The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-28 00:00:00

MORNING SUN

THE QUENISSET AFFAIR.

We published in Saturday's columns the judgment
given on -Thursday by the Court of Peers,- but the im-
portance attached to the sentence, and the controversy as
tits legality as applied to the case of Dupoty, render it
hecessary to publish here the preamble of the decree, of
whlch the following is a faithful abstract :
After reciting summarily the act of accusation, and
that the witnesses had been examined and confronted
with the prisoners, and then reciting textually the requi-
sitory of the Procureur-General, and reciting that alI
the prisoners and their Counsel had been heard in their
defence, and that the Court had deliberated upon the
proceedings in seven successive sittings from the 16th to
the 22d inst., both inclusive, it goes on to pronounce
concerning the attentat that—

" Considering that it resulted from the previous exa-
minations and the trial, that on.l3th of September last
there was committed an attempt against the lives of their
Royal Highnesses the Dukes of Orleans, Nemours, and
Aumale, members of the Royal family; considering that
Quenisset, alias Papart, had been convicted of ;making
the above-mentioned attempt; considering that Colom-
bier, Brazier (alias Just), Petit (alias Auguste), Jarrasse
(alias Jean Marie), Dufour, Boggio (alias Martin), Mal-
let, and Boucheron are convicted of having been accom-
plic.,s in the said attempt, either by exciting it with me-
naces or culpable machinations or artifices, by giving in-
structions for its committal, by knowingly and wilfully
procuring arms or other means for its execution, or by
knoain;7ly aiding and abetting the person who made the
attempt in the acts which prepared and facilitated or
consummated it: considering that there does not result
from the trial sufficient proofs against Launois, that he
participated in the said attempt either as principal or ac-
complice :
" In so far as concerns the conspiracy, considering
that it results from the previous examinations and the
trial that a plot was formed for destroying the Govern-
ment, and exciting the citizens or inhabitants to arm
themselves against the Royal authority, or against each
other ;—considering that the plot was conceived and
agreed upon in secret associations, the members of which
were bound by mutual oaths to take up arms upon the
orders of their chiefs with the intention of changing the
Government ;—considering that according to the terms
of Article 69 of the penal code there is complicity of
crime or offence on the part of all those who by intimi-
dations or artifices excited their committal, or gave in-
structions to that effect, or who aided and assisted
the principal in his attempt in the acts which
prepared, facilitated, or consummated it ;—consider-
ing that Article 1 of the law of the 17th of May,
1819, has ranked among the ordinary acts which
constitute complicity, every excitement followed by crime
or offence by written or printed papers, sold or distri-
buted, put to sale ur exposed in public places or meet-
ings, whether there be or not any personal connection
between the author of the excitement and those who
commit the crime; that this provision forms part of the
penal code according to the terms of article 26 of the
law of May 17, 1819, which, in abolishing articles
102, 217, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 374:375, 377,
of the code, orders that they shall be replaced by
the provisions of the said law;—considering that the
law of the Bth of October has not exacted any-
thing relative to excitement to crime, followed by
results; committed by one of the means of publica-
tion provided for by article 1 of the law of May 17,
1819 ; that if the law of the 9th of September, 1835,
has characterised as attempts against the safety of
the State the publications containing excitement to
the crimes provided for by articles 86 and 87 of the
penal code, and has classed them amongst the attempts
which may be brought under the jurisdiction of the Court
of Peers, even when the excitement has not been attended
with results, this provision has simply brought within the
co:npetence of the Coart this kind of attempt, and has
not modified the application of the general principle, in
virtue of which every Court of justice which has taken
cognizance of a crime is competent to try the accomplices
in that crime;—considering that the crimes of attentat and
punt of which the Court has taken cognizance by its deci-
sion; of the 18th Nov. last, presents the character of eon-
.noxity provided for by article 227 of the criminal code ;
considering that Quenisset, alias Papart, Colombier, Bra-
zier, alias Juste, Petit, alias Auguste, Jarrasse, Dufour,
11.ggio, Mallet, and Boucheron, already convicted of
the att,:ntat. and Launois, alias Chasseur, Dupoty, Ba-
sin. arras Napoleon, are convicted of having been con-
reated in the above plot, in knowingly aiding and assist-
ing the authors of the crime in the facts which prepared,
facilitatc-al, or consummated it, or with having excited it
by machinations or criminal artifice, either by writings,
printed papers, sold or distributed, or exposed in public
places, and especially Dupoty, by the 'publication of an
article inserted in the number of the Journal du Potpie
•of the 12th of September last, beginning with the words,
" M. le Marechal Gerard," and ending with the words,
" This is what we wish to recal to their minds," the
said excitement having been followed by results :
" As regards Prioul, Martin, Fougeray, Bouzer, and
Considere, considering that there do not result from the
trial sufficient proofs against theta to show that they
are guilty. either as authors or accomplices of the crimes
above named ;

" Declares Prim], Martin, Fougeray, Bouzer, and Con-
sidere acquitted of the charge brought against them, and
orders that they shall be immediately set at liberty, if
not detained for Ay other cause.
" Declares Quensisset, alias Papart, guilty of the
crime of attempting the lives of their Royal Highnesses
the Dukes d'Orleans, de Nemours, and d'Aumale, mem-
bers of the Royal Family.
" Declares •Columbier, brazier, alias Just Petit, alias
Auguste, Jarrasse, Dutbur, Boggio, Mallet, and Bou-
cheron, guilty of e rnplicity in the said crime, provided
for by articles se,, 88, 59; And 60, of the Penal Code.
" Declares Quenisset, Colombier, Brazier, Petit, Jar-
rasse, Dufour, Boggio, Mallet, Boucheron, Launois,
Dupoty, and Bazin, of the crime of plotting
against the safety of the Stato; which crime is provided
far by articles 87, 'B9, 91; 59, and 60, of the Penal Code,
and article I of the law of May 17, 1819.
Considering that the penalties are to be apportioned
according to the nature and gravity of the participation
.of each of the criminals, and considering articles 7, 12,
17, 20, 28, 29, 36, and 47, of the Penal Code :--
" Condemns Quenisset, Colombier, and Brazier to
death ; Petit, Jarrasse, and Dufour to transportation ;
Bo,ggio and Mallet each to fifteen years' confinement,
with labour ; Boucheron and Launois each to ten years'
confinement, with labour ; Dupoty and Bazin each to
five years' imprisonment, with labour.
"Orders, conformably to Article 47 of the Penal
'code, that the said Boggio; Mallet, Boucheron, Launois,
Dupoty, and Bezin shall be, after the expiration of their
sentences, subject to the surveillance of the police for life.
' " Condemns Quenisset, Colombier, Brazier, Petit, Jar-
rasse, Dufour, Boggio, Mallet, Boucheron, Launois, Du-
poty, and Bazin. jointly and severally, to the expenses of
the trial, which shall be fixed according to law, as well
fur the part to be borne by the condemned persons as
for that which is to be borne by the State.
" Orders that the present judgment shall, by the direc-
tihns
of the Procureur-General, be printed, published,
and 'stuck up wherever it may be necessary, and that it
Shall be read and notified to the accused by the Chief
Registrar of the Court." _ _

[Here follow the signatures of the Peers.]
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE VERDICT.

(From the Presse, Mole organ.) —-
If the condemnation against Dupoty has only Leen
caused by motives exclusively denied from the facts
of the cause, and the profound conviction of his guilt,
we have only to record it with respect ; but if, on the
contrary-, it has been the result of considerations ra-
ther political than judicial, by reasons of
.State de-
duced either from the excesses of the Radical press
or the danger to which our institutions are exposed
by the organisation of secret societies, or by the ne-
cessity of striking a blow which shall have a deep effect
upon the public mind, then, however great may be the
respect commanded by the eminent names of M. Pasquier
the Duke de Broglie, Count Mole, M.M. Bantle,
?,tehilhou, and Persil, Count Portalis, Count de Bas-
tard, Baron de Zangiacomi, Baron Seguier, &c. ; what-
ever grief we may feel at separating ourselves on this
occasion from the Chamber of Peers, which has
always found us the first to defend it against unjust
attacks:, we will not betray the great principles
which we have constantly professed. We will even, against
the Peers, have the courage of our own convictions, and
persist, as
. we have si
immutable
done, in asserting that if
there be a sacred and
truth on earth, it is that
politics should never interfere with the decisions of jus-
tice. Society has other means of defending itself ; when
it thinks it has not, it is lost.
organ.)
(From the Constitationnel? Thiers'
Peers formed into a Court
" We will for the present restrict ourselves to one ob-
servation. The Chamber of
of Justice is a political tribunal, inasmuch
its decisions.
reasons
of
State must have a powerful influence uponha
racter weel"ons'
We do not offer any opinion on this c.
and as' merely
notice it. In a political point of. view,
just, terminatedre
reasons of State, the trial which has
promised immense results. The disclosures. made. b. y
Quenisset, and those subsequently made, is said,
by Colombier and Dufour, were necessarily. calcu-
lated to put an end to those conspiracies of
the
etage
which, for some years past, have disturbed
peace and menaced the life of Royal personages._
it, e
press, which, notwithstanding the ill that is said of 1_ ? ,s
after all, a powerful lever for the Government, and the
great majority of which sincerely desires the mainte-
nanee of order and of the existing institutions—the press,
we say, would naturally have dilated on the happy con-
sequences of these disclosures, and have laboured to dis-
courage for ever all attempts to follow the example of the
conspirators of the Rue Traversiere. Instead of leaving
to the press this useful and patriotic task, the Peers have,
by the condemnation of M. Dupoty, and the questions
to which it gives rise, opened a new and sad arena for
discussion, which will be profitable to none. On the
occasion of a trial, which might have put an end to plots,
a new era has been inaugurated, full of menace of the
rights which were rendered sacred by the Revolution of
July. We are profoundly afflicted at such a course.
(From the Courrier Francais, Thiers' organ.)
The Court of Peers has pronouced its judgment. It
i.--, such as public report said it would be, but which we
were unwilling to believe. The complicity imputed to
M. Dupoty can only be a moral complicity—a connec-
tion between the doctrines emitted by the .Inurnal du
People and the events of the 13th of September. If
the judgment lied been based upon such motives we
could not protest against it with sufficient energy, for it
would be the destruction of all the guarantees which
society has throvv, around human judgment. This is a
secret, however, in the conscience of the Judges ; we
will' not endeavour to probe it. But the Ministry
which brought M. Dupoty before the Court of Peers,
and'which excited the Court to condemn him, thought
much less of the punishment of a pretended conspirator
than of intimidating the entire press, by showing that
upon the first pretext the writer, the most devoted
to constitutional order,might be torn from his family
and his pursuits, andimplicated in an accusation of plot
against the State. But the press will resist this attempt,
the most violent and bold that was ever made, as it had
resisted so many other trials. It will fulfil its mission

without being depressed or exasperated by events ; it
will remain within the law, but will oppose it. The sa-
cred interests which are entrusted to its guardianship do
not permit it to give way.
(From the Siecle, Odilon Barrot.)
The Siecle devotes nearly its first page to a review of
the proceedings which led to the conemnation of M.
Dupoty, and refutes the doctrine upon which the judg-
ment is founded. In conclusion, the Siecle says :—" The
universal stupefaction caused by the judgment prove;
that the public are fully aware of the tendency which
so dreadful a principle as that which has just been laid
down might have in a time of reaction. May the wis-
dom of the country prevent the calamities towards which
a despairing Ministry is driving us."
(From the Temps.)
" Whatever may have been the convictions of the
Court of Peers with regard to M. Dupoty, they appear
to have been influenced by motives respecting which it
is a duty for us to explain ourselves. The press, like the
public, must be impressed by a condemnation of this
kind, but in our opinion it has no cause for uneasiness.
It has never yielded to intimidation—the ordonnances
of July did not stifle its voice. It will make no menace,
but it will be terrified by none."
(From the National, Repnblican.)
Although the public were prepared by vague rumours
for the condemnation of M. Dupoty, we may say, with-
out exaggeration, that it has produced an universa
impression of astonishment and stupor. Even the
partisans of the Government do not disguise the alarm
and grief which they feel at this sentence. Since 1830
no event has excited such general emotion, and we
may add, that if there be alarm, it is less strong
amongst the enemies of the Government than amongst
its friends. The law commands us to respect
the judgment of the Court of Peers, and we will not
violate the law. The sanctuary of the conscience exists
for everybody ; if that of the Judges be tranquil, we will
not attempt to instil remorse. But there is something
above the acts of human justice and the conscience of
individuals, viz., the universal feeling, and truth coin-
pels us to say that this has been painfully, cruelly
shocked. As for ourselves, we reserve for a more calm
moment the reflections created by this judgment. Our
readers must permit us to distrust ourselves, and to con-
trol for a day the emotions by which we are agitated.
The event which has given rise to them is one of great
portent. The entire Press feels this, and so will France,
(From the Commerce, Bonapartist.)

The Commerce examines the charges against M. Du-
poty, and the arguments by which they were supported
before the Court of Peers, and adds :
"If such theories are to prevail there will be no more
liberty for the Press than such as may please a Ministry
to allow. The Press has now the most dangerous
menace held out against it that has been used for a long
time. It remains to be seen whether the country and
the Chamber of Deputies really desire the liberty of dis-
cussion, consecrated by the Charter, and upon which was
founded the dynasty of July."
(From the Journal des Debuts, Court organ, of
Saturday.)

It appears to us that the journals, whose language,
however, is very moderate and proper,_ have taken an

erroneous view Of the tendency of this judgment as re-
gards the Press. We have perused and re-perused it
several times, and if we comprehend it rightly, the Court
has decided two things-Ist, that, by the article publish-
ed in the number of the 12th of September, the, chief
editor of the Journal du Peuple was guilty of exciting to
a determined act, viz., the conspiracy of the Society of
Traveilleurs Egalitaires; 2dly, that independently
even of the excitement by means of the Journal,
which excitement of itself constitutes complicity, accor-
ding to the terms of the law, it results from the trial that
M. Dupoty knew it. On these two points has the Court
decided correctly? Has there been sufficient proof offered
of direct complicity between the society in question and
the chief editor of the Journal du Peuple ? This is not
what we have to inquire into. We were not judges be-
fore the sentence, and we will not be judges after it. The
essential point in the interest of the Press is, that M.
Dupoty Las not been condemned for moral complicity re-
sulting from the spirit of the journal which he published.
No, the Court of Peers has not committed this abuse of

power, and the text of its judgment shows that it has
not. Two questions were put to it, as they might have
been to a jury—one as to complicity by excitement
to a determined act ; the other as to direct com-
plicity, and it has replied to these two ques-
tions affirmatively. To think and say that the Cham-
ber of Peers had made a mistake in seeing excite-
ment where there was none, and in taking mere pre-
sumptions as proofs of complicity, is the right of all
the world. However intelligent or elevated a tribunal
may be, it is permitted to differ from it in opinion as to
its judgment. In all human judgments error is possible.
But whatever may be the opinion as to the sentence of
the Court of Peers, people must not reason upon what
it does not contain. The press, in our opinion, has taken
alarm without cause. There is no such thing as moral
complicity. A man can only be the accomplice of a de-
termined act, whether he has taken a direct part in the
offence, or excited others to commit it. This is the law,
and it is what the Court of Peers intended to apply.
We will only add one word—we know well in what times
we live, and how terrible are the changes of fortune.
This is a reason for everybody to be just and moderate,
even if the love of moderation and justice be not in the
heart. If, therefore, we thought that the sentence of
the Court of Peers menaced the liberty of the press,
and suspended a new code over the heads of public
writers, viz., an undefinable crime that of moral com-
plicity with every attentat or conspiracy which may
arise, we should, even for our own interest, be the first
to protest against this judgment of the Court of Peers.
(From the Royalist Quotidienne.)

The sentence of the Court of Peers has created an
intense sensation in all Paris. The men who call for a
terrible and formidable repression must now see how the
public feeling replies to such a call. Let them remove
from the atmosphere of flattery by which power is sur-
rounded, and they will see what remains there are of
liberty and equity in men's minds. They have no parti-
cular opinion to consult in order to enlighten themselves,
for in this affair there is but one opinion. Everybody
asks what M. Guizot pretends to make of France with
his system of implacable sectarianism and puritannical
oppression. The Ministers are engaged in a course which
leads to ruin ; they cannot stop without perishing,
and they must perish if they go on. This is the
double fatality of all false regimes. They all resort to
force in the hope of salvation ; force becomes violence,
and violence becomes frenzy, then there remain only
coups de hasard, or, as they are called, coups d'etat, the
last expedient of regimes, which are condemned to death.
(From the Royalist Gazette de France.)

Two important events have occurred ; the condemna-
tion of M. Dupoty and the meeting of all the conductors
of the independent press. Behold what the Ministry of
intimidation has produced ; every step that it takes tends
to the union of all elevated minds and generous hearts.
Differences of opinion are effaced by the efforts which
are made to promote them ; and a great party is forming,
which is founded upon the principles of liberty, the
rights of all, and the interests which stand in need of
the guarantees of legal order. This time there is no
question of armed protest or violence of any kind. Thanks
to heaven ! the press no longer seeks to excite passions
for the purpose of protecting itself. It seeks the means
of preservation and safety in the union of all Frenchmen,
and the amelioration of our institutions. M. Guizot,
when he admitted his system of internal war, in order
to prevent foreign war, doubtlessly hoped that violence
would reply to violence. The reply to facts which
menace the press is given on the evidence of wisdom and
of that union which constitute force. The Journals
show an excellent spirit in forgetting more and more the
differences of opinion which have so long divided them,
and in demanding freedom of discussion for all. Free-
dom of discussion and Parliamentary and electoral re-
form will suffice for the salvation of France, and the sal-
vation of France will henceforward be the sole object of
the independent press.
(From the Ministerial Univers.)
The charter, in constituting the high and sovereign
political jurisdiction of the Court of Peers, intended to
maintain the principle of equality in the eye of the law,
with impunity for no man. The Court of Peers then
has as great a right to condemn a journalist to five
years' imprisonment as to condemn three persons of the
working class to death. What are the pretensions of the
self-styled independent press ? It contests the right of
the Court of Peers to judge M. Dupoty. Why should
there be this privilege of Impunity in favour of a single
man ? From the moment when the charter created a
political tribunal every body, without exception, fell
within its jurisdiction.

(From the Ministerial Globe.)
The Globe has a very long article in defence of the
judgment ; but it is in a very different spirit from that
of the Debats. The article commences by stating that
the virtuous and patriotic press " has commented on
the sentence with a moderation which has a near re-
semblance to fear, and then proceeds to remark on the
necessity of applying justice with a firm hand. The
Gtobe, replying to the arguments of the Opposition
press, against the decision of the Court of Peers, as being
contrary to law, says ;—" Let us despise all this so.
to cry out
PlustrY• Let us prevent crime, and we shall not to have
terrible judgmentagainst justice. What effect has the most
upon the mind of a man who is re-
solved not to commit the act, which has boon so punished?
Nothing. Honest men, therefore, have no interest in
exclaiming aginst the severity of the laws. There is a
meat mummery in pretending
that the sentence of the
Court of Peers menaces the liberty of the press. Its
abuses, indeed, may be menaced, and we see no harm in
that, but its liberties are not in danger."

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