After the speech of M. Gauthier, the advocate of Coster St. Victor, the President inquired of the accused whether he had anything further to say in his defence, to which he replied, "I have only to add that the witnesses necessary to my exculpation have not yet appeared. I must besides express my surprise at the means which have been employed to lead astray public opinion, and to load with infamy not only the accused but also their intrepid defenders. I have read with pain in the journals of to-day that the proceedings—" Here the President interrupting, observed that "these were circumstances foreign to the case."—"Not in the least," replied Cosier St. Victor; "on the contrary, they bear very materially on the cause, since mangling and misrepresenting our defence is a practice assuredly calculated to ruin us in the estimation of the public. In the journals of to-day the speech of M. Gauthier is shamefully garbled, and I should be deficient in gratitude were I not here to bear testimony to the zeal and courage which he has displayed in my defence. I protest against the puerilities and absurdities which have been put into his mouth, and I entreat him not to relax in his generous efforts. It is not on his account that I make this observation; he does not require it at my hands; it is for 'myself, it is for the accused, whom such arts tend to injure in the estimation of the public."
Coster St. Victor had something chivalrous in his language and manners which spoke greatly in his favour; he conveyed no bad idea of one of the Fiesco conspirators, or of those leaders of the Fronds who intermingled gallantry with their politics.
An anecdote to this effect was current about the period of the trial. Coster St. Victor, it is related, being unable any longer to find a secure asylum in Paris, sought refuge for a single night in the house of a beautiful actress, formerly in the good graces of the First Consul; and it is added that Bonaparte, on the same night, having secretly arrived on a visit to the lady, found himself unexpectedly in the presence of Coster St. Victor, who might have taken his life; but that only an interchange of courtesy took place betwixt the rival gallants.
This ridiculous story was doubtless intended to throw additional odium on the First Consul, if Cosier St. Victor should be condemned and not obtain a pardon, in which case malignity would not fail to attribute his execution to the vengeance of a jealous lover.
I should blush to relate such stories, equally destitute of probability and truth, had they not obtained some credit at the time. Whilst I was with Bonaparte he never went abroad during the night; and it was not surely at a moment when the saying of Fouché, "The air is full of poniards," was fully explained that he would have risked such nocturnal adventures.
Wright was heard in the sixth sitting, on the 2d of June, as the hundred and thirty-fourth witness in support of the prosecution. He, however, refused to answer any interrogatories put to him, declaring that, as a prisoner of war, he considered himself only amenable to his own Government.
The Procureur-General requested the President to order the examinations of Captain Wright on the 21st of May' and at a later period to be read over to him; which being done, the witness replied, that it was omitted to be stated that on these occasions the questions had been accompanied with the threat of transferring him to a military tribunal, in order to be shot, if he did not betray the secrets of his country.
In the course of the trial the most lively interest was felt for MM. de Polignac—
—[The eldest of the Polignacs, Armand (1771-1847), condemned to
death, had that penalty remitted, but was imprisoned in Ham till
permitted to escape m 1813. He became Duc de Richelieu in 1817.
His younger brother, Jules (1780-1847) was also imprisoned and
escaped. In 1814 he was one of the first to display the white flag
in Paris. In 1829 he became Minister of Charles X. and was
responsible for the ordinances which cost his master his throne in
1830. Imprisoned, nominally for life, he was released in 1836, and
after passing some time in England returned to France. The
remission of the sentence of death on Prince Armand was obtained by
the Empress Josephine. Time after time, urged on by Madame de
Rémusat, she implored mercy from Napoleon, who at last consented to
see the wife of the Prince. Unlike the Bourbon Louis XVIII., who
could see Madame de Lavalette only to refuse the wretched woman's
prayer for her husband, for Napoleon to grant the interview was to
concede the pardon. The Prince escaped death, and his wife who had
obtained the interview by applying to Madame de Rémusat, when she
met her benefactress in the times of the Restoration, displayed a
really grand forgetfulness of what had passed (see Rémusat, tome ii.
chap. i.).]—
Charles d'Hozier, and de Riviere. So short a period had elapsed since the proscription of the nobility that, independently of every feeling of humanity, it was certainly impolitic to exhibit before the public the heirs of an illustrious name, endowed with that devoted heroism which could not fail to extort admiration even from those who condemned their opinions and principles.