The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-12 00:00:00

THE SUN,,.

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readinesseto turn r -rut at a moment's notice. This
warning was given between ten andledeventob'acl iock.,
and the impression which it create,. was ..
mediate danger wr acpr,zhended by the aut:lori-
ties. All, how, ever, ra3 ,-7LI over without
the enemy showit ig themselves, a:l'4 some were
inclined to thin k that the whole aiiff'ir had
its origin in som e stupid mistake. Such r;:'w.-
ever, was not the case. Information which was
considered worthy of reliance was received by the
officer commanding • at Barrackpore to the pur-
port that those sepoys who were on that
day to march to Calcutta to relieve the guards
there were to receive arms on the road
through the instre ,mentality of a native of rank,
after which they and their brethren in Cal-
cutta whom they we re supposed to relieve were con-
jointly to try what they could do in the way of mis-
chief. Early that et ening the Nawab of Rampore,
who had justretur net 1 from England, was arrested in
Calcutta, and with. several of his suite placed in the
commonjail. This- was done in obedience to orders
of the President in council. The volunteers were
next warned to bald themselves in readiness to
turn out, and read:( they appeared—to do them
but justice—for any service. The relief of the
Town and Fort Guards was postponed, and it
was not until towards the close of the week
that the relievir g Sepoys were permitted to leave
Barrackpore. They were not then marched down,
but put on board£ a river steamer which brought
them down the Hooghly to Calcutta, thus obvi-
ating the slightctst
-chance of their coming in con-
tact with any depots of concealed arms, or making
a bolt of it while, an the road.

THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION
OF THE TRENCH EMPEROR.

TRIAL OF SIMON BERNARD-(THIS DAY).

The erial of Dr. :Simon Bernard for felony, as an ac-
cessory before the fa, of of the murders that took place in
Paris on the night oi' the 14th of January last, when an
attempt was made .on the life of the Emperor of the
French, and for whit h Orsini and Pierri justly paid the
penalty of their liv,en, commenced this morning at the
Old Court, Old Bail ey, under the Special Commission
issued for that purposo. Great interest has been taken
by the English people in this case ever since the pri-
soner's apprehension, heightened no doubt by the re•
cent discussions in Pa rliament and elsewhere on the
Conspiracy to Murder Bill. The absurd rumour
some time prevalent: that Rudio would be brought over
to give evidence on the trial is entirely without founda-
tion.

The admission to the Court was by ticket, and before
the learned judges took their seats on the benches it was
densely crowded. Everything was done within the
building by the unde:r•iiheriffs that its limited character
would admit of that gave the largest amount of ac-
commodation to the public in the smallest possible apace
available for that purpose. The arrangements, as on the
late Royal British Bank trial, were excellent, and the
directions cf the under-sheriffs were admirably carried
out by Mr. Inspector Mitchell.
The prisoner is charged in the calendar in the follow-
ing terms :—" Simon Bernard, aged 41, surgeon,
charged with feloniously inciting, moving and procuring,
counselling, &c., one Felice Orsini and others to do and
commit certain felonies, to wit, to kill and murder
certain parties at Paris, in the empire of France." lie
is also detained "for unlawfully conspiring with otie
Felice Orsini and others feloniously to kill and murder a
sovereign prince, to wit, his Imperial Majesty Louis
Napoleon, Emperor of the French." There are two
other indictments, by which ho is charged as a principal
with committing the crime of wilful murder in Paris,
both sets cf charges being capital offences. The indict-
nien:s proceeded with were those charging the prisoner
as an accessory before the fact.

Amongst the company were a number of ladies, who
were accommodated with seats on the bench and in
other parts of the court. There was an nensual num-
ber of briefless barristers present, many of whose faces
were strange to those who regularly attended the sit-
tings at the Central Criminal Court, and they greatly
over-crowded the space allotted to the bar.
At five minutes past 10 o'clock, Lord Campbell, the
Lord Chief Baron, Mr. Justice Erle, Mr. Justice
Crowder, the Recorder, the Lord Mayor, Alderman Sir
C. Marshall, Alderman Sir F. G. Moon, Bart., Alder-
man Salomanp, Alderman Wire, Adermen
Fiunis, Hales, Gabriel, and the Sheriffs named in the
Commission, entered the Court and took their seats on
the bench.

The Attorney-General (Sir F. IK.tlly), Mr. Macaulay,
Q.C., Mr. Bodkin, Alr.lNVelsby and Mr. Clerk appeared
_ _

fur the pruseention. Mr. Edwin James, Q.C., Mr.
Hawkins, Mr. J. Simon, Mr. Sleigh, Mr. Brewer and
Mr. &obeli defsnded the prisoner.

The prisoner was then placed at the bar and the in-
dictment read to him by the Clerk cf the Court. At
its couclusio❑ the Clerk asked him, " Ara you guilty or
❑ot guilty."
The prisoner—This Court has no jurisdiction to try
me on this indictment, and I decline to plead.
Lord Campbell—lf you decline to say guilty or not
guilty, according to the law of England, it can be en-
tered for you.
Mr. James—Too prisoner takes this course under the
advice of his counsel. As counsel for the prisoner, I
pray oyer, and claim to have the special csaninisaion
under which the Court sits read,

Lord Campbell, after consulting the other learned
judges—We are all of opinion that the Court can order
the plea of not guilty to be entered, if the prisoner re-
fuses to plead. Let the plea of not guilty be entered,
and let him be asked if be chooses to oxsrcise his pri-
vilege of being tried by a jury composed half of Euglish-
men and half of alien!.

The prisoner—l trust with confidence to a jury of
English.). en.
Considerable difficulty was experienced in forming a
jury, o,,ing to the number of certificates of illness pro-
duced on the part of those summoned and nonattend-
anus of others, and the challenges on the part of the
prosecution and the prisoner. One juryman named

" Samuel Bernard" was challenged by the prosecution.
It was 10 minutes to 11 o'clock before the jury was

sworn

Mr. James requested that the commission might be
read. He bad not seen a copy of it.
Lord Campbell said this was not the proper time for
the commission to be read. The Attorney-General
wou'd now proceed with the case.
Mr. James hoped his lordship would take a note of his
ap plicati on .

Lord Campbell said, no doubt if the application had
been made privately it would have been attended to.
The case then proceeded.
The Attorney-General, in opening the case, said the
prisoner was indicted for being an accessory before the fact
of certain murelers committed in France. Having referred
to his birth-place and his profession, the learned Attorn, y-
General said that for reasons which he need not then
rifer to the prisoner bad sought an asylum in this coun-
try. He had resided here many yearn shielded by the
corstitntion of the country. England had always
protected those who sought refuge in this coun-
try, but our laws required in return that
they should not be violated, and that those
who came here under such circumstances should conform
to those laws which regulated British subjects. It would
he his duty to lay before them evidence to enable them
to solve the deeply important question, whether the
prisoner at the bar, who now stood before them to be
tried for his life, way guilty or not of the serious charge
with which he stood charged—that of the attempted
assassination of the Emperor of the French, and
which had resulted in a mass of murders of unoffending
pet fOIIP, who had congregated together in the streets of
Paris on the night of the 14th January last. The learned
Attorney-General then referred to the cir7instances
connected with the attack, the means by w ich it was
accomplished, and said that he charged six persons with
this off-nce. The first was Allsep, who he (the Attor-
ney-G., neral) regretted to say, with grief and shame, was
an Englishman ; Simon Bernard, the prisoner at the bar,
who was a Frenchman, enjoying the rights of hospita-
lity in this country ; and Orsini, Pierri, Gomez, and
Radio, all of whom were refugees, and had resided
f.,r some years in this country. It would be found that
the design of assassinating the Emperor of the French
was entertained so early as the 16th Oct. of last year,
as would be proved by the evidence. It was about that
time the grenades used were ordered in Birmingham,
and they would be found to be a weapon or instrument
cf death unlike anything known in modern warfare, and
were of the most deadly character. In whatever way it
fell, it struck one of the Missiles, and from its
contents (fulminating powder) it exploded, scattering de-
struction on all around. The result of their use on the
night of the 14th January last was the death of eight
persons, and the injury of 26 others. The six grenades

ordered in Birmingham were manufactured for Alleop
, between the 16th October and the 23d Nov., 1857, and
delivered to Allsop, :who paid for them. The learned
counsel having detailed the participation of the various
parties named in the plot and the intimacy that existed
between them up to Jan. 14, said that throughout all the
proceedings the man of money and resources was Or-
sini. Bernard, so far as was known, was not a man of
resource?, but on the 26th Nov., the day that the pass
port in the name of Alleop was rise by one of the Con-
suls, and two days only before Orsini went to Brussels