The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-06 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

-0-

OXFORD uIRCUIT.—GLoucEsT,En, APRIL 4.
CIVIL COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Crowder and a Special Jury.)
ROUX V. WISEMAN.

Mr. Sergeant Pigott, Mr, Huddleston, and Mr.
Griffiths appeared for the plaintiff ; and Mr. Keating,
Q.C., and Mr. Phipson f,)r the defendant.
The plaintiff. in this action, the Abbe lit lux, was a
French priest, whe sued the defendant, Cardinal Wise.
man, to rec,iver a document which had been entrusted
to him, but which it was alleged he detained. Thera
was also a count in trovEr. The defendant pleaded the
general issue, and that the document was not entrusted
to him on 'the terms alleged.

The trial occupied the whole day till past 9 o'clock at
• night, and excited considerable interest. His Grace the
Disk. of Norfolk, Lord Petre, and other gentlemen were
on the bench with the Cardinal.
Mr. Sergeant Pigott, in opening the case, stated the
action was brought to recover a document which con-
tained an acknowledgment of a debt due to the plaintiff,
and which had been entrusted to the defendant under
these circumstances :—The plaintiff. the Abbe Roux,
wee a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. In the year
1845 be became acquainted with Madame Wyse, the
wife of the English Minister at Athens, and first cousin
of the Emperor of the French, and who was now entitled
to be called Lady Wyse ; and the document in ques-
Cen was given by her to the Abbe in the year
1847 as an acknowledgment of a debt of 25,0001. which
she then owed him. It appeared that Madame Wyse
had been separated from her husband, and when the Abbe
became acquainted with her she was living in a state of
great poverty, her allowance from her husband being
only 2001. a-year. The Aobe had received kindness from
Cardinal Fesch, Madame Wyse's uncle, and was thus in-
duced to sympathise with her misfortunes, and to lend
her money amounting to the sum of 25,0001. In the
year 1847, however, he found that Madame Wyse had
fallen back into her former habits of extravagance, and he
made up his mind to render her no further assistance. He
then closed his account with her, and took the acknow-
ledgment in question, and came to London to endeavour
to get payment from Mr. NY yse, her husband. At the
same time he had
.in his hand bills for 8,0001. which
Madame Wyse bad obtained from her son. When he
came over to England he gave the bills in question to
Cardinal Wiseman, who was a friend of Mr. Wyse, in
order that the Cardinal might give them up to Mr. Wyt e,
and at the same time-he gave the Cardinal the acknow-
ledgment in question, in order that he might see if he
could not get Mr. Wyse to acknowledge his liability and
pay the amount. Mr. Wyse received the bills, but said
lie would have nothing to do with paying his wife's debt=.
The document,. however, remained in the Cardinal's
hands till the year 1854, when Madame Wyse's cousin,
Louis Napoleon, had become Emperor of the French.
. It was then found that the Emperor recognised the. debts
of the different members of Ins family, and the Abbe was
naturally anxious 'eto obtain possession of the document
which he bad left wits the Cardinal. He accordingly
applied to him far it in Apr 1854, when the 'Cardinal
was in Paris. The Cardinal then said he would search
for it among his papers when he returned to England,
and restore it. The document, however, was not forth-
coming. The Abbe then came to England, but the do-
cument could not be found. He then applied to Mr.
Helder, Mr. Wyse's attorney, and was informed that the
document had been handed back to the Cardinal. The
Cardinal then said it had been handed to Mr. Wysa but
when asked to write to Mr. Wyse to get it returned, he
refused to do so. The Cardinal, however, promised to
write a letter to the Emperor, stating that be had seen
the document ; but he left London the day after without
writing the letter he had promised. The Cardinal on his
return to London again promised to write a letter to the
Emperor, and asked the Abbe to make a draught, as be
said he was not accustomed to write letters to Emperors.
The Abbe prepared the draught and left it with the Car-
dinal, but when he called for the letter he was again told
that he had gone out of town. The Abed then tried to
get the docunient from Mr. Wyse ; but, finding he could
not get it either from Mr. Wyse or from the Cardinal,
he at length brought the present action. Hie only object
was to recover the document, which the defendant bad
no right to detain ; but if the defendant would not give
it np the plaintiff would be entitled to the amount
(25,0001.), for whieh-it was given as a security.
The following witnesses were then called :
The Abbe Roux, examined by Mr.Huddlestob through
an interpreter, said—lam a priest of the Catholic church.
I was formerly vicar of the church of St. Antoine, Pare.
Previous to the year 1845 I knew Cardinal • Fescb, and
had received kindness from his Eminence. I became ea-
r:painted with the. Abbe Cassanova. I learnt from him
tlie position of Madame' Wyse. I knew that she was a
niece of Cardinal Fesch, and that she was iu a state of
. poverty. I saw her in the Forest of Mention in 1845, and
found her in a state of great poverty. She had three chil-
dren. They were without the necessaries of life. They had
only what was strictly necessary. I don't recollect that
the children were without shoes. I saw her at the Ville
d'Avray three or four weeks afterwards. She was then
ire great trouble and grief in consequence of not being
able to pay her servants' wages. One was going to leave,
and her creditors were annoying her considerably. I dis-
tinguish between what she said she owed and what she
really owed. She said she owed 30,000 f. Upon that I
endeavoured to settle with her creditors. I took apartinents
for her in Paris, in therue La Fayette. I learnt that all her
furniture was pledged to a person named Tisseron. I re-
deemed it. I also paid 1,8301. A great part of her clothes
via, pawned, and also some plate and jewellery. There
Iva 4 a necklace which had ben given by the Grand
Duchess of liden to the daughter of Madame Wyse.
- took it out of pledge and gave it to her. I afterwards
found that her debts ware more than 30;000f. A. jeweller
had obtained a prise de corps, and on that the Princess
was imprisoned in the prison of Ciichy. That was in
1845, not long after she bad been in the apartments.
With much difficulty I got her removed from the prison
to a maison de surete. I paid her expenses while she was
there, as she had no means. I think I paid about 300 f.
a month. She was there about six weeks or two months.
I afterwards settled with the jeweller, and obtained her
discharge from the niaison de sante. I then t ok apart-
ments for her in the Boulevard des Bonnes Nouvelles.
She was under condemnation for fraudulent abstraction
of goods. The Princess's advocate was Laz mi. To free
her-from that I paid I,ooof. and the costs. I also paid the
wages of the Princess's servants. I gave her a share in a
mining company. That was to raise money to pay her
debts with. The value of the share was from 1,5001. to
1,600 f, I also received other jewellery for the Priscess.
I also sent IL Tisseron to London to eflect a recon-
ell:3,Mo° with the Princess's husband. These transactions
were in 1845-6 7. Maclaine Wyse's governess was named
Blaechou. I learnt from that lady what led me to think
that my mission was finished, and that I ought to settle
my accounts. I produced all my accounts at the time
to the Princess when the document was' executed, aed
they were then thrown into the fire. Madame Blanchon
was present. There were documents and notes at my
house which are preserved. The accounts that were
burnt were made out from them. The document in ques-
tion was drawn up and written by the hand of the Prin-
cess herself. (It was here read, as follows, from a copy
in the handwriting of the plaintiff:—)
" I, the undersigned, wife Wyse, born Princess Letizia
Bonaparte, acknowledge baying received from Mensieur
the Abbe Roux the sure of 25,1;00f. which/ be lent me in
my unfortunate days—namely, tl,ooof. in 1845, 12,030 f. in
1816, and 5,0031. in 18-17, desirous that this money shall
bring him 5/. per cent. interest, conjuring whoever among
icy children may become the heir to his father's fortune,
in case of my death before having acquitted my debt to
Abbe Itonx, not to forget that it is a sacred debt which
should take precedence of all others.
"L. WYSE,
"Born Princess Letizia Bonaparte.
"Paris, Sept., 1847."
This copy is in my handwriting. I made it when I gave
the original to Cardinal Wiseman. (. bundle of papers
was here placed in witness's hands.) These are the vouch.
ere for the payments I made for the princess. At the
time the Princess executed the documents my conviction
was that she owed me more than the 25,0001. mentioned.
It was signed in Sept., 1847, on the 6th I believe, but I
am not certain, In Nov., 1347, I came to London to see
Mr. Wyse. Ho referred me tir Mr. Helder, his solicitor.
The defendant was then doctor and Ei-hop of the Lon-
don district. I learnt from him that he knew' Mr. Wyse,
and that he would assist me to the utmost of his power.
In consequence of his promising to assist me in this mate
ter, I gave the cardinal some bills to the amount of
B,ooof. I gave them up without any condition whatever.
I also confided to the cardinal the document signed by
the Princess to show to Mr. Wyse, and to obtain the
money I advanced to the Princess. I said, "Hero is the
document which shows the amount I have generou-ly
advanced to the Princess. Will you kindly be the inter-
mediary between me and Mr. Wyse to obtain that
amount ?" He replied, d Most willinaly." I gave the
document into the hands of Dr. Wiseman. Nothing
more passed as far as I remember. Oa that visit to Lon-
don I saw Mr. Wyse. He thanked me for the bills, but
he would not allow ins to speak to his wife. I left for
Paris and left the documents in Dr. Wiseman's hands.
Some years after I learnt that the Emperorof the French
was ?eying the debts of his family. That was about
1854. At that time I believe the cardinal was atitome. I
recollect Passion Week in-1854. At that time the car-
dinal was in Paris. I had an interwiew with him. I re-
minded his eminence of the documeht I had confided to
him in 1847. He replied that be was about to return to
London in a few days, and he would send naseleack the
document, which was doubtless amohp hie papenv, I
'l,
re-
ceived no communication frorn'the Cardinal, and irreon-
sequence I visited Londoit a second time about April,
1854, and saw lila. Eininence. He said the document had
not been &and. Another search would be made and it
would be found.' I waited nearly a month in town, and
then returned to Paris. Having consulted my profes-
sional advisers, I wrote a letter to the Cardinal, enclos-
ing a copy of the document which I had deposited with
him, and received this letter in reply, dated the sth of
June, 1854. The letter was as follows :

" London, June 5, ISSI.
" Sir—I remember perfectly upon the occasion of your
first visit to London you showed me some papers relative
to the family "Wyse, in which- yon deiire{l to make efforts
to procure a domestic reconciliation. Among others there
was certainly a document in which Madame Bonaparte
Wyse declared herself your debtor for a very considerable
sum, the amount of which I do not remember, and I dare
not determine the amount ; but it appears to me that the
document was the same of which you sent me a copy,
datA Paris, Sept., 1547. Mr. Wyse, the husband of the
lady in question, would not recognise any obligation on his
part to pay the debts contracted by Madame Wyse, and
the document remained without effect. You say it re-
mained in my hands, certainly net in the hope that it was
of value, or that it should be ma.de use of, since its worth
was not depended upon in Englatni,norl believe in France.
It was therefore just left, rather than deposited, as if it
Lad become worthless. I think it was ,probably given up
to Mr. Wyse with the obligations of Mr. Alfred, his eldest
son. S3arch is being made to find it at this guntletuan's,
and at his lawyer's, but I have no hesitation in averring
that such a document existed, and was seen by me. Ma- 1