The Warrington Examiner. — 1870-04-02 (Warrington, Cheshire, England)

THE TRIAL OF PRINCE PIERRE BONAPARTE.  TOURS, March 25.—The trial of Prince Bonaparte was continued to-day. Doctors Tardiener and Pinuel were confronted, when a juryman asked Dr. Tardiener if Victor Noir, being mortally wounded, could hold his hat in his hand while falling. Dr. Tardiener replied in the affirmative. _  Maitre Flocquet, counsel for the Noir family, then resumed pleading. He sought to prove that the prisoner did not act in legitimate self-defence. The Prince here appeared greatly excited, and said a few word,, but was interrupted by the President. Maitre Flocquet continued his speech, and called on the jury to find the prisoner guilty of murder, as the hypothesis of his having received a blow was inadmissible. The court opened on Sunday at noon. The prince, in replying to a question from the President as to whether he had anything to add to his defence, said : "I have always spoken the truth, and nothing but the truth, in this matter." The President then summed up, and the jury retired at 1.40 p.m. They re-entered the court at 2.55 p.m., and pronounced a verdict of acquittal on all points of the indictment. A despatch from Tours says that the Prince, when acquitted, wa,s accompanied to his hotel by Commandant Ramolino, amid cries of "Vive le Prince'!" on all sides. The 0-endarmes wept and kissed the Prince; a certain number of his friends kissed him also. He was very pale. The Marshal and Prefect congratulated him on the verdict. The American General Anderson sent a card with his sincere congratulations. The English and American ladies in the town offered flowers to the Princess. There was great rejoicing at Tours. The Times says the result of the trial will disappoint public expectation and the sense of public justice in France. The result, however it may have been expected, is to be regretted. The Times does not hesitate to declare that the principal feature of the Prince's character seems to be the brutality of an ungovernable will. It is true his antagonists have done their best to destroy our sympathy with his victim, but the fact cannot be obscured that Prince Pierre has shown himself a dangerous member of society—one whose liberty ought to be restrained,if those who have the misfortune to come in contact with him are to enjoy any security for their personal safety. The Morning Post thinks a review of the evidence, contradictory aud unsatisfactory as it is in some respects, will suffice entirely to justify to all men the verdict that has been found, although it expresses its opinion that it is a fiction of justice that the Prince should be held, as he is by the verdict, entirely blameless, and allowed to go entirely unpunished. The Daily News says the verdict may seem at first sight strange, but it has no reason to suppose that substantial justice has not been done. If the verdict is more favourable than might have been expected, the friends of the prosecution have only themselves to thank. The Standard does not see how the court could have arrived at any other conclusion. Grant that Prince Pierre was a man of violent temper, and admit the truth of the antecedents raked up against him, the case is the stronger against his accusers for then the matter asssumes the character of a deliberate conspiracy to provoke the very crime charged against him. The Pall Hall Gazette says the verdict is contrary to all expectations, for it was supposed that the Prime would be convicted at least of some minor charge, if only for the look of the thing. The whole course of procedure has been so extraordinary, that the Pall Mall Gazette confesses it has very little astonishment left for the verdict. Viewed in a political light, it thinks a partial conviction, with a light sentence of imprisonment, would have certainly been much more in the interest of the Government.