The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-23 00:00:00

From this time Sir Charles remained quietly at his seat,
Purbrook, or in the vicinity of Horndean, near Southampton,
enjoying the retirement he had so nobly earned—living at
once like a prince, an admiral, and an old English gentleman,
and driving his four-in-hand with all the spirit, if not with
the grace, of a Waterford. In his house and hall did the
weary soldier and sailor find a friend and a welcome ; nor
ever departed the wayfarer from his door without a hearty
meal or with an empty hand.
In July 1837, Captain Napier stood for the borough of
Greenwich, with Mr. Barnard and Mr. Wolverley Attwood,
M.P., the Chairman of the General Steam Navigation Com-
pany. From the first there never was any doubt as to the
return of Mr. Barnard, and the contest, therefore, was in
fact between the captain in the liberal interest and Mr. W.
Attwood, the conservative candidate. On the third day's
ptlling, Mr. Attwood had such a majority as induced Cap-
tain Napier to resign.
In 1839 he was appointed to the Powerful, and in 1840 was
promoted to the rank of commodore.
The exploits of Napier in the East—the storming of Sidon,
of Jaffa, of Tsoar, and of Caiffa, the taking of Tyre, the
bombardment of Acre—are events of too recent occurrence,
and have appeared at length in our columns so lately. that
we do not think it necessary to recapitulate them here. The
commodore joined the squadron of Alexandria on the 21st of
November, and was very warmly greeted ; and on the 25th
of the same month he landed, and spent his time in walking
through the town, and all the inhabitants, Turk, Arab, and
Christian, manifested the most intense desire to see him.
He took up his quarters at the British consulate, and in the
course of the afternoon the principal consuls called on him.
The town was in a perfect state of jubilee. After this the
commodore was elevated by her most gracious Majesty to
the rank of Knight Commander of the Bath, and is now Sir
Charles Napier. He took his departure from Alexandria in
the Oriental, and first set foot in England on Sunday last,
when he met with the gratifying reception, of which we gave
an account at length on Tuesday. From the provincial
papers we perceive that similar honour await him in various
parts of the country.

CORSICAN ASSIZES,

TRIAL OF A BROTHER FOR THE MURDER OF HIS SIS-

TER'S LOVER,

Jean Baptiste Agostini was tried, on the 26th March, on
the charge of having waylaid and treacherously murdered
Ange Marie Cesarini, who entertained-a criminal intimacy
with his sister Catharine, who had been compelled to marry
a man of the name of Poggi, but who finding little chance of
happiness with his wife, separated from her and enlisted in
the French service. Catharine returned home and soon felt
an inclination for Cesarini, who loved her tenderly, and who

saw her daily, in consequence of his intimacy with the Agos-
tini family. Cesarini had thus every facility to abuse the
trust reposed in him ; he hesitated long between desire and
fear, for Jean Baptiste was his friend, and he was aware of
the infamy and danger attending such an abuse of friendship
and hospitality. Passion, however, obtained the mastery,
and Cesarini became Catharine's lover. This criminal inter-
course soon became public. When Jean Baptiste Agostini
heard of his sisters situation, his fury knew no bounds, and
it appears that be threatened to kill both Cesarini and his
sister. Cesarini consequently endeavoured to shelter himself
from the vengeance of the Agostini family, while Catharine
shut herself up in her room, thereby avoiding the fury of her
brother, and bewailing her fault, the shame she had drawn
on her family, and perhaps the loss of her lover. The Ce-
sarini family, informed of the hostile and threatening dispo-
sition of Jean Baptiste, became a prey to the greatest unea-
siness ; Cesarini himself acted with the greatest caution, and
never left home but in the day, and then never alone. In
the meantime, he made advances towards a reconciliation
with his enemy, offering all the reparation he had any right
to expect. He engaged to receive Catharine, to treat her as
his wife, to bring up her child as his own, to which she was
soon to give-birth, until be could by marriage legitimise this
fruit of their attachment. lie even wrote him several let-
ters, and at length, as if tired of the subject, said, " if you
thirst for my blood, take your weapons, and meet me under
the large oak tree at sunrise to-morrow morning, and fate
shall decide which of us is to perish.
Jean Baptiste Agostini was deaf to all these propositions,
yvhich proved that if Cesarini was guilty, he was not unwor-
thy of pity. It was equally in vain that Catharine solicited
her brother and her family to pardon her and her lover. An
arrangement was, however, at length come to, but with con-

sideraile difficulty, and Jean Baptiste Agostini took a solemn
oath in the presence of the assembled family that he would
make no attempt against the life of Cesarini.
By the terms of the arrangement Catharine was to quit
for ever the house of Agostini, and reside with Cesarini in
another village. These conditions were accepted, and the
two lovers took up their residence at the village of Pentag-
lione. Cesarini, full of confidence in the promise given and
the good faith of his enemy, began to relax in those mea-
sures of precaution which he had hitherto adopted. Things
went on in this manner until the 31st of March. On that
day Cesarini was busily at work on his grounds. In a vine-
yard near him a man, named Phillippe Jean Nicolai, residing
in the hamlet of Casalta, was at work. This man told Cesa-
rini that two brothers, named Poli, residing at Casalta,
wished to speak to him the next day. The next day, the Ist
of April, Nicolai told him that the message he had given
him was only a joke. Cesarini, however, determined on
going to see the brothers the next evening. In vain did
Marie Catherine implore him on her knees not to leave her.
A cruel presentiment filled the mind of this poor woman,
thus abandoned and despised by her family. She was well
acquainted with the violent character of her brother. She
knew that a Corsican never pardoned an act of dishonour;
and for this reason she feared that Cesarini would one day
fall a victim to his blind confidence. Cesarini was now her
only hope, for she could never hope for pardon from her
family. She, therefore, spared no persuasion that she could
think of to prevent his making his proposed visit, but Cesa-
rini only laughed at her fears, which he designated as childish,
and would not, therefore, yield to her wishes.
Notwithstanding this obstinacy on his part, he was not
himself without some little apprehension of danger, and in-
vited a Corsican voltigeur, named Charles Dominique Lu-
porsi to accompany him. They agreed to meet at a certain
place ; Luporsi, however, called in his way at the residence
of Agostini, and stopped there so long chatting, that when
he reached the place of rendezvous Cesarini had left. Sus-
picion, from this circumstance, fell on this Luporsi and
Nicolai as accomplices in the murder, but they were dis-
charged from want of evidence to implicate them.
When Luporsi reached the appointed place of meeting, not
finding Cesarini, he naturally imagined that, tired of waiting,
he had proceeded onwards. This. however, was not the
case ; Cesarini was behind him. His heart was oppressed
with a feeling of dread of some impending danger, and
thougdt of the unavailing request of Catherine that he would
not leave home. He, however, soon overtook Luporsi, and
they proceeded together, and reached in safety the house of
the brothers Poli. Cesarini then found that the message
delivered to him by Nicolai was but a joke, or rather a trick
to draw him into a snare. They however proceeded together
towards his house, having promised Catherine that he would
not stop the night at Casalta, hut return as soon as possible.
They went on ; Cesarini was somewhat in advance, walking
at a very rapid pace. On reaching a rising ground, which
commanded the road a great distance on all sides, he heard
the report of a gun near him, but fortunately the ball missed
him. He turned round and ran towards Luporsi, who had
fired off his rifle in the direction from which the first shot
was fired. Cesarini had only advanced a few yards towards
his companion, when a second shot was fired, and Cesarini
staggered towards him and fell dead at his feet, pierced by
two balls. The report of the guns was heard at Pentaglione,
the residence of Cesarini, by Marie Catherine, who in the
agony of despair, exclaimed Cesarini is killed !"
The inhabitants of Pentaglione being informed of the mur-
' der by Luporsi, who ran there and raised an alarm, soon
reached the spot, and carried the body of the unfortunate
Cesarini to his home.

Suspicion immediately fell on Agostini, and he was taken
up and committed for trial. When on the prisoner's bench
in the court, Agostini maintained the most perfect calmness,
betraying no more emotion than any of the bystanders around
him. He replied vithout hesitation to the questions of the
President, and with a gentleness of voice which stood in
strong contrast with the gravity of the charge against him.
M. Dillman, in a brilliant speech, pointed out the culpa-
bility of the prisoner, and the evidence which was conclusive
against him.

-M. Caraffa advocated the cause of the prisoner with great
eloquence, combating all the arguments of the counsel for
the prosecution with great ability. He brought forward in
his favour the excellent character for mildness which the
prisoner had always enjoyed amongst all his neighbours, And
brought forward a long list of witnesses in support of what
he stated. _

The President summed up the case of the jury with great
clearness and impartiality, pointing out the weak parts of the
evidence against the prisoner, as well as those points which
bore more strongly against him.

The jury retired for a short time, and returned into court
with a verdict of acquittal.

About a month ago, during a sermon of the Abbe de Ra-
vignan, at the Church of St. Louis, a lady was robbed of her
watch, and although the person near her, and who had been
very profuse in his attentions, was dressed in so fashionable
a manner as almost to place him above suspicion, she imme-
diately grasped his arm, ,and accused him of the robbery.
The dandy affected great astonishment and indignation, and
another elegantly-dressed man came up and assured her that
she must be mistaken, as the person whom she accused was
highest respectability. The lady, however, was not to
known to him, and was in the church with a wedding party
and, keeping her hold of the thief, invited his
o bef the hi
cajoled,
friend to accompany them to the vestry, in order that a search
might be wade. To this the friend consented, but before
they had got many yards, he disappeared suddenly in the
crowd. The lady then called to her aid a gentleman who
was standing near them, and still grasping the arm of the
dandy, she brought him to the vestry-room, where he was
searched. The watch was not found, for, without doubt, it
bad been passed to the friend who had made his disappear-
ance ; but as the lady declared positively that no other person
than the accused could have stolen it, he was handed over to
the commissary of police, and committed to prison for trial.
This trial took place two days ago, when it appeared in evi-
dence that he was a notorious thief, who had seen more than
once in the hands of justice. He was sentenced on this oc-
casion to two years' imprisonment.—Galignani.