The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-04 00:00:00

BONAPARTE V. PATERSON,

PARIS, SATURDAY.

The proceedings in the case of M. Jerome Bona-
parte and Miss Elizabeth Paterson against Prince
Napoleon was resumed at half-past 10 o'clock yes-
tetday in the Court of /first Instance. M. Benoit
Champy presided, assisted by eight judges. The
hall in which the sittings were held is small, and
gives accommodation to very few persons besides
the members of the bar, the great majority of whom
attended as simple spectators, and had no priority
in place over the rest of the auditory. A small
number of persons belonging to the magistracy had
seats allotted to them on the platform behind the
judges, and those who obtained tickets by the
courtesy of M. Benoit Champy were placed on the
benches close to the leading counsel on both sides.
A newly-appointed judge to some other court
having been sworn in, and some few formalities
having been gone through, Monsieur, or rather
Maitre Berryer (for such, according to the etiquette
of the French courts of law, is the designation of a
member of the bar), rose to reply to the speech of
M. Allan, counsel for P,rince Napoleon at the last

sitting.
He observed that the system of defence adopted
by the opposite party, the document which he had
Produced since the last sitting, would prevent him
from being as brief as he desired. Nevertheless, he
should endeavour to be as rapid as possible without
omitting anything important to his case. He
alluded to the remark that he had pleaded in this
case simply for the sake of pleading, and without
the hope of a favourable decision ; that he had pub-
lished an impassioned memoir, and that his plead-
in gs had excited the passions of the public. To all
that he had nothing to say, because it was to the
judges that he addressed himself. His adversary
thought himself authorised to look upon the mar-
riage of M. Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte with Miss
Paterson as a romantic legend—a chimera—a vague
story floating in the air ; yet he could not deny that
it was to destroy this romantic legend, this chi-
maera, that a powerful Emperor had employed the
irregular arms which his absolute power furnished
him with. He could not again go over what had
been said on the other side touching the manners of
the country of which Miss Paterson was a native—
the description of these voluptuous climes—the en-
chanting banks of the Potomac, of the stream which
flows 30 leagues from Baltimore—of the character
of the populations of the Southern States, so diffe-
rent from those of the North. He would not remind
them that Baltimore is to the north of the grave of
Washington, that Maryland is to the north of Vir-
ginia, and that Virginia itself is not in the south.
He would omit all this display of geographical
science, which was only fbr the purpose of injuring
the reputation of her for whom he appeared. The
very age of Miss Paterson had been altered. She
was born on the Gth oP Feb, 1785; she was, then,
on her marriage not 21 years, as had been said, but
18. This was important, because this young lady,.
the child of honourable parents, had been repre-
sented to the Court as one born under a corrupting
climate, with light and easy morals, impassioned,
and exposing herself to every risk; and words had
been attributed to her which could only be put in
the mouth of the most abandoned ; words attributed
to the woman who had selected this Court as her
judges, a woman who at the age of 75 had crossed
the ocean to claim from the bench protection for
her honour. " Yet," cried M. Berryer—

"My adversary ht:s been forced to deny, as it
were, his own words, and pay a striking homage to
my client—Madame Paterson, he admitted, had re-
signed herself with, dignity when the days of en-
chantment had fled. She cherished the sacred me-
mory of the past. Since she could not be the wife of
Jerome Bonaparte, she would be thz, wife of no
one ; and when sh a regained her freedom by the
American as well e$ the French law, she remained
alone and respected, sharing her existence with her
child. This is wha,:t you have been forced to admit
—this young woreran of 18, abandoned at 20, re-
mained all her li tc, in virtuous celibacy ; she re-
mained the object .of general respect ; and this is
the person you he'd the courage to outrage. Yet
she had suffered t )ao long and too much not to see
herself exposed, i a the presence of French judges,
to the moat insult zing imputations. Why is it that
the beauty, the character, the morals, and the purity
of my client have -thus been degraded by you? It is
because it was absolutely necessary to establish that
the marriage had ;not been contracted in good faith."
M. Berryer then referred to a letter emanating from
a Mr. Goold, of the Rue Neuve St. Augustin, 33,
who placed himseilf at the disposal of Prince Napo-
leon, in order to j u Fairy the respectful desire he had
to give the Princ 3 information about the marriage
at Baltimore. IL, says that in that country the mar-
riage was not con s Here(' serious; that it was a popu-
lar tradition in I.4.aryland that Miss Paterson had
run the risk of filing herself at the end only a
morganatic wife. What this obliging gentleman
implied the court might guess. The other side had
tried to show that the young naval officer had been
the victim of a kind of violence ; but M. Berryer
maintained that the marriage was contracted in
good faith, not on ly by Miss Paterson but also by
M. Jerome Bonailarte. Miss Paterson, born in 1785,
was 18 years old. The marriage took place after a
correspondence c rintinned for months; it was the
Spanish Ambassador who demanded the hand of
Miss Paterson, and it was Mr. Paterson who ledhis
child to the altar.. The French Ambassador was in-
vited to the cere:mony; he did not attend, but the
reason he would 'explain. The marriage was cele-
brated in the cathedral; the nuptial benediction was
solemnly pronounced by the bishop in presence of the
French consul. r.he act was inscribed in the public
records. Could the good faith with which the mar-
riage was contrasted be doubted after that ? It was
accompanied with all the guarantees and with all
the solemnities required by the laws of the country.
Even before the marriage, care was taken to pro-
duce before the cTtrk of the county the license—
that is to say, the document showing that all pre-
liminary conditio as the law required had been satis-
fied. So much fccr the good faith of Miss Paterson.
He should show that the same good faith existed
on the part of M.. Jerome Bonaparte: Jerome Bona-
parte had been ehttrged with forcing Mr. Paterson
to consent, with having seduced M. Sottin, with
having paralysed M. Pichou, the Ambassador and
Consul of France. Be had left France in 1802. He
declared, and the documents laid before the Court
proved, that he was 21 years old. He proved his
age by his rank as an officer, which he could obtain
only at that age. I Lis commission specified 22 years.
When he embark ed for America the law of 1792
was in force; and that law permitted children to
contract marriage
without the consent of their
parents when they had attained 21 years. At this
epoch of legislative transition, that M. Pichou should
have discovered tho existence of a new law prescrib-
ing new conditions for marriage, and that, never-
theless, Jerome Bonaparte and the Paterson family
should have sincerely thought that the civil code
was not yet obligatory for a Frenchman who, leav-
ing France while a different law prevailed, found
himself in another hemisphere, I easily understand,
and do not mean to say there was a calculation
which would be odious on the part of Jerome Bona-
parte. Him good faith was established, and the
proof was to be found in the correspondence of M.
Pichou himself. Before the marriage was cele-
brated on the 24th of December many letters were
written by him, extracted from the archives of the
Foreign-office, and of which he had copies. The '
real explanation was to be found in a book pub-
lished by him, and ii which are contained some
important facts. It appeared that a warm alterca-
tion had arisen between Jerome Bonaparte and
him ; and M. Pichou accused Jerome with having,
denounced him. Ire mentions that he had ex-
pressed in presence of Jerome Bonaparte his disap-
proval of the rupture of the Peace of Amiens, and
he adds, " M. Jerome Bonaparte, directed no doubt
by those who accompanied him, denounced me on
leaving my house." Jerome Bonaparte wrote to the
Consul from New York en Nov. 18,1803, explain.
ing what he had written to the French Govern-
ment. The letter contained the following c •
;mous
passage :

" Those remarks are reduced to three statements
which you made to me. The first is that if R e had
war it was because the first consul desired to revenge
himself for the insulting language of the English
papers against him. To the second you replied to
General Barbell, who was watching you, that this
country w mieful fin p military 11111 A to be I*