The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-27 00:00:00

The Trial of the Paris Conspirators.

FRIDAY, FEB. 26, 7 A.M.—The Assize Court of
Paris is the largest, or rather the one of which the
dimensions are the least limited of the other courts
which compose the Palais de Justice. It contains
about 200 people,including judges, bar, members of
the other courts not on duty, jury, prisoners, bar-
rieters, and the general public. Whatever be the
number it contains—one can hardly say accommo-
date—there was assembled yesterday morning, two
hours at least before the doors opened, a crowd
sufficient to fill it were it ten times as spacious. The
presiding Judge, who may admit whom he pleases,
was not very liberal, or perhaps strictly just, in
exercising his privilege. One cannot satisfy every-
body; but it seems to be a standing complaint
among the habitues of the Palais that on occasions
like the present the hall is generally packed with
police agents, and the space accorded to the pubiic
is the smallest possible. A good many ladies, who
doubtless had the luck to belong to the families of
the officials or their friends, and who were provided
with the indispensable tickets, occupied the benches
in the reserved part of the court ; and the mem
bers of the magistracy not on service for the day
stood or sat on the platform behind the Judges.
The jury were to the right of the Judges, of whom
there were three—the President, M. Devienne ;
and close to the jury was a table, on which were
placed the eight bombs found with the prisoners.
Six of them were whole; the two others in frag-
ments, as experiments had been made to ascertain
their explosive power. Four pistols, two revolvers,
one air gun ingeniously constructed, four poniards,
and a large dagger lay near the bombs. A :mall port-
manteau, a travelling clothes-bag of oil cloth, and a
horn and `game poach completed what are called
les pieces de conviction. After some preliminary
formalities the President ordered the accused to be
brought into court. The four entered one by one,
preceded and followed by gendarmes, and took the
places assigned them. Each was separated from
his companion by a gendarme, and five gendarmes
sat in a line immediately behind them. Their
counsel occupied seats on a bench under them, and
divided by a partition. The prisoners, who are of
the true Italian type—dark complexion and black
hair—presented themselves without any visible
embarrassment. They wore moustaches, but no
whiskers, and in bearing and manner are of the
most ordinary class. Their features, with perhaps
the exception of Greco, who has a rather intelligent
countenance, and seems superior to his companions,
are of the coarsest kind. Seaglioni, the youngest of
the four, is slight, and of a paler complexion than
the others. They answered the questions put by
the judge as to their name, age, and profession
without hesitation. The jury were sworn in the
usual form; the right hand held up towards the
large picture of the Crucifixion, and repeating the
oath after the clerk of the Court. When this was
over the acte d'accusation, which you will have re-
ceived before this, was read. The reading of this
document occupied three quarters of an hour, when
the direct examination of the prisoners (the interro.
gallon) commenced. Greco was the first, and his
examination lasted about 50 minutes. The acte
d'accusation had been translated into Italian for the
prisoners, who speak but little French. The ques-
tions put the President were on the points set
forth in the indictment. Greco had some diffi-
culty in understanding these questions, or in re-
plying to them, and an interpreter had to be
employed for the whole four. There was no
attempt at denial or equivocation on the part of i
Greco. He admitted all that is stated concerning
himself, his relations with Mazzini, and the object
for which he came to Paris —the object being the
assassination of the Emperor, which was planned
between him and Mazzini. From Mazzini he had
received the letters which were found concealed on
his person. From Mazzini he had received the
money to enable him to live in Paris until the deed
should be consummated ; and from Mazzini he had
received the weapons to be employed in it. No per-
son came between him and Mazzini. He had never
spoken with Mazzini's secretaries about the plot; it
was directly with Mazzini, and with him alone he
had to do. From Mazzini he had received the 3,000 f.
The first four shells he had received were sent to him
from London, and the other six he got from Mosto,
who was not in the secret. He had introduced him-
self into the house of Prince Murat, in order to
throw the police off their guards as they never would
suppose that a man who frequented Prince Murat's
house could be engaged in a conspiracy against the
Emperor. Imperatori had never shown the least
desire to separate himself from the others; on the
contrary, he always appeared decided to follow them
to the last. He declared that his intention was to
throw the shells into or under the carriage of the
Emperor on his way to or from the Opera in the Rue
Lepelletier ; and the use he meant to put the re-
volvers, pistols, and poniards to was to defend him-
self ; or, if necessary, to complete the work of assas-
sination.

After the examination of Greco that of Trabuco
commenced. Trabuco began by saying that all that
had been said by Greco about the conspiracy and
its object was the exact truth. To the question as
to whether lie had not been convicted in London of
theft, he said it was not for theft, but for having
pawned a watch belonging to a friend ; and that his
imprisonment was only for three months. He had
been engaged as a singer in a coffeehouse in Lon-
don: To the question as to whether on his arrival
in Paris he had not been condemned for a similar
offence, he replied—
" Yes ; but I was in a wretched condition. I tried to gain
my living by teaching music, but I did not succeed. I have
been one of Garibaldi's soldiers ; I have shed my blood for
my country—for the country that I love. I am humane ;
but when I saw my unfortunate country given over to
brigands, and when I saw the Emperor of the French shut-
ting his eyes to the fact—and yet he is the father of a
family, the father of a nation—well, he shut his eyes—l
grew desperate. I have a ball for the service of my coun-
try. After that we had the immense misery of Aspromonte.
My beloved General (Garibaldi) was wounded and made
prisoner. I was very wretched. It was at that very mo-
ment I made the acquaintance of Greco. I was mad with
grief; I could not advanca or retire. Greco asked me to
dinner. He knew I was a man, and it is true that I was
esteemed at Naples. I gave a concert there which succeeded
admirably. I followed Greco, I had not a farthing in my
pocket. Greco wag very kind to me—kind as a brother.
We agreed to give concerts, but we earned no money. It
was then that he unfolded his plans, and my head was
on fire.

The President—What wero the newspapers that set your
head on fire ?

Trabuco—All the papers in Italy.
He was asked if he had sworn to take away the
Emperor's life. He said he had not " sworn," and
that this part of the business did not belong to
him.

The examination of Trabuco lasted till a quarter
to 1 o'clock. He made no very favourable impres-
sion on the public. His appearance was of the most
ordinary kind. He wore long black hair, greasy
and dirty, a thick black moustache, and beard. He
spoke very little French, with a decidedly Italian
accent, but in his manner of answering was far more
animated than the others. He avowed all.
Imperatori was next examined. He appeared
more intelligent than Trabuco. He tried to speak
French a little better than Trabuco, and answered
with calmness all the questions put to him. He
threw all the blame on Greco, who, by little and
liitle, he said, had got him into the plot, so that it
was no longer in his power to draw back. It was
he who had introduced Scaglioni to Greco, but he
denied that it was he who had incited him to join
in the plot. Ho seemed to look upon Greco with
the utmost contempt.
Scaglioni flatly contradicted Imperatori, who, ho
said, was the first to speak to him about the plot.
He told Imperatori that he should take time to re-
flect ; and two days after he had made up his mind
to join them. His introduction to Greco was, there-
fore, a mere formality. Scaglioni admitted that he
was present when the bombs were loaded.
The impression produced by the examination of
the prisoners may be unjust, but, as far as I could
perceive, it was that Greco had enticed the others
to join in the conspiracy with the intention of de-
nouncing them at the first favourable opportunity.
It was even rumoured that he had at one time
served as an agent in the secret police. What, per-
haps, led people to think so was the facility with
which he accused Mazzini. It was chiefly on the
complicity of Mazzini that the investigation, seemed

to turn, and Greco invariably declared that the
orders for everything were given by Mazzini.
The witnesses, who are 20 in number, were then
called. The first was the Commissary of Police of
St. Louis. He repeated what he had already set
forth in the acte d'accusatzon—viz., that when the
prisoners presented their passports on their arrival
at the frontier he was struck by the name of Tra-
buco, who had in 1862 been pointed out to him as
a dangerous character ; that he had informed the
Prefect of Police of the fact, and had sent one of
his agents with him to Paris.
The proceedings were suspended at half-past 2.
At 3 o'clock the Court resumed, and the other
witnesses were called. The landlady and the land-
lord of the house where the prisoners lodged gave
the same evidence as mentioned in the acte d'accu-
satzon, The evidence which produced the greatest
impression in the Court was that of M. Devisme, the
well-known Paris gunmaker. He deposed to having
examined the bombs, revolvers, and the poniards
found in possession of the accused. The bombs are
of a perfectly oval shape and are about the size of a
swan's egg. They are cast in zinc. They might
easily be constructed in a private room. M. De-
visme and his assistants had tested their explosive
powers. He put them in a cask, the staves of which
were nearly an inch thick, and bound with strong
icon hoops. He exploded them by means of a slow
match, for they were very dangerous to handle.
They burst into 30 or 40 parts, tore through the
staves, brook the hoops in pieces, and the fragments
buried themselves in the wall of the cellar is which
the experiment was made. Their effect when thrown
among a crowd, or near a carriage, must have been
terrific. They are about three-quarters of an inch
thick. He had tried the others, after having taken
out the powder with which they were loaded, by
throwing them on the pavement, or macadamised
surface, and on a boarded floor ; and three or four
of the percussion caps invariably exploded. In fact
they wt re most formidable projectiles.
An expert was next examined to prove Mazzini's
handwriting. It is understot,d that a document in
the writing of Mazzini during the Republican Go-
vernment of Rome, now in the archives of the
Foreign-office, was produced, and compared with
the letter of instructions said by Greco to have been
given to him by Mazzini. The expert entered into
a long statement to show that the handwriting was
the same.

Several other witnesses were th en examined, but
their evidence was little more than a corroboration
of what has already appeared in the ode cl'accui
nation.

PARIS, FRIDAY EVENING.

To-day, judgment was passed on the four Italian
conspirators. Greco and Trabuco are condemned
to transportation for life, and Imperatori and
Scaglioni to 20 years' imprisonment.

MARKETS—This Day,

COVENT GARDEN.

There was a small supply of fruit and vegetable at our
market to-day. The trade was firm, at the following quo-

tations ;