The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-26 00:00:00

HORRIBLE CASE.

PARIS, JUNE 23.—1 stated to you briefly yesterday, that tilt
Court of Correctional Police was engaged in the investigation
of an affair deeply interesting to all British parents and guar-
dians, who, from whatever motive, send their children for
education to France. Of that case the following are the lead-
ing features :
Some few years since, the guardian of a young English girl
of respectable family intrusted her to the care of a Mrs. Bre-
reton, an Englishwoman, then tesiding at, or about to proceed
to, Boulogne- sur,Mer—(a c:ty lik-ly to derive much cele-
brity from the manner in which scholastic matters are con-
ducted within it). Airs. 13rereton had a married daughter_
Airs. or Madame Lusignan. After a brief residence in Bou-
logne, the family came to reside in Paris, whither they
brought the young person . . . now aged about
15 years, and a still younger girl, named . . . .

(now 12 years old). r Soon after their arrival in Paris, Madame
Lusignan made the acquaintance, and became the there ami of
a Baron St. Haouin, late a Captain in a French regiment, but
at present the President of the Banque Philanthropique. It
was charged that the woman Lusignan brought the two chil-
dren confided to the care of her mother to the private apart-
ment of the Baron, No. 45, Rue Laffitte, and aided him in an
assault upon the younger child, and in the commission of a
capital offence upon the elder. Under the influence of Madame
Lusignan, or her mother, the poor children concealed for some
time their sad tale, but it came out at length, and on an in-
quiry into it the elder girl, at the pressing entreaty, as she
swore, of Mrs. Brereton, denied the truth of her previous
allegation. The younger child never for a moment departed
from the statement she had made.

The matter, however, reached the ears of the Secretary and
some supporters of the British Orphan Institution in Paris.
They immediately communicated with the guardian of the
elder girl, who promptly came forward, and in consequence a
judicial inquiry into the affair was instituted. Nothing could
exceed the indignation of the Attorney-General, to whom the
inquiry was delegated, on, hearing the evidence; afid nothing
could go beyond the earnestness with which he entered upon
iteno: his d,etermin•ation to probe the subject to the bottom,
and to prosecute with the utmost rigour should there appear
ground for it. A technical or formal proceeding had, how-
ever, been neglected, to which it is not possible to allude
here, so that corroborative proof of the outrage committed on
the elder child was wanting. The case, therefore, instead of
becoming one for the consideration of the Cour d'Assize and
a jury, resolved itself into a misdemeanor.
The cause came on, as I have already said, before the
Seventh Chamber of Correctional Police vest: rday. The pro-
secution was conducted by the Procureur de Roi (substitute of
the Attorney-General). Counsel was retained by the friends
of the victims, end other advocates a; peered for the accused.
The nature of the evidence to be given induced the presiding,
magistrates to order that the court be cleared. The few facts
with which I am, therefore, about to trouble you have been
communicated to me by an ear-witness, on whose statement I
am sure you may implic►tly rely.
After an animated and eloquent speech from the Procureur
do Roi, which lasted during ae hour and a quarter, and in
which he dwelt upon the enormity of the guilt charged upon
the accused (Madame de Lusignan and the Baron Saint
Haouin), both present, the children deposed to all the circum-
stances of the assaults committed upon them, and varied nut
from their statements in their respective cross-examinations.
A young English medical man was then produced, who received'
a severe reprimand from the Court for having presumed,
with-
out authority, to enter upon an examination in support of the
capital charge made by the unhappy victim.
The Couna•el Madame Lusignan then rose, and in a long
speech sought tr extenuate the conduct of his client, whose
liaison with thy• Baron Saint Haouin, he treated with great
lightness, and a a natural consequence of her marriage with
an Englishman, ?chose proverbial neglect of their wives was
so well known. "Englishmen," said the• Learned Gentleman,
" treat their wives only as they do their horses." Her pre-
ference, therefore, of a Frenchman of so distingue an appear-
ance as the Baron, was, therefore, pardonable, if not justifi-
able !" The Baron's lawyer sought not to deny but to miti-
gate the charge brought against him, trusting that in decid-
ing upon it the Court would take, into consideration " the
state of morals of the present time," and regard with indul-
gence " an old soldier (35 years of age), brought up, not in
the observances of private life, but amid the licentiousnes of
camps."

Tile Court, having deliberated, delivered its judgments, ac-
quitting the Baron, but pronouncing the woman Lusignan
guilty, and sentencing her to imprisonment for one year, to a
tine of 100 f., to deprivation of civil rights for two }ears, and
to payment of all costs.

1 have thus, I trust it will be deemed, stated the facts of this
horrible case with extreme moderation. In giving than at all
I have not suffered myself to be influenced by the feelings
which even in this modified form, they are calculated to suggest,
and have, in fact, been only prevailed upon to submit them to
you for publication, in the hope that they will induce caution
on the part of such English parents. relatives, or guardians,
who shalt; after having read them, persist in their determina-
tion to send their children here for education.

Having spoken of the guilty, I may add a compliment to par-
ties, whose conduct in this matter redounds highly to their
credit—l mean the Attorney-General and the English gentle-
men connected with the British orphan schools.—Correspondent
of the Times.

ACCIDENT TO TILE WIDOW OF DR. BA -
BINGTON.—Th:s lady is not expected to recover from the effects
of the fillowing shocking accident which befel her a few days
a2o :—She had beckoned a cab opposite to the Pantheon,
in Oxford-s'ree', but the driver not observing her, she
stepped over the road towards the cab, when one of the
Paddington cmniba:ses came along, and as the unfortunate
lady was retracing her steps to the foot pavement, she was
knocked down by the horses, and before the driver could pull
up, the wheels passed over her left arm and leg. She was
instantly carried into the shop of Mr. Bell, chemist, and from
thence in a chair to her res;denre, No. 31, Gearge-street,
Ilanover-square, where she was promptly attended by her son,
Dr. Bahington, Sir Benjamin Brodie,-and' other gentlamen.
The lady's left leg- was shockingly crushed, and her left arm
broken in several places. '1 he driver of the omnibus rendered
every assistance at the time, and was said w be not blameable
for the accident.
BUSINESS OF THE COURT OF QUEEN'S
%New—We have had the following statement forwarded to
us, and readily give it publication. At the beginning of the
last term there were in the new trial paper for argument 189
cases; there have been disposed of 104, leaving for argument
only 85, being about 60 less than at the corresponding period of
1840, and nearly 80 less than in 1839. It thus appears that the
Act of Parliament for additional sittings, aided by the unwea-
ried efforts of the Judges, has at length very materially reduced
the great arrear of new trials which has for more than ten years
pressed so heavily on the suitors of this Court.