The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-02 00:00:00

permit it to be prolonged. He was immedle ten'
car-
ried back to his bed, which he did not after; y wards
quit. The same evening th,e. symptoms becare IP
finaely more grave, and all the appearances of pc '. In.
ing became mas
ore evident. From that period he :is"-
treated as was proper in such a case, by M. Ai idral,w
M. Rouget, the physician of the Luxembourg , and
M. Louis, his usual medical attendant; it wars the
latter who saw him from the Thursday. On Sunday
morning I ordered chymical experiments to be made
on the evacuations of the accused of every kind... M.
Chevalier, who was charged with this operatioi I , per-
ceived very clearly the eresense of arsenic in this mat-
ters submitted to him. He also discovered the- pre-
sence of arsenic in a little phial seized on J I. de
Praslin whilst still at his hotel, and which prce bably
had contained that which be had taken. Afters yards
he ascertained the presence of arsenic in the evt tcua-
tions which remained on an arm-chair where I a. de
Praslin had been placed on the Thursday on getting
out of a bath, and which had been removed t J the
garden in consequence of the stench proceeding from
it. From Sunday morning. the aggravation o f the
illness, the alternatives of pain and weakness v ;tech
it caused, did not permit a new examination of 14. de
Praslin to be attempted. Only some detached ph erases
were drawn from him, but it was impossible to sub-
ject him to a regular examination. I attempted it
once, but without success. His death took place on
Tuesday, and the autopsy of the body was effected
srs.Orfilaandl'aet.
rin presence of Drs.
die ,
Ab y Messrs.
n drials, Louis, and Roug uThat
iwoceeding,and
the experiments which were afterwards instituted by
Messrs. Orfila and Tardieui.te fully confirmed the as-
sertions of M. Chevalier.pcisohnin conclusionscf come to
tend to show that the
effected by himself; must havge takMen
pdel
ce on
Praslin,
Wednesday, in the middle of the day, soiree hours
only after the murder had been perpetrated. The
proces-verbaux, which sues before you, show that
all the incidents which took place afterwards, the in-
tervals which elapsed between them, in fine, the
duration of the state which terminated in deatlb, are
the natural and usual consequences of this k ind of
poisoning. Relative to M. de Praslin, therefom'e, all
is clear, all is finished, and the justice of man has no
further claim on him ; but from the beginning of the
judicial inquiry the ordinary law authorities had not
hesitated to have arrested, under suspicion of com-
plicity, Mdlle. De Luzy, who bad been for six sears
the governess of M. ;le Praslin's children, and who
left her situation on the 18th of last July. I main-
tained that arrest, and she is at present confit red in
the Conciergerie. On Monday I caused her to be
interrogated at some length in presence of the mem-
bers of the Court, whose assistance I had demanded.
That examination will be found amongst. the
printed documents. Will the Court deem it proper
to continue the judicial proceedings in this port of
the affair, which were given over to it by the royal
ordonnance of August 18, or will it think it right to
give them up? Whatever decision it may cisme to
on this point, it cannot deliberate without having
heard the requisitory of the Procureur-Generale who
will be introduced when it pleases."
After the reading of this report, M. Delangle , the
Procureur- General, assisted by M. Boucly, acting as
Advocate-General to the Court, was introduced., and
he read the following requisitory. (See below' the
text of this document.) The law officers of the
Crown having withdrawn, the Court proceeded Vs de-
liberate. At three o'clock the Procureur-Geileral
was again introduced, and the President read its his
presence the following decision of the Court:—
" The Court of Peers,
" Considering the King's ordonnance of the 19th
of this month, which sends before the Court Charles
Laure Hugues Theobald, Duke de Choiseul-Praslin,
Peer of France, for trial, in consequence of grave in-
dications which appeared against him of being the
perpetrator of the murder committed on the night of
the 17th of the present moth, on the person ed the
Duchess de Praslin, or an accomplice in its:
" Considering the decision of the Court of the 21st
of the present month, ordering that a judicial inquiry
shall be forthwith proceeded to, both with respect to
the Duke de Praslin and his accomplices:
" Considering the decease of the said Charles
Laure Hugues Theobald, Duke de Choiseul-Praslin :
" Considering Article 2 of the Code of Criminal
Instruction, thus worded :—The public action for
the application of punishment ceases with the death
of the accused. The civil action for reparation or
damage may be exercised against the accused and his
1 representatives. Both actions cease by prescription,
as is regulated in book 11, tit. 7, chap. 5, on ' Pre-
scription' :
" Having heard the Chancellor of France, President
of the Court, in his report :
" Having heard the King's Procureur-General in
his requisitory, which is couched in the following
language
" ' We, the King's Procureur-General to the Court
of Peers,
" 'Considering that the examination on the mur-
der of the Duelles de Po slip involve—first. Charles
Laure Hugues Theobald, Duke de Choiseul rraslin,
Peer of I ranee ; secondly, Henrietta De Luzy
Desportes ; considering that the Duke de Praslin
bsints dead on the 24th of August, the public pro-
ceedings as against hi it are extinct, conformably to
Article 2 of the Code d'lnstruction Criminel, and
that, as regards Henriette de Luzy Desportes,
there is reason in the present state of the proceed-
ings to send the affair b-f ore the julges who ought
to take cognizance of it ; we move that it shall
please the Court to send the said Henriette De Luzy
Desportes, all warrants issued subsisting, before the
Tributtel de Premiere Instance of Paris, for the con-
tinuation of the preceedings commenced—and to
order that all the acts of the process with the docu-
ments and material pieces of evidence shall be depo-
sited in the regi-try of the said tribunal.
"' Done at the office of the Procureue-General of
the Court of Peers, this 30th August, 1847.
"'Le Procureur-..e.ieral du Itei, DELANGLE:
"Basing deliberstcl, in the ab-ence of the King's
Procureur General, so tar as regards Charles Laure
Hugues Theobald, Duke of Choiseul-Praslin, the
public proceedings ter. the Application of the punish-
ment are extinct as regards bun. Declares that there
is no ground for pronouncing as regards Henriette
De Luzy- Desportes, inculpated on a charge of com-
plicity. Considering that in the state of the proceed-
ings there is ground for the Court to desist, sends the
said De Luzy- Desportes before the competent tribu-
nal ; all warrants already issued to remain in force.
Ordains that the present decree shall be General
under the direction of the King's Procureur-Generald.
_
Done at Paris in the Chamber of Council, tile 30th of
Aueust, 1847."
By order of the Chancellor there
to all the Peers copies of the i
collecten o
min ations et
wit-
of the Duchess de Praslin, the exit
nesses,iwneahllavtoe mre;cireeivtehdanco3pOices,quiraormto
pages.
which we make the following extracts ScOe.ft amounting
thi rp ort
:
LETTER FROM THE DUCHESS TO HER HUSBLND
(WRITTEN IN JUNE, 1841).
"Wherefore, my beloved, do you refuse to let me
share your afflictions? You deprive our life of alt
the charms of affection! Do you then believe, or
rather do you wish to persuade yourself, that indee
pendence consists in solitude ? You say that I era
exigeante, because I desire to share your sorrows.
Y.'u do not like me to remark that you have any.
Do you then wish to become quite a stranger to we,
and for that, would it not be requisite for me told:'e
come entirely indifferent to you P And how co I
become indifferent to the person I love best on eltrthr
Do you think it possible ?—would not my heart break
long before ? You yourself are sorrowful to eee me
sad, and you know the reason of my sadness; you
tknoow
how it is in your power to console me, and ye y u
feel within my heart a source of
that you are sad; I
withhold those consolations. I, on the contrary, see
the deepest love, sufficient to calm and soothe all
your sorrows, and you discard me !Am I not your
Wife, the partner of your life, she whose duty it is
your pleasures and your sorrows ?
not my hand that should soothe
It of share
you
w equally
erwere
ill, i
it
thy pillow? And are not sorrows the diseases of the
s
mind—of the spirit ? Wherefore, then, reject me ?
. , . You have a heart to appreciate the joys, the
wants of a loving heart, in which to place full con-
fiieuce and find relief for your sorrows. It is the
violence of my manners that prevents you from
placing that confidence in me. Believe me, Theobald,
four months of sorrow and repentance have chastened
me; it is to love and console you, and not to torment
you, that I seek your confidence. I give you my
word never to try to gain an ascendancy over you;
lam fully aware of your superior character and
mind; I only
wish to share your life, to embellish it,
and pour balm upon your wounds. You left my
room because you thought that I wished to gain an
ascendancy over you. My friend, I swear unto
you, in the name of my love, in the name of yours,
by all that I hold most sacred and west dear, I only
seek your love and your confidence as you have
mine. I will blindly obey you. I will no longer
tortnentyou by jealousy; I shall never give you a
sword
of reproach or of counsel. My repentance is t si-
cere ; I have suffered too much to return to my past
faults. We are both very young, Theobald. Do
not condemn us both to solitude. Hoe l 'We love
each other, we are both of us pure, and shall we live
apart from each other both in body and in mind? Do
not let your heart be a sufferer from a little feeling
of amour propre ; I swear unto you that I only seek
your affection and your confidence ; I shall be the
loving and obedient partner of your life. My friend,
confidence is the marriage of souls—their mutual
confessions are their caresses and union, happiness,
and virtue are. their fruits. Believe me, I shall
never abuse your confidence; your confessions will
be received in my bosom with the same mystery and.
affection as thy caresses. Take again your own
Fanny. Try her but for a short time with love and
affection, and you will find that you will be much
happier than
,living in solitude. You seek a change ;
iAlt are art . really happy? CM no, you -are not