The National Register.
London, England, 1815-11-19 00:00:00

TILE NATIONAL

NOV. 19.

Marshal said to him..." My good fellow, you are attached to the
King. Well, don't fret ; make yourself easy."
The Reporter then read the two last interrogatories of the Marshal,
who therein prote,ted that all the expressions attributed to him were
false, and that he never had any correspondence with the island of
Elba. " I knew nothing of the landing of Buonaparte," added he,
" except from M. Bastardy, my notary. I deny also all connection
with the Duchess of Sr. Leer ; I have never seen her since the abdica-
tion of Buonaparte at Fontainebleau. I was invited to dine with her
one day, with the Marquis de Riviere, but declined going, under the
pretext of indisposition."
The Marshal required the insertion in his interrogatory of the Peti-
tion which was presented to the King by his wife, relative to the al-
leged incompetence of the Council of War. The Marshal not only
claims to he tried by the Members of the Chamber of Peers, as hi
natural judges, but complains of the mode of forming the Council ac-
'lording to an analogy which, according to him, is false.—Lastly, the
Marshal required the production of a paper, which he asserted to he
in the pos,essien of the Count de Bourmont. It is the letter by
which Bertrand, in the name of Buonaparte, invited the Generals to
join him. As to the letter which General Bertrand addressed to him-
self, with a proclamation, the Marshal declaeed, that those papers
were destroyed by order of his wife, at the moment when she heard of
his apprehension. and the execution of Colonel Labecleyere
The reading of the papers being finished, one of the judges inquired
if the letter of Marshal Bertrand above. mentioned could not be pro-
cured of the Count de Bourmont
The Reporter observed, that the Marshal appealed to that letter as
exculpatory evidence ; it therefore rested with him to apply for it.
The President—" The reading of the papers being finished, the ac-
cused is about to he brought in. I must remind the public that all
marks of approbation or disapprobation are forbidden. I therefore or-
der the Commandant of the gnarl to secure every person who shall'
not behave with the respect which is due to misfortune and thi-; tri-
bunal "

Marshal Ney was then introduced by Officers of gendarmerie. He
did not take his seat upon the benches for the accused, which had
been given up to the public, and upon which persons of the highest
tank were seated. An arm-chair was given him in the centre of the
semi-circular space opposite to the judges. Several Officers of th•
gendarmerie seated at some distance, and two sentinels, the one belong-
ing to the national guard, the other a veteran, served for his escort.
The accu el was in full uniform, and wore a black crape round his
arm, as mourning for his father-in-law.
The President—" What is your name, birth-place, and quality ?"
Marshal Nev—" Gentlemen, from deference to the Marshals of
France and Lieutenant-Generals, I have consented to answer the
questions addressed to me in their name by Count Grundler, as I
did not wish to obstruct, by premature steps, the progress of the
preparatory proceedings ; but now that those proceedings seem to be
brought to a conclusion. and that I am summoned before a tribunal,
1 think it my duty to abstain from further reply. I convert my re-
servations, already made, into a formal denial of the competence of any
council of war to take cognizance of the criminal process instituted
against me. I declare, therefore, to the Marshals and Lieutenant.
Generals, that wit'tout failing in the respect due to the authority and
consideration which I bear for their character, without having the
slightest idea of impeaching the character of any one of them, but to
avail myself of the privilege attached to my titles, I decline to be
tried by the Council of War, and to be placed in the hands of the
judges assigned to me by the 33d and 34th Articles of the Charter.
" Being a stranger to judicial matters, having personally no ac-

quaintance either with the laws or with criminal proceedings, I ex-
pect of the indulgence of the Marshals and Lieutenant-Generals, that
`they will be.pleased to permit me to assign my motives for declining
their authority more at length, by my Advocate M. Berryer, and en.
treat their attention in his behalf."
The President—" Marshal, it is necessary to ascertain the identity
of your person. The answer to the questions which lam going to
ask, binds you to nothing, especially as the Council accepts your de.
claration, and authorises you to assign the motives for it."

EGTSTER.

739

The Marshal—" My na• e is Michel Ney. I Was born at Saar
Louis, in the department of the Moselle, on the 10th of January, 17C9.
My titles and qualities are—Marshal of France (in !us interrogatory by
the Report r, the accused added the quality of Ex Pcer of Fra,lce).
Duke of Elchingen, Prince of the Moskwa, Knight of St Louis, Grand
Cordon of the Legion of Honour. Knight of the Iron Crown, Grand
Cross of the Order of Christ."

M. Berryer, Advocate for the accused, then argued at length against
the competence of the tribunal, asserting that, according to the Char-
ter, the Chamber of Peers is alone competent to take cognizance /lithe
crimes of high treason and attempts against the safety of the State.
M. General Grundler comtn-nce I Isis pleadings nearly as follows :
The country, in mourning, behol.:s th s day with sorrow; cue of its
defenders, lately distinguished by so much glut,, e 7tering the temple
• of Justice, and placing himself among the accused. Baneful result of
our political dissentious ! Fatal error, which brings the sword of the
laws upon him who should be their firmest support !
In the times of revolutions, crimes or faults are not always punished
with impartiality and justice. You will give the tine example of a
Military Tribunal deliberating with calmness amidst the effervescence
of all the passions, upon the fate of an illustrious accused. The eyes
of France, of all Europe, are upos us:—We are not biased in our du-
ties by any foreign influence. We shall depart from this circle with
the feeling of an irreproachable conscience, and without tearing either
its judgment or that of postelity. •
The Reporter has exerted himself in learned researches into the
origin and privileges of the Peerage, the origin and the prerogatives of
the Marshals of France. The Chamber of Peers is, in his eyes, the
only Tribunal which can sit in judgment in a criminai case upon a
Peer of France. It has been argued, that a prissner should he tried
in the rank, or according to the quality, which he enjoyed at the time
of his a; rest. It has been thence inferred, that Marshal Ney, hav-
ing ceased tote a Peer of France by the single fact of having act eptcd
a Peerage from Buonaparte, has ceased to have any right to he tried by
the Chamber of Peers. This appears to be a bold opinion —Every
day persons are brought before Councils of War, accused of military
' olfmces, committed at the time when they made part of the army,
although they may have since ret•red from tlf. service. After having
presented, in all their force, the arguments which oppose themselves
to the competence of the Council,- the Reporter has pressed a last
and powerful ccinsideration-L•the judgments of Councils of War may
be deferred, in relation to form, to a Council of Revision. The Tri-
bunal, whatever may be the rank of the accused. is always composed
of a Fi.-Id Marshal, President, two Colonels, two Lieutenant-Colo•
nels, and a Captain. Would it be proper to submit to a tribunal,
thus composed, a judgment given by lour Marslrals of France and
three LieutenOnts-General 2—Ought not the tribunals which decide its
the (Wilier resort to be of a superior order 2—The Reporter, however,
has not dissembled any of the arguments which militate in favour of
the contrary system ; he has not ventured to draw any concluslcns ;
and he says, " It remains fOr us to refer to the intelligence and im-
partiality of a Council charged to try a question which had no prece-
dent in the annals of our history."

M. Joinville, the King's Attorney-General, answered all the ob-
jections of the Advocate of the accused, and the Reporter. The
competence of the Council appeared to him clearly iixed, by the
Ordinances of the 6th Mat.. ti and 24th July. The Charter grants to
the King the power of taking such measures, in extraordinary cir_
cumstances, as the public satcty demands. The Ordinance which
directs that Buonaparte and all his accomplices should be tried before •
a Council of War, obtained at the time the universal assent of the
Chambers, and of the whole nati, n. Marshal Ney must have been
fully sensible of it when he quitted Paris. This impression could
not have been effaced from his memory, when, sonic days after, he
incurred the severity of the Ordinance, and placed himself out of the
empire of the conatitution. 1 demand that the exception to the ju-
risdiction he disallowed, and that the trial shall proceed."
The Marshal was re-con'hictel to the prison cf the Conciergerie.
The Court retired into the Council Chamber, and after a deliberation
of half an hour, pronounced the following judgment:—
The Coui;cil having deliberated upon the question, whether it