The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-12 00:00:00

r
LPRICE SD.

TIIE INSURGENTS OF BEZIERS,
A court-martial assembled at Montpellier on the
18th ult. to try the chiefs, fourteen in number, of the
insurrection at Beziers, department of the Herault, in
December last. The names and occupAions of the
accused were—Peret, a distiller; Coutelou, plasterer ;
Salleles, cooper; Faret, shoemaker; Cmurdacier, eon
tractor for puh!ic works; Marme, landownir •' Ceds
sous, agent de remplacement, militaire; Lauren',
street sweeper ; Vidal, gardener ; Cadvlarl, stone-
cutter; Pages, tanner; Oalibert, alias Le Chat, far-
mer; Boyer, pavour; Salvo], cooper. In the body
of the court were a quantity of finigkets, scythes,
poignartfa, pi.chforks, pstols, swords, ;yammers, s-ticks.
axe., &c., &e. together with some (I•thes st.ainej
with blood and dirt. The indictment. which was very
long, set forth the following facts :—The news of the
coup (fetal at Paris reeched Beziers on th& 3,1 De-
cember, and was announced to the population by pla-
cards of the autherNes. It caused considerable agi-
tation. Some men known to belong to the secret so-
cieties, which for sometime before had existed in dif-
ferent parts of the department, went to cafes and pub-
lic houses, and there heid exciting language, calcula-
ted to inflame the passions of the people. The sub-pre-
fact and other authorities took measures for preserving
order; the troops were ordered to be kept in their
barracks ready to act; and a detachment of 25 men
of the 12th Regiment were sent to the sub-prefecture.
The next day, at an early hour in the morning, the
agitation became more menacing ; men in arms
appeared in the streets, and a meeting of the chiefs
of the revolutionary party was held atThe house of
Peret. Presently a column of about 6,000 men,
armed with muskets, scythes, clubs, pistols, kitchen
spits, cutlasses fixed on sticks, and all sorts of weapons,
marched to the sub-prefecture. They uttered fierce
cries and brandished their weapons. The Mayor,
who had been up the greater part _of the night, on
seeing the column pass, hurried to the Hotel de Ville,
where he found every one asleep. He caused defensive
measures to be taken, and then hastened to the sub-
prefecture. The sub-prefect had also been up all
night, and had received alarming news from the
adjacent villages, especially from Villeneuve. He
had just before sent off some gendarmes to the latter
rpelcacetowahsih hadscist the j
Mayorust commenced.inque Whilstllinganar theme my
di insur-
rection
was still in conversation with the sub-prefect a slip of
paper was brought sto the latter, containing the
following words :
" In the name of the Sovereign People, in the name of

the violated Constitution,

" You, its representative, are summoned to give up
your powers, on account of the violation of Art. 51 of
that Constitution, which declares that the President
forfeits his power if he dissolves the Assembly—and it
appears from the dispatch placarded on the 3d that he
has done that.
" Deliberated in the public streets, this 4th December,
1851.
The sub- " THE PEOPLE."
prefect's first impression was that this do-
cument had been seized by the police but, on
leaving his room to make respectinginquirieswoi
found a deputation of three men tn; f i
him. h e
He asked them what they wanted ? and g thoery s'id
" We are the delegates of the people, and yen- must'
resign at this very moment your functions to us,
and withdraw." " I hold my powers from a re-
gular government," said the sub-prefect, " end I
will not give them up to a deputation of the enzeute."
"Do you count on your soldiers ?" said one of the
deputation. " Well, if you do, I tell you they will
not fire. They know as well as we do thet the Con-
stitution has been violated, and that the people have
regained possession of their rights. Therefore.all re-
sistance is impossible. We are ten thousand in
number, ready to march." "If I only had two
men," said the sub-prefect, " I would not hesitate
to get myself killed with them sooner than do what
you want ; and I ask you, if you were in my place,
would you do otherwise ?" One of the men, who
seemed much affected, remarked, "No ; and, in short,
I should not be sorry to shelter you with my body
from a bullet." The sub-prefect then sent to the
barracks for an additional force, and called the detach-
ment at the sub-prefecture to arms. Shortly after a
detachment of soldiers arrived, and with the others
prepared for resistance. Some minutes later the co-
lumn of insurgents appeared, and the soldiers pre-
sented their muskets. The insurgents cried, " Vire
la ligne I" They were beaded by some of the pri-
soners. Summonses were made in the usual form to
the insurgents to disperse in the name of the law, but
they responded by a discharge of musketry. The
troops returned the fire. Eight of the insurgents were
killed, 16 wounded, and the others took ,to flight,
throwing aside their arms, and abandoning their vic-
tims. Meanwhile other bands committed gross ex-
cesses in different parts of the town ; and one of these
hand shot at and attacked with scythes two gentle-
men named Bernard and Vernhes—the former a
landed proprietor, the latter registrar of the Tribunal.
Bernard was so dreadfully injured that he died on the
spot, and M. Vernhes still lies in a dangerous state.
Some of the insurgents threatened a female, who
keeps a tobacconist's shop with death, and others
cried in patois, "To the lantern with her ! To the
lantern !" Meanwhile the troops turned out, and
attacked the insurgents with great vigour. Attempts
were made to form barricades, but they were pre-
vented ; and after a short resistance, all the insurgents
were dispersed, and order was re-established. The
prisoners who had distinguished themselves in the
fray, or were known as chiefs of the revolutionary '
party, were subsequently captured. The number of
witnesses called for the prosecution was very great.
They established all the important facts stated in the
indictment, and disclosed others of deep interest. It
was proved that secret societies existed at Beziers and
lin the neighbourhood, and that the persons who were
' received into them bad .to take an oath to obey their
chiefs implicitly, and bound themselves to put to death
any members who should betray the secrets of the
society, or refuse to obey the instructions of their
officers. The obligations of the oath, administered by
order of the central committees, were that all the
means and energy of the members should be directed
to the establishment of a democratic social Republic,
but out of those societies there sprung up others, in
which the members were organised with a view to
pillage, and with an understanding that, in the event
of a conflict, the working classes should fall indiscri-
minately upon and massacre every man above their
I own class, whatever might be his politics or his posi-
tion. The murder of M. Bernard, and the dreadful
wounds inflicted upon M. Vernhes, could only be
,
ascribed to the men composing these societies, n
several of the witnesses declared theirt cause they
conviction
that these gentlemen were attacked,
no
the
in they were of
were personally obnoxious, hut because
the class of the bourgeoisie. It transpired
persons had
course of the trial that severtal
to
appear
in
the
the insurgents
re-
ceived a friendly warning not
streets during the commoevery as
T
person not wear-
had resolved to fire upon f a
working man.
ing a blouse or the dress
Droved bY the fact that
pillage was intended
the insurgents.. ,t,
were; -ry-
a considerable numberwoasf
• which they intended to place
the with bags, In
tbe booty. The accounts given
cruelty some of the wit-
nesses of the ferocity andcc.ounts given by
coals were of the insurgents
towards their vi
merely inflictini horrifying.
death, Theybut when
not satisfied with m
• Vernhes were lying on the
M. Isiernard and
ground and , imploring mercy, the wretches again
and oneof them
fired upon them te boasted after the
he: had shown his patriotism by plung-
ing
conflict that
pitchfork into the very bones of his victim.
his
All the witnesses agreed in describing M. Peret as
the chief of the democratic party at Beziers, and it
was proved that meetings had been held at his house,
at which the rising Was determined upon, and from
which orders were issued to the different chiefs and
officers of the secret societies to call out their men
and proceed to a fixed place of rendezvous. Most of
the witnesses for the prosecution, however, expressed
an opinion that M. Perot was opposed to massacre
and pillage., and regretted the excesses which the
insurgents had committed. For the defence, several
witnesses were called for the purpose of proving an
alibi in favour of some of the prisoners, but the at-
tempt failed, and four of the witnesses prevaricated to
such an extent that the president of the court-martial
ordered them to be taken into custody with a view to
a prosecution for perjury. When the evidence bad
closed, however, the president had these persons
brought before him, and informed them that although
they bad exposed themselves by their false testimony
to the penalty of imprisonment for life with bard
labour, he was disposed to take their ignorance into
consideration, and to suppose that they had been
guilty from a feeling of humanity towards the
prisoners. He would, therefore, order their dis-
charge from custody, leaving them to the justice
of God and their remorse of conscience. After
the pleadings of the different advocates for the
defence, and the reply of the commissioner of the
Government, the president, on the 29th ult., the trial
having occupied 11 days, ordered the court to be
cleared, and the deliberation commenced on the ques-
tions, one hundred in number, brought forward by
the prosecution. The deliberation having closed, the
to
fourteen prisoners were brought forward
their sentences. They were ell declared guilty.
demned
Chomac, Vidal, Cadelard, and Pages wereescreee were
to death i Peret, Coutelou, Galibert, an...d .14
sentenced to transportation in merleflu"
i
Balleles, Name, and ssivan to place ;
trAnsporta-