The Sun. — 1847-09-06 (London, England)

LAST MOMENTS OF THE DUKE  DE PRASLIN.  The Monitenr publishes a report of the discussion which took place on Monday last, in the secret sitting of the Court of Peers, on the report of the Chancellor. The discussion turned almost exclusively on the subject of the suicide of the Duke de Praslin, and one of the peers having alluded to the importance of its being clearly shown that the poison had not been obtained by the Duke through the connivance of any of the persons under whose charge he had been placed, the question was set at rest by the following important communication from the Duke Decazes, Grand Referendary : " On Tuesday morning (the Duke died on Tuesday evening), at the entreaty of the family, and to discharge what was considered a duty, the Grand Referendary visited the prisoner. The Duke de Praslin complained of his sufferings. The Grand Referendary observed that such sufferings must have been occasioned by the poison he had taken while the doctors had been misled as to its nature and the proper mode of treatment, by two empty bottles found in his secretary, and which had contained laudanum. The prisoner replied that he had not taken laudanum, and then, being pressed on the subject, acknowledged that he had taken arsenic out of &phial found on Friday in his dressing-gown. The Grand Referendary having asked him how he obtained the poison, he declared that nobody had given it to him, and that he had brought it with him from Praslin the evening preceding the crime, exclaiming at the same time with emotion against the supposition that any one could have believed that he provided himself with it with the intention of poisoning Mde. de Praslin. He avowed that he had taken the poison the moment he perceived, by the measures adopted with respect to him, that there were grave suspicions against him. Suicide, in presence of such an accusation, became a confession. Upon this remark being made to the prisoner, he observed silence, but he repelled with eagerness the idea that he should have confided to any one the project of his crime, and, as he interrupted these explanations by cries of pain, the Grand Refe' rendary asked him if his mental sufferings did not exceed those of his body, and if they ought not to suggest to him the necessity of subduing such sufferings by the expression of that repentance that must be at the bottom of his heart, adding that his family indulged the belief that he could only have committed such a barbarous crime in a moment of insensible rage which he now bitterly deplored. Raising his hands and eyes to heaven, the unfortunate man cried, with a strong yet trembling voice, Oh si, je le deplore ! The Grand Referendary then took the opportunity to say to him that at such a supreme moment, in order to satisfy at once the justice of God and man, he ought to make the expression of his repentance as public as was his crime, and that a complete confession would at least as far as possible explain the delirium that had carried him away. The Grand Referendary offered to send at once for the Chancellor to receive his confession should he seem so disposed, or even to take it himself at the moment. He listened to these words with great emotion, and appeared to labour under an inward struggle ; then, after a little hesitation, he replied, lam too fatigued and suffer too much at this moment ; tell the Chanmchoerinloirngth:at ls trouble beg oufblhe of him not to cowmase ttinlln apparent, and and his sufferings too great, to allow of this interview being prolonged. The physicians had just declared that it was urgent to offer the succour of religion to the prisoner. As no clergyman had been named by the family, and in the absence of the cure of St. Sulpice, this pious mission was confided to the cure de St. Jacques du Haut-pas. The Court knows how much strength and calmness the prisoner received from this pious ceremony: The Chancellor again offered, but in vain, to receive the declaration which he had said he was disposed to make." The Patrie says The Chancellor has transmitted to the office of the Procureui'-General the whole of the proceedings against Mdlle. De Luzy, who, it is believed, will be interrogated to-day by M. Broussais, the examining magistrate, who interrogated her for the first time on the 19th ult. He will immediately make his report to the Chamber of Council, which will thereupon decide whether she shall be sent before the Chambre de Mises en Accusation, or be set at liberty. The letters of Mdlle.lDe Luzy are without the least interest.  The report was then unanimously passed. The CHAIRMAN then moved a resolution, that there be two trains each way on Sundays. Mr. BLACRADDER, after some discussion and a long spsech, moved an amendment to the effect that there should be no traffic on the railway during the Lord'sday, which was seconded; when there appeared 83 .votes for the resolution and 31 votes for the amendment—majority, 52. Proxies for the resolution, 967, and for the amendment, 149. Majority in favour of running the trains, 818.