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

HORRIBLE CASE.

PARIS, JUNE 23.—1 stated to you briefly yesterday, that tht
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 yount, English girl
of respectable family intrusted her to the care of° a Mrs. Bre-
reton, an Englishwoman, then residing at, or about to proceed
to, Boulogne- sur-Aler--(a city likely to derive much cele-
brity from the manner in which scholastic matters are con-
ducted within it). Mrs. Brereton had a married daughter—
Mrs. 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). Soon after their arrival in Paris, Madame
Lusignan made the acquaintance, and became the chere 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 ; and nothing
could go beyond the earnestness with which be entered upon
it, nor his determination 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 ease, 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 yesterday. The pro-
secution was conducted by the Procureur de Roi (substitute of
the Attorney-General). Counsel was retained by the friends
of the victims, and other advocates appeared 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 implicitly rely.
After an animated and eloquent speech from the Procureur
du Roi, which lasted during an 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 not
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 Counsel for Madame Lusignan then rose, and in a long
speech sought to extenuate the conduct of his client, whose
liaison with the Baron Saint Haouin, he treated with great
lightness, and as a natural consequence of her marriage with
an Englishman, whose 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, wan, 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 licentiousness of
camps."
The 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
fine of 100 f., to deprivation of civil rights for two )ears, and
to payment of all costs.
I have thus, I trust it will be deemed, stated the facts of this
horrible case with extreme moderation. In giving them at all
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 shall, 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 THE WIDOW OF DR. BA-
BINGTON.—This lady is not expected to recover from the effects
of the following shocking accident which befel her a few days
ago :—She had beckoned a cab opposite to the Pantheon,
in Oxford-stree, but the driver not observing her, she
stepped over the road towards the cab, when one of the
Paddington omnibasses 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 residense, No. 31, George-street;
Hanover-square, where she was promptly attended by her son,
Dr. Babington, Sir Benjamin Brodie, and other gentlemen.
The lady's left leg was shockingly crushed, and her left arm
broken in several places. The driver of the omnibus rendered
every assistance at the time, and was said to be not blameable
for the accident.
THE MARKET-GARDENERS AND THE NEW
POLICE.—For several weeks past a great degree of ill-feeling
has existed between the police of the F division and the
green-grocers and fruiterers and market-gardeners attend-
ing Covent Garden-market, arising from the arbitrary conduct
of the police, and which will furnish matter for the gentle-
men of the long robe, in the course of the present sittings
after term. It appears that about two weeks ago some
gentlemen made a complaint against the police of their not
being able to ass through Covent Garden-market in conse-
quence of the obstructions created by the carts of the retailers of
vegetables and other produce brought to market; the result was
orders were issued to remove all the vehicles, and so strictly
was this order enforced, that carts, whilst at a distance from
the footpath, were seized and taken to the Green-yard, as well
as the goods in them, and the proprietors conveyed before a
Magistrate, and, in general, fined 205., besides having to pay
some 7s. or Ba. for fees at the Green-yard. In consequmee
of
this state of affairs, a meeting of the gardeners was held, and
the opinion of Sir W. Follett having been taken and been de-
clared to be favourable to them, actions are about to be com-
menced against the alleged offending parties.
CORN-LAWS.—A red-hot monopolist, and a
Corn-law man, a large landed proprietor, was complaining
that a fixed duty would ruin the country. A party asked him
if he had an estate to let at Michaelmas next. He replied he
had. " Well then, Sir," said the other, " let me know what
rent you have had since 1815, and I will take it Gri lease for the
next 26 years, and give you annually the average of what you
have
received for the last 26 years, and also good security."
The offer was refused.
SINGULARbb
justeei
ngaAgab:eCv pickedeChilDENT. Thursday, about
three o'clock in the afternoon, during the heavy shower, a gen-
ptloermehanofrathn
the
across
White A cahr
Hart
rch
Tavern,-1 ane ,
Ntvohetnakhee refuge
slipped u
overnder
thet h e
tsh laa I:nn,cel it.
lafle°g:sl",p,e'ialt°satilb:;eok broken w •
Mr.ai was
es foundal‘masu e
taken
a thatkEeiln
th
oi
ofs
Guy'srDi gehl
.t
is
lliOnt-tert W.,- Wands worth .road.