The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-28 00:00:00

COURT of ASSIZES of the SEINE.
(Concluded from The Sun of Tuesday.)
Having already given some extracts from the evi-
dence adduced on this extraordinary trial, which have
not appeared elsewhere, we now furnish an abstract
of the proceedings of the two last days of the inquiry,
adopting as before the report of Le Siecle.
The sitting of the 18th was opened at ten o'clock,
and on the prisoners beingbrought into Court, Hour-
dequin appeared pale, weak, and apparently suffering
from illness. The President perceived it, "and tug-
gested to him that he should change
_places with
B' outet, a fellow prisoner, with which Hourclequin-
complied.
M. Plocque opened the proceedings. with the de-
fence of Solet; he concluded by drawing a pathetic
picture of the death of his client's mother, who,
being ill at the time of her son's arrest, had died of
the shock, in a dreadful state of uncertainty as to whe-
ther her son had forfeited his character or not. The
advocate's address concluded amid the warm applause
of the crowded Court.
M. Goujon then proceeded with the defence of
Phillidor. After having met the chief articles of
accusation against him, he concluded by dwelling
on the fact that after having held his office for twenty-
seven years Phillidor was still poor, and expressed a
hope that his superiors having borne favourable tes-
timony to his character, would, on the acquittal he
anticipated, restore him the situation, which was his
only means of support.
M. Chaix d'Est Ange followed with the defence of
Hourdequin. After dilating on the necessity of the
Executive Government having a support in the public
opinion as to its character for justice, he said that still
it must be confessed that in a free government, where
the eyes of the people were constantly fixed on their
superiors, it was very difficult to preserve the conti- -
nued respect of the public. A democracy, as a
power, was commonly generous in its nature, but
ardent and passionate, its restless inquisitiveness not
being always exempt from prejudices; as soon as the
least suspicion was.excited against a public man, it too
arose against him immediately and overwhelmed him.
He protested against founding any decision upon the
mere opinion of the community, insisting that an ac-
cused man should only be condemned upon evident
and certain proof of his criminality. He proceeded
to contend that, so far from having been wilfully
blind to the abuses of the bureau, Hourdequin had .
endeavoured to repress them. Thus, in 1829, he ori-
ginated the measure which suppressed the abuse of
the travaux exterieurs, and, commencing in 1831, -he
reduced very considerably the expenditure of the
Bureau of Plans and Designs, which from 100,000 '
francs was successively diminished, in 1840 to 48,000,
to 36,000, and 34,000 francs. A breach of the law
relating to corruption, required three things to bring
it within the meaning of the enactment : first, that
there should be a corruptor; secondly, that there.
should be a corrupted agent ; and; thirdly, that the
corruption should be proved in an act included in the
official duties of that agent. No corruption appeared
at all before the Court, and next the acts for which
Ilourdequin had received fees or commissions, were
not acts included in his official duty. They consisted
of advice and consultations which he had given to, or •
held with parties, in the extra-official hours of even-
ing, and out of the bureau; acts which did not at all
affect the administrative functions intrusted to him..
it only remained to be proved, then, whether, in the
other acts specified in the charge, he had yielded
to corruption or not. The prosecution proceeded upon
the confessions of the accused himself, and in letters
in his own hand ; the first the accused had denied and
retracted, as they were made OA a misconstruction of
what was required, and when he was in a feeble con•
dition both of body and mind ; all that could be de-
rived from the written proofs, were mere presump-
tions. In conclusion, the Advocate, as in the former
case dwelt on the very moderate fortune of the ac-
cused, as a practical refutation of the charge of cor-
ruption ' • twenty-five millions of francs, had passed
through his hands on the account of the city, and his
whole fortune was proved to amount at the present
time to no more than 100,000 francs (less than 5,0000
M. l'Avocat-General having replied; the Court rose.
The 19th was the last day of the proceedings ; the
Court opened at half-past ten o'clock ; the hall was
crowded to excess.
The President having delivered his resume of the
evidence, the Jury retired at two o'clock ; the crowd
remained in the hall during the whole time of their
deliberation. At a quarter to six, having been
absent nearly four hours, the Jury returned, and the
following verdict was read :
Morin guilty on the charge of corruption ; not
guilty on that of abstraction of plans ; extenuating
circumstances admitted.
Solet and Phillidor declared not guilty.
Boutet, found guilty of corruption, having received
sums of money thr abstaining from doing acts which
were reqUirtil of him by his duty ; extenuating cir-
cumstance admitted. -
11ourdequin, by the simple majority only Of
the Jury, declared guilty of corruption, having ac-
cepted the promise of a sum of 25,000 francs to do an
act included in his duties, but not subject to salary;
all the other charges negatived by the Jury ; exteima.
tang eircuinstances admitted.
Solet and Phillidor were then called in, and the
part of the verdict referrieg to them read. They were
discharged, the former with a compliment, the latter
with an admonition. They both left the Court in.
The three other prisoners were then brought
in, and the verdict read to them. Hourdequin raised
his arms to Heaven, and drooped his head upon.biit-,,
breast ; Morin sobbed violently ; Boutet appeared Ink;
passible.
The Advocate-Generalthen demanded 'the applies.
tion of the articles of the law to the prisoners, and**
Court adjourned.
After a quarter of an • hour's deliberation the Cosuit
resumed, and pronounced the following sentence:—!
Merin to three years' imprisonment, and a fine of 1 041
Francs; Boutet to three years' imprisonment. and
rlourdequin to four years' imprisonment.

`curs,

FORCIBLE RESISTANCE TO I'ooB-RATES.—III ad-
dition to the intelligence contained in our last, with
respect to the popular discontent with the rates, and
the lawless determination to resist the collection by
force, we have now to state that the depot of the 3511,
Regiment, stationed at Carrick-on-Suir, were ordered
to be in readiness on Friday (to-day), to collect poor-
rates ; and a party of the 7th Dragoon Guards, quar-
tered in Clomnel, are to move to Carrick to assist.—
Dublin Erening Mail.
REDUCTION or WAGES IN AMERICA.
—The owners
of our factories, we should judge, mean to make
money. In addition to what they gain by the taxes
which the new tariff imposes for their benefit, they ar
taking measures to increase their profits by lowering
the
day NsVoalgnees
ionfstahneicr wesooghmise.n,
We
We published since learn the
th aott herthe
factories of the Messrs. Wild, at Columbiaville, is
Columbia county, have stopped within a few days past,
for the reason that the workmen would not consent to

a reduction of 25 per cent. ol7their wages. The Arbany
Argus of
Yesterday has this paragraph :—" Another
Turn of the Screw.—We are informed that all the de-
mocratic workmen in the Harmony Factory, at the
village of Cohocs, have struck, not for higher wage!,
or the two dollars' a day and roast beef, but in
consequence of a reduction of twenty per cent. on the
rates heretofore paid. A correspondent states that it
had been the talk at the factory previous to this re•
duction of wages, that all the democrats were to be
dismissed for not voting the Whig ticket ; and the
inference was that the cutting down wage 6 Was to
force them to quit, rather than to eject them difectly."

—New York Paper.
WOOLWICH, Nov. 26.—C011A7 MAETIAL.-• —The
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have app_roved
and confirmed the sentence of the Generill
martial held On Sergeant Jam Bradshaw, first eerk
in the Paymaster's-office of the Woolwich divisl'oa
of Royal Marines, who was arraigned on the follwav-
ing charge :—For having at various times, betwoes,
the 26th of May and 22d of October, 1841, he being
at the time the first (and a salaried) clerk in 'the -oft*
of the Paymaster of the Woolwich division of Royal
Marines, falsified certain receipts and vouchers 'for
hbwyhi him of the amount ofch means he embezzled
money paid by him, and also made false entries in the
account
moneyshe
kept
receivedand re
tnhdreoruell
or fraudulently misapplied the several sums of money.
The amount of the item so embezzled is 571. 19s. 441.
The Court having found the prisoner guilty of the
whole of the charge preferred against him, now
sentenced him to be reduced to the rank and pg.
of a private sentinel ; to be imprisoned for the as=
ciency, namely, 571. 19s. 4d.,
of two years, and further imprisonment until the
after deducting U.
found concealed and now in the hands of the parms.
ter, be made good, and then to be dismissed her IlEs•
jesty's service. The Lords Commissioners of the Istl•
miralty have ordered that the prisoner be confined in
MaidstOne gaol, in terms cf the sentence.
The Treaty of Peace with China will leave dis-
posable a large land and sea force. A private
letter from Bombay Mentions, that Sir ileary
Pottinger had proposed to ' take advantage of
these means, and to proceed to Japan, and demand
satisfaction for the long-continued insults we
have endured from the Emperor, and to re-
quire admission for our ships to those islands. on
terms of mutual mercantile advantage. IVe
cannot say how far our correspondent's fin-
formation may prove correct, • but we have ties id
that this is not the first time the matter has been
proposed to Government. The cruelties eiercised
against the crews of vessels wrecked on these
istands demand that some steps should be Taken ; ntid
DO more favourable opportunity has been corded than
the preSOice of oar ships and troops in China, fecl'
which they can easily he directed upou jeddo, and
other ports in Japan.—Naral and Minter ry Gazette..
A letter from Bayonne of the 2341 says
accounts from Saragossa of the 19th, 1 a file worniulf.
announce that nothing new had occu
rred there; the
events at Barcelona were known. M ach anxiety was
felt at Lerida on the 1 sth."—Le Nor //tow, XOV, 26,