The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-19 00:00:00

THE BARONESS DE EEUCMERES.

CONTINUATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE
SITTING OF THE 13th OF JANUARY.
M. Hennequin, the Counsel for the plaintiffs, in
reply, continued :—ln the month of August, 1830,
in the moment of popular effervescence, the Prince
conceived the fear, lest a moment of tumult would
deprive him of life, and at the foot of one of his
writings is found—" I desire to be buried at Vin-
cennes, near my unfortunate son." And does not
one see (exclaimed the eloquent Advocate) that the
piety of this wish does not permit us to accuse the
Prince of that act with which his memory has been
branded ? And what ! Is the suicide, who abjures
his rights to futurity—is he occupied with the
thoughts of the future ! How ! that unhappy father
is entirely upon the thoughts of his heroic son, and
he meditates an act which is to dishonour his own

memory. Why is it wished that he demands to be
united in the tomb to the Duke d'Enghein, and
that he himself, exhibiting a horrid contra,t, should
wish to enclose in the same both the sop, who wa;

the hope of his name, and the remains of the father,
who was about devoting to ignominy the name of
the last Conde !—(Great applause.) I understand
that emotion from those who hear me: it expresses

the genuine sentiments of Frenchmen. The door o

the Prince's chamber was closed, and it was neces-
sary to force it open, in order to enter on the
day of his death. This circumstance has been
taken as a decided proof of suicide. A ques-
tion addressed to M. Dupin has thrown the
clearest light on that point--" Do you think
it possible to draw back from without the bolt
which fastens a chamber ?"—" Yes, Sir; M. de

Joinville has frequently done it in my presence at
St. Leu ; 1 have seen him open and shut a chamber
in that manner by means of a very fine silk riband."
From the moment that it was proved and demon-
strated to all that the door could be fastened from

without, the cry has been heard—" He was assas-
sinated !" The Conde! he sought death in battle;
but, away from the perils of war, he could not sus-
tain the thought of it. A noble sentiment attached

hlm otherwise to life. Manoury, on the 20th of
August, six days before the Prince's death, held a
conversa.ion with his Royal Highness on the vene•
ration due to him, and the happiness of his not
leaving France. His Royal Highness answered Ma-
ncury, clasping him in his arms," Is it then for me
to have any anxieties ? Now, 75 years old, lam
on the brink of the grave; but what shall become of
those about me The witness adds," The Prince
enjoyed only the pleasure of making people happy."
One of his household being ill, he kindly inquired
how he was. No one can conceive the benefits which
he spread around him ; they were immense : he al-
ways desired them to be kept secret, saying, " A
good act divulued has no value." On the 12th of
August, 1830. the Prince was spoken to about the
fate of M. de Polignac, having fallen into the hands
of the victorious revolutionists ; and one observed
if he (M. de Polignac) should not deliver himself
by suicide ? The Prince answered, "Is it you
then, that dare to use such language? Be sure,
M. Hortine, that a man of honour will never la)
violent [ands on himself—none but a poltroon
can do such a thing. What an example for so-
ciety ! I will not argue that as a Christian
merely, although I ought to rest on that, for you
know that in religion suicide is reckoned the most

enormous of crimes, and how can he who had net
given himself time to repent present himself before
his God ?" The supposition of suicide, inadmissible
in a moral point of view, is again refuted by the
physical impossibility of the thing, for it has been
proved that the body of the Prince was hanging six
f; et four or five inches high from the floor of the
chamber ; it is only by raising the arm far above the
head that a roan, even of tall stature, could tie the
string at such a height. Now, to all persons, espe-
cially to the Prince, who, in consequence of his
wound, could not raise his arm above his head, a
chair would be necessary to be placed at the door to
cif:et this. But it has been shown that a chair
pleced, not at the door of the casement, but at the
exterior angle, could not be used in any manner for
the consummation of this extremity. And, besides,
supposing that the chair had been at the door, it
still becomes a question whether the Prince could
ascend it without sasietance. A correspondence of
many years proves the Prince's infirmity for that
purpose. From a letter which has been cited, it has
been seen that in 1825, at the coronation at Rheims,
he considered it as a sort of miracle that he was able
to ascend the steep steps of the throne. Manoury
has remarked that the Prince could not ascend the
steps of the grand staircase but with infinite pain;
that he rested after each step, and supported him-
self with his cane. Another difficulty of this
matter arises from the arrangement of the sus-
pending cords. In 1793 the Prince received a sabre
wound in his right hand, which cut the tendons of
his three fingers, and though perfectly cured, yet, as
M. de Querriey said, it would be perfectly impos-
sible for him to make the knots. He had also his
lift collier broken, and not being able to raise his left
band as high as his head, he would find it impos-
aibta to form the knots, especially of the first hand-
kerchief. In these knots, all the witnesses reco,-
nixed a weaver's knot. One only of them the
tailor, did not say that these knots were doll-knots
(muds de poupee), but that they appeared to him
to be doll-knots. You have heard, gentlemen, of the
Prince's love of the chase, and particularly of what
they call " lc coup du Roi ;" but two different things
are here compounded—the exactness of the coup
d'ted and the flexibility of the body. The example
is badly chosen—it is explained in the pleadings
that, to diaw the coup du Roi, the Prince was re-
duced, by the impossibility of raising his arm, to the
necessity of turning himself backwards. We must
admit that Princes have an insurmountable inapti-
tude for these things—men placed, as they are in
qtr elevated state, are by the nature of their situa-
tion exempt from doing by themselves a multitude of
things which give aptitude. It was this evil which
betrayed the illustrious victims in the march from
Varennes. This inaptitude (mal addresse), which I
tall peculiar to Princes, was a chief ingredient in the
character of the Duke de Bourbon, and we have many
proofs of it. Aubrey deposed to the following facts :
The Prince was with him in a boat ; " a cord of the
boat being broken, I requested the Prince to tie aknot ;
he tried to do so three or four times in vain, and
although I showed him the manner of doing it, he
could never accomplish it, the knot he made always
opening; it was well demonstrated that his High-
ness could not tie a permanent knot." Echette, the
valet, deposed that the Prince could not tie his own
shoestrings. And is it, in the face of all these facts,
that it is asked why the Princes de Bohan have in-
stituted this process? This proceeding is the work
of law and of facts. By them we have been led
on insensibly to the path we are now pursuing, and
which we will pursue with perseverance. When,
on the 12th of Augst, we have seen the Prince con-
demn suicide with all that elevation of mind and
energy of conscience—when we have seen him, yet
later, composed with regard to the fate of Charles
X., and restored to his usual tranquillity—when we
attend, on the 26th, at the reception of M. de Cosse
r.-when we follow the Prince to his sports—when
we listen to his words, " on the morrow"—when
we find, by his watch wound up, a proof that be
looked to the morrow—when his handkerchief,
knotted in the corner, tells us that he had some
project for the morrow—when we know that helex-1
ex-
pected M. de Choulor, that he had given orders for
at ten o'clock, and afterwards at eight—no doubt with
any other view than that of attending to remove his
corpse—when we know that a man so exact, so
positive, has not written a word, not a single word,
to remove suspicion from the objects of his friend-
ship and benevolent protection—when, again, we
come to examine his life, and learn that such was
the physical impossibility of the case, that Provi-
deuce must have given him a sudden capaeity to
commit suicide—when we know, that, both in battle

and in the chase, he received many wonnds, which
made it impossible for him to raise his arms—
when we know that age disabled him from raising
his feet,—when we see the feebleness of old age,
and find it occupied in his chamber only about those
things which betoken tranquillity and ease,—when
nothing on his part reveals any other prospects than
those of the morrow,—when we hear all who know
him express in a voice, "He has been assassinated !"
—when, finally, laying out of account interest, which
explains all, laying out of account three persons led
on by the seductions of friendship, we see no one
of those who were witnesses of the Prince's
life who does not protest against the idea of
suicide. What do you ask of me, an humble
individual, and without any light but that
from the facts ! You ask, what to me is
impossible, that I should renounce my ideas and
my conscience, and that I should proclaim as true
what reason and conscience tell me not to believe.
If I am in error, I am an incorrigible victim of it.
Yes, I proclaim also, that assassination is the only
way to explain a death which the supposition of
suicide cannot explain. That is my conviction ; I
impose that belief on myself. I know it from a
painful duty, which I shall endeavour to fulfil to the
end. It tells me to retrace to you all that which
makes against the idea of suicide. That is my con-
viction ;it is contagious perhaps—it is with pain
you now resist it. I now proceed from the exa-
mination of general charges to particular and pre-
cise deductions. M. Hennequin then proceeds to
examine the Procedure Institute at Paris, and pane-
gyrises M. La Huproye for the diligent care be-
stowed by him on that inquiry. He next repels the
charges against him in consequence of his publica-
tion. After dwelling thus on the criminal charge
for five hours, M. Hennequin asks an adjournment
of eight days to finish his reply to MM. Lavaux and
Dupin, upon the civil branch of the process.
The cause was then adjourned for a week.