_Whereas the plaintiff has claimed that the rectification of her
certificate of baptism should be properly carried out, etc. That Lorenzo
Chiappini, being near his death, wrote a letter to the plaintiff, in
which, to ease his conscience, he declared that she was not his daughter._
_That the words of a dying man must bear the impress of truth._
_That, according to the evidence of the witnesses Bandini, it is
absolutely proved that Count Louis Joinville exchanged his daughter
for a boy of Lorenzo Chiappini’s, and that the Demoiselle de Joinville
was baptized under the name of Maria Stella, falsely described as the
daughter of Chiappini and his wife._
_That the Lady Maria Stella therefore justly claims the rectification of
her birth-certificate._
_Moreover, that the evidence of the aforesaid witnesses is supported by
public notoriety and the difficulties the Comte de Joinville experienced._
_Finally, that the legitimacy of the claim is proved by the careful
education given to the plaintiff—an education unsuitable to the daughter
of a jailer, as well as by the improvement in the fortunes of Chiappini
which ensued._
_For these reasons, which will be established both in fact and law by the
proofs put in, and for all others resulting from the proceedings, it is
held that the plaintiff’s request should be granted, etc._