regularity, which should state why the
e°lnpesition of the court was changed, since the
chOnge did not take place in consequence of any
tinfeeeseen circumstance, but a change of authority
aubstitu:..ing one president for another. The second
Round wht.,eb. M. Morin argued, is founded on the
-Bhortening of tLe period allowed for the trial. He
insisted particularly that 48 hours hp.i not inter,
vened between the rejection of the appeal and the
Appearance of the accused before the Court of
; and he asked whether, in law, this delay
was sufficient for the accused to prepare his defence
aft the
And summon his witnesses. According to counsel
prisoner the period was so short that the
Accused could not be forced to accept the
al• No doubt the object and the result of
the law of the 10th of June, 1855, was to prevent
Prisoners from escaping from justice by dilatory
proceedings ; but. in the present case, the appeal
.iwnas regularly drawn up, consequently, the code of
rOB should have been followed. Now, according
e article 296, the accused had five days from his
t''aettnlination to appeal against the order for trial.
If
ee allowed this period to pass without an appeal,
thet Presumption was that he had prepared his
defence;,, but, ~'cording to precedent, it is not the
Zile when he has chosen to demand that the pro-
ceedings shall be annulled. In that case, the
.It),:eeunaption was that be had devoted his time
Prepare his appeal, and not his defence,
"efore the Court of Assize. Ho should,
°Oll sequently, have been allowed a farther
delayel„e, If not, it might be said that he was
-"10 to be called before the Court of
"'▪ seize immediately after the notification of the
rejection of his appeal, and he might thus find it
_
A4aterially impossible to summon his witnesses, of
"hore the list must be notified to the public prose-
'lltor twenty-fours hours previously. In feet, the
:eklaed protested at the trial, and demanded the
11,1,1 e necessary for summoning his witnesses, of
▪ e"°ra he had furnished a list to the Attorney-
eneral. It was replied that the facts on which
wished to examine his witnesses were
irrelevant ; but that is a contradiction which
nnot be admitted in an absolute manner,
'e• r it is not possible to know whether those.
ittresses would not have cleared up some doubts
And established established the insanity. Arriving at the third
c.rnt, which he declared to be the most important,
is" Morin maintained that, whether according to
the
taw of 9th September, 1835, well considered, or
even oeording to the decree which, conformably
With the ,•ight established by that law, prescribed
that the aeejuted should be taken back to prison, the
effect of the ex, mision ought to cease at the conclu-
Oen of the trial, I, and the accused ought to have
en broueht back to' hear the sentence, or at leasthe
o
ll°ll4l have had an opt7ortunity of answering whe-
ther he had anything to add to his defence. M
j °',in admitted that the F:ractice is contrary in
bar's, but he maintained that this practice is con-
.orY to the spirit of the law, and he cited in sup.
port of his argument various pe'e,^edents, among
and'ere the case of Madame Laffaree at Limoges,
18 the trial before the Court of Peer.", in April,
e
34- He then concluded by demanding
proceedings;.i should be quashed, as well in the
that t
ofami e of the principles of defence as in the name
tietuatiee, so much interested in a new exatetina-
be— which should permit the degree of insanity' to
Verified
certainty. ' which had not yet been ascertained to a
Alter 'the speech of M. Morin, the proceedings
were
suspended for some minutes.
the
their being resumed, the President called on
e Procureur General (M. Royer), to address the
M. Royer went over the incidents of the
painful
before the Court of Assize, and alluded to the
Alnful effect produced by the violent conduct of

the accused on that occasion. Such things, he
said, should cease at the threshhold of the Court of
Cassation. After saying few words on the accused
himself, he entered minutely into the three argu
ments put forward by the council for the appellant.
These arguments he refuted at some length, and
he ended by calling on the Court to reject the
appeal.
When the Procureur closed his address the judges
retired to their chamber for consultation. Their
decision was not known at post hour. [Vide
despatch.—The appeal has been rejected.]

TURKEY.

CONSTANTINOPLE, JAN. 19.

The end of last week was fertile in concessions.
The concession for the railroad from the Danube
to the Archipelago has been sent after Mr. Layard,
who has a term of three months after the receipt of
the concession to get up the company. I don't think
there ever was a project presented to the Turkish
Government which was so universally approved
by all and found less objections. Indeed, in several
instances more -•-as given than asked. Thus, Mr.
Layard asked oely for two months to get up the
Company—they Wise, him three. He asked only
for the grant of forests, mines, and quarries in the
immediate vicinity of the line—they gave him 10
miles. The fact was, that every one is so per-
suaded of the great boon which the line will con-
fer, and that it has been prompted by a sincere
desire of benefitting the country. As you know,
the concession was asked and received without
any diplomatic interference, and the whole matter
was settled in eleven days. Here is a proof that
the Turks will do things better if they are left
alone, than if they are interfered with.
General Chesney has likewise got his Irade, or
concession„and leaves to-day. He has a general
concession for the whole line down to Bussorah,
but only the execution of the first section as far as
the Euphrates has been settled. The estimate of
this line, which will be from 120 to 130 miles, is
£1,400,000 sterling, which as a maximum is
guaranteed 6 per cent. If the line begins to pay,
the profits above 6 per cent will, as in the Aidin-
Smyina line, be employed to pay back the gurantee
which the Turkish Government has advanced ;
when this is done all profits above 7 per cent are to
be divided between the Government and the
Company. The detail survey of the line has been
continued all the time the negotiations about the
concession were going on.
The Turkish telegraph line, which has been
interrupted for some days, is now again in order,
and one of the first messages it brought was that
of the _acceptance of the Bank project by Messrs.
Wilkin' "principals. This acceptance arrived on
Saturday last.