The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-11-23 00:00:00

From the Morning Herald of Monday.)
Between the hours of eight and nine o'clock on Friday
night the inhabitants of the village of Camberwell were
alavasal by ereport that a deliberate murder had been at-
:tempted at one of the houses in Clarence-terrace, Camber-
well, iiid it was discovered that the intended victim was no
bate 'persOnage than, as be himself alleged, Charles Louis de
BaritiOn; Duke of Normandy, a native of France, who claims
to be. the son of the unfortunate Louis XVI. and Marie
.Antoli3ette,:and"legitimate heir to the crown of France. For
some months past" the duke," who is advanced in years,
has been residing in the above village. Amongst those in-
dividuals who hive partaken of the hospitality of the sup-
posed duke was a person of the name of Desires Rouselle,
abbot Vie feet six inches in height, dark complexion, dark
eyes; aquiline nose, and short dark whiskers; he spoke but
little English. This individual introduced himself into the
•fantily, and was to a certain extent intrusted with the secrets
of its master, whom he pretended to consider to be his lawful
prinCe. A few days since he returned to England. On the
present occasion. he had called on "the duke," and in the
course of his conversation stated that he had left his passport
at the Custom-house. Although this was rather a singular
occurrence, it attracted no particular attention amongst the
party residing in the house, for there was nothing in his ac-
tions or Manners to excite suspicion. At the rear of the
house is a large garden, which is separated from a back tho-
roughfare, called St. George-street, by a small ditch. At the
end of the garden is a water-closet, and about half-past eight
o'clock on Friday night the duke went to this part with a
light in his hand, and on leaving it he was surprised at find-
ing Ranselle standing in the path immediately before the
door. with a brace of pistols, one in each hand. Before he
could retreat his assailant fired the two pistols, when two balls
entered the fleshy part under the left arm, and a third lodged
in the breast. I. ortunately the thickness of the clothes
which he wore prevented the ball from penetrating. The in-
stant the assassin had fired he fled, and his victim ran into
the house calling fur assistance. On entering the house he
fell: Mr. Brown, a surgeon, residing only a few doors off,
was instantly sent for, and on his arrival he found the wounds
under the arm to be of a very dangerous description. In-
ferosation was 'forwarded to the station-house at Camberwell
of what had occurred, when the inspector and some of the
constables went and minutely examined the premises. From
the'report of the police it appears that the attempted murder
was prearranged, for a plank had been laid across the ditch,
by which the intended murderer had gained access to the
warden, and made his escape. Footsteps were traced into
an adjoining piece of ground, and from the numerous marks
it wasevident 'that there had been more than one person.
Ahnut‘the time the pistols were fired, several persons, and
the police, saw two rockets fired off, which came from the
direction -of Gehrge-street, but at the time no suspicion was
entertained as to the real cause of their being discharged.
A.bont-an hour after the attempt had been made, a foreigner,
coartpletely muffled up, called at Mr. Brown's, and, with a
great deal of evident anxiety and perturbation of mind, in-
quired if the duke were dead. He was answered in the
negative, and went away evidently disappointed. During
the.. night the wounded man remained in a very alarming
0.,.A. Mr. 11..." n that soem or
tentless lied entered the body, he considered it to be unsafe
to attempt to extract the balls until the inflammation had
abated. , Yesterday morning Mr. Brown succeeded in ex-
tracting two balls; he, however, is of opinion that there is a
third still remaining, and until that is removed he considers
the p_atient cannot be pronounced out of danger. It will be
ree.9llected that in the month of July, 1837, a packet of let-
ters was delivered by mistake to a party in the city from
Dresden, which, on being opened, were found to refer to the
French government, and a supposed plot for the purpose of
assassinating Louis Philip. These were transmitted by the
lord mayor to Lord John Russell, who returned them to the
Maititon-house; and on August Bth they were delivered to
Mr. Gratin, who described himself as the charge d'affaires to
the Duke of Normandy, the son of Louis XVI. The wound-
ed man is in his 52d year, and has been residing at Cam-
berwell for the last six months with some branches of his
faMily.. As soon as the attempt was known to the police,
information was sent to the commissioners, and they imme-
diately communicated with the Home-office, who adopted
every, precaution to prevent the assassin leaving the country.
Large hand=bills were printed at the expense of the commis-
answers, and distributed to the various station-houses, coffee-
boom. and the inns. Information was also sent off to the
variaussea-port towns. Since Friday night the whole of the
policebave been unremitting in their exertions, and, from
inquitieit which, they instituted, a strong suspicion existed
that, the assassin, on finding that he had not killed his man,
would make a second attempt. A strict look-out was there-
fore'kept over the premises, particularly the back way, by
which the assassin had effected his escape. About 7 o'clock
last night the attention el those who were placed on the watch
was directed to a person dressed in dark clothes, who was lurk-
ing about, aiid this being communicated to Inspectors Walters
anclCroome, who happened to be on duty at the station-house,
they proceeded to the spot, and took the fellow into custody.
Orkbeing 011ared•he said something in French, and when
conveyed to the station-house he appeared to be in a state of
great excitement. On being searched, a shilling, a sixpence,
auk!' penny,:. were found on his person, a large clasp knife,
several'documents, said to be of an important nature, a pass-
poitluade out for Cork, and a few other things of minor im-
poitance.. His appearance was that of a person who had
b 44101 the fields 'all night, his shoes, the lower part of his
troisereand'edat, being covered with mud. By the time he
Isit4giten his-name he had recovered some degree of self-
possession, and- in broken English inquired what he was
talrea:;into custody for. On being told for attempting to
tatf4et the'DUke of Normandy, he muttered something in
Preach and 'smiled. He objected to having his knife taken
from ter, 'and he intimated that there were other means to
kilOsimaelf- if he wanted. On the door of the cell being
opt-Peck he objected to go in, and said he had done nothing
tohi kept ' From his manner it was considered necessary to
gage a,constable with him, so as to prevent his making any
attempt upon-Isis own life. After the prisoner had been se-
mired a_pair of old slippers were procured, and his shoes
taken off, which, when compared with the impressions on the
ground, exactly corresponded. When taken, it was supposed
that be had the pistols about his person, but not being found,
itjs suspected that he threw them into the ditch, which is to
be dragged to-day;' at the same time a watch is to be kept to
prevent any 9f the prisoner's companions from looking for
them, as there is no doubt that he had associates. The
wounded man, on being informed of his apprehension, ex-
Eressed his satisfaction, and his determination to prosecute.
rtom the nature of the wounds the' e is not the slightes pro-
bability of hii being able to attend for some days before the
magistrates. The third ball is not yet extracted. At present
the immediate danger is not great. The prisoner is 35 years
of:ageiand was formerly in the French army, from which he
detected, and on the 17th January last arrived from Ostend
incthe_Barl of. Liverpool steam-packet.

• ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS (SUNDAY NIGHT),
The circumstances which led to the apprehension of the
Frenchman, Desires Roussell, charged wiih an attempt to
assassinate Louis de Bourbon, the assumed Duke of Nor-
mandy, and Dauphin of France, on Friday evening last, at
the duke's residence, No. 21, Clarence-place, Camberwell,
have, upon inquiry, been found to be as follow :—After the
escape of the assassin, immediate information of the daring
attack was given at the police-station near Camberwell-Breen,
when Inspector Walters, of the P division, attended by se-
veral of the force, repaired to the residence of the duke,
where they continued until the evening of the following day
(Saturday), between six and seven o'clock. Roussel' came
to the house, when he was immediately identified by the ser-
vant., who, apprising the inspector of it, the assassin was
instantly captured. It appears that the prisoner is a French
exile, and has been known to the duke for a number of years,
and wile bag repeatedly relieved him with pecuniary assist-
ance since his (the duke's) residence in this country. It is
bat very recently that the prisoner's application for money
was attended to by the duke; and upon no one occasion was
he (Roussell) refused assistance. It is evident that the
prisoner had no idea that he was identified by the duke at the
firma the diabolical attempt, otherwise he would not have
caln4-on the Saturday evening, clearly for the purpose of
lulllng suspicion against him. The prisoner is still at the
stattmlphouse, where he will remain until his examination at
which is expected to take place this morning
(114111411. ) After being taken into custody, he was searched
in the presence of the superintendent, but no fire-arms, pa-
rts*, 0t cash, were found upon him. He solemnly protests
hi. innocence of the charge against him. He maintains a
very calm collected demeanour, and is reserved to those
wiaulleditty jt is to be near him. During his confinement he
has been strictly watched, to prevent the possibility of his
laying violent hands upon himself. He is a fine-looking
mak but very indifferently attired. It has been ascertained
that he escaped over the garden wall, and, after crossing a
ditch and some fields, got into George-street, at the back of
the duke's residence. The duke is going on favourably; the
ball hatbeen extracted by Messrs. John and Tobias Brown,
very eminent surgeons, of Camberwell, who are in constant
attendance upon him. The occurrence has excited an ex-
traordinary sensation at Camberwell and the surrounding
parts:

[Wwlearu from the papers of Tuesday that the assassin has
Wen `apprehended; but we have nu room to-day for the
particulars of his examination. He hds been remanded
=tit Ant week.]